Sunday, January 31, 2010

The Bench

The training period  ended and there was no sign of a project. I had heard stories about the bench, there were a few legendary people who resurrected their careers here. A few others decided to go the unconventional way and well we remember only those who succeeded, and the losers forgotten very conveniently. I retired for the day with the thoughts of what I would do on the bench. Like all normal men, negative thoughts haunted me at first.I saw an image of skeletal remains of a man on bench, it was disturbing, but it was the manifestation of all the long bench stories I have been told.




A trait in myself, which I have come to admire, is the resilience. I keep telling myself, that I have to walk just a little more longer. And I did just that, I asked myself to look at the positive. There were quite a few of them. The training period was exhaustive and a little break from work wouldn't be bad ( I know being lethargic doesn't sound good, but give me work and I wouldn't be lethargic anymore!). This free time I would have would help me loose all the extra flab I have been carrying with myself for the past few months( Time to say goodbye tummy!). Moreover I would also give me time to write, a little more time for my blog, a little more time to dig deep into my mind and give my thoughts words. Give words to some gyaan which I always have handy, and am ever ready to share. So now the image of the bench had transformed from a Dakhma( a place where Zoroastrians leave their dead) to a beautiful image of a place from were I can stare at the beautiful sky of imagination, which would playfully tell me stories and teach me a lesson called life. Done then, I would approach the bench with dignity and positive energy much like the Bizarro comic at the right.





The next day arrived and I walked to the office premises, and asked for the location of 'The Bench'. A wry smile and a few exchanged words later, I realized that there is no such area as bench. Each one of us was assigned a separate location to sit, and some kind of a task to do.Well positive thoughts work,and now I would have some work to do . In a few minutes, positive energy was replaced by panic. I wasn't assigned  a PC, and for some reason it is not being possible to do so,like always worse thoughts arrived, and well they left immediately when I was told that I was assigned a project and have to reach the Project manager ASAP.


Footnotes:

This is not how things happened, so the situations have been modified for entertainment purposes. This story is of a close one and is written with the point of view of that person.


Image courtesy: Bizarro comics




Monday, January 25, 2010

Jab We Met

After completing my engineering, I went to my hometown, Chiplun. Its a 6 hour journey from Pune, and a flat backside is not the only side effect. I was well received by my cousin brother at around 4 in the morning, I hit the sack the moment I reached home. I have a lot of dreams, and I tend to remember them too But not even in my weirdest of dreams I would have imagined what was in store.

A couple of oldies came to meet me at around 10, but I was still in love with the bed and well that sparked them to start their favorite conversation of what they would have done had they been younger. I will not complain because that kept them busy for a while, But then I only wish I had never woken up. I will not mention their names ( well my relatives might just read my blog!!)...so for our convenience lets call them Chatur Chacha!!



Chatur chacha: Beta what engineering did you do?

Me: Mechanical Engineering

CC: Mechnical( I dint forget the 'a'), ohhh, so you will be repairing machines?....Areee you know that Ali ka Beta, even he is a mechanic. He went to Dubai, and now he has his own garage there.

Me: I am not a mechanic chacha, I am an engineer!

CC: Oh, you repair engines!!!

Me: No, I dont repair anything. I make things (I lead 1-0)

My Bhabi came to my room, with a cup of coffee for the two of us. I help my cup from the hot end, and in a sudden jerk the cup fell off my hand. Chatur Chacha chuckled

CC: You know, today people are padha likha, but they have no brains. I remember when I used to work at the plant, this officers didnot know anything, they used to come to me to ask Chacha what do I do now?...I dont know what this machine does. They take more salary but are absolutely useless

The agony of steamy hot cup of coffee wasn't enough that Chacha had to add to it.

CC: So beta,  I hear you have a job.

Me: ( I didnt know what was hurting me, the burning coffee or ...) Yes Chacha, I got a job at Accenture.

CC: Assenchaarr......what is that?

Me: (grr......) Its a software company!!( I wish I hadn't said that!)

CC: Saaftware...I thought you did mechnical engineering

Me: I got a job there, so I took it

CC: But what do you do there?, you dont know saaftware work

Me: No, but they will teach us the work first, so no problem

CC: Then why did you do mechnical engineering?

Me: I did mechanical engineering to repair Softwares!!!


Footnotes:


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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

3 years of Bliss and companionship

3 years ago on a cold January morning, I was wide awake much earlier than I have ever been. I was nervous, excited and anxious all at the same time. Why? you will soon know...

I am the elder one among my siblings, actually old by just the number, coz it is my two younger brothers who are my parents. Rahil and Saifan, they have always been my parents and caretakers. From making sure that I eat my meals on time when my mom is not there, to making sure that my clothes are ironed and ready before I get ready for work. They tell their friends about my blog, but never care to read it( u dumb asses!, I hate you people for that). Saifan shares the same passion I do for Manchester United, and the three of us love food. It is one way of bonding for the three of us.

So, since I am the older one( because of the numbers), the new things always come to me first and this is about one such special thing.

3 years ago on a cold January morning, I was wide awake much earlier than I have ever been. I was nervous, excited and anxious all at the same time.why?
  I was gifted the pulsar 150 I drive today. The bike has been a part of all the adventures I undertook, even that one night when I could have been stabbed( that night lead to the name of my blog...read the very first post and you will get the hint!!)...I drove around with a lot of good looking girls, much to the jealousy of the guys and the list goes on. This was my first vehicle, and well first is always special.I will go on to get a lot of other vehicles( hopefully), but this pulsar of  mine will always remain the pampered one

3 years ago on a cold January morning, I was wide awake much earlier than I have ever been. I was nervous, excited and anxious all at the same time.You now know...


Footnotes:


Image courtesy: http://burnyourfuel.com
I am sorry guys for not posting my story, I think it will take a little more time, but it will definitely be up in a few days time.

Thanx and Cheers

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Hope is where there is no hope

I am currently working on a short story which will be complete soon, and I did not want to leave my blog like that, so I thought I would post something which was already written......I am sorry but will be back soon.


"An almost non fancied teams beats a champion in a thrilling game of cricket"
"No one thought this guy would make it big in movies"


There has always been a story of an underdog in whatever we do. The Underdogs are every where, but we dont seem to have enough of them do we?....

Here in this post I try and bisect the drive and reason behind an underdog story.

The most important and a major factor of an underdog is fearlessness/ lack of expectations. Yes, like they always say they have nothing to loose. Expectations always seem to be a burden for a whole lot of us, that is why being a champion is not easy

A champion uses the expectations of people to drive himself forward
 But what about the lesser mortals, its not easy and when this load of expectations is taken off the lesser mortals, an underdog is made!!

But is that the only reason? is taking the load off a person the only reason why an underdog story is created. Well there is another category of Underdog is that of "the fallen one".


The case of the Fallen one is curious ("The curious case of the fallen one.. :-))...because we have often seen big giants fall and fall and fall...but then once they hit rock bottom things start looking up again..it is as if starting up new was the only solution for them. But what happens when they hit rock bottom?... Another quote

I lost hope, I lay on the ground to die....
With my eyes open I looked up and realized
My limit is the sky!!
Yes , when u have fallen you then realized that you never had limits to what , where and when one achieves something. If one has to fall, then it has to be for the good, and only one person can determine how much you benefit from the fall and thats yourself. Most "fallen ones" have used failure as spring board for success and one must know on a springboard the harder you fall the higher you go!!!....

Thats what life is about...irony...lots of irony...one rises to fall and falls to rise.....one lives to die and dies to live........
One searches for hope and finds hope where there is no hope

Before I sign off, I must thank for the immense response I got for my post for Blog-a-ton 6 Who writes our Destiny . I hope to keep writing to entertain you all......






Saturday, January 9, 2010

Who writes our Destiny?-(Blog-a-ton 6)

 This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 6; the fifth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.



There are two reasons why I like this picture.One of the reasons why I love this picture is because this is exactly how we begin when we decide to do start something. Our heads resting are resting on our wrists; a pen which is moving only in random directions and eyes pondering around, looking for inspiration. I was sitting exactly like this when my dotting mom came into my room with a huge (really huge) plate of Gajar ka Halwa.




"Beta, you still haven't eaten the Halwa I made" 
"Yes ma, I will eat it but now I am writing, please let me concentrate!" 
"Eat the Halwa, you will think better" she joked.




I kept the plate besides the laptop, eating a spoon between long intervals of roof gazing. My imagination seemed to have been lost in the Ghee laden Gajar ka Halwa. Another reason why I can’t think when there is food around me is because my mom gets very finicky about me finishing the food. To be honest I would love to finish every plate she gave me, but for that I would need another stomach. So I decided to take the escape route.
The escape route is a small dustbin which is strategically placed very close to my study table. Let me explain, my mom comes from a generation which thought that more food means a smarter kid; (I will definitely agree with the smart kid thing, but they seem to forget, rather conveniently the obese dimension of the kid too) so when I sit to study, there is always something special on the plate.




So well I took the escape route, and the rest of the Gajar ka Halwa went in to the dustbin. What I didn’t know was that, my mom was right at the door watching me take the escape route.
“The Halwa wasn’t good?”
“Mom it was brilliant, the only thing was that it was too much”
“Then I believe you have a mouth to speak out”
“Mom, you get upset when I say that”
“And you think this wouldn’t upset me?”
“Mom!” I shouted, got up from the table with a jerk; a couple of books and stationary fell off the table. I stormed out of the house. I don’t know why I did it, but I was very upset at the constant nagging and fuss made about food at my house.




I ran down the flight of stairs and sat on a bench near the gate of the society. This was one place I came to, to cool down my temper. The open air, the shade of the trees and a rear dry leaf falling from them, this place was always a great leveller for me.
“What happened sahib?” Chotu asked
Chotu was a fruit seller; he always came near our society gate at the end of his day. He was also fond of the shade below the trees, and it also made a great place for him to take account of how much he had earned through the day.
“You don’t seem to be in a good mood?” he asked.
“I am ok, Chotu. How was your day?”
“I made 150 rupees today”
“Hmm not bad huh Chotu”
“Really? How much does the Biryani cost at Hyderabad House?”
“I don’t remember Chotu, may be a hundred thirty or something, why?”
“I have a dream. One day I will eat the Biryani at the Hyderabad house, I heard it is very good. But I don’t think the day is today, my drunken father will take this 150 from me”




 He left with a twinkle in his eyes hoping to have a meal he could only dream about, while I was left wondering, how different our lives are. Here was a boy who longed for luxuries of life, while I made a fuss & threw tantrums, when life itself was offering me everything at its best. While arguing with my mother in the heat of the moment I forgot to be thankful to The Almighty for blessing me with everything one could wish for. 


This post has been published by me as a part of the Blog-a-Ton 6; the sixth edition of the online marathon of Bloggers; where we decide and we write. To be part of the next edition, visit and start following Blog-a-Ton.
 To promote this post on Indivine click here

Monday, January 4, 2010

Something Different!!!!!

Its the fourth day of the New Year and all that feeling of something new is almost over( atleast for me!!). Its that time that we like race horses put our head downs and start running a year long race. We will not remember that every second, every minute of this life is new and irreplaceable.

What point am I trying to make?, well what I am trying to say is that in this year long race we will get opportunities to forget the race and run in the direction where we want to go, and not towards a so called finish line. If you ever come across one such opportunity, take it and I promise you will never regret it

Btw, How is the new look of my blog? I was trying to change the look for a long time now. As of what I have noticed this template loads much faster and well the content is highlighted too...do drop in your opinion about it.

Footnotes:

Image courtesy:http://actualdownload.com

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Bowled Over by Priya


You dirty dirty minds....I know some of you would be picturing a hot gal( and expecting me to tell you about her), but the Priya I am talking about is a small breakfast place close to where I stay.
My brothers have been frequenting this place for quite a while, and today they took me along for breakfast.

I was amazed at the environment. A guy walked up to us and wished us luck for the New Year, and then cleaned up the table and chair. He came up for the order and even suggested us our breakfast. I came to learn that his name was Suresh. He was popular among the customers, especially his "attempts" at English.
The breakfast was ready along with Suresh's comments on todays news. The environment was full of energy thanks to Suresh.
Well we met Harish at the counter, who seemed to shy and reserved. And Behind him was a small message displayed



The message says that " This institution does not hire any children". It was something which my brother Rahil pointed out to me. It is something which both Harish and Suresh believe in. I found it very noble and refreshing. It is a very common sight at small places to hire children to clean tables, serve breakfast and do the tiny bits at these places. But it is nice to see people like Harish and Suresh, who have their morals at the right place.





In the pic above:(L to R)Harish and Suresh


When we start anything new, we feel good about it. For me it was the same, the first morning of the new year and I get to meet these special guys. I am really proud of the fact that a common man in our country is thinking of making a difference to the society, a very positive facet indeed.
If this is the picture, then I am sure that our dream of becoming a super power with its heart at the right place is not far away.

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Footnotes:


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