Rag-a-Tag

I’ve been tagged by my school friend NivEdita, and there is an informal blog code that thou-shall-who-hath-been-tagged-must-comply. I never break the rules. I already am toeing the line professionally with the Govt of India anyway next post was my revelation  to the world how I lost 30 kgs in 6 months. I guess they will never know.

Here it goes..

1.What have you realized recently?

-> Bengali I guess now I can speak and understand mota-moti.  At first I would when people spoke bangla around me, I would try to pass time by wondering how many mouse pads if vertically stacked up would reach the ceiling fan above me.

-> Loneliness is your best friend & worst enemy. I’ve made some decisions that I would have never otherwise, and have appreciated the value and viciousness of silence . I’ve spoken to more people in these 3 months than I did when I’ve meet them physically. Even some random guy who was there on my gtalk list for 2 years with a chat name like  -FND5<><3#$$* How he/she/it got on my list also I don’t know -.-

->  It’s not the price of the product, it’s how much the consumer perceives it to be worth.  

-> Entrepreneurship is overrated.  IIM grads starting their own ventures ,making the front page of ET will be humbled by the grit displayed by the people I’ve run into. I’ve meet a dealer who made a million buck business from a capital of Rs 13 at the age of Rs 12!

 

 

 

 2. Have you given your first kiss away?

I really can’t understand the import of the question. Does it mean have I kissed or kissed and told someone about it? My 1^st kiss was of course given to  my Starcraft cd case  , the

 most memorable and unforgettable one. It’s not blanked out, highlight to read Nothing more on this subject please. I could land into hot water..Amongst my other game CD’s.

3.If you were to be stranded on a deserted island, who are the 11 blog buddies you would take?

Most of the people on my blog roll are either guys/ economists/marketing experts. So no one really. It defeats the very purpose of a deserted island. Does anyone know if Cameron Diaz blogs?

4. Where is the place you want to go the most?

A trek @ The Amazon Forest with my closest friends/LAN party every night – gaming with  CS/SC/Dota!

5. If you have one dream to come true, what would it be?

Travel the World/ To work for Blizzard Entertainment @ Irvine, California/ Become a Starcraft game commentator / Win  the finals of a Tata Crucible Quiz /

 6. Do you believe in seeing the rainbow after the rain?

Hmm..If that happens I know a fox is getting married to a dog, based on school days legend!

7. What are you afraid of losing the most now?

My debit card. If I do, I’m as much use as  sand in the Sahara

8. If you win $1 million, what would you do?

Not invest in Lehman Brothers would be the 1^st smart thing. Then I’d do #5 !

 9. List out 3 good points about the person who tagged you

-> Nivedita.., known her since school.   Tenacious, Similar-to-me (a good thing?! Oops..) and ambitious.

10.  What are the requirements that you wish from your other half?

To be as close to the 1^st half as possible

11. What type of people do you hate the most?

Terrorists. The real ones, I love the guys in Counter Strike.  

12. What is the one thing you can’t live without?

Nothing really. Yes, I’m made of stone.

13. If you have faults, would you rather the people around you point out to you or would you rather they keep quiet?

I’m beyond repair with a rock for a heart and a skin of a buffalo. So…

14.Are you a shopaholic or not?

Not in the least. Window shopping at best. I’m scared of mannequins too actually.

15.  Find a word to describe the person who tagged you

Independent

16. What’s the last shocking thing you’ve seen or heard?

That the entire 24 girls in my class had a major crush on me after they saw my baby photos!

17. Would you rather have love but no money or money but no love?

Put me on The Moment of Truth to get that one J

I tag…

è Atlee

è Akshat

è Vishal

è Nikhil

 

  As for the above four..Spill your beans !!

 

 

Changu, China & Yak Rides

 Talofa!  (That’s hello in Sikkim language aka sikkimise..Yes I coined it.  Contrary to the awesome scenic ride from Siliguri to Darjeeling, the one from Siliguri to Gangtok was a dampener. The sun was blazing and I was actually sweating in the car dampening my T-shirt!  Reached Gangtok in about 4 hours and reached the main market road- M.G Road. This is the best, cleanest and well maintained street that I have ever seen. . It was such a relief to see such a clean street, compared to Calcutta where one can witness people having their shower (with soap mind you), cooking food and other unmentionables  Picture this, there are no vehicles allowed, not even cycles, only walking.  The entire road is tiled, and there are benches placed on the road to encourage people who I guess too tired from walking to have a seat and enjoy the scenery. And yes , trust me, this is one place where it actually pays to be on the bench J (no offence/reference  to my IT colleagues who are in a similar situation), just for the eye candy that passes by and this is not even tourist season yet      

 

 

If I thought learning Bengali was difficult, then sikkimise was  something that just did not even register..But surprisingly, they do speak Hindi when I make the attempt. That is the 3^rd priority in the language list after Sikkim & English. So, some saving grace although I must admit their English accent is quite stylish which made me subconsciously try to drop my thick south Indian accent and pass off as a francais dude..Did not work apparently. So much for my 98% in Verbal Ability. After the market, spotted a cable car ride  and got into one. The counter sign mentioned that in case of death (adult 18+), I would be compensated a hefty sum of Rs 1 lac. I suddenly had great respect for my official insurance agent Royal Sundaram who promises me much more than that , plus I got a cool health card with my mug on it. Anyways,It lasts for about 20  minutes and you can see entire Gangtok. During the ½ km ride , the cable car suddenly stopped for a minute, the longest of my life. So there I am hanging in mid air about 500 feet from the ground.I look at the operator panic awash my face, he seems to be more interested in knowing which finger nail in his left hand he hasn’t chewed off with conviction. And then, incredibly, without even looking up,  he lazily points at a sign board in the cable  tucked away (‘The cable car will stop midway for a minute for your pleasure to take pics and have the scare of your life- just a small joke from Lil old Sikkim Govt. You  . Funny, my funny bone wasn’t tickled so much. As my heart rate changed from a humming bird to a normal human being, we were done with the ride and I was glad to get out in one piece. I gave the operator an ugly glare before I left though. Same for the other passengers including a married couple and their 3 year old kid who was probably the bravest amongst us. Ignorance is bliss huh?

 

 The next day morning left at the crack of dawn to beat the fog. Our 1^st stop was  Baba Mandir, built in honour of a soldier who died and still is said to protect those who go into battle now. Opposite to that was the world’s highest ATM point – courtesy Union Bank of India at 13,000 feet. I did a transaction there just for kicks and it actually works! Not some goddamn PR gimmick and much better than the SBI located @hinejwadi that would never work when u need money most (like paying the laundry guy @ scmhrd..he is more dangerous than a bank agent whose loan’s due). 

 

 The entire Mandir is surrounded by huge valleys which I planned to climb as one of them separates India from China. I asked the BSF guy there if I was allowed to go for my saunter up the valley but he told me that there are jungle dogs there that are well, very junglee. And, oh btw, it is littered with land mines to keep away illegal immigrants and there are good chances of you getting blown up. I could sense the nonchalance in his voice when he mentioned the landmine issue so I guessed more people died of the jungle dog rather than mining. Although I do not suffer from the remotest cynophobia, I did not really want to push my luck. I guess I’d wait till nathulla to see China!

 So, headed off to Nathulla Pass (connects India to China) and there was just a barbed wire separating two countries! Stereotypically, on the Indian side there is a guard with a mustache that would make Verappan roll over in his grave. There is a Chinese guard too and everyone was queuing to get their photo taken with him, like he was some kinda rockstar! He couldn’t have had a more plastic smile on his face wondering what he done to stand all day and smile into cameras whilst shaking some strangers hand after going through elite counter insurgency military school. I guess he was the biggest loser there or something . After coming 14,000 feet and still not going to China , I would never live it down. So, I did stick my foot across the border to finally say I’ve visited a foreign country I know there are a lot of skeptics that this foot could be a pic taken in my backyard, just like the moon landing blah blah..So I got a certificate done just in case.

 

 

 Next stop was Changu Lake, also called lakeTsongmo, a sacred lake and a very famous tourist spot. I was two months early, so missed on the frozen sheet of ice that covers the lake. Apparently, people can actually skate and even play shuttle on the frozen sheet of ice. There is actually a sign warning people not to walk on ice as the horizontally challenged ones are now sleeping with the fishes. Amen. The lake has to be seen to be believed, it’s really a sight surrounded by green mountains all over dotted with brightly coloured flowers. It is actually dead silent and you can hear a flower bloom! There is a yak tourist point and I went for a ride on of them across the lake and was glad that it did not go off like a rodeo!  

I consider myself the laziest person in the world, but after seeing such places, travelling has become 2^nd nature for me..Sikkim especially is  a place that has to be visited during winter! Anyone interested, do let me know,  I’m learning how to make a snow man on the internet now for December

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Via Darjeeling ;)

 Whew..What a month it has been. I’ve finally got a new cell phone for myself – Moto Rokr E6 . Regular reader(s) would know that I’m not the splurger, but I decided to get this for three reasons:-

1. The no 4 dial does not work, I had to hit it with a jackhammer every time to get it to work. And frankly, you don’t get the 4” x 2” jackhammer now-a-days in your local hardware store. I guess customers just found a better way.
2. The guy in my office who hierarchically is 2 levels below me hinted that I replace the ‘cover’ of the    phone..Then in a flash whipped out his N 73 and showed me where we were eating in his GPRS map application. The map also showed a dog under the table that I couldn’t see otherwise.
3. I had the sinking feeling that I was going to be deported to some other God-forsaken in Bengal and might as well capture the images of the same

So after much research and reviews, I finally got my new phone. But I had to sell off my beloved sony ericsson k510i to them..I asked the nice people what they would do with it, but the store manager whispered in my ear that the process is too painful for attached old phone owners..so I let it go. Not before Atul took the final departing pics..

TIll a new phone do us apart..fond memories..

I was to head to siliguri for my next fmcg stint and turned out to be quite an interesting place (atleast according to wikipedia. Yes, I wiki everything!). It connects China, Nepal, Bangladesh and Even Bhutan if you take the right turns ! And since its such an economically well connected place, you can buy anything from electronic gizmos to Nike shoes. I got a Kingston pen drive (32 GB) for 400 /-..yes, GB.

Darjeeling beckoned my assistance ASAP and since there was no one else, I was the man deputised to go tame the flames. Well, actully in case of darjeeling, its more like clearing the fog. The sumo trip from siliguri to darjeeling was amazing and is even better when your top of the car taking pics

Taking Pics from the top of the car!

Darjeeling..what a beauty!

Buddhist Temple in Darjeeling

With Tibetan Refugees..cute kids!

At 9 am in the dealer point after the business talk, the store boy offered us a round of tea, which instinctively I refused (given the horror stories I’ve heard about the water used and more than 121^5 ways you can die in FMCG)- saying ‘Chai nehi chahiye ji’ . Little did I know that it was the authentic darjeeling tea that the world (well the stuck up brits atleast) crave for. I then saw a chain of events that unfolded right in front of my eyes.

1.The Gorka Land protestors stopped chanting slogans of freeing their land and tuned to look at me. They had a pretty catchy tune, but that’s not really relevant now.

 2. The old venerable dealer nearly had a stroke and was about to fall off his stool

 3. My manager who came with me had a look of incredulity and awkwardness on his face and tried his best to signal to the others that he did not know why he came along with me in the first place

 4. I stared at all of them stupidly.

Then the bulb finally lit up and I tried to cover up my big faux pas by actually having 2 cups and tried to make desperate small talk on how the aroma is intoxicating and the colour is something that Da vinci would like to have had on his canvas. I actually thought it was a bit too thick and might have been made from a billy goat that I saw a mile back on the road. I let that thought disseminate in my head.

Talking of tea, we entered a joint called Nathuals (named possibly after the pass connecting china and sikkim?) which had a motley of Tea samples. I pretended to be a connoisseur and sniffed the sample jars to select some to send back home and decided on the Ruby Coral . The dukaandaar after giving me a quick double take seeing me in my rag-tag-100 rupee -jeans-from-palika-bazzar & politely informed me that a kg of the same would set me back by Rs 6,000. I realized that maybe my folks would understand if I get something a little less fancy.

Ruby Coral Tea…most expensive tea in India..6000 rs a kg!

The hotel that I stayed had a very unique name- Hotel seven seventeen. My curiosity got the better of me and I asked the receptionist why is it named so? Apparently the 2 brothers who started this joint, 1 was born on the 7^th & the other on 17^th of the same month. I probed further asking him was it the younger one on 7^th/17^th? I guess most of the tourists stopped with why. He was stumped and promised me that he would find out and let me know. It became his #1 Agenda for the week.

I was quickly escorted to the Royal Suite which among other amenities had its own private movie video screening room, a library with the latest English paperbacks, a view of entire Darjeeling and the Kanchenjunga. Every room here is built for tourists so you the room is the bomb.

Kanchenjunga..from my hotel room!..

Hotel Suite..built for luxury!

I don’t think anyone would have even thought of reading a book from the library given the numerous other activities that are possible ;P Wanted to have some authentic local food and a plate of hot sizzling cheese Tibetan momo’s did the trick..simply delicious!

Tibetan Cheese MoMo’s..Yum!

Went to a Tibetian Refugee Center and also saw a couple of very well designed Buddhist Temples, followed by a very popular tourist spot- Rock Gardens. True to its name, It had a lot of rocks and flowers of all colours growing next to them. The main attraction is a stream that flows apparently from the Himalayas (We would have like to believe that)..had a plate of Y-Y noodles , (akin to maggi, more spicer and u can eat it raw with the onion paste and masala that comes along bundled). Ive bought like 5 packs of them and smuggled it across the border into siliguri..this stuff rocks! We were planning to see the sunrise from Tiger Hills but the fog was so thick at 4 am, forget seeing the sun, putting your pants on itself would have been a challenge!

At Rock Gardens…fresh air for once!

That ends my sojourn at Darjeeling….  next stop..Gangtok !!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Sonar Bungalow..oops Bengal-a

 

‘Your Jet Airways flight  9W 670 has been cancelled, please collect your E-ticket for your Go Air Ticket from the counter’. Hmm, not the best omen before you leave for your 1st Job post your MBA. And I quietly left my pals here with the impression that I was a a Jet-Setter rather than a Go-getter

Part One: The Sonar

Met a couple of future colleagues on the flight, who seemed to be entirely occupying row 19 and I sat next to another tam bram, and made sure that  before I entered bongolnad I got out all the tamil I could. As we landed, we took cabs to..ahem The Sonar Bungalow. It certainly lived up to its reputation of being the best in Calcutta for the next week or so where I made sure that I left no stone unturned, meaning every facility in every nook and corner that was offered , I was there! The bathtub in the rooms deserves a special mention with the intricate number of potions in the elegant bottles ranging in colours from sea-green to aqua-blue. I was so bought the intricate descriptions on each of them were so well done that even If one had a goats urine sample I might have added it to my bathtub. I used it nearly 3 hours a day so effectively I’ve spent more life in water than land @ Sonar.

Moving on to breakfast, at ‘Dum Pukht’ (I cant pronounce it, you can try but don’t be too loud) I was taken aback with the sheer no of cuisines on offer. Continental , South Indian, Italian (cheeses of 4 types, again Id love to list them but I cant spell either) and French breads and pastries.  I loaded up so much on plate that I nearly tested the manufactures guarantee on weight factor. As I looked at the elegantly set table with numerous eating aids in the forms of forks,spoons, knives of different kinds, I realized that I could no longer carry on the traditional eating style of  Obelix devouring a wild boar. (Let my clarify to the reader that I am pure veggie, unfortunately for me as the steak apparently was to die for. Well, the animal sure died , I don’t know about the eater of same)  The food was succulent , no surprises there as I headed to meet the other starry eyed joinees. The day began with the formal corporate induction followed by the rest of the business visions and strategy for the next couple of days.

@ Sonar..table 12, nice huh

The coffee breaks turned out to be quite an interesting informal interaction whereby everyone got to meet the people behind the faces @ orkut and gtalk.  Quite a few surprises there…Arun and Bhaaaaarat can vouch for that
I did not have the heart to leave the hotel to go sight seeing the city of joy, considering the fact that the room per nite was worth more than my 1st jobs monthly salary. We used the steam bath (hopefully should have knocked out a couple 1000 calories that added up in a hurry after scooping up 4 ice cream deserts last night) and the sauna followed by the jacuzi which was really something. I really don’t see the point of the steam bath, it’s a 4 by 4 room where you sit on wooden plank and boiling hot steam fills up the entire room blinding you unconscious and you are forced to sit there till you sweat profusely. Hmm..where has that happened to me before? Oh I don’t know, how about 16 years @ Chennai?!  The next day’s plan was a swim @ the pool ( more of trying to save my self from drowning, ironic considering Im a Piscean). So, good use of the fringe benefits of sonar, although the gym was one place I had not used, I had not intention of breaking into a sweat when I got know what lay ahead in rural Bengal, my home for the next 8 months!
Part II: Upcountry Bengal
Before I knew it, I was travelling by every mode of transport- local trains, speed buses, autos, cycles, bullock carts & makeshift vans across the districts of mecchada, haldia , monishadol. The hotel rooms I stayed in were undoubtedly the best the region had to offer with each having its  bathtub too! But after the benchmark had been set, the rest seemed like a unused grave for horses put to sleep after going insane so I skipped that luxury.
As I went with the salesman to the panwallas to observe how he does his sales of cigs.   As part of my training, I was to help him to the same but I would struggle mentally to calculate how much 15 times 1x.xx would result to.I was taken aback by his speed in calculating the selling price of stocks he sold at the fraction of a second for the entire set of transactions. I would still be mentally telling my self ‘5 times 7=35, carry the 3, add 1….’ . He gave a me a look that would put an Indian politician to shame.  I realized even after giving my CAT/SNAP, my love hate relationship with mathematics and percentages will never leave me. Amen to that.
The weather here is quite capricious in the sense that the clouds would break with showers for 15 minutes and immediately they would clear for their buddy Mr Sun to shine in all his glory.  Reminded me of the sauna but here I was fully dressed and did not have a cool pool waiting for me back at the room ;P

A few Pics on the way!

Dew drops in the morning..

Liqour Chai in the morning..it aint booze..hehe

On a 100 km round trip into the heart of rural Bengal. There are 4 of us there..how we managed even I don’t know

This is the sign you make when you are lost..learn it well. And get on anything that has wheels cause we are not all marathon runners. Even if you are an Olympic runner, you aint Columbus too!

For the past few days in the afternoon time as I kept walking around I was wondering why there was no human life forms mulling around. I thought there was a bandh or something, very common but peculiar that it lasted only in the noon times. Guess the bandh issue was not so great, could be against the use of monkeys dressed in pink in the local circus I thought. Apparently here people shut shops for an afternoon siesta as it happens in Italy/spain.    Hmm,  Walmart aint going to be opening Sams club here in a hurry.
Food for me has been an issue here for me as always. Consider yesterday when I decided that I would be impulsive and order a roti with a veg sabzi of the waiters choice (the menu he handed to me was completely in Bengali, including the numbers -.- ).  As he laid down the food for me, something that resembled an eye was staring back at me. My 6th sense (I barely have 5 actually) kicked in telling me that the sabzi had something that shouldn’t be. I gingerly enquired my concerns with the waiter and he proudly  told me that it was the house special of the day ‘fish mutter’ or something. Lucky me huh? As I withdrew in horror I recalled the wise words that my friend told me that fish is considered veg here in Bengal. He seemed deflated at my refusal to eat it and had a took it back as if he was following his mother’s hearse. Sorry buddy, no hard feelings.  It’s back to a bowl of hot corn flakes with cut apples for me for dinner. Experiment at your own risk.

STATUTORY WARNING: READING MY BLOG COULD LEAD TO BRAIN DAMAGE.

License to Drive

A long cherished dream…of my mother really not me. Yes, I’m 23 year’s old, male , brought up in a metro, completed my UG at boys college where there are more bikes than students, done with my MBA, got a job in a FMCG, not disabled (at least physically touch wood)  and yes, I can’t drive. To be clear, I can’t drive a bike nor a car. I started off my driving career with my BSA champ (stolen by the paper guy who wanted a ‘test ride’ and went to mexico I guess with it) ,moved on to my sisters BSA SLR and finally got my manly Hercules Thriller© (which I sold to my watchman who I hear is putting it up @ Ripleys believe it or not- as something that this ‘boy’ claim to have drive. Even he thought I wasn’t fit for anything more than a BSA champ I guess. The curve stops here.  My dad actually is a silent accomplice in this crime, for he believes that the entire motorist community is waiting to run me down if I show up on the roads.

My mother was the one who told me ‘Neeku Bike kuda raledhanthe,okka ammi kuda  nee moothi choosi parthi potharu…Neeku budhi ledhu emmi leddhu..eethi atleast che ra ledhuntay akkada MBA le annthadha neeku..’ (From telegu to english, roughly translates to-’Look If you can’t even drive a bike which girl will want to look at your face? Its not like your intelligent or good looking anyway..at least learn this before you go do your MBA else you will be ostracized’. Well, I don’t know the relation between my face and my (dis)ability to switch from 2^nd to Reverse gear* (scroll to end of post for story behind the * ) .  But I think by and large what she said holds true in pop culture atleast. The guys with bikes get the chicks. Lucky for me, the opportunity to put to test my (in)abilty to drive any kind of motorized vehicle was almost minimal due to the institute’s rules that will impound your ride if present within 100 kms of where you reside. And those with bikes only managed to get fines slapped on them or it being ‘borrowed’ by fellow mates for cross country soul searching.

In the driving school where I am currently taking lessons for my car and bike riding, the scene was quite disturbing. Let me describe how it is. There are two rooms, one looks like a depressing hospital waiting room with people silently sitting on the bare creaky benches. You have 2-3 guys my age, about 4-5 middle aged business men and even a couple of 60 year olds waiting to kick the bucket (bucket list #11 perhaps?). No of the guys there  makes eye contact and look straight, do what you came for , do it and hit the road asap…something like the scene at a men’s urinal. You don’t want to be caught looking anywhere but straight & down.

Some of the male gender pretending to read the traffic charts and one eager vehicle enthusiast is eagerly trying to replicate a chart depicting the inner complex working’s of a crankshaft & pistons. One glance into his pad shows it looks more like a dustbin with broomsticks sticking out. Men, I notice in general seem ashamed of being here to be there and are waiting furtively for their sentence to be pronounced.

There are girls too but for them it’s a different social experience. It’s a sense of liberation and freedom that they have finally won the battle against the Islamic Courts to exercise their desire to drive, sick of being relegated to 2^nd place by their brothers (younger/older) who drive the family vehicle with impunity. One of the girl, about 22-25, got chatty and enquired about if I came to get a license (No actually, I came here to see if I could enroll for belly dancing lessons).  I told her I came her to learn how to drive a car….and a bike. She looked at me brows arched ‘For car..ok..but I’m sure you can drive a bike, you’ve just come here to get the license for it officially right..being from Loyola & Symbi’…the contempt in her tone was unmistakable and I was discomfited into a awkward grin with  just a ‘hmm..yea…’. I made myself feel better by assuring myself that I will make three times what she does now. Such is the social stigma attached. And such is the lame mode of self assurance I will resort to.

The second room is the promotion room. Its classier, with air conditioning and complimentary newspapers.  It is where those who have successfully completed their 15 day training get to sit with their LLR forms ready for the actual test. Occupants of the 1^st room cannot talk, look at them. For they are the learned ones. Weather they pass is another issue, but they are done.

I recall one of my favourite antics back then was purposefully drive in front of, overtake any car which had a “Car training board” over it just to see the look on the faces of the drivers-in-learning. I realize now, that its not so great when your in the drivers seat, literally. And Ironically, I can win races in  Need For speed : Most wanted with ease using my left hand,outrun over 10 police cars, turn at 90* bends like Knight Rider and switch gears like Michael Schumacher did on the Malaysian F1 grand prix.

 

* I actually took car driving lessons briefly 3 years back and during the test, I reversed the car instead of going to 2^nd gear nearly killing an elderly women selling fish on the street. How I did that I will never know.  The motor vehicle bureau has posted a mug shot of me in its office warning officers not to issue anything to me, not even a parking ticket. Hey, even If I cant drive, all I want is a license, its one hell of an ID card and I can finally have an authentic Govt Id to book my railway tickets on the internet  

 

 

Nehi..mein tez nehi hoon..

After watching about 70 ads per day of “Kya Aap Paanchvi Paas Se Tez Hain”, I was brainwashed into seeing what the show was about since right now the biggest thing Im doing is figuring out the hidden features of my k 510 i cell..apparently it can tell what time it is in nairobi and mexico..if ever in my life I go there..

 

Firstly, the show is average at best. SRK seems a bit out of place and the theme although is quite akin to a classroom setting (chalk answers, cheating,copy, school bell) it somehow seems vague. I don’t get it,are these kids child prodigies or just walk in’s from the street or some punk kids from Bhoothnaath? 

And coming to the questions..wtf 2nd std maths is “No of edges/points on a triangular prism”..what the hell is up with that..what school teaches this stuff to 6 year olds..Back when i was in the first I learnt not to put the pencil up my nose and pee *only* in the boys toilet. And it took my math teacher 3 months to teach me to count to 35.  The lady contestant was a Phd/school topper etc etc and she had to think for 4 light years before she figured out the largest planet in the solar system..I think maybe she was one my teachers at school. And who was the king/ruler when India shifted capital..and what part of the seed becomes a root in a plant..i couldn’t even recognize the options!

Man am I glad Im through my life @ schooling..Im sure I would have flunked even the third going by the current syllabi of schools. Good job Arjun Singh, if this is the current schooling level at primary levels, Im sure there will be no need for Quota’s at IIT/IIM

Dont want to meet these smart punks where I work..will put me out of a job..

 

 

Am I writing this?

 

Im not the kind of  blogger that blogs about the news/govt/global warming and other trivial stuff like that..I am a self serving egotist that blogs only about me, me stuff related to me. 

But I saw this new Cornetto ad and I was simply just struck by it. Why?

1. Fabulous advertising concept that is clear and consistent with the USP of the commercial ( two flavours mixed, and how two bikes get fused into one). I thought it was very creative. 

2. The Fabulous sound track by Jal, (chaltey chaltey) a pakistani band that is worth downloading illegally.

3. Its got a damn cute girl, after some asking around its apparently Amrita Rao (who in main hoon na looked like a vagrant) but here looks like the prettiest girl I’ve seen on TV!! 

4. Cornetto rocks. My favorite ice cream brand!

Full marks, executed perfectly except that dumb looking guy with amrita…helooo mr director…I CAN DRIVE A CYCLE!!! Cast me for the 2nd part of how I take amrtia rao and maliaka arora in triples!!(Ironically am getting my bike and car license training from today  

The ad itself..sigh..amrita

 

Its *not* about money, honey..

Its about passion.

My passion is quizzing. There. I said it. I guess it developed like this.. Ever since I was a kid, my dad used to get me small quiz packs..something like flash cards for vocabulary that we got for our MBA prep. Me and my sis used it quiz each other all the time with the most irrelevant stuff like “If an orangutan belches at you, watch out. He’s warning you to stay out of his territory” .. I never thought it would be useful for me until PG here..Pune has quite a strong quzzing culture and I was lucky to find a strong quiz buddy of mine- Sivaram who shared my enthusiasm. We are not the best of quizzers, not even good enough for big names like the crucible or BT acumen.

There is just a very very fine line between those making it on stage and those not. Although we belonged to the latter category, I can honestly attribute it to bad luck. Im not trying to defend us. We have this uncanny knack of choosing the ‘other’ option in our minds for a question when we find the ‘original’ one was in fact the correct answer. But we have held our own in quite a few events and managed to rake in the $$, about 20,000 odd. But let me honestly tell you something, Quizzing is something that we don’t no real quizzer would do for money. Its about passion. It can be for anything, as long its your passion.

For Sachin Tendulkar , money is not why he plays for India. He plays circket cause that’s been his dream since he was a kid, to win the world cup for the nation. Similarly, for me quizzing like Mock Cats, are something that I know there are people who will always be better than me. I just go to quizzes which I wont have any idea about ( say like sports, I thought polo was just a mint for 15 years), just to see the brilliant display of talent by me fellow peers.To be in the presence of greatness is the biggest honour. Nikhil & Rohit, you guys set the standards and inspired me. One day, I hope and I know I will make a name for myself in this field just as you did.

Dedicated to every quizzer whose undying love for quizzing will continue forever in the quest for knowledge.

Agent Smith was right..It’s Purpose..

So, I am back at home, where the food tastes much better and I finally have non stop high speed internet access right just 2 rolls away from my bed. Cause the wi fi back in scmhrd aint never gonna be fixed, a trend that will continue as long as communists wear red…
So..Im like chilling at home, unlimited food, TV, Internet and restricted sleep (my mother wakes me up at a harsh 12:30 pm). I never had breakfast at college and not at home too come to think about it. Guess my creative juices (tempted to add something here..but could be kids here too..so..) flow as moon shines palely above our rooftops. You think I should be having a blast right..well no entirely. Don’t get me wrong, I love being here its just that..there is something missing. No, not the stale odour of my socks that’s been in my laundry basket for a year (mental picture appearing in my minds eye wondering if my brown underwear is in that toxic mess somewhere), but something more…something what we all seek in life..No, not that you sicko. Jeez man get a grip.

‘An idle mind is the devils workshop’..

Not only was the poor guy empty to begin with, but as time grew it just was awarded first for storehouse of most useless information (like did you know that peanuts are used in rocket fuel? I do. See what I’m talking about? ). Now since its Idle, apparently the devil also has joined in with the rest of the gang to really do a number on me.
I guess ever since the 2nd semester once the smoke cleared and dust settling (of the prof’s igniting every known explosive listed in the Al-Queda trainee handbook for new jehads© on my sorry behind ) there was quite a bit of free time on my hands. Its not like I spent that time trying to study to improve my grades cause as I child I knew that was a lost cause ( I actually once failed a drawing test in 9th was to draw some damn sunset or something..mine looked more like the insides of a male tarantula after he has been decapitated by his dear (X)-wife.)

So I did what was the flavour of the season …enter B School contests. I guess other than the learning (there was some, I learnt that even the winner copies stuff off from the net). I guess at another, perhaps higher level, I wanted to absolve myself of my guilt that after such an exorbitant investment in me by my dear parents, I’m not doing anything to justify an ROI. So atleast I told myself that by solving case studies, paper presentations I’m doing something worthwhile. Did it help? Yes, both ways, I did feel good about myself and won quite a few (largely due to the inebriated state of the judges whilst passing judgement on my so called work).

And again the last month in pune before I got here I was working part time with an MBA prep institute that made me feel better about myself.

And here? Look at me ! (you cant actually, just being dramatic) , I’m not doing ANYTHING to improve my skill set, nothing that is going to help me during my FMCG stint. Unless you call planting C4 in a unruly distributors shop or sniping the idiotic customer with a Magnum SG-550 Sniper Rifle for not taking a candy for the 50p change useful…Maybe..you never know

Welcome !!

Yo, so you got here in either of the 3 ways:

1) You went to my orginial blog site http://theroadaheadnow.blogspot.com/ and were redirected here

2) You saw my new blog http://thetemplartalks.wordpress.com while it was in beta stages by trying to see the old blog..

3) You read my diary at nite.

Well anyway, why did I shift to wordpress? It offered easier widget based blogging and much better templates..but wordpress has limited customization so blogger>WP there. Also I finally managed to put in a lot of nifty feefbuner tools like RSS, Flickr etc.. Im gonna try to be more up to date with my blog now..or should I call it wordpress now

From the artist formerly known as http://theroadaheadnow.blogspot.com/