Voteing

I did it!!!!! Finally I voted! For the first time in my life I cast my vote. The long wait from the day I got my name registered is finally over. Today, I cast my vote in the LokSabha elections.
It was a good experience. I was a bit tensed because I had to go to the polling station alone as my parents have electoral duty. But everything went fine. There was a good crowd at my poling station. Saw many familiar faces in the crowd. The most heartening scene was that of really old and handicapped people coming up to vote. The number of youngsters was also not very bad.
All the reports coming in suggest that this time the polling rate is going to be better than the last years 60-70% in Kerala.

I think this time around the election campaigning was a bit different from the previous ones. Now, that might be because I never really took much interest in the previous elections. ;)
The candidates have all gone tech savvy this time. They are utilizing a lot of new technologies in their campaignings. Through web portals, sms, mails, ringtones and caller tunes they have been trying to etch their names and symbols into our minds. Networking sites have also been abuzz with politics with some candidates even spreading their messages through their profiles. Some candidates have even come up with music albums to promote their parties. Few days ago some party workers had visited my neighborhood to show first time voters like me a live demo on the formalities of voting. Telivisions were also full of hot debates between the candidates and the public.
Anyway all the political dramas are going to settle down for a while now as the elections are over. But then everyone is waiting eagerly for the results to come. Even I feel curious to see if the candidate I voted for has really made it…

The Alchemist

I just finished ‘The Alchemist’ by Paulo Coelho and I thought I ought to let you guys know about it. It was a very interesting book. The kind, you can’t just put down. I’m not generally interested in travelogues. But this one was different. It’s not quite the travelogue kind more about chasing dreams. I had a long lost dream of visiting the mystique Himalayas, a dream I had long forgotten but this book rekindled the dream in me to explore, to trod the untrodden paths and discover the beauty of god’s creations….

The protagonist. Santiago is a boy who has shown the courage and willpower to chase his dreams throwing away all the social stigmas. He chose the wandering and less recognized life of a shepherd to a life of farmer. This is a story of how he overcomes the hurdles along the path, learning from the people and places some of the most valuable lessons of his life.
The story teaches us that the first step in realizing your dreams is realizing yourself. Harnessing the immense potential from within and believing in the path shown by the heart..
A line that is often quoted in the book goes,” When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it”. Sounds familiar? Well this was the catch line in our very own bollywood blockbuster ‘Om Shanti Om’!! But true to the core…

The Monk who Sold his Ferrari

Today I’ll tell you guys about the book I’m reading right now- ‘The monk who sold his Ferrari’ by Robin Sharma. It had first caught my attention when it topped the Bestseller list some time ago. Way then I liked the title and the Indian ness in the author’s name. Like all Indians, my heart too gets stuck easily with internationally acknowledged ‘Indian makes’. I did hear that the book dwelt a lot on spirituality and that made me more interested (You see, spirituality is my latest field of interest).

I loved those praises showered on India and her philosophies. There where a lot of motivating and really exciting concepts in the book. The kind of stuff you read in the Indian spiritual texts but with a very modern approach. ‘The heart of the rose technique’ sounds good. But that’s not one for me. Can’t waste money on buying a rose everyday (The price of flowers are rocketing as if recession really got there too). I often use a more simple way for meditation. When I feel really bored or stressed out, I start counting down from 100 to 0, visualizing each number. If I’m really feeling crazy, I try out counting from 200 or even 300.I find it very effective for me. It helps me fill the voids with meditation. You don’t need any specific time or place for doing it. When I get bored waiting for bus or when I’m feeling really sleepy on a lecture hour I use this.
The book on a whole is a lot of ideas rolled into binds with a few characters strewn across it. If you are really into philosophy and spirituality or need a bit of boost, you might like this one.I wish the author could just give us a break once in a while to empty our cup.;)