SpeakOut#16 - Kerala becoming the new work destination?

I used to say always that Keralites would be the only people to inhabit their own land by majority and yet migrate to other lands and grow out whether in India or abroad for work and settlement.

I never thought there would be a day when my opinion would change. Alas! it has changed.

Wherever I go now, I notice people from outside the state. Although majority of the migrants are from the neighboring states which is not a new thing around the country, I for one person never thought it could happen. It must be the labour-starvation that made this happen, but even the white-collar job hunt is going on here from outside.

Even as I was having tea outside at a hotel this morning and brooding over this matter, two people next to me started to converse after having their food and I realised they were outsiders too.

Call it my weird Keralite pride! Somehow this has made me happy that people from outside come here to work. Plus, a lot of people here can start learning other languages and dealing with people from all kinds.

But now I wonder whether a day will come when Keralites will complain about their work being stolen here?

SpeakOut#15 - Zurker, a new SocialNetwork

So a few days back, I came across this site called Zurker which my friend referred me to.

It appears, this is the latest rival in the SocialNetwork field created by the twins from whom Mark Zuckerburg stole the idea of Facebook.

As Zurker is in beta test at the moment, you can only join on referral.
Want to checkout Zurker? then check my referral http://www.zurker.net/i-79306-jdjymwayun

What is great about Zurker is that it claims to make all new members shareholders of its site! YEP, you gain a share in this site when you're a member and you can grow them more by referring it to more people!

BUT I DONT BELIEVE ANY OF IT AND IT FAILED TO IMPRESS ME!

SpeakOut#14 - Bonding over a cup of coffee :)

It may be at the movies. At the bowling center. A hangout at home or outside. At the usual cafe.
While shopping. Over a coffee. Over some pizza. During a ride. May be just a get together where you get back to your crazy self. And not to forget, chatting!

There is always a standard setup which gets you bond with a person anew. It also applies to get back with your friends to return you to your normal self from your stress filled day or to refill the gap when meeting after a really long time.

I've felt this is why we keep our hang-outs because they help you to be yourselves with your people and even relive your good times even when things dont feel like anything possible as such (only in the most drastic cases of one's life).

During high-school, my friends and I used to meet up at any of the usual cafes or at our friend's place.
During college, its been usually at the college canteen or at a shop near the ashram that runs our college or just at anyone's house.

You can open up about what you felt that day or during previous ones.
Make new friends and concrete the foundation on something you built new.
Laugh about memories and smile with them recovering from those that pinched you before.

Do you want to have a cup of coffee? :)

SpeakOut#13 - Always think before you judge?

Always talking from your own experiences is the most authentic source perhaps for a person to convince others or teach others.

 I chose that method recently when I had to talk or express my ideas. In my last blog citing incidents at the airport, I pointed out about not passing me as one who is judgemental.

Why? It is so because all of us tend to judge others without giving a thorough thought. A day before leaving for U.A.E. last month, I was chilling with my friends after getting done with an exam and we get onto the topic of me leaving for holidays. A friend then joked teasingly saying 'so Alen returns to Abu Dhabi finally as a Man eh?' to which I replied 'Haha, yeah right. I was man enough when I had come here. What is it that you have done which I haven't man?'.
He gave me a reply which although didn't fit the topic gave me a thought as hard as a brick hitting my head. A thought which brought me back to earth.
He answered 'I felt the comfort of running tap water recently, have you?'


Everyday in his life, my friend had to draw water from the well till the bucket went full and carry it to his
house whether he needed it to drink or for something else; until recently when he installed a motor and could just open the tap to get water. It was a new thing in his life.

Such a feeling isn't known to most of us who blindly get anything with ease when we need it.


Although my question to him was not meant seriously in the slightest manner, it reminded me how we go on to judge about how others are, what they do, how we are better, how some people behave etc. but our conclusions aren't always true.

'To put yourself in another's shoe' is a phrase that we could profess than proceeding to judge someone.

GoodToListen#2 - Beethoven's 5 Secrets - OneRepublic (Cello/Orchestral Cover) - The Piano Guys

although I do have some songs lined up to share and pending, I felt this had to be shared ASAP!

an amazing rendition.

SpeakOut#12 - Peculiar people I saw at the Airport

So three days back, I was unloading myself and my bags from an auto early at 5 in the morning, the sun still away from the horizons of Trivandrum. Yet the people were awake and living around the city. The airport looked busier than it usually did during the day and so I guessed that it was probably the prime time for the airport.

I was excited about going to Abu Dhabi finally after a year and that made me anxious about how I fare through the airport procedures without having a problem. Due to that cautiousness, I noticed how the people, the crowds around me that walked in general turned to peculiar characters in the flight to Sharjah which I was going to board.

There was a man who struggles to speak English and yet asks the lady at the airport cafe in English while she replies nicely in Malayalam. He stuck to talking English still and made her reply struggling too. She speaks better yet the whole thing looked awkward. In the end he inquired of every price there and bought cheap thinking he did good  but still managed to wipe out his budget.

There was a lady around her 50s who did not know to speak a word or write other than from Malayalam. She got around the whole way by talking and it seemed like it was all she did. Everything that she found hard to do, she accomplished it by complaining or shouting around the passengers who would then oblige to do it for her. It was evident by this that where she was going, it was for household work and I wondered if she would get her work done there by talking alone too.

Keralites, as we ourselves have noticed, are people who mostly find it hard to do certain jobs because it doesn't stand upto their statuses yet go abroad to find themselves work for all those things they didn't like to go for at their native place.

Another person I noticed was a man who with his wife and 3 children was stopped at the last scanning area before the boarding gate because he had 3 huge family size bottles of water in his bagpack. It is against rules to carry liquid above 100ml and here this guy had 3 huge bottles. The guy reasoned by saying it was for his young daughter. The security then allowed them to carry a bottle however the man still persisted on wanting to carry 3 bottles! He finally took a bottle and left after the security repeated his offer several times even when he didn't need to.

That man even after being given a good offer although he was the one in violation still couldn't accept it when he was the one doing the wrong.

Don't pass me as judgemental. This is how we can notice things around and at times we can see bits of ourselves around through these things and even probably keep such incidents as reminders and mend ourselves. It was quite amusing to watch them too as I had nothing else to do other than passing off the airport procedures which was not much work.

SpeakOut#11 - Easter Resolution!

I'm a very restless person. Cranky and grumpy infact lots of times. Resulted due to a habit of shoving away things that bother me.
Earlier, I was very good at shutting it inside and letting me and myself interfere with my problems and finish it. That was, however, plain burying it down somewhere until it came back to bug me real bad.
Then I learned to express it out somehow and it has been a good way to vent out, although keeping it inside or letting it out later still gives me a big headache for a while.
I had noticed that it gave me a bonus to burdens by adding a lot of stress to my face and body. I've only looked older because of it and that should prove how many changes one goes through in looks by stress alone.
However, by God's grace the smile my face can put up has been bigger than ever. He probably let me have that one thing to put down these problems.
I've realised that dealing with it at the earliest chance and clearing my mind from these unnecessary pounds of waste can take off a great deal of weight from my heart and wrinkles of my face. Talk about an effective anti-aging process along with those anti-oxidants from wine and ketchup :)

Why a resolution now and not one for New Years? Why hopes up for this resolution?
I'll work for this resolution from Easter because it is something way more special to me than New-Year's.
An oath taken between myself and God to keep the lent and reach the special day. I can finish that.

One of the mini-hurdles accomplished in life with ease, I can say for He is with me always.
So I keep another one for Him and me. Looking forward to accomplishing this effectively.
A good deed done to others along to myself hehe. May God be with us all.
Happy Easter! Our Lord has risen!

Our Lord has risen! Hallelujah!