We often tend to be too excited about certain things in life and then when the event occurs, all of a sudden all the excitement goes to cold storage, just because of some silly thing. This is what happened recently, on a scorching Friday. Along with a couple of cousins, I went to the ‘Influence Restaurant’ located at the KNK road for a rather quick lunch buffet (we’ll come to the ‘quick’ part in a bit) as there were just 4 days left for the lunch @ 199/- only offer which had been running for more than a month. A few of us (cousins) had been planning to go for the buffet since ever but every now and then the plans got cancelled due to some reason or the other. In fact, once I went to Influence with a group of friends (instead of cousins, as plans with cousins kept getting cancelled) for the same lunch buffet, but as it had to turn out, one of my cousin had predicted (wished) a bad time there for me (as I wasn’t taking her along), and so it happened, we went there (the group of friends) and figured out that there was no power and the place was as hot as an oven would be after baking for some time. So we chose to leave the place and I got back home, all disappointed and sad that, the offer will get over and I will miss out on an Influence Buffet.
So on this scorching Friday, I and a couple of cousins had finally made reservations to go for the Influence Buffet and so we did. While reserving the table, the manager mentioned ‘Sir, we won’t have power from 1-2pm, it’s the daily power cut time. Would you like to come before or after that time? We are open for buffet from 12-3.30pm’, and so since we had some other work past 2, we decided to go for an early lunch that day and decided to be there by 12.15 or so, so that we still will get 45 solid minutes for the food rampage. But as it had to be, we reached at 12.30 and every minute mattered, we thought we should rather eat fast and leave this place before the power cut, or we will be fried in the heat(they dint seem to have a generator or an inverter). But we started off trying not to hurry up too much, so that we dint spoil the experience, but still eyes were always looking at the clock after every single bite of the delicious but cold starters. The food and the service were overall good, except for the starters which got cold even though the air conditioners were switched on, only after we entered the restaurant.
The thing which really ruined my mood throughout the lunch though was not the fact that the starters were cold ( I dint care as much for that as they still tasted nice), nor the fact that we had to eat fast ( it wasn’t really the case, 45 minutes is sufficient time to eat, when you are not talking as much, we cousins were sure why we were there ;) ), but I got irritated and felt stupid for having been behind this lunch plan for close to a month, because as we were munching on our food, my eyes kept looking at the entry door of the restaurant, as not even a single other customer had walked into the restaurant except for us and that made me feel miserable. How was I supposed to be happy and excited when I realized that, I was the only one behind this lunch buffet, no one else cared about it, to turn up to the restaurant for close to one hour we spent there and to make things worse the waiter mentioned that this is not a limited period offer, the lunch buffet usually costs only this much!
I was so thrilled about this whole 199/- buffet as I was told that the buffet at influence is generally priced at 500/-, so I thought its better to grab the opportunity while it is available now. But after I walked out of the restaurant, I realized that while having the buffet my mind was thinking, ‘what a waste of money, no one around in the restaurant’, and then I comforted myself by the fact that the food was good and it was well worth paying 199/-, but still the fact that I had lunch at a place where no one seemed to have bothered to turn up while I had made advance reservations, made me feel the whole exercise was trivial. That’s how I guess we human beings are, we need to show off, to see people, to be seen by people and what not!
Today’s Favorite Line – "Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." - Theodore Roosevelt
Today’s Favorite Song – Bhaag DK Bose (Delhi Belly)
It was a usual tuesday evening, busy roads, annoying honkers, humid outdoors and a city that was as boring as it could get. Ever. He had just reached his training center, on time as always; he trained aspirants to prepare for aptitude tests as a freelance trainer. He had been doing that for close to a year, he was neither a master at what he was doing, nor did he ever plan to/ think of doing it. Still he was doing just fine, not too good but not too bad also. How could he have known that this was not going to be a usual evening?
As he entered the centre and looked around the place he saw a few newly enrolled students sitting in the waiting area. One of them in the group of 3-4 girls sitting in the waiting area seemed like a familiar face, but not sure of when, where and who, He chose to think about it before trying to approach her to clarify or find out if she recognized him. It had been a while and he still wasn't sure, so he entered the class and decided to get to business instead of breaking his head over who the person was and why did she look so familiar while he wasn't able to recollect how he knew her and what her name was. He was very sure he had seen her many many times but not recently, which should have been months or years ago. But when? Where? He wasn't sure, so he started the proceedings of the class. The girl entered the class too, much to his irritation, as her presence would only lead to, him not being able to concentrate on the class. But he dint have a choice, he had to try and control his wandering brain, which finally gave him a fantabulous idea.
He thought 'how about taking an intro of the whole batch?’ that would automatically get him some details about the girl and would probably get him an answer to the nagging questions running in his mind. So he created an excuse to make all of them introduce themselves, though he was interested only in that one girls intro, not that she was pretty, he dint even want to talk to her or something, the only reason he wished to know about her was to be able to get those annoying questions out of his head. He listened to all of their intro's and tried to act as if he really paid attention, but as much as he would have wanted to have that girls intro first he ended up giving her a turn in the end, the wait was making him impatient, and as the wait came to an end and as she uttered her name, every single question he had in his mind was answered, she kept talking about certain other things but he wasn't paying attention, he already had the complete history of the girl's association with him in front of him, his memory slot finally started working, as if the moment a file name is searched, the computer opens all the folders that contain that name, his brain opened all folders that contained her name and he immediately chuckled in amazement and let the remaining class just be while he started talking to the girl to find out if at least she had recognized him, which she obviously did not and so he quickly uttered a few sentences and names to build the connect and there it was 'The Awkward Moment'
The girl was none other than a batch mate of his, with whom he had prepared for the same aptitude test he was now training aspirants on, for the last one year. They were members of a gang of 6 people who used to prepare for the test together for hours, days and months together 6 years ago, helping each other on each others weaknesses to do well in the most coveted management aptitude test. This girl used to help him to understand a lot of things he dint know about along with the others and today he was standing on the other side of the room teaching the same friend some of the things that he in fact learnt from her. Could there be a situation more awkward in life? He had never felt so nervous while taking a class, not even in his first class, but this was different, he kind of stammered, confidence went down to an all time low, the face expression which should have ideally been ecstatic for having found a friend after half a decade became weird. This friend knew how pathetic his knowledge on the subject he was going to teach was!He wasn't sure what she was thinking or how she would react but his blood stopped flowing, That 'awkward' moment.
Today’s Favorite Line – ‘Once bitten twice shy’ is a lot better than ‘once shy bitten twice’
This day and time, a year ago I boarded a train for a quick trip to my native and to see a lot of saints, relatives and of course temples. Wondering why I am recalling this particular journey? Because the reason why this journey was undertaken never got off the mark, though the journey happened and happened quite satisfactorily. I did all the things that I was set out to do. Just dint do what I was supposed to do after this journey, what I prayed for and met people for during this journey. I was supposedly set out for Finland after this journey but who was to know a journey right after the end of the start of a summer at one of the best places I've spent 2 years of my life got over. I was supposed to fly and not just fly; it was supposed to be a Finnish start for all that I hyped it. I thought it was going be a start of scaling new heights, how about a flying start to an upcoming career and a life time opportunity?!
So, as planned the trip to native and north India for other purposes happened and so did I join my Finnish company, but not quite yet, I had just joined the Indian office of the Finnish Company and awaited my visa and other documents to be ready for me to leave for my Scandinavian endeavor. I was supposed to wait just for a week as told initially, week turned to a month then to 2 and not too late to 3 and some more and then came a day when I stopped fighting!!
No it wasn't a fight with my colleagues or anyone; it was a fight with myself. Every single day was a challenge, during the day the challenge was to kill time, to keep away boredom and to avoid stress, stress of not having much to do in fact anything to do. Each of those 109 days took a toll on the tiny little brain that I have to think and better myself on ways to while away time and feel normal because, if that didn’t happen I would feel unproductive and useless and so I did, did all sorts of stupid things to while away time, always sad and upset. That was supposedly a flying start to a dream career!!
The moment the digital clock on my office pc turned to 18.35, I hardly took any time to leave the lavish premises of my work where I seldom worked to go to my home sweet home which I was gonna supposedly miss for the next year or more and there I was at home close to 7 with a dull stupid day at the back of my mind, with a mild head ache and of course the war that I was having within my brain which asked me a single question in different ways and contexts repeatedly all through the day and night :- Am I going to Finland? Should I? Does my mom want me to? Will my dad be ok if I go? Is this the career start I even thought of/wanted? What if I don't want to go? How do I make things at home easy if I really am going? What's good/right for me? For my family? When will I come back? Or will I? The head felt like a complete army is shooting at me from all possible directions and all at the same time continuously and neither was I a Jackie Chan or a Rajnikant to be able to save myself from even a single bullet of these questions that were shooting my head.
Pressure kept mounting day after day as did my preparation and the delay in the process of obtaining the required documents. One not so fine morning I was late to office, (not that I was on time any other day) as my boss and team had arrived before I did and to my surprise(was a shock actually) the process of obtaining the documents for my travel were almost done (something that hadn't even moved for almost 100 days) and this news was given to me by my boss himself waiting for me near my desk for me to arrive for the days work(he kinda thought I was working) and congratulated me and asked me to be set to leave anytime in the coming week! Instead of cheer there was fear kinda expression on my face with a made up smile which did look fake though it got over looked because of the summer heat that I was entering the office with already some sweat. The fear was of the unanswered questions I had in my mind that got triggered every now and then and now it was almost time for me to answer them and zero in on something else I was up for a big disaster with in. I was about to explode any time soon, it was time I took a decision, the biggest ever decision of my life till that day.
The days following that shocking news got even tougher, pressure built on as at the one end I was just getting set to leave and was shopping and packing and meeting and what not, all the things for me to leave for Helsinki and at the other end my mind kept fighting the same old questions and thoughts and it sort of found an answer which was a very daring and bold one. Not many were going to back it except a few who have been vouching for that answer for quite a while and many others who shifted from support to retaliation and vice versa making things worse for me mentally. But I knew I had to take my own call, no matter who thought or said what, it was my heart and mind that had to decide and so I did.
I decided to give a pass to a career start that lot of like minded and/or like aged would envy. For me my family came first. As I thought if I can help things remain normal at family level I could figure out something for my career and concentrate on it better than worrying about both(which I was literally doing for the 3 months that had passed) and being bad at both. It was a Sunday that I had decided to be the last day to take a call and on Monday morning I would go ahead and communicate my decision to everyone concerned, whether they knew about such thoughts earlier or not. It was going to be the toughest day and meeting of my life. I had to tell my boss that the faith he had in me and the resources that he had spent on me were all going to be a waste as I was not in a condition to take an abroad assignment due to family concerns.
I wouldn't have been embarrassed with myself any more ever than that day, I could hardly manage to see anyone in eye and neither could my voice go beyond a certain level. I was feeling that low and embarrassed, but my boss treated this whole thing extremely well, he dint speak a single word in anger or disappointment which was a bigger shock for me than the shock that I was already in by doing something which I never imagined I would do so early in my professional career. He in fact asked me to stay back in the company at Chennai itself and take up some other profile, but I had other plans in mind long before I took this decision. I was so embarrassed that I couldn't imagine working at that place any longer. Not only because I wanted to do something on my own but also because I never again in my life wanted to go through the same kind of embarrassment.
So I called it a day for my professional working career that day. I knew this was going to be my first and last employer, I never wanted to work for too long and especially for someone else whom I am not sure how comfortable I would be with. So with a really heavy heart and mind I walked out of the office finishing formalities generally that take quite some time in a matter of few hours because I wanted to be saved of those questions and gossips and self respect issues and boy I guess I did well, the fear and worry that I was carrying in my mind for the last 100+ days had gone once for all in a matter of few hours and you bet that I was relieved, though I dint know what I was gonna do the next day, I was sure I had nothing to worry about, the guilt pangs remained for quite sometime but I at least could catch up some sleep after having not slept like for ages, worrying every night about what was in store for me in the near future and how was I going to handle it and that night I slept, I slept like a baby. No worries about the next morning/ day at least. A break from a lot of tensions and the everyday mental agony, that lasted indeed for more than just a summer. That was my summer of 2009!!
Epilogue – The next morning after I quit my job, I woke up a little late than usual, it was a phone call that woke me up. To make things even weirder it was one of my uncles who I respect a lot who called and said ‘Now that you are not going to Finland and you say that you want to do your own business, I have an opportunity for you right away!! Why don’t you go to South Africa for some export business??’ Its but obvious that I shot his request down at once!! After a struggle of almost 6 months on going abroad or not, after rejecting a hi fi opportunity to make things comfortable at home, I got another abroad opportunity right away.. bah!! I was not even over the guilt pangs of the previous days happenings and here I was with another chance to fly, a flying start again may be. That’s how life gives you what you don’t want the most when you don’t want it at all..!!
P.S – Just got the courage to put all this down in writing, it took almost a year! Keep watching this space for more on the last few months as a continuation to this, post summer ’09 & the big fat entrepreneurship dream – in the making, coming soon!!
Today’s Favorite Line – Silence speaks volumes, if you can comprehend!!
Today’s Favorite Song – Catch my breathe (West Life)
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)
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
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 2nd 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 109th 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)
If you are thinking this piece of writing has got anything to do with the movie, then STOP right away. It was just a trick to catch your attention... Am not yet that smart to write a movie review (though I know your expectations about my potential are high ;) read on and am sure you are going to be disappointed)..
Now if as per the title if it’s not about the movie then what is it about..? Haha guess what? Unfortunately this time its about me (:P since am out of news for long now, thought may be this is some way to get back ;)). Anyways I am sure by now you’ve decided to close this page. But wait a min!! What harm if u go on reading a little more since you’ve already tolerated me for so long. So better stay tuned for a little more (I guess, now tats some marketing ;))
Now coming to the point. It’s been more than 2 months, since I am having the pleasure of dictating the terms of my own life. No pressure, no deadlines, no office (I know the first 2 take care of this.. Still.. Having to go to office itself is such a task!), to sum it up.. No control or discipline or monitoring of any kind.
One hardly gets such kind of an opportunity. I have never been so free and useless in over 2 decades of my life (as a kid I used to be controlled by my parents for everything I did, at least now that’s not applicable as much).
So what does one do when he has nothing to do??? No plans, no where to go, no commitments, and most importantly no immediate expectations!! You'd probably say.. I'd go for a vacation and have fun, refresh and all that... But I like always chose to differ (just for the sake of it to say so ;))
I preferred staying back at home.. Doing nothing.. Obviously if u wake up at the time when others are having lunch.. What do u think u can probably do??? Yea I know you'd suggest me to go and have lunch! Haha smart u r, tats exactly what I do ;) (Now don't start assuming I do that straight out of bed, I obviously do the basic things one does every morning). Now you must be thinking, woke up.. Lunch done.. What next??
Did I a few weeks back say I never spend time watching the idiot box?? Hah just for a change I‘ve started wasting/investing time watching the idiot box.. Sigh..!
Then what?? Since eyes are tired after having watched living Dracula’s on the stupid box (why call it idiot always??) its time for a quick nap! (Does 2hrs also mean quick?? ;), to me it does!)
Now since u know almost everything about my usual day... Let me tell you one incident that triggered this post... One not so fine evening (about 6pm) my phone rang. Dreaming big time, during a usual quick nap. I thought it was a Saturday, then realized no it’s not cos I went for a movie on Saturday. So I concluded it was a Sunday. But then got reminded that on Sunday I wasn't at home at all!! So how can I be having a nap?? Now with no other option left, had to assure myself that it was a freaking Monday!
Getting back to the ringing phone, I took the call. It was from an authoritative person and I picked it after it rang for long, that too after so much confusion about what the day was (and why & how was I so free that I was having a nap?!). I ended up saying 'Good Morning Sir'!! The dumbest thing I ever done in my life!! Though the authoritative person was dumb enough to care or pay attention to what I said. I felt freaked out! And thought its time to 'Wake up Kid', enough of the laziness. Also recollected that I was doing things I hated most when I used to be occupied.. Including watching the idiot box and taking a stupid afternoon nap! Cos am some one who believes, afternoon nap is an indication that either you have gotten old or you are a housewife or a kid. And since I got my senses back, I thought I’d post this thing here!! And hence it’s titled Wake up Kid!!
Today’s Favorite Line – Being frank is always better than being falsely sweet.
Today’s Favorite Song – Hey there Delilah (Plain white T’s)
Now this post is triggered by a book that am currently reading “Games Indians Play” (now this is one way I say am reading something ;)). Though in the book the author uses a lot of tools like economics, mathematics, statistics, psychology, finance, game theory, behavioral finance and lot of other such subjects and concepts that I never understood, I am gonna just use 2 tools – Reality and Assumption (yea I know u’ll say assumption is one thing most of the above subjects use, but its ok, I have to copy at least something from the book right?!)
So let’s see what kind of good/ bad/ funny games friends play!!
(I’ll use he instead of always saying he/she, though it may be a specific he or she in certain cases, still let me just stick to he… it’s a lot easier to abuse a he than a she u see :P)
- When he says “fine”… its simple, he just wants to say – lets not talk about it anymore… whatever!!
- When he says “I’ll try”, he means “am sure I won’t”.
- When he says I’ll call u back – he just means “why did u call??, anyways bye!! And don’t call back!!”
- This friend wanted to convey that he got engaged (met him after a long time at a party)
He – hey so u engaged??
Me – no not yet..
He – oh!! Y??
Me – nah I just finished my mba… so (now come on, am not over age, that u r Y’ing it like that)
Me – oh congrats!! Nice ur engaged (now I know why u Y’ed me like that)
- When he says “ill be there in ten mins, just left home”. It means - I just thought about getting ready so how about seeing u there after an hour (at least) or so?!!
- When he says “keep in touch”, it just means – I won’t, so keep in touch if u like to.
- When he says “I don’t give a damn!!”. This time he means what he says :D :D
- This friend wanted to know if I had a girl friend!! (I wish!! :P)
He – how’s life dude
Me – usual yaar, nothing much.. ok ok
He – so wat else?? wat r u doing these days??
Me - not much yaar! routine life, office-home (as if u dint know!)
He – oh!! So how many girl friends do u have??
Me – LOL!! I wish!! Why would I be talking to u now, if I had even one?! So do u have any??
He – yea man I have 2 -3 !!
Me – oh wow gr8!! (now I know, u just wanted to rub it in!! and at least be sure if the no. is 2 or 3 dude!! :D)
- When he says “sorry I forgot”, he means “what if I remembered?, I just dint want to …..!!”
- When he says “nothing much”, it just means – there’s a lot, but nothing worth telling u!
Will try and add more of these soon, just a short peek into friends mind this one ;) I have just read few pages of the book so far, so will be able to add more once I get more things to copy from the book!! :D
P.S – Any statements resemblance to any one either friend or foe is purely coincidental. You should have read it at ur own discretion ;) and now don’t start interpreting each statement I make the next time we talk!! I am no game!! :D
Today’s Favorite Line – When all eyes are on u, don’t close ur eyes, instead put on ur coolers! U’ll look cool!! :D
Just after sunset he left home, riding at the speed of 60kmph on one of the busiest roads in the city on a Sunday, not expecting to see a cop on the signal on a Honda Activa. He still made sure he wore a helmet, had his ears filled with headphones and music full on.
He wanted to forget the world all along his ride and just listen to the lovely song by Akon “Beautiful”. To his surprise he saw a cop waving his hand exactly to him amidst many other passing vehicles, while he was moving his head and feet with the beats of the song when the lyrics went as “I wanna get with u…..”. He thought to himself for the 1 second he got to think and react tat why was the cop stopping him while he was wearing the helmet and also looked one of the age who could drive.
He just obliged to the gesture of the cop and slowed down not sure why but he dint want to flee cos he had all the documents just in case the cop wanted to make a quick buck. But to his surprise the cop with a tomato shaped belly and complexion so dark tat his face and his cop shirt looked to be in perfect contrast, he still looked like just another traffic cop in the city with a moustache tat was the only other sign apart from his belly and uniform tat he was a cop asking for a lift.
No the surprise was not the fact that the cop asked for a lift, that’s something usual, he had given lift to cops plenty a times. While he had his headphones plugged into his ears he hardly could hear the cop, and obviously he forgot that he had to take the headphones off to listen to the cop cos he was totally tuned to the lyrics of akon’s beautiful, but he still managed to understand that the cop wanted him to take a left immediately. To his fortune even he wanted to go left so he dint mind taking a left, but then the cop showed him a car, a dark red Honda Civic, the look of which would make anyone envious. And then the cop said “I want you to follow that car!!!”
He was amazed for a second, he dint know what to do. Though by this time he had managed to pull out the headphones from his ears so that he could listen carefully to whatever the cop had to say, he still dint know what to do, whether to speed up like Abhishek Bachchan does in Dhoom or to drive normally (under 40kmph as per the rules) as a cop was his pillion rider. Anyways he chose to do neither and stay in between speeding and normal driving.
He dint have to drive a lot, just a few hundred meters and there was a signal and fortunately for him the signal was red and the car that caught his eye from long distance stood right there at the signal. And even more fortunately for the cop there was no other vehicle adjacent to the car he wanted to catch hold of, so the cop asked him to stop just next to the car and got down without saying a word (not that he expected anything, still).
Now it was time for him to see some drama which usually one gets to see in a movie, as he stood waiting for the signal to turn green he kept looking back at the cop and the car.He saw 3 guys in the car, all of them looking about 18-20, tall thin guys who are out seeing the city around. No need to mention they looked rich dad’s kids, one of them sitting next to the one driving held a hi fi mobile in his hand wearing a grey round neck tshirt, the one sitting behind was moving his head to some music in the car with a stylish hairstyle copied from some bolly flick. The guy driving the car wore a dark striped shirt, his hair looked nicely gelled and the concern in his eye as soon as the cop knocked the window of the car confirmed the fact that it was his car and not of the other 2 in the car.
30 seconds still to go for the signal to turn green, other vehicles piled up around the car, everyone looking at the drama going around, no one even looking at the signal. The cop kept knocking at the window asking the guys to open the door. They kept looking at each other to figure out what to do, at once they dint understand what was going on, as the music in the car was loud enough for them to get their senses back in a moment. The guy sitting behind stopped jumping to the music, the cop tried to open the door himself but as expected it was centrally locked from the drivers’ seat.
The guy driving the car tried to turn quickly to look at signal just in case he had a chance to flee, his eyes told that he was looking just to find if that opportunity existed but unfortunately for him there were 2 other bikes in front of his sedan, so he decided to lower the mirror of the round neck tshirt friends end as that’s where the cop stood, but the cop just kept shouting, asking him to open the door as if he wanted to pull the guys out of the car. Looked like those guys either broke a law or the cop suspected something else, he thought it could be anything, may be they are underage, may be drunk, could be anything.
While these thoughts filled his eyes and all the other vehicle riders standing by had their eyes glued on that car. He kept looking back and forth from the car to the signal and vice versa, the signal turned green, 2 seconds passed and no other vehicle seemed to move or even bother that the signal turned green. But he chose to leave the spot as he wasn’t interested in the drama, he already was having a mixed feeling, cos he put those guys into trouble, though it was none of his business to bother about having put them in trouble, he still dint feel nice staying there anymore, so he just opted to move on.
He pulled the throttle of his bike and kept an eye on his rear view mirror, and figured that he was some 200 meters past the signal and not a single vehicle waiting at the signal moved from the spot. He thought he was the one who was a part of this drama, at least in getting the cop there and he himself missed all the action. But that’s how it is, he just wasn’t interested, he stopped by after another 100 meters or so and plugged the headphones back into his ears and now the song was “Let her cry” by Hootie & Blowfish.
He sunk his mind back to the song just thinking he helped the police, though it was just a lift he gave, which ideally he wouldn’t have given if it was any other common unknown man… and finally he forgot the incident wishing he stood there and found out why the cop wanted to stop that car and what happened and all that, but then he just thought if there was something really worth it, it’ll get published in tomorrows daily ;) and he can boast about the same to everyone he knew!!!!
P.S - Its yet another try to say things as a third person.. not sure if its up to some mark yet...
Today's Favorite Line - "And all I really want is some patience....."
Today's Favorite Song - Papa Kehte Hain (Qayamat se qayamat tak)
Some one who has always lived life without taking risks, doing things in a very calculated and conservative manner, does something against all odds!! Nothing in mind what so ever, all he knew is he wants to do something (different)!
Ask him what something and he’ll give you a blank look and that’s his answer… ask him but why? And he has all kinds of silly reasons and logic! May be you’ll buy them too… but he has really made a statement, an empty statement, that says nothing (at least at the moment). Only time will tell!!
All he knows is he likes to live by choice and notby chance, he’s just taken a chance, a huge daring step with nothing in mind unlike usual. All eyes on him, he’s already lost trying to figure out what and how. Some think he needs time off, some think he is stupid enough to remain idle and some just are happy with what he is doing. He’s listening to all of them and he’s glad that irrespective of what all of them have to say, they are there for him!!!
He’s just looking forward to get back there and be someone he is and do what he is meant to! He doesn’t want to make it big; he rather just wants to make it for now. Does he have what it takes?!?! He dint seem to have it in him something required for the last change that took place in his life and that’s why he has changed his choice so soon!!
P.S – It’s Just an attempt to say things as a third person, not sure if I was objective enough.
Today’s favorite line – When I see you, I run out of words…
Sitting at one corner of my living room, reflecting up on the different facets of my life today and comparing them with the same facets in the last 2 years, I see a sea change in my life. This is a really crucial juncture of my life, where I have taken certain decisions based on what ever options I had in mind few months back. And at that point in time I thought this is the best decision I could have taken as per the situation and control I had on my own life. But after having lived a completely new life in the last 3 months I am yet to completely settle down with the new kind of life I am living and I have a lot of new things to do and face in the near future for which I have been waiting now for almost 10 weeks but things seem to get delayed due to some reason or the other and the more the delay, more am I feeling insecure about my near future and the more are my concerns and fears about the direction of my life.
In the last 2 years I used to be the guy next door, someone who would be as busy as one could get, as lively as one could be, to put it in short, Full of Life!! I was a guy with great ambitions, lot of self belief and someone who walked with command. I was THE person where ever I was. I could say I lived a high profile life. The only thing I lacked was certainty about the future of my life which I believe no one has, but I had my own thoughts and plans and I acted as per the same and did certain things so that I could have if not the same at least a life in which I would be as active and happy as in the last 2 years.
Today I work in a company where I am in the team which anyone would love to be, at times it is the most happening team of the organization in terms of the kind of work going on and the kind of people with whom one gets a chance to work. I with all conscious and willingness took up this job to work in this company with this team and was given a great opportunity the moment I approached them, which was itself a blessing in disguise, at a moment while I was wondering about the future of my life. I took the opportunity with both my hands, though I had and have my own concerns.
After having worked with this company for 3 months now, I haven’t actually done much, neither have I learnt much. Someone told me “the first 3 months of your job are like honeymoon, enjoy it while u can” As 3 months of my job get over I hope the honeymoon period is also on the verge of getting over (I at least hope so). Looking at the way things have been happening in the last couple of months am not really sure if I am moving as per my plans and in the right direction, the long term plans that I had seem to be getting hit because of the way my life is heading now and that’s actually making me feel worse. To be blunt I haven’t yet been able to face this major change in my life and am finding it really difficult in terms to face the reality. I wish to go back in time at times!!! I cant undo the things that I have done but I feel like getting certain things right in my life now if I can which is highly unlikely but am not really sure if what am doing is right or what I wanna make right is right. This is a very tasking thought and I seem to be occupied with it during a major part of the day.
I at times feel I don’t belong here, I never belonged here. I guess these thoughts arise just because of the complete change in the way my days pass. The guy, who used to be buzzing with activities and meetings all the day, does things these days just for the sake of it. But I guess that’s the way life is, you don’t get to do the things you like to do always and more importantly the way you like to do it. I am trying hard to face this change and come to terms with it. The most daunting thing in this total change is the need for change in the mindset. The whole battle with the change and me has more to do with my mind and nothing else. It’s been really difficult to have my mind in my own control. It’s just thinking and considering a lot of things but nothing seems to be clear at the end of the day. Here am still at the same corner of the living room and have successfully passed one hour during a boring Sunday at home. Thinking how to make good of the rest of this one day off at home, because it’s gonna be again the same old story again tomorrow.
At a stage in life when I have more than two times the number of friends I had just 2 years back. This thought hit my mind on a lazy day when I was just trying to recollect as it is holiday time now, whom all am I supposed to call and say a Hi, whom all am I supposed to meet and know what's up in their life and whom all I am in good contact with now should I give some time and space for a while. During this duration of recollecting names and times we spent, I got this concept of marketing hit on to the other side of my brain.
According to what I have learnt in Marketing, every product has 5 levels in which it can be placed and there are various factors which determine which level the product belongs to (Core benefit level, Generic Level, Expected Level, Augmented Level and Potential Level). Don’t worry I am not going to talk about the concept much, just wanted to lay a platform for the thought that hit my mind.
So to further delve with this thought I just tried to place a few friends in this product level framework and I was clearly able to see how a friend moved from the Core Benefit level to the augmented Level and now is back at the Generic Level. To explain this better I’ll try and share an illustration – Say friend X and I studied together in School and were just classmates for a lot of years where we being friends was at the Core Benefit Level i.e. every other classmate was a friend by default whether I spoke to him or not, so by default every class mate becomes a friend in the system.
Then came times when we shared (X & I) certain things in common, say we used to reach school at the same time or we used to sit adjacent to each other and then we started saying each other hi when we met in the mornings and used to wish each other goodbye when we used to leave for home in the evening. Here we reached the Generic Level where we went beyond the Core Benefit level and we were no more commodities like friends, we had something more than just commodity like treatment in our friendship.
Say after a few weeks since we sat together we started talking each other, sharing each others thoughts and so on, sat together on the lunch table and so on, here we reached the Expected Level where one meets his friends everyday talks to him, tells him what happened last evening and discusses other issues of life but with a pause at times. And then slowly as we remained at the Expected level for a while we reached the final year of school and then we felt we have had great times and so we started sharing more with each other, we went out together, met on weekends, called up each other to know what's up, have I studied or not, cleared doubts, and so on and so forth.This was a stage when there would not be a day when we did not speak or meet up more than once, we used to share secrets both personal and family level. And we were really best friends as one likes to call and this was the time when we reached the augmented level from the expected level.
Then there was this day when school got over, both got into different colleges (we tried a lot to get into the same college, but fate dint allow) and then the really nice friendship existed but the level of interaction slowly started fading away as both got busy into our own college lives and other things. So we started meeting only on weekends or may be call up on weekends if we weren’t able to meet and here we were back at the expected level from the augmented level. And it went on for a while and then the frequency decreased from a week to a month for us to meet or talk. I had my own set of new friends and other things going on in life and same was the case with him.
We still shared a good level of understanding, but then our friendship surely started going to the generic level from the expected level as the frequency decreased even more from a month to several months or may be just certain occasions when we used to meet/ talk. So currently we are at the Generic Level and we cannot go to the Core Benefit level until we actually stop thinking about each other even once in a while. The day when it takes a moment for me to think of this friend, that day he will fall into the Core Benefit level and would be known as “was a friend” types and our friendship will become a commodity as it does with lot many friends whom I even don’t wish on occasions but still they are my friends.
So getting back to my thought I just realized I have so many friends whom I share a really nice rapport with but most of them I am not in touch with at least not frequently. So I was somehow able to clearly see a lot of them in different levels both the new ones and the oldest ones. Few of those might be subjective but to some extent I could see for myself that how certain people sailed from the Core Benefit level to the augmented Level very fast while others were in and around the expected level and how these levels changed in the course of time.
Then I tried to figure out what are the main aspects which determine the increase or decrease of level of my friendship with someone. And it stood out quite clearly that TIME and EFFORT were the key aspects which determined where one stood. The time and effort could be from the other person’s side or from my side but it surely did matter (time and effort can be expended in today’s context in various ways such as calls, chats both on mobile and internet, meeting each other and a few other ways). There are certain people whom I like to spend time with and also extend some effort to keep the rapport on in different ways because I like to be friends with them and at a higher level. There are also people who try to spend some time and effort on me which I may acknowledge or ignore depending on which level I like to have them in. So at the end of the day it depends on both me and the other person that which level do we actually take our friendship to and rest is just the matter of time as the level may rise and fall in the passage of time.
There are also friends who have risen to the augmented level, then fell to the Generic Level and are now back at the Augmented level so this interplay of levels will go on in life but what matters is how important is the relationship to the two of us and how much understanding do we have irrespective of what level of friendship we have in terms of the product level.
So a Big HI to all my friends irrespective of which level you are in, and now you can start wondering which level do u actually think we are in???
Cheers
Yo!!
P.S – I haven’t dealt with the potential level at all because that’s a subjective area, something which is potential may be augmented to someone else and most importantly potential level is always open as once u reach the potential level you indirectly fall to the augmented level as something else becomes potential by then. So generally speaking I feel augmented level is the peak which I could analyze things in as potential level is at any point empty or at least gets empty very soon.
Also this framework can be applied to any relationship, though I just tried it on friendship.
Age 03 - Sang a bollywood song to the school principal during the admission interview when asked "what is your name?".
Age 07 - saluted using both hands posing for every photo.
Age 11 - played divide and rule with a pretty girl who shared the desk in school.
Age 13 - failed the first test in school.
Age 15 - overtook a bus riding a bicylce on a highroad, got kissed by a van and lost senses for a day.
Age 17 - parents were called at school for the first time ever and to everyones surprise was pronounced as a notorious guy.
Age 19 - was specially treated at college for not having seen the classrooms for over 7 months, cos i was busy seeing the city around.
Age 21 - Gave a once in a life time kinda speech and stones and brick bats having been pouring since then ;)
Age 23 - quit a well paying reputable job to do just nothing...
Age 25 - Did just nothing (as planned ;)). Finished training about 20000 unique individuals.
Am no super hero... but I've been trying hard you see!!!
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