Volkswagen Beetle... in India

Have you heard the news? Volkswagen Beetle to be launched in India, with a price tag of Rs. 20.45 lakhs (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Would you buy this little (pun definitely intended) piece of metal that looks like 3 semi-circles (discounting the two black full-circles, otherwise called tyres) welded together so beautifully that it could easily the "Cutest car ever" award, if there was one, while also making everyone, men and women alike, fall in love with it, for little over 20 lakhs? I wouldn't. Obviously, 'coz I don't have, in my account, even that "little over" over 20 lakhs.

But what I meant is, (if a fairy came and put Rs. 20.45 lakhs beneath your pillow with a note reading,

Use this money wisely to buy a car (it's a paradox but spare me) and I would return tomorrow to give you more.

Love,

Gossamer Moonglow

(or whatever your fairy is called. I found mine here.) would you?

Granted, it's not exactly 'People's Car' at 20 lakhs. Or maybe that's how the Germans classify(-ied) 'People's Car' as -

No taking your dog for drives. Or bringing laundry back home. Wear your finest suit, take your kids for a drive on Sunday and clean it yourself in your garage the rest of the week. You can't even trust your chauffeur with it.

But jokes apart, if you wanted to spend Rs. 20.45 lakhs, then this car could very well be your wisest choice:

1) It comes with 72-yrs of history, history that every soul on the planet has definitely heard of, if not know it. Now, that's EXACTLY what we want, don't we?

2) You would also be living Hitler's dream (even if only a fraction of it), if you like that perspective. Another vehicle that owes its popularity and development to Hitler (and WWII) would be the Tank. Bug is definitely wiser, wouldn't you think?

3) Small is beautiful. Whereas, other companies only try to punish you for spending 20 lakhs by giving you huge, over-sized boxes, when all you wanted was 4-wheels with a roof.

4) It should be more eco-friendly (compared to the other vehicles you get for 20 lakhs) - smaller, lighter and only a 2L engine.

5) It's a sure head-turner. It's simply so pleasant to look at, that it will make you turn your head, even if you were driving one yourself.

Besides all this, the Beetle will infect everyone with a smile, which is what fairies want - spread happiness (according to my nephew's story book).

CONCLUSION - If your fairy found you, the BEETLE is your car. And I'm going to leave a chocolate under my pillow tonight (just in case fairies love chocolates). Ms. (or Mrs.?) Moonglow, are you reading?

Bringing up kids...

Bringing up kids... is no easy task. So I've heard countless times before from numerous parents. Some even took to beating their kids so not to 'spoil' them, and I call them, "Chumps". I've always held a view very different from them - beating kids hurts their ego and confidence and is not good for their overall development. Instead, as they say, "showering more love" should do the trick.

Yet in the last 1 week, I slapped Advaith twice and I don't like it myself. His actions on these two occasions were just silly and committed in a playful mood, with no intention to hurt anyone. Infact, I can't even say his actions could have hurt someone unintentionally. Tell me, how harmful, could throwing a book on the floor or kicking someone on their face with his little feet, be.

But when the repetitiveness of the same actions begins to stretch beyond the boundaries of play, a growing concern inside you calls for an immediate action on your part to make them stop it. And when your "No, don't do it"s go unheeded you are left at a loss. You obviously couldn't leave the kid in a room full of books asking him to throw them all down, like the dad who wanted to make his son quit smoking. You also couldn't throw down a book yourself, and pretend to, as the idiom goes, "bring the house down", 'coz that would be like encouraging them to do it literally, bring the house down. And kids, you should know, HAVE the patience and energy to do anything they set their hearts to. Never spark such desires in them.

So what is it that you could possibly do to make them see sense. What if your "Don't make me come and hit you" (final) warnings (while holding back a smile and faking anger in your tone) is replied in the Gandhian way, "Come, hit me." A reply like that made the English resign and leave, over 60 years ago. You see, the English didn't care (and didn't need to, anymore) what shit we could possibly get outselves into, but I do. So I'm left with not even that option.

I ended up being a Chump. Not once, but twice in a week. I'm sure what I did wasn't the best thing to do, and I'm not very sure if it was even the right thing to do. But I am just ignorant of any better option (read action). And what's worse is when, after I slapped him, he hugged me and holding back tears, asked, "Why did you hit me?". I told him, "because you threw the book down", but I know that's not the truth. The real answer was "because I was a Chump".

You tell me what other options did I have.

My first dinner

Today we invited my sister, brother-in-law and Advaith home for lunch and I prepared lunch for everyone.

Cooked dal, curry and rice (and this time I took a pic).



(Posted from mobile).

Advaith's Photography

Today I showed Advaith how to click pictures on my phone. And below are his first few takes.

At first, he just pointed the phone at my mom (like a TV remote) and clicked a couple of times.

After this I showed him how to point the camera. Below are the pics he took after that.

(I have resized the original pictures to reduce their size.)

The Prestige - Movie Review

This is the review I began writing on Friday, 13th of April in 2007 and didn't touch again after. It's definitely not the final version, but I don't remember how I meant to finish it. I'm not even going to give it a try now.

----------------

There was a central theme, which though very unrealistic, still left you wondering. That is why, I would rate "The Prestige" as the THE BEST MOVIE ever.

Unlike other movies, like say "The Departed", which are completelly void of any theme, yet leave you feeling that it was a great movie, even though you truly don't feel anything at the end of it.

However, "The Prestige" simply left you wondering. But such movies will not be appreciated as much as they deserve to be, because the audience only want to leave with the feeling of having watched

something spectacular, something extraordinary, and feeling complete. That is just the irony of life. The irony existing in this world. "A shining copper piece is better than a dusty Gold coin"

But, had the director completely understood this irony and tried to make a movie that left the audience feeling FULL and Complete, to receive the full appreciation it deserves,

then the movie wouldn't have been completely deserving anymore, even if it may have received many awards. That just completes the Vicious Circle.

And, due to this Vicious Circle, Best is not better.

----------------

I like these two quotations from the review above -

A shining copper piece is preferred to a dusty Gold coin

and

Best is not always better.

The illusionist

I just watched The Illusionist with my sister and she was completely awed by it. It's an AMAZING movie. I love the way all the loose ends tie up towards the end. Infact, the loose ends don't even appear to be loose ends till the end.

I am reminded of the time when I first saw it back-to-back with The Prestige. I finished watching both the movies at around 4am on Friday, the 13th of April in 2007. I was a student then (staying in a hostel) and watching multiple movies in one night (on a weekday) was not something unusual.

Please do not be fooled into thinking that my memory is so good, that I even remember the time and date on which I watched a movie. It's just that after watching both the movies, I got this sudden burst of energy from within to write. I decided to create a blog and post my movie review on it - which I did but only partially. If you haven't noticed yet, this blog was created in April, 2007 although the first post (Hello! World) came only in June, 2008. I did get started on the Movie Review, in Wordpad, but never finished it. It was last modified on 4.49am on 13th April, 2007 and I don't intend to finish it anymore. So I have just posted it here.

And I will be watching The Prestige with my sister tomorrow night.

Advaith's (cheeky) replies

My aunt and uncle came home today to meet us (but the obvious yet unspoken truth is - to meet my nephew and sister). My aunt was having a conversation with my nephew and was trying to have fun pulling his leg, but this is how it ended.

Aunt: I will take your thatha (Grandfather) with me.
Advaith: Voddu (Don't)
Aunt: I will take your Mother with me.
Advaith: Voddu... (after 10 sec silence) take that dog.

And he pointed to a toy dog of his which he doesn't play with anymore.

Another instance.
Aunt: Neeku aam evaru pettaru ivala?
Advaith: Amma
Aunt: Amma kadu, nuvvu Ammamma deggara tinali. Ledante Ani Mama deggara tinali.
Advaith: Ledante NUVVU vochi pettu.

She resigned. And I think "But he is only 3 and 1/2 yrs old"

(Posted from my mobile)

Dreams to Disasters

Dreams create desires,
Desires lead to expectations,
Expectations bring disasters,
And the disasters kill you - from the inside.

(Posted from mobile)

What have I been doing lately?

I have been living life like a housewife - a 'single' housewife. And this is the plan for the rest of the week too.

I'm doing the cooking, from breakfast (maggi) to tea after that to lunch (rice, dal and curry). I didn't take any pics else I could have shared them. I will try to take pictures of dinner. And tomorrow biryani is on the menu. ;)

After lunch I went out shopping with my dad and nephew. After which, I took my nephew to the park to play on the swing.

(Posted from my Nokia mobile.)

First couple of days with E63

It's an awesome feeling - to be connected to the web from your mobile, something that till yesterday had no more significance than a silly landline lying in the corner of the room, that we almost forgot even existed. (Except for the Tata Walky though - my mom makes full use of the free Tata-to-Tata calls feature.)

I had configured Fring application (for GTalk and Skype) and GMail on my phone and I had my phone connected to the net. I could now remain connected ON THE GO, but I wasn't going anywhere. Infact, I'm on leave the entire next week so I don't even have work till Jan 4th (which also reminds me to reveal to you that I would be revealing some VERY good news in early Jan.

And coming back, technically I was now prepared to reply instantly. I checked the Fring thing again - Yes, I was still connected as I could see all my online/offline friends. I refreshed GMail - it refreshed in under 3 sec but there was no new mail. 5 min later, I checked Fring again - I was still connected. I refreshed GMail again - still no new mails.

I did that about a 50 times (no exaggerations here) over the last 2 days and I realised that getting connected and staying on the web isn't enough. For someone with a lifestyle like mine, checking mails once a day was more than enough.

Afterall, there was more to life - which for me meant checking out Opera Mobile 10.2 Beta browser (which by the way, SUCKS!!)

First Post (from mobile)

Unless you have been living life deep in a forest totally unconnected with the world, you obviously would have heard the news... I took a new phone - a Nokia E63. Me (!!!) and a phone that costs in the 5-digit range.

When I decided that my old phone just wouldn't work any more and I needed a new one, I decided that I needed Wi-Fi and QWERTY keypad... and this was what I ended up with. (Obviously, this was the cheapest phone meeting my requirements, they don't make china phones with Wi-Fi :( I wish they did.. I would have then gotten a 3.5" touch-screen for half the price.)

As BAD as it gets

12am on the morning of 17th or night of 16th, whichever way you like to look at it, I decided to switch-off the light and go to bed as I was hardly able to even hold P.G.Wodehouse's Stiff Upper Lips in my hands. But 4 hrs later, I was still awake... Unfortunately all the stupid thoughts decided to enter my head the instant the room went dark. Don't know when I finally fell asleep.

Had to wake up by 7.45am as I had a call to take at 8.30am (these days we are having two Conference Calls everyday - one at 8.30am and another at 6.30pm.) Lack of sleep, low on energy and long, possibly boring presentations on the Agenda for the day made me lose all hope of having a good day. Only positive note was I planned to leave from Office quickly to meet a good, old friend.

5 min after waking up, I'm already shouting at my dad (for something really silly, obviously). Crappy start for a day. Bad omen to start the day on. And if I had had my way, I would slept again and woke up at 11am to make a fresh start to the day. But that wasn't to happen. So I took the call from home, reached office by 9.30.. only to realise that I had no mood to work. I was already looking forward to the evening. ;)

Work can't be done without laptops... lappys are useless without Internet... and Internet isn't complete without without Facebook... So I open Facebook, and the first thing I see is that some of my friends are attending a play on Saturday. I had nothing to do on Saturday, so booked myself for the play. Within the next 15 min, a couple more friends had replied on the thread and a conversation took off which also turned sour in 10 min and I made a comment about my friend (the one whom I was supposed to meet in the evening). My day continued to be bad and I was just dragging myself within the office. What a boring day! Little did I know how eventful my day was to become towards the end.

11.50am: I get a 'hate' sms from my dear friend, "If you don't want to meet me, then say it directly". I hate such threatening messages, especially when sent unprovoked. (okay, I accept, did spark the fire).

Noon to 3.30pm: Sloooow, dragging presentations with the Client. I hated him so much. Why did he have to visit our Office. Couldn't he too have just been on one of the Conference Calls as the others.

With our egos the size of Zeppelin's in the sky, especially mine being larger than an Airbus A380, by 5.30pm, the debate with my friend had reached unstable heights. And I didn't leave Office as I had originally planned.

By 7pm discussion is now on GTalk while the topic remains the same (silly, yes, but important too) when I have to am required in the call. 7.30pm I'm back but she isn't there anymore.

I go back home, have a couple of fights with my Mom and finish my dinner. All the while, checking my phone to see if she had left any reply (Around 8pm I had asked her if it was still possible to meet and discuss). No reply yet. Told you, ego... it had bloated to the size of Titanic by now. And mine was competing with Mt. Everest already. So I sat down to write my WORST (or best?) Hate-mail ever written. It was so insulting (mostly untrue and completely silly) that even I didn't read it twice. After drafting (rather randomly typing) for more than an hour, I click SEND at11.30pm exactly the time she pings me on GTalk again.

Don't know how the conversation was meant to take-off, but once she received my mail, I could feel missiles hitting my face through the screen. It seemed as if I had pressed KILL ME instead of SEND. She literally blasted me. Misunderstanding was everywhere. She didn't get the point of the mail, nor the names I called her. She thought I called her a prostitute. I didn't. I meant something more like a slut (she isn't, but I had to call her something. It's a Hate-mail, remember?).

The conversation, rather the (1482 lines of) argument continued till 2.50am on the morning of 18th (that is about 2 hrs back). Conclusion? Same as every argument, I was right and so was she. But acting like grown-ups, staying calm and pretending to be in total control of our selves, we decided that we would never speak again. And we split up like this -

me: watever makes you happy

Her: My happiness is not in hurting the other one

so let's be

me: eh ?

2:49 AM Her: I don't want to make you feel bad as those last days again

me: ok..

thnx for saying that :)

have a good night then...

2:50 AM Her: have a good night

me: bye

Her: bye anil

I was tired (carrying that Everest-sized ego now hurt me) and laid down to sleep. As I looked back at the evening, the first thought that struck me was "WHAT THE FUCK !!!". And as I went through the mail and the conversation again, the same thought struck me over and over again until my head start aching. And by 3.30am my head became clear(er) and my ego had reduced to the size of an Amoeba. But the damage done was still the size of that largest crater (wherever it is, I think Australia. But that's not the point here.)

Immediately I messaged her on the phone praying that she hadn't slept yet. She hadn't. Obviously. Feeling foolish like me maybe. No, she still happened to be in the shoes of the grown-up. So after texting for another hour, and still sticking to our ends of the conclusion of the argument we parted ways the second time (again never to meet again, ofcourse).

I tried sleeping. Obviously I couldn't because I'm here writing this post now. Actually within 10 min after laying down my throat started hurting. Maybe this was why I was having a hard time swallowing the consequences of my actions. I just couldn't do sleep. I had to write about this.

And now its 5.50am. I feel back at IIT, except that I didn't have to wake up at 8.30am to take a call back then. I'm definitely not going to work after waking up.

I'm going to try that mind-effect, whatever it's called. You concentrate with your mind and whatever you want happens. Magic, but not quite. So I'm going to concentrate my mind on my throat just so much that my voice gets distorted, but I don't get a tumour.

Adios, baby!

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. (continued)

The original post was written on Aug 2nd. A couple of excerpts from it:

"In all my life, I have never felt as lonely as I felt April to June when I changed my priorities and placed Work before Life. It didn't take long for my company to tell me it was a bad choice."

"And since July, I have been more in the Party mood. So, I have met a lot of new people but am yet to see how many would become my close friends."

They became VERY GOOD friends. So much so that I'm almost living at their home sometimes. I feel as if it's one big family... I feel back at IIT :) My life is now spelt as N-GAL and from the past 3-weeks, you can also add D (Deloitte) to it... that's right, I'm trying to work hard again.

I have got some exceptional friends-

One has got the World's Most Laidback Attitude. Never a concern about anything and way too optimistic (even if pushed down from a 5000m high cliff, he would be optimistic to survive). One fine morning he realised he didn't enjoy his work anymore and quit his job. He does nothing now, yet he is not troubled. He is happy and enjoying.

Another is so good that she would take whatever comes along her life with a smile. Absolutely no complaints/cribbing and no bitching either - even to her boy friend (and that's the problem he has with her - she never complains. He is like me too - sadly human.)

Yet another decided that these silly jobs weren't for him, so completely drowned himself into Research work. So much so that sometimes he says he feels lonely, but the love for his work again drags him out of it.

And now the climax, I saved her for the end.

SRK is her first love and Chemistry her second. She is totally into studies (teaching or studying), done some brilliant work already and impressed her Prof. so much that he would do anything to NOT lose her. Beside all this, she manages to watch every single SRK movie 50-times (including the deleted scenes), follow F1 and support Ferrari, watch Roger Federer break world records, anchor shows in her Univ. And apart from all this, she finds free time (but how?) to catch up with all her friends.

So when I look at myself in light of such AMAZING FRIENDS, I begin to fade away. And I think,

" God, I'm just SO human. "

Don't we bother about our friends?

I just came back from a party, and while checking my mails found a mail saying someone left a comment on one of my older posts. The post was about my friends and the comment left was "everybody wants a friend, nobody bothers to be one..." I know I'm no Rajdeep Sardesai that people I have never met follow my blog as well. My guess is I must be knowing this Mr./Ms. Anonymous pretty well (although there has been an instance before when I got a comment from a complete stranger) and this comment could well be a personal remark against me...

Anyway, when I read the comment... my first reaction to it was "Yeah, so true... We all know we shouldn't be like this, yet this is exactly how we are"... and next thought was "Not really".

Afterall, every single name I mentioned on that post meant something for me. They are all friends for life and each one of them would be special, forever. Just because their schedules changed, their priorities changed or because their life took a different path doesn't mean they aren't friends anymore. Just because I don't talk to them every single minute, just because I don't try to include them in every plan of mine, just because I don't give them daily status updates doesn't mean I don't bother to be friends with them anymore. Or does it?

Besides I realised that too many closest friends at the same time never works out. We also have to change our priorities with changing circumstances.

This post is a reply to my Mr./Ms. Anonymous friend of mine. Hopefully he/she would read this.

A Wednesday

Traffic in India is bad.. and Hyderabad definitely takes the top spot for rash driving. Driving in Hyderabad is really difficult. AND if you have ever tried to drive here, you must definitely have been warned, "be careful.. some people drive very fast and go bang into others on the road".

The warning came true in my life, just this Wednesday - my first in close to an year and half. Except that, I was the one going fast as crazy. But not my mistake, it was 9am, an empty flyover - i was easily doing 70. This guy, let's say Tughlaq (apparently going to a gym in the other side of the city at 9am on a weekday) on an Activa was driving on the rightmost end of the road at 30 maybe and suddenly decided to come left after I blew the horn. There was another bike on my left and a collision was inevitable. He couldn't control his rear tyre slipping, fell down, blocking my way and I fell too. (I'm guessing he pressed both brakes hard thinking it would save him from falling.) End result, both of us were pretty badly hurt - him more than me actually.

I have always believed that "Speed doesn't kill, insanity does". While going that fast might sound insane to a few, it wasn't actually. Going slow on the right side of an empty road is insane according to me. But there was my mistake too. While I do that speed almost everyday on that road, on Wednesday my mind wasn't there. I was riding, kind of, sub-consciously and didn't notice his moments until too late.

I had my helmet, jacket, shoes on though. So, even though I had a much worser fall than him, I was relatively less injured. I have got bandages on my left ankle, left knee and both wrists, and lots of minor scratches on both legs. Obviously, no more bike or car atleast for another week. But him, he didn't wear his helmet and got hurt on the face and jaws, apart from the hands and legs.

Moral of the story -

1. "Wear your helmet - Always."

2. "Don't go too fast. One idiot on the road who doesn't follow the same traffic rules as you, and your life could change in a second."

3. "If you think someone is right next to you or might even collide with you, then try to go faster. Don't even think of braking."

Science behind "Being Lucky"

Read the article, "Be Lucky - it's an easy skill to learn" by Richard Wiseman, a psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire. I'm also copying the entire article on this post because it makes for a good, interesting read and worth maintaining an extra (digital) copy.

And tell me after reading this article, did the author mean Lucky people are Optimistic or Pessimistic, the same question I asked long ago too.

----------------------------------------------------

A decade ago, I set out to investigate luck. I wanted to examine the impact on people's lives of chance opportunities, lucky breaks and being in the right place at the right time. After many experiments, I believe that I now understand why some people are luckier than others and that it is possible to become luckier.

To launch my study, I placed advertisements in national newspapers and magazines, asking for people who felt consistently lucky or unlucky to contact me. Over the years, 400 extraordinary men and women volunteered for my research from all walks of life: the youngest is an 18-year-old student, the oldest an 84-year-old retired accountant.

Jessica, a 42-year-old forensic scientist, is typical of the lucky group. As she explained: "I have my dream job, two wonderful children and a great guy whom I love very much. It's amazing; when I look back at my life, I realise I have been lucky in just about every area."

In contrast, Carolyn, a 34-year-old care assistant, is typical of the unlucky group. She is accident-prone. In one week, she twisted her ankle in a pothole, injured her back in another fall and reversed her car into a tree during a driving lesson. She was also unlucky in love and felt she was always in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Over the years, I interviewed these volunteers, asked them to complete diaries, questionnaires and intelligence tests, and invited them to participate in experiments. The findings have revealed that although unlucky people have almost no insight into the real causes of their good and bad luck, their thoughts and behaviour are responsible for much of their fortune.

Take the case of chance opportunities. Lucky people consistently encounter such opportunities, whereas unlucky people do not. I carried out a simple experiment to discover whether this was due to differences in their ability to spot such opportunities.

I gave both lucky and unlucky people a newspaper, and asked them to look through it and tell me how many photographs were inside. On average, the unlucky people took about two minutes to count the photographs, whereas the lucky people took just seconds. Why? Because the second page of the newspaper contained the message: "Stop counting. There are 43 photographs in this newspaper." This message took up half of the page and was written in type that was more than 2in high. It was staring everyone straight in the face, but the unlucky people tended to miss it and the lucky people tended to spot it.

For fun, I placed a second large message halfway through the newspaper: "Stop counting. Tell the experimenter you have seen this and win £250." Again, the unlucky people missed the opportunity because they were still too busy looking for photographs.

Personality tests revealed that unlucky people are generally much more tense than lucky people, and research has shown that anxiety disrupts people's ability to notice the unexpected. In one experiment, people were asked to watch a moving dot in the centre of a computer screen. Without warning, large dots would occasionally be flashed at the edges of the screen. Nearly all participants noticed these large dots.

The experiment was then repeated with a second group of people, who were offered a large financial reward for accurately watching the centre dot, creating more anxiety. They became focused on the centre dot and more than a third of them missed the large dots when they appeared on the screen. The harder they looked, the less they saw.

And so it is with luck - unlucky people miss chance opportunities because they are too focused on looking for something else. They go to parties intent on finding their perfect partner and so miss opportunities to make good friends. They look through newspapers determined to find certain types of job advertisements and as a result miss other types of jobs. Lucky people are more relaxed and open, and therefore see what is there rather than just what they are looking for.

My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good.

I wondered whether these four principles could be used to increase the amount of good luck that people encounter in their lives. To find out, I created a "luck school" - a simple experiment that examined whether people's luck can be enhanced by getting them to think and behave like a lucky person.

I asked a group of lucky and unlucky volunteers to spend a month carrying out exercises designed to help them think and behave like a lucky person. These exercises helped them spot chance opportunities, listen to their intuition, expect to be lucky, and be more resilient to bad luck.

One month later, the volunteers returned and described what had happened. The results were dramatic: 80 per cent of people were now happier, more satisfied with their lives and, perhaps most important of all, luckier. While lucky people became luckier, the unlucky had become lucky. Take Carolyn, whom I introduced at the start of this article. After graduating from "luck school", she has passed her driving test after three years of trying, was no longer accident-prone and became more confident.

In the wake of these studies, I think there are three easy techniques that can help to maximise good fortune:

• Unlucky people often fail to follow their intuition when making a choice, whereas lucky people tend to respect hunches. Lucky people are interested in how they both think and feel about the various options, rather than simply looking at the rational side of the situation. I think this helps them because gut feelings act as an alarm bell - a reason to consider a decision carefully.

• Unlucky people tend to be creatures of routine. They tend to take the same route to and from work and talk to the same types of people at parties. In contrast, many lucky people try to introduce variety into their lives. For example, one person described how he thought of a colour before arriving at a party and then introduced himself to people wearing that colour. This kind of behaviour boosts the likelihood of chance opportunities by introducing variety.

• Lucky people tend to see the positive side of their ill fortune. They imagine how things could have been worse. In one interview, a lucky volunteer arrived with his leg in a plaster cast and described how he had fallen down a flight of stairs. I asked him whether he still felt lucky and he cheerfully explained that he felt luckier than before. As he pointed out, he could have broken his neck.

A day out of Truman's Life

(I wrote this post on Saturday, the very day all the events took place, but couldn't publish it till today. Read till the end and you will know why.)

It was a simple plan - wake up early. Give bike for servicing. Go out of city on a day-outing with two cousins. Return in the evening. And if back early enough, we could even watch the cricket match LIVE at the stadium.

I woke up early, by 7.30am (for a change). However, both cousins had work till evening so plan was postponed to Sunday. Incidentally, neither cousin had interest in watching the match LIVE either (which was strange considering that both are big fans of cricket).

So all that was left now for me to do was give the bike for servicing. I plan to go on long drives the next few weekends, so wanted my bike to be in the best condition. I had already collected the list of Castrol Bike Zones in Hyderabad from their official website and with a copy of it in my pocket, I set out.

Time: 10.30am

Nearest Bike Zone - Was still closed. And their phone wasn't working.

Next-nearest Bike Zone - Spoke to them on phone first; confirmed that I was giving my bike to them. And when I asked where exactly they were located, I realised it was on the other side of the city. There are two Sangeeth theatres in Hyderabad!! :(

Still next-nearest Bike Zone - Phone number had a digit missing. I decided to go check it out anyway, as there wasn't much traffic - it was Saturday and it was nearly noon. I was weaving through the traffic and suddenly, everyone was just stuck... in front of me... and soon behind me as well. No one on the road seemed to be moving - FOR MILES. By the time I reached the place, they had reached their daily limit. They didn't even have the coupons I wanted to buy, nor the racing-style coffee mug.

Nearest Bike Zone farther than the previous one - Again incorrect number. CRAP!!!

I went back to check if the first Bike Zone had opened atleast by now and this time round, I noticed a small, red "TO LET" board. More crap!

All this time on the bike with my head fuming, I was going crazy enough to go on 'planned' long-drive on the bike with anyone willing to come.

Called La. - No answer;

Wanted to call Rag. - Realised that I didn't have his number despite having asked Nik. for it 3 times the previous day;

Called Nik. - No answer;

Messaged Geo. to send me Rag's number - No reply (I later got to know that she didn't even understand who Rag. was - she called him Ragzz);

Generally messaged Tas. to know what she was doing - No reply;

Called Mom - Even she didn't answer;

Called La. again and again and again - No answer, no answer, no answer.

By now I began to doubt the network, how could NOBODY answer?

I called Aur. (who was sure to be awake and also have her cell with her) - She answered. Awesome. But she was terribly busy to even wake up La. (and they are flatmates).

Was I doing a Guest appearance on The Truman Show?

I gave up. All plans CANCELLED.

My mom called me back just then. I told her I was going alone on the drive and wouldn't be back home till night. I obviously didn't mean it, but I just like threatening (troubling) her like this. She gave me a piece of her mind and I told her I didn't care for it. But reality is that, she didn't care for what I said. She even prepared lunch for me.

Not willing to go home so quickly, I went out shopping for toy cars (more for myself than for my nephew). I even bought a stuffed tiger, which definitely made heads turn sitting on the tank of the bike.

And then, in a gap of 5 min, all the people I was trying to reach for the past 2 hrs replied back.

I don't quite know what to call such a day - miraculous maybe? What with a girl having insomnia sleeping soundly for '10 hrs'. And it doesn't end there. Soon after having lunch, I sat down to write this post. Having finished just 2 lines, Google Chrome crashed and took Windows down with it. For heaven's sake, since when did it begin to happen this way round. And right after the system rebooted, there was a power cut! I can't take it anymore, God. I resigned long back.

(After that, I continued this post on paper.)

How about a 3-wheel drive Nano?

The article One for the common man was published in The Hindu on October 6, 2009. If you don't feel like going through the entire article, here is the summary - author feels Nano is a great car and it is just like when the first 800 was launched in India. It's an article I completely disagree with as I don't think there is anything that exciting about Nano as has been hyped, for multiple reasons:

1. It's not really 1-lac. If you want something that can be called a car and not a metal box, you need to pay much more.

2. It's looks silly with its diminutive design and 12-inch wheels.

3. In this age of iCrap when 2-lacs isn't really much money, its pointless, infact harmful, to create a Nano. It's better to invest in building a 1-lac Harley Davidson than a Nano.

Anyway, coming back to the article, here are a few statements that I just have to comment on.

"it’s a rear-engined, rear-wheel-drive car... if you want the tail to step out, you will be disappointed" - Ofcourse! It's not Porsche Nano, it's TATA NANO.

"you have to wait nearly half-a-minute to see 100kph on the speedo" - Nano reaches 100kmph :O

"The Nano can seat five people comfortably... The 800 just about squeezes in four" - Really? My eyes must be deceiving me. And for the record, 800 seats 5 comfortably. But if you are an Indian, you definitely would know that even 6 people can be squeezed into an 800. Infact, I'm sure in the near future you would see 6 in the Nano too (only if the Nano is able to pull them, ofcourse).

"What’s more is that men in their Audis will stop to check out a car that costs a little more than two Audi side mirrors" - They must have stopped just to check that they don't kill the poor little puppy. If at all they were interested in the Nano, such Audi customers should be sued and shot to death.

"The Nano is the new status symbol" - Please, I can't stand it any more.

"The M800’s 796cc engine develops 39bhp. The Nano is not far off — the 624cc engine developing 35bhp" - What are we comparing here? A bullock-cart to an older bullock-cart?

"Why does the Nano catch more eyeballs per km than even the Ferraris did on their Magic Tour of India?" - It's because of idiots like him (and me).

Honestly, it is definitely worth more buying 3 bikes in lieu of the Nano. You would have a 150cc x 3 front-engined, rear wheel drive vehicle(s) with a collective power of 13.3 x 3 bhp (you beat the 800, yay!) and can also seat 6 comfortably (one more than the 800!). What more, you could go for a drive on 2-wheels, 4-wheels or even 6-wheels - a luxury even BMW doesn't offer yet. Added to all this, you also get greater resale value and it would be WAY MORE FUN.

The Best of Worlds

The below article was published by Sandipan Deb on May 29, 2000. Sandipan is an Electronics Engineer from IIT Kharagpur and was then the Deputy Editor of Outlook India. Currently he is Editor-Magazines, Indian Express Group. You can also find the original article here.

Every IITian I have showed this article to, has been able to relate with every single word. And so do non-IITians.

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Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of IITians do nothing of note in their lives. Indeed, many of them became IITians because their parents told them that’s what they should mug their butts off for, and aim to hit the US of A, so that’s what they did. They attended classes, took notes, passed exams, took the gre, applied to a dozen American universities, and disappeared into that country’s vast technological underbelly, to reappear only in the matrimonial columns of Indian papers with a dollar salary multiplied diligently by the day’s exchange rate. Or they stayed in India, working at unexceptionable jobs, doing reasonably well. In either case, they got beautiful brides (often from rich families) and presumably lived happily ever after, meeting classmates once a month and chatting about their IIT days, and how Hippo has just changed jobs, and Zap is three rungs away from the top in Cisco Systems. Each of them had intelligence well above the average, and most, exceptional academic tenacity.

A decade and a half out of IIT, I wonder how many of us IITians achieved our potential? How many went to seed in remote dusty townships, tending massive pipelines and drinking in the township club? How many wilfully walked away from their natural talents in favour of safe MNC jobs selling diapers and hire-purchase schemes? How many, trained to think rationally and without bias, never managed to figure out the nuances of Indian office politics, and were relegated to obscure corridors in huge buildings? How many, obsessed with the American dream, settled for second-rate US universities, hung in for a green card, and today work at unfulfilling jobs in Idaho?

There’s another angle too to this. How many IITians, determined to stay engineers and in India, ignored the siren songs of the USA and the IIMs, and joined Indian industry, only to find that all the technical designs came from abroad, that you couldn’t change them even if you knew they were flawed, that all the engineering you got to do was maintenance, and knowing all that, they either settled into mediocrity, or went off to the US or the iims?

What was my IIT education all about? It was about IITians: 400 academically exceptional boys (and 12 girls) on a campus, which, in the case of Kharagpur, where I went, was far enough from civilisation to have very interesting effects on our coming of age. Many of us were truly extraordinary. There were boys from village schools who were leagues ahead in knowledge of the urban convent-educated type. There were those who mugged night and day, or simpered at professors from first benches, and there were those who also had a vibrant and busy life outside academics. I’ve found that the latter did better in life, even in fields like pure research. I also had friends who never needed to study, they had been apparently born with engineering wisdom in their genes. There were guys who spent most of the semester in a drug haze, but sobered up a few days before the exams, cracked them, and went back to their pharmaceuticals. Others did not have such control. Like Allen Ginsberg, I too saw some of the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness. A few dropped out (I met one of them years later in Shillong, a stridently devout convert to Catholicism, and a lowly government clerk, but he seemed happy), a few killed themselves. But, most of us survived. I suppose we became tougher, more mature, more knowing, and more aware of our dark sides.

We lived and ate together, and shared our joys and heartbreaks and good times and bad times, in competition and camaraderie. We compared our philosophies and, bit by stumbling bit, developed our value systems. Never were stronger bonds forged between young people. Years from now, if I meet an IIT wingmate on the road, I know we will carry on as if nothing had changed, and nothing actually would have. A couple of years ago, there was a small visual trick on an Outlook cover, which was my idea. A close IIT friend, whom I had not been in touch with for years, called up from Singapore: "Some other name is mentioned in the cover credits, but it was your idea, right? I know the way you think." No one knows me better than these mates of mine from IIT.

IIT was also a whole insular world in itself, complex and complete, and it sucked us in. As The Chosen, we lived a full life with no necessity of any contact with the outside world. Totally cut off from politics and "the bigger issues", our delights remained in competing fiercely on the field or the stage with other hostels or other colleges. There were few material pleasures. Lifestyles were spartan, the food abysmal. The vast majority of males were totally deprived of female company. The girls lived a strange life-on the one hand, they were hounded by dozens of would-be suitors; on the other, they faced the petulant hostility of the majority which saw them as undeserving of so much adulation and so many free lunches.

When we graduated, we went out into the world with a rare confidence and strong tribal loyalties. The confidence eroded a bit over the years, and we learnt some humility when we discovered non-IITians as smart as we were, and also people who could outwit us because they were intelligent in a different way-in a sly political way-an acumen we had not developed in our isolated environment which, above all, inculcated a sense of fairness and a respect for ability. We came to terms with a world that compared poorly with our beloved campus, and some of us even went ahead and conquered it. Others didn’t do well, but knew that the ties between them and the masters-of-the-universe classmates would never change. They were ties born of the pride of being an IITian. That pride would never diminish.

It never can.

Slam book

A few days back, I was thinking about what could be the Worst job. And then the idea to write this post occurred to me.

WoRST JoB

The worst (read least exciting) job for me would be -

A Security Guard's could be the worst. I feel pity for them as they have no other activity than just having to stand at the entrance all day long and observing people. There isn't even anyone nearby to talk to, as they are all placed at strategic locations, far from each other. That said, I guess the worst (read least exciting) job according to me, one which I wouldn't take up even if I was paid a Million dollars would be - Salesman in a Jewellery store or a Sari shop.

BEST FEELiNG

To be loved. Even better if it's someone you love too. :)

WoRST FEELiNG

Not getting what you expected (and know you deserve) - be it love, be it glory.

MoST iRRITATiNG

The most irritating feeling would easily be - Getting a sneeze when you are on your bike with your helmet on. Only thing that beats it would be, getting a sneeze again right after you have put back your helmet.

WoRST SPoRT

Formula 1 without Ferrari.

BEST SPoRT

hehe.. no comments.

I feel as if I'm filling my own Slam Book. But help me, what else can I write on? You say.

Am back!

I wasn't in the greatest spirits since Pakistan's Independence Day and so temporarily stopped writing on my blog. After that, due to an "IDIOT" I decided to take a long break from my blog. Besides, things weren't exactly going on great in my life either.

But NOW, I feel happy. Things aren't yet exactly the way I would have liked, but maybe I just got used to the screwed-up world. I feel more drowsy and things seem less chaotic. :) And I have also decided not to pay much heed to that "IDIOT" unless I like what he says.

So, I guess I should be writing reasonably regularly from now on.

The Slow and Dangerous

Man proposes, God disposes. Especially if it is me. I left office at 7.30 thinking I would reach home early today. And then I found myself in a incredibly traffic packed road and one hell of a ride back home with a little bit of (mis)adventure as well in between.

Distance: 18km

Time: 2 hrs

Road: Tar, Sand cum Water

It was a once in a lifetime experience.. and once you experience it, you would do anything to NOT experience it again. It was raining heavily and traffic was crawling.. infact even a baby could crawl faster than that. And thank god, I wasn't in a car... I would never have had the patience to sit through that traffic. It wasn't anywhere near quick even on a bike though.

But I had fun dipping my legs in the water and trying to feel the weightlessness.. kiddish, ain't it? A little ahead, the traffic policemen were diverting all traffic to the left and blocked the road ahead. I obviously wasn't going to be scared of a little pool of water so I avoided him and went straight ahead and THUMP! My bike got into a big pothole.

The front tyre went in and came out but the rear tyre refused to. I accelerated a lot but it just kept slipping. The policeman came upto and started shouting at me, saying "What are we here for? Wasn't I telling you." I got off the bike and found myself in more than knee-deep water. I tried to lift the bike with one hand while I balanced it with the other and surprisingly, I did it. It was probably buoyancy but I felt like Sylvestar Stallone for a moment. And while I hopped on the bike and accelerated again, I heard the policeman saying, "You are lucky."

All in all, amazing ride. And it also is testimony to a quotation of mine which I haven't yet published on my blog..

"Speed doesn't kill, insanity does."

Fundamental Rights

15th Aug, 1947 to 15th Aug, 2009 - 62nd year of Independence. Lots of development happened in these years. In my childhood, we were taught of "Unity in Diversity" and today I'm hearing "India Shining" and "Incredible India". Honestly, I don't know what is so "Incredible" about India and neither can I see the "Shine". And while the "Diversity" is true, I'm not so sure about the "Unity" part.

And looking back into the 22 long years I have lived so far (of which I only remember about the last 6-7 yrs) I found a few things I could crib about. And they generally revolved around one thing - I have not even been provided my Fundamental Rights.

Aren't the "Fundamental Rights in India" guaranteed to every Indian citizen? Well, technically YES and as per the verbal usage in the Constitution, I'm even exercising my rights. But in the essence of it, I think we lost them long ago and never even realised it. Blame it on Society (ourselves)/Politicians/Law and you wouldn't be wrong.

I didn't even remember the 6 Fundamental Rights from my 9th Class Social Sciences course, so I had to read a little from the net, which you can find here. In this post, I would like to concentrate mainly on:

1. Right to Equality

2. Right to Freedom

4. Rigth to Freedom of Religion (yes, that's our Fourth Right)

2,4. Right to Freedom / Right to Freedom of Religion -

Right to Freedom relates to speech, expression and to move about within the country and the latter relates to, as the name implies, Freedom to follow any Religion. Together, these two rights give you the Freedom to form any opinion and also the Freedom to express it. With Press being given such a free hand in our country, I can't crib anything about that, can I?

But, this is what I think these 2 Rights were included in the Constitution for - to let everyone live in harmony by giving everyone the Freedom to think and move about freely within the country and live life as they deemed fit, and not be forced by someone else's opinions. The idea was that each one leads an independent life and not intrude into another's space. I would like to be treated as a responsible adult, form unadulterated opinions of everything that is happening around me, and take decisions for myself. I would like to settle and work in any part of the country.

The men and women writing the Constitution might have envisaged a happy India with many religions being practised by its citizens, but what they seem to have missed is the chaos that comes with diversity. We have so many religions being followed with each sect having its own presumptions about the nature of the others, that the whole purpose is defeated. I now have to deal with the Ram Sena's telling me how to live life "morally" and Shiv Sena's clearly voicing that non-Maharashtrians are not welcome in their state. To add to this are the inflammatory speeches made by idiots (read: likes of Varun Gandhi), enlarging of the communal, regional or caste-wides divides by political parties (can't single out any here) and of preachings/speeches made by "religious leaders" which are manipulative and biased in their content (such as Hindu Jagruti).

This proves it, I am not being given my Fundamental Rights of Freedom. Infact, if I had done better at Mathematics during school, I would have proven it to you that it is not possible to give everone the Right to Freedom without creating a mess. I would say, revoke my two Fundamental Rights of Freedom, which are but for namesake. Instead, replace them with a LAW OF TOLERANCE - a law which treats "intolerance towards any human/sect/community/caste/region or any other discrimination factor as a punishable offense". I want the word "tolerance" drilled into the mind of every citizen and into the heart of the society. And until then, I would rather live in a country of NO religion than a country of MANY religions.

Because we still have people who think Pakistan is bad, because they fail to get it that a certain few individuals do not necessarily reflect the qualities of a nation. That way, atleast Pakistan is ruled by a man who had it in him to reach the top. Unlike us, where we are ruled a woman who just happened to be the grand-daughter-in-law of a great man.

1. Right to Equality -

It is commonsense that, we are born different, we think different, we are at different levels - socially and financially, then how can we all be treated equal. This Right guarantees us equality - equality before the law, equal access to public places, equality in matters of public employment.

But in reality, it is just another of those "namesake" Fundamental Rights. Because, also written into the law is that "special provisions may be made for women, children or socially or educationally backward classes". See, the very Law that's supposed to treat us all as equal is trying to divide us. So, while you are waiting in the long queue at a temple, a politician or his wife's uncle's cousin's stepson might just get a VIP pass. Same goes with court matters or applying to a public post. While in some cases, it's unofficial "recommendations", it is "special provisions" in the rest. And the bottomline - there is NO EQUALITY.

But, don't bother. Because equality is like a man conceiving a child. It's just against the very law of nature. After all, even if I were more capable than Vijay Mallya's son, he would still leave everything to his son, right? Why else do you think sons, daughters and nephews of all actors, directors and producers are coming back into the show-business. What's worse is that, we are today being ruled by men and women who just happen to be the grand-daughter-in-laws or great-grand-sons of men who once ruled India. And these are the people who we trust are going to safeguard our Right to Equality. Right, why not.

But who is the culprit? Who snatched away my Fundamental Rights? I guess the answer is everyone of us. The politicians and a few other men - for their own greed and selfish motives. The court, for having let antisocial elements make our system seem like a farce. And the rest of us, because we stayed silent and tolerant of all the wrong things.

And I would like to end with what Rabindranath Tagore wrote decades ago and what still holds true. Only, we should now say, not "Country", but "Every living being"

LET MY COUNTRY AWAKE

Where the mind is without fear and the head held high;

Where knowledge is free;

Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;

Where words come out from the depth of truth;

Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;

Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;

Where the mind is led forward by Thee into ever-widening thought and action;

Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

The 3-day Celebration

We celebrate... we are happy... or the other way round. In my case, I can't distinguish if the celebrations came first or the happiness.

It all started on the Saturday of what seemed would be a boring weekend. I met a close friend in the noon and then met another very special friend in the evening. Technically, everything went wrong that day. I couldn't have lunch on time and worse still couldn't even have a proper dinner. And the movie I went to watch was as dumb as dumb could get. The name was Agyaat, a hindi dubbing of a telugu movie (Adavi) and the story was that of a haunted forest. As the name implies, everything about it was Unknown. I didn't know why I had to watch that movie and what was the plot. I shall copy my friend's words here, since I can't put it any better - "it was a horror-comic". And the suspense in the plot was so intense, that it is not revealed even at the end of the movie. The director asks us to wait for Agyaat-2 but I doubt anybody would be eagerly awaiting it.

So after a Saturday late-night horror-comic show, I was woken up on Sunday noon by my brother. He had just returned from Germany. He brought A LOT of chocolates for me and my nephew, so being woken up early was worth it. Better still, he even gifted me the iPod Nano that I was planning to buy from long. And as if this wasn't enough, I went out shopping in the evening to buy something for my dad. Now any spendthrift would tell you that, shopping gives you a unparalleled pleasure and unadultrated joy. So, after I was done shopping for my dad, I shopped for myself and my nephew.

After a perfect 10hrs sleep, I went to office on Monday an hour late (but nothing unusual about it being a true-Indian). I didn't have any work so just whiled away time and left an hour early and went shopping again ;) I had selected the venue for dinner (Rajdhani, in Ameerpet) and it turned out to be the best place for a perfect dinner with family and close relatives. It was one of the few places where they charged you high and yet served good food and served you well.

And thus the awesome 3-day celebration time comes to an end with me writing this post. From tomorrow, it's back to boring work-office-home life. But fingers-crossed, maybe there is more in store for this week.

The Shutter

It's an open secret that I'm not bold. I mean, I am not daring enough to try the "new" thing... true... but what I am saying here is that - I am scared. I am scared of the dark, of lizards and of horror movies. And I left more than a hint of that in an earlier post.

I have mentioned the movie "The Shutter" in the earlier post too and since then I intended to write this post describing why I am scared to this day to even think of that movie. But before I tell you what actually happened the night of the movie, I will have to give you a synopsis of the movie.

Plot (better not read this if you don't want the suspense to be revealed)

Shutter is actually a Korean movie (I think) and anyone who has watched it would definitely rate it as one of the best horror movies ever. It's one of those movies where the suspense is steadily built (that's it.. I can't take it any more. It's past midnight and I am too scared to even think of the movie now... I will continue this post again some "day". For now, let me check my bank statement... hopefully, my deplorable "financial" condition shall divert my mind.)

Another trip back Home

Today, while checking my posts, I found the below one in the drafts since 1/16/09 12:50 AM. I honestly forgot what I intended to write here. All I remember is that this was some sort of a continuation to this older post.

---

I was on a short vacation from Saturday, Jan 10th to Wednesday, Jan 14th. I was back at my native place - Kodada - supposedly for Sankranti which was on Wednesday. Another reason, which was also more primary, for making this trip was that my mom had a school reunion to attend - that's right, all her 10th class-mates and their teachers were meeting on Sunday, Jan 11th. The reunion went great, it was organised on a grand scale and why not - all her ex-classmates were now settled (mostly in Hyderabad) and doing well. One owned a Jewellery shop, another owned a Diagnostic Centre and so on.

But what amazed me most was that everyone, including the teachers, recognised most of the others. And it being a village and there being only one govt. school in those old days (today there are 4 engineering colleges there), all the siblings went to the same school and were taught by the same teachers. So, as the teachers went around getting updates from their ex-students, and their siblings, they could easily have written a History of Kodada.

Apart from the reunion, there was practically nothing else to do than EALSAL - Eat A Lot, Sleep A Lot. No need for me to mention that I love such trips. As per the Indian culture, the closer your relatives the more food they try to stuff into you. And everytime I went out, the ultra-cheap prices (which I have already written about in an earlier post) only used to increase my appetite. This meant I had to sleep close to 12hrs every day (9hrs during night and 3 hrs during day) just to keep the digestion on track. I bet, I would have added on atleast a couple of kgs.

As I was writing this post, an old lady walked into the house. She was apparently related to my Aunt (through a chain not less than 4 links) and she was a specimen. A "live; walking and talking; BBC". Towns are small places and almost everybody is related to everybody someway or the other. But this lady was the heights. In the 2 hrs she spent at home, she spoke for like 1 hr 45 min and gave a complete round-up of all the happenings in the town. She would have easily put any News Network to shame with her coverage, inside news and the pure zeal. She was generous enough to end with a short 15 min Q&A session, before remembering that she was also supposed to be visiting some other relative.

----

This is where the draft ends.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S.

The title of this post is sure to make you think of "FRIENDS" - the TV Series. Wonderful Series, eh? Absolutely. Awesome characters and great humour. Brilliantly written, brilliantly executed. Every episode is a masterpiece. Lots of emotions that the characters go through, throughout the series, but they still manage to tickle your funny bone. So much so that, they make you wish.. wish that your life was the same. And if half the reason for that is the way the series has been scripted, the other half would be that it is about "Friends".

Afterall, who wouldn't want a bunch of great friends around them. I definitely would. It would be so exciting. I would have some great stories to share with my kids and their kids. But alas, my life never felt as special as in the series.

No wonder, when I look back at my life today, I don't really have some great episodes to share. I mean, if you have done some adventurous or uber-crazy stuff, you would have something to share. And my life has been "extraoridnarily ordinary". But I don't love Joey and Co. for doing anything adventurous. What, then, sets them apart? What makes them special? One answer is, they are such "characters" (if you understand what I mean) that they make very lovable characters on screen. And the other answer for it would be, their life has been documented.

TRUE. And that's the sad part I realised when I looked back at my life. My life already had most of the FRIENDS' characters. I had already met Joeys, Chandlers, Rosses, Phoebes, Rachels or my sweet-heart Monica. But why do I still wish that my life was as good as the TV Series. I have two reasons for this well.

First would be, we just live life, we don't LIVE life. Worth mentioning here would be Ezekiel's (in the movie, Sex Drive) comments about the Amish people, "Sometimes I just miss the world. You know, I miss sarcasm. It's mostly lost on my people. And gambling."

And second would be, my life hasn't been documented. Because if it was, I'm sure it would have been as good as FRIENDS. There have been good days and bad days, but everyday there has always been something to be happy about. While we enjoy that instant, we don't care to remember it. We meet some very interesting people in our lives who we grow very attached to, but soon wander and meet someone else. And thus, God's greatest gift to Man, is also his greatest curse - Imperfect memory. If only we had trained our mind to weed out the sad episodes much more quickly and keep the happy memories forever. But almost always, its the other way round.

Let me try recollecting the names of all my "best buddies". During my schooling in Delhi, my life could be spelled as BAVA (Balaji, Aakash, Vikash and Akshay) at school or as S (for Sveta) at home. They were people I hanged out with every single day. Back in Hyderabad, it would be JATAPS (Jiddu, Adi, Theju, Aravind "Warrior", Pallav and Sriram) for a couple of years and then probably, PJ-MAS2TheC (Parrot, Jiddu, Makhi, Adi, Sriram, Sharan, Theju, Choudhury). And those school-bus journeys with ASK (Arvind, Sai Kiran and Kalyan). They were the people I hanged out with most, outside of the school and we were all Badminton-Cricket buddies too. Intermediate definitely was my best time, cause I only had fun. There was very little that I did outside of it. And my best buddies then were (K)RAANKSS (Kinnera, Rajeev, Amit, Amar, Nikhil, Kishore, Santosh and Siddharth).

IIT was a special place. During those 4 years, everyone lived life like one big family. Difficult to even mention so many names here but some of the closest of the closest family members were: H2MC2KT (Harish, Harsha, Manu, Chandu, Chinny, Kailash, TP). If I wasn't in my room, which was generally the case, I was at one of their rooms. And there have been numerous times when I would stay 24 hrs straight in one of their rooms even though mine was just next door. And IIT life wouldn't have been worth it if it wasn't for TRANSC-TV (Tapasya, Raj, Akon, Nalgonda, Singla, Chinny, TP, Vamsy). Not to forget the online "chat" friends - SAM (Sonal, Aisha and Madhu).

While all these years are only blurred in my mind, I remember the last one year, very clearly. It was so wonderful, I have already written a post about it. First 6 months could only be spelled as MANGPART-V (Madan, Amita, Nikhil, Golu, Pigy, Athni, Rahul, Tassu, Vamsi) and the next 3 months as TRTP (Tassu, Rachna, Tajji, Pratibha). In all my life, I have never felt as lonely as I felt April to June when I changed my priorities and placed Work before Life. It didn't take long for my company to tell me it was a bad choice. And all this time, I can't remember of anyone whom I spoke to regularly except P (Pratibha).

So except for a couple of friends, I can't really say I'm in touch with anyone I met more than an year ago. And since July, I have been more in the Party mood. So, I have met a lot of new people but am yet to see how many would become my close friends.

My Love Life - Quote

Every girl I ever liked was either "elder to me, married or already taken" and in light of the recent developments, "is a lesbian".

LUCK

I have just come back from watching the movie LUCK. A different kind of a plot but executed very badly with exceptionally bad acting. None of the characters made any sense to me, from Aisha-Natasha to Ram to Raghavan. And the "Grand-finale" was the mega-bomb to take away whatever little thrill, No! curiousity, the rest of the movie had managed to arouse in you. The script has few scenes which do not seem to fit into the normal flow of the movie but these are beautifully connected later on in the Hollywood-inspired kind of way. Except that once you have knotted together all the loose ends, you feel like "This wasn't worth it." Bottomline - If it were the work of a amateur, I would say good try but needs loads of improvement. Otherwise, UTTER CRAP. And you definitely are lucky if you haven't watched it.

But what did catch my attention was the concept. I am still wondering, do such people exist? Can anybody have such luck? I do know a few people who are very lucky but I am pretty sure all of them only have their heart in the right place (you would understand this if you have watched the movie). And if this movie even breaks-even, then we will have to call the Producer, Moussa, for getting away with something as bad as this. If I had my way, I would want to... forget it!

If we take the word LUCK literally, even I could be termed lucky, for I always seem to carry (Bad) Luck in my pocket everytime. Infact, I have something like the Sadim's (from Midas) touch - everything I touch turns into dung. And it works better than ever, in the case of girls. Every girl I ever liked was either "elder to me, married or already taken" and in light of the recent developments, "or is a lesbian".