Jiya Jale-Jaan Jale

Well, Gulzar sa’ab wrote these lines to evoke some other emotions in us but I’m using this title because I’m evoked by the weather to write this blog. The mercury has gone north wildly making life really terrible!
The last time I spent summer in my hometown was way back in 1997 when I’d just given the exams of my 10th grade. And I must say that was the last time I enjoyed the summer.
Then….
Morning: The day started at 5 when we used to wake up without any alarm to go to cricket ground. Playing 3-4 matches and sweating around was our way of saying good morning to the world. And yes, none of us has eaten anything yet.
Late morning to Noon: After 3 hours of cricket, a glass of milk to soothe the anger of my mom. It was now time for some swimming in Narmada for 3-4 hours. There was a special way in which we used to swim. We would go 150-200 meters upstream through the sidewalk and then jump from there and swim downstream with the flow. We would do this for at least 8-10 times!
Afternoon: There was a very beautiful park in our colony that was the ideal place for spending the whole afternoon. Carom and cards were the games, which we played in the park which involved heated discussions over the strategies for the inter-colony cricket match in the evening. Juices, sodas and ice creams were so much fun during the afternoons.
Evening: Again, 2-2.5 hours of cricket. But the evening cricket was competitive and it involved money. One match could have anything between 20 to 100 Rs riding on it. And if we won, we would go for “pani-puris” and “bhel-puris” to celebrate our victory!
Night to midnight: It was the badminton time in the night. And this was something about which every guy used to think the whole day in the back of his mind as this was that part of the day which involved spending time with gals;) Its so funny that we thought that a perfect back-hand shot would impress the gals! And hey, it sure did most of the times;)
From 5 in the morning to midnight, those were the days when we didn’t even know the word “exhaustion”. And this was the routine for more than 2 months.
And now…
I wake up every morning at 7 not because I’ve something to do or somewhere to go but because its time for scheduled power cut and I can’t sleep anymore. Then I spend next few hours deciding whether to go to Narmada for swimming or not. I go for swimming anyway, once or twice a week. I spend whole afternoon watching movies or IMT videos or FRIENDS on my Macbook . If someone’s keeping the score, I just completed all 10 seasons of Friends again (even I don’t remember the number of times I’ve watched it completely and of course Chandler is my favorite). I don’t even step out of my home the whole day. It’s only in newspaper that I read how hot it was yesterday. Only worthy thing I do in whole day is the after dinner walk with Tanu (my childhood buddy). And what’s amazing is that I don’t think even once about my new job and the new place I’m going to in few weeks! I anyway go to a new place to restart everything every two years.
Aren’t our days supposed to be more productive and meaningful, as we grow older? But it’s the other way round for me. And I’m sure it is not this way only for me but for many of us. Not only just summers but everything was different during our childhood. The “Jiya Jale, Jaan Jale” is not only because of weather. It’s also because of the way the whole meaning of summer has got changed. It used to be my favorite season once but now I wish everyday that Sun god get some beating from rain god soon.
Anyway, I got a chance to make my summer memorable but that was not to be that way and now I’ll surely make my winter memorable.

PS- Barely 4 months back, I was enjoying the snowfall in Manali and now I'm enjoying(?) summers! But the following video always comes to my rescue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SFc6krPl7o

Sailing Ships

“OK, so we’ll start for Mumbai at 2 tomorrow but let me go now as it’s 2 in the morning”, said Ajit looking at his watch with a yawn. “Baith na be, kaa karoge abhi jaake”, protested Chunnu in his perfect Bihari accent. “Haan yaar, kitne saalon ke baad toh humari mehfil jami hai”, I said agreeing with Chunnu. Then Ajit said, “ Saalo, I’m married now, not like earlier when I could stay at your flat anytime of the day”, looking at me. After Ajit’s reply, the looks on our faces confirmed our sudden realization of the “changes” which have taken places in our lives.

This reunion took place last week when I, finally, went to Pune. During my return journey of 12 hours, I was thinking about how the time has changed since I first met these two idiots.

It was July 2004 when we three met in Bangalore, where we all were working for Career Forum, and then formed the famous “Bangalore gang”. We all had only one reason for being there in CF: MBA. We started with usual discussions over complex Math problems and then gradually moved on to almost every topic of the world. We clicked from the moment we met each other. I think that’s what happens in friendships. More so in great ones.

Chunnu. The six-feet-two-inches tall proud Bihari. Self-proclaimed youth-icon. Our first meeting was on a funny note when he called me at half an hour past midnight asking the address of CF guesthouse in Bangalore. ”. I was very annoyed by this “newcomer” to the Bangalore team because he disturbed only me, out of 6-7 people in the guesthouse, in the middle of my sleep. The funny part was that he was searching “49, 12th cross” from almost an hour when the real address was “94, 12th cross. Well, he still accuses our then CF boss for intentionally giving him the wrong address. Though he was not the first Bihari I met but he was the first one with whom I became friend. After seeing him, I said to the God: “Isko 2 inch kam karke mujhe 5’ 8” kar dete toh third world war nahi ho jaata”. Hehe. Since then, he has been at the receiving end of my pranks (You know, I’m not exactly sorry for round of the millennium. You deserved that, as that was the revenge of you know what). He is the most sensitive person of us three and the most street smart. You ought to take him along while going for either shopping or apartment search or anything where you need to get a better deal. Because of him only I’ve seen many crap movies for which actually I ended up paying most of the times (And now he asks for the bills for reimbursement!). His advices may or may not be correct but he’ll have a justification for his every point (though I may not believe and follow all those). I started cracking Bihari jokes on him from the initial days only and followed them up with MNS onesJ. He has also never left any chance of teasing me. He actually believes that my ancestors’ wrong doings are responsible for today’s quota, on the basis of caste, problem! And he teases me of being a fan of Aamir and Sachin because I’ve something in common with them-My height! But then I like Big B as well bro. This guy has, at every moment, taunted me with anti-brahmin and Ajit with anti-marathi comments. But the best part is that now he’s going to marry a “Marathi-brahmin” girl. Ironic! Isn’t it?

Ajit. Or Budhdha, as we call him lovingly. Don’t confuse with “Buddha” of Lord Buddha. He is “Budhdha” or “Buzurg-vaar” or an old man.Amcha “Marathi-manoos”.A man with always a smile on his face. Our friendship also started on a funny note when I tried to flirt with the only student he liked in Bangalore. And that too after my declaration that “dosti ke beech ladki nahi aani chahiye”. But that’s the shameless me for you;) And since then, he has told everyone about that incident with his own exaggerated version which ended making people believe that I’m the only guy who has ever flirted with a girl your friend had a “crush” on! Anyway, We started calling him Budhdha because of his grey hair. But later on, that tag suited him the best, as he is the wisest amongst three of us. A man of wisdom. A man whom I’ll call if I’ve to decide on something as I’ve done so many times earlier as well.Not to say that I possess wisdom as well but we both agree on almost every thing (and the perfect example of that was our agreement recently on the way I have handled the only issue of my life over last few years). Our discussions usually lasts 4-5 hours. We literally have talked whole nights many times. I still can’t forget our lengthy discussion on the deck when we, along with Chunnu in pure DCH style, went to Goa. He’s the official “late-lateef” of the lot. Never count on him if you’ve to catch a flight. People can actually testify for his habit of making people wait. I once almost lost my job as I lied for him when he woke up at 8:15 for an 8 ‘o clock lecture that day in Bangalore! But that was not the only time he did that. He has a knack for Hollywood entry:) And there are no chances of any improvement in him now as he has got a very caring wife who makes sure that he is not in trouble!

These two and few more, people because of whom I had to raise the bar of great friendship. Or I understood it in a better way. These are those people who have been there during thick and thin. But that’s what friends are for. Aren’t they?

Now, Chunnu is going to States for higher studies (the reason for which I went to Pune in the first place) for a year and I doubt he’ll come back just after one year. Ajit is happily married and well settled in Mumbai. We had our usual “mehfil” at Chunnu’s place last week and we all got sentimental, as we don’t know when is that going to happen again. But Chunnu came up with a fabulous idea of going to Goa againwhen we’ll not be only 3 but 6. Ahem.. Ahem..

I know we all are just a call away from each other but then too our lives have changed. Earlier, we used to have our “discussions” at least two times a week but now the average is once in two years. This whole thing reminds me of a famous DCH scene when Akshay replies to Aamir’s suggestion of coming every year to Goa for a week: “Our lives are like that sailing ship. In few years we all will sail away from each other in search of our own destinies. We are friends and will remain so, but ever thought what if it’s difficult to meet even once in ten years, forget coming to Goa every year”.

I left Pune with a heavy heart filled with satisfaction of seeing the best buddies and a silent prayer to see them again. Soon. Amen.

Saala Apun bhi Manager...

During my engineering days, for one subject I had a project called “Assembler Designing”. Well, how much I designed that assembler is something I don’t want to discuss here. But during that designing process, I asked myself- Do I want to do anything closer to what I’m doing right now? And the answer was a big NO. Then I started exploring of what I can do after my graduation. I came down to three options after a lengthy R & D: M-tech in India, MS in US or MBA anywhere in the world. But the first two were again something that I didn’t have much liking for. Then I met few people who were doing one of the three. And I decided that MBA suits more to my interests. I’ve always been good at Maths. Angrezi bhi theek-thaak thi (Thanks to Ms. Sadi, my english teacher in school). So, within 2 months I went through all the relevant material (syllabus only), magazines like BW, BT etc and then I joined the best coaching institute for MBA entrance exams in Indore. It was 2002.

When I went through all the stuff, I realized that this is something I would love to do. So my pursuit of MBA started from there and finally I got through CAT 2007. In between those 5 years, I had to go through tests and barriers but never did I feel even once that I’m pursuing something I should not. And in the 6th attempt, I finally got enrolled into a college as an MBA student, which was my dream from last so many years.

Last week, I completed my MBA and became officially a Manager. Got a good job too. When I look back at all these years, I realize that the personal resolve to achieve something is vey important. I had my temptations as well: a manager post with a fat salary in one of the leading coaching institutes of India and a 3 year stint in US for a top Indian software company. But I think fat salary and US can wait. Education cannot. There were friends and relatives who gave their unsolicited advices: stick to the job as you are earning good money. What they couldn’t understand was: It’s not about money, honey.

When I received my degree during my convocation, for the first time I felt like achieving something. Because this is what I wanted so desperately. And the presence of my parents with a proud look on their faces and glittering wet eyes made my degree more special. Anything for that look and those eyes.

Will Miss You IMT!!

It was one of the role plays where I was enacting the role of a Don with one of my friends playing the role of my deputy. One other guy, whom we were supposed to rob, had to “act” that he’s beating me and my deputy was supposed to save me from him. But I dont know what the other guy understood (i think the language problem as he’s a mallu) he started beating me seriously. When I got one tight slap, I thought it happened accidentally but the second one confirmed that he’s seriously going to give me few more. I buckled and as my deputy came to save me (not knowing that he too will get it from him) shouting “Bhai pit rela hai, bhai pit rela hai”, I pushed him onto the stage (or what had become a wrestling stage by then). He got some 4-5 slaps and a dragging from the mallu guy. He was astonished, his hair disheveled, and the look of “ What did I do wrong?”. The whole class was laughing at us.

Whenever we remember that day, we laugh like anything. We just need to say “bhai pit rela hai”. My deputy then became my roomie for one year. And, of course, one of the best friends I’ll take from IMT.

This one and many more. I think if I start writing stories, then I’ll need to write a complete book about my life at IMT.

Starting our morning with sleepy eyes, extending the alarm time by 10 minutes 5-6 times, rushing to the mess to grab a piece of bread, reaching the class late, sleeping in the class, then calling proxies and getting caught (I myself got caught thrice!), doing bakar with friends, watching movies on lappy, coffee at 4 a.m., laughing at people studying in library, doing projects and assignments the whole night, partying and dancing all night, our discussions on every thing we can think of, giving global answers during presentations, paranthas at Pahelwan dhaba, midnight chuskis as India Gate, searching for spoon in the mess and so many other unique IMT things!! Again, I cannot write all the things because of paucity of space.

My life at IMT. For the last 21 months, I have always said - “My life at IMT is rocking”. In 10 days time, that “is” is going to become “was”. But boy, what a life I’ve witnessed. And I know that after joining that damn corporate world in couple of months, I’ll give anything to re-live a single day of this life.

But thats what life’s all about. You go to a place, enjoy your time, collect memories and move on. Without asking any questions like “why I’ve to leave? Can’t I spend my whole life here?”. This is the most cruel part of life. Move on. The agony of leaving the ones you have spent some of the best days of your life be damned. Move on. Your job is done here. You got what you wanted. Now, move on.

This is not the first time we all had to do this nor is this the last time. I’ve done it before. And thats why I thought that it won’t be difficult for me to leave this place. But its actually killing me. I don’t want to leave this place. I want to stay here only.

The best thing is that I’m leaving IMT with me being richer than earlier. Friends. Learnings. Memories. Experiences. A better person.

Thank you IMT. Will miss you.

An Open Letter To PM

Adarniye Prdhaan Mantriji,

Pranam.

I’ve always believed in your own confession that you are in politics “by accident”. But what you have achieved in your tenure, first as the FM and then as the PM, no other minister or politician has achieved. You are the one responsible for putting India on a high growth trajectory. You are the one who has taken a giant-step to ensure our growing energy needs are met. And there are many more achievements of yours that can not be pointed out in a single letter. Anyway, I’m writing this letter to you on an issue which is of utmost importance.

During my school days, I remember studying one sentence again and again in every class that the biggest strengths of our country are democracy and unity in diversity. I’m afraid, as I write this letter, that both the school learnings of mine are failing the test of reality out of the school books. These two are the beliefs which had made me proud earlier. But I’m not sure whether I can feel the same anymore.

Democracy. We are indeed the world’s largest democracy. But that is just for records. In reality, this democracy is abused almost everyday in some or the other part of the country. The basic tenet of any democracy in the world is the “freedom of expression”. But do you think everyone is free to express what they feel in this country? If you are a common man, no one will listen to you and if you are a celebrity then its a more troublesome thing (ask SRK, Sachin, Mukesh Ambani and all). What’s the meaning of democracy without this basic right?

Unity in diversity. Diversity of religion, caste, color, creed, language and so on. But my heart sinks when the politics is done in the name of all these different facets of my great country. But why is the politics being done on these issues? Because they expose the hidden (existing or non-existing) insecurities of people. And add violence to this to make it more believable. Politicians indulge in these tactics because they ensure short-term political mileage and they know no one can take any action against them. And thats where you come into the picture.

Recent outburst against anyone who says that “Mumbai is for all” by SS and its poor cousins’ party is challenging the very idea of India. Parties like SS and MNS take the violence route because they know they will not be punished. They have a history of attacking anyone who speaks against their “so-called” ideology of “sons-of-the-soil”. No one has any problem with their agenda of making life good for their fellow Maharashtrians but the problem arises when they make life hell for anyone not from their state. And their agenda ,in last 40 years, has made lives of how many Maharashtrians better is a subject matter of great debate. They believe migrants to be the reason behind every problem that is there in Maharashtra. They overlook many other reasons which are there in every part of the country. SS is playing this card from last 40 years but they were in power for only 5 brief years. This shows that the large populace of Maharashtra don’t support their agenda!!

Sir, even your party is a silent partner in all this menace just for securing majority in elections. MNS has grown only because of your party’s willingness. But this whole politics of hatred, by SS and MNS, and politics of silence, by your party, has left common people like me frustrated. I feel very ashamed of seeing my fellow Indians being beaten by other fellow Indians. And I really don’t care about which party is winning elections and which one is losing. The question here is about my belief in me being a free citizen of this country.

This letter is a request from an Indian to you to please put an end to all this nonsense. You can do it if you want. Forget the politics for once and ask every party to make their stand clear. Take a concrete actions against anyone who uses divisive politics. I fail to understand why no action has been taken against Raj Thackeray for saying “ I’ll not be responsible if demands for a separate marathi country is being raised?”. This is totally unacceptable. I don’t want to see my country being Balkanized. This is your opportunity to show the whole country that no one is above the law and put any one who thinks he is, behind the bars. Let there be no confusion on the idea of India. This will be a strong message to all those who think they can hold the nation on ransom by means of intimidation and violence. Please come out and take a stand on this issue. It is very much required today to soothe the angst and frustration of common Indians. People like me are waiting for our country to become free of all these goons. Let there be only one voice being heard in India. Of an Indian. Only.

When Adventure Came Calling!!

We came out of the boring lecture at around 7:30 PM when I heard the murmurs of classes being suspended for the 3 days in the week. Few facts came to my mind quickly: Next day was Republic day and then three days classes are suspended and the next day after that I don’t have any classes. That meant a total of five days. I suddenly told my friend-“ we are not wasting next five days here in campus”. He agreed. We quickly went to the room of a third friend and told him that we are going for a trip now. He asked- “where?”. I said anywhere. Then I thought it would be impossible to get train reservations. So we decided to go anywhere via bus where we can spend our next five days. We decided to go to Shimla-Manali and packed our bags in next 10 minutes. And then we marched off to what I would call rest of my life as one of the best trips.

Day 1: One of my friends, who is from Chandigarh, accompanied us or say guided us till Chandigarh. We reached his home at 5 in the morning and were expecting to go straight to his room where we will sleep for an hour or so. But to our astonishment, Uncle and Aunty were both there ready to give us a grand welcome. And for the first time in my life, I ate “Pani-Puri”, “Gaajar ka halwa” and “Chaat” at that hour of the day. But Auntyji was not done yet. We were then offered delicious buttery-paranthas with curd and of course love. But isn’t that the very reason the almighty made Moms and Aunties of the world?? After our tummies filled, we went to Kalka station and took the toy-train to Shimla. It took 6.5 hours to reach Shimla via beautiful scenery, 102 tunnels and more than 30 bridges. What a journey it was!!

Day 2: This day was dedicated to Shimla. We went to a place called “Kufri” which was around 15kms up on the hill and on the way we passed through the green valley. And here at kufri, for the first time in my life, I did horse riding!! The place is good but we didn’t find any snow there. So did some photography, visited the “Naag” temple and came down and went straight to “Jakhu” temple of lord Hanuman. Rest of the evening was spent on the famous Mall Road of Shimla, We roamed up and down and I spent few bucks on shopping.

Day 3: We scheduled this whole day for our journey to Manali. My friend, from Chandigarh, had advised us not to eat too much when going to Manali from Shimla but who can resist the temptation of eating hot-paranthas on a chilly morning? We ate as much as we can. And then we had an argument with the travel agent and worst part, I think he did this to take his revenge, was that he gave us the rear seats. Curvy roads, paranthas and rear seats were too much for me and I gave up and vomited. Twice. There is nothing much to see on the way, though the roads remind you of “Behti hawa sa” song from 3 Idiots. We reached Manali at 8 in the evening, had our dinner and slept in our room. Worst day of the trip I must say.

Day 4: We woke up to a breezy morning with the expectation of seeing the snow covered mountains, which were the biggest reason for us going to this trip, on our way to Rohtang pass. Our driver stopped at a shop where the track suits, skiing equipments, shoes and other things were on offer which you “must” take while going to Rohtang pass. I smelled the driver-shopkeeper nexus. We decided to take only track suits with the shoes. The problem with people like me who have spent their life in the plain regions is that we get super excited when we see anything like snow covered mountains or sea-beaches. Though the latter was out of question here but a thin-white lining on the top of a mountain was more than enough to excite us. We were told that Rohtang pass is blocked and we will be allowed to go till the snow point where we can play snow games. We were extra happy for this proposition alone but what awaited us was the unexpected. Yes, totally unexpected. One of my friends told me to see outside the window to confirm it’s really snow or something else. And guess what? It was snowing. As we went further, it started snowing heavily. And then we saw vehicles coming back as there was the danger of getting stuck in the snow. This was pretty strange for us as we were familiar with getting stuck in traffic-jam only. But getting stuck in snow-storm? Our driver said that we should return immediately if we don’t want to get rescued by the army. This was getting excited. You read/hear this language only in news. But this was reality. And we were on the cloud number nine!! We had already moved 25 kms up from Manali when we decided to go back. The return journey took around 8 hours and gave us the experience of lifetime. According to our driver, tourists are very lucky if they witness snow fall. We were indeed very lucky on that day. We enjoyed like kids there. There were fears of getting stuck and our Car falling from the hill, which it almost did once. But as I said, we were lucky. Best day of the trip. Or any trip ever I went to. Or maybe, will go to.

Day 5: This day was just a time pass and reserved for local Manali sight seeing. We went to Hadimba temple, Tibetan Monastery and Vashishtha Temple (famous for sulphur bath). We also heard that 2 cars did skid yesterday but luckily no casualty was reported. In the evening, we took the bus to Delhi.

The best part about this journey was that it was totally unplanned and as Pandeyji said “Life’s best when it is unplanned”. So true for this trip. And many other things in life. It was indeed a trip to remember our lifetime. Few pics of Day 4 are attached below:

What an Idiot!!

I became a proud fan of that tall-six feet-heavy-voiced man when I was...hmm...ah...forget it. I don’t even remember my age when I started following the superstar of the millennium. It was a custom to discuss his movies at every get together I had been to during my childhood. And why only childhood. Even today!! No one can ever equate the power that “Shahenshah of Bollywood” command over the audience. But this piece is not about him. Its about someone else who is slowly and steadily reaching the heights which cannot be termed anything other than greatness.

I was 5 or 6 when I started singing my favorite song of that time at every other occasion: be it at school or at home. The song was “Papa kehte hai...” from the latest bollywood blockbuster called QSQT. It was filmed on a debutante who defied all the norms of being a “hero” of any hindi movie. He was labelled, as usual, a chocolate hero who will (or should) do only romantic movies. Which he did for next few years. Some of them successful, others not. And that was the time when Indian audience saw the rise of many other “chocolate” heroes as well.

After doing some routine dancing-around-the-trees-with-the-heroine movies, he came in a movie where he enacted the role of a school boy. Now that was different. I mean it was ok for us (the audience) to see a college-going hero. But a school boy? Anyway, I liked the movie because it had a sports theme. And more so because he played the role of a boy who didn’t like to study. Just like many of us. Movie was JJWS. I was waiting for his next “different” flick.

Two years later, he delivered a comedy movie which, today, is considered to be a cult movie. I liked it so much that I started saying that I’m now a fan of two heroes. The movie was AAA.

Since then, I’ve become his admirer from being just a fan. I’m not his admirer because he has delivered many hits. But I’m his admirer because he has always challenged (and changed) the rules of the game for better. He was the one who did movies differently. He started the concept of doing only “one movie at a time” in bollywood. And he started doing this at a time when others were indulged in signing movies just to encash on their recent successful movie.

He has always given priority to perfection over mediocrity. Some of his movies bombed at the box office but the sincere effort was always palpable. His movies, though not always, have been full of messages as well. Be it about friendship (DCH), fighting the mighty for justice (Lagaan), patriotism (Sarfarosh and RDB), being understanding parents (TZP), reforming higher education(3I) etc. Sometimes he did different things and sometimes he just did the same things differently (remember Ghajini?). And he has delivered most of the times what was promised. Entertainment. Sometimes enlightenment as well.

Its rare and heartening to see that someone in a position that he is in, prefers to tread a different path altogether. He does not bore you with selling 20 products. Neither does he dance at a wedding party for money. Nor does he come on page 3 every month inaugurating something or the other.

Recently I read a story about another “superstar” charging 40 lakhs to release a book. And then I also read that my superstar agreed to release a book of an author on one condition. Only if he likes it. And charges? Nil.

That is why we like you Mr. Aamir Khan. The Perfectionist. An idiot. And I wish you keep entertaining us the way you have so far. And may the next generation get the membership of your fan club in legacy.

-From a Junior idiot to a senior idiot