Sick thoughts........

In the Tom Sawyer book, whenever Tom was ill, he would imagine himself so sick that he was about to die. Today evening, after 2 days of sneezing and sniffing, i started feeling feverish and was shivering like anything. Like Tom, I also felt the end is near. Its a different story Tom's character is a teenager and I was one 10 years back! Anyways, rest and medication coupled with insomnia means I am better,not completely well, and cannot sleep.
Come to hate the weather here, cold hot cold hot......WTF! Delhi was good - cool, cold, coldest but all manageable.
Finding it difficult to do what I should be doing. N says I need a change, i say, again? Guess, I am just bored. T says get married. Dunno if that will improve matters or make them worse.
Recently blocked all communications with someone who responded rudely to a well meaning advice,which was asked for. I think that's a nice thing to do. Such people dont deserve time or attention. Learnt this from Manish Tiwari from the Indian National Congress. (Is it still called that?)
While on the subject, we are looking at scams of huge magnitudes, but what to people do with so much money? I mean, some of it may fund elections, but say even 100 Cr in your Swiss account and your life time aint enough to spend it. Plus if you stay in public life, you are not using it!Has our PM, who is counted as one of the finest brains in our country, succumbed to the trappings of power. Recently stated how its a privilege to work under the leadership of Sonia G. Knows which side his bread is buttered. No harm in knowing that, but acting accordingly? Thats not what he expect from him. Sycophancy is a Congress quality, but we would expect him to stay above it, speak his mind and do the right thing about his corrupt ministers. Coalition dharma be damned!!!! And Rahul G needs a new team of people who do real time research and tell him ground realities. He needs to know the voters have seen through the Congress's vote bank politics and moved on. Voter's world has real world problems and in most cases helping solve those gets you the votes. Look at Bihar, look at UP and MP. Crown Prince has managed to look quite dumb over the last few months, and I think, thats the result of some senior party leaders scheming. Obvious right, they toil for 25 - 30 years to reach near the top and this guy just reached the top just like that???
How important is acceptance? Sachin Tendulkar, Vinod Kambli and some fellow called as Ranade were the best of friends at one point of time. Today Ranade is a small time umpire, Kambli saw some success before being lost in the wilderness and Sachin we all know. Are Ranade and Kambli still cribbing about thier lives compared to Sachin or have they accepted thier destiny and moved on? On the other hand, at what point would they have decided they are nowhere close to Sachin and decided to move on...... Cos its likely they stopped trying and passed up oppurtunities. Tricky.
And while on the subject, Sachin proved why he is considered an all time great. Delayed the inevitable defeat but played one if the greatest knocks of his life at Centurion along with Dhoni. Interesting partnership - onw batsman with the best technique in the world and other with no technique whatsover.
Is TA really cursed in the matters of the heart? Or is it just a case of kisi ko mukkamal jahan nahi milta, kabhi zameen to kabhi aasmaan nahi milta...... Anyways, core TA has had a marriage now, and the new member has already said 'Get lost' to a TA welcome party :( Lets see.
And I am still looking for a reason. If I get that, 2 problems would be solved. but...... Again, lets see.....

The last year of engineering…..

The last year of my engineering was the only one worth remembering. Some occasions, some people made it so. Some memories.

(A nostalgic moment in the digital world. Was trying to create space on my hard disk by looking up some old files that can be deleted and came across some of these snaps, others are courtesy Clinton's Picasa link. Most of these snaps are from 2003 and 2004)

 

I hate the day I was not a part of this snap above. It has been described as legendary, epic and this is one of those things that make me wish I could go back into time and correct the wrong :(

 

By all measures, this was an awesome trip. New Year’s eve at Alibaug. I have spent hours and hours listening to all that happened here. Its been 6 – 7 years and all people still talk about this trip. While some fun was standard, some wasn't, like the snap of Ramu and Vishal arguing because someone attempted more questions than the other in an exam!!!  Akash and Clinton exhausted after football. …..there are many stories from this trip….I so wish i could go back to this.

 

Making a point, and Gamri (Sarang) listening as well…… this is Sagar Vihar i think.

 

All of us @ Grand Central, Chembur after the farewell party.

Sitting : Navin, Jeddy, Rajeev, Sarang, Siddharth

Standing : Bhargav, Clinton, Me, Vijay, Jaideep, Neeraj, Ramu (Yes, he is there), Akash, Vishal, Sushant

 

The Project AGV team (Ravi, Clinton,Mr.Taktawala,Rachit, Naushad) in Ahmedabad.

 

Some learning, some posing, some fun! 2 days practical experience was much better than the year long theory we studied! This was an interesting group. While other groups fought about lack of initiative, not taking responsibility etc, we argued over bigger issues like Ram Mandir, Gaza strip and so on. Responsibilities were never an issue, we were like a company – Miya and Ravi were operational in charges, Clinton for finance and Logistics and I took care of HR and PR (seemingly simplest of all!). I don't recollect one meeting where we discussed what has to be done, even when we tried. Most visits to BARC were to copy assignments and spent discussing which canteen to have lunch and post that lying about on the soft green grass….

  

With Megha at the farewell party, this is the only snap of me from the party, thanks to Bhau! I had refused to go the the party and went only when dad gave his car. I was just sitting around away from people, consciously not getting clicked. I still cannot believe how she was ready with her pose even as she was talking with me!

  

Some traditional day. I think Clinton and Bhargav are in black as a part of a plan. Surprisingly, Baba isn't in black! The absurd Surd Hardajeet seen here…..

With Priyank (tallest in the group). This snap is bit after college got over. If their is ever something like the unlikeliest company I would be seen in – this is that place. Though this was before the orkut / facebook era.

 

After some chilled out evening. This is the day when Akash pointed to a mallu and said – Tiwariji, ask him to go, else i’ll whack him!!

I said : Whack!

Ravi and Sriniwas with Prerna, Neha, Jasmeet. Me and these girls were absolute strangers for the first 3 years, had a lot of fun in the final year!

Swathi and Deepti, that's the clearest snap I could get from the farewell day.

Manish Patil and Thale sir, one support another encouragement….

 

Another new years eve, and this time I was there. @ Carter road.

That, i’d say, was a good year…..

Band Baaja Baraat……

No, this post is not about Bhargav’s wedding, that will be a separate post.

This is about the movie Band Bajaa Baarat that I saw today. A simple, entertaining movie which has been narrated in a simple manner. And more than anything else, unlike most romantic stories, it makes sense. It isn't your typical ‘love conquers all movie’. I would not even call it an emotional one, to me this is a practical one. Both parties at fault, both need to own up. When you love someone, tell them. And tell them when the time is right. And tell it in simple, clear words. Don't assume you love someone will lead to that person loving you – may happen, may not happen, they may realize after some time, or as Bittu says, ‘ghaas nahi dalenge”. No hints, no half hearted attempts. Else better to forget about whom you want to as your life partner. Mom dad will get you someone!!!

Set in the city I have come to love over the last one year – Delhi (5 trips so far, all productive, all seasons seen, all issues seen, all kinds of people met). The language is mostly Punjab, Haryana, UP Hindi and this movie is a delight for anyone from that belt.

Both the lead actors have done a good job being friends, business partners, lovers, enemies and competitors at various stages. Anushka Sharma has definitely shown acting skills in some scenes,apart from looking good, while Ranveer plays the role of a happy go lucky guy with elan. Hope they do well in the future as too.

For the love of cricket.....

Today, I got into a bit of a tangle.This is what happened.

I had no business being in this debate. What have I got to do with the Pommies or the Aussies or Ricky Ponting or even Sachin Tendulkar for that matter. He does not give any of his runs to me, nor does he give me any money.

Same can be said about other participants in the debate (except for Shankar sir, who has a fair bit of experience in professional cricket). But still look at the comments and the emotions involved. In its place, each comment is valid, each point of view correct.

And its just for the love of cricket that we are all involved in it.

But the point that comes across is there has to be a line beyond which you get out of the game and get into personalities. If I hate Ricky Ponting for his arrogance (not that I myself am the humblest of all people, but life has taught me enough not to think less of anyone), there are people who call Rahul Dravid selfish, VVS underachiever, Murali a chucker, Pakistanis as cheats. In most cases, this is a matter of how people interpret - Ponting has been a consistent batsman, Dravid technically the best (a technician, in Siddhu's words!!), Murali the greatest bowler ever and Pakistanis , well , you can never say one thing about them.

Someone read through the comments and said I am being aggressive here - but all I am stating is that if I like SRT or Rahul Dravid, i do not say they are great because they are better than this player or that. They are great on their own merits on the field and may also have some shortcomings. But in a team game, that too something like test cricket, where quantity of runs or wickets do not really reflect the quality of the effort - its useless comparing individuals.For eg. in 2007, in the first test of India - England Test series Dhoni batted in unfriendly conditions, in a subdued manner with the tail for a better part of the fifth day. In Harsha Bhogle's words, it was the inveterate racer driving in the first gear. It rained soon, and the match was drawn, with just 1 wicket remaining. India went on to win the next test match and the series. Does that make Dhoni the greatest batsman?

Unless you are comparing on a case to case basis, such comparisons are useless.

To all those who lament SRT has not really won a Test match for India or some say he is selfish, i have one question : At the end of a match, has anyone seen him pack his bags with all the runs he scored and take them home?

Now that was a quickie.....

Just cant sleep. How much can i read and how much can i surf?? In that case,one thinks.

Today morning I adjusted the date on my watch to 1st,it was showing 31st. I then realised its December again. And my new year party at Goa, was 11 months back!!! 11 months, approx 330 days, Gone just like that. In a jiffy.

It feels like just yesterday when we got up and left for Goa. Spent 3 days of doing nothing or something irrelevant. Its like last evening i was walking on an empty beach. And someone called and said, 'wow, you sound happy!'. I remember every bit as if I have just come back from there. And today i realise its been 11 months!

My ex-boss used to say you have had a good year if you cannot remember what you did last new year's eve. By that logic, I have had a lousy year. I don't know, cos technically, i haven't.

At work(which more or less decides your moods), there has been appreciation, a promotion, a job change and some more appreciation. Some mentoring done and some recieved. Some leanings, some unlearning. On domestic and social fronts,nothing changed, we are still discussing same issues! I traveled around the country in bits and pieces - connecting with the south and reconnecting with the north. Experienced what winter actually is in Delhi earlier this year. Had a hospital trip. Experienced detachment. Saw people turning rude. Saw people remaining surprisingly cordial. Continued my planning of buying a car. Also effected some changes.

Not a bad year, if not spectacular either.

But all this and a lot more happened so quickly??? Like between yesterday and today???