Disliking likeables

I am not going to start off this one with a 'I am back' cliche. Not sure if I am really 'back'. But I will let it rip till it lasts. I last blogged in 2012. Jeepers!

I am not sure if its with my personality but of late I have run into so many discussions that I am made to look like the odd one out. The topics change but not the oddity of me being projected as irrational, sadistic or even disillusional. Those are 3 words which I may not have used for a decade now. Need a vocab makeover too. Later!

So, one topic that is quite common in everyday jargon is about movies. I have found it extremely difficult to be on the side of people who think a particular way about movies. Any discussion about a particular movie being good/bad has had me disapproving of the choice made by 90% of the junta.

Just the other day, we were discussing about RamLeela. Everyone had more than a few expletives for this movie. Some said that they couldn't tolerate even an hour of the movie, some lesser. I do not praise this movie very highly but I quite enjoyed it. I am not talking about the chemistry (or physics?) of the leading pair. Its just that I didnt feel like switching off. The 2nd half was truly engaging and I felt the real heroine (or actress and not supporting actress) is Supriya Pathak. Of course, Ram would not like to dive into her everytime. But, as with many debates, I end up giving up. I would watch it again I guess.

That brought us to so many other movies that I ended up having an opposite opinion about.

Good (and the ones that people feel not so good)
No Smoking, Lootera, Rockstar, Gangs of Wasseypur, Rowdy Rathore, Swades, Kai Po Chhe

Not so good (and the ones that people drool over)
DDLJ, HAHK, 3 Idiots, Rang De Basanti, KKHH, Munnabhai series

Maybe, its just the perception.

In another free-wheeling discussion, I couldnt quite understand the reasoning and logic behind the Best Actress award given to Deepika Padukone for 2013 (whether its Chennai Express, YJHD or RamLeela) whereas I found Sonakshi Sinha leagues ahead in Lootera. Someone told me its because Deepika had 3 blockbusters so it had to go to her. Couldnt quite understand the term 'Actress' then. In that case, there should be an award for 'Best Actor/Actress based on revenue'. It would be a better benchmark award for Production houses too to look for such people.

Just my 2 cents though. 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 ... :)

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 ... !!

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 ... !!

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 ... !!

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 ... !!

Impact ... !!

I was surfing channels last weekend trying to get hold of some nice cartoon ... some nice sporting occasion or some nice movie ... there were lots of channels where I spent some time ... Tom n Jerry never fails to impress me (I am sure its the case with most of us) ... Augusta Masters was too appetizing but the fact that Tiger and Mickelson were not doing very well made me switch ... and finally I ended with ... SARKAR ...

It aint a secret that I am a fan of RGV's movies. There's a very interesting story about Sarkar and me ... it goes back during the time it was released (no matter how much I try ... I dont seem to create that feel of novels) ... the story is such that ... at that time City Pride Kothrud was a newbie ... and most of us counted just 4 as the number of multiplexes in Pune ... in Inox, E-Square. Adlabs and City Pride Satara Road ... some weird sequence of events had led me to see this movie in each of these multiplexes ... including thrice in three days ... it was almost as if I told my 4th accomplice ... I CAN ENACT EACH SCENE ... NO NEED TO WATCH IT ...

So when I tuned into Sarkar this weekend ... all those moments came galloping back (there I go again ... I am not novel material ... guess I am not that novel in creating a novel ... aah ... there's a statement) ... for now lets say ... those moments came running back ... much more real ...

If there was ever a scene that warms you up to watch the rest of the movie ... its the scene where Rashid meets Sarkar for the first time ... just mind boggling ... the impact it creates on th viewer ...

The director has interleaved the part of Khan informing Sarkar about Rashid and Rashid actually walking up the stairs so wonderfully ... the poise of both Rashid and Sarkar ... it gives you goose bumps ... even on the small screen ...

The back ground music is only broken by Rashid saying ... "Aapse akele main kuch baat karna thaa mereko" ... and is so promptly replied with ... "samajh lo ki mai akela hi hoon" ... Chander and Khan are both in this scene with Sarkar and Rashid (I am sure everyone knows about this) ... Chander has this habit of loosing his temper at the drop of a ... well hat would sound to advanced for Chander ... lets say he gets angry very easily ... as soon as Sarkar says this ... its like Chander getting the authority to impose himself on Rashid ... he responds with an eye contact with Rashid and pointing out his left hand towards the seat he is supposed to take ...

Throughout the scene ... its noteworthy seeing Khan chewing his Paan/tobacco/supari ... and Chander constantly hounding Rashid with his looks ... Rashid tells Sarkar of his intentions ... the way Sarkar lifts his eyes from sipping tea as soon as he hears the words "Shikuti gaon" ... just amazing ... impact ... and reaction ... just wonderful ... Sarkar hears out Rashid and then sets off for his introduction ... you almost feel he will go an for a longer time ... but he cuts it off with ... "Mai nahi karunga" ...

Rashid raises the stakes and says ... "30 lakh" ... this is enough for Chander to spit venom ... he angrily responds to Rashid ... Rashid tries to clarify with Sarkar (Rashid does a great job interacting with ONLY SARKAR ... he doesnt care a lot about Chander ... this is what a villain should be ...) ... Sarkar by now is vehemently denying Rashid ...

This is where the magic of Rashid takes over ... he is clearly disgruntled ... but he still has the audacity to finish the tea in his cup ... give Chander a WE-WILL-SEE-WHO-WINS-THIS-BATTLE-OF-STARES stare ... and finally gets up ... Sarkar is quick to chip in with ... "Aur suno ... tujhe bhi karne nahi dunga" ... this is the most amazing sequence of background score inter mingled with the most appropriate body language ... with Taasha ... Dhol and sundry ...

Rashid still touches Sarkar's feet before leaving ...

For me ... the most striking feature about this scene is that both Sarkar and Rashid appear vulnerable at different stages of this scene ... it ... as they say ... SETS UP THE MOVIE ...

Its even better in the movie hall ... ask me ... I have experienced it 4 times ... ;)

Cheers ... !!

Dilli unleashed ... !!

I had been eagerly awaiting the music release of Dilli 6 ever since I heard Massakali. I am glad that I have not been disappointed.

The album is on similar lines to Rakyesh Omprakash Mehra's previous 2 offerings of Aks and RDB. AR Rehman's stamp is evident on each track. Looking at his past record, it is difficult to like his music in the first hearing. But Dilli 6 is quite a surprise. I liked it in the first attempt itself.

The album starts off with the now-known Massakali which is like an ode to a pigeon along with an attempt of the hero to correlate the pigeon to the heroine. That's just my guess. It can be thought of as a song to Patao or tease the girl. It is quite hummable and it almost gives you a feel that the singer is enjoying himself a lot while singing it.

The next is Bhor Bhaye which is an out and out classical music song. Its for the connoisseurs of classical music. I think this song has the potential to be the most ignored song of the album. I liked it though.

Noor follows. It is not a song actually but a recitation by Amitabh Bachchan. Usually, with such songs, the words used are very heavy and most people tend to ignore them. I didn't understand each word of it but the good thing is that its a small song and gets over before you shift to the next one.

That brings us to Tumre Bhavan Mein. This is more of an Aarti song but its good. Rehman weaves his magic and prevents it from becoming a Bhajan. Its good to hear to say the least.

One of my favorites of the album is Genda Phool. It is a feminine song catering to experience of a newly wed woman and the nuances of her in-laws. Vikash rightly pointed out that it gave him a homely feeling. And why not? The Hindi used in the song is very North Indian and very Gaon-ki-Hindi. Extremely hummable song. You should not miss this one.

One of the most calming and soothing tracks is Dil Gira Dafatan. It forced me to find the meaning of Dafatan and I have still not figured it out. Amazing song. You need to hear it at least a couple of times to understand it completely.

Funky is one of Rehman's lesser explored areas but he does a fantastic job with Kaala Bandar. It has the beat to it which makes you feel like dancing. The fusion of western and Indian music is evident along with the usage of Hindi and English throughout.

Rehna Tu is also a very soothing song. I don't have much to say about the song other than this. You cannot ignore it if you like calmness.

Coming to the title track, Dilli 6 is a rundown about the highlights of Delhi as a city. This also contains beats and for a title track, its actually quite good unlike Chandni Chowk to China.

The last song is Arziyan. Rehman seems to be heavily inspired from himself. Shades of Piya Haji Ali and Khwaaja Mere Khwaaja is painted all across this song. I think this is also the longest song of the album.

My preference of songs starting from my favorite ...

Dil Gira Dafatan

Massakali

Kaala Bandar

Genda Phool

Bhor Bhaye

Arziyan

Dilli 6

Rehna Tu

Tumre Bhavan Mein

Noor

Overall, a great album and I am not getting rid of it for at least the next 2 weeks ...

Listen to it ... you wont regret it ... Cheers ... !!

Hasta la Vista 2008 ... !!

The inspiration for this post stems from all the other New Year posts I have read from the blogs of my friends. Sadly, I do not match up to the detail of my friends. Was it a good year? or a bad one? I am not sure.

A year when I started running away from problems instead of facing them.
A year that disappointed me the most personally.
A year when I could no longer EVEN-IF-SOMEONE-DOES-BAD-TO-ME-I-WILL-STILL-BE-GOOD-TO-THEM.
A year when self respect hit an all time low.
A year when home became a house again.
A year that was spent over and over again trying to start a new life.
A year when I tried to run away on weekends as much as possible just to shun the chaos.
A year when I made the most mistakes.
A year when I grimaced more than smiled.
A year when I fought the most.
A year that gave me names like NO-LONGER-CALM, CHANGED-A-LOT and many more that I cannot put down here.
A year when lots of friends/relatives preferred to stay away from me.
A year when I struggled to find people to share my good days.
A year when I quit Beer and started with Hard Drinks ... not sure if this falls in this section ;)
A year when I smoked more than before.
A year that I want to forget.

On the flipside ... there were some good signs too ...

I saw some new places.
People who ridiculed me came up and talked to me.
I learnt Spanish.
I started cooking.
I went to Mumbai twice.
I swam a lot.
I ran the marathon.
I had a great time with DAPP.
I restarted cycling.
I finally went to GOA.
Lots of my good friends got married.
I restarted blogging.
I overcame my fear of English movies.
I realised that I need to take my time before I call someone GOOD.
I was a Taklu for 3 months and I had a moustache for 3 months.
I reduced boasting about myself.

I am sure everyone has his/her UPs and DOWNs ... I am no different ... here's wishing a very happy and prosperous New Year to everyone ... Enjoy ... Cheers ... !!

Life is a Frisbee ... !!

I happened to conjure this phrase when I visited Kashid this weekend. We had bought a Frisbee so that we can play in the sea. With every throw, catch and dive, I felt some sort of correlation of the Frisbee with Life.

For starters, all the players need to go some way into the sea to start playing. Its not worthwhile to play on the beach itself since the Frisbee sways a lot and you need to run if it sways away from you. Instead, if you are in the water, you derive more thrill by diving or swimming till the Frisbee. This is so true about life too. For anything that you do, you know exactly the output that will drive you to perform some activity. If you start at some point and don't feel the thrill or the worth, you invariably try and do it some other way.

The next point is when all the players involved throw for the first time. The wind will not be suitable for all players. For some players, his/her throw will travel in a straight line to the next person. But for someone else, his/her throw may be against the wind and the Frisbee will not sway according to plan. In such a case, all such players who feel the wind is against them need to relocate so as to avoid the gust. Again, very similar to life. For anything that you need to do in life, you will invariably face a problem while starting off. The steps you take to avoid these problems decide how effective you would be in life.

When the Frisbee is thrown, some player needs to catch it. Being a lightweight object, it sways before settling at a point. When the Frisbee is in the air (and not settled yet), the player catching it feels that it may fall at a certain point whereas actually it sways more/less as compared to anticipated and does enough to fool the player resulting in the player being unsuccessful in catching it. Anything you do in life appears to be do-able in a certain way. Throughout its journey, you mend your ways to achieve anything. Estimates go for a toss and you may fall short.

When the wind is too much in your favor (it means that whenever you throw, the Frisbee sways dramatically), you need to throw it in such a way that when it falls, the catcher doesn't need to move a lot. For this, you should throw it in such a way that it starts very far off from the catcher but it sways so much that it lands very close to the catcher. You do in anything in life but its important that the end result is fine and to the comfort of most number of people.

When you are catching the Frisbee, sometimes you may need to jump to catch it. Sometimes you jump correctly and catch it. At other times, the Frisbee stays in the air for that extra second and you mistime your jump. Had you stayed still for another second and jumped, you would have caught it. You need to time your moves in life. One step taken before/after its time can create havoc coz its not that you cant do it. Its just that you jumped the gun. Had you not, it isn't that difficult a task.

The last one was fun. When you dive to catch the Frisbee (assuming you are neck deep in the sea. In fact, chin-deep), you may be stretched to the limit and off your feet. The dive may result in you being completely immersed in the sea. Now, this is salty water capable of spoiling your hair, irritating your eyes, etc (for people who care a lot about themselves). If you are not ready to face consequences, its better you not start off at all. The best case would be to enjoy the consequences.

Maybe there is much more to life than a Frisbee. I am certain that there exists something else too that can be correlated to Life.

Cheers ... !!

Joys of a Get-Together ... !!

Its not a surprise that I am fond of meeting up with pals. I seldom understand (or even try to) the mechanics of avoiding a Get-Together(GT). It would require some effort on my part to give up on GTs. Why is it so fascinating?

For starters, its all about THE camaraderie. The very prospect of meeting up with your bumchums (and possibly someone new) is enough to pump up the adrenaline. For me, a GT is a huge stess buster (now I am talking like a techie). For all crooners who put glycerine to shame by talking about those wonder years at school/college, a GT can possibly put those days to shame. You can freak out doing what you enjoy. Its all about detaching yourself from all your inhibitions. It can be anything. Smalltalk, enjoying a drink, venting your frustration on someone, finding a shoulder to cry on, depicting funny incidents, some weird/great experience with a person of the opposite sex, etc.

I have been blessed (like so many others) with just not lots of friends but lots of friend groups as well like my school group, saath-mein-bade-huey-saath-mein-khele group, Cricket group, Wadias group, BCS group and the effervescent CoV group. Just imagine the variety that is dished out.

For example, when my school group meets up, we never stop chatting about school teachers (how the love has grown for them) and the %$#@!&* school laws that we needed to abide by and how one day we will seek retribution for all the caning our poor arses were subjected to. For saath-mein-bade-huey-saath-mein-khele group, its tough to separate normal talk from expletives. I would never like to be caught when I am with them. The welcome in these meets is completely rotten and downright vulgar.

Add a bit of zing in the form of liquor and nicotine (or reminding someone about an ex flame) and things will definitely get cracking. As long as the commong denominator in such times is fun, GTs will never disappoint you. The sad part is that it has to end some time and that is also the worst part. But it leaves you with an experience and a craving for more. You can always refer to past GTs to plan something new.

I am often criticized for expecting people to turn up at GTs. Not that I enjoy it but I love to persuade people to come by. Persuasion has its moments. Sometimes it looks like FORCING on my part. Most of the times, this persuasion is not for myself but for the people themselves. But alas, its either misinterpreted or ignored. Did someone say IGNORANCE IS BLISS?

But its a well known fact that its not about who didnt make it. The moment you start repenting about "Oh, it would have been great if he/she would have been there", its time to pack your bags and leave.

I am already looking forward to the next GT I guess. Cheers ... !!

Expectations ... !!

That word scares me. I have promised myself so many times that I will let go of expectations. I am ashamed to admit that I have tried and failed on numerous counts. Certain situations, certain people, certain surroundings will coax you into expecting that much more than you should normally be expecting.

As most of us know, expecting a lot disappoints sometimes. But expecting a lot less may not always be the right way of going about things. For example, before I got married, I used to get worked up when my then-girlfriend-now-wife couldn't meet for a long time or not meet at all. After analyzing the cause, I backed off and I didn't put a lot of pressure on myself and her. It looked like a solution but then I started getting surprised whenever we met which isn't that most amazing thing in the world.

That's the problem with expectations. You never know how much or what to expect. But in most of the cases, you can escape by expecting less (again, less does not mean way below what you should be expecting). Only a few days back, I experienced this feeling when I had lost all hopes of something (I don't want to write about it) happening. But it happened and at the very last moment. It made my day.

Henceforth, I am not playing games with expectations. I will always lose. Cheers ... !!

Birthday tragedy ... !!

I was in the middle of a conversation with one of my friends who was celebrating his birthday. When I asked him his age, he told me that it was his 26th birthday. When I asked him his birth year, he told me it was 1982. I didn't speak for the next 10 minutes or so. I don't know what struck me but I felt weird about the way we celebrate birthdays. It was like someone hitting me with a rock. I couldn't quite fathom the fact that the day we are born isn't counted as our first birthday. Think of it.

Citing my example, I was born on April 29th, 1982. So, that should count as my first birthday. Yes, we are talking numbers ... plain numbers and not AGE. So, I should be celebrating my 28th birthday in 2009 and not my 27th. Yes, I will be 27 ... but that's my age. I would say AGE and BIRTHDAY COUNT are 2 completely different entities. I feel its grave disrespect to the day that we are born as to not count it as our first birthday.

In essence, the birthdays that follow the first are not actually birthdays because ... If you take the simple English meaning, BIRTHDAY translates to THE DAY YOU ARE BORN. 'Anniversary' or 'Remembrance' may be better words for it.

I cant strike out one birthday from my life ... I just cant ... especially if its the reason I live today ... Cheers ... !!

Trends ... !!

Its funny how trends change. In fact, if they wouldn't change, I don't think such a word would have existed. Its worthy to note how you discuss stuff with your family/friends at various junctures in your life.

For instance, during childhood, your eye would always be on your friend's toys. Why cant I have that toy? Why don't I have his fancy shoes? Some more years down the line, you would be inquisitive about the school your friend goes to. Your conversations with your friends/cousins would revolve around exams, marks, weird teachers, etc.

Your first bicycle would draw comparisons and lead to discussions. For days, you will discuss how many times you fell off while learning to ride your bicycle.

During the 10th grade exams, the focus would be on each other's preparations for the exams. Your strong and weak subjects. As soon as the exams are over, the focus shifts to expectations, possible career paths and colleges. Once the results are out, accompanying each other to various colleges for admission.

Attraction to the opposite sex is a long term activity, which is at its peak during these days. The time you spent talking to one particular pretty lass makes you brag about it to the entire circle. Then its about career, specialization courses, etc. IITs, IIMs, Engineering, Hotel Management, Business, etc. This becomes normal jargon.

At the end of your education, its basically talking about jobs. Indulging in your family's business or seeking an opportunity in an MNC? You are dead curious to find out where your friends/cousins are placed and how they are doing.

Then comes marriage. All of a sudden, everyone starts getting hitched. All you know is that you are running from one marriage hall to another to attends weddings. This doubles when you are married yourself since you have to attend weddings of all people related to your better half.

Then kids take over. Its moves from marriage halls to hospitals and Baarsaas.

I don't know what the next phase would be in my life. But I don't think this will stop. Trends will remain just that .... trends ... !!

Cheers ... !!

Appraisal ... smile or frown ... !!

The Appraisal process was completed in office last week. Since I was on leave, I was one of the very few who hadn't received my revised compensation. I was relieved to get it on my first day back at work. I was happy with my compensation and also with the new designation. The title of Team Lead is quite misleading though, coz I don't know whom I am supposed to lead. But anyway, its quite a happy moment. For the record, I have had a new designation in each of my appraisals so far which can be something extremely difficult to live up to.

In hindsight, I always wonder whether I should be happy or sad. Happy, coz I get more money, a better job profile and more authority. Sad, coz I am enjoying my moment of joy and luxury at a job that I never wanted to do. This jolly moment means that I will now have to stick to this job for longer than I had anticipated. I never thought I will be complaining about excess of money but sadly thats a fact. How I wish that one rainy night at Mumbai in 2000, I should have never called one of my friends.

But as the saying goes ... The show must go on ... so adhering to that ... Cheers ... !!

Do favors exist in RELATIONSHIPS ... !!

Do they?

Parents often hide the intricacies of how they raised their kids just to keep their kids aloof from stress or the struggle they went through. This is true for poor or rich, just that the level of struggle varies. But does that mean its a favor for their kids? I know there are bucketful of cases where parents harass their kids (to the extent of murder, prostitution, etc) no end but I am talking about the not-so-horrible parents.

Is there anything like a favor in a relationship and even if the answer is YES (for me, the answer is NO), does it give the favorer (the person doing the favour) the right to commit atrocities on the favoree. I don't think so. Does it give a person the bragging rights to always remind someone that their existence is only because of them.

If a person falls sick and someone in the immediate relationship takes care of him/her, how can you use that as a favor? I mean, if there are kids, parents will have to take care of them. If there is a younger sibling, the elder one has to take care. Why is it so difficult to understand? How can you term it as a favor? In any case, even if you consider this as a favor, how can you undo all that by committing hedious crimes on someone who isn't even objecting to anything. This may be sounding a bit abstract.

For parents, how does it matter if some offspring of theirs earns more/less than the other or why one of them should get less/more if the other one already has more/less of something. If it is such a big favor so as to kill your offspring of mental torture, then they shouldn't have done a favor in the first place. What joy can parents get by initiating hatred between their off springs? Why is there such a lot of difference between a daughter and a daughter-in-law? Or for that matter, mother and mother-in-law or any set of parallel relationship. Why is every concern of yours weighed in terms of money? Why is your concern for anyone termed as an effort to gain monetary advantage of that person?

I know I will never get these answers. The reason being, people are so entrenched into thinking about you in certain way that they cant possibly think about the real you. And finally, if you have ever done a favor on your child/sibling/parent, please get that spirit back because for the person being favored, that was Love and not a favor.

Relationships have gone off flavor for me ... !!

No new games ... !!

Since my last post was about 2 games, I have started wondering why there is a dearth of new games. You always hear or read about some path breaking innovation in some Eks Wie Zee walk of life but personally speaking, its been a while that I have heard about a new game being originated. Just imagine some people spending time to come up with a game. The thought itself is hard to digest. Games we know, seem so natural like they were ought to be that way but if you keep everything aside to think of a new game, it will take a lot more out of you than the so called WORK PRESSURE at your job. The thing that will kill you is that you know it is not something you will hate doing but still you will struggle to make a game of your own.

I am game about not creating a new game ... Cheers ... !!

Remembering Persistent ... !!

Yeah, its been a long time since I blogged. I am not going to quote any cliches for doing so ... :)

After spending 3 years at AirTight, I finally experienced a means of leisure in the form of a Table Tennis table (quite a word that ... ;)). Thoughts raced back to mid 2004 when I joined Persistent Systems Private Limited (Private is struck off now I guess). 2 games that had caught my fancy then were Carrom and Table Tennis. Though I tried my hand at both, I could never graduate past "below average" in TT, though I managed something better in Carrom. But I am relieved to be playing better TT than what I used to play in PSPL. Now, I need to pester our HR to get a Carrom board.

Till then, I guess I need to hone my skills on the TT table (I hate using this term ... reminds me of terms like 'FC college' and 'short nap').

I also hope I can get back to blogging ... till then ... Cheers ... !!

New Arrivals ... !!

Well, don't read that title as an extension of my married life ... ;). Its just that our home has been blessed with the arrival of new electronic goods as well some other stuff. Its quite obvious that my wife has been the catalyst for more than a few of these new attractions.

Since I am quite a laid back organism, I seldom buy new stuff for me (read: clothes, footwear, bags, etc). My wife had been coaxing me to pay a visit to Camp or Laxmi Road (I'm sure these 2 hot spots are not the only 2 options anymore on Pune's shopping map) to get me a new look. On a lazy Sunday evening, we hit Laxmi Road in our endeavor to shrug off my ragged look. We had received a Gift Voucher from my company of Rs. 3500, the reason being that I got married while I was in AirTight. Keep them coming folks !!

In an hour's time, I had doubled (or maybe tripled) my clothes count of the last 5 years. 4 trousers, 4 shirts, 3 t shirts and a belt. I have never had to strip so many times in an hour before. I am sure I lost at least 2 kgs in the process. We went on to buy a raincoat and a bag for me (I had to bid adieu to the Persistent bag after using it for 2 and a half years).

We moved from Laxmi Road to FC Road. My cell had been troubling me for some time now. We got a new Sony cell in exchange for my old Sony cell. After hopping across to JM Road, we got a new wristwatch for my wife. Aah. so much for one day ... !!

Back home, our TV was also showing signs of being on its last legs. My Dad had been talking about a Plasma LCD TV for a long time. Last Thursday, when I went back home after office, I could hear nearly all the members of my family in unison as I made my way towards our apartment. No wonder the hue and cry was coz of the new Plasma TV that has just arrived and what a beauty it is. 32 inches of Black Beauty. Ahem .. mind your imagination ... ;).

What a coincidence it was when I came to office the next day and saw a Digicam on my desk. It was the one that I had asked my colleague to get from the States. He had just returned a day back and I was overjoyed to finally get my hands on my own camera.

I had picked up some photography nuances from my dear friend Amit Gupte just 2 weekends ago. I was looking forward to put them in practice and I feel I have done a decent job.

















So its like me and my family have been upgraded to the next version with so many new arrivals ... it would be tough replicating this sequence .... Cheers ... !!

The Wishing syndrome .... !!

Wishing ... Aaah, nowdays its like an achievement if you wish someone on time, given the so called hectic schedule that drives people nuts. Over the years, I have stumbled upon an interesting, yet weird, pattern about wishing people. Instead of classifying your friends as good, bad, best, bitch (ahem .. !!), you can group them according to the way you wish them.

There are many sophisticated ways to wish people in the modern era. So what exactly are the categories ? To sample a few, there is the good old fashioned greeting card (hard copy of course) which can be used to wish a friend who is marginally better than another friend for whom the soft copy version of the card may suffice. Mind you, BETTER over here is in terms of friendship ... ;)

Then you have electronic mail, a telephone call, an SMS or Orkut that can double up as a birthday alarm too. What a pity that you need a birthday alarm to remind you about the special days of your friends. In this case, not wishing someone can mean lots of things too ... ;)

Of course, meeting the person in person (confusing ?) takes the cake as well as the bakery it seems. There is no better feeling than to wish a person by meeting him/her. FEELING over here means the feeling of the person being wished ... ;)

Here is my prioroty list for wishing, in descending order of FRIENDSHIP.

Wish in person
Post a greeting card
Call the person
SMS
Email a greeting card
Plain simple Email
Orkut scrap
Dont wish

So how do you categorize the friendship (or the lack of it) of your friends ?

Cheers .... !!