C'est La Vie

Me and my Bro.....

2010-07-12T19:26:00.000+05:30

My younger brother turned 19 on 22nd June 2010. He is doing his BE in Comp Science at the JSS Academy of Technical Education Bangalore. He has completed his 2nd year of studies and will be starting with the 3rd year in August.I call him on his BDay to wish him.

Me : So this is your final 'teen' year. You are practically an adult now. How do you see your future?
He : I attended this seminar a few weeks back. It was about higher studies for Indian students in the US. I found it very interesting.
I saw that he was fired up and the enthusiasm was very obvious.
He : I will complete my engineering by 21, work for 2-3 years here in Bangalore, write GRE and get into a good college, finish my studies, work there for 2 years and then come back to India.
He said all this in one breadth.....
Me : You serious??
He : Yeah. I know its gonna be tough and i have to slog, but i think i will give it a shot.

I let the feeling and the rush of information sink in as he sounded so cool and casual as if sipping a cup of coffee. I spoke a lot on this topic and finally after almost an hour i ended the call.

He had practically planned the next 10 years of his life. My plan while he was talking was what i should have for dinner? The usual chilly chicken with Rice or Chicken Masala and Chapatis? We are 2 very different people i tell you, Me and my Bro. I was wondering what i was doing @ 19. Well, the less said the better. I was secretly harbouring dreams of making it to the college cricket team as a fast bowler(shhhhh, dont tell anyone), then the university team, and then the state team and finally the national team. What happened to the dream you ask? Well, it collided with reality, head on, thats what happened.
My brother is doing pretty OK with his engineering studies. I am very happy for him. Infact it was my idea to pull him to Bangalore for his Engineering studies. He is ambitious. I can already see his dream materialising into a distant but a very much possible reality.
10 years down the line(when i will be grappling with the diaper of my kid while my other kid will be tugging at my trouser-hopefully to teach him/her a bit about bowling fast) my bro will come to me and say, aaj mere paas gadi hai(Foreign wali), building hai(Foreign mein), property hai(Foreign mein), bank balance hai(dollars mein), kya hai tumhare paas??
And i will say, mere paas maa hai and my mom will nod in approval.
Dont giggle, it might happen.....
I wish my bro all the best and may all his dreams come true. Rock on dude, more power to you.

The Long drive....

2010-06-07T10:12:00.000+05:30

The Long drive....

It was a beautiful noon. Nice and sunny. The road was lined up with tall trees. The whole mountainous terrain made it all the more pleasing. Even though Rahul and Anjali had been on this road a lot of times but it looked new every time.....
Rahul and Anjali were an ideal couple. They loved each other like crazy. They both were as different as chalk and cheese. He was the shy, introvert kind. He spoke very little and words were always measured and most often than not either diplomatic or politically correct. His sense of humour- dry and sarcastic. She was the vivacious and spontaneous kind. She made friends very easily with her energetic, chirpy and bubbly nature.
As always, he was mesmerized by the magical sound of her voice. She kept talking about the beautiful weather, the mountains, the trees etc and he just listened to her. He could listen to her for hours together and not get bored.

She looked at him as he smiled.

“Heyyyy....tum bore to nahi ho rahi na..ahh??” he asked as Shahrukh Khan does in Om Shanti Om. He was good at mimicking Shahrukh.

She laughed.....

“With you around, no way....” she said and moved closer to him wrapping her right arm around his left arm....

“Yes dear, i can be quite a talker” he said. They both laughed.

He opened the side cabin and took out the CD marked Mohammed Rafi- Dard-e-Dil, Dard-e-jigar. The CD had only this song recorded 152 times. He was crazy.....

She knew he was going to sing. She came even closer and held onto his arm even more firmly and closed her eyes.

He had sung this very song couple of years ago for her in front of a crowd of around 200 people and offered her a red rose.

It was completely unlike him to be doing something like that....

“You are crazy to be doing something like this”, she had said.

He had replied “I love you like crazy, and i want you and the entire world to know about it” and offered her the rose. She accepted the flower.

She was floored and so were most of the ladies present there.....

She woke out of her reverie.... He was singing.....

“aapki madhosh nazrein kar rahi hai shayari,
Yeh ghazal meri nahi, yeh ghazal hai aapki,
Maine toh bas woh likha jo kuch likhaya aapne,
Dard-e-dil, dard-e-jigar, dil mein jagaya aapne.....

He did not have a great singing voice but it made her feel special, made her feel like a princess.
He moved the car down from the main road onto a long rough patch used as a road and stopped under a big banyan tree.

“Sweetie, you remember this place?”
“How could i ever forget?” she replied.

They had shared their first kiss here.

He came close to her and kissed her on the tip of the nose. His breath was fresh and warm and sort of tickled her. He gazed into her beautiful eyes....

“What you thinking?” she asked.

“I am living a beautiful dream. Is all this happening or am i plain crazy?” he asked.

“You are not crazy and this is definitely not a dream. Its even better cos its for real, watch this” saying this, she met his lips with hers. He responded. A passionate kiss.....

“I have something for you” he said....

“You mean apart from the kiss?” she teased him....

As he opened the gift case, she saw a beautiful gold chain with a pendant that had her initials.

“Happy Bday sweetie” he said.

“But its a week away??” she exclaimed....

“Yeah but i couldn’t hold onto the excitement” he said.

He was crazy....

“Is this why we came on this drive and stopped here of all the places”? she asked.

“Yeah that too and we have a flat tyre” he flashed an impish smile. “Come on lazy-bones, help me fix the tyre”.
She hated being called with that nick name.

5 minutes later they were seen running around the car, she chasing him with a stick in her hand and a sizable amount of grease on her left cheek.

They were happy. They were in love.

C’ est La Vie.

A memorable bus ride....Part II

2010-05-20T16:35:00.000+05:30

A memorable bus ride....Part II

You can read the part one here.

One look at the guy and you would know that he is good looking. His ID said he is a software engineer but he looked like a model. From now on i will address the guy as 'Our Hero', because he epitomises the way every guy thinks and feels at his age, which forms the latter part of this story. And i will address the girl as 'the pretty girl'....so very obvious....

The bus stopped at the next stop and the lady sitting next to the pretty girl got down. The pretty girl moved towards the window. "You can sit here until a woman comes" said the pretty girl looking at our Hero. Her voice was mesmerizing....

"Thanks...its a long journey and i could use some comfort" he said.
Way to go dude...nice beginning...this is going to be fun...i thought....
"My name is Rajiv"

"Payal"

"Payal.....nice name"

"Thanks"

Yeah right...such a cliche....i mean, irrespective of what her name would have been, he would have said the same thing.....

Our hero: "So...i see that you work at infosys. Correct???"

Pretty Girl: "No...i dont....what made you say so??"....

Our Hero: "Your bag pack says Infosys"....

Pretty Girl: "No....the bag pack belongs to my room mate and she works in Infosys"

Hahahaaaheheheeee....strike one dude...trying to be smart eh???...

Our Hero: "Oh ok...where do you work??"

It seems Our Hero knows a thing or two about smooth conversation....casual yet intrusive...

Pretty Girl: "I work in CTS"

Our Hero: "Oh....I have been working in CTS for the past two and a half years and i have never seen you around".....

Smooth dude...smooth....

Pretty Girl: "I joined CTS 6 months back and as i see it, its a big world out there"....

Heheheeehehee strike 2 dude....she seems to be smart....

As time went on their conversation flowed smoothly...myriad topics seemed to crop up like it was no ones' business...

Smack my bitch up!!!....the ringtone came as a shock...especially to me as the Pretty Girl answered her phone....

The pretty girl is not all vanilla...she does have a naughty streak in her...i mean, 'Smack my bitch up'...what a ringtone....

Our Hero: "Fancy handset"....

Pretty Girl: "Thanks"....

Our Hero: "I bet the number is even fancier"....

Pretty Girl: "Very tempting...but thanks...i will have to pass this one"....

There you go dude...strike 3..back to the dugout....

Our Hero: "Well cant blame a guy for not trying".....

Hahaha hahaha hahaaha their laughter took me by surprise...I mean this guy wouldnt give up....

To be concluded....hopefully soon...

Heartbroken....

2010-05-12T11:11:00.000+05:30

My heart is weeping in silence. The pain is gut-wrenching. I care so much and at the end of it all I somehow manage to get hurt. The relationship never made sense. I guess it was never meant-to-be. But then, true love is divine. You fall in love, you stand by it through good times and bad.

But when things don’t work out that’s when the pain becomes unbearable. You start questioning God and his existence.
“Why God? Why? Why so much pain? I never asked for too much??” is all you seem to say. Wish you had someone to hold you close and console you, to tell you that things will be alright, things will be fine, its just a passing phase and we shall get over it. But that does not seem to happen.
I just need to get used to this pain and hope that it becomes a part of my life and then it will not hurt that much. Till then the sobbing and the outpour shall not stop…..
India has crashed out of the T20 World Cup. Sniff…… someone hand me that tissue please….
On a different thought altogether…..these things seem to happen again….

1. South Africa choking again when they had to stand up, fight and be counted.
2. A billion Indians waiting for the team to do well in a last ditch Do-or-die effort, and then wait for some other team to defeat some other team, so that our team can go through to the next round.
3. The team does well in the do-or-die scenario…well almost…..
4. We end up disappointed.

But I blame the pitches for the poor show of our players. They were too fast and too bouncy. If our number1 test batsman can get out in 4 continuous innings to a short pitched ball, then there has to be something wrong. It can’t be a coincidence. About the other players in the top order, the less said the better.

Oh! And do watch out for England. They seem to be doing all the right things this time around….
I think India plays a tri series next starting from 28th May. Right?

A day at the cinema hall…….

2010-04-20T17:09:00.000+05:30

The other day I went to watch a movie at a nearby theater. Good movie lots of fun total paisa vasool….
But what I am writing about happened in the male rest room. Very weird to say the least.

I was at the wash basin, washing my hands and this late 20ish person was standing next to me adjusting his tuck looking at the mirror.
He looked a bit like Rahul Bose. Medium height and stocky athletic build and a prominently receding hairline with short, cropped , gelled hair and with those thick glasses he certainly looked like the geeky types. I would soon find out….
After washing hands to my “creature of habit-do not like things changing around me- the towel must be wet and thrown on the floor and not neatly folded and kept in the cupboard- irksome nature" I notice that there are no tissues in the tissue paper stand.
Now I am not known to hurl abuses, I take out my hand kerchief to wipe my hands.

The unassuming Rahul Bose lookalike person too washed his hands and started to search for the tissues which were not there.

He too took off his hand kerchief and started to wipe his hands dry…..

Then it happened!!!
Mr Rahul Bose lookalike after wiping his hands dry went to the dustbin and before anything could happen, he threw his kerchief into the dustbin and coolly stood in front of the mirror setting his hair upwards to defy the gravity……

And then it hit him!!!!

He looked at me…..his look said…. “Oh I am such a duffer and now this guy knows it too...
I wanted to fall down, roll on the floor and laugh my heart out, but I was in the rest room and its not the place for all those things….

So I came out holding onto that uncontrollable laughter and wrote a blog about the whole thing.

ಹ್ರುದಯವೆಂಬ ಮರುಭೂಮಿ.....

2010-04-07T13:22:00.000+05:30

ಮರುಭೂಮಿ ಇದ್ದ ನನ್ನ ಹ್ರುದಯದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರೀತಿಯ ಬೀಜವನ್ನು ನೆಟ್ಟು, ಬೆಳೆಸಿ, ಪೊಶಿಸಿ, ವಿಶಾಲವಾದ ಮರವನ್ನಾಗಿಸಿದ ದೇವತೆ ನೀನು.
ಬೆಳೆದು ನಿ೦ತ ಆ ಮರವನ್ನು ಈಗ ಕಡಿದು ಬೀಳಿಸೆನ್ನುವ ನಿನ್ನ ಮಾತಿನ ಪರಿ ಏನು?

Something Interesting....

2010-03-11T16:13:00.000+05:30

Something interesting happened the other day. Sidin Vadukut himself came to my blog and wrote a comment!!
Let me repeat it for the effect. Sidin Vadukut came to my blog and wrote a comment!!! Yay !!!
I am a big fan of Sidin and when i saw his comment on my blog, the feeling was nothing short of an excitement. It was like a tickle. Imagine you have a very cold and mouth water inducing(?) ice cream and somehow you manage to drop that on your shirt and the ice cream starts to tickle your insides? Yeah? Same to same feeling!!!
You can read the comment here.
Even though the comment was in response to my friends comment, it was totally worth it.
Just wanted to know one thing. You think he would have read my other posts? Hmmmmm....

Words....

2010-03-04T17:45:00.000+05:30

The street was jam packed and the crowd was all out in full strength for the weekend shopping. One could hardly find space for walking. Amidst all the noise, they both walked, as always, hand in hand, totally oblivious to the surroundings. She held onto his arm firmly as if she would get lost amidst the noisy crowd. The slow walk, the closeness, the hush hush whispers, the gentle touch, the carefree giggles, the staring into the eyes for long hours as if trying to unearth new hidden meanings….it was as if they were all alone….life seemed bliss…it seemed complete, and everything else, irrelevant.

He was always his happiest best around her. He met her and he met life. Everything that followed was a fairytale. He was living a dream. Around her he was always himself, totally at ease and completely assured of himself. The strangest part was around her he was funny too, something that he was never able to understand . The fact that he could actually make her laugh was something that he cherished. Her smile made him feel alive, her eyes and the way she looked at him made him feel that romance was not all about mushy talk, sometimes no words are required, the eyes will do all the talking.

They sat down on a bench next to the road and watched the maddening crowd. There was a gentle breeze. Her hair was falling across her face and she brushed it aside with her fingers. But the breeze would not give up. It wanted to play naughty. It blew again, gently, and her hair fell across her face. He held her face and gently brushed aside the hair from her face. His touch was soft and gentle. He had a smile on his face. She blushed.
She leaned across and placed her head on his shoulders and held on to his arm even more firmly. He put his arm across her shoulder and pulled her towards himself. An old couple sitting next to them smiled. They smiled back in return.

She seemed lost in thoughts. He had a million thoughts running in his head. He was never good with words. He knew that. But that was not gonna stop him today. Not any more……
He got up from the bench and knelt down before her. She was taken aback. Everyone was looking at them. He did not care.
He took both her hands in his.

“I have never felt this alive in my entire life, and I want to feel like this forever. I love you very very very much. Please notice the 3 verys I am using.
I am so glad I met you on the crossroads of my life, otherwise I would have missed you very badly and felt very miserable.
People wait their entire life to feel the way I am feeling today but very few get this far. I never believed in destiny until I met you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I am living a dream and I do not want this dream to end.
Will you marry me?”

He took out a beautiful solitaire from his pocket and held it in front of her. He could not help but notice that her eyes shone brighter than the diamond.

“Yes I will” was all that she said.

Social Networking....

2010-02-26T18:44:00.002+05:30

This happened the other day while I was having a chat with a fellow colleague.

Colleague : I will add you to my Orkut list…..
Me : Well…er…I am not on Orkut….
Colleague : You mean you blog but you are not on Orkut? Anyways you tweet atleast, right?
Me : Well I don’t do that either….
Colleague : You know you should. Social networking is so much fun, especially after they introduced so many fun games……
Me : ………..
I am ending this once for all. I will, today, explain why I am not a fan of these social networking sites…..
Orkut :
When it was new, it was a rage. I was hooked onto it like everyone else. Then one fine day, I did something that many of my friends had done and had been successful. I asked a smoking hot girl for her fraandship. She said no and my heart was broken into a million pieces. Life is so cruel. Sniff….
And that’s how my romance with Orkut ended!

Twitter :
It is a rage nowadays. You see, the kind of person I am, I get influenced by the politics and politicians very easily(me not very smart that way, me thinks). So anyways, I followed the Shashi Tharoor twitter controversy very closely on news channels and saw a debate on Times Now, where the Congress Spokesman Mr Tom Vadakkan had to say this.And thus, bye bye Twitter even before I said hello!!

That was all for fun….

My life off late has been predominantly work. Lot of time spent in the office, leaving very little time for personal life, but I guess its all about the choices we make.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead while I spend Saturday and Sunday attending a course, apparently to enhance my IT skills (LOL all around).Take Care.
PS-->The links are courtesy Rohan, Youtube and Amit Verma.

Long weekend....

2010-02-17T15:44:00.000+05:30

Finished reading DORK over the long weekend. The tone of the book is hilarious, just like Sidin’s blog.
Oh and I should tell you this….the book is already signed by Sidin :) . You can read some reviews of the book here.

And one more fun thing happened last week. This
Strange i couldnt find the video on youtube.
Anyways i got this to say to you. Yes you Pramod Muthalik, you prissy old twit.
"What you sow, is what you reap".
Did not get that??
Lemme elaborate for your benefit....
Its called Karma, the cycle of life, the actions that you commit, come back and bite you on the butt so hard that you scream out saying and i quote....
"This attack on me is an attack on democracy"
Funny like that.... eh ?

DORK

2010-02-10T12:33:00.000+05:30

Received my copy of DORK today from Flipkart, written by the incredibly talented and funny Sidin Vadukut.
This was 1 book i was waiting for sometime now and hopefully Sidin comes to namma Bangaluru to promote the book, and hopefully i will get it signed by him, and hopefully i will make sure that this time i spell out my name and make sure he writes it correctly.

Heres wishing Sidin all the best for the book and may this one be the first of many many more to come.

Fav hindi movie dialogues....

2010-02-06T11:49:00.000+05:30

Its about Arnab Ray's first book. And he has a contest if you want to win the book. I am not participating but thought it would be fun to list down my fav dialogues. I know only 10 is unfair but lets give it a try, shall we....

10. Prem naam hai mera, Prem Chopra…..timeless….
09. Tu mereko bhai boli, teri amma mereko beta boli….. this one from Agneepath beats the others like maut ke saath apun ka appointment hai kya…. Amazing portrayal of the character Krishnan Iyer MA nariyal pani wala by Mithun dada with the full on Tamilian accent.
08. It is one of my favs as I had blogged about earlier. The line that made Aishwarya Rai a legend in the world of Hindi Cinema. What poise, what grace when she delivers the baap of all dialogues. Kudos to the diaglogue writer. The line is are you like checking me out?? Don’t miss the glint in her eyes. Its called living in the moment…..
07. The very famous line by Raj Kumar, Jaani, yeh bacchon ke khelne ki cheez nahi, haath pe lag jaye to khoon nikal aata hai….
06. This one from my all time fav movies….Utpal Dutt: Tum Lakshman Prasad se nahi, Ram Prasad se shaadi karogi, tum us se shaadi nahi karogi jis se tum prem karti ho, tum us se shaadi karogi jis se main prem karta hoon….LOL….infact the whole movie has gems like these....
05. Khush to Bahut hoge tum and mere paas maa hai with all the background effect….
04. Ek chutki sindoor ki keemat tum kya jaano Ramesh…… classic...
03. Aapke pair bade haseen hai. Unko zameen pe mat utariyega… from Pakeezah...
02. Zindagi aur maut to upar wale ke haath hai jahanpanaah, use to na aap badal sakte hain na main…my all time favourite movie Anand.
01. pachaas pachaas kos door jab bhi baccha rota hai….the whole kitne aadmi the scene from Sholay….
00. This you get to hear in every other movie…main tumhare bacche ki maa ban ne wali hoon...

And how can we end any dialogue baazi section without one from the inimitable Sunny Deol screaming at the top of his voice tareekh pe tareekh(anger and emotion) and then spoiling everything with his No if no but only Jat(lame and irritating)… the butt of all jokes I say….

This has been fun. Someday i will post a list of top 10 fav hindi songs of mine for reasons ranging from nostalgic to romantic to outright hilarious.... or may be i will just restrict them to outright hilarious and ROFLOL stuff....

Are you like checking me out??

2010-01-29T20:20:00.000+05:30

Are you like checking me out??

There’s a very pretty girl in my office. Whenever we bump into each other and she says a ‘Hi’, I blush. I blush like crazy. I blush as much as I did when Aishwarya Rai said if i were checking her out.

Jokes aside, but I cant seem to say a ‘Hi’ to her in a normal way.
Will keep you posted on the developments. If any that is…… sigh…
Have a nice weekend folks….

Tamilian, North Indian in Marathi music show final

2010-01-27T15:41:00.001+05:30

Tamilian, North Indian in Marathi music show final

For me the news of the day comes from here
Wonder what Mr Raj Thackeray has to say that……

Of Love and Longing....

2010-01-23T15:48:00.000+05:30

Of Love and Longing....

It is strange that it should rain at this time of the year. But everything makes sense now, things are going to be gloomy for some days, even months....
The skies were grey and it was going to rain heavily...
She wanted to meet, and he wanted to see her, talk to her, tell her a million things but he had run out of options and had to only listen.
She spoke....at length....about how things will be difficult and how things will be impossible....about how everything was never meant to be....and all she wanted to do was just forget....an episode that she did not want to be a part of....

He looked into her eyes....he wanted to decipher the emotions that hid behind those large beautiful eyes...he found them...it was gut-wrenching pain, layers and layers of grief but more than anything, it was conviction. It was THE END in bold.

His life was falling apart. She was still speaking to him and he was staring into her eyes. He could see himself there, the image was shaky, distorted and fuzzy as her eyes were welling up.

"I am sorry", she said.
"Dont be, i am not. You just need time. Time heals everything" he said. Wish he believed that himself.
"Bye" she said and left.He could see her image fading away and all that was left there was the sweet smell of her perfume....
There was a loud thunder and he could feel his heart breaking into a million pieces.
"Time heals everything??" he mocked himself. He knew better. Some damages, as they say are beyond repair.
All the memories will be washed away, like tears get washed away in rain.
He was glad it was raining.

C'est La Vie.

A memorable bus ride

2010-01-15T11:07:00.000+05:30

I had posted this on 18th Jan 2007. Posting it here again.....

A memorable bus ride

Dollars colony!! Dollars colony!!...shouted the conductor in the most nonchalant manner....
I mean....How could he be not concerned....a most beautiful girl is supposed to get on here, i thought with a look of hopeful expectation on my face...a look which is searching for something, but has not quite found it yet....
Oh there she is....
An angel...Goddess Aphrodite herself...
(P S----Goddess Aphrodite---Greek goddess of beauty).

She had long beautiful hair, a hint of a smile on her face as she boarded the bus, a smile that can light up a million lights when in full bloom....full glory...i have been witness to this many a times...travelling by the same bus many a times...there is no better spectacle than her smile. She had a strange look on her face...so confident yet so vulnerable...Focused, yet lost....
As she climbed up the stairs she momentarily looked at me (or i thought so)...
I immediately looked away...

कौन मिलये इस नाज़्नीन से आन्खे
सुना है वोह आन्खो से अपना बना लेते है.

She walked in and stood right in front of me at a distance of 4 feet. The air was filled with the sweet scent of jasmine. Wow the magic of these modern day deo-sprays....
As if by magic the guy who was sitting in front of me vacated the seat for the girl....what a gentleman...
Oh Oh!! hold on....
It was a seat reserved for the ladies...
To be continued.....

ನೆನಪು

2010-01-14T13:19:00.000+05:30

ನೆನಪು

ಮಳೆ ಸುರಿಯುತಿದೆ, ನಿನ್ನದೆ ನೆನಪು.

ಮಳೆ ಹನಿಗಳ ಟಿಪಿ ಟಿಪಿ ಸದ್ದಿನಲ್ಲಿ, ನೀನು ಪಟಪಟನೆ ಮಾತನಾಡುವ ನೆನಪು.

ಕೊರೆಯುವ ಚಳಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಿನ್ನ ಬೆರಳಂಚಿನ ಸ್ಪರ್ಶದ ನೆನಪು.

ನನ್ನ ಭುಜದ ಮೇಲೆ ನೀನು ತಲೆ ಇಟ್ಟು, ಕಿವಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಹೇಳುವ ಸಿಹಿ-ಸಿಹಿ ಮಾತುಗಳ ನೆನಪು.

ನೀನು ಧರಿಸುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಸುಗಂದ ಧ್ರವ್ಯದ ಪರಿಮಳದ ನೆನಪು.

ನೂ೦ದ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನ ಅಳಲನ್ನು ನನ್ನಲ್ಲಿ ಹೆಳಿಕೊಳ್ಳೂವ ನೆನಪು.

ನೂ೦ದ ಮನಸ್ಸಿನ ಆ ನೊವು ಕಣ್ಣೀರಾಗಿ ಹರಿದು ಬರುವ ನೆನಪು.

ನೆನಪುಗಳ ಈ ಸ೦ತೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ನಾನೀಗ ಒ೦ಟಿ.

ನಿನ್ನನ್ನು ನೊಡಬೇಕು, ಮಾತನಾಡಿಸಬೇಕು.

ನೀನೆಲ್ಲಿರುವೆ ?? ನೀನಿರುವಲ್ಲಿ ಮಳೆ ಸುರಿಯುತಿದೆಯೆ ??

Rahul and Anjali....

2009-12-31T11:59:00.000+05:30

I had written this post on 7th January 2007. It was one of my favourites and many of my friends had liked it too.... Posting it here again....

"What is your name young man???"
"My name is Rahul" said the 7 year old in a flat tone.
The expression on my face was one that asks too many questions.
[P.S--When a guy has a confused look on his face, he really is confused and wants some answers.]
I of course could not turn back and look at her because i was driving the car. I adjusted the rear view mirror to look at her. She understood my question.
"What?!!!...Rahul is a very good name and besides i always wanted to name my child after you. You were my best friend for as long as i can remember."

Now how easy was that? She said everything with so much ease....my mind was racing ....backwards...back to the college days....

Of course i loved her. I loved Anjali more than anything in this world. She was the first person i would think of when i woke up in the morning and she was the last one i would remember before going to bed, she was on my mind all the time. I had not told about this to anyone. Not even to my closest buddies. I knew they would never understand. Most importantly i wanted Anjali to be the first one to know about my feelings. Not that i did not try...but every time i tried things would go horribly wrong and i would 'chicken out' like a fool....
There was also a constant fear of rejection. She was a very sweet girl. What if she did not think of me in the same way as i did about her? What if she had no feelings towards me and thought of me as just a friend?What if i hurt her feelings and she never talks to me after that....as Saif Ali Khan says in Dil Chahta Hai..."Yeh jo thodi bahut dosti hai woh bhi nahi rahegi"....

As i spent sleepless nights thinking about Anjali and how to disclose my feelings, the days were flying away at mach2 and mach3 and so on. Before i could even realize we had graduated from college and were placed in good companies. We started to drift apart and this made my task even more tougher. I could never gather enough courage to speak out...was just suffering in silence...the final jolt of lightening struck me one fine day...i heard that Anjali was getting married in a months time...i thought this was ridiculous..."How could someone get married at 23??? Its too young an age to get married"..i thought...But the question was directed at my own failure to take a stand at the right moment...i guess there was nothing i could do now...

I called her up and congratulated her...there was a fizz in her voice when i said it was me....she sounded very excited..was it due to my call?...naaaaaaaaaah, i knew better by this time...she was happy with the marriage...and i must admit as the days passed by i felt happy for her too...it was a good 'rishta'...the bridegroom worked in the US...he had a high profile job and it was decided that the couple would be living in the US after marriage....

"Rahul....take a right here"....I was jolted out my reverie. I dropped Anjali at her house(they had moved back to India a month ago, i bumped into her at the city market)...she invited me for a cup of tea...i noticed that even though 31 she was as beautiful as ever...age had not withered her looks at all..she still had the naughty twinkle in her eyes and the beautiful smile(which was so very characteristic of her) was still there...we said our good byes and promised to stay in touch....

I entered my house with a deep sense of nostalgia....
A sharp pitched voice shook me up....it was my 3 year old daughter.
"Daddddddddyyyyyyyy...where are my chocolates??"
"Have you been a good girl today.....Anjali???"....

Love....

2009-12-30T17:14:00.000+05:30

I was watching a talk show on TV the other day. They were discussing about Love and Relationships and how Love is the most Selfless of virtues and how Selfless Love strengthens a relationship.....

Selfless Love??
I could not disagree with them more.....

When in Love it is you who wants to loved and taken care of and accepted, it is you who wants to be told that you are wonderful and caring and affectionate, it is you who wants to be appreciated for your so called loving actions. It is true that you pour out all your love and affection on your partner to make them feel good. But what happens if the same is not reciprocated or appreciated?

Dont you get hurt? Yes?... No? So even though the whole funda of love seems unselfish while giving, the same cannot be true while you receive it. You should be ready to receive anything in return, it could be silence or it could be indifference. But you expect only love in return. But that unfortunately does not happen. And that is when you snap!!!

Doesn't this whole funda make love a selfish emotion?
Does this not mean that all the people in love are extremely selfish?
And while i am at it, i might as well ask, what is wrong in being selfish anyway, as long as you are honest and open to the person you love?

I know there are people who know people who are supposedly not selfish when it comes to love. They are definitely superhuman.
Send me their names and addresses. We might build a temple to honour them.

C'est La Vie.

Feel...

2009-12-30T15:54:00.002+05:30

Come and hold my hand
I wanna contact the living
Not sure I understand
This role I've been given
I sit and talk to God
And he just laughs at my plans
My head speaks a language
I don't understand
I just wanna feel
Real love feel the home that I live in
Cos I got too much life
Running through my veins
Going to waste
I don't wanna die
But I ain't keen on living either
Before I fall in love
I'm preparing to leave her
Scare myself to death
That's why I keep on running
Before I've arrived
I can see myself coming
I just wanna feel
Real love feel the home that I live in
Cos I got too much life
Running through my veins
Going to waste

And I need to feel
Real love and the love ever after
I can not get enough
I just wanna feel
Real love feel the home that I live in
I got too much love
Running through my veins
To go to waste
I just wanna feel
Real love and the love ever after
There's a hole in my soul
You can see it in my face
It's a real big place
Come and hold my hand
I wanna contact the living
Not sure I understand
This role I've been given
Not sure I understand
Not sure I understand
Not sure I understand
Not sure I understand

This is one of my all time favorite songs and the more i hear it, the more i am convinced that it describes me best.
Have you ever had a feeling of being lonely, lost, confused, forlorn and totally helpless even though nothing major/bad has happened?
Have you ever been in a situation where life seems to have lost its meaning and there's no purpose in going on and on with your fight eventhough you know it will end in a lost cause?
I generally let everything pass and wait for the day to end.
Then i shrug off everything as a bad dream and wait for the next day. Remember we are all just one evening away from glory.
Anyways, let me stop here.
Tell me that 1 song that comes closest to defining your personality.

Internet

2009-12-29T17:59:00.003+05:30

It was an ‘internet down’ situation in the office the other day. The same kind where every employee from the Marketing to Sales to Development and Testing and implementation teams call up the IT guys and ask only 1 question….

“Why am I not able to access Orkut, yahoo and gmail?”
I guess you get the picture. Right.

We figured out (We being the IT Guys) that the issue was with the ISP(Internet Service Provider) and since it was the Christmas vacation, it would take longer than usual for the link to be back up.
It took 90 minutes for them to get the link back up. 90 minutes is a huge downtime and the losses could be very steep but lets not get diverted from our main topic.

So anyways, I am sitting there and for the first time I realized that I was actually waiting for the internet to start working again. And after the repeated calls and queries from end users I realized that they were waiting for the link to start working again.
Maybe at some level we all have become slaves to the modern wonder called Internet.

I still remember my early engineering days (2002-2003) when I used to spend 3-4 hours at a stretch in the college internet café browsing, downloading ~~or ogling at sexy pictures of Anna Kournikova/Britney Spears~~ important study material about Machine Design and Heat & Mass Transfer.
I already hear some guys laughing loudly. May you burn in hell!!!!

Once the internet was back up regular activity of downloading songs/videos continued by the end users.
As for me I started the downloads of Youtube video clips by Pranesh and listened to them ROTFLMAO…..
Now you might wonder this is misuse of resources and leads to losses…..but then….

ಯಾರ್ ಅಪ್ಪನ ಗಂಟು ಯೆನು ಹೊಗುತ್ತೆ?

Crudely translated it means….”whose father’s what goes”?

Amit Varma's Visit to Bangalore

2009-12-16T18:25:00.003+05:30

I had written this post in May but could not post it anywhere. Here it is now....

Amit Varma (http://indiauncut.com/) was in Bangalore on Saturday the 16th of May and this was 1 event I had wanted to attend from the time I heard about it several weeks back. He was here to launch his first novel ‘My Friend Sancho’. I have been following his blog from a couple of years now and he writes amazing stuff.

So it was a rainy evening and I managed to get to the ‘Crossword’ without getting wet in the rain :). By the time I reached there he had already finished addressing the gathering and was signing the books for the buyers. I stood in the queue to buy 1 for myself. Finally when my turn came after 15 minutes, our conversation went like this….

Myself : Hi Amit. I have been a regular at Indiauncut and I think you write extremely well and I particularly love the satire that comes out of your political commentary. Its really nice to have met you.
Amit Varma : Thank you so much. Its always nice to hear good things about the work you do and it sometimes feels overwhelming as it has been over the past 1 week. So you write too??
Myself : YES I DO AND I AM QUITE SURPRISED YOU HAVE NOT HEARD ABOUT ME….
Ok fine i did not say that….
Myself : Well I used to…rather blog…but not anymore… I read a lot though….
Amit Varma : Cool. I should be addressing this book to....
Myself : To me please. Thank you. My name is Shantidoot. Spelt S H A N T I D O O T.

And he writes this in the book….
Dear Shantanu
Hope you enjoy this book
- Amit.
Signature.
May 16 2009.
…..which I read only after getting out of the queue…. Damn you Amit Varma :(. This has to happen every time I say out my name :(.
Anyways he has got such bad hand writing :).

I pay for the book(Only 195 Rs) at the counter and pack it in my bag and go towards my bike. It had stopped raining. As I go closer towards my bike I see a strange activity. I go even closer to make sure what I see is actually happening….. it was indeed happening….
A guy was wiping the seat of my bike, and what more he was using the same cloth that I keep in my bike to wipe the bike when it rains…..
I went closer till he wiped it completely dry and then said “Thank you, I will take it from here”.
He looked at me surprised and then he understood what had happened. His bike was parked next to mine :)….. I know … LOL….
His expression was something like this “God I just hope he is not the kind of guy who blogs about funny incidents and makes fun of me”.

Yes I did just that. I came home read the wonderful book and on a Sunday evening I write about his goofiness and send it to all my friends. Victory :)
My friend Sancho is a very nice read, lot of jokes, some funny some vulgar and some PJs too but overall it will make you laugh. The ending in the book is just as I love it, It hangs the readers in the middle asking ‘what happens next?’ Hope you enjoy reading it too….

Take care.
c'est la vie

Cricket

2009-12-16T09:09:00.002+05:30

What a match it was!!!!! Over 800 runs scored!!!

It is on days like these that i really miss my Engg Days when bunking the class would be so easy. I would watch the full match :(.
And whoever said that the 50 over format of the game is dying? Boy are they wrong or what!!!!

Key.

2009-12-09T16:14:00.002+05:30

It happened the other day.....
Boss : Give me the key....
Me : Which one? Windows server 2003 or Windows7??
Boss : Your bike key dude.....
Me : Oh!....

Professional hazard... No?

A New Beginning....

2009-12-07T23:25:00.000+05:30

Yes.
Sounds about right. I am writing after a long long time. Life till now has been a roller coaster ride and hope it will remain the same.
Whats the fun otherwise eh?
Waiting for a server to come up so that i can set it up and go home. Maybe catch some sleep and get back to the same grind tomorrow.

C'est La Vie - This is Life.