Hard work

Work is never a problem...... Hard work is.

How Jobs ruined my life

Wednesday, June 11th 2008: The iPhone 3G was finally launched after much hype... And on the same day, IndyMac had to close down. Now, I wouldn't say it was due to the launch of the iPhone but the iPhone's launch did have other consequences. One of which was - it ruined my life, atleast it marked the beginning.

The iPhone had created a lot of buzz even before it was officially launched and this made Steve Jobs - a very happy man. And when he officially revealed the iPhone 3G, everyone knew instantly that he hadn't let down their expectations. It was stylish, had lots of features, had more features, had even more features - in short, a true Apple product. The latest versions of the iPod and iTouch were launched too. And this is where it all started.

Everyone now wanted an iPhone, iPod and/or iTouch and this made the Sr. Management at Apple rich, rather richer. They now bought Ferraris and Porsches to greet guests at the gates, while they themselves roamed around in Maybachs and private jets. And how did they get all this money? From the kids and adults alike who craved for the sexy iStuff.

Johnson's friend Dickson had an iPod Shuffle; so Johnson asked his dad, John, for one too on his 13th birthday. John gifted him an iPod Nano 8Gb. What a sweet family, but actually what a cunning Dad. John had an investment banking firm and he increased his firm's fees so that he could pay for all the iStuff he needed to buy. Dickson now asked his dad, Dick, to gift him an iTouch for his 13th birthday. But, Dick was a true dick-head - he was just an employee in a company making designer wear. So he asked his manager for a raise, who asked her manager for a raise and who asked for raising the salaries of all Sr. Managers. It was now not the question of Dickson's iPod but of all the Dicks and their sons and their iStuff. The raises had to come and Dick gifted his son, an iTouch. And how was this possible? Designer wear got costlier still.

The situation now was something like this - Investment firms were charging very high fees and were giving lesser returns to their investors. All designer stuff, whether designed or copied, was getting costlier. So a kind of status-mania started spreading, through a world filled with sky-high-desires and cash-crunch. Even India wasn't spared.

With the prices of everything going up, the Indian manufacturers of everything's fake counterparts too started raising the prices. Afterall, even they wanted to gift their kids the iPhone. The end result? An original pair of Adidas shoes costs around 2-3k, while their fake counterparts (made with material that would last 6 months, at best) costs 1000/-. I'm forced to buy shirts from Peter England or Urbana for 2k, or from Provogue and Indian Terrain for 1.5k. Even the shirt from never-before-heard-of French Republic costs 600 now.

So I end up spening small fortunes every month shopping for my bare survival. And where does all this money go? To the Hrithik's, Aishwarya's and who-so-ever's face appears on TV or on a Bill board, so that they can gift their kids and spouses - the iStuff, Porsche's and BMW's. No wonder, there are atleast 3 Porsche Cayennes (one grey, one white and one black), a couple of Mercedez SLKs (one red and one grey), a Porsche Boxster (black) and countless number of BMWs - in Hyderabad alone. Worth mentioning is the Bentley of the Bachchan's and the white Lamborghini recently spotted in Delhi.

That's how fucked up my life is - and all this without even bringing the "Netas" into the picture.

My new Digicam

The latest entry into my life - a new digital camera. Infact, this is the first camera I can call - MINE.

I deciding about an year and a half back, that I needed to buy a camera - not because we didn't already have one. Infact, compared to my dad's DSC-H5, this one is literally NOTHING - by price, by features, or even by sheer size. But that's precisely why I decided to buy another camera, besides wanting to buy for the sake of buying one. The H5 is the big bully of all camera's, a Digital Semi-SLR that only serious photography enthusiasts would want to buy. It's also one of the coolest camera's, simply because none of your (sensible and Associate Analyst-level) friends would be having one. Everyone loves it, including (especially?) girls - I realised this when I took the H5 to a party at my Office. Trust me, never before has a girl liked something I held in my hand (leave alone liking me.)

Anyway, I decided that I needed a smaller, sleeker camera which I could carry around in my pocket, and one which had all the feautures I required - a click button and zoom. So from the beginning, I wanted to buy a Canon Powershot because it more than met my requirements. Besides, we already had a Sony in the family and in all likelihood we were about to get another one. That's right, my brother was so impressed with the H5 that he too wanted to buy his first camera. I desparately tried manipulating his thought-process in two ways: one - don't buy a Semi-SLR, and two - even if you did, don't get a Sony. I failed. He wanted nothing less than a Sony DSC-H50! (and there is nothing above it in Semi-SLRs). Half the reason why I failed was my Brother-in-law. (It's worth a mention here that my bro-in-law also owns a Sony - a T9.)

So I didn't want another Sony. Next obvious choice was - Canon Powershot. But they have so many Powershot models - after going up the numbering ladder and releasing the A720 IS, Canon came down to release a A470, A580 and A590IS. And again went up the ladder to release A1000IS and A2000IS. Now that's confusing. Which is the model with most features?

Now it was down to licking clean all reviews on DPReview.com, and then comparing prices shop by shop. DPReview compared about 9 cameras (including Powershot A590IS) and declared that the clear winner (and also the costliest of all)  was - Sony W120. So, stretching my budget even higher, I decided on the camera of my dreams - Canon Powershot A720IS. Yes! I would rather go one-up on the A590 than settle for a Sony. Also, the 720 had been around from quite some time, unlike the A590IS and relatively new W120.

Next stop - Koti. I had already decided that I would get my camera for the cheapest rates at the Grey Market. So there I went. I went into the shop that had CANON glowing in red neon lights, and royally demanded for my Powershot A720IS. The shopkeeper gave me the shock of my life - "The 720 is out of production and has been replaced by the (even more costlier) Canon Powershot A2000IS". Shit! But the shopkeeper was a sweet guy, he offered to sell me a Powershot A590IS or a Sony W120.

I resign!!!!! This is the camera I finally ended up buying

Boxster

On my way to office today, I saw her.. she was a beauty... a show-stopper... she stood low and her black soft-top was up. And when she moved, she moved with elegance - steady; commanding dignity and attracting attention from every direction... only way she could have attracted any more attention (if only) would have been with her top down. A real head-turner and accident-causer (remember our Bollywood movies, the girl is shown walking, and the guys start falling off their bikes? That pretty much was my case today.)

She was black and looked very sporty, even with that black soft-top. Those who know me well would have guessed right at the start, that I was talking about a car. And with a soft-top she would be a convertible. But she wasn't just any convertible, she was the Porsche Boxster. Now I doubt if I can call her a "she" as Porsche makes sporty-looking, macho cars. But then, every guy loves a Porsche... I guess, that makes them feminine.

Anyway, continuing with the story, the kid driving that car seemed younger than me and had a frown on his face (possibly from the previous night's hangover). And he suddenly floored the accelerator (or maybe just flicked his ankle a little) and off he went away... couldn't even catch a glimpse of it in the rear-view mirror. That definitely must have brought a smile to his face.

Now, there is only a thin line that differentiates the good from the bad, competitiveness from jealousy, dreams from desires - And a Porsche makes you want to cross that line. Currently I am desparate for a Porsche and am ready to do anything. Somebody tell me what to do.

Suhel Seth's interview

Suhel Seth... Ad Guru, actor, theatre person, columnist, guest lecturer... speaks to Times Now, as to how incompetent our government is. He is awesome and I don't think anyone else could have put it or said it better.

He was just returning to the Taj on 26th November, when he got an SMS from the Hotel Management asking him not to return as there is some disturbance outside the hotel. He had possibly escaped death and you can feel that emotion in what he speaks. 

He doesn't stop here... he continues on... I really wish somebody gave him a fully-Automatic gun and made all the politicians stand in a line in front of him...

There's more... There's no stopping him, but I would say every point he makes is valid.

Mamma Mia!

No surprises here.. I'm talking of the movie "Mamma Mia!".. If you haven't watched it yet, trust me, you wouldn't miss it.. unless, ofcourse, if you were a big fan of ABBA.. So here is the story in the chronological order (not in the order in which it happens in the movie)

Background: Donna is a young lovely girl whose enjoys enjoying (with men, ofcourse.. Those were the days when homosexuality wasn't still discovered.) She and her two friends, Tanya and Rosie are part of a group Donna and the Dynamoes.. Donna is clearly the everyman's "dream" girl (you know why ;) )

ACT 1: Donna has the time of her life on a Greek island and ends up pregnant. Her mother disowns her (told you, those were the days when all this wasn't really accepted). Dejected, she goes back to the Island and uses the money she inherited from an Aunt of the guy she was sleeping around with at that point of time to build a taverna. Soon, Sophia (her daughter) is born.

ACT 2: Sophia is 20 yrs old, and getting married to Sky, a guy whom she madly loves. She decides to call her dad for her wedding and coincidentally finds her mom's dairy which she maintained the year she was born. Now, here is the twist... the dairy reveals there are three possible fathers. But no problems, 20 yrs have passed and we have now reached an age where everything is accepted. So Sophia forgives her mother and invites all three possible-dad's to her wedding.

ACT 3: Dads arrive, Mom's surprised, shocked and angry... Sophia adds to the confusion and there is one big mess... Confusion continues as Mom doesn't know the father either... She seems to love Sam the most, but inherited the fortune while sleeping with Bill. Donna was also the first and last woman in Harry's life as he later turned gay... (the Dynamo power doesn't seem to have worked on poor Harry, instead it led to the discovery of Homos).

ACT 4: Sophia's big wedding... Donna walks Sophia down the aisle, as that seemed easier than identifying the dad. Harry comes forward and claims he can never have kids (obviously, he's gay) and so would want to be atleast one-third father for Sophia. Sam and Bill follow suit... MISSION ACCOMPLISHED - Dad has been identified, not 1 but 3... Sophia now decides that she doesn't want to get married after all - she just wants to roam the world with Sky... How sweet.

That's where the story ends, but I bet I know what happened next... Sophia gave birth to Momma Spears and the legacy continued.

OK, I know this is not one of my best blogs, but blame it on the movie... and the nonsensical characters...  and also their sometimes-gross attempted humour.

Who is the real Optimist?

There seems to be some confusion on how to define an optimist and a pessimist. With "Adi the Great" commenting (check the second comment for this post) that this post is not contemporary, I believe it necessary to state the traditional meanings this post is based on. According to Answers.com,

Pessimist - a person who expects the worst

Optimist - a person with a positive outlook on life.

Now, read the following conversation between a Pessimist and an Optimist. Hope the conversation makes more sense now.

Pessimist: Dude, I'm so depressed. Yesterday everything seemed so perfect and today everything seemed to go against me. I was hit by a car while I was still waiting for the traffic lights to go green. How sad is that?

Optimist: No dude, look at the positive side of life. It could have so much worse. You should be happy it wasn't that bad afterall. It was just a little bad.

P: You mean it could have been worse?

O: Yes, ofcourse. Who knows? Maybe the car could have run over you. Maybe you just survived an accident that could have possibly killed you.

P: Dude, you are scaring me.

O: Oh, I'm sorry. That was not my intention. All I'm saying is look at all the worse things that could have happened but didn't happen.

P: Hmm.

O: Hmmmmm.

.

.

.

P: But dude, I AM the Pessimist. Why are YOU being so negative about things? Shouldn't I be the one who is expecting the worst?

O: Hmm.

P: Hmmmmm.

.

.

.

O: I guess, Pessimism is all there is in this world :(

I love this ending so much simply because this is the only logical ending. If you had wanted to give it a fairy tale ending, where optimism rules finally, it wouldn't be logical. Imagine this,

P: I guess, Optimism is all there is in this world :(

Do you get the paradox??

Bachelors Vs Slaves

After Bachelors, you go on to do Masters... But sadly, men who decide not to be bachelors end up as slaves.

My Life... sucks??

It's a weird feeling I'm having now - It's not exactly hatred but its definitely not love... I'm talking of my life. Oh no, I don't mean to say, I'm in love with someone but it's more basic - I'm talking about loving my life...

It all started with one decision I had to make while still a student :(. The choice I had was, should I study further and continue enjoying the student's life, or should I take up a job (which, going by the only job I had on hand meant I would have to stay at home) and forego all my freedoms - everything from staying up late nights to getting drunk and watching movies. Honestly, it wasn't a difficult decision to make and as they say, rest is history.

But that's where the problem starts - My history isn't being written the way I would have loved it to be. Infact, it's not even being written in the way that would let me proudly hold my head high up in the air while telling my friends, "I'm working." Because I don't even come half as close to that. :(

Granted, my salary is credited to my account every month and so, theoretically, I'm an employee and working. But what work am I doing? Nothing, if you don't count going to and coming back from office as "work" (which infact is what I'm beginning to feel these days.) Apart from this very important "work", I also sometimes get to run errands (quite literally) for my colleagues. The errands can vary from anything between copy-pasting text into a .ppt file to googling questions for a quiz. Recently, I also completed the very important task of data entrying which, non-technically put, means typing out a sheet of hand-written matter.

I'm not saying I don't like such work. Actually, I will say it. I DON'T LIKE SUCH WORK. But I'm ready to abide by the age-old saying "Everything's part of the life" and continue helping people and not treat it as being demeaning to my dignity. But I would still have loved my life, if only I too had some "real work". Till then, I will continue going to the office, do whatever lowest-level (hierarchially, not meanial) work comes my way and do it so well that I become an integral part of the very activity I was asked help with (- so that anytime in the future, they should come back to me and only me.) But all this while still begging -

Tu hai sab kuch jaanne waala

Main hoon tera maanne waala

Mujhko bhi to staff kara de

Thodi si to staff kara de 

Project Utilization dila de

Ek nahin do chaar dila de

Kaise kaison ko diya hai

Aise vaison ko diya hai

Mujhko bhi to staff kara de

Thodi si to staff kara de

Guest Blog

This is a new and completely original idea I came up with, Guest Blogs. But as with all my original ideas, the moment I shared this idea with a friend, he told me it has been tried before. But that's fine, I will still go ahead with it.

The basic idea is YOUR posts shall exist in MY blog, under YOUR name. If you blog elsewhere and would love to share one of your best posts, you are more than welcome to use my space. But if you don't blog at all, then you are the one I'm precisely looking out for. Many, I realised, are not interested in maintaining a blog just for that reason, you need to maintain it, and not because they are not interested in writing.

So next time if you feel like writing something do write and you can post it here. You can write about anything or anyone, even (especially?) if its about me. As my blog title goes, its A Beautiful Mind and not My Beautiful Mind. So, as long as you are expressing your Beautiful Mind (without getting too vulgar), everything is allowed. And needless to say, your post shall be copy-pasted as-it-is without even removing an extra comma. No censoring at all, trust me.

Btw, this offer is open only to my friends, I'm not here to do samaj-seva. :)

Insights you get after visiting your native place

If you want to know how much you have, look at the guy who doesn't... And I would say, inversely, if you want to know how much you don't have, look at the guy who does...

After a trip to my native place, I was confused who I was looking at... I'm talking about the "developed" cities and the "undeveloped, cheap" everywhere-else...

Developed - YES, our cities are... We have developed so much, so fast, that we have out-performed every statistical prediction about our own growth... that's why our roads are so congested coz nobody believed we would be selling so many cars, our malls are so crowded coz nobody believed we would spend so much time out of home, and damn, we are so costly, coz no one believed we would have so much money to spend (and even if we did, we wouldn't)... the idea of spending even what you didn't have (better known as Credit) only "developed" us further...

On the contrary, YES, the towns and villages are "cheap"... a plate of 4 idlies for Rs. 7, a glass of milk for Rs. 3 (and not unhygienic either - I'm still alive and doing well after eating out 3 days continuously) , a balcony ticket in the costliest A/C theatre for Rs. 25 (yes, they do have A/C theatres in the villages and towns these days, in case you didn't know.) It was such a relief to know there were still places in this country where money had some value left...

But the real reason why this trip was special for me was, I got to meet all my cousins again, at one place after some countless years (definitely more than 7)... This trip reminded about those years when every summer vacation would be spent travelling across the State meeting relatives with a grand finale at my grandmother's place where everyone would come and spend atleast a week together... Compared to the life of any city's citizen today, those definitely were better days... In my family's case, my grandmother would be the unifying force, pulling everyone together and tying the bonds strongly, which however had slowly begun to wear away over the last few years... Funny, how we all finally met again this year, but the reason being the absence of THAT VERY FORCE...

Diwali Dhamaka

Just as I promised that this would be a photo blog... but, me being me, how can I not speak? But I will definitely try and let pictures do most of the talking... For me, this years Diwali was very different from the mundane bursting-crackers-kinda fun that would come to your mind the instant you think of Diwali... 

Diwali is celebrated grandly across both Indian offices of Deloitte US (only -- for some weird reason -- we celebrated it a week earlier). I will now describe the week day-by-day beginning the Tuesday before Diwali.

Tues/Wed: We were divided into groups and each group decorated their set of cubicles on Tues evening... We also wore traditional dresses to office the next day :) Needless to say, neither did I win the Best Dressed Male nor did my team win the Best Decorated Cubicles :) Nevertheless, we had some really good time and I actually made Rangoli on the boards... Really... you can come and check, they are still there. I don't have the pictures of the Rangoli but I do have other pictures of the 2 days of fun... And for your information, our group got a special mention when declaring the results.. (We were the only group that tried to bribe the judges :D with Chocolates - Cadbury Eclairs.. damn those girls, "chotte log (height-wise), chotti soch"... else we would have won :P

The first pic is that of the project team I'm supposed to be joining soon. The next one is the rangoli made by our artist, Golu. The first pic seen below is Subbu (in white) standing with Mahadevan (the Best Dressed Male) and in the pic after that is Pavan trying out a dhoti, rather lungi. He wore a formal trouser too underneath that dhoti - safety first. ;) 

The pic below shows the girls of my gang (thats how I prefer calling my friends circle). The lady in green sari was adjudged the Best Dressed Female and she became a celebrity for a day. :) The pic below that was clicked in the cafteria (our second office).

Thats all the pictures can speak for now... So I continue...

Thurs: An old friend of mine, N, called just when I was leaving, and we decided to meet. We went to Club 8 and I (in chronological order) had chicken kababs (it had bones and I hate bones), smoked (2 in a row was the highest ever for me. Till that day, I couldn't complete even one completely), had beer (I HATE beer - be it the taste, smell or even colour), and then I drove back home (I'm completely against drink and drive, but I had no other choice)... I finally reached home at midnight and had dinner (I would rather tell my mom I drink, than skip dinner - you can reason out why)... overall I broke a lot of rules I had set for myself but I actually felt really good at the end of it all :)

Sat: I was out shopping on the outskirts of Hyderbad (heard of some real good Diwali offers there ;) ) when another old friend of mine, S, called and me, N and S decided to spend that night at N's place... Before you come to any conclusions, let me tell you that all three of us were guys and we were all straight... so just as any other boy's night out, our meeting involved booze, a discussion about girls and how the US recession represented a huge business opportunity for us (would you believe that?)... I can't seem to remember if we also decided to start a business that night :D

Sun: Yet another old friend of mine, Ad, was in hyderabad and a group of 4 school friends met at Eat Street... This meet did not involve booze, but is worth mentioning for a different reason... Ad gifted me "The Ultimate History of Ferrari" and obviously I fell in love with it at first sight for 2 main reasons... Firstly, its a book related to cars; Secondly, its about Ferrari; and a bonus reason being, there were lots of pictures of scarlet red cars...

Mon: Regular office work followed by the mundane burst-crackers-to-celebrate-diwali activity... I stayed back at a colleague's flat, and to celebrate with my colleagues - 4 guys n 4 girls... we burst crackers on the rooftop and had dinner at his place... this was special for me coz this is the closest my life has ever come to HAPPY DAYS, if you know what I mean... but the end of even this special day was identical to every other day - the girls left and I had booze with my friend... Vodka this time, and this marks the end of a week of boozing spree.

Tues: Diwali finally!! The best part?? I celebrated Diwali at my sister's place with my NEPHEW... Definitely, the best day of the entire "eventful" week and I can't describe it in words. Even pictures can't either, so I leave it for your imagination.

I never will understand these Americans

Guess what the latest rumour is, Jamie Lynn Spears is pregnant again.. Click the title to read the original article.. Generally, this is not something I would like to comment on but what made me do it, was this response - 

"We both agree that we want Maddie (their 4-month old daughter) to be a little bit older so that she can be a part of it" by Jamie Lynn when asked about when she and Casey Aldridge (the sperm supplier) would be getting married. Now, how dumb is that... and worse yet, what does she do in the meantime?? what better than getting pregnant again... Maybe, Jamie is planning to have one mega-wedding after 15 years, when Jamie, Maddie and Maddie's 10 younger sisters can all get married in the same church while her infant grand-daughters witness the grand and happy wedding...

And anyway, who the hell cares when they get married... or whether they get married at all in the first place... but wait, NY Daily News surely does.. So what do they do? They run a poll "Bringing Up Baby - Should Jamie Lynn and Casey get married?"... Right, as though they would get married if I voted yes...

I think the world should rather be worrying about how to make sure Maddie Spears doesn't end up being a Spears... Elder Spears has already proven she could be the worst mother of all times, and younger Spears has proven she still needs to "grow up"... Casey on the other hand seems happy running the new baby outlet he has opened up in Jamie's bedroom...

I really wish someone would ban Spears' family from making more of their kind... 

Ode to the Nice Guys

I found this on the net today and felt that everybody should get to read it. So, I'm sharing it on my blog as well :)
This rant was written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious” between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “oh, but we’re just friends!” And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you’re nice like that.

The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don’t seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date” or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me” or “he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn’t possibly ask him out!” or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.” Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

Phrases that Spell me

Laugh and let laugh

Mera Naam Joker

Keep no secrets; If you know something, then its worth sharing

I'm not who I'm but who you want me to be

There is no black or white, they are just different shades of grey

Once an IITian, always an IITian; desparate yet single - forever.

The fall of The Mighty - Twice!!

No confusions about that, I AM The Mighty. And what happened was my bike skidded twice on the same day, but both the times I managed to get away unhurt. But my bike lost its rear-view mirror. :(

The day before yesterday, i.e., Monday, the 8th day of September, (the Indian counterpart of - thats me) Valentino Rossi got on his Yamaha (thats my Honda Unicorn), warmed up his Yamaha and prepared to race on the world's toughest race track - Hyderabad roads - in the rain.

Take 1: Vroom, vroom.. In the parking, at the top of the 40m slope overlooking the Deloitte exit gate.. Vrooooom.. Take a good look at the gate down the short straight.. Put the bike into first gear, accelerate to 10, jump to gear 2.. speed is 25, move to gear 3.. Ohh! Speed breaker ahead.. Apply both, front and back, brakes in the ratio 75-25.. SREEECHH, BAMMM, SCREeeeeech.. I'm now doing water-gliding rather than biking.. Damn!! That's like crashing in the pit-stop even before the start of the race..

Take 2: Even after the fall in take 1, I was driving in my normal style.. Two turns and 300m away from the chequered flag (thats my home), I was racing at 50kmph in 5th Gear, obviously first (in the single-driver race).. Traffic ahead..  A Santro brakes hard on the other lane. The cycle behind him detours into the opposite side straight into me.. Brake hard (front:back::75:25).. Screech to a halt, but with the bike lying flat on the ground.. Damn, yet another fall.

The common mistake: Applying Front Brakes on slippery ground.. First time, it was the slippery tiles on the slope.. second time, it was sand on the road.. You can control the bike when the back tyre locks and skids.. You get an extra split second before you fall and within this time, you can release the brakes and save yourself.. But when the front tyre locks and skids, the next thing you know you are down.. I guess, you must release the brakes and push your weight in the direction of the skid (because that will be opposite the direction of your fall).. So, if your front tyre skids to the right, the Center of Mass moves moves towards the left, and you (along with the bike) fall towards the left.. So you must push your weight towards the right.. but, I wasn't able to put this theory to practical use the two times i fell.. May you have more luck :)

is it IE?? is it Firefox?? No, its Chrome (end user perspective)

The latest fever in the Internet and Web-browsing space is the launch of Chrome - a web browser by Google. I coudn't resist the temptation and immediately downloaded it. Afterall, as every other Google Application, its free to use :) and just as any other Google App, you would fall in love with it at first sight.

Chrome is every bit a Google App. Its so simple, that at first you would think there is an error - the title bar is not loading. But actually there IS NO title bar. Even the word "Google" is stowed away on the top right corner in a very small font. I bet you didn't notice that the first time. And it loads so fast as compared to Firefox, you instantly fall in love with Chrome. Google actually distributed a comic-book as to why they decided to make a browser and how it is different from the rest. You can read a scanned copy of that here.

Browse for a little time on Chrome, and you would realise the differences (and similarities) from other browsers. In any tabbed browser, you would have noticed that as you shift between tabs, the URL shown above also changes. What Google did in Chrome was to put it below the tabbing, which is to signify that each tab is a separate browser. They have also copied (that's right, literally copied) IE 7 design. So now you have a clean browser, which offers maximum space for the webpage. The drag-drop tabs feature offer you so much flexibility that you feel the tabs are no longer dependent on the browser. Which is true too. What Google has done is that they have built a box (virtual) in which multiple instances of the browser can run independently. So the tabs we see are not tabs within a browser, but tabbed browsers themselves. Open the Chrome Task Manager (the web-browser also has a Task Manager), and you can see how many instances of Chrome are running. So, next time some application hangs your browser, just close that tab and the rest of the tabs are still working fine.

Visit a few websites, and you would feel just as if you were working on Firefox. Some of the sites which load differently on Firefox and IE, load in Chrome just the same way as, you guessed it, Firefox. The Google guys claim they started from scratch, but I have a feeling they simply lifted Firefox, removed a few features (such as the tabs), made a few minor tweaks and then repackaged it into Chrome. Afterall, Google has been "financing" Mozilla all the while. Apparently, they gave close to $57million for a deal to make Google search the default in Firefox, and this makes up about 85% of Mozilla's revenues. No wonder, the two browsers feel the same - they share the same genes.

One thing that really strikes (strangely) about Chrome is its IE 7 looks. I could think of two reasons for copying IE 7 design in Chrome. First reason, which is obvious, Chrome is targeted to snatch away IE customers. Even if you have been using IE all your life, you wouldn't feel an ocean of difference while making the shift to Chrome. Its like the wolf dressing up as a sheep, but in this case the wolf is the Fox. The second reason is that, the sheep looks and feels better than the Fox.

So did Google make Chrome just to dig into IE's market share? No, its to make browsing faster and for allowing more advanced applications to run. According to Google, the rules of the game have changed since the development of first generation web-browsers began. So, they made a bold statement, "Even if other browsers become faster because of our work, we would consider that a success" and took it upon themselves to make the next generation browser. And to help those "other browsers" they have made Chrome open-source too.

Overall, Google seems to have started from scratch, lifted the best of both worlds and moulded them to make the best browser. There are some more features that you can explore if you are interested, like the Task Manager for Chrome, Incognito tabs, etc. There are also some features which are missing from Firefox, like "search as you type", "go directly to the top result site when you search through the URL", etc.

Lets also say, if Chrome can provide more features as do IE and Firefox, or if IE and Firefox can be as light and fast as Chrome, we can say "Chrome was a success."

I had earlier left this blog at this point, but now feel there is more to tell. Chrome WAS a success, even before it was launched. That is because Microsoft almost every feature "different" about Chrome in their IE8. You can download the IE8 Beta available now and check it for yourself. And why I said, Chrome was a success even before it was launched is because IE8 Beta 2 was launched somewhere in early March 2008, much before the launch of Chrome on Sep 2nd. Incognito tabs, the same design and tabbed browsers are all there in IE8 as well. Even the style of writing the URL in grey with only the domain name hightlighted in black is a feature of IE8. And both IE8 and Chrome have copied Opera's "speed dial" feature of showing most visited websites when you open a new tab. One look at IE 8 will tell you who has copied how much from whom. This was all just how the end-user perceives the differences, but to read an in-depth review, read Google Chrome Vs IE 8 Vs Firefox 3.1

MY Quotes

Most people write their favorite quotes in their blog. But the following one-liners are all very much my own and so obviously they are also my favorite quotes :)

Ask Why not, not why

Perfection is just an Approximation

I am so second-grade in everything; even my blood group is B+

Hard work pays. But if you are stupid, then it will pay the wrong person.

The basic rule of Biking - The wrong side is always quicker

Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy-Indranil

Heard the latest hit, Pichle Saath Dinon Mein from Rock On.. But before that, here are a few lines written by one of my colleagues, Indranil, on his blog.. he has written only 1 blog till now, so no use posting the link to his blog here.. ;) So here is what he wrote, about his third GF (fictious ofcourse, he is an IITian)


Agle hi saal kismat ne khud ko dohraya
Tasavvur me cha gaya kisi aur ka saaya
Third wala abhi tak ka sabse solid raha
By God ab tak usko mai nahi hun bhul paya

I asked her " baby want some poontang pie"
Showing me the middle finger she said:
"find a cliff, climb it, jump off it and die"
She was sure i wasn't dumb enough to comply
But I liked the idea and so gave it a try
BUT
I failed again as the cliff was 30 cms high.


AB TOH HUMNE TAUBA KAR LIYA HAI

TAQDEER NE IS DIL KE SAATH KYA KHEL HAI KHELA
IS PHOOLON KE BAAG KO BANJAR BANA KE CHODA
AB HUM DOODH KE JALE CHAANCH BHI PHUKKAR PEETE HAIN
AUR UNKI YAADON ME ZINDGI GHUT GHUT KAR JEETE HAIN

Now, lets come to the Pichle Saath Dinon Mein song from Rock On. Lyrics are by Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy. Here is the first stanza.

Meri Laundry Ka Ek Bill, Ik Aadhi Padhi Novel
Ek Ladki Ka Phone Number, Mere Kaam Ka Ek Paper
Mere Taash Se Heart Ka King, Mera Ik Chaandi Ka Ring
Pichhale Saat Dinon Mein Maine Khoya
Kabhi Khud Pe Hansa Main, Aur Kabhi Khud Pe Roya

After reading the above lyrics, my suggestion to Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy would be, "You should seriously consider making your group Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy-Indranil." Wat say!!

"LOVE" in my life

A friend inspired me to write about LOVE in my life.. (by LOVE I only mean loving someone from the opposite sex.. I'm not talking about loving my parents, loving my nephew, etc.. and before you come to any conclusions, let me also tell you that I'm straight..) So it all started with me first wanting to tell my story to her.. I wanted to write a small write-up, which as per my habit became pretty long.. Apparently yesterday, August 11th, was Romance Day so today she asked me blog this story because it represents such an ironic view about love... (can't understand if that's a compliment or just a remark..) neway here goes, my story, forever to get lost in the huge WWW (world wide web) of information..

I have almost always grown up with friends.. and today when I look back, I see I have a lot of friends, really good friends.. and they include quite a few girls as well, even though i behaved like an ascetic, until only recently... and I am not related to any of these girls, except three of them, through the word "LOVE", that's if it exists at all... these four girls have literally carved the way i feel about girls... they changed the way i look at infactuation, love and friendship...

lets call them I (i loved her), S (she loved me), F (its all a fake).. of the three, i only met F in person a couple of times.. with I and S, our relationship has been mainly through the net...

Soon after coming to IIT, i met I (i met her in person only the first time, after that it was always online)... it was not love at first sight, because i think you only make-believe yourselves to fall in love at first sight when the girl looks like an angel.. and I was nowhere near that.. she was just average, but definitely better-looking than me... however with time, as i started speaking to her more, i realised she was like the "kohinoor diamond among all girls" for me.. her life seemed like a mirror image of mine.. her thoughts matched mine, n i totally understood her, or so i thought.. i enjoyed my time with her... every moment I was with her I seemed to be happy.. so happy, that I didn't want to be away from her anymore.. I was putting off all my work to be with her.. i was wasting my life to be with her.. and i certainly couldn't imagine my life without her.. so one day i finally decided that i could not let things go this way anymore, and so told I that she was becoming very special to me.. she said its just a crush, but i told her it was much more than that.. she told me "we are just good friends and we can stay that way.. you will get over me.. I can help you with that".. at that instant I told her, "i will never get over you.. i will love you forever.. but yea, we can stay as just friends".. i really felt she thought the way she did, because of watching those stupid, romantic SRK movies, which make you believe that one fine morning a knight would come riding on a shiny metallic black Pulsar and then everyone lives happily ever after... but deep down i felt that maybe she was right... so i tried getting over her... how? i tried to start hating her... then i started hating all girls in general, as a principle... but i soon realised that still deeper down, i could never hate her... she really was the best and i would always feel the same about her...

i even justified my ideas thinking she felt the same towards me as i felt towards her... afterall, every moment i spent with her, she was spending it with me too... so were we just good friends? i don't want to believe so.. even though superficially we are just friends today, deep down i still feel the same towards her.. but is this LOVE? or is it just respect for someone i look up to so much? does the kind of love shown in romantic-SRK-movies really exist? its hard to tell...

While all this was going on, I found an old school mate of mine, S, thanks to Orkut... i told S everything about me and I, and she always used to hear me patiently... i always took her for granted, and it would probably have been impossible for me to handle my break-up with I if S wasn't with me... she was always there with me in my most dispirited times... but only recently did i put two and two together, and realised that S had a crush on me right from the start... she always wants to be with me, she looks up to me, she makes me feel important as if i were a king, and would do anything for me... though she hasn't revealed her feelings for me yet, i don't want to raise any false hopes in her... so i'm now slowly but consciously drifting away from her... why?? maybe because i'm still not over I, or maybe because she is not the life-partner i had envisaged... i wanted my wife to be beautiful, and so on... and S didn't even come close to matching the "qualifications"... this also puts me more or less in the same situation as my break up with I... only this time, i am being I and S is being me... we are "just friends" according to me, but much more than that for her... coming to think of it, is it better to marry someone who matches your "qualifications" or someone who would love you eternally... the latter is obvious correct choice, but its not the decision we always take, and so didn't I...

A little after my break up with I, I started feeling that maybe I was just being too orthodox about this whole issue of girls and love, probably because I had barely spoken to girls until college... and soon I came in contact with another old school mate, F... she had turned into this hot, sexy chick since the last time i had seen her and was studying in the hottest college in the whole city of Mumbai... every boy's DREAM GIRL... I realised she was my best chance to break out of my shell of shyness... my target was to become friends with her, friends in the modern way... u understand right, friends in the modern open way who have "fun" together... she was this completely i-wanna-party kinda girl... and seemed to flirt with you every time she spoke... it seemed exciting to be with her at first, but then maybe i'm just not open to modernisation... i soon got tired of her, so soon that i didnt even have any fun with her ;) ... i did go meet her twice, but got fed up of her spontaneous yet obvious lies after that... so i crawled back into my shell again but every now and then i would get the sudden burst of energy to turn the wheel of change again.. but everytime i called her up she would say she was out with a friend, and then i would hang up... she never even cared to call back, afterall she was having fun even without me...

will continue later sometime..

World "this" Day, International "that" Day

Apparently yesterday was Romance Day. Really, one of my friends told me so. Now, why do we need a Romance Day when we already have a Valentines Day... I don't know... but that not forbid us from imagining a reason.

You see, there is a secret society working round the clock marking the importance of each day for the betterment of this world. They are the secret saviors of mankind and they are saving humans from the existing chaos. Their huge plan is to create a system of days which when followed would bring order into this world. This is how a typical year for them reads:

(I have a feeling the plan is only for men, so while reading the blog just assume that you are male. And honestly, I have not made up any day, they all exist. For that matter, many more exist but I didn't have the patience to include them all.)
Start the year by remembering the Holocaust victims on Jan 27th: International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Then celebrate the International Mother Language Day on 21st Feb. In the meantime drink, fag, dope, go out with girls, keep flirting and dating. On Feb 14th: Valentine's Day propose to the girl(s) and have ultimate fun ;) Tell her (them) that you respect women and celebrate the International Women's Day on 8th March. Get her some water to drink on May 22nd: World Water Day and take her to a movie on March 27th: World Theatre Day. On April 1st, make a fool of her (and in the process of yourself). Go for a health checkup on April 7th: World Health Day. You get your results on April 22nd: Earth Day, and Earth seems like a wonderful place because the doc just told you were gonna be "Papa" soon. If you feel like dancing, then you have the International Dance Day on April 29th. Be with your family on May 15th: International Day of Families and celebrate Mother's Day on second Sunday of May (if you live in India) and Father's Day on third Sunday of June (in India). Plan for a good society for your child to grow up in on May 17th: World International Society Day.

Buy your kid (or would-be baby) a pet on May 22nd: International Day for Biological Diversity and quit smoking from May 31st: World No-Tobacco Day. Care for the environment on June 5th: World Environment Day and do some public service on June 23rd: UN Public Service Day. For some (like me) it could also mean go do some work for the company that's been paying you. Now, its time to quit dope on June 26th: International Day Against Drug Abuse & Illicit Trafficking. Decide once again if you want to increase the world's population by July 11th: World Population Day. If you decided to have the kid, then you have a right to celebrate on Aug 9th: International Day of the World's Indigenous People. August 23rd is the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. But when was Slavery Abolished?? The previous year on Dec 2nd: International Day for the Abolition of Slavery. Celebrate Teacher's Day on Sep 5th (if you are in India) or on Oct 5th: World Teacher's Day. Care for older people on Oct 1st: International Day for Older Persons and don't forget to post a letter on Oct 9th: World Post Day.

On Nov 14th: Children's Day, exactly 9 months after your made out with your wife.. (I don't care about when was the last time with your other girls), you get your baby. But don't worry if you missed your deadline, you are given another chance on Nov 20th: Universal Children's Day. Nov 10th: World Science Day for Peace and Development is the last peaceful day for this year. Now starts struggle. But tolerate, because Nov 16th is International Day for Tolerance. You might want to push your wife under some truck, but DON'T. Nov 18th is the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims. While you are watching TV on Nov 21st: World Television Day, you might instead want to break that TV on your wife's head. But how can you, Nov 25th is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Now you don't even want to remember all the fun you used to have earlier in the year, because you have been tested positive for AIDS on Dec 1st: World AIDS Day. Remember the abolition of slavery we spoke about earlier, it comes in now. You feel like a slave for your wife and feel handicapped. Hence, you take up a march on Dec 2nd: International Day for teh Abolition of Slavery and Dec 3rd: International Day for Disabled Persons. You fight for your Human Rights on Dec 10th: Human Rights Day. You feel like jumping off a mountain on Dec 11th: International Mountain Day. But you don't. Instead, you bribe a someone at the airport to dump you in a plane along with the cargo and you fly (run) away in a cargo plane on Dec 7th: International Civil Aviation Day. You have no regrets on Dec 9th: International Anti-Corruption Day, instead you celebrate the International Migrants Day on Dec 18th.

On Dec 19th, you celebrate UN Day for South-South Cooperation. Wait, whats South-south cooperation? Maybe south means bottom. Ahh, here is a clue. Dec 20th is Identical Human Solidarity Day. HMMMMM... does that mean you have now turned gay?? It's getting too vulgar, I better stop here.

So what next?? Thank my "Beautiful Mind" for its wonderful imagination. And let me end with what I had started. So, yesterday was Romance Day and on this day, August 12th 30BC, Cleopatra committed suicide. Sad.

Finding the quickest lane on Hyderabad's roads

Roads are demarcated into lanes.. In India, protocol is, the lanes are progressively faster towards the right.. Hyderabad however is an exception.. I bet even Rossi wouldn't be able to beat any Hyderabadi, partly due to the traffic and partly due to the lack of rules.. but having traveled over 700km in the past 4 weeks, I realised Hyderabadi traffic isn't as chaotic as made out to be by the media and outsiders.. the reality is that we do follow rules, the catch being, we make our own rules and then follow them..

In Hyderabad, just as everywhere else, there are two extremes of drivers..
1) the first kind will not change the lane.. by Darwin's theory of "Survival of the Fittest", they have realised that they are safest on the right-most lane.. hence, however fast or slow they may be driving, they will not change the lane.. the best examples of this species would be the RTC buses and the tempo-long autos with trailers.. they generally wouldn't be troubling you if you ride outside their lane..
2) the second kind are those that cannot stick to a lane for more than 50m.. even at midnight when all roads are empty, you can see them shifting lanes.. this species is rare and generally consists of bikers on shiny, new Pulsars, Apaches and now the R15s.. you don't have to worry about them in traffic either because they go as fast as they come.. just hold your line and speed, and trust HIM (HIM not referring to God, but to the other biker.. just believe that he knows how to ride his bike, because over half the times he does.. only rest of the times, its his meaner and younger brother who is still learning..)

Anyway, coming back.. Riding on the fastest lane in Hyderabad does not imply you are the quickest.. you are just lost in the traffic.. but in the midst of all this chaotic driving, you find that there is an underlying order to it.. so to ride safely and reach your destination faster, all you need to do is to follow the following tips ;) :

1) RULE No. 1: DO NOT FOLLOW THE RULES.. as far as possible "follow their opposite".. I am not kidding, its true.. everyone likes to travel on the fastest lane, so much so that its no more the fastest.. this also leads to overtaking maneuvers from the left, because there is no place left to the right.. you find that the left-most lane is left empty while everyone is battling it out on the faster lanes.. just take the leftmost lane and you can sometimes even reach upto 70kmph and easily beat out the traffic.. try it sometime.. Trying out the above tip might be difficult since long, straight, wide roads are scarce in Hyderabad, except in Jubilee Hills and Madhapur area.. but you try something similar in any turn.. the whole traffic is concentrated near the bend that if you take the longest curve, you can easily beat the entire traffic.. besides, you can also go faster, and bend more on your bike, thus giving you more riding pleasure..

2) RULE No. 2: Try to avoid the traffic.. you will find that there is a lot of unused road-space.. at many a bottle-neck region (such as at almost every turn), the problem is not that the road is getting thinner but that all the vehicles were simply cramming themselves into only a fraction of the road.. I will give you a real life scenario.. a car-driver on the right-most lane has to turn left.. he even has the indicator ON, but the biker behind him wants to overtake him.. as is the norm in Hyderabad, you need to overtake from the left.. so the biker cuts across all the lanes along with the car and almost ends up taking the left-turn himself before finally managing to get past the car.. along the process, the car-driver is confused which direction the biker would like to take and for the traffic behind, they all cram themselves into the left-most lane.. only few of the drivers take the lane just cleared by the car, and enjoy the long stretch of empty road.. try it sometime - you will find that such hiccups will also lead to empty lanes on the left, a little ahead..

And remember, there is no alternative to practising slalom racing..

Faster does not necessarily mean quicker

Last friday, somebody told me a story.. It was about 2 drivers, Ram and Kishan.. both of them were excellent drivers.. Ram could take you from location A to location B in only 2hr 30min as compared to the 3hr taken by everyone else.. while he achieved this feat, he also made you regain the faith in God.. Kishan however would drive far more smoothly and guess what, he would take only 2hr 15min.. there was no moral to the story so I made one -- "Faster does not necessarily mean quicker."

For the first two-three weeks after joining Deloitte, I used to come to the office on (my brother-in-law's) Yamaha RX 135.. For those who haven't ridden it, its a wonderful bike.. awesome acceleration, exceptionally light and agile.. (its so light, that even a Super Splendour seems heavy compared to it..) later I took my Unicorn.. it was like a truck compared to the Yamaha.. and the acceleration was lower as well.. besides that, I was asked not to ride faster than 40 (although I did about 60) and not to rev the engine too much, not to accelerate or brake too hard and not to do that and not to do this.. basically to drive it as smoothly as I possibly could.. I used to take 35min to reach office (about 18km) everyday on the Yamaha and on the Unicorn, "You guessed it!!" I still took only 35min, maybe a minute more or less.. the moral of the story? "Faster does not necessarily mean quicker. You have got to maintain that speed."

the fact was that, on the Yamaha, I was decelerating as much as I was accelerating.. It gave me more pleasure riding it, but I wasn't gaining any time.. because I was concentrated more on squeezing between the traffic.. but on the Unicorn, even though I was definitely slower, I was maintaining a constant speed for much longer times because I was trying to make it a smoother ride.. How to find that quicker (not faster) lane on Hyderabad's roads - I will discuss in the next blog..

Getz Vs City

Its early Tuesday morning. It had rained a little yesterday night.. The night was cold but not chilly... And morning everything seemed normal.. another perfect day.. Nothing seemed to have changed from yesterday..
Its a working day, so I had to go to work.. I thought I would get ready early, but I was late nevertheless.. My Unicorn's insurance papers were not yet done, so I had to take my Yamaha RX 135 to work instead.. (as much as I love the Yamaha.. I would have loved to ride the Unicorn today.. first long trip on the Unicorn since I bought it last Saturday)

It was around 9am and I was near KBR park.. cutting across the traffic to reach office quicker, or should I say to reduce the amount of time I was going to be delayed.. there was enough office-going traffic on the roads to negate the fact that the roads near the KBR park are some of the widest in hyderabad (if i remember correct, its a 4-lane road).. everyone is moving at a speed of not more than 30 (except ofcourse the bikers who make their own zig-zag lanes at 60 kmph). On my way to the office, I saw a Hyundai Getz.. The only thing that was not normal about it was that it had wider tyres.. it had been modified.. Other than that it seemed like just another Getz.. But soon he unleashed the power in it, and Vrooooom... WHAT ACCELERATION!! But even more, WHAT A DRIVER!! Here was a driver, who was on the left-most lane, overtaking a bus (from the left, as is the mutually understood norm in Hyderabad) and then immediately cuts across all the lanes and overtakes an auto (from the right this time).. He then overtakes the Honda City in front, and then cuts left but decides mid-way to stay in the lane coz the traffic signal was still red.. If you remember Stella Bredger's (played by Charlize Theron) entrance in the movie The Italian Job (the remake made in 2003), you shouldn't have much difficulty visualizing what I'm saying.. The way she drives her Mini Cooper cuttinjg across lanes made us (atleast me) look at the silver screen with a feeling of awe, especially coz the camera was mounted on a Helicopter and the aerial view looked terrific.. But the driving I saw today was no less amazing..

Now, here is what I believe (atleast till today)... At a traffic signal, the bikes have an advantage over the cars.. the cars, for sure, have more power by all stats but the bikes easily beat them.. only when you have a long enough roam can the cars catch up.. and when it comes to bikes, the 2-stroke bikes easily beat the 4-stroke engined bikes for the first 100-200m.. And of all the 2-stroke bikes, none are better remembered than the Yamaha RX 100 and RX135 for their sheer acceleration through the first 2 gears..

so back to my story.. I was at the signal, behind the Getz and the City.. I was pretty sure I could beat them both easily.. The signal turned green.. A few bikes in the front raced away and the cars, buses and autos were slowly accelerating onto the clear stretch of road.. The moment he got a little bit of space in front of him, the Getz driver took off... For a few metres it seemed like I could overtake him if I had a little more space, but after that I gave-up that hope.. One, I was unable to match his acceleration and deceleration, and two, he was just far too quick in manouvering and rash for me to chase him..

He accelerated to 20, cut left, accelerated to , cut left again, overtook the vehicle in front and then cut right, overtake 2 vehicles - one on either side, and cut right again.. braked hard almost down to a halt.. accelerated again, cut left 2 lanes at one go and brakes again very hard.. what a scene.. i was literally dumbstruck by his driving.. what kind of an idiot would drive so rashly, especially on the roads of Hyderabad (which is famous for having some of the most reckless drivers).. or maybe he was one of the drivers that made Hyderabadi traffic famous (or infamous)..

Just visualise the way the Getz driver was driving and now imagine what it would have been to see two such cars racing on the road.. Yes, TWO.. the City was chasing the Getz this time.. At first, I thought the City driver was trying to maintain with the Getz so that he could cut through traffic easily, but he was racing with him.. for an automobile freak like me, that was pure bliss.. but for the others driving on that road, I bet they wanted to park their vehicles to the side.. i tried to chase the 2 cars (just for the fun of it), but i could clearly see them getting away (even through all that traffic).. having followed Formula 1 for the past 4 yrs or so, I know that much depends on the driver, but much more depends on the car.. only now am I beginning to comprehend how powerful these latest generation cars are.. and if this is the case with a Honda City, what about the BMWs and the Porsches.. and then what about the Bugatti Veyron.. NO COMMENTS!!

"Hello! World"

Finally, "I" enter the world of blogging as well :) And this is all thanks to a girl, ******** (or rather her blog, which inspired me to begin blogging as well). The weird thing is that I have been on Blogger since April 2007 but never made an entry... I just hope I am more dedicated this time round.

kuchibhatla.blogspot.com - not my first preference actually.. i wanted kuchi.blogspot, but it was taken by some "Amir" who seems to be worse than me.. He created his blog in 2002 and never bothered to make an entry.. my second choice was gillu.blogspot (for those who don't know, Anil in Tamil means squirrel or gilhari (in hindi).. Gillu is the name of the squirrel in one of our Hindi chapters in CBSE VIII std.. long theory, but this is how I got my nickname GILLU in school).. coming back, gillu was taken too agn by someone who doesnt blog... so i finally decided to settle for kuchibhatla.blogspot.. but maybe I will convince Amir and get back kuchi.blogspot or maybe I will go for www.kuchi.com (sounds gr8 to me)

and coming to the title, I was confused between "Mera Naam Joker" and "A Beautiful Mind" - the two movies that touched my heart, mind and soul completely.. I finally decided ABM will be more apt to the kind of blogs I intend to write..