Long live the Queen.....

  And they are back... With a bang. After years of dominance,be it politics,sports or economy, they slowly faded away in oblivion! Too big to fail they said. But slowly and steadily they had to retreat & retire to their side of the English channel.
 
   And then we entered year 2013...The 'Britzkreig' ...My boss at work, wen on a con call with Americans & Indians quipped in her typical Londoner accent, 'aah, scoot over gentlemen... We are back... Dominated the Olympics,Won d Wimbledon crown, Tour de France & now celebrated the most awaited birth after Jesus' haha!! They know their diplomacy lessons...The casual way by which the 'Brit' boss hammered in her point is what makes them stand apart.
   Their accent & their charisma has a lot to do with their rising stature in society. I'm yet to come across an introvert islander who retreats to his/her own shell. From Murray's magic to Prince George's fan following... I look forward to drench myself in the royal treatment that Britishers are known to give their guests.
 
Totally stoked to work with our London office for the next month or so. Adios amigos, for within the next few hours wen d london markets open I'll be deep into crunching numbers and 'sliding' my way through marimekko charts. Much on a sticky wicket, ehh??

Back in Action!

It's been a long long time since i posted something, or let my heart speak out. Today, just staring outside at the naked tree, the damp moist weather that's enveloping Ames made me write a few words... Then i realized... I do have a blog! So lets get this engine back and running!

It's been a long arduous journey.... A journey of Dreams.... It's weird how volatile dreams are. They transcend you to a different world when you are motivated but when reality hits, you are back to square one... The common mans life! The life that most of us hate to be a part of, the life that beats you down, stares at you and says "you ain't man enough, you just can't do it" THAT life!!

 

Rocky Balboa! ehh? This happens in a movie, can we emulate it in real life? Its a classic conundrum that we face! I happened to be in Chicago for New Years. Standing atop the sky deck gave a flicker of hope to my dreams. Yes, it is possible. Yes i can reach that goal i have set for myself. It can be a year later or it can be a decade later, but where there is hope there is life.

The struggle for any individual is to catapult himself from the Bourgeoisie class! How he does it, or when he does it is just a matter of time! Anyway, thinking a lot on this topic won't get me anywhere! so i am off working on my Decision Analysis assignment for the week! (yes i love it, i hate Data Analytics class though) . But someday in the near future, i will take up a course in philosophy! A classic way to feed the mongrels inside our brain which keep shouting! Adios! and see ya soon!

BLATANT TRUTH.....

              At times when I grapple to study for my exams, not the ones  which  prepare me for a better tomorrow but the ones which mess up my fine present, I think of the long lost people  who have scraped through these “TESTS”. People Who have passed these barriers  with pride but have found themselves among the countless unrecognizable faces filling up this planet.

     Today’s Youth go to college thinking they’ll learn a thing or 2.But the soft , safe assassins of college classrooms who, incompetent to answer the queries of a quest for reason, take pleasure in crippling the young minds entrusted to their care. The mothers and fathers of today, who tremble with fear when their baby falls, who protect their offsprings with a zeal of an evangelist, who go all out to form a protective covering about their kids , send them to colleges to be turned into a tortured neurotic where he’s taught that he requires no mind and that his attempt to think is ghastly.

        They teach us the art of survival, the “chalta – hai” attitude and equip us with such thoughts that are non-chalant. Yet , man whose tool of survival is the mind, does not merely fail to teach a child to think but devotes the childs education to the purpose of destroying his brain, of convincing him that thought is futile and evil, even before he has started to think.!!!!

      From the first catch phrases flung at a child to the last, it is like a series of shocks to freeze his motor, to undercut the power of his consciousness. ”Don’t ask so many questions” , “don’t argue. Obey” , “children r supposed to obey not poke their noses with their blabber”, “who are you to say so?, society knows best” , “don’t argue on those facts. Our ancestors have told us to…”

     Men, would shudder if they saw a mother bird plucking the feathers from the wings of her young, then pushing him out of the nest to struggle for survival- yet they don’t realize that that is what they do to their children, their very own children!

       This is the society we are living in today, children don’t have a mind of their own…it s been stolen, stolen by their very own, thinking is a crime, if you dare to think you are branded as a non-conformist, a selfish individual whos out to destroy society…..

      And so………   great minds are nipped at the buds……..  

The Lone Weary Warrior!!

                His shoulders were drooped, not out of tiredness but out of failure that hurt his soul. A failure towards his obligation . An obligation to meet a trillion dreams of a billion people.   A failure towards his own dreams .  He stared below, he couldn’t look up at the blazing lights focussing on him or people chanting his name. He was let down again. Sweat trickled down from his brow as he stood there on the battlefield, baffled as he was, it was the sweat of hope. Years of hope, but still his fellowmen had neither an idea of what it was or how it could befall them. Just like Karna he was the lone warrior, filled with dignity and poise, capable of turning battles upside down. He put his kingdom before his individualistic dreams. Fate has never bestowed upon him the happiness he deserves.  Destiny had a different story to tell tonight. He stood there helpless watching his fellow comrade getting bludgeoned. His efforts were in vain AGAIN!

                Last Saturday i lay in disbelief as India lost to South Africa. A six over the ropes and 2 boundaries racing over the fence had sealed their fate. It has been the same all these years. He takes your team all alone and mounts them at a high pedestal   thinking others won’t surpass them. But alas it happens as a bunch of selfless idiots with no shame whatsoever pull themselves down. He is the only sane among the insane. The only god among the mortals.

       A few years ago at sharjah  he  led Team India to a fighting comeback against the unbeatable Aussies. As formidable opponents would,  Kasporowitz and Damien Fleming were shooting volleys at him. He stayed there unperturbed and took India to a convincing position to qualify for the finals. But the match had not been won yet. He departed knowing that his fellow mates down the order would take it home! But alas , they fell, they fell like a pack of cards!

             There are innumerable instances when such things have happened. The annals of history bear proof to the fact that Great men end up on the losing side. History is full of such examples.

       Now, Its an obligation for Dhoni and his team to win this for him. Not for the billion people standing behind you, but for the one man standing beside you.

     The legendary Donald Bradman had said “If only he was an Australian!!”

        That moment when India lost, I hoped he was.

           Now i know what it is to be SACHIN!!!:-)

 

    

My BABE, my BOMBAY! :-P

          Dhobhi ghat!!!   An apparent debacle if you compare it with all the stupid commercial movies bollywood produces every weekend! Story?? It din’t really have one! It din’t have the typical boy girl love story or a munni  gyrating to some copied beats :-P     But the movie had an essence to it, it spoke about “THE CITY” , it captured Bombay in a way few other movies have!  A love story between a city and its protagonists.  

     Bombay is like  a drunk whore, the more you bang it, the more pleasure you derive out of it.... and as time passes you ultimately realise that you are passionate about  her. J    From the moustached politician to the half naked beggar on the street, from the tired banker half hanging from the train to the businessman in debt smoking a cigar in his BMW, from the failed actor trying to make ends meet to the dhobhi walla working endless hours to send a few thousand bucks back home to his village.  Every individual here lives on hope..  they drink it , they sweat it, they serve it, they have it in their blood!   The city builds their dreams and nurtures it. Mumbai teaches you to dream about your hopes and aspirations while living with  your nightmares.  Every one’s a loner here but no one’s alone.

Its funny why an investment banker raking in 2 crores as his diwali bonus still travels in a train:-O Its even more funnier when a businessman travelling in a Merc takes investment advice from a man travelling to his dalal street office in a bus!    ‘Bombay is a paradox’ to sum it up in a sentence J

            The US educated MBA might term it nostalgia when he returns back to recapture the faded sentimentality he shares with his native city. He might fail to find the city he was bought up in, in his boardroom battles but a simple walk by the sea face reconnects you.  A weekend errand to the market, the unavoidable bargain with the vegetable seller, the unexpected smile from  some arbitrary person in the train. Such small, uncalled for moments shows the spirit of this city. It gives you energy and jutzpah no amount of steroids will.  A week in this city and you know you want to spend your life here. For tourists who want to skip the clichéd tour of Bombay, meet up with a student or a local and you’ll stand to know Bombay like you never will.

The Shettys and Nairs from the south will serve u  a hell of a meal while the Mehtas and the Jains are busy stashing away your money in safe havens. Its a cosmopolitan!! J It’s  an exotic display of  humans that make BOMBAY!

Bombay is still a mystery, it has a gothic sync to it.... the best you can do is be a part of the mystery! .....And  LOVE IT!

    No doubt Kiran Rao couldn’t capture it in her 95 minute depiction of Bombay!  As a matter of fact No one can!!  J

      

MOOD for our EYEs !!!

           Just happened to be in the middle of the most happening college fest in India.. yea the mood-i J  engineering students had a ball!!!    And saw some too :-P

   Yea this junta convenes  here  to catch up with their opposite species.

    These tech guys are the most unlucky male species on this planet. The only female company they have in their lectures are of those  beautiful^*** damsels, facial hair more than a guy having a 2 day stubble! :-D    poor nerds i say!!

So when they come face to face with a beautiful young girl they stammer and mess up as if they are up for a bout with muhammed ali! :-P                           Lock an engineering student in a room with a horny model and they’ll end up teaching  her quantum physics..... and the closest they can get to romance is, justifying how her upper torso is an exception to d law of gravity :-P :-D

      Dmitry Medvedev   was going to be there, but who cared for that old Russian in a black tux?  The actual crowd puller was the tattoo parlour and the levis curvy stall!!!!  This is their annual fiesta, indulgence is an impossible leisure the other 361 days!!!

They don’t care for the fundas they learn in college, these guys are more concerned about Charlie Sheen’s methodology and how to execute it practically.(though they fail at it miserably) L   

   They’ll talk non stop about fluid mechanics to thermal stresses and complain about their predicament but when it comes to dealing with the feminine group they are poor pups cornered in a dark alley.     

Haha , the engineering species are a  weird bunch!!!! You cant  decode them!  They are cryptic:-D

^***   hairy, wid high powered spectacles, imagine saddam hussain with long hair and wearing telescopic spectacles.

Wilkommen......

              Here it is, struggled for 18 days before atlast  making an effort to write my blog! Yea it was a new year resolution, weird one but something my mystified mind won’t be able to justify.FYI another resolution of  drinking just black tea  lasted for a week! (my attention span is worse than that of a ten year old)   Beat that :-D who cares about health anyways, i  just want my tongue to sway in delight!

   For a start  I  thought i’ll appreciate our very own “fourth estate” ....

         I always wonder  how journos manage to write columns in toi!  Jug Suraiyya dedicates a whole article on panties hanging outside  the windows :-P  hats off!!   I wonder how he managed to cover the whole article with it when people struggle to cover their  little treasures with those strings:-D  

Then there is  Bachi Karkaria , writes articles which doesn’t really justify her name:-P (read BACHI)  Be it the Maoists or  miss Radia or her recent favourite  “ balls  , bawls  wateva”  , she always has lots to say! Not surprisingly, Our  very  own  Shashi Tharoor seems to have gone on a self imposed sabbatical! Yea he’s PUSHING too hard (PUSH-KAR) :-P     

         Then my fav  Bobilli Vijay Kumar!  I so love his name...  whats in a name!!!  Yea , ironically there’s just confusion in his!!! :-P  South Indian names are legendary. Its long  and uncanny! Still u develop a liking towards it :-D (keep ur naughty thoughts at bay)

          Enough of the journos for now! (told yaa---> ma attention span :-P) Sarcasm is my forte!  Its my core competency :-D .  Heading to the kitchen now!!  Coming home after a month has its own perils..  apart from a  month of gyming down the drain!   Cakes,cookies and coke awaits me so does a bowl of sambhar rice!  Yea i’m a southie too, but my name ain’t anything like bobilli:-D

 Bbye for now! J