Friday, March 28, 2008

Sachin - a masterpiece par excellence

A lot has been said about Sachin. Need I add more? Lets see a few great words from ppl, who have carved a niche for themselves.




In terms of technique and compactness, Tendulkar is the best
Desmond Haynes.




I have watched a lot of Tendulkar and we have spoken to each other a lot. He has it in him to be among the very best
Sir Garfield Sobers.



He is 99.5 per cent perfect. I'd pay to see him
Viv Richards.



I saw him playing on television and was struck by his technique, so I asked my wife to come look at him. Now I never saw myself play, but I feel that this player is playing much the same as I used to play, and she looked at him on Television and said yes, there is a similarity between the two... his compactness, technique, stroke production... it all seemed to gel
Sir Donald Bradman.



Technically he stands out as the best because of his ability to increase the pace at will
David Boon.



There is no shame being beaten by such a great player, Sachin is perhaps only next to the Don Steve Waugh.



Sachin is an attacker. He has much more power than Sunny. He wants to be the one to set the pace. He has to be on top. That's the buzz about him
Jeff Thompson.



If I've to bowl to Sachin, I'll bowl with my helmet on. He hits the ball so hard
Dennis Lillee.




I'll be going to bed having nightmares of Sachin just running down the wicket and belting me back over the head for six. He was unstoppable. I don't think anyone, apart from Don Bradman, is in the same class as Sachin Tendulkar. He is just an amazing player
Shane Warne.



When it comes to judging the best among these fabulous band of batsmen, my vote goes to Tendulkar. He has an uncanny ability to come out on top under different circumstances and under different conditions, whether it is Test cricket or one-day internationals. And more importantly, he has done this so young
Shane Warne.



Don't bowl him bad balls, he hits the good ones for fours
Michael Kasprowicz.



Hell, if he had stayed, even at 11 an over he would have got it
Allan Border (after India won the Coca-Cola cup in Sharjah).



He is a perfectly balanced batsman and knows perfectly well when to attack and when to play defensive cricket. He has developed the ability to treat bowlers all over the world with contempt and can destroy any attack with utmost ease
Greg Chappell.



You have to decide for yourself whether you're bowling well or not. He's going to hit you for fours and sixes anyway. Kasprowicz has a superior story. During the Bangalore Test, frustrated, he went to Dennis Lillee and asked, "Mate, do you see any weaknesses?" Lillee replied, "No Michael, as long as you walk off with your pride that's all you can do"



He has defined cricket in his fabulous, impeccable manner. He is to batting what Shane Warne is to bowling
Richie Benaud.



West Indian great Brian Lara said Sachin Tendulkar was a peerless batsman with a lot more to offer. Lara, Test cricket's leading scorer with 11,294 runs, regarded Tendulkar the best batsman he ever watched despite the prolific success of Australian captain Ricky Ponting and South African Jacques Kallis. Lara said: "For me, the best batsman in the world is Sachin Tendulkar. I admire Jacques Kallis' consistency and Ricky Ponting, with the purple patch he's going though. Everybody gets 15 minutes of fame. But if there's one person I've admired over a 15-year period, it's definitely Sachin."

to conclude, it is a matter of fact that India still need Sachin in a big way. All this talk of the youngsters taking can be termed as foolish. The reason why Tendulkar is so important for the team is because of his ability to inspire others and make them perform under pressure.

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Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Bus Day - Memories I shall cherish

Today we had our final bus day, the last time one can freak uninhibitedly in college. And what a way to enjoy it. I didnt attend the proceedings in the morning as i had to show my project demo (which incidentally got an A+ from the project coord). Had to be fully tension free for it to go the way i wanted. but from what I heard, it was an all out powder, jigina (the sparkling powder which sticks to skin), foam, and pepsi abishekam.. apar had the honor of being drenched in pepsi, lol. and when ppl got down, they messed up sriram, who hadn't come to the morning proceedings.

evening it started with me starting the proceedings, getting bulbs, and in turn giving them back. perfect kalaai. then started the group midhi (what i call kick-backs) it rained hands on my back.. what a way to kill a person's resistance and drown his strength..

I'm a bit dazed bout what happened next, but i'll go on with the things i remember. i(the terror of 17, as they affectionately call me) was paired up with an mca girl named sai prathicha or whatever. and she gave me some gift the juniors had bought for me..

the highlight, as usual was gbps who was paired with his tuition mate cum schoolmate cum collegemate cum classmate cum bus mate cum are mate - vasantha.. yes no one could believe the divine co incidence that existed between them. and if anything was boring in bus, prasanna(gbps) would come to the rescue.

then we went to the beach - the first bus to do so for a bus day. after guys had fun mimicking the tomato festival of spain the whole bus went to the beach and enjoyed the fresh salty sea air for a while. there a policeman started advising us. one thing among his comments i couldnt forget was the comment he made seeing our colored selves "Are you ppl North Indians??" i dunno how the hell he could ask such questions, as most of our skins have had the pleasure of sustainin the darkening effect of the sun.

then the juniors ragged on their own, and we did our age old ragging - proposals.. i, as usual, failed to provide the entertainment it shud do, thanks to the deteriorating quality of juniors every year. then we had some good natured fun with DUmb charades..

All in al it was one of the four bus days i wouldn't forget.. thanks juniors for the wonderful time..

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

Funny quotes about religion


Funny Quotes About Religion


From: doina, 2 months ago








SlideShare Link

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Thursday, March 20, 2008

Narayanamurthy's speech

Got this by Mail. Infosys is my company (that is the company i'm placed at) and Narayanmurthy is the founder.. gr8 person actually.. read on this excerpt of his speech

Dean Cooley, faculty, staff, distinguished guests, and, most importantly, the graduating class of 2007, it is a great privilege to speak at your commencement ceremonies.

I thank Dean Cooley and Prof Marti Subrahmanyam for their kind invitation. I am exhilarated to be part of such a joyous occasion. Congratulations to you, the class of 2007, on completing an important milestone in your life journey.

After some thought, I have decided to share with you some of my life lessons. I learned these lessons in the context of my early career struggles, a life lived under the influence of sometimes unplanned events which were the crucibles that tempered my character and reshaped my future.

I would like first to share some of these key life events with you, in the hope that these may help you understand my struggles and how chance events and unplanned encounters with influential persons shaped my life and career.

Later, I will share the deeper life lessons that I have learned. My sincere hope is that this sharing will help you see your own trials and tribulations for the hidden blessings they can be.

The first event occurred when I was a graduate student in Control Theory at IIT, Kanpur, in India. At breakfast on a bright Sunday morning in 1968, I had a chance encounter with a famous computer scientist on sabbatical from a well-known US university.

He was discussing exciting new developments in the field of computer science with a large group of students and how such developments would alter our future. He was articulate, passionate and quite convincing. I was hooked. I went straight from breakfast to the library, read four or five papers he had suggested, and left the library determined to study computer science.

Friends, when I look back today at that pivotal meeting, I marvel at how one role model can alter for the better the future of a young student. This experience taught me that valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source, and chance events can sometimes open new doors.

The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in 1974. The location: Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria. I was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, India, my home town.

By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next morning, and I could not eat because I had no local money. I slept on the railway platform until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in.

The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy. I struck a conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the travails of living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted by some policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who thought we were criticising the communist government of Bulgaria.

The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were confiscated. I was dragged along the platform into a small 8x8 foot room with a cold stone floor and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was held in that bitterly cold room without food or water for over 72 hours.

I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when the door opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the guard's compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be released 20 hours later upon reaching Istanbul. The guard's final words still ring in my ears -- "You are from a friendly country called India and that is why we are letting you go!"

The journey to Istanbul was lonely, and I was starving. This long, lonely, cold journey forced me to deeply rethink my convictions about Communism. Early on a dark Thursday morning, after being hungry for 108 hours, I was purged of any last vestiges of affinity for the Left.

I concluded that entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, was the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies.

Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist! Inevitably, this sequence of events led to the eventual founding of Infosys in 1981.

While these first two events were rather fortuitous, the next two, both concerning the Infosys journey, were more planned and profoundly influenced my career trajectory.

On a chilly Saturday morning in winter 1990, five of the seven founders of Infosys met in our small office in a leafy Bangalore suburb. The decision at hand was the possible sale of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million. After nine years of toil in the then business-unfriendly India, we were quite happy at the prospect of seeing at least some money.

I let my younger colleagues talk about their future plans. Discussions about the travails of our journey thus far and our future challenges went on for about four hours. I had not yet spoken a word.

Finally, it was my turn. I spoke about our journey from a small Mumbai apartment in 1981 that had been beset with many challenges, but also of how I believed we were at the darkest hour before the dawn. I then took an audacious step. If they were all bent upon selling the company, I said, I would buy out all my colleagues, though I did not have a cent in my pocket.

There was a stunned silence in the room. My colleagues wondered aloud about my foolhardiness. But I remained silent. However, after an hour of my arguments, my colleagues changed their minds to my way of thinking. I urged them that if we wanted to create a great company, we should be optimistic and confident. They have more than lived up to their promise of that day.

In the seventeen years since that day, Infosys has grown to revenues in excess of $3.0 billion, a net income of more than $800 million and a market capitalisation of more than $28 billion, 28,000 times richer than the offer of $1 million on that day.

In the process, Infosys has created more than 70,000 well-paying jobs, 2,000-plus dollar-millionaires and 20,000-plus rupee millionaires.

A final story: On a hot summer morning in 1995, a Fortune-10 corporation had sequestered all their Indian software vendors, including Infosys, in different rooms at the Taj Residency hotel in Bangalore so that the vendors could not communicate with one another. This customer's propensity for tough negotiations was well-known. Our team was very nervous.

First of all, with revenues of only around $5 million, we were minnows compared to the customer.

Second, this customer contributed fully 25% of our revenues. The loss of this business would potentially devastate our recently-listed company.

Third, the customer's negotiation style was very aggressive. The customer team would go from room to room, get the best terms out of each vendor and then pit one vendor against the other. This went on for several rounds. Our various arguments why a fair price -- one that allowed us to invest in good people, R&D, infrastructure, technology and training -- was actually in their interest failed to cut any ice with the customer.

By 5 p.m. on the last day, we had to make a decision right on the spot whether to accept the customer's terms or to walk out.

All eyes were on me as I mulled over the decision. I closed my eyes, and reflected upon our journey until then. Through many a tough call, we had always thought about the long-term interests of Infosys. I communicated clearly to the customer team that we could not accept their terms, since it could well lead us to letting them down later. But I promised a smooth, professional transition to a vendor of customer's choice.

This was a turning point for Infosys.

Subsequently, we created a Risk Mitigation Council which ensured that we would never again depend too much on any one client, technology, country, application area or key employee. The crisis was a blessing in disguise. Today, Infosys has a sound de-risking strategy that has stabilised its revenues and profits.

I want to share with you, next, the life lessons these events have taught me.

1. I will begin with the importance of learning from experience. It is less important, I believe, where you start. It is more important how and what you learn. If the quality of the learning is high, the development gradient is steep, and, given time, you can find yourself in a previously unattainable place. I believe the Infosys story is living proof of this.

Learning from experience, however, can be complicated. It can be much more difficult to learn from success than from failure. If we fail, we think carefully about the precise cause. Success can indiscriminately reinforce all our prior actions.

2. A second theme concerns the power of chance events. As I think across a wide variety of settings in my life, I am struck by the incredible role played by the interplay of chance events with intentional choices. While the turning points themselves are indeed often fortuitous, how we respond to them is anything but so. It is this very quality of how we respond systematically to chance events that is crucial.

3. Of course, the mindset one works with is also quite critical. As recent work by the psychologist, Carol Dweck, has shown, it matters greatly whether one believes in ability as inherent or that it can be developed. Put simply, the former view, a fixed mindset, creates a tendency to avoid challenges, to ignore useful negative feedback and leads such people to plateau early and not achieve their full potential.

The latter view, a growth mindset, leads to a tendency to embrace challenges, to learn from criticism and such people reach ever higher levels of achievement (Krakovsky, 2007: page 48).

4. The fourth theme is a cornerstone of the Indian spiritual tradition: self-knowledge. Indeed, the highest form of knowledge, it is said, is self-knowledge. I believe this greater awareness and knowledge of oneself is what ultimately helps develop a more grounded belief in oneself, courage, determination, and, above all, humility, all qualities which enable one to wear one's success with dignity and grace.

Based on my life experiences, I can assert that it is this belief in learning from experience, a growth mindset, the power of chance events, and self-reflection that have helped me grow to the present.

Back in the 1960s, the odds of my being in front of you today would have been zero. Yet here I stand before you! With every successive step, the odds kept changing in my favour, and it is these life lessons that made all the difference.

My young friends, I would like to end with some words of advice. Do you believe that your future is pre-ordained, and is already set? Or, do you believe that your future is yet to be written and that it will depend upon the sometimes fortuitous events?

Do you believe that these events can provide turning points to which you will respond with your energy and enthusiasm? Do you believe that you will learn from these events and that you will reflect on your setbacks? Do you believe that you will examine your successes with even greater care?

I hope you believe that the future will be shaped by several turning points with great learning opportunities. In fact, this is the path I have walked to much advantage.

A final word: When, one day, you have made your mark on the world, remember that, in the ultimate analysis, we are all mere temporary custodians of the wealth we generate, whether it be financial, intellectual, or emotional. The best use of all your wealth is to share it with those less fortunate.

I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behooves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time.

Thank you for your patience. Go forth and embrace your future with open arms, and pursue enthusiastically your own life journey of discovery!

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Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Raghuvaran- an actor par excellence


One of the actors i've loved watching was raghuvaran. His acting in RUN, Mudhalvan, Sivaji, Bheema were telling in their own way. A natural actor, his short but punch dialogues were a rage of his time. his "I know" is something one can never forget.. he passed away on March 19th, 2008(today) in Chennai due to a cardiac arrest. He is survived by his 8-year-old son Rishivaran.
The greatest actor, he's donned various roles, the roles of father and as villain bringing him loads of fame than in other roles.

I pay my humble tributes to this great actor. may his memories live longer than I do

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Sam Anderson and In da Club

In Da Club is a hip hop song by one of my favorite artists. the tune is pretty sleek and the beats are lovely. but i thot that the video didnt pretty well live up to my expectation. so i was browsing around aimlessly when i stumbled on a master piece. please please please take a complete look of the video and then u'll understand why I hate tamil movies. the dance steps match the song perfectly. awesome mix, i shud say

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Monday, March 17, 2008

Quote UnQuote

somethings in life are painful. the rest, funny right to the point of in sanity. wan more explanation? i'll let people speak for themselves. here's a collection of lessons ppl have learnt the hard way, mixed with true gyan they wanted to share to the world..

The man who smiles when things go wrong has thought of someone to blame it on.
Robert Bloch

“I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.”
who else but Oscar Wilde

“I have met a lot of hardboiled eggs in my time, but you're twenty minutes.”
Wilde

The average woman would rather have beauty than brains, because the average man can see better than he can think.
anon

“By persistently remaining single a man converts himself into a permanent public temptation.”
Wilde

When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

Son, if you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now quiet! They're about to announce the lottery numbers. - Homer Simpson

You laugh because I'm different...........
I laugh cause I just farted!

What are the three words guaranteed to humiliate men everywhere?
'Hold my purse.'

If your wife wants to learn to drive, don't stand in her way.

A computer once beat me at chess, but it was no match for me at kick boxing.

The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.

If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

I have opinions of my own -- strong opinions -- but I don't always agree with them. - George Bush

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Saturday, March 15, 2008

GDPI for IIM K

back after a short hiatus. i was busy with my quizzes at college and my IIM K interview. my interview was decent, but gd wasnt up to the mark. i wasnt the usual assertive ananth, but a very subdued, lest i be looked as aggressive. for a complete link of wat happened, check here.

thats my other blog, a more personal one, where i keep tabs about my life and write about a few lessons i've learnt.

The interview took place at IIM B. a very lovely place, as sweet as IIT madras. i enjoyed nature's beauty there and needless to say it is among the best colleges in India.

IIM K is not far behind. the beauty of IIM K campus is unmatched. i'll go as far as saying that it is the best in the world. check the following link, and be astounded. IIM K’s beauty

last but not the least, please pray for my result. i'm desperately in need of it, friends

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Wednesday, March 5, 2008

JAM Topics

"She offered me her honor, I honored her offer
So all night, I was off her and on her"

Too much Viagra causes a stiff neck.

I was just looking at your name tag... honest !

Suicidal twin murders twin by mistake.

Constipated people don't give a crap.

Sympathy, Empathy, Venkatachalapati

Bal Gangadhar Senna said Garage is my birthright!

Abortion is Love's labor lost, No Foetus can beat us

My Aunt uses viagra on her face to give herself a facelift

A psychic midget escaped from prison and the headlines read, small medium at large

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll Squeeze
these pink dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"

Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there... I'm gonna eat
the next thing that comes outta it's bum."

Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don't
point to their bum when they ask where the bathroom is?

Why does your Obstetrician, Gynaecologist leave the room when you get
undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both
dogs!

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables,
then what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Sick my Duck

Men and women should not put their differences behind, because it is physically impossible or very very painful

Children in backbenches cause accidents and accidents in backbenches cause children!

A discussion should be like a woman's skirt..short enough to arouse interest and long enough to cover the pertinent points;)

"Flies" cause diseases...so don't keep yours open;)

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Monday, March 3, 2008

Darwin awards

many awards have been given to various people, for doing various kinds of services to humanity. Be it the Nobel , or the Bharat Ratna, or the SSN Rolling Trophy, you can find a significant contribution to the humanity by the people who have received these awards. On similar lines, the Darwin awards have been given for people who "do a service to Humanity by removing themselves from the Gene pool", i.e., lose the ability to reproduce. It is for people who kill themselves by doing acts that may fatally injure themselves or render them sterile. As described in the Darwin Award books: The Awards honour people who ensure the long-term survival of the human race by removing themselves from the gene pool in a sublimely idiotic fashion. Even you can win this award. If you are really interested read on. but there's a catch. There are five requirements for qualifying for the Darwin awards.

* Inability to reproduce — Nominee must be dead or rendered sterile.

Potential awardees may be out of the gene pool due to age; others have already reproduced before their deaths. To avoid debates about the possibility of in-vitro fertilization, artificial insemination, or cloning, the original Darwin Awards book applied the following "deserted island" test to potential winners: If the person would be unable to reproduce when stranded on a deserted island with a fertile member of the opposite sex, he or she would be considered sterile.

* Excellence — Astoundingly stupid judgment.

The candidate's foolishness must be unique and sensational, perhaps because the award is meant to be funny. A number of foolish but common activities, such as smoking in bed(after an exhausting activity), are excluded from consideration, while smoking after being administered a flammable ointment in a hospital and specifically told not to smoke is grounds for nomination.

* Self-selection — Cause of one's own demise.

Killing a friend with a hand grenade would not be eligible, but killing oneself while juggling hand grenades would be eligible.

* Maturity — Capable of sound judgment.

The nominee must be at least past the legal driving age and free of mental defect.

* Veracity — The event must be verified.

The story must be documented by reliable sources, i.e., reputable newspaper articles, confirmed television reports, or responsible eyewitnesses.

These awards have been given out since 1985. For explanation's sake lets see who got the 2005 Darwin award.

(13 January 2005, Croatia) One fateful afternoon, 55-year-old Marko retreated to his semi-detached workshop to make himself a tool for chimney cleaning. The chimney was too high for a simple broom to work, but if he could attach a brush to a chain and then weigh it down with something, that would do the trick. But what could he use as a weight?
He happened to have the perfect object. It was heavy, yet compact. And best of all, it was made of metal, so he could weld it to the chain. He must have somehow overlooked the fact that it was also a hand grenade and was filled with explosive material.
Marko turned on his welding apparatus and began to create an arc between the chain and the grenade. As the metal heated up, the grenade exploded. The force of the explosion killed poor Marko instantly, blasting shrapnel through the walls of the shed and shattering the windshield of a Mercedes parked outside. Marko's chimney was untouched, however.

Sounds like he blew it! Santa, if you are reading this, be careful in future.
here's another that happened last year and won critical acclaim.

(20 June 2007, South Carolina) A passing cabbie found a 21 year-old couple Znaked and injured in the road an hour before sunrise. The two people died at the nearest hospital without regaining consciousness. Authorities were at a loss to explain what had happened. There were no witnesses, no trace of clothing, and no wrecked cars or motorcycles.
Investigators eventually found a clue high on the roof of a nearby building: two sets of neatly folded clothes. Safe sex takes on a whole new meaning when you are perched on the edge of a pyramid-shaped metal roof. "It appears as if [they] accidentally fell off the roof," Sgt. Florence McCants said.
This is a true Darwin Award trifecta: TWO people die, WHILE in the act of procreation, due to an ASTONISHINGLY poor decision. Bottom line: If you put yourself in a precarious "position" at the edge of a pointy roof, you may well find yourself coming and going at the same time.
Ironically, one of the deceased was named "Tumbleston."
How true it is that "What goes up must come down."

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Sunday, March 2, 2008

TV nEws Channels

the problem with news channels is that there are so many out there. Competition has led to each striving to get more airtime. for this they shud portray what the viewer wants the most. for business there are specific channels and the viewer will watch that. but the general human tendency is to watch the tv for enjoyment. portray anything glamourous, or gory or spine chilling or touching -there customers are watching it. within a blink of the eye, half an hour is gone. the intent of the TV 'news' channels have been fulfilled. i never cared for Sunjay dutt or give a crap if he's married to Manyata or if that marriage is nullified. but i cant help it. i no longer choose what I see. the internet provides a good alternative, but it is a static piece. i know what to expect next. this bores me. hence i get back to the TV and start gobbling the crap they offer me.

You may ask "Why is it that most of us don’t make an attempt to know things and find out more? Is everything becoming a fairy tale?"
the spirit of inquisition starts with one basic motive - need. I don need to know whats happening is the mentality of an average indian. We indians are not used to a risk taking life and are contented with a secure job. our mindset is a risk averse one. this kinda mindset doesnt allow us to look beyond what we have. there's no necessity for it. We tackle problems as they come. we dont have a proactive approach towards our life.
Only one thing is certain. Everything is interconnected. We are products of what we were and what others were, what they have made us become. Life's like that.

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