My Pug Marks

Started with an uncertain trot And grew stronger each day Well fed and admired Loved and nurtured In the green fields of my heart With confidence & brightness Until it fell over the cliff My heart lay punctured And there was no Galloping...

When someone is murdered , police usually investigate the spouse first . That is all you need to know about a marriage ! Another one bites dust today. The wheel of marriage started rolling with yours sincerely back in 2011. Three weddings and four years later, it was P's turn today. I happened to realise one thing. Not only one gets wiser by age or education but also by the number of weddings or social events in general that one attends. It is always good to know what happens next or what X type of aunties would do or how Y type on unmarried girls would turn up. All fun, none the less. That brings me to one more experience our lovely little group had when P was being chased by this guy with ugly teeth while she worked for a major dental and oral care brand! If one looks hard enough - one can derive irony from simplest of the things. Next fixed in line - AS & AS. Next looking for in line - AS (how many asses we have with us...

Other not so important news is as follows. I am limping with a completely removed nail from the finger next to toe on my left foot, heat is getting unbearable as it is supposed to be, work is hectic as usual, I don't find time to exercise, I like to sleep more and I am hopelessly stuck in a rut of work-home routine with minor hiccups like the stupid freak toe injury. Pretty uneventful as usual. What we tend to forget while ranting like I just did is that these continuous monotonous processes in life are also the driving force for us to graduate to newer and widened laws of nature - even though we may tend to resist them. It is hard to realize the importance of these circles until you find few precious minutes for yourself to think and look around. There is nothing new with spring and summer. We hardly have spring season though - summer conquers spring quickly and brutally. I happened to be loitering around lackadaisically on the terrace and found the beautiful burnt orange on t...

We are common men, right? I mean, I don't think anyone visiting this little cyberspace of mine wouldn't want to be referred to as one. However, we Indians have a deeper imbibed meaning for the 3 words - The Common Man. The Common Man is the one immortalized by R.K. Laxman's comic strip. He represents the aspirations, problems, fears & tears of the silently suffering Indian in all the chaos, apathy, politics & the bureaucracy that our nation has come to represent. The Common Man at Worli Sea face I especially like this particular statue of the Common Man at the Worli Sea face in Mumbai.  If you happen to visit Mumbai, make sure you visit Worli Sea face. Cool evening winds with the mammoth sea are totally humbling. And then there is the Common Man standing there looking into eternity. Peace in chaos. 

I have reached to a stage in my work life where I can't recall being as busy ever before as I am now. Not in terms of repetitive work. Not in terms of spending long hours either (though there are hours at home...). It is purely in terms of there being so much to do that you want to do but just not have the time for it. This feeling is good! I definitely believe in smart work and it is always better to have more hours spent doing different things than spending fewer hours doing the same thing. It is the head that needs to be worked out and it definitely can stretch beyond how much you think it can take. Give it a shot while I get back from my writing break to some analytics data. :)

Yes, I had taken a big off from my blog. Yes, I am trying to start again - not that anyone missed me here! ;) A big credit goes to the spammer who has been commenting on a certain post of mine, constantly reminding me that I must come back and write. Just happened to watch this 'Harlem Shake' performed by Googlers at the Android Garden and thought it was cool. Can it be the next Gangnam Style? Watch out for the dude with the helmet on!

An attempt to profess my undying love for the car of my dreams. Even at the cost of sounding sissy. There, I said it. My dearest loveliest MINI, At the onset - I love you! I love you & did I say I love you?! Since the day I set my eyes on you - I have fallen head over heels in love with you. Yes, I love you. That was a glorious day when I started exploring www.miniusa.com  while working on your SEM account. I clearly remember it. It was almost the end of my working day when I received a request from my team in US to work on your account. I thank them tonnes! Over the next few days, I got a chance to witness your full glory. From Cooper Classic to trendy JCW - you truly are a beauty from the fairy tales. With that chassis, my oh my - who wouldn't want to own you forever? I went from a sane hard working guy to an obsessed & possessed lover. Watched you tonnes of times in The Italian Job . Watched your videos on YouTube. Consumed every page on you...

This thought experiment was grueling enough that I could hear the whining of my mental hard drive.  What exactly is business like?  Is it good to be business like?  Is it the new success mantra we swear by these days in the corporate world?  Does business like mean being all open and ready for business while you may be cursing the moron sitting in front of you under your breath?  Does it make you a moron if you think of the person in front of you was a moron since you may never know how incredibly talented he may turn out to be despite his rustic accent and antiquated non-corporate style?  Being suited and booted with an attitude is the only way that you can be business like or as Google's philosophy for being 'serious without wearing suits' works just fine?  Does it make a guy business like if he can talk to ten people from different strata and still actually truly be a moron? Does business like mean that you know the art to ...

As a ritual, I drop my wife to office every working day. As a ritual, we end up running 10-15 mins late. I am an owl type, hence mornings are usually slothfully slow for me. This irritates her. While she gets ready in 20 mins flat (5 minutes added, thankfully, because of the dressing table that we have now), I end up taking almost 50 mins. This also means she gets more time to sleep (aargh!). As we menace through the rough traffic & pot holed roads and reach her office, she says the same thing to me everyday. "Be good. Don't get angry!" I smile back and drive on to my office. I was wondering about this once. I was outraged for a bit - What does she mean? Am I a cruel heartless beast that she has to ask me to be good everyday? After calming down in an instant thinking she knows better, I gave it a deeper thought. In general, we forget to be good and get irritated with all the small and big things that happen to us or around us everyday. The roads are bad, the w...

How irritating is it to get a phone call when you are in that last hour of your sleep on a Saturday morning? Worse, if it turns out to be your mobile service provider wanting to confirm if you would want to upgrade your 3G plan (which in any case sucks with most providers in India!) Even worse, what if it turns out to be someone important, like your boss? Now you don't want to sound totally sleepy - do you? What would he/she be thinking of you if he were to ask, "Were you sleeping?" at 11 am in the morning? (And, this is judgmental attitude is especially true of older white haired balding bosses!) Well, here are a few tips to sound all alert & morning crispy when actually you would have killed him for ruining your sleep on a Saturday morning. They have worked well for me, hope they would for you too! - Take a deep breath, let the phone ring for a few seconds so that you get a chance to clear your head (hope you did not have much alcohol last night). T...

I love the cafeteria on the 4th floor in my office. It may not be as funky & stylish as my previous workplace's but the view is simply inspiring. If you happen to come a bit early or a little late with fewer people dining around, you can get the window seat and eat in peace looking outside to see this. View from the 4th floor cafeteria This rugged iron structure, is probably the foundation of a work in progress (or not) building. Along all four sides are finished buildings, including the one which hosts my office. I keep looking at the rusty beams and  they still seem to stand strong. Despite all finished products around, there seems to be space for something new, a work in progress that can be shaped to a fine thing. It can be shaped to be so good that it completely shrouds the existing ones which boast of having stood the test of time. Who knows?  I like work in progress. It is always good to look forward to something new and different. What do you think?...

I have always been passionate about long drives. Sight of a meandering endless road in front & in the rear view is pretty exhilarating. However, with the increasing fuel prices and my Ford Figo Petrol being a big time guzzler - I haven't been able to follow my passion like I wanted to.  However, a recent Friday night got better of me and a bunch of friends and I decided to try out the new Yamuna Expressway and zoom of to Agra for an early morning visit of the Taj Mahal. What followed was simply legendary! My respect for the guzzler went up a notch as it hit a comfortable 170 kmph without shuddering or much noise. It was steady & handling was superb (that doesn't mean that the petrol bill came down!). Driving at almost 3 km/min with not a car in sight or rear view is something that one needs to experience himself. And when a car was actually visible now and then - it was an altogether different feeling to see it vanish at such a pace in the rear view - feeling ...

Image Courtesy: http://myluckylottonumbers.com Who doesn't secretly wish to inherit a large some of money from some dead distant relative you don't even know of? I definitely do. It wouldn't hurt to get a cool crore cheque along with a loving message from someone whom you barely knew. And everyone has their own theories of what one would do from such a windfall gain. Shopping, paying back loans, traveling the world, buying new cars, homes, land - on the moon even! Personally, if I get to inherit a crore - I would do the following, in order of importance: 1. Pay my debts 2. Shop for good clothes & shoes (for all those guys smirking, have you even checked out the latest sports/formal shoes out there?) 3. Take an year off from work and travel 4. Buy amazing gadgets 5. Invest (of what remains, if at all) wisely Since I don't know of any rich distant dying relative who has a keen interest in being generous to me, any idea as to when w...

Image Courtesy: www.collectivequotes.com We all have our 'What the hell?!' moments, especially when life is being a trifle topsy turvy. Accept it. Passing through one of those life's curves with a terribly low horsepower, one reminisces a lot. So it was that night changing into the next day when I was on this amazing mind trip of discovering what my life has been so far. Pretty ordinary with extraordinary moments interspersed, as it turns out. Just that ordinary constitutes of 90% of it. Fair ratio, I would say. However, within those ordinary moments is where I found these 'What the hell?!' moments. Way too many of them. Being just, encouraging, appreciative and all the other so called positive adjectives go for a toss when one enters the 'What the hell?!' zone. In this zone, one tends to question the positiveness of these adjectives itself when the world has been anything but. Illustrating some of those moments are thoughtful rants from heart...

Of late, worse than the pollution, population & politicians (elections are underway here where I stay); it has been crows and pigeons that have been giving me a heart ache! In a city where there isn't enough space for people to stay and more get pouring in everyday, it looks like things aren't much different for these birds as well. When town was full & expensive, people moved to suburbs. When prices shot up in suburbs - hey there still were the outskirts to stretch and extend Mumbai further. When trees were full, there were poles & buildings. And now - these little funny creatures don't mind to procreate on our window ledges! People are generous of course. I have seen elevators in some Jain dominated buildings having stickers saying how you can wash away your sins by feeding them. Humbug! So, every morning (especially weekend mornings) when you are having the best sleep of your life (at least the week!) - they simply can't stop moving round and...

Like the pistol bullets shot At an army with swords for defense Like an expensive dairy chocolate slab Gifted to a lactose intolerant Like a treatment for depression related disorders Prescribed to the guy who acts joker in the circus Like an amusement park Filled with Dementor-like creatures Life is a simple equation Filled with many variables

Photo Courtesy: www.trekearth.com I'd sit with you Oh Arabian Sea My thoughts would sail Holding the colorful fishes' trail Calm my nerves ruptured Watching that distant ship anchored Forget my mournful days Pelting the rocks your constant waves Strengthen my emotional defense Rippled water your fence But no, I just can't sit My last local leaves in a bit

This one will definitely ruffle a few but then, it is my blog, isn't it? I actually feel like arguing but stop myself one step short realizing it may usually be futile. Cities like Bangalore, Gurgaon (yes, it is Gurgaon and not Delhi), Hyderabad and Mumbai have always faced the wrath of people working there. Most of them don't like their work cities. Most of them do not belong to these cities.  My simple question is - if you have a problem with everything ranging from traffic to rents to 'heartlessness' in here, why are you here? In questioning all the wrong things, one tends to forget that these are the cities with opportunities. They never asked to be the chosen ones but government policies, location, etc. worked in their favor. It is only the residents who realize how their towns changed into big cities which actually is the root cause of all the problems. I can speak for Gurgaon, been living here since birth. I have seen fields turn into glass buildings - a...

I don't spill My thoughts in ink To praise your beauty And what you mean to me Though it is true That every thought I spew In my head Has an indelible mark of you

It is just past 5 am on 15th August, 2011. Heaven and Hell both know I am not an early riser. And no, I haven't risen up to listen to Mr. Manmohan Singh speak from the Red Fort on the 64th Independence Day of India. I also don't work for an organization which would want to see me working on a National Holiday. Like most Indians, I would rather skip our soft spoken PM's speech and enjoy the extended weekend, but I clearly am not doing so. It is a simple question and a profound one that bugs me and takes my sleep away. Jinhe Naaz Hai Hind Par Woh Kahaan Hain? It means - Where are those people who are proud of India? A beautiful song from singer Rabbi Shergill  asks the same question, many a times. Where are those people? Are they the ones like me who enjoy sleeping on their nation's Independence Day which, just to remind myself and them - was won after a hard fought battle of about a 100 years? I don't think so. They definitely don't fit. Are they the ones who a...