Mutterings that Matter

Converted and Relocated

2007-03-27T22:06:00.000-07:00

I have converted, they kept telling me it was better. I finally succumbed and converted. My conversion has led to my relocation to avoid the persecution. I have also tweaked my name a bit due to the conversion.

I'm no longer http://jollygabrielogs.blogspot.com,

I'm now http://jollygabriel.wordpress.com.

See you all at my new location but conversion or not its still going to be Mutterings that Matter.

So long...Farewell!

2007-03-24T20:33:00.000-07:00

An Excerpt from the song by the late Roy Orbison and KD Lang - Crying...

I was all right for a while
I could smile for a while
then I saw you last night
You held my hand so tight
when you stopped to say hello
You wished me well, You
couldn't tell that
I've been crying over you,
Crying over you and you said "So long"
Left me standing all alone,
Alone and crying, crying, crying, crying

My love just left me and I probably can’t love anymore. I feel numb, cheated, hurt, let down, stunned, depressed and god knows what else. All my fantasies are up in smoke. I'm ashamed to interact with my neighbors; I was always their big brother, but now they tower over me. I can't switch channels lest I am reminded of my love. They will talk about it as if there is no tomorrow. They will analyze and dissect every decision. I want to stay away from all this; I hope I’m not helped by that kid I beat up so badly the other day – I’ll have no face to show after that. I’m hoping this too will pass and I’ll have a chance to make amends another day.

So long then…I would like to be left alone…farewell!

The City of Hope

2007-03-14T23:15:00.000-07:00

For those who haven't yet been to Mumbai, have definitely seen this long shot of Victoria Terminus Station (VT Station previously now Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus) in most movies that have the protagonist first steps in this city he/she will soon call home. A city that they come in search of hope to making a living, to be successful and to live in this never say die spirit of this city.

There is something about this city that its residents will never go hungry if they have the will to do something with their lives. This is a city that rewards the entrepreneurial spirit of the individual without the bias of race, religion, caste, creed and sex.

Just today on my way to work, I saw the guy who supplies newspapers and magazines to the office pass by my rickshaw on his bike. He saw me and raised his hand in acknowledgement. Having recognized him I reciprocated as well. He passed by again and asked me if I remembered him. I remembered him as someone who had started selling newspapers when we had just moved into our new office three years back. No prior experience but with a will to do something with his life, he has requested to supply newspapers to our office. He was a migrant from one of the northern states in India then, today he seems more like a Mumbaikar (citizen of Mumbai). I’m a sucker for the underdogs so I was obviously pleased with his success.

I’m sure he too had come to this city in search of hope and he found it. Maybe this story will not make it to the movies but there are many others who do. And then there are the cynics who complain about this city.

This is for me the city of hope like it is for the millions in this city. Thank you Mumbai for giving us hope; Me Mumbaikar!

Web - The second coming

2007-03-12T18:22:00.000-07:00

I, who has grown up in a generation of snail mails, Video and Audio Cassettes, 1 TV channel, pen pals, telephone etc., some of which the new generation hasn't even heard of or experienced.

I, who is lucky enough to be associated with areas that have allowed me to have the best of both 'worlds'. To be able to make this transition - to share my thoughts, views, photos, videos to people other than 'friends'. Making friends with people I don't know.

It's been sometime now for those who haven't noticed as yet - a silent revolution is taking us over. Collaboration is the new thing, collation is the by product, knowledge is the new economy and all you users of anything Web 2.0 is a part of it. All you Bloggers, Orkutters, YouTubes, Flickrs, are a part of this revolution - you are making it happen with your participation.

A video that a colleague pointed me to makes one aware of Web 2.0. Welcome to the new world for those who just clicked in.

Basics basically

2007-03-09T07:10:00.000-08:00

basically the
basis of this is
based on the
basis that the
base is
basically
baseless and thus
based on this
basis the
basics are
basically
based.

Predicting the future...?

2007-03-05T22:19:00.000-08:00

Sleepless night are about to begin within the next 5 days. Productivity and attendance will suffer. You will use up all your leaves calling in sick to office. If you are already droopy eyed and groggy you will be part of the fashion movement.

Sitting on armchairs will make you look intelligent especially when you give opinions. Your analytical and strategic skills will improve. You will be a master of the most important topic being discussed. If you were poor in geography your time to make amends is now.

While you watch 240 guys display their individual skill and as part of the 16 tribes fighting for glory you better watch your weight due to your sedentary life. Your concentration will improve though but you will undergo moments of depression and ecstasy so better stay cool. You will finally thank your Math teacher and forgive him/her for that caning you got. Oh by the way you will remember the almighty more often well in that sense yes you will become religious too.

And if you are someone for whom the above prediction doesn’t hold true – why haven’t you figured it out yet what I’m talking about. If you had put in the time taken to read this post to embrace and accept the religion I’m talking about our mission would have had one more soul.

Repent and ask for forgiveness now and catch the fever that’s spreading like an epidemic.

.....YAAAWN!!! (Oops sorry...that was net practice)

Belief!

2007-03-05T07:02:00.000-08:00

Belief!

Does it ever matter if someone is made to believe the truth or the untruth? Both ways the end objective remains the same – getting someone to believe. A lot of people believe that there is someone who will come and redeem them of their sins. Others believe that the elected representative is going to take care of their needs. Parents believe that their sacrifices are going to give them a happy old age with their children. Etc etc.

We are all gullible people!

We need that sense of security – we need that cocoon to protect us from harm.

On a different note a dialog from one of my favorite movies “The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist”. - Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey) in The Usual Suspects.

While this dialog per se may not be directly linked to our lives – let’s look at our daily lives, we read the newspapers, watch the news, listen to people – politicians, celebrities etc. They tell us something as we believe or do not believe. We classify them, worship them, ridicule them, adore them – setting for ourselves perceptions of what they really are.

Some political parties for instance, and this came up while I was discussing with a colleague, promote their agenda of being religion based, caste based etc., and we choose to hate them or follow them. Incidentally we do not realize that those who do not promote themselves live off the remaining flock who do not owe allegiance to any agenda based party. But for most of us we believe that they are nationalist parties. Well they made you believe that, didn’t they?

The list goes on – at the bottom of it one thing comes out clear, we are gullible to the concept of belief – I wonder what would happen if we didn’t believe at all?

Back in the good old days

2007-02-22T04:47:00.000-08:00

Ganga tagged me to do this, and as promised and with my enthusiasm to do the tags here I am. This one is about those childhood memories of the times gone by (long ago for some I must say). Memories those are both sad and happy. So I will go with the sad ones first...have to get the bad taste out quickly.

Sad memories were...
1. Missing out at my grandparents’ funeral (Just managed to be there for one out of four)
2. Getting lost when I was three and watching my parents all worried and in tears
3. Watching a toy seller being beaten up for no fault of his and his wares destroyed
4. 1984 riots
5. Watching Amitabh Bachchan die in Sholay and Deewar – I cried in both movies
6. My first red mark on my report card
7. Missing an Xmas party because of a burn injury

Happy memories were...
1. An exotic meat feast mom prepared after my bout with chicken pox...I can still slurp to the memory of it, imagine what it was to eat it
2. Being complimented by the Class teacher in Standard 4th for impressing the School Inspector and making her proud. (Oh btw she was my school boy crush)
3. My Dad’s daily stories (He would tell me a new one everyday)
4. The two times that I came first in Class and every time I got a rank that was in the top 3, other students used to clap for them
5. Winning the Class Monitor elections in Std 3, my first time as class monitor
6. When my sister was born, at last I was not alone and of course my prayers were heard
7. Visiting Mangalore in my vacations and meeting my extended family

I'm not really tagging anyone on this...feel free to try it...huge memory refresher I promise.

Celebration?

2007-02-07T00:29:00.001-08:00

Is there a reason to celebrate? Another year has gone by and in routine fashion we have welcomed another new year. I have both knowingly and unknowingly welcomed 32 years already. Maybe many more to come, but i fail to see purpose. Do I welcome every new day or every new week or new month with the same enthusiasm...I do not. Maybe there is no great hype abt it, nothing to celebrate.

Most of us were lucky enough to see the turn of a century and also the coming of a new millenium. But did it make a diffence. I for one remember that day alone stranded between two sets of friends I got separated from in the sea of people on the sands of Goa. So many people wishing each other, and being all alone in that multitude of people is something to be experienced at your own risk.

That not really being the point, I felt the same on 31st or on 1st, maybe more inebriate, coz i'm 'celebrating' something that I can't feel. It's just a habit now, I'll do the same this new years eve as well. Nothing has changed, nothing will as another year will pass by and I'll be back celebrating.

Probably celebrating each day will help...maybe every minute every second. Tough task eh!

Searching for a Resolution!

2006-12-21T08:35:00.000-08:00

Tis the time of the year when the season is greeting you with joy and happiness.
Tis the season to be jolly, even though I have been jolly from birth.
Tis the time to 'give to' and 'give up'.
Tis the time to find a resolution.

I tried and tried and I'm still searching for a resolution. Should I give up this, or should I give up that. Should I be like this or should I be like that. This That...That This... I'm going around in circles searching for a resolution.

After a lot of searching I have got a resolution...I will not have a resolution.

Seasons Greetings and a Happy New Year 2007 y'all.

Unraveling the past

2006-12-02T21:53:00.000-08:00

It's circa 2107, this young Blogeologist* is browsing through the blogs by Jolvin Rodrigues looking to unravel his personality and his relationships. She has been commissioned by publisher to write a biography on a famous personality who died years ago. Jolvin just happened to be on the blogroll of this famous personality of the 21st century, which is why she is here.

She is meticulous in her approach. Each post is clinically dissected to build a psychological profile of the blogrolled blogger. Every comment, each word and punctuation mark including the odd smiley is a clue. Opinions and lack of them are noted. Hidden and open secrets have been identified. Some are rich some are difficult to find, but the search continues. Relationships - closeness and strains between the two is being assessed. There is too much to do, yet everything is there to be unraveled.

I'm curious what she found eventually in our blogs (that famous blogger friend and mine) and whose blog did she visit later. Was there a possibility that she was able to find some unsung heroes amongst us? It's obvious most of us tend to reveal elements of our personality knowingly and unknowingly unaware what and how they will get used in the future. Maybe there is a purpose...just maybe.

*One who investigates blogs and unravels the personality of the blogger and makes money out of the findings

Gon blanc!

2006-11-27T20:24:00.000-08:00

No thoughts, no creative outputs, nothing, absolutely zilch! As you can see nothing has happened for a month now. I have been out of action - rather i've gon blanc. Obviously I tried but you see 'trying' doesn't get you anywhere, you always fall short of 'doing'. So having tried to write a post and not being able to do it, in this gon blanc state of mind and in my early morning stupor I came up with this post. Alright that's it the post is done. :)

P.S.
Why gon blanc? Early morning stupor did'nt I say - rhymes with mont blanc I just liked the sound and tone of that. Gone blank is just so LS.

Why in white text? Shows that I've gon blanc visually, besides if I can take the effort to write a post in the morning, you guys can do a little more than just reading it. Right?

Shedding light through lit up thoughts

2006-10-27T02:08:00.000-07:00

These are thoughts that have finally translated to words. There are thoughts that haven't. Maybe someday they will too. If they don't maybe I'm not thinking enough. Ofcourse, unless they are 'Mutterings that Matter' they will not show up here.

That's my introduction of this blog, these are basically thoughts that I have had, thoughts that appeared one fine day from no where and then coax me to pen them down, in the present context type them out. Better...my handwriting is not that great. I'm not a writer I must admit and it will not take a literary genius to figure that out. That is however not the purpose anyways. These are thoughts that have been expressed simply because they have been deserving enough in my mind to make them bloggable.

This is my 77th post so I have come a decently long way in the space of a little under 2 years in the blogarena. I have had fun writing whenever I could – though that has not been frequent enough – maybe I'm not thinking enough or maybe I've a tube light fixed in my head rather than a regular bulb. Time for a change methinks.

The bloginning… was good and nid-less to say I decided to give my Thoughts the Freedom and the Courtesy of Choice to Think Different – Make it happen as and when it said ‘Hey! I have an Idea'. I have been Attempting not to fail my thoughts in expressing the internal Conversation I have had. In this new Walk of life I have questioned myself often ‘Are you Competent?’ or is my fledgling talent ‘Used’ Less or ‘Use’ less. What if…in my inch by inch progress I would be traveling without moving and instead of being a celebrity blogger I would be a celeb-oddity. Yet I decided to take the same journey yet again and again till I was able to answer the question of Who am I?. I know I have miles to go…I’m still at 77…my tryst with destiny in blogspace still going north, reminiscing the remains of the taste of my favourite blog posts. Like they say if music be the food of life, play on…it's like that for blogs.

Though these are not all my blog posts I have loved everyone of them even those not mentioned here. Waiting to get to the 3 figure mark and be part of an elite club of some of my other blogmates.

Cheers!

Diwali Mubarak!

2006-10-20T00:18:00.000-07:00

A while ago I read this anecdote in the Mumbai Mirror and it talked about a young man who had basically done better than his father did in the same business. When quizzed how did he manage that he said, "In life, it doesn’t matter how many Diwalis you’ve seen (Diwali being the start of a new financial year). It matters how many crackers you’ve burst."

Experience is obviously important but more important than that is the attitude it takes to be a go getter. Maybe someone has seen more sunrises than someone else - the only people who are successful are those who make the most of it till the next sunrise.

Happy Diwali and Idd Mubarak! May you burst more crackers and eat more sheerkurma than anyone else!

Attempting not to fail

2006-10-12T10:24:00.000-07:00

I have this quote by Robert H Schuller on my desktop now. He is a born again preacher who has written books that are essentially self help. I have read some in the days that I needed self help.I found this on Acqyr which has some inspirational quotes on desktop backgrounds.

Mind you this is not on my desktop because I am in dire need of self help again. The question fascinated me. A call to attempting something different or difficult or unimaginative or great and have no fear of failing. I tried hard to answer this question and I couldn't think of anything without having the fear aspect lurking at the back. There is a lot of unlearning that has to be infused in my system to think of attempting something without the fear of failing.

As I trackback to my early days the concept of failing came way back in school. Less than 35 marks was the dreaded number - I would be a failure. More than 35 marks and I had just scraped through yet still a failure because I didn't top the class or wasn't amongst the brilliant students who were upwards of 80.

I wouldn't want to be a failure and be ridiculed by teachers, family, and friends - Would I? Yet we forget so quickly that in the early years we spoke clearly after failing to utter them a million times, we walked after falling and hurting ourselves and we were able to read what looked like pictures a while ago.

Now to answer the question that I put to all of you - I would attempt to be a child - because only then will I attempt to do things that I think off.

Awaiting the Messiah

2006-10-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

I was blogtised on Jan 20th 2005. Before that I was a pagan aimlessly shooting my thoughts anywhere. Till a friend who was a blogtian showed me the way. I wondered how he did it and I guess that is what impressed me. Along the way I met other blogtians who I shared my faith. It took me some time to be a staunch blogtian, but now I think I am pretty much there.

Recently some of my blogtian friends decided to move to another faith. They had been such staunch blogtians that it shook my foundation. They had become members of Wordism. Not very different from the blogtian faith but different for sure. I'm sure they are happy there.

Anyways not that I'm planning to leave my blogtian faith, still waiting for the messiah. Apparently in the beta phase! Keep the faith...

Sing Song Tag

2006-10-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

Atul tagged me to do this, another tag. This time it's about music. Someone once said, "If Music Be the Food of Life, Play On", I can't imagine a world without music, maybe then it would be better for all of us to be deaf.

Moving to the tag, I think it is difficult to really be able to do this tag as effortlessly that I have done others. This is like an open book test. I have preferred to stay within Bollywood so that my open book test is limited to some chapters. I'm not so much of a lyrics person as much I'm a tune person so these songs are all that I have loved the tunes off and by the way have great lyrics.

Your favourite lyricist and the lyrics you remember the most:
Gulzar; Chhod aaye hum wo galiyan (Suresh Wadkar, Hariharan, Vinod Sehgal); Maachis, 1996

Your favourite song on friendship
Yaari hai imaan mera yaar meri zindagi (Manna Dey), Zanjeer, 1973

Best song portraying life’s emotions; about life, full of life
Neele Neele Ambar Par (Kishore Kumar); Kalakaar, 1983

Which song are you humming today?
Bheegi Bheegi (James); Gangster, 2006

One song which brings tears to your eyes?
Roothkar Hamse (Jatin Pandit), Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar, 1992

A song which gives you hope, reason to try again and again, a reason to say that life is beautiful
Chale Chalo (A R Rahman, Srinivas); Lagaan, 2001

When you want to be with yourself, silent and content but with music, with song would that be?
Aye Zindagi gale laga le (Suresh Wadkar); Sadma, 1983

If you have to express your love for someone with a song which would that be?
Kya Yehi Pyar Hai (Lata Mangeshkar and Kishore Kumar); Rocky, 1981

Five songs which you listen to/love the most
Aaya Hai Raja (S P Balasubramanium), Appu Raja, 1989
Surmayee Ankhiyon Mein (Yesudas), Sadma, 1983
Kuch Mere dil ne kaha, Tere Mere Sapne, 1996
Manzilen Apni jagah hai (Kishore Kumar), Sharaabi, 1984
Jaag darde ishq jaag (Hemant Kumar), Anarkali, 1953

Work Life balance II

2006-10-04T22:21:00.000-07:00

A continuation to the Work Life Balance post. While that gave you a Proper life, success at managing and balancing both well will let you...

(PROFESSIONAL : SUCCESS : PERSONAL)

Else there is no need for work life balance. Go ahead succeed at the balancing...if you don't or can't... get back to work or life.

Work Life balance

2006-10-03T01:30:00.000-07:00

People are becoming more and more informed on the issues of work life balance globally. Here is my simple recipe for work life balance.

Take a part of your professional life in a bowl.
Take an equal part of your personal life.
Stir with a dedication spoon, till both parts mix well till you have a proper mix for life. That's your recipe for work life balance.

Didn't get it? Let's look at it visually.

(PROFESSIONAL + PERSONAL) LIFE

:) - Need to put my free time to better use. tsk tsk.

I 'eight' it up.

2006-10-01T08:40:00.000-07:00

Tags are sometimes difficult sometimes simple, like most things in life. Alright I'm stating the obvious, but that's an important trait. Maybe I can make money out of it someday. Commentators make a lot of moolah doing that if you have not noticed. I have the gift of the gab, so much so that I was born with a name as well that went with it. Check my blog address if you don't believe me.

Actually tags that make me talk about myself are the most difficult. I'm not a shy guy but they are difficult to write and talk about.

I have been blogging for a while now, though I think I am either lazy or less creative than most others I know. Maybe I suffer from chronic writer's block. If you don't believe me check out my blog on poems Mi Poemas that I have written and my other blogs listed here, Myopic Lens and My Take on the Movies. Unfortunately I am neither a writer nor a poet so I cannot pass on the writers block as an excuse, besides neither do I live there.

I wished however that I lived on rock street. I'm like the Clark Kent who never wore the Superman suit when it came to being a rock superstar.

I think I have said a lot and if it doesn't meet specifications (I've been tagged you know - by Atul) then read between the lines you'll find a lot more. When will you bloggers read between the lines. Just Kidding.

Now this is the the best part, reminds me of the game we used to play in school, hit someone and say pass it on no return. So Viral, Ganga, Vicky, Cynnocent, Mihir & Sushma, you have been tagged.

All you need to do is this.
1. Name the person who tagged you.
2. Eight things about you.
3. Tag six more people.

Play the game - this is fun.

Miles to go...

2006-09-27T23:28:00.000-07:00

`Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?' `That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat. `I don't much care where--' said Alice. `Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.
- Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

This milestone in the post is ofcourse not from Alice's Wonderland, but from Calangute in Goa. As a blogger pictures inspire a lot of thoughts, and this one sure did. When I first saw this milestone my first reaction was 'Oh! what a direction to follow'. Obviously as you can see there is nothing written on the milestone or rather the paint has peeled off. A lot of times in life this is our state of mind. We know we have to go somewhere, but we don't know where. Because unlike most milestones that have been put up because of someone else's experience of having gone through that before, we don't neccessarily have that access like this milestone.

On a positive note, there is ofcourse the option of defining what that milestone will say. That is upto the person who now paints it afresh. What that reads defines how far that person is going to go or rather willing to go.

Inch by Inch

2006-09-22T09:11:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'm on a YouTube trip searching for videos/audios that have motivated me and in the process have set off a multitude of goosebumps everytime I watched them. This was I first as an mp3 audio from the movie 'Any Given Sunday' that features my fave Al Pacino in the lead role. This is his speech when his team is in doldrums. More than the delivery of the dialogs I loved the script that is such a great piece of pep talk on team dynamics.
Hence this finds itself on my blog.

For those who are interested in the subtitles I have them given below.

I don't know what to say really.
Three minutes
to the biggest battle of our professional lives
all comes down to today.
Either
we heal
as a team
or we are going to crumble.
Inch by inch
play by play
till we're finished.
We are in hell right now, gentlemen
believe me
and
we can stay here
and get the shit kicked out of us
or
we can fight our way
back into the light.
We can climb out of hell.
One inch, at a time.

Now I can't do it for you.
I'm too old.
I look around and I see these young faces
and I think
I mean
I made every wrong choice a middle age man could make.
I uh....
I pissed away all my money
believe it or not.
I chased off
anyone who has ever loved me.
And lately,
I can't even stand the face I see in the mirror.

You know when you get old in life
things get taken from you.
That's, that's part of life.
But,
you only learn that when you start losing stuff.
You find out that life is just a game of inches.
So is football.
Because in either game
life or football
the margin for error is so small.
I mean
one half step too late or to early
you don't quite make it.
One half second too slow or too fast
and you don't quite catch it.
The inches we need are everywhere around us.
They are in ever break of the game
every minute, every second.

On this team, we fight for that inch
On this team, we tear ourselves, and everyone around us
to pieces for that inch.
We CLAW with our finger nails for that inch.
Cause we know
when we add up all those inches
that's going to make the fucking difference
between WINNING and LOSING
between LIVING and DYING.

I'll tell you this
in any fight
it is the guy who is willing to die
who is going to win that inch.
And I know
if I am going to have any life anymore
it is because, I am still willing to fight, and die for that inch
because that is what LIVING is.
The six inches in front of your face.

Now I can't make you do it.
You gotta look at the guy next to you.
Look into his eyes.
Now I think you are going to see a guy who will go that inch with you.
You are going to see a guy
who will sacrifice himself for this team
because he knows when it comes down to it,
you are gonna do the same thing for him.

That's a team, gentlemen
and either we heal now, as a team,
or we will die as individuals.
That's football guys.
That's all it is.
Now, whattaya gonna do?

Think Different - Motivation to do things differently

2006-09-21T03:05:00.000-07:00

I saw this video some eight years back. It was an ad by Apple that talked about their philosophy of thinking different. I found this on YouTube and though I have shared it earlier through a link I thought I would share it again because it changed my life and the lives of few others who saw this video. It has also made way into the employee induction programme at my organization.

The transcript is given below for all of you who want to go over it, and this was written by Steve Jobs.

Here's to the crazy ones,

the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers,

the round pegs in the square holes...

the ones who see things differently --

they're not fond of rules... and they have no respect for the status quo

You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can't do is ignore them

because they change things... they push the human race forward,

and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius,

because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world,

are the ones who do.

Remains of the taste

2006-09-20T05:48:00.000-07:00

I have the money now...but cannot buy and relish the Rs. 4.00 Beef Curry Rice that I craved for while in college.

I have the money now...but the taste of the 50 paise tapioca jaali wafers that they used to give in school is out of my reach.

I have the money now...but the Rs. 4.00 Puri Bhaji with loads of fried chilies at the VT Zunka Bhakar that I ate on the way to college doesn't taste the same anymore.

It's not because I am not in school or college anymore or the taste of the Puri Bhaji has changed, times have changed. Money was dearer then than it is today. The taste was because of the affordability quotient.

I know I can afford a lot more today and maybe eat what I want, but those days will always remain an unfinished chapter. The taste still lingers in my memory.

No. 13 - Unlucky for some

2006-09-14T08:23:00.001-07:00

On the way out of that sweet college life - 12 days before I counted the last days of the teen years, something rocked our mind and soul and bodies of millions of Mumbaikars. It has been all of 13 years and 6 months exactly after that and there is a glimmer of justice that is being meted out. Finally, At last, a lot of people would say with a sigh of relief. Statistically it has taken all of 13 years to bring to book people responsible for 13 bomb blasts that went off in a little over 2 hours. A year each for each bomb blast!

When I track back to that day, sitting in class in St. Xaviers College, sitting there brave with my teenager hot blood running through my veins, this had become common place already. 3 months had changed people from Dec 06 1992 till Mar 12 1993. First the rioting and then the blasts - immunity had set in. That was the first time I saw the spirit of Mumbai and it became more evident on the 13th of March where people were back to business as usual as though nothing had happened. I too went back to college to hear the bravado, rumors, truth from friends and college mates. It had become apparent that this is how it was going to be. This was not the end – this was the beginning.

Other instances have happened over the last 13 years and I’m not sure if all those people responsible have been arrested, judged and punished. But as they say the show must go on. Life is too short to worry about what if it got cut shorter. Maybe that’s survival – Maybe that’s the fighting spirit.

Freedom

2006-09-11T02:57:00.000-07:00

I finally managed to see Lage Raho Munnabhai last night and it impressed me by taking me to emotional extremes. For someone who gets goosebumps everytime he sings the national anthem it's not difficult for a movies like Lage Raho Munnabhai (LRM) and Rang de basanti (RDB) to impress me and strike a chord deep inside. The emotional upheaval the national anthem induces is difficult to explain but easier to experience. Of course the discussion in the post is not around the national anthem, that's just me getting a bit passionate about my country.

The point I'm trying to make here is are we becoming anti establishment, and considering the movies are an indicator of the current mood of the masses, these two movies are making it more evident. There is an underlying call to rethink our premise of freedom and whether we are taking the right direction. There seems to be a call to awaken the masses and not wait for the classes (read political system) to define and carve out the direction this country is going to. The common man is now not just a vote bank but is being called upon to take action. I would call that anti establishment. We seem to be fighting for freedom again.

Are movies instigating a revolution? A revolution for freedom from the drudgery of the political syste; Freedom from mismanagement; Freedom from corruption; Freedom from bondage in a free country.

Who am I?

2006-08-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

I am a somebody if a nobody talks about me to anybody and everybody.

Looks like nobody has yet mentioned to anybody and everybody that I am a somebody.

Will somebody talk to anybody and everybody before I end up as a nobody?

Listen everbody, anybody here who can tell somebody that I'm not a nobody.

I'm not like everybody, I'm not just somebody or anybody, nobody is like me.

Still nursing the rhyme

2006-08-07T05:40:00.000-07:00

Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king's horses and all the king's men
Couldn't put Humpty together again!

Hush-a-bye, baby,in the tree top.
When the wind blows,the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks,the cradle will fall,
And down will come baby,cradle and all.

Little Miss Muffet, sat on a tuffet,
Eating her curds and whey;
Along came a spider,
Who sat down beside her
And frightened Miss Muffet away.

Solomon Grundy,
Born on Monday,
Christened on Tuesday,
Married on Wednesday,
Took ill on Thursday,
Worse on Friday,
Died on Saturday,
Buried on Sunday:
This is the end
Of Solomon Grundy.

Don't be surprised this is not a nursery class that I am taking. Yesterday while on a family outing my sister and wife brought out this interesting facet of nursery rhymes we so lovingly teach our kids. Did we realise that most of the popular rhymes that are taught have some element of pain, fear, morbidity attached to them. Our kids are subliminally exposed to negativity so early in their lives. I'm not an authority on how kids learn but I'm sure with my common place thinking that this will have some impact on their growth as individuals.

If Rock Music can do the damage with messages that are subliminal then why not nursery rhymes that are considered harmless. I remember learning all the above and I wonder if my fears are in some way a manifestation of what I learnt while in pre school. Am I still nursing the effects of the rhymes I learnt?

O sweet child of mine!

2006-08-03T22:18:00.000-07:00

As per the latest government directive children below the age of 14 will not be allowed to work from now on. Whether it is as servants in a home, or in the hotels, and other small scale industries. People making them work will be penalised.

Good for these kids - but I'm wondering what they will do if they do not work. Will the government ensure that these kids will now be forcibly put through school or will they be taught a trade? If that's the case then maybe it will be better for these kids and their families in the long run. What about the short term - how will the families who have been depending on the income of their kids be able to survive to see that day. I wonder if the government is thinking in that direction.

Will it create more crime because of no livelihood for these kids. Will we have more beggars. Will we sensitize ourselves to ensure our not so lucky next generation is taken care off and become responsible citizens.

Sleepless yet Still

2006-07-19T01:40:00.000-07:00

It is said that Mumbai is one of the few cities in the world which never sleeps. Yesterday at 6:25 p.m. another facet got added to this magnanimous city - It stood still for 2 whole minutes as a mark of respect and to pray for the souls of people who had died in the blasts that happened last week at the same time same day. Though it was not 100% across the city yet the volume that stood still could be considered as a critical mass.

All I can say is; may peace be upon this city and may the souls of the dead RIP.

Along came the Cops

2006-07-17T03:37:00.000-07:00

Most of us who have grown up on Bollywood movies and for us the Police coming in after everything’s done whilst the villain stands decimated is not new.

While I was thinking of this it reminded me of the effects movies has on our psyche and the influence it has on us. The police know that the joke is on them - poor guys - but on the flipside doesn't it subconsciously also make us believe that we need to take the law in to our own hands and not expect the police to take action.

If we are influenced by everything that films do - from hairstyles to lifestyles then why not in basic expectations. Something to think about definitely!

Verify before commenting!

2006-07-11T01:25:00.000-07:00

Firstly I don't write blogs frequently and then I make the reader go through the painful word verification process on blogspot if they even think of commenting on my post. That's a little ironic don't you think. A very close friend rightly commented saying that you don't even get spam then why do you need word verification.

Well I have my reasons. Actually I find the words displayed for verification a tad bit funny. The combinations have humour eeking through them.

On the flipside it is irritating trying to type out senseless warped words just to make your point. Hats off to all those who brave the irritation and yet try to make their point to the blogger's post.

For me that's a meter for someone who wants to make or break your day by posting a comment. Its the sense of belonging more than someone who just posts on an unguarded blog. I salute their guts.

I'm a Complain Boy - I'm a Complain Girl!

2006-07-10T07:41:00.000-07:00

He's a growling boy look how he's shooting from the hip. (This is my parody on a famous ad campaign back from my growing up days from Complan - I tweaked it around to suit my post - I promise this can be sung to the same tune also :)).

Once upon a time there was a flood that came as a result of a cloudburst syncing perfectly with the high tide. It washed away people's belongings and livelihoods and most of all its spirit - its bravado against adversity. It left back destruction and a lot of individuals who had antlophobia. To them the king wasn't doing anything to protect their plight. They expected their king to be better than the forces of nature. And when he failed they complained because the king's enemies pasted a rosy picture of other kingdoms who were very advanced and people were well looked after.

In the absence of their own knowledge they gorged on the information fed to them by the enemies who were much like betrayers. They complained that the king didn't take adequate measures because they were left floating in their homes, but weren't homeless. They complained that they couldn't get to work, though they didn't lose their jobs. They complained when it rained and they complained when it was dry. They had found purpose - to criticise.

Much has been written about this - but I solemnly say this judge not your king and his kingdom by your plight alone, because the richer neighbouring kingdom are worse off than you. Amen!

Kickoff to the final whistle!

2006-07-10T07:10:00.000-07:00

Brazil has gone home to boos, Germany for its performance has got some kudos. The old men from Les Bleus go home with some amount of vindication. The Pizza boys from Italy have made their country proud once again after 24 years. Miroslav Klosed the Golden Shoe for himself, while Brazil and Spain played fair and Zidane got the golden ball and a red for his head.

There are some fallen stars who didn't quite shine and there were some rookies who will make 2010 enjoyable to watch. The afro drums will be in full swing four years from now. Maybe we will have a non euro / latin american country winning the football mega prize.

Finally my sleepless nights are over for this year. Interest not waning I'll be there four years from now. Till then let's play ball.

Keep that Buffer, Duffer!

2006-05-26T00:47:00.000-07:00

I think professionally I have been a born Project Manager. Not so much in an arrogant way in terms of talent but in the kind of work I did from the start of my career. Right from my first job I have been managing projects, officially or unofficially. And I have come to the conclusion that once a project manager always a project manager. There is ofcourse the aspect of risk that one takes on, high stakes that fluctuate wildly on either side, managing schedules, people and client expectations, and finally keeping buffers for an eventuality. I don't know of any good project manager who even if don't do all of the above will not keep a buffer for their projects.

I used to do it also, and now fortunately or unfortunately I keep buffers even in my personal life, at the cost of time and money. It sort of becomes engrained in your system, and your thought process begins and ends with project management, whether it is getting the catering done for your wedding, (I for one went and paid the caterer extra money just to prevent an eventuality of less food at the wedding, realised later that my first estimate itself had a big buffer), or it could be getting in that extra grocery for a what if situation. Basically it's more the merrier, rather a buffer is always welcome.

In situations like these and let me tell you this is everyday, I keep wondering often, is keeping a buffer saving me the trouble i.e. mitigating the risk or is it taking away from me the experience of working through an eventuality. Maybe experience of an earlier eventuality gets us to define the buffer in a way, but I wonder if that is in anyways helping in growth.

Personally I have believed that eventuality brings out the best in the individual, more is learnt and more knowledge is gained. Of course there are brickbats but they all seem worth it. When I go back and look at all the projects I managed, projects that I had good buffers and I got them executed successfully really didn't help me as an individual or a professional. Ofcourse they gave me the social/professional recognition, but from an experience and fullfillment point of view, naah, nothing much to write home about. So I ponder if it is prudent enough to go in for those buffers always, or maybe the risk of working without buffers once in a while enriches oneself. I'll give myself sometime to find that out. :)

News overdose

2006-05-22T13:45:00.000-07:00

I'm so confused with Newsprints. What's it with their names.

- Indian Express is not faster than the Observer.
- The Hindu is not a RSS mouthpiece but a newsfeed.
- DNA is Daily News and Analysis and not Deoxy-ribonucleic-acid.
- India Today is not about today but about The Week back.
- Mid-day comes in the morning and not like the Afternoon.

How do I get my fix of the news in all this confusion?

Code error

2006-05-18T06:57:00.000-07:00

Dan Brown, celebrated and controversial author of The Da Vinci Code must be either very happy with the amount of publicity the book got and now the movie to be released is getting or must be hating the negative publicity the book got first for plagiarism and then for its contentious content. Well he has made his money both on the book and the movie rights that followed and of course will live happily ever after.

But that is not the context of this post, this is about the backlash it has created especially the call for ban on the movie due to its contents. For those who haven’t read the book, it talks about Jesus Christ marrying Mary Magdalene and the existence of their blood line that exists even today. About how the Catholic Church has suppressed this information and is the chief plotter to get the blood line terminated forever. Of course this is a sensitive topic for Christians across the world of their savior being crucified once again by such malicious content.

The movie of course last heard will be released in India with an Adult certificate and a notice that it is a work of fiction and not intended to hurts religious sentiments blah blah blah. So that means people will get to see it. That brings to mind previous instances of movies which faced bans namely, The Last Temptation of Christ and Jesus Christ Superstar for showing the human side of Christ and making him a mere common man. Someone whose desires were of a common man, again Mary Magdalene was very much featured it both these movies. These movies were released way back and faced the same fate, but now they are available on DVD for anyone to watch, get shown on National television and all of that.

Now the question is – is it about hurting religious sentiments or is it about increased maturity read tolerance. Has the level of acceptance increased?

A date with the Devil

2006-05-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

Next month on the 6th of June, people will await with bated breath the birth of devil children who will come together on Armageddon day. For the uninitiated that day will read 06/06/06 or in an abridged form as 666 or the number of the beast.

In the words from the book of Revelations [13:18] of the Holy Bible "Wisdom is needed to understand this. Let the one who has understanding solve the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is Six hundred and Sixty Six."

Newspapers over are going agog over mothers fearing the birth of the devil child on this day. Paranoia is going to set in as the day comes closer and maybe just maybe sacrifices will be done in the pagan sense if you know what I mean. It remains to be seen what is going to happen on that day. I fear for the children born that day for their lives will be as bad as hell - they will be mocked at for no fault of theirs maybe all through their lives. Hospitals across the world will probably cash in on possible forced caesarians before the devlish date.

Whether the devil exists or not is not important here but the fear is just good enough for humans to tread the 'unholy' path.

Meter Down Economics

2006-03-27T07:18:00.000-08:00

I was as usual stuck in the auto rickshaw 2 minutes away from office but the traffic was moving as though it would take me 15 minutes to get to work. Ironically these were two conversations I had at the same location, once in an auto rickshaw and the next time in a cab. As usual I quipped in an irritated and anxiety ridden tone – “What goddamn traffic this is!”. The first time I did that, this old auto rickshaw driver turned around and said “Sir, do you know why there is this problem?”. I wondered obviously this is because there are all these vehicles there, the digging of roads, Andheri is now a central hub for business blah blah blah. He said “This is because of the schemes all these banks are offering. They are giving all these great loans that everyone can now afford a vehicle. For a mere 1000 odd rupees a month I can own my own vehicle.” He continued to drive the rickshaw nonchalantly towards my office after saying that. I was taken aback for a while not expecting that response. Went to office with what he said in my head. It was more like Freakonomics that I was reading all this while except this driver wasn’t a Ph.D. The root of the problem like he said was elsewhere.

Next time again at the same location same situation, the taxi driver gave me the same reason. He then went on to say “Sir, why does the Government allow cars to everyone. People sit alone in their huge SUVs and Sedans and use so much of space on the road. Maybe they shouldn’t allow households with less than three people to own cars. They should be given two wheelers. Also like they do rationing on gas cylinders, they should do the same with cars. One household can own one or two cars maximum provided there are more than two people in the household. That way there will be less traffic on the roads.” I was amazed at the thought process. All I could do was listen, and take back my learnings share it on this blog.

Meter Down Economics I called it, I paid for the ride and for the economic insight. Conversations that I have had with these two drivers regarding why traffic jams occur in Mumbai and how to solve them led me to believe that economics is not sole property of the educated. The uneducated also have their 2 pence to contribute provided there is a ear to hear them.

50th Muttering

2006-03-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

I have been muttering for over a year now. A lot of times I know it didn't matter to anyone else but me (refer the 0 comments on some of the posts). Nevertheless I have gone ahead and managed to mutter quite a bit.

Incidently I realised I had posted my 49th blog, so I thought that I would continue to pamper my new found friend and write about it when I write the 50th blog. This one is dedicated to the mutterings that mattered and the mutterings that escaped my teeth but never saw themselves on this blog. Maybe they were too controversial or unmentionable to come up here tsk tsk.

So here I am writing this post though it's not a muttering actually wondering and eagerly awaiting to probably get to the 100th mark a lot quicker than I did to get to the 50th.

Also thanks to all of you who commented on my blog and made my mutterings worthwhile.

Wanted!!!

2006-03-07T22:50:00.000-08:00

I was on my way to office and this job opportunity advertisement at a Travel Agent's shop struck me. I have tried to represent it as closely as I saw it, all with the colors used and the layout as well.

I am intrigued as to what they were trying to look for. This is a classic messaging blooper where you mean something and it ends up meaning something else. Lady Computer - Now where did I hear that one before. Or is it someone who knows how to operate a Lady Computer. That one should be interesting. I do hope the travel agency is able to find what they were looking for.

While they are at it looking for their lady, let me take this opportunity to wish all women a very Happy Women's day. When will we men have a Man's Day? Sigh! But it's still a Man's World right?

Personally I don't think we should have anything called Women's day. It just shows the inequality to women and then we console and appease them with a special day. I think what's wanted more is an Inequality Abolisher - Male or Female.

Any Takers?

Man's best friend!

2006-03-02T06:25:00.000-08:00

In the blogining there was just a plain blog and I let it be as is. Then it struck me that I was ignoring my blog. So to take care of that I did what I call blog pampering. I pampered my blog by gifting it with an analog clock, a web counter and put it up on display on Indian Bloggers, Technorati and BlogTopsites.

Now I have become rather blogsessive about my blog. I am blogged down by how my blog looks. I keep it fit and healthy by feeding it with posts. I keep checking out how my blog is faring on Indian Bloggers and BlogTopsites to see it being recognized amongst the best blogs around. I’m all bloggered up to take my blog to a walk in blogspace.

I have been bitten by the blog bug and I’m loving it. I love my blog! The times are changing a blog is now truly a man’s best friend!

Does this Ad up?

2006-03-02T02:30:00.000-08:00

Thanks to the pathetic condition of the roads in Mumbai today, DNA the newspaper had an interesting billboard off the Western Express Highway and I quote “First they cut the trees to make roads and then dig them up to plant trees.”

This is not a tribute to the creativity of DNA but to the concept of outdoor advertising has been an effective means of communication for a long time now. It has served its purpose in more ways than one – especially accidents that are caused by distracted drivers ogling at billboards with skimpily clad women. The funnier ones make a lasting impression. Everyone knows of the long standing Amul campaign which is presently in its 30th year of having topical billboards. Apparently that’s a Guinness Record as well. I stumbled upon another site that lists some funny albeit loaded with innuendo billboards.

Have fun watching billboards – and just a warning ogling at billboards while driving is injurious to life.

Do the Doodle

2006-02-27T23:35:00.000-08:00

I'm bored sitting in this meeting. My meeting notes don't seem legible to me let alone anyone else. All I can hear is some words that keep me distracted all the while. I pen down some lines, some circles, some faces, some leaves, some flowers, with some shading - and lo and behold I have art being created.

Well not art really but yes Doodles as they are more popularly known as. The art of the bored mind. But what do they really mean? Do they have any significance as much as analysis that gets done on our signatures and handwriting to analyze our characters.

My inquisitiveness led me to this site Doodle Decoder and here they have given explanations of what doodles mean. Well doodles apparently tell us about the state of mind of the doodler (ok! someone who doodles).

Till then doodle away to glory...hope it achieves art form status.

Talk to me!

2006-02-27T00:56:00.000-08:00

I was watching the Simi Garewal show "Rendezvous with Simi Garewal" last night that takes a peek into the lives of celebrities. The thought I was left with is why is it that I as a viewer am interested in the lives of these celebrities. I wouldn't call in an intrusion of privacy because these celebrities are willing to share their lives with the viewers.

Is it just entertainment value or TRP ratings? Is it just publicity that they are looking for? Is it to justify what they had done?

What is it that makes people sometimes reveal their deepest secrets in front of millions? This is not limited to celebrities alone, even commoners find it as a effective instrument to let loose their secrets. Does this make their hurt/pain/fears lighter? Does this make them more recognizable and more in the public eye? I don't know if I will be able to do that, at most I can reveal my deepest secrets to very close friends/family members.

Besides I wonder if these secrets are really secrets and not just a concoction of what actually happened laced heavily with sensationalism spice that makes it sell on television. Whether I watch Oprah, Simi Garewal, Jerry Springer, Donohue or any other talk show host, this is an answer I still do not have.

Till then I'll probably continue watching these talk shows and look at people baring all their secrets to an unknown viewer like me. See you again same time next week for more about what goes on in the lives of people.

Rich Crime Rate!

2006-02-21T22:19:00.000-08:00

I can kill and get away with it
I can rape and never regret it
I can break all the rules and yet be nonchalant about it

Why?
Because I have the contacts and deep pockets
Because I can mummify the witnesses with currency notes and bury the accusers in the depth of my influence

How?
Because I am rich and influential

When?
Anytime, Anywhere

Why? How? When? Are all the questions that you and I will keep asking. But the crux of the matter is the rich get away with anything. Of course there are some who do not manage it even with huge influences and deep pockets, but that is after one has crossed the threshold of crime. The threshold for the rich is way up than what it is for the middle class and the poor.

Sigh! What is this world all about - reeking of inequality.

9 by 4 = Another Tag

2006-02-09T20:41:00.000-08:00

Atul tagged me in this 9/4 tag and here it goes.

Four jobs I have had:
Content Author
Standup Trainer
Project Manager
Market Research Executive

Four movies I could watch over and over:
Chupke Chupke
Andaz Apna Apna
Golmaal
Agneepath

Four places I've lived:
Mumbai, MH
Mangalore, KA*
Candolim, GA*
Singapore*

*These are places I have lived while on travel, stayed primarily in Mumbai

Four TV shows I love to watch:
Friends
Sarabhai v/s Sarabhai
Great Indian Laughter Challenge
Star Trek

Four places I've been to on vacation:
Mussoorie
Goa
Mangalore
Sri Lanka

Four of my favorite foods:
Chicken Liver Oil Fry
Ox’s tail curry
Beef Roast
Goa Sausages

Four places I'd rather be right now:
Kerala
Switzerland
Brazil
Kenya

Four sites I visit daily:
Mutterings that Matter
Rediff
Indiatimes
LinkedIn

Four bloggers I am tagging:
Sushma
Parul
Arundhati
Mihir (Jaago)

What if..

2006-02-02T06:45:00.000-08:00

Was at a Jethro Tull concert last night, and I must admit they rock even after being 35 years in the industry. They ofcourse sang most of their hits like Aqualung, Locomotive breath, Budapest etc.

After 2 hours they closed the concert, bid the audience a good night and "walked" off stage. For those who have attended concerts before would realize that most of the time there is demand by the audience for an encore and the artists then happily walk back onto stage. Of course the artist expects the audience to call them back on stage, it of course confirms their star status and gives a signature of approval to their performance.

But what if they expected an encore and the request didn't come...

Why this question? Simply because expecting that the audience will call them back, the artists keep their best song at the end for the encore perfomance so that they can sign off on a high note.

Tagged and Tangled

2006-01-23T00:28:00.000-08:00

I was tagged once again by Atul and this is what the rules were

Write a 100-to-200-word entry using the following words: I, me, blow job, grapes, random, power, loneliness, water, robot and blue;
Use these words once and only once; and of course the entry should make sense.

Tagged and Tangled

Star gazing by the sea
While splashing at the water
Sitting all by myself
With memories of being beside her

Awed by the splendor
Of the tantalizing deep blue sky
The night sky all magnificently lit
As a random shooting star streaks by

The sound of the wind rustled leaves
The rocks meet the cacophonic waves as they come by
Together they hum a somber tune
Of soulful mutterings as I lie

The full moon it lights up the sand
With a precision that’s robot like
Me and my loneliness
Find companions who are a lot alike

Walking on the moonlit sands
Picking up seaweeds that look like grapes
While the crustaceans scamper back into their homes
On the backdrop of the moon’s reflection that the sea it apes

The whole ambience like a visual blow job
Fills my being with a multitude of pleasures
Thanking the power above
For these moments that’ll be unforgettable treasures

This tag has been done
From the words that were sieved
This creative mix of words
Into a poem has been weaved.

I had great fun doing this tag - hope you have fun reading it as well.

Celeb-oddity!

2006-01-19T02:35:00.000-08:00

Captain's Log:
Stardate 8130.5
Starship Enterprise on auctioning mission to Golden Palace. Sector
14, coordinates 19/01/06. Eliminating Stony Zone, all systems
functioning.

Guess what! William Shatner, (remember Captain Kirk of Star Trek right) auctioned the kidney stone that was extracted from his kidney for $25000. He has given the money for housing charity after auctioning it to Golden Palace.com, an online casino.

However, this one takes the cake on Celebrity oddities that get auctioned. Earlier it was clothes and other artifacts and then it moved to undergarments. Now with kidney stones being auctioned, I guess we'll have to say "To go where no man has gone before".

http://www.bid4blessings.com

2006-01-18T00:06:00.000-08:00

This is not a registered site just a concoction of my mind. Breaking news this morning, Amitabh Bachchan has donated 10 crores (Around $2.5M) in diamond ornaments to the deity at Tirupati, Balaji. Read Telegraph for one of the sample news articles.

I'm not at all surprized to hear that, he has made a lot of money with his films and endorsements and has come out of a serious illness. So true to our human frailties we thank the power above for protecting us.

But, what is appalling is that it has made news. I not against donating, but what is not acceptable is making a show out of it. Or is it that we like to show how religious we are and how generous we are? Or are we buying blessings and favours here from the power above?

I’m wondering what will happen of the 10 cr worth jewelry. What will a deity do with ornaments weighing 7kg? Will the Tirupati trust sell it and give roti, kapda, and makaan (Food, clothing, and shelter) to millions of people who find it hard to make ends meet? These are people for whom Amitabh Bachchan is a deity himself? For whom they would probably go without food to watch his new movies in their remote towns and cities. I don’t know who is responsible for this publicity, AB himself, the Tirupati trust or the news starved media.

In spite of all that I have written I wish AB very good health and lots of success in his movies, because I am also a humble devotee of his histrionic abilities.

Traveling without Moving

2006-01-09T22:22:00.000-08:00

So I sat there at the intersection of the highway and the road to the international airport, wondering who was responsible for my plight. Sitting in a cab with the only thing moving being the fare meter is frustrating. Sheer negligence, apathy, incompetence, nincompoops!

Traffic Jams! That’s an everyday story in Andheri, this business suburb in Mumbai. With the city’s boundaries growing northwards has also become the new Mumbai Central. Forget about Andheri that’s just a case in point, what I’m talking about is the incompetence of a traffic jam.

Ok so the Road Development Authority screwed up, their sheer lack of foresight and planning before they laid the road and dug it up again. Or was it the business community who in the garb of cost cutting came here few years back and set up big offices, not checking if the scope for infrastructure development was there. Or is it these neo rich I-have-cash-to-spare kinds in their cars trying to find the quickest way to work and causing traffic jams.

Sheer loss of productivity, I would say, what with half your energy drained out before you enter the cool office interiors. The story doesn’t end there; I also have to give out that extra cash for participating in the traffic jam because my fare meter is still running remember.

Same journey yet again!

2006-01-02T02:06:00.000-08:00

The earth has started its revolutionary monotony around the sun again. I wonder how bored the earth may be by now after all these eons - same old journey yet again. Nothing changes as she traverses the same path yet again for another 364 and a quarter days.

Strangely for me and all of us....Happy New Year!

Bye MMV Welcome MMVI

2005-12-30T01:05:00.000-08:00

Christmas is gone and it’s now time to bid goodbye to the old year. Celebration time again!

Some will continue to watch the fare dished out by cable television and yawn their way into the New Year. Some will sleep in the old year and get up in the New Year, giving them the satisfaction of having slept through a year or maybe through the year. Many of us will be far away from home welcoming the New Year in a new place. Resolutions will be made for the New Year and broken once it gets a few days older. Others will make hay stuffed mannequins (Old Man) and burn it signifying burning off the bad of the old year and leave the ash on the road to be carried forward to the New Year. Some will Sizzle and Sozzle at Pubs and Private Parties ringing in the New Year with a buzz in their heads.

Some will be there alone on a crowded beach in Goa with a bottle of beer and stare at the stars while lying on the beach hoping for loneliness to go away in the New Year.

May your New Year be filled with Fun, Goodness, Cheer, Joy, Happiness, and loads of Hope. All the very Best and Cheers for MMVI.

Taking Guard

2005-12-20T03:30:00.000-08:00

1st Ball
"This is not how you treat the most successful captain in Indian cricketing history" is what most Sourav Ganguly fans across the country and more so in West Bengal are screaming. I will agree with them even though I am an ex fan of the God of the off side. But unfortunately that's what it has come to be. Selected to play again for India after an injury hiatus, Ganguly found himself holed up in his hotel room all alone when he was dropped for the third test against Sri Lanka. This in spite of a match winning partnership that he was involved in. So he gets dropped for really no fault of his performance but about his fitment in the future of Indian Cricket – so say the newly appointed selectors by the newly elected BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India).

This one is a doosra. No one knew it was coming. This has beaten the batsman completely.

2nd Ball
The replacement is announced as Wasim Jaffer, the champion domestic cricket opening bat from Mumbai, not to mention an ex India failure. Great! Getting him in the team augurs well for the Indian Cricket team who have been fiddling to find a stable opening pair since the days of Sunil Gavaskar. The playing eleven is announced for the Ahmedabad test match and Wasim Jaffer is sitting in the pavilion twiddling his thumbs. This is when he would rather have served for Mumbai who are weakened by his absence, playing a crucial Ranji Trophy match against Railways. So he sits there in the Indian pavilion to go out there in the middle and show the world he is not a failure any more.

Cuts from the middle and off stump and hits the pads – HOWZZAT – Appeal turned down.

3rd Ball
Bengal are leading the Elite Group points table ahead of Mumbai in the Ranji Trophy and have a good chance to win the Ranji with the way they are going. With Ganguly available it makes sense for them to use his services to guide the team to Ranji glory. With Jaffer not available for Mumbai they are weakened because he is a match winner for them and has been in sterling form.

Well pitched ball, should have been hit. Batsman misses – very bad hand eye coordination.

4th Ball
Jagmohan Dalmiya the ousted Supremo of Cricket in India and the Deal maker of World Cricket hails from Bengal and is known to have been a Ganguly Godfather. Enter Sharad Pawar, who with his power play ousts Jagmohan Dalmiya and becomes the Kingpin of the BCCI. Exit Ganguly – Enter Jaffer.

Well pitched ball, should have been hit. Batsman slashes on the offside misses again.

5th Ball
What if Ganguly comes back as Bengal Captain and takes Bengal to the Ranji Championship with both his guile and his skill as an “all-rounder” will Ganguly get back into the Indian cricket team. Chances are he will. Smart move, take the focus off him when he is down and out and bring him back on when he is on top again.

Yorker by the bowler; batsman has struggled to keep his ground.

6th Ball
In all of this what are the BCCI members doing, both the present and the erstwhile regime members. I think they are negotiating and making deals to see how they can get their people in or if need be out. I think they need a change of name from Board of Control for Cricket in India to Board for Control of Cricket in India.
Small changes for gains in greater ranges.

The doosra again, fantastic delivery, leg stump uprooted – the batsman walks back to the pavilion without scoring.

End of the Over.

Conversation...

2005-12-14T22:51:00.000-08:00

'AAARRRGGGHHHH' the voice inside of me screamed, laced with a few not so nice words. Once again something had gone wrong. This was getting to me. How come I do not come face to face with this thing called right as often as this thing called wrong.

Growth pangs I thought to myself. ‘Come on….you’re taking far too long to grow up’ said the devil’s advocate side of me. I rate him the best, because he is just unbeatable. Always comes up with things to size me up. Then mocks at me with a right angle sign he makes with his thumb and index finger. I hate him.

His job was to make me stronger and better but he is so god damn counterproductive to my growth. I plot to kill him but he spots it the minute I begin thinking of it and takes evasive action in his inimitable style.

How I god damn wish I was him!

Are you competent?

2005-12-06T20:11:00.000-08:00

Does being competent mean, how effectively you manage your incompetence?

I know this question sounds sarcastic, but it is not. By virtue of being competent in a field you have come from a place where you were incompetent to begin with. It is up to the individual how s/he has ‘managed’ that incompetence, which makes them competent or leaves them woefully incompetent. Building competence out of incompetence is like the phoenix rising from the ashes. Either you fall prey to it or you work towards transcending it by building competence.

I'll end this post with a quote by 19th century English Journalist, Walter Bagehot, "The Greatest pleasure in life...is doing what people say you cannot do".

My Talk Show!

2005-12-05T22:02:00.000-08:00

Hello Sir! May I come in?

Yes Please.

Interviews! The fun part of my job description. It’s my entertainment for the day, so to say. Over these past few years I have interviewed more than a thousand candidates, and I have had my moments of joy, irritation, boredom, happiness – all emotions rolled in one.

I wouldn’t say I am like the more famous Oprah Winfrey, Vir Sanghvi or Simi Garewal who have their own talk shows, but yes I do have my very own talk show that runs unscheduled in my cabin. There is no sight of any camera crew etc., but yes the prying eyes of my colleagues who wonder how come I have such long conversations. But I must admit it’s a lot of fun talking to strangers, who want to become one of us.

“So who is 'candidate name'?” I ask my guest (read candidate) most of the times. The funniest response that I get is “Me!”. Some of them get even better and ask me with a strange looked “Personally or professionally?” and I have half a mind to ask them “Duh-uh do you think you’ve come to a marriage bureau, of course professionally!!!”. Some remember their Class I composition of “Myself” and parrot that out to me. After that answer I have no option but to go to the next question a suppressed smile.

Well there are far too many anecdotes that I could narrate, but I choose not to, after all my trade secret is also dear to me.

"Thanks for coming across to meet up, wish you all the best in your career." - Parting line that is a potential signature for my talk show".

Who's on top?

2005-11-24T01:45:00.000-08:00

Being on top - or who has the upper hand - or who is in an advantageous position is something that most if not all of us constantly dwell upon. Be it politics, sports, workplace, home, or any place that has a possibility for one-upmanship. It is an inherent animal instinct that resides within all of us consciously or subconsciously. It’s beyond just survival of the fittest to the extreme of being rearing of the unfit for self gratification if I can put it in that way.

Look around you, you try and put someone down who is going to become your equal, you take undue advantage of someone’s financial/professional/emotional position to indulge in self proclaimed superiority. Of course in this great ecosystem you may not be at the top because you also are prey to someone else’s self proclaimed superiority.

So what do you do? Bide your time mostly so that you grow in superiority and move higher up in the superiority ecosystem. Maybe you’ll have more people now to take advantage off and show them who’s on top, and lesser people who you will bend down to accept your inferiority. And this up-down behavior we will do all our lives till the time we die and yet hope in spite of all our frailties that we reach the top.

Hey! I have an idea...

2005-11-23T00:12:00.000-08:00

Victor Hugo, famed author of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, once said “There is but one thing stronger than all the armies in the world… and that is an idea whose time has come.” A cutout of this quote lies there on my soft board in office and I keep looking at it sometimes intentionally, mostly it stares at me in the face without reason. Alongside it is another quote by novelist Oliver Wendell Holmes "Man's mind once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions". These quote cutouts were something an old friend and colleague had given me while moving on to newer pastures professionally.

For the last ten years I have been grappling with getting that idea that is stronger than all the armies in the world and one which can change the dimensions of my mind. I’m sure you would have gauged by now that I do not have it as yet – else you would be reading about me and my work elsewhere not on this self promoting blog. That apart the quest and motivation to seek can never end. Maybe my time has not come to get that idea. Maybe I’m not looking for it in the right place. Maybe I’m very ambitious and am looking for a big idea. Maybe I'll someday say what the title of the blog says. Just for a second, maybe I’m searching for the wrong idea.

Look how they're talking

2005-11-20T23:06:00.000-08:00

Recently I was watching the Asian Paints advertisement on TV for the umpteenth time, and what struck me was this young girl using the words "cutting shutting". Now to put this in context 'cutting' was the action that the young boy was doing in the ad, not shutting. But this has now become part of out parlance especially when we speak in Hinglish (the amalgamation of Hindi and English).

If you consider this the first word has context to the discussion whereas the next word that gets suffixed to it is just another rhyming word or maybe just another rhyming sound that is of no consequence to the discussion but just a filler. Maybe it is for more impact to the conversation. Sample this "Kuch fight wight hai kya" another usage that had wight which doesn't mean anything.

I'm sure we have lots of these "twin words" that we use so often in conjuction without realising in our day to day speech. Where are we going with this usage beats me! But right now kuch writing wyting karte hai.

'Used'Less or 'Use'Less

2005-10-28T00:28:00.000-07:00

In my last blog Se7en Tag I had mentioned that I believe that "Everyone wants to do good/great work they just need direction and opportunities and of course time". They don’t work with you only for that paycheck but to make a difference - a difference to their lives, to the ones they work with, and the organization they work for. Then how is it that so many times you find underperformers or people who are crassly termed as 'Useless'.

They work with you with spending so much time of their daily lives and all that comes to a naught, because they are said to be ‘useless’ to the organization. I’ve had these experiences myself and learnt that maybe it is not that they are useless but that they are ‘used’ less.

What does someone need to be useful – a sense of purpose and a sense of belonging – a sense of satisfaction at the job that they do and a sense of satisfaction to the money they make. Maybe some people require more than just that – maybe it just takes someone to identify that for them. Maybe then will they be Useful, and not useless because they are ‘used’less.

Se7en Tag

2005-10-25T23:48:00.000-07:00

Finally I get down to doing the Se7en tag. Atul tagged me and then he 'tsked' me as well :). So now that I have been pushed to the limit here it goes...

Se7en things I plan to do
■ Start investing seriously
■ Learn a musical instrument (Guitar) and a foreign language (Spanish). May be I could just buy me a Spanish Guitar.
■ Stop procrastinating
■ Travel to destinations I've always desired to - India & Abroad
■ Get some purpose in life – Maybe find an Alien :)
■ Complete books that I start to read
■ Get more organized

Se7en things I can do
■ Sing - Especially when it’s karaoke
■ Pick up any music CD any genre and listen to it
■ Write poems (you can find them at http://mipoemas.blogspot.com)
■ Give advice
■ Drive a fast car using a keyboard
■ Watch 3 movies in a row in a cinema hall
■ Dream of being a Rock Star

Se7en things I can’t do
■ Be a native Latin American and live by the beaches
■ Take credit for someone else’s work
■ Stand on both my legs without getting into my trademark angle bracket pose with one leg slightly folded
■ Remember Lyrics (That’s why I’m better at Karaoke else I’d be a rock star by now)
■ Believe in something blindly especially religion
■ Tease someone who has a handicap
■ Stop buying books, music and movies

Se7en things I say most often
■ Saala (loosely brother in law – but has other connotations as well)
■ Father-in-Law’s brinjals (I think I made it up but it’s not registered yet)
■ Jantu Pakshi (Germs and Birds – used for all and sundry)
■ Mad-o-wot
■ Hmmm… (my favorite chat word)
■ Two ways to look at it… (I wonder how I always find only two ways to a solution)
■ Kya be (Translated as Wot man in Colloquial English)

Se7en things I believe in
■ We are not alone
■ Everyone wants to do good/great work they just need direction and opportunities and of course time
■ God is not what he seems to be
■ Evolution is a theory – Mutation is the reality
■ We are not as knowledgeable as much as our folks from ancient times
■ Live life to the fullest – Maybe this may be your last lifetime
■ Myself!

Se7en people I want to tag
Actually I don’t know so many people to tag in blogspace, so when I find so many people I know, I’ll probably update this.

Caution: Speed breaker Ahead!

2005-10-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

An anonymous "friend" commented on my last blog Taking Customer Service on a ride and I quote "long ride, pls update this blog!" in the context of my long absence from the blogging circuit, to which I replied "It's a smooth ride so i'm relaxing ;) waiting for the next speed breaker..". Well I don't know if the speed breaker has arrived but the thought surely has. It is natural tendency when one is traveling at huge speeds to throw caution to the winds and be oblivious of an unforeseen speed breaker that can get things awry.

Traveling is just an analogy to what I want to say. It can be your professional or personal lives, and during the phases of our lives we do experience life going through a smooth and speedy ride. Some may say why worry we’ll see when we have to cross the mountain. Unfortunately when things are going at high speeds, speed breakers have more threatening impacts than mountains.

Name one person who hasn’t encountered these speed breakers, I’m sure there will be the exceptional lucky ones born with a golden spoon types who may never have encountered life’s speed breakers. But to the rest mere mortals like us they are always there lurking in the corner waiting for that unsuspecting victim.

I’m not paranoid mind you, just aware and ready to face the next speed breaker when I encounter it.

Taking Customer Service on a ride

2005-09-15T01:31:00.000-07:00

A year or more ago I got into this cab from Matunga to Andheri. As I entered I noticed that the cab had a magazine jacket attached to the back of the front seat. It had in it the some of the morning dailies and a couple of film glossies. I was for a moment taken aback, because it was not something I had walked in to expect from a cab in Mumbai. I began talking to the cab driver who also happened to be the owner of the cab, complimenting him on having newspapers and magazines for his passengers. He simply smiled and thanked me. It was a neatly maintained cab and had been apparently for over 20 years on the road. It looked not more than two years to me.

As I kept admiring the cab, my eyes turned to switches placed one on either side of the back seat window, and I inquired what these were. He just mentioned that the one on the right was for English Music and the one on the left was for Hindi music. My jaw dropped, never in my wildest dreams had I imagined that I would have a choice of music channels to choose from that too in a cab. Being a doubting Thomas that I was, I couldn't help trying them out only to get what I was told. He also told me that he had a well stocked first aid box, which is a rarity in cabs these days.

He later told me that he was also covered in some of the local dailies for the innovative methods he had applied to satify his clientele, some of whom had his phone number and would call him to reserve his cab. As I got down from the cab and paid him his fare, I thanked him for the ride and the time we shared on this journey. I realised that this probably not so educated cab driver understood customer service more than what the students of the best B-Schools would learn but not know how to implement.

Personally, it just drove me to believe that no matter who the individual is, there is so much to learn from what they do in their daily lives. How they get innovative in their own worlds and make a difference to themselves and to the people they come in contact with. I don't know the name of the cab driver, but I would like to thank him for giving me a lesson in customer service in a little less than an hour for a sum of Rs.150, not forgetting the ride ofcourse.

Skirting the issue - The Long and Short of it

2005-09-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

Imagine how would you find Sania Mirza wearing long sleeve shirts and long skirts and scamper across the court trying to get the volley across the net. Well you may well be faced with reality if the religious fundamentalists have their way. Oh yes they are proud of her achievements of scaling new heights, but they can’t gulp down the show of skin with the short skirts et al.

To each his own and if that means going back 75 years to the time of Suzanne Lenglen then so be it. But they would always want to go backwards. Obviously isn’t that a way of life for them.

As Sania continues her journey upwards in the women’s ranking beating higher seeded women, well she has also to improve her play to combat fundamentalist men who will be there playing off court with her in every round of a tournament. It’s going be a long time before we hear Game-Set-Match Sania Mirza, in the meanwhile we will be watching them lock verbal volleys at deuce.

Start of the Star

2005-09-05T07:04:00.000-07:00

So Sania Mirza the Indian teen tennis sensation’s dream run in the US open ended when she got a wake up call from Maria Sharapova the top seed. Straight sets defeat et al. The success story has ended only to repeat itself in the next tournament for Sania Mirza. She is a talented girl I must admit, no one just moves 250+ rankings up in less than a year without being talented and lands up at a seeding of 42 on the WTA tour. By the time this article gets published she would have gone into the 30s with her 4th round exit in the US open.

All those statistics apart she has now become the latest pin up girl and the darling of the Indian masses. Good for her I must say and good for India, finally we have other sports other than the religion of the country ‘cricket’ that are getting mileage. We have other heroes as well in Narain Karthikeyan (Formula 1 racing), Pankaj Advani (Snooker), Raghavendra Rathore (Shooting), who are non cricketing stars and there are more I have not mentioned about.

Mind you they are stars because of their own effort and not something that the sport’s governing body enabled them to be. They needed a lot of sponsorship and self funding to get to where they wanted to be. It has required a lot of zeal and dedication and the urge to do what they wanted to do, to be where they are today apart from their talent. They have paid the price to be a star today.

I’m sure in a country of millions there would be thousands who may be as talented or more who have not made it. They have lacked something these people have in plenty – perseverance. They may not be the best in the world as yet but they will get there, sooner than later, becasue they know where they are going. There is an anonymous saying that Johnnie Walker Whiskey uses in it's Keep Walking campaign - "The Whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going". The rest like you and me will be left sitting back on their couches and just left with having opinions about everything without having done anything.

Risking Change

2005-09-05T07:00:00.000-07:00

There have been times in life when I have looked back and wondered if I needed to change some things. These may have been changes that could have taken my life in a very different direction. Personal life apart, I think from a professional stand point, this day i.e. 05 September, holds a lot of importance because that was the day 11 years back in 1994, that I made my entry into this field called eLearning as it is more popularly known today. I have stayed on for 11 long years going with the flow from one organization to another.

From the multimedia shop that I was in to online learning solutions, a relatively unknown field then, was a big leap at that point. As I look back today I don't know if I will be able to do an encore of that kind of a leap. It's a funny situation that age and experience brings you into, the ability or inability to take risks - calculated or blind. Come to think of it, its also been a little over 11 years that a job interview that I gave led me to accept the job offer given to me.

There is a strange feeling inside of me today as I reminisce that day and I can’t explain that feeling. I’m not able to qualify myself as risk averse or risk taking or someone stuck in his comfort zone. This thought is as incomplete as I’m feeling right now and I’ll let it be that way. I’ll just go with the flow.

Walk of Life

2005-08-22T23:58:00.000-07:00

Walking along the byways and streets of London because there is nothing else to do, I am holed up in London because my flight back got canceled due to weather conditions in Mumbai. So I head out to Hyde Park from Gloucester Road, and then begin walking all the way to Piccadilly Square gazing at the splendor and the grandeur of the British Empire. Aimless in my approach like a tourist would be and discreet lest I get mistaken for a terror creating manic entity. London is going through bad times and unfortunately for me I have a phobia prone guarantee color on my body that I cannot change, it’s hereditary you know.

Nevertheless my aimless walk continues. You may ask why do you need to walk, and I will tell you that it’s good for health and that I can choose to stopover whenever and wherever I want. But deep down I know that that is not entirely true, deep down I know I am cost cutting. Strange people we humans are, we are so good at justifying our actions to people and convincing them of the glory that is there in it.

There is however a certain charm in walking aimlessly without focus, with no stated agenda, with no milestones. You can walk and walk till your feet can’t take it anymore and then take some transport when the going gets bad to get back home. Along the way you meet people, you see places, you investigate based on your inquisitiveness, and you do things that you may not do if there was some agenda at hand. If you have nothing else to do this is great but if you look at it from a commercial stand point, well I think I needn't say it, that it takes time because you cover less distance in the time that you have, you see less, you meet less people, but who cares anyways.

Life is like that, more than half the time you walk aimlessly in search of fulfilling your birth vision on why you came on this planet, the rest of the time you convince yourself that you are doing the right thing by walking aimlessly. Sometimes you do find purpose along the way that you pursue, a purpose that you have successfully justified to yourself after long deliberations with friends and family. Still there is no guarantee that your aimlessness was the way to go or your purposeful existence is better.

Yet along the way you see or do something that brings a gust of emotion inside of you and you thank that power above for your existence. The photograph above is one such gust of emotion that came over me when out of the blue without expectation I saw the Big Ben. Strange as it may seem, mind you this is true for friends, successes, and places you come across along your journey, whether your journey is aimless or purposeful in nature.

1st on Broadway

2005-08-18T23:14:00.000-07:00

Times Square, New York, May 2005 - An experience I will not forget. Firstly, because I went to New York, saw the Statue of Liberty, Ground zero, and Manhattan, and secondly, because for the first time in my life I watched a world class musical on Broadway.

Andrew Lloyd Webber's productions have always evoked huge responses, and I knew why, when I saw The Phantom of the Opera at The Majestic on Times Square. I had earlier seen two of Andrew Lloyd Webber's productions enacted by an Indian cast - Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and my personal favorite Jesus Christ Superstar. However watching The Phantom of the Opera in New York was something else altogether. Here the theatre halls are booked for months for this one show, and the stage is modified to suit the musical's requirement, not anything like that in India, which at best make use of huge props that to an extent simulate the grandeur of a musical but fall short in terms of quality and realistic execution. It’s not that I doubt the capabilities of Indians, but there is not a strong enough theatre culture here as it is in say New York or London.

Nevertheless, going back to my Broadway experience, I can never imagine forgetting that experience; just fell in love with theatre. With goosebumps all over at every crescendo and a passionate streak at every decrescendo my attention to the experience was complete. There has always been a secret desire to be part of a musical myself and get accolades for my performance; and as the song in Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat goes "Any Dream will do", for me any part will do.

Independence Movie Binge

2005-08-17T00:58:00.000-07:00

Took a long freedom weekend with my wife on the 14th and 15th of August 2005 and celebrated it with four movies. Watching four movies in the space of 24 hours and that too in a movie hall is not something a lot of people think is sensible. When you mention it to them they are awestruck in front of you, but sometimes at the back of their minds they have emotions that have not broken free to tell me that I am stupid or insane or a spendthrift. On a personal front I broke free of my record of most number of movie show tickets purchased at one time. The last time I had picked tickets of two back-to-back movie shows, this time I picked four. With the advent of multiplexes it’s easier for people like me to jump from screen to screen rather than theatre to theatre to satiate their appetite for a movie binge.

Just keeping the spirit of independence, all the movies I watched, Madagascar, Herbie – Fully Loaded, Virudhh, and Sarkar, to an extent had the spirit of breaking free, either from captivity, or from the prisons of their minds, or against the establishment. Gaining Independence does not solve all the problems because the internal strife continues, and I think that was the message I took back when I watched these four movies on the backdrop of the 58th anniversary of Indian Independence. Here’s wishing us all the best in our own struggle for independence.

Environmental Power

2005-08-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered how certain countries have become more powerful and advanced than other countries. Ever wondered why the most powerful nations in world today, namely the G8, Canada, French Republic, Federal Republic of Germany, Republic of Italy, Japan, Russian Federation, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and
United States of America, have become more powerful than the other nations. Not that people have been smarter or they were born before the others and hence had a head start, or they had a political situation to back their advancement.

Maybe that’s true, but in a very weird way the climate has played a part in them being more active and productive. They have a natural cool climate for some months or all months. This helped them to be fresh all day and unlike most other hotter climate countries they were able to think better and be more effective.

However, now third world countries are catching up, because creating an artificial cooler climate has become a reality with air conditioning. Look at the way India has grown in software and BPO sectors, while China has made remarkable progress in the electronics sector. All these sectors need a cooler work environment and look at the progress these third world countries have made because of the availability of an artificial cooler climate. There may be arguments that both these countries have other things like space and people, but environment simulating infrastructure that’s affordable has made success and advancement possible to a large extent.

Tryst with destiny

2005-08-13T02:55:00.000-07:00

It’s been a little less than 150 years, since the first mutiny for Indian Independence and a little less than 60 years for us gaining independence. 2 days away from the 58th anniversary of Indian Independence when we had our tryst with destiny, and I’m wondering what destiny offered us.

Was this what the freedom fighters fought for? Was this what they envisioned? Maybe I’m not the right person to comment on that, but I think they didn’t know as well. They didn’t know what independence meant. They only knew what colonialism was, and they didn’t like it. So they fought for the alternative.

A lot of times we do that, blinded and angst ridden by what we are facing now, we hope for a better future. A future that we do not know of and have not experienced, but something that theoretically looks good. Once we get there we are become blinded and angst ridden with what we face, and then we begin our journey to the next best theoretical thing. They complain, they fret and fume, little knowing that they are to blame for the state they are in.

Some people however stay there, in the past, because they have given up, they have no strength to go on; they have resigned to their destiny. They take what destiny offers them and pretend to be happy or seek sympathy. They die waiting for sympathy and pretending being happy.

I don’t know where I will fall into, maybe I will fit partially in both. But the end result is what will decide; Will I die complaining or pretend being happy!

26/7 - The onset of Antlophobia!

2005-08-10T02:04:00.000-07:00

There was a time when the onset of monsoons meant cozying up at home, watching the rains, having hot chai and pakodas, and experiencing the monsoons.
There was a time when one would get romantic about the rains and write poems and prose in glory of the monsoons.
There was a time when the sweet smell of fresh earth emanated after the rains.
There was a time when one would enjoy getting wet in the rains.
26/7 changed all that, there came an uninvited deluge. Gathering with it the rich and poor, tax payer and tax evader, office goer and street urchin; everyone faced what came over Mumbai, no discrimination whatsover.

Now, rains bring panic and fear. People want to get back to their loved ones immediately. 26/7 - The onset of Antlophobia or the Fear of Floods!

This is however not a doomsday warning, because the spirit of Mumbai has not died, the spirit lives on, triumphant and relentless. Nothing can shake this land of opportunities, because opportunities are visible only to the toughened ones, and that Mumbai has in plenty.

Killer Application

2005-07-25T23:34:00.000-07:00

In 2001, John Chambers CEO of Cisco Systems said "E-learning is the next major killer application", and I sat back with pride thinking, finally someone significant has stood up and taken notice of the field I was in. That was long time ago and there has not been enough that has happened in this field other than mergers and acquisitions. No one has become a mega
corporate doing eLearning, and I wondered why did John Chambers say that about eLearning. Maybe he was right in what he said, maybe we didn't know how to get the right ROI for ourselves and suggest the right ROI for the customer to be very successful. Successful we are, but one could always get better.

There have been successful eLearning companies or companies who have become successful practising or implementing eLearning. I would have ordinarily rated comapanies also in the category of who has made the biggest impact internationally using eLearning. That was however true till yesterday, July 25th 2005.

Yesterday while watching BBC in the UK I came across a program called the New Al Qaeda. It spoke about how the Al Qaeda has begun to use the internet to spread their blanket of terrorism across the world. They are using eLearning through user manuals, videos, training applications to train prospective terrorists to learn from the comfort of their homes. Whether it is making bombs, creating suicide bombing kits, and other nuances they have it all. They recruit based on this because they have made learning about spreading terror so easily applicable and accessible. I can't think of any organization who has successfully managed that. They have changed the face of eLearning and made it their killer application.

They are definitely not my role model, because I don't believe in their ideology or the lack of it, but one thing I will want to pick from them - Passion and a Go all the way spirit. That is what will make someone successful in achieving their objectives and realise their expected ROI in a more positive way. That's my killer application!

Stealth Colonization

2005-07-25T04:32:00.000-07:00

A time was when the Indian subcontinent was a colony of an empire where the sun never set. These days too it doesn't set, albeit for a long time, though now it is more natural phenomenon than a colonial one.

The times have changed today though, the persecutor is now the persecuted. Time was when our forefathers bore the brunt of their colonial masters. Today the erstwhile colonial masters dread in fear of what damage the children of their colonial subjects can inflict on them. Change that has happened in less than half a century.

Immigrants have a voice and they use it today. Some trigger happy MET Policeman shot a Brazilian who apparently looked Asian – and there was chaos and apprehension amongst the Indian Subcontinent community. In some form they are doing the same thing the colonial masters did to their ancestors. They, the colonial masters, followed the divide and rule policy on a community to whom territory mattered the most. Today the Indian Subcontinent community is doing the same, but this time taking advantage of being a vote bank. Maybe today it’s the vote bank, tomorrow the rulers. Who knows – Watch the History Channel maybe 50 years from now to know more.

Freedom

2005-07-09T00:25:00.000-07:00

Freedom! 4th of July just went by, 15th of August is just round the corner. Two mega democracies! Every year these two days are celebrated to signify that one word with which I started this blog.

What is freedom? The condition of being free of restraints, as the dictionary puts it. What’s this state of freedom? My nation is free hence I have my freedom. My father was not born in a free country, I was. So I am free from restraints to do what I want, because my country says so. I understand that the law is there to control miscreants, but that’s not what I want to talk about.

I ask myself the question, am I really free. Am I really free from all the restraints? Or am I a slave? A slave to what I think. A slave to what I think I can do. Chained but free to walk, like the elephant in the picture. I do surprise myself by setting myself free sometimes. I am enslaved to myself, giving myself independence sometimes and then back to slavery.

Think Different - Make it Happen!

2005-07-06T00:30:00.000-07:00

A lot of times we wonder what is it that is required to think different, think lateral, thinking out of the box. I had mentioned in an earlier blog "Going North" what inspired and what transpired after looking at a commercial called Think Different from Apple™ and the impact it had on our lives. Whether good or bad is a matter of perception, but at the bottom of that lies change. Change in the way one thinks and does things.

Is just thinking enough? Did Apple™ only think different? I'm sure they didn't just think they made it happen. Take a recent example, the whole music industry was ganging up against the likes of Napster™ for killing the music industry by distributing music, people came up with solutions after spending millions to copy protect CDs, the music desperados found a way out. Then Apple™ comes by with this device called iPod and a concept called iTunes and creates a revolution in the music industry. Everyone gets hooked on to it and everyone is happy. What did they do here? They just made it happen.

The next revolution maybe lurking round the corner, the Mac mini, allows PC users to shift onto a Mac at fraction of the cost. First they squeezed an entire computer into a flat screen and now they have compressed it into the size of a lunch box. They have just made it easier for people to shift their platforms without much of an investment.

This is in no way Apple™ propaganda, but just a passing thought, how do they think different and make it happen? While I get away and back to my work, I'm still thinking on that...

Courtesy of Choice!

2005-07-04T00:54:00.000-07:00

The screen reads 'Intermission' for the 8:15 p.m. show of 'A lot like love' at Fame Malad, I turn around to my wife and in the same often repeated dialog I ask her 'what do you want to eat?' She says samosas and I grapple down the steps and head straight out of the hall into the cafeteria zone.

Look around for a stream of like minded people who make a beeline to this one particular place in any cinema hall in Mumbai and probably India, the smoking place. Lo and Behold! I smell the beeline and also see a board that says ‘Smoking Room’. And I think to my self, wow courtesy of choice. Make my way to the ‘Smoking Room’, albeit quickly lest I miss out of the start of the movie after the interval. I can see this nice door that has ‘Smoking Room’ written on it, I enter it and I find I have entered a matchbox. There are some 10-15 people in the matchbox with their sticks lit, in a 6 ft by 7ft room. The walls are plastered with film posters of movies that have long gone. People concentrating over every drag that they are taking in of that long awaited nicotine fix. Thankfully there are a few late comers who end up being the smarter ones and they stay out and smoke. Some relief to the rest of us, who are already getting a first hand experience of what happened in the concentration camps of Hitler’s Germany. I’m thinking to myself, so much to courtesy of choice, they are discriminating against me.

Nevertheless I eke out of the matchbox and move out back to the cafeteria to pick the samosas I was to buy. Not that this was the first time that I experienced the discrimination. All international airports, public places make you feel like a criminal. I find it nonsensical because I can’t evade taxes when I buy the packet of cigarettes. So if I pay taxes for buying cigarettes, how dare they treat me this way! I have a freedom of choice what I want to or not want to do with my life.

Now I hear that the Health Ministry in alliance with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry has decided to ban smoking from being shown in movies. Again who are they to decide on creativity, they can never be creative anyways. So there goes nearly 70% of all Hollywood movies and lackluster chocolate faced I’m an insult to actors become stars, what with thrillers finding it difficult to be made without having smokers in them. Maybe they'll add a new thing to the beeps and blurs to pass them through. Oh yes murders, polygamous relationships, and the rest of the world's evils can still go on scot-free, they do not have an impact on the impressionable minds of our youth. What they don’t have the guts to do is shut down cigarette companies.

Taxes my dear, how will the government fill their coffers otherwise. So they offer you courtesy of choice if you smoke, they will tax you, show you how evil you are, not let you get impressed with other smokers on screen, discriminate against you, but they will not do anything against polluting vehicles, traffic jams, bad roads, shoddy infrastructure, crime and all the other issues that I pay taxes for. Well that’s the courtesy I get for my choice of government.

If Music Be the Food of Life, Play On

2005-07-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

"If Music Be the Food of Life, Play On" - a various famous saying that oft gets repeated during airplay on radio stations across the world. Yes to me this line has made a lot of sense right from childhood, where my dad and mom used to utter musical notes to put me off to sleep or to keep me amused and wean me away from crying. Or when I used to put a stop to mom's cooking because all her utensils were in use, as they took various positions on my elaborate drumkit. Or when I went to church early only to hear the choir singing and not out of respect for punctuality or solemnity. When I got my first 2in1 that my uncle gave me with some of his cassettes, it was one of my favorite gifts as a teenager. Or when I had one of my biggest fights with mom to lend me 18 bucks to buy an audio cassette of certain famous hindi flicks of the late 80s, which she finally yeilded to, after much emotional black mail and guilt tripping. There was a time when my biggest spend while earning was on buying audio cassettes and hiding them lest mom would see. She would eventually get to know, because she maintained the cassette drawer. When I used to tune in regularly to Saturday Date on All India Radio and record the songs and sing along. And then credit cards happened to me and I had more spending power, switched to CDs bought a new sound system and rocked the house, when I was alone that is. Buy CDs for everyone at home, so everyone was happy and no one raised an alarm on my spending. I had my food of life and I played on, till I stumbled on a Karaoke bar in uptown Mumbai, called Merlins. All the aspirations of being a singing sensation suddenly seemed a reality. I found a new me, and newer voices as well. Life couldn't have been better. I toured the other karaoke haunts showcasing my new found talent. One such trip had a personal impact. I met my wife, Keisha, and love happened. Music bonded us and kept us going. Suddenly All India Radio’s FM station was a regular feature, because I had the best of what I loved. Hearing to my to-be-wife RJing and playing music as well. We knew it was Up Where we Belonged – The classic Joe Cocker/Jennifer Warnes song became our love anthem and our wedding special that we sang together. Incidentally that was also the first song we sang while courting.

The symphony of life continues, and I don’t know what’s in store. Maybe this entire blog will be repeated with us playing different roles. One thing for sure the music will be the food of life and it will continue to play on till they sing Abide with me.

Maybe next is a stint in the court above. Maybe I’ll be there on the cover of the “Daily Heaven” along with the choirs of angels singing “The Messiah”. Just Maybe.

Qualitatively Qualified Quasi Quality Quantifications - The Principle of 5Q

2005-07-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

Why such a complicated title? State of mind, you are having a 'quality' time, I consoled myself. Truly speaking these are external ramifications of what’s going on internally in my mind. Screaming using all my lung power that we need to be quality conscious has been a favorite cry in a long time. Unfortunately it has always fallen on deaf years. Now it is back in a new avatar.

So, how important is quality? Very important if you ask me and I’ll stick by that. But that needs people who are mature and hold it in the same level of importance as it needs to be. So now you got to do it. That’s when you measure the capability of your maturity and make that a modality and it suddenly starts making sense, not to everyone though, but to people like you who are more business focused. Why? Because all your life you have grown giving importance to certificates, be it in school, college, and career; so your business can’t be left far behind, can it?

So what do you do, you qualify that quality certification is critical to your business and you will not hold much value if you don’t. Good Show! That’s like doing your graduation for the sake of a degree. You can show it and get a job, doesn’t matter if you remember what you majored in. Look at me the only chemistry I know now is one that happens between individuals. That apart.

The qualification’s done, but who will do it? You qualitatively analyze and take a candidate you have who fits it to some degree to run the show - The Great Indian Quality Show! In the name of growth now you will manage quality, you instruct your quasi candidate. You have utilized him and given him purpose, shows your skill in delegation and all that management glib talk. Your candidate gets started, searches, poaches, and preaches.

Finally, who will be responsible for making this happen? Your employees of course! You tell your employees the quantifiable benefits they will derive because of this. Blah Blah Blah Bla Bla Blah! The sheep have understood rather sheepishly. Fantastic! A job well done! Now they are ready to be herded and sheared over a year long process.

Hey, wait a minute, I said process. Ofcourse! if there is no process in shearing how will you get good wool.

So now, you have successfully kick started the Qualitatively Qualified Quasi Quality Quantifications Process a.k.a 5Q Process and you are on your way to your corporate graduation.

No News is Good News?

2005-06-15T01:36:00.000-07:00

So MJ got acquitted just like OJ before. Strange as it may seem it's so easy these days to get acquitted even for the most heinous crimes. Maybe I'm over reacting. But that's not the point of my discussion.

For those who watched the CNN or BBC coverage of the verdict proceedings against the King of Pop it seemed to be an utter waste of time. They covered the entire journey the MJs cavalcade of four black SUVs took to reach the courthouse which lasted for nearly an hour, then they covered security checks for MJ and family at the entrance for another 20 minutes, the verdict proceedings took 10 - 15 minutes, where 'Not Guilty' was the common word across all 10 counts that MJ was charged with. Then they left back to the Neverland Ranch. I for one didn't have a patience to see whether MJ reached home safely. It seemed that the last four months of following the proceedings was all a waste. Newspapers, Television, Magazines, Internet had something to write, talk, gossip, growl about. But come to think of it, do we have enough that happens? Are we are just making something news so that our media has stuff to run their channels and print. Its no longer No News is Good News, but Any News is Good News - doesn't matter, we need to print something, we need something to show, if that means up skirt of a leading women’s tennis player so be it (Keep track of the sports page of leading dailies during Wimbledon if you don’t believe me). So we have nothing interesting to write, nothing to talk about. Look at me, I’m trying to write a blog here of something that most of you will consider trivial. This is what our world is coming to, and we are getting carried away into it without even realizing it.

I have always believed that media makes cultures and sometimes even religions succeed. The power of the written word or spoken word is so huge and impressionable, that it doesn’t take time to believe it as reality. And if what we see read is reality I wonder what is the ‘real’ reality.

Thoughts!

2005-06-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

Thoughts that are confused
Thoughts that are sure
Thoughts that are perverted
Thoughts that are pure

Thoughts that are distributed
Thoughts that are near
Thoughts that are forgotten
Thoughts that are dear

Thoughts that are diffused
Thoughts that are core
Thoughts that are mild
Thoughts that are severe

Thoughts that give joy
Thoughts that give hope
Thoughts that give peace
Thoughts that give love

For good, bad and the ugly
This is what I have
Thoughts that make me
The man that I am

Like I have written in my blog description, I guess this pretty much defines the thoughts that I have. Maybe I have missed some - Maybe I chose to miss some. Frankly it doesn't matter. My thoughts are mine and they will remain mine till I tell them. Even this wouldn't have seen the light of day hadn't I penned it down 2 years back. I know this conversation is incomplete but I guess it's the state of mind as well.

Going North

2005-06-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

Ideas start in strange places. The more romanticized ones start in garages. Then be it rock bands or corporates, they do make their famous journeys through garages. We went a step further, took the car out of the garage and had an idea. An idea whose purpose was to do something big and to think different.

Hit the road up north in a continuation of birthday celebrations and decided to implement the idea. The idea germinated in a certain bungalow that had the old Bombay legacy attached to it. You don't make bungalows in Bombay anymore. It had everything that a garage would have. Empty cartons, stockpiles of books, old chairs, dusty and misty ambience, and also rats. There was no disparity, everyone used plastic chairs, and everyone sat close to each other, ate, drank, argued, discussed, and had cup loads of chai both in the office and in the hotel opposite the road that epitomized our nationalist fervor as well, appropriately named 'Jai Hind' (Hail India). Germinated ideas also get branches and that where the fledgling branches were formed. Romance of a different kind, it’s like those courtship days, all happy and immensely volatile.

Couple of months later our team size started going north and so did we. Bid adieu to our ‘garage’ rather abruptly and just vanished one night. We had set our sights on a defunct warehouse and that’s where we moved. The romance continued, because it still had the smell of the classic success stories. The ones that start humbly in garages and eventually go on to own a whole parking lot. We now had a nearly well designed office and adequate seating space. We still argued, discussed, and drank cup loads of chai either in our conference rooms or outside with the trees being silent spectators. From 12 to 60 we grew in this warehouse we called home. Saw happy and turbulent times, made our alias permanent, did business and continued going north. We even faced the threat of having our office sealed on account of our landlord’s bankruptcy. And like Frank Sinatra sings, “We faced it all and we grew tall, and did it our way.” (modified to suit context).

Soon it was time to grow out of the warehouse, so we moved north again. And for the first time our office had the smell of a true corporate. Parking lots, multiple conference rooms, cabins for our senior management, a proper reception area, a swanky board room, and eventually we got fire extinguishers as well. Still a long way to go to having our own parking lot, but we are getting there.

A lot has happened in these four years since the idea and we’re still going north. Maybe someday we will also achieve our purpose of doing something big and thinking differently. The last line in the ‘Think Different’ ad by Apple (our original inspiration) still resonates in my mind, “Because the people, who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.” and therein lies my hope for our own parking lot.

Reminiscing.......

2005-06-05T23:51:00.000-07:00

Read in a papers about a couple who celebrated their Eighteeth wedding anniversary. Inspite of it being something so rare, it's great that they still remember their wedding day with so much love and happiness.

Anniversaries are strange, some are remembered and some are conveniently forgotten. Some don't hold as much importance for us to remember. Some just pass us by and we don't remember even though it is very much a part of our daily lives.

Albeit an afterthought, nevertheless Happy Fourth anniversary!

and God made man!

2005-05-26T01:02:00.000-07:00

And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7)
That's how the Holy Bible puts it. That's how it has always been. Creation has had its mystical aura over the centuries, and will continue I believe in most minds except a few. The world is changing and science is evolving by leaps and bounds. What was supposed to be impossible centuries back is common place today. What is impossible today may be commonplace tommorrow. Cloning is one such activity that is the hot topic both underground and overground today. The ethics of cloning is being questioned. Are we scared of something. Are we scared that our foundations will be shaken. Are we scared that we'll hear that 'God' made man again!

Games!

2005-05-23T08:13:00.000-07:00

Games! A word that brings to mind the child that we once were. The vacations (summer and winter) that gave us the license to play games all day. Games that ranged from playing football with a makeshift ball, cricket that was played with a makeshift bat, tennis that was played with a makeshift racquet and so on. Makeshift because there was no money to buy all the kit that is required to play the game.

Strangely the situation has not changed for me today - went to a gaming place called Timezone situated in the InOrbit mall yesterday, true to the name of the place 'Timezone' I was put into a timezone, away from the years of makeshift to makebelieve, I had the money and the wherewithal to play what I wanted. I spent an amount that was more than all the pocket money I got in my schooling days. I spent all that over a weekend without a second thought.

Back in office on the monday, still playing games, albeit of a different kind.

nid-less to say

2005-01-25T02:53:00.000-08:00

24th January 2005 5:40 a.m - journey begins to Ahmedabad via Jet Airways.
Purpose - To interview students from the National Institute of Design (NID), the premier design school in the country.

Have been welcomed onboard, by plastic smiles, fake hospitatility, and a vegetarian fare that's compulsory in the name of sensitivity to a region and people who are supposed to be 'pure vegetarian'. When I ask the hostess about non vegetarian she tells me 'Sir this is a completely vegetarian flight. In my plate lies a 'medhu vada' (spicy donut for those uninitiated in Indian cuisine) soaked in sambar and Gobi bhaji. The state of Gujarat where Ahmedabad is situated is on the west of the Indian Peninsula whereas the menu that is served to me is from south and north respectively. So much for sensitivity and appeasement to the people of gujarat or gujarati or gujjus. I don't think I can complain about sensitivity to me who is a 'pure non vegetarian' after I notice the standard of sensitivity here.

Reach Ahmedabad to 11 degrees celsius. (Ahmedabad - name soon changing to Amdavad I think because of the signboards I see while traveling through the city). Another form of sensitivity I think, Ahmedabad is the name from the muslim past of the city, so change the past lest we get too sensitive about it again.

Finally I enter the pristine environment of NID at Paldi which is around 15-20 KM from the airport. Brickwork decor, very arty, and smells of fresh creativity. Go through their exhibition that display some of the best work done. One thing that I notice is their sensitivity to the Indian ethos in the work. Most of the design innovations are meant for India. I'm a little gullible when I see anything that makes me proud to be an Indian. NID gave me that feeling.

Spoke to students from Information Design and New Media Design segments. Most of them show the sensitivity required towards design and adpating it to the requirements. Also being from a design school they are sensitive and aware of the fact that reality means a very different challenge. Incubated creativity done in gay abandon is drastically different from the creativity under defined and sometimes hand to mouth requirements. All in all was pleased with the kind of reception that I got at NID. Expanded my horizon to the talent that is available.

Gujarat is a non alcohol state, and I met couple of students who were part of a local heavy metal outfit appropriately named 'Dry State' albeit tongue in cheek. They opened for Parikrama, my favourite Indian rock band, a day before at IIM Ahemedabad fest. Sensitivity of a different kind where state government diktat doesn't allow you to be to able to celebrate or mourn your senses away. All for a good cause they say, yes I say to the bootleggers of neighbouring wet states and the 'wet' patches of a dry state.

A very good session at NID gets completed and 'needless to say' I'm impressed with this institution that incubated some of the best talents in the country, truly a picture of national integration sensitive to having to give back to the country what they have gained. Hats off NID, proud to be associated with this esteemed insititution.

Journey back home, where my beloved awaits for more than an hour from ETA, thanks to
some aerospace issue at Ahmedabad, all flights get delayed. Finally I'm back on the all vegetarian flight back home. Dinner is being served, the cart rolls next to my aisle seat, and my sensitive nose smells some non vegetarian. The hostess asks a couple of passengers if they have asked for non vegetarian. Both reply in the negative, I wonder whether they would have been offended if they were pure vegetarian and found the statement blasphemous, but this hostess is not sensitive to that. When my turn comes, the hostess dumps the regular vegatarian fare in front of me, and once again like in the morning I mouth the words can I have non vegetarian, I get the same reply that this is an all vegetarian flight. But I guess she's gotten a little sensitive to my pangs for non vegetarian food and says she'll check and get back to me. And as promised, she's back with the non vegetarian packet for me. I'm thrilled only for a while till I find that I did this for just two miniscule pieces of chicken.

Finally meals are done and my 45 minute airborne experience is coming to an end, as we land at Mumbai airport. Strangely in Mumbai and so is the case with most airports in India, the state sponsored airlines like Air India and Indian Airlines get the preference over the private carriers. So my flight gets space not a terminal a couple of 'hamlets' away from Santacruz.
What the heck, atleast I'm home safe, needless to say that's all that matters finally.

The Bloginning.....

2005-01-20T05:57:00.000-08:00

Interesting day today. Didn't do anything. So I decided to start something, something that I had heard of for sometime now but didn't know where to start. After all this searching I'm now a blogger. I'm still trying to grope with that fact, but I know it will settle in like most things in life. Don't ask me why am I making it such a big deal of becoming a blogger. Now that I have begun blogging I hope to keep it going.

Why would I want to write something and stash it away in the dark corners of some server lying in a cold cold place called a data centre. I dunno, but it's interesting that something as hot like the Internet needs some place very cold to keep its sanity.

I'm never been someone who has maintained a diary, so I must say this is a little awkward. A vent to my emotions and thoughts, because really we are all alone, no matter how many people you know. Thoughts that remain in the dark corners of your server (brain), which you have carefully kept in a very very cold place, frozen.

Welcome Jolvin, to the wide world of blogging. Hope you have a very pleasant stay here.