Friend

You called, shattering the silence of your night,
breaking the monotony of my day,
We spoke, 2000 miles apart
Bound by threads entrenched in our past
Often I forget those tiny details, your signature smile
The movement of those restless hands
But I knew when the voice broke and was soft and it reassured me,
That you and I are constants in this variable existence
But you were only in the Caltrain.

2009!

Every milestone time and again brings with it the realization that your blog has been ignored. So it is with this New Year’s. And this new year makes me look back on a year which was forgettable for the most part, with the onset of recession, people you know getting fired or not getting hired, and most notably, for the numerous bomb blasts and Mumbai attacks and the anger it brought with it. And I’m not too sure the coming year will bring too many solutions either. Although the Indian IT industry has so far been relatively insulated from the recession, the ripple-effect phenomenon along with newer issues like Satyam’s disclosures might see us being hit by February or so. I don’t think we’ll ever be able to do a Gaza on Pakistan either for fear of creating a Hamas at the border, albeit with their own land and armed with nuclear weapons.

However, there are things to be hopeful about too. I’m sure everyone’s really excited about Obama’s transition to power and it will be interesting to see what he does or does not do once he gets there. And although I’m not one to believe in new year’s resolutions (I have been making the same one since many years now: Committing to lose weight during the year only to give up after half a year thanks to the illnesses induced by weather changes and the binging during the holiday season), I plan to make many more travel plans this year and stick to them too. I am ashamed to say I didn't do a single trek this year thanks to broken knees and friends-turned-lazy work people. And for the 1st time, I’ve also decided to stick to learning one craft and if I am still learning music by the time 2010 steps in, it’ll probably be the longest this “Jack” has stuck to something.

One good thing I did do over the past year was to travel a lot. And since I’m sure I was too busy to document these at the time, I think now would be a good time to chronicle the trips:
1. Brought in my last new year’s at Kihim with a bunch of fun people.
2. Went to Mahabaleshwar. And although I’ve done this many times before, the novelty was going by Asiad, exploring the city on a bicycle and taking the Govt. guide for the 1st time.
3. Went to Nagaon and was disappointed to see how the beach has deteriorated.
4. Drove to Diveagar and had a remarkable holiday with the gang. Also sort of a farewell trip for Ro and Rohan. Disappointed by “Bapat Kaku” but saved by the fish fry :-P
5. Went to Goa and thanks to Rylan, had the most comfortable stay at a beach resort in Baga. Also, binged on awesome shack food and re-learnt butterfly from Karthik.
6. Met long-lost relatives at weddings in Bangalore and Solapur.
7. Had a once-in-a-lifetime experience at Ladakh. Survived the grueling 21 hour jeep ride from Manali and the capsizing of our raft. Experienced snow for the first time :-D
8. Experienced the jungle safari at Dandeli (not too much fun I realized) but fundoo white-water surfing (as they call it there).
9. Brought in another great new year’s in Goa with great food, water-sports, tattoos, stoned waiters at shacks and King’s beer and port wine.

Traveling by bus so much also for the first time, made me realize how crazy I am about this country. I took this photo when I was traveling to Dandeli.


For some reason, it had some kind of deep effect on me. The mother with her kid got onto the bus midway during the journey. I fell in love with this kid who didn’t make a sound the whole time (I get freaked by the devilish screaming kids I see around all the time, which is why this is so special) and silently absorbed each detail with his big, black eyes. And I realized this is how millions of people in this country are. Traveling by state transport, living in dusty towns (without electricity and phones most of the times) and barely getting food on their plates each night. And yet, each of them makes this journey through life, uncomplainingly, resolutely. Hoping this picture will remind me for the next 365 days to do something for some mother and her kid somewhere.

Bengaluru!

I was recently in Bangalore for a cousin's wedding and spent an evening wandering on M. G. Road. As usual, I glimpsed some interesting billboards: no dearth of these in India.




After pondering if that refers to zebra crossings or people opting to wear zebra skin instead of fur, I think it refers to the former (although why they would be becoming extinct is a mystery to me).

I have often heard friends accusing rickshaw-wallas in Pune of being uncooperative. They claim that these guys insist on speaking in Marathi, while taking you for a ride. But I happened to travel in a rickshaw in Kannada-land with my father and after trying unsuccessfully a couple of times to communicate the destination to the driver, my exasperated Dad asked him:
Dad: Marathi?
Driver: Ille.
Dad: Hindi?
Driver: Ille. Kannada, Tamil, Telugu.
Dad: English?
Driver: afhgdsdh!! dhjwdjhdshgjhgghjkjlhhhhjgghgghgjgg! (pointing to the sky).

From his incredulous expression and hand gestures, we interpreted that to mean: "English! Would I be driving a rickshaw if I knew that?!" :-)

I found the stubborness extended to food. I mean, you can't insist on having rice for every meal. Or rasam. Although, I must admit, that I also had the best filter coffee I've ever tasted. And I really liked the way South Indians are so comfortable in their own skin. To elaborate, we visited this family, and while all the women were bedecked in shimmering gold jewellery and Kanjeevarams in every colour, the servants who served us coffee were dressed in lungis. Plain, knee-length and ONLY lungis!!

The party included many successful people: someone in finance, one was a writer, one was a National award jury member. And yet all of them felt right eating the rice off the banana leaves with their fingers. The contrasts balancing themselves. So many of us spend our lives trying to be cool, acquiring fake accents and losing pieces of ourselves along the way. If only more people spent their lives not looking over someone else's shoulders.

Great News!

A friend recently sent me a forward that best describes the dumbing down of news. Check these out:




What really surprises me though, is that news channels aren't alone in witnessing a sudden proliferation. I get more than 7 channels dedicated solely to music. Discovery, NGC, Travel and Living have all found and built upon niche content. MTV faces stiff competition from Channel V but doesn't have to resort to showing Bhojpuri music.

Am not therefore convinced that they don't have enough content. And if that really is a problem, they could pick up any of the million problems written about in any local newspaper and have forums to discuss them. I'm sure if these guys started auditioning, they'd find at least a couple of thousand opiniated Indians willing to do this for a living. I know I would.

In fact, as a kid, I dreamt of being a newscaster. I'd pick up one of Dad's business magazines, pull out an accent and try to imitate the firang pretty women on CNN and BBC. Or I dreamt of being a lawyer. And a defence one at that. In New York, walking home in a long coat in the snow after a tiring day at the workplace. Ally McBeal almost! Of course all this was before I realized that the Indian equivalents to these probably meant presenting news making hand gestures after the Sunday 12 o clock Chitrahaar. Or making impassionate pleas for thugs like Arun Gawli in Marathi and travelling home in a local train. A cry for parallel universes!

Sense and Sensibility

A friend mentioned recently how good the act of indulgence felt after sustained abstinence. I wonder nowadays when my Mardi Gras will come, breaking this never ending monotony that life currently is.

Deviating from the topic, had gone for an office picnic yesterday, promoting agro tourism. Visited jaggery and wine making units, sericulture and emu farms (I feel like I'm writing an essay on the school picnic, although this was nothing short of a forced educational outing). Was dreading the whole thing but surprisingly ended up having quite a good time. The best part of course was eating mulberries off the shrubs themselves. I literally had to be dragged out from there. And the most unremarkable thing was seeing cows getting milked. I mean, (and here's where you stop reading if it shall affect your sensibilities) they pull on those taps attached to those udders and it can only bring 1 image to ur mind. Quite disgusting really. The men (very strangely!) volunteered and seemed to be getting quite a kick out of it.

Also saw 2 movies last weekend. 1 was Michael Clayton. Had lots of expectations with George Clooney and all those nominations but was very slow and quite a letdown. The other 1 was this Disney movie called Enchanted. Had no clue what it was and when it started off in animation with only 18 of us in the hall at 11 p.m, I was wondering what I'd got myself into. But like you always end up loving Disney movies, this 1 too saw all 18 of us walking out a couple of hours later smiling. A movie I'd recommend on a boring Saturday night, if you're feeling bummed out and lovesick.

Am currently doing this course on vulnerability assessment for 3 days. Revised all my comp fundae today and have an exam on the last day. The scary part initially was that they have practicals every day. As people would know, never the strongest point for someone who could mug and rattle off a 1000 lines of code. Brought back the all too familiar pit in the stomach:)

The view from the sidelines..

So the guys at Deloitte wisened up. No gtalk and no blogspot. Of all the things I should have, but never learnt in my 4 years of engineering, hacking proxies ranks second on the list (assembling a computer being the first).

So working and being busy are 2 different things. And how busy I've been! Reading up on Saluddin's conquests. Giving random courses on mastering the art of negotiation, managing groups, honing my leadership skills and rat-a-tat. And solving crosswords. And not even the cryptic ones. No sir! I'm so bad I even cheat at the quick ones. With my thesaurus open at the back.

Was also finding it mentally harder to blog for a while. Had decided when I started blogging that I'd write for myself and not as if I was being held at gunpoint. But I guess you cant hold off the threat of intimidation for long. By smarter people. By slimmer women. By people who can solve cryptic crosswords. By people who have nicer blogs.

In the process, I forgot to rave about my new year's, brought in at a splendid Nagaon beach. Good food, good company and getting high on life. Doesnt happen often.

Saw Janata Raja last weekend. A brilliant, if exaggerated (and I dont refer to the facts) play on the life and exploits of Shivaji. With horses and elephants, rotating castles, firecrackers and all that jazz. Having shied away all my life from all things Marathi, its hard to believe the way I furiously defend my roots now. Or maybe you need to discover yourself before you set out to discover the world.

Brabourne Supremacy!

I've never been a crazed fan. Turned up my nose snootily whenever the conversation veered towards that. And then I saw my first Twenty-Twenty match. More importantly, my first cricket match live-ever! And worth every penny paid in black. As they all were. Waited in line for an hour but got in at 7, as the players stepped onto the field. Hearing 20,000 fans roaring as you run up the stairs into the stadium. Like running to the beckoning sea at Diveagar. Spent the initial couple of minutes trying to spot the ball and players. They should use a snitch instead, spouting wings as the batsman hits it. (It was like a scene from a Harry Potter movie in fact: The stadium with its flags and roaring crowds and the equivalent Batters and Seekers).

Many glorious match moments. Seeing Sreesanth, Uttappa and Brett Lee up close. An inpromptu crowd: "Uttappa served hot" and "2007: S(imon)ds go back". 2 Australian overthrows in 1 match! Jumping up and down at every Indian hit and Aussie wicket. Ramiz Raja going "erm.." at the presentation. The team on Gambhir's car. A cheer at Mondy's. In the end though, some blurred photos as a reminder and witnesses who'll be carrying the memory for some time.

The first glimpse of the stadium!

Brett Lee pleased with himself.

An Aussie huddle at the fall of Sehwag's wicket.

The grandstands erupting!