Tuesday, December 29, 2009

The year that was ... !!

Its that time again when you bid adieu to another year ... put on a few more wrinkles and grey hair in my case and hope that life still gets better ... :P ... Adios 2009 ...

I had a much better year as compared to the previous year ... and I am in a much better mental state as compared to the same time last year ...

In spite of that I would like to still list the negatives of the year first ... :)

The killer - Gave up job at a good organization for nothing ... actually nothing :(
As a byproduct of this ... dreams of getting out of a financial rut vanished ...
Lost a very good friend due to my bad sense of humor ... :D

The good stuff ...
Mumbai has to be there isnt it? - I went to Mumbai lots of times ... I lost count actually ...
finally travelled to some place north of Mumbai ... I went to Jaipur and attended a lavish wedding ... that of my very good friend Prakash ...
Strained relations showed signs of improvement
I improved a lot in TT and was applauded for the tournament I organized at AT along with Sabhtarsha of course ... our team ended 3rd and we were the only team to defeat all other teams in the competition ... Kudos guys ...
Had the most amazing time at Sangaon with DAPP and in-laws ...
Survived the flood at South Goa and was lucky to escape unscathed ...
Lots of friends got married ... some friends had kids ... :)
To be honest ... got a job fairly quickly considering my mental state ...
My portfolio went up quite a bit ... JP leading the way ... RIL giving a bonus and Infy closing in on 2600 ...


The stupidity ...
Went to Goa on a 2 wheeler and came back the same day ... this was stupid ... but it felt good till it lasted ...

Its evident that the Bad section is quite short and I am going into 2010 with a lot more smiles ...

Here's wishing everyone a rollicking 2010 ... I wish everyone a great decade ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR FOLKS ... Cheers ... !!

Monday, December 14, 2009

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 ... :)

from Con-Air
there is this scene where Nicolas Cage and John Cusack face each other and both have a gun in their hands ... Nicolage Cage asks Cusack to lower his gun to which Cusack asks ... "Can I also expect you to lower your gun"?

Nicolage Cage - Sorry ... there are only 2 people in this world whom I trust ... one is me and the other is not you :P ... fantastic ... !!


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

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Nayi Shuruwaat ... !!

I guess that's the first Hindi title that I have used? No? I am not sure. I have used a Spanish one I suppose. Drop it.

Yeah ... a new start. A new place comes with its baggage. Some of it is good ... some not so good. Pretty much in line with most things in life. I have never had a more topsy-turvy 40 days in my life so far and I am hoping I never have one in future. Never say never they say. Alas ...

So a new company eh? Tieto ... short for TietoEnator ... OK ... before anyone wonders what it means ... it means Knowledge in Finnish ... why Finnish? ... its a company based in Finland and getting most of its development off-shored to Pune ...

Adjusting to a bigger company (compared to AT) has been a pain ... on the first day I felt like a little boy stripped of his candy ... bemused by the everyday work process of a large company ... why the hell do I need to spend 10 minutes for parking everyday? Bidding for parkings? Do hell with you ...

But there were lots of such things that made me look like that candy-lost-guy ... er ... kid ...

It takes far lesser time to climb 8 floors than in the lift ... the lift gets suffocated with the different perfumes and deos ... I thought fragrance was always good ... I dont approve of it anymore ...

What all do I need to do to get inside? Photo ID, Access Card, Fingerprints ... plus the Photo ID always has to be on display and not in your pocket ... I remember my AT photo ID locked up in the cupboard in the hall of my place ... people used to look at it and say "Aah ... yeh hai aapka beta ... bohot bada ho gaya hai" ... a sign that I was hardly at home when people visited us ... :P

The toilet (I somehow dont like the term "Washroom") is like entering Ramsay territory ... if you have just been to a brightly lit area before entering the toilet then be prepared ... its like the deepest of dungeons ... pitch dark ... or atleast it looks that way when you enter it ... there are these strange bright RED and GREEN lights that keep changing from RED to GREEN and back ... peace of mind I say ... I need peace of mind when I am releasing something that's not good to keep in my body ...

A gazillion processes ... if I have to get something reimbursed I have to do a million things ... I dont need no reimbursement now ... aah ... I speak like an American ... Amrriikkka ki to $#@ ki $#@! ... that anger is already vented ... :D

But there is something good to write about too ...

LTA here is non-taxable if you show that you have been on leave for 3 days during the entire year ... great isnt it? ... I mean you dont need to show any kind of bills or proofs ... just be on leave for 3 days during the year ... thats it ... this is amazing ...

Great pantry service ... when I say great ... its actually great ... atleast 3-4 different biscuits to choose from ... a completely functions vending machine ... tea, coffee, soup, milk, hot chocolate ... everything is working always ... a refrigerator in each pantry along with an oven ... and atleast 2 pantries per floor ... I mean I am aware most of this would be common to most companies but it was something new to me ...

The promises made by the people here are actually promises ... kharach ... aai shappat ... :P

The machine was ready at my desk at the time they promised ... fully configured ... 4GB RAM and 150 GB space ... whoa ... nothing is blocked here ... there is no firewall as such ... but you are allowed to use only Microsoft stuff like IE and not Chrome ... :( ... but theek hai ... no issues ... MS Communicator is a means of communication ... there is no restriction on Messengers as such but they dont encourage it ... every machine has a multi-purpose telephone and Mic ... wonderful ...

The seating arrangement is very open ... there is no cubicle as such ... there are cubicle arrangements but they lack in height ... so you cant call it cubicle as such ... the entire floor is a mix of Pink, Blue, light Green and Orange ...

You get reimbursement if you buy clothes for yourself :P ... its called Attire allowance ... never heard that before ... you get reimbursement if you buy books for yourself ... I mean technical books and not novels :)

The last thing ... something not so good ... no maternity expenses cover in Medical insurance ... sob sob ...

aisi kaafi cheezein hai ... so a mix of good and bad ... but a new experience ...

Lets see what the future has in store ... Aa Dekhen Zara ... Cheers ... !!

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Battered ... !!

So it went kaput. Read ... my plans of going to the US of A ... Amrikkkkka ... so near yet so far ...

The last 2 weeks have definitely sent out a signal ... everything can change in a day's time. Here I was ... ready to leave for Mumbai from Pune to get on board a late night flight to Tampa and one call ruined it instantly. I was told that the project I was selected for does not have any more requirements. The despair, anger and trauma that it brought to not just me but so many of my well wishers and family members was devastating. Maybe ... I was seeing too much into the future ... it was a horrible feeling to be battered so badly mentally ...

With every passing minute ... it became even more painful when so many of the things I did during the week prior made me look like a fool ... I left a good job (I wont call it a flourishing job but it was not bad at all) and more importantly an organization where I got along with most of the people :) ... so many things I bought specifically for America were left idle in the suitcase ... even the Kirana store man was asking me when I am flying :P

I hope I am not making this look like the end of the world for me ... its not ... far from it ...

But the education received is invaluable ... I am guessing I will be a hot topic of discussion (I guess I have already been that in the week that has passed) ... but thats not surprising ... I am sure I would have done the same if something similar had happened with someone else ...

As of now ... I have atleast managed to get back on my feet ... job hunting begins in Pune ... Amrikka to jaana hi hai ... by hook or by crook ... I am biased towards crook now :P

In the meanwhile ... I had quite a good day at Mumbai ... getting Darshan of Sidhhi Vinayak on a Tuesday and that too at 4:45 in the morning (that was bad planning since we didnt intend to reach Dadar at 4 am after we left Pune at 2 am ... believe me ... Asiads are fast :D) ... nice quite moments at Mahalaxmi and to top it off ... Chicken Tikka Biryani at Noorani ... :)

And ... HP bought 3Com ... that was something great and unexpected ... bodes well for AT ... are we (Yes ... it still feels "we") next in line atleast now? ... I am sure that would have been the topic of the day at office today ... I am wondering how that affects Co Branding now for AT :P ... now if HP also acquires Enterasys ... Co Branding can be done away with ... what say guys? ;)

Anyway ... I will update my status very soon ... some positive signs have already shown up ... I will be back in front of some terminal sooner than later ... and I can definitely do with some prayers and blessings ... :)

Cheers ... !!

Monday, October 26, 2009

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 ... !!

Thursday, October 01, 2009

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 ... !!

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

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 ... !!

Monday, August 24, 2009

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 ... !!

Friday, July 31, 2009

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 ... !!

Thursday, July 09, 2009

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 ... !!

Monday, July 06, 2009

Crackerjack weekend ... !!

And even that is an understatement.

It was an enthralling weekend ... er ... extended enthralling weekend. We didnt even know it would turn out to be such a showpiece.

When Biwi and I came back from swimming on Thursday morning, we were at Meghdoot having an Uttapam and discussing what we would do tomorrow (it was Biwi's birthday). We both had applied for leave but we were unsure as to what we would end up doing. Dinesh had said that he will also be on leave if there is some plan. Prakash had said that he will not get a leave come what may. Somehow, MUMBAI came up ... :)

No more discussion was needed. We were going into flashback mode. Back in 2004, I had just learned how to drive a car and Biwi was working in Mumbai at that time. I had borrowed money from numerous friends (I was not working then) and managed to go to Mumbai to surprise Biwi on her Birthday. We had gone to Marine Drive to cut the Birthday cake. Yes ... we were going to do that again.

The plan was to leave Pune by 9 pm and reach Marine Drive by midnight. Spend time at Marine Drive. Move on to Taj and Cafe Leopold and round it off with a drive on the Worli-Bandra sea link (it was toll free for another 4 days :P). With this discussed, we left for office on Thursday.

Biwi and I reached home at 8 pm and were ready to leave in another 30 minutes. Prakash came home. We left at 8:45 pm and moved to Chandni Chowk. We met Dinesh over there and left for Mumbai. We all were very hungry and had to stop near Indira Institute to have some food. By the time we left, it was 10:30 pm. The drive till Lonavala was hassle free but fog engulfed the road at Khandala. Visibility was sketchy and driving was extremely slow. To make matters worse, the land slides had caused 2 lanes to be shut. When we started descending the Ghat, fog disappeared but only to be replaced by rain. It was breezy rain till Panvel but when we entered New Mumbai, it started pouring down. Fortunately, the time was such that there were hardly any vehicles on the road. It was scary to watch cars parked on the road itself. All the images of News channels came storming back about the dreadful Mumbai rains. By the time we cleared Chembur and Sion, the rain was getting even more heavier. We reached Marine Drive at 1 am. It was just drizzling now and we thought it was quite apt coz we had to cut the Birthday cake. We all got down and Biwi did the needful.












We enjoyed for around an hour. There was a police van just behind our car which prompted us to get moving. We moved on to the Taj and it was a mixed feeling. We were driving through the lanes of Colaba asking for directions. The next thing we knew was that we were in the Taj driveway. An ensemble of security personnel greeted us. We had no intention of going inside the Taj. We asked them for directions for Cafe Leopold. Since there was a divider in place, we had to go towards the end of the Taj and take a U-turn. It was both fascinating and gruelling to watch to Taj from so close. There were still some dark spots around. Sigh. Towards the corner of our eyes, we could see the Gateway of India in all its splendor. It looks even better on a rainy overcast night without a crowd.



We reached Cafe Leopold but I guess it was too late. The shutters were semi closed and we thought we can give it a miss.



Right then. Onto the Worli-Bandra sea link. We kept asking for directions to reach Kemp's Corner in Worli. We even thought of getting down and visiting Haji Ali but the rain was so heavy that walking down the sea for 15 minutes didnt sound very exciting. We finally reached the sea link and wasnt it awesome? Hats off. It looks like a showpiece. In hindsight, it could be said that it should be looked at during the daytime but nevertheless it was a spectacle at night. Clicking pics was difficult due to the rain. The police didnt allow us to get down from the car and stand on the bridge. After spending around 30 minutes, we moved on.








We got down at Bandra and moved towards Pune via Sion, Chembur and Vashi. The rain was incessant and showed no respite at all. We needed some snacks and tea since I was feeling sleepy while driving. We halted at a hotel just before Lonavala. Biwi took over from me in the car and I dozed off a bit. Then we experienced 10 minutes of mayhem.

Towards Khandala, we were driving from the centre lane and the car stopped all of a sudden. There was a truck around 20 meters behind us and we had to make sure the car didnt retrace. The hand break was not pulled up completely so I pulled it hard. I took the driver's seat but the hand break was not ready to come down. Wet hands made it all the more difficult. There was a mini traffic jam coz of us and the truck behind evaded us by a whisker. Finally, we were able to get the hand break off and moved on. Phew ... !!

We reached Pune at 7 am and went to Good Luck. Had some Naashta and dropped Dinesh at Chandni Chowk. Prakash also went home while Biwi and I hit the sack as soon as we reached home.

The Birthday was spent at my in-laws place. My Saala had bought a new Pulsar 180. We all went to Dagdushet Ganpati to perform pooja. Some shopping ensued and at 8 pm, DAPP were back together at Inox. We saw Ice Age 3. Delightful movie. A must watch. I would advise everyone to catch a night show during some weekend coz families get their kids and its a fun atmosphere in the movie hall listening to giggles and crackles of kids. We came to our place after the movie and Dinesh and Prakash had got some crackers.

We were not sure if 11 pm was the right time for crackers but still we went ahead. After some shots, 2 guys came storming out of a society and started yelling at us. We knew it was our fault and apologized immediately but there guys were not ready to cool down. Finally, we asked them to take any action they desire against us before moving on.

I met Pranay and Devyani at Good Luck on Saturday morning (Biwi was working). It was funny. I had gone to Mumbai the same day that they had come down to Pune. :). We walked till IMDR (for old time's sake :P)and chatted for an hour or so. Then I went to Gaurav's place. Initially, only Gaurav and I were supposed to meet. But we were joined by Charan, Amol and Pushkar. We had a great time chatting away till evening. Amol was the show stealer as always. Kudos sire :P.

Dinesh and Prakash had got an aquarium for Biwi as her Birthday gift. The 2 fish are very cute. We have named them Nemo and Peaches. :P
It was a typical DAPP Saturday night.

Sunday was consumed mostly by sleep and rounded off with the marathon Wimbledon final. IT WAS ALL IN THE EYES ... ANDY BLINKED FIRST ... !!

Cheers to a wonderful weekend ... !!

Sunday, June 07, 2009

Extreme ... !!

Ever since I rode a Pulsar for around 70 kms a month back on NH-4, I had this plan brimming in my head. I needed to convince myself before anyone else that I can pull it off. To start off, I was not sure. I was not confident. But the prospect of it was very tempting. I knew I was going to be under the pump for the duration of the plan but I just wanted to give it a shot and see where I stand. So, what was this EXTREME plan?

Simply put, I wanted to go to Goa on a Pulsar(or a similar bike) and come back to Pune. But this has to be done within 24 hours. I know it sounds crazy, weird, illogical and crap. Apparently, I also share the same feelings :). I was aware that going to Goa and spending hardly 2-3 hours and then returning didnt make any sense. But my goal was to ride the bike and see if my endurance helps me battle all the exertion of such a ride. Plus, why one day only? It would have been convenient to go to Goa, spend a day and then return. But I did not want convenience. I just wanted to try this. To execute this plan, I had to choose a day when I have a holiday and Biw does not have one.

Over the last 2 weekends, Biwi had been working. I made up my mind that if she works this weekend too, I had to take the chance. The rain was threatening all week and I wanted to get this done with before the rains started. Of course, I had to let Biwi know about this. She refused instantly when she heard about it and understandably so. I needed the entire week to convince her and though she caved in, I knew she didnt want me to go. Throughout all this, I was quietly confident that I will be responsible enough to do the basics right and make it a success.

The next step was to venture out for some mates. Frankly speaking, I didnt expect anyone to join me. No one would be ready to ride for around 17-18 hours in a single day and even if they would, they would not like the idea of spending just a couple of hours in Goa. But I would have loved someone to be with me.

I floated the idea to my CoV mates. Initially, Gaurav and Prashant sounded interested but later decided to back out and they were frank enough to tell me the reasons. Lack of sleep and the prospect of driving in rain and in the night would be extremely dangerous. I did not have any hard feelings. I asked Prakash and Dinesh. Prakash refused immediately. Dinesh jumped at the prospect. He assured me that he was going to come. This excited me even further. We had to make some decisions now and plan it to perfection.



We needed bikes. Dinesh has his own Pulsar 200. I could not afford to take my Yamaha around for 1000 kms in 24 hours. She would not last. Throughout the week, I pestered friends and colleagues to lend me their bike for a day. I know how close a bike can be for a person and I was also telling them the reason why I wanted the bike. Not many would like someone else riding his bike for 1000 kms. On Friday afternoon, I asked one of my colleagues, Vineet, for his bike. He agreed immdediately and even went to the extent of taking me with him to his place during snack hours and getting me the papers of the bike. I am extremely thankful to Vineet. That bike made the difference. It was a Pulsar 220 :)



The plan? It was to leave Pune at 3 am on Saturday morning and come back before midnight. We would ride separate bikes. This turned out to be a good advice from Gaurav. That was the basic plan. It evolved more and more on the D-Day.

I called up Dinesh on Friday evening and asked him to go home early and catch some sleep. I myself was going to reach home by 6 pm, have some food and hit the sack. So far so good. I came home by 6:15 pm. Had some food and was asleep even before it was 7 pm. I forgot just one thing. DAPP meets every Friday evening. I got a call at around 7:30 pm from Biwi asking me where we are supposed to meet. I asked "For what"? only to realise that it was Friday. Sleep plans went out of the window since I didnt want to disrupt the weekly DAPP routine. DAPP assembled at my place at 8:30 pm and we spent the night at Dev Uncle's kitchen discussing about our plans on the morrow.

Prakash was busy talking us down about how this plan is ridiculous and it was having an effect on Biwi. She started getting worried all over again. Surely, we were not going to call off the plan so late? Were we? It was 10 pm. We had to leave in 5 hours and still hadnt got sleep. Biwi suggested we postpone the plan by an hour and get extra sleep. I was not sure that was going to matter. We agreed to leave at 3:30 am. Dinesh and Prakash went home. This was followed by one last ditch attempt by Biwi to make me cancel the plan. In hindsight, I was quite close to cancelling it looking at the overcast skies on Friday evening. But this plan had been hounding me all week. I needed to get it off my mind. A typical husband-wife discussion led to no change in the outcome. I was going ...

I got up at 2:40 am and was ready by 3:15. Packed some dry clothes in my bag. Took a sweatshirt to counter the cold and I was ... as they say ... FEELING IT ...

I made sure Dinesh was up too and asked him to meet me at Ambegaon Naka in Katraj at 3:30 sharp. I myself left home at 3:25 am and reached Ambegaon at 3:40 am. Dinesh came 5 minutes later. We discussed the course of action.

We decided not to race beyond 100 km/hr. If needed, we can touch 100 once and that would be it. Clear Satara before sunrise. Reach Kolhapur no later than 7:30 am and Sankeshwar no later than 9 am. We would halt for breakfast at Gadinglaj. This was Part 1 of the plan. Part 2 was to discussed during breakfast. Gadinglaj is 310 kms from Ambegaon. The last thing was ... dont wear a watch. We did not want to keep looking at the time and feel the pressure.

With this discussed, we high fived and set off in the night. It was 3:50 am. Zooooommm.

Riding a bike on NH-4 is like a dream. You cant expect anything better than that if you are an avid bike rider. The toll nakas also do not pose as a stumbling block. We rode within ourselves (or so we thought). Satara was taken out well before sunrise. In fact, the light improved only when we were getting close to Karad. Throughout, we could see lightning in the background of the road ahead. Rain was threatening. The time of the day was such that there were not a lot vehicles on the highway. It made our task simpler.

Karad and Kolhapur came and went. Everything that I looked forward to was coming true. The thrill was magical. After passing Kolhapur, I was eagerly looking forward to reaching Sankeshwar. NH-4 is even better as we enter Karnataka. It transforms from a 4 lane to a 6 lane highway for some time. I ventured out and touched 104 km.hr as my top speed but I am generally scared when I drive fast. So, I rode between 80 and 90 throughout. I took the Sankeshwar exit and stopped. Dinesh had not yet reached. I called Biwi and informed her that we had reached Sankeshwar. I called Dinesh and he was around 4 kms off Sankeshwar. I still hadnt seen the time. Dinesh came and we both rode for another 15 kms to reach Gadinglaj. Most of the hotels had not started serving food. We finally found a hotel that served us Poha and tea. Dinesh told me that he was late coz he halted at Kolhapur and also waved and screamed at me but it seemed I neither saw him nor heard him. Dinesh had to call someone and it was then that he told me the time. It was 7:25 am. No wonder none of the hotels served food at this time. We felt good that we covered the bigger portion of the distance in less than 4 hours. We had breakfast and discussed Part 2.

The road was a state highway now and not in the best of condition. So we agreed on a speed of betwen 50-65. Pass Aazra, Amboli and reach Sawantwadi. We decided to meet at Sawantwadi next. It was 85 kms from Gadinglaj. We also discussed that it would be nice if we can reach Sawantwadi by 10 or 10:15 am. We also decided to put on our earphones and enjoy Part 2 since it was going to be a slower ride from Part 1. We left Gadinglaj at 8:05 am. The road through the jungle of Aazra and the Ghat of Amboli was OKish but it was a very pretty sight. Especially in Amboli. The clouds had descended right into the valley and it was a sight that commands Oohs and Aahs. I so wanted to halt and spend some time here. But the bigger task of reaching Goa prevented me from doing so.



Amboli's Ghat demanded that we ride extremely slowly to negotiate the sharp turns. Once Amboli was taken out, I reached Sawantwadi and parked my bike outside the bus station. This time I saw the time in my cell. It was 9:50 am. So far so ... pleasing. Again, I called Biwi. She was already in office and she also sounded surprised when she heard that we had already reached Sawantwadi. I called Dinesh. He was around 8 kms off Sawantwadi and told me that he had to stop in between coz a honey bee bit him. Luckily, either it seems it was some other insect or a smaller bee coz he seemed unhurt when he met me at Sawantwadi. Time for Part 3 of the plan.

Panaji was 60 kms away. But we needed to go more towards Mapusa rather than Panaji since we had decided to spend the time in Goa at Baga beach. We decided that it would be nice if we can reach Baga by 11. It would give us more time in Goa. Thats when things became a bit sticky. As soon as we left Sawantwadi, it started pouring down heavily. Dinesh and I had to stop and we put my sweatshirt and his jacket in the bag since we wanted them to remain dry. We decided that we will ride despite of the incessant rain. It paid off. We rode safely in the rain and negotiated the sluggish city traffic to reach Baga. It was 11:10 am and we had completed the first half of this plan.

We parked our bikes (the speedometer read 448 kms) and headed straight to Nine Hills. This is the hotel we frequented a lot during our last visit to Goa. But sadly, they were serving only drinks. We then went to Britto's. We were only going to have food for the next 3 hours.Fish and Chicken were gobbled up. I claim to be an occasional drinker and this was more than an OCCASION. I had a bottle of KF which was enough to set the zing for the remainder of the ride. There was some typical fun associated with an all-boys get together and we made sure we enjoyed with all our stupid and lewd comments. It was important to keep the spirit going in such a plan. It was quite an experience watching heavy rain on a beach. That surely made all the crowd flock to Britto's. And we were not complaining. Afterall, it was keeping us AWAKE ;)

We had some tea and it was time to leave. We stolled out on the beach just to feel the sea. The tougher of the 2 halves stared down at us. As decided, we were to leave at 2 pm. To make it even more spicier, we called up Biwi and Prakash and asked them to book tickets for Angels and Demons for any show after 11 pm. Forget midnight, we wanted to reach Pune before 11 pm now. We were pepped up and raring to go. We decided we will not change into dry clothes since it was still drizzling. We will take that call in Sawantwadi.

We discussed the plan till Pune. Reach Sawantwadi by 3:30 pm. Gadinglaj by 6 pm. And hit NH-4 before sunset. We refuelled and set off. So far, only the bums (as expected) were sore but everything else was still holding up :)

We reached Sawantwadi on the dot. It was still drizzling and we decided that we will change into dry clothes only when we see a dry patch of road. We set off for Amboli. Reached Amboli at 4:15 pm. Halted and clicked the only pics of the journey. I will put them up once Dinesh gives me the pics. Had tea and set off again. On our way to Aazra, it stopped raining and even sunlight made an appearance. This was it. We stopped and changed into dry clothes right in the middle of the jungle and the highway much to the chuckle of onlookers. Dry clothes surely gave a totally better feeling. We reached Gadinglaj at 5:40 pm. Had tea at the same hotel as the one in the morning. The owner of the hotel smiled when he saw us coz we had asked him directions to Goa in the morning. The highway was still 15 kms away and we wanted to reach there before the light started fading. Sunset was still some time away. We left Gadinglaj at 6 pm after discussing the next phase. That was to meet at the PUNE - 100 kms mark. That would be some way after Satara. It also meant that we needed to drive at a stretch for 200 kms. Given the fact that we did 300 at a stretch in the morning, this was not going to be too difficult. But our condition was not the same as morning.

Anyway, we set off for Pune. Reaching NH-4, we wanted to cover as much distance as possible before the light went out. We did a good job of it. We cleared Kolhapur around the time the light went out completely. The trouble started some time after Kolhapur. We had not taken the rain into account. That too in the night. It started off as light rain but slowly changed into heavy rain. The fact the we needed to ride with the visors of our helmets upturned didnt make it easy since the rain was hitting us in the face and eyes. The speed dropped off considerably and it was a battle to cover the remaining distance. Even when Karad passed, we had another 50 kms to go before Satara. It was extremely tough to ride in the rain ... not because we were scared that we would slip off but coz it was difficult to maintain the speed that would take us to Pune before 11 pm. Somehow, we managed to reach the PUNE - 100 kms mark at 9 pm. Fortunately, there was a small stall right at that mark. Dinesh came after 5 minutes. We had 3 cups each of tea. We could not hold the first cup at all since our right hands were stuck in the ride mode. Even when we held the cup correctly, we were shivering so much that some of the tea fell off. It was only after 2-3 sips that we felt better. Prakash had called informing us that there is no show after 10:45 pm in any of the theatres. 10:45 would be too ambitious we thought :) So the plan of watching A&D was dropped. This also made us decide that we will stop here for some more time. We sat there sipping tea for around an hour. The rain had reduced considerably.

We left at 10 pm. The last 100 kms were going to be the longest since we were itching to reach Pune and meet Prakash and Biwi. Dinesh told me that he would go home directly since we were not going for the movie or dinner. I reached home at 11:35 pm to be greeted by Prakash and Biwi in the parking lot. This was followed by me telling them about the entire trip and they were an extremely excited audience coupled with my excitment. Prakash went home. I had a hot water bath and saw the India Bangladesh match. Well played India. Way to go ... !! ;)

I also feel that there are some myths associated with riding a bike on a highway. Driving fast is not necessarily the same as driving carelessly. There is a method to most of the things we do in life. It is also not a big issue riding in the rain. You just need to stick to the basics. We covered 200 kms in the rain in 3 hours ... thats an average speed of 70 ... as I said, you just need to keep it simple. I also feel that too much is made of the fact that riding/driving in the night is an issue. While it is more conveneint to ride in the day, riding in the night is not too difficult. 50% of our journey was in the night. The last factor is sleep. For me and Dinesh, the enthusiasm of executing this plan was enough to keep sleep away. Just for the record, we slept for 3 hours on Friday night but never felt that we are dosing off for the next 24 hours ... we even found time to come back and see the cricket match. Its all in the mind. How keen are you to do something?

The after effects? Well ... the bums have been chiselled the wrong way :) ... right elbow was locked since I have a tendency to keep my right hand upright while riding ... the right ankle was locked due to constant action with the brakes ...



As they say, all in a day's time :)

Cheers ... !!

Monday, June 01, 2009

Upset weekend ... !!

What a weekend it was. It seemed as if none of the predictions (read expectations) were destined to go right.

Djokovic crashed out of Roland Garros on the same day as Venus Williams also met with the same predicament. Just 2 weeks ago, Djokoic had run Nadal close at Madrid and lost an epic semi final. He was surely looking like finally breaking the Nadal code. But he lost rather meekly in straight sets. But the ripper of the day was Rafa eating the humble pie. Full marks to Soderling. What a match the Swede played. His forehand was like a dagger all evening. Nadal was found wanting trying to play his grinding game. On more than a few occasions he was caught flat footed by the marauding Swede. Credit to Soderling to fight back from a break down in both the 2nd and 4th sets. In fact, it felt as if Soderling should have won in straight sets looking at the way he dominated the match. The men's defending champion was followed by the ladies defending champ. Ana Ivanovic can win the title of the most inconsistent player over the last 12 months. She also crashed out without much of a fight.

If Federer doesnt win this time, he will surely cry more than January. He has to negotiate Tommy Haas tonight which I presume will be a tough match. His quaterfinal match should be comparatively easy. He may play Roddick or Monfils. But the semi may be tough. He can play either of Robredo, Tsonga or Del Potro. Looking at the way Soderling played, Federer might end up playing him in the final. But dont underestimate Davydenko, Murray and Gonzalez.

And what about the NBA? Lebron vs Kobe was billed as the dream Finals especially after Lakers-Celtics last year. Without a doubt, these 2 are the hottest superstars in American sports. But the Orlando Magic and Superman had other ideas. Lebron and the Cavs were dumped 4-2 in the Eastern conference finals. This was a shocker given that the Cavs had trampled their previous 2 opponents 4-0 en route to the conference finals. But the Magic have been that kind of a team. They haven't let the loss of Jameer Nelson affect them at all. If anything, this team will surely give Kobe Bryant and the Lakers a run for their money in the NBA Finals which kick of this Friday.

Stoner stunned Rossi at Mugello. This is like Rossi's pet circuit. Having won for the last 7 years ... !!

But its been that kind of a weekend. Bodes well for sport. More and more sportsmen/sportswomen are making their mark. Here's hoping for another fun filled sports weekend.

Cheers ... !!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Thanx girl ... !!

We always try to make friends ... try and find people who will stand by you during your rough times ... celebrate with you when you wanna make merry ... and basically be a mode of support for you throughout ... we venture out and find some of these species ... some find lots of them while some treasure a select few ... but this is with people ...

Throughout your journey in life ... there are some inanimate friends that leave an impeccable mark on you ... unknowingly ... today is the day I bow down to my beloved ... BIKE ... she turns 10 today ... Yes ... I prefer a calling my bike a SHE ... and as they say in bike parlance ... DEFINITELY FEMALE ...



I fondly remember the evening of May 24, 1999. I was watching the World Cup match between the Kiwis and the Windies ... when my Dad called out to me ... I peeped from the window and there she stood ... resplendent in Black (and Gold stripes) ... the match went out of the window (now thats quite apt) ... I ran down and couldnt believe that my Dad got me a new bike ... there was no plan as such to get a bike ... but I was not complaining ... my Mom also came down and we had performed Puja ... I drove down to my friend Aditya's place ... which was around 2 kms from my place ... and he also had a test drive ... :)

Gone were the days that I had to go to college on my sister's Sunny (believe me it was not a great sight driving into Wadias on a limping Sunny ... my Dad was humble enough to give me his Scooter every Saturday and my body language in college was completely different on Saturdays ... :P) ... a Yamaha as I always perceived it ... was ROYAL ... the sound of it ... was like music ...

It came into my life when most of my friends (and me too :P) were going through the usual nuances of puberty ... :P ... the most obvious of this phenomenon was getting attracted to the opposite sex ... :P

By my own admission ... I am (and was) mirror-cracking material (thanx to Orkut for coming up with such a fitting description for people like me) ... so getting attracted was the only thing I could afford :) ... but my friends were much better off ... they not only got attracted but also ... well ... lets leave that for another day ... ;) ... most of my friends, like me, were from a middle to lower middle class family ... having your own bike at the age of 17 was a big deal back then ... and I think it still is (though I am sure things are better now) ... so all my friends relied on my bike to ride their dates ... I mean pillion ... so it was sort of a daily routine to give away my bike to some friend in college ... then come home by bus and then stay awake late in the night for my friend to come back and give my bike back ... magic days ... and this was not limited to guys ... even my female friends took my bike away coz their boy friends didnt have a bike ... just magic ...



I always felt my bike feeling unwanted ... maybe she felt ... "why aren't you taking some one out" ... I wish I could explain to her ... :)

The inspiration to buy a Yamaha came from my Chacha ... he had a RX-100 and then a RX-Z and I always wanted a Yamaha once I drove my Chacha's bikes ... he took care of his bike like his baby ... and I followed ... we both took my bike to a "sticker" man ... one who makes flashy stickers ... and we stuck Red&Black stickers denoting "Yamaha" on my bike ... he also gave me "Bike Wax" which allows you to clean the bike in a ... well ... better way ... I did that religiously for 2-3 years but then gave up ...




I feel quite happy with myself that the first girl who sat on bike (of course when I was driving) was Amruta ...no it wasnt a date ... it was a bit accidental ... we needed to go and meet a friend of mine (happens to be her cousin) ... Nikky ... and it didnt make sense to go on separate bikes ... but it did have me jumping with joy ... my bike also felt a bit prouder than normal ... :)

It was just before the HSC results when I met with a horrible accident at night ... it was hardly 10 days before the results when Chetan and I skid off the road and went bone crashing for around 20 meters ... I was driving ... Chetan didnt have a lot of injuries but I was hurt all over ... elbows, knees, face and belly ... I almost passed out ... Aditya (who was on his bike) and Chetan brought me home ... I recovered in 2 weeks ... fortunately there were no fractures ... but the marks (right knee and left fore-arm) still show ... it was a horrible accident ... my first instinct when I skid was to check if my bike was alright ... apart from a few scratches on the indicators (that still show) and a bent leg guard ... there were no other issues ...



Around the same time ... my bike was witness to a horrendous incident ... I had given my bike to Kiran for a date ... he was going through a rough patch with his girl friend and they hadnt met for months ... and when they finally met ... it was a like a big setup by the girl's brother to sort out Kiran ... I had been witness to a lot of gang fights in Wanorie area during those days ... Kiran was cut at several places by those people ... he had promised me that he will return my bike at around 4 pm. When it was 6 pm, we started to get worried ... Chetan, Aditya, Chinna and I went to almost every place we expected Kiran to go to ... but to no avail ... finally we found him somewhere in Wanorie and his white shirt had become red ... yes it was blood ... and again ... I was curious to know what happened to my bike ... fortunately it only had blood marks ... and nothing else ... the episode that ensued after that deserves a separate post ... one of the darkest nights of my life ... I dont think its a good idea to explain why ....

Throughout its journey with me, it has undergone changes ... mainly replacements ... the speedometer has stopped functioning ... it stands at a reading of 81 K ... one of my most heartfelt desires was to see the reading at 99999 ... but alas ... it is not going to happen since its beyond repair now ... the petrol tank has been replaced once ... so has the chain ... the stickers resemble a RX-100 instead of RX-135 ... the sparking Golden font has eroded with time ... its been blackened ... the indicators dont work as they should ... the horn is a moody creature ... my bike guzzles a lot more oil ... upper and dipper are more or less the same ... driving pillion is avoided since the power has run out ... though that can be repaired ... maybe I will gift that to her on her birthday ... I changed the tyres of my bike in 2007 ...






During this time, I have progressed as a student from Wadias to Fergusson ... my bike would religiously accompany me ... and then I got a job ... it seems like eternity that my bike has been with me ... I somehow find it difficult to fathom that its only been 10 years ... in fact I have been with my bike more than anything else ... it also made a trip to Mumbai for Mood-I once ...



The evolution of the BIKE genre has also been unprecedented. Disc brakes ... single suspensions ... digital speedometers ... fuel filters ... 220-350 cc ... non circular and jazzy indicator lights ... phew. Takes your breath away isnt it? But my bike has remained the same ... its not a pity though ... it still gives me a better than decent average ... breaks down rarely ... and doesnt trouble me during monsoons and winters ... fuel rates have gone up alarmingly. I remember the first time I filled her up (this statement sounds quite weird ... I know :P) ... the rate was Rs. 31 or 33 ... its been one helluva ride ...



Here I am taking my hat off to my companion ... Happy Birthday girl ... we still have miles to go and plenty to catch up on ... Thanx a lot ... and lets go for a ride and spend time together ... and brace ourselves for the next leg of our journey ... Cheers ... !!

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Organizing foreigners ... !!

Well, this is not an attempt to advise the new government about some of their gazillion reforms coming up :P

I am talking about the IPL.

I have been dumb found by the way teams have selected their 4 foreign players in any given game. To my knowledge, each team has a pool of 9-10 foreign players to choose from. Honestly speaking, I find it very appropriate that only 4 foreign players can fit into a playing eleven. The last thing we want is the dearth of Indian players in the INDIAN Premier League. Having said that, its extremely difficult for the coach and the captain to shortlist 4 players from this pool. But there are some obvious take aways which need no debate and teams have been found lacking in terms of coming up with the right foreign player formation.

Lets start with Chennai. I think this is the only team that came close to selecting the BEST 4 foreign players. Hayden would make a playing eleven of any team in the world in any format of the game. No wonder he holds the Orange cap. Albie Morkel is one of the most destructive stikers of the cricket ball and he is a capable bowler too. Murali is again a must-have. No debates on that. If he is not taking wickets, he will atleast pin down the batsmen. Last year's final was a flash in the pan when Yusuf took him apart. According to me, the fourth foreign player for Chennai should be George Bailey. Thanx to ESPN-Star for broadcasting Australian domestic cricket. I have seen Bailey play. And boy he can play. Nicknamed Geuronimo, this guy can wield the willow like no other. This guy has been INSTRUMENTAL in captaining Tasmania in the absence of Ponting and he guided Tasmania to the ODI championship Down Under. As an option, Michael Hussey should be on standby as the 5th player. Ntini and Oram are more utility players in the sense that they dont guarantee that they will put on a performance ... definitely not in T-20. Oram should have made it to my list but his recent injuries have taken the zing out of his bowling.

Next up is Delhi. Looking at their foreign players, its a bloody tough task to choose their 5 foreign players. I guess AB should make it automatically. He says he wants to become the best player in the world in all 3 formats and doesnt he back himself? The 2nd player should be Daniel Vettoti for God's sake. This man is a wizard in T-20 cricket. If you have any doubt then just look at this bowling average, strike rate and no of wickets. If you still have some doubt, get hold of the India-NZ video from the T-20 World Cup when he single handedly stopped India in its tracks after Sehwag and Gambhir threatened to murder the Kiwis. That was also India's only loss of the tournament. Dilshan comes in next. This guy is made for T-20. Having become the new Lankan captain in T-20 cricket, it has just given him the fillip to take his game up by a notch or two. An electric fielder, great runner between the wickets and more than handy off-spinning option ... this guy should be a certainty in every game. If available, Collingwood should be the 4th player. I dont know the logic of keeping him out. To be fair, Delhi's batting ends at no. 4 according to the current formation. With all due respect to Karthik, I feel Delhi lacks the depth. Collingwood is the perfect man to come in after Sehwag, Gambhir, Dilshan and AB. Add to that his canny bowling. The player on standby should be Farveez Maharoof. He is a good steady bowler. He has all the variations plus his nemesis (read Sehwag) is in his own team :P ... Warner is too recent a player to walk into the playing eleven and his cross batted swipes leave much to be desired. McGrath to be honest doesnt come with the same artillery for Delhi as he did for the Oz ... Owais Shah is too inconsistent.

Now Punjab. The first player should always be Brett Lee without a shade of a doubt. Everyone knows why. The next player should be Kumar Sangakkara. He is street smart and has this natural ability to adapt to the situation of the game. If you need one man to bat through while the others want to hit out, Sanga is the man for you. Amazing wicket keeper to boot. Ravi Bopara is fast becoming the most efficient T-20 player. If you have seen him finish games for Essex, you would know what I am talking about. He is going great guns in all forms of the game. His bowling is an added incentive. He is my third choice. If available, Shaun Marsh should be the 4th player and James Hopes should act as their fence player. Marsh already proved himself last year and Hopes is an extremely handy T-20 all rounder. But since they were not available, my 4th and 5th players would be Mahela and Abdulla. But I feel Mahela is too good a player to be wasted at no. 5/6. Abdulla has the potential to become the next big thing in Sputh African cricket.

On to Deccan. The captain selects himself. Gilly doesnt need any invitation to make the playing eleven. Andrew Symonds should be the next player. Great with the bat and more than good with the ball. A great fielder. My personal choice for the 3rd player is Fidel Edwards. The reason why Deccan stormed through the first half of the tournament was due to RP and Edwards opening the bowling for Deccan. Edwards also has a slinging action like Malinga and his pace can unsettle the best of batsmen. The next player should be Dwayne Smith. In fact, I would say he should be an automatic choice much like Symonds. He is the perfect no. 6 batsman in T-20. He has the capability to hit the long ball and is a deadly accurate fielder. He can also bowl decent medium pace. Looking at this year's team, I will have to say the 5th player should be Gibbs. Around 3-4 years ago, he should have made the 11 automatically. But he is inconsistent now. If Afridi was available, he would have been ahead of Smith and Gibbs for me. Vaas doesnt impress me and so does Styris.

Talking about Rajasthan, I would say the biggest mistake they have made is to keep out Tyron Henderon. This guy is made for T-20 cricket. He along with Murali Kartik took Middlesex to the T-20 championship in England. He is a great T-20 bowler and a ferocious striker of the ball. He should make the playing eleven always. Warne has missed a trick this time. Warne would be the 2nd player for obvious reasons. Graeme Smith is also an automatic choice. Given this year's team, I would pick Mascarenhas as their 4th player always. He is a canny bowler and a big hitter. Johan Botha would be my fringe player. Of course, Tanvir and Watson select themselves but they were not available this year. Quiney, Carseldine and Harwood are largely unimpressive as T-20 players.

That brings me to Mumbai. One of the most under achieving teams and its disappointing for me as a Mumbai fan to write about this. Someone needs to drill a fact into the Mumbai authorities that Sanath Jayasuriya should always be present in the eleven and he should always open. The last time he batted in the middle order was the 1992 World Cup. His average back then was 19 ... and didnt he do an admirable job working his ass to end up with an average of over 30? SRT bamboozled me when he didnt pick Sanath for a game. I will go to the extent of saying that its not a huge issue if SRT himself doesnt play but Sanath SHOULD ALWAYS BE THERE. Next is his Lankan team mate ... Lasith Malinga. This guy again is made for T-20. His toe crushing yorkers and mesmerising pace changes make it extremely difficult to score off him. JP Duminy has come on leaps and bounds and it didnt surprise me when he hit 5 fifties. In fact he was the saving grace for the much hyped Mumbai batting line up. Dwayne Bravo is the 4th player and according to me one of the game's best all rounders. But he should NOT open the innings. :). The last player (in fact he should have been tried very early in the tournament) is Graham Napier. This guy seriously makes a mockery of the cricket ball. One of the hardest hitters of the ball. Once blasted 16 sixes in one innings enroute to rip roaring 150 in a T-20 game. For my money, this guy had the potential of becoming one of the success stories of the tournament. But thats a bit of a skirmish on the part of SRT's captaincy. He should think like a captain and not as a leader :P

Time to shift from SRT to SRK. Kolkata is not a team as bad as they are projected to be. Lets be frank. They have Brendon McCullum at the helm. We all know how he lit up Chinnaswamy stadium last year. Maybe assigning the captaincy to someone like Hussey or Hodge would have helped given the fact that both of them have captained Victoria previously. McCullum isnt even a local district captain in Kiwiland. Next on the list are the 2 Victorians that I just mentioned. Brad Hodge is the highest run getter in T-20 cricket in the world and is the glue that has held Victoria and Leicestershire en route to mutliple championship seasons. A handy offie and a more than reliable fielder. He has been the saving grace for Kolkata this year. He should always be in the eleven. David Hussey for me is an automatic choice. He has a very simple way of playing T-20. Come in and graft. Hit out in the last 3-4 overs. One of the most dumb decisions have been to keep Charles Langeveldt out of the Knight Riders team. How can a T-20 freak be kept out? Dumb ... dumber ... dumbest. Period. The last player should be Chris Gayle. This guy is a very weird cricketer. It almost makes you feel that you need to perk him up for a match. He is very inconsistent for a man with his kind of talent. But should be in the pool of 5 players. In Gayle's absence, Mendis should be the fringe player.

Finally, its speaking about Vijay Mallya's Royal Challengers. Make no mistake. This is one of the best teams in the tournament and also one of the dumbest. You cant ... I repeat ... you cant keep Cameron White out of the playing eleven. If 4 captains come and go and still dont get White into the team, its a problem. White is again MADE for T-20. No wonder most of his Aussie team mates (playing for other franchises) chuckle at the thought of not facing upto White. He is one of the Victorian T-20 and ODI stalwarts along with David Hussey and Hodge. For me, White is an automatic choice. Ross Taylor walks into the team as my 2nd player. He is like Sehwag and Jayasuriya. You dont drop him if he fails once or twice or even 5 times. He has to be there always. Where the hell is Dale Steyn for God's sake? I know he got injured after 4-5 matches but that should have kept him out only for 1-2 matches. I see him giggling in the dugout and get drinks for his mates so I am assuming he can run up and pepper the batsmen as well. Just because you win with a certain combination does not allow you to drop one of the most lethal bowlers the Proteas have ever produced. Again, seriously dumb. Jacques Kallis is an imposing figure and should always be present in the eleven. My fifth player would be Jesse Ryder. Come on, this guy is talent. You cant keep dropping him. Sorry Boucher and Van Der Merwe but I dont think you are making any contributions to this team.

So that's that. My frustration at not having to see the so called T-20 players in action prompted me to write. It is still not late. Some teams might still benefit now (if not next year) by picking the right foreign players.

Here's hoping for a thrilling IPL-2 finale ... Cheers ... !!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Halo of countryside ... !!



I could actually imagine that ...

It was a fun trip. One of my most satisfying moments in life. Staying in a city, we somehow always cringe to break free ... explore unchartered territory ... do something you have never done before ... basically you want to add to your resume of experiences ....

We picked the long weekend of 1st May to visit Sangaon. This is a small village on the outskirts of Kolhapur ... for people who know a bit more ... Sangaon is a stone's throw away from Kaagal ... well not exactly a stone's throw ... its around 6 kms from Kaagal. Biwi's Nanaji owns a farm (I dont like that word ... hence I am going to use the word Khet from now on ...) at Sangaon. I had been to this Khet once before but I had hardly explored it ... this time it was going to be different ... it was a nice incentive to go there ... since we had not been to Kolhapur in over 2 years ...

My in-laws were also going to join us there. Hence, we planned it in such a way that we will use one car and one bike to travel to Sangaon. Everyone assembled at our place at 4 am on Friday ... thats Dinesh, Prakash, father-in-law (Pappa), mother-in-law(Mummy), Biwi and I. Prakash and Dinesh started on Dinesh's bike while the rest travelled in our car.

I wont delve too much into the journey ... except that it was a short and sweet drive ... with hardly any traffic ... toll booths were idle ... we stopped for Naashta at Karad ... Prakash swapped places with Biwi in Satara ... and I swapped places with Biwi in Karad ... driving a Pulsar on NH-4 is a heavenly experience ... we went from Karad to Kaagal in 57 minutes ... :) ... Biwi did an admirable job anchoring our car till Sangaon ... in fact she drove beautifully ... Dinesh swapped places with Pappa in Kaagal ... Pappa and I bought from cooking oil from Kaagal and reached Sangaon ... by now everyone from Kolhapur (read Biwi's Nanaji's family ... thats Nana, Nani, Mama, Mami, Mausis, Mama's kids, Mausi's kids) had reached the Khet ... Sangaon is divided into 2 parts ... Sangaon Kasba (this is more of a marketplace kind of a place) and Juna Sangaon (this is where the Khet is and it is a very quiet place with Khets all around) ...

After exchanging pleasantries it was time to make plans for the day ... the menu for the day was Mutton and Chicken Rassa ... or more specifically Kombda Rassa ... and Vade to boot ... this is the famous Kombda Vade ... the menu was mentioned as soon as we reached the Khet ... so we wanted to be very hungry before devouring all that ... Nanaji took us to the well (Kua) of the Khet ... the cock went through the sacrifice ordeal ... Yes its not good viewing ... but that's that ...








The next thing to do was swim in the well ... I had done that during my last visit too ... but somehow it felt amazing this time around ... the fact that it was close to 40 degrees outside and almost ice-cold in the well made it all the more enjoyable ... Pappa, Nanaji, Shivam and Soham (Mama's kids) joined us in the well and it was mayhem ... Dinesh went into a diving frenzy ... from unprecedented heights ... I too joined later and we started a "Mutka" regime ... it is diving in such a way that your legs go into the water before your head ... and in doing so ... you should cross your legs ... difficult proposition ... :P




Anyway, we swam for around 2 hours and it needed someone to come and drag us out of the well ... we were hungry now ... and the food made our day ... Kombda vade were lip-smacking ... couple that with Mutton ... Masala rice ... plain rice ... and off-the-tava-chapatis ... since Prakash and Dinesh were coming to Sangaon for the first time ... they were forced to eat a lot ... and I mean it ... they were sweating profusely throughout (I have been through this before :P) ...

We lazed around in the courtyard and tried to find some sleep ... but the heat and some ants made it difficult ... we garnered some sleep before everyone assembled for tea at around 5 pm ... tea was just a starter ... the amount of junk food on offer made us skip a beat ... biscuits ... poha-chiwda ... chips ... nuts ... cashews ... bhutta ... and they kept coming ...




We decided to visit the river that flows through Juna Sangaon ... its around a km from the Khet. The walk from the Khet to the river was extremely picturesque and it culminated into the most ideal setting of a river flowing through the countryside with a wooden over bridge and acres of land to park your backside and get submerged in this aura ... there was a jamun tree over there and this being jamun season ... we had plenty of jamuns ... it was getting dark and walked back to the Khet ... the heat was still very much present and we were feeling the itch to have something chilled ... being a small village we were doubtful if we would get anything ... we walked from the Khet to Kasba Sangaon ... we were fortunate enough to find a shop selling soft drinks and ice cream ... well ice cream in a village sounded a better option ... and it was ... we all felt much better after the ice cream went down the system ... we walked back and it was now time for cards ...














Everyone went off to sleep at around 10 pm in the house and reminded us about the positions we need to take in the house when we plan to sleep ... we ignored it at that time only to repent later ... :P ... playing cards has also become such a ritual ... and Minimum at that ... its a fun game and keeps you engrossed ... Biwi, Prakash, Dinesh and I laughed the night away ... mainly discussing about all that we observed with the people present on the Khet ... poor souls ... it was like despite being good hosts they were the laughing stock ... :) ... it was only when we started hearing weird noises that we decided to call it quits and go off to sleep ... even then we went in the house and started laughing ... much to the dismay of all those who had already dozed off by now ... there were lots of mosquitoes ... so it was not trivial to find sleep ... luckily we had bought some mosquito coils ... and got saved ... but we were still laughing so much that it made us get up and go to the kitchen just to finish off the laughing ... we were asleep in some time ... and that completed a most memorable first day of the trip at Sangaon ...







The next day was spent pretty much doing the same stuff ... a heavy Gaon kaa Naashta ... playing cricket with Soham and Shivam ... swimming in the well ... a heavy lunch (again :P) ... pursuit of sleep in the afternoon ... etc ... there was a small difference though ... Prakash, Dinesh and I wanted to have a bath in the bore well ... just adjacent to the Khet ... but it was occupied by some women who were washing their (?) clothes ... we sought refuge under the tamarind tree (we saw almost every type of tree during the 3 days) ... sang some very unfortunate songs :P ... maybe that hastened the washing by the women ... but we also knew that the water will not be available for eternity ... and as ill luck would have it ... the water stopped as soon as Dinesh and I stepped in ... dratch ... we had a bath with whatever water was left but Prakash had to go back to the Khet and have a bath ...

The evenings were something we looked forward to coz the heat during the day was relentless ... we wanted to go back to Kasba Sangaon to have ice cream like yesterday ... only today we didnt realise what the time was ... the elders advised us against going coz it can be dangerous during the night ... but we still wanted to go and we did ... just that our CITY minds refused to accept that we were not in a CITY ... we reached Kasba Sangaon at around 9:30 pm ... and it was pitch dark and pin drop silence ... Yes ... the Gaon was fast asleep ... and we were left looking stupid ... no other option but to head back to the Khet ... it was nevertheless a good experience walking through the brazen paths late in the night ...

On reaching the Khet ... we played cards but there were even more mosquitoes than yesterday ... so we decided to go in and have some fun but everyone was asleep ... so we decided we will sleep in the kitchen ... chatted for a while ... played cards and then dozed off ...

The day of the trip was the final day ... as usual we got up and had Naashta ... this was followed by the most intense cricket matches that I have ever played ... and thats quite a statement ... it was Mama, Biwi, Dinesh and Shivam in 1 team while Prakash, Mummy, Pappa and I represented the other team ... quite a mismatch considering the fact that Mama has played (and still plays) state level cricket ... not that we were going to play with a season ball ... but still ... the first 2 matches were quite close ... we fielded first in both matches ... it was a 6 over affair ... Mama's team made 47 ... we sent Mummy and Pappa as our openers and we struggled :) ... when both of them got out ... it was upto me and Prakash ... we batted well and made sure we are within striking distance of the total ... but Prakash got out ... we still needed around 20 in 2 overs and one of those was going to be bowled by Mama ... I extracted 7 off Mama's over ... and we still needed 13 off the last over ... Mama tossed the ball to Biwi ... this was going to be interesting ... I didnt know whether I should go for the win :P ... but Yeah ... a loss is a loss ... even worse if its against my wife ... :) ... the first ball was a four ... the next was two ... then a dot ball ... we needed 7 off 3 ... the next was a four ... 3 off 2 ... dot ball ... 3 off 1 ... this was the moment of the match ... I thought I hit the perfect shot straight down Biwi's left hand ... but Mama just stuck his hand out ... the ball stuck and he ran me out at the bowler's end ... they rejoiced so much that all the elders busy preparing for lunch came out and asked what all the noise was all about ... and they went back holding their heads when they came to know that it was just a match ... but they didnt say GROW UP ... :)

The next match was also close ... I was surprised how well I played in the first match since I had not held a cricket bat for ages ... but Mama was a crucial factor ... he was so central to their scheme of things ... again they put up a huge score ... 58 ... and we had to get 59 ... this time we sent Prakash and Mummy to open ... both got out in the first over to Biwi ... Biwi was stellar with her bowling ... kudos ... :) ... so it was left to me and Pappa ... Pappa also got out in the next over to Mama ... and we had to make 50 in 4 overs ... hardly an inspiration ... but I soldiered on ... I targetted the overs that were not bowled by Mama ... hit lots of boundaries ... in fact I got 13 in one of Mama's overs ... we needed 22 in 2 overs ... Mama bowled the penultimate over ... and he bowled well ... I managed only 7 ... and we were left with 15 to get off 6 ... again Biwi was going to bowl ... Deja Vu ... or was it? ... I hit the first 2 balls for 4 ... we needed 7 off 4 ... the next ball was bowled almost at my chest and I fended it off to get 2 runs ... a huge argument ensued coz I definitely thought it was a no-ball ... but Mama was not ready to listen ... it was very competitive ... so it was 5 off 3 ... dot ball ... 5 off 2 ... and I got out ... bowled ... Ouch that hurts ... lost 2 close matches ... the third match was one sided coz we lost by a huge margin ... sob ...

we then headed to the well ... and this time we were going to make it count ... almost everyone on view was in the well ... Dinesh, Prakash, Biwi, Soham, Shivam, Pappa, Mummy (though she didnt swim), Nilambari(Biwi's cousin ... or shud I say Saali :P), Mama and myself ... it was highly enjoyable ... but Pappa, Mama and Mummy wernt there for long ... Dinesh and I went off on a diving spree ... we went further and further up until it started looking scary from up ... the dive from the highest point was extremely nerve racking ... its funny that you know you are not falling on firm ground ... its just water and yet you feel you will get hurt ... but what a dive it was ... from hot air(when you are about to jump) to cooler breeze (when mid-air) and finally cold water ... quite a transition ... that made us repeat it ... 3 hours came and went ... then finally we came out ...




We had planned to leave for Pune at around 1:30 pm ... so we needed to have lunch and get going ... the moment we came out of the well and reality dawned that we will be leaving soon, the mood dropped ... we talked of deferring our departure ... and everyone agreed ... so we were back to being happy ... Mami and Maheshwari (another Saali) had come to the well to inform us that lunch is ready ... we could not see people all dry ... we somehow managed to get Mami to the well and Biwi poured a bucket of water on her ... Maheshwari was close but not very close and she was already retracting ... I ran and got hold of her ... and after some time even she bore the brunt of the same bucket of water ... so now we were much more satisfied ... :)

Mami was hell bent for revenge ... and she started filling a bucket as soon as we reached the house ... but to her dismay I really didnt have an issue getting wet again ... in fact I loved it ... she started filling a second bucket ... someone called out for her and she turned ... then it was easy for me to come and pick up the same bucket of water and pour it on her ... 2-1 to me ... :P ... and thats how it stayed ... first leg goes to me ... revenge is promised for next time ... we will see ... an away win is very important :P ...

It was again very hot and we really wanted something cold. When I asked around about how many are ready for a beer ... I got a decent response ... it was Mummy, Pappa, Prakash, Biwi and Mama ... I too decided to have beer ... yes I have quit drinking but the occasion got to me ... cant help it ... Dinesh and Prakash went to Kasba Sangaon and got beer, soft drinks and chakna ... we all went back to the well and sat in the shade of a tree ... we were joined by 2 of Pappa's friends ... one of them was called DESAI SAAHAB ... and wasnt he funny ... he talked till the cows came home ... we were busy sipping beer and soft drinks and this man was just going on and on about the food he likes ... the places he has visited across India ... his farmhouse in Goa ... how there is no place like Goa (I quite agree) ... all the others did was nod in approval ... there were some trademark dialogues that are expected when people get high ... like "Our doors are always open for you Desai Saahab" (Yes it was said in English :P) ...

Finally, we went and had lunch ...

Lunch was prepared by one of Biwi's cousin grandfathers ... quite a task to explain the relation ... but he had made delicious chicken biryani ... cashew and raisins just added to the flavor and we devoured everything that came our way since it was the Last Supper ... eerrr ... Last Lunch at Sangaon ... after that we dozed off outside in the shade of yet another tree ... we got up at around 5 pm ... had tea and were ready to leave ... I must admit it was sad to leave such a divine place ... the food and the people were just amazing ... but all good things come to an end sometime ... and so did this ... we left Sangaon at 8 pm ... 7 hours behind schedule ... knowing that the next day in office will hurt ... both physically and emotionally ...

Adios Sangaon ... but we will be back ... Prakash is already planning his honeymoon at Sangaon ... :P'

Cheers ... !!