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!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
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 :))
Modern Day Chakravyuha
Many moons ago Abhimanyu was slain fighting his way out of the famed chakravyuha. The story has it that Abhimanyu had the knowledge of breaking into this formation but did not know the way to get out. In a valiant attempt, he laid his life fighting against all odds. Some of us desis living in America today seem to be caught in an identical situation. Although there are no warriors to slay, there is a vicious circle to break out of.
For the last many years, getting into America has been relatively easy. Young graduates rush into the country as soon as they complete their bachelors back home, on the premise of gaining higher education. Premise is a misleading word because many go on to complete their Masters/PhD's and then on to snatch lucrative jobs. This is the part where a desi is knowingly/unknowingly fighting his way into the chakravyuha. The way in is easy, for unlike the chakravyuha, this has been tread by scores of desis before. To get to this point, the best efforts come merely in the form of emulation.
Education completed, job in hand, desi parents get eager to see their offspring settled down (read married). At the risk of invoking the ire of the feminists, I will continue to write this from a guy's perspective hereon. Desi guy marries someone from the des or someone who is here and made it through the chakravyuha quite like him. First few years pass on comfortably and then the oft overlooked thought of returning to the homeland takes centre-stage. This is the point where our Abhimanyu wants to get the hell outta this place and does not have a clue on how to break free. Now the biggest question playing on his mind is, what is a good time to return? Like someone has said, it takes a successful man to know when to stop. Although desis are successful generally, I dont think they know when to stop and that's where they have to resort to survival tactics (err ... sachin, saurav, kapil dev, gavaskar, dev anand, amitabh, himesh :P ... quite a long list really).
For reasons yet unknown to me, a lot of people tend to think that when their savings exceed the $100k mark, is where the sweet median lies. In other times, 100k would've been a good strategery. Alas, the dollar keeps slipping and the rupee continues to get stronger by the day. What would you get for $100k today? Somewhere around Rs 40 lakh. Is that enough? Yes and no. The whole scenario depends on how well you have the setup back home. For most people it takes quite some time to get to that monetary level and a lot of American 'values' get deeply ingrained into the system. If you are some such, the first thing you would want is a house of your own (if you dont have enough privacy in your parental house and/or if you mind living with your parents). House-hunting is no piece of cake (and for 40 lakhs all you might really get IS a piece of cake). Realistically looking at the rate the value of real estate is booming in any big city, you would be a fool if you are hoping to buy a decent sized house with that kind of money. Consider the fact that you've been thinking of moving back for a while and with this plan in mind have never bought a 'house' house in the US. You would really want to buy a house in India then and not a condo (which are relatively easier to buy). This is when the desi realises that 100k aint worth jack.
Lets now look at the other side of the equation, the getting to $100k part. On an average, lets say a desi would probably make $80k a year. With household expenses, etc he can hope to save at the most $2k per month. At this rate it would take him atleast 4 years to get to this mark (unless ofcourse you work in Google, sell off some stocks and bang! there's a 100k). All of this is hypothetically speaking, that no other expenses occur at all during these 4 years (which is as impossible as Sehwag scoring runs these days). Now with a working wife things can get a lot faster, but the more money that flows in, your expenses remain proportionate. With so much cash flowing in, I dont see why anyone would'nt be tempted to trade in his Hindu Accord for a smashing new Merc and the wifey's Odyssey for a X5. Point is, money tends to flow out easily in this consumer driven market and it takes quite a while to reach whatever point in the bank balance you feel is good enough.
Say you dont want to move back home and you decide to buy a house here with all the money coming in. Good luck with that if you're living in a big city. Where I live right now, in San Diego, million dollar homes are everyday ordinary and for about $600k you might get a matchbox sized home. Lets assume you are foolhardy enough and decide to buy, you put the 10% down and the mortgage is easily around $5k monthly. Scary enough if either of the working duo quits/loses the job.
Now by the time you get to this point (let's say 4 years from marriage), you probably already have the green card, have a kid or two, have everything going on smoothly professionally as well as personally and there is no real motivation in throwing off everything that you've done so far and going back home just because the motherland beckons. You'd be hella lucky if you have a supportive spouse, but in some cases the ease of daily life here is too much to give up on and even if you are willing, your dear (now) old spouse might refuse to co-operate. Now you're stuck spinning wheels, contemplating what it would take to get out of this ever confusing chakravyuha and get back to the one place you would rightfully want to call home.
Inspired by a weekend phone conversation & countless thoughts thereafter
For the last many years, getting into America has been relatively easy. Young graduates rush into the country as soon as they complete their bachelors back home, on the premise of gaining higher education. Premise is a misleading word because many go on to complete their Masters/PhD's and then on to snatch lucrative jobs. This is the part where a desi is knowingly/unknowingly fighting his way into the chakravyuha. The way in is easy, for unlike the chakravyuha, this has been tread by scores of desis before. To get to this point, the best efforts come merely in the form of emulation.
Education completed, job in hand, desi parents get eager to see their offspring settled down (read married). At the risk of invoking the ire of the feminists, I will continue to write this from a guy's perspective hereon. Desi guy marries someone from the des or someone who is here and made it through the chakravyuha quite like him. First few years pass on comfortably and then the oft overlooked thought of returning to the homeland takes centre-stage. This is the point where our Abhimanyu wants to get the hell outta this place and does not have a clue on how to break free. Now the biggest question playing on his mind is, what is a good time to return? Like someone has said, it takes a successful man to know when to stop. Although desis are successful generally, I dont think they know when to stop and that's where they have to resort to survival tactics (err ... sachin, saurav, kapil dev, gavaskar, dev anand, amitabh, himesh :P ... quite a long list really).
For reasons yet unknown to me, a lot of people tend to think that when their savings exceed the $100k mark, is where the sweet median lies. In other times, 100k would've been a good strategery. Alas, the dollar keeps slipping and the rupee continues to get stronger by the day. What would you get for $100k today? Somewhere around Rs 40 lakh. Is that enough? Yes and no. The whole scenario depends on how well you have the setup back home. For most people it takes quite some time to get to that monetary level and a lot of American 'values' get deeply ingrained into the system. If you are some such, the first thing you would want is a house of your own (if you dont have enough privacy in your parental house and/or if you mind living with your parents). House-hunting is no piece of cake (and for 40 lakhs all you might really get IS a piece of cake). Realistically looking at the rate the value of real estate is booming in any big city, you would be a fool if you are hoping to buy a decent sized house with that kind of money. Consider the fact that you've been thinking of moving back for a while and with this plan in mind have never bought a 'house' house in the US. You would really want to buy a house in India then and not a condo (which are relatively easier to buy). This is when the desi realises that 100k aint worth jack.
Lets now look at the other side of the equation, the getting to $100k part. On an average, lets say a desi would probably make $80k a year. With household expenses, etc he can hope to save at the most $2k per month. At this rate it would take him atleast 4 years to get to this mark (unless ofcourse you work in Google, sell off some stocks and bang! there's a 100k). All of this is hypothetically speaking, that no other expenses occur at all during these 4 years (which is as impossible as Sehwag scoring runs these days). Now with a working wife things can get a lot faster, but the more money that flows in, your expenses remain proportionate. With so much cash flowing in, I dont see why anyone would'nt be tempted to trade in his Hindu Accord for a smashing new Merc and the wifey's Odyssey for a X5. Point is, money tends to flow out easily in this consumer driven market and it takes quite a while to reach whatever point in the bank balance you feel is good enough.
Say you dont want to move back home and you decide to buy a house here with all the money coming in. Good luck with that if you're living in a big city. Where I live right now, in San Diego, million dollar homes are everyday ordinary and for about $600k you might get a matchbox sized home. Lets assume you are foolhardy enough and decide to buy, you put the 10% down and the mortgage is easily around $5k monthly. Scary enough if either of the working duo quits/loses the job.
Now by the time you get to this point (let's say 4 years from marriage), you probably already have the green card, have a kid or two, have everything going on smoothly professionally as well as personally and there is no real motivation in throwing off everything that you've done so far and going back home just because the motherland beckons. You'd be hella lucky if you have a supportive spouse, but in some cases the ease of daily life here is too much to give up on and even if you are willing, your dear (now) old spouse might refuse to co-operate. Now you're stuck spinning wheels, contemplating what it would take to get out of this ever confusing chakravyuha and get back to the one place you would rightfully want to call home.
Inspired by a weekend phone conversation & countless thoughts thereafter
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Skirting the exercise
What really gets you off the couch and into the gym? Excess weight, gut flowing onto the belt, feeling physically weak, getting bigger or plain killing time? Whatever reason gets you into the gym and for some exercise, kudos to you. You should be proud just for the fact that you are not one of the many who say you want to get there, but just keep finding newer and newer reasons to avoid getting there. I love Nike's new store ads where they show a woman running with the print reading - 'Someone busier than you is running right now. Just do it.' Fact is, if you really want to do it, you'll do it, whether it is at 5am or at 11pm. I guess half the battle is having enough motivation to do it.
So I ran into an old friend the other day (lets call him K), and boy, he looked like he'd packed another 100 lbs since I last met him. I dont know whether or not this is a desi tendency to put on weight once you get here (I am one of those desis too :P) but the least you can do to maintain atleast some sort of self respect is not give stupid reasons for that excess weight. So K tells me he's been concentrating on his career lately and that he's been eating a lot of outside food since he barely finds time to cook. Yea right! Like show me one desi who isnt serious about his/her career and show me half a bachelor who doesnt eat out regularly. Then, my friend, I will listen to your excuses. I mean who are you kidding - your own self obviously. As if that wasnt enough, he comes up with the kicker. He tells me it wouldnt take him more than 2 months to get rid of the excess weight. Hee-haw! Ask people who try to lose weight how hard it can get to lose a pound, forget 40. I, for one, have forever been trying to get down to the 170lb mark in vain and God knows I've been trying!
Hitting the gym is much easier said than done. Why take all the pain when you can comfortably lounge on your leather sofa and laugh your fat ass off watching re-re-re-repeated episodes of Scrubs and Seinfeld? Yes, your old clothes might not fit you any more - buy bigger clothes! You might look *really* fat in the mirror - stop staring at your own image Narcissus! But please dont take the efforts to get off the couch and into the gym. Your knees might already be in a state of atrophy and might not be able to support any physical activity. Rest is important, so is the double cheeseburger with large fries and a diet soda. Oh how I pity such foos!
So if you're getting whatever form of exercise regularly, cheers to you. If not, thats okay too. Go eat some more.
So I ran into an old friend the other day (lets call him K), and boy, he looked like he'd packed another 100 lbs since I last met him. I dont know whether or not this is a desi tendency to put on weight once you get here (I am one of those desis too :P) but the least you can do to maintain atleast some sort of self respect is not give stupid reasons for that excess weight. So K tells me he's been concentrating on his career lately and that he's been eating a lot of outside food since he barely finds time to cook. Yea right! Like show me one desi who isnt serious about his/her career and show me half a bachelor who doesnt eat out regularly. Then, my friend, I will listen to your excuses. I mean who are you kidding - your own self obviously. As if that wasnt enough, he comes up with the kicker. He tells me it wouldnt take him more than 2 months to get rid of the excess weight. Hee-haw! Ask people who try to lose weight how hard it can get to lose a pound, forget 40. I, for one, have forever been trying to get down to the 170lb mark in vain and God knows I've been trying!
Hitting the gym is much easier said than done. Why take all the pain when you can comfortably lounge on your leather sofa and laugh your fat ass off watching re-re-re-repeated episodes of Scrubs and Seinfeld? Yes, your old clothes might not fit you any more - buy bigger clothes! You might look *really* fat in the mirror - stop staring at your own image Narcissus! But please dont take the efforts to get off the couch and into the gym. Your knees might already be in a state of atrophy and might not be able to support any physical activity. Rest is important, so is the double cheeseburger with large fries and a diet soda. Oh how I pity such foos!
So if you're getting whatever form of exercise regularly, cheers to you. If not, thats okay too. Go eat some more.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Dhaai kilo ka haath is back!
Sunny paaji plays the role of Brad Pitt's Mickey the Pikey as Munna in this liftoff of Snatch. Well, I just gave away the whole story for Fool n Final didnt I?? Now let me tell you what the rest of the characters match up to:
Turkish - Vivek Oberoi as Lucky
Tommy - Suresh Menon as (doesn't matter)
Boris the Blade - Arbaaz Khan as Moscow Chikna
Bricktop - Zakir Hussain as JD
Doug the Head - Asrani as Lalwani
Cousin Avi - Gulshan Grover as Chowksey
Franky Four Fingers - Chunky Pandey as Rocky
Bullet Tooth Tony - Jackie Shroff as GunMaster G9 (with apologies to the original Gun Master, Prabhuji Mithun Chakraborty)
Vinny - Shahid Kapoor as Raja
Tyrone - Johnny Lever as Malbari (sab ke uupar bhari)
Sol - Paresh Rawal as Chatur Chobey
There is no Sausage Charlie, no 2 gorgeous daughters of Doug the Head and JD does not have a pig farm like Bricktop. Instead we have Om Puri and Sharmila Tagore playing inconsequential roles (in retrospect, Sharmila actually portrays Mickey's periwinkle-blue-caravan-loving Ma). Doug the head is Sindhi and cousin Avi is Gujrati. Doug is in Dubai and Avi in London. The whole story takes place in Dubai. I almost forgot to mention Sameera Reddy and Ayesha Takia who make up theeye-candy female presence. Ayesha Takia also gives Shahid Kapoor a reason to bust some moves in song and dance routines.
Bullet tooth tony is Jackie Shroff as GunMaster G9. Gunmaster comes with excess baggage (under his eyes). Chowksey does not get a chance to return to London and is killed. While dying he utters his favorite line 'Bahu Saras' which reminds of Gulshan's similar act in Diljale where he dies wondering 'Uupar gol-gappe kaise khaoo?' Sunny Deol is back with his trademark line 'Ye Dhaai kilo ka haath jab kisipe padta hai na, to aadmi uthta nahi hai .. uth jaata hai'. One might have expected that 14 years from Damini, paaji must have pumped more iron and gone on to 3.5 kilos. Paaji disappoints. Atleast with the dialogues.
The storyline moves on similar to Snatch. Diamond heist, lots of people trying to lay their hands on the diamond, illegal fighting matches, etc etc. Nothing much to write home about this movie. Watch it if you want to experience how Bollywood can smash an original film to pulp.
Later!
For kicks and giggles, I checked out movie reviews for this movie on some other websites. Surprisingly, no one seems to mention its likeness to Snatch. Admittedly this movie is very confusing to understand with so many parallel stories going around but that wasnt the case with Snatch. Either that or I can digest really horrible cinema quite comfortably =))
Turkish - Vivek Oberoi as Lucky
Tommy - Suresh Menon as (doesn't matter)
Boris the Blade - Arbaaz Khan as Moscow Chikna
Bricktop - Zakir Hussain as JD
Doug the Head - Asrani as Lalwani
Cousin Avi - Gulshan Grover as Chowksey
Franky Four Fingers - Chunky Pandey as Rocky
Bullet Tooth Tony - Jackie Shroff as GunMaster G9 (with apologies to the original Gun Master, Prabhuji Mithun Chakraborty)
Vinny - Shahid Kapoor as Raja
Tyrone - Johnny Lever as Malbari (sab ke uupar bhari)
Sol - Paresh Rawal as Chatur Chobey
There is no Sausage Charlie, no 2 gorgeous daughters of Doug the Head and JD does not have a pig farm like Bricktop. Instead we have Om Puri and Sharmila Tagore playing inconsequential roles (in retrospect, Sharmila actually portrays Mickey's periwinkle-blue-caravan-loving Ma). Doug the head is Sindhi and cousin Avi is Gujrati. Doug is in Dubai and Avi in London. The whole story takes place in Dubai. I almost forgot to mention Sameera Reddy and Ayesha Takia who make up the
Bullet tooth tony is Jackie Shroff as GunMaster G9. Gunmaster comes with excess baggage (under his eyes). Chowksey does not get a chance to return to London and is killed. While dying he utters his favorite line 'Bahu Saras' which reminds of Gulshan's similar act in Diljale where he dies wondering 'Uupar gol-gappe kaise khaoo?' Sunny Deol is back with his trademark line 'Ye Dhaai kilo ka haath jab kisipe padta hai na, to aadmi uthta nahi hai .. uth jaata hai'. One might have expected that 14 years from Damini, paaji must have pumped more iron and gone on to 3.5 kilos. Paaji disappoints. Atleast with the dialogues.
The storyline moves on similar to Snatch. Diamond heist, lots of people trying to lay their hands on the diamond, illegal fighting matches, etc etc. Nothing much to write home about this movie. Watch it if you want to experience how Bollywood can smash an original film to pulp.
Later!
For kicks and giggles, I checked out movie reviews for this movie on some other websites. Surprisingly, no one seems to mention its likeness to Snatch. Admittedly this movie is very confusing to understand with so many parallel stories going around but that wasnt the case with Snatch. Either that or I can digest really horrible cinema quite comfortably =))
Thursday, June 14, 2007
To buy or not to buy
Its been just over 2 months that my car has been paid off and now I dont seem to enjoy it as much as I would want to. The RSX has provided me immense driving satisfaction with its 5 speed manual but suddenly the 2.0L I4 155HP engine is too small for me, does not give me adequate acceleration and is no fun to drive. So here I am on the verge of being sucked back into a consumer loan, considering my choices trying to find which car would give me the best bang for my buck.
When I bought my car last year, I had no time to look around, test drive cars and gloat over my options. My '91 Mazda Protege died on me one fine Thursday evening in Michigan. The closest auto mall was in Troy and that was closed on weekends so I had only the day of Friday to buy a new car! I set out at 11 am after listening to a tirade from my PM on how he couldnt afford for me to take a day off given how tight the deadlines were and how he wanted me to compensate for this time by putting in some work on the weekend. Pucking SOB! Why the hell was I told that the project was in Pontiac and then made to travel 60 miles one way from Rochester Hills all the way into downtown Ann Arbor when I agreed to jump on to this?! My poor grad student car could not handle the onslaught and it broke down within a months time. It was absolutely stupid of me to spend $900 on repairs hoping that these would keep the car going for the next few months atleast. When I say stupid I mean *really* stupid considering that I had bought the car over a year and a half back for $850! It took all of 5 days for the car to break down once again and this time the only option left for me was to buy a new car after the local Midas gave me an estimate of $750 on the new repairs.
So with herd desi mentality I set out to buy a Hindu Accord. Certified Pre-Owned seemed a good bet since I was in no mood to spend any money on repairs on old cars and I did not have the gut to splurge on a new car. I was thinking maybe if I bought an Accord coupe it would set me atleast a little bit apart from your everyday sedan driving desi. To my luck, I did not find a single coupe within my meagre budget. Even if I was willing to spend a little further, apparently Honda Finance had some idiotic restrictions where they needed me to be a resident of the state atleast for the last year, provide complete documentation about my employment with paytsubs for the last 3 months and have a valid Michigan driver's license. Given the frequency at which I was hopping states that time, I had a Ohio driver's license, Illinois licence plates and auto insurance in Michigan. I did not have complete employment documentation since my visa was being transferred to the new employer and I did not have any paystubs from the new employer 'cos it had not been paytime yet. So the not-so-friendly guys at the Honda dealers refused to process my credit application and I left for the Toyota dealers next door.
No matter how much I hate the vanilla look on Toyota's I consoled myself saying atleast I would save some money on gas. I dont know what I was thinking when I was hoping to find a CPO Corolla or Camry. No one returns a Toyota! Those are for keeps! The only available CPO vehicle was a RAV 4 which I wasnt quite impressed with. Dejected, I walked into the Acura store across the street just for kicks to find what price range they were selling for. It was plain good fortune that they had this RSX available at just around the price I was willing to pay at that time. I took the car for a short spin. Happy with the deal I was getting (more happy that atleast I was getting something to drive around) I quickly signed up to buy the car. So glad I did. At 4 pm I was out with the new car and that has to be the most expensive thing I've bought within such less time. 14 months later, the car is mine and 2 more months later today I am looking to upgrade.
Upgrading from an Acura is a tough choice. Clearly, when I upgrade for performance and driving pleasure, it has to be something with a manual transmission. Auto trannys and huge powerful engines just dont gel well at all. The BMW 3 series is what comes to mind immediately given this scenario and the 3.0L I6 300HP looks like a clear winner. But the price tag hurts! For a similar price, if not less, another option is the Infiniti G35. 3.5L V6 306HP. Impressive. The Infiniti also comes with a ton of gizmos and gadgets (and its not quite as clunky as the Audi's). It has much more spacious and luxurious interiors. The Lexus IS 350 is a top notch performer but no available manual transmission. Ditto for the Lexus SC 430 (for $65k!! Daim!). But a bimmer is a bimmer is a bimmer and nothing compares.
Ofcourse given the price range I am looking at I could easily get a SUV. Heck the Infiiniti FX45's start at $37k. But I am not a fan of big cars. For zipping past quickly, the smaller the better. If my RSX came with an engine twice its current size and they shrunk the cars dimensions further I would still love it. Again, by desi standards once (whenever) I get married I will have to buy a SUV/minivan. Like someone rightly said, 'buy your toys before marriage' I am now eagerly hunting around for the best driving experience my money can buy. Lets see if/when this search culminates.
When I bought my car last year, I had no time to look around, test drive cars and gloat over my options. My '91 Mazda Protege died on me one fine Thursday evening in Michigan. The closest auto mall was in Troy and that was closed on weekends so I had only the day of Friday to buy a new car! I set out at 11 am after listening to a tirade from my PM on how he couldnt afford for me to take a day off given how tight the deadlines were and how he wanted me to compensate for this time by putting in some work on the weekend. Pucking SOB! Why the hell was I told that the project was in Pontiac and then made to travel 60 miles one way from Rochester Hills all the way into downtown Ann Arbor when I agreed to jump on to this?! My poor grad student car could not handle the onslaught and it broke down within a months time. It was absolutely stupid of me to spend $900 on repairs hoping that these would keep the car going for the next few months atleast. When I say stupid I mean *really* stupid considering that I had bought the car over a year and a half back for $850! It took all of 5 days for the car to break down once again and this time the only option left for me was to buy a new car after the local Midas gave me an estimate of $750 on the new repairs.
So with herd desi mentality I set out to buy a Hindu Accord. Certified Pre-Owned seemed a good bet since I was in no mood to spend any money on repairs on old cars and I did not have the gut to splurge on a new car. I was thinking maybe if I bought an Accord coupe it would set me atleast a little bit apart from your everyday sedan driving desi. To my luck, I did not find a single coupe within my meagre budget. Even if I was willing to spend a little further, apparently Honda Finance had some idiotic restrictions where they needed me to be a resident of the state atleast for the last year, provide complete documentation about my employment with paytsubs for the last 3 months and have a valid Michigan driver's license. Given the frequency at which I was hopping states that time, I had a Ohio driver's license, Illinois licence plates and auto insurance in Michigan. I did not have complete employment documentation since my visa was being transferred to the new employer and I did not have any paystubs from the new employer 'cos it had not been paytime yet. So the not-so-friendly guys at the Honda dealers refused to process my credit application and I left for the Toyota dealers next door.
No matter how much I hate the vanilla look on Toyota's I consoled myself saying atleast I would save some money on gas. I dont know what I was thinking when I was hoping to find a CPO Corolla or Camry. No one returns a Toyota! Those are for keeps! The only available CPO vehicle was a RAV 4 which I wasnt quite impressed with. Dejected, I walked into the Acura store across the street just for kicks to find what price range they were selling for. It was plain good fortune that they had this RSX available at just around the price I was willing to pay at that time. I took the car for a short spin. Happy with the deal I was getting (more happy that atleast I was getting something to drive around) I quickly signed up to buy the car. So glad I did. At 4 pm I was out with the new car and that has to be the most expensive thing I've bought within such less time. 14 months later, the car is mine and 2 more months later today I am looking to upgrade.
Upgrading from an Acura is a tough choice. Clearly, when I upgrade for performance and driving pleasure, it has to be something with a manual transmission. Auto trannys and huge powerful engines just dont gel well at all. The BMW 3 series is what comes to mind immediately given this scenario and the 3.0L I6 300HP looks like a clear winner. But the price tag hurts! For a similar price, if not less, another option is the Infiniti G35. 3.5L V6 306HP. Impressive. The Infiniti also comes with a ton of gizmos and gadgets (and its not quite as clunky as the Audi's). It has much more spacious and luxurious interiors. The Lexus IS 350 is a top notch performer but no available manual transmission. Ditto for the Lexus SC 430 (for $65k!! Daim!). But a bimmer is a bimmer is a bimmer and nothing compares.
Ofcourse given the price range I am looking at I could easily get a SUV. Heck the Infiiniti FX45's start at $37k. But I am not a fan of big cars. For zipping past quickly, the smaller the better. If my RSX came with an engine twice its current size and they shrunk the cars dimensions further I would still love it. Again, by desi standards once (whenever) I get married I will have to buy a SUV/minivan. Like someone rightly said, 'buy your toys before marriage' I am now eagerly hunting around for the best driving experience my money can buy. Lets see if/when this search culminates.
Monday, June 11, 2007
Times like these
It's times like these, you learn to live again. Word.
Whoever thought of casting Tanushree Dutta in a lead role should be made to spend some time as a cell mate of inmate # 9818783. While 9818783 mulls over her past life, tries to stop acting dumb because its not cute anymore and thinks hard over what she can do to make the world a better place, she could possibly suggest Mr Sinha that limiting Tanushree's visage to brief appearances a la Hithcki or Signaal would be one step closer to a happier place we live in. No seriously. Watching Tanushree for over 2 hours couldnt be worse than spending time in the joint (with Paris, nonetheless).
Raqeeb is a movie where the leading lady manipulates the men in her life to get what she wants. The plot opens with Remo Mathews (Rahul Khanna) as an asthmatic who runs a large software company (what else) with Siddharth (Sharman Joshi) as his legal advisor and friend. Siddharth is quite the outgoing kind and is always pestering Remo to socialize and make the most of his life. In this quest, he sets Remo up on a date with Sophie (Tanushree Dutta). Few melodramatic filmy moments later, Sophie and Remo are married.
Marital bliss doesnt last too long for Sophie who runs into her ex-lover Sunny (Jimmy Shergill), a struggling actor. Sophie spurs Sunny on to killing Remo assuring him that they would lead a comfortable life ever after. Sophie has plans though. She double crosses Sunny and he lands up in jail. Then on we learn that it is not quite the lady who is manipulative, a greater devil lurks with a bigger plan and a verry filmy motive behind it all. In the battle of good against evil, evil loses once again and you are much too happy to see the closing credits.
To give credit to debutante director Anurag Sinha, the movie manages to hold your interest for the most part, though at times especially in the first half, it gets painfully slow. There are a lot of twists and turns all the way to a much expected ending. Rahul Khanna still needs some effort in the facial expressions department and a lot more in dialogue delivery. Jimmy Shergill looks horrendous in his long locks and doesnt do any justice to his role. Sharman Joshi delivers another stellar performance. Ms Dutta sure could use a stylist; a facemask would be a better alternative in the meantime. Support cast is passable with Vivek Shauq providing some titbits of comic relief.
Overall, not much of a recommendation, but worth watching if you have nothing better to do.
Post Title : Foo Fighters - Times Like These
Whoever thought of casting Tanushree Dutta in a lead role should be made to spend some time as a cell mate of inmate # 9818783. While 9818783 mulls over her past life, tries to stop acting dumb because its not cute anymore and thinks hard over what she can do to make the world a better place, she could possibly suggest Mr Sinha that limiting Tanushree's visage to brief appearances a la Hithcki or Signaal would be one step closer to a happier place we live in. No seriously. Watching Tanushree for over 2 hours couldnt be worse than spending time in the joint (with Paris, nonetheless).
Raqeeb is a movie where the leading lady manipulates the men in her life to get what she wants. The plot opens with Remo Mathews (Rahul Khanna) as an asthmatic who runs a large software company (what else) with Siddharth (Sharman Joshi) as his legal advisor and friend. Siddharth is quite the outgoing kind and is always pestering Remo to socialize and make the most of his life. In this quest, he sets Remo up on a date with Sophie (Tanushree Dutta). Few melodramatic filmy moments later, Sophie and Remo are married.
Marital bliss doesnt last too long for Sophie who runs into her ex-lover Sunny (Jimmy Shergill), a struggling actor. Sophie spurs Sunny on to killing Remo assuring him that they would lead a comfortable life ever after. Sophie has plans though. She double crosses Sunny and he lands up in jail. Then on we learn that it is not quite the lady who is manipulative, a greater devil lurks with a bigger plan and a verry filmy motive behind it all. In the battle of good against evil, evil loses once again and you are much too happy to see the closing credits.
To give credit to debutante director Anurag Sinha, the movie manages to hold your interest for the most part, though at times especially in the first half, it gets painfully slow. There are a lot of twists and turns all the way to a much expected ending. Rahul Khanna still needs some effort in the facial expressions department and a lot more in dialogue delivery. Jimmy Shergill looks horrendous in his long locks and doesnt do any justice to his role. Sharman Joshi delivers another stellar performance. Ms Dutta sure could use a stylist; a facemask would be a better alternative in the meantime. Support cast is passable with Vivek Shauq providing some titbits of comic relief.
Overall, not much of a recommendation, but worth watching if you have nothing better to do.
Post Title : Foo Fighters - Times Like These
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Jeans
How much are you willing to pay for a pair of your favorite denims? If I were in India, I'd say probably somewhere in the Rs 1200 - 1500 range. Here, it could be around the $50 mark. But if you check whats hap' these days, paying $50 for a pair of jeans is so passé . Take a look around in your local mall and you will be shocked to find the kind of prices denims sell for today.
Whatever happened to the ubiquitous Levi's you ask? Gone are the days when your favorite denims were Levi's, no one's wearing them anymore! Designer denims are the only denims to be seen in these days. Ofcourse this is not a new thing, blame Seven for all Mankind for starting the trend circa 2000. Although the name proclaims 'for all Mankind' it is a gross misnomer for more reasons than one. For one they started off with jeans only for women and then if all mankind were to strut around in your jeans Sire, wouldn't you want to make them affordable? While your everyday average pair of denims sell for anywhere around $30, a pair of Seven costs atleast 4 times as much. Surprised? Well, thats the price you pay for contemporary casual fashion! What started off catering towards the red carpet/high brow crowd has now crept into everyday office and on any given Friday you could find a lot of your peers sporting Seven, Citizens of Humanity, True Religion and the likes. I, for one, cannot bring myself to buying a $100 pair when something for half the price looks and lasts as good, if not better. I mean they are denims, people. They last and last and last until you get bored seeing the same pair or you grow past the waist size. There's gotta be a better way to spend all that dough.
Last weekend I took my parents to the mall closeby and while walking around in Nordstrom, mom liked the color on a pair of denims. What she forgot was we were in Nordstrom and then she was absolutely clueless about the price tags on designer denims. As luck would have it, she had picked up a Diesel and I had to give her a quick update on all things Nordstrom. Setting the jeans aside I took a quick look at the price tag, they were selling at $280!
Whatever happened to the ubiquitous Levi's you ask? Gone are the days when your favorite denims were Levi's, no one's wearing them anymore! Designer denims are the only denims to be seen in these days. Ofcourse this is not a new thing, blame Seven for all Mankind for starting the trend circa 2000. Although the name proclaims 'for all Mankind' it is a gross misnomer for more reasons than one. For one they started off with jeans only for women and then if all mankind were to strut around in your jeans Sire, wouldn't you want to make them affordable? While your everyday average pair of denims sell for anywhere around $30, a pair of Seven costs atleast 4 times as much. Surprised? Well, thats the price you pay for contemporary casual fashion! What started off catering towards the red carpet/high brow crowd has now crept into everyday office and on any given Friday you could find a lot of your peers sporting Seven, Citizens of Humanity, True Religion and the likes. I, for one, cannot bring myself to buying a $100 pair when something for half the price looks and lasts as good, if not better. I mean they are denims, people. They last and last and last until you get bored seeing the same pair or you grow past the waist size. There's gotta be a better way to spend all that dough.
Last weekend I took my parents to the mall closeby and while walking around in Nordstrom, mom liked the color on a pair of denims. What she forgot was we were in Nordstrom and then she was absolutely clueless about the price tags on designer denims. As luck would have it, she had picked up a Diesel and I had to give her a quick update on all things Nordstrom. Setting the jeans aside I took a quick look at the price tag, they were selling at $280!
Monday, June 4, 2007
Sex, Relationships and Urban Public Transport
Life in a Metro - Movie Review
The first few minutes of this movie you could be easily fooled into believing that extra-marital promiscuity for the sake of career advancement is the order of the day in suburban India and thats what the movie could be all about. But dont let the comedic phone conversations between Rahul (Sharman Joshi) and some of his senior co-workers fool you into this verdict so soon. The plot weaves intricately in and out of the lives of a handful of inter-connected couples bringing forth shades of reality that is Life in a Metro.
Rahul is a call centre employee who in his own words '15 hajaar kamaane ke liye 15 hajaar Americans ki gaaliya sunta hoo'. He is set on making it big in life and is willing to go all lengths to win the favor of his managers to rise through the ranks. One approach he uses to do this is to allow his seniors access to his apartment to make merry with their colleagues while he roams the streets in the middle of the night waiting for them to 'come out' (pun intended). His neighbors, in the meanwhile, are in awe of his sexual prowess, screamers keeping them awake late in the night. Rahul secretly admires his colleague Neha (Kangana Ranaut) who is sleeping with her boss Ranjeet (Kay Kay Menon). Ranjeet is married to Shikha (Shilpa Shetty) and they are at complete loggerheads, living a life of compromise for the sake of their 6 yr old daughter. Familial ties do not however stop Ranjeet from having a no strings attached, physical only relation with Neha in turn for granting her out of turn promotions and perks.
Shikha's sister Shruti (Konkona Sen) is a 30 yr old virgin, waiting desperately for the right one. She manages to meet a few off marriage portals but rejects each one for not being her type. Debu (Irrfan Khan) is one such reject whom she ends up working with and falling in love towards the end of the movie. Neha and Shruti are roommates and somewhere down the line Shruti finds out that Ranjeet is cheating on her sister. In the ensuing scene, Ranjeet asks to be forgiven for his liasons with Neha but turns the other way round when Shikha asks to be forgiven for her short fling with Akash (Shiney Ahuja), a struggling theatre actor whom she meets once a week while on her way to visiting her dance teacher Shivani (Nafisa Ali).
Along parallel tracks there is a love story between Amol (Dharmendra) and Shivani, Amol back to spend the last few years of his life with his true love. In all filmy glory, Shivani dies before Amol and you are left wondering why the hell this part of the story was roped in in the first place. There is also an unnecessary gay association in the movie where Shruti is fooled to believe that the man whom she swoons for also likes her but in reality the whole relation is an act to cover his gayness in front of his parents. Shruti later goes on to realise (I dont know how) that she is in love with Debu and Debu has to chase her on a horse all the way to the train station right out of his baraat to mend her broken heart. Neha realises that sleeping with Ranjeet can only get her so far and that is not what she wants in life right now. She jumps out of the car while traveling with Ranjeet and heads straight to find Rahul. Rahul is about to leave the city dejected for no love when he is runout just short of thecrease train station by Kangana Run-out. In the end, all (alive) find what they want in life.
Kay Kay Menon's portrayal of the remorseless MCP is first rate while Shilpa not latching onto the lust train sounds a little too sati-savitri. Shiney Ahuja plays the loser once again. Irrfan Khan has been given some good dialogues and he makes a competent performance as a lecherous 38 year old. Konkona Sen dilly dallies between the man of her dreams and the man unknowingly present in her life. Kangana Ranaut manages to look beautiful but lacks 'dimensions' and one can only pity Kay Kay's character to cheat on the bodacious Shilpa for a fling with Kangana. Sharman Joshi plays the ambitious lad quite convincingly and has clearly come a long way since his Style and Excuse Me days. The rest are trivial additions to the lineup.
The most irritating part of the movie is when 3 unkempt, dishevelled singers break into a song. While the songs are appropriately placed, have meaningful lyrics and carry the movie forward, looking at the same 3 people over and over again kinda makes you wish you had a squiggly line in your eye. All said and done, the movie is definitely worth a watch, although you come out hoping this is not what life in a metro is truly becoming in the motherland.
Post Title : Sex, Lies and Videotape
The first few minutes of this movie you could be easily fooled into believing that extra-marital promiscuity for the sake of career advancement is the order of the day in suburban India and thats what the movie could be all about. But dont let the comedic phone conversations between Rahul (Sharman Joshi) and some of his senior co-workers fool you into this verdict so soon. The plot weaves intricately in and out of the lives of a handful of inter-connected couples bringing forth shades of reality that is Life in a Metro.
Rahul is a call centre employee who in his own words '15 hajaar kamaane ke liye 15 hajaar Americans ki gaaliya sunta hoo'. He is set on making it big in life and is willing to go all lengths to win the favor of his managers to rise through the ranks. One approach he uses to do this is to allow his seniors access to his apartment to make merry with their colleagues while he roams the streets in the middle of the night waiting for them to 'come out' (pun intended). His neighbors, in the meanwhile, are in awe of his sexual prowess, screamers keeping them awake late in the night. Rahul secretly admires his colleague Neha (Kangana Ranaut) who is sleeping with her boss Ranjeet (Kay Kay Menon). Ranjeet is married to Shikha (Shilpa Shetty) and they are at complete loggerheads, living a life of compromise for the sake of their 6 yr old daughter. Familial ties do not however stop Ranjeet from having a no strings attached, physical only relation with Neha in turn for granting her out of turn promotions and perks.
Shikha's sister Shruti (Konkona Sen) is a 30 yr old virgin, waiting desperately for the right one. She manages to meet a few off marriage portals but rejects each one for not being her type. Debu (Irrfan Khan) is one such reject whom she ends up working with and falling in love towards the end of the movie. Neha and Shruti are roommates and somewhere down the line Shruti finds out that Ranjeet is cheating on her sister. In the ensuing scene, Ranjeet asks to be forgiven for his liasons with Neha but turns the other way round when Shikha asks to be forgiven for her short fling with Akash (Shiney Ahuja), a struggling theatre actor whom she meets once a week while on her way to visiting her dance teacher Shivani (Nafisa Ali).
Along parallel tracks there is a love story between Amol (Dharmendra) and Shivani, Amol back to spend the last few years of his life with his true love. In all filmy glory, Shivani dies before Amol and you are left wondering why the hell this part of the story was roped in in the first place. There is also an unnecessary gay association in the movie where Shruti is fooled to believe that the man whom she swoons for also likes her but in reality the whole relation is an act to cover his gayness in front of his parents. Shruti later goes on to realise (I dont know how) that she is in love with Debu and Debu has to chase her on a horse all the way to the train station right out of his baraat to mend her broken heart. Neha realises that sleeping with Ranjeet can only get her so far and that is not what she wants in life right now. She jumps out of the car while traveling with Ranjeet and heads straight to find Rahul. Rahul is about to leave the city dejected for no love when he is runout just short of the
Kay Kay Menon's portrayal of the remorseless MCP is first rate while Shilpa not latching onto the lust train sounds a little too sati-savitri. Shiney Ahuja plays the loser once again. Irrfan Khan has been given some good dialogues and he makes a competent performance as a lecherous 38 year old. Konkona Sen dilly dallies between the man of her dreams and the man unknowingly present in her life. Kangana Ranaut manages to look beautiful but lacks 'dimensions' and one can only pity Kay Kay's character to cheat on the bodacious Shilpa for a fling with Kangana. Sharman Joshi plays the ambitious lad quite convincingly and has clearly come a long way since his Style and Excuse Me days. The rest are trivial additions to the lineup.
The most irritating part of the movie is when 3 unkempt, dishevelled singers break into a song. While the songs are appropriately placed, have meaningful lyrics and carry the movie forward, looking at the same 3 people over and over again kinda makes you wish you had a squiggly line in your eye. All said and done, the movie is definitely worth a watch, although you come out hoping this is not what life in a metro is truly becoming in the motherland.
Post Title : Sex, Lies and Videotape
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
Thursday, May 31, 2007
These days
I am not getting too bored to blog already. It is not yet a been-there-done-that thing for me. I've been running short on time since the last 2 weeks. When I started blogging a lil while back I had absolutely nothing to do in the evenings after I got home from work. Even an hour's time would suffice to write a post and I was easily finding fodder for posts, almost at will. Nowadays although I find fodder, I dont get enough time. My folks are here and week 1 was spent on their orientation with tiny details in daily life. Every other day we have been out at Von's in the evenings because I just cannot manage to get a grip on how much groceries are needed when it comes to full-fledged cooking 2 times a day; as opposed to kaam-chalau cooking once a week =)) By the time my folks were getting comfortable around the house we left for a short trip last Friday to come back late Tuesday night. Yesterday was spent half awake at work. And here I am today, still reeling from the after effects of the 1200 mile roadtrip, feeling a-miss having not updated my blog in ages - hence posting a quickie from work;)
Post Title : Bardot - These Days
Post Title : Bardot - These Days
Friday, May 18, 2007
11 from last week
Random snippets of potentially useless information from last week which I felt like jotting down.
- Saturday was Operation Clean House. Took quite a while to get everything done and at the end of the day the apartment looked like it was worth spending all that time on it. Simultaneous chores continued throughout the day, laundry, grocery shopping etc as every weekend and roomie and I were hungry by 6pm. Dined at Piatti on La Jolla shores, recommended by Chris, and got robbed of 3 hours and $60 for a dinner for two. Food was well worth the money spent, though one thing is fo' sho' - no more visits there without reservations.
- Spent all of Sunday in and out of flights getting to Orlando. I was tired getting from one coast to the other and was worried how mom amd dad would hold up in their 1st ever transcontinental journey. Had a fabulous dinner topped up with a tiramisu on the second consecutive night wondering how I was ever going to succeed shedding those pounds off.
- Monday was fun day. After a full breakfast and registration done at the conference, we headed over to Universal studios. Lunch at Hard Rock Cafe was followed by lots of rides in both parks. The Incredible Hulk and Dueling Dragons were awesome roller coaster rides; the Revenge of the Mummy on the other hand, could definitely use better seat restraints. I also got a caricature done there :D We headed back to the hotel @ 7:30 and I skipped the welcome event that was scheduled for the night and ordered room service ever so again.
- Watched a lot of playoff games in the last week. Saw Ginobili go down with a black eye, Nash with Horry, Okur being pulled down by Jason Richardson. Playoff season and emotions run really high and you can definitely expect dramatic games, although this year an unusual lot of blood's been drawn in the Suns-Spurs series.
- Was woken up by a false fire alarm at 1:30 am on Monday and had to sleepwalk through 11 floors down. Argh!!
- Was surprised to find that the food quality even in top notch resorts is not consistent on all days. I ordered the penne chicken and tiramisu on 2 different days and every time both of them were served looking and tasting entirely different.
- Sat through some enlightening sessions at the conference. Like most conferences this one had its share of duds too and I was unlucky to get caught in some of those. Met up with old friends from previous workplaces and got a fillin on who's doing what.
- The dev server went down once again. Thankfully we could restore normalcy within 10 minutes but this particular problem continues to haunt us without any tracable clues and needs to get sorted quickly.
- Wednesday evening drove back to Universal for the special event. After sifting through a quick dinner and a never ending lineup of desserts, rode the Hulk once again an innumerable amount of times.
- Managed to get some value out of the last session of the conference on Thursday and then scurried to the airport. Lunched on awesome linguine with shrimp at one of the eateries in the airport lobby.
- Reached San Diego after a 15 minute delayed arrival, picked up mom and dad from the airport and took the cab home.
:End Thursday:
I'll be blogging less frequently now with my folks here for the next 2 months. I'll still aim for atleast once a week, we'll see how it works :)
Friday, May 11, 2007
Bulletin board fun
I love the email bulletin boards at work. People having no work always post something absolutely useless over there and it makes for an interesting read when you're looking for some amusement, sucked out of life by the daily madness at work. Ofcourse BB's in places I've worked before are nowhere as nearly hilarious as some of the desi service based IT companies but recently there's been lot of action on the BB at my current workplace.
There's this woman who posts almost everyday with lot of stuff to sell. She includes a long list of DVD's, CD's, books, knickknacks etc and sells them all for a buck each. At the coffee station the other day I overheard some guys talking,"Dude you should see her cubicle. It's all stacked with boxes and sh!t and all day people are walking in and out of her cubicle like its a frikking dollar store!" As if all the unwarranted attention she was getting wasnt enough, she started putting up 'Clothes for Sale' ads too. Everyday she'd put up a new dress/coat/jeans for sale with pictures attached. So now her dollar store was being taken over by a thrift store :) )
The icing on the cake still remained. When she was done selling regular clothes she started putting up wedding gowns for sale! And not one, not two, she put up close to half a dozen exquisite wedding gowns. More gossip followed, the woman in question being genuinelyhot good looking. "Dude, why the hell does she have so many wedding gowns and why is she selling them off? Does that mean she's called off her wedding so many times already?!" "Yeah. I dunno why she's trying to sell them man. If she didn't like them why did she buy them in the first place? You think she brought them off the bulletin board from her old company? Hahahaha" "No. Maybe she bought them off craigslist. 'Hmm ... let's see who's selling a wedding gown today. Maybe I can make some money by selling it on the company BB'," (more manic laughter)
Looks like she finally caught in on the coffee station gossip. She's still trying to sell those wedding gowns but now the emails carry a little note in bold: "No, my wedding wasn't cancelled. I'm trying to find the right dress. Wedding gowns are not returnable (even with tags/receipt). "
Oh c'est la vie! I'm loving it :)
There's this woman who posts almost everyday with lot of stuff to sell. She includes a long list of DVD's, CD's, books, knickknacks etc and sells them all for a buck each. At the coffee station the other day I overheard some guys talking,"Dude you should see her cubicle. It's all stacked with boxes and sh!t and all day people are walking in and out of her cubicle like its a frikking dollar store!" As if all the unwarranted attention she was getting wasnt enough, she started putting up 'Clothes for Sale' ads too. Everyday she'd put up a new dress/coat/jeans for sale with pictures attached. So now her dollar store was being taken over by a thrift store :) )
The icing on the cake still remained. When she was done selling regular clothes she started putting up wedding gowns for sale! And not one, not two, she put up close to half a dozen exquisite wedding gowns. More gossip followed, the woman in question being genuinely
Looks like she finally caught in on the coffee station gossip. She's still trying to sell those wedding gowns but now the emails carry a little note in bold: "No, my wedding wasn't cancelled. I'm trying to find the right dress. Wedding gowns are not returnable (even with tags/receipt). "
Oh c'est la vie! I'm loving it :)
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Eat sum dim sum!
Last night a colleague of mine sent out an email inviting everyone to join in for some dim sum at lunch today. I wasnt sure what dim sum was so I decided to wait and find out before tagging along. All I knew was it would probably be some Asian food since he was Asian and hello! dim sum - sounds asian! So this morning while I was talking to people around updating my knowledge on dim sum, I found out that it was Chinese food which is served in a unique way. There are servers who haul carts along the dining hall with multiple food plates on them and you have to pick and choose from what's available.
I'm not big on Chinese cuisine and time stands testimony to the fact that the only edible Chinese food is served in PF Chang's. Jokes apart, I really cannot eat Chinese anywhere else and that is mainly because the smell of food in most authentic Chinese restaurants is really over-powering for my olfactory senses. So much so that my eyes become smaller and I start squinting LOL Now it would be interesting to find if sushi would push me into Turning Japanese ;) Anyways, so I was assured by my colleagues that the place where we were going to served good food and that I should try it once if I've never done it before. No harm in trying I thought. I was just about to find out how wrong I was.
As I walked in to the restaurant I was engulfed by the smell of dumplings which once again reminded me why I hate to eat in a Chinese restaurant so much. But no hurried judgement, I told myself, I had been assured that the food here is really good. So we sat down and promptly an Asian female rushed to our table and served us tea. Well, almost. It was actually a greenish brown concoction which I was told was tea. Before I could think whether I wanted to drink it or not one server, and a couple others after her, hauled a big cart each next to our table. D who was our dim sum expert for the day ordered a few dishes. Being desi I was limited to eating seafood and chicken and apparently the best dishes these guys served were pork based. I was informed that the seafood wasnt bad either so I decided to go for the shrimp dishes.
No authentic Chinese restuarant has silverware on the table and this one was no different. Luckily I did not have to display my inefficient use of chopsticks as M quickly asked one server to get some forks. She too was not so good with, "juggling food on two sticks before quickly throwing it in your mouth." I'd rather not go on to describe how each dish tasted. To me they all looked the same and tasted the same because they all really were the same seafood dumplings or chicken dumplings albeit in various shapes. A few dumplings later I was really full, though not happy with my first dim sum experience. My happiness was further dented when the cheque split up to $15 per head.
No more dim sums for me, I promised, as we drove back to work. As we trudged back in from lunch, another colleague of mine who had wisely chosen to stay away asked the other people,"So did you pop Amit's dim sum cherry?" Everyone burst out laughing as I told him, "Yes. And it hurt really bad."
I'm not big on Chinese cuisine and time stands testimony to the fact that the only edible Chinese food is served in PF Chang's. Jokes apart, I really cannot eat Chinese anywhere else and that is mainly because the smell of food in most authentic Chinese restaurants is really over-powering for my olfactory senses. So much so that my eyes become smaller and I start squinting LOL Now it would be interesting to find if sushi would push me into Turning Japanese ;) Anyways, so I was assured by my colleagues that the place where we were going to served good food and that I should try it once if I've never done it before. No harm in trying I thought. I was just about to find out how wrong I was.
As I walked in to the restaurant I was engulfed by the smell of dumplings which once again reminded me why I hate to eat in a Chinese restaurant so much. But no hurried judgement, I told myself, I had been assured that the food here is really good. So we sat down and promptly an Asian female rushed to our table and served us tea. Well, almost. It was actually a greenish brown concoction which I was told was tea. Before I could think whether I wanted to drink it or not one server, and a couple others after her, hauled a big cart each next to our table. D who was our dim sum expert for the day ordered a few dishes. Being desi I was limited to eating seafood and chicken and apparently the best dishes these guys served were pork based. I was informed that the seafood wasnt bad either so I decided to go for the shrimp dishes.
No authentic Chinese restuarant has silverware on the table and this one was no different. Luckily I did not have to display my inefficient use of chopsticks as M quickly asked one server to get some forks. She too was not so good with, "juggling food on two sticks before quickly throwing it in your mouth." I'd rather not go on to describe how each dish tasted. To me they all looked the same and tasted the same because they all really were the same seafood dumplings or chicken dumplings albeit in various shapes. A few dumplings later I was really full, though not happy with my first dim sum experience. My happiness was further dented when the cheque split up to $15 per head.
No more dim sums for me, I promised, as we drove back to work. As we trudged back in from lunch, another colleague of mine who had wisely chosen to stay away asked the other people,"So did you pop Amit's dim sum cherry?" Everyone burst out laughing as I told him, "Yes. And it hurt really bad."
Wednesday, May 9, 2007
Chaha Pohe # 1
Its been a while now that this happened but I had to write about my experience. Maybe I'll get some tips from been-there-done-that people on do's and dont's. Alternately I could just end up wasting some more time writing random useless stuff :))
This dates back to my last trip back home in Dec 06. After a few days of fun, the obvious topic of marriage came up during one of our casual talks. My parents quickly convinced me that it was not all hunkydory when an arranged marriage was concerned. Gullible that I am (yeah, right!) I succumbed and agreed to .. how do I say this .. well, put myself out there LOL Task 1 accomplished, my parents got to the next step - spreading the word. In a few days time, I was setup for my first official chaha pohe program. Thankfully, that was the only one during that trip.
It so happened that one of the families that lived a few blocks over from where I live happened to know someone else who were also looking to get their daughter married. Stage set! A convenient date was blocked and we decided to meet over at our few-blocks-over-neighbours place. This soon became the butt of all jokes as soon as the neighbours son found out what was going on. That he was at our place everyday did not help! My brother, cousin and he ganged up against me to cash in on this opportunity to pull my leg to all of their hearts content. I tried to take it all in stride, shamelessly :P
In more ways than one, calling for an arranged marriage is like putting your weapons down while fighting and accepting defeat. Bright readers please note that the weapons I mention here are metaphorical. I don't know what signals we are sending to our parents when we do this. Is it:
a> Yea, you're gonna hafta take care of this thing too. Might as well get started.
b> Alright, I give up. Nothing happened for the last X years, do you expect miracles overnight?
c> You can tell I'm not much of a ladies man. But that doesnt mean I'm gay!
d> I'm sooo obedient and moral-debt stricken and I value my culture and traditions. I'll get married to whomsoever you want me to.
e> All of the above
f> None of the above
Whatever option you choose, truth be told, your parents have a job cut out for them.
Interestingly enough, the other day I had a conversation with my manager and when I explained the concept of how arranged marriages are set up, he went "Huh, so thats more like an assisted marriage." I voiced over as strong a protest as I possibly could against calling it assisted. At the same time I couldnt help but wonder whether arranged marriage was a euphemism for the singles' sake.
Anywho, getting back on track, on D-day around 5-ish we headed over to our neighbours place when we were informed that ladkiwaale aa gaye hai. I walked in to see a bunch of unfamiliar uncles and aunties and two girls who looked of marriageable age. As I sat down I was thinking, doesnt really matter who's who I gotta get out of here quick! Then the families were introduced to each other and I found out that the not-so-prettier of the two was who was out to get married and the slightly better looking one was her sister. With introductions also came first round of refreshments. Traditionally, I think this used to be limbu sarbat/panha or some such. We were served Coke. I usually stay away from pop and so I had to get me a glass of water. Not very surprisingly, it illicited comments about how these days people are more health conscious and yada yada yada.
After that it was time to play 'oh I know this guy, we went to school together' between the 2 dads. So they managed to play catchup on old times and found out that they did have quite a few common friends. In the meantime, I was pestering mom to get me out of that place. While this was going on, aunty served us pohe. Now first of all I'm not at all a pohe guy, I like upma better and second, I had long given up the good ole' habit of high tea that the British had passed down onto us desis and had caught up with breakfast over the last 5 years. My point being, I was not hungry and I was being served a non-favorite dish. So, much to chef aunty's chagrin, I managed to clip a lot of pohe off my plate and took my own sweet time to get through them so no one would bother to serve me a second helping.
During this time, aunty suggested that the girl and I could get together to have a small talk without the rest of them bothering us. I managed to fend that awkwardly since I wasn't really interested (what is that they say 'If beauty is on the inside, I'd rather see you inside out'. Yea, it was kinda like that, not so bad, but almost) After finishing off the pohe, the girl's mom once again suggested that the girl and I get together for a chat. Refusing the second time would've been really rude so I walked out onto the patio much against my wishes, knowing not what I was going to talk. If I was genuinely interested I could've bothered to come up with some questions; since I wasn't at all, I decided not to tax my brain. We talked for about 10 minutes, talked as in the girl kept bombarding questions and I kept answering/ducking for cover, and then headed back in. I think I kinda made 'not interested' clear with my lackadaisical attitude during this time.
No chaha pohe program is ever complete without chaha and shortly later, piping hot tea was served. I couldnt refuse tea. Tea, for a lazy instant coffee drinker like me, is luxury; if prepared by someone else and handed over - supreme! More generic discussions on socio-political issues between all parents followed while sipping on tea and I was stuck in awe of how the clock could move really slow at such times. Another half hour later, the saga ended and I merrily trooped back home.
This dates back to my last trip back home in Dec 06. After a few days of fun, the obvious topic of marriage came up during one of our casual talks. My parents quickly convinced me that it was not all hunkydory when an arranged marriage was concerned. Gullible that I am (yeah, right!) I succumbed and agreed to .. how do I say this .. well, put myself out there LOL Task 1 accomplished, my parents got to the next step - spreading the word. In a few days time, I was setup for my first official chaha pohe program. Thankfully, that was the only one during that trip.
It so happened that one of the families that lived a few blocks over from where I live happened to know someone else who were also looking to get their daughter married. Stage set! A convenient date was blocked and we decided to meet over at our few-blocks-over-neighbours place. This soon became the butt of all jokes as soon as the neighbours son found out what was going on. That he was at our place everyday did not help! My brother, cousin and he ganged up against me to cash in on this opportunity to pull my leg to all of their hearts content. I tried to take it all in stride, shamelessly :P
In more ways than one, calling for an arranged marriage is like putting your weapons down while fighting and accepting defeat. Bright readers please note that the weapons I mention here are metaphorical. I don't know what signals we are sending to our parents when we do this. Is it:
a> Yea, you're gonna hafta take care of this thing too. Might as well get started.
b> Alright, I give up. Nothing happened for the last X years, do you expect miracles overnight?
c> You can tell I'm not much of a ladies man. But that doesnt mean I'm gay!
d> I'm sooo obedient and moral-debt stricken and I value my culture and traditions. I'll get married to whomsoever you want me to.
e> All of the above
f> None of the above
Whatever option you choose, truth be told, your parents have a job cut out for them.
Interestingly enough, the other day I had a conversation with my manager and when I explained the concept of how arranged marriages are set up, he went "Huh, so thats more like an assisted marriage." I voiced over as strong a protest as I possibly could against calling it assisted. At the same time I couldnt help but wonder whether arranged marriage was a euphemism for the singles' sake.
Anywho, getting back on track, on D-day around 5-ish we headed over to our neighbours place when we were informed that ladkiwaale aa gaye hai. I walked in to see a bunch of unfamiliar uncles and aunties and two girls who looked of marriageable age. As I sat down I was thinking, doesnt really matter who's who I gotta get out of here quick! Then the families were introduced to each other and I found out that the not-so-prettier of the two was who was out to get married and the slightly better looking one was her sister. With introductions also came first round of refreshments. Traditionally, I think this used to be limbu sarbat/panha or some such. We were served Coke. I usually stay away from pop and so I had to get me a glass of water. Not very surprisingly, it illicited comments about how these days people are more health conscious and yada yada yada.
After that it was time to play 'oh I know this guy, we went to school together' between the 2 dads. So they managed to play catchup on old times and found out that they did have quite a few common friends. In the meantime, I was pestering mom to get me out of that place. While this was going on, aunty served us pohe. Now first of all I'm not at all a pohe guy, I like upma better and second, I had long given up the good ole' habit of high tea that the British had passed down onto us desis and had caught up with breakfast over the last 5 years. My point being, I was not hungry and I was being served a non-favorite dish. So, much to chef aunty's chagrin, I managed to clip a lot of pohe off my plate and took my own sweet time to get through them so no one would bother to serve me a second helping.
During this time, aunty suggested that the girl and I could get together to have a small talk without the rest of them bothering us. I managed to fend that awkwardly since I wasn't really interested (what is that they say 'If beauty is on the inside, I'd rather see you inside out'. Yea, it was kinda like that, not so bad, but almost) After finishing off the pohe, the girl's mom once again suggested that the girl and I get together for a chat. Refusing the second time would've been really rude so I walked out onto the patio much against my wishes, knowing not what I was going to talk. If I was genuinely interested I could've bothered to come up with some questions; since I wasn't at all, I decided not to tax my brain. We talked for about 10 minutes, talked as in the girl kept bombarding questions and I kept answering/ducking for cover, and then headed back in. I think I kinda made 'not interested' clear with my lackadaisical attitude during this time.
No chaha pohe program is ever complete without chaha and shortly later, piping hot tea was served. I couldnt refuse tea. Tea, for a lazy instant coffee drinker like me, is luxury; if prepared by someone else and handed over - supreme! More generic discussions on socio-political issues between all parents followed while sipping on tea and I was stuck in awe of how the clock could move really slow at such times. Another half hour later, the saga ended and I merrily trooped back home.
Thursday, May 3, 2007
Of celebrity restaurateurs ...
.. heck, of Shilpa Shetty to some extent and allied rants for the other.
So Shilpa Shetty is the latest to hop onto the celebrity restaurateur bandwagon following the likes of the Tendulkars and the Zaheer Khans and some of her more illustrious counterparts from LaLa Land. I can already envision a leopard print theme on all fabric in the restaurant and probably a curry house which serves south indian curries as opposed to the good old CTM that Britain loves. Speaking of CTM, I dont know how good they have it up there in Southall and Bradford, but I have yet to come across *good* CTM in any of the towns I've had it in so far in America. And I've lived in the desi-est of places as Chitown and ATL! I cant really tell the difference in taste of one CTM from the other, its like all the restaurants across the nation go with one standard recipe. Come to think of it, its really not like I can't tell the difference, more like there IS no difference;)
Anyways so we'll wait and watch how Ms Shetty's attempts at cashing in on her newfound popularity in Britain turn out. It is no news that her 'popularity' ( y'know I really wouldnt call it popularity, its really more like familiarity - know what I mean?) in Britain stems from all the wrong reasons lately with the hullabaloo caused by Big Brother. The first curry house opens up in London and then she'll open up more branches. I wonder if Ms Shetty would dare open up a branch in Mumbai. Well she's been 'popular' here too .. thanks to Mr Gere. Yep, that was a classic case of hypocrisy and things blown out of proportion and comments interpreted in whatever-the-hell-way one would want and whatever more idiocy one could imagine. Effigy making could probably soon turn into a million dollar industry looking at the rate at which they are being burnt in India over the slightest of chances, y'know first the usual suspects - the cricket team, then Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere, then someone else; protesters just dont seem to get enough of effigy burning.
Coming back to restaurants, I dont know what gives celebrities the idea to start a restaurant. Maybe they bank on it as an alternate revenue generating machine - if not the cricketing whites/glossy makeup face-cakes, I can always don an apron! Tendulkar started one and apparently eats there quite often. Zaheer Khan started one, now that was a good one - starting a restaurant in Pune is almost always a foolproof plan. The city has enough restaurants already, yet anytime you walk into a restaurant, you cannot easily get a table without considerable wait time. Ofcourse, owning a restaurant in Pune has its own disadvantages and ZK's recently got trashed by some zealots while India was on the losing track. If anyone were to open up a new restaurant in Pune, it'd have to be Italian. Despite having a truckload of restaurants, I dont think Pune has one restaurant which serves authentic Italian worth it's weight in .. err .. pasta.
Anywho, enough with the rants, imma get back to some work. These pretzels are making me thirsty!
So Shilpa Shetty is the latest to hop onto the celebrity restaurateur bandwagon following the likes of the Tendulkars and the Zaheer Khans and some of her more illustrious counterparts from LaLa Land. I can already envision a leopard print theme on all fabric in the restaurant and probably a curry house which serves south indian curries as opposed to the good old CTM that Britain loves. Speaking of CTM, I dont know how good they have it up there in Southall and Bradford, but I have yet to come across *good* CTM in any of the towns I've had it in so far in America. And I've lived in the desi-est of places as Chitown and ATL! I cant really tell the difference in taste of one CTM from the other, its like all the restaurants across the nation go with one standard recipe. Come to think of it, its really not like I can't tell the difference, more like there IS no difference;)
Anyways so we'll wait and watch how Ms Shetty's attempts at cashing in on her newfound popularity in Britain turn out. It is no news that her 'popularity' ( y'know I really wouldnt call it popularity, its really more like familiarity - know what I mean?) in Britain stems from all the wrong reasons lately with the hullabaloo caused by Big Brother. The first curry house opens up in London and then she'll open up more branches. I wonder if Ms Shetty would dare open up a branch in Mumbai. Well she's been 'popular' here too .. thanks to Mr Gere. Yep, that was a classic case of hypocrisy and things blown out of proportion and comments interpreted in whatever-the-hell-way one would want and whatever more idiocy one could imagine. Effigy making could probably soon turn into a million dollar industry looking at the rate at which they are being burnt in India over the slightest of chances, y'know first the usual suspects - the cricket team, then Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere, then someone else; protesters just dont seem to get enough of effigy burning.
Coming back to restaurants, I dont know what gives celebrities the idea to start a restaurant. Maybe they bank on it as an alternate revenue generating machine - if not the cricketing whites/glossy makeup face-cakes, I can always don an apron! Tendulkar started one and apparently eats there quite often. Zaheer Khan started one, now that was a good one - starting a restaurant in Pune is almost always a foolproof plan. The city has enough restaurants already, yet anytime you walk into a restaurant, you cannot easily get a table without considerable wait time. Ofcourse, owning a restaurant in Pune has its own disadvantages and ZK's recently got trashed by some zealots while India was on the losing track. If anyone were to open up a new restaurant in Pune, it'd have to be Italian. Despite having a truckload of restaurants, I dont think Pune has one restaurant which serves authentic Italian worth it's weight in .. err .. pasta.
Anywho, enough with the rants, imma get back to some work. These pretzels are making me thirsty!
Monday, April 30, 2007
No Regrets
Alrite y'all. This is an inspired piece of writing after reading this post and listening to one of my favorite songs (although the title comes from another favorite song). I have tried to keep my writing as original as I can but some similarities are bound to occur since this is after all, well, 'inspired'. It is also my first attempt at writing a short fictional story with some mix of emotions. I would not be surprised, however, if this post does not come out as good as the original one. When it comes to emotions and sentiments, I am much like Chandler Bing, "I'm not good with that part. Could I interest you in a sarcastic comment?" Anyways, enough with the background already. Here goes:
*DISCLAIMER* --- All characters in my story are fictional and any koinkydinkys are entirely coincidental. This post has been written with the sole intent of exercising my fingers so please do not try to associate and/or read between the lines.
Late November, it was a wintry afternoon in O'Hare. Akash was all excited, eagerly waiting to board his next flight to London, on his way back home to Mumbai. He had already travelled a long way on his LAX-CHI direct and was now beginning to get edgy as the weather showed no signs of clearing up. He was pacing nervously around the flight information screen waiting to find the updated time of his flight. Few minutes and he was utterly frustrated to find that his flight had been delayed by 4 hours. With nothing better to do he decided to hit the Starbucks in the terminal, connect to his office network and finalise that proposal he had been working on. Somehow he had managed to get a longer vacation with the understanding that he would be reachable even while in India and that he was still billable on all his current projects. A long vacation was the call of the hour, this was no ordinary vacation. He was heading home to get married.
Strolling on to find the Starbucks he stood in line to get a fix of his favorite. In one corner, someone sitting sideways reading up on a book, caught his eye. She sure looked familiar. Could she be Priya? No way, he told himself. He knew Priya was on her way to Austin the very same day, flying out from New York. Curiosity got the better of him and he walked that way after grabbing his mocha, and sure enough, Priya she was! He greeted her with a warm hug and both were all smiles. 'Wha .. how come you're here? Shouldn't you be on your flight to Austin?' said Akash, after he got over his initial surprise. 'Yes, thank the weather. We had to make an unscheduled stop out of our way because of the bad weather. I still have a few more hours before we get back on.' 'So we do meet after all. The irony. We made so many plans of meeting up, none of them materialised over all these years and the weather gods decide to play their part'. 'Indeed' she smiled.
'Wow, though! You haven't changed a bit. How long has it been since we saw each other, 7 years?!' 'Yes', she said with a mischievous grin on her face , ' I wish I could say the same about you'. 'I know I'm not quite the guy you knew from college anymore. Hey you're seeing me 7 years and 45 lbs later. I'm a Complan boy!' and both broke off into a hearty laugh. At the crux, no one had really changed. Both were still the same, always looking for a chance to pull each other's leg and have a good laugh. They had been through 4 years of engineering school together. Always in the same group, hanging out together, studying, partying, living each day of their lives in each others company enjoying it all. Everyone thought they were the perfect couple, in their minds, they were nothing more than very good friends. Akash went on to complete his Masters and Priya was working with some company after they graduated. Throughout they never lost touch with each other, emailing, calling, doing whatever to fill in on the latest. Since the last 3 years Priya had been onsite. Their grandiose plans to meetup along with their friends never saw the day of light with someone or the other always bailing out at the last minute. After their last plans for Denver had flopped no one ever bothered to come up with suggestions and these good friends of yesteryears were left with the only option of electronic communication, although they were in the same country, coasts apart.
'So, how are you feeling? All excited about the wedding? Everyone at home must be so busy running around with the last minute preparations, isn't it?'. 'Yeah, I wish I could have managed to get more of a vacation, but you know how hard it is even to get 3 weeks off work.' 'Yes, I know. It is quite the same for all of us. I am worried about my next trip back home. I'm sure my parents won't let me return without atleast getting engaged to someone', she chuckled. Then they went on with a long winding discussion about how almost all of the people they knew were married by now, some even having kids already.
'Priya, can I tell you something?' 'Ofcourse you can! Have you ever Not told me anything?!', she asked with a puzzled look on her face. Akash barely managed a wry smile and said, 'Thanks for always being there for me Priya'. 'What is this about, Akash?' Priya sensed there was much more to this and was preparing herself for this unusual outburst of emotions from Akash. Did she really know Akash after all these years? She had never ever known Akash to get sentimental. 'Priya, I don't know if I should be saying all this, I dont know if this is the best time to be talking about but this is something I've always wanted to tell you. This was something I could never discuss on the phone and now that we're here ...' 'I'm listening', Priya grew serious.
'I still don't know why you said No'. Over the years, Akash had fallen in love with Priya without quite realizing it. He realized how he had been taking her for granted all along in college and how badly he missed her every single day of his life. Ofcourse, he had no time for misery, with classes and work keeping him busy beyond belief during his Masters but every now and then in a reflective moment Akash thought about Priya. He had promised himself that he would pop the question at the first opportunity he got after he was self sufficient with a good job on hand and a stable life. A good job was not on the horizon immediately for Akash but he was working his way up. Few months down the line, Akash thought this was a good time, he picked up the phone to reach Priya and spoke of his intentions. Priya took her time and refused, telling Akash she never thought of him as more than a friend and said it was best to let things remain. 'Did you ever think about us after that time?' Akash quizzed, 'Did you ever wonder 'what we could've been, if you'd only let me in?' 'Akash ..', Priya quivered, 'I'd told you I was sorry .''Don't be', Akash interrupted, ' you know, I thought about it and you are not to blame'
'If anything, I should be thanking you for understanding me. You know Priya, those were hard times for me. Later that month, I lost my job. I did not sit down and cry. I fought with intent and within a week I was on my next job. Your refusal spurred me on. You always knew me as a brash, slaphappy kid, never serious about anything, always living his life easily taking each day as it comes. I cannot blame you if you did not want to spend your life with me knowing me the way I was back in college. But I wasnt the same Priya, I had changed and you did not know. I had gone through a lot after I came here. When I got my first paycheque after doing the dishes in the cafeteria all week long, I realized the value of hard earned money. I worked hard, studied with a new found purpose. I realized I had fallen for you but I could not do anything about it until I had some sort of a respectable job. Looking back, I might've rushed into proposing having completed barely a year on the job. I had nothing to prove my case that I had changed. All I ever wanted was to spend my life with you and I thought that it was already late since your parents were looking out for you. I jumped the gun and I lost my chance.'
Priya would've never known so much was behind that thank you; and yet much more to come. Akash continued, ' But you know, I owed it to myself to ask that question. Remember, back in college I had asked Amrita? I did not know what I was doing back then. But with you it was different. When I asked you I knew what I wanted in life and I was on track for achieving it with everything going on for me. After I'd broken off with Amrita I'd never thought I could ever gather enough courage again to put myself out there. Once bitten, twice shy you know. But when I'd been stupid enough to do that when I had no clue, I knew I could not live with myself had I not asked you.We were best friends, we always got along so well. I would've never gone out on a limb and proposed if I had the slightest inkling that you never once felt the way I did. But like I said, you might have thought twice because you knew me as the Akash from college. I wouldnt blame you had you based your decision on that. You never knew what I had gone through after college and you never bothered to find out and give me a chance. In the end I had no regrets for having popped the question although I got rejected. I owed it onto me and I did what felt right at that time. I am happy that I found out it wasn't to be but I still can't figure out what led you to think that way. What matters more to me is that you are just a phone call away whenever I need you and I want to thank you for that. Promise me one thing, if you can - always stay the same.'
Akash looked into her eyes and it was Priya's turn to speak. '... I ... I don't know .. I don't know what to say. Quite frankly, I am stunned. You were right, you should'nt have opened up this can of worms. Sometimes I wondered too ... ' ' Boarding business class for BA-0652 to London', Priya was cut short by a crackling voice on the PA system. 'Ohh! For Goodness, thats my flight. About time!' Akash beamed 'Well, I guess that's about it. It was so nice catching up after all these years, time just flew by. Thanks once again for letting me speak my heart out. I don't know where I would be without a friend like you'.
Akash bid a hasty goodbye and boarded his flight to live the rest of his life in denial. As she watched Akash walk by, Priya wondered if she would ever be able to claim that her life had been without any regrets, and a tear rolled down her cheek ...
Post Title : Robbie Williams - No Regrets
*DISCLAIMER* --- All characters in my story are fictional and any koinkydinkys are entirely coincidental. This post has been written with the sole intent of exercising my fingers so please do not try to associate and/or read between the lines.
Late November, it was a wintry afternoon in O'Hare. Akash was all excited, eagerly waiting to board his next flight to London, on his way back home to Mumbai. He had already travelled a long way on his LAX-CHI direct and was now beginning to get edgy as the weather showed no signs of clearing up. He was pacing nervously around the flight information screen waiting to find the updated time of his flight. Few minutes and he was utterly frustrated to find that his flight had been delayed by 4 hours. With nothing better to do he decided to hit the Starbucks in the terminal, connect to his office network and finalise that proposal he had been working on. Somehow he had managed to get a longer vacation with the understanding that he would be reachable even while in India and that he was still billable on all his current projects. A long vacation was the call of the hour, this was no ordinary vacation. He was heading home to get married.
Strolling on to find the Starbucks he stood in line to get a fix of his favorite. In one corner, someone sitting sideways reading up on a book, caught his eye. She sure looked familiar. Could she be Priya? No way, he told himself. He knew Priya was on her way to Austin the very same day, flying out from New York. Curiosity got the better of him and he walked that way after grabbing his mocha, and sure enough, Priya she was! He greeted her with a warm hug and both were all smiles. 'Wha .. how come you're here? Shouldn't you be on your flight to Austin?' said Akash, after he got over his initial surprise. 'Yes, thank the weather. We had to make an unscheduled stop out of our way because of the bad weather. I still have a few more hours before we get back on.' 'So we do meet after all. The irony. We made so many plans of meeting up, none of them materialised over all these years and the weather gods decide to play their part'. 'Indeed' she smiled.
'Wow, though! You haven't changed a bit. How long has it been since we saw each other, 7 years?!' 'Yes', she said with a mischievous grin on her face , ' I wish I could say the same about you'. 'I know I'm not quite the guy you knew from college anymore. Hey you're seeing me 7 years and 45 lbs later. I'm a Complan boy!' and both broke off into a hearty laugh. At the crux, no one had really changed. Both were still the same, always looking for a chance to pull each other's leg and have a good laugh. They had been through 4 years of engineering school together. Always in the same group, hanging out together, studying, partying, living each day of their lives in each others company enjoying it all. Everyone thought they were the perfect couple, in their minds, they were nothing more than very good friends. Akash went on to complete his Masters and Priya was working with some company after they graduated. Throughout they never lost touch with each other, emailing, calling, doing whatever to fill in on the latest. Since the last 3 years Priya had been onsite. Their grandiose plans to meetup along with their friends never saw the day of light with someone or the other always bailing out at the last minute. After their last plans for Denver had flopped no one ever bothered to come up with suggestions and these good friends of yesteryears were left with the only option of electronic communication, although they were in the same country, coasts apart.
'So, how are you feeling? All excited about the wedding? Everyone at home must be so busy running around with the last minute preparations, isn't it?'. 'Yeah, I wish I could have managed to get more of a vacation, but you know how hard it is even to get 3 weeks off work.' 'Yes, I know. It is quite the same for all of us. I am worried about my next trip back home. I'm sure my parents won't let me return without atleast getting engaged to someone', she chuckled. Then they went on with a long winding discussion about how almost all of the people they knew were married by now, some even having kids already.
'Priya, can I tell you something?' 'Ofcourse you can! Have you ever Not told me anything?!', she asked with a puzzled look on her face. Akash barely managed a wry smile and said, 'Thanks for always being there for me Priya'. 'What is this about, Akash?' Priya sensed there was much more to this and was preparing herself for this unusual outburst of emotions from Akash. Did she really know Akash after all these years? She had never ever known Akash to get sentimental. 'Priya, I don't know if I should be saying all this, I dont know if this is the best time to be talking about but this is something I've always wanted to tell you. This was something I could never discuss on the phone and now that we're here ...' 'I'm listening', Priya grew serious.
'I still don't know why you said No'. Over the years, Akash had fallen in love with Priya without quite realizing it. He realized how he had been taking her for granted all along in college and how badly he missed her every single day of his life. Ofcourse, he had no time for misery, with classes and work keeping him busy beyond belief during his Masters but every now and then in a reflective moment Akash thought about Priya. He had promised himself that he would pop the question at the first opportunity he got after he was self sufficient with a good job on hand and a stable life. A good job was not on the horizon immediately for Akash but he was working his way up. Few months down the line, Akash thought this was a good time, he picked up the phone to reach Priya and spoke of his intentions. Priya took her time and refused, telling Akash she never thought of him as more than a friend and said it was best to let things remain. 'Did you ever think about us after that time?' Akash quizzed, 'Did you ever wonder 'what we could've been, if you'd only let me in?' 'Akash ..', Priya quivered, 'I'd told you I was sorry .''Don't be', Akash interrupted, ' you know, I thought about it and you are not to blame'
'If anything, I should be thanking you for understanding me. You know Priya, those were hard times for me. Later that month, I lost my job. I did not sit down and cry. I fought with intent and within a week I was on my next job. Your refusal spurred me on. You always knew me as a brash, slaphappy kid, never serious about anything, always living his life easily taking each day as it comes. I cannot blame you if you did not want to spend your life with me knowing me the way I was back in college. But I wasnt the same Priya, I had changed and you did not know. I had gone through a lot after I came here. When I got my first paycheque after doing the dishes in the cafeteria all week long, I realized the value of hard earned money. I worked hard, studied with a new found purpose. I realized I had fallen for you but I could not do anything about it until I had some sort of a respectable job. Looking back, I might've rushed into proposing having completed barely a year on the job. I had nothing to prove my case that I had changed. All I ever wanted was to spend my life with you and I thought that it was already late since your parents were looking out for you. I jumped the gun and I lost my chance.'
Priya would've never known so much was behind that thank you; and yet much more to come. Akash continued, ' But you know, I owed it to myself to ask that question. Remember, back in college I had asked Amrita? I did not know what I was doing back then. But with you it was different. When I asked you I knew what I wanted in life and I was on track for achieving it with everything going on for me. After I'd broken off with Amrita I'd never thought I could ever gather enough courage again to put myself out there. Once bitten, twice shy you know. But when I'd been stupid enough to do that when I had no clue, I knew I could not live with myself had I not asked you.We were best friends, we always got along so well. I would've never gone out on a limb and proposed if I had the slightest inkling that you never once felt the way I did. But like I said, you might have thought twice because you knew me as the Akash from college. I wouldnt blame you had you based your decision on that. You never knew what I had gone through after college and you never bothered to find out and give me a chance. In the end I had no regrets for having popped the question although I got rejected. I owed it onto me and I did what felt right at that time. I am happy that I found out it wasn't to be but I still can't figure out what led you to think that way. What matters more to me is that you are just a phone call away whenever I need you and I want to thank you for that. Promise me one thing, if you can - always stay the same.'
Akash looked into her eyes and it was Priya's turn to speak. '... I ... I don't know .. I don't know what to say. Quite frankly, I am stunned. You were right, you should'nt have opened up this can of worms. Sometimes I wondered too ... ' ' Boarding business class for BA-0652 to London', Priya was cut short by a crackling voice on the PA system. 'Ohh! For Goodness, thats my flight. About time!' Akash beamed 'Well, I guess that's about it. It was so nice catching up after all these years, time just flew by. Thanks once again for letting me speak my heart out. I don't know where I would be without a friend like you'.
Akash bid a hasty goodbye and boarded his flight to live the rest of his life in denial. As she watched Akash walk by, Priya wondered if she would ever be able to claim that her life had been without any regrets, and a tear rolled down her cheek ...
Post Title : Robbie Williams - No Regrets
Saturday, April 28, 2007
Cricket WC '07
I could write and write and write but that would be just re-stating the obvious. Magnificent innings from Gilly, great allround cricket from Australia and a good fight from Sri Lanka. Go on and celebrate Australia, your 3peat has given the right to be cocky.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Mode : Repeat
How many times would you listen to a song on repeat mode in one go? If you are anything like my roomie the answer to that would be 'until the batteries burn out'!
This ties back to my post where I woke up to James Blunt moaning You're Beautiful on a beautiful weekend morning (afternoon, whatever :D) I was lolling on my bed one fine saturday morning arguing with myself whether 11 am was early enough to wake up on a Saturday. I was quickly convinced that I could get some more sleep since I had nothing to do on that weekend anyways. About half an hour later, I realised that there was something playing in the background which was distracting me big time and I couldnt stay in bed any longer listening to that sound. Unwillingly, I crawled out of the bed and strolled out into the living room following the sound. There in the far end of the room was my roomie's laptop playing this song, again and again, with mr.roomie nowhere in sight. Cursing him I hit the mute button on his laptop, the only thing I could do to save my ears, since he'd locked the comp and gone away.
Since I was now out of the bed, thanks to Mr Blunt, and it was close to noon I didnt see any point in getting back to my (ever) incomplete sleep. About 10 minutes later, in walked my roomie, hands full with grocery bags.So dude was at the grocery store all this while, unmindful of the fact that he had left the house with his laptop on, media player on repeat mode and playing such a horrible song!
I was obviously cranky that morning, not having had as much sleep as I would've liked. Part of my crankiness could also relate to how much I hate songs such as this one, with the lovey dovey lyrics hopelessly moaning out how beautiful someone was. First, the lyrics claim the singer does not know who the woman is, second - this woman is with another man, and third the singer says he was high. Get a life crackhead! For all I know he could've dreamt about this beautiful angel he saw while he was high. Oh well. Showering praise on someone is not exactly my forte, high or not, and I hate songs with hopelessly romantic lyrics. And to think that my sleep was left incomplete because of this crappy song - Aaargh!!
Back to the topic, I asked my roomie to not keep playing songs in repeat mode and especially not this one. He told me that he liked this song very much and by default he always had his music player in repeat mode, so he would've never realised the same song was playing continuously even if he was around. Ofcourse he wouldnt realise that the same song is playing, but if such a sucky song were playing, I would definitely realise and be bothered by it! But evidently he really liked this song and he made a statement when he burnt the song onto a CD about 15 times to completely fill it up with the same song and played it in his car (thankfully) quite regularly.
Surprisingly this fellow isn't the only one I've met who likes to listen to the same song over and over again. Last year when I was working at Miller, I used to have lunch with a desi teammate (lets call him A) on most days. Miller was about the good times and we often ended up taking long lunches driving across town to get to the finest food places (as were available in Milwaukee). So whenever A drove, he always had one of two songs playing - one was a remix of a song called 'Mere Naseeb mein tu hai ke nahi' and the other was 'Ya Ali'. He always hit the previous button when the track ended and we listened to the same songs day in and day out. I was unmindful the 1st few times but soon enough these songs started getting on my nerves. I dont know what joy A derived from listening to those songs over and over but somehow I got the feeling that he did this more to irritate his co-passengers than for his own enjoyment. Really! 'cos there was this other guy (lets call him B) who joined us sometimes for lunch and he hated Himesh Reshammiya from the bottom of his heart (much like most people do). Whenever B joined us for lunch, A was quick to swap CD's and put on the choicest of Himesh's nasal tracks!
So that makes 2 people I know until now who like to listen to one song in repeat mode until they get absolutely bored with it or for whatever better reason only they might know. I don't have to worry about A now, cos I'm not in Milwaukee anymore. The only one I need to worry about is the 'repeater' in San Diego. Nowadays things are getting better though. I've educated him on the importance of creating playlists and I get to hear about 7-8 songs in repeat mode - easier on the ears than listening to one song 50 times in a row;) Next up I want to wane him off the repeat button, but from what I've seen (or heard) so far, I think this could take a while :))
This ties back to my post where I woke up to James Blunt moaning You're Beautiful on a beautiful weekend morning (afternoon, whatever :D) I was lolling on my bed one fine saturday morning arguing with myself whether 11 am was early enough to wake up on a Saturday. I was quickly convinced that I could get some more sleep since I had nothing to do on that weekend anyways. About half an hour later, I realised that there was something playing in the background which was distracting me big time and I couldnt stay in bed any longer listening to that sound. Unwillingly, I crawled out of the bed and strolled out into the living room following the sound. There in the far end of the room was my roomie's laptop playing this song, again and again, with mr.roomie nowhere in sight. Cursing him I hit the mute button on his laptop, the only thing I could do to save my ears, since he'd locked the comp and gone away.
Since I was now out of the bed, thanks to Mr Blunt, and it was close to noon I didnt see any point in getting back to my (ever) incomplete sleep. About 10 minutes later, in walked my roomie, hands full with grocery bags.So dude was at the grocery store all this while, unmindful of the fact that he had left the house with his laptop on, media player on repeat mode and playing such a horrible song!
I was obviously cranky that morning, not having had as much sleep as I would've liked. Part of my crankiness could also relate to how much I hate songs such as this one, with the lovey dovey lyrics hopelessly moaning out how beautiful someone was. First, the lyrics claim the singer does not know who the woman is, second - this woman is with another man, and third the singer says he was high. Get a life crackhead! For all I know he could've dreamt about this beautiful angel he saw while he was high. Oh well. Showering praise on someone is not exactly my forte, high or not, and I hate songs with hopelessly romantic lyrics. And to think that my sleep was left incomplete because of this crappy song - Aaargh!!
Back to the topic, I asked my roomie to not keep playing songs in repeat mode and especially not this one. He told me that he liked this song very much and by default he always had his music player in repeat mode, so he would've never realised the same song was playing continuously even if he was around. Ofcourse he wouldnt realise that the same song is playing, but if such a sucky song were playing, I would definitely realise and be bothered by it! But evidently he really liked this song and he made a statement when he burnt the song onto a CD about 15 times to completely fill it up with the same song and played it in his car (thankfully) quite regularly.
Surprisingly this fellow isn't the only one I've met who likes to listen to the same song over and over again. Last year when I was working at Miller, I used to have lunch with a desi teammate (lets call him A) on most days. Miller was about the good times and we often ended up taking long lunches driving across town to get to the finest food places (as were available in Milwaukee). So whenever A drove, he always had one of two songs playing - one was a remix of a song called 'Mere Naseeb mein tu hai ke nahi' and the other was 'Ya Ali'. He always hit the previous button when the track ended and we listened to the same songs day in and day out. I was unmindful the 1st few times but soon enough these songs started getting on my nerves. I dont know what joy A derived from listening to those songs over and over but somehow I got the feeling that he did this more to irritate his co-passengers than for his own enjoyment. Really! 'cos there was this other guy (lets call him B) who joined us sometimes for lunch and he hated Himesh Reshammiya from the bottom of his heart (much like most people do). Whenever B joined us for lunch, A was quick to swap CD's and put on the choicest of Himesh's nasal tracks!
So that makes 2 people I know until now who like to listen to one song in repeat mode until they get absolutely bored with it or for whatever better reason only they might know. I don't have to worry about A now, cos I'm not in Milwaukee anymore. The only one I need to worry about is the 'repeater' in San Diego. Nowadays things are getting better though. I've educated him on the importance of creating playlists and I get to hear about 7-8 songs in repeat mode - easier on the ears than listening to one song 50 times in a row;) Next up I want to wane him off the repeat button, but from what I've seen (or heard) so far, I think this could take a while :))
Friday, April 20, 2007
Rain rain go away ...
... don't come to me, just stay
On the fields, where farmers pray
Pour just there, if you may
Clearly, I'm not such a big fan of the rains. I'm not a good poet either :P
Suddenly a good looking weekend has been ruined by chances of a massive storm. And I thought, somebody once crooned 'It Never Rains in Southern California'! No wonder, we didnt hear much from him. If anything, he was definitely not much of a weather guy.
I was out for lunch today when it grew overcast and began pouring within the next few minutes. I thought 'Great! There goes my $15'. Luckily for me, I was indoors by then. As I watched from the inside, patiently waiting for my meal to arrive I could see people running all over the place. That's one thing I haven't yet figured out; what's the deal with running around when it is raining? Y're gonna get wet anyway! When you get to/from your car in 3 seconds as opposed to 5, how much of a soaking have you saved yourself from? 2 seconds worth, some smartass might answer, but can you tell a person who's been in the rain for 5 seconds from a person who's been there for 3?
So let it pour. As Robert Plant wrote for Led Zep,
On the fields, where farmers pray
Pour just there, if you may
Clearly, I'm not such a big fan of the rains. I'm not a good poet either :P
Suddenly a good looking weekend has been ruined by chances of a massive storm. And I thought, somebody once crooned 'It Never Rains in Southern California'! No wonder, we didnt hear much from him. If anything, he was definitely not much of a weather guy.
I was out for lunch today when it grew overcast and began pouring within the next few minutes. I thought 'Great! There goes my $15'. Luckily for me, I was indoors by then. As I watched from the inside, patiently waiting for my meal to arrive I could see people running all over the place. That's one thing I haven't yet figured out; what's the deal with running around when it is raining? Y're gonna get wet anyway! When you get to/from your car in 3 seconds as opposed to 5, how much of a soaking have you saved yourself from? 2 seconds worth, some smartass might answer, but can you tell a person who's been in the rain for 5 seconds from a person who's been there for 3?
So let it pour. As Robert Plant wrote for Led Zep,
"These are the seasons of emotion
and like the winds they rise and fall
This is the mystery of the quotient -
Upon us all a little rain must fall"
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Top 10 things that bother me today
Not necessarily in a particular order:
- Indian cricket team remains largely unchanged despite recent wonders
- My car does not have HiD Xenon headlights
- It always feels like I've had insufficient sleep no matter how many hours I sleep on weekdays
- People responding on orkut going 'u say wassup' .. ok - wassup? Addendum : 'u say?' Ohkayyyyy. What do you want me to say?
- Adding people up on orkut. Its not like you win a prize or something if you have a zillion people on your friendlist. Ok, that could be me growing sick of orkut and yet not being able to stay away from it :P
- Documentation, paperwork and bureaucracy
- I have to shave every other day
- Blogs ...... which .... are ... written .... like ......... this ........ get some continuity in your thoughts for fck's sake! What are we playing here - connect the dots to read the hidden message?!
- Too much of the same thing over and over and over again, and another time over again. CIP - Sanjaya Malakar, Anna Nicole Smith, Abhishek-Aishwarya wedding, Shilpa Shetty, VT (ouch!)
- One more day before it is the weekend :(
Later!
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
What's in a name?
I really doubt if William Shakespeare would've asked the same question, had his name been abbreviated to Shaky or Shak, and he was commonly summoned by his colleagues with this newly christened name during his times.
Last night I was talking to my roomie and he mentioned that he had a new teammate joining him soon. To quote him, "बड़ा अजीबसा नाम है यार उसका. मुझे तो pronounce भी करने को नही आता है ठीक से ... mri-na-li-ni. पता नही मेरे colleagues उसे क्या नाम से बुलाएंगे".
Dude actually stuttered a couple of times before he could get the pronunciation right - this coming from a desi was surprising. I wondered if good enunciation was one more thing I had been taking for granted all along. Generally speaking this should not be the case, because I dont think any Indian language is devoid of complex words using multiple compound alphabets (jod-akshare), and that growing up speaking our mothertongue we probably come across such words with an alarming regularity (although we tend not to notice them).
In today's world, where by and large most things are going Americana, everything has to be short, quick and efficient and this process does not spare first names either. I really feel for my southie people with names like muthukrishnan, jagannathan, unnikrishnan, balasubramaniam, rajgopalan, badrinathan and the likes. I feel more for them if these guys are working in an American workplace. Ask any firang collleague to pronounce their names in entirety and they'd rather buy lunch everyday than go through the hassle of pronouncing these tongue twisters.
Worse yet are the desi-chick-goes-hip episodes. Here Radhika becomes Rads, Sunaina becomes Su, Darshana becomes Dee and Pooja becomes Poo. I mean seriously?! Poo?!? Dont even care to think what the original name means and what the new hep cool name is (smelly) like? Poor Shaky would probably turn in his grave to know this. This, however, is self inflicted idiocy of the highest order and no one can sympathize.
I dont know what it is that makes these firangs so _ _ _ (stuck for a word here, really) that they can't bother to pronounce names that are more than 5 alphabet long. So we have a lot of Eric's, John's, David's, Sean's, Bill's and Tom's (3 alphabets; even better!) as common names in Dubya-land. If the name is longer than that be ready to chop some off, Elizabeth becomes Liz or Ellie or Lisa, Suzanne becomes Susie, William becomes Will or Bill, Margaret become Marge. Why? If you cant pronounce Indian tongue twisters I'll give it to you, but why not make an effort to pronounce atleast familiar names completely? Just doesn't happen.
My point is, there is much more to a name (and especially, an Indian name) than Shakespeare could have thought about some centuries back. It makes you known, it gives you an identity in the crowd, it is what makes you You. So wear your name with pride and make sure everyone pronounces it right (easy for me to say, I'm lucky enough to have a short name LOL)
Last night I was talking to my roomie and he mentioned that he had a new teammate joining him soon. To quote him, "बड़ा अजीबसा नाम है यार उसका. मुझे तो pronounce भी करने को नही आता है ठीक से ... mri-na-li-ni. पता नही मेरे colleagues उसे क्या नाम से बुलाएंगे".
Dude actually stuttered a couple of times before he could get the pronunciation right - this coming from a desi was surprising. I wondered if good enunciation was one more thing I had been taking for granted all along. Generally speaking this should not be the case, because I dont think any Indian language is devoid of complex words using multiple compound alphabets (jod-akshare), and that growing up speaking our mothertongue we probably come across such words with an alarming regularity (although we tend not to notice them).
In today's world, where by and large most things are going Americana, everything has to be short, quick and efficient and this process does not spare first names either. I really feel for my southie people with names like muthukrishnan, jagannathan, unnikrishnan, balasubramaniam, rajgopalan, badrinathan and the likes. I feel more for them if these guys are working in an American workplace. Ask any firang collleague to pronounce their names in entirety and they'd rather buy lunch everyday than go through the hassle of pronouncing these tongue twisters.
Worse yet are the desi-chick-goes-hip episodes. Here Radhika becomes Rads, Sunaina becomes Su, Darshana becomes Dee and Pooja becomes Poo. I mean seriously?! Poo?!? Dont even care to think what the original name means and what the new hep cool name is (smelly) like? Poor Shaky would probably turn in his grave to know this. This, however, is self inflicted idiocy of the highest order and no one can sympathize.
I dont know what it is that makes these firangs so _ _ _ (stuck for a word here, really) that they can't bother to pronounce names that are more than 5 alphabet long. So we have a lot of Eric's, John's, David's, Sean's, Bill's and Tom's (3 alphabets; even better!) as common names in Dubya-land. If the name is longer than that be ready to chop some off, Elizabeth becomes Liz or Ellie or Lisa, Suzanne becomes Susie, William becomes Will or Bill, Margaret become Marge. Why? If you cant pronounce Indian tongue twisters I'll give it to you, but why not make an effort to pronounce atleast familiar names completely? Just doesn't happen.
My point is, there is much more to a name (and especially, an Indian name) than Shakespeare could have thought about some centuries back. It makes you known, it gives you an identity in the crowd, it is what makes you You. So wear your name with pride and make sure everyone pronounces it right (easy for me to say, I'm lucky enough to have a short name LOL)
Monday, April 16, 2007
Freak Injury Specialist
Growing up I have always been what can be descibed as dhadpadya (for lack of one apt word in English :P). I loved to play as a kid, and still do, and most of my injuries stemmed from freak accidents on the field. And then there were some which happened because of my general dhandratpana. Either which way, to this date it is quite unusual for me to be injury free for a long time. If I dont get hurt while playing I could easily cut myself with a knife while slicing vegetables ( and that's why I cook so infrequently - to reduce the probability of such accidents LOL).
In my early years, upto 4th grade or so, I used to play soccer in school during the hour long lunchbreaks. Soccer can get quite a physical game at times and it was commonplace for me to get pushed around or be tripping over someone'e legs, the puny kid that I was. This resulted in a lot of bruised knees ever so often, and a spanking from mom for not being careful while playing served as the clincher in most cases.
For some reason that I cant remember, my loyalties changed next year onwards and I've been a regular on the basketball courts ever since. We were among the lucky ones at Loyola, to have the option of choosing to play on a mud court, a tar court or a cement court but more often than not the mud court was ignored. As I would've liked to, changing the sport did not quite help me avoid injuries. Playing on a tar court I became a little more careful while playing but it could not prevent minor injuries every once in a while like a swollen/numb finger after failing to latch on to a pass correctly. I remember carrying atleast one hurt finger right through high school and the knee and elbow bruises provided some variety and kept things interesting (?).
Fast forward a few years to my first day in Amreeka. I had just landed in the afternoon and was stuck up for lack of company that evening at the place where I was put up temporarily. It was almost the end of summer then and walking out on the patio I saw a bunch of guys playing basketball on the court right across from my apartment. With nothing better to do I decided to join them for a while. All was fun until I got an elbow in the eye and was walking around with a black eye for close to 3 weeks! That was when I learnt that if I'm playing among firangs twice my size, it's not a bad idea to avoid driving in. Lesson learnt, I managed to stay relatively injury free over the next couple of years. However, my over-enthusiasm for the sport gave my roomies something to laugh about at my expense. If only such accidents could dampen my spirit I would've given up playing a long time back :P
Last December I was visiting Pune after 3 years and I knew I had to go do the Sunday morning bball routine with the folks I played with for a few years. So here I was, landed Friday morning and off to the courts Sunday morning. When I'd enquired earlier I was told that these guys still played at 7 am, what I forgot was 7 am was IST .. stretchable time. Sure enough by 8 am everyone was there and we had a good game going on. While playing I got fouled on and came down very hard, with a slashed knee, bleeding elbow and the index and middle fingers on my right hand twice their usual size. Even that did not stop me from continuing to play with the guys because I was so damn excited to be playing. When I showed up home in that state after the game though, mom, as expected, went 'काय, एवढा घोडा झालास तरी जरा लक्ष देउन खेळता येत नाही का रे?'
I brushed off the injuries avoiding visiting the doctor for something so minor. I knew the bruises would heal in a week's time and was hoping that the swelling on my fingers would subside in similar time. However when at the end of 2 weeks the swelling showed no signs of dying down I was dragged to the docs. It was confirmed that there was definitely no fracture on the fingers and that it was more of a tendon/ligament stress. I was advised frequent fomentation to help heal the fingers, if only I remembered to do it while I was home;) So it happened with me neglecting, things never got better and I left for here with 2 swollen fingers, hauling my suitcases with great difficulty.
It took close to 4 months for the swelling to subside and now my fingers are (almost) back to their normal size. I hope my long list of injuries takes a long stop after this last one. Till then I'll keep playing the only way I know, hard :)
In my early years, upto 4th grade or so, I used to play soccer in school during the hour long lunchbreaks. Soccer can get quite a physical game at times and it was commonplace for me to get pushed around or be tripping over someone'e legs, the puny kid that I was. This resulted in a lot of bruised knees ever so often, and a spanking from mom for not being careful while playing served as the clincher in most cases.
For some reason that I cant remember, my loyalties changed next year onwards and I've been a regular on the basketball courts ever since. We were among the lucky ones at Loyola, to have the option of choosing to play on a mud court, a tar court or a cement court but more often than not the mud court was ignored. As I would've liked to, changing the sport did not quite help me avoid injuries. Playing on a tar court I became a little more careful while playing but it could not prevent minor injuries every once in a while like a swollen/numb finger after failing to latch on to a pass correctly. I remember carrying atleast one hurt finger right through high school and the knee and elbow bruises provided some variety and kept things interesting (?).
Fast forward a few years to my first day in Amreeka. I had just landed in the afternoon and was stuck up for lack of company that evening at the place where I was put up temporarily. It was almost the end of summer then and walking out on the patio I saw a bunch of guys playing basketball on the court right across from my apartment. With nothing better to do I decided to join them for a while. All was fun until I got an elbow in the eye and was walking around with a black eye for close to 3 weeks! That was when I learnt that if I'm playing among firangs twice my size, it's not a bad idea to avoid driving in. Lesson learnt, I managed to stay relatively injury free over the next couple of years. However, my over-enthusiasm for the sport gave my roomies something to laugh about at my expense. If only such accidents could dampen my spirit I would've given up playing a long time back :P
Last December I was visiting Pune after 3 years and I knew I had to go do the Sunday morning bball routine with the folks I played with for a few years. So here I was, landed Friday morning and off to the courts Sunday morning. When I'd enquired earlier I was told that these guys still played at 7 am, what I forgot was 7 am was IST .. stretchable time. Sure enough by 8 am everyone was there and we had a good game going on. While playing I got fouled on and came down very hard, with a slashed knee, bleeding elbow and the index and middle fingers on my right hand twice their usual size. Even that did not stop me from continuing to play with the guys because I was so damn excited to be playing. When I showed up home in that state after the game though, mom, as expected, went 'काय, एवढा घोडा झालास तरी जरा लक्ष देउन खेळता येत नाही का रे?'
I brushed off the injuries avoiding visiting the doctor for something so minor. I knew the bruises would heal in a week's time and was hoping that the swelling on my fingers would subside in similar time. However when at the end of 2 weeks the swelling showed no signs of dying down I was dragged to the docs. It was confirmed that there was definitely no fracture on the fingers and that it was more of a tendon/ligament stress. I was advised frequent fomentation to help heal the fingers, if only I remembered to do it while I was home;) So it happened with me neglecting, things never got better and I left for here with 2 swollen fingers, hauling my suitcases with great difficulty.
It took close to 4 months for the swelling to subside and now my fingers are (almost) back to their normal size. I hope my long list of injuries takes a long stop after this last one. Till then I'll keep playing the only way I know, hard :)
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Just Buried .. err .. Married
As I write this I cannot believe 4 things:
1. A movie as soporific as Just Married can ever be produced
2. A movie can be so slow and boring that I have to watch a 2.5hr movie split up over 3 evenings
3. I have actually survived watching the mess that the movie was
4. I have so much time on my hands that I decide to write a review for the movie!
Just Married is a movie about a scary situation which I will find myself in sooner than later. Its about arranged marriage. About how couples struggle to cope coming to terms committing to spend the rest of their lives living with an absolute stranger. Well not an absolute stranger, maybe they've met once or twice before, as is the case of the protagonists of this film Abhay (Fardeen Khan) and Ritika (Esha Deol).
So it happens that these two meet at a common friends wedding and before they know it their parents have set them up to get married. They have a brief meeting once again before they marry. During that time Ritika is accompanied by her aunt who wags her mouth endlessly, like a kid high on halloween candy, and makes sure that Abhay and Ritika barely go through somewhat of a muuh-dikhai rasam. One thing leads to another and the newly wed couple is off on their honeymoon.
There-on the story starts to resemble the recently released snore 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd'. Our couple jumps onto a honeymoon bus and meet more similar couples during the journey and while at the hotel. Ofcourse every couple has its own quirks. One is an oldies couple who've been married for 30 years and constantly keep nagging each other, one is a bachpan se jaan pehchaan vala couple, one is a NRI couple; the girl with a la-dee-dah phoren accent, and one is a very happy couple who cant seem to keep their hands off each other (literally!).
As the film progresses it focuses on how Ritika, the homebred desi girl, finds it hard to get intimate with Abhay while Abhay tries to play sensitive and gives Ritika her own space and time to adjust. Abhay is eager to consummate the marriage and Ritika's comfort level with Abhay keeps on falling each day. Abhay loses cool and the already uncomfortable couple have a tiff. Then, no prizes for guessing, the rest of the story goes on to show the couple get back together and (probably) live happily ever after.
Stories of the other couples crawl along parallel lines to this story and none are really interesting. There is a slight twist where we find out why the perfect couple seemed so perfect. Mercifully no one is a superhero as was the case in Honeymoon Travels and you can only thank the script writer for that flash of brilliance (of avoiding the superhero trick I mean LOL) The climax is inflicted quite slowly and painfully on the hapless viewer and I can think of atleast one movie where a similar climax was executed in a much much better fashion.
Most performances in the movie are quite credible. Fardeen portrays the earnest, trying-to-adjust husband well and Esha plays the behenji types girl to perfection. Perizaad Zorabian struts her stuff gracefully throughout the movie; her hoarse voice serving the perfect anti-thesis to her gorgeous looks. Bikram Saluja mirrors a block of wood. Kirron Kher and Satish Shah end up taking too much footage. The rest of the cast is pretty much forgettable.
Some dialogues in the movie are extremely cheesy sugary rosogulla types and do not fail to give you the creeps. (I could've thrown in a sample line or two but I'll spare myself the agony of even skimming through that movie again). Too much cheese is never good, neither in food nor in a movie and the cheesiness becomes almost stroke inducing when the movie ends with a 'The Beginning'. I can never bother to write about the music for a Bollywood flick.
In a nutshell, a must-avoid-at-any-cost movie.
1. A movie as soporific as Just Married can ever be produced
2. A movie can be so slow and boring that I have to watch a 2.5hr movie split up over 3 evenings
3. I have actually survived watching the mess that the movie was
4. I have so much time on my hands that I decide to write a review for the movie!
Just Married is a movie about a scary situation which I will find myself in sooner than later. Its about arranged marriage. About how couples struggle to cope coming to terms committing to spend the rest of their lives living with an absolute stranger. Well not an absolute stranger, maybe they've met once or twice before, as is the case of the protagonists of this film Abhay (Fardeen Khan) and Ritika (Esha Deol).
So it happens that these two meet at a common friends wedding and before they know it their parents have set them up to get married. They have a brief meeting once again before they marry. During that time Ritika is accompanied by her aunt who wags her mouth endlessly, like a kid high on halloween candy, and makes sure that Abhay and Ritika barely go through somewhat of a muuh-dikhai rasam. One thing leads to another and the newly wed couple is off on their honeymoon.
There-on the story starts to resemble the recently released snore 'Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd'. Our couple jumps onto a honeymoon bus and meet more similar couples during the journey and while at the hotel. Ofcourse every couple has its own quirks. One is an oldies couple who've been married for 30 years and constantly keep nagging each other, one is a bachpan se jaan pehchaan vala couple, one is a NRI couple; the girl with a la-dee-dah phoren accent, and one is a very happy couple who cant seem to keep their hands off each other (literally!).
As the film progresses it focuses on how Ritika, the homebred desi girl, finds it hard to get intimate with Abhay while Abhay tries to play sensitive and gives Ritika her own space and time to adjust. Abhay is eager to consummate the marriage and Ritika's comfort level with Abhay keeps on falling each day. Abhay loses cool and the already uncomfortable couple have a tiff. Then, no prizes for guessing, the rest of the story goes on to show the couple get back together and (probably) live happily ever after.
Stories of the other couples crawl along parallel lines to this story and none are really interesting. There is a slight twist where we find out why the perfect couple seemed so perfect. Mercifully no one is a superhero as was the case in Honeymoon Travels and you can only thank the script writer for that flash of brilliance (of avoiding the superhero trick I mean LOL) The climax is inflicted quite slowly and painfully on the hapless viewer and I can think of atleast one movie where a similar climax was executed in a much much better fashion.
Most performances in the movie are quite credible. Fardeen portrays the earnest, trying-to-adjust husband well and Esha plays the behenji types girl to perfection. Perizaad Zorabian struts her stuff gracefully throughout the movie; her hoarse voice serving the perfect anti-thesis to her gorgeous looks. Bikram Saluja mirrors a block of wood. Kirron Kher and Satish Shah end up taking too much footage. The rest of the cast is pretty much forgettable.
Some dialogues in the movie are extremely cheesy sugary rosogulla types and do not fail to give you the creeps. (I could've thrown in a sample line or two but I'll spare myself the agony of even skimming through that movie again). Too much cheese is never good, neither in food nor in a movie and the cheesiness becomes almost stroke inducing when the movie ends with a 'The Beginning'. I can never bother to write about the music for a Bollywood flick.
In a nutshell, a must-avoid-at-any-cost movie.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
More Cricketing Post-Mortem
I was browsing through Cricinfo this morning and came across some interesting lines in one of the articles. Funny how the author compares India and Pakistan to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. Although they're not quite my thoughts and I don't endorse them, they're most definitely worth a post and present an interesting perspective.
Osman Saimuddin writes on Cricinfo:
'It's strange, in fact, how India and Pakistan resemble each other so. On the field, there has been a spooky sameness; results and performances in South Africa were nearly identical, the Champions Trophy and World Cup, both failures. Both batting line-ups struggle in alien conditions, as fielders both are poor and both leaders increasingly embattled and embittered. Both now rebuild.
Off it, they are cricket's Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. One, pure monied trash, influential for no other reason than having too much of it, the other straight-up trailer trash, cricket's true basket case. They are tabloid fodder, stumbling from one front page to another: religion, player factionalism, spats, coaching intrigues, politicking, doping and even possible murder. How much of the news that you have read about these two sides recently has been about their cricket?
In this world, how much could they have really enjoyed playing cricket when they know that failure, among other things, means hysterical reactions from fans and contract suspensions? Their love of the game shouldn't be questioned but they walk the field burdened, their cricket joyless. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka either have no burdens or they have managed to put them aside. They are floating in a rare time, in the midst of substantial development and progress and it shows.'
It is indeed noteworthy to see how everyone is talking about 'enjoying cricket' and you can almost see how important it is to enjoy something that you do to bring out the best performances. Jonty Rhodes mentioned that he ensures his fielding drills make the players enjoy fielding, Ravi Shastri recently said that he'd like the Indian team to enjoy their time in the middle in the next few matches. On a rather amusing note, Venkatesh Prasad being appointed as the bowling coach? Not quite a wise move for Indian 'pace' bowling, especially after our only genuine pace bowler, Kumble, has retired from one day cricket;) I can almost see Pathan bowling 6 slow balls per over now, if he can bowl any slower that is.
Osman Saimuddin writes on Cricinfo:
'It's strange, in fact, how India and Pakistan resemble each other so. On the field, there has been a spooky sameness; results and performances in South Africa were nearly identical, the Champions Trophy and World Cup, both failures. Both batting line-ups struggle in alien conditions, as fielders both are poor and both leaders increasingly embattled and embittered. Both now rebuild.
Off it, they are cricket's Paris Hilton and Britney Spears. One, pure monied trash, influential for no other reason than having too much of it, the other straight-up trailer trash, cricket's true basket case. They are tabloid fodder, stumbling from one front page to another: religion, player factionalism, spats, coaching intrigues, politicking, doping and even possible murder. How much of the news that you have read about these two sides recently has been about their cricket?
In this world, how much could they have really enjoyed playing cricket when they know that failure, among other things, means hysterical reactions from fans and contract suspensions? Their love of the game shouldn't be questioned but they walk the field burdened, their cricket joyless. Bangladesh and Sri Lanka either have no burdens or they have managed to put them aside. They are floating in a rare time, in the midst of substantial development and progress and it shows.'
It is indeed noteworthy to see how everyone is talking about 'enjoying cricket' and you can almost see how important it is to enjoy something that you do to bring out the best performances. Jonty Rhodes mentioned that he ensures his fielding drills make the players enjoy fielding, Ravi Shastri recently said that he'd like the Indian team to enjoy their time in the middle in the next few matches. On a rather amusing note, Venkatesh Prasad being appointed as the bowling coach? Not quite a wise move for Indian 'pace' bowling, especially after our only genuine pace bowler, Kumble, has retired from one day cricket;) I can almost see Pathan bowling 6 slow balls per over now, if he can bowl any slower that is.
Monday, April 9, 2007
The end is the beginning is the end
The title of this post might sound confusing to some. As is my wont this one is also related to the music, but thats not what it's all about today.
Today it's all about me, its about zero liability (well, for whatever amount of time). It's that day officially when I am debt-free. Go me!
I'm through completing the last installment on my RSX so I owe no one not a single dime anymore. No financial obligations took a long way to come, first getting over the credit card debts piled up through grad school and then the car, and now I plan to enjoy it while it lasts. Knowing me it wont be long before I'm deep in another pile LOL
In the meanwhile, I'm gonna bask in the glory of my new-found financial freedom. Here's to a new beginning (or an end).
Today it's all about me, its about zero liability (well, for whatever amount of time). It's that day officially when I am debt-free. Go me!
I'm through completing the last installment on my RSX so I owe no one not a single dime anymore. No financial obligations took a long way to come, first getting over the credit card debts piled up through grad school and then the car, and now I plan to enjoy it while it lasts. Knowing me it wont be long before I'm deep in another pile LOL
In the meanwhile, I'm gonna bask in the glory of my new-found financial freedom. Here's to a new beginning (or an end).
Friday, April 6, 2007
Good Friday
I don't care what is so special about this Friday that they decided to call it Good Friday. As far as I'm concerned, Friday Good : Monday Bad!
Fridays are better nowadays, especially at the new workplace, 'cos it is bagel day :) Which means I can skip breakfast at home, which means I can save 10 minutes in the morning, which means an extra 10 minutes of sleep! What more could I want from the last day of the week? A big, fat paycheque perhaps ;)
Fridays are better nowadays, especially at the new workplace, 'cos it is bagel day :) Which means I can skip breakfast at home, which means I can save 10 minutes in the morning, which means an extra 10 minutes of sleep! What more could I want from the last day of the week? A big, fat paycheque perhaps ;)
Thursday, April 5, 2007
बुलंद San Diego की बुलंद तसवीर
It's not often that I get excited spotting desi stuff in Amreeka, especially not in California, where you can expect to see almost any desi thing that you could ever want (or not). But last night I saw something so exclusively desi, that I just had to post up.
I was returning home with my roomie after a hearty dinner at PT. On the way back, we decided to stop over at Von's for a quick few that we needed to pick up. While my roomie was going back and forth trying to park his car in the straightest possible manner (almost an obsession for him) my eyes fell on a little red shiny thing paked in the lane right across from us. It was a scooter (not an uncommon sight nowadays) but there was something very oddly familiar about it and I couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly it was. So still sitting in the car, going through the parking ordeal, I pointed out "अरे वो देख, Bajaj स्कूटर!" Bear in mind, that from where I was looking I could not see the front side of this scooter. I was very curious to find out what exactly was so teasingly familiar about the scooter, so as soon as the parking saga was over, I walked up to the scooter to check her out. To much surprise, Hamara Bajaj it was! A shiny red Bajaj Chetak!
After I got over the initial surprise and stepped into Von's a lot of questions ran through my mind. Who would want to buy a Bajaj Chetak in Amreeka? More importantly, why Bajaj? Could this be some desi guy who is so patriotic (?) that he wants to ride a 'Made in India' scooter no matter what part of the world he is in? Or could this be some gullible firang? If the owner was indeed desi, riding it would be a piece of cake for him. But would a firang know what it takes to start a Bajaj; the infamous Indian 'Tilt-A-Bajaj' trick? Would he know that the tilt could go either way, depending on the angle of the slope where the Bajaj is parked? Would he know that he'd have to clean his spark plug a gazillion times with the amount of oil oozing onto it? And the clutch wire? Who would replace that for him when it breaks every few months? Could a Bajaj consistently be driven atleast around the 45mph mark without the engine over heating?
Thinking about such inane things I walked back to the car after the groceries were done. The Chetak was still parked right there in all it's shining glory. For a moment I thought that we should wait to find out who the owner of that Bajaj really was ;)
PS: The snaps aren't the best quality 'cos they were shot with my Nokia 6233, but you can still see the Bajaj Chetak sign.
I was returning home with my roomie after a hearty dinner at PT. On the way back, we decided to stop over at Von's for a quick few that we needed to pick up. While my roomie was going back and forth trying to park his car in the straightest possible manner (almost an obsession for him) my eyes fell on a little red shiny thing paked in the lane right across from us. It was a scooter (not an uncommon sight nowadays) but there was something very oddly familiar about it and I couldn't quite put my finger on what exactly it was. So still sitting in the car, going through the parking ordeal, I pointed out "अरे वो देख, Bajaj स्कूटर!" Bear in mind, that from where I was looking I could not see the front side of this scooter. I was very curious to find out what exactly was so teasingly familiar about the scooter, so as soon as the parking saga was over, I walked up to the scooter to check her out. To much surprise, Hamara Bajaj it was! A shiny red Bajaj Chetak!
After I got over the initial surprise and stepped into Von's a lot of questions ran through my mind. Who would want to buy a Bajaj Chetak in Amreeka? More importantly, why Bajaj? Could this be some desi guy who is so patriotic (?) that he wants to ride a 'Made in India' scooter no matter what part of the world he is in? Or could this be some gullible firang? If the owner was indeed desi, riding it would be a piece of cake for him. But would a firang know what it takes to start a Bajaj; the infamous Indian 'Tilt-A-Bajaj' trick? Would he know that the tilt could go either way, depending on the angle of the slope where the Bajaj is parked? Would he know that he'd have to clean his spark plug a gazillion times with the amount of oil oozing onto it? And the clutch wire? Who would replace that for him when it breaks every few months? Could a Bajaj consistently be driven atleast around the 45mph mark without the engine over heating?Thinking about such inane things I walked back to the car after the groceries were done. The Chetak was still parked right there in all it's shining glory. For a moment I thought that we should wait to find out who the owner of that Bajaj really was ;)
PS: The snaps aren't the best quality 'cos they were shot with my Nokia 6233, but you can still see the Bajaj Chetak sign.
Tuesday, April 3, 2007
मराठी असे अमुची मायबोली
I *really* want to be able to write in Marathi. However, my thought process fails me, my lack of propah vocab hampers and I am unable to pen my thoughts on to paper with any kind of fluency.
Wandering around in the blogospehere, I came across this blog and it fueled my urge further to be able to write in Marathi. I could give a tooth and an ear if I can effectively write with the apparent simplistic writing style that the author of this blog has.
When I come face to face with my fear of not being an able communicator in my own mothertongue is when the sh!t hits the fan. While I can manage daily spoken marathi very fluently and never have issues understanding it, it breaks my heart to know that I am losing command over one form of the language. To be fair to myself though, writ Marathi has completed it's 14 yr exile from my life. After I gave up Marathi for German in 8th grade, I have never ever written in Marathi, not that I can remember. Naturally, there is a huge void to fill in and it will take it's own sweet time.
Someday I hope to be able to get my thoughts back on track .. until then, Daim! Sh!t!! Sucks!!!
PS: Pardon my French in this post, it's the frustration!
Wandering around in the blogospehere, I came across this blog and it fueled my urge further to be able to write in Marathi. I could give a tooth and an ear if I can effectively write with the apparent simplistic writing style that the author of this blog has.
When I come face to face with my fear of not being an able communicator in my own mothertongue is when the sh!t hits the fan. While I can manage daily spoken marathi very fluently and never have issues understanding it, it breaks my heart to know that I am losing command over one form of the language. To be fair to myself though, writ Marathi has completed it's 14 yr exile from my life. After I gave up Marathi for German in 8th grade, I have never ever written in Marathi, not that I can remember. Naturally, there is a huge void to fill in and it will take it's own sweet time.
Someday I hope to be able to get my thoughts back on track .. until then, Daim! Sh!t!! Sucks!!!
PS: Pardon my French in this post, it's the frustration!
Another day in paradise
You know it's gonna be one helluva long week when you wake up to realise it's just Tuesday. As I went to work this morning, I was about to find out what lay in store for me. Inspite of hitting snooze twice, I somehow managed to get to work by 8. To my chagrin, white BMW guy had once again beaten me to my favorite parking spot; cursing him I pulled up into the next spot available.
The first hour went by quite normally and I was just about beginning to think - hmm it's not so bad after all. But that's when the routine madness was about to set in. So a user calls me up and tells me Cognos isn't working. I go yeah it is, it's all up and running, I'm working with it right now. She explains that by Cognos she meant that one of her reports was 'acting up'. When she ran the report in the standard HTML format, the result set gave her a summary of 174 rows and when she exported the report to excel she was getting 178 rows. Excel, according to her, was magically adding up 4 rows to the total. Then I had to explain how the first four rows in the spreadsheet were report header, report title, column name and a blank row and then she found peace in life (and hopefully a little embarassment too). This is why I love all business users - they make us IT folks look like the smartest mofo's that ever walked this earth!
Sometime later my manager stopped by and told me that although the HR due date for the 'Employee Performance Planning 2007' was later this month, he would like to see the first cut of my goals by EOD. Coming from a consulting world, I had never ever been through this before and my only goals for each year would be to stick to the current project and spend as less time as possible on bench. Ofcourse, my manager was totally aware of this and it led to a long unscheduled one on one. During this, I was explained how individual goals should line up with department goals which are in turn lined up with corporate goals. We white-boarded potential initiatives that I could list as my goals and at the end of an hour agreed that the list was too long :P However, that gave me some direction to get this BS done and out of the way.
As soon as we were done there, we broke for lunch with a coupla other teammates. Nice as it was outside, we decided to hit one of the places at La Jolla shores for lunch. Hogging on a smoked salmon sandwich and getting our time in the sun, we reluctantly returned to work after a relaxing drive by the oceanside.
Most of the afternoon was spent getting things off that white-board onto paper and completing pending tasks. As is anyone's guess, the comic moments kept cropping up alongside. I'll leave the technical crap out of this one, but essentially a developer was trying to view what he did not have access to, and he thought he should, since he could see it on his team mates computer but not his. After I rerouted this request, the DBA's helped take care. At the end of the day, I did manage to turn in the 1st cut of my Performance Plan to my manager. Hopefully, that's one monkey off my back until same time next year:)
Post Title : Phil Collins - Another Day in Paradise
The first hour went by quite normally and I was just about beginning to think - hmm it's not so bad after all. But that's when the routine madness was about to set in. So a user calls me up and tells me Cognos isn't working. I go yeah it is, it's all up and running, I'm working with it right now. She explains that by Cognos she meant that one of her reports was 'acting up'. When she ran the report in the standard HTML format, the result set gave her a summary of 174 rows and when she exported the report to excel she was getting 178 rows. Excel, according to her, was magically adding up 4 rows to the total. Then I had to explain how the first four rows in the spreadsheet were report header, report title, column name and a blank row and then she found peace in life (and hopefully a little embarassment too). This is why I love all business users - they make us IT folks look like the smartest mofo's that ever walked this earth!
Sometime later my manager stopped by and told me that although the HR due date for the 'Employee Performance Planning 2007' was later this month, he would like to see the first cut of my goals by EOD. Coming from a consulting world, I had never ever been through this before and my only goals for each year would be to stick to the current project and spend as less time as possible on bench. Ofcourse, my manager was totally aware of this and it led to a long unscheduled one on one. During this, I was explained how individual goals should line up with department goals which are in turn lined up with corporate goals. We white-boarded potential initiatives that I could list as my goals and at the end of an hour agreed that the list was too long :P However, that gave me some direction to get this BS done and out of the way.
As soon as we were done there, we broke for lunch with a coupla other teammates. Nice as it was outside, we decided to hit one of the places at La Jolla shores for lunch. Hogging on a smoked salmon sandwich and getting our time in the sun, we reluctantly returned to work after a relaxing drive by the oceanside.
Most of the afternoon was spent getting things off that white-board onto paper and completing pending tasks. As is anyone's guess, the comic moments kept cropping up alongside. I'll leave the technical crap out of this one, but essentially a developer was trying to view what he did not have access to, and he thought he should, since he could see it on his team mates computer but not his. After I rerouted this request, the DBA's helped take care. At the end of the day, I did manage to turn in the 1st cut of my Performance Plan to my manager. Hopefully, that's one monkey off my back until same time next year:)
Post Title : Phil Collins - Another Day in Paradise
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!Thursday, March 29, 2007
A day's worth of work
Cast & Credits (in order of appearance)
Cathy - Sr Mgr Financial Systems (from yesterday)
Tim - My manager
Bob - Visiting Instructor
Joe - Resident SME for Global Safety
Pat - External consultant working for Finance
Sally - Mgr Financial Systems
Kathy - I don't know who
Tom - External ETL guy working for external contracting company
Ben - Resident ETL team lead
Dave - Director of Operations, Manufacturing Facility
Rick - Resident Sr DBA 2
John - Resident Sr Architect
Annie - Resident Sr DBA 1
Note: All names have been changed to protect identity.
I got to my cubicle around 10 till 8 today morning, prioritising the things I had to get done. Ofcourse there was the string of emails from Cathy last night which had to be taken care of. Cathy is the kind of person, who despite being a business user, likes to play very hands-on (a little too much as I found out to my horror) and wants to be involved in every detail related to reporting and planning applications. So as that string of emails with the little red exclamation mark goes, Cathy here, was having issues saving her changes to the metadata model (!). The moment I read that email last night I called Tim and expressed my surprise as to how a business user was involved in modifying metadata models. I mean all the reports could break down if she effs things up! Tim replied helplessly that this was a battle he had lost a long time back. So business users can modify metadata as and when they like, and when their reports dont work like they should, we get BlackBerry'd in the middle of the night. Joy! Obviously Cathy also does not like to wait for such things, so by the time I got to my desk she had sent another email in the morning asking me if her access privileges had been modified yet.
Then I docked my laptop and realised I had to pick Bob up from front desk at 8-ish. Sure enough 8:00am I got a call from Frontdesk telling me Bob's here. Scrolling through emails, I got to frontdesk and brought Bob along. Bob is the trainer for a day long session we have organised tomorrow for the Global Safety folks and is here a day earlier to study the data and setup samples for training. After the 'so how've you been? Good! How about you?' I walked Bob to his cubicle for the day. Then I realised that the loaner laptop that I had requested for Bob had not yet reached there so I called up Heldesk to get that fixed. Till then I walked Bob to my cubicle and started explaining to him how our environment was setup and things we expect he'd go through during the training session tomorrow. The loaner reached my desk as we went through this and now it was time to set Bob up with Joe. Joe would explain the backend database which would help Bob understand the metadata model better and design effective samples for tomorrows training. That done I started walking back to my cubicle.
On his way to work, Tim called me up to discuss the scene with Cathy's request. He told me that he granted the requested privileges and asked me to speak to Cathy about it specifically stressing that this took time because Finance wasn't the only group we are working with and requests are dealt with in the order they are received. Getting back to my desk I got this out of the way and read through more emails that'd been shot during that time. Some more time and I started working on that long overdue report request. Before I realised it was 11 am and time for me to run into a meeting with the Finance users Cathy, Sally, Kathy and the consultants Pat and Tom. This was a meeting that had been postponed by 10 days, so I had no clue what to expect when I walked in. There was a big discussion about some ETL changes that needed to be done and an hour later I walked out of that room feeling, 'Gosh, that was a waste of time!'. I walked by Ben's cube and asked him why none of the resident ETL guys were in on the meeting, turned out he had no clue these changes were being planned!
I was getting hungry now and I drove Bob along for a quick lunch to the Quiznos down the street. It was a gorgeous day and felt great sitting outside nibbling on the Cabo chicken. While having lunch Bob regaled me with stories of his surfing adventures and his various successful career gigs. Post lunch, I was cruising along on my report when Tim stopped by and pulled me into a meeting with Ben, Dave, Rick, John and Annie. This was to discuss the design of a scaleable database system to support our new manufacturing facility and enable advanced reporting off the SCADA systems. All the people in the meeting, except me, have been working for about 8 years at the least, so one can only imagine how much of the discussion I was involved in. Silence is golden indeed!
That done, I got back to work and Cathy sent another email with the little red exclamation mark in the corner. Apparently one of her ETL loads was failing on her and she needed to get that fixed and in the meanwhile needed the Dev environment pointing to the production database so she could carry on with her work. This was my 2nd shock of the day. Why was Cathy modifying ETL jobs?!? Why did she even have access to do this? So I leaned over into Ben's cube searching for answers. Ben went, 'I have no frikkin' idea dude!'. Wow! I decided to not bother about this and kept chipping away at my report. I checked for time and it was 4:45 pm already. Frick! I had to implement and test user security for tomorrows training! 45 minutes later, with more ridiculous emails floating around, I completed this task and called it a day.
Cathy - Sr Mgr Financial Systems (from yesterday)
Tim - My manager
Bob - Visiting Instructor
Joe - Resident SME for Global Safety
Pat - External consultant working for Finance
Sally - Mgr Financial Systems
Kathy - I don't know who
Tom - External ETL guy working for external contracting company
Ben - Resident ETL team lead
Dave - Director of Operations, Manufacturing Facility
Rick - Resident Sr DBA 2
John - Resident Sr Architect
Annie - Resident Sr DBA 1
Note: All names have been changed to protect identity.
I got to my cubicle around 10 till 8 today morning, prioritising the things I had to get done. Ofcourse there was the string of emails from Cathy last night which had to be taken care of. Cathy is the kind of person, who despite being a business user, likes to play very hands-on (a little too much as I found out to my horror) and wants to be involved in every detail related to reporting and planning applications. So as that string of emails with the little red exclamation mark goes, Cathy here, was having issues saving her changes to the metadata model (!). The moment I read that email last night I called Tim and expressed my surprise as to how a business user was involved in modifying metadata models. I mean all the reports could break down if she effs things up! Tim replied helplessly that this was a battle he had lost a long time back. So business users can modify metadata as and when they like, and when their reports dont work like they should, we get BlackBerry'd in the middle of the night. Joy! Obviously Cathy also does not like to wait for such things, so by the time I got to my desk she had sent another email in the morning asking me if her access privileges had been modified yet.
Then I docked my laptop and realised I had to pick Bob up from front desk at 8-ish. Sure enough 8:00am I got a call from Frontdesk telling me Bob's here. Scrolling through emails, I got to frontdesk and brought Bob along. Bob is the trainer for a day long session we have organised tomorrow for the Global Safety folks and is here a day earlier to study the data and setup samples for training. After the 'so how've you been? Good! How about you?' I walked Bob to his cubicle for the day. Then I realised that the loaner laptop that I had requested for Bob had not yet reached there so I called up Heldesk to get that fixed. Till then I walked Bob to my cubicle and started explaining to him how our environment was setup and things we expect he'd go through during the training session tomorrow. The loaner reached my desk as we went through this and now it was time to set Bob up with Joe. Joe would explain the backend database which would help Bob understand the metadata model better and design effective samples for tomorrows training. That done I started walking back to my cubicle.
On his way to work, Tim called me up to discuss the scene with Cathy's request. He told me that he granted the requested privileges and asked me to speak to Cathy about it specifically stressing that this took time because Finance wasn't the only group we are working with and requests are dealt with in the order they are received. Getting back to my desk I got this out of the way and read through more emails that'd been shot during that time. Some more time and I started working on that long overdue report request. Before I realised it was 11 am and time for me to run into a meeting with the Finance users Cathy, Sally, Kathy and the consultants Pat and Tom. This was a meeting that had been postponed by 10 days, so I had no clue what to expect when I walked in. There was a big discussion about some ETL changes that needed to be done and an hour later I walked out of that room feeling, 'Gosh, that was a waste of time!'. I walked by Ben's cube and asked him why none of the resident ETL guys were in on the meeting, turned out he had no clue these changes were being planned!
I was getting hungry now and I drove Bob along for a quick lunch to the Quiznos down the street. It was a gorgeous day and felt great sitting outside nibbling on the Cabo chicken. While having lunch Bob regaled me with stories of his surfing adventures and his various successful career gigs. Post lunch, I was cruising along on my report when Tim stopped by and pulled me into a meeting with Ben, Dave, Rick, John and Annie. This was to discuss the design of a scaleable database system to support our new manufacturing facility and enable advanced reporting off the SCADA systems. All the people in the meeting, except me, have been working for about 8 years at the least, so one can only imagine how much of the discussion I was involved in. Silence is golden indeed!
That done, I got back to work and Cathy sent another email with the little red exclamation mark in the corner. Apparently one of her ETL loads was failing on her and she needed to get that fixed and in the meanwhile needed the Dev environment pointing to the production database so she could carry on with her work. This was my 2nd shock of the day. Why was Cathy modifying ETL jobs?!? Why did she even have access to do this? So I leaned over into Ben's cube searching for answers. Ben went, 'I have no frikkin' idea dude!'. Wow! I decided to not bother about this and kept chipping away at my report. I checked for time and it was 4:45 pm already. Frick! I had to implement and test user security for tomorrows training! 45 minutes later, with more ridiculous emails floating around, I completed this task and called it a day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)