Thursday, October 29, 2009

Life means...



Life could have meant...

A winter evening,
Four friends,
mild rain,
four pegs of rum...





Life could've meant...

100 bucks for petrol,
A few rusty old bikes,,
An open road...






Life could've meant...

1 Maggi noodles,
A hostel room,,3:25 AM,,
lots of hungry people...




Life could've meant...

1 Preparation leave,
1 night, 1 book,
8 duffers...








Life could've meant....

1 girl, 1 number, 4 friends,,
& and fight..





Now life means..
..

Old friends,, separate cities,, separate lives...
endless sms's, phones or mails to stay in touch..








Life means... Friends forever...








Tuesday, October 20, 2009

The eye of the sun...

Whats the common between archimedes, tintin and me?
.
.
(here's a hint...)


If you still didn't get it,,,then go ahead and read the story!

Dateline - Summer 2001
Place - Hyderabad (School 10th class)

In school we had something called a Geo-Map quiz, where we were given detailed maps and had to find things and answer some questions using the maps..An interesting (and famous) quiz, i enrolled.. Pre-requisites - A pencil, rubber, scale and a magnifying glass!
So,, i bought a small magnifying glass(wanted a big one, but didnt have enough money), wrote the test and came back.. But now i had a magnifying glass,, and nothing to do with it..After the general time pass with it (looking at peoples writing, window sills, dust particles, little insects, people's ears etc...).. I had nothing to do with it..

I wasn't willing to believe that my new toy had lived its life.. Then, I remembered that I read somewhere that we can burn things using the glass..Never seen it, so i obviously, i had to test the claim!!

During one lunch break, i sat in class trying to figure out how..Focusing the light to get a single spot, was the general idea.. To test if that was actually and good ,,i focused sunlight on my hand! If it makes me jump,,then thats the way to go! Needless to say, after a couple of attempts, i was jumping around class holding my hand... 5 minutes later, back to business...Tore a paper from the book, focused sunlight, and waited (me watching closely).. and waited..and waited (classmates getting curious as to what i was doing)... and waited(thinking what i'm doing wrong).. and waited( getting irritated)..and waited(started loosing focus, looking here and there..) ...A couple minutes later,, i just left it..Nothing seemed to happen!! The paper just seemed warm at the place that i was focussing on for the last 10 min..A few seconds later,,even that went back to normal... Lunch break over - Experiment failed....
Outcome
  1. success - 10% - (would've been zero,, but i atleast burned my hand.)
  2. interest of friends aroused..Ideas started coming in!

Next day, some class, teacher not come yet.. There was time to kill, so out came the glass.. Friends around me, who were bored too, now had something to do!! 5 (unsuccessful) minutes later, people lost interest... I knew i was doing something wrong... So, taking ideas from friends(gillu, makhi and sriram),, i changed the paper to an old newspaper, tried burning an edge instead of the center and kept my hand as still as i could... And just when i was about to lose hope,, a faint line of gray, seemed to appear in front of me for an instant.. I was doubtful of what i saw, but i tried again anyway.. This time,, i had a nice and clear line of smoke coming off the paper!! Mission Success!

The following lunch, a burning session was in order! papers were burned, benches were burned, water on the bench, caused bubbles to be created from inside the water! The following few days, my mark was created on the table i sat, and on my seat in the bus.. With my name engraved, eternally by the heavenly flames, no one could contest the seat!! :)
Whenever we had free time in class,, some talked, some read, some slept.. i burnt !!

Coming back to the question, what is common Archimedes and me? He used the sun to fight of romans,, i used the sun to fight of boredom!
(what i fought was the more eternal of the two!)

2nd question...
Whats common between tintin and me???
For this, we go back to 10th class,, to the class of the great teacher, who's the reason i got into the habit of sleeping in class...Satya maam, social studies (history, civics).. The slooooooow speed of talking, reinforced by the multiple repetitions and a few boring history chapters, was as strong as any sleeping pill you'll ever pop!!
With lots of time to kill in her class, magnifying glass came to the rescue again! I used to sit beside the window and burn stuff while she was teaching.. One class, i was playing around with the glass, focussing and things on the bench, and she calls my name.. I look up,,and keep a straight face,, she continues... No more burning for this class,, i thought..Just then,
makhi ( sitting to left) whispers : " abe, stop burning things !
me: "i'm not burning anything!!"
makhi(abt 10 seconds later): "Abe, stop burning things in class!! I have asthma, i can't breathe with it.."
me: "I'm not burning anything!!"
About 10 seconds after that,,i felt something piercing my leg,,startled,, i jumped.. After the giggles in class subsided, i tried to figure out what happened... There was a nice royal hole, straight through my pants!! What felt like a needle,, was actually the sunlight that burnt through my pant !!! Only then, did i realise that my hand was on the window-sil, and the magnifying glass was hanging in a way as to focus light on me!! Makhi was not wrong after all !! If only i had listened to him,, i would'nt have had to wear those air-conditioned pants for the rest of the year!!
The light made a clear hole, unlike any scissors or worn out stuff i've seen.. This was a very nice, clean and precise hole! I almost patted my back for it ! And then, for the rest of the year tried explaining people why i have a black colored hole, in my gray pant !

So whats the difference between Tintin and me ??
Tintin (in The prisoners of the sun) knew he might get burnt...But he escaped the power of the glass,,and lived to tell the tale...
Me : I didnt think i could,, but got burned by the sun,, and still live to tell the tale!!


Pointers for those who wanna try-
1. The bigger, the better! (magnifying glass,,i meant)
2. Use old newspapers/recycled paper..Burns much more easily
3. Burn paper at the edges
4. Burning ease : Rexine> unpolished wood > new paper > notebook paper
A steady hand ,,focusing on the same point for a min is enough in any conditions to burn some paper!!

Saturday, October 17, 2009

Chess and Boxing...

For a healthy life, Both the mind and body should be fit...So i've got my own way of doing this...

I've always liked chess, and been quiet a good player as far back as i can remember...Mind fitness, check!

Body fitness - Am not much of a gym person, i like to keep fit by playing sports.. But then, if you want the best of both styles, there's nothing better than boxing! There's something utlra cool about boxing, the raw aggression, a boxers gait, the ability to take infinite beating (call me weird, but i've always wanted to see how much beating i can take and still stand and manage a smile!).. I've always wanted to start boxing, but i never really got down to it..I will start soon(hopefully)..

Both are poles apart, one is the ultimate in brain, and the other ultimate in brawn!
But who said you can't have brains and brawn! And when i read this line somewhere,,,

"Have you been craving an athletic competition that combines the raw physical energy of a chess match and the strategic acumen of boxing? "

I've instantly knew, i've found the perfect sport for me!!

Its called ChessBoxing !!!

Yes, you read right, its chess boxing. And i suggest you follow the link and see the video!!
It involves 11 rounds of 2 min, alternating between chess and boxing!! A win , is a checkmate or a knockout, and if there's no result at the end of 11 rounds, the guy with the most points in boxing wins!!
I mean, just imagine this scenario...
X kills Y's Queen. Y is furious!! and then the round changes.. All i can say is,,
"Summbuddy's gonna getta hurt real bad.."
(praying "please be Y, please be Y", never really works u know :D)
And then Y is back in the game, cos X is too dazed to realise things!!

Its the perfect formula for an always exciting game!!
Can't wait to try it out!!
Anyone interested??

Sunday, September 13, 2009

heaven's opening up...

The whole rainy season, the weather department kept saying that it will rain...But the closest we got to rains here in delhi(barring 1 day) was 80-90% humidity everyday!!
Finally,season was over,, The weather dep pronounce a drought all over the country...
Then ... a couple of days later this happens!!


within 2-3 days,,north India is flooded with heavy rains lasting 3-4 days at a stretch!! The outcome was unprecedented!! This is not a sight you see everyday!


At this point, this little pool is home to 2 Buses,a car and a few bikes!! (dont ask me how!)

The Weather department's (mis)information lives up to its reputation again!!

Getting back to rains,,, this (lack of sense of adventure) isn't the only reason people hate rains.. Its the power cuts, the eternally wet clothes, and inability to move out are some of the other reasons and many more...

The great president of the hagga club (lord makhija),, stated he hated rains..On asking why,,this is what he said....
"Jab baarish hoti hai, to saala road pe pada hua 15 din puraana gobar bhi ZINDA ho jaata hai !! It comes back and hits you in the face with a vengeance!! "
This comment was one of the very few times, that i was left completely speechless! You can't really say anything at something so witty, so true, and so blankly put!

Frankly speaking, i should hate the rains too.... They're the reason my bike needs major repairs, and that i had to swim to work for a few days...


But then,, i remember this...

(I know most people won't recognize this picture,,, but hard as it may be to believe, its our college!!)
And ANYTHING that could turn our barren, sandy, and brown college into this....
Can be nothing short of AWESOME!!
That must be the actual reason behind the phrase.. "The heaven's opening up!"

"Where some see natures fury, others see nature's true splendor !!"

Saturday, September 5, 2009

Blog Drought....

I knew its been a while since i was here,, but it really hit me,,when i couldn't get the address to this place right the first couple of times!!! On one hand, i go around screaming at people that they don't read/leave comments,,and on the other,, i forget my own blog address!!! This maybe one of the few times i actually felt foolish about myself.... But then, shame is unnecessary feeling i shed a looong loong time ago... So this'll just be another one of those things i proudly , and i shall continue to enlighten/enliven peoples days from here!!

As to where i've been for soo long... I've just been busy...Apart from creating ground-breaking technologies and boosting the sagging economy of the world,,working 45 hr days and taking interviews,, had to make time for a few social gatherings, ranging from multi-national/multi-racial crowds to kids bday parties, right up to native andhra gatherings...Things like this have to be done from time to time to keep the fans happy you know... In the hours i saved in my life by sleeping those few hours less every night, i managed to squeeze in a couple of meets with international celebrities/authors, and catch a few movies and read a few books too.....Added to all of this were the cross-country bike trips and which included elaborate gastronomic menu's from every place we could find.....With all this, and the the semi-pro photography, gadgetry shopping , the Bike modifications and tuning and breaking land speed barriers....I've just not been able to pull up enough time to get down to writing... But finally here i am...

In my defence, there has been a general shortage of good writing of late online.. I'm referring to the blogs, more specifically about most of the blogs i read..,In the last 3-4 months, almost all of the blogs i read, either stopped, or decreased/shortened the size of the posts dramatically.. Its been,, what i would like to refer to as a blog drought.. Maybe it was the summer, the actual drought, pure laziness or just that people ran out of things to talk about... I mean,, i can't expect everyone to be going and doing cool things all the time!!

So with the actual drought clearing up, and rains flooding most cities in the country, i thought it might be a good time to clear out the blog drought too! So here i am, back to give meaning to the peoples lives (or atleast some humour)... This is the start,, i've got a lot of things to write about from the adventures of the last few months (stated above).. So i hope you guys will have fun reading, and getting scolded by me for not leaving comments! And hopefully, the other bloggers out there will come out to clear the blog drought too, (so that i have something to read when i get bored in office!)!!

So Till next time....Enjoooy !!!

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Thanks Everyone!!

Lots of people have been asking me whats with my status msg on gmail since the last few days.. Here's why...

Dateline-->Commemoration of the day of arrival of adi the great to this world! (2009)
Place--> Delhi

A few days back was my birthday.. Usually birthdays for me are a very big affair, with lots of people coming with big parties and lots of spending of time and money.. But this was my first bday away from home or hostel, and there weren't too many people around.. So I didnt expect too much,, was just planning to have a bit of fun with the few friends around..

So Lets see how it actually went....
->Number of people who came to wish me at 12--> Only 1
->Cake --> None (First bday in my life without a cake!!)
-> Grand Gifts/Personally made gifts --> none
-> gifts --> One
-> Big party with lots of people --> nope
-> Encouragement i got for the big plans i told people when they called and asked "What plans for the day??" --> Close to none...

Here are the 2 plans i told them-->
Plan 1: Go skydiving!
When asked how: Go to safdarganj airport. Enrol for flying classes (Not very expensive!). Get to be flown around in a 2 seater plane.. Once in air, jump off!! Take a couple of bedsheets in case can't find parachute!
Replies:
- - waaaat??? seriously??? - can you even do that??
- - do you want this to be your last birthday?
- - (From only 1 guy).. Go for it!! But Dont waste the bedsheet.. It'll be more fun without it!

Plan 2: Hire a bike, jump over a building
(Noone asked How)
Replies:
- - huuuuuuuuh????
- -Why ?? (Me: Generally! to make it a birthday worth remembering!)

So you can see,,,i got close to no encouragement for the big plans i made!! So basically,, most of the things you associate with a bday were a little more than ordinary day...

But then,, it was MY bday!! it can't be such a sad affair...So here are the cool parts of it..
->Got greeting cards from home (Though 3 weeks early,,its the thought that counts!).(awesomeness: 7/10)
->Spent most of the night attending phone calls (from 12 to 4!).. Many of these calls were from places halfway around the world!! (awesomeness: 9/10)
->I was a telephone operator,, barring a 1/2 hr break at around 2:30 at night when we went to drink chai at a thadi outside! (awesomness: 9/10)
->Woke up to the sound of bday wishes from home! (awesomeness: 8/10)
->Morning at relatives place. Special food made for me!! (awesomeness: 8/10)
->Met an old friend who unexpectedly ended up in delhi for the weekend!! (awesomeness: 10/10)
->with friend, had roadside kaala jaamun, stick waala ice cream and awesome delhi juice (which strangely is always of the same reddish/pinkish color, regardless of which juice u order! I drank my red pineapple juice without asking!) (awesomeness: 9/10)
->I love driving, and i roamed around most of the morning and afternoon on bike..
Conditions:
- - big bike in great condition
- -great south Delhi roads
- -No traffic
- -clouds that seemed to come out at the right times
- -And whats more,,, hot female on bike with me! (awesomeness: Do i even need to specify??)
(Queries in this regard shall not be entertained! You'll just have to take my word for it!! The people who need to know,,already do!)
->Spent hot afternoon with cousins playing board games.(awesomeness: +7/10
->Got msg and call from sis, in her own special ultra cool way!!!.(awesomeness: 8/10)
->Evening party with friends. Small group, great fun!.(awesomeness: 8/10)
->Finished the day, learning how to do a wheelie based on some great newfound gyaan given by a bike crazy friend! (Cant maintain it,,,but still,,its a start!)(awesomeness: +9.5/10

But the coolest part of the day was...
->Number of attempted calls to me in the whole day: More than 100 (awesomeness: 10/10)
->Number calls actually talked: around 30. (Average time> 10 Min)
The rest of the calls reached call waiting, or were ignored/rejected by me..You can call it "bhaav khaana" if you want..(On my bday i think i'm entitled to it!)..But it was mainly cos i was driving,, or when i was with the old friend/female! But most of the people did make multiple attempts.. Some did at different times of the day too!! After every call i got, i felt that much more important!

But the bottom line is that sooooooooooo many people remembered,,,and made major efforts in making my bday a great day..
(The awesomeness counter is off the scales!!)
The day turned out to be one of my best birthdays ever!!
And its all cos of all the cool people around me!!
So once again,,,
THANKS EVERYONE!!

Friday, May 8, 2009

Dont try this at home !!! (Contd)..

(Continued from last post)

Place-> college
Timeline-> 8th sem

Started watching the telugu movie, was called Run, i think.. Wasnt as nonsense as i expected it to be, so it didnt really help.. Eyes drooping, but head splitting, i kept drinking water, hoping the effect would subside.. And as i kept drinking water, i wanted to drink even more of it... And my mouth was drying up very soon, so i kept drinking.. About 15 minutes, 2-3 trips to the loo and a 2 litre bottle of water later, i realised i had to go fill water again!! And in the time i took to reach the water cooler, my mouth got incredibly dry!! And so restarted the cycle! This might have been the vicious circle of bhaang... Abd quite frankly speaking, if it was for something this harmless,, i didnt really mind.. But that,,i would never know..

As I reached my room and started the movie again, there was knocking on the door.. I didnt make a sound, hoping that whoever it was, would just go away assuming im asleep.. But then came the real shocker,, it was gujjin and baba asking me to open the door!!! I thought those guys would've slept by now!! I wanted them to just go away, so i didnt make a sound.. But as time went by, their knocking (by now it was banging, kicking and screaming too!) the door only got louder! I felt like i was in one of those bad horror movies where the bad guy just keeps coming and coming and coming no matter what.. Amongst all the cries to open the door from outside,, i couldn't hear meena's voice.. And i couldn't stand the banging anymore.. So, hoping for the best, i opened the door..

In comes stumbling gujju.. Smelling of puke and Still screaming those funny words,,"help me man,, get me out of this conscience!!".. Lands straight on my bed and before i could say anything, was asleep and started drooling (with all the unwashed puke) on my bed.. Baba sat on the chair, and start frantically started moving the mouse around as if looking for something.. When asked, he said he was looking for some guy he knew on gtalk to ask what to do.. I opened it, and he couldnt see the name and was like "adi, dekh na. Mujhe pata nehi chal raha ki ye banda online hai ki nehi". I then told him that it was my gtalk account open, not his. Asked him to log in to his, which he somehow managed and started typing some gibberish to many people!! And whats funnier,, is that half the people he sent chat messages to even replied in gibberish!! Most of them were O.U.T!! Then suddenly, as if to stop the entertainment,, gujjin sits up, starts crying again and says he's having nightmares and that we should do something! It was as if these guys were making a cheezy horror movie of their own!!

Now it was time to pull all stops,, so i proceeded to try to wake the sleeping palem.. (A person noted for his deep sleeping abilities, among others..). By now, it had hit me hard, and my head was spinning bad.. It was as if i was in a dream, with the same things happening over and over and over again.. That combined with the relentless above mentioned people ... I think u get the idea.. Difficult as it would be, i had to try to wake palem.. He was our only hope!!

You must have heard the term "Ghode baech ke sona".. For this guy,,we used to call it "ghode, gaay, bhais,bakriya,,, poora tabela baech ke sona!!".. 3-4 of us used to open his room window and SCREAM in unison in (usually unsusccessful)attempts to wake him up.. But desperate times call for desperate measures... So this time,, i banged and screamed like a bad horror movie villain!
:)

I gave up after a while.. Consoling myself, that we usually can't wake him up even when we are all energetic in life... I was returning to the room to (thankfully) find gujjin asleep and baba "chatting" away to glory... But a min later, the great palem appeared outside our room,, our saviour,,, our knight in shinig armour to help us out.. This "knight" was groggy, wearing a yellow flowery shirt and red sakura pants,, but in the state we were, he was as good as a royal knight!!! The responsibility off me,, i completely gave in,, and all i remember after that was,,that palem, soon found emtpy rooms for each of us, and locked us in!!! But by this time,, all we had energy left to do was sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep...


Got up finally at 11:30 at night.. Got palem to open the room. Saw gujjin and meena just waking up too.. We all had headaches and a general uneasy feeling, but were more or less normal.. Milk products are supposed to suppress the feeling, so we set out to saras to have lassi/chaach/milk shake etc etc.. All under the care of our very own palem..

The next morning, we saw baba coming for breakfast... So that accounted that we were all fine... But one person was missing since the start of the madness.. Yes,, that was pandu!!! He was last seen when we were having bhaang.. His phone not being picked up, noone seemed to have seen him after that.. We were almost starting to get worried,, when in the late afternoon he walks groggily into my room, asking me what the time is!!! The guy had been sleeping in his room ALL THIS WHILE!! FOR more than 24 hrs straight!!!


All of us safe and sound,, I started looking back at the events and the things we did wrong.. So heres the things u should keep in mind if u ever decide to try it...
1)Find out the proper amount to use .. In this case,, an overdose like the one we ignorantly had, is no fun (its only good for a story worth telling!)
2) There's a reason its drunk with thandai... Cos it generate an immense amount of heat inside. NEVER try drinking it with things like jaljeera!!
3) NEVER listen to a guy who's under that effect of bhaang about how to get rid of the effect.. Cold water which i brought to "save them" actually increases its effect!! (And because of point 2, we kept feeling more thirsty!)
4)DONT give a guy under the effect of bhaang any dangerous ideas.. They'll do it without even knowing!! (Eg: the puke!)
5) Have someone sane around, who can handle you!
And finally...once again...
DONT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!


People featured->
Palem -> Palem powaii, as his name first came up, is a master at giving fundas with arbit logics to follow them leaving most people baffled!! Another area of expertise is his ingenuity in torture mechanisms..Maybe cos He has had multiple fractures in pretty much every way possible.. More famously know cos he specializes in everything related to computer hardware.. All this with a permenant smile on the face, wearing flowery T-shirts and funny coloured pants!!
I can write a dedicated post only about the eccentricities and talents of this guy so i'll just leave it here!!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Don't try this at home!!

Continuing from the previous post about high-ness...

Place->College (Hostel)
Dateline-> Holi 2008

The last(and first) holi i spent in college i had a great time...Played like mad, started by putting colors on each other, then on teachers, on teachers dogs and then came back to raid the rooms of those who tried to "escape" without playing, broke down their doors and made them unrecognizable too,,, used up all the color we could find, then moved on, and used up all the mud we could find, and then ended the show by tearing down peoples shirts..Basically,,,GREAT FUN!!

Came back, almost dead tired from the 4-5 hours of playing in the jaipur sun...An long time in the bathroom later, we managed to get our appearance to mildly recognizable, we were even more tired, ready to drop asleep.. (Its something strange that bathing does!).. But then, came the "udti hui khabar"..Baba bhaang laaye hain!!!

This was something that just had to be done,, the holi would be incomplete without it...So with energy regained, i reached baba's room. There were 5 of us, baba, pandu, meena(this is not a girl), gujjin and me. There lay in front of us, the 3 balls of brownish-greenish, odorless (and as we realized later, almost tasteless) stuff.. The "experienced" people, baba and pandu, started the procedure of making it.. They couldnt get any thandai, so they brought jaljeera instead..(mistake!!).. We brought the cold water for it..This was supposed to be some high quality special stuff which we got our hands on..Baba said that usually one ball is good for 2 people, playing safe, we mixed 2 balls for the 5 of us..(mistake!!).. Mixing properly taking out all the lumps took a bit of time,, reminding us that we were all damn tired.. We drank the 2 litre bottle of 'jaljeera', with gujjin and pandu taking the lumps from the bottom with a spoon too..(mistake!!).. There was no light-headed feeling, no madness, nothing! We almost felt ripped off and asked if that really was bhaang!! But, as we were doing everything based on what we heard from people, we let it be as people said it takes a bit of time to sink in..

I went back and started watching a movie (a bit dissapointed!)..But about 45 min later, i started getting a bit of a headache.. Thinking its cos im so tired, ignored it at first, but after a while it increased a bit more,, so i thought its cos of the bhaang, and decided to go to gujjins room to ask if thats the case with him also... But when i entered meena's room, i saw meena and gujjin all troubled and irritated.. They were glad to see me and kept asking whats going on.. A couple minutes into it, they start saying "adi, kya kare?? dimaag kharaab ho raha hai.."..So i went to find people who were experienced in this.. 10 min later i returned, cos i couldn't find anyone, everyone was either asleep or had bhaang and was out of their senses!!! I remembered that one of my friends who had bhaang a few days back asked me to get water to calm him down... So i went back to tell them them that i'll get water..(mistake!!). They were even more agitated by now..They were losing all control.. gujjin started pleading to me to help him.. I told him i'll go get water, and then they both got all happy (and almost senti) at the prospect that i can help!! I went and brought water from the water cooler for them.. By this time i was feeling a bit tipsy, so i thought i'll make the sleep and get back to my room...When i reached their rooms....They were GONE!! Disappeared, nowhere in sight!! The rooms doors wide ajar, wallets, laptops, phones all of them just waiting to be stolen!! Gujjin, a complete baniya would die at the mere thought of this!!! It was only then the gravity of the situation actually hit me...

I locked their rooms, and set out to find them... I thought i should check up on the others.. Reached baba's room, and as i entered, i was greeted with much fanfare!! There lay baba, gujjin and meena.. And as i handed them the bottle of water,, the were looking up to me like i was a saviour sent from heaven!! They gulped down the water.. 5 min later,, they were saying its having no effect and got back to pleading! Gujjin started crying,, screaming,,"adi, get me out of this conscience man!! I dont like this...Please get me out of this conscience!!".. I knew that lassi/chach is supposed to be good.. So i told them i'll go get some.. They shouted back, almost in tears,,"yaar, hume chodd ke mat jaa..". By this time, even i was losing stability of movement..I somehow got out and went to a nearby friends room, woke him up and asked him to get it from outside.. Then we remembered that it was holi so all the nearby shops would be closed at this time... So i returned helplessly, empty handed to baba's room...

This was not taken well by them,, and gujjin burst into tears, screaming repeatedly, "please man,,,get me out of this conscience.."..And the others screaming out things on the same lines.. Then gujjin said : "When we have daaru , if we puke, the effect goes..Does that work here too?"..
Me: "I dont know, maybe it does..."(mistake again!!)
Gujjin: "Maybe it does.."
And within about a second, there was a foutain of goo spewing out his mouth!! We were baffled (to say the least)!! He just thought he should puke, and he'd done it!!

There's something about the smell of puke..the moment someone pukes, everyone around feels like puking, causing a chain reaction!! Its like a plague, only it spreads much much faster!! I am particularly susceptible to it and puke very easily... But i somehow controlled it and held gujjins head while he was puking.. And next thing i know, baba's puking on one side and meena on the other!!! This was too much for me to take, so i just left them with the freedom to paint the floor with the food they ate an hour ago, and started walking away..My control over myself was now faltering,, and so i was stumbling back to my room.. I was halfway there, when i saw some of the goo sticking to my slipper,,and then the smell went to my head like a shot so i ran to the bathroom and finally even i puked...

I was going to just leave the others be, considering i was loosing it, and couldn't control myself ...
I got to my room, started watching some new telugu movie i got recently, to get my mind off things and get rid off the (now-splitting) headache and maybe drop off to sleep... others would hopefully manage themselves...

but then,,,
whats the fun in life if problems in life were so simple to get rid off???

To be continued...

Sunday, April 19, 2009

High-ness

Being in college gives people a sort of license to be weird...Most of people do all kinds of funny stuff..Some people do funny stuff, some people do stupid stuff and other outright weird stuff, its all cool in college!! But then, its basic competitive human nature to want to go that one step further ,,And as few are born with the gift of being mad when they want to (ppl like this are mad most of the time though..),, the others fill the gap for the need to feel light-headed/mad by the means of sutta, daaru and ....and beyond....All for the high and,,well,, the license to be that much weirder!!

Lots of people get on a high and do stuff they would never think of..Loosing any traces of shame and sense that they had to begin with..Its not uncommon to see usually docile guys picking up fights, normally prim and proper girls swearing the world away at each other,, big, macho guys crying and serious/quite people laughing senseless and performing acts of daredevilry..Basically people tend to shed their self created boundaries to the world and do what they really want to (or at least try).. For those around, Once people reach this high, its either very painful, or very entertaining.. But more often than not, fun to watch...

So i thought i'll rate the funniest things i've seen people in college do when on a high...

3) Cause- Drunk
Effect- a guy, stripping down to his underwear, running around college screaming mummyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.....

2)Cause - combination of all the things possible
Effect- Couple of guys, Driving around senselessly on bike, falling into a gutter, and having the bike fall on them!!! (Dont ask me how something like that happens!!)

1) Cause - bhaang
Effect - Laughing for 8 hours STRAIGHT !!! (Trust me, This is far more painful than the above!!)

And though number 3 and 2 make much better stories to tell, stories related to bhaang pretty much always leave you wondering....HOW ????
Stories of people laughing for hours together, eating despite being not hungry for hours together (simple process...eat-eat-eat-until you are about to explode..then toilet..then repeat!!), sleeping for around 30 hours straight and even taking bath uncountable number of times over and over again.... All these are things that actually happened...

It all made me wonder,,,whats with the stuff???? I have a simple funda in life, to try everything i can atleast once!!
I've tried daaru,,dont really like it,, doesn't seem to have effect on me..One of my friends, using all his "IITian dimaag" gave a very plausible reason for it...He said "People usually act mad when they are drunk...But you are like that all the time anyways, so it makes no difference to you.."..I can't say anyone's disagreed with his theory yet...
So come holi in final year,, i was in college...And no prizes for guessing what on top my "things to try out" list....


To be continued....

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The perfect day!!

I am not superstitious,, but i do believe in luck! (call that an oxymoron if you so please)..And i definitely believe, that when its your day,,it is YOUR day!!
So here goes abt perfect day i had recently...

Dateline-> March 2009
Place-> Gurgaon/delhi

Woke up saturday morning nice and fresh..I had surprisingly energizing sleep! Read the paper, got ready and realised it was a nice It was a nice pleasent day, so came to office taking my own sweet time..

As i reached office, i realised that i was late for some work i had to give in about an hour! It was about the training i had taken the day earlier, about which i was still on a high! Corrected the papers and gave them to the HR, who's a very punctual person.. Though i gave them a half hour late, she actually complimented me on the great job i had done! This day was getting better by the minute..

The mood was nice and cool in office..And after lunch i sat down to do some research for the next task i had to complete over the week.. Interesting new stuff, so it was nice learning things about it.. It tested the knowledge i already had at a conceptual level, so it made the work even more challenging and interesting! Finally after about 6 hrs of searching and almost at the point that i was starting to get bugged, i managed to get things working!!! The joy of getting something working after putting in a lot of effort and continuing even when you thought you can't, is something unparalleled!!

Was on a major high after the accomplishment, and told my senior that i'm done and am leaving for the day..He says, "Par aapko aaj LLD dena tha." . I asked back sadly,"aaj??" and made a sad face..And though i was leaving a bit early, i asked him if i could give it on monday...He smiled, and said "first half monday morning!"..And i was out of office in the next 10 seconds!

As i made my way to makhija's place(usually a painful trip changing 3 modes of transport, bus,then metro, then auto/bus), i got a bus surprisingly easily! And even got a seat! On the way it started drizzling, and i LOVE the rains!! The smell of mud and concrete when it rains is just something else!! Then i got into the metro and found a sat, and on both sides of me 2 good looking females came and sat! And then i even found an auto guy who i didnt have to scream at to charge a humanly payable amount to take me to my destination!! Nothing could go wrong that day!!

Once i reached, though it was 9:30 already, i wanted to go out cos i didnt want to eat at home.. Makhija initially refused, saying he hates rain..On asking why, he gave me one of the most concise and graphic descriptions ever! He said
"When it rains,, road pe pada hua 10 din puraana gobar ZINDA ho jaata hai!! zinda ho ke, it flies around onto everyone, and is more active than ever before!!"
It was a point i couldn't really argue with!! But still, after a little coaxing from me, he agreed and we set out! I got to drive an FZ16, while it was raining !!! Getting to enjoy, great rains, an awesome bike and overall a great day,, all in one!!!

When we reached the mall, i was on a high and in the mood to go to a fancy place..So when moved towards the fancy place there, and on the way makhija tells me, its a disco!!! I can't dance to save my life, and was drenched cos i was driving, and he was in slippers!! But on a day like that,,,we were invincible!! So we walked in hoping we won't be denied entry!

And as we hoped, When we reached the place,, the guys outside lead us inside, no questions asked!! Once inside, the place i was in was a cool place with a quadranlge in the centre, and a stage for a DJ/band, it was 2 levels with the centre open through, giving a balcony type view to the ppl on top..There was a fancy bar and all the disco lights and stuff!! Only one problem...
No of hot girls..........zero...
No of girls..............zero...
DJ playing cool songs....nope...
DJ.......................nope!!!
Songs....................nope!!!
The place was empty!!!! The only ppl there were the ppl working!! For some strange reason the whole place was empty!! No wonder they didnt even ask us when we were entering!! Not willing to be an "different" in this case, we walked out...
strike1...

Ended up eating something at the food court, which was, a bigger fraud than usual..
Strike 2...
Then we were looking for a movie, found a naseerudin shah movie running "baarah anaa"..It was a movie in which naseerudin shah doesnt talk for the whole first half!!! Overall, an OK movie...Expected more from a naseerudin shah movie...
Strike3!! (i could almost hear the sound in my head,,"you're out!!")

And so ended my perfect day!!
Will i still call it perfect? Definitely...Why?? Cos there's no such thing as PERFECT!! The day you think that perfection is absolute,, and that the day is perfect beyond anything else,,is the day you've stopped trying or enjoying!!
If you don't want to take my word for it,, try some other famous ppl!
"Have no fear of perfection
You'll never reach it."
-Salvador Dali

So,,,is today a perfect day?? Yes!!!
Why?? Its my sis's bday!!

Happy birthday akka!!
:D

Saturday, March 21, 2009

The law of the garbage truck!

Lots of people ask me how is it that i never get angry, some of them saying they would like to see me angry, one case in going to the extent of saying that they're trying hard to get me angry!!...I just smile back at them, and they get even more confused about the mystery that is Adi...

As a kid, i was this puny little thing who used to go red faced and charge into people (age, size, gender no bar) who said/did something to irritate me, for the tiniest reasons.. In school on numerous occasions i charged into people only to realise 5 seconds later, that i was faaaaaaaar too small/weak to make any difference to them, and on more than one occasion, i got thrown to the floor in a matter of seconds!!

I am a Taurean after all, and the raging bull is too much a part of me.. But over time, some sense dawned, and i've learnt how to control the anger to a great extent.. And despite being big now, and able to put up a fight if needed, i still find the old tactics i used to not get angry more effective!!.. I do have many touchy areas,,and i blow my top for the tiniest reason when anyone does those things.. And most of the people who've lived with me know this only too well.. But in my defense, if i let go of those touchy things too, i would be betraying the Taurean within me!
:D

The gyaan i gained which i use to combat the ragin bull? Simple ways..
(1) I'm in a crazy and talkative mood, in which case i divert my attention to something else or laugh it off before the anger gets to me.
(2) I'm making a conscious effort not to get angry at you.
(3) (The most common reason) I feel Superior and think it is below me to get angry at the things people around me are doing!!
Think about it, someone irritates me, and i come out feeling greater at the end of it! I even smile back half the times and get the person even more irritated than he already is!! Its a complete win-win situation!!!

For all of you who don't have a bloated ego like mine,, maybe this idea can act as a substitute.. Here's the story ...

”One day I hopped into a taxi and we took off for the airport. We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean he was really friendly. So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital." This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call "The Law of the Garbage Truck".

He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they’ll dumps it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the street

The bottom line is that successful people don't let garbage trucks take over their day.

Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so ……love the people who treat you right.
Forgive the ones who don't.“

Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it!!

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Love... continued....(all about the bike!)

(Continued from last post)

Dateline--> 6th sem, college
Place--> college, jaipur

I was in the parking lot, and finally got the dream of bike to start...And i was revving it up to just enjoy the scream...Finally, i decided to let it loose,,and get down to business..Set it in gear and released the clutch..What happened next brought another smile on my face,,though this time,,a different type of smile..The bike stalled!!! I started to think that it has only a bark and no bite...So there was a repeat telecast the long episode of starting the bike again...This time, when it awoke from its slumber,,i didnt fool around, i got out of the lot, and took a few seconds to acquaint myself with the gear system, got pandu to sit and set it free...

It was only then i realised how much of a bite it had!! This bike was a dream, it had a roar like no other, and when let loose, it just took off!! There was no stopping it..(remember, it had loose brakes too!)..But then, while sitting on it, you would never want to stop it anyways!!! It had a life of its own,,a little touch to the accelerator and it was off,,,faster than anything i had ever experienced...before i knew it,,i was in top gear at around 80kmph!! This bike didnt need a speedometer, it just needed a binary switch of on or off,,which said stop(0 kmph) or speed!(80kmph)...Nothing in middle even exists!! The slightest touch of the accelerator and it zoom away! And once it reached around 80,,it peaked out!! It wouldn't go any faster..But being the city, there was nothing faster! whizzing past everything else on the road,, enjoying the wind in my face and the scream of the engine,, i was loving every moment of it.. And then, out of the blue,,it stalled!!! This was the first bike i had ever driven, which at high rev's, for no reason whatsoever, just stalled!! The engine died, and i went rolling upto the next red light (thanx to the speed)...And then, this bike just wouldnt start! It had fuel, it had already heated up, it didnt seem overheated, but it just stopped, and refused to start!! This bike was COMPLETELY MAAAAAAAD!!! Whatever we tried,,nothing worked..So finally, we used the oldest technique used to start a geared vehicle,,,to push it and once it gains speed, put it in gear..The only reason for this technique to fail is that its not fast enough, or the bike is plain dead! Sure enough, it started,,and the moment it came to life, we jumped on the runnning bike and we were off..Again before i could catch my breath,,we were at 80 again!! It again stalled after a while, and again we repeated the process.. Repeating the cycle a few times, we finished out work and came back..

But as strange as it may seem, even after all that hard work of pushing it so much, we still loved the bike,,and the only reason we came back was that the bike was needed by someone else in college...There was nothing logical in this bike,,it was just plain MAD!!
This bike was one head turner!! whether it was cos you had to be deaf not to hear it,,or cos u just had to see what just flew by you,,the fact still remains,,that you couldn't ignore it!!


To give you a better idea, i thought of an analogy, comparing bikes you might see in India to animals..
The Donkey::Splendor, CD100--> This is not the most glamorous of rides, nor the most comfortable or even powerful..This beast of burden will do what its made for, carry things/people around for years and years together. Its as cheap and practical as can get, no frills, no thrills,, just plain transport from A to B.
The horses::Pulsar, CBZ--> These are for people who want a few thrills in life, don't mind spending that little extra to look stylish and race past the beasts of burden,,but still being useful for the day to day usage..(To prove my point, my college dhobi had a pulsar)
The race horses::R15, FZ16, Karizma--> These are not mean to used for daily mundane tasks..They'll guzzle fuel and run very very fast when needed..Meant to enjoy the powerful drive while turning quite a few heads..
The Russian Stallions::Suzuki Hayabusa, Kawasaki Ninja etc-->These beasts have aaaaaall the power in the world, are the fastest things on land and will stop just short of flying but just need a rider daring enough to handle them.. They ride like a dream (only faster!!) and leave gaping jaws wherever they go because of the sheer class that they exude!!
The rhinoceros:: Harleys,Bullet--> You just can't miss one of these on the road. Each one of them is as close to a tank (on two wheels) as road laws allow..They are heavy, can be fast when needed, and are loud! Stay out of their way, cos they have enough momentum to break right through cars or even walls in middle!!

All the above is fine,,but something is missing here..An RX doesnt fit into any of these classes...No animal i can think of fits its charecteristics..The only animal i can think of is a cartoon character..the looney toons character..Tazz - THE TASMANIAN DEVIL!!

This fits perfectly...It is loud, faaaast, small and light weight, eats a lot, WILD!, it either stops or moves at full speed, dramatic (makes a scene wherever it goes!), will move a small distance and just stop for no reason!! and again starts again as if nothing happened!! in short,, MAAAD!!!

I've been going on and on about it, but those who've not ridden the bike wouldnt know...So
lets check out the specs..
1) Technology and power -> not very modern..has an old 2 stroke engine, with not too much BHp
2) Fuel efficieny-> this is a guzzler
3) Top speed-> not very impressive..
4) Style-> not very attractive as a bike standing on the side of the road..
5) Environmentally friendly-> not really...
6) Gadgets-> A speedometer! (thats abt it)
So what makes the bike soo cool??
7) sound -> To DIE FOR!!
8) acceleration-> So fast that it almost seems as if its a spring waiting to be released
9) Torque-> GOD level!! By the time you think of doing a wheelie, the tyre's already in the air!!
10) control -> It has a mind of its own, but when you learn all the eccentricities of the bike, it will do ANYTHING you want it to..

I've driven almost every bike in India, (except the superbikes)..But the feel of RX,,and the madness...is unmatchable..
The bike has been out of production for over 4 years..So when i wanted a bike, this was my first choice..One of my friends went to a second hand bike-dealer to find out how much i could get an RX for..He said
"aapko koi bhi bike la doonga, par RX nehi milegi..Jitne the, usme se bahut saare khatam ho gaye accident mein, baaki jo bacche hain, unko koi bechna nehi chahta!!"

So the love for an RX continues, and even today, when it passes by, you will see a faint smile dawning across all the bike enthusiasts faces.. They have all been in love...
If you haven't ridden one yet...I pity you,,you don't know what you're missing.....

Monday, March 2, 2009

Love!!

(This post was meant to be around valentines day,,,but then, i've been tied up with work, so here it is...)

We've all been infinitely bombarded with romantic cliches in almost every kind of humanly known expression..So it gets you thinking, i mean,, whats the big deal after all?? And for the more philosophical types, "what is love?"..

"At the touch of love everyone becomes a poet."
Plato.

Now, who am i to questiong ancient greek philosophers? So i'll just go with the flow of what they said, and write some poetry of my own..

"When you're in love, even the most dreadful things seem ok,
come storm, drought or fire, just the thought of your love is enough to lighten your day!"
Aditya the great!!
(No! i'm not going to apologise for any irreparable mental trauma caused by the above lines!)

What brought out this side of me??... The thing is,,its always been there..It was just unleashed one cold winter day in 6th sem in college..Here's the story!

Dateline--> Jan 2007 (6th sem, college)
Place--> Jaipur

Our even semesters start in January. My 6th sem started out on a really rotten note. I was majorly pissed in life for lots of reasons. Added to that was the nail biting cold of winters in a desert (jaipur has proper desert weather). And when you're in hostel, having "air conditioned"(excessively ventilated, with the glass missing from most of the windows, and a huge open area in college allowing highly efficient flow of wind!!) bathrooms and even toilets, that sort of makes it even worse..Forget bathing, you can't even GO comfortably!!!! Apart from that, i was having problems with the teachers picking on me in the most unlucky ways....Basically, a crappy month it was with me all bugged with everything around..

Then one day pandu and i had to go somewhere...It was a bit far, so like always, we went around looking for people with bikes..We found it in an unlikely place, when the manipuri michael revealed to us, that his bike was actually working, though barely! He said it'll have problem starting, the horn doesnt work, brakes are slightly loose, it might stop once in a while in middle of the road, and it also guzzles fuel like mad..Now this sounded bad even by standards of college bikes!! But if there's anything guys in college know how to do,, then it is how to extract every last bit of life(and fuel) out of bikes.. So we were off, helmet and keys in hand looking forward to the challenge..

Its only after i reached the bike stand that i realised, that the bike was an old relic, one of those with 1 shift down and rest up,,a kind which i had never driven before...But then, with our sights set on our work, i went ahead anyways..After dusting off the layers of dust from it, we saw that this was actually an RX 135!! So we knew this bike would atleast move! After multiple kicks, acrobatics tilting the bike, and about 10 other jobless people giving advice about how to start the bike, the bike finally came to life!!

Now, everyone's have heard of love at first sight... But that moment, when the bike roared into being....That ......oh that feeling...than undescribable rush of joy...It was love at first sound!!!!!! It was the stuff every bike enthusiast dreams of! This my friends, was the stuff of legend, things we hitherto only heard of in stories from far-off lands.. its scream was coarse and unrefined, loud beyond compare, erratic, it was a roar of a mad beast, screaming out to be unleashed, but still under your control, with you still being able to aggravate its rage when you so wanted !! In one second, all the hard work that i put in to starting the bike seemed trivial...I sat there just revving up the engine..with a smile growing that kept on growing, the only limits to it being my tiny face!! i could do this aaaaaaaaaaalll day long!!!!!

or could i ???

to be continued.....

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Excellent !! Keep it up!!

As far as i can remember, I've been always been drawn to sports and games. To this day, I never miss a chance to go out and play. Maybe its the love for outdoors, maybe its the feeling that i always want to be active, maybe its the love for the game, or maybe its plain instinctive competitiveness. Different reasons for different times. I've also won lots of prizes in sports, in fact, most of my prizes are sports related..But there's one that I'll always remember,,for the prize, for the aftermath, and for what it taught me....

Timeline--> Jan 1994
Place --> Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi
Event --> All Delhi roller skating championship

If you read carefully, you must be thinking that i got the date wrong... If i were you, maybe i would think so too.. But few people around me know, that one of the first things i learnt to do in life was skating. (The second thing was chess, which took me places!!).

I learnt to skate when i was 4-5 yrs old. It must have been a very funny sight, to see me walking around on skates way back then..I was stick thin, and used to walking around with those big skates on my legs everyday after school. I weighed a bit more than a feather,they must've been as heavy as me!! Soon i got pretty good at it.. The meek, puny little silent boy in school, used to turn into a rowdy with the skates on.. There were even incidents when i whacked a few people who irritated me while we were skating...The moment i put my skates on, i was ready to fly..Nothing could stop me, cos to stop me, they first had to catch me!!! My skating sir realised this, and soon i was going to skating competitions...

And so, we reached Talkatora stadium.. It is this huge place in Delhi where the National games (or maybe asian games) took place a few years ago..I'm not sure, but basically, it was this HUGE place with sports facilities of all kinds.. But those two days, it was all about roller skating..There was figure skating, couple skating, roller hockey, and the most anticipated event, speed skating!!

I was 6 yrs old (in 2nd class) and was taking part in the under-8 category. Most of the people who came there (including the kids of my age) came with coaches, and all fancy imported shoe skates, with flashy skating gear and helmets and elbow pads..It was all that a little kid could dream of! Though, inline skates weren't popular back then, so it was all normal flat skates...On the other hand, i was in my normal skates (the extendable types, into which you put in your shoe and tie it)...I went there with my grandfather, and was the only person who didnt have a coach around! It got me all nervous for the whole thing, thinking about all the fancy stuff they had!!

On the first day, were the heats. The qualifying rounds for the competition. In both the heats, i did very well, and qualified without any trouble. The next day, we went back, and the morning round was also not much of a problem. I had already reached the finals!!!

Between all this, were the other competitions of figure skating and stuff which were very nice to watch! But then, i was never really the graceful type, so i sucked at it..I still cant dance if my life depended on it!! Then came the roller hockey....That day, i saw this guy from my school break 6 hockey sticks in one game!!!!! This show of violence led to hockey being the only game I've never tried, and never wanted to try!!! The game is tooo bloody dangerous!! you have mad people wielding sticks and whacking the ball all over the place with nothing even close to any safety equipment! As if its not bad enough that you can get whacked by a ball,,people can even break a stick on your head!! After the violence, came the speed skating events of the 'big' kids. It was very exciting to watch, with the skaters zooming around the track, almost in formation(the competition was so close), and the screech of skates at every turn.. All you could see were flashes of fluorescent whizzing by!(Strangely, most of the skaters used to wear bright coloured slacks while skating!! maybe it is so that the shorts don't rub against each other slowing them down.)..In short, a treat to watch!

Then came the finals. My race started, it was 10 (or 15 laps, i don't remember exactly). I started of decently, with only 2 guys ahead of me. Over the next 2-3 laps, i overtook them. Soon, i was leading the pack and gaining! I was getting all happy that i might actually win this!! There were 1 left, and i almost had 3/4th lap lead. I was pretty sure i would win this and started enjoying the cheering of people around. But just then, my right skate opened up!! The nut which holds the skate in size had gotten loose, and the skate expanded. The front part of the skate came off my leg!! I was left there, dragging the skate on my strong leg, and pushing along on the one skate that i had...Halfway through the final lap, i was overtaken. When i was about 10 feet from the finish line, i was overtaken again...It took all my effort to get to the finish line before loosing even 3rd place...I finally came in 3rd..And there would never have been an unhappier kid who came 3rd in an all-Delhi championship..I couldn't believe i had lost..Despite clearly being the best, i lost, just because i didn't have the fancy shoe skates that the others had!!

After the race, my grandfather and my skating sir congratulated me and then tried to console me. During the prize distribution, i stood there, smiling cos of the attention i was getting, but sad cos i lost. But when the chief guest gave me the prize, he said "You'll win next time. Best of luck!". That made me feel much better, that even the chief guest thought i should've won. Looking back, I'm pretty sure he said it to everyone who didn't win! But then, thats the beauty of innocence of a kid!! I got this BIG medal!! This was an actual medal. It was very heavy, seemed like it was made of proper bronze. It had Delhi roller skating inscribed on it, and to date, it still looks as good as it did the day i got it.

But then,,,there is one thing, that made this day, a day that i will never ever forget....
On my way back home my grandfather bought something nice to eat for me. And I came home, proudly showing off my first big prize to everyone! Everyone was very excited about it. Then i went to and showed it to my dad. He was under heavy cancer treatment, he was very very weak, bedridden and couldn't even talk. But when i showed him the medal, his face lit up, he smiled, picked up a paper and pen that was beside him, and on it, he wrote in capitals, (in huge letters, filling up the whole page)

"EXCELLENT!! KEEP IT UP!!"

A few days after that day, he passed away. Its been 15 years, and this was pretty much the last thing i remember him saying to me. The memory of the great man saying those words to me, is still crystal clear in my mind....I try to live up to it, in whatever i do....
He will never be forgotten....

"Overcome your sorrow,
Never forget to follow your dream to gain the smile that comes with victory...
"
- Seishi Kishimoto

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Management..part 2..The interview!

(Continued from last post...and sorry about the loong post, i didnt realise it got so big until i finished, but i couldn't think of what to delete..)
The MDI interview, is one i'll never forget. It wasn't too long, But every minute of it was worth talking about! So here's the story..

Dateline --> March 2008
Place --> MDI, Gurgaon

After asking for permission, i came in, greeted them with a smile and sat as straight as i could. The people conducting the interviews were the same as those conducting th GD's. A middle aged man, and a middle aged lady, both who had the 'professor look'..They seemed quite knowledgable, as expected from people taking these interviews..
In front of them, was the sheet we were made to fill up with all our details. Evidently, they had no interest in our resumes. Then they started..

Interviewers (Int) - "Hi Aditya. Tell us something about yourself".
Me - "I am pursuing my engineering from ..etc etc... I live in bangalore with my family consisting of...etc etc...".
Int - "So you are from Bangalore? Which school did you pass out from in bangalore?"
Me - "No, actually i did my 10th and 12th from Hyderabad".
Int - (looking into the sheet) " So you were born and brought up in Hyd, live in Bangalore, and study in Jaipur?"
Me - (smiling)"No sir, i was born in delhi, did my schooling there till 5th class, and then moved to Hyd."
Int - (Smiling)"So you're what i would call a true Indian. And now you're back in Delhi. Its a full circle!".

Int - "Ok, now lets talk about the GD. - "Who do you think spoke the best?"
me - (expected Q, i was ready for it.)"number 10."
Int - "Why?"
(This i did not expect. This was the part where i started making things up..From this point on, i was on my toes, making up answers as we went along)
me - " he said blah, blah and blah, which was against what i said, but he stated his points well blah blah blah..
Int - "Did he say that? I dont recall him saying this. Did you note down the points?"(they had given a paper for that purpose)
Me - (obviously paper was blank, a smile broke out on my face!! So i tried recalling a couple of things he said and told them)"yes sir, this , this and this were some of the things he said."
Int - "You said you support the presidential system, and talk of it like direct voting, but do you know that George Bush was elected in 2004 with less votes than al gore!"
Me - (baffled!!!! i didnt know what to say!!)"Sir, i was trying to support a pure presidential form, not necessarily like one in US".
Int - "But you did not say much."
Me - "Sir, i tried to make my point a few times early on, and got in a couple of points. But after that, it became chaos with 3-4 people talking at any time. I made a few attempts to interrupt and make my point, but kept getting interrupted by cross talk. I could also shout, but i felt that there no point adding to the noise by talking while someone else is talking. If you can't be a part of the solution, then you definitely should not add to the problem! And in that discussion, it was clear that there was no solution.."
(What a dialogue!, thought of at the spur of the moment! I saved my ass!)
Int - "But you didnt talk much. If it was chaos, then why didnt bang the table, stand up on the chair and make everyone listen to your point?"
Me - (Smiling away to glory)"But sir, thats not the point of a group discussion, that would just be a test of who can scream louder. Thats goes against the idea of a civilised discussion that a GD is supposed to be".

Int - (both were seemingly amused at all my answers)" Ok, so tell me a place where Aditya Bharadwaj showed bravery."
Me - (Thinking...do any of the mad things i've done count as bravery? I decided not to go there, cos though brave, they were'nt exactly stuff mentionable in an interview...So, i started making up stuff from scenarios i'd been in..adding up along the way..)"I was the college chess team captain (i even highlighted the achievement!), and we used to go to BITS pilani every year for the sports meet. There used to be 2 chess events, one of classic, and one of lightening chess. Towards the end of the first event, the fight for a position in the finals used to get pretty close, and we were running for a place in the finals. The people in 3rd place, required all 4 points to get by us and reach the finals, so they started bribing and scheming with their opposing team, saying that they should give them all the games in the classic event, and that they would return the favour in the lightening event. I protested against the practice, saying its unfair, and even threatened to leave if they continued with it".

Int - "But whats wrong in that? Its an agreement between the two."
Me - (Going with the gush of bravery i created, lots of reeeeally big words came out of my melodramatic head)"Because it goes against the spirit of the game, and the tournament. If i were to decide who gets the points in each game, what is the point of playing? I could pay-off a team or two and get the points and win the tournament, that would be no different. If you don't want to play, don't play, But don't kill the spirit of the sport just because of your weakness!".

Int - (Taken aback by the sudden flow of words)"But then, if you were stuck in the same position, what would you do? If you were in a position to make the deal, would you?".(Then a smile came across their faces!)
Me - (thinking...Damn these guys are good!!! If i say no, then i'm a fool, and not fit to be a manager. If i say yes, then i'm backtracking all the big words i just said!!! Finally, with a sheepish smile, i said) "I would leave that descision to my teammates".
Int - (bigger smile!)"But you were just talking about principles, and the spirit and things like that.."
Me - (Smiling back)"Sir, when i go as the captain of the team, i am answerable not only to the college, but also to my teammates. And a descision like that affects them as much as it affects me. Being equals, they should also have a say."

(I was feeling like a royal fool by now, knowing well, what an ass i made out of myself! I was laughing at myself, and so, by this point, it was quite a jolly interview, with everyone smiling, and me even showing my teeth once in a while!!)

Int - "Ok, Aditya, tell me about your reading habits."
(Reading........habits???????????? whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?? i've read about 5 books in my whole life!!!!!)
me - (trying to buy some time)"I read mainly fiction".
Int - "Ok, what were the last 3 books you read".
(after virtually scratching my brain to get past asterix and archies! Then i remembered the few books my sis bought for me and i read over the last yr or 2! Finally i thought of 3!!)
Me - "'The magician', by somerset maugham"(big author, small book, 200 pages)
Me - "'The death of ivan illyich', by leo tolstoy"(Bigger author, smalled book!! This book was about 100 pages or less! in big font!!)
Me - "'The prelude to foundation', by isaac asimov".
(if they asked me for 2 more, i would just say dan brown and then maybe Tinkle!!)
Int - "Ok, what magazines do you read?"
(Me smiling even more that i saved my ass and managed to remember 3 books!!)
Me - (Buying time, cos i didnt remember any names!)"I read mainly automobile magazines"

Int - "Ok, so whats the best car in india today according to you".
(I couldnt remember too many car names, cos i hadn't watched TV or read a car magazine since i came to college!)
Me - (buying more time, smiling even more, trying to sound as if i know stuff!) "In which segment?"
Int - "small or Mid range".
(I almost let out a squeel of joy, this guy knew nothing about cars!! But i still couldnt remember any names apart from Ford Ikon, which went out of production 2-3 years earlier! I kept thinking, what is that orange car that prof in college has...)
Me - (Finally, showing teeth while smiling by now)"Maruti Suzuki Swift"
Int - "Ok , so whats the most important thing in a car?".
Me - (trying to buy time)"Value for money!"
Int - "Yes, but name 5 the things u would looks for in a car".
Me - "Power, fuel efficiency, design, interiors and value for money"
Int - "Design and interiors, aren't they the same?"
Me - (All happy, cos i knew he would ask me the difference, as he knew nothing about cars, thats why i told him those two!) I explained it..

Int - Ok Aditya, Thank you!

As i was leaving, he stopped me and asked.
Int - What do you think is most responsible for car accidents?
Me - (didnt know what to say, so a tongue in cheek comment came out)"The driver!".
Int - (laughing) "yes, but what part of the car"
me - "sir, the tyres and the drivetrain"(I had no clue what that meant!! i just read it somewhere!)

Int - "Dont you think, its the steering?"
They had a nice laugh. and he said that last part wont count in my interview, it was just a joke.


I came home, knowing well how bad i screwed up the whole thing, amazed at how closely they scrutinized everyone and smiling away at the most jovial interview ever! Throughout the interview i was smiling, and so were they. I kept trying to make up answers as i went along, making mistakes along the way, but it was pretty obvious that they realised that..


But imagine my surprise, when i see my name on the waiting list !!!! On one of the top 10 management institutes of India!!
And in the second list, my name even got confirmed!!!! They must've seen something that i didnt, to actually select me!!
As i said before i started out, i still didnt join the place,,but this is one interview i shall never forget!!

Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Management...part 1

Last week the results of CAT were out...For those of you are so very blissfully ignorant, CAT is the entrance test for all the IIM's. It is considered the worlds most difficult exam, but it still makes up only the first part of the two part selection process..But then,, no one ever said getting into an IIM is a walk in the park..Out of the 3 lakh odd people writing the exam,,about 7000 or so are eligible to get a call, but then, even amongst them there are different selection criteria for each of the IIM's, based on which this list is further shortlisted. So basically, you could get a 98 percentile, and still fall short of the expectations...May seem cruel, but then, the world is not all fun and games...

Cut to CAT 2007. I prepared decently well and took the exam. It went off decent. And in Jan 2008, i got my results. Now being in 8th sem, we were busy with DoTA (as usual), and i wasnt too bothered about checking the results. It was mainly cos of the mad rush that would be there on the sites and all, seen enough results to know that there was no point. So the 5 of us sitting in my room, were busy playing. Lots of people had expectations that i would 'crack the CAT' , so i started getting calls about my result, and i kept telling everyone that i didnt check. One of them finally asked me to tell him the details and that he would find out!! He tells me that i got a royal 98.64 percentile. To me, that was just still a number, so i didnt know whehter that meant a call, but then, i just got back to playing! I was already exhibiting managerial skills, making optimum use of my time and getting others to do my work!!

But as fate would have it, i didnt get any calls from any IIM's, seems like these days even a 98.6 isnt enough!! later i found out that the reason i didnt get calls, was cos i got 91.98 percentile in english,,whereas the cutoff was 92!!!! It was then, that i realised the value of 0.02%. But then someone reminded me that i filled up forms of MDI..Its another management institute, which comes in the top 10 in the country..I got a call from there..

Most people were very excited at the prospect, but i wasn't too keen.. Call it overconfidence or plain stupidity, i was pretty sure i wouldnt join the place even if i got through..But i still was going to give the interview..My interview was scheduled for mid march, and it was on the MDI campus in gurgaon. Between the cat results and the interview, i even got placed the second time, getting my job that i'm in now. This only decreased my interest in MDI more..But i still was going to give the interview...Here's what happened..

Dateline -> March 2008
Place-> MDI, gurgaon.

Reached gurgaon the nigth before the interview, stayed at rommates house. His parents always treat me like their own kid, so there was a royal dinner too. I read up a little on a few sites, checked my CV one last time, and went to sleep..

In the morning, the procedure was supposed to start at around 10AM.. But to be on the safe side, i got out of home by 8, and reached the place by 8:30..There were only a couple of people there till about 9, but they were all there for the same purpose, so i set my doubts aside and sit there in the class room type place where we were to wait. I have the knack of being able to sleep anywhere and any time, and i tend to feel more sleepy after having a bath. Like many other weird and very inappropriate times, i started feeling sleepy there!!! i put my head down cos i had nothing to do, and i ended up taking a little nap without my knowledge. When i next opened my eyes, it was almost 10 and the classroom was full !! went, washed my eyes and came back to find the guy who was telling us the instructions in class..We were divided into groups of 10 for the group discussion(GD)..

The GD was a a very sad affair. The topic was should india have a presidential or parlimentary form of government. We were all given slips to note down stuff and a number by which we would be assigned. i read an article on the same thing a few days before, so i had loads of points supporting why india should have a presidential form, and the people around me didnt seem like those ultra smart people who would steam roll everyone else. So i was all excited that this won't be too tough for me.

I expected the GD to be a structured affair, with people being civilised unlike the 'gavaar log' in college who just believed in screaming. After all, this was a prestigious management institute and all.. But my mistake again. Even here people were screaming their heads off, cutting off people's points in middle. I spoke once at the start, then in middle i tried to make a couple of points, but kept getting cut-off in middle. There was never a time when less than 3 ppl were shouting. A few more sterner interrupts from me all went to waste cos no one was in a mood to listen. Then they told us conclude!! i was like ,,whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?? already?? Then before the conclusion,,they pointed to me and 2 other people saying we hadnt spoke much!! imagine,,someone telling me that i dont talk much!!! Anyways, then i told them my points, which were not taken well by the guys opposing the idea, and again the screaming started. Another interrupt by the ppl coordinating later, it was concluding. I didnt know what to think of the whole thing. But anyways, we sat and waited outside because the GD wasnt an elimination round...

The next round was the personal interview. One by one, people started going in. When they came out, there was usually a mad rush to find out what they were asked. Most people were cagey in telling the others, cos they had no clue themselves. The only thing i got to know from the first couple of people who came out was that they detested wikipedia, and that they were asking everyone who spoke the best in the GD. After finding this out, i didnt bother finding out more and went an sat aaraam se without a care in the world...Then, after a loooooooong time, my turn for the interview came..

It kept running in the back of mind that these interviews are usually "stress" interviews,,where they have people sitting on your head and keep firing away questions left, right and center!! So i prepared myself, straightened out my tie and shirt and walked in.....

To be continued...

Sunday, January 4, 2009

New year...

First of all, wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
hope you have a great 2009!! Looking forward to hearing some crazy new years eve stories from everyone!

Though my new years eve wasn't the wildest or the best, I ended the last year, with another experiment, of the gastronomic sorts..More on that later..But i started the year by meeting lots of my relatives, mostly people from Delhi, who had all seen me when i was about half their height, this time around,,many of them were half mine! and many of them, with kids who were born around when i was leaving Delhi..I soon realized, that (though i don't look it) i was among the eldest amongst the whole group of cousins!! One of them who'd never seen me even asked her mom in which class i was!!!! I overheard it,,and contrary to what people might think,,i quite liked it and felt all smug inside!!

That evening i took many of them to watch a movie, and all the elders left everyone as my responsibility...It was one of the first times i really felt that i'm one big fellow at home! I had to wait for almost an hour to get tickets for the movie, and it was a multiplex,not a very famous one at that, it was just another one of the zillion that Delhi has!! And i ended up spending a 4 digit sum for the movie and snacks and all..Not that i mind it,, but the crowd and the cost it got me thinking, as to how we used to spend new years when i was little...cos i never remember anyone spending even 1/10 as much on new years,, or on a movie!!

Those were the days, way back in the 90's...We were kids with not a care in the world!! We didnt care about brands or fashion, didnt care about traveling in buses, autos or even rickshaws, never a rupee in our pockets, eveready to go out and play and TV with a couple of channels used to be a special treat !! Cut to new years eve, there used to be few people going or coming, meeting everyone and wishing them a happy new years.. Phones were costly, so noone used to talk for hours together,, a 3-4 minute talk was something reserved for those special people, close to us who we couldnt meet.. No irritating cell phones ringing/beeping/screaming at unwanted times to pull people out of the group conversation/activity..

New years usually used to be a quite and nice family affair, with everyone crowding in front of the television to look back upon the year gone by.. In the few channels available, there was not much choice of what to watch,, and though it may seem strange,, the quality of programs and even ads back then used to be so much better.. In the 2-3 channels running, each program had the power to keep you hooked as long as it ran..Since mahabharat,ramayan, chitrahar, jungle book that used to be shown on sunday mornings on DD, no show to date has had the power to grasp soooooo much attention from people..They almost used to be like an event in themselves!! The 100's of channels, millions of shows, and remote controls to help have all but killed the joy of watching TV..Whats the use of having million channels, if u can rarely ever watch something decent!! Back then, people used to wait for ad breaks, so that any work/natures calls could be attended to..Everyone used to be back by the time the ads ended... everything fit well into the whole mood keeping everyone satisfied!!

Talking of ads, the way the guy on doordarshan announced about 30 sponsors per second was a treat to hear in itself! no one seems to be able to pull off that even now! and most of the really memorable ads i remember, are all almost 10 yrs or more old..Seems like people are making lots of mediocre ads these days, but not any memorable ones.. I mean, who can ever forget the 'Jaleebi' ad, or the 'doodh doodh' ad, or the 'sunday ho ya monday, roz khao anday' slogan, the dairy milk ad in which the girl comes dancing onto the ground or even the first ericsson ad that showed the great new invention called a mobile. For each of these ads,,almost everyone still remember the exact words/lyrics in each of them even now!! Those were some great ads,, and being among a lot of lousy ads,, that made their greatness even more!! My salutations to all those great people behind the ads..

The single new years program running right up to the stroke of midnight, usually had a concert or two, a few songs here and there, but mainly a look back at all the happenings of the past, with the top 10, movies, songs, shows, ads, sportsmen, etc etc..No sensational masala stuff..A Plain and simple lookback..A little comedy, and a few performances here and there,, All this leading up to the final countdown to midnight when everyone wished each other,, ate a few sweets made by my grandmother and went to sleep all happy about the occasion..

Seems like those days are never coming back..But it sure was great while it lasted!! I think technology has killed the art of conversation and the joy of big meetings of family and friends.. It actually seems like the main thing it has done is kill patience of people,, and everything else just happened on its own,, leaving laziness as by-product..Whatever it is,, it is here to stay for good or for bad, so we look at all its good sides and live with it!!

New years eve has come and gone, marking another year passing by..So many years have gone by, and so much has changed over the years..The puny little boy with a girly voice is now one big fellow who's working and supposed to be responsible, and has become much more talkative is telling people abt those great days in his blog!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!