Cribs United...

Everyone has something or the other to crib or protest about...
Lets start with me...

Not having enough zoom with me to click what i want to ... the 55 mm stops me from what i really want to capture... I should get this crib out of my system this Saturday hopefully...

Gurjars in Rajasthan and other parts of Delhi, Haryana, and UP about their non inclusion in the ST category

The general public about the inconvenience because of the all these protests... Traffic jams, burnt buses, injured people... all for what?

The Sikhs about how the Dera Sachcha Sauda Guru dressed up like Guru Gobind Singh... huh !!!

And now the Akal Takht not accepting the apology released by Dera... oh man... is there some format that you want the damn apology in?

One of my friends not being able to get enough of her new relationship... she got into it and is now thinking that it was a quick decision.. she should have waited for a li'il more time...

The world is funny... and I am now only getting amused by a lot of things happening... which is in whatever time i can get from an almost 15 hour work schedule I have...

oh... do you have a crib today? lets read it...

Story Time....

Nisha was madly in love with Aakash... she even told her parents... and Aakash told his parents too... they were not too happy, but then if the kids wanted it this way they had li'il to say but to agree with them...

But then Nisha and Aakash grew apart.... and the relationship did not work out... today both of them know each other... talk to each other... and are great friends...

So are they idiots to give up on such a great friendship turning into a life long relationship or are they mature people who understand where things lack and accept them this way?


Nandini always wanted John to ask her out... he did... they dated for a few weeks before they slept together... Nandini loved that night... John was happy too... and the sleeping together part repeated a number of times, before one day someone told Nandini that John was married and his wife was pregnant... Nandini was heartbroken... she did not know how to react to this... it took her sometime to accept the fact, and when she did, she also confronted John who agreed that he was married, but he could not let her go either...

No conversations followed for a long while, before one day john asked her out again... and they slept together...

Now, is John a bastard or is Nandini only wants to get laid?

Ansh was in love... and then he was in love again... and then the third time he was in love, he got married.... there was no one at the marriage function... only a few friends... minus a few old ones as well... no parents, no relatives nothing...

And he sends out this email to all his friends after he gets married with the pictures of his marriage...

So how should the friends who thought they were friends think?
He took an immature decision to take away the dream of arranging for a marriage function of their only son from his parents? or did he do the right thing by following his heart?

Moving Along...

Its not easy to keep all our stuff packed in one bag... and keep moving around...

Waking up at 7 in the morning with a long list of tasks that need to be completed in the day... there is that hope that you will be able to do it, but at the same time the reality check reminds you that its not possible...

And finally when you drop dead on the bed around midnight... you only sleep with the same list modified... some things added... some removed...

Its been a roller-coaster of sorts in the last one month... not sure if I am enjoying it all, but i feel this is something that should have happened to me a good couple of years earlier... but then no complaints... lets learn it late, but learn it fast...

My life today is challenging me to almost its limits... and there is a lot that i have gotta prove to myself...

God Bless me...

Talking to Myself...

My level of expectations is really low...

And that has how i have grown, over a period of time...

And as of today, the only person i expect anything from is ME...

I fail to understand a lot of times, why i do not come upto expectations of a few people around me...
is that because i am insensitive?
is that because i do not care?
is that because i have too much full of myself?

or is that because i am less dependent on people around me?

oh... i have not really written this post to look for answers for myself from people... its more of an personal post... please feel free to drop a comment... no gyan please though...

Breaking News...

" The Crime rate has actually increased after the BPOs came into picture... My parents are usually scared and keep calling me to see if I am ok."

IDIOT...

Who the hell is she to comment on the Crime Rate and BPOs... If people feel that BPOs add to the crime rate, they are free to get lost...

And our media is to be blamed equally... one single incident in a BPO suddenly raises question marks on the security of the lakhs of people who work in the entire industry... Are they nuts or something... Do they even know what people in BPO at all levels go through to earn a decent living... i feel its one of the toughest things to work in a BPO , and for the interested it can teach you things which NO other industry would ever teach you..

Oh.. and then there are people who say, " The Security should be revamped in all the DAMN companies... its a cause of concern."

Where does the security feeling go when you go out partying late nights and tell your parents that you have been working? And how do they blame the BPO for it?

There was another dude who said, " My parents get worried, if i reach home an hour late... And no one gets worried when he himself goes out drinking and goes home at whatever time he wants...

We either do not speak up in front of the camera or we take responsibility with the words that we are using... and the idiotic News Channel guys should be sensible enough to show what makes a difference, instead of showing the crap that they do....

Oh... and if you do not it already... Someone took a revolver inside the HCL BPO office in NOIDA and shot a collegue....

Media and some idiots who talk on the camera... Wah re prabhu... Ajab teri Duniya...

Oops....

I don't know why, but I was reminded of a few people... I guess was trying to break away from the very very hard work routine and landed in the past...

Ankur Agarwal
Sayantani Das Gupta
Richa Bhardwaj
Rohit Talwar
Amit Khanna
Vanja Dogra
Akash Gupta


All of them have a story associated with them... Laughter, Pain, Anger etc etc etc

Not really sure if I want all of them to be blessed, but then... whatever should happen would happen....

Lets get back to work dude... there is not much time before its midnight.....

Growing.... Yes, I am...

Bangalore has been fair to me... not too much traffic so far.... did not take more then 45 minutes to reach office... but the painful part has been the cab drivers... they drive as if there is no tomorrow... very very unsafe and rash...

After traveling with strange drivers for about 4 times, i finally had a driver who was calm and drove nicely... For the first time, I was comfortable at the back seat.... and a short conversation with him is worth a mention here...

Driver : Sir, what is your designation in Infosys?
Me: Consultant

I am thinking I know where this conversation is headed towards....

A Pause of about 5 minutes...

Driver : Sir, BSc. or B.Com.?
Me : B.Sc.

I was now thinking, this is definitely leading to a gyan session on what is better, engineering or accounts and what kind of money can people earn and so on and so forth...

Long Pause...

Driver: My daughter is also in Infosys for about 4 months now. She has done her B.Sc. Computer Science....

Toughie.....

Its been good so far..... enjoyed my Saturday and Sunday...

and i do not have a clue of how to get some proper sleep this week.... too hectic.... not too bad though....

Off 2 Bangalooru...

Off to Banglore tonight... equipped with the camera and a need to click...
Lets see what can i manage in two days I have off-work there...

Any suggestions about what all can I catch up with in Banglore, the city of traffic, over the weekend?

Learning Growing Managing...

Things have been kinda different, strange, scary, unexpected, tough, hectic in the last few days... and I am looking for new ways to destress myself... and one of the newer things that I tried was reading quotes...

Had a Reader's Digest with me... that helped... and then Bloglines Quotes Feed pitched in too...

Here are a few that I really liked...

"When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers."

Oscar Wilde

"Ambition is a poor excuse for not having sense enough to be lazy."

Edger Bergen

And here are a few I liked from RD.... some of them seem so apt to me...

"Having to explain it means you probably shouldn't have said it."

Cary Clock

"Hot Heads and Cold Hearts never solved anything."

Billy Graham

"The formula for a successfull relationship is simple: Treat all disasters as trivialities, but never treat a triviality as if it were a disaster."

Quentin Crisp

"Its just like Magic. When you live by yourself, all of your annoying habits are gone."

Merril Markoe

LiViNg iT LarGe....

If I can afford it I really do not have to care...

I don't care if water is being wasted or not...
If i can afford packaged water for myself and people i care for, I should be fine...
If i can run the motor and fill up my water tank, I should be fine...
If i can buy water when the world is coming to an end, I should still be fine...

I do not care if traffic is going for a toss...
If I can tell the cop that I am the son/brother/relative of a politician I should be fine...
If there is no one on the signal stopping me from braking a rule, I should be fine...
If someone else dies because some one driving like I usually do, I should be fine...

I do not care what happens to the world...
If i can run an AC in the car all the time, I should be fine... after all I AM the one paying for it...
If i can throw things around, and not get caught, and also not throwing them in my front of my house, I should be fine...
If i can affort to pay some bucks more then the mrp in cinemas, and bus stations, and railway stations and to the auto wallahs, I should be fine...

Laut Ke buddhu....

...Ghar ko Aaye....

Moving to Gurgaon for a few weeks ( read at least 4) for a project... will get to be near to some people who are important to me...

Its a nice feeling...


The tough part is driving about 300 kms tonight... and the moving to the office in the morning from NOIDA to Gurgaon... tough...

I gotta have FaiTh...

They say if you want something too bad, it might just come to you...

I need something really bad, and for good... hope it does be mine...

Have faith....

6 + 15 + 2 + 5 + 14 + 7

The treks usually start with a talk... and the they graduate to phone calls and emails and more phone calls and a lot of driving before the real thing gets tasted...

What started between me and Deepak as a casual conversation thinking of a long weekend turned out to be a bliss for a gang of 10 people.. no, I am not trying to take the credit for anything, but still am happy to be one of the people who can initiate this kinda spirit in people... the rest is done by the ones who want to...

So we talked to Aseem, Priyanka, Ankur, Tushar, Subbu amongst some others... some dropped out and some could not go.. and some were ready...

I started from Chandigarh @ 1820 hrs in the Shatabdi on Thursday, 5th April... Reached Delhi @ 2140 hrs... met Subbu after a loooooooong time at the station and waiting for Deepak before he arrived with the 6 seater deluxe qualis... a good car to look at and pretty comfortable as well.. but wat i realized later is that you rather have a 8/9 seater Qualis to travel, coz it gives you more space and options to sleep... Well i could sleep like a log at the back of the other qualis which was a 9 seater...

Anyway... we picked up Aseem's friends from CP and Pandara Road before we reached home.. I charged my cell and the camera battery... packed my stuff in a bag... forgot the jacket, picked up a few VCDs and MP3s.. and started on a looong journey to Chopta...

We were hoping to reach Chopta in about 14 hours, however a few issues one of the cabs ate up some of our time... also helped us experience a small water fountain, an almost careless accident, one of the most stupid drivers etc etc...

We finally reached Chopta ~ 1530 hrs on Saturday... and decided to walk up without wasting much time... what we did not forget was get some biscuits and give them to a dog around, who walked with us the entire way... Those 1.5 odd kms of trek made me realize what sad state I was in... while coming back the feet were paining like hell, the knees were trembling... somehow reached chopta back, and then got down to eating...



Slept like a log in the night and go up around 0430 only to sleep back again and wake up around 0515 hrs... we had planned to move out by 0500 hrs but that had already went for a toss, and we finally managed to leave around 0630 hrs...

This is when I changed the way i walk... Small but steady steps with proper breathing... and it worked... I was not tired even after trekking for about 4.5 kms to Tungnath... did deviate from the well laid trek to walk on the steep slopes as well... and it was fun...

After you have walked for about 2 kms, you reach the top of a hill, and then you have to take right to start moving towards the temple and that is where the view changes completely... All I could see what huge mountains, and snow, and realised that i had taken a very very good decision by buying this new pair of shoes... they were keeping me real safe, and i was kinda sure that the snow is not going to be a problem till i reached about 300 mtrs away from Tungnath, where it was only snow and nothing else...



We were told that Tungnath has a good 3-4 feet of snow, and I was not sure how that is going to look like till i actually saw it... had to walk the last 300-350 mtrs in snow only, and use the marks left by the people who had walked in front of me... could take any direction, coz it was only snow all around... managed to get some snow inside my shoes too... which dried quickly thankfully... This is where I experienced the best snowfall that I have ever seen so far too... no words in my vocabulary can do justice to the beauty of that place... 4-5 ft of snow... white...peace...



by the time we were leaving, there were many people who had started walking towards the peak... school kids, office people, some smart looking dumb chicks who were planning to trek with sleeveless t-shirts to a snow covered mountain along with some guys who did not bother to carry water/food for a 5 hrs trek... the world is full of strange people... and stranger we were... but the smarter strange guys who reached their first and came back in good time...

Took a break of about an hour on our way back and enjoyed the peace there... talked, had food, had juice, chocolates, before starting back towards Chopta again... We were kinda late, and one of the cabs was not in the best shape, so we decided to start our drive back to Delhi around 1630 hrs.. this is Saturday now...

With a couple of breaks in between @ DeoPrayag and Rishikesh, we reached Delhi # 0330 hrs on Sunday... went back home.. slept darn well... and could only miss that snow in the heat of Delhi...

Took a bus back to Chandigarh on Sunday after meeting Priyanka for a Chai Margarita @ the Oxford... oh.. and did i mention that i saw Kuch Kuch hota hai for the second time in that bus...

Over all a very very moving weekend this was... from Thursday to Sunday these are the vehicles I was in, in no specific order...

1) Autos in Chandigarh and Delhi
2) Metro in Delhi
3) Cabs in Delhi and to Uttaranchal
4) Bus from Delhi to Chandigarh
5) Train from Chandigarh to delhi
6) On my feet...(from Chopta to Tungnath)

And the travel times
Train : 3.5 hours
Cabs : 1 + 14 + 14 hours = 29 hours
Bus : 7 hours
Auto : 1.5 hours
Metro : 30 minutes
On my feet : 7 hours

What a trip... what a weekend... waiting for the next one already....

You can see some of the pictures HERE

You've Got Mail...

When you are quick with responding to emails, what does that mean?

Are you efficient with emails?

OR

You don't have any other work to do?

SomeOne Listening?

I feel all the ads that feature the great players from the Hoo Haa Indian Cricket team should be banned from air, for atleast the time they win a tournament against some good teams, as a mark of respect towards their excellent performance in the world cup...

The Pursuit of Happy-ness

There is no WHY in Happyness, it has to be spelt with an I...

Fair point... why ask questions... let Happiness be with I only...

The thought comes from one of the best movies I have seen of Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness... A movie based on the true story of Chris Gardner, who used to sell Bone Marrow Density Scanners and struggled to make ends meet... His wife left him with a 5 year old kid, and there were times when he stayed in shelter homes, and churches, and even the bathrooms of the metro stations in the night..

Determination, and hard work saw him get a job as a broker @ Dean Witter Reynolds, where he worked/got trained as an intern for no salary for 6 months...

During all this time, this guy never let his son down...

Coming to the movie.. Will Smith and his real life and the reel life son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith have done wonders in this movie... The way both of them have played their respective roles, is something that is beyond words for me... Keep it up Smiths...

About the movie experience now... Friday night... thanks to the India Srilanka Cricket match... the theatre did not have a long line... none infact... However, I have a feeling that there would not be any for most of the english movies here... I have not really seen people who are comfortable talking in English... I am assuming the charm for english movies except action would not be much around here either...

So loud strange songs playing in the mall... a decent one though, no lines... and the theatre with two kinds of seats...
Silver : the front three rows with minimal leg room for 120 bucks..
Gold : the rest of the rows with i guess better leg room and seats...

Anyway, there were only about 20 people in the hall with a capacity of over 200 so the movie was a good experience...

Oh, and irrespective of you watching the movie... do check out the links...

Can the Left Be Right?

I try not to walk with the traffic on the left side of the road... I am afraid someone would hit me from the back without me getting any second to even save myself...

So I want on the right side... but they say the right side is the wrong side... however, I say that the right side is the RIGHT side to walk... atleast you see the traffic coming your way and can make some space to save yourself before you get hit because of someone else..

How can the left be the right side? especially when you have to move a li'il towards the road if there is a vehicle parked there... and then you have to look back and wait to see that the road is safe... too much trouble...

I say folks... Left side is not the right side... The right is the RIGHT side...

Sadistic Pleasure...

I drove to Delhi this last Friday... and returned yesterday night...

And needless to say driving the car is such a relief... I was running high fever when I started from NOIDA, but by the time I reached Panchkula... it was all fine... I am still not well... but I guess, I would manage just fine with this worse then ever throat...

Oh let me get back to the reason why I am writing this post... and I guess that is what made me feel better too...

during these two looong drives... about 300 kms each way, I managed to give a nice group of cars a good run for their money and worth... and the list includes

Hyundai Elantra ( I personally do not like this car a bit, but then its much more powerful then my Palio, but on the highway, this guy was struggling to keep me away from his tail)

Tata Indigo (This is supposed to a more powerful car too, but I guess at speeds over 120, she might just fall apart in pieces)

Honda City... Poor Guy... he really tried hard to race... I do not know what was the problem... but at 130 kmph... I was feeling much better then him I guess, and he gave up the chase...

GM Tavera, and the Toyota Qualis... well... i guess they could not really match the 120 kmph rock solid Palio...

N number of Tata Indicas... ok... lets not even talk about them :)

The Wagon Rs, The Santros, the Zens, the Altos and the 800s... not worth a mention here...

Thank You Fiat for helping me take one of the best decisions of my life...

WhErE is the DOG?

The damn dog has not been following me for a week... and can that be a reason why Hutch sucks in Chandigarh?

Pathetic Voice Quality...
Useless Customer care desk... oh... when you call the 111 number, you get a "network busy" message too...
Numbers which are not reachable... the signal strenght is 100% all the time, but you cannot bloddy call the person sitting 100 metres away...

Hutch...

Where Ever you go... Our network follows... TRUE !!!!

It only follows... is never around for you to make a decent call !!!