Category: Uncategorized

Influencing People and all the other things…

It can be an extremely simple act, you want people to do what you want, to induce yourself in them. All of you which is Good, Bad or Ugly tries to penetrate them. We need a mirror everywhere, we want to see self in everyone.

And the preys, well they are freely available, vulnerable souls waiting for someone to take control.

I sometimes wish I could be a prey, but I am not at all that types, I sometimes tend to be blatantly expectant and try to be the hunter.

Leave me though, I am not relevant. I see the few influenced ones around me, and just wish that they were better off. Changing patterns in their life keeps them away from normal, way away.

Let things be simple and normal. Again.

Simplicity would be the way to happiness, maybe not eternal bliss, but just to keep things normal.

June 9, 2009
Ghajini-isation of my once famous memory

It pays to do an MBA, but we part with things to do it too. Money, Sleep and now memory top the list of my key take-aways from this course.

Once called DesiPedia I still am doing well with my strategic memory (so called long term memory, the junk facts and figures, although doing bad with names), but I tend to forget small regular items ( read tactical memory loss).

My story might be similar to a not upgraded computer which boasted of a 20GB hard disk 4 years back (or that of Chacha Chaudhary: His brain used to work faster than a computer, but those were the days of the great 386, and maybe thats why this generation of Kids moved away from him).

My memory tools: a small spiral pad which helps me remember tasks and followup with them. Most of the people who tend to be busy around me are found with that item nowadays. And it helps.

I know it can get worse than this, but still I will never ever go for tattoos 🙂 or that haircut.

Strangely all this happened without Asin in my life ;), wonder if it would have made things much worse or better?

My playlist plays Guzarish from Ghajini 😀

May 23, 2009
Short and Sweet Holi :)

10-11:15 Am on 11th Mar’09

Shortest Holi ever for me, it started and ended pretty soon. But we won.

We won over the Kala Bandar of exams, quizzes, tension of assignments of the two end terms tomorrow.

But still Kala Bandar managed to win over a few… 😦

Still BH and GH celebrated a quick, nice, rangeen, kichad bhari Holi. As always we have had maximum fun when the batch has been together.

Last year was a classic Holi, rooftop in Bangalore, sipping Kailasa made Thandai, Mithai and then drinking beer basking in sunlight, ekdum Shawshank Redemption ishtyle 🙂

Wishing a Happy Holi to everyone visiting the Blog.

March 11, 2009
कॉमिक्स और हमारा बचपन

लुईस कैरोल की एलिस को कल्पना के उस अद्भुत संसार में जाने के लिए खरगोश महाशय के घर का रास्ता नापना होता था लेकिन मुझे (याने जब में बच्चा था) या मेरे जैसे कई भारतीय बच्चो को अपने घर के कुछ आधे किलो मीटर की परिधि में कोई सोनू या मनोज लाइब्रेरी ढूंढनी होती थी | उसके बाद तो बस अपने कल्पना के संसार में डूब जाने के लिए हम आजाद होते थे |

नागराज, ध्रुव, परमाणु, भोकाल, तौसी, हवालदार बहादुर, बांकेलाल, चाचा चौधरी, बिल्लू, पिंकी, साबू और ना जाने कितने ही किरदार जीवन का एक हिस्सा बन गए थे | अब जब में पीछे मूड कर देखता हूँ तो यह सोच कर ख़ुशी होती है की भले ही चोरी छुपे या लड़ झगड़ कर भी मैंने कॉमिक्स पढ़ी है तो अच्छा ही किया है, वरना जीवन की ये यादें कभी नहीं बना पाता |

जहाँ तक मुझे याद है कॉमिक्स पढने की खुमारी गर्मी की छुट्टियों में सर चढ़ कर बोलती थी | और कॉमिक्स खरीदना तो काफी महंगा सौदा था इसलिए लगभग हम सभी मित्र किसी ना किसी लाइब्रेरी के सदस्य बन जाते थे और किराए से कॉमिक्स ले आया करते थे | उन चौबीस घंटो के समय में सभी दोस्तों को एक दुसरे की भी कॉमिक्स ख़तम करनी होती थी तो बस फिर क्या कॉमिक्स लाइब्रेरी से ली और पढना चालू एक आधी तो घर पहुँचते पहुँचते ही ख़तम हो जाया करती थी |

शुरूआती दिनों में जहाँ से मुझे याद है कॉमिक्स का किराया होता था पचास पैसे और डाइजेस्ट का एक रुपैया लेकिन हाई रे महंगाई बाद में किराया तय हो गया था कॉमिक्स के दाम का दस प्रतिशत याने ८ रुपैये की कॉमिक्स ८० पैसे में | कॉमिक्स न सिर्फ आपकी कल्पना शीलता को एक नया आयाम देती है अपितु व्यवहारिक ज्ञान में भी वृद्धि कराती है | जैसे आप देख ही सकते है की कभी न कभी तो आपने अपने किसी मित्र के साथ साझेदारी में लाइब्रेरी खोली ही होगी, और कुछ चव्वनी अट्ठनी का मुनाफा कमा कर खुश भी हुए होंगे | लो जी बन गए आप उद्यमी (entrepreneur) !

लेकिन इन सब से बढ़कर बौद्धिक विकास में सबसे मददगार साबित होते थे मित्रो के साथ कॉमिक्सों पर गहन विचार विमर्श ! जी हाँ कौन सा नायक किस नयी शक्ति के साथ आया है, किस नायक को सबसे मुश्किल खलनायक से जूझना पड़ता था, यदि ये दोनों नायक साथ में आये तो ज्यादा अच्छा कौन लडेगा इत्यादि | बिना शक्तियों के दुश्मनों के मात देने वाला सुपर कमांडो ध्रुव मेरा पसंदीदा नायक हुआ करता था | और ध्रुव के खलनायको के ऊपर तो विचार विमर्श मैंने देशपांडे के साथ माइंड ट्री में रहते हुए भी किया था | उदाहरण के लिए चुम्बा, बौना वामन, चंडकाल हाँ लेकिन ध्रुव के दोस्त भी हुआ करते थे जैसे किरिगी, धनञ्जय, येती |

अब तो कई सालों से किसी की भी सुध नहीं ली है | पर मुझे अभी भी यकिन है की ये सभी नायक अपनी जान की बाजी लगा कर आज भी विश्व को बड़े बड़े खतरों से बचा रहे होंगे और इसलिए आप भारत में या यूरोप में या अमरीका में चैन की नींद सो पा रहे है !

A mail by my friend Kapil. I think so many of us would identify with the same. Plus I love his hindi writings (read a couple of his entries secretly in Bengaluru along with Mathuru ;)). Till he has his own blog, this one will be kept by me :).

Also for my friends doing MBA, this is what a Dimdima should feel like, so maybe something like this would have determined your pitch for selling Dimdimas.

Although this is a thinking of a kid 15 years back, things have changed now.

March 10, 2009
Hardly anything great to Talk about…or maybe

When I used to read Naresh’s blog while he was doing MBA I always thought it is surely something which I will enjoy. Talking about things which we {include DAIICT E-Wing, Bangalore BakarBandhooze} had made a habit of was about to find its glorious destiny at a b-school.

At almost of the end of three trims it has been,

– a fight for marks, dirty one at times, me being a party to this constant usage of rand() function…
– my database of facts eroding, that too eroding badly. Desipedia is history :((
– Lack of attention, lack of focus, a future prospect for me becoming a Ghajini hero someday 🙂 (atleast I will get Asin ;))
– horrible writing skills (blogs, reports, I cant write anything properly now)
– lack of movie gyan and watching very few movies
– a whole lot of keywords, but everything is in air. I first thought Fin was grounded, but slowly as I understand it in a better way, that too is highly Airy (financial crisis was bound to happen)
– loosing touch with zillions of my friends back across India…
– less sleep
– no more following news and random data and discussing it over …
– no more roaming around half the hostel block and doing bakk…
– no time and no money-> (-5.5 lakhs) and further drain of cash 🙂

Overall the first year has been a bit disappointing for me, or maybe I expected a bit too much… but there were good moments, and they came in company of my nice of no-brainers like me here. They have been together in all the great fun here…

Memories from my Div although didn’t make me that senti and all today, but they would linger around.

Maybe I talk about thing in extreme extremes, maybe its not that bad.

Just this internship in Himachal and then I am BACK 🙂

Although the long term plan or Strategy ( as me and my roomie recall, the most used/abused word this year) remains to minimize my un-learning and maximize sleeping time 🙂

Situation: Studying Convertibles and Business Law before that, have exams tomorrow
Song: Pardesi, Toshi, Dev-D…the one with 3 dancers and abhay deol drinking, right now my While(1) song 😀

This movie would have surely triggered a discussion on nihilistic intentions of Dev back in Bangalore… right now they talk only about the music which is good, but something else missing

March 6, 2009
Vada-Pav, Totos and … Girls :)

Vada Pav is God’s Own Food in Mumbai. Have gulped thousands of them since being in Mumbai, it comes in various formats and my favorite one is one near NM (Vile Parle) and at Shetty’s in front of my college gate.

This place in Bandra, Totos– Garage Pub is really quite nice. The first time I was there back in Aug’08 with my friend we ended up standing on a small table on the side, enjoying the view of tonnes of good looking girls on the Table on View, and obviously having Beer :). I really like the place, a Chicken Roll near Carter Road CCD and a Brownie nearby always precedes the events at Totos. Overall good place…

Girls… well I hardly have had any luck with them… lets not talk… 😉

Kissa-1:

Sometime in August, me along with two of my friends, goto Totos. We drink a bit and then come across few of my friends juniors from his college. So we sit and share the table. Enter this girl, who we all know has to be good (otherwise the story won’t be told :)), who comes and sits with us (seems she knows someone among the Juniors). So everyone is talking and fortunately I get a seat in front of her which gives me the freedom to talk with her for ages (it was just two hours:)). Ahha, and her boyfriend too … he was sitting next to me. But who cares, the girl was good, enough 😀

So when all the bills were cleared, she leaves a Rs. 10 tip (or maybe 20, I was drunk, but my bill was already cleared) . I told her why Tip, I think I brought a Pitcher to the Table too, why not Tip me.

“What would you do with this?”… kuch nahi, mujhe tip do, isse vada–pav khaaunga 🙂

Shocked and Stunned, she Tipped me :), my friend who was the closest linked to her was hiding his face and all other laughing. Don’t know why they were, because I kept the note and had an awesome vada–pav of it the next day :)…

Kissa-2:

She is a nice and pretty girl, (self claimed hottie, which I dont agree :P), He is the CUTEst kid in the batch (so much so kid that he was asked for AGE proof at Totos :)). I thought will do them both a favour.

I two years of Vada Pav– for Preety Girl given that she takes Cutest Boy and introduces him to the CUTEst girl at Totos and helps him to hit on the Cutest Girl :). (No one knows who the CUTEst Girl was, rest two are friends )

Cutest Girl was sitting in a corner (with no boys around). So again will the vada pav make it, or break it. I offered Pretty Girl Beer, she refused, but then when I offered her Vada Pav, she agreed. So she took him to meet the CUTEst girl, and the rest as they say was LEGEN…DARY (Barney Stinson’s Blog)

Kissa 3:

My friend enginerd was roaming in Bombay it was the day of Chatt and thousands were performing Pooja on Juhu Beach, enginerd was there too, to have a glimpse of Priyanka Chopra who apprantely was there too. I divert him to this party of bloggers (also on http://www.thevoiceinmyhead.com/2006/10/29/mandira-meets-bloggywood/) hosted by my once favorite blogger (once because I hardly read anything nowadays :)). As I was lucky enough to get invited, I thought if I am in Bangalore why doesn’t my friend get the chance to have a bit of fun.

But the passing of invite came at a cost, I asked enginerd to buy 4 vadpavs from NM (or mithibai) get them packed and hand it over to the hostess. Surely something that she would remember for quite some time 🙂 (in a party where people are bringing wine and flowers over, that was surely a differentiating factor :)).

2 years later at my college canteen I see her sitting ( i never met her but wrote for her blog sometimes long back), so I go and meet her, and remind her of the vada–pav. She recognises me on the basis of Vada Pav 🙂 and then she remembers me as desh and then we talk :).

Conclusion:

Girls come and go, a vada–pav is forever 😛

January 22, 2009
Who Enjoys It?

Some are doing it, some do not. I always seem to fall in the latter. They do different things, different activities and seem to enjoy it all. For me somehow once the Primary activity starts turning a bit and infact a lot boring I seem to shed the other added ones too.

Some stand up and like giving motivational speeches, which I think are mostly worthless, some do all the work in life and you never know, and some write sitting in their 3 seater room … 😐

I sometimes end up drinking along with my similarly-bored friend, same Old Monk with dry peanuts, Chakli and watery green chutney and discuss the same things over and over again. Its all about thinking about those great days of Work. Did I say great???

It was thinking about BTech days while being at work, although I thought that the next degree would be back to that kind of fun, but I miss something.

Miss TIME, just to be, just to roam around, discuss stupid stuff with people, read some nice stuff, read books, watch cricket all simple things in life. Taking walks during night-time through the dusty lanes here, me and another of seemingly lost friend, talk about not getting what we wanted here and what we will get after here, thats one of those simple things, but not much otherwise.

I am sick of those same old jargons, I am bored of people not knowing and saying anything about anything without thinking (ha, they call it thinking on the feet), tired of the same old classroom, excel sheets, mera DELL and writing the most stupid pieces of assignments in the history of assignments.

New Year, already half a month past and still to add that much needed freshness, because all things tend to become same over a period, especially when you are in this corner of Mumbai.

Desperately looking forward to March, time for escape to Villages and it would be fun for sure.

People think that I am frustu, but its just the lack of time and senselessness of what I am doing, I know that I need, a new pair of lenses to view the world.

Literally, these specs are old and loose now 😀

January 16, 2009
10 Hour Sleep…Kidding Ain’t You!!!

Tired mind, tired soul, tired body, sitting in a lecture and looking at the red layer forming on my eyes is a habit now, it was the same tomorrow, my friend lal saying me that my eyes have turned lal, a quiz to attend (not the regular B-School Acad Quiz, but a general Quiz for a change), walk crazily back to the hostel, drink a chai and the 82gm Parle-G, go to room, another “Online” B-School event to work on, another unsuccessful attempt, eat dinner which has turned extremely boring nowadays and…

Sleep…Sleep…Sleep

Roomie wake me up at 12, I know I always say that but surely wake me up, have loads to study, me putting an alarm too…gnite

Sleep…Sleep…Sleep

A Foggy room, smell of rain, nice and cool feeling, “The Straight Drive is his favorite shot, they not that, we know that”, the sound of Mark Nicholas from Cricket 2007, the mobile says its 11:45, roomie1 and another guy from my wing onto Cricket, they love EA Sports Cricket07 here and it has caught on with lot of people recently, roomie2 studying most probably what looks like FM, I wake up, sit and sit for 5 mins, I do some badbad and say that I am very tired and want to sleep. I spend five mins thinking about what to do next, and then think why not just lie down for five more minutes…

Sleep…Sleep…Sleep

Sleep…Sleep…Sleep

Sleep…Sleep…Sleep

Looks like a nice long shopping street, like “The Mall Road” on every Hill Station, its nice and cool, I am walking, but why alone, I have no clue. Oh, how come he is here, he and his wife, I am meeting them for the first time after his marriage, he still seems the same.

“Sorry yaar I couldn’t make it to your wedding, how could I have, I have no time”

“It seems thats the only line you have picked up after going to a b-school”

I don’t talk to his wife and both of them just walk away…

Sleep…Sleep…Sleep

Sleep…Sleep…Sleep

Sleep…Sleep…Sleep

An office, I don’t know where it is, looks like a decent enough one, nice and clean, a sort of a bluish-saawariya-ish tinge to the whole place, I fail to understand why am I here. Hey I know her, I know her for sure, its the same …hmm wait, cant really make out her face, its a bit blurred, infact everything is blurred.

A change in office from Salt Lake Kolkata to Mumbai is required, she is not getting it, we meet talk about it and start walking. Keep Walking as the good old Johny said (Diageo’s Johny :)). Nice Breeze, great weather, me doing bakbak as I always do, she responding sometimes as she always did!!! Hand in Hand, the touch of her hands, we talk for about 15 mins or so whooffff she goes…

Sleep…Sleep…Sleep

Sleep…Sleep…Sleep

Aaah, the pleasure of a stiffness in the body when you wake up after long time (I just cant imagine what would have happened to Rip Van Winkle), roomie 1 still sleeping, roomie 2 sitting straight with his chadar on his head (in a meditating pose), nice breeze flowing through the window. It seems it rained at night, aaaah, the smell of Fresh Air, for the first time in ages. Pre-Reads and assignments, chuck it yaar, its 7:45, lecture starts at 9, anyway can’t do it.

It feels great to sleep for 10 hours sometimes, especially in a b-school where the only thing we lack is that, had a fresh day with no sleeping in lecture today, and even the weather is good with slight helpings of Rain making the day every pleasant.

And see, sometimes sleep is the only time where my imagination runs wild nowadays, it used to different before…

200201094 was surely much enjoyable and relaxing than PGP-08-003 (my GTalk status nowadays)

p.s.- Please no Freudian Interpretation of Dreams or Jungian for that matter, I tried reading the first one unsuccesfully and the second one too slightly, both not successful…

December 20, 2008
A Part of me Died

Dada, Dada will never ever play again. After the post lunch victory, reality has just started sinking in. It has been eight hours after that historic victory but I have no other thoughts other than Dada in mind right now.

I almost ran into tears as I went through this article Losing my Religion. Its one the best articles on Cricket I have ever read. As Siddhartha Vaidyanathan narrates his story me and all my friends across India felt that he is telling our story. I thank him for writing such a great article. As I looked at this phrase in the post, a part of me died, I felt the same. All these cricketers have been as indispensable to me as my body parts and as they go slowly I feel a great sense of loss and sadness. Its almost the formal end of my childhood which lasted so long due to these great players and the day Tendulkar goes life would never be the same again. Just today I said to someone that almost 4 years of my 24 year life has gone in thinking, watching, playing and talking about Cricket, and these guys made it possible.

I don’t know what to write, Dada has been a Dada for me, as a Big Brother he has given me and so many other Indians great moments which we would cherish throughout our life. 1996 when he and Dravid came into the team, I missed his first test hundred. I heard that there is this new guy who is king of off side, bowls some nice swingers too and is very similar to David Gower. His elegant off side drives gives me fond memories of my childhood, after Dada every kid in my township started playing strokes on the offside (generally it was considered that leg side is more scoring with a tennis bowl). Almost invariably when he used to open with Sachin and take first strike he would hit a sweet boundary through the off side. I vaguely recall him hitting Pollock many a times through the off side, the bowl slowly travelling to the fence, and Boycott all praises for the Prince of Kolkata.

As I came from class 6th in 1996 to the 2000’s 10th board, Dada had become a prolific run getter in one dayers, I had remained the same students, in the years had passed an unsuccessful world cup, The God becoming the captain unsuccessfully, azhar going in and out of the team, a World Cup where Dada scored a brilliant 183 at Taunton, a World Cup in which I didn’t sleep at night and and went into tears momentarily when South Africa lost in the semis, lot of Coca Cola cups at Sharjah where Tendulkar and Dada were killing all bowling attacks, a Sahara Cup where Dada set himself as an all rounder, a period of change in Cricket when Wills ended its sponsorship with the Indian team, Jagmohan Dalmiya headed the ICC, and above all a disgraceful India South Africa series. And then it was Captain DADA.

Although I was a Dada fan but it was after he took up captaincy my respect for him increased, as he and his side with few new players started winning it was a different feeling altogether. Dada positioned the Indian Team as an aggressive unit, for the first time in history I felt that Indian Team was doing something like this, change which Dada brought about was zillion times more than Obama used the word in his campaign. Change we need was brought and it was just amazing. The Great Eden victory still comes in my dream, and the Natwest one, or India almost ruining Steven Waugh’s farewell in Australia, and the 2003 World Cup and so many others.

Lot of memories, but sadness is blurring most of them today. Some not so good ones of Dada’s spat with Greg Chappell and him being dropped after the Zimbabwae tour, some of prayers which we did for his return to Cricket, some extremely funny like me saying Jai Dada aloud in front of a Dada poster with 20 people standing around before my XAT exam last year in Bangalore, some drunken memories of me and my friend dimpy, patrick and sussu drinking and praying for Dada to score during our tragic loss to Bangladesh in last year’s World Cup, more drunkard ones of me and the quark and the enginerd and Ati-Say supporting Dada, and Sandy and Mathuru and Mandu supporting Dravid and Barve as always confused :), some meoments where I cursed Greg Chappel like had none other in my life, two historic moments when I watched Dada Live on stadium, him hitting a Six to Vettori during a Test match in Ahmedbad, him winning in the IPL opener at Bangalore this year, never saw him in one days, some more cursing for Bucknor when half the times gave pathetic decisions to Dada and many a times helped the cause of getting Dada a ban, some moments which I was ashamed of as Dada’s Pepsi ad, and another million memories.

I hope Dada finds happiness in whatever he does next, he enjoys life and cricket and some time with his family.

I am happy that I can tell my kids 20 years from now that Dada was there, because I don’t think they would ever see a player like him again, they will ever feel the emotions of the game we all love in the same way as we did, but as Siddartha pointed out in his article we belong to this generation and for all of us its a very sad day. Hope is what I have and I hope there will be many more greats who will play for the Indian Cricket Team. In the current lot I don’t have that feel for anyone other than Sehwag or Dhoni. Lets Hope.

So finally this is it, as the Quark would have told me in his favourite singer Jim Morrison’s words, this is the end, beautiful friend, or debu would murmured his Darkness filling up the room dialouge, one thing I know, I have lost something which is irreplaceable.

God give me the strength, I would badly need it on the Day when Tendulkar retires.

Technorati Tags: Sourav Ganguly, Dada, Cricket, India

November 10, 2008
Sunny Paaji da Tashan :)

It all started with Quark again showing his appreciation for Cinema which only few like us appreciate :). Here he learns from the greatest fighters in Tamil and Telugu industry.

Watch it and enjoy Big Brother, because every family has a saviour 🙂

Paaji ka ek aur chamatkar, Jeet ka Mahaan Dance, remixed!!!

Technorati Tags: Sunny Deol

November 3, 2008