..."I will miss you!" ...

... tragedy stuck today!... one of my uncle expired in hyderabad... and what's bothering me is that i never met him... ever! ... strange as it may sound... strange it is... i still can't believe what has happened this afternoon ...

... i pray for his soul... and i pray for buaZ and for all the family... may the lord give them strength in this tiring time...

"Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable."

... those who've been interacting with me during this past month will agree that there wasn't much change in my routine and YET i missed out writing my blog!! ... to be honest there is no excuse and ... just when i started typing this i was hit-upon things to do... now usually this remains in the confines of my head and it just remains there, however i am feeling compelled to strike off the items ASAP...

... and now that i feel better than before lemme keep this momentum going by writing some meaningful stuff here... alot of things actually... m not sure where to start from so i will do it randomly... me and Amogh decided on one fine night that we should go for a 'trip' ... and i am not talking about the overnight trip to the nearest hill top with sufficient fluids and clothes and of course some edibles...

... we were interested in more of a pukka trip to a pukka tourist destination and only with friends... and then we went off to our respective floors and dozed off... and then sometime back his parents paid visit here in poona... and then his mom invited me over the dinner... and then during the casual conversation i was again offered to visit their hometown... of course i told them that i would be delighted...

... so on another one fine night we decided to move one step closer to making this trip a reality... and he immediately called his brother(s) to ask about their opinions/schedules etc ... and in next 15 minutes we booked out train tickets to one fine 'hill station' about three hundred kilometers North-NorthWest from the Zero Mile location...

..."There is no point climbing the ladder of success if you lose respect with every step."...

... the title of the post is shamelessly copied from GarryZ's FB profile... now that i have made the confession i feel light at heart!... ummm.... not exactly!... i mean... i never felt any burden in the first place! ;-) ... honestly! ...

... this whole month been very very hectic... and that is just one of the zillion excuses i can think of for not writing my blog... and as of my close friend often reminds me... "you can think of any excuse just to justify yourself!" ... i dunno if it is a good thing or bad... maybe it depends upon the excuse or the situation or the action requiring the excuse... just like almost all the decisions we take in life... u cannot group them either as good or bad... there is so much grey area involved that it wud be foolish on the part of us mortals to be able to distinguish...

... i have no idea what i am writing about! ... i hope things workout for me!! ... inshallah!

... "People who hate you are just the confused admirers, because they cant figure out the reason why everyone loves you"...

... what can i say... love u Ka, Kittu, NikkiZ, AaD, MoD, ShaD... and get well soon Pooh! and don't worry about anything... this too shall pass... u just need to take care of ur self first... and Jaggu! i wish u all the best for ur future... whether in aastralia or umrika... i guess Pandhi and Talla and Manee are already there somewhere... get in touch with 'em...

... thanks AaD for sharing Mod's number! ... it was goody goody feeling talking with her... (btw i cudn't give her the mazze wala surprise... but still!) ...

... thanks Sharad for the 'dinner' ... i can't forget the first runner up in the musical chair contest! ;-) ... phew! ...

... and i tried calling RokR... cudn't get through... and it was naaaaiiiceeeee talking to mom and grandma earlier tonite! ... i am loving it!...

...“Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.”...

... slight course correction in my flight path... i've set the ball rolling... and one small step towards one giant leap... may the navratri bring-in what i am aspiring for... amen!

... "If there’s no one to capture your smile; be your own photographer." ...

... ah! ... aha! ... argh! ... and similar expressions were aplenty past week... and i forgot to post the final installment of the 'four giggles and a bhai' series... in-fact i had to end it hastily... and those who are aware of my style will agree with that...

... but then i cannot guarantee the consistency of a professional writer blogger ... i am the male version of the 'Plain Jane' ... and then i found this on the FB profile of a friends' better half! :-)


U often hv a fw relations in life dat r nt very close to ur heart n neither cn dey be named, bt wn u think abt those people n what dey r facing in life- despite d fact hw dey behaved n treated people around u, u tend 2 pray n bless dem silently. Coz...

“Everybody in ur life, good or bad hs certainly contributed to mk u a distinguished individual n it’s solely on u, wt u reap out f it- d best or d worst!”

..."Here she comes, again!"...

..."four giggles and a bhai (part 3)"...

... who would have thought that with bridges crumbling over and roofs falling like bungee jumping, we will be able to host the Commonwealth Games on time... the key word is 'on time' ... the ability to host the Games was never questioned, it was the never ending delays and corruption and all that was giving all the jitters to all of us... or atleast to those who cared and bothered about their own reputation... after all we are now connected to lot more people who in-turn are connected to a lot more people spread across the world... it's not that the local politicians will face the axe, it's the 'image' of the country that was at stake ... and thank god (or was it the Army?) we made it a spectacular event and not only that... the news just came in that we have won another gold...

... but then this is not a CWG news update... this is my blog and i am in the middle of a story... and if u have come this far without noticing the titles of the posts (highly unlikely!) ... i must say it for the record that this is the third part of the story of my dinner out with NikkiZ... and of course along with three of her colleagues ...

... it was almost a deja-vu ... me driving to Sayaji after office to meet NikkiZ ... except for one crucial thing... the roads were empty and so the drive was smooth... and while i was waiting at the lobby, i was glued to the flat screen LCD... with some news channel repeating over and over and over again the Ayodhya verdict... and then she arrived... dressed in red kurta and matching sandals... and with the longest-happiest-hi-on-the-earth i cudn't care what was blaring on the TV...

... we went back to her room and chatted away for a while... and then arrived 'Green' and 'Grey'... so called because they wore such colored clothes later in the evening! duh! ... and after brief intro i returned to the room while the ladies walked away... and then enters 'violet' ... i never knew she was 'inside' ... so we had tea and some cookies and then we were off to the MG Road...

... as i mentioned earlier... i cudn't memorize the route to MG Road... so my best bet was to reach up-to the nearest point and follow the road signs... but then road signs in pune are like engaged employees in an IT company... our trip started pretty good... the Mumbai-Bangalore highway provides one of the best route for that unwinding driving pleasure... enough turns to keep your steering wheel oiled...

... and then the confusions started mounting and then i lost track!... NikkiZ came to the rescue and wud roll down her side of the window at almost every corner of the road... and then on one such occasion we turned from the 'one way' and there was a gang of policemen waiting for their share of kill... i was asked to 'pull over' and talk to the 'sahib' ... NikkiZ: "what are you doing? just drive away!... do u want me to take the wheel and drive?" and with four pretty ladies and totally lost me ... not to mention my language handicap AND it was the 'verdict' day so policewale will be 'extra' vigilant!!! ... i stepped outside murmuring "i have never done this before!"

..."so u want to pay money? fine!" NikkiZ was NOT helping on this one!... while i was arguing convincing the thug like tthulla that i am not used to this area and i was asking for directions... guess what? violet came over and took my side! ... actually i was surprised! i wasn't expecting any of the ladies to step outside and i was getting very upset... i mean VERY upset... but then the senior tthula simply responded "aage jaa ke left turn" to violet's continuous query "hume MG Road jana hai!" ... so there was a hush and we returned to the Vista and continued...

... few more turns and then we arrived on the MG road... and then violet's memories came rushing back... "there is a mall somewhere here"... "where is the barista?" (or was it CCD?) ... "Dorabji's??" ... i felt like a deer in the headlights! ... and then we *finally* reached the SGS Mall... eggaxtly opposite to the Dorabji's! ... jai ho!

..."four giggles and a bhai (part 2)"...

... i am not sure what is the 'good' time to write a blog post!... or rather what are the factors that translate an ordinary, non exciting, bland blog post to oh-my-god-this-is-so-freaking-good stuff!... i am not sure about that... so what do i do? i just go ahead and start typing... rather punching on the keyboard... random thoughts as and when they connect with each other...

... i was on phone with an old school friend... he was trying to reach me and i missed his call then i called back and he was in some meeting and then he called and i was driving and then i called and he missed the call!... and to top it all... i later kinda forgot to make a follow through... and then he called just now... i could hear the 'hum' of the local train he was in while returning back to his place from office... and with the usual hi and hello and kaisa hai and job kaisi hai and stuff... (i forgot to ask about his wife though!! :-| )... my phone battery died... in fact it's been on the death bed since long...

... the real shocker came this morning when my phone would shut down switch off immediately after switching back on! ... i sent an SOS sms to those who might try to get in touch with me and then still kept this old relic with me... i have been using this phone since 2007... and this is one of the most basic ones... and what pissed me off that the battery played this prank on a monday morning!... i mean... i took leave on friday and saturday and sunday was my weekly off... and in these three days of extended holiday it was working just fine!... the old mugger decided to 'die' on a monday morning! ... what the eff!!...

... oh! u might be wondering why i took leave on friday AND saturday clubbing it with my weekly off sunday... u r not wondering? well... anyway!... you see... we get these Special leaves... just a fancy name for the casual leaves... and since these cannot be 'accumulated' after the calender year... we are 'forced' to use them... and i had ten of such leaves in my account... so bang! i applied for the two day leave and made it an extended holiday! ...

... now this was before i received the call from NikkiZ... it was on thursday afternoon... and she said that she was in town... and this was not any ordinary thursday we are talking about... there was some electricity in the air... and may i say some strange excitement... not the oh-this-is-going-to-be-fun kind of excitement... mebbe it was uneasiness ... everyone was hooked on some kind of news dispensing medium... and the afternoon was getting hotter already... the verdict of the Ayodhya 'dispute' was to be made public and the city was getting close to a complete shut-down...

... and combination of some work 'issues' with the excitement of my weekend and her phone call drove out the very thought of the court verdict from my mind... so while we were planning the time of rendezvous and trip down to the MG road for 'shopping' on the phone, the weird look from my colleague (and a friend) made me wonder what's wrong with him!... after i said the last 'okay' and disconnected the call, he made me realized that it was the 'verdict day' and travel to city is not advised... well... atleast i can visit to Sayaji... so i thought...

... and then came the email from the APAC that the HNJ teams can leave early and in any case i was leaving early... so i drove back to my room... on the way to get a glimpse of the car washing facility and it was closed... i could sense the eerie silence on the roads and the thin traffic and blazing sun and not-so-clean car!!! ...

... and just now i realized it's late and i guess i need another part to complete this story ... so keep commenting and keep reading and keep encouraging! :-)

..."four giggles and a bhai (part 1)"...

... the absence of an internet connection at my room has been a blessing in disguise ... the only way 'out' of this 'problem' was a different proxy server address to access FB and Blogger from the office... however it wasn't that fun...

... to cut the month long story short, i used this 'disconnected' time in pretty neat way... first of all, my sleep deprivation was negated... then i finished The Tipping Point and then started Blink and i was so buoyed from these literary successes that i started Outliers parallel to Blink!! ... it was the summer of 2007... only in a different room...

... and though the month started with tragic event... it ended with a dinner with my cousin and her three colleagues at a 'dhabba'... and i hope u have guessed why this post was titled that way... and i think this is only the second time the title and the content are linked directly...

... it was NikkiZ's birthday last week and the verdict of 'Ayodhya Dispute' was expected as well... the verdict, however, was 'postponed'... but u can't postpone a birthday; especially if it was already 'marked' in the calender close to two decades ago... so i picked-up the phone and dialled her number... and perhaps for the first time i heard a 'sleepy' hello instead of the 'longest-happiest-hi-on-the-phone' u can imagine!... so i started with almost formal introduction of mine... and then i got the 'longest-happiest-hi-on-the-phone' u can imagine... apparently she lost her phone on her last official trip... and guess what? she lost all the numbers as well! duh!...

... and then she told that she was 'ambushed' by her colleagues... and got the birthday party... which went on late (i am not adding anything new to the trend, right?) ... and she slept very late so ... well... but she managed to pass a crucial information... that she will be in poona soon and then we can catch-up..

... so just when i was doing the mundane stuff some reading/replying the emails... i saw her name flashing on my mobile phone screen... the venue was same as the previous one... so i can skip the google maps... however in the excitement i overlooked the fact that she and her colleagues (i thought it was colleague!) were planning to go to MG Road... and then without the Internet connection at my room i never had a chance to 'memorize' the route from Sayaji to MG! ... and guess what??

(part 2 on it's way!)

..."If you drink don't drive. Don't even putt"...

... i lost two posts in three days! :-( .... this is not good! ... will get back soon with details! :-) ...

..."The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell"...

... itz been quite some time... although with the festive season on and almost everyone engaged with some or the other activity i feel my nano-hibernation wasn't missed much... in any case, this month started with not-so-good events... a close friend lost his uncle and then some trivial office stuff kept me un-hooked from Internet...

... another big contributor to this absence was my ISP ... apparently the Tata Indicom Broadband customer service people are more concerned for the bill payment rather than quality of the service... so i asked them to terminate the connection... and which they did... and to add insult to the injury, Tikona and MTS both failed to give me a new connection because of less than required signal strength in the vicinity...

... so now... every day after reaching my room... i take my own sweet time to refresh myself... read the entire newspaper... and then some more... and then i pick any book that lies on my bookshelf... and then read it!!... i feel so revived and refreshed for the rest of the evening that i am now going "early to bed and early to rise"... and of course i am feeling better & better everyday...

... with my company's appraisal still unclear, there is a visible distress in office... and this adds to the other trivial stuff that i have to take care of... i do hope that things will workout for better... so to conclude this post ... "aawl izz well" ...

..."I prefer the company of peasants because they have not been educated sufficiently to reason incorrectly."...

... i do not know what is more damaging: butter or cheese spread? ...

..."There's only one thing that can kill the movies, and that's education."...

... sometimes i wonder what is more difficult: making new relationships or maintaining the old ones! ... any answers? ...

..."when the day ends, the nite begins"...

..."There is a fine line between coincidence and fate"...

... this month has not started on a good note! ... i hope things change soon... and Rokr made another inspiring comeback on his blog... keep posting mate! and GarryZ u are hereby 'tagged' to complete the questionaire i answered in my previous post...

... pray for me and my friends! ...

..."Stupidity is permanent; ignorance can be fixed."...

... it was refreshing to get a message from Chitz... my perception about her is of one reclusive blogger, probably because she has far better things to do in life than to type endlessly about the day's or week's saga... ;-) ... and all she 'said' was that i am tagged!... now u might have read my 'reaction' on being tagged earlier so i won't repeat that... on the brighter side, it feels good to know that at least some stranger is kind enough to remember and send a message across! ... :-) ... so to complete the tag here are 3x7 things about myself....


3 places i would pack my travel bag for

I spent considerable 'impressionable' time of my life in Simla (also called Shimla)... and given a chance i would love to go there again (pity it is not the same anymore!)... would love to add more hilly and cold destinations especially European ones ... then in the second place, with some mystic charm, comes the Arabic countries including countrysides of Afghanistan ... and in the third place is the bright and sunny Greece ... with colorful landscape and winding roads to unwind ur mind...

3 On-Screen characters i love to watch

... quite difficult to list down three... i like the characters who portrait loving and caring and devoting relationship... in thick and thin of life... i think i have posted some characters in one of the earlier post... okay okay they were only of the women characters but then u should get some idea na?

3 moods that describes me the best

attached - when with my family and some close friends
detached- when with people i know are back-stabbers and snobs
happy- this is usually all the time... i can't let this life ruin my time spent on this planet! ;-)

3 things i always think of doing on a weekend... but never did.. :)

clean my house, join the gym and go for a long drive with friends...

3 things from my childhood that i cant forget

cassette cover of Neil Diamond and the tape reorder, my sky blue bicycle, my toy car with doors that would open!!

3 things i wud never say no to

food, usually sweet one!; quiet time spent alone or with someone i can't write name of; being a sounding board to friends and family

3 things i cant live without

internet, books and pizzas (i am trying to cut down on the third item and haven't eaten one since past one month!)

... and i have done away with the tag rules... why? arre! meri marzi! ... if u do feel like sharing these trivia about urself then u r welcome! :-D

while i try to figure out way forward in my life and my next post ::
"
Your patience may have long to wait,
Whether in little things or great,
But all good luck, you soon will learn,
Must come to those who nobly earn.
Who hunts the hay-field over
Will find the four-leaved clover.
"

..."You Look Good, I am Fine. Thank You!"...

... it's goin'to be a fine night tonight, it's goin' to be a fine day tomorrow ... i am so neck deep in such trivial (or so they seem!) matters right now, that i can't think straight about things that are more important in my life...

... i need peace ... love ... care... and maybe a shoulder to keep my aching neck happy... i need a break and if i were to face God right now... oh-boy! She will have to face some real anger from me, the mortal! ... She better remain engaged in some more un-worldly work...

..."The danger of the past was that men became slaves. The danger of the future is that man may become robots."...

... so how many mails u get on an average in a day? ... and before u read further... guess the number... and NO this is not any quiz or anything...

... the thing is... i received a letter from my sister today... and the envelop also contained the rakhis inside it ... and i asked about the mails and not the emails ;-) ... the old school style, hand written letter... albeit in a very poor handwriting... but who cares! ...

... i have read it 5 times since evening and have taken three photographs of it! :-) ... and in another photograph i tried to pose with the letter! :-D ... it is so freaking fun getting a letter in this manner... with zillions of emails and attachments and FB status and Chirkut scraps and all ... this form of communication is so touching and effective and personal and makes more impact on the reader than any other way... err... barring the phone call and video chat... but then the fundamental requirement of a phone or a computer with a broadband is just a little too much for a large swathe of population...

... do u know u can still send a postcard? and inland letter? and if that sounds oh-so-poor-middle-class u can start writing a letter on a paper with a pen... to anyone u care writing a letter to... put it in an envelop affix postage stamp and then post it... provided you still remember where the heck is the letterbox!!! yes! it was of red color! ...

... you don't have to write it to your distant relatives... try posting a letter to your sister or brother who resides in the room next to yours... or to your mom who resides in... errr... the kitchen most of the time... or to your dad...

... see the expression on their face once they open the letter and realize that it is not a bill or cheque or spam (the original one!) ... i think i am going to do just that... after all u have to reply to a letter na? it is the custom bhai! ... remember? "patr ka jawab zaroor dena" ...

... i am off to watch Qurbani ... not again ... i didn't finish in the first sitting! ... and btw Zenat is so maasha-allah! ... "laila-o-lailaaaaaaa... aisi tu lailaaaaaa" ... you got the drift...

..."Every song ends, but that's not a reason to not enjoy music."...

... for the first time in my life... i went inside the vault... The Vault!... can u imagine? ... MP asked me to come along to discuss with this guy about this proposal for our project and there i was... inside one of the most well guarded places on the company premises...

... and i met in-person with one of my school alumni... she happens to work inside The Vault... and all these months i wanted to meet her... talk to her... and there it was... all over... in less than 45 seconds... one of the briefest and coldest 'first meeting' with someone... anyone actually... but then i am happy....

... u have to take the small step before u can take that giant leap...