Week 1 - Of Meet The Friends Project

Week 1 - Of Meet The Friends

Remember last post where I talked about meeting a new friend every week as part of my New Year resolution to put a face to all those online friends I have (loads) but never met in the real world? Well I did put it into motion this very week and it was such a roaring success that I am tempted to continue the experiment. The friend who got the invitation this week for an up close and personal meet and greet with me was someone whose awesome work as a photographer I had been admiring for a long time through her Facebook posts. So this week I invited her over for some doughnuts and coffee and picked her mind about pro-tips for shooting portraits- her specialty in photography. So introducing to you through this blog – for the first time ever – Portrait Photographer Niranjani Ravi, a good buddy I met through the Chennai Photo Walk group on Facebook. Niranjani works in an Ad agency in the creative department and is available to shoot your pictures on weekends. Other than that she is good conversationalist and kept me in splits through the one hour or so we sat there talking. And as a final hint to all you bachelors out there- Niranjani is a card carrying member of the lonely hearts club and good pickings- as the Yankees say. So there- you have a great photographer (middle) and a budding talk show host (right) in the picture below (the other person is my longtime friend from Madurai Gopal (left) who had dropped in for the weekend)

Anyhow I was talking to another friend this morning and he was complaining about how life seems to be just a series of lessons in misfortunes and he cannot put to use the previous experiences in woe. I suggested to him that maybe he looks on himself as a finished product and is reluctant to make the changes required to his life. If he keeps repeating his misfortunes then its time he took a close new look at himself and his life. Sometimes we –most people- feel that needing improvement in some aspect of our life is a negative thing and when and if we admit we need help it is a sign of our weakness to deal with it all by ourselves. But sometimes a fresh pair of eyes are needed to add the perspective we miss from our close involvement with the events of our lives. And most people are happy to help out when asked politely. I have often found that people are most eager to help others out even going so far as sharing their passion with us once we take the courageous first step to admit to them that we are way over our heads over some issue or other they never guessed about. It just takes a minute to confess to a friend and to gain a lifelong coach and motivator. So go for it- talk to your friends and get them on your team. Well, that ends the advice session for this week and see you next week with more updates from my life.

P.s. dear readers-all- I hope all of you had a great week and are still going strong with your new year resolutions for 2015. Hang in there and we will see it through together. Cheers and spread the wishes and hugs all around. Remember happiness is never from what you buy or who you win, its simply a way of being. Be happy and stay smiling and come back next week for a new post.