Yeh hain India Meri Jaan !

So you scaled the world over off from a foreign land and just reached India?

A warm Welcome first of all.

Rest, be assured of some really good experience here -breathtakingly different, find-no-where stuff, almost Out Of the Box!

Talk about being different - unimaginable things are made possible here , in the-road-less-travelled-way, every other day !

Almost Out of the Box . Yes they are !

How much of the below would you ever find anywhere in the world -

- A cart, a car and a bull racing against each other on the road.

- Water-filled potholes on the lane and sometimes even people fishing in that.

- Besotted blokes lying on some field-corner in sunny day-time.

- A traffic police watching hue and cry on the road from a nearby pan-shop.

- Mercedes and a Bicycle parked side by side .

- People running beside and behind to catch a Moving bus.

- Footpaths half-occupied by sellable items

- A fearless cow , rolling unscathed ( mostly) , on a railway track !

- A bunch of people who walk on the road before election and roam in bullet-proof car thereafter – we call them Politicians !

Nevertheless all the Exciting pandemonium , this land would appropriate that you have a ball of a time as we believe in – Atithi Devo Bhava ( Guest is God ) !

So enjoy madi !

Past , Present and Then Some More

The Human needs are so prolific most of the times – We keep striving and leave no stone unturned to feed our hunger , quite opulent – almost always !

Certain amount of changes have so fast crept in over the past few years that looking back some things seem quite strange and funny at the same time.

Reminiscent of college days - running around Cyber cafes was such a common scene. Consider urself as damn lucky if you could possibly manage to grab a sysetm\seat after waiting for half an hour !
Oh yes – you always take ur buddy along with you so that the Surfing payment can be divided equally! Penny-pinching ah ? Not really!
Having internet at home 24/7 , at the clicks away, would have looked like a lavish or rather Luxury I would say at that time!

Being Brand-conscious was so risky and non-manageable considering the fixed amount of money , you used to pocket by then.
And now ?

Brand nahin to kuch nahin !

Those Levis’ jeans , UCB Tees , Louis Philippe shirts , Peter England pants throb inside the wardrobe now. From the pin to tin , shoes to socks , food to diet , wine to dine – it’s all about brand , brand and some more brand.

The monthly expense of the bygone days are, now ,not sufficient to pay even ur mobile bills sometimes !

Day’s getting costlier with every minutes passing by.

We are not complaining though . Because Change happens only for the Good of the Bigger Better picture of Life.

Ubiquitous

The syllables I mumble
Aren’t those of some essence
If at all they need to be
I must procure my ground.

Burying the ego at the deepest hour
Some sort of playing around
Might loosen the bolts
Or do tighten them to the best

 Rescuing must happen from the core
Or so it seems to be
Aren’t all of those stuck-up speeches
Testifying thy presence ?

Equate the sum of all
And you get the biggest zero
Divide , subtract and nullify - All it does fetch you
Is another Bigger Zero !

Not all letters have some meaning
Even if you jumble all the way
Some things stand so complicated
That it turns around to be the best !!!

Office Space

Recently watched an old movie – Office Space ( Justified to say “Old” for 1999 I guess !)

And boy ! Was pleasantly amazed. Had I watched it 10 years back , I would not have enjoyed the movie so much as I did now.

The IT folks can so easily relate to this movie – the daily office nuisances , bugging boss ( if u r unlucky !) , Monday blues , Functional Specs , Review comments , Coffee breaks , Short-term crushes ,Birthday celebrations , Weekend-working , Late hours, Peer gossips , One-to-one meetings , Deadlines, Traumatic Xerox machines , Performance reviews , Newer policies , Paycheck issues and so on and on !

The character that I found to be the most remarkable is that of the boss of INITECH – Bill Lumbergh ( Gary Cole) with his impeccable skill to find the slightest and sleekest loopholes and a very unique style of racking – “Yeeeaaah , if you can just go ahead and do it , that would be greaaaat !”. You can see this guy walking from pillar to post in the office with a cup full of never-ending coffee and harassing the employees . His proverbial "So what's happening ?" is the most dreaded line which often initiates a fresh line of work or some sort of trouble for the employees. Watch the movie and you will know what I am talking about. Lumbergh gets 10 on 10 as the guile & irritating boss to make the plot a perfect slapstick.

And so is Peter (Ron Livingston), the Lumbergh-tortured , victimized employee who turns , after a Hypnotherapy session, into the devil-may-care slack-skinned dude ( or employee rather) and gets a promotion nevertheless whereas his hard-working friends Michael Bolton ( David Herman) and Samir ( Ajay Naidu) gets short-listed for the pink slips !

Not to forget a miserably tormented Milton(Stephen Root) - Habituated to moving his desk every now and then , heads his workstation to the Basement Storage house finally upon Lumbergh's prolonged windy pinches ! The overly troubled soul works in the office and gets his paychecks even 5 years after he was laid off just because no one ever told him that he was sacked !

A thoroughly enjoyable comedy – custom-made for a weekend watch and getting ready for the ensuing Monday Blues !

The Big and Small of it

Small is the Big sometimes ! And speaking in terms of the volumes of contribution , so it is - Most of the times.

Small things , small matters and small people go unnoticed without the sound of claps and deserved acclamation more often than not !

The Cab driver who wakes up and gets to work at an unearthly hour so that you can reach work on time.

The Postman who walks under the blistering sun-light to make sure the courier gets delivered to you at the comfort of Air-conditioned home.

The Security guard who tries to be awake at night to safeguard the property ( and sometimes his job as well ! )

The Kissan (Farmer) , slogging throughout the year , at the paddy field to feed the nation.

The Workers plugging away at different Mills, Industries to generate the daily amenities.

The Newspaper guy who makes sure you receive the latest news at your doorstep even though it’s raining cats and dogs outside.

The Traffic-police ( barring the bribe-takers – believe me , we still have few Honest ones !) who stands amidst the polluted ambience all day long to keep the chaos out of the road.

The Municipality Sweeper , cleaning the drainage , wastage and dirt Contributed by the masses every day.

The Labourer breaking the stones , under the sun and the rain , at the roadside to finish off the fly-over on time.

Add the Thelawala , the Rickshawpooler , the Kooli to this Elite section - Just some of the Unsung Junta of the Nation.

Simple and sober , powerless yet powerful , unspoken yet a necessity - they are a crucial part of the Nations’ backbone - not by Profession but by the effort and dedication they put in each and every minute - quite Unconvinced and Unaware of the admiration – they so badly deserve !

This simple post is just a way of saying - THANKS to all of them !

Bharat Bandh

The Bandh Culture is back again to the much euphoria of the masses !

We , Indians , have a unique way of protesting – calling for a Bandh – a total shut-down of the entire daily-working machinery !

And people , like me , are ecstatic , not that we care much about the cause of the Bandh but that we don’t have to go the office/college that day.
On a sarcastic note , lets sit back , relax at home , watch movies and be a total couch-potato !

And only God knows if it is a good sign for a country like ours !

Red and Green

Step on the road , pick any transportation and start - on the way you happen to meet something really frustrating and equally inevitable always – the traffic signals. Cover just 5 of them and quite comfortably notice something , very common and not quite palatable , at each of the signals - It’s the habit of majority of the people not to stop the engine – be it a bike , a car or a bus , at the Red light.

Most of the traffic signals are equipped with Timers nowadays - vividly displaying how long will the Red lights be put on . This gives ample scope to arrange shutting down the machine. But only a few care. We talk about Green Earth and we don’t pay heed to the Red !

This is not about the ever-rising Petrol or Diesel price hike . Rather about the Natural resources dwindling at an alarming rate ! We can not imagine how big positive impact and difference would be made by shutting the machine for even 30 seconds. We save energy , money as well less pollute the environment..

The planet deserves at the least this little attention from our side for sure !

Soccer and Shocker

Surprise , surprise and some more surprises !


World Cup 2010 has seen some substantial surprises – first with some Big teams - France , England and 2006 Champion Italy , being pushed to an exit already .

Came waving the bigger shock with the two most steadfast 2010 front runner Stallions ,my personal favourite teams , Brazil and Argentina being out of the Quarter-finals. Really sad – more so due to a tremendously expected Brazil-Argentina clash in the finals !

Both the teams played undoubtedly fabulous football in the tournament so far .Though personally , I feel due to some bizarre reasons, Brazil was not as vivacious attacking ,against Holland ,as they normally are and Argentina defence looked seemingly penetrating against Germany.

Holland and especially Germany attack has been breathtakingly delightful to watch while they thrashed out the Titans from the Most Wonderful Game on the planet.

Probably this what we call the Luck factor which is needed equally to grab the moment and shine.

No doubt on the expertise of the veterans coaches – Dunga and Maradona , though.
On the same note – all the players Robinho , Kaka, Fabiano , Messi , Tevez , Higuaín , notwithstanding the loss , would be held high for the dribbling skills. You have been fab !

Good luck guys - may be next time !

The Good of Small Things

Honesty is the best policy - uttered numerous times in school . Implemented ? Never !

Although neither it is an air-headed speculation nor just a fancy-idea even in this jet-age !

I have got a pretty explanation for the same.

Here’s how –

Had given some stuff to a nearby Tailor-shop , in the morning, for getting alternation done. Evening while collecting back , I was in a hurry ( had to catch up the 7.30 P.M. Brazil-Dutch world cup match ☺ ) and , incidentally, happened to pay 100 bucks extra to the guy ( the owner of the shop). And I left !

What’s next ?

Well the guy , apparently called me , around 20 minutes later , in my cell and told that I had paid him extra !

I was really surprised at the unsurprisingly rare honesty when he could have easily ( and happily) pocketed the extra bucks.

The planet is not devoid of genuine & honest people , I must say – Thank God !

P.S. – As a coincidence , morning itself , I had read in the Bangalore Mirror newspaper – a reporter had arranged 4 purses to be dropped at 4 different locations in Bangalore , just to check how many are returned end of the day . And ironically only one purse was returned - that too by an NRI lady from Los Angeles !