Two Years of ... ...

Sunday 28^th October’07, we again had a party after a long-long time…

We never had parties without reasons (just kidding, we don’t need reasons for parties instead we only need venues), so we had one reason for this one too: - We all will be completing two years in our company on 7^th November, 2007. Hence, there should be a party…

Frankly speaking, this party wasn’t to celebrate the two year stay but this was to celebrate two years of knowing each other and two years of our Friendship…

The initiative or the idea for the party was suggested by Bhavana; she suggested that we should have a party before Diwali as most of us won’t be there in Mumbai on the Anniversary day, that is, on Wednesday 7^th Novemeber’07… Instead of postponing further, Niraj & I decided to have the party on Sunday else there wasn’t a day, for next two months, on which everyone was free… (You know, these days how busy we all are???)

Any guesses about the venue this time?

What “Pop-Tates”… No, this time it wasn’t the Pop-Tates (PT)…

The venue for this special party was “Happy Singh (HS)”, it’s a sister concern of Pop-Tates and is just next to it… The difference between the two is that HS serves only the Indian cuisine and waiting time is zero…

So the party began with our usual masti & bakar over the drinks… The bakar was in full flow for more than three hours… In middle of all this, we were joined by our special guest from Japan, Narayanan (this was also a reason to have party on that day since he was also in town...)

Just like our every party, one special bakar happened in this too… Atleast it was special for Ankur and me, we got 19 & 18 out of 20 respectively for our decency level… Actually it started when Niraj, in his words, “wanted to expose me in front of all the ladies…” Then I asked both of them present there, to rate me for my decency between 1 and 10, 1 being the lowest… To my surprise, I got 9 out of 10 from both Sakshi & Bhavana while Ankur got 10 from Sakshi & 9 from Bhavana… Although there is no competition with anyone but then I’m happy to get 9 on an average… (Point to remember: Anyone who is interested in giving me more than 9 marks is welcome…)

Later we had dinner and the lot of masti… We surely missed our other batchmates (Anshul Sharma, Rakhi, Rohit & Tammy), who all were here last year when we celebrated our 1st Anniversary…

I was Happy in Happy Singh… I mean, WE all were Happy in Happy Singh…

PS: Today is our 2nd Anniversary, for which we had the party… Congratz to all my Batchmates for acquiring atleast 2+ years of IT experience… And Thanks to them for being such good Frndz...

Political Marketing

I’m back from the state of hibernation, which lasted for more than two months and now onwards I’ll try to write more frequently…

Last month, Mumbai celebrated the Ganpati Festival. Actually this festival was celebrated all over the country but it has a special place in the lives and hearts of all Mumbaikars…

Ganpati Festival - is celebrated in one of the most grandiose manner’s in Mumbai… What I’ve felt in the past two years was that many people actually wait for the whole year, just for Ganpati to return back… People celebrate this festival at their own homes or in common pandals…

One may find lot of Ganpati pandals of all sizes and statures, everywhere… These pandals are open for common public and organized by a committee / team of people. They manage everything by the help of the sponsorship and also the donation they get from various political parties, residents and shopkeepers of the adjoining area and also from the devotees…

Outside most of these pandals you’ll find a big board or hoarding with the name of the Ganpati’s Pandal name, etc. Out of which, most of them will also have the name, flag and the photos of the leaders of these communalist secular political parties… I truly don’t understand that what Bal Thackeray, Udbhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray or for that matter any other local leader’s photo is doing on these Ganpati pandal’s hoarding??? Is this a festival or some political gathering???

According to Marketing Principles, if some individual or company sponsors some event then they may like to see their name and logo on the hoardings… I agree that if we can have the name of “Reliance Communication” or “Airtel” on any Ganpati pandal hoarding, then why not the name of any political party; they have also donated money from their accounts but is it justified to cover the 75-80% of the hoarding by sponsor related details? Some of these hoardings have photos of these leaders, which are bigger than actual size of that leader… I’ve even seen few hoardings where these photos covered almost 90% of the area and the Ganpati picture was merely covering 5-7% of the hoarding… Till date, I may not have seen many events or such festivals but from what I’ve seen, I always found that not more than 10-20% of the total space of the main hoardings or backdrops was covered by the sponsors…

During this festive season if you go out anywhere in Mumbai (I’m not talking about any other city because I’ve not see the Ganpati Festival there), you’ll always find lot of such hoardings on roadside and actually they help you to locate the Ganpati pandals… When I came to Mumbai first time, it was Ganpati time; initially I thought that some sort of elections must be round the corner that’s why so many political hoardings are present everywhere… But on close observation, I realized that these were not the political hoardings but they were the Ganpati Pandals’ hoardings… This is what I call “Political Marketing…”

INDIA - World Twenty20 Champions...

Congratulations to Team INDIA for becoming the first ever World Twenty20 Champions !!!





Three Cheers for Team INDIA
Hip Hip Hurray...
Hip Hip Hurray...
Hip Hip Hurray...


Chak De INDIA !!!

Thought For The Day – “Virginity”

Few days ago, read Thought For The Day – “Virginity” on Sakshi’s Blog; It stated that:
“Virginity is not dignity…not security…or not a sign of purity…It is simply lack of opportunity…”

First of all let’s see that what does this word “Virginity” means for a common man: according to Wikipedia and Dictionary.com, “Virginity means the state or condition of being pure.”

These days, lots of people have been influenced by the Western Culture and they may think Virginity as a lack of opportunity but I definitely don’t believe in this logic… Some people might even say “Virginity? It’s a big issue over a small tissue...”

I don’t see any benefits in losing one’s virginity because some people think it as a happening thing or because they believe that one hasn’t got an opportunity to do so… For me, it’s one’s own life and one should decide accordingly, what they should do and shouldn’t decide on the basis of what others think…

The coin always has two sides: One group will say it’s good to experience such a thing like losing virginity but the other side will always be firm in saying that one should wait for the right time i.e. till their marriage…

But I would like to mention one thing, especially for the people who aren’t Virgins themselves that kindly don’t expect your partners to be Virgins when you are not one… I simply mean to say that people who have slept or continue sleeping with others shouldn’t expect that their spouses to be pure and also that they shouldn’t slept with others… Generally we find men sleeping with other women but at the same time they can’t tolerate their wives having a relationship with someone else…

At the moment, Virginity is not that big issue, to have a debate or fight over it but then too it’s an issue related to oneself, one’s culture, traditions and belief’s… I’m not saying that Virginity is good or bad; but I’m just trying to make a point that before taking any step, do think on your own and not on the fact that what others have to say about you…

Tryst with Nature: Trip to Lonavala

Mumbai witnessed the heaviest rainfall of the season on 30^th June; everyone compared it with the rainfall which Mumbaikars’ witnessed on 26^th July’05. But don’t worry; I was far away from this trouble.

When the people around the city were being troubled by those rains, we were enjoying them in the Ghats of Lonavala… I know it’s bad to put things like this; but actually I’m happy about the fact that I wasn’t in Mumbai else I wouldn’t have got anything to eat, had to live without electricity for the whole day and would have faced many other such problems… Anyways jokes apart, I felt bad too for the people who faced such difficulties due to the rains…

After six long months of Alibaug Trip, we had another trip… Trip to Lonavala. This time Tammy was our event manager and I really liked the last line of his invitation cum registration mail “NOTE: No end time cancellations will be entertained :D”.

Eight of us (Anshul S, Bhavana, Rakhi, Niraj, Nishant, Smita, Tammy & I) packed our bags and were filled with loads of excitement & enthusiasm to enjoy the trip. This time we managed to leave on time…

I forgot to mentioned, on this trip Ms. Rakhi appointed me as her PA… (For all those who don’t know the meaning of PA, it means Personal Assistant.) My duty was to open the car door, hold her umbrella and take care of her bag… But till date I haven’t received the remuneration for the same… All the readers, kindly request her to pay my wages soon… :)

I was surprised to know that Niraj had made Bread – Omlette for everyone before coming and it was really very delicious… He also brought other readymade snacks but no one seemed interested in them… After coming back from the trip, Tammy and I decided that the title “Husband Material” suits Niraj perfectly…

On the way to our destination, we halted at Food Plaza to have some refreshments and also clicked a few snaps there… As we moved ahead, waterfalls were visible everywhere… After reaching Lonavala, we went up to the gates of the Amby Valley City…

On our way back from there, we stopped at one of the points; it was damn cold there… Heavy rains were accompanied by chilly and gusty winds, so we all were shivering from cold… All of us stood in a circle, with all the five umbrellas in such a position so that they cover each one of us; it was a similar scene, where Greek warriors cover themselves with their Shields so as to protect themselves from the enemies’ arrows… Later after having tea and bhajiya, we (only the guys) even danced in the rain… It was fabulous dancing there and then I understood the meaning of the saying, “Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain...”

From there we moved to another point. Actually we never asked the names of these points since we were busy in enjoying… That place was something sort of a dam or a reservoir (there was a wall, which was around 15 feet high and water was falling from it), you may call it anything but it was amazing… We had a lovely time under the waterfall… We sat on the river side, had some cold drink there…;) Later we climbed to the top of that wall and came down, that too in one piece. Then came the most memorable moment of the trip… We stood in the space between that wall and falling water… Trying to get there was also an exercise; the force of water which I felt on my body wasn’t less than 100 or 200 KgF (Kilogram Force). Once I went inside, I never wanted to come out; when we shouted something there, we were able to hear to our own resonating voice… Actually it’s impossible to describe the feelings which I had then… It was an experience of the lifetime…

After this we moved towards Bushy Dam, but our hard luck due to rains we weren’t able to enjoy much there… Even though our own Fantasy Man & Fantasy Woman went up to the dam and came back. Then we came back to Lonavala and had lunch there… There only we came to know that it’s raining heavily in Mumbai and water had logged in many parts of the city…

Finally we left Lonavala around 6 in the evening, with lot of memories to carry along, for the lifetime…

Some Random Facts (About Me)...

Sakshi tagged me on “Some Random Facts (About Me)”. This is the first I’ve been tagged and I actually thought for some time before writing these random things about me… To me, this appears to be one of the toughest tags ever… Anyways, I will try my best to tell new things about me… So here come 8 random facts about me

1. I'm a Dreamer by nature...
   
2. Always wanted to join Indian Army as an officer; tried once but wasn’t successful… :(
3. My mother and aunt like the “Pulaav” cooked by me…
4. I keep the movie tickets after watching the movie. On some of them, I’ve also written the name of the friends’ with whom I watched that movie…
5. I am passionate about Bollywood and its movies. Can talk and discuss about them continuously for hours. Due to this my friends here also call me “Glamour Lala”… ;)
6. Apart from Blogging, I’ve also written two short stories…
7. The compliment which I get most often is “Looks are deceptive”… Although it’s full of sarcasm but I take this as a compliment… ;)
8. Usually like beautiful girls who have a hair cut and wear spects, but exceptions are always there… ;)

Rules of the game:

• Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
• People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
• At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.
• If you fail to do this within eight hours, you will not reach Third Series or attain your most precious goals for at least two more lifetimes :)

As per the rules of the game, I tag the following 8 bloggers: I.D., Poddy Bhaiya, Narayanan, Neha, Niraj, Rohit, Shruti & Tammy.

Amitabh Bachchan in a Sasur-Bahu saga?

Yesterday Mumbai Mirror posted a story by the title, “Amitabh Bachchan in a sasur-bahu saga?” That article was mainly about that Senior Bachchan may soon return to TV and act in a non-fiction or in some fiction serial. As the title suggests he may be doing some Sasur-Bahu saga or some type of K-serial, as we call them in our daily life.

I always appreciate the experimental movies & the exceptional characters which Mr. Bachchan plays in his movies. I liked most of the characters which he played in the recent times whether it was Sexy Sam in KANK to the one he played in Cheeni Kum. I’m even looking forward to see him as Gabbar in RGV ki Sholay, but somehow I’m not very excited about the fact that he will acting in TV serials. KBC was altogether a different story and I believe that people will accept him again if he hosts another show. But I was just thinking that whether we are ready to see Mr. Bachchan as the male version of our own Baa…???

I told my viewpoint to Nishant that at least actors like Mr. Bachchan should not start doing Sasur-Bahu sagas; doing movies like Nishabd or Cheeni Kum is fine but please no daily sops. Nishant presented a different view that people who are older than us may think opposite to me and will say that daily sops will do but not movies like Nishabd, etc which are against our Indian Culture. I agreed to his point meanwhile Tammy asked us to imagine that Mr. Bachchan will look while romancing Baa on TV.

Although Tammy wanted us to imagine a scene where both the characters are hugging each other; while I imagined a scene where Mr. Bachchan and Baa are seated on a bench in a park. They both are asking each other’s age and Baa replies “I’m 200+” and AB replies back, “very young…”(The scene from the movie Cheeni Kum). This was the third angle to my point whether Mr. Bachchan should act on TV or not.

Only time will tell that whether we’re lucky or unlucky to see Amitabh Bachchan again on TV. Whether we want to see him on TV varies from person to person and it will depend on various factors. But one of the important factors may be the number of zeroes on the cheque which will be offered to Senior Bachchan by his producers.

Don’t forget to tell me whether you are excited about viewing Mr. Amitabh Bachchan in the daily sops or not???

Who says “Marriages are made in Heaven” ???

Who says “Marriages are made in Heaven” ??? I don’t say so, atleast after what I’ve seen yesterday…

Yesterday I went to a doctor’s clinic for some test, don’t worry I’m perfectly fine and it was a just a routine checkup.

The clinic was crowded with patients except for the place where an elderly uncle (let say Mr. X) and I was sitting. Sofa for three was occupied by only two of us, lucky we. Not much time passed when this comfort of ours was snatched away from us. Another uncle (let say Mr. Y) came with a lady (let say Ms. Z) and both of them fitted themselves in the space which was initially meant for only one.

Let me tell you few of my observations about my sofa mates:
Mr. X: By his looks he wasn’t seem to be a very serious patient. May be he was also there just for a routine checkup.
Mr. Y: He seemed to be a serious patient by the way he walked and talked initially.
Ms. Z: On seeing her one can easily make out that she was definitely not Mr. Y’s wife and she was her daughter which I only came to know later. She was not very young; I mean not the college going types. If not married then she was of the perfect age for marriage.

After having some conversation with Mr. Y, Ms. Z went out for making some call. Just then Mr. X approached Mr. Y with a question, “Are you a Marwari?” (I think he must have guessed this by the accent in which they were talking). The timing of that question was so perfect that it seemed that he was just waiting for the lady to go out.

"Yes, I’m a Marwari”, replied Mr. Y
“I’m too a Marwari from Dausa, Rajasthan and what about you?” asked Mr. X
“I’m from Jaipur” replied Mr. Y in an unpleasant tone.

Initially Mr. Y doesn’t seem to be interested in the conversation but slowly and steadily the chit-chat between the two became friendlier and even interesting for me… They continued by asking about each other’s profession, residence in Mumbai and family backgrounds, etc. But in the whole discussion Mr. X was more curious to know about the other one, that time I thought some people have this nature but later I got to know the main reason behind it.

Finally Mr. X came to the main point when he started enquiring about Ms. Z. By this time both of them have had become so friendly that Mr. Y never thought for a second before telling everything about his daughter to a stranger. I’m not jotting down the full conversation here; but the major points which came out from that conversation were: she was unmarried, doing her post-graduation and expert in cooking ad household works.

A thought stroked my mind immediately, “What else one can look in a bride???”

After listening to all the qualities of her, Mr. X told Mr. Y that his nephew may be a perfect groom for her daughter, if he is looking for one. He further told that his nephew is a Software Engineer and is also pretty handsome in his looks. After that Mr. Y added that these days’ software people get handsome salaries. At that point of time, I too thought that even my chances are bright in the marriage market. Anyways jokes apart, by then Mr. Y had already shown his interest in Mr. X’s nephew.

The exchange of numbers has also taken place by the time Ms. Z re-entered the room. Then Mr. Y introduced her to his new friend or should I say that one of her’s future in-law. By this time nurse called me and I went inside the doctor’s cabin. When I came back all three of them were still busy in giggling and talking. I think by that time they must have also fixed the date and venue for the first meeting of both the families.

Now I want to add in the quotation that “Marriages are made in Heaven but sometime in Doctor’s Clinic too…”

Weekend Diaries...

The weekend which ended yesterday night was a hectic one; actually I prefer to call it ‘hectic’, since I wasn’t able to sleep for durations which I generally sleep on weekends. On both the days I woke up approximately at six thirty in the morning. Normally on weekends I wake up at noon, when our maid comes and then too I ask my roomies, “Why does she come so early on the weekends?”

Saturday morning I played Cricket after almost a gap of 2 years. It’s always fun to play with your friends but this was the first time when I was playing with my office colleagues. Although our team lost the match; but I won the competition, which was between Mayank and me that who will remain not out. Playing was fun but the body pain which is still there is really bad…

Evening was the time to come out of our den’s and enjoy again, so we decided to watch the movie Cheeni Kum. The show at the nearest theatre was house full so went to another theatre and watched Shootout At Lokhandwala (For my international readers: Don’t worry this was not an encounter or a terrorist attack video but it’s a latest Bollywood movie). This movie was based on a true incident and could be watched once just to gain some knowledge about that particular incident. My ratings: 1.5 /5

We decided to go to Siddhivinayak Temple on Sunday morning. It was a nice experience to visit the temple early in the morning although we were not on schedule as per our own plans. While coming back home, we finalized the plans for the evening: another movie, this time our original choice, that is, Cheeni Kum.

The show was at 10:30 in the night, so in the mean time I went to the coaching and to one of my relatives place. Later went to Goregaon to watch Cheeni Kum. Although the masses may not be able to relate with this movie but the so called ‘multiplex audience’ will definitely enjoy watching it. An experimental cinema sought of a movie with good performance from all the artistes, especially the girl who played the character of ‘Sexy’. My ratings for this movie: 3.5/5

Signing off for now as I’m unable to write more due to the muscle pain…

So the morale of the story is: Play cricket regularly or else don’t play.

Bloggers P-A-R-T-Y

Melody and Sakshi, the Bombay bloggers and one of the best hosts in town, are again hosting a blog party on June 9 for anyone interested who happens to be in the city.

Be there — Bloggers also have the rights to Party !!!

Rohit Bhai ki Bidaai... Ruqsat'07

Rohit had to fly to Japan on Saturday 21^st April, 2007. Therefore he came back from Indore on Sunday 15^th April, 2007 to treat us all @ PopTates. (Oops!!! We did it again, Niraj and I actually planned that this time we’ll not ask anyone for any venue options…) Apart from the usual bakar, the main attractions of that party were: A Poem by Nishant and the Q&A session initiated by our own fantasy man, Tammy (the details of that session will be posted soon).

As per the plan, Niraj wrote an awesome mail to everyone (all our batchmates who are still in Mumbai). The subject of the mail was “Let's Say Good Bye or rather All the best to Rohit....” that mail was hilarious and senti both at the same time… Check out the full details of that Page 3 Party at Niraj’s Blog (Don’t get confused, Page 3 Party means our party, we’re no less than celebrities. If you guys have any doubts about it, then come to us and we’ll explain how???)

On the day of the party, in the morning we (Nishant, Niraj & I) decided that we all should give some memories to Rohit, in the form of a gift and a card… Even though it wasn’t possible to make all the arrangements that day, so we decided that we’ll surprise him at the airport. Later after several mail chains and conversation, we finally decided that we should give him an iPod, a coffee mug and a card. We scribbled all over the card and also on the coffee mug…

We gave these gifts to Rohit on Friday night… He too became a little senti but didn’t cry… (If anyone of you has doubts about it then we’ve the video of the same too…)

The D day came; surprisingly most of us were present at the tea stall on time… We reached International Airport and there too our usual masti and bakar was on… At some moments Aunty started crying but Bhavana, Rakhi and even all of us tried to console her… And finally the moment came when Rohit finally said Good Bye to each of us and went to Japan…

Rohit, we all once again wish you all the best for your bright future !!!

What's your Gender ???

Found an interesting link on the India Uncut Blog, it tells the gender of the author by using some algorithm.

That algorithm using my blog entries, declared me as a Male. And I didn’t only tried it through only one article but got the same result for four different articles (Don’t forget I’m a Software Engineer, without doing Unit Testing, we (s/w people) don’t even trust the code written by ourselves. So how could I've trusted someone else's algorithm...???)

So, What’s your Gender ???

Good News: No OBC Quota for current academic session

The Supreme Court of India has finally given its verdict that No OBC Quota for current academic session.

A good news for all the people who were opposing the OBC Quota Bill...

Read the full news @ ibnlive.com

TV but No TV

Yesterday on reaching home when I switched on the TV, I found that nothing was comingon it. Somehow I got an intuition that our vendor may have removed the connection. And yes, it was true (how can someone do this and that too without informing or warning us). Actually from last few months, he never came to collect the rent of the cable connection or he may have come when we’re not at home. Neither he came nor we paid it on our own (don’t forget we’re bachelors’ and we’re supposed to do such nasty things.)

Actually it’s an incident which has both Bad and Good news attached to it. It’s a bad news because we’ll not be able to view TV for few days. Good news since now we’ll have lot of time to do other things apart from just watching the idiot box.

Now the situation is that we have a TV at our place but it’s of no use. We may only use it as a showpiece, placed in one corner of our hall cum living room cum bedroom cum blah-blah-blah... So it’s a situation similar to one, when someone adds you as his friend in the messenger and you reply back “Thanks but No Thanks.” So that’s why I’ve chosen the title as “TV but No TV.”

Bachelor's Pad

“Are you all bachelors?” “Sorry, bachelors are not allowed to live in this society.” “No accommodation available for bachelors, only family people allowed here.”

Those were few questions and answers which were fired on us (Ankur, Tanmeet & I) from almost all the estate agents/brokers and also from the security guards of the various societies at Goregaon.

After trying for more than an hour, we found a broker who gave us the asurity of getting us a flat. That broker took us to a distant location (a society near the Filmcity), when we refused to see that flat (since it was very far from our office) and asked him to get us a flat near our office, then he told us, "Sorry sir. Those societies have made a decision that no flats on rent to the bachelors. But you don't worry, sir, give me some more time and I’ll arrange for some flat near to your office..."

Another one gave us the reason that the bachelors living in the society have parties at their place, play loud music and create nuisance. They also drink and vomit in the open space and sometimes they bring girls with them which all are unacceptable to the families living there.

So that's how it is. No country for the refugees of Bangladesh. No food for starving people in Somalia. No trees for migrating Siberian birds. And yes, no houses for poor bachelors like us.

You won’t believe but even of the broker suggested us that we should get married or try to have a live-in relationship with someone from the opposite gender. He even gave us an example where two call center employees started living together because they were unable to find a decent flat to live. What is this, on one hand people here oppose live-in relationships and on the other hand directly or indirectly they themselves are encouraging this.

Anyways, we have learnt our lesson: Bachelor’s can’t enjoy all the civil rights which others may… Like they can’t live in a decent society, they can’t party at home, they are not allowed alone in the disc or else they have to pay a hefty sum for the entry…

There are many other problems related to bachelorhood but here I’ve only discussed those which we’ve faced till date, in finding a bachelor’s pad…

Koi Deewana Kehta Hai... (Video)

Watch the video of poem Koi Deewana Kehta Hai...

Should I or shouldn't I ???

From a long time, I've been thinking that whether I should put Google AdSense on my blog or not?

Everything has its own pros and cons. If I put these ads on my blog, it has its advantages but it will also affect the look and feel of my page.

So everyone please help me in deciding whether I should put them or not. You may give your opinion by clicking YES or NO. (As suggested by Narayanan)

Do vote as it matters to me and it will not take much of your time. Thanks a lot !!!

Are we ready for it ???

Believe it or not - We’ll soon be able to watch the adult content on TV, yes you read it correctly, I’m also talking about viewing Adult Content (including A or U/A rated stuff) on our own TVs’ but only from 11 p.m. in the night to 5 a.m. in the morning. Government is planning to bring a Broadcast Bill in the winter session, after which TV channels will be allowed to show the adult stuff between the specific timings.

It may be a good news for some while others may be worried that what effect will it leave on our children? In the land of Kama Sutra, the debate over the topic had already begun. Don’t be surprised to see activists opposing this bill, when we can oppose sex education in schools then how can we allow this? People might argue that it will have a bad effect on our children, but I just want to ask them that is this only medium where adult content will be available? How are they planning to stop the children from watching Porn Videos, MMSs’, accessing Internets or reading adult stuffs?

Anyways there is still enough time left and lots of drama to be seen, before Government finalizes this bill and we see the outcome of it.

Click here to read The Economic Times report.

And please don't forget to tell me that are you in favor of this bill or you'll oppose it? But the question, for which I'm unable to find an answer is that, Are we ready for it ???

Koi Deewana Kehta hai...

This is one of my favorite poems, written by a very famous poet Kumar Vishwas.

कोई दीवाना कहता है कोई पागल समझता है

मगर धरती की बेचैनी को बस बादल समझता है,

मैं तुझसे दूर कैसा हुँ तू मुझसे दूर कैसी है

ये मेरा दिल समझता है या तेरा दिल समझता है !!!



समुँदर पीर का अंदर है लेकिन रो नहीं सकता

ये आसुँ प्यार का मोती है इसको खो नहीं सकता ,

मेरी चाहत को दुल्हन तू बना लेना मगर सुन ले

जो मेरा हो नहीं पाया वो तेरा हो नहीं सकता !!!



मुहब्बत एक एहसानों की पावन सी कहानी है

कभी कबीरा दीवाना था कभी मीरा दीवानी है,

यहाँ सब लोग कहते है मेरी आँखों में आसूँ हैं

जो तू समझे तो मोती है जो न समझे तो पानी है !!!



भ्रमर कोई कुमुदनी पर मचल बैठा तो हँगामा

हमारे दिल में कोई ख्वाब पला बैठा तो हँगामा,

अभी तक डूब कर सुनते थे हम किस्सा मुहब्बत का

मैं किस्से को हक़ीक़त में बदल बैठा तो हँगामा !!!

PS: Thanks to AD, Neha and Niraj for helping me in changing the font of this poem to Hindi.

Happy New Year

This is not that I’m trying to make you all fool after April Fools’ Day;

Wishing you and your family a very Happy New Fiscal Year !!!

Can you believe it ???

Read a post by Onida and came to know about this strange truth: A saloon owner in Jharkhand had offered discounts to his customers, for every run which Dhoni would have made in the World Cup.

Like him a thought struck my mind too that what discounts or schemes could have been offered on the performances’ of other players. But seriously I don’t want my mind to think these crap ideas. Really people here in India treat cricketers as God.

Read out the article and you’ll find out what I’m talking about and why I’m talking about it… A haircutting rebate on every Dhoni run

Disappointment

India’s end in the race to the World Cup ’07 had been a major setback for the Indian cricket fans. But this doesn’t mean that we should start burning their homes or we should start troubling their family members. I don’t know if anyone will agree to me if I say that I always believe that our players try to give their best on the field. Although they performed very badly this time.

Not only us but the players also know that they were unable to match the whole country’s expectations. Believe me they all must be very disappointed too with their performance.

Indiatimes reports:

When Tendulkar cried

ANTIGUA, March 26: Team India is set to return home but most players have yet to recover from the sight of Sachin Tendulkar openly shedding tears after the loss to Sri Lanka on Friday.

Tendulkar had tears streaming down his cheeks after Munaf Patel was caught on the squareleg fence by Chaminda Vaas. It brought to end India's disastrous chase of Sri Lanka's reasonable target and more or less shut them out of the 2007 World Cup.

Tendulkar, who had contributed nothing to India's chase earlier in the day, being clean bowled by Dilhara Fernando, first tried to control his emotions but unable to do so, locked himself in the bathroom lest he made a spectacle of self in the public.

A couple of junior cricketers in the side were so taken aback by the sight that they themselves started to cry.

It's little secret that Tendulkar desperately wanted to do well in this World Cup and be a part of the winning team. The "little master" in his glorious career more or less achieved everything he set out to do, but his World Cup dream is unlikely to be realized now.

Young fast bowler S Sreesanth's emotions got better of him as he too broke into tears. He was consoled by close friend Robin Utthapa, who on his part was so nervous and upset that he kept drinking cups of coffee. Sreesanth just couldn't stop crying and kept saying: "Why God did this to us?"

While Tendulkar and Sreesanth gave vent to their emotions, fast bowler Zaheer Khan broke a chair in the dressing room. After making a spectacular comeback to the Indian team, Zaheer's colleagues said that he was desperate to make amends from the last World Cup final where he let his adrenalin get better of him.

Rahul Dravid, by all accounts, was himself tearful while Sourav Ganguly, behind his glasses, sat stunned on his seat.

Coach Greg Chappell had given up on the team during the match. As soon as Mahendra Singh Dhoni was out, going back and finding himself plumb in front to Muthiah Muralitharan, he got up and switched off the television.

As far as he was concerned, there was little else to see.

His vision and work of past 18 months had come crashing down in a matter of a week.

The Pursuit of Happyness

In last two weekends, I’ve seen four movies: 300, Just Married, The Namesake and The Pursuit of Happyness. Each of them was a fantastic movie in itself and was from a different genre. Although I liked all the four movies but The Pursuit of Happyness will be favorite amongst them. One suggestion to all the movie lovers, it's an awesome movie don't miss it.

The Pursuit of Happyness is a story about a man who always tries to keep his family and himself happy. I was touched by the scene where Chris Gardener (Will Smith) gets a job and he was so happy that he didn’t knew what to do and starts crying. That particular scene reminded me the day when I got the job… although I didn’t have to face so much difficulty while searching for a job but the joy was the same on getting it…

At first instance I didn’t believed that I had got the job. I was thrilled with excitement and just wanted to convey that good news to everyone I knew… On hearing that news my mother started crying and even I had tears in my eyes.

One principle on which I always believe in and which was also conveyed in the movie is: One should always try his best and never get disheartened in anything, whatever the conditions may be.

What kind of Blogger am I ???

You Are a Life Blogger!!!

Your blog is the story of your life - a living diary. If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

Trip poori FILMY thi...

Not the whole trip (Holi vacation, in which I went to Allahabad then Ghaziabad and finally to Rajasthan) but a part of it was really a FILMY one, that is, Trip to Rajasthan.

My journey started from Ghaziabad Station on 12th morning. At New Delhi station, I was just going through the reservation chart and I found that again my reservation had been upgraded to AC 2 Tier from 3rd AC. This was not the first time that this happened to me but last year too I was privileged to have the same experience in the Rajdhani. Actually it feels wonderful to be traveling in a higher class when one had paid the fare of the lower one (please don’t forget I’m a Baniya).

Anyways I reached Gangapur City @ 1:30 in the afternoon. Then I called my friends (Rai & Piyush) to inform them that I’ve reached here and then only I came to know they were caught by the TC at the station because they didn’t had the Platform Tickets. By God’s grace, Achin was also with them, who with some of his contacts, was able to help them in getting out of that trouble.

After clicking few pics and waiting for an hour arrived my Bua’s train. We were almost ready to board the taxi when Bua remembered that she had forgotten the Prasad’s (sweets meant for the Kaila Devi) bag in the train itself. Three of us (my Fufaji, Coolie and me) ran towards the train. Till the time we’ve reached that coach, the train started speeding. We weren’t able to do anything except for just standing there and see the train speeding in front of us. It was a situation similar to what we frequently see in our Bollywood movies.

But the drama wasn’t over; suddenly I saw that our Coolie boarded the moving train and was assuring my Fufaji that he’ll bring that bag back. Fufaji was shouting the coach and the berth number to him and now we had a ray of hope that he’ll go to the next station and will bring the bag back to us. We all waited for him on the platform, approximately for 15-20 minutes and then decided to continue our journey towards Kaila Devi.

Once again, we were about to sit in the taxi, when two people came and asked us that do we have any problem? We said yes and told them the whole story. They told us that they are Railway officials and they will try their best to help us. Fufaji went with them to the Station Masters Room and from there they called to the next station Shri Mahavir Ji, where train had a stoppage. They even asked the station officials to delay the train (Bayana Jaipur Passenger) coming from there to Gangapur City by few minutes, so that the Coolie may come back by that train itself. As a backup plan, they even called up the second station (Bayana) officials to check in the train for our bag. Meanwhile we got a confirmation from Shri Mahavir Ji station that the passenger train coming from there, left 4 minutes after our train left from that station towards Bayana station. We all were really thankful to them for all their efforts and help. And then we all were fully optimistic about getting back the bag soon.

But as we all know that life always don’t shapes as we want it to be. The same happened in our case too. After 50 odd minutes, came back our Coolie with nothing in his hand. He told us that he didn’t found anything in that coach. We were disappointed once again. Minutes later, Station Master told us that even the railway personals at the Bayana station also didn’t find anything in the train. Hopelessness was again the expression on the faces of everyone, present inside the Station Masters room. Then Fufaji and station master enquired the Coolie that whether he checked properly or not? Then we came to know that by mistake he had checked 2nd AC instead of AC 3 Tier and the railway guy at the Bayana station had checked S1 coach instead of AS1 coach.

A ray of hope was there again that the bag should still be at its place, since it was an AC coach. The Railway Officials now dialed Bharatpur Station’s number; they explained the details and requested them to check for the bag. My Fufaji had already told them that they shouldn’t worry further as they have already tried their best and much more than expected. But the Station Master said that now it’s an ego thing for them and they will find the bag in any case. Anyways after thanking all of them, we finally left for Kaila Devi. Before leaving we gave our mobile numbers’ to the Station Master and also to the Coolie, he promised that if the bag comes here then he’ll bring it to our Dharamshala.

As it happens in most of the stories, there is a twist in our tale too. We may not have traveled more than 10 kilometers also before which we got the news that our bag had been found at the Bharatpur Station. A goods train coming here will be bringing our bag back, around 1730 hours.

In the evening, that Coolie brought the bag to our Dharamshala in Kaila Devi. Bua and Fufaji were able to offer those sweets to the Deviji next morning.

In all these Filmy events, we learnt few things: we should not panic at any moment and try to think out of the box too. The officials or people in authority are also helpful at times; actually we have a misconception that these people will never ever help anyone. But Humanity still exists in this world…

Reservations: The Ant & Grasshopper Story

Old Version...

The Ant Works Hard In the Withering Heat All Summer Long Building His House And Laying Up Supplies for The Winter. The Grasshopper Thinks The Ant's A Fool And Laughs & Dances & Plays The Summer Away. Come Winter, The Ant Is Warm And Well Fed. The Grasshopper Has No Food Or Shelter So He Dies Out In The Cold.

Modern Version...

The Ant Works Hard In The Withering Heat All Summer Long, Building His House And Laying Up Supplies For The Winter. The Grasshopper Thinks The Ant's A Fool And Laughs & Dances & Plays The Summer Away.

Come Winter, The Shivering Grasshopper Calls A Press Conference And Demands To Know Why The Ant Should Be Allowed To Be Warm And Well Fed While Others Are Cold And Starving.

NDTV, BBC, CNN Show Up To Provide Pictures Of The Shivering Grasshopper Next To A Video Of The Ant In His Comfortable Home With A Table Filled With Food. The World Is Stunned By The Sharp Contrast. How Can This Be That This Poor Grasshopper Is Allowed To Suffer So?

Arundhati Roy Stages A Demonstration In Front Of The Ant's House. Medha Patkar Goes On A Fast Along With Other Grasshoppers Demanding That Grasshoppers Be Relocated To Warmer Climates During Winter. Amnesty International And Koffi Annan Criticize The Indian Government For Not Upholding The Fundamental Rights Of The Grasshopper. The Internet Is Flooded With Online Petitions Seeking Support To The Grasshopper (Many Promising Heaven And Everlasting Peace For Prompt Support As Against The Wrath Of God For Non-Compliance). Opposition MP's Stage A Walkout

Left Parties Call For "Bharat Bandh" In West Bengal And Kerala Demanding A Judicial Enquiry.

CPM In Kerala Immediately Passes A Law Preventing Ants From Working Hard In The Heat So As To Bring About Equality Of Poverty Among Ants And Grasshoppers.

Lalu Prasad Allocates One Free Coach To Grasshoppers On All Indian Railway Trains, Aptly Named As The 'Grasshopper Rath'.

Finally, The Judicial Committee Drafts The Prevention Of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA], With Effect From The Beginning Of The Winter.

Arjun Singh Makes Special Reservation For Grass Hopper In Educational Insititutions & In Govt Services.

The Ant Is Fined For Failing To Comply With POTAGA And, Having Nothing Left To Pay His Retroactive Taxes, His Home Is Confiscated By The Government And Handed Over To The Grasshopper In A Ceremony Covered By NDTV.

Arundhati Roy Calls It "A Triumph Of Justice".

Lalu Calls It 'Socialistic Justice'.

Cpm Calls It The "Revolutionary Resurgence Of The Downtrodden".

Koffi Annan Invites The Grasshopper To Address The UN General Assembly.

Many Years Later...

The Ant Has Since Migrated To The Us And Set Up A Multi Billion Dollar Company In Silicon Valley. 100s Of Grasshoppers Still Die Of Starvation Despite Reservation Somewhere In India.

Happy HOLI !!!

Wishing you all a Splashing HOLI

Enjoy the Festival of Colors...

Enjoy this Holi with variety of rang bhang & Gulal and dher sare Gujhiya.....

Hope that your life is as colourful as possible...

Because these colours of life makes us what we are.....

Bura Na Mano… Holi Hai ….!!!

Just Enjoy This Holi with lotta colors......

Colors...

A video with lot of meaning in it... We may have not felt the importance of colors in our life but believe me they are an integral part of our lives...

Awesome video !!!

The 52nd Filmfare Awards: Winners

The 52nd Filmfare Awards were announced… Kajol and Hrithik won the Best Actress and Best Actor award at the Filmfare Awards…

For more info check out this.

Even though i don't agree with Hrithik getting the Best Actors Award instead of Aamir.

PS: If your opinion also differs from the jury like mine on any of the winners, then do let me know...

Source: IndiaFM.com

The 52nd Filmfare Awards: Nominations

The following are the nominations for the 52nd Filmfare Awards and the nominees which are in bold font are my personal choices for these awards.

Best Film
Dhoom 2
Don
Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna
Krrish
Lage Raho Munnabhai
Rang De Basanti

Best Director
Karan Johar (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Rakesh Roshan (Krrish)
Rakeysh Mehra (Rang De Basanti)
Rajkumar Hirani (Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Sanjay Gadhvi (Dhoom 2)
Vishal Bhardwaj (Omkara)

Best Actor in a Leading Role (Male)
Aamir Khan (Rang De Basanti)
Hrithik Roshan (Dhoom 2)
Hrithik Roshan (Krrish)
Sanjay Dutt (Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Shahrukh Khan (Don)
Shahrukh Khan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Best Actor in a Leading Role (Female)
Aishwarya Rai (Dhoom 2)
Bipasha Basu (Corporate)
Kajol (Fanaa)
Kareena Kapoor (Omkara)
Rani Mukerji (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Male)
Abhishek Bachchan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Amitabh Bachchan (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
John Abraham (Baabul)
Kunal Kapoor (Rang De Basanti)
Siddharth (Rang De Basanti)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Female)
Kirron Kher (Rang De Basanti)
Konkona Sen Sharma (Omkara)
Priety Zinta (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Rekha (Krrish)
Soha Ali Khan (Rang De Basanti)

Best Actor in a Comic Role
Arshad Warsi (Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Chunkey Pandey (Apna Sapna Money Money)
Paresh Rawal (Phir Hera Pheri)
Sharman Joshi (Golmaal)
Tusshar Kapoor (Golmaal)

Best Actor in a Negative Role
Boman Irani (Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Emraan Hashmi (Gangster)
John Abraham (Zinda)
Naseeruddin Shah (Krrish)
Saif Ali Khan (Omkara)

Best Music
A R Rahman (Rang De Basanti)
Himesh Reshammiya (Aksar)
Jatin-Lalit (Fanaa)
Pritam (Dhoom 2)
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Don)
Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)

Best Lyrics
Gulzar (Beedi Jalaile - Omkara)
Javed Akhtar (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Javed Akhtar (Mitwa - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Prasoon Joshi (Chand Sifarish - Fanaa)
Prasoon Joshi (Rubaroo - Rang De Basanti)

Best Playback (Male)
Atif Aslam (Tere Bin - Bas Ek Pal)
Himesh Reshammiya (Jhalak Dikhlaja - Aksar)
Shaan & Kailash Kher (Chand Shifarish - Fanaa)
Sonu Nigaam (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Zubin (Ya Ali - Gangster)

Best Playback (Female)
Alka Yagnik (Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna - Kabhi Alvida Naa Kehna)
Shreya Ghoshal (Pal Pal - Lage Raho Munnabhai)
Sunidhi Chauhan (Aa Aa Aashiqui Mein - 36 China Town)
Sunidhi Chauhan (Beedi Jalaile - Omkara)
Sunidhi Chauhan (Soniye - Aksar)

PS: If your opinion differs from mine on any of the choices, then do let me know...


Source: IndiaFM.com

Road Ahead...

It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare;
It is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
- Seneca

Keeping in mind the above quotation, I’ve already started the preparations for CAT ’07, from last Saturday. I’ve joined IMS Andheri West Center for the guidance which is required.

One thing I always believe in is that, there are people who crack CAT every year and no alien comes & crack for them. So, if someone is able to crack the CAT exam, then I should also be able to crack it. I know a lot of hard work will be required for it and yes, I’m ready to put in that.

I also want to wish, all the best to all my friends who appeared for CAT this year or who will be appearing next year, for getting admissions in their dream colleges.

On this positive note, I’m just hoping to bell the CAT and to get an admission in one of the best B-Schools of India next year.

Smile :)

Smiling is infectious, You catch it like the flu,
When someone smiled at me today, I started smiling too...

I passed around the corner, and someone saw my grin,
When he smiled I realized, I'd passed it to him...

I thought about that smile, then I realized its worth,
A single smile just like mine, could travel the earth...

So, if you feel a smile begin, don't leave it undetected,
Let's start an epidemic quick, and get the world infected !!!


Source: Anonymous

New features added to my blog...

Today, i've added anew feature to my blog, "Movies I likes this Year..." As the name suggests, this section will feature the names of the movies which I really liked this year.

Similarly, some time back I added another featureto my blog, "B'Day Birds 4 this Month..." which was an attempt from my side to wish birthday to my near and dear ones.

You may find both these new features on the left-hand sidebar of my blog page.

First Birthday

Day before yesterday, that is January 27th, 2007 was my First Birthday of the Second Innings...

On this occasion, I especially wanted to thank God. I would also like to say thanks to my family and friends; who were always there when I needed them and their suport. And special thanks to all the Doctors and Nurses who had taken care of me.

Silver Jubilee...

Hey don't worry I'm not writing about any movie which had completed silver jubilee nor about any couple completing their silver marriage aniversary.

Today, I turned 25. On this occasion, especially wanted to thank God because last year on the same day I requested Him that please show me my 25th birthday and here I am... I would also like to say thanks to my family and friends; who were always there when I needed them and their suport.


Other details to follow soon...

GURU

GURU – The story of a Villager, Visionary and a Winner

Gurukant Desai, a character whose life moved similarly as to the iconic Dhirubhai Ambani. According to the Mani Ratnam, director of this awesome movie, the story and the character Guru are totally fictitious and are not inspired from the life of legendary Dhirubhai but are inspired from the lives of various great men.

The movie starts from the time, when Guru was only sixteen or seventeen years of age but continues till he becomes eighty. Depicting the whole life of a person in 2.5 hours is also a very difficult task for the director. But three cheers to him, he did it again and that too perfectly. I don’t know which of his creations would be ranked as the best but I’m sure that Guru would also be amongst one of the best ones.

Not only the director but the entire team of guru had done a marvelous job. The cinematography by Rajiv Menon is brilliant, the screenplay by Mani Ratnam and editing by Sreekar Prasad are too good. Even the music by Rehman and the background score are too good.

The protagonist of the movie is Abhishek Bachchan. After watching the movie, you may belief that both of them that is, the role and Abhishek was made for each other. He did such a fantastic job that it looks like it was a tailor made role for him, even though every actor would love to do such type of roles. He overall did a stupendous acting. I think that Guru is his best performance till date. The movie is solely his and he carries it well.

Apart from Abhishek, every other actor too did their job very well but the Mithun Da was the best amongst the others. It seemed that he is back in Bollywood after a long time. Even Madhavan looked very young and handsome in this movie.

There are many scenes which I liked but the best ones were the final court room scene, the emotional hospital scene with his long time friend and associate, Manoj Joshi and the scene at the Mithun’s house, where Madhavan gives his opinion about Guru.

Finally, this is a movie which everyone must watch. And if you are missing this one then surely you are missing one of the best movies made in the Bollywood in the recent times.

The best thing which I liked in the story or about Guru is the passion which he had for making his dreams true. And one thing which Guru always believed and told people was:

“if you don’t dream
you will be stuck to your village
all your life”

What Celebration means…???

For past one week, I’ve been getting mails asking & stating what Celebration means…???

After analyzing this question, I found that the word Celebration is a perceptive word; for which every other individual has some other meaning. The ways of celebrating any occasion could differ from person to person. Celebrations for same occasions may also differ depending upon various factors such as our finances, our mood, also on people with whom we’re celebrating, etc.

For some of us:-

• Celebration could mean four friends chatting on a winter evening or on a rainy day over the cups of tea / coffee.
• Celebration could mean few friends in a hostel room, cooking and eating Maggi noodles at 4:30 a.m. in the morning.
• Celebration could mean three old buddies in three different cities chatting on the messenger.
• Celebration could also mean boozing, dancing and partying.

But this year, Celebration for me on the occasion of Christmas was the Office Party & the Trip to Alibaug and on the New Year eve was a simple chat & photo session with my friends, over the drinks and the dinner @ PopTates.

We may spend Hundreds on birthdays, Thousands on festivals, Lakhs on weddings,
But to celebrate, all we need to do is to spend our Time with our loved ones…