A Season of Faith's Perfection

Its that month of the year in which days become short, and nights become long. Mornings are mellowed by the weak sun's rays that lack warmth and evenings are chilled by cold winds.

But its also that time of the year where you get to spend a lot more time with yourself, as outings with friends and late hours are rarely an option in the cold winter evenings. Well, as i stayed at home sitting in my warm blanket , drowsy with loads of pending academic work and semester preparation, i had failed to decide what to do and how to plan my preparation. Still confused, i went in my garden to take my mind off the load of tons of preparation i still have to do. Well, living in the city beautiful has an advantage for the very reason that you have ample space allocated to housing. Well owing to that, i walked into the spacious, very perfectly maintained ,gardened lawn in my backyard.

All these years , i had rarely visited my garden and sat there for a while enjoying the winters sun peeping through the leaves of the Gulmohar tree which is still standing tall. Nevertheless , i pulled out the old garden cane chair and had my place among the beautiful crotons , dahlia and the beautiful roses which appeared to have blossomed magnificently in the winters prime. As i sat in the chair, i could feel the chill in the air. It was around 5 in the evening and the sun was already going down. It was very quiet and peaceful and i could hear the birds chirping in their nest, they had made amidst the branches of the tree which was their perfect utopia. Random thoughts ran across my mind, completely engaging me with the nature. I was left in the bewilderment of why i had never been to my garden before. Nothing much could i have justified myself with but the excuse that i always give,, " I have been kept busy with my engagements".

To be honest, my excuse is not all that lame, as i have been really busy in college with loads of activities which only recently i had acquitted myself of.

As i was discerning the reasons of my negligence, something had dawned on me. I realized that i had always taken my family for granted like the very garden which i had neglected all these years. And the very reason i had done so was for the knowledge that i could always come back. My family was completely oblivious of the plethora of things that i was involved in and even i rarely cared to inform them where i was or what i was doing. I dont know when i had become so aloof in my life that i forgot the fact the there is someone back home waiting. I have been blessed with the kind of experiences i have gone through all these years, but all have come at some price. The price has been the distance which has been growing with time.

My thought broke as i saw a squirrel run down the tree to the pot where my mother had put some feed for them. And she used to do this daily. I wondered how many such moments i might have missed. My friends in hostel used to say that they missed their home sometimes. I had deprived myself of all these moments of home inspite of staying at home. Well, the reason is that we dont realize the importance of something or someone untill we miss it or untill it is not with us. I had never realized the importance of my family because i always considered them to be with me.

I always considerd them to understand and they always did. Their faith has been perfect, unraffled , undisturbed and unparalled in me. I felt guilty and disappointed in myself for the numerous things i might have done in this period to let them down which they werent even aware of. So many wrong decisions, so many mistakes, so many fall outs that i had done in this period, yet they had faith in me. They never questioned me which made me feel guilty of taking advantage of their trust.

Lost in my thought, it was almost dusk and an hour had passed. The sun was setting and it was getting dark. I chose to sit till the dark enjoying the moments i had missed for long, with my garden that i had neglected for so long. As i sat there for few moments more till the stars appeared in this cold winter night sky, i was left with the question. A question to which only i was the answer, and the question was that how many more such moments would i let go. And with this question i walked in to the house with just the heartfelt gratitude towards my family for their perfect faith.

Confused !!!!

Hey,,, its been quite some time now that i put my thoughts to words and expressed what i felt.

But I am faced with a dilemma of how and what to write as i am confused. Well, confused about where i am , and what i am doing. Well, i read somewhere that whenever you are confused write down what you are confused about and your confusion will become defined as a problem for which you can find a solution. So this brings me back to my writing pad. I miss writing ,,, i miss expressing,,, i miss my words . It feels like i haven't really let myself out of the inner closet for the fear that my opinions and belief's may be judged wrong and misinterpreted, for the baseless excuses that i satisfy myself with of not having enough time to write down what i feel. Well, since i am here, i really dont know whether i should express my confusion or just go with the flow of my thoughts as i enjoy the pleasure of spontanity more than expression of my confusion.

Well, hows my life going is a question i ask myself a lot.... And the truth is i am waiting for things to become right, hoping for something great and recuperating from the loses i have suffered. But my patience is running out. I have always been the one who has been incharge of my own life. Never left anything to get sorted in course of time. But i am here waiting for time to go my way and take its course. And its annoying me. I want to pull the strings but feel as if i am not in the driving seat. I m not driving my life. I am not in control. I am being driven by circumstances but instead i want to create my own circumstances. The only thought that i pacify myself with is that patience bears sweet fruit. But then again. I guess sooner or later i am going to run out of patience and lose it.

I dont know what i have written. But needed to write something, not to make any sense but to just clear my mind. Well, its still not clear but i needed to do this... Hope to be back again soon....

Time to take Student Tech Clubs online !!!

MICROSOFT PRESENTS "STUDENT TECH CLUB EXPERIENCE"
Microsoft Student Tech Club is an initiative from Microsoft through which it provides a common platform to students to interact and share knowledge. Microsoft firmly believes that a student can gain more while interacting and learning with friends. Through this medium the students can form onlineTechnical Clubs on the website http://www.studenttechclubs.com/ for their Institutes and Organizations that shall be supported by Microsoft.
The students can sign into the website using their Windows Live ID . Another alternative is to create a separate account for the website with your own unique login.Once you have setup your profile on the website search for various tech clubs. You could join any number of student tech clubs.In order to join the group , contact the Group Leader through this platform. The group leader shall provide you the access code needed to access ,participate, edit and add events/data.
Once registered with a particular group one can take part in online live or recorded sessions for that particular group. Students can also add a particular event to the calender or add upcoming events to favourites.
You can also create your own Student Tech Club on this platform. You can find Sponsors and Speakers for your various events. The Group leaders can also create special study groups within the club itself dedicated towards a particular Microsoft Technology. These study groups are especially helpful for those preparing for Microsoft Certifications.The various student tech clubs are supported by organizations like Culminis, INETA and PASS. The tech clubs can register themselves with these organizations. These organizations shall provide the necessary access to logistics and softwares needed for the smooth running of the club.
Further Group leaders are provided with effecient yet simple features to manage the User Group. Bulk mails can be send via this medium to the members of the User Group. Group leaders can also edit the Group data as per the requirements.
Students can also register themselves as speakers for some particular events in which they wish to speak or even as sponsors. The Recommended news and blog sections provide upto date and latest happenings in Microsoft.
All in all this platform provides a wonderful medium for students to interact and learn. For Group leaders it is an easy way to take their club online and manage resources. So what are you waiting for....... JOIN NOW.

Microsoft Student Partner-Its my time to shine.........

Well there are times in life when you don't really know what you are doing or find any meaning in your actions...... All you know is that you are in the "flow" with others......
College life is the fun part of one's life as i can surely say now........ You make friends for life....
The more sincere one's give direction to their life. They have everything decided or planned.
Well i consider myself among those who went with the flow.... hanging out with friends all the time, hardcore study just before the semesters, completing files last minute before the external practicals and in the end managing to escape through without any casualty.
This year i came in contact with a Microsoft Student Partner (MSP in short). He is my immediate senior. He had taken the initiative to start a tech club in my college with primary aim to popularize and promote Microsoft Technologies. He conducted an introductory session on the same. Within minutes i came to realize that an endeavor in this direction will add a lot of value to my mediocre resume. However the kind of competencies that were required dissuaded me a bit. I was initially reluctant to go for the interviews. But like the many mysteries of this world i somehow sat for the interview and to my delight cleared it as well.
Well i was appointed as the Event Manager for one of the sessions. I was given the responsibility for delivering a session on Microsoft Expression. Meanwhile, through the many interactions with my MSP i came to know about student partner program. He had asked me and all my fellow colleagues of the tech club to appear for the exam that Microsoft shall be conducting for recruitments this year.
We applied online , but with no expectations........
Well the test was to be conducted in Delhi and consisted of 2 phases......
The written part was a filtering phase and those shortlisted were to sit in the group discussion.
I travelled all the way to Delhi with my friend and stayed at his place. It was a complete joy ride for me. The thought never crossed my mind, of how big this test was........ An opportunity to work with Microsoft as one of its very few student partners.
I appeared with 8 others from my college. Most of us managed to clear the written test including me and sat for the GD's. The topic that was assigned to my group for the GD was " Is Internet relevant in rural India? ". Well i went through the GD with some ease due to the workshop i had attended a few days back as a part of my MBA training. I came back to Chandigarh with a set of mixed emotions. On one hand i was satisfied with my performance in this ultimate fiasco and on the other anxious of the results. The result was to be declared on the Diwali day(28th October).
Well even the festivities failed to relieve me of my anxiousness. However i managed to pull my sorry self through the festival. After a delay of 3 days the result finally came out on 31st. I was ecstatic on receiving my confirmation as the Microsoft Student Partner. There was jubilation across the household on my selection........ Enough to push me to the seventh heaven.........

I never planned for this to happen but i must say that the really fun and adventure comes along unexpected paths........
Never miss out on an opportunity just because you judge yourself to be incapable or incompetent. The real incapability lies in judging yourself this way.
So for all those who had always led a planned life , a salute from me , for they have missed out on a lot of fun.


Varun ..................