How to Love Me

According to this website, after it told me that I am an ISTJ (Introvert, Sensor, Thinker, Judger) based on Carl Jung’s Theory.

-Appreciate my common sense, practical, and steady approach to life.
-Respect my need for routine and order; avoid sudden changes.
-Listen attentively and respectfully.
-Try to be calm, honest and specific when discussing problems.
-Give me plenty of time to think things through before discussing them.
-Above all - Notice and acknowledge my hard work and commitment to our family's needs.

Hmmm. I don’t know. I guess I don’t disagree with the assessment except that of course it would help if you also play chess and don’t ask me to cook.

The Pleasure of a Slow Start

Ok. Some background is needed here. I work in an IT company, which like many of them is located far, far, far away from the city. So, many companies including mine arrange buses to pick up their employees from various points in the city. So far so good. But, the timings are a downer in my company. 8 to 5. Which means I get on the bus around 7 since I live 18 kms away. Which means I need to get up at 6 AM. 6.20 AM, if I can do without the coffee and the newspaper.

Sure, one can go late. Its not like school where you had to go see the principal who would come around and box your ears.

But these were the following options available to me if I decided to go late or missed the bus.

-Auto->Hyderabad City bus-> Share Auto
-Auto-> Share Auto-> Share Auto-> Share Auto-> Share Auto
-Car
-Bike

I wasn’t using option 3 or 4 coz' I-cannot-say-this-since-this-could-be-held-against-me. And as you may have noticed, options 1 & 2, which were my refuge, are not very inviting. But last weekend I finally went and paid up my out-of-state vehicle tax for my bike and suddenly, option 4 was now less risky (The traffic police are very vigilant on my route to office) and very viable.

Today morning, when my mobile alarm went off at 6.20 AM (there’s been no morning coffee or newspaper reading for 3 days now), I mouthed an expletive at the mobile and went back to sleep. Got up an hour and half later, stretched, yawned and showed my middle finger to my mobile to rub it in. Put on Travis on my home theatre system (can do that since mom is away) and proceeded to brush my teeth while the band Sang, Sang, Sang. To cut a long story short, made my coffee and read about Sonia Gandhi resigning her post as MP. Admired my naked self in the mirror to my hearts content and as the last song in the album (The Humpty Dumpty Song) played itself out, was actually considering applying some moisturizing lotion on my body.
Finally left at around 9 AM.

The ride wasn’t pleasant though, what with the traffic and the Hyderabad summer creeping in. I think I must have lost a couple of kgs by the time I reached office. Well, I know what I need to do to get my car on the road to office.

I could tell you but then I would have to kill you.

Living by Myself, Now and Then

Mom’s spending a fortnight in Chennai and am holding the fort at home, alone. It’s at such a time that you remember that you are pretty inadequate to manage a decent life for yourself.

Dinner is a big decision every night. House is a mess, as the maid can’t come in at the time that I am around the house. Plates lie in the sink, asking to be washed. I solve that problem by avoiding the kitchen or holding my breath when I can’t avoid heading in that direction. There is an alarm on my mobile to remind me to keep an alarm so that I get up in time in the morning. I am running out of clean underwear, need to use that washing machine pretty soon. I ran out of drinking water in the house today. So if you are reading this and planning to come home, get me a couple of Bisleris. Forgot to turn off the geyser today morning. Nothing happened, I guess will wait for the electricity bill. Couple of empty vodka bottles lie next to the fridge. Make mental note to get rid of them before this Saturday.

But I hardly spend a few hours a day in the house anyway. So its not so bad, you know, I mean, compared to the time when I was in Cochin, that is.

Now that was loneliness. My best time professionally till now, but my worst as far as my personal life was concerned. Add to the fact that I used to work from home, and it sometimes would be weeks before I would have a decent non work related face to face conversation with anybody. Breakfast, Lunch and dinner were all big decisions. House was still a mess as I used to tour extensively and the maid stopped coming after some time when she found that the door was locked half the time. I still had the work ethic hangover of six years of campus life, accentuated by this particular situation where I could work in bermudas and have a bath when I thought my boss would be busy having his lunch a 1000 kms away and unlikely to call me up. The oh so familiar walls of my flat would sometimes get so depressing at times that I would just rush out in the evenings and take a walk along the beautiful ocean promenade in Cochin, its Marine Drive. I didn’t have a set routine then as I have now, nor consistent hobbies to save me from existential boredom.

Nowadays, I blog, I go to the gym at least 3-4 days of the week, read books and jog on weekends. Shaves of at least 25-30 hours in a week from my free time.

Less time to wonder now what to do with it, a good or bad thing, do you think?

P.S. I also had some great times in Cochin. I made some great friends, toured all over the beautiful state of Kerala, experienced houseboats, hills, toddy and beef. And am not ashamed to admit it, learned to drive a bike while I was there.

The Racing Mind

I read somewhere that we humans use only 10% of our brain potential. Not surprising, considering the sedentary lifestyles that most of us lead. I mean, writing these posts is probably the only time when my brain is required to weigh in, and maybe the odd day when I play chess. I had realised long back that brains are not required to earn a good living. At the most, mental capabilities are just a useful accessory, to be shown of in the guise of graduate and postgraduate degrees and GMAT scores (mine’s 730- 97th percentile :) ). As useful as an aquarium in a palatial house.

But today, I caught my mind racing. It all happened like this. I had gone to this bakery to catch an after-jogging snack. When I returned home and got out of my car, my wallet was missing and I thought.

Shit! Did I leave it at the counter while paying for the snack? Or did I leave it at the table? Or did it fall out of my trackpants while I getting into the car? That would be bad. Man, I will never use these tracks again, its pockets suck! I need to block my debit cards and credit cards. Fuck, both my bike and car licenses are in the wallet. Ok, now should I run back to the bakery, or take my car or my bike? Shit, I need to pick up Raghu from the airport tonight. Should I drive without a license on me? Or should I call him and tell him to find his own way home? Should I call my mom in Chennai about this? Fuck! I had close to 2000 bucks in there! Oh my god! Where’s my mobile? Don’t tell me I’ve lost that too. Oh right, its at home, I didn’t take it with me when I went for the jog, thank god!

Not bad, huh? My mind was practically racing at full speed as I was searching frantically inside the car for my wallet in the hope that it would be inside the car somewhere. I found it, of course, wedged between the door and the floor of the car. I heaved a huge sigh of relief, kissed the wallet, considered whether to leave the driving license inside the car and ruled it out.

I slipped the wallet back into the pockets of my tracks and stepped into my home.

My Word Cloud!

Cool, don't ya think? You can get yours too, here.

The Buddha in My World

I just finished reading Pankaj Mishra’s, ‘An End to Suffering’. Don’t worry, I don’t do reviews.

I just thought I would put down some of it here, stuff which spoke to me at a personal level. These are thoughts which I too have ruminated about at different times in my own life (my god, how old do I sound here?!), thoughts which I wanted to express but hadn’t gotten around to saying them, and anyway, couldn’t have said it better even if I had tried. So here goes…

“…I had so little to speak of, so little to claim for myself. I couldn’t stop being awed by what seemed to be their confident sense of who they were and what they could do. The privilege of having settled opinions and a steady view of the world: this was what people like Vinod and myself, all of us who had yet to know ourselves, longed for in different ways.”

“…Much of my life had been sheltered, spent in reading and daydreaming.”

“…But now I was settling into my new self- the self that had traveled and imagined that it had learnt much. I didn’t know then that I would use up many more such selves, that they would arise and disappear, making all experience hard to fix and difficult to learn from.”

“…In her own world- the streets and crowds of London, the vegetarian restaurant near London University where we presently went to have lunch- she appeared diminished.”

“…But there seemed something so particularly zestful and sympathetic about her, so without guile, that fantasy couldn’t but come tainted with guilt.”

“…things which that morning had added to my nervousness and made me think that I had arrived in the middle of a long and complicated film.”

“…the oppressive solitude that one could know in a large city, the lives of private longing and frustration which many of the people in the crowds seemed to lead, on whom the glittering past of the large metropolis that attracted a visitor like myself no longer cast its spell.”

“…they wanted to be accommodated beyond the life they had so far known, where they could shed the narrow racial or national identity they had been into and devote themselves to the making of money, the pursuit of learning and the search for love and freedom.”

“…To the more frustrated among them modernity already appeared as a tall mountain, where a few people already occupied the summit, watching others inch up the steep slopes, occasionally throwing down a tattered rope but, more often, giant boulders."

“…about the impulse to divide life into manageable parts, about the city as a collection of solitary individuals brought together briefly by a few shared interests.”

“…man as a psychological complex, who is a consequence of his past dispositions, of how and what he thought and said and did.”

“…He grasps them all but without clutching them, and he soon allows them to escape from his hands so as to run after new enjoyments.”

“…The constant striving for achievement, for the fulfillments that were small and brief in retrospect appeared empty, the effort to simply maintain a way of life that affirmed one’s identity, the hardening of social roles- all of this I had begun to see in my own life and understand more clearly.”

“Walk alone.
If they answer not thy call, walk alone;
If they are afraid and cower mutely facing the wall,
O thou of evil luck,
Open thy mind and speak out alone.”

And finally,

“Whatever beings may exist- weak or strong, tall, broad, medium or short, fine material or gross, seen or unseen, those born and those pressing to be born- may they all be without exception happy in heart!
Let no one deceive anyone else, nor despise anyone anywhere. May no one wish harm to another in anger or ill will!
Let one’s thoughts of boundless-loving kindness pervade the whole world, above, below, across, without obstruction, without hatred, without enmity!”

In unrelated news, discovered a bright clean scratch- probably made by a sharp metal object like a key or pocketknife or something- right down the whole left side of my car which caused me a lot of heartburn.

Darn, must have been one of those kids in my apartment complex who have been going berserk, playing Holi, today. Or could it be the guy who parks his motorcycle right next to my car? Or could it be the old fool with whom I had an argument in the park a couple of week’s back? Had he tracked me down and wreaked his vengeance upon my prized possesion?

When something like this happens, notwithstanding any amount of Buddhist philosophy that I may read, a small good part of me dies.

Pain and Rain

I have been giving the gym a miss for the last two days. There is pain in my left arm. It’s not the familiar muscle pain, which I don’t mind. This is different. It’s a pain, which flows as if in a capillary tube deep within my arm. Sometimes I feel it flowing near my elbow, sometimes near my shoulder and today I could have sworn that I felt it near my ring finger. It’s not unbearable but it’s very irritating.

"Ligament trouble", Karam had said. "Take some time off, these things take some time". Karam is the very popular gym instructor.

Its also been raining in Hyderabad. Its unseasonal rain but a welcome break from the early summer, which had just started to spread its wretched tentacles. The last few days and nights have been cool, windy and very pleasant.

I missed the company bus today and was on my way to the bus stop nearby to catch an autorickshaw to work when a state transport bus splashed dirty mud from a puddle, all over my new shoes and trousers. I had to trudge back, change and start again. Then it started raining. Went back up again five floors to my home and reluctantly returned with a garish pink umbrella (Mom:"I have given the black one to your sister").

As I stood waiting for the autorickshaw in the rain, I suddenly didn’t like the weather anymore. Puddles exposed the emaciated roads, pavements looked dirtier, gutters were overflowing and the air seemed to carry the stench of garbage. Even the people around me seemed more irritated and restive than usual.

Then I suddenly thought about the slums, which are just down the road. Would their tarpaulin tents have held out this rain? Or would their life have become miserable with the slush engulfing and transforming their daily existence into painful drudgery?

When I passed them in my autorickshaw, I looked away.

A Chess Quiz

I found a pretty interesting chess quiz on the internet. Had fun solving it and getting most of it right, of course. So, here it is, if you think you know chess, take a shot and let me how you did. I got 9/10. You can scroll down for the answers which are accompanied by my expert comments and explanations *smug smile*.
Oh, and before I forget, you can find the original quiz at http://www.funtrivia.com/playquiz/quiz70929821500.html

Question 1:
Which one of these endgame White setups (assuming Black holds a lone king) will always end in a draw?

1.king, knight, and bishop
2.king and two knights
3.king and queen
4.king and knight

Question 2:
If a knight is attacking the queen and king at the same time, which one of these strategies is being used?

1.skewer
2.fork
3.pin
4.check

Question 3:
Pins and skewers can be performed by several pieces, but not all. Which one of these pieces cannot pin or skewer?

1. rook
2. knight
3. queen
4. bishop

Question 4:
Which piece does the fianchetto strategy mainly benefit?

1. bishop
2. knight
3. rook
4. queen

Question 5:
Want to lose a chess game quickly? Fall for the commonly used Scholar's Mate. Which one of these squares is the target for this checkmate?

1. e2 or e7
2. f2 or f7
3. d2 or d7
4. h2 or h7

Question 6:
This is a chess situation: suppose White has a rook on d4, and Black's king is on g8, with three pawns on f7, g7, and h7. The pawns and the king are Black's only pieces left. It's Black's turn, so she moves her g-pawn to g5. What kind of checkmate is Black trying to prevent with this pawn move?

1. forced mate
2. back rank mate
3. smothered mate
4. double attack

Question 7:
Some structures of pawns are good, and some can really give you problems. Which one of these pawn structures is generally the strongest?

1. doubled pawns
2. passed pawns
3. isolated pawns
4. backward pawns

Question 8:
Now for some chess terminology- which one of these terms describes a situation where it is your turn and this puts you at a disadvantage?

1. zwischenzug
2. fianchetto
3. en passant
4. zugzwang

Question 9:
Another chess term- what is the term used for an 'in-between move', or a forcing move that is different from what would be normally expected?

1. zugzwang
2. zwischenzug
3. castling
4. en passant

Question 10:
There are several openings in chess, all characterized by a move, a position, etc. In which opening does White move his knight to f3 on the first move?

1. English Opening
2. Ruy Lopez
3. Reti's Opening
4. King's Gambit

Answers

Q.1. (4) King and knight, though mating with the first two options is not easy either.

Q.2 (2) Fork.
A bishop, rook or queen doing the same thing is known as a skewer.
A 'pin on a piece' restricts its movement, ie.discovers check on king, or threatens material loss.
And obviously, everybody knows what a 'check' is.

Q.3. (2) knight. Knights fork, as mentioned in Q2. And since knights can anyway jump over material, a pin by a knight is NA.

Q.4. (1) bishop. Refers to the bishop on b2, g2, b7 or g7. The bishop is placed on the longest diagonal on the chessboard from where logically, it is supposed to have the greatest influence.
With the same logic, knights have the least influence in the corners.

Q.5. (2) f2 or f7. The traditional weak squares in the beginning of the game since they are defended only by the respective kings and a double attack might bring about a quick downfall.
eg. 1.e4 e5 2.Bc4 Bc5 3.Qh5 Nf6 4.Qxf7#
Of course, a 'Fool's Mate' takes even lesser, 1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4#

Q.6. (2) back rank mate. The king is trapped on the last rank by its own pawns and cannot escape a check from a rook or queen.
A smothered mate is a similar mate delivered by a knight on an enemy king which is hemmed in by its own pieces.
A forced mate refers to a forced sequence of moves (typically a series of checks) leading to mate.
A double attack is a move that threatens two things at the same time. Forks and skewers are both double attacks.

Q.7. (2) Passed pawns. Refers to pawns which can no longer be obstructed or threatened by enemy pawns. Such pawns are easier to promote to the eighth rank where as we know, they can take up new job responsibilities.
Doubled pawns refer to two pawns of the same color on the same file. They are weak since they are susceptible to attack. Moreover, they restrict and cannot support each other's movement.
Isolated pawns. Pawns which find themselves alone, ie. absence of pawns of the same color on their adjacent files. They are weak since of course, they cannot be supported by neighboring pawns. But interestingly, in certain situations, such pawns also aid an attacking player as the open files on either side can be used for piece activity.
Backward pawns. Like the name suggests, pawns which have not achieved much purpose in their life. Additionally, they might restrict piece movement, so obviously, they are a liability.
There are other pawn structures like hanging pawns, pawn chain, hedgehog formation etc., but they are out of scope of this discussion *smug smile*

Q.8. (4) Zugzwang. Refers to a situation where 'whatever move you make, you lose'. Its derived from the German: Zug (move) + Zwang (compulsion, obligation). Generally happens in King pawn endgames so if it ever happens in the middlegame its rare, so take a picture and mail it to me.
en passant. Derived from French and means 'in passing'. Refers to a pawn capture by an enemy pawn in this special situation.
-A player moves his pawn two squares, from his second row to his fourth row.
-There is a pawn of the opponent that can capture at the squares that is passed over by the pawn.
-In that case, this pawn of the opponent has the right to capture en passant in the directly following move.
-To capture en passant, the opponents pawn goes to the square passed over by the pawn (i.e., the square on the third row), thus moving diagonally forwards. The captured pawn is taken from the board.
zwischenzug. Refer next question.

Q.9. (2) zwischenzug. Another German term. I didn't know what this meant. Apparently, refers to a situation where, instead of making the obvious move, like an immediate recapture, a player interposes a move (like a check, I guess) to achieve a favorable objective.
Castling. A king + rook move to achieve a safe haven for the king. Of course, so many rules about castling, again out of scope of this discussion.

Q.10. (3) Reti's Opening. Well, actually, the answer is simplistic. The Reti is completely characterized by the first 3 moves, 1.Nf3 2.c5 and 3.g3. The first move can actually transpose into many other openings, including the English or even the Ruy Lopez.
Discussing these openings will mean I will have to write a book. But, if you find chess openings boring, read up on the King's Gambit :)

Well, sorry if I bored many of you with this technical ramble, but I had lots of fun. If any of you found it interesting, sure, anytime!

So Not DazedandConfused

Malli Mastan Babu (IIM Calcutta, Class of 2004) has summited Mt. Aconcagua (again), the highest peak in South America (6962 m), on Feb 17, Fri at 3.30 PM. He aims to be the first Indian to summit the seven highest peaks in seven continents and the fastest in the world to achieve the same. He has summited Vinson Massif (Antarctica) on Jan 19, 2006. He plans to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro next and will soon leave for Tanzania. By June, if everything goes well, he will be the FIRST and the FASTEST!

More about Malli at this slightly dated www.1stindian7summits.com

My best wishes to you, Malli!

This Past Week

Couple of funny things that I read about or heard this week had me laughing out really loud.
The first was about Abhijit Sawant announcing that he was going to release his autobiography. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Prashant Publications is going to release it. I was thinking that there could be three kind of stupid people in the world. One, who write autobiographies at the age of 17, two, people who publish it, and three, who read it. But then I thought, if there were enough stupid people of the third kind, that would actually make people of the second kind quite smart and people of the first kind would then be stupid NOT to write an autobiography.
Hmmm...Anyway, I think there should be a law preventing people who don't hold a driving license or are not allowed to drink, legally at least, from writing autobiographies.

The second was about the story about President Bush and his retinue of 'security officers' of the four legged kind, which led to an accommodation issue at the Le Meridian in New Delhi which led to the Home Ministry officials having to step in.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I was chuckling to myself the rest of the week imagining the position the staff of the hotel found themselves in. I wonder if they received any tips from those officers, or are they lieutenants. Hahaha...now don't get me started. Chuckle.

There was some indignation from my colleagues as well resulting from the Bush visit to ISB in Hyderabad, which is just across the road from my company. As no three wheelers were allowed in the said road from early in the morning, many of them had to make a trek to cover the last mile to office. I can empathise. Certainly, not the best of starts to a workday. Some claimed later in the day that it was all worth it as Bush announced the opening of an American Consulate in Hyderabad. You see, their trek in the morning resulted in saving the journey for millions to Chennai for their VISA interviews. Of course, karma.

Yesterday night, beer was guzzled after quite some time. Had decided to restrain myself unlike last time and was determined to keep it all in. It still ended up as quite an adventure though, as it poured and poured by the time I left. Lights also went out, it seemed, in the whole of Hyderabad. The result was yours truly, with 3 bottles of RC inside, driving an old bike in the downpour at 11 in the night with only the aid of headlights from assorted vehicles. Squinting through my wet glasses, dropped off a lucky friend at his house and somehow made it safely back home myself. Lights came on as soon as I came in. That was nice. And of course, Mom seemed to be pretty relieved.

She's been forwarding me profiles of girls from these matrimonial websites this last week. I find it all pretty irritating and asked her not to do it.

"But did you take a look at those profiles?" she asked.

"Of course not, I delete them as soon as I see the subject of the email", I lie.

And finally, am in the middle of a book written by Pankaj Mishra, "The End of Suffering". The structure of the book is unlike anything I have read before. He juxtaposes travel writing, history, philosophy and autobiography in a pretty unique way. And I agree with the review that Scotland on Sunday has on the book which says 'It is perhaps in these personal accounts where Mishra is at his best, simply because of the sheer evocative power of his language, and the land and landscape he conjures up'. Of course, am not some lit-snob so maybe am just being naive.

I have been thinking that I am leading a pretty happy life. But Mishra quotes Nietzche in a line, which made me think again,

Is my life the "cheerfulness of the slave who has nothing of consequence to be responsible for, who does not value anything in the past and future higher than the present'?

Back to My Roots

Nowadays, am finding it really tough to find inspiration to blog. Not so long ago, it used to be so easy. It used to just come to me in the morning while travelling in the bus and I would get to office and put stuff down in under fifteen minutes.

It's an effort nowadays. I need a weekend and some good music to boot, to get my creative juices flowing. I was wondering why, for quite some time now without a clue. But today, I think I have found the answer.

I think it's the fault of all you creative (blogger poets) and terribly intelligent (Jessica Lal bloggers) bloggers out there who set such high standards. I just looked at my earlier posts and my latest ones. While earlier, I would happily blog about new roads in Hyderabad, strange menus in restaurants and obscure newspaper reports, my last three posts are discussing self important issues relating to my life's unfulfilled desires, national pride and my prickly ego. And all my spontaneous blog ideas are getting filtered by my new blogalter ego, which says,

"Are you really sure you want to put that up and expose yourself for the nincompoop you are?"

I am ashamed of myself for selling out. I have half a mind to delete the last three posts.

Today I had an interesting chat with Raghu, a colleague of mine. Now Raghu is also a batchmate from B School who I remember best as the CNC (thats Commander In Chief) of our hostel in the Inter-Hostel Sports meet (also known in secret circles as the World War). Now if you feel impressed or pity for him says a lot about the kind of person you are and whether we will get along if we ever meet.

But we are digressing,

"So how was your project?" I asked.

Raghu's just back from a 3 month engagement in the US.

"Screwed up man. Whole lot of escalations and issues."

He also expressed some choice adjectives for the project lead at which my ears kind of perked up.

I fished,"So what did the project manager do wrong? Just asking out of curiosity, you know, me being new in this industry and all."

He knew I was just interested to dig up some dirty gossip but even he wanted to get some off his chest. So he ranted about how the communication was poor, processes were not in place blah blah blah.

Then he added conspiratorially,

"The guy, Andy you wont believe, used to pick his nose so regularly..."

A pause. I do it sometimes myself and tried to recollect if I had done it in the last ten minutes.

"...and then, used to put the same finger in his mouth, immediately afterwards!"

"Wow!" I said in admiration.

"And he used to do this in front of the American clients in meetings!"

He was almost jumping now. I saw the old CNC in him again for a second.

This was good. I think a weight is now lifted from my chest too.

A Positive First Impression

Normally, this blog is pretty much inward looking. I write about stuff that I find funny, sad or something that bothers me, related to my everyday life. Then I try to include something from memory or try and abstract and put out something extra.

I generally avoid talking about world issues, political problems, critique policies etc. Basically the attempt is to avoid giving off any gyan because basically I don’t think I deserve to.

But its 1.30 AM and I can't sleep. I have to get up tomorrow at 6 AM and I should be sleeping. But I can't and my mind keeps going back to an article that I read a few hours ago in the latest issue of India Today (Mar 6).

Mr. N R N Murthy, Chairman, Infosys writes about how we should go about creating a positive first impression on the US CEOs so that we can improve our trade with them. This is just a summary of the points he makes in the article.

1. Ensure full transparency in our policies. Abolish case by case approval schemes.
Fine, nice global statement, nothing wrong with that. But I, with less than four years of work experience know that its utopian. Even the best processes can't cover everything and you cannot avoid case by case approvals. Just imagine, would it be too difficult to select an Indian cricket team based only on statistics. I mean that would be transparent, everybody would know that to get in the team, one needs a particular average, strike rate, specific fitness levels etc. We won't need any selectors to go watch matches. But will that get us the best team?

2. Create inexpensive signs of our trade openness by allowing McDonald's, Pizza Huts and WalMarts to open more outlets.
Inexpensive signs?! Wow! I can't believe this. The whole country has been debating about FDI in retail for months now and Mr. Murthy doesn't seem to think it’s an important issue. Oh yeah, the IT industry is not in the business of retail. Real Estate, maybe, but not retail. Right!

3. Create separate arrival/departure lounges. Let there be a hundred nice sofas where these businessmen can sit and wait while their entry, exit and customs formalities are being progressed. Employ young men and women in smart uniforms to take care of the formalities of the guests.
This just gets better. I remember George Fernandes had mentioned about a ‘strip search’ that he had to undergo in a US airport when he was the Defence Minister. And a few days ago, a reputed Indian scientist with full credentials from the Indian government was denied a VISA because his Muslim name resembled with an Al Quaida terrorist! Everybody who has frequented the US knows that you just need to be brown skinned to get special treatment from the immigration out there if you know what I mean. But we don’t want these goras with money standing in an Indian line!

4. Provide Incentives to helicopter companies to start services between the airport and the hotel for these people. This will avoid their experiencing bad traffic congestion. Then since these CEOs are allergic to wait in Govt. Office corridors, let us convert a huge mansion like the Hyderabad House in to a Hi-Tech Center with 20 well furnished rooms and get our ministers and bureaucrats and come there and meet these guys.
I don't think Mr. NRN was serious here. I would like to think he is just taking a dig at the political establishment in Bangalore for the traffic conditions out there. But if he is, I have a better idea. Lets shift the seat of our govt. from Delhi to a Miami Hotel. That should solve the problem.

5. Bring a level of certainty to appointments. Don't cancel or postpone them.
I have no problem with this one. Obviously, if those guys turn up on time we should keep our commitments too.

6. Create a cadre of smart and well-educated tour guides so that the spouses of these CEOs can tour the city.
Yes. Now as part of the UPSC exams, there will a new service called IGS. Indian Guide Service. Please. Those guys can ask any of the Seven Star hotels in which they stay in to arrange a tour for their spouses/companions. And pay for it.

In the book, "Doing Business in China" James Mcgregor makes a few telling comments about how China deals with multinationals and he gives words of advice to these MNCs. Some are

1. If your boss wants to do a quick deal in China, lose his or her VISA.
2. China doesn't forgive, and it never forgets. China has a long memory and seeks retribution when foreign companies defy its desires.
3. If Chinese ill treatment of foreigners ever depresses you, take solace in the knowledge that the Chinese treat each other even worse.
4. The Chinese govt. uses competition from foreign businesses to reform its own system and companies.
5. Chinese negotiators are masters of making you feel you need them more than they need you.
6. The Chinese will ask you for anything because you just may be stupid enough to agree to it. Many are.

These are just a few nuggets. And everybody knows that China dwarfs India in terms of FDI. Let’s be clear on one thing. These US CEOs are not in India today to do us a favor. They are here to make money for their shareholders. I am not saying that we should make them lick our boots, but hey, at least lets not pander and lose our self-respect when we do business with them.

Bending over backwards is just going to get us worms in chocolates and pesticides in cola.

In the evenings, when I pass by the slums near my home, I see blacked out ramshackle huts, naked small kids playing in the sewage, men and women sitting around leading their terrible life.

Somebody tell me again how all this FDI is going to help them?

About Improbable Wishlists

A slow realization is dawning on me. I am now in my twenty eighth year and not getting any younger. As every day of the rest of my life passes by, I know it will get more and more difficult to try new things, take risks and explore new places.

So here's a list of stuff that I want to do and am afraid I might never get around to doing

1. Play Drums
2. Sky Diving
3. Meaningful Social Work
4. Film Making/Theatre
5. A Long Bike Ride
6. Do Mountains
7. Appreciate Poetry (Urdu especially)
8. Get a Tattoo

Enough of this moping! If everything goes well, I will be on a trek to the Everest Base Camp in April. That will strike off one from this list.

Here I come.

Getting my Goat

Well, today I was on leave because I had a 'compensatory' off day. You see, I had worked on a Sunday a couple of week’s back. This had me really thrilled to bits and had planned a really funny post about all the reactions I have been getting from my friends whom I have considerately kept in the loop.

But then I happened to read Ms. Rashmi Bansal's latest post on my alma mater. That got my goat and ruined whatever insignificant plans I had for the rest of the evening. So wrote my comments, went to the IIM C website and posted about it in the alumni section. Then came back to YouthCurry and read through all the comments, there were about 15 by then. Also went over the blogs of the people who had written the comments. Found a couple of interesting ones. Came back and read more comments (last count- 25)

Well, am not going to criticize her post here so sorry to disappoint you. But her criticism stung. So I wondered what are the other criticisms which could potentially hurt me at a personal level. Let me see, dangerous to admit on a blog, but what the heck.

1. My family (obviously, they are the best and don't tell me otherwise)
2. BITS Pilani (my other alma mater, you cannot insult the memory of the best years of my life)
3. Chess (If you think I am crazy, I think you are stupid)
4. Aamir Khan (And NOT because of RDB)
5. Chennai (I don't know why but its my favorite city)
6. India (am out on a limb here, but yes)
7. Rock n Roll (Not the whole field, but there are a few mines you don’t dare tread on)

Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Amitabh Bachhan just missed the cut. Shahrukh who?

Hey, I just realised something. I missed mentioning myself in the list.

Or did I?

In the Zone

To achieve something, my blood flows, my blood flows,
To rise up in my eyes, my blood flows,
It falls from my body, it hugs the ground,
Through streets and waysides, it meanders, crawls,
In search of new colors, my blood flows

From open wounds,____________
slowly, oh so slowly, my blood flows,
Taking along with it,
Questions in its fingers, answers in fists,
To achieve something, my blood flows, my blood flows

To achieve something, my blood flows, my blood flows,
To rise up in my eyes, my blood flows,
It falls from my body, it hugs the ground,
Through streets and waysides, it meanders, crawls,
In search of new colors, my blood flows

My blood flows, My blood flows,
My blood flows, My blood flows,
My blood flows, My blood flows,
My blood flows, My blood flows

Once in a while when you watch a movie like 'Rang De Basanti' (don’t worry, am not going to do a review here), one is generally in a contemplative frame of mind for about half an hour.

So was I past midnight, driving back home, listening to some nice songs on the FM wishing for some dramatic announcement on the radio when the RJ says this (in good Hindi, I might add),

"In a few hours from now, it will be another morning. Birds will start chirping and autos will start plying on the roads. It will also be time for all us to wrap up our dreams and get busy with our mundane life and the activities, which are part of it. But for many of us today will be a little different.

Because today is a Sunday.

Hope your Sunday is a bit different in a way that you want it to be. But in the meantime, this is Rakesh Ahuja signing off and wishing all of you a very good night."

Good Night Rakesh.

Filling up a 'Share' Auto

"Borabanda Borabanda Motinagaraaa!"

I hear him shouting as I head over there. Like every night, it’s a mess.

There are at least five 'share' autos in a virtual free for all on a couple of routes, which leave from the Yousufguda Checkpost. The whole place bustles with activity just like any other lower middle class marketplace. Loads of fruitsellers around with their wares. A wine shop attracts its own loyal clientele. There's a pharmacist, a small restaurant, hardware shop, an electrical appliance store and a general store around this circle. Cars, bikes, autos, people hurrying at 9.30 PM to get home to their families.

Like I said, it’s a mess.

We make eye contact still 20 ft away and he shouts at me almost as if he knows me,

"Come on Come on Motinagar Borabandaaa!!!"

I am completely non-commital as I make quick survey and find all the autos on my route empty except for his where a guy was sitting in. But then he could be a dummy. I am tired though so I just get in.

He immediately gets a second wind and shouts louder than ever before,

"Borabanda Borabanda Motinagaraaa!"

Another guy gets in. And I was right. The first 'passenger' gets out and starts shouting too,

"Motinagar Motinagar Borabanda!!!"

If you haven’t figured it out as yet, this is how it works. Since there is no order to how the autos leave, it’s a perfect open market. So the auto which gets filled first (it takes 5) leaves. So all these guys shout their throats out every night trying to leave ahead of the rest.

Ok, so now that leaves people like me with the difficult decision to make every night to optimize our selection every night so that the auto in which I get in leaves early. The result is a curious situation that all travelers like me ideally want to be the fifth person in an auto and never the first because in the latter case you have minimum control over when your vehicle might leave. There's a good chance that you might feel pretty stupid on a few nights as you see other autos come and go. One can always jump out of the auto and join another one but somehow that almost never happens. Its almost like once you are in, you are part of a team.

Now in a perfect economic world, nobody will go anywhere but thankfully there are always some lemons around. And there are dummies.

Some of the autowallahs have a dummy passenger sitting in the auto, which gives him a small competitive advantage over the others and acts as an incentive to passengers to get in. When a couple of 'real' passengers troop in, the dummy gets up and assumes his real role of a conductor of the auto. Though the two or three passengers now realise that they have been had, there's nothing much they can do about it. And you can never really identify a dummy for sure.

"Borabanda?" A muslim couple ask my autowallah. The wife's in a burkha.

"Sir, please come up front" he requests me.

The auto can seat three at the back and four at the front (dont ask me how) including the driver and the 'dummy'. Ladies obviously are never expected to squeeze up front so I get down and sit next to the driver, half of my left bum hanging in the air.

We need one more. And then the bus comes along.

The bus is another constraint. People quit autos and get into the crowded buses. The bus ticket costs a buck less. Its always too crowded for me but the Muslim couple don’t think so and they leave.

I look at my driver and wait for the choicest profanities to flow out which am sure are at the tip of his tongue but he just sighs and says,

"Look at them scoot."

The bus leaves. We are back to two. He gets up and starts off again,

"Borabanda Borabanda Motinagar Motinagaraaaa!!"

I get up and climb again into the back seat.

How to Ruin a Sunday

Now you should read this as bad to worse...

7 AM: Get up. (Sleep at 3 AM previous night)

7.15 AM: Considerately send sms to colleague for information.

8 AM: Call colleague. He takes two minutes to recognize you. He asks you to come to office by 9.30 AM

10.15 AM: Come to office to work. No company bus today, so had to take 3 share autos to cover the 20 km distance from home.

Oh! I forgot to mention. Come to office to work to help out your colleagues who are behind in their work.

10.17 AM: Realize that you are still the first one to land up.

11.30 AM: They realize they don’t need your help. Yet. Please wait.

1 PM: Sorry, they expected loads of work but...Please stay till the conference call in the afternoon.

1.15 PM: You learn that the call is scheduled at 3 PM. My god, another two hours!

2 PM: Lunch? Well, we had a heavy brunch before we came. Biscuits? Sorry no thanks.

2.30 PM: Come back from lunch. Find call rescheduled to 4 PM.

3.59 PM: Postponed again to 4.30 PM. I stare intently at my colleagues. Colleagues stare intently into their computer screens.

4.31 PM: Colleagues start calling me "The Haunting Man" as I keep wandering the office halls. I try to think of my favorite things.

8 PM: Finally out of the office after the conference call which was supposed to last half an hour but dragged on for two hours. Decide to cut my losses and head straight for home.

My sincere thanks to all the blogs, news websites, and the sites (will remain unnamed) which allow illegal music downloads, who helped me get through the ordeal.

Looking forward to Monday morning blues.

Barking Down the Phone

We all do it. When the telecom company calls us to remind us about the bill payment when the due date is still ten days away,

"Hey listen, I have been your customer for four years, and I have never missed a payment. You don't have to remind me."

Or in this situation,

"Yes, I need a credit card. My designation is- Convicted Serial Killer and Jailbird."

But if you have been a Sales Manager handling field sales like I once was, you have probably turned it into a fine art. I am sure the armed forces and the ubiquitous police job involve a lot of barking too, but my consideration set here is strictly white collar. Maybe the shop floor manager is a close competitor but nothing matches the breadth of barking requirements of a sales manager's job. You need to bark at subordinates, partners and also customers (you see, we don't just sell, sometimes, we also collect). Occasionally, we also need to bite.

It was the most unsuitable choice of profession for me after B School. Thanks mainly to the seventeen years of a Tamil Iyer upbringing which turns us into the most docile and the 'nicest guys' (read wimp) on the planet. A couple of months of ragging (I remember at least three sound slaps) in Pilani (though not anymore, ragging is now a very bad word there nowadays) helped. I also remember a very sound admonishment (a lot of F... words were used) in my MBA internship from my guide who happened to be an RM of a reputed FMCG (still in touch with him).

But nothing had prepared me for it as almost everyone in my first company seeked out my company-in my training period as a Management Trainee-to 'take my happiness'. Over time and a lot of heartburns later ("What did I do wrong??"), I developed a thicker skin and learnt to dish it out as well by the time I took independent charge of my territory.

Looking back, joining sales was the best mistake of my life.

In contrast my current job in IT is like a vacation. People are civil to the point of being almost boring and the only hope of a confrontation is when many of us in the overcrowded company gym here look to pounce on the 7.5 kg dumbbells which are in short supply. I almost miss the autowallahs of Chennai.

So when even after four days of the payment, I couldn't access the internet, I called up the
Iqara broadband salesman. I had taken his mobile number (the first rule).

Time was 9 PM. (Second rule- more inconvenient the time, the better)

"Mr. Suresh, this is Anand Bharadwaj from Rajeev Nagar." (Notice the "Mr.?” always sets the nice tone)

"Yes Sir, I think the cabling has been completed". Good attempt. Trying to lead the conversation. (The whole conversation actually happened in a mix of Hindi and bad English, from both sides)

"Who gives a shit about cabling? Its four days and am still not able to browse." (Tone and stress are of prime importance here)

"Yes sir, I will check with the engineer and inform you tomorrow and...". Aha, the first mistake,

"Inform??" Getting rhetorical now. "I don’t want any information. When I come home tomorrow, I should be able to browse." I then labored about him being very quick to collect the money but not delivering on his promise and warned him about postponing it past the coming weekend and ended with,

"The cheque has cleared right?" Demanded an answer. A low blow. Needed to get under the thick skin.

"Yes, sir. Of course, sir.."

“Then what’s the problem?” Let him know that I didn't want to call him again tomorrow night and banged the phone down. I hope he was having his dinner.

A little rusty, but not bad at all.

P.S. We sales managers are not all bad. Drinking with the boys, sharing stupid jokes, being a close friend and confidante, also goes with the territory, but that’s a subject for another post.

Morning TV and My Guitar Story

Every day between 6 AM and 7 AM, my mom puts on Vijay TV and watches a guided tour of some temples. Sometimes a serious looking chap discusses interesting topics like astrology, palmistry or numerology. Sometimes people sit and sing very slowly. ("This is classical music".)

I protest feebly a couple of times, while admiring myself in the mirror before getting into the shower or while adjusting my tie. Till the TV is drowned out by the screaming which starts in the neighborhood school as those kids shout their prayers and that’s my cue to leave.

Today, as she went into the kitchen for something, I quickly grabbed the remote, put it on mute and browsed the channels for something mutually acceptable. Voila! On B4U music, there was Kishore Kumar singing "Ek ladki bheegi bhaagi si" to Madhubala. It’s one of my all time favorites.

When I was twelve, my parents enrolled me into guitar classes with an old witch in the neighborhood. After some mindless torture of my completely unsuitable-for-guitar-playing short and thick fingers for a couple of months, we finally started playing some songs. One day when the witch was in a democratic mood, she asked me what song I would like to learn to play. At which I immediately rendition the above mentioned song. The witch was shocked for a moment, and then started laughing loudly.

Horny kid, she must have thought. The elder girl students who till now thought I was cute, now looked suspiciously at me and the boys noticed my existence after my bold suggestion. Of course, the witch completely disregarded me and proceeded to teach us to play the National Anthem, standing up of course. I didn’t last very long in the class after that.

My real guitar learning started a few years later in BITS when I started hanging out with
Arjun "The Devil" Vajala in the second semester. One day, after I had mastered the chords of Hotel C, I said,

"So what’s after this, just some general twing twing?"

"What?" he almost choked. "This general twing twing", he spat, "is one of the best guitar leads in the history of rock n roll."

He forgave me though and I have since become a better student and listener. The Devil went into another hostel from the third year and I had also discovered Thunderbolt Beer, Jenna Jameson and ‘The Age of Empires’ by then.

Never had the fingers for the guitar anyway. Still have the guitar though.

"Aee Do Jahaan Ke Maaaliii!!!!"

The screaming has started. Time to leave.

A Quick Death

My aunt in Canada is very ill and has been hospitalized. She is also in some pain. Mom and me were talking about her the other night when she said,

"You know it’s very tough to cope with health problems in your old age. When I go, I hope it is quietly and quickly."

"Like Grandma?" I said.

"Yeah, something like that. She complained of chest pains one night and she was gone within three hours."

She also told me about an old relative who passed away watching TV while her family was setting up the table for dinner.

"And, Dad too?" I ventured. My Dad died of a heart attack a couple of year’s back.

"Yes, but that was unfortunate. That is not an age to die" she sighed.

My dad was 54.

I thought about it after she left my room. I remember thinking that I would like to fall from a great height and break my neck to end mine.

Morbid.

Talking Chess

Avoid this post. It’s just me and an old friend of mine, Naveen (Nana) chatting about our common hobby, chess.

anbharadwaj: Twelve-year-old Negi gets his second GM normhttp://www.chessbase.com/newsdetail.asp?newsid=2895
indian_genius: wow! thats great news!
indian_genius: equal to 5 series wins against pakistan.. unfortunately not front page news
anbharadwaj: he he...yeah..seriously..
anbharadwaj: he would have been a superstar in russia or any of the east european countries..
indian_genius: so one more to go before the title and the world record?
anbharadwaj: i dont think he will be the youngest ever...i think Carlsen got it earlier...but he will be the youngest GM around if he gets there soon..
indian_genius: who's carlsen?
anbharadwaj: Magnus Carlsen, winner of Wijk Aan Zee, Group B
anbharadwaj: Norwegian..
anbharadwaj: rating 2550+ and 14 yrs. i think..
indian_genius: hmm..impressive...
anbharadwaj: who, carlsen, or my knowledge of chess current affairs..
indian_genius: both!!
indian_genius: sometimes u wonder what u have achieved despite being twice as old as these ppl have achieved in 15 years
anbharadwaj: i dont wonder...i know...nothing!
indian_genius: a degree, a job and a mundane life.. or maybe i'm talking abt myself alone here anbharadwaj: u shud get married nana... or have u already?!
indian_genius: no i mean.. i know i have achieved nothing.. am wondering what it must take to resolve to achieve something so young...
indian_genius: why? so that i could add job, degree, marriage to my list of "accomplishments"? indian_genius: the answer is nowhere close bye
indian_genius: btw
anbharadwaj: good deeds in your last life..?!
indian_genius: well.. i won 3 games straight on yahoo games y'day
indian_genius: that's all i have in terms of accomplishment...
anbharadwaj: wow! you know, its never too late to start, u know...
indian_genius: have struggled to a 1500 rating..which is roughly half of anand's elo rating anbharadwaj: if u give up your job, i will give up mine and become ur coach!
anbharadwaj: 1500? i thought you told me once that you were an 1800+ guy..
indian_genius: 1800+? must have been in my school/college days..
indian_genius: no way with my current levels..
anbharadwaj: hardly play any chess myself...make do with following games played in tournaments..
indian_genius: we shud play sometime.. the only question is how many moves u'll take to crush me
indian_genius: remember those days we had analysed the dragon to death?
indian_genius: before the inter-univ tournaments?
anbharadwaj: yeah...and i still lost playing it
indian_genius: I actually used to played the dragon virtually every time with black..
indian_genius: yeah..and now I can't find my bearings after 8-10 moves
indian_genius: that's the pits.. i actually got crushed online on yahoo by somebody with a typical king side attack.. that was the pits
anbharadwaj: yeah...but it used to be frustrating as opponents used to play Bc4 and d3 and then its no fun...
indian_genius: well yeah... but one of the final rounds, my opponent went nearly all the way..
indian_genius: g4, h4, 0-0-0 and all..
anbharadwaj: yeah, nowadays everybody knows the refutation to the classical dragon...
indian_genius: and he was a very strong opponent too..remember i had to play out of my skin to save the attack..
anbharadwaj: there's something called the accelerated dragon now for black...
indian_genius: but the key in the sicilian is the end game, isn't it?
indian_genius: if u can survive the middle game, the end game gives black a cleaner pwn structure
indian_genius: so better chances even on equal material
anbharadwaj: most of my sicilians are decided b4 the endgames either for or against..
indian_genius: hmm..true...but if you are up against it, sometimes u just remember that if u can survive and simplify, u have more than even chance..
anbharadwaj: hmmm...i guess...i havent played the dragon much after BITS actually...am a Najdorf convert..
indian_genius: actually that's the killer instict i seem to lack now playing chess on yahoo...when i get into complex situations, i usually backed myself to get out if it earlier.. now no more.. anbharadwaj: yeah...i remember u used to grind ur heels in and defend mightily against anything..
anbharadwaj: and all of attacks used to come up short!
indian_genius: correct.. always thought there was one precise move against every attack... all that remains is to eliminate the bad moves and u can find it every time..
indian_genius: of course, then we wud play wth mor time.. today's chess is all instant.. 12 minute games are supposed to be slow
indian_genius: hardly anybody plays with unlimited time.. gives u no time to dig into positions..
anbharadwaj: i am still horrible with those time limits...i never had a talent for playing fast..
indian_genius: need to learn the najdorf from u.. always run short of ideas after 10-12 moves there
anbharadwaj: please...even i cant tell u anything more than 10-12 moves...like all sicilians, wait for white to overreach and then counter attack...thats all..
indian_genius: talking abt najdorf, did u see anand's game against karjakin?
anbharadwaj: amazing!
indian_genius: yup.. what a game!
anbharadwaj: yes i did, what a game...
anbharadwaj: he gave up two pieces so calmly...
indian_genius: i thought e5 was supposed to be bad for black in najdorf...seems like standard now..
anbharadwaj: he must have seen 15 moves ahead when he played Nc7!, i think...
anbharadwaj: yes, thats the sveshnikov variation, became well known after Leko's success with it...
indian_genius: no even before that...who wud have thought u could confidently play b4 in response to g5, then a4 in response to f5... u have to really believe in black's ability to create a mating attack..
anbharadwaj: mebbe he beleived in white ability(or lack of it) to create enuf problems!anbharadwaj: thats how he lost to Kamsky!
indian_genius: i agree though.. nc7 was pure genius.. actually i'm surprised that karjakin took the knight and walked straight in..
indian_genius: well, i didn't see that kamsky game..
anbharadwaj: yeah...he came up short tactically there...
indian_genius: which round, u remember?
anbharadwaj: somewhere in the middle...5th or 6th i think..
indian_genius: got it.. round 6..
indian_genius: u r a god.. u remember everything
anbharadwaj: he castled queenside in a queens gambit game..playing the black side...
indian_genius: cool.. quite unheard of right?
anbharadwaj: yeah...he underestimated his opponent..
anbharadwaj: and he played cautiously for the rest of the tournament, gave draws with white to people like Mamedyrov and Tiviakov...
indian_genius: anand of all ppl underestimated kamsky?
indian_genius: one who made life hell for him in the challengers?
anbharadwaj: seriously...u wud thik he would know better given their history!
anbharadwaj: the report said that he has now lost his last 2 games against kamsky...
anbharadwaj: the previous one being Dos Hermanes '95!
indian_genius: yeah.. kamsky has always been his nemesis
indian_genius: hey.. this was not a question of attack...this was bad pawn structure..
indian_genius: i can't believe he played f5.. weakened his e-pawn which got evntually gobbled up..
anbharadwaj: yeah...he overeached..
indian_genius: and he actually lost an opposite coloured bishop ending! even with a pawn down..
anbharadwaj: yeah..i think kamsky had connected central passers?
indian_genius: no he created them! i think anand mishandled the ending too..
indian_genius: his king move at the beginning was a mistake.. he gave a pawn virtually for free..
anbharadwaj: hmmm...i think kamsky played well in the middle and endgame....
indian_genius: kamsky started winning only after he gobbled another pawn on the g file..
anbharadwaj: in his other games..he lost most of his games right out of the opening...
indian_genius: u know the rule right.. opp coloured bishops with a pawn are fine.. u have to create a blockade on the same color as ur bishop..
indian_genius: which was the other loss?
anbharadwaj: u shud check another inter interesting game, Anand vs Tiviakov, draw for tiviakov playing scandinavian!
anbharadwaj: Anand virtually never had a chance...
indian_genius: which round mr genius?
anbharadwaj: hmmm..10, 11?
indian_genius: 11 it is!! you are a certified genius
anbharadwaj: thank u thank u
anbharadwaj:
indian_genius: why did he give up the g pawn?? don't understand that..
anbharadwaj: i think he was lookin for some initiative which he never got any advantage of...
indian_genius: relatively boring game after initial sparks..
indian_genius: although i wouldn't want to play queen endgames.. u have to analyze so much in those..
anbharadwaj: yeah...disappointing result for Anand against the scandinavian...
indian_genius: u mean he shud have won against a "weak" opening like scandinavian?anbharadwaj: of course, and comparitively a 'weak' opponent like Tiviakov
anbharadwaj: if u r looking u shud check out another rocking game, Topalov-Aronian, not sure about the colors...
indian_genius: was looking at another anand win..
indian_genius: bacrot..round 8..
anbharadwaj: oh yeah...he ate up bacrot...
indian_genius: have seen till move 42, and still white (bacrot) seems to have the edge... bizarre game! am wondering how he lost
anbharadwaj: in the end...blunder!
anbharadwaj: bacrot made a bigger blunder against topalov too in the endgame and lost!anbharadwaj: and that too in a King pawn endgame...
indian_genius: no wonder... what a pity.. its move 50 and still i wud put my money on white! atleast a draw..
indian_genius: wow.. cool game.. don't think this was a blunder alone.. it's amazing how much anand was putting on him the last few moves just with the rook, b and n...pins, double attacks, forks et al.. ..skilful play forcing the blunder..
anbharadwaj: yeah...attack out of nowhere...
indian_genius: actually.. was looking at the last position...have u seen it?
anbharadwaj: i seen it before...not right now..why?
indian_genius: on 2nd thoughts..am wondering why he resigned there? am sure i'm missing it..
indian_genius: they don't have annotations in these games right?
anbharadwaj: i think he was going to lose his a pawn or something...?!
anbharadwaj: where r u lookin...corus?
indian_genius: yup..
indian_genius: yeah.. but he's getting it back..
anbharadwaj: they have a report, also in chessbase...they have a report...
indian_genius: he could lose one more, but could turn out to be rook awn 2 vs. 1.. not hands down winning always//
indian_genius: ok...chess base eh?
anbharadwaj: yeah..chessbase.com
indian_genius: how do u search?
anbharadwaj: hmmm...go to any round report which will have lonks to other round reports and games...
indian_genius: hmm.. i searched online database for anand bacrot..
indian_genius: the last game was Oct 2004..
anbharadwaj: no no...go to round 13 big report..
anbharadwaj: 63.Rb4 Nf3+ 64.Kh3 Ne1 65.Bd1 Nd3
anbharadwaj: analysis after resignation
indian_genius: yup..indian_genius: i was wondering abt Rb4 only.. got my answer!
indian_genius: so he basically will get 2 pawns.. quite a bizarre game actually.. the commentator seems to agree..
anbharadwaj: yeah..
indian_genius: saw a photo of this guys magnus carlsen as well..
indian_genius: so young..
anbharadwaj: yup...he will play in group A next year!
indian_genius: even karjakin looks so young..
anbharadwaj: yeah..16 i think!
indian_genius: anand my contrast looks visibly old .. am sure he has a few good yrs in him though..hope he makes 3000+
anbharadwaj: whoa! 3000+...only if he get the fritz 9 installed in his brain!
anbharadwaj: he's on his best rating ever, so I guess he's playing the best chess of his life...
anbharadwaj: kasparov was at the top of the game till he was 40+ so maybe vishy has a few more years left in him...
indian_genius: exactly.. and sustaining 2750+ for a few yrs now is more and more difficult...so he's doing gr8..
anbharadwaj: the site has good photos rite?
indian_genius: was just seeing the other game u mentioned...
indian_genius: topalov aronian.. boring till move 15.. and suddenly xchange sac out of the blue!anbharadwaj: topalov is the king of exchange sacs!
indian_genius: fundu game...
indian_genius: even at the end... playing 2 bishops vs. 2 rooks..but connected passed pawns proving deadly..
anbharadwaj: yeah...its a kind of a game which i think a comp program will not play...
indian_genius: wonder if he saw it all when he saced the exchange!
anbharadwaj: i dont think he would foreseen the the second exchange sac when he made the first...
anbharadwaj: the second actually made the game fit for a collection!
anbharadwaj: a beauty!
indian_genius: yeah... although psychologically first wud have been toughest.. position looked so innocuous! by the time the second came, it was a bit clearer that he wud have compensation...
anbharadwaj: yeah...u r right...but Topalov does it again and again...there's an article on the corus site about the exchange sac...discusses about 5-6 games of Topalov over the years having exchange sacs...
indian_genius: is it? how do u search?
anbharadwaj: hmm..i think its on the right hand pane...
indian_genius: oh..27 Jan, exchange sacrificer! got it..
anbharadwaj: i had read another funny article on chess about why Tal was a compulsive sacrifice player...
anbharadwaj: because in his chess rules...a knight never goes back...so he has to sacrifice the knight!
indian_genius:
indian_genius: powerful logic considering he was world champ at a time when there were so many great players..
indian_genius: topalov sacs are amzing considering he doesn't get compensation for at least 10 moves after he made them! Almost makes them on instinct i think...
anbharadwaj: yeah...he has a feel for the position...almost like how Tal used to play...
indian_genius: he even made the sac against anand.. and then drew after nearly 80 more moves indian_genius: 97 move matches at this level must be nothing short of gruelling...
anbharadwaj: yeah...Anand was better actually i think in that game..but couldnt convert...
indian_genius: must be heartbreaking for the guy who thought he could win..bcoz otherwise they cud have agreed to a draw before
indian_genius: oh, so it was anand?
anbharadwaj: i think the game see sawed..ultimately i think Anand was giving perpetuals
indian_genius: yeah.. that's right.. last 7-8 moves
indian_genius: btw, this online database is amazing!
indian_genius: virtually every game available on pgn for free?
anbharadwaj: yup, you could also check out chessgames.com
anbharadwaj: you will find all games played ever!
indian_genius: yes the same site..
indian_genius: it has a link to chesslive.de
indian_genius: which allows u to search by player, by match etc... all games!
anbharadwaj: no, chessgames.com
indian_genius: ok..
anbharadwaj: oh ok, chessgames has detailed chess theory too...plus lots of discussion forums...
indian_genius: looks like a grand site..lots of details..
anbharadwaj: yup, its a monster site...
anbharadwaj: though not much reporting...for that nothing beats chessbase
indian_genius: i just played the ivanchuk-topalov xchange sac..my favourite dragon.. and am still baffled as to why white resigned!
indian_genius: mr genius...any site with games and annotation as well?
indian_genius: i know i'm asking for too much now...
indian_genius: but then u never know with the internet.. could actually be surprised..
anbharadwaj: hmmm....actually these are the only sites i visit...another one is chesscafe.com
indian_genius: btw.. do u have the chessmaster cds?
indian_genius: i think v10 is the latest...
indian_genius: has a couple of tutorials that are really nice...
anbharadwaj: nope...browsing websites is my only activity related to chess as of now...
indian_genius: apart from of course an entire opening database and a vast collection of games..
indian_genius: the reason i got it is that pirated versions are easy to get here!
indian_genius: btw, in touch with any of the bits chess guys?
indian_genius: vinay?
anbharadwaj: oh...even if i got it, I dont think i will have the patience to do justice to it...
anbharadwaj: no touch with Vinay at all...wat abt u?
indian_genius: same here... no time and no patience either... so much is the pity..
indian_genius: no.. lost touch a long time ago.. he was in bangalore only the last time we were in touch...
indian_genius: but that was ages ago..
indian_genius: finished b-school and was working with one of the fmcgs i think...
anbharadwaj: huh? i thought he was with Bank of America...

Leprosy, Aid and Jeffery Sachs

A couple of articles caught my eye the other day. One said that India has now succesfully 'eliminated' Leprosy. Eliminated, mind you, not eradicated. Eradication will take another 20-25 years. Elimination means that we now have less than 1 case for every 10000 people. Which still leaves more than a lakh people in our country afflicted with this terrible condition. I guess when the press release said that eradication will take 20-25 years, it meant that by then most of these people will be dead. Because, if I am not wrong, it is not something which can be cured, if in an advanced stage. Please correct me if I am wrong.

The closest I came to see leprosy was in my sales training stint with my first company in Chennai, more than 3 years ago. I had gone on one of my rural 'beats' along with the salesman.

"Sir, will you go there, there's a leper colony there."

"Of course", I said and so we went.

I think they used the coconut oil for massage purposes, and hence the commercial interests. I had thought about it for a day or so then and forgot all about it.

Till now. Strange thing, this memory.

The second article, which I noticed, was about Europe threatening to stop aid to Palestine unless the new Hamas government falls in line with their demands.

And the reason that I now notice such articles is because I just finished reading "The End of Poverty" by Jeffery Sachs. He doesnt talk of leprosy, but does talk of the problems faced by African nations due to Malaria and Aids. He doesnt talk of Hamas, but does talk of the importance of Aid which needs to be given by the rich countries, especially the US to remove extreme poverty from the face of the earth (Extreme poverty is a situation when a person earns less than a dollar a day). The book is comprehensive in its coverage and Sachs makes an almost convincing argument.

Thank you for making me think, Jeffery Sachs!

"Me, Dad?!"

In the movies, whenever Rajesh Khanna and Shammi Kapoor found out that they were gonna be fathers, they would lose no time to inform everyone from their doodhwaala to their neighbor’s kid in their elation about their good fortune.

But I think, most of us (am talking of men here) in the real world seem to greet this news with also a good deal of trepidation. It’s almost as if somebody has told us that from tomorrow, we need to do Dr. Manmohan Singh's job.

Now Ashu, a good friend of mine, has kept quiet about this piece of good news for more than a few months. When I eventually found this out, thanks to Kripa, who happened to be a friend of Mithali (his wife), I called him up.

"Actually, I've not told anybody" he says.

"Why?"

"I don't know. It's just that..."

"I know, you are feeling utterly incapable of doing this new role"

"Exactly", he says.

"Well, you still have __ months to get ready for it"

He seemed a bit relieved at that thought. Almost as if somebody had told a poorly prepared student that the CAT had been postponed for a few months.

Most guys seem to be content with sending a two line terse mail in the egroups which says,
"You will be glad to know that me and ___ have been blessed with a baby____. (The second line)."

Another friend of mine, Abhinav, took longer than that and casually mentioned in one telephone conversation that he was now father of a 4 month old son.

I think nature has been biased to men in giving us a good lead-time to don this new role. Women generally handle this so much better, though I guess they would prefer to get the whole thing done and over with more quickly.

Hey Ashu, you told me you wouldn't mind me spreading the word around!

What is a Celebration?

Got this in an email from Rohan couple of weeks back. Remembered it after last night and appended my own celebration in the end. Read on...

Maggi noodles.
A hostel room.
4.25 a.m.

A winter evening.
Four friends.
One barsaat.
Four glasses of chai.

Hundred bucks of gas.
A rusty old bike.
And an open road.

3 old friends.
3 separate cities.
3 coffee mugs.
1 internet messenger.

Rain on a hot tin roof.
Pakoras deep-frying.
Neighbours dropping in.
A party.

You and mom.
A summer night.
A bottle of coconut oil.
A head massage.
Gossiping about absent family members.

You can spend hundreds on birthdays, thousands on festivals, lakhs on weddings, but to celebrate all you have to spend is your Time.

And mine...

One Hotel Room in Hong Kong.
Two business travellers.
Music playing in the laptop.
MTR Upmaaaaa....!

It doesn't take much after all.

Chethan and Anand go to Hong Kong

To the Nunnery

Now Chethan had got himself a tourist brochure titled "Hong Kong sightseeing for businesstravellers". Needless to say I was pretty impressed but was even more impressed when I looked and found that they had categorised the "Do it yourself tours" into 3 categories

Less than 3 hr. sightseeing
3-5 hr sightseeing
More than 5 hr sightseeing

Amazing customer orientation, I think. Athithi Devo Bhava, Hong Kong style.

Its good that Chethan was along coz, even though the brochure was impressive, the weather was not and yours truly would have happily spent the weekend, dazed and confused.

So as we were nearing one of the "places of interest" chosen by Chethan (Less than 3 hrs. obviously), me rubbing hands in the bitter cold says,

" So, whats a nunnery anyway?"

" I think that's a place where they keep lots of plants and bushes and stuff"

"Thats a nursery", me says.

"Ohh..." says Chethan.

"Well, maybe we'll get to see some nice nuns", I say happily.

In the end, we saw more bushes and plants than nuns, no nuns actually at the Chin Li Nunnery (Not sure of the name now, they all seem the same to me). Chethan said they might be behind a huge locked door which said 'No Admission'.

We took some snaps (Patel snaps, Chethan said) and came back. I think we did it under 2 hrs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Vegetarian Meat with Vegetarian Salted Fish

We were in a Chinese 'Vegetarian' restaurant which we had foolishly entered for dinner. The title of this post was one of theitems on the menu which had Chethan a little perplexed. He blinked. Twice.

"Maybe vegetarian restaurants mean that they also cook vegetables", I said helpfully.

In the meantime Chethan got an sms from home telling him that the Chinese considered insects as vegetables.

We searched and found a couple of dishes which sounded vegetarian, Chethan double-checking with the waiter if his order hadany fish in it, me asking the waiter to get us spoons, not chopsticks.

I could barely finish half of mine, but as usual was amazed with Chethan's propensity to finish off anything 'vegetarian'.

It was a good change anyway, from the poor indian fare that we have been eating at some of the Asian restaurants around.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was at one of these restaurants where we were digging into some indian type food that Chethan says,

"What are these Kalus doing around here?"

There were quite a few blacks around in this particular complex. I had wondered about it too.

"Maybe they too are business travellers, like us", I said, between mouthfuls of black lentils, naan and palak paneer.

"Are you serious?" he said, and as an afterthought added,

"Maybe they are here on some OTHER kind of business" and laughed. Wink wink.

I continued eating.

Where is the limit?

There's this scene in the movie 'Satya' where Urmila's charactar checks out Satya's home and says (translated)

"Wow, what a nice kholi, you can at least see the sky from here."

I don't think she would have liked Hong Kong. I was reminded of this dialogue looking out of the windows of my hotel and the office here. I have decided to record my poor impressions of this city so that I do not forget them. Now I am strictly nitpicking here, so you will bear with me

1. Saw 2 beggars till now (or wait, was it the same guy i saw 2 days in a row?)

2. The view from the plane while landing was very poor since the airport is quite far from the mainland (though you wouldnt guess that from the time it took me to reach the hotel)

3. I have already talked about the view from the ground (looking up, I mean).

4. The weather! Has been extremely gloomy (But should I really hold it against the city?!)

Writing a post on this blog has never been so tough. I think I will stop now.

The Indian Way

Now, if you have been reading my previous posts on this blog, you would know that I have made a few unkind remarks about Hyderabad. It really seemed that the whole municipal corporation was digging roads. It was as if someone had told them...ummm...

"Go, Dig!"

Now along with the Nawabi style of driving that everybody follows out here, (“I mean, how dare can I be expected to stop just because of some dumb signal?!”), it makes driving on these roads a unique experience.

But suddenly after the last weekend, the roads are amazing! So something finally did come out of all that digging. I mean, I know it eventually had to, but I thought it would take another six months or something like that. There's this beautiful six lane road from Jubilee Hills to Madhapur and there is another six-laner from Kothaguda Junction to Gachibowli.

But who's going to teach these drivers lane disciple, now that we have some lanes to talk of? My bus driver in the last few days seems to be equally excited and confused, almost like a pet German shepherd let loose on a prairie. Earlier, where his vehicle used to hog the whole road, now he finds himself in a position where he could be overtaken by two other buses, at the same time! So he proceeds to cover all the 3 lanes every 50 m in this stretch.

We are not ready for this, I think. But hey, you guys in Bangalore and Bombay, come and take a look!

This reminded me of another statement made by the man who is now famous for saying, "Thomas, the playing field is being leveled". When asked by Time (I think) about infrastructure bottlenecks in India compared to China (That bogey again) he said this as far as I remember,

"It is a different model. In China, 4 people get together in a room and decide to build a sixteen lane highway from Shanghai to Beijing. In India, we will buy 200 planes, and when these 200 planes keep circling in the air, because there is no space to land, there will be a huge hue and cry and then airports will get modernized and infrastructure gets added. It’s a different model, but it’s a model."

I found that very funny and very true, especially when I notice in the context of all these demolition drives in cities and the hue and cry about airport modernization, all of which is long overdue.

India is an elephant, we will never be like the Asian tigers, but we are taking slow but sure steps forward through the jungle, crushing lots of stuff.

It’s an exciting time.

Tulleeho Gaya!

I attended an amateur bartending workshop this Saturday conducted by Smirnoff and Tulleeho. So as you can guess, I had a great Saturday and a miserable Sunday. I don’t think I would make a good bartender since I ended up drinking everything that I could prepare-

1. Cape Roshka
2. Cosmopolitan
3. Bloody Mary
4. A Green Apple Martini
5. I don’t remember the last one.

Now if you include the welcome drink, a few too many test tubes of Smirnoff with Sprite and top it off with some vodka shots in blue flames to finish off the evening, memories are fresh enough to make this effort at even recording it not very enjoyable.

Mr. Lama, who was one of the instructors during the evening, said that one reason youngsters prefer Vodka, is that since it is odorless, one can go home safely without getting into trouble. But when you have had as much as I did, odor or no odor doesn’t make much of a difference. I think I will leave out the part of how I managed to drive home and park my car because frankly I don’t remember.

I also met some interesting people on my table and was reminded of something that I had read in some sociology note. It said that if you put 4 women in a room and lock them for a few hours, they will come out chatting as if they were the best of friends. But if do the same with 4 guys, there is a good chance that they might come out sulking without having exchanged a word. Which I thought was very true as I sat at my table with 3 other strangers and there was this uncomfortable silence. But as an addendum to that theory it only took the first test tube for smiles to become really broad at the table and all of us went, "Cheers!"

They even gave me a certificate and a cocktails book. It is a pity that I can’t find it anywhere now.

Consequently, couldn’t finish the Jeffery Sachs book that I have been reading. But I did get some shopping done for a trip which I might end up going on in the last week of this month.

Calling up decisions

Yesterday night I had about 15 minutes to kill till my company bus came to pick us up. Called up sis but she wasn’t picking up. Must've left her mobile in the Scooty again (at least that’s what she's been telling me!). And decided to explore my phone book for long lost friends. So the scrolling continued...

1. Nope, not him. Spoke to him just 2 days back.
2. Nope, not him. Haven’t spoken to him in 5 yrs. Don't know why I've still kept his number.
3. Nope, not him. I wish I had his job, though and I think he knows that.
4. Nope, not him. Didn't pick up my call last time and didn’t even call back.
5. Nope, not him. Nice guy, but I think he will find it strange me calling up now and all...
6. Nope, not him. We work in the same building but hardly speak to each other, don’t know why.
7. Nope, not him. I think reason no. 5 again.
8. Nope, not her. She's now married and all, probably having dinner with her husband, if not worse...
9. Nope, not him. Probably drunk and won’t recognize me.
10. Nope, not him. Just lost his job. Uncomfortable.
11. Who's this guy???
12. Nope, not him. Didn’t go to his wedding, and didn’t even explain. He must want to kill me.
13. Nope, not her. Forgot to wish her on her b'day. She had remembered mine.
14. Nope, not her. Haven’t returned her calls for some time.
15. Nope, not him. He didn’t even return my 'happy new year' sms.
16. And nope, not her...Too uncomfortable.

And so many other inane reasons. What has happened to me? These were people I could wake up in the middle of the night and get them to apologize for taking so long to pick up my call or open their doors for me.

Had to scroll till Rohit's name came up and called him up. He almost didnt pick up, said it was in silent mode. We talked about the usual stuff, our jobs, common friends and how we haven’t kept in touch, I cribbed about Hyderabad a bit and gossiped about who has made how much money and how they have all moved away to different parts of the world. Time flew. Ended up talking to him till I reached home.

Close call.

Laborers and Us

There is a construction boom going on in Hyderabad too, like in most cities in India. In fact, I think there's a big apartment complex coming right next to the building where I stay in. And lots of buildings coming up in the Madhapur area here, near Cyberabad. Many of my friends seem to be buying houses of Rs.30-40 lakhs. I am sure the builders are making lots of money.

But I still see the laborers the same way as far back as I can remember. They are still dressed the same, they don’t wear any uniforms or protective gear. Their kids still play on the mounds of earth and pebbles. Their shanty huts with the blue waterproof covering still appear the same as they used to when I was a kid in Delhi. And they still warm themselves in these winter nights out in the open with small fires.

Well, maybe there's no cosmetic change, maybe there's a real difference? Maybe they earn more money? Maybe they have some insurance??? Maybe they aren't too different from the rest of us. If they are immigrant laborers from out of town, maybe this is their onsite project and this is their onsite package. Maybe they go back home a little richer, a little better off and party in their own way? Maybe just like us consultants and professionals, they feel the bad food, the loneliness, the travel is worth it. Does this add a bullet point in their CV? And do they go back and talk about Hyderabad just like we would talk about Houston?

Who am I insulting here, us or them?

Go Parimarjan Go!

This guy is the new new star on the Indian sport scene. I don’t expect you, my dear reader to know since chess is not really a popular sport in India, which is a pity. At 12 years and a few months Parimarjan Negi has collected his first GM norm and is on the way to becoming the youngest GM in the world soon. Which means that he can whip my ass on the chess board, 9999 times out of 10000 (that’s my ego there).

12 Years!

Koneru Humpy is the World's 2nd highest rated woman player after Judit. In how many sports do we have someone like that? Sania, for Pete's sake, is 35th, if she hasn’t slipped a couple of more places already. Yes, but she has a better wardrobe, I will give her that. I hope Humpy has found sponsors after Bank of Baroda dumped her for Rahul Dravid. Not that I have anything against Dravid, but I were Mittal (steel, not telecom) I would turn my attention to chess and chess players (talking about his sports trust).

Chess has been one of the passions in my life. I love everything about it, the history, the politics, the personalities, games, theory and new developments. It has revealed its beauty to me gradually and every time I improve my understanding, there is a wow feeling. There's this new thing among non enthusiasts who say,

"Hey, anyways nowadays computers are better than humans at chess, so what’s the big deal".

But now I have a good answer, which I admit is not mine, but borrowed.

"The slowest cars are faster than the fastest human, so should we stop athletic events?"

There's place for everyone, even silicon chips.

Am Alive

Every now and then I hear a song which I end up listening over and over for a few days. Heard promos of this song on TV and it was love at first...what, note?

Efforts spent in downloading the mp3 and lyrics were well worth it. A song like this gives a high like no other.

Here are the lyrics:

Yeh Meri Kahani (Strings- Zinda Soundtrack)

yeh hai meri kahani
khamosh zindigani
sannata keh raha hai
kyun zulm seh raha hai

aik dastaan purani
tanhayi ki zubani
har zakham khil raha hai
kuch mujh se keh raha hai

chubtay kantay yadoon kay daaman se chunta hoon
girti deewaron kay aanchal main zinda hoon

bass yeh meri kahani
be nishaan nishaani
aik dard beh raha hai
kuch mujh say keh raha hai

chubtay kantay yadoon kay daaman say chunta hoon
girti deewaron kay aanchal mai zinda hoon

(john's Part)..

bajay pyaar k shabnum mere gulistaan main
barastay rehtay hain her simt maut k saye
siyahioon say ulajh perhti hain meri aankhen
koi nahi .. koi bhi nahi jo batlaye
main kitni der ujalon ki raah dekhoonga
koi nahi hai koi bhi nahi
na pass na duur
ek yaar hai
dil ki dhadkan
apni chahat ka jo ellan keay jati hai
zindagi hai jo jeay jati hai
khoon k ghoont peay jati hai
khwaab kaanton say siye jati hai

ab na koi passs hai
phir bhi ahsas hai
syahiaon main uljhi pari
jeenay ki aik aas hai
yadoon ka jangal yeh dil
kanton say jal-thal yeh dil

chubtay kantay yadoon kay daaman say chunta hoon
girti deewaron kay aanchal main zinda hoon

Triggers and Fertile Imaginations

Some alcohol or weed is good enough for most of us to do something that we wouldn’t, normally. Or do something that we have been putting off for quite sometime. Or get it off our chest and into put it out there. But then that’s a physical stimulus, right?So if a piece of art or say a book can make us do something similar, then it must be really special, as far as we are concerned.

Saw "Hazaaron Khwaishen Aisi" last night and ended up typing out some stuff on my comp. Good that the stupid VSNL broadband wasn’t working or else might have sent it on an email. But then there was some scotch inside of me as well last night so where does the credit lie?

Yesterday, over scotch, vodka, Bacardi Breezer and a Cinderella mocktail (guess who had what) myself, Raman, Nandu and Thoks got together and discussed mainly on various ways that Mandu's upcoming wedding could be sabotaged:)
1. Thoku doing his push-ups on the Mandap.
2. All of us getting sloshed on thunderbolt beer and puk..g on the mandap every time pondy completes one of his pheras.
3. Hiring a White Maruti Omni with dark tinted glasses and kidnapping Pondy the previous night.
4. Just keep the Omni handy and motivate Pondy to run away, a la Pooja Bhatt in 'Dil Hai Ki Manta Nahin'.
5. Borrowing a yacht from Nanda Reddy's to-be father-in-law from Vizag (yes even Nandu was not spared), get it to Orissa, get pondy on the yacht and...
6. Get either of the couple's previous 'friends' to come to the wedding and object vehemently. In Pondy's case, I guess that would qualify some of us?
7. Hire an actor/actress to do the same mentioned in Point No. 6.

That is all I remember, the morning after so the others could remind me if they do.Pondy, if you dont invite any of us after reading this, we will still be there!!

And if any of you have not watched "Hazaaron ..." as yet, grab the DVD today!!

Soul Music

In the last two days both the autos that I got into, I had to listen to the song "Jeena Yahaan Marna Yahaan", from the Raj Kapoor movie 'Mera Naam Joker'. I hadnt got into the same auto for sure on both days and this wasn’t a recently famous track. Was this song something that these guys identified with? Behind the loud and hustling exterior, were they despondent about their lives, like in the song- "Hum hain wahin, hum the jahaan"?

A few years back, Altaf Raja's songs were a major rage- Qawwali type songs, again songs with a lot of hurt, betrayal kind of lyrics in his song. An article in a magazine said the album was a major hit with the truck drivers in the country!

We share our joys more easily than our sorrows and failures, that’s a no-brainer. Do such songs touch a deeper chord within us?

In the movie, 'Almost famous', the protagonist’s mentor tells him that all great art in this world is the work of ‘uncool’ people. It is only from betrayal, anger, hate, hurt and premature ejaculation that great art stems from.

So I looked into my mp3 player and looked at some of my recent additions:
'This Love'- Maroon 5
'In the end'- Linkin Park
'Numb'- Linkin Park
'You'r beautiful'- James Blunt
'Na Jaane Kyon'- Strings
'Hoshwaalon'- Jagjit Singh
'Tum Itna Jo'- Jagjit Singh
'Punjab'- Karunesh
'No Fear'- The Rasmus
'Love is all around me'- Wet Wet Wet
'Woh Lamhe'- Zeher

Naaaaah!!!! Nonsense!!!!

Dream Job

I guess all of us grow up with different versions of what they want to do with their lives. As the case with many of you I guess,I had absolutely no idea. In eighth std. I remember I told a teacher that I wanted to be an archaelogist just to piss him off. The guy was going on and on about how everybody just wanted to become doctors and engineers. He asked me what an archaelogist does, a question which I hit for a six after which he stopped his attempt at career counselling.

In XIth, I remember I told my mom that I wanted to study English Literature, since it was my favorite subject for at least 5 yrs. by then and I was already heavily into reading English Classics thanks to my Dad. She didnt discourage me but mentioned something vaguely about how I might end up as a school teacher with no money.

So I became a Civil Engineer with as much knowledge about buildings as a homo sapien who lived in 20000 B.C. Ended up with an MBA degree since I knew I didnt want to remain a bad engineer and became a sales and marketing professional because...I think it might be because I did a sales and distribution internship. Somehow, the investment banks didnt seem to fancy me. There's this song which has the line, "The most interesting 40 yr. olds still dont know what to do with their lives". I dont know whether I will be an interesting 40 yr old, but am sure that I will remain dazed and confused for life.

For sometime, last year I was seriously considering writing the Civil Services. Thankfully, better sense prevailed or maybeI am just too old and tired to start all over again at 28.Nowadays, if someone asks me about my dream job, I tell them That it is to have the job of a clerk and the pay and bonuses of a CEO.

By the way, nowadays I am an IT consultant.

2005 & 2006

Happy New Year!!

Personally 2005 for me was a fair year. I am now in a job which pays me less but also bothers me less. I am in a city I don’t like so much but more about that later. I am in a house I like at least 25% less but I am paying 50% lesser rent too.

Overall does that mean that my life has changed for the worse??

I have thought about it and I think the best thing that has happened to me last year has been the gym. It’s been 11 months since I started and except for a brief 6 weeks in the middle, I have been pretty regular about it and it shows. I have not turned into a superman or anything (far from it) and have not probably gained much weight but definitely my body is much more toned and muscled. I think it has also helped my confidence and I know that I look better in T shirts now than I ever have done in my whole life. I think that last year was notable in the fact that in the last 6 months I have put my well being first in a lot of decisions that I have taken.

Looking forward to next year, hopefully the gymming will continue. I also hope to read at least 25 books next year. Since I have decided to be relatively passive about my career choices, I think books offer the only solace to expand the horizons of thought. I also hope to build a pretty decent VCD/DVD collection, no numbers planned here as yet, let’s see. And this is definitely the last year that I can hope to remain single without any significant effort from my side. Things will definitely get tougher on that account in 2007.

Oh yes, 2006 is going to be action packed!

On more mundane matters, sis dropped in from Chennai for the weekend, finished Garam Masala (horrible!) and also watched Hyderabad Blues (below expectations actually). We went shopping and I ended up buying a Swatch for sis. These luxury brands definitely are swindling their customers and I plead guilty as a party to the crime!Also started reading a fantastic book which I will talk about later when I have finished it. Suffice it to say as of now that I never imagined that a book on development economics (or clinical economics as the author says) would be such a racy read.

C ya next week!