d@ydreamer: An ordinary man .....Extra-ordinary Dre@m$!

HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!

2007-08-14T07:18:00.000-04:00

Let's salute to those thousands and thousands of unknown HEROs who have sacrificed their lives for out independence!!!

Vande Mataram!!!

If my life is for rent ......!

2007-07-13T04:59:00.000-04:00

I've always thought
that I would love to live by the sea
To travel the world alone and live my life more simply
I have no idea what's happened to that dream
Cos there's really nothing left here to stop me ...!!

If my life is for rent .....and I ......

- Dido

I @m Mine!!!

2007-06-14T08:17:00.000-04:00

The ocean is full cause everyone's crying,
The full moon is looking for friends at high tide.
The sorrow grows bigger when the sorrows denied.
I only know my mind. I am mine.

I am mine .....!

~ Pearl Jam

The Pursuit........

2007-03-23T14:53:00.000-04:00

The Pursuit (of HAPPYNESS) ......

..... has finally begun ......!!

Wish me luck :)

You ....................!!!

2007-02-14T10:35:00.000-05:00

Well today is so called V'day and how can I miss to write something about it! I have to write something about "You"!!!

Having lotz of thoughts in mind does not mean that we have to pen down each one of them!!! Being Lazy a**, I always like to do some Copy n' Paste. So here I am, pasting the lyrics from one of the loveliest songs I'hv ever heard!!

This is from "Lifehouse". You should listen to this song today and make ur Valentine to hear it!!!

Find Me Here
Speak To Me
I want to feel you
I need to hear you
You are the light
That's leading me
To the place where I find peace again.

You are the strength, that keeps me walking.
You are the hope, that keeps me trusting.
You are the light to my soul.
You are my purpose...you're everything.

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

You calm the storms, and you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall.
You steal my heart, and you take my breath away.
Would you take me in? Take me deeper now?

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?
How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Cause you're all I want,
You're all I need
You're everything, everything
You're all I want your all I need
You're everything, everything.
You're all I want you're all I need.
You're everything, everything
You're all I want you're all I need, you're everything, everything.

How can I stand here with you and not be moved by you?
Would you tell me how could it be any better than this?

Let's hope I'll get chance to play this song for somebody next year :)

$odieR of FoRtune........!

2007-01-24T08:06:00.000-05:00

Guess it's time to be come out of "soldier of fortune" frame of mind!!!

Wish me luck!!!

SurPri$e ....!!

2007-01-16T08:47:00.000-05:00

That's my plan this weekend!!!

I W@nt to ......

2007-01-11T11:16:00.000-05:00

........break free !!!

And I'm on my way!!!

Almost reaching there!!!

"- 6" !

2007-01-03T00:54:00.000-05:00

A new Year's gift!!

I am taking it with no hesitation!!

Guess I deserve this!!! An all time low for me!!!

My Life Lines.........!

2006-12-29T10:50:00.000-05:00

Was planning to put these pics here for days now!!! Guess better be late than never!!

Here are my life line(s) .... I tried to accomodate my of faces here which were available!!! So these are not the ONLY ones!!

*(Click on the photos to see larger images)

There are times .....!

2006-12-26T09:43:00.000-05:00

There are times in your life,
when you feel like a rolling stone!
But you won't be able to roll even a foot!

There are times in your life,
when you feel you are cheating yourself!
But the life's cheating on you!

There are times in your life,
when you feel you are just dragging yourself on an endless road!!
But there won't be any goal in sight!

There are times in your life,
when you feel, you should be left alone on a burning hot desert!
But you will end up in a comfortable crowd!

There are times in your life,
when you feel you don't want to breath!
But it's too easy not to do it!

There are times in your life,
when you feel you'd die of a boredom!!!
But you won't die n' so do boredom!!

There are times in your life,
When you want forget your passions, your dreams!!
But they'll show up every now n' then!

There are times in my life,
When I wonder, if I am THE ONLY ONE feeling all this,
Just to realise, I'm not ALONE!!!

Welcome to the Jungle!!!

2006-12-01T03:56:00.000-05:00

Well, I was about to come out of my shell and was gonna start writing something about the much talked Indian team's performance in South Africa, the series of these unfortunate events happened. So I decided to write something about it.

We all read everyday in news paper how India is dreaming to become superpower and all. I know I am a big dreamer and pathetically optimistic person, still I doubt about this claim made by our media.

What century are we living in....? Sixteenth or Seventeenth? Are we still sleeping?? ...a big YES!!! Are people still caring about the great people like Ambedkar, Gandhiji?? Do they follow their good thoughts?? Is this what they have taught us....to destruct public property, worsen India's image on the international front? Is Gandhigiri only about sending roses to people? Do we need the destruction of public property over the dispute of using "Gandhigiri" instead of "Gandhiwaad" or whatever they wanted to call it? (Poor Shakespere!)

I know there are bunch of people among us, whom we all elect to represent our constituency, who have just a single aim in their lives : just grab money by hook and crook. They want to ride on the sympathy of particular caste or religion and hence are creating these kinds of scenes every now and then. All they want is the political benefit out of these shameful acts. But do they care about their own fellow countrymen? And finally who is getting suffered out of this? A common man, a poor man!

This still amazes me, why people don't want to use their brains and have to listen to these so called leaders. I don't know what is solution over this, but this has certainly raised billions of questions in my mind. And the worst thing is, I am "comfortably dumb", even to understand and realise what these questions are! I know there are lots of people like me in the crowd as well!

Welcome to the Jungle!!!

Happy Diwali!!!!

2006-10-18T11:12:00.000-04:00

Wishing u ....

All Shades of Happiness,

All Rays of Hopes,

All Strength of Health!!!!

A Very Happy Diwali!!!!

LOST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-08-08T01:23:00.000-04:00

I'm Lost...............!!

If anybody happened to find me out, please return me, back to me!!! I need to find myself desperately!!!!

Should I thank u in advance???

Blasts!!

2006-07-11T22:59:00.000-04:00

There is nothing I can do, and it hurts. Especially when I'm away!!! I feel very sad for those really lost their relatives.

May Almighy give them strengh to overcome this!

9 Seconds and Pack ur bags!!!

2006-07-07T00:48:00.000-04:00

Some banality ...after so many days ....Got this forward ....cudn't stop myself putting these pics over here ....!!

It all happened in 9 secs...! And my boys packed their bags to go back to home ... These pics explain it with good comments ;)

** Click on the pick if u r not able to read the comments!!

u know what ...this forwarded mail forgot to tell one thing ....!

Carlos finally found his missing earings exactly 9 secs after the goal...! We are waiting for his pic of celebrating for that!!!

Getting Better ........And Bitter ..........!

2006-07-06T04:19:00.000-04:00

This is getting better and better .....! Still something bitter for me!!!!

Okie ... I know what you r gonna say ...Basically my boys are out because they didn't play well against Zidane's men!!! There was absolutely 'no-show' from their side ...they deserved to lose on that day and they did lose!!!

I didn't want either Germany or Argentina to win...they r out!!! But my boys are also out too!!! So I thought of shifting my loyalty to Figo's men in Semis so that they can beat France ...! But they lost to a good fight ...! Seems the teams, whom I'm backing, are getting knocked out!!! He he!!

I simply doubt if anybody have ever dreamt of Zidane playing his last match as World Cup Final!!! But the old man and his (older) team is getting better and better...! As, this being his final match, he and his team mates will try hard to beat out Italy and hold the beautiful cup again after 8 years..!

This time I have decided not to back up anyone....or else game will go to Penalty shoot-outs. I don't want to happen that in the finals ...!!

We are certainly going to see one of the exiting matches on Sunday night!! Let's see if old is GOLD or young boys are gonna do the TRICK!!!

Change ..!

2006-07-05T00:00:00.000-04:00

Change is the name of the game...! If I want to win the game of life, I need to change myself a lot in many respects. Especially I expect much more from people who are supposed to be my dear ones!!! I should STOP myself putting in their shoes as they might not behave as I would have in those situations!!

Amendments to my attitude for my own betterment should be the key if I want to achieve what I want!! And finally I should STOP dreaming about it all the way....!

No dreams is a better dream u see!!!

P.S. : This should have been entry into my black blog, but I have decided to close it forever. I hardly care now, if anybody reads this!

Fever's still ON......!

2006-06-27T22:06:00.000-04:00

This is really getting interesting! First Ukraine chipped in for the quarter-final berth and now France, Zinedine Zidane showing his classy act finally! Also Australia gave a great fight to Italy. Hope Ukraine does the same in qtr final against Italy. I guess Italy has a good draw this time. I can see them in last four now!

I thought French team is too old and they will get easily beaten by Spain. But in a way, they are dark horse now. It will be tough on my boys (Brazil) to face them. But my boys are professional and hopefully they will put up a good show! However, I would have preferred them to play against Spain, neways.. let's see!

England will be in deep trouble unless Rooney clicks in their all important match against Portugal. Portugal is playing pretty good and are my favorites to win this encounter. They will definitely miss Deco. And if Beckham and Rooney can bend it together, then it will be hard for Figo's man to with this match!

Well well ...what should I say about this match : Arg vs Germany. This is THE MATCH! Germany is on roll and Argentina is not far behind...! Fortunately, Ballack fit for Argentina quarter-final clash. He can be the key to Germany's success in this clash. The unfair thing is, they are meeting in quarter-finals. I think they should have met at least in Semis. I am in for Germany! Fortunately this match is on Friday evening here. So I am all geared up to cheer up for Germany, because I want to see the repeat of last world cup final this time!!!!

Picture's worth of thousand ...!

2006-06-19T22:25:00.000-04:00

I think following pic is enough to tell what I have done to my hair :)

The only difference is that I wasn't crying! I restored the length of my hairs to the one in Dec when I came back from UStay Alone!

I think ....

2006-06-18T23:27:00.000-04:00

I think I'm really gonna die now ......!

I can't believe my eyes ....!

I NEVER thought that I can dream of this .....!

My company has thrown one more surprise ...this time good one :P

I'm happy for it ...He He He heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Oppppppppppssssssssssss!

2006-06-16T08:38:00.000-04:00

I can't do this guys .....I can't pronounce this word ...Please help urself!!!!

pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis

noun
(NOO-muh-noh-UL-truh-MY-kruh-SKOP-ik-SIL-i-koh-VOL-kay-no-koh-NEE-o-sis, nyoo-)

Meaning : A lung disease caused by inhaling fine particles of silica.

The Cup of Life..!!!

2006-06-08T23:52:00.000-04:00

Due to time differences, I won't be able to enjoy each match! But myself and J have decided to watch Semi's and Final on huge screens in the pubs...!

He wants English August and I prefer Green and Yellow!

Whom do u guys prefer??

I hate Coding...!

2006-06-06T22:27:00.000-04:00

I have started hating coding! Its not about the coding which I do to earn my bread. Its much worse than what I do to Unix and Oracle everyday! I have started hating Copy and Paste as well! I was thinking that Copy and Paste is the simplest job. It indeed is! I am doing that for 5 years now without having much trouble, in fact I am getting paid for that!

This is about the new movie, Da Vinci Code! Its about Tom Hanks most awful performance! Its about consecutive disappointing outing of Ron Howard, yes ...the same man who gave us Apollo 13, Beautiful Mind ...!

Ron Howard's last movie "The Cinderella Man" was nothing more than pathetic. But this movie beats it too. In fact Cinderella movie was good in patches. This has only unbearable patches!

Despite of my innumerable "just-do-ruthless-donkey-work" kind of days at office, I couldn't stop myself going to this movie, just because I had heard so much about this book.

But sometimes, better things can be made to look ordinary. That's what happened with Ron Howard. He decided to give more weightage to the secret in the movie and he lost track of all. He failed to convey and convince his characters to the people in the movie. He didn't build the characters at all or showed any signs of trying to do it. Unless you get comfortable with the characters in a movie, you can't concentrate on the story, forget about the secrets such as this. Look at God Father and why it is one of the best movies. All characters were build very efficiently and that's what was the first step towards success. Ron Howard failed to do that and gave us an ordinary suspense thriller! Tom Hanks was not sleeping for days, I guess that's why he looked very sleepish in the movie. As per his character in the movie, he was supposed to do very little, he could manage to do nothing. I doubt he accepted this movie just because Ron Howard was doing it. Nothing much to comment on his performance here!

But this movie has inspired me to read the book at least. Btw, this is not an attempt to discourage you to see the movie, but in fact sometimes its better to see extra-ordinary talent doing ordinary things!

Life .....!

2006-05-29T01:13:00.000-04:00

.

How often I used to think I know you!

But you have again proved me wrong !

I don't know when I would be able to understand u!

And then ....

What all follows in a damage control!

I am used to it ...though it hurts a lot!!

Distance .....!

I 'hv always amused by the distance ...!

First time ever I am hating myself for being amused!

Next two months ....

Again difficult time .....!

Time will move as if its stuck in a dead man's grave ....

as slow as it could ....!

Just laughing at me ....

For not understanding u ...

u ...my life !

Run Mann Run.......!

2006-05-25T07:40:00.000-04:00

I am running ...

Running away ...

I'm running away from it...

Its not pain ...

not pain at all...

'cause ...

'cause I know ...

its the only thing

that is keeping me alive these days!

Still I know ...

I know I am running ...

Running away from it ...

Its not my dreams ...

'cause ...

'cause I know ...

I can't be complete

Without my dreams !

I know I am running ...

Know I'm running away ...

its not my failures ...

'cause ...

'cause I know ...

I have to live up with them!

Still I know ...

I am running away ...

but not ...

not away from life ...

'cause ...

'cause I know ...

I have my friends ...

And my family to make it beautiful ...

Still ...

Still I am running ...

I'm running away ...

its me!!!

I am just trying ...

Trying to run away ...

run way from myself ...

Just to ...

to ...

to discover myself ...

discover me all over again!!!

I thought ......

2006-05-12T00:02:00.000-04:00

I thought that .....I heard you laughing!
I thought that .....I heard you sing!
I think I thought .....I saw you try!!

But that was just a dream

That was just a dream....!

That was just a dream

Just a dream, just a dream

dre@m ....!!!

The New Place....!

2006-05-02T04:50:00.000-04:00

Finally I have landed in HK! Last week was absofcukinglutely buzy!! Me and Joe were almost behaving like running in dark jungle without any torch!! It sounds crazy, but it wasn't better than that!

It was really heartening to see Joe doing these many things at a time.... I wish he were having 10 arms, 5 brains and what not! (Infact, having one brain is good enough for this guy right now! He has almost forgotten that there is one part of body, called as Brain, and he is having it!) The icing on the cake was awesome .... we were told at 8 30 PM that we have a flight to catch at 4 AM very next day...!!! We were speachless!!

Whatever may it be, he wanted to come out of the current position and now he is happy!

Being a "preferred veggie", I knew I might face lots of trouble here. My first day lunch in office turned out to be a meal with pork, tuna and what not! I really didn't care. Joe is used to it. My first experience with chopsticks was not worth remembering!!! I need to learn that very fast if I want to eat outside properly here!

Many people in the office are saying that I don't look that Indian...! Probably because of my Pony-Tail!!!

We landed here on Saturday and till Tusday morning, we were communication-less! No phone at apt and no internet!! Probably we were lazy enough not to care about that! As we still don't have net at home, it will be tricky time after office hours. But this, being a short trip, I think we have very less time to think about these things!

The people here are quite friendly in general. But I am yet to go to HongKong island... Let's see what is coming my way!!!

Till then .....keep dre@ming......!

Leave the Kids alone !

2006-04-10T03:57:00.000-04:00

I hate politics! I have started hating it even more!

I guess 2 years back, Murali Manohar Joshi had started this saga by announcing that he'll reduce the fees of IIM's. I mean its a good thing that you have got money to give it back to Education Institutes. But why should we try to pour water in a sea. His idea cost BJP lots of votes and was one of the major factors for BJP to lose elections.

Now, it was turn of HRD ministry under Arjun Singh. No matter who is at the government, everybody wants to screw up the better functioning systems in India. Reservations! I am not against them. Reservation for the undergrads is fine though I think the percentage of reservation is killing the General Category students. I guess the reservation should be based on the income and not on the caste. When I was talking admission to the engg college, the general category had a mere 51% stake in the no of seats. Also the students from the reserved category can take admission in Open category. So effectively that percentage comes down.

After sometime, they have added some quota for girls. I am not against it, but 33% is too much when you are Open category Male student. We are left with peanuts. That too girls can take admission through this open category quota!

This is the picture for the admission to the graduation courses. I have seen so many of my deserving friends in Open category suffering due to this system. My funda is simple. Reservations should be there for graduation course, but not to the extent that it will make open category quota less than 70% which I can only dream of as it is not going to happen in next few years! Also there is no reservation for Economical Background Classes. They have tuition fee waivers only in Government Colleges. If government has money to spend, give it to these students. I have seen many of my friends working after college hours to support their engineering education. Even if they have good marks, they can't dream of taking admissions to the better colleges if these colleges are not in their city. Even if government is giving them education loans, still its fine with them. I have seen most of the banks not able to give them education loans because of their existing economical status.

Lets go back to the post graduate studies. I strongly feel that there should not be any reservations for these courses. Graduation is a need and post-graduation is a luxury. If you deserve to go to IIMs/IITs for post grads, you are capable of earning and saving money 2 lakhs per annum which these institutes are taking. Also banks will ask no questions to give you loan for these institutes. Better work for 2-3 years, save money and go to post graduation.

Also if the seats are reserved in these premium institutes of India, the quality of education will be same as those hundreds of private management schools in India. But somehow, the person, who has never taken a heat of taking admission to these colleges won't understand the problem of doing this. He should make his own son/daughter or grand son or whatever to get admission into these colleges and then only this person can understand what it means! He is just targeting his vote bank. Those who want to see India as a bright country in future need to dump the leaders like this person in the Arabian sea.

I have few suggestions for this person to increase his vote back :

1) Reserve the seats as per Mandal in the Buses, trains.
2) Reserve the standings in the Bus Queue at Andheri Station as per
Mandal.
3) Reservations in each and every kind of line in the government
offices.

This will reduce the time in line and will give you more votes.
You’ll have plenty of ideas of this sort. Please give them to this Man! Hopefully he will implement these ideas and will leave the kids alone!!

So just a small advice : Politicians, leave the kids alone!

Kids,
Go WEST!!!!

Happy New Year!!

2006-03-30T08:03:00.000-05:00

Wishing u all a very happy Gudhi Padava and happier coming year!

May all ur "dre@m$" come true!!

पुन्हा एक नवे वर्ष ....
पुन्हा एक नवी दिशा ..!
तुमच्या कर्तुत्वाला पुन्हा एक नवी दिशा ...
नवे स्वप्न - नवी क्षितिजे ....
सोबत गुढीपाडव्याच्या नव्याकोऱ्या शुभेच्छा!

Something interesting about this festival :

Importance - The Beginning Of The Hindu Calendar.
Special - A Mixture Made Of Tender Neem Leaves, Tamarind, Ajwain, Gram-Pulse And Jaggery
Gudhi Padwa heralds the advent of a prosperous new year and is considered as one of the most auspicious days by Hindus. The Hindu year begins on the first day, "shuddha pratipada", of the month of Chaitra (March-April). It is one of the 'Muhurat' amongst the three and a half Muhurats that occur in Hindu calendar year. The day is considered auspicious for building or entering a new house, putting a child to school, or starting a business. With this day begins the new season, the spring.

It is believed that on 'Gudi Padva' :

The Universe was created by Brahma.
Satyuga (The Age of Truth and Justice) began.
King Vali was killed by Rama.Shri Rama returned to Ayodhya victorious.
This is one of the 3 and a half days in the Hindu Lunar calendar, whose every moment is considered auspicious

It is a day of great festivity and rejoicing. People get up early and clean their houses, decorating them with intricate rangoli designs. New clothes are worn, and sweets made for the occasion include shrikhand, basundi, jalebis etc. Many homes also decorate the pots with coconuts, flowers and mango leaves, symbolizing nature's bounty to all.

On this day a pole named Gudhi is erected in front of the house. Padwa is another name for "Pratipada", the first day of the lunar month. A new cloth is tied on the Gudhi, a metal or silver vessel is put on to it and a garland of sweets is hung on it. People welcome the New Year with Gudhi worship and distribute Prasad comprising of tender Neem leaves, tamarind, Ajwain, gram-pulse and jaggery. The Neem paste is believed to purify the blood and build up immunity in the body against diseases.

(Thanks to first person who collected this information, I am just a copy cat!)

Punishment!!!!

2006-03-29T10:45:00.000-05:00

If u want to punish anybody, make him drive a two wheeler on the streets of Pune!!!

How to lose the match effectively!

2006-03-23T06:29:00.000-05:00

5 days and 14 dropped catches n' a missed stumping! Do you want to win after doing this??

No ... we didn't want to win this match. GOD only knows why!! (I am referring to Almighty here and not GOD of India cricket Mr. SRT)

Here are few experts from the interviews of Indian players after the match courtesy PNN. They have highlighted their skills which made us lose all important test. What a show!

Wasim Jaffer : I had made hundred at Nagpur and had played long enough for England team to understand my weakness. I am a bit weak at incoming delivery if I play it from the back foot. They bowled a bouncer at me in Mohali second innings and next one was incoming! After a bouncer I decided to be on back foot and played the incoming bowl with my pads as usual and got out. So in the final test at Mumbai, first I got out to the bouncer in the first innings as I knew I'll be gone to the next delivery which must be incoming. As I survived the bouncer in the second innings, I decided to fall to incoming delivery next up in the second inning! Still I guess I have cemented my place in the team.

Irfan Pathan : People are calling me all rounder. But I don't believe that! Just to prove me, I have slowed down my pace in the bowling. Also got out to the false shot in the first innings when it was crucial for me to stay at the wicket. I hate to open. So I dragged one full toss on to the stumps in the second innings. Good job you see!

Sachin Tendulkar : I think I should take some rest. No further comments!

Yuvraj Singh : Why am I always supposed to hit a century in a test match which we lose! It has happened 2 years back in Pak and they didn't take me in the team afterwards. This year also I hit a century in a match and we had lost it. So this time I decided to get out cheaply! Also I had a date with Kim in the evening!

Virender Sehwag : Back pain you see! Also my mother didn't call me when I was batting (?) urrr.. padding! I had dropped only one catch as I could not get more chance to drop them being not on the field most of the time in this test match. I wanted to get out on the first delivery in the second innings, so I offered pads straight away to the first delivery which I think was on the stumps. But Simon Taufel didn't think so. (Stupid man...why he wants to be correct all the time!) Then after padding 15 balls, Anderson managed to bowl one on the stumps and I immediately took it on my pads to get leg before decision. Thanks to my mother she didn't call me while I was on the field, else you would have seen a different result! So all credit goes to her!

Mahendra Singh Dhoni : I had dropped 5 catches and missed one stumping. My best performance so far behind the wicket! I played one non existing shot on the first ball and they dropped my catch. I thought they wanted to give me 6 chances. So I decided to play the same attacking shot on the slowing pitch in the same over. But this time, they cheated and grabbed that catch. I guess they will give me my remaining 5 chances in One days! (Laughs)

Harbhajan Singh : I have been performing pathetically for last 4-5 tests. I was thinking that I will be dumped for this test. But they took me in playing 11 instead of poor VVS. Now you know I am not in good form with bowl. So how can you expect me to get through England batting line up or bat like VVS? This is quite unfair to me! Also .... (blah blah blah )
When we told Bhajji that his time is up, he stopped talking instantaneously, without forgetting to conclude with two words : "Thank You!".

Rahul Dravid : 5 bowlers first mistake. Giving England batting second mistake. I guess I am still learning how to captain this side! But all credit goes to Fredie and his boys .... (Then all his diplomatic words for English Team.)

We tried to contact England team, but they were so busy with the celebrations that we could not get hold of them. PNN team heard that England guys have decided to visit West Bengal where people have already started a grand celebration!

My lady Luv!!!

2006-03-22T05:10:00.000-05:00

Every time she meets me, she's like ,"Man ... you are not eating properly!" , "What have u done to urself?", "You have lost weight, r u skipping ur meals?" etc. I am used to this after being away from home for past 5 years. The only new dialogue that has been added is : "When are you going to cut your hairs?"

Yes... I am talking about my mother. I met her last weekend after a month or so. The first thing she started (as usual) was about food! I guess given her a chance; she will make me eat all the food in the world!!!

When I was at home for vacation for about a month, I had gained lot of weight just by consuming 'solid' things! (Generally I have an allergy to solid things and I always prefer liquid things!)All credit goes to her. The first thing in the morning that she wanted me to do was to eat!!! I used to eat like a pig and first time in my life span I crossed 70 Kgs!

But its not all about food, the list is ever-ending! The way she keeps everything simple, the way she accommodates everybody is simply amazing! She is the patience booster for me!! I wish I could tackle all my problems with all the cool n' calmness the way she does!

Just one of my previous posts which I had written for her : I miss you so much!

Just another ....!

2006-03-16T01:59:00.000-05:00

..All n' all its just, another Brick in the Wall!!

Heard this song quite a few times yeasterday night. I guess I have come to the cross road where I didn't want to come to ever in my life! I was never good at solving puzzles and life has thrown a little puzzle at me. I guess I should get used to solving puzzles now.

I know whatever I have written over here, is a crap. (Few people will go ahead and say that all of my blogs are crap ;)) But sometimes crap is so meaningful!

Anyways, one more brick has been added to the wall of my dreams. One more failure means one more 'experience'! (Read 'One night @ Call center' by Chetan Bhagat to understand how important it is to fail just as to taste gr8 success in future.)

I guess I should stop now. You see, I have a wall to build!!!

H@ppy B'day Aamir!!!

2006-03-14T08:37:00.000-05:00

Wishing Aamir a very very happy birthday and (more) creative year ahead!

He has already rocked the nation again by "Loosing Control" with "Rang De Basanti". Eventually his first movie as a Hero was "Holi" in 1984.

I guess no body could have played the role of Akash in DCH. Check out his expressions here :

Hats off to this amazingly talented star!

And not to forget ...

Wish U all Happy Holi!
May this Holi brings a lot of joy and happiness in our life.
&
Wish that your life becomes colorful as the colors of Holi

PuneGiri - Part II

2006-03-07T07:36:00.000-05:00

Continued ....

After carefully observing me for 10-15 seconds, three of them left. I guess my looks scared them. I wished I could look scary enough to scare all of them! Damn... I need to work more on my looks to make them scarier.

"License Dikhavo", his yelling words woke me from my thoughts. I don't know why people start talking to me in Hindi instead of Marathi in Pune.
I gave him the license and started talking in Marathi," He ghya!" (Take this)
"So why did you come on this bridge with your motorcycle?", he had started his investigations. I was tempted to reply him back that I came on the motorcycle because my friend does not have car yet. But it was not time to irritate him. So I decided to be cool for a while.

"Sorry Sir. Actually I am not from Pune. So I didn't know that this bridge is meant only for non-two wheelers." Rickshaw was still going through my mind. What if person walks down the bridge: still 'non-two-wheeler' sounds good! I was happy with myself for finding that word. Still why do people construct two separate bridges: one for two wheeler and one for non-two wheelers?
Good that you decided not to run away", he again woke me up from my weird thoughts.
Did you observe something around you?" he asked while I was still fighting with my thoughts about 'non-two wheeler' bridge.
"No sir, what is it?" I responded calmly.
"Check on your right hand side", I twisted my neck to see the signal on my right. There was a camera hanging out there. Then he made me do my entire neck-exercise by telling me to look around in all possible directions. "Gosh ... he knew I had skipped my exercises today." I thought to myself. Somebody was definitely spying on me!!!
"Yeah sir, I can see cameras around", it was me off course.He gave me a victorious looks as if he had himself planted all those cameras.

He started, "You know what, if you would have run away, we would have sent a photo of yours to the address of the motor cycle owner. That too, one person from our department would have come to deliver the letter personally. You would have made to pay the fine as well as other expenses for the personal delivery. This all would have definitely costed you thousand bucks. Also ....blah blah....", he was talking something for next five minutes about fine, cameras and all, but I had already switched off my ears. Probably I think this is the best thing I can do in these kinds of situation. After attending hundreds of meeting in my life, especially related to quality and all other craps, I have become kind of perfectionist in switching on and off my ears!Probably he had stopped talking.

So I decided to switch on my ears as well as open my mouth.
"So what am I supposed to do now, sir?" I was trying to be over-polite!
"You will have to pay the fine."
"How much?"
"Hundred bucks."
"Is there anything that can be done?" I was trying to reduce the amount!
He thought for a while. I thought he will start his cassette number two. So I was all set to switch off my ears. But he replied blackly, "March end is coming close. I will give you receipt."

He opened his book and asked me name and address. While writing address, he started, "I would like to give you few tips while driving in Pune as you are new." I gave him money and he gave me receipt. I thought of the scene when my friend will see this receipt. He will definitely have good time tonight pulling my legs and what not!

The cop was still talking about tips and I was still thinking. The best tip, which off course he didn't give to me, but I thought of myself, was not to drive unless you have somebody living in Pune behind you! He had a great patience as he was going on and on about various do's and don'ts. I was doing the same thing which I used to do in college. Just "ya", "yes" in between and shaking head as if you are listening carefully.
"Bouy, this guy should teach in engineering college," I thought to myself.

Finally he finished off his last session and asked me, "Where are you planning to go?"
Now I was taken aback. This guy gave me neck exercise, gave tips for driving and still he wants to help me out by giving the directions. I guess he was trying to make up for the 100 Rs fine he took from me. But for me all this for 100 Rs was very costly deal!

I told him the address and he gave me the directions. This time also he was telling me all the minute details on my way to left and right. Seriously this guy should teach in a college. He was very elaborative and had loads of patience! Also he didn’t care if I was caring about what he was saying. He was just going on n' on!

I followed his directions. One the way, I came across one bridge. I took my bike to one side. Made sure that the two wheelers are going on the bridge and few of them are coming from other direction as well. After getting enough evidences, I decided to go on that bridge!

Food!!! After being at home for a continuous month, you don't want to eat food outside! I have to live with it on weekdays as there is no choice and I am too lazy to start cooking again! So I tried to eat as much as I can at my relative's place. Then we finished off one important work! My life seems to be on Roll nowadays!

Went to friend's place at that night, who took me for a ride for going on the bridge which he had already warned me of. I am used to being taken for a ride by him so didn't mind much!

Three and half hours of journey and back to work, waiting for yet another trip on the coming weekend!!!

PuneGiri - Part I

2006-03-06T09:59:00.000-05:00

And that's the city where I am planning to settle after sometime! Still I don't like that city very much!

I am talking about Pune which was graced by my presence this weekend! 3 years in Mumbai and I am loving this place and given a choice I would like to settle at this place. I love the speed of life at this place, the life seems always energetic and they say that this city never sleeps! It may be 2 AM or 4 AM, you will still get Tea on almost every corner of this city. This is just an example. I don't mean to say that getting a Tea at any time makes this city better than others, but there are lots of other things as well! Neways, let me write something about my last week's "adventures" in Pune!

I reached Pune late. I meant "late" by this city's standards. I reached there at midnight, probably 11 45 PM or so. I had just come out of bus and all rickshaw-walas came running at me. When I told them where exactly I wanted to go, they told me the fare which was almost 4 times the normal fare. I guess after 11, charging more is okay, but this was height. (And the more height was the last time when I had visited Pune, I had actually paid that much fare and then all my friends had taken me for a ride!)

So I called up my friend and he came to pick me up in 10-15 min. I love drinking tea in the morning or in the afternoon or at night only! Mid-nights are made for drinking Tea anyways! So I thought of having a cup of tea, but could see only rickshaw-walas awake at that place. As there was no other option, I decided to wait for my friend helplessly while all rickshaw-walas enjoyed their time by looking at my hairs and passing some comments. I slightly heard Dhoni's name in their discussion! Probably I may not play as good cricket as Dhoni, but at least his hairstyle resembles mine. I tried to kill my time by laughing to myself at this thought and suddenly heard somebody calling my name!

The guy was the person whom I had made to wake up and come and pick me up from some 10-15 km long distance! As he is now going to get used to that, he didn't mind that. And I will never mind doing that again either!!

The next day, I took his bike and started going to my relative's place. I was going to his place 26
years after my birth, I mean first time in my life. I was driving first time on the wide (?) roads of Pune city with signals constructed by a 50-meters-apart rule! He guided me how to go and which turn is to be taken and which should not be taken. And I, as usual, listened that carefully and, as usual, couldn't exactly get the directions properly. So I decided to follow 'ask-n-proceed' policy. As I used to go to Pune quite regularly in the past, I knew one thing: If one road is One-Way on Sunday, from Monday it may become No-Entry. So I knew I had to be careful.

I was going fine, until I realised that I can sense a short cut at certain point. It all was based on
the logic I calculated based on the direction I was going. It was indeed a short cut. I was going on a bridge known as 'Lakadi Pool' at around 10 AM. Everything was right there; it was a green signal when I took the turn. Still immediately after I took a turn, one rickshaw-wala behind me started giving me a horn. I gave him a scary look. But as I had helmet on my head, he didn't look that scared or at least I thought that may be the reason him still smiling. I asked, "What?" in quite irritating tone. He was, "Saab, Pata nahi kya, es bridge par two wheelers allowed nahi hai!", still smiling.

And there I was, almost stoned. I realised that I had crossed almost half of bridge. There was no point in thinking that rickshaw-wala was just kidding as I could not see a single two wheeler on the bridge. I started, "S**t, how can there be a bridge only for non-two wheelers (rickshaw is three wheeler, I had started thinking immediately) and one for only two wheelers (I assumed there would be one, otherwise how, in the whole world, a two wheeler can go to the other side? Bouy, I had really started thinking!)

When you are in helpless condition, you can hardly do anything about it. I was doing nothing either! I could see people in cars looking back and giving me smiles. I couldn't do much about it, except smiling back!

I started my bike praying that there shouldn't be any traffic police at the end of the bridge. There is a certain thing about good people, whenever they prey with their hearts, HE does not listen to them. I was welcomed by not a single traffic police, but a small traffic police station having 4 police on duty. It is always good to see if they are on duty on time, but I thought if they could have come to their jobs on their "regular" times, I could have escaped. But no!! They decided to come on time today only. Had anyone told them that they are going to get one bakra today? Not sure, may be! Lot of people in this whole world do have knowledge of my plans!

There I was, amidst 4 Traffic Police staring at me as if I had come from other Planet! (This statement is enough to indicate that I had got rid of my helmet by them.)

to be continued...

Stay hungry, stay foolish !

2006-03-03T05:54:00.001-05:00

Thanks to e-shal for this blog!

I liked it so much that I am getting into my copy-cat role again! (I have even stolen his blog title also!) One thing is for sure, the same thoughts are coming into my mind these days!! What he says is just so perfect about my life right now. I don't know what I am doing because I don't want to do what I am doing right now! And when I read this blog, I just could not stop sharing this with others. It is really important in one's life to understand what one wants from his/her life. At this juncture, though I am not sure ,if I know what I want, I am damn sure what I don't want and this is what I am doing, what I don't want to do. Anyways, lots of do's and don't's are confusing me now! In short I just need to come out of my Comfort Zone!! So read this :

"Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith. You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don't settle.

Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

-Steve Jobs , CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios.Commencement address at Standford delivered on June 12, 2005.

GOA : DCH eShtyle.....!!

2006-03-01T08:28:00.000-05:00

No words!!!

LooSe CoNtRoL....!

2006-02-27T12:02:00.000-05:00

Life was never better!

3 days at Goa : covered almost everything which one is supposed to!

My friend has recently bought new Swift. I told him that I want party in Goa! That's all...we decided to go to Goa.

Before coming to my place to pick me up, he called me and told me that there is a surprise for me in store! It was indeed a good one. His car had a name plate "S 10". Like me, he is also Sasshin Fan and the day Sasshin hit 39th century, he went to the RTO office and got this esteemed number.

So we started on Tuesday morning. (For me morning period starts after 9 AM). We went to Kolhapur, met one of my friends whom I had not seen for 2 years. After having Break-Fast-cum-Lunch, we headed towards our destination!

We went directly to Baga Beach and booked hotel exactly in front of a beach. We dropped our luggage and went out side to finish off my "1 month" Fast :). Came back after 2 hours or so and then it started one of the memorable trip of my life!

Mambo's Disco Pub at Tito's, where I danced for 4-5 hrs non stop, Club 9, Chapora Fort, Ozore beach were few of the destinations we had been.

Chapora Fort was a special one. The "much talked" scene in Dil Chahta Hai was shot at this place. When I reached there, I was absolutely speechless. That place was heavenly beautiful. I could re-collect all the moments in DCH in a flash. We took photos in DCH style over there.

Last week, I joined back to office and started enjoying my work(?) again. There is a lot of change in my office environment in last 20 months. I can not recollect the place where I used to work 2 years back, but this place is entirely different from what it was!

Nowadays for me, weekends are for traveling. Last Friday night, me and 'A' went to Konkan. I visited my sister and uncle. I was there for 2 days merely, but that brought me back all the good memories of childhood fun. I took my GijaJi's bike and roamed around everywhere. I traveled almost 300 Kms of distance in 24 hrs there. The roads in Konkan are awesome, especially one part, which comes under Mumbai-Goa road was damn good. I enjoyed that ride very much!!

I guess there is much traveling left for me in days to come. So many things have remained undone because of my "so-called" study. I need to finish off them asap so that I can look out for my next plans.

The life was never better!

Some people won't be able to digest this, but I have seen only one movie since I have returned back to Swades .. Rang De Basanti! The reason being right now my own life is in complete "LOOSE CONTROL ....." mode!

Hope to loose control (one) more time(s) in coming days!!

12 02 06

2006-02-13T00:04:00.000-05:00

After the so-called study of 1 month I found the following few points of retrospection :

1) An engineering student can not be sincere even after the 5 years of professional life. (This proves I am not interested much about the results! But WTH, try again!)
2) Dreams are always better kept unfulfilled so that u'll have more energy next time when u chase them.
3) My parents want me to give more exams of these kinds as they think that the study is the only thing which will make me stay at home most of the time.
4) There is always next time for everything. So keep walking.

After the laborous work of 1 month, I guess GOA is the best place to chill out. So I am heading towards Goa tomorrow for 3 days to make up for the "missed out" one month ;)

Also one thing I want to point out that before exam, I got at least 25 calls and same number of SMSs from all parts of world to give me all the best. Probably most of my friends were curious than me about my studies ;)

Friends are forever!!!!

dre@m$$$$$ !!!!!

2006-01-13T09:56:00.000-05:00

Finally the day has arrived! The day which I have been waiting for last four and half years!! I know how eagarly I was waiting for this day and how exited I am!

4 weeks of vacation!!
just to get more SPACE in life,
just to add more SPICE in life!!
just to do what I always wanted to,
just to follow what I always wanted to!!

I know its not easy at this point, in fact, some of my friends are saying that this is the worst decision anybody could have ever taken!!

But, What the Heck!! I have my proper back-up plans ready!! So who cares even if I fail. As I have always experienced that small failures will always take u to GRANT VICTORIES!

So its time to perform for me. I guess I am all geared up for this challenge, the one I always dreamt of!

Still I will Keep dreaming!!!
And most importantly keep following them!!

Swades .....!

2006-01-06T02:08:00.000-05:00

I am writing my blog first time from Swades..!! I can't explain how much happy and excited I was when I came out of the Sahar AirPort.

Actually the life has become so hectic that I am not able to spend time on blogworld.

The only thing which I am observing is the staring at me from all people around me due to my long hair. Fortunately I could convince my parents about keeping long hair and I didn't have to do anything like this ;)

More later!

Wish you all a very happy n' prosperous new year! May all ur dre@m$ come true!!
To live upto my image of copy cat, just pasting one mail to wish u all happy new year :)

Harbingers of happiness, awake!
And the dreams abandoned, may it rise from the restless sleep..
Past wishes that were left to be fulfilled,
Promise once again that they may reap!!!
Years come and go...and are reborn

New dreams envisioned by the brave
Each may it be vouchsafed,
Winds of faith may it blow your fears away…

Yearning for sure is no mistake…
Embrace with delight what ought to be,
As once a year we all need to pause
Reflecting on what our eyes have to see...

Count Down 00: The Last One..!!!!

2005-12-24T13:24:00.000-05:00

The last blog from this place. In an hour I will leave for airport.

It was a great fun staying at UStay Alone for last 20 months. I will miss this place, will miss u all over here!

People in India were happy for last 20 months. Now they are in trouble as "M" is coming back!!!

Hooooooo YAAAAAAAA!

Count Down 03 : All Set!!

2005-12-21T23:13:00.000-05:00

I woke up in morning and checked my mail box, just to find that there was no mail about my ticket. So I almost had prepared my mind that I will have to leave on 27th. I went to office and when I started my Laptop, I got the good news that my ticket was finally booked after lots of firefighting!

This Christmas means a lot to me! I am so happy now!

Then we had gone to fare well lunch and I got one nice gift from my Manager. This damn good T-Shift! Perfect for me :)

Then I got a Gift of Marvin's Magic Box Tricks from the team. I am "supposed to be" Magic Man on the team. Basically we have one pet name for each of us. Then people signed my gift. Here are the signatures from my team members :

D : "Thanks for your Magic"
J : "Best Wishes"
M : "Don't forget Blogs, will surely miss MVP" (MVP is My Video Parlor and M has most number of hits to my blog. He is a religious reader of all craps I write. Hats off to his patience and thanks!)
P : "Enjoy Buddy & Best of Luck" (I talk passionately with P about my "dre@m$")
R : "From a geek to a geek. All the best" (R is known as Geek on our team)
A : "Don't forget FILMS, u know who!" (Myself and A always dream about making a movie in future. May our dream come true!)
V : "Its a small world, we will surely catch you"
K : "Wishing u all the best"
V : "All the best"
K : "Shall miss ur cooking tips, ATB" (One of my "cooking" students :P This'll sound pretty hilarious comment if you have gone thr' my previous blogs!)
S : "Good Luck"
V : "ATB"
S : "All the best"
N : "Good Luck"

Here is a pic of this sweet gift!

M & T had given me my rare photo as a gift few days back. Though this does not look to be my photo, it IS my photo and I have taken photo of the photo and uploaded that here. Thanks a lot for such a nice gift!!!

Also I received a so many mails from the people with whom I have worked for last 20 months. Actually I have worked with different vendors. This mail is from the team leader of one of them. He is not from company, but from different company, but our works are interdependent as we are working for the same business. The italics suggests that I have changed the words to hide the identity!

Hi My_name,

The XYZ team at Company_name Limited has enjoyed working with you and you have really been cooperative and always helped us do our jobs better. We like your patience and persistence in getting the work done. We always felt like obliging your request more out of love and respect since you have exhibited utmost professionalism and understood our concerns here.

We wish a very best from bottom of our hearts both in personal and professional endeavors. Good luck.

Regards
Name

XYZ Team Lead
On behalf of the whole team.

That was quite a touching one. I had a very good chemistry with almost all the groups.

I'll surely miss this place, I'll surely miss my work here and I'll surely miss the people around me!

Hats off to you guys for making my stay memorable and thanks a lot for everything!!!

Finally ....!

2005-12-21T09:23:00.000-05:00

Finally got the tkt which I wanted! So I'll be enjoying my chrismas in the Plane!

Ha ha hhhhhhhhhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

And I am ....

2005-12-20T12:38:00.000-05:00

And I have only two things on my mind : I am pissed off and I am totally pissed off!!!

Why do every one want to celebrate Chrismas in the plane???? I am not able to get a single ticket to Mumbai on 24th Dec due to this. I am still fighting hard to get one!!!

No tkts on 24, 25 and 26!!! Might travel on 27th. Guess I need to reset my count down counter :)

Count Down 06 : Dil Chahta Hai!

2005-12-18T23:32:00.000-05:00

I'm feeling too Lazy to write my crap which I have been writing for last few days! So just pasting one of my old blogs over here ;)

I am not GUILTY ...
I am not INNOCENT ...
I am just trying to SURVIVE!

I am not STUPID ...
I am not LEGEND ...
I am just trying to LIVE with it!

I am not HATED ...
I am not LOVED ...
I am just trying to be MYSELF!

I am not DEAD ...
I am not ALIVE ...
I am just trying to BE!

About Dil Chahta Hai :
Do I really need to write anything about this movie? I know the answer is NO, still would like to give some inside information about this movie : Farhan Akhtar originally wrote the movie by casting Akshaye Khanna as Akash, Hrithik Roshan as Siddhart and Saif Ali Khan as Sameer. When Hrithik Roshan turn down the movie the role went to Abhishek Bachan. After Abhishek's withdrawal Farahn take Aamir Khan with a quick change in the previous cast, swapping Akshay Khanna as Siddhart and Aamir khan as Akash.

This movie takes me to my days at Trivandrum, where I had seen movie 6 times. Before that I had seen it once in my hometown along with 25 friends and then twice in Banglore. When I shifted to Mumbai, I purchased VCD! I carried that with me here in UStayAlone! Now I see this movie on demand!!!

My Favorite Dialogue :

SHALINI : "Akash, Kal hum vapas ja rahe hai. Kya tum aaj raat dinner ke liye aa sakate ho ?"
AKASH : "Pata nahi" (Drops the Phone. A pause and a wicked grin!)

Aamir rocks big time in most of the scenes in the End!

Count Down 07 : Dead Man Walking

2005-12-17T21:38:00.000-05:00

Continued from last post ....

After staying in that apt over one year, I shifted to live with Mahesh and Vinayak. Vinu had just landed in UstayAlone while Mahesh’s wife had gone for vacation! We all were Marathi. So since I started living with them I started doing “Hindi ki Chindi”! I mean started using marathi words occasionally while speaking Hindi. Normally I do so when I am on cloud number 9! In fact I am not that good when it comes to speak. (That does not mean that I am good at writing, just a clarification for interested people!).

Vinu was a starter for cooking thingie and I wanted Mahesh to be a better cook by the time his wife would come back. So I gave both of them equal chance! But I don’t know what was Mahesh instructed by his wife, Tanuja, he started practicing cooking religiously. Everyday by the time I used to come back from office, he would have made some curry or Subzi and then he used to go to play tennis. So I decided to give Vinu the chance to cook on the weekends. Mahesh does not listen to songs. But I made him listen “Aksar” from Shaan, everyday at least 15 times. In fact I used to put this song and “Le chale” from ‘My Brother Nikhil’ in repeat mode and sleep peacefully! The outcome was obvious …he started sleeping in different room! He is hardcore Sasshin fan and AB fan! Vinu, being from Dadar - Shivaji Park, he is also Sasshin Fan! Most of my friends would be able to understand what I want to say!

Soon, we were kicked out (read ‘moved’) to adjacent apt and myself n’ Vinu joined Bhaskar and Sumit here! This was the last time I played the game of shifting! Lots of memorable things have happened in this apt. Firstly, there was outage of electricity for 52 hrs! Our restroom door used to get itself locked on demand. Once it happened in the morning and we had to call the maintenance guys at 6 AM in the morning!

Bhagwaan jab bhi deta hai Chhappar faad ke deta hai! So Bhagwaan blessed us. Actually when it started raining, out apt had a initially small leakage. Then the maintenance person came and kept a big bucket. As the bucket he had brought to keep under that small leakage was big, he made a bigger size hole in our Chhappar! In short hamara chhappar fata huva tha! These guys came after 1 and half months, replace the complete roof for our and all adjacent apts and then fixed the hole in our roof!

Neways, let’s get back to my roomies: Vinu, due to my substantial effort done on the weekends when we were staying with Mahesh, had become a very good cook. I call him “GooNi Baal” that means a very obedient child! Bhaskar used to be normal only if he had at least 2 beers on that day! He is a certain threat to myself and buddy for the title of “Laziest-moving-object” in the “Milky way Galaxy”. Sumit used to laugh a lot before I shifted to this place. After a month stay with me, no body has ever seen him laughing! I guess that tells the story! Just kidding guys!

So now Bhaskar and Sumit have left and we have been joined by Kishore. Now its my time to leave!!! I have already started boosting his cooking skills by most of the times eating the stuff he's preparing. My replacement, Karthik had arrived here today. Just wishing him best luck for his stay in US of A!

About Dead Man Walking :

A very good performance by Susan Sarandon n' Sean Penn. She got Oscars for this role. eSpecially, the scenes in the end ,when Sean is gonna executed, are very good. The first time he confesses all his crimes to her in the movie at that time. And she helps him to die peacefully!Liked the lyrics of the title song by Eddie Vedder With Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. A very good Song!

Hats off to this fabulous song!

We all walk the long road. Cannot stay...
There's no need to say goodbye...
All the friends and family
All the memories going round, round, round, round ...!

And I wished for so long, cannot stay...
All the precious moments, cannot stay...
It's not like wings have fallen, cannot stay...
But I feel something's missing, cannot say...

I will definitely miss all my days over here!

Count Down 08 : The Insider

2005-12-16T21:21:00.000-05:00

Contined from last post ...

Then Chandan joined us for 3 months. He was my very good friend in India. So it was fun staying with him. He’s ever enthusiastic guy! We had a very good group with Bunty, Babli and PaPPu. We used to come together every weekend in the HillBrook Bar to celebrate each and every Friday. PaPPu makes awesome cocktails and he is great cook too. But by the time we got used to do regular fun, Chandan left this place.

Then Nagendra joined us. Nagendra was my bakra no1 as he used to forget to collect even his salary cheques. He used to forget things and I used to do “Chance pe Dance” forgetting our age difference. My favorite dialogue was “Kya be ek bachche ka baap ban gaya! Tu kab sudharega!” But he used to ignore my crap. Ask him for a help anytime and he’ll do it for you! He is too good at his heart to be real! I guess that sums up! He is also a good cook. Especially the rassum made by his is too good.

Soon Abhay, the Daku no 1, joined us for 15 days when he had a study break. By the time it had started snowing over here. So we all enjoyed snow here. Every body had their first snow over here. In fact myself, Abhay and Nagendra used to see 3 movies in a row every Friday and Saturday night! That was real fun! Abhay made sure that he takes revenge of all “PakavuGiri” which I used to do by calling him everyday!

Abhay left to continue his studies, and Ranga joined us. We still continue to watch movies on the weekend. In fact we started watching non-English, non-Marthi, non-Tamil, non-Telagu move on Satuday. We saw quite a few Foreign films.

Lets get back to Ranga’s cooking. Whenever we used to go for shopping, he used to run towards the chilies. First time I asked him why he was taking the chilies for a year in advance! But by next week, he had exhausted all of them. One day he was cooking and our dear friend Florino came. He is Romanian. Ranga was making Biryani. He was the no of chilies being used in the process. He had only one reaction : “I will die if I eat so much spice!”

Soon I decided to shift to some other place!
More later!

About The Insider :

Al Pacino plays Lowell Bergman, the 60 Minutes reporter while Russell Crowe plays Dr. Jeffrey Wigand who has been fired for questioning some of their potentially harmful research tactics his company has been using to produce cigarettes. Al Pacino, as usual, is terrific in showing aggression while making Russell Crowe to speak the truth. Russell Crowe is always at his best while showing depression and stress. He was nominated for Oscars for his role, but lost to another brilliant performer, Kevin Spacey in American Beauty.

Here are few of the dialogues from the movie :

Lowell Bergman: You'd better take a *good* look, because I'm getting two things: pissed off and curious.

Mike Wallace: And that's what cigarettes are for?
Jeffrey Wigand: A delivery device for nicotine.
Mike Wallace: A delivery device for nicotine. Put it in your mouth, lit it up and you're gonna get your fix?
Jeffrey Wigand: You're gonna get your fix.

Mike Wallace: Did I get you up?
Lowell Bergman: No, I usually sit around my hotel room dressed like this at 5:30 in the morning, sleepy look on my face!

Count Down 09 : Good Will Hunting!

2005-12-15T21:17:00.000-05:00

This was gonna happen one day! I had to tell about the people around me who have been blessed by my presence around them. Yeah .. I am gonna talk about my roomies!

I landed into the Motel when I reached here. Kishor was my first friend there. Though we were not from the same company, we had a very good chemistry between us. My outings started with he, Deepak and myself going across all Malls in this area after office hours. Deepak wanted to buy headphones. So we used to visit Malls looking for it. Finally after one month of research, he tool headphones from Flee Market (A special Sunday sales at big open ground where people sell their new/old things) for 1 $. Anyways, headphone was just a reason to go out. We covered almost each and every mall in that period.

Soon I moved to the apartment. We had three forced bachelors (as their wives were yet to join them here) and two bachelors. We had divided our work equally. Married people will cook as they had a majority and we two will eat as we had a minority. I was not eating Non-veg food that frequently in India. But I started liking chicken and shrimp mostly because of Avijit. Being a perfect Bong, he used to love cooking shrimps/chicken and we used to love eating. Shrihari was a perfect example of intelligence with modesty. Though we had a lot of age difference, we never felt that way. Sharad was our Mr. Dependable. We used to call him wise man. It is always important how you learn from your past experiences and apply them to your current situations in your life. This man had tons of experience and he knew how to use it. In short, he was the man! The remaining “item” in our room was Sabari! He was the “Yo Man” in our apt. When you see this man first time, you’ll feel that this is just another guy trying to act smart. But he is really smart, and go to him for any help and he’ll do it without asking a single word no matter he knows you or not! He knows what he wants from his life and he makes sure that he’ll get it. His fundas about the life are clear …crystal clear!!!! He made me watch Tamil movies, after that I started enjoying the songs in the Tamil movies. I came to know about many Tamil Actresses. He was my regular company for “Paisa Wasool” parties. Probably he was my best friend over here as I could see reflection of my thoughts inside him! He is getting married soon and I wish him all the best for his life of togetherness!!

But as they say, good things come to an end. We had to depart soon and I joined Sandeep and Sanjay. Sandeep was quite shy sometimes. And he was as good cook as myself. So we used to do the work of eating while Sanjay used to cook for us. Sanjay was a good cook. Both of them were from Mumbai and we had good time together for 2 months. But then both of them had to leave this place and I was joined by Buddy!

Probably Buddy is my long-time-partner in UstayAlone. Well, better not to talk about our cooking abilities. If there is any competition on the “Milky way Galaxy” for the “Laziest-moving-object”, we both will contest each other in the finals. So we were perfect roomies. We used to see both Marathi Plays and Tamil movies together. He is always in his world and he enjoys doing that!

The next and final part of this story tomorrow!

About Good Will Hunting :

The most important thing about this movie is the writing. The Oscar Winning screenplay by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Equally well acted by Matt Damon and Robin Williams. Here are few of my favorite dialogues!

Sean: You're not perfect sport, and let me save you the suspense, this girl you've met she's not perfect either. But the question is whether or not you're perfect for each other.

Will: I didn't ask for this.
Sean: No, you were born with it. So don't cop out behind "I didn't ask for this".

Will: What the fuck do you want?
Lambeau: My name is Gerald Lambeau. The guy who you told to go fuck himself.
Will: Well, what the fuck do you want?

Will: I don't care if Helen of Troy walks in the room, that's game six!
Sean: Oh, Helen of Troy...
Will: Oh my God, and who are these friends of yours they let you get away with that?
Sean: Oh... They had to.
Will: W-w-w-what'd you say to them?
Sean: I just slid my ticket across the table and I said, "Sorry guys, I gotta see about a girl."
Will: I gotta go see about a girl?
Sean: Yeah.
Will: That's what you said? And they let you get away with that?
Sean: Oh yeah. They saw in my eyes that I meant it.
Will: You're kiddin' me.
Sean: No, I'm not kiddin' you, Will. That's why I'm not talkin' right now about some girl I saw at a bar twenty years ago and how I always regretted not going over and talking to her. I don't regret the 18 years I was married to Nancy. I don't regret the six years I had to give up counseling when she got sick. And I don't regret the last years when she got really sick. And I sure as hell don't regret missing the damn game. That's regret.
[pause]
Will: Wow... Woulda been nice to catch that game, though.
Sean: I didn't know Pudge was gonna hit a homer!

Sean: So what do you really want to do?
Will: I wanna be a shepherd.
Sean: Really??
Will: I wanna move up to Nashua, get a nice little spread, get some sheep and tend to them.
Sean: Maybe you should go do that.

I have not traits of Will inside me, still I would like to be a shepherd, the one in Alchemist! Just want to wonder across the globe, following my dre@m$ n' to achieve my treasure!

Count Down 10 : Forest Gump

2005-12-14T22:50:00.000-05:00

This is what I had written when I had completed one year over here. Probably I was feeling very much alone here in UStayAlone. But then soon I came right on track, but still today I feel somewhat same :

I was a dre@mer then …
Always passionate to convert them into reality!
I am a dre@mer now …
With an empty soul with no trace of reality!

I was a total failure then …
NEVER succeeded to my potential!
I am trying HARD to fail now …
Without knowing my potential!

I used to adore instability …
Always wanted to be a volatile spirit!
Now I am getting scared with the stability …
Just succeeding to be more stable day by day!

Instability was backbone of my thirst …
Thirst for the unknown goals of my life!
Stability is pushing me to the comfort zone …
Making me unaware of my goals!

I always wanted to be part of the crowd then…
Just make the most of my LIFE!
I am trying to avoid the crowd now …
Just to figure out my LOST life!

They used to curse me for being extrovert …
‘Cause they always find me around!
Now they are cursing me for being introvert…
‘Cause I don’t want them to be around!

Trying to figure out what happened in one year …
Trying to find out what is gonna happen next year …
Just finishing in vain to find myself…
Trying to figure out what’s happening around now!

I am dreaming of instability now ...
Just to end up in stable reality!!

Just a note over here that this is not a pessimistic thought coming into my mind, but I was just trying to cope up with reality!

About Forest Gump :

I am always facinated towards the character of Forest Gump. Simple is always sweet and neat. Forest used to follow the simple things as told by his dear ones and that made him better than others in every field. Still he was the same old Forest Gump! I have seen this movie 10-15 times now! Here are my favorite dialogues from this movie :

Forrest Gump: "Momma always said life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

Forrest Gump: "Stupid is as stupid does."

Bubba: "My given name is Benjamin Buford Blue, but people call me Bubba. Just like one of them ol' redneck boys. Can you believe that?"
Forrest Gump: "My name's Forrest Gump. People call me Forrest Gump"
Bubba: "Have you ever been on a shrimp boat?"
Forrest Gump: "No, but I've been on a real big boat."
Bubba: "Anyway, like I was sayin', shrimp is the fruit of the sea. You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo. Pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried. There's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. That- that's about it."

Jenny Curran: "His name's Forrest."
Forrest Gump: "Like me."
Jenny Curran: "I named him after his daddy."
Forrest Gump: "He got a daddy named Forrest, too?"
Jenny Curran: "You're his daddy, Forrest"

Forrest Gump: "That day, for no particular reason, I decided to go for a little run. So I ran to the end of the road. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd run to the end of town. And when I got there, I thought maybe I'd just run across Greenbow County. And I figured, since I run this far, maybe I'd just run across the great state of Alabama. And that's what I did. I ran clear across Alabama. For no particular reason I just kept on going. I ran clear to the ocean. And when I got there, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well turn around, just keep on going. When I got to another ocean, I figured, since I'd gone this far, I might as well just turn back, keep right on going."

Bumper Sticker Guy: [running after Forrest] "Hey man! Hey listen, I was wondering if you might help me. 'Cause I'm in the bumper sticker business and I've been trying to think of a good slogan, and since you've been such a big inspiration to the people around here I thought you might be able to help me jump into - WOAH! Man, you just ran through a big pile of dog shit!"
Forrest Gump: "It happens."
Bumper Sticker guy: "What, shit?"
Forrest Gump: "Sometimes."

Jenny Curran: "Do you ever dream, Forrest, about who you're gonna be?"
Forrest Gump: "Who I'm gonna be?"
Jenny Curran: "Yeah."
Forrest Gump: "Aren't-aren't I going to be me? "

One day I want to see the world through the eyes of Forest Gump!!!

Count Down 11 : Apollo 13!

2005-12-13T15:16:00.000-05:00

It all started last year when I landed here. Being here for more than a year now, I have definitely much to write about this place and the people around me. Hopefully I would write at least something every day till I leave this place. The name of the movie does not have any significance with the post!

To start with this count down series, let me share some highlights of my stay :

1) I had got habituated to lose quarters in the laundry. Sometimes, I used put coins in the washer which does not work and if by any chance if I put the coins in "working" washer, I used to put coin in a dryer and used to forget to press start! (Actually Washer starts working once u put coins, but for Dryer, even if you put coins, you need to press Start). So anyway I kept on losing quarters and my faith in washing!

The Outcome : I started going to Laundry once in two months. (Now ..don't call me Lazy :D)

2) My ex-roomie, N, is infamous for not collecting his salary cheque on time. Actually when our Manager sends mail that the cheques have arrived, everybody reaches his place in 5 mins. But this person goes there after 10-15 days, that too if he remembers it, most of the times he used to deposit it late in Bank too. I used to tease him on this. So at the start of month, he came to me and told me that he deposited his salary check in the account on the 3rd day of month. He was all excited. I just gave him a grin and asked which month's salary he had deposited. He thought for a moment and suddenly had a pale shade on this face. "ohh Shit .... I was one month late...that was my last month's salary!!!!"

3) Something, which happened very recently. My dear friend DL, was talking with a representative of Circuit city over phone. He was trying to explain her which camcorder he wanted to buy. The name was something like Sony DCR-DVD203. So she told him to spell it on phone. The way he explained it, we had laugh of our lives.

Just remember this is happening in US of A :

She : "Can you please spell out the model name again"
DL : "Yeah sure. D for Denzel (of Denzel Washington), C for Calcutta , R
for Russia "..and so on…

"C" for Calcutta was awesome. She must be wondering what the heck was that! After doing this phone saga, this person picked up the same model in the circuit city, after the buck-buck for 3 hours. By that time the other 3 people with him including yours faithfully were lingering over there like fools. I guess all the sales people over there had came to know that he wanted to purchase that particular handy cam. He didn't spare a single person over there! This is how everybody of them felt when we left the store!!

4) Recently I am pissed off with few words around me like "I will toke (read 'talk') to u", "hi Pole (real 'Paul')", "I already sented (read 'sent') u this document", "u know", "this Ourder (read 'order') is not present", "I understanded (read 'understood') it" and list is ever ending!!!

To add on, this happens everyday :(

About Apollo 13 :
This was one of the first movies I saw when I landed here in UStayAlone. Was very much touched by the performance of Tom Hanks. Here is my favorite dialogue from this movie :

This is the Last line, voice of Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks) :
"I sometimes catch myself looking up at the moon, remembering the changes of fortune in our long voyage, thinking of the thousands of people who worked to bring the three of us home. I look up at the moon, and wonder: When will we be going back? And who will that be? "

Probably I'll think of something like this when I'll see the map of this place :P

SNNOOOOWWWWW!

2005-12-05T20:26:00.000-05:00

Soft n' Tender!
Cold n' Pleasant!
White n' Heavenly!

The time to enjoy holy smoke is back!
The wind, that sucks, is back!
The struggle to walk on ur own two feet is back!
The excuse to go late to office is back!!
The time to enjoy being at home is back!!!

My Winter Jacket is back on my body!!

My favorite thing in UStayAlone is back!!!
The heavenly time is back!!!

It has started snowing again!! I simply love this!!!!

Check out the scene from my apt!!!

PNN News!!!

2005-12-01T14:51:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted news for a while. So here we go :

1) I purchased on more mp3 player. This one is 1 GB. So the count is 4, that too after being broke here . The same model I had bought in 100 $ three months back, this one I got in 70 after reaching Circuit city at 4 45 AM in the morning on Thanks-Giving Day. It was nice to see a crowd of 300 people, all of them standing in a queue so early in the morning on that day. I have never seen 400 people inside circuit city here!!

2) The Hillbrook bar has once again OPEN as Bunty is back from his vacation. Planning to visit it this weekend.

3) PaPPu is leaving for home tomorrow. Our internal sources reveal that the people in UStayAlone are going to celebrate tomorrow as "Freedom Day"! But when they got the news that PaPPu is coming back after a month (he is going on Vacation), they decided to celebrate each day as "Freedom Day", till the time he comes back!

4) V had a good deal in the hair cutting shop. He had his 6-month-old-hairs, cut at the expense of 1 month haircut cost! (I am looking for a better deal, mine are 8 months old now!!)

5) N has not boarded a plane till now after this . So no news on that front for time being.

6) One more Fortune Cookie which I got today .

I think this cookie sums up the news at my front!!!*

ForTune Cookie!

2005-11-23T19:15:00.000-05:00

Last week, we had gone to one Chinese Restaurant for lunch. Every time I go there, I get some weird cookie, like "You will cut ur hair today" ( I haven’t done it for days now) or “Drive safely today” (I don’t own/drive a car!)

Sometimes it is so hilarious like “Take care of your child today”! Abe shaadi nahi huvi to bachcha kidhar se aayega??

But finally my days have started! This time it was really perfect (at least I thought so :P) . When I showed it to my friends, they had a laugh of their life!! I have scanned it and uploaded it here. Here we go :

PaPPu Reloaded!!

2005-11-16T18:42:00.000-05:00

As promised, here is completely matured PaPPu!!

Ohh my d@rling!!!!!

2005-11-15T15:23:00.000-05:00

Feels like my wings have been broken! I am not the one who used to be inside me few days back! Seems everything has changed!

I am like an eagle with broken wings. I dreamt of flying HIGH in the skies, but will not be able to do it in my lifetime ! SHE is the only one who can bring something for me cherish my dreams. But SHE doesn't!

I am not sleeping ...Just woke up from the virtual sleep I was having for past few days. Now I am really scared to face the reality. Wann go to sleep again .....! I don't have courage to face the facts ...simply because SHE has cut my wings, kept me shattered! Waiting for her to come back to me and help me conquer the unlimited skies!

Ohh my HOPE ... please come back in my life again!! Just to relish my dre@m$!!!

Pappu again !!!!!!

2005-11-12T13:30:00.000-05:00

"दुनियामें दो तरह के लोग होते है, एक जो सारी जिन्दगी दुसरोंसे पक जाते है और दुसरे जो सारी जिन्दगी दुसरोंको पकाते है! हमारा पप्पूभी कुछ ऐसाही है! अरे तुम्हे तो क्या, सारी दुनियाको पकाता है!" (inspired from Bunty aur Bubbly)

One more blog for PaPPu! But this one is special!! Few years back on 13th Nov, "the milky way" galaxy was blessed with this person!! So wish him a very Happy B'day*!!

Last year we had a grand bash on his b'day! I have attached the photo of the same!! I am putting only one half of that photo. The resons have been mentioned in the photo itself. I will upload the other half after tonights party!!

Morale of the Blog : East or west, PaPPu is the BEST!!

*Note : I have published this blog on his b'day as per the IST timing.

Jana tha...!

2005-11-10T17:42:00.000-05:00

Hitler had once said that "Jana tha Japan, pahoch gaye cheen" (Wanted to go to Japan, but reached China instead!). Probably he/she wasn't Hitler. But it really does not matter who he/she was as somebody (probably Hitler again) had once said "what is there in name?" In short, "Bhavana ko samajho yaar!!" (understand the feelings)!

Anyways, this reminds me the incident which took place in Mumbai few years back. When I was new to Mumbai, I took 403 bus instead of taking 413. What I had to do was to get off the bus on the very next stop and catch the right one again. The moment I got off the bus, I thought the nobody on the Planet earth was not/is not/would not be as fast as I was in recognising the mistake I had done. But now I realised that thinking that way was my mistake as N has beat me!!!

The differences between these two instances are not much. This "thingie" happened in UStayAlone and mode of transportation was different!

N (Name changed) recently boarded in the flight as she wanted to go to Orlando (Name changed). (According to her) the fight was supposed to go to Orlando. The plane was about to take off and she heard welcome annoucement from a beautiful lady that the flight was going to Tampa (Name changed). She ran in a flash to cockpit, she made them open the door of the plane and went back to catch the proper flight to Orlando (Now beat that!! She got off the plane before it started. Otherwise, her "next stop" would have been the last stop and wrong stop!).

She had gone to LA (Name changed) last week. Our internal sources have informed that she was threatened to be thrown out of the flight. The reason being, she asked the same question to at least hundred people, including pilot, the man sitting on the first seat in the first row to the man sitting on the last seat in the last row! The question was, "Does this flight really go to LA?"

Morale of the eshtory : Akele mat jana Bunty ko saath leke jana! (I can't translate this in English!!)

Note : The tag (Name changed) is used due to the security threat to the auther of this blog! Please pray for me as I am gonna hit "Publish Post" now!

31st Dec 2005!

2005-11-03T08:29:00.000-05:00

A new year gift to me!!

I will be celebrating a new year in India!!! I will leave back to Swades in Dec Last week!!

Happy Diwali!!!

2005-11-01T00:15:00.000-05:00

Wishing you and your family a Happy Diwali and a prosperous year ahead!!!

May the festival of lights brighten your life with ever lasting peace, happiness and "dRe@m$ unlimited" !!

Out of My Comfort Zone!

2005-10-27T21:05:00.000-04:00

The Iceman, Steven Waugh, has finally come up with much awaited (at least by me) autobiography, "Out of My Comfort Zone"

The book is all about his journey from :

"You aren't good enough, stop wasting your time, no more torture, take
the easy option. Just fade away and be happy to lead a normal, controlled
and relaxed life"

To :

"You've gone and dropped the World Cup, mate."

He has been instrumental, in fact, he is the main force behind the success of Australian team today. His Never-Die attitude, is still inside the heart of every Australian cricketer. He has taken Australian cricket to such a commandable position that the Australian team seems to be come from the other planet.

The only thing which he could achieve and he has always mentioned that he could not win a test series against India. I think the MRF brand he had chosen (Conqueror) was the true symbol of his attitude!

Hats off to this great cricketer!!

Tendalya ala re ala!

2005-10-25T23:04:00.000-04:00

Sasshin Tendulkar is back in action!!! So all the best to all SL bowlers for the rest of the series!!!

Btw, you can see the MRF logo on his bat. There is one more cricketer who has the MRF logo on his bat : Brian Lara. But there is a small difference between these two logos! Anybody knows ??

Keep guessing!

PiCNiC........!!

2005-10-18T22:34:00.000-04:00

It was a perfect day!! Bright n’ sunny!! All my company mates had decided to go on a PicNic at the Core Creek Park. This is really amazing place! The only problem was we were supposed to go there at 8 AM!

8 AM on Saturday morning !!!!!! GOD help meeee!!!

I knew I will start at 9 30!!

So we started at 9 30. I passed on all the blame of being late on V who (as usual) listened to all my rubbish without a word! I was rubbish enough for "MH" to believe me!

It was only 15 mins drive, but we could manage to make it in 45 mins by making round trips around one railway station!! Anyway I was half asleep in the car also! So I was happy. I wanted this to go on and on so that I will have more sleep. But finally we hit the right road and reached the destination. (I cursed a lot to "MH" who brought us back on to the track!)

The place was amazing!! No doubt about that. We started with some games. In one game, we were supposed to collect Blue socks. Eventually I had them and I had to remove them in 2 secs. I thanked god that I didn't wear Blue Shirt!!! And when there was time to show a wallet with maximum number of Credit cards, "BT" showed his wallet with 11 Credit cards!!! I fainted there itself!!! ('Cause I don't have a single one!) Then "CH" threatened somebody that he will remove my socks again. Due to the recent “smelly” experience, somebody came and brought me back to normal. (You stupid! As I was fainted, I don’t know who he/she was!)

Then we played cricket there. "TJ" clicked one of the very best photos she had ever clicked in her life! It was my photo in a perfect bowling step!! Check this out!!

I was hit for 2 consecutive sixes by “MN” to negate the good batting effort I had done! Also I had dropped “MN”’s catch in the previous over! But “V” and “VN” did good bowling in the end to make sure that we win the match!

Then we had Food and then usual masti n' all. There was official announcement of Bunty n’ Bubbly getting engaged! Also one special announcement that PaPPu is looking out to get himself promoted to Bunty! Then “RJ”, “CH”, “DL” and “NG” showed their singing talent. It was already 5 PM …so it was the END of the day for most of us!

But many times “END” of one story is the “START” of another one! So was the case that day. There was small lake in the Core Creek Park. So some of us decided to go for boating. We made groups among ourselves and decide to rent boats for half an hour as it was closing time. “RS” (Bubbly), “GP” (Bunty), “DL” and yours faithfully were together. So we decided to go for a paddling boat. “DL” was carrying the bag of remaining chocolates for the day and he made sure that everybody eats LollyPop who had gone into water. (just like that!)

To start with Bunty and Bubbly decided to manage the show. They were on the front seat paddling while myself and “DL” at the back. When we went deep inside the water, I started scratching my head to remember the law of gravitational force of attraction because the water had started coming inside boat where I was sitting. My memory is good enough to remember that! When I applied that to the situation I was in, I observed that the total weight (technically “mass”) on the left side of the boat is not equal to the total weight on the right side of the boat. So the boat was tilted on the right side (as force is directly proportional to the mass) and water started coming inside boat slowly. (Me and Bubbly were on the left side and Bunty and “DL” were on the right side!) So I suddenly shouted, “Bunty….. Paani (water)!!!!! “

Then Bunty put forth the theorem that if the mass of three people equals to the mass of one person, three people should sit in one side. So “DL” quickly shifted on my side which stopped water in a fraction of second to come inside the boat. (That does not prove that one person was overweight. The truth can be that the three persons were underweight!)

All was going well until Bunty realized that Bubbly was just putting her feet on the paddling wheels and not actually paddling it. He was the only one paddling out weights of all four people. So he told me and “DL” to come to front. The idea was pretty fine except that we had to do this in the middle of the lake. I am damn scared of water. So it was out of my mind to do such activity in the middle of the lake. So I gave him one idea. I will throw Bubbly out in the water. The Bunty will definitely jump in the water to save her. Then we will go to the front side and Bunty and Bubbly can come on the boat from the back side. On this bright idea, Bunty (again) threatened me to stand up on the boat and come to the left half of the boat! I was dead scared, as I can’t swim. So I had to obey what he said. So we decided shift our places. I don’t remember how many time I screamed out on Bunty while we exchanged our seats!

We were almost completing the half an hour, so we decided to head back to the shore. But it was difficult to paddle as we were paddling against water. So as we were close to shore, Bunty told us to stop paddling, as there was still some time left. As we stopped paddling, we were driven by the water direction inside lake again. To counter attack that, myself and DL tried to change the direction of boat in ‘n’ different direction which resulted our boat going to the shore and it stuck into the stones over there. Holy MESS! Our boat was stuck in the stones and it decided not to move an inch!

Others who were already on the shore, asked the help from the people who manages the boating activity there. One man came and had a look at the situation and said he was helpless and we have to get rid of this situation ourselves and take the boat to the proper position and handover to them. While going back he commented that our boat is overweight on one side! (Bunty was pretty furious on this comment!”)

And then it started the rescue operation! Another team of Buddy and “TR” came to rescue us. Watch out the photo!

Finally Bunty got a rod and he moved our boat against the rocks with the help of rescue team. Finally we got out of the Rocky Mess thanks to special song sung by Bubbly for Bunty :

“o mere pyare bunty,
o mere mote bunty
apni paddling ki naiyya, beech pattharon mein, gad gad gote khaye
isse paar laga de
o mere chikane bunty
isse paar laga de”

(On the Tunes of "Meri Pyari Bindu" from Padosan)

When we finally were on the ground, “DL” observed that his bag of LollyPop was empty. He thought he must have lost them in water in all this saga. But only I knew where all of them had gone!! Mere peT mein !!! (In my stomach)

C h I c K e N B i R y @ N i !!!!!!!!!!

2005-10-14T16:37:00.000-04:00

One year back PaPPu had prepared Veg-Biryani at my apt. So to give him chance to improve his cooking, I asked him to prepare Chicken Biryani. Just to give him a practice!!! I didn't have any selfish-purpose behind this :D
Anyways, after that PaPPu called me 4-5 times at his apt saying that he will prepare the Chicken Biryani. But he never kept his promise. So whenever I get chance, I used to remind him Chicken Biryali infront of everyone! (Chance pe Dance!!). But he surprised me yesterday by sending one mail. I have stopped eating and drinking since yesterday just to keep my papi-pet empty!

Here is the mail :

Hi all,
We will be having chicken biryani this weekend on Friday from 8 PM to 8 AM at H-205. Please don't forget to bring your Company badge.

Please send your response so that we can plan accordingly. Also DO NOT forward this to all who are missing in the list and NOT interested to come.

Please note that we are eating on Friday this time.

With Best Regards,
Mandar (ka Bandar)

Actually there is something special about this mail. We play cricket on the weekends and generally I send mail for this everyweek. I am sending the mail in the same format for last 3-4
months. Here is what I generally send :

Hi all,
We will be playing cricket this week end on Sunday from 08:00 AM at Company ground.Please don't forget to bring your Company badge.

Please send your response so that we can plan out accordingly. Also please forward this to all who are missing in the list and interested to come.
Please note that we are playing on Sunday this time.

With Best Regards,
Mandar

One thing is sure! PaPPu has become smart now! He deserves to get promotion. So all guys over here, start searching someone to promote PaPPu!! This photo might help you out for your purpose!!

कभी कभी मेरे दिल में ख़याल आता है !

2005-10-11T11:46:00.000-04:00

कभी कभी मेरे दिल में ख़याल आता है ...

कभी कभी मेरे दिल में ख़याल आता है ...
के ज़िंदगी तेरी ज़ुल्फ़ों की नर्म छाओं में
गुज़रना पाती तो शादाब हो भी सकती थी!
येह रन्झो गम कि सियाही जो दिल पें छायी है ...
तेरी नज़र की शुआओं में खो भी सकती थी!

मगर ये हो न सका .................

मगर ये हो न सका और अब ये आलम है,
के तू नहीं, तेरा ग़म तेरी जुस्तजू भी नहीं!
गुज़र रही है कुछ इस तरह ज़िंदगी जैसे,
इसे किसी के सहारे की आरज़ू भी नहीं!

ना कोई राह, ना मन्ज़िल, ना रोशनी का सुराग़!
भटक रहीं है अन्धेरोंमें ज़िंदगी मेरी,
इंहीं अन्धेरोंमे रह जाऊँगा कभी खोकर,
मैं जानता हूँ मेरी हम-नफ़स ....मगर यूँ ही ....!

कभी कभी मेरे दिल में ख़याल आता है ......

कभी कभी मेरे दिल में ख़याल आता है ................!

One of the excellent narrations from Big B! I wish him a very very happy and prosperous life ahead!!!

Life .....!

2005-10-10T21:07:00.000-04:00

Again 'm felling like being trapped in this G@Me of Life!!!

They say smoking is injurious to health!!

But smiling is good for health!!

So does it cancel it out?

When ...............!

2005-10-03T20:57:00.000-04:00

When all dre@m$ vanish,
n' all hopes disappear!
When you feel tired
running through your life!

Just don't give up ...

Just RUN!!!

RUN ..........!

RUN towards your "dre@m$",
RUN harder towards your "goals"!
'Cause "dre@m$" are made
Only to come to "reality"!!

Licence to Drive!!

2005-09-28T23:11:00.000-04:00

My dear friend PaPPu was rejected the Driving Licence today!!!

Wann know the reason ????

He was driving with one Hand !!!! I am laughing like anything eversince I heard this.

The probable reasons :

1) The Examiner might be a cute, sweet and beautiful lady and (as usual) PaPPu was trying to impress her!
2) (As usual) PaPPu, the sleepless in HillBrook, was chating with Monika (name changed due to security threat to the writer) yesterday night and he was dreaming of being with Monika on a short drive (!).
3) He is still not ready to give up all his old bad habits (like driving with one hand).
4) He drank water by mistake yesterday night or may be (only) Juice!!

Can anybody think of more reasons ??

Meeeee doing Rhodes!!!

2005-09-22T23:00:00.000-04:00

Some people thought the other way round!! No no no ....! I am not hit by any girl or I was not under influence of anything to be in this shape....!

I was just trying to imitate Jonty Rhodes few days back. I did everything right while imitating him, but the only difference was I did this on the Hard Coal-Tar road while playing Cricket in Parking lot!! Yes ... in UStayAlone, you have to play cricket in the Parking lot!!

Both of my palms were in bad shape for a week or so!! Could not type properly either for a week!! Had a scar on my face and it is still visible!

The only regret I had was, I dropped the catch and the ball flied to the boundary :((

Reloaded ....!

2005-09-19T23:10:00.000-04:00

How can I dare to miss the GaNapati Festival in Pune? Here are some of the major GaNapati's in Pune festival this year!

*Click on the thumbnails to see the complete image

After 18 years .....!

2005-09-16T21:00:00.000-04:00

England Captain holds the Ashes in his hands!!!

The Australian faces were worth watching!!!

GaNapati BaPPa MorYaa!!

2005-09-06T16:23:00.000-04:00

Just thought of writing a blog before I forget my Password!!! I haven't been here for many days now. Tomorrow is Ganesh Chaturthi in India and I am gonna miss it second time in a row. Neways, its a good time to start blogging regularly again ....("Shriganesha" as we call it in Marathi!)

Pals in india, do enjoy the festival!!

I was a frequent visitor to the Ganesh Temple in my home town. Also whenever I used to go to Pune, I used to make sure that I do visit DagaDusheTh Mandir. I don't know what it is, but I had always been very perticular about this.

So this blog is coming to LIFE again on this auspicious day!!! So guys around me...Be aware!! My first target this time is Mr. V and his 18 hr long diet!!! Hoooooo HAAAAAA!

New Blogs on the cards!!

2005-08-22T07:55:00.000-04:00

My dear friend e-shal has stared a blog in Marathi about his travel adventures in Japan.

Worth visiting this : Kelyane Deshatan

This is Shashank's writing from Sweden : my3m

Happy reading!!

(a)mangal Mangal!!

2005-08-14T09:17:00.000-04:00

Saw The Rising aka Mangal Pandey yesteday! My only reaction after watching movie was, "Where the hell is Ketan Mehta. Find him and throw him to the lions!!"

All of my friends who had acompanied with me to the movie had also one common reaction : "Where is the person who brought us to this movie. Find him and throw him in the theater to see this movie again!"

"M" who had planned this, heard this and disappeared immediately from the scene!! Literally ran away like Hell!

Btw, I just forgot to mention that "M" is no body else than the writer of this blog!

P.S. Recently watched "Sehar". Good Movie! Just check out the review of Sehar written by one of my friends : In defence of Sehar

600!!

2005-08-12T08:50:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Mahesh for such a lovely write-up! I am putting this article on my blog on behalf of him!!!

Shane Warne became the first bowler to take 600 Test wickets when he had Marcus Trescothick caught behind on the first day of the third Test at Old Trafford. He reached the landmark in his 126th Test when, in his fifth over, Trescothick attempted a sweep and was caught behind off the back of the bat by Adam Gilchrist.

This is the Moment which came first time in the history of cricket!! 600th wicket by any bowler in the history of the Game.

The Moment!!

Warne made his Test debut against India at Sydney in 1991-92, but he made his name at Old Trafford 12 years ago when, with his first ball in Test cricket against England, he bowled Mike Gatting with a viciously turning legbreak that pitched outside the batsman's pads and clipped the top of off-stump.

In the second Test at Edgbaston Warne, who returned figures of 10 for 162, became the first bowler to take 100 Test wickets in a single foreign country. Before this match, Warne had taken 16 wickets in the first two Tests of the series at an average of 15.31 with a best of 6 for 46 in the second innings at Edgbaston.

The table below shows the major staging posts on the road to the world record.

Wkts Test No. Batsman Match
1 1 Ravi Shastri Sydney 1991-92
100 23 Brian McMillan Adelaide 1993-94
200 42 Hashan Tillekeratne Perth 1995-96
300 63 Jacques Kallis Sydney 1997-98
400 92 Alec Stewart The Oval, 2001
500 108 Hashan Tillekeratne Galle 2003-04
600 126 Marcus Trescothick Old Trafford 2005

The Final Confirmation!!

In the second Test at Edgbaston Warne, who returned figures of 10 for 162, became the first bowler to take 100 Test wickets in a single foreign country.

Shane Warne is regarded by many as the best leg spin bowler ever to play cricket. Despite an undistinguished debut performance against India in 1991, he has since revolutionised cricket thinking with his mastery of what many cricket authorities regarded as a dying art. Combining the ability to turn the ball huge distances, even on unhelpful pitches, with unerring accuracy and a wide variation of deliveries (notably including the flipper), he has become Australia's greatest ever wicket taker, with 600 wickets at a bowling average of 25.42. Many of his most spectacular performances have occurred in Ashes series against England, whose inexperience against legspin bowling made their players particularly vulnerable, though with feats like the famous "Gatting Ball" which spun furiously to bowl a bemused Mike Gatting in the 1993 series most of the credit is Warne's. Warne has also been highly effective bowling in one-day cricket, something few other leg spin bowlers have managed. Warne is also noted for his exuberant (and sometimes effective) lower-order batting (once famously throwing away his wicket on 99 with a Test century beckoning), and on several occasions has captained Australia effectively.
The Celebrations!!

Despite nearly universal recognition of Warne's talents, his reputation with fans and cricket authorities is mixed. In 1998, he was forced to admit that he had taken money to provide pitch and weather reports from a man later discovered to be operating with bookmakers. While such an offence was trivial compared to the likes of Hansie Cronje who took money to throw matches, the extreme naivete Warne avowed struck many observers as somewhat dubious. His exuberance and occasional intemperate remarks and actions on and off the field have also not endeared him to the more conservative parts of the cricketing public and officialdom. His private life has also been subjected to scrutiny by British tabloid newspapers.

If Shane Warne ever starts speaking of the nightmares he's had in his life or career, expect the words "Sachin Tendulkar" to warrant a few mentions.After a series of hammerings from the Master Blaster in 1998, Warne famously admitted that Tendulkar coming down the track to him had given him nightmares. He describes how he was "Tendul-corized" and hails the Indian as "number one" in the game.

NightMares!!!

After several years of indifferent performances, Warne had much success in the 2001 Ashes series in England.

In February 2003 during the 2003 cricket World Cup, Warne was sent home in sensational circumstances after a positive drugs test for a banned diuretic from the one-day series in Australia earlier in the year.

In a PR blitz Warne initially claimed that he took only one of what he called a "fluid tablet" - the prescription drug Moduretic - in an attempt to improve his appearance, and claimed ignorance of the banned nature of the tablet he took, as well as much of the drug policy of the Australian Cricket Board (despite extensive briefings on the matter in the past).

Charged with using "a prohibited method to enhance performance", Warne faced a two-year ban from cricket if found guilty. Extensive pressure was placed on the panel by comments from Dick Pound, head of the World Anti-Doping Agency, who in comments described by the head of the Australian Sports Drug Agency as "highly inappropriate", poured scorn on Warne's excuse and stated that Australian sport was well-known for accusing others for cheating but was considerably less enthusiastic about prosecuting its own. Pound's comments were however at least partly endorsed by members of Olympic sports such as retired swimming champion Kieren Perkins, who expressed concern that a lenient verdict would make a mockery of Australia's stand against drugs in sport.

.........!!!

In the end, the panel found Warne guilty of breaching the ACB's drug code, and imposed a one-year ban. It was further revealed, and confirmed by Warne in a subsequent television interview, that he had actually taken two of the pills. Warne's testimony, and that of his mother's, was described by the panel as "vague and inconsistent". The panel decided against invoking the full two year ban because the drug would have had no performance-enhancing effect, there was no evidence that Warne was using the diuretic to mask steroid use, and that medical opinion stated that steroids would have not have enhanced Warne's recovery or assisted his game in any case. A disappointed Warne initially considered appealing, but decided against it, as several people, including Pound, pointed out that the penalty could have been increased if an appeal was made.

During his suspension he has considered working for the St. Kilda Saints Australian rules football club as an assistant coach, before the Australian Football League told the club that it would be inappropriate to have somebody convicted of sports drug offences advising its players. He has also been offered chance to play in various celebrity "park cricket" teams, and the newly renamed Cricket Australia has reserved its decision on whether Warne, as a contracted player, should be allowed to play in such matches.

Shane Warne currently has come under criticism for text messaging women whilst on tour, sending lewd and harassing messages. However the woman, Helen Cohen Alon, who made the claims has been charged with extortion in her own country.

During his enforced break from cricket due to suspension, Warne became a popular TV commentator for Channel 9 in Australia.

The Be$t!!!

On completion of his suspension Shane was immediately rushed back into the Victorian and the Australian test cricket team. He took his 500th test wicket, Hashan Tillakaratne, in the first test against Sri Lanka at Galle. He is only the second bowler after Courtney Walsh to do so, followed closely by his main spin bowling rival, Muttiah Muralitharan. However, Muralitharan beat him to the world record of 519 for the amount of test wickets taken, previously set by Courtney Walsh of the West Indies.

However, Warne will always be the first to 600 and today, with help from Trescothick, was his moonwalk. Remember the moment and treasure the name. What a discovery, what a record, what a ride.

The King!!!

What a Player !!!!

Most Aussie cricket fans say he'll do me
And they may add there's none so great as he
And each day he bowls there is expectancy
That he will claim more wickets maybe three.

The bowler the English never will forget
And one they will remember with regret
Their fans in silence watched their wickets fall
And such memories they may not want to recall.

With cricket ball he weaves a majic spell
And how good is Shane Warne? time can only tell
But of his greatness there can be no doubt
If West Indian batsmen fail to find him out.

The blond haired Shane Warne lives up to his name
As the top spin bowler in this cricket game
With cricket ball he weaves a majic spell
And how good is he? that time can only tell.

600th!!!

All writeup by Mahesh B. Rights reserved @ PNN.
--born2dre@m

BiJaLi ..It happens only in UStayAlone!!

2005-07-29T22:54:00.000-04:00

The theme of this unusual eshtory (read as 'story') is electricity ....are haan yaar ...apani bIjAlI!!

Wednesday evening after coming from office, myself and S were playing cards in the balcony. Our f**king AC does lotz of sounds and it was right over my head in the balcony. At around 5 30 PM, it suddendly stopped making those unusual sounds! I was so much happy that finally it has stopped making those weird sounds. But S, who was sitting infront of me, went into his normal pose, I mean he made "Rotalu" (crying) face. I gathered all my dispersed brain-cells in a fraction of second, only to realise that the power was out!!

So it all started the BiJaLi saaga in UStayAlone!! As usual S was first to start crying... errr... laughing ....ohh no ..I mean talking. ( When S opens his mouth, its very difficult to understand whether he is laughing [I can't use 'smile' here], he is crying or he is talking!)

S : "Are yaar, how did it (power) go? (HE HE HE) Now how will we make food? (he he he) How will I take bath with cold water? (HE HE) How will I be able to check my mails? (Becomes a bit serious, so does not laugh this time) What will happen if any production issue comes? Ab main kya karu yaar? What will happen ........."
(He was talking approximately 5 mins. But whenever he talks (?) like this, my ears (both of them) stop working except holding my specs. So I really could not recall all of those bakar-bakar!)

When he stopped talking I started hitting at him.

Me : "Abe, I don't know why power went. And about food, I would have made it yaar! But as there is no power, so we will go out!( Hurrey) Aur ek din to ThanDe paani se nahale ...varana mat nahale ...kya farak padata hai? Office mein to AC hai na :P (Do take bath with cold water for one day and even if u don't take bath for a single day, don't worry! There is AC in the office!!) And forget about production issues, PaPPu will do it.

I (as usual) being pissed off after listening his buk-buk, came inside. Mr. V was sleeping after coming from the office as he was working till early morning (as usual). He wanted to make himself fresh for coming 'night-out'! As soon as I entered the room, he asked me.

V (Half a sleep): " AC Off kiya kya?"
Me : "No I didn't switched off AC, Lekin aaj teri Kismat achchhi hai. (You are lucky today)"
V : "Why ? Are they booking my ticket? I am so happy"
Me : "Nahi Bachcha! (No boy) There is no power!
V : "What??? (He suddenly woke up, sat down) Good Lord!!! What will happen to my production move this week!! (In a flash, he was flat again, and after 4.3 seconds he started snoring!)

After he woke up, he asked why all lights were off in the apt. I told him that there was no power. Then he asked me whether he was talking in his sleep. I told him that his Project Manager had called and he was talking non-sense on the phone like : I will marry with MONIKA (Name changed due to security threat to the author) only. Then his PM got pissed off and cut the call.

After that his face was really down (See I could see that in the dark!). At the very moment he got a call from his PM and he was told by PM to come to office at night. He immediately left for office with "DhaDakata" Dil!!"

Meanwhile I went to Bedroom where B was sleeping. (Do I need to tell ya guys that he is in the same project as V is!). He had already finished "n" no of beers!

B : "Saala, everything is Dark!"
Me : "Nothing man, don't worry."
B : "Saala, this f***ing AC is not working."
Me :"Let me open the window!"
B : "Hey as AC is ON, don't open windows... saala!"
Me "Man!! AC is not ON"
B : "Saala chalu karade na fir (Switch the AC on.)"
Me : "Abe Dhakkan, there is no Power!"
B : "Shit man! Saala, I should have kept all the beer bottles in the freeze in the morning itself. Saala, there is no cold beer in the freeze"
Me :"Abe there is no power and tereko beer ki padi hai! Saale thandi nahi to garam karake pile! Gas chalu hai! (Stupid, are you thinking of cold beer? I you want it so desperately, then use gas and have HOT Beer!"
B :"Okie."

He woke up, went to kitchen, took not-cold-at-all beer and started drinking. I stood there frozen with dismay!! Next time, I won't be surprised if he literally drinks the "boiled" beer!!

P.S. : I am writing this blog after power was restored after 52 hrs. There are power outages in India also, but not for such long time. Also, in India, you have a relief that entire colony does not have power. But here, in 25 buildings in a complex, only one can have power outage. Out of one building having 30 apts, only 15 can have power outage. And YOU could be staying in one of those appartments in dark for 52 hrs. If you do so, you will write a blog like this!)

I HATE to see this!!!

2005-07-28T01:06:00.000-04:00

My Old Home in Powai :(

*Please click on the thumbnails to enlarge them

All's Well now!

2005-07-26T04:42:00.000-04:00

Past few days I am smoking like Hell. I don't even want to count how many of cigs I have smoked. My words were dried out n' I was not talking properly with people around me. I could feel it from their faces!

Finally my father's bypass has been done successfully. It all happened so fast that I didn't have a time to think whether to go back or not. Also my father insisted me not to come there. The doctor who operated happened to be my relative. Also my sister being Doctor and my brother being there, I could stay ALIVE here. This incident has reinforced my faith in Lord Ganesha!

My friends have given me a strong support in this. I don't know how to thank them. They have helped me monitorily and most importantly they have not let my family feel that I was not there. Actually I am speechless and can't find words to describe my feeling here.

When I sent out a mail about this, I got a read receipt from my friend in Korea and the next minute I was on phone with him! That was so touchy!! I had "n" number of pings on YM from all my friends across globe when they read my mail. My friends in Pune were constantly with my family right from the hospitalization till the surgery was over successfully. One of my friends gave his bike and apt keys to my brother to use. You really feel proud of yourself when you know that such people are your friends!!

Even my client, my manager, project team, all my roomies and all my friends over here have helped my in one or the other respect. Thanks to all of you for your help!!

I am not sure whether I can repay all this in this life of mine, but I am sure that whenever anybody needs help I will always be there for them!

I am feeling that I am the LUCKIEST person in this world, offcourse not because of any quality of mine, but ONLY because of the friends around me!!!

Home of Kircket!

2005-07-21T02:43:00.000-04:00

Ashes series is getting kicked off today at Lord's. Here is some statistics for both the teams at the home of kircket, Lord's!

In 32 Tests at Lord's, AUS have won 13 and lost just five, and the last time England got the better of them here was 71 years back, in 1934. Since then, in 17 matches, Australia have won eight and drawn nine.

England have had their fair share of success here too, with a 42-26 win-loss record in 108 matches. Moreover, Lord's has turned out to be a pretty lucky venue for them of late - in their last 11 Tests here, they have won eight times, with just two losses. One of those setbacks, though, was against Australia in 2001.

Have you ever seen a beautiful scene on cricket groud like this?

And I don't want the world to see me!!

2005-07-15T23:52:00.000-04:00

When don't have enough words to pen down, just follow the basic principle : ^c n' ^v.

The song from City Of Angels! Guess these lines were written for me :D

"And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am

You can't fight the tears that ain't coming
Or the moment of truth in your lies
When everything feels like the movies
Yeah, you bleed just to know you're alive

And I don't want the world to see me
'Cause I don't think that they'd understand
When everything's made to be broken
I just want you to know who I am
I just want you to know who I am ."

I m book-tagged!

2005-07-12T18:40:00.000-04:00

I admit that I am not a good reader. I mean I used to read lots of Marathi books when I was in school. But when I joined college, I didn’t have time to read my study books, so forget about reading others books! When I started working, I didn’t have time to read various manuals (Never read a single manual till date, still doing fine!), so forget about reading other books! But as I am tagged by NY, let me put some of the few “lucky” books which had a privilege of myself reading them J

Books I own:

Godfather, Alchemist, Most of the Pu La Deshpande/ Va Pu Kale books, Microelectronics by Milman and Grabel

Last few books I bought (was 15 months back):

Alchemist, A Beautiful Mind, 11 minutes, The Pilgrimage.

Last book that was gifted to me:

The Life of Swami Vivekananda - By his Eastern and Western Disciples.

Few books that I have read (nothing in last 15 months):

1) The Alchemist:
Do I need to tell details about this book?

"To realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation"

Abhay says I can pakavufy anybody anywhere anytime on the planet Earth with the quotes from this book. Absofuckinglutely loved this book. Have given this book as present to more than 5 (different) people!

My favorite quote :"When you dream something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

And you know what, I am not the only one. Read this :

"When I'm on the set with young actors and sometimes you meet people in life who you feel they are a little confused and they want to be re-centered, there are two books that I always recommend. One of them is Siddhartha...and the other is The Alchemist. I've used them in other situations as well when teenage sons or daughters of friends of mine have a question or two. They are very basic, rich, philosophical allegories. I always recommend they take the afternoon off and just read it in one hit."
-- Russell Crowe on Oprah, US, November 2003

The other one I liked from Paulo Coelho is “The Pilgrimage”.

2) The Life of Swami Vivekananda - By his Eastern and Western Disciples :

I had got this as a gift from Amity on my b'day in 2003. Swami Vivekananda has always inspired me for his unparallel views about spirituality. In fact most of the people (Joshi Panchangwale in particular) around me are very much influenced by him. It was a great read for me, in fact one of the best thing happened to me at that time was this book.

My favorite quote from this book : "I am a magician."

3) Pu La Deshpande :

Actually instead of writing a book name, I have written the writers' name. Because I can’t tell which book is the best. I have read almost each and every book from Pu La Deshpande! Here are few of them : Apoorvaae ,Khogir Bharati ,Batatyachi ChaL ,Vyakti aNi Valli, Maitra, GaNgot, Asa mi Asaamee

4) Partner (Marthi Book by V Pu Kale)

One of my favorite reads in my school/college days. I have read almost every book of short stories from V Pu Kale. My favorite quote is from the story “Mahotsav”!
It goes like this :

“Aamhi aayushyatil pratyek kshaN MAHOTSAV mhanun Jagato”
(We celebrate each and every moment in our lives as a festival).

5) Prabhat-Pushpa:

Collection of articles from V J Kotat which he used to write in Chitralekha. I remember I had literally searched most of the book stores in Mumbai to get copies of this book.

6) God Father:

This was the first English book I read. Absolutely loved. When I watched the movies, I loved it more.

Few books that I want read/finish:

Veronika Decides to Die – Paulo Coelho
Five Point Someone - Chetan Bhagat
The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand
The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
Microelectronics by Milman and Grabel - I was supposed to read this book in the second year of engineering. Basically it covers most of the fundamental semiconductor theory. But due to lack of time for study(!), I didn't read this book that time. But when I read this book in the final year, final semester, n’ I was literally in love with this book. I am still carrying this book everywhere I go. It is still with me and I want to finish this book one day!

Passing the Baton to others:

1. Abhay (use my comment box :D)
2. Abhijit
3. Shashank
4. GoodWillHunting
5. Confu

I m back!!

2005-07-11T01:12:00.000-04:00

Ricky Ponting is back with a hundred ...an alarm for England Team for Ashes Series!

And so do I ..He he! Enjoyed my weekend cricket yesterday!! Scremed out loud on each misfield, played with an attitude the way I used to play in college!

Seems I am rediscovering myself on each and every front in my life! Feeling like I m the Kind of the World again!

Dhuwaa Dhuwaa .....One more forward!!

2005-07-07T02:22:00.000-04:00

One of the forwards I received recently!

Cigarette in my hand...I feel like a man...
It gives me the confidence...that "I can"...

You don't agree...?? wait till I show you...
Its importance - then you won't argue...

I need it as the morning rays fall on the pane...
So that the nature's call is not a pain...

I need it with my breakfast toast...
To supply me the vitamins I need the most...

I need it when I enter my work-place...
To give me the energy to match the pace...

I need it after my lunch...
To increase the digestion after the munch...

I need it in my coffee break...
And that's just for keeping me awake...

I need it with my evening snacks...
To lift my verve when it sags...

I need it when I leave for the day...
to relax after the tortuous play...

I need it when I move around with friends...
to get the "kick" and feel the trends...

I need it after my dinner...
To adieu my day as a winner.

On my way to glory...

I overlook the statutory warning written on the pack...
For my valour - I should be given a pat on my back.

I feed gallons of smoke to my neighbour...
Can anyone else boast of such a favour ??

An apple a day keeps the doctors away...
The doctors then,won't have any say.
I keep the doctors busy n working...
The apple would have left them sulking.

I contribute heavily in the government's revenues...
which help them venture the different avenues...

And you want me to quit smoking ??
I am sure you must be joking.

I am happy the way I am.
I'm no saint up above the hills.
And if at all I decide to quit...
What'll happen to the company called WILLS ??

**WARNING: Cigarette smoking is beneficials to health.Try once!

Thanks to PaPPu for the nice snap below :D

Main aur mere companymates

2005-07-02T02:59:00.000-04:00

AB Rocks n' his voice Rockens! You will think what this has to do with the title of this blog ... hang on ...! Remember Silsila, one of the best movies in the indian cinema?? AB's Magic voice had given an unparallel dimension to one of the songs in this movie which is one of my favorites... "Yeh Kaha aa Gaye hum"!

I like this song and am hearing this regularly for past few days. Prabably that's what has prompted me to write this blog. We recently got new compensation updates and I am pretty happy with this at this moment. Still when I look around, I observed some things and I tried to fit into this song. This is intended for fun and whatever is mentioned may not be true. So here we go ;)

--MALE--
Main aur meri companymates aksar yeh baatein karte hain
offshore salary hoti to kaisa hota,
hum yeh karte, hum voh karte
hum hamare offshore salary pe hairaan hoti, gharwaale salary dekhake ke kitne hanste
offshore salary hoti to aisa hota, offshore salary hoti to vaisa hota
Main aur meri companymates aksar yeh baatein karte hain

--FEMALE--
Yeh kya kiya mere company ne
Yunhi bina puchhe bina bataye
mere salary mein hai jaanam
Mere sare indian bills pighalate
Yeh kya kiya mere company ne
Yunhi bina puchhe bina bataye

--MALE--
Yeh salary hai, ya tumhaari jebe khuli hui hai
Hai compensation ya tumhaari nazro mein dhul zoki hui hai
Yeh shoonya hai ya tumhaara profident fund
Allowance hai ya tumhaara udas chehra
Hawa ka jhonka hai ya tumhaare increment ka timepass
Yeh pattiyon ki hai sarsaraahat ke fir se hum lut gaye hai
Yeh sochta hoon main kab se gumsum
Ke jab ki mujhko bhi yeh khabar hai
Ke increment nahi hai, kahin nahin hai
Magar yeh company hai ke keh raha hai
Ke increment ho gaya hai, ho hi gaya hai!

--FEMALE--
O, tu offshore salary hai meri family hai teri gulam
Tu na ho to main kahan hoon
Mujhe salary dene waale
Tu jahan hai thoda to sochale
Hamein dena bhi tha hamdam
thoda sa increment
Yeh kya kiya mere company ne
Yunhi bina puchhe bina bataye
Mm, meri saans saans chillaye
es saal to milega increment
Tera jabab wahi hai
Jo tha pichhale saal
Koi aur raasta dhundhale
Agar chahije jo increment
Yeh kya kiya mere company ne
Yunhi bina puchhe bina bataye

--MALE--
Main senior Tum Junior, Fir bhi apani salary lagbhag same
companymates ki shikayatein, onsite mein bhi hai offshore mein bhi
Kehne ko bahut kuch hai, magar kisse kahe hum
Kab tak yunhi khaamosh rahe aur sahe hum
Dil kehta hai management ke har ek aadami se shikayat kare hum
Deevaar jo hum logon mein hai, aaj gira de
Kyoon dil mein sulagte rahe, logon ko bata de
Haan humko increment chahiye, increment chahiye, increment!
sab ke labo pe yehi baat, onsite mein bhi hai offshore mein bhi

--FEMALE--
Yeh kya kiya mere company ne
Yunhi bina puchhe bina bataye
Yeh kya kiya mere company ne

P.S. : The Author is not responsible for the views and comments on this blog. These may not be author's own views. Any resemblance to any idea or any situation or any process mentioned in this blog anywhere on the Planet Earth is purely coincidental!
@copyrights reserved to PNN incorp.

the G@Me of $hiftinG!!

2005-06-29T22:31:00.000-04:00

While all ideas are clear in your mind,
Shift your focus to get confused!

While walking on your path to the success,
Shift your road to start all over again!

While you are dreaming about your goals,
Shift to reality to see them vanished all!

While everything seems serene in life,
Shift the mind to the sudden insane outburst!

While everything is at its own place,
Shift their places to create chaos!

While you get settled at a place,
Shift your place in search of stability again!

I am really enjoying the game of shifting!

Morale of the Blog :

I am shifting my place again! (I am too weak in maths to remember the count!).

My old "Bakra"s ..Errrr.. Roomies (In order) :

Akela (First few days in Hotel), Sabarinathan, Srihari, Avijit, Venkat, Anantha, Sharad, Ravi, Deepak, Inderpuneet, Balaji, Sandeep, Sanjay, Goudhaman, Chandan, Nagendra, Ranga, Jayant, Mahesh, Vinayak!

My new Target "bakra"s :

Sumit, Vinayak (once again!), Bhaskar! May GOD bless them! They need "all d best" from you all!

Check out their smiles! My next target!!

28th June!

2005-06-28T10:09:00.000-04:00

My dear friend and colleague, Sandeep Suryavanshi, was blessed with a Baby girl today. His wife is in India. So his “haalat” over here was pretty bad .. he he ! He was desperately waiting for a phone since last 2 days!!

Wish him and his new family all the best from all of us … also some serious thought quoted by Manish :

“Plan your life like you are gonna live forever…
Live your life like you are gonna die tomorrow.”

Age 1 Day :)

Back to Copy Cat ROLE :)

2005-06-20T20:15:00.000-04:00

Jakob the Liar

At the Start of Movie :

Hitler goes to a fortune-teller and asks, "When will I die?"
And the fortune-teller replies, "On a Jewish holiday!"
Hitler then asks, "How do you know that?"
And she replies, "Any day you die will be a Jewish holiday!!"

Philadelphia

Tom Hanks (Andrew Beckett): That's their story. Wanna hear mine?

Denzel Washington (Joe): How many lawyers did you go to before me?

Tom Hanks (Andrew Beckett): Nine.

Denzel Washington (Joe): Go on!!

Cindrella Man

Russell Crowe (Jim Braddock):
I have to believe… that when things are bad… I can change them.

The Green Mile

Tom Hanks (Paul): On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God, and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That is was my job? My job?

Michael Clarke Duncan (John): You tell God that it was a kindness you done. I know you are hurting and worrying, I can feel it on you, but you oughta quit on it now. Because I want it over and done. I do. I'm tired, boss! Tired of being on the road, lonely as a sparrow in the rain! Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or tell me where we are coming from or going to, or why!! Mostly I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday! There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time!!
Can you understand?

Tom Hanks (Paul): Yes, John. I think I can!

Cast Away

Tom Hanks (Chuck): I couldn't even kill myself the way I wanted to. I had power over nothing.

One of his Friends : We buried you. There was a coffin, a gravestone... the whole thing.

Tom Hanks (Chuck) : I had a coffin?

His Friend : Yeah!

Tom Hanks (Chuck): Well, ....... what was in it?

one STEP three STEPs!!

2005-06-15T20:24:00.000-04:00

"One Step forward ..Three steps Back! Cha Cha Cha!! "

The Song of Life for me!

Am I coming back to my ROLE that I have been assigned by ALMIGHTY? The role of the ROLLING STONE! Yes ...in this "END"less ocean of LIFE, my destiny is to achieve my dreams, achieve my treasure! But the path that HE has chosen is very different! It is my destiny to roll alone along HIS chosen path in the discoveries of my dreams to find the "END"! HE lets me go forward one step and suddenly pulls me back three steps. HE makes me dance with MY legs on HIS own very smooth n' delicate steps! Very simple steps I should say :

One Step forward ..Three steps Back! Cha Cha Cha!!

Guess I have started liking dancing on his steps, liking my own ROLE of ROLLING STONE!

"I love being a ROLLING STONE,
to wonder ALONE along the Path HE chose!
In the pursuit my dreams along the ROAD,
my dream is to find the "END" of the ROAD!
The "END" which is not in my sight,
which I wish I would never reach!"

I'm Broke!!!

2005-06-12T23:27:00.000-04:00

1 Laptop
1 More Laptop
1 (More) Digital Camera - I already have one, I purchased one more :D
1 (More) Flash card - I have 3 of them now
30 GB Creative Jukebox
a/b/g Wireless Router
200 GB external Hard Disk
Cord less phone
Some small things here and there!

Took @ll this in only one Month! This all sums up more than my month's salary!!

After looking at difference between my bank balance, I have taken an oath not to purchase nething for next 6 months :D

A Confession of a HELPLESS Tree - Part II

2005-06-09T02:44:00.000-04:00

I was dead, defeated and ruined! I was severely devasted when YOU took back sunlight from me and left me alone in the dark with freezing cold. I was alone fighting for my existence! I stood there fighting against YOUR attitude which had snatched every single good thing from me. YOU took away my leaves, my children, from me. YOU made every possible attempt to finish me.

I had never thought that I would ever come out of it. I had lost all my hopes. Slowly my mind had starting killing me. I had know choice! I was running out of patience!!

Any suddenly "THAT" came to my mind. Yeah ...! "IT" was a mere thought. I virtually went back to my old good days. Those Beautiful days! If I DID exist then, I can EXIST now! Only thing which I wanted to do is to fight back and fight HARD to get those days back. This thought gave me a boost. And I was ready to start all over again! I just decided to stay in the battle and fought back hard.

I knew YOU have to bow down against my patience! YOU have to finally give me back what YOU had snatched from me! And finally YOU had to give everything to me. And here I am ...standing tall and handsome in bright sunshine with all my children, my leaves, with me. Now I can enjoy the MAGIC of your creation with all that YOU have gave back to me!

HOPE flots, HOPE vanishes for a moment ...but it NEVER dies!

This is the same tree which I had posted in my previous Blog : A_Confession_of_a_HELPLESS_Tree.

Just putting up a part of one Poem "Kolumbas che GarvGeet" ( A Proud song of Columbus) from Kusumagraj.

It goes like this. Columbus is talking to SEA and his fellows. He says,

"Let's start our ship, Let's sail into water,
Be proud to start our journey (to fulfil our dreams)!
Our passions for our Dreams are unlimited,
Our hopes for achiving them are unlimited,
But hey poor SEA, you have limits!
Limits of your own coast!"

@ACHIEVEMENTS!!!

2005-06-08T22:51:00.000-04:00

Arj kiya hai ..................................

DARIYA jitna PROJECT,
NADI jitni EFFORT,
BALTI jitna ESTIMATE,
DABBEY jitni SALARY,
BOOND jitna INCREMENT,

To kya Ghanta hoga ACHIEVEMENT!!

Read my previous post on the Goal Shits : Goal-Maal!

Finishing off in eStyle!

2005-06-05T16:05:00.000-04:00

Finishing Pending work in eStyLe!!

Finally he grabbed it!

B'day Bash ....Grand Victory!!

2005-06-03T20:17:00.000-04:00

18-year-old Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal had decided to do friendship with Roger Federer.

Then they set for the most awaited clash on Roland Garros!

Roger Federer was made to play hard! He is undoubtfully "THE BEST" in today's era and my favorite too! It was pretty hard to imagine him in this situation while I wanted him to win French Open desperately! Federer Won Laureus Sportsman Award this year, kinda Sports Oscar award and if he would have won French OPEN this year, he would have become the Youngest Man to finish his Career Grand Slam! I wanted him to achieve this feat this year.... but offcourse I can wait for one more year!!

But Rafael had a surprise party on his B'day. Being on the verge of completing his teen's, he was very enthusiastic all the time in the match. The most of the crowd was behind him after he won the first set. I like the way he plays double wristed backhand shot, in fact, I should say forehand as he is lefty, but what the heck, I don't mind calling it anything as long as I am enjoying his game. He generate so much power in this shot!

He celebrated b'day with a great moment of victory!

I remember when Roger Federer won against Pete Sampras in US open he was also 19 years old. He was quite a sensation then! So is the time with Rafael Nadal today! Seems he was on the receiving end today! But the work is just half done. Would like to see Nadal going on to win the title!

I wish I could fly ....

2005-05-27T12:28:00.000-04:00

We are going to Virginia Beach for coming weekend. So I will be missing my weekly cricket over here. My friends used to tell me that I play good cricket, only thing is I am a poor fielder, needs lots of improvement in batting and they used tell me not to bowl as I can't fit into the definition of a Bowler. So except fielding, batting and bowling everything was fine with my cricket!

Neways, I always wished I could fly like this guy below :D

There are good things in my plate for the coming weekend. I behave like a (more) crazy person when I go into sea. I am absofuckinglutely crazy about the sea! So pretty much exited about this trip. First time I will be going into sea in UStayAlone here!

Yes check this :

For more details click here : Chesapeake Bay Bridge

W O R D S !

2005-05-25T20:17:00.000-04:00

**@ my words**

Have not much to write ...
Still they don't come with me!
Not much to share ...
Still are running away!

they are devolving places ...
going zillions of ways ...
they are ripping apart ...
going away from me!

they are breaking down ...
straying with disintegrated thoughts ...
stumbling in pain ...
asking for my help!

I thought of chasing them ...
thought of catching them ...
to make them my own ..
for good and forever!

So I ran after them
and they away from me!
Had a good chase ...
to reach to their place!

Finally could catch them ...
Just to find out
They are DEAD ...
DEFEATED n' RUINED!

Till We Meet Again .....!

2005-05-18T21:38:00.000-04:00

When the wind whispers in your ears ...
When the moon smiles at you ...
Just believe that its my voice u'll hear ...
And I am here right next to you ..

When the night falls around u ...
Close ur eyes.....!
Its not you should look in the crement..
Its really me ...!!

I love u ... I always will ...
Faar from here .....an eternity !

Those say that its the END ...
You will know.... its only just BEGUN!!!

---from My Brother Nikhil

I miss YOU so much!

2005-05-08T20:47:00.000-04:00

I feel like a Void deep inside me...
like an empty mind n' emptier heart ...
I can't speak a word ...
when she asks me that question ...

I told her its not in my hands...
though I know its not true...
Still I don't know why I keep saying it again n' again..
when she asks me that question...

She tells me she is missing me...
n' I know I miss her too...
But I can't tell her this...
when she asks me that question...

I miss the warmth of her love...
her scolding... her caring...
still I feel her care for me...
when she asks me that question...

Yesterday I called you my mother...
And you asked me the same question...
"when are you coming home my son..."
I left it unanswered as usual...
without a single word...
Just to let her know...
I miss her so much...
I miss her so much...!

A Week gone By !

2005-05-04T21:47:00.000-04:00

I am still trying to be alive! I have understood that the worst pain in the world IS the pain in teeth! I had been in lots of pain since last 2-3 weeks due to one of the teeth which had a small void in it.

Today I got the same teeth as a "present" in a jewel case by the Doctor! Yes ....! The only "bad" thing about this "good" present is that I had to pay him lot of money as my company does not cover my dental insurance!! What the heck!!! I am free from pain now and enjoying ICE-CREAM while writing this!!

"This was the culprit!"

I could not write anything for past few days as I was totally indecisive as to which machine I should use. (Abhay told me that he was happy that I didn't write the last part of my script and so are most of my friends. But I ain't spare nobody!! I will soon come up with that!!)

"Help Me out to figure out which m/c I should use"

I tried to count how many laptops are there in our apt, but alas! I am pretty poor in maths!! (Everybody knows that) Finally I gave up as I could not decide which Laptop should be used to use calculator to count no of laptops!!!

So we decided to go for a drive. The weather was perfect on weekend!

"Safar"

I sat in the front to take care that my roomie does not sleep as he is getting habituated to sleep while driving on freeways. Any way while taking shots with my camera, I just reminded how the weather was 2 months back. It was just the "other" side of the COIN!

"2 Months back - Normal Life, 'clean' Roads "

As I was sitting at the front seat and was not driving, we reached our destination without any "sleeppage" at the front seats. Everybody sitting at the back, made sure that their snoring voices, won't let the people at the front sleep!

So finally we are here in the temple.

"Mandir"

I wanted to go to the temple desperately since last week and finally I could come over my inertia to make it this time! My roomies used to scold me for not coming to temple with them. I don't know why I didn't want to go there. But this time I made it! I took some snaps at the temple just to have a proof!! Nevertheless this visit took me in my old days when I used to visit "Ganapati temple" in my college days!

Anyway, I wanted to put up a snap of my Cubicle here. When I thought about it, I took my camera to office. When I tried to get the snap, the batteries were down. So I charged batteries that night, but forgot to carry camera next day to office! Next week I duly remembered to take camera with me. This time I made sure that batteries are charged. But what the HECK! My camera stopped working suddenly! So I had to send it to repair. It took 2 weeks for me to post it and they repaired it and sent me back only in 3 days. (Don't ask me why did I took 2 weeks to post it. I have all the reasons in the world to give for it! *I m not lazy* ) They replaced the DC ckt as it was damaged.

Whatever may happen, I decided to take a snap of my cubile and I am putting it up here. Before that just read what David Letterman has to say about Drawbacks to Working in a Cubicle :

10. Being told to "think outside the box" when you're in a freakin' box all day long.

9. Not being able to check e-mail attachments without turning around to to see who's behind you.

8. Cubicle walls do not offer much protection from any kind of gun fire.

7. That nagging feeling that if you press the right button, you'll get a piece of cheese.

6. Lack of roof rafters for the noose.

5. The walls are too close together for the hammock to work right.

4. 23 power cords - 1 outlet.

3. Prison cells are not only bigger, they also have beds.

2. The carpet has been there since 1976 and shows more signs of life than your coworkers.

And the Number 1 drawback to working in a cubicle is...

1. You can't walk out and slam the door when you quit. (I Love this one!!!)

My Cubicle does not seem like this at all! Do check this out!!

"My Cubicle"