Me

Take a look at the picture in the right hand side frame in the 'About Me' section. Can you see it? Good. That means your vision is not affected.

If you enlarge it, you may find me lying there nearby a boy and wondering why on earth someone would want to take his snap.

- The Rock, December 2002.

Prologue (from nku): The text above is a part of the very short autobiography of the rock on the Viewpoint (as it is called in those circles) which is on the way to Munnar, Kerala; as told to the boy in the picture. Complete book is ready now, but no one is keen on publishing it (reading the lines above, I have little doubts as to why). So he contacts me because he has heard that I am a rock fan. So I allow him to write something here.

Epilogue: I give this guy the publicity amongst my 2 readers for which he waited almost 3 years and he is wondering about my photos? Genuine admee ki kuchh value hi nahi hai yaha pe!

signing off,

Some Enlightenments to Make Your Day

* Courtesy few of the fellow countrymen, who were having lunch at the same table as mine, obviously unaware of the fact that I was eavesdropping their discussion, albeit quite boring. Whenever I was not watching the girls around, I was able to catch these thoughts (if they don't make any sense, you know whom to blame):

... How does my productivity is going to be affected, boss? Things will not change for me if even a cat or a dog is made the CEO.
... Outsourcing is really much more than what you think, boss. In 2002, a threat by some European company, that because of the almost warlike situation in South Asia, they would like to cancel their outsourcing contracts to Indian BPOs, saw the government of India taking a decision of not declaring a war against Pakistan.
... You know these contractors have to pay the bribes in lakhs to get a place near Railway station which would earn them decent profit. If they set up their shops far away, they are doomed. So everyone is fighting for a good place. That is an onsite for them. Every job has an onsite boss.

Damn there weren't enough girls around to keep me distracted all along.

signing off,

Driver

You know I am completely out of my mind when I search for the driver for my SanDisk Cruzer Mini for Windows 98, and copy it on the SanDisk to install on the Windows 98 machine.

signing off,

Life

Having lost someone I didn't even know, because of none his faults, is a strange feeling. There was an accident yesterday night involving a mechanical failure of one of our company shuttles while heading home, which resulted in the shuttle falling into a ditch on Hosur Road which proved fatal to one of it's travellers and inflicting injury to many others. Looks like, contrary to usual belief, it was none of the driver's fault, save he could have got the tyres checked up regularly.

What pains me was the fact that other shuttles en route to the same destination, did not even stop or slow down to help those victims. They all seemed in a hurry to reach somewhere.

That brings me to the question I was discussing with dis just day before yesterday while heading home. Why are we in such a hurry? Why is each one of us is heading at their unknown destinations with such breakneck pace that one does not even have a time to stop by? Not even to help someone - In this case that someone could have been his project mate, someone sitting next to you for more than half a day, someone who you share your lunch with, someone who stands by each time your code does not work! I frankly donot know. And I am sure not many from those zooming shuttles knew this anyways.

signing off,

Of 7K, Michelin and a Setback

Rejoice boy, you should. Sensex has crossed 7000 for the first time in the history, before slipping back a bit, thanks to the end of Reliance saga. Look forward to some interesting situations in near future, you can. But careful, you will be. Unknown territories lie ahead now.

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I did not watch Sunday's GP and neither was updating myself through any news channels (This is the drawback of not having a tv at home). So I knew about the fiasco that ran large at Indianapolis just today. Michelin's request to change the track on Sunday was ridiculous, I think. They should have anticipated the problem well ahead. It's not the first time a F1 race is being held at that track, so everyone concerned should have been familiar with the conditions there. Or so I thought. Their request seemed similar to say that the pitch does not suit our batsman/bowlers, change it. It doesn't happen that way dudes (on the second thoughts, it might, if your name happens to be WG!). It's just not cricket buddy.

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And talking about cricket, Ponting must be wondering what possibly is going wrong with their team that they have been beaten in both of their opening matches. It is the defeat against Bangladesh would sear their ego much more. Though they are looking unperturbed outside, this serves them as an alarm that they are not invincible. It's good for the remaining one day series and the Ashes ahead. I hope the English are able to give them a good run for their money. For a fan's interest at least.

signing off,

Mumbai's Forum and Woh Lamhe

There goes a saying amongst we Bangalorians (as of last month this entity had two + two members. Now it is reduced by one) that we don't decide where to meet, but just when to. Because the answer to the question "Where to" always turns out to be the Forum!

I miss other locations in Bangalore. For ages I haven't been to MG n Brigade road to chill out. I haven't been to Innovative after 'Ab Tak Chhappan' last year. I haven't been to places like Indira Nagar, Majestic, Malleshwaram except only in emergencies. I trust that places like KR Puram or Cox Town or Chamrajpet (I still don't know how is this name pronounced) exist in Bangalore just because I hear and read these names in everyday's newspapers and Radio City. I can neither tell ....

Yes I know, I know that I have got carried away a bit. Back on track. The reason why I started this post was because of the meet me n my college friends had in Mumbai last weekend. And as usual it was at R-Mall in Mulund. We have been part of this R-Mall gathering once too often now! It's high time that someone opens a mall at any other available station .. come to think of it, not at Chinchpokli please!

That reminded me of quite a few meets of my college friends I have been part of since I left Mumbai in 2002. First one was at Bandstand in Bandra in May 2002. Not a single one from those assembled can forget this meet (the reason cannot be stated here, because this is a family blog). Next one was in Thane December 2002 when one of our friend had returned from US for his wedding (220V AC shock it was to all of us). Next one I don't quite recollect, but I think it was sometime in April 2003 at R Mall (remember photo with Ronald?). Next to this was in September 2003 in Thane when I had gone to my friend's house for Ganapati festival. Next to this definitely was in April 2004 in Pune at Coffee Day on J.M. Road and then at R Mall in Mumbai. Next in October 2004 in Mumbai at our college (with a royal tang by many ppl). And then in June 2005 in Forum oops at R Mall.

Sigh. Woh Lamhe!

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That takes me to a special mention to my song of the moment. I know it's quite an old song now and you must have heard how nice song that is for hundreds of times. But still. There are two versions on the CD. Looks like it is an 'in thing' these days to remix your song yourself, before someone else takes credit for it. And while this remix is well done, I like the original much much better. The fast remix beats do not at all justify the song's quite haunting piece of lyrics by Saeed Quadri. The opening strings alone are enough to get you lost in it's beauty. Do listen it in the silence of a chilly night like I did yesterday and you will know what I mean.

signing off,

A Few Stray Thoughts

After much of intro and retro spections over last two-three weeks of vacation time, I am pretty convinced that,

* Air Deccan is not the best no-frill airline. I have to try something else next time.

* Not all Bangalore autowallas are bad.

* Marriage is not the place to enjoy food. Sometime you may get hit hard!

* Not all Mumbai autowallas are good.

* Central railway is losing it; esp on Sundays. Their megablocks are P.i.t.A.

* So are cyber cafes in Kurla. You know this when you find them using Windows 98 with Internet Explorer 4.5, without any other browser. And here was me carrying my pen-drive everywhere.

* And so is Aishwarya Rai. Just see her in BnB. Tch. Tch.

* Staying without tv is not difficult. But I missed Canadian GP.

* The songs 'Dhadak Dhadak' and 'Bunty aur Babli' from BnB are too good.

* I don't know what to do if a lady (good looking at that and unknown of course) sitting on next seat falls asleep and rests her head on my shoulder.

* I am not getting married soon, whatever they say.

* Su-Doku is cool.

* Cellphone networks suck only till you go roaming. In roaming you could get a call even in Jhumritalliaya.

* I should start exercising.

* Bunty aur Babli could have been made as a good movie. But alas. Long and redundant songs in movies suck bigtime.

* I have not matured prematurely. Come to think of it, have I at all?

* This one's interesting. At home I used to wake up and get ready by 7:30 AM. Two days in Bangalore and I am not even out of bed by 8:00 AM. I've got to do some brainstorming on this if I don't want to drive all the way to EC.

* Nadal could not have been beaten with that form.

* Mr n Mrs Smith is a good movie. Angelina Jolie is very beautiful.

* If I get married, it will definitely not be in June.

* Last but certainly not the least, home is the best place to be. Staying alone has it's merits, but largely you need to be with your people.

More on Mumbai soon.

signing off,