Journey on Indian Rail – Fun on the run!! (Day 2)

The next day started quiet differently with beggars and hawkers of all kinds that you would (not) like to see, from people who would sing, clean the place, show their physical disability (& later appear normal on their return, tats once their collection time is over), to people who were absolutely fit and fine but lazy enough to work (tats what easy money makes u – lazy!!). The most annoying amongst all these people was a group of errrr transgenders. I was completely annoyed by them, not for the fact that they were doing the vasooli kind of stuff but it was more cos of the method they adopted to forcefully make us pay them. The 3 of us (friends) were sitting doing our own things (listening to music, eating, reading) when this human came to our berth and demanded money, we remained ignorant, not in the mood to give even a single penny, when really insisted up on, one of the friend picked up a nice piece of apple and said ‘wont give money, take this if u want to fill ur tummy’, which got refused instantly and to not waste the time and energy anymore that moron of a human being, raised the bottom of her sari till knee high ( obviously indicating to us that, if u don’t give money in a jiffy, this level could go even higher!! Grrrrrr). Totally frustrated by the act, we wanted to get rid of her (for the sake of convenience and for the fact that she was wearing a sari, no offence meant), so I quickly took out my valet and gave a Rs.5 note, which she dint like, but I some how managed to communicate to her that, that’s what is all the change that I have, she thankfully obliged and moved on.. Jeeeeeezz!!

As this session of stupid drama started to fade, came the most interesting part of the journey, u enter Maharashtra and u get to drink this special brand of tea called ‘chaudhry ki chai’. Man!! if u could find a person selling tea any better I’d give u all the wealth I have. These set of people start someway like this at the other end of the coach ‘Chaudhry ki chai peeeo, chaudhryyyyy ki chai peeeeelo’, ‘achi lage toh paise dena, nahi toh paise mat dena’ and the best one amonsnt many other 2 liners, which hits u hard, real hard!! ‘achi lage toh peeo, nahi lage toh khidki khula hai bahar phek do’. Ever heard a marketer/seller be so tough to u, he’s sure u wont dare him by saying u dint like it, remember u r in Maharashtra!! This friend actually wanted to have a cup of tea, so he stopped the chai wala ( I was seriously in the mood to mock at him, just by buying a cup of tea and telling him I dint like it and then throwing it out in front of him, but sense still prevailed so I managed to stop myself from getting into useless trouble! :D ) and got a cup of tea, when asked how it was, he managed to say that it was really nice. (am not sure if he really liked it or did he sense what kind of crazy ideas were going in my mind and so avoided telling the truth ;) )

The chai wala left and then came a young guy (10-12 yrs old) with a hell lot of key chains and other kid’s games; he had an accent and attitude of his own to sell those beautiful key chains for rs.10 each. My friends did buy a few key chains from him; both cos they wanted to help the innocent lil kid plus they really liked a few key chains from a huge variety that he managed to carry on his small shoulders. One friend also bought a couple of JLo ( just a few ppl know here wat it means, so pls ignore wat JLo is, I just couldn’t resist myself from using the term though ;) ) kind of mobile pouches, but I was wondering why he would buy 2 pouches? He told us, he was buying them for his wife! But why 2? Won’t 1 do?? Oh then we figured he bought 2 of 2 different colors, ah married he is now, obviously understands that women like to match things to their clothes (sorry dude I doubted u unnecessarily ;)). Do I need to mention he bought a purple and a pink one.. God!!!!! I thought it was just girls, see what marriage does to men…! And then since we had bought enough from about a 100 rupees or so, we started doing time pass with that guy, seeing key chains just like that to kill time, for which that small lil kid gave a fitting comment ‘lena hai toh lo saab, kahli pili time pass mat karo, aur bhi dhanda karna hai abhi’, my o my, 12 yrs old he was I thought!!

Last thing I’d like to mention about the journey is again about this same friend, we would have laughed at least for 15 mins non stop at this particular incident. There were these set of ladies selling a floor mat kind of thing which we use for sitting on floor at home. It was made out of some different material and did look really nice; it at least looked costlier than what this friend bought it for. He bought it for Rs.10 each and asked us what we thought it was worth, to which we unanimously said, must be about Rs.20 each (conservatively) and he was glad that he had bought something nice for home and tat too cheaper than what it looks worth. Once his purchase was over, just a minute later the next lady selling the same stuff entered and started shouting ‘2 for 15’ ‘2 for 15’, one must have looked at this friends face, he already felt cheated :D. this wasn’t the end, a few minutes later the next lady entered the coach and yes u have guessed it right, she shouted ‘2 for 10’ ‘2 for 10’. There couldn’t have been a better expression on some ones face to make us laugh anymore that day: D hilarious!!

Tats what Indian railways makes ur journey – Hilarious!!

P.S - Quiet a lengthy post, guess i need to work on making my posts shorter!! thank god I got the idea of splitting this post into 2 parts :P

Today’s Favorite Line – Honest people have a value, corrupt people have a price.

Today’s Favorite Song – Anyone else but you (The Moldy Peaches)

Journey on Indian Rail – Fun on the run!! (Day 1)

What’s the first thing you should expect when ever you board an Indian railway coach? Chaos, Quarrel, filth, strangers or entertainment?

Wondering why entertainment also features as an option u got to choose from? That’s cos that’s wat a journey using the Indian railway provides you, that too without any additional charges! Great!! Aint it?!

This is about a train journey that I undertook a couple of weeks back to and fro Ahmedabad. It was not my first journey, but still I feel every journey with Indian railways leaves you with unique experiences and this one couldn’t have been any better in terms of free entertainment. Let’s see what kind of entertainment this journey was filled with…

The journey had just begun, it was not even 30 mins since the journey started, I was travelling with 2 other friends of mine and apart from the 3 of was there was an old man sitting opposite to me. The 3 of us were randomly exchanging pleasantries and wondering to ourselves how we were gonna bear each other for the next 7 days, when this old man out of the blue started speaking looking at me. At once not sure whether he was speaking to me or to one of the other 2, I just looked at him and turned back to the conversation with my friends. But then the old man wasn’t done speaking, and I realized he was saying certain things about me, he said ‘you have a flickering mind, its really difficult for u to take decisions generally!?’ I looked at him for a moment but I still couldn’t care as much and turned back to my friends. 5-10 mins had passed and the old man started again ‘who asked u to wear this ring? R u wearing this on ur own or did some astrologer suggest u to? Please show ur ring to me once’. This time again I wasn’t really listening to what he had to say, but he kept saying things to somehow grab my attention, but this time he had gone beyond just speaking! My mind was raising different questions ‘how can a person u don’t even know ask u to remove ur ring?’, ‘who is he? Why is he making statements about me?’, ‘why is he just talking about/to me, why not the other 2?’, I was really confused, but I decided to act as if I wasn’t interested (I genuinely wasn’t anyways!) so I told him that I wasn’t supposed to remove my ring under any circumstances, but he kept pressing and finally said ‘don’t worry, just remove ur ring and hold it in your own hands I want to show u something’, I was still in dilemma, every now and then we keep hearing about stories of how people get cheated while they travel in a train, but the old man sure dint look like someone of that kind, but how could I be so sure, no one has it written on their forehead. So I obliged to just show some courtesy to the old mans requests, removed the ring till the tip of my finger and held it there tightly pressed with an other finger (so that, just in case even if he had a trick to snatch it away from me he cant that easily, smart enough eh?!), to which he said ‘can u see some dust inside, u should wash the ring regularly so that u get the real benefit of the ring’. I wore the ring back immediately and sighed to myself ‘huh, he could have said that even without having me remove the ring’. I once again shifted back to the conversation with my friends and the old man kept speaking every now and then interrupting our talk, till he finally got down at a station after some 7 hours. And before he left, he told us everything about himself and had enough content to boast about himself and also made us nod at a lot of things he had to say. My friends got interested in his talks and they did show their hands to the old man to know their future. I remained indifferent so that neither I would be sad if he said something that I dint like nor will I be over excited for something good that was supposed to happen to me in the future (it’d get boring to know about something and wait for it everyday to actually happen!)

Part 1 of our entertainment filled journey had just got down, now we were again bored and in came another gentleman in his 40’s, he took a seat next to me though he dint have a reserved seat anywhere around us ( that’s the kind of courtesy less ness u can expect in India!), a friend of mine took the pain to ask him if he had a seat reserved or not, to which this gentleman raised his hand like the congress party symbol signaling to my friend that he need not bother about that and just stay put with whatever u r doing (now that’s another thing u should know while ur travelling in Indian trains, u need to just bother about ur own seat, at times u wont get even that..). Then this gentleman was kind enough to grab a copy of the business magazine that I was carrying with me lying in between that man and me. No, I dint bother to ask him why he had picked it up even without asking me, I know Indian travel culture really well, when ur travelling in Indian public transport system, everything that u carry with u is also for other publics use, u shouldn’t raise an eyebrow if u want to have a so called ‘Happy Journey’, plus I was already too occupied with my tryst with Nandan Nilekani’s ‘Imagining India’ I dint have to imagine any differently by interrupting both my own reading and the gentleman’s pursuit of looking at pics in the biz mag!

As the day passed, the charge in my mobile phone eroded faster than time, so I thought of getting my phone charged from one of the charging points ( there r 2 points in each coach supposedly) in my coach. But it was not surprising at all to find that both the charging points of my coach weren’t working, so I thought I’d check it out in the next coach but not as exactly expected out of the 10 coaches that I quickly checked out, only 1 point was working!! I had to wait just for an hour to get my turn since by then the most of them travelling in the train weren’t aware of this condition of the train. Luckily I figured this out early and spent almost 2 hours to assure myself that my phone battery would last for another 28 hours that I had to spend in the train. From the time I had started charging, people from across the train had started looking out for charging point and they enquired with me how long I would take, to which I had a standard answer ‘just some more time’, I had waited long enough to give it to someone else so early and easily ;). The charging incident was not just about the waiting time or the non functional charging points, it was also about the way I had to charge my mobile ( was literally holding the charger into the socket for the 1hr tat I charged my phone) and about the constant nagging by the people to remember their face and give them a chance to charge their phone after I was done! (Why would I bother who does after me?! Fight till u either break the only working charging point or be patient and get ur work done!!)

P.S – The post has already reached the 2 page deadline, so I rather split it into 2 parts and call it day 1 & day 2! ;)

Today’s Favorite Line – There will be no reason for love, if there is a reason, then it wont be love – Shakespeare

Today’s Favorite Song – Soniye Hiriye (Shael)

Life in a Bschool beyond classes, cases and grades!?

Every individual has some instance or happening in their student life which they cherish for all their life and boast about it whenever possible. If there has been one such thing in my student life, it without any second thought has to be Abhyudaya.

Getting admission into a premier bschool is a dream of thousands of youngsters like me. But after crossing all the hurdles and getting into the bschool the next challenge is to find yourself in that over hyped crowd, people with white hair (work experience), people with gold medals & national ranking ( in academics, sports & what not!), people with different ambitions and attitudes, one seems to be lost. There is this feeling of doing something by which you could stand out, make a name for yourself and be recognized!! No one’s out there to help you, no one to tell you what to do and how, one needs to get there and do it by one self.

September 2007, I was wondering sitting in an Abhyudaya meeting listening to the Coordinators, I am here without any work experience, without any gold medal or national ranking to flaunt, not even an attitude to show! What do I do? How do I make myself known? When’ll people start recognizing me? I am not even a club/ committee coordinator here. And that’s how and when I started getting involved in the organizing of, one of the finest Bschool fest of the country. And since then I was convinced to exert all my skills and energy to make this event the best.

It was just the 3^rd edition of the event, but the previous batches had set such a nice platform for us that it never felt like it was still in its early years. Abhyudaya was already an established brand across bschools in the country, all we had to do is keep up the expectations of the world. Must sound easy, but for the kind of standards in place, it required real effort and time. Being in a Bschool one is expected to be in class most time of the week or doing assignments or solving cases written by the best nerds of the world sitting there at Harvard. To which I thought this is something that every other batch mate of mine is doing, so I decided to differ from at least a huge number of them and chose to simultaneously work with the team that was working towards the success of Abhyudaya.

Not knowing even a bit about how events are organized, what all goes in the backdrop behind a successful event, I was quite eager to learn it all myself and that sure did take all the time after classes and in fact lot of time during classes as well (multitasking my friend!!). Grades and sleep both started going south, meetings and tense situations started moving north, friends and family started moving east and west randomly. But all that was well worth it. Learned a lot of skills and lessons that a lot of other friends dint quite get a chance to learn, even though they secured outstanding grades and long horns.

People management, funding, planning, compeering, politics, soft skills, execution and last but not the least calling for/attending a zillion meetings are all things which others would have started getting used to only after they started working in organizations, but I can proudly say I have done all that while doing my MBA itself. And my concerns with regard to being recognized and standing out in the crowd got addressed just because of Abhyudaya. If today I have an identity w.r.t IFMR and people connected with it, its precisely because of Abhyudaya. I am sure all my batch mates, seniors, juniors and IFMR staff would agree with me on this.

Enough said about my own experience of Abhyudaya, I have seen it growing year on year for 3 years now, both as an insider and outsider. This year it looks and is much bigger than ever. Astounding participation and sponsorship, interesting set of events, the number of people behind the show during my batch was just 1/3^rd of the number now and so is the level of the event (multifold bigger).

I just wish the event reaches greater heights and goes on to become the best management fest of the country in the years to come.

Here’s wishing the team and all the participants’ good luck!!

A new dawn has begun – Abhyudaya!!

P.S - This post is coming now cos Abhyudaya is happening this year on Feb 20 & 21 and the same write was also posted on Abhyudaya's official blog.

Today's Favorite Line - There is this thing about people who mean everything they say, they think everyone else does too...!

Today's Favorite Song - From this moment (Shaina Twain)

My name is SRK and I am not a FATTU!!

The only second movie* in my life that I watched first day (not the first show though) that too after trying multiple times and ways of getting tickets and waiting in the queue for more than half hour (something which I hardly like to do). The movie was extraordinarily rated on TOI (5/5) on the morning of release and also got a fabulous review on Headlines Today the previous night, convincing me to try for tickets first day itself, that too this being a come back flick of Srk-Kajol duo, made it an even more not to miss kind!

The movie though is well made, with really nice acting by Srk and show stealing music by SEL (the ‘tere naina tere naina’ keep my head filled though I don’t have a pair of headphones on my ear!!) and obviously the central theme of the movie about all muslims not being terrorists keep you glued to your seat, still I felt something was missing in the movie, certain parts of it seem not properly connected/ conveyed, and the sequence of events is also confusing on a few occasions ( at least to me).**

MNIK owes a lot to SS & its chief BsT for the publicity it got without spending that extra bit on the additional unplanned promotion of the film. No one so far has dared to stand up so firmly against the old diktats of Bombay ooops Mumbai, which Srk quite well managed to pull off with support from across the country (indirectly only).

And talking about the issue on which SS has targeted Srk and his film, I was watching a talk show on some news channel and happened to get really nice thoughts on the issue and the general reaction of educated youth of the country (remember the majority population in the country is of youth and their voice almost means country’s voice!!)

One gentleman said, since BsT has targeted Srk for making a comment which intended to invite Pakistani cricket players to India for the over hyped IPL, then he should also be targeting the respectable Government of India, its PM, President and the cabinet as such for inviting Pak for peace talks at the same time. If Srk inviting Paki’s is wrong then how can the honorable Govt of India alone be right in SS’s eyes??

One youngster from the audience also mocked at a SS member who was taking part in the talk show via video conferencing, (guess he was scared to be present there, knowing how wrong his party is and what his condition would end up being if he came to the studio in person) this youngster said the SS member something like this ‘Sir, I represent the educated youth of the country and you could well see how you and your party has become a laughing riot stuff in the country as you must have seen even during the show now, take this as a lesson and get wise!!’

Coming back to Srk and why he is not a Fattu, he chose an incredible subject for his movie which people across the world feel and want to convey but fear to do the same. He would have said this one statement a zillion times in the film making it clear enough for everyone across the world ‘My Name is KHAN and I am not a Terrorist’.

Remember he was frisked at some airport in US some time back, he also made sure he gave a glimpse of that to everyone on how he was treated (or better put, how US officials treat people on such instances).

Next he handled the SS issue really well and stood firm with his beliefs and statements by not budging to the threats given by BsT and his troop. Remember last time when our own Mr.Johar personally went to apologize for something even sillier (I get a feeling that Srk must have got some pressure from karan to apologize so that the film doesn’t get affected). But Bravo Srk! He stood to his guns!!

Finally to close this up, Srk said 2 sweet little words to all the ‘sickos’ which I loved the most ‘Shut Up’. I guess that sums it all up.

* First one was ‘China Gate’, yes of the ‘chamma chamma’ fame, that too two shows the same day

**That’s all is the review I could manage to write, just as an attempt though.

Today’s Favorite Line – ‘khush hain hum, kyunki hum phool nahi jo murjha jayen’

Today’s Favorite Song – Tere Naina (MNIK)

IPL – Intentionally Paki’s Left??

Let’s stop blowing it out of proportion!!

Few deserving candidates dint get an international job that would have earned them a fortune in case they got selected. But the companies were/ are more keen on their own profit maximization which while recruiting these candidates may become a little uncertain. That too when the companies have a lot of other good candidates to choose from, then why knock the doors of uncertainty?!

Does the above statement make things any simple? We are talking about IPL and it’s strictly business!! Be it the BCCI, the franchisees, the players, the sponsors or for that matter even the cheer leaders! Everyone’s there to make money and not for the sport as such, so when its business stop talking about emotions and relationships.. all that matters is the moolah!!

Why can’t someone concerned come forward and make such statement and shut the discussion and debate once for all? We all know the above statements are the exact reasons for why the things are the way they are. We all know that no one ever wanted to snub Pakistan or any other country for that matter. So why play this blame game?

Maybe Aussies coming to India would become uncertain if the franchisees seem to think so, Shiv Sena can’t be taken as lightly, though their nephew has been much more disastrous in the recent times. Everyone is aware of the kind of security threat that increases in India if the Pakistani players are around, specially after the Mumbai attacks. The threat is not internal alone; it could also be to the Pakistani players. Who is ready to take a risk that puts questions to lives?! No sane businessman would do that.

Agreed that the Pakistani hockey team is expected in India very soon for the hockey world cup that India is hosting, but don’t we know the kind of differences in attitude and money these 2 sports have. So its useless to argue and point fingers.. Let the businessmen stand up and say what they did and why instead of making this a political stunt.

I do feel bad for the Pakistani players, especially cos they were the ones who played exceptional cricket in the previous editions (am not as interested or convinced about their T20 world cup win to be a reason for the inclusion in IPL, both are 2 completely different set of events with a lot of difference in the stakes that they come with).

So lets just talk straight.. lets not go round in circles to each and every person concerned and then make an issue out of their statement (Yea, I do mean the statements from IPL chief, GOI, GOP, Franchise owners including Pretty oops Preity, sllipa… ouch Shilpa, and none other than the KKR top shot SRK and many more)

P.S – I know it’s a real tough kind of an attitude that I show while writing this, but I think its rather good to say what u feel than to play the blame game and create excuses. If someone would have taken such a stand long back all mouths would have been shut by now across the country and beyond!

Today’s Favorite Line – “Nothing is interesting, if u are not interested”

Today’s Favorite Song – Little moments like that (Brad Paisley)

2009 – The year that was but wasn’t

 Be it the stock market, the bullion rate, the popularity of Mr.Tharoor, the brand value of Mr.Woods or the activity on this blog, 2009 was a really volatile year. Highs and lows everywhere, so how could I have remained unaffected. One of the most volatile years in the 2 plus decades that I’ve lived so far. Gave me a lot of highs and as many lows if not less. Just a small flash back into the year that started with a lot of hopes, expecting certain important transitions and much more.

The year was obviously going to bring certain important changes into my life, as I was fully aware that the end of the first quarter would also bring an end to the 2 year post graduate program that I was undergoing and yes I did manage to get a degree and have become a so called ‘MBA’. The one question lingering in a lot of minds during the first couple of months of the year sure had to do with just one thing – WHAT NEXT?!?!?

This one question had (& has) a lot of significance to my life for the coming years and may be even more. But suspense and patience have been 2 crucial things in life and as ever have been ruling my life till date. With the completion of MBA a lot of things were expected to be different but nothing was certain, no idea about how things will change and when. All I had to do was wait and watch and at times ACT!! Which I did and yes quite strangely with respect to most of the things..

(Finally!!! Yogesh Chordia MBA ;) :P )

Who knew that the year would end up being as volatile as it did in most of the things/ people I was concerned with. Every other thing I used to do or be a part of hit a low and a high this year. Just a quick recap of whatever things I could remember and make public ;)

Ever thought of having a so called “best job” or a job that a million would die to have?! I did secure a job which turned heads!(damn.. look at the times we r living in! it was girls who used to turn heads but now its jobs! Sigh…) There were times when I never had a job and people used to get concerned about the careless attitude that I carried though I dint have a job. Securing the job was a cake walk but taking it up was a real tough call (one would have expected the situation to be vice versa in such a recession hit world economy). The story doesn’t end with the HIGH that I secured a super duper job, it just begins there! How about putting my papers just a week before I had to board that flight to reach the 2^nd best country to live in the world, the toughest & the biggest decision of life till date!

High – Securing an international placement offer, taking up the job, waiting for the visa to process for 104 days and killing time on the internet for as many days while getting paid ( I know that’s something anyone would envy!)

Low – Quitting this international job on the 109^th day just a few days before a new journey that I was getting prepared for during the last 100+ days. Even worse was the feeling of being irritated of having nothing to do during these 109 days in office but having to still go there every day for 6 days a week just for the sake of it. Killing time became a challenge every morning, noon and evening. Life seemed to be even more boring than what monotony would make it and finding ways of still keeping me going became the priority over and above the confusion and tension taking the big decision ‘whether to go to Finland or not’. Those 3 months sure did take the hell out of me, the mental pressure was horrendous!! ( Gosh!! Seems theres more pressure while u don’t work than while u work, I still don’t work.. think abt the kind of pressure I live with ;) )

High – A whole lot of friends to talk to, to go out with, to share things with and most importantly to be in contact with. Missing them was out of question, keeping in touch happened so naturally.

Low – Keeping in touch became a thing that was required to be mentioned to (& from) a lot of them (in fact almost all of them, irrespective of whose ever attitude was the cause). The friends that used to occupy most of the time in the day almost disappeared from the ‘things I did today’ diary in the latter half of the year.

High – Involving myself in ever other thing tat was happening was something but natural in the first half of the year, ‘things to do today’ always was a long list. There was hardly anything that was going around me and I wasn’t involved in it.. (I know, people liked to tell me ‘stop poking ur nose everywhere’)

Low - As the months passed, specially after the first quarter of the year the list kept eroding and there were hell lot of days when the ‘things to do today’ list almost wasn’t even thought about, leave alone having something to do! Cos I actually dint have anything to do..

High – Going out, watching movies, treats, get together(s), been long time lets meet ups (long time = 1 week), lets discuss/talk, were things that happened so very often that at times I had to ask myself ‘if I was going out too often? I guess I need to spend some time at home also!’

Low – Watching a movie after more than a quarter of the year was no big thing, going out required a thought, treats and get together (s) were mostly missed with ‘I guess I wont be able to make it’, lets talk/discuss kind of talks never happened only, in fact even phone calls and messaging  hit an all time low!

High – Started driving my car after really long, though not yet back to road as much as I should have been, but this happened after a lot of patience and overcoming the usual laziness. Might sound really silly but think of it, having your driving license for like 6 years but not having driven even six times since then! (u’ll know why this is a high once u read the low)

Low – Met with accidents twice this year while riding my bike (Activa of course). Though neither of them were fatal but minor injuries kept me off for some days.. Though I firmly believe and understand that neither of the accidents were cos of my own driving skills or attention, a lot of people have given me left and right on my driving. So obviously the reputation of mine as a driver lost credibility significantly, making me even more lazy to start driving the car again.

There are so many other things that were as volatile as a few mentioned above, but I guess I’ve already reached the 2 page limit I set for this post.. so I rather stop :P

P.S – this one should have come at least a month b4 it has actually come, but tats how things r these days.. laziness is as high as like at the peak of Mount Everest (if tat makes sense ;) )

Today’s Favorite Line – I've thrown my words all around… But I can't, I can't give you a reason..

Today’s Favorite Song – Behki hawa sat ha woh (3 idiots)

ANYWAY

ANYWAY….by Mother Teresa

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered;

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some genuine enemies;

Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere, people may deceive you;

Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous;

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten tomorrow;

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;

Give the world your best anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;

It was never between you and them anyway.

P.S - This for a change is not my own work, liked this poem a lot, so thought must share it with everyone.

Today's Favorite Line - At times i prefer to talk to the wall, am at least sure i dont have to except a reply/response

Today's Favorite Song - Last Resort

The Great Fall of 2009 - TELandHRA

(I guess its fair that i start calling Andhra Pradesh as Telengana and Andhra Pradesh (TELandHRA) now itself when ever we talk of a united AP)

There have been various incidents in 2009 which have put India down as a country, but yet there have been a lot of other positives which sort of made up for the negatives. But the state that had one of its worst years in the recent times could be none other than Andhra Pradesh. A state that looked to be one of the fastest developing ones, one which attracted people and money from across the world for the resources it had to offer. Everything was going on well, lots of money, employment, tourism and what not.

But as the saying goes ‘Well begun is like Half done’ (here obviously it dint begin well so this worked out in the opposite way!), Andhra kicked off its year with the disclosure of one of the biggest Corporate frauds of India in ages. The company that used to be pride of Hyderabad was involved in a huge accounting fraud. It pulled down the high flying flag of not only IT but also of Hyderabad! If there was any company that would come to anyone’s mind if u mentioned Andhra/Hyderabad, it would be none other than ‘Satyam’. This was assumed to be a one off bad thing that happened at AP.

But who was to know that this was just the beginning of a, to be not so good year. The first half of the year went on with news reports claiming different stories and figures about the Satyam scam, people were scared about their jobs, many even tried to leave Hyderabad to get a better job elsewhere. By the time the State and Central government tried to bring some sense back and got things resolved in the state who was to know that the state would lose its savior (to say so!). The second half of the year gave AP an even bigger shock in the form of the demise of Mr.YSR, which was another blow to the state which hadn’t completely recovered from the Satyam fiasco.

Hundreds of suicides happened across the state which who knew was to be followed by protests across the state to push Mr.YSR’s son as the next CM. The race for the next CM began and the number of MLA’s and leaders flying to and fro to 10 Janpath increased manifold as the state started facing what was to be another wasteful political clash within the alliance that was running the government. Centre kept its cool and has remained with its make shift CM till date.

The race to the hot seat hadn’t resolved and the state was still having a lot of unrest going on, while there were a lot of like minded people with vested interests who wanted to make use of this situation to bring back a five decade old issue which could have been on hold for another 10-15 decades per say. The state is seeing clashes day in and day out while the year is yet to end.

The separation of Andhra into 2 states would create a lot of operational and other issues which could do more harm to the state than the violence that these parties are doing to make their point. Our Home minister did a blunder by making an announcement without consulting the concerned parties and the larger interest of the state. He seemed to have succumbed to the fast that Mr.Rao managed to pull off with well planned violent acts across the state using students and other forces.

( Image Courtesy - http://www.ndtv.com/news/images/story_page/map1story.jpg)

There couldn’t be a year in recent times when Andhra had such huge lows and we haven’t even dealt with their Maoist and other issues per say while thinking about other macro things that have popped out at may be a not so good time.

To me, it seems like the start of the fall of a great state that Andhra Pradesh has been and to be more precise the happening city that Hyderabad used to be. I guess that would go to the newly formed state of Telangana( sort of seems to be unavoidable to me looking at the political stakes and scenario in the state now, though I wish it never happens and AP remains united) and who knows what lies ahead for Hyderabad? A round of many other problems( Various international companies are already rethinking about their plans of Hyderabad and AP as such) or some stabilization in due course!

Today’s Favorite Line – If everyone cared and nobody cried, If everyone loved and nobody lied, If everyone shared and swallowed their pride, Then we'd see the day when nobody died…

Today’s Favorite Song – Everything I do, I do it for u ( Bryan Adams)

The specimens called FRI ENDS

Can it be rephrased as free ends?

Just a random thought and an urge to write something and I ended up with this basic question.

Why do we need friends?

You’d say ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed’

You’ll say we need someone to talk to, someone to share our thoughts/feelings and so on.

You’d say you need company to go out, to shop, to explore places, so a friend could be the best person to fill this place

You may also befriend someone because you have similar likes/dislikes

You always get to here goodie goodie stuff when u talk about friends and having friends. You’d also boast for the kind of/number of friends you have.

These same friends though are really essential part of our lives, they aren’t at the best of their behavior and attitude some time or the other. You take a lot of shit.. from different people in different ways at different times. Its about how patient you are, how long are you ready to hold on and give your best. Through these ups and downs you still try to continue being good/best/nice friends.

Like above I ve put up a few lines that come to ones mind when you think of friends in a positive (normal) way. What if I play around a bit with my thinking process and try to recollect instances and ways when I haven’t really liked or understood these specimens whom I call friends.

These specimens show the maximum attitude, at times even more than they possess.

All their ego comes into forefront with you, as if they were Sachin Tendulkar of Cricket or Aishwarya Rai of bollywood.. reality check pleaaaaaaseee!!!!!

Talk about the word ignorance and I bet the dictionaries of the world can rephrase the meaning some how and include the word friend in its explanation. They’d ignore you as if you never existed or were never noticed and then pounce back on you accusing you of being ignorant! Crap…!!

If there is a last person from whom you must expect something, then it cant be anyone else than for a friend. Do all that you can, be as good a friend tat u can be and whatever, but never ever except something, that is if u don’t wanna be disappointed..!

Remember the last time someone hung up a call on u? I can bet it would have been a friend!! No one else in the world would be nice enough to do this.. They can hang up on u whenever they like, as many times they like! All u get to do is take it!!

Wait a minute, hanging up is just one part of the story, the other part is even more funny.. they wont take ur call, fine they are busy, they wont return back that missed call also!!

Did I say missed calls just now? Ouch. Wait…!! Where do I fit in unanswered text msgs and gtalk pings? And what about those BRB’s which at times seems to one like ‘Bye!! REALLY BYE!!!!’ and not whatever u thought it meant all this while, cos they never come back! They are so damn busy tat they don’t even afford to answer you back.. True enough.. it’s a waste of time and energy to respond to some crap you’ve sent. They rather not do formality..

You could have had the best of the times of ur life with them but at times you also tend to get the worst of the treatment u ever deserved. You try, u try hard, u give ur 100% every time, u get taken advantage of, u get diplomatic answers, u get ignored and u end up seeing them changing over time (obviously for the not so good) and all u get to do is, Take it all! Just sit back and watch… and what do u do finally?? Give UP!! Either the friendship or your own ego/attitude/ self respect (now this is exaggeration)!!!

Someday people will realize your worth. They have always needed u and they’ll need u. and then u show them!! Wat it takes!!! But why would you? If u wanted to, u would have already..!! So u just go with the flow, and understand that its FREE ENDS!! Meaning either of the person are free to do whatever they like, how ever they like from their end!! No questions asked! If required only answered or better put explained.

Anyways everything is not just one sided, there are various things above tat even you do at times and even you receive from these over valued people called Friends. Anyways world cant change, you got to have friends and live with what you are and what they are.. Rest is individual traits.

P.S – Just an out of the ordinary way of venting it out, held this in drafts for quite long. Finally thought its ok to post it, anyways who cares?? :D and for heaven sake don’t ask me questions like what/who triggered this post, am not gonna answer. To check out a couple o f other posts I’ve put up on friends, use these links.

Games Friends play 

Friendship as a Commodity

Today’s Favorite Line – I’ll be friend to my friends who know how to be friends

Today’s Favorite Song – Teri meri dosti ka aasaman ( Radio)

Mein shayar toh nahi....!!

1)
Rabba kabhi kisiko, kisike karib na karna
Rabba kabhi kisiko, kisike karib na karna
Dooriyan Bahut tadpati hai
Aur jo kar dia agar karib, toh phir kabhi door na karna
Aur jo kar dia agar karib, toh phir kabhi door na karna
Tanhaiyaan bada rulati hai..
Bada rulati hai…!

2)
Har haal mein haste rahenge hum..
Har haal mein haste rahenge hum..
Chahe khushi ho ya gum
Har haal mein haste rahenge hum..
Woh bhi bina piye whiskey ya rum
Har haal mein haste rahenge hum..
Kya hua agar hamari aankhen hai nam
Hamari baazuon mein abhi bhi hai dum
Har haal mein haste rahenge hum…!

3)
Mat kijiye itni meherbani
Humne dekhi hai aapki beimaani
Haan in sabki wajah hai hamari naadani
Phir bhi dil hai Hindustani
Phir bhi dil hai hindustani
Phir bhi dil hai hindustani

P.S - Written long back, wanted to add a few more, but couldnt.. will some time later.. And though all the above may sound too senti and lousy kinda stuff.. its ok at times to just pour down watever.. will try and come up with better ones sometime.. and FYI am in no Gham to have written all this...!! bas it just got written :D

Today's Favorite Line - Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Today's Favorite Song - Who the **** is Alice