It was just another day..
10:30 am reached office
1:30 pm had lunch
4:30 pm coffee break
7:30 pm left office
But that was it.. what followed was just something out of a movie.
Hrishi, my colleague was sitting behing my bike and we were cruising comfortably on the inner ring road ( for non bangaloreans , its the life line for travellers between Koramangala to Airport Road). As usual, the roads were jam packed ( Gosh ! i wish we had elevated roads) . I was waiting at the signal and waiting to hit my friend's place to have some cooked Food. As the traffic slowly moved, suddenly from no-where an indica Cab decided to take a left turn and Bham ! there was a collision. When time stopped, i could see that i was with my friend on the road with the bike just waiting to fall on us.
To make matters worse, this cab guy came rushing towards us .. shouting in Kannanda ( certainly the offensive one ) and pushed our bike down. That was it. The Nuclear Reactor had achieved the "threshold mixture" . I had taken it much enough. Suddenly all those moments that i had faced as a non-bangalorean splashed in front of me. the time when in the innovative Multiplex the guards charged upon us, but we gave up. the time when innumerable auto guys had taken advantage of us.. the time when my friend was threatened in an PCO to not take "panga" with the locals. I knew this was the time i would give back all that i have got. it had to be this "cab driver".
I was no longer bothered about my bike lying on the middle of the road( it might have created a traffic jam as long as 2 km for 10 mins). This time he came charging at me and i gave him the one "wack" which would have made him remind his "forefathers" . But it seems he was getting nostalgic.. he wanted more of it.. so i gave it to him, with the purest devotion. He seemed to be liking it. so i had to suffice him with a few more. Basically he was no match for the Giant i was.
After a good free "5 minutes" action for the crowd, suddenly people from no where emerged. It seems it was a disgrace for the cab drivers and auto drivers that one of their people got hit in the middle of the road. So a few auto drivers asked me the question .." how come u beat a common man ? We are the"public" . i replied .. "I am an indian. I am also the public. I pay my taxes . And i have the right to stand for my rights. ( Ok i know i crossed the line).It seemed they all wanted to pounce on me. But as i said. it was my day. i had reached my "threshold" value enough to fission. It was my Day, every Dog has its day. The auto guys threatened me with dire consequnces if i did not pay the cab guy for the Damage ( which was absent from both the vehicles.) . I said whatever i had to give him.... i have given it ( and i liked it too ) . And anyone who wanted it , could come for more. By this time, about 10 of my friends had come there ( thats why i said.. thank GOD i was near Koramangala)and now i knew nothing could happen to me. After all UNITED we STAND :P
The traffice police came after a good 20 minutes. I could feel they had nothing to do with the traffic nuisance we were,or for that matter any rules had been bended or for that matter who was responsible for the incident. All i could smell was that they felt this was an oppurtunity to make some money. They told me i would have to come to the Traffic Police Station and file a report. I said i am fine with anything. No, i was not going to give them a single Coin, not even a smile .
I was taken to the ACP of traffic police and made to sit. The traffic constable narrated the whole incident to him in kannada , by whatever i could sense , he said it was my fault and the bike hit the car from the back . I interrupted him in the middle and asked him to speak in English. But he did not. I mean what the hell ! Does this State not take policemen who know english?
OR is it there also.. " Jai karnataka Jai Kannada Jai Policemen".
Finally after keeping me in the Traffic police station for about an Hour, they let me go. FYI the cab guy did not turn up at the station.
A lot of people ( inculding my conscience) might say what i did was wrong. But what about the innumerable times we "middle class" people who pay our taxes, abide by rules, live a peaceful life have been put to test by these so called " Public" of india - auto drivers, cab drivers . Why should i take that shit ...
And above all why should i take the shit if i am not from Karnataka and if i dont know kannada...
No i will not. Not after yesterday. I am sure many of you who read this will agree with me....
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Ek Tha Saleem Ek thi Anarkali ....
Dear Friends,
this is no epitah nor an obituary to the eternal love story which spawned one of the best movies in indian history!!!
Statutory warning :
For all those who are already in Love, or are in the process of falling in love or are thinking of falling in love, well this might not be their cup of Tea. so please think before u read Ahead. then dont tell me i didnt warn you [:)]
What prompted me to write this , i dont know. What prompted me to think about this, i dont know. But, what i do know is that there was once a Saleem and an Anarkali.There was once a love story so engimatic, so pure that people used to swear by it.And today, we attempt to make cheap remakes of it. how many of them go on to become blockbusters ?? i dont know.
Well , let us find out the reason for this ever increasing trend that is hitting the youngsters of this country.We live in a society which has been divided on lines.Lines which can vary from being IT/Non IT , infosys/non infosys
IIT /Non-IIT , modern/traditional , metro/non metro ..... to cut the story short, we have come up with a complicated Matrix,one which is no lesser than a maze.
The beauty of this matrix is... that each of us occupy a limited niche in it. And we prefer to have access within that matrix itself.Both the sexes have come to a state of apprehension, where they feel that the resources are fast depleting in their own territory, so instead of waiting like a fool, why not jump on to the bandwagon?
The greatest quantum leap for humanity in india is "Womens' Independence". With a booming IT and services sector, women in india have become independent , atleast economically. This is another important factor . Gone are the days when women were supposed to be the shadow of their spouses. They can think and act independently. They are assoicating more with their identity more than ever.A few days back i was talking to one of my friend. she was saying that women now a days look forward to a relation where they dont have to change much,a family which would accept as what they are.Its only human to take this as an incentive when thinking of going into a relationship.And Love of course is the answer.
Dependency.. we need someone to go to shop,to go to movies, to go to any Damn place on the earth except the Loo... we have created a web of dependency . Its a time when everyone feels they need someone to talk to, to share things.I would credit all office 'love' to such dependencies. Maybe most of the college love affairs too.Maybe every "love" has a dependency.. or maybe am wrong friends, is dependency Love???
I have yet not come to my favourite topic . yes 'peer pressure' . This is the single biggest reason for people doing most of the things they dont want to do. The same applies here too.. whereever i go, whatever i do, i see my friends, strangers all going around with their partner.. its like love is on the streets... the frustration builds within.. every 'single' person wants to be in love.. everyone wants to live in that Utopia...
I would rather say .. they are all in love with the idea of being in love..
Well, i think ... were love affairs always like this?? were these the paramters that guided or ruled peoples' minds. i dont know .. i really dont know.. because neither am i a historian nor have i lived for 300 years. but certainly , in the new age .. love affairs are more of a "convenience" rather than a "reality".
My dear friends .. this is no ODE to Saleem and anarkali.. nor am i degrading the "current" love... nor am i any different from all of those millions of youngsters out there..
I just wish there were more of Saleem's and Anarkali's..............
this is no epitah nor an obituary to the eternal love story which spawned one of the best movies in indian history!!!
Statutory warning :
For all those who are already in Love, or are in the process of falling in love or are thinking of falling in love, well this might not be their cup of Tea. so please think before u read Ahead. then dont tell me i didnt warn you [:)]
What prompted me to write this , i dont know. What prompted me to think about this, i dont know. But, what i do know is that there was once a Saleem and an Anarkali.There was once a love story so engimatic, so pure that people used to swear by it.And today, we attempt to make cheap remakes of it. how many of them go on to become blockbusters ?? i dont know.
Well , let us find out the reason for this ever increasing trend that is hitting the youngsters of this country.We live in a society which has been divided on lines.Lines which can vary from being IT/Non IT , infosys/non infosys
IIT /Non-IIT , modern/traditional , metro/non metro ..... to cut the story short, we have come up with a complicated Matrix,one which is no lesser than a maze.
The beauty of this matrix is... that each of us occupy a limited niche in it. And we prefer to have access within that matrix itself.Both the sexes have come to a state of apprehension, where they feel that the resources are fast depleting in their own territory, so instead of waiting like a fool, why not jump on to the bandwagon?
The greatest quantum leap for humanity in india is "Womens' Independence". With a booming IT and services sector, women in india have become independent , atleast economically. This is another important factor . Gone are the days when women were supposed to be the shadow of their spouses. They can think and act independently. They are assoicating more with their identity more than ever.A few days back i was talking to one of my friend. she was saying that women now a days look forward to a relation where they dont have to change much,a family which would accept as what they are.Its only human to take this as an incentive when thinking of going into a relationship.And Love of course is the answer.
Dependency.. we need someone to go to shop,to go to movies, to go to any Damn place on the earth except the Loo... we have created a web of dependency . Its a time when everyone feels they need someone to talk to, to share things.I would credit all office 'love' to such dependencies. Maybe most of the college love affairs too.Maybe every "love" has a dependency.. or maybe am wrong friends, is dependency Love???
I have yet not come to my favourite topic . yes 'peer pressure' . This is the single biggest reason for people doing most of the things they dont want to do. The same applies here too.. whereever i go, whatever i do, i see my friends, strangers all going around with their partner.. its like love is on the streets... the frustration builds within.. every 'single' person wants to be in love.. everyone wants to live in that Utopia...
I would rather say .. they are all in love with the idea of being in love..
Well, i think ... were love affairs always like this?? were these the paramters that guided or ruled peoples' minds. i dont know .. i really dont know.. because neither am i a historian nor have i lived for 300 years. but certainly , in the new age .. love affairs are more of a "convenience" rather than a "reality".
My dear friends .. this is no ODE to Saleem and anarkali.. nor am i degrading the "current" love... nor am i any different from all of those millions of youngsters out there..
I just wish there were more of Saleem's and Anarkali's..............
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Quarterly life Crisis
Jesus !! I need my life back !!
Which life am i talking about ?? Well i am talking about those days when i was free.. could do what i want.. remember the school days when i used to come back home, dash off to play cricket.. in college when i used to sleep comfortably in the afternoons... i so miss those days :( . Well maybe because the life today am living is not what i want??
I am turning 25 this August. God , suddenly things seem so tough.. life suddenly has become so complicated, or i chose to make it. Everynight on my bed, a lot of questions come to my mind.. what am i doing ? is this what i want to be? what was my aim in life..? did i ever have one?? And will i ever achieve them... the best part is i dont get any answers to these questions.. but the good part is i somehow manage to sleep..
Well,the only solace is that am not alone.. whenever i meet my group of friends.. this topic comes inevitable.. a typical conversation would seem like this
Scene -1
********
The situation here is me meeting my friends R,J,V
Arjun : hey R, howz ur work going man?
R : Dont ask man, i am fed up of this F%^&^*g software work. i am just not doing what i want.
J: Same thing here man. i want to do something which interests me.not this coding
Arjun : Hmmm... then what do u guys want to do?
R : i want to do something thats close to heart, something that will appeal to my heart.
J : yeah man he is right.Me too
Arjun : Alright , but u guys still havent answered my question.but what do u guys want to do??
V: am giving CAT and GMAT this year.
R and J : yeah me too.
********************** Conversation ends ******************
What does one make out of this conversation??? A whole generation of discontent people who just dont know what they want to do ??? Atleast do they know what they dont want to do ? Thats even more important as it would remove a lot of choices. Ok atleast my friend 'R' is sure he doesnt want to do coding. Can i say the same about myself..? i dont know... what the hell.. yeah i dont mind coding.. but it doesnt fascinate me...
Scene-2
********
Arjun, R and V, inspired by their "out of the box" thinking decide to do something on their own.So they sit together to think
R : guys am ready to quit my job, i have enuff money to survive for 6 months wihtout a job.
Arjun : Hmmmm.......
V: no yaar i cannot quit my job. But i can give my time for whatveer we do after Office.
Arjun : yeah me too.
R : Ok. so lets get started.
(over the next n months and m days they struggle it out, until they loose steam. so after the debacle , they meet again)
Scene-3
********
R : Man, we have come to a stand still.Where are u guyz?
Arjun:Hmm..ummm... i think we are not qualified enuff to do it.
V : Yeah, even i too think so.
R : Bull shit, its all in the mind. we are just too F*****g scared.
********* conversation closed *********
Thinking of that, scared of what????? Hmm.. well scared of lot of things man...
Scared of loosing the "comfort zone" , the zone whihc we have built over the years of our school, college and job life. The same zome which allows to curse our job, yet do it and allows us to squander money on weekends.. and yet atleast be safe that we have a "safe job" in our hands. I cant blame myself fully for this trait in me or anyone else. thats how the average middle class indian has been brought up.
Parents : beta, study well be an engineer, doctor or if nothing what desitny gives you. get married and have a nice family and be obedient in ur duties.
Child : Yes (and he spends his rest of the life in doing that only) and thus builds this comfort zone.
Todays youth has learnt an easy way to handle with these situation Escapism. if job sucks.. go for an MBA. Arey, but are u going for something u want??? wont u crib 2 yrs from now??? Well the money's good, so why to complain? many might say.... true... but money is not everything(is money the only thing??? . i dont know that either) .This brings me to an interesting thinking, do we finally give up running for a long time?? Is it when we understand the mysticism of life -- life's like that, the day u understand half our problems vanish. Maybe marriage is the best step towards this. One settles in and then maybe he doesnt think much. even if he does, he has so mayn other issues which will always eclipse it.
So what the hell are we supposed to do ???? Ask me , i dunno.. there is a word for this which is making circles now a days..."Quarterly Life Crisis", probably coined by some smart ass. Atleast i hide myself for the time being behind this word.But not for long. What am i going to do???
Hmm.. umm... Well i am not going to wait for my 25th Birthday to decide that.. because i might never come upon a conclusion....well as my friend 'R' puts in its better to take life as it comes.. but yeah never settle for what you dont like, even if it doesnt make u richie rich !
after all you cannot have the cake and eat it too!! can u ???
Note: if ure not in a crisis, then either u havent turned 25 or maybe ure just plain lucky or maybe maybe 'NEO'
current status of the characters in this blog
*********************************************
R:he quit his job,took up some enterprenuership for 6 months, quit and again back to software job.
J: well he is still in the process of juggling between his job and study plans.
V: he is gonna get married, so i guess he is no longer in our league... the league of extraordinary fools..
Arjun : Hmm... um..... what to say??? he still continues his battle as to what is wrong and right for him.... maybe 26 might be lucky for him....
Which life am i talking about ?? Well i am talking about those days when i was free.. could do what i want.. remember the school days when i used to come back home, dash off to play cricket.. in college when i used to sleep comfortably in the afternoons... i so miss those days :( . Well maybe because the life today am living is not what i want??
I am turning 25 this August. God , suddenly things seem so tough.. life suddenly has become so complicated, or i chose to make it. Everynight on my bed, a lot of questions come to my mind.. what am i doing ? is this what i want to be? what was my aim in life..? did i ever have one?? And will i ever achieve them... the best part is i dont get any answers to these questions.. but the good part is i somehow manage to sleep..
Well,the only solace is that am not alone.. whenever i meet my group of friends.. this topic comes inevitable.. a typical conversation would seem like this
Scene -1
********
The situation here is me meeting my friends R,J,V
Arjun : hey R, howz ur work going man?
R : Dont ask man, i am fed up of this F%^&^*g software work. i am just not doing what i want.
J: Same thing here man. i want to do something which interests me.not this coding
Arjun : Hmmm... then what do u guys want to do?
R : i want to do something thats close to heart, something that will appeal to my heart.
J : yeah man he is right.Me too
Arjun : Alright , but u guys still havent answered my question.but what do u guys want to do??
V: am giving CAT and GMAT this year.
R and J : yeah me too.
********************** Conversation ends ******************
What does one make out of this conversation??? A whole generation of discontent people who just dont know what they want to do ??? Atleast do they know what they dont want to do ? Thats even more important as it would remove a lot of choices. Ok atleast my friend 'R' is sure he doesnt want to do coding. Can i say the same about myself..? i dont know... what the hell.. yeah i dont mind coding.. but it doesnt fascinate me...
Scene-2
********
Arjun, R and V, inspired by their "out of the box" thinking decide to do something on their own.So they sit together to think
R : guys am ready to quit my job, i have enuff money to survive for 6 months wihtout a job.
Arjun : Hmmmm.......
V: no yaar i cannot quit my job. But i can give my time for whatveer we do after Office.
Arjun : yeah me too.
R : Ok. so lets get started.
(over the next n months and m days they struggle it out, until they loose steam. so after the debacle , they meet again)
Scene-3
********
R : Man, we have come to a stand still.Where are u guyz?
Arjun:Hmm..ummm... i think we are not qualified enuff to do it.
V : Yeah, even i too think so.
R : Bull shit, its all in the mind. we are just too F*****g scared.
********* conversation closed *********
Thinking of that, scared of what????? Hmm.. well scared of lot of things man...
Scared of loosing the "comfort zone" , the zone whihc we have built over the years of our school, college and job life. The same zome which allows to curse our job, yet do it and allows us to squander money on weekends.. and yet atleast be safe that we have a "safe job" in our hands. I cant blame myself fully for this trait in me or anyone else. thats how the average middle class indian has been brought up.
Parents : beta, study well be an engineer, doctor or if nothing what desitny gives you. get married and have a nice family and be obedient in ur duties.
Child : Yes (and he spends his rest of the life in doing that only) and thus builds this comfort zone.
Todays youth has learnt an easy way to handle with these situation Escapism. if job sucks.. go for an MBA. Arey, but are u going for something u want??? wont u crib 2 yrs from now??? Well the money's good, so why to complain? many might say.... true... but money is not everything(is money the only thing??? . i dont know that either) .This brings me to an interesting thinking, do we finally give up running for a long time?? Is it when we understand the mysticism of life -- life's like that, the day u understand half our problems vanish. Maybe marriage is the best step towards this. One settles in and then maybe he doesnt think much. even if he does, he has so mayn other issues which will always eclipse it.
So what the hell are we supposed to do ???? Ask me , i dunno.. there is a word for this which is making circles now a days..."Quarterly Life Crisis", probably coined by some smart ass. Atleast i hide myself for the time being behind this word.But not for long. What am i going to do???
Hmm.. umm... Well i am not going to wait for my 25th Birthday to decide that.. because i might never come upon a conclusion....well as my friend 'R' puts in its better to take life as it comes.. but yeah never settle for what you dont like, even if it doesnt make u richie rich !
after all you cannot have the cake and eat it too!! can u ???
Note: if ure not in a crisis, then either u havent turned 25 or maybe ure just plain lucky or maybe maybe 'NEO'
current status of the characters in this blog
*********************************************
R:he quit his job,took up some enterprenuership for 6 months, quit and again back to software job.
J: well he is still in the process of juggling between his job and study plans.
V: he is gonna get married, so i guess he is no longer in our league... the league of extraordinary fools..
Arjun : Hmm... um..... what to say??? he still continues his battle as to what is wrong and right for him.... maybe 26 might be lucky for him....
Thursday, May 25, 2006
How Opal Got Kissed,Got Wild and Got a Life
For a long time i had been hearing about the controversy revolving this Book ,the 15 minute fame that Kavya Vishvanath had and then the fall too...So 2 days back when i walked into Blossoms(a sweet book shop in Bangalore), i was surprised to find it there.. i felt the urge to read it and so i landed up with it on my bed,few hours from then.
Well the story is about this indian family,the Mehtas - Amal,Meena and Opal, their Daughter(actually i had thought opal was a guy:)).The only mission in their life - HOWGIH (How Opal will get into Harvard).Every step of Opal's life had been planned to get her there -- summer Math camps,Science bowls contest..and even welding and mosaic classes total geek types.. to have an impressive resume to fulfill this dream.
The the day of the interview came..
She had been like preparing for years for the interview and she knew all questions by heart with all the emotions premeditated.But lightning struck her. Harvard wanted to know what she did for "fun" ??
So...Mehta family's mission now was "HOWGAL" (How Opal will get a life)
The book is all about her coming out of her geekdom shell, one, which she was proud of for years and trying to learn and enjoy a life, beyond all the labs and books.The book is really engrossing and hillarious as she takes this new journey...and she sets herself three goals
1.Get Wild
2.Get Kissed by the most popluar guy in school
3.Become friends with the poular girls gang of the school.. Hautz bitchez..(HB)
Well does she achieve all this and even more?? Well the rest of the novel has to do about the "more" she achieves, which makes her rethink about where her life is heading to..
Well i loved its freshness,simplicity and the sense that i could relate myself to Opal. we all have had dreams in life. The one we would do anything to have. But in order to get them, do we sometimes cross the lines of humanity and our conscience? Yes we do ... and very often we regret it too...and in the end we think, what is more worth.. what we got or lost???
Opal's parents couldnt have been better.. the chillest people....the parents with a plan for how to make their daughter "wild" .. what more could u have asked for??
Opal.. i fell in love with this character.. smart,prime number lover and passionate.
her transformation from a geek to the hottest and most wanted 'babe' in her school just showed how determined she could be.Yet she had a soft romantic side,which made her my darling..
So what if it was an act of a few lines of plagiarism.. or rather i would say undeliberate act of copying? My suggestion.. go read it.. its worth anyday..
Am just waiting for its movie adaptation.. [:)]
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