For all my fellow human beings...

Fleetwood Mac - Dreams...

2010-02-27T16:51:00.000+05:30

Hi friends

Since this is my last blog day, I decided to just mention a song that I have learnt to love, and hear whenever I feel down and out. This song has a history behind it, a fact I knew the instant I heard it. I hear many songs, but I can feel this one.The song is "Dreams", which was originally sung by the band "Fleetwood Mac", and later adapted by "The Corrs", which is the version that most people have actually heard.

The members of "Fleetwood Mac" were experiencing emotional upheavals while recording the album, named "Rumours". The drummer was going through a divorce, the bass player was separating from his wife, the keyboard player. The guitarist and the songwriter (Nicks) were ending their eight-year relationship. "We had to go through this elaborate exercise of denial, keeping our personal feelings in one corner of the room while trying to be professional in the other", explained the guitarist.

As Nicks explained "I sat down on the bed with my keyboard in front of me. I found a drum pattern, switched my little cassette player on and wrote 'Dreams' in about 10 minutes. Right away I liked the fact that I was doing something with a dance beat, because that made it a little unusual for me".

“We had to go through this elaborate exercise of denial, keeping our personal feelings in one corner of the room while trying to be professional in the other", said the Guitarist. Inevitably, their true feelings surfaced in the lyrics of the songs they were writing — most notable “Dreams.”

By the time “Dreams” was released, Rumours was already a platinum album, and Nicks’s song soared to No. 1 on June 18, 1977, quickly establishing itself as her signature track. The song was the only U.S. number one hit for the group, and remains one of their best known songs. “Sometimes you can get tired of singing a certain song over and over again,” she says, “but I have never gone onstage, either with Fleetwood Mac or in my solo shows, without singing ‘Dreams’. I don’t think I could.”

The lyrics of the song are here below:

Now there you go again
You say you want your freedom
Who am I to keep you down...down
It's only right that you should
Play it the way that you feel it
But listen carefully to the sound
Of your loneliness
Like a heartbeat, drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering
What you had, And what you lost
Ooooh, say what you had, you know what you lost

Chorus:
Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
They say, women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
You will know

Here I go again, I see the crystal visions
I keep my visions to myself, yeah
It's only me who wants to wrap around your dreams and
Have you any dreams you'd like to sell?
Dreams of Loneliness

Like a heartbeat, drives you mad
In the stillness of remembering
What you had, And what you lost
Oooh, says what you had, you know what you lost

Chorus:
Thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
They say, women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
You will know

Oh thunder only happens when it's raining
Players only love you when they're playing
They say, women, they will come and they will go
When the rain washes you clean, you'll know
You'll know
You will know
Oh oh oh you'll know

Ciao.

The End of Days...

2010-02-27T01:20:00.001+05:30

Hi friends

As much as I hate to do this, and as much as my near-and-dear friends told me “Don’t do this man, just don’t”, it is with a heavy heart that I am stopping this blog for a minimum of 6 months effective from today. I may re-start this blog from September 2010 onwards, subject to many conditions. I have been asked “Why now?” by all those who knew about this in advance, and sadly I have no reply to that question even now. It is a drastic decision from my side, a very rash decision. But I just felt that it needed to be done.

No, the movie “Leader” did not inspire me to make such a drastic decision. I had made my decision around 16^th/17^th of January this year. I was at the peak of my depression then, and I just wanted to do something drastic. I started evaluating what went wrong with my life, and in that process realized that the most important thing to me (apart from my parents) was my blog. It was not something that was wrong, but it felt like it had got to me. Yes I was in love with my blog, and each of its 25 followers, and each of the 63 people who have made a useful/encouraging comment in it as of now (Yes I do keep track folks). Their names I have listed in this link here (with due messages for each of them) for everyone to see.

My blog has been a very integral part of my life for the last 3 years. I have lived a complete different life though it – I have argued with folks, received threats, and got nice reviews for it. Some days, the only thing that kept me blogging was the fact that some friends used to tell me – “Dude, when we feel bored we open and read your blog. Always something good to read in it”.

I never tried to market my blog – and honestly I am very poor at marketing things. But I was content with what I wrote, as I wrote mostly for myself. Seeing so many people relate to what I wrote made me a very happy man.

This blog was supposed to be a good CV point, and you are all responsible for making this my best CV point yet. Thank you all for your support.

I hope that by September, I would be a more sensible and less frustrated person than I am now.

P.S. I have started a book-review blog (Link here) that I will keep updating as and when I feel like it. It won’t be regular, nor would it be addictive.

Ciao.

Today, in you, I see a Leader...

2010-02-26T21:36:00.004+05:30

This review may contain spoilers

Hi friends

Today I went and saw the movie "Leader". To be honest, I had no idea it was directed by Mr. Sekhar Kammula (till I saw the credits), the man who gave the world movies such as "Dollar Dreams", "Anand" and "Happy Days". This was his 4th movie that I could see, and I would like to mention this for the record - So far not a single SK movie that I have seen has disappointed me. And I am proud to admit that.

IdleBrain has give this movie a rating of 3 on 5, a gross underestimation in my view. I am honestly surprized that inspite of such a good review (just read the review at IdleBrain.com), this site gave the movie just 3 on 5! Honestly, I felt that this movie deserves a clear 4 on 5. The story was simply extraordinary.

Brief Summary: The current CM of the state dies, leaving the seat open to be claimed by a near-relative. Meanwhile the CM's son comes back from the US (Ph.D from Harvard at the age of 25) and deicdes to fulfil his father's last wish of his own son becoming the CM. He manipulates and plays his own politics, with the final aim of cleaning up the system and making all public money available for public use. He fights the system on his own, realizing his own faults and shortcomings in the process. His guilt finally overcomes him and the drastic action he takes at the end is the crux of the entire story - the transformation phase.

At the core of the whole movie lies the difference between the leader and a politician. The realization that he is no more a politician than any of the others around him is where the movie actually starts (which is nearly at the end). If the movie has to send a message, it did the moment the hero made the drastic decision towards the last 15 minutes of the movie. I am specifically trying to avoid making any reference to what he did, because that changed the whole story for me. Do see the movie for just the last 20 minutes - although the last 10 minutes of the movie was poorly directed (I really don't know why directors hit their own foot with a sledgehammer at the most crucial moments). It changed the whole game, and made the politician a leader.

Some of the scenes were beautifully crafted - the one where he talks to the father of the girl who was raped and murdered & the one where he decides to becomes the CM and plans on how to do it really blew me away! The scene where one of the MLAs talks about the "free-rice" scheme shows a true picture of the current situation in AP. The distrust that people have in politicians and the realization of the son that his own father had to become corrupt due to the system were shown beautifully.

"Rann" showed us the truth, and "Leader" shows us what could be the reality. Although IdleBrain called this movie "Idealistic", I felt that what the hero did could be done. He fought the system by being a part of the system. He hated doing so (every day he remembered what he did and how to undo anything wrong that he did), but did it, because he had a larger good in his mind. This movie does not have a single fight scene, and not one song-and-dance sequence. This movie does not call for a "mass-revolution" to bring about change, like most other movies in its genre/storyline. It does not make tall-claims of how a leader should/shouldn't be. The hero himself is torn by what he has seen and done, and knows when he is at wrong. But he remembers the bigger objective and always keeps that in mind.

The hero has a very commanding voice. It added power to the movie, and to his own character. However, the movie will be remembered more for the story than its acting, which was neatly paced. The rest of the cast play their part very well - especially the roles of Ali (played by Harsha Vardhan) and the Peddanana role played by Kota Srinivasa Rao. The only blot here could be the role of the heroines,which was frankly very limited, even by Tollywood standards.

I can go on and on about this movie. It was an eye-opener, a message of hope, a symbol of youth power and of belief in oneself. Do see it, now or some other time. And let me know if it made you feel any different than what I felt. I usually try to discuss how a movie impacted or what I learnt from it. But I have realized that some emotions can never be translated or penned own into words. They remain with you forever.

P.S. The title of this post is the English-translation of the words of the Chief Secretary of the CM after he makes his drastic decision.

Ciao.

Japan is to Asia what Germany is to Europe (And Aamir Khan)

2010-02-25T22:20:00.001+05:30

Hi friends

One of my batchmates @ NIT Kurukshetra from Kerala is one awesome chap. He calls me up atleast once every 1-2 months, and gives me gyaan! A lot of gyaan! Listening to him makes you more aware of the world than you have ever been before! The best thing - he is never drunk when giving this gyaan :) Just think how much more one could learn if he were actually drunk.

Anyways, he called me up a few days ago (I remembered that I still have his number stored in my mobile - can't forget some chaps I guess) with another dose of his monthly gyaan. And it was awesome as usual. We talked about many issues (well, he talked and I mostly listened), and here are some nice theories that he postulated on two issues. I will refer to him as PJ (just a short form of his name and not meant to be taken as a pun in any way)

1. Japan is to Asia what Germany is to Europe

PJ postulated that Japanese and Germans are very similar in their attitudes w.r.t. the rest of the people in their continents i.e. Japan:Asia as Germany:Europe. Some of his points of argument were as follows:

1. Sense of Humour: How many jokes have you heard that involve either the Japanese or the Germans? Compared to that, how many jokes have you heard involving the French or the Italians or the Chinese or us Indians? I hope you get my point. The Japanese and the Germans do not see the funny side to anything. They are the "point-wise people" i.e. very practical in their attitude.

2. Product Marketing: They are two of the most brilliant manufacturing giants in the world, yet they do not carry the tag of "the best marketed products" at all. Just think about it - Aston Martin, Ferrari, Fiat and Rolls-Royce have a brand image, a very distinct brand image, although they do not certainly make the best cars. BMW and Mercedes-Benz do make some of the best cars ever, but they are the best technologically, and not exactly practical for public usage. I have also heard of the dismal state of the customer service centres of BMW. From the Japanese side, we have our very own "Sony" - which can easily rival and even beat Apple ant time. But in our minds, more often than not, Apple steals the mind share more than Sony ever did.

3. Food: How many times have you heard of specialty Japanese / German cuisine, as compared to; say Chinese / French / Italian / Thai? For them, food is something they need to eat and serve, and not for marketing it around the world.

4. The God Syndrome: The Germans (Eg: Nazis) and the Japanese suffer from the “I am God” psychology – it’s not a generalization, but history has shown that to be true.

2. Aamir Khan's movies are all the same

PJ says that most of AKs movies revolve around a similar funda in a broader sense - You don’t see the repetitiveness because of gap in timing – comes every 2 years.

Ghulam: Man starts small, grows to become big in his own way. All people opposed to him, but eventually they like him.

Raja Hindustani: Man starts small. All main people opposed to him, but eventually they like him.

Taare Zameen Par: The limelight shifted on the kid, but Aamir tries to steal the limelight (I was also like you as a kid, and look where I am now)

3 Idiots: Small-town man, big ideas; Head of the college hates him, finally loves him.

I know this is too less to generalize, but most of his movies carry very similar themes. I felt the same. But it's the case with most Hindi movies, just that with Aamir, it becomes more pronounced.

Ciao for now. Enough for today :)

SRK, MNIK and Indian security...

2010-02-25T20:10:00.001+05:30

"When terror hit Mumbai, the Indian elite community was blowing with anger because they were affected. Abhi saale sab chup karke baithe hue hain Pune ke baad".

Hi friends

This statement, made by a friend of mine in a chat, got me thinking about this whole SRK, Shiv Sena and Pune blasts' issue. I rarely think about such issues, because I really have no views of my own on things I do not think about at all. After all, what SRK said was just a publicity stunt aimed at promoting his movie, right? And so was the reply given by the Sena and other anti-Pakistan activists in India, right?

I think simple, I hate complications in life. Hence two very simple points certainly came to my mind after thinking about this for a while.

1. What I wrote about the elite in a previous unrelated post made more sense seeing the practical visible situation in India.

2. The security apparatus in India may / may-not suck, but the lethargy of the Indian Security System is appalling. If they can provide security to so many theatres, I think they can also provide similar security to main city centres and other areas especially the ones that tourists frequent.

Let me elaborate:

1. The point that really hits my mind is the indifference shown by the elite towards anything that does not involve them at all. I know this is how they have reached the pinnacle of their careers (atleast most of them), but the common man expects something from them.

I think if everyone understands the principle of "Giving back to the society", there would be no need for Communism or Socialism, as these concepts talk about the greater good. If the elite start thinking of ways to contribute back as much as possible, the world would be a much better place and the greater good will finally happen.

2. Truly speaking, SRK works up a lot of magic. He can get villages to light up using just a tank-full of water (Swades), or in this case - one threat and the entire theatres get full security. Can't we have atleast 50% of that security in other areas on other normal days? Is it too much to ask? (P.S. I have nothing against SRK - he is a great actor and a down-to-earth guy, a very recent revelation). Do we need to be so reactive in nature?

Indians have always been reactive. We happily suffered under the British, waging our lone small battles. And we needed a dhoti-wearing baldy to come and tell us - "What the f**k are you doing? Don't you see what is happening to you and what they are doing to you?" They asked him - "What can we do?" And he gave them the mantra we still follow today - "That's the beauty of it - Don't do anything. But let them know you are suffering. The guilt will drive them away". Now as we moved on, we became so much of a passive reactionary race that we see the problem, and say to ourselves - "I see you coming. But you are so far away - so I will wait. When you come close, I will strike".

Reactive is what the common man is. Hence we elect our representatives to be the proactive people and fight it out on our behalf, to identify our problems and give us the solutions. But they are more interested in saving their arses rather than yours or mine.

Ciao for now.

Partial Recall

2010-02-22T19:05:00.002+05:30

Hi friends

As much as I blame myself for not being able to remember much of my school days, there are always 2 events that will remain etched in my mind (although not with the best-possible clarity). These two events made me realize two important things in life (in retrospect):

a) I do not make a good leader and am very poor at controlling or monitoring people

b) Although I love working hard on many things, I hate taking credit for that that thing I worked on – I am happy being No. 2 (atleast in my state of mind)

The events are as follows:

1. It was in the 6^th/7^th grade (I do not remember properly). The class teacher asked for nominations for people to become the class monitor (CM). There was a great deal of support to make me the CM (except for the fact that I did not want to become one). To make the process absolutely-democratic, my teacher allowed multiple votes (one person could vote for as many people as he wanted to, by show of hands). I voted for everyone, but me. Of a total of 60-65 students, I remember getting around 48 votes and won (reluctantly) by a huge margin.

The choice of making me the CM was fairly logical – I was the classroom-equivalent of the now-deceased former speaker of the Parliament Mr. GMC Balayogi. I was never the controlling authority, and was only the requesting authority – I used to request everyone to remain silent during the transition between one class and the next. But as was the case – no one cared to listen, and the decibel levels were at its peak then.

One day, the PT master (Mr. Augustine) was staking a stroll in the balcony, and he heard this hollering. He burst into the classroom (to a sudden pin-drop silence) and asked me to point out the person who was responsible for the noise that he heard before. I, being the most-scared person in the class at that moment, pointed out a first-bencher, who I knew was the meekest person in the classroom then (and who would not want to take revenge on me later on). The poor guy got a big trashing, and we were all ordered to go the ground for a PT break of 30 min.

I still owe that guy an apology. He was the only person who liked my mom’s upma (and I used to exchange my tiffin box with his whenever my mom made upma) and was a good guy. I hope he reads this and accepts my apology.

P.S. The “meek” guy is now a champion body-builder (my school friends would know who I’m talking about) and can bash me to a pulp if he wishes to.

2. I was 8^th Grade, and I guess Mr. Inniah was our English teacher then. He finished the entire syllabus by September and asked all the 3 sections present to make put up small skits (one per section per day per chapter) from our supplementary book (“The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”) and the winning section would receive some grace marks (I think this was the incentive) in the end exam.

I was very interested (probably because of the incentive) and took this task to my head. I tried to design the plays and make them more interesting in many ways, like using some common props, using sound effects, and also Indianizing the skit (all explained below).

Props: I got my classmates to bring various coloured shirts to wear during the skits, got one of them to remove his shirt (as the scene demanded it) and also used various left-over chart-papers to create additional effects.

Sounds: In a scene where Jim (one of the protagonists of the book, played by Joel Joseph) gets slapped by someone, I stood outside the class to create a loud noise (by clapping my hands) and the effect was reinforced by a accidental slipup that caused Joel to fall down at the exact same moment – this was the most authentic scene of all the skits – and everyone felt that Jim was indeed slapped hard in the face!

Indianizing the skit: I used some casual Hindi slangs (like “yaar”, “abey”, “kyon”, “chal yaar” etc.) to make the play more funny and put an Indian touch to it. It was appreciated by the teacher.

As much as I hated it, I was forced to play Huckleberry Finn in most of the skits. I somehow convinced everyone that HF’s role be rotated, so as to remove the monotony - the real reason being the fact that I hated to play the lead role, and would have played Jim, had it not been for the fact that Joel was perfectly suited for the role (and I had to convince him a lot for that too!). At the end, I was happy that we won (I think we did win) and didn’t care about the credit, as I was a part of the victory too, and that was good enough for me).

Just two small stories that I thought of sharing with you all.

Ciao.

MBA mat kar, mat kar...

2010-02-19T16:51:00.001+05:30

Hi friends

A small post in continuation of this awesome email forward that I got before, modifying the dialogue of the movie "A Wednesday". I decided to use the famous "Daaru mat pi, mat pi" dialogue from the movie "Amar Akbar Anthony" and modify it under my (and many other friends') current circumstances...

Here it goes:

Scene: Kapil is completely drunk and in a state of happiness and sadness at the same time. He just received his first salary after 2 years of slogging for his MBA. In this scene, he is looking at his face in the mirror and is addressing himself.

Basssss, ho gaya ghisai? Khush, khush hai kya tu saale?

Tere ko main iska vasteyich bolta tha ki yem-bee-ay... mat kar, mat kar, mat kar yem-bee-ay..., bahut kha...... khatarnaak cheez hai yem-bee-ay.... Do saal ghisai, phir life time ki chudai.

Tu agar yeh yem-bee-ay nahin kiya hota, to kya woh saala Lee-man wala recession tere ko kuch kar sakta tha? Bolo...

Bol, kya tere ko aisa job milta bey saale? Bol...

Arey Kapil bhai, tumhe akela paanch, paanch company le sakthe the.. Tere peeche pad jaathe the saare, haath mein faram liye...

Par tu apunka suntayich kidhar hai!! Kidharyich sunta hai?

Dek dek ab apna woh hara pathi (salary slip) ko dekh...

Dek use, tere us espe-shal file main laga ke raktha hain naaa.... Dekh, kitna kat gaya tera life mein bhai... Dekh...

Pakka idiot dikhta hai usse lekar tu... Pucca ee-dee-yat....

Abhi tum fikar nahin karne ka samjhe, apun tera mast, ekdum rapchick naukri lagwane ka koshish karega, fikar not... Are baba, darta kai ko hai? Bas fikar not... fikar not... hain......."

This post is completely fictional and does not relate to any person (living or dead) or incident that might have happened.

Dedicated to all my fellow peers affected by the recession - sorry - "slowdown" :)

Ciao for now.

NREGA ya MAREGA?

2010-02-19T14:44:00.001+05:30

Hi friends

This small piece is taken from two articles in Mint giving opposite perspectives to the NREGA scheme of the Congress(I)-led UPA Govt. The first article talks about how NREGA has helped increase the disposable incomes of people from rural areas, and the second article talks about how NREGA might shunt the long-term economic development of the country. I will try to illustrate both sides of the story, in a point-wise format below.

What is NREGA?

The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (now called "Mahatma Gandhi NREGA") is a scheme that provides a legal guarantee for 100 days of employment every financial year to adult members of any rural household willing to do public work-related unskilled manual work, at the statutory minimum wage of Rs.60 per day. It aims at enhancing the livelihood security of people in rural areas. The Central government outlay for this scheme has been Rs. 39,100 crores ($8 billion) in FY 2009-10.

Positive side of NREGS:

1. Around 80% of the workforce is constituted by rural women, who were previously economically unproductive. By working under the scheme, women are able to bring in supplementary income.

2. Most villagers prefer to work under NREGA rather than in factories nearby since the scheme entails 8 hours of labour a day against the 12 hours workers have to put in at the latter.

3. It has increased “bargaining power” as well as household incomes among the poor in rural areas.

4. NREGA serves as an effective safety net for the unemployed, especially during years of famine and drought.

5. For a change, the money seems to be percolating down to where it needs to reach, resulting in the generation of income. People don’t need to go off to cities any more during the lean season.

6. It appears NREGA has succeeded in removing the kind of wrenching poverty that most of the communities have endured so far.

7. NREGA does not just give wages to labour, but also creates community assets which are useful for the villagers in the long run. To widen the scope of asset creation under the scheme, the Centre last year tied NREGA to other government schemes related to agriculture, water resources, land resources, forests and rural roads.

8. In the long term, the actual physical work done via NREGS might prove to be trivial in the face of the social and administrative gains it brings, if utilized properly.

Sounds great, right? Well it is good considering the situation that the poor of this country are facing today. But then there are always two sides to the same coin.

The negative effects of NREGS:

1. Economic development necessarily involves the movement of people from low-productivity to high-productivity jobs. NREGS creates perverse incentives for poor villagers to stay behind to earn a basic income for 100 days a year rather than take the risk and venture out to seek more productive employment.

2. NREGS effectively puts a floor under rural wages, leading to labour shortages during harvest time (a problem faced by farmers).

3. Poor implementation of NREGA in states such as Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

4. Payments to workers are being delayed as there is a late measurement of work.

5. Only 19% of the 850,000 differently abled people registered for the scheme have got work under NREGA.

6. The so-called elite groups within the workers capture most of the job cards. In Bihar, it was observed that only the people of the dominant caste got the job cards whereas the Dalits were denied participation. (Jobs cards are given to workers to enrol them for projects under NREGA)

What was my take on this?

Point 1 of the "negative-effects" was something that I have always believed in. I know it, because in a very different, yet related way, I am facing it myself. Although I believe that it will take some time before we see the effects of this, but my assessment is that NREGS must have indeed brought about social and administrative gains in the society. But these measures need to go hand-in-hand with the economic and fiscal scenario that we face. Economic development will happen when people seek better jobs and take more risks. With more than 60% of the population below the poverty line, it will take a while before we ensure that everyone feels secure. But once we reach the critical-mass, we need to take effective measures to ensure that the system does not depend solely on NREGS. I hope our sensible Govt. headed by an economist, is listening.

P.S. The title of this post is inspired by this faking news article.

Ciao for now.

The Choice...

2010-02-18T20:05:00.002+05:30

“It is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities" - J.K. Rowling

Radesh looked out of his office window, from the 34th Floor of his office building in Manhattan. Looking down at the people, walking like a stream of ants was one of his stress-busting mechanisms in operation. As strange as it may sound, this insignificant activity always gave him a sense of confidence, a feeling that he can take on the whole world. "Sir, there is one Mr. Himanshu wanting to see you, says he is an old friend. Should I send him in?", Ms. Suzy asked her boss over the intercom. "Himanshu? What is he doing here? After all these years?" Radesh mumbled to himself. "Yes send him in", he told her, with reluctance in his voice.

Himanshu stepped into his posh office. "Being the Vice President of a firm such as this surely has its perks", Himanshu felt jealous at Radesh's success. In college, no one even dreamed that he would go on to scale such heights in his career. Rising from the rank of an engineer, Radesh clawed his way to the top. He was hard-working and sincere, which was enough to attract the attention of the top-management. "He made all the right choices I guess", Himanshu wondered.

"Hey Himanshu, kaisa hai bey tu? No call, no email, just dropping by all of a sudden? I hope things are fine with you"

"Hi Radesh. Well, sorry about that boss. I wasn't aware that we did not exchange our mail ids at all. I was in this city for something related to my work, and Kinjal told me you work in this area. So I took your address, and decided to drop by and surprise you. How are things with you?"

"Things are fine. I was made the Vice President of the firm last month, so things have been a bit hectic lately. Luckily, Manya is a very adjusting woman, so my professional life has not affected my personal life in any way. So life's good. What about you? Where have you been all these years?"

"Travelling all over the world. Thanks to my hectic schedule, I never had the time to settle down and start a family. So I quit my job, and started my own business, in AC Parts Manufacturing. It's running pretty well so far - we made our first profits 6 months ago. And have never looked back since. Got married two years ago. We are expecting our first child in three months"

"Hey congrats! Good to hear that. I always wanted to start my own firm, but never had the guts to take that risk. Once I got married, it was all about the family and the kids. Phew, man! You know it's really a surprise meeting you after a long time, considering what happened between us that night..."

"Yes Radesh, I can understand. But past is past. It cannot be changed. That's the reason I came over here to meet you. I came over here to apologize for whatever I said to you. It was very wrong of me..."

"No man, there is nothing like that..."

"Radesh, please allow me to finish. It has been what, 15 years? For 15 years I regretted what happened that night. You know I was drunk, very drunk..."

"Yes I know..."

"And I failed to realize that you were truly in love with her. And that she loved you too. For her sake, you gave up your seat in IISc man - you know how stupid that move was? Just because you could remain in Delhi where she was posted? For 4 years I was your friend. For 4 bloody years. I used to keep telling you - career comes first, career comes first, and kept telling you the same thing over and over again. But you did not listen to me at all, nope"

"Arey yaar, see..."

"When I saw you at the reunion 10 years ago, I wanted to ask you how you were. But did not have the guts. I was in touch with Kinjal, who told me about your marriage, and on how you were struggling in your job. I did not know if you had forgiven me yet. So I stayed clear off you. And then with all this travelling, I forgot all about this, until last year. I wanted to meet you and ask you for your forgiveness, but never knew if you would forgive me or not. After all that I said to you and to Manya that night, I was very ashamed to even face you"

"Abey sun to le..."

"Now you know what, I am glad you did not listen to me. I am extremely happy that you followed your heart. Look at you now - Vice President. Successful man. You made the right choice Radesh"

"Arey yaar, c'mon. You were my good friend and I am sure you were thinking about my own good. I knew you were drunk and all. But for the next 5 years, my life was pretty hard. Although I was posted in Delhi, I was sent to various other places regularly. It was tough for me, and Manya too. To convince her parents was the biggest challenge I have faced in my life so far. And everyday I used to keep thinking "What if Himanshu was right that night? Did I make the right choice? Was I blinded by love then?" I even contemplated writing GATE once more.You know Himanshu, I always envied you. At the reunion, I was afraid to face you. I felt you were right. And that you would remind me of my decision and mock me. For the first time, I felt like a loser. Kinjal told me about your travels, and I was happy that you got what you wanted".

"I did, but it was nothing like I thought it was. MBA is harsh man, very harsh. And Consulting is tough on the body - all those hours of travelling sucks. You know, for a while, I felt that that the choice I made in the heat of emotion would have been better if left for some other day. But I wanted to prove a point to you - that you made the wrong choice and I didn't. But it finally turned out to be just the opposite..."

"No no, why do you feel like that yaar. You know there is an old saying that "There is no life as complete as the life that is lived by choice". I always remember this quote whenever I feel down and out. You lived your life according to your own choice, so did I. How many of our friends you think actually made decisions according to their own choice? They will keep thinking "What If? all their lives - you and I won't. Because we made our choices, and stuck to it. See where it got us now - you have your own firm, which you always wanted. I have a successful professional career,which I wanted. In the end, it doesn't even matter, right?"

"Hmmm... True, true... But still..."

"See, Stephen Covey once said that until a person can say deeply and honestly, "I am what I am today because of the choices I made yesterday," that person cannot say, "I choose otherwise". We lived a life according to the decisions we made, and I for one don't regret it. The end is all that matters, don't you think so?"

"Hmm... I guess in the long run it all evens out... So this means you forgive me?"

"Abey, tu bhi naa. Ok, I forgive you. Khush? What forgiveness man? It was a moment of stupidity that both of us took seriously. Dil pe mat le yaar. Mistakes dono taraf huyi thi. I must also ask your forgiveness you know. Anyways, how are your parents and your little brother, Sonu, right?"

"Haan. Sonu is doing well. He cracked IIT and is now working with Google India. Dad is having some heart troubles, but he is doing well too. And mom is, you know naa, just the usual. Man, you have become quite the philosopher!"

"Sunke accha laga sonu ke baare mein. Ha ha ha! Newly married hai naa tu - wait for a few more years, and then you will understand! Phew. It's been a long time since we had such a conversation. Remember how we used to talk about stuff like this in college?"

"Yeah... Wasted a good number of man-hours in sh*t like this. Good atleast one of us made use of it in the right sense"

"Baap re... Tu sahi mein MBA kiya hai bey. Man-hours kehte - aise jargon kaha se utha leta hai tu?"

"12 years consulting kar le, sab seekh jaaoge Radesh, sab seekh jaaoge"

"Anyways, you free for dinner. Manya ko call kartha hoon. She has taken leave today, so she can cook I guess. What say?"

"Ok. but facing her after such a long time, especially after all that..."

"Arey tu phir se usi cheez pe atak raha hain? You know Manya keeps asking about you every once in a while. I am sure she will be very glad to know you are coming."

"Really? Let's hope so Radesh. Let's hope so..."

“Remember, there are no mistakes, only lessons. Love yourself, trust your choices, and everything is possible.” - Cherie Carter-Scott

Job Satisfaction, Ph.D and Maturity...

2010-02-17T22:52:00.000+05:30

This post is adapted from another post in my personal diary that I maintain in the form of a blog (and is only accessible to me). It was written after a lot of thought and deliberation.

Hi friends

Having so much free time (Boss has gone for campus recruitment, leaving me fultoo free for other activities), I have been blogging like crazy the last few days. Chatting (with many friends) and blogging have never been more fun I guess!

Now a days, one of my IIM friends from Assam calls me up almost once a fortnight and we have a nice chat about our work routines and life. Looks like he is getting pretty nervous about his marriage this April :D One thing I can sense in his voice (and also in mine) is that our work satisfactions are low. Even though we are happy to get a job, even he, with a really good paying job, is not enjoying the grind. I guess there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch, right? If you want the big bucks, you got to grind your arse up.

At least there is one guy who feels that my future Ph.D plans are not crazy – my junior Anup. He also plans to become a professor later in his life and it would be great if we could go to the same university somewhere in Europe (I have had enough of the USA).

My work is going somewhat ok I guess. Everyone in the office has been really co-operative with me, apart from one person, whom I shall henceforth refer to as “the one who shall not be mentioned”. I know I am not exactly the kind of guy one would like, but I am certainly not the kind that one would hate.

Life is going pretty much smoothly. A close college friend always used to talk to me about the need for guys to have a girlfriend to share their “emotional side”. I never really felt the need to express my “emotional side” to anyone, because I don’t think I have one at all. It’s just that I feel emotions too, that’s all, like any other human being. But an emotional side, well that sounds complicated & huge. It makes me look like a weakling, someone who needs something so badly that he/she can’t live without it. And no such thing can exist for me, nope. Not even the Internet. Not even chatting :)

The closest that any one can be in my life are my parents. They are the ones who gave birth to me and made me who I am; hence I have an obligation (read: love) towards them. This brings to mind a certain incident, which, on later introspection, made me see this other side to myself.

It was in school, in the 5th grade I think. My mom was supposed to pick me up and she had been picking me up from school for quite a few days. I think I was staying late from school because of that quiz club idea , hence my auto wala used to leave, so my mom was there to pick me up daily. The instructions given to me were pretty clear: My mom will come by a particular fixed time. If she is late by more than 15 minutes, then I was supposed to go home on my own. That particular day, I was out very early, so I came home (I had a set of home keys with me then). I then realized that I was supposed to wait for mom, as my coming home was dependant on her being late, not on me being early. I was panicked and tense (this was the time when no one at our home carried a mobile phone).

When my mom came home, I remember this conversation happening – it was originally in Telugu.

Mom: You came home? So early?

Me (Quite tense and panicked): Yes mom, oh I am so glad to see you. I came back early today as I became free early. But I came home and remembered your instructions. I was so tense you know. I remembered that you have high BP and on seeing me missing, you would have become very tense about it and perhaps panicked.

Mom: So you were tense and afraid for me because I had a high BP?

Me: Well, yes. I know that you have it and it would have made you tense and angry, right?

Mom: Hmmm....

I never understood if I had done anything wrong then because I saw that my mom’s reaction was very different from what I expected. It was this – I was tense because she had BP, not because she was my mom and I love her. The emotional connection was beautifully outsourced to a physical malaise and the reason for this was because it hadn’t developed in me yet.

My dad keeps telling me (even to this day) that I have not yet matured. I know what he means. In my view, my brain is an amalgamation of the emotional brain of a smartass kid and the sharp-shooting brain of a wiseass. In other words – it’s simply an emotional hotchpotch inside that tiny head of mine. This makes me immune to the feelings of love, pain and even death. Creepy? Yes, because though sometimes I am able to sense those feelings inside, I am unable to express them as and when needed. When I need them, they disappear. Weird...

Ciao for now. Thanks for reading.

Lahore Calling Karthik :D

2010-02-17T16:25:00.002+05:30

Hi friends

I am eagerly waiting for the release of two movies - "Karthik Calling Karthik" (KCK), due on 26.02.2010, and "Lahore" on 19.03.2010. I am very optimistic over Bollywood for the first time in my short life on 24 years on this planet (thanks to RGV's "Rann" which I liked a lot!)

KCK floored me with its awesome music, and with its simple, effective trailer(s). Yes, the trailer matters to me as much as the movie itself. If a RTI was filed against me asking for what I look for in a movie, it would perhaps look like this:

Bollywood:

1. New Concept / Originality: 15-20%

2. Trailer: 25-30%

3. Appealing Music: 15%

4. Storyline: 15%

5. Screenplay / Casting / Feel-Good factor (after seeing the movie): 20%

6. Other factors (Mood before/after seeing the movie, and other personal factors): 0-10%

Hollywood:

1. New Concept / Originality: 20%

2. Trailer: 30%

3. Genre (Sci-fi / Romantic Comedies preferred): 10%

4. Storyline: 20%

5. Screenplay / Casting / Feel-Good factor (after seeing the movie): 20%

Tollywood (and other languages):

1. New Concept / Originality: 20%

2. Trailer: 0-10% (rarely seen any)

3. Reviews: 20%

4. Storyline: 20-30%

5. Screenplay / Feel-Good factor (Entertainment): 20%

6. Other factors (Mood before and after seeing the movie, and other personal factors): 10%

(This is just an estimate, and not a guarantee of the way I have rated movies over the last 4 years)

So you see, the trailers and "the feel-good factor" matter a lot to me. Trailers show what the movie actually has to offer. Movies like "Get Smart", "W", "Tropic Thunder" and "Bandidas" received high ratings from my side solely because their trailers cemented a certain impression in my mind even before seeing the movie, and the feel-good factor! But yes, there are always exceptions like "American Beauty" whose trailers created a wrong impression, which changed (for the better) once I saw what the movie had to offer.

Now for KCK - the movie seems to be worth a watch judging by the trailers, but its songs are a revelation! The music is simply breathtaking! Rarely have any Hindi songs made me experience the "Ear-worm" phenomenon (in a non-threatening way) as much as the songs of KCK. I keep humming its tunes, and the songs run in my head more than any other thought!

Coming to "Lahore" now. This article in Mint titled "Indo-Pak harmony served with a kick" tells it all - another unseen sport (kickboxing) filmed with an Indo-Pak setting. Sounds cliche, right? But I feel that this movie will be different from many of the earlier sports-related movies because (a) It deals with a sport I am yet to see and which is not known to many (b) SPS Chauhan, the director, used to be a professional fighter himself and has represented the country on several occasions & (c) There are no mainstream actors in the movie. I have not seen Farooq Shaikh and Sushant Singh on the big screen in a long time. I have admired Sushant since his role as "Victor" in the movie "16th December" and have always wondered why has he been regulated to the No. 2 roles in movies.

I just hope both these movies live upto my expectations. After all, I evaluate the movies on many other unknown parameters too :)

Ciao for now.

Chasing Amy...

2010-02-16T17:16:00.001+05:30

Hi friends

After 2 years and 3 months since my Sir suggested two movies in a comment to this post, I finally decided to see the movie "Chasing Amy", and happened to start seeing it exactly at 11:58 pm on February 14th, accompanied by pizza and darkness (The lights were shut off so that I could have a real movie experience).

Brief Summary: Holden falls in love with a lesbian-identified Alyssa. She never opened up to a man before, and is relishing every moment of it. But his best friend, Banky, a possible homophobic (because one scene makes it look for sure that he isn't one, or may be he was just drunk), tries to get them to separate in many ways. What happens next is what you need to see to understand.

I was not at all surprised by the very open sexual dialogue(s) in this movie. In a movie where a man falls head-over-heels for a lesbian, there is nothing more to expect! What I liked was the way the story progressed - perfect pace. There was nothing special about the movie - and that's what made it very special to me. Addressing one of the most complex love-stories possible, Kevin Smith made sure that the audience remained captivated and entertained till the end.

Who is Amy? Who is chasing her and why? I thought that the actress was called Amy and that the hero would chase her and succeed to convert her at the end of the movie. But then, she is Alyssa. And she falls for him very early into the movie. Hmmm.

But the brief scene in which mentioned "Amy" was the turning point of this whole movie. You can never ever expect the ending - No way. what Holden thinks and imagines is beyond anyone's wildest dreams! But I empathized with Alyssa (although I still cannot come to terms with the LGBT community) and understood her feelings very well. During the movie, I could understand each and every thought that was going on in her head - for a moment I felt I had cracked the the eternal mystery of "What Women Want", like some code!

The movie addresses love in a way we have never seen before (atleast for me). This is not a movie meant to be seen for its acting, but for its story and dialogue. If you want 100 minutes of entertainment and rib-tickling confused-love, this is certainly the movie for you.

By the way, Kevin Smith has made other awesome movies like"Clerks" and "Zack and Miri Make a Porno". If you liked them, then make sure you see this one too.

Thank you Adi Sir for recommending this movie. Although I have already seen "Being John Malkovich" before, I will see it once again, to understand it much better and learn from it, and to put things in perspective.

Ciao for now.

Infotech - Silent Destroyer

2010-02-16T14:59:00.001+05:30

Hi friends

This post is regarding the firm Infotech Enterprises Limited and how its unethical hiring practices has pushed back the careers of many bright young engineers by atleast a few years. (Yeah Infotech, if you want to sue me for “maligning your name”, please feel free to do so)

According to my source(s), Infotech had hired many students from various campuses in Hyderabad in 2007-08, in their 7^th/8^th semesters itself. After selection, the firm got the students to submit their original certificates, thereby denying the students the chance to apply to much better firms and profiles elsewhere. For one of the college, the joining date for the students was given as mid-August. After some 8-9 months (after recruitment) they sent a mail saying that they have no projects and withdrew the offer made to a large number of students. By the time many of the students got back their certificates, recession (or slowdown – whichever way you prefer to look at it) had already hit the market.

What about those who were selected? Well, don’t think that they were spared by the firm in any way. The students who were selected in the “Software development” dept. were made to do “Data Processing”. And though they mentioned in the offer letter that the students would be paid Rs. 16k during training period, they were being paid mere Rs. 5k (literally peanuts).

This is the sad state of many of the IT firms in India, who are never able to look at their employees as “Human Resources” and only think of them as liabilities and “bottom-line” that can be dispensed with. Did these firms ever wonder the kind of impression that such firms make among future potential employees? Do they ever think how one small action such as this can malign the name of an entire industry? I know that there are a few firms (TCS I know for sure) that are very much ethical in this regard. But such actions by other firms malign the entire industry. Sad to know that such things take place even now.

I just hope firms like Infotech learn their lesson and never ever so such things to put their potential employees in a situation that could destroy their careers.

Ciao for now.

Valentine's Day revelations...

2010-02-14T01:32:00.001+05:30

Hi friends

Although a close friend told me not to mention such stuff in a public space, I will go on record with this. Today, at the stroke of midnight, just as India ushered in the V-Day on 14.02.09, I had a peg of vodka to celebrate 24 years of being single and happy.

Single and happy, eh? This is me speaking, and not the vodka I can assure you of that. How can I be happy? There was a bomb blast in Pune (10 killed and 30+ injured). "My Name Is Khan" was being boycotted in many theatres all over Maharashtra. People are still dying of hunger all over India. The T-State issue still looms (and could play spoilsport once again when I come to Hyderabad next weekend). How can one be happy still?

Today I realized one thing - me and the world have been screwing each other since time immemorial. And the agreement was always mutual - it was purely with consent. And what did I get out of this relationship? What did the world do for me? Nothing, nothing at all. What did I ask for? I didn't ask for a McKinsey job, I didn't ask for 1 crore package, I never asked for anything that I did not deserve. I just asked for an average package for my average marks. And what did it give me? You know it better. What am I doing to change that? Nothing at all, not a thing.

You know, I don't give a damn about world now. I don't care what it wants to give me. I don't want anything from it - zero expectations, null, a big egg. I will take what I get - no aims, no ambitions - just a robot in this sea of life, a zombie among the millions of humanoid zombies on the face of this planet. And strangely speaking, this makes me happy.

Ciao for now.

The missed months...

2010-02-13T02:57:00.000+05:30

Why do I blog?

This is not a question that someone asked me. It's something I ask myself all the time. And I've never really understood why I do keep blogging. I don't have the motivation for sure and I have run out of interesting stuff to blog about. May be it's just because I have nothing else to do in life. I just eat (mostly food), sleep (like a fat baby), drink (water and vodka) and blog (like a madman). In short, I am living a life that should not be lived by any sane human being :D

Anyways, after reading this post by Bharat Jhurani, I decided to have a look at the months I did not blog in my short 3 years of existence in the blogosphere. There were 3 full months when I was completely off blogging. By the way, a point to note - I started blogging the very first month Bharat missed a blog post - Coincidence :) Here are the three months I failed to blog (and the reasons):

1. January 2007: I had just started blogging (in December 2006) and was very energetic and enthusiastic. But then, after 5 posts in a span of 10 days (pretty awesome I must say for my standards), I had not received a single comment. Plus, I had received my CAT results and had to concentrate on XAT and GD/PI too. Weekends flew by pretty quick and the weekdays were spent negotiating with teachers for attendance. We did not have internet in our rooms, and the CC (Computer Centre) was quite full. Add to that Kurukshetra winters and my lazy body, and you'll have a full picture of why I did not blog at all in January 2007.

P.S. I received my first comment in February for this post, which happened to be my only post that month. As a tribute to that comment made by Adi Sir, I am going to see "Chasing Amy" (recommended by him in a later comment) on Valentine's Day this year.

2. February 2009: Two years earlier, it was GD/PI headache that made me forget blogging, and two years later, the story remained the same. Thanks to the recession, job-time was tougher and preparation was on (to finally end up in my Sarkari job). The exams and other tensions had all got to my head. Not surprisingly, it had been just a few months since the election of Obama (In 2008 I averaged almost 6 posts every month!) and perhaps I did not have any more juice left to squeeze :)

3. September 2009: This was the month I had slipped into depression (seriously). I was still stuck @ my current job, I was feeling lonely (not many times in my life have I felt completely alone) and I was growing fat. I was conscious of it, and that's what made it worse (which is contrary to what people think). Luckily, I had a good time on my birthday and the month ended well. But the fact that I blogged just once in the following month is a reflection of my continued depression.

Will I keep blogging? Only time will tell. But I just hope that these were the last 3 months,and I wish not to have any more such months. Why? Because I discovered that although not many people read my blog, those that matter to me do read it. And if not for my sake, atleast for their sake, I will keep rambling :)

Ciao.

What if you could have a peek at your future?

2010-02-12T19:33:00.000+05:30

Hi friends

“What if?” was the topic given to us in the latest Blog-a-Ton and due to paucity of time, I had to use an earlier post on a similar topic for this edition – and I am happy to say that I got good reviews for it! Check out the post here in case you wanna read it.

Now that I am relatively free, I started thinking about a recent TV series that asked the question “What if we could see the future, even if could only just a small part of it?” Does seeing the future (if possible) change things in the present? Such questions are addressed by the TV series “FlashForward”. It challenges your thoughts, philosophies and assumptions about the present and about time.

Brief Summary: October 29^th witnessed a worldwide blackout – everyone in the world blacked-out for exactly 2 min 17 seconds at the very same time. That day 8000 planes crashed all over the world and more than 20 million people died. During that black out, almost all people (barring a few), saw a vision of their future. And it changed their lives, forever. A woman saw that she was with a man other than her husband; A man saw that he was with his daughter who has been dead for more than 2 years; One woman saw that she was taking care of a child that she never saw and another girl saw herself as pregnant having a ultrasound (although she was a lesbian). A team is investigating the cause of the blackout, as new clues unfold.

Now it begs the question – Having seen the future, is there a chance that you have invariably changed it? As I see it, our future is like a function of everything that happened in the past – your next second in life is a function of the millions of seconds that you have already lived through. Now your “present” involves you seeing your own future. Will the fact that you have seen the future change it, or is it possible that the future that you have witnessed had already taken this factor into consideration? One can never be sure of that.

Now comes to the action – your action. Suppose, in one such vision, you saw that you were in Paris near the Eiffel Tower, waiting for someone to come. The question is: What will you do now? Will you let the future take its course – in which case there is a 50:50 chance of that event happening (as you will never know if what you saw was meant to happen or not) or will you do something really stupid to change that – perhaps you will lock yourself up in your room at home and things will turn out as such so as to make that future happen – then you will never know if your actions caused the event or if that event was meant to happen anyways. If an event happens in spite of you avoiding it - then it means you made your future that saw before in your past – so it could have never happened unless you interfered with your present!“The future is not what we are living for now, it’s what we living by” - a very powerful statement that defines the life of those who have seen their future.

Both I and my friend (with whom I had a chat regarding this @ 2 am) wanted to have a Flashforward, fur different reasons though. Got me thinking – will we be happy on seeing our future? Well, we cannot comment on it unless we see it.

The show is part philosophy (which you need to derive out of the various dialogues) and part thriller (which is clearly visible). Watch it, if you have the time and the patience.

Ciao.

(Most of the thoughts presented here are form a chat I had recently with a good friend)

500 Days of Summer...

2010-02-08T17:12:00.000+05:30

Hi friends

One movie from the "Romantic Comedy" genre that I happened to see in the recent days is "500 Days of Summer". It's another independent production (like Paranormal Activity) that was picked up by a major production house and went on become an acclaimed hit.

What separates this movie from the rest of the movies in this genre is that a) It is focused entirely from the guy's perspective b) It is a non-linear narrative and c) It is not a love story in any sense.

Brief Summary: Tom and Summer are office colleagues. Tom likes Summer and thinks she is the one. But Summer does not believe in love and she chose to be just friends. However, she opens up to him more than she ever did with any other man, thereby confusing Tom. He is not sure of what this relationship is all about and where it is headed. Summer does not understand why Tom is behaving like he was because she had already set the tone for the relationship as being just friends. They break up, and he finds out that she is getting married to another man, whom she happened to meet in a coffee shop. He later decides to move on with his life, and manages to get past Summer towards Autumn.

What made this movie enjoyable is that it shows Tom in a situation most guys would relate themselves with (me not being one of them), and would make guys realize what actually goes wrong in such cases. Tom was blinded by love, and he did not know that, rather he kept ignoring that. Summer liked Tom, but could not handle that suffocation. If they make a movie called "500 Days of Tom", I am sure things could be put in a much better perspective.

Anyways, I recommend this movie and give it a rating of 8.5/10 for it's fresh perspective towards love and romance. See it if you want to see a well-paced comedy, with a dose of comedy sprinkled over it. Don't expect it to enlighten you, just enjoy the show! It is not Oscar material for sure, but it certainly deserves to be in the top-250 list in IMDB.

Ciao for now.

What if...

2010-02-06T18:03:00.000+05:30

This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 7; the seventh edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Usually, it’s always the male half of the human species which has to do all the chasing and flirting and “first-moving”. Just, for once, let’s speculate a parallel universe, where the situation is exactly the opposite. Let us consider the life of a MBA student in such a world.

The guy wakes up early in the morning and dutifully brushes his teeth using the new toothpaste that was dutifully advertised to him in the newspaper.Then he gets ready for his classes and reaches his classes on time and ready to listen to his teacher and dutifully take down all the notes for his “ladki” (read as LADY) friend, who just gazes at him admiring his clean-shaven face. But hey, this boy is not an ordinary “bali ka bakra” here, he demands more. So the poor girl has to make sure that she keeps him well fed with a regular dose of chocolates, pastries, porn and what not :D

After class, as they are taking a long walk in the campus, the guy suddenly sees a black cat cross his path. He is instantly frightened and catches hold of the girl’s hand and begs her to take him ASAP to the mandir, because he has to do darshan immediately to avoid the spell that the cat had cast on both of them. The girl reluctantly takes him to the mandir. There she prays for the same thing as always – “Hey bhagwaan, is weekend pe is naalayak ke haaton mera purse khaali mat karwana”.

At night, the girl insists that the guy stay over, but the guy gives the usual excuses of "I have to work hard for my exams, I suggets you do the same" or some Bollywood-ish excuses like "Log Kya Sochenge". In the end, the guy wins and the dejected girl goees back to her hostel, thinking whether this is all worth it.

In the weekend, they go shopping as the guy insists. The fella buys all kinds of stuff for himself, like a new pair of Reeboks (Hey, guys will remain guys no matter what the universe may be like!) and Levi's. The poor girl worries on how she will pay for all this stuff.

Suddenly she sees a stall for something new – A new credit card by a leading bank, in association with Nike! Why the hell has that bank come up with such an crazy combo, she wonders. But then she remembers – her boyfriend is absolutely crazy about Nike. The card is too good to be true! Interest-free for one whole year! She applies for one card immediately and is given the card in 30 min flat (It’s a fast world!). When the dreaded time for the bill payment came, she proudly flashed her Nike-branded credit-card and the guy went absolutely nuts about her! Then they shopped happily (or heavily, whichever way you look at it) ever after!

When you think of this very hypothetical situation, some of you may think "Impossible, Blasphemy, This is Madness!!". But when I think about it, all that comes in my mind is the question "What if this were true?" Who knows, in a land far far away, perhaps the guys have all the fun :)

(adapted from an earlier post on a similar topic)

Ciao.

The fellow Blog-a-Tonics who took part in this Blog-a-Ton and links to their respective posts can be checked here. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.

Religion, Reason and Choice (Part 2)

2010-02-04T17:08:00.000+05:30

(contd. from an earlier post)

Part 1 of this post can be found at this link (click here)

6. Question: Did you ever come across persons who argue shit about a point and wonder WTF are you trying to reason out. You can’t beat shit with shit. Shit is shit. If you try to, you have shit all over yourself. What you usually do when you know the other person is full of shit?

My answer was diplomatic. I would just see how that person is useful to me – if he/she is useful to me in some way I retain the friendship, else I don’t talk to him/her again. Suppose this happens @ my workplace, then I try to avoid the person as much as possible, and if that is not possible, I just tell it on their face (trust me, I did it before and am not afraid to do it again).

7. Memories: Talking about software life, we came to an interesting conclusion that in life, there is no such thing as good or bad, it’s only memories. Whatever happens is just a mere recording – It’s just stuff that happens to you. You are just an actor running through a very long play.

8. The “feel good” factor: Suddenly we jumped to the point about helping others. Do you think helping someone makes you feel good? I felt that I do it because of vested interests, mostly knowing that I will have help when I need it and that’s how I feel good. It is not completely selfish - I it’s like life is just about give and take. When you give you expect that you get it back in some other form from someone else – it is an underlying feeling. It doesn’t come with a motive – it’s natural. Then Raman made the statement of the day – “I wonder how helping someone is any different from say having a beer or a GF or sex or wife. It's all the same - it is about feeling good” – Perfect statement indeed when you come to think about it J If you look at them as mere events of life, they aren’t different. But if you classify these events into various other sub events as to why you are doing them, then they are very different. It’s not just how they feel to you; it’s also why you feels how you feel. And the “why” can be found in the various virtues that are beaten into us from childhood – “Do good and good will be done to you. Think about religion as a mobilizing and a uniting force, like a large brotherhood, to ingrain these virtues into you.

9. Me first: There is a threshold too, the precipice for action for those within the curve. The point of beliefs is to avoid the emotional black hole that one can get sucked. It is important for the concept of “live and let live”, but at the same time it is vulnerable to the people ahead of the curve. The people ahead of the curve know that they may be ahead, but the masses have the numbers and hence the manipulation takes place – it’s more like saving one’s own arse. The three classes of people ahead of the curve is also important and the elite are in the 2 class.

10. Life in Software: Things fuck up when in recession with the pathetic extra hours, odd timings etc. The same mundane life, which gives you the feeling that the quality of life has improved where in actuality it has fucked you in ways unimaginable. I have not yet worked in a software firm, but I can sure understand this even related to my own job.

We agreed that no one likes or understands this crap - it only grows with age perhaps. There was never an ocean of information that we have now. Perhaps, atleast our generation, may change things for the better through this understanding and discuss more serious issues in life.

Ciao for now.

Religion, Reason and Choice (Part 1)

2010-02-04T16:56:00.001+05:30

Hi friends

What started as a small, insignificant act from my side turned put to be a highly interesting chat on January 1^st this year, with Raman SP (formerly known as “Raman The Great”, now known by “Raman The Invincible”), former enemy (I literally hated competing with him at school) and now a good friend J We had a very interesting chat on religion (and other stuff), and all that triggered it was a small verse from the Bible.

I had seen “Revelation 21:5” in someone’s Gtalk Status message, which read “He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (New International Version, 1984). And Mr. Raman was intrigued by this message.

I’ll try not to mention what each of us specifically said, but will surely give a gist of the insights from our conversation. I will mention it in a points-format so as to make it easier to read and follow (I will post it in two separate posts for easier reading)

1. What is religion? Religion, as we perceived, is a gimmick to keep the masses under control (something like a Government). Life, as we know it, is always about having the upper hand, about control. It is very similar to “Survival of the Fittest”, just that control is the parameter that determines power here.

2. Choice: When you look at Europe throughout the Medieval ages, you see so many churches and crusades and see how, in the name of religion, people have always tried to influence others views and force other people to look through their eyes. Where is the choice to seek and decide for yourself what you see fit as being good? As Raman puts it, “I guess peace is never without a sense of irony” J In life not everyone can be ahead of the curve, (which sounds very Darwinian), but the reason is because the curve was derived out the people aptitudes in the first place. There is an inherent discrimination to it.

3. What makes you act or react? We got the answer as “Faith”. According to Raman, “Only faith can prompt action. If you can see two sides of a coin, you can never act as it is very difficult to decide”. And I completely agreed with this assessment, because I have seen it happen to me. The reason why I am not able to act most of the times is because I tend to see both sides of the story – I may take a stand (purely for academic reasons), but I am never able to act on that. I cannot take a strong stand because I know the pros and cons of both.

4. Why reason? Even when you want to act, the most difficult thing is to get people to understand your viewpoint. That in itself comes with a sense of irony, because the more you try to reason the weaker will your stand become in effective delivery. The masses like statements not reason. The masses of the present look for reason for faith and are easily manipulated by smooth speakers who twist what is supposed to be good and virtuous into their agenda (Remember any recent examples, like November ’09?)

5. Ahead of the curve: Being ahead of the curve can lead to one of two things - Either you know everything and do nothing (like you and me in general) or you know everything and manipulate what you know for more power and control (like our modern-day leaders).

Part 2 of this post can be found at this link (click here)

Blast from the past...

2010-02-03T10:04:00.000+05:30

This post is another one from my personal diary that I maintain in the form of a blog (and is only accessible to me). I have decided not to modify this post much, as I am sure no children read my blog anyways :)

Miami 1999 was one place I can never forget in my lifetime. It was the summer of 1999, and I can assure you that
it was very different from the one mentioned in Bryan Adams' song

It was my second visit to the USA, and I was a bit more of a man then I was in 1998 (Meaning: I was fatter and more bulky). This time my uncle decided to show us the beaches of Miami too (We had seen Disneyland on my first visit too). I was enamoured by the sights and sounds of Miami - the place seemed to be the closest I could come to heaven in my lifetime! The hotel where we stayed was a top-notch 5 star hotel and even till today (03.02.2010), it is the costliest hotel that I have ever stayed at.

Coming to the point - there was some show taking place after dinner, a show that was supposed to cater mostly to adults (but no one really bothered about that part). I did not want to sit there with my parents seeing some more-than-half-naked belly dancers give a fantastic performance (I would, had I not been sitting with my mom and dad). So,
feigning a headache, I took my
uncle's permission and went back to the hotel room and started watching TV, hoping to get lucky (i.e. get a glimpse of some show that we could not see in front of parents).

I understood one thing at that tender age - in the USA, everyone tends to get lucky at sometime or the other! I bumped into a TV show that was clearly erotic by any standards. Since I was just a kid then (14 - still a kid by "Indian Parental Standards of 1999"), I did not know what to make out of it, but I had a fair knowledge of what I was seeing and hearing. It was my first exposure to the so-called "open society" that USA is. Well, I never remembered what show I saw, nor did I remember the characters. However, I did remember the scenes that took place and and they were in my memory even 10 years later.

Very recently, I was watching "Sex and the City", because it so happens that I hated the very title of the show, and hence wanted to see if my hate is justified (I don't like to discriminate without any purpose). Surprisingly, I loved the show and its storyline right from S1E1. Then one day, I was watching S1E3 titled "Bay of Married Pigs". While the show was going on, I suddenly recalled - "Hey! This was the very episode on TV that day!" I could even remember the dialogues of the show! It felt nice that I could finally put some faces and voices to what was one of my first ever "experiences" on TV. I remembered Samantha's face, but I couldn't recall the face of the woman she called to talk about her "experiences" (It was Carrie). I later discovered that this episode was almost a year old (must be a re-run or something like that) when I had seen it on TV that fateful day in 1999.

Anyways, just wanted you'll to know about something that was like a blast from the past for me!

This was a very weird experience for me, as I always maintained (as a thumb rule) not to divulge certain stuff on my blog. But this was just another small event in my life, as as I come to think of them, I realize that I am much more mature than what I was when I first wrote this post on 27.08.2009 (which is barely 5 months ago), and hence am able to post it in this blog. Can 5 months really change that much? I can say with certainty that 5 months is a very long period in the life of a modern-day human being.

Independence Day, 2009 - The real freedom...

2010-02-02T11:03:00.000+05:30

This post is actually from my personal diary that I maintain in the form of a blog (and is only accessible to me). I have modified this post a bit in order to cater to the sensitivities of my readers.

I had a very fun-filled weekend for Independence Day in 2009. Since August 14th also was a holiday (festival of Janmashtami), it was a 3 day weekend. I had invited my college friend Jango to come over from Baroda and spend some time in Delhi, away from the dry state of Gujarat (It is dry, since alcohol is banned there).

Anyways, it was a good one, because Ujjal a.k.a. Anda, was also here in Delhi. It was not by chance though. I called Jango to come up and meet me and Ujjal because Ujjal had left his job and was about to go back home to Assam to prepare for GATE. I knew that this was perhaps the only time I could see Ujjal and Jango together, so I made sure that we three had a whale of a time. We went to a movie together (Kaminey, starring Shahid Kapoor), which was perhaps the first we three have seen together in a theatre. When I realized that, it was a strange feeling for me. After all, we were really close friends since our engineering days, and we had never even saw a movie together in the theatre!

Our friendship is sort of different from most of the others..We know that we can understand each other really well but also know that inspite of having nothing in common, we still have something in common that we do not know about. It's strange, but I will give one example that illustrates this point. Consider the series "The Big Bang Theory". It is perhaps one of the few TV series that I have dedicated a blogpost to (even one of my all-time favorites "LOST" does not have its own post). I loved the series so much that I was in awe of the characterization and Penny :) If you know Anda well enough, you would think "He would never like that show". Well, Anda liked it so much, that he even recommended it to Jango. Knowing Jango, one would never imagine that he, of all people, would actually like that show! But he did, and that too very much! Well, this is not the only example, but it just shows that you may think you know someone, but you never do know him/her well enough.

Well, about that last statement of mine - on Sunday, we met Sushanth Gaurav, whom I call "the one-man placement guy". He left his job too, but for another job with more responsibilities. He met us at the Madras Cafe and it was nice seeing all of us back together. It was sort of a mini NIT KKR meeting for all of us. Anyways, we had some beer in the night and both Ujjal and Sushant agreed to stay over that night. Lucky for me, my roommate was at home in Bikaner and I was comfortable enough on the sofa.

When we were relaxing with the bottle of beer in our hands, our conversation with Sushant was getting warmer. Since he was one of the few fellas in our college who has access to all the information, we got to know of so many things regarding our college and its students, especially those from our own batch.

This conversation started right from the time we were in Madras Cafe and proceeded to KFC, and McDonalds and then to my place. We chatted about everything under the sun in NIT Kurukshetra. Then the night heated up, as Sushanth told us about the many different dirty secrets that we never knew of - about the presence of homosexuality in out college (which I frankly found quite disturbing) and the various sexcapades (both straight and not so straight) of our final-year batch-mates with guys and girls from all batches. Not many names were revealed to us, but there were quite a few things that we found out and had time to think over.

One of them that we seriously reflected on was our naivety in college. We were a bunch of guys who just came over to Engineering from Assam, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh - and all that we knew was what our parents told us "Beta, study hard and get a good job, and your life is settled". But there were the big fish - those that knew exactly what to do. And not surprisingly, most of them were from Haryana, the local region. Studying at a college in a area that you belong to has its own advantages - you can always get things done the way you want them to be done. We realized that while we were studying (somewhat hard), people were meeting and networking with teachers to get into their good books; while we idled our time drinking chai and having samosas at the khokha, they spent it on booze and girls. We were really very naive about the things we needed to get a good job and on how life really is.

But nature always devises a way to separate men from the boys. We were self-reliant and knew to tread our own paths. We had our heads on our shoulders and not up in the clouds. And collectively, we have achieved, in our lives, far more than the other "pushed" fellas. We know what to do and how to enjoy life on our own terms. And when we thought about it - we realized that we were more successful in life than they are, because we have a sense of purpose in our lives!

Just think about it taking me as an example- there were so many guys in my college, who went though hell to study for CAT (I have seen people slog it out for months over CAT while I, who always talked about CAT, merely attended a crash course of 40 days duration), and there was me, the over-confident, egotistic, self-centered brat, who had more mood swings before CAT than the number of times Britney must have thought of getting married in a month! Still, I got the 2nd best percentile of all the students in the college, and was in the top 200 students who gave what is supposedly "the toughest exam in the world". It was my destiny, and it happened.

I am happy to have realized that I went through college with a fair degree of honesty (I have had my share of wrongdoings) and got what I deserved, if not more. If God is really out there, I thank him for giving me what I need, nothing more and nothing less.

Sounds very different from what people generally perceive me to talk about and speak like? Well, this is the real me, and welcome to my world.

Ciao.

2009 - the best of times, the worst of times...

2010-01-28T22:47:00.002+05:30

Hi friends

While coming home today, I happened to reflect upon my last 1 year and on what made my life different in 2009. Of course, recession and other negatives spoiled the year, but I was thinking of the positives that happened to me (I was in a sleepy mood, so most of the reflections were dreamy, hence positive)

The first positive was my losing weight at home – yes, you heard it right – I LOST 10 KILOS AT HOME!!! But then around 4 kilos of that weight came back, thanks to Delhi L But still, that’s a net loss of 6 kilos, and I am hanging onto that thin thread of hope.

The 2^nd positive has been my independent life, having a 9-to-5, 5-day-a-week job (Yes Samatha, I am proud of my work after all!) that pays me less, but also gives me less work too J It’s always nice to see my bank balance (even though it is never up to my high expectations) and remind myself that I do not have to depend on dad for money at all J

The 3^rd positive has been my roommates here in Delhi. Naveen (Swami ki Jai Ho!), Abhishek Bansiwal (compulsive shopper) and Arun Khera (compulsive bewda) have become my best friends here in Delhi. We share the same attitude towards life and appreciate the fact that we can adjust to each other without any hassles – not a single fight in the last 5 months we have been together!

Another main positive that I saw from 2009 is making new friends and strengthening old friendships. And most of them happened online (not something I am proud of, nevertheless). Being a geek (in the untraditional sense of the word), I had grown addicted to Facebook and Orkut, and the latest addiction being Twitter. 497 friends on Orkut, 504 friends on Facebook and 268 followers on Twitter (as on 28.01.2010) – it may not look like much, but it is a lot for a bloke like me who keeps all friends very close. Try keeping up with each and every person’s moves – and you will know how my life has been in 2009 J

Some main friends with whom my ties were strengthened – Febin, Samatha, Chandu and Jango – my regular chat buddies. Man life would have been a hell outside hel(L) in 2009 without these 4 folks. Febin and I talk a lot on the softer aspects of life and it brightens up my day every time (no further details). Samatha is always very patient enough to listen to my ramblings about my parents and all and answer my queries about many things w.r.t. the opposite sex. Chandu is one helluva guy, from whom I learn something new every time we chat – it’s almost like a competition (from my side) on who can tell the other person newer things. He is the only other guy who shares my passion in the Paranormal and Extraterrestrial activities. Jango – he has become more of a brother than a friend this last 1 year. We talk a lot (almost every two days) about everything to this planet – Steve Jobs, Movies and more movies! Infact, this March, I will be going to Baroda to celebrate his birthday and I’m going to get sloshed! (So in case any of you gets a call from me, make sure you hear me patiently – may be the only chance you can hear this genius fully drunk!)

Also I renewed ties with many school friends through Facebook and Orkut. I am always amazed how many of them remember me and other details of my school life so clearly, while I never recall anything at all! It makes me sad that the best days of my life have been wiped out of my memory, not by choice though. But they always remind me of such incidents, and I feel happy just to know that such things happened at school.

I cannot tell you what the biggest positive thing has been, as that may cause some controversy from some quarters. But I can surely tell you in retrospect – 2009 was not as bad as it seemed to be. Bye Bye 2009. hope 2010 is much more fun than you were.

Ciao.

Monda Market...

2010-01-28T20:41:00.000+05:30

Hi friends

Being the off-line recluse that I am, I never miss any opportunity to get human interaction, especially if they are all strangers. I believe that when you look at a stranger, it becomes easier to make first-impressions and also understand the process through which one actually gets that impression, like the facial features, the voice, the built etc. However, the only drawback with stranger is that you very rarely get to know if your impression is right or wrong.

I consider market places to be the best way to witness human behaviour in its most basic commercial form - trade! You want something, and you have something in return - how much value you put on the goods you want forms the basis of this interaction. A very simple process indeed.

Monda Market is a famous market in Secunderabad. You can get almost anything here - anything! On the internet, it has been mentioned that it happens to be the biggest wholesale vegetable market of Secunderabad and that you can get the price at least 30% less than in any market in twin cities (Hyderabad and Secunderabad). Last year, there were supposedly a rumour regarding the shifting of the market and the area being converted into a mall, all of which were dismissed by a local MLA, who said that plans are under way to transform the market into a modern market by providing basic amenities to traders and shoppers. One year down the line, I can say that "Plans are and will always remain plans" :)

Anyways, my interaction with this market goes way back to the time we moved to Hyderabad. Me and my dad used to frequent this place. Whenever I go home, I make it a point to visit this market atleast once :) The crowd is awesome, especially during the peak period (Saturday afternoon by my observation)where things move at a fast pace. The crowd is lively, and so are the shopkeepers. It's always interesting to see how bargaining takes place, and how the shopkeeper responds to two different customers in the same situation!!!

While my dad shops, I usually take the time to observe the various bargaining interactions, and truly speaking, I am inspired! It's an awesome place for any aspiring marketer to learn how the ground-level works,how things move when you are interacting directly with the customer. Quick decision-making instinct the key to survival here, and the shopkeepers are very good at that :)

Anyways, these are some snaps I managed to take from my last trip to the Monda Market (in the last week of December) at around 0830 hrs on a Saturday.

The empty road inside the market, getting ready for the busy day ahead

A man sorting out his beans :D

More vegetables - this is a kid's nightmare!

Forget this bloke, just look at the sacks of vegetables behind him :)

I think they are curry leaves, right? Neatly stacked up for the day...

Almost everyone sells everything in this section of the market - and yet no price wars, just clever bargaining!!

Ciao for now. Hope you liked this post.

BS Awards for “Best Cars” announced, Nano wins in 6 categories...

2010-01-04T21:07:00.003+05:30

Another one, which is similar to some usual articles on FakingNews and hence was not published...

__________________________________________________________________________________

Mumbai, India. At a glittering celebration at the “The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower” in Mumbai, the famous weekly magazine Bizcrap Standardized (also known as BS) gave away the most awaited awards of the auto-industry, “The Goodies”. And it was no surprise that the car that stole the limelight was none other than the famed “Tata Nano”, winning 6 of the 10 possible awards.

“I am honoured by this. This is another feather in the cap of Nano and the entire Tata Group ever since we conceptualized Nano” said Ratan Tata, with a beaming smile. On being asked by our Special News Correspondent Raja Badbola if he was surprised that the Nano won just six awards, he replied “Well, we were expecting to win atleast 4 awards, so I guess we were rewarded in excess! Our Yagna must have pleased the Gods!”

The Nano was nominated in 8 categories, and won in six of them, including: “Most-hyped newcomer”, “Car with most Traffic Jam Potential”, “Most Scientific-sounding Name”, and a newly added category “Most successful car launched without proper market study”.

Meanwhile, Maruti 800 managed to win the “Most recommended car for new drivers” award for a record 9^th time in a row since the awards began in 2001. “We are very pleased with the continued persistence of the driving agencies to teach all new drivers in a Maruti 800. We hope they continue to do so for a long time to come”, said Mr. Mayank Pareek, Maruti Suzuki Executive Officer (Marketing and Sales).

Toyota Prado managed to win the “Get Peanuts by paying Filthy More” award. There was a close competition from the newly launched “Volkswagen Beetle” in this category. “We knew we’re over-priced, so this should’ve been a cakewalk for us. It was a close call, but we scraped through without a scratch!” said a thrilled Mr. Hiroshi Nagakawa, MD of Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM). There was some solace for the Beetle, as it managed to win Beetle won the “Most Bugging Car” award. “We are disappointed at not being able to win in two more categories, but this award was expected”, Mr. Neeraj Garg, VW India Sales Director told our Special News Correspondent with a gloomy face.

Fiat Punto managed to grab the “Car with best Indian-sounding non-Indian name” award. “We felt that the Italian name was catchier in India. Punto sounds like a nickname, like ‘Chintu’ or ‘Bunty’, and that’s how we want the customers to bond with their cars”, commented Mr. Rajeev Kapoor, Fiat India Automobiles president and CEO.

Meanwhile, Bajaj Auto chairman Mr. Rahul Bajaj called these awards “a total waste of time” and said that “the awards merely state the obvious.” On the possibility of Bajaj entering the four-wheeler segment, he commented “We are not into cars right now. May be in the future, we can upgrade the three-wheelers. We can add a fourth wheel to it and make something like a carry van, but it will certainly not be a car, as we don’t want to compete for these awards.”

Ratan Tata, in his classic “visionary” position. He plans to make a ULC (Ultra Low Car) by 2012

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References:

Business Standard Motoring Awards 2010

Rahul Bajaj says no 'hamara Nano' for now