Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year!

Now that 2010 is soon going to become past tense here's a toast to the future - Welcome 2011!
Happy New Year everyone.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

One for the Little Master!

Even a complete off-cricket person like me is waiting for the Little Master to perform the miracle of fifty 100s and hundred 50s in One day internationals. So when he completed his fiftieth century knock in Tests against SA, I had to write something about him. Words fail short and I found a fabulous piece from Gideon Haigh’s book - 'The Sphere of Influence' -

"In his sheer constancy, Tendulkar unwittingly obscures just how completely cricket has been transformed, to the extent that it is almost impossible to imagine his fame being replicated. Who in future will play international cricket for twenty years, losing neither motivation nor mastery? Who in future will master all three forms of the game, capable of spontaneous spectacle and massive entrenchment alike? Who in future will excite us simply by walking onto the field, just a man and a bat, and disappoint so seldom?"

Just his name evokes so much of inspiration!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

The Bigger Picture

Some people have the knack of making others feel good about situations in specific and life in general. This happened long back but I am jotting this down when I came across someone exactly opposite to the main protagonist of this tale ;)

Walking down the aisle of a reputed, typical multi storied IT company, we were 3 scared professionals. One of us was a little extra disturbed and he had been in a state of nervous breakdown for quite some time. There came a beautiful HR and asked him for some documents. The nervous wreck that he was, he fumbled and dropped his entire file contents onto the floor, much to our dismay. We expected a blasting from the HR or at least a disgusted look. Instead the lady smiled, bent down and as she helped him collect his papers commented - "Why are you so nervous? It's just an interview, an extremely miniscule entity to something much larger - your life. Never forget about the bigger picture and start worrying about such short films". Saying so she winked! I could see the effect on the guy as he regained his composure.

If I ever own a company, I would love to have someone like that represent the face of my company. Swear the lovely lady just made my day!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

New era for Bihar

Beating the anti-incumbency factor, Nitish Kumar's JD-U won 4/5th majority in probably India's most talked about state. Looks like finally the state can look forward to development rather than caste based politics.

Friday, November 12, 2010

:P

My life almost represents a fairy tale. Everything that can go wrong does indeed go wrong and everything that can go right, never does. That's why I said almost ;)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Religion - The universal binder?

As I went to Prabhadevi's famous Siddhivinayak temple for the first time, I couldn’t help but notice a few idiosyncrasies that faith and religion brings in.

Tuesday being Anagaraki Chaturthi(a special day for the elephant headed lord) the MNS folks were operating a free trip to the temple from Dadar station. The queue for this free trip amazed me and I am sure they won quite some hearts there. The temple premise was under heavy surveillance and you can’t help but feel sorry for the number of police force posted there in the scorching Mumbai heat so that the common folk have a safe meeting with the lord. The footwear stand was managed by a north Indian guy who had an amazing Punjabi dialect....they have this amazing Hindi diction that’s not heard anywhere else. A few steps later I saw a Bihari guy serving water bottles to the devotees. The darshan took almost 2.5 hours but friends told me that it was still quick considering the day; ideally it should have taken 4-5 hours. Wow! And I thought that the world was turning atheist ;). After a little pushing around near the main idol I was mesmerized by the flower decoration. I stand by my view that the most exotic jewelry for lord are fresh flowers. The gold, silver and diamonds are no match for the multi coloured gerberas, orchids, roses and the ever smiling marigold! After my darshan, I was thinking about a way back when there came a Muslim taxi guy who needed one person to complete his Dadar round. He told us that operating Dadar to Siddhivinayak on Tuesdays is one of his most preferred routes.

Religion must be the primary cause of so many conflicts worldwide that instances like this make me feel it also has the capability of being a great leveler for humankind. If only we were more tolerant.......

Monday, October 11, 2010

Any time, Party time :)

I wouldn't have noticed him if he had not been wearing a shirt that crossed his knees. That reminded me of a cousin's kid who looked cute whenever he wore exceedingly long shirts, so long as to safely forget wearing pants or knickers ;). This kid looked adoringly cute too, inspite of the rags that he was in. He was in a local train in Mumbai selling the railway timetable.

He went and sat near a blind lady and voiced his pleasure a little loudly - 'Aga pahilya pheritach 50 rupaiye zala bagh' (I earned 50 rupees in the first round itself). The lady, probably his mom, smiled and asked him to count.
He took out the money, all 10 Rupee notes, and as he counted each note, he handed it over to his mom. She checked the note, feeling it probably and understanding its denomination and making sure her kid was not making a mistake.

As I watched both of them counting and re-counting their treasure I called the kid and asked him to give me a copy of the timetable. His delight was worth a million bucks. He darted off to his bag and promptly gave me a small booklet. I handed him a 10 Rupee note and he went berserk as he looked at his mom and beamed - "Aga atta tar saath rupaiye zale; chal na kahi tari khau ya aani mag dusrya ferila jau ya." (Common Mom, now we have 60 Rupees, let’s go and eat something before we come for the next round). And off they went as if to a party!!!

Since I have been upset for many days now, I suddenly felt at peace at their happiness. As someone rightly said - "Life may not be the party we hoped for but while we are here, we might as well dance".

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Ayodhya verdict today!

As the country gears up for the Ayodhya verdict, the mood in Mumbai cannot be missed. Lets hope peace prevails!

A very thought provoking poem that I read in an article. Wish everyone thought on similar lines. Sigh!

Mandir to ban jaayega
Par Ram kahan se laaoge?
Uss masjid ki deewaron ko
Kya paak kabhi kar paaoge?
Jis chaukhat par log jale
Ram wahan na jaayenge
Jin galiyaron mein khoon gira
Maula kya reh paayenge?


The article is here.

Poem - Invictus

One of the best poems ever written -

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.


~William Henley

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Quote for the moment

"Miracles happen to those who believe in them."

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

...........

Is a known devil is better than an unknown angel?

Wish I would know the answer.

Monday, September 13, 2010

Nadal wins his career grand slam

Nadal is the new Career Grand Slam man! With only the US open having eluded him for sometime, this time he made no mistake. A title well deserved!

p.s. Federer lost to Djokovic in semi finals and it seems like age is catching up. I would be the happiest to see him make a comeback (I can never help my optimism). After all, he has had quite a long stretch of a career.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

The wining argument

You wake up from a deep sleep to go the bathroom. You glance at the watch - its 0445. You remember that you have set the alarm for 0500. The conflicting arguments of going back to sleep or staying awake has always had one winner in my case - I go back to sleep even if it is for 15 minutes ;)

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Brand Tata

In India, chances are you could spend an entire day using products created by Tata. You could take Tata Indica (or a Tata bus or a truck, if you’re adventurous enough) to the Taj hotel, turn on the Voltas aircon, watch TV bought from the Croma retail store, use TataSky to do so with electricity supplied by Tata Power, wear clothes from apparel retailer Westside, read books while lounging on cushions from multimedia and stationary vendor Landmark, check the time on your Titan watch, surf the internet with Tata Photon and make calls with Docomo, sprinkle Tata Salt on your grub using crockery and cutlery made by Tata Ceramics while sipping Tata Tea and drive out to a Taj beach resort for the weekend on a bridge constructed with Tata Steel. All this while you drink water from their Himalaya brand.

That's from an advertisement I recently saw in TATA premises.

A century old brand that is still going strong. Commendable, isn't it?

Sunday, August 22, 2010

Ramblings

I have boarded a fast train from Kasara to Mumbai CST. As Thane approaches, I plan to get down with my heavy bag. Regular commuters would tell you that 9 in the morning is not really a good time to alight at stations like Thane, Dombvili, etc (but then i wonder when exactly is the right time?). As I am praying to the almighty to let me down in one single piece I get a nice push. I turn back and the man comments, "Aila ladies hain". (Yeah, a single lady too evokes the plural noun form). The uncle to my right comments, "Idhar kahe ko chadha, ladies compartement mein chadhne ka". I smile and look at my hubby in front. "Acha, navra hain kya.....arre saab biwi ko aage lo na aap....warna woh utar nahin payengi". My poor hubby was getting the bashing, it was infact my stupid choice to get into the genral compartment because the ladies one was empty at the first stop.

For the next 3 minutes, there is no pushing so that the 'ladies' can stand in little comfort. I must say i am impressed by this chivalrous effort but as soon as the station is in sight there is such a commotion that my I am blinded by the rush. I do not remember anything except that after a few seconds I was on Thane station with my scarf in one hand, my bag on another....and yeah I am in one piece.....but hell! I just don't remember using my legs to walk a single step!

I look back at the train and I can see smiling faces as if to say "Welcome to Mumbai Mam".

Friday, August 20, 2010

;)

A completely drenched lady gets into the compartment. Another lady, probably her friend, asks "OMG, you are all wet. Was it raining?"
"No, I just took a full body wash in the station bathroom", retorts back the drenched lady.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Quote

It is better to live your own destiny imperfectly than to live an imitation of somebody else’s life with perfection!

From the book - Eat Pray Love

Sunday, August 8, 2010

Song

One of my all time favourite anatara (urdu for the middle stanza) -

Barbadiyon ka shok manana fizul tha...
manana fizul tha....
barbadiyon ka jashna manata chala gaya....
har fiqra ko dhooein mein udata chala gaya...

Main zindagi ka saath nibhata chala gaya
har fiqra ko dhooein mein udata chala gaya...


Rafi's magical voice, Sahir Ludhianvi's perfect lyrics and a good looking Dev Anand on the screen for the movie 'Hum Dono'

Monday, August 2, 2010

Three cheers to the Mumbai local

Whatever it is, I stand by my previous thought - this city has a quintessential charm! So let me pick the first charming thing about the city that every newcomer always raises a toast to - Mumbai locals!

As I crossed the 3 suburban railway lines to reach office I couldn’t help but notice that there were thousands others who did the same. But it was only me who was worried, everyone else was busy doing something on the journey. Everytime I had a confused look while switching the railway lines, in would come a good samaritan and narrate the plethora of options that lay before me. It isn’t really exciting to listen to someone talking in the native tongue - "1017 ko andheri se fast local jaati hain, usase dadar chale jaana, phir central line mein switch maaro aur Kurla jaakar wahan se Panvel chale jana. Itna mushkil nahin hain". You thought that the native tongue was marathi...no its locals! Mumbaikars eat, sleep and breathe locals ;).

Any other city probably would just have 2 options with respect to a local train - time and destination. Mumbai's railway network has probably the largest set of reserve words I ever thought was possible - fast, slow, central/main line, western line, harbour line, 12 car, 9 car, ladies special. The introduction of metro is just gonna add to the list I guess.

The cities that allow you to switch between the railway networks, example - Kurla, Dadar; one should probably hold a contest here at peak hours to check who manages to actually walk down or up the foot over bridge. Because in the 2 weeks that i tried you cannot choose to walk, you glide with the wave of passengers along. And if you glide in the wrong direction, no choice, curse your stars and start again!

Inspite of all this, its probably the best network I have ever seen. Every single point on the map is connected by the rail network with the trains running on perfect time. A 0717 hrs means just that, its never 0720 hrs. There is a train every other minute although you get a feeling that the rush in each of them is much more than the previous one.

The sheer magnitude of people travelling by the Mumbai railways can overwhelm you. As a newcomer you would detest the close proximity with which people travel. You wish you could be in a place where the density of population was lesser and the crowds thinner. But just when you are about to miss a train and are running towards it, out come many hands to pull
you in and remind you that this proximity is what keeps people human here!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

:(

I want to write so many things but somehow, I am not finding the time to sit down and actually write down anything. Uff! I really wish my hectic schedule slows down a bit so that I could write down about a wonderful city called Mumbai!

Thursday, June 17, 2010

Free voucher

I won a Radio One voucher today. The question was simple - Which of the 2 songs 'Aanewala pal' and 'Rimjhim Gire Saawan' would be played as the 13th song on the radio station. I answered 'Rimjhim', another caller - Ekta answered 'Aanewala pal'. Luckily I won! I get a voucher for the Little Italy restaurant in Pune.

I have never ever done anything like this...When my brobs heard my sound on the radio, (we were busy doing shopping), he freaked out. Probably both the songs are my favourites; so I just subconsciously chose a song and sent the sms. An unplanned move that earned me a free voucher :D

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Soccer fever

The soccer fever seems to have caught the young and the old like :) What got me into the groove, however, was the promotional song for the 2010 FIFA world cup. K'naan's waving flag seems to be just right for the event. The mood, the tempo all fit beautifully and creates a beautiful melody. Yeah, they have modified the original song to remove the dark portions of the lyrics and its rightly called the 'Celebration Mix'.

Give me freedom, give me fire,
give me reason, take me higher
See the champions, take the field now,
you define us, make us feel proud
In the streets our heads are lifting, as we lose our inhibition,
Celebration, it surround us, every nations, all around us

When I get older I will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a wavin’ flag
When I get older I will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a wavin’ flag.......





p.s. Check the original song here.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

Nadal wins French Open 2010

I wanted Soderling to capture the Roland Garros but the king of clay proved his mettle and beat Soderling to regain his favourite trophy. Yeah! he also too back the world no. 1 spot with that win.
The grass courts beckon my favourite! Eagerly waiting for the original lawn tennis tournament - Wimbledon

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Foot in the mouth

Nikhil (exasperated): Who the hell has written this piece of junk? Unnecessarily complicated the simple workflow.
Mahesh(who happens to be Nikhil's boss): Me. What happened?
Nikhil: Nothing man!!! Watched a late night movie yesterday, so didn't sleep well. Even simple things seem to appear complicated today.

Moral:Thou shall be careful with those who earneth a higher basic pay ;)



Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Federer out :(

Soderling did it again! Federer's clay performance hasn't really been inspiring but let's see if Soderling manages to upset the king of clay - Nadal, as he did last year.

With my favourite out even before the quarters I am hoping Justin Henin does some magic. After all she is one of the most successful Roland Garros player.

Update: Henin is out too, I had missed the match :(

Thursday, May 13, 2010

:)

How happy I was when Bhai was born.....I had someone to tie rakhi to ;) That’s all what i wanted him for.... I didn’t like taking care of him especially during my play time. I honestly declare that my brobs has probably been the most bullied sibling and I do not apologize for my acts. On this special day I just thought I should probably write down one of my favourite anecdotes during my childhood when my brother was just a tiny toddler.

Mom: You better take him to play
Me: No, he is such a slow player, I lose my game.
Mom: You are an elder sister; you should be protective of your brother and look how mean you are!
Me: Of course I am protective....just keep him home so, no one gets to do anything to him. Now isn’t that protection?
Mom: Shut up and take him along with you.

I fretted, cried and tried all the possible ways to let my displeasure known but moms can be pretty adamant you see. I gave up and took him along. As he tagged along on my way to the playground, the cutie pie (he was quite a looker) gave me a nice smile to which I devilishly said -

Me: Stop smiling, do you know why mom takes so much care of you?
Bhai: Because I am her son.
Me: No you idiot. You are not her son, in fact you do not belong to the family. Once mom went to throw the garbage and saw you lying there. She got you home.
Bhai:(Too stunned to react probably)
Me (continuing in my patronizing tone): That’s the reason we all try to love you and mom loves you more

He stopped and asked me to drop him back home. I was so happy....my ploy worked. I dropped him home saying that he didn’t want to play. Mom didn’t ask any questions. I was glad to have my time but when I returned from my game I saw that tiny bundle in my room full of tears. His eyes were swollen red and his cheeks flushed. He refused to believe mom who was trying to convince him that he was indeed her son. When I entered, she looked at me and sharply said "You better tell him the truth or you will have it from me." I went to him and told him that I had lied and that I was just teasing him. He made me do a 'God promise' before believing me.

The tables have turned now; he is no longer the cutie pie that he used to be but a 6 footer who has a sharp wit, a sweet tongue but a teenage temper too. However, I still bully and blackmail him to my heart's content....that hasn't really changed ;)

Happy Birthday bhai!!!!!


Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Song

....

Shart lagi hai mar jaane ki
Jeena hai toh pyaar mein
Deh kahin bhi ho vo mera
jaan rakhi hai yaar mein jaa
….beh jaa
hai sagaar ka kehna
beh jaa… beh jaa
hai nadiya ko behna

behne de ghanghor ghata
behne de paani ki tarah
saagar mein jaa girna hai
behne de nadiya ki tarah

Gulzaar's beautiful poetry with Rahman's music for the upcoming movie Raavan

Monday, May 3, 2010

Dissecting my bag ;)

"You had to come like this", fumed my mom. I was attending her close friend's party (no idea what it was for) and aunty had insisted that I come along. The ever busy me decided to drop by on my way from office but my mom's question just when I was about to enter her friend’s house took me by surprise. I was appropriately decked up according to Keralite standards - a bangle instead of my adorable bracelet, a pair of mini chandeliers as ear-rings....but yet all my pain staking sacrifice seemed to have done nothing to please my mom. Her singular, focused and undivided attentive look on my backpack let me into the secret....I was carrying a backpack instead of the more feminine purse. It was pure sacrilege!

That evening, after lending me an earful of gyaan she did the unthinkable. She confiscated my backpack and began questioning me about its contents. Here’s how it went -


Mom: Why do you have to carry this file?
Me: I usually hate folding papers, so in case of unforeseen circumstances where I receive sheet(s) of paper(s) I could keep them in THAT file instead of folding them.
(Gives me a dissatisfied look and continues.)

Mom: What are these - comb, kaajal pencil,.......(I don’t wish to name my make up kit)
Me(frust): Mom, those are a woman's birthright!
(She quite agreed to that;) )

Mom: Why are there two wallets?
Me: In case someone steals one, I do not have to call you up for help....I will have some reserve money with me :P
(Hmmmmmmmmm look)

Mom: What is this book for?
Me: Reading......I have some leisure time to read in the bus and.....(she didn’t bother to listen the next part)

Mom: What’s this second book for?
Me: Oh that! the first book is about to get over....in case it does, I don’t have to stare at my fellow passengers, I have another one to start immediately

Mom(putting her hands up): Where the hell is your laptop?
Me: Hey! I don’t have to carry it everyday...I have a different system in my office and...
Mom(cutting me short again): You mean you carry this big backpack for carrying novels.....
Me (Grinning): Yeeeeeeeeeessssssssss

That did it! She stormed out of the room leaving me alone with my idiosyncrasies :D


Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Peppy track

My mind had been thinking so hard since yesterday that I was in a state of despair when i got up in the morning. No matter what i did, I just felt hopeless. In this state I got to hear an old hindi pop track. Years after it was released, I think it is still peppy (I can see my hubby frowning on my choice).....but i am out my blues with 'que sera sera' attitude ;) all thanks to this song

hawa hawa aye hawa khushbu loota de
kahan khuli haan khuli zulf bata de
ab uska pata de, zara mujhko bata de
main usase milunga, ek baar mila de...
yaar mila de.....dildar mila de.....


zindagi ki dhoop ko saaya kar gayi
aaj mere paas se woh guzar gayi.....
usne joh kahan tune bhi suna
yeh baat aur kisko na batana....

Pakistani singer Hassan Jahangir had barged into the music scene with that song and years later it probably still rocks all parties and dance floors.....

Friday, April 2, 2010

Another to-the-point reply

I wonder sometimes if my blog is turning into 'Pune PMPML Bus diary' but I think I shouldn't bother too much about it.

The bus depot near Pune Corporation is a crowded junction with too many bus stops and no proper pointers. A beginner generally has a tough time identifying his stop and if he cannot speak the local dialect or worse, has a flair for the Queen's language, he is in a big trouble.

It was just another normal working day that had come to an end. Everyone in the bus was busy waiting for the driver and glancing at their watches. Being the start location it wasn’t really crowded. The conductor was distributing tickets. In walked a guy; he wore a 3 piece suit; obviously all eyes turned towards him with a 'did-your-car-breakdown' look. He had a backpack and a separate laptop case which meant he had obviously strayed from the nearby IT jungle.

The gentleman: Excuse me Mr. Conductor. Will this bus take me to Kalyaninagar?
(With that line every single soul onboard who understood English probably LOL.)
The conductor:             (Does that convey his blank expression)
The gentleman in the matrubhasha mode: Conductor ji, aap batayenge yeh bus Kalyaninagar jayegi?
The conductor:           (Repeat act by the conductor)

The gentleman was all lost now and was looking at the nearby passengers to guide him to appease the lord...I mean the conductor. Finally the lord spoke.....

Conductor: Neeche utarneka, left ko turn leke seedhe jaaneka...
The gentleman: Wahan pe Kalyninagar ka bus stop hain kya?
Conductor: Nahin, Enquiry counter.


If you appreciate sarcasm you will find music there ;)

Monday, March 22, 2010

The brilliant reply

Colleges are like that! Looking back, most of the things that we did (rather THEY made us do) make absolutely no sense now, but yeah, they make a part of some fantastic memories.

Ours was a batch that was unanimously horrible with UNIX. We had been working on windows and we have had quite a few visiting lecturers refusing to teach us because we were novice of the first order. What did they expect? Why would a person with a Torvalds DNA structure sit for a lecture on the first hand! Finally we managed to get hold of a professor who would come, ramble in the class and leave. The teacher and the class were unanimously indifferent to each other!

It was this afternoon lecture, hardly a time to learn UNIX or VI, but the professor was busy bragging about VI and its features. Nobody in the class cared a damn. What difference did it make to us? Suddenly he raised his voice (he probably realized that the class was fast asleep) and asked loudly - "Do you know we use the h, j, k, l for navigation in VI? If so, how the hell do we actually type the alphabets h, j, k, and l?” No response. Nobody had probably even heard the question. He suddenly looked at Ashish who had the same 'disturb-me-not-look' as he always had. You there, can you tell me?
What sir, asked the thoroughly confused Ashish. "If we use h, j, k, l instead of the arrow keys in VI for navigation what do we do when we have to type those alphabets?" asked the professor. "Use the arrow keys Sir!” came the brilliant and unadulterated reply.

Never again, as far as I remember the professor asked any questions in our class ;)

p.s. As with most of my posts, names changed :)


Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Anecdote

It was already 11 and our turn to register our group. But there was no sign of Ravi. Sid, Neeta and me were worried. He had the project reports and without submitting them we would have been disqualified immediately. It was one of those college competitions where a win ensured you could bunk classes for the next 20 days on the pretext of being tired. Obviously! Winning a competition is no mean task even if it’s sponsored by your local chaiwallah. A win is just what it is - a win. And yeah, it nurtured our adolescent egos too.

Our worried faces searched every moving object in the room to catch a glimpse of our 4th partner who seemed to have suddenly disappeared. Frantic searches lead to a dead end and just as we were about to give up, in walked Ravi with our reports and a bunch of girls with worried looks. Until that moment we thought we were the only ones with a question mark on our faces. "Can you guys help?", I heard him shout and looked towards him. "Neha here has lost her purse. She had lots of money in it. We have been trying to locate it visiting every place she went to but no use. Can you guys pitch in for help?" So there lay our answer! As we 3 idiots were finalizing our strategy, our cool-as-a-cucumber partner was busy skirt chasing.....he had probably got introduced to Neha half an hour ago but he spoke of her purse as if it contained his hard-earned money. We were too angry probably because none of us spoke for full 10 minutes. Finally, Neeta blurted out, "Let’s get a horse". We all looked surprised...Horse, what for?, asked Sid. "Yeah, so that the knight in shining armour can ride a horse, locate the missing purse and rescue his damsel in distress", said Neeta to deliver the knockout line and drill some sense into our partner.


Till date we have a field day watching an embarrassed Ravi run for cover whenever we remind him of the incident :)

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

:)

When in despair and sadness, wear something new, buy a gift for yourself and see the change.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Advertising (non)sense

A beautiful model walking out of a water body in a flaming red bikini. Can you guess the advertisement? Let me give you some options -
A) XYZ Beauty Soap
B) IJK body lotion
C) OPQ Hair shampoo
D) ABC bikini makers (I have never seen them but still!)
E) None of the above

The right answer - E. It’s an advertisement for JK cement. Yeah! As Sachin knocked us all crazy with his double ton I couldn’t help but smile at the JK cement advertisement that were being played on air. Will somebody explain the connection between the bikini girl and the product? I couldn’t figure any.........but I think they got what they wanted....I will never forget this ad. After all it takes a different kind of genius to dole out that kind of crap!



p.s. Meanwhile hail the god of cricket...he makes even an unenthusiastic cricket person like me to move to the corner of my sofa seeking divine intervention.....even the gods would have been busy watching him yesterday!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Poetry Time

I had posted this before but most probably it got lost with my Yahoo 360 blog. One of Ogden Nash's gems and a personal favourite.


Love is a word that is constantly heard,
Hate is a word that is not.
Love, I am told, is more precious than gold.
Love, I have read, is hot.
But hate is the verb that to me is superb,
And Love but a drug on the mart.
Any kiddie in school can love like a fool,
But Hating, my boy, is an Art.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The perfect reply

Gift of the gab with the correct quantity of wit and sarcasm thrown ....I hardly know folks who have that trait. It's sheer pleasure to listen to such people.

Was talking to Nikhil after a gap of years.....

Nikhil: Life's cool...US is being good,it held onto me inspite of the recession...that wasnt really easy ;)
Me: :). Hey, by the way hows Niharika?

Prolonged silence made me realize that I had struck a wrong note......Damn! I thought. I should not have asked that question......The errie silence continued before Nikhil delivered the knockout line that said eveything -

"You never marry the person you first watch Casalanca with"

Inspite of the sad undercurrents I ended by doing a WOW.I really couldnt help it!


Monday, February 1, 2010

A sweet ordeal

I was travelling from Pune to Mumbai and inspite of waiting for 45 minutes when my bus didn’t turn up I realized something was amiss because usually the buses run on time. On enquiring with the conductor of another bus he told me I had booked the wrong ticket. I had booked the tickets for morning 05:45 instead of an evening one. Imagine a 24 hour time format lover like me making such a stupendous mistake! There wasn’t any time to lose, I decided to fret over it once I had figured a way out to resolve my stupidity. Thanks to Anu who dropped me immediately to the main bus depot I caught a bus just as it was about to leave. But there was a catch! There weren’t any vacant seats, if I decided to take the bus I had to travel standing for the 2.5 hours of my journey. I opted for it. Usually a decision haunts you only after its taken….sigh!!!!!!

So began my journey..err...standing journey.

15 minutes into my journey a teenage girl walked up to me and asked me to occupy a seat reserved for her sister who would have got in late. Happily, I obliged. That saved 30 minutes of standing. When the girl's sister walked into the bus from another stop I reluctantly vacated the seat. As I was standing, a very old grandma looked at me and smiled. I smiled back too. I was now in the self-abusing mode, cursing my stupidity about overlooking such a simple fact while booking the ticket (Yeah, I had delegated this task when I had more important things to do). As I cursed myself in all the languages I knew, the smiling grandma opened a Tiffin box and gladly offered me a paratha as she added "You might be tired standing. Why don’t you have this?". I was flabbergasted and again I obliged. Now a paratha wasn’t a bad offer for I needed all the strength I could gather ;). Just as I finished having my paratha an auntie nearby asked me to sit on her seat's hand rest. I muttered a thanks and declined but she wasn’t to listen. I HAD to sit. She asked where was I going to get down and why hadn’t I booked a ticket? I told her my destination and the reason cleverly disguising my stupidity as urgency. By then we were almost 2 hours into the journey. The bus took a halt and people got down for their various businesses.

When we all assembled back, a mid-aged uncle walked up to me and asked me to occupy his seat as he was finding it inconvenient to sit in the small seat since he was obese(he told me exactly that). I argued till I lost. I am not exactly fond of chivalry but then how many times do we demean ourselves to make someone else comfortable? Not unless we are sure to score a point and increase our self-deprecating-sense-of-humour quotient. But here was man who was offering me his seat because he thought I was too tired to stand. Reluctantly, I did as he wished. Fortunately it was the last leg of my journey.....because I couldn’t help but feel guilty.

Finally my destination arrived and as I got up to leave I thanked all those good Samaritans who just made my journey memorable! I got a feeling that people are essentially good and this goodness manifests in such experiences :)

Sunday, January 31, 2010

16th Grand Slam win!

Murray's hope of creating history after Fred Perry were laid to rest by Roger Federer as he won the 24 point tie breaker to lift the Australian Open.

A fab start to the year for the new dad ;)

Monday, January 11, 2010

What's best about Mumbai?

The victorian buildings:Nothing beats this one. I loved those buildings at their first sight, the stone walls, huge wooden doors, those french windows, corridors that seem to be never ending...... if i ever stay anywhere between CST and churchgate, I would take a walk everyday to imbibe the sheer magnanimity that these old age buildings seem to disperse.

Trains:Just when you thought that there isn’t an iota of space to keep another pair of feet, in come hoards of people and they still manage to fit in. You may curse and abuse the system but you could never miss that commuter who has a bag pack on his bag and a newspaper which he reads in leisure as if seated in a five-star dining room. You need to just look around to find a thousand faces that make you appreciate everything you have rather than cribbing about what you don’t!

Yeah! I know there are issues that plague this city but manmade issues cannot stop me from adoring a city that spells life and dreams for millions of people!

~ from the eyes of a newbie