Last day in my office as a bachelor

Today is Friday, 23rd of January…the date deserve a mention because this is my last day in office as a bachelor. When I will return back to my cubicle after 3 weeks, things wouldn’t be the same. The people around me may be same but the expressions on their faces, after they see me, wouldn’t be the same.

Much before the present, I had been reminded about the D-day by all sorts of people (friends, relatives, colleagues, known and some unknowns too...!) apart from my dear wife. Usually this is accompanied with a taunting smile that reflects the message that, "get over with your fun days and start preparing to face your bounded destiny". Some people even tease with a consoling way like, "So finally the day is arrived…'try' to enjoy it to the maximum, and be a better husband in future". It shows the experience (mostly sad) that these guys must have got through their marriages.

As I reached the office on time and started with my daily chores, my brain was already pre-occupied with making check-list of what needs to be done today… what all things need to be packed…when to leave the office for airport…what should not be left behind…etc. But apart from this, today (actually many days) I feel like being surrounded with air of insecurity. Seems like many questions and queries are flooding my mind in a haphazard way. I know that the next seven days would not leave me introspect about these and finally I would be able to sail through the D-day without even realizing about the same, but still it’s very strange. I hope this is very normal with ‘To-Be-Married-in-a-week’ kind of people. This realization of changing my phase of life from a mere bachelor to married man sends turbulence to my stomach.

A subdued customary guy working 9.15 hours a day in office, often thinking every second how to utilize myself with any work for the day…satisfying his appetite by cooking snacks-cum-food and finding good taste in the weekly experiments with the resources available in kitchen…spending most of the time with his only acquaintances i.e. books, novels and sometime television…roaming in the streets or malls with his backpack filled with bike registration papers, a mp3 player and a goggle and shopping very specifically according to the needs…working really very hard to flex his muscles, try to deflate his anomalous tummy by exercising day and night and by the end of the day cursing his limited stamina…drinking a full bottle of Kingfisher beer along with a packet of ‘Kurkure’, singing a song from movie ‘Zinda’ in a dismal tone, limping on the floor intentionally to get ‘a feel’, cooking all-time favorite bachelor cuisine ‘Maggi’ at midnight and counting stars near the fan on the roof after the light is switched off…staring the cell phone screen and expecting the calls from close ones or recruitment agencies…passing through a wine shop, remembering the days of happiness and sorrows spend with very close friends (liquor is genius, I must admit..!!) …sitting lonely on a tattered bench kept in the jogging park, sipping a pricey juice and watching the couples holding their hands and making full use of the isolated park, some college students impressing their uninteresting girl friends, elderly people seriously walking in the park for which it is actually made for, some ill-shaped ladies sweating their way and trying to shed their extra pounds in just one day, some businessmen talking loudly over their earphones while jogging…

Every day seems to be well scheduled in advance and the events flow automatically like a flow chart. I really feel pity for my wife; if she had seen this blog earlier, she wouldn’t have dared to marry me (coupled with dull well-programmed life) at first instance…!!

Few weeks from now, everything is going to be revamped. The situations may be the same but the behavior will be different all-together. The issue is not that these things were good or bad or something that should be avoided in future, instead the concern is how will I react to these situations after I get married…will I miss them or feel happy that I have other important priorities than these. This is really interesting to think but the advice is not to spend the brain power for this. I wouldn’t say that loneliness is the best part of my life, but certainly I would be missing it but for my better future. Now I came to know why people say about this phase as difficult to pass. Normally we guys tend to form a circle of privacy around us and are used to get emotionally attached to this forever and thus we feel uncomfortable when intruded by someone else. I can understand that this feeling is much more serious and prominent in girls (but unfortunately this blog is supposed to be biased towards men).

It’s good that I have enough memories of my past that could be cherished after I step in another phase of my life. How will I handle that, the question can be remained unscathed for now. Not only this, I have many more concerns as the day approaches near, but couldn’t reflect each one of them in words now. I will try to find the answers sometime in future…

Obama-mania

“History will remember you not by what you had destroyed but by what you had built”

“We are a nation of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus and non believers”

“Those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent — know that you are on the wrong side of history”

These were some of the quotes from the legend named 'Barack Hussain Obama'. This is the first time I could recognize his middle name (I hope it would help me improve my GK for further use). Obama is 44th president of USA and his swearing ceremony could be called as a great extravaganza. Never in the history of World (as far as I know) had seen such a huge gathering (nearly 2 million people) in front of 'The Capitol' where Obama took an oath by firmly placing his left hand on 'Lincoln Bible', along with her wife who was holding the Bible and smiling with pride.

We have heard many swearing ceremonies before that are held with bunch of politicians, diplomats and press people standing in front of the podium, but this ceremony was totally different. Apart from the difficulties that state authorities had faced to control the mob and sterilize the whole event from any misfortune, I feel, it takes a hell lot of courage to stand in front of 2 million people and promise them to fulfill their expectations. It feels great to see that 2 million people (including black and whites) dared to stand the chilly weather and thanked the almighty for Obama’s selection. Atleast 2 million people are united and standing for a common cause of their country’s prosperity.

At the age of 46, he looks very agile, calm and determined. Now compare this with our politicians, who represent the public just before finally descending to earth. How can we expect the courage, agility and boldness from these guys that are essential to run a big populous country? I don’t remember, when was the last time I was glued to the television to find out how our politician took a brave oath and occupy an auspicious place in the Indian government.

I would give full credit to the spirit of Americans and the political system of the country. It truly rocks..!!!

Jab We Met

…as I was standing in front of the dressing mirror and adjusting my trousers to look superior and formal, my sister intruded my lone privacy with the mirror and started untangling her hair. Of course she knew that the situation actually demanded me to look smarter than her, but still, who can question the ladies while ‘dressing’. As it had been proved that gentlemen normally take 1/3 rd of the time to dress as compared to ladies, but still ironically they (men) are cursed before anyone else are. At around peak afternoon, all of us (me, mom, dad, sister and tauji) were looking smart and were ready to struggle to fit into our small and cute Maruti Zen (believe me, once you get into this car you wouldn’t regret struggling for it). As dad was driving the car to our destination and passing by many vehicles and pedestrians on road, I was trying to occupy myself with thoughts other than what I should be thinking of. "how the bicycle is crossing the lane"… "why the bus-wala is standing in the middle of the road"…"it’s the hottest day of my life"…etc. The environment inside the car was quite and contemplative. I am sure everyone must be thinking about the next 1-2 hours that we were going to spend with new unknown people. "What are we going to talk"…"how we would do the talking"…"what all things should we look for"…"what sort of things should we clarify at the moment"…etc. Not talking about others, but I was nervous…!!!

As we reached our destination, we took off from our car and everyone started giving final touches to the makeup we all had done. The gatekeeper at the entrance greeted us with smile hidden behind his dense, cloudy moustache. Inside the hall, the reception was deserted with very few people. This is the normal scene in hot place like Jaipur where active working hours are less than the rest time. In the middle of the hall we were welcomed by a broad shouldered man along with a person who was thin but good in height. I had no knowledge about any one of them, but one thing was sure that atleast one of them holds a special respect from me. We were shown the way to the dining hall where we could see two big sofas and 5 different chairs with two serving tables separating them. I positioned myself comfortably between dad and tauji on one side and sister and mom on the other side. The best relief for me was the mirror that was mounted on the pillar right in front of me. Atleast I had the chance to escape other’s view by looking at the mirror and asking the question, "Am I looking good"…or "am I still looking good". Thank GOD for that. After few minutes later three more people enter the hall and all eyes darted on to one lady who was leading the team of three. She was……

Did I forget to mention that the situation described above happened in Jaipur in the month of June? The lady that I had mentioned above is my ‘wife’, Divya and the occasion described above is the one when we had first met along with our parents. I still remember that day when I had felt like totally unexpressive, immature and nervous. Traditionally men are supposed to take charge of these kinds of situations but hell with these theories.

Anyways, coming back to her team, ironically she looked like leading the team of three (her brother along with her mother and herself) because she was looking tall (unlike the height mentioned in her ‘bio-data’- technical name of ‘resume’ in matrimonial terms. And I think the high heels footwear had really helped her). Her mother was very calm, quite and formal as she greeted us with a smile almost as similar as Divya’s (please excuse me for associating every good thing to my wife...!). Her brother looked like an IITian who had been stressed out with last-minute examinations. Later, I found out that he was no where related to engineering, forget about IIT (lucky champ). But just like true brother, he was quick on his toes to arrange everything for this event. Then we were served the drinks ("soft drinks for me, please". I was supposed to be a ‘nice’ boy). As we gulped our drinks, I couldn’t resist looking at the beer mugs filled with ultimate divine liquid, adorning the hands holding them. These hands were that of the three lucky gentlemen present in our group. Before I could clear my throat and reply something to someone, she was charged up the energy that had left me gaped. She was interacting with his brother more than her guests and I couldn’t help smiling at her. My mother asked her some very obvious questions and she replied back in almost jocular way (direct talk between probable ‘saas’ and probable ‘bahu’ was very rare even at that time too..!). After some time, we were allowed to have a ‘free casual chat’ (my sister and her brother were still involved in this ‘free casual chat’) in their personal room upstairs. We started talking like we were very old, forgotten friends meeting after long time and had no common agenda for the talks. We talked like we already knew each other and this meeting was just a formality. After some minutes we were left alone to discuss some serious ‘issue’ that could trouble us. Actually we had discussed all those issues that could hamper our future life instead of those things that could benefit our lives. This is very natural but true. In short span of time, we couldn’t share the good things and neglect discussing all the risks that could come in our future age. This is called ‘defensive’ approach and is very common. During the sensible conversation I had innumerable thoughts running down in my mind…"does she looked good in this dress"…"is her way of talking appropriate in my family"…"does she normally wear such high heels"…"is she formal enough or pretending to be one"…"is she talking like extreme professional and career oriented"…"could she really understand my complex maze in just few minutes"…"should I compare her with my previous experiences with ladies"…"could I do enough justice to her by fulfilling her dreams"…"how could she be so down-to-earth while working in MNC like Citigroup and living in metropolitan city Mumbai"…"will mom approve her of her charming behavior"…"God..! I had missed that beer in the dining hall"…"will she be able to sail through my already troubled life" etc.

As I said ‘short span of time’, I really meant that. After few minutes, we were called back for the lunch…that means the public appearance, again. We left our discussions (issues) on hold and went for satisfy our appetite. I was feeling like joker sitting there and having food when most of the things were still to be discussed. Anyways, the ‘dal’ was good and ‘paneer’ could be classified as average. And that was the first moment when I ate less than my appetite like a professional dietician. Two big ‘naan’s and no instantaneous burping, hard to resist but I had to maintain my dignity at that moment. During the talks, I was still thanking GOD for the mirror placed in front of me that reminded me of same questions as I had mentioned above. Also it had helped me a lot escaping other’s glances at me when I had nothing to speak or comment about. Infact it looked like cursing me for wasting my time at it foolishly and not talking to Divya.

After few more talks and chats we decided to take a leave. The idea gave me enough fresh air to breathe and time to introspect and contemplate about her. As we gradually walked towards the car we shook hands in belief that we may meet again. We again struggled to fit in Zen (this time it was difficult after the lunch) and drove back home. The air in the car was the same as before and thoughts prevailed like the same. The only difference was that all of us had common topic in our mind to think upon.

This was my first and by the grace of GOD, the last formal meeting with a girl who was unknown to me. Few days from now, she is going to get into new phase of life popularly known as ‘Marriage’. And I feel lucky to have such a nice experience that made me to write a blog before ‘our’ marriage.

“I can still write for AG”

After almost 3 years since I had left writing for AG (Avant Garde), annual e-magazine of MBA@IITK, I came up with an article that truely reflects my feelings for AG that are still alive and rising...
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“I can still write for AG”

Completely unaware of the fact that it was raining heavily outside, the meeting room was filled with a faction of consultants discussing a solution that needed to be delivered next week. Everyone was enthusiastic about outshining others so as to get the maximum footage in front of superiors, including me. In the middle of the meeting, suddenly I got the message from one of my juniors on my laptop. I gazed at the message pop-up with disinterested look and started thinking about what could be the reason behind this. He invited me to write an article for AG, preferably for Flights that need to be published for December edition. Casually I agreed to accept his offer but simultaneously was thinking of good reasons to avoid this extra effort. I joined back the meeting’s proceedings professionally but couldn’t resist getting back to the past, almost 3 years.

Summer of 2005...
It was the first time when we were introduced to our seniors where I heard this name ‘Avant Garde’, known as AG. I was associated with similar kind of college magazine during my engineering days, so the idea of joining this team didn’t sound pretty cool at once. Middle of that night I browsed its website on my newly bought laptop and free-of-cost internet connection, and started reading the articles. There was something in me that felt that there is some scope for me to add value to this newsletter. Later, I joined the team and asked about the logic behind each section of AG. It went like this: ‘Centre stage’ is the section meant for in-depth analysis of current happenings that involve extensive research. ‘Infocus’ is the section meant for latest news updates that are relevant in business arena. ‘Flights’ is the section that is meant to be used to express oneself in any form as wished. ‘Bone-of-contention’ is used to present an argument and counter argument on a given topic. Being excited with the conversations, I recommended adding one business cartoon section to the magazine which was later named as ‘Biztoons’.

“Take charge of AG”...
It was late in the winters when we were given full charge of the band wagon. ‘We’: It was decided that this team doesn’t require a leader to be called as editor-in-chief and thus it was preferred to have a flat team with no hierarchy and henceforth ‘We’ replaced ‘I’. We were faced with a challenge to not just continue AG, but to invigorate the newsletter and stand up to the expectations of the readers. We were totally ignorant about the effectiveness of AG in terms of its visibility in the corporate sector and the enthusiasm it generated among the readers. I realized the importance of AG when I first met with an alumnus who was one of the founding members of AG. He made me aware of the expectations various readers had from AG. Thrilled with the responses, we formulated various strategies to spread this word like a fire in the corporate sector. We made contacts with every B-school present, invited every alumni and corporate biggies to write for AG, increased its visibility during the placement season and continued pouring fresh flavors to the articles we wrote.

It wasn’t simple anyways...
Taking charge of this newsletter was not as simple as black and white. We were faced with all time dread evil called ‘motivation’ to write for AG. Often we had to beg people to write something for AG, sometimes due to lack of time and sometimes to avoid predictability of the article’s content when written by same writer month after month. We were often accused by publishers who had to put in lot of efforts to publish the magazine on time, and the only reason that could delay the process was the non-availability of articles on time. We had spent endless nights writing the articles and publishing those. The best part for me was to draw a cartoon within an hour before uploading that to website. Thinking of a humor and translating that in form of a cartoon and that too in 1 hour was beyond my imagination. But it was the passion for AG that could make all of that possible.

Learnings from AG...
It was not just writing an article, getting it published and feeling proud of watching your name with your article on the AG website. It was much more than that. It made me learn the lesson of taking charge of a big institution (and certainly not an assignment). It made me learn the value of time management that is very relevant when your offering is expected on time by huge number of people across globe and across various hierarchies. Another important lesson I had learnt from AG is to deal with different people and convince them to do something they are unaware of. On the other hand, it strengthened my patience to hear all sorts of criticisms and accusations that could simply break a person. Most importantly, never under estimate your responsibilities. I am sure, apart from me, many more teammates share similar lessons. And this is the reason why this has become such a significant part of my life, our life.

Today...
As I am writing this article, I still haven’t informed my junior about the same. Maybe I was too skeptical and less confident to write again for AG ever. It took me more than a day to decide about the topic for the article (forget about making a cartoon...!). The generations have changed, the ideas may have differed and the attitude towards AG may have changed. But still when I glance back to the days I spent with AG, I feel concerned. We have lost that passion, the dedicated energy to write self thoughts and the motivation to spend some time with self for AG. It seems that every era has an end….!!!!

It’s not an article but a piece of thought, but still, in the end I could feel only one thing, “I can still feel for AG... I can still write for AG..!”

The 'Bench'

As I had promised in my earlier post, ‘Bench’ holds a great relevance in life of every person associated with IT industry. This concept is very similar to the name it holds…imagine yourself sitting on a lonely bench and waiting for an opportunity to knock your door before you get up and plunge upon it…imagine yourself sitting on the bench and staring at the person standing in front of you, consoling and charging you up for the hurdles and challenges planned to come in the future…imagine yourself sitting on the bench and being offered with some sweet dreams, while the nails protruding out from the corners of the bench hurt you like reminding you of your position in the company…slowly and gradually the legs of the bench will become fragile and you will be forced to collapse under your own weight being felt by the bench…

Ahh…what an imagination..!! But actually this is all about your period on bench while on company’s payroll. I must admit I was one of the very few lucky people from our batch in Infosys who got the project on the very first day after our training (all credit goes to my hard earned prior work experience and of course "demand by luck"). At that time I could just feel the pity for my batch mates and wished everyone could have got the chance at once. After 1 year of my presence in Infosys (presence + appropriate work= value addition), I got the opportunity to sit with these guys on bench. It was like as if I had been summoned by judicial court for being taken into remand for indefinite period. The world seems to be on hold for some time. I was sitting at my original cubicle (even now I had occupied the same place) and could see all the people working, discussing and engrossed in delivering some solutions or whatever. Atleast they could hold up their personal phone calls by saying that they are busy in some work. And here I was sitting blank on my seat and staring at my computer screen waiting for any mails or trying to melt it with vibrations reflecting from its screen. It was not boring, but indeed irritating. I was reporting to a person who could hardly find the time to talk to me for a minute. During these days, he had obliged me by offering a project that would need to postpone my marriage…!!! I gracefully rejected that and even for that I was cursed by him like I had done something very wrong in my life. Slowly and gradually people sitting around me started neglecting me in their discussions or rather found me as insignificant. Gradually my motivation to work for the company started receding away. I started getting offers to work for some futile presentations that can keep me charged up…but still no success.

I had been on bench for around a month officially (actually 3 months of sitting idle), and you can easily call me as impatient…but I am not the guy that can sit idle for more than a day. This is the age when one can experiment with himself, when one can stretch himself to maximum extent. This is the age when one can deliver the results according to potential. Its not that companies didn’t try anything to make this period productive. Unfortunately it has not been able to recognize the potential hidden in bench. This is not the story of just one person. Normally companies maintain a ratio of people bench for their clients. So for company with population in lakhs, this can mount to thousands sitting idle.

And this is the situation where I feel like being struck..!!!!
This is how one feel like when sitting on a bench..!!

The ‘Striking’ Day…

Due to the demands raised by truck owners and staff working in oil PSUs, the situation has been created where almost 80-90% of the petrol pumps are now devoid of the stock...The oil industry is facing the closure of plant run time activities...the fertilizer units had been shut off due to unavailability of natural gas through HBJ pipelines...Due to unavailability of essential commodity items, the prices of food grains and vegetables had soured up...People are forced to abscond their vehicles and opting for public transport instead...The fare of auto/ taxi had soared like anything...There has been a long queue at the petrol pumps to take a glimpse of the liquid...Government has already imposed ASMA ban on this strike and is opting for taking help from army to drive the fuel stock stored in the trucks to their destination...

The most horrifying fact of the above is that, this all mayhem had occurred in just 5 days of strike. And on top of it, this is not backed by any ISI or terror group, these are same Indians who are ready to destroy the reputation and revenue structure of their own country. Just think of the past when the concept of strikes was formalized. It was the medium through which people can raise their opinion to the management. It supported the freedom to express, and freedom to raise your voice, keeping in mind that ordinary citizen shouldn’t be affected in any case. And now see the latest strike concept. It doesn’t even match any standard of ethical protest. Some time back, Pak terrorists set Taj Mahal hotel on fire in Mumbai and destroyed crores worth of property…Govt, army and NSG had a hard time to control that situation. Hasn’t the recent strike done the same amount of loss to the property and revenue of the country? Why can’t people realize this fact?

On the other hand if we view this situation from striker’s point, there is hardly any choice left for them. In order to get them heard, they have to trouble the government by troubling the ordinary citizens. It’s a Catch-22 situation where some Indians had to transfer their pain to other Indians so that they can get relief. If we can get answer to this equation, then we could possible resolve many issues in future. And why I am hoping about future is that, the strikes had already made a deep dent in the economy in the past too (remember Nano fiasco) that it will be hard to recover in present time.

God…save the country from its own people..!!!

Favorite song that changed my life...

Kuchh is tarah teri palkein
meri palkon se mila de…
Aasoon tere… saare
meri palkon pe saja de…

Tu har ghadi…har waqt
mere saath raha hai…
Haan hai yeh jism …kabhi duur, kabhi paas raha hai...

Jo bhi ghum hain yeh tere
Unhe tu mera pata de…

Kuchh is tarah teri palkein
meri palkon se mila de…
Aasoon tere… saare
meri palkon pe saja de…

Mujhko to tere chehre pe
Yeh ghum nahi jajjta…
Jaaiz nahi lagta
mujhe ghum se tera yeh rishta…
Sun meri ek guzarish…ise chehre se haata de...

Kuchh is tarah teri palkein
meri palkon se mila de…
Aasoon tere… saare
meri palkon pe saja de…
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I haven't listened to any such song which has the pain to the extent as depicted in this one. The lyrics coupled with the voice of Atif reflect the pain experienced by a lover for his love...This is true, that the real love is not just spending money for treats, rather it is the state when you get paralyzed by seeing someone in pain..someone sad. The song shows the willingness to share the tears with your love...to share the sorrow that is troubling her...because you know, no matter how strong you behave, but you will not have enough strength to see your love in pain. I had been listening to this song since my MBA days, and could fantasize about the selfless love dedicated here. Believe me, from men's point of view, this could be regarded as maximum one can feel...

Could just hope he gets the reflection as expected from her. To all the women/girls in this world- Realize and give respect for his love, you may not be seeing it clearly..!!!

One of my fav quotes...

“Don’t let anyone say you can not do”
…this is one of my favorite quote from the movie ‘Pursuit of Happyness’. It was said by Will Smith (acting for the role of Chris Gardner) to his son (played by real life son). The situation was like…Smith was shattered by the failures surrounding him and all he was left with was his son and ‘bone density scanner’ (which was referred to as Space Machine by an insane guy in movie). In the morning Smith took his son to a basketball court and he realized that his son was disappointed by the situation surrounding them. His son was getting weak that day and wanted to surrender in front of miseries he was experiencing. Smith was quick and adamant in replying back to his submission.

This is a small quote but has deep meaning down under. It tells you to stand by yourself and have courage to face the challenges no matter even you don’t know the proper way out. If you don’t have enough competencies to offer to your superiors, then get them fast before you are casually taken by your boss. You have to be proactive in preparing yourself for the future troubles. I know this all seems very theoretical and can’t be achieved like anything. But if you do, you will not be the same person anymore. On the other side it doesn’t mean that you have to say ‘yes’ to everything you are facing…it doesn’t mean you have to inflate your ego in agreeing to everything that comes to you. You have to be logical enough to know your capabilities and limitations to take the challenges...because every hypothesis comes with a set of assumptions…and same with this quote too.

Satyam wicket down…

I must say this is the most horrifying news of the year. Right from the beginning when we used to fancy about 'white-collar' job profiles offered by IT companies, Satyam used to take 3rd position after Infosys and TCS. We used to fight to bring these companies to our campus for placements during engineering and MBA days…so the news is spellbound as expected. This is very ridiculous, even after being strongly governed by Indian Corporate Governance (the only technical finance term that I understand, and I must admit I try to fit it in every discussion that is remotely related to finance..!!) the companies are still walking through with huge frauds in their balance sheets (sorry..!!! I missed out, this is another finance ‘understandable’ term)…and the frauds are not in thousands or lakhs...rather crores… 5040 cr. to be precise!!!! I could just feel pity for its huge family of employees who used to adore the company just like me…

…and I just hope that my other two favs doesn’t fall under this category…atleast not the first one, otherwise I would have to stop wasting time in writing these blogs and start searching for jobs.

5-minutes nap

The time is 3’o clock in the afternoon…the sun glowing dark in orange after burning at full throttle in the afternoon sky…people’s clatter diffusing into yawns…the spinal chord bending like a melting rod…meeting rooms filled with a air of curfew…eyes drooping like avoiding any more efforts from them…ties unfolded and kept loosely on the desk…coffee machines working overtime like feeding citizens in depression hit area…long queue at the drinking water bay…restrooms filled with snoring noises from behind the individual doors…people stretching their arms spreading the fragrance hidden beneath …discussions turning into gossips and gossips turning into mere vowels…curtains covering the ultra-violets from sky…people limping like walking in their dreams…messenger’s status turning into ‘Away’…feeble eyes waiting for hour’s hand to touch ‘5’…

Suddenly my phone vibrated with full swing (like the only charged up device in the vicinity) and I came to hear a voice from other end, “Jaago”. I came to realize that I had been sleeping in the office on my desk for the last 5 minutes and the description written above is not imaginary but sincerely true to my knowledge. I swear this is fantastic opportunity to steal a nap in the office especially when there is no work to do and no deadlines to follow. Normally this is favorite activity followed by people on ‘bench’ (technical name used in IT industry and literary meaning the same). These people are legally allowed to take rest like the one I had just now. ‘Bench’ is very interesting and long topic which I will cover later.

Anyways, I am strong supporter of taking a quick nap in the afternoon, and many do follow me by the same. Once a guy came to my cubicle in my absence and asked my cubicle mate about me with a description like, “...wohi jo bindaas sota hai desk pe...” I know it was a sort of embarrassing for me, but still I could build up an identity in my office (...till it effects my appraisal). I must educate these people that there is nothing more refreshing than taking a nap in the afternoon- it relieve you of all the worries in the morning and charge you up for the later part of the day…gear you up for the gym and might help you staying awake for attending late night calls with your dear ones..

I know that I would be afraid if any of my bosses see this post, but still I love my ‘5-minute nap’…and that’s the way I am..!!!

"6 Pack Health Cuisine"

Yesterday I had a nice experiment with my dinner. After a strenuous workout in the gym I had planned for a modest dinner that could stuff me enough to douse my hunger till breakfast next day…I had seen the hoardings of a restaurant named “6 packs” everywhere in the city. The restaurant boast of offering health food that will drive you to make 6 packs abs in record time...!!!! As I reached its counter and ordered a veg meal of ‘half-wrap with chholey’, I dreamt of myself pumping iron in gym and blushing while looking at my new-found packed abs..!!! I reached home in 10 minutes with a parcel of veg meal. I changed my clothes as quickly as possible and served the nutritious and most healthiest meal on my plate. As I un-wrapped the parcel, my eyes got widened looking at half cup of ‘chholey’ wrapped with a single piece of ‘roti’. I finished that full-course meal in record time of just 6 minutes. And I still wonder this 6 minutes show had cost me Rs.59 (including taxes). That means I had spent almost Rs.10 per minute to get starved with hunger..!!! (NOM: I had to compliment my empty stomach with hell lot of other snacks after this cuisine)
So people get an excellent opportunity to shed your extra pounds and get 6 packs abs by having this dinner…I am sure, the quantity but not the quality, will soon realize your wish..!!!

HaPpY nEw YeAr

Vow..!! The new year has come and it is the time to wrap up the past and start looking for the year ahead...make new resolutions, do’s and don’ts and all sort of commitments that you intend to follow in the year ahead. This is great, atleast you’ll have something to follow in the coming year. But is it that simple to wrap up the past in a day and start making ‘guidelines’ for the future? Can’t we remain as simple as one can be and let the things flow naturally? Right from the childhood we are taught to follow invincible array of resolutions that will make your future prosperous.
If observed carefully, most of these resolutions are affirmative in nature…"will make new friends","will work harder","will contribute to society","will become a stronger man"…etc…common reasons for this could be that we often consider our past achievements as unsatisfactory or rather need more efforts to spent upon.
One more thought is that we are afraid of radical changes in our lives and so we wish for only incremental changes like ‘harder’, ‘stronger’ etc. This will follow a conservative path to success riding on the past achievements. Atleast something is better than nothing.
Sometime back I came to hear a resolution from my friend that amused with the thought that he could change his world exactly in a year. Funny, but I consider these guys as either revolutionary or a mere puppet of excitement…!!!

There are no good, bad, waste, extraordinary, imaginary or revolutionary resolutions. It “all depends” (famous two words of professional MBAs). But what I am confused about is: - “What is difference between dreams and New Year resolutions”

I personally would prefer staying committed to the resolutions rather than standing blank in front of future caveats. But this will take time and fair amount of introspection, so would like to rest my fingers for typing at later date..

Breaking News...

"People protest against Israeli attacks, in Chandigarh"..
Great..!!! Is Israel getting deficient of people to protest against attacks..or they might have hired people in India to protest from their side..?? Or the protesters in Chandigarh wants a new reason to protest (over with hangover of Mumbai attacks and all..)...
No offence meant for the protesters but the headlines raised these queries in my mind at first instance...
(I hope I am wrong with my queries)

..the first one

This is not the first time I had thought of writing for the blogs…Indeed I had already wasted my efforts in making accounts in various blogging sites and then neglecting them without writing even a word… but I hope I would get better with this one (atleast the count is 1 now..!!)…
I guess this is the right time to unfold the knots within and let you explore the world from my point of view…sometimes thought provoking and sometimes immature…that’s the way I sense the world in my mind…
Hope I get critical comments for my writings…