The Stalking Stranger

Dear Reader,

Before I begin this tale, I need to tell you that most people living in a city like Mumbai end up going into a mall during the weekend with the hope of finding some entertainment - coffee, snacks and movies. Un(fortunately), the place that I live in is surrounded by malls (there are literally 5, each at a stone throwing distance from my house) and I needed some retail therapy this weekend.

So here I am, all by myself, in the middle of hundred other couples who seem to have forgotten what is acceptable and what is not in PDA (Public Display of Attention), trying to pick a store to start my therapy from. Oh, and OK, I must tell you that I am one of those dorks who starts feeling claustrophobic in crowded places and "crowded" is an understatement for the amount of people that I saw in here.

After a lot of convincing that I had to do to myself to stay in the mall, I chose an electronic store since I  needed a new laptop, anyway. My Sony Vaio, FE28GP (I take pride in the fact that I own this piece!!) has been away at the service center for a couple of days now and I was in the state of impuissance without a laptop. No, I am not someone obsessed with technology but I missed the regular reading up that I did online and the chat with some good friends.

Anyway, I didn't buy the laptop on this day and the tale actually begins when I walk out of the store. I see this person, probably in his mid thirties, standing there and gazing at me. Yeah, I know, gazing isn't a sin but he looked really weird. He was wearing very thick glasses, the ones that make your eyes look larger than the normal size, with a strange moustache...... The shorter, thicker version of the Chinese moustache.

I gave him a glance, walked past him and sat down in the nearby seater with the intention of catching up with some of my technologically advanced friends about the new laptop that I had considered buying. In moments I got busy with texts and phone calls, however, I wasn't able to stop myself from noticing that the guy is now standing right in front of me and yes, u guessed it right, staring into me!! Now, that makes me very uncomfortable. So I stood up and started walking aimlessly in the opposite direction. Just to be sure, I took the escalator down to the ground floor and I walked into Body Shop. 15 minutes later I walked out of Body Shop with my hands heavier and my pockets lighter AND there he is in front of me again!! This time our eyes locked and he has a smile on his face. I am sure he caught the surprise / shock on my face too.

Me thinking aloud: Could that be a coincidence or was he keeping an eye on me? Am I simply overreacting? Why would anyone stalk a stranger? What should I do next? WHY ME?

To take sometime to think to myself, without being distracted, I headed to the ladies room. And, in there, I convinced myself that it was purely coincidental and that I was not being stalked. I anyway decided to keep my eyes open (most of the times I behave like I am blind. I can never spot a friend and I seem to be completely incapable of checking out the "big-muscles", "broad-chest" of men that other girls don't miss).

Anyway, with my mind a little more peaceful, I walked out of the ladies room and I must have walked just a few footsteps and I see him yet again, standing in the aisle. "What the hell?" didn't even begin to describe my reaction to this situation. Now, this cannot be coincidental, can it be? But instead of pressing the panic button, I decided to play it strategically. I walked briskly into one of the largest stores in the mall with the thought that he would eventually lose me across the floors, only to realize that he was following me, now a little more closely than before. The distance between me and him was hardly a foot at any point of time and I was failing in my plan.

After some 30 mins I decided to end this "running around" and confront him if need be. I stopped, looked around, saw him and kept my eyes on him. He started walking and my phone rang. While I looked at my mobile phone, he walked around me and stood by on my side. "Excuse me", he said. I turned to look at him with an expression that cannot be articulated.

"Waiting for thomebody (somebody with a lisp)?" While I thought about that question that came my way and the crispiest reply to it, I said "Yes" and zipped away. That was the only "verbal encounter" that he had with me. I did see him a number of times, in and around where I was, even after this incident.

I found this behaviour so inexplicably odd that I am still wondering about it. I mean, who asks a rhetorical question like "waiting for thomebody" when they want to make a conversation? I'm assuming that this was a misguided effort at some kinda socialising. And why on earth, among all the beauties, ME? I don't think I fit into the common definitions of being beautiful. Rather, I'd fail the 1st in the list that says "Being fair".

I wonder all the time why people do what they do and this particular stranger intrigued me.

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'Un'Black Metal

Dear Reader,

Today, after a pretty long time I have come in contact with the world. I mean, through the Internet and the social networking sites!!

Its been a while that I've been motivated enough to write for my very own blog or surf the internet. :O Anyway, so I logged in to my Linkedin account today and came across http://www.mapofmetal.com/#/home in one of the groups that I share membership in.

Anyone who knows me would need me to say no more about my passion (may be obsession is a better word) for heavy metal. But regardless of the emotion, this is a 'must-visit' site. Apart from the content that this site has about heavy metal, I must say that the idea is quite innovative. The graphics of the site and the visual representation is creative too. The site is efforts personified - starting from chalking down the idea, collecting information about the genres across the years gone by, listing down names of bands and tracks in each of those genres and then finally getting down to making the site!!

(The point! get back to it, woman!)

Right! Getting to the point now, I noticed a genre called 'Unblack Metal' in the map. I was kinda surprised cos I wasn't aware of this genre. It was something that I had never heard of. I re-checked, did it say Black Metal? Black Metal is notorious. It is that kind of music that has shrieking vocals, highly distorted guitars, fast tempos, unconventional song structure and most of all anti-christian lyrics. But what is Unblack Metal?

I googled it up for more information and what I found out surprised me first and amused me later. Here's what it said:

Unblack metal (or Christian black metal) is a term used to describe musically black metal sounding artists whose lyrics and imagery promote Christianity.^[1] Such artists are controversial, mainly because black metal's pioneers, especially those of the Second Wave, intended to encourage hostility towards Christianity. It is also suggested that Christianity contradicts black metal's dark nature and the individualistic and misanthropic ideals of many bands.^[2]

Isn't this more like a Jain Pav Bhaji? I mean, the flavor of Pav Bhaji lies in the onions and the potatoes. In the name of a religion, we end up cutting down the unique flavor of the dish.

Is music an appropriate medium to promote / shun a religion?



 

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Little Darkroom

Dear Reader,

"Fear is that little darkroom where negatives are developed."
- Michael Pritchard

I saw this quote one afternoon written by a photographer and was stupefied at the perspective of the quote especially from a photographer's angle!! It also did set me thinking about "fear".

According to Psychology, fear is a powerful and primitive human emotion. It indicates the onset of danger, either real or perceived by us. There is also a universal physical response to fear - "fight or flight" in which the body prepares itself to either enter combat or run away. Having said that, the emotional response to fear is highly personalized.

One of my near and dear ones once told me, "Face your fear head-on. Don't run away. It only makes it worse." I believe in this thought and always attempt to incorporate it when faced with "not-so pleasant" situations.

Every time I succeed, I conquer one more fear within me.

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Take Away My Pain

Dear Reader,

I'm on the treadmill called 'Time',
It has a speed and a rhyme.
Unable to control neither, I am,
I run, run until my legs drain.

Awaiting my fall to endure the pain,
I cry, cry for help and vociferously complain.
And then I hear "The Voice",
It tells me "Run, run, you don't have a choice".

And then I fail, I fall and I crumble,
O my Lord, the Pain,
I endure it again,
Making me helpless under its reign.

I thought I had a choice, I thought I made it right,
The outcomes were beyond my sight.
The thought kills me.
Time failed me.

O my Lord, the Pain,
Bringing with it, the wounds and stain.
"Hope", give me strength to fight,
Fight, fight with all my might.

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Om Namah Shivaya

Dear Reader,

Today is Maha Shivaratri. It is celebrated by holding an all-day long fast and an all-night vigil. It is believed that all prayers will be granted by Shiva on this day.

I asked my mother, "what is the significance of the all-night long vigil?" and she narrated a story to me.

Once upon a time lived a poor tribal man. He would wander in the forest and hunt for survival. One day he went deep inside the forest and was not able to return before nightfall. To worsen his anguish, he was chased by wolves and he ran to save his life. Terrified, he climbed the nearby tree while the pack of wolves lied in wait under the tree. Perched against the tree, as darkness fell, he was afraid of falling asleep and dropping off the tree.

To keep himself awake, he decided to pluck one leaf from the tree and dropping it to the ground while chanting the name of Shiva. At dawn, the wolves left and the hunter realized that he has dropped those leaves onto a Linga under the tree. The tree happened to be a Bilva (wood apple) tree. The unwitting all-night long worship pleased Shiva and the hunter was rewarded by divine bliss.

I was absolutely fascinated by this story. While I heard my mother out, I was reminded of "The Immortals of Meluha". I loved this book and finished it in 2 days. Authored by Amish Tripathi, it is based on the principle that most Indian Gods were human beings once upon a time. So the book does take you through some of the legendary facts about Shiva and leaves you craving for more with the last chapter ending to be continued in Part II of the Trilogy.

Anyway, my objective was not to provide a book review in this post. May be, I'll keep that for another time!!

Om Namah Shivaya
 

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The Need of the Hour - Innovation

Dear Reader,

A couple of days ago I helped one of my colleagues to "learn". So that you do not assume that it was a classroom training that I conducted, let me tell you that it was the most informal way of training someone on how to make a presentation. Right from what goes into a presentation (the content) to designing the slides!! I recounted my experience as a facilitator, a number of times, before I got on to penning down my thoughts for this post.

We've all been in a classroom to learn a new skill, a new behavior sometime or the other in our lives, however if you ask people when is it that they have had a "learning", 8 out of 10 will say it was outside the classroom.

Two things that I want to deduce from this response:

1. "Training" does not necessarily mean "Learning" - Here's how I look at it, training is something that is owned by the trainer while learning is controlled by the learner. In a class of 20, there is always that one student who learns better than the others, under the same circumstances that is offered to the remaining 19 students too.
   
2. We learn better outside of the classroom, call it by any name, On-the-Job, Experiential or informal learning.

However, with all these being facts, do we really see the transformation within the Training Function in our organisations? Is the function still investing money (may be, a lot of money) in organising class-room training programs that do not guarantee learning?

Here's the results of a survey that I came across a few hours ago. The key point to note is

"Although 64% of Learning Executives believe Informal Learning approaches have higher impact, more than 2/3rds of corporate training budgets are spent on traditional formal training."

Why should this be the case?

Well, here are some reasons off the top of my head:

1. When there is a training budget that is allotted to the function, the managers are expected to establish controls over how the money is spent. This could only be done if training is organized in traditional methodologies. Level I (Reaction) of Kirkpatrick model, to evaluate training effectiveness, forms a part of this control.
   
2. Trainers / training managers have been confined to their worlds and adopting (or even ideating) alternate methods of training is making them step out of their comfort zone.

Bottom line: It is time for us to conceptualize alternate methods of facilitation to aid learning. Innovation is the need of the hour.

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Recipe

Dear Reader,

I've been a facing some writer's block lately. And hence I was determined to write today!! This post has been way, way, waaaaayyyyy too painstaking.

It’s been one of those weeks when writing is like mowing the backyard by hand in the hot sun with a plastic spoon. Or something folksy like that.

I have felt thick as a brick all week, but I keep squeezing that noggin of mine, trying to get the words to come out, coming up with nothing but brick juice at times.

So here's some part of my brick juice!!

A recipe to make a good writer:

Loads of knowledge and a point of view
Patience and perseverance to pursue
A bag full of words to articulate
An eye for detail and some perspective

A thought that ignites the fire in you
A dash of humor to make your day when you are blue
Some creativity to add those twists and turns
To keep you reading, to make you yearn

Edit the work with a magnifying glass
Eliminate the crass and give it some class
A proof-reader, a critique and a mentor
And most of all, a dedicated and an honest reader

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