Finger Pangs!

Homesick!

2011-09-24T10:32:00.001-07:00

Kind of feeling homesick right now. I want to talk to mom but she must have slept now. Hmmm, Now i have to wait another seven hours. Aaaaaargh.

Life suddenly has turned super hectic. The first week, i fell sick just by realizing the imminent load of graduate studies. But somehow, the next couple of weeks have gone well. "Well", in a sense, that time has been managed just right. But i wish i had some breathing space.

This place is very beautiful. You can see deers straying around here akin to cattle and dogs straying in India(Obligatory Indian reference). There is a wide variety of flora and fauna. The squirrels here are so huge, fed copiously by the squirrel feeding club here. And i find a lot of these bush animals whose names i have no idea of. They just skirt past the road in a flash, evoking that rare moment of peacefulness within me.

I am beginning to like the part time job at Bursley canteen. Not few weeks i wanted to quit, but now iam beginning to enjoy it. It's probably be going to be my only job away from a PC. Well now the real reason is, i get to eat awesome unlimited amount of food for 4 bucks!

A bad day

2011-07-06T03:33:00.000-07:00

Glued to my office chair,

i was refusing to stand,

Moving my butt this way and that,

trying to fit it in dent after dent,

Get up Vivek G, face the world,

Dont hide in your cube, raise up and get some coffee,

Because thats what people do, when times are hard,

when you know something is wrong,

in your code but cant figure out why,

now you are upset for this? you may ask,

Yeah, Life has come down to this, this this this.

I check some tweets, hit refresh till fail whale appears,

A great way to while away time, staring at the fail whale,

Then i click through random profiles and check their photos,

oh screw it.

I am not going to work anymore today.

Nepal Trip – April 2011

2011-05-20T12:14:00.001-07:00

Test post from Live Writer.

Aero India Show - 2011

2011-02-13T05:24:00.000-08:00

So been to Aero India Show with my friends. My grandpa who was in the airforce administration, always wanted me to take to one of these exhibits, but it remained unfulfilled. So there you go Grandpa.

The first half until the noon was a jaw dropping display of daredevilry. What an out of the world experience these pilots are having. Surya Kiran team started off the show by doing all those delta and other myriad formations while spewing out a tail of smoke resembling the indian flag. They even formed a love and arrow formation. Then there was the sukhoi's, super hornet's and Mig, all appearing the same except for few differences for the not so discerning eye. They just rolled their flights like how a crocodile rolls both laterally and vertically. While all the stunts were spectacular, one particular stunt i liked the most was the one done by a group of three flights. One flight goes around the other two in a circular fashion. Like it was doing an aarti. There were these extremely well choreographed stunts of near hits and misses.

Then i went to the play on Friday- Hamlet the clown prince, directed by Rajat Kapoor. Saw Kalki Koechlin. She looked really anemic. Anyway it was a terrific performance by the troupe. Kept the audience in splits most of the time, for over two hours. This must have been a terrific weekend if i was able to go to the Ind-Aus match too. Suresh had an extra ticket but i wasn't able to go. The darn maruti driving school class came in between. I have no idea when they would teach me how to drive a real car. Leave the teaching, when would they allow me to sit in the driver's seat. All those theory, demo, simulator sessions doesnt make any sense to me if they dont give me enough time to practice on the road.

Just another short story..

2010-12-10T23:16:00.000-08:00

This story is about two characters, Daishin and Kokan. Daishin, a buddhist monk, disavows his spiritual beliefs and decides to spend the rest of his life seeking reality. Kokan, once an affluent trader, heartbroken on seeing his possessions fall under the hammer, withdraws himself from reality and goes on a quest to become a monk. What would happen if their antithetical paths are crossed?

'Here Iam, on the rooooof of the world', shouted Daishin who was perched precariously on Nyainen peak, the highest peak in the holy city of Lhasa. He has been shouting these words for a long time now. His vocal chords has turned stiff. By constantly uttering those words, he wanted to erase the blasphemous thoughts of running away from his monastery. After some time, no matter how loud he shouted, he found his false pride about his birthplace withering away. He paused to gaze at the mountains that has been hugging his city, he calls it a bondage while others perceive it as protection. Daishin longed to fly above these mountains, get rid of his spiritual garb and experience freedom. Knowing the kind of life he has led, he wasn't sure if this was possible. But at that moment, he felt a surge so strong that he knew the mountains would crumble to let him do his bidding.

Daishin is the only child of a devout buddhist couple, who earned their livelihood by selling merchandise and souvenirs to the few tourists who visit Lhasa. Daishin was three years old, when his parents enrolled him to the monastery. Bells and prayer wheels were his toys. When Daishin grew older, he started to assist his parents in their trade. The tourists were eager to talk to this starry-eyed monk who shared their enthusiasm in equal measure. It was from these tourists that Daishin got a glimpse of what the outer world would actually look like, a world starkly different from his own. Unlike his world that stood the test of time with much disdain, the world from where these tourists came from was always changing. He noticed the shifting urban landscapes each time the tourists handed him over the photographs of their homelands. It was as if those places kept changing their masks every now and then. Few years after his parent's death, Daishin became increasingly restless. He wanted to lose his loneliness among the festive crowds in Calcutta, he longed to climb to the top of Eiffel tower and his wishlist started getting longer. He regretted his life that shunned all forms of materialism, a life that has been tuned to follow a strict code of ethics, a life that has laid a clear demarcation between good and bad. ' Of course, who are these people to decide what's good for my life. I went to the monastery by design, not by choice', Daishin thought. But two decades of a rigid monastic upbringing is not going to be easy to be forgotten. He intently missed the prayers, faulted his morning prayers and skipped his meditation sessions. While guilt bore him down for a few days, hope of a new exciting life that lay ahead fogged his conscience. Finally when the pricks of guilt could hurt him no more, he knew he was ready to get away. He started planning his getaway from Lhasa. From a tourist, he had learnt of a secret route to India through the Kanchenjunga mountain range. The route was not heavily guarded by border police and Daishin was confident in entering the quaint little town of Darjeeling without any hassle. There he planned to start a trade shop which sold tibetan souvenirs and merchandise.

'I'll have to start from there and go a long way to become a wealthy trader'.

With these thoughts firmly etched in his mind, Daishin packed his goods, discarded his robe for a cheap suit and boarded the early bus that will take him to Nepal. The bus travelled down the friendship highway, which connected Lhasa all the way till Kathmandu. At Kathmandu, there would be stringent checking of the passenger visas by the border authorities. The secret route that Daishin planned to take started at Kodari, which was few kilometers before Kathmandu. The rickety journey by bus until Kodari would last for two days. Daishin waved his hands impassively to the vast grasslands and the mountain vistas that he was leaving behind. A german tourist seated next to him quipped, ' What a lovely place! Place of the gods indeed.". Daishin just smiled back.

After an uneventful journey, the bus arrived at Kodari two days later. Daishin got down and decided to stay overnight at that place. The place was barren except for a very huge monastery that he spotted few miles ahead. He was afraid that nostalgia would get the better of him if he sought rest there. Having failed to locate an alternative to seek refuge, he trudged towards the monastery through the heavy thickets of the Kathmandu valley. He noticed that the monastery rested on the slopes of the trail that he would have to take to reach Darjeeling.

' Iam going to stay here only for the night. I would leave long before the first ray of sunlight stroke this place', he said to himself.

It was dark by the time Daishin stepped into the monastery and the earthern lights made its walls reflect a sublime glow. The stupa stood there majestically, ornamented by the crested moon. The peace was so filling and the effect was magical. It hasn't been even two days and invisible strings were drawing Daishin towards the life of prayer and solitude. But he held on to his mission. If his ascetic life gave him the will power to abstain from a common man's desires, he could use the same will power to achieve the reverse effect. He walked up to a monk and asked him for a place to rest for the night. The monk took him to a huge hall where drifters were allowed to stay. The hall was empty save for a person huddled in a corner. Willing for an acquaintance, Daishin sat next to the small man.

'Where are you from?' Daishin asked boldly, a trifle too loud, which shook the meek man from his slump.

'Iam Kokan, a trader from Darjeeling, on my way to Lhasa', he replied softly.

'Oh, you are a trader. Good. What goods do you sell?'

'Gems, souvenirs, perfumes and other antiques'

'Do you have any of these with you now?", inquired Daishin, who was more eager to learn about the kind of goods that are in demand in India.

'No i dont have anything with me right now', Kokan retorted to Daishin.

'Thats strange. You dont look like a tourist and I assumed you were going to Lhasa for business"

'Iam going to Lhasa to become a monk'

'A monk? You want to become a monk?'

'Yes'

'But why?' asked Daishin, bewildered. 'You appear to be a man of means and why do you want to renounce it to lead a life of denial and contemplation?'

'Denial and contemplation. Yes those are the words. Those are the words that will make the rest of my life rich. All this time, i was running behind money, gems and fame. I was like this free bird, always seeking better opportunities far and beyond. I started as a small trader. Over time I set up many trade shops, my business flourished. I thought i knew what i wanted, but it was all a big mistake.'

'Did you suffer losses in your business? You are broke?'

'Iam not broke, but i am a broken man. Fame and fortune is a bottomless pit. The way to it is deep, dark and limitless. I have been falling in this pit for years now. Nothing ever stops you.'

Daishin became disturbed. Here he was, determined to bury his caged past and forge a free life. Kokan, on the other hand, was getting more determined by the minute, to become a monk. He was swelling up in confidence and resolve as Daishin tried to talk him out of it.

'But what about freedom? Why do you want to spend the rest of your life in a cloister?'

'Freedom.' Kokan repeated. 'Freedom only creates chaos.'

Kokan stretched himself and laid down on the floor. He slept as soon as he hit the floor. Daishin had the premonition that Kokan would have left before he woke up the next day. He was very tired and set off to sleep. He was not able to catch any sleep. 'Strange. All these years in the monastery, Of all the hardships i faced, i never faced a sleepless night.' Daishin was awake the whole night, making futile attempts to remember the ideas that he had for the future.

The next morning, Daishin saw Kokan wake up and heed towards Lhasa. Daishin pretended to be asleep. In one corner of his eye, he saw Kokan walk towards the rising sun. Kokan turned back and smiled, a smile of realization. As he continued walking, he heard someone shouting from behind.

'Wait. Iam coming with you.', shouted Daishin running after Kokan. Kokan said nothing.

Daishin and Kokan boarded the bus to Lhasa. The beauty of the rugged landscape was compounded by the inner peace that Daishin felt at that moment. They spoke nothing to each other, but it felt as if they knew the other person more than they knew themselves. The bus arrived at Lhasa and the driver woke up Daishin asking him to get down. Daishin searched for Kokan, the seat was empty and he was nowhere to be found. The driver asked, ' What are you looking for?'. Daishin stopped searching all of a sudden and stood transfixed. After some moments, he replied, ' Nothing. I think i found him.'

So life goes on..

2010-10-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to put a quick word on my blog. You know i am very busy and all that.

So i realized that i mentioned two movies in my last blog, Seven years in Tibet and Issiz Adam. Well Seven years in Tibet was a beautiful movie. It reinforced my plan to go to the himalayas again. And as for Issiz Adam, Oh god, it wasn't the right movie to watch at that time. I didnt know that Issiz Adam meant Alone in Turkish. The only good part was however, that it introduced Milis Birkhan to my Hot Women list. This actress was hot and her acting was sweet, theatrical in a way. I was left frantically googling for other turkish actresses after this movie.

Kummi came to my house last weekend. Very interesting developments in his life.

Then I watched a travel documentary "Himalayas with Michael Palin". Very engaging and educating documentary. The splendor of himalayas truly casts a spell, enough to make someone hypnotic and start planning for a himalayan trip :)

Hmm so nothing else to brag about. Have to be more blogworthy from next month onwards. Hopefully will bring this blog out of its self imposed isolation by blogging on the malaysia trip.

Iam Kembali(Iam back)

2010-10-08T08:30:00.000-07:00

So my mind has been wiped clean after the roller coaster of a trip i had last week. While more updates will take time, i just wanted to put a note in my blog. For this week, my thoughts have been predominantly occupied by the reminiscences of the trip and cricket.

Iam happy to say that writing in this blog is helping me to track my life. While a majority of time was lost staring at the screen earlier, things are now turning out to be better. Iam neither working like an ass or playing mindless games on the PC nowadays.

While things are going smooth, i faced terrible boredom this week. It must be the vacation after effect. The boredom of existence stares directly at me. The perils of a daily routine. Okay let me watch two movies tonight and brood upon it. "Seven years in Tibet" and "Issiz Adam", Save me.

A day out with Capt Gopinath and Javagal Srinath.

2010-09-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

So for the career development program at our office, Capt Gopinath and Javagal Srinath were the two speakers who were invited for the guest lectures. Its been a really long time since i listened to a motivational speech as wonderful as this. Thoroughly enjoyed it and i wanted to pen it down so that i dont forget it in the course of my life.

Capt Gopinath's speech more or less touched upon his own life. His childhood, life in the army, life as a farmer, life as a entrepreneur which began as a motorcycle dealer and now he is the owner of the aviation company, Air Deccan. His life was a really interesting story and also a long one. His tenacity, problem solving skills and the will to never give up was something to learn from. He constantly kept stressing upon everyone to never give up. As he was saying this, I mused on this old story i had read a long time back about Napoleon Bonaparte.

The story as it goes, Once Napoleon Bonaparte shows his palm to a palmist and asks him if he'll become the general of France. The palmist replies that Napoleon misses a line on his palm and so doesn't have a chance of becoming the general. Napoleon takes a knife, cuts his hand to make the line and shows it to the palmist again. The palmist then says that no one can stop Napoleon from becoming the general.

I must read Capt Gopinath's book "Simply fly". Its not always you hear good stories on life like this.

Javagal Srinath's speech was totally a different ball game. He's a huge man, towering over almost everyone at my office. His speech was humorous without being flippant. While checking amils at home, manager sent a mail saying that Sreenath will be giving a speech. I misread it as Sreesanth and quickly hurried my way to office, only to find that it was a lost cause.

I liked his takes on the players that he has played with.

Srinath on Sachin and why Sachin wasn't successful as a captain.

"Sachin is a unique player. It's very difficult to work with people who are that talented. He can pull off miracles once in a while. But the problem was that , when he became the captain, he started expecting the same miracles from all his players in the team. The lesser mortals like us were not able to cope up with the expectation"

On Ganguly

"After Azhar, we lacked a good captain. Azhar was a very withdrawn captain. But when Ganguly became the captain, there was no designation for anyone in the team. We played like a bunch of equals. And thats the best team to work for or play with"

On Dhoni,

"Dhoni is a cool captain and knows to manage people excellently. He doesnt act in front of camera which itself is a great act for me!"

On match fixing scandals

"There's always this first time. If you resist it, 99% of the time you wont become corrupt again."

WW 36: From smoked turkey to cold turkey

2010-09-06T06:20:00.000-07:00

Pretty normal week. Nothing alarming that would need my intervention happened. And i like it that way.

Iam waiting for the code to compile. Thats any programmer's best way to slack at work. I dont know why, Iam facing decreased motivation levels at work for the past couple of weeks. Iam updating the blog more punctually when compared to my weeklies. Need to pull up my pants. And with my office system being so slow, it aint helping things. Lucky that i have got two desktops. Need to upgrade the OS to win7 to see if it makes my system's and my life any better. What an exciting life!

So weekend.. Venkatesh came to my house to prepare the SOP/Reco. Man, the amount of lies that has to be written. Phew! Thank god, Pinocchio is just fiction.

So Venki was all gung-ho on trying something different(to eat) for the weekend. Hmmm, thats exactly the kind of company i need. We dashed to a german cuisine. It bore a very relaxed atomosphere. People were standing, sitting, talking and boozing. We got ourselves seated and looked around for servers. No one came to our table for a while. On enquiry found that the cuisine was hosting a private party. Dashed out.

Okay then i wanted to try the lebanese fare at World Cuisine network in IndiraNagar. Predicted that it would be very expensive but what the hell.. Before biting the dust, it's better to bite all that the world has to offer. Itwas a roof-top restaurant. Not very plush. It had solids, liquids and gases(hookah) to offer. For the starters, we ordered fila-fil, which i was like our frankie-next-door. Iam sure i have eaten filafil somewhere earlier. Then for the main course, i ordered Saj with smoked turkey and Venki ordered Saj with some veggie stuff. Saj is supposed to mean Arabian bread, but it tasted like pizza base. It was quite bland, not tear-jerkingly spicy, not even close. But it was very filling. The grills were extremly expensive costing upto a ridiculous 550 bucks. So we were left to eat them with our eyes. Just this basic a la carte cost us 400 bucks.

Okay the code has finished compiling. Phew 20 minutes it has taken. But more importantly i need to catch the shuttle. The code can wait.

Its my birthday today..

2010-08-30T23:25:00.001-07:00

I dont know why, the last time i was happy on a birthday was probably 10 years back. I have never figured out a reason why birthdays have to rejoiced.

Hmmm so last weekend, i was travelling most of the time. I attended the alumni meet, met seniors/juniors apart from my classmates. Made a goof up by entering a wrong hall which was hosting a different conference. We(Bai/Suresh/Shyam/Me) thought it was the conference facilitating the alumni until Uma Mam who was also sitting in the coference shooed us out. She must have thought that even after two years we are still the same jerks. (Now from which movie did i hear this dialogue - "If you have to remain young, you have to make mistakes")

After the alumni meeting, i headed to Vellore. Reached Katpadi Station in the wee hours. Allvin was also arriving at the station in the next train. So decided to wait for him. I had my first sleep on the platform. Wasnt able to sleep well because of my loaded purse. I wish i was Mark Boyle. After an hour and half Allvin arrived at 12:40 a.m. By the time we reached the mandap, it was 1:30. Poor Guru was awake becuase of us. We then had our dinner. Guru served me this sweet liquid for rasam. I kept cribbing saying that no rasam is sweet. But machan confidently asserted that some rasams are sweet and asked me to eat it. Then Guru served the same liquid for him, Machan nicely mixed the rasam with the rice will all glee, rolled it into a huge ball and handed it into his mouth and then, i can n'er forget the reaction on his face. Finally it turned out that the "rasam" was some kind of a sweet drink or something.

Next day met Lingu/Sridhar/Gowri/Deepak/Vijay. We missed the wedding because we woke up late. Then after breakfast we headed to Ambur to have biriyani. Deepak dragged us through the Ambur markets to buy some shoes then finally ended up buying nothing. After consuming meat, i bid farewell to my friends and headed to Bangalore.

WW34: Highlights and lowlights.

2010-08-24T11:00:00.001-07:00

Hmmm..

To begin with, nothing earth shattering happened.

So the weekend was spent at Trichy/Coimbatore. Enjoyed the hospitability of Gopal. I wanted to go to Tanjore but that didnt materialize. Attended Jeffrey's wedding at Trichy. Got him a creative 2.1 speaker. Hopefully it works. Iam skeptical because i saw chinese language written all over the box.

Then i met Mahesh and Allvin after a really long time. Bai was also there. I haven't spoken to Mahesh for like 1.5 years for a reason that i dont know. But a hug just dispelled the tension.

Then reached Coimbatore on Sunday. Onam was well spent with my family and relatives. I have definitely gained a kilo or two.

Played cricket with my team mates today for the olympics match in our group. The only thing that i was catching consistenly was my breath. I should really get into a shape. I gave 11 runs in an over. Somehow bowling never works for me during a match. I bowl perfectly on the nets, but during the match iam reduced to a Sreesanth minus the antics.

Reading fight club. Awesome book i say.. Iam Joe's enlarged sense of rejection. WTF does that mean? Maybe thats why its awesome

What If..

2010-08-23T03:06:00.000-07:00

(From Blogger's block to blogger's diarrhea, there's one more stuck in my drafts pipeline..)

What if I had some superpower, what would i want it to be?

What if i had unlimited money, what would i want to do?

What if i wanted to change somethings in my life, what would they be?

When i think of these questions, the first image that i get in my head is that Iam floating in this wooden raft, on a blue wide ocean, in the midst of islands flushed in green.

A lazy bloke is what iam..

Woeful, Woeful, Woeful

2010-08-23T02:57:00.000-07:00

(Forgot to publish this last week)..

Oh my blog, has some midas curse has befallen upon me? Anything i touch is getting me into trouble.

So i wrote my toefl yesterday. Its supposed to be a walk in the park, albeit a little long, four hours to be precise. But the walk in the park turned out to be a tiring hike through the himalayas . The centre was awful, plain words do not have the strength to describe it. The test started 1.5 hours late and calling the registration process snail-paced would be an insult to the innocuous snail. Some 20 minutes into the test, bam, power cut. Great, as if it can get any worse. There was some problem resuming the test so it was halted for 45 minutes. The test resumed and by that time, i was famished. The center itself looked like my college lab, no enclosures nothing. I could hear the person next to me type. And when that person started the speaking section, i started my listening section. Fantastic! Now iam listening to what he had to say. My woes should have ended there. But no, my zodiac sign was pointing to the road to perdition that time. While i was writing my essay, a spark lit up the room. Not a divine intervention, but some fuse got blown. I got really pissed off, finished the essay with the words i could grab and just walked out of the room. My seething anger made me write a destructive feedback. I hope those guys dont screw me for that. Aw well, who cares..

Then having literally eaten nothing from morning, i went to my college to visit the teachers to decide on the alumni meet. Most of them left and i just exchanged few pleasantries with the ones i met. Tek Music show was going on. I sat alone in front of the multimedia lab. I wasnt exactly nostalgic when i went to the college. But when i heard the applause swell like a tide at the end of a song, i must unabashedly admit that two or three tear drops lodged itself in my eyes. There must be some psychological reason to explain why i felt so sad and light at that particular moment. After hearing few songs, hunger got the better of me and i left. I hope that this alumni meet gets a good response. It requires the right people to be interested to get the crowd. I dont have the pull. Aw well, who cares.. The less said about life's sores, the better.

Thats all the news i had for this weekend.

Mate, Mate.

2010-08-11T12:18:00.000-07:00

Lost two games successively in chess today to a friend. It sucks to be a loser in Chess. I need to practice this game.

I want to play this game called "Go" sometime. Its reputed to be the toughest board game in the world.

Nothing eventful today. Spent a good part of the later half of the day filing expense reports. I wonder where all my finances are getting siphoned. Definitely its time to pull up my pants and get myself organized spatially, temporally and financially. Have set up my alarm at 7:00 A.M tomorrow. Lets see.

Malaysia/Singapore trip plans are going on well. We have decided to shoot our travelogue like a movie. Need to work on a flimsy script :)

Reading a book called "The Glass Palace" by Amitav Ghosh.

Going to Coimbatore tomorrow. I hate this night travel on a bus. It simply sucks. Cant catch a wink when i travel in a bus.

My language is sounding like Holden Caulfield's.

Virtual stampede

2010-08-10T10:41:00.000-07:00

Hmmm.. So looks like iam getting a start in my attempt to blog frequently. So today wasnt a very eventful day.

Just for the heck of it, i created a blog gpgputalks.wordpress.com. I am not quite confident of posting anything on it yet. But lets see if i could unravel the technical facet of my life into this blog.

After a long time, i logged into facebook. Boy, the amount of info(or the lack of it) that i see getting generated on it, simply damages my brains. Few years down the line, there's going to be a virtual stampede on it. People are going to suffer from stress because of the information overload. New mumbo-jumbos are going to enter the jargons of psychiatry.

Some of them that i can imagine are:

Ignoramus Distressus

(The subject falls into a cesspool of desolation because the subject's status updates/photo feeds are not complimented by a > 10 comments and likes. Now thats the first phase. Then the subject takes some inane and controversial quizzes like "Who'll you marry?", "List of friends who you can try flirting", etc in a rather desperate attempt to garner some attention. When that gets ignored, the subject starts flitting around random profiles which starts from a known profile to some profile of a person who is on the other side of the world picking mushrooms.)

Illusionary Luminary

(The subject is uber-cool, suave, sophisticated, commented upon and liked upon. If the subject posts two photos, one photo with a lopsided grin with the lips tilting to the left, and the other with a lopsided grin with the lips tilting towards the right, he gets an equal ackermann number of likes and comments. The subject assumes a larger than life virtual self and seeks to destroy the motivation of other equally aspiring facebook minions. The only problem is that the actual adulation happens only virtually. In real life, he is just a carbon life form.)

Oh swell there has to be lot more. My 15 min time limit for blog has well exceeded.

Now with my mom entering facebook, it has become a DO NOT ENTER zone for me. DoorDarshan used to have a "Kaanavillai" segment in between their programmes. I wonder if its still there. There's no need for it now, a simple facebook search would knock out their "living in anonymity, enjoying promiscuity" status updates.

Its probably not a wise idea for me to blog just for the sake of it

WW32: Wallet

2010-08-08T04:50:00.000-07:00

Hey Blog, did you miss me? If you didnt, good for you. Because i didnt (miss you). But iam getting to(miss you). Well to break my ridiculous blogger's block, i have come up with a plan. Iam going to blog frequently. As frequent as possible, atleast twice a week. If Amitabh Bachan can blog everyday, why the devil can't i? Of course Amitabh Bachan is jobless, we all know that. He keeps blogging, tweeting and introducing people to social networks everyday. But thanks to him, Lalettan is on twitter.

Hmm, now to the difficult part, what should i blog about?

(Okay this sucks. Where is the rest of the content? It didnt get saved as draft? Screw you, blogspot)

Home

2010-04-15T00:14:00.000-07:00

I was digging thorough the archives in my old PC when i came upon this poem i wrote a very long time back. My first attempt to become a rhymester i believe

I was making my way, through the madding crowd,

All for making hay, at dawn, dusk and dark.

Ah! How I yearned for a place to perch,

How I yearned for a place to embrace me with a motherly touch,

Like peas in a pod, there I wanted to stay,

Oh! Did I not say, that I was going home?

Over the hills and over the fields, I flew,

Carrying with me only a slew of thoughts.

Did I deserve a perfect farewell, I never knew,

But when the hills kissed me goodbye,

And the green pastures waved me off,

Finally I felt like I was leaving a place,

That was never mine, in the first place.

Time is a tragic dimension, It is.

It gave my home a new face,

For the better, I cannot tell,

For change is not what I seek in things I love,

But on seeing me, I saw it swell,

With joy and pride, for it had tales to tell.

My roots traced,

My footsteps retraced,

I sat on the threshold, it felt like forever,

And my home whispered in my ear, "Take Care".

Ladakh - My Himalayan Odyssey

2009-11-08T08:19:00.000-08:00

I know, I know its long overdue. But I was waiting for the unabridged recount of the experiences we had, to be posted in my friend's blog. But the bugger is taking his own sweet time designing/crafting the blog that "finally", I have decided to write one on my own.

I don’t want to write the narrative of the whole itinerary followed, but let me showcase here the experiences that set it apart from my other trips. And this write up is not intended to eulogize my endeavour but instead it tries to pay a small tribute to the jawans, to the spirit of the solitary rider, to the affectionate tribes of the himalayas and well, to the Himalayas itself.

The MotorCycling Experience:

Imagine yourself riding along the vast expanse of Himalayas for miles and miles, with no living soul in sight and only a bottomless cliff to stare at. Imagine the elation that escapes your heart when you see the slightest movement of life in the farthest distance. Imagine that sinking feeling of joy and relief that somehow you got there, with nature failing in making you to surrender. Imagine yourself getting a new lease of life, everytime the engine purrs to life, throwing up the dust and snow.

I didn’t have any experience of long rides before this. Having it for the first time and again having it on a terrain so uninhibited and pure, made it special. It's sheer bliss when you careen your motorcycle along the narrow ridges, when you grasp for breath not because there's shortage of oxygen, but because the moment steals your breath away. The pain in taking care of the bike and the effort in steering it, is cathartic, a labour of love. The world I knew before became a distant memory and the world I saw ahead enveloped my past, present and future thoughts into a single feeling. At one moment, you wonder if there's anything stronger than these mountains, but then comes the realization that there's nothing stronger than human will. The human will that laid these roads by powdering the rocks to dust, the human will that ultimately conquered these mountains.

I met some crazy bikers during this journey and I was intrigued on hearing their stories. One tall fellow from Jaipur, who was on his second expedition alone to Himalayas, is a personification of Courage itself. He drove on the Baralacha pass(15000 feet) at 8:p.m when there was ice on the road. His bike skidded and he nearly escaped from falling to the abyss below when his bike struck a milestone or some stone on the side of the road. He shrugged off this experience as if it was a part of his everyday job. Then there was this German on an orange bullet, who is on his first trip to India, who has never rode a motorcycle before(!). He was riding alone from Gurgaon - Manali - Leh - SriNagar. Beast is what I would like to call him. And perhaps the craziest of the lot was "Crazy Jerry". We met this fellow in an Army Camp on the top of ChangLa pass(17000 feet). A short, dark guy from Chennai, his physical appearance demystifies the whole theory that physical ability alone is what's paramount in taking these trips. He said he was a "madbull" and that’s how the core members of "Madras Motorcycling club" are addressed as. This guy has rode alone all the way from Chennai to Jammu and then back down to Leh. He said he was going all the way down to KanyaKumari. He drove from Chennai to Jammu in 2 and 1/2 days with a riding streak of 18 hours in a single day!!. *GASP*

One special moment was when I drove on the border road from Kargil to SriNagar. There were signs on the road saying "You are under Enemy Observation". Even if its too clichéd to say, I felt patriotic. The army men retold their Kargil war conquests of capturing the tiger hill etc. I remembered the movie "Lakshya", when I rode past the Tiger Hill.

On a different note, watch the movie "MotorCycle Diaries".

The Humanity Experience:

If I had to choose one thing that constantly motivated me, it was the genuine pleasure of waving and giving a high-five to the kids in the villages on this mountain route. I felt like a hero, when these kids outstretched their hands to clap on mine as our motorcycles roared through their villages. ANother equally gratifying experience was to show the thumbs up to the bikers who overtook us or crossed past us. It is one of those few moments in life where the racial and linguistic borders are not accounted for.

I cannot forget the Gypsy lady who gave us shelter at Baralacha when we arrived there shivering from head to toe. The temperature was -(minus) 8 degrees there and our body was numb. I didn’t have any sensation when I kept my hands over the lit gas stove. She gave us some hot tea and gave us some kind of fat to wipe over our hands and legs to prevent it from becoming dead branches. The memories still linger fresh in me as if it happened yesterday. Then there was this family who ran the home stay at Spangmik which is the last village on the Indo-China Border. The hospitality we received, I don’t think I would receive it anywhere else. Such polite and innocent people!! We were given the best of comfort for a paltry sum of 150 bucks. I wonder if there's something rigged into this milieu so that people always remain peaceful and happy.

Throughout the ride, there were people who helped us. There were the truck drivers who comforted us saying there's nothing to worry, the Army Men who always deserve a special mention, then there were the wonderful Ladakhi people who are famed for their hospitality and are never deceitful. I was convined that Humanity, in its sum totality is always good.

It was not always so peaceful though. When we were riding in SriNagar, I was more afraid of the people there than nature. The situation was like, a grenade could land on top of our heads from anywhere, anytime. For every one km, army men were standing with AK-47 Rifles and Grenade pouches. What's traffic boxes here, are military barracks there. At every junction of the road was an armoured military barrack. One can only see the butt of the rifle protruding from a small hole through it. I felt sorry to see such a beautiful city and beautiful people scarred like this. Speaking of people, Oh Man!, Srinagar women are divinely.

The Unapologetic Roads:

Let me pay tribute to the BRO and HIMANK which are the two organizations who are responsible for constructing these roads on Himalayas. Many people lost their lives while laying them, due to calamities ranging from hailstorms to landslides etc. You could see tombstones in honour of them on these roads. I cant envisage the amount of difficulty these heroes must have gone through. Aayiram Kodi Thanks to them..The roads, though the BRO and HIMANK takes every care in reconstructing them year after year because after every snowfall the roads get damaged, OMG, still there were sections where driving on them was a horrifying and grueling experience.

The first deadly road that we came across was "Rohtang Pass". The word Rohtang means "pile of dead bodies", as the route is treacherous and infamous for sudden hailstorms occurring there. The view was spectacular but the road was muddy and there were huge potholes right in the middle of the road. I didn’t have any control of the bike. It kept on skidding and the only thing I tried to do was keeping it straight.

The next tiresome stretch was Darcha-Sarchu; riding on it, is god's own way of stress testing how shock proof our internal organs are. The roads were a disaster, it was gravel, rocks and sand. The stretch was 80 kms but it took us almost five hours to cover!! We were seriously pissed off and I was constantly afraid that my bike's tyres could burst open anytime. I enjoyed riding on Pang though. At Pang, there were huge plains at a height of 15k feet.

The most horrifying route that gets the cake is the zojila pass-Sonamarg road. This muddy road with a steep downward inclination encircled huge mountains. I was riding, err.. waddling should be a better word. As if this wasn’t enough, the road had a heavy oncoming traffic of army and petrol trucks, which it barely accommodated. I had a reasonable amount of difficulty from falling off the cliff. At the end of it, I was covered in sand from head to toe and I was in perfect camouflage with the surroundings.

Though it’s these gruesome roads that comes to my mind first, we definitely had the pleasure of riding on some of best roads, aptly complimented by the most striking sceneries. The best stretch was Sarchu to Leh via tanglangla pass. Boy, Was I really proud to be an indian to ride on this spectacular route! The first challenge was the 21 Gata loops. Iam writing this with a smile on my face, it was AWESOME. With a pillion rider it was slightly tough to control the bike, but after finishing it without taking a break, I got my first sense of accomplishment :) I was overcome by fatigue when I was riding through the Tanglang La pass(17k+ feet). Also this was our first long drive, we drove from 10:A.M to 9:P.M(Baralacha to Leh) with few short breaks in between.

And how can I refrain from boasting about the ride from Leh to Khardung La(18k+ feet), the highest motorable road. At first I was reluctant to take this ride as I was extremely fatigued. But Ranjan and Uday pushed me into it. You see, here it’s the altitude that determines your attitude. The temperature here drop to an astounding -40 degrees celsius during winter. There was an army base at the top and I thought they would come down during winter. I nearly fainted to hear them say that's not the case. They stay at the top, no matter what!!

The Grandeur of the Himalayas:

Well, Iam sure there are lot of paeans out there showering praise on its beauty and majesty. Unarguably, it is India's greatest gift to mankind. This sequestered heaven sweeps far and wide, the land and skies alike. I cannot describe it without getting philosophical about it. A journey on it, is a journey to the solitudes of one's heart, mind and body. Words definitely are not helping me here.

The Indian Army:

For our tomorrow, they give their today. JAI HIND.

Their commitment to safeguard our lives and to defend the honour of our nation gives me a sense of guilt which I find difficult to assuage. I feel so lowly when I compare myself with them. But iam equally proud about them.

Lake Pangong Tso/Spangmik:

Pictures speak a thousand words, they say. Trust me, these pics don’t speak, they sing.((D'Oh Crappy Dialogue)

Seasons under a mango orchard.

2009-06-07T05:42:00.000-07:00

Summer. I was lying there, just lying spread eagled under a healthy mango tree. Summer mangoes. Smacking lips. Lips emoting on the sight of mangoes. Like cherubs on a christmas tree, the ripe succulent mangoes clung to its bearer. I stretched to grab the yield and to perform the honor of cutting its umbilical cord. My body stretched, my attire stretched, my muscles stretched, my cells stretched, it was one giant act of stretching. Unforgiving rays of the sun blinded my objective, but my fingers felt its way through the vines, until my palm rested on it. I tightened my grasp and perhaps the tree tightened it's. Iam the mango's usurper and the tree was showing its act of defiance. A tug of war ensued, between survival and procreation, between love and love. Significant is the consequence, and not the action. Crack. Snap. The twang of success. The tree yielded its yield, a gaping void in its place. Victory tasted sweeter than the mango.
Summer has moved on. It's Spring. The harbinger of growth. The sun has been tamed, the wind is gentler. The chirping birds return to stir the hornet's nest. The mango tree blossoms, and like an infectious fever, the neighboring trees blossoms. The bees get to work, the animals replenish their appetite. All the time I was watching, just watching, lying under the mango tree spread eagled. We are all paradigms of nature's discipline. Free will is just a society word. Woe is he who doesn’t respect its discipline. I watched the mango tree bear tufts of flowers, looking progressively beautiful day after day. I watched it sheltering its dwellers, vagrants for life. I tuned my body mind and soul to be in resonance with the harmonics of the orchard. I coexisted, living or not. The dayspring dew deterged my being. Peace.
Thunder, Lightening, Rain. The sky opened up.
The downpour falls on the orchard, the leaves rustles all at once, like popcorns being synchronously crunched just after intermission. All things animate retreat to their confines. The frogs croak, the insects tweedle, the orchard becomes an orchestra. It now wears a wet, deserted look of a careworn tapestry. Charred mushroom like clouds hung over the trees. I stayed, just stayed under the tree, facing the ravages of the weather. The climate of the rain is difficult to adjudge. It could be happiness, it could be sadness. What mood it wore, I do not know. It rained like hell and I supposed my death will be in a watery grave. But the mango tree protected me, bearing the brunt of the water attack itself. Days passed as it continued to rain, leaving a trail of reeking swamps, bulbous mushrooms. And then it stopped. It just stopped. Rain is the most tangible season and suddenly I felt all lonely. And the mango tree felt the same way.
Cotton wads drifted its way across the leaves. Snow. Autumn. The mango tree quivered, the leaves fell to the ground when it did. The tree is stripped of its adornments. The cycle of life and death always keeps rolling, one never outrunning the other. A white blanket got spread over the orchard, bringing along with it an eerie silence. A silence so cacophonous that it started pulling strings in my heart, making me heave, sigh and insecure. How am I going to sustain in this phase? The dwellers of the tree leaves it in quest of a more habitable place. Now I am a cast away, no longer the tree protects me. It's as if it is trying to act like the windsock of my life. It nourished me during summer, it made me happy at spring. It protected me during the rains and now it stands battered and bruised at Autumn. I have to make my way from here. It's time to move on.

A year has passed in my work life. And I have seen all these seasons.

[Ref: Alzeonz]

India Quiz at IIM-B

2009-03-01T00:22:00.000-08:00

Koni, Dhilip and I attended a quiz at the IIM-B cultural event Unmaad last week. The theme of the quiz was india. We have a reliable reputation behind us for attending many quizzes without winning any. Way to go, team :-) But still, armed with brains eroded by code, we decided to give it a shot. Here are the few questions i could remember.

Q :
police officer
priest
Scientist
--------
Singer
Grand Mother
Martial Arts
Afghan
---------
SriLankan

A :
This one is easy. The other two are Ex-CIA and American President. (Dasavatharam 10 roles)*

Q:
Emerging Media is a media group focused on the Indian Subcontinent, founded by Manoj Bandale.
Emerging Media partnered up with Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch, through his company Illyria, to expand the media expertise which was central to the bid.

What was their investment?

A:
Rajasthan Royals.

Q:
The show stars a fictional British Indian family, including Madhuri and Ashwin Kumar (played by Indira Joshi and Vincent Ebrahim), their thirty-something son Sanjeev (played by Sanjeev Bhaskar), and Sushila, Sanjeev's grandmother, normally referred to as Ummi (played by Meera Syal). The family live in Wembley, London, England. The show's central premise is that Sanjeev's parents have supported his dream of being a TV presenter by having a TV studio built on what used to be their back garden. Running jokes include Sanjeev's apparent social ineptitude, and Ashwin's obsession with financial matters and his tendency to tell long stories with no real point. It is also a regular conceit that the guests' appearance fees are paid in chutney.

A:
The kumars at No.42. (We wrote the answer as Mr. Kumars :-P)

Q:
Former Attorney-General Soli J. Sorabjee, recalls: "His talent in expounding the subject was matched by his genius in explaining the intricacies of the Budget to thousands of his listeners. His famous Annual Budget speeches had humble beginnings in 1958 in a small hall of an old hotel called Green Hotel in Bombay. He spoke without notes and reeled off facts and figures from memory for over an hour keeping his audience in rapt attention."

Describing the Annual Budget meetings, Sorabjee goes on to say: "The audience in these meetings was drawn from industrialists, lawyers, businessmen and the common individual. His Budget speeches became so popular throughout India and the audience for them grew so large that bigger halls and later the Brabourne Stadium in Bombay had to be booked to keep pace with the demand of an audience of over 20,000. It was aptly said that in those days that there were two Budget speeches, one by the Finance Minister and the other by him, and his speech was undoubtedly the more popular and sought after."[1]

A:
Nani A Pakhivala

Q:
Moksha Patamu was perhaps invented by Hindu spiritual teachers to teach children about the effects of good deeds as opposed to bad deeds. The ----- represented virtues such as generosity, faith, humility, etc., and ---- represented vices such as lust, anger, murder, theft, etc. The moral of the game was that a person can attain salvation (Moksha) through performing good deeds whereas by doing evil one takes rebirth in lower forms of life (Patamu). Presumably the number "100" represented Moksha (Salvation).

A: Snakes and ladders*

Q:
He is introduced as a young prince of the lowly Nishada tribes. He was born to Devashrava (brother of Vasudeva, who was father of Krishna)[2] and was raised by Hiranyadhanus, the leader (King) of the Nishadhas, who was a commander in the army of Jarasandha (the king of Magadha).[3]

Later, -------- worked as a confidant of King Jarasandh. At the time of Rukmini's Swayamvar, he acted as the messenger between Shishupala and Rukmini's father Bhishmaka, at Jarasandh's behest.[3] Bhishmaka decides that Rukmini should marry Shishupala, but instead Rukmini elopes with Krishna. -------- is later killed by Krishna, who hurls a rock against him, in a conflict against Jarasandh's army[3][4]

A:
Ekalavya

Q:
These brothers claim to fame:
http://www.smartcompany.com.au/Media/images/AgarwallaBros-aae6bf00-5277-4e5b-a17f-f07dc31b3763.jpg

Scrabulous.* ( Wiki Lexulous)

Q:
This man associated with a advertising firm called grey worldwide took the advertising world by storm a few years back for a campaign. What was it?

http://www.afaqs.com/news/interviews//grfx/prathap_index.jpg

A:
Pratap Suthan - India Shining

Q:
The protagonist is Ram Mohammed Thomas, a poor young waiter from the slums of Mumbai, blah blah

A:
Q and A*

Q:
Luke, Murgi, Joy, Shuili, Pondy are the characters. Nicknamed the parasites. What are we talking about?

A:
Paanch(Film by Anurag Kashyap)

Q:
Mumbai Kolkata
Patna Bhubaneswar
Mumbai Delhi
Allahabad Jaipur
Gorakhpur Maligaon(Guwahati)
Chennai Secunderabad
Kolkata Bilaspur, CG
Hubli Mumbai
Jabalpur
A:
India Zonal Railway HQ*

* - questions answered

The Dented Gateway

2008-12-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

I still remember vividly when some years back, i stood before the Taj overlooking the Gateway of India. Whoever would have thought that terrorists would hole up there and create havoc. WIth the recent terror attacks in mumbai, the terrorists, ashamedly i have to admit, proved their point. In fact they might have accomplished what they were seeking out for. That of a total crumbling of the Indian spirit and a fallout of the harmony among people of different religions. Our resilience against terror attacks are noteworthy but for how long? Resilience against terror attacks should not be misinterpreted as a meek acceptance of the fate that no one could save us. But with these terror attacks, more people are getting drawn into such a state. A state where one believes that the governement can do nothing about it and all that's happening is some karma. In terms of the number of casualties, this attack is not a standout. Many attacks have occured in the past on the streets, trains which resulted in equally large number of casualties. All these terror attacks before the one in mumbai, failed to invoke an action from the government or the public. SInce its the common man who got affected in these attacks on streets, naturally the government was not bothered and the public began to draw a vicarious pleasure towards these attacks. The public began to attribute the people affected in the attacks on being at the wrong place at the wrong time. We failed to even sympathesise with the victims, let face it, the definition of the term community in our dictionary usually means only the people we know. All the while we were of the belief that our "community" is safe, else the uproar thats being raised now should have been raised long long back. Now with these attacks when the terrorists have attacked the places where the affluent and the poor frequent, they have clearly sent out a cold wave to the public that no one's safe. Our faith in the politiical system is shaken totally. Frankly, i dont know who's to blame for. But to some extent, the governement is responsible. To seal the country like a fortress is not possible but atleast it could instill some hope to the people. But however impenetrable the armour might be, there'll still be chinks in it. And those despicable terrorists will always try to find them and destroy our peace. To avoid these attacks, corruption should be controlled and our solidarity and national integrity should remain unwavered. From the year 1974, a total of 4100 attacks have occured in this country. This clearly shows that we need a complete overhaul of the politcal and the judicial system set in place. But the system has got so deep rooted. The only thing we could do is keep venting our ire constantly, to keep protesting though various mediums so that the government and the people dont take things lying down, to stay together and keep ourselves and others talking.

Rendezvous with The God of Good Times

2008-11-26T04:44:00.000-08:00

One fine day, when one expects everything to follow will be just as fine, i found myself in hell. Whether i died under natural or mysterious or peculiar circumstances, is an answer for a question i am least bothered about. I am sure the doctors on the earth above are doing what they are paid for. Then i noticed that I had my night clothes on, that answers the question and thus ends the nascent investigation for finding the cause of my end. Wondering if i would have to die a second time on witnessing the copious devilry of hell, i moved on to explore. Corpulent giants, fire-breathing skulls, hooded demons were the ingredients of my notion of hell. But apparently, it didn't look that inhumane after all. There in front of me, obstructing my vista , was the fiefdom of the devil, fenced by 15-foot long fortified walls. A huge gate made the fortified walls' end's meet behind which, i mused, should lay the manifestations of the vicious crimes committed in my lifetime. On getting close quarters to the gate, It opened on its own accord. And lo! Sobeit my fears of getting trampled, mauled, tossed into pits further below by the beasts, were rudely shaken off by the nauseous sound of the clunking and beeping machines, those ubiquitous computers. Sobeit the land of the devil, who called himself the The god of Good Times, was segmented into cubicles which housed its inhabitants, each looking at the blue screens, the black screens, the multiple screens,. Sobeit, I have returned to my sedentary job of the plain old days. If this is hell and if this is what I have to do, its not going to be sobeit. The devil is going to have many questions to answer. The devil, the engineer of the engineers was seated in his cubicle and was not even remotely grotesque from any angle. I went straight ahead to talk to him, to plead for a bailout from this horrible place. This is getting too bad to be untrue.

Devil:(On meeting me)Welcome to the..
Me: Cut the crap, bozo.(The line that cost me my job back on earth.)
Devil: What enrages you, my son?
Me: Why? Why Me? Why Again? Havent i gone through all this on earth itself? Dont I deserve a better comeuppance?
Devil: So what makes you uncomfortable? Havent years of monotony made you non-chalant to the proceedings of the software industry?
Me: (By now, i figured out that the aural vibrations between us were completely discordant. So i plan for an escape route) Grant me a wish. Then i'll do whatever you say.(As if i had a choice to do something else!)
Devil: So be it. But first you must convince me that you deserve it.
Me: Thats easy. Employing the deepest gloom to the gravity of my tone, I said "My Cab... My Cab used to arrive at 7:15 A.M. At the unholy hours when sun was blanketed by dark clouds, i had to wake up. At a time when people were cuddled under bed wraps like tortoises in their shells, i had to dress up. At a time when..

The devil let out a sigh of shock that forced all the birds around to abandon their perches. At once, the devil raised his hand and the birds froze in time and space. I have seen this only happen in old tamil movies, when after every tragic incident the birds and the waves froze in time. Whatsoever it might be, the god of good times acknowledged my dire straits and granted my wish.

The goddamned soporific bangalore weather..

Pushpa

2008-11-07T18:50:00.000-08:00

"Pushpa.. We'll call her pushpa",said her beaming father, looking at his daughter's eyes, as sparkling as the summer lake. He held her close to his heart, lest she flew away, falling prey to a gust of wind. She felt so light, like a little flower, delicate and beautiful. Her smile curved her lips to form a silver moon, and for that moment, the sky would have wondered if someone had stole its jewel. She took her first baby steps to life, to a life outside her mother's lap. Her steps had a weak limp, but they were graciously dismissed as her naivety towards walking. Beautiful as ever, Pushpa blossomed to a delicate flower. In the flora-spangled tree of life, she was different from the other flowers. She was not different in the good sense as one would expect. A conventional soul wouldnt call her beautiful, her textures appeared dull to them .But what do the conventions know. They didnt know that her differences were her strength whilst she didnt know that too. She was so delicate that she had to clutch hard to the tree, to escape the impartial gravity. The limp remained on her tread, and those prying looks of the common people around slowly transitioned her into a shy bird. She retreated to the clouds of darkness, afraid that the rays of light would cut off her soft feathers. Pushpa enjoyed those times of solitude in the calm beach, she loved looking at the waters bobbing up and down. No one knew what the patterns she made in the sand resembled. Perhaps it is her crystallized feelings towards this world, for they were as random as those patterns on sand made by the evening showers. She wanted to take her sand dolls to her home, and watch them take a new life at her gaze. She felt like she was one among them, for she felt at home in the realms of fragility. The things that captivated Pushpa always had the delicate beauty carried with them. Those hollow globules of air called bubbles captivated her, it seemed they had a life and world of its own, a source, a journey and a destination. The glass animals she possessed were her only companions. She gazed at those glass animals, holding them tenderly, stroking them mildly. People teased at her fragility and her liking to it. She sometimes felt akin to a twig being bent, any moment it can snap. Ah! Pushpa, what do the commons know? They think they are tough to weather any storm but they are as fragile as you. What can they do on their own, other than watch themselves drift like winter leaves on stream. So Pushpa's journey continued, as lovely as a serenade composition. People watched her limp to her own beautiful world, alone. But she never suffered from the pangs of loneliness, because she was never bereft of love. All the beautiful, delicate things of this world loved her. Finally at her moment of reckoning, a solitary tear caressed her cheek. Whether it was a payment for the sorrowful ending or a hopeful beginning, no one knew.

A wednesday

2008-10-20T10:19:00.000-07:00

Like a blade of grass, he is one too many. He saw his kindred souls all around in multitudes, like specks of dust, their ethereal presence engulfed his vision, a vision that never looked beyond. Copies of copies scanned each other, from head to toe, each were trapped in their own mirror maze. He wavered, helpless against wafts of thin air, but winds of change always missed him or he ducked them. His bent will made him droop, the onus on him crippled his free will. But he always found solace for his grief, sadistic even it was, for his brethren were in the same quagmire, drowning in a abyss of forlornness. Under the blue-blooded sky, they shared the common ground, yet were searching for the uncommon, identity being a holy grail. Darwininan chaos echoed in their spirits , pulling him under their clout, to make him one among many. Now he is here, there and everywhere, rooted to his worldly concerns, revelling in his idle hedonistic senses. Not that he is God, he is just his plaything, move when said, speak when said. At will, God and his favorites crushed him and his brethren in each of their mirror mazes with their glass heels. Strangely, their mirror mazes always imploded, so as the shards left others but their own self unscathed. Faith non-existent, it was time alone that healed his open wounds, his ephemeral memories never a hindrance to the therapy. Frustration seared within him, but it fizzled as quickly as it takes to snap the perfect photograph. Chains of non-committal bounded him and his fellow sons of soil, they never wanting to take a step ahead, a step further. Questions if raised, were rhetoric to the point of absolute conviction. Little did they realize that, like blades of grass, they showed their blunt sides to the paramount forces. Life is a matter of contentment. To be content with the system , to be content with way everything is was his way of life. Risks were alien to him, because he was content and his cautious crow-steps was not helping the cause. His fragility got him reduced to a cartoon figure, a popular one at that. Immaculately leveled to ground reality, He neither stuck out like a sore thumb nor like a golden spoon. He used to wonder why he chooses inaction as the solution for all that he wanted to fight against. He used to wonder why he is unwilling to shake the ground of the system which got so deep-rooted in its immoralities. But all he does is sputter like a wet-wick ignited candle. He is they, you and I. The single common man.

Refer/Invite a friend

2008-10-18T06:47:00.000-07:00

No, I am not going to talk about some social networking concept or a job-related rigmarole here. Recently and very accidentally, i got acquainted to a form of marketing called multi-level marketing. Most of you would have come across the brand Amway at some point or another. This brand has its fair or maybe unfair share of negative flaks drawn around it. But apart from the fact that Amway is not everyone's everyday choice, i didnt have much idea about it, until recently. And yes, perhaps you must be aware, Amway is a multi-level marketing company.

If you are wondering why the heck Iam talking about Amway now, well i can assure you, in this case of your wonderment, you are not alone. Some time back, I met a high-spirited person at AAB, who introduced himself as, Nah, Iam not going to reveal his name. He was very cordial and after some little talk, he got my contact number and we parted ways. Then he contacted me few days later, asked me if I was interested in a part-time job and consider a offer he wanted to make. He wanted to come to my house for a chat and I didnt refuse. So he came to my house and started right away on his business plan. Apart from this part-time job, he is a software engineer too.

He briefed me on how Mc Donald's business model works. Mac D works on franchise management model. The company gets its profits from the rent and royalties paid by its franchise, apart from the profits the company-operated outlets make. After a slew of more marketing-garble, he explained what he had in store for me. He works for a motivational organisation called BWW. This BWW actually trains the operatives under Amway. Amway as i said earlier is a multi-level martketing distributorship, which means they recruit distributors who in turn recruit other distributors and the chain goes on. The distributors are not paid much by the company, instead they get money from the profits accrued by the distributors under them by selling Amway products. Along with the profits that the distibutors down under makes they have to pay the training fees to the distributor who hired them. These distributors are given a variety of expensive training materials to get them started with Amway These training materials are supplied by BWW and the distributor gets charged for those materials. To cut a long story short, this business model works well for people who has got that innate ability to influence others. And BWW does exactly that, they train people to influence others. So the network is like this -

Amway

BWW
|
Distributors

/ \

Distributors Distributors

/ \

I was interested in finding out why multi-level marketing companies face so much controversies. I learned that most of the companies were deemed illegal because they come under the purview of a non-sustainable business model called Pyramid scheme. In pyramid scheme, people "pay" to get into a scheme alone, they do not get any products or services in return for their payment. So in a network of distributors, the distributors down under has to pay an apprenticeship fee to the distributor above them. The distributor at the top manages to the swindle his followers but the ones at the bottom has to pay the subscription fees and do not have any profit on their own.

So When you recruit a friend, and the friend pays his fees and buys his products, you begin receiving additional bonuses for products that the FRIEND buys, tacked on to your own as a reward for expanding the blob-like Amway corporation. And when your friend recruits his friends, you get a profit on them also. Thus, if your own bonus is $100 per month, and you recruit ten friends who recruit ten friends, and each of them causes you to receive an additional $100 per month also, they could theoretically net you more than 10,000 dollars every month! Astounding, isn't it?

For one thing, this marketing model IMO, has a lot of psychological effects on the distributor. In extreme cases, every person this distributor meets, will be seen as a potential recruit for his network. Its business everytime, 24X7. Oooh, thats a scary thought. Imagine someone who doesnt have friends outside his distributor network. The worse thing is, there is a huge false motivation for people to enter into the network. For the economically challenged, they are lured in the pretext of making easy lucre. "All you got to do is recruit some more people and you'll earn money" is the advise they keep falling for. A majority falls in the bottom of the chain and they make very less money considering the effort they must put.This kind of referral system should work when the services considered are for free, eg GMail. When there's money around, their greediness knows no bounds. A person recruits two people, but it just wont be enough. He would want to recruit two more, and more and more. This greed takes control of his mind. Pathetic.. So the bottomline is, well, do you really expect one??

*All that i have written here is a matter of personal opinion.

Travelogue - Mysore Dasara 2008

2008-10-12T00:22:00.000-07:00

Mysore, as you must be aware is renowned for its 10-day long Dussehra festival. The festival concludes on Vijayadasami day in a grand fervor. So my friends and I took this expedition to mysore from Bangalore on the Vijayadasami day. We four of us, reached mysore at around 9:30 a.m. For a fest run by the state governement, it was well-organised. Information kiosks were placed at all tourist places as well as at public transport places. On reaching there, we found that there were two events which was not to be missed on that particular day. One was the jumbo savari and the other is torch light parade. On making enquiries at the ticket counter we found that the tickets had to be bought from MUDA, acronym for Mysore Urban Development Authority. This place was close to the railway station, so we reached there in no time. To our shock, tickets for torch light parade alone was available. It cost us 100 bucks each. As for the jumbo savari tickets, we were given the cold shoulder :( But after loitering around the place for a while, we asked some guy near the gate if we could get those tickets somewhere. And he took us to some other agent who showed us few platinum invitations which were originally meant for the VVIPS. Our eagerness to get our hands on the platinum invitations made us take little notice of the 500 bucks demanded by him per ticket. Only later on did I find that those invitations were actually free VIP passes possibly embezzled by those agents and sold to the unwary tourists. The Jumbo Savari was scheduled at 12:30 p.m, but we were asked to arrive at the mysore palace one hour before the scheduled time for security reasons. On reaching the palace, our hopes for VIP treatment dashed because every tom, dick and harry had platinum ivitations with them and probably they got it for free too. But nevertheless, we stood in the long queue to get into the grounds. Security was beefed up for the celebrations and there was thorough frisking. On being let inside, we scampered all around to sit on the place with the best viewpoint. Shucks, there was no shelter provided for the "platinum invitees", and as it is so true in these cases, the weather was damn hot.We got ourselves seated somewhere in the middle of the grounds. After a while, three tuskers enclothed in its royal garb marched across in full splendour. The barded tusker in the middle, Balarama was carrying the chamundeshwari devi's deity for the tenth and the last time. The chief minister and the mayor whom initially we mistook as the Mysore Raja flagged off the procession by making floral offerings to the deity. Forty-five tableaux from different parts of the state was shortlisted for the procession. All tableaux were unique but tableaux worth a special mention are Infosys, railways, airways, mysore sandal soap and many others . There were tableaux signifying the various cultures as well as the technological civilization. Along with the tableaux, there were folk dances, yoga and other cultural troupes. Some artists carrying a lot of thingies on their heads climbed and balanced on ladders, few blew fire, many boogied-woogied..not a moment was boring. They heightened our festive spirits, which was already by that time half-baked in the scorching heat. Iam a sucker for cultural processions such as this, but by the time the two-hour procession got over, i got more than i asked for. Finally the procession and our mana over the sun got over. We quickly doused ourselves and went ahead for having lunch.
During our pursuit to find a good hotel, we chanced upon an exhibition near the palace. We went inside hoping that we could get something to eat there. We had an unappetizing lunch in a stall. The torch light parade was timed at 6:30 p.m, so we had plenty of time to look around in the exhibition. Th exhibition had few interesting exhibits promoting karnataka tourism,R.B.I.. After a while, we headed to the Banni Mantap grounds where the torch light parade was to be conducted.
Security was insanely tight at the Banni Mantap grounds. And guess what, the police didnt allow people with cameras or for that matter even bags inside the ground. I was frustrated beyond measure because this info was not printed anywhere on the tickets.(Or amybe it was printed. I didnt know what to make of the kannada fonts). Not knowing what to do, my friend Guru and I had to go to the KSRTC bus stand to keep our bags in the cloak room there. And in that course, we missed the para-gliding stunts by the army :(. And after the security checks, which were so thorough that i felt myself being sieved, we were let inside .
The first show of the event was stunts by the army on motorcycles. The daredevilry was pure awesomeness. They showed utter disregard to the art of properly riding a motorcycle. They stood, rolled, stood atop a ladder on the motorcycle and at the same time, rode it as well. Some of the acts were really breathtaking. This was followed by folk dances by school children. I had enough share of folk dances for the day already, so it was boring. The folk dances by different folks continued for some one hour. The next event was laser show, but after having once seen Vijay Mallya's laser show at the IPL, this was, not suprisingly, slipshod. Then came the real show stealer, torch light parade. 400+ artists holding torch lights marched to the ground in perfect sync. Holding those flames, they made various formations which created imageries of various phrases like "happy dasara", "Jai Karnataka","Jai Hind" vagera vagera.. A scintillating display of fireworks marked the end of the parade.
The bus back to bangalore arrived two hours late at 2:00 a.m. Reached Bangalore at around 5:00a.m. Gosh, somehow struggled our way to home and i was asleep before i hit the bed.

City of Gardens

2008-10-06T05:18:00.000-07:00

Let me share with you the experience of watching my first play " City of Gardens" at Ranga Shankara..

This whole week I was excited at the prospect of watching a play. I got incredibly bored of movies. Bangalore has a strong presence in the theatre arena. A few of my team mates are avid theatre-goers. So Dhilip and I went to watch this play "City of Gardens" at Ranga Shankara.

The first thing that struck me on reaching the place was the place itself. It had a quaint feeling to it with low-lights and antique furniture. Huge B&W photos of erstwhile and esteemed theatre actors hung on one side of the wall. We tried to figure out those personalities but except for Girish Karnad and Anupam Kher, others could be anybody. The crowd seemed very erudite and I guess most of them were regulars. So we stepped in to the auditorium which looked like a minature opera hall. There were only some 100 odd people in the theatre. The hall certainly had capacity for some 500 odd people but I guess the director sold only 100 tickets. Everyone sat in a plushy sofa close to the stage surrounding it.

The play "City of Gardens" is an adaptation from Anton Chekov's "Cherry Orchard". It was quite simply, a story how one's home very unwittingly becomes an integral part in one's life. It considers the social, political and emotional valences in the notion of home. The events following the imminent sale of a family estate and how it affects the characters depending on it was the highlight of the play. From the words of the director, the play asks questions like "Does romantic nostalgia for an idyllic and frozen past deny the inexorable imovement of time? , How might "home" offer shelter and refuge to some while simultaneously being a space of repression and terror for others", Why do we privelege home over travel, roots over routes?"

If all my talk sounds boring to you, the play was not. There were some five characters in the play and they put up very intense and honest performances . Imagine, no retakes, the dialogues have to be learnt by heart, and spectators were sitting so close to them, it's really not a cakewalk to script a play. Thee dialogues were full of prose ,very literary and witty. The transition one from scene to another was brilliantly choreographed. The timeline of the story was not linear, but still we were able to follow it. At the end of the play, the stage actor pointed to Dhilip and said " This was the person who was responsible for this". Even the lights hovered above him. I was completely flummoxed. It was then I realized that the director of the play was sitting right next to us. We were bowled over by the performances that we sat through the whole 60 minutes without passing any comments. For anyone who loves literature and cinema, this is the best refuge.

Stardom

2008-10-06T05:14:00.000-07:00

Here, I am going to tell you the story of a lad who dreamt big, who grew up into a man who chased his dreams and finally became a star for whom sky was never the limit.

...

I had a dream. I saw myself as a star. I dreamt to become one like him, my idol. I allowed the dream to sprout. It sprouted to a vision, fuelled by my own sense of awe. Now I have a vision. I keep having it. To become a STAR. The vision ate up my time, It ate up my thoughts. "You have to become like him. You have to.. ", It keeps ranting. Incessantly. My eyes fall on the poster of the man, my idol. I wonder if he had a vision like the one I have. To become a STAR is not easy. I know. But why live a life where I don’t become what I want to be. I am not a cat. I don’t have nine lives.

I want to become like him, my idol. His style, his foibles, are mine now. He is my second skin. Infatuation turned into passion, wishes turned into hopes. Mama fooled me when she said she'll get me all the stars sprinkled on the sky, if I would gobble one last rice ball, which was never the last one as she promised it to be. If I become a star, my children will never have to be fooled the same way. I'll live my life on my own terms. I'll capture my destiny, future will be my directions.

I grew up. Time was kind to me. I grew up into a fine, healthy oak. Not green, Not withered, but with full of vigor. From now on, every step I take has a purpose, every action I take has a meaning. To become a star. Hindrances came in my way, but my path was clear. I will never waver, like a feather. A feather wavers too fine along its journey. I will not stand still. I'll stand only to tell a tale, but not otherwise. People wanted me to become logical. I never listen to logic. Logic is only an excuse to me.

Many roles fall along, but those chances force me to think of other choices. Then, nature willing, I land on my first BIG chance. The chance, to become a star. I poured everything into it, my efforts, my hopes, my critics, my blessings. What came out of it, were my reflections, my reflections of the past. To become a STAR. I became one. Finally.

Finally, my sweat tastes sweet. Finally I love to remember.

I am now a vortex. I draw fame, people and money. My appetite is insatiable and I see no horizon. Like fire, my pride consumes every obstacle on my path and it grows only bigger, untamed. Ambitions pay scant regard to adversities. I aged, just like a fruit which attracts more flies with age and my fame soared skywards. All the while, I never knew a world beyond tangible assets existed.

Days, months and years rolled by. Now I see the light at the end of the tunnel. In retrospect, I sensed that I was a loan shark. I was always asking life to pay me the right dividends, but never observed if I was paying something to it. No regrets, I lived my life on my own terms. Cry I may, but weep, i.will.not.

It all started with a rice ball.

The Great Indian Railways

2008-10-06T05:12:00.000-07:00

Eventhough I dont travel frequently, i simply love to have my journey in a train. Infact, I am a fan of Indian Railways. These serpentine locomotives have a strange charisma attached to it thats.. very indian. You know, there's so much to talk about trains and the very nature of a journey in it, that i have difficulty in putting it down in a concise format.

So how shall i begin? Should i talk about my experiences in a train? Or should i throw some light on the organisation which is one of the largest employers in the world with an unmatched breadth and span? Or should i glorify this humble vehicle which abstracts economics and diversity? Well, A journey in a train is a pleasure in itself. The countryside it cuts through, the chaos inside these wagons, the rhytmic chug-chug, the train horns, the pantry-wallahs.. these are sewn into the fabric of this joy ride.On a rainy day,when you wrestle your hand out of the window, when you feel those droplets on your palms, you begin to love nature even more. Ah, how delightful it is, to stand near the door and feel the wind on your face, to bend over and watch the train glide over the curves, to wave back to those sweet innocent children who wave at you and expect just a wave in return, to romance the rustling grass and the glimmering lakes.. My heart always skips a beat when the train crosses a river... when there occurs a sudden shift in the rhythm to a monstrous boom. It is perhaps a signal for everyone in the train to shake off from their monotonous thoughts and take a look outside, to see how wonderful it is, to watch the water-bodies basking in full glory.The dawn and the dusk, the rain and the sun, the people and the cattle, the clouds, hills all seem more beautiful than ever. All that you see, all that you feel slips into a metaphor. One moment its there, the next moment, its gone. Nevertheless, to watch these sketched images skip by, over a cup of hot coffee, on one rainy day, by the window-seat, there's not a better moment to match it. No wonder these eminent writers and filmmakers adore these trains , so much that they use it as a leitmotif in their works.

The shades of green that embraces my eyes rejuvenates my self, a self which has taken a beating in this dog eat dog world, a self that uncharacteristically keeps looking for greener pastures. The flock of birds that fly overhead makes you think, for once, that they are racing against you and you are not racing against them. Unmindful of the destination, you enjoy the journey, a journey that caress the hamlets and towns alike.

Cacophony is sweet music. The hustle-bustle that the train brings into a station is all but the din of your routine life. The mellifluous sound of chai-chai has got only one accent, the Indian accent. The aroma of the samosas tickles your taste buds and lingers in your senses. People flutter like bees from one place to another. For some, its end of a journey, for some it’s the beginning.

When I travel in a train, I get over-awed by witnessing the diaspora of Indian culture. A stroll from one end to another is a multiethnic experience. Its always a gentle reminder for me to acknowledge that India is a great nation. So much diversity, so much differences, yet we share this common thread of feeling, a feeling so intense that it keeps us together.

The sights and sounds that comes along with the journey transports me into an utopian world. It makes me feel so powerful like thy shadow that crosses the bridges, rivers and fields with equal ease. When dark sets in, I squint my eyes to see the farthest distance, but it could only take notice of few earthen lamps below and the flickering stars above.

The distance has been covered and the destination is reached. One more footprint in the sands of time has been made. But the pleasure of the journey always remains and the eagerness to jump onboard the moment I get a chance stays..

sqrt(-memories)

2008-10-06T05:06:00.000-07:00

My imaginary memories..

Ladies and Gentleman.. ala behold.. My Retirement Speech, tongue-in-cheek.

From this moment, imagine that you are transported 39 years into future..

I dont think you have imagined yourself. Concentrate.. Imagine again. Imaaagggine..

My Story - 2047 and as you guessed it, its a flop. no big deal..

Its my retirement day and i have to make a speech. The hall is jam-packed. The crowd is making a beeline to enter the hall. The "Anna Dhanam" trick has worked. Dignitaries have flown in from various parts of the world. I feel amazed by the power of a "free lunch". Bespectacled, bald, grumpy, i sit exactly in the centre flanked by two kingfisher models. I could hear teenagers commenting-"Intha Vayasula.." On hearing them, i pinch the lady nearby. Soon it was followed by a horrible stench. Investigation later spotted some half-burnt stomachs.

A lady makes an introductory speech from which i picked some facts about my life. TImes havent changed, i thought, I am still weak in recollections. Here goes the facts..

Age: sweet 60
Venue: PSG Tech. My alma mater for four years. Ah! those days engineering degree lasted for four years! (I heard some boos and coos when the lady uttered PSG Tech.. Spotted some purana vasthus, sanyasis, sanyasinis. my tech friends, i reckon)
Job: Intel for some years, Some management experience, then i landed my dream job - A gourmet in Discovery Travels' "Vivek's Favourite dishes Around the world". 35 years of service!!(of being served btw).. You know, the kind of job most people wish they attain it in their next birth. I had to travel to star hotels around the world and taste their sumptuous dishes. It was fun, beach, babes, beer, boar..
Role Model: Obelix
Personal Details: One kid, One wife, some grandchildren..(not in that order).

So finally she finished off her "long" address invited me to give the speech. I got up and let out a quick fart. Old age, lucky that the microphone is far. Then i spoke..

"Ladies and Gentleman. After the wholesome free lunch, you must be very pleased. ("yeah bravo" cries erupted). And your must be feeling very drowsy.(No "yeah bravo" cries- this time, pindrop silence!). Wow! What an ideal setting for my retirement speech! Folks, this waas what i have been doing for the last 35 years. Eat, sleep,think, Eat, sleep,think(in that order.) Eat -Dainty dishes At exotic locales around the world. Sleep - On cushy mattresses in swanky hotels(someone shouted "Alone??). Think - In the place which appears almost the same everywhere and where one's thoughts outflux is optimum. What an apetizing life, I had! You must be asking what inspired me to go for this. Stupid fellas, why do you need an inspiration for this job. Even an infant infact is born with enough inspiration to take this job. But you must be wondering, what motivated me to put my efforts in getting this job? Well it happened long, long back. i decided on the path i'll take on the convocation day i had in this same college. A dude from TCS who was one among the current 5.23 billion employees in TATA group gave a speech. I didnt pay heed to most of the things he said. But there was one thing that caught my senses(my mouth, specifically). He asked everyone, for the first two years after college life, that is this was before 33 years, to be a "kid in the candy store". I reckon it was a figurative expression but i took it literally. Why two years, i decided to be the kid in the candy store all my life. Now i have entered my second childhood, so things have become far easier to remain as a kid. Thats why i chose to retire. I can see that most of you have retired to sleep. Folks, You took the main course, the dessert is yet to come. " Tan da dain- everyone woke up staring like a rabbit in front of approaching lorry. I spoke again - " Now for the questions. please shoot"

The New York Times:
"If you meet that TCS dude, how would you react?"
- I would lock him in a candy store and ask him how it feels to be a kid in the candy store for two years. Advisa paaru..

Dina Malar
"Neenga onga life oru song la describe panna mudiyuma"
- Oh mudiyume: "Ithuve ennaku pothum.. ta da ta da ta ta ta, ta da ta ta * 3"

Kannada Maadi
"food alli thira vangi inga hoggathala?"
-kannada gotthilla

"Thats all folks!!"

Life.. A journey

2008-10-06T04:35:00.000-07:00

A story i came across

There was this old Hassidic rabbi somewhere in Russia, who would visit a synagogue near the town square every morning. Not a day had he skipped this routine. A Russian Police chief patroling the square did not like Jews, and he hated the sight of the rabbi passing him each morning. He wanted to insult the rabbi, and was waiting for an occasion.

One morning, as the rabbi approached the town square, the policeman walked up to him and asked, “Sir, may I know where you are going?”

The rabbi replied, “I don’t know.”

The policeman seized on this and said, “Old man, you are lying to me. I know you are going to that synagogue over there. I have seen you every day. I’m going to arrest you for lying to a member of the police force.”

And the policeman took the rabbi to the nearest police station and put him in one of the cells. As he was locking the door, the policeman proudly remarked, “Now, do you realize who is superior?”

The rabbi replied, “My son, I don’t know what wrong I have done. I told you I didn’t know where I was going.”

Blogger's block

2008-10-06T04:08:00.000-07:00

I got this block before i could write my first post itself. Darn it man..

Okay, so blogging started for me here, in my team blog. And some n posts which you would see after this post were few of my contributions in that blog. Ah, you know Iam too lazy to start a blog from scratch. Rome was not built in a day, but this blog to an extent is. Enough talk, you can go all the way up now..

This blog is best viewed in my silo in any resolution.