When unanswered questions get answered unexpectedly...

Have you ever had this feeling of Déjà vu? Have you ever spent the whole night thinking of some random questions and the very next day somebody comes only to give you the solutions for all of them?
Last night I just penned down some random thoughts, some inmost feelings, some unasked questions and unflustered emotions.
I felt better as I blurting the bottled up emotions. The chapter ended then and there.
Next day, after a pretty long day, I witnessed a conversation between two of my office colleagues on a particular topic. It lasted for an hour or so but, to my surprise, at the end of this heated debate, I got answers for all the queries I scribbled about last night.

This is what I penned down last night.


“How many times in life do we use defense mechanism?

Denial, Refusal, Repression, Regression, Projection, Rationalization, Displacement, I read all these words a thousand times in Lahey - my big bible for Psychology during my college years. Psychology was always the most interesting (and entertaining) subject for me. I have studied all the Defense mechanisms so well that my friends used to ask me to help them in the subject. Of course, I always scored highest in Psychology.

But, now when I look back and discern, I find myself falling short to cope with daily life problems and playing at least one mechanism at a time (sometimes even two), hundred times a day.

It is so human to apply Defense mechanism to lead a psychologically and socially normal life. But, sometimes it really concerns me. Are these Defense mechanisms always helpful? Do they really defend our psyche against the tensions and anxieties? For instance, I love eating chocolates (just like any other girl) and I find nothing bad in it until somebody says that “Eating chocolates is a symptom of high-depression.” Then and there I decide to cut down on chocolates. But up till now I am confused whether I am/was really depressed or it’s just a mind-game that the guy played on me that day.

As a matter of fact, I feel that these defense mechanisms defend our weaknesses. They pamper our Achilles' heel and make it grow bigger, stronger and deadlier. They sometimes bottle up our emotions while, sometimes let it run away by the back-door.

But beware! The more we bottle up our emotions, the more likely it is that they’ll explode like a volcano. Similarly, after venting out all our feelings in a wrong direction of course, we’ll feel hollow at heart. So, it depends upon every individual which way to choose and how to lead this precious life.

But… but… but! I wonder why my mind and heart always contradict each other. Despite of knowing the fact that severe maneuvering of defense mechanisms is highly detrimental for a sound psyche, I often do the same mistake time and again. I always try not to use Defense mechanisms but I end up using it. It’s just like asking a chain smoker to stop smoking or asking a drug addict to stop doping.”


I won’t write much about the discussion between my colleagues but, would definitely like to thank them both. They don’t know how much relieved I am feeling after listening to their conversation. Thanks guys!

The Butterfly

The Butterfly - One of the thought provoking stories from “Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul”. Probably the shortest story in the book… putting a very nice thought across.

A man found a cocoon. One day a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and go no farther. So the man decided to help the butterfly.

He took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bits of the cocoon. The butterfly could now emerge from the cocoon easily. But something was odd. The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly, because he expected that at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened. In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and deformed wings. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon are nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it is ready for flight as soon as it emerges from its cocoon. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If nature allowed us to go through all our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we could have been. Not only that, we could never fly.

-Author Unknown

Indigo Consulting wins Web Award for Asian Paints website

A heart Congratulations for all Indigoiets!

Indigo Consulting wins a Web Award for outstanding achievement in website development in the Consumer Goods Standard of Excellence category for it's Asian Paints website - www.asianpaints.com.

The Web Awards are presented by the Web Marketing Association, an independent volunteer organisation founded in 1997, which also presents the Internet Advertising Competition Awards.

All the websites are judged in 96 categories, including insurance, B2B, fashion and games. Winners are selected on the basis of:
1. design
2. innovation
3. content
4. technology
5. interactivity
6. copywriting
7. ease of use

Getting judged by International jury and getting such a wonderful award is an achievement in itself... and Indigo has once again proved itself as a Real Achiever!

Kudos guys!
:)
Congratulations once again!

Few moments of sharing and caring...

I was about to step out of my office and my phone bell rang. A smiling face flashed onto the screen. (Thanks to my new phone. Now I can set pictures of my near and dear ones to their contact numbers.)
“Hello”
“Hi. How are you?”
Alarm bells started to ring when I heard her saying “Where are you?” She always asks me this question whenever she suspects me. What did I do now? I took a deep breath and answered, “At office! What about you?”
“I am reaching Lower Parel. Let’s meet up.” I took a sigh of relief and answered back in a flash, “Yes, Why not. I am coming right away.”

I met her at Lower Parel bus stop. She was as beautiful and pleasant as she was looking in her user image flashing on my phone. We smiled at each other and exchanged hellos. She said she had to rush home as early as possible. So, we decided to have some snacks on the way. As a matter of fact, I was not hungry at all but a paanipuri thela at roadside made me change my mind. We hogged down two plates of chatpati puris and gulped in plateful of spicy water. Her watery red eyes refreshed my memories of good old days. We used to have paanipuris without rhyme or reason. I still remember that regular Medium Paanipuri with hot ragda. Occasionally we used to ask for moong instead of ragda. Mmmmm….Yummy! Those were the days man!

“Will you have some more? I want a sandwich now!” Her words brought me back to the present. Sandwiches were one of her weak points and she desperately wanted to have one now. Walkers and hawkers were crowded that narrow lane. We were searching for a sandwich stall, but it was no good!
Finally we landed up in one of those average-looking hotels of Lower Parel. (I would rate such hotels 1/5 for ambience, food, variety, etc., etc. but, 5/5 for quick service. Remember she was getting late. So, it was the best option for us for a time-being)
We had a good chat over a sandwich and a cup of tea. We chitchatted for a while. I shared my future plans with her. It was hard to talk between munches on the sandwich. But I was so excited to tell her everything that I nearly foamed at the mouth while discussing my dreams with her. She really encouraged me and said that she’ll help me get what I want.
I gobbled in a last piece of sandwich lying in her plate and only then did we realize that its time to depart. As I was sipping my tea, she asked me to keep the last sip for her. I smiled and passed it on to her. Casually she drank rest of the drink while I was looking at her and thinking no matter how far we are, we still share a lot with each other… we still care a lot for each other!

Welcoming the Magician

I stepped out of my office. It was just an ordinary night. Dark streets were glistening as it was drizzling nonstop that day. I slipped on my rain jacket and made myself ready to roll.
Raindrops started thumping my forehead and slid to the tip of my Nubian nose. So, I covered my head in the hood of my jacket. I didn’t want to fall sick again. (Just recovered from viral infection)
However, I preferred walking over traveling by jam-packed bus, especially when it was raining so gently.
I reached half the way and thought of taking a short cut from one of those Lalbaug lanes to my home. My steps turned towards the lane, mind flooded with several random thoughts, head bent down to save myself from the uninterrupted attack of droplets.
And only then did I notice something different! There was something new in that street. The pave blocks. The red blocks seemed to be fixed recently. I looked around and the freshness in the air took me by surprise.
Everything around me looked so fresh! The shops turned bright and colourful. There were garlands, both natural and artificial, heaps of gulaal, kumkum and haldi, a variety of bright bulbs, flashy lights, and loads of other pious articles. The air was filled with the fragrance of essence sticks and sweets made from pure ghee.
People were buying stuffs in lots. Huge shopping bags often banged on the passersby and pedestrians often stamped on each others feet. But, nobody complained or gave dirty looks to each other. Shopkeepers, hawkers, buyers and the kids accompanying their parents, all were in high spirits. The smiles on their faces reflected the euphoria in their hearts.
And then I realized that the magic of festivity and celebration had cast its spell on all of them. And the spellbound city is now all set to welcome the magician himself!