First Impressions

How far are the first impressions about people true? Does one believe in them these days? Is the first impression still the best impression? I don't think so. People are very complex. A man who is gentle could turn out into someone very aggressive or an aggressive man's aggression could just be under the surface to go BOOM which wouldn't be noticed during the first impressions!! The smarter/ cleverer the person, the tougher it gets to form an impression, the curve goes exponential! But its human tendancy to form opinions, to judge people, to have a first impression, it doesnt matter if you are right or wrong!

The Old Cobbler

After heading back to my office from the Cobbler's Kiosk, I thought I should write about it soon. But i'm writing about it after ages. It has touched me quite a lot and that's why its time to pen it down.

I once bought fancy looking slip ons from a posh place in Bangalore. I loved it and I almost wore it everyday to office. I also got compliments for it. After a while it wasn't so new so I would run with those slip ons , wear it in the rain and basically rough handled it. It so happened that one of them got torn. I was like.... "damn... we pay so much and it doensn't even last long!!!" Thankfully there was a small cobbler kiosk near my office, actually right opposite to my office. There was a middle aged man and I gave him my torn slip on. While he was mending it I remembered my childhood days. Back then we visited the cobblers quite often as against the present times where we have too many shoes and discard the torn ones immediately.

But I had no other go. I had to get back to work and there was no shoe shop close by and had to get my shoe mended.This middle aged cobbler made a shabby fix and asked me for ten rupees.I was not so happy to give him ten for the job he did but anyway he didn't ask for a fortune, it was just ten rupees.I gave it to him and got back to work.

A week later the other slip on got torn in the same place. I was cursing these shoe makers for making delicate shoes and tagging them with high prices. Again the same solution. I walked to the same cobbler kiosk.

Now this time there was a very old cobbler.He looked very weak, was wearing torn clothes and his glasses were so big that I almost concluded that he was blind.I thought this old cobbler might be the middle aged cobbler's father! Since I was unhappy the previous time I just thought I would ask this old cobbler to stitch it a bit more nicely but then I looked at his innocent face and something stopped me at once!!!

He started mending my slip on slowly.While he did that I peeked inside his kiosk. Saw some photos of God and a big photo of a lady who was young and vibrant. Her photo had kumkum and garland which meant she was no more. I was thinking whether she was the cobbler's wife or daughter. Who ever she was, she was someone dear to the cobbler. I felt quite bad for him. Then he interrupted me saying he mended my slip on.

I just had a look at it. It was done so well, so really well that I was taken aback. The half blind, weak cobbler wearing torn clothes and having the grief of losing an important woman in his life mended my shoe so well. I thought for a moment that if I had instructed him before I would've been ashamed of myself.I would've hurt his feelings so much!! I gave him ten rupees staight away. Then he said its only five rupees and started digging his box for change. I looked at him and said I don't want the change, smiled at him, said thank you and left. He was confused. While I was walking back to the office I had a great urge to go back to him and give him more money like a charity but he seemed like a shy old cobbler. I was unsure about him accepting it. But by giving him  more than what he asked for made me so contented.

When I sat on my chair at office I felt the old cobbler has touched my life by showing his perseverence, simplicity and innocence. I had tears in my eyes and then I worked peacefully.

The Tube

London metro has always been a fascination to me. A facsination due to its connectivity,the colourful insides of the trains,the pretty names they have and the differnt levels they operate at.

But why is it called a tube.It was always a wonder for me as to why it is called "The Tube" or "Tubes" and the station called the "Tube Station". I figured it out due to my curiosity and it goes this way.... London has a large connectivity of trains underground and the tunnels look like tubes running here and there and so are the trains... they are so rounded off that they look like tubes... hence the name.. Its so simple :) This picture shows the present day tube platforms.

Well the londoners can really boast about their tube history because the metro project started off way back in the 1800s.It is so hard to imagine men carrying those heavy materials to dig the tubes in various levels and connect them. London has had overground as well as underground tubes way back in the 1800s and currently serves 268 stations by rail! Have a look at this picture which shows the metro construction during the early 1800s.

Picture 3 shows us the central london railway locomotive in the tube station in the 1800s.

The underground station has subsurfaces and deep level classifications. You can travel to different places by taking tubes for different lines/routes in different storeys! The tube stations in london have Europe's longest escalators to reachout to the deepest railway track. Isn't that amazing!!This is the present day picture of the escalator at angel station.

Not to forget the point where tubes were saviours for civilians in the world war era.The authorities in London, after being put under pressure from public, did make use of about 80 underground Tube stations to house about 177,000 people. Back ,those lines were not electrified so the people could sit on the rails, keep their belongings and sleep peacefully in tube stations with their families.Hence,the tubes have helped millions during the world war.

There used to be a very sweet marketing strategy for the early birds to try out london metro. Have a look at this picture and read the message "Swift and Sure" :)

These days in london metro/tube stations, people make the place dirty by spilling out their drink,leaving newspapers on the chairs and stuff like that.There are also some negatives like delays in train, escalators being closed for a while but the bright side of these tubes should never be forgotten. In my eyes "The Tube" is still a wonderful achievement by man on earth.

The Feel Good Factor

So how does your food taste today?? Finger Lickin good?? (Sorry I stole the copyrights from KFC ). Ok lemme change....

So how do you feel today??? Feel Good?? Then STICK ON!!!
The feel good factor adds zing to your lives and a twinkle in your eyes...
It makes your teeth sparkle and your hair shine...
It makes you sing like the BeeGees -stayin alive...stayin alive...
Your heart feels featherlight and your foot starts tapping

If you have these symptoms then Yes... you are in the feel good factor city.Please extend and expand your FGF city cuz it would always help you,serve you,support you and embrace you.
It triggers energy, positive thinking, makes you offer a helping hand and also some generous time to pamper yourself.... and when you'd consciously see good things around you... you'd say "I'm Lovin' it" (Sorry i stole the copyrights from Mc Donalds now ) :P :P :P

Courtesy Dr. Arti,KFC,Mc Donalds

The monster in you

Any guesses.... It sweeps as a wave inside you... starts as a small wave...builds up and then goes down... While this is happening inside you,lets see what happens on the outside... no focus,sulking,bitterness,indifference!!!

But when the wave builds up to the size of a monster then you blurt it out... and then what happens??? anger, denial,difference of opinion... and then the cycle goes on ...the monster becomes big and small .... big and small...

Now this monster is quite dangerous and it can also change its form....say from a wave to a creeper...it builds inside you like a creeper... if not cut at the roots it can trouble you more!!

And then you'll never really know if its you talking or the monster called EGO.

Back to Square One

(Take it easy folks)

Remember the Famous nursery rhyme

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water

Jack fell down and broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after

So this message teaches you …way back in your childhood that sometimes (or most of the times) you get back to square one!!! As in…. Back to the beginning…Starting point…Back to zero… Start from scratch

How does it feel getting back to square one –AWFUL!!! Cuz who likes to do the rework… or take a new path…a different path of uncertainty….

Some back to square ones are like Déjà vu. A compelling sense of familiarity…something eerie… something strange while some back to square ones are so much “In your faces” that you feel.. heyyy what the hell??? I worked so hard for it…..where’s my pay back.... hard luck buddy… I mean do u like to believe that you are not in level 2 or 3 but in the same level 1… oh no….

So now you all know how AWFUL it could be…. I’d like to close my blog with the rhyme again

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water

Jack fell down and broke his crown

And Jill came tumbling after

A teacher called Life

Life's the greatest teacher. You tend to learn so much from it that even the thought of it is exhausting. I think you learn in a batch of oodles!!! Oodles everytime!! Not in bits and pieces mind you. But there are phases, the infant , the toddler , the kid ,the adolescent, the youth, the adult, the middle aged and then the aged. The older you grow, the harder the lessons!
Lemme explain the hard part-The older you grow, the greater the responsibilities, greater expectations
It works like this- You grow old, you've got to make less mistakes...... suppose you make silly mistakes you'd be asked to grow up and if you make big mistakes/blunders.... you are reminded of how old you are and how you could do that!!!

So all these factors add to stress and a lot of stress.
There are so many equations and dynamics to reach out in order to cherish your existence but the hard teacher called life makes your syllabus harder and harder everytime...travelling at the speed of light to trick you not to understand how the whole stuff works in order to see that you learn something till the day you say good bye!!