This Saturday is definitely dedicated to a good friend Nasir - who made a perfect ending to a very eventful day. He made me watch Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic!!!!! Its like with every movie Yash Raj movies get more pathetic. Somehow I fail to understand who was the movie targetted towards. There were kids, a loving dog, an industrialist and an item number!!! The kids in the audience were left wondering about the new female features they would have seen for the first time in their lives and the moms and pops cusring under breath searching for the damn remote control wishing they could just change the channel or send the kids packing to their rooms under the pretext of packing theire bags for next days school!!

The scene opens to a visible frustated baby Saif who ends up losing everything and winning evey award..cut to today as a leading businessman knocking over a couple...a court case..four children (and a dog)...guilty!!! Where are my tissues!!! sob sob!!!

So the kids (and dog) land up to live with our hero and find an amazingly sexy (and equally blond) Amisha and they hapily live on!!! But alls not well in the happy family..so angelic Rani cycles down a rainbow by God's diving grace and the family then happily lives ever after...yawn yawn!!!

Must really thank Star Movies for showing Rocky Balboa on the Sunday afternoon. Helped me get over the state of shock!!! So that was my Saturday late evening thanks to my friend!!! Neways good time..got to laugh at the movie...after the eventful office day was really required.

Theres a new phenomenon goin on. Its called the "i-effect". Kinda love it. Pioneered by Apple, the i range stands for a wave of innovation. The i pod, the i phone,i con, iwoz...all the right things. Peek into the other innovative companies of the world, theres a new I effect. I did it, I came up with the idea, I planned this, I pioneered this, I got the numbers, I came up with the idea, I realised we are going off track, I corrected this, I was responsible for all the good things that happened..and when the goin gets tough...the "U effect!!!!!"

They served Red Bull in Air Deccan!!! That was like the most unexpected surprise ever...guess they were preparing me for what was the most turbulent flight I had ever been on. At one point of time I was wondering if I was in Essel World! All said it was a great end to what can be called and amazing two days. Must have met around 200 people in those two days. It was great trying to know the aspirtions of the guys most important in any retail company. Also it was a peek into their world..their struggles, their family, their dreams, their take on careers etc etc. KInda remimded me that in life not everything is a given. Looking forward to having some of them work with us. Now back in the world of "HO". Looking forward to more of "cocktail accountability". Will catch up

MLTR was so right in penning the song Sleeping child....sometimes you just wonder is actually we followed the sleeping child the world would be a better place. Its heartening to see people ripping each other apart at the cost of productive work. Its not just professional, its when it gets personal the situation becomes bad. Its amazing to see how we develop a sense of ultimate superiority given a whiff of importance. While its not bad to do the same, I admit one has to draw a line between confidence and arrogance. Mediocracity is a sin and should always be removed but superiority at the cost of morality...never. So here I am looking at the developments around me as an awake child. Have to involve myself at some time or the other. Sometimes I wonder which role to play, a sleeping child, awake child, angry child, sulky child, evel child, mischievous child, inquisitive child, crusader child and just hope that the others around me act like mature adults!

Football fever is on and everybody seems to have just forgotton that theres an India Pakistan final today!! Compare this to a few years back when people would have seriosly considered taking a day off just to indulge in the rivalry. Came across an interesting comment from Aaqib Javed. Throught the last decades Pakistan had kept India on the tenterhooks. It was an even contest. A contest of their bowlers in Wasim and Waqar and our batsmen. Even the contest between our bowlers and their batsmen was an excellent one. The fear when a Saeed Anwar or Aamir Sohail would start clobbering our bowlers or when a Srinath would go flat out and see them fall like nine pins....the intensity with which people prayed that Sachin survives the opening burst by Wasim and Waqar....he was right they did have us on tenterhooks back then..now its the other way round but the famous rivalry seems to have lost....aah...is it an India Pakistan match today???

Its been an amazing trip. Two days on the field, spending time with people who understand the difference between sitting in an air conditioned office and sweating it out on the battlefield. The unwinding at the end of he day is always a bonus. Its good to see new blood infusing new ideas and enthisiasm. One thing striking me was the use of the word "passion" by a person who somehow I never got to work with but it would have been intersting. Any work without passion is not work, its only an obligation. The passion to do better, challenge yourself and others is what motivates some people. Its like you can spot them when you just look at them in the eye. People have their selection and judging criteria, what rarely gets captured is that passion. If it does, its one attribute that is rarely nurtured. A passionate person is answerable to himself at the end of the day rather than any superior or the society. Its common to see a passionate boss lose it when the same passion is not reflected in his team. The same is true vice-a-versa. If you look around its not diffucult to find such people as there are quite a lot of them. The guy at the pawn shop, the person standing next to you in the train, the shop floor associate, the high flying corporate,the loving mother,the auto ricshaw driver....there are so many its actually hard to miss them. The irony is, they are not tapped to even 20% of their potential. Look around and you will happily find every mechanism running to only 20% of its potential. Be it our companies, retail stores, civic cleanliness and amenities and at times our cricket team (currently at 120% thatnks to IPL!!!)

Fact remains am looking forward to my next trip and my next brush with the real people. Trying to be even 20% like them is a huge learning.

Children of the world...future of the world...guess that applies to India as well....and if thats the case then I am already getting jitters! So the other day I was waiting for my train to arrive with some Bryan Adams Room service soothing my ears was just waiting. The next train was due in half hour so that gave me one of my favourite passtimes...just watch people..and be amazed...so this guy in his thirties comes up..takes out a melody...and bang!! the wrappers on the platform..as someone whose pockets forever filled with candy wrappers ( I hate littering) it was an awful sight. Cursing him under my breath I continued to chase other people. So here I see a nice little child..some 10 year old at the max...he goes to the same shop and buys 4 of those Melodies. I was just hoping this one would do the right thing and show the man what an ass he was...but I was in for another one of those WTF shocks! This little brat opens and sprays the wrapper all over the platform. So here I am staring at two wrappers in the platform put by two idiots. The kid didnt disappoint me. He went on to do exactly the same with the other three Melodies in the next three minutes!! It was as if he was sending me a message that what a jerk I was to have any expectations out of him!!! Seated next to me was a man handicapped in his mouth. He atleast sympathised with me it seems and was saying something in sign language to me..something I coudnt understand...but in his eyes I got the message. He was with me. Actually telling me the usual - " Whats the point...go home..we are like that only!!" So I promptly did the same. Then on the way back I completely forgot about it till it just hit me. One set of children are playing playstation ( and not cricket and football like we did), the other set is littering away to glory in public places, the other set has never seen a school and neither their parents have or not seen parents, some are locked up in their books studying things which have little relevance in real life (most will end up going to US for their MS and probably never return)....gosh!! Where the hell are we headed!!!!! Guess the dumb guy was right. We are like that!!!

Read a very interesting line in my friend Speedy's blog (http://thewarringthoughts.blogspot.com/). Activism comes from learning and not vice-versa. A very interesting statement and i have to admit, its made me reflect on my MBA days. Its true that there cannot be a substitute for academic learning and power,politics,activisms are not its replacements. In an environment which is healthy, power, politics and activism provide an excellent exposure to groom students to the real world. The real world does not provide any cushions. Its a forgive no one forget no one world. So the access and exposure to play the games is actually beneficial. But as it was said famously "With great power comes great responsibility" - gotta play by some rules, even the Mafia and the Underworld have their rules!! Where I agree with Speedy is that the authorities have to act refrees and demarcate the lines dividing power use and abuse. The line I believe has to be reviewed every year as every batch is different and needs different set of "rules".

Apart from that....Mumbai had its first brush of monsoon rains for the year 08 today. The best part was the trains. Its an awsome feeling to stand near the gate and have the rain splash on your face. so gotta njoy it while the novely factor lasts...after thats its gonna be like wtf!!! rains again!!!

Its really funny how problems sometimes increase when you try too hard to solve them. But when it happens, you wonder whether its the problem or the problem solvers who are a bigger problem! Lifes been going good. Finally got my hands on a book I had been searching since months - The P*&% Prince...a biography of someone who made Indians dream big, someone who was a visionary who realised his dreams with open eyes. Dream on world, cause only if we dream can we even think about achieving them. Dream and attack the dream to realise it..my mantra!

Life has a funny way of putting you down..so here I am sitting at home with a sore throat and a cold thats drained out energy from me..its bloddy hot and I can have anything cold!!! talk about "torture"....neways the times been good...completed a year at work...things look cool..it looks good to be able to play this nice little game called chess in real life...except you dont know who each player represents...so cant be surrised if a pawn suddenly becomes important enough as a bishop! But yes Ann Rynd was so right while writing the Fountainhead. Invariably you start relating to people and finding the Peters,Tooheys etc in them and by default assuming the self to be Howard!

Read another interesting book by Randy Pausch. This restarting of reading has done me some good as I have something positive to ponder about. Flyp was awsome, The last lecture was touching to say the least. It provides a parallel to Lance Armstrong...same disease..different results...same spirit....

Theres been a lot on musings....more on the same next time...

Phew! Finally after days of dillying dallying am here..Read this amazing book..the ones that make u pause and reflect...an absolute recommendation to all...Its called How Starbucks saved my life..a true story of Michael Gates Gill...born in an stinkingly affluent rich family..Yale educated...Joined JWT...rose to the level of Creative Director...gets fired...gets entangled in an extra maritial affair..job goes..family goes..friends go..money goes...and puff! hes on the road with no money and no place to stay!!! Add to that..hes gets diagnosed with Brain Tuemor...so docs and operations..but decides not to do the operation...one fine day sits in a Starbucks outlet and voila!!! joins it as an entry level partner....A very interesting read....its like from a position from where that guy was..you can never imagine what he had to go through...but maybe thats the truth of life....can get rogered anytime anywhere.

Back to the blogging world after a short hiatus...been a pretty eventful time..have been travelling..met new people....saw new dimensions to people already known...rediscovered myself in certain aspects...all said..had a nice time...
Travelling - always felt and believed that one needs to travel a lot...it opens the mind...see places and people in different light...the break one gets is just better...guess I need to travel atleast once a month...
People - new people are always fun, old ones funnier...generally is amazing to see how mediocracy is encouraged to keep the overall levels down..people are afraid someone new coming will raise standards..therby exposing certain people..so good people may not come in..levels of performance never raised and the overall status goes in a whirlpool...its like when life demands you run a sprint or a maraton to go ahead..one runs on a treadmill!! running for sure but getting nowhere..more on that later..
Myself...well I had always liked myself...just love my company...certain "close" people find that amazing..neways more on the "close" people later as have to go now...

Its been a while...in between the vital hardware required for blogging has koncked off....have travelled a few days..some days have been eventful...lots of learnings....but ya..traveling is the best learning one can get...theres a hell lot of stuff waiting to absorbed in this world..just that we chose to ignore and lead insignificant lives. I really find it amazing at times when I meet people who just want to live the way they are! And be best part is at times i get surrounded with such people! Sometimes I wonder why self introspection is the least seen virtue among people! I mean we go on discussing/talking/writing/thinking/bitching/praising etc etc endlessly about others but what about our own self! I mean, do we actually like spending time with ourselves?? Maybe my expectatins with people are too high..but it is only a function of what I expect of me.

The soldier travels across different battlefields to scout enemy positions and his camping points. The recons been pretty cool till now...jazz it up with a dose of beer and a dash of movies....pretty racy! But thats where the fun is...in the battlefield!!

I want to be hungry again! A couple of years back a prof once said that he is a hardcore Nokia lover and the only reason he has a Motorola mobile is because he wants that "hunger" to use a Nokia again....guess now I realise the significance. In time one starts taking a lot of things for granted forgetting how he got where he got to. And then is the time to revisit your roots, get that hunger in the eyes, stop taking things for granted and start pushing yourself. Hunger is what makes you enjoy what you get and I want that hunger back, it'll definitely involve making tough choices, cutting down on some of the easy stuff and again enjoying the difficult ones!

Another day comes to an end..its the day where Holika got burnt...the significance being good cannot be burnt (its fireproof!)

Here I am..this is me...theres no where else on earth I'd rather be....hold on a sec....thats Bryan Adams....why the hell wudn't there be another place....there is ofcourse....weekend promises to be quite happening.. Holi at homeafter 2 years...then a reunion with friends in ..four days of travelling lined up for next week....sounds like a busy man!!! The good thing is the friends are very special...part of a family...one family member though will not be there and will be surely missed..but nonetheless it will be a grand reunion...so thats something good to look forward to.

Days going well..as usual was at my limping best for the whole day because of the "niggling" pain in the left knee which I am told will subside in a day or to and I can get back to my Morning jogs...aha am hungry...after a hards work!

Dont really have anything in particular to blog..just that I dont wanna "discontinue" my renewed attempt at blogging...I realised its good for me if I just sit for a few minutes and let the brain to keyboard synchronisation happen!!

Days being goin good...been enjoying whats on the plates...trying to make the plate bigger, increasing the appetite, demanding more food on it,asking for a bowl what not!!! Dont know what the journey demands but wanna do it for sure...lots of precious things to keep me company..friends,special friends,more than friends,life...precious things are to be treasured cause thats why you live life for....a pretty funny thing happened yesterday....a friend was asking if I ever get bored or feel lonely?? My prompt reply..."I enjoy my company!!!" Its amazing when you start enjoying time with yourself, a lot of life's problems just disappear!

The circle of life..so very true..what started in March 06, comes to a full circle in March 08..so here I am back..back to the blogging world...maybe a world I quite cherish...the journey remaims the same...the passion the same..the battlefields different....but the rules of the game are very much the same. So here it is, the "change" my college could not give me, my employer has given it. Anyways, good I still got a chance to correct a mistake and its given me positives....so maybe it was good I made that mistake! Only time will tell. The battle continues...it is still the journey to be a somebody!

So what has changed all this while I was not blogging....quite a lot actually and maybe if you dig deeper nothing actually! Every day is still a challenge..a battle that continues..warriors fall, heros rise, a day won is good...a day lost is not the end of the world..so nothing has changed. Just that I am sittin at home today with a cold and a cramped left leg!!! So much for playing cricket after a gap of month!!!
Actually quite looking forward to office tomorrow cuz there is a certain individual who was asked for snaps of 1800 produtcs which are to be merchandised in our store!! Niraj..wait till i get to office!!!!!

Long time to blog..so a lot of things have happened in the two months I was away..summers..home food..career aspirations..what not!!!

Met some interesting people..some people who looked like a reflection of your past..some you'd never wanna meet again..phew!

Colleges restarted..wanted a shift denied..but the fighter continues..juniors have come..they look bright eyed and eager..let reality dawn on them..they kinda have already started complaining about lack of time!!

The most interesting person I met this summer was a chap called Siddharth..a guy..who had to drop out of class as he had no money..parents stay in a village and can't support him..used to work part time and attend college but it didn't work out..all the guy wanted was someone who could talk to him..guide him..you could see the desire to succeed in his eyes..He was trying for a break in the BPO sector..but lack of experience and Language skills pulled him down..the day I met him..he'd cracked a job offer from a domestic call centre and was literally in tears. I hadn't known Siddharth before..but the hour I spent talking to him..cemented my faith in the Spirit of the People of Mumbai..we fight it out and win our way!!!

SO IT GOES...

Well days have gone and I just realised its over 10 days in the new company. My first cheque arrived today..reimbursement for travelling from Pune to Mumbai to join ABG..well good..neways expenses are soaring up day by day. So life teaches lessons day by day, be it a bus conductor or a beggar on the streets or your boss. As an SIBM MBA now we gotta realise how we are different from MBA from second rung institutes. When we join, the expectations are really high..so firstly I gotta ask myself where and how I'm different or better..well the answer leads you to a quest for finding your true self. You meet different people, different back grounds, sometimes you bump into an alumnus, the resemblence is too good to believe. The comfort level is so high and you realise its how you project yourself as..You may not by the most knowledgeable coming from premier institutes but you definitely gotta act as if you really are. Then the whole world starts perceiving you as knowlegdeable and your work is done! Plus alumni support always matters! But you always gotta prove yourself as those from other non premier colleges always try to prove that you are not better than them by virtue of your college..every action, word, opportunity they'll try showing you that the lineage doesn't matter and they really work hard, maybe even harder and maybe even better..but still the arrogance and pride of being from a premier institiute needs to be there else they'll run over you..every day a new challenges..I say..BRING THEM ON....