Horse I View ;)

It's been that kinda week...

2009-02-06T21:49:00.005+08:00

And I am back. I've been away for too long... far too long!

What's brought me back is - a memorable past 2 days in office. Thursday was one of the bestest days I've had in sometime, which left me feeling very proud & accomplished.

Delivered a well received presentation in the morning.
During which my boss had to hold fort & weather out a real storm that promised to bring our house down - got into it & resolved it in the afternoon.

Just as I was reaching for my cuppa post all the action, was pulled into an immediate critical project review with the AAI-K CMK head! Had 2 answers for her 1 question - gave her a good shot of confidence that the ship was well under control! Walked out of that review with some great ideas on how to make the project bigger & a heap of praise for my + my team's effort :).

As if this wasn't enough (well, praise is always welcome!), had a heart-to-heart with my global boss at night... the conversation was at a level that I didn't quite expect it to be! We had a strategy level discussion where he asked for my thoughts/ideas on how to step change the impact our team could make - it was very encouraging & reassuring to hear from him that he valued my inputs!

And to cap the week off - Today I won an appreciation award from my GM for a project I had done a few months ago.

But, it's also been an emotionally testing week. Nothing to do with me or my work or Niki. A junior of mine is going thru an excruciating & nerve wracking time at work. The guy is fighting. Fighting for his dream. All I can do is watch from the sidelines, give him some tips & spirit on how to fight. It feels gladiatorial... To God I pray that there be glory at the end.

Hope is underappreciated - it's been history's biggest progress & achievement catalyst. And all too often, we make the mistake of taking hope away from people. Hope they can win... hope that their dream is achievable. Nothing is more paralyzing... and it's plain wrong.

As I see those around me & look back at how far I've come in the last 2 months, I've begun to see Venkat (my manager & mentor) in a new light. I can capture what he's done for me in one sentence - He's groomed me as a father would a son. If he asks me to run thru a wall now, I will.

It's been that kinda week...

Pitter patter, pitter patter...down memory lane!

2008-08-24T17:12:00.004+08:00

While lord Surya (not the shady actor from Tollywood, Chennai - Surya, the Sun God from Up Above) is away holidaying on some beach in Bali, lord Varuna decided to make the most of his weekend here in Singapore!

As Nitika is in India, I spent the weekend catching up with a couple of friends over luncheons, which have been due for sometime now! As Amol & I were sitting at Raj, trying to finish our over-ordered meal, he suggested a trek around Macritchie in the rain.

Well, much as my calfs & thighs staged protests, I let my veins do a Tianamen square & quell the protests! I had to given that the recent fitness test in office had exposed the last months of laziness by showing a +3 kilos vs. last reading.

So, off we went, trotting thru the freshly lushed, boggy underbushes of Macritchie. And once the heavens opened, our fate was also pretty much the same :). And as I was getting drenched, my mind wandered off to my childhood in Mumbai.

Oh, the smell of the rejuvenated earth after the first rains, the vibrant dance of the waves, the swaying of the trees to the winds. What a thrill it was to goto Marine Drive after school to quite literally soak in the rains! This was only the 2nd time I let down my guard & went prancing in the rains (given my nose's over-eagerness to start leaking!) in Singapore - the first time too was on a trek in Macritchie. And what untainted, unbridled joy... Boo too all you Europeans who dont like the rains :P.

Back to the present - my nose held up to the deluge alright... watay pleasant surprise! As a result, I am currently enjoying a relaxed, easy Sunday evening watching the Olympics rather than sniffling & douzing a dozen handkerchiefs away to the washing machine.

Oh and on the thought of the Olympics - I have concluded that watching Rhymthic Gymnastics is the only thing that can match up to the joys of fooling around in the rain. The Russian & Belarussian belles were simply sensational - it was more ballet than gymnastics. And boy, are they pretty! (It's no secret that I am a devotee of Russian nymphs :) ).

The only thing missing in the weekend was Nitika, 2 cuppas & some good-natured riling thru the F1 race over Ferrari vs. Mclaren. Hope you get a chance to enjoy the Mumbai pitter-patter while you're there Niks!

The human side of black holes & supernovae!

2008-06-30T22:46:00.003+08:00

I am reading this terrific book called "A Brief History of nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson. It is the hitchhiker's guide to the world's sciences for your average Joe. This is one book I am definitely buying & stowing away!

So anyways, what got me thinking about this post was the chapter on the creation of the universe. The chapter on Black holes & Supernovae.

When a star dies, 2 kinds of fate await it. A Black hole which is so incredibly dense that it eats up everything in its vicinity. Not even light can get thru. The complete & total vacuum.

The other end a star could meet is that of a Supernova. A Supernova is basically also a super dense star that collapses onto itself & then quite literally spits its guts out in a "cosmic explosion"! These exploding stars are the one that throw out the required light & heat energy that eventually lead to the chemical miracle called life.

Now, you'd imagine that you'd have to peer a gazillion bazillion light years away thru a telescope to witness these things (well, you can't technically "see" a black hole, but we shall let the technicalities be!)! But, hold on there for a sec. Do you really need to see that far?

Just look around you. And you'll see these phenomena.

There are people around us - in our friends, workplaces, families - who have an insatiable appetite for cribbing and whining. They can whine their heads to baldness & drive you up the wall to do the same too! These are the black holes. They just completely suck the energy out of the environment around them.

And then there are those bright, chirpy, happy samaritans who like the supernova, just spread the good spirit. They occupy the Friday evening drinks table & the business canonhead table with equal ease. These guys infuse energy & positivity in their environment & invariably are the engines of the teams/social circles they are part of - they spread vibrancy & life!

Now here is the biggest irony of this whole business. There is a really, really fine line that decides whether a star will die a black hole or a supernova. (Till date, we can't predict with any degree of confidence which side the coin will flip on for a candidate dying star!).

Same thing with humans. There is a fine line between people who are well loved for their positivity & those that pride themselves on scorning & mocking at everything. There is but a razor's edge between being blaze and cool in life & being pessimistic!

So, there goes. Life can be really insignificant in this grand cosmos & yet the center of the universe for you & the people important to you! But unlike the black holes & the supernovae, we have the choice of making our lives what we want them to be... God has been indeed kind to us!

So, what will you be? The black hole or the multi-colored supernova?

Who am I? I'd like to hear from all you millions of galaxies out there who've been near me sometime or another :).

And I miss Singapore...

2008-04-18T15:42:00.002+08:00

Am at home with parents! Been here for a couple of weeks now.

But am really beginning to miss my beloved Lion city now. Part of the reason is that in the past 4 days or so, I have been engulfed in just way too much negative energy. I should be a transition person & ensure that the negativity stops with me, but I find that my spirit is now waning. It's just been too much to handle.

The problem's also been compounded by the fact that I don't really have any friends here now that I can talk to. Or atleast talk about the kind of matters at hand.

The best part is (& am I thankful for that or what!!) - none of this has anything to do with my engagement on 23rd. Yep, in 5 days from now, I shall be officially delisted from the market!! More on that in a separate post.

For the moment, I need a strong dose of some cheer & positivity. I am really looking forward to meeting the Infy gang tomorrow & Ankit in the evening today. I need to get out of the house.

After that, I am longing back to Singapore. Getting back to work & focus in life.

My first tag!

2008-03-05T00:36:00.003+08:00

Oye, I picked it Niks!!

Here goes...

The Alphabet Tag

A -Available? Nope

B-Best friend: Umm... Niks, !Xobile, Nishad.

C-Cake or Pie? An ice-cream n a waffle please. Thank you very much!

D-Drink of choice: Hot = Nothing comes close to a nice, hot, mountain masala chai. Cold = Mango juice

E-Essential thing used everyday: Umm... Food & TV remote.

F-Favourite colour: Red - The Ferrari Red!

G-Gummi bears or worms: uhh...wah???

H-Hometown: Patan, District Mehasana, Gujarat :)

I-Indulgence: I, me, myself (i.e. none really!)

J-January or February: February - fewer working days!!

K-Kids and names: How about asking me after my engagement is secure!

L-Life: Will live my life a 100%, 100% of the time.

M-Marriage date: Calendar year 2008. Updates - come back in 3 months.

N-Number of siblings: Zero

O-Oranges or apples: That's a lame one! Flip a coin - pick whichever one you like.

P-Phobias: Umm...none really. Maybe just of dying suddenly one day without telling my parents & Niki what they mean to me.

Q-Quote: Umm...I'd have put some wise words of my own, but then...

समय समय बलवान
नही मनुष्य बलवान

काबे अर्जुन लुट्यो
वही धनुष वही बाण

R-Reason to smile: Happy parents & a happy Niksie

S-Season: I love 'em all.

T-Tag three people: Adil, Baanu, Nishad

U-Unknown fact about me: Umm...it's unknown to me too!

V-Vegetable you do not like: I am not picky :P.

W-Worst habit: Oh common now - How can I improve on perfection, ya?

X-x-rays you have had: Chest. Niki tells me I should get one of my cranium done soon!

Y-Your favorite food: This is torture yaar... How can you ask a man to pick between Angelina Jolie & Catherine Zeta Jones!

Z-Zodiac: The Smug, intelligent archer - Sagittarius.

Saturday, March 1 '08 - The first MMS

2008-03-04T23:48:00.005+08:00

Something this funny hasn't happened to me in a long time now! It so happened...

Nice, breezy Saturday morning. I am browsing thru a million varieties of a million items (most of which are avoidable & unnecessary) at Takashimaya when I get this MMS! My first MMS on my uber-kool new mobile, the Nokia e6500s.

So, you can imagine the alacrity with which I'd have fished out my phone, slide it open with just the flick of my thumb...and the MMS waiting for me is...

Msg from S'pore Police Force: Please call the Police at 999 immediately if you see Mas Selamat bin Kastari. He is short (1.58m) & limps on left leg. Thank You.

Man, this city is something! 1 criminal got away & within 48 hours they have mobilized the city to try n snare him back! Posters are up all across the lion city - at public joints, in MRT stations, in residential blocks. As if that wasn't enough, they have sent out MMS'es (yes, MMS'es - complete with a really creepy looking photo of the creep!) to everyone in the city. That takes some efficiency, resolve & resourcefulness.

The reason I was laughing my self off nutsy was that it reminded me of India - I come from a land where some goon or the other escapes from some prison or the other every single day! Who the hell knows how many get away, let alone mounting reconnoiter missions to catch hold of these mischievous buggers. And the IPS would run the exchequer to bankruptcy in 2 days if they started sending out MMS'es to every Tom, Dick n Harry about every Steve, Buck n Roe that got away! Rotflmao...

No wonder then that the Singaporeans can do ad-campaigns like "Low Crime doesn't mean No Crime." (this when the crime rate in the city is in single digits. it is less than 3%!!).

P.S. - That man really looks creepy! Is there some God-ordained, sacrosanct law that all goons have to look this creepy?? I don't get it - why can't no goons look like handsome hunks / baby-faced candies! Where is Arundhati Roy - I want to start the Equality in Photogenics for Criminals movement!

One good deed, deserves many others!

2008-02-20T23:44:00.003+08:00

Did a good deed today evening. Donated some money to the blind man playing his keyboard in the MRT walkway. And it was a spontaneous reaction - not pondered over, not broiled over a million n one times in the cauldron of rationality.

Ever so often I have remarked to Niki as we see needy, elderly, disabled people on the road that we should do something to help them. If we can't give them time, should atleast help with some money or clothes or food. But, these high-sounding, altruistic intents never materialized into any concrete actions. And I kept wondering why my mind held my hands back, while my heart was moved by the old lady in the wheelchair proffering snacks. By the blind girl playing her mandolin by the roadside. By the 5-year old boy bringing me the hot cuppa tea on the highway stall as I take my breather on my way to my winter, snow capped retreat :(.

And one Sunday evening over dinner at the food court in Balestier, as a blind, elderly Chinese couple passed by urging us to buy 3 packs of tissues for $1, things fell in place in my head.

I think my reluctance stemmed from the environment I've seen while growing up in India. Fathers making their children beg thru the day, only to enjoy their shot of Ethanol at night (which quite often turned out to be the deadly Methanol). Ladies at signals asking for money using a prescription for her kid as her plea, only - neither is the kid real, nor the prescription. Stories of that pauper who actually had a million bucks in his bank account. Such incidents & many other hearsays serve as strong deterrents against letting my compassion getting the better of my mind.

However, somewhere along the road, this intent of not encouraging begging gets transformed into a rocky wall of not having a heart. Which I think totally defeats the purpose - It just moves the pendulum from one unstable extreme to another, rather than pegging it in its equilibrium middle path. And, when the same culprit rationality is applied to analyzing the situation, I couldn't find a cogent reason to not give.

At a moral level, one should give, just because you should. That's exactly what Karmanyeva Aadhikaraste means. It is your duty to give & not to worry whether your giving is used for drinking or as offering to a deity.
From a more worldly pragmatic point of view, the assumptions that put barriers in our mind are more hearsay than anything else. And given the Indian media's record for "veracity", it is most likely that the bad stories are amplified & blown out of proportion than their actual occurrences. Why then should the truly needy, deserving suffer for a handful of miscreants?
From a philosophical point of view - and this I find the most convincing - if you don't bother about what a person does with that expensive gift in a fancy wrapper you brought him/her, why should you bother with what the beggar does with the 5 rupees that you give him?

Made me realize that giving to people, having a heart, being compassionate is A CHOICE. You can choose to do your two-cents worth or just be indifferent (or apathetic). However, it is a choice you make & is independent of how conniving & evil the world might be.

That day onwards, I made my choice. I will help. I will give. Without bothering about what will be done with that measly little contribution of mine. I have enough & more in life, and extending that small arm of support once in a while won't stunt me in any which way. There are people who aren't as fortunate as I have been in life (only due to God's quirks in casting the dice & no other reason!) and they deserve to be helped. Even if one soul benefits from what I do, it's worth it.

And I'll do it with a smile. That little gesture will earn me well-wishes that I could very well do with. Somewhere in my heart, I'll also have the small, selfish pleasure of clocking up some goodkarma miles.

The couple sold 6 tissue packs that day. (My chronic cold also helps!). The smile on the musician's wife (who isn't blind & probably has a day job somewhere), tenderly feeding him some rice while he played on, as I moved towards their tin box was priceless. It was one of genuineness & gratitude.

We should never lose sight of the fact that we wouldn't have evolved to where we are today without a million, unknown, benign helping hands. Like that star who ripped the Sun open & gave birth to our planet. Like that meteor who triggered some chemical magic creating life. Like that first playful Pisces who jaunted on to land & took on a hairy, ape-like form.

Who knows what unintended & magnificent effects our small actions might have in the future!

V - The "innocent" player

2008-02-20T23:40:00.003+08:00

Yo came up with this awesome one-liner today in office about V.

"Don't fall for his innocent looks! Never go for the innocent ones, they are all PLAYERS!"

Hilarious stuff, Yo!
V - you totally rock...

Catbert - The correct way to use the office entry card!

2008-02-19T11:19:00.006+08:00

Catbert said this on how to use the office i-card!

That's me, that's me!! But the strip clearly proves I ain't the only weirdo around!! Yippieee :).

P.S.

Image courtesy - Dilbert by Scott Adams.
The awesomest Dilbert archive is found here. (Thanx buddy, whoever, wherever you are!)

Addendums:

My dearest Niksie was the one who first showed me this strip! Many thanx dear :).
@ Harish & all - No, I DO NOT wonder about what body part of mine opens the damn door! Dirty minded buggers...

India vs. Aus, CB Series - Bring Rahul Dravid back!

2008-02-18T14:55:00.004+08:00

Déjà Vu. Times New Roman, all Caps, Font size - 80. That's what India's performance against the Aussies had written all over it yesterday!

And there were countless Déjà vu's about the team's performance yesterday.

The perennial problem of the 3 sub-units - batting, bowling, fielding - not clicking together resurfaced. The bowlers had almost served the match on a platter to the willowmen, only to see them smoke it up!
The Indian batting line-up's strength is now only on paper. In reality, the team doesn't have a backbone & is quite frail. They'd come out as raw as wheat husk playing under bowler-friendly conditions (like in the Windies or England). After a long, long time, the team has gone back to it's days of being over reliant on Sachin to do the bullwork.

The eerie part is that when I read the team line-up in the morning - 6 batsmen, 1 trying-desperately all-rounder & 4 bowlers, I went uh-ohh. Any sizable total to chase & if Sachin gets out cheaply, we're gonna have trouble. And that's exactly what happened - Only worse, it was a paltry total on a reasonable good batting track!

To my mind, the issue is that we don't have a solid No. 3 batsman who can play the sheet anchor role. Irfan Pathan at No. 3 is clearly not working for the team & the next best option is Rohit Sharma or Robin Uthappa who are both dashers rather than grafters.

While I agree with the strategy of developing the team for the future & hence grafting young blood in as early as possible, I think the transition period could be better handled. If not, some of these blokes are going to find the going tempestuous & can easily become the next victims of the "Kaif syndrome". (Getting opportunities to bat only under dire circumstances & then being blamed for scoring too few runs, too slowly!).

I think a better way of going about this is to bring Rahul Dravid back at No. 3. Let him do what he does best - tie down one end & graft, while the junior crop can come & showcase their stroke making prowess around him. Groom Dinesh Karthik / Suresh Raina to fill Dravid's shoes in the future.

Hence, I feel a potent Indian squad would look as under:

Sachin, Gambhir - Openers. Left + right combo works well.
Dravid, Dinesh Karthik, Suresh Raina - Sheet anchor
Dhoni, Yuvraj, Rohit Sharma, Robin Uthappa - Middle order
Irfan Pathan - All-rounder
Bhajji - Spinner
Ishant Sharma, Zaheer Khan, RP Singh, Sreesanth, Munaf Patel - Pace battery.

Depending on the conditions, choose to play the extra middle order batsman or the extra fast bowling option.

The Sri Lanka game on Tuesday has now become crucial, thanks to our own idiocities. Ironically, the hope for India is that Sri Lanka has just as grave batting problems as us!

My money is safely in my pocket.

Someone wise said... (err, twas me ;) )

2008-02-10T23:57:00.000+08:00

Just a mere trophy of success will hold no sense of accomplishment, unless you know what to do with that success.

One of the many interesting conversations I had with my friend B during our 2 hour Macritchie trek last Friday. B - awesome company, conversation & trek!

The other note in the conversation which I found quite insightful was B remarking about her perception that I would always live my life a 100%, 100% of the time. (Yes, I live in distributions & am definitely not "normal"). My resolution of last year seems to be on-track. Touch wood & smug smile :).

Best luck B! Hope you clear your hurdle by a distance in March.

P.S. - The post is mostly about me & seems to be in self-glorification. Bad, bad boy Horsie!

Farewell to DB

2008-02-09T13:11:00.000+08:00

It's been a year of farewells at CMK. Lots of people have moved geographies, life stages or companies.

1 of these was the erstwhile head of AAI CMK, DB, moving to Geneva. She came in as the head of AAI CMK in 2000, with total CMK strength in single digits. Under her tutelage, the function evolved & grew to its current strength of about 70. So, in a way, I owe my current job to her.

But more importantly, she was loved by everyone for the personal touch to her leadership. Conversations with her were rarely about the state of the business - it was more about what's happening in our lives, things we like/dislike. She could talk to me as another 25-year old than someone almost double that age. I feel that is the hallmark of a leader - can she build people bridges.

So, the poignancy at her departure from AAI after 7 years was palpable. For both her & the CMK community at large. Hence, to see her off, a facebook was to be compiled where everyone could leave their messages, pics etc. which she could take back as a memoir. Here is what I wrote for her:

Bright shines that distant star

Being a guide to many from her throne afar

Yet silently she delights

At the success of those guided by her light

Worshiped is her legacy

She, who weaved life as she passed by...

Forever remembered will be her glow

For her spirit, her charm and her know.

P.S. - At the actual farewell night, someone used an almost identical quartet as her opening line. I have a lingering suspicion. If it's true, I feel ambivalent about her having used it.

I finally have my online albums :)

2008-02-09T00:56:00.000+08:00

Yay, I finally have activated my Picasa account & uploaded photos :).

Check out the works of art here.

Will upload snaps of Tioman Islands, Poovar Islands (Kerala) & others soon!

Turmeric Latte from Coldworks! ;)

2008-02-09T00:42:00.000+08:00

I took my first sick leave of my P&G days this Monday. Was down with a wicked chest congestion, runny nose & a mild fever. Had I spent the day in the Antarctica of the equator that is my office, I'd have been coughing my way to the hospital like an 80-year old!

So, I promptly set-up the following Out of Office note on my email -

Hi guyz,

As I am grappling with almost a Jakarta-esque congestion in my respiratory channels, I won't be in office today.

I am gonna take this opportunity to savor some heady concoctions like Ginger juice, Neem tea & Turmeric latte! Open invitation to one & all who wishes a refreshing drink after a day's hard labor!! ;-).

Have a great day!

Regards,
Harsh Shah

Hehehe...
Am quite proud of the fact that the illness didn't get the better of me this time. I didn't get grumpy or morose at all.

Best part was - colleagues in office actually found it amusing! :).
I hope my spirit stays indomitable & positive always. Amen.

India Chak De'd...Yoohoo... :D

2007-09-25T19:12:00.000+08:00

Queen crooned "We are the Champions" back in '77. Last night, a group of 7 men (more like overgrown boys actually!!) & a gal hooped around in total hysteria, miming Freddie Mercury's lyrics as they witnessed a spectacle of a lifetime!!

What a final!! India-Pakistan. Doesn't get any bigger than this. Nothing in the English language can quite qualify these encounters.
And the match lived up to its billing. Thorough humdinger. 80 fingernails dug deep into the sofa set and almost ripped the cushioning out!!

It's a well-known fact that I am a long standing skeptic of the Indian cricket team. And I have reams of historical data & heartbreaking experiences for my cynicism. We, in the past, have pulled off miracles that for most teams, in the game of cricket or otherwise, would be outworldly. Except that our miracles weren't really in the "I am beaming with pride" category. They were more in the bewildering "Is this really happening" category!! I rationalized the events thinking that given our famous Indian hospitality bindings, our teams felt waves of graciousness for our opponents & did not have the heart to inflict defeats upon them. Ever since, have priced my faith safely out of reach of the Indian men's cricket team.

However, an India-Pakistan game is a different ballgame. There I blend in with the 1-billion crowd & root for the Men in Blue. When the two neighbors clash in a sport, for me it's never just about the game. It's about patriotic loyalties - no jumping ship here.

Yesterday (Monday, Sep. 24, 2007) was as loud a call-to-arms as any. And no one on the east of the Indus was disappointed :).

At 77/6 with Pakistan’s tail exposed & 81 to get from 8 overs, celebrations had begun early. And then Turbanator Singh came on. Misbah-ul-Haq, sensing his last draw in the battlefield, unleashed his final backlash. 3 towering 6's from the cad in Bhajji's over & it was déjà vu all over again!! 2 more sixes to Sreesanth & suddenly we were staring down the barrel. Just 20 to get from 12 balls for Pakistan…

You have to doff your hats to the guys who conceptualized this format at this point. It’s designed such that the game is always treading a knife-edge. Even a whiff of an effort & the momentum swings. Its teleported cricket into the realm of soccer – non-stop, nail-biting thrill through the game.

1 tight over from RP Singh later, the game hangs in limbo at Pakistan needing 13 off the last over with last man standing, India needing 1 wicket but with all its best bet bowlers used out. In my head, I am begging God to not let this become the “Javed Miandad slaps 6 to Chetan Sharma off the last delivery to dent India’s joy” match of my generation. As my silent prayers pick up fervor, the young Jaat Joginder Sharma sends down a wide with "pressure" written in font size 160 written over it & I gasp – "Okay, here we go again!!" Misbah heart stoppingly sends the next delivery into the stands & a billion lachrymal dams are on the verge of bursting. I wonder how many people in India would have got strokes as Joginder delivered his next delivery & Misbah lofted it 5-storeys high again. Only this time, instead of some unsuspecting spectator receiving the projectile, a blue-clad Sreesanth latches on to the white orb the way a famine victim would cling on to air-dropped foods!!

And with that… Yoohoo, India won the Twenty20 World Cup!! So what if we were mauled out of the "real" thing back in May in the first round! The mind takes a minute to register the unbelievable & then pandemonium breaks loose. Hugs, hoots & high-fives all around the tiny living room.

Amazing stuff. India is in delirium the next few days. Just check out these videos of the “Victory Yatra” & the Wankhede Felicitation ceremony as the champions arrived in Mumbai on Wednesday (Sep. 25, 2007) morning to see for yourself.

1.a. Home coming video at IBN Live.com
1.b. Home coming video at YouTube

2. Felicitation video at IBN Live.com

The Gods of the country’s most widespread religion showered the most fulfilling & blissful of blessings on their legions of followers. That too without the involvement of the so-called supreme trinity of the pantheon!! What a phenomenal slap in the faces of their highn-ass-es M/s. Tendulkar & Ganguly…

Chak de India!!! Long live Twenty20...

Hello World!

2007-09-25T19:04:00.000+08:00

Void Helloworld()
{
printf ("Hello World \n");
printf ("Horsie is back. \n");
printf ("Was busy, had gone galloping as well. \n");
printf ("Got some interesting stories to tell. \n");
printf ("Keep reading. Have a great day! \n);
}

क्या पता...कल हो ना हो...

2007-08-26T03:29:00.000+08:00

One of the very, very, very few dialogues mouthed by SRK on celluloid that I actually appreciate n don't mind recounting in public is this particular line from the movie Kal Ho na Ho

"जीयो, मुस्कुराओ, झुमो, गाओ, खुश रहो...क्या पता... कल हो ना हो..."

Loosely translated, it reads - Live, smile, dance, sing, be happy....who knows...there may or may not be a tomorrow.

It's such an awesome mantra to live life by. From my perch, I have seen Addie, my Guru, practice this motto daily like a true devotee. Inspired, I have been trying to "reapply the best practice" since the last 3-4 months. And life's been truly awesome!! Even simple things have taken on prismatic, spectral hues. The smiles have propagated to back home n got amplified in the voices, mails n faces of my family - that's worth more than anything else.

But today, in keeping with the "Live life Kingzise" spirit, I bungled up. Yet again.
Like the train that doesn't realize it has rounded a bend until after doing so, I too realized it after the events had transpired. For the umpteenth time, my comet left a wake which was never really intended. :(.

How I wish Addie were here today. For reassurance & reinforcement to stop my faith from teetering. How I wish life weren't so critical & demanding of faiths ever so often...
How I wish I could do an SRK, standing with my arms outstretched double their length on some overflowing waterfront, saying

आज में जीयो, क्या पता...कल हो ना हो...

The faith shall stand though, a little shaken but by no means vanquished. The horse will learn, make amends & keep walking on...

A Utopian life in Guyworld!!

2007-08-14T23:38:00.000+08:00

I have been thinking about that age-old dictum saying that a man would have a Utopian life if he can claim propriety over the following worldly possessions:

An Indian wife
An American salary
A British house
Chinese food.

Hmm. Now, the first thing that struck me was as I was mulling over the list is how remarkably incomplete it is. I mean, this is the 21st century and we men are material minded, carnally driven, insatiable, obsessive maniacs, having sold our "mojos of higher living" to the devil in our past lives!! How can the list be complete with just 4 simple entries as above?

Hence, I embarked on the noble task myself of completing the dream life of a man. So, without further ado, here goes.

Addendum to list above

A Singaporean city/standard of living
A Korean car
Japanese gadgets
French wines
Arabian land estates
A Russian mistress
A Dutch orchard
Spanish music
German factories

There. I think now the list can at least claim to stand on veritable grounds of being close to Utopian.

(Note - The list is restricted to worldly, material possessions. Hence, things such as looks & **** cannot be enlisted in this bracket).

Hmm...all ye guyz out there...have I missed anything? All contributions are most gratefully welcome :).

The adventures of KV - Part 1

2007-08-11T11:56:00.001+08:00

Kunal had planned this vacation with his mom n sis to Singapore, KL, Langkawi since 6 months or so. He had taken uncharacteristic pains to meticulously plan all the details to the T, had driven me up the wall to plan out his itinerary and stuff!

He was to fly out last evening from Delhi to arrive in Singapore today morning. After which I was to become his walking-talking Frommer's guide to Singapore!!

Well, he's just had a phenomenally auspicious start to it. He sms'd last night that he'd missed his Indian Airlines flight to Singaopore (and that too the only flight flown out by the airline from Delhi). Lol. Rotflmao.... Double rotflmao...

These things always happen to him! I can so imagine his sis giving him a nice hiding for this.

The recourse he has taken his that he has flown to KL & is taking a bus to Singapore from there. Which means that he loses almost whole of today!!

Hilarious stuff. KV rocks!!

The Week end syndrome

2007-08-11T10:43:00.000+08:00

Just concluded that I have a compulsive need to spend the night before a holiday out i.e. Friday evenings / the evening before a mid-week break necessarily means I graciously contribute to the coffers of a restaurant & to a movie hall.

In my mind, I earlier thought that this was driven by a functional, first order physical need - food. Background is that our maid comes to cook dinner from Monday - Thursday, with Friday being a scheduled pit-stop. Hence, Friday evenings till a couple of months ago necessarily meant a hop over to some eatery in Little India. However, off late, we have had the option of calling her over on Friday as well - an option that we've almost reverentially stayed away from exercising.

But this belief was busted by the recent spurt of midweek holidays when I have had an irrepressible urge to not spend the evening staring at either of my LCD screens - the TV or the laptop!! Was myself amazed at how helpless and subjugated I felt to this surge inside me!!

So, I guess the verdict is out on me - I am afflicted with "The week end syndrome".
Symptoms - Extreme restiveness on a Friday evening, arbitrary mood swings ranging from being king of dullsville to childlike buoyancy, uncontrolled irrational dashes to smash through the office glass-doors.

Cures - Lungful of 6pm evening air, indulgences spanning दाल मखनी , सेविया to popcorn n ice-cream, 3 hour therapeutic x-box sessions :).

Do you also suffer from the same? Get yourself diagnosed. Paint the town red (or whatever color you fancy)!!

Cool guys & Hot gals

2007-08-06T11:46:00.000+08:00

Just realized another point of difference in the classic debate - boys vs. gals. Stated as under:

Guys aspire to get/stay 'cooler' as they get older while gals aspire to get/stay 'hotter'!!

Hmm...interesting...

Mama, see what I won - My own star :)

2007-08-04T11:27:00.000+08:00

Was at an office offsite the last two days. The published purposes of the offsite are twofold:

Share the past fiscal's (our fiscal follows a July - June calibration) business results, successes/failures & learnings.
Lay down the goals, strategies & vision for the current fiscal.

The unpublished, flunkie's eye agenda is..... PARTY!! ;-).

And that's exactly what it turned out to be. The business review sessions weren't half as bad as I had dreaded, and the awards night + party simply rocked :). The second day's physical workout + outdoor team building activities were tons of fun and eye-opening (yes, I need to move my lazy bum n exercise!!).

And amidst all this rejoicing, I got a personal reason to celebrate!! I won a "Special Appreciation" award :).

The awards are meant to recognize those individuals whose work produced some sterling results/gave new direction to the business unit. It's one of those awards that got my mind going "Jeez, I wish I could win one of those" while I sat in the aisles applauding other winners at past functions!!

As it turned out, I could feel those butterflies start their "catch me if you can" games inside my tummy all over again as the function kicked off. And as the muster rolled on, I could feel those little aahs inside my head getting louder with each announcement that didn't yet call out my name.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, the spotlight zeroed in on a slide screaming "Harsh Shah". And I was... stunned!! Took me a few seconds to get out of my reverie and realize मेरा Number आ गया!!

The applause as I went up to receive my blue star seemed to be coming out of the ether, the faces seemed to lose features, the notes crooned "I believe I can fly" and for 2 minutes I wasn't on this planet as the hormones n chemicals in my junkyard rocketed me into orbit!! It took Karthik's raspy voice n firm vise on my wrist whilst I was floating back to my seat to get me to land :). Fumblingly, accepted his congratulations, mumbled out a thank you & parked myself on my chair with a long breath as the realization sank in :).

Well, the party started almost immediately after this and I let my hair down (well, whatever there is of it anyways!!). The hormones carried on with their alchemist dance well into the night :). Woke up the next day as usual to a star - albeit a blue one with my name inscribed on it instead of a yellow one!!

Small joys these, but truly ones that permanently color my memory with joy n pride!

The Da Vinci Code - It could be true...

2007-07-19T11:09:00.001+08:00

Watched The Da Vinci Code again last night. Though people the world over lambasted the movie, I liked it.

Yeah, the movie has its pits - no character development & a virtually plastic Audrey Tautou. But the screenplay is very loyal to the book (perhaps a bit too loyal, choking the characters out) and is well-paced. Ron Howard has commendably brought the history of the Grail & the multiple associated, abutting legends to life. I could feel those goosebumps again as I watched the movie unfold.

Now, here is a thought which has nagged at me ever since I read that best-seller.
Could it be true? Could there be a descendant of Jesus Christ walking among us?

I have heard a million n one folks point out the poetic licenses the book has taken with some locations & historical facts in the story. However, I think they miss the larger picture.

Look at it this way - Arguably, there could exist a secret brotherhood, a la the Priori of Sion, protecting the bloodline over the centuries. They could ostensibly have a mission of revealing the truth at what they saw as the opportune time.

That time could be now. The Da Vinci Code could be a first in a series of plots towards achieving this mission. Dan Brown could be a member of this secret clique (one of the Senechaux, or perhaps, the Grandmaster himself!!). Or he could be a pawn in a larger scheme of things. Whichever way, the wheels of history could be in motion again.

Think about it. Think about what can be & not what is. How sensational it would be - it promises to throw every aspect of human belief into throes - history, religion, world politics. It'd be an event of true apocalyptic proportions!!

I'd love to be alive when such an event if & does ever happen. Conspiracy theories rock...

Requiem for a dream...

2007-07-17T19:45:00.000+08:00

Somebody please sing me a lullaby. Or get a bathroom singer to sing तुम तो ठेहरे परदेसी to me.

If you get Indian channels, tie me to a chair and forcibly make me watch one of those many stupid 'K' soap operas. Or call back Daddu - professor of Materials Management at IIM Lucknow - and ask him to start his drone on whatever it was that he so solemnly professed all over again.

Or thrust a Nancy Drew in to my hands. Try Paulo Coelho if Ms. Drew fails.

Get the witch of Sleeping Beauty to cast a spell on me. Ask Dreamworks to make some soothing works for my dreams.

If everything fails, stick some chloroform into my face. But someone please do something.

I wanna sleep. Desperately...

Saturday "Day" Fever :)

2007-07-14T23:33:00.000+08:00

From recent memory, today would easily count as the best Saturday I have had!!

The beauty of the day lay in the fact that it wasn't a planned, campaign day which I might have been looking forward to for a long time. Was just a regular weekend day which I spent in the company of people I like.

As weekends go, the day began early around 9am. Woke up to a nice, tranquil breezy morning - perfect day to be reading a book sitting by the window. Literally skimmed through Prey, my last Crichton novel, till around noon when Addie called unexpectedly.

He asked me whether I'd be eating lunch - to which I obviously said yes, and if I'd be game to hop over to his haunt - to which I again obviously n shamelessly said yes :). The best part about being a 25-year old bachelor is that you are old enough to be invited for luncheons and get-togethers, yet escape from it being viewed under the aegis of "social obligations".

Now, delightfully, the lunch (which was wondrous in its own "home-food" right) also had another tacit invitation piggy-backing it - a long awaited turn to try my skill at the Sony Playstation 2. And boy, did I have a blast!!
Played NFS and to my own surprise, drove pretty well for a stark amateur. The sheer thrill of that game is in its simplicity - accelerate all the time, keep the car straight, keep collisions to the minimum. Plus, there was the sadistic glee of seeing the game chide Ashim saying "you were last" - in a 2 player race ;-).

Then my teammate at work, Claire, came over to Addie's to see his house, as Addie is vacating it soon. The vacancy though is not just restricted to the house. Addie is quitting and going back to India. I am 99.9999% sure that office won't ever be the same again without him :(. The poignancy of the whole situation was inextricably woven into the mirth of the afternoon.

Addie deserves a full post dedicated to him. It'll be one I'll write with utmost care and a swell of emotion in my heart. Can promise him that much!!

Anyways, getting back to the main thread of the post - the afternoon flowed to a evening coffee with a friend, here for a conference, at Orchard. Was fun reminiscing about the old times, how she totally fell in love with everything Singaporean, how the bevy of petite, super-modelesque Singaporean beauties made her feel like Humpty Dumpty :). And for the first time ever, I found the Starbucks coffee palatable! And no, it wasn't the company, the coffee could actually pass on as "tasty" and "potable" :).

The library beckoned after this evening hour fleeted by. That turned out to be an adventure that shouldn't have been :). I was to show some juniors (who didn't have a mobile phone) to the library and we spent 20 mins on the footpath trying to trace each other, when we were all but half-a-football-field away at different ends of the mall. Amazing how obsequious we've become to mobile phones & how paralyzing absence of one can be!!

The crowning caper of the day was the surprise birthday party for Arthi. It was a coordinated, conspiratorial surprise treat at Modesta's. 15-16 of her IIM A batchmates and some other friends had conspired to not wish her the whole day, turn down any dinner/meeting calls from her and then surprise her when her roommate got a dejected looking Arthi to the restaurant for dinner.

Well, that was the plan!! As it turned out, we got there before she did ;). When she got there, there was already a huge table for 20 set out, with some of us conspirators seated at it. The icing on the cake, though, was that in spite of this she didn't suspect that somethin' might be cookin'. She still believed that it was coincidental that some of us were at the same restaurant at the same time. So, we kinda did pull the surprise off :).

As for the food - l'italiano era deliziosamente fantastico!! We downed copious amounts of food. Brace yourselves, here is what all we devoured :-

3 12" pizzas
4 pastas
2 salads
2 king prawns
and the star of the evening - 3 20" pizzas.

They had to get a separate barbecue-style stand to hold the 20" pizza trays. It took 2 people to serve - one to balance the tray, the other to serve ;). Was terribly amusing to just see them orchestrate that spectacle!!

All in all, I had a great day yesterday. The wait now begins for the next Horsie's Day Out :).
Hope the coming week passes by quickly!!

Images that changed the world.

2007-06-26T13:53:00.000+08:00

Got this link to someone else's blog from a friend.

The images are really thought provoking. Follow this link to view the image - http://pinguy.infogami.com/blog/vwm6

As MJ said in his heydays,

Heal the world,
Make it a better place
For you and for me
and the entire human race...

Amen.

1 more reason I love being a guy.

2007-06-25T23:09:00.000+08:00

I love being a guy. Gals - Boo boo :P.

Reasons:
This article shares some relatively unimportant, but very practical and potent ones. - Niki's blog -
What the...
One more reason - Men don't ever get Orkut scraps like "Hi...Wazzup...u know u are so pretty, I have never met someone nice like u. Wanna frendship with me. Plz, plz dont ignore my message, I write my tru feelingz."
(just for the record, this piece of genius isn't mine. It's from a female friend's scrap book, left by some wannabe Romeo ;) ).

Lolssssssssssssss.....Rotfilmao. Guy world roxx!!

The CMK meaning of Idiot proof!

2007-06-23T18:03:00.000+08:00

I often think that we CMKers have taken our motto of "making things simple" to another level. We like to make things idiot proof. But somewhere along the line, unconsciously & unintentionally it manifests itself as "other function proof".

With all the "simplicity", Marketing'ers must definitely feel like 2 year olds learning Ba-Ba Black Sheep in school in our presentations. (No snide remarks about Marketing, even though restrain is tough!!).
When asked questions that are uncomfortable or something we can't put our buck on, we say "Oh! That's technical in nature (you won't understand it?). I can take you thru it separately later (later when? later never?)".

I mean c'mon. Who are we trying to kid? For Christ's sake, both CMKers and Marketing'ers hail from the same echelons of excellence - the IIMs.

I finally quelled my embers thinking that it must be that CMKers are from 'Indian' Institute of Management whereas Marketingers are from 'Idiots' Institute of Management! See, so simple again :).

How vanities come by - even with an honest intent and whole-hearted commitment.

A need for awareness of the world

2007-06-23T17:32:00.000+08:00

My take on how my world today has such different needs of awareness from my campus days. But I present my opinions in third person, for the sake of generality and applicability to perhaps a much wider audience.

Today's scenario
There is an accentuated need for awareness of the environment around you. However, no one's going to knock on your door and tell you the world is changing. You have to observe things for yourself - read emails, track news n developments, watch conversations, pick up cues for yourself. You need to take that effort yourself to keep yourself aware n connected. No one's going to spoon feed you.

From these observations, you need to make your own conclusions and judgements. It then comes down to how much you can rely on your instinct. Some plunge in and test the waters for themselves, others wait for the comfort of group think and dive in when the currents aren't as turbulent.

Campus days
A far throw from these days. Firstly, campus was a microcosmic, almost self-contained world in itself. Which meant that the need in question itself became dormant - you could get by just fine without a care of the bigger, real world outside those hallowed grounds.
Secondly, the gazillion people around, the bombardment of cases, etc. ensured you kept hearing snippets of almost every topic under the son. This ensured you kept getting your periodic infusement of news.

Also, there was always a sense (and need) of belonging to a close-knit community of 300 similar intellects. This meant that group think or mass opinion was more the norm rather than a choice.

How things have changed with time!!

Blog-o-miles = 50 :)

2007-06-23T16:14:00.000+08:00

Yippee, have clocked 50 posts. And it's 11 months since I set off on my journey.

i.e. Speed = 54 ppa (posts per annum) or 1 ppw.

Could be better, but what the heck!!

Now that I stand at a self-proclaimed milestone of sorts, have to say that I have become quite fond of blogging. I am quietly passionate about my blog. Nowadays, actively keep parking thoughts/ideas in my mind that I wanna write about.

All-in-all, the journey on blog road's been great fun so far. The road's been silken at times, slow going at others. Have had to sojourn away in my mind-motels to allay my weariness from time to time. But a great adventure it's been all along - never drab, never uninsightful! Have discovered aspects to me that I never knew existed!!

So, for the moment - Time to refuel, pat myself and bask in the self-cast limelight. Hehe.

P.S. - And, yes, I do love it when people read my ramblings and leave comments. Always nice to get feedback :).

My trammels of inarticulateness

2007-06-23T13:58:00.000+08:00

It’s that feeling again. And I dread it!

As I sit to post something on my blog, I find myself fumbling ever so often to pick out that exact word. I know that I know the word, it gnaws at the annals of my memory and just when I reach out for it - vanishes with a poof!!

English & vocabulary have been cherished passions, ever since I can recall now. Have dreaded ineloquence - it makes me feel that my brain's stagnating and decaying.

I had this exact feeling about 5 years ago while in engineering. The internet and computer science were happening (yes, continuous tense as it was a 4-year course). Which meant that the books got renounced :(. Slowly, I found the depths of my language were silting into shallows. Yet I couldn't do anything to stay the atrophy. Felt helpless, felt miserable...

Then the GRE and the infamous Barrons' word-lists happened. Peers cursed 'em, I loved 'em. Felt a sense of pride and accomplishment as I studied them. (I actually made a hand-written book of all the words I had learnt, with meanings, usages et al. Treasured that book above anything else. Misplaced it in the myriad books after L and till date am aggrieved about its loss :( ).

In retrospect, I feel that that test was a landmark event in my life in many ways. It brought me my passion back. I expanded my vocabulary manifold. It almost felt like graduating to the adult world of English. Started feeling good about myself :). After this episode, I decided I wouldn't let my language stagnate again and would keep polishing it every now n again.

The succeeding 2 years at L passed like a whiff. I don't recall reading too voraciously there. But, the stint at Placecom there, with its million mails and articles, fed enough fodder to my left brain and didn't let it hibernate. It's amazing how when we look back at our pasts, most events end up playing a larger role than you earlier accredited them for!!

Then P&G happened and the relocation to Singapore reacquainted me with the forgotten joys of reading :). Thanx to the NLB, have taken back to reading like a fish to water. Now, while all the reading has ensured I have a solid rearguard in place and don’t slip further, writing is critical to keep the blade sharp. It’s the good old theory n book knowledge vs. practical n wisdom duality.

This duality was one of my inspirations then (there are more than one – an individual + this + my practical obsession with writing A1 docs in office, in that order) to enlist myself on blogosphere. Blogging is my first notable, consistent and serious effort in a long time, at penning down the swirls in my head. And as was Karna's curse, so is mine - cometh the hour, not cometh the required skill - words… :|.

Obviously, the solution to my pangs is to keep writing more n more. But, with the million worldly needs & expectations & commitments that one necessarily has to devote time to, a desire or passion has to cede priority. However, that is but an excuse at the end of the day.

Hence, I have decided to apply my project management lessons to this as well – have put a goal for myself of x posts per week and am tracking myself to it. Status so far = Okay, nothing pathbreaking.

So there it is, I think I have evolved a solution to deal with my hallucinations of a wordless hollow creeping up on me. Simple n pragmatic. The classic engineering approach, my ever loyal refuge, bastion and liberator…

Amazing what fear (even if irrational) of affliction to a cherished haven can drive men to!

Happy Birthday to you...

2007-06-18T14:50:00.000+08:00

A birthday celebration in office today reminded me of this particular rendition of the Happy Birthday song :).
This is how it goes

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you...
.....
(more verses)
.....
You were born in the zoo

You look like a monkey
And smell like one tooooooooooooooooooo!!!

Lolssssssssss....Rotflmao :D.

I think it's too cool improvisation. Goal is to sing it in office on a close friend's birthday ;).

Thoughts on a quiet Sunday

2007-06-17T23:04:00.000+08:00

Another quiet Sunday goes by. Spent the day listening to some good music and completing my reading of the Silmarillion.

Posting the lyrics of a song which I love. Alone by the Bee Gees. I love it as I can identify with it and find that it is very true of life. In music, I find a steadfast aide everytime my soul needs a draw of strength. (These lyrics aren't mine. Claim no IP rights whatsoever.)

Alone - Bee Gees

I was a midnight rider on a cloud of smoke
I could make a woman hang on every single stroke
I was an iron man
I had a master plan
But I was alone

I could hear you breathing
With a sigh of the wind
I remember how your body started trembling
Oh, whats a night its been
And for the state Im in
Im still alone

And all the wonders made for the earth
And all the hearts in all creation
Somehow I always end up alone
Always end up alone

So I play, Ill wait
cause you know that love takes time
We came so far
Just the beat of a lonely heart
And its mine
I dont want to be alone

Well, since I got no message on your answer phone
And since youre busy every minute.
I just stay at home
I make believe you care
I feel you everywhere
But Im still alone

Im on a wheel of fortune with a twist of fate
cause I know it isnt heaven, is it love or hate
Am I the subject of the pain
An I the stranger in the rain
I am alone

And if there glory there to behold
Maybe its my imagination
Another story there to be told

So I play, Ill wait
And I pray its not too late
We came so far
Just a beat of a lonely heart
And its mine
I dont want to be alone

And all the wonders made for the earth
And all the hearts in all creation
Another story there to be told

So I play, Ill wait
And I pray its not too late
We came so far
Just a beat of a lonely heart
And its mine
I dont want to be alone

Gone, but not out of sight
Im caught in the rain and theres no one home
Face the heat of the night
The one that you loves got a heart thats made of stone

Shine and search for the light
And sooner or later youll be cruising on your ocean

And clean out of sight
Im caught in the rain and theres no one home

O blue ocean...why are thee...oh so... SALTY????

2007-06-11T20:13:00.000+08:00

Had gone to East Coast Park yesterday. To cycle and to just chill by the waterside. Had a mixed morning as was having trouble breathing while cycling and hence couldn't build or maintain any speed which would get my veins tingling.

So, to catch my breath for a while, I cycled on to the pier at ECP. It is a jetty that extends out into the ocean from the walkway. There is usually a good breeze blowing there and makes the pier an ideal point to refresh yourself. So, I cycled to the farthest point on the pier and perched myself on the balustrade.

Now, here is the interesting part and the reason why I called it a mixed morning. Outlined below are the thoughts playing catch me if you can in my junk-box as I sat perched on my high throne.

I have been in sea water close to the shore. It tastes horrible and salty. Is the sea water as salty and yucky even in the interiors? Hmm...I should ask a sailor man when I meet one next.
The Oceans hold almost 69% of the earth's water. What dizzying quantity of salt must it take to maintain the salinity of the sea?
Fishes must have taste buds as sensitive as bamboos to be able to live thru a life's intake of salty water.

Well, I was hoping the ocean could have inspired some poetic instinct in me. Poetry somehow seems so classy and the hallmark of a writer who has arrived.

And the ocean just so perfectly fits the bill for inspiration. The mighty seas epitomize romance, adventure n discovery, power, humility, pain n triumph, the vibrancy of life - everything basically!! Its got the perfect mix of all the right ingredients to cause one to weave words into verse.

But no. Try as I might, my engineer-brain could only think up arbit, utterly uninspiring thoughts about the formula for concentration, methods to measure the salinity of the sea and the mechanism of how taste buds work! Just plain defiance to transgress over from geek land to mojo land.

I even tried doing a Leonardo di Caprio, standing with my arms stretched out, facing the sea, trying to take in the so called smell of the seas. I finally gave up and got back to plain, old cycling when the only smell that my olfactory senses could discern was of my deodorant overworking to suppress the sweat!!

No wonder Harika keeps asking me - Are belligerence and ire the only effects I can have on women! Damn.

The purging of Tennis of the Williams era

2007-06-09T16:19:00.000+08:00

I loathe the Williams sisters. In my eyes, they have spoiled Women's Tennis - taken it from its suave, violinesque charisma of the Graf era to the brusque, inharmonious, heavy-metalesque current state of affairs.

The earlier game was so much more fun to watch. It was about elegance, ball placement and skill. One could almost sense why tennis was called the game of the nobility seeing Women's matches.
Then came along these two grunters! (whose grunts were almost as bullyish as their ground strokes). Suddenly we started seeing 120 MPH serves and a bombardment of aces in the female game. The game morphed into yelling and whacking as many balls back with as much brute possible :(. The eye-candy index obliteration also did not help ;).

Serena, against all bets, won the first Slam for the Williams at the U.S. Open '99. Then began the Williams run! Between them, the sisters won 9 of the 16 Grand Slams from 2000 to 2003 - a whopping 56% success rate. Their domination was complete - they blew away opponents like strands of straw. No opponent could put up any notable or consistent resistance to the Williams juggernaut. With no nemesis in sight, Richard Williams' plan of ruling women's tennis and destroying the game stood on the verge of completion.

But thank God for Belgium and Russia. And for more than mere sporting reasons ;).
The arrival of Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, and the Russian babe-army derailed the Williams' orgy and began tennis' seismic shift to Europe. Slowly, but surely, the Williams holocaust began to clear and the game breathed in a new life :).

Come 2007, the Williams brawn-house looks nowhere near its former potency. The aura of invincibility has almost been stripped away to naught. The stats stack up perfectly in parallel - only 3 out of 14 Slams from 2003 to the 2007 French Open - a measly 21% success rate from the pompous 56% of yore.

I, for one, am elated that the much feared Williams hoodoo hasn't really materialize and has afflicted only the loss of Martina Hingis to tennis. Now, even she has made a comeback to the circuit :).

But the sisters have left what seems an indelible mark on the game - power is now deeply embedded in the women's game. I ain't complaining though - the lasses are getting fitter, the legs longer, the skirts shorter ;). A steady in pour of Russians and Europeans to the women's tennis bandwagon has ensured that the racquets n balls remain in good hands on great bods ;).

However, thankfully, grace and skill have also simultaneously made a comeback thru Henin's rise to the throne. It's a delight to watch women's tennis again ;). Looking forward to tonight's French Open Final between Henin-Hardenne and Ana Ivanova!

The Club and Spade of I being me ;)

2007-06-09T13:32:00.000+08:00

I can distinctly recall my growing up, engineering days when my Ma-Pa always asked me to temper down. I was always a fractious horse who would call a spade a spade, and pretty much in the face of just about everyone. I was labeled quite a few things - the superset being "opinionated, sarcastic, racist, sexist, skeptic, supremely cynical" - and other wonderful adjectives that I care squat about ;).

So, it was an earnest request to not make a public parade of my politically incorrect and extreme opinions on almost everything!! Surprisingly, I did understand Ma-Pa's stance that they didn't wish for people to build impressions and colorations of me that would tail me forever. So, as the years went by, I tried to confirm and be the "good" boy ;), pushing my true instinct to let my brain n tongue lash into hibernation. With time, even tried at my hand at polity and temperance.
(That's the Club of me. It's complicated. At this time, I = Spade, but, me = Club.)

Failed miserably :). But, the horse remained staid and wouldn't yet come out prancing in full glory.

Now, after a year in Singapore, I sense this compulsion rising inside me to set the fractious horse galloping free. My senior at office, Oli, notes and points out my mavericking and rebellious behavior very often these days. I agree to every single observation of his, and with some glee ;).

Don't get me wrong. I don't want to be imprudent or rude or hurt people. Nay, wanna continue being the nice person people have me believe I am :P. Just that I don't want to masquerade any longer with some sort of a filter or mask on. As Adil says, wanna be what I am.

So, I have decided to let the reins loose a bit and let the horsie have some fun! The temperance will be exercised on the tongue (as it causes more hurt than a sword), though not on the mind at all :).
(That's the Spade of I. I = me = Spade ;) ).

Words I treasure...

2007-06-09T12:12:00.000+08:00

Steve Waugh had penned an article in the Times of India around the 9/11 attacks' time and when his Australia was steamrolling everyone in the world. The last paragraph of that article were his thoughts on the 9/11 happenings. Been carrying that cut-out in my wallet(s) since 6 years.

Here are his words:

"The recent happenings in America are a catastrophe and put many things into perspective, namely that you must enjoy the moment right in front of you, value your family and see the good in people. So often it is only the negative we hear and obviously things will get worse before they get better in this current situation. Let's hope we can all learn from this and push for a more united world."

Its a para written in typical Steve Waugh style - simple, to the point, real world founded and profound. That's the reason why I find the words so calming and wise. Just like the man who wrote them. (By that logic, if one's writings convey one's persona, I am sure I must come across as utterly confused :). Which I happen to be!!).

Steven Waugh...an exemplary player, leader and human being!! My idol.

My most negative post. Yet.

2007-05-24T02:29:00.000+08:00

The feeling of helplessness, of seeing your final weed of hope slip away is extremely debilitating. In my case, paralyzingly so.

Been living like a Zombie for the past few days. For no apparent reason. Just that my mind has parked itself into what computer engineers would call an orphan state. It responds to neither +ve nor -ve reinforcement or stimuli. I feel dispassionate, enervated and completely detached. I take pleasure from nothing, pains from nothing, look forward to nothing.

I have just been reading novels like a maniac. Found my usual favorite Crichton also to be thoroughly insipid. I barely work. Everyday I battle my urge to give up, become a recluse and run away.

Why did I come to this? Why didn't I do anything when I could foresee this? Why is hindsight so painful? When will I get to be a generally happy soul in life without these nags and worries?

This post reeks of negativism. Why am I like this? Is this what they call a quarter life crisis? Am I sick, do I need therapy?

There is no pain, you are receding.
A distant ships smoke on the horizon.
You are only coming through in waves.
Your lips move but I cant hear what you're sayin'.
When I was a child I had a fever.
My hands felt just like two balloons.
Now I got that feeling once again.
I cant explain, you would not understand.
This is not how I am.
I have become comfortably numb.

"Ghaangothree" को सास्ठांग नमस्कार

2007-05-21T23:14:00.000+08:00

No, I haven't got tambi-ized living in the midst of Tamilians in Singapore. Dispel any such thoughts!! I don't want anyone thinking anything even remotely resembling this thought lest the bad karma spread and I start gasping at some induced metamorphosis in myself :). Yikes, how I dread just the idea of being a Tambi.

But this post isn't about my strong racist inclinations and psyche. It's about this restaurant in Little India which chooses to call itself "Ghaangothree".

Presumably, it appears as an attempt to suit the title to the holy glacier Gangotri in the Himalayas. Out of curiosity, I went up to the cashier (possibly the owner of the joint) to confirm my hypothesis. Not surprisingly, he confirmed that this was precisely their intention. Guess my reaction upon hearing this. I went ballistic after making my discovery.

I mean just how badly can you screw up something as simple as Gangotri?? Damned Southies!! Yet, inconceivably to my inane mind, they have somehow connived to transform it into what almost sounds like a mangled abuse.

Now, my only grouse is this. Why wouldn't you just consult a North Indian before you set out on some mighty venture as christening a South Indian restaurant with a North Indian name? The difference between a North Indian and a South Indian is similar to that of a Dosa and a Kulcha, a man and a woman, a priest and an emperor. Each has his specialties and domain of expertise. Try transposing domains and faux pases like this is what you land up with!!

However, to the credit of the guy, his restaurant is apparently quite famous! Try searching "Ghaangothree" on Google and all your results will lead to this innocuous eatery @ 5, Hindoo Road, Singapore. (All roads lead to Rome, eh!!).
It is listed as one of the must-try restaurants by the Singapore Yellow Pages.
Hence, my सास्ठांग नमस्कार to this ill-fated but honest fusion attempt of the North with the South :).

Why are grocery provisions called "supplies"?

2007-05-19T11:09:00.000+08:00

A completely superfluous post. On a random thought that got stuck into my head as I was reading the novel Eragon last week.

Random thoughts are like bad songs. Much as you'd like to erase them from your memory and move on, they will just irrepressibly linger on. Like that painlessly irritating niggle on your back which will keep on twitching every now n then until you scratch yourself. (Hail the Ape man ;) ).

However leaving random thoughts on random thoughts (even I am in a tizzy :). What's the term for this concept?) and getting back to the point, here is what I've been pondering over since 4 days.

Why is food/grocery shopping referred to as "supplies"?? Travelers stop to pick up supplies, bachelors bulk stock supplies, westerner's convert their supplies shopping trips into outings... The phenomenon is global and omnipresent!! (Come to think of it, even I've called them supplies for as long as I can recall!! How ridiculous!!)

What possibly could be the story behind this usage of the word "supplies"?
It sounds so corny, almost as if you are delivering material to some war-front!!

What was wrong with calling them rations or provisions or foodstuffs? Victuals if you are the unearthly, imaginative types.

But no, supplies is what it is!! It can be so terribly misleading...
Imagine a situation like this. You are traveling by the Metro and you overhear this super-babe of a woman talking on her mobile - "Please don't forget to pick up supplies on your way home".
How drawing, titillating and yet desperately frustrating that is!!
You'd be wishing, almost praying, that you could swap places with the dude at the other end of the line. And yet, you could get just end up cooking dinner for her ;)...kill the whole vibe!!

Amazing how we overlook these small small trifles and nuggets that run thru our everyday lives.

जो शहीद हुए हैं उनकी, ज़रा याद करो कुर्बानी

2007-04-24T10:40:00.000+08:00

These words moistened the eyes of Nehru (in spite of him enjoying top slots in the India's biggest bastard list). 5 decades on, as a billion Indians hurtle thru the rat race that is an average Indian life, its saddening to see my country just chug over the sacrifices millions of men are making for us.

Thanx to rediff.com, I came across these articles about the fate of some of our army's officers. The series is very aptly titled "Lest We Forget".

Posting the links here for public viewing. Read every single one of them. Shed a few tears and be grateful. We live and run after millions while these men lay down their lives.

Capt. Saurabh Kalia - http://specials.rediff.com/news/2004/jun/07kalia.htm
Capt. Vikram Batra - http://specials.rediff.com/news/2004/jun/17batra.htm

This is one of those few times when I appreciate the Indian media (more of my cynicism in some later post). Thanx to them, such stories get etched into contemporary public memory and unite (one of those few times we do) the nation in grief, pride and rage.

But don't for one moment think that reality is only full of such paeans of valor unsurpassed. Read the next two articles and feel a pang in your heart. (If you don't, you are not human. You might as well go and start monkeying around in some zoo.)

Flight Lt. Abhijit Gadgil - http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/13inter.htm
Lt. Colonel S. Ravi Shankar - http://specials.rediff.com/news/2007/apr/23slide1.htm

This is just the tip of a gory, deathly iceberg. The cries and woes of the families whose sons don't make it to the media's fancy go unheard. And you better not ask for data on this one. Some simple arithmetic can easily lead you to this conclusion.

Let's talk of just peace times. War times, to me, are too scary and blood-boiling to comprehend.
Think about how many officers and jawaans die every year thanx to terrorism and anti-insurgency operations. Think about the no. of MiG crashes that happen for pilots in training. These, at least, make the headlines.
Now think about the scale on which the Indian army operates. How many cantonments, how many offices, how many posts manned in how many locations. It isn't preposterous to then assume that many a scrupulous Lt. Ravi Shankar's would be turning martyrs. And, all the Defence Ministry and the administration can do is think of a cover-up to protect their slimy, blood-soaked asses!!

That said, it triggers a tsunami of rhetorical questions.

What sort of a nation treats it's soldiers this way? How can we forget our war heroes so easily?
What becomes of a soldier's family if he dies at service? Is the future of old parents or a young infant-son of a soldier secure if he is not around?
Why doesn't the government - those dickheads who parade themselves as the saviors of the nation - have the balls to stand up to Pakistan and take perpetrators to task?

Surely, conferring a medal, giving a notional compensation, best case - a post in some God-forsaken public service, can never be commensurate to a mother's loss of a son. Perhaps nothing can ever be.

Then, what should we be doing? Have a system in place that is rich enough to provide on-going care for soldiers' families and not just one-point braggadocios. A few thought starters are listed below:

A corporate can set-up a fund that provides for the welfare of martyr families.
A simple campaign by the army will generate selfless millions in donation, if they willfully wanted to do something for these families.
The media can take this cause up which would open tons of avenues of help.

As with any other system that aims at mass-welfare, the biggest challenge is in ensuring reach to the families of those countless, faceless jawans that die unglorified. This segment will be the largest and the one in biggest need of support as their families would be the most strained for survival. (Jawans are usually not super qualified and would be the main bread earners for their families).

The clamor for a defence-mechanism against such tsunamis should have been irrepressible by now. Sadly, it just remains a trepid, indiscreet murmur masked out and lost in the loud honks and blares that are India.
We are eons away from where we should be. Guiltily, it hurts to know we could've been there but apathy and indifference again got the better of us :(.

If I make something of myself some day, this post should serve as a reminder for me to do something for this cause. A few tears though is what I close the note currently with. It's the least each of us can do.

Country roads...are taking me home :)

2007-04-22T22:08:00.000+08:00

Country roads, take me home
To the place, I belong...

Am going home this coming Friday. Will see Mama and Dad after 4 long months.
4 months that have been more happy than sad. Had some great weekends with friends here, had friends visiting from India, roamed around Singapore - a city I am fully enamored with by now :).
Made a coupla trips to Philippines, fulfilled a long cherished dream of watching a Grand Prix.

But, am going home now - there's simply nothing quite like this feeling.
There's much to look forward to - friends, relatives, food, warmth, peace, belonging and some much needed counseling and advice. Yoohooo... :)

GoogleCard - The future of communications

2007-04-22T21:41:00.002+08:00

Computers, the World Wide Web and demi-gods like Yahoo, Google have expedited the rate of change that mankind has had to deal with more than most people acknowledge or are even aware of. Our habits and life-styles, egged on by these developments, are changing rapidly without us even knowing about them.

The once ubiquitous post-office and paper-mails are an endangered speices now. Our next generation will see artifacts like stamps on some fossil plate in a museum ;).

Voice chats, Webcams have whittled geographical distances away to just a matter of a few clicks.

But, this post is not to extol the generous blessings of the .Com age. It is my take on what the biggest leap in technology for the coming century is going to be. Am going to write that in the form of an ad concept. So, here goes...

"A web-chat is no substitute for that live, chirpy voice of your sister on the telephone call from home.
A faceless voice on the telephone is no match for the human presence and warm touch of your beloved over a cup of coffee.

The only thing technology can't do is be human.
For everything else, there's Google ;) "

Frustration soother - An unsung virtue of Blogs

2007-04-22T21:14:00.000+08:00

Another listless, staid Sunday has gone by. I end it frustrated, despondent, fuming and tired - like others before this one.

I am really thankful at such times that I have a blog. It's a fantastic vent for seething out all your galls and exasperations. I don't think I have paid my salutes to this virtuosity of blogs :).

It's my blog. I can write what I wish and feel. So, at such times, I let all those extra-charged, anger causing, mind derailing hormones seep in to the white spaces of my blog.
No hurting anyone, no arguments, no getting gyaan, no favors...just plain and simple - problem fixed!!!

Tomorrow is a new day :). I just got a new project at work involving system design, my first love. I want to do it well and excel at my work. Don't want anything to get in my way now.

Friday evening takes me back to Mama...Yoohooooo....It's a week worth looking forward to.

The world's most profound Good Morning greeting!!

2007-04-04T21:10:00.000+08:00

The perfect morning. Wake up to the sun beams weaving a gossamer of a myriad colors, as they disperse thru the glass panes of the apartment blocks on the far side of the road. Pay your daily homages as you listen to the light morning breeze rustle among the leaves. Break your diligent (hopefully) fast with a sumptous helping of cereal and fruit as you tap along to Mark Knoffler crooning away on the radio.

Tuck that dapper shirt in. Run your hand thru your hair one last time and step out! (I don't have a honey to kiss good-bye as yet ;) ).
The pep in your step, the confidence in your stride, is unmistakable. Relive John Travolta whistling Stayin' Alive as you embark on your conquest of the world.

And Whack!! IT almost hits you like a hard slap right across your pretty visage. You almost feel as if the Devil himself took lengthy pains to ensure all your morning blues and reveries were shaken off as you trudged to office (hell? Naah... :) ).

What is IT?

Well, IT's the billboard outside the church opposite my apartment which reads
"What on Earth am I here for??"

Yep, you read it right. Read IT once again, just to be sure. :).

Such profoundness! Every single day, at whichever hour - IT unfalteringly screams that life-halting question at you which every dude/dudette in his/her mid-twenties dreads!!

How's that for a morning greeting! The question never leaves you - you mull over it all along as you almost ghost-walk your way to office. Dreams of conquest retire to some forlorn corner in your attic (Duhhh...your brain ;) )..

The sun beams glare down and smirk at you, the wind flees to lure another unsuspecting soul, the radio bores you down with news :).
Lunch hour is now the salvation you solicit. Your work now assumes the role of your worship, your road to emancipation. Necessarily :).

Just 7 innocuous words - In the right place, at the right time!

Talk about the the power of words and the power of placement :).

Prince or Pauper eh??

2007-04-04T20:47:00.000+08:00

Who is the richest, yet a not so rich, soul on the planet?

And no, this is not one of those philosophical questions mandating a sagacious answer from the 14th century like "one who has lived but never loved" kinds!! To me, those are classical top management replies - in from one ear, out the other in the same breath ;).

In my opinion, it is the dude at the government mint who prints/bundles/makes our money notes. The guy literally eats money, breathes money - millions pass under his very eyes and hands daily ;). And yet, if he's in that job, 8 out of 10 chances are he'd be just another average Joe!!

A classic case of "haath ko aaya, muh na lagaa" ;).

What do you guyz think?

Lol.

15-15: Consumer banking in India vs. in Singapore

2007-03-29T20:40:00.000+08:00

Here's a surprise - Singapore banks still have passbook accounts :). Yes, those little resin-bonded logs, which if we ask our fathers, will prove to be as valuable as a Passport!!!

My first few months in Singapore, having seen the passbooks and the banking services here, gave me the belief that Consumer banking in India was leagues ahead.

Although the difference in the levels of penetration of ATMs in the two countries is of the magnitude of the leagues between the Australian and Indian cricket teams ;), I got the feeling that Indian banks were far more fleet-footed in innovating on the gamut of services they provide.

India outpaces Singapore as far as accessibility of credit cards/loans etc. are concerned. And this in spite of the fact that credit risks in India are Goliath sized compared to the Lion city's levels.

But then, my biggest leveler came last week when I discovered the automatic passbook updating machine at Orchard!! Now, whether this is a statement of my utter ignorance of the external world, I ain't sure, but I found that particular piece of technology fascinating. These guys are fast moving to a world of fully automated, teller-less banking. The bank will be reduced to a 2 ft x 6 ft metal frame on a corner of the road!!!

So, till I come across any more differentiators, I'll take the score as 15-15 :).

Oh...just a good-bye note to all ya I-bankers!! Earn & hoard those insane Dollars as quickly as you can. It's not impossible to comprehend that some day some dawdler (relatively speaking) geek sitting somewhere in Redmond or California might just come up with another disruptive innovation obviating the need for the ridiculous human concentration that you guys are donkeyed around for :).

The World & me

2007-03-26T18:16:00.000+08:00

I'd much rather be the world to someone
than be someone to the world.

Starbucks - A disappointment for me...

2007-03-20T23:20:00.000+08:00

Well, I've had the hallowed opportunity of consuming the ambrosia called Starbucks coffee once I touched the shores of the Lion City.

Turned out to be a big let down for me personally. Tried most major coffees from the Frappe to the Latte to the Cappuccino. Have visited the twin-tailed mermaid about 4/5 times now without any retribution.

I haven't thus far been able to nail the exact reason for this. My lead hypotheses are:

The steamed milk they use makes the coffee too bland for my palate. I prefer the classical south-Indian creamed milk coffee boiled on the stove.
There's something odd about the sugar at Starbucks. I have to empty half-a-dozen sachets to somehow force my tongue to allow the coffee right-of-way till my epiglottis (that's what the nerds with white overcoats call the throat valve :) ) !!

Starbucks? No, thanx!

I haven't had a coffee experience quite like the Baristas closer to home. The old guitar, the rusty glaze of the tables, the familiar brown of the text, the soft rock melodies humming in the background and an ambience radiating the warmth of many a memorable evening...

It's all about "how" and not "what" you say!

2007-03-15T17:25:00.000+08:00

My biggest learning after about a year of working:

Most inter-personal misunderstandings/issues arise out of not what you say, but how you say it.

Obviously, such situations arise in cases of negative feedback or criticizing work/ideas etc. There are very few people have a skill of being able to communicate exactly what they disagree with or what they find bullshit without making it sound a caustic attack on the other person.

It's a good skill to have, me working on it :).

The Sound of Silence

2007-03-14T23:14:00.000+08:00

An unusually quiet day. Actually, no longer unusual. Seem to have one of these every couple of weeks.

Total no. of words spoken in the last 24 hours - less than 50!

And it wasn't as if I was a lone warrior in Siberia trakcing down mammoths or something.
During the day, was in a training during our functional meet amidst some 80 odd people. Evening saw the silence brooding along at a friend's place over dinner. Ate, sat, ate more, came back :).

I get that creepy feeling that there's more to this than meets the eye. Which means more mulling over a zillion cause-effect analysis, sorting out the gossamer of a million question threads in my head...
Damn it, stop overworking my already numbed brain!

Where is the steed that was once so lively? Where is the horse that rambled on unfettered by worldly bonds?

I miss the Horsie of yore...

A tale of two city...airports - Manila & Mumbai!!

2007-03-11T12:27:00.000+08:00

Returned from the Philippines last evening. The similarities between India and the archipelago are many.

A similar exchange rate to the Dollar, similar population prosperity indices, similar "excellence" of governments, similar consumer behaviours, same unorderliness of life, energy and chaos in the people :). Heck, I was elated to see those junk shops, those roadside foodstalls, the one-window Sari-Sari stores - was so reminiscent of home. Felt nice to be out of the almost mechanized realm of Singapore.

The traffic is much worse though. 1-0 India ;).

Manila airport flew my mind back home to Mumbai airport. And I couldn't help smirking after observing the extent of similarities.
The same long-twining queues, more security staff than travelers, inefficiencies galore, ridiculous rules for personal screening...ah, twas uncanny.

I couldn't help being bemused by the super-beefed security. I don't care about being condescending - Philippines is some inconspicuous country in an obscure corner of the world. Nobody would even bat an eyelid if the islands were to disappear. And there's hardly anything there to steal or anyone noteworthy to harm!! So, why all this psychosia for security?

Given that terrorists aren't the next Einsteins around, but I'm sure even they are not as harebrained as to waste their petty lives trying to plot something against the archipelago.
Then came that insanely long queue at immigration. And for no apparent reason other than good-old inefficiency. And, though as pretty as the islands are, there aren't exactly flocks of tourists clamoring in and out of the airport!
It gets better! Next in sequence is the personal security check. Man, I haven't seen a more hypochondriacal race! As you'd normally expect - you are required to empty all pockets, screen all hand baggage. But hereth the clincher - You are to remove shoes, belts, jackets, all sortsa accessories. Basically, just proceed to the X-ray machine in your bare essentials - a shirt and your pants!

It was ridiculous. And they could've most definitely done with some shoe scent there!

I am willing to bet that a few year's down the line, people will be asked to strip to their briefs for screening. (Obviously, you could be hiding two bombs in your underwear ;) ). In the next stage of evolution, we shall all have the immense privilege of feeling like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Manila :).

I was smirking all the way to my aircraft as I was observing these hilarities unfold around me. What a big fuss we humans make of moving across borders! And come to think of it - at the end of the day, it's just a line!

It was a good, fun day :).

Thus spake the Illuminati - The symmetry of our days...

2007-03-11T12:23:00.000+08:00

There will be both good days and bad days in life. They are both an integral part of the enigma called "Stayin' alive" ;).

The good days give you great memories. Cherish them and smile.
The bad days give you experience. Learn from them.

Enjoy life...it was designed precisely for that :).

A Mother is really God on this planet

2007-03-09T18:33:00.000+08:00

I have been in the Philippines for most of this week doing consumer research on diapers. It's been a mind opening visit!!

This was the first time I actually visited and saw my consumers. Saw them in flesh and blood and tried to understand what my product really means to them. There's something surreal about a Mom embracing her kid. The smile on the baby's face upon seeing its mother, the smile on the mother's face seeing her baby laugh, speak his baby prattle, do those silly baby things - that's what I'd truly call a Kodak moment :).

My personal learnings are noted here. The business learnings will be compiled in some word document which just won't ever be able to do justice to what a Mom can do for her kid.

Only a Mother can make the unconditional sacrifices that she does. I met moms, educated women in their 20s, who had dreams of their own and everything needed to achieve them, who just let them go in a flash to raise their kids.
We, the ones with those fancy looking cars and fat looking figures in the banks, crib about our lives and how difficult it is. It's just surprising how time n again life throws me into these situations where you realise how grateful I should be for what I have.
I met moms who lived in as abject conditions as you can imagine. Moms who had no guarantee that their husband will earn money the coming week. And yet, she only gave the best to her kid - food, diapers, soap, milk - you name it!!
For them there was no concept of "I/me" - it was all "You".

I suddenly feel so much respect for my business and brand. In our own small way, we are helping millions of mothers around the world take care of their babies and is something I am really really proud of :).

Even with a million adjectives, I still won't capture that mother-child relationship for what it is. Call it love, belongning, acceptance, safety - whatever...there is nothing quite like a Mother :).

Love ya Mama...And innumerable but insufficient Thank You's.

What would Kalpana Chawla have seen from her space shuttle?

2007-02-27T21:45:00.000+08:00

Have you ever wondered what a soul observing our planet from those gaping skies above would see?

Let's make this uncomfortable. We humans, time n again, keep on passing judgements on the various speices around us - dolphins are "intelligent" mammals, leopards are "savages", monkeys are socially advanced....blah blah blah!! We just love assigning these attributes and playing God :).

For once, lets put us under the microscope. What do you think an alien observer's judgement would be? Let's add the most interesting dimensions - time and evolution.

My vote - We are primeval!! Downright "junglee".

My reasons:

Have you ever seen a speices which bickers so much with its own members? And that also so incessantly?

Even the most vicious and savagest of animals co-exist in harmony. They establish might once and that's that!! Sharks, cheetahs, raccoons - don't go around eliminating fellow predators. (A poser. Why did the great white kill the hammerhead?).

And humans, we have a tendency to come up with the most ludicrous of reasons to just embed a bullet in someone! "She called me drunk..", "I didn't like him.", "He was wearing a turban."
Right from dogs to crocs, animals mark their territories and then the sole aim of their lives is to just defend this territory - irrespective of whether a threat is real or perceived.

Humans - exact same behaviour!!

Take physical territory. In historical times, the sword decided the proprietery of land. Physical aggression and barbarism were a part n parcel of that life.

Today's world - what has changed? Only the manifestation of aggression. Instead of physical aggression, it is a wielding of power thru a few pieces of paper with heads of various famous men printed on them - economic aggression.
Breach the tacit economic equilibrium, you are bound to cause an uproar!!
In other animals, members of a group trust each other. There won't be sniding undercurrents and backstabs in the darkness.

Humans - We haven't been able to trust each other since eons. And I don't think we are about to change for all our planet's worth in the next 1000 years.
I think the Creator intentionally didn't program humans to practice two critical virtues - Equality, non-hypocricy. Had he by chance given us these, we might not have had such a vibrant history!!
We have discriminated among Men and from this discrimination stemmed some of the most abused "isms" of modern history - colonialism, feudalism, communism, slavism (okay, that was a cheap trick, but you get the point :) ).

So, at the end of the day, humanity works on the law of the jungle - might is right. Just that in Africa, the might is of AK47s, in USA it is of "billion and trillion $". From a green jungle, the arena has moved to a black jungle of death or a grey jungle of warfare.

Not saying that all that has happened is bad and that we are the scum of the universe ;). Just that when seen thru a critical eye removing all the frills away, you get an idea of the true rate of progress of the human race. It's nothing that I feel proud of!!

Think about "what can be" or "could have been". Unfortunately, "what is" seems like the other side of the magnet.

And yet, there is still Hope. And that Hope, ironically, is us! Conservationists, peace brokers, economic experts who genuinely led to wealth distribution among their people, reform thinkers have borne the beacon thus far. Hopefully, we'll keep it burning so that our kids won't see the same sight as this.

This Hope is the one thing that preserves this miracle called "Life" on this planet :).

Adios,
Harsh.

Hello Darkness my old friend..I am back with you again!

2007-02-04T16:12:00.000+08:00

Well, off late have started kayaking every weekend. It's good fun.

Placid water, nice weather, early morning breeze...Row away, make your own wake!!

I can draw a parallel from my kayaking to my life as well. Unfortunately, the parallel ends at the fact that I am the sailor.

The winds are not as gentle, the current not as placid. The boat not as steady.

The first lesson I learnt on the kayak was that however hard you may want to think that you are in control - reality is starkly different. I have broken all my delusions about being in complete control of my life. It's a fundamental realization of apocalyptic proportions - it's broken thru all previously held beliefs, thought processes, action plans...everything.

While rowing, you have to be careful when rowing among a group of kayaks - ripples caused by others can easily topple you.

Similarly, been a rough week for me - and I don't know which whirlpool I stirred to cause the swirl. Relations strained at work. Incessant workload pressure, ridiculously long working hours for making presentatios. Stress in general as well on other fronts - Mom's not well, Dad needs me, questions on decisions I made, am about to make - some of the old demons which I had quelled returned.

Repeatedly found myself marooned away - like a lone survivor finding his way to land.

On the kayak, you can't keep rowing endlessly. You have to take breaks, else you gonna burn out your arms real fast.

Had made a plan to visit Langkawi this weekend. Had to cancel that for a hoard of reasons. Now am beginning to feel I shouldn't have cancelled the trip.

I need a break...a long one. Want to be cut-off from the world, from those million chores and issues that I need to attend to. Feel like just scurrying off one weekend - no mobile, no internet...nothing!

Just me, my thoughts and some introspection on where the hell I want to take my kayak.

Eating the bread I earn...Quite literally

2007-01-18T21:55:00.000+08:00

Ate bread today for all my meals - two toasts for breakfast, a sandwich for lunch, two sandwiches for snacks, toast sandwiches for dinner. Hell, I even feel like a bread now...I have all the pores and the soft center (I am a pragmatist you see ;-) ).

Let me narrate the story of my 6 months, and all the bread!!

I can truly claim that I have eaten all the bread I have earned with all my effort and toil for the past 6 months.
What the heck! I have been eating so much bread, even the Subway lady on duty during lunch knows my choice of bread by rote now!! She sees me entering the restaurant, gives me that knowing smile, pulls out the loaf she needs to from her rack, cuts it into half and passes it along the quay to her colleague handling the vegetables.

So here I am, all confident and beaming with pride that I have finally come of age, earning and eating my bread. Surely, as the wisdom of yore reverberated in my head, I'd now find contentedness, true happiness and success in life. So, day after day, month after month, I diligently follow the path that hath been layeth, in anticipation of glory that lay just round the bend.

But hey, 6 months have already gone by in a whiff. And sadly, to my utter disbelief and a reverie-breaking shock, I am beginning to realize that the bread isn't the sweetest and satisfying grub as the age old aphorisms had me believe! All I have to show for it is an horribly upset metabolism rhythm :-).

So, in my agony and depression, the realization dawns on me, like the streak of first morning light, that the "time is now" (Ref: Previous post - The ToI India Poised 2007 campaign). Time for the bread to stay on its rack and for the new age foods to roll out!! Thank you ToI...as you truly self-admittedly and humbly had said - you are the best! :P.

From tomorrow, I say, bring on the Ice-creams and the Pastries and the Maccaronies Babieee...

P.S. - Technically, "now" should have implied today, but unfortunately it's already past dinner, and my next meal is only breakfast tomorrow morning. Hence, the breaking of the shackles of bread shall happeneth from tomorrow. Ain't I a fast learner!!

India Poised - Anthems with a meaning...

2007-01-18T10:16:00.000+08:00

ToI is running a 6-week long campaign called "India Poised" on its website and their news channel - Times Now - to mark 2007 as the year of India. The campaign's base theme - The time for India is now.

Yeah right!! Will someone please come forth and explain to this dimwitted soul which year isn't the year of India? When is "now" not the time for India? If you can explain such lofty concepts into my weasly head, I will revere your benevolence all my life!!

The skepticism and "respect" for ToI apart, the website is running a series of notes, called anthems, on India from respectable celebrities like Amithabh Bacchan and Gulzar. It is for these notes that I am putting up this blog entry. Will keep updating it as I download more of these notes from their website.

Note: I make absolutely no claim to any of these anthems. None of them are my work at all. So, ToI, please don't sue me for plagiarism or IP rights infrigement. :-).

This is Amitabh's take on India which he feels is on the verge of breaking all shackles restraining her at the moment and bound away to touch the sky. As Ian Malcolm (of Jurassic Park and The Lost World fame, played by Jeff Goldblum) would call it, "at the edge of chaos."

But, how would you like Amitabh recite this anthem out to you? That'd be a different experience altogether. Human expression paints a completely different hue of even the most mundane notes!! And this is as far from mundane as can be...

You can treat yourself to it here. Amitabh's anthem recitation.

I found the note to be quite meaningful and a subtle reality-check rap on the shoulder for someone like me living away from my homeland.

You can visit the India Poised website at http://www.indiapoised.com.

Till I am back, quietly letting the spirit sink in...

There & back again...

2007-01-08T23:15:00.000+08:00

Well, almost two months since my last post. A lot's been going on in my head all this while.

Celebrated a lonely birthday. Was fun actually. The highlight of this birthday had to be the international telecon, 6 of us Infosys friends had. Giddy, terrific idea, though you unknowningly engendered the group which will now ensure that Jigna never experiences peace again :D.

Well, I had to leave for India the immediate morning after my birthday. Due to the elongated telecon, just barely woke up and managed to scramble onto the flight home :). That adventure deserves a separate post by itself!!

3 weeks in India were full of a lot of introspection, clearing of a mind overclouded with doubts, realizing constants in life. Questions still continue to berate me like silent sea waves upon a beleagured rock, just that the lashing is significantly less corrosive now.

Returned to Singapore today morning. And to my shock, almost everything seemed new, almost unfamiliar! Home is truly where the heart is...

And as for today itself - it was a day of surprises.

There was a nice layer of soot on my bed, on my furniture, on my clothes awaiting me when I opened my room. A layer of fungus on some of my clothes inside my cupboard added zing to the surprise. The recently begun construction just outside my condo is sure to give me lots of such gifts over the next few months.
My boss, who sits in India, arrives into Singapore today. And guess what, he flew the same flight as I. And I had zilch clue...Gulp :).
My mailbox saw a deluge of 600 new mails, replete with shabbily written ramble-ons from my agency, scores of attachments and million follow-up requests on a million things from various people.
For a change, my To-do list for the month looks half as empty as I have come to expect by now.
Saw an email in my box which brought totally unexpected and livening good news way ahead of their time :). Keeping my fingers crossed...(they are all pretty much knotted by now anyways).

As for the non-surprises, my lazy flatmate didn't get his copy of the house keys made from my set (which I had left behind with him for precisely this purpose).
Business, as usual, is "fati padi hain" ;).

Well, I am back again...in Singapore, have to ensure that I stay here, in body, mind and soul over the next few months. They are gonna prove critical.

Cheers everyone!

Technology eh...

2006-11-14T21:22:00.000+08:00

Only now am I beginning to appreciate the labors of companies who had outsourced work to India/China.

My Bodhi tree was my call today with one of my suppliers in Beijing. An urgent issue had arisen which mandated calling her during her travel.

Try and picture this and you'll understand what I am trying to say.

Dialing No. Connected to reception.

Receptionist: @^#*%^#@ (A 5-Star hotel reception, ladI y mutters something in Chinese).
Moi: R-o-o-m N-o. 9 0 3 please.

Some music. Sounded Chinese in origin.

Room No. 903: Hello, this is XYZ here.

Moi: Hi XYZ. How are you?
XYZ: Hi Harsh. I am sorry, I can barely here you. What is it you wanted?
Moi: I need the final file.
XYZ: What?? The original bill?

Moi: The F I N A L file.
XYZ: Can you please call me again to see if we can get a better line?

Hang-up. Process repeat, go back to Dialing no. Make 6 iterations.

Finally, I gave up thinking you might as well send me the bill for all this pain!!

Imagine the fun when you are calling from America (accent or no accent) to a telephone line in India in a plush BPO office some 40 kms outside Chennai village and trying to explain your payroll process to a "I can & will vonly speeeg Taamil" employee. You will end up getting pay-slips with all sorts of "Jalebi-like" sketches all over it!!

Today's lesson: Technology's goal is to introduce innovative avenues of hilarity in our lives ;).

Harsh.

A new-age wisdom :)

2006-11-14T10:32:00.000+08:00

A good start to a working Tuesday morning.

You might have heard all of the following adages reflecting centuries of wisdom.

1. The grass is always greener on the other side, but it's just as hard to mow.
2. No matter which side of the rainbow you are on, the pot of gold will always appear at the other end.

Presenting my new-age take on the wisdoms-that-be :)

"The hotter chics are always on other men's arms, but they are just as hard to stick with."

Creativity rocks!!!

The world's best comedian - Ram Jethmalani

2006-11-06T21:45:00.000+08:00

Presenting the Indian judiciary's leading star... Let the world watch and mock :).

http://www.ibnlive.com/videos/25393/exclusive-jethmalani-flays-media.html

Of pick-up lines and intentions.

2006-11-05T16:15:00.000+08:00

My flatmate and I saw this movie called Bas Ek Pal starring Jimmy Shergill, Sanjay Suri, Urmila Matondkar, Juhi Chawla and one more listlessly passable weirdo.

Just a note out of benevolence. Consider going out to the nearby traffic light and watching cars come, stop at red and vroom away at green before you decide to dive in to this movie. It's only about half as interesting if not worse.

Anyways, getting back to the topic, I can summarize the background for today's post as under - Sanjay Suri is a USA-returned stud who flips out on Urmila seeing her at a pub, picks up a brawl with the guy who claims to be her man, ends up firing a pistol shot that paralyzes Jimmy Sherill and is thrown into jail.

Now, while in jail, he keeps on fantasizing about Ms. Tangmodkar. Now, I don't know whether that was a Cupid hangover or just his brain's hallucination trying to ease the pain while he was getting "done" by his cellmate :D. (A friend later pointed out that things actually happen and that it was surprising I didn't know about it. Darn!! I haven't been fortunate enough to have gone to jail, how am I supposed to know!!)

Well, so the movie meanders along. Cutting all the noise out, important thing is Urmila (who's engaged to Jimmy Shergill, Sanjay Suri is aware or this fact.) ends up going one night (Yes, it was raining, as if it had a choice of staying up in the heavens) to meet Mr. Suri who's managed bail. And then this sequence ensued, which sent the two of us rolling off the sofa to the floor, guffawing in laughter.

Urmila: Aakhir tum chaahte kyaa ho mujhse. (What do you expect from me?)

Sanjay: Maine teen saal jail mein roz yehi sapna dekha thaa. Jab main subah uthu, tum mere bagal mein leti huee ho aur tumhaare hoton pe halki si hansi chhayi huee hain aur main tumhaare komal badan ko *something something* (don't remember the Hindi).

Kyaa tum mera yeh sapna poora kar sakti ho??

(3 years in jail, I just had this dream. When I wake up each morning, I find you lying next to me, with a light smile on your lips and I caress your soft body. Can you fulfill this dream/desire of mine?)

Now neither of us, even in 70 lives, have a claim to fame of being lady-killers and being pundits on one-liners or the likes, but we both felt that this was a phenomenally pseud and sophisticated way of requesting a one-night fling. A really glib way off filing a corny request!!

To us, it had plain, simple SEX written all over it - in all CAPS, font size = 80 :).

Both of us dismissed it off saying that such shit wouldn't ever work!! But, vallah vallah...we later were forced to bite our tongues. When we narrated this story to a couple of female friends, they expressed totally polar views to ours - how romantic and thoughtful, not lustful and non-guys like!!

Can you believe that - it bloody does work!!

Now I get it. Our fundae are all screwed up. No wonder we are sitting at home on a lazy weekend watching such travesties!

A booster shot

2006-09-24T23:39:00.000+08:00

Fattie, a.k.a. Priyatham (u asked for this!!), said something today that moved something inside me.

He narrated his visit to the hospital to see a friend and how he felt what a brave girl she was. How cheerful she was in the face of a plastic surgery!!

He said he almost broke down seeing her. He went on to say that he would never forget this Sunday in his life. It brought him immense resilience and resolve to never, never give-up in life.

I usually don't associate Fattie talking like this. Being honest Fattie.

But his words manifested into fort walls today - lofty, strong and infallible. Something about them gave me strength. And I needed it.

Was a indiffirent weekend, this one. Was feeling gnawed all through. Just generally.
Life is so difficult to fathom, so difficult to be in control of. But then, just when you are about to lay down arms, reinforcements come up from avenues you never expected or bothered to look to.

Thanx Fattie...the old Horsie will wake up again tomorrow, Monday morning.

The Steve Waugh spirit is rekindled.

The week in Sports

2006-09-14T23:42:00.000+08:00

U.S. Open 2006

→ Roger Federer claims his 3rd successive US open and 9th career slam. Phenomenal!!

→ The ohhhhhh-so-sexy Maria Sharapova vanquishes Justine Henin-Hardenne for her maiden US open and 2nd career title. Hoping countless more follow ;).

→ Justine Henin becomes the first player since Steffi Graf to reach all 4 Grand Slam Singles Finals in a calendar year. She won the French but lost the other 3 - Australian & Wimbledon to Amelie Mausresmo and US to Sharapova.

→ First time in Tennis history that a male and a female player reach all 4 Grand Slam finals (Roger Federer and Justine Henin).

→ Martina Navratilova continues making a mockery of age and all sorts of records as she powers her way to her 59th career Grand Slam title partnering Bob Bryan for the Mixed Doubles.

→ Two tennis greats finally adieu to the courts - Andre Agassi and Martina Navratilova. Bleary eyes and heavy hearts the world over.

F-1, Italian Grand Prix @ Monza

→ Michael Schumacher & Ferrari once again outfox the nitwits at McLaren at pit strategy and win the race.

→ Alonso blows up his engine in his bloodrush allowing Schumacher to close to within 2 points of the championship lead.

→ The season's nicely poised for one of the tightest and fiercely, closely fought finales with the Chinese, Japanese and Brazilian Grand Prixs to come.

→ Michael announces his retirement shortly after his victory with the unimaginable 100 victories mark just a season away.

Cricket - DLF Cup, Malaysia

→ West Indies wither away and squander a golden chance of putting one over the indomitable Aussies as they lose 9 wickets for just 29 runs in the series opener.

→ Match 2: India vs. West Indies - Tendulkar returns with a bang to silence all those aspersing him as a Titan of the past by slamming 141 against the Windies. But it’s déjà vu all over again as the Indian bowlers get tonked all around the park and India lose the match courtesy M/s Duckworth and Lewis.

UEFA Champions League

The heavyweights of European football return to the biggest club football saga in the world. Amidst much fanfare, some clubs go about doing their business clinically – play football, score goals, win matches while others get lost in the blitz of the media lights.

→ Defending champions, Barcelona hammer 5 past new boys Levski Sofia.

→ Usual Suspects Chelsea, Milan, Bayern Munich all win comfortably scoring 2,3,4 goals respectively.

→ Valencia produce a masterful performance powered by Fernando Morientes’ hat-trick to win 4-2 away to Olympiacos.

→ Last year’s runners-up, Arsenal commence with a convincing win away to Hamburg with new signing Tomas Rosicky justifying his multi-million pound deal with a classy strike that will surely show up in the season’s best goals list.

→ The much hyped Real Madrid under Fabio Cappello once again disappoint as Lyon easily defeat them 2-0.

→ Liverpool make heavy weather of a reasonably manageable fixture, as they so often do, to earn a 0-0 draw in Eindhoven.

→ Celtic throw caution to the winds as they push Man Utd. To the edge and almost over as they make the Red Devils slug out a 3-2 victory at Old Trafford.

Name = Horsie, Work = Donkey's ;)

2006-09-14T22:30:00.000+08:00

Without the slightest of doubts, my best day in life!!

Morning 10am - Night 9.30 pm: All I did today was data setup, cleaning and formatting today.

Activities include:

Copy pasting of cells from across Excel files - As the great gyaani Baba Mohanty would say, "draugg it".
Coloring various cells with the wonderful palate that Mr. Gates provided in his most benevolent gift to mankind so far
I think I exceeded expectations on this activity today. Optimized on the color use - the file actually has an artistic hue to it now.
The satisfaction one gets out of doing "creative" work is unparalleled. I titled my creation "Global Unity & Harmony" as that is what you'd get if you randomly mixed the colors of the flags of the world.

Thinking of patenting this idea, selling it to Bill Gates/UNO/US President (the man concerned most about world peace). And ofcourse, all the proceeds will go to charity ;).
Reconciling 3 formats used for reporting the same data - I am only now beginning to appreciate the finer nuances of how sensational the Gillette methods of working are.
Considering they had no significant competition to give them so much as a hiccup in this region, they had to indigenously come up with challenges for their employees - you have to be at the "cutting" edge.

So, they came up with up an absolutely ingineous plan.
Shipments, Consumptions and Annual reports are quoted in entirely anti-similar formats. Anti-similar as there's no obvious linkage between Shipments and Consumption of various brands. Infact, shipment data for the same country, brand, period combination when drawn from different sources can be conflicting. Sub-brand and group totals can exceed mother brand / company shipment totals :D.

So, the challenge is to know the right source, all the right sources for the 500-odd SKUs that they have and the right brand list.

Now, that's what I call challenging work!! And people wanted to participate in the Crystal Maze to test their claimed intelligence...idiots.

Dumbguns, learn from Gillette - learn to make challenges for yourself by mangling and juggling around with your data. It will always keep your employees at their "sharpest".

Obviously, such extra-ordinary methods were devised by some high-flying MBA. And you necessarily have to be equipped with an MBA to even being considered worthy of deserving a shot at this twister!!

What a day!! Wishing that my entire career is full of such days...

No, though I know you guys are envious, you can't bribe me out of my job.
I love my job!!!

New English word: Schumacher = perfection, domination, God-status

2006-09-10T23:12:00.000+08:00

I don't know when I last felt so despondent. Michael Schumacher is retiring after this season.

An era 's ending in the history of sport. Not just F1, all sport. From the time when Ferrari was a car that had to be wrestled to the chequered flag to that sublimal 15-race dominating dream baby of 2004, Schumacher has single-handedly rewritten every single history book there ever was in F1.

He is a game changer. He is inspiration. He is supremacy. He is trying that one bit harder and beyond. He is the man that rewrote the very definition of perfection and domination.

There have been countless and there will be countless who every now and again will rise to prominence, surpass existing records and be masters of their own game. But rarely do Schumiz arise who transcend conventional boundaries of their spheres of excellence and go on to have a profound impact on human society in general. They become the benchmarks, the touchstones which the world would endeavor to equal endlessly. Lance Armstrong and Tiger Woods are the only two similar names that I can recall in contemporary sport. The FedExpress and maybe Rahul Dravid are on their way there. And I am pretty sure you can't append too many more names to this clique.

The jobless HR departments of the world (that tells you my opinion of them!!) would do well to take a cue from this chap's life. Put up his poster in office instead of making all those jazzy pin-ups with big-big words in them which do anything but motivate.

He's had his detractors and his moments of madness. But you can't take away his passion, his single-minded focus on winning everytime he got behind the wheel. It takes some fire in the belly to go and slug it out fortnight after fortnight when you know that you have nothing left to prove, that you sit unchallenged at the peak, that there are light years between you and your peers. God only knows what it takes to come out and dig in for some silly zig-zagging across a round circuit when you know your mother is also counting down a vital few seconds- albeit in a hospital bed.

I, for one, will definitely shed some silent tears. Cannot comprehend F1 as F1 without him.
Michael Schumacher - The Tiffosi God, the rainmaster, the legend...the world bows in deference.

An ailment called Apathy

2006-09-06T00:17:00.000+08:00

During my round-up of the news today, stumbled upon the Jessica Lall murder case story. The accused doctor has appartently surrendered. That's all I know. So far.

Only after I had moved onto all the other more "interesting" news "stories", did this thought strike me as to how much indifference we Indians harbor in us. I just skipped over the story as though it were another flippant story.

Come to think of it - terrorist attacks, bomb scares, red alerts, devastating floods - have almost become daily, mundane chores in India's day. Scariest part is we seem to have internalized them just like share script swings from Siberia to Antarctica. And Dalal Street is more likely to cause the next emergency announcement in the country than serial blasts or floods in multiple states. :(

Back to the point: a big dimension of law is to set precedents and norms for the society as to what is acceptable and what absolutely isn't. Law works by example - that's the reality. People label Singapore autocractic - but look at the other side of the coin - it's close to a self-governing state. It is way too incomprehendible for an Indian who has just accepted the judiciary taking eons to even call so much as a Head or a Tail!!

If the gulity are actually brought to the book in the Jessica Lall case, it will be a landmark judgement in India's legal and social history. It will perhaps rekindle that dead spirit inside us telling us that a human life has value - every single one.

I personally too never realized this until I came to Singapore and were I in India currently, I am sure this entry would've been some electrical impulse in one of my neurons (few) that never quite sparked!!

Apathy and indifference could possibly, and quite easily, be the worst plague to have hit us - in epidemic proportions. Cure required...and real quick. Hoping that this case be the beginning of the End. Not a Fool's hope, I hope.

Cricket in throes...

2006-09-04T20:37:00.000+08:00

I couldn't believe myself when I found Dumdum (remember, I have an evil twin ;) ) actually rooting for Pakistan in the 4th test of the England - Pak series.

Its saddening that even after all these years in international Cricket racism is so maliciously prevalent. Sub-continent players are penalized for what would be minor offences for the white teams while the whites - players and umpires - virtually get away with murder. Rahul Dravid - Michael Slater during the famous 2001 Calcutta test, Saurav Ganguly in Zimbabwe, Muttiah Muralitharan for chucking, Sachin Tendulkar - Glenn McGrath down under. South African cricket's unending troubles with the selection of black players..

And now, the ball tampering accusation on Inzy.

The magnitude of injustice against the brown and black skinned players seems to be amplifying ever more with each passing year.

Darrel Hair brought the entire game to disrepute with his audacious e-mail to the ICC and admittance to rigging of his umpiring decisions to favor the white teams. He literally slapped the ICC across the face, knowing they were a senile, spineless body of eunuchs who could cause him no harm even if they wished to.

And as expected, Mr. Hair is a forgotten chapter now. The spotlight now revolves towards the upcoming Champions Trophy in India.

Sports has an amazing knack of being able to show you the entire spectrum of human emotions and capabilities - from unabated ebullience of victory, masterful performances to the downright abject and detestable lows of doping, cheating, cold-blooded vendettas.

Perhaps reality is that these two aspects go hand-in-hand together - exactly like the precept of Dan Brown's Illuminati - perfect symmetry.

Engineers make brilliant Politicians...

2006-08-27T02:38:00.000+08:00

Only recently I read a Singaporean minister's views on how to make Singapore an even bigger tourist attraction in a newspaper. If I enjoyed a franchise right here, I'd vote for him blindly.

The dude had this to say. It's no longer enough that Singapore is a safe and convenient haven for tourists. People want it be more lively and more happening. So, Singapore's taking definitive steps in this regard as tourism is a major lynchpin in this country's economy.

He then goes on to say that these days tourism is all about pleasure - carnal and material pleasures!! Strip bars, topless discs/dance bars, pick-up joints and the associated "night-life" are the next big catchment area.

At this point, I was like in awe of this person. Could immediately sense a connect of wavelenghts!!
Now before my character scores plummet to the levels of a certain Mr. Clinton, I shall clarify my reasons:

1. The engineer that I am, I figured in a second that this guy had to be an engineer. No two ways about it!! He demonstrated the classic engineer motto - If there ain't a problem, create one...then later go on and fix it.

Half the world is creating such a ruckus against such "pleasures" and our man here is talking of promoting them. Imagine tax payer's money finding the conduit to funding competitions like "Best Pole Dance", "Best assets" etc!! Rock on brother, you have 100% votes from people under 25 - infact they'll work double shifts if you actually pull this thru :D.

2. This style is quite similar to the Indian way of governance. Which makes me feel at home. For beautification's sake first raise a tree, then complain of too much oxygen, hence cut the tree down to a stump...and reinvent the wheel all over again!!

But I definitely ain't complaining!! I love Singapore.....

Fate...

2006-08-26T21:19:00.001+08:00

A whole glass panel just collapsed today in Plaza Singapura (that’s where the StarHub office is).

It must have been atleast 4ft x 2ft in dimensions.
Right in front of my eyes, barely 10 mtrs away from me. It just gave way and fell all of 1 floor onto the escalator below.

The impact was ear shattering!! Almost like a bomb blast.

Had someone been on that escalator, Plaza Singapura to pakka band ho jaata.
Thank God no one got hurt.

Think about it...you could be having the happiest day of your life - strolling merrily around in a mall, girlfriend in arm, your wallet firmly housed in your back-pocket ;) and bam... This could be fate :(.

Think about it...

ATSC Nostalgia

2006-08-26T20:55:00.000+08:00

Got a cable tv and an internet connection done today evening for our apartment. What the agent was saying would take 3-days and StarHub saying 6 days to get activated (and more money), we finished in 3 hours. Simply by going to the outlet personally, breaking our heads on what plans are the most economical, paying cash and taking hardware delivery.

Which brings me to Star Hub. Who ever knew choice could be such a big problem. Man, picking what plans to subscribe to today was one heckova pain!!

There are 3 basic services - mobile phone, Cable TV, internet broadband. A home landline service is also offered. Just for kicks!

And, as my ATSC lessons remind me, in a market dominated by few big players, tacit collusion tends to be the equilibrium state - whether Nash or Pareto - which moves the competition more towards the monopoly end of the scale.

So, bundling rules the roost and causes mayhem. Project details as under:

Data: We are existing StarHub mobile customers. That makes you eligible for discounts.

Constraints: Option of taking internet connection only for 6 months i.e. no lock-in period.

Objective: Optimize costs, get cable tv and internet service.

The variables governing choice of service are:
- Length of contract (lock-in)
- Monthly costs, Hardware and other initial costs
- Discounts and offers.

We had the following choices to pick from:

Plain vanilla contracts – No bundling, no fun, no cheap. So, no in feasibility list.

Bundled pack - Cable tv, internet, home line connection. Contract period - 1 year for all 3.
Discount of S$88 annually, hardware purchase costs waived off (which are artificially hiked in the first place). As you take all 3 basic services, you get an additional 15%, 10%, 5% off on mobile, cable, internet monthly bills for the first year. Throw in a home line with unlimited free local outgoing calls :D.

A corporate connection - You cannot bundle the three services now. Individual contracts for all three, pay only for 8 months of Cable TV in a year, internet connection no discounts, no hardware costs waived.

So, you can imagine how hard our already strained intellectual resources had to stretch to assimilate all the possible discount options and evaluate what was the objective meeting, constraint satisfying option (man, with so much jargon, I am beginning to sound like a consultant).
We tried all sorts of permutations and combinations, calculated total costs, tried the opportunity cost model, asked a zillion things and somehow eventually figured that a corporate connection for cable tv and a plain vanilla internet connection would work best for us. We were poring over this conundrum for over 1.5 hrs.

The girl who was attending to us was incredibly patient. Though I am sure by the end of it all, she was at her patience’s, sales skills’ and wits’ ends. We had toggled so many times, asked soooooooo many questions, pheuff!!

Good thing that we had already decided our TV channel mix beforehand. Else, that would have been another 45 mins smoked.

So, all-in-all life is now beginning to look up. We moved into this apartment on Monday night. Its huge…10th floor, nice breeze, lazing view!!

We have a net connection at home now – which is élan vital for all of us. Connected back to the world (literally and of course to the special people in India :P). The computer and messengers are like taking the proportion of food and water in life!!

Blooper of the day

2006-08-26T20:50:00.000+08:00

Learnt today that you can't call South East Asians "Chinkis" as we desis would term them in Singapore as this was the term used as slander when the Japs ruled here during WWII. The term's considered derogatory enough to actually get you deported from Singapore!!

Infantry’s day out…

2006-08-24T00:49:00.000+08:00

No bosses in office today. Not for the next 3 days. Yippieee...

No meetings, updates, reviews.
No mentors, other people to watch out for, project guide

Just the infantry's day out...office never felt so wonderful :D. Why shouldn't every day be so terrific?

Afterall, we too deserve happiness :P.

Give peanuts, get monkeys :)

2006-08-22T11:02:00.000+08:00

Yesterday - Not the brightest of Mondays I have had. Basically, I am trying to do a tradeflow estimation.

Here’s how I’d summarize the project so far.

I am a new hire who is doing this without any training.
Now, since the brands whose estimations I am handling were acquired recently by us, I am essentially living the acquisition – learning the acquiree’s systems and trying to fit them in somehow into our systems.
The knowledge in the old system has been lost – simply ‘coz no one gives a damn - so basically I can summarize how most of work days progress by the picture below

Image courtesy: http://photos.surfline.com/albums/userpics/10102/

The guy in USA is asking my boss for a certain deliverable. Which he ofcourse is more than willing to promise – use thodi na karni hai Microsoft Excel se shaadi…

But, here’s the catch. The deliverable was never delivered even before the acquisition – reason being its way too much of an effort for the end purpose this estimation is going to serve. It’s a bit like trying to wield a bull just to hang your jacket on the horn!! :D.

Evidently, I had queries – on the methodology used to do the estimation. Which is when I heard the most amazing dialog in my stint at work so far. All credits and copyrights of the next few lines go to the guru in USA.

“Approach the project in this manner – think that there’s a party at your house. Obviously I am interested in the party in your living room and not your histrionics in the kitchen. So, why don’t you just serve me the goodies and let me decide on what I like best.”

Now that I think about this incident earlier in the day, I feel like saying this to him

“Dude…get real. Parties are for invitees. Those who gatecrash have to do the dishes and eat the leftovers.” :D. Different thing that had I said this, I would be working on a different b than my blog – biodata!! Lolss…

Gosh…I should have nailed this thing when I had the chance. Anyways, the obvious method in this case was – ASSUMPTIONS. This one word in English is a million blessings put together!!

Amazing that sitting in an A/C room in a plus Singapore office, I can govern how an entire country will play out for one entire year just by drawing a number I like and putting it into something as simple as F16 (an Excel cell!!).

This should be real good fun…delivery on Saturday. Which reminds me – bugger, pore over the excel and not on horsespeak…adios for now.

someone, somewhere....

2006-08-15T00:35:00.000+08:00

said these beautiful words to me...

i love you babes....really.....

for this you i know.

that guy who is soooo typicallly a person

a real person...

now....

you dont see such people around anymore

very real....

honest...

faulty....proud of it...

great....proud of it...

works hard...

enjoys...

lives life....

wants a life...

and lives by his own code of honour

bad or good...

he owns it

doesnt live with the tide

and dreams...

he dreams about himself...

what he will do.....

he has no place in life for sand castles...

his dreams are real....you can feel then....you know they will happen....

no two ways about it...
just soo typical....
its a boon

you feel safe and alive...

atleast i do.

rarely are such words said in as much earnest. thanx a ton sweets!! u are ze beshtttt :P

I am afterall just human!!

2006-08-14T22:57:00.000+08:00

Even the title holder of the World’s Biggest Liar (there’s actually a competition like that!!) would be put to shame if I were to crib about anything in my life. There’s nothing I can complain of – work, friends, comforts, freedom – financial and personal… Nothing!!

I have my dream job. Stay in a city that offers comforts that few others can even match up to. Have a circle of friends that I know would stand by me even through a cyclone. Know that there a lot of people who look up to me and would give anything to swap into my shoes.

However, the nag is relentless. The harder I try to quell it, the more imposing the questions get when they arise out of the shadows. I like to think of myself as an optimist and even have a history and a reason to believe so. Even though I try to convince myself and dismiss my thoughts as uncertainty driven blues, the feeling of hollowness refuses to die down.

Maybe this is the quintessential mid-twenties crisis. Somehow I don’t think so. Over the last few months have spent a lot of time with myself – introspecting and trying to foresee a vision for myself. And it’s been good. This is perhaps a manifestation in black and white of that process…

I am bloody hell proud of what I have achieved and done in life so far. I have given my 100% and more to whatever I wanted to do. I haven’t slipped up on any responsibilities I have had – be it as a son, a friend, a student, a Placecommer, a boyfriend. I have shown utmost loyalty, which holds supreme importance for me, to my guiding motto –

Karmanyeva adhikaraste maphaleshu kadachana

Makarma phala heturbhu mate sangotswa karmani

But that feeling of emptiness persists.

I am into the best years of my life now. And what the hell am I doing with them? What am I trying to achieve? Harsh Dhiren Shah, as I know him, has always been about making a difference, trying to contribute and improve things around him. He has been much like that spider who just never gives up till he completes his web. He has been about pursuing and spreading knowledge and goodness.

Am I doing all of that right now? Those painfully pointed, faultless, unquestionable truths stare straight into my face – where do I see myself one year from now? I will slog my ass off, please my boss, who in turn will please his white skinned boss and we shall all be one happy family. What will we have added to the world – sold a few million soaps or razors more?? A competitor brand will possess that one equity that we’d kill for our brand to possess!! Yeah, I’ll have good and bad days at work. On the bad days, maybe these thoughts dominate. But then on the good days, I should be rejoicing, shouldn’t I?

Kyaa fark pad jaayega isse…kuch paise koi gora zyaada banayegaa, jismein se hum ek ratti bhar hissa leke khush honge.

Make no mistake, my company is probably as good as it gets – excellent people, excellent policies, opportunities galore – it’s a privilege and honor to be associated with this name. And am proud as hell to be part of this coterie!!

Somehow, I am not convinced – something is amiss. Outside of those four glass walls that I call office, my boss means nothing to me. (Not the one in India, I think he’s Godlike!! Among the most highly regarded in the company, ecstatic to be working with him). And I am toiling night and day for him!!

What about the people who mean the world to me – my parents, my family, my friends, my people? (yeah Niki, for all my scoffing and scathing, apne log apne log hain. Apni mitti, apni mitti hain...)

I can feel my mother’s longing and angst pain every single time I speak to her. Every single time it shatters me – can’t ever forgive myself for putting her thru this.
For too long have my Dad & Grandpa ground themselves into the earth to give us kids all the luxuries in life. For too long have they had to face worries and tensions…

Isn’t it about time that I took up the mantle? I guess the call to arms will keep on clamoring till it gets answered.

What is it that I really want to do? Zindgi mein kuch aisa karenge jisse kisi ko to duniya mein fark padein. Jisse hum itna to taan ke keh sake, ki haan yeh maine kara hain, yeh bahaarein maine failaayeen hain. Varnaa bas, ek aur job-goer banker eh jaayenge – office jaayenge, boss ke liye kaam karenge, promotion ke liye marenge, sabun aur shampoo bechenge aur ek din mit jaayenge. And the earth shall keep rotating!!

Nahin yaar, yeh main nahin hoon. When I look back at my past, I see people thinking about me and breaking into a smile that this one left behind something that made our lives simpler, better.

Zindgi khud ke liye jiye to kyaa jiye,

zinda to aap tabhi ho

jab koi aur aapke ehsaas ke liye tarse…

Yeh main hoon. Filmi to filmi hi sahi, par yehi mera astitva hain!

Who are the people that I admire the most? The ones that I look up to ever so often? My dad, my mentor at IMS. Why? These people did nothing exceptional – yet they metamorphosed my life from a cycle of 24 hrs into a joyride worth dying for. They just held the torch high above my head so that I could see that the world lay before me; it was mine to conquer. They showed me the power of dreams and also the path to turning them into reality. To you, Asan Sir - friend, mentor, and guide – you were the difference in my delivering and landing into an IIM. He single-handedly took me to a wonderland called IIM L and gave me something that I shall cherish for as long as I am alive.

Such gifts are the best ever given and the ones most remembered. I wish I could do something of this sort!!

Unfortunately (why?), there are only questions at the moment in my head – it goes against my training as a management student that the obsession should be with answers. And life goes on, time just endlessly keeps on turning its charkha and spinning its gossamer. Till I arrive and find the courage in me to cast off the cocoon of security I have withdrawn into, I shall continue to be human and grapple with more mundane concerns such as earning my bread and having enough to enjoy luxuries in life. I think it’s okay to be human…

a must read

2006-08-14T00:12:00.000+08:00

http://o3.indiatimes.com/yossarin/archive/2006/08/10/1191602.aspx

Friday night, Singapore cinema hall & a Hindi movie!!

2006-08-13T20:54:00.000+08:00

There's hope for people who are bald and need hair grafting, 'coz every once in a while the junkpot called bollywood churns out blessings like Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna. Along with the movie, maybe distributors should also distribute hair collectors to theatres. 'Coz I am sure there'd many more unsuspecting souls like poor old me who'd go watch it w/o a review and end up with a few 1000 strands less on their skulls!!

Presenting a review for the sake of merely saving a few fellow desis some 4 hrs of agony. Karan Johar, plz dont construe this as an attempt to dampen your profits. From the bottom of my heart, I wish u get rich, buy a villa in some outlandish island far far away from India and settle down there with your gay partner (read SRK). It will spare us the mental (I am an engineer and the movie is the antonym of logic), emotional (I learnt a new lesson on relationships which blew everything I had learnt so far awry), physical (I got sore knuckles as I punched the seat in front of me to vent out my frustration) and financial trauma (11 $ ouch!! we also booked tickets in advance on the net, that too at a distant theatre and took a taxi to the place for punctuality).

Just a warning before the review. I have bouts of schizophrenia at times (!!). So in case my evil twin called "Dum(b) Dum(b)" makes a comment or two during my narrative, kindly pardon me (him?? - I need to figure out who is to be forgiven!!).

I. The characters:
SRK: perenially grumpy, peeved langda (henceforth referred to as "GPL" - pun absolutely intended!!).

Rani Mukherjee: roz roz morose and rotdu school teacher. (henceforth referred to as
"on-demand tears").

Abhishek Bacchan: funky, koool dood who just wants some "pleasure" from his wife. (henceforth referred to as "normal dood").
Preity Zinta: who's she? dont blame me for missing her while i was trying to stop my nice tresses from being ravaged. lets call her "normal chic".

Amitabh Bacchan: I, for one, honestly dont understand why he's even there in the movie. I think he’s pretty much superfluous to the plot. But going by his antics in the film, I shall refer to him as TB (in reverence of the skills that buddhas – read Saurabh Mathur - seem to possess at flirting, cassanoving with girls their daughter’s age!!).

Kirron Kher – GPL’s mom whose G is constantly ogled at by TB. Indians believe in opulence and magnitude – of everything – so, we shall not fault Ms. Kher for her generosity in presenting hers for the pleasure of Mr. TB. You’ll realize why she doesn’t need to be christened as the story unfolds.

Dum Dum: dood, it’s a big Indian family drama – mummy, papa ke bina movie nahi ban sakti. . Don’t u dare say a word about hindi movies.

II. The storyline:

Background – NYC. GPL and normal chic are college sweethearts and are married. GPL is a soccer stud (excuse me??), complete with all Beckham style tattoo on his arm. Normal chic has gone for an interview for posting as an editor of some fashion magazine. Elsewhere, GPL’s mom is overseeing catering arrangements at normal dood’s to be wedding with miss on-demand tears.

I couldn’t help notice the minor blemish the movie starts with.

The film rolls off with our hero bamboozling 10 opponents in a football match (K3G anyone) with 2 mins to the clock (I bet he couldn’t bamboozle even a nursery kid even if he had like 2 hours to do it). Gets fouled, earns a penalty – as if there was a choice, scores – as if… The camera goes away covering the goal celebrations – the scorer puts his shirt over his head – here, the scorer is shown to be bare-chested (not wearing an inner). A close-up of GPL follows where he has his shirt over his head, but vallah vallah – he has an inner!! Wow – wasn’t tht quick… (I think GPL had to hide the scratch marks he must’ve got the previous night from Mr. Johar.)

Anyways, so GPL is grumpy, as usual, that his normal wife has gone for an interview and isn’t at the match. So he has to go pick up his mom from the wedding. Mom says I am busy, GPL goes to the garden.

In garden, there is bench. On bench, there is soon-to-be-mrs. On demand tears mulling over whether she should marry the normal dood (who has been wooing her for 3 yrs incidentally). Amazingly, GPL, whose own marriage is no Bee Gees runaway hit, offers her advice, asks her to get married. Tells her not to be talking to paraaya mard as she’s committed and instead get married.

Dum Dum – kitna accha banda hain, ladki ko jaanta tak nahi aur kitni madat karta hain uski.

Message so far – all u single gals out there, take marriage advice from complete strangers. It works wonders!! Single guyz, very bad idea to have GPL talking to your brides to be before your marriage (remember Salman-Kajol from KKHH!!). it almost certainly means aap “begaani shaadi mein Abdulla deewaana” pe naachoge kuch der baad.

The dialog which follows from on-demand tears as the two leave the bench mandates the creation of a new category of awards called “Geeta Saar dialog” as they explain realities of life to which an average human is totally oblivious. She says “Kabhi Alvida.. Kehna, isse milne ki ummeed mit jaati hain. Kyaa pata hum fir mile..”

Wow, I feel blessed. Met the goddess herself in her full ornate, undiminished greatness!!

Now its GPL’s turn to mull. The characterless idiot is thinking about what paraayi aurat has said, doesn’t watch the car on the road, gets hit. Obviously, it’s the driver’s fault!! Thus, Mr. GPL goes from becoming Beckham to Steve McLaren (Mac who??)

Hence, the lives of two main characters change forever. Mr. GPL becomes langda - thts the sole reason of all his lives’ frustrations and he becomes perennially grumpy.

Cut to 4 year’s later. Normal dood loves his wife like hell, his only fault being his normalcy. He likes laughing, wants some action.., likes partying, his work, night life. On-demand tears can’t conceive, is obsessed with cleaning her house and “discussing” things, sheds oodles of tears. (Gujarat and AP – please don’t screen this movie in your state. The flood situation is grim anyways!!). On-demand tears, evidently, feels distant in her relationship.

Common, a normal husband who loves you is such a bore!!

Dum Dum: Usko shaadi mein philosophical satisfaction chahiye..vaah vaah – kyaa adarsh naari hai. Mera saadar pranaam aapko.

GPL obvio is on his hate everything tirade. Normal wife works hard, is overworked, can’t spend enuff time wid her son (4 saal mein ho gaya :P). Kid loves violin more than balls, GPL’s life cudnt suck anymore now, could it?

Before you think this is headed nowhere and switch to another read, lemme introduce more hogwash. Some tomfoolery about a child kidnapper follows, GPL mouths more insults, antagonizes and scares his kid, ODT (on-demand tears) runs with GPL’s kid, GPL throws a football and knocks her down (our hero is like super man yaar, football ke saath saath handball ke bhi champion hain!!). Both end up in hospital, on-adjacent beds (c’mon – this isn’t coincidence. All foreign hospitals keep inmates with dangerous symptoms – Indians – together). Respective spouses show up, schmooze, take spouses and go. In the interim, more gyaan and “my marriage sucks” cribs flow.

Now, for the life of me I couldn’t figure out in the entire 3.5 hrs of the movie and the two weekend days after my harrowing experience why ODT and GPL had problems in their marriages. Eventually, I am going to lay my troubled mind at rest by believing that they did as they had nothing better to do.

Message no. 2 - Boy, I’ve learnt my lesson! When I get married, I sure am not going to love my wife as hell, work hard to keep her happy – don’t believe whatever marriage advice the elders give you. That must have been applicable in the 15^th century. This is the 21^st one, be like GPL – the dream husband!!

To save their respective marriages, ODT and GPL become friend’s first, then marriage consultants to each other. Sorry, McKinsey and BCG – you were wrong to think you needed IIM grads for consulting. All you need is insults, tears and a loserly attitude in life. Success guaranteed!!

More hogwash follows. ODT tries to become Madonna from Meera and turns up like a sex-kitten right when the normal dood has invited some 50 of his friends for a party. GPL tries to play masseuse to normal chic and ends up delivering a massage that I am sure must have felt as relieving as having two hammers prod you at weird angles. So much for innovation!!

So, GPL and ODT oscillate between finding reasons to fall in love with each other and trying to revive their marriages. One night both end up taking their respective spouses to some ballet (GPL’s dialog here about men showing off their uh hmm in a ballet actually did make me laugh). ODT gives normal dood a opening by leaning on his shoulder, the dood takes his chance, gets a li’l cosy. GPL in the opposite window seeing this gets livid, starts fiddling with his normal chic. Ballet ends. Paramgyaan dawns on both ODT and GPL that they love each other!!

Next day, it rains. Both meet at the harborfront. ODT feels bad at having played around with her hubby dear. This time, GPL is just grumpy that ODT had sex with normal dood even while he possesses a normal libido and the associated assets. Shouts at ODT, ODT overwhelms even the mighty rainclouds this time (I wonder how the harborfront took the double onslaught! Bhai, amrika mein kuch bhi ho sakta hain..). Just to get even, they go to a hotel only to make out. I think the rain was a li’l too uncomforting, else I was willing to bet all my dollars that we would have seen Tarzan and Jane on the harborfront itself!

Dum Dum: tum pyaar ke bare mein kyaa jaano... jisse pyaar karte ho use kisi aur ke saath dekhke kya guzarti hain, yeh tumhaara engineer dimaag kabhi nahi samjhega, iske liye dil chahiye.

Me: dum dum, mujhe to lagaa GPL ne kahaa uske liye kuch aur chahiye. Tum decide karlo tum kiski side par ho.

Extra-marital affair. Hai rabba!! Kehar barsega ab.

More trash. I have lost about 4000 strands by now. Total theatre count – nearing 0.25 million.

One-fine day, TB and Ms. Kher (who have become friends…Surprise surprise!!) discover the amorous flings of ODT and GPL outside the station. TB suddenly is on the death day the next day. Normal dood is losing the second pillar of his life (first being ODT), breaks down in ODT’s arms, leaving poor old ODT feeling guilty. TB dies. More tears from Mrs. ODT.

Some stats at this moment in the movie,
Volume of ODT’s tears = Volume of water drained by the Ganges in a year.
No. of insults flung by GPL = No. of runs scored by Sunil Gavaskar in tests (approx. 10000)

Saare fasaad ke jad hi yeh station hain. Na station hota, nay eh dono milte, na dono harkatein karte. I suggest a rebellion – trains ko band kariye, bail gaadiyaan bithaaye public transport mein.

Eventually, GPL and ODT decide that they have done enough timepass and its time to check on their spouses. So, they go back and confess.

Dum dum: sach ki hameshaa jeet hoti hain. Inhone apne aap se uth kar, sach ko hi sanjoya...dhanya hai yeh dono premi.

The normal dood and chic decide they only can be normal and not supernormal. So, normal dood and normal chic lose it - ask both the lovers to leave their house. How cruel!! Atleast they said the truth. Confessed to having an affair and generally having a one-night stand for the heck of it, but now only the normal ones would be their focus.

By now, I am almost praying for someone to stick some chloroform in my face. I am traumatized to the extent that I can’t even sleep in the theatre. (I couldn’t have left earlier, had constraints that had to be complied with).

But guess what, this wasn’t the almost mythical climax of the movie. It is yet to come. Cut to 3 year’s later. ODT and GPL who used to tell each other how they hated the underwear color choices of their other halves, don’t tell each other that they were thrown out. What a shame!!!

Obvio no hindi movie can end in misery. There had to be a good Samaritan making an appearance somewhere. So, normal dood dons the role. Decides to marry an angrez chic (forgive him for giving up on desis). Traces ODT, asks her to become his best man (?? – what is going on!!).

At the wedding, ODT runs into normal chic. Normal chic continues being her normal self, tells ODT that she threw GPL out and that GPL is leaving for Toronto at this moment (no prizes for guessing his choice of transport). The usual melodrama and hugging follows (normal dood even gets the bride’s bouquet for ODT. And I was ready to believe that he’d have even driven her to the station riding a ambassador like a Ferrari!).

On-demand tears gets to the station, GPL avoids her. Their eyes just meet as the train is leaving. ODT is more morose and sheds more tears. GPL comes back in the next train. More pouting, mushiness follow. Eventually, both love each other and the rest I shall leave to your imagination. Though there’s very little required!!

Message 3: Whoever said fidelity and morality were virtues. Monogamy counts for nothing. Sleep around, get lucky – there will still be hope for you in life…

Moral of the story – learn your lessons and stick to them like dogma. DON’T EVER WATCH A HINDI MOVIE WITHOUT READING THE REVIEWS. Especially, if directed by a gay lunatic and acted in by his gay partner. It is more likely to be a purified version of an orgy than a chapter on relationships and life!!

2006-07-29T02:24:00.000+08:00

About time I got this underway! Somebody told me that I should get online, “it’d be very very kooool”. Well then, here I ramble.

Truly speaking, I have been thinking about letting my fingers caress the keys long time ago. But then could never quite figure out why someone would want to go thru all the effort of first thinking all his thoughts again, picking out good words so that some unknown soul on the planet can visit your blog, laugh, get amused, comment go back to ….. (what were you thinking!!). God bless the Good Samaritan!!

Well, there’s a lot in the past which would make excellent reading. But laziness is god’s greatest virtue grant to mankind. Mama told me practice virtues. So, me good boy, shall let the past remain buried in the grey and white of my “brain” (this is precisely why the word oxymoron was coined!!).

Singapore

I am in Singapore atm. Koool, isn’t it?? That’s what everyone seems to be thinking and saying. More money, a really sexy place, no fight in life, eye candy on demand ( check my orkut about me section for this ;) ). But there’s another side to the story. It’s the basic rule of creation – everything is symmetrical and anti-thetical. Matter : Anti-matter, Good: Bad, Horror: Hope. Feel like the Illuminati (Dan Brown’s Angels & Demons).

Maybe it is the initial anxiousness speaking at the moment, but there have been considerable stretches of time when I’ve felt alone. Well, given that I am a social animal (vot says AB, Sid and Asin??), needless to say that these stretches put considerable strain on my already strained intellectual resources.

Is this the right decision. I miss so many people who are so precious to me. Mom, dad, Grandpa, my cousins. What’s the price I am paying. What’s the price my parents are paying. What happens to my personal life. No campus talk twice a day for hours as I used to in India, chat schedules have to be synchronized (I am gonna put a official calendar entry so that no one in office schedules a meeting then!!). devils do tend to brood and make themselves big when the mind is unoccupied :(.

Well, one thing that hasn’t changed is – Niki. She’s been with me through these 4 months and this transition as steadfastly as Gimli, Legolas with Aragorn. Not half of this would have been possible if my consultant wouldn’t have been there. Owe you big time, you've been a real sweetheart.

Guess my blog’s now starting to read like one of these technical papers on IEEE 812A.v02.x protocol or some management guru’s paper on the autocorrelation coefficient between condom sales and a country’s GDP ;). Point being, enough verbal diarrhea for a first post!! Think I have blabbered long enough and boring enough.

Till I fall into the vice again!