My Toothbrush

I am very possessive about my toothbrush. Though it is not very different from it's kinds, same bristles, same plastic, still i am very attached to
it. I bought this one at a place called Team Juice at trivandrum. Every morning when i brush my teeth i am reminded of a series of events. Arrival at trivandrum, the shock at seeing ARUVI, the pleasure at seeing Kovalam, the first day at office, the top floor canteen, the barottas, the night shows, sharmaji's paranthas which kept us alive...(not to forget chutneys), aruvi rooftop parties, POLICE, swagat bar, the HDFC atm, Ariya jyoti, The project mates, the trip to ponmudi ...the dangerous waterfall trek, the trip to moonnar and the night at the hotel and the morning afterwards (hic.) ...narial paani, badminton tounament i lost, charu sharma's quiz, The DIRTY AD -MAD we did...., the badminton tournament we won, the terrifying Hostel shift..., the chetta shop and the horlicks, the kenton leisure suites, the booze there..., the technopark club and mani ,the waiter there....night outs with friends .. night before mid term... night before MATC....and the leaving time......
So you know next time i am brushing my teeth i am not just doing that...i am taking a trip down memory lane....
p.s. ...i know that toothbrush is pretty old ... but can i just keep it for old times's sake??please...

RDB

I went to see RDB today. Reached Chanakya 10 mins before the show and just like always, the BALCONY tickets had “sold” out. So quickly conferring with my brother on the going rate of the black tickets, I managed to get hold of 3 tickets behind a parked car for 400 bucks.
The movie itself was fun, an artist’s imagination of what would happen if we explore an option, an option that was explored by our freedom fighters, and yes the ideology of trying to make a difference. I could hear people talk about how killing a Defence Minister is not that simple etc. but I think they’ve missed the whole point of the movie. Its not a movie about a gang of students who kill the defence minister and then are killed by the commandos, it’s a movie about people who

1. Understand the results of their actions


2. Decide that they have to do something rather than just sit around and say that nothing gets happened.


3. Find a meaning to their life.

Cinematography of this movie worth mentioning, Eastman colored clippings transport you back to another era, the clippings sometimes falling in place a little later in the movie like Bismillah being captured by the soldiers in the swamp, sometimes they were over simplified for the viewers like the one with Jaliawala bagh with the defence minister ordering the shooting.

Talking about individual and team performances, Su was a wise choice to this movie. I mean we ve all seen movies with foreigners but they aren’t half convincing when they don’t speak GOOD hindi (exception Mr. Tom Alter, who is the exception to this rule). Another good choice was the Telugu chap who played Karan Singhania. When I compare him to Madhavan, he loses on the looks factor but his appeal as an actor is much much better than what Madhavan has done in hindi movies. Moveover Madhavan…”no deal”. Talking about the chappie who played Aslam, terrific buddy, it was a difficult part to play because everyone over does it just like they do to full fried eggs, but you handled the role exactly like it was supposed to be. If I were to rank the characters actors in the order of their performances, It would be something like this

1. Karan Singhania


2. Aslam


3. Style waala banda


4. ….


5. ….


6. Aamir Khan


7. Soha Ali Khan

Which brings us to Soha. Soha why? Why? Why did you have to stand out like a sore thumb? Infact if there is anything that consoles me to the fact that this movie could have been perfect and isn’t is the fact that life is not perfect. Soha try harder beta. The only thing that saved Aamir and his tooti frooty punjaabi/hinglish(I still don’t know what dialect he was speaking in… it surely wasn’t Punjabi) was that soha did worse. Baal bal bachche…poof…phoof…

Paisa vasool factors:

1. Aamir’s comedy.

Rangoli Competition @TCS

I made my first rangoli today... i ve seen many and commented on the quality of even more... but this experience was totally humbling... Drawing a straight line with colored powder is not a cup of tea believe me... Our theme was "mission kashmir" to remind the people of the quake hit kashmir and to remind them to contribute to rebuild the home of the homeless... we were awarded a box of celebration chocolates for our efforts...

Jugaad

Networking / temporary fix / Black / Jugaad

Well besides the bursting-at-the-seams population there are more things that are plaguing my country today; the attitude of people towards work. The “jugaad” factor, as I call it. Well just day before yesterday, my onsite manager tells me a fact that two technologically different things are in fact one. Just like saying North and South are in fact one. Well this is not the first time he has done so and shown his ignorance but that guy never ceases to amaze me with his ignorance. But I really wonder how in the world did he reach to the level where he is now.

Welcome to the world of “Jugaad”

Lying to the client, saving face by making excuses, and putting temporary fixes in place; well its like trying to repair a bursting dam with post-it. In the world where mangers are spending a fortune in the CRM software trying to make the customer come back to them for repeat business, here are the glorious Indian managers indulging in unethical conduct, buying time to pass of their wares.

Why and wherefores

Yes the companies are getting bigger and the responsibilities are getting specialized. The employee can, of course, shirk these responsibilities and appear too insignificant to make a change. When things go wrong, all that the employee is concerned about is saving his own skin.

Bomb blasts rock delhi

3 Bomb blasts rock Delhi

The phone hasn’t stopped ringing. Friends and relatives from all over the country have called us up when they saw the news of the bomb blast in Sarojini Nagar. Luckily for us all of us were home. Mom had just left for South Extn. Market with brother’s family when I heard the news. I was calm cause I knew they would be far from the place bomb blast took place but they still had to come back home. Crowded places were not good.

As could be expected, the phone networks could not handle the load of the emergency. “The number you ve called is not reachable at the moment”. Somehow that soothing voice was all irritating. I managed to get across to them somehow and asked them to come back home.

Nothing is same anymore

Nothing is same anymore

We used to play together when we were kids. My brother used to go around the village with his brother and I used to follow him wherever he went. I remember the night when we walked together while coming back from the factory, it was a starlit night, no moon in sight and yet very bright. The stars there were more in number than in Delhi. Just like all the good things.

Tayaji and taijis home was my second home. Taiji never used to let me go out on an empty stomach. Tea and biscuits used to appear out of thin air. I used to sit in the Veda on a pidi and used to have my breakfast with my cousins. I used to watch color telly at their place rather than the black and white one at my chacha’s place.

The elder of the cousins, Babbu gelled really nice with my elder brother. They were doing all the fun around the place. Dhodha and me just used to follow them till we were tired and gave up. Dodha took me to his wood factory where I saw electrical fittings being made (I tried my hand at a few…); we made wonderful gulakks, and swords to have make-believe fights. I still have those treasures.
We were just a couple of kids; Life was great fun.

Few years later we got a call, Babbu s mother taiji had fallen sick and was very ill. Fearing for the worst papa rushed to our village. But alas womenfolk always hide their illness long enough to suffer and to make other suffer after they are gone. Taiji had suffered a heart attack and was gone.

On my next visit to our village things were a little different. We had a new taiji. Tayaji had to remarry under pressure from other relatives since his kids were young and needed a mother’s love. The new taiji was suave. She changed things around the house and now the house looked more ornate and decorated. But the bonhomie and the welcome were missing.

I heard from mom one day that babbu’s family was coming over to Delhi. I was overjoyed. I would meet dodha again. And babbu too. When I heard the reason for their coming, my heart skipped a beat. Babbu was diagnosed with a heart valve failure and had to be treated at the Delhi hospitals.

Talking was painful to him after operation and he used to gesticulate to tell us about his needs. After about two months he was slowly able to speak and talk to us and share with us his near death experience. Babbu came only once after that for his postoperative checkups. The local doctors had pronounced his operation as a success.

Babbu’s death was an equal surprise as his mother’s death. I was grown up to be taken to mourning so this time even I went along. The brief moments I could get with Dodha before the mourning ceremony, I held his hand, and I looked at him. I couldn’t utter a word. I wished I did. I wished I could. Dodha’s figure of calm and compose broke the moment he saw his brother’s picture. He cried and was inconsolable, I couldn’t cry as much as I tried, so I got up and left.
I am 22 now. I go to my village once in a while. In sorrows and happiness, as they say.
Their house is still there. I know Dodha still lives there. They still have that factory. They still have a color TV and I know I’ll be welcome when I go there. But I also know that nothing is same anymore.    

aa

I resent that fact that she stays here… going from room to room… I resent her shouting… I ask her to speak slowly…I miss her terribly when i am away from her...

Genuinely happy to be here

This is the same palace... these round spheres provided the guards with the view of the whole palace without having to go around too much... those sitting around us are budding artists sketching the beauty around on their canvass

Yeah thats us.... sitting with the future artists... Paris wasnt rushing anywhere...

Palace

They say travel is the best way to know a person better. I began this journey with two acquaintances and by the end of it, I had two close friends.

They say travel is the best way to know a person better. I began this journey with two acquaintances and by the end of it, I had two close friends.

Streets of Paris by the night

A view from our hotel in Paris. Its about 6:30 pm and the view at Cadet absolutely takes your breath away.

Walking the walk

Standing on the harbour in Copenhagen, Denmark. Tired after a long flight haul and no hotel reservations.... we cooked our food at Umesh's... followed by a nap...that didnt want to end...

Yeah ... thats me.. one thing that differentiates Copenhagen from Rotterdam (though they are both close to the sea) is the breeze... i hear its so windy in the winters that its impossible to walk in the streets.... brrr....

Thats the Palace of Copenhagen in the background... its a sight that soothes the eyes.. the emarald green roung top of the palace...shining in the sun... against the contrast of the sharp straight buildings all around... the fountain... it feels like a place out of fairy tales... (that s my PL on the left and my friend Saurabh on the right...I am behind the camera)

This is nearer to the palace, where the Danish have similar palace guards who take rounds of the palace in the same way as their ancestors must have in victorian times... though not as uptight as their british counterparts... this particular guard was pretty ceremonius.. We were obliged with a photograph

Mercure Hotel, Copenhagen

Yeah... Now we come to the most interesting place in the whole journey... the Hotel.. and more specifically my room...I tried as hard as possible to make it habitable.. but in the end i gave up... My room was the common room.. next to my room (on the right) was Saurabh's room ...and to the left after one room was Rajesh's room. Rina was in the room adjacent to Rajesh's. The Hotel...Hotel Mercure Copenhagen...