Half Century

Hey I made the glorious Half Century(50 blogs and still not out) and its of course some achievement for me. By my standard i never thought that I could ever go beyond 3 -4 blogs, but then I must say that these are really addictive stuffs and keeps me busy at times when I have nothing to do.
Thank you all for reading this blog... okay there are two people reading this blog. Me and you, but still I have to write this.
There would be more....

Monotony of Life

Late nights
Early Mornings
Hangovers
Missed Breakfasts
Rush to the office
Orkutting
Chatting
Projects
Works
Coffee Breaks
Gossips
Lunch Breaks
Back To Work
Late Evenings at work
Wekends with friends
Parties
Movies
Late nights...

VICIOUS CIRLCE CALLED MONOTONY OF LIFE

When we met Shi...

It was a good week. With a very good mix of work and fun, in fact the best mix. I mean there was no work and it was all fun. That’s what made it all fun and no work week, and didn’t make me a dull guy.

Okay first, Shi was here on her annual trip. Jaya Aunty (Shi’s Mom) had called me and asked me to arrange for her accommodation. I did so. Sam offered her place. On 24th she arrived in Delhi. We had some a lot of catching up to do, after all its been six months since we met. So we(Shi n Me)went for Ghajini (Aamir being the common factor) and then had a quick dinner, though it was not long enough to catch up but we managed. Post that Sam picked her up from PVR Anupam and I joined Zalil, Cheenku and Jhoothdev for dinner and then for a movie (Yes Man).

25th early morning I went for badminton and post the badi game I went to Sam’s place. Venky, Tee and Neha were already there. We were meeting after four months. I mean we (Shi nt included) all stay in Delhi and still we never meet unless there’s some special occasion. That’s really bad.

We chatted, we watched some movies and then we had dinner. Infact we ordered pizzas. I had some work the next day and that’s why had to come to Delhi. Tee dropped me home.

Saturday morning I woke up a bit late. Anuj and Komal had invited us (Richa, Nitant, Ankur, Reetu, Saurabh, Eveneet and myself) for lunch. So we reached there place at 2-30 and post a really good lunch we left there place at 5-00pm. In between there were a lot of office gossips and talks.

In the evening I went to Sam’s place. The next day was Sunday, so everyone was relaxed. Tee had invited her boyfriend over for dinner. Btw this time we cooked our dinner ourselves. I though helped by not helping them. Shi cooked really good biryani. Staying outside India has certainly taught her a lot of things I must say. First of all she has stopped hitting me, the way she used to. It was good fun. I mean all friends catching up after such a long time.

Venky is leaving for LA next week, Neha is going back to Bangalore and Tee would be getting married and flying to Duabi with her BF (n wd be husband) next month. Shi and I were talking about how things are changing. It was only a year back when every weekend we used to meet and now. We all miss those days of nightouts, parties and fun...

Shi left the next day. She had a late night flight to catch, destination SA(lucky ass). Tee, Venky, Sam and me were there to drop her off. A group hug and few tears(strictly from Tee and Sam) later we waved Shi goodbye. I reached home late and crashed into bed. It was a great weekend. But ofcourse I would miss my friends… Love you guys…

I learnt my Lesson...

I think... no I knew I was doing wrong but then, they say that its always easy to walk along the wrong path than the right one and thats what I was doing. I mean if you have read my last blog, you must have read that the bogus investment that I did. So when I told the same thing to Richa, unlike others, she was quite upset and told me that its not right. Of course she was right. I mean Thank You, it is for you that I was able to learn my mistakes and undo them. So the next thing that I did was I called my agent and asked him to cancel my present investment and re-invested. This time I did a right thing.
In a way it did remove a sense of guilt in me. I think it was a great learning. I mean we always take this cheap thrills by doing things against law. I mean everytime we are able to roam around the city with our seat belts off, everytime we smoke in public, everytime we are on mobile while driving, jumping the traffic signal and still not getting caught, we make a story out of it (the way I did) and of course we get quite an appreciating audience. The problem lies here, everyone takes pride in these cheap thrills. We all believe that we are fooling the government and it doesn't harm anyone else. But the truth is we are not fooling the government and it is we the people who are getting hurt in the whole process.

I would hence forth try to be a responsible citizen. Thank you Richa.

Me and Savings...

Decemeber means that we need to have our investments done. Me being me always had to depend on others for the same. But this time I thought to save others the pain and decided to act smart and invest. I was able to save 50k, which is by my standard nothing less than a fortune.

I had 50k but I had to save 80k and what do I do, I get hold of a good agent for investment. So what I did, I invested in a Life Insurance with a free lock in period of 14 days, free lock in means that you can choose to take your money out within that time without gettin charged any extra. I got my tax certificate in a week's time. The next day I got the thing cancelled. I got back my money and with some jugad also the original certificate. the money that I got was then used to get the remaining 30k invested. And I was thru with a neat profit of 20k. Smart... Okay you can say so...

What a lazy week...

This week was a complete opposite of the last one, I mean we had no work. Unlike last week when everything was on fire and we acted as LADDER 49 men, this week was A GOOD YEAR. Very slow, no work and we were all left to ourselves. Barring Monday I had no client calls to wake me up from my peaceful non-working status.

We had our office escapedes too. We went to see movies. Left office early and in between when we found time we did clean up some back logs.

I bought a few books. I think I am gonna finish them. I mean my quota for a month is filled. I bought, Tokyo Cancelled, The Godfather, TO Kill a Mocking Bird and Bunker 13. I know its a lot many books but I am planning to finish them all in the next month. Out of them Godfather was more of a collector thing, as I have already finished that. I was almost about to buy this Friends Collector book, but then I saw the price tag. I know it wasnt too pricey but then I thought lets save something for the rainy season.

I saw this movie Mulholland Drive, by David Lynch, the guy who made Memento. It is a nice one. I think I am developing this big love for Neo- Noirs. I loved all the Quentin Tarantino flicks, David Lynch stuffs. Am I getting corrupted. I mean the movies are so disturbing but I think these are a big high. Whenever you watch them, they give you such an adrenalin rush. I literally sit on the edge of the chair.

Fast Forwards, Rewind...

Fast forward, rewind
you are always on my mind
my last thought before I dream
as surreal as it may seem

Rewind back to when we first met
it is the best day yet
pause on the moment you caught my eyes
it's still my favorite,that's no surprise
play it through,we became so close
to be with you,is what I want most
fast forward through our little fights
pause forever on those endless summer nights

Fast forward, rewind
you are always on my mind
my last thought before I dream
as surreal as it may seem

It seems as thought, the reel starts to end
just press rewind and begin again
pause on the parts you like best
fast forward through all the rest
and if again you feel the end is near
know that you can live it right here

This Weekend At Badi...

This Saturday we had a new member at the game. Aasit (I hope I have got the name right), Nirepinder's Bro-in-law. We had a really early start to the game today. We started at 9-30 and ended at 11-30 am it was a long enuf session. I am sure the next week's gonna be really good as I think there would be even more people to play with. Let's see. The game was good and post the match I came back to the office. I think work would be lighter the next week. Chalo lets pray for the same.....

One Long Day at the office...

This one such day when I have nothing to do, Vivek (my boss) is sitting right next to me. So every time I open rediff to check score or bollyextreme to download songs or you tube to see something interesting I turn back and invariably find him peeping into my PC. Actually Monika is back from her honeymoon and our bay doesnt have enuf space for 7 ppl, so Vivek is sharing desk with. I know he doesnt want me to waste my time and clogging the official bandwidth and thats why he has strategically made himself sit right next to me. So now you might be thinking how did I manage to write this blog. Okay, Richa helped me out. I mean we switched places. She had some work and she went to my WS and me to hers. It was a cool move. Her WS is at a blind spot from where Vivek works, She sits right behind Vivek.

In these recession times its not easy working and I think lucky are those who are laid off. I mean atleast they have a job, of job job-hunting. The ones like us who are on job are more jobless than those who have been shown the doors. I mean with not more than one project at one time and at times you dont even have that. You feel so very bored at work.. but then u gotta show urself bz else u mi8 end up as the next in line for the pink slip. What a vicious circle. Its certainly killing me; Pretending to work. I give up... no I dont give up working... I give up lazying off.

Btw I never understood the pink slip thing. I mean is it some girl who invented this thing, pink slip. I am sure no guy would like to call a firing note a pink slip. I would rather call it a red card, as in football or a black card as in everything thts mournful needs to be coloured black.
But pink slip? Who would call it so... I dont know but I would never want to be given a Pink Slip. I mean even when they lay me off, give me a termination letter, throw me out of the door but never a pink slip.

The Coffee Break...

On cold winter evenings everyone loves to have a cup of coffee, and what better way to have it than with friends. So this Thursday, we (Richa, Nitant, Ankur, Anshuman and myself) were thru with work by 6-30 pm (which is early by all our standards) and thought to go out for coffee. This time for a change we were quick to choose the place of visit, it was to be La Café at Crown Plaza. My only reservations for such places come from the low decibel levels that you have to maintain, which means to be someone unlike me. But democracy, it gives you the freedom of expression but curtails the magnitude of implication (wow, must think seriously about writing stuffs). So then we went for the coffee thingy.
We probably were the youngest lot out there. There was this hep lookin aunty and uncle in a corner. There was this really beautiful girl, wearing an off white salwar with some guy, we later found out they were for a match-fixing (as in, shaadi.com) thingy. They had there family sitting nearby discussing other things, while these two were left to discuss there life. What the F, I mean how can a boy and a girl discuss there life on a coffee table with the clattering of spoon from the adjacent table and blabbering of we-like people from the other. Moreover, everytime the girl looked towards the table occupied by the family, she had a few on lookers, giving those suggestive smile to her. Okay I wont go into it anymore.

The waiter set the menu infront of us and we all tried to find something that fitted our budget and tummy without burning a big hole in our wallets. We ordered some snacks. The best was that of Anshuman as that had complimentary breads and we all had it to our fill. Richa, Ankur and Myself had ordered some pasteries and Nitant had asked for Fillet with French fries.

Nitant was behaving very classy, I mean everytime we laughed (read, behaved cheaply) he was there to ‘shoo’ us down. But then our enthu was too much for him to handle and he too joined us. By the time the coffee party was over, the hotel management must have taken note of each one of us and asked the guards not to let us in the next time. Post that we got some pasteries and cakes. Then we returned home. It was a good break.

I wish that couple get some more quality time to spend with each other before they decide to get married, I mean if they at all do. The aunty needed a serious makeover. Okay I shdnt be the one to comment on ppl, but hey I have a blog and I can, so wat the heck, I will.

Man Vs Woman!!!

I was there standing next to a close friend of mine while he was getting the thrashing of his life, no not from his boss, rather from his girlfriend. The reason; same old he forgot their first gift anniversary, I mean ‘gimme a break’. That’s when this thing came to my mind that how things are so easy for guys to forget and how easy it is for a girl to remember every single thing. ‘You remember the colour of my shades when we first met’, I mean how am I gonna remember, when I doubt if I remember the day when we met.

We guys have this different kinda brain from girls. I mean everything is so very compartmentalized in the head. I mean each compartment dedicated to a single thought. If you are thinking about girls it will be the ladies compartment. Movies will be movie compartment and Sports, well, that’s a special one but still it has a separate compartment of its own. And girls, well they have these barb wire thing. Everything twisted twirled and wound around like a lump of wool. Everything is connected to one another.

So when your girl friend/wife would be asking you “How do I look today”, she is very well deciding the menu for the dinner on the basis of your reply. Shopping is a very good example, we need a pair of jeans, we would go to Levi’s pick one for ourself and return. A girl: well she will buy a pair of stilettos, a matching top and pair of earrings to go with the pair of jeans which she will invariably buy at the end. I mean why the confusion girl, you want something go get it.

The smartest woman I know was Eve, she made Adam look beyond apples, I mean who the hell gonna waste times on apple when you have such a beautiful (cannot say if she was beautiful or not but she was one secured girl, she never had competition) girl infront of you. And since then men have never looked back at apples and women have stopped being smart.

I know I am sounding like an MCP with all these sexist remarks, but frankly I have all the respect for women. This blog is written in lighter vain, so please keep it to that only.

More than just a game of Cricket!!!

Cricket, someone said is religion in India. Probably its more. So on 15th Dec when India walked into the field to bat on the 5th day of the first test against England, the whole India was praying for a victory. It was not just another test victory. India needed something to lift its spirit. Post Mumbai terrorist situation, probably every Indian needed a common cause to celebrate. The joy that would bring smile on the face of a street kid and the man in a merc. A cause that is of national celebration. Then what else can it be other than cricket. An imposing total of 387 on the final day. Very unlikely and that too at a venue which doesnot hold too many winning memories for India.

So when Viru went blitzkrieg, before falling, last evening a candle of hope was lighted. This morning, however, India started on a wrong foot. Dravid and Gambhir went in quick succession. Laxman played well before departing. As always it seemed that India is looking down the barrel. A promise well made but not delivered. But that’s when the most bankable player of the country rose to the occasion, Sachin Tendulkar. He alongwith Yuvraj Singh (84 not out) got India the victory. So when Sachin moved from 99 to 103 with the boundary that also brought India the victory, every cheer in the crowd, every eye watching the match on the TV, must have felt proud. Proud of being an Indian. Proud to do be an achiever against all odds. Above all, it was a victory that says: Spirit still runs deep, in every Indian vein.

Probably cricket could do so cause, every average Indian who can hold a bat thinks himself good enough to be a master of the game. And every shot from the bat and every ball bowled carries the aspiration of every single cricket crazy Indian. So when the 11 men in blue (rather, white) walk into the field, we relate to each one of them. We see our dreams through there actions. So every loss is criticized and every win rejoiced.

Thank you team India for giving us a reason to smile, in these trying times.

A welcome break...

What does a bunch of tired and worked out researchers make. I don’t think much of you have guessed it, let me answer it, they make a group of really good backpackers.

Sudhanshu and Monika’s wedding was to be the event of the year and that’s when we decided that since the wedding is on Sunday, we can very well go to Amritsar on a weekend trip, on Saturday and then from there on we can move to Ludhiana where the wedding is to take place. Okay now let me introduce you all to ‘we’ first. The ‘we’ includes: Nitant, Reetu, Ankur, Richa and myself.

Firs the plan: Monika and Sud’s wedding was on 7th December and we decided that we shud therefore plan to leave Delhi on 5th evening, which happened to be Friday. Reach Amritsar on 6th. Go to golden temple and then move to Attari border. Go back to hotel and leave for Ludhiana via a late night train. What an idea sirji.

We went about the plan, booked all the tickets. They were all in the waiting list but we hoped that they would get converted.

On the D-day, i.e. on 5th we found out that we had ‘hoped against the hope hopen’. We had to cancel all the tickets as none of them were confirmed. But then thanks to Nitant’s jugad we were able to manage a cab. Thus we went from rail to road. From compartmentalized boogies to open road. Some votings, some arguments and a few brain storming went over before we all unanimously voted for cab. Though I must say that Nitant and me had our two thumbs up for the cab from the very beginning.

It was a late start though I must say. Had it been train we would have started at around 8:30 pm but the cab took long time to reach our office itself. We all had our bags packed and got them with us to the office.

Enough was said and commented about my bag, which was the biggest of all. Though Nitant also had a similar kinda stuff but then I happened to be popular target. By the time cab arrived, Reetu was through her first phase of sleeping, Nitant and me had helped ourselves with a slice of pizza each, Ankur had got his bag packed and Richa, well, she was everywhere.

So finally we left office at around 11 pm. And decided that the first stop would be at Murthal where we would have our dinner. By the time we reached Murthal we had done a lot of gossiping, leg pulling and commenting. Thank God we didn’t discuss much of work. Reetu was thru another phase of her sleeping.

We got down at Gulshan Dhaba. It is one of the fav food joint on the highway towards Punjab. So we ordered ourselves different varieties of Paranthas, gobi, aloo, paneer,etc. Topped with butter and all the greasy stuffs that any health conscious person would have avoided, but then we were not that type and had no problems in indulging in such delicacies of life, and it so happened that the dinner at Murthal was like a curtain raiser for the whole trip. By the time we were done, it was a bit over 2:30 pm. We had bought two packs of cards to pass time.

Nitant taught us how to play bluffs. We also played flash and Richa, a rookie at the game, was lucky in cards, as we all lost. An after thought, unlucky in cards doesn’t always mean that you are lucky in love, all those who lost that night must have felt that way. The driver felt sleepy and that’s when Ankur took over. We had another stop in the way, from there on it was Nitant. Nitant drove till Jalandhar. The foggy surrounding, was good enuf reason for shutter happy people like us to go gaga and take a few snaps. I tried my hands at the wheels for a brief period before the driver realized my potential and asked me to hand over the reigns to him. So atlast the driver got to do the thing that he was supposed to, drive.

We stopped at a roadside dhaba before entering Amritsar, where we had tea and biscuits. Took some snaps at a nearby sarson da khet. Ankur was spotted in some compromising positions, we have the snap to prove it. And then we set off to Amritsar. We reached Amritsar at 8:30. We checked into a hotel very close to Golden Temple. It was a decent one, named Hotel Lucky.

Overnight journey took its toll as Nitant and Ankur, decided to sleep before moving out. So we decided to rest. We all got ready by 1:30 pm and decided to have our lunch.

Bhrawa Da Dhaba was the destination. Me having visited Amritsar earlier was the guide, though unacknowledged and unrecognized. We again indulged in some bad food habits and ate as if we would be dying tomorrow. Post the big lunch we went to Golden temple but then we were getting late for the retreat at the Attari border and the line at the temple seemed to be too big, so we decided to give it a slip and come back in the evening.

The retreat at the border was awesome and brought a sense of patriotism. We went snap crazy, as Reetu took a snap with lamp post, Richa with a realllllyyyy tall army guy, Ankur, Nitant and myself with anything and everything.

We returned to Amritsar, and thank god the Jalianwala Bagh was open. I mean it usually closes at around 7 but then it was open at 7:30. So we visited it. Again took some snaps and then went shopping. I bought a kirpan (a traditional weapon used by Sikhs), and all of us got ourselves papad, amritsari papad. Then we went back to hotel. At hotel we had nothing to do before dinner, so we thought of doing something different, which meant no Antakshari, no cards so we played truth session. Which is as the name suggests anyone can ask a question to anyone in the group and that person has to give an honest reply. It was fun and of course some skeletons did tumble out of the closets. But then things are too classified to be disclosed here. We then had our dinner, went to the temple. The temple was closed but then you are allowed inside the premises. So we roamed around a bit and then went to back to hotel. We reached hotel and all crashed. The next day we woke up early and went to Golden temple, post darshan had the Prasad. Richa and me had the most.

After the darshan we returned to hotel packed our bags and left for Ludhiana. On our way to Ludhiana, again we went snappy-happy. Cliked ourselves in a sarson da khet, Ankur flew a kite, we had tea, and got in the cab and drove away saying our final good bye to Amritsar, which was an awesome place.

We had our lunch at Haveli. It’s an awesome place. I mean the authentic settings and the ambience was awesome. Post the halt at Haveli we finally drove to our destination. Pokharwal Road, Ludhiana for the wedding. After asking a few people for direction and callin Monika and her brother Goru for n number of times, we managed to reach Monika’s house.

We reached wedding in time. Sud was still on the ghodi. The wedding was fun, then we decided to return. The driver was drunk and Nitant, the best driver of us all. Took the wheels in his hand. He drove 80 kms. Then we halted, had tea. Richa was fast asleep by then. The driver took over. Nitant got some rest. We all went to sleep. And by the time we opened our eyes it was Delhi.

The trip was awesome and definitely refreshed us all up. A welcome break is how I put it. One thing I learnt is no matter where you go and whatever the place may be… it’s the company of friends that matter. So the next trip is to….

Last week was hectic and with all those work.. we all were at the verge of nervouse breakdown... okay I am exagerrating a bit but then

Roadies is Back... What a relief to the TV Boredom

Beat your boredom watch Roadies. Its been a habit since the start of roadies that I look forward to this time of the year. Not that it is the only thing that makes me do so, but then of course it is one of those shows that I like so much that I have been watching it for last five years and can literally remember each and every Roady. The meaness of the characters and the group dynamism. I mean the reality show thing is taken to an altogether new heights. I know I am going over the board but I can’t help it.

So the show is back and I am more than happy about it. I am certainly gonna be the most ardent follower as always. Although this weekend I am gonna miss it as I would be going for Monika and Sudhanshu’s wedding. Its moving down under.

But whatever it is my weekends gonna be slightly less boring than the usual.
So this is to the Roadies Down Under!!!

Last Sunday of Nov...

Its been like a fixture, I mean every weekend we have a new player for badminton and then he/she doesn’t return. That just goes to show the standard of our game. I mean at times it plummets to the level of earthworm. I mean if they are able to lift the badminton racquet even they might believe that they can defeat us.
This is time it was another new face: Shobha, an ex-imrbite and Sumita’s friend.

Sumita was in her best form as she beat every other pair on the court left right and centre. Richa and me just managed to sneak in a win and then again the story continued. I have a complain I mean, its been quite a while since the team has munched on the calorie-enhancing diets (junk food) together. I stay back alone to do the honors of replenishing my lost calories.

The Sunday was boring, I mean I don’t hate going to work on Sunday but then this Sunday somehow I felt that I was harassed I mean I was so very much in love with my sleep(probably for the first time in my life), that I kept delaying the time to reach office. Atlast I did drag myself to the office and then when I reached, Ankur and Vivek had already been there. We had our lunch, almost a seven course meal for three of us, and dispersed. Okay the work part, I didn’t miss it, it just didn’t happen. I mean we talked what to do and what not but we ended up not doing anything. That’s the best part about the corporate world that all you do is meetings.

So post the work thing I got back home. Did see a few re runs, now these TV guys have not yet been out of their slumbers, the strike is still on.

Revenge at last!!!

Khuda ke ghar mein der hai par andher nahin, at times the inverter takes sometime to get charged up. So it was one winter evening that I decided to take the revenge. For those who have missed the first part of this revenge thingy: I was conned by the Devil who doesn’t wear Prada (Richa). And thus I decided that I need to take revenge. She told me about a meeting that was never there and I had to wear formals on Friday and look fool, when everyone around was in most casual form.
So it thus happened that yesterday I called her up and told her that there is a meeting knowing that she would think it to be a prank where as there was a meeting scheduled. So that’s what she did and when she walked into the office blissfully for the no-meeting day, there it was the meeting. I don’t think this to be an apt reply but then a good one to console my bruised ego for sometime, till something better crops up in my mind….

...and there was blood: The Mumbai Attack

Every countries’ worst fear, breach of its security, putting the public in serious threat of life: a National Security situation and that was exactly what we saw, when Mumbai was attacked by a handful of terrorists. As they took, Nariman Building, Obeori, Trident and Taj hostage and sprayed bullets across the city killing 184 people and leaving more than 200 injured, India experienced its most horrifying terrorist attacks on 26th Nov '08, that lasted over 59 hours. Some of the brightest police officers of Mumbai police force and NSG reached martyrdom while trying to rescue the innocents.
It was the worst thing that could have happened to any democracy. The Govt definitely has failed and as we heard a greatly perturbed Shobha De on the national television we could hear the voice of many Mumbaikars, who were highly disturbed and interrupted. For once the city that never stops was brought to a halt. For once the indefatigable spirit of Mumbai was not the talk of the town, something has definitely made the people think, enough is enough. Politicians acted late and there was a lot of Faux Pas in everything that they did and they say. So when Dr. Manmohan Singh came on National TV to make an inspiring speech to the nation that needed it the most, all he could do was sound mechanical and politically correct. Shivraj Patil, Home Minister, must have been used to making speeches that go into the “Don’ts” of good speech book. I mean he did it when there was attacks in Delhi, Gujrat and now in Mumbai. So when the Politicians were caught on the wrong foot, the saving grace were the men in uniform. The army took up the charge to rescue the hostages and clear the city of the terrorists.

Richa SMSed the other day saying that Sabina Sehgal (Good Food Guide fame) passed away and she had been one of those who followed her columns regularly, she was of course very hurt and disturbed. I understood one thing that the attack was not on Mumbai alone but on every single Indian, telling us that it can strike us anywhere anytime. Tomorrow celebrities/politticians would carry a candle march to some strategic point in the city, say some non sense praising the valiant effort of our soldiers and making themselves and their party heard more than anything else, and the next day we all would go back to our daily routine. And then, are we gonna wait for another blast to rock us, wake us up from our sleeps. Probably the time has come for us to stand up to the terrorists, counter the same. They have the audacity to break into our homes and sabotage it. We burn a few candles, make a few sound bytes and then go back home. Why can't we have our own Munich, our own Mumbai. “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”, is what Mahatma Gandhi said but I think at times its an eye for an eye that helps to save the whole world from being blind.

’84, ’93, ’08 – three major dates of dark history of terror attacks in India. The faults lies in us, we never took our politicians to task. They were never made accountable. Ain’t we at fault too.
At the same time I think all the politicians should understand that terrorism is a matter of national security and should not be politicized. We are not done in by terrorists but our very own politicians and those cowards who call them our leaders.
It will take time to find the real culprit but right all the fingers are pointing across the border and this is time to be a bit more stern and leave the cross border friendship for some other time.
Let’s pray for the souls of those departed and show our gratitude towards the people who restored the peace. And hope that this time we stand up to the dark hands behind this inhuman act and for a change take the attack to the other side. We were always been disappointed and hurt but this is the time to be more, to make the angst grow into something bigger and something that would be definitive.

So let’s get together to make a difference, coz we are the difference.

My Wish Comes True....

It was Praneesh’s wedding, I had already missed his engagement and missing his wedding would mean that I would be crucified. So I took a bus from Bikaner House to Jaipur.The bus reached Jaipur around 5 pm, ths sun was setting down behind the hills. The whole scene was picture perfect. As the Sun’s rays outlined the hills, the silhouette of Amber fort was as if somebody has carved the outlines of the fort with golden ink. The setting Sun made the whole surrounding so very romantic, something that cannot be captured in any camera, it can only be felt. It was a wonderful trip to Jaipur, and the icing on the cake was the scenic beauty of the silhouetted Amber fort on the top of the hills.
I reached Praneesh’s place at around 8 pm and then got a bit of scolding from Didi and Praneesh for being late. Then I had my dinner, must say I had the best of vegetarian dishes and the sweets were really out of this world. I mean I really loved them like anything. I gorged on the food and by the time I was over I needed a crane to carry me. Next day was to begin early and that’s why we decided to sleep early. Though the India Vs England cricket match kept us awake till the end but as soon as the match got over we decided to call it a day. The next day we got ready to leave early but then as always the deadline happened to be the same old Indian Stretchable Time and we neednot stretch ourselves. Yogesh reached at 10 am. I had some company. I mean earlier also there were people around but then you cannot be comfortable with new acquaintances, so Yogesh saved me from the situation. We left for Alwar(Bride’s hometown). It was another beautiful car drive to Alwar, with hills and forest on either sides. We also chanced upon a couple of Barasinghas on our way.
We reached Alwar by 5 pm, the baraat left at 9 pm and the phera got over at 2 am, I am rushing thru these details coz I think most of us know what happens in between. Okay now for the inquisitive one’s specially the Bajaj kind, there were girls and of course beautiful ones. The Sali sahiba was really beautiful and being an air hostess she definitely was hot. The ususal chhed chhad, and all those stuffs made the wedding even more interesting. So as we returned to Jaipur, Yogesh said right before dozing off “It was great”, he meant the wedding. I couldn’t agree more.

Seeing a friend getting married, losing his freedom and still smiling is something that I think not many of us can do. I mean who else can smile at the face of a storm.

All said and done, I am sure Aarti and Praneesh are going to make a wonderful couple and I pray for their blissfully wedded life. God bless both of you…

One More wicket falls!!!

It was Praneesh’s wedding, I had already missed his engagement and missing his wedding would mean that I would be crucified. So I took a bus from Bikaner House to Jaipur.The bus reached Jaipur around 5 pm, ths sun was setting down behind the hills. The whole scene was picture perfect. As the Sun’s rays outlined the hills, the silhouette of Amber fort was as if somebody has carved the outlines of the fort with golden ink. The setting Sun made the whole surrounding so very romantic, something that cannot be captured in any camera, it can only be felt. It was a wonderful trip to Jaipur, and the icing on the cake was the scenic beauty of the silhouetted Amber fort on the top of the hills.
I reached Praneesh’s place at around 8 pm and then got a bit of scolding from Didi and Praneesh for being late. Then I had my dinner, must say I had the best of vegetarian dishes and the sweets were really out of this world. I mean I really loved them like anything. I gorged on the food and by the time I was over I needed a crane to carry me. Next day was to begin early and that’s why we decided to sleep early. Though the India Vs England cricket match kept us awake till the end but as soon as the match got over we decided to call it a day. The next day we got ready to leave early but then as always the deadline happened to be the same old Indian Stretchable Time and we neednot stretch ourselves. Yogesh reached at 10 am. I had some company. I mean earlier also there were people around but then you cannot be comfortable with new acquaintances, so Yogesh saved me from the situation. We left for Alwar(Bride’s hometown). It was another beautiful car drive to Alwar, with hills and forest on either sides. We also chanced upon a couple of Barasinghas on our way.
We reached Alwar by 5 pm, the baraat left at 9 pm and the phera got over at 2 am, I am rushing thru these details coz I think most of us know what happens in between. Okay now for the inquisitive one’s specially the Bajaj kind, there were girls and of course beautiful ones. The Sali sahiba was really beautiful and being an air hostess she definitely was hot. The ususal chhed chhad, and all those stuffs made the wedding even more interesting. So as we returned to Jaipur, Yogesh said right before dozing off “It was great”, he meant the wedding. I couldn’t agree more.

Seeing a friend getting married, losing his freedom and still smiling is something that I think not many of us can do. I mean who else can smile at the face of a storm.

All said and done, I am sure Aarti and Praneesh are going to make a wonderful couple and I pray for their blissfully wedded life. God bless both of you…

To err is Plaban and Not to own it... is even more to be like him

When it comes to Data entry, a technical term for simple thing called copy and paste, I have Edward’s Scissorhands, actually everyone has tasted a bit of this when they have worked with me. It started with Navneet, Abhishek Deb and now even Ankur. So when it comes to entering data they have realized my Achilles’ Heel is Plaban’s Fingertips. Okay so this blog is as you must have guessed about the things that I am not good at (putting it politely), rather things that I am disaster at.
Data entry comes numero Uno. But then there are other things too, like I have so many unfinished books on my book shelf that I think I shud either stop reading altogether or start with finishing the one’s I have started. Then there is a frighteningly bad habit of forgetfulness, which most of my friends would agree to, I mean in the middle of a conversation I will forget the name. That’s not it I mean I have at times forgotten the name of my friends. Its like knowing new things every other minute, although there are certain things that you already knew
My laziness at work is not the talk of the town but of the country, I mean at times I look at Ankur and feel Wow! Man, look at him all the time at his desk and peeping into the PC, I mean that takes some courage I must say. By the way, no blogging or orkutting on his PC, strictly work. That’s what I say to myself, com’on, u need to be like that. Then I look at my PC blog page, orkut, F1.com, bollyextreme, proxy servers, beemp3.com and what not and I say to myself Wow! That’s life. And when I am working, I work as if I am doing a favour to the company. I mean who else would stroll out of the bay every ten minutes. Talk to every other guy he meets on the way and end up wasting half an hour. Coming to office early jus coz I get good breakfast, how bad can things be for me. I say, atleast come to office on time.
Talking of my cleanliness, rather not go there. I mean I tried cleaning my room and then I thought it to be an effort going in vain. Yesterday I entered my room and what do I see: pile of clothes, crumbled blanket, untidy bedcover and a half weight bathing towel, and all of them on my bed. Ohh God, thank god none of my friends visit my room, I mean they would just faint there, it takes a braveheart to be there, I pride myself of being one. I think only Bajaj can beat it. Some would want me to put those PJs of mine here too and I would not disappoint them. Yeah I have this habit of speaking at the most wrong times. I mean I had this really bad PJ infront of my professor, right when he was giving me a dressing down for breaking college discipline, I call it smiling in the face of adversities. Okay now I am touching a few sensitive topics, like my accent. I have this peculiar way of pronouncing egg: which translates into aeeegg. It so happened, I had to order for an egg magi and my accent played spoilt sport and it took fifteen minutes to make the mess guy understand that I was oredering for egg maggi and not ek (one) maggi. I must say, these Northies don’t have any respect for my Oriya Accent. You got to have an accent cause that differentiates you from the rest, see scots have an accent, irish guys have one, American, Russian they all have one and so do I. Jealousy, I say, pure jealousy. So as you can see the vices that I have, rather the ones that people presume that I have are actually otherwise.

A premiere show and a boring weekend...

The week was exciting with the work and fun mixed well. I mean the weekday wasn’t hectic but at the same time the work was well spread out to keep me going. Then there was the premiere show of Dostana. I never thought in the first place to go and see the movie but then, it just happened that Neetika had the tickets for the premiere show and a part of the ticket money went to the street children welfare and that was a good enuf coz for me to go and watch the movie. First thing that crossed my mind was shud I be going to watch this muvi alone, I mean a comedy movie, alone, not a great combination. So I called up U and she was more than willing to come for the movie. And thus we set out for the movie. The movie was good. It was fun and by the time it got over it was late and then we straight away hit home, without waiting for food. I dropped U and then reached home.

Come Saturday, we hit the badminton court and this time it was a game after a real long time. And we had company too. Richa had got a friend of hers, Vikalp. He seems to be a really good player and it was all very competitive matches. We played for long time, almost two and half hours. Lot of calories were burnt and I was in no mood to go home without my share of hot chocolate fudge, so Sumita and me went to Nirula’s as the rest decided otherwise.

Sunday was not great I was home all the time and nothing to talk about. I was thinking to go and see Dasvidaniya but then I was too lazy to move out of my home.

I finished a book this week: Scene from am Executive Life. A decent book to say the most. H.I.V.E. is half read and I am thinking to finish it the coming week.

I always think that Feb must have been one of the most hectic months some 24-26 years ago, I mean just look at the number of birthdays that we have in November. And add to that a few weddings and you are ready to file bankruptcy in the middle of the month.

Deepika left for Dubai this week. Deepak went home for his sister’s wedding and i really don’t know whether I would be able to be there for the wedding or not. Praneesh’s wedding is coming up and I am sure its going to be hectic again this week. Manish is not coming and of course he has already got his share of scoldings and abuses in shudh hindi. So he has got enuf though I think not good enuf. Yogesh is coming.

Hey another thing, Shilpa is also coming and that means, I would be meeting her after a year. Been a long time…
I shud try my hands at news reporting.. at times i feel my blog is more like a news portal....
Have to think of something nice next time....

A missed Marathon and Completed Book!!!

Just finished reading this book “The Kiterunner” by Khaled Hosseini. Infact, it was such a riveting and gripping story that I sat up all night reading the book. By the time it ended it was 5-30 am in the morning. I think every avid book reader must read this. Its an awesome tale. It was definitely a relief from the non-sensical stuffs that I was reading for a long time.

I missed the Marathon, bad health and sleepless night owing to my absence. Anuj had been to the marathon and messaged: ‘U shud hv cm. Was fun’. I surely did miss it. But the goodies bag were good enuf for me. I mean it had Deos, shaving creams, gym-bag, airtel vouchers and lot many thngs,more than enuf to keep the non-runners happy. Saturday was lazy and Sunday, which promised to be a bit hectic with the Marathon thingy, was even more so without Marathon. My health was down, I mean not well. So by evening I was completely bored, and I decided to hit a bookstore my fav stress-buster.

Seriously, as soon as I find myself in between books it feels like I am between some old lost friends. I am never sort of half read and unread books but then whenever I go to a bookstore I end up buying one more. So this time it was a Mark Walden one, H.I.V.E. (Higher Institute of Villainous Education). Sounds fun and I have heard tht its going to be made into a series, ala Harry Potter.

So my Sunday was not as boring as the morning showed and of course there was the “fun element”: HUM TUM, yeah a bored soul on a Sunday evening end up watching old flicks on TV.

Off late Hari bhai has started making some very very Un-Hari-Bhai type chais, I mean some good chais. So I think there is a raise in the house rent round the corner. Good things never come for free.

Saw two movies this week:

First Ankur, Reetu and me went to see “Fashion”, it was such a bad movie that half way we thought of walking out. Just the money spent on the movie glued us to the seat. Kangna Ranaut is not yet out of her ‘Woh Lamhe’ and ‘Gangster’ mode. Priyanka was not looking like a super model, she never does. Mugdha Godse was only good thing that happened to the movie.

Then, Sudhanshu, Monika and myself went to see “Quantum of Solace’, it was good. I mean non-Brasnan bond movies are not counted as Bond movies by me, so this one also didn’t feel like a Bond flick. Though, many would disagree and say Daniel Craig is a better Bond, but somehow his rawness is not Bond kind, I liked the polished Pierce Brosnan.

Dada played his last innings, out on a golden duck. Bad, isn’t it. Sorry for the great batsman. But of course he ended up in the league of Bradman. Century on debut and Golden duck in the end. But the 85 that he scored in his penultimate innings had Dada stamp all over. India won the match and the series. What a great way to hang your boots. I even liked the way Dhoni paid Dada tribute: He let him captain the later part of the innings and Dada didn’t disappoint by leading India to win, one last time.
Okay guys c ya soon with more from my side…

Auto-Ordeal !!!

It’s the same story for me everyday for last couple of weeks; I wake up late then rush to get ready and then dash down the stair case, reach the auto stand and then wait for that elusive auto to arrive and take me to the office. Then I have fight with dozen other morons waiting there for the auto, and if I am lucky enough I get the auto in my first go else God knows when would I be able to get one. Monotony epitomized: I can close my eyes and do the rounds.It reminds me of my placement days, when we used to wait for the companies. I really don’t know wat kinda recruitment criteria do these auto fellas have in their mind. One I know is: ladies first, I mean if you’re a female and beautiful, then no matter which ever discrete corner of the road you are auto will definitely find you.

Okay I am not talking about my daily ordeal, it is about this girl who stands at the auto stop. So this girl comes to the auto stand all very decked up, invariably you will find three four guys standing/waiting for auto. Then enter this beauty and everything stops, all forget that they are waiting for auto, she sways, smiles, brushes her hair, looks at an auto (and the auto of course stops) and everyone just wait there looking at every step she makes (now that ‘every’ also includes me JJJ). Then she sits in the auto and vrooommmmm she goes…. Then the normalcy returns, every back to Auto-Hunting.

Moral: Slow and steady wins the race, if you are a female you win it without even setting a foot forward.

*****Diwali*****

Diwali was good.

Had been home this diwali. It’s a nice time to be home. Actually its great to be home anytime of the year. Lots of sweet and relatives, though I am not too keen on the later but the former is something that I can never do without. Have refrained from bursting crackers for a long time and so this year when I thought of bursting a few maa was concerned whether I have retained my expertise, without practice.

Cleaning the house, lighting the lamp and of course buying crackers are a few things that excites me even today. It brings back those childhood days of innocence, I really love it. Almost a week at home doing nothing, just eating home cooked food and resting. Bikash was home, we met after two years. Interestingly we met exactly after 2 years. I mean last we met it was his birthday two years ago. Again we met on his birthday. Its sad how work becomes priority and you start losing touch with people who were best buddies.

Spoke to Manish, he might not be able to come to Praneesh’s marriage. Got some work, he is boss is screwing him like anything. So Praneesh’s wedding would be fun but of course Manish gonna miss it all.

I read this book, Joker in the Pack. It’s same old IIM IIT stuff, got really bored of reading these stuffs want to read something nice. Something worth it, I have started Kiterunner, just to change my literary taste.

Post Diwali the biggest problem is you start eating so much of sweet that you get addicted to sweets and every day you yearn for some good burfis and stuffs. One of the good things about staying home is morning tea. I love the tea at home, here they some how mess up the recipe…

Chow…..

The Coffee Song

Call it obsession

Call it fanatical

But I am not trying

To make this a skeptical

I have this craving

Justifies behaving

I really need some of that

Ooo, good coffee

Strong coffee

I need to have some

Ooo, good coffee

Strong coffee

Ooo cappuchino

Double espresso

I need something with

A really big kick

You ask me about creamer

You ask me about sugar

I tell you those things make me sick

With my... (jars of clay)

A long weekday it was...

What a long week we had this time. Yeah I know nobody complains when it’s a long weekend, but weekdays, nobody likes to work. The best feeling in the world is to see others work for you. Although I haven’t yet reached tht level but trying to reach their soon enough.

Ohh! going off track again… Yeah, so we are paying for enjoying a long weekend last week. Why can’t we reverse this weekend/weekday funda. I mean hw about a 2 days weekday and 5 days weekend. For a year, just to see hw the employee productivity is increasing in those two days. A trial run for a year. I don’t think its gonna hamper anyone. The economy is in the worst position it won’t go down any further. We have tried so hard, worked five days a week, could we save the economy NO, so now for a change lets try something different, what say a 2 days weekday with higher productivity and less time for thinking about anything else, GOD ARE YOU LISTENING.

One thing is for sure this gonna make me a bit more efficient. I mean if not efficient at least would make me look a bit bz, all I look is revolving on my chair, talking to someone, writing blog, going through cricket scores or reading some stuff on the net. Rarely do you find me on my seat and rarer is to find me working. This would atleast increase the ‘work pressure’.

Long weekends and long time to spend with your family, friends and girl/boy friend(s). And now you know whom to thank, who came up with this idea.

I was gang-fooled!!!

Have you ever been gang-fooled, I mean like a team of people fooling you. It happened to me. My team, whom I thought to be my friends fooled me. We had a working Saturday and Richa told me on Friday that we have a presentation on Saturday. So come Saturday morning I put on my formals and was in office half-an-hour early so that I could go thru the presentation, one final time. I booked conference room, arranged for projector.

Then came the Devil who does not wear Prada (but would definitely love to), in short Richa. From her smile I knew something was wrong, yep she lied to me, rather fooled me conned me… There is no meeting. Ohh no, she had her revenge(that’s another story). Now I was the only guy in the office in formals, even top bosses were in their golf tees and jeans. Then Reetu came and she laughed when she came to know the reason behind my sense of dressing, Monika knew it since yesterday and she carried her smile from yesterday itself. Ankur the monster was at it again, he too knew it and didn’t bother to warn me. Vivek took time but soon understood that I was fooled.

I know I am down, but thou shalt rise, and thou fury will be the fire in which the traitors shalt burn… But as of now I don’t have anything but to admit that I have been fooled… BIG TIME. I know some of you might be laughing at this and some definitely thinking that I got a dose of what I serve other. But don’t worry I will be back…

Richa, Ankur and Monika… u r now on the top of my hit list… And Thou shalt see that the sinner(s) is brought to justice (Shakespearen stuff's cool, huh???)…

Lazy meeeee.....

I have become too lazy. Have been thinking to start jogging and its been in the thought process for too long. I wake up early in the morning and then think watching breakfast news is a better idea. They show fitness stuffs on it and I change the channel lest it would inspire me to go jogging.

The only physical activity I am involved in is the badminton thingy that we do in the weekends else i have become a garfield of sort. Only food is getting all my attention. I am bored of being myself too.

I have been planning to watch a movie since last week but its not getting transmitted into action. My laziness is reaching new heights. Got to do something.

Anshul your pic is cool.

The only good thing happening now is Praneesh's is gonna get married, which means we(Bajaj, Yogesh, Deepika and Myself) all gonna have a great time in Jaipur, of course he gonna invite all of us. After long time friends would be meeting.

I want to write a book...

Powered by a few "thoughtfool" friends and a few utterrly butterly terribly disastrous moments in my life I planned to get my fingertips moving and do something more than just blogging, I mean start writing a book. I must say it wasn’t easy at all. You always want to write something that no one have thought of, which I think in this world of piracy and plagiarism a very wishful thinking, to say the least. I being human followed the same path too. After long sleepless nights that were spent in thinking about a topic that can touch a cord in everyone’s heart and make me the most popular person on Earth after The Pope, I gave up.

So then what did I do, I decided that if there's gonna be a story then it has to be about me, but then who would be interested in that, so I thought of writing about things that could have happened and had it happened then what. So the book would be a lot about would haves and could haves.

So I started with a big bang. I completed one chapter and then the irregularities set in and I left it there. Thinking that I would continue soon, but till then I just think I am gonna continue being in this lazy self of me, which is of course not very different from the active self of me either.

IMRB Updates...

Sudhanshu is not talking now a days, not coz he has changed his habits but coz he is having a mouth ulcer. People are praying for the ulcer to stay as it is.

Richa is on a losing spree. I mean she first lost her pen drive, then she lost her watch (yep, she has changed her hello tune to Peechle Saat Dino) She got the pen drive back but then I doubt about the watch.

Deb had a twin. I saw their pics they are really cute, baby boys. Must be a proud father now. You know what I used to be under this impression during my childhood days that twins behave the way it is shown in Hindi... I mean you hit one and the other one is hurt type... They are so very misleading(i mean the hindi movies)...

Salt 'n Pepper (You know who) has changed a lot. I mean now he makes sense (at times) when he talks and also has developed some manners (by his standards he has climbed the Mt Everest)

I am doing nothing and killing my time at the office as always. Some things never change.

I saw this ad on TV, the Reliance ad where the main lead has jus one dialogue "Mere pass maa hai", did I hear Richa say "Ohh, Not again", I don't blame her she has actually been listening this fir the hundredth time. So, where was I, yeah this ad is really funny. Guys you must watch it.

Ankur is still here in the office making a proposal for his new project.

Everyone's working... okay not me, but of course I worked the whole morning, listening all the craps that my client had to say and churn out tables for them. OPkay guys gotta go as I have to prepare a presentation for tomorrow and then a mock one for SnP, also...

The Good Old Days...

Today morning a new idea struck me. Just think how cool it was during those tension free childhood days. I mean those cuteness and innocence that can never be traded for anything else in life. I always dream of going back to those days, when home assignment used to be the biggest tension in life.

I miss those mornings when I used to have breakfast while baba used to go through the morning newspaper. When evening hour cricket matches used to be on the topmost priority on the to do list.

When every rainy seasons meant making boats and seeing them sail with the stream of rain water.

Those days of innocence when nothing used to be purer than your thought. The world was such a beautiful place to be. When my pet used to be my best friend, when those innocent crushes used to be love stories. When friends meant life. When holidays meant meeting cousins and relatives.

Now when I sit infront of my PC and write these lines, I miss those days, I really do. How I wish they were back....

Week so far...

How badly am I missing those morning cup of steaming tea that maa used to make. I mean Hari bhai does serve tea but then you can never differentiate between his tea and boiled sugar syrup.

This week I had been to Amigo, it wasnt as bad as the guy in the Times Guide had rated it i mean the ambience and food was decent, nothing great but decent enough. But I think its not gonna make much business post the review.

Looking badly for two books. Seinlanguage by Jerry Seinfeld and H.I.V.E by Mark Walden, I really need them so if anyone of you have it then please be generous enough to send one copy to me. White Tiger got the bookers. I had bought the book a long time back but have not yet started reading the same. I think the bookers is a good enough incentive to start reading the book.

Have not been able to continue writing the book that I was thinking to write. Would definitely be writing it but then I think I will take sometime now, thinking about the new plots and sub plots for the same.

Was discussing with Richa and we both are really fed up of the crap that we are reading now-a-days and thats why we started reading something that is worthwhile. I am reading The Kiterunner.

This one is purely for Anshul, you are looking cute in that new pic of yours. Btw Bajaj is coming for Praneesh's marriage and I think there would be Yogesh also. Gonna be a great time then.

Has been planning for a long time to go on early morning joggings but then it is yet to get into action. At times I get so lazy that even sleeping makes me feel tired.

This must have been the most dry entry of the whole blog as boring as a weather forecast on a sunday afternoon.

Of F1 and Badminton

Again he did it and this time in Japan. Now even kubic is saying that he can win, I mean thats what you do when you see the leader failing to finish on the podium for last few circuits.

Okay for those who have not understood what I have been talking about then here it is... I am talking about the Japanese GP that Alonso won and that left the F1 wide open. I mean the dish is getting spicier and you dont know who is going to win. So the next week I cannot plan anything and no matter how important things are going to be they are going to stalled till evening and see Hamilton, Massa and Kubic (good knows where did he come from) battle it out in the land of slit eyes and smashed nose.. China. I want Hamilton to win so badly that when he lost it at Japanese I ended up cursing him like no one else...

I mean how do you expect me to react, but thank God Praneesh didnt sms me or call me up. That would have been like adding salt to injury and rubbing it in even harder.

Sunday was cool otherwise. The weekend was long and that made more time for playing badminton. So we played on Thursday and Saturday. Navneet had come over and he joined us on Saturday's match.

Okay I lost a lot on the court both match and calories. Ritwik (pronounced, Ritik) was playing in his elements and Sumita who teamed up with him were really unbeatable. Navneet was back to basics and I was back to montessory days when everyone was to beat me in everything I tried. So ended up losing to everyone. I mean I understand its not important to win, whats more important is that we played, what a consolation, I am so good at this. Nirepinder and Richa played some superb games. Special mention for Richa who I think would be using an armour while playing next time, after being hit for god knows how many time.

Sumita had a s few old scores to settle with Navneet as she shot a few smashes in his direction which was evaded not-so-acrobatically by Navneet.

FOR RECORDS WE DIDNT GO JUNK FOOD HUNTING THIS TIME

Sunday i was lazy and thats why badminton was out of question, but Richa and Nirepinder were at it. So I think the report of Sunday's game gonna be coming from their side.

Irritation At Its Best

I finished a new book, its called “Of Course I Love You… Till I find someone better!”. What a name for book. It was a good read, infact I finished it in one day, me being a really slow reader this was some achievements I must say. The story is nothing unusual but then you have this engineering guy falling in love and sleeping with every other girl in his life, until he finds this girl and then everything changes when she leaves him and the story takes you on a journey of this person.

While reading this book I learnt something, the most irritating thing in the world. No this is not something that the book had to say, it so happened that I was reading the book in my living room (I still don’t know how can a room be living, I mean living room, so the ones that are not living rooms are they non-living or dead rooms???) and Hari bhai, okay I need to introduce this person. He is the caretaker of the place where I stay. So, where was I, yeah, Hari Bhai came and sat on the sofa and then started discussing all his problems, daughter’s marriage to son’s lack of interest in studies. Why????? Why me???? I was thinking to myself. Can’t you see that I am reading a book? I mean it was so irritating that I put it on the top-most irritating habits. I mean digging your nose infront of someone, burping, farting and other such things will definitely make it to this list but then this one definitely gonna beat them all. I mean, you gotta be in such a situation, then only can you appreciate the desperation in this blog. That spurred me to think of such really irritating behaviors that I have been subjected to, so here they come not in the order of irritability:

1.Digging your nose: When the boss starts digging his nose while discussing something important. I mean you cannot take your eyes off him as his words are important and the action takes away the whole attention part. Then at the end of it all you know that you would be shaking hands with him…..yuuuucckkkk!!!

2.Mobile phones ringing in a theatre: You are not in a private theatre my dear friend. We all have paid to listen what the actors have to say and not to listen to the latest ringtones on your mobile phones. The worst is when the same thing happens during a play, its distracts every one, even the actors.

3.Honking at the signals: It gets on my nerves when a car starts honking for no reason at a signal. I mean what am I gonna do, jump over the rest of the carws, I am not riding a batmobile.

4.Burping and Farting: Control it, if you can’t then please excuse us from the torture. I mean why would anyone else be subjected to this torture for your wrong choice of diet.

5.Rash Autowallah: I mean it, these autorickshaw guys can be really rash. They get behind the wheel and drive it as if they are on F1 circuit. Hyderabadi auto guys are the worst they think themselves to be some distant relatives of Schumacher and driving at speeds below 70 kmph (which is nothing less than 300mph on a rush Hyderabad road) is insult to their clans and then you have to bear with their ear splitting South Indian music, which they think is the best way of entertainment for the passenger.

6.Smiling Airport Personnel: It happened to me in Surat. My flight was delayed and I had no clue where was I heading when I went upto this lady in the information counter and asked her “So when is the flight scheduled to arrive” and what do I get in return “We will get back to you in a moment” and broad smile, as if that smile is going to take me to my destination. FAKE SMILE AT ITS BEST.

7.Interruption in Cable Transmission: Everyone must have had this, I mean a crucial moment in the match, right at time of slog overs and the transmission goes off. I mean you don’t have you clue. The satellite is not receiving signal. You cannot even call up your operator and shout at him as he is not the guy who is at fault. What do you do sit there changing the channels, praying to god and cursing everyone.

8.Snoring co-passenger: In air, on road and on rail you find them everywhere and you don’t know what to do. All you know is that just nudge them and ask them to slow down. At times like this even the ear plugs show a white flag.

9.To be continued…: I hate this like anything, I mean I wasted a whole of 60 minutes watching a program just to read this “To be continued…”. What the hell man, I mean why am I put thru this torture? Then the whole is going to be spent thinking who it is gonna be… These detective series can really be bad.

These were some of the things that I could think of. If there’s anything that comes to your mind that you think needs to be here please let me know. And of course the above written stuff was not meant to be derogatory to anyone.

Btw I strictly stayed away from putting PJ into the list as that is something that I enjoyed…

Fitness Fever

I have decided to go for the Airtel Delh Half Marathon. Its on 9th Nov, post the mail from Richa asking us all to run, we joined the same. I think a bit of practice is definitely needed but then the lazy me is yet to wake up and accept the fact that without practice walking is also a tiring job. So I have kept my gymming stuffs in the office for a long time but I am yet to make myself go to the gym and pump some iron and sweat.

But I have started the badminton on a regular basis on the weekends. It all started with his unedited version of Richa’s words of wisdom “…with this lifestyle of ours we all going to have heart attacks at the age of 50”, I rarely think beyond weekends but that day I think I went a bit far, and thought about being 50 and dying of heart attack, and all this because I never listened to Richa. So we (Nirepinder, Sumita, Sudhanshu and Richa plus me) decided that fitness is something that we are not thinking about and that is not the right thing. So we thought of various tings that we can do, gymming and jogging did come to our mind and were rejected. Gymming being a regular exercise and we being irregular at regularities, gymming was thrown out of the windows. Then jogging is strictly for souls who believe in early to bed and early to rise, and we believe in neither. So we decided that we all should play badminton. Badminton means a lot of running, stretching and sweating and we would definitely burn a lot more calories than while gymming. So BADMINTON it was to be. So we decided to play at a court in Noida, sector-3. On the first day it was just Richa, Sumita and myself. Sumita and me reached first and as we were feeling hungry we decided to have something before the match. Health conscious people like us usually go to McDonald when they are hungry and this time too we headed for the same. This was to set the tone for the future.

As we moved to the second week, Nirepider, Navneet and Sudhanshu joined in. Every weekend since then we have been playing and of course after losing/burning those hard earned calories we also replenish it at nearest Café Coffee Day or Nirula’s. Amit and Ritwik(pronounced Ritik) are two new non-IMRB members who have joined us.

Matches have been really interesting and at times nail biting. I would never forget to mention the one played between the Invincible Duo (Richa and Nirepinder) and Navneet/Myself. It was a match to watch. We (Navneet/Myself) were reeling at 12-2, and the invincible duo were cruising to victory, when Navneet THE PHOENIX Singh Ahuja decided to turn the match and we won. This match till date remains as one of the most well fought matches.

We had our shares of off the court moments too. Navneet’s “Dude you are being rude” being made famous by its sheer rhymability (I won’t go any further into it as it can be used it is a blog item in itself). Our post game lunch sessions at some fast food QSR (Quick Service Restaurant, my learning at IMRB). People coming from Gurgaon and Delhi for the sheer passion of the game. Infact, Navneet bought his Diesel Swift just to drive all the way from Gurgaon to Noida and save money on petrol.

Stay connected for more reports on the weekend games, schedules and match results.

So until next time… astalavista

TV, Mobile and et al

Americans are group of amazing people. Yesterday I was watching this reality show, called MOMENT OF TRUTH, where the contestants are attached to a lie detector and then asked questions related to their past relationship, one night stands, extra marital affair and what not… all this on national television. Can you believe it, I mean husband coming to know about wife’s sexual relationships with ex-boyfriends even after marriage, wife realizing the cheat that her husband has been all through. Wow! I thought only aunties in Delhi were interested to know what’s happening behind the closed doors in the neighbor’s house.

Then I changed channels to see the Indian Big Brother, ohh I mean BIGG BOSS, I really don’t understand that extra ‘G’ in there. Is that really big, I mean BIG is not big enough let’s make it a little bit bigger by adding a ‘G’. 14 contestants in a single house for 84 days without any connection with the outerworld, except on Friday when Shilpa Shetty makes an appearance to throw someone out of the house. Seven days of utter non-sense I mean please get somebody whom we would like to see, I mean why the hell would I want to see Raja, you don’t know him, good! Then you have the babe of the show, Payal Rohatgi, now don’t tell me you don’t know her, she is the modern age Mamta Kulkarni. What a starcast, phew!!!

I tell you my life has become a lot boring. I mean why the hell am I commenting on this non-consequential shows when I know they really don’t mean much to even be mentioned on this blogspot…

Good news I have decided that I would be buying X1 – Xperia mobile from Sony Ericsson. I don’t know how much would that cost but then that’s what is right now on my mind. I am fed up using this Mughal-e-azam type mobile phone of mine, though it has never betrayed me but still that’s the only luxury with you have with mobile phones which you don’t have with girlfriends, I mean you can always change them when you want a new one.

What a sad week, Alonso won the Singapore GP, why the hell he needed to win. I mean he was no where in the contest and suddenly he had to add spice to this already spiced up dish called F1. At last Fischicella had a complete race I mean he lasted till the end, quite an achievement. Force India, they have rightly named it, I mean its like you are forcing the whole India to support this senior citizen of F1 circuit just coz he is driving a machine drape with our national colour.

Hey guys some new chic on the block, Emanuelle Chirqui, this girl was seen in the new Adam Sandler flick called Nobody Messes With Zohan, the movie had nothing to offer other than Emanuelle. I mean she is not super hot, but then she is.. you can say poor man’s Salma Hayek.

Now that I have covered everything, I mean cars, gadgets, girls and entertainment I need to end this mindless talk what say….

Bye bye… sayonara(it also means bye, just showing my multilingual talents)….

The Lazy Day

The easiest thing was to take a leave and not come to the office. But then the early morning cup of coffee and butter toast with egg poach is something that was very tempting. So when I reached office and had my breakfast, my whole purpose to stay in the office dried out. I decided to write it and thus opened up the blog page and now I am scribbling down my thoughts (if you allow me say so). Btw I was thinking wat do u say when u r actually scribbling ur thoughts but then using a keyboard to do so. Do you call it something like, e-scribbling or stuff.



I had not slept well yesterday. Not like I was awake thinking something gr8 but then I was watching DADA speaking to the media about his retirement. They are all making a lot of hues and cry about his retirement, the poor guy has suffered a lot leave him. Then I was flooded with more messages and phone calls than dada, himself. I know the calls were to make fun at me, so times I took and times I ignored. But why did dada choose such a time to quit I don’t understand. I always liked his style whether its batting or captaining. He was in true sense a struggler and a comeback man for me.



I called up Praneesh to tell him that DADA has quitted and I knew that he is gonna be very sarcastic with all his unintentionally intending jabs at dada. I banged the phone on him.



Then I called up a friend of mine who was a bit upset with me and the reason is truly hilarious, I am gonna share this: It so happened that the last time I called him he was watching a movie in those dark theatres. And as he and his girlfriend (both least bothered with the movie) made their moves to have their share of entertainment (read, a passionate kiss), the haddi rang, I mean the mobile. And the caller as you all must have guessed by now was ME. Both had to do away with the kiss for the rest of the movie, THE MOMENT LOST IS A MOMENT GONE BEGGING (moral of the story). And then on he avoided my calls and me… Hilarious, isn’t it, I fell laughing from my bed.



Its 11:40 am now still an hour and half more b4 I head for lunch. Sensex is acting like jack, the one who came “tumbling down the hill” . 10800 points what a fall, phew. Thank God!!! I didn’t invest it here. Oh my god!!! I haven’t invested anywhere…



Richa, Vivek and Monika are away on a meeting. Ankur is working out the weights for a project, Reetu is talking to a friend and ME, simply trying to look busy…



Btw its gonna be a long weekend from tomorrow… wow, so some sleep at last and long bedtimes…



Hey Bajju, Praneesh and Anshul… know wat I wake early… I mean no 12 noon morning cup of tea stuffs with me… and just for records, I am usually the first one to reach the office in my team…

The Superhero in ME... Time to show me some respect...

Hot-headed. You have strong
will power and a good imagination

Green Lantern

Now you know who I am so show me some respect...

DONOT MESS WITH PLABAN...

Check your hero quotient yourself:

http://www.thesuperheroquiz.com/

A Good Read...

Yesterday as I took an auto home, I was in for a surprise. I never knew that the guy in the driver’s seat is gonna have a great impact on me. Rather his long yet inspiring dialogue, left an unforgettable mark on my mind…

The driver was from Bihar - a small district called Burdwan. I had felt that my knowledge of development was too good and started having a small conversation with him regarding the latest development related activities which the new government of Bihar was doing. This includes setting up of educational institutes, infrasrtucture, setups for MNC's etc.

This is what the driver had to say (the entire thing was in Hindi but translated here for convenience of the idle reader) :

"Saab, I am matric pass. I call myself educated from Bihar standards but I know that I am still uneducated. When we uneducated people have a dispute, we have a fight. It may or may not be a fist fight but we definitely fight. We abuse and we shout and scream at each other. We say things about each other's mothers and sisters. We do everything that our feeble mind feels will give the other person pain. But we do it on their face. AND we forget about it as soon as the incidence is over.
What do educated people do saab? Look at Maharashtra. These people call themselves educated and developed? They keep small things in their hearts till these small things become big and then simply cut up the poor person who is living away from his village working in their homes, offices and factories, doing menial jobs just to ensure that his family back home is able to eat two meals a day! Will you call Bal Thakeray or what is his son's name...educated? If this is educated and developed, then I will not want Bihar to be this saab.
I will want that before opening all these IIM's and IIT's, we should first teach our people to live like one...to ensure that the education - if and when they get it - is used for purposes that it should be used for...and these are for the development of the fellow beings living not only in their localities but also in their states and even more importantly...in their country.
Its been such a long time since I last heard someone saying that he was from India saab. All that everyone says is that he is from a state of a region."

Eye opener? I was stunned by this seemingly 30-35 year old who claimed to be just class X pass to say something so astounding that I wish I could make him stand on a podium and say these words in front of the entire country....I wish I could hear him speak for some more time...

Keep Loving

What is the best feeling in the world?
Being in love? Being with the person you always wanted to be with?
Going to moon or is it driving the costliest car on the surface of the earth? Is it Lamborghini?
what else can it be ? Looking at the world, there could be zillions of things which could make you feel on the top of the world. That’s the feeling. The feeling of driving the best car, having a dream job as i read on a blog which talked about Dream Job, Dream Body and Dream Relationship. But all that makes you feel best and which you think to be the ultimate goal, doesn't stay long. Doesn't it appear really weird? It’s that particular moment, may be a fraction of a second or may be few minutes hours or days or at times years. But ultimately, that happiness, that joyous moment fades away. It was a good thought that one needs to maintain that state with the same effort that one makes to achieve it.
Quite a point of view.

Anyways coming back to the "best feeling ever", I suppose by now you would have given a thought over it. Believe me; it was really tough for me to decide what this feeling must be. What it is that would make me feel the best? For me – the thing I wrote first is the thing that I believe to be the best feeling for me. So living without loving is something that I can never dream of. So, when that someone for whom you have dreamt the stuffs that make your future decides one fine day to move out of your life, what do you do then? You protest, you pull that person closer or you let go… none of these actions are questionable as this is not a question of ethics, logic or morale probably that’s the difficulty when you think of heart. Heart follows no rule. I am not here to preach about any particular action, I would just like to put it this way that I am going to tell something in which I believe in.

Long ago I had heard this saying, then it used to be just a forwarded SMS: “If you love someone and the person wants to leave you, then let her go, if she returns she is yours and if she doesn’t then she never was”. I believe in this. Not only ‘coz it is the true test of love and feeling, but also ‘coz I think if you love someone then you must be ready to gift a smile to that person even at the cost of your own pain. So when you love someone never make a condition that the person has to love you, love that person no matter whether the love is mutual or not, no I am not asking you to be GOD, in this world where being human is the most tasking thing, being GOD is something that even GODs would not dare trying.

When that person leaves you, you probably don’t know what has made you to deserve this pain. Destiny is probably some would say, but then wasn’t it the same destiny that had brought you together. So why the hero called DESTINY suddenly tries to play villain or is it the cupid who got angry with you. I have no answer, again, but then I think its we who make or break a relationship. So when a relationship gets sour, rather than blaming each other the best thing we can do is wish the other person all the best for the future and a happy life.

IT’S NOT EASY, BUT WHEN HAS LIFE EVER BEEN…

SO ALL YOU PEOPLE IN LOVE…

Love might leave you, but you don’t leave love…

KEEP LOVING AND KEEP LIVING

‘COZ LOVE IS NOT LOVE WHICH BENDS WHEN ALTERATION FINDS…

The Wait...

The sunny days are gone,
All I have is a broken heart,
It wasn’t meant to be like this,
But this is life or something like that.

The winter is here,
Its cold all around,
My heart shivers in pain,
No warmth to be found.

I will wait for the spring to come,
For the birds to sing the love song,
For all that has happened I still love her,
And I hope she still loves me, or am I wrong?

Happiness to Me

To me , getting off a plane is always interesting . Besides giving me a chance to smuggle out the in flight magazine, It kinda reflects the times we live in . It goes like this . The tyres hit the strip with a slight thud , bouncing off the ground a couple of times and waking up the old women who had dozed off . The pressure of the air against its extended wings soon slows it down . It glides slowly on the strip , making a couple of lazy turns while some lady on the announcement thanks you for flying with them even though they made you wait 4 hours at the airport and tells you the temperature outside is way too low than you hope it is . Now the plane stops down . And then , the interesting part starts .
People jump off their seats , brushing their bottoms against each other faces . Uff . Excuse me . Watch it . Will you please pull off your suitcase off my toe ? Pulling open the flaps over their heads . Switching on their cellphones . Someone yells "What ? You havent sent the car ? What the hell! ". Most people stand scrunched in the aisle , all forming an untidy queue , looking with tense eyes towards the end of the plane , wondering why the doors ain’t opened yet .
I still lie pushed down in my seat, while David Gilmour (Lead Singer, Pink Floyd) croons Comfortably Numb, exactly the state of my mind.
And as I lie in my seat , watching people stand on each other's feet , I wonder , jaldi kya hai yaar ? This plane blows up in three minutes ?
So many people are in so much hurry . That guy in a silver Swift behind my auto who is honking is in a hurry to get to his office ( Yaar overtake karte hue gaali kyun deta hai ? Accha hindi ki gaali to mat de ) . Students are in a hurry to read their chapters before they face the exams . My boss is in a hurry to get that report .That waiter at McDonalds is in a hurry to serve table number 4. People sitting at table number 4 are in a hurry to eat what comes to the table. People at the boarding gate are in a hurry to get onto the plane . When it lands , they are in a hurry to get out of it. Everybody is in a hurry to get somewhere . Few people want to stay in the moment they are in.
Now I don't know . Maybe these guys know where they want to get to. They see where they need to get to and they want to get there fast . You see , driven , focussed people. Achievers . Desh ko aage badane wale log. People you see shaking hands with white people on NDTV Profit . Maybe I am just a slow guy who likes to listen to music and type down words which interest nobody while the world around me reaches for the stars . You see , I don't have a problem with the 'wanting to achieve things' thing . Even I want to achieve things , even if they are a vegetable burger with cheese , and a TV remote , and someone who shares all that with me .
But what I don't understand is that why hurry ? Jaldi kya hai . Kidhar jaana hai ? I mean , life is not in the future . Life is now . This moment .I mean , it's like..
When I was in school , people told me happiness is getting good grades in board exams. We know that , kid .
When I got those, they told me happiness was getting into a top engineering college. ( Note kiya , kitna intelligent hoon main ?)
When I got that , they told me that happiness is definitely getting into a good MBA college. Pakka . Sachi . Muchi. Confirmed.
When I did that , happiness was defined as getting out of MBA and earning a handsome salary. Arre 100% happiness yehi hai . USA mein researchers bhee yehi kehte hai.
Now When I have done that(I can afford to say that, I think the IT guys are not looking here), happiness is ? Hello! What is it nowwww ? Bol do kake. Kitthe jaana hai ab ?
So ladies and gentlemans , now that the world has been telling me what to do , this is what I have learnt - all the above stuff is important , but happiness is something they dont need to tell you about . It is something you feel, that’s what the autowallah, in which I was coming told me. And only you decide what makes you happy. When others don't know where you want to be, how can they tell you how to get there ?
Like , for me , happiness is.
On a lazy Sunday , I watch a jim carrey flick on TV , eat a full lunch , and watch another jim carrey movie.
When ma asks me to take a bath and I put my arm around her shoulders and say "Chill , ma.Do dinn hee to hue hai." (I really miss those days)
When I say stupid things to someone who would not think "Huh? Isko problem kya hai?."
Sitting in my balcony on a December morning and drink hot coffee, listening to music.
Talking to someone who understands me, and accepts me even when I am all boring .
Playing chess with Baba and getting beaten by him at it too. (We don’t do that anymore , he is tired of
winning)
Caring for someone I want to care for.
Meeting a bunch of friends over a couple of huge pizzas and crack pathetic jokes about our college professors and why worst guys get the best girls.
Having tea at a roadside stall and having omlette and bread… the best food in the world
Dancing in the rain…
Having butta in rainy season…
Listening about Manish’s new GF (oops he is getting married)…
Taking a trip to nowhere…
Watching a match of cricket and cursing every Indian batsman for getting out cheaply…
Cheering for Nadal everytime he faces Federer...
Looking at Ana Ivanovic making those great forehand nad Backhands on the court and still not getting enuf of it....
Watching movies with anyone, everyone and, at times noone…
Blogging when I get time…
Having those long chats with my friends about nothing…
Spending times with the children at Sakshyam…
Spending time with myself…
Above all Happiness is just, being me.
So you see, what makes me happy is stuff I have not achieved, but stuff , which , I already have , had all the way along . So I know I need to achieve things , but hey , there is no hurry .Because I need to achieve things to survive , but to be happy , not much is needed . Some music and a vegetable burger , with cheese , will do just fine for now.
Anshul, Shilpa, Manish and Praneesh: If u guys are reading this then I am sure you understand what I am saying… Btw Manish you still owe me 100 bucks.

The Reason Your Read My Blog

No seriously, I don’t know if this classifies me as a handicapped person , but I can not type stuff about a particular single topic. I mean, people leave comments saying the blog lacks direction , is shallow and contains content stupid enough to make Govinda look like a philosopher . But after twenty minutes of trying to write something sensible , like something which expresses my concern over HIV infected kids in Rwanda , or something which tries to tell the world that we must save the blue whales before they are all dead , I decided that there are enough pillars of the society to do that , and I also decided that I am hungry .
So now as I drink a pack Meethi Lassi of Verka Milk, I think I will just talk whatever I want to even if it makes me look as intelligent as Sameera Reddy and leaves you sick in the stomach.
So the next I pick up the pen (read, keyboard) guys be sure that you gotta get more crap. Sense has never made sense to me and chaos is something that looked really systematic to me. I find myself to be usually-challenged, I mean you wont find me doing usual things and that doesnt make me unusual.

So to read my blog you don't need to have a reason... but of course post readin it you definitely have a reason to kill me...

Some Diary Pages - A love story

SOME DIARY PAGES – 1
Date: 15-Jan
HE:
I wait everyday till 8.00 in the office even if there is no work. All of my teammates ask me why; how can I tell them that I don’t wait for any personal or official work but the only reason why I wait is the ‘secretary’- a girl in my 8.00 p.m. Chinchwad bus. ‘Secretary’ is not her real name, it’s sort of a code name given to her by me and my friends. Truly speaking, I like her. She might not be one of those who look like Aishwarya Rai or Preitty Zinta, but she is cute and simple and that’s the reason I like her. For past 6 months I have been staring at her in the bus, while going to office and coming back from the office. When I get into bus, somehow my eyes search the whole bus just to have her glimpse.
I never had a girlfriend till now, not that I don’t like to have friendship with girls but somehow they usually prefer tall-dark-handsome qualities in their boyfriends, out of which I possess none. I don’t want to jump to any relationship like this with the secretary but at least just a friendship, is it possible?
I want to talk to her. I want to have friendship with her. I know her name, for I had seen her ID card one day. But I don’t have the guts to talk to her. I even don’t know whether she knows me even by face. I know, no one can help me here; no-one other than myself, but I simply have no guts. At least someone probably a common friend, might at least formally introduce us to each other.
SHE:
There is one guy in my office bus. His name is Shriram. I think he likes me, for me and even my friends have observed him many times staring at myself. Even when he gets into the bus, rather than searching for an empty seat, his eyes search the whole bus for me. Don’t know why but I kind of like it. Sometimes the feeling of knowing that someone loves you is far better than actually loving somebody. I didn’t have any affair till today, not that I didn’t like or love anyone, there was a guy in my college, whom I liked a lot but somehow he stayed away from me, not that he didn’t like me but probably because I am not that beautiful and he wanted someone much more better than me.
This guy, Shri, that’s what his friends call him, I had heard it once in the bus; he seems to be interested in me, not sure about love as such but friendship might not be bad. At least the guy seems to be decent one. I would like to be his friend, but how can I go forward? Afterall he is the boy, he should come one step ahead …not me.

SOME DIARY PAGES – 2
Date: 16-Jan
HE:
My roommate told me to approach her and get introduced to her all by myself. It’s not that easy; this is not a college, what if she complains about this to higher authorities? No, I can’t take this risk. Someone else better introduce her to me. God, can you help me please?
SHE:
My cousin told me to show some sign to him that I am ok in having friendship with him. I think he is afraid to come forward. I’ll give him a good friendly smile tomorrow, when he gets into the bus. I hope he understands and decrypts my signal. God, can you please help him?
GOD:
Now should I come into this picture? Both of these human beings are acting as if they are in a big problem. Although not for me, I had made life so simple for you, just added a bit of emotions there and see how complex you have made it. Now that I am the god, you must have been expecting me to intervene and have some miracle, but no; I won’t interfere here. I have created this world with some fixed rules and everything is just working as per that. Why should I just interfere and break my own rules thereby disrupting the balance of this whole system?

SOME DIARY PAGES – 3
Date: 17-Jan
HE:
Today when I got into the bus and looked at her, she returned back a cute smile. Was she serious? I don’t know; probably she must have told her friends about me and they must have been making fun of me and that’s why when I got into the bus she started laughing and I misunderstood it for smiling. Such a fool of me. Damn, her friends must be having fun discussing things about me.
SHE:
Today when he got into the bus, I smiled at him. But he seemed to be more puzzled than pleased. Is he really interested in having friendship with me or not? I really don’t know. Why am I thinking so much about him? Have I started liking him? Or is it just like you just get used to some things as a habit, and then you unknowingly start liking them? I think it’s the latter case here. Please god please let that guy be a descent one. My sixth sense says he is a descent guy. I think he must have got puzzled because of the smile I gave him. It wasn’t my fault, for I showed him that I am interested in friendship. Now the ball lies in his court. Will he dare first to talk?

Date: 18-Jan
HE:
I am damn confused. I don’t know what to do. Every day everyone around me is bombarding me with some tactics to approach her but nothing seems to suit me well. My roommates even started taunting me that I can’t have a girlfriend or at least the guts to approach the gal. I am leaving it now on luck. I will just continue whatever is going on; let the luck take us wherever and however intended.

SOME DIARY PAGES – 4
Date: 25-Jan
HE:
Nothing unusual or special happened in the last few days. However, today I thought something interesting might happen. The bus was about to start the back-home journey today when she and one of her friends got into the bus. They were searching for a place to sit. I was alone on a seat of three. I was thrilled that she would sit on the same seat beside me. But she just came, momentarily paused at the seat, turned to her friend and just went past; to sit on the last seat. I couldn’t see the expressions on her face clearly but what I saw was a face filled up with hate or some similar feeling that clearly showed expression such as whatever might happen, I am not going to sit beside this *****. It was really heartbreaking. It was the biggest insult I had suffered till now. Am I so hopeless?

Date: 26-Jan
HE:
Today, there was public holiday so I got lot of time to think and analyze the situation. What was my fault? I haven’t done anything wrong. I didn’t ever talk to her, I never tried to flirt, I never gossiped about her except for my close friends. I am even sure that none of my co-travelers in the bus know that I like her. Whenever I stare at her I take necessary precaution as not to be too obvious. I don’t want to embarrass her in any way. When I am trying my best for this, then why did she have such cruel expressions on the face?
I think either she knows now that I like her and stare at her and she doesn’t want to encourage me or simply, she just hates me for no reason, just like many of my classmates who hate me for no reason.
I don’t know what to do now, but either ways I think she just doesn’t want me to be anywhere around her. She just hates me, just one more failure. Does it hurt? Yes it does, but I am very much used to it. I’ll try my best not to look at her. I don’t want to do anything that she doesn’t like. I will try to forget her as if she was just one more dream in my life which simply didn’t come true. Probably, I don’t deserve to be with her. This is fate after all. I will have to obey it.

Date: 26-Jan
SHE:
Today was a holiday. So I couldn’t see him, although I wanted to. I actually wanted to apologize for whatever happened yesterday. I got into the bus and searched for the seat. He was sitting alone on the seat for 3, it was a good chance for me to sit with him and have a word or two. I was just thrilled. I was about to sit on the same seat when Kruti said something. I didn’t hear it properly so I turned to her. She said,”See, Aravind is there, he has reserved seats for us.” I just hate that Aravind, he is always ready to flirt provided the other person is a girl. Whenever I see him, somehow I try my best to be as away from him as I can, I even show hatred to him directly on my face but this guy simply ignores this. I don’t know why Kruti likes him so much.
So the point is I went to the seat that Aravind had reserved specially for us. I felt really bad for Shri, but if I would have denied Aravind’s offer and would have sat on Shri’s seat; it would have just been too obvious. He must have felt embarrassed. Poor guy.

SOME DIARY PAGES – 5
Date: 27-Jan
SHE:
Today he seemed to have lost in thoughts. When he got into the bus, surprisingly he didn’t search for me. He even didn’t look up. He just went straight to the last seat and started reading a novel. I tried looking at him once or twice but he didn’t lift his head at all. I think he is hurt, I am feeling sorry, but what can I do? When we got down at the office gate, I purposefully lingered a bit more at the gates to give back him a smile, but I couldn’t spot him in the crowd. Shri, I am sorry, please be normal again.

Date: 27-Feb
HE:
I was working in the night shift for the whole month so had to travel by cab rather than bus. I used to work from 4.00 p.m. to 2.30 a.m. so naturally I had lost contact with almost all people working in dayshift except for my teammates who would surrender the charge to me while leaving for the day. For the whole month I didn’t travel by bus. Obviously didn’t see her. She works in the adjacent building only, but I don’t know where her cubicle is located exactly and anyways even if I would be knowing that, I don’t think I have that much guts to approach her.
For almost a month I didn’t see her, but I didn’t feel any desperation to see her. I was unbelievably aloof in this case. Was it the effect of that evening incidence?

SOME DIARY PAGES – 6
Date: 28-Feb
HE:Today, the office had planned to screen a movie in the campus. I had seen it but thought of enjoying it with friends in the open air. I took the permission for an hour from my boss and went for that. The dialogues were not much audible on the lawns, but it was fun to watch the movie in an open air theatre like that. I was to leave the place to return to my cubicle and turned around when I saw her standing there just around 10 feet away from me.
I don’t know why but my heart started speeding a lot higher than even Schumi’s Ferrari. She just smiled at someone in the crowd at my back, tried her best not to look directly to me and just left the place. I stood there for a minute or two just wondering what had happened.
Why did she smile? Did she feel good that I am still in the same company only or she didn’t even take notice of my presence and really smiled at someone in the crowd at my back? But we were so close that it was practically impossible for her to just ignore me.
SHE:
I saw him today, at the movie screening. Thank god he is still working with this company only. I thought of smiling at him and greeting him. I was so happy to see him, I wanted to ask him where he was for so many days, whether he was not well, had he changed his house or was he using bike for the transport, but again I didn’t ask a single question. I stayed calm. I didn’t want to embarrass him again.
I don’t know what I feel about him, but somehow whenever I see him, I do feel better. I hope he starts traveling by bus again. Every day we can see each other in the morning and wish each other a very good morning without any words or smile but just with a plain look

SOME DIARY PAGES – 7
Date: 5-march
HE:
I resumed my normal duty today. It was good to see all those familiar faces once again after so many days. Of course my eyes were searching only one face out of that but still.
Just like my normal schedule, I got into the bus. She was sitting there with the same plain look on her face, nowhere even a single line of recognition, but when she saw me, her face reflected a small smile. It couldn’t escape my notice. Was she happy to see me back in the bus? I don’t know about her, but I was definitely happy to see her.
SHE:
I was so happy, I tried my best to conceal my happiness but I felt like getting up from my seat and just sit beside him and talk, talk and just talk to him. Hey what’s this? What’s happening to me? I never felt like this for anyone. Is this just sympathy for that evening thing or is this love? No chance of it. I don’t believe in this love at first sight or so. We don’t know each other, we don’t know anything about each other, and how can this be love? Probably just infatuation… whatever it may be… I love this feeling very much

SOME DIARY PAGES – 8
DATE: 7-March
HE:
Today can be called as the luckiest day of my life. I talked to her face to face for the first time. Rajesh, my friend had some work in Nigdi today and was traveling by our bus and surprisingly he knew her well. They were college mates during the degree. He introduced us formally. I was so happy, that I just forgot that sometime back she just avoided sitting beside me. Everything in my brain, all my nervousness, and hatred for her as well as for my loser …all was just washed up.
Now I can talk to her, I hope I can turn this chance to success. Oh god thanks a lot… Rajesh was just like an angel sent by you.
SHE:
Thanks a lottt god…. I am so happy. Even he was. I could easily make that out from his face. It was just so bright. He still has feelings for me. Thank god, I thought after that day I kinda lost him, but no. Now we can talk to each other officially. No problem of who is first … we are friends now. God you are great.
Rajesh:
Today I had some work in Nigdi so had to travel by office bus. I thought better to go with Shri just for the sake of good company but it didn’t seem to be necessary when I saw my best friend from our degree college traveling by the same bus. It was a really pleasant surprise to see her after a couple of years or so. I think my transfer to Pune will result in some good thing. She has become more beautiful than she was in our college days. Damn.. Why the hell did I neglect her in college when she had crush on me… I hope she is still single, not even committed or so. I would like simple girl like to get settled in life. Now I am well settled in job, should go forward with love matter also.
When I introduced Shri to her today, somehow her face lit up as if she was eager to have a word or two with him since many days. Shri’s condition was no different. Do they have something between them? I hope there is nothing of such sort. Oh God, thanks a lot that you made me meet her, I hope you help me once again to make her mine. Please just keep Shri out of this.
GOD:
If you get only happiness then you don’t feel its value, do you? That’s why everything is planned in such a way that whenever you get happy you should understand its true value. I haven’t done anything special here. It’s all just happening as predefined.

SOME DIARY PAGES – 9
Date: 10-March
HE:
Since Rajesh has introduced us to each other, the days have been very good for us. I mean I didn’t talk to her or so, but at least we exchange smile regularly. Let’s see whether I can sit beside her sometime and have a word or two.
Date:12-March
HE:
I sat beside her today in the bus while returning from office. We were chatting a lot, on no specific topics as such, but I really enjoyed her company. She is really a cute, simple and sweet girl. She said she will be reserving a seat for me in the morning bus. Let’s see whether she really keeps her promise…

Date:16-March
HE:
Since last few days, she had been reserving a seat for me in the morning as well as in the evening bus. We both seem to enjoy each other’s company very well. I decided to take a step forward today. I asked her for a cup of coffee in the afternoon. I was a bit depressed about what she might reply but surprisingly, she said yes without thinking even for a moment as if she was actually waiting for such a move from my side. We decided to meet at 4 near the café inside the campus.
She didn’t turn up. I don’t have her cell number so I even couldn’t call her and ask why she did so. It was so embarrassing for me to wait there just alone. Did she do it purposefully? Why? I could make out no sensible reason.
If she would be having a meeting or some office work, she should have informed me. She didn’t call me. My extension or even cell number was available with the telephone directory. Did she do it for the only reason that she wanted to show that she doesn’t care for me and prove her importance?
SHE:
Today that happened real disaster. The servers were down and I was so busy in recovering them, debugging the code that I almost forgot I had my first ‘date’ with Shri. I suddenly remembered it just before going to a meeting at 2 and I was sure that I can easily finish off with the meeting by 4 and meet Shri, but no. The destiny had some other plans. I had to be in meeting till 5. I even couldn’t phone Shri and inform him that I am not coming. By the time I was free from that chaos, it was already 6. He must have left for the day. He was going to Mumbai today, so he must have left early.
What can I do? I wanted to meet him and apologize face to face. Mail or phone won’t do. I hope we meet on Monday. I’ll explain him everything. He is a nice guy. He will understand me properly. I am hoping so, obviously I don’t have any other option at least till Monday.

SOME DIARY PAGES – 10
Date:19-March
HE:
I left for the day early today at 6. I had traveled from Mumbai in the morning and so needed rest or was it just to avoid her since she travels by 8 o’clock bus? I don’t know the reason but I felt like just avoiding her.
SHE:
Where is he? He must have come from Mumbai in the morning and joined directly, that’s why he wasn’t in the morning bus, but why not in the usual evening bus at 8? Probably he was tired. Let’s hope he meets me tomorrow morning. He will listen to me and this time I will invite him for a coffee or so.

Date: 21-March
HE:
Yesterday, she explained me the whole thing. How stupid of me? I was thinking really absurd things about her. She is such a cute girl; it was not her mistake that she had to attend the meeting. I was kind of ok when she gave me the explanation. The conversation after that just went normal as it used to be earlier. Whatever that might be but I am not going to ask her out anymore.

Date: 22-March
HE:
What the hell… what does she think of herself? Today she invited me for a coffee at 4. I went there on time. I didn’t want to miss it but again she didn’t turn up. Why? Is she just stressing how important she is and how unimportant I am for her? I felt like calling her there only and just ask the reason why is she playing games with me like this. I decided to ask this for full and final what the matter was, but she didn’t turn up even for 8 o’clock bus.

Date:27-March
HE:
I couldn’t see her for last 5 days. Did she come to office? Isn’t she feeling well? I hope she is alright. Oh God, please protect her.

Date: 10-April
Rajesh:
Her father was seriously ill. As a family friend, I helped a lot. She couldn’t go to office for a fortnight or so, but I helped her in conveying the matter to her seniors. I think this last week helped me a lot as in building a rapport with her and her parents. Fate has given me a good chance to get closer to her, I think I can progress here.

Date:25-April
SHE:
Today I met Shri finally after so many days. I thought he might be still angry about the coffee thing, but to my surprise, he was a bit tensed as to why I was not coming to the office. I explained him that daddy was seriously ill. He enquired about dad’s health and then simply changed the subject to turn my attention to somewhere else. He was just trying to take me out of the tension about dad’s health. He is such a mature guy, I knew he would understand.

Date: 20-May
SHE:
Shri and I have been going out for a long time now. I have started loving him. I think even he is serious about this relationship but he is younger than me and I don’t think he is ready for any commitment at this stage of his life, but mumma and dad are pursuing me for marriage; what should I do? Should I ask him?

Date: 22-May
SHE:
Shri told me today that he is leaving the company. He has got an admission to MBA in a College in Mumbai. It’s really difficult to be away from him at least for 2 years. Should I ask him for a relationship? Will he be ready for that or he just wants to wait till the completion of his MBA? But I can’t wait that much. I think I’ll better ask him straight about the commitment let’s see what he says.

Date: 23-May
Rajesh:
Today I proposed to her. She didn’t show any expressions as such on face and asked for some time to think about it, but I know she must have be just too happy for she had crush on me in our college life. I think she will say ‘yes’. Just that I need to confirm, that Shri doesn’t come in between. Everything should go smooth otherwise. Even her and my parents would not have any problem in fact they would be happy if she and I get into the most beautiful relationship.
HE:
Today she called me up and asked to meet for a coffee at our usual place, but later suddenly she called up to cancel the meeting. I don’t know why. She sounded stressed a bit on phone so I concluded it to be the result of work pressure. But when I saw her in the evening in the bus today, she was in a bit off-mood. I don’t know why. She then just held my hand. I think she wanted to say something but she was not able to. I couldn’t even understand what she wanted to say but I kept mum. When my stop came nearer, she released my hand. I asked her whether she was alright. She didn’t reply anything else than ‘yes, just fine’.
I tried calling her in the night after dinner, but she didn’t pick up. I think she must be stressed because of the work and must have slept early. I hope nothing is wrong. Oh god, please take care of her.
SHE:
Today was the most dreadful day for me. Rajesh proposed to me. My mood was off. I loved him in college but he didn’t seem to pay any attention to me. At times he literally avoided me. Later somehow I just managed to overcome that feeling. I loved him, but he didn’t. There are no conditions in love after all. I tried my best to forget feelings about him, at least suppress them. He never seemed to like me. Then why now? Has his feelings really changed? Or he is just playing games with me?
I was going to propose Shri today. It would have been the most crucial moment of my life and this guy, Rajesh just turned off my mood. I was literally shocked to hear from him. Not that I don’t like him but now that a couple of years have passed when we had no contact and even Shri is there in my life. Much water has flown down the bridge. I don’t know whether I still love him, and I also don’t know whether Shri is ready to have a commitment as such with me. I am just confused. Oh god, please help me. Show me some way. Why didn’t you device any automatic system to solve such problems?
GOD:
Automatic system? Wow!!! All these software engineers think alike. They think just the computerization of every system solves most of the related problems. But real life is not so simple. The real life is much more complex thing to handle. In arithmetic you have 1+1 =2; but in real life you may have 1+1 as anything but 2. That’s life.
About the automatic system to solve the real life problems, I have given you humans one such machine. Some call it heart, some mind or some just brain. I gave you the ability to think. You can take decisions based on your prior experience, your conscience and you can very easily use it to make decisions and I am sure even she will find out a way in this ambivalence because even if she does not trust my creations, I do.

Date: 24-May
SHE:
Yesterday after so many days I cried. I cried a lot. I was completely lost in dilemma. I was not able to think properly. What should I do? I loved Rajesh a couple of years ago but he didn’t, at that time. Now he loves me but I love Shri. Rajesh wants to settle down in life and he wants me to be with him. Shri has not planned something of that sort, he is just going to complete his MBA first and then will think of getting settled. Rajesh, he is of my age, very much mature; whereas Shri is younger, a bit of immature but that suits his age. Rajesh, my family knows him very well and will be ready perhaps eager to include him in as my husband; whereas Shri, I haven’t told anything about him to mom or dad yet.
But I love Shri a lot, probably more than I used to love Rajesh in college days. How should I make a decision? Based on feeling for love or based on my future, the practical aspects for my life? Where should I go? Oh god, please help me. I need you immensely. Please please, help me make the decision.

Date: 30-May
HE:
Last few days just flew past like a stormy wind. All those processes I had to undergo in order to leave the company, just because I wanted to pursue better career in MBA rather than staying here and stagnating. A few more days and I am off to achieve my dreams.
Just the problem is, I don’t want to leave her, my love, my secretary. I really love her. Since when my infatuation turned into love was unknown even to me. I don’t want to leave her but I can’t even stay here. Even I am doing MBA in Mumbai not even here in Pune. Will she wait for me for at least 2-3 years which I will need to complete MBA and get settled?
I have said goodbye to everyone, it was not that difficult; but it’s definitely not the same with her. I don’t know whether I will be able to say her goodbye and how I am going to do that.
SHE:
I have made my decision. I don’t know how to convey it but I will have to do it. One of the two hearts is going to get broken but there is no any other way. I have made my decision and I’ll stick to it. Oh god, please give me strength to convey the decision and then bear everything that follows...

Date: 19-June
SHE:
Today was Shri’s birthday and also his last day in Pune as well as in this company. He left in the evening for Mumbai. It was really a heartbreaking moment to see him parting, especially when both of us were completely aware that we might not see each other in future. I had made the decision; the only problem was how to convey it to him. I chose to be practical than just blind in love. People give you cool gifts on your birthday but what I gave him was just a shock, a damn big shock. He didn’t say anything except for ‘congrats’ and ‘good luck’ but his face told me everything he wanted to convey. I cried there standing in the whole crowd of his friends who had gathered to wish him luck and goodbye. He couldn’t cry out but if possible, he could just have wept then and there.
I said him sorry that I chose Rajesh over him. What he replied was surprising. He just replied, ‘No need to say sorry. It’s your life, you have complete right to make a decision and you are mature enough to do so and you have made a wise decision. We were friends and will be, but please don’t expect me to keep a contact with you. I loved you and I really loved you from the bottom of my heart. Now whenever I will think of you I will not have anything else than love in my mind and I think same might be the case with you; and that won’t be right especially when u will be a married woman; married to someone else. So this is our last meet. Thanks for the friendship and the feeling of love that you gave me. Best luck for your future life.’ And he just went inside the bus.
Was he so aloof or he just tried to sound so as not to make me feel worse about our parting? I think for all those days that I spent with Shri, I still couldn’t understand him properly. Anyways Shri, what the truth is that I loved you. I loved you like anything but the decision I made was based on practical aspects of life. My decision will prove to be better for both of us and I am damn sure of it. I had started writing diary since when I had seen you for the first time, now since you are not there in my life, I am going to discontinue this practice. This is the last page of my diary. Best luck Shri, for your future. Love you. Bbye.
HE:
This was the worst birthday of my life when I broke up with my love. It can’t be termed as a breakup as such but we parted; we parted forever with a promise not to cross the other’s life anytime in future. I felt like crying; but boys don’t cry, do they? Yes they cry, but secretly….and that’s why I am crying now. The whole page is wet because of my tears. Anyways this is the last page. I have decided not to write this diary anymore. This diary had come into my life with secretary, and since secretary is no more with me, what’s the purpose of this diary? Secretary, just wanted to say best luck for your future. I Love you. Bye.
SOME DIARY PAGES – 14... Concluding Part
Rajesh:
Finally, today is that lucky day for me. She said yes. I am so happy. She is mine. Finally my dream has come true. Oh God thanks a lot. You have made my day, in fact my life. Very few people get to live with someone they love; I am one of those lucky ones. My happiness has no bounds. I am very very happy today.
Shri left the company today, I don’t know whether we will be able to meet each other in future. I had gone to say good bye and wish good luck to him. He was talking to her. When I saw her face, I again felt some pain in my heart. Are they both having something? If so, why did she say Yes to me? Are they trying to cover-up something? Or is she playing games with me? Or am I coming as an odd between the two? I could see tears in Shri’s eyes when he left her and got into the bus. Her condition was no different, in fact she literally cried. She seemed to recover after a couple of minutes but the way she was looking somewhere into the vacuum, her face clearly was clearly telling her diligent attempts to control tears. Oh god, please show me the way. I hope I didn’t do anything wrong by proposing her.
The way they both were talking to each other didn’t show any sign of quarrel or fight between them. Then why they separated? Or they shared some feeling for each other and none of them just bothered to express it? Whatever the situation might be, she has said ‘yes’ to me; must be for some reason, whatever ; she is mine now. Shri is her past and she will forget him; in fact she will have to. Whatever the case may be, I love her and that’s it.
GOD:
Okay. Here is the end of this story, not a unique; in fact a very very common one. You might be expecting me to interfere in it at the eleventh hour and change the ending so that either; before the bus starts, She runs to the bus and gets into it and goes with Shri to Mumbai or probably when the bus is about to leave, Shri jumps out and hugs her or Rajesh feels something wrong and just takes her on bike and follows the bus just to stop it and make her get into the bus for Shri and so on? Nopes. This is not a film script. This is a real life story and not a reel life one.
She took the decision wisely after evaluating each option she had. She had thought practically in every aspect. Won’t interference by me be just injustice to her thoughts? Won’t it be a betrayal to her trust that the option she chose is the best one? Won’t it be just a wrong deed on my side and that too just to please some others without any particularly sensible reason?
As I said, I have made this world with some predefined rules. The balance of this world totally depends on the events that are happening every now and then. No event is of more or less important than the other. Every moment, situation, event has some sort of purpose and so stands of equal importance. The purpose might not be directly related to you but it can also affect you indirectly. As said before, I had already decided not to intervene and I stuck to my word. Now you will say that it’s me only who decides everything ultimately. Yes. Indeed true but that’s what my point is. I decided her fate to be with Rajesh, that’s it. I hope you understand; in fact I am sure you will … again that’s what your fate says….