Sin Free 6.0 - 23.06.2013

Sin Free 5.0 - 23.03.2012

My yearly tour to Tirupati to zero out all my sins and start afresh. I became sin free yet again on 23rd March, 2012.

The Dream - 16.03.2012

Its finally happened - after 22 long years of seeing a phenomenon named Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. He now goes a hits a 100th hundred - unthinkable, unimaginable, unrealistic, surreal - for others. Just a normal day of cricket for the greatest batsman the world has ever seen and probably will ever see.

16th of March, 2012 - Friday - will be remembered for ever - yet another day when people switched on their TVs and switched off their lives.

East Coast of India - Vishakhapatnam Trip

Of the nearly 3 decades of my living experience, I had never seen the East Coast of India. Well, it finally happened - seeing the east coast was just a side dish, the main one (and a surprising one too) was Babu naga (house husband of 523/116) getting married (to a girl !!). Surprising ... because if babu naga can get married, then there is still hope for bachelors like me. Also it re-confirms the fact that girls really are dumb!!

The Plan – Reach Vizak on 14^th noon – EAT - meet Naga at wedding venue – EAT – say tadas to Naga – EAT - roam Vizak – EAT - get back for his reception at 19:00 hours – EAT – say tadas again – EAT - get back for the actual wedding at a sub-human time of 4:00 am - EAT. Needless to say, we did not do any of that except the EAT part.

So let me warn you all, if someone is going to read this piece of text with the hope of knowing what happened at the wedding, please close the webpage. That’s because, none of us attended the wedding. The ‘us’ is – Gogo, kallu mama, GD and moi. In monetary terms, we spent a total of 35k to attend the wedding but eventually we did not. I guess it pales in comparison to the 40L we spent jointly in doing our MBA!!!!! But in case you are interested in the usual activities of “The Bakar Gang”, you are in the right place.

Finally we got going on the 14^th morning – I and GD taking the 10am Jet flight to Vizak. GD was punctual and applied his Supply Chain theory of JIT to reach the airport while the Jet staff was furiously calling out as the counter was closing. We told the lady at the check-in counter to give us separate seats. We explained to her that it will maximize our chance ki koi item aake baaju mei baithe. If looks could kill, Mumbai airport would have had 2 dead bodies – I and GD, the lady at the counter gave us the dirtiest of the dirty looks after she heard that!! Shameless as he is – GD laughed on her face and we walked off.

On entering the jet flight, I saw Aamir Khan welcoming us into the flight. Don’t scratch your head too much – I was referring to Aamir’s look in Dil Chahta Hai where he maintains a little beard just below his lower lip. There was an air hostess who was sporting that look! GD later clarified that the air hostess had a mole below her lower lip and not an actual beard. Now who was I to challenge GD for his ‘paarkhi nazar’ on ladies! After an uneventful flight for us (not for our neighbors) we disembarked into the unwelcoming heat of Vishakhapatnam to search for Mr. Ajay Kumar – our pick up man.

Now as you all know, if the name is Ajay there sure has to be a problem. Mr. Ajay Kumar did not have a name plate but he gave us a unique; and I mean absolutely unique way to recognize him. We were to look out for a person with white shirt and black pant – how uncommon and a truly rare combination! Resigning to the fact that his name was Ajay, I did not argue much. Once outside the airport, I started screaming “white shirt and black pant” … got some people amused and got GD cussing at me, but we finally found our Ajay. Packed off in an SUV, we reached the guest house.

We met Gogo at the hotel who was busy seeing “Maine Pyaar Kiya” in Telugu. After exchanging some un-pleasantries, we diverted our attention to the service person Mr. Reddy at the hotel who did not know Hindi or English but only Telugu. He wasn’t sure which room is booked for us, so Gogo started explaining him in mix of Hindi, English, Telugu lavishly mixed with cuss words and other vulgarities. The family nature of the forum prohibits me from going into the explicit details but it’s enough to say, that me and GD were rolling on the floor hearing that exchange.

Finally we decided to head out to Naga’s marriage venue not because we were eager to meet him but just because we were hungry and wanted some food. Naga who was sitting in mandap doing some rituals was very happy to see the three of us, but his happiness was short lived as we asked for food before even saying a hello to either him or his parents. The highlight of the day was when I asked him ki s**** piyega kya … the expression was of disbelief and exasperation as to how could someone ask that sitting in a mandap in front of Pundit, parents and other family members. Quickly we made an exit from the mandap towards food and then back to the hotel. Before heading back to the room, we had another hilarious round of interaction with Mr. Reddy.

After a quick nap, we went to visit the Rama Krishna beach where we had some bhel, mirchi bhajji and kacchi kairi and followed it up with chocolate dessert and coffee. Kallu mama was supposed to land at 19:15 hours so it was decided to kill some more time and wait for him. We decided to pay a visit to Naturals spa after a round of negotiation with the auto rickshaw driver.

Kallu landed at 19:15 and he was asked to come directly to the spa and pick us from there and then go for Naga’s reception. As you might have already guessed, it did not happen. Well for a change, Kallu listened to us and came over to the spa only to find Gogo and GD busy getting a body massage while I was getting a haircut done. After waiting for another 1 hour, kallu’s patience gave way and he started screaming at us – as to how irresponsible we could be getting massages and haircuts whereas Naga’s reception was going on. All of kallu’s histrionics were ignored as we have been doing for the past 4 years.

By the time we left, it was 21:00 hours and we had already received several calls from babu naga. We promised him that we will come to the venue in 10 minutes. Kallu took that too seriously and asked the driver to take us to the venue directly. The driver was in a state of shock hearing this – even the driver could not think of people going to a wedding reception in t-shirts and shorts. Luckily sense prevailed and we dropped the idea of going in shorts to the reception. I could only imagine the looks on the faces of Naga’s in-laws had we entered in t-shirt, shorts and chappals.

So we decided to …. Ehhh welll … go outside and have dinner first instead of going back to hotel, changing into some decent attire and going to the reception. So the four of us entered some Andhra style hotel. On entering, Kallu mama asked for a finger bowl. Now either he has a fetish for ‘fingering’ or it’s the Andhra culture to ask for finger bowl first. We wouldn’t have been surprised had the waiter also given us the bill before ordering for food. In total, Kallu mama asked for three finger bowls before/ after meals. Probably he was trying to match the number of times he asked for rice. We had a highly enlightening session on cows and how through injections they give extra milk. Again due to the family nature, I cannot go into specifics but I can promise that we created quite a scene in the restaurant. Finally, the discussion ended with Kallu being the proud owner of 2 cows that gave extra milk.

10:30pm on the clock and finally we decided to go to Naga’s reception. On the way, someone suggested that due to over-eating it is better to skip Naga’s reception and go to the hotel and sleep. Well, being honest and I apologize to Naga in advance, this thought got serious consideration. Only the prospect of more food at the reception, made us to go to the venue. We reached the reception at 10:45pm where we met a furious and super pissed off Naga. The promise to reach by 7pm was only delayed by 3:45 hours!!! Naga straight away attacked GD and accused him as the sole reason to delay all of us. As expected, we added more mirch masala to the story and convinced Naga that GD indeed was the culprit. Cornered and with nothing left to argue, GD promised Naga that he will be there by his side next morning at 3:30 am. We all knew that getting up at 3:15am without Naga’s help is impossible. So shamelessly we told Naga to wake us up in the morning if he wanted us to attend his wedding.

We all went back to the hotel around 1am and decided to sleep for a couple of hours. We told the cab driver to pick us at 3:30am and Kallu set an alarm for 3:15 am. Unfortunately, he kept his cell phone some 15 meters away from him. As expected, the alarm set off and no one answered it and all 4 of us continued with our sweet sleep. In the middle of the night, I felt Gogo kicking me and asking me what time it was. I told him it was 4.30am and slept off again. There was some abrupt silence for 30 seconds from Gogo … and suddenly he burst out the four letter F word that woke all of us. Instantly we realized that we missed Naga’s wedding – the very thing that all of us were here for. Dejected we all quietly went back to sleep. I agree that it was pretty shameless to go back to sleep again but what GD did was beyond imagination. He actually woke up, walked 10 meters, switched off the light in the room, came back to the bed and SLEPT. I think that was the most shameless act that could be done by anyone in the Bakar group. Looking at the clock, realizing that we missed the marriage and sleeping is one thing, but actually waking up and switching off the light so that he could sleep peacefully is another.

Finally, Kallu mama woke up at 4:45am and he actually woke everyone up. We got ready in 5 mins and were downstairs. Gogo called the cab driver to pick us while Kallu got hold of a local rickshaw driver’s number. He called the rickshaw guy at 4.45am … poor thing … the rickshaw guy’s mother picked up the call, woke up her son and he said that he will be there in 5 mins. So there we were, standing on the road waiting for cab/ rick. Unfortunately, both of them arrived together. If GD’s morning act was a disgrace what Kallu did matched it to an extent. Kallu mama just walked to the car; opened the door of the car; looked at the rickshaw driver and without uttering a word, just pointed to the car – signaling that we don’t care that we woke up your mother at a sub-human hour, we don’t care that you actually woke up and came within 5 mins – to hell with you; we are going in the car !!!!

Finally we reached the marriage hall at 5:00am and carefully chose the last seats to hide from everyone. The reason to hide from everyone was – Gogo was in hopelessly crumpled T-shirt that he had slept with in the previous night, I was in chappals with red eyes that were watering because of lack of sleep, GD’s eyes were blood red and he was uncombed. Needless to say that none of us had taken a bath. But kallu mama had raised the bar still higher – in addition to not taking a bath, he hadn’t even brushed his teeth. I don’t think anyone would have sat in a marriage mandap without a bath and without brushing. We realized that as the years are going by, the Bakar gang is taking stupidity and shame to newer depths.

After the hi’s and hello’s we quickly ejected from the venue and went to the beach to see the sunrise. I saw my second sunrise – where the sun rose from the sea being on the east coast. We then went back to the room, packed our stuff and got ready to visit the marriage venue – obviously we were hungry.

We saw Naga with a peepal leaf stuck on his hair. After the vulgarities of what was actually used to stick that peepal leaf, we attacked the food. With our belly’s full, we took Naga to a corner and Gogo/ Kallu gave him a KT session on do’s/ don’ts for the first night. Kallu mama was standing at the entrance and talking about porn, which got Naga really worried about the things that his relatives will hear if we stay any longer. We had another round of food and we ate till the time we could not move. After a brief photo session, it was decided to roam the city – Kailash Giri and Rishi Konda beach.

Kailash Giri is a hilltop that gives a beautiful view of the east coast and the city of Vishakhapatnam. There is a train that takes one around the hilltop. But when we reached the train had already left and gone some 50meters ahead. I don’t know what Gogo said to the people over there, but the train actually came back in reverse to accommodate us. Later we went to the Rishi Konda beach, where I and GD attacked some omlette’s while Gogo and Kallu took a dip in the Bay of Bengal.

With 5 hours to kill and the unrelenting heat, it was decided to head indoors to the CMR mall. We devoured Pizza Hut which was followed by a complicated round of going dutch on the expenses. Even expenses as low as 2 rupees were not ignored and finally the split came to Rs. 177/- per person. Kallu flatly refused to pay that as he hadn’t been a part of any of that. The discussion went out of hand and finally it was decided to head out for the sanity of other people in the restaurant.

Next task on our hand was to buy Jeans for Kallu Mama – he was to wear jeans after 16 years. Finally we settled on a pair of jeans in Levi’s and asked Kallu to wear it straightaway. General bakar followed till the time GD and I decided to take a leak. When we entered the restroom, we could see a part of jeans from the gap between the door and ground. Instant came out a roar … “huggrrraaayyyy” (I do not wish to translate this in Hindi/ English). GD and I devised a plan to pull out the jeans from that gap and run away. Imagining the scene, we laughed like lunatics in the restroom, zipped up and came out. After a round of Baskin Robin, it was time to move to the airport. Gogo had a flight to B’lore, Kallu, GD and I were to fly to Hyderabad and then me and GD were to carry on to Mumbai.

The journey in the flight was spent in Naga mode as we were too tired. So technically, we went all the way to the east coast, ate a LOT of food but did not attend either the reception or the marriage. Hopefully, we shall improve the next time when the opportunity presents itself either by Darindar, GD or yours truly.

Over and Out. Jai Bakar.

Missed a flight - Finally

As the title suggests, it finally happened. Saturday the 10th of September @ Mid- Continent Airport - Wichita, Kansas I managed to miss my first flight.

Given my past history, that I just about manage to catch all my modes of transport, be it bus, train or a plane; eventually i was going to miss one,  was a prognostication. The closest I had got is checking-in 10 mins before the departure time @ the Mumbai airport. Luckily those were the days when the 45 minute rule wasn't there and i managed to catch that flight escorted by the airline staff. 

The irony is that, all those times i managed to get onto my flight. This time i missed it even though i was at the airport more than 60 mins before the departure time. Worse part was that i could see my plane standing on the tarmac a good 10 mins and then take off. Blame the Delta airlines check-in procedure or just having 1 person at the counter handling a huge queue. 

The bottom line for me is never be at the airport on time; else I will miss the flight. They have put me on the next morning flight; guess i should just show up at the airport 15 mins before the flight departs.

Discounted Independence

Of all the silly telemarketing messages that i receive; ranging from winning a $10 million lottery to pest control adverts, from helping a lonely girl reach home as her scooty has given up to offers of a no limit credit card, i thought i had seen the gamut of such messages.

15th August, 2011 - I got a message which was implicitly funny. The message was from the matrimony site 'Jeevansaathi' offering me a discount on registering my profile. What an oxymoron. Receiving a message to get hitched, that too on the independence day. I couldn't have asked for a better timing !!

Two Facts of Life

Today, I had a very interesting conversation with an absolutely amazing person. The crux of that 54 minute conversation was two facts that I thought were extremely interesting. So I have decided to grace my ‘piece of virtual space’ with it because I am sure some years down when I read this, it would definitely get a smile on my face J

Fact 1 - MBA – You invest so much of time and money in getting into the course. You invest double the time and money, once you have gotten into the course. So once you complete MBA, the least you should do is become “smart”. I have never thought of MBA as “Nirvana” … probably I should!!

Fact 2 – Girls – Girls are dumb. They are supposed to be dumb. And it is perfectly alright if they are dumb. They have been manufactured that way – without logical reasoning. But guys are supposed to be smart. Imagine this - Dumb girl + Dumb guy coming together, they would make excitingly dumb decisions. I personally think it would create Endless Stupidity + Entertainment (for others of course).

Ladies, before you pick up swords, these are not my words. I am just quoting the words from my conversation.

And to the initiator of this conversation, thanks a lot. You are amazing J

Dairy Milk – Kuch Mithaas Faila di Jaaye

For all those people who love chocolate, dairy milk would surely rank as one among the top notch. Eating a dairy milk chocolate all by you is probably the best feeling. But yesterday I bettered the best feeling.

It was bettered by giving away the Dairy Milk to street children at a Vile Parle traffic signal. The smile that brightened the face of the kid was priceless. It was much more satisfying than eating the bar of chocolate myself.

Not to take any credit for this act … someone made me do it. Thanks. You made me do a good thing.

Belief

Simple as it may sound; never did I realize that this word defines me in some way. Even though it may define me, yet I am blissfully ignorant of it. So when the most beautiful girl that I have ever met or come across asked me the question, “What do you believe in?” – I was stumped. Perplexed. Bewildered. The sheer simplicity and yet the difficulty (just like her) of that question got me thinking.

So what is belief for me? Belief is something that comes from within. Some reality that lies within. Some incoherent force that stops me from doing something. The same incoherent force that compels me to do something. Well, I might be talking about conscience but then again it is based on some values and belief which I call the core. So do the things I believe in form the part of my core and yet I cannot define it? Is that plausible? Does it mean that I do not know myself well?

Luckily, it not all grey for me – I found some things that I could define my belief in. Foremost would be the supreme power or reality – the force that controls or drives everything. Then there is a famous Hindi saying that I have utmost belief in – “Jo hota hai acche ke liye hota hai”. This line might not seem correct to the person affected but when I do look back at events in my life – this surely holds true. In a relationship I find three things most important that I do believe in – Honesty, Trust and Love. Simplicity and humility are two characteristics that I firmly believe in – but they are the most difficult to achieve.

And on a lighter note, I do believe that if any of my friends read this post – firstly they might get a heart attack and secondly I will get a phone call full of abuses – No one is used to me being so serious about life J

The Rickshaw Driver

‘United we stand, Divided we fall’. It’s a line that we have been hearing for ages. I saw that first hand in my recent trip to Bengaluru.

As we got into a rick at BTM Layout to go to Race Course, I braced myself for an uncomfortable ride in the Bengaluru traffic and pollution. Add to it that the rick driver was a budding schumacher, made matters really worse for the bad back that I was carrying.

Somewhere in the middle of the journey, I saw another rick had broken down and the driver was pushing it hoping to find a garage. The Schumacher guy (my rick driver) stopped and asked the other driver about his problem. After a few exchanges in Kannada, he placed his rick at a strategic angle and put his left leg out on the back of the broken down rick. He then pushed that rick for almost 20 minutes through the horrific and unrelenting Bengaluru traffic. He risked his leg (and more) to help another driver whom he did not even know. He was at a risk of losing his leg due to uneven road, bumps, sudden brakes, people crossing and the two wheelers snaking through the traffic. Irrespective, he kept pushing. He kept pushing so that the other guy could reach somewhere near the garage, get his rick fixed and move on to earn his livelihood.

This was yet another simple incident that strengthened my belief in the inherent goodness within people. Probably we should stop building walls and start building bridges.

P.S - Just to put perspective - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bizZeYvH3VI (this is not videoed by me)

Sin Free 4.0 – Tirupati

14 months after Sin Free 3.0 I realized that my sins have reached dangerous levels and they might get back to me. It was high time to get rid of all them so that I can have a clean slate and start my ‘paaps’ all over again! So it was a trip to Tirupati again and this time I had 2 of my dearest friends along for company.

We left Bangalore on May 20, 2011 @ 19:30 hours and the bus reached next day at 01:15 am. The journey was uneventful with my friends sleeping like logs while me not even getting a minute of sleep. After refreshing ourselves, we boarded the state transport that took us to the top of the mountain in an exciting 45 minute ride. By 3.30 am we had joined the line for the darshan and at the exact moment of 5:00 am on May 21, 2011 I became SIN FREE.

I have started a new sin a/c again and would need to make Sin Free 5.0 – Tirupati sometime next year. So till then … tension nako … paap karte raho bhaiyya !!

Good Job BMTC VayuVajra

Most of us who have travelled through the new Bengaluru Airport agree that we are capable of building world class infrastructure. But building the infrastructure was never the problem. The problem is supporting that infra with facilities all around so that people truly enjoy the world class airport. I had a firsthand experience of these support services last weekend when I landed at the Bengaluru International Airport.

As I got down from the aircraft at 22:50 hours, I made a mad scramble to the exit as the last bus (BIA 11) that was supposed to take me to the city left at 23:00 hours. Unfortunately I lost the race and the bus had left by the time I made it to the bus depot.

I checked with the employees at the depot and they put me in another bus (BIA5). They said that they would call the driver of the bus that I just missed and tell him to wait. And they really did. The bus I missed was waiting for me 30kms away as I travelled in BIA 5. Needless to say I was truly impressed by the co-ordination that we are so not used to by the government run agencies. Add to it that the drivers and support staff are extremely polite and helpful, the buses neat and clean it makes the travel to the city less painful. All in all, a good job done … BMTC.

How Rich are you ?

Going by the fact that i am big time jobless, I have stumbled upon another useless site. According to it i am 683,696,317 richest person in this world. Yippppiiiieeeeee

Check out the site and post the result below ... http://www.globalrichlist.com/

Dear Mr. M F Hussain ...

M F Hussain, also known as the Picasso of India is now the Picasso of Qatar. After being in exile since 2006, he has finally said his adieu to his motherland. 


This event was enthusiastically covered by our media sensing some 'masala'. On one side was the Indian government trying to dissuade the artist from accepting the Qatari citizenship while on the other were the activists, because of whom Mr. Hussain had to leave the country.


On asking as to why did he accept the Qatari citizenship, Mr. Hussain gave the following reasons:-
1. India rejected me. India does not need me. Successive governments have failed to protect me
2. When activists attacked my work, no one came to support me
3. Qatar provides me complete freedom. No one controls my freedom of expression here


Mr. Hussain continues, "90% of Indian people love me. Only 10% are against me."
And, "The cases against me are against my freedom of expression. An artist's self expression. It is my creativity"


Mr. Hussain, I as an Indian truly respect you for your art. I would be more than glad if you could reject the Qatari citizenship and remain Indian. But unfortunately I do not feel truthful to myself by saying this. 


You are the same person who painted 'Bharatmata' in nude. You went on further to paint Goddess Durga and Saraswati in an uncharitable manner. Yes i agree there should be a freedom of expression to each and every individual. I am proud of the fact that my country provides that kind of freedom. But freedom of expression should not be misused. There is a social responsibility on each and every one of us. By hurting the sentiments of 85% of the Indian population, you cannot claim to have the love of our countrymen.


You have now taken citizenship of a country that is not even a democracy and you claim to have full freedom of expression?? I do not mean to be provocative, but if such acts were done against your new home country, I would not even want to think what the result would have been. India has been a tolerant society but it does not mean that you under the name of creativity paint whatever you like.


Be respectful of the sentiments of the people. You are a celebrity and hence a huge social responsiblity lies on your shoulders.


Proud to be an Indian

Sach is Life - 200*

For 20 long years He has treated us to pure master class. 
For 20 long years He has piled one century after another till he had 92 of them. 
For 20 long years we have cheered for each and every of his 30,000+ runs. 
For 20 long years He has been the best batsman the world has ever seen. 
If all that was not enough, He comes out and blasts a 200* in an ODI.


As SRT was nearing his 46th ODI century, a crowd was steadily building up in my office cafeteria. As SRT pushed past 150 the crowd turned raucous. It seemed like the entire 7000 of my office staff had gathered inside the cafeteria. The scene resembled a public place with people standing on chairs, tables, food serving counters (and some on their boss' shoulders too). SRT is more important afterall to all Indians. 


As SRT moved into 190's and Dhoni was hitting 4's and 6's, no one gave a damn about what Dhoni was upto or even what the Indian score was. The only focus was SRT. Another six by dhoni was greeted by someone in the crowd, "Abe Dhoni Ma******d, bh****** single le ha****". Every one echoed the same sentiments. Every one had forgotten that they were in the office premises. SRT had taken over our minds and hearts yet again. 


And then the moment, Sachin getting 200 with a single to backward point. I along with the crowd screamed as loud as i could and jumped as high as i could. Sachin had done it. Rather we all had done it. It was a 200* not only for sachin ... it belonged to each and every Indian. Teary eyed (with joy of course) i wondered that how could one man be loved so much by a billion people?


February 24, 2010 will be remembered forever. It was a day when people once again switched ON their televisions and switched OFF their lives.


Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar - Take a Bow - You are the greatest that ever was and ever will be ~Period~

Its Technology stup-pid

My college library has a "hi-tech" system wherein through an online portal, one can do the following activities:-

- view the books present in the library

- preview each book

- check the number of copies present

- reserve the book online

- most important of all, if the book is already reserved by someone, then put yourself in the waitlist so that once the book arrives in the library you get an e-mail asking you to collect the book

Extremely convenient ... no wasting time browsing books in the library ... simplifies the life of both librarian and the borrower. Technology sure is great.

But then, I get an e-mail saying this –

Dear ……,       On process of your reservation status the following book is received to the library and waiting for your arrival.
SNo	Accession	Item Name	Availability
1.	BK1763	Harvard business essentials : marketers toolkit:: the 10 strategies you need to succeed (Harvard Business School)	48 hours

Regards, Librarian

The best part is the date this e-mail was sent: 03-Feb-2010 12:19 PM

It is been almost a year since I graduated from my business school (yes people I went to a business school). Unfortunately the technology being used does not know this. It sure does make the institution look stupid.

But the most important point for writing this one is,

Did I actually reserve a book that too an academic book that too in my college LIBRARY? People knowing me can vouch for the fact that how ghastly this is. It surely must be some rush-of-blood moment that prompted me to do such a crime. Or was it some strategic plan to make the book inaccessible to other people so that they don’t score too well (its relative grading after all)!!! I’ll let you guys decide this one coz I surely can’t fathom what made me reserve a book in the library. And yeah the technology won’t let me forget this fact by sending regular book availability e-mails as long as I access my B-school’s mailbox!!

Ayodhya Solution

Ayodhya has raised its head yet again thanks to the BJP. Congress is sure to condemn it. Both of them are just that - stupid (the political parties i mean). Ayodhya is a non-issue as far as i am concerned. They are just raised by these parties either to evoke emotions (of the wrong kind) or to employ the divide and rule principle.


Religion is one of the most important factors that divides people. It creates hatred, doubt and violence among groups. Irony is that, religion is also an important factor that unites people. It gives a sense of belongingness, peace and identity to people. But thanks to our thoughtlessness we just fight among ourselves in the name of religion.


Of all the religions in this world, India is unique in a way that each and every religion will find a representative in our country. Now this calls for more violence and hatred. 


Only one religion is present in India that actually brings people together. One religion that is superior to all other religions. One religion that causes common pain and common joy. One religion that unites people of our motherland beyond caste, age, economic well being and other social norms. I think we need to give this religion a chance to wash out the Ayodhya issue.


The religion i am talking about is CRICKET. The entire country is united when it comes to cricket. We forget everything (hatred included) when we watch cricket. Why not build a cricket stadium in the disputed land of Ayodhya and give peace and harmony a chance to thrive? 


Let us rejoice on that "disputed" land when India wins a match and sulk when we lose. At least we all will be united be it victory or defeat. Unity among ourselves is all that matters.


Jai Hind


P.S. This is entirely my opinion. I do not mean to hurt any religious sentiments of anyone.

Cricket: Is India going the Paki way?

Yup I know … even the thought of our beloved country going down the paki way is repulsive. Even I don’t feel comfortable comparing us with a nation where scumbags are bred, only to attack other peace loving nations. But some of events in the past few days, made me think otherwise.

We all know the way SL cricketers were air lifted after the bomb blasts in PAK. I don’t see cricket being played in PAK in the immediate future.

Back home, there have been various threats and unfortunate incidents in the past few days. All this puts the future of cricket matches played at home into serious doubt. Recent threats being
- Blast in Pune
-       Shiv Sena not to allow Aussies play in Mumbai
- Terror threat - Jaipur ODI
-       AP Govt boycotting IPL since hyderabad is not on the IPL menu (venue rather)
-       Media boycotting IPL due to stringent broadcasting rules
-       Naxals going beserck and killing people at will

Strange thing here is, we have more internal problems than external. So, can the Shiv Sena, AP Govt and the media please shut up and help resolve the pertinent problem of external terror and naxals?

United we stand, Divided we fall !
Jai Hind

Dreams are manifestations? I hope not

The last week has been hectic. My mind has been working over-time. Nah i am not talking of building castles in the air but building castles in sleep. In short, I have been dreaming a lot (2 dreams in 2 days is a lot for someone who rarely gets dreams). Maybe the dreams are resulting because i am too bored to sleep.


People say that dreams are cherished desires or maybe you want the real life to be the way represented in dreams.


Dream 1 
The scene is the Australian Open and I am one of the player participating in it. I mean i really worked hard to secure a place to play in the competition and determined to do well.   My friends from the bakar gang (GD, Lath, Diva & PaD) are there in the stadium. Any of you reading this will have no doubt of their intentions. They were of course there to cheer me. Even i thought so until later ...


As i was walking towards the entrance of the courts, surprisingly i was denied entry. So i walked around the complex and found a spot from where i could sneak in. Unfortunately the netter door was locked. As i fought with the door to open it, to my surprise i saw my idiotic friends laughing at me. After a long struggle i eventually managed to get in but my tennis racquet was broken. This evoked a huge bout of laughter especially from Diva. Needless to say i woke up abusing ...


Dream 2
Scene : Mumbai - Heavy rains - streets flooded
There was just one bus which seemed to be moving. So we boarded that bus. Unfortunately the whole of Mumbai thought on the same lines and boarded the same bus.


Oh i forgot to explain the 'we' part. It was me and billi (unfortunately which i realized later). I was trying to be nice and was planning to drop her home. I thought, " bechari akeli ladki ko is baarish mein kaise chhod du". Bechari my foot !!


In the same bus there were a couple of gorgeous girls, our eyes met and the things which usually happen in dreams happened (don't go that far you perverts). As i tried to make a movement towards them, billi grabbed me as if i was a stone.
She : kidhar jaa raha hai kamine
Me  : Ruk ek minute ... aata hoon hello bolke
She : tu mereko aise akele chhodke jayega ?
Me  : Of course haa
She : tu kaisa dost hai (in a sarcastic tone)
Me  : haa ... main aisa hi hoon
She : some more obscenities (family nature of this forum prevents me from giving out the details)
Me  : ruk naa ek minute ... aata hoon ... chhodke thodi naa jaa raha hoon
She : tu aise nahi manegaa ... more obscenities with dirty looks .. this time towards those gorgeous gals
Me  : I hate you !!


Another instance where she destroyed my chance to get acquainted with the fairer sex. Not to mention that she has never helped me by introducing me to at least one of her many friends. Girls are evil ... rather my friends are evil.


The above 2 instances just depict that i DO NOT want my dreams to turn into reality. Well i want to play Aus open but not bang at their doors instead and surely i don't want to be single life long !!

Outliers – The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

Since this is my first post about a book, I want to bring out certain points.

I just wanted to inform that this post is NOT a

 Book review ( I ain’t any judge to give out my decision)

 Gyaan session ( We already have had loads of that)

 Summary of the book (lazy asses don’t look for a shortcut)

 Recommendation to read the book or not (simply because you won’t listen to me anyways)

This post and all subsequent posts about books that I have read, will give out some important information that the author brings out. You can be happy that this is not my information (which is always wrong).

Outliers as the name suggests, is a deviation from the normal. It does not mean that this book talks about abnormal beings (and I am not the protagonist). Outliers is a story of success, a story of how success is not just about being a genius, being at the right place at the right time, hard work, unusual opportunities and hidden advantages but a mix of all of them. And most importantly do not ignore the effect of “self-fulfilling prophecy” as it can be one of the biggest factors of success.

Information provided in the book …

 Secret for a long life?

A. Good genes, exercise, healthy diet 

Wrong Answer. The correct answer is Community. Long life depends on how strong your social structure is and how best it can protect you from the pressures of the real world. But is there any doctor in the world who even cares for that before treating you?

 Hidden Advantages

Pick up any autobiography of a famous actor, businessman, scientist, sports person … one thing common to all would be the limited resources that they had, basically a rags to riches story. Being reasonably well off; does that put me and you at a dis-advantage of becoming as great as them just because they had limited resources and we don't? The answer is NO. The limited resources were not at all limited … all these greats had hidden advantages, extra-ordinary opportunities and strong forces working in their favor. In fact, adversity was their biggest opportunity.

 The Age Effect

From fields as diverse as hockey and baseball to computer programming, it is the “age effect” that determines success. Being born in a particular period of the year to being born in a given era can be the difference between being successful and not so successful. So parents, please plan accordingly as the time your offspring is born would determine whether he becomes a Steve Jobs or any other xyz!!

 Magic number – 10,000

Some people are successful just because they are prodigies. Untrue. People are successful because of HARD WORK. Put in 10,000 hours of practice into something you are good at and you become successful. But hey, you still have to have hidden advantages and the age effect working in your favor!!

 Genius = Successful = Super Achievers
The above equation sounds reasonable. Unfortunately it is not accurate. Extra ordinary achievement is less about talent and more about opportunity. Intelligence has a threshold. Above a certain limit, having extra intelligence does not account for real world advantage. Also practical intelligence (being street smart) is more important than just intelligence.
So Genius, along with opportunity, hidden advantages, age effect and 10K is a lethal combination.

 Concerted Cultivation
Many of us have seen parents pushing their children to the absolute limit. Cricket Coaching followed by school followed by Karate classes followed by painting classes ... ufff ... i don't work that much myself. I personally even used to pity those kids and think that, "Why can't parents just leave the kids to themselves. Eventually the kid will find out what he/she is good at". Concerted cultivation and a sense of entitlement are key factors if you want your child to grow up and become successful. Parents, bully your kids ever more :)


 Work ... What kind of work?
Satisfaction does not come by just earning a six or seven digit salary. For work to be satisfying it should have autonomy, complexity and a relation between effort and reward.


 Legacy Matters
We might be staying in different areas of the world, in different cultures but the fact remains that we are a product of where we are from. Our ability to succeed at what we do is bound from where we are. As per Geert Hofstede Cultural Dimensions, we need to understand that the problem is not with the process or the machine. It is our legacy which makes us behave in a certain way. Major cause of airline crashes can be understood from PDI rather than the technical flaws in the airplane!!


Finally success is not mysterious. It is hidden behind the web of advantages, opportunities, hard work, inheritance, history and community.