When We Two Parted

by Lord Byron

When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.

The dew of the morning
Sank chill on my brow--
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame;
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.

They name thee before me,
A knell in mine ear;
A shudder come o'er me--
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well--
Long, long shall I rue thee,
Too deeply to tell.

In secret we met--
In silence I grieve,
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?--
With silence and tears.

Remembrance

By: Someone Unknown

It was at first sight,
That i loved you,
In the pale moonlight,
The stars shone through.

The green grass swayed,
A cool breeze blew,
My heart needed love,
My soul needed you.

The fireflies soared,
the water deep blue,
your eyes so gentle,
My love so true.

A dream of you,
Of you and me,
It was purely fate,
We were meant to be.

Love for other

The most difficult thing in the world is
You can't force love on other
Either it is there or it is not there
Love is so tender, deep and painful
If you fight for it, it disappears
If you touch it deeply, you disappear

You can say how much you love other
How can you ask other to love you in same intensity
You might feel incomplete without other
How can you demand other to be incomplete in your absence

You are helpless watcher
Even when you have all powers of universe
Other's heart might beat for you
or may never beat for you

You pray for happiness of other
And walk on the path alone again
To find someone who feel same for you

When I was nobody

In the journey of life, I collected so many people inside
Now my only wish is to drop them from my mind
I search every corner of mine but don't see anywhere I
I feel as if so many voices shouting at a time

I step backward to find out where I was I
When I was at peace and completely ignorant of pride
When smile was always there waiting to spread without reason
When I was having colors of rainbows
and didn't wear watch to track the time
When I was not afraid of getting my clothes dirty
and spend hours on the mountains
When I didn't desire to be somebody
and I was nobody

When I was having fragrances of flowers
and could love intensely without fear of losing
Now I am jealous of flowers lying on the road
They are laughing while dying
I am dying when life is blissful around me

Now I have all what I could wish for
I have money and decide right and wrong for me
Still I feel utter empty inside
I had everything when I was nobody
I lost my precious wholeness when I became somebody

Aerobics

There was a time in our life when we all used to be very active physically. That time we could run miles without tiredness. These days climbing some stairs make us breathless. Is it because we have become old? Or is it because we have stopped playing?

We all know the answer. We are getting older because we have stopped playing.
In the current circumstances, we can’t do same activities as we used to. But we can choose something, which has fun, increase our stamina and keep our heart healthy.
I have chosen aerobics. Aerobics is a form of physical exercise that combines rhythmic aerobic exercise with stretching and strength training routines.
There could be several benefits of aerobics but I expect only 2 benefits. These two benefits have derived me to be regular for aerobics over last 2 years.

First it is very good stress buster. Most of us spend long hours sitting on same chair and seeing same screen.At the end of day, we are drained and tired.
At home, we have limited choices either enjoy reality shows such as rakhi ka swambar, sach ka samna or Chat with friends over phone.

Again these activities suck rest of our energy. In this non-exciting routine, aerobics add little spice.

Imagine you are very tense because your fix has produced one critical bug. In this tense condition, you enter into a room which has 2 mirror walls and
latest hindi song is playing at high volume. You notice you are not alone there are some more tense faces standing near by. But you look yourself into mirror
and think How am I looking. Have I got overweight? Is there anybody else looking smarter than me.

Before you could think anything more, you are moving your hands and legs on beats. Sometimes, you miss hand step while catching leg step and vice-versa.
After 10 mints, you forget about your bugs and become more engrossed in aerobic steps and song. After 20 mints, you start sweating and your heart rate
Increases from 60 to 160. You are running left to right, right to left, forward to backward and backward to forward leaving all baggage aside. At end of 50 mints, you feel energize, unburdened and more confident about yourself.

If we don't release tensions, these tensions gradually destroy our body and personality. We will start having tightness in your shoulder, lower back pain and neck pain. Except physical pain, we will become less tolerate, impatient because your tension bowl is overflowing.

Second Aerobics help to make our heart stronger and more efficient.
The heart is the engine, which supplies blood to all parts of the body.
The moment heart stops beating, body cells don't receive supplies of blood and oxygen. And our body couldn’t survive more than some mints without blood and oxygen.
So we must keep our engine in very good condition. If our engine is efficient, It would not be affected by minor shocks and definitely could survive major ones.

How aerobics make our heart stronger?

While doing aerobic exercise, our heart rate increase and we breathe harder for extended period of time. That means extra oxygen is supplied to our lungs and our heart continuously work harder to deliver this oxygen to our body. When heart works harder its pump muscles get stronger and efficient.

These are two reasons, which push me every morning. I repeat them 3 times at 6:30AM and my eyes automatically open up J

Finally, I will say our body is our best friend, which lives with us till we die. It is our responsibility to maintain healthiness of our heart and other parts. Regular exercise ensures us that all screws in our body are in perfect shape.

Conflict Resolution Styles

We all have been working for many years in software industry. Everyday we face situations such as disagreement over deadlines with manager, different opinions about features with product manager and differences over task priorities with sub-ordinates. These are some names. There can be many similar situations at workplace. These situations are called conflicts with people.

Some of these conflicts are easy to resolve, some others might have lasting impact such as delayed project and bad relationship with your team. In case, we are working with virtual teams. Conflict could really be difficult to resolve because we don’t interact with our teammates face to face.

A lot of energy and time is gulped by the conflicts. Considering this as a consistent problem in our professional life, I decided to talk about resolution of conflicts.

I will be talking about four conflict resolution styles –first competing, second collaborating, third Compromising and fourth Avoiding.

These styles will help you resolve the conflicts. So that you have less frustrating days and better relationship with your teammates.

First is Competing. In this style, you declare decisions without other’s opinion. For success of this style, you must hold high rank in your organization.
Consider a situation: you are the project manager. Your project’s deadline is next week. Unfortunately, three unexpected critical bugs are filed.

What is the best resolution to it?

The best resolution is to explain situation to your team. Tell them that you need to deliver project on schedule and ask them to work over weekend. But if you use this style frequently and without conveying your reasons, it could leave your teammates angry and unsatisfied.

Second is Collaborating. Here, you give equal importance to other’s interests. You try your best to bring a solution, which satisfies all parties.
Consider a situation: you have a conflict with your manager. You think that project ‘s design will take 30 days to complete. While your manager thinks that design should not take more than 25 days.

What is the best resolution to it?

In this situation, if your manager tries to force his schedule, it might result it in delayed project.
The best resolution is to sit with your manager and find out the exact points of disagreement. You would have considered constraints such as most teammates in India would apply for leaves during Indian festivals. While your manager missed this constraint completely because he is hasn’t worked with Indian team before.

Third is Compromising. Here, you give up something and other party also gives up something. You both strive to get middle ground solution for conflict.
Consider a situation: you are leading a team, which provides support to USA customer. Everybody gets together and wants vacation for 5 days during festival. You can’t deny your teammates leaves and you can’t shut off the operation either.

What is best resolution to it?

You ask the teammates who could work from home to work for 4 hrs instead of 8 hrs. You request others to come back in 3 days instead of 5 days.
This satisfies both parties partially.

Finally comes avoiding. Can you resolve all conflicts upfront? I don’t think it is possible. Here, You withdraw from the conflict and wait for appropriate moment to confront with it.
Suppose you are having conversation with a client about new features in a project. You inform the client that these features are out of project scope. If he requires them to be part of project, it will cost him extra. He demands you to show estimated cost. Seeing the high cost, client starts argue with you and this argument turns heated.

What is the best resolution?

In this situation, if you continue argument, you might harm the relationship with the client. The client may cancel the project.
The best resolution is to withdraw from the argument and wait for next meeting. Let the things settle down. Bring proper evidence to back your argument. Send your proposal beforehand. In next meeting, explain your reasoning to the client. Client could understand situation from your perspective in better way.

So these are the 4 styles to resolve conflicts. Let us revisit them.
Competing – one party takes a decision and other party follow it.
Collaborating – both parties take decision and both parties are fully satisfied with decision.
Compromising – Both parties give up something and both parties are partially satisfied.
And at end avoiding –Decision is postponed.

Finally, I would say if you face the conflict again, analyze it properly. Try to figure out, which style would suite the best to resolve it. Sometimes you need to use your position to resolve conflicts and enforce rules. Some other times, you need to avoid conflict because it may harm long-term prospect.

So try these styles. See if you are able to resolve conflicts faster; I am sure you would be.

Project Management for Professionals(PMP)

On 25th June, I passed PMP exam. My experience says that this is not an easy exam but you can definitely pass with some sincere efforts:-).

How long I took to prepare?
I started my plan 6 months back. However,I did regular study only for a month:-).

How I did my preparation?
I studied two books - PMBOK and Rita's PMP Exam Prep and I practiced question using Rita's simulation exam.
Followed steps:
1. Completed PMPBOK and gave the exam. Scored 65.5%
2. Read half of Rita's prep book and again gave the exam. Scored 72.2
3. Read Rita's complete book and again gave SUPER PMP exam.Scored 65.4%
4. I revised Chapters such as Risk, procurement and roles and responsibilities and tried my luck again. Scored 84.5 one day before the exam.

I used one interesting trick and it really helped to see all the processes together. I took out pages describing process's input and output for all knowledge areas and pasted on room's wall. So I could have clear idea which knowledge areas I am doing fine, where I need to improve and how 44 processes are interrelated with each other.

All the best.

Action Opinion Theory-P2 speech(Toastmaster)

Have you ever felt uneasy because you were holding two contradictory ideas at the same time?
Or
Have you ever done something, which was conflicting with your belief?

For example, if you believe that animal rights but you eat meat.
Your action is conflicting with your belief.
Today, I will take you to the ride where you will learn about these conflicting ideas and how you can resolve them.

The name of the ride is action-opinion theory and it has three stages.
First stage, If you are bit conscious about your beliefs, You can recognize conflicting ideas arising inside you whenever you violet any of your belief.
Second stage, As a result of conflicting ideas, you may feel uneasy without any apparent reasons.

If your belief is very important to you and you have deviated from it completely, you may feel very angry, guilty or other negative emotional states.
Consider the same example, I have mentioned in starting. If you believe in animal rights but you eat meat. Deep down, you may feel guilty about it. Especially, when you confront evidence demonstrating that consuming animal flesh is bad to human health, is bad for environment and is very bad for billions of animals that are killed every year for food.

By now, you have completed two stages of your ride.
First – you are aware of your conflicting ideas
Second – You may feel uneasy because of them
At 3rd stage, you will have 3 closed doors in front of you.
First door is labeled as ‘change your beliefs’
Second door is labeled as ‘change your actions’
And third door is labeled as ‘ change your perception’
You can enter into any of them to resolve your conflicting state.
If you decide to enter into first doo – change your beliefs.
You will find people discussing about how the have changed their beliefs.
For instance , they used to feel guilty about eating meat , but now, they have accepted that it is fine to kill animals for food.
You are welcome to join them and you will be out of your conflicting state.
Because you don’t believe in animal rights any more and you are eating meat.

If you decide to enter into second door – change your actions. You will find people discussing that they have stopped certain actions because of guilty, frustration or other emotions.
You are welcome to join them and you will be out of your conflicting feelings because you believe in animal rights and now you don’t eat meat any more.

If you feel that both of these options are of extreme type and you can’t follow them.
Please try last door- change your perception. It could be suitable for you.
If you enter into this door, you will find people rationalizing their actions.
These people will perceive their actions from different angle so that it is no longer conflicting to their belief. For instance, They can argue that we have been eating animal meat for thousands of years why to change tradition now? Or they can provide you articles which claim that meat proteins are easily digested or they can tell you that many people in Europe and north America regard meat eating as fundamental to maintain physical fitness.

Basically, they will have enough reasons to justify their actions without changing their beliefs.
You are welcome to join them and you will be out of your conflicting state.
This option is most common because you can continue eating meat without changing your belief of animal rights.
Before you step out of the ride, let me brief you about its history. This ride is called cognitive dissonance also and was formulated by Festinerger in 1957.
Finally, you have completed your ride successfully.

Just remember if you believe that you are a perfect person and happen to take any wrong decision. You have three doors:
First) change your belief -accept that you have few imperfections
Second) make sure not to take any wrong decision again
Third) And at the end if nothing works, rationalize that there can be exceptions when problem is complicated but you are still perfect

Sometimes I wonder

Sometimes I wonder
How the world would have been without my presence?
Was my arrival needed on the earth?
Was something missing in the universe?
And I came to fill that empty space?
Am I really different from all the others?

Sometimes I wonder
So many poets have expresses their feelings.
Millions of poetry floating in every country.
All which could be said in words, already said.
Will I write something which is never felt before?

Sometimes I wonder
Thousands of people fall in love every moment.
Is my falling for love going to be unique?
So many hearts break and cry in separation.
Is my separation from my loved one be different?

Sometimes I wonder
Death can come any time to knock my door.
And I will not have time to utter single word.
But I keep collecting nonsense in my life.
Will I have blessing to celebrate my discontinuation from life.

The Moon

Whenever I see the moon, I ask the same question from him.
How long you have been here?
How many lives you have seen coming to this world, spending time under your light
and then leaving this world without any trace?
You come everyday with different colors and beauty but I remain same.
You shower love and light but I don't allow that light to enlighten me.
You give me clue for peace but I am so engrossed in my restlessness.
You don't say a single word but I tell you thousands of stories.
You are getting younger every passing day but I am getting old and tired.
Do you get angry on me or laugh seeing sheer wastage of life.

I loved you once

When I was searching about what love means for all great souls who visited on our earth and contributed their vision.
I came across this beautiful poem. I am sure , this poetry will not be having same meaning as original Russian still ...

I Loved You by Alexander Pushkin

I loved you;
even now I may confess,
Some embers of my love their fire retain;
But do not let it cause you more distress,
I do not want to sadden you again.
Hopeless and tongue-tied, yet I loved you dearly,
With pangs the jealous and the timid know;
So tenderly I loved you, so sincerely,
I pray God grant another love you so.