Mannu-ji my PM

Dear PM-sahib,

I write this note to you not due to what would-be-well-earned disgust, anger or frustration, but with a strange cocktail of puzzlement and disbelief that one feels when Sehwag is out for a 2nd golden duck (yes it still hurts, but I digress, that's the 2nd biggest Indian let down of the decade, so must wait). Once the initial hair pulling (and Glass smashing if it's an innings defeat) anger is done with, I look for solace in reason, surely it must be the shoulder surgery that made his arms a tiny bit shorter (you get the drift..) and that's usually enough for me to sleep over. But this time, you haven't given me any such solace .. For no matter how much I look, there seems no reasonable explanation for what you're doing.. I understand why the congress is doing this, but why are YOU?

Surely the happenings in Egypt, Libya and Sudan must be fresh in your memory, at least kapil-ji with his new rishwat-owned 105 inch tv would've educated you about the perils of crossing the line with the youth of a country.. Surely some old memory of Hk must remain in your memory from several years back.. Of course you were a very different man then.. But then so was sehwag 2 IPLs and a WC earlier (btw did u know that sehwag is autocorrected to sewage in the iPhone?).

Surely, you have thought a few times about how you are at the fag end of your career, and how you'd like to be remembered. While the brilliant work of 1991 may have been marred by your scam-ophiliac term as PM, people will still be willing to forgive and forget and store you in the minds section titled - 'spineless but oddly cuddly'... So why suddenly take this suicidal single just because the nightwatchman said so?

Surely, you know that the people you're supporting, standing with, are the very people who will leave you to decay and pin you down as the one to blame when it all goes awry? Surely you know that the heir apparent is already warming up on the sidelines while you are busy typing another sailors knot to the nets that bind you. News articles already read - 'Rahul speaks to the PM about...'. On thank you dear yuv-raj, rescuer of the downtrodden.. Seriously, this isn't that tough to figure out, it it?

Surely, you've not forgotten the reaction when Anna started his fast the last time in April, surely you know that this awareness escalates rapidly in the new online world (or did Raje-Saab have yet another hidden slide in his telecom license presentations), surely you know that the supporters of Anna have chosen some good people on their team, crane-ji has a ruthless but 'deeply wronged' equity.. Ravishankar/Ramdev are complex men, but with many a devotee..

Surely, you knew that there is a line that if crossed would accelerate all this burning.. You knew that, and still u get him arrested, you know how we hate being muzzled and you block SMS campaign, you blockwebsites.. Why you're china again! No ones missing tiananmen square now.. It doesn't take much to see what will happen to this movement if you don't do something now (hint: take 5 figure number and take an exponential index).

Surely you knew that this would soon transform from a anti-corruption to a anti-congress movement, and the second that happens, all opposition parties would weigh in and scream murder. Everybody is looking for distraction from their sore points and you've thrown the biggest red cape there was.. Heck Obama and the EU are probably lining up to make this the reason for all the financial issues.. Not much u can say to Sreesanth when he says 'so what if I'm am listless and slow, so is my PM!'

Surely you knew that you will be the reason that usually lazy bystanders like me have the urge to say something, all suddenly. You got me writing again, which was last achieved through a combination of complete joblessness and the chance to impress a girl.. heck, i'm considering fasting one meal a day (the 5th one), and I assure you this time it's not cos some asked me to diet!

You don't have to care about the movement, you don't have to care about corruption, lokpal bill, Anna or the Indian team for that matter to see that this this was the silliest of battles to take on for you given you had such little to lose. Let Madame Italiano fight the battles if needed.

Nuff said, pls wake up and shake yourself dry. I haven't given up hope, you can still do quite a lot, to start with write a real heartfelt speech for the Independence Day and re telecast it.

Puzzled-ly yours,

Shiv

the chaps are here!

To break the monotony of our usual life, the party kings are here.. man.. what I'd give for a few more hours of sleep :(

i dont think ive seen clark quay as much as this in the last 2 years hehe :)

anyways, quick poll - after dinner, 2 bags of popcorn and a few drinks - how many McD chicken burgers can you eat? Apparently i wagered that i could eat 8 for 100 dollars. Soon i was actually attempting that .. finally gave up at 5.5 burgers when i was on the brink of dying

just to prove my point!

just to prove my point, here I am!

As I sit at research, the biggggest thing that strikes me is that no matter where u go, there are more things in common between people, rather than the differences..

what she wants in life, what her fears are, what she wishes she had done a little bit more - so so so common....

surprisingly, each one of us springs to point out how 'my country is different, we are different ppl - u guys would never know!'

:)

the pheonix rises ... a little bit

well then, am back! its been several months of hard hard work... not so much a reason to not write as was the feeling that i hadnt thought enough to write..

its been like that for a few months - restless at mind, need to be constantly doing something almost as if I were afraid that I will stop to think and then realise that its really not what I want to do - after all escapism is inherent in me :(

anyways, today I was sitting at research and complete boredom, bordering on insanity has forced me to start off again! so here I am, hoping that the dam is down and so the water will flow! :)

cheeers!

becoming kewl

was on penguins blog (which i think is very cool btw).. and saw her pseud little counter which keeps track of who comes to her blog all that..

so i installed it , and now all u nerds from antartica who used to visit me .. i can see you!

btw - it must be quite smart cos i tried to come back to my page again and it didnt increase the reader count! damn damn!

taking a tag: my first :)

Succumbing to the pitfalls of promising something you haven’t thought through – yet again.. here I am taking up unpredictables tag on ‘my biggest quirks’

To be completely honest, I don’t remember if it was quirks or if was oddities or weirdnesses or what – but I think it was generally in that area and my current in-flight status (Bangalore to Mumbai) doesn’t allow me to go and check - so here goes!

1) Superstition : I like to believe this is not in a very bad way J, but I have a lucky interview shirt, the lucky cricket whites, the lucky bat, the ‘big presentation’ set of clothes and all that..
2) Bathroom floors: I absolutely ABHOR walking on wet bathroom floors, just completely hate them. Fullstop.
3) Am I weird to not like middle seats in flights. And NO – its nothing to do with my waistline!
4) The need to see everything, always – for those who wear spectacles – ud probably understand what I go through – I don’t take my specs off while sleeping, while bathing even swimming till I found powered goggles J
5) I need my ears warm – honestly, I don’t know why this is not the case with everyone. The one part of the body I need to cover first in cold times is my ears – why do ppl stare at a poor guy using a blanket to cover his ears in a flight? If I wasn’t scared of being killed with bong based comments, id wear a monkey cap forever. Id even get them matching with my clothes
6) Soft bananas – fewer eatables are more disgusting than ‘gone soft’ bananas with those squishy black marks .. yechhhhh!
7) ‘sms barrage’ : I usually have sms sending attacks – these are bursts of 15 mins when I send sms’s to frends and folks – some long due, some random.. just feel the need to communicate. Never really understood this.. just happens. Whether its on the way to airports, or while walking home, or just some time in office.


I cant remember any others.. can you?

oh btw.. tagging ganji, faiz, sleazy, mak (this ought to be good hehe!)

atoning for my sins

A few weeks ago - i felt the gnawing sensation that I have begun to associate with my craving for blogging.. and thru the ensuing hectic weeks it receded to a dull pain somewhere - constantly reminding me that i needed an outlet..

anyway, here I am, back to living my very erratic online existence (yes Bharat, erratic with an 'a' is also a word).. just that I dont know where to start from..

Pauline once told me that you should not change > 2 major things in life at the same time.. and I think I may have done 1 too many.. so here go the big changes..

a) Spunky is here .. finally - after more than two years of living away from each other, we've landed up in not just the same city - but the same company too! I warned her about the latter.. but u know the young of today..

Ive got a few hundred questions about how it is this far, and my answer remains the same.. i dont know! it still feels like a holiday and we really dont know how couples who live in the same city feel like.. talk about getting used to long distance relationships!

b) We've moved to a new house.. still not gotten over the loss of the simply awesome elmira heights.. a overall downgrade in the face of fast rising rental rates, but still pretty decent. The best thing about this place is the convenience, its right at the office junction which reduces my need to travel to a max of 500 m.

The huge downside is the state at which the house is right now, paint peeling off, leaky bath tubs, 15 inch tv, doors that scare you with thier creaking and need to shut by themselves.

c) Ive changed roles.. From a time where i worked with a team of 10 non-indians to now where I have only Indians to work with. And boy! is it different .. almost like a flip or whats imp and whats not..

The role is fantastic, so are the people.. and oh! i still have to do the crappy work, but still, its no Herbal Essences Australia..

anyway, a combination of all of this has me gasping for breath - taking its toll of items such as blogging etc etc..

feels good to be back.. cheers!

was itching to write something!

the last 1 month has just flown by .. for one, have been a nomad of sorts, living in vishys house for a week and then organised some fraud trip for a week and then shanks/sameers house for 2 more.. and fairly unexpectedly , have learnt a few things.. the joys and fears of staying alone, living the life of a 18hr work process and still enjoying it.. just a cpl of the various things i got to pick up ..

Will write about that in detail later.. right now i need to go live my 18 hr happy work day :)

cheers!

:(

18 days now since i did any worthwhile excercise (not counting the number of times ive gone up and down vishys stairs - i dont knoe how ppl live in duplex apartments)

the sad thing is that the best excuse i could offer myself (and trust me - im pretty good at deluding myself) was that (a) there was no company to play and (b) my shoes were packed away somewhere.. no other reason.. work was ok .. not much travel (maybe 4/5 of the 18 days).

the sadder thing is, im getting comfortable with the idea of feeling unfit :(( some1 drag me out to play something this weekend please!!

I call my last 15 hours a little bit of a Spanish craze phase.. with U -tube vdos about spanish music, their dance forms and even about the food.. suddenly, bengali seems to be losing its place as the most charming language..

anyway, it all started with last evenings as we landed up in the 'cuban libre' a new pub at ClarkQuay - when we got there i was grumbling about how I had to contend with another foreign language (still grappling with my issues with English).. but to my complete surprise, last night was an awesome experience..

for one, the spanish singer - she was awesome looking.. and when she sang in her semi-husky voice it didnt matter what she sang.. and maybe its just the charm of an un-understoon language but the lyrics just seemed to add to it all - the entire song was one full sensual wave..

and that was just the singer and the band, the cool part was yet to come.. the couples on the floor dancing.. wow.. what grace and what movement.. none very good looking and mostly middle aged but they made us feel so inadequate that I cannot articulate it well enough.. u know the kind that makes you feel like going a couple of years back and reliving it with a cpl of changes (like salsa lessons etc)..

of course, the entire feeling may have been accentuated due to the spirit in my bloodstream, but its completely worth it..

So now, the Europe back trip looks more and more likely - with a long stopover in spain :) .. who all in?

Some time last week, I decided to stop blogging as my roommate and spunky (both being diff people) hinted ever so slightly (or maybe quite blatantly) at my footage-hungriness (is that a word?) and all that.. so I lay low and despite wanting to blog about something last week, i controlled myself...

then i happened to chance upon mainaks blog/website and then clicked on a few connections and finally read an article by a software engg. in Infy chennai on why he blogs.. it was awesome.. and though I wasnt smart enough to keep the link remember a couple of points.. 'Helps me communicate to people things that I wouldnt really have done either because a) its a different side of my character that they have not seen earlier b) its stuff that i dont feel confident about talking in public and c) i simply dont have the context to talk this with my frends in a day to day life scenario... and then he goes on about how he encourages all his frends to read it to get a more 360 degree view of who he is..

so , nett, blogging is back.. cos i have self justified its importance :p

why we blog

Sitting in the IKs place (thats intellectual keedas for those who dont know - its called 11-02 dunearn gardens) - and we suddenly came upon 'why do people blog?' - for those who have a good answer, please tell me what to say - cos all i did was look at them and say a meek 'just like that' - perhaps cos I had a feeling that they would pin down the hapless blogger world on the table and disect it to bits before they came up with a satisfactory answer - a heavy round of of IM revealed several key hypotheses - including 'unleashing the hidden side of ur personality' to ' cowards who cant say shit - so write shit' - admittably most of this was after a strong influence of alcohol and so wont really write about the the last few hypotheses - even Nayak (who we consider to be the one with the mind in the gutter) would have struggled to come up with it ..

so then - me (in the minimal thinking capacity i have) started wondering - why am i here anyway - and as usual im confused..

marketing lessons

Finally, I've taken the hard call to separate out my blogs - now my cricket posts (which people allege are pretty much all my posts) will move to http:\\cricketatpng.blogspot.com - all in the spirit of a consumer centric world :) - i've also promised that i will squeeze my life harder to extract something to write something or the other in the absence of a happening life ..

As they say .. lesson 101 - if your TAs want 2 diff things, u need to offer diff propositions!

Of course, whether Im spreading myself too thin - only time will tell! till then - come visit both the sites.. the link is always here.. cheers!

loo-natics i tell ya

outright - this post is prolly more relevant to guys - or at least i cant think of how a woman may have gone thru such an experience.. but feel free to read thru and tell me if it does (one learns new things everyday!)

It first noticed it when I started working, fundamentally there are two kinds of guys - based on guess what: the way they act in a public (or office ) bathroom - especially while at the pot... now before u judge me - read thru it!

a) Type A will come in and quietly do his thing and leave - maybe a quick nod of acknowledgement if he sees some1 he knows.. most of the actual down time is spent staring hard at the wall in front, as if mentally wrestling some complex differential equation inscribed on it..

b) Type B has probably been working too hard all day - and mistakes this to be similar to a coffee/ciggy break - they look for ppl they know in there and often even go into the loo in a pair.. standing there is not a reason to stop talking and maintaining eye contact is an added bonus..

Anyway, these two live in perfect harmony - till the point where Type B sees Type A one day - and then starts off a discussion.. poor A, visibly squirms, trying to decide between solving the equation on the wall ahead or look back at type B, finally settling in between, making it all the more obscene and uncomfortable.. talk about captive audience..

The other really bad situation you could get into is when u are there doing the wall equation solving thing - and suddenly u are flanked on either side by two type B people who are in the middle of the conversation.. Try as much as u want - but there is nothing u can do - they will both be looking straight at u as they talk - the slight sway/bend back isnt much better either ! :) - now thats what i call being caught in a cross-fire!

so from all of the type As in the world to all u type Bs - do not judge us by our lack of communication in the loo, we are much more the talking type - just in slightly better situations/places! and for heavens sake - just take more coffee breaks!

the sweeeeeeeet taste of success

I may be rejoicing (?? i meant herbal-ing) too soon, but looks like we've found an apartment! ye ye!!! :)

Rupee and vidz moving out - so we may be taking their place - frightfully expensive but chalo something is better than nothing...

phew! wont have to live at the airport or the office now.. thank god!

Woes of an underpaid marketer in Singapore

First and foremost.. YES! this is a crib post - an outlet for the bottled up frustration - especially cos i have no one to blame.. but the supply demand gap for good condos on rent...

Anyways, it all started off 2.5 years back when i did my little calculation of how much id save if I lived in Singapore with my marketing salary - it wasnt bad at all - around 1.5 times of a normal Indian salary living in India.. and that made up my mind about taking up this job...

For the first year or some, things were rosy.. Elmira Heights was the perfect place to live (close to office, town, friends and sports ) - and to boot wasnt very expensive at all... allowed for a very very comfortable lifestyle.. and then i got ahead of myself..

In a moment of weakness, I decided to invest in a systematic investment plan that makes it compulsory to invest some money every month.. dont remember if i was drunk or just plain dumb (more likely a combination of both) - but here I was saddled with a monthly commitment..

And then .. just like that, the bottom gave way - and the axe fell - not in one, but two painful blows:

- The company wants us to become PRs - for those who dont know what it means - its basically a cut of 33% in ur salary that goes to the govt fund (and u get a measly 2-3% interest on it)

- The rents have gone up MASSSIVELY - from a reasonable 2200 sgd to somewhere in the region of 3500 sgd - makes u wonder if you living in downtown NY.. not that i know what that is like..

An example of how bad it is
Assume that a new hire gets 4.5 K - and work the numbers..
- In hand post PR stuff is nearly 3K
- take away rent and very basic living expenses and u have like 1 K left
- u blink and thats at risk and dont even dream of going for a vacation .. lets not get towards repayment of education loans and u risk getting mugged if u can spell 'investments'.. bah!

Im hoping some1 in HR is tracking all of this and is exhibiting some nimble footed 'in-touchness' and will increase salaries significantly - otherwise id be surprised if we dont see a mass exodus from the company..

And of course, my depression has nothing to do with the fact that we lost this weekend (cricket of course!) and i got a massive duck :(

a non-cricket blogentry - a slacker day

Ive said before - there isnt much to talk about in my life nowadays except cricket.. but a certain person has strongly 'advised' me that I need to write more non-cricket stuff or risk sleeping on a couch forever.. so here goes..

Todays day was spent like a sack of potatoes for most part of the day .. sat on the couch doing nothing at all .. pretended to work while distantly aware of the happenings on the tv.. pretended to attend two/three telecons.. and mumbled a few words there to make it sound authentic.. and basically surfed the net.. for no specific thing.. just random - site to site jumping.. blog reading.. it really is a good way to spend time u know..

one thing i came across was a poem by Rabindranath Tagore (yeah bring on the Bong jokes) - called 'Where the mind is without fear' - one of my fav pcs of poetry ... a poem that you keep discovering.. every line has layers of meaning which u need to peel off .. and they all link back to the one theme of the poem.. truly inspiring poem.. for the very few who havent read it before.. here goes..

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake

:)

another of those days..

One of those days... gloomy weather outside.. insides groaning and complaining.. work seems like the most distant priority.. people come around asking for stuff and you feel like just answering 'I dont know and I dont care!' :p

but a silver lining exists, even on this dark grey cloud.. the mid week holiday.. the oasis in the middle of the sahara.. i honestly believe that every week should have at least mid week break .. just to help you recover from the wear and tear that office brings..

and of course, there is Friday after that.. and sports again.. come to think of it .. today is almost like a Friday.. should make some harrys plans and some dinnering and all that :)

alright - the days not that bad after all then - of course.. to dampen the spirits.. small matters of work are still there.. sigh!

so.. back to strategic stuff.. setting up meetings, process invoices, print stuff out, write agendas for meetings.. vidyar - we need to start the 'united abm blogger' soon!

more strategies!

The spring is there in our step, and we are clearly on a high (as my previous post may tell u) - but as some smart guy said, the only way after uve reached the crescendo is a steep steep drop.. other smart guys have called it the law of averages - but what i call it is a) complacency and b) not embracing change...

Despite being the best team around - I think we have a couple of big gaps - couple that with a few changes (of playing conditions/Grounds) and we may actually have a problem.. the key changes this coming week are
a) We are playing at GIIS Queensland - a much smaller ground
b) The opposition would def have heard about Bakir and Matt and would plan for that

This is my take on how we should tackle each of the issues :

a) Playing at the smaller ground

• Means that a 200 may be enough - need to bat faster - id revise all of Paddus targets upwards by 20%.
• Need some1 upfront who can play well square (pulls/cuts) - to me the ideal guy here is Sriram
• Singles are going to be rare so the disadvantages of running slow dont count much :p - so let Ganji open
• If an opener falls early - get Esh in and if neccessary even Swapnil and hold for the first 6-8 overs..
• I wont bowl myself too much unless really needed - even the top edges fly for 6 here... but always willing to give it a try :)

b) Competition knowing about Bakir/Matt

• Could keep thier best bowlers back
• which means we need to maximise the new ball bowlers and get some1 up there who can hit!

So my proposed batting line-up is :

1. Ganji
2. Sriram
3. Paddu/Raff
4. Bakir
5. Matt
6. Tapish
7. Raff/Paddu
8. Shiv
9. Swapnil
10. Esh
11. Goel

If wickets fall fast - then Esh and Swapnil go upfront..

An interesting option will be sending Swapnil up instead of Ganji and asking him to go for it.. or maybe asking nitin goel to do that :)

Bowling:

Bakir, Nitin, Tapish, Paddu, Swappy, Matt, Shiv (in order of priority)

Separately, for the friendly against KB, this is my proposed line-up

1. Raff
2. Tapish
3. Paddu
4. Bakir
5. Shiv
6. Sriram
7. Swappy
8. Manish
9. Esh
10. Nitin Goel
11. Ganji

Just to mix things up a bit :)

cricket continues

For those who dont like cricket (read spunky, oli and a few other such loser kinds) .. apologies .. there hasnt been too much action in my life but for the cricket matches on weekends and during the week, a constant to-and-fro of discussions around strategy, analysis, chest thumping or plain bitching..

In normal circumstances, this would be a fairly poor reflection of the kind of excitement in my life (the lack of which is a completely different story which i shall leave for a less joyous time).. but for this one time, its purely behind a complete upliftment of the spirit of the team - suddenly u can sense it - there is a sort of nervous passion in the air as emails float around, the Srirams of the world are deeply introspecting on a freak dismissal, Esh is raring to go at the bowlers again and even the iceman polska is betraying some emotion! (not yet to a level to getting ganji into wanting to run fast singles tho - now that will take something!)

This season feels like a piece of Yanni music - (refer to the Optimistique album) - starts of slow and low and then builds up tempo and style.. and just when u think its going to taper off, he takes the next higher note, till u are amongst notes u didnt know about.. so thats what happened on saturday - just when u thot that the last match was an awesome allround display - this one completely smashed that out ..

Bakir and Matt were the stars of the day - they came, they looked around with utter disdain, helped themselves to a quick pile of runs like kids in a unattended candy store and then were in the process of stomping out the last bit of self esteem the opposition had before guilt struck home and they let the poor wet mice go..

It wasnt just the runs, it wasnt the sweetly caressed shots interspersed with savage blows, it was they elegance that they commanded while they were there thay was awe inspiring.. Matt looked like he could score that fifty again on one leg, one arm tied down and with a blindfold.. Bakir - what should i say!

Anyway - the bowling wasnt as rosy as this - key highlights for me were a) Swapnil bowling with a lot more control and lower pace b) Matts outstanding bowling c) now always expected - a 5 wicket haul from Bakir and d) a significant improvement in my bowling vs last time..

Our ground fielding sucked a little, as did our catching - we dropped a good number of catches - somethign we really need to fix, if we want to keep up the good work...

As we move towards the next match - they key question is - is there a higher note, or have we reached the crescendo! - who cares! as of now - i can feel the music in my ears!