Soul Snatchers!!!

The memories still bemoan her,
She cursed the day she was born.
For she prayed for her savior;
To strengthen her when the time comes along.

She used to hear the clock tick on,
And feared when time stood still.
For the demon would soon come along,
And possess her against her will.

The demon was always beastly,
Breaking her, part by part.
He would curse her into secrecy,
To destroy her on speaking out.

Her nights were always sleepless,
The pain would never pass on.
She cried in her loneliness,
She knew she couldn’t go on.

She wanted to confide in someone,
For no one knew her pain.
How she always longed for the demon-
To free her, in disdain.

The demon, since long, has left her,
But the attempt to forget forlorn.
With no faith left in humanity,
Her soulless body wanders on.

(P.S. - child molestation is a heinous crime… it not only chars the body, but also snatches the soul)

What is Love????

Love is when you look at me,
and how it feels to melt in that gaze and be completely mesmerised.

Love is when you speak to me,
and how each and every word becomes a memory etched in history.

Love is when you make me wait,
and the craving is unbearable after the previous good bye.

Love is when you touch me,
and how is makes me feel like you have moved me to my soul.

ONE PARAGRAPH THAT EXPLAINS LIFE!

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in 1983.

From world over, he received letters from his fans, one of which conveyed: "Why does GOD have to select you for such a bad disease"?

To this Arthur Ashe replied:

"The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000 learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'. And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

"Happiness keeps you Sweet,

Trials keep you Strong,

Sorrow keeps you Human,

Failure keeps you humble and Success keeps you glowing,

but only Faith & Attitude Keeps you going"

The above story has a very beautiful message and I had to post in on my blog.

To Mom...With Love..

have I ever told you mom,
when you wanted to hear it the most,
during the fall of dusk and break of dawn,
it is you that I love the most.

you have always been unconditional,
when it comes to your care and love,
you’re the hand that rocks the cradle,
you have earned it, so take a bow.

i see that look of profanity,
in your eyes when I do something wrong,
but then it also showers fidelity,
and you know why I did it all.

you’re the only one to understand mom,
you’re my light in a dark hall,
i know you’re there to fall back on,
you’re sure to hold me when I fall.

i promise to be there for you mom,
till my breath should ever seize,
you know the umbilical cord has been cut,
but the connection will never cease.

The Pursuit of Happiness

Do we know what the ultimate goal in our life is? Do we even know why we work our ass off each and everyday?

Majority of the people will laugh at this question. Who has the time to give it a thought? On the other hand, the minority will be content with the realization that there is something they know that others do not.

Let me assure you that I am in the majority. It was not until some person persisted me to give an answer to this simple question, that I realised this is something that has never crossed my mind. Our life has become like a ship treading in a violent storm. We never have control over it. It’s the external winds that decide where we are heading.

So leaving aside the entire melodramatic pre-explanation let me go directly into the eye of the storm and explain what started this discussion. I had to fly down to Kerala on sudden notice due to the demise of my uncle. A man who lived his life to the fullest. All our cousins had flown down to pay their last respects.


The cremation was to happen the next day. Therefore, there was a full night we had to stay awake and ensure that the lamp (which is kept besides the body) remains lit. One of my cousins and me decided to sit up the whole night. We were having discussions right from politics to global affairs. We gradually started connecting. This is his description for how we were enraptured in what each of us had to say. He says the connection was between the “I” and “I”, and not the bodies. The “I” is the soul inside you. It was like transcendental meditation. We knew we were transcending into a sphere very surreal and that this conversation had a purpose.

He suddenly popped up the question; “Nishanth, what is your ultimate goal in life?”

My answer was like how any normal person would respond.

I said; “To do well in life.”

He asked; “Why do you want to do well in life?”

That made me think. I had no answer to that. Well, it’s not like everyday a person asks you at midnight about why you want to do well in life. He could see that I was one of those confused lots and decided to ease the torture and started with the explanation.

He said; “The ultimate goal of any person in life is to attain happiness."

I was sitting and reminiscing, how can that be possible. The explanation that he came up with just boggled me out of this universe.

He said; “Our only aim to do anything in life is to attain happiness. We earn money and that gives us happiness. We listen to music and that brings about happiness in us. We get a promotion and that makes us happy. We eat a chocolate and that makes us happy. We buy a car and that makes us happy. In a nutshell, everything we do in life is to be happy.”

That struck me like a bolt of lighting. Why did I not know that? It was the ultimate truth. We live our lives just to be happy. Whatever we do leads us to happiness. For all our relationships, the final variable is happiness.

We spoke until six in the morning about how to do things in life to achieve happiness, which is pretty complex and cannot be penned down. However, suddenly after this conversation my thought process took a complete 180 degrees spin.

We talk about how to be happy when we do not realize that the small things we do in our everyday lives is ultimately leading us there. I had to journalize these thoughts to let everyone know about this.

I hope by reading this conversation, few ships have decided to use the rudder to steer in the direction they want their lives to go. Well, for others who are still confused, I strongly recommend you to connect with a person who inspires you the most and understand these simple but profound facts of life.

Cheers!!

Intent Vs Pre-Conditioning

I know how annoyed we feel when someone hurts us or uses foul language at us.I completely understand how we feel like blasting that person into Stone Age.

However, one of my wise cousins acquainted me with a concept of “Intent Vs Pre-Conditioning”. According to this concept, no human being would intentionally think wrong about someone else. This is known as their intent. I would never feel like hurting a person I meet for the first time. No soul would ever do that. The person is hurting you because you have done something either wrong to him/her or based on his /her pre-conditioning. Something wrong must have happened in that person’s personal life that he/she is venting out the frustration and anger on you.

It sounds very logical when you think of it. However, I know how difficult it is to keep all this in mind when a person is throwing abuses at you. However, have we ever thought about the possibility of converting this pre-conditioning into intent?

I know it sounds absurd. Nevertheless, I am sure there must have been instances in our lives wherein we have been successful in making this happen. What we must realize is that when a person hurts us, he/she is never happy about what they have done. Deep inside, they are as much hurt as you. I know it is easy to read something like this but difficult to absorb. However, what we do not understand is that reacting in a negative way in such situations only hurts us. So it is always a “lose-lose” situation.

So the next time someone does wrong to you, take sometime to grasp the situation and react accordingly. I know this concept may not be applicable to each situation. But who knows, even if we are able to convert 10 percent of such situations from pre-conditioning to intent, this world will be a better place.

Cheers!!!

Hell Freezes over – Adapting the Logan AC system for India

They say we need fire to kill fire, or heat to kill heat. However, in our case it is a cooling system which had to be powerful enough to freeze the sun, specially blended to suit Indian requirements. The cooling system is similar in comparison to the right hand drive Dacia Logan. Only the geometry has been modified to cater to the left hand drive packaging needs. The compressor used is a Sanden “SD7V16”, which is the choice of many OEM’s like Renault, Honda, VW, and BMW. The main advantage of the compressor is its high quality control and competitive pricing. For the AC hoses too we had to modify the geometry to suit the new space constraints imposed by the left hand drive layout of the car.

In the initial development phases, there were hardly any issues since the whole car was being imported, however many problems cropped up as we started manufacturing the cars here and ran them through extensive cross-country tests. They say that in case there are no issues in development, an engineer is not required! However, the issue we faced with the compressor was something quite uncalled for. In the first durability testing vehicle testing in Northern India during the winter months, we observed that for some unknown reason, the AC pressure used to drop and there were functioning problems. After deep study by the engineering team here, we realized that the culprit was ice formation in the evaporator. “Freezing” as it is called in tech speak. For this, there was a lot of discussion taking place, and it was finally decided to change the specification of the compressor. The low pressure side was set to operate at a higher pressure than earlier to counter this. The issue was resolved however, it cost us rework on around 300 cars and a lot of time and labor.

The development of the AC hoses was not smooth sailing either because issues used to pop up more frequently. The hoses are a flexible part and their design is influenced greatly by the shapes of other components in the engine bay. It is rare to get a routing part, first time right. If there is no fouling with some component or the other, you are surely in a dream! It was a great experience to sit down, brainstorm to find the root cause of the issues, and how can it be countered.

We are currently doing some modifications, which are being done as part of cost saving. These are part of an ongoing process throughout the life of the car, aimed at making the car cheaper and more value for money for our customers. Ultimately, it was a great experience being in the hot seat, so that our customers can enjoy the cool!