Prashant Ivaturi

I am busy - I complain. I don't have work - I complain. Hmmm... interesting, isn't it? Interesting, my foot! I say " disgusting ". Life can never be just right! We find ways to complain and make our life stressful that we forget to enjoy how involved we are with an activity or how much time we have on hands to do something which means a lot to us. Complain, we do! So much so that it becomes a cliche. So much so that the other person is bored to listen to us. So much so that we procrastinate things. So much so that we create our own mental blocks to under perform. I say let's get a move on and go finish those unfinished tasks, those things which matter to us. Those things of which we are scared in life. Those things that we wanted to save for another day. Life is limited, make the most of it. If you are busy, then how did we get the time to complain? If we have all the time in the world, why do we complain? We don't count our blessings. But yes, complain, we do...

Yesterday, I saw a football game between Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots. Two great teams and two great quarterbacks. Both have a great record this year in the NFL and going into this game, I could not have guessed who would win. Looking at the colts record I thought that they might win the match. But two quarters into the game and I felt that the colts were slightly underprepared for this match. But as with many great teams and great players, these guys never gave up. They were trailing by 14 points in the last quarter and went on to win the game 35-34 in the dying moments of the game! Such was their determination to win and their never give up attitude that they continued to grind and eat away at the Patriot's lead. Only if there were more people who could learn from it!

When I had not stepped out of India, if someone had told me that America was a land full of Indians, I would have laughed at them. I had always thought that it was a country with a few hundred thousand Indians spread across the country. That was my impression until I came to Chicago, my first point of entry in the US. I could see that this country had a very high mix of people from all continents, races and religions. And Indians were all over! There were so many Telugu people in the school to which Girija went that I felt as if I had come to Hyderabad or any other city in Andhra. They were all nice and caring people, but this was not how I had pictured America to be. As I took my time to adjust, I realized that these people were necessary to hang out with because they were the only link to what we spoke back home and what we did. We went out to parties together, watched movies, went on long drives and even shared the same tastes. We had pretty much formed a group of our own that we di...

While I wrote the below when I was on the train, I got time to upload it only today Train journeys are one of the best that I can think of any day. Better than the bus, the car or even the flight. Time does not matter when travelling. Place does not matter too, although it does to a little extent. I am on a train to Naperville (Route 59) right now where I will be getting down to go to a Telugu drama practice. I am playing the role of Indra, a mythological God who ruled Swargalokam. It will be the first time that I will be acting in a pauranika naatakam (mythological drama). While the experience is rich, it requires a lot of preparation and hardwork. It takes about an hour on the train from Union Station Chicago to Route 59 on a weekend. Adding the time it takes to reach Union Station and from Route 59 to the venue, the total journey is about 2 hrs. Yet, Girija and I have made several trips this year to participate in various events or just to pay friends a visit. It can be quite painfu...

What-a-tension-filled-match! The first two editions of the IPL have brought an Australian captain and an Indian captain face to face. While it was Warne and Dhoni last year, it is Gili and Jumbo. My heart is racing as I witnesss an absolute thriller. Two teams who were down in the dust had something to prove this year and how they have done! There is absolutely no regrets for the losing team for both the teams have played as champions. The intensity never dipped, the shoulders never drooped and the enthusiasm has been ecstatic! Kudos to Deccan Chargers and Royal Challengers Bangalore!

Like a prisoner looking at the outer world, thinking deeply about the day of his release, there lay my ties in the closet. More than two dozen of them! Yes, my fondness of ties does not die down and I keep collecting them. Of course, in the last couple of years I have not added considerably many more to my wardrobe, but every time I pass by a rack of ties, my mind invariably does the math and finally the brain wins over the heart. As most of my other IT colleagues in the US, I have not had many occasions to bring these valued possessions into broad daylight. They remain locked up in some corner of the closet, taken out only when I need to rearrange my wardrobe. My wife's graduation and a night time boat cruise were the only two times when I could tie that piece of cloth around my neck, and it felt so good - like IV fluids being given to a sick man. :-) And so, when day before yesterday, Suneel (colleague at work) said to me that he had several ties at home and that he was raring to...

The below is not my composition. I received it in mail. Nice one to read :-) A real story ...A conversation between a Soldier and Software Project Manager in Shatabdi Train .... .....An interesting and a must read! Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man. Even the plush comfort of the air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and still not entitled to air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do!! He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use. 'Are you from the software industry sir,' the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car. 'You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today ...

I felt like blogging dafatan... Dafatan - a new word I caught while listening to songs of Delhi-6 and when I searched the web for the meaning, I learnt that it means "all of a sudden" ... just like many of our cravings, wants... Some of the songs of Delhi-6 were so soothing you want them to go on forever. Its one of those must hear albums. Seems like Rahman has been quite busy the entire last year.