Gaming Revolution

Gaming (online/offline) is no doubt a high growth sector, prime reason is the rising stress in our daily

lives. Everyone is looking for stress relievers and with the advancement in technology; gaming consoles are one of the answers. Another reason is the target demographics has also widened, today even elderly people can have a tennis game inside their living rooms and still sweat and feel refreshed.

Although market is flooded with lot of gaming consoles, the two hottest ones in existence are Nintendo Wii and Sony PlayStation 3. You can also add Microsoft X-Box to that list as it is still not there at that level of user experience…Nintendo Wii is definitely cheaper with the basic set-up costs about £180 whereas for PS3 you will have to dig deep and spend £50 more. Both use distinct technologies, although it seems Sony with its blu-ray technology is out-powering the Wii, also PS3’s support for SD and Compact Flash cards gives it additional edge on graphics as-well. (See attached image..our lounge room stacked with PS3) . Nintendo loyalists still argue that difference between them is slim…

PS3 has the more features than Wii for sure but surprisingly Wii has achieved higher sales than rest of the player and still remains the top seller among all gaming consoles. I think lot of people feel it is more value for money…whatever you buy I surely feel they do make a lot of difference to your stress levels. For most of the people who have hundred excuses to avoid exercising, having a good game on Wii or PS3 surely makes you feel relaxed.

Pub Lunch and Beer Fridge

I remember, few years back, while I was working for an MNC based in India, a colleague of mine went overboard and had a beer during lunch time. I guess he felt that was the best way to beat the Bombay heat. Poor chap almost got fired for taking that liberty perhaps even today I believe most of the firms in India would treat this as a serious offence. For next couple of weeks, HR people were after his skin ....it just made him look alcoholic...

As I fast forward now to 2008, every day I see pubs around the London city full of working class, having lunch along with beer (obviously it is English culture). Infact every friday evening an hour before we wind up, we get an official email that beer is being served for employees, which is like a kick off leading to the weekend. Sometimes, even the management team act as host. They introduce themselves and speak to employees casually and laugh and joke around. Interestingly the management feels that such social events are desperately needed. Infact every week, this fridge is hosted by different teams which compels everyone to go to that specific area in the building or campus and get introduced to the host team. Last week we hosted it… Point is what a contrast in organisation culture...

Intelligence Failure

With blasts happening almost every week, it is clear that our intelligence has repeatedly failed... tough new measures are needed to make sure our intelligence becomes the best in the world.

I am not blaming RAW, they might be doing their job but today the terrorism is on a different level. When someone can issue emails to the Government about planting a bomb at will, then surely we have reached a stage where radical solutions are needed to fight terrorism. Point is what is stopping us.....economically, we can afford, surely we have the brains and there are billion people to choose from......why not? …When a country as tiny as Israel can keep all its neighbours at check then why not India.

Mossad is today regarding the best intelligence and security service on the earth. They have been clandestinely executing secret operations with awestruck ruthlessness and that is what we have to do...New India should keep its traditional soft stance behind its back now...it is time for some really tough actions....I say it again….don’t ban these ill outfits who in the name of religion kill innocent people…. Because if you ban them they will spring back in a different form ... we should obliterate them and surely secret agencies can deliver that without any commotion

Engaging Employees

Employee engagement is a new catchphrase among employers today. An employee who is engaged in his work is an individual who cares for the future of his company. He is passionately and emotionally involved in his work. Most employees who are engaged believe they contribute in improving the company's services or products and can positively impact customer service. 

There are many factors which are critical to keep your workforce more engaged for e.g. manager’s capability, clear outlining of goals and expectations, safety and security, social position etc. My current organization regularly organizes various social events like open house celebration, summer parties, offsites, friday pub outings, service award functions etc . some are critical about these social events and would argue that they don’t add any concrete value to the organization but actually they do make a significant impact on the engagement of employees.

When I asked a few people in our event organization committee (responsible for planning events and social gatherings) they highlighted that employee's social involvement at work is critical to engagement. If the employee is part of the social network, he will feel more connected to the organization. As an employer, by these events they are trying to set the tone for the entire workplace. Even simple things like having team lunch can bring employees together and keep your stress levels down. 

Some people are naturally wired to give their all and do their best no matter where they work. But the majority of people require some form of motivation to generate enthusiasm in order to have a sense of purpose and energy about what they do.

What makes organisations truly innovative?

Yesterday we had an offsite, which means all the employees get an update on the strategic initiatives of the organization. The founder of the firm had one message ....to be innovative and truly in today's world, innovation is very essential for success. Hard work is great, but to be successful innovation and thinking different is vital...and even if you are successful, you have to keep innovating to be in the business.

Leaders in every organization are facing enormous new challenges. What worked in the past won’t necessarily work now and with the uncertain business environment it surely requires new ideas and skills to succeed and inspire.

The best new ideas aren't necessarily the most complex ones; they are the ones that are created by looking at an existing problem from a different perspective. Lot of organizations which are so called “innovative organizations” use the right methods and practices to extract knowledge within the organization. They know that ideas are there locked inside the brains of the employees, it is just the matter of how you can get them unboxed.

Innovative organizations like Apple and Google breed fresh ideas and recognizes talent. They also have unusual ways to keep workforce engaged for e.g. Google offers 20% of its time to its engineers to freely work on what they're really passionate about. Google News, Google Suggest and Orkut are among the many products which evolved from such programmes.

Innovative organizations empower employees, manage knowledge and thrive innovation. Leaders of such innovative organizations recognize that developing breakthrough products, revamping operational processes and coming up with new business models doesn't happen overnight. So, instead of relying on gimmicks or incremental line extensions, they're working to build organizations that are capable of sustained innovation.

Finally, inspired leadership is key for innovation.

Mr.G

Imagine, you get up in the morning and you are given a choicest of breakfast to eat, have choicest of trousers and shirts to wear , choicest of perfumes to spray, latest gadgets to make you look cool, drive a car which suits your mood , 10 minutes you reach office avoiding pollution, your boss is your uncle (so there is no way you get a bad appraisal ***** Five stars rating from the day he joined the firm), you throw your car to the janitor and he sparkles it every fucking day hoping some day his boss will be pleased, tea arrives dot on time, tea is good and that guy has been waiting for last 10 years to get a compliment but you never give him one, you don’t have to worry too much about backlogs coz there are people who take care of them, time to hit the seat in a air conditioned office, you first hit the masala news, chat with your car-loving friends, update your blogs, write reviews about the movie you saw last night, chat with your girlfriend and hey....its lunch time....cool

You have home cooked food of your choice so it is obvious you would enjoy your lunch...usually an hour coz you need to read the fun filled tabloids as well (how many things one can do at the same time), then you go out for another hour to do what the fuck you want, you come back and have tea to refresh yourself…that bloke still doesn’t get a compliment, time to work ...so open up some reports...sign a few docs, chat with your colleagues on cricket, bollywood, stocks, parties, girls and mind you colleagues are more like slaves to you so it is simple...laugh at my humour or else you would get heavy stick up your ass...then make a trip around the factory while you chat with your friends (others think you are closing a deal), call your girlfriend and have a romantic chat, decide where you want to go in the evening....it is party time ... rock and roll

Have a great evening in of the page-3 restaurants, catch a movie, say good night to your girlfriend, come back home, watch some non sense TV and call it a day.

Sorry forgot to mention … unbelievable remuneration (over the years it is growing faster that the company’s growth), under table perks, foreign tours, and hold a sexy post in the company.

One would say WOW… that is a dream fucking job....but hang on a minute…

There is one person who still cribs about all this mess ....you can gratify anyone on this earth but not him...but that is why he is my close friend and another Libran as well...Mr.G

No safe place for common man

After watching this movie, "A Wednesday" on Friday night, I felt as helpless and frustrated as any common man on the street. The message this movie sends across is simple “Governments…please stop testing the patience of the common man because it is already running out”. I went to sleep, thinking about how unsafe the world has become. Barely few hours, On Saturday, we witness yet another terror attack, now it was our capital.

Watching all the mayhem caused on the streets and so many innocents killed, I was angry, frustrated and extremely disappointed with our intelligence and mainly the politicians. Surely one can argue that being a country of billion people, it is difficult to track every individual but point is what lessons have we learned and what is the government doing to teach these culprits who in the name of Islam are killing innocent Indians.

If someone can casually go and plant these bombs at India Gate which is memorial for soldiers who died fighting for our country then I guess no one in India is safe. Our politicians assure us that these culprits will be punished but these assurances are as void and frail as our system. What we need now is India to act tough…very tough....get to the root cause and annihilate these extremists groups, whether it is SIMI, LET or any fucking terrorist camps inside our territories. Don’t catch them, just kill them. Surprisingly, I have not seen a single Muslim politician who came out in public and spoke harsh words about Islamic terrorists. Aren’t they polarizing us further?

Racial Slur

We talk about some western countries possessing double standards and being racially discriminating but right now what is happening in Maharashtra by no means is different. MNS and Shiv Sena are playing the religion card to persuade vulnerable Marathi voters.

I notice that some political parties have started playing this card very openly especially from last few years (Modi played it in Gujarat) and it is purely to gain some attention and votes. Shiv Sena played this card in 60’s 70’s, when they said South Indians are taking up all the jobs and should be driven out of the city. They funnily called it “lungi hatao” :) As expected it backfired, MNS today is also playing the same card; they are as odious as other fundamentalists. Let me be very clear, Bombay was not built by Marathi Manoos; it is built by every fucking Bombaikar.

MNS and Shiv Sena are nothing but two sides of the same coin. There is no rationale behind their actions, infact they are the ones who provoke people. Honestly I feel they don’t have the balls to compete, that are why they feel insecure. Tomorrow if same card is played by some politician in Hyderabad or Bangalore then all the Marathi speaking people who are working in Southern Indian states especially in BPO sector will meet the same fate. India so called largest democracy which we are proud of would become a joke.

Today, whether it is Bombay, Delhi, New York or London, it is people who came to these cities to earn their bread have made these cities and everyone should be proud of the city there are dwelling in. I strongly urge that everyone who reads this post should not vote to these parties. They are as bad as terrorists….don’t think I am over reacting :)

I have already decided to call the city Bombay...no offence it is my choice

Parenthood

Yesterday, I attended the first session of our ante-natal classes, which are conducted by the local hospitals (by midwives) for parents-to-be. It is a great idea to help one prepare for labour, birth, and early parenthood.

First session was quite a handy one; we met a few families who more or less had a similar due dates. We were requested to ask every query/doubt we had in our mind. Interestingly, you have people coming up with all these funny queries for e.g. someone wanted to get the details on where to park (I guess it is critical when you are in hurry during labour). Someone asked about water birth at home, changing nappies etc. In India obviously majority of families have elders to guide and provide the right advice but here with the family setup being weak, local government spends a huge chunk of their annual budget on medical services to make sure common man has access to basic provisions of life.

I must confess that I took some time to mentally prepare myself towards parenthood but now I am really excited perhaps looking forward to it. I guess initially I was apprehensive because of the whole process but slowly now I realise it could be great fun. I pray and hope that I become a good parent and to be in a position give all the happiness to your child …already talking like a parent :)

Corporate social responsibility

For many Indians, especially from rural India, when it comes to big organizations, it has always been Tata or Birla.

Tata is a name of trust, someone with sound CSR (Corporate social responsibility) values. Today, in every business school around the world, CSR is a mandatory subject. These values were re-iterated by Ratan Tata when Nano was first launched (we can argue about health and environment hazards but that’s a different story). But what is happening in Singur is something that is going against the name of Tata. It is high time they realise how much damage they are causing to their image before they totally lose trust from rural India.

Singur is highly fertile agricultural area and it is alleged that state and Tata have forcibly taken away their land for setting up the Nano plant. In a recent interview, Mamta Banerjee who is backing the protestors clearly highlighted that industry should not grow at the expense of agriculture, which is quite justified. The last thing what India doesn’t want is to lose its agricultural identity. Few years back agriculture accounted for 22% of India's GDP and employed half our country's workforce. Surely one would argue what about new face of India? Can we ignore industrial zones? Answer is 'No'. India is such a vast country and surely we can find enough place for industrialization...you don’t need fertile land to build IT parks or manufacture cars.

The offer made by Singur protestors is quite reasonable. They want Tata to return only 400 acres (out of 1000 acres) earmarked for ancillary units for the Nano car project. In return they are asking Tata and the WB govt to take the 500 acres of land lying just opposite to the Tata's Nano factory.

Certainly this is bad publicity for WB and India but then we all know that in India some drama has to happen especially when the stakes are so high and for the first time I doubt Tata's sincerity and their values.

Democracy....you must be joking

Its a shame that politicians like Shibu Soren candidly blackmail the government to get critical post like Chief Minister....which effectively means that people of that state get a CM who is accused of murder and other charges of stirring arson and violence...and all this without choice

People with money and vested interests can blackmail and take advantage of our political system and come to power. How can a person who is not even fully cleared by the judicial system become a CM? First, he successfully negotiated with the government for coal ministry in return for his vote (and that of several of his MP’s) and now he comes up with such an atrocious demand.

One would blame Congress here but there is no point because even BJP secretly promised him CM post if he ditched the UPA during the vote. It is not funny to sit here in a foreign country and argue but the point I am trying to make here is that we take pride in being the biggest democracy in the world but the fact is democracy is now become a joke of few political parties in India. They openly manipulate and misuse our political system and its flaws using hard cash (which is again people’s money) and make unacceptable promises. What about people of Jharkhand? Do they want a CM who is a kidnapper? blackmailer? someone who was found guilty of murdering his secretry.

Surely people are being taken for ride. What is actually needed is a bold new initiative to clean up the entire relationship between cash and politicians.... Surely, we should be proud of our democracy but such viscous moves should be curbed otherwise democracy will soon become a joke in this multi party alliances who turn by turn are raping the system.

Gutted

As we know, there are pros and cons living abroad. You get an opportunity to see the world, travel, learn, experience, make quick buck or two etc etc. but when you weigh them against what you lose living abroad...you see a different picture. Believe me living far off from your loved ones and missing those rare moments with your family and friends is disheartening.

Although I am happy for my brother who is now entering into a new phase of life, I am feeling terrible and gutted that I will not be part of that moment. Surely missing such things in life are very expensive.

I promised myself that I will do everything possible to make up for this lost moment. I don’t want to miss his 'D' day (wedding off course) at any fucking cost.

Doping

In recent years, doping charges being framed and then dropping them has become a very common act. I thought Pakistan cricket had this disease but last week doping news in weightlifting confirmed that Indian sports is no different.

I saw weightlifter Monika Devi from Manipur crying and pleading with the sporting officials to investigate the doping allegations on her. She was absolutely sure that they were framed by some influential person for some dirty interests...and guess what…just after three days; all the doping charges were dropped. Point is at the end of the day, what does all this mean to Indian sports? why were they framed in first case? and why were they dropped later? what was the procedure used? who did those tests? did they follow the right guidelines? how were they validated? ....many questions have yet again gone unanswered.

I am sure this is not the first and the last time it has happened, couple of years ago, discuss thrower Seema Antil was framed with similar charges right in the middle of “Doha games”. Various federations and authorities like Sports Authority of India, Athletic Federation of India and Indian Olympic Association were all blaming each other. Later the charges were dropped ...answer given was shocking...they said there were some procedural lapses. FUCK !!!....Do they have any clue about how much physiological damage was caused on that sportsman?

What hurts me most is when I see our neighbour China, who is so focussed on their planning and execution. They worry about how they can come first in the medal tally, and here we are fighting for something else...SICK

Double Decker Bus Ride

Recently, after a long time, I took a double decker bus ride. For some reason I always keep these bus rides out of my equation. But on this occasion, I couldn’t avoid it. I had to go to a nearby theatre and my friend suggested that taking a bus was the best option. So I got into this bus and without any snag, I went straight to the top deck in search of my favourite seat (the front one). During my school days, I used to literally emulate the driver just to get that feel of driving a huge bus.

Believe me, it was a nostalgic 15 min journey. It brought back so many childhood memories; I remember we used to take bus no 165 sometimes 171 to go to school. Worli…Glaxo…Passport Office…Prabhadevi….Kismat Talkies…Sidhi Vinayak temple…Portuguese church….finally getting down at Kabutar Khana. I hardly took 86 because it was a not a double decker bus which always came packed from town and I use to hate them. I clearly remember it was 50 paisa for a one way journey and we used to make it 50% cheaper by flashing our cool bus passes. I must admit that at least on 2 or 3 occasions, I apprehensively travelled without a ticket, just to save those extra pennies for my “kala katta ice gola”….awesome.
“Tiger” was code word for conductor, and these foolish ticketless travel made us feel as if we were the smartest kids around although it scared us to bits as well…..real crazy stuff

As there are no tigers on London buses, when I got the glimpse of the theatre, I pressed a yellow button which is like an indicator to the driver to bring the bus to a halt. For a change I got down without running forwards which was another stupid stunt we performed in those days :)

Crying Baby

I was reading an article on India's nuclear energy needs in a British newspaper, and the article highlighted how the Indian government put everything on stake to get this deal go through as quickly as possible. There might be some vested interests as well (who knows) but interestingly, it was not this article which caught my attention, it was another tiny article next to this which made me laugh to bits. Apparently the PM of Pakistan said "There should be no preferential treatment, there should be no discrimination. And if they want to give civilian nuclear status to India, we would also expect the same for Pakistan too," I wondered isn’t Pakistan like a crying baby demanding a candy. There is no rationale behind their diplomatic moves.

I wondered how a rogue country like this can even think of such demand. I personally do not see a real economic growth in Pakistan as they don’t have one. A reflection of it would be the Pakistan Stock Exchange compared to that of India’s Sensex. A country where people go on a rampage by breaking windows, furniture, computers of stock exchange because share prices plummeting is a clear reflection of its society. If they sit and re-think their fundamental beliefs, they will probably figure out the reason behind why more Arab investments are happening in India than in Pakistan, even though Pakistan is a Muslim country.

Although there are numerous flaws in our political setup, we still have the status of being one of the biggest democracies while our neighbour should realise that it the biggest terrorist hub on this planet.

Russian Standard

Drinking vodka in Russia is like a toast of some sort, Russians enjoy toasting throughout meals, especially where guests are present. Toasts to family, friends and women are common, even at the most informal of dinners. It is obligatory to respond by downing a shot of vodka. My colleague was shocked when his client, after a good presentation, suddenly got up and said "Cheers" and offered vodka shots…Russians would drink vodka anyday, anytime, anywhere

Vodka shots are typically followed by eating something salty such as a pickle, herring or bit of sausage. I preferred “gherkin” which acts as a neutralising agent. People who are unaccustomed to this manner of drinking will soon find themselves under the table. If you have the fortune to attend a wedding, make sure to take pictures. You will hardly remember your "antics"

As far as vodka is concerned, Russians say “warm on the inside, cold on the outside”. They believe that vodka acts somewhat like antifreeze element. It actually seems to keep you warm, but it might be a perception. Much of what you have heard about vodka consumption in Russia is probably not far off the mark. It is definitely the preferred drink throughout the country. Heck, they even put in the beer. Yep, there are certain brands of beer that come with a number on them. The numbers range from one to seven or 10. The larger the number, the more vodka there is in the beer. If you don’t know this before buying one of these brands, you can be in for a shock after your second beer.

Standard Russian Vodka is one of the best I would recommend because every time we tried, it was simply superb.

TGIF

Although I was tired mentally and physically with 10 days of work and relentless wild partying , I did my usual duty free shopping by picking up stuff which you believe are cheap which otherwise are expensive habits. I was desperately waiting to board the flight and go home. Travelling out of suitcase for more than 3-4 days becomes too painful. I didn’t want to wait any longer to have a appetizing home food that would vitalise my dormant taste buds.

To make matters worse, I was travelling with British Airways. I always had a bitter sweet experience with this airline. Although they are punctual, their food is appalling. I felt sick by the idea of an old lady serving you some rotting vegetables and whiffy mashed potato in the aircraft. No way, I am going to eat that....so I walked into this restaurant to grab a chilled beer and have a quick last snack in Russia.

I went into this eatery, which was next to duty free shopping area and quickly ordered an ice-cold draft beer. Unlike Russian service, it came quickly. I said to myself…”No way this is a Russian joint”. I turned around to see American rugby was aired on the TV (quite strange American sport in Russia) then I checked out the dining setup...antiques, hats, wooden floors, red-striped canopies and brass railings. I faintly remember this joint which I visited almost eight years back. I quickly found that the joint was TGIF i.e. Thank God It’s Friday (American joint famous for casual dining experience)

Young fat waitress suggested me a "quesadilla" and I did not argue with her. I guess all ingredients (cheese, corn, chicken and tortilla) looked familiar. To our surprise it came in literally 10 minutes....It was unlike Russian Service where one would die on the table but still not get served. At least something about Americans is great, be it customer service which was 100 times better than Russians.

Basically Russians don’t know what service means. Even our Russian clients admit this fact that their country is second to none in worst service. Anyways, although it was Sunday afternoon and Monday Blues was just round the corner. I surely felt like saying Thank God Its Friday.

Arena

Barely few hours inside St.Petersburg, we decided to go out and see what the local area is all about. After walking for about ten minutes, we reached Historic Palace Square, which has seen birth of many revolutions that shook the world. We took some photographs with Alexander column in the background...spent a few more minutes in this wide open area and then started walking again. We enquired few people on the streets to find out whether there is any good place closeby to have a few drinks....Most of them spoke Russian and we had no clue except saying "Spasibo" i.e. Thank You to whatever they uttered.

Eventually, we entered a bar called 'Bubble Bar'....dont know the logic behind that name. I was personally feeling very irritated with all the bubble shaped lights being flashed on the walls...Anyways, bar had nothing special...music was loud...environment was ordinary... but we had to start somewhere so there we were. It was barely 8 p.m so it was too early to have a good crowd in the bar. To make the matters worse, we had one of our serious lady professor enjoying our company. We ordered some mild drinks before vodka shots arrived. Few shots down and we started to open up a bit. Lady Professor also started enjoy our company....I heard her saying "you guys are well mannerred compared to previous batches in the past"....I felt sorry for her :) Another half an hour went by and we started chatting about various things we experienced in the past.....some experiences were really interesting :)

We noticed a mid-aged person (looked like security personnel) watching us all the time, so we were tentative in whatever we did or said..you never know....KGB...By the time our session ended, we became favourite students of our professor. She did not knew that one of my friend had already started hitting on the curly haired waitress (looking more Spanish than Russian) behind the bar...Around 11, it was time to move on to a better club. We came out and started walking....Anther 20 feet....and there we see some really tough looking bouncers/security standing outside this club and not allowing anyone to go in....

They would not let us in as well.....because we were not with pretty girls, we did not dressed in white shirts and jeans, we did not had a table reserved, we didn’t look familiar, our skin color was different ..basically we all looked like aliens to them. Few minutes of smart talk and they let us in....Pounds do speak ;).

We did not knew we were about to enter into one of the Russia’s best clubs named 'Arena'. That night we rocked the club....had some great time...danced after a long time...reminded me of my days when we did some serious partying.

Warm Welcome

Before we flew into the former capital of Russia on a consultancy trip, we were briefed that although this country is changing and its economy is now in transitional mode....things are different.

For some reason, I was not too excited about travelling to Russia....I never heard anything which interested me. We (few batchmates) planned to go a a day earlier and do some sight seeing so we were on direct morning flight off to Russia. We landed there about 4 p.m local time and the weather looked great (much better than where we get in London).

Airport did not gave any signals about the booming local economy, it looked like any other average aiport around the world. I saw different adverts with weird russian alphabets. To make things interesting we were all from different backgrounds and nationalities....British, American, Nigerian and a few Indians with a common feature of "Londoner".

After speaking to a few batchmates, immigration officer came out if his shabby cabin and told us to stand aside from the queue. Couple of weeks earlier, one of my British colleague told me that his passport was seriously damaged when he went to Russia on a personal visit. Some pages on his passport were torn, some pages were badly scratched. ...So I was expecting something similar or worse. Few anxious moments went by and then I saw some serious looking men come (they looked more like men who hang people and less like senior immigration officials).

After asking a few questions....they let us in into the country. It was clear signal that we are getting into a country which is different and things are not straight.

Brick Lane

Few weeks back I had a small party at my house and I wanted some Indian sweets for the occasion. My friends informed me about a famous shop named "X" based in “Brick Lane”. So for the first time in UK, I visited this place also known as “Banglatown” famous for curry joints and Asian sweets.

After getting down from a cab, looked around first to see what the place is all about and then slowly started walking. As I progressed down the street when I heard an old Hindi song ..."Noorie Noorie..Aaja Re". I had not heard this bollywood song for years now, I guess last time I heard in 80's when I was a kid and probably watched repeatedly on "Chayageet" :)

I started smiling because it was played loudly in a Travel Agent Shop (wondered whether it was a new way to invite customers by saying “Aaaaja Re…dil ki pyaas bhuja ja re". I walked a few yards and I saw this small restaurant with a board outside "Free first round of drinks plus thirty per cent off" and then underneath it "Special VIP table available". I saw a 45+ guy, standing there wearing a old oversized coat and geared up to welcome the customers....No wonder restaurant was empty"

Anyways, I found the sweet shop 2 mins later. As soon as I entered this shop, I was struck with mesmerizing smell of “hot Punjabi samosas”. I had not tasted one since ages...it also reminded me of my college days where literally they were like "lifeline". I almost forgot why I came to that shop and straight away ordered a samosa...1 down ...2 down and then I felt a bit better and started checking out sweets...Suddenly, I heard someone speaking in Hindi…so I looked around and saw this young guy in his mid-20's, standing a few feet away and having a conversation with the shop owner.

Owner : "Angrezi mein baat kar lethe ho"
Young Guy : "Thoda Bahut"

Owner : "English log bhi yahan aathe hai..unse baat karna zaroori hai"
Young Guy : "Haaan saab....jaldhi seekh loonga"

Owner : "Seekhne ka time nahin hai..waise bhi abhi nahin chahiye"
Young Guy : "Meherbani saab"

Owner : "Ramzaan ya Diwali ke time pe aana..Abhi mushkil hai"
Young Guy : "Part time bhi chalega"

Few minutes of silence, when the owner asked him to stand aside and let the customers shop freely. I gave my debit card and the owner said "saab yeh card machine baraber kaam nahin kar raha hai" I wondered it ever worked because I have heard that statement a million times…and you would never see those machines working. Anyways I expected this...Paid him by cash and made a call to a
cab company.

I waited there for a few more minutes before the cab arrived and I finally got inside into it....I could still see this young chap standing there like a beggar with a hope that owner will change his mind and offer him a job.

Never Give Up

For a change I picked up this free newspaper on my way to office. Although it is filled with gossip, sometimes it is fun to read especially when you commute back from office. Although information is very limited, you can still find some TP news.

9 out of 10 times you would expect headlines on some infamous kidnappings or stabbings, which I hate to read. So I quickly flipped over and went straight to sports section on the very last page i.e. Page36..I saw news about some footballers changing clubs and being paid obscene amount of money (roughly INR 1.1 crore per week) I already hate my job ...Page 35 - local cricketing legend criticising a cricket pitch on a famous ground (as if they win every other match played elsewhere) ...Page 34 - ECB not happy with Indian venues (dont know why ...they can still drink beer in Indore and Guwahati and get into a brawl ....Page 33..32..31.....21 when suddenly I saw a guy in a turban and the news title was "74 yr old Indian fails 40th time in Class X exams"

This old man seems to have decided not to marry till he passes his X grade. I am pretty impressed by his motivation, cant imagine how one can give this exam year after year for 40 years, expecting one day he will pass and get married. Although I am convinced he must have tried for few years before he realsied it is too late to add more chaos in his life :)

But it is great to see some people who never give up...no matter what.

Lost and found

I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I got a facebook invitation from one of my college mates. We have not been in touch for almost 10 years now....and I could barely remember him. Just to make things bit more interesting he mentioned in his invitation that "If I dont remember him ...hint is "Pune". I think he did not realise that he had his profile published with his snap.

As soon as I saw his photograph...few things struck me. This guy "Anupam" used to live on the same floor during my hostel days. Although we were not best pals, meeting your college mate in another country after so many years makes you happy.

Anyways, I accepted the invitation and to my surprise I got the call from him in 10 mins...It was a local UK call...As soon as I picked up he said "Hi Gummadi". I greeted him as well and then there was silence for couple of seconds (I guess both were trying to recollect more information about each other") ..Slowly the conversation took off and we laughed and joked about our college days.

Since he is a Londener as well, we have decided to catch up soon. He mentioned a few names (some more batch mates) who also live in London but are out of touch.So it would be very interesting when I make the similar initiative to contact them and go through the same emotions.

Monday Morning

It is 9 O clock on a monday morning and as usual I know I am going to be late in office. Mondays's have been a struggle for me right from my childhoold. I remember I used to have all kinds of excuses for not going to school on Mondays.

If my boss carefully looks at my leave history he would be shocked to see the pattern. Glad he does'nt care....which is great.

Anyways back to being late....I catch three trains to reach my office. Each train takes 15-17 mins approx and I end up wasting 1.7 hrs of my life everyday commuting. But I am still happy because in the past I took same amount of time to just reach Bandra from Vashi on my way to Vile Parle. (Crazy)

I got down from my second train and started walking on an ancient underground tunnel near the Royal Palace...suddenly I see the entire world around me moving quickly....some people are almost running , some taking brisk walk, some using skate boards and some using weird spring like thingies....All these tricks are to get the earliest train or probably grab an empty seat in the tube.

I am not interested in any of those tricks so take my own time and by the time I reach the platform....I can see a sea of Londoners....I decided to take the next train...(add few more minutes to my Monday lateness).. Hate Mondays..