The Working with Spreadsheets by Frank Solanki

Frank Solanki, a very intuitive writer, who knows how to play with the words effectively to produce the desired impact, had recently posted a poem on his melodious blog. He asked for help in Working with Spreadsheets.

The original poem by Frank is available here.

I find his poems very simple, easy to understand yet effective. He expresses his feelings through his words precisely. It is probably an impact of following his blog, that I posted a reply to his poem as a comment on his blog. My reply is available here on his blog.

I am pasting below my reply for an quick reference to my readers.

I am happy and feeling rewarded after getting a “good work” kind of appreciation from Frank. It matters a lot to me, as I am not related to Poetry even distantly. Poetry is not my cup of tea and even though it was not worth an appreciation, but it felt good to get a positive feedback for my two poems recently – one by Frank, and other one on my last poem on the Post named  Daal Makhni Fry

The reply on Working with Spreadsheets:

Your intentions are good, your Moral is high,
Remember, it’s just a spreadsheet, not a world war or a big fight.

It is the “cells”, spreading the coast..
With lots of functions and data to roast..

Every Cell is named with its Column and Row
Its lower right corner is special if you want it to grow.. (Cell pointer and small plus sign to drag and drop)

“F2” is a friend if you want to edit a cell
Without which it may look like a hell.

There could be lots of data to play around,
Try not to put gaps on the ground (Note: Ranges should have continuous data)

Data in a cell could have many different types,
It could be a Formula, Date, Text, or simply a Number type.

A “Date” is basically a Number in itself
That means Addition, Subtraction would be a great help

Right click to get the command to Format a cell,
select a Formatting style, for Data, or display style of cell.

It’s not hard to excel the Spreadsheets,
Provided you know a few functions, commands and a few cheats.

https://franksolanki.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/working-with-spreadsheets/#comment-7368

Specialty

Again, I was traveling by the Metro train.

I was feeling very tired after a hectic day, so I closed my eyes as soon as I got a seat available. Fortunately, today it was a little less crowd than the usual. I believe, it might be because of the first week of new year as many people would still be enjoying their extended holidays, or just because I was traveling late than the usual time.

After a couple of stations, I opened my eyes when the train halted at the platform with a strong jerk.  A young guy boarded in my coach. He was wearing Denim Jeans and a black jacket. Healthy and fit personality, as you would usually find in Haryanavi or Punjabi People. The thing which instantly captured my attention to him was evident. Now I want to check how my readers react to it, and whether or not my thinking pattern is “normal”. So in today’s post, I am giving the photo of the guy captured from my mobile Camera.

Please have a look, and let me know if you think there was something worth attention in the picture. I understand that every individual has different thought process and priority, and you may or may not find something worth your interest / attention in this pic, but if you find a reason that makes you think “a little different”, please write down in the comments below what was it?

I shall be sharing my opinion and “the thing” that caught my attention later. First let me capture and understand the general opinion on it.

The Picture I am talking about is this :

What is special in it?

[Added 09-Jan-2017: After Alex’s comment]

“How Gay am I?”, was the question which I was trying to figure out for myself through this post. You nailed it, Alex. I have strong reasons to feel that my perception of looking at things has changed recently dramatically. Now many such things have started catching my attention, which were non-existent even in my thoughts 6 months back when I moved in to this city. Is it the effect of new environment, or the company of my roommate that is changing me? I try to oppose this thought but cannot justify the reason for denial. It is really changing.

The “Heavy Butt” or the “Rainbow” strap did not exist for me 6 months back. As I also pointed out in reply to your comment that it is not his heavy butts that disturbed my thoughts. It is his property :). What disturbed my peaceful mind were the after-thoughts and my reaction on what I saw.

I was not even aware of special significance of Rainbow flag earlier. But now I am. Had I been the same man which I was 6 months earlier, what could have been my reaction to this scene? It was his Rainbow strap that caught my attention. And then next question roaming in my thoughts was – “Is he gay?”, “Why is he carrying such a bag with unusual strap attached to it?”  The bag was just a normal bag, but strap attached to it was absolutely not. Then I started thinking could it be the case that he might be unaware of what he is carrying or showing-off? Well, there could be a possibility and it cannot be ruled out.

I am little concerned and worried about this changing attitude. When I am surrounded in crowd and someone starts staring at my bulge, even though momentarily, it now catches my attention very fast. Am I being over sensitive to such things? I guess, it is natural to feel awkward on such situations.

I did not like similar stares when someone “stared” at my private body parts or even my chest area or complimented me for my body, but I did not feel the way I have started feeling it now. I guess, the past regretful and unpleasant incidents happened with me, might have also contributed to it, which I could not overcome even after putting sincere attempts to forget it and come out of the traumatic memories.

I am concerned, and I am worried with this change.

India???

I was going through a discussion with an American colleague and a good friend, who is on a tour to India office. This started as a general “know more about India” discussion.  He was curious to know about many things about India, Indian culture and Indian beauties (read Girls). He had a perception of India which was very different from reality in many contexts. Most of things he knew about India were result of a little study of India and about India from Google, some stories over-heard from people who have visited India earlier and a few news article.

I would not say that he was wrong, but he was not right either in understanding the India and Indian people, or Indian culture. I was surprised to hear that he still believes that India is a land of Mysticism and Magic, Spiritualism and Communal Rights. As per his understanding – Indians, in general, tend to be very short tempered when they are given power and authority. He quoted “Maha-Bharata” as an example from our scriptures, which is all a story of a worst kind of war between princes of same clan. I was amazed to see how much research he has done about our history, and his interest in India and Indians. I would like to add here that it was a healthy conversation, and not to show us as an inferior race.

There is one good thing about Non-Indians. They are quite open-minded to take inputs, do their home-work and research before jumping to a conclusion, and accept where they are wrong. He was putting his thoughts across because he was looking for some answers to satisfy his quest in search of the India, which he was looking forward to but was unable to see during his visit to real India.

Slowly there was a good gathering around us as the discussion proceeded. I was initially reluctant to put my opinion frankly. There were two reasons. First, he was my boss, secondly, I was afraid that if I contradict him in front of so many people, it may hurt his ego as he sounded he did a lot of research. The gathering was divided among two groups automatically, one who agreed to his points of views, and second who were finding my explanations logical and showing their support.

He had put a good amount of effort in doing the research about Vedas, our ancient history and modern history, our beliefs etc. I could not find myself as a fit candidate to answer his queries which were backed by historical facts and facts from our scriptures.  But then I realized that I must not hesitate to bring forward the points, where he is probably drawing wrong conclusions from his study. He quoted the Maha-Bharatha as an example, but forgot about the Ramayana?  We may not be able to understand the things in the correct context if we are biased during analysis and drawing our own conclusions. These epics are meant to give a great learning about good and bad to humanity so that we can learn what is good for us and what could lead to disasters like Mahabharat.

He was biased in his study of India. That was also clear from the example he quoted from the Mahabharat.  He noticed the great war between cousins of same clan, but forgot to see there were the Pandavas and the Krishna and the Balram. No social set up is perfect in itself.  It is the moral values that bring the society and people up or down. Sometimes, it is our limited knowledge and understanding of the things that make us think the wrong as the right.

Well the discussion was a serious debate, and thankfully, I could help him clear some of his (and a few other of his non-Indian colleagues accompanying him) misconceptions about India and Indians, through proper logic and examples. At the end he also sounded positive and satisfied with the length and depth of the healthy discussion, and the conclusions he made after this an hour and half long debate session made him find a better version of India. Things were still the same but his perception was new. He was not looking to some of things from a Westernized perception.

Well… after discussion was over, he sent me a few links from Quora on similar threads. While going through the articles sent by him, I came across a hilarious post on web which covered some of the topics (mis-conceptions) we touched in our discussion. I would like to share this here with my readers too.

A fun-time read and good to clarify some of the similar misconceptions, if you like to read it, you may find it here.

Also, you are welcome to share your experience and understanding of India (or any other country or culture, or even the cultures within the vast variety of India) here by commenting in this post or using the contact me form from top menu items.

“I Don’t Ask You If You Love Me” by Frank Solanki

 

Given below is my comment on a small, simple yet powerful poem by Frank Solanki. I felt touched by his poem as it was a close match with my real life love incidents.

I do not claim any of his work. His original post is available here and my reply to his poem is (also given as comment on his poem) is available here. I am also giving my version of reply to his original poem below for your quick perusal.

The last two lines were my addition besides a small change in existing poem. My reply would make more sense when you read the original poem first.

I Don’t Ask You If You Love Me

I don’t ask you questions which you cannot answer

You will fill me up with lies

And to make me believe your words

You will even look into my eyes

So I don’t ask you if you love me

You won’t tell me if you do

And you’d say ‘yes’ when you don’t

And I might believe you to be true

Because I have always believed you…
And you must learn to be honest too.

Source: I Don’t Ask You If You Love Me

Super Natural Thing

Do you believe in Super-Natural things?

I heard a few such stories about super-natural incidents from my Grand-Mother, but she belonged to rural area and it was quite common to expect such things from her, so being a science student, I took it just a story for entertainment and nothing more. She was a religious lady and had her own beliefs and assumptions. I was no one to interfere in her beliefs. For her, it was all part of her life incidents, so it was not appropriate for me to deny any of these stories straight away.

Super natural things, Magic, Hypnotism, have always been a point of attraction for me. Being from India, the land of the Gods, Religions, Beliefs and Magic, it was not un-common for me to hear such things from time to time, even some times as news-stories in reputed News Papers. Most of the times, one might conclude that these were assumptions, blind-faith or mis-interpreted facts that sounded like super-natural incidents, but would it really be a justice to all those incidents?  Perhaps not. When he hear such stories from a relatively educated, modern person, we tend to give it higher importance, because we over-ruled the possibility of irrational thoughts and false-interpretation.

Similar is the interesting question I found in Quora

.

Now, having gained a bit maturity in my thoughts, I believe that probably all the stories told by my Grand-Mother were not necessarily false-positive or misinterpreted facts.  We come across many such small and big experiences in our life when we feel that our prayers have been answered. We may feel that something very un-realistic and very un-common happened to help us in the times of distress We may feel that there are some forces of universe (or you may call it a nature) that give you a reason to have faith that there is something that is ready to help you when you see all the doors closed on you.

I started believing it after my prayers were answered to save life of my Roomie. I was in utter darkness and was not getting any help from any side to end this traumatic experience. Finally, I happened to call Almighty for help, if there was one.  When we call for help, and we need help, it is provided. Someone manages it all. I was lucky to see that my call was answered and the medicines to which my roommate was not responding well, started showing magical improvements after a couple of days. Same medicines but now effective to save his life. This whole experience changed my perspective about Beliefs, and super-natural things.

Have you faced any such incidents in your life that gave you a fresh perspective to beliefs, and presumptions?  Did you face any super-natural thing, however absurd, or insignificant, in your life?  If yes,  please share it here with us.

Don’t just Live in Fantasy World!

Did you ever notice it on Facebook or other social networking sites that most of the people, who consider themselves Gays (or Homosexuals more appropriately), are a bit different from the other guys.

Different in what context?  Let me explain.

Pay attention to the main message posted by someone in FB (Please refer to image given below). Someone posted that he is Gay and is in closet. He dare not to be open to his family yet as he is in search of his life partner. Once he finds his life partner, he could dare to openly declare his sexual preferences to his family since his “Hero” would be there to save him from Physical abuses of his Parents (or family).

The first reply and then last two replies to his post are mine.

It might have been written on a lighter note, but this kind of “magical” solutions to end the miseries of life are common observations for most of the guys in homosexual groups or social media posts. That’s my point of concern

It is normal that People tend to be weaker at emotional fronts, physical fronts or whatever fronts at times and but it is not normal when they tend to assume themselves weaker and try to find out a support for each and every thing in their “Boy Friend” or partner.  It is a problem if this tendency is becoming a regular activity of their life. It is a mind-game, and need to be played well.  Why is it that one want to live a passive life, and want to find a solution to every problem of one’s life from someone else.

Come on ! Stop Kidding, and showing pity on yourself. Sexual preference has nothing to do with your ability or inability to solve your problems on your own. No one has forced you to live a parasitic life. Stop this non-sense, and stand up for your own good self. At least stop pretending that some “Prince Charming” will enter your life and will end all the miseries of your life. Come out of your fantasies buddy. Try to turn yourself into that Prince Charming who can end the miseries of life. Instead of looking for the support in external factors, and external bodies, why don’t you turn yourself into someone who can support others, if needed.  No one want a loser in life. Why do you want to turn yourself into a loser without even giving yourself a fair chance to fight and win?

Recognize your potential Boss! Trust me, you have already been blessed with all the capabilities to fight and win against all the odds. Everyone’s life has its own shades of grey and one needs to find one’s winning style of turning these grey shades into vibrant colors. It may appear tough, but actually it is not tough. Just need to identify our style of working and improve it for better chances of winning the game. Remember, it is all a mind game !

Pardon me if I sound rude, but that is something I could not accept and tolerate. This kind of things portray a weaker image of Homosexuality. It is okay to be weak, but it is not okay to not fight and expect someone else to fight for you. It is not okay to assume this kind of things because you are Gay !