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…

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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.