Beyond The Hairpin Turn

Posted on October 31, 2020October 31, 2020 by Nalaemton Selvaraj

I still remember my first travel to the hills. Even now, I am feeling very excited to remember those lovely travel memories. My dad was driving the car and we were enjoying the cool breeze and exotic views along the way. Being a city-based person totally, my eyes were not treated with lush green trees and fields for the majority of my days. Hence, the excitement of travelling to the hills was a thrilling and beautiful experience. If I go on a travel now, surely I will concentrate only on getting perfect photos in order to share them on social media. Those were the days when I never had a smartphone or camera in my hands. Sometimes, I think that our smartphones have changed our own personality to a greater extent. Okay, coming back to what I was saying…As we were riding uphill, I noticed the hairpin turns. Initially, I was not getting as to why these hairpin turns even exist. Later, my dad explained me the importance of hairpin turns in riding all the way to the top of the mountain. A hairpin turn (named for its resemblance to a hairpin) is a bend in a road (usually seen in the roadway to a mountain) with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180 degrees to continue on the road. The hairpin turns are too scary especially when we ride downhill. It seems like we are on the mercy of the vehicle’s brake mechanism.

Whenever we go for vacation to the mountains, a sigh of relief comes when we arrive at our destination on the top of the mountain and when we successfully reach downhill and head back to our house. These hairpin turns have fascinated me a lot every time I travel to the mountains. A number of thoughts come to my mind when I think of hairpin turns now. I love to share the most interesting thought that came to my mind about hairpin turns in this blog post.

A majority of us will agree to the fact that our Life is like a journey. I consider Life to be a journey on the road. Sometimes, we know our destination and many times, we don’t have a clue on where we are headed. Irrespective of all the pit stops and flat tyres now and then, Life should always go on. It’s very easy to say this in a poetic manner. However, real life gives us a lot of twists and turns along the way. Even in our life, there come situations where we have to pass through a hairpin turn. Ah! Now I am coming to the point. While we are passing through the hairpin turns in life, our own mind becomes very clumsy. The situations can be like taking life decisions or like undergoing a very bad phase in life. Whatever the situation is, we have to trust in the journey and hope that there is a long and beautiful road ahead of us once we pass through the hairpin turn. It can be scary and testing our patience, but whatever it is – We should not give up our hope. I am saying this because in reality, hairpin turns help us go further closer to the mountain tops. Similarly in Life, the hairpin turn situations come in order to elevate us. Oh! I guess now, you got the point now. Keep riding on the beautiful road of life. Face the hairpin turns with confidence and you will reach more and more heights in your journey.

Writings

Just Another Rainy Day

Posted on October 25, 2020October 25, 2020 by Nalaemton Selvaraj

A thick white blanket of rain clouds filled the sky. I looked up and noticed that the clouds have blocked Sun’s rays completely from hitting the ground. I wanted to go home soon. A drop of water fell on my hand directly from the sky. I speeded up my bike to reach home at the earliest. I wish I had started earlier than the usual. There is no time to think about that now. The Traffic Light flashed ‘Red’ color and I lowered my speed to halt just before the stop line. The raindrops started to fall heavily on the ground. I can feel the chillness of water all over my body. It is the first rain of the year and I am totally not prepared for it. I smelled the strong perfume of land which is happily ebbing out all the heat of the summer. The trees are dancing along with the tune of the winds. The roadside plants are swishing off the dust and turning greener than the usual. Little did I know that now, I am completely wet. Initially, I thought of stopping somewhere and wait for the rain to end. Now, I don’t have a choice. The Traffic Light showed ‘green’ and I started riding back home. Patience is a million dollar virtue, but not at this moment. I started riding very cautiously now as the roads have turned slippery because of the rain. Ignoring all the interesting events happening around me, I focused only on reaching my destination – home. The whole idea of rain is very beautiful except when you are in a situation where you want yourself to reach home from office in a bike. I reached home with not much difficulty. I prayed to God that there should not be much water logging as the rain continues to pour with no mercy. Taking a deep breath, I opened the door and reached my room. Suddenly, the power went off. Everything seemed dark and I seriously don’t know what to do. There is nothing to be done, but to wait patiently till the Electricity Department resumes power. Lighting the candle in my room, I said to myself “I am having just another rainy day”.

Writings

The Show Must Go On

Posted on October 18, 2020October 18, 2020 by Nalaemton Selvaraj

It’s already been a very very long time since Lockdown was announced due to COVID-19 Pandemic. Nobody would have even expected a situation like this to happen anytime before. I hope God gives us all enough health and strength to successfully get out of the Pandemic and return to old normal soon. I have discontinued writing for almost a month, but its always good to be back. Yesterday, when I logged into WordPress to write a poem – I realized that all my thinking have been influenced a lot by the ongoing tough situations in our planet. It seemed like the year 2020 has just now started, but we have already completed 10 months of the year. “What did I do this year?” is one of the most prevalent question that I had heard throughout this year from many of my friends. In fact, I guess this question has been put forth by my mind to me multiple times. However, sometimes we cannot calm our minds. The best choice is to take good care of ourselves and our mind whenever possible.

This year has taught us a lot of things. Initially, we were happy and excited while sending New Year wishes to people. Then came the Lockdown. Ever since Lockdown was announced, things have changed a lot for many of us. For me, I have never even thought of working from home before. There never came a situation when I had to opt for ‘Work From Home’ before. I was excited thinking of the ‘Work From Home’ concept. However, there are multiple turn of events during the execution of it. Even then, I am pretty glad & forever thankful to God that I could continue my work during these unexpected situations.

Quite a lot of events have taken place in our World. Cricket and Soccer matches are happening with no spectators. Movies are being released on OTT platforms. Work is performed from home. Virtual meetings and virtual award shows have become normal now. Online Teaching and Online Learning are being practiced in schools. There is no end to this list. There is a common saying which goes like this: “Whatever happens, the show must go on”. I hope everyone have heard this saying multiple times in our lifetime. Hence, be full of hope and pass on beautiful positive vibes wherever you are.

Remember…THE SHOW MUST GO ON!

Writings

Sky in my mind

Posted on August 25, 2020August 25, 2020 by Nalaemton Selvaraj

Ever looked at the sky and wondered what it is made up of? I have been very curious when it comes to reading about sky facts. It is mind boggling even now when I am writing a blog post on ‘Sky’. The Universe holds a lot of mysteries and we are yet to decode a lot number of them. Some years back, Pluto was knocked off from the ‘Planet’ list. I felt very sorry for him (Just kidding). I hope someday I will unravel any one mystery of our universe. Hope is a good word. Faith is an awesome word. I love the positive vibes created when hope and faith are instilled in our minds. As far as mankind is concerned, hope and faith are amazing traits which we had kept alive for a very long time.

I still remember getting drenched in rain for the first time. It was a great experience. My mother made me paper boats and I was happily set sailing them on the flood water. The water current was very fast and it was swiftly taking all my paper boats and drowning them in the drain. Lightning and Thunder gave us company all night long. Life feels good when we understand it less. During those days, I don’t even know what causes rain. I just thought that water pours from sky to cool the Earth. Later, when I found out that rain is caused by clouds – My whole imagination of the sky changed. Science got explanation for everything. Little we know, yet there are lots yet to be known.

The people of the 21st century can never forget the current year 2020. We locked ourselves at home for a very long time now. I hope soon things will turn back to normal. Again I say, Hope is a good word. So, is praying. Keep our World in your prayers. Every night during this Lockdown (even yesterday), I go with my father to the terrace where we walk for some time and I watch the sky for a long time. Believe me, it’s the best time for sky watching. Some days, you’ll see clouds spread throughout the sky. Some days, you’ll see star-filled sky. Some days, you even get a chance to watch shooting stars. Every time I look at the sky during the night, I check for the Evening Star – Venus. Venus is the closest planet to our Earth and it is awesome to see Venus at night. Some nights especially when it is raining, I won’t have the chance to see even one star. In those days, our mighty warrior satellite Moon presents her with the thunder and lightning in the background. Without getting wet in the rain, I go inside my room and wish ‘Good Night’ to our planet.

The Sky keeps me guessing. I don’t know what to do but just close my eyes and continue dreaming. Sky in my mind!

Writings

Why do you write?

Posted on August 11, 2020August 11, 2020 by Nalaemton Selvaraj

In this Digital era, there are thousands of mediums which allow us to express ourselves. Still, Writing is one of the oldest and beautiful ways of expressing ourselves. There is a lot of magic involved in writing. Believe me – Even now, nothing can match the excitement of reading a printed book.

Why did I start to write? Let me tell you how I started writing. I was making New Year resolutions each and every year. One of the most common resolutions which I make includes recording my daily activities in a diary. Every year, I start writing my daily activities in the diary but I’ve never continued to write for more than a month. Even this year, I started recording my daily activities. However, I did not continue after 4^th January 2020, which is just four days after New Year. Now and then, when I get a flow with words, I write them down. Later, I type my writings on beautiful backgrounds and post it on my social media platform like Instagram and Twitter. I had fairly good response from friends and family. They liked reading them. So, I continued posting my writings. I won’t say that I have mastered the art of writing, but I love the fun involved in writing. The most beautiful part about writing and posting in social media platforms is that when people actually give a read, it makes them happy. There are times when people whom I had lost contact previously call me to just discuss about my writings. These kind gestures act as a beautiful motivation for every writer, I guess. I know, great stories are not said by great writers but are said by great listeners/readers. Cheers to all my beautiful readers, I started writing my own personal blog on the month of May 2020. Ever since then, I am beautifully collecting my thoughts to give the best shot of literature. I won’t say that the blogging journey is a bed of roses that when you post something, the whole World will be reading them. Every journey needs a beginning – the first step I would say. For me, Blogging has introduced me into a whole new World of words. Literature is beautiful if you focus on how to play with words. Words, if used properly can open anyone’s heart. That’s why our elders kept on warning us to choose our words carefully. Yes, my 10^th grade Math Teacher constantly told us this: “You cannot take back your words. It’s like spilled milk”. I realised her words later in my life. Better late than never, I am happy for the realization. In the first month of Blogging, I hardly got any views. I was posting the links to my blogposts everywhere possible. Marketing a blog is a tough task – tougher for a beginner. Little by little, I started gaining audience. The best part is when people started writing to me in the comment section. It’s what every Blogger craves for. Now, it’s been almost three months since I have started Blogging. Thank God, I was able to reach quite a lot number of beautiful and kind readers.

I am planning to write a story. Hope I write a good one. That is the story of how I started to write and the roller-coaster ride of my blog. Hope you too have an interesting story of how you started to write. Write your story in the comments section and keep smiling always. Have a wonderful day!

Writings

Miss You

Posted on July 30, 2020July 30, 2020 by Nalaemton Selvaraj

It was the 8th day of the month of July, 2020. I had a very unusual afternoon nap and took my mobile phone to check my WhatsApp messages. It was a normal day till that moment. Messages started pouring in my previous office group. I scrolled to check the first message and got the news that my friend (Jagan Anna – as I would fondly call him) passed away due to a massive cardiac arrest. My brain froze for a moment. I don’t know how to react to the situation. A thousand memories of Jagan Anna flashed in my brain and it was totally unstoppable.

Two years back during the Christmas season when I was working in my previous company, I saw him for the first time. A very jovial and beautiful soul, I should say. His name is Jagannathan Thiyagarajan, a very well experienced Information Security Professional. I met him on the way to the cafeteria for having dinner with my friends. He never told me his age. Whenever I asked him, he would say if I add 10 years to my age, I will get to know his age. That’s an example of one of the lightest moments I had with him. As days rolled by, Jagan Anna became my go-to person during difficult situations, my well wisher, my all-time supporter and all that you would have imagined the characteristics of a best friend. Believe me, I have met hundreds of people, but I have never seen someone who will consider me as their best friend. It so happened that I got placed in my current company in the month of January, 2020. I was serving my notice period and due to the spread of Corona Virus, I was asked to work from home. Unfortunately, 23rd March 2020 became the last day for me working inside the campus of my previous company. I took my office computer, got all the approvals while Jagan Anna took his car and waited for me outside the building. He was asking me to stay a little longer, but I was in a hurry. Then, I realized that day could be my last day inside the office premises since we were not sure until when the lockdown situation will prevail. So, I stayed. I would have regretted my entire life if I had left early to home that day. Earlier when he told me that he bought a car, I never had the opportunity to have a look. He took me in his car and he drove around the whole campus and he was very happy. I still remember the smile on his face that day. Then, we went to the cafeteria and had some snacks. Keerthivasan (My friend) also accompanied us. He was also very much dear to Jagan Anna. No words came out of my mouth, as I was thinking of everything that had happened in the campus. He told me to take good care of my father and mother. I said “Yes”. Then, I took my mobile phone and booked my cab to go home. The Cab Drivers’ name was also Jagan. I told him this and we were laughing a lot. When the cab arrived, Jagan Anna gave me a warm hug and as I entered the cab, I said “Bye Anna”. He too responded saying “Bye” to me and the cab left. That was the last time I saw his face.

Everyday, one time or the other, we used to call each other and share about how life is going in the Pandemic. 10th April 2020 was my official last day in my previous company. Jagan Anna became very emotional and he said that he will miss me very much. Never in my life had I heard anyone say that to me. I usually address him as ‘Anna’ which means ‘Brother’ in Tamil and he too considered me as his brother. 2nd July, 2020 was his birthday. I called him in the midnight to convey birthday wishes to him. Even the day before his death, I called him. He said he is not feeling well and confirmed that he will call me later. That was the last time I heard his voice.

The uncertainty of Life always gives chills to my spine. All we have is this beautiful thing called life. There is always something for everyone to fight with and fight against in our lifetime. For me now, I have lost an awesome brother and wonderful friend. All I have now is the memory of the wonderful friendship and brotherhood I shared with Jagan Anna, which I will carry throughout my journey. Time never forgives. Our life passes before our eyes in the blink of an eye. Therefore, take time to make good friends, smile and create memories wherever you are. Miss you, Jagan Anna. Happy Friendship Day!

Writings

My First Experience of delivering a speech on stage

Posted on June 25, 2020June 25, 2020 by Nalaemton Selvaraj

It was the summer of 2012 when I joined an engineering college in Chennai, India. I chose Computer major, so all my thoughts started leaning towards technology. Technology is fun – hope everyone will agree to it. It so happened that my college planned to conduct a celebration before Gandhi Jayanthi (October 2). My English Lecturer suddenly entered our classroom and asked us who all are interested in taking part in a debate. With no second thought, I raised my hand. Till now, I am not sure how I became very courageous at that moment. Well, today I thank myself for making that choice. Being an introvert throughout my childhood, I had never got an opportunity to speak on stage. I never wanted that notion to keep following me throughout my life. However, if you are a victim of stage fear, then you’ve got to get out of that as soon as possible in order to make life easy for you. I hope that once you complete reading this article, you’ll gain a positive attitude towards public speaking and move forward to make one if you have not made one before.

The topic for the debate was “Is there a possibility of getting another Gandhi in our era?” I chose ‘NO’ as my answer and started preparing for my speech the same day at home. I referred multiple channels in order to get inputs. I was very confused indeed. All that I know about him – I tried to store in my mind. I was never focused. Nervousness hit me directly that I lost my ability to think and perceive the situation properly. I was sleep depressed the previous day of the competition. On the day of the debate, my English Lecturer was calling us for a quick rehearsal. Tension grew up heavier each minute. I read out what I prepared the before day to my Lecturer. She said,”You have prepared to deliver a speech, but it is a debate”. I was devastated. I was having 4 to 5 pages of information about Mahatma Gandhi. I was definitely sure that if I read what I prepared, people will get bored. Finally, the Debate hour approached. There were six participants along with me for the competition (3 arguing for ‘YES’ and 3 arguing for ‘NO’). I was scheduled as the last person to deliver the speech. As I was sitting on the stage, I could hear my own heartbeat in spite of the loud cries made by students in the auditorium. All the five speakers have spoken on behalf of their opinions. All the information which I had gathered the previous day was already been delivered by them. I was running of content. I was nervous. I was not sure what to do at that moment. Finally, my name was called. Taking a deep breath, I stood up from my place with all my papers and went near the mike. I greeted the audience warmly and started with my topic. I told them that I am going to argue that there are no possibilities of finding another Gandhi in our era. Then, my mind went blank. I was completely clueless on what was going around. I was using too much gap fillers like ‘uh’,’eh’,etc. Then, I went blank. No words came from my mouth and I was standing still. The entire audience started laughing and giggling at me. I was not sure what to do. Finally, I came to a thought that I have to deliver this speech without any problem. When you are thrown into the middle of the ocean, either you give up and drown yourself or fight till your last breath. I chose fighting and I am happy choosing it at that moment. I turned down the reference papers which I had and started speaking from my mind. Sometimes, speaking from your heart helps. It helped very well for me. I started the speech telling the audience that whatever I have prepared has already been presented before you. Then, the audience started settling down. I started my speech and talked about my opinions on the topic comparing the opinions laid down by the rest of the participants. Finally, I concluded by saying “There is only one Sun, one Moon and there can be only one Gandhi and he is the Father of our Nation. Happy Gandhi Jayanthi.” The audience started cheering me up with their claps and my happiness knew no bounds at that moment. Being accepted by people without being judged is one of the rarest and beautiful events of our lifetime. For me, it is one such moment.

Even now, I fear little while walking to the podium for delivering any speech. However, once I start with my speech, all the tensions grabbed in my mind ebbs out. Hope reading my small life experience helps you at some part of your life. If you are a person who wants to do something in your life and your fears stop you from achieving your dreams, grab courage, take a deep breath and follow your dreams. One day, you’ll be happy for choosing your dream.

Writings

Plan B

Posted on June 22, 2020June 22, 2020 by Nalaemton Selvaraj

All of us would have heard of this famous saying: “If Plan A fails, try Plan B. If Plan B also fails, then you have plans till the alphabet Z”. While hearing today’s news about researchers trying to find the possibilities of life in other planets, I was thinking about my plans. We plan to lead our life in a particular way according to our interest. However, Life always surprises us in ways we would have not even imagined.

When it comes to talking about finding another planet to me, the very thought freaks me out. I don’t know how to respond to it. I have thought that our Planet (The Earth) is the only planet that supports life till now. I forgot to think what if we have a choice to move on to another planet. Assuming that with the current advancements in Science and Technology, Man has already landed on Moon. With more advancement, I guess mankind will soon find a way to travel to another planet. If this is the case, who will take care of our planet – The planet which gave us food to eat, clothes to wear, shelter to rest and much more than I can even remember. I guess we will be on the same page. Home is where the heart is. Nobody can change this fact.

I would like to end this blog post with the sayings of Former President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in European Union at 2007. He said “Where there is righteousness in the heart, there is beauty in the character. When there is beauty in the character, there is harmony in the home. When there is harmony in the home, there is an order in the nation. When there is order in the nation, there is peace in the world”. Take care of our fragile planet because when it comes to home, we can never think about Plan B.

Writings

Since Lockdown

Posted on June 20, 2020June 20, 2020 by Nalaemton Selvaraj

On 23rd March 2020, The Government of India announced Lockdown due to COVID-19 outbreak. I was travelling to office in order to take my office computer to home as the company where I was employed at that time announced all the employees to work from home till the Lockdown is relaxed. It’s been almost two months since I submitted my resignation and was serving Notice Period at that time. I had roughly three more weeks to get relieved from the company and join the company where I am going to be employed soon. I don’t know how to react to the situation. I am sure you would agree that every one of us felt the same when the Government announced complete Lockdown.

Days kept passing by as I was working from home. Every week day was like two or three days combined as we were completely not prepared to handle this situation. Network issues, Connection failures, Hardware malfunctions kept on happening in the Team as we struggled to keep up the pace. Little by little, we got habituated to the situation and were completing our deliverables on time. Then one day, I completed serving Notice Period and got relieved from the company. The company in which I was about to join faced a critical internal issue which prevented them from on boarding me. They promised me that they’ll on board me, but it will take some time. That was a very unfortunate and tough moment for me. However, I decided to make the best use of the time which is available for me before joining my new company.

Initially, I wasted a lot of time watching movies, online series and the like. After a certain point of time, I got restless. I became very tired of watching a digital screen for a long time. I hope you can feel me. My mind sensed that I have been ‘Entertainment-overloaded’. Then, I decided to blog. Well, I was deciding to blog for a very long time. However, I did not find time from my routine to make one. I decided that this is my moment. With no second thought, I called up my friend who is already a Blogger. After getting the required insights, I bought the domain and started to blog. Initially, I thought that a particular niche is to be chosen in order to start a blog. Then, I realized that whatever we write should come from our hearts. I became a Personal Blogger that way. I started writing poems, articles about personal life experiences, infotainment articles and much more. I recently heard of a saying. I don’t exactly remember who said it. It goes like this: “If you love what you are doing, then you will never concentrate on winning or losing in what you do. You just keep on doing what you love, no matter what”. Believe me, I too felt the same. Other than Blogging, I started playing with my cat, started performing physical exercise every morning in our terrace, sky watching in the night and playing board games with my sister. By God’s grace, the critical internal situation which my new company was experiencing came to an end and they graciously on boarded me virtually. Now, it’s already crossed 100 plus days of Lockdown. We, people are still fighting the battle with COVID-19. Hope the battle ends soon and we get back to live our normal lives again.

Writings

The Past, Present & the Future

Posted on June 18, 2020June 18, 2020 by Nalaemton Selvaraj

How many of you believe in the concept of Time Travelling? I personally do not believe in it. However, it’s always mind boggling to think about time travelling. I’ve fancied myself travelling in time during childhood. Hollywood movies have portrayed time travelling with too much excitement and heroism. I’ve watched ‘Back to the Future’ movie long back and the movie made me fancy more and more about time travelling. That’s one good thing about watching movies. They make us travel with the characters to places we have never been. I agree that real life doesn’t always provide us with too many opportunities for portraying heroic deeds, but time travelling is a great topic to discuss when people are around – Believe me, I have experience in this.

I have heard a lot of people saying that even if time travelling is possible, we will not be able to change anything which is going to happen in the future. My fragile little mind always says to me that if you want to change the future, then you have to start working hard in the present. I hope that every one of us would have heard this fancy little line somewhere in your life. We never know what will happen to us, our surroundings or anything with respect to the future. This ‘uncertainty’ which the word ‘future’ creates and the ‘hope’ which the word ‘tomorrow’ brings makes our life beautiful from day one of our birth to this moment.

Our mind is a powerful being. Very powerful indeed! Our mind collects our memories which involves incidents, people and much more than we can even imagine. If you want to re-visit any incident which happened in your past, you just think of it and you’ll already get the memory pictured in your mind. For me, this is the simplest example of Time Travelling. We often forget about the fact that we do perform time travelling each and every time we think of something which happened in our past. Most of the time, I used to think that we humans are living in a giant ball which is revolving a giant ball of fire in space and talking about how to make a living every day. Okay, why am I going too much away from the topic like I usually do? Hahaha…Instead of thinking how to alter our past and the future, let us think about the happy moments happened in our Life and keep moving forward.

Hope you had a good read! Do write your thoughts in the comments section.