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 :-).

the lovely PAIN is back!!!

(Think of a dull mellow boring music in the background while u r reading this part)!

IPL is over :(…life seems 2 b on an all time low…nothings left…those 37 days were so full of life, excitement, discussions, ice-creams (1 sponsored after each match on the basis of result) and what not!!! Now, there is no zeal going back home frm office except on the weekends (for obvious reasons). When I come 2 office in the morning, it feels like “abhi to gaya thaa!” while during IPL, there used to be a different world at home too….N now, the differentiation has vanished.

N on top of it, the game of politics is almost over too, settled well for the next 5 years, I suppose…to ab hum naujawaan kare kya!!!

(Think of a sudden fast pace background music like Rocky to gain volume while u r reading this)!!!

Getting bugged wid evything, I decided to hit back again at the place which has always enthused me, The Gym. Not a big time body builder, but yeah, this is my fourth credible attempt at the coveted place. The first one: When I was in school, and believe u me, it was love at first sight, the only issue was that, I could never indulge in this adrenaline rush love due to the persistent exams and studies…u knw!!!

The second and third attempts were fruitful 2-month stretches of gymming, which I have talked abt in my previous post. So, finally comes the fourth attempt and so comes the PAIN…Five regular days in the gym and every muscle of my body is paining like anything, every move I make like even raising my neck stretches the side muscle and I feel IT, but believe me there are only a few kinds of pain which one can love. And this one for me is lovable to the core. Even right now, while m writing, my elbow is pressing against the handle of the chair which triggers the pain, but nay, soon I get my elbow again over to get the same sweet feeling again and again ;-)

I knw its sounding weird, like a masochist, but its not that at all. If u’ve never paid a visit to The Gym, there is something which u will never experience and that is called as the lovely pain of the working out…the only pain which will might make you smile...as they say, "u hav to feel it to believe it..."

Some are sufferers of the pain of the heart,
Some are bugged by the pain in the a#^%,
Some have it in the soul; some have it near the broken bone,
Some experience it mentally, some loathe it physically,
Some run away from it, some wish to never chase it,
But all I m sayin, is jst experience it once…the pain of a work-out sane…!

:)


PS: I told my trainer at the Gym abt this pain, n he told me tht it stays jst for a week…:(…some1 just overheard and said, “Yeh meetha dard hai miyaan…!” N popped the other one, “Nay, how can it b meetha dard…! Meetha dard to kuch aur hota hai!”, n there was a laugh riot at the gym!

Parent's Day Out...Shock n Surprise...!

Imagine it’s a Saturday morning and u r drop dead (asleep) as expected on ur bed and suddenly u receive ur Dad’s call that he is standing outside ur door...guys I know u wud think tht it’s a wild nightmare tht u r in and u wud continue sleeping…phewwwwwwwwww!!!

But that’s how my weekend almost started this Saturday. The only sollid difference was just tht even after my mom’s persistent asking me for my Noida address over the phone calls frm last 8 months, I somehow managed to dodge the question abt my exact address in the city…n that’s what actually saved my a^$e…;)

Received the call at 10:15 AM, midnight was in full swing and that was the time when all my frens at my place were cozily sleeping in their own dreams…but not any more…within 30 seconds of my informing thm abt the situation at hand…everyone was running…here n there…koi kuch utha raha tha to koi kuch theek kar raha tha…Kahi se kuch nikal raha tha…to kahi se kuch gayab ho raha tha…

Just 10 minutes after I received the call frm Paa, I called him back again, n was relieved to know tht thr were still 20 more minutes for them to reach my place…courtesy the Delhi traffic…I loved it for a moment…! Khair, sparing no more time, the mobilized frens and the “munnabhaish” hullaballo and the running around paid me a fortune in the end…

By the time my mom n dad stepped out of the car, we all had taken our bath in our own ways and the place was spic n span…literally…kudos to my frens support and our righteous actions at the spur of the moment. N so…here they were, started with a Charan Sparsh!!!

So, after the initial introductions, as I had imagined, all flat-mates went quickly in their own rooms, nobody wanted to talk much, I don’t knw whether they were shy or what but m sure they were being really very careful. Must hav been their planned strategic move so tht even a shudder of our lingo doesn’t comes out. The restraint for them, yeah, I can imagine what they might hav been goin thru…kudos again!!! :)

So, the time was running quite quickly, with lot of talking and with the mixed n more positive shocking surprise sentiments which I was going thru. Knowing my mom, I had already warned my frens, tht she wud definitely take an inspection round of every nook and corner of our place n their rooms n so she did…but we were all very well prepared for the ‘worst’ n so the inspection round too went smooth…we had a smirky winky smile on face…yipppie…we won…!

N believe me, the lunch tht we had at home was one of the most sane lunches which I was having for the first time post my coming to Noida…the plates were all flowing properly, there was a lot of passing of dishes around, there were meaningful discussions on the table and what not? We all had kept my mom (even after her several attempts) stay away from the kitchen and had served the maid-prepared food on our own…which I shud quote here as a commendable gesture frm our side…

The evening was full of showing around the Noida place with full zeal and zest, wanted to show thm around everything I cud, everything which has actually been a part of my recent past life. N yeah, I concluded the day with a visit to a nice temple which definitely had set the best possible holy chord. But this was my choice only, so no pun intended here.

The next day of “Parents day out” started with another surprise but this time, not a shocking one but a highly pleasant one. Guess a dream came true! My mom decided, that she wud cook the breakfast for us, so she asked the maid to leave tht part of the cooking for her only. N believe me tht was a TREAT for all of us! We had an amazing round of “Bread-rolls” as our breakfast, after a long long time…kudos to mom n the magic of her hands, as always!

The high point of the day was also the visit to my office, which was to let my mom-dad know, tht my company not only exists, but it rests on a nice green lush green well maintained 25-acre campus, and yeah, I hav been well taken care of, courtesy all your wishes.

Believe me what started with a shock, ended with a lot of emotions…Firstly, I had not imagined tht they wud leave my place with a smile, but they did leave with a smile. N yeah, the smile was accompanied with my mom’s characteristic tears which always trickle down at the time of parting. I guess moms are blessed to bless us with them.

But after coming back home, even I felt too lonely again and was a lill jittery definitely for the ntire evening, the smalltime which they spent here with me definitely was great, it was as if even Noida was a complete home, for some time...Having the same food which I daily have, visiting the same places where I visit, walking the same lanes where I walk…they lived a piece of my life, n even I tasted a piece of home life here at Noida...

Kudos this time, to my mom n dad for showing up with the stylish surprise…I truly loved it and thankfully made the most of it!!!

. . . . . . . . . . . Professional Life. . . . . . . . . . . A life full of colons : and closed braces )

We are living in a life:

Where we get more “pings” than ‘hello’s or ‘hi’s,
Where we get more of : ) than ‘real smiles’…
Where kiss has become a 5 letter word (muaah) and it has to be read not felt…
Where we have our conversations over Orkut’s scraps or Facebook’s walls, rather than over actual face to face talk which our ‘ancestors’ used to do…
Where if we are not “Online” or havn’t “Logged in” for a few days, than news starts flowing in the wired world on scraps saying…’mar gaya shayad’…
Where the long letters which people used to write have become small lettered hinglish SMSs where one can make multiple sentences with the letters i, n, u, 4, c, b...

Oh yes, we have advanced so much:

So much so…that weeks and months and ages go by, but we don’t get time to meet our friends living in the same city…
So much so…that we wait for them to come online one day rather than just picking up our phones and have a 2-minute chit chat only…
So much so…that we forget their birthdays since we didn’t login our favorite social networking site on their birthday…
So much so…that we even sometimes can’t attend our fren’s weddings as we were hooked onto some “highly important” official deadline that day…
So much so…that we actually run away from the one small phone call which our parents make everyday from a faraway place to just say Hi beta/i…as we were planning a night out in the office…

The professional life changes us…it cripples us…it takes away the life which used to run through our veins...I knw many of you won’t like this…but it makes us selfish…it makes us politically correct at every instance of life…it teaches us how to lie…how to bluff…how to dodge…and yeah, it teaches us not “how to run!” but “how to run away!”

The long and lovely discussions about the football or cricket matches in college canteen becomes the discussion about a persistent backache, the layoffs/pink slips, the recent cost-cutting campaign in the company over the same stale coffee-break which we take once every hour…

The physical stress which we used to have after our PT session in school becomes the mental tension…courtesy those daiiiiim deadlines, those COBs, those EODs, which haunt us, always…

The treat which we used to love at a roadside hangout place or a restaurant during our MBA days becomes a slice of cheesy Domino’s pizza in the office meeting room…”30 minutes...nai to gaye”…

Over and above all this, if you are an “MBA” too, than you are nothing but chained for life. You have to be over professional…at all times…in the lift, in the conference room, in your cubicle, while luking at a girl and even during the time when you are in the loo…

And if you are an “MBA in an IT company”, tab to aapko bhagwaan nai par ek presentation hi bacha sakta hai…The prize which an MBA gets in an IT company is a laptop which comes wid ur availability quotient at all times…on all days…at every occasion…on every call…and in every meeting. Ur deadlines are set according to the speed of the processor in your laptop…

Such instances are aplenty and we all think about thm some time or the other...But the end result remains the same...nobody is happy with his/her job...no point wondering why???...but lets try n do something abt it.

Lets stop worrying about appraisals/no appraisals, the swipe-ins/swipe-outs, the unread mails/forwards, the bad food/stale coffee in cafeterias, the status on gtalk/facebook. Stop worrying about everything…go offline for once and stand up on that 4x4 cubicle, luk around and you wud find eyes dying to do the same…

Break the shackles…come out of the norm of those colons and closed braces...
SMILE…
Meet a friend…
Make a call to your home…
Organize a reunion…
Shake hands with the person sitting next to you…
Plan a holiday trip…
Hug ur beloved…
Do one thing which the professional life has curbed u in doing…& believe you me…life will be different…!!!

PS: The above thoughts are inspired by a lot of conversations, chat sessions, scraps, pings, missed calls, emails, and other forms of communication, which I have come across over the past 9 months of my corporate life…They are not personal to anyone but they definitely affect the personal life of a lot of persons in the professional world...

Aaarambh hai Prachand…

"After a long time someone comes in the world and with him…the world changes forever…

He is the one who changes the rules of the game, who rips you from within, who forces you to think, who takes you into a different world, a world which is actually the actual place where you live in. He is the person who doesn’t follow any myth, any superstition, any game-plan, he is the one who creates the truth of his own, and changes the view of everyone else, forces u to rethink, rethink n rethink again…until u understand what the he wants to say…

But when u understand what he wants to say…u can’t go back anywhere…u r mystified…u r mesmerized…u r hypnotized…all u have to do…is to submit n to accept…n then stand up and bow down with a standing ovation."

All these words are nothing but a tribute to the most revolutionary directors of our time…the man who knows nothing but the passion for his movie making…his portrayal…his out of the box storyline, approach, and narration of what he wants to communicate…yes the name is, Anurag Kashyap.

N hey guys don’t read this anymore…just get out of the shitholes where you might be wasting your lives at the moment and grab the taste of the above words in HIS latest creation, “GULAAL”…coz right now it’s running in a theatre near u. Or else, when your kid will ask you, “Have you watched the most revolutionary movies from the most revolutionary directors of your times?” All you would be doing is sulk and ask your kid to study and concentrate for his exams rather than having a hard-hitting mature discussion with him about life which you would have actually not even experienced.

The movie is insane, ripping, gross, hard-hitting, with nerve wrenching music, sensational performances, gripping lyrics...overall its God level.
___________________________________________________

Trivia: Anurag Kashyap's other directorial movies are Black Friday, No Smoking & Dev D. Don't miss them after you watch Gulaal. N yeah, don't call any movie crap until and unless you understand them fully... ;)

FYI, HE has already bagged a filmfare for screenplay in award winning movie Satya (1999), and don't be surprised if he gets another filmfare soon ;). I am ready to give him an Oscar too provided I'm a part of the jury :(

For more aficionados like me...catch more about him here and don't forget to share, if you know more...

…egnahC

To be very frank this feeling came up while I was watching Dev D…I was mesmerized for sometime while watching the movie and it hit me strong when I realized I was having an O with the word called Change…it is a powerful feeling and it can reverberate you and make you feel happy at the same time. When I drilled deep down to find out the reason for my sudden happiness with life even when the life was having nothing much in store for me from quite some time..(;))..the simple answer which came up rested actually was...“the time” in which I am living…the current era…the everyday revolution around us which, believe me, is really awesome!!!

Don’t you also feel the same that the times are changing around us and they are changing so quickly? I mean it’s ecstatic that the time in which we were born, the time in which we are living and the time when we will die would be so very different…they will not be years but literally be ages apart…I feel that this is the time when the world is changing the fastest and we are the only ones who are witnessing this sweeping change.

I know I might not be making much sense but this is a feeling which is reely very tough to put into words, but here I would try and give my best shot in portraying the same emotions so that I cud atleast make myself clear…

Look, the best thing is that, when we were born during early eighties, the world was in shambles, India was nowhere, our economy was small, peoples' mind were not as thirsty, we were all so slow, we were restrained, we were far less emotive, we generally had scooters, the kids were so different or duffers, technology was least around us, people were not even creative, they had a lanky and dull attitude towards life, the quest for life was missing, there were no reality shows, no PDAs, no IT companies, no experimental movies, no malls and multiplexes, no O(b/s)amas, no MTVs and above all no realtime competitiveness...

But, today is so different, today’s youth is miraculous, we are damn fucking 'change agents', and over and above that, we are changing lives everywhere around us…youth is always unsatisfied, they are creative, they have a quest for experimentation, they have the 'never say die' attitude, they are lovely, they are insane, they are effervescent, they are low waisted/pierced/tattooed/fucked-up n yet chilled n yet ready for having more of it, they are very bad, they are very good, they want more and more, they are selfish too, but they want to have a different life everyday and that is what is the characteristic change which stands out in current times from the past... We are changing every moment and the reason is that we are damn experimentalists, no nonsense weirdos waiting for a new world order. We try different things everyday n we learn from our new mistakes everyday.

Post our generation, I am not saying that change won’t happen, it will happen but the amount of change happening would be minuscule…it won’t be like in this ‘epic style’. The answer to this lies in history. History goes for only a few dynamic changes and such changes happens in centuries which changes world forever. We have witnessed only three major changes in mankind. When man was an ape he wanted to change badly like today and so we became humans and then came era of kingdoms, from there again there was a long standstill and when change happened, what came was the end of kingdom and democracies were born, so, a new world order formed up and from then it’s the present age which has emerged. These are times again when maximum new things are happening, when men and women are changing, we are ones who will do all kind of good or bad experiments and then again will come another phase of adoption, another age of satisfaction, again an age of lesser reverberations, lesser competitiveness coz all that rage which is needed to change the time in which you live would have been done by us in the present tense of our lives...

A real taste of our changing times can be the kids of today, compare them with the kids of our parents (;)), don't you think that the present day kids are revolutionary, they are damn different, so hostile, so intelligent, so smart, so weird. They are the visible example of the change which we are bringing to the world. I think our grandchildren would be just like our children and so they won’t be so radical and that’s where life will settle down again, waiting for another change which might happen after a long time when the world again will be filled with the reverberations of today…

Why I was happy was only coz I am a part of this great revolutionary change which is happening around us and yeah, I feel happy coz I am at the right place at the right time. I wish the youth of today also realize ‘what’ they are going through and do something cheesy, something radical, something experimental each day so that yes, we are a part of this sexy revolution called change which comes in only sometimes and once it goes away, things change and they don’t remain the same forever.

I don't wanna by a prophesier by stating whats gonna happen in the future, all I wanna say is that I am happy to be a part of this new world orderchange. Keep experimenting, try something different everyday, do things differently coz we are living in age of CHANGE aka EGNAHC…agar is samay nahi kiya to life me kiya kya???

Awesome 3some!!! (Vol.1)

BTW…lemme make it clear straight away that this one is a TAG. First one from my side…coz in the past I’ve restricted myself in inflicting the tag pain on my fellow bloggers…but enough of sparing from my end. Hey, don’t worry coz you wud love this tag for the following “3” reasons:

• it’s simple
• it lets others know about u
• it give a chance to you to know u

So what the hell is this actually? "Awesome 3some” is a series of posts about so many things we see around, about so many moments we feel around, about so many people we meet around, about so many places we hang around, about so many activities we follow around…but the only catch is that you have to drill down from all those “so many-ies” to just 3. Hmmmmmm...matlab bete itna bhi simple nahi hai...!

N believe u me, I too faced some instances where I just wished there were more than 3 placeholders…buy that’s the most important rule of game…hav 2 pick just 3 of ur most favorites in all the below mentioned 25 categories…n u r done.

Well, I’m done with the intriguing but amazingly engaging list from my end. N here it goes:

1. 3 Favorite Actors
• Christian Bale
• Tom Cruise
• Shah Rukh Khan

2. 3 Favorite Actresses
• Penelope Cruz
• Angelina Jolie
• Liv Tyler

3. 3 Favorite New Stars (Bollywood)
• Abhay Deol
• Sonam Kapoor
• Darsheel Zafari ;)

4. 3 Favorite Sports
• Cricket
• Tennis
• Volleyball

5. 3 Favorite Sportspersons
• Sachin Tendulkar
• Rafael Nadal
• Mahendra Singh Dhoni

6. 3 Favorite Politicians
• Barack Obama
• P Chidambaram
• Atal Bihari Vajpayee

7. 3 Favorite Comedians
• Raju Srivastava
• Cyrus
• Vinay Pathak

8. 3 Favorite Indian Male singers
• Mohit Chauhan
• Atif
• KK

9. 3 Favorite Indian Female singers
• Shreya Ghoshal
• Alisha Chinoy
• Lata Mangeshkar

10. 3 Favorite Corporate Honchos
• Dhirubhai Ambani
• Jack Welch
• N R Narayanamurthy

11. 3 Favorite News channels
• CNBC TV18
• NDTV 24x7
• CNN IBN

12. 3 Favorite News anchors
• Rajdeep Sardesai
• Pranoy Roy
• Barkha Dutt

13. 3 Favorite Hindi Entertainment channels
• MTV
• Channel V
• Sony

14. 3 Favorite English entertainment channels
• HBO
• Star Movies
• AXN

15. 3 Favorite TV Shows
• Roadies
• Young Turks
• Nach Baliye

16. 3 Favorite Writers
• Ayn Rand
• Chetan Bhagat
• Sydney Sheldon

17. 3 Favorite Movies
• Matrix
• Before Sunrise
• The Bourne Series

18. 3 Favorite Indian Holiday destinations
• Goa
• Mysore
• Rajasthan

19. 3 Favorite Professions
• IT
• Doctor
• Architect

20. 3 Favorite Mobile Brands
• Nokia
• I-Mate
• Blackberry

21. 3 Favorite Laptop Brands
• HP
• Dell
• Sony

22. 3 Favorite Cars
• BMW
• Mercedes
• Honda

23. 3 Favorite Apparel brands
• Blackberry
• Levi's
• Versace

24. 3 Favorite Deserts
• Rasgulla
• Besan ke Laddu
• Halwa

25. 3 Favorite Cuisines
• Indian
• Mexican
• Italian

So thats it for now...but now the most important part...who all shud i inflict my first tag on...? Here is the list...Guppi, Richa, Divya, DD, Nidhi and all of you who wud lov 2 start blogging wid this or the ones who wud like ur TWB's run away far off wid this r also welcome...

N hey dont forget ur thoughts on my list? Any comparisons? Khair…we’ll do all that, but right now, it’s time for all of you to start ur set of thinking and introspection. Also, do tell me which ones were ur toughest set of “3some” selections when u r done! ;)

"Masakalli" - Simply Maddening...!

Oh guys...there have been only a few moments when I’ve waited tirelessly everyday in front of my television waiting for a chance to get a glimpse of just a 1 minute 32 seconds trailer and believe me…after a long long time. is dil ne kisi ko firse, dil se chaha hai...;)

Now stop getting ur mind rolling and start reading further...the amazing yet mysteriously simple beauty which I m talking abt is none other than MASAKALLI...Now, don’t tell me u don’t know what I’m talking abt…PUHLEEEEEEEEZ…the latest promo of the movie Dilli-6…Its strong…its simple…its fantastic…it works slowly…its catchy…its rustic…its down to the earth…its melodious…its charismatic…its insane…its brave…its Indian…its rahmanian…O one suitable word for it is that Its Masakalli…catch it asap…u definitely are missing something…Now, if you think I m exaggerating…I have tried to dig the video for you…find it below…

Now you shud be saying…’What an amazing compilation...!’ The beautiful selection of lyrics, the magical music of A R Rahman, the perfect setting, the ever pouting Abhishek and the “definitely making u crazy” Sonam Kapoor who is surely driving at least me crazy...BIGTIME...:)

Not denying that Sanjay Leela Bhansali is a good director (after all ‘Black’ was awesome), but maybe he liked Sonam so much that he purposely made sure that in his 3 hour long movie, the world won’t even have a look at her...maybe that’s why he made the movie Saanwariya completely dark...n Sonam remained Black n Blue...that’s a sad luck for the nation yaar...

But, thanks to our RBD director, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, who finally made Anil's daughter visible...n visible…come what may…but she has bowled over everyone (at least me) in her very very simple still super super sexy look in this beautiful number...

The first time I had seen this trailer, it had taken me by a huge surprise and from then on, I hav been searching on channels to have its dose again...Well, there are some things which words might not be able to capture and even if you make an attempt for words to capture the same, you definitely come out as a failure…words try to capture, they might do an injustice…well the case over here is a ditto :)…Simply Maddening…!!! N another thing...it works...n works very slowly...but when it does...u can't let it run away from u...:)

Oh btw, I’m running out of time here…and no points for guessing what’s next on my agenda…obviously another dose…hmmmmmm?

FLASHBACKS’08...The Memoirs of The Year That Was…

I wish to revisit the year 2008…in terms of all its milestones…in terms of all I’ve got, all I’ve lost, wishes that came true, miss-happenings which meandered and much more…lemme begin the month-wise journey then…without wasting any time…

Jan: Started Gymming…whoopiiieee…The most awaited dream of my life was to go to the Gym and start work-out…build some dolle-sholley…and January brought that opportunity to me. Being placed in December’08 from IMT Ghaziabad…life was a roll, no loads of the b-school classes, it was a reely a chilled out phase of life…n thts when I fulfilled my dream of going to the gym for the first time ever…continued this for almost half of the year...

Feb: Sold books…;)…Partied Hard…Oh yeah, it was the first time ever someone might have sold all the MBA books in a bulk deal and the money earned was utilized for a "noble cause" of partying hard like anything…Well, again those were the days in IMT, when every night used to be just another party night…and guess what…selling books was a rage in the college…N u have to be a part of it…n so I was. One fine day, me and all my friends packed all our MBA books in several bags and we were in Delhi for selling them, actually we had hardly opened them even during our 2 years of MBA ;)…1% of the money earned went to the God and the rest was used to get spoilt…badly :)…No pints for guessing...I miss those dayzzz…

March: Convocated…aaahaa…Can’t forget March’08; after all this was the month when I got the first convocation degree of my life (actually, engineering ki degree abhi tak mili nahi...). The emotions here were madly mixed. On one hand, we were getting our MBA degrees suggesting the completion of the days of education for this lifetime...(I Wish ;)) and on the other hand nostalgia surrounded the streets of IMT Ghaziabad…after all, two years of bonding were kinda coming to an end…friends were being parted…couples being separated…B-school masti was coming to an end…and on 18th November, from the kind hands of Mr. Narayanamurthy, I got my much coveted degree…signifying the end of padhaai ke din…

April: Feel at home…Oh yes, April came with another homely dose of my life courtesy Perot Systems, my new employer, as they had given me a date of joining which was 3 months and 12 days away from the last of day of college. While many of my friends were joining in the next 10 days, it was almost like a painful shock for me to wait for so long, the positive vibe was only being back to Jaipur, stay there with parents, relatives, friends, and family. But…having no option, I started my over long holidays eating great food at home…mom ke haath ka khana…too yummmmie mahn. But alaaaaaaaaas, I got bored too soon with meeting relatives @ Jaipur…after all I had visited all of them over n over in just 10 days and was left with nothingness…

May: Alternate Jobs…MIS consultant…Personality developer…and what not? Having been bored of life with nothingness…getting spoilt at home, and realizing that I couldn’t sit idle for so long, I had to ring a few bells, to spend my time constructively. And there begun...a flurry of amazing activities in Jaipur for me...

• First of them, the directors of a leading sunrise firm at Jaipur were happy to take me as a “Change Agent”; someone, who could convert their existing system into computerized format. The role of an MIS consultant...Well, I had a great time there, 11-4ish everyday…amazing, eye-opening changes for the firm…good fun overall...

• Secondly, I continued my gym stint here in Jaipur too and in the three months, had some visible improvements which still brings some smile to the face through the mirror…;)

• Thirdly, Internet can be great source of knowledge and 'moolah', the secrets will be revealed some other time, having applied for the broadband connection right at the outset of my holidays, I earned some 6-7k on the Internet, all in 1-2 hours for 2 weeks, with amazing learning for the self…

• Fourthly, arrey bi…MBA kiya hai…to gyaan baatna to seekh hi liya hai ;)…Got the opportunity to take some leadership and personality development classes in a few leaderships workshops. The highlight of these sessions was the mixed audience from college students to 40-45 aged businessmen, from doctors to housewives, from nice girls ;) to MBA aspirants and many more. Bringing change in their lives by talking and sharing experiences for 2 hours and forcing them to reely stretch themselves every moment if they wish to be someone in life was a very enriching experience for me too. I know that I am definitely not someone who has the potential to reely change some1’s life, but at the end of every session, getting their positive feedback and getting reviews like, “You have lit the fire in me today!”, gives some personal satisfaction to take home…

June: Viva la Salsa, Chaar Dhaam…The start of June came with a lucky surprise. A celebrity salsa workshop, happening for the first time in Jaipur, took me with an amazing enthusiasm. Salsa is one dance which is very close to my heart and the 11 day workshop not only taught me salsa but also gave me some fond memories of my Jaipur holidays. Was awarded the best Salsa dancer at the end of the workshop…I can't stop saying...”Viva La Salsa”...and I love this dance form.

Also, the fag end of my holidays got special when we had a 10 day family outing to the Chaar Dhaam Yatra…spending time with mom n dad, going to religious places Gangotri, Yamnotri, Badrinath & Kedarnath and definitely cleaning my “Paap ka full Ghada” at Gangaji was a pleasant holiday. With amazing scenic expeditions, life rattling trekkings, and solid photoshoots…I was all cleansed and content at the end of June…ready for my new stint in the corporate world…

July: Perot Systems, here I come…July 1 was the date of joining…awesome guest house…amazing induction under LEAPS (Lead effectively @ Perot Systems) program… a special attention…with 12 other management trainees……a new place Noida…this very important phase of my life started in 2008. This corporate leap was the only purpose of doing my MBA and I think the start is decent. The first month went by like anything, settling down in Noida…making new friends…shifting into a new 3 BHK with some of the Perot Systems friends…interfacing yet again to the typical 5 day IT life was all so much more welcoming with the “end of the month” Laughter…

August: Project Loyalty…The first project I got in Perot Systems as a management trainee was to design a Loyalty Product which Perot Systems could take to the market as a new offering. Pretty challenging one! This first project came with long hours of work and that too, grilling discussions, in-depth research, cost-benefit analysis, overseas calls, late night work and much more. Actually, there was a fire in the belly askin you to do more and more by every moment so that project comes out as the best. I enjoyed the work so much and the dedication was visible with the fact that there was not a single day when I had left the office before 8 PM. The final presentation was in front of our MD and it was again a nice experience in itself. Oh yeah…it went well…:)

September: Akash, the blogger…Another dream which had always been there in my heart was to own a blog in my name. Though it was not my first hand at blogging, but this was and is my best effort in the blogworld. "AkashSpeaks" got its birth when I had some free time after the completion of first project. The support of friends, every new comment, every new count on this blog used to bring a smile and used to keep me involved and it still does…though finding time is always a challenge…but after all life is all about finding time and managing it well…so the blog is alive and kicking…at least I could achieve the target I had set for myself of writing 1 blog every month. AkashSpeaks in the last three months of its start has got 13 posts…not highly commendable…but numbers still talk…:)

October: Strategy and… Well, on the official front I was indicted into the Perot Systems-Strategy for my second project. Have got a chance to work on some challenging and high priority projects being part of the strategy team. Works keeping me busy…n works keeping me happy. Diwali was nice as ever. But… October was bad…somehow…it was bad…a very bad month of my life…nothing more to say…after all...it’s all part of life…


November: Stint into the advertising world…O people, I didn’t change my job…told yaa works keeping me happy just a while back :). Perot Systems Strategy gave me the opportunity to work with an external ad agency on creating a set of 4 videos to capture the business unit’s capabilities. Writing scripts, collating information, showcasing content, arranging logistics for the video shoot, finding locations, narrating dialogues, Lights Camera Action and everything. It was all a nice learning experience in itself and believe me, advertising world is a helluva dynamic and creative industry…It keeps u kickin…!

All work and no play makes me a sad boy…and so went to the Lake City Udaipur too with colleagues to attend a friend’s wedding…good fun…nice city…but yeah, marriage continues to scare me at least at the moment…;)

December: Bulls and Bears…Always Rocking…Good time or bad time…I can’t say at the moment…but after a long wait I have started my stint in the risky stock market. Sensex, nifty, demat, closing bells, reds and greens…are all a part of my life now. I always wanted to invest some part of my kitty in stocks and so I got a start in 2008 only…right now, I m just devising my own rules of the game…so the journey seems to be long…fingers are always kept crossed in the D-Street…!


So that’s how the year 2008 has ended for me. Now, I request you all to share your highlights of the year 2008…I’m sure everyone wud love to hear and share at least the major milestones…so please feel free!
I wish all of you a very happy 2009.
Wish India comes out strong in the WAR against terror.
Wish there is more love and less hatred in the world.
Wish all of us sustain and keep smiling even during the financial crunch and the economies rebound back strong in 2009.
Wish the stock markets bloom ;).
And last but utmost, I wish 2009 brings joy, laughter, fun, excitement, peace and lots and lots and lots of happiness in your lives.

SHOW ME THAT CHARMING SMILE…:)!!!

Diwali Greetings...:)

Though I have taken a lot of time to write this new post on my blog,
but believe me I had no time to write a full blog over this long period,
but finally I'm taking only a little time to copy paste these heartfelt diwali wishes to all the beings on the blog-o-world...

Hi thr…

Wish u all a very happy and a prosperous Diwali...














NJOY FULL ON…N DEFINITELY TRY GOING GREEN THIS DIWALI….:)

The Guy Named Nikhil: Part 1

Nikhil was brought up in a decent middle class family where he was being taken care of everything right from his childhood. He grew up as a naughty, shy and cute kid, having cheeks so fluffy, that every passerby definitely used to ‘poke-in’ on his cheeks elongating them some centimeters for sure. ‘Cheeekabo’ is what he used to call it and he knew he always hated it…

Well, this continued even when he grew up into an adult; only the audience to his cheeks changed with time. Though, the cheeks had a lean ‘cheekabo’ phase between 16-19 when his face got some signals of puberty, but that went off soon and he got spic and span to attract the new found ‘care’ mostly from the opposite sex.

Nikhil had his first crush when he was in the fourth class. The girl was almost six years elder to him but he had fallen in love with her, so much so that he had invented a stylish name for referencing her only to himself. She was Shruti and he used to reference her as ‘Trutsssss’. Definitely, he could never manage the courage to talk to her for the only seven days he had met her during an outstation wedding ceremony. But the feeling remained with him for a long time.

Good in studies and with nice communication skills, Nikhil had been a star among the friends. The shyness in approaching girls had remained inherent only till the time he managed to approach the first one. This had happened when he was in the eleventh class. And then, as they say, it was all history.

Playing volleyball had been the hobby even when it came on the cost of bunking some classes especially those which used to be the free classes of Nancy, the class ninth girl of his school.

He used to play volleyball, all in style, to show off while she used to style-off with her friends somewhere near the volleyball court. Lots of exchanged glances and one fine day, purposefully Nikhil’s threw up the volleyball into the destined bunch of ‘Nancied girls’.

“Can you pass on the ball?”…he reached upto them and asked Nancy, looking straight into her eyes.

Nancy along with the bunch of girls burst out in laughter and they were out of the scene in no time. Poor Nikhil was left aghast and all the more embarrassed.

And so, he could never gather the courage to talk to Nancy again until he met Priya. This happened during the annual school fair when he was in his last year of school. She was managing the class-stall in the fair making people play “Ring-O-Mania”. The same old game where one has to throw rings on articles and once you ring something, that becomes yours. Nikhil spent his entire day on her stall spending all his money and gifting all the articles kept on the stall to the host Priya only.

This definitely impressed upon the tall and beautiful Priya who, as his friends used to call, had ‘interestingly accentuated features’. And hence began his first friendship. It was the first lovey-dovey affair of his life. Spending time in coffee shops, school canteen, book fairs and eateries was an altogether different kind of fun element for him away from the sports ground and the volleyball fields. He never realized before that all these places had so much more in them.

This also gave him the opportunity to understand what was there in a girl’s mind because earlier while reading the text books stating “mind is present only in Human beings”, he had misread it as “mind is only present in Man beings”.

Though he realized he was not the best at reading a girl’s mind but the experience of knowing these all together different beings was very different for him and he was loving it all. He never used to have similar conversations with his friends in school. And he realized he never ever had a girl as a friend in any of his group of friends, before.

The aftermaths of this 'affair', as his friends used to call it, came with the teasing of friends, the eyeing of teachers in the class and the special attention of girls in school. All this was new found to him but he was finding it way different… interesting… enticing and all the more exciting…

The friendship with Priya lasted for a few months till the time Nikhil left school. On the last day of his school, Priya was crying but at that moment, he could never realize that he will also be missing her. But, seeing tears in her eyes made him feel for the first time how important he could be for someone. The distances between them grew with time and both of them soon drifted away from each other…leaving it as a sweet memory in Nikhil’s mind…

He just thought of it as a 'connect' which the two of them shared till the time they were connected and he moved on...realizing nothing...

The First Date...The Last Date?

She dials in the second last number on her last dialed entries…and says, “Poor fellow wants to meet me tomorrow…again… (a loud laughter followed…) don’t you worry…I am sure I’m not turning up...”..."Or..even if I turn up..I am sure he'll be in for a tough time...something hes given many girls..what does he say..'its cool mahn'...yes Nikhil..its gonna be very cool"...

And she drops the call soon...still thinking of her plan of action for tomorrow...dozing off after a while...
__________________________________________

Next Day:

It was 6PM and Nikhil was already waiting on the coveted hot-seat of the food court. Nikhil saw beautiful curly hair appear on the floor yet again right at 6:30PM, he was sure this time, it cannot be her...‘right on time’. But he was surprised to see her there. All charged up…walking up to him with the cutest smile he had seen.


She had a bouquet of flowers in her hand and she was walking up closer to him. She hugs him gently, hands over the bouquet to him and sits right in front of him. Nikhil was just about to gain his senses out of the mist of her splendid perfume and she said, “The bouquet is for the long wait which you did for me yesterday. I know I have been rude to you in the past but yesterday you made me realize that you are not the SOB which I was expecting you to be…" And she started approaching him closer to his left cheek……

And suddenly his phone started ringing which brought him out of his daydreaming. Aghast…he saw the screen flashing “Bhargavi calling…” Oh well, not again…she must not be ditching me yet again…

“Bhargavi…What the hell!! Its 7 already…how much more u want to me to wait??…I wished you wud have come…at least for some time…”... ‘Gosh!!! The desperate me…’ he grumbled…

She rattled back, “Look Nikhil, I don’t like malls; I am waiting right outside the mall. Quickly rush out or I will be leaving in another 5 minutes.” And before Nikhil could say anything, the call was dropped.

He rushed down the elevators almost stumbling down three times.

Right at the front gate of the mall, there was a Black Toyota Camry waiting. Nikhil saw her sitting at the back seat, the driver on the wheel. She was busy combing her shining black hair…her face was turned sideways. Nikhil could just gaze at her eyelashes through the strands of her curly hair...waiting to see her again...These 2 days had seemed like 2 decades...

As he reached close to the car, she asked the driver to open the front door. And she commented, “I think I should keep a safe distance from the Nikhils of the world….” With the sheepish smile on his face, he had no other option than to sit with Mr. Natthuram.

First her father and now the driver, why every male around her furnishes such a deadly huge moustache…Nikhil thought…

“Natthuram ji, ghar chaliye.”

“WHAT??? Are we going to your home Bhargavi. Don’t you think it would be too early for me to meet your parents…?”

She laughed aloud…“Nikhil…come on…I am not fool enough to take you home…That was just to scare the hell outta you...By the way…U look cute when u r scared…Chalo, lets walk…”,

‘SCARED n CUTE’, Nikhil didn’t know whether to take it as a compliment or plain insult.

Both of them got out of the car. Nikhil noticed, she was dressed in a white dress with a broad leather belt draping her skirt across her waist properly. Her transparent white sandals as she stepped out of the car made Nikhil think as if an angel was coming out. Her earrings were small, still very fashionable adding to her charisma. Nikhil thought again, "It’s a dream or a reality…I am finally meeting her…"

They started walking and Natthuram Ji followed in the car.

"CAN WE TALK?"…he stated his pick up line again..cursing himself for the lack of originality.

"Hmmmmmmmm? How many times and to how many girls you have said this before…?” She broke the silence created by the breeze which was crossing both of them.

“Not many Bhargavi. Seriously, you are different, way different than anyone else. I can’t express this in words, but believe me you are the one. All my lifetime I have liked only the girls who have been challenging, if any girl had come up to me on her own, my interests for her had gone down. In that sense you seem to be way different, really challenging. And definitely the most desired one too…”

“All you guys are the same, you definitely find every girl different in the beginning but soon you get familiar and again start looking for some THING different. Isn’t it true…Nikhil?”

“I won’t lie on this Bhargavi. It’s true that one looks for change in life but that change seeking proposition goes on till the moment you don’t find someone who is much more than all the changes you have ever seen in the life. Over and above that, it’s the connect, that makes life a worthwhile experience and when that connect goes missing, it’s better to look for change…isn’t it?”

“So, you mean to say that you would look for your own so called ‘connect’ and then you would part ways than even when you know that the girl whom you are with still shares the same connect.”

“I think a connect happens with the two - together, that’s my philosophy. And both should definitely realize, when is the moment when the connect breaks. I think there is no point to continue for the benefit of both after the connect is broken. Both can try a couple of times but that’s it…you have to make a move after a while…”

“So, that’s the reason you broke up with Swati and that’s the reason you never got along with Aruna.”, She asked him...

It came to him as a jolt. The floor from the bottom of his feet started quaking.

"So how many connections have you broken till date? Or let me put it the other way..how many connects did you feel did not connect to you Nikhil?"

Had it been someone else..Nikhil would have lied on her face..but to her..he didn't get the urge, "I won't lie to you..I have had relations in the past..I haven't been a nice guy Bhargavi..I have broken a lot of promises..and trusts..and have moved on...I am bad and I know I'm"...."I don't know why I am saying this to you..but I don't wanna lie to you..."

"Ahh..and you think you gonna impress me by stating some true facts…" she interrupted...

"I don't know what makes you dislike me so much..but I am finding my connect here...a connect for which I have waited all my lifetime...a connect which might last a lifetime...N this is coming straight from my heart...right for the first time...", Nikhil was being desperate..

"Lets cut this senti business Nikhil…I'am not in for it please..You have broken many hearts and I am here to teach you a lesson…something that you rightfully deserve...I gotta go now..I have other important things to do..."

"Will we meet next?"

"Why do you wanna meet me?"

"I don't know..."

"May be when you can give me some reason to meet you...as of now, I don't see any..."

With that she gestured to the driver...
________________________________________

A few MOMENTS later:

There was already a great distance between them by this moment…they were going in different directions...far away from each other, soon...




PS: With contributions from none other than Richa (aka Santa)

The Day After That Night...

Nikhil, the guy who used to live in every moment, one who used to create a great atmosphere wherever he used to go, who was the star among his friends...; was in a completely engrossed mood today, way different than his normal self.

To Arun and Vyomkesh’s surprise, Nikhil got up very early today and was the first to catch the office bus, the same bus which he either used to miss or used to come running to catch it at the very last moment. Usually the atmosphere at home also was full of music…loud music and lots of crazy hullabaloo, courtesy Nikhil; but today, there was pin drop silence coz the one who used to be the trouble and laughter creator was in a different world altogether…

Riya, the girl who sits next to him in office waved in the normal chirpy style, “HI NNikheeeel…wasssssssup dude?”, but Nikhil was staring his computer screen deeply engrossed in his own thoughts with three lines of tension clearly visible on his forehead. Having felt unnoticed, something which a beautiful girl can never stand. Riya puffed Nikhil hard on his shoulder…”Kya bi…where are you?” Khair leave all that. Tell me, “Kaisi lag ri hoon?” “Look! I have got this new shade on my hair…don’t u think it’s awesome…””Also, what about the new sexy pair of sandals…don’t u think they rockkk?”

Perturbed enough and moving his eyes wherever Riya was forcing them to, he just could say, “Wonderful Riya!” in the end and he got back to his screen again. By this time, chirpy Riya was already mad, she threw her dazzling bag and went straight to the canteen to fetch her daily dose of Sugar Free Black Coffee, and yes, she obviously didn’t ask Nikhil to tag along.

Nikhil realized he had committed a big mistake; this is not the way he should behave with his good friend, Riya. Though he didn’t want to engross his mind anywhere else but at the same time he even didn’t want to hurt Riya. He went to the cafeteria where Riya was sitting already facing the window sipping her hot cuppa coffee. Nikhil took a glass of water and sat in front of her, with the same long face.

“SORRRY RI…I’m sorry!” just those words and Riya burst out with laughter, “Baj gai naa! Aage se never behave like that with mighty RIYA!!! Chal bachhha Nik, now quickly tell me Mai kaisi lag rahi hoon? And then tell me your Love story.”

Nikhil was surprised and a thought again crossed his brainy neurons, “Why and how is it that true friends understand the entire situation so quickly without even your saying a single word. And when the friend is of the opposite sex, the understanding is always Bang On…!”

Before he could say, “How do you know?” Riya said, “I know mahn, don’t I know you?..Well, that’s the only reason I have spared you for your misbehavior today. And by the way, even I haven’t heard annnneeeeething interesting from a long time now”...She winked with a cheeky smile.

It took only a few moments for Nikhil to narrate the entire night’s happening to Riya and he ended the scene-by-scene account by just saying, “Riya!!! Dammit….I don’t know what’s happening to me, but I really..truly..madly..deeply have fallen in love with her.”

Listening to the entire account like a sweet small kid, Riya gave her typical big-time consultant look and popped out her suggestion, “Look my dear Nik, why are you so tensed???...DUDE!!! You have her number…right? Call her and ask her, how does she know you?”

Nikhil thought, “Goddamn! Riya is great as a friend but I hate her when she becomes a consultant friend…OH!” Grasping his emotions and controlling the same for that moment, Nikhil could only show a smile.

Whatever Riya would have suggested, Nikhil liked the idea of at least calling Bhargavi to meet her somewhere because at this time, He couldn’t concentrate on work; in fact he was not able to concentrate on anything. Wherever he was seeing, whatever he was doing, wherever he was going, he could see only those beautiful eyelashes and those curled hair...

Since, his thoughts were going nowhere, he picked up his phone and dialed in the number…

The Stunning Beauty...That Sunday Night...

You all must have been to malls of today...hustling n bustling with a lot of people everywhere...shouting children, huge families, young eye-locked couples, spruced-up girls dressed-to-kill and wandering guys with opportunistic eyes...

Nikhil, 23, along with 2 of his close friends, Arun and Vyomkesh went to one of these malls on a really lifeless Sunday just to change the boring mood he was engulfed with due to the recent break-up he had with his girlfriend. The weather was pleasant, so they planned to take up a rickshaw rather than a regular 3-wheeler auto. The hell-bent Rs. 5 bargaining with one rickshaw-wallah made them walk almost half of the distance up to the mall to find another one, but instead of giving them a winner like feeling which can be seen on any Indian Housewife's face after getting a successful bargain deal, this episode had worsened their Sunday mood...

Being really pissed-off coz of the mundane dinner they used to have at home, their main motive was to have good food in this mall along with some raking to the eyes which definitely is the worthy by-product for anyone in a mall on any given Sunday.

So, they went to a restaurant full of so many people that even after somehow managing to get the self-served food, they had to wait for a long time to find a place where they could sit and eat. Vyomkesh really got heated up and the moment he decided to walk out of the place without having the dinner, an old couple from a far away corner got up from their seat, looking content after their dinner. This was the moment; the three of them had to run a lot of distance to get the recently emptied seat.

With filled plates in both of his hands, suddenly Nikhil started running at the top of his speed looking forward may be to break Bolt’s new olympic record, cutting from the middle of the crowd, crossing over the wild kids on the way, the slippery floor and the wary watchful eyes... While he was about to reach the much wanted table; the old couple came back on the seat crushing his hopes of the cherished award in the form of the table, right there, yet again.

But the couple had come only to collect the purse which the lady had left by mistake on the table. Nikhil and his friends gasped a pang of fresh air and grabbed the seat, to finally enjoy their dinner. Plenty of Indian delicacies like Chole Bhature, Raj Kachori, Paneer Tikka, mouth watering Bhelpuri and Sweet Lassi had filled the empty hollows of their craving stomachs.

But that was not enough for all but Arun, the guy with an unending appetite. He said, "I am not done, I want to eat some Chinese too." Hence, they had to go up to the food court, usually found on the terraces of these malls, providing plenty of food options to fill the foodie desires of the ever hungry Arun.

While Arun was exploring his Chinese eating desires..., Nikhil’s eyes suddenly met those beautiful eyes, those exquisite pair of red sandals, those long well-curled hair, that white bracelet, those Jolied lips, and that stunningly amazing face. He had not seen similar features from a long-long time. She was perfect..., a Diva, a beauty, a Goddess standing somewhere right in front of him. Their eyes met...once...twice and even thrice...but nothing happened. Nikhil thought, "It might just be a casual look...which keeps happening in the mall."

But, that beauty turned up to the same Chinese eatery zone right next to the place where Nikhil was standing. She grabbed her already prepared order and went up to the seating zone. Nikhil’s eyes followed, wishing that she does not at-least sit next to some guy coz that will crush his heart suggesting she already has a boyfriend. In fact, Nikhil wished that she would have come with some friends of hers so that the situation becomes easier to handle and somewhat approachable for him. But what he sees takes his breath away. To his dismay, the girl sat right next to a huge fat man, with bald head and white moustache, a definite colonel look...No points for guessing, he was surely her Father with a damn angry look on his face like the one which was typically last seen in Amrish Puri’s eyes in DDLJ, the Bollywood flick which inspires every young Indian heart.
While Nikhil was in his own world, suddenly Arun appeared, with his well garnished Chinese noodles along with Vyomkesh. He pinched Nikhil shouting, “Kaha hai dude…what the hell has happened to you, why are you sweating badly in this chilling air-conditioned space?” And Nikhil couldn't stop narrating his newfound love story right from his heart telling them that he has fallen in love, yet again, but this time it really seems for real.

When Arun and Vyomkesh saw the girl, her mystic beauty swept the floor away from their feet too. They soon decided to sit down at the most 'strategically' placed location, out of the few options available, on Nikhil’s suggestion. Generally, friends laugh things off in these situations which happen quite often in malls. But gauging Nikhil’s seriousness they coaxed Nikhil to do something, charged him up, saying things like you are the only one who can do something…it’s now or never types. Reassuring him that if something happens to him, they would be the first to run away at the top their speeds...

But Nikhil had lost all hopes by this time, seeing that when the girl has come with her Father, Mother and her sister, it’s naturally an impossible proposition to talk to her or for that matter, even approach her. The guy looking for love, decided that he would do nothing insane and sit quietly and cry on his bad luck, after all the girl is with that huge Godzilla sized Father. He couldn't do anything; already life had given him enough bruises, not any more…Nikhil just sat quietly in anticipation of an opportunity…

Suddenly, the beauty got up...turned...their eyes met again, she went up to one of the counters and bought a bottle of mineral water, fancied an amazing look at him again and got back to her seat. This eye-locking had a catastrophic effect on Nikhil’s heartbeat which was soaring a peak of a lifetime. Nikhil was about to get back to his normal self and guess what, she got up again, this time to fetch tissue papers and the stunning eyes met with the opportunistic ones, yet again, leaving Nikhil mesmerized...

But, since the situation was out of Nikhil’s control and since Arun had already gulped down his noodles and had ran away from the situation to save himself from the anticipated beating due to Nikhil’s intentions, Nikhil too decided to leave with Vyomkesh, crushing his lively emotions to a logical death.

The moment they got up from their seat...nothing happened; the moment they started walking...nothing happened; but the moment they crossed the pleasant smell of that amazing perfume of her's, another ray of hope came Nikhil’s way. She rose again from her seat and reached the same Chinese vendor again which was located a little far from the place where the moustached Devilish villain of Nikhil’s new found love-life was sitting. Gauging the moment and finally living his dream, Nikhil left Vyomkesh on the way; he headed the Chinese vendor...leaving Vyomkesh shocked.

He went up there, very close to the counter, right next to where the stunning beauty was standing. For a moment he couldn't breathe, words couldn’t come out of his mouth, he was not even able to blink his eyes. They were staring at each other, standing right next to each other, face to face. A set of three words, “Can we talk?”, Nikhil popped out the question. She blinked her eyes for a moment, a whiff of fear rolled down her throat and she whispered another set of three words, “Not right now!” and she quickly went back leaving Nikhil with an insanely questioned look...

Lot of thoughts went through Nikhil’s mind, “Not right now!”, it might mean..., “Yes!, but not right now!” or it might mean..., “No!!!, not right now and never ever after!”. Nikhil was confused, what he should do, his friends had already left downstairs without telling him whether they are waiting or not, and the girl for whom he was ready to go till the last mile was sitting back right next to her family. He was asking himself, “I should wait” or “I should approach her again” or “I should talk to the angry Colonel directly” or “I should at least pass down my contact number” or “I should wait and follow her”...so many questions...he was devastatingly confused...

What should Nikhil do? What should be his next step? Can you complete Nikhil’s story, if you would have been in his place what would you have done? What if the girl goes to a movie after the dinner with her family in the same mall? What if she moves back in her father's car back home? Did the girl had similar feelings for Nikhil? Can you help Nikhil decide his next move? Well, Nikhil is waiting…

Now, its your time to comment, post your suggestions, post your thoughts, post anything you wish to...the blog is waiting...So, start pouring in ur comments…



PS: The above story is based on imaginary thoughts. All characters in the story are fictitious, any resemblance to actual events in any mall or with any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

My First Blog Ever... (Published on March 02, 2006)

Thursday, March 02, 2006

I met a gal...

The stage was set...n music was piercing the diaphragm of my ear...I wanted to move...I wanted to dance...coz the beats were rockin my nerves...but I was feelin lonely...too lonely...

I always live in the present...live in the moment that we call NOW...but that day...solitude had gripped me...I was seein ppl dancin...movin their body on the sound of music...I wanted to move...I wanted to rock the floor...but I was lonely...

In that lonelyness...my eyes were lukin 4 someone...my eyes were searching 4 someone...someone divine...someone beautiful...someone killin....

N then I saw her...I saw those curly hair...I saw that divine smile...But hey I'm shy...how can I approach her...I havn't ever done that...I can't do that...man...I haven't ever talked to her...but I want to talk to her...I wanna ask her for dance...but no...do I hav the guts...N then I said to myself...Comon...this is the time...its now or never...live in the present...just do it...be a man...

N then I jumped on my foot...I climbed the stairs...I saw her chattin with her frens...shouting infact so that she can be heard in the loud music...

I approached her...walkin through the crowd...cutting the different groups of ppl...guys n gals talkin n dancing...but the world stopped in front of my eyes...the air was silent...the music was loud...but I wasn't able to hear any of it...

N I was there...I saw the divine eyes in front of me...the words came out..."Why aren't u guys dancing???"She said "Its so crowdy out there...I dont know how to reach there..."I said "I'll show u the way..."N she followed me...we reached the floor...

N So it all began...the smiles are mine...all so divine...But I am afraid...will they b mine forever...I'm the world...I know I am...but I dont know why....I'm still afraid...