Musings and a bit

A few facts about China

2006-05-15T01:13:00.000-07:00

a 3 month long stay back with these few truths

1) Cities in China are tremendously developed. put most of our so called metros to shame. However move 1 km off the freeway and u will see the real China. Rural and undeveloped

* Useful Tip #1 - Never use public restrooms in China

2) Enivronmental concerns are mostly non-existant in China - so if u stay in a city - expect to be greeted every morning by clouds - which on closer examination turn out to be very similar to pre-cng Delhi Smog

* Useful Tip #2 - Never make fun of Chairman Mao

3) There are no omnipresent big brother signs - red flags, posters of Mao or uniformed police. On the whole most cities come close to resembling typical western cities with the usual walmarts, KFCs etc.

* Useful Tip #3 - Do not order any food without checking exact details of everything that goes into the preparation of that dish

4) Chinese people are not closed and unfriendly. On the opposite they are very open about everything. Also they have a massive appetite for alcohol

* Useful Tip # 4 - Never pay asking price in any shop. Always bargain. If you dont the shopkeeper loses respect for you

5) The internet is censored, the newspapers are censored, television is censored. There is nothing you can do about it.

* Useful Tip # 5 - If you are travelling back to your home country buy alcohol from China - it is cheaper than duty free

to explain by long absence

2006-05-15T01:09:00.000-07:00

Yes i am a lazy b@#$%#@ ..but have been in china for the past few months...and as most of u should know blogspot is strictly off limits
All things considering my infrequent posts, a complete absent fan following of my blog and utter lack of any iteresting content on my blog (except for links to few other blogs)..i dare say no one even realised that i had been absent from the blog world

Insight for the day 01/12/05

2005-11-30T20:29:00.000-08:00

Midweek Blowout + LITs + Russian Dancers = A highly increased desire to avoid going to office the next day

Insight for the day 17/11/05

2005-11-17T01:23:00.000-08:00

Insight: Learning something new every single day is a tough thing to accomplish.

Translation: Couldn't thing of anything to post as an insight today

Insight for the day 16/11/05

2005-11-16T02:43:00.000-08:00

Never play computer games/chat or surf blogs if your boss is within 10 metres of your workspace. If caught you will be given extra work

Insight for the day 15/11/05

2005-11-14T20:10:00.000-08:00

Do not try to answer the phone while dangling at the edge of a crowded mumbai local with one arm precariously wrapped around a railing and the other holding on to a laptop

dunno how i didnt fall!!

Insight for the day 14/11/05

2005-11-13T22:01:00.000-08:00

For Fart a.k.a Sudy

Nickname Rules -

1) Do not give yourself a nickname - it will not catch on or will turn out to be less cool than you think it is
2) Do not change your nickname without prior consultation with friends. You WILL be made fun of.
3) If you do want a new/better nickname, change your group of friends. The same group of friends will never let you shift to something less embarassing.

Insight for the day 13/11/05

2005-11-13T20:09:00.000-08:00

I Suck at football

Addendum: Sand, dirty water, torn shoes and white socks do not, i repeat, do not make a good combination

Insight of the day

2005-11-12T00:18:00.000-08:00

While a working saturday means that i have to be at work on a saturday, it doesn't mean that i actually have to do any work

One more

2005-10-28T01:26:00.000-07:00

Piddu, never been at ease
Struck by the 'foot in mouth' disease
Six months away
and not a word astray
What? Will wonders never cease!

A limerick

2005-10-28T01:10:00.000-07:00

There was a young man named fart
A love life never meant to start
Then the maiden walked in
A whirlwind, a melee, a spin
His ARSian resolve torn apart

Migrant or citizen

2005-09-30T01:53:00.000-07:00

Had a very interesting taxi ride back home after the usual drunken binge last night. Got a very talkative taxi driver who told us his whole life story. It was quite interesting.
Like 90% of the taxi drivers i have spoken to in mumbai, he hails from UP. Appparently he has a lot of property back home and barely manages to scrape together a living here.

So that brought out the obvious question.."What the @#$@ are you doing in mumbai". He dodge the question, mumbling something about better schools for his kids. We didn't buy it. Couldnt be the only reason..could it?

Finally he stated something which really got us thinking.

he said " In mumbai, i am truly independant. No one interferes with my life, no one begrudges my success or lack of it. No one tries to bring me down. I can live a much more comfortable life back home but will people there let me live it?"

A point to ponder, maybe?

YAWN

2005-09-22T23:38:00.000-07:00

Peeling ...comin through the ceiling
paint of long ago
Boring...all the time ignoring
the life i used to know

A man in full - A recommendation

2005-09-20T02:41:00.000-07:00

Just finished reading what i would classify as an awesome book. "A man in full" by Tom wolfe is a classic. The narrative is amazingly descriptive, the characters clearly etched and the pace is fast. If you have read 'Bonfire of Vanities" and liked it, do give this one a try

The book looks at the lives of 4 men totally different from each other and yet with intertwined lives. The story is mostly set in Atlanta and deals with, among other things, racism, big business, politics..etc etc. The writing style varies from despcriptive to sardonic and humorous to, in the latter parts, a bit philosophical.

Am now reading Wolfe's latest book "I am Charlotte Simmons". A pretty interesting read so far

Is it my day yet?

2005-09-12T20:45:00.000-07:00

England finally won the Ashes..yeah !!!!..was wondering why i cared? I dont have a national or any kind of allegience to the English side, neither do i have something against the Aussie side. I did see a lot of people here rejoice in an England victory.

I think its just the old mentality of wanting the underdog to win. There is something so alluring and uplifting about someone rising to the ocassion and beating the odds.

I do wonder why it is so uplifting though. My theory is that we see a parallel in our own lives. I, atleast feel that i am constantly fighting the odds, there is always someone better at doing what you want to achieve. So maybe, just maybe examples as seen in sport can be replicated in real life.

Its that hope, that possibility that one is shown that does the trick i think.
After all ( warning cliche coming up next!!) , " every dog has its day"

Hungover and Hoping

2005-09-11T23:55:00.000-07:00

Had an interesting weekend this time.

Come friday afternoon and rumors start spreading that all suburbs are flooded, trains are stopped etc etc etc. So what we do ...Go Home of course - Do not expect me to waste the perfect excuse to get home just after lunch

Anyways so friday night comes around and its time to celebrate S's b'day. We courageously decide to go to the Marriott again. U may recall that the previous week we tried the same thing only to ...well lets jus say we didnt hang around too long.

So this weekend we are better dressed, have one more person along for moral support and generally are more wiiling to take rejection. So walk up to the club enigma, pay an exorbitant cover charge and enter..................only to find it totally empty!!! hmm ..not what we expected. Anyways the lesson was that any decent mumbai clubber does not turn up till 11:30..we went at 10 ..so for bout an hour had the place all to ourselves..wasnt tood bad

Anyways after quite a lot of drinkin, a dessert at the coffee shop and we were set to go home. Very strange taxi driver we got. It was pouring but his windshield wipers didnt work. So spent a few nervous minutes while he used one hand for steering and the other to lean out and clear the glass..dunno how he change gears in all that
Got home safe by about 2 am and slept

Woke up with the mother of all hangovers...didnt know why, didnt drink that much. Once that happens though, the script for the day is written..laze in front of the TV..exactly what i did...drank lots of tea in the process as well.

Watched Salaam Namaste on Sunday...cant say it was too great...too much like lot of the films coming out lately, but was decently enjoyable..High point was the Bihari turned Australian Crocodile Dundee played by Javed Jaffrey

That more or less brought about an end to the whole weekend..and here i am ..monday morning, disgusted to be at work and praying for some more rains so that i can pack up and leave

All work and no play.........

2005-09-07T23:10:00.000-07:00

..................makes me a very reluctant employee

Really, how can they expect me to be a dilligent worker with all this wonderful sport goin on. What am i talking bout!!
Well, first there was the cricket tri series in Zim..yeah yeah India lost but i still wanted to watch it, so much so that i left work 1.5 hours early and spent most of my time in office with my ear glued to the mundane AIR commentary and my eyes to cricinfo
Then there is the US open, which keeps me up till late night with wonderful 5 setters which sadly seem to be scheduled for late late night or early morning. Spent my first two hours in office today staring at the interactive scoreboard that gave me a point to point update on the Agassi - Blake match (Agassi is amazing, btw)
..and now starting this afternoon is the 5th Ashes test...sniff....gonna get a bad appraisal from boss for this assignment.....what can i do..the life of a sports fan is full of hurdles and an ordinary thing like employment and earning my living is not going to get in my way

I cant get no......

2005-09-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

The Rolling Stones said it best ...my life can be described by those 5 words 'I cant get no satisfaction'....lately just feel a tremendous gap in where i am and where i want to be. Gonna be 25 years old in a couple of months and aint done even 1% of the stuff i wanna. Given the average life expectancy and subtracting the necessary years that i sacrifice at the 'unholy' altars of tobacco and alcohol, that gives me, well, i dunno, a lot less time than i am gonna need.

So, running out of time, i have got to start livin life my way.... right...problem is, i am mighty confused as to what is my way!!!

So this becomes a very pointless little entry except for the utility it provides in whiling away a few unproductive minutes at office

Maybe i'll go listen to some more of the Stones' music now.....searchin for a few answers

The search for high spirits

2005-09-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

It was saturday night. a night one needs to party. So S and i decide that we need to go somewhere and get totally drunk..sounds easy doesn't it..pick a bar and just go...well how much fun would that be?

So with intent we set out from my place in Andheri...catch an auto and tell him to take us to Hawaian Shack. (actually we said Mini Punjab..cause thts the only place nearby tht the autowallahs know the way too)...Anyways 5 minutes into the ride, we decide that Hawaian Shack jus aint gonna cut it, given tht we were now earning decent salaries, we felt the need to upgrade...so we redirected our, by now, annoyed autowallah to the Marriott. Of course the fact tht we werent as nattily dressed as we would like hardly crossed our mind then. So we enter Mariott. Having never been there before, we enter the wrong way onto the sets of a madu wedding party, where the decor looked like a greenhouse gone wild. Anyways after a not so graceful exit we make are way to the lobby. Looking at the opulence and then looking at ourselves we wisely decided that we arent earning tht much yet.

Ok, but since we are in the general Juhu area, we decide to callup a friend, lets call him G, who we deem to be an expert on Juhu bars, on account that he has gotten drunk here once.
Anyways 5 minutes of precise instructions later we are at Mithibai college road. Look up and down and dont see anything but a nice, bug infested-filthy, but nice, roadside eatery. Anyways we call our spirit guide again and he insists we need to walk down a bit and we shall find it.

After asking a nearby paanwallah, auto driver and few other bemused gentlemen about where the nearest bars are we find ourselves outside Sitar bar. hmm...we think, we wonder and we leave.

Where do we end up..Hawaian Shack of course...1 hour later than we should have

Our adventure should have ended there with a peaceful round of drinks, but it was saturday night..so by 11 there was hardly room to stand. It was nice with muic by U2, sting etc and KBC2 on the TV!!!!wht you say..but wht can one do..most people were watchin the TV rather than drink...one group of gals got positively orgasmic every time a new question came on screen (tht they got almost all answers wrong didn't seem to dampen there enthusiasm) ...Anyways an eventful night had an eventful end when , after our table was used by everyone else to store empty glasses, cigarette butts..a tissue or two and so on, we decided to go back home and nap till noon, sunday came around.

Moving forward, looking back

2005-08-30T04:00:00.000-07:00

I wonder if everyone goes through this phase where they look back at their life and wish they could relive part of it. In sublime moments of boredom i do often ruminate on the possibility of doing such a thing. There are two ways in which this plays out. One where i want to relive a period of my life just because it was so much fun. The second is where i want to go back and change certain things that might not have worked for me.

Anyways what it does make me realise is that when you have memories enough that you start looking back, you do feel a bit old. All a bit depressing but to be expected from a person who has just left the safety of being a student to one now earning his keep. That is the major transition i guess. It is happening gradually but for some reason i am not yet able to let go of the student life and move on. Work is boring, responsibilities are unrequired burdens, life in general is just crawling at a snails pace.

Of course there is no point or moral to this story, just thinking about something and wanted to vent it out...all this is very nicely put in a song called 100 years by five for fighting..lovely song it is

I'm 15 for a moment
Caught in between 10 and 20
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

I'm 22 for a moment
She feels better than ever
And we're on fire
Making our way back from Mars

15… there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
15…there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live…

I'm 33 for a moment
Still the man but you see I'm a they
A kid on the way
A family on my mind
I'm 45 for a moment
The sea is high
And I'm heading into a crisis
Chasing the years of my life

15… there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to lose
yourselfWithin a morning star
15… I'm all right with you
15… there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live…

Half time goes by
Suddenly you’re wise
Another blink of an eye
67 is gone
The sun is getting high
We're moving on...

I'm 99 for a moment
Dying for just another moment
And I'm just dreaming
Counting the ways to where you are

15… there's still time for you
22… I feel her too
33… you’re on your way
Every Day's a new Day

15… there's still time for you
Time to buy and time to choose
Hey 15… there's never a wish better than this
When you only got 100 years to live

Deathrace 2005

2005-08-07T00:39:00.000-07:00

A crowd just milling around, chatting, laughing, relaxed. Then as if an unseen, unheard siren is sensed. Immediately the posture becomes alert, the gaze furtive and the conversation muffled. Then as the steel behemoth slowly draws near, the crowd rests tightly on its haunches as if poised to launch itself into space. The behemoth slows and then ……………CHAOS. The urge to be the first one on is overpowering. People are falling helter skelter, here and there the odd punching match. Bags flailing, umbrella waving 60 year old men are an unstoppable force.

With all this going on, you calmly watch, the newbie that you are. And after the first 30 seconds gets over, you get on. You are greeted by sneers, an amateur, their looks say. The seated ones look at the standing with glances of elation mixed with a bit of contempt. In the hierarchical order, you are, at that point, the lowest one could possibly get.

You would think the struggle is over, but wait, we are packed like sardines, but this is only the first stop. You have not contemplated density till you have seen a sight which involves what seems like a hundred men packed in a space meant for twenty, with another 50 men trying to get on every 5 minutes.

One could be graceful on exit, but that wouldn’t be fun. So you join in. Push, the man behind me says, so you push. Squeeze in sideways, says another one, so you try that as well. Nothing works, so instead ascertain that the man in front of you is exiting , so is the person behind you. Well, what’s there to do then? Go with the flow and be unceremoniously pushed out when required, the others glaring at you for your lack of effort and obvious free-riding in the exit process.
Don’t you hate riding the local trains!!!!

Many Strings Attached

2005-08-03T02:51:00.000-07:00

Was thinking about my life in general today and looking back wondered all my decisions had truly been mine. A very heavy topic, I know, but try this exercise. Think about 5 major life decisions you have made in say, the past ten years. Then trace the origin of these choices. Do you feel as if the choices you have made have been the ones you really wanted to make or have you been too busy wondering what your friends/family will think bout your decisions to be genuinely in touch with your own consciousness.

Remarkably in my case I find that every time I am faced with a life changing moment, I look to my friends, not just for advice and support but to decide if I will be ridiculed or chastised. It is quite ridiculous that peer pressure defines who we are. And the strange thing is all of us act the same way when in a group.

Don’t you think it is absurd that we spend our whole life trying to impress others and belittle those who stray even a bit from what the group dictates? I know social norm indicates that one remains concerned with the impact of individual decisions on others but think about the liberation of solely making your own choices. Sacrifice and compensating at the behest of others need is considered a virtue in all societies. But if you act for your own personal good you are deemed selfish

Very lucky are those people who can claim their lives as their own

Friday Fun

2005-08-02T03:23:00.000-07:00

Finally got to go out last friday, yeah, there was a brief respite from rains. Had a good time at Sports Bar in Phoenix Mills except for 3 things:

1) One of my friends brought along one very obnoxious colleague. You know the kinds i am talking about, the ones that know it all, have been there and done that, who interrupt you in the middle of each and every sentence with a planned parry of one-upmanship. Hate people like that

2) The bill - How the heck can 4 guys run up a bill of 7000 bucks in 2 hours of drinking in a bar which has happy hours for half that time and isnt too expensive in the first place. Man, i have no clue.

3) Well this was part fun - and totally embarassing. Now one of my friends, i wont name him, gets totally drunk and as we leave the bar gets up to some very drunken antics. First, let me paint a picture of how he looks as he exits the bar. Formal clothes, a small back pack and an umbrella. Now that you get the picture, lets proceed. So we exit the bar and he spots a club jus across the lane and of course the usual quota of hot women standing there. So of course he has to inform us in his loudest possible voice that there are, and i am quoting here 'so many hot women here, and we have to go across to that club'. Of course, we refuse. Not to be deterred, he starts the wierdest jig i have ever seen (second wierdest actually, got a surd friend who does a brownian motion in the name of dance), legs, hands, umbrella, flailing everywhere. So, mortified, i try to exit as fast as possible. In his element now, he follows me down the stairs doing the same jig. Unbelievable!!!

So all in all, a very eventful Friday

A Legal Alien

2005-08-01T20:41:00.000-07:00

I was in Montreal last fall. Incredibly excited cause this was my first visit to the American continent. I was warned that Montreal was decidedly French, and thus I had quite a few misconceptions about the city.

Two days after staying in that city, I must say, all I had feared was false. It is French in a few ways, but those things just add another flavour to one of the most cosmopolitan cities I have ever been in. Wonderful old architecture, swanky new highrises, incredibly friendly people, amazing street musicians and cultures from all around the world.

I stayed in an incredibly overpriced service apartment in the heart of downtown Montreal but it was worth it. I was surrounded by cafes, nightclubs, malls and the best part, my university was just two blocks away. It took me just about a couple of days to fit right in.

I was on a pass/fail system for my exchange term there, so studies were the last thing on my mind. Typically classes didn’t start till 4 in the evening. So the general schedule was get up at 1 pm, have lunch at a nearby café, go to class, get back home and chill for a couple of hours and then hit the town till the wee hours of the morning. Needless to say it was a thoroughly enjoyable 3 months. Of course all that partying did put a sizeable dent in the bank account, but it was worth it.

Now the only problem with Montreal in the fall is the approaching winter. Temperatures in late October were a mild -8 degrees celcius. Now for a guy from a tropical country those are polar temperatures. But I have to categorize them as mild, cause by the time I left in December it was about -28 and with wind chill about -38. Now this is serious weather, the kind that makes you quit smoking!!! Huh..let me explain. Of course like any Western country you can’t smoke inside in most public buildings and ever so often you will see this little, miserable group of smokers huddled outside their place of work trying to get through a smoke before their fingers or noses or any exposed body part freezes and falls off. I am telling you, at -28, cold burns!

That not withstanding, Montreal gets 2 thumbs up as one of the nicest cities to visit in the world and I really miss the place and the amazing friends I made there.

Holier than thou

2005-07-31T20:52:00.000-07:00

Religion, a very controversial topic indeed. But let us explore it a bit. I scoff at all those who say that we shouldn’t politisize religion. Most neo-religions have had their origin and have derived their power from politics. Christianity was an attempt to revive a dying Roman empire. Islam was an attempt to unite the ever suffering arab tribes. Quite political indeed.

But all religions throw up a very interesting question. What is God? Is there an entity that controls all our actions?

Returning to the zen quote in my first post, the existence of God is an oft debated question.

I found a very nice answer in a piece of fiction written called ‘ The Footprints of God’, written by a guy called Greg Iles. He basically surmises God as a collective consiousness that represents the whole universe. He puts forward the theory that the human being is a minor projection and the first unit of consciousness. As we develop our technology and produce super-computers that are capable of holding the contents of an entire brain we evolve in terms of releasing our entire consciousness from the limitations of our body. As we progress towards a symbiosis between machine and biological life, we take this evolution further. Till a time where the whole planet becomes just a representative of one consciousness. This spreads across the whole universe. The consiousness then withdraws from space-time as we know it. At this point it is not aware of what it is. When it becomes aware, a flash of energy occurs which leads to the emergence of a singularity and then a rebirth of the universe.
A very complex theory which is full of holes. But it still provides a very interesting explanation to the most debated question of civilized society.

Ties That Bind

2005-07-30T23:44:00.000-07:00

I have, what you would call, a decidedly weird family. My mother in her hey days was a hippie, flower child, a free spirit. My father was someone who married a hippy. My childhood was defined by indulgence and bohemianism. My parents were in Canada for about 6 years during which my sis was born. Of course, 6 months before I was to be born they had to return to India. I love my country, but I will always begrudge them that.

To round it off I have an aunt who is a certified whiskey taster, an aunt and uncle who are rock musicians, an aunt who is a media evangelist and quite a few ABCD cousins who are just plain strange.

An interesting family to be sure, which means that I have my own quirks which I am probably not aware of. It also means that I had, what many would term the coolest upbringing. Never was I discouraged from exploring my boundaries and limitations. Never was I chastised from experimenting in the different flavours that life has to offer.
Overall, a very interesting life so far.

Random Thoughts and a Flourish

2005-07-29T04:07:00.000-07:00

Read a Zen saying a few days ago:

“If everything returns to the One, where does the One return to?”

Hmm..Very profound and quite a puzzler, but i dont think i shall explore this too deeply, bound to get a bit dizzy. Serious thoughts like philosophy, religion, politics are best left to those late night discussions spent in the company of a couple of close friends and the odd intoxicant.

This is quite literally my first post. I have never (and ashamed though i am to admit it) blogged before..sigh. Have read a few friends blogs but never quite understood what the fuss was. If you want to share your thoughts you just talk to friends! What satisfaction does one derive from making such a public spectacle of one's inner musings.

Anyways that chain of thought came to an end when today, sitting at work and staring at a blank laptop screen, i decided that anything has gotta beat this semi-comatose state

You know, having worked for a month or so i have gotta say its not that bad. What creates the problem is the routine. It just kills me that everyday i have to get up at the same time, commute the same route, see the same faces, come back to watch the same old TV shows, sleep and then repeat the whole thing all over again
Dreary eh...but wait there is a light at the end of the tunnel. WEEKENDS!!! The unexpected pleasure in getting up whenever u feel like, the pleasant throbbing of the aftermath of an all night binge, the absolute unexpectedness of a 4 A.M auto ride. Its wonderful

Hmm...now that i analyse it, what we have here is a very staid piece of writing. A pseudo-intellectual quote to start with, followed by some unimaginative cribs and the ever predictable positive ending.
I guess not everyone should be allowed to blog :)