Adios ... !!

Lump in the throat? Not entirely ... but it feels odd leaving such a nice company ... I know we always bicker about lots of stuff in life ... the place we work at is at the receiving end most of the times ... but at the bottom of your heart I have always felt that the freedom and atmosphere at AT has been out of the top draw ... I will miss AT and ATians ... you guys rock ...

I remember my joining day. Drenched and just out of college. My previous company (I was an intern) had given be the most demoralising sendoff ... partly due to my own misgivings ...

I remember the disappointment of knowing that Sonal (my manager whom I had to report to) is actually a guy ... :(

But Sonal is one of the most influential people I have met in life. A manager at office but a friend at heart. I have never ever felt that gap with him. His PJs have been bettered by Sabhtarsha and myself and we both get even dirtier looks than we used to give Sonal earlier :)

There have been several others (in fact everyone here knows the entire company) whom I have had a great time with ... Sabhtarsha has now become more of a pest than a pain :P ... Avdhoot, Amit, Rahul, Gaji, Vijay, Ajay, Vineet, Pushkar, Charuta, Zarin, Khyati, Manish, Mohsin, MJ, Basu, Ghos, Nitin, Sandip, Vinayak and I am sure there are many more ... I have had a blast guys ...

Not to mention that people who have already left AT ... Ashvin, Vivek, Ganesh, Manikant, Rajat, Alok, Deepa, Amit, Debu, Nishith, Rohit ... everyone was a joy to be around ...

Some of the things that I will always remember:

• Maggi at my desk
• TT (it was better post 7 pm and on weekends)
• rides to Good Luck, Santosh bakery, Ganesh Bhel, PD, etc.
• leg-pulling sessions (some people were always the target)
• meeting to decide lunch/dinner/breakfast venues
• night outs (called fire-fighting sessions :P)
• those amazing weekly calls (thanx to Manish) :P

and many more ...

I am going to miss AT ... but something new awaits ... dekhte hai usmein kitna mazaa hai ...

till then ... Adios AT ... Cheers ... !!

WFH ... WTF ... !!

What prompted me to write about this?

Well, I am working from home (it took me a long time to realise that WFH actually means working from home) and suddenly it feels like its not that big a deal afterall ... I mean I was looking forward to it with bated breath coz I have heard such a lot of stuff about this phenomenon that it excited me a great deal ...

I do agree that WFH has perks and it should be experienced at some point in time ... but I found myself missing office while at home ...

The boon ...

I dont have to have a bath to start working ... this is like ... VOILA ... :)

Due to this ... I can get up just around 10-15 minutes before I intend to start working ...

I get home made sizzling hot food ... for breakfast, lunch and snacks ... peace ...

I get to play carrom with Dad ... 

No meetings ... yaay ... ;)

I dont need to login to Moneycontrol ... CNBC is so much better ...

The bane ...

The biggest drawback is that I miss the office atmosphere ... there are not a lot of people to pull their leg ;)

I miss the sweets that people bring almost every morning ...

VPN makes the intranet all the more slow to traverse ... dratch ... :(

No free telephone calls ... not that I make a lot of them but still ...

No group discussion on the stock market state for the day ... this is a killer ...

Those TT sessions ... :(

The umpteen rides to PD, KNP, Good Luck or Santosh Bakery ... this is quite a lot I am talking about food wise ... I mean Anda rice, Vada Pav, Anna ki Chaay, Basundi Chaay, Limbu Sarbat, hot Veg Puffs, Vaati Cakes and the all time favorite Bun Maska ...

I am sure there is lot more to this than I have realised in my first 2 hours of WFH ...

and I still maintain ... idling in office is much better than working from home ... so much for the experience ... 

Cheers ... !!

Dratch ... !!

I was watching one of my favorite movies on the telly a few days back ... Abhimaan ... Yes, that masterpiece from Hrishikesh Mukherjee ...

I had never noticed one of its anomalies before ... to be frank its such an everyday phenomenon in movies that it can be argued that its not an anomaly afterall ... but looking at the storyline of the movie, I thought it was quite weird ...

Amitabh Bachchan is a very famous singer. This is like the base of the movie. Now when you have such a base, I felt that you should stick to atleast its most bare essentials :P ... in the sense that he should have been given only one playback voice in the movie ...

Within a space of about 15 minutes, there are 3 different songs that he sings that are actually sung by 3 different playback singers ... Rafi, Kishore and Mukesh ... its hard not to notice this ... I found it strange ...

Of late, I have also been noticing that Times Of India probably has given SpellCheck a pass ... there were 3 image errors where the picture was being portrayed as those of someone else's ...

There were 3 more on one page a couple of days back when Sania Mirza lost at the US Open. These were the 2 headlines that were so out of touch with grammar ...

Bondarenko goes though Serb way (should have been "through". This was when Bondarenko defeated Ivanovic who is a Serbian)

Sania lose 0-6, 0-6 (should have been "loses")

there was a piece in one of the sports news saying "star of yesteryeras" ... it was a pain reading all this ...

as Mutley's master would say ... Dratch ... and double Dratch ... 

Cheers ... !!

Punch ... !!

No, I have not been involved in a slugfest with anyone :P

This post will evolve with time. Dialogues have always fascinated me ... whether its in real or reel ... it doesn't matter ... so I thought that blogging about some of my favorites (actually they do not need to be favorites ) would be fun ...

Over the last couple of weeks ... I heard some great dialogues on the telly ... I have heard them before but it feels better the next time around ... here are a few ... and as I said ... this post will evolve with time ... and the dialogues may not be pin point in terms of the words I use ... :D

From the movie Guru ...
Manik Dasgupta (Mithun) to Shyam Saxena (Madhavan): Shyam ... kya tum is aadmi ko sabke saamne nanga kar sakte ho?
Gurukant Desai (Abhishek Bachchan): Mere kapde saari duniya pehenti hai ... sabko nanga karna padega ...

From the movie Kaala Pathhar ...
this needs a prelude ... Shatrughan Sinha challenges Macmohan for a game of Teenpatti and Macmohan is like the undisputed king of Teenpatti among the workers at the coal mine ... Macmohan's 3 cards are J J and 2 while Shatru has K K and 6. But Macmohan cheats by getting a J out of his shirt sleeve ... so he now has J J and J ... when its time for Show ... Macmohan says: Mere paas teen gulaam hai ... and then shows the 3 gulaams ... Shatru says: Mere paas 3 Baadshah hai ... Macmohan says: dikhao ... Shatru shows the first Badshah card and says "Baadshah" ... then shows the 2nd Baadshah card and says "Baadshah" and then shows the 3rd card which is a 6 ... Macmohan:Teesra Baadshah kahaan hai? and then comes the clinching dialogue ... as follows ....

Mangal Singh (Shatrughan Sinha): Mere taash ki tirpanwe(53rd) patte ... teesre Baadshah hum hai ... :P

from the iconic Sholay ... actually there are so many in this movie but I like this one ...
Police Inspector to Thakur Baldev Singh (Sanjeev Kumar): Khota sikka to dono taraf se hi khota hota hai ...
Thakur Baldev Singh: Sikkey aur insaan mein shaayad yehi farak hai ...

from Inside Man ...
when a person is called to identify the bank robbers based on a language they are speaking inside the bank ... and this language is not known to any of the investigators headed by Denzel Washington
Person: That's the President of Algeria speaking ...
Keith Frazier (Denzel Washington) to the Person: You want to tell me that the President of Algeria is trying to the rob the bank??

from Company ...
Rawte (Bharat Dabholkar) to Chandu (Vivek Oberoi) : ये पाटिल की वजह से बोहोत प्रॉब्लम हो रहा है
Chandu : पाटिल को मारना है?
Rawte : नहीं नहीं ... स्कैंडल हो जाएगा ... then he picks up his cup of tea ... looks in the other direction ... has a sip ... and says ... लेकिन उसको मरना है ... followed by the beats of Ganda hai par Dhanda hai yeh ... thrilling ... :)


will keep adding to this list ... Cheers ... !!

Moryaa ... !!

Ganpati is here ... although the festivities will take a backseat of sorts due to the unnerving swine ... but Bappa will still continue to light up homes and streets with its grandeur ...

There are so many pockets in the city where Ganesh idols are sold nowdays ... I remember there used to be just Shaniwarwada at one time (I mean the more famous ones) ... now there's Corporation, Saras Baug, Ganj Peth and sundry ...

This time we bought our Ganesh idol from Ganj Peth thanks to my bro-in-law Omkar ... and we booked it way back in the 1st week of August ... if looks could kill ... Ganesha would be on most people's wanted lists ... :P

Due to the incessant rains during the early hours of each day ...we decided to get our idol the previous night itself ... coz driving a 4 wheeler in the heart of old Pune can be mind-numbing during the day ... especially during Ganpati ... so we bought the idol at Saturday midnight itself ... resplendent in yellow dhoti and a broader than usual trunk ... and for a change we also liked the Mooshak ... this year's idol will adorn our home along side last year's "Shenduri" idol for 10 days ... The "Shenduri" idol will be immersed this year ...






We had a surprise guest on the very first day ... none other than AAG (Aditya Amit Gupte for Christ's ... er ... Ganpati's sake) ... it was tough deciding who was more cute ... the idol or AAG ... close contest but AAG won and the Lord was more than happy seeing one of his forms win against him ... :D ... AAG has the most cutest smile and the way he keeps mouthing baby-sounds (sometimes its too loud to be called a baby-sound :P) ... he had everyone at home hostage to his pyrotechnics ...






As for now ... CHORUS (a la Javed Jaffery in Mumbhai :P) ... GANPATI BAPPA MORYA ... MANGAL MURTI MORYA ... !!



Cheers ... !!

Fallback option ... !!

There are times when the mundane stuff gets so overly done that you always start thinking what brings you joy in such a situation. All those moments that you have had fun in the past keep juggling in your mind and then you filter those to come to one such option that will get you out of such an ignominy.

Today, Sabhtarsha and I were caught in such a scenario. Sabhtarsha had just mopped up his work for the weekly Build and I had almost finished the tasks assigned to me. Post lunch ... we were in a quandary as to what we should do. TT was a good option. Coffee/Tea was another. A walk down the Bungalow scheme at Pinnac society was another. We ended up walking to a place, not very far away from office. Its around 10 minutes from office and we like the coffee they serve. After sipping through a 15 minute talkathon, heading back to office was the last thing we were looking forward to. Walked back to office. Tried doing some work. Got harried. Though we sit a mere peek away from each other, we mostly communicate over GTalk. Both wanted to go out again. And off we went again. This time Sabhtarsha took his bike along and we decided to check out some USB hard disk drives. Checked them out at Sujata and Sai which brought us quite close to College ... our beloved Fergusson College. Yeah ... Fallback option numero uno ...

Right ... so we were at the right place at the wrong time ... :P

We moved to Savera. After a long time, I had the pleasure of sitting at an outside table. Tea and Toast Butter was the near perfect foil. Another round of talks ... some more frustration vented ... some more philosophy vomitted out ... and it was turning out to be a jolly evening on a working day. Weekend was alive and kicking.

We entered college. What a feeling. Those trees, that parking lot that greets you and then the crowd. Times have changed. Every student looks like a kid but that doesnt mean we dont ogle at them. What a serene campus ... year after year ... it fails to disappoint you ... we didnt turn left from the Circle ... coz that would have taken us to our department and we were not very keen to interact with students or teachers ... so off we went to the ground ...

There were lots of cricket matches on display and we had the liberty to pick and choose any game we liked. Some years back, we were one of them. Shirts tucked into the trousers ... sleeves rolled up and a free swing of the bat ... stumps in disarray ... an easy catch dropped ... a stupid runout ... arguments over the Umpire's decisions ... such an everyday scene on a College ground. We ripped apart every possible classmate of ours in conjunction with the way they played cricket and ended up laughing our lungs out.

There was a special moment too. Vande Mataram was being played somewhere and at that instant itself, the entire ground stood still ... mind numbing ... one of the better sights of my Fergusson life ... kudos ...

It was 5 pm ... we had been out of office since 2 pm ... at the back of our minds we knew that we may get a mouthful from the folks back in office but it was one of those days when the atmosphere at office itself was asking us to take a break ...

We came back to office only to spend some more time with colleagues in the parking lot. And then ... instead of climbing the stairs to our 2nd floor desks ... we went straight into the lift and onto the 4th floor to play some TT. The next hour was spent sweating over smashes and slices and some fantastic rallies.

Its 7:45 pm now ... and we knew our Fallback option would never fail us ...

A long weekend like this is always welcome ... :D

Cheers ... !!

Comparing stalwarts ... !!

Of late ... I have been visiting Good Luck and Vohuman a lot.

Vohuman holds a special place since I spent a lot of time there during my time in Wadias. That cramped ambience, round tables and the scent similar to that of a bakery lured me so many times to this helluva place.

I started frequenting Good Luck only when I moved to Fergys. No doubt, it is another stalwart in the Irani cafe shed.

So I thought I would compare the two ...

Good Luck is much more spacious ... there are 3 separate alleys of rooms ... Vohuman is comparatively much smaller ...

You dont get to see too many funnier people than Bava from Vohuman. His shayaris and non-veg jokes are a rave among Vohumanians (if I can call them that) ... Good Luck hardly have any funny or even decent speaking people at the "Galla" ... mostly your queries are answered in a very straight forward way ... this might be good for some people ... but I feel Bava steals the show here ...

I have said this before and I say it again. No one serves better Cheese Omlettes than Vohuman ... when you eat it ... you feel more of cheese and less of egg ... its the other way round in Good Luck ...

Similarly, Scrambled eggs on Toast is an absolute delight at Good Luck ... I dont think Vohuman has something like that ... and even if they do ... I am sure Good Luck wins hands down ...

The trademark Bun Maska ... I think its better in Vohuman ... they have more Tooti-Fruity in it :P

I find the Masala Omlette better at Good Luck ... while the tea is better at Vohuman ...

Service is more or less the same ... nothing to choose over there ...

Vohuman serves everything on the menu throughout the day ... Good Luck has certain reservations ... they serve breakfast stuff only in one of the rooms after a certain time ... the other 2 rooms are reserved for meals ...

The meals are out of the top draw at Good Luck ... the Biryanis and Chicken dishes are a major hit ... Vohuman pales in comparison ...

Parking is a huge issue at both places ... for Vohuman ... you can either park at Jehangir or some other place ... this involves some walking ... for Good Luck, it depends when you go there ... if its post 9 am ... you may have a harrowing time finding a place to park ...

Overall sentiment? ... Breakfast at Vohuman ... Meals at Good Luck ...

Go have a bite ... Cheers ... !!