Ajay Devgan's Dance!!!

While it might sound like an oxymoron, today i did see it on the TV. Its from a movie called Cash. It happened today morning. I was having my breakfast and MTV was playing on in the background. I suddenly saw ajay devgan trying to shake his leg. Then I started thinking when was the last time I saw him dance. I thought for a few minutes before i gave up. Now that was funny. He was doing those slow moves pretending to dance. I suddenly wondered how did he manage for so long without ever dancing....

The other thing that surprises me about the actor is the fact that they call him an "ACTION HERO". Its similar to calling Denziel Washington a Action Hero. Now come on.. who are we kidding? I know Denziel washington is a great actor, his dialogue delivery immaculate but then never saw him kick some butt. Similar is the case with Ajay devgan if you put him in the context of bollywood films. I am great fan of his acting. He can really make u cry..but then calling him an action hero for that is pusing it too far....May be he can try pretending that he is really fighting..but then he definitely is no action here...


PS: I am great fan of his acting.. Pure Fun intended...

Donnnn's cricket...

Its been more than a month since we have started off with Donnnnns cricket. For the uniniated its our version of gully cricket that we play in the hallowed l-base. The trigger was when Gb came down to campus and asked us to revive the k-base cricket. The next day evening, i just casually asked Thatha that we shud buy a bat for playing cricket and to my surprise thatha agreed. I was counting on RK, Dr. vasudevan (both of them expert cricketers) and Sandy to occassionaly chip-in to play. It was difficult to imagine Kris p or Sesh playing given that i have never seen them playing any sport ;)

But what happened in the next few days really surprised me. I was more like may be once is a week we will play for an hour. But then PK surprised me. His enthusiasm for cricket knew no bounds. In fact it was infectious to the point of dragging in Kris P and Sesh. Kris P is a good pace bowler in our 4 yard pitch and sesh can play some glorious cover drives. Now thats interesting...

Things took off on a good note where we started playing almost everyday..infact now we play around two to three times a day.Come to think of it, its a validation of how vela we are. I should credit PK with driving the whole thing... Without him i guess we wouldn't be playing so frequently. New members joined in a few days time. Suri is still learning the basics but its good fun to have him around. Jooz comes down whenever he takes a break from his CA mugging...

All in all i would say that Donnnns cricket has been succesful beyond my wildest imagination. Also i would say it has helped us gel better given that most of these guys are maggus to be frank. If there is something missing to complete the perfect picture, i guess its DR's absence.. but once he is back from exchange it would be really wait for it..its coming..AWESOME...Hope that this interest lasts that far :)

Of Trailers and Ads!!

There have been a lot of ads and trailers that have appealed to me in the past. But none of them so tantalizing that it resulted in the fulfillment of the motive behind the ad i.e. the purchase decision by the customer. The closest I ever came close to was when I felt like buying the Bajaj Avenger. The ad truly rocks!!! For someone who believes that the purchases should be made based on the features, quality and other boring stuff about the product, I was for once not bothered about them all. I had no clue what the bike had on offer but the image projected about its rider - that was something. Something you would want to emulate. But sadly, the ad was a few months late, i had already bought myself a discover for its features overriding the temptation to buy the Unicorn..

Anyhow coming back to the ad that I was watching, it was the fast track ad. Fast track ads especially for the watches had always been different from the rest of the pack. In fact after seeing the first fast track ad, one of my friend did buy a fast track watch. Now thats what i call succesful adversting. The world has moved on from where the Narmada scooter would drag in a elephant behind to the point or the Bajaj kawasaki turning into a leopard. The new generation ads are no longer about the product but more about how the product fits into your personality. If not exactly, atleast something that you would aspire to be.

Moving on to movie trailers, I had seen this new trailer of the Darjeeling limited. It is really hillarious.. In fact you should check out this youtube link...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg7dRHndKQs&mode=related&search=

Its a tale of three brothers claiming to be on a spiritual journey. Starring owen wilson and "The Pianist" (well i dont know the actors name but he won the Oscar for best actor for his role in "The Pianist"), and some other familiar actor. The first feel that i got of the movie was it was about subtle and clean humour. Do check out the trailer for more..

This is one film i am looking forward to based on the trailer. Lets hope the movie is as good as the trailer if not better :)

Kids these days!!!

The new generation kids are far more intelligent than we can imagine in our wildest dreams. Let me validate my hypothesis with a few incidents...

Incident 1:

My first interesting experience in this regard date back to the time when I was working at Verizon. Right out

of college it was my second year at job. One of my cousins from US had come over and i had arranged for

their accomodation at Hotel shelter. Its a nice three star hotel with a complementary breakfast which

offers numerous varieties. so i decided have breakfast over there the next day.


I start interacting with my cousin. She's in her school and is apparently a spelling bee champ at her

school. And my english is as u know Mashallah :)

Right when i was about begin my breakfast..she starts posing anagrams for me. I was able do the initial

few. But then the main purpose of having breakfast over there was being defeated. I longed for a

dictionary for all the words she started quizzing me about made me wonder if I would want to meet her

again :)


Incident 2:

I am a bit wiser now and if someone wants to play around with words i tell them right away that i am not

the right person.

I have a friend here who is in her kindergarden. We play games like snake and ladder and

ludo (though both of us dont know the rules :))

Any how whenever I wanted to leave her and return back to my real world, I would excuse myself saying

that i have an exam or that i have homework. Now these are the only two reasons that she would agree to

let me go. This went on fine until i had my semester break.

She asked me to come n play. I told her that i had homework to do. She retorted :" It always about

your homework. What about mine?"

Now if you think this was shocking, the next one left me speechless. I told her that i was going home and would be back on saturday. Immediately i realised my mistake and told her that i wud be back on sunday.

Now guess what would be her reaction ???


After a second she shot back - " You are telling me lies. first tell me the correct thing"

I was left speechless. I told her mom that in an year's i wouldnt be intelligent enough to lie to her

even i want to :)


Incident 3:

This relates to another kid who just got into her medical college. I scrapped her something and she

replied back saying "dankee". Now I was confused. A search on google revealed that dankee would mean

"smoking pot" as per the urban dictionary. Now this did not make sense nor was i able to figure out any

alternate meaning..

After due thought, I felt that it might be some sms lingo for "Thank you". In a weird way it does rhyme

with it. The interpreation was correct but the truth is totally different.

"Dankee" or "Dankae" is apparently a german word for thank you. Now that's serendipity for me :)


These incidents have left me without any doubt abt the smartness of next generation. I hope that i will be able to keep pace for a few more years :)

Quotable quotes

Pawan kalyan (in kushi) : "Prema doma yelanti tokkalo commitments pettuko kudadu..ippudu chudu nenu yenta anandam ga vunnano..yenta vullasam ga unnao yendukante nenu yevarni preminchaledu yevarni
ishtapadaledu"

(Translated to English - Don't get into stupid commitments like love...look at me how happy
i am. Because i did not love anyone or like anyone )


Amitabh in old Ajnabe : "lakh khode chahe tho kya hota hai wahi hota hai jo manjure khuda
hota hai"

Anil kapoor (in Trumurti) : " Khude ko kar buland itna ki takdeer se pehle khuda bhi bande se puche bol teri raza kya hai"

Uncle Ben to spiderman: "With great power comes great responsiblity"

Batman : " Its not who i am underneath, but what I do that defines me "

Davy Jones : " Life is cruel. Why should the after-life be any different?"

My physics prof : "Life is cruel dear!!"

Davy Jones : "You are a cruel mind jack sparrow!!"
Capt Jack Sparrow : "Cruelty is a matter of perspective!!"
Davy Jones : " Is it?"

Captain Jack sparrow : " You have done it all!! The trick is to survive right!!"
Captain Teague replies : "No son, the trick is to live with yourself"

Rocky (to Appollo Creed): " Keep on punching!!! Appollo"

Ayn Rand in Fountain Head:
"If not you, who??
If not here, Where??
If not now, when??"


In tum bin : " Pyar kiya hai to jaroori nahi hai ki woh aap ko mil bhi jaye..."

My take : " Mehanant kiya to jaroori nahi hai ki us ka phal aap ko mil bhi jaye"

From Gladiator : " Death smiles at you and all you can do is smile back!!"

Anonymous : " You can fail for lack of intellect or strength but a true defeat is when you fail in the spirit"

Anonymous : "Be the change that you want to see in the world"

Anonymous : " You never asked God when he gave you something that u didnt deserve, so don't bother him when you dont get something u felt u deserved"

Chinese proverb : "A fool is one who knows not and knows not he knows not"

The lure of the camera......

Everyone who's held the camera for the first time knows about what i am talking.....and if the gadget happens to have a lot of features like different modes of photography (night, sport etc), N-x zoom, etc...then its ok to give into the greed.... As Gordon Gecko says - Greed is good....I wouldn't drag it that far but a little greed is okie....
I had to give into this temptation yesterday when i was en route to Mysore...

Sorry If i had held onto it too tightly but then the lure is no less than the "precious" ( of golam fame)..and I am but mere mortal....With the camera in hand you start imagining yourself as an artist none less than the great DaVinci himself.. You keep trying things..playing around with settings, zoom, lighting, angles.. oh..one day and i already imagining myself as a photographer. Though i would not like to be the one in "With the photographer"..it would defeat the very purpose with which stephen Leacock so elaborately described his harrowing experience...nonetheless electronic gadgets do have that draw which makes you keep trying...

Anyhow coming back to my experiences with photography.. well one days is too short to call it an experience...but still it was awesome. Never did i let someone else take it and with the kind of architectural marvels around in mysore and unlimited memory in the cam ( there are only so many photos you can take in one day :)). I was in my own world until someone wanted to photograph me. If there had been a chance i wouldn't have allowed them, but would it be the precious if it dint draw so many towards it :)

Profs and their ways........

Once you cross puberty you start assuming that you have become wise. And beyond engineering unless someone comes up with a compelling logic, its difficult to convince you or change your viewpoint. Its more like there is system of knowledge and your way of thinking which gets hardwired into your brain.

But there are profs who can truly change the way you think. Partly the reason is the wealth of experience that they have accumulated over the years. Having seen so many like you they have become wiser with each passing year.

Of late I have had some really interesting experiences. Let me share one of them....

It was a busy day and i had too much of work. I was in no mood to attend the class. But the fear of a surprise quiz made me drag my feet to the class. So I made a plan (Now its too simple to call it a plan..but still). I decided to go till the class and check out if the admin staff was around. With them being absent, it was certain that there would be no surprise quiz.

Hurray!! today is my lucky day I told myself. This is the standard thing that everyone follows. But i wanted to make sure the plan was watertight. So what i did was I choose a strategic position where in I can see the prof in my direct line of sight but the prof can see me only if he raises his head at a particular angle. It was my vantage position.

(The set up was similar to what kings of yore had in their durbars when prosecuting criminals. The king would sit at an elevated position and would look down at the proceedings through a gap that exposed him only till the upper chest. The logic behind that was that any object thrown would have to follow a projectile motion to hit the king. A straight throw would bang against the upper beam and fall down)

So in this strategic position I waited for the prof with my eyes focussed on his path towards the classroom. It was five minutes past the class time. I was getting nervous. Even if i see the prof walk in he would close the door behind him. i would have to run downstairs to catch up with him.

My purpose was to check out if he brought any quiz papers to the class. The prof finally showed up. I saw some charts in his hand and no other handouts. Yes!! I can safely bunk the class. I had sealed all possible loopholes. I went back to my room and resumed my work. I had a deadline to meet.

It would have been nice had the story ended here. But after half an hour i receive a message from one of my friends. It read " Dude !!! the prof is holding a surprise quiz. He got the paper wrapped in the chart!!!"

I read the message twice to make sure i was not hallucinating. I sent back a reply : "Well there is only so much you can hedge against :)"

You can anticipate somethings in life and plan for it but not everything. If I was good enough a planner, it would not have been necessary to bunk the class in the first place :P

So the next time you think you can out out smart your proof (????) think again....

PS : I later got to know that the Prof announced in the class that he wanted to it to be a real surprise. Hence he did not ask for the admin help and hoped that the students would not disappoint him (with an evil grin!!)

You cannot satisfy everyone....jaane bhi do yaaron

Have u ever realized that you have a compulsive need to make everyone feel happy satisfied. Sadly, it is not possible in all circumstances. Imagine two players pitted against each other, can both of them be equally happy at the end of the game??

That's true of some of the situations in life... there is not always a happy ending...
Imagine an argument.. towards the end it need not end in an amicable way...so how do you make this right??

May be you can't but there is a simple test to determine if there was an error on your part in the first place...

If you feel even slightly bad about what happened and ur actions then may be there was some fault on ur side as well...But if you dont feel even the slightest remorse then probably everything was alright...

So whenever ur in doubt ask yourself do you feel the slighest remorse for what happened or what you did.. If not forget it and move on...

Jaane bhi dho yaaron....agar Bhagwan hi sab ko kush nahi rakh paya hai toh hamari kya hasti hai??

As Teague would say : " The trick is to live with yourself"

(For the non-pirates....Teague is Captain jacksparrow's father :))

Arbitrage opportunities and Traffic Jams......

Yesterday I was enroute to forum for watching a movie (what else than "Shankardada zindabad")... I observed a simple phenomenon.. sth that everyone sees in a traffic jam...
You always see bikes zipping through the gaps between cars.The driver behind the wheel watches it until he's pissed off and closes the gap...

Aribtrage is a similar phenomenon in the financial world. Ok for ppl not so financially inclined and challenged by jargon arbitrage refers to an opportunity for making a riskless profit..for example assume that Red chilli rates are higher in US than in India (even after including the transportation costs), then for an arbitraguer it makes more sense to buy chilli in India and sell in US...Now u might say what the heck...this is the fundamental principle of business. Everyone makes money only through spreads or differentials caused due to information asymmetry. Arbitrage is slightly more complex in the sense that you deal in contracts (futures,forwards and options if u want the MBA jargon..) instead of actual underlying... OK too much of fin gyaan.. Let me get back to what i wanted to say.....

So arbitrage opportunites are like those gaps in traffic..the bike guys being the arbitrageurs...The opportunity window exists so long as the person behind the wheel is not pissed off.. and what drives him crazy.. too much of exploitation of the chance

(jyada chance pe dance marenge log tho usse gussa tho ayega hi na...)..and he closes off the gap..

Those who got past in the window make money.. others look for alternative gaps :)
The truck or lorry driver is the one providing such an opportunity.. it can be closed by the car or truck guy ( in which case its like markets responding to the opportunity to close the window) or might be a traffic cop..(ok this does not happen in real life....)..if i were to draw a parallel to a regulator traffic cop seemed to be the only actor there :)

PS: For the fin studs.. please forgive me for simplifying arbitrage ( I hope i got it right).. I know its ur bread and butter...par abhi main to bachcha hoon.. A se apple hi boloonga na....Arbitrage thodi hi boloonga....

My philosophy in Life....

The other day one of my friends asked me this strange question :

"What is your philosophy in life??"

(His ulterior motive was to find an answer for one of his submissions due the next day :) He was lookin for sth that he might correlate with...)

Anyhow i m as removed from philosophy as an amoeba is from a neuron.....so i cud not give him any answer for i knew none...

so i cannot say that I live by so and so philosophy that extols the virtues of humanity and helps achieve the zenith of one's own existence...and makes you think beyond the realms of this universe and time..

I am simple guy who wud even find it difficult to comprehend such a thing....

So after much deliberation.. i decided that if I did have one..it would be based on what's more tangible...n wud be an integral part of my life...

finally i arrived at one.. its based on the basic needs of life...roti, kapda and makaan types...In my case its roti and sleep :)

So My philosophy is :

"Be tired enough so that sleep is waiting for you..instead of you waiting for it when u reach your bed....
and whenever u sit before ur day's meal...you have worked hard enough during the day so that you are hungry enough and feel deserving of the precious meal..."


I can sense all philosopher's of yore gettin restless in their graves contemplating options of reincarnation.....

So i wont insult all the great philosopher's of the past by calling it philosophy :)..and restate it as the motto that i live by...I guess this compromise shud do .......

My Sundays....

My sundays stand testimony to Newton's first law....
For those of you who forgot, let me restate it...

"Every body continues in its state of rest or motion until acted upon by an external force"

I more or less subscribe to this law on sundays :)

By the time its weekend, i am more or less drained n only thing i want to do is sleep...sleep and sleep more.....

I am asleep till someone forces me to get up for lunch.....I guess the week's strain catches up on sunday....

I tried to trace it back..and realized that its been a pretty old err two year old practice...
It has its roots during the days when i was workin in chennai......
we were a gang of six (which later got reduced to three but the spirit wasnt lost...)

So sunday's time table used to be...

10:30.. open ur eyes check time..too early to be even thinkin of gettin up

11:15... strange feeling in the stomach...Probably its hunger...

11:30...First attempts at gettin up.....mind wants to but body still resists...

12:00..Mind and body arrive at a compromise....and manage to get up..

The next ardous task is to collect junta n reach mess...

Andhra mess...food with chicken.........eat for half to one hour...
For that one hour u are probably at the top of the world :P

So drag yourself back to the room....What next??

Abbey itna kane ke baad koyi kuch kar sakta hai kya??....

Time to go back to bed :)

Those were the golden days in chennai...

So coming back to present.. well there's no andhra mess..but old habits die hard and i don't like breaking traditions :)

Kabhie kushi kabhie ghum - A Rehash

Dont worry.. i wont summarize the movie here :)
But am not promising any less poignant stuff either......

Today morning I had scary dream...which made me think....
Sometime we dont realize how much we love our deared ones...
We are always after ambitions and goals..and when you look back
are you happy with what you achieved is an important question??

Think of man's life cycle nowadays..

your life is yours only till your 26-27...then you get married...
probably two years is all that you have for yourself after that...

With kids coming in....all your life revolves around your kids...
Your are more happy about your kid cracking the admission process of the best
school in city than the recent promotion that you got....

You are more happy about his school grades and marks thant you balanced scorecard
at office...and discussion with others just tend to be focussed arnd your kids..

Your life starts revolving around them...

I can go on and on..the kid is growing up..he is in his tenth, twelveth...
Engineering...

Suddenly you realize the kid is no longer one :)

His placements, Now the young hunk has his own goals....

you have put your life's investments into this kid who grew up playin in your hands....

And suddenly you realize he has no time left for you.. there is an occassional
sunday call that too only if there's no exam on monday.....

May be a weekday if he has really good news.....

You look back and you see nothing but the kid...and you are into twilight....

So this message is for the kids growing up....

Be ambitious in life..but don't lose sight of those who worked harder for you to be there...
Be there when they most need you.. in fact be there so that the need doesnt arise in the first place....

It good to achieve great things in life..but not being there for your parents is unpardonable.......In all try to give them one-fifth of the time you spend with your girl-friend...

Ok.. too much of senti stuff for the day..may be the impact of the bad dream..that made
me do this....

License to eat !!!

If you were expecting some adrenalin rushing action stuff.. well you are going to be disappointed....
James Bond has the license to kill.. I just have a learner's "license to eat..." :)

Some time back...in fact it was my engineering days...(now it seems light years away..If only time travel was possible....) one of my friends doled out pearls of wisdom to me....

"Eat whatever you want..but ensure that you burn out those extra calories...."

Now in introspection.. this philosophy has become an indispensable part of my life.....

Let me give you some background...

I m the kind of guy who can't resist good food...and whose voracious eating habits have earned me the nick name "Monster....."
(This is the latest one ...still to catch up with everyone :))

(It was in fact a name christened to one of my friends my his foreign colleagues who were taken back by the sheer quantity of his consumption....and He in turn in honor of my greatness conferred this title on me :) )

Now the fact is so established that my reputation precedes me...if not the title :) (its goin to take some time.... May be I need a PR for that....)

So getting back to what i wanted to say.. I quite often get asked questions like:

Why do you want to jog?
Why do you gym?

n stuff....

and my answer to them is its my "LICENSE TO EAT...." (james bond style :))

Whatever i want without any second thought..be it the nth icecream i m having or that last kabab piece that got left over..because others didnt have space left in their tummies :)


But let me warn you..the gains of this philosophy are in the now and here.. than in the distant future..there is no tangible long term gain out here...

Let me tell you how...

People who have known me for sometime ask me a different set of questions...

Dude you have been jogging for so long but I dont see you slimming down ????

Well the answer is ...I dont do stuff because i want to be the next hrithik or display my curvy triceps in my new sleeveless... or be the next brad pitt :)

(For the enthusiastic body builder 80's was the time when everyone wanted to be like arnold.. biceps big enough to cover your face looked smaller next to them...but the 90's saw a new trend catching up..the brad pitt style...its the lean metro sexual look with nice six pack abs....this is what is in vogue now....)

....Its because I wanna eat without holding back...

Freedom i call it.... from the shackles of obesity, fear,consequences...

Because ultimately it is what matters most rite :)

How long can i sustain this plan?? GOK (God only knows...)

The Pursuit of the Short-term......


Life tends to be fire-fighting exercise for all of us.....We tend to think that its because of its poor planning....
but have you ever wondered if it could be because of being too optimistic and demanding on yourself...we have great expectations from one's own capabilities...and this results in a water tight plan assuming a 100% efficiency rate which is not true in real life...so one lapse leads to another..

Anyhow i am digressing from what I wanted to say.....Everyone of us would have faced an interview at some point of time where in you were asked to list down your :

(1) short-term
(2) Medium-term and
(3) Long-term goals

and we are like...I am not sure what I am gonna do tomorrow and you want me to speak of next 10-15 years......why god?? why??

But in my case.....if I look back i wonder what i was doing all along... was there a method to the madness.....I always make plans as to what I want to do in this week...and may be the next week...thinking beyond two is too much stress on my brain....

In pursuit of this short term we always fail to do something for the long term..and life becomes a journey without a direction....following where the events lead you rather than going where you want to be.....

The problem as I see it is our long term plans tend to be too grandiose...Its like the Prime Minister unveiling a new Nuclear power plant if i were to draw a comparison...

If we need to overcome this syndrome...one possible way is to break up this mega plan into bits and pieces sth....a piece small enough that it can be dealt in the short term without being concerned about the magnanimous efforts that lie ahead......

so fire-fight in the short-term..but do bring a part of your long-term plan into it.....Else life will be a maze where you can get lost...and when you look back..you can only but wonder what were you thinking.......

Uncle....Uncle.....Uncle!!! - The mustache connection......

I was sixteen when I was first called an Uncle....it was out of the blue...I was walking towards my college....it was early morning and a few playing kids wanted to check time...so they ask me : "Uncle what is the time??"......


That was a rude shock.....for someone who is just out of school and into his plus one....being referred to as uncle can be depressing!!!

Acceptance is such cases takes time...First there is denial....Look there wasn't much light around and i was growing a beard ( as if I had one by that time :))

The second stage is trying to convince yourself that it was just a one off mistake made by that kid...and you can get on with ur life....

The third stage is where you accept the fact and move on....(but to reach this stage you would need a few more ppl to call you uncle...hehe)


I would like to believe that the world has changed since I was sixteen...but sadly that ain't true....The world is still the same.........

By now i have got used to kids calling me uncle......It no longer bothered me....
But it wasn't to be the end of my woes....

When i reached mumbai for my internship and entered the office.... i cud hardly see anyone sporting a mustache on the entire floor... i looked entirely out of place.. .but was I going to shave it off......I shud say I was tempted.....But my pride was too strong to be influenced by others...

So I move on displaying my proud mustache....and all of a sudden one night...an autowallah says to me : " Uncle change do!!"...Now that guy is in fact older than me.......Hmm i convince myself that it was dim enough and given that I was sporting a mustache I should give him the benefit of doubt........

But then this incident happened which shook me pretty strongly.......

I went to a medical shop with two of my friends to buy some antibiotics..when suddenly the guy who's handing over the medicines says to me : "Uncle yeh lo!!"....

Now i was devastated...there is no logical possibility of how that mistake might have happened.....the store was well-lit :)

As if that weren't enough... the guy realizes that he made a mistake and starts joking with his friends as if to add insult to injury.......But by now I had been too many times at the receiving end to be too surprised......But this incident had established beyond doubt the bias held against mustached guys...............

Now am I going to remove my Mush?? No way...I am not changing just because someone's calle d me an uncle....

When ppl ask me the reason..i tell them that I would be thrown of my house in case i remove my Mustache :)...but the real reason is I love the way I am and even if someone's going to call me grandpa...i don't care.....

First Impressions!!!

Often we are the victim of our first impressions... we tend to judge a person based on the first opinion that we form of a person even before we talk to him....

Today we had a guest presentation in one of the courses... the speaker was not someone who would make a great first impression.. He had a tummy which would not allow him to see his feet ...
Neither did he have the pseud accent that we tend to associate with effective speakers....

When he started off, it felt like he was globing away without any specific context..but when he narrowed down the discussion to something specific....he really showed great clarity in communication....which you often lack in presentations.. its difficult to get a hang of the central theme....

The discussion was focussed on leadership in the software industry... His analogies were really good...

The first tendency of a manager faced with a disgruntled employee is to make an all out effort to retain him but he was of the opinion that we should engage the person first....try to ascertain the facts.... Try to see if there are any disguised reasons.......Ask him to think of questions about new organization that he might be joining.. give him pointers in terms of direction he needs to think instead of being dismissive of his new organization.....

Engaging a person is akin to maintaining a bank account..you make debits as well as credits...but ultimately its the engagement in the past the leaders can count on to retain the person....

Moving in a different direction, leaders have been glorified while the word manager has been used in a pejorative way....What we need in the software industry is Management++...a manager who is on the look out for opportunities and who is willing to take calculated risks......

While i presented his views in a bland way...his anecdotes were very interesting......Its simply too difficult to catch them in words......

May 25th...

Today after many days, i feel bored at office for the simple reason that I
dont have work . Yes my project guide after my last meeting didn't assign work to me :)

So I thought it might be a good idea to write about my experiences in mumbai..

-------------------------
My First month @ Sandeep's
-------------------------
(sandeep is a friend of mine who stays in Mumbai)

Though it began on a disastrous note, It was the most luxurious period of my stay in Mumbai.

The Bad
------------

The day I landed in Mumbai, sandeep was busy juggling his parties and left a key with his friend. I got the key and walked in just to find out that the watchman won't
allow me inside. I was prospecting spending a night sitting with watchman waiting for
sandeep with no signs of him answering his mobile. I found about a nearby hotel which was a few meters away ( Better that i dint venture there.. got to know later that they charge 9000 bucks per day :)..
All my savings in verizon could not have afforded me a week's stay there )

Its almost 12 pm now ...

So I tried playing my IIMB card :)
I spoke to the Apartment secretrary..

dekhiye bhai saab..main bangalore se hoom main IIMB mein pad raha hoon chaho to app mera ID car dekh lijiye...
sadly..though he appreciated the fact that I was from B but wasnt willing to let me in..

Its 12:30 now...

I was desparate enough to search for a nearby park ..
Suddenly this young gentleman walks up... He is on the board of directors
( well an MBA way of calling the apartment association)..I tell him my prob..and hurrah my IIM B card works now :)

I realized there are lot of things that money can buy but for others youcan play up your ID card as well (Well thats a PJ and I suck at that :))

The Good
--------

sandeep stays alone in a 1 bed-room platform and given the fact that he stayed long
enough before I could move to Xavier's was a blessing for me. I could afford the luxury of avoiding travelling by the LOCAL ( When i moved in Mumbai, i used to refer to it as a METRO and it used to raise more than a few eyebrows "who is this unpad gawar comin into mumbai"..now I can definitely see why) The travel to office was one hour by auto where
I could happily sleep..(ppl who know me or even attended the training can definitely vouch
about my gift)

Most of my sight seeing was directed by the auto wallah's... Each one used to show me a new route in the first week.. and I used to end up paying twice the normal charges... I developed a
knack for gettin robbed :)
Then I discovered teh Magic Mantra..get into auto say BKC tell him LBS Marg se jayenge...
It solved all my travel woes..well almost... as I said I had by then perfected the art of being cheated...and would some how manage to find a loophole which would even surprise sandeep at
times..

The good part about staying at sandeep's place was we could order food together.. there was a maid who washed clothes (even though she did at her own terms and wud arrive at just the right time to ensure that i reach office late..)..there was a tv...and an AC which wud occassionally work...

sandeep stays at Hiranandani..one of most posh localities in Mumbai..so everythin is available right from Mocha's to Pizza hut..(that was just to give u a hint that I went to Mocha's :)) and most importantly teh evening crowd is good.. You get to see the rich and bright side of Mumbai here...

The UGLY
--------

Now just because i plan to use the film title as a theme .. does not mean that i will write something here also :) ( Well the original title is the Good, bad and the ugly and i have interachanged the order to align with my experiences... This is probably because of the fact that I have a bought a dvd of clint eastwood movies..now u understand how bored I get at hostel )

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Xaveir's
--------

My days of luxury were over once i moved out of sandeep's apartment... I live the life of a typical mumbaikar now..where the day begins with the first thought being will I be able to make it to the 8:10 bandra train ? If I make it will i be able to get down at bandra or atleast the
next station?? (Yeah thats right ...One time me, sandeep and another guy tried to get down at a
station n succeded at managing to get down at the next station..and it was a sunday...)

I share a room with a guy whos from IMT Nagpur...We dont talk much except for a few mins in the evening

Life in mumbai is a mad rush progressing almost mechanically with adherence to time
to the last nano second...every day is the same...


Xavier's is nice place with buildings resembling ancient catherals following the old gothic style ( what i meant to say was they appeal to an artistic eye..I dont know anything about gothic except that Goths champions are cheap in age of empires)


@LOCAL
--------------

Life in mumbai revolves around local trains....You see all kinds of ppl in the local train..some one standing over you..some one sleeping over you...( I found ppl whose sleeping talents even I would feel jealous of :) ) To put it simply you dont need the support of some rod .. you have ample support from all the four directions..in fact it gets painful at times...

STATUTORY WARNING: Stay away from teh area around the exits lest you shall
be thrown out by the barbarians...

There is this funda of are you travelling in the direction of traffic or against the traffic (sthing on the lines of are you with the US or Russia during the cold war times..)

The direction of traffic is the one towards south mumbai or other areas. where a lot of offices exist..and you get crushed by the rush in the train...if not what's tommorow for :) (yes my friends death has a scheme for every one...aaj nahi to kal)


There are particular stations where you can hear the sounds that even defy the sound effects of LOTRs ...

The setting is "Vadala Road" station...

The train is 5 minutes away....ppl in the train start getting restless...each one in a hurry trying to make way for the exit...Each one navigates his way through the sea for the ultimate destination... the door on the side of the platform.. newbies like me making anxious enquires like
is vadala the next station?? Experts shouting profanities at ppl to get out of the area around exit or get killed..

At a distant land (vadala) 5 mins away ppl start getting restless in anticipation.. flexing their muscles and stretching themselves for the ultimate battle which will give them eternal glory and
direct entry to heaven...

The train approaches the platform.. the battle is going to be swift and short..with duration not exceeding a minute..

The train is at a slow pace.. two armies waiting to match their wits.. one in the train ..the other outside it.. And then.. you can hear marching soldiers ( I swear even an army cant make
a louder noise..you have to hear it to know it) their footsteps striking hard against the cement platform making a rhythmic beat...

No one is sure who strikes first.. no one is at an advantage... In a minute's mess every thing is over..leaving soldiers hurt and bleeding....

( TO PUT IT IN A SCIENTIFIC PERSPECTIVE...THERE IS INFLOW AND OUTFLOW INTO
THE COMPARTMENT..NOW WHO WINS IS A QUESTION A SCHOOL STUDENT CAN
ANSWER..so i am not goin to waste my time explaining who wins the war)


No body is sure what happened.. there are winners and losers on both sides... The ppl who manage to get in get take guard at the entrance displaying their prized possesion.. the gateway..
The ppl who get down smirk back with a sense of achievement and possession of

the platform which would rival the satisfaction of a yogi who has achieved nirvana...

and there are ppl with hurt prides.. they failed in their mission..their life's ambition...and only the next train came redeem them which is another eternal ( 5 minutes ) wait...

Its a battle which would even make the spartans feel a chill down their spine...

I want to say that i am Maximus decimus meridius (oh i dont remember the hero's name in 300) who defeated the barbarian hordes and secured the platform..but then i dont get down at vadala station :)


Now I still want to write about my internship and places i have been to mumbai and a lot of other stuff.. But i m person who believes that the pen is mighter than the sword (or is
it the email now)...so i want to use it sparingly..

I want to write more but ppl around me have started givin this glare sayin..we know that u are free but dont be blantant enought to flaunt it...lest someone jealous might get you...

If you have survived this and have the persistence and patience of Thomas
alva edison,i may write again..

Till then REST IN PEACE..