Ouch...

Ouch.

It hurt. Big time.

It bled. Bled ever so slightly, that the pain never surfaced to begin with. Then, it bled more. And more.

And then, suddenly, the pain shot up. Too much blood had oozed out by then.

But then, hasn't it always? Hasn't the hurt always been realised too late?

Why did it happen?

Simple, he is a foolie (as his friend some times says!). He thought he lived in fiction. Unfortunately, this was real world.

He allowed it to happen. Allowed himself to be punched. And forgot that punches do bleed. He does bleed.

In the end, the only words he had was....

Ouch. That hurt.

A lot.

14th February, 2005 with Valen-teenos

It is 1130 in the night. We are all suddenly quiet. Very Quiet.

All of a sudden, Mayur stops in the middle of the dark road and exclaims, “I want to go home.” We are in Vashi. About one and half hours away from “home”. The plan is to crash at my rented apartment. Now suddenly, Mayur wants to go home. Probably, he’s a bit tipsy. Excessive alcohol in the blood does that to you. Probably Nostalgic. Despite ourselves, the three of us cannot help quietly snigger.

It was the evening of 14th February, 2005, and thanks to an unusual policy by Mastek, we had all decided to dine together. The policy was simple. Each Mastekeer (A Mastek Employee is called a Mastekeer), was entitled up to a hundred and fifty rupees worth of reimbursement on production of food bills. Every Valentine's Day.

A Candle Light Dinner with her at Company’s expense. Sweet Music played in the back ground. Champagne Bottle on Ice. The clinking of glasses. The chef serves his specialty. A sumptuous dinner. The cheque makes its way to our table. The limit was 1500 bucks, ain’t it? We have overshot fifteen hundred by only a couple of hundreds. No problems. Just be careful of that glass there honey… .

Crash…

Wishes..wishes!

Three of us, Mayur, Maulik and me decided to go for dinner that day. To ensure that, people do not misconstrue three guys dining on such an auspicious evening, we even pulled Reena along. And before I get smacked, no, I was just kidding. We called Reena along, because, she is an awesome company, and we like the way she reacts to us say shocking stuff. The place’s called Blue Diamond. A nice little restaurant at the Kopar Khairane-Vashi Border. We walked in. Reminded each other that since we are four, the bill could get up to an upper limit of six hundred bucks. All four Mastekeers. And that, we had to produce the bills for the same. Kept reminding.

A twin occasion to celebrate. It was Valentine’s and we were accorded free food. By our employers. An occasion to drink. Err....plain Coke for the teetotaler me, other stuff for the others. Toasted to our friendship. And toasted to Mastek. 2 drinks down, and we toasted yet again. This time it was to our friendship and to the waiter who got us a bowl of peanuts and a plate of vegetable salad. And to the couple sitting on the next table. Then, a couple of drinks again. The bill’s already touched 500. Had their desired effect. Toasted the Air Conditioner for being cold. And Chandrababu Naidu for allowing IT in Hyderabad. And to MDI for selecting Mayur. And SIBM for Reena. To random, arbit stuff. And to Mastek again for allowing us free meals…wait….we had yet to order for any meal yet.

That task was obviously assigned to me. The other guys, well to put it euphemistically, a bit, drowsy. Reena was, again putting it mildly, a bit embarrassed (need to omit some gory details here, else, I wouldn’t have many friends remaining!). Starters and Main course was ordered together. The waiter got them together as well. And I thought only we were drunk.

It was devoured hungrily by us. And then some more food. And then the cheque. It came. Two thousand odd bucks. The horror of that figure made us forget the basic reason why we were there.

Love's day. Free food and all.

Paid up. Amnesia stuck, did not ask ‘em for a copy of the cheque.

As we started walking towards my rented apartment, content in our own little ways, humming corny, cheesy, Mithunda, Sunil Shetty and Sadashiv Amrapurkar numbers, away to glory, Mayur stops. Middle of the road.

Exclaims, “I want to go home.”
“yeah buddy, that’s what we are doing.”
“no, I want to go to MY home.”
“it’s 1130 in the night Mayur, you wont get any bus.”
“But, I want to go home.”

To this date, he denies saying that he wanted to go to Santacruz. He says he always meant to go to the rented apartment, because he was filling a bit dizzy.

A bit dizzy? The understatement of that year.

In the end, we managed to convince him, and went to the Vashi Lake instead. At midnight. Looked beautiful. Not the lake - that we could hardly see in the dark, the atmosphere.

Quiet.

Serene.

Intimidating.

Relaxing.

Four of us. Each one thinking about some thing different. Or probably the same. Quietly looking at the dark, black sky. Starlit and devoid of the clouds. The moon looked on thoughtfully. We stared back. No words were exchanged.


Wondering whether life could stop there. At least for a day. Or probably a week. When we did not have to report to our bosses. Or to anyone else.

A dog barked. I came out of my reverie. Looking at the watch on my wrist, I realized it’s already 12.30 in the night. Share this piece of information with others.

Mayur: See, I told you, I want to go home.
Maulik: Let’s go baby, we have had an awesome Valentine party. The Valen-teenos.
Suneer: That makes it three of us, Valen-teeno, what about the fourth…Reena?
Reena: A very bad joke in the middle of the night, this without a trace of booze in your blood. Wonder what would alcohol do to you?

Follow it up with a couple of equally bad ones. Don’t remember now. There is a ruckus that ensues between us. A mild hearted one.

Mayur: Let’s sleep next to the lake. It looks nice and cool.

Huh? He wanted to go home all this while. One day I will try Tequila.

Reena is the first one to realize that we had forgotten to get a copy of the cheque. Damn! After all, there is no such thing as free meal, right?

Drop her off to her apartment. Get to mine. Doze off.

The Valenteeno name stuck though. Till recently that is. Then Maulik got married.

The four of us still remember that night.

Fun on Blog!

Alrite, this is an unusually not-so-verbose one.

I have added a game at the end of the blog(if you scroll down the distance). Will keep updating these games regularly. All for all those guys who are so bored, that they end up reading my posts, now you have something else to look out for!

Happy Gaming...and reading!

Suneer

The Kid.

My mum’s retired now. Teaches small school kids. These kids are reasonably well behaved most of the time, but then one does come across some who are not.

Exams written. The results are out. A boy in his 4th class did not do well at all. In fact he fared miserably. Evidently, mum was – if I have the liberty of using the word – pissed. Very evidently, the kid had whiled away his time before the exams playing soccer (I wouldn’t have been writing this, had it been cricket). Both, the Teacher and the Parent expected the kid to realize his mistake, and try to rectify it.

Despite the bad result, the parent spoke understandingly, and tried to explain it to the kid. The kid reacted badly. Threw a tantrum. Tol’ mum to never come next to him. Tol’ mum that he would never study. Tol’ mum that it was not his fault that the paper had questions that he did not have answers to. Mum backed off. Knew it was no point explaining it to the kid at that point. The kid probably thought that the world was out to get him. The kid’s defenses had taken over. Nothing could be his fault. The so-called rationale mind ceases to function. At that moment.

She waited for the kid to cool down.

A day later, she explained again. The kid was more than willing to acknowledge his mistake. Wasn’t surprising, mum says. Kids do that all the time. When they make a mistake, and when the repercussions of that mistake are very evidently going to hurt, they get into a shell. They deny everything. In fact they try to put the blame on everyone and everything else. Then over the period of time, they realize their mistake and get back to their normal state.

Mum’s great at handling such kids.

I landed in a similar soup. I wanted to ask mum what one should do when 'matured', twenty something year old adults, in their proper mind behave in the same manner.

I still want to. Probably some day, I will tell mum the context I am talking about.

She might just have the solution to it.

One day.

Kan someone send me a Kup of Koffee, want to remain awake

I kept my promise. Managed to watch Koffee with Karan.

Managed.

Just about. Had asked my mum to hide my Remote Control in the other room after it began. Then tied my hands up. And then watched it.

Enjoyed it. Good ads. Zapak Raja. Faster mails than normal mails. Some other new ones. Some old. Good creativity over all.

There was Karan Johar obviously.

And then there was Ekta Kapoor. And the rest of the three.

Some of the words that come to mind.

Ekta Kapoor.
Confident. Queen-Like. Takes no shit. Makes facial expressions that express stuff that I cannot put on this blog. Family Blog and all. Plonked her “you know what” and never got up till the end of the show. Lady Like. Good for her. “Good” for others. Quotes many people. Makes millionaires out of actors. Reminds me of a typical lead lady of a Sidney Sheldon Novel.

The other two (Ronit Roy and Ram Kapoor): Yes Ma’am. You are right Ma’am. Sure Ma’am. Ok Ma’am. (you get the drift…)

Hiten Tejwani (thinks): arre, mai bhi hoon bhai, mujhse bhi kuchh poochho.
(says): Yes Ma’am. You are right Ma’am. Sure Ma’am. Ok Ma’am.
(still thinking): At least one question?
(says):
(still thinking): Why am I here?
(says):
(still thinking): Because I get paid lakhs, why else?
(says): Yes Ma’am. You are right Ma’am. Sure Ma’am. Ok Ma’am.

Karan Johar
Well, this man is a definition of a true PR Officer. He can talk to Ekta Kapoor and Rakhee Sawant alike, make conversations with Shah Rukh Khan and Rahul Roy, as if he knows both of them since the birth of Baa and must admit, has a clever, quick witted sense of humor.

And yeah, Ronit Roy seems very much like what some one had commented in one of the previous posts. Hot. Looked hotter than Ekta Kapoor as well.

Animal Planet is a little better. Just a little.

The Weekend that went a Full Circle...

They say that ‘Life comes a full circle’. I can say that about my last couple of days.

With so much anticipation and expectation out of the weekend, I could be pardoned for getting a wee bit excited. Getting carried away. Penning down posts about what I could do over the weekend. And then getting so lost in ‘em, that I fall in love with motor bikes. Motor Bikes ridden by others. Especially when I am on verge of crossing roads.

Yeah, the chain of events happened like this. I updated my blog with the previous article in anticipation of what I need to cover the weekend. Got out of the office and tried crossing the road. No where was it mentioned that the road was owned by me. Or my dad. Or for that matter, by any of my forefathers. Yet, I forgot the basic rule of traffic. On a two-way road, the traffic comes from both sides.

Bang! I was hit. Sent sprawling by a bike. Fortunately, it was not a car. Or a bus. Or even an aeroplane. Could have been much worse than now. At least I can write now. Had plans to play cricket as well. Unfortunately, the body just did not respond. But all that for later, as this “accident” happened, as I obeyed the rules of Newton’s law of Motion, as I realized that I needed help to get myself on my feet, I also realized that all the weekend plans could go take a break. The plans were all getting screwed. Little did I realize that it was one of the better Saturdays I had for some time now!

The earlier plans were for either catching a flick with NP and Deepshikha, or meeting up with the Mastek Gang. But I hadn’t bargained for doing both. That is precisely what happened. An afternoon of ‘Cheeni Kum’ followed by the rendezvous with Mayur, Reena, Shravan, Tanmay and Deepmala (Beside the point, but, that makes me realize that, I met both the Deeps today!). Cheeni Kum was a good one, the sarcastic, humor laced conversation between Amitabh Bachhan and Tabu were pretty reminiscent of what one generally finds in John Grisham novels, similarly, those between Amitabh and the little girl “Sexy” reminded us of our own. Some may not enjoy the concept of a 64 year old guy marrying a female half his age, but then, even if someone falls in that category, one can go and watch it for its subtle humor. Though, I do not know, whether that humor would appeal to the masses. Only time will tell.

All said and done, the humor definitely appealed to me and DS, and “poor” NP tried to feign helpless (I can assure you she would have enjoyed the jokes as much, or more than us!!!).

The meeting with the Mastek Gang was like a Jigsaw puzzle, with different pieces yet to be assembled! The first in line was Mayur, to be followed by Reena and Tanmay. As soon as we became four, we became three. Mayur left us. Some other commitments! We were then joined by Shravan, but then Reena made her exit. And then finally, Deep joined us (remember, this Deep should not be confused with the Deep of the “My Jokes are the best” fame, that is Deepshikha, this is Deepmala), for us to make way to this restaurant in Bandra, Out of the Blues. A decent place, but a bit crowded for the kind of prices put up. And the food was a bit on the bland side. But all in all, an enjoyable experience. Especially, the debate between the IIM-L “Alumni-ever-since-he-was-born” Shravan, and Deepmala. The topic was, “Should guys look at other girls when they are with their own girl?” Needless to say who was supporting which side of the debate. No proper conclusions reached but the purview of the discussion included the social needs of man to the evolution of mankind, followed by a biology lesson by Shravan on testertone levels of guys, and the counter argument by Deep, on why looking at a celebrity is different from looking at a person in flesh, to quips by Tanmay (“BUT I DID NOT LOOK AT ANY GIRL”)…I had dozed off in the middle, but when I woke up, the debate had almost reached Unparliamentary levels (or probably, Parliamentary Levels!). And then, dinner was served. Luckily.

The day ended pretty late, by which time, my back was beginning to show the effects of my rendezvous with the Motor Bike. The bones ached. The antidote though was the awesome day that had just passed by.

Wishes for the Weekend

So the last day of the week is here. Well, let me rephrase that. The last day of the working week is here. And this week end, loads of things to look forward to.

The India-Bangladesh match is one for sure. Hopefully, it would not be dull and drab. Hopefully, Tendulkar would realise that playing entertaining cicket like he used to, at one stage of his carrer would help. Help peple like me, who need some entertainment in Life. At least in cricket! Hopefully, Zaheer would know that he needs something nice to be shown in the extreme right hand side of his bowling analysis. Hopefully, Ishant Sharma would impress.

I must admit here, I am very impressed by Karthick's batting. I was not a great fan of his, but I have begun to marvel his positive attitude and stubbornness to stick it out there, especially when he has had his share of critics. Especially, when he is not a natural talent with the bat. Hats off to the man. Hope he proves me wrong in the ODIs as well. I am definitely a convert.

Then, I need to buy some books. Robert Ludlum is the latest author I have laid my hands on (al rite, it is not as gory as you think, I mean, his book). I would simply say that I need to read another couple of them before I decide on my perception about his writings. The Bancroft Strategy that I read was pretty al rite, but a bit too long for comfort. And unfortunately, it gave me the feeling, that there was no need for it to be that long. Almost dragged it.

The second thought that comes to my mind after the suspense gets revealed is that Ludlum actually decided on his dozen characters first. Then he decided on what role each would play, at the macro level. Then he decided who the least likely suspect was. Name him A. Ludlum then decided the role for A. Decided the character for A. And somehow tried to fit the story around the role for A.
So, all in all a decent read, the "suspense-guy/gal" turns out to be a shocker, a more "present" sort of book with all the technology and gadgets used(at least in comparison with a Sidney Sheldon, John Grisham and Jeffrey Archer). On the flip side, way too long, the plot is too convoluted, and as explained above, the mystery-man is chosen for the sake of it.

Will get some more Ludlums this week end, which should see me through to the month end.

That gets me to the other plans for the weekend. Catch up with some of the College or Mastek guys. Hopefully go Bowling. Been a long, long time since that happened, and I really wish we do. Not that I am a Roger Federer of bowling, it just relaxes me a lot. And it sure is fun, especially when you got 6-10 people with you. Sounds a lot of fun. Is a lot of fun! Now, only hope that the planning will be followed by a nice little execution.

Most importantly, I need to catch up on sleep, which I have been woefully short of. And that, when I have barely anything to do. It is a different story daily. Sometime, it an old friend online, sometime it is a gripping book, some other time, it’s Blogging, Scrabble or “Orkut”ing…(Got bloody addicted to Orkut in the last few days), where as, on other occasions it is just that I am too bored to sleep. Think that I would be wasting my time sleeping so early, and so, I end up wasting my time awake instead.

Random Wish of the day: Suddenly got this strong urge to play Monopoly. Been a long, long time, since I did that. Last I remember was, in the first year of Engineering.

Anyone game?

Regret of Life: Why did I not follow K-Serials?

I had a nice little telephonic conversation with my friend yesterday. Or rather, it was nice for the first thirty odd minutes. Then, she tells me about Koffee with Karan, and the guests that are supposed to make their appearances this week. Floodgates Open.

“Ekta Kapoor”, she says. I say ok. So far so good. (or, so bad, whichever way you look at it)

Then, she nonchalantly adds, “Along with Rishabh Bajaj.”

I wait for an explanation.

She adds, “and there is XYZ as well.” She names another name, which means nothing to me.

I am still waiting for an explanation for the first one. Rishabh whoever.

Finally, after a pregnant pause of 30 seconds, I say, Rishabh who?

“Arre”, she sounds irritated, “Rishabh Bajaj, from Kausati Zindagi Ki.”

Oh ok. I thought he was some relative of Jamnalal Bajaj and I ought to know him. You know, the MBA connection and all. I express this to her.

“Oh, you mean, you don’t know Rishabh Bajaj from KZK?” She seems horrified. Almost hurt.

I plead my ignorance, but then, our man ain’t Rahul Dravid or a Sunil Shetty that I should know him. Anyways, I press on. “So, what’s his claim to fame, only KZK?”

Pat comes the reply, “Hmmm, plus he is Rohit Roy’s brother.”

Thankfully, I know who Rohit Roy is.

But something else bothers me. Did Rishabh Roy change his surname after marriage? I ponder, “Must be really loving his gal, will I ever be able to do such a thing for my gal?”

I ask my friend innocently, “Oh, you mean, they are cousins?”

My friend is dumb founded, exasperated, horrified, shocked and puzzled, all at once.

She replies, “No, they are real brothers. You haven’t even heard of Ronit Roy?”

I am slow to grasp things alrite, but, where on earth did Ronit Roy come from? I knew for sure, he is Rohit Roy’s brother, but now, I wonder.

“Yes, I have. He is Rohit Roy’s brother, isn’t he?”, I ask, a bit groggily.

“Obviously! And he is Rishabh Bajaj!!!”

So, now we have Ronit Roy, who likes to call himself Rishabh Bajaj for some weird reason which I obviously do not realise, but I am expected to. I stare blankly into the Telephone.

“So, you mean, like, Shivaji Rao Gaekwad became Rajnikanth, and Yousouf Khan became Dilip Kumar, Ronit Roy becomes Rishabh Bajaj…good, nice try”. I basically try to get back, by showing off my knowledge.

Silence.

Long Silence.

“You there?”

“No, you moron, Rishabh Bajaj is the name of Ronit Roy’s character in KZK.”

Ok. How could I not know that.

I so feel like asking her the captain of Ireland’s Cricket Team. Asking what was Aminul Islam’s claim to fame. And, about Shane Warne’s 2nd daughter’s name.(which I do not know as well)

Instead, I keep quiet. I apologise for being so ignorant.

And I do something else. Google on Mr. Rishabh Bajaj.

Wikipidea has an entry. On Rishabh Bajaj. With a description on the same. Read this

How could I not know. I wonder.

I have been reading too much cricket. And share market. High time priorities change.

Damn.

Of Grey Haired Men, Ancestral Chairs and Free, Bored Mice

I am enjoying work. Actually on second thoughts, the work is ok. But I am still enjoying the whole thing, the whole feel of interning. In fact, I already think, “Damn, just 6 more weeks to go, couldn’t it be stretched further?”

I wondered why. It is not about the company, err, the companionship I mean. I am surrounded by grey haired, forty year old men, who look like they have spent more than fifty years here doing the same thing for most of their life. Or probably more. And they do not talk cricket (well, some do talk about Tendulkar been the best, Yuvi the worst and the rest of them between the two of ‘em). I certainly don’t enjoy that. I mean I have no problems with them per se; in fact, most of them have been more than helpful to me. But, holding a conversation with them, well, that’s another story altogether.

And no, it is certainly not about money. In fact, the stipend that I would get, would only reach the doors of my bank account, once I am done with these two months (but, that also means that I will be richer by a substantial amount at one go!). That’s another reason why I should get out of this place quick. “To make a quick buck” as they say.

Then? I still wonder why…

-----------------------------------------------

As I was writing this, I heard someone swear behind me. A volley of not-so-nice words left his mouth. He was probably talking about his boss. To another guy. As I looked at him, I realized that this was the same guy, who had afforded me a “Red Carpet” welcome on the first day of work. I was led to my work station. I sat on the chair assigned to me. Suddenly, I hear this same man, tell me to get up, because, it was his chair.

His Chair?

I thought, probably, it’s a part of his ancestral property that has been passed through generations. And he couldn’t stand seeing anyone else sit on it (no puns intended there). I was assured that was not the case. Anyways, I was polite enough to get up and hand it back to him as soon as he asked me to. You know better than to argue with people whom you do not know. If Murphy had his way, this man could well have turned out to be my boss. So, for me, the matter ended there. I searched for another chair and sat.

Some moments later, I hear him crib to someone else, in his native language that I happen to understand, “They should put Name Tags to the chairs, or else we have to start begging for our own chairs.” Begging? For our own chairs? I laughed. Almost too loudly.

Cynical? Sarcastic? I would say, Phhunny! “A Forty something man enters office. He sees something that makes his blood boil. Someone is sitting on HIS chair. He turns the chair around. Sees a 20 something guy. Me. He realizes his mistake. Realizes who I am. Apologizes for his misdemeanor. Begs me to return his chair. Begs real hard. I take real pity on him. I oblige.”

I never saw that man between that first day and today. Wonder how he tracks HIS chair, whenever he’s not in office. Probably uses GPS

Technology is such a good thing.

-----------------------------------------------

Heard of “When the cat is away, the mice will play” I am sure. I am the mouse. The cat is definitely away. For the week at least. Unfortunately, have nothing to play with. No Gmails, and no Orkuts obviously. ICICIdirect is conspicuous by its absence as well. Rains in Bangladesh do not help matters one bit.

Hence, I am left with no play.

I also know that, ‘All Work and no Play makes Jack a dull boy”. Assuming the Jack and Mice tantamount the same entity, and based on the above assumption that I am a mouse, I certainly think that I have become a Dull Boy (Doesn’t the above hypothesis justify that?)

I just hope Cats don’t read Blogs.

Black is Black...and so is my Portfolio!

I see black!!!

It’s been ages since I witnessed this phenomenon. It’s called “I-see-black-after-long-time-in-my-portfolio” phenomenon. Or “I-am-finally-out-of-red-zone” phenomenon.

Or simply put, my Shares Investment portfolio shows profit! Some few hundred bucks of profit, but it is much better than what it was a couple of months back. Then, it showed 17000 bucks in loss. A red colored 17000. Reminding me, each time I logged into my account, what an uninformed investor I am. I was one.

To add to this, I am showing this profit after selling off some good profit making shares. Which means, that had I not, it would have showed much more black. Loads of it!

Actually, Sugar has been a bitter pill to swallow, pun intended. Some rash investments in sugar stocks meant that I never recovered fully from it. I am still struggling with the same. Have a certain KCP Sugar, which has depreciated to more than 40% of it’s value. And I don’t see it go up in a hurry, soon. But one learns. Burns one’s fingers and learns. And undoubtedly, this was one big lesson for me. Research the company properly before investing. And worse, it wasn’t as if I had got a tip for this one. Was reading the newspaper, saw this one, liked the name, and bought it. No, I mean it was not that bad, but you get the drift, right?

Then you have the safe stocks. Like the Wipros and the Satyams, where I have bought them at every dip, and sold them off at every rise. They have been the steady source of income for me. Add a Wockhardt, Sterlite Industries and Unitech to the list. The last name would not qualify as a safe stock, but it will earn you profits for sure. You can rely on it for sure. And reason for this is its volatility. So, if you know the right time to enter and exit, this is one stock one must not ignore.

At the other end of the spectrum has been Telecom. More specifically ‘Reliance Communication'. In a span of close to one year, I have almost doubled the money I invested in it. Invested in it for two reasons, the brand name and the potential of the sector. No ‘Fundamentals’, or ‘Technicals’ taken into consideration. But it has worked for me. So far at least. Not planning to sell this one in a hurry as well. Instincts tell me that it’s one stock to stay invested in. For the long run.

I heard this snippet on Infosys Technologies from someone. It went like this.
Had someone bought the Infosys stock, as an IPO, for around 10000 bucks, and remained invested till today, around 14 years hence, the person would have been a multi millionaire by now! Hmmm…if there is even an iota of truth in the story, then I would like to congratulate all those millionaires sitting out there. Wonder why Infosys has suddenly become a much sought after company for me! But on a more serious note, I anticipate Reliance Communication to do the same for me. A Multi Millionaire, or a Crorepati, by the time I am 40!

I should be back in 15 years, writing about my success story. Just watch out guys.

The Weekend that was...

I was going through my personal accounts for the last month. And boy, have I spent or have I spent! It’s been a crazy month for sure, and the kind of parties/treats/shopping sprees that I got involved in (financially or otherwise) has been mind-boggling. Actually seems like I have got placed in a fine multi national firm. With a 7 digit pay package. Time to apply brakes, or I may end up going broke! Seriously. The Bank Balance is dwindling even as I type!

So, decided to rest this weekend. Rest myself and my wallet. No traveling, no meeting people (I admit, that this was also forced by the fact that a couple of people backed out of a plan at the very eleventh hour!). Spend time at home and watch the rains. Err, rains in Bangladesh. Yeah, the last ray of hope that was, the cricket match between India and Bangladesh also proving to be a damp squib. Literally.

Uncle paid a surprise visit, and it was interesting, discussing the current scenario of the Indian Stock market and about the various shares that could be bought. But, more on the stock market later. Started with this Robert Ludlum book, The Bancroft Strategy (had actually forgotten its name, had to refer back!), and though it is a decently fast paced fiction, there is some thing about the book that’s bothering me. I think it is a combination of two things, one, the font size is minute, and so, reading, as well as skimming through pages is getting difficult. Secondly, there is an involvement of many nations within the sub-plots, and I sometimes keep getting lost there! But, there is a long way to go, and in a way, it is good that I don’t finish off this book in a day or two, and then go about leaking my wallet for another one. Remember, it is a wallet-resting week! Unless of course….you never know!

Last, but not the least, let me talk about my “Achievement of the Week”. I walked all the way upto Shivaji Park, from home! And, before the critics react, I would like to remind you, ever since I stopped playing cricket, Laziness has cast it’s magic spell on me. So, walking across to buy grocery is the best I normally manage, this easily takes the cake! Like one small step by man, becoming a huge leap for man kind. Here though, the man and the man kind, is both me! The Limbs still ache though.

A Jacuzzi would be nice!

Bytes from Bangladesh...

Watching the coverage of the series on Neo Sports, makes me wonder about the wisdom of having Rohan Gavaskar and Hrishikesh Kanitkar as the experts sitting in the studio. Both are current Ranji Cricketers, and would probably end up not making up the top 50 of the country currently.

How do you expect them to comment on players like a Tendulkar, Ganguly or a Dravid? Do the experts have it in them to comment about Dravid's technique, Tendulkar's early dismissals and Ganguly's comeback?

And more importantly, what does Kanitkar think is happening? An obituary? A Memorial Service? Hearing him reminds me of those days when Radio Commentary was the best thing that happened to man kind(before the advent of the current Sports channels). In fact the experts there were more lively and well informed.

Picture this.

Radhakrishnan(Neo Sport's answer to Harsha Bhogale, who I think does a pretty decent job): So, earlier it was hot and humid, and now it is raining.
Kanitkar: (morose as ever, wakes up briefly) Yeah (pause) earlier it was (pause) very hot for the players (longer pause) and the public, now it is raining (sleeps...gets up again) and so there is no match.

Huh??? Thanks. We thought earlier it was very hot and humid and now it is raining!

---------------------------------------

Poor Wasim Jaffer.Gets out on the first ball of the innings for a duck and then watches his team mates score runs aplenty. The score of 500 definitely looks on the cards. And if that was not enough, every newspaper has carried a report on how Jaffer's only the 5th Indian batsman to get out off the first ball of the match. I get three newspapers, all three have!

The only silver lining is that Gavaskar did it thrice. Jaffer's in an elite club!

---------------------------------------

So now, Ganguly and Tendulkar "are back", is it? Actually, this is what I thought I would hear from many, "they are back, but only against a team like Bangladesh". However, one thing to be noted here is that their recent record in Test Matches is good. Ganguly has scored 214 runs in his last series against SA with an average of around 43, where as, this is Tendulkar's 3rd consecutive half century in Test Matches. As I had mentioned earlier as well, these guys have something left in them for the Test Matches. It is their ODI form that is a cause for concern. In fact, it is not only about form. Simply speaking, it is a tired, weary, creaky body that has played cricket for a combined 25+ years now, and ODI is a game that requires far more fitness than it did, about 5 years back.Essentially, their fitness has deteriorated(for obvious reasons, they are almost 35 now), and the requirement has increased.

Need to start planning about their Cricket Futures.

---------------------------------------

Yuvraj Singh got out for 1 in the first ODI. I overheard a colleague say, "It eees haai taaime dhat Yuvraj ees removed from dhe team." (It is high time that Yuvi is removed from the team). Well...in the last few matches, he has scored 316 runs at an average of 45. And this is discounting the West Indian series in 2006, where he scored 180 plus runs at 45 again. So, on what grounds do we remove him? That he made the blunder of getting out for 1 against a Team like Bangladesh?

Yeah, I think these are the same people who probably say, "Tendulkar is back in form", when he scores a ton against Kenya

---------------------------------------

And to end, a non-Bangladeshi byte. An innings to remember by Shahid Afridi.Picture this, Lanka set Pakistan a target of 235 in the 50 overs. Pakistan lose half their side for 137.Enter Afridi. Tries to get his eye in(Surprise Surprise!!!). 60 odd required off 11 overs, 5 wickets to go. Batting Side is tensed. Bowling side is tensed. So are the spectators. Don't think the Batsman is...!

Bandara to bowl his leg spin. Afridi to face.

first ball...bang....four.
second....four...
third....out of the ground....six runs...
fourth...fifth....sixth.....6....6....6!!!

32 runs taken. A Potentially exciting match killed! Damn!

The 7.32 p.m. local called Juhu Beach!

I was just uploading some of the photos from my digi-cam. The last set of them consisted of that of the Spiderman day(yeah, the same day when that fiasco occurred!). We had gone to Juhu Beach after that, or rather, let me reframe that. We tried to enter Juhu Beach, and we found it next to impossible to do so. Traffic you see. Traffic of Human Beings all round. Tons and tons of them. It seemed like the whole of the human race had descended on Juhu Beach that day to welcome us. Or at least the whole of Mumbai had. The scene was so reminiscent of the scene we come across in Mumbai Locals. Every step one took was an effort and a pain. Naah, not to self, to the person whom you invariably stamped your foot on!

We did manage to get in. Afterall years of practicing travel in the trains had to help! Unfortunately, my Cargos were new. And there were two funny looking straps that hung outta them.(Reminded me of a famous line, from an equally famous movie, "Gogojee, aapka Ghaagra!"), and so we had to hurry things before I got spanked for dirtying the new set. But, not before, we had our share of Paani Puri, Ragda pattice, Kulfi Falooda(this one was NICE!!!), Kaala Khatta Gola and the Pink Coloured Floss Candy(that was for NP, and so reminded me of Malavika!!!). One last thing that we all wanted was the Soap Bubble Water Blower Pipe...phew...(what else do you call that in Hindi?!). And this is what the scene looked like...



There were an incident involving a couple of monkeys as well, but I will spare the details for some other time. Needless to say, it also involved my two companions for the evening!
The feeling I got then was, that I was 9 again. Probably even younger. Those 15-20 minutes were really well spent, and more so, a God sent.

I am still licking my lips over the Malai Kulfi Falooda though!

Nostalgia...

When: Today
Still..When: The hot afternoon of around 1ish
Where: Naturals’, In Orbit, Malad.
What: Malai Vanilla with yummm Mango Pieces!

Yeah, this is what I call bliss. After Cricket that is! Costs 70 bucks, but each penny spent is worth it. One and a half scoops of Malai Vanilla, which a lot of us do not enjoy, but add some pieces of Alphonso Mangoes, and believe you me, it’s a different ball game altogether. The taste is unmatchable, unless, of course you have had been on a staple diet of Strawberry and Cream at Wimbledon. It comes close. Really close to the same.

Got addicted to this, some years back, if I remember correctly, at the Shivaji Park Branch of Naturals’. The evenings spent at Shivaji Park, with a “Tibbs’ Chicken Frankie” in my hand followed by the above variety of bliss, was all too much to handle. Even discounting the real reason for going to Shivaji Park, which was something very different (Not the right forum to be discussing that!). Wanted to fall in love with someone else then, fell in love with this instead!

In fact even as I type this, I remember that I almost had this very combo. at In Orbit Mall with NP and Deepshikha. Chicken Frankie followed by a visit to Naturals’. The only thing that was missing was the “Mango Pieces” which the Naturals’ guy did not have. The mangoes it seems had not been available that day!

Life has come a big circle since. Visits to Shivaji Park and consequently to it’s Naturals’ Branch have reduced significantly. So have the people I went there for. Unfortunately. Wouldn’t mind getting there again though. To sit there with the Frankie in my hand. Watch the guys jog it out. Some exercising in the open air gym. Some strolling arm-in-arm with their better halves. To watch the kids cycle. To watch the changes that the place has undergone. And how nothing has changed. To experience the surreal atmosphere. To pray that I bump into someone I know.

To relive those days.

The Summer of ’99. Certainly the best days of my life.

Please wake me up at 7.00 am tomorrow. I am too lazy to wake up. Please.

Sometimes I think. Only Sometimes. Rest of the time, I am too lazy to do so. Thoughts try to push me down by their sheer gravity. Like the Gravity did to Newton’s apple. I do not react. Because I am too lethargic. I am too bored to think how to react to the thoughts.

I sat next to this beautiful looking girl in the bus. Does not happen all the time. She had a hundred rupee note, and the BEST conductor, unsurprisingly did not have any change to return. Wonder where all their change goes? Think there’s a black hole in their “purse”. (There, I “thought” again. Thanks to the Conductor.) Anyways. I was talking about the girl without the change. I had about 25 ten-ners in my wallet. Could have easily given her the change. In fact, one look at her, and one would end up buying her a ticket for free. Probably even buying her two. Or dinner. I did not do any of the aforesaid things. Neither did I offer her any change. Was too lazy to dig into my pockets, get the wallet out, fish out for some change, and exchange. Too much pain. Was too bored. Looked out of the window at the Mumbai Roads instead.

That’s why I do not even want to be Spiderman. Changing into that Blue and Red Uniform every time is the most boring thing. That’s why I even hate Changing Rooms in Shopping Malls. Makes people want to try new clothes all the time. And then, such jumping around. Fighting all those bad guys. Killing them. What effort, what pain. And to top it all, I may just have to clean up the messy cobwebs that I would be leaving behind while hanging from them. Wonder whether Spidey would be cleaning up his belongings? Else, city would be in mess, ain’t it? Too lazy to be doing that as well.

Picture this. I go about shooting my web everywhere. Catch the bad guy. Hand him over to the Police. And I am asked to cough up a fine because some old monument gets a "handful" of my web. Or worse, asks me to clean up the city. Naah, too bored.

Probably it is Inertia. Newton’s First Law of Motion that most of us learnt in High School. It goes like this. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. Or in a state of rest! Just want to prove to my 8th grade professor that she was right when she spoke about this Law. She was also right in saying that everything needs to be proved. That’s what I am trying to do.

That unfortunately means that people practice Newton’s Third Law of Motion with me, which says, For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Loads of similar, equal reactions. Too lazy to react to my presence. It goes into a loop. Both, me and them. Both practice the third law. Yawwnnnnn. Vehemently.

It’s already 9.30 p.m. Too late in the night to continue. Too lazy to continue. Please wake me up in the morning. Don't want to miss office.

Spiderman III - A Film "Review"

I watched Spiderman III in English today. The "in English" portion of the statement is very important here. It actually seemed that the movie was a Bollywood creation, dubbed in English. Serious. No Jokes.

Picture this. One Hero. One Heroine. Three Villains. One Confused Soul who couldn't decide whether he was a Hero or a Villain. One convoluted plot. Many Jerky chase sequences. Kidnapping. Rescue Attempt by Hero. The confused soul turns Hero-like. Saves the Hero from the Villains. Sacrifices his own life. Villains die. Hero gets the Heroine. A typical Bollywood pot boiler.

Now replace Hero by Spiderman. Heroine by MJ. Villains by Black Man, Sand Man, and a third, whose name I don't recollect. Doesn't matter as well. The plot, as I have already explained.
Spiderman makes out with the Heroine. Upsets the confused Soul, who's also in love with the Heroine. He wears some funny Villain Uniform that allows him to fly on his roller skates. Confused Soul tries to kill Spidey. Loses memory in the process. We yawn.

Enter Villain 2. Sand-man. He tries to kill Spidey. Our Spidey is smart. He pours water over his aspirations and his head. Sand man dissolves his sorrow and himself in it.

Villain 3. Here the plot gets confusing. A Black spooky substance sticks to Spiderman. He becomes Black Spidey. Or so I call him. Behaves irrationally. Slaps Heroine. Heroine distressed. Spidey realises mistake and throws his Black Uniform away. Some snore.

Gets his original Blue and Red Unifrom washed, ironed and properly primmed. Gets back to his normal self. But the black spook sticks to another guy, who assumes the new role of villain 3. Sand Man returns. Sand man and Black Spidey become friends. Blackie says, "Dushman ka Dushman, Dost hota hai". Or some thing to that effect. Both kidnap heroine. Spidey gets help from confused soul, who is a changed man now. Black Spidey tries to kill real Spidey. Confused Soul comes in way. Gets killed. Spidey angry. Kills everyone bad around him. We get ready to leave.

Then Spidey and Heroine live happily thereafter. And we are filled with sadness.

I haven't added the jerky chase sequences where we could not guess who was chasing whom. Or, what was chasing what? And the same question with "why". Also, there was a small part when Spidey kisses another gal. A White Haired Witch. Heroine upset. Dunno why. Probably, it's bad for the image of Spidey to be kissing Witches. Just guessing. And to add the final icing to the cake, there was a song in the end as well. At least I imagined there was.

The hot dog costed 60 bucks. Too much mustard. The caramel popcorn was good. And there was a couple behind us, who did their best to prove that they are going to help India qualify for the next Soccer World Cup. Couldn't do their stuff in peace. Maradonna and his Madonna. Ok, bad joke. Such was the movie, and it's effect on us.

Moral: Never spend 150 bucks on any movie. Especially if it is a Hollywood Movie that lasts for a minute more than 90. Hollywood has yet to emulate us in making "good, long" movies!

Will I be able to do a 'Vivek'?

I read a Vivek Oberoi interview today, where he was asked something to the effect of "Do you still remember Aish?"

He replied, "Relationships come with an expiry date, love doesn't"

Profound, ain't it? But, the question here is, can you still love someone (who's a someone close), who's walked out of ur life like the way it petered out in the above case? Or was it the case of saying something that was supposed to create some sensation and evoke a little sympathy?

I wonder how would I have reacted. The immediate reaction is that of sadness. Shock. Questions. And then Anger. In exactly that order.

When the Anger would cool down, it would be Rationale. But, would I be able to still love the person. Would I be able to love the person again? Very very doubtful.

Is it ego? Naaah, don't think so. Is it retribution? Not me.

Then?

I think it is simple plain Logic. It is the total breakdown of Trust. A trust that was built over the period of time. Almost to the extent of Blindness. And then this happens. What's the guarantee that the same would not get repeated with the same person.

Forgive I could. Forget I wouldn't.
Remember I would. Love her again, difficult.

No, I will be true here, I would never be able to love the person again. Too much to expect from me. Not a thing for lesser mortals like me.

In this day and age, it is difficult to find love that comes without an "Expiry Date". And if Vivek really means what he just said, I doff my Hat to him.

Errr...

Dravid comes to bat against Bangladesh in the 2nd ODI.
His One Day statistics shown on screen. Neo Sports.

Matches - 314
Runs - 10000 odd
Average - good enough

Commentator says, "oh look at Dravid's FIGURE. Awesome! I mean, figures."

It was Arun Lal.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mumbai's at 34 degree celcius. Around 80% humidity. Walking from home to bus stop only means having to bathe again. Bus stop's just 10 mins. away.

Bangladesh is around 38 degree celcius. 98% humidity. And these guys are playing cricket. Serious Cricket at that.(especially after their pay has become performance based). God help them.

For Mumbaikars, imagine standing in this weather at 12.00 noon outside home. For around 5 hours. If that is not enough, start running. Run for around an hour out of the 5. Think about the wicket keepers. Do some sit ups. At least 100 of them. Before you forget again, all this under 38 degree celcius, and 98% humidity.

Even if you are paid a minimum of 1.5 lakh rupees for doing this. Feel for 'em.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So now he also plays the Piano.

Newspaper Reports say that Shreeshanth got hold of a Piano in his Hotel in Bangladesh and started to play the Title song of Baazigar on it. He is also a Brake Dancer. He is a good singer.
Some say he's learnt some karate as well. Or Kick Boxing. And is a Good Cook(strange that he does not have all gals falling for him yet!)

And he bowls as well. Some times bats.

Sledges. As can be seen in the video here . Sledges a character like Andre Nel.

Talk about being a True All Rounder!

The Day at M&M - Part II

New day. Things change. For the worse!

And I thought that it couldn't get worse.

But it did. Yesterday, I was shuttling. From one building to another. It did not change much today. I was still shuttling. From one part of the city to another.

Started with home to Kandivili. This is like an hour away. At the expense of repeating myself, the journey sucks. The back still hurts! Then at 1.00 pm, I am told to report to a meeting at Worli. This is half an hour from my home, and around one and a half from Kandivili. Told that the meeting is at 2.00. I reach by 2.30 pm. Meeting is over. Pack-up. I sit in front of the PC and type this crap. Discussions are now on, whether I should be send to Kandivili again. Today. For a meeting. Someone tell me how does one hire a Hovercraft. Or a private jet. At a reasonable cost.

Apart from this, I am wondering whether I have taken up Systems as my specialisation? I have already learnt more about Supply Chain Management and "Operations" in the last 3 days, than I learnt in my whole life. And this is thanks to my boss. Hats off to him. He has more patience than ten Buddhas meditating together. Or, better still ten Rahul Dravids batting in a Test match for India. I have also been travelling from one location to another trying to "Market" myself to the people who can give me an overview. An overview of everything on SCM of the company. I have been talking to people like how an "HR" professional would. Showing extreme patience with million and one people that I have met.

But, where is Systems?!!

I think, I am worried and happy at the same time. Happy, that it's a part of the learning curve. Learning a lot in the process. But worried that somewhere down the line, I may be asked to review the Balance Sheets of the Supply Chain. Alrite alrite, there's nothing like Balance Sheets of SCM, but still, you get the point, right? That is something I could do without. Finance.

And even as I write this, India lose the wicket of Rahul Dravid to one of those three, irritating, but highly effective slow, left arm bowlers. Despair for Team India! I should be happy. At least, my house does not get painted black if I dont succeed, thank God for small mercies!

The Day at M&M...

My worst fears came true today. I had to report to the Kandivili office. Such a pain. Not only figuratively, literally as well. In all parts of the body. Back was the first to go. Thighs followed next. I am so creaky from the train journey I had, that feel like taking a 2 month sabbatical. Well, if wishes were horses, I would definitely be riding on one 'em!

Actually Kandivili by itself, wasn't that bad. Travelling is a pain, but not as big a pain as when you gotto report to 2 offices at the same time. Yeah, that is what happened. Reported to the Blue Gate. Then was taken to the now-famous Yellow gate. Spent some time gathering requirements. Then waiting. Then talking to another guy. Then waiting. Then lunch and back to the Green Gate..sorry, Blue Gate. Then to the Yellow gate for another session. Then had to call up a guy for an appointment. He had no time for dibbly-dobbly summer trainees like me. No appointment. Then back to Green Gate.
A Bag on my shoulder. Sun on the head. Heat around. Humidity omnipresent and omnipotent.
Fortunate part: Bag was without a laptop.
Unfortunate part: It weighs as much as my laptop.
Result: Broken Back. Exhaustion. Fatigue. And all those words that you can think of. Better knowledge about Supply Chain Management.

The day ended with another meeting. But, this time, it was a better one. Much better than the previous ones. Met up with the NMIMS guys, starters at MacDonalds, dinner attempt at Urban Tadka, dinner at Moghul Sarai, ice creams at Saaranch! In the end, catching up with ol' times (7 day old as well!), is an awesome feeling. Especially at the end of an exhausting day.

Tomorrow will be another day. Another visit to Yonderland (read, Kandivili), without my boss, or neone else. Would be on field. Alone.
Sounds fun. Yeah rite.

A Marriage made in Heaven...for us!

Another one bites the dust. In fact a couple of them bit it together yesterday, and it was one of the more memorable dusts that they would have tasted. Two of my friends, Maulik and Pranjal got married, thus becoming the first from the Mastek group to do so! Congratulations to the couple, whose relationship through the dusty, winding roads of Goa, is only well chronicled!! Something about Goa, that not only makes people fall in love, but also makes them directionally challenged, especially when they are on bikes. Especially, with their soon-to-be better halves! Tanmay and Deep would concur. So would Maulik and PJ. Unfortunately I don’t have the license to bike; else I would have agreed as well!

Coming back to yesterday, it was one helluva occasion for not only them, but also for all of us. We all met, again. The notable absentee was obviously Reena, but apart from her, we were all there. And once we reached the Marriage Hall, all hell broke loose. The photographers stopped clicking and turned towards us. Alrite, that’s a bit of an exaggeration obviously, but this is what happened. The couple was at one end of the hall. We were at the other. The photographers clicked away at the guests wanting to wish the couple. We had our own cameras, for ourselves and we merrily clicked ourselves to glory. 3 cameras. 150 snaps in all. No jokes! Began with the normal poses, and then went on to become more weird and whacky. More innovative. More stupid. But more fun!
Some things never change, do they? And people criticize me for being camera-happy!!!

The photo session was followed by dinner. And sweets. There was this one sumptuous, lip-smacking and delicious sweet dish, that made me refill my plate more than once. Didn’t quite get it’s name, so need to remind myself to ask Maulik once he’s back from honeymoon. Man, I am still licking my lips at the thought of the dish. Suffice to say, that the “Kulfi” that followed tasted bitter in it’s comparison!

But the best treat was yet to arrive. Teen Patti at Mayur’s. Though we didn’t play for long, it was something that made my day a fruitful one after a not-so-good start to it.(had bid a farewell to a close, close person in the morning!).

Home coming happened, well past midnight, and the sleep was a content one, with an anticipation of good things to come next day at M&M. Yeah, the good things came. Got my work station. That’s why I am able to write this. That’s why I haven’t yet dozed off.

With so much fun associated with it, the marriage truly made in heaven for all us!

Shopping....Salaam-e-Ishq...and all that!

A very, and I mean it, very tiring day comes to an end. But before I am bashed up by somone, it was one of the most enjoyable ones. Did loads of shopping. For me and for others. Well, shopping is definitely not some hobby I am terribly proud of, not the least to write about. But, it’s not daily that I shop for almost 6 hours in a day. So…you know….! Heartfelt Thanks to that Someone!

Let me talk about my shopping List. A Wrist Watch. Some thing I had been planning on for a long, long time. Fast Track. And as the name suggests, it happened really fast. Took me 5 minutes to choose and another 5 to buy it. The reason was a simple one, had already spent 3 days in tossing and turning this one on my wrists some months back. And this was one was the best amongst the Fast Tracks. And the most economical. Alrite, that’s two more reasons than what I actually thought why I bought it. Happens!

Then, I also bought a Shirt. My first Brown one. Followed it up with a Cargo, or so they say. Or is it a pair of Cargos? (Need to google up it’s exact usage.) And then bought a tight, body hugging T-Shirt. I don’t know how I will fit into it. At 60 bucks, I can afford to not wear it...guess will need to reduce by a couple of dozen kilograms. But it is alrite, may just help me motivate myself to exercise. Basically if this does not, then nothing else would!

Shopping was followed by some more shopping. For the others this time. And this was followed by shopping. Lunch and Dinner were mere formalities between the Shoppings, where as, “Mr. Bean Holidays” that happened at 10.30 in the morning was long forgotten. There was a Bandstand that followed late in the evening, which was the other highlight (because it allowed me to keep the million and one shopping bags at one place!), to be followed by more shopping! Have almost got nauseous of the word “Shopping”! In the meantime, the Mumbai Sun and Heat also played it’s part to the fullest, draining and sapping the last ounces of the energy left, and without joking, it took us a couple of bottles of “Energee” to re-hydrate ourselves.

Another surprise was the setting up of Brio’s inside the Bandra Shoppers’ Stop, where I ended up having a Chocolate Pastry (Bliss I tell you!), and this was followed by the pouching of 2 John Grishams and 1 Jeffrey Archer, all for a sum total of 180 bucks!

Reaching home, I realized that however tiring it seemed, the pleasure of reaching home and relaxing after a 12 hour marathon like this, is an awesome feeling. Second to none. Not even to feeling one gets when the chocolate inside the crusty part of Eclairs comes out. (There is a one word for this feeling that I could have used, but Family Blog and all, you see!).

However, and for this I solely blame myself, I ended up “trying to watch” Saalam-e-Ishq after coming back home. 20 minutes. 20 minutes was all what it took me to pull the plug. Many questions/thought arose in my mind.
1. Really wondered if the Director himself saw the movie after it was made.
Or even if he did, did he try some damage control.
2. If this was the “Damage Control” Version, what was the original one? Shiver and Shudder to think about it!
3. What was Juhi Chawla doing there? I really miss watching her, but for heaven sake, I would prefer not watching her than see her “brand value” deteriorate like this!
4. How more fake could you possibly smile than what John Abraham tried to in the movie? Was it a Dimple Showing-off competition Jon Baba??? Or was it "Bada Plastic Kaun?" competition with Aishwarya Rai?
5. Isn’t Govinda an MP? Or has he resigned? And when does he resign from Bollywood?
6. And what about Sohail Khan? Had it not been for the anatomy of his body, I would have almost called him Pamela Anderson. Or probably Anna Nicole Smith. Or whatever. Earnest request to act. Please.

There were some more, which I don’t want to put here, but remember, this was just 20 minutes of the whole thing. Wonder what my reaction would be if I were to be forced into watching the whole movie. Think it is beyond the realms of reality. Too Hypothetical a situation!

Look forward to more of such days!

The Summers Begin (in Mumbai and in Mahindra!)

2 days of Induction and it’s already so exhausting. Probably it is the Mumbai Summer. Probably it is just because it is Induction. Probably things will be better when the Project actually begins. Hope floats.

Tiring it may be, for whatever reasons, this has been one of the better inductions I have attended. Better than the previous two jobs. I don’t exactly know the reason why, but what I am guessing here is, that I had some background with the domain. And have worked on a Mahindra Project earlier. Probably.

So, it began yesterday with a sweet HR-in-charge giving us a brief overview on what’s to follow (cannot afford to not put that “sweet”!!). Won’t bore you with too many details, just that MM is a huge conglomerate of around 60 companies, and there were around 5 people talking about their core businesses. Most of ‘em made sense. Or to put it the other way around, I understood what most of them said. Fortunately, I was not that sleepy as I am in the classroom. Probably, because there were many biscuits offered along with the tea (which incidentally I did not have!).

Some of my “colleagues” are from NMIMS itself. Some are from IMT and others from IIT. (I forget some other colleges). Surprisingly no one from the Big Institutes so far. None from the IIMs. Sad! All in all, a nice motley of people, would love to know ‘em better. Unfortunately, MM has too many buildings, and there is a huge tendency to get lost, even when you are in one building. Don’t really know whether I would meet them again. Wish I do!

Coming back to my induction process of yesterday, the best session was undoubtedly on Mahindra Real Estate, or Mahindra Gesco as they call it. Could relate to many of the speakings of the man-in-charge, one Mr. Vijayan, and the way he delivered it, was simple and lucid as well. I got a couple of real estate stocks in my portfolio, and the insights that I got from that session were wonderful. Very, very helpful.

It ended with me meeting my Project Guide, Mr. Suhas, and our super senior, Ms. Taj, and discussing my project with them. The profile seems good, the job description would be something of a Business Analyst. Should be good work, should be tough work. I hope I am not lost on the same, but the rustiness would definitely be there, need to get the cobwebs off as soon as possible. Overall, it sounded interesting. Waiting for Monday. Eagerly!

Today was another story. A Plant visit to Kandivili at 2 p.m. Grrrrrrr!!! Why Kandivili? Which is like a million light years away from home. And to top it all, 2 p.m.? 36 degree celcius and almost 100% humidity does not make for loads of fun while traveling. And to add to all of this, I did what I am so famous(???) for. Got to the wrong Mahindra office. As I had already mentioned, it many offices in Kandivili itself, and I got to the one which had a yellow gate, rather the one that should have had a green gate! (whatever that is!) Not that it’s not happened before, but this time, it wasn’t my fault. Actually, it wasn’t totally my fault. Just a little, the auto guy took me to the wrong building! Probably the Mumbai heat got to him as well. Anyways, panted my way to the “real” office, jut at the nick of time. And then began the Plant visit. One word to describe it. Tiring! And another one, Noisy! So even as I write this, I almost feel like dozing off. Which I will. Soon. Just to end this, am not going in with any mind sets or pre conceived notions. Just want to do my job, and enjoy it. Bottom line is the enjoyment part. Never really understood the concept of “Work Hard, Party Harder”. May try to understand it this time. If not “harder”, at least hard enough for it to be drilled into me!

The Memoirs of Alibaug

A Train to Churchgate, a Cab to Gateway, a Boat to Mandwa, a Bus to Alibaug Bus Stand, and an Auto to the Hotel. That’s how you get there. Sounds convoluted enough to send jitters down your spine, but the place is awesome. Almost feel like repeating what the website tol’ me about Alibaug, here and I am certainly thinking of paying it another visit soon and why not!

This rustic town/village, located some nautical miles away from the Gateway of India, has a very similar laidback feel to it as Goa did. Most of the times, there would be no crowd, no waiting in queues in restaurants, Hotels every 2 minutes but no signs of inhabitation, and then suddenly there was a population explosion at the beaches, almost like one would find at the Juhu Beach. There were the customary Paani Puri Waalahs, the Gola waalahas and the Horse guys, but one look, and one would know that we were not at Juhu or Chowpatty.

Almost as if it is trying to get out of it’s laidback image, but is unable to do so. A Chocolate Boy Hero trying play the lead role of Rocky, but expectedly not able to. And Thankfully so!


Anyways, coming back to my trip, we reached at exactly 7.00 pm, my mind in a bit of a doubt about being able to reach there on time for the finals, but luckily, the rain got it postponed. A dismal final followed, with all the typical traits associated with this World Cup, like the goof-ups, and an Australian win! The room, well, cannot say much about this one, but, it was at least economical, 650 bucks for a day, minus the AC. The Hotel Name, a rather unfancy, Guruji!

The only other incident worth mentioning here was the walk on the moon lit beach, at 10.00 in the night, with million other people. Guess, it was that time of the year! Checking out the next morning, we got into another place, The Sun and Sea. I do not want to sound too critical or finicky, but, this was one place, where, it never happened, that at a given point, there was nothing that was not wrong. Sometimes, it was the AC, sometime, the gyser, on other occasions the water failed to turn up, while the room service was conspicuous by it’s absence. The TV had fewer channels than Sehwag’s scores in the last few innings, and in the end, we needed to go to the reception and call the guy up. Good Morning Sir, he says, at 2.30 in the afternoon! The highlight of the day was the food, no two ways about it. Reasonable, homely, and loads of it! At 60 bucks per head, the Punjabi dishes were washed down with a glass of lassi, and as expected, ended up sleeping more than I should have. Evening was spent on shopping (yeah, I don’t get too bored doing that!), and then at the ever so crowded beach!

On the third day, we moved out of this Hotel, and checked into our third hotel in as many days. (must mention about John Grisham Novels here, for all Grisham fans, this is so typical of his books, the hero/heroine keeps changing hotels to save themselves from getting killed. This almost seemed similar!) Forget it’s name right now, but this was the best of the lot. Everything in proper shape, well almost everything, but what stood out was the awesome view, it had. Sea Facing! The heart nearly skipped a beat when we saw it first. Surprisingly, it costed less than Sun and Sea. Words would not do enough justice to it, so I have put this photo that I got from the room window. The stay here was almost as good as the view, everything contrasted the previous place. Almost as if, we were given a lesson on “How not to run a Hotel” the previous day, and an exact opposite lesson the next! And at the expense of sounding repetitive, it had an awesome view!!! The picture below says it all...

This was also the day when we walked almost half way upto the Alibaug Fort. The route to the fort is through the Alibaug Beach Water, yeah, we need to walk through the water, during a low tide, and get to the Fort. And then, get outta the fort before the tide begins to get high again. And it is a good 30 minute walk through the sea! Imagine walking through the sea for half an hour, to get to the fort, and doing the same only when there is a low tide. Aint that dangerous as it sounds. Becoz my fellow resident sea/beach/water expert tol’ me that the tides occur in the cycle of six hours each, and so, if there is a low tide, it was to remain like that for 6 hours at least. So, no worries there! (We walked half way, because we soon got bored of walking in the water…ok, more specifically, I got bored of walking!)

A game of Scrabble and “Teen Patti” rounded off, what had been a tiring and a hectic day for us. Slept early, woke up early and got out of the Hotel to get back to Mumbai. Must mention the catamaran that we came back in. It was a 100 bucks voyage, which gave me the feeling of me sitting on a flight to Switzerland. Well, almost. Air conditioned, closed windows, and quiet cozy seats! Forty five minutes was all that we took to get to the Gateway.

One mess up in the whole affair was the fiasco with Alibaug’s milk products. Whether it was a cup of Tea, coffee or a Hot Chocolate, everything was laced with a generous helping “elaichi” in it. I wondered whether there were no anti-dumping laws for “elaichi” in Alibaug. The Hot Chocolate probably had half a dozen spoons of sugar to add to the ‘elaichi’…3 sips was all I could have! Think, there is a huge scope for a B-Plan Writing on opening one “Hot Beverage” Shop in Alibaug. Surely! A thoroughly enjoyable trip, and a memorable one at that. Back to business now, Summer Intership begins from day after, will need to wrap this trip in the back lanes of my mind for now!

P.S. The talking point of the trip was the new Cap I bought from Bandra. Here goes the conversation...
Me: I like that Cream Cap.
Cap-Seller: Yeah, it looks good. Try it. Here's the mirror
Me: How much for it?
CS: 220 bucks
Me: (Scoffs), too much
CS: How much you want it for?
Me: 220 is too much
CS: I will give it for 100.
Me: I will take it (knowing very well, that I could have bought it for 60 bucks, but had no stomach for another argument).
Finally own a cap. That I do not want to lose! Stay away from it!!!