My technology, My colour

Yesterday, a colleague bought a beautiful phone for his better half. Super excited about it, he started describing it to me.. How the body was all metal, the sleek look, the amazing camera... Perfectly meeting all his criteria and not so heavy on the pocket! Great!!

I am truly happy for he and his wife are satisfied with the product, but the conversation got me thinking... There was a gap in this discussion.. A significant aspect remained untouched which was bothering me...

When we go to a restaurant and order our favourite pasta, what are we really looking for? The taste that lasts on our tongue or the sight? When I walk out of the restaurant and meet a friend on my way back home, would I say, "Man! What a good looking pasta I had.." Our would I be pointing out its taste?

The point being.. When we purchase a technology, why does our consideration revolve around looks so much? I mean a pasta should look good... To satisfy our sight and to make us want to enjoy it.. But what if the beautiful looking pasta tastes like potty? Consider a pasta, not so beautifully presented, but with orgasmic taste!! Hmmm... Which one would you prefer? :)

Technology is just the same.. We call them smart phones.. Not sexy phones for a reason! The reason being, it's a piece of technology.. Looks, the feel, add to the overall experience but finally it's major value lies in the technology.. The chipset, the RAM, the pixel density.. You know.. But then we can finish off a not so good looking pasta and satisfy our stomachs, just thinking about the taste and not the looks.. But, we would have to carry around a OK looking phone, if we go only by its specs!

So like everything in the world, this also has a trade-off element.. However, I find, looks compensate for the lack of performance! This is what has been bothering me!

Have you seen the VW Beetle? It's ugly! Powerful, fantastic, but ugly. VW advertised it as the ugly car and it was the in-thing! So I come to believe that if I have a ugly looking, good product, marketing skills come in handy to make it sell.. Difficult, but possible.

As a marketer, it's much easier to have a good looking product with low performance, which manages to leave a fine impression on the oblivious target audience! Wallah! Did we just crank the code? Why the market is flooded with cheap good looking phones? But no.. This is no secret. People are no fools... They just choose looks over content. No wonder I'm single!

Anyways, lets extrapolate this fact.. If I choose the alternate, I am a nerd! So uncool!

 

I recently bought a car, Japanese tech! And while I was considering a lot many options, European, Indian, French and what not, I received a lot of suggestions to go for a particular Korean car, which was beautiful. I considered it, read the specs, saw the review videos and to my surprise, the car was shit! It was super low on mileage, owing to bad design technology, it was bad in handling, had major body roll and was unreasonably priced, just because it was actually the most good-looking car in the market! And here were my fellow smart-ass friends who aspired to own this car!

 

A car is a piece of technology! It has to run, perform, be by your side when you travel distances, take the beating of time and yet stand tall! Which is why cars are our first loves! But then again, people around me saw more sense in the hot blonde than the kind, considerate girl next door! I thankfully did not change my mind... And I am in love.. with my car!

 

But is this approach restricted to technology? Or are we headed to a point of time where presentation scores over content?

How many potential employees are deprived of worthy promotions due to the flamboyant fool who impressed the bosses? How many true lovers taste the dust because this other bitch had hotter legs or this other jerk had a cuter smile?

 

It all boils down to a simple thought. Priority. What do we prioritise? A simple, happy life or a life we could flaunt to people who don't matter?

I guess I'll leave it that that... :) Much fodder for thought!

The Letter

MAN WRITES THE GREATEST COMPLAINT LETTER EVER TO AIRLINE FOR HAVING TO SIT NEXT TO AN OBESE PERSON GUY.

DESERVES A LIFETIME OF FREE FLIGHTS FOR THIS MASTERPIECE OF A LETTER!

Dear Jetstar, 

Do you like riddles? I do, that’s why I’m starting this letter with one. What weighs more than a Suzuki Swift, less than a Hummer and smells like the decaying anus of a deceased homeless man? No idea? How about, what measures food portions in kilograms and has the personal hygiene of a French prostitute? Still nothing? Right, one more try. What’s fat as fuck, stinks like shit and should be forced to purchase two seats on a Jetstar flight? That’s right, it’s the man I sat next to under on my flight from Perth to Sydney yesterday. 

As I boarded the plane, I mentally high-fived myself for paying the additional $25 for an emergency seat. I was imagining all that extra room, when I was suddenly distracted by what appeared to be an infant hippopotamus located halfway down the aisle. As I got closer, I was relieved to see that it wasn’t a dangerous semi-aquatic African mammal, but a morbidly obese human being. However, this relief was short-lived when I realised that my seat was located somewhere underneath him. 

Soon after I managed to burrow into my seat, I caught what was to be the first of numerous fetid whiffs of body odour. His scent possessed hints of blue cheese and Mumbai slum, with nuances of sweaty flesh and human faeces sprayed with cologne - Eau No. Considering I was visibly under duress, I found it strange that none of the cabin crew offered me another seat. To be fair, it’s entirely possible that none of them actually saw me. Perhaps this photo will jog their memories. 

Pinned to my seat by a fleshy boulder, I started preparing for a 127 Hours-like escape. Thankfully though, the beast moved slightly to his left, which allowed me to stand up, walk to the back of the plane and politely ask the cabin crew to be seated elsewhere. I didn’t catch the names of the three flight attendants, but for the purpose of this letter, I’ll call them: Chatty 1, Chatty 2 and Giggly (I’ve given them all the same surname - Couldnotgiveashit). After my request, Chatty 1 and Chatty 2 continued their conversation, presumably about how shit they are at their jobs, and Giggly, well, she just giggled. I then asked if I could sit in one of the six vacant seats at the back of the aircraft, to whichGiggly responded, “hehehe, they’re for crew only, hehehe“. I think Giggly may be suffering from some form of mental impairment. 

I tried to relocate myself without the assistance of the Couldnotgiveashit triplets, but unfortunately everyone with a row to themselves was now lying down. It was then I realised that my fate was sealed. I made my way back to Jabba the Hutt and spent the remainder of the flight smothered in side-boob and cellulite, taking shallow breaths to avoid noxious gas poisoning. Just before landing, I revisited the back of the plane to use the toilet. You could imagine my surprise when I saw both “crew only” rows occupied by non-crew members. I can only assume Giggly let them sit there after she forgot who she was and why she’s flying on a big, shiny metal thing in the sky. 

Imagine going out for dinner and a movie, only to have your night ruined by a fat mess who eats half your meal then blocks 50% of the screen. Isn’t that exactly the same as having someone who can’t control their calorie intake occupying half your seat on a flight? Of course it is, so that’s why I’m demanding a full refund of my ticket, including the $25 for an emergency row seat. 

I’m also looking to be compensated for the physical pain and mental suffering caused by being enveloped in human blubber for four hours. My lower back is in agony and I had to type this letter one-handed as I’m yet to regain full use of my left side. If I don’t recover completely, I’ll have to say goodbye to my lifelong dream of becoming Air Guitar World Champion. If that occurs, you will pay. 

No regards,John Keeler

The Big, the deep and the cheap!

The last few days have been very exciting for my online self. Lots of gossip, controversies, pseudo  online stands for the right causes and what not! 

This all started when The Times Of India (TOI) published Ms. Deepika Padukone's picture showing-off her cleavage. 

Well, publishing Masala to boost sales, is a practice sadly adopted by almost all media houses. Sadder is the fact that it has worked for all of them. I could write and be noble about discouraging media houses from these practices but the sole reason this kind of non-sense exist is us, the consumers. So, I don't intend to be the social police in this blog. 

Deepika says she is pissed because the world sees women as objects, which is wrong and hurtful. 

But where is this objectification coming from? Ever heard of an ITEM number? Who is the ITEM in that number? 

This all boils down to what people want to see! Item numbers, bikini scenes, kisses and smooches! Imran Hashmis, Sheelas and Munnis did not exist a few years back, but they do now and everyone including the celebs are accepting it, willfully catering us!

If a celebrity takes a strong stand against objectification of women, shouldn't the stand be a 360 degree phenomenon or just where it would suit the celeb? 

I completely understand that looking at her own self in the newspaper with a raunchy title would have made her feel disgusted of the publisher. But lets take this a little slower and more logically. Objectifying a person is wrong in so many ways, but haven't these celebs accepted it as per their audience's requirements? A very strong argument is that the Role demanded that kind of exposure. Think about it, why do all the roles demand exposure these days? Why weren't the parts offered a few years ago, so demanding? 

Actually, you can't even say the Script demanded the Item Number! Yeah right! The script did demand it cause the script sucked and you needed people in the theaters! 

Remember Dum Maaro Dum, potty pe baithe nanga and what not... Deepika had no Role in the movie, just that item number flaunting her long sweet legs and the same cleavage... But that isn't objectifying when she has agreed to do it, yeah? 

So isn't the anger misplaced? TOI is not really objectifying women, TOI is only cashing the fact that women already are! And why just women, SRK's 6-packs or John's bums too! 

I wouldn't even say TOI is encouraging it, because its a business which demands profits, which means whatever sells has to be in it! But how does TOI confirm that this kind of pics would increase its sales? Maybe some Chikni Chameeli told them. Or maybe they read how J Lo insured her thighs! Oh, what assets! (aaaa... asset = object, no?) 

But anyhow, passing a judgement on a media house categorizing them as the ones objectifying women would be a tad bit incorrect. 

We would need to accept the kind of world we have created. We buy it, that's why it sells. And, someone is producing it too! So no-one is completely in the white here! 

Everyone who stands by Deepika in this, should stop promoting such stuff, don't go and watch Bang Bang, cause Hrithik has flaunted like crazy in the movie and stop hanging those topless John Abrahms in your rooms! Run away, lock yourself up in a pseudo world and throw away the keys somewhere deep!

If you choose to stand against something so evident and obvious, it has to be a stronger stand than a sweet noble speech in favor of women on your blog. 

I am a marketer and I understand TOI's point of view. Being human, I can sympathize with Deepika and her anger but can't ignore the contributions made by her and the likes of her in this!

I mean, Deepika carries an item number, but when TOI plays it, it gets cheap. Sorry, beyond me!

Not troubling myself with this complexities of the glamour world, I'd rather just enjoy the view from far far away! :)

55 to go!

Q. What do you want to be when you grow up?

A. Teacher/Pilot

As kids we were fascinated by either our teachers or birds! Either we heard the teacher or the birds chirping outside. It was so simple, so sorted. Before greed, before jealousy, before competition introduced themselves and polluted all the gentle minds we used to be. 

In today's rat race, we've grown so materialistically blind that we've forgotten the purpose of the race and are just focused on winning it. We might have forgotten where we need to reach in the end, but we are fully aware of who all we need to leave behind. Who started out to be like their warm smiling teacher or the carefree bird, have turned 'successful' managers, investment bankers and what not! 

When I was a boy, I always wished years would turn to seconds and I'd be all grown up. As time took its course; on every birthday, watching old pictures, videos, I kept missing the phases I had lived. 

I turned 25 last April. Yaay! 

Which means, I've spent 25 glorious years on this planet, out of which 15 years I was being taught how to live in this world (Also known as being schooled). The next 6 years I was being taught how to earn/compete/succeed in this world (Engineering + MBA). And for the last 3 years, I've joined the race with gazillions like me around the globe to a 9-5 job waiting for drunk weekends/getaways and for the 1st of every month, so I have more money to burn! 

And it seems to remain the same for the part of my life I'm yet to experience, with added responsibilities and bla bla! 

SO when I finally, hopefully, turn 80, what do I get out of all of this? All my time here on this planet would end up being a glorified rat race in which I kept running until my body gave away? 

Why do we celebrate the time we have spent already? Shouldn't we celebrate the time we have left? Wouldn't it drive us to be more cheerful, more driven, more human?

I know its all very fancy to write this on a blog but, I am not suggesting to revolutionize the world or to make it spin the other way round. All I suggest is a different perspective to look at life.

Lets say, last April I had '55 years left' of my life. 

I somehow feel a charge when I hear that. I got so much to do! So much to laugh, so much to explore, so much to travel, so much to live... 

Lets make it a long cheerful drive and not a crazy race! :) 

I'd close at that thought... Lets get out, away from this closed room and not waste time punching this piece of plastic! :) Care to Join me?

DILLI

Date:    1st July, 2014

Place:   Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi

Who:    ME!!! 

YESSS, I have moved to Delhi!!! 

Bidding adieu to Bangalore wasn't easy; had such great memories from the place, nevertheless, the way forward looked very attractive! Having done my Post Graduation from NCR, its a delight to come back to Delhi. Delhi has a large chunk of my family, friends, cousins and the humid polluted air gives a familiar sense of  warmth. Such bliss! 

No, I haven't quit my job, its a transfer... Phew!

I have realized the most difficult part of relocating is finding a place to stay! My company was kind enough to offer a guest house as temporary accommodation till I find my place in the city. So, the problem was pushed a few weeks and I was saved from the company of 78 million fellow citizens in India who sleep on the footpath. 

The search starts with a thousand considerations like, how far is the place from office? how far is the market place? how far is the Wine Shop? etc etc.. 

5 consecutive days I went house hunting in areas nearby CP, where my office is located, dreaming of a tall super fine flat with a balcony and a porch near the window pane where I would sit admiring the chaos in the city and sip hot coffee! All I found were overly congested, overly priced old apartments which I had to consider with a handkerchief over my nose. Sorry, Not my cup of coffee! 

I decided to take advantage of my kind-hearted company and occupy the FREE, amazing accommodation at the guest house for a while longer. I've been inhabiting it since. Que Sera Sera, as they say! 

The next on my wishlist is a CAR! Now, now! This has been there on the list staring back at me since I was in 10th Grade. I have finalized and rejected every mid-sized car which is in the market since then. I am determined to check this off my list now because finally I feel a bit stable. So, unless I fu*k up real bad and my boss kicks me out, I'm here to stay a good couple of years. And I know that finally I would choose....*drumrolls*... Swift! 

Good fuel economy, amazing comfort, credible service and fun to drive! 

Apart from all the lists I have, life is fun as usual! I have one of my closest friends here, Ankit. Thats him, with me in the pic below:

So we hang out pretty much every 2nd day at our college favorite hangout/drinking place - Route04:

Yes, using a straw is as much fun as it seems in the pic! 

At an age where we never know which one of our bestie would be seen tying the knot on FB and be unavailable for such random fun then on, its unforgivable to not use the time we have as bachelors/bachelorettes! 

Have lots on my plate right now, but all deliciously mouth watering! 

Looking forward to a great time in Delhi! :D 

Thats all folks! 

NEXT

Time makes life complicated.

When I was a kid, I felt such burden on my tiny shoulders with all the studying and exams, scoring marks, gaining ranks, competing on stage and at the field! When I grew older, I felt that the pressure which was limited to mummy's scolding has now taken a much deeper source, my future! If I do not score well in my boards, I might not get the subjects of my choice and maybe instead of juggling numbers, I'd be juggling frogs in the bio lab.

A few years hence, I felt the burden had grown threefold. Having the right subjects, if I do not get into the right college, I'd be like any other boy from the neighborhood. Actually no, i take that back, considering it was always the neighborhood boys whom I had to outsmart to keep mum and everyone else happy. Phew!

Well, to get that right engineering college I was expected to rip apart a country wide admission test conducted by the best league of colleges in India - IIT-JEE. The exam happened, ripping happened. Ahem, finally God was kind and there was another exam for souls who were ripped apart by this grand daddy of exams. This test was called AIEEE. I came out of the exam room confident to rank among the top 10,000 students, but all in vain. A few marks here and there and you realize why we need population control in India.

Somehow I managed a decent college with the course I wanted to opt for, but the burden of stress was just getting started with. As if it was teasing me. What I had seen by now was nothing compared to what was to follow. The next target was a job! Among 256 engineering colleges in Hyd, with over 3 lack students studying alongside, we were to hunt jobs in a recession struck market.

I pounced as hard as I could and found myself holing a call letter from Infosys.

If you are expecting a happy ending here, I am sorry you aren't getting one, neither did I.

Someone once told me its good to be ambitious, keeps you on your toes, keeps you focused and asking for more. I sadly took this gentleman's advice and jumped into another rat race, this time for a MBA. Before I could join Infosys, I had my CAT results in my hands. Obviously with probabilities of almost triple the pay package, I skipped the IT firm and went on for the 2 year post graduation course.

Thats when I realized that the 3 lack people in Hyd weren't so bad to compete with. Imagine competing with the top 5% in the country! Well, I yet again pulled up my socks and ran like all the other rats. I did finish well to my surprise! Finally a happy moment! Completed MBA, bagged a heavy package, the peace in the world is restored!

I just missed a slight question which later hit me, very hard. What kind of job? This is frustrating. After you get that feeling of your arrival into the crude world with your flag flying high, you expect a job where everyone treats you such, you are expected to do some very important stuff, be the alpha! In the real world, I was adopted by a Lala! Clueless about my future professionally, it took me 6 months to decide that I needed to change the line of work. The industry as a whole.

Realizing the fact that not all industries were offering such high salaries, and the ones which were, weren't exactly awaiting my arrival, it took me all kinds of ridiculous situations, patience and a great deal of help from friends and family to finally find a break in the relevant industry.

Everything can never be rosy. So I had to take a good slash at my pay package. But with a clearer future, the slash seemed a good trade-off.

Today, I find myself much happier, much content. But still, there is a lot more I want on my plate, a lot more that I expect out of myself, a lot more of going ahead.

Finally its not about stress or burden. Its more about handling it, dealing with it. Our stress, our burden is our state of mind. Every hurdle could either be an inspiration, or be a burden. The choice is always ours.

I choose to get up, get pissed, gear up and ask, Whats Next? How about you? 

Of Vampires and the diaries...

I used to write when I had a thought worth writing about. Self-discovery, speculations, views and what not! This blog was my silent agony aunt. Now, things are different. I open this space whenever I recall that it exists. I write to discover if there is something deep inside of me that wants out.

Time teaches us maturity. It has been a while since I have been trying to define it. Is it exposure, travel, wisdom, us growing up with experiences, facing situations or how we shape ourselves after overcoming them? Every time I end up concluding and settling with a different answer. Now, I might be clueless about what maturity means, but I have figured that whatever it is, time is the only thing that teaches it. Yes, I am so clever!

There always is an ideal 'me' in our minds. The imaginary self which we wish to be. Our heroic self. And then, there is us. The real flesh and bone me. The constant pursuit of reaching that ideal self is mostly life. The problem is, that ideal me changes as we change with time and so the pursuit is never ending. Its a vicious circle! For every step we take, we find ourselves two behind. Basically our ideal self comes with a deadline/expiry date which we always tend to miss.
I really like generalizing my thoughts to everyone's. In my defense, taking this particular case in consideration, if one has that ideal self, constant and stationary, then either he/she is extremely far-sighted or extremely deluded.

I would like to believe that our shifting our ideal self from one level to the next is us getting mature.

On the last Friendships' day, a school mate FB msged me saying he hated me in school just because I was non-vegetarian! And now he realizes how stupid that was. Well, quiet a leap for his ideal self!

Those who know me would know how fond I am of movies, specially horror. These days I have been watching a lot of TV series! Saves me the trouble of looking for new movies every second day! Well, most of these series are either horror having ghosts, werewolves and vampires as heros and heroines! If I were to extend my theory of the ideal me pursuit to Vampires, they should all be Mahatmas! Think about it, living for around 500 odd years, they would be epitomes of self-perfection. This thoughts brings me to realize that the basic ingredient to the pursuit is intent.

Well, having said that I hope everyone in the world at least intends to better themselves. Or do you believe you are all perfect? Are you a vampire? :P

A few days back FB launched 'A look back' video which was a super smash with people with everyone posting their's! Yaay! If I were to meet my 5-years-ago-self, I dont even think we'd connect! And, I am nowhere near to what I would have hoped for myself then! lol... Well, that guy was a dodo! He had no clue.

Ahem, speaking of the past, I fondly remember the moments which were happy then and now make me nostalgic, makes me miss people I've lost or if not lost, have drifted away with time. I wonder how they would have grown to be, if we ever meet again, how would it be like. I wish we wouldn't have to explain, I wish we'd understand. I wish we do meet.

Maybe someday I'd truly understand what maturity is. Maybe someday I realize it doesn't matter. Maybe someday I'd find peace within myself. 

Fourteen

The mist is in the air. Not just literally, also metaphorically!

Somehow today, again I stand here trying to figure out what the future beholds. SO many ifs and what ifs, so many speculations, expectations, wishes and hopes with the new digit on the calendar.

A few days back I tweeted, that this year I shall act all cool and instead of blogging on the new years' I'll micro-blog. But then, feel si nai aai!

I welcomed the year with a bruised knee and ankle. Hugged half drunk buddies, ate chicken tikka masala, made pinky promises to watch Jai Ho first day first show and finally dozed off on a stranger's bed using his quilt and pillow.

I woke up to realize, that all of it is a state-of-mind. Everything was just the same as it was yesterday, including my knee! Its just the goodwill in the air which makes us smile and believe that we can hit that refresh button, awarding our life a new color. The occasion just acts like an external boost to our will for doing so. Having realized that, wallah! like fairy dust, all the boost is gone!

Look at it the other way, and you dont even need to wait for an occasion to hit refresh! But we'd need another day to be that optimistically positive.

I wish the mist clears, I wish I smell the floral fragrance of clarity, which puts my mind to peace. Amen. 

Konnichiwa! - Land of the rising sun

On 12th Sept, 2013 I got an e-mail from the HR dept of the company I work for, asking for my passport details. Sensing something good I promptly replied with a scan of the document. Only on 2nd November was I informed that I, with 3 other colleagues would be travelling to Japan on the 16th for plant visits and general induction. Overall the schedule was pretty tight with us travelling to a new city/town in Japan every evening which meant we had to checkout of every hotel, 7 in the morning and go to work with our packed luggage, move to the next destination in the evening and repeat the same the next morning. However tiring it might have been, it was double the fun!

TOKYO

After the 12 hour flight from Bangalore, with transit through Bangkok, we arrived at the Tokyo International Airport. I had well spent my time in the flight with "The Great Gatsby" & "The Prestige." After claiming our baggage, we immediately rushed to the metro train for Ginza, the place we stayed at in Tokyo. Its astonishing how well connected Japan is with the airport, train station and the metro, all synchronized and consolidated. It took us 50 mins to reach Ginza. Ginza is a popular area famous for shopping with brands like Vera Moda to Louis Vuitton shining, adding to the bright street. We were lucky as Tokyo was lit up with Christmas lighting.

GINZA STREET

CHRISTMAS LIGHTING

The next morning we visited the Mitsubishi HQ in Tokyo which was 15 mins from our hotel. The taxi driver in the black suit helped squeeze 4 gigantic Indian suitcases into the trunk of his old Toyota Crown. Taxi drivers there are generally old, in their 50s. On asking why is that so, we got to know that people in Japan marry only after they reach their 30s, and most of the couples do not have kids. Post retirement, they lack any kind of support system, and they become drivers. Unreasonably courteous and amazingly helpful people.

We met a few biggies there at the HQ, had lunch with a team of 4. Gulped down fish roes, Mizo soup, all kinds of fish. The only recognizable thing in the fat buffet was fried chicken! Anyhow, we bid farewell there and caught the train to our next destination at around 2 o clock.

AKO

Journey from Tokyo to Ako was amazing! We were travelling half way through Japan in the famous Shinkasen, the world's fastest train (Bullet train) which is designed by Mitsubishi, my very own boss for which he had been awarded citizen of the year award by the Japanese government. The ticket was costlier than that of the flight but we had to experience what Mitsubishi & Japan is so proud of! :)

SHINKANSEN

We reached Ako in the evening at around 5:30 pm. Right at the station we saw a restaurant called "Mera Sapna" and without thinking twice we entered to find 3 Delhites serving indian cosine in Ako. Though the tea costed INR 700, but they seemed to be doing pretty good for themselves. Ako is a small town with tar roads better than Chandigarh. The town is so small that we could cover the whole of it in a 15 min drive. We noticed the car sizes had reduced considerably from Tokyo. In fact whichever company car we saw, they all looked like Wagon Rs. May it be from Honda, Mitsubishi or even Toyota, they were all cousins of Wagon R. We could also spot the original Swift and Wagon R there! The evening was well spent with a team of 7 gentlemen joining us at dinner. Undoubtedly that was the best meal we had in Japan. Authentic, sumptuous and greatly satisfying. We got to taste octopus, eel, salmon, tuna, oysters and a lot of raw fish! YUM!  

Not to forget the famous alcoholic drink 'Sake' made from rice. Transparent, a little like vodka! Had it with every meal hereafter! ;)

WAGON Rs ALL THE WAY

Mitsubishi manufactures transformers of various industrial uses at Ako facility. Transformers for Nuclear plants, Substations, trains etc.. After visiting the facility we were off to the airport to reach the Itami factory near Osaka.

OSAKA

Itami factory is the main facility contributing to the train traction systems and hence the most relevant to us. We were scheduled to visit the plant for 2 days but due to technical reasons, we ended up finishing the whole schedule in one single day! Now that we had a day free, we were advised to visit Kyoto which was not very far from Itami, and would have been beautiful in that season (Autumn) with trees going orange to red. So, we took cues from the Itami team, noted down the names of 2 most famous temples there and decided to visit Kyoto!

KYOTO

This was our bonus day for site seeing. We reached the first Buddha temple which was made of Gold in a pond with beautiful trees surrounding the area. Every vision, every angle, every view was so amazingly scenic and beautiful, we clicked endlessly. We bought the first souvenirs from Japan there, a Japanese fan and a few key chains for near and dear ones.

In Japan, every 100 meters you find Kiosks with Juices, Cola and even Beer. The curious person that I am, I ventured to one of them with the weird looking currency notes and excitedly shoved a JPY 100 in the machine only to realize I could not read Japanese and the machine assumed I did! After pushing all possible buttons, I retired and left donating the JPY 100.

THE GOLDEN TEMPLE

THE AUTUMN TREES

Next we went to another temple which was on a hill top. We saw beautiful ladies in traditional Kimonos and a huge market of souvenirs as we approached the temple. The trees were still orange and red, the surroundings still scenic and our cameras still active! While finding our way to the taxi to reach the airport, we found a mens' purse on the road. Mr. Nawata from SONY Corp. We took the same to the airport with us and from the Post Office at the airport, couriered it to the address on the gentleman's visiting card. He safely received the purse and is now a friend! :)

NAGASAKI

Nagasaki is like Shimla, a city on the hill slide towards the ocean! Yes, unlike Shimla which spreads downhill to a valley, Nagasaki spreads to the open sea. Our host, as punctual as all Japanese, arrived sharp at 7 pm to receive us at the New Nagasaki hotel lobby. He took us for a drive around the hill and thats when we realized how pretty the city looked!

NAGASAKI CITY VIEW AT NIGHT

He also told us that Nagasaki was all Mitsubishi. The two of the most famous beer brands, KIRIN and ASAHI both belonging to Mitsubishi. Basically, starting from TVs to full sized Ships, we make everything! The next day we visited the factory, after which we still had time left for the flight, so we ventured out to the Nagasaki Peace park, constructed in the memory of the Nagasaki nuclear bomb tragedy.

NAGASAKI PEACE PARK

We genuinely felt how grave and sad the tragedy was. In 1945, the Plutomium bomb exploded 50 meters from ground aiming at Mitsubishi Arms factory causing a nuclear rain. The impact of the blast was so great that people 1 km away from ground zero, flew to a distance of 14 meters.

Our 6 senses are unable to sense the radiation, we can sense only the burns caused by it. When people started experiencing the burns, they jumped into the sea only to find that the sea water was at 100 degrees. The blast caused 99% destruction. The map of Nagasaki after the blast was a plain canvas. Everything was wiped off.

In 1955, the Nagasaki Peace park was formed. The statue's right hand points to the threat of nuclear weapons while the extended left hand symbolizes eternal peace. The mild face symbolizes divine grace and the gently closed eyes offer a prayer for the repose of the bomb victims' souls. The folded right leg and extended left leg signify both meditation and the initiative to stand up and rescue the people of the world.

TOKYO

After crazy meals, tiring schedule, beautiful sights and a superbly hyper week, we once again found ourselves in Tokyo. It was Friday evening and we had Saturday to ourselves for sight seeing. We had managed to book the HATO (city tour) bus which showed us around the Tokyo tower, Tokyo bay cruise, a monastery, an old castle and a souvenir street. Content with whatever Tokyo had in store for us and extremely tired, we embraced our beds replaying the unbelievable experience we were to take back to India.

TOKYO TOWER

TOKYO BAY

SPECIAL MENTION

I had to specially mention the hi-tech toilets people use in Japan. We all have heard that joke where you sit on the toilet to find 3 buttons, on pressing one, a hand comes out of nowhere and wipes you off. When you come out, you find Dr. Manmohan Singh washing his hands.. Well, the joke wasn't really fiction!

THE HI-TECH TOILET SEAT

Observe carefully to admire the pictorial representation on the three buttons as options to how the water would wipe ur rear. The knob is to regulate the temperature of the seat. So when its cold, Sikaai hona to banta hai boss! hahahaha....

I guess that would be all for this travel log! I hope I'd be lucky for some more travel in the future!

Its all about love...

"Marriage is a sacred institution."

"Marriage is an unbreakable bond, tied with love and blessings-from-above."

"A successful Marriage requires falling in love many times with the same person."

We all have heard sweet, heavenly statements like these about marriage. Typical Indian cinema concludes itself with a happy ending, which usually is a marriage. Marriage is talked about like it is supposed to be the penultimate goal of a man/woman's life! After which, we just have to pursue our happiness in our 'settled' life. They call a married guy/girl settled, for the same reason, maybe!
So, as a bachelor everyone is Unsettled? Even if he/she earns well, maintains an independent house and are overall happy?

Anyhow, marriage takes away all credit for settling all of us in our lives, for sure. But that is not really what made me awaken this half-dead blog. What bothers me is the superlative hypocrisy surrounding the concept of marriage. For starters, I look at marriage as a formal ritual to declare to the world that the man and the woman are bound by love and the love is socially accepted, this day forward. Some may speak of the vows, but then aren't they already their in the hearts of the couple if they are in love.

We'll get to arranged marriage in a bit as my thoughts are more scandalizing about it. Anyhow, so this extravagant announcement of acceptance looses its purpose when its foundations are laid by greedy pundits singing tales of Raahu and Shani in hopes of looting big currency, in exchange for a highlighted colorful display of flowers n mantras, basically to settle the unrest generated in the minds of the family, by the pundit, for the pundit.

Not only is the acceptance dependent on bizarre meta-physical elements brought to light by the trustworthy punditji, even the after-party is subject to the proceedings. You should be able to afford a wedding! The bride's family has an extra burden of taking care of the Pati's favorite drive or the Saas's favorite jewelry, apart from the costly arrangements. The deal does not come easy, as usually, its negotiated against the level of education, color, caste, status and even looks of the Pati. 
And we thought only women were treated as objects in our society!

Anyhow, if you can't afford the after-party, there need not be a party at all! "Hum uuth jaenge."

However, the groom's family shells out a fortune too, to show how well-to-do they are and that they really did not need any generosity from the bride's family.
"Aakhir hume to bitiya se matlab hai. Chahe ek joodi kapdo mai hi aa jae! he he he"

So lets see what we have established,

Marriage = Public announcement

Announcement = V costly these days. Involves lot of money!!

Lot of money = Corruption!! Everyone wants their share!

Well, honestly the only way, to avoid this hypocritical show of care and affection and to avoid ur wedding turning into a potential sensational scam, is to have a registered marriage.
But then, the dramatic people that we are, the love of our lives, dream of their prince charming riding a horse and them wearing an unreasonably heavy saree with loads of jewelry, would never trade their dream with anything in the world!

"Marriages are about dressing up!"  - LOL (Love Of our Life)

I wonder how the couple would feel seeing their families get so embarrassingly illogical and humiliating over their happiness. Everyone seems to be worried about their own parallel motive.

When the fiesta finishes, the expectations of pure affection, the dreams to unite, when face reality to attain their destiny, are hardly as happy as were foreseen. The two most important people in the wedding, in the spotlight throughout, might actually end up feeling left alone. Unless they decide to just get over with it and be happy together! In short, unless they treat marriage as a formality, which I feel is really the case.

Such cynicism is inherent sometimes and I've grown to adjust with myself.

Ahem... Arranged marriage?

To all the hell, add two innocent souls who are strangers to each other, are unaware of what they are getting into, oblivious about the future, excited, scared, nervous, uncertain and somehow happy about it!

Sounds like a delight!

But eventually arranged marriages last longer. Its often said and is definitely true. Parents take the credit for it! As THEY choose the RIGHT match for their ward! YO!

But, sorry to burst your bubble mums and dads of the world, logic prevails! Strangers, when told that you are bound by a holy, invisible, supernatural bond which shall never be broken, tend to go out of their way to make it work and be the last reason for stress to that bond. Doing this, they end up being super nice and impressing each other, winning admiration and falling in love eventually! Then starts the honeymoon period where they kuuchi-koo their way to glory. By the time they get back to their senses, a year has passed and the better-half is expecting! Basically they are too held up in strides of time to fight and be discontent. By the time the sloppy period starts, its too late and they are too lazy to light up that fire again!

Love marriages start where arranged marriages end. Their kuuchi-koo period is long passe! They've been together for long enough to know one another in and out. Which means.. nothing is new! Its all routine! It ends up being like the desire to conquer the summit of a mountain. When you do.. its just you and cold wind... What next?! So, our married couple has lots of time to explore their differences, put their patience to test, argue, talk about their pasts and have a loud marriage, like literally, loud!

If we keep aside all the pomp and show, all the mess, all hipocracy, and try to figure out what really makes it last:

1. The desire to be together. (Love)
2. Understanding that they both would never do anything purposefully to hurt the other. (Trust/Respect)

The obvious choice...

There are times when you know what is right for you and what isn't but still you keep on doing what you shouldn't for no reasonable explanation. Is this a phase or is this who I am turning into? 3 years earlier, I would have judged my present self as confused. But I am not confused. I am conscious and aware. I know what I am doing and I know what I should do. I am able enough to project the consequences of my actions but I do them anyway.

Am I unable to say No to my will? Have I gotten weak? No. Because this isn't even about me wanting to do something and having to restrict myself from it. This is about simple choices. Black or White. I have come to believe I've been choosing more Blacks than Whites lately. I would have been fine with White as well, wouldn't even have missed or longed for the black, but then I still chose it.

No one would know. No one would even care. But the thing that matters is that I do.

Maybe a few choices would not change me completely but they may stain me forever. I don't want to miss out on the person I wished to be by making choices I don't even seem to comprehend. I don't want to loose my will and desire to choose what I really want or wanted I guess.

Maybe its not about what I want, maybe its about what I DON'T. Maybe the obvious choice is being neglected cause I am overlooking the fact that the other road is not mine to travel though it looks equally inviting.

Maybe I need to focus on what I should reject, than select. Maybe then, I would be happy with my choices. The obvious ones, of-course!    

Namma Bengaluru - Update

PHASE Ludhiana - (April, 2012 - May, 2013)

It was the first time someone paid me for doing what I did. It felt good! Had a lot of presumptions, a lot of expectations, a lot of apprehensions before I started. In time, I journeyed through a plethora of emotions, happiness, excitement, enthusiasm, curiosity, rage, disappointment and even regret.

After a lot of ups and downs, witnessing a lot of people leave/escape from my previous paymaster, I decided to move on too. It was tough. Leaving behind my 1st ever job, friends, companions, colleagues, everyone who had introduced me to work-life, helped me, guided me. Moreover, I was skeptical if I would find a decent switch. I knew I'd have to take a cut in my pay-cheque wherever I'd go, but it had to be worth it.

Finally I negotiated a good location and a great brand for the switch.

Now, I am happier, more satisfied, can see a clear future for my career, which seemed pretty shady earlier.

PHASE Bangalore - (June, 2013 - TODAY)

Its been 2 months since I arrived here. Great food, endless places to go out to and with 2 of my closest friends here it feels like bliss. Work is good, people around, great!

I am in a engineering oriented firm and I am delighted by the way of thinking here.. the culture, the processes and almost everything about it.

I was scared about this decision. But now, I feel happy.. content.

Crochet

I happened to read this post via a tweet, as a friend had shared it.

"23rd June, afternoonish, I board the metro from Noida City Center. The train was almost empty, I find a spot by the right side of the car near the door, put my earphones on and prepare to wait through all the stations till Rajiv Chowk. Few stations afterwards, I feel someone hovering, I turn to look and this guy wearing shades is leaning towards me, his arm extended above me brushing my head, holding the seat railing, his breath fans my hair. I look beyond him, the coach is still relatively empty with plenty of space for someone to stand comfortably without being forced to lean on another passenger and breathe down their neck. I assumed he wanted to get off at the next station and waited. Station arrives, we are standing to the right of the coach, the doors open to the left and he doesn’t move. I ask him now, do you wish to get off at the next station? He answers in negative and looks away. I continue to address him, please step back you are crowding me. He ignores me. I speak again. He turns and says, why are you here, you should be in the women’s coach. I tell him, women do not have restrictions on travelling cause they apparently can travel in decency, step back please. He continues to ignore me and doesn’t move. 

Another guy standing to the front us says to 1st guy, when she’s asking you to move why don’t you just move? 2nd guy says, what is it to you? You are her what? They start arguing. 2nd guy says to 1st guy, hey! speak to her however you want but speak to me with respect! Interesting how suddenly the dynamic of the situation changes. It’s about respect, not towards me but to his manhood. Sufficiently angered they start shoving each other. I try to turn away and ignore them hoping they will stop and quit being assholes. But it escalates. The other passengers are watching but not really doing anything to stop the fight. In a matter of seconds it turns horrifically ugly, 1st guy smashes his fist into 2nd guys face and 2nd guy falls to the floor, blood gushing out of his nose and forehead. The other passengers go wild. Few turn to me and start shouting, THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, YOU STARTED THIS FIGHT, THIS IS ALL BECAUSE YOU CAME INTO THIS COACH. I’m a little surprised and I try to tell them, I am not the reason they started fighting cause 1st guy didn’t speak with “respect” to 2nd guy. Of course no one is listening. The crowd is a frenzy. The 2nd guy get up off the floor, blood dripping everywhere, no one helps him. 

One of the passengers steps up to me and shouts, DO SOMETHING THIS IS YOUR FAULT STOP THEM FROM FIGHTING. Can you imagine stepping in between 2 aggressive physically violent men and trying to stop a fight? Me, a girl? When all these other men in the coach haven’t yet made ANY moves to stop the fight!? The train stops at Akshardham station and 1st guy runs out. 2nd guy starts calling his friends and runs out as well. The crowd is screaming at me to call the cops. My shock is a delayed reaction, but it finally sets in. I am supposed to call the cops? If I was in an accident am I supposed to call the ambulance? I dial 100, networks choppy no surprises there. Someone answers, I give the details, which station, 2 men fighting, badly hurt. The guy on the other end of the line hangs up. I can’t believe this is happening to me, I’m standing here in a coach with 50 odd men and they are all shouting at me. - YOU WOMEN ALWAYS DO THIS, YOU STARTED THIS FIGHT - I did not start anything, I spoke up because he wouldn’t move! - WHY ARE YOU EVEN HERE GO TO THE WOMEN’S COACH - I have as much right to be here as any of you. I’m not the reason the government made separate coach for women. - YOU ARE THE REASON, GET OFF - The reason is men like you who cannot respect women and instead of stepping up to stop harassment you encourage it by segregating us. Yes. I shouted these words. Perhaps not coherently. Perhaps not eloquently. I couldn’t understand how even one individual out of all these people didn’t have the decency to REALLY see what had happened and try to stop it. My disbelief had turned to royal fucking rage. There were a few women, who looked on like how you glance back at road accidents. I shouted at them as well, shame on you for standing there, this happens to you too and you don’t have the balls to say a word now. My head was a screaming mess of thoughts, my heart felt it will explode. Strangely even though my knees were shaking like hell, I felt a strange compulsion to stay and not flee. There’s a button by the door for emergencies. I recall this hours after the incident. The crowd wouldn’t let up. 

Every time the coach doors opened and new passengers got on they ask about all the blood on the floor, everyone starts pointing fingers at me, SHE STARTED A FIGHT BETWEEN 2 MEN. WHY DON’T YOU GET OFF, GET OFF GET OFF GET OFF!!!! After 3-4 more stations I’m trying really not to fucking loose it. I continue to stand by the door. One man in the back shouts, Ladkiyan to hoti hi aisee hain… I turn to see who spoke, he’s hidden between passengers… wo dono pit gaye par isko koi asar nahi huya. I turn back, FUCK YOU! Another man from the front of the coach jumps out, HEY SHOW SOME RESPECT!! - Respect????? I’m aghast. Respect to whom? You all stand around and do nothing and I said fuck you so now you want to teach me respect. - YOU WILL SHOW RESPECT. - All the men all the time keep saying vile abuses, maa bahen ki gaaliyan and NO ONE SAYS ANYTHING TO THEM. I said fuck you, so you want to teach me respect! I’m glad he didn’t dare. I do not know what I would have done. I start clapping and giving everyone the thumbs up, THANK YOU EVERYONE, brilliant display of support, I feel so good about my country. Keep it up. I’m sure they all thought I have gone completely mad. I was mad. Stark raving mad. But I stood there listening to them talk and laugh and stare at me. I wondered why I wasn’t crying or falling apart. My shock was tremendous, my disappointment crippled me. Frozen I continued to stand by that door. 7 stations later I get off at Rajiv Chowk. I do not know why I didn’t just get off before. I probably should have. But I felt at that point, perhaps stupidly now that I have hindsight, no fucking force on earth is going to make me feel like a victim, I’m not going to get off, I have as much right to be here as any one of these barbaric men. My knees wouldn’t quit shaking by the way, I felt as if I had no oxygen. I didn’t want to report it. I didn’t want to do anything. I just wanted to be left alone, that’s all I had asked. 

Thinking back I cannot still understand how literally the most ridiculous thing turned so ugly. I’m sure you are thinking, why did she do this, why didn’t she just leave, why did she even get in the general coach, what was she wearing, what does she look like to elicit such an incident. And you know what, that’s precisely the whole fucking point. It doesn’t matter what you think might be a cause or a reason. No one, NOT A SINGLE person had the balls to step up and help me. And all these 50 odd men, your regular joes, college kids, engineers going to office shouldering laptops, salesmen and just normal folks commuting. I have never felt this alone."

As much as I am surprised at the reactions from the crowd after reading this, I cant help but feel equally helpless about the pitiful state we are in. How do you really expect to turn around Delhi, or any other city for that matter, for these are the people who make Delhi! A city is not stone and bricks.. its made/characterized and even projected by the people there!

But then, is this mentality/attitude restricted to a metro train or a single city?

The balls that guy had to harass this girl in public, nobody in the whole train had half of them to oppose it. And the one who did was probably trying to impress her in some way for he didnt really care about what actually was going on, didnt actually stand up to stop her from being disrespected like that.

The events just worsen further breaking all hopes we might have on morality.

This is highly Hippocratic, shameful and pitiful.

I am just sincerely sorry for she had to go through this.

Source - http://delhi.ihollaback.org/2012/07/03/new-submission-from-crochet/#comments

A mean relationship - My perception.

This is a mean relationship I have with my blog. It has always been there when I needed it, but I have never been there when it needed me. 

The last visit I paid was in June, 2012. We have seen ups and downs but this was a considerable break. Whats good is that we both are mature enough to let bygones be bygones and move ahead. 

Well, starting afresh I'd want to have a strong foundation of honesty and clarity to this phoenix of a relationship, so allow me re-introduce myself:

• I am Dhruv Mathur
• 5' 11" tall, weighing 75 kg at 23, turning 24 this April.
• I work 9 to 6. 
• I sell yarn!! From Ludhiana! Imagine!
• I live with a collage-mate turned colleague. 
• I am enrolled with a costly gym which hardly expects me to turn up. 
• Currently my priced possessions include my 4 pairs of shoes, my moto-scooter (Dinky), my bean bag, a snakes-and-ladders carpet and my very own TV with Tata Sky.
• Its been 6 odd month since I broke up. I am single. I flirt! 
• I am in constant search of excitement and newness. 
• I miss home. I miss home cooked food. 
• I visit my uncle in Chandigarh on alternate weekends. 
• I still like to make my bones click and look at myself in the mirror for endless hours.
• I do not like authority. 
• I do not like flattery. 
• I wish people were straight and upfront. 
• I miss being a kid... Kiddish, I still am. 
• I do not keep in touch with old friends, but I do miss them. 
• My current wishlist includes a mid-ranged hatchback and a expensive android phone. The particulars of both these wishes change on weekly basis. 
• I wish I be more creative than I am these days. All work and no play makes me a 'lull' boy! I definitely am not in staying that category! 

So, now you know why I called this a mean relationship. To kill the lul, revive the relationship regal. 

Once again, I find my sweetheart when I need her the most with Unconditional and unreasonable warmth. 

I wonder if such honest warmth could only be derived out of something as dead as this blog or could it still be somewhere hidden in humanity. Well, count me out of that race as I'm being mean even to this blog! :P 

Reading my own canvas painted above, makes me look so self absorbed, even to myself. Maybe that is what I have grown to be. Now I do not analyse much or ponder on things like the old times. It has become more of accepting and dealing with facts. 

The interesting part being, the fact remains subjective to my perception. 

Bur Dubai

I have my mamaji and family AND mausiji and family settled 15 minutes away from each other in Dubai. Mamaji, who is unreasonably warm and unconditionally hospitable! My mainji, the coolest. Charmingly sweet and very friendly. Nanaji and naniji, who are sweethearts! And 2 very spontaneous, young, smart and excitingly interesting cousins.  As if this wasn't enough, my mausaji is cheerful and extremely pleasant, mausiji just the way I would have imagined her and the most adorable cousin sister i could have asked for!

Now that I have described about the people who took real good care of me in Dubai, let me come back to my blog. Like few new borns are unleashed into this world with names already thought of by their parents, I unleash this post into my blog world. As soon as I got to know that the new Dubai beyond the creek is called bur Dubai, I knew it would be what I name my next blog.

Lets start with a few interesting facts:
- There is no 'P' in the Arabic script. So, Pepsi is pronounced Bebsi and Par Dubai meaning the Dubai nadiya ke paar, becomes Bur Dubai.
- There are 7 emirates which form the UAE and the sand from each emirate is of different colour! 
- Everything beautiful, except for the Arab ladies, in Dubai, is man made.
- The tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa, is 80% unoccupied.
- Driving in India seems tough because no one really follows rules, but honestly, driving in Dubai where all rules are being followed is equally tough if not any less.
- All cars in Dubai are automatic, unless you are Dune Bashing.
- DPS expands to Delhi PRIVATE School. Because you cannot own property in UAE unless you are an Arab.
- The TV we watch here and in Dubai are the same for any channel (eg. Sony) but the ads there are sourced in Dubai and are different. 
- I didnt know of the relatives I visited in Dubai a year back.

Thanks to Neha, my cousin who added me on FB a year back and explained to me how I was her 2nd cousin. To my pleasant ignorance I realised I hadnt known of my nanaji's part of the family tree till last year. He passed away when I was really young and most of the part of the tree has its branches abroad. But inexcusable because those were the branches ladden with the juiciest of fruits!


Dubai is known for its shopping festival. And why not, the only thing the King has done, apart from ruining Dubai's economy, is build huge, magnificent structures in the form of malls, offices and even residential complexes. The prices are not very different from what we have in India but it just feels better to shop there...

I, for the first time in my life, had a speed boat ride. 80 miles per hour in the open sea with an ear to ear smile out of excitement and occasional weird sounds from my stomach. It was one of the most enjoyable rides I've ever had, dune bashing being a quick second. When you sit in a 99.7 lakhs worth SUV by toyota and the driver makes the car jump in open desert, with you in it, its called Dune Bashing. I also rode a ATV for around 30 minutes. It took me aprox. 3 laps to figure the vehicle out and then there was no stopping me! Inspired by the Dune Bashing, I rode it with its accelerator twisted as much as it could have been. After the 6th lap I wouldnt slow down even at the turns... One of a kind experience!

Fast mechanics wasnt the only exciting thing there, the desert safari offers a very charming arabian dance. They promise you a belly dance but trust me it wasnt the belly dance I was expecting. I even have doubts if the girl was really arabic. She looked more Russian! Anyhow, she was worth watching!

Of all the amazing days I spent in Dubai there was this one day which was supposed to be the Gold Shopping day. If you didnt know, Dubai has a whole market (known as sukh in arabic) dedicated to Gold called 'The Gold Sukh'. And I swear on the heaviest Gold Necklace in that market that it had not even a single shop selling anything apart from Gold. The closest object apart from Gold jewellery which the market could offer was Gold Watches. I got to know that for me, 5th April born baby, diamonds and aquamarine are the lucky stones. I always knew I was high maintenance. Anyways, I passed time clicking pictures, while mum shopped and dad sweated.

The most important factor of any new place you visit is its local cuisine. I am talking about the Arabic food. They believe in starting their meal with a Roti which they call bread with which they have various kinds of chutneys. They turn any random vegetable into a chutney and have it with the bread. Not very impressive. It looked like a deep routed conspiracy as I found that after that course of the meal, came the real treasures of tikkas and roasted delicacies.

Every tourist wishes to take back memories from the place he/she visits, gifts for the near and dear ones... For this, tourist locations have souvenir shops! Dubai had a Souvenir mall! The 7 sands captured in a frame, key chains with the Burj Khalifa, decorative plates with images, apparels, pens, bookmarks, mouse pads and what not! We brought back quiet a few for our friends and family.

Talking of friends, I got to meet a lot of wonderful people at a restaurant called Cactus Jack. It was a mexican place where Neha arranged for her B'day treat. Neha is a passout of IMT Dubai and has friends  for there. I was so impressed to see how random and lively the group was! And they let me gel in as smoothly as a knife slides in butter. Not to mention, 2 drinks down, every guy says to every other guy, 'Arey! Tu to mera bhaaai hai re!!'  But really, would never forget the night!

Overall it was a very nice trip... We all came back very happy and satisfied. Its a very nice place to visit but I have my apprehensions about staying there. If you want to settle in Dubai you should know that you would never be a citizen there, you would always be on visa, to be renewed every 6 months. The day you loose your job, you are kicked out of the country. Secondly, because you are always in A/C your kids become very delicate. Even mosquito bites look like tumours on their skin. Thirdly, healthcare is very expensive there. Finally, you are deprived of natural beauty, of green, of the birds and the animals. But yes, if you like to live in amazing houses, work in lavish offices, drive expensive cars and eat delicious roast and tikkas! Dubai is definitely the place to be!

Dubai

I have successfully completed a little more than a month at home reading 3ish pages of The Hindu everyday, watching TV for endless hours, making at least 5 unsuccessful attempts a day to beat Manchester City at pro level in Fifa '12 and enjoying my dose of family guy on my priced laptop.

I had kept myself away from the hideous outside world and confined myself to the luxuries of indoor existence for quiet a while after I came home. Lately I have started moving around, catching up with old friends, watching movies and grabbing a beer once in a while.

The vague plan to visit my cousin in Dubai has finally taken shape and I shall be off on the 27th for a long 9 day vacation! Its interesting to note, how strangely yet easily ideas or wishes could turn to reality! I wish all my ideas could have the ability to do that. I wish my hair was more sorted and my fingernails leaner.

Most of the people I meet relate Dubai to shopping.... I am not sure what or how much would I shop there! I relate Dubai to sheikhs, cars, infrastructure and IMT Dubai! :P

A close one had recently bought a Ertiga, a new MUV by Maruti so I checked it out at the nearest Maruti dealer. Well, good job as far as the car is conserned, available in both petrol and diesel. Only if Maruti could add something new! With the bonet of a Ritz, interiors of Swift and the body of an elongated Dezire, Ertiga is the same fries with new sauce. I hope that metaphor makes sense! Anyhow, its a good buy with decent looks, good interiors and decent space inside. Due to its overall length, the boot space does suffer but when you have a large family, Ertiga would be just the car for you. It being cheaper than the innova makes it even more attractive for that segment. 

I have a facination for cars. I would even like to work in a automobile company a few years down the line. Well, another one of my wishes. I even keep evaluating cars to figure out the best one to be my 1st. The choice keeps on changing as weeks pass, from diesel to petrol, from a brio to swift to a polo to a fabia and then back to the swift... and so on... Currently I am eyeig the new Swift.
Anyhow, in my fancy I had applied for the Civil Services exam this Feb on which I haven't really worked on. I wish I could magically clear that as well! :P The exam is on 20th May. It was more of out joblessness (or ironically early employment at IMT) that I had so much of time to nurture such noble thoughts in my head and aspire to be an IAS officer. However, when I dived into the stream of preparetions I realised its not a fast stream like the CAT, its more of the deep blue sea which needs calm, organized and regular efforts. Being devioid of all the three qualities I still stand appearing for the prelims on 27th April.


I recently broke my laptop's screen when half asleep I swung my expensive leg and kicked the laptop off my bed. After the episode, I realised why people like to be tucked in before they sleep! (Bad one I knw..lol) Getting it repaired wasnt much of an issue. I called up the Dell helpline and the sweet lady on the other side was kind enough to tell me that the warranty was over and I could choose to pay 9 grands for the damage or live with a dumb lappy. She was also kind enough to give off her personal number for better communication. Ahem... She might even be doing it as per protocol but its always good to have your ego boosted once in a while. Anyhow, I got the thing fixed from a nearby market for approx 4 grands. 

It was very amusing to watch the broken screen come out of the laptop skeleton and new one being fitted in. The uncle there gave back the broken screen, now separeted from my lappy, to carry home! I have been playing with it since evening.. and now its more than broken.

Well, I guess we've arrived at the climax of this post as I have run out of things to write about and the patience to do so as well. So, Adios!

Family Guy

It has been a few days now since I arrived in Hyderabad. I missed clg a lot in the first 2 days, then, I started getting bored! I love my home, but then at home, like a 2 year old with no school to go to, no work to attend to, I was bound to get bored. I had a lot of friends in hyd! Sadly they all were able enough to get into awesome jobs... Some are in Bangalore, some in mangalore, some still in Hyd but then they all have jobs, so they are busy!

I dont really get bored so easily. I am mostly upto something always, even when I am alone. I tried making an omlette myself.. which i screwed up bad! And because I got disgusted with the mess I created I didnt even clean it up :P Mom did it for me instead, when she got back from work. Moms are the sweetest things in the world! They make you eat till u have a pot belly, they spoil you and love you without reason.

I got an idea to go on a family vacation, to implement which I convinced mom and dad to take a week off from work and plan our travel! Well, initially we were planning a family reunion trip with realtives in Delhi etc.. Then we started considering our own trip to Dubai to my cousin's place! The planning is still on...

Whenever we speak of Dubai, shopping comes to mind! Well, when it comes to me, shopping means, shoes or watches or electronic gadgets! Right now, I have nice adidas shoes, a recently bought Tommy watch and I have my BB which I love. iTouch: check, Speakers: check, Laptop: check... mmmm... I even have my B'day coming up.. I could really get something I want... but what do I want?!

Its a part of life.. while we run after something, we forget what we actually want or why we wanted that something in the first place. Like we run behind high paying jobs, goodlooking girls, high speed cars, we are basically looking for satisfaction! But to get the money to afford that car, we work 24X7... when we actually get it, we hardly drive it for fun! When we get the girl we alwyas dreamt of, she seems routine, when we get the job we wanted, we have our eyes on a better one!

Our aim might be satisfaction, but it keeps on changing, cause we dont know what exactly will satisfy us. How much would be enough. The answer I'd say is nothing will ever be enough, unless we stop running! Unless we stop being greedy and being fooled by glimmer and glamor! Unless we realise, that happiness is not dependant on material belongings.

A man should never be judged by his clothes but by his attributes! Similarly a girl which would make one happy might not be the hottest one in the shortest of clothes, similarly a car which would make one happy might not be the costliest one. It depends on what we actually require and would be satisfied with.

I guess its improtant for everyone to step aside from the fast lane to enjoy life at some point. Those who wouldnt think the same, probably would always keep running. But maybe that is their calling! May be thats what keeps them satisfied - an unsatisfied mind, wishing for more everytime! :)

What goes around...

For a very long time I used to think, like anyone else would, that what matters is what we take back from an experience, an opportunity or a situation. Very recently did I realize that, that is not entirely correct. We live our lives in phases. School, then college, then a job, then a PG and finally another job or so... after each phase, we get a chance to rejuvinate ourselves. Learn from the previous phase and be better in the next one. 

Every time we move to the next chapter of life, we tend to evaluate the previous one by counting the tangible or intangible takeaways from it. Say, I got my vo wala bestie from my school days, and met that irritating guy at college. How much fun I had at the Sutta hangout and what not! 

Looking at it the way I do, how about, we evaluate these phases by what we have left behind? How about we ask the questions the other way round? Who all would actually stick around and consider us their besties? Or how many hate us for the things we did? This is what WE would have left behind. 

Most of us, consiously or unconsiously, addmitted or denied, care a little too much about our image and what others around, would think and percieve of us. But this happens only in day to day little tasks. When it comes to the things that matter, this image and concious observation  of conduct goes for a ride. This may be due to narrowed outlook or inability to see the larger picture but then this probably is the case most of the times. 

In day to day life, everyone tries to 'do the right thing', till the time it does not affect them. Everyone is an amazing judge of right and wrong till the time they are not involved in the situation at hand. The moment they are involved, all the rules of the game change. All of a sudden they go blind to all possible logic. The only right remaining is as they see it and everything else is categorized wrong. But lets not be so harsh, lets just say in everyday life, everyone wants to do the right thing in their own stride. Coming to answering the why... IMAGE!? Everyone wants to be seen as good, rightious and noble.

When we get into a fight and our opponent punches us, we are tempted to punch back! This does not relieve us of the pain but Arey! I had to give it back to him! There were 4 other guys in front of whom he hit me! How dare he?! So, this is just an example of image mantainance. In this case its the guy's ego in question. May be he saves it at that point but if now we ask what he is leaving behind, it would be an arch enemy lookign for another chance to punch him across his egoistic face! In case he would have kept quiet and left the place, probably he would have left behind an ashamed, angry lad, who might have even realised his mistake in time. Appologising and becoming friends would possibly be too far fetched, but anyways. 

This was all about how we treat RIGHT. Now lets talk about the WRONGS around us. We, the keepers of moral conduct, the epitomes of nobility, don't really do anything to right any wrongs. Instead we do what smart people should, just keep away. Well, so lets talk about preception again. Who defines the rights and wrong? Who grants us the authority to judge and even give conclusive decisions on anyone and everyone? So may be we are looking at things differently so they appear different to us. What seems wrong might not be the same in another prespective. But who would go ahead and burden oneself to actually explore all possibilities and decipher what is right and wrong, specially when none of this concerns him/her.

Easy way out, stick to what we think is right and act like gentlemen and declare the person in consideration, guilty. Follow the mob and fit in!

Diplomacy is something which would feel left out in all of the above discussion as it feels left out in our daily lives. A, B and C are friends. A and C fight. B has to choose a side! Or B is friendless! Not it doesn't matter who was right and who was wrong. In fact in most of the cases there is no right or wrong! Its just a difference of opinion. 

I guess, I have derived what I intended to from this article. I was trying to find an answer to these very thoughts and as I type, I can see the answer. It takes a little bit of maturity and a bit more of courage to stay away from the right and wrong battle. 

The point is not choosing the right or the wrong, what matters is how far can you keep situtaions where you would need to justify your right! And even if you can't, stick to what you truely believe in, because somewhere, someone will always consider you wrong. That's just the way the cookie crumbles!