Thursday, December 30, 2004

I am in love...

Just 4 points...

* Watched Swades Yesterday...Those who think that its a documentory, just DARE to comment..
* Hats off to Ashutosh Gowarikar and his team...
* One ques..Why girls look so graceful and elegant in Salwar-Kameez and sarees??
* And i m in love with somebody named Gayatri Joshi...

Tuesday, December 28, 2004

Oo what a trip!! --2nd and final part

The shadows of a roofless night was looming large on three of us..i mean it was ok for our ‘bird’ but we were mere flesh pieces!! It was not that we were not prepared for any adventure but this was something beyond our expectations. We started out next operation i.e. “Operation Hotel”. Wherever we asked, a big NO was written on the face of receptionist (and to add to my misery..all receptionist were male!!)They were looking at us as if we have asked for a pound of their flesh and not a room!!After searching about 10-12 hotels and lodges and guest houses and dharamshalas, from the best to the worst, we spotted and decided to sleep in the verandah of a hanuman temple in case the worst happens!! But we continued our search. When we were returning from the 18th place (or the figure was high?; Anurag..pls confirm..) lady luck smiled and a couple came to our rescue. They saw our long faces and realized that the adventure was getting too much for us, they took us to their aunt who readily permitted us to stay in her house ..in her drawing room. She was very nice.. and that was a big relief..After finding a place to keep the back straight, we headed for the beach once again..and there we just rested our backs on the rocks with the sea water touching them. It was a full moon night..or atleast the moon was shining at 80% of its total capacity which was making the mood all the more relaxing. We had our dinner at a beach side ‘thela’ sitting on a ‘chatai’ on the beach!!

Returned to our ‘palace’ at 11:30 pm and then slept like a maharaja till 6:00AM. Clicked a few snaps with Aunty , exchanged the phone nos. and we were ready to hit the road again..but is that possible without a cup of tea? Had tea at a road side stall which was more like a sugar syrup and then at 7:00 AM,we embarked on our journey again..

Enroute to Murud, we went off road atleast twice..one was amazing 4 feet wide kaccha road with coconut trees on both sides and another was an untouched shore…Clicked some beautiful snaps there ..thanks to the timer in the camera which permitted both of us to be in the same frame!!Reached Kashid beach at 9:00AM..It is the only white sand beach in maharashtra apart from ganpatiphule…and as we were a little too early, we felt as if it was our private beach as nobody was there apart from two of us!!Had a round of Bhurji, omlette, coke and PAV (I just hate PAV!!). Spent the best time of the journey on that beach and then we again started for the original destination…Murud and Janzira…Skipped the Murud beach as it was too crowded and went straight to Janzira…Sailed in the boat for a kilometer to reach Janzira fort…it was a fort which remained unconquered throughout the history..later it was conquered by Govt of India!!

Kashid beach, Janzira fort, boat sail and the two off road site seeing made our trip a memorable one…started our backward trip at 2:30 pm as we wanted to be in bombay by 5:30..Although sun was glowing at its full capacity, still we managed to click snaps of ‘ruins of something’ at one place and of a fundoo palace at other...Driving through the sea side road again through alibagh, pen and panvel we touched Vashi at around 5:15…
The distance meter was showing a reading of 312 Kms…and we were as fresh as a lily!!
Decided to watch ‘Swades’ but probably the lady luck was 'dating' someone else at that time and the show was houseful…Had Coffee at ‘Qwicky’s’ , developed the snaps and we were back to “flat-sweet-flat (I hate to call it home-sweet-home) at 10:00 PM…

That was the end of a sweet little memorable adventurous trip..Thoroughly enjoyed it and I just hope its just the beginning of our journey…

Monday, December 27, 2004

Oo what a trip !!!

Hmmm…So after making and breaking umpteenth plans of an adventurous trip, this one finally materialized. Athough I can go on writing about this little trip still I wud like to be as brief as possible. This was a trip to remember and I just hope there are many to come…
Why did we decided to go to Murud Janzira? No, more than the Murud beach and the janzira fort , we were excited about the route as we have heard a lot about the scenic road which runs parallely to the sea and sometimes to the konkan railway..All in all, we were pretty excited to embark on our journey.We were three..Yours truly, My buddy Anurag and most importantly “ThunderBird”. I must say this ‘bird’ is really ‘Royal’ !!
It all started at 2:00 pm on Saturday when Anurag called me up saying he is waiting at my office gate. At that time I was still finishing my work and simultaneously thinking of a brilliant idea to skip the rest of the day. I called up my boss saying that I m leaving for the day to receive my relatives from VT and as I lied with full sincerety, he readily agreed! Then we were off to my flat from where I had to pick my belongings and soon both of us realized that we were short of many necessary items including cash!! Did the shopping in a jiffy, which included a helmet (for Anurag), a nice bag (for me) and most importantly cash from ATM!!
We hit the road at exactly 4:00pm and reset the distance meter of the bike. Our first destination was Panvel MacD..Yeah,we soon realized that we were surviving on just 2 cups of coffee each!! Reached Panvel at 4:30 and a quick round of Burgers , French fries and coke followed…We were on road again at 4:55pm moving towards Pen. The drive was not something like “beach side road” or “Greenery all around” but yeah the setting sun was giving the nature a touch that was not lesser by any means. After half an hour , something from my bag itched me..oh , it was my camera which was biting me to click a photograph or two. I yelled at anurag which was at good enough decibels to wake him from his thoughts(He has a knack of going into his own zone while driving!!). He bowed to my wish and we halted on a bridge and all three of us posed in all the angles that were “possible on road” to please the camera. Camera was happy so we moved ahead. We reached Pen and we were horribly wrong in our assumption that we were on time…So we continued at our pace to Alibagh..Reached there at around 7:00. Now let me admit this to u that the route from Mumbai to Alibagh is not something very classy..but the excitement of our trip, kept our adrenaline flowing. Sun was well beyond horizon when we touched Alibagh and we went straight to the beach. Fuelled our stomach again with all sort of beach specials like Pav bhaji and pani poori…Now here we took a wise decision.We didn’t want to miss the excitement of traveling a sea side road by traveling in night. So we decided to stay at Alibagh for that night. We were so engrossed in gulping pani pooris and pav bhajis that we didn’t realized that it was 25th dec and who the hell in this world will have a place in hotels or lodges on that day!! We were in for a surprise!!When we realized this..it was a little too late and the chances of my first roofless night started to increase many folds with each passing minute….Rest in next…Till then…

Cheers…

Same story from Anurag’s perspective is available at www.thirdrockfromthesun.blogspot.com

Friday, December 24, 2004

Here is the break...

It’s the time to take a break…After REFLECTING on the way my life is going, in the last post..it’s the time to ABSORB some of the energy from life..After feeling some sort of vacuum..it’s the time to fill the void…No No..i m not getting engaged or marrying some girl…I still want to breath peacefully!! ;-)
I will be out for the shortest trip possible. Along with one of my friend, Anurag, I am going to Murud/Janjira. Those from Bombay must be familiar with these names.

Historically: Murud was the capital of a small Janjira kingdom. Janjira is a Marathi corruption of the Arab word “Jazirah” meaning island. Their stronghold, a fortress now called Janjira, is an island 3 kms. from Murud.

Geographically:Murud is located 160 kms. down the coast from Mumbai.

Attractions: (a) A beautiful clean water beach and (b) The Janjira Fort

Gentrywise This I need to check!! ;-)

Best Part: We will be covering the entire distance on my friends bike i.e. Royal Enfield “Thunder Bird”!! And this visit will just serve as a dress rehersal for another adventure journey whose curtains will be unfolded most probably in my next post…


Now, Obviously I am going to enjoy this little trip like anything but this will have a direct effect on two important things…
1. The TO DO list will only have more additions…and my plan to bring it to 10 items will remain a distant dream…
2. And my clothes will continue to be unwashed for one more week which clearly indicates that my deodorant will have to perform at its best!!

Wednesday, December 22, 2004

Zindagi...kaisi hai paheli !!!

Nothing notable is happening these days. The days are just starting at 8:30 and are ending at 2:00 AM. Apart from spending 9 hrs at workplace, hours and days are just evaporating. Its not that i m feeling low or getting sentimental. Its just that i am feeling a sort of vacuum around me. Its a feeling that i am not making my days count. I have always felt that there are many more things in life than what a person can squeeze in a "24hr a day" routine. Still, i feel i am just doing the naukri stuff and nothing else...will have to sort out the things soon...or is it just a passing phase?? Probably i am writing this stuff bcause i got the time to reflect on my life last night and probably life will continue to melt in this fashion only!! Leave it...

A bunch of books are lying in my flat. Some unfinished, some untouched...To kill a mocking bird, eleven minutes, Jack Welch, No full stops in india to name a few...What the hell am i doing till 2:00 AM?? TV is killing my time or to say the truth...I am killing my time on TV!!!

I haven't touched my guitar for the last 20 days or so. It was producing weird sounds. So i changed all the strings two days back ..still its making "hissing" sound...Guess it requires medication....

The "To Do" list that i prepared on sunday contained 16 items. It still contains 16!! Its not that i haven't done anything..I finished 4 items and added 4 new!! Somehow the list is not going below 15...This is life!! A vicious circle of " TO DO's". I just hope to bring it to 10 by the end of this week and i know i will be unsuccessful!!

Any answers...!!!

1. Software industry is 8 years old while telecom is barely 4-5 years...and i guess 70% of the engg .(age grp 22-30) are absorbed in these two industries...Any idea what the indian youth was doing before the emergence of these two fields??

2. America has decided to go ahead with its plans of selling F-16 to Pakistan. The reason...to counter terrorism!!
When the hell Pakistan started using F-16 to counter terrorism???

Cheers!!

Saturday, December 18, 2004

A sad pillow story...

Its 11:15 PM and I m sitting in office at this odd time. Fisrt of all, what I am doing in office, at this time, when I left it at 7:30. Answer is..i came back an hour before and the reason behind this “odd-time-adventure” is my master memory!! Yes.. it ditched me again. Actually I bought a pillow, spending full 158 bucks (there was some sort of offer from recron pillows in office) and I forgot it on my desk. I came back to office only to find that its not there. I was managing without a pillow for the last 8 months..just because I was too lazy to buy one and when I bought this one, some f****** soul is sleeping on it!! I mean stealing is ok but how somebody can come up with this brilliant idea of stealing a pillow!! He just didn’t think of this poor soul who didn’t have this privilege of keeping his head on soft lap for the last 8 months!!

Two days back, I had the privilege of listening to ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh live!! That was one of the memorable experience and a night to remember. It was the first time I was there for his live performance.He was at his usual best and rendered some of his beautiful and eternal compositions. The program stared with “ Kaun kehta hai mohabbat ki zubaan hoti hai” followed by ghazal from “Sarfarosh” and “ Hum toh hain pardes main, des main nikla hoga chand”. And the icing was provided by “ Mainoo tera shabab laye baitha hoon, rang gora gulab laye baitha hoon” and “ Ye daulat bhi le lo”.
For the Punjabi flavour , he sang “ dhai din na jawani nal chaldi kurti mal mal di” which literally lifted the audience from their seats. Auditorium was jam packed and he made everybody’s evening a memorable one. All in all, an unforgettable experience.

Its Sunday tomorrow. Swades plan is cancelled now. Will watch it on some weekday. So now I am planning to sleep till Monday morning!!

Happy weekend..

PS: Just made a "TO DO" list and it contains an amazing 16 items!!i never knew so many things were pending!!

Tuesday, December 14, 2004

Reservations in private sector..Is this move justified?

I was busy, doing my work day before yesterday when I got this mail saying Govt. is trying to build consensus on giving reservation to scheduled castes in jobs in private sector also and if you are opposing this step sign on petitiononline.com. I don’t know the authenticity of petitiononline.com or the affect that this petition will create and neither I signed it, still it excited and provoked my thinking buds to grind my opinions on this issue.

Do we really need to provide reservation to SC/ST’s or OBC’s in education or services? Do they really need reservation? Will it improve their condition socially and economically and will this reservation policy bring them out of the tag of “deprived class”? I have tried to find out the answers and more appropriately I have tried to through some light on futility of this policy.

1. In my opinion, first and the foremost thing is, the term “reservation” is totally against a very basic right of every citizen that is given in the constitution i.e. “Right to Equality”. According to this, every citizen is equal and is entitled for all the opportunities and according to which no discrimination can be made on the basis of caste, creed, color, region or religion. This provision of reservation kills the basic idea of this right and is against the spirits of constitution. So first of all we need to delete this trivial right of ours.



2. Those advocating this reservation policy vehemently give this reason for this quota system “ They are the deprived class”. So, does that mean only SC/ST’s are deprived and all the others come under the creamy layer of the society?? Caste has nothing to do with the economic status of a person. A Brahmin may be in tatters and a harijan may be in all the luxuries and still, if the govt. is hell bent on giving reservations, then economic status should be the criteria and not the caste.


3. 80% of the “deprived” schedules caste population lives in rural areas, which is also deprived economically and academically. The basic aim of providing reservations is to bring these rural scheduled population to the main stream, which is deprived in real sense and to empower them by giving them jobs and by protecting them through reservation. While on the other hand what is required in Private sector is education and skills. The rural scheduled caste population has neither of them. So these posts will be absorbed by the their urban counterparts which are any way well-to-do and some are even living life of luxury. So the basic idea of providing reservation dies another death here.


4. Now, here is an eye opener for all those who are for reservation in Private sector. There is a phenomenal backlog of vacant posts in Govt. sector that are reserved for scheduled castes and even after trying hard, govt. is finding it difficult to fill these posts. Has anyone pondered over this issue before starting advocating reservation in Private sector? The reason for this backlog is, they are not fulfilling the bare minimum criteria of education. They are not educated, a condition which can directly be attributed to their economic background. They are below poverty line (so as other high castes people also, although their no. might be less). Instead of striking at the root cause of the problem i.e. poverty and illiteracy, we are pushing for reservations which only deprives suitable and more deserving candidates. And if I m wrong and if there are deserving candidates in scheduled castes that’s straightaway means that govt has failed to identify them and failed to provide jobs that are ear marked for them and if govt. is not finding suitable candidates how can we expect private sector to fill the posts for them successfully??

Strangely enough, there has not been any demand for this sort of reservation from the public but the government is trying to build the consensus on this issue. (If there was demand, I haven’t heard any!!) For me, it seems to be another political stunt. This time by UPA govt. It seems they just want to cement their place in govt till eternity by providing this illogical and mind boggling reservation in private sector!

This vicious circle of giving and taking reservations will continue to grow and would become grim even more in future. This is the time we need to sincerely bend our backs and work sincerely towards providing education and improving economic conditions of the poor population of our country. Providing reservations on the name of giving equal opportunity sounds similar to an Ostrich who dump its head in sand when it sees a danger coming towards it, thinking that it has evaded the danger….


Saturday, December 11, 2004

Strange Tears...

A very strange thing happened to me yesterday evening…I was watching super singer on Channel V and the program was full of typical I-am-the-best thingie while most were true duds. It was mostly college crowd, which gathered to show their talent. Most were just entertaining themselves, some were happy as they were on camera while some were serious participants too.
Suddenly a small boy of 12-13 years of age appeared on the screen. He was accompanied by his aunt (Bua). He was there to showcase his talent. His father was preparing him for the competition as soon as he heard about this competition. He died exactly a week before the audition and this little boy was there to fulfill his father’s dream. He sang in front of Adnan Sámi. Although his voice was not polished and all but he was singing from his heart and was singing on pretty high pitch (which I m sure is difficult even for adults to emulate). The boy was looking completely sad and lost. Probably he was totally immersed in his song or he was paying a homage of sorts to his late father. His voice had all the depth of the world. He even cleared the first round and returned again for the second . Gave another touching performance. Channel V gave him special gifts and although he could not make it to the third round, he paid true tribute to his father. Hats off to him..

Now..why am I narrating this to u?? After his spirited performance, my eyes literally shed two tears. I don’t know where this boy touched my chord? Don’t know where I relate myself to him? I don’t know why I felt for him and become emotional !!!

Probably the 30th point of my last post (WHO AM I?) justified itself in the strangest of manner!!

Thursday, December 09, 2004

WHO AM I ??

1. An Atheist
2. A teetotaler
3. A vegetarian by choice
4. Tea addict
5. A guitar player; intermediate stage
6. Electronics engineer
7. A telecom professional
8. An avid reader, be it newspapers, magazines or novels but hates fiction.
9. A very casual guy in his approach
10. Loves to travel and explore new places.
11. Loves adventure
12. Don’t love pets!!!
13. Lazy guy by nature
14. Hates washing clothes
15. Loves to write but most of the times his laziness scores over the writer inside him!!
16. Wants to have all the clothes in this world in his wardrobe.
17. Budding interests includes photography.
18. Ex- district level cricket player
19. A future social activist
20. Non believer in astrology
21. Non believer in superstitions
22. “NOT SO BAD” cook
23. Not a party animal
24. Loves solitude
25. Music lover
26. Loves to walk aimlessly on road
27. goes to bed not before 2:00 AM.
28. Loves to work at night
29. Special interests included history and Politics!!
30. Emotional at times

I guess some of u can add to this list...i would like to see that!!!

Monday, December 06, 2004

Laws of life...!!

Sorry, couldn’t write anything during these days…actually am too busy these days…this office is grinding me like anything for the past 4-5 days and I was working like a donkey even on Sunday..

Got some nice laws of life thru a fwd….so for the time being am just doing the cut paste job and posting this…enjoy…


Lorenz's Law of Mechanical Repair:
After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch.

Anthony's Law of the Workshop:
Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Kovac's Conundrum:
When you dial a wrong number, you never get an engaged one.

Cannon's Karmic Law:
If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire,
the next morning you will have a flat tire.

O'Brien's Variation Law:
If you change queues, the one you have left will start to move faster than
the one you are in now.

Bell's Theorem :
When the body is immersed in water, the telephone rings.

Ruby's Principle of Close Encounters :
The probability of meeting someone you know increases when you are with
someone you don't want to be seen with.

Willoughby's Law :
When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

Zadra's Law of Biomechanics :
The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the reach.

Breda's Rule :
At any event, the people whose seats are furthest from the aisle arrive
last.

Owen's Law :
As soon as you sit down to a cup of hot coffee, your boss will ask you to
do something which will last until the coffee is cold.

Howden's Law :
You remember you have to mail a letter only when you're near the mailbox.

Cheers...

Monday, November 29, 2004

UNTITLED...

Its 8:30 pm and I m still sitting in office. Just don’t feel like going back today. Its been a while since I wrote about myself and my blog is looking more like the editorial page of “THE HINDU” specially two articles out of last three…So now the next two articles about the second and third pillar of democracy will have to wait for some more time and in the meantime I will recollect my composure. Life is a bit hazy (am not getting the correct word..God..Improve my English!!) these days..and I don’t even know the reason. This has always been a problem with me throughout my 23 summers on this earth. Sometimes I feel very dull..pretty low, without any reason to support that sudden dip in altitude!! It happens once in two months…So, as you can see the frequency of this phenomena is pretty less , so I m managing it nicely… Now forget about this crap…

Saw two movies last week in a span of three days…. VEER ZAARA and MUGHAL-E-AZAM…Liked the first one, although ,I personally feel that somewhere it lacked the punch and it wasn’t looking like a Yash Chopra product…probably that happens when u have lot of expectations…Anyways, it was a nice movie to watch…but I fell completely in love with Mughal-e-Azam…specially with the flawless beauty of Madhubala and the screen presence of Prithvi Raj Kapoor. Just hear him delivering his dialogues and u will go crazy.

Although the dialogues were too long and sometimes it was difficult to interpret them , still they were the soul of the movie along with (ofcourse) PRK.Three of madhubala’s dialogues that are still fresh in my mind:-

Madhubala to Dilip Kumar: “ Kaanton ko murjhane ka khauff nahi hota”!!
Madhubala to Dilip Kumar “ In aankhon se inke khawaab na cheeniye shenshah”
And this one takes the cake..
Madhubala to PRK “ Sahib-e-ala ki zindagi ke liye Zill-e-ilahi ko is kaneez ka khoon maaf hoga”

Appeared for CAT on 21st Nov and even I don’t have the faintest of idea that why the hell I filled CAT form!! Literally destroyed the paper (phod daala)…so now I m expecting calls from IIM-chinchpokli and IIM-Jhumritalaiya….In case, I convert any of those, will join the former as it falls in Mumbai..!!

A sensational news is doing rounds on all the news channels these days and all TV channels are trying to stuff as much as they can in their 24 hours (although some are still managing to show programs (read B grade stuff) like JURM , KAATIL KAUN and CRIME REPORTER!!) The rift between Ambani brothers. Now this is what your ego and hunger for power can do to u. I mean, leave apart a royal life, what the hell in this world are they lacking?? Probably to be at the helm of the most admired business house in India is not suffice. I can write an entire article on this issue but am not in that mood and also there is no need either as all the weekly magazines are filled with articles on this issue only!!

Chalo…am closing here…more later…

PS: wearing washed clothes these days as I have just returned from my home and everything is ARIEL washed!!

Tuesday, November 23, 2004

First pillar of Democracy --- Parliament

I have started reading a new book. No no , I haven’t finished Jack Welch as yet. But I have started this one also. It is “ No full stops in India” by Mark Tully. I have just finished few pages and came across a thought proving line.

“ Democracy has failed in India because leaders have RULED over people and not REPRESENTED them”

Now the obvious question that arises from this statement is “ Has democracy really failed in India?” There can be zillion answers in support of this question and also against it. And although it will be a little overstatement to say this but Yes, I believe democracy has failed in India. It has failed to live up to the expectations with which India decided to become a democratic nation. Probably it failed to bear the burden of 100 crores!! And probably the creators of our constitution failed to visualize this growth from 30 crores to 100 crores in a span of 50 years . As a result, democracy in India is crumbling under its own weight.

Reason?? First and the foremost is, India failed to produce LEADERS…it produced only POLITICIANS. The only worry for them is not how to make India better but how to win next elections. I was reading a piece of stats few days back which indicated that there were 130 odd parliamentary sittings every year for the first two decades which has now reduced to 50+ sittings and we all know what they do while sitting there. The actual time spent in fruitful discussions, logical debates and making policies is even less. That’s because most of the time we hear only about disruptions, adjournments and walkouts. Who’s bothered about eradicating poverty, educating masses and providing health facilities?

Another aspect that I can think of, about democracy, keeping in view India only, is the provision of ADULT FRANCHISE. One who has attained 18 years of age is eligible to vote, his educational credentials not withstanding. This practice has gone with absolute smoothness in the west where basic education is not an issue but copying them here is costing us dearly and will cause more damage in the years to come. In the west, more or less, everybody is educated. In India approximately half of the population is still illiterate. It means they are not even literate forget about educated. In India, a literate is a person who can write his/her name and read it. So, this way, constitution has given the opportunity to a person, who barely knows how to write his name, to choose his representative and who in turn will take the decisions, make laws and regulate policies. And in this way a person who is spending his entire earnings of the day (labour class) boozing and beating his wife in the night, is selecting representatives to run this country. No wonder, politics is full of Phoolan Devis and Arun Gawlis these days…

The practice of electing representatives (read rulers) that started way back in 1952 is still continuing and going strong. We have elections for everything now..Parliamentary elections, State assembly elections, Panchayats elections even elections for Municipal councils and wards. And the issues on which these elections are fought and won are (surprisingly enough) still the same and most of the people in our country are still waiting for Food, shelter, clothing, electricity, water , roads, health facilities and education!!!

People are still dying of hunger (in Orissa and Chhhatisgarh) although we became self sufficient in food grains long back. A sizeable population is still managing without shelter and proper clothing. There is no electricity at all at least in 25% of India, roads are not visible as they are made only on paper and I don’t even want to comment on health facilities and education. So in short, democracy has given us this beautiful drama of elections.

Now the question is what point I m trying to drive home?

The need of the hour is a total revamp of the laws to select the representatives who are one of the three pillars of democracy. Otherwise, the cracks which are easily visible on this first pillar of democracy will soon widen enough to break it altogether. We need to analyze closely the need as well as the effectiveness (keeping in view ground realities of India) of the rules and laws to select the representatives, laid down by the makers of constitution long back. There must be minimum educational qualification for both the candidates as well as for the voters (This is very essential). Somehow, they must be made more accountable to public whom they are representing and a strict vigil is needed on the money spent on various public welfare schemes which never see the Day light. After all that money is coming from the pocket of the exchequer.

And for all this to happen, strong political will is required which I am not seeing in the next 20 years!!! Am I advocating dictatorship??? ;-)

Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Popcorn Khao Aur So Jao...

Not much to write..but one of my friend insisted on a new post..so I decided to write something and while I m writing these lines I really have no idea what I m gonna write.

Saw “Vaastushashtra” three days back. Movie was OK but not too much scary...Still it was OK….I mean what else do u want from a horror movie, that too for an Indian audience. After all u cannot ask the director to make a movie which will take u r heart out from u r mouth!! I have got friend ( female obviously!!) who is afraid to go to the kitchen alone after watching the movie and is seeing “Manish” and “Jyoti” at all places in her flat!! RGV passed with flying colours if we take the case of my dear friend as the benchmark for horror!!

Forgot to write about a movie which I tried to watch a few days earlier. I brought a CD of movie “Popcorn Khao Mast Ho Jao”. I was brave enough to fight with the torture for full 25 minutes. Then fainted. I mean making a movie is OK but how somebody can come up with such a masterpiece after spending 6-7 Crores!!!

Have got a new book now. Autobiography of Jack welsh “Straight from the gut”. Haven’t started it yet. Probably I will finish it during my journey to my hometown..which is scheduled on 10th of Nov and ticket status is still Waiting-13!!(Pray for me..)

On the guitar front, Yeah I m playing strings far better than before and rhythm is also coming good..( This is strictly my perception and cannot be subjected for jurisdiction to any court in india.!!)

Rest all is as as monotonous as it could be…It will be a welcome break for full 10 days when I m leaving for my hometown…Hope to come up with something interesting then..

Byee…

PS: Got this beautiful quote from "Abby"..
"LIMIT IS IN THE MIND. SKY IS JUST AN EXCUSE!!"

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Insane Politicians...

After a hectic day, I was watching TV yesterday (Surfing is more apt as I don’t like to watch a particular channel for more than 15 min. and generally this duration is less than 4 minutes!!). This headline flashed on screen “Temple is certain at Ayodhaya: L K Advani” and with this a little smile flashed on my lips too. I owe that smile to the total bankruptcy of ideas that BJP is facing these days. Its in total shambles now. The strong bastion of BJP is getting blasted day by day. They are yet to accept the defeat of Lok Sabha and more recently in some assembly elections including Maharashtra. And this “making of temple” is the same issue which they conveniently scrapped from their Common Minimum Programme when they were in power!!!

Just an year ago, even in my wildest of dreams I would not have imagined this party going in this direction. I mean, we have come a long way after that black incident of Babri Masjid demolition. Its 15 years damn it! Ask the common men what he need? Temple at Ayodhaya or food to eat? Temple at Kashi or better place to live & good education for his children? Probably the intellects in BJP are still moaning the loss of Power… moaning to an extent that they have gone insane!! Who would like to see the blood bath again that happened just after the demolition of Babri Masjid? I am not trying to dig something from the past but am amused to see the lanes on which such learned and experienced men in this party are thinking.

I tried to jotted down what went wrong with this party (let me share this with u..even I was an ardent supporter of BJP just a few months ago but their recent attitude towards literally everything turned me off)

1. Sidelining of A B Vajpayee: Only BJP could have come up with such idea. They failed to understand that it was this man because of whom 23 parties were ready to give support to them for full 5 years ( He resigned before that to go for early elections) He was probably the only acceptable face of BJP to the entire nation. A man with vast experience, clean image and total hold on the party. The day BJP decided to sideline him their progress curve took the downward path.

2. Infighting among 2nd line: Strong second line…Something which BJP boasted (rightly so) for so long time is now the genesis of this crisis. Venkaiah Naidu, Promod Mahajan, Uma Bharti, Arun Jaitely, Sushma Swaraj..the list is endless…The problem is..nobody is second among them. All have realized that after sidelining A B Vajpayee and with ageing Advani in command , its their best chance to make it big. They are ready to press their legs hard on the accelerator to do the transition from second line to the front. In the process, they are not even hesitating to run on to each other..the only sufferer is the party…

3. Strong influence of hardliners: As evident from yesterday’s statement of Advani, they are still under the influence of hardliners. Although party is now 25 years old, its still in the strong claws of RSS. Unless and until they freed themselves from their jaws and develop their own ideology, revival will be a distant dream.

I know I am drifting from the topic here but still want to write this to all parties.

To all parties: Although we have progressed a lot in the field of Nuclear technology, Space research, IT, and all, a lot of hardwork is still required. On one hand , if we have millionaires in Mumbai, on the other, we have starving children in Kalahandi (Orissa). We are still facing the basic problems of Food, Shelter, Electricity, Water, Roads, Education & Proper health facilities. Its high time. India is on the verge of making it big..to make its presence felt to the world. Its high time that the parties should work together diluting their differences to make India a force to reckon with…I know I am expecting too much from our politicians!!

Saturday, October 23, 2004

Escape from Routine!!

Lot of things happened during the last two three days…and so I have shrugged off the“monotonous life” tag for some time.

It was a traditional day of sorts in office on 21st and on the occasion of Dussehra all ladies were asked to wear sari and guys were supposed to wear Kurta. Now this activity was totally optional but thanks to some dear colleagues of mine ,it was made a sort of compulsory thing for me and that REQUEST from the office authorities became an ORDER for me!!!Now the problem was..i didn’t have any Kurta. And although one of my friend offered to lend me one..there was another glitch. The dimensions of my body generally does not allow me to fit into anybody’s clothing. But as my friends were hell bent on making me a clown..i bowed to their wishes.And on 21st , I was wearing Kurta with my Jeans…(am not sure whether I was wearing Kurta ot kurta was wearing me!!)

During the last four days, I had two long drive and one long-long drive!!Actually on first two occasions we were driving withing the city and yesterday we pushed ourselves to Lonavala..It was not at all planned and after having lunch at a restaurant, we thought of driving somewhere and ended up at Lonavala. There we saw sun set point…Yes only sun set point and not the actual sunset as we were pretty late to reach there and sun was already below the horizon..!! Then again it was a nice drive back to Mumbai ..All in all a nice day.

Now I am having plans to go to Pune..and yes..there is no chance of derailment of this plan as I am scheduled to leave for Pune in next 1 hour…Although I have been statying in Mumbai for the past 15 months ..i was not privileged enough to visit Pune..I just hope it will be fun…

Two topics are doing rounds in my mind these days…
1. Dual faces of Mumbai..
2. Importance of Gadgets in Life these days!!
Would like to write a little about them sometime…

PS:
1. Still praising the B & W beauty of Photographs..
2. Still planning to see Vaastushashtra…
3. Still listening to Veer Zaara…
4. Still having Waiting – 13 Status for my journey…
5. Still all my clothes are screaming for a wash!!!

Tuesday, October 19, 2004

Slice of life!!

Looking at the date , I just realized that I m regularly irregular in writing my blogs. Average is about once a week. Why So? Because the days are not happening enough to put up something here..don’t wanna write eat, worked, slept kind of stuff here…

Life is getting monotonous again (I realize this fact after every 7-8 days).Just to break the monotony, a few days back I decided to come to office early..no no..not to do the office stuff…but to spend some time sitting at my comp.,sipping coffee, all alone..some how I enjoy working at the hours when nobody’s there in office (only I know how badly I want the concept of flexible timings in office)I hate crowd (except when there is a party).Now this “early morning office” adventure is also becoming a routine…will have to device some new ways to break it again…I wonder how badly one requires variations and changes in life…This reminds me of the famous line “CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT PHENOMENA IN LIFE!!”

My plans are again back to the old track...they are derailing again…I have put my swimming plan in cold bag for some time (and I really don’t have any idea why?) and dropped the idea of watching Bride & Prejudice after some rave (!!) reviews from my friends…

Had a hair cut this Sunday.I m looking like a freashly reared sheep now.

Leaving for my native place for diwali…Booked my tickets well in advance..atleast one and a half month back..still managed to get waiting – 16 only…Current status is showing as W-13. I am praying that it is just a software bug which is showing W-13 and actually its coach S-13!! (Hunch is…this waiting will not clear…why these things happen to me only??)

Had a lovely Sunday…a quite dinner then a long drive..then desserts…

PS:
1. Waiting for Vaastushashtra
2. Planning to go to a book fair..
3. Playing Musafir hoon yaaron on guitar (RD & Gulzar..the best u can get…)
4. Looking forward to Friday holiday…
5. Veerappan is dead!!

Cheers…

Wednesday, October 13, 2004

Hyderabad Visit

My Success ratio of executing my week end plans is now 100% if I take into account last two weekends. This weekend I had a trip to Hyderabad and I must tell u I am impressed by the parts I saw. Mainly Banjara Hills, Jubilee Hills , Hi-Tech City & all. Living in Mumbai, Hyderabad seemed all the more spacious. Less population,less vehicles and less pollution and if we compare these terms with Mumbai we can easily replace “Less” with “Negligible”!! Met my old friends there..had a blast for 30 hrs. That blast included a 3 hour long adventure in swimming pool & that too in late evening.So now paying the price and struggling with bad throat. Yesterday I was barely managing to speak. Took the pill at 8:30 PM.Then waited for my body to respond to it.Then waited for some more time. It didn’t. Cursed that medicine a lot.Probably hurt the tablet’s ego in that process. So am feeling better now.

“Alchemist” encountered a hurdle as I went to Hyderabad. Resumed it yesterday. Coehlo has presented complexities of life in the simplest of ways. That’s the beauty of that book. Millions of books are available where complex philosophy of life is discussed and described in literally un interpretable way. I think that’s the easiest thing to do. Difficult is to put the complex things on a platter. That is what exactly done by Coehlo.

Swimming plans are set aside by me atleast for some time. I want to give my bad throat a fair chance to recover…

PS:
1. Listening to Veer Zaara & Swades these days.
2. Planning to watch Bride & Prejudice this week end.
3. Struggling with Bad throat
4. Viewing Hyderabad snaps in B & W. Wonder why people go for coloured when there is so much beauty in black & White snaps!!!

Tuesday, October 12, 2004

Dissatisfied World

I came across this article today..so just thought of sharing with you all...

We live in a dissatisfied world ! !

Tell you why. . .

Because we love to compare....

Go around the world and discover that people aren't happy with their bodies . . . .

Filipinos want to be fair-complexioned like Westerners and so buy bleaching stuff.
Westerners want to own bronzed bodies like ours and so purchase tanning lotions.
Those with moles have them removed, while those who don't strategically implant beauty spots.
Some people want to shed a few pounds to look like Ally McBeal, while others want to gain some
fat to look like Drew Barrymore.

When are we ever going to stop and simply be happy with how we look?

We live in a sick world, I tell you. And that sickness is comparisonitis.

Take a look at wealth.....

When we drive our old car, it really suits us fine. We feel blessed in fact when the rain
pours outside and we feel snug and cozy on its faded upholstered seats.

But the moment we see our own office mate (or neighbor, or buddy, or cousin, or brother)
drive his sleek, luxurious new car we automatically feel like third-class children of God.

Next time we drive our bumpy, noisy, rusted, dilapidated car, (notice how all the defects
come out all of a sudden?), we feel deprived, dispossessed.

Listen carefully.

Bill Gates total assets are worth $60 billion, that's more than the GNP of some small countries.

Tiger Woods earns $80 million simply by smiling on TV in a Nike shirt.

And the stars of the sitcom Friends are paid $750,000 per episode!

The point? No matter how hard you work, there'll still be some people who will be richer than you
are. And there'll be some people who will be more beautiful, have more appeal and have more problems.

Try it for once. Stop looking around. Don't compare!

Don't compare her nose with your nose.
Don't compare his wife with your wife.
Don't compare his salary with your salary.
Don't compare her kid's report card with your kid's report card.

Stop comparing and Start living! And you'll be happier with your life, I guarantee.

This is crucial:
The most difficult thing in the world is to be who you are not.
Pretending and trying to be someone else is the official pastime of the human race.

And the easiest thing in the world is to be yourself. Be happy. Live!

There must be a reason why God made you tall or short or fat or thin or bumpy all over.

Love who you are! Be happy, it's not that difficult!


The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything;
they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

Wednesday, October 06, 2004

Sleeper Buses!!!

Somethings are misleading.Especially when u are asking for the services and when u take the advertisements too seriously.
SLEEPER BUSES..Tell me what u can derive from this word? Hey? Did I hear “Buses in which u can sleep peacefully” Well that was what I thought and am sorry to say that you are as horribly wrong as I was.The last thing that u can do in these buses is to catch a nap. Infact, catching a sleep for few minutes, let alone few hours, is more difficult than to interpret the mysterious expressions of Monalisa!! I had this mind boggling experience during my journey to Mumbai from Indore. My last sentence clearly suggest that this time my plans did not crash & I finally enjoyed my weekend if u exclude my to and fro trips..

First my return trip:
Indore to Mumbai: I had to attend office on Monday morning straight after the 16 Hours long journey. Keeping this in mind, I opted for the so called Sleeper Bus. Cushioning & all was too good..even better than the poster of the bus that was showed to me by the receptionist along with her charming smile…(This is what I call “Perfect Advertisement”)Perfect Cushions were good enough to entice me to sleep & the Indian roads were hell bent on keeping me awake.And if your berth no. is 21 even God cannot help u..
Yes…Rear wheels were right below this one. They ensured that when I reached office unshaven, untidy and totally sleepy, I was no more than a 62 KG pulp,beaten and grinded like anything…

Onward Journey:
Mumbai to Indore: From Mumbai to Indore was no better. Covered the Journey of 16 Hours in exactly 21 Hours. Thanks to the bus which started 3 hours off the schedule & to add to my misery, there were 3 traffic jams & the bus broke down once…

In between these two heavenly journeys spent 25 pleasing hours at Indore..
This weekend again am going out of station..This time destination is Hyderabad..And I am damn sure that this time there will be no traffic jams (Going by train this time..our good ol' sleeper coaches!!)

Have a nice day..

PS:
1.Reading "Alchemist" by Paul Coelho.
2.Haven't touched guitar for the last 4 days..
3.Listening to a lot of music on my new SONY music system..
4.Planning to join swimming classes..another adventure..(another plan!!)
5.Looking fwd to this weekend..!!

Tuesday, September 28, 2004

Plan Busted..!!

Date: 27th Sep'04
Time: 1:06AM

Writing at this time!! Yes...Why??..Because i just felt like writing something ..thats it. But the sad part is ..am not writing on MS-Word,instead its my writing pad..So i will have to put some more pressure on my finger tips (which are already having hard time as i am practicing leads on my guitar these days) & will have to type everything again (which i am doing right now..)

But its very essential to write..Because i want to write how a maid servant who has nothing to do with u r life can bust u r idea of an ideal week end.Yes..I was supposed to have a guitar jam at my friends place. Then revision 1 of the program came & he decided to come to my place on Sunday morning. He never turned up as his maid kept him waiting too long & we had to drop the idea.So, this way, a maid servent, who is not even remotely connected to me,who has nothing to do with my life...took the life out of my weekend & instead of having a jam, i ended up watching TV, eating maggie, sipping tea and sipping more tea!!!This is just another example of how my plans take 180 degree turn at the last moment & how the chairman of the planning commission sitting inside me mourns the death of each & every plan conceived by him.

I just hope my plan for this weekend will not meet the same fate & just to continue with my tradition of making plans..i have planned another weekend..(9-10 Oct.)

As it was sunday,i did some dusting..and as it was sunday ..i obliged myself by washing not two but three clothes...2 t-shirts and a shirt..

PS:Bought SONY music system..2600 Watts..!!

Saturday, September 25, 2004

Another Plan!!

Two weekends are fast approaching. One is “Reliance Weekend “ while other one is “True Weekend”(2nd – 3rd Oct.) Although I have plans for both the weekends, I am sure the first one will be over till the time I realize that it was Sunday…Planning to have a guitar Jam session at friends place this Sunday.This clearly indicates that I need to go through the Joy ride of Local Train (Kindly read "SELF IMPOSED TORTURE") for full two hours. Apart from that, a friend’s party is also due. I just hope that I will be able to snatch it from her atleast this time.

As far as the TRUE WEEKEND is concerned. I don’t want to write about that at this point of time, as there is every possibility of it dying premature death.

Nothing much happening these days so not much to write. In office the day is getting evaporated in Meetings, VC’s and Presentations. Sometimes I really wonder whether I do any work on my desk or not!!

Have a nice weekend…

Tuesday, September 21, 2004

True weekend...

After reading this space, one of my friend suggested that this is more like a diary and not a blog. I concede that it actually is my diary.Writing on various topics and discussing them was never my intention. I just want to write about me, about my life, my experiences…basically my journey of life even if it means writing my day to day stuff…

I had a bad headache for two days. probably my “out of choice adventure” (sleeping at 3:00 am) took its toll on me. So now I have truncated my adventure till 2:00!!

I had a Weekend sort of weekend this weekend (what was that??).Actually its was holiday on sat. so got 2 consecutive days off. And enjoyed the two days thoroughly…Did everything…from playing guitar to watching movie..to eating parathas in the midnight to walking aimlessly on road in the night.It was fun and although I came back to my flat half dead at 1:30 AM on Monday morning, I enjoyed my rare weekend.

And now about the movie I watched.It was “Dil ne jise apna kaha”.It truly superceded our expatations. We were expecting a crap and it was well beyond that. Script was hopeless, Bhumika was disappointing, direction was directionless and the product was garbage. Somebody pls tell Salman that summation of crying 5 times in a span of 2 hours does not amounts to good acting.

Monday was as hectic for me as could have been. Generally am busy on Mondays and in that power packed schedule a meeting (which lasted for 2 hours!!) was stuffed. Barely managed to finish the work on time.

A little reassignment of work group was done in our deptt. today and I managed to come out with my old responsibilities…no new additions!!


Looking forward to this new week…

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

A day 48hrs long...

This is the last one from the old writings...
will start posting new ones as and when i write...
Till then enjoy...


Date: 9th Sep.
Time: 4:55 pm

Having a nice feeling today…Reason? Did some work, had one to one meeting with HOD twice and was asked to attend the all-important Friday meeting from tomorrow onwards. I think these are enough reasons to be happy.

Saw “Phir Milenge” last Sunday. It was a decent enough movie but was slow paced. Liked the acting of Abhishek Bachchan.He is maturing with every film. And full kudos to Revathi for making the likes of Shilpa Shetty and Salman Khan to act.

Matheran planned got off the track for me and this was one more plan which will add to my list of “Failed adventures”. Actually not my fault. Our deptt. has just received ISO 9001:2000 certification and the company threw a party to celebrate that. Attended the party and danced a lot after a long long time although didn’t enjoyed much and I don’t even know the reason. Some things are beyond reasoning. That was one.

Bought a new book on Saturday and already finished half of it. It is Sam Walton’s autobiography named “Made in America”. I am reading this one fist and my “Snap shots from the hell” is in wait state now.

The days are getting longer for me. These days am not sleeping before 3:00 am. And yes, that’s purely out of choice.

Some days are too long. Approximately of 48 hours. Sunday was one of them. It was long enough to push me to come to office even on Sunday to kill time. And I did that efficiently. Killed a total of 4 hours.

These days most of the time is going in Guitar, Novel, TV and..yes here is the surprise..Washing clothes. I have made it a point to wash at least two clothes every day. Any combination will do. 1-shirt 1-trousers, 1-shirt 1-t shirt, 2-T shirts or 2-Shirts but not 2-Trousers.That will be too much for me.

That’s enough for today…


Day Out...

Penultimate...

Date: 1st Sep’04
Time: 5:38 pm

So, Starting of a new month!! Not much happened during the last three days. So not much to write. I went for shopping on Sunday. I spent majority of the time searching for the street I was looking for. Although I have already been there twice, still my sense of direction and sense of path is something to beat. Its just mind blowing. After searching for one full hour in scorching heat, I realized that the street I was looking for is at Elephanstine station while I was looking for it at Lower Parel. Apart from this small mistake, I was well on my path. Finally I reached there but dropped the idea of buying from there, as I didn’t find nice pair of shoes there. Then returned back to Dadar.I bought lovely sports shoes. Brand is “Sprendi” . Then I committed a blunder. I decided to board a bus from Dadar to Vashi. Waited for the bus for 45 minutes. It was Jam-packed and I was having the same feeling as a donkey must have after carrying load for the whole day.

I was exhausted totally after reaching home. I decided not to continue the misadventure and dropped the idea of watching movie. So, now the plan of watching movie is again in its planning stages!! Another new plan is on the anvil now. Planning to go to matheran this weekend. Lets see this will materialize or not.

Ya.. One big news is that I got my incremented salary yesterday and its Pretty satisfying as far as financial security is concerned.

Now about the CAT preparations…I have read a few RC’s and have done pretty fairly in them but apart from that haven’t done anything. I will give myself 10 more days if my preparation continue to go in this haphazard fashion, I will replace that “spent” word with “wasted”.

Enough for today..

CAT, Olympics & Plans!!

Fifth one...bear with me...Just two more..

Date: 28th Aug’04
Time: 5”09pm

Finally I got my CAT form yesterday evening and thanks to our postal department it reached me in exactly 8 days. Posted on Thursday and received on next Friday. If I am not wrong normal post reaches in 4 days time and cost u just 5 bucks of stamp instead of 60 bucks for speeding it up.

Now about the cell bill, which I was supposed, to pay on 26th as it was the last day. Just before leaving for the Web World, realized that the last date was 25th and not 26th (Why this happens to me only??). At that very moment dropped the idea of paying bill. Anyways they are going to charge me 25 bucks surcharge, doesn’t matter I pay today or with the next bill. So why bother now!!

As far as CAT is concerned, haven’t started any serious preparations till now and the chapter of Ratio & Proportions, which I was supposed to wind up on 25th,still staring at me reminding me those 1500 bucks that I have SPENT on CAT material. And if this trend continues, soon I will have to replace this “SPENT” word with “WASTED”.

Yesterday saw Anju Bobby George’s Long jump event. Although she finished 6th,she leapt a creditable distance of 6.83m which is also her best and a new national record. Giving personal best in an event like Olympics is creditable and she did exactly that. Hats off to her.

Also watched Women’s 4x400 relay. The quartet was beenamol, chitra soman and two Kaur’s (I don’t exactly remember their names). We cheered them throughout their 3:26:89 effort and were surprised that they won bronze as they came third only to realize that we just wasted our throats for full 3:26:89 as it was heats and not the finals. Good part was that they qualified for the finals.

It’s Saturday today. So by simplest of calculations we can derive that tomorrow is Sunday and more importantly its off from office. Planning to go for shopping with my flat partner and yes this time no shoe polish and shaving cream. Probably I will buy some clothes or a pair of shoes. Also planning to see movie called “Phir Milenge”

PS: These are only the plans and there is no guarantee that they will materialize.

Vadapav..oh no..not again..

Here is the fourth one...I guess three more old writings to go...

Date: 26th Aug’04
Time: 5:10 pm

Time to write my page…am thinking of putting all these pages on net…as my blogs…some day I will have my home page and some day I will be able to put these pages on net…(Finally am putting them on net…mission accomplished!!)

Today resolved one or two official issues…so am happy…why? Isn’t it a part of my job? Probably that’s immaturity!!! Who cares.. Am happy.. That’s it.
But all in all, I didn’t have much to do today. So killed a lot of time reading mails and surfing indianguitartabs.com.Spending too much time on this site for the last few months. I think I have mastered this art of killing time now.

Didn’t do anything fruitful yesterday. Anyways, this is the case with most of the days. Reached home pretty early, and then went to eat something because I was dying of hunger. Somehow couldn’t find anything other than Vadapavs and meesalpavs (I just hate these Pav, wonder how 60% of Mumbai is surviving on this only. Infact I wonder whether they know what is sandwich and bread roll or not. I have named Vada Pav as “Doggy Meal”. No offence intended to mumbaikars.).I end up eating masala dosa. Then had a nice little nap of two hours and with this nap, my whole plan of studying after reaching home busted.

Watched India-Pakistan hockey match and we beat them 3-0 in their favour!!(We lost..) Also saw Anju George’s long jump where she took a leap of 6.69 meters (Even I can jump that distance, who cares if it is in two leaps) in her first attempt and sealed a place in finals scheduled for tomorrow. It was 11:00 pm when I again went out in search of something edible and this time again my search ended up with …Guess what…Masala Dosa…

Couldn’t sleep till 3:20 am, so again killed time watching TV. (Don’t u think I should be punished for an offence called “Murder”)

I prepared a small list of to “To Do’s” yesterday and committed to myself to finish them today. There were 6 in all and after finishing some, left are 6!! Hehe.. Haven’t finished any…

O my god, I have to pay my cell bill today. Its last date today. Going to Web World…

Am Confirmed now!!!

This is the third one in the series...

Date: 25th Aug’04
Time: 3:35pm

The time of my writings suggests that I m getting pretty much free time in office..Let me make this very clear here itself…am getting free time as I m efficient enough to complete the assigned tasks before time limit and not because I don’t have any work..another nice way to please u r self!!!

I have received my CAT material on 23rd, but yet to receive my CAT form. I have started my preparations starting with “quanta”…finished half of “Ratio & Proportions” Yesterday…will wind it up today. Although I know I had enough time yesterday itself to finish it off…but the sheer laziness got better of me…anything new? This has always been the case with me..

Have bought as new novel, “Snapshots from the Hell”. ‘The making of an MBA’. I have started it.. but I have finished just one chapter of it…So this is another place where I can put that lame excuse again…that I was too busy!!! (I know I m just not pushing myself).

I got the confirmation letter on 21st Aug.So now I am an L3 on paper also. Salary is decent enough now.. although I must admit that I have developed some sort of affinity with money now and everything is appearing as peanuts to me. Is it strange?? Nah..99.99% of the humans have this affinity…So nothing wrong with it…

Oh another news…got my quota of 41 TCS shares…The company got listed today and the stock that bought for 850 bucks opened at 1050 RS..although it has diminished to current 985 Rs (3:47 pm).

Did some shopping yesterday.. no no..not shirts and trousers..but shoe polish, shaving cream and blades…Yet to wash the clothes…(Guess this line is going to figure in every page of this diary).

Moving On...

This is the second one of that "OLD POSTINGS" series..Hope am not confusing anybody..

Date: 21st Aug’04
Time: 5:56pm

The best thing about writing on PC is that u can be as exact as u want with the time..just look at the bottom corner of u r right hand side on the screen and u can write precisely the seconds also..really gone are the days of wristwatches. This whole thing about time struck me when I was writing the time in today’s diary…although I sport a wrist watch, which is pretty cool…I wonder..had I ever watched time in it…mostly I pick the time from my cell or from my comp…really we are living in 21st century…

Just noticed that I m writing after exactly 10 days…and where are these days gone? No idea!! Err…O.k. have idea about last 5 days..was attending training on LMDS…(Local Multipoint Distribution System)..wrote the full form here so that I can remember this Abbreviation for few more days!!! Anyways its going to get evaporate from my Cache pretty soon!!!
And yes what about the other 5 days…?? Don’t know ;-)..So am taking it as “was too busy”…Every time when u cannot give an account of the days gone, to u r self…just assume that u were too busy..atleast I do that…and it gives u a feeling that u were pretty overloaded and worked u r heart out..Nice way to relax!!!

So finally I have decided to appear in CAT this time…am not too hopeful about my chances…but I thought I would be a nice idea killing time preparing for CAT instead of killing it on TV!!
My form as well as the CAT material is on the way…probably I will get both on Monday..will start my preparations then..

Tomorrow its Sunday…So it’s a sort of week end for me…actually there is no week end for me..As I work 6 days week…So no Saturday holiday…so no week end..Week for me just ‘ends’…abruptly..

Have lots of things to buy..No shoe polish, no brush, no shaving cream, and no blades. Will buy them tomorrow..
Plus loads of clothes to wash..This is one thing I hate. Everyday I look at the hook trying to figure out which pair is less dirty..and i Keep wearing dirty clothes. I must be smelling like a pig these days…Probably that’s the reason.. No chicks in life!!!

Closing here today with a promise to myself that I will be more regular in writing from now onwards…

Getting started..

Just created my blog..i have written somethings during the last few days..so for the sake of continuity,I am posting them (old ones) in chronological order and then i will start afresh...

Date: 11th Aug’04
Time: 4:55 pm

So…I Am making another attempt to write my diary…to be exact, this is my third attempt…First two (mis) adventure died “Natural Death”… Am in love with this word “ND “ these days...My first foray into writing lasted few days…that was first yr. of my engg. And I stretched the next one to more than a yr.. First time, I started JLT (Just Like That..) and the driving force behind the second was the movie called “Astitva”..as the male lead in that movie used to write his own..and if I m recollecting correctly.. he was Sachin Khedekar…Now the question arises ..Where are those two Shakespearean Works??
Answer is ….GOD ONLY KNOWS…I don’t even have the faintest of idea where are the manuscripts!!! First one is truly lost..and if second one has not met the same fate yet.. it must be languishing somewhere in the storeroom of my house in Gwalior waiting for someone to take it out and sell it to some kabadiwala…

Now am having comp. at my disposal and a bit of free time too…always wanted to write my own diary…so I am starting an all new Shakespearean work again!!!Lets see how far it goes…The best part is…I don’t have to bother to search a pen every time to start writing …thanks to Bill Gates….
Am having amazing (???) tool called MS Word!!!

Going through a lot of things these days.. but first a special one…just completed my one yr in office on 4th of august…This is another indication that the time does not melts…it just evaporates…its just a week since I have completed a year yet I can see a positive change in the behavior of my seniors…they are now treating me more as one among the equals and not as a petty GET!!!Am an L3 (this is the hierarchy in our company, L1 being the highest) now and got a considerable hike in my salary also…hope this trend will continue….

Trying to do a lot of things these days…reading novels regularly…Right now am going through “Wise or Otherwise” by Sudha Murthy. Before that I read “Five Point Someone” by Chetan Bhagat.. My true inspiration for my third attempt!!! Really. the novel was awesome…one-liners were great…real humour…great narration…each and every line was carefully written to keep u tightly bounded to the Novel…Unarguably one of the best I have read till date…