Turning a decade older can do strange things to people. Some choose to question God why he turns people old, some prefer to let it slide. I chose to look back and assess and the only thought that came to my mind - You've come a long way, baby!
A lot happened in the last 10 years. I spent 4 years completing formal education, 3 years in complete financial freedom and 3 years in captivity ... err, being married.
Personally, many things changed. From never having lived away from my parents for 22 years, I spent the next 8 in a distant land. I went from weighing 135 lbs to 180 lbs, from driving a 35cc joke of a vehicle to a 3.5L gas guzzler, from carrying data on floppy disks to carrying data on phones. I made my first ever paycheque; and then some. I traveled extensively. Friends turned into mere acquaintances, and acquaintances, friends. As the years turned over, I saw myself trying hard to blend in when earlier I was trying to stand out.
The world around me changed rapidly too. We entered a new millennium. The global threat of terrorism thrust it's ugliness in our face in the form of 9/11. Train bombings, subway bombings, hotel bombings followed. Bush screwed with America twice over. Gay marriages were legalized. India elected it's first ever woman president; America it's first black president. Tsunamis. Earthquakes. Hurricanes. Oil Spills. Social Media.
The more things changed though, the more they remained the same. Tendulkar is still cricketing God. Ten years later, Laxman is still holding the Aussies at bay. Ponting is still chewing his finger nails. Afridi is still 17 years old. Kobe is still top dog. Derek Fisher's rainbow shots still find the pot of gold through the net. Lakers,under Jackson, still have a shot at a 3-peat. Oil, gold and real estate continue getting expensive by the day. Thalaivar still rules the Tamizh heart. Salman Khan is still debating marriage.
I guess I've rambled on way too much already. To sum up, the last 10 years have been a great journey and as I continue to grow, I continue to learn. The idea is to get better with age, but it comes with one caveat - growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional ;)
Here's to the years to come!
Post Title: Metallica - Turn The Page
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Stay Tuned
I am still around and alive and kicking. I dont have one specific reason for why I havent been blogging lately, actually I have quite a few of them =)) For one, I've been unbearably busy at work. It is tough getting used to the fact that I actually have to work to get paid and I no longer get paid for just showing up everyday (whatever happened to that plan?). So after I am done working the day I have no motivation at all to spend some more time in front of the computer screen. Besides, I dont think it is fair for the wife either that I dont spend time with her even when I am home. So that shoves blogging further below in the priority list. Someone may argue (if anyone were to, really) that I could do this on weekends. But dont you think I'd have better things to do on the weekends, especially when I've been married only for 7 months?!
Oh well. Enough with pointing fingers at Nupur for everything I do or don't. Truth is, she's been egging me on for the last few months to write - its just that I've been lazy (although the work part is really true). So without finding more reasons to cover up my lazy ass, I will make an attempt to write more regularly. Till then, keep watching this space!
Oh well. Enough with pointing fingers at Nupur for everything I do or don't. Truth is, she's been egging me on for the last few months to write - its just that I've been lazy (although the work part is really true). So without finding more reasons to cover up my lazy ass, I will make an attempt to write more regularly. Till then, keep watching this space!
Monday, November 5, 2007
Packed Weekend
There are rare weekends when you get a lot done and still on Sunday evening you feel like you're ready for the coming week. This was one such weekend. Went to the office party on Friday evening, cleaned up the apartment on Saturday, went to the beach, watched American Gangster, gained an hour (of sleep) on Sunday, went to the gym, wrapped up my laundry, did my groceries, ran some errands, finished my weekly cooking, watched Jab We Met, all of this thrown in with a lot of talking on the phone and it was 10 pm on Sunday already! Time just ran by. And to think that I had no particular plans :)) I'll take more of such weekends :D
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Friday, September 14, 2007
What do, New York couples fight about?
More appropriately the question should be what New York couples talk about. I'm not too concerned about the Yankees. What I'm interested in finding out is what do couples talk about, whether they're in New York or New Zealand or New Orleans or Navi Mumbai.
A friend of mine recently got engaged. To her luck, it is an arranged marriage. Now that they're engaged the couple is in the 'happy' courtship period. To begin with, I am not so comfortable with the way arranged marriages happen. You get to meet each other once or twice and then decide within the short time whether or not the other person is a good fit for a life partner. When you think you've got it right, you get engaged and then there's some time before you wed. What if during this time you find out that your partner is exactly what you were hoping s/he would not be? What if you failed to read the signs in those 2 meetings before you said yes? How long does it take before you can actually interpret all those signs in the right manner? Is there a way out once you realise what a schmuck you've committed yourself to? But I digress. Enough with my own insecurities and on to the story of the couple.
So it happens that both work the long hours and catch up in the evenings daily. Both hardly know each other and so it seems like there would be lots to catch up on and that they would not have enough time to know each other despite the long courtship period. Its been about a month now and it all seemed to be going well. Almost. As it turns out, her fiance, like most men is pretty reticent. I mean thats how its always been, right? Women talk talk talk and talk and men (pretend to) listen. But we have a new problem here when women expect men to talk. We can'd do that! We just aren't conditioned to do that! What do you think spawned that joke about the mothertongue? It's called the mothertongue because the father never gets to use it. Huh? Or that other joke? Why do you think that when guys talk on the phone the conversation is over in 30 seconds flat and when girls talk you wonder if you need a calendar and not a clock? Not saying that we can't hold conversations but its just natural that after some time of listening to the woman talk and trying to keep her interested in keeping the conversation going we deserve a period of silence. My friend does not subscribe to this school of thought. It was getting increasingly difficult for her with each passing day to meet every evening and do the bulk of the talking. Meeting up everyday after working till late left her little time for herself and to get her stuff done. To add to her woes, if she tried to bail out on one day, they would end up giving each other a piece of their mind the next time they met. All of this, during the courtship period. Things certainly weren't going pilaan ke mutaabik =))
Without playing the blame game let's try to realistically assess the situation. Guy is eager to make the most of the courtship period and get to know the girl but does not have the gift of gab. Girl is (naturally) glib and is also eager to know more about the guy. However girl keeps facing intermittent road blocks when she has to come up with topics to speak on every-frikking-day. I guess the guy can be blamed partially in this case but such a judgement begs more questions than answer the existing ones.
So how important is it to keep on talking throughout the evening? Is it really necessary to exercise the vocal chords in full blast all the time? Can't we have some moments of peace? Whatever happened to 'har baat lafjon mein bayaan karne ki jaroorat nahi hoti hai'? No? Not anymore? I know it takes the fun out of meeting up if you're not going to talk much, but what if you realise that you are committed to someone whom you cannot talk to for more than 2 minutes? I know, I know, my insecurities are coming in to play once again here, but spare a thought for this situation. What in hell do you do then? Alright, lets say you somehow manage to get through all of this and get married. What happens when the both of you come home after work and have nothing to talk about? Worse yet - wife stays home, husband comes home after a long day and wife starts nagging. Such an exciting prospect, innit?
Right now the way things are for most of my friends and I, we dont have a lot going on. There's nothing new or exciting happening any given day and we are pretty much slaves to the routine. Whenever I have conversations with my friends, all of us dread the 'aur kya' type questions. There IS no 'aur'! If things stay the same what do we talk about when we get home? Funny questions all, pertinent nevertheless. I guess I'll have to wait my turn to find how things pan out.
Post Title: Morcheeba - What New York couples fight about
A friend of mine recently got engaged. To her luck, it is an arranged marriage. Now that they're engaged the couple is in the 'happy' courtship period. To begin with, I am not so comfortable with the way arranged marriages happen. You get to meet each other once or twice and then decide within the short time whether or not the other person is a good fit for a life partner. When you think you've got it right, you get engaged and then there's some time before you wed. What if during this time you find out that your partner is exactly what you were hoping s/he would not be? What if you failed to read the signs in those 2 meetings before you said yes? How long does it take before you can actually interpret all those signs in the right manner? Is there a way out once you realise what a schmuck you've committed yourself to? But I digress. Enough with my own insecurities and on to the story of the couple.
So it happens that both work the long hours and catch up in the evenings daily. Both hardly know each other and so it seems like there would be lots to catch up on and that they would not have enough time to know each other despite the long courtship period. Its been about a month now and it all seemed to be going well. Almost. As it turns out, her fiance, like most men is pretty reticent. I mean thats how its always been, right? Women talk talk talk and talk and men (pretend to) listen. But we have a new problem here when women expect men to talk. We can'd do that! We just aren't conditioned to do that! What do you think spawned that joke about the mothertongue? It's called the mothertongue because the father never gets to use it. Huh? Or that other joke? Why do you think that when guys talk on the phone the conversation is over in 30 seconds flat and when girls talk you wonder if you need a calendar and not a clock? Not saying that we can't hold conversations but its just natural that after some time of listening to the woman talk and trying to keep her interested in keeping the conversation going we deserve a period of silence. My friend does not subscribe to this school of thought. It was getting increasingly difficult for her with each passing day to meet every evening and do the bulk of the talking. Meeting up everyday after working till late left her little time for herself and to get her stuff done. To add to her woes, if she tried to bail out on one day, they would end up giving each other a piece of their mind the next time they met. All of this, during the courtship period. Things certainly weren't going pilaan ke mutaabik =))
Without playing the blame game let's try to realistically assess the situation. Guy is eager to make the most of the courtship period and get to know the girl but does not have the gift of gab. Girl is (naturally) glib and is also eager to know more about the guy. However girl keeps facing intermittent road blocks when she has to come up with topics to speak on every-frikking-day. I guess the guy can be blamed partially in this case but such a judgement begs more questions than answer the existing ones.
So how important is it to keep on talking throughout the evening? Is it really necessary to exercise the vocal chords in full blast all the time? Can't we have some moments of peace? Whatever happened to 'har baat lafjon mein bayaan karne ki jaroorat nahi hoti hai'? No? Not anymore? I know it takes the fun out of meeting up if you're not going to talk much, but what if you realise that you are committed to someone whom you cannot talk to for more than 2 minutes? I know, I know, my insecurities are coming in to play once again here, but spare a thought for this situation. What in hell do you do then? Alright, lets say you somehow manage to get through all of this and get married. What happens when the both of you come home after work and have nothing to talk about? Worse yet - wife stays home, husband comes home after a long day and wife starts nagging. Such an exciting prospect, innit?
Right now the way things are for most of my friends and I, we dont have a lot going on. There's nothing new or exciting happening any given day and we are pretty much slaves to the routine. Whenever I have conversations with my friends, all of us dread the 'aur kya' type questions. There IS no 'aur'! If things stay the same what do we talk about when we get home? Funny questions all, pertinent nevertheless. I guess I'll have to wait my turn to find how things pan out.
Post Title: Morcheeba - What New York couples fight about
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
The Asian connection
When I was living in Pune, sighting Asians on the streets wasnt such a rare occurence. Clearly, when I say Asians, I mean all the -ese : Chin-ese, Japan-ese, Vietnam-ese etc. Pune had a lot of international students all across its various colleges, and was also a pretty laidback city to hang out in, for tourists looking to get away from the madness of the bigger cities. Granted, those times I was so ignorant I couldnt tell a Nepali sweater-walla from a Japanese (well, almost :D) and they were all pretty much the same flat-nosed, noodle devouring, funny looking people to me.
Interaction with these guys was pretty limited, only if someone asked you for directions (and you could figure out what they were talking) This changed drastically when I came to the US. It was going on in much the older vein, until I registered for a class under a Chinese professor at school in Ohio. Now this guy's English was part of desi grad student folklore and we were advised by some old-timers to take a crash course in Ce-101, Ch-english 101, before classes began. Sure enough, the real fun started right in the 1st class. The professor went on talking about an-gay, o-gay, shesho votay with sho-rans and so many other things and half the class was clueless as to what was going on in a hardware design class. Our Ce-101 experts helped us figure that he was talking about AND gates, OR gates and threshold voltages with tolerance :)) We were more comfortable thereon in class and became experts in this brand of English quite soon. Thus began my first brush with the Chinese. I knew little then, that, hindi chini bhai bhai would become very pertinent for me in the years to follow.
Carrying on through school, I used to play bball with a lot of Chinese guys who crowded the courts in the evenings. I could never remember any of their names despite playing with them regularly, funny enough they managed to call my name correctly. The worst part of playing with these guys was they would never ever speak a word of English, and whenever they were calling teams I used to stand by the side, watching in all amusement until ball was in play and I was told which way I had to shoot :D Moving on from school, I thought I wouldnt be around Asians any longer and I could not have been more wrong.
When I moved to Chicago I was staying with 2 roomies, one a Vietnamese grad student and the other an oddball reticent desi who preferred to answer all questions in mono-syllables than go through the effort of speaking in complete sentences. When I first moved in, the guy who was moving out of that apartment told me that the Vietnamese fellow kept to himself and very rarely talked with the roomies. As the days went on I found that the Vietnamese guy was more communicative and the desi, uhh, he was not much of a people person. It was an odd little apartment with queer roomies around and the only saving grace was that I had a few friends around town. Needless to say, I was barely home on weekends.
Luckily, I was out of Chicago and away from those weird roomies in a little bit and I moved to Michi(n)gan for my next assignment. This time around I made sure I would not end up staying with stitched-mouth roomies. Although I was not living or working with an asian guy/girl, the asian connection was still present. I had a friend living at about half an hours drive away from where I was staying and I used to visit him once in a while. I wasnt surprised to find out that his landlord was Chinese, 3rd gen American nonetheless, of Chinese descent yet. The story was that they were classmates in grad school and he had been put up in her house since a long time. My friend also regaled me with stories of his alleged 'involuntary personal alliances' with her and being upto his game for all these years it was clear he was shooting blanks :P
Done with Michigan, I moved to Milwaukee for the next project. Yes, I spent a good part of the last 5 years in the Midwest. With my past experiences with asians, it looked like I could certainly step it up a notch. This time around, my landlord was Chinese and we had another Chinese guy living in the house. My landlord was a pretty cool guy, except in the evenings all he would do was sit on his ass and watch some Mandarin television programs on his big screen TV set. I had nothing to do when I got home after work and it was getting pretty frustrating to stare at the TV screen when I was not understanding a word of what was going on. Their informercials were not funny and I was not interested in finding a Chinese Lois either. Visuals, regardless of audio, can only be satisfying at such times. Thanks to him, I decided to join a local fitness centre to get busy in the evenings. The other Chinese roomie had his own share of issues. He usually went late to work and apparently his sleep would be cut short in the mornings when I took a shower. Not because I did a Himesh in the shower, he was a light sleeper. Somehow we worked things out, earplugs saving the act. I made a lot of Chinese friends in Milwaukee, courtesy my roomies, and it was fun while it lasted.
Early this year, I moved to California and I wasnt sure what to expect from this chinki konexion. I've now come to terms that this is a 'you can run but you cant hide' scenario for me, no matter where I am. No asian roomies anymore but my next door cubicle dweller teammate here is Vietnamese and another Chinese guy joined our team recently. The asian connection just doesn't seem to let go, we'll see how far it goes. Until then, I'll keep enjoying my Kung-Pao Chicken ;)
Interaction with these guys was pretty limited, only if someone asked you for directions (and you could figure out what they were talking) This changed drastically when I came to the US. It was going on in much the older vein, until I registered for a class under a Chinese professor at school in Ohio. Now this guy's English was part of desi grad student folklore and we were advised by some old-timers to take a crash course in Ce-101, Ch-english 101, before classes began. Sure enough, the real fun started right in the 1st class. The professor went on talking about an-gay, o-gay, shesho votay with sho-rans and so many other things and half the class was clueless as to what was going on in a hardware design class. Our Ce-101 experts helped us figure that he was talking about AND gates, OR gates and threshold voltages with tolerance :)) We were more comfortable thereon in class and became experts in this brand of English quite soon. Thus began my first brush with the Chinese. I knew little then, that, hindi chini bhai bhai would become very pertinent for me in the years to follow.
Carrying on through school, I used to play bball with a lot of Chinese guys who crowded the courts in the evenings. I could never remember any of their names despite playing with them regularly, funny enough they managed to call my name correctly. The worst part of playing with these guys was they would never ever speak a word of English, and whenever they were calling teams I used to stand by the side, watching in all amusement until ball was in play and I was told which way I had to shoot :D Moving on from school, I thought I wouldnt be around Asians any longer and I could not have been more wrong.
When I moved to Chicago I was staying with 2 roomies, one a Vietnamese grad student and the other an oddball reticent desi who preferred to answer all questions in mono-syllables than go through the effort of speaking in complete sentences. When I first moved in, the guy who was moving out of that apartment told me that the Vietnamese fellow kept to himself and very rarely talked with the roomies. As the days went on I found that the Vietnamese guy was more communicative and the desi, uhh, he was not much of a people person. It was an odd little apartment with queer roomies around and the only saving grace was that I had a few friends around town. Needless to say, I was barely home on weekends.
Luckily, I was out of Chicago and away from those weird roomies in a little bit and I moved to Michi(n)gan for my next assignment. This time around I made sure I would not end up staying with stitched-mouth roomies. Although I was not living or working with an asian guy/girl, the asian connection was still present. I had a friend living at about half an hours drive away from where I was staying and I used to visit him once in a while. I wasnt surprised to find out that his landlord was Chinese, 3rd gen American nonetheless, of Chinese descent yet. The story was that they were classmates in grad school and he had been put up in her house since a long time. My friend also regaled me with stories of his alleged 'involuntary personal alliances' with her and being upto his game for all these years it was clear he was shooting blanks :P
Done with Michigan, I moved to Milwaukee for the next project. Yes, I spent a good part of the last 5 years in the Midwest. With my past experiences with asians, it looked like I could certainly step it up a notch. This time around, my landlord was Chinese and we had another Chinese guy living in the house. My landlord was a pretty cool guy, except in the evenings all he would do was sit on his ass and watch some Mandarin television programs on his big screen TV set. I had nothing to do when I got home after work and it was getting pretty frustrating to stare at the TV screen when I was not understanding a word of what was going on. Their informercials were not funny and I was not interested in finding a Chinese Lois either. Visuals, regardless of audio, can only be satisfying at such times. Thanks to him, I decided to join a local fitness centre to get busy in the evenings. The other Chinese roomie had his own share of issues. He usually went late to work and apparently his sleep would be cut short in the mornings when I took a shower. Not because I did a Himesh in the shower, he was a light sleeper. Somehow we worked things out, earplugs saving the act. I made a lot of Chinese friends in Milwaukee, courtesy my roomies, and it was fun while it lasted.
Early this year, I moved to California and I wasnt sure what to expect from this chinki konexion. I've now come to terms that this is a 'you can run but you cant hide' scenario for me, no matter where I am. No asian roomies anymore but my next door cubicle dweller teammate here is Vietnamese and another Chinese guy joined our team recently. The asian connection just doesn't seem to let go, we'll see how far it goes. Until then, I'll keep enjoying my Kung-Pao Chicken ;)
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
Munnabhai : Act III
Sanju baba should've given judge Pramod Kode a jaadu ki jhappi before his verdict was delivered. Well, maybe now that he is sentenced to six years in prison, he could arrange to have his local florist send flowers to Mr Kode's house everyday. After all even the greencard mongers gave up against such valiant Gandhigiri tactics resorted to by the Indians waiting in endless hope for their applications to turn current.
It is really easy for me to sit ensconced in my cubicle and pass half-informed sarcastic comments on this topic. I still wonder whether this judgement was too harsh, in Dutt's own words a durgati of sorts; a sign of times to come perhaps. But then another train of thought argues that he got what he deserved. There's two sides to the coin and this debate can rage forever, much like Coffee - Toffee. Unfortunately there is no one answer here telling us it is coffee in a toffee.
Sanjay Dutt was accused of conspiring with the masterminds behind the 1993 mumbai bomb blasts which killed 257 and left many more injured, and for illegal possession of arms. Although he was cleared of charges for being involved with terrorists in 2006, he was drawn to court again in early 2007. Sanju baba had already spent 16 months of jail time immediately after the '93 bomb blasts, but justice seekers did not feel this was enough time behind bars for a person who had the worst of the worst misjudegments in keeping a AK-56 rifle for himself. Apparently, whether or not he used the weapon was immaterial; what went against his favor was that the weapon was part of the contingent which was used in these blasts. Did he know what was going on when he was given 3 AK-56's, 25 hand grenades and some more weapon miscellany? Perhaps not. But who in his right mind would want to help notorious criminals by extending such inexplicable favors? Then again who would want to attract their ire by refusing to 'park some weapons in the house without using them'? Granted, the weapons were taken away in some days, why did he feel the urge to keep one for himself? It is an AK-56 for God's sake, one of the most dangerous combat weapons! Did he intend to hang it on the wall like a showpiece?? He cited the reason for his act as 'for the sake of family protection'. Me thinks he was doing the sticky-icky then.
Dutt's intentions on keeping the weapon werent quite clear but he was sending mixed signals for sure. When he was asked to return to India for questioning his alleged involvement with the terrorist act, Dutt almost instinctively asked his posse to get rid of the weapon. An indicator that he knew some titbits behind this sinister monstrosity? Maybe. Whatever the reasons, it is hard to feel sympathetic for him. Caught facing the repercussions of a stupid decision he made 14 years back, he will now face 6 years of RI. Bollywood will miss one of its premier actors. 6 years from now, there's an 'inspired' theme for his comeback film. Munnabhai making the prison system a better place!
It is really easy for me to sit ensconced in my cubicle and pass half-informed sarcastic comments on this topic. I still wonder whether this judgement was too harsh, in Dutt's own words a durgati of sorts; a sign of times to come perhaps. But then another train of thought argues that he got what he deserved. There's two sides to the coin and this debate can rage forever, much like Coffee - Toffee. Unfortunately there is no one answer here telling us it is coffee in a toffee.
Sanjay Dutt was accused of conspiring with the masterminds behind the 1993 mumbai bomb blasts which killed 257 and left many more injured, and for illegal possession of arms. Although he was cleared of charges for being involved with terrorists in 2006, he was drawn to court again in early 2007. Sanju baba had already spent 16 months of jail time immediately after the '93 bomb blasts, but justice seekers did not feel this was enough time behind bars for a person who had the worst of the worst misjudegments in keeping a AK-56 rifle for himself. Apparently, whether or not he used the weapon was immaterial; what went against his favor was that the weapon was part of the contingent which was used in these blasts. Did he know what was going on when he was given 3 AK-56's, 25 hand grenades and some more weapon miscellany? Perhaps not. But who in his right mind would want to help notorious criminals by extending such inexplicable favors? Then again who would want to attract their ire by refusing to 'park some weapons in the house without using them'? Granted, the weapons were taken away in some days, why did he feel the urge to keep one for himself? It is an AK-56 for God's sake, one of the most dangerous combat weapons! Did he intend to hang it on the wall like a showpiece?? He cited the reason for his act as 'for the sake of family protection'. Me thinks he was doing the sticky-icky then.
Dutt's intentions on keeping the weapon werent quite clear but he was sending mixed signals for sure. When he was asked to return to India for questioning his alleged involvement with the terrorist act, Dutt almost instinctively asked his posse to get rid of the weapon. An indicator that he knew some titbits behind this sinister monstrosity? Maybe. Whatever the reasons, it is hard to feel sympathetic for him. Caught facing the repercussions of a stupid decision he made 14 years back, he will now face 6 years of RI. Bollywood will miss one of its premier actors. 6 years from now, there's an 'inspired' theme for his comeback film. Munnabhai making the prison system a better place!
Monday, July 23, 2007
Run for cover Himesh, you've got competition!
Apparently, Houston girl Mauli Dave has been creating waves in Sa Re Ga Ma this year. The lesser known Shekhar of the Vishal Shekhar duo has gone so far as to call her a performer! Uhmm I dont think I'd be shelling out money to watch a performer make a face like she is undergoing severe constipation everytime she hits a high note, but I'm no BappiDa to talk abt mujik. Besides, I'm sure some mutineers from SM would have a thing or two to say about the drapes, the trimmings and the carpet.
Check it out for yourself. Sorry :))
Check it out for yourself. Sorry :))
Friday, June 1, 2007
Is it just me ...
... or is little Ms Kapoor looking a lot like little Ms Hilton in these snaps?
Taken from her latest flick: Kya Love Story Hai
Sunday, April 1, 2007
कहीं पे निगाहें कहीं पे निशाना
The more I play darts the more I feel bad for the likes of Bipasha Basu, John Abraham, Twinkle Khanna, Fardeen Khan etc. How can these guys ever enjoy the simple joys of the game of darts; squints or cockeyed that they are LOL
I am not claiming to be the best dart player ever and along with my roomie am on my way to make a sieve out of the wall that the dartboard hangs on. Check out how way past bullseye, or even the perimeter of the dartboard some of our darts have struck gold :D
Good for us that Gables charges a flat rate of $25 for holes, otherwise we were up for a bigtime penalty. Suddenly I feel like I'm living in college dorms!
I am not claiming to be the best dart player ever and along with my roomie am on my way to make a sieve out of the wall that the dartboard hangs on. Check out how way past bullseye, or even the perimeter of the dartboard some of our darts have struck gold :D
Good for us that Gables charges a flat rate of $25 for holes, otherwise we were up for a bigtime penalty. Suddenly I feel like I'm living in college dorms!Monday, March 26, 2007
Who tastes dog food? How do we even know its good?!?!
Regular viewers of Seinfeld would possibly laugh right out of their chairs remembering Elaine mouth these lines. While this post has nothing to do with dog food or its taste or Elaine or Seinfeld, it does have a similarly irrelative question that crossed my mind browsing through the news this morning.
And the question is : Who works in banks these days?
This is a time when every other guy you know seems to be working in IT or something related to it. Mind well that it is not necessary to have a technical background to get a freshers job in any of the IT companies. Infact (surprise surprise) some companies actually run print ads asking specifically for people with non-technical backgrounds. Within all my friends on orkut I can only point out a few who do something radically different and I envy those guys for it. I would say it is safe to generalise that ours is a generation whose income is driven mostly by the IT boom and its widespread reach into even the smallest of corporations. Today the scene back home is such that straight out of school grads pocket jobs anywhere around the Rs. 25k per month mark working in an IT company. Anyone having such a good income can be easily considered financially stable and .. ahem .. marketable. Very unlike the generation of our parents. If you look at those folks, a very wide cross section of people they know would most probably be working in banks or some kind of a financially related institution. Naturally, at their time I'd assume, a bank job was considered to be a very good job. So, if 2 and 2 indeed make 4, yesterday's job in a bank is today's job in an IT company!
Which brings me back to my original question, who really works in banks these days?
Update: When I read the news earlier this morning there was something which said Citigroup was opening up more banking centres in India. By the time, I got to the end of writing this entry, news is they're actually cutting down on abt 15,000 (!) jobs.
And the question is : Who works in banks these days?
This is a time when every other guy you know seems to be working in IT or something related to it. Mind well that it is not necessary to have a technical background to get a freshers job in any of the IT companies. Infact (surprise surprise) some companies actually run print ads asking specifically for people with non-technical backgrounds. Within all my friends on orkut I can only point out a few who do something radically different and I envy those guys for it. I would say it is safe to generalise that ours is a generation whose income is driven mostly by the IT boom and its widespread reach into even the smallest of corporations. Today the scene back home is such that straight out of school grads pocket jobs anywhere around the Rs. 25k per month mark working in an IT company. Anyone having such a good income can be easily considered financially stable and .. ahem .. marketable. Very unlike the generation of our parents. If you look at those folks, a very wide cross section of people they know would most probably be working in banks or some kind of a financially related institution. Naturally, at their time I'd assume, a bank job was considered to be a very good job. So, if 2 and 2 indeed make 4, yesterday's job in a bank is today's job in an IT company!
Which brings me back to my original question, who really works in banks these days?
Update: When I read the news earlier this morning there was something which said Citigroup was opening up more banking centres in India. By the time, I got to the end of writing this entry, news is they're actually cutting down on abt 15,000 (!) jobs.
Sunday, March 25, 2007
Template Woes
I'd started off the blog without bothering too much about the decor, in line with my usual way of keeping things functional. Last night I had some time on my hands and I started tinkering around with the look and feel of the blog trying to 'personalise' it. No wonder then that even one template failed to catch my eye. This was bringing things to the other end of the spectrum, from mere functional to hoity-toity.
Most of the standard templates that Blogger provided had one or the other point which went against their favor (Robert, इनमें से एक भी ठीक नही है! किसीकी नाक टेढ़ी है तो किसीकी आँख!!) I almost always hate the plain jane looking interface with a black background, hell I dont even like black backgrounds on my desktop! So getting that look on the blog was out of the question. Towards the end of an hour and having had enough sifting through atleast 10 templates I finally settled for the current one. Not that I am all too happy with it but this one's atleast about okay. This one has too much grey in it. Grey, to me, is too dark depressing and gloomy. I can go on and on about how I hate overcast grey skies, gloomy weather and the rains but I'll try and stick to the topic for now.
Maybe on another day when I have some more time to kill I'll look around and pimp my blog up ;) Tic Tac Blue it is until then!
Most of the standard templates that Blogger provided had one or the other point which went against their favor (Robert, इनमें से एक भी ठीक नही है! किसीकी नाक टेढ़ी है तो किसीकी आँख!!) I almost always hate the plain jane looking interface with a black background, hell I dont even like black backgrounds on my desktop! So getting that look on the blog was out of the question. Towards the end of an hour and having had enough sifting through atleast 10 templates I finally settled for the current one. Not that I am all too happy with it but this one's atleast about okay. This one has too much grey in it. Grey, to me, is too dark depressing and gloomy. I can go on and on about how I hate overcast grey skies, gloomy weather and the rains but I'll try and stick to the topic for now.
Maybe on another day when I have some more time to kill I'll look around and pimp my blog up ;) Tic Tac Blue it is until then!
Friday, March 23, 2007
Here I come ...
... finally an entrant into the world of blogging. One of the things I've always gone back and forth about for a long time now has been writing a blog. Gosh, I dont know, must've been atleast 6 years now that I've wanted to, but never really did start blogging.
Like I'd once mentioned to Rohan, blogging is the natural effect of someone having a lot of free time on their hands. Go make your own assumptions =))
As with most bloggers, I will try and update frequently, but it's not really done till it's really done, now is it;)
Like I'd once mentioned to Rohan, blogging is the natural effect of someone having a lot of free time on their hands. Go make your own assumptions =))
As with most bloggers, I will try and update frequently, but it's not really done till it's really done, now is it;)
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