Why I stopped blogging!

Well, as many of you know, I was so happy when I joined the world of bloggers! It was one of my “agendas of life” to have a blog of my own. And yeah, it went well for some months (courtesy u) and I used to think about my next post n all… Afteral some of u even used to wait for the next post. Things were so hunky-dory…lovey-dovey on the blogosphere…and then…

Came October’09, the annual IMT alumni party. Met a lot of my friends after almost an year and what I heard mainly was that they have been reading my blogs regularly which made me think, “ki ladka sahi line pe jaa raha hai…the blogging dream has finally worked out well…!!!” BALLS!!! Coz their next comment was that “Dude, we know what’s happening in your life…after all we read your blogs regularly…!” Nothing had struck me till then and I came home happy thinking about my next blog :-).

I was awe-struck the first time when I went to attend a wedding of one of my engineering friend’s in Ajmer sometime arnd November end. It was like we frens were meeting after almost 3 years and the first statement I got when I entered the small hotel room with 4 of my friends in there was that, “Sai hai yaar, gud body, gymming regularly n all!”. Again I was happy saying, “Haa yaar, its fun…u see!” But when I found out that the comment was not because of my visible biceps covered under a sweat-shirt and a jacket, rather it was coz of one of my random Facebook updates!!!...I was surely AGHAST!!! In fact, again I found out that all of them almost knew what’s mainly happening in my life through my blogs/Facebook updates…while their life had a mysterious touch in itself which I wanted to unfold. I was completely unaware of what kind of lives these friends of mine are leading after 4 years post the idiotic engineering days!!!

Usually I keep my family members away on social networks as per policy. But friends to friend’s yeh kahaniya family tak b pohoch chuki thi…I was in Agra to attend another wedding, this time of one of my cousin’s in December’09. I met my elder bro thr after almost 2 years as he’s settled in Mumbai, but he was somehow not talking to me. The moment we met, pop came his leg-pulling statement, “where is your camera crew???”…I couldn’t gauge that for once. The next pick was, “so which channel are you associated with these days” and the third one was “hows page3 column going on?” When I was still clueless about the whole point, I had to dig deeper and I found out that, in him too, there resided one avid follower of my blog ;-). But then again, I found out that he was more aware of how am doing rather than me having any clue about hows his life is going on. Believe you me, this gives an eerie feeling!


And so finally, the moral of the story is that, I’m taking a small sabbatical from the blog-o-world. I knw bohoto ke dil tootenge, bohot apne gharo me tezi se “Nahiiiiii!” bolenege…par kya kare…as I always say, “Its all part of life!”

Wo kya na, we scorpions always rather like to unfold secrets and keep ours very close instead of being an open book kinds. But on hindsight, these are not secrets anyway, this is just a way of living life. And so, for some time now, I am planning to live the other way round!!! But mind you, keep watching this space for more!!! :-)

Revisiting IMT...

I had made it a point on March 18th, 2008 only, that, I won’t go back to my Alma mater just for the heck of it. Would go back there only when I would be invited! Now, that’s unreasonable n sounds mean…but I don’t knw then, why I decided that…

N so the invite came knocking last week when I got a call from the coordinators of the All India IT Conclave’09 which was to be held at the campus. I thought it was an invite to attend the conclave, so I just took it lightly but when I got to know that they wanted me to be one of the panelist for panel discussion, I was left wondering. I just told them, I need some time to come back on that. But, the call came again and this time I had to give in…after all how could I reject such an invite…

N so, today was the day when I went back to walk those lanes again, the roads where I’ve walked hand in hand with friends, where I hav rushed running to the exam halls, where I’ve drunk my nights out, where I’ve even fought some battles, where I’ve been ragged, where the nights hav got cozier, where I’ve prepared for my job interviews, where I’ve sung songs together, where we used to dance all night out, n where I’ve learnt several aspects of life…

As I’ve ushered in several delegates and HRs into the campus during my post-grad, today, I had several juniors ushering me in and the feeling, believe me, was quite different in itself. I thought, it was just yesterday only, when I was doing all this and was wondering at the same time whether I’m in for all this. But anyhow, the feeling was pleasant. I saw the same enthusiasm and zest in the eyes of the juniors…the same very intent…the same positive energy n similar competitive spirit...wow how different those days were…

So the first place where I walked in (or rather barged in) after reaching IMT was the Placecom, well, I must say that I have spent maximum time of my 2 years stint in IMT inside those four walls of the Placement Committee office. Met Pappachan sir who was still so kind and humble as always, it was pleasure sitting back at my computer where I used to track my sector for batch placements. It was heartening to see more computers and more phone-lines there. I remember we had to fight for phones to call up companies during our times (6 phones for 14 people), while now a dedicated phone and a computer for each JPC, well m sure this bigger, neater arrangement n this infra was at least commendable. It was nice to get the feelers from the Junior Placement Committee (JPC) members on how the JPC selection process is still that same terrific 5 round process with the first one definitely in a dark room ;). Mahn, loved that place.

Next I went to the mess (dining hall) and yeah, it has four Sony Bravias now while we used to have only one for us. But the smell in the mess was still the same old tinge. No comments on that!!! Also, was surprised to see that most of the faculty bunch was new and that was a little disappointing. In fact no Renu ma’am and Nilanjan Sir around the Placement committee affairs was definitely amiss. But then, as they say, show goes on!

While I was having my fun campus tour, I was reminded of the task at hand and the panel discussion was soon to begin. So the place for the Panel discussion was Kapilmohan, the same audi where we had held several Open houses. The panel was studded with eminent industry champions to name Mr. R.I.S Sodhi (CIO, PNB), Mr. Makhija (Country Manager, IBM, IMT’93), Mr. Singhal (President, Sai Synergy), Mr. Davar or Radhey (Services Sales-North zone, Wipro, my IMT’07 senior) and yeah I was overjoyed n excited to be the part of this eminent panel.

And so we began with Mr. Makhija’s impressive keynote address on the topic “IT as a sustainable competitive advantage”. Well all was going hunky-dory till I started being the Devil’s Advocate to bring some flavor to the discussion and to discuss the length and breadth of the topic. Gave some conclusive pointers on Innovation, Cloud Computing, and IT for SMEs to steer the discussion closer to the theme at stake. And so, the discussion went really well and the junta was excited with a flurry of questions, thanks to our panel.

Next we had a high-tea or a networking break and then I had to judge the B-Plan competition as a jury member which was again organized by SummIT, the IT club at IMT. I remember, this club was the legacy we started as our batch and it was surely a pleasure to see our juniors continuing and taking the legacy forward. The Bplan competition made me realize how things change and how I used to think in the same way during my B-school days as the participants of the competition and how thinking and perceptions change while you spend even some time in the corporate world.

But I guess it’s better to keep the two worlds separate only and things should better remain the same as they are, coz after all those small mistakes and crazy experiments at B-School only make us learn and have fun at the same time all the more.

N finally, I would like to conclude with what I used to tell my mom every-time she used to ask me my grades at IMT, my reply was always used to be the same ki “Chinta mat karo…mai IMT padhne nahi aaya hu, mai to IMT sirf seekhne aaya hu” and I was happy today that I lived upto my words :-).

Video of the Month...

Now since m getting lesser time and ideas 2 write these days...so I thot why not start 2 new series here on my blog which wud keep me connected wid all of u even when m goin thru a writer's block ;)

A. Ad of the month: This will present the best ad I came across during the month. I have been thinking of starting this one from quite some time...but finally I thot besides just talking why not evn share readymade stuff sometimes wid u all...


B. Video of the month: This will present the best video of the month...this wont b just any video...this wud b properly scrutinized and selected video after watching hundreds of video on the internet (Courtesy: youtube) ;). So this post is basically the Video of the Month and here it is...I hope yaa'll njoy this new series...




Liked it??? Well, I loved it out n out...wat a talent...adorable...cute...sweet...confident...she is just amazing...isn't it?

Now for the two new series...ya'll can also share ur nominations offline or here in the comments section only and the ones get finally selected and featured on the blog will get a sure shot hamper frm my end ;)...so keep watching...n keep posting...!!!

Ftanding Ovafun!!!

O yes, i loved Love Aaj Kal and i think its not out of the world, its completely practical and completely sane in the world of today when we all are so confused about being in love or not with some1 or the other that all these circumstances are a possibility and we'll c a lot more of this happening in the recent times to come...chahe hamare parents ko yeh acchha lage yaa nahi...! Love of our times is different n yeah its practical to be in love and more practical to get ur love in ur own way!

So, Imtiaz ur work was gud and defnitely a fun filled 2 hours spent...but this one is for someone else...n yeah truly deserves all the hoopla and excitement and energy of this post is none other than another BIG one, Vishal saab!!!

The last time when I was mesmerized by any movie this much from a bollywood director was none other than Anurag Kashyap for his movie "Gulaal". But this time when I sat down to pen my thoughts, there was so much to write with my mind full of so much that I knew already that i will hav too lill that I can remember...hence info 2 this post might even b added later...

Well, Kaminey is not revolutionary if you are a Hollywood follower like me...we all have seen many of similar tales like Snatch, Lock Stock, RocknRolla and the likes where so many gangwars culminate to a twist in the end or a maxican standoff like a situation giving a sollid climax to finally get the movie to the credits. But, what I liked about Kaminey was the way Vishal successfully generated the Indian version with a great screenplay, with amazingly intertwined and complex characters, with a lot of rivetting motion, with ripping dialogues, with motion cameras (unlike any other bollywood movie for the first time), and definitely with rocking performances from each and every of his characters!

The thing which is commendable about these Directors of our times and how they pick up non-stars from theatres and conceive such a commendable act which actually suits the role so much that u sometimes start feeling that we are not watching a movie but a real life drama...may b coz u hav never seen these guys act before, so they appear so real, cut out for the job well done for Vishal...

Well, it wud b a real injustice to not write about Shahid and Priyanka...boss, wat a performance by Charlie and Guddu, u cud defintely relate to both of them and the way u cud laugh at their speech disorders was a work of art which will be long lived in the Indian cinema now...Priyanka, the alltime Sweety, was again a sollid act in her cute little non-makeup yet lovable role, where she might hav really made people want such a "forward" girlfriend in their lives who was even ready to call the pundit for the shaadi thing...and yet was a diehard lover begging police to leave his h..hh..h.hufband!

I will now have to come back to the way Vishal has written those dialogues and given them to all his characters...these dialogues were the heart of the movie and they literally make u laugh lukin at the person next to u (just to chk whether he undetrstood the implication)!...I loved the "Life me do raaste hote hai...ek fortcut aur doosra chota fortcut" as the most! In fact the "dishoom-dhaaye dhaaye" bope-tope act was a hilarious watch!

This movie was rivetting in terms of the way it was delivered, Vishal easily cud hav made a simpler film by making it a 3 hour movie where he was explaining everything, but may b he personally made it a shorter fast paced movie so that audience wud remain sitting on the edge of their seats and kept confused and juggling with their brain for the entire 2 hours right from the word go. Else, may b some of u wud agree wid me on this that if he wud hav put the last credit song sung my Mohit Chauhan in the first half to show the chemistry between Guddu and Sweety, it might have worked better. In fact a lot of scenes went so fast that many of our Indian audience might defnitely not appreciate tht as they are really not used to that (I think and u all can disagree on this if u wish!).

Finally, I was too much maniaced from a long time with my status msgs with all the "F's" everywhere...and I think it has proved to be a fucceff for me...hence "Well done Kaminey, very well done Fahid and awefomely well done Vifaal"!!! U've joined at least my top league of extraordinary bollywood directors along with Anurag saab.




PS: Wish the times of "no-mind-needed-movies" like those of David Dhawans and Akshay Kumars are finally over wid this one!!!

HFD...the effortless way... :)

I believe one thing which has to be completely EFFORTLESS in this world has to friendship...and hence, lemme b a lill effortless today and share the best SMS I received on this friendship day to raise a toast to all o you wonderful friends of mine...here we go thn...

"Friends are like crayons...they color ur life! I may not b ur favorite color but hope u need me somewhr 2 complete ur picture."

Happy friendship day!!!



PS: M I not right when I say tht friendship has to effortless...try sharing ur insight :)

Dedicated to the Singing Sensation of our times…

There was a time when only Kumar Sanu used to be the ‘singing voice’ of all our bollywood actors, then came the time of Udit Narayan who had taken us by storm, n then it was just Sonu Nigam who made us fall in love with music again and all this happened after the reigning legends (Kishore, RD, Mukesh and the likes) who lived their times creating their musical legacy…

But times change soon, bollywood evolved and competition has grown enormous, now the times of single singer living his own era has bygone and the times of multiple singers has come up all luking for a small pie. With so many talent search contests luking for the voice of the nation…every year around 10-15 voices get the nation’s attention but it takes weeks rather than months for them to vanish in thin air…poor them…!

But this one post is truly dedicated to the one who came from nowhere, and very slowly and steadily, while creating a niche with his magical voice, he has quietly (don’t get to the literal meaning of the word) become one of the most sought after singers of our times. Many of us still don’t even know, who this guy is, but somewhere down the lane with our sweetheart, sometimes driving between a row of green trees, sometimes on FM on a nice dark evening, somewhere walking in the park, when we listen to his songs, they strike a chord in us and we start drooling…and all this happens subtly…very very subtly…

We know what a magic music can create in itself, but the best part about this singer is that he is not over-exploiting his best times. He knows his importance and is aware of his magic. He is being very strategically selective and he knows his niche. By just giving his voice to one song in almost all of the movies, he is slowly making us all chimered by his romantic voice. The point is that some songs twist us for some time and then they become so boring that we start running away from them, but this guy and all his numbers are what we call in our parlance, “lambi race ke ghode!!!”.

Now, enough of foreplay for you people, let’s just cut out the long build-up and though I know, many of you have correctly guessed the name and for those very few of you who are still clueless and getting restless (I’m lovin it!), the name is “Mohit Chauhan”, the ultimate singer with his niche-silky-romantic-voice which makes u just fall in love with the songs he sings. Now, refraining myself by sharing any more gyaan on wat it does to me…lemme just keep this one crisp by gifting him this post from this small blog of mine ;).

Some facts (as part of my research on MC):
• The guy is a pahadi, born and brought up in Himachal Pradesh. Started his early years in a small cottage in Nahan. N yeah he is an amazing pahadi singer for obvious reasons.
• He is so very down to earth, at least not smitten by the moh-maaya till now. Not like those celeb types. And as a friend of mine (ky), who's met him a few times being from the same place as he is, shared with me, “he is really shy of girls”.
• As all of us know, he started his singing with his first album “Boondein” as the Silk Route band with the unforgettable beautiful under water video number, “Dooba Dooba”. Believe me, this song has always been in my best songs playlist right from the day I heard it for the first time.
• His amazing n successful experiment with Masakalli has already been shared with all of you in an elaborate entry earlier…

Interested to get more info…here I wud like 2 share three important must-track-links-if-u-r-Mohit’s-fan:
• His Wiki entry
• His Homepage
• His Facebook page

I would love to share his Bollywood journey till date, n u all would be surprised 2 know tht there are still a lot of his beautiful numbers which we u even didn’t knw abt…so go thru the list below n grab all of these amazing renditions of the magician:

• "Pehli Nazar Mein" - Road (2002)
• "Rumi Sahab" - Main Madhuri Dixit banna Chahati Hoon (2003)
• "Sabse Peeche Hum Khade" - Lets Enjoy (2004)
• "Khoon Chala" - Rang De Basanti (2005)
• "Guncha Koi" - Main, Meri Patni aur Woh (2005)
• "Paintra " -Main, Meri Patni aur Woh (2005)
• "Tum Se Hi" - Jab We Met (2007)
• "Is This Love (Kahin Na Laage)" - Kismat Konnection (2008)
• "Yaad Teri Aaye" - Ugly Aur Pagli (2008)
• "Ek meetha marz de ne" -Welcome to sajjanpur (2008)
• "Kuch khaas" - Fashion (2008)
• "Aankhon hi aankhon mein" - EMI (2008)
• "Masakali" - Delhi 6 (2009)
• "Gulon Mein" - Sikandar (2009)
• "Kuchh Is Tarah" - 8 X 10 Tasveer (2009)
• "Haafiz Khuda" - 8 X 10 Tasveer (2009)
• "Jaana Hai" – Let’s Dance (2009)
• "Tune Jo Na Kaha" – New York (2009)
• "Ye Dooriyan" – Love Aaj Kal (2009)
• "Pehli Baar Mohobbat" - Kaminey (2009)
• Coming soon - Kites (2009)

Now, once u have all of the above in your kitty, just put all of them in a single playlist and put the shuffle on…n believe u me, u have a perfect recipe for a perfect lovely moment ready…;)

While, I’ll collect my consultation fee for the same sometime later, here’s more for you frm my end…I am sharing some unplugged moments I had with the super singer in Delhi sometime ago…and here they go…








Lastly, your last task of the day, you have to tell me which one is your all time favorite song from all the creations of Mohit Chauhan…I know it might be the toughest ask, but be a sport and share your coolest pic from the most sensational singer of our times in the comments section…Njoy!!!

The Deadly M Word !!!

Let me narrate what happened last Wednesday while I was in Jaipur. It was my cousin’s engagement, a full family, big time gala party with about 500 people at a 5 star. Festive moment, fun evening, I was enjoying my time with my cousins and relatives...and pop came the call from Paa. Asked me to meet one of my uncles whom I call as Doctor Mama.

Now, let me give a brief description about Dr Mama of mine. He has a kid who is in his Class 10th or 11th, so till date mainly the discussions we have had in the past surround his school, his subjects and his career counseling, etc. etc. like what subjects he should opt for, what are the various career permutations and combinations which he can pursue and all…

So, you can imagine, during that party, who would like such a discussion, yet again! But then Paa’s order and so I followed. There sounded nothing sneaky about the meeting at the outset. Doc Mama was sitting with my Mausaji and another uncle whom I hav met before, but I didn’t remember, when and where?

Doc Mama (With an astounding energy and smile on his face): Hey Akash! Wassup! Just pull a chair! Sit Sit!

(N so I did, sat down facing the three of them, smiling socially. Doc mama introduced me to the unknown uncle, his name was Sitaramji…:))

After the normal Namastes n all.

Sitaramji: So Akash, Where are you working?

Me: I’m working with Perot Systems in Noida, unc…(He didn’t let me finish :()

Sitaramji: Acchha, kya karti hai aapki company? (I hate that question, as always)

Me: It’s an IT company, unc…(He didn’t let me finish yet again :()

Sitaramji (With all the more excitement): Acchha, aur tumne MBA kaha se kiya hai?

(And there I thought, finally we are again heading towards another career counseling session)

Me: Uncle, IMT Ghaziabad se, it’s been a year now. (This time I smartly put the word in the start only, I win! :-))

Sitaramji (came the next question): Acchha, age kitni ho gai aapki?

(Wat the F? ^^&*&$^…Those were the first words which came up in my mind and I soon realized that boss this is leading towards a big trap…beta Akash jaldi se yaha se bhaag le…nai to pata chala Sitaram Ji ban gaye aapke Uncle se Relative…!)

I mean everything was fine till the MBA question, but this last one took the all steam away from my smile. And it took me a fraction of a second to realize that this is leading somewhere else, this is not one of those normal career counseling sessions which I used to give. Yaha to boss koi apni hi lene pe tula hai…

Me: Uncle, abhi poore 2 saal aur hai…! Tension naa lo!

And as they all broke into a big laughter, I was vanished from the scene in no time, much before they could come back to being normal selves.

______________________________________________________

So now you can imagine, what life is turning into. It’s quite wierd...I mean I don't belong to all this...Why the hell...!!!

To be very frank, I just don’t understand the logic of arranged marriages, I mean I think I am not cut out for all of these arrangements. I don’t know what’s in store in the future, but one thing which I don’t want to happen is this important decision to be an arrangement for me and there are reasons for my saying that and explaining the same to my relatives.

Marriage I think is a sacred phenomenon; it’s something which can’t be imposed on anyone. Also, I believe it’s a trap in which one should fall only when he or she wants to be fallen into the same. I mean when I see people around me, the married ones somehow don’t look that happy and the unmarried ones are always so full of so much more, so I just think that why is it that I get into that loop and kill the happiness which surrounds the unmarried, at least for now, when I can be single and happy.

Let me make it clear that it doesn’t mean that I won’t get married, Yes I will, Yes definitely. But that will happen, when I would make a decision to get into the mould of not being just happy but where I would rather start giving happiness to the girl who would give me the responsibility for keeping her happy for life.

Ideally, as they say, when I would make myself necessary for someone and would have someone without whom life will be nothing, that’s the time, when I should be tying the knot and that’s the person with whom I should decide to spend my life. But before that, I am sorry. All my relatives, mom-dad, mamas and their Sitaramjis of the world, it is not gonna happen so easily!



PS: On deep thought I realize the reason for this anxiety for getting me join "the league of married gentlemen" is just that all the married ones in the family are somewhat jealous of my freedom ;-)…hmmmmmm…caught the motive folks…I won’t let u guys catch me so young!!!


PS2: The highest record age of any male getting married in my Rajanthani family stands at 23 and guess what, I’m the “Change Agent”, having survived 25 years of happiness, I would say, my education saved me till last year. But, now the talk of the town is, “you’re next!!!” And I loathe even the shape and size of this M word completely! My success depends on how far I can evade it n still live Happily Freely Smilingly Livingly 'Unmarried'!