Broken Heart...

It breaks my heart…

It breaks my heart to hear that another Crime has been committed against the most vulnerable part of the Human Race…Our Children.

It breaks my heart to think of the Families that are suffering through this awful situation.

It breaks my heart to think that there are people in this world who have witnessed a Child being abused and have walked away.

It breaks my heart that there is so much selfishness in the world that Sports, Career and Status comes above Doing the Right thing.

It breaks my heart to see that the innocent Victims are being abused by the Media all over again by ignoring the important Facts and focusing on what sells.

It break my heart to think that Media can be so selfish to divert all attention to the People who would sell News rather than the one Person who is the Monster of it all.

It breaks my heart to see that an entire institute and everyone related have to go through the shame and torture caused by one man.

It breaks my heart to think that incidents like these reinforces that we live in a Sad World.

It breaks my heart to witness a Broken PSU Alum Heart.

:((

I am half...

I am exactly half her age. Last year I turned 30 and she turned 60!! She is a wonderful amazing person.

I am not just half her age, I am half as selfless as she is...I am half as wise as she is...I am half as nice as she is...I am half as sweet and caring and tolerant as she is...

I aspire to be all she is....She is the best person in my life.

Happy Birthday Maati !!

Enabler…Now WHAT? again…

I am addicted to "House", the TV Series about a Doctor who is a genius. Oh well, I am addicted to House, Mentalist, Family Guy, 24, etc. I am a TV-Addict…:)

So, one of the Episodes of House is about this girl who is addicted to Blogging. She is obsessed with Blogging and she blogs about everything that happens in her life. She writes about her Relationship with her Husband, Sex, Fights, everything and anything. She feels that it is easier to express herself to someone she cannot see. It is easy to open up and talk about feelings and thoughts. I kind of agree, any strong reaction from a Stranger (you cannot see) is easier to fathom than someone you know and can see. She is a popular Blogger with lots and lots of followers. She likes the Audience.

Her husband is a simple person. He doesn’t necessarily likes that she talks about their relationship in details on the Blog. He doesn’t agree with the fact that she is telling her followers about him. He says I don’t want you to discuss me and our personal life with people I don’t even know. At several points in that Episode, I thought that if I were the Husband, I would walk out on her. But he doesn’t. He stays. And I kept wondering WHY?

So, she gets really sick. She has a decision to make about something that will affect her relationship with her Husband. She blogs about it and says that she cannot let her Followers down. She will have to ask them and make a decision. The Husband is a little frustrated, he says, it all started like a fun thing. Blogging was like Free Therapy. But not anymore. He thinks that she is addicted to the Audience and popularity. He still doesn’t leave her. The decision would affect their Future, but he still stays by her side. Again, I wonder WHY?

Finally, in the very last scene of this episode, they show that it was a minor problem and she will live. She makes the decision based on what she feels is right for her and her husband. All is Well. Suddenly, the Husband hands her the Computer and says, I know you will go crazy if you don’t write about all this. And she says, Thank God you are an Enabler…seriously…now WHAT? again…What does "Enabler" mean? A person who is too good to be real? A person who is capable of truly accepting everyone as they are? It is a good concept to talk about…but actually living and practicing it..I don’t know about that.

ENABLER…hmmm…interesting. It got me thinking and I wondered if I am an Enabler? That should be a Gautam Question. He will know the best. But digging a little deeper, I realized…I am an Enabler with quotes (""). I am a "Selective" Enabler. I let my partner be what he wants to be with some Rules. I am selective in my approach. I get to decide how I wan to enable him based on how I feel. Say, for instance, sharing things about our relationship with anyone other than the 2 of us. He cannot share it with people I don’t like. My Ego is too big. I don’t want to ever be weak in front of people I dislike. What is Enabling, letting Gautam do what he wants, the way he wants it? Or letting him do what he wants but not exactly the way he wants it? There is a very convenient definition of Enabling. I always let you do whatever you want, the least you can do is…do that whatever according to my Rules. The Enabling I know, is to make people feel obligated, so things happen to them but according to your terms.

Is it right? I don’t know. Do I want to change it? I surely do. We all like to use big words and talk about philosophy and a perfect life, but do we really practice what we talk about? Not all the time.

In fact, the more I think about all this, the more I wonder. Do I Enable myself? Maybe not. I have all these boundaries for myself. I don’t know who I am. I have never known. I don’t think I will ever know or anyone else would ever know. The first step to Enable self would be to be an Enabler. Actions speak better than words….so, talking and writing about all this is much easier than actually implementing it. The key probably is to not make it about self. Enabling is about just letting it be without getting personal.

Oh, the best way to do this is by "ENABLING the ENABLER" !!

Sums Summing Up !!: When Fairy Tales Meet...

Sums Summing Up !!: When Fairy Tales Meet...

When Fairy Tales Meet...

Mike is always respectful. He comes across as a person who is caring and thoughtful. Brenda is cute. She is always smiling and cracking jokes. She is soft-spoken and nice. When I first met them, they came across as a fun couple. I know them for about a year or so and I keep hearing stories about them from Amy (Brenda's sister).

When I first found out about Brenda and Mike deciding on getting married, I was really happy for them. I love marriages, and I almost always like to believe that Falling in Love and deciding to get married are like Fairy Tales. Anyone getting married for the first time, gets into it thinking that this will last forever and this is once in a lifetime, so it has to be almost perfect. So, when I found out about Brenda and Mike needing a photographer, I offered to do it for them. I have a theory, Pictures cannot justify the memories but at least they try. Brenda and Mike were kind enough to give me the opportunity to click them. I did try my best to make their Photo-shoot almost perfect... :)

Brenda and Mike got married on 20th Feb. I wanted to do a Photo shoot for them prior to that. So, we decided to meet on a Saturday a week before their Wedding Date. It was a perfect day for Pictures. Sun was out and it was bearable temperature to be outdoors. We roamed around Austin to click pictures in different locations and capture as much as possible. It all started in Arboretum -> Downtown -> Oasis. It ended with the Sunset. It was a long day.

When we met at Arboretum, I was a little nervous and realized that if I screw this up, probably will be horrible for Brenda and Mike. Gautam was awesome; he tagged along and helped me with everything. He was my chauffer and also carried my equipment around. He helped with picking good locations, poses, sun light direction, etc. I can never thank him enough. It was just perfect. Both Brenda and Mike were awesome. I was as always picky and being a perfectionist...I made them change 4 times. I tortured them with posing, smiling, walking, talking, standing, looking...Perfect. Thanks a lot guys for putting up with me. I hope you love the outcome and don’t hate me as much when you see the pictures.

I believe my Fairy tale is all of the things I dream of becoming. Out of the million things I want to do in my life…one is to become a Photographer. Travel the world and click People and Places. Thanks to Brenda, Mike and Gautam my fairy tale dream came true too. It was an ecstatic day for me.

So when our Fairy Tales met, the result was lovely. I cannot wait to click pictures for the lovely couple Brenda and Mike for their upcoming reception in March.

Brenda and Mike, Congrats and all the very best !!

A glimpse of our Fairy Tales !!

http://picasaweb.google.com/sdarak/ClickIt?authkey=Gv1sRgCO-Gn5_MqOXmjAE&feat=directlink

Have some Faith...

I was watching a random movie on LMN (Lifetime Movie Network). I know I know…How random can I be? But I like watching movies on LMN, all the movie actors have no talent whatsoever. The story is never new or exciting. But then these are the only movies I can stop watching anytime I want…otherwise I am bad at leaving a movie unwatched…;)

Anyways that’s not the point of discussion. How can I watch LMN? The point is I was watching a random movie in which a boy loves girl. The father of the Girl is a priest and the Girl is a believer…so she is not allowed to date. So, the boy decides to ask the Priest if he can take the Girl out on a Date. The conversation is what got me thinking. The boy goes to the church where the Priest is busy writing some notes for his next sermon. He sees the boy and is all annoyed, the conversation follows:

Priest: What are you doing here?
Boy: Sir, I wanted to ask for your permission to take your Daughter out for Dinner on Saturday.
Priest: That’s not possible…
Boy: But Sir…
Priest: You heard me…now Get out of here…
Boy: Sir, with all due respect, you preach us to have Faith all the time and I am asking you to do the same…

I thot this was really amazing. Very few people can follow what they preach. And fewer come close to even really understanding what they preach. Anyways…I thot this was really interesting….Of course the Boy gets the Date with the Girl…:)

Faith…It is very interesting…Everyone wants Faith and everyone struggles with it. I want to have Faith in people but I also want everyone to prove it to me that I can trust them. It is really hard to just have faith and believe that amazingly good things happen…

Gautam and I were vacationing in Madrid. Our very first day on a Surprise trip that Gautam planned for my Birthday. We were running late for a Flamenco Show that nite…So, we got ready and we were frantically looking for a Taxi…finally we found one that was a few blocks away from our Hotel. We took the taxi to the Show and while driving Gautam took out a Map to help the Taxi Driver with directions. We barely made it to the show on time. Gautam was paying for the tickets when I asked him to give me his iPhone so that I could click some pictures…he checked his pocket and guess what…he didn’t have his phone…:(

We were so frantic…we started looking for it everywhere…we thot he must have left it in the Hotel room…but then we both remembered that he said something like: "I don’t want to go out without my Phone"…so we were sure he did carry it. We walked back to where the Taxi Driver had dropped us…it was about one block away…it was a one way street so the Taxi couldn’t come all the way up the entrance to the show venue. We must have looked on the Street a couple of times…Then we both tried to remember what all happened since we left the Hotel room…we looked for the Taxi…During the ride Gautam took out the map from his Pocket which also had the Phone…so it must have slid out on the car seat. We didn’t have the Taxi's license plate number and we also didn’t know which company it belonged to. We talked to the Club Manager where the show was. Told him that we had left our iPhone in the Taxi. He told us that we should not expect to get it back. He gave us a number of some Lost and Found Deposit Box that we should call and check. But he was very sure that we wont get it back.

During all this time. Both, Gautam and I were so worked up…We barely enjoyed the show. I spilled some Sangria on my most favorite Dress and it was all a mess. The worst was it was the very first day of our week long vacation. Both of us were extremely sad.

Finally, we decided to forget about it. We just thot that there is a 99.9 % chance that we will not get the iPhone back. We went back to our Hotel Room just to check and make sure. Then we went to the Hotel Reception, asked the Receptionist what we can do about it? He was like, there is no way we will ever get an iPhone back. So, he just said Sorry. So, we decided…forget about it. Lets not ruin the whole trip. We decided we will go out for Dinner and have fun.

We had a good Tapas Dinner, drank some Wine…had fun. We wanted to stay close to our Hotel after that so we decided to head back and find a place nearby and Just lounge around…Nothing was open near our Hotel, so we thot we will go in and ask the Receptionist if he knows of some place open nearby. As we entered the Hotel, he was like…wait…and he picked up an iPhone from his desk…OMG…OMG…I just shouted: "You must be kidding me?"…This was unbelievable…This was unreal…He said" You guys are really lucky, I have never seen this happen before...ever". Apparently, our Taxi Driver saw the Phone and went to the Flamenco show place…as he had no clue where we were staying…he got our details from the Club Manager and drove all the way back to our Hotel to give us the iPhone back, Can you believe it? He didn’t leave his details or a number…so he didn’t expect anything from us. I don’t know what to say. This is the best thing that has happened to us.

Same as how the Boy from the Movie put the Priest on the Spot...this Taxi Driver put me on the Spot...I don’t know what to say after this....I don’t have Faith in people. It is hard for me to Trust. I am super paranoid and I am always Doubting. I just want to Believe more and Trust more and Have a lot of Faith !!

Down in the Town !!

Streets never sleep
Where I live…

It’s always Singing and Dancing around
It’s hard to miss the upbeat sound...

The people and the places, The smiles and the faces
Elegance is always glowing...

It’s a friends destination and Lovers paradise
The Bars and the Dance Floor are always shining bright…

Oh the Police and the Ambulance siren
You do have to make some compromise…

When the clock ticks an hour the Bell sounds
It’s like a signal to keep moving on with your Life...

I am at peace in the middle of this commotion
This sure feels like an once in a Lifetime...