Monday, November 09, 2009 

My City..My Life.. 3

Move over here and enter..

Monday, November 09, 2009 | |

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 

My City.. My Life.. II

Part 1: CLICK HERE

‘Yes, please provide the snapshots of the various scenarios by next Monday. Asok will then be able to provide an analysis report and then we can discuss and frame the roadmap for the project’, said he.

He sees Peter nodding in the screen in front of him. It's the weekly status meeting after which everyone cuts away from the office for the pursuit of everything and nothing; some just sleep, some do sports, some read, many go for dates and movies and also few do come to office on weekends occasionally.

'Yes, I'll provide the inputs. Anything else', said Peter.

He's all ears and concentrating to decipher the English accent. He replies, 'That's it, so have a great weekend'.

At the back of his mind one George Bernard Shaw's quote crosses his mind, "It is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him".

Peter. "Thank you very much; you too have a good time. Bye.'

He collects the meeting agenda sheets, and dashes towards his cube from the conference room.


One more turn left and then he'll be at his cube.

That wasn't supposed to be. Instead all papers that were in his folder; now had taken to the air and were flying like kites in Kabul sky (Kite Runner - Kite flying is a passion in Kabul). He had banged into a new glass door that house-keeping had put in place to segregate the floor into two zones. As the kites were falling all over him, two small eyes and a lovely little nose appeared at the background of the sky.

In order to cut short the description of this angel and without any intention of racial remarks; she is a chinky from Chungju near Seoul in South Korea and is one of the international recruits in the company.

'Are you okay?'

He was still coming to terms with this chinky angel in a Kabul sky.

A coarse voice, 'Hhey aare youu okayy'.

Thick moustache and a big face. Asok.

Finally, he gets up and Asok helps him to his cube.

His friends had booked a bowling alley for the Friday night outing, but with an aching back, he decides to head for home.

'Hey, mister...hey hello....listen..'

He turns while he was just about to get into the lift. It's the chink.

'Here take your paper planes', said she as she handed the folder to him.

'Slumdog..AR Rehman..fan huh..by the way thank you very much'.

'Actually Paper Planes is by M.I.A .. But yes I am big fan of AR Rehman'.

'Hmmm okay..So not finished yet on a Friday evening.'

'Well, I was almost done with my last mail of the day when you crashed in front of my cube', she starts laughing.

'Oh....anyways thanks for your helping hand', he gives a smile.

He continued,' well if you are done for the day, shall I walk you till the tram depot.'

'Okay, thanks'.

Chink in the armour!!

'So you are new in the office, I guess you are one of the international recruits in HR department.'

'Yes, you are right and I am Michelle from Chungju, South Korea'.

'Michelle..I am xxxxxx.. and I'm in the Consultancy department..well I Know only of one city in Korea, which is Seoul'.

'Ban Ki Moon, the UN secretary general, he is also from Chungju..it's a small town near Seoul'

'Oh really, Moon has taken over the Earth and another is on the trail already'.

They walked till the bus depot and before they bid good bye, there was exchange of mobile numbers.

She wanted to explore the city and he was already on a free fall with his latest crush.

Will the jinx of a single status be broken by a chink?

To be continued..

:)

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 | |

 

My City.. My Life..





It's 30 minutes past 8 in the morning, he would most often snooze his alarm untill well past 9 am. The housemaid has not turned up yet. There is another strike today in the city and office goers are looking forward to an extended weekend.


He finally stopped the alarm at 9:49 and he has to hurry today. No transport coz of the strike, breakfast at office canteen coz of the maid not turning up (the strike is just an excuse; she lives just a few kilometers away) and an important conference call to attend. He must pick up the call at 11:00 am from his cube in office.




He's brushing his teeth & going through the city digest in one of the dailies. There has been a massive jam last day as a huge procession was held by a section of society for some welfare cause. People missed their flights & trains. Tourists could only do sight seeing of a sea of human bodies & enjoy the fish & sweet delicacies of the city in their hotels. He must hurry and leave the paper.




Unfortunately for him, both the bathrooms are occupied. The maid has been bunking from her duties that week. Some 3-4 times that week, the roomies have had to eat food from the nearby "Ultimate food centre'. The noodles sure had got intertwined in the intestines & did the damage to the digestive system.




He surely did not like people bunking their duties. He wanted to get rid of her & keep a new one. What a vidambana here, if you get rid of her or even cut her wages for the days she did not turn up for work, she may create a big hue & cry. Probably she will get some support from some local associations. On the other hand, there are several thousands who are working in NGOs(the non-sarkari companies). The recession(the word which was said may be hundred times a day just a few months back, yes slowly recovery is on) adding fuel to the cause; people were losing their jobs just because they were sitting on a bench out of their wish. These NGO workers when they lose their jobs could just manage a foul word or two and carry on looking for other avenues. The sarkari and local workers sure have an advantage of job security.




Wo wo wo, today's generation is lot more confident and entrepreneuring. Recently few of his friends have decided on taking on the rough road. They have put their mind to where their heart is.




Talking of heart, one of his roomies is romancing a beautiful maiden. Earning some bucks in the share market has added to his confidence to go ahead and romance at the famous restaurants of the city. It has infused into him a thinking making him to talk more of open-relationships. Suddenly he has an altogether different outlook on life. The roomie is taking his risks which are infact calculated & rewards are coming along.




Returning to our friend who has by now managed to dress up in his favorite blue jeans & white cotton shirt for office. He still has 35 minutes to pick up on his conference call. Since public transport is not plying on the road coz of the strike, he takes a hand pulled rickshaw which luckily is available. The city has got all systems of transport but still strangely the city isnt really in motion.




A packet of chips and mango frooti on his way to office gives him the energy to take him through the conference call to lunch time. He swipes and gets entry to his office building. He makes it on time but most of the office is deserted. People are already enjoying the extended weekend.




People join in from across the globe for the conference call. Thomas Friedman may take a note on this. The status reports are shared, pending works are discussed, new strategies are formulated and finally greetings for a happy weekend, which has already begun for some here in this city.




By evening the strike is over, yeah nobody wants to work after five. isnt it? Our friend is taken over by TGIF effect(Thank god its friday). He calls up few of his friends & they decide to go for a movie.




The movie is yet another neo-bollywood formula of slapstick humour & some skin show. Together all of them curse the director & producer, but they just love the new heroine. They all go to his flat where the dinner is ready. The maid did show up in the evening & there is two types of fish dishes for dinner. They eat and gossip till late into the night. Yes there's catching upto do after five days of work.




It's saturday morning and he's up and running in the nearby stadium. It just 5 in the morning now. It's as they say in hindi 'paapi pet ka sawaal hai'. He wants to get rid of the occupational hazzard, his extra bulge around the belly which some say as an indication of going up the hierarchy. This time moving up the hierarchy is given a miss as new females have joined in the office. These days, the females like 6-8 packs instead of an 'O' pack.




To be continued..

Tuesday, October 06, 2009 | |

Monday, September 28, 2009 

How many hearts?


Monday, September 28, 2009 | |

Sunday, August 09, 2009 

Growing up with basketball..


It was a small mining town in the hinterland of Orissa. I was a young boy of nine years running after a small plastic ball. People used to say, 'you will be the next Maradona' !! Yeah, those were the glory days ;). May be if in our country there would have been a sports culture, I could have been running along with Baichung and scoring goals for the country. The plastic ball I was running after was the football for our customized game which we called "Funny football". We played it during our recess time. Why the plastic ball, coz we played it on the concrete turf of our school basketball court.


So you see I have been having an association with the game of basketball since a very long time. The "Funny football" was a very popular game in school. So during recess time and the weekly two-hours games period, all the legs would be running after the plastic ball. The kids would often get hurt falling on the concrete turf. Yet, they would put a 'hansaplast' or 'Bandaid' and would return to take revenge on the guy who gave them the bruised knee. So, the court seldom felt the bounce of the basketball. Instead, around 50 feets would be running on it on each afternoon come rain or shine. Only sometimes when our PET ma'm accompanied us, did we play basketball, trying in vain to take shoots at least upto the rim of the basket.


Thus, basketball remained a neglected sport for me. For a brief period of year or two, I completely lost touch of the game. Then around 1999, in between me watching cricket and my brother watching men swearing and jumping around a ring (WWF) on ESPN or STAR SPORTS channels, we saw giant and mostly colored men doing slam dunks. They were ads of NBA. It got us interested. The first thing about following a game is to support a team passionately. So as a first measure me and my bro randomly choose LA Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers respectively.


Thus, this time I was just an audience. Cheering the Lakers in front of the television, and celebrating every win. While my bro was singing the praise of Allen Iverson, I had Shaq O'neil and Kobe Bryant.The best part of the memory from those days was the face-off between our teams in the 2001 NBA finals. I got to celebrate the Lakers win and Shaq O'neil crowned as the MVP.


The 11th and 12th standard were the times when I was more into books rather than being on the field. Yes, I had to become something in life and of course not a sportsperson. Thus, after school I landed up in an engineering college in Jamshedpur.


Normally, there is always a dearth of basketball-literate people. Most of the people are always into cricket or football in our country. Suppose there is a basketball tournament and a team has to be formed. Since the basket is at some considerable height, the option would be to get someone tall to be in the team. Still better if he/she knows a bit of the game. My friend in Jamshedpur, Dion, too formed basketball team in college on two occasions. I was in the team on both the occasions considering I was not even an average basketball player but had the basic requirements of height and some basketball knowledge. There were speculation that my inclusion on the second occasion was to impress somebody !!


Dion gave me some basic lessons on shooting techniques, which I religiously follow to the Tee even today. Yes, try shooting with palm of one hand vertical supporting and giving direction to the ball while the thumb of the other hand forming a 'T' with the vertical palm. Then just jerk the ball towards the basket with the latter hand. Hopefully you got my description of the shooting technique. Beginners would be successful on a few occasions to get some shoots inside the basket. Keep trying.


Well I played mostly as extras, and the story continues. Last year, I played in a corporate level mixed-basketball tournament. I gave height and stamina to the team when I was in the playing five ;). We were the champions and our photo came in a national daily (City print).


Last weekend too, I got my chance to show my exploits in basketball coz there arent too many basketball players. There was an intra-office championship. The Lakers connection followed, I got into the team of Victoria Lakers. The team names were decided so as to denote the office and an NBA team (gave a feeling of basketballish I guess). The games were virtually played on a wet court with a slight drizzle. Thankfully the monsoons did not give us a downpour. This time I scored couple of baskets, it felt good. That's an achievement. Our team could not make it to the finals as we lost in the semis from a winning position.


I think the game of basketball comes back at me. So I have decided I'll try to catch all the opportunities from now to learn the game better. That's all folks.


PS: Go and watch the movie 'Space Jam'.


Below a pic of my team:

Sunday, August 09, 2009 | |

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 

Aila effect..

The wind is beating on the glass,
Luring me to join the rush..
But I sit sipping my mug of coffee,
a faint heart that I am.
Then a part of me is there,
already in the midst of the rains..

He's already wet,
with the sails all set.
He take's out the little dingy;
Not to take on the storm.
There's a magic,
in riding with the storm..

The waves rise and the mast creaks.
He is momentarily shaken;
But then he's not me,
The waves fall on him,
The winds push on him,
But then he's not me.

The storm lasts forever,
Until he's sailed a million knots.
Then one day the black cover clears,
and a sun comes out.
Suddenly the flying fish take flight,
and the dolphins do acrobats.

He's travelled a million knots.
And he's made friends with the storm;
It has brought him to a place..
unseen and undiscovered on the planet,
It's the land of the wonders..

The sun is falling down on me;
I am still by the window..
while he's savouring the new wonderland.
If only I were him and he was me;
But arent the same..
I must take out my dingy!!

Wednesday, May 27, 2009 | |

Monday, May 11, 2009 

On a rainy day, my mind just slipped

I sit .. I glare.. I think..
It shines.. It rains..
I still sit here..
For the moment unknown..

I define.. I redefine..
But I still miss the description..
Tides rise.. Time goes..
And the mould takes shape..

Moon goes down..
Sun comes up..
I still stand under the sky..
For the embrace divine..

One day all comes by..
The moment arrives..
And stars twinkle..
The diamond sparkle..

It's the unknown waiting to be known..
It's the mould whose shape is taken..
It's the embrace divine of heavenly warmth..
The diamond sparkles for the rest of eternity..

Monday, May 11, 2009 | |

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 

A Chicken post..


Frnds, since the last 30-40 days I haven't been able stop myself from atleast having one non-veg dish. On top of that, there was a Tandoori festival in our office canteen, and the weekend chicken preparations & the parties; How many chickens have laid down their lives for me. That's a little gross I think, hope the PETA people don't run after me.

I just might have got rewarded for the endless dosage of chicken, if the man at the counter would have gone by the invoice bill. Actually there was some error & this is how my bill looked like when I went to KFC last friday. Check the amount in 'Change due'. That might have helped me with my telephone bills for a while I think!!


By the way who makes the software for KFC, do tell me if you find it out. They need a better consultant.;-)

Good Night & Njoy..

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 | |

Saturday, July 12, 2008 

TGIF effect..

Well that's "thank god it's friday" effect; it's the relief & excitement on the arrival of the most awaited day of the week. One must see the look at the happy faces of the working professionals on friday, everyone comes all dressed up in their most fashionable casual to have a friday night blast later in the day. The best part is the girls look even prettier, although you can also laugh your heart out when you see some attemting too hard to look cool but instead they murder the fashion altogether. No sooner it's around 5 in the evening, there's a mad rush to get out of the office. I & everyone really love the fridays.

Every one of us in our professional lives start with the monday blues(wish there would have no mondays). How we long for the friday to arrive as soon as possible. Why wouldn't we wait for the weekends..those two days & friday night is the time to wake up late in the nights for some gossips, catch a new movie(even better if u have a gf ;-)), play a game of soccer(yeah we play regularly here in kolkata), few like to sleep or do whatever you want. Some like Sam-da-taklu goes to his relatives for food & cloths, while Rudra-da-crudra likes to wash his cloths in the weekends.

Wouldn't it have been wonderful if there were 'Eight days in a week', in my case I need one extra day to sleep away my weekend tiredness. Take for example last weekend, I went for a movie, had a b'day celebration & ate at the b'day treat. That's not the end, some friends turned up & finally couldn't sleep early on sunday coz of the wimbledon final. What's the end result; after lunch on monday I was almost dozing off each time I sat for a while anywhere. This weekend is no different. This time I have resolved to get a good sleep on sunday that's tomorrow, hopefully the others don't come up with a plan to go somewhere.

Okey friends, catch you all next weekend & njoy..

Saturday, July 12, 2008 | |

Friday, December 21, 2007 

Aamir does it again..


Kudos to Aamir for 'Taare Zameen Par'. That was really an awesome movie. That is what cinema making all about. The story deals with a very delicate topic of 'dyslexia', in more common terms, its the inability to learn among children. Everything was just perfect, the scenes, the music, the acting by the kids especially Darsheel. There was a quiet magical flow in the movie. People often get bored and start leaving the hall during emotional scenes, but TZP experience was different. People even waited for the end credits to finish.

TZP beautifully captures the kind of pressure the kids face today from their parents & teachers to become numero uno in the competitive world. Life's not just about being in the race to be No.1 but it's about doing what you like. It's not just with kids, give some freedom to a man & he can do wonders.

After a long time, there's a quality movie from Bollywood. Friends go & watch TZP. One last thing, do carry a big hanky. You sure would shed a few drops of tear during the movie.

Friday, December 21, 2007 | |