Dear Friends!
The wish to plan a home of our dreams. It goes through our minds all the time. when we have enough time we plan it on paper too. How many are able to see it reality?
Many who are employed. With banks coming to help in making this dream a reality. Certainly this is the true cause of why land and real estate prices shooting past a middle class family's reach yet with the temptation of getting easy loans from banks for highly priced flats or plot of land it is possible now to realize it anyway.
Like they say, one thing leads to another, so too are bank loans responsible for our youth not kicking up jobs unless it is for a better and more lucrative job offer. We are bound to the bank in such a way that we keep paying up the monthly installment whether there's money for our basic necessities except for that costly roof over our heads under which it keeps worrying about the next monthly payment :D
Now for the planning part of our sweet home sweet. Do we have any choice really? It is the builder who gives out the plan and we just take it or move on to yet another builder. The business of satisfying a human mind about living spaces is very complex one indeed!! At the bargain prices that we want to fit everything fit for a king.
Before I forget, plans which comply with principles of Vaastu. In case the planning is over and correction as per Vaastu becomes a costly affair then Feng-Shui steps in to ward off effects of such bad planning. Are all these things a thing of the mind? Our minds question the very basis of such concepts passed down from ancient times by our wise ancestors. As I think more on Vaastu I find it is more a way to live in harmony with nature than the scare of not complying with it or worse still following it blindly and being superstitious about it.
Well more on this later when time permits!
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi
Showing posts with label Job. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Job. Show all posts
Friday, April 16, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
To Desire For More
Dear Readers,
I remember when I was in school and the rank I got always mattered to me as well as those around me.
I would like to have said I was the first in class but the ranks would always be within the first 5. Mostly the 3rd rank till about the 8th standard.
I have prayed to lord Ganesha for the 2nd rank in exchange of an offering of a coconut! But 3rd it was most times.
Then due to the Telangana agitation in the late sixties and early seventies, all of us lost one year at school or college. So my uncle who had just started a tutorial college found a private candidate in me appearing for the 11th HSC straight without even decently finishing my 9th standard from Vivek Vardhini Kanya Shala, Hyderabad!
I remember we were just 4 candidates appearing that year for the HSC from Sri Vidya Tutorials.
I was the topper having secured a second class! After seeing my results I thought God could have given me a first class. This trend seemed to follow my thinking through my higher education. If I got 62% I would think how nice if I had got distinction. If I scored a distinction, I would think how nice if I could have got the gold medal. I realized how futile it is to think about the results after they have come out!
I had friends who scored different percentages and their reactions were anything but hilarious when heard out. X felt she could have at least got pass marks as she had failed in the B.Com. Y felt she could have got a 2nd division but she got only a 3rd which disappointed her a lot. I got a 2d division and thought I could have done with a higher
2nd! Well there appeared to be really no end to this kind of wanting..
Then came a time when I started earning. If the pay was Rs.200/-per month I would dream of what I could have done if my pay was Rs.300/- There seemed to be no end to this cycle until I was at the cross roads in the year 1996 with no interest in working for others. Realization came that we can lead a simple life with simple wants and earn just that minimum which can see us through every month. So it was time to set up a business and pick projects my husband and I could easily handle. There was no dearth for engineering projects and we worked for some of the best companies and star hotel groups for the past
15 years now. We earned more than we expected. At times we had to employ 8 boys to see us through some important projects. I have no regrets and no high expectations either. Life is simple when kept to the bare minimum. That does not however mean that we don’t enjoy life or living. We are still able to get the best out of life through the various interests we have cultivated over a period of time.
But the main thing in all this was the studious avoiding of comparing ourselves with anyone, be it our own siblings who were doing well nor our relatives or friends. I think if we are past caring about petty things we can enjoy our lives being satisfied with what we have and not crib about not having something which is out of reach.
Psst… having said all the above I have one confession to make though. Over a period of time we have accumulated so many things at home which we don’t use. They occupy space in the lofts above. Both of us have made a promise that we should clear the things we have not missed using over a period of one year. Then and only then can we truly call ours a simple living. Now this is a new project which requires our attention!!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
I remember when I was in school and the rank I got always mattered to me as well as those around me.
I would like to have said I was the first in class but the ranks would always be within the first 5. Mostly the 3rd rank till about the 8th standard.
I have prayed to lord Ganesha for the 2nd rank in exchange of an offering of a coconut! But 3rd it was most times.
Then due to the Telangana agitation in the late sixties and early seventies, all of us lost one year at school or college. So my uncle who had just started a tutorial college found a private candidate in me appearing for the 11th HSC straight without even decently finishing my 9th standard from Vivek Vardhini Kanya Shala, Hyderabad!
I remember we were just 4 candidates appearing that year for the HSC from Sri Vidya Tutorials.
I was the topper having secured a second class! After seeing my results I thought God could have given me a first class. This trend seemed to follow my thinking through my higher education. If I got 62% I would think how nice if I had got distinction. If I scored a distinction, I would think how nice if I could have got the gold medal. I realized how futile it is to think about the results after they have come out!
I had friends who scored different percentages and their reactions were anything but hilarious when heard out. X felt she could have at least got pass marks as she had failed in the B.Com. Y felt she could have got a 2nd division but she got only a 3rd which disappointed her a lot. I got a 2d division and thought I could have done with a higher
2nd! Well there appeared to be really no end to this kind of wanting..
Then came a time when I started earning. If the pay was Rs.200/-per month I would dream of what I could have done if my pay was Rs.300/- There seemed to be no end to this cycle until I was at the cross roads in the year 1996 with no interest in working for others. Realization came that we can lead a simple life with simple wants and earn just that minimum which can see us through every month. So it was time to set up a business and pick projects my husband and I could easily handle. There was no dearth for engineering projects and we worked for some of the best companies and star hotel groups for the past
15 years now. We earned more than we expected. At times we had to employ 8 boys to see us through some important projects. I have no regrets and no high expectations either. Life is simple when kept to the bare minimum. That does not however mean that we don’t enjoy life or living. We are still able to get the best out of life through the various interests we have cultivated over a period of time.
But the main thing in all this was the studious avoiding of comparing ourselves with anyone, be it our own siblings who were doing well nor our relatives or friends. I think if we are past caring about petty things we can enjoy our lives being satisfied with what we have and not crib about not having something which is out of reach.
Psst… having said all the above I have one confession to make though. Over a period of time we have accumulated so many things at home which we don’t use. They occupy space in the lofts above. Both of us have made a promise that we should clear the things we have not missed using over a period of one year. Then and only then can we truly call ours a simple living. Now this is a new project which requires our attention!!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Welcome back!
I have to welcome myself back on my own blog as I had great difficulty in getting in all these past 11 days.
with help from my son, Ananth, I am back!
Discipline it is again.
I have seen many servant maids come and go.
Those who did good work were never regular! 2 days they would come and 4 days they would take unannounced offs. Some story about a granny who died twice before, conking off yet another time, would be the lame excuse with a request for some advance to meet some urgent ritual expenses. This went on and on with as many maids I pressed into service.
Those who dint work properly too never came regularly!!
I was in search of that perfect maid who would come to work, come rain or shine.
I used to get so upset at their demands and irregularity that I preferred to do all the top work on my own. This went on for 2 years and I would feel tired all through the day.
It was so difficult to work at the bartan, kapda and jhadoo poncha.
It was after a while I realized how much labor-oriented it was to work at all this. I started appreciating their stamina to do all these jobs in one go whereas I would take breaks between doing vessels, sweeping and mopping.
I kept praying for an angel to rescue me from this work though my husband would try and help whenever he could. There were times when I might have felt he could help with more work. It was quite selfish of me to expect too much from anyone.
Then my angel came one day just before the dasera of 2008. She was told her jobs so that there is no khit pit later. Come what may she would do the jobs for the day. Only she would come in at any time it was convenient for her! but come she would which was such a big relief. If she came in the late hours then she would just do the vessels. Its been like this till today which is a pretty long time for anyone to stick around one house. For my part I would always look for opportunities (read festivals) to give her a bit of extra money as gift and good sarees. She would not eat anything. Nor would she drink tea or coffee. strictly one time work so that I am not also required to supervise her work twice or thrice in a day.
Since she would come each day I would be tempted to give her more work but paid her extra. There came a time when she said she may not be able to handle extra work. First I felt very angry. But on second thoughts I felt it is good we draw the line somewhere for ourselves too. She was doing the contracted work (*no washing of clothes though) everyday without fail and that should be fine with me. The biggest positive factor was that she will come for work. She did when there was flooding in our street up to the hips! She came wading through slush to work. Whenever I get angry I force myself to think of her coming on the days when there was heavy rains or when she had fever, she would insist she must clean the vessels at least.
Still there is one issue which keeps cropping between us. She comes in anytime from 10.30am till 7pm. As a result I could not move out or ask my aged mother to keep an eye which was impossible as age makes my mom too tired to monitor such activities for long.
Someone had to be home. Was I asking for too much from her? Coming on time would save both of us so much bother of waiting. I could wait till a specific hour and go out for my own work.
Of recent she seems to have realized that even I have to go out and she cant keep me waiting each day.
This past week she has been coming in by 11am which is fine.
We think is it such a big issue at all worth mentioning on a blog. It is. Because this is also a part, nay an important part, of our daily lives.
*I bought a washing machine to take off the load of washing clothes by hand. I felt very liberated and free from day one of using it. But I had to dry the clothes. If the clothes were dirty I had to remember to scrub them before putting them in the washer! Yet it was a huge comfort for me. I could run it anytime I wanted to. As a rule we wash clothes each and every day without fail. No accumulating of soiled clothes.
Then there was this question of which brand to go in for our washing machine.
all were priced more or less the same. I checked with some relatives who owned washing machines for their after-sales services.
I went with the TVS Whirlpool brand. I am glad I did that. It has such a lovely servicing team when the machine conks off. I get a response the same day. The machine is repaired the same day.
I remember on the eve of a pongal day in 2007 I think, my washing machine went kaput. I rang the toll free number. They said since it was a festival holiday it could be after 2 days yet they would try. But try and repair it the next day if possible. I dint believe they would manage to send a man on pongal, an important festival in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. I really felt touched and this alone has never made me go in for any other brand in exchange schemes. I have retained my machine for the past 12 years with an AMC in place as the warranty period got over long back.
Its not the brand but the after sales service which is important.
It is not the job or the person but the assurance of both.
These are small issues but these small assurances and comforts are invaluable. Often I end up asking myself whether it is good to depend so heavily on another person. The answer I get from within is - as long as this person wants to lend her services for money it is alright. Just sit back and relax while the going is good. Deal with the problem when it arises but dont kill yourself worrying about it!
I think I more than made up for my longish absence!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
with help from my son, Ananth, I am back!
Discipline it is again.
I have seen many servant maids come and go.
Those who did good work were never regular! 2 days they would come and 4 days they would take unannounced offs. Some story about a granny who died twice before, conking off yet another time, would be the lame excuse with a request for some advance to meet some urgent ritual expenses. This went on and on with as many maids I pressed into service.
Those who dint work properly too never came regularly!!
I was in search of that perfect maid who would come to work, come rain or shine.
I used to get so upset at their demands and irregularity that I preferred to do all the top work on my own. This went on for 2 years and I would feel tired all through the day.
It was so difficult to work at the bartan, kapda and jhadoo poncha.
It was after a while I realized how much labor-oriented it was to work at all this. I started appreciating their stamina to do all these jobs in one go whereas I would take breaks between doing vessels, sweeping and mopping.
I kept praying for an angel to rescue me from this work though my husband would try and help whenever he could. There were times when I might have felt he could help with more work. It was quite selfish of me to expect too much from anyone.
Then my angel came one day just before the dasera of 2008. She was told her jobs so that there is no khit pit later. Come what may she would do the jobs for the day. Only she would come in at any time it was convenient for her! but come she would which was such a big relief. If she came in the late hours then she would just do the vessels. Its been like this till today which is a pretty long time for anyone to stick around one house. For my part I would always look for opportunities (read festivals) to give her a bit of extra money as gift and good sarees. She would not eat anything. Nor would she drink tea or coffee. strictly one time work so that I am not also required to supervise her work twice or thrice in a day.
Since she would come each day I would be tempted to give her more work but paid her extra. There came a time when she said she may not be able to handle extra work. First I felt very angry. But on second thoughts I felt it is good we draw the line somewhere for ourselves too. She was doing the contracted work (*no washing of clothes though) everyday without fail and that should be fine with me. The biggest positive factor was that she will come for work. She did when there was flooding in our street up to the hips! She came wading through slush to work. Whenever I get angry I force myself to think of her coming on the days when there was heavy rains or when she had fever, she would insist she must clean the vessels at least.
Still there is one issue which keeps cropping between us. She comes in anytime from 10.30am till 7pm. As a result I could not move out or ask my aged mother to keep an eye which was impossible as age makes my mom too tired to monitor such activities for long.
Someone had to be home. Was I asking for too much from her? Coming on time would save both of us so much bother of waiting. I could wait till a specific hour and go out for my own work.
Of recent she seems to have realized that even I have to go out and she cant keep me waiting each day.
This past week she has been coming in by 11am which is fine.
We think is it such a big issue at all worth mentioning on a blog. It is. Because this is also a part, nay an important part, of our daily lives.
*I bought a washing machine to take off the load of washing clothes by hand. I felt very liberated and free from day one of using it. But I had to dry the clothes. If the clothes were dirty I had to remember to scrub them before putting them in the washer! Yet it was a huge comfort for me. I could run it anytime I wanted to. As a rule we wash clothes each and every day without fail. No accumulating of soiled clothes.
Then there was this question of which brand to go in for our washing machine.
all were priced more or less the same. I checked with some relatives who owned washing machines for their after-sales services.
I went with the TVS Whirlpool brand. I am glad I did that. It has such a lovely servicing team when the machine conks off. I get a response the same day. The machine is repaired the same day.
I remember on the eve of a pongal day in 2007 I think, my washing machine went kaput. I rang the toll free number. They said since it was a festival holiday it could be after 2 days yet they would try. But try and repair it the next day if possible. I dint believe they would manage to send a man on pongal, an important festival in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. I really felt touched and this alone has never made me go in for any other brand in exchange schemes. I have retained my machine for the past 12 years with an AMC in place as the warranty period got over long back.
Its not the brand but the after sales service which is important.
It is not the job or the person but the assurance of both.
These are small issues but these small assurances and comforts are invaluable. Often I end up asking myself whether it is good to depend so heavily on another person. The answer I get from within is - as long as this person wants to lend her services for money it is alright. Just sit back and relax while the going is good. Deal with the problem when it arises but dont kill yourself worrying about it!
I think I more than made up for my longish absence!
Cheers!
Mahalakshmi
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