iUnknown blogs ...

Malaysia Photos

2008-03-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Malaysia Formula 1
http://picasaweb.google.com/alokbhagwat/F1Malaysia

View of KL city from KL towers
http://picasaweb.google.com/alokbhagwat/KualaLumpurCityAsSeenFromKLTowers

Petronas Towers - KL
http://picasaweb.google.com/alokbhagwat/PetronasTwinTowersKualaLumpur

Genting, Malaysia
http://picasaweb.google.com/alokbhagwat/GentingMalaysia

Tioman Islands, Malaysia
http://picasaweb.google.com/alokbhagwat/TiomanIslandsMalaysia

Kuala Lumpur!

2008-03-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

Kuala Lumpur ... a place which reminds me a lot about India, but is much more advanced, planned and well developed that most Indian metros! I had been to KL to actually see the Malaysian F1 GP on Mar 23rd, but since we were going there, we thought we might as well touch Genting and KL itself.

Bikram, Krishna, Naveen, Sandeep and I travelled from Singapore to KL by bus on the night of last thursday. Keerthi who stays in KL, had done all arrangments for us including our F1 tickets, hotel accomodation etc.

On Friday we headed straight to Genting. Forgive me for this, but I am still confused whether this is called Genting or Jenting. Rather, people say its pronounced as Gunting ... anyways ... whatever it is called ... this place resembles closest to the concept of fairyland that you might have heard in your childhood! It a hill station a few 10's of miles from KL. You can either drive up the picturesque road or take a cable car. We took the cable car up and drove down - both thrilling experiences!

For some reason, through out this KL trip, the skies were really happy with me :) .. clouds made beautiful patterns and the color was bright and tempting! My snaps will speak about it a bit.

The cable car journey is another memorable part of the journey. Between every two sets of posts, the car runs ar varying angles from 20 deg to upto 70 degrees. Check out some of the photos of that at http://picasaweb.google.com/alokbhagwat/GentingMalaysia

Genting is one huge hill-establishment at an hour's distance from KL. It has a massive outdoor amusement park as well as the world's largest indoor amusement park. Some of the most memorable rides is the space shot ... where you are seated on a chair ... ok - tied to the chair! Then 12 such chairs are elevated on a HIGH pole, from the top of which you can almost see KL. And then the chairs are released in a free fall :-)

The roller coaster on the edge of the mountain is another thrilling experience, so is the superman ride. Archery is engrossing as well. Among the rides in the indoor park the simulation of sky diving is worth a mention. The casinos are also worth a visit ... if you are too confident of your luck :-)

We also went around KL a bit. We went up KL towers ... 235m high to catch amazing panoramic views of the city. Its tough to believe that the city is hardly a 120 years old! Some of those snaps are at http://picasaweb.google.com/alokbhagwat/KualaLumpurCityAsSeenFromKLTowers

The petronas twin towers are another mesmerizing experience. Look at my snaps at http://picasaweb.google.com/alokbhagwat/PetronasTwinTowersKualaLumpur. No words can describe them!

Pulao Tioman

2008-03-24T09:30:00.001-07:00

I had been to Tioman Island in Malaysia on the last weekend with a few friends. I had only heard about Tioman and that it is beautiful beyond words and indeed, it is. But still this futile attempt to capture in words what the eyes saw at Pulao Tioman.

Tioman is a beautiful island off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. Malaysia is a beautiful country by itself and fairly easily accessible from Singapore. The best way to reach Tioman is to take a ferry from Mersing in Johar, Malaysia. We took a bus from Singapore to Mersing. You have to undergo two security checks on either side of the bridge that joins Singapore with Malaysia.

On entering Malaysia, you cannot help but notice the various boards/hoardings written in Malay language. I dont know Malay, but I bet that it would be one of the easiet language to learn. Simply because you do not have to mug up the spellings of words. They are spelt exactly as they are pronounced. Central is written as Sentral, Taxi as Teksi and Express as Ekspres

We took a ferry from Mersing to Tioman. The atmosphere was cloudy and the sea calm. Totally intoxicating!! :-) Couldnt help but take some snaps of the beautiful patterns clouds were forming in the skies. Many islands, one more beautiful that the prior came and went by and we kept wondering if THIS one is Tioman. The onward ferry was a slow one and after sailing almost an hour and a half, there was no island in sight. All we saw in front were thick (real thick) clouds!

But suddenly some hills started peeping from the haze and Pulao Tioman made a dramatic appearance from amid the mist - a 'la "Pirates of the Carribean". The island was beautiful ... beautiful, marvellous, splendid, stunning and much more ... for the lack of better words in English! Water so pure that you can practically see the corals below with your eyes, and greenery that fills the island with some real splendour! It like a hill in the middle of the sea, and that too covered with thick forest ... now can you beat that combination!!!

The beaches in and around Tioman are calm and relaxing. You want to forget all you worldly desires and just stay there ... as long as you can! Beach volleyball there was one of the most memorable aspects of my trip ... the sprains in the leg and the sun burns, though came as after thoughts!

Another attraction of Tioman are the coral islands close by and of course ... snorkelling. A ride in a motor boat to thr coral island itself is a thrilling experience! When your boat bounces on the waves like a ball on a carpet ... you cannot help but get goosebumps! Also, the sea has various shades here lots of blues and greens! A photographer can practically spend a lifetime here just capturing the various colors.

Snorkelling is an activity where you wear a mask on your face and float on the water to see the corals and life underwater. People who can swim can be a little overconfident here, but there is a huge difference between swimming and snorkelling. In Swimming you never see anything below the water, forget getting a distorted idea of the depth ... in snorkelling you have to get used to it. But once that adjustment happens ... its fun to say the least!

The Tioman islands have been rated as one of the top ten islands in the world tourism map. To understand why .. either go through my photo album at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/alokbhagwat/TiomanIslandsMalaysia ... but better than that ... visit the place once in a lifetime. You will realize what I have been trying to say ...

Revival

2008-03-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

Its been ages that I have written a blog and I still get reports about a steady stream of readers for my blogs. So I thought I might as well begin writing again! :)

So watch out this space for more!

10 reasons why I miss Hyderabad!

2005-04-18T06:29:00.000-07:00

Its been almost a month that I left Hyderabad to come back to Pune ... and I cannot believe myself when I miss that place! Hyderabad was the first place when I lived away from home ... all alone, in a city where I hardly knew anyone. It was the place where all my assumptions of maturity, independence and ability to take care of myself got changed! Here are 10 reasons why I will always miss Hyderabad!

1. I get a good night's sleep on Sunday and Friday nights. :-) Frankly I am not used to it! Staying in hyderabad I was used to travel every weekend - it was in a way a test of my own patience! This happens no more! So much that still on a Sunday morning people call me to pull my leg and ask "at what time is your bus today"

2. 41 Rao & Raju Colony, Banjara Hills! This was the house (I would prefer to call it home instead) where I stayed for almost 2 years. Here I learnt that managing a home is not easy - groceries, light bills, keeping it clean & tidy ... man, I feel I am really pampered at home (in Pune, that is)

3. Friends - Kushal, Kapil, Suyog, Ajit, Mahesh, Nishchal, Pravin and of course my team at Microsoft ... in a city of strangers ... these are the people who made me feel at home! Moments like the one when I left my debit card in the ATM itself, getting hungry at 12.00 in the night and driving to the city to find some samosas and of course the memorable drive-down to Pune - Man!!! can I ever get to live them again!

4. Prasadz - This place ROCKS! Its difficult to find such a classy mall cum theatre at such affordable rates! I miss the 11th hour movie plans ... the Spidermans, the Fida, the Blacks ... after a quick dinner at Ohris!

5. The Restaurant food - Be it Ohris, Indian harvest, Angeethi, Pickles ... Hyderabad food has been just awesome!!

6. The Home food - Food at home was typically bachelor-food - the bread-omlets, parathas, jeera-aloo and of course ... amul shrikhand!

7. KBR Park - You need to visit this park at least once in life and go for a walk around it early morning to understand why I miss it!

8. Subway - My favourite lunch place ... especially my Corn & Peas (with a little extra corn ... ;-))

9. The art of accomodating 10 people in a poor 3-seater rick ... Its possible nowhere on earth!

10. Last but NEVER the least - my very reason of being in Hyderabad - MICROSOFT!!! The best Employer in the world ... I respect the organization even more after leaving it! The work, the friends, the office, the food, the outings ... man ... why couldn't Microsoft come to Pune!

For these and more, even today during a sound night's sleep ...
I dream of
9th floor of Cyber Towers,
Chutneys,
the new Microsoft Campus and the view of ISB from there,
the Begampet railway station,
Ameerpet (from where I usually took my bus to Pune),
and ... Mithaas!!

Even today and always ... my heart would continue to live in these places!

Five Point Someone!

2005-04-06T01:10:00.000-07:00

After a longtime I had a pleasure to read a complete book in two days flat! Five Point Someone - By Chetan Bhagat

This book has three central characters - Hari, Ryan and Alok and their years at IIT Delhi. According to me though, whether it is IITD or any other engineering college (with a good hostel of course) it wouldn't have made that big a difference. Because atleast I am yet to find a college that does not have a totally screwed up system, professors (most of them professors because they had no better choice and yet) with an ego that is totally uncalled for, assignments, exams and the worst part of it all ... results!!! Probably that is why anyone who has gone thru these things during their college days cannot help but relate to the characters in the book!

FPS is set somewhere in the 90's and is the tale of the three friends, about their time together and alone, about their experiences ... scary and enjoyable! They are definitely not OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD people like any bollywood film heroes. They are extremely common people like us!

Alok - The boy next door! Coming from a family leading a barely hand-to-mouth existence, he is in IIT because that, he feels, is the best way to earn a good-paying job and get his family out of all their troubles. A guy who wants to get good GPAs only because if he does not get them he wont get a good job and his worries would continue! Someone who has never had good friends but wants to have them!

Ryan - The guy is a picture perfect! Born to rich NRI parents who keep filling him with money and hence all things he needs in life. He has been studying in boarding school and hence is not scared of things in life! For him life revolves only around friends! Handsome yet intelligent and yet wanting to enjoy life all the more ... thats Ryan!

Hari - the one who relates the whole story. Hari, I feel, is a passive guy. He is madly in love with ... guess who ... ... ... the daughter of the head of the department where he studies ... Neha! And that is reponsible for a lot of "happening" things in the story! Hari knows his limits and does not hesitate talking about them. He knows he wants to be someone like Ryan!

All the three join IIT - the most reputed of engineering instituted in the country, hoping to learn, make a career and enjoy the best years in life ... only to be disillusioned by the fact that life in IITs is governed by just one scaling measure - the GPAs ... so much so that the title of the book is a GPA rating! Chetan Bhagat relates an engrossing tale of memories of Hari of those days when all of them worked really hard but always settled for a Five-Point-Something GPA and yet did well in the end! Although Hari is the narrator, there is a chapter each for Alok, Neha and Ryan to tell their parts of the story ... which is indeed touching!

But if you ask me the best thing about the book ... its the way it is written - very simple, short crisp chapters and a very good style story telling that keeps you engrossed throughout. No where is the plot left loose and the reader does not want to keep the book down all through the end! The characters are really well defined and interestingly developed. The attention to detail is superb! The words just paint a virtual picture of every incident in front of your eyes! But the best part of the book is the language - colloquial, extremely informal as if its a conversation between Hari and the reader. Quite often the author used similes to make a point and these are are simply hilarious ... let me give an example and then I need not say anything more - "Alok went to the professor and asked if a re-test can be arranged and the prof looked back at him as though Alok was asking for both his kidneys"

All 'n all a fun book to read, if not anything else! I must say I loved reading it! The book says there is a movie being made with this story and I cannot wait to see it!

another one ...

2005-03-30T04:28:00.000-08:00

Well ... this is another one for a close friend's birthday. I understand that I am writing too much about close friends and their bdays ... but well ... I can do so only because I have such friends I can boast of ...

So here's to Shantanu on his Birthday ...

शंत्या …

तुझा वाढदिवस हा नक्कीच एक खास दिवस असतो ...
ज्याची आपण सगळे वर्षभर वाट बघत बसतो.

पण मला एक सांग ना ...
की आपण असे एकाच दिवशी अचानक मोठे होतो का?
आणि बाकी वर्षभर fight मारुनही तितकेच कोवळे रहातो का?

म्हणून आज म्हटलं बघावं मागे की काळ खरंच इतक्या वेगाने पळतो का ...
आपण exactly “तेव्हा” मोठे झालो – असा एक तरी क्षण मिळतो का!

आपल्या आठवणी म्हटलं की मन पार S.P. पर्यंत जाऊ पहातं
त्या एक-एक दिवसाचं चित्र जसंच्या तसं डोळ्यांपुढे उभं रहातं

Lecture ला bunk मारून बघितलेला तो पहिला सिनेमा – “हिमालयपुत्र”
S.P. च्या Reading Room मध्ये जमा होऊन केलेला तो दंगा एकत्र

ते “chemistry ला केम्याच ना रे” असं एकत्र ठरवून class लावतांना
ते रायगडावर अंधारात चूल पेटवून खिचडी करून खातांना

Colleges वेगळी असली तरी F.E.मध्ये केलेला एकत्र अभ्यास
P.L. मध्ये रोज संध्याकाळी पर्वतीवर मारलेल्या गप्पा तासंतास

S.P. समोरची ती कच्छी दाबेली ... S.S. मधला तो वडा-पाव...
Semesterच्या result नंतरचे चेह-यावरचे ते हरवलेले भाव

दर वर्षी बघितलेलं अमोलचं पुरुषोत्तम, तुझं punt-formation
आपला एक जरी plan flop गेला तर येणारं ते frustration ...

तुझ्या oral च्या अदल्या रात्री तुला पहिल्यांदा शिकवलेलं C
थंडीच्या एका भल्यापहाटे कुडकुडत सिंहगडला जायची ती मस्ती

बंगलोरसाठी तुला stationवर सोडून येतांना जड झालेलं पाऊल ...
आपण अजूनही नियमितपणे जातो ते सारसबागेतलं गणपतीचं देऊळ

अनेक वेळा तुला घातलेल्या शिव्या, तुझ्यावर केलेली चिडचिड
गिरीवनला जातांना एकांच गाडीत झालेली सहा जणांची गिचमिड

हे सगळं आठवलं की मन सुध्दा मनातल्या मनात हसतं
आणि वाटतं की वाढदिवस हे दंगा करण्याचं फक्त अजून एक निमित्त असतं

या एक-एका क्षणाचे मनावर कोरलेले आहेत कायमचे ठसे ...
मग मागे बघतांना जाणवतं की आपण मोठे झालो ते हे असे!!!

पण ही तर सुरुवात आहे ...
अजून खूप मोठं व्हायचं आहे, खूप पुढे जायचं आहे ...
तुझ्यापुढे तर दोनच options … B नाहीच शक्य झालं तर मग A आहे

कधीतरी एकदम भीती वाटते – पुढे राहू शकू का रे आपण असंच एकसंगे ...
पण मग DCHची शिकवण आठवते –
हम दोस्त थे … दोस्त हैं … और हमेशा रहेंगे!!!

एकत्र नसतो जर आपण तर असे मोठे झालोच नसतो का …
पण जे कधी होणार नाही त्याबद्दल बोलण्याचा काही फायदा असतो का?

आज इच्छा हीच की हात अजून घट्ट धरुन चालत राहू असंच पुढे ...
आज पुन्हा दर वर्षीप्रमाणे ... wish you many happy returns of today !!!

- you know who

Of the Steamed Dosas, the Babai Idlis and the CHUTNEYS ...

2005-01-20T02:51:00.000-08:00

Being a perfect Puneite (or do I say पुणेकर) ... I am really passionate about certain things in life (पुलंची जाज्वल्य अभिमानाची concept ) ... be it my city Pune, my friends or the food I eat! So much so that even after staying in Hyderabad for as long as 2 years now I still relate myself to Pune better than Hyderabad! So much so that given a good job opportunity (read GOOD job opportunity) I will be willing to go back to Pune any day! But if I sit back and think deeply, I do realize that I am going to miss some things in Hyderabad when I go back!! Yes I am! Because these are the things hold me back in Hyderabad today!

Yesterday, after quite some time I went to an eating place called "Chutneys" in Hyderabad. Talking of Chutneys ... it is a classic THEME RESTAURANT run by someone who's an IIML MBA. The Theme is Andhra Pradesh! Well, you do get Chinese and Punjabi food at Chutneys ... but I personally feel that people who go to Chutneys to have Chinese or Punjabi food are as stupid as those who go to Alibaug and order Chicken and no sea-food!

The Ambience of the restaurant is good ... dim lit ... yellow light ... with Andra Folk Art on the walls and Telagu Classical Music being played in the background! Cane Chairs to sit, Copper glasses for drinking water and food served on the leaf of a banana tree! Wow!

The Best part of the meal here is what its own name says ... "Chutneys" ... 4 of them ... I just love the plain white chutney made out of nothing but Coconut, Jagerry and little bit of salt to taste! When you are seated on your table, the waiter just fills in the 4 bowls of Chutneys for you. And to say it in a typical "को.ब्रा" ishtyle ... you are not charged for any amount of Chutney you consume ...

Another thing that you get free here and which is equally awesome is the Sambar! The taste, I am damn sure, cannot be achieved by the Sambar Masalas manufactured by Everest, Bashash, Pravin, KePra or even a combination of these. (Believe me I have tried all). Its their trade secret ... and definitely deserves to be! I haven't had such a sumptious Sambar anywhere else ... good thick Sambar with only onions and tomatoes. If there is any place in the world that can make Sambar half as good as Chutneys ... then its Vaishali in Pune! In other places I have had Sambar which contain all sorts of vegetables from different gourds, capsicum, cabbage, cauliflower, carrot and even pumkin!!! Gggrrr!

At Chutneys you can order various Andra Dishes that you can enjoy with these Chutneys and the Sambar. Not many of these can you get elsewhere! For e.g. the flair in which they serve the Babai Idli, with fresh & pure butter melting on the steaming idle... ummmmmmm! A friend of mine who came to Hyderabad some time ago was not a big fan of idlis and it took a bit of convincing from me to get him order a Babai Idli. And today he speaks more about the Idli than I do. The Masala Dosa, Mango Uttapum, Rawa Dosa, Pesarattu ... words are too weak a medium to describe all these! And moreover I just cannot do two things at a time ... when I eat at Chutneys I just eat , I cannot spend any energy thinking about how good the food is!

But thats not all ... here is the best part ... another (strangely) nice dish that you get at Chutneys is the "Steamed Dosa" ... The Menu Card says that this item was optimised to suit the likes and taste of the Biggest Gulti Film Star - Chiranjeevi ... But trust me its really good. I have tried making a Steamed Dosa at home but have failed badly! Its baked in (what the waiters at Chutneys call) "Japanese Style". (If someone knows how Janapnese people steam their rice please do tell me). One side of it is fluffy, porus and soft ... nicely steamed. But surprisingly the other side is crispy, crunchy! Now how is that possiblllllle? Well ... you just need to come to Chutneys once in life to understand it! If you have not had a dinner/brunch at Chutney ... then I can bet on anything that you are missing something really great in life!

Mannn ... I wish Chutneys was in Pune!!

Learnings v2004!

2004-12-30T03:25:00.000-08:00

I haven't been regular with my blogs lately. Well ... Life was pretty much routine ... 5 days in office and 2 in Pune :) ... the speed of time passing by has never been so much! Before I even realize ... another year in life is gone ...

2004 will definitely be one of the eventful years in my life! If I look at myself just a year ago (well it seems like yesterday) I was a totally different person than what I am today! The year began on a disasterous note for me. I had requested my grandparents to come over to Hyderabad and spend some time with me. Now ... what could have gone wrong with that! But when we were driving towards Ramoji Film City on the outskirts of Hyderabad, my grandmom suffered a massive cardiac arrest. When I took her to the hospital her heart had almost stopped beating. I still remember each and every moment of that day when I was standing outside the Critical Care Unit of Apollo Hospital in Secunderabad. I could not even see my grandmom, all I could see was a set of monitors with a dozen waves and numbers - CONSTANTLY FLUCTUATING!! Everytime there was a spike or a drop I skipped a beat!

That ONE day made me a totally different person. Careless, rash, over-confident and (a bit) arrogant that I was earlier taking everything and everyone for granted, that ONE day made me realize what "RESPONSIBILITY" in life means. I had assured my parents that I take complete responsibility of everything when I flew my grandparents from Pune! So God forbid if something had gone wrong how was I going to be able to face my parents! Forget anyone else how was I even going to face myself! In a flash I could remember that hundreds of occasions when I had taken my grandmom for granted, misbehaved with her! And probably thats why when in the evening the doctors told me that she was out of danger "the (mistakenly) Responsible 23 year old guy" was in tears ... with unfortunately no one to wipe them!

That day I learnt the value of LIFE - its invaluable! I learnt the value of having a shoulder to cry on when you desparately need one! I learnt that nothing in life can be taken for granted! And most importantly I learnt that there was something that was more important than me - LIFE ITSELF!

In this very year I have misunderstood the best of friends I have and relized it the hard way that once said cannot be undone! I learnt that its important to count 10 before you lose your cool!

Work life too was sweet and sour. I had the best and the worst of times of my professional career in 2004! Unexpected promotions and as well as unexpected (and unwanted) organizational changes! I learnt that it is very easy to stay where you are scream that "LIFE IS HELL" ... but then if you want to change things then first thing that changes is you yourself! You take one step from your HELL and you realize "well ... life's not bad!"! Its your perspective, your attitude ... the way you look at things that matters!

A few months ago a friend used to ask me "how's life" practically everyday at lunch. And I used to be surprised when he expected my answer today to be more positive than that yesterday! But now when I look back at the year that was ... I realize 2004 taught me that thats just the way it should be! :)

Happy Birthday Amol ...

2004-12-08T20:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday morning I was watching an episode of FRIENDS. For once I paid attention to the title song ... I mean the whole soundtrack!

So no one told you that it was going to be this way ...
Your job's a joke, you're broke, your love life's DOA,
Its like life's always stuck in second gear;
And even if it hasn't been your day, your week, your month or your year ...
but I'll be there for you!!!
When the rain starts to pour ... I'll be there for you
Like I've been there before ... I'll be there for you
'cause you're there for me too!

And since today is the 9th of December ... no candies for guessing whom did it remind me of!

Well ... time just flies by ... it just does. It seems just like yesterday when I joined SP college for my 11th and 12th classes. I hardly knew anyone in my class well when I stepped into my 11th Standard class. Slowly however I started knowing a few people. It was 9th December 1996 when a newly made friend in SP College Amol Palshikar invited me to his place for his Birthday party! And on this day (9th Dec) all these newly made acquaintances came together for the first time to become FRIENDS!

We started of as just a group of 16-17 people who used to come to college together, attend (read bunk) classes together, used to hang out together and peacefully go home! Kids, as we were then, little things like reserving the bench next to you for your friend, trying to get into the same batch of students for practicals, trying and joining the same private tution classes for 12th standard ... were of great importance to us! But still we were 17 distinct people and clashes of opinions, interests were inevitable. Well ... 17 is indeed a large number to be called a mob. Factions were formed and people started dripping out gradually. The 12th standard results, though individually grrrreat, were another bad thing to happen for the group. For engineering, no two people in the group went to the same college, same class! Yet seven of us out of the seventeen stayed together, through thick and thin ... passing this test of time! Amol Palshikar, Adwait "Paatya" Patankar, Bhooshan "Waikar" Dixit, Ajay Joshi, Shantanu Subhedar, Sameer "Samy" Sohani and me! And since we came together in SP college we still call ourselves eSPians!!!

People say that on a sunny day everyone likes to be called your friend, but only those people who stay by you in a stormy night are the ones who matter to you etc. etc. ... friend in need blah blah blah ... Well, we never went by these sayings or others of the same meaning ... we have lived them all these years!! We were, no ... rather, we are really strong individuals with our own opinions and identities and so we do have our share of differences at times. But I guess to create the warmth we share this friction is inevitable ! BUT when we need to be together, we are just perfect ... like lego pieces making up for each other's virtues and vices!

Just to give an example. Amol might be a busy man. We usually blight him a lot saying he has a big attitude. A man of really strong likes and dislikes, its very hard to convince Amol for something! He really infuriates you at times because of his whims and fancies but then you still want him to be involved in everything that you do! He will not agree for any plans easily but when it was my birthday this year, at the end of a long day at work, when Pune roads were flooded with Ganapati mandaps, he still drove all the way from his office in Aundh to my place, just because I said so! Well, thats how we all are! I remember till a few years ago we used to surprise the birthday boy by barging into his house at 12.00 am on his birthday with a cake ... Today I still miss both - the surprising as well as the getting surprised!

Sadly today "grown-ups" as we are ... such surprises are history. So much so that on Amol's birthday today I even cannot be with him ... damn this job! But then I think do I really need to be there physically! Wherever I am in the world ... do I need to say it out loud that "I wish that Amol has many many such Happy Returns of 9th December" and "for many many more years to come we all still remain the same espians that we are for the last so many years!" No!! I dont need to say anything ... its all so tacit ... perrrrfectly understood! After all its been 8 years already and and inspite of life's surprise ups and downs we are still the BEST of what friends can ever be ... and that's something ... that really IS!

We have had the best and the worst times in life, but we had them together! We have done the craziest of things in life just for the heck of it, but again together! We were not only in different colleges, we are in different companies (well not all), different cities, even countries ... yet when required we are still together! And one day we all dream of settling down in Pune and living our lives TOGETHER! I am sure to death that this dream will be reality soon ... really soon!

Well ... today again on Amol's birthday, the seven of us still being INDESPENSIBLE PARTS of EACH other's life ... indeed ... eight years ago no one had told me it was going to be this way!

We all 7 years ago ...

Espians at Paatya's engagement last month!

5 modes of transport, 15 hours of travel, upmteen amount of patience and a Training that was worth it all ...

2004-12-02T03:43:00.000-08:00

Back to my blogs after a long long time now! Life had become boring in the last few weeks, same old hectic routine ... I was too busy but nothing really mentionable happening! But this "unhappening" phase came to a very memorable(!!!) ending this weekend. Well this is going to turn out to be another looooong blog ... but I hope the content deserves the size!

Needless to mention, I was in Pune over the weekend. I had to reach Hyderabad early on Monday morning because I was scheduled to attend a training course by David Soloman on Windows Internals on Monday, Tuesday and yesterday! It was a full-time training and covered the Windows architectural details and its evolution thru 2000, XP and 2003. Listening to David LIVE was indeed a great opportunity and I did not want to miss it at any cost.

So for the return journey I booked a ticket for a Volvo that is run by the Andhra Pradesh Department of Tourism! Being a government vehicle, it is known to be very reliable (surprised?? Dont be ... Talk to Mr. Naidu who is resposible for this change). For the last 8-9 times that I had taken this bus it took me to Hyderabad safely in max 9 hours (a distance of 534 km.). So depending on past experience I booked seats for me and a friend (Suyog) in the same bus. The bus started sharp on time - Sunday night 9.30 pm from Pune! So I thought I would be home in Hyderabad by 6.30am on Monday morning. Unfortunately, destiny had other plans ahead this time. :(

At around 2.00 am in the night the bus halted. I woke up and thought that it is a casual stop where the two drivers of the bus change duties. So I got down for a call of nature and went back to my seat trying to get some sleep. That time I noticed that the AC in the bus was not working! That usually does not happen. Usually even when they halt the bus for a cup of tea for the drivers or for any other reason the AC is kept on. When I got down again I saw a milestone that said that Hyderabad was still 400+ km ahead which meant that the bus had travelled only around 100km in 4-5 hours!!! Something somewhere had surely gone wrong! So I went to one of the bus drivers ...

Me: Driver, kya hua hai yaar ... itni der se gadi kyun ruki hai yahan pe?
Driver: Sahab gadi ke turbo ki waat lagi hai, gadi nahi chalegi.
Me: Matlab?
Driver: Woh gadi ka turbo hota hai na woh ud gaya hai, isliye gadi aage nahi jayegi ...
Me (Realizing that the argument was going no where): To ab hum kya kare?
Driver: Maine Hyderabad phone lagaya hai, woh log dusri gadi bhejenge, us mein chale jayenge.
Me: Oye, Hyderabad se gadi yahan aane mein ki subah ho jayegi, hum kab Hyderabad jayenge, kab office jayenge
Driver: Shaam ho jayegi sahab
Me: Dusri gadi Pune se jaldi nahi aayegi kya?
Driver: Aayegi na sahab, ek gadi aayegi, usme jagah hogi to fit kara doonga.

The argument was going absolutely nowhere. I realized that we had to make some moves ourselves. I called Suyog out of the bus with the luggage so that we could try and get into the next bus that is going towards Hyderabad. Surprisingly, as the driver had said another AP tourism volvo came from Pune towards Hyderabad. But it was a ray of hope that didn't shine too long! The bus already was overfull because it was carrying its own passengers PLUS passengers from another bus that had broken down in Pune itself! Phew!!!!

After a long wait a couple of private buses stopped by and offered to give us a lift! Condition - we had to travel in the cabin of the bus, sitting next to the driver and cleaner! Wow! We had no choice, as luck might call it - we were on the receiving end! It was a bus belonging to "Sahara Travels" which I had never taken before! We paid him 100 bucks each and got into the cabin. In the cabin which is around 8 feet long and 6 feet wide, which also contains parts of the bus' automotives, the driver seat, the entrance inside the bus and many more things - there we were NINE of us, scrambled, barely managing to get our bottoms placed somewhere, totally sleepless!!

Thankfully this bus speeded pretty fast. Solapur, Omerga etc. passed quickly and by 6.00 in the morning we had crossed over to Karnataka. Things started getting better when some passengers in the bus alighted from the bus and we got a decent place to sit somewhere in Karnataka! The bus crossed Zaheerabad in AP and it was looking that I would barely be able to reach office by 9.00 - 9.30, that too directly from the bus, not even managing to go home for a wash! I thought ... well so be it! Anything for the seminar! I called up a few colleagues in office and made sure that though I will be late I will surely attend the training and that my seat should not be passed on to someone waitlisted.

But that was not the end of bad times. A little ahead from Zaheerabad (around 60 km away from Hyderabad) the Sahara Travels Bus Driver came to know that some ocrtoi officers are raiding buses ahead and he just refused to move any further because of a fear of being caught! And there we were not even in a proper town place from where we could take a bus to Hyderabad! Suddenly the feeling dawned on me that I had missed the training I was so desparate for and knowing that it does not happen too frequently in India only made the feeling worse. So much so that I had started becoming totally numb, not feeling bad at all at that point in time. Because after all there was nothing much left that could have gone wrong! That I think was the height of ill-luck!

But we could not staying there and crying about it, we had to reach Hyderabad. We tried a few buses going towards Hyderabad but they were full to the brim! Finally after a lot of time we managed to get a 6-seater rickshaw (tam-tam as it is called in Pune) which dropped up just on the border of Hyderabad city. From there we took a public transport bus which got us to the city and I reach home around 12.00 noon on Monday!!!

I got ready and reached office ready to get back to the boring routine! But there was a surprise waiting for me ... David's flight to Hyderabad was delayed due to fog problems and only 1 hour of the course had been covered! And also my seat in the training was NOT given away to someone waitlisted :) ... Yesssssss ... there is GOD!!! And he does not have his eyes closed - proven again!!! :) I ran (probably the fasted in the last few years ;) ) and talked to David. Without any hesitation he agreed that I could attend the course from that point on and even offered to help me at the end of the day's course in case I was not clear on some things!!

And it wont be wrong if I said that the past Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were the best of classromm training I have EVER attened! Most of David's seminars/trainings are recorded as videos and people in the company have access to them. But a live classroom is always different! And that too from a person who has studied Windows inside out and even knows the team well - it was totally different!!! During the seminar he makes comments like "Dave Cutler's philosophy behind this decision way back in NT times was ... ". It was illuminating to learn the internals of the most widely used OS in the world and its evolution from NT ... 2000 ... XP to 2003! (WELL ... I know many people will jump here and start an argument on whether the "most widely used" or "most popular" terms are correct here ... but that is NOT my central point here at all!! We can take that on some other time)

So in the end when I thought over it yesterday ... the experience on travelling from Pune to Hyderabad using a Government Volvo, a (octroi-not-cleared) private bus's cabin, a tam-tam, a Muncipal Corporation of Hyderabad Public Bus and a rickshaw and then getting to attend a great seminar like that ... I think it was worth it!! After all good things do come at a cost :)

The David Soloman Windows Internals Training class

Hypocrisy at its best!

2004-11-03T23:43:00.000-08:00

Lately I have made a concentrated effort to try and NOT get into political discussions, debates etc. and adopt a listening mode when people around are busy having grave political debates. Not that I am not interested in it any more. I do follow political happenings as I used to and am even game to discuss FACTS. But when it come to statements like, "In this situation I fell that ******** should happen for the betterment of mankind" ... well excuse me! For one, I have realized that my views are not acceptable to many and secondly it is not even the case that if I say what I think, then things are going to change for the good! So, when there are so many better things around, I make an effort and abstain from discussing politics! So writing "political" blogs was even out of questions. I always wanted my blog to be about me and stuff close to me. But something that I REPEATEDLY saw yesterday upset ME and hence this blog!

When I was following the coverage of results of the US presidential elections, one of the stories really got on my nerves - the story of Piyush alias Bobby Jindal getting elected to the Congress! One thing that was being repeated too often that "an INDIAN achieved this feat after around 50 years"!!! B*lls**t!!!

The first question that I would like to ask is ... what qualifies Mr. Jindal to be an INDIAN? Just because his ancestors hailed from here ... is that a sufficient condition? He was born and brought up in the US. Made his career there, married and settled there and so much so even relinquished the relegion of his ancestors! So what is so INDIAN about him that excites the Indian media so much when he makes it to the House of Representatives? For me he is nothing different than the other 434 of them who made the same mark! Also there were other Indians (or do I say people who had their ancestrial roots in the good ol' land of India) in the fray. So I really fail to understand when the media makes so much hush hush about an "INDIAN" being involved in something! Patriotism is a value that I feel is of utmost importance today amongst people. But it should be in the right amount and right spirit! Else it is simply chauvinism!

Months ago when Mrs. Sonia Gandhi was almost certain to be the Prime Minister of India, many (including me) were unhappy that someone of a foreign origin, who had left the country for Italy during times of war, was about to get the top post. Politically, legally there was nothing that could prevent that. The people of this nation had given their mandate and she had all the right to take the post. Then why were people feeling sad about the situation? That feeling or cencern is what I would call patriotism. Of course the way some people expressed it was far too obscene, but still the overall feeling I feel was justified! But then, when we felt wrong that someone of foreign origin was getting an honor in our country, do we have to right to make such a hue and cry when someone of Indian origin does something similar abroad! So I personally believe that all attention give by the Indian media to Mr. Jindal is TOTALLY uncalled for!

Well that's just my first point about these DOUBLE STANDARDS!! Secondly, agreed that US is the most advanced nation today and events in the US are bound to get more importance than other countries - but HOW MUCH? People of Indian origin have held high government ranks in many other countries. Countries like Figi even had Prime Ministers of Indian Origin! But then why is that never in the news?

I really fail to understand the tendencies of the Indian media nowadays. In a friend's blog, she talks about should media be really called the Next Gen Moral Police. Well that is the role it is supposed to play, but how much does it really do?? I used to watch a program called "The Big Fight" aired on NDTV and hosted by Mr. Rajdeep Sardesai (SUPPOSEDLY one of the best people in News Media these days). I watched 3-4 episodes but then just could not sustain it. In the program 2 politicians of opposite parties were invited and as the name says they were supposed to FIGHT on issues! Have you ever seen a rural COCK FIGHT where both cocks are provoked to just HIT and KILL the other - it was nothing better than that. No issue raised by Mr. Sardesai was discussed to a point of logical conclusion! If so then WHY IS THE PROGRAM AIRED IN THE FIRST PLACE?? Is the motive of the program to discuss issues of National Importance or to provide some (unwholesome and indecent) entertainment to the viewers?? So in that case how is Mr. Sardesai any different than one Ms. "K"apoor I know off? A news channel is supposed to be telling NEWS most of the time, but observe most of the channels (NDTV, Star, Aaj Tak, Zee ... ) there are no exceptions - Half their time is covered in advertisements, a quarter in POINTLESS debates and the rest (if possible) in news!

Long ago I had a debate with a close friend when he said that India needs a "FAIR" media who is not biased to any political party or faction of society. I however choose to disagree! According to me India does not require just a fair media - India requires a CONSTRUCTIVE media. The media had the power to make or break the society ... so is today's media really doing the right thing?

Well I just feel irritated when I sit down and think about this. I personally am incapable to find (and more so implement) a solution for this! Hence I have to shut my mouth and keep quiet! There is nothing I can do, there is nothing anyone can do ... but then the question is if we can't then who can?

I have no answer to this, if anyone has do tell me!

I must quote another example of irresponsible behavior of a VERY VERY polular Indian TV channel (for details and identity of the people and the channel, contact me). This is one flash of news that I remember seeing immediately after the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers. A very respected Media correspondent was interviewing an official in New York over video just hours after the attacks. He asked a question after which the interview was just terminated and never again aired! (Note - I have added no adjectives to the word "question" because its hard to find any!) The question was - "Can you give me an estimate of how many Indians have died in the incidence". This question that deserved A TIGHT SLAP as an answer indeed got one! The officer replied, "You should be ashamed of asking me this question. Here we are worried about how many HUMANS are alive in the incidence, and you are worried about how many Indians have DIED??"

Well I can only say that the officer probably did not know how CONSTRUCTIVE and how PATRIOTIC the media person who asked him this question was!

दंत कथा ...

2004-10-26T10:01:00.000-07:00

Last week I became a little less wise …

No no … don’t panic – I am not out of my senses … the thing is that last Thursday I had one of my wisdom teeth extracted. And believe me ... now I totally understand when people say “बाकी कोणतंही दुखणं परवडलं, पण दाताचं दुखणं नको रे बाबा ... !”

Actually since childhood I have had absolutely no dental problems. I don’t even remember having been to a dentist. I still am (at least till last Thursday was) easily able to break a walnut using my teeth or even open a ketchup bottle seal. My mom takes most credit for this (and probably she deserves it too) because she was responsible for taking care of my teeth when I was too young and also for putting me into the habit of taking good care of them later …

But in the last few months since I started getting wise (read wisdom teeth) … I started feeling something wrong. Within a span of a month I could feel that the alignment of my lower and upper canines has been noticeably disturbed. So I had to do what I had never done till now … see a dentist.

Till now I had only seen other people in all the pain and felt that DENTist is a guy who causes a DENT to your pocket in spite of causing you some of the worst pain in life … But this doc to whom I was referred turned to be a gentleman. He calmly examined the X-ray images of my jaws and concluded that all my wisdom teeth are actually growing at an angle of 45° wrt to other teeth … hence the wisdom teeth were pushing the other teeth weirdly causing the misalignment. He said this is a well-known problem being caused due to evolution ... Are you listening Mr. Darwin. . Nowadays our jaws are growing smaller and smaller, but no. of teeth remians the same. Hence the problem!!! Anyways the bottom-line is I have to get ALL my wisdom (teeth) extracted
And after all the 4 teeth are extracted I might have to use braces to get the alignment of my teeth back … yaaaaak!

To add fuel to the fire (sorry … fear) it was revealed that the root of my wisdom teeth were firmly rooted in the jaw bones. So it had to be operated upon, the jaw-bone cut and then the teeth could be extracted. Pretty obviously I preferred to go for one tooth at a time.

I kind of remembered all the good (or even fair) deeds I have done and hoped that ALL that पुण्याई would help me here to cause as less pain as possible. Since it was a surgery and the jaw bone had a cut and all 4 stitched had to be put (which I am still carrying BTW). And this nothing less than ACTUAL stitching of clothes … Imagine seeing a needle and thread being put into your mouth and then you feel the worst pricking in life … I mean it is not exactly a very pleasant experience!!! Ya rrrrrite I was under local anesthesia … but I think everyone knows how much does that really help!

I am still moving around with an excruciating pain in the lower jaw (the swelling has almost subsided now) and 4 DAMN STICHES which catch WITHOUT FAIL almost everything I eat like a spider’s web … and cleaning that … Oh my God … even describing that is equally painful … so let me put that into a little rhyme …

लहानपणी शिकवलं गेलं होतं की काही खायच्या आधी “वदनी कवल घेता...” ही प्रार्थना म्हणावी. आज काहीही न खातांना मला ते असं म्हणावंसं वाटतंय ...

वदनी कवळी घेता, नाम घ्या डेंटिस्टाचे ।
सहज स्मरण होते मग आपुल्या दंतांचे ।।

अथक श्रम करोनी नित्य जर घासलेत ।
मोत्यांसम दात होती – डेंटिस्ट सांगतात ।।

नाहीतर root-canal, filling असे धमकवतात ।
अंती यातना देऊनही खिसा हे छेदितात ।।

पण मजसम काही कष्टीही या जगात ।
रोज घासूनही जयांचे दात हे काढतात ।।

स्मरण करोनी त्यांचे फुटे मज घाम फार ।
आत्ता एकच काढलाय ... एकूण आहेत चार ।।

।। जय जय दंतवीर समर्थ ।।

American Beauty!

2004-10-18T08:12:00.000-07:00

I saw American Beauty yesterday and what do I say! I dont want to write a review of the film since many have done that before me. But these are a few line in the film that just hit me, that I just can't get rid of ...

"It is one of those days when it hadn't been snowing. There was this electricity in the air. You can always feel it. And this bag was just ... dancing! With me!! Like a little kid begging me to play with it ... for fifteen minutes! Thats the day I realized that there is this entire LIFE behind things and this increasingly benevolent force wanting me to know that there is no reason to be afraid ... ever! This video is a poor excuse I know, but it help me remember what I need to remember - sometimes there is so much beauty in the world. I feel like I can't take it and my heart is just going to give in!"
... Ricky explaining to Jane his philosophy behind the video of the polythene bag flying with the breeze!

"I’d always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn’t a second at all. It stretches on forever, like an ocean of time. For me, it was lying on my back at boy-scout camp, watching falling stars. And yellow leaves from the maple trees that lined our street. Or my grandmother’s hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper… And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new firebird ... and ... and Jany ... and Jany! ...... and ... Caroline! I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what really happened to me but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday."

... Lester Burnham's ending monologue!

But what I identify the most with is a sentence that Lester says! Probably he said that in a totally different context in the movie, but it is so very true that it does apply to the life most of us are leading -

"This isn't life ... this is just stuff and this stuff has become more important to you than life itself. Well thats just nuts!!!"

Wisecracks ...

2004-10-11T05:34:00.000-07:00

I have seen this happen 'n' number of times till now. While talking to someone (this someone can be almost anyone from someone in your office, at home, your friends or a stranger you have met while travelling), the conversations very often drift between different topics and start becoming too formal. You (kinda) keep speaking volumes but then also start getting bored. You start feeling "Why am I even a part of this" and want to get out of the situation. But in such a situation one wisecrack from anyone can break the ice and put a new life into the conversation.

If you see the dictonary meaning of "Wisecracks" it means quips or clever answers or statements that you make when you converse. These are almost never premedidated but just happen at the spur of the moment. Here is an example ...

Once in my college the Head of our Department was talking about the importance of communication skills and it was getting a bit boring. An an exercise he called a couple of us on the dias and asked us to tell the class something about ourselves in about 10 sentences. I was really fed up and didn't really want to do that. Everyone had started yawning by now and when it was my turn to speak I could see the "Please don't" expressions on many faces. But unfortunately I had to. I started very casually telling my name, family background etc. While telling my date of birth, I thought people tell their birthdates and don't usually mention the day when it fell. Might be because people just forget the "day". So to make things look different I said "I was born on the 24th of September 1980, it was a Wednesday that day! Look ... I remember". Now, not knowing what I was thinking while saying this, my class heard it as "Look I remember since birth the day I was born" and everyone (including our prof burst out laughing). That one sentence was enough to break the ice and then we enjoyed the further part of the session.

You might just have a grrreat sense of humour and can also have a habit of picking on people. But in that case you end up being called "funny" or "humorous". Saying something witty does not require a great sense of humour, all it requires is a good presence of mind. And that is the thin line that distinguishes being FUNNY and being WISE. It just comes in your flow of thought. You dont have to effort on thinking what to say. The "timing" is what is important. At times even I remain bewildered that how could I say something that smart ... AT THAT PARTICULAR MOMENT ! Another example ...

In office we usually follow a convention (or call it formality) that if you pass by someone in the hallway you politely ask, "How are you sir, whats happening" etc. So a few days ago I was crossing a senior dev lead in our team so he smiled and followed the formality ...

He: So Alok Sir, whats happening?
Me: Nothing much sir, just routine.
He: (Taking a pick at me ...) What??? Dont tell me ... I thought you are responsible for making things happen ...
Me: Well ... thats just my routine

मराठी चित्रपटांना मिळालेला नवा श्वास

2004-10-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

गेल्या महिन्यात जेव्हा बातम्यांमध्ये आणि पेपरमध्ये वाचलं की वर्षातील सर्वोत्कृष्ट चित्रपटासाठी दिलं जाणारं सुवर्ण कमळ श्वास ह्या मराठी चित्रपटाला मिळालं आहे तेव्हा सहाजिकच खुप सही वाटलं. पण जेव्हा हे वाचलं की हा मान एका मराठी चित्रपटाला तब्बल पन्नास वर्षांनंतर मिळत आहे तेव्हा विचार केला की इतका मोठा उपवास घडण्याइतकीच पत आहे का मराठी चित्रपटसृष्टीची? नक्कीच नाही!!! मी अगदी दादासाहेब फाळके, भालजी पेंढारकर, शांताराम बापू ह्या सगळ्या दिग्गजांच्या निर्मितींपर्यंत जात नाही, पण अगदी काल-परवाचे वजीर, कळत-नकळत, चौकट राजा, १०वी फ, रात्र आरंभ, एक होता विदुषक – अशी उत्कृष्ट म्हणता येतील अशा अनेक चित्रपटांची नावं सुचतात. मग ह्या आधी हा बहुमान फक्त एकाच मराठी चित्रपटाला मिळावा - हे कुठेतरी मनाला खटकतंच! सगळा सारासार विचार केला तर मात्र शेवटी हे मान्य केरावं लागतं की वर्षातून एखादा उत्कृष्ट चित्रपट देणा-या मराठी चित्रपटसृष्टीची पातळी जरा खालवली आहे खरी !! आता हेच बघा ना – मणिरत्नमचा युवा (*) कितीही घाटी असला तरी तो निव्वळ उत्सुकतेमुळे बघितला जातो, पण मराठी श्वास कितीही चांगला असला तरी त्याला सुवर्ण कमळ मिळेपर्यंत म्हणावा तसा प्रतिसाद मिळत नाही. हे बदलायला नको का?

असो, better late than never!!! श्वासला मिळालेल्या ह्या सन्मानामुळे, किंवा त्याचबरोबर श्वास oscar मध्ये भारताचं प्रतिनिधीत्व करणार आहे म्हणून तरी “मराठी” “रसिकांची” ही वृत्ती बदलायला सुरुवात होईल अशी आशा ...

तर सांगायचा मुद्दा असा की अनेक दिवस “house full” चा board बघितल्यानंतर परवा श्वासची तिकीटं मिळाली!!! आपला सख्खा नातू थोड्याच दिवसांत पूर्णपणे आंधळा होणार आहे – हे सत्य एक हताश झालेले आजोबा कसं स्वीकारतात त्याची ही गोष्ट आहे. एका typical “ART” film च्या साच्यात जर हा चित्रपट घडवला असता तर एक अतिशय भडक वास्तव दाखवणारा सिनेमा झाला असता. आणि जर commercially handle केला असता तर बायकांचे रूमाल ओले करणारा पिक्चर झाला असता. पण संदीप सावंतने ज्या सहजतेने श्वासची कथा मांडली आहे त्यामुळे ती वास्तव दाखवता – दाखवता कुठेतरी व्याकुळ करून जाते.

कोकणातल्या एका छोट्या गावात आपल्या कुटुंबाला घेऊन राहणारे (sorry – जगणारे) अतिशय सज्जन आणि भाबडे आबा आपल्या नातवाला (परशा) नीट दिसत नाही म्हणून व्याकुळ होतात आणि त्याला उपचारासाठी पुण्यात घेऊन येतात. Tests केल्यावर स्पष्ट होतं की त्याच्या retinoblastoma (डोळ्यांचा cancer) झाला आहे आणि operation करून त्याचे डोळे काढून टाकण्यावाचून काहीही पर्याय उरत नाही. तुला आता operation नंतर परत काहीही दिसणार नाही हे त्या छोट्याशा जिवाला कसं समजवायचं ह्या चिंतेत सापडलेल्या आबांना doctor आणि medical social worker असावरीची मदत मिळते. Operation ठरतं पण काही अडचणींमुळे एक दिवस पुढे जातं. त्या एका दिवसात आपल्या नातवाची होणारी तडफड आबांना बघवत नाही आणि ते कोणालाही काहीही न सांगता परशाला घेऊन hospital मधुन चक्क पळून जातात. Hospital मध्ये सहाजिकच खूप धांदल उडते. Doctors सकट सगळे प्रचंड संतापतात कारण खूप शोध घेऊन सुद्धा आबा आणि परशा कुठेही सापडत नाहीत! संध्याकाळी जेव्हा ते परत येतात तेव्हा चिडलेले doctor त्यांना “बेजबाबदार” ठरवून खूप काही ऐकवतात. पण जेव्हा ह्या “बेजबाबदार”पणामागची आबांची भूमिका कळते तेव्हा doctorच नव्हे तर चित्रपटगृहातले प्रेक्षक सुध्दा हळहळतात. उद्या ज्या मुलाची दृष्टी कायमची जाणार आहे त्याने आज डोळ्यांत काय साठवून घ्यायचं – hospital मधली औषधं का बाहेर मोकळ्या हवेत उडणारे पक्षी, शेजारचे आजारी patients का बाहेरची हिरवळ. आजवर परशाला न जगता आलेलं आणि कदाचित पुन्हा कधीही जगता न येणारं आयुष्य जर आबांनी त्याला एका दिवसात दाखवण्याचा प्रयत्न केला तर काय चुकलं त्यांचं? इतकं साधं आणि सरळ कथानक आहे श्वासचं. कथा कुठेही loose सुटलेली नाहीये. Through-out प्रेक्षकांना विचार करत ठेवतो – उगाचच भावनिक न करता!!!

काही प्रसंग मनात घर करुन बसतात. उदाहरणार्थ doctor आणि असावरी वर जबाबदारी असते की परशाला समजावणं आणि येणा-या अंधत्वाची कल्पना देणं. ते अंधळी-कोशिंबीर खेळत असताना “तुम्ही मला सारखं - सारखं डोळे बंद करायला का सांगताय, मला माहिती आहे की मी आंधळा होणार आहे” ही परशाची कबुली जराशी predictable असली तरी मनाला लागते. “त्याची तब्यैत ठीक आहे म्हणताय पण तो आज पोटभर जेवला का ते सांगा ना”, अशी काळजी करणारी परशाची आई व्याकुळ करुन जाते.

श्वासची अजून एक लक्षात रहाणारी गोष्ट म्हणजे त्यात चितारलेलं कोकण!!! एकेक frame इतकी सुंदर आहे की तिथं जाऊन तिथंच राहून जावंसं वाटावं.

श्वास लगान इतका high-budget नाहीच, पण त्याच्या निर्मितीचे पैसे गोळा करणंसुध्दा इतकं सोपं नसावं ह्याचा अंदाज निर्मात्यांच्या यादीत संदीप सावंत आणि अरूण नलावडे सोडून इतर एकूण सहा नावं बघून लगेच येतो. आता oscar साठी लगान इतकी प्रसिध्दी करणंही त्यांना शक्य नाही हे अगदी स्पष्ट आहे. पण श्वासचा साधेपणा आणि विषयाची सहज-सोपी मांडणीच त्याची सर्वात जमेची बाजू म्हणता येईल. ह्याच जोरावर एका मराठी चित्रपटाने oscar मध्ये इतिहास घडवावा आणि मराठी चित्रपटविश्वाला नवा श्वास द्यावा हीच मनापासून कामना!!!

श्वास आणि लगानची तुलना करणं कदाचित बरोबर नाही. पण या आधी भारताकडून oscarला गेलेल्या जीन्स आणि देवदास (*) पेक्षा तरी श्वास चांगलाच म्हणावा लागेल. कारण श्वासमध्ये चित्रपटाच्या नायकाच्या बाबतीत जेव्हा काही वाईट घडतं तेव्हा प्रेक्षकांना निदान वाईट तरी वाटतं !!!

(*) Disclaimer – इथे घेतलेल्या काही चित्रपटांची नावं प्रथम सुचली म्हणून वापरली. त्यांबद्दल मांडलेली मतं माझी वैयक्तिक असून इथे कोणालाही दुखवायचा हेतू नव्हे.

The birthday when I truly started growing up!

2004-09-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

A few month ago, I came across this argument between some folks at office that what kind of facilities and funds should a child get as a grows up to make him a good matured human being!

One side of the group said that "I have been brought up in adverse conditions, I could never enjoy the days of my childhood. But now I earn enough to be counted among the higher-middle class (if not the higher class) of society and I can provide my child with whatever he/she demands. Since I could not enjoy such a previlege or liberty I want my child to take full advantage of it". Fair enough, if you blindly love your child.

But then there was this other side of the argument (which includes me) who feel that a perfect middle class upbringing is the best way in which a child can me brought up (or do I call it moulded) into a mature, grown up individual in the true sense of the word! You give your child what is imperative for him (probably the best quality of such necessary things) but for his/her unrealistic demands he/she should be able to take a "No" and more so understand the reason behind it!

If you demand something and you always get it (however unrealistic your demand is), it creates n number of (pretty obvious) problems for you.
1. You dont learn to digest a "no".
2. You turn obstinate, adamant with what you are saying and look at things ONLY from one perspective. You always miss the other side of the coin!
3. You can never learn face failure in life. Even a small failure is enough to shatter you to pieces.
4. MOST SADLY, you develop a tendency to achieve things AT ANY COST!!

And most often someone too close to you ends up paying this cost!

On the other hand, if you have taken a "No" for an unrealistic demand and UNDERSTOOD why you have been denied of what you have requested, you start growing up in the true sense! You begin gaining enough maturity by thinking of what is the COST of what I am demanding! And this is what you primarily require to be a good and BALANCED human being - understand the cost of your own deeds ... ain't it!

I discretely remember an incidence on my 9th Birthday. I was in the 4th standard and in our school we had a tradition that the birthday boy usually distributes some sweets/gifts to his classmates as a memoir of his birthday. Unfortunately that year my birthday fell on a Sunday and I could not do the needful in school on that very day. When I asked my parents, "Can I distribute the sweets tomorrow in my class", they said, "Do you really think you should do it? Your birthday is over today". I took this answer as a "No" and started an argument. Probably after insisting a little, they would have given in to my demands, just when I made a drastic statement!

Those days, since my grandmom could not move out of the house to buy a gift for me, she used to give me some money and say "Tell you mother to get something for you". On seeing that my parents were (kind of) against me distributing sweets in class the next day I said, "If you dont want to give me money from your side, we can use the money given to me by grandmom!" That was it! That is probably the earliest of time when I remember that my parents were mad at me! I was not only prohibitted from distributing sweets that year on my birthday and was not allowed to play with the toys I had received as gifts for a month! That time, I felt offended, deeply offended!

But years later, when I started earning, I now understand what it takes to earn a living! Its not just the money aspect of things, but in general the kind of compromises you have to make just to stand tall - this is something that these little childhood incidences carve in your minds! You truly start understanding the "COST" of living! You start GROWING UP in the true sense!

I am really happy that I have had a really nice upbringing in this sense! I am not claiming that I am perfectly mature or balanced ... but still!

The Messiah ... out of nowhere

2004-09-10T12:45:00.000-07:00

Last month while travelling to Bangalore in a AP Tourism Volvo, I got to see a crap of a movie called "Kuch na kaho" starring Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai. The movie had a scene where in Abhishek is supposed to fly to India but some how (as usual in the ishtyle of a typical Bollywood hero) misses the last seat on a flight. Now its not an emergency for him but he just wants to go. The lady at the counter points him to Aishwarya and tells him that she is the lady who took the last boarding pass. Now Abhishek cooks up some random story and convinces Aishwarya to relinquish her seat for him. After that I had a hearty laugh that only someone really stupid can relinquish his/her ticket like that. But I was not aware that destiny had planned to play an Abhishek Bachchan (though really genuine and not filmi at all!!) on me.

Today I, with a few others was scheduled to meet a prospective Microsoft Customer in Pune. And since it was adjoining a weekend I planned to stay back till Monday and take a flight back from Mumbai on Monday morning.

For my onward journey I was scheduled to fly with the Air Sahara flight at 8.50am - the only direct flight between Hyderabad and Pune. I had booked a cab to drop me at the airport and it was supposed to report to me at 7.00am in the morning. I dont know why but I felt that was kind of early. So in spite of getting up and being ready on time I called up the cab and said that it could pick me up half an hour later. On restrospection I just fail to understand why I made such a suicidal move.

Knowing the Cab providers for the last so many months I was not surprised when my sixth sense started warning me that I had done a grave mistake (an unpardonable offense) and I was some how sure that the cab would not report on time. 10 min later than the scheduled pick up time I got a call from the driver who (as usual) had searched the entire of Road No. 14 Banjara Hills except the place where it just starts (and where I stay). I had to actually walk out of the house and wait for him so that he found the place. Cumulating all delays I reached the airport with around 50 mins to go for the flight, where another rude shock was eagerly waiting for me.

On reaching the Air Sahara counter I was told that the counter for the Pune flight was closed (closed just 5 mins ago ... ya rrrrite). Since I had not arrived exactly 1 hour before the scheduled departure my tickect had been given away to a wait-listed traveller. I could think of no other way to reach Pune in time. I could imagine the reactions of my seniors when they would come to know about this mix-up. I could see my next review going really bad. Shockingly the guys at the Air Sahara counter were excessively rude, not at all ready to talk forget cooperating. For almost 5-10 mins I kept requesting them to please see if something could be done. And they wont budge. My pleading, requesting was tending towards begging now. But ... all in vain.

After 5-10 mins a guy reported to the counter and surprisingly he was also travelling to Pune. I dont know why but some how the Sahara guys were very very polite to this guy and were giving him his Boarding Pass for the same flight on which I was supposed to fly. He heard me request the guys desparately and suddenly asked me if I would like to fly on his seat. "I am travelling for pleasure. If it is no urgent for you go ahead and take my place. I can easily find another flight. But dude, remember that if you care for your job you ought to be punctual". I was spellbound. Out of words to thank him. All I could find out was that his name was Sanjay. Before I said anything he had already called up someone on his cell and conveyed that he needed a ticket and just walked out of the airport. Before that I was thinking that only stupid people would do such a thing, but for me he was none less than a Messiah who came out of nowhere and saved the day for me!

Till I reached Pune, I didn't even think about why the Air Sahara people gave a boarding pass to Sanjay who had also arrived late and refused the same for me. Well, probably he deserved it and I didn't.

Never mind, some hard lessons learnt today -

1. Air Sahara flights are way way way too over booked. So if you are thinking of reaching the airport an hour before the flight departure, reconsider your travel plans because if you are 5 mins late then be sure that some lucky wait-listed ruffian is off with your CONFIRMED booking. If you are sure of reach the airport an hour and a half in advance ... only then think of going.

2. If you see someone in trouble (something similar to what I was in) try your level best to help him/her out. You bet it requires a really HUGE heart to do so.

Often when you go to a temple and a child comes begging to you, somewhere at the back of your mind you do think that "does he really require the money I am going to give him or is it just a source of easy money for him". I am sure Sanjay too must have also thought twice before offering me his seat. But then he did give me the EASY seat and probably THAT was the difference between me and him ... the difference between a very very ordinary person and a Messiah!

Team Outings at Microsoft

2004-09-04T02:26:00.000-07:00

I dont think anyone will doubt that Microsoft is the best place in the world to be working in. Its not the the great work that you get to do and the compensation you get in return, its the way the company strives day in and day out to take care of its employees. The company takes care of so many things in your life that when you are at work you end up giving maximum possible concentration to your work.

The one thing that people are touchy about is "Maintaining a good Work-Life Balance". As a part of steps taken to ensure that everyone here has a decent work-life balance lots of activities are carried out by the various teams. Typically, teams will have regular outings, luncheons etc. Usually for this teams pick up some good occasion like a Shipping achievement or even a milestone closure! Such activities are planned with a great thinking and innovation. In my year and a half stint at Microsoft I have done 'n' number of lunches/dinners, bowling, IMAX movies, water sports, cricket matches, go-karting, rock-climbing, archery ... phew

Just yesterday we had another one in the series ... our team came to office in the morning and we went to ICRISAT on the outskirts of Hyderabad. ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics) is a research institute where argricultural engineers and scientists try to find new and innvative ways of being able to grow various crops in Semi-Arid regions (like AP) where even drinking water is luxury. Spread out on acres of land it is around 40 kms from Hyderabad (towards Pune).

Along with the research centre this place also contains a holiday resort where people can come away from the commotion of the cities and spend some quality time amongst the green pastures. The holiday resort is well equipped with tennis courts, basket-ball courts, swimming pool etc. The food serves is also awesome. An ideal place for Hyderabadis to spend a weekend with families.

So yesterday we went there around lunch time and started the outing with a sumptous meal (आधी पोटोबा
...) Later we were divided into teams and lots of interesting activities were planned. Some people chose to stay out of the activities and enjoyed tennis and swimming. And in the evening it was topped with a great treasure hunt ... I participated in a treasure hunt after almost 12-13 years ... had done that in school before

The outing was a bit tiring, but it was fun. In out day to day routines we hardly get to interact with some 4-5 people in a team of 50. So outings like this a good place for team interaction. All 'n all a good break from work and a good way to start your weekend a day earlier

Like a diamond in the sky ...

2004-08-31T05:26:00.000-07:00

Going to Pune on the last weekend was memorable for many reasons. Firstly, because I had loads of fun there as always. But this time around even the night time journey both to and fro was equally memorable. We did not get tickets on time for the onward journey and hence at the eleventh hour, we had to book seats in the LAST ROW of a private bus. Needless to say ... the bus driver took all possible care that I should not be able to sleep. and this time he was aided by the on-going transporter's strike which kept his competitors (the unruly truck drivers) out of his way. So the twists, turns and potholes on the road were just too trivial to hinder his deter to take me to Pune UNSLEPT.

One thing that was fortunate for me was that my seat was a window seat and I had some scope of entertainment and I spent the night going back to my childhood days and doing what I used to do regularly as a kid ... watch the stars. This past Saturday night was the first time after (probably) months when I was seeing the sky full of stars, absolutely no clouds! I don’t know why but I have always had an amazing (and unexplainable) fascination for the stars ever since I was a kid! Not that I am an expert in star gazing, I don’t even know most of the constellations. I just know the very popular and typical ones like the pole star, Orion, Cassiopeia etc. And that too because in one of the treks I had been to, someone had bestowed that knowledge on me. Around 13-14 years ago I remember the time when my house was single storied and I used to enjoy sleeping on the terrace during summers. Summers "then " being vacations, I was never worried about getting up early in the morning and so I used to spend hours just looking at stars and finding patterns, or you can say finding my own constellations Also since I was fond of "join the dots to complete the picture" kinda puzzles then, the stars almost provided me a scratch pad that I could scribble on ...!

Years later, in my first house in h'bad I used to sleep on the terrace to escape the heat captured in the four walls of my house. And hence the sleeping child used to wake up again! Even today I get some kind of a secure feeling when I see the sky full of stars. And may be that’s just another reason why I dislike the monsoons! I won't be a hypocrite and boast about saying that stars are like my friends and that they talk to me etc... No they don’t! But then when you are alone, the existence of so many active and energetic bodies covering your head does give you a feeling of security, doesn't it! Have you ever laid down on your back gazing at the millions of diamonds scattered on the blanket of night? It is such a grand feeling! Bodies from so far in the universe where only human thoughts can reach at a hands distance, right above you!

Later as I grew up and studied the physics behind these infinite sources of energies my interest about stars grew even further. But what keeps them really close to my heart is a little childhood myth. I was told in stories in my childhood, that people close to you who pass away, go to the skies where the Gods reside and become stars! Fortunately for me, all people I have been close to are right by my side throughout my life. But then this childhood myth makes me even fonder towards these sparkles, because I know that’s where I came from and that’s where I am finally destined to go!!

A weekend in Pune ... EVERY weekend in Pune

2004-08-18T05:42:00.000-07:00

If I tell some one that I enjoy going home on weekends from where I work ... firstly people might just say - "So what's the big deal? Anyone would want to". But when say I work in Hyderabad and go home to Pune on almost every weekend eyebrows do go up!!

Its almost a year and a half now since I have shifted to Hyderabad but I still go home religiously on every possible weekend. The seasons of nature, the means of transport, lack of company at times ... nothing has enough potential to cause me to rethink about going to Pune on a weekend.

I agree that train is the best possible means of transport for this activity. Actually the best means of transport would obviously be a flight. But as I iterated it is not a "Possible" means of transport in India and more so there are no convinient flights between HYD and PUNE. The flight from HYD to PUNE which should have been in the evening (so that I could have reached home Friday evening) is actually in the morning and the vice versa is also (most unfortunately) true. So unless there is a real emergency, flight is out of question.

Coming back to Indian Railways ... Second Class travel in a train can be real fun if you have company. Also you can get some (much deserved) sound sleep. But trains between HYD and PUNE take a longer route as compared to road transport and hence take a little more than 12 hours for a NORMAL journeys (normal because you can expect unexpected delays ). Instead if you take a bus you can travel the same distance in almost 9-10 hours. So if I start from HYD at 8.00 pm on a Friday evening, I am home for breakfast on Saturday morning (morning as in 6.30 - 7.00 am). By train its almost 10.00 - 10.30 am to get home. On the way back too train departs from Pune station at 7.15 pm on Sunday evening. So I have to leave home by 6.15 pm which mean I have to blow off the entire of my Sunday evening AND a dinner at home. Else if I take APSRTC volvo I can be at home till 8.30 pm on Sunday and yet reach Hyderabad before 6.30 am on Monday. The train reached Hyderabad after 7.30 am ... so bottomline is "APSRTC VOlvo is THE best and most economical means of transport to travel between Pune and Hyderabad".

Those 36-38 hours that I get in Pune - there are soooooo many things to do ... So here's an account of what I would TYPICALLY do in these 36-38. Saturday mornings begin with my especial cup of water-less pure-milk chai and good गरम पोळी-भाजी (if भाजी it is ready, else with anything available from तूप-साखर, sauce[tomato/tamrind], jam, any चटणी ... almost anything ready at home). I specifically said GOOD गरम पोळी poli because I do get गरम पोळी in HYD too This is usually followed by a hour long of phone calls to a few close friends (typically Shantya, Bhushan, Amol, Samy and/or Paatya) deciding on plans of how we can utilize the 36-38 hours the best . Morning time was spent in the laboratory with mom, trying to see what all happened in the last week and helping mom to plan things for the week to come. Late afternoon, I usually spend at home with my Grandmother. I have started collecting VCDs/DVDs of old marathi films/plays lately. So we usually watch a play/film together. The satisfactions she gains by seeing me home is worth all the trouble it caused to be at home. This is usually followed by a visit to maternal grandparents and then to the शनि-मारूती देऊळ (since its a Saturday). More than faith or belief, I look at it more as a discipline that I need to follow every saturday.

Saturday dinner is usually out, may be at some family friends' place or with my friends !! And if dinner is NOT with my friends I have to meet them at Relax/CCD for a late night coffee. The issue is Shantya has his CAT classes in the evening on Saturday so this imperative meeting has to be in the night. Thus my saturday actually ends early Sunday morning because after going home at almost 1.00 am in the night, I just cannot keep my hands of the comp to check my mails.

Despite the late night home-coming I am up early on Sunday morning. If there are plans like Sinhagad, its really really early , else its usually around 7.00 am. If Sinhagad does not happen, there is some nice breakfast at home or at my mama's place. After some lazying around, TV etc. its time for a अभ्यांग स्नान . Sunday lunch is usually later because of the heavy breakfast in the morning. And it HAS TO BE followed by a good (and well deserved, well justified) nap because if you haven't realized yet, I miss sound sleep on three nights of a week - Friday, Saturday AND Sunday ... Sunday evening is a nice time since usually friends drop home just in time to see me off. The plan is usually to enjoy some पोहे-चहा (IT IS NOT चहा-पोहे you see) or भेळ or उपमा.

Then comes the most difficult phase. Packing and preparing to get back to Hyderabad. But its almost a routine for me now ... yes ... even the sad feeling of leaving home for just another week is also a routine. Home is home and ... Pune is Pune!!! Come what may ... NOTHING in the world can EVER substitute that.

For the first 3-4 months in HYD, I was staying alone and so not many people in Microsoft knew about my weekend trips. But ever since Kushal has joined my team at Microsoft "Oh my God, Alok travels to Pune every weekend!!!" is a normal gesture that I get from people around .

Ask someone who does this every weekend - its not an easy thing to do. Believe me, a seat in a bus (a semi-sleeper bus ... ya rrrrite) is not an ideal place to spend two nights in a week. But look at the incentive for doing so ... satisfaction that my grandparents and parents get on seeing me, spending some good moments with some really close friends, home cooked food (in addition to Relax पाव-भाजी, भेळ, पोहे, कच्छी दाबेली at times) ... I think the pain is all worth it. End of the day, its something more than material comforts that make you happy ... isn't it!!!

आणि साक्षात पु.ल. म्हणतात ना की - पुणे आणि मुंबई सोडलं तर जगात बघण्यासारखं तरी काय आहे म्हणा ...

Good things do come to an end

2004-08-06T00:54:00.000-07:00

About 3-4 months ago ... I wouldn't have imagined that Ajit Datar who's doing his Master's in the US of A would come to India and do an internship at Microsoft IDC for 2 month. He just asked me if it was possible, I followed up with the HR and it happened. Ajit came here 2 months ago ... and we have had a great time here. Unfortunately my landlord did not permit him to stay in my house for this long so he had to be put up elsewhere with some other friends.

It was change, in general, for me from the same ol' routine that I had been living for the last so many weeks. I suddenly found that I had someone to help me in cooking (though he used half a bowl of oil for one omlet on a non-stick pan ). I had regular company while travelling to Pune every weekend (though something almost always went wrong when he was travelling with me). I found a friend, whose leg I could pull regularly. Unfortunately ... one such prank resulted in a wide-spread forest-fire of rumors for Ajit and probably he'll never forgive me for that! ) Ajit joined the R-RAS team here and that gave us another "data point" to pick on him with ... (try to say R-RAS fast and see what it sounds like ... so Ajit was working on R-RAS[say it fast])

I somehow feel that he is a confused individual. Because for most of my questions he had a standard answer - I don't know. He kept complaining about not getting diced tomatoes in India but also enjoyed the awesome Guntur Idli at Chutney's. He keeps talking about "Duluth मध्ये असं असतं ..." but also likes Avdoot Gupte's गरजा महाराष्ट्र माझा. He kept asking me "Alok, how's life" everyday at lunch and expected that my answer today should be more positive than yesterday. and verrrrry rarely when I was late for something I was rendered incredibile (AND THAT DOES NOT MEAN LACK OF CREDIBILITY ... OK? )

He completes his training today and will go back home and then to Duluth to complete his MS. On one front as I envy him that he is going to stay at home in Pune now on for a some time, I somehow also feel sad that a new-found good friend is going to go away. Never mind ... I do accept the fact that all good thing come to an end!

मराठी माणसा जागा हो

2004-08-05T03:22:00.000-07:00

अमोल कडून inspiration घेऊन मराठीमध्ये blog करतो आहे. :) जरा अवघड जातं आहे, पण हळूहळू होईल सवय.

सही वाटतं आहे. आपण हल्ली स्वतःच्या कामात इतके व्यस्त असतो की आपण आपल्याच मराठीचा वापर लिहिण्या-वाचण्यासाठी सोडाच पण बोलण्यासाठी सुध्दा घर सोडून इतर ठिकाणी क्वचितच करतो. Chat करतांना सुध्दा आपल्याला बोलायचं असतं मराठीमध्ये पण type करतो english alphabets मध्ये. मराठी मध्ये हाताने काही लिहून तर युगं झाली. आता कागद-पेन घेऊन बसलो तरी कितपत झेपेल शंका वाटते. पण keyboard वर मराठी मध्ये लिहिण्याची ही पध्दत आवडली.

एकदम शाळेत शिकलेलं "अ" ला काना "आ" आठवतंय :) कारण type करण्याचा speed जबरदस्तच आहे :) पण मजा येतेय.

Height of Procrastination

2004-08-03T04:20:00.000-07:00

I created an account on blogger around a month ago ... but writing a blog after ages. :)
Kept on pushing it forward ...
Hope to post some important daily NOTHINGS here regularly :)