Here I am

Time has passed quite briskly, or else how could one explain the difference in timestamp between this and my previous post? Feels like I had taken this short break from blogging, but then when I log back on to twitter I feel like one of those shady characters who are imprisoned for several years, and when finally released are amazed by the speed at which civilisation has moved ahead leaving them aeons behind. Bloggers seems to have done that to me. Several things have changed, but then treading through alien lands is nothing new to me, at least now!

While in college, I always looked forward to having a job. I would imagine my salary getting credited, and how thrilled I would be to get that money and spend, and all that childish crap one goes through in college. Ya, it did and does happen sometimes but then the job I looked at from my college boy eye is entirely different from what I do for a living now. This is much more challenging, and much more intriguing.

Job has kept me busy and off from several things. College was much different. I now interact very less with my friends. Definition of fun has now emerged to be a quiet dinner and a sound sleep. And ya, even funnier part of my life is acting very serious all day. I havent yet realised if I appear serious, or am serious or act that way for the heck of it to eke out a living. I just be so, and at the end of the day, manage to pull through all the requirements of my job!

That apart, my job has brought me another step closer to the rural hinterlands. Several times earlier, I had tiny stints/rendezvous with the rural life, but never as close as this one. I now live in a small town, and commute every day to several remote villages where my non-A/C Maruti 800 is quite an item! That - not the recognition - has added some zing to my job.

Its been very long since I typed more than 160 characters. I send out 10s of SMSs everyday and an equal number of tweets. Probably that has kept me from missing blogger. But then, how many ever T20s and ODIs you watch, a test is a Test... Real Class! Probably that is what Blogger to me is!

When I think of what exactly is the meaning or reason for this post, or will I continue blogging, I have no answers... All that I know is that Here I am, after a long time... And what was I doing all this while?! Enjoying life, job and the monies! :D And ya, what made me break my sabbatical? This post - after a good 2 yrs on this blog!

Tagged by Reva!

Welcome change from posts I have been writing, I have been tagged by Reva to answer a few questions. This coincides with my finishing MBA in a week, does that imply me to stop writing what I write and get back to tag days?! :P

Anyway, here is the questionnaire I had to fill (Major Project lingo does that to u! :P)

1. LAST MOVIE YOU SAW IN A THEATRE:

Tashan. Seen it just a cupla days back. Dont ask me how it is... That will need another post altogether! :P

2. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING?

The Joy of Selling by Steve Chandler. Its a mini-series on his take-aways on Selling and Sales Management. Fun read!

3. FAVORITE BOARD GAME?
Flash :D Teen Patti, anyday! Amazing fun to burn all the midnight's oil and a little dough! :P An ideal Last semester getaway that has proven itself twice for me... Now that orkut also has it, everyone should try their hands at it! Strongly Recommended, people!

4. FAVORITE MAGAZINE?
Maxim? :P Vogue? I mean... Come on... Do I look like someone who reads magazines?! Its all online, baby! 8)

5. FAVORITE SMELLS?
Freshly ground coffee... Thats the best smell I have ever felt. After that comes the scent of paper in a new book! :D

6. FAVORITE SOUND?
Imagine a soundless space. Just the flutter of air the fan is cutting through! No light too... Just sleep... Nirvana! :D

7. WORST FEELING IN THE WORLD?
You wake up early in the morning and push yourselves very hard to make it to the class or exam or whatever, and realise that it has been cancelled or rescheduled. Try beating that! :P

8. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU WAKE?
When can I sleep again?! :D

9. FAVORITE FAST FOOD PLACE?
Saddi Dilli is THE place for Fast Food... From Kathi Zone to Chataak Chaat to Currims and Nizams, I love them all! :D Btw, the fastest food joint that I always haunt is my Hostel mess. No matter how hard I try, I cant spend more than 5 minutes there! :P

10. FINISH THIS STATEMENT. "IF I HAD A LOT OF MONEY I’D...?
Spend it! As simple as that! :P

11. DO YOU SLEEP WITH A STUFFED ANIMAL?
Heck! No... Nothing on my bed except me! :D

12. STORMS-COOL OR SCARY?
Cool...

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CAR?
Will take this offline! :P

14. FAVORITE DRINK?
Budweiser!

15. FINISH THIS STATEMENT, "IF I HAD THE TIME I WOULD...
Sleep! :D Trust me, you dont get to do that in an MBA!

16. DO YOU EAT THE STEMS ON BROCCOLI?
Broccoli what?

17. IF YOU COULD DYE YOUR HAIR ANY COLOR, WHAT WOULD BE YOUR CHOICE?
Ahem Ahem! Why fiddle around with rare resources?! Let the poor thing be!

18. NAME ALL THE DIFFERENT CITIES/TOWNS YOU HAVE LIVED IN.
Hyderabad, Warangal, Gandhinagar, Delhi.

19. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?
Soccer never had a partner until IPL happened!

20. ONE NICE THING ABOUT THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU.
Reva... She is a bundle of good things! An awesome friend, so full of life. She is one who lives her life to the fullest! Amazing girl!

21. WHAT'S UNDER YOUR BED?
I just checked. Nothing. Why? Did you keep something?!

22. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE BORN AS YOURSELF AGAIN?
Definitely! None else but me, me and me again! :D

23. MORNING PERSON, OR NIGHT OWL?
Night Owl, Nights are always productive, arent they?! ;)

24. OVER EASY, OR SUNNY SIDE UP?
Sunny Side Up! :D Tasty and Bright! :D

25. FAVORITE PLACE TO RELAX?
Home... Sweet Home... Heavy Lunched, and lazing around.. Whatelse do u need in life?! :D

26. FAVORITE PIE?
Is American Pie on the list?

27. FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR?
Chocolate Chip Rocks, Cookie and Cream is awesome!

28. OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU TAGGED THIS TO, WHO'S MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND FIRST?
Amod or Megha!


And I am tagging...

Amod, Steve and Megha! :D

5 Star

Supriya Narang tagged me to write a 5-minute monologue, called FMORT - Five Minutes of Random Thought - where I think random things and punch on the keyboard about whatever is going on in my mind. One of my friends, Vijay Pratap Singh, way back in 2004 asked me to close my eyes and randomly write whatever my mind is feeling like on a piece of paper. It is a great stress-reliever, he believed and today, we believe.

Okie, now for the tag. Its 2204 hours on my watch and Shoot!

Where do people get these ideas of tagging from? Is it their urge to think of a new tag or are they so vela that they think of such things? Dont they think of what would happen if the tag never caught on, and people dint reply? I appreciate their efforts, indeed. As Richard Branson's book title goes, 'Screw It, Just Do It' should be our motto.

Airlines in India are a big pain in the ass. I have succumbed to all types of delays, cancellations and the woes always continue. And coming to India, I am a patriot but I think we are bloody racists. Though we say we are at the recieving end of racism, we infact practice racism, and the worst kind of it I must add. How many times have to had an air-hostess or a steward on board who has a grayish complexion? How many times have you been a victim of people prefering people of their state, caste, religion or color over you? This is omnipresent. We need to change a lot.

Guys just cannot stick to their seats in a flight :S In a goddamn two hour domestic flight, they want to go to the loo five times, as if it was the best place to be on a Boeing, and ask for weird things like Fruits after a meal. Is the air hostess your wife or are you in a marriage, pal?! :P

Diwali preparations itself were awesome in Delhi. I realised what exactly festive mood is. Shopping, every car loaded with gifts, every face on road smiling, every street lit up... Wow... That was a feast to the eye, just that I could do with a little less traffic! :P

okie, the bell rings... Time's up...

My Five Minutes to fame are over, and my five victims as under:

Rahul Pallerla muuuhaaahaaahaa
Saraswathi Mukkai
Abhishek Deshpande
Jen
Revati Ananda

Meddling in the Middle...

Ya, I was! In the middle of the weekend, on the midnight of Saturday, I have been wondering what to do, and I remembered something I wanted to do... Answer Jen's tag! :D

The tag asks me to do certain things, with my middle name, unfortunately which I don't have! So, taking a cue from Saraswathi, I decided to use my second name, but it's longer (Kodithala) than my first name (Naresh). Lazy bugger that I am, I chose my first name to expand each of those letters into qualities. This is where I have been meddling in middle, between what Jen told and Saraswathi did! :D

Now, this tag asks me to pick my middle name and map my attributes to each of its letters, and then tag an equal number of others. Here is me doing the honors:

N - Narcissist - I am a die hard narcissist people! I love myself. I believe in 'Love thyself, then only any one else'. I believe satisfaction and loving your life are important to lead life happily. Otherwise, there is no point doing whatever we do. After all, it is us we live for primarily, right?! This is like being in a business, a company must look to increase its own revenue and hence profits, even before its staff happiness, shareholder's value etc... Once it is self sufficient, everything else will fall in place. Hence, people, be narcissistic!

A - Available - Whatever, whoever, however a friend might be, if I consider him/her important enough, there is no way I am unavailable to them. I dont care how frequent people stay in touch, but if I respect them or like them, no way I ditch them! I like standing up to committments and responsibilites. I take pleasure in making friends happy! But ya, it takes a lot for someone to come into this bracket. Though I am socially well on-the-move always, not every friend comes into this bracket, and who come in, don't need to be told. The situations speak for themselves! :D

R - Ruminating - I don't chew the cud, obviously! I reflect deeply on everything, every one, every instant, though not instantly, but overtime. I ruminate so much on people that I feel everyone does good things, and bad things happen only unintentionally. I dont get frustrated or excited easily. I focus on stuff and then take my decisions.

E - Easy Rider - Keep Smiling... Live Life to the fullest. There is no use fretting and frowning. A smile is the most beautiful thing on this earth, no matter whose face it adorns. I firmly believe that one who can smile amongst adversities is the toughest man, and I always try to be on!

S - Sleepy - I am a log! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

H - Hard Working - Seems oxy-moronic, eh?! But its true. I believe in hardwork . If hard work is combined with right amount of passion, there's no stopping and I believe that is what we need to look for! Seems preachy, but utterly true!

So much for knowing Naresh ;) Now on to others...

As per Comrade Jen's orders, we need to look for 6 gullible people, and here's the list:
Rahul Pallerla, my evergreen tag victim!
Shikha Tomar She always surprises up her sleeve for me...
Reva Ananda Is radio her middle name?! :P
Diwakar Kaushik This shall be interesting...
Abhishek Deshpande Needs a break from CAT prep and hence the tag ;)
Amod Verma Welcome back to active blogging! :P

Pursuing Power...

Power is a key word of life. Power is what that drives the world, according to me. Today, for instance in India, though we celebrate young and emerging India, we are all witness to the fact if you are powerful, you can go scathe-free. I am talking not just of politicians, film stars and filthy rich real estate people escaping jail, but am talking of our daily life.

To me, power today is money and influence. They will always mean power to me and I shall strive for them. It is probably the most common sight on the busy Delhi roads that uber rich people driving all those Mercedes, BMW models often get down on to the road to settle scores with guileless autowallas just to show off that they are powerful.

As we talk of equality, change in the country, and sense prevailing due to education, we are just fooling ourselves. Very often people relate the IT boom to the success of young India in moving the country forward. They often cite examples of well-to-do IT professionals donating to NGOs, teaching kids and all. To me, it all seems like a faff. I do appreciate their benevolence a bit, but somewhere in me, there is a cynic who tells me it isn't their magnanimity but their drive to show off their power and in that manner, get some influence. I may be wrong though! The striking thought that doesn't allow me to accept their nobility right away is that if they are all that noble, enlightened, educated and civilised, what is the frigging problem in following lane discipline on the roads yaar?! I haven't seen their attitudes changing too. Its just their lifestyles that have changed, and that is because of the dollars that the West throws at the so-called IT Services sector of India, which hasn't done any noticeable service to the country, except boosting the mall and pub culture.

As we embark upon things like 'Lead India', which I can't make any sense of, are we really competent and enlightened enough? Do we know what we are, before we announce what we want in others? Was reading a kid, aged 11, with no offence to him and all my respect to his intellect, speaking to a ToI correspondent talking about how a leader should be, and how Gandhiji was 'all giving and sacrificing'. Am sure he spoke that out of just the prodding of that media man who must have been on the prowl for his day's dough through some filler in the newspaper.

It seems to me like a pity that we are in a hurry to jump to judgements. We are mistaking power to be enlightenment. Being powerful isn't being intelligent or mature or even sensible! It is just being wealthy, influential and likes. It is a fact , infact a maxim or I would say 'Eleventh Commandment' that 'You cannot ignore power centers'. But we must not stoop to a level that we assuage these rich and getting richer segment of the society, all the while ignoring the real meaning of society. These aren't people we should be targetting to build a better nation. When our eye is in the wrong place, it doesn't matter if we have shot in the bull's eye!

The Style in Lifestyle...

Television is a powerful media, it reflects the societal thought and ideologies at a given time. The shows, the kind of media, the kind of audience tells a lot. We earlier had mythologies, then soap operas, and then started Reality Shows. Today's Indian Idol, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa are a monitor of what the audience wants and enjoys.

Also the same is the case with different channels. We once had only Doordarshan, that gave us complete platter of programmes. We had news, songs, reality shows all packed into one channel and should I add that we enjoyed it. Even today, we idolise Doordarshan! Then came an onslaught of channels that gave us a share of movies, songs and other things. They further diverged into subsidiary channels, giving us channels specific for songs, news, movies etc... Zee, Sony, Star... All have taken this route, and have done it commendably well all the time fighting it out with each other with elan!

With growing demand and pan-India development of cable networks, they introduced local flavors. Then came a flurry of News channels, and when it all seemed saturated, we were left guessing what the next step would be... While there have been many genres of television in the world like History, Food and Travel, Weapons and Action, India has confined them all only to specific shows!

Now, NDTV has dawned open a new era of Television. After mastering news and finance, it has now ventured into Lifestyle. Lifestyle, as a genre, is not exactly new to Indian audience. Various channels have always had Travel, lifestyle as concepts for several of their shows. Now, NDTV has taken it a step forward and launched an entire new channel on it. Though I am yet to see it, am looking forward to it more than anything else on television. Agency FAQs writes the following about it:

The channel is in English and it is positioned as an aspirational product for viewers. It will mould programming specific to the Indian context. It claims to have at least 50-60 programmes per week to cater to the taste of its target audience. The genres include food, late night chat shows, relationships, travelling, cooking, tech and gadget shows, Indian weddings, parenting, pet care, parties, health and wellness and fashion cars and motor bikes.

It is indeed endearing to look for a channel that has a specific positioning in mind and working towards it. The most important factor behind this channel is its association with Kingfisher. Kingfisher, with its wizardly marketing acumen, has been venturing into right businesses. From rockshows, F1 races, lounge bars to lifestyle channels, it knows what it takes to be the King of Good Times! Kingfisher blog announced the launch of this channel too!

One of the masters of modern marketing, Kingfisher, and one of the pioneers of Indian television, NDTV have joined hands and am sure this going to be something interesting. If as nothing else, as a casestudy! ;)

PS: I quite dint understand completely though as to why this channel is completely in English!

One Night at CEP

This was long ago, but I wrote a novella for JAM last year! Never linked it on my blog, in fact, I forgot about it, but when was chatting with a friend and fished out the link which was still on my orkut profile, I thought why not post it here too! Shud have done this long ago, but better late than never, I guess!

Here it is: One Night @ CEP

Its an adaptation, or anything else you would like to call it, of Chetan Bhagat's 'One Night @ Call Center' to suit the nativities of DA-IICT, my alma mater, my love! :D

PS: Its a long read! Read it at your own risk! :D

Blogging for Branding...

Today, or infact tonight, seems to be the blog on brands night! :P In addition to the blog I posted hardly a couple of hours ago about Brand You, which is just below so am not linking it :P, I thought it would be better to put here a post I wrote in one other blog of mine which I decided not to carry forward for it provided me no good features I was looking for. Lets discuss that some other day, and stick to the post here:

Blogging to me, and many others I know, is a way to express yourself. But, what is it exactly that we get out of blogging? Is it satisfaction, happiness, security or acceptance? Probably it is a mixture of both, to me, it is the comfort of expressing yourself without any interruption.

Imagine talking about Gandhi. An illustrious figure that he is, I am sure when one is discussing Gandhi in a group, one cant speak for a continuous 5 minutes, which I assume a 1000 word blog post would take, for someone would chip in with appreciation or condemnation by then. Where as, if you are blogging about Gandhi, the canvas is all yours and your paint-kitty is full. You can write whatever you want, and then decide whether people speak and discuss about it or not. This is the biggest advantage of Blogging according to me.

Further, there are 100 things in each of us that are unknown to others. Mostly, people play it to the galleries when interacting with others. I mean we show that facet of ours that best suits the situation and the other person. It is never our complete self, which can be known and understood only when we want others to. This can be done either by expressing it through action or words. Expressing one self completely through actions would take loads of time. Imagine yourself wanting to prove it to others than you heart goes out for street children, and that is why you don't donate to child beggars at junction for you feel they are coerced into it by begging mafias. This could be interpreted in 100 ways, ranging from you being rude to indifferent to impassionate, based on the perciever. Where as, if you write it in a blog saying this is what i feel, teh writing is on the wall and everyone knows what you feel.

This is nothing but Marketing yourself, and that is what I think we blog for. We make ourselves heard, and invite people to know us better. That is the motive of Blogging for me!

This was my post there, and talking about blogs and brands, I guess I must link to Daniel Lyons who branded himself as Steve Jobs on his blog which he called The Secret Diary of Steve Jobs. Is this surrogate branding?

YOU

Mirror, Mirror, Mirror on the wall... What is the greatest brand of all?

YOU, your honor!

That is the eternal truth of the world. If one had to sum up the existence of man kind in one word, that would be branding. It is a naked truth that we all survive on branding, our own individual branding. We want to be associated as something or someone in other's minds. When it comes to perceptions, we seldom ask ourselves what we are, we generally ask what others think of us! We try to portray ourselves to others to make a statement. We brand ourselves. We brand ourselves as go-getters, arrogant, jubilant, insane or whatever! And who makes the megabucks in this frenzy? Its the brands, the real ones this time! Everybody who wants to be branded as a dynamic person like Amitabh, wants to flaunt Reid and Taylor. Everyone who wants to look cool flaunts a MotoRazr or MotoRockr. Of course, no if is if and no but is but until Hypothesis Testing has been done and the Null Hypothesis rejected. But then, the very fact that there is gut and gumption to propose the hypothesis means this holds some value.

If we ever thought Branding self is a radical, new concept, we are wrong. It dates back to decades and as much as I could dig out, there has been solid evidence exactly 10 years back when Fast Company magazine made a mention of Brand You in one of its 1997 editions. The magazine spoke of realising what you are, and planning your career envisaging yourself as a brand as far as in 1997.

In fact, everything we do is for branding. Blogging is a sort of branding exercise. We could blog about everything that happens in our lives. Irky neighbors, pesky teachers, gorgeous women we see, filthy roads we tread on and many many more. But we do not. We consciously choose what we blog on when we want to brand ourselves.

Why do we brand ourselves like this?

The basic crux of a product is as follows:



The true you that you are is the CORE, but it gets embroiled in how you present yourselves, and further gets a face-lift through what others perceive of you. Without even your conscious effort, you start branding yourself.

And then, why not brand?! It is important to let people know what you are, and in the world where customer is the king, you should truly play to the galleries. If an employer wants a certain kind of candidate, ofcourse you should brand yourself as an enterprising candidate for the same!

So, what is Brand You?! Look into yourselves and see what you as a real brand are, and market it well! Life is all about Marketing!

Products and Habits

Today in the hour of Project Management, an illustrious and knowledgeable professor whom I admire a lot, mentioned about the analogy between brands and us. A simple thing like wearing shirt has so many connotations. It is a symbol of what you want others to feel about you.

While talking of how consumer behavior is closely knitted with what you perceive and what you want others to perceive of yourselves, the discussion landed up on whether products make habits or habits make products. It is something worth pondering upon. The professor just made the statement and left it at that.

In hindsight, I realise it is a profound observation of the society. For example, we never had an urge to sit on sofas and converse over coffee for long hours in an expensive setting until Barista and Cafe Coffee Day beckoned. We had a habit of having coffee, and these products stormed the market and groomed our habits in a certain way. The same is the situation with Big Bazaar, which as Kishore Biyani mentions in his autobiographical 'It Happened In India' is a gap-filler between the rich and poor customers of the country. Earlier the B and C consumer class of the country always bought goods from mom-and-pop stores and never dared to enter the so-called fancy departmental stores. They feared high rates and sophisticated products. With the advent of Big Bazaar, lower strata of society today thinks departmental, and thats because of the cost-competitiveness that product called Big Bazaar brought into the market.

Talking in such a tone, one tends to conclude that every innovation is in fact a habit-maker. As it is, the common strata of the society will never have aspirations to change things. An average Indian is busy with his work, family and other things. He always tends to get his work done with things available rather than look for making or ordering things that can do work his way. Hence, his habits are infact a slave to his choice of products.

Are we so fickle and product-oriented that we cannot stand stern on our habits? I really cant imagine what all those stranded in traffic bikers of Bangalore did earlier when there were no i-pods. I cannot imagine having a cup of coffee, however heavenly it is, at Saravana Bhavan while chatting with friends for at least 4-5 hours without any interruption. The waiter there could get physical if you tried that. The point is that with offer of new products, we groomed new habits. This means the personality of individuals and a society is broadly defined by the products the society produces and uses. Harley Davidson produced mean machines and made the western youth freaky bikers, while Hero Honda made 100CC and made the Indian youth ready for marriage! :P

Whatever the fact, it seems to me that our habits are the shadows that emanate out of the light that the product emanates! So, when we define our character or personality, what do we look for?! The shadow or the light that causes it? Are we so inconsequential that an enigmatic thing whose existence is always a debate, which is caused by some external object defines us while we dwell in the paradox that we created both, yet they command us!

EoF

Nope... This isnt any End of File... It is end of a fairytale... Another fairy tale called vacation! Every brings with it amazing moments with friends, parents and siblings... It is so tough to leave home to college after a vacation, especially to a place where it takes ten minutes to open the Create Post page in Blogger :P

The first thing we bargain for a career is family, and we say we do everything we do for our family. How fair is this?

Coming to college, it feels hmmm... ok to be back in college. Its a new beginning. It is very strange to have a 3 month layoff from the campus in a 20 month programme. It kinds of pulls away from your mind the 8 months of memories enscribed on your mind, and when you reach back to ensue the remaining part of the programme, you feel like you are starting everything all over again. Anyway, since the action hasnt all begun yet, cant think this feeling for granted too!

Back to career-making, IIM-B has come out with a grading mechanism where it says it considers scoring patterns from high school itself. What if someone, a late starter like me may be, wakes up towards the end of his college, realises his interest and makes an earnest attempt to make a career?! Should his high school or something which he calls past pull him back?

This raises the fundamental question of time in my mind. What is the time when someone should realise about their career? In my high school, I remember myself as the boy raving about his new bicycle, craving for an outing with parents, trying out new panipuri stalls in the colony. I never knew I had to marry and have kids and raise a family, and support it! I mean, I saw others doing it, but it never struck to my cognizance that I had to do it one day and hence I better plan. It all fell into place with the course of time.

So, where does that put us? Does that mean, irrespective of what you would be doing later, you just try and ace everything you study? Doesnt that typecast probable brilliant minds into study machines?! Doesnt that inhibit the intellectual capacities of young minds only into books? Not that I would have been an Einstein had I not been co-erced to study, I would have atleast tried my hand at something else, I would have probably learnt something which I dont probably know now... This must have been what most of us felt at one point or the other in time.

Where does this leave us?! Should we live for a career or make a career to live? A successful career should have passion, motivation and loads of zeal according to me, but it should all be topped with a sense and sensibility to make sense to what you really are, and where you really belong to! It is indeed not about money, honey!

No

The toughest word to say out in the English Language is probably the easiest to write... NO... Thats the word, two letters that appear in the same order next to each other in the English alphabet. Yet, for many people, which includes yours truly, it is by far the toughest word to come out of their mouth.

People tend to say everything but a No. To me, the toughest thing to come out of my mouth is a No. I invite trouble so many times which could have been averted if I dare to say this two letter word. Extra work, several obligations, all come my way for one inability!

I feel its a virtue to be able to say a No. People say MBA teaches people to say a No, and somehow, it sure seems to be true. Atleast it gives you lots of opportunities to say a No, and it is up to you to learn from those and master the art of saying a No. Am trying to do that. This is what I call improving my no-how :P

Sometimes, simplest of the tasks seem the toughest and blurting out this simple word is one such task for me.

Bye Bye Bangalore...

Somehow, Blogger dsnt allow me to post a title today :( Anyway, its finally curtains down to my stay at Bangalore. Unexpected turn of events later, I was told an hour ago that I can leave anytime from then. Had been trying since 4 days to know when I could go and this came as a surprise, nevertheless an interesting one.

The last two months have been fabulous in Bangalore. Met many old friends, spent some quality time with them, went to a few good places, and ya, worked a bit :D Also got tht much touted corporate exposure. It has been a pleasant experience. At least the road to my career seems more clear now.

Bangalore has been a great venue. Over all I liked it, for not just friends, I got to spend some good time with my sister too. Bangalore to me, though, doesnt seem like a city I would like to settle in. One day, a friend of mine quoted, " Bangalore isnt a city you should go around in. In Bangalore, just choose a nice house, sit and enjoy the weather. If you go out, you wont enjoy it." That is true. With too much of traffic and congestion, the travel takes away the delight of going places.

High points of Bangalore:

• Friends
• Sister
• Amazing Work place
• Cool Lifestyle
• Radio City (I am almost in love with RJs Aviva and Vasanti! Desh, I got a call from Vasanti, by the way! :D)
• First pay packet :D
• Waiting For Lefty :D

Low Points:

• Traffic
• No proper trips
• Too pricey movies
• No Sivaji in Telugu :(

All in all, two months I would cherish...

For now, its Bye Bye Bangalore! :)

Movies... Masti... Magic...

Its a habit among wannabe's to flaunt their list of movies, highlighting the intellectual ones at that, and make a statement. We all know many people who watch movie just because they feel left out if they don't watch it. Sometimes I am asked why I dont appreciate or enjoy watching intellectually stimulating angrezi phillums in the theatre. Ya, I dont enjoy watching Lord of the Rings too. Somehow, I do enjoy Harry Potter. (Emma Watson is just one reason, though! :P)

The point is simple. Indian psyche has put in me the school of thought that movies are something which you go to when you want to chill, enjoy, have some fun and come back home carrying nothing in your mind. Given the requirements of having fun and spending time away from the world, why would I want to analyse a scene going on in the movie? Why should I have to remember a scene half an hour ago, only to connect it to a scene to come half an hour later. Goddamnit, I am paying my hard earned money not to screw my brain, but to enjoy for a few hours. So fill it with vibrant colors, masti filled humor and magical sequences.

Of course, I dont say defy logic each time. Make something like Happy Feet. You feel fresh after the movie. Before you conclude I like romantic, musical, animated or comedy movies, let me add another movie I enjoy is Pulp Fiction. There are times when you feel like you should have a gun and thump bullets into any damn guy that comes in your way. Thats when Torentino seems like THE GOD to you! Violence is an art, and he masters it! The underlying point is that the motto of a movie is to make you feel that you have gained enough returns on your investment. It should not make you feel like you have bought some headache at the cost of a couple of hundreds.

If you say movies should come with a message and I should appreciate it, forget it! I am going to be a Post Graduate in an year, and you expect me to change my life and thoughts all watching a 3-hour movie. Then, we should actually close down all the schools, make message-oriented movies and teach our kids to watch a movie a day and capture the learnings and change themselves. Its foolishness to think movies will change people.

Thrill and Suspense might be an occasional choice, but entertainment is what we are looking for and ensemble is what we shall enjoy! I know not all of you will agree with me, but I sure know I am not alone, for wherever I went and whomever I met, I either found people who shared this thought with me or people who first showed off only to confess later that masti is what makes movies.

I find it irritating when people say Hollywood is oh!so good and Bollywood is so bereft of innovation and intellectual content. Movies, literature, dramatics, music are something that are mirrors of the society. In our society, there are very few legal and socially accepted ways of hanging out - I can recollect only family picnics and movies now. So, to us as a society, movies are breaks we take to indulge in ourselves. The situation is different when you look at the western societies. People there booze at home. Late night parties are rampant. Dating is common, prostitution is legal and Theatre, Music, Art, Literature and Sports are appreciated at all levels regularly. To us, a district level sports meet is something which only the national selectors should see, and we call ourselves sports lovers. Duh! To us, literature only means Five Point Someone and likes, but no book reading sessions, no kavi sammelans etc... We neither go out with families to art exhibitions. Of course, as I always say, exceptions do exist, and this exceptions are what we are trying to capitalise on.

In such a scenario where movies are our only respite from our daily taxing routine, we naturally want resplendent 3-hour narrations of larger than life sagas. If we ever wanted something that is common in life, why bother to spend money? Look out of the window, India has lots of diversity. So, the bottom line is that movies should be full of masti and magical which logically explains the success of something like Sivaji. I am amazed at people being shocked by how such films do well in India. The only reason is that we dont connect our lives to movies, nor do we want to! We want an out of the world experience and who ever gives it, wins the moolah!

If you want a start at what movies exactly should be like to reach out to the widest segment of the Indian audience, watch The God in Sivaji... Its coooooooooooooooool!

Fight with Eight!

Am already a Random guy. Added to that, Sakshi tagged me to state Eight Random facts about me. So, I randomly sat down to jot down eight random things about me and ended up with a random mix of random things about me, which might have come into me randomly but have been inscribed in me so much that even when I think randomly these are the random things that strike me, for I already told you am so random... The previous statement had eight randoms :P Probably, that should end the tag :P But, being such a good and nice boy I am, I dont want to set a bad precedent for the successors who wud embark on this eventful journey of randomness and script a legacy.

Hence, here I state eight random things about me:

1. I am unhappy with my life. I cant figure out the exact reason, but the truth prevails nonetheless.


2. I like wearing clothes that dont match. A trouser that wouldnt go with the shirt makes a great combination, but ofcourse, I fear accusations of insanity too, and keep the mismatch to the minimum ;)


3. Am a die-hard Rajini fan... Seen his movie yesterday and am still in the hangover. Am going to watch it again today. Am going to watch it atleast four more times. He is the living legend of our times :D His movies, the ones people accuse of lack of logic, meaning and stuff, give me a mental orgasm! :P


4. I love spending time at home, lazing around, doing nothing :D I think thats the best way to spend a day, but alas, seldom do I get a chance to spend time like that.


5. I am a binge spender :P I either spend a lot or dont spend at all. I believe in getting the best when you have the money :D


6. I want to make a film on Einstein. period.


7. I feel jittery on everytime I fly, during takeoff and landing. I am scared that a wheel will fly off and I will either be dead or injured. I feel like I have won the world when I land or takeoff safely :P


8. I am a homebird. I miss my home a lot, and feel very bad whenever I have to leave home for college. :(

Now, to state eight random facts, eight random people:

• Steve James Nipps ... My Tag victim forever ...


• Shikha Tomar ... There wud b 80 random things she can say now :D ...


• Saraswati Mukkai ... Wud b fun and interesting to know! ...


• Abhishek Deshpande ... I wud b looking forward to this ...


• Diwakar Kaushik ... Random Things abt the Random Soul ...


• Prasoon Gupta ... Try answering tags ...


• Reva ... Do this in Tamizh if u want :D ...


• Malvika ... plz dont run away, answer this ...

Writing

When I met a good friend of mine after long the other day, she was reminded of having opened my blog a day or two earlier and she told me that she was shocked by the number of new posts that have been over the last few days.

Many people I know include the number of posts in their blogs, the visitors on their blog, the entries in their blogroll in their resume!

I earnestly believe blogging and writing can sure help sustain relationships, but a friend thinks otherwise!

There are people all over the blogosphere who say blogging is the answer to all their maladies and is an avenue for realising their own self.

What is in blogging that attracts most of us to it?! It is more about writing than blogging I suppose... Writing, to me, is THE best way to express yourself. Pitches in voice, expressions on face can always mislead or leave a scope for misinterpretation. But a right word chosen and written will is like a letter on a rock! It is here to stay for ages and is crystal clear in putting the point across. Probably that is the reason they consider Writing an art! It is indeed one. It is one art we all pursue single-mindedly hoping we master it one day, but deep down, we all know we cannot! Having a way with words is indeed very tough!

When we write out all our crap on to our own virtual spaces, people read it and connect to it. Sometimes I feel when we read blogs, we voluntarily tend to connect for the sake of it, for we are making an attempt to connect to the person. However, if a real connection is established, that sure paves way for good relations, which is why blogging is ever so famous.

When we are in the worst of moods, by destiny's grace, if we end up on a blog or a post that shares the feelings as ours, we no more feel left out and we connect to the writer no matter the nationality, color, creed, sex or occupation. We just get entangled into the emotions. This is where probably we get hooked on to blogs. A blog for a mood is what we look for. If we are happy or calm, we just browse through our friend's blogs and try to know whats happening. If we are down, we just browse through things uninterestedly and then when something really appealing strikes, the mood is changed. This is purely the power of writing, and we are indebted to Blogging as a tool for it.

An urge to write is what made me write all this, no matter what the writing was leading to and what it would mean. This is the beauty of writing. You can just write and write and claim nothing! So, folks, Keep Writing!

The Terror of Twenty!

No, am not here to talk about the terror of leaving the teens and entering the twenties. Its just a tag passed on to me by Saras.

Now, for the honors:

1. Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it?

I have a small scar on my forehead, a la Harry Potter. I hadnt seen Harry Potter by the time I got it, but one fateful day when I was about 5 yrs, I jumped off a table. Probably I was imaginin I could fly. All hell broke loose, topped with a little blood and lots of pain and I got stitched.

2. What is on the walls in your room?

The room in my hostel is so packed up, no place for anything on the walls, not even lizards.

3. What does your phone look like?

(Pulls out the phone, takes a long look at it and resumes typing) CRAP

4. What music do you listen to?

Anything that suits my mood. I like Linkin Park to Ilayaraja, and ya sue me for it, but I like Himesh Reshammiya too ;)

5. What is your current desktop picture?

Its a Winter 2006 wallpaper of AC Milan! Forza Milan

6. What do you want more than anything now?

Sleep :D

7. Do you believe in gay marriage?

Ya! Why not?! Elton John Zindabad!
With the declining sex ratio, it improves my chances of finding a girl too ;)

8. What time were you born?

Err... hmmm... everyone was so happy that the savior of the world is born that they forgot to note the time :D

9. Are your parents still together?

Yup :D

10. What are you listening to?

My project guide is talkin over the phone to some client. Am eavesdropping ;)

11. Whats sth that ppl may nt know abt me?!

That I once wanted to be in the Police ;)

12. The last person to make you crazy!

Getting crazy needs lots of efforts. I dont waste my efforts getting crazy!

13. What is your favorite perfume/cologne?

Anything sandal rocks!

14. What kind of hair/eye color do u like in opp sex?

Pink hair and red eyes

15. Do you like pain killers?

I like them for lunch. For breakfast I would like serial killers though!

16. Are you too shy to ask someone out?

Ya! (All the girls reading this... Understand and ask me out :P)

17. Fave Pizza Topping?

I eat pizzas with my friend Chhara and he eats my portions too even before I realise what we have ordered. So, am unable to answer this!

18. If you could eat anything right now, what would it be?

Anything. Skipped my breakfast.

19. Who was the last person you made mad?

Err... Hmm... If you are reading till here, its probably you!

20. Is anyone in love with you?

Ya! If the grapevine is to be believed, its Keira Knightley!

Now to spread the epidemic:

I hereby proclaim Steve James Nipps tagged!