The Unwinding Hours

Things that I remember…

2011-11-01T19:48:00.003+05:30

• The Airtel music every time Roushini mam took out her car
• Talking to Peter endlessly any day any time
• Trying to understand what Muniamma spoke to me all about
• Listening to some piece of western classical music on Jyotsna’s piano
• Animated discussions with Amuda, and her lovely smile
• Conversation with chai wala’s wife outside CTS
• The dog attending Sunday mass
• Two pegs with Pramod the property agent
• Aleef Biryani and Royal’s butter chicken
• Sunday crowd at Elliot’s
• Afternoons spent observing the Thiruvanmiyur beach
• Meetings with Barni
• 9 September 2005
• My beach house
• Offering a gift which was not accepted
• Visiting Tiger’s cave
• Chai with Shailesh and Anand, and the investment plans
• Talking to Leela and Joking with Mayuri
• Bugging the team
• Stones on Saranya’s desk
• Playing songs for Kurve
• The green frog inside the basket
• The secret delivery of idli
• The familiar sound of anklets
• The flooded streets in Oct 2008
• The guard’s salute to Dev
• Unwanted gyaan sessions – local google!
• Meetings with Muruga
• The sutta and daru sessions
• Trip to Tirupati
• Hayabusa
• Aadi festivities
• Buying cigarettes while on a test drive
• Browsing at Odyssey
• Meeting friends @ Eden, Giorgio, Dhabba Express, Taj, and Murugan’s
• Umpteen trips to Pondy and ECR
• Hello Moto!
• And finally, the girl with SUPER voice!

Time spent in Chennai :-)

Tarangambadi

2011-05-29T19:42:00.028+05:30

This day last year!

The never ending work and our thankless efforts on SQL Server and the online labs were taking toll on our morale, not to say the agony of dealing with non-responsive yet demanding SMEs. As if these were not enough, we also had to stay put with obnoxious personalities who thought it was their birthright to tell us where we were coming from and where we should be going, and the not so normal people who changed opinions and thoughts and orders akin to multiple patch releases for defunct software! All these situations were driving us nowhere.

Even the visits to GLM on certain Friday evenings brought but little solace or rejuvenation – for the discussion with glasses brimming with Signature or Romanov or Caesar in our hands would invariably be about work and all ancillaries attached with it. Whether it was the melancholic pace of projects or the after effects of the liquid devil we do not know but ‘our’ SPB+KJY rolled into one would enthrall us with numbers like ‘jiyay tau jiyay kaisay bin aapkay’ and ‘Kanne Kalimane’. These songs didn’t correlate to our situation, but we did feel like Sanju and Kamal - sadly happy or happily sad.

Resigning to the fact that these were situations and people which were beyond our control - with any hope of a kindle of compassion from them would have been a farce on our normal expectations - we continued projecting ourselves as survivors!

One fine day amidst this galata someone suggested for an outing and Pondicherry was the default destination – 160 kms away, ideal for the available range of liquid devil – the serenity of the place – and importantly our affordability of the entire trip. But then we decided to be a bit more adventurous and embark on a longer and little far away sojourn: a trip which certainly brought a smile on our face and the ever lingering wonderful memories.

At 3 AM we started our journey with sleepy faces, secretly cursing Mamoria for insisting to ‘start early’. At that odd hour also OMR was live with numerous trucks and busses which seemed like competing for a Guinness record to reach before the other. At times it appears their only mission is to eliminate people and vehicles from their route. High beam is one such methodology they use - it gives them a clear view of what lies ahead but it is of little concern to them if those high beams blind anyone traveling from the opposite direction and they go off their rocker!
The first leg of journey was from Chennai to Pondicherry and was spent in darkness and the high beams. The only notable scene was of the moon beam shimmering on the backwaters along NH66.

We moved from NH66 to NH45A to head towards the temple town of Chidambaram which is some 70 KMs ahead of Pondy – all the way passing through Ariyankuppam, Pumamkuppam, and Cuddalore town. With two religious people in the car, I could not overrule their intent of marking their attendance at Natrajar. Not that I was averse to the idea, but well… I have been to this temple earlier and it is one of the rare temples of Lord Shiva where we see an idol instead of the usual Lingam. Lord Shiva is seen in some Bharatnatyam mudra – the cosmic dance. The temple is also peculiar because it also has idol of Govindraja. Two great people within the same compound, albeit under different roofs!

After the morning tiffin in a small restaurant we headed towards the last leg of our journey – Bungalow on the Beach. From Chidambaram we were again on the same NH and the next major town was Sirkazi from where it took around an hour and a half to reach the final destination – the place which we were so keenly looking forward to, to unwind!

From the road leading to Karaikal district, we took a left turn and then a left again and reached the once upon a time magnificent façade of yesteryears – The Gateway of Tarangambadi – The Land of Singing Waves!

The Kings road which starts from the Gateway is dotted on both sides with simple and carved buildings of historical importance. We knew we would have a good time in the area but as we badly needed a wash so headed straight to our hotel.

Bungalow on the Beach was the erstwhile residence of the British Collector in 1845. The property changed hands from British to a Nadar family. Next, it passed on to the Taj group and then finally the Neemrana group. The building was in shambles when it was bought and the group restored it after spending 2 years and few crores. Time did test the patience of the architects (Ajit and Ratna Koujalgi ) and the staff when on the very next day of its opening (26 Dec 2004) the Tsunami waves washed away the area. Nagapattinam, of which Tarangambadi is a Taluk was the worst affected area, and it took nearly 3 more months to restore the building. We saw the pictures of the Bungalow when it was acquired by the group, and the restored pictures; we just could not believe what we saw. A dilapidated building – a mix of European and Indian architecture, almost a ruin about to fall with the next downpour was transformed into nothing short of palatial richness and aura. It gave us some sense of pride to live in a place which was now part of history, and reeked of near opulence!

We felt quite happy to be accommodated in a room which was quite spacious. The four post bed appeared more or less a cousin from the Saxon or Norman era minus the canopy above, and the bed made against the wall. The room also had a tasteful small wardrobe, a writing table with mirror, and a planter chair. While the room was huge, the bathroom was too narrow in comparison. The half glass door opening to bathroom gave us some innovate idea for clicking pictures which we categorized under ‘censored’.

From the colonial window, which I think had louvered shutters; we could see the boundary wall of the Bungalow and the sea beyond that. The urge was to get out of the room as early as possible and explore the area. And this was just when we desperately wanted to get inside the Bungalow for a wash! I guess the aura of the place made us inquisitive to get set go and explore! While one of us decided to wash, the other two opened the French looking double door and stepped out in a long corridor running at the length of which were similar 4-5 doors. This area had cane furniture for the use of the residents. In that hot humid morning, inside the building, in the corridor, sitting on the white painted cane furniture, smoking was bliss! The pebble garden between the boundary and the corridor was well maintained and had some good variety of perennial plants carefully skirted by small hedges. And towards the boundary wall there were some palm and coconut trees lined up.

The left side of the corridor ended near to pool. The pool was so inviting that we wanted to jump inside. My immediate concern was the depth of the pool and I found out it was just 5 feet deep - not a challenge at all. We returned to the pool later in the evening, which is something I will come to later.

Once we were ready to explore the area, we ventured out. Bang opposite to the Bungalow is the Danish Dansborg Fort – a museum now. We posed for pictures and entered the Fort after purchasing the entry tickets.

Ragunathan Nayak or Vijaya Raghava Nair was the king of Tanjore when he granted rights to carry out trade to the Danes in 1620 – this very month! At that time Christian IV was the king of Denmark. In the same year a navy captain from Denmark bought Tarangambadi area in the name of his ruler. The Dansborg Fort was built and was a thriving center of trade at that period. A boundary wall/moat was also built to protect the Fort and the adjacent area – it is now submerged in the sea.

By 1777, Tarangambadi was under the control of the Danes. The first Governor of the territory was Roland Crape and Peter Hansen was the last.In 1845, the British government bought Tranagambadi from the Danes. They built the Collectors office and the Bungalow where we were staying was used as the Collector’s residence.

The museum houses porcelain dishes, Danish and Tamil manuscripts, China, Terracotta objects, Figurines, coins, and weapons. Not much to marvel by a tourist who does not has much interest in history. Shekar and Mamoria were quite engrossed in every artifact they came across – spending a lot of time observing and discussing. By any standards the Fort is not even half of what we see in other parts of India – Amer, Golconda, Agra Fort, or the likes. This is when the Dansborg Fort was built after the other mentioned were either complete or in the process of completion. It appears that the Danes were not in the race to create a better and bigger fort – no competition!

Out of the Fort, we moved towards the other attractions in the Kings Street – the first we stopped at was the erstwhile Governor’s Bungalow which was built in 1785 – wonder where the Governor lived before that! This building is huge and magnificent, and restoration work was on till last year. I am assuming it must be at least 50% done. We wanted to venture in but were politely refused by the security.
Next to the Governor’s Bungalow is the Commander’s house. I do not remember what state it was in, but since I do not remember, I am assuming it too must have been in shambles.

We had spent enough time in the museum and observing the Commander’s Bungalow so we decided to do what three stags can do in a lovely place like Tarangambadi! Mamoria was once again behind the wheels and we crossed the Nagapattinam border and entered Karaikal. We stopped and entered to explore the stock in the first wine shop we saw. Not that great but in every sense better off than TASMAC. We moved further to the city center of Karaikal and decided to sit and drink and eat. It was still very humid and hot, but the thought of spirit had kept our spirits high. Smirnoff Orange, Beer, and platter of assorted veg non-veg delicacies (exaggerated) kept us awake and kicking.

The return journey was a drag and we landed on our queen’s bed and slept the moment we reached our Bungalow.

The area in the Bungalow near the pool has a well manicured garden with climbers, creepers, ornate plants, and Wild Plumeria in abundance. The water as I mentioned earlier was very inviting and Mamoria and I dived in as soon as we got up after our short nap. Shekar joined but half the time he was in a grumpy mood – was it the booze effect or something which we could not understand. 2 hrs were also not enough for people from Chennai to let go of this luxury but we reluctantly came out.

The lovely evening was spent outside near the shore. There were a lot of people who flocked the area and the weather was awesome. Mamoria and Shekar were persuading a fisherman to take us in deep sea in the morning and negotiating cost was what was left for the deal to be finalized. We had heard horror stories of people who were taken to the deep sea and they either lost their wallets to these fishermen or their life in the ocean. Scary it was but thankfully we could not strike the deal. In darkness all around, the glittering Bungalow looked majestic. The blue sky turning to grey and then dark was a feast to the eyes and senses. I was not thinking about anything just feeling and appreciating the beauty.

We were back to the first wine shop that we had been to in the afternoon. Unable to decide what to quench our parched throats with, we ordered beer. On looking back, I think we should have ordered something which TASMAC doesn’t serve. Whatever…this wine shop was on a big piece of land with a boundary wall with cemented benches facing each other and a small slab in between which served as a table. There were circular cemented tables and cemented seats too – and all these were capped by a cemented umbrella shaped roof – the gopuram at wine shop I call these. On the other side of these structures was a long shed with tin roof. There were many who gave us company – some drinking directly from quarter bottles and others with glasses and beer bottles. We spent quite some time there and left the place near sloshed. It must have been a good night sleep for we got up pretty late on Sunday morning.

Pool again, followed by the continental breakfast – Shekar was grumbling because this Tamilian was missing his dosa idly tiffin. He questioned us on how one can have bread and cornflakes for breakfast – I decided not to extend the discussion and tell him this indeed was a luxury for me as someone else was preparing the eggs and toast!

The cheerful staff bade us goodbye and we were out of the place. But not before climbing up and exploring the entire hotel. The interiors had already bowled us on Saturday and what we saw was breathtaking – the lovely view of the ocean from the first floor. The whole ocean and the shore looked mesmerizing – the boundary wall of the Fort submerged in water – visible with receding waves and hiding when the waves rushed to hit the shore. Each of us, though we did not talk for some moment, wished we could spend the entire life there. The view from the terrace of the lush foliage on either sides of the Bungalow added to the beauty of the place.

When we were out of the Bungalow with our bag and baggage, we decided to check out the remaining wonders of that area. We then headed to the Masilamani Nathar Kovil area. The temple was built by the Pandyas and was three levels high as people tell – 2 levels are now under the ocean. The idols have been defaced either by people or by the ravages of time. Wonder how safe is the area now even though heavy rocks have been placed to fortify the remains of the shore.

We started our journey and moved to the T junction between the Queen’s and Kings Street - Between the Commander’s Bungalow and the Zion Church is the Queen’s Street. This church was built in 1701 and while the main entrance to the Zion Church is from the main Kings Street, the entrance to the cemetery is from this street. The carvings on the graves are not ornate yet look pretty. We could not see the church from inside as the Holy Mass was in progress.

Our next stop was the New Jerusalem Church which was built in 1718 by Ziegenbalg, known as the father of Indian Printing Press. He came from Germany in 1706 to perform religious and social service on the behest of the Danish king Frederick IV. During his stint in the area, he learnt Tamil language, gave sermons to locals in Tamil, and translated Tamil text in German language, made paper, and printed some 300 odd books! The Church he built is simple from outside yet it has an appealing aura about it and we were drawn in more out of curiosity. We observed the simplicity inside as well and all we could see was a small group of people interacting with the priest after the Sunday mass. Oh yes, Ziegenbalg’s grave is inside the Church compound.

Alongside the Street we also saw the simple yet remarkable architecture of Van Theylingen’s House; St. Theresa Convent; Rehling’s House; Zeigenbalg Spiritual Centre where people are taught spiritual services of Zeigenbalg; the Maritime Museum; and the other Neemrana property - the Nayak House.

As we left the small town inhabited by some 20,000 people, we spoke about the experience on the way and what a break it was and how we lived on liquid diet. We left behind the Danes, the Fort, Zeigenbalg, Fredric and the likes but the memory of this trip and a day of just fun will remain ever so etched in our mind.

To celebrate our day of unwinding and to the memory of the place of singing waves we had another round of the liquid devil in Pondicherry on our way to the civilization of the 21st century!

How true...

2011-03-12T21:00:00.003+05:30

it is the simplicity that brings excellence.
a woman does not need any ornaments.
no music needs any ornament.
true, soulful music needs no ornamentation.

another rare day when we got some time to listen to begum akhtar...complete bliss... kewal asks which is my favourite... so difficult to answer that question kewal!

Hardly working!

2010-10-07T20:43:00.006+05:30

I respect and appreciate people who consider their work seriously. People who take ownership of their work - they who don't crib or complain [or do that to a lesser degree] and keep on working. Someone who doesn't need monitoring while their supervisors are away. Someone who doesn't needs to be told what to do. Someone who has the knowledge and the capability to guide others, and yet they are so humble... And interestingly, why do their names start with 'V'!

No, no, I am not hinting at myself - I often procastinate things and at times I am also not high on ownership! I am either hardly working or working hardly!

regret...

2010-01-23T21:39:00.003+05:30

For years now you have embraced me every single day. I actually regret the day I encouraged you, that evening when I let you in, to spend some time with me. I thought you were a guest. If only I knew your designs to trap me, your yearning to grow on me; I would have thrown you out my life and perhaps would have been a different person. I know others warned me, but I guess I was under your spell. And then there were others, because of them I came closer to you. And what an opportunist you are…

And now when I want to break away from you, you won’t let me go. You have assumed I get some delight seeing you every evening. I don’t. Every day I decide to tell you how much I hate you, just hate it when you rush out and embrace me. I hate you more when you nag me early mornings or just walk with me wherever I go…

I just regret the day I let you into my life!

a gift

2009-12-14T09:22:00.007+05:30

just got a gift - a vcd of 'NOKKETHA DHOORATHU KANNUM NATTU'

I had given up hopes of getting a copy of this old classic but today morning V surprised me with this gift.

THANKS A TON TO V. I plan to watch this movie today.

Tips on finalizing a rental accomodation

2009-11-09T09:59:00.004+05:30

Are you looking for a house on rent? With my experience of changing 9 houses in 14 years I have come up with the following checklist which may be of some use to someone.

 Always contact house owners through news paper advertisements. You will save on paying a month’s rent as brokerage. Instead of paying brokerage you can use the amount to buy curtains, mosquito mesh, missing curtain rods etc.

 Always check out a house in day light. If you finalize a deal after inspecting a house during late evenings, you may later find the neighborhood/approach not good, no source of sunlight in rooms, and other things that you may have assumed to be acceptable on talking to the owner.

 Check if there’s a market close by which has most things you might need for day to day usage.

 Ensure you check the following, and don’t feel embarrassed to carry out the checks in front of the owner.

-All rods for using curtains are available.

-There are no cracked window panes.

-Doors close easily; latches are intact; no repairs required.

-All taps are functional and don’t require repairs.

-You have access to the motor switch.

-If there’s water storage provision – sump.

-All electric points are functional – fans, tubes, bulbs, power points – whether or not they are in convenient places where you plan to keep your fridge/TV/washing machine etc.

-If ceiling fans are missing ask the owner to install in all rooms. You may not want to invest on fans as in the next accommodation you move to may already have those installed.

-Check the toilets to see if you will be comfortable using them – some people decide on taking a house only if the toilets are okay.

-Check if you can install a window AC or if you have a split AC, will they allow you to drill a hole in the wall – and that will cost you – to drill, and later fill the hole.

-Check for a separate meter. Take meter reading. In case you move in the house, on the first day observe the units consumed – common pump/compound lights’ usage should not be reflecting in your bill.

-Ask the owner to put mosquito mesh in the windows.

-If possible, the front/back doors should have an additional iron door. Especially if you stay in a less inhabited area.

-Ensure you don’t have to pay any maintenance charges every month.

 Before moving in, or paying the advance, heck with the owner if he will not deduct any amount for painting the house when you leave.

 Always haggle to pay minimum amount as security. Most owners say they will return the amount once they find another tenant.

 Always pay your rent by cheque.

 In case your lease is getting over, promptly get it renewed.

 If you are paying a higher rent, check how much and how frequently the owner plans to revise the rent.

 If you have a vehicle, check if parking is available – inside/outside the house.

 Be friendly yet reserved with your house owner.

 If you smoke, light a cigarette in front of him so that he has no such expectations that you will respect him and not smoke in front of him/family.

 Always pay your rent on time. Inform him in advance if there’s going to be a delay.

 Ensure he/she doesn’t charges you for auto fare if he/she comes to pick up the payment – it’s true – there are people like that.

 If you are a teacher and the owner’s kid is a student, don’t agree to coach the kid.

 Check if you will have access to the terrace, also asks the owner about the wash line.

 Check if there are any restrictions – not opening a certain window; being back home by a certain time; not entertaining friends; no smoking/drinking/playing music etc.

Shame...

2009-11-04T19:22:00.003+05:30

There was a ruckus near the Botany department. ‘Maaro saalay ko’ was all that I could hear. I generally avoided crowds and gatherings in college, but this hullabaloo was different. I could see a couple of students dragging a bald guy to somewhere near the entrance of the building. In few seconds the decently clad guy was ripped off his clothes, well almost. Curiosity got the better of me and soon I found myself standing very close to the scene.

One of them shouted and ordered me to quickly get shoe polish from somewhere. I froze and immediately realized I was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I cursed myself for being at the crime scene and in those few seconds contemplated whether or not to follow the order. I was scared, saw no opportunity of escaping, and managed to execute the order. Thankfully I was spared with the opportunity to smear polish on the baldy’s face. This honor went to a fresh face at the scene, some youth leader, clad in spotless white kurta-payjama. My job done, I came out of the crowd and observed the show from a distance.

Few minutes later a battery of college staff intervened and whisked away the baldy with a bunch of students following them.

The baldy was a professor who had, just before he was caught-dragged-thrashed, misbehaved with a lady research scholar.

Two days later the college announced an unplanned off. This professor’s daughter, who was doing her masters in the same college and same department, and was almost of the same age as that of the research scholar, committed suicide. As for the tainted professor, he was just transferred to another city...

Trouble and Risk

2009-11-03T22:02:00.003+05:30

CVS shared a nice story last thursday. It was about a mouse who saw the farmers wife setting up a mouse trap. He runs and tells the Chicken, Pig, and Buffallow about it and all of them pity him saying he is in trouble and the trap can harm them in no way. No one offers him help.

The farmer's wife is bit by a snake which get's stuck in the trap. The farmer kills the chicken and prepares soup for his wife. There are guests at the farm to check out on her health. To feed them the farmer kills the pig. She dies and lots of visitors come to mourn. To feed them he kills the buffallow.

If all the animals had done something about the trap, none of them would have been killed.

Moral of the story: If any of our team member is in trouble, we all are at risk!

…spontaneous flow of powerful emotions…

2009-11-02T22:41:00.006+05:30

Some words and phrases remain etched in our memory for long, for no reason, or just so that we can recall and savor those moments. 17 years ago, on that foggy winter morning, wrapped in a black muffler and wearing black gloves, I heard her say this, and I remember it till date.

“All good poetry is the spontaneous flow of powerful emotions...recollected in tranquility.” That’s what Wordsworth said about poetry. And that’s was MJ told her class of 20 odd students. This was the very year when I realized English after all was an interesting subject and much easier to understand with lectures delivered by good looking teachers.

MJ taught British and American poetry to us. Though her accent was not akin to the Queens’, her knowledge, the delivery style, and the genuineness bowled us. The last two were what we could judge for sure!

I remember her teaching us the shortest poem I have ever come across – A E Housman’s The Loveliest of Trees. This poem is all about life and the time and beauty we have with us as humans. While she was explaining this poem, she asked us how old the poet as per the poem was. We were baffled! How on earth we could decode his age from the poem, and especially when no biographical text was available in the book. We weren’t sure what a score amounted to, especially when we had not read it in our school math book, and I am sure all 20+ pair of eyes wandered in different directions except where M J’s was!

I don’t remember exactly which of the following two sonnets we had in college; I guess both – one in FYBA and the other in TYBA, but anyway they were good and though I could understand the second one, the first line of the first one I managed to understand based on my imaginations [holy & wild]:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate…

…love is not love, Which alters when it alteration finds, Or bends with the remover to remove…

Elegy Written In a Country Churchyard, a poetry about human mortality I guess, and written by not so prolific poet, Thomas Gray, has always sort of depressed me. And the best of MJ’s delivery style could not lift my learning spirits when this was being taught. Foggy winter days or winter in general is not conducive for learning or absorbing the literary significance of such pieces.

My love for the language and the power of words to carry mental me to a different sphere [read oblivious, undiscovered, naive romanticism] lead me to attend English Poetry classes for senior students. No questions were asked, no objection ever rose, for no one except for the students knew if English was their subject or the teacher!

I think I read La Belle Dame Sans Merci during my graduation days. My mother surprised me when she told me the title in English translated to ‘a beautiful lady without mercy’. During my working life I have had the privilege of associating and remembering few belle with this title – PK, zalim hasina is one such belle!

Though I am an avid poetry reader since college days, have acquired the maturity to understand those ‘spontaneous flow of powerful emotions’ post academic days only. My all time favorite poet is John Keats. I can still deliver at least the following two stanzas form the Ode to a Nightingale, of course with few pauses to recollect…

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk:
'Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness, -
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees,
In some melodious plot
Of beechen green and shadows numberless,
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.

O, for a draught of vintage! that hath been
Cool'd a long age in the deep-delved earth,
Tasting of Flora and the country green,
Dance, and Provençal song, and sunburnt mirth!
O for a beaker full of the warm South,
Full of the true, the blushful Hippocrene,
With beaded bubbles winking at the brim,
And purple-stained mouth;
That I might drink, and leave the world unseen,
And with thee fade away into the forest dim:

veiled rebecca...

2009-10-29T23:06:00.009+05:30

More than enjoying visits to Charminar, Golconda, Salarjung, and other places of tourist interest in Hyderabad, I have always enjoyed interacting with the auto and taxi wallas. If we genuinely listen to them, they have so much to tell and share. What adds flavor to their topics is the sweet and different urdu/hindi accent they use while talking.

“saagar ka gehrai loga jaan saaktay aaj, par insaan kay dimaag ka gerhrai jaan-na mushkil ji.”

“YSR accha aadmi tha, log ka baat/takleef dhiyaan diya. Chandrababu tau sirf Hyderabad ka CM tha, unay aur bahar kuch nahi maloom.”

On asking for direction to a certain place, the auto wala said, “left turn karogay tau saamnay teen borda dikhayngay...”

On my last visit, I took two cabs. Both the drivers had some information to share some tit bits about the history of the city. Authenticity was not my concern:

-No one has access to the Falakhnuma palace, only twice in its history in modern times it has been opened for visitors. That too to generate some revenue for the then cash-strapped state government.

-The sculptor of the ‘Veiled Rebecca’ took 40 years to create it and every morning before starting work he used to pray for an impeccable outcome. One day he saw a small black dot in the statue and died of heart failure! His son continued the work. To my colleagues he described how the statue looks like – a women wrapped in a muslin cloth, just out of a pool… the statue is worth seeing and it costs around 60 crores in the international market. The Nizam who bought it was a collector of statues.

-The government decided to handover maintenance of a set of erstwhile Nizam’s property to some agency and asked the oldest caretaker of those days to conduct interviews of prospective parties. They made tall claims of having restored certain historical buildings, including a clock tower in some market which was constructed during the Nizam’s rule. This caretaker simply said, for ages these people have not been able to repair the four clocks of the clock tower, I really doubt if they can be given responsibility of such a huge task of maintenance…

-A Nizam contacted Rolls Royce for purchasing one of the cars. They mocked saying Indian roads were bad and so the car could not be sold to him. This Nizam somehow acquired 3 or 6 of those cars and invited senior staff from Rolls Royce and some other companies for dinner. They were supposed to stow away their plates after the dinner in those cars which were kept outside or near the dining area. They apologized. The cars were then on used by municipality for dumping and collecting garbage…

My visit to this city has been brief but I want to explore the by lanes of Charminar area and also see the Veiled Rebecca once more.

kashtam

2009-10-23T21:36:00.006+05:30

after spending a considerable time in this city, i have realized there are two things that annoy me a lot. actually the level of annoyance has gone down as i am now used to these two things and have accepted the fact that these two can never ever change - chennai traffic and the 'no importance to a customer' by service providers. and i have ample examples for the latter.

let me share the latest incidents - of today:

an agent of a well known and oldest brokerage firm in India called up from the local chennai office yesterday. this was in response to my online request for registration. this person was supposed to call back today to confirm whether or not i could meet him this coming weekend. no call.

at 5pm i called up another brokerage house to check for details of their membership etc. the person did provide the info and as he was about to keep the phone down, i asked him if he thought it a good idea to take down my details so that an agent can come over and help me complete the formalities. with no apologies for his absent mindedness, or ignorance, he took my address and did not bother to repeat and confirm. i am sure it will be a no show tomorrow!

at a popular book store in adyar, i am moving from one section to the other carrying some 6 odd books in my hand. there in a corner i can see the staff boys standing and chatting but not bothered to understand a customer's need for help - just handing over a bag to carry the book.

yesterday i visited the outlet of some online shopping center in tidel. checked with the person about few camera models. those were not available so he asked me to jot down the details with a promise that he would get back to me. no calls. what also seemed funny was that he did not try to sell me or tell me about the other umpteen models displayed there. i wondered for a moment if it was a sarkari outlet where sales have no direct relation with an employees salary!

waiters in chennai seems to be an unhappy lot - all of them. haven't seen even a single one having any faint resemblance of a smile. very few ask if anything else is required. order, eat, pay, and go. "whether or not you want to eat here again is something you have to decide, I will not do anything to promote my services or the hotel's reputation. warmth - what does that mean - does a tip generates warmth? i don't think so! pora!"

chemist, barber, shopkeepers, everyone seems to have this attitude - 'we have the services, if you need you can come'. 'what, you are not happy with our service? as if we care!'

while staying in a hotel in pondy, ordered for a drink at 9pm which was to be delivered in 10 minutes. i added a buffer of another 10 mins, but even 10:15pm the shot had not arrived. called up to check with the bar why there was a delay. the attendant did mention that he remembered taking my order, but forgot what was it that i ordered. that was enough for me to blast him and cancel the order. it was not delhi or any other city in the north so did not expect an apology on phone or a knock at the door!

in another hotel last year in kumbakonam, ordered lunch at around 1 and till 2 it was no where in sight. blasted the manager. in 5 mins he called and informed me that the kitchen was ready with the order but as i had told them that i was due to move to another room, they were waiting for me to call and give them the new room number! i just asked the manager if i could change rooms all by myself with he having no clue about it. still the lunch was not served...

perfect match!

2009-09-22T18:55:00.002+05:30

someone asked me how is chennai treating me, and how am i treating chennai. it did not take me long to respond: 'chennai and i have perfect partnership. she is predictable, that's what i like and expect, and in turn i don't bitch or complain about her. we are a perfect match!'

Another of those incredible frequent holidays in India?

2009-07-18T11:34:00.007+05:30

I recently received a mail from a Westerner who was concerned about no communication from our end, and simply wrote, "Another of those incredible frequent holidays in India?"

What do you think would have been my first reaction: Anger, rage, fury, or felt insulted? None! I go by the adage, 'if you know your worth, no one can insult you'. My thoughts were: perhaps this has been written on a lighter note - hopefully. Or, may be it's sheer ignorance - not respecting the sentiments of the people of a specific region.

I got curious to understand why the west feels we in India have frequent holidays. I did some net surfing for comparisons and came up with some interesting facts. Most of these may not be directly related to the 'frequent holidays' theme. I thought I should share those here.

--We have a a population of over a billion, and though the majority of us follow the Hindu religion, we have Jews, Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, and a multitude of people from various other religions and sects.

--There are 28 states in India, some states [usually neighboring ones] share a common official language – which is our national language – Hindi. While others have region specific languages – in all there are 18 languages for official work within Indian.

--In addition to these 18 official languages, there are some 6000+ dialects in which people converse across India. Language form and flavor changes after every 250-300 miles in India. For example our national language itself has around 4 to 6 flavors, depending on the region it is spoken in. This also means within a single state, there is one official and several region specific language/dialects. I am myself amazed!

--Irrespective of what may be the state’s official language, the highest court of every state [High Court] has English as their business language, and the Supreme Court of India too does all business transaction mainly in English.

--With a billion plus people spread across different regions, representing different cultures and religions, speaking different languages, the temperament of each Indian remains same - tolerance.

--Also, even with a billion plus people and with so many different religion-specific celebrations, we have just 4 national holidays in India:

A. Republic day on 26th January
B. Independence day on 15th August
C. Gandhi Jayanti – 2nd October – Birthday of our Father of the Nation
D. Christmas

This, in comparison to most of the counties in the world is less, and specially in comparison to this Westerners! But the best thing is, even if one of these holidays fall on a weekend, we are not encouraged to take a day off before or after the holiday! Needless to say, for the government, there’s no concept of a long weekend. However, let me add that depending on the religious or regional occassions, there are local holidays as well. But overall, in such regions also, there are never such more than 6-7 annual holidays, including the national ones.

A rough comparison with other countries:
--US has 10 [Inauguration day excluded]and around another 28 popular holidays.
--UK has around 9
--France has 10
--China has 7
--Pakistan has 8 national and 9 popular holidays
--India has 4 national and 11 popular holidays

England...

2009-05-16T22:46:00.011+05:30

What are the first three things which come into your mind when you hear the words 'England' or the English?

This is a question that I came across in a website detaining info on British Life and Culture. There are many interesting responses listed there: Sarcasm; Men dressed in formal suits and hat; Bull-dog type beer (that’s the shape of the glass); Bad weather; double-decker red bus and the most amusing one, "A lot of folks overseas think that the English are crazy about dogs and love them more than their kids!"

I have liked the double-decker buses of London; the Hyde Park; interestingly the Holborn tube station [for no reason whatsoever]; Harrods; Kensigton Palace; Changing of Guards; and Tower of London. Thames was muddy and was more like Ganga!

I was traveling on this red tourist bus which had a group of people from assorted countries. This was in Cambridge. Our guide, a lady with a face akin to a wrinkled apple, asked few of us about our nationality and was engaged in a brief chit-chat with a couple who were her fellow countrymen, and were on this trip mainly to visit their Alma mater, where they met and married some decades back. As the last seat of the bus received its occupant, the bust started to move. The wrinkled apple then started briefing us on the different buildings and colleges we all drove past.

I was quite happy and lost in my thoughts while marveling the buildings and other areas when the bus slowed down and pointing to a building left or right, she announced in her mic, “…and this is the college whose Master received the Nobel Prize last year.” Pointing to me she said, “…our friend from India will tell us his name as the Nobel winner is from his country...” I am not sure if people were looking at me; I know I was looking down. I am sure in those nano –second, between her asking the question and my response, my face changed from coral red to crimson to scarlet before I admitted, “…I cannot recollect her name.” Not only I was unaware of the person’s name or gender, I was also ignorant of the fact that an Indian received such a prestigious recognition in the field of economics. “Shame!” was what she said just as Ms Chopra my economics teacher would have said. I am glad we did not cross those colleges where Indira Gandhi or Rajiv Gandhi studied!

I am glad they have this hop-in hop-off/out bus services. I was the only one who got down near the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial. I thought it safe to be amongst the dead then the living souls who would be wondering why I could not remember the Nobel winner.

Back in the main Cambridge city I went on a solo walking tour, with absolutely no clue of which road or lane lead to where I managed to see most of the famous colleges and institutes. The most memorable site was when I discovered the old couple in the bus posing for a picture in front of some statute within the compound of their old college.

In London

I saw a young couple smooching and I almost stood there transfixed, I mean, I was just a yard away and not watching this on TV. Dimpy was a little ahead and when she looked back, she pulled me and laughed till we reached our hotel.

I was early outside the Buckingham palace to witness the changing of guards. There were hundreds like me who were ready with their cameras. It happened, and it was amazing. The horse-mounted police ensured anxious tourists maintained a distance from the bearskin guards. Once this was over, I sat near a statue opposite to the palace when this drunk unkempt man started talking, "do you know, the queen is not in the palace." I was curious and wondered if as a commoner how he knew or if he had read the paper and knew she was overseas. "When the flag is on the top most point of the pole, she's in. When it's in the middle of the pole, she is out." "...and when it is at the bottom, it's some kind of mourning" I said. "No!" he almost shouted. "That never happens." I was offended and also alarmed because of the sudden raise in his otherwise feeble voice. Anyway, his purpose of sharing that gyan with me was to ask for some money. I just walked away.

I don't remember which museum it was, but it had loads of big wall size pictures all over, and few on the ceiling, just as in Louvre.

What amused me at the Kensigton Palace museum was the radio set they gave the tourist. This provides a running commentary on the history of the specific room where the tourist is and all trivia. I am sure this type of gadget will not work in India. No one would have the patience to listen so much about a room, the dresses displayed, the bed where someone died etc. Or maybe it will have to be customized as our elearning courses are, for pro-level or low-level audience!

Tower Of London was quite fascinating, especially the little chapel inside it. The tour guides there are dressed as Yeomen Warders, and deliver their tour lectures rather fast. Perhaps making quick bucks and talking to as many groups as possible in a day. The best part was when the guide who was leading my group explained everything and towards the end walked to the entrance of the chapel and extended his hand for a tip while people walked out and gave him whatever chillar they were carrying. I did not oblige. I was on a budget holiday after all. He would have cursed me as next I stumbled near a cordoned off area and I heard the guide saying loud, be careful many have been executed in the exact spot where I had lost my balance!

This guide told an amusing story to the tourists. There's this place where a royal was executed and post that someone realized that as per custom, they had forgot to draw his portrait before beheading him. So his head was sewn to his body and a portrait was made. Later, looking at that portrait people in general commented as if it was a portrait of someone dead. This was actually true. Perhaps the artist was not versatile to make dead look like a rejuvenated royal!

I never entered Harrods. I wasn't in a mood to shop!

ए मोहब्बत...

2009-05-14T23:34:00.005+05:30

ए मुहब्बत तेरे अंजाम पे रोना आया
जाने क्यो आज तेरे नाम पर रोना आया!

यूं तौ हर शाम उमीदों मे गुज़र जाती थी,
आज कुछ बात है जो शाम से रोना आया!

कभी तकदीर का मातम, कभी दुनिया का गिला
मंजिल ए इश्क मे हर गम पर रोना आया!

जब हुआ ज़िक्र मोहब्बत का ज़माने मे शकील
मुजको अपने दिल ए नाकाम पर रोना आया!

**************************************************

उल्टी हो गयी सब तदबीरें, कुछ ने दावा ने काम किया,
देखा इस बेमारऐ दिल ने, आख़िर काम तमाम किया,
उल्टी हो गयी सब तदबीरें, कुछ ने दावा ने काम किया!

आहद ए जवानी रो रो काटा पीरी मे lee आँख मूँद,
यानी रात बहुत से जागे, सुबह हुई आराम किया,
उल्टी हो गयी सब तदबीरें, कुछ ने दावा ने काम किया!

या के सफेद ओ सियाह मे हमको दखल जो है सो इतना है,
रात को रो रो सुबह किया और, सुबह को जियोतियो शाम किया,
उल्टी हो गयी सब तदबीरें, कुछ ने दावा ने काम किया!

meer ki दींn ओ मज़हब को अब पूछते किया हो उन ने तो
कश्का खीचा, dair मे baitha कब का kark islam किया,
उल्टी हो गयी सब तदबीरें, कुछ ने दावा ने काम किया!

आज जाने की जिद ना करो

2009-05-14T23:09:00.003+05:30

मेरे ख़याल से, जिसने भी आज तक फरीदा खानुम की येः ग़ज़ल सुनी है, उसने उसी महफिल मे इस ग़ज़ल को दुबारा सुनने की फरमाईश या चाहत ज़रूर राखी है!

आज जाने की जिद ना करो, यूँ he पहलु मे बैठे राहों,
आज जाने की जिद ना करो, यूँ he पहलु मे बैठे राहों
हाये मर जायेंगे, हम तौ लुट जायेंगे, एसी बातें ना किया करो,
आज जाने की जिद ना करो...

तुम he सोंचो ज़रा कियों ना रोके तुम्हे, जान जाती है जब उठके जाते हो तुम
तुम को आपनी कसम जानेजां, बात इतनी मेरी मान लो,
आज जाने की जिद ना करो...

वक़्त की कैद मे ज़िन्दगी है मगर, चन्द घडियां येही है जो आजाद है,
इनको खो कर अभी जानेजां, उम्र भर ना तरसते राहों,
आज जाने की जिद ना करो...

कितना मासूम ओ रंगीन है येःसमां, हुस्न और इश्क की आज मीराज है
कल की किसको ख़बर जानेजां, रोक लो आज की रात को,
आज जाने की जिद ना करो, यूँ he पहलु मे बैठे राहों...

geographical rhyme

2009-05-11T21:56:00.005+05:30

some 15 years ago, in the DehraDoon classified, there was a list of 100 places within DehraDoon district which ended with 'walas' - doiwala, dhamawala, tunwala, adhoiwala, bhaniyawala, and 94 more... i found it quite amusing and for a few days tried to remember all the 100 walas. how well was my effort and memory is visible from the fact that i just remember 6 walas right now.

if we divide Asia into two halves [minus middle east], the geographical rhyme appears here too, on the western side... Khazakstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgystan, Tajikstan, Turkemenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and unofficially, Hindustan!

rani of nowhere...

2009-05-03T21:57:00.004+05:30

believe me, i had intended to draw a rani only! it turned out to be whatever you see now...

this rani wears ruby, emrald, and sapphire. and it seems she doesn't likes wearing anything around her neck.

this is my first shot at painting after ages...

Options galore...just 2300kms away...

2009-04-23T14:17:00.004+05:30

It’s chutti today and I am wondering where I should go for an outing…

Should I revisit one of the monuments today? Let me think which one: Qutub Minar, Jama Masjid or Chandni Chowk, Dadi Poti tombs, Hauz Khaz lake, Tughlaqabad, Humayun's tomb, Safdarjung, Ferozshah, or the Baoli at CP, or the one near Jamali Kamali/Balban’s tomb in Mehrauli? I think it’s not a good idea – have been there so many times.

Should it be another visit to Midland, or to the small park in SDA market, or the park almost opposite to IIT in Hauz Khaz?

How about calling up PRS and watching a movie with her in PVR Saket, CP, or Priya’s in Basant Lok? Haven’t seen anything after Jodha Akbar.

I think today I should eat out at either Cozy in SDA or someplace in Green Park or Khan Market or even the Pandara road joints serve excellent food. If I go to Dilli Haat, I can enjoy browsing the handicrafts and devour the hot momos in the Nagaland eatery!

Wait! This one sounds good: how about spending time at the National Museum and revisit the Maritime sections. I like the different medals displayed there. Or maybe walk past the umpteen Raja Ravi Varma and Amrita Shergill paintings along with others in the Modern Art Gallery near Vijay Chowk? I like the ambience of these two places. It’s quite there and there’s a possibility of spotting a celebrity from the field of media or art and others. I have met IK Gujral, Vinod Dua, Vipin Handa, Arundhati Roy, and Dr. Manmohan Singh in and around these areas. Good option I think!

No, maybe an evening show at Kamani auditorium will rejuvenate my tired mind.

What about just a casual stroll in Janpath, have a quick meal at McDonalds, or have Shami Kabab and Diplomat Pudding at Wengers in A Block, or a coffee in CCD? The new restaurant managed by Nirula’s is also a good option. The thought of having Honey Crispy Chicken, Chicken Manchurian, and Fried Rice at Bercos is too tempting! I think for a trip to CP and adjoining areas, I must invite PK…

I am yet to explore such options for a weekend or mid-week break in Chennai!

recommendations

2009-03-30T21:06:00.004+05:30

It takes me time to find the right words for a recommendation. A recommendation for me is not just good words, but something I have believed and seen in action about the person I am writing for. I am a miser when it comes to writing good feedback, and often ignore most requests for recommending someones work. However, there are few people who really deserve due endorsement and I just thought of sharing feedback on few good professionals:

Aishwarya Kumaresh
"I had the privilege of working with Aishwarya and found her to be an excellent BD professional. She never lost focus on client relationship. In my 13 years of career she's been the only business development professional I have interacted with, who bothered to constantly keep in touch with the client and the dev team; apprising and updating each of any changes/issues faced.

She used to keep herself updated on the development progress, and at times provided valuable inputs on how best the dev team could meet the client's expectations. With her value-add suggestions, the dev team never considered her inputs as intrusion into their domain. She had set a good example of team interdependence.

Few things that I observed about her were:
-awareness and interest in the progress of the project-high sense of ownership
-setting and meeting expectations - clients/dev team
-highlighting an issue of importance, and coming up with solutions.

Besides being a hardcore BD professional, she has a charming and friendly nature."

Lata Kirtivasan
"Lata and I worked together on some 38 projects. Lata's professionalism is par excellence. As an Analyst, she handled reviews of Technical and Non-Technical subjects with dexterity. In addition to being a good ID, she also proved to be a great mentor and coach. She was handling reviews of some 7 IDs who were working on their first ID projects - almost freshers in the industry.
Her contribution to the projects was not restricted to review and coaching. In times of crisis, she was able to provide workable solutions using her past project management skills.
Lata is also a patient yet firm task master. While most people/teams struggled with authors and author-related issues, she managed to get work done on time by the different SMEs her team was working with.

She has a sharp mind, great deal of maturity, and very good sense of humor, which I guess is the reason for her success as a professional - and her indomitable determination to get things done is commendable.

It has been a pleasure working and learning from her."

Amit Pal
"Amit is a focused and hard working person. Someone who knows his job well, and leaves no stone unturned in order to meet the set expectations. He is a perfect example of someone who believes in ensuring customer delight. On umpteen occasions, he not only resolved technical issues related to his work on the projects, on which we worked together, but also took responsibility of taking care of ancillary issues and tasks which actually was IDs responsibility. He is an asset to any process/project/team he is aligned with."

Bhawna Gulati
"Bhawna is a thorough professional and comes across as a person who likes to work with challenges. She's dedicated to her work and does quite well in coming up with a 'wow' deliverable. Always keen to learn new things, she can be relied upon as one of the best person to work diligently even under pressure. It has been a sheer pleasure to work with her."

I would definitely like to work with them, and with all those who have a positive attitude like them.

and the award goes to...

2009-03-09T21:17:00.007+05:30

ME! i will remember this - my first award ever since my existence on planet earth! thanks a lot poorna!

and this comes just when i am short of a century - no, no, not my age, but the number of blog entries!

giving up what you have gained takes time...

2009-03-08T18:14:00.002+05:30

the easy ones...the tough ones...

work...

2009-03-02T23:28:00.002+05:30

...and then there was a time when i workd because i had to...
...and this is the time when i work because i want to...

cinema cinema

2009-02-23T19:04:00.005+05:30

i am not a movie lover, and i just don't like watching movies in cinema halls - i feel like a captive in a big black freezing hall, where everyone except me are somewhat happy. i prefer watching movies at home. my preference to watch a movie at home is mostly because of the profession I am into - actually just realized this. look, what are the advantages of enrolling for an elearning course? one can go through the course at his/her own pace, without any compulsion of going through the entire content at one go! same goes with watching a movie at home, i can play pause whenever i feel like - no compulsion to stop everything and watch the drama unfold!

last weekend i watched four movies: Killukam [jingle], Kal Ho Na Ho, Dasvidania, and My Fair Lady.

killukam: story about a girl [revathy] who is brought up in an orphanage. comes to ooty to meet her father who is a retired judge. meets mohanlal who is a tourist guide. she pretends to be insane and the movie is packed with comedy scenes involving her, mohanlal, his photographer friend - Jagathy, and the judge - Thilakan. Mohanlal helps her to be near her father who actually turns out to be only a person who took care of her eductaion and financial needs. she refuses to accept anyother person as her father except for the judge. those of you who have seen the movie can relate to the following scenes i enjoyed watching:

when mohanlal describes revathy to his photographer friend, "her eyes are like diamond and there's no similie for her nose." friend says, "why, she doesn't has a nose!"
the first time revathy calls jagathy koranga/n - monkey.
when mohanlal boasts of going to singapore and sending money order from there to jagathy.
when Thilakan's servant gets to hear that he won a lottery - he falls down, shakes twice, and laughs.
when he leaves Tilakan's house abusing him and boasting that he will tell him how to behave with a servant. he also calls the judge a pumpkin headed person.
when the servant comes back and judge asks, "where's your car, didn't your servants cook for you?"
when jagathy is in hospital after the goondas thrash him.
when he is out of hospital with a bandadged arm and the main goonda twists the same arm.
when he falls in a pit and is brought back to the hospital.
and finally when the judge shoots him for tresspassing his area.

excellent watch. do watch.

Kal Ho Na Ho: no no, i don't like karan johar's movies as a friend asked me, i just saw some scenes and the two songs i like to hear from the movie.

Dasvidania: a different movie; a good one - best i would say. best that i have seen in years. story about a guy who comes to know that he will die in three months. his zameer or soul helps him to make a list of things he wants to do before he dies. he writes down:

new car
foreign trip
neha [he loved her all through their childhood]
love
meet his brother
tell his mother
meet his friend rajiv julka
his picture in front page of a news paper
boss ka boss
i don't remember!

My Fair Lady: just super! It was initially a play first staged in 1950's before if was made into a movie in 1964. Written by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, it is a story about a phonetics professor and his friend who change the life of a ordinary girl who sells flowers in a market. they train her in six months to be a lady and participate in the ball of queen of transalvania. excellent performance by rex harrison and audrey hepburn. in fact, everyone. the sets are nice, the costumes shown are weired but okay, and the songs are super hit. I particularly liked the following-

When Colonel Pickering, Professor Henry Higgins' friend, asks Higgins if he will not take advantage of the girl in his house, Higgins answers:

Well after all, Pickering, I'm an ordinary man,
Who desires nothing more than an ordinary chance,
to live exactly as he likes, and do precisely what he wants...
An average man am I, of no eccentric whim,
Who likes to live his life, free of strife, doing whatever he thinks is best, for him,
Well... just an ordinary man...
BUT, Let a woman in your life and your serenity is through,
she'll redecorate your home, from the cellar to the dome,
and then go on to the enthralling fun of overhauling you...
Let a woman in your life, and you're up against a wall,
make a plan and you will find,that she has something else in mind,
and so rather than do either you do something elsethat neither likes at all
You want to talk of Keats and Milton, she only wants to talk of love,
You go to see a play or ballet, and spend it searching for her glove,
Let a woman in your life and you invite eternal strife,
Let them buy their wedding bands for those anxious little hands...
I'd be equally as willing for a dentist to be drilling than to ever let a woman in my life,
I'm a very gentle man, even tempered and good natured who you never hear complain,
Who has the milk of human kindness by the quart in every vein,
A patient man am I, down to my fingertips, the sort who never could,
ever would, let an insulting remark escape his lips Very gentle man...
But, Let a woman in your life, and patience hasn't got a chance,
she will beg you for advice, your reply will be concise,
and she will listen very nicely, and then go out and do exactly what she wants!!!
You are a man of grace and polish, who never spoke above a hush,
all at once you're using language that would make a sailor blush,
Let a woman in your life, and you're plunging in a knife,
Let the others of my sex, tie the knot around their necks,
I prefer a new edition of the Spanish Inquisition than to ever let a woman in my life I
'm a quiet living man, who prefers to spend the evening in the silence of his room,
who likes an atmosphere as restful as an undiscovered tomb,
A pensive man am I, of philosophical joys, who likes to meditate, contemplate,
far for humanities mad inhuman noise,
Quiet living man....
But, let a woman in your life,
and your sabbatical is through, in a line that never ends comes an army of her friends,
come to jabber and to chatter and to tell her what the matter is with YOU!,
she'll have a booming boisterous family, who will descend on you en mass,
she'll have a large wagnarian mother, with a voice that shatters glass,
Let a woman in your life, Let a woman in your life,
Let a woman in your life I shall never let a woman in my life.

and this one is when Eliza Dolittle starts speaking fluent flawless english with the correct diction:
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!
Henry By George, she's got it! By George, she's got it!
Now, once again where does it rain?
On the plain! On the plain!
And where's that soggy plain?
In Spain! In Spain!
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!
In Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire...?
Hurricanes hardly happen.
How kind of you to let me come!
Now once again, where does it rain?
On the plain! On the plain!
And where's that blasted plain?
In Spain! In Spain!
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain!

A MUST WATCH BEFORE YOU DIE - HA! HA! HA!

God is well and live in India

2009-02-15T15:31:00.013+05:30

sometime in April 2006, i had an opportunity to meet Fawzi who was on an official visit to India. his prime purpose was to interact with the team which was working on few security and criminal justice related courses. it was a beneficial visit for both Fawzi and the team. with him around the team was able to finalize the course structure & content for the ongoing projects, and were also able to resolve queries.

while Fawzi was here, we took him out to the Taj in Agra, and few other places within Delhi. before we left for Agra in a Toyota Innova, he politely asked us if it would be a vehicle with an AC. it was a little embarrassing to know then that the cab driver we hired to fetch him to and from Marriott had not switched on the AC while Fawzi traveled in his cab.

The Agra trip was great, sans the scorching heat. my colleagues Anushree, Narendra, and I found Fawzi to be a down to earth person and a curious observer. he was happy to see a snake charmer when we stopped over for refreshment. Agra was soaked in April heat when we reached there. the best part was while passing through the security check, i was asked to buy a foreigner entry ticket of a higher value instead of the domestic tourist one!

The Taj is a mesmerizing structure for just anyone. A memorial of love built by the Mughal king Shahjahan for his beloved queen Mumtaz. It took 17 years and 20000 men to construct the memorial on the banks of Yamuna river. The Taj was constructed in a location which was directly visible from Shahjahan's Agra Fort. it is said that after the construction, the labourers had to part away with their hands because Shahjahan did not wanted them to construct any other Taj like monument in their lifetime. The monument boasts of intricate geometrical designs, carved flowers and petals studded with semi precious stones. The minars on the four sides of the structure have a slight tilt towards the outer side of the main memorial. These were constructed so keeping in mind that they would not fall and destroy the main monument in the event of an earthquake.

On our way back to Delhi Naren wanted to pickup some Matura famous 'pedas' and so we navigated through the busy Mathura streets. Fawzi wanted to know why so many people were assembled near the Krishna temple, so we told him briefly about Krishna and most things related to him. he surprised us by amusingly asking me to wish for getting married soon! may be i did not ask for krishna's blessings and therefore am a bachelor till date!!

once he was back home, he sent us a detailed description of his experience traveling and staying in India. I am copying here the email he sent us, part of which was composed when he was onboard his return flight to the US.

...Thomas Friedman came back from his visit to India to proclaim “The World Is Flat”. However, I came back from my first journey to India to claim that God is not dead but rather live and well though along with most angels he is too busy maintaining order amidst the utmost human chaos to keep millions of his precious offspring’s of Adam alive. Or else how would you explain an unbelievable number of different types of moving vehicles and an amazing number of humans and untamed beats all sharing a physical dimension that defies all logic and even the laws of physics. In this paramount chaos I discovered order, an order that is beyond any human comprehension, and an order that can only be orchestrated by a much higher order. It is so that I have come to realize that only the highest being can orchestrate such a perfect chaotic order aided by an army of guardian angels, Shiva, Ganesa, Krishna, and a thousand other Indian Gods. As such, it is no wonder that such an order can exist in the most unimaginable chaos.

Few years ago my eight years old stunned me with a question “dad do you think God is hiding because he is afraid of what he has created?” Dumbfounded I asked her “Why would you even say something like this?” She simply replied “There are too many problems in this world…may be his human experience has gone bad” Little did I know that she was right. Too many tragedies in the world and very little sign of any divine intervention. My trip to India has helped me understand the following:

The world will never be flat
And getting smaller it is not
No one will fall off the edge of the world
Into a vast emptiness to glide into infinite nothingness.
To all mankind of all types of faiths
I beg forgiveness and mean no offense
I am in no way reducing your God and mine
To traffic cops in super congested Indian cities
But that is where I simply was the witness
Of divine intervention truly at work
Orchestrating the perfect chaotic order of coexistence
Mankind with untamed beast and a complex nature
Perhaps nowadays God and all his angels
Can only do it one nation at a time
The Human angel whom I believe
Mother Theresa who has come to be
A long ago understood it well
She joined God’s angels enlisting for life
For all the tragedies else where in the world
We should no longer cry in the midst of night
Oh mighty Lord have thou forsaken thee
Perhaps for even God how knows no time
It now takes time, it takes time
Because of our subhumanization of only one created race
Our human greed and our desperation
Our human nature in all it’s tribulation
Forever multiplying in jubilation
Is now a transformation of a dying planet
Mistaken for a world shrinking in size
Perceived to be a world getting smaller
A round world can never be flat
Just recreation or uncreation
To a mighty God it is all the same
I shall no longer ask the question
Where is the God in our existence?
And ponder the choice of my own subsistence
In born to be what am I to be?
Just born into this world so have we all come to be
Now that even God knows ITT
It takes time…it takes time…

FAWZ

most annoying thing in this metro...

2009-02-14T23:10:00.001+05:30

mosquitoes!

life in a metro

2009-02-14T00:32:00.002+05:30

i like this movie. though there's exaggeration and i can understand why folks from bpo were upset when the movie was released, they should remember it's just a movie after all.

the lyrics are good and the music is catchy:

"berang si hai badi zindagi kuchh rang to bharoon
main apani tanahaayi ke waaste abbb kuchh toh karoon
jab mile thodi fursat mujhse karle muhabbat
hai tujhe bhi izaazat, karle tu bhi muhabbat"
*
dil khudgarj hai,
phisala hai yeh phir haath se
kal usaka raha, abb hai tera iss raat se...
*
baatein kuchh ankahee si, kuchh ansuni si hone lagi...

okay, so though this entry is accidently up here on valentine's day, it is not symbolic. isn't linked to my mood or any current 'blissful' status!

i was actually thinking about my life in this metro...

i have completed six months here. the going has been good till now. lots of changes have happened in the past few weeks: moving to a new office complex, the ground floor appears more like a busy airport lounge. meeting new people almost every day - they were there in the previous office also, but the interaction was almost zero.

attending meetings, working in between meetings. new bids to work on. new issues to resolve. old challanges which resurface every other week - chasing people to fill timesheet. teamtime. interacting with MCTs. attending office get-togethers. having sutta outside office. avoiding a smoker who has nothing but good to tell about himself. concerned team member from mumbai. supportive senior management. observing balaji's antics, mamoria's hard work, and yudish's work load. vpc team's concerns. bugging people. and so much more...

on personal front: wading through messy living and bedroom. ignoring piles of clothes waiting for their weekly wash. dangling cobwebs, broken broom, scattered plastic bags and biryani containers from Aleef biryani. aged breads with fungus secured in plastic bags. a big bag full of things to discard. sand unearthed by armies of ants. unpacked fruits and veggies inside the refrigerator.

the unmade bed. books scattered next to the bed. worn-out slippers - replacement pending. the spare towel which has been hanging in the washline for more than a week. two empty cans of HIT. no trip to the beach for nearly two weeks. no lunch at murugan's. and so much more...

all-in-all life is beautiful!

a line lifted from Rina's blog...

2009-02-09T23:05:00.002+05:30

"Sometimes people say when the end of a story is known, it holds no mystery. Look at us, we all know what the end of each life is, yet we live as if we are here for ever!"

who wants to be a millionare!

2009-02-09T22:35:00.003+05:30

i am reading an interesting book on irrational behaviour. there are some great incidents that the authors have covered in the book. here's one on the who wants to be a millionare programme telecasted in France, USA, and Russia.

in France, this contestant Henri was doing quite well and one of the questions he was asked was, "what revolves around the earth?" options were, moon, venus, sun and mars. he didn't knew the answer so he went ahead with audience poll. more than 50 percent people said sun. Henri was out of the contest.

It is not that the French audience did not know the answer, it's just that they thought if Henri could not answer such an elementary question, he did not deserved to continue and take away the prize money!

in the US, people do not have any problems with anyone winning. Infact, they almost always help the participant.

in Russia the audience is known for giving mixed responses, and most of the time it's difficult to pick up the right answer. they generally do not like anyone winning money, and huge amount in particular. their decision making has roots in the past.

in older Russia, people were interdependent. sharing things with one another, lending a helping hand to people in need. they considered everyone to be equal. most people follow the same principle in modern life as well. therefore, anyone winning and becoming richer than the general mass is not acceptable. and so the game is not so popular in Russia.

cks

2009-02-07T22:08:00.004+05:30

The severest punishment anyone could give him was to ask him to wake up early, or just wake up anytime from his deep slumber. He was the last one to reach office, and most of the time his students waited for him in his class.

Extremely sharp in his domain, he was quick witted, philosophical, and loved smoking. Once in a year he had difficulty in keeping away from cigarette for over 13 hours, for 40 days in a row. The first thing he took after breaking his fast was his Marlboro lights!

God forgot to inject the 'urgency' fluid in his body. Anything any situation, he would not get perturbed. That’s another thing that all 'not working' tasks were addressed and fixed satisfactorily. He was the most experienced in the office and often acted as a coach. I think complex scenarios challenged his thinking ability. Though he knew a lot, unlike other teachers he would not dump his students, and me, with too much info.

Once he had found a solution of sending automated emails to different users when some xls file was updated, he was elated and like subai wanted to get back to work and refine it further. And that was the time I was struggling with memorizing HTML tags!

Observing my struggle as a teacher, he once commented that only people who have interest in reasoning and logic should continue in the domain we were part of. I got the hint, and when my assignment was over, I did not accept the next two years extension. He, as much as I, must have been relieved of the torture I went thorough of teaching, and his equal torture of teaching me!

The best times we had with him was while watching 'nice' movies using office projector. His comments on the ongoing acts used to make us just laugh uncontrollably. His running commentaries while watching Egyptian movies were hilarious. There was but little entertainment for 7 bachelors in a villa!

His prized possession was a brand new DELL laptop which he bought for some 600+ dinars. We watched loads of movies on it ignoring the till then the indispensable TV and VCR in the living room.

I realize we all know so little about him: his childhood, schooling, college, other jobs, friends, and family. While he enjoyed listening to whatever crap we told him, he never shared anything with us. Not that he had a terrible past, but because of laziness to talk much J That’s again a guess!

We played table tennis - where I always lost; cricket - of which I knew nothing. He would quiz me on cricketers, and their nationality. He never asked about Kapil Dev, Tendulkar, or Gavaskar. He also encouraged me to play cricket in the living room and also made me practice on catching the cricket ball - yes, I still cannot catch a ball :-) he asked me a simple yet profound question - "didn't your dad play with you catch-catch when you were a kid."

I used to be quite aggressive, not that I have stopped being aggressive. He had lots of patience. But one day he lost it and I learnt a lesson when he said, 'your family may be used to your tantrums and bossing around, we are not your family.' And I was speechless, because that was absolutely true. Thanks for that lesson S.

Money, and importantly contributing, was never a problem for him. We went for bowling at Seef with his student and I am sure he must have liked my performance in at least this sport. Actually, rolling a ball is not a big deal than throwing it or catching it!

He knew I liked music, I never saw him excited about any song, and I assumed I had the best knowledge on western music at least. On one occasion when he came to my room where I was playing some CD, he surprised me by saying the singer was Jim Reeves. I had never thought he would know such a name, let alone the song. I told him it was Pat Boon. He just smiled and said he had been listening to that song since his childhood. He left and I jumped out of my bed and checked the singer. He was right, and I was embarrassed. Two adages knocked my mind – never judge a book by its cover, and still water runs deep! I don’t think I would have played that CD again while he was around!

All in all, he has been a wonderful company, and a good human being. Harm no one types – he is like a bull who mindless of anyone keeps munching – that’s even when you dance in front of him or try to shoo him away! Bad example I know J

Since most of the time we indulged in bachelor’s talk, I have to cut short this piece here. Some things are best to be remembered then documented J

Thanks S for the HTML, Javascript, and VB solutions ;-) actually thanks to AB, AC, and Hari Prasad.

25 things about me

2009-02-05T20:59:00.003+05:30

PK tagged me first. Then I read 25 things about 3 people. RA also sent her 25 things about her. And now KB has tagged me. No, no, not under pressure from my boss, I am writing 25 things about myself out of sheer joy of recollecting and sharing things about myself...

I prefer sea over hills.
I like the summer season.
The best cities in India are Chennai and Delhi.
If not in Chennai or Pondicherry, I would like to retire and live in a small house in Prithviraj Road, Delhi.
In Chennai my favorite weekend/weekday haunt is Thiruvanmiyur beach.
In Delhi my favorite weekend haunt was SDA’s Aurobindo market and the Midland book store.
Before I die, I want to witness an opera show in Venice, and visit Budapest as a tourist.
The only thing I like in winter is to grill stuff over coal fire in angethi.
I have tasted snake meat and octopus. Shrimps are one of my favorites, minus the smell.
I get pleasure from driving.
In Delhi, I avoid driving through the IIT road.
I love traveling, and prefer exploring places alone.
I enjoy clicking pictures of people and monuments.
I enjoy the company of people who have a good sense of humor. Though I prefer the serious non-philosophical, no nonsense types.
When I was in class 8, I wished if by magic I gained physical appearance like that of John Travolta, I would then sport his hairstyle and sing songs for my Olivia Newton John! I even memorized two songs.
I had an OCD for cleanliness. I am glad I am normal now.
I like to read and blog – my favorite authors are Ruskin Bond and Thomas Hardy. And my favorite book is the Mayor of Casterbridge.
The best movies ever made are Love Story and Life is Beautiful. The others that I like are Miracle, Aandhi, most of Julia Roberts’, The Gods Must Be Crazy, The Great Dictator, and The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly.
I enjoy listening to Beatles [Love Me Do], Jim Reeves [Each Beat of My Heart], and Lata Mangeshkar’s ‘Mera Saya.’ Asha Bhosle has the sexiest voice.
My favorite cartoon characters are Tom and Jerry. I also love watching Charlie Chaplin. The Lucy Show was my favorite once upon a time.
Facts about my best boy & girl friends – both are:
>>Instructional Designers
>>From South India
>>Followers of Christ
>>My ex team members
>>Bloggers
While in school, my aim was to join the artillery unit of the Indian Army. In the Forces Request Program I used to send my requests to fictitious friends marked as, ‘From 2/Lt Vishal Thakur’. And I changed my rank to that of a Lieutenant after two years.
After I was rejected by the Army Medical Board and exhausted my chances of appearing for selection, I ensured I was invited to the Passing Out Parade for the next three years that I was in Dehra Doon.
The only army general I have liked was General K Sundarji who had written a book – ‘Blind men of Hindoostan.’ I like the names of Pakistani Generals, they carry some weight – ‘Gen Mirza Aslam Baig’, ‘General Jehagir Karamat’, ‘General Ayub Khan’, and ‘General Zia-Ul-Haq.’
I just hate:
>>box beds
>>songs which have too much use of synthesizers and organs
>>haryali tea advertisement

Yesterday Once More...

2009-02-04T00:01:00.005+05:30

No no, this blog entry is not about the 1973 song by Carpenters!

Do the words Jaimala, Chaayageet, Fauji Bhaiyon Kay Liyay, Aap ki Farmaish ring a bell? Where have we heard these names? More clues: Forces Request, A Date With You, and Yesterday Once More?

These are the popular musical programs aired for more than 2 decades on All India Radio.

Mera pyaar bhi tu hai yeah bahar bhi tu hai tu he nazron may jaanay tamanna nazaaron may is the first song I heard on my newly acquired PHILIPS 3 Band Portable Radio. I bought it last weekend from eZone where I had gone to buy a printer. Not finding the model I was looking for, I checked out the different audio/video products on display, and found this.

Flash Back: Pappu was our helper who used to clean the utensils and do sundry work for everyone back home. His three interests: tuning in to AIR and listen to any damn song that played at any hour of the day, and in full volume. Observing girls anywhere he could see one, and driving his two legged auto!

Music: he had a PHILIPS radio which he carried with himself everywhere he went. He used to carry it like a baby is carried on the left arm, the radio closer to his heart. He never needed a bell to announce his arrival; we also didn’t have one at home. Lata, Asha, Kishore, Alka and the likes were enough for us to know he was around. He would keep the radio next to him when he used to clean the utensils or sweep the house. Midway his chores, he would attend to any disturbance in the radio, change frequencies, hear Haryanvi songs and curse the AIR attendant who aired those songs. He also used to sing along, and I think his favorite song was ‘O saathi ray, tere bina kiya jeena.’

I am sure he spent more money on buying batteries and paan.

Girls: he was young, not smart, but dressed well as per his standards, and poured a good helping of whichever oil on his head. He would ogle at girls, raise the volume of his radio set, or sing depending on his gut feel of which of these options would get the girl’s attention. They laughed and his objective was achieved. No one dropped him a line I am sure. Everyone knew he had a loose screw. He once told my aunt that while he was watching a girl near the ramlila maidan during dushera mela, hanuman came and hit him with a gadgada [mace]!

The two-legged auto: his brother or someone in the family had an auto and though he must had tried learning it, no one would have given him an opportunity to come anywhere near an auto. He created his own auto!

He used to run around the streets with the radio in his left hand and the right hand stretched forward, imitating as if he was holding the handle of an auto. He used to maneuver his right hand, wrist downwards, as if changing gears and increasing or decreasing the speed. For him, the gears and the accelerator were on the right hand side. He would stop at crossings, observe the traffic and accordingly proceed further. He added sound effects while driving – huuu, darrr darrr, and lup lup for left or right indicators. I don’t remember if he used to honk – I don’t think so, his blaring radio was enough.

He is old now, and I am not sure if he still carries the radio, or is still looking for a girl, and if he still drives his two legged auto.

chidambaram

2009-02-03T21:49:00.009+05:30

Anticipating I would get bored reading books alone in the long weekend, I decided to call up dutta and proposed him a trip to Pondicherry. Dutta disappointed me saying he had a working Saturday, and that Sunday was when he was free. Though I agreed for us to take that long planned trip to Pondicherry, however, within few hours I decided to postpone the Pondicherry trip and instead travel solo to Chidambaram to check out the temples there, importantly the navagriha temples.

Why temples? Last October I had visited Meenakshi, Srirangam, Brideshwara and few others in kumbakonam. It was a fun trip primarily planned for taking pictures alone. But the beauty of each of these places was equally inviting - just as the different temple architectures that I observed and enjoyed exploring.

The plan for the trip and booking of the ticket happened on Thursday, and the whole of Friday I was in two minds - whether or not to go ahead with the trip. By evening I was sure I wanted to go. I left home for Nungambakkam to pick up a new travel bag. The old one refused to open up - the zip lock won't budge and so all my might to open it resulted in tearing apart the entire chain strap!

I had limited options to choose from and had to pick up the best from the worst - an orange colored bag. The store manager thought complementing 'the color of the bag suits you' would make me happy. At least he was as I picked up the one he suggested.

Abandoned
After locating the Rathimeena travel agency office in Koyembedu, I explored the place [just like last time]. I saw an old women running from one counter to the other, from one bus to the other. I sensed that she was searching for someone. She kept on mumbling something in Hindi, and all everyone could hear her say was number 9 loudly, and several times. After observing her for some 10 minutes, people around her inquired from her about what was bothering her. She started crying and told us that she was lost and that her folks would be searching for her. Except for number 9 she did not remember anything, nor was she able to tell us anything else. People left her alone after trying to sort out her problem.

I wondered if she was insane, or whether in real she was lost. But who could leave her behind? And why is that only she was searching for someone, why was there no one else equally worried-searching, or saying number 9. I concluded perhaps her folks would have thought of Koyembedu as the best place to get rid of her. Though I wish she found what she was searching for...

Sleeping child
The bus arrived and an elegant lady took a seat along with her sweet kid adjacent to my seat. No sooner the bus had started, I saw the kid fast asleep in a reclined seat. Her face was so calm and relaxed that it brought an instant smile on my face. Childhood is perhaps the best phase of one's life. No worries to work, earn, and submit IT investment proofs!

धीरे धीरे बोल कोई सुन न ले
A girl occupied the seat next to me. After about twenty minutes she got down of the bus and a lad was my neighbor. For around two hours he spoke with someone in whispers. Amazing thing this love is, one can learn and master so many things - including talking in such hush hush manner. Occasionally he would look around to check if no one was observing it. I wasn’t. I was watching the Tamil movie of vikram.

Before time
I realize that apart from builders and project managers, transporters have also started adding buffer time! The ticket mentioned the journey time from 11 pm to 6 am, but I reached my destination, Chidambaram at 3:30 am! The bus dropped me near the Chidambaram bus stand at that odd hour. Thankfully the auto wallas around did not bother much, and as I had enough time, I decided to walk up to that Natrajar temple which was at a distance of some 2 kms from the bus stand. Midway I met a person who greeted me in Japanese, and then asked if I was from Japan. It was dark so I could not really observe if he was disappointed.

The deserted dimly-lit street appeared dangerous. But assuming Chidambaram to be a small town I was a little relaxed when not even a single dog cared to bark. Or maybe they too assumed I was a Japanese tourist which they may be used to seeing day in day out!

Luckily a tea shop was active at that odd hour; it was right next to the entrance of the big temple entrance. I had around three cups while waiting for 2.5 hours for the gates to open. The person preparing tea greeted me in Hindi and then spoke fluent English. English speaking rustic looking people now don't surprise me. Here most people understand the language.

In those 2.5 hours he told me his life history and also helped me plan my trip, especially for the Navagriha temples. He ensured his efforts were not getting wasted by quizzing me after his itinerary lessons. I asked him his name and after saying something he informed his name was same as the second son of Shiva.

Shiva
Everything I saw in this place has the Shiva insignia - the three parallel running horizontal lines with a dot on top. It's painted on carts, doors, kettles, lecterns, and even on gates! One man was sporting a yellow cloth which usually the northern pundits wear with ram ram printed all over. In his case something in Tamil was printed - was it ram ram or shiva shiva in Tamil I wondered.

Natrajar temple The main deity as the name of the temple indicates is Shiva. One gentleman who did not get tired providing me info which I could not digest told me that in this temple, Shiva stands on left leg, whereas in Meenakshi it's on the right leg - oh, and I had no idea Meenakshi had a Shiva idol or anything related to Shiva. You see, except for observing architecture and photography, I had but little interest in the resident deities!

The statue of Vishnu was mesmerizing. I observed it for quite some time. It had some hypnotic power I guess. I was also fascinated with the neat way in which the mini sumo wrestler look alike young pundit’s had applied the mark of Vishnu.

Chandrasekar and Balaji told me later that the pundits are hefty because they have to once in a week or so lift the heavy palanquin and move around with the deity sitting on these heavy palanquins.

This temple has a huge water tank and a hall with 1000 pillars - coronations of chola kings used to take place here. I was happy to be standing in a place where Raj Raja Chola would have stood any day between 9th – 12th centuries.

The kaali not seen
Some 1.5 kms away is the kaali temple. Natraja and kaali had a dance competition and he won. Kaali was upset and moved to this place where the kaali temple is located. I reached there but as the entrance did not appeal much, returned to the main road, and then to the bus stand to board the bus which would take me to Sirkazi, and then another bus to Vaideshwara temple.

Vaideshwara templeIt's the mars temple. I liked the tank area - huge with multi-colored pillars. I mean the pillars with colorful paints. The temple was crowded and it was difficult to move fast to have darshan. I think pictures are better than words…
Tiruvenkaadu templeThis is the Mercury temple. The pictures of Shiva on the ceiling of the entrance, in different dance poses were worth capturing.

Within the temple compound there are three tanks: One tank is used for bathing, the other one had lots of plastic bags and bottles floating, and the third one on the opposite side had thousands of fishes. I visualized were I to fall in that tank, the fishes would have bit me or nibbled my dead and alive skin just as some parlours use fishes to eat the dead skin during the pedicure process.

A nice man to know...

2009-02-03T02:36:00.003+05:30

Simple, suave, demure, yet firm and determined is how I would describe his personality. Not an iota of arrogance for being in a senior position is also something I observed. Always available, approachable, and helpful with suggestions and always willing to go that extra mile with anyone He saw struggling to meet their deadlines. Right from when we had our introduction round with him, I observed how simple He was in his speech, tastes, and ambition.

When He joined, He was assigned a glass covered cubicle. Never did we see his door closed except when we had our client calls. Never interfered in anyone’s style of work, but knew exactly where to intervene and bail out the hassled PMs or the team in general. He knew the status of each project, and sometimes it was embarrassing for the PM for not remembering the details.

We had this marathon meeting while it rained outsid. After sometime we saw him enjoying the view outside. And his remark made us all smile: “I wish I was at home with my wife and kids, and have hot samosas.”

We saw him watching us every day: standing with a little drooping head and with the bridge of his black framed eyeglass on almost the tip of his nose. While we thought he was watching us, it was just his style of thinking about some issue.

One day while leaving for home I saw him watching people from his cubicle. I approached him and after exchanging small pleasantries, enquired about his adjustment to the new city. We had a one and a half hour long discussion that day. And after the discussion was over, I realized I did not feel as if I was talking to a senior person. I didn’t had to be careful in what I said. He made us all feel so comfortable.

He moved from Mumbai to Delhi because He wanted to be nearer home. And while his homebound journey from Mumbai was regular, from Delhi it dwindled. He once told me that someday soon he wanted his family and parents to live together, longer than the short vacations. He had identified few houses in Chandigarh where He wanted his parents to shift, but his mother would reject all because of some reasons or the other. He finally bought one without letting her know, and then they had no choice. But still they have not lived together for long – not sure even in that house.

I gave him a rare honor of being the only one in his professional career with whom He has had the maximum arguments – He told me that angrily! I am aggressive, I agree.

One-to-one discussions with him on how extended team members were not cooperating or not working as per the requirements always made him angry on them, but the same angry person would handle those miscreants in such a polite way that it was interesting and at times frustrating. At the end He would get work done.

Once I received a mail from him which was something like, “change the background color of your mails, they appear as dry as your life.” I could not stop laughing. He was referring to the dirty brownish or yellow color background which my team member had selected for her outgoing mail messages – I had just forwarded the mail to him.

No sign of arrogance: in the lunch room when a SPM wanted to know how He had calculated certain effort, and knowing that it was incorrect, the SPM said, “that’s the wrong way to calculate,” He simply asked what the right way was! We were shocked at the audacity of the SPM, but it did not bother Him a bit.

His monthly team time was a mix of fun and serious data sharinh. He would take the pains of creating charts and clearly mentioning figures pertaining to defects, and other performance related issues. The meetings always ended with a McDonald Burger or samosa party. Sometimes He would go out and get Lays chips for him and shared with people who flocked his workstation. I once saw him having a five star or some chocolate bar – “I am feeling dull, this is to energize my spirits” He said.

During SMRs He used to be a hawk. One glance at the figures and He could tell where we were wrong, and then provide solutions as well. He never had any hassles attending any meetings organized by anyone and anywhere – walking from Minerva to Building 1 or 2 or 4 was not a problem. So what if He was a senior, He was more focused on the work rather than the trivia of his being senior.

He used to be the last one to leave office, almost every day. But He would make up for all the long stays away from family on weekends. I remember He took his son for an excursion to the Balban ruins near Qutub area. I am sure his son will always remember that time when dad was there for him.

It’s been a pleasure knowing and working with Him.

Kunwar mama...

2009-01-21T11:20:00.008+05:30

He was fond of kids, and kids were fond of him.

We were five kids in the house and umpteen others in and around the neighborhood. When we got together, there was a hullabaloo.

One day, he took around 9-10 of us to the ‘झंडे का मेला' in an open hood jeep. On the way, as we passed through lanes and by lanes of some mohalla, urchins ran after the jeep shouting ‘circus ki jeep, circus ki jeep!’ on reaching the parking area, an abaya clad women exclaimed, ‘हाई अल्लाह, इतने सारे!’ to which he answered, ‘बेगम, आधे तौ घर may रह गये है!’ His sense of humor was beyond comparison।

Imagine how 5 rowdy kids can create a ruckus in a house where adults did wanted to take a nap in the afternoon, or simply wanted us to get busy with something so as not to bother them with trivia. An idea struck him, and he asked us to get pen and paper, sit near the main gate and start noting down the registration number of all vehicles that passed through that road in front of our compound. The game came with a reward and a warning: Reward I do not recall but the warning was, ‘I know all the vehicles in the city, so do not try to cook up numbers!’ we all religiously observed all numbers and made a long list. I am sure someone would have certainly wondered how this man remembered so many numbers!

One day he declared that his plants and he spoke to each other. We did not believed until we saw him talking to a plant, and this plant swayed in different direction - which he pointed out as it's communication style which only he could decode! His exhaling did the trick, and innocent we were awestruck.

He was very fond of gardening and at one time we had some 20+ varieties of roses blooming in our big garden. And then there were hollyhocks, marigold, holy basin, creepers, climbers, lily, dracaena, laburnum, and many others. In addition, the compound was surrounded by some 8 leechi, three mango, one guava, and two plum trees.

I could never climb the leechi tree, so guava was the best one to climb and pluck the fruit. He would shout at us when he saw us devour the raw fruit. ‘if you eat this today, in a day or two a guava tree will start growing in your stomach, and its branches will protrude from your ears and mouth.” We were scared of what he said; visualizing an open mouth forever was scary!

A small kid kept his broken tooth in his pocket and showed kunwar mama his treasure. The next moment this kid ran back to his house when mamaji pulled out and kept his denture on his palm and showed it to the kid!

One way to get some money from him for the small expenses we could afford was by pulling out white hair from his head. He had several and we were sure cash flow from his end would never cease. But there was a condition attached: ‘only white hair, no gray or black’ we earned 1 paisa per white hair.

He used to run a workshop. Some spare part boxes used to come with a 1 Re coin inside them. I remember he used to ask me to open few [always 1 in a single day] and the coin would be mine. 1 Re would fetch atleast 5 toffees those days.

Out of the numerous 1-2 liter car paint boxes he used to make अंगेठी for us – drilling crude 3 holes on either sides of the cylindrical boxes, and then inserting wires criss-crossing the hollow part was how this device was finalized for use. On top of the mesh we used to put twigs and light a fire. He added coal later and we would have our own अंगेठी during winter.

These are incidents that I remember vividly. There are umpteen which I don't recall today. He was and will always remain so dear to all of us in the family.

the marathon couple...

2009-01-20T23:09:00.001+05:30

silences...

2009-01-20T22:21:00.002+05:30

i wonder what it was that
i wanted to say to you today!

i met you and forget
what i said
what i had thought i’d say,
when i meet you
i had this feeling
i have already said it to you.

there are things i’ve never said to you before
but somehow it feels
i must have;
what strange confusion!

i swear i am not absent minded
or inattentive;
i have become only
a little forgetful
in your love.

19 Jan 1996

2009-01-19T23:36:00.007+05:30

i reached the interstate bus stand with him, and with my luggage - a pitthu bag, one briefcase, and a big suitcase. she had not reached. "girls are always late" is what i thought. after waiting for 10 mins, i drove to her house and together we arrived at the stand.

he identified the best seats for us and helped us adjust the luggage under the seat and on the overhead rack, and then i forced him to leave. i didn't wanted him to come anyways.

it was an ordinary bus we boarded and did not speak much during the first 3 hour of our journey. i am not sure if it was because of the different 'us together' or because of the extreme. i remember her wearing a maroon sweater and a thick shawl.

our bus broke down near muzzaffarnagar. we got down with our luggage. it was a foggy 9 am and few would have ventured out even for a tea break had the bus stopped near a roadside dhaba.

luckily we found few seats in another bus. we got in and occupied whatever seats were available. she got a seat in the middle of the bus, and i found one near the driver. the physical distance for the next four hours was just like the mental one. occasionally we would check on each other, with simple expressions.

we reached the destination and took an auto in a still foggy weather. i dropped her where she and i thought she would be safe; asked her to take care of herself, and then when i saw him i left after a cold handshake - it was not because of the weather.

i thought i left behind something precious. not sure of the future. of his, her, and importantly, mine.

the mumbai marathon

2009-01-18T22:14:00.006+05:30

for the last six months or so, Dilip and Dimpy have been practicing daily for the Mumbai marathon which was held today. they participated for the 21km long event.

yesterday evening i messaged them, "All the best for tomm to the athlete couple :-)"
i got Dilip's response, "Thank u, if u see a man fallen on the road it's me and if u see a lady beating someone it's your sister." i responded, "Good that i don't have a TV to watch either."

today evening i had a long chat with Dimpy and she gave me a detailed account. later, i messaged Dilip, "... i got the entire details of the marathon :-) :-)" i laughed uncontrollably for few minutes on receiving his response. "I told u to watch it live on TV it would have been a lot less torture for you."

expensive sundays

2009-01-18T21:59:00.004+05:30

it's easire to spend saturdays. there are the usual weekly house hold chores to attend to, then lunch at murugan idli shop in beasant nagar, the customary drive to the thiruvanmiyur beach, and finally settling down with a book before hitting the bed.

it's on every sunday i have a problem figuring what is the best way to spend the day. since morning today i had this strong urge to buy something for myself. two thing came to my mind: a digital printer or a Sony CD/FM player. I do not have a TV, DVD or a Music System right now, so you can understand. I had almost made up my mind on buying that CD player, but then i looked at the two laptops lying around, and then spending 6-7K somehow did not appeal me. but this 'something should be bought' stayed with me.

i drove aimlessly to thiruvanmiyur, beasant nagar, adyar, took a U turn from adyar to get back home, and then another U turn to drive towards nungambakkam.

at the end, i did what i like doing best - browsing book. and in doing so i broke my resolution of not buying a single book this year :-)

Idrees - Pakistani or Bangladeshi?

2009-01-15T21:30:00.005+05:30

He came to pick me at the airport; He was the one who took me to my first ever samudra darshan; He is the one with whom I first had beef in my life; and he was the first Bangladeshi/Pakistani [he claimed he was both] with whom we all developed a good rapport.

Idrees drove Joel and all of us to work and to different places within Bahrain. He handled the car with such dexterity, and I was impressed when he used to take a U turn in a peculiar style near Bayt-al-Quran.

A devout Muslim, he prayed religiously every day. A good cook, he prepared excellent non-veg. We used to be in villa during the end of the Ramzan day to savor the food he and Shabab used to prepare to break the fast.

We used to always tease him for being from an enemy country, with no offence meant। And he too would not spare us. Indo-Pak matches were a hot favorite, even for a not so interested in sports person like me, with Idrees on one side and all the others with India.

Once I caught him singing ‘saray jahan say accha Hindustan hamara’ and he was embarrassed.
He would sometime turn philosophical and talk about religion. When in a pensive mood he would talk about the plight of people in his country. And we shared his concerns as India too faced the same problem – poverty, illiteracy, and the like.

One scene which I will never forget is when we dropped Jenny at home, that time maybe a 5-6 year old kid of Mr. Joel, he looked at her lovingly and commented, she is lucky she speaks English, we are not sure when our kids back in Bangladesh can talk like her.

Idrees has two kids, Neelofer and Nasir. His family lives in Bangladesh, and he visits them once in two years. He has managed to construct a pukka house for his family, has bought a piece of land in his hometown, and now plans to spend 2-3 years in middle east and will return to see his kids grow.

I Joel

2009-01-14T22:05:00.000+05:30

While writing about Anshi and Abhy, and having mentally written about Shabab, I thought about Mr. Joel, or Joel Sir, or Sir Joel [as Kawther addressed him].

Where do I start telling about this man? A multi-faceted personality, he has a remarkable memory, and an absolutely awesome understanding of most of the subjects. He is perhaps the only person I have ever interacted with who could speak on almost all the subjects discovered by the learned people.

At first I used to get irritated, for I thought he knew when to start, but to stop was something he needed to learn. Or maybe he never could get hints on when the listener got bored. But, we all were used to it, and later I appreciated his deep understanding of so many things. I am sure the other sensible souls have picked up something or the other from the vast knowledge he shared with them.

He remembered each and every student’s name: old or new. Talking to him and sharing personal issues with him was never a problem. No hesitations at all. Yes, he talked a lot, but he was also a good listener. He took classes for students of some British Columbia MBA students, and a couple of them had remarked that, hearing him talk was a sheer joy. When a teacher is good, a student wants to learn more. It is another story that when I was there just three students could complete their degree! No, no, not because of his classes, but more out of the less effort they put in to study and clear the exams.

A good singer, he used to hum at times. I knew a couple of songs he used to sing while sitting at his work place, but could never sing along with him because of hesitation. He remembered by rote the lyrics of Sound of Music and My Fair Lady – that’s just amazing!

He was an active member of the church. Sometimes we wondered if he was working for the church or for the institute. Obviously, as a first time faculty, and without having any knowledge of management, I thought he should have been slogging like us. It’s only later I realized what all I had learned from him:
· handling chaotic situations and angry people
· keeping quite where it was required
· assuring people of meeting their requests
· getting repeat business
· organizing things

Let me admit, I despised his way of working. I wanted him to work the way I thought it was right. But was I right, was something even I was not aware of. Much later I realized that the problem with most of us is that we know what the other should do, and are either unaware of simply ignorant of how we have to contribute at work/personal life. Some things that I learnt from him and applied later in life, I call them as ‘the joel technique.’

He once told me that he had misplaced his keys somewhere and was frantically searching for them. His father commented something like, “you remember everything that is happening in the world, and can’t remember where you kept your keys!”

Mr Joel was quite encouraging in different ways: he had made us talk on different subjects of our interest and present our knowledge to others. He took one or two of us to his Toastmaster’s meetings just in case we found it interesting and worth joining. He also encouraged us to conduct classes the way we wanted to, and not go by the examples prescribed in the books. The ultimate objective was the learner to absorb information.

Some days he entered office with a sense of urgency written on his face. We used to wonder why he would be so serious. Invariably we used to think perhaps the senior people would have said something which took away his happiness for the day. But he was never serious for too long. Or if he was, I just had to talk to him about something from literature; he used to be back to his normal self.

Unlike many senior people, bosses to be precise, he had no airs about his position. He joined us in the villa for a small chit chat every once in a while, came along with us for dinner or lunch to lantern, KFC, and Century. When we were busy shopping at Geant Mall, he would offer to drop us back home.

Mona, who was the most outspoken of all, once commented on India’s partition saying it was Gandhi and Nehru who were responsible for it. Mr. Joel for a change did not comment on this but just asked her if Gandhi and Nehru were his classmates, and therefore she took the liberty of taking their names without respect. One other incident I remember is when she declared that something relate to something was mentioned in the Bible. Mr. Joel very patiently said, “Being a devout Christian, and an active member of Church, I have read the Bible several times over the years, and I never came across what you are talking about.” This was quite hilarious.

Mona told someone that Mr. Joel had flunked the driving test 7 times before he got his license. Mr. Joel was a little angry and said, “When I have no hesitation telling people that I did not clear the test 3-4 times, why do you add extra numbers.”

His love for Hyderabad and Deccan Herald erupted once in a while. According to what he told us all, we were in no doubt that for him DH and Hyderabad were the two best things in the world. Once I approached him and told him that I had picked up few words in Telgu, his native language. He was a little disgusted to hear me say ‘picchi kukka’ and ‘koti’ – mad dog and monkey. “Of all the words you found just these two good to learn,” was his comment.

I also liked the Hyderabadi accent in which he spoke to us in Hindi. It was quite amusing.

He now teaches in university I heard. I am sure his students love him for the kind of knowledge he possesses. For me he will always remain as a person who is creative, competent, good communicator, considerate, and always curious.

on Subai... random thoughts

2009-01-14T00:13:00.004+05:30

Subai is what his family and college/school friends address him as. We address him as Abhy.

The first thing that I remember about this guy is the sweet way he used to say ‘vishal bhai’. He was the quietest of all, and perhaps second to shabab in patience. In fact, I rarely saw him violently angry. It’s not in his nature. He would not deny anything if anyone asked for it: his time, money, or advice. At 3 when we used to reach office after siesta to practice for the next class or importantly to browse, I used to bug him by asking solutions to the questions that the students could ask. I never focused on the logic, I wanted solutions. Isn’t it true for so many of us, we want a comfortable, everything laid out, life. And this guy would sit and learn different things.

I vividly recall how happy he was when he had succeeded in creating a small chat application using xml or some crap language. I was happy to see him beaming with a smile, and next moment he was back at the keyboard refining the application. For me, learning how to write ‘Dim A as Integer’ was a feat in itself, or even revisiting the javascript code that Shabab provided me as solution to ‘displaying the one to five star’ question!

I still have regret; I could not teach Oracle to Abhy [subai] though he kept on asking me about the same.

We were talking about college life one day. The discussion begun when I asked him if he required wearing glasses all the time and he told me that he wore it even when he used to bathe in open in the hostel. That’s because while bathing when someone would call him, he would not recognize people by their voice… or something like that.

In his college he/others were a lousy lot. When the bed sheet used to become dirty, they used to reverse and use it. Same with socks! Though he did not tell me about other things, I hope during winter season they did not reverse the shirts and wear sweaters on top!
Subai is a favorite of most of his relatives. When he was in Calcutta, he would make it a point to visit almost all his relatives. I wondered what pleasure he would derive meeting everyone, and here I was, avoided my lot and at time wanted everyone to just perish ;-)

Amusing incidents which we laughed on and shared:

Occasionally Abhy would start chanting "हरे रामा हरे कृष्णा, कृष्णा कृष्णा हरे हरे!"
He would invariably start his conversation with a ‘हाँ भाई’
He strictly believed in the adage, ‘एक तीर से दो निशाने’ in his case it was multiple निशाने, does anyone remembers his “Me Too”? He certainly believed and practiced on sharing objects… or in this case sharing the same messages with everyone – maintaining consistency!
One day, while walking towards office from Villa, Abhy very hesitatingly said, ‘एक बात बोलूं विशाल भाई, बुरा नही मन्ना, अपना बेल्ट तोंद के ऊपर बंधा करो, नीचे जाता है तौ आप मोटे लगते हो!” I follow his advice till date.
Abhy’s ‘का’ I still remember and laugh about it whenever I see a vehicle with Karnataka registration.
Then there’s one incident when we all were about to start a ‘nice’ movie using the projector in the master bedroom when Abhy asked us to stop, and then addressing Anshi said in a serious tone, “हाँ भाई, याद रहे पायजामा मेरा पहना है तुमने, कुछ होना नही चाहेये.” And then he said, “स्टार्ट किया जाये!”
The other day while walking to work in the peak summer season, Abhy kept on grumbling about the scorching sun and the humidity. I got irritated and told him that it was all in his head, “don’t think about it and you won’t feel it.” Promptly he said, “आहाहाहा, कितना ठंडा है , बरफ गिर रहीए है!”

Abhy sings quite well. Though few, yet he has enthralled us with good songs from the movies. I remember how he and I used to listen to audio cassettes of Rabindra Sangeet in his master bedroom, and also Gulzar’s Mirza galib, and Jagjit & Chitra Singh’s collection.

His rapport with his students was excellent. Neena Gopalan came to meet us all when she was leaving Middle East to settle down back home in Bangalore. Then there was another one whose name I don’t recall.

I always felt this guy could easily be tricked into something by anyone. People borrowed money and would not return, and he would feel embarrassed to bring up the topic with those people. And then people became parasites. But good sense prevailed, and our Abhy was a better man later ;-)

The best time with him was when he used to tell about Rabindranath Tagore – that he has written songs/poems on almost everything: love, hate, passion, compassion, relationships, and every mood and melody. He would often translate the rabindra sangeet for me. Those were the moments when it seemed he was pulled back to the land where he belongs to. Sometimes even the best written word by the author are not as appealing as the ones in which another person translates or explains what the author would have felt… it was similar to something like that when Abhy explained.

Abhy fell ill and had to be operated. He was in Salmania for quite some time. That was quite a bad experience. Every experience leaves behind some memories and some learning. Abhy realized few, and would talk about them, albeit in brief. We could not feel his grief. We were not aware would be good to admit. I can now relate to his situation where one feels an urge to talk to a close one, but everyone seems so far and aloof. But time flies, and it’s always good to remember, “जो गुज़र गयी , व्हो कल के बात थी, उम्र तौ नही , सिर्फ़ एक रात थी.”

Abhy invited me to attend his wedding just a day before the wedding, and the wedding was in WB, some 1300 kms away from Bangalore. I will remember this Abhy, and revenge is due – I have not changed a wee bit.

in a class beyond compare

2009-01-11T05:43:00.004+05:30

Whenever we talk on phone or in person, his discussion almost always turns to girls – just anyone, chicks, girls, aunties, or just any damn girl. This is not new; this is his chronic problem—ever since I first got to know him. At first it was in college, then in news on them from the school where he worked, new city he relocated to, and almost from anywhere he had a chance to check-out, talk or work with them.

College: yes, those were the days when everyone indulges in silly talks. So while I was not that vocal and descriptive in my thought-uttering them, he wasn’t shy at all. We had a code name for most of them. It helped when we used to talk about them using the codes in front of his professor uncle in whose house he stayed. When we used the CM or DM code, the professor of Sociology would think we were talking about some chief minister or district magistrate – he must have also thought we were talking about them in context to our political science lessons.

He spoke to them in college, while leaving for home from college, and even went to their house to share or copy notes. He would give me all the details. I would be awed by his guts. But when he spoke about this girl I had a major crush on, the one from Waverly Convent Mussoorie, I wanted to bash him. But I thought it wise to pretend being ignorant and just listen to him, though I also thought of camouflaging the object of discussion. But he had minute details of everyone and of everything.

On valentine day’s eve, we went to buy cards for few girls. O, by the way, he wanted to give, and he wanted me to select the best ones. Next day, along with her friend the Waverly girl came to me in a pretty upset and angry mood. She kept the card in my hand and inquired why in the first place I even imagined she would accept it from me. In milliseconds I was tomato red! When she was through with her charge, I opened my notebook and asked her to compare the two hand writings. She apologized and felt embarrassed. I still thought she was not convinced. I cursed for myself being in his company.

This guy did not turn up for next two days. And I skipped my favorite teacher’s class because I did not wanted to face the Waverly dame. The culprit returned and I saw him chit chatting with the Waverly girl along with numerous others. He always had tricks to renter a no entry zone. This time he shared some Xerox copies of some crap guide which he assured is being used to draft the Part II question paper. Girls jump on notes and hoard everything that may remotely have any reference to whatever is part of syllabus.

This guy had the knack of making other girls jealous and at the same time desiring him – in whatever way. I appeared more like his tag along whereas I thought the opposite – each guy during college days thinks no end of himself. I was under that illusion. But there were facts attached to this illusion: I could quickly jot down notes that the teachers rattled off, most people in college did not had English as their first language at school level, so they relied on him to get my notes and share with them [I came to know about it quite late]. I bought almost all the books on English literature which were Xeroxed and circulated, I spoke English with teachers of English literature – and that’s amusing, isn’t it! I also had enough money for both of us to spend some time in the canteen, where he thought he enthralled everyone with his velvety or nightingale like voice.

During college time, I never believed when he told me about his secret meetings with Tina, Mina, Bubbly and others. But once in a while when I used to observe him talking to them, I had doubts – maybe he was actually doing it. If he was closer to any one, I used to be far away from him. Not realizing people would not see me, but him.

Teachers were not spared either. Few incidents so I am not elaborating. But this guy had guts, and tact, tricks, and a never die spirit.

Once he did not show up for around two weeks. I went to the professor’s house. I was told that he had gone to meet his parents. He was back with some more stories about his short stint with his neighbors. I cared less now. Later he told me that someone’s uncle had threatened him and that was another cause of his absence.

Not that other guys did not vie for these girls, but he always had the upper hand. Girls watched him play basket ball. During that time I used to talk to some teacher in either the history or political science department. I always had so many doubts to clarify. One of the teachers avoided me. With absolutely no interest in 10 people chasing a ball to drop it in a hole with net, I used to just walk out of the college – to Maheshwari Sweet Shop for an aloo or puff samosa.

Life changes for all or all change in life, but this guy’s vision and mission in life has always been clear. We moved out of college, to different cities, were in touch through mails and phone, and I got to hear more juicy and real to believe stories. I had not changed in one domain at least. But this guy could write encyclopedia on everything about the fairer sex.

We met again, and this time his focus was on my experiences with befriending God’s best creation [according to him]. I had none, but call it peer pressure or male ego of not to be understood inferior than any other male, I cooked up stories for him. But in such matters, truth walks out with ease. So I guess he knew, but was sensible enough not to point out the incorrect technical details. Whatever, despite his being out of this world in this arena, I never loathed him. It’s his life after all, and friends come in all shapes and sizes.

He lives to this day in his own world. He does what he wants. He reminds me that applying skills is much better, and maybe useful, than having bookish knowledge. Or better to say; desire to do but lack of courage.

14th Feb 1997

2009-01-11T04:40:00.002+05:30

He and I met at the NIIT education center in Dehra Doon. This was 1991-2. It was in SEM II we started talking and discovered we two were the only quiet ones in a batch of 18 odd guys. We both had a crush on our faculty and also on Susan – this is what we revealed when were comfortable enough to call each other pals. We wondered how she got into those black tights – you see, neither were we aware of too many western outfits [except for jeans and t-shirts] nor we had seen anyone more hip-hop than Susan!

He visited my home and I also met his parents. His father and he were watching cricket and during the breaks his father inquired everything about who his son called his new friend. His mother reminds me of Bharti Achrekar – the TV serial artist.

In SEM III he moved out of NIIT and joined HMT Bhopal. We wrote letters to each other and shared the good and bad in life. I do not recall what was so specific that we discussed, but waited for each other’s snail mails. He wrote to me about his ragging – how all guys were asked to strip and run like a railway compartments, one after the other, holding, ahem – I mean the bogies had to have a connecting link.

There’s so little of what I know about his professional life. I mean except that he works in the hotel, has worked in Delhi, Chandigarh, maybe Baroda, Bangalore, and now in Pune.

I showed him the mystical sites in Dehra Doon: Robber’s cave, Bijapur canal, and others. He used to be fascinated and listened intently to whatever little I told him about Vinita and my other female friends. He once requested me if I could befriend him with one of them.

Being from a small town, and born in a non-aggressive environment, he has always been a man of patience. Quite reserved, his USP is his smile and gentleman charm – I should have guessed he was destined for the hospitality line.

He is married to an equally charming and composed person. They lived in Baroda for some time and now they decided to retire there once they say adieu to working life.

We did not meet in Delhi even when he was there on six month training. Than on 13th Feb 1997 we met. That day I picked him from Noida and we did not sleep until 5 in the morning. He proposed we start a restaurant business together, in Dehra Doon. We discussed each and every detail of how it would be, how we would expand, what would be the USP, and other details. Our outlet would be above the Vegetarian restaurant in Ashley Hall. My mother would help us with legal matters, and finances would be arranged somehow – these were included in the discussion.

At around 1-2 am, when we had decided on our partnership, we thought of celebrating. I pulled out my sister’s car from the parking in Lajpat Nagar, and we headed to the Oberoi’s near Golf Course.

The coffee shop was empty – and there wasn’t even a waiter to take order. We sat near a large window overlooking the empty swimming pool. It had a blue yellow hue—blue because of the tiles, and yellow was the sodium lamp’s effect. It was Delhi winter and the glass pane had mist. Everything seemed just so perfect. The tables had maroon and white linen with patterns of small checks. The tables with the cutlery and other items were ready for people to occupy in the morning. I don’t exactly remember, but either the lights in the coffee shop were dim, or we had just a single lamp glowing on top of our table.

The waiter took our order of two coffees. While we were waiting for our coffee to arrive, he explained me how tables are placed in coffee shops – what are covers; who are captains; how chefs or people in the kitchen and the waiters share the tips they receive from the customers. There was a small cup which had sachets of sugar – white and brown, and he explained me what brown sugar was – I don’t remember the difference now.

Coffee arrived, and he had a brief conversation with the waiter [I use the word waiter but this person may be a captain or any other high/low ranking server]. In our enthusiasm, he told the waiter about our new deal and that we were there to celebrate. When we asked for the bill, the waiter simply replied, “on the house sir.” We tried giving him a tip, he did not accept. We felt he was with us in our celebration.

While we were leaving we saw the crew of Air France having their breakfast. There were some 8-9 tall guys and ladies who were up for their early morning flight. That’s when I observed a bun which looked like a crab – which he told me was a croissant. I still cannot pronounce it.

Back home, we slept and then I dropped him back to his sister’s house in Noida. While getting down he told me he would soon resign from his job, and that I should just think about this new venture.

I think within two months time I received his letter informing me that he had resigned from his job and was on notice period. In return I informed him about my inability to go ahead with the partnership. After that I received a couple of his mails, but there was no mention of our dream. This made me a little uncomfortable.

I left for Middle East, he got married, and our communication dwindled. We called each other to wish on birthdays – just two days in a year.

I was back in Delhi in Oct 2005 and met him and his wife. She addressed me as bhaiya, and there’s so much genuineness and originality in whatever they say or talk about. They are, after all, from a small town! I wanted to tell him why I had dropped my plan, and also to apologize, but I could not talk. He was so warm and as always friendly that I could not mention the topic. I kept quite.

He met Dimpy in Bangalore, and she too found him a down to earth person. She told me she thought she was talking to me when interacting with him. “Just as sober and straight forward person like you.” Poor girl, she has not had a chance to observe the changes of professional life on her brother!

Vinay is and will remain etched in my memory as one of the best person in my life.

a friend called anshuman...

2009-01-11T02:14:00.008+05:30

anshuman called up at 00:45 hrs to convey the good news. arpita and he were blessed with a baby boy at 10:15pm India time, 10th jan.

when i saw anshi and abhi in our zinj villa sometime in late december 2000, i was willing to share my room with him - not that i had an option of keeping anyone away from my room. he appeared to be a very calm and relaxed person. abhy on the other hand appeared too boring and typical bong [no offence]. looks can be deceptive is what i later realized.

for the next 6-7 months, i despised anshi. he was a problem creator in every sense: loud, talkative, careless, and always upto something mischievous. he would leave the door ajar while AC was running, he was quite vocal if something did not happen the way it should have been, he called up people late night, he would not eat his food in 15 minutes - 1.5 hrs was okay for him. he was a cricket fanatic, and we always used to fight. i think we both enjoyed fighting and always looked for an opportunity to just pull each other. and yes, we used to fight to sit in the front seat of the car with idrees our pakistani transport minister!

i got along quite well with abhi. he was quite and calm, with a wonderful and refined sense of humor. we shared good times talking about friends and family, future plans and other trivia. not that i was the only one in anshi's hit list - there were others too.

anshi bought a cd player and i used it judiciously - i used to play MSS's suprabhatam every morning, and he would really get bugged up. he would crane his neck from the bedsheet that he used to cocoon himself into and yell, "what happened to this lady, she's just repeating few words, is there a chicken bone stuck in her throat." And i would just fume.

his undying love for non-veg was quite visible when he used to be upset with our cook devender. reason, "आज साले ने चिक्केन नही बनाया!" he wouldn't have mind if we had given him a complete goat to devour!

one thing for which i took an immediate dislike for him was his songs, importantly the revised lyrics of popular songs -

ओ ओ जाने जाना,
खाना तुझे है खाना,
रोज़ तू veg खाये,
आज नॉन-veg खाना!

सोल्जर सोल्जर, सारे कपरे खोल कर,
बीच सड़क पर बैठ गया!

खाना खाया और पानी पिया or something like that!

and then his umpteen stories about his days in UPtech, lucknow. How his peon served ras-malai in glasses used for having tea. his friends tabrez and so many others. but gradually we started enjoying his antics. at least there was some fun.

from the beginning he proved to be one of the best faculty in terms of knowledge and his ability to conduct classes with no complaints from the students [there were 4 complaints against me]. he was my teacher. as in, i learnt visual basic, javascript, HTML [can you believe that], and MS Access from him. always helpful and humane. i remember when no one else visited abhy in salmania hospital, he used to daily, without fail, walk upto his ward and spend time with him. Nearly for 20-30 days. i visited salmania twice only. no one else bothered to go there. i don't know about others, but i am averse to visiting hospitals [and abhy, i am not clarifying].

full of energy, this man walked fast. he used to walk from zinj to manama or adlia almost every three four days [a distance of just 5/3 kms respectively]. to a sprinter or an ordinary human being this may not be 'quite a distance' but you should also factor in the scorching heat of middle east.

we derived some kind of pleasure pulling our counselor's leg. and he used to be quite good at it. someone who could say nasty things in a good way. or even if it was not so, he would just laugh it off. for many a things he did not carry any grudge.

we had great fun narrating incidents with the 'bonta man'. and the interpretation of local news on bahrain tv. talking about students and the wonderful grasping power they had! he never approached me to check how his students scored in exams when i used to validate their papers. there was absolutely no hitch in asking him any query for which i had no solutions. he just dived deep into the problem.

his kid side was also quite evident - especially with his umpteen pranks. and yet this guy was not just all fun and funny. he had a softer side as well. nothing about it here, but i guess that's when we bonded. being a roomie was fun then. we had endless discussions on various issues, and his analytical skills were quite amazing.

he stayed on, and is still in the middle east. we continued communication after i left the geography and settled in India. met him once in delhi when he was on vacation.

in nov 2004 he got married to arpita. they make a good couple. i was in bangalore that time and attended his wedding in bandel, and then the reception in kolkatta's golf green area. his folks are quite warm people and not for even a moment i felt as an outsider. his elder sister who would be atleast 4-6 yrs younger than me thought that i was of his age and very sweetly spoke to me in the same ways she spoke to him. even on telling her that i was older than her, she had that elder sister's affection towards me. i also became quite pally with her bua whose first question when she met me was when was i getting married. had i been in touch with her, i am sure by this time i would have been married to a bong girl!

his bua arranged for a guest house accommodation for me and his other friends. the wedding was fantastic and i captured the moment in my camera. the reception in golf green area was also quite memorable.

each one of us respect and care for our parents, but this man is amazing. the credit also goes to arpita who has won the heart of her inlaws. his parents now hop between bahrain, indore, and sometimes lucknow. it feels good when he tells me that ma and baba are with him in bahrain. and here i am, haven't spoken to my mom asking her to visit chennai ;-)

so ARYAN was born on 10th Jan 2009 at 10:15 in Bandel. I wish they have a wonderful future and a satisfying life.

Everyone should have a friend like anshi - it makes life so much fun. And now something which only Idrees, Shabab, Sanil, Abhi, Mona, Kawther, Sameera, Devender, Luma, and Mr Joel can can understand and relate to - Layyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!

God bless Aryan, Arpita, and Anshuman.

Think...

2009-01-11T01:54:00.009+05:30

Went to the Chennai Book Fare yesterday with Peter. It was good to see almost 40% of the stalls displaying Tamil books - at least in this part of the country, the regional language is given preference over English.

Picked up two books by J Krishnamurti. Just read two paragraphs from one of the books, and I think they are worth mentioning in this blog.

The men who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima
said that God was with them;
those who flew from England to destroy Germany
said that God was their co-pilot.
The dictators, the prime ministers, the generals, the presidents,
all have immense faith in God.
Are they making a better life for men?
The people who say they believe in God have destroyed half the world.

Violence isn't merely organized butchery in the name of God,

in the name of society or country.

When you call yourself an

Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European,

you are being violent.

Do you know why it is violent?

Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind.

Aren't the above thought provoking?

best professionals...

2009-01-06T23:25:00.004+05:30

I have worked with a lot of people as a colleague, subordinate, and supervisor. Few of them who i have really enjoyed working with are worth mentioning. These are people who are almost married to their work; seldom complain; are high on ownership, and believe in continious improvement.

Anshuman - Aptech, Middle East
Ravi Sundaram & Pratibha Kaura - Accenture
Rajeev charles & Abhishek - NIIT
Lakshmi Kamal, Indira & Manisha - Sify

Others who have displayed indomitable work ethics are Juhi Gupta, Priti Sardana, Rima Dave, Gency Chaudhuri, Hitendra Himetlal Trivedi, Lata Kirtivasan, Bhawna Gulati, Vijeesh Shankar, Sudipta Kanti Mukherjee, and the latest is Varsha.

we may not meet again...

2009-01-06T23:16:00.002+05:30

while talking to a friend today, she suddenly said, 'do you realize, we may not meet again...' my immediate response was why not, but within fractions of seconds i realised she was right.

memory perfect

2009-01-04T18:35:00.006+05:30

three kids running around in blue, green, and one in no underwear! they jumped and hopped and each one smeared sand on their body. one rolled on the burning sand and the two dived on him and for a while i saw kid wrestlers. then they got up and jumped into the sea. from where i was, i could just see their little heads with the body not visible because of the slope which leads to the water. they were back, water shining on their dark bodies. they threw themselves on sand, rolled, stopped talking, and then i waited for their next action. by this time i observed i wasn't the only spectator, a black and off white colored dog also joined me. the boys got up, two of them buried the third one's feet in the sand and then threw sand on his crotch, he yelped, and chased the other two, and boxed them, and the next moment they were pals again! they sat one behind the other in a row and sand bathed each other :-) i could not see their dark bodies anymore, except for the neck and face, and they ran and jumped again in the water.

some years later in life, when one of them, or i hope all of them, visit this spot, they will remember the gleeful time they spent here. it's so important to have such friends, and such fun, and such memories!

i forgot to carry my cell today, else would have captured them in a video. but what i saw today is already etched in my mind - it's memory [not picture] perfect :-)

Chennai 600001

2009-01-04T18:26:00.018+05:30

There are few places and routes in Chennai that I am aware of - Nungambakkam, Adyar, Thiruvanmiyur, Beasant Nagar, and Anna Nagar. While being here for more than five months, I have travelled and explored different cities of TN, but Chennai is still unexplored. So from this week I have embarked on 'Discover Chennai' expedition.

I travelled to Parry's Corner yesterday. I decided not to drive and instead relied on the excellent public transport system of this city. I am glad I did that as the total travel cost came to just Rs 98! Had I taken my car, I would have spent on petrol; would have been worried about parking; and wouldn't have seen the lanes and by lanes of this area.

Parry's is named after the Parrys company founded by some Mr Parry towards the end of the seventeenth century. This place is just 3-4 kms away from the Marina Beach and has a port and a local railway station within its vicinity. The traffic is killing - took me nearly 5 minutes to cross the road. Interestingly, in this area a lot of banks have their head offices: Indian Bank, ICICI Bank, Central Bank, State Bank of Hyderabad are few which I could see. SBI is housed in an old Raj type building. I could see a lot of shops of agricultural and commercial pumps, hardware, and bags. Walking in the lanes and by lanes reminded me of my trips to the old Delhi areas.

I stopped at a paan shop to smoke. A boy in his late teens came and asked in Hindi for a special paan. Till than I had not noticed the paan wala, but when he spoke in Hindi, I got interested. This paan wala is from Allahabad, and the boy is from Kanpur. So I casually asked the boy if he was a tourist. As if he had not found anyone to talk to for ages in this city, he went on talking non stop. "My father is an inspector. The other day I slapped a thulla [policemen], उंगली कर रहा था [sorry, that's UP language]. He stopped my bike and asked me to show my licence. I told him, अबे, तेरी औकात he किया है। मुझे चूतिया समझा है - तू मेरा सिर्फ़ नम्बर नोट कर सकता है। अगर तेरी दो फित्ति हो तौ he तू मेरा कोर्ट का चालान काट सकता है, और अगर तू सब इंसपेक्टर हो तौ he मेरा चालान काट सकता है, समझा किया है? मेरे पिताजी इंसपेक्टर है।" I am not sure if the poor police guy understood his warnings in Hindi. But I am sure the reverse could also be true.

"साले हिन्दी नही समझते, या आती है पर बोलते नही। गिनती की चार सब्जियां खाते है। दारू भी नही मिलती अच्छी वाली। आप यकीन नही करोगे, आज तक दर्जनों बोत्त्ले लाया हूँ कानपूर से, मजाल है किसी ने ट्रेन के अन्दर बैग खोलने को बोला हो। तुम लोगो को मालूम नही, आल इंडिया ६ बोत्त्लेस लेजा सकते हो। मालूम कैसे होगा, मे हमेशा थाने जाता रहता हूँ न, अंकल लोग बताते रहते है।" I asked him then what was he doing in this wretched city? "भाई साहब, microsoft MCSE 'डिग्री' कर रहा हूँ। भाई विप्रो माय इंजिनियर है, उसके साथ हे रहता हूँ। अजीब लोग है यहाँ के!" I wanted to ask him why he was studying here when things were not working out for him. But I had had enough of his दुखी दास्तान, so just excused myself and walked in a different direction. All this while the paan waala did not get any other customer, but still he was least interested in our conversation. He had no inqusitiveness in getting into a conversation with हम वतन folks!

After wading through the lanes and bylanes, I crossed the main street and entered the Burma Bazar. This place is just like the Tibetan Market of Dehra Doon. Except, there are very few shops that sell clothes. I am not sure but there must be around 300 shops in one straight line. Customers have to jostle and make their way if at all some of the vendors leave your hand. Everyone sells CDs/DVDs.

One shop keeper offered me a role in a movie if I had a chinki partner! I had to leave his shop pronto lest he decided to cast me solo - that would have been sad - my real and reel life would be alike! I guess he wanted me to get impressed and linger on for longer, and ultimately buy some stuff. He was not aware I belog to the anti-piracy camp.

I walked right to the end of Burma Bazar and clicked few pics of the High Court tombs! I mean someone told me that the building that houses the high court was of some nawab, and the architecture also justifies that.

I decided to walk further, upto Marina. But witin 20 minutes got exhausted and hired an auto. Decided to checkout the MGR Memorial. Nothing fascinating at all. Instead the building opposite, of Madras University, appears much better. There's a flame which burns 24*365 inside the memorial. I wonder what those 8-9 curved pillars symbolize in that memorial - and that tall black minaret kind of thing - no idea, and wonder whose idea was it!

By the way, there are 14 visible statues between the light house and the underbridge near the coast guard office. I saw statues of [and these are guesses] Poets, Saints, MGR, Annadurai, some lord of somwhere, and host of others. I am not sure if ever all these statues are washed to get rid of the bird droppings on the learned people's head, arms, and other parts of the body :-) The best statue is that of MGR in the entrance of the memorial!

View all pictures I clicked on this trip.

any resemblance?

2009-01-01T22:55:00.003+05:30

does this picture reminds you of anyone you have seen in a not so recent movie? any guesses?

Hint: R-E-M-O or Stranger!

this Christmas...

2008-12-29T11:46:00.005+05:30

this is what i missed this Christmas...

the Christmas program in the Cathedral Church of the Redemption, New Delhi

the year that was...

2008-12-21T11:04:00.005+05:30

Achievements in 2008

Succeeded in striking a conversation with my almost three year old niece
After waiting for over two and a half years, moved back to Chennai
Cleared all my loan and credit card payments, I am debt free
Investments: actual=planned
Kept my commitment of traveling and exploring places. Travelled to Madurai, Trichy, Tanjavur, Pudduchery, and Mahabalipuram. Travelled through Agra, Dhaulpur, Morena, Gwalior, Shivpuri, Guna, Rajgarh, Bhopal [overnight stay], Hoshangabad, Itarsi, Betul [travelled through forest area where my car survived sinking in a muddy pool], Nagpur [had lunch], Wardha, Adilabad [overnight stay], Nizamabad, Sangareddi, Hyderabad [overnight stay], Mahbubnagar [had sweeeet tea], Kurnool, Cuddaph, Chittoor, and Kanchipuram. Will be traveling to Hyderabad on 24th December

Happy moments in 2008

Clicking umpteen pictures
Moving to Chennai
My friend moving to someone closer
Another friend getting married to the love of her life
Taking a final decision to part ways with an indecisive person

Disappointments in 2008

Applied for passport renewal on June 20th, haven’t received it till date
Driving at a speed above 100 is difficult now; the nine year old beauty rattles now

Projections for 2009

Travel more
Invest more
Buy a house in Chennai

cultural blunders!

2008-12-18T23:14:00.009+05:30

in every culture there are some unwritten rules which a smart individual if understands or realizes soon is good for him.

i must have offended a few unknowingly in a couple of places.

first day in middle east when my manager introduced me to the career counselor, who was wrapped in her black abaya and scarf, i extended my hand to greet her. for few seconds my hand was suspended in air, and then my manager informed me in front of the counselor that in middle east this was not how people greeted women, unless the women was comfortable returning the greetings by extending her hand.

talking about girlfriends, girls, relationships real or platonic was also forbidden.

i wanted to travel to adliya and this counselor lived there. while i was walking towards that area, i saw this counselor leaving the office in her old cressida. assuming she was going home, towards adliya, i signalled her to stop. she did not. later that day she called me and asked sternly, "am i your sister, mother, or close relative?" i replied, "no." and then someone told me that a women can only travel with her brother, father or husband, and not an unknown male. and all this while i thought we were known to each other for i had spent nearly 4 months working with her.

a female student invited me for her wedding. very keen to attend an arabic wedding, i reached the venue - a five star hotel. i was surprised as i could not see even a single women in the gathering, not even the bride. for a moment i thought i was in a wrong reception hall. my manager later told me that this is how weddings take place there!

i was also told that direct eye contact with females was a strict no no. so while on my evening strolls, if i saw any abaya clad female, i used to just walk past her without looking at her.

in india, kidding with a student for being slow or dumb is not so annoying for anyone, but as i had learnt a new word and was enthusiastic to display my language skills, i called one of them 'hemar,' and the next moment i saw some stern faces in the classroom. 'teacher,' said one, 'this is bad word for us. don't speak that to anyone.'

in another incident, everyone in the class was extra quite when i listed some points on the board. my mistake, the bulleted points were not the usual circle or disc, but small star shaped symbol. so one of the sensible student understood my ignorance and politely reminded me that star indicated Israels symbol and as all islamic countries are anti-Israel, so using that symbol was kind of an offence. poor me!

my boss asked me to accompany him for mourning someones death! i was surprised when on the way he asked directions for the matam hall. so i asked him what was this matam. came to know that the place where all menfolk gather to mourn the death of a loved one is called matam.

a colleague from india had joined our office. we were pally with her. once her husband came to pick her, and while saying our goodbyes i shook hands with her. next day she seemed upset, on asking she told me that her husband was upset because of that handshake the previous evening. i told her that she is from india and not from middle east. her answer surprised me, but my religion is different!

then in a park, there were three seats and another man i occupied the first and last seat. there was an old lady who seemed tired so i tapped on the middle seat indicating it was empty. that lady was old enough to be my great grand mother, but she was visibly upset. we two left our seats.

but there were few women who had no issues which such trivia. i must not use that word because what i think trivia, is actually a big thing for them. so the few other ladies who i am talking about brought cake for me on my birthday, got doughnuts and kava on the last day of our KYD class. now the non-arabic students from india are also not less fussy. three indian men and a lady did not eat the yum doughnuts or had the lovely kava - maybe because it was made by an arabic people. disgusting! but in a way it was good as i carried 4 doughnuts back to our villa for my friends.

one crazy student wanted to marry me. i think she had a loose screw. we called such students P1's. The brighter ones were addressed as P4 P3. CoreDuo were not in market by then so we could not think of assigning that name to the brighter ones :-)

BACK HOME:

there's this invisible divide between north, south, and somewhat with east also. which is quite visible in the way people carry themselves.

I was attending an induction program in one of the companies i worked in new delhi. there were participants from all regions. on the first day, after most of us were pally, a couple of people from calcutta were asking for directions. so this colleague of mine from delhi told them that her boyfriend will be able to help them. he came, he gave directions, and they both left in his bike. the bongs were surprised-first by hearing the word boyfriend and second observing how closely she sat with her boyfriend in his bike. This was in 1996.

people in south are simple, and i guess they firmly believe in and respect hierarchy. i had little problem breaking the ice with few. i do not analyze or measure each word that i utter. words jump out of my mouth without any censoring. so i am sure i have upset quite a few people by what i have shared with them. do i need to be careful? nah, i won't even a bit. that's how i am. G3 is perhaps the only person who can understand what i say and what i mean, hai na G3 :-)

and no, it's not just that i get shocked or amused by how people in different culture get scandalized. i have myself behaved that way. i won't elaborate much, but one amusing incident is worth mentioning.

dimply and i were walking towards our hotel in heathrow area when i saw a girl and a boy some 4-5 feet ahead of us. unmindful of where they were [and actually there were not many people around] they started smooching! i was zapped and literally stopped on the track and ogled them. dimpy had to drag me and then she laughed uncontrollably. i mean, till then i had seen such a scene in movies, but the real one was a little shocking and quite amusing! there were many more such scenes [better ones] in the hyde park, and thankfully by that time dimpy was not with me to drag me away. so i enjoyed aplenty.

learning russian...

2008-12-18T20:50:00.006+05:30

i got enrolled myself for an mba degree from a reputed institute in moscow. the semester was to begin in august the following year, and as i had some time, i decided to learn russian language. i also bought a red color tshirt with a communist symbol printed on it.

a tutor started comming home for taking classes in russian. he was an old man with a stern face. he gave me gyaan on the importance of learning a language and other crap. he insisted on learning sanskrit for russian was more close to our own language. i asked him how would he say 'pathami pahaway pathsi pathat' in sanskrit. he seemed offended and asked me if i was trying to test his knowledge in sanskrit. he did not respond. that day and for the next three days i learnt aa, bay, vay, gha and other alphabets.

i was bored and i told him that. he asked what could be the other way to learn a foreign language. i suggested it would be good if he told me the russian equivalent of some basic english words. that day i learnt scaf, sistera, kartosh, komnata, and few other words.

next day i asked him the russian word for friend, boy, girl, and finally the last one [which i wanted to be the first] girlfriend. he was offended. i wanted to impress a girl i liked by speaking a little russian and using the girlfriend word. just wanted to try my luck by speaking a foreign language because hindi, english, kumaoni, and nepali had not been enough to directly communicate my feelings. and here this stupid buger was upset.

for the two weeks he did not turn up. by now i had lost interest in him, russian, and that girl. i saw bobby talking to her, and she smiling and laughing. which was rare when i hovered around her!

much later, we had two visitors from russia and an acquaintance had problems remembering their names. to vent my frustration and take some sort of revenge on the past russian experience, I simplified the pronounciation for the acquaintance. Poor Natasha and Dima had no idea why i was all smiles when this acquaintance would address them as batasha and dimak!

i could not join that mba program as the russian economy was down, and the college expenses were too high.

hope

2008-12-18T20:24:00.003+05:30

the gathering was over and all icould see was big small pieces of newspaper scattered all over. just a few minutes ago, there was life and now it appears a lifeless area. sometimes even when you are not part of a gathering, you have a sense of belonging to it in someway. and when everyone disperses, you feel, it would have been good if it continued...

unable to rewind the past, you recall and savor the memories. the moment has gone. it won't be back. there may be a feeling of regret or happiness. sorrow or hope--while the former will linger on for some time, the latter will renew your trust in life, something much better is yet to come by...

jo gujar gayee, kal kee baat thee, umar to naheen ek shaam thee
shaam kaa siraa agar fir mile kahee...

namma city, namma makkal

2008-12-18T18:41:00.001+05:30

I feel the third best city in India is Chennai. A lot of people ask me with a quizzical expression on what is so great about Chennai; of what makes a north Indian from hills like this city where, among other things, language is a major problem. I have rarely got stuck anywhere because of not knowing the language. Whether it’s conversing with Jayakumar, our car parking attendant, or with amma who used to clean my house, or for that matter with any non-hindi/english speaking people. In their own way, they try their best to communicate whatever they want to, and if verbal communication is not effective, hand gestures or actions are good way of non-verbal communication.

There are no specific reasons for liking this place. It has traffic issues, water problem, some ignorant souls, and anything and everything that is common in any city in India. But I guess one reason for which I like the place is because most of the people are simple, sensible and educated, and they are not aggressive by nature.

fire & rain

2008-12-16T17:10:00.009+05:30

i had shot this clip last december on the 15th. wanted to mail this to a friend but the clip size was too much for any mail application to deliver.

background: while i was trying to keep myself warm on a december evening in delhi, my friend had a downpour in her city.

booker winner

2008-10-15T14:04:00.002+05:30

aravind adiga wins the booker prize for his novel the white tiger. good to know that he has dedicated the novel to a city - delhi.

he was interviewed immediately after rceiving the prize and i liked what he said ...
'...it still is a fact that for most of the poor people in India, there only two ways to go up, which is through crime or through politics. which can be variant of crime...'

i plan to read his book next year - already have a backlog of 11 unread books :-(

time to laugh

2008-09-27T21:19:00.012+05:30

i love to laugh, and i laugh a lot!

red, amber, green....no, no, for भारत सरकार, a signal can also accomodate a speaker. BTW, railway signals at most places have speakers. i am not sure what is the purpose.
rules of the toilet. i found the above two amusing.
flat stomach! have cows also started flocking gymns? one fameale, one child!
organs donate blood?

this speeding vehicle had ANDERA pradesh registration!
banner announcing use of hindi for a fortnight - spelling of Chennai in hindi is incorrect.
whoever wrote that on the mud covered glass [or is that printed/painted that way] would certainly have had all the time in the world to climb up that high without the help of the usual ladder that is attached to access the roof top!
:-)
i was not aware of this place called caulifornia!

untimely death...

2008-09-27T20:04:00.003+05:30

within a month and a half of moving into their new home, they perished leaving behind a long association with the 300+ survivors. they would have lived longer if proper care was taken. but, some things are destined to happen. and so it happened today. the white buggers were eating them from inside and i was unaware. i burnt the buggers as well.

lazy me

2008-09-23T00:03:00.004+05:30

almost every evening i decide to accompany peter and roushini for their 5 am morning walks, but when i hear them unlock the gate early morning, i promise myself that tomorrow would be the best day to start. and that tomorrow is yet to come.

i remember as kids, dimpy and i used to get up early and take a round of the parade ground with narendra mama. we were more interested in having the bread pakora and tea after completing the torturous morning walk.

i was happy that dimpy joined NCC when she was in college, and was glad or may be overjoyed when she was selected to participate in the RD parade as part of the Uttarpradesh NCC contingent. but what i disliked the most was to get up early and jog with her as her escort. the reason i could never match her stamina and speed was because, while i muttered a lot while jogging and wasted my energy, she would quietly jog. it was good to see her march on rajpath :-)

dimpy has still not changed, health conscious as ever, she is currently practicing to participate in the Mumbai marathon next year. and has also motivated dilip to participate :-)

Museum in Egmore

2008-09-21T22:36:00.018+05:30

I had already told two friends that I would go for a photo walk this weekend and share pictures with them. But unable to figure out where to start the walk from, I decided to visit the Museum in Egmore. The lady at the ticket counter asked me for Rs450 – ticket cost 250 and 200 for taking pics. Final cost was 215 as she was convinced I am an Indian. The ticked handed over was just a piece of paper torn from a booklet made of reusable paper [appeared so] and instead of printed text, she had written with pen the entry fee of 15 and 200 for using still camera.

The first stop was the contemporary art gallery. None of the exhibits attracted me, except that for the life size portraits of Lord this and Duke that from the erstwhile British era. The lighting arrangement was horrible so could not take pics – and actually didn’t see any point of capturing the Lords and Dukes in my camera. I was a little disappointed and thought perhaps paying 200 was a waste.

Next to the contemporary art gallery is a monument which apart from the ornamental work at the entrance does not indicate of any architectural marvel overall. I skipped exploring it at first and headed for the Children Museum.

I must say, this is the best section in the entire museum campus. The exhibits provide a glimpse of the people belonging to the different regions within India and people from other geographies. It also has a collection of models showing different civilizations of the past era. And there's one section which displays many objects that have been, and can be created with paper.

The second floor has the basic scientific stuff for kids – equally interesting.

Out from the Children Museum, I thought of taking a shot of the solitary monument in the campus. So I was back at the entrance of the monument I has just sort of ignored. The wooden doors are closed and a board hangs on it which reads something like, ‘Notice: This building is in damaged condition. Visitors are advised not to walk or sit near the building’. One-I could not see any damaged portion anywhere. Two: there were lots of people sitting near it.

I moved away from there after reading text engraved in two marbles placed on either sides of the entrance. Left side: The stone commemorates the opening of the Victoria Memorial Hall by HE The Hon Sir Arthur Lawley CCIE KCMC on march 23rd 1909. Right side: This foundation stone of the Victoria Memorial Hall was laid on 24th Jan 1906 by His Royal Highness George Frederic Ernest Albert, Prince of Wales PC KG KT KP GCSI GCMG GCIE CCYO

I wish I knew what those acronyms meant for them and the common men like the visitors. I have observed Docs and Army personnel using acronyms with their name – MD, MS or PVC, MVC, MC – two or three at the most – but Mr Albert must have done much more to be bestowed with so many titles!

One technical inaccuracy that I observed was the placement of the two marbles – the announcement of foundation on RHS and the VMH declared open on the LHS. Someone should have swapped their placement. Or I guess, placement of such stones with this kind of info is correct – I used my simple logic – 1906 should be followed by 1909. Whatever!

The museum area also houses the Connemara Library. My colleague Balaji R spoke at length about the library – biggest and best. I did not explore the place beyond 1st floor. I am not sure if it has that big hall kind of area which is generally shown in movies. The library also has an area which exhibits books for people to buy – I think its called Permanent Book Fair. This section has more books for Tamil readers.

The Bronze gallery of the Museum is quite interesting and has a huge collection. I have never seen so many bronze sculptures together in any other museum. If the thousands lights that illuminate the area and the different statues are switched off or strategically placed, one can take better shots of the deities. While the ground floor has collection of lesser known gods [lesser known to me], the first floor has this exclusive collection of Kaali and Natraja. The collection is amazing; worth seeing over and over again. I particularly liked the different forms and poses of Natraja, kaali, and RudraKaali. I don’t remember the name of the other gallery where I went. Half of it appeared nothing less than a big bio lab – hanging skeletons of various animals; bottled reptiles; large, medium, small tortoise; stuffed animals; interestingly a skeletons of a man and a horse together – seemed the master and his horse died together; and then a skeleton of a whale. The jaw bones of the whale was stuck on either sides of the 7 or 9 feet long door – you can imagine how big would be the whale’s skeleton if the jaw bones are that big.

The same building/gallery also had skulls of different animals and another section has engraved stones with strange decorative languages. The best site was when I peeped inside a room which was all dug up for some kind of renovation. This room had three statues and one of them being near to a place dug deep, with mound of dug up earth nearby, was wrapped neck downwards with some banner-type makeshift cover.

In my last round of the museum, I heard some opera kind of music coming from a room. I peeked inside and was thrilled to see the most sophisticated looking covered amphitheater. Down in the stage area were people putting up a banner for the 6:30 pm show of western classical music. In the second row I saw a young girl sitting and out of curiosity I asked her what was all this about. She told me about the show at 6:30 and that I could join [free pass], and that she was a participant – had been practicing for 2 months. I have always wanted to witness an opera show, but that would be in Vienna. Was interested to attend this one too, but it was 2 PM and I wondered what would I do for 4.5 hrs. So was out of the museum after wishing her good luck, and also took down the telephone number of the organizer.

lunch time

2008-09-12T13:30:00.003+05:30

this is the place where i have my lunch on weekdays. just a five minutes walk from my workplace in nandanam. sumptuous meals, excellent and express service. where a two rupee tip is also accepted with a pleased smile. once two different people had attended to me, when i handed over the now customary tip to the one who had returned me the change, he called his colleague and handed over the tip to him - seems he was incharge of serving people in the table or area where i spent time eating. nerumi man!

a new connection

2008-09-06T11:35:00.003+05:30

to get a new gas connection in chennai, one has to now attach a ration card. if you don't have a ration card, you can apply for it and then you may have to wait from three to eight months. once you attach the ration card, you may have to again wait for a month to get a cylinder!

i got my gas connection in 30 minutes flat! no address, photo ID, ration card, letter from employer docs were required. i just had to pay around a thousand rupees extra. i know it's wrong, but i don't have the patience to wait for ages to get a connection. getting a legal connection would mean traveling to delhi, getting my name struck from some civil supplies office, carrying that document, reapplying in chennai - and imagine the effort all this requires.

i wonder why the state government has such funny and people-unfriendly guideline for issuing something which is a basic necessity! and something which may not be of absolute use to many people is being distributed free - color televisions to the poor :-) Perhaps if they distribute ration cards, their vote bank may swell :-)

unforgettable!

2008-09-01T22:16:00.006+05:30

I was upset about something I don't remember, and was crossing the street to get into my car parked near a school in Adyar. Suddenly this school boy appeared right in front of my way. Realizing I would have tripped, or the speeding car from the opposite direction would have hit us both, I frowned and shouted at him and then crossed the road.

2-3 minutes later, the same boy appeared before me and in an innocent & polite yet firm voice said, "uncle, everybody can make a mistake!"

For few seconds I was speecless, and then realizing my mistake, I apologized.

I wanted to hug this kid and buy him some candy, but he had already left.

Dates...

2008-07-13T00:14:00.004+05:30

Dates are not important things. and yet they help in putting things in their righ places... 2nd June 2008.

sometimes...

2008-05-24T02:12:00.003+05:30

sometimes people who you work with are people you wouldn't like to work with :-), professionally. after training, monitoring, coaching, mentoring you simply give up. if you are rude [sometimes you should be], in your frustration you end up telling such people that either they are a recruitment error [read blunder] or will need ages to learn the basics, professionally. but, some of these people really surprise you with their knowledge in a different domain! you are awestruck with what they share, and when you have nothing to add or question in that subject.

...a school boy's crush[es]...

2008-03-19T12:53:00.006+05:30

She and I used to sit next to each other. We used to share food, pencil, color pens, and anything shareable. She was my crush. She was shorter than me and used to look sweet in a ponytail and tunic, with a tie knot-not larger than a berry.

One day, I saw her using Asif’s magnetic pencil box. She won’t talk to me. I was enraged but did not say anything to her. That evening I coaxed my cousins to lend me their double-decker magnetic pencil box. Next day I proudly displayed that and kept it in front of her, next to Asif’s. For some reason[s] I forget, it did not appeal her, and the guy succeeded in grabbing her attention by his charming box. The loaned box was returned to the cousins late night after they cried suspecting my intension of returning it.

I had to think of some other trick to woo her. I had none, so next day, in a fit of anger and frustration; I hit her on her head with the cupboard lock. This time I was not slapped, just thrashed!

The class did not talk to me for what seemed ages. Rita had to get stitches. Some 14 years later we both met in a computer institute where we both had registered for professional courses. She and I just smiled.
---------------->
She had the prettiest of face, that angelic smile, and a nice hair cut – just like mom – bob cut! Her family and ours knew each other – common friends. So it was natural to feel good that I knew this sweet girl more than anyone else in the class. We were in class 7 I guess, and perhaps girls at that age were not sensible to sense love vibes!
---------------->
Then there was another one who was a Christian beauty in class 9. But Karan liked her. And I was scared of Karan. So god knows what happened in the end, but I never succeeded. She and I were monitors. And because no boys would listen to me, I got canning in front of the entire class. I was least embarrassed for the punishment, more worried about losing that nice guy impression in front of my Christian beauty!
---------------->
My cousin’s friend, who flunked and was now with me in 9th but in a different section, came to my class to meet me. I was standing out, facing the wall – common punishment in those days for some kind of goof-up I must have done. The class was in progress and as I was not bothered about the subject or the teacher anymore, I started chatting with her, half mesmerized that a beauty girl would come to meet me, and half afraid she would tell my mom.

She had forgot a text book and wanted to borrow mine. I felt so disgusted that I could not help her, and thereby lost all possibility of any future interactions.

When she was leaving I requested her not to mention about my punishment to my mom. She smiled – ah that killing smile!

On several occasions I have got thrashing from my two principals for not keeping short hair. The male principal was cruel. I did not have a long mirror at home to examine the degree of damage his cane caused to my paining butt. I wished he fractured his fingers. I was intelligent to think of both hands.

...those were the days...

2008-03-18T14:37:00.006+05:30

The class had some 10 plus tonic pink and sky (extra) blue colored tables and benches; chart papers with pictures of fruits, vegetables, and animals with their names in extra large font on a label– making the tiger, turnip or papaya smaller than their labels. The biggest and perhaps the neatest chart paper displayed the weekly Time Table. Fearing the animals, fruits, and vegetables may get disfigured or unidentifiable if students attempted to drew them at age 7-8, Mrs. Whyle allowed us to just write the names.
♣

Mrs. Mall, a subject teacher asked the class who all had a fridge at home. A fridge in the late 70s was a luxury few could afford. My uncle had one, and since I considered it to be mine since my house was adjacent to his, I raised my hand. Her next question froze me! ‘What is the upper compartment of the fridge called?’ I could not answer, so she declared I was a liar. I cried.

♣

I was given the responsibility of managing the class cupboard. Only Mrs.Whyle and I had access to chalks, exam sheets, and other assorted items. One day she asked me to get her ‘Goggles’ from the cupboard. GOGGLES! After pondering for what seems ages, I had to embarrassingly ask her what exactly she wanted! I was not slapped or scolded for such ignorance. Such prizes were in store for future, in abundance.

♣

The date for the Annual Sports day was announced. The PTI entered the class. He asked me which of the four houses I belonged to. At 7-8 it must be difficult for a kid to correctly pronounce the name, assuming that, he rephrased the question – ‘what is the color of your house – red, blue, green or yellow?’ Mrs. Whyle and the PTI busted into laughter hearing my response – pointing towards my home, which was in the adjacent block, I said, ‘the color of my house is white.’ I was not slapped for this ignorance as well.
♣

Funniest teachers were Mrs. Gita Singh and Mrs. Grey. They took our music and SUPW classes respectively.

Ahem! I was once upon a time in school choir! That was when I was in class 6 or 7. I am sure there were two or three more like me, who were offered a place because the choir looked too small for a student strength of 400 plus. My favorite number was played every day towards the end of the assembly – ‘O when the saints, go marching in!’

Mrs. Singh used to come in an old vintage car which on many occasions I saw needed a mechanic to fix it for some problem or the other. Never saw the mechanic’s face as I guess, he used to hide inside the open bonnet of the car.
She caught a student picking his nose and snapped back – stop digging treasure from there. That was so amusing for the class, and so embarrassing for poor Anil.
Mrs. Grey taught us stitching – yes, stitching, embroidery, paintings, making baskets using nylon threads and so many other creative objects. It’s funny how she always wanted us to buy stuff from one particular shop – ‘mama sari wala’. I never saw any sari in his shop – only zari and gota, and our stuff.

For the PT drill on sports day, she made all of us buy white dupattas – each one of us had to dress up as butterfly. After the drill was over, the dupattas were collected and no one knows where they went.

♣

I was a sports enthusiast! Never wanted to lift even a finger! Just so that I was kicked out of the march past, I never used to wear a blazer during practice – pretending that I did not have one. Every year I used the same trick, and was successfully kicked out.

On why no sporting event would suit me!

Javelin throw – never took the stick in my hand, but always visualized I would invariably hit someone or poke someone if I tried my hand at it.

Shot-put – Imagined me swirling at 100kmph if I tried that, and would never be able to release the disk in hand. And maybe fly myself like the disk.

Athletics – watching Rajat Nagpal and Vikas Gupta’s facial expressions while running made me sweat. This sport was not for me.

Long/Short jump – what would happen if I broke my femur, tibia, fibula or all three!

Basket ball – yes I tried participating in that, and enjoyed being part of the team. Mom dragged me out when she came to know my role. I was supposed to run, get the ball, and throw back at the players. I was a runner/extra I think.

Boxing – most interesting. I wanted to be a boxer, I knew there was some category as feather weight and being skinny I would fit there, plus my understanding was that feather weight boxers were to box each other mildly. So the PTI asked me to get a certificate from the doc. Dr Om Prakash saw me and heard my interest and objective of my seeing him. His feedback demoralized me – ‘marna hai kiya.’ For rest of my years at school I watched every boxing event with interest.

PT – I participated in all the PT events in the sports day. While people won cups and medals, I used to think why my lot never got any materialistic appreciation like them except for the customary rather obliging clapping from the audience.
The two best things on annual sports day were the sound of bugle and the army band. Who cared for the athletics and other trivia!

♣

So this some Father/Brother principal of St Peters Shillong called me to his office where my mom was already sitting. He asked me to read a sentence. His focus was on a specific word, which I could not pronounce and so I was demoted from class 3 to 2 or 2 to 1.

Back home mom was crying and she asked me how I felt. I was thrilled and in all my childish happiness told her that children in my new class get toy cars to drive. Her tight slap knocked me down. I cried and did not understand what that was for.

The word was umbrella.

♣

Jab We Met - again

2008-03-17T01:30:00.003+05:30

In Part 1, the roles were different, the expectations were different.
Roles in Part 2 are much more clearer. The expectations - well, no expectations at all :-)
This is the 'rarest of rare' incident in life.
Life is beautiful - it sure is!

i...

2008-01-04T23:44:00.000+05:30

i am almost broke after investing to save
i crib about work atleast once a week
i am not getting calls from HR consultants
i hate winter: i hate waking up every morning
i wonder why we cannot have e'city 24x7x12months
i want to buy a new car
i hate the traffic
i, i, i and more of I...

am I being selfish - just thinking about myself?

yesterday morning, while driving to work, cursing idiotic morons who have cars but no road sense, i stopped behind a maruti van at a red light. in the van i saw few kids. on second glance, i observed the van was carrying spastic kids.

i forgot every worry that i was carrying in my head that moment. i was touched. it was not pity. it was not sadness. rather, i was ashamed of something unknown...

i think i am not enjoying life...

looking at the brighter side:
-i have a job
-i have a car
-i get food to eat
-i have a mind to think, and capability to achieve

i think we are fortunate to lead a normal life, but unfortunate not to realize what we have...

my christmas cake...

2008-01-02T00:01:00.000+05:30

it was ordered from some bakery in delhi, then it travelled to bangalore, trissur, hyderabad, and finally handed over to me in connaught place! interesting, isn't it :-)

the 'daily hukumnama' on amritsar radio......

2007-12-26T02:35:00.000+05:30

i have subscribed to the 'daily hukumnama' since 1997 after my friend roop told me what it means and its significance for the Sikhs.
the 'daily hukumnama' can be roughly translated as a शलोक/holy couplet picked up from the 'Guru Granth Sahib'. it is read out early morning by i think the head priest of the Golden Temple from 'Sri Harmindar Sahib'.

it is announced at a specific time, before 6 am everyday. day starts with kirtan followed by the 'daily hukumnama' and then more kirtans.

kirtan and the 'daily hukumnama' can also be heard live from Amritsar radio - http://www.amritsarradio.com/. it is very soothing to hear the kirtans early morning :-)

About the creator, truth, and love...

2007-12-26T02:14:00.000+05:30

jap aad sach, jugaad sach, hay bhi sach, nanak hosi bhi sach*

this was TRUE in the distant past
it was TRUE in all the past ages
it is TRUE today
it will remain TRUE always in future

Kaahay Ray Ban Khojan Jaayay

2007-12-24T03:37:00.000+05:30

आनंदमठ से कुछ पंक्तियाँ:

2007-12-24T02:50:00.000+05:30

... कोई एक गहना लेकर हमको एक मुट्ठी चावल दे दे! भूक से जान निकल रही है, आज पत्तो पर ही गुज़र हुई है! एक ने ऐसा बोला तौ सब लोग इसी तरह की बातें करने लगे और शोर मच गया - चावल दो चावल दो!भूक से जान जा रही है! ...

डाकुओं के सरदार ने उनको रोकना चाहा, पर रोके न रुकता था, धीरे धीरे ज़ोर ज़ोर से बातें होने लगी! गाली-गलोच शुरू हो गयी! यहाँ तक के हाथा पाई कि नौबत आ गई! जिसे जो कुछ भी गहना मिल था, उसे उसने तैश मे आ कर सरदार पर दे मारा!

सरदार ने जब दो एक को मारा, तब सब लोग मिलकर सरदार पर टूट पडे और उसे मारने लगे! .....एक दो वार होते ही वह गिरकर मर गया! तब भूके, रुष्ट, उत्तेजित, हतबुद्धि डाकुओं मे से एक ने कहा, हमने सीयार और कुत्ते खाये, भूक से मर रहे है! चलो, आज इसी साले को खा ले!

Yezdi >> Enfield >> Chetak

2007-12-24T02:12:00.000+05:30

Aji Chako returned after his month long wedding vacation. He didn’t appear happy. So I decided to check with him.

Over a sutta break, he narrated his woes:

“What to do, seven days were wasted travelling from Delhi to my native, then wife’s village, and back to Delhi!”

“Wedding was good, I have video cassette also. I also got Yezdi bike from wife’s uncle. I am asking them to exchange with Enfield. I have told them, bike must be parceled to Delhi in two weeks. I will search new room and also bring wife after that.”

Ignorant on anything related to bikes, I did not understand his reason for being sad. Was Enfield better than Yezdi I thought.

Probed further and realized, Yezdi was not a bad bike, it’s just that Aji is six feet plus and when he drove this bike; his knees almost touched the handles. Maneuvering left and right was becoming risky, so he asked for the taller and lengthier Enfield.

In a month’s time, he picked up his parcel from ND Railway Station – blue colored Bajaj Chetak! I enquired about his Enfield from Trissur.

“Uncle bought the Yezdi from a showroom which sold only Bajaj scooters and Yezdi bikes!" I am glad he said this with a smile.

I hear he is in Gelf now. Wondering if he has parceled his Chetak there :-) or is it back in his native :-) :-)

people

2007-12-16T01:40:00.000+05:30

they are the ASI workers currently doing restoration at firozshah kotla.observe the lime in their body.

Fire @ 1:25 am

2007-12-16T01:21:00.000+05:30

celebration and sorrow!

2007-12-16T00:08:00.000+05:30

uncle ji and his three sons have just been released from district jail!

the car with the red beacon light was blocking the way which lead to uncle ji's house. ring ceremony was in progress, and people were facing problem passing through the narrow entrance to the house, which now was also accommodating a car from the bride's side.

uncleji's would-be-dulha son was out shouting at and heartily abusing the driver for not parking the car in the main road. the driver, a young man with typical bhaiyyan looks, was all set to hit back in the same tone, but realizing that he was from the bride's side, kept quite.

dutta aunty, our uncleji's ex-neighbour in lyyton road, saw the car from a distance and stopped, wondering if she was in the wrong lane. she asked someone standing nearby if nigam saheb's house was in the next lane.

she must have felt part of a marathon race for above 70, because that bystander held her hand and almost dragged her inside the house. she didn't had to use her walking stick for those few minutes. na, seconds.

we could hear loud music from uncleji's house. first it was 'aaj ki raat, hona hai kiya' that oomph number by mallika sherawat, then 'pyaar ko ho jaanay do' that somewhat normal number by kajol and devgan. later, we heard some heated arguments. who was agruing with whom was difficult to figure out, but we could recognize the nigam quartet clearly. it seems there was some negligeable tiff on how the groom's side was not treated well in the bride's city! but the foursome had to show that they were superior, so they argued in chorus! after a pause of 10-15 minutes, it was time for some more rocking music... peace restored we thought.

people started leaving. a good Samaritan escorted dutta aunty out and drove her back home in his car parked in the main road. the beacon car was still blocking the narrow lane. some more abuses were hurled at the driver by the second brother. we saw, and the driver also saw, uncleji's eldest son running out of the house with a stick. that was it, the driver was ready and punched him. untolerable! the groom, his brothers, their friends, all of them jumped and thumped the 'ready to fight' guests from the other city. the poor car lost its windscreen and beacon light.

'yeah rishta nahi hoga' was the obvious decision announced then and there. this was at 6 pm. 2 am the police arrested the quartet. beacon light was taken lightly by the winners at 6pm!

next morning, dutta aunty ji called up nigam aunty ji and said, 'soni bahu hai! tayray puttar nu meri chadi ni mili? Kal jad mai car which baithee, tay onay mainu phone kar kay bola, aunty mai hunay tuhadi chaadi ghar pahucha jaata hoon!'

i hate winter season

2007-12-15T23:27:00.000+05:30

i avoid-
--sitting on a chair which has arm rest - i feel i am encaged!
--commuting with people i know - i interact with them at work everyday!
--watching movies with someone - that way, i can't walk out if the movie is boring!
--shopping with someone - i don't need opinions!

i take my own decisions. no one forces me, can ever force me to do something that i just don't want to. except for this damn winter season. much to my disgust, i have to wear warm clothes. i just hate this season.

mood: thoughtful

2007-11-30T00:48:00.000+05:30

jab bhi milti hai mujhe ajnabi lagti kyon hai,
zindagi roz naye rang badalti kyon hai

funny

2007-11-28T23:41:00.000+05:30

in one corner of a wall inside a photo studio in akshaya nagar-bangalore - 'We specialize in Below Up'

on a sign board of an optician - 'Eye Optician'

written in the front portion of a bus shed near bikaji cama place - 'Africa Avenew' - this was three years back, AveNew has been changed to the now not so amusing Avenue.

on the front door [exit door] of a blue line bus - 'kripiya bhaiyya na bolay' - perhaps the driver and conductor dislike girls and ladies addressing them as 'bhaiyya' when they have to get down or board the bus. hope it worked for them.

just how do you do it?

2007-11-28T23:14:00.000+05:30

he joined the organization after i had been around for more than an year. its been more than seven years now, and i have not seen this person change at all - even when he has professionally moved to a senior role. what he has achieved has been all because of his hard work and dedication. i am sure he loves to do what he does, while many of us with him do what we do because we love the money it brings :-)

seasoned or fresh, old or new, everyone knows he would definately have a solution to any ID problems that they may face. every single ID respects his talent. he is approachable, knowledgeable, humorous, excellent mentor and guide. and above all, a wonderful human being.

i have never seen him lose his temper, frustrated, complaining, and cribbing. i was surprised when he walked up to me day before and said he had given himself a five minutes break. i have always seen him working, so i thought perhaps he is now trying to learn something new - wasting a little time :-)

he talks less, comparatively. to the point. and every interaction gives a sense of some good take-away from the learned man :-)

i am sure my collesgues will agree that Ranit is one of the best talent we have!

PS: inspiration to write this - source - LC session 3 - one of the scenarios - 'have you met this person somewhere'

was it right?

2007-11-28T22:47:00.000+05:30

was it a right thing to do? that's the question i asked one of my friend.

many a times, i question myself on a 'personal' decision i make about certain things. the questioning is an after thought on a decison i have already taken. on whether or not it was right. generally, the wrong decisions are evident by the reaction or consequences. the question of 'whether it was right' is at times confusing. so, for a particular thing i did not do or react to, i asked my fried about it.

philosophical as she is, her answer was very logical. "what we do or say at 'that' or 'a' particular moment is the 'right' thing to do or the right or best decision taken. so there's no point wasting time on pondering whether or not it was right. it sure was, that is the reason you reacted that way. the best way. the best you could think of at that moment or situation."

is that right? :-)

He...

2007-11-27T23:45:00.000+05:30

i enjoy the company of people who are no-nonsense types and the ones who have a good sense of humor :-)

he falls under the latter category.

he can never stand still. reminds me of a rocking chair. or of someone who is old and trying to learn Tap dance in slow motion. short, lil bald, resembles more like Rk Laxman's 'the common man'.

he narrates his woes in a comical way. just today when i asked him why was his telephone connection acting funny. his response was amusing that his aircell, and not airtel, signal changes when he lies down or is sitting or standing! he added i could perhaps hear him with the phone at a consedrable distance if he were up on terrace. unpredicatble aircell connection!

in his current job he is working both as a pm and analyst. has cristened his colleague as 'school boy' and the school boy's supervisor as 'cow boy'! says he, 'the school boy is supposed to lead, but because he lacks experience, he leans on me. the cow boy only believes in using the 'danda' technique to get work done! i am running a circus and have multiple roles to perform...'

he has moved to a new city and tells me half the city is now looking for a house on rent for him - that's because he has been unable to find a decent one for himself, and by now the entire office knows it. 'i have very few worldly possessions with me. so any day i can roll my bag and decamp!'

he and i met in delhi where we worked as instructional designers in the same team. we used to run macros on word document which used to take ages to run and complete whatever they were intended to complete. he used to get up every now and then and crib and complain. he is a little impatient with almost everything.

when his child was born, we asked him how does the kid looks like? 'difficult to tell whether she has my or her moms features, but when she cries she resembles boris yelstin - all red!'

another incident that i remember he told me about was some incense stick that someone sold to his mother in kolkatta. 'they had some frightning fragrance!' 'the dog ran out of the house along with us, the parrot started fluttering his feathers inside the cage, and everyone shouted on mom to 'extinguish' the damn incense stick!'

'so sindhu, if i understand it correct, and were to draw an analogy between the hieracrhy in church and where we work, project manager=priest, division head=decan, xx=bishop, and chairman=pope! sindhu was offended, but all this was so amusing.

'people in calcutta are football fanatics. even a chai wala will talk about pele and his life story as if pele himself came to his shop and told him all the incidents in his life!'

'i don't like traveling in the local bus when i have to reach office at 9. it takes everyone to the interiors of okhla, as if all passengers are tourists and we are on a guided tour of okhla!'

there are many incidents which i don't remember, but which have provided me and all who know him much amusement.

working with him has been fun. knowing him has been wonderful!

he is a great pal!

She...

2007-11-27T21:52:00.000+05:30

she has the right word for everything
she says the right thing at the right time
she makes me laugh uncontrollably when i am with her
she makes me laugh and smile when i think of all that she has said
she's sensible, intelligent, inquisitive, naughty, kiddish, and simple
she's charming and loveable
she's never jealous of anyone, just not at all
she's meticulous in whatever she does
she's social and friendsly
she respects every individual
she's emotional about small little things [yes, she is a girl after all :-)]
she never nurses a grudge
she scolds me when i have done anything wrong [i am scared of her at times]
she wants to be someone someday [and i am sure that day isn't far away!]
she has a wonderful smile
she gives good, logical, and practical advice [or is it advise :-)]
she is strong and mature
she means the world to me

tumsay milkar...

2007-09-17T00:43:00.000+05:30

two sticks...

2007-09-17T00:29:00.000+05:30

two sticks i saw a man holding, with multiple perforation on both.
the difference-one was metal the other wood.

the man was a CRPF/CISF soldier posted outside chandni chowk metro stn. a long perforated cylindrical gun hung across his shoulder and he was also holding the wodden stick - a flute which he bargained from a handicap vendor.

a soldier with two sticks: for social and mental peace!

8/9 September...

2007-09-17T00:19:00.000+05:30

Thanks to Anupama and Samrat for taking out time to meet me. and wish me.

Thanks to-Juhi, Paromita, Shruti, Leena, Anurag, Santwana, Bhawna, MoonBa, Harsh, Priyanka, Vijeesh, Pranaya, G3, Anshi, Mr Joel, Coco, manti, Gayu, mamiji, and Kaku-for the birthday wishes!

recreating or restarting...

2007-09-16T23:43:00.000+05:30

Sometimes I think of undoing all those mistakes and recreating moments that I can be proud of when I look back. Restrating or recreating the past!

A chance encounter with an old acquaintance [acquaintance since 1992] made me think of the restarting and recreating stuff.

It's difficult not to think of the past... but it's a good learning as Manas Chakravarty says, 'we do not learn from experiences, we learn from reflecting on the experiences.'

I admit: this is a vague entry for you...not for me.

On Chesil Beach

2007-09-16T23:21:00.000+05:30

A fairly decent story by Ian McEwan. Story about the wedding night of Florence and Edward. How the couple is uncomfortable & shy, and how one incident changes the entire relationship! You need to read the book to know more, if interested :-)

I'd like to share the lines that changes the relationship.

...he went to speak, but she raised her hand. 'That I'm pretty hopeless, absolutely hopeless at sex. Not only am I no good at it, I don't seem to need it like other people, like you do. It just isn't something that's part of me. I don't like it, I don't like the thought of it. I have no idea why that is, but I think it isn't going to change. Not immediately. At least, I can't imagine it changing. And if I don't say this now, we'll always be struggling with it, and it's going to cause you a lot of unhappiness, and me too.'

bye bye notes...

2007-08-24T12:25:00.000+05:30

Today morning a colleague informed me that he has put-down his papers and that his last working day would be mid september. It is not shocking. Nothing that someone is doing for the first time. I have myself submitted 7 resignations in 13 years :-)

There ws a time around 18 months back when I saw myself marked in every alternate bye-bye notes which was sent from within a small team of 50 odd people in the division. I decided to save those bye-bye notes in one corner of my Inbox. Sharing few which will give you an idea of what people write, mean, and convey through bye-bye notes.

----------------------------Start

LH: 30th December 2005

Finally, farewell.

Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

Let me indulge you with a little bit of good poetry, an amazing piece by CP Cavafy (translated from Greek). If you manage to read this through there is a message at the end of the piece ‘from me’…

As you set out for Ithakahope your road is a long one,full of adventure, full of discovery.Laistrygonians, Cyclops,angry Poseidon-don't be afraid of them:you'll never find things like that on your wayas long as you keep your thoughts raised high,as long as a rare excitementstirs your spirit and your body.Laistrygonians, Cyclops,wild Poseidon-you won't encounter themunless you bring them along inside your soul,unless your soul sets them up in front of you.

Hope your road is a long one.May there be many summer mornings when, with what pleasure, what joy, you enter harbors you're seeing for the first time; may you stop at Phoenician trading stations to buy fine things, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,sensual perfume of every kind- as many sensual perfumes as you can; and may you visit many Egyptian cities to learn and go on learning from their scholars.Keep Ithaka always in your mind. Arriving there is what you're destined for. But don't hurry the journey at all. Better if it lasts for years, so you're old by the time you reach the island,wealthy with all you've gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to make you rich. Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey. Without her you wouldn't have set out. She has nothing left to give you now.

And if you find her poor, Ithaka won't have fooled you.Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,you'll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
~

~ message ~

I get married on the _th of January 2006 in Savoi Verem, Old Goa with ----. I’d appreciate your prayers.
----------------------------End
PM: 2nd June 2006

It was my pleasure and privilege in being a part of the dynamic --- Team.
And now, it is time to say: So Long! Farewell! I Wish to Say Goodbye!
I could not think of anything else but two of my favorites to quote:

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."
A Tale Of Two Cities - By Charles Dickens

“The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.”
Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening - By Robert Frost.

Wishing You All The Best in Life!
----------------------------End
SA: 14th June 2006

After 10 fruitful years at ---, now it is time for me to move on. The associations I have made during my tenure here will truly be memorable for years to come. I appreciate having had the opportunity of being a member of --- family and offer my best wishes for its continued success.

Hope to stay in touch with all of you.
----------------------------End
NO: 6th July 2006

It's time for me to move on... I am carrying with me a lot of pleasant memories and will miss you all. I am thankful for all the support, guidance, and cooperation that I recieved.
Life is too short and we might just meet again :).
----------------------------End
SD: 7th July 2006

Today is my last working day in this company. I feel a sense of sadness mixed with the happiness of change. --- has given me various oppurtunities to learn new things.I have very much enjoyed my work, as well as working with my co-workers over the past two years. I would like to take this oppurtunity to express my sincere appreciation for the guidance and counsel during this duration.

I’d like to thank all of you for your contributions to my life. It’s been great working with all of you.
----------------------------End
HHT: 7th July 2006 - Subject line: One upon a time...

…I joined ---. Yes….it’s more than nine years now. After passing through various crests & troughs and highs & lows, time has come to hang my keyboard and mouse at ---.

No marks for guessing it right. Today is my last day at ---. I will be leaving behind lots of friends, guides, and mentors. What I will be carrying along with me is lot of experience, learning, and fond memories of this place.

I am thankful to all of you for being so helpful and being there all the time. I wish you all a great future ahead.

You can catch me at:
@yahoo.com
@hotmail.com
@gmail.com

NOTE: seems to be a sentimental person, actually expects people to keep in touch :-)
----------------------------End
ASN: 28th September 2006

Today is my last day here at ---, and I would like to thank each one of you for making my tenure here such a pleasure.
I can be reached at @yahoo.com and @gmail.com.
Do keep in touch and all the best for the future!
May the sun shine bright on your windowpane.May the rainbow be certain to follow each rain.May the hand of a friend always be near you.And may God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.
----------------------------End
AB: 24th October 2006

Well, officially Thanksgiving Day is in about a month’s time. But, let me take this opportunity to thank you for all the assistance, cooperation, strength (umm… quiver at times too J) and friendship that you have bestowed upon me for I bid adieu to --- today.

Wish you all the very best for all your future endeavors. I would love to keep in touch with you.
----------------------------End
I thought I will include a resignation letter also in between the farewell notes.

RS: 7th November 2006

Dear ---,

Please accept this letter as formal notification that I am leaving my position as Development Executive with the company on 24th, November, 2006 due to personal and health reasons. My decision to leave the job is final.

Thank you for the opportunities you have provided me during my time with the company.

bye-bye note by the same person :-)

24th November 2006

Dear All,

Today is my last day at ---. I am carrying lots of wonderful memories and going back richer by many friends.

Thanks a lot for your love, support, strength, and concern which has helped me grow personally and professionally.

May all your dreams materialize into beautiful realities!

You and I will meet againWhen we're least expecting itOne day in some far off placeI will recognize your faceI won't say goodbye my friendFor you and I will meet again.-Tom Petty
----------------------------End
SGN: 17th November 2006

It's been a privilege working and learning with all of you. As I say
goodbye, I wish you good health, much happiness, and great fulfillment in
all that you do, always.
I have many of you to thank for the high level of personal and professional
growth I have experienced here. My heartfelt gratitude to each one of you.
Many years ago, I read a beautiful Irish blessing. Today, I pass it on to
you...
"May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back,
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields and,
Until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand."
----------------------------End
KSU: 24th November 2006

I wanted to take a moment to let you know that I am leaving --- today.

I have enjoyed my tenure here and I appreciate having had the opportunity to work and interact with you. Thank you for the support, guidance, and encouragement you have provided me during my time at ---. Even though I will miss my colleagues and the company, I am looking forward to a new challenge and to starting a new phase of my career.
----------------------------End
AM: 15th December 2006

Today is my last working day in ---. Thanks to all of you for all the support you provided. I would just like to say

“To meet and to part is the way of life,
to part and to meet is the hope of life.”
----------------------------End
LK: 22nd December 2006 The BEST bye-bye Note

Hi!

Today is my last day, at ---, after almost 10 years.

Yes, I have been an instructional designer for years, but today, I am at a loss (of words) to express how I feel… L

Well, I would just say “Bye Till We Meet Again!”
----------------------------End
AN: 5th April 2007

My long stint of nearly 10 years with ---has been full of a lot of learning and I am taking forward a rich experience which will help me in my career path. Each one of you have contributed to that enriching experience and I want to convey my thanks from the deep recesses of my heart.

I am leaving with fond memories and I know I will miss ---’s open door culture wherever my fate takes me. I wish all of you the very best for the future.

May God Bless you all and fulfill all your wishes.
----------------------------End
SB: 12th April 2007

Goodbyes are never easy, but the time has come. In my stay here, I got the opportunity to work with a lot of people from various practices. It has been a pleasure knowing all of you. Hoping that we will stay in touch.
----------------------------End
MA: 12th April 2007

Hi All ,
It's been a privilege working and learning with all of you. As I say goodbye, I wish you all good health, much happiness, and great fulfillment in all that you do, I enjoyed working here as it was my first job, and I had a good experience working with creative minds. I am proud to be part of ---family.

First of all you just add my e-mail IDs @gmail.com and @yahoo.co.in , Trin trin.# ...
Please send me your email Id's and contact no.also so that I am always in touch with you..

Time is a companion that goes with us on a journey.
It reminds us to cherish each moment,
because it will never come again.
What we leave behind is not as important as how we have lived.
----------------------------End
AT: 1st June 2007

Comparatively a short stint of working with ---, I am writing this mail with mixed feelings, surely it has been an important & eventful construction block in my life and career. I have decided to move on to pursue strategic career objectives and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your support while we worked together and touched each other lives in a meaningful way.... I really enjoyed my journey at ---. I am sure to miss the excitement, momentum, and energy I saw in people, be it during the projects on fire or on the TT tables, Qumb 007 Bondship or the sofa in Minerva where strategies were discussed over a coffee! I am sure that we will cross roads in future and therefore, it’s not time to say "good bye" but to say "bye for now"........It was a pleasure working with you all and I will always cherish the special relationship we shared.---is poised for spectacular growth and I wish you all the success in its future endeavors. Please keep in touch. I can be reached at -@yahoo.com or mobile: +--. Cheers, X
----------------------------End
KDD: 18th June 2007

Hi Eveveryone,

Today is my last working day at ---. Its been a pleasure working with all of you. ---has been a bag of mixed experiences for me and I intend to carry forward the Good ones only. After almost 762 days of learning and working its time to move on new responsibilities and a new atmosphere. To say that I’ll miss you will be an understatement. However, I’ll always remember whatever I’ve learnt and cherish the moments spent with you.

Please keep in touch at: @gmail.com Would like to quote Mr. Richard Bach before signing off:
“Don't be dismayed at good-byes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.”
----------------------------End
AHT: 5th july 2007

It was my pleasure and privilege in being a part of the dynamic ---Team. And now, it is time to say: So Long! Farewell! I Wish to Say Goodbye!

To encapsulate all that I could see and observe here, I would definitely like to say:

“Dekha jo Aaina to muhjhe sochna pada…Khud se na mil saka to mujhe sochna pada

Mujko tha ye guman ki mujhi me ek ada..dekhi teri ana to mujhe sochna pada”

I thank you all for the opportunities that you all provided to me to learn and grow in both professional and personal fronts.

Sunny wishes, X

...another fav song...

2007-02-09T23:21:00.000+05:30

movie: nokketha doorathu kannum nattu

on my request, my friend saritha translated the song 'aayiram kannumai...' in an understandable language for me :-)

aayiram kannumai kaathirunnu ninne jnaan
With thousand eyes I waited for you
ennil ninnum parannakannoru paingily malar thenkily
Birdie, sweet birdie, who flew away from me
Manju veenatharinjilla veyil vannupoyatharinjilla
Didn't know when snow and sunshine came and went
omale nee varum naalumenniyirunnu jnaan
Dear, I counted the days for your return
vannu nee vannu ninnu nee ende janma saaphalyame
You came, you came and stood, my life's bliss
vannu nee vannu ninnu nee ende janma saaphalyame...
You came, you came and stood, my life's bliss

aayiram... thousand....

Thennalum makalekiyo kunju thumbi thamburu meettiyo
Did the breeze kiss you? Did the small "thumbi"(Don't know what this is called in English.It’s a small cute insect.) play the violin?
ullile maamayil neelappeelikal neettiyo
Did the peacock inside you span it's blue feathers?
ende ormayil poothu ninnoru manja mandaarame
The yellow flower("mandharam" is a flower) that bloomed in my memories
ennil ninnum parannu poyoru janma saaphalyame
Life's bliss that flew away from me

thanks saritha! fyi, translation requested and received on 25th Nov 2005 :-)

...regional movies on doordarshan...

2007-02-09T23:02:00.000+05:30

looooooooong back, doordarshan used to air some regional movie every sunday at 1 or 2 pm. interesting part was the synopsis of the movie before it started. best was when the anouncer use to end her synopsis stating..."kiya woh ussay mil paati hai kay nahi/kiya aisa ho pata hai ke nahi...yeah jaan-nay-kay-liyay aaiyay dekhtay hai malayalam/tamil/etc film abc..."

i remember watching the following few movies during that 'era'. and most of them were interesting. i am sure i have not spelled the movie names correctly...
-sitara
-sindhu bhairavi
-noketha doorathu kannum nattu
-aagantuk
-sankarabarnam
-goopi gayen bagha bayen

i remember few others but don't know the movie names.

watched three or four of them in a black & white TV set. 'woh bhi ek zamana tha!' :-)

randaka, randaka, randaka...one of my fav songs!

2007-02-09T22:44:00.000+05:30

harris jeyaraj's Kondakaari song is one of my my favourites. simply for one reason - it has a catchy tune! i have absolutely no idea what it means, and as i have not seen the movie, i have my own visulaization of the video! amusing one that is :-)

the other songs from this movie are equally interesting to listen to, and i wonder why i did not buy the movie.

g3, do you remember how the trio from mumbai used to burst into laughter whenever we used to play these from raaga.com [on Tanmay's request]! and your explaination that these songs actually have no lyrics was never convincing. were you lying? :-)

I am busy...

2007-02-06T12:48:00.000+05:30

1+12+17... currently managing these many projects! and no, I am not a DM...just a chotu-motu poor me....PM!

too much work... am not bothered about anything else on planet earth :-(

am not writing anything, but have been clicking pics in any free time that i get...

photos.yahoo.com/shotsbyvt