:)

Surprising what all you find when you clean your cupboard after a long time....you find stuff which you would have never have thought which bring back sweet memories and some not so sweet ones but still make you happy at the end of it all.

I cleaned up a rack in my house which had been gathering dust and had been neglected for a long time! and the stuff that i found ...priceless! the rack is just one of the other places in the house which houses books and we have a great collection of books..my dad and my brother being voracious readers..no thanks to me. so i was cleaning all these books and surprise 1- a photo of me back in 2004 with my training batch in accenture bpo...it was somewhere around christmas and all of us are wearing santa hats and wearing red and of the 20 odd ppl that were in the picture i am in touch with just one of them....we bumped into each other in the Infy bus when i was on the way to office...i had just joined and coincidentally we both were in the same bus..so yeah back to the photo! the photo bought back SOME memories..my short stint in accenture...2 months....the reason for me joining...my confused state of mind at that time...not like i am any less confused now but the money is good so have to come to live with it.


suprise 2- an old photo of mum and dad when i was probably in 5th or 6th standard..both mum and dad still lean...mom shying away like a lil girl dad just leaning over her...priceless....the photo is kinda faded..i might just get it fixed and frame it

surprise 3- grandpa's diaries dating back to 97-98...eventhough we were never really close just intrigued to read em but the handwriting is unintelligible and moreover its in kannada and i can only read if its in proper print and i take my own sweet time to do that.. so maybe when i have the time will try and figure out how granpa really was..

surpirse 4- A novel which was gifted by someone special with the words "with lots of love and prayers" hmmmm

surprise 5- Manorama 2000 and Manorama 2010 both in the same rack...talk about coincidence two books torn apart by a decade but still trying to make sense in the same rack...a lot of water has flown between the years...

surpirse 6- old telephone instrument with an old number still pasted on it..oh man the hours i spent on the phone..this was back when mobile phones were still unheard of...this was one instrument which i think is easily 15-16 years old...the push button phones as they were called were still new and we had 2 landlines courtesy my dad working for the govt...one was the personal line and one was the official line...i could make a zillion calls and still get away with the official line! and talkin abt phone numbers...some will stay with you forever..one of the numbers-6642299...one of my massive crushes in school..phew and one more number which i am not going to type but which i will probably remember even in my grave.

surprise 7- a joke book for kids..remember goin for this movie with dad in blue diamond..yes there was a theatre by that name in mg road a couple of blocks away from plaza theatre..yes that was there too until a few years ago...anyways so my dad and me were at gangarams....since we always used to reach the theatre well in advance..it always used to be either james bond or some other action movie running that day...so yeah there i was in gangarams with dad and my dad casually asked me to pick up a book if i like it and i picked this one..1000 jokes for kids...and i dint know how much it cost...but dad bought it anyway and when i came home got the blasting of my life my brother who said dad dint have to spend a bomb for the crap that i had picked up so that was the last time dad bought me a book i think..he always wanted me to read ...he still tries but somehow I cant be quite the reader like my dad and brother

surprise 8-Scotland yard...this was an award winning game in the 80s..a board game for 3-6 players and my brother had insisted on buying this game and dad had obliged..my brother is the intellectual types...he would like games which involved application of the mind whereas i liked the mindless ones...gimme a toy gun or a toy car and I am the happiest kid in the world...i dont think we played the scotland yard game a lot but the times we did play I have wonderful memories of ..since it required 3-6 players we always played as a family...me, bro, appa and amma...the game was pretty interesting with lots of strategy involed...there can only be one crook and the rest of them automatically become detectives and the point is you have to catch the crook before so many moves and my bro usually was the crook and he would always evade us and would end up escapin...but on the off occasion that anyone of us as in either amma, appa or me became the villain my bro would make sure we would be caught...saw the price tag on the game-1989 mar 150 bucks! well that was big money back then and that too for a board game but some investment i must say..has given me some wonderful memories to cherish :)


surprise 9- none.just satisfied of cleaning up the rack and reliving some awesome memories..next week rack# 2!

vamos Rafa

The freak from Mallorca did it again! 24 and he has 9 gs titles and he has a long way to go...I am trying to be a sport here cause I am HUGE Federer fan :D

When Federer plays its poetry in motion. When Rafa plays there are moments of brilliance but I would pay any day to watch fedex than Rafa. Rafa is like a machine, a robot on steroids, chasing every ball to the last micro second before it misses his racket...hate the guy

Its like how someone once told me although it might not be a great example but as an analogy I could say if you compare the dancing of Hrithik roshan with that of Govinda a lotta ppl would say Hrithik is way better as a dancer but if you look at Govinda the beauty is he makes it looks so effortless like he was born to dance but take a look at Hrithik and you know he has worked bloody hard for it and the dance looks more like an strenuos physical exercise than anything else

anyways i would say like any other true rog fan....nadal aint half as good until he wins more gs titles than him and until then all nadal fans can just shut up!

I seriously hope murray gets his act together soon and delpo please come back!

no country for old men

well this is not about the movie! was coming from electronic city the other day in a volvo, as it started to reach bommanahalli the crowd started to swell up...most of the crowd is mainly IT with avegrage age of any communter on these routes is anywhere between 21 and 35 ...max 40 cause by then you would have made enough money to buy a nice car...anyways at bommanahalli there was this elderly person who got in...from my reckoning his age couldnt have been less than 75

so grampa just got in looked around for a seat but there was nothing around. I was sitting about a couple seats from where grampa was standing. I watched him for a while as he found himself a place to stand...I looked around the crowd had swelled up with people finding it even difficult to stand.

I could see all of them were just minding their own sweet business..some on the phone, some on their i pods, some just lost in thought but not one of them saw that a really elderly gentleman was standing amongst their midst and not one of them had the courtesy to offer him a seat.

I waited for a few minutes hoping someone would get up from their seat but it was not to happen. I am not saying I am a saint but one doesnt have to be to offer just a seat. I would have given up my seat the minute grampa walked in if i was close to him but he was standing a couple of seats away from me and I would have had to call him out but I did not want to do that...anyways I couldnt bear seeing him standing so reached to my full arm length to the guy who was sitting close to grampa, tapped him on his shoulders and asked him to divert grampas attention to me.

The guy did what I asked him to do and as soon as grampa turned towards me I asked him to walk over and take my seat.I did not want to budge until he came to my seat in the fear that some creep might just park his ass.

The minute I asked grampa to come over the guy whom I had tapped on his shoulders got up and gave up his seat for grampa. I was somewhat satisfied there is still some humanity left in this country. I wanted to give up my seat now for the guy who gave up his but he did not even turn back. I thank him for giving the seat to the old man and not making me feel any more wretched.

Was it because it was a volvo that ppl dint give up their seats or does this sorta thing happen in all the buses? My guess it happens all time

It was not too long ago that I remember people falling over each to give their seats to women and old ppl but I have seen a sea change lately in the attitude of ppl.

Every man for himself....ha!

saral english

saw this awesome 20 minute ad on one of those shopping channels..

take1- a watchman from the hindi heartland is picking up the telephone...he struggles to answer the call since the speaker on the other side can only speak in english! and our bhaiyya cannot speak in english for the love of god

take2

a bunch of executives come toward our bhaiyya watchman and give him a mouthful for lifting the phone and also telling him that Iyer Sir ko hindi nahin aata aur tumhe english nahin aata...tumhe sirf watchman ka kaam karna hai phone uthane ka zaroorat nahin hai (meaning the iyer boss cant speak hindi for the love of god and likewise you cant do the same in english so limit your career option to being just a watchman)

take3

our bhaiyya watchman is literally in tears at home and his wifey is consoling the poor chap...but with a firm resolve our bhaiyya is not one to give up..he takes up the saral english speaking course and vows to study day and night

take4

same watchman bhaiyya is taking a call but this time he can walk englees, talk englees, eat, sleep and crap englees...he informs Iyer boss that the executives as usual are not in office as they are out peddling drugs to school children

Iyer boss is mighty impressed with bhaiyyas englees..he immediately promotes bhaiyya watchman to executive...watchman bhaiyya's happiness knows no bounds the backround music is heart wrenching

take5

watchman turned executive bhaiyya is sitting at a round table discussing marketing and pricing strategies and explaining complex theories and all in englees :)
Iyer boss is mighty impressed and immediately promotes him to general manager sales!!
talk about luck!

take6

bhaiyya darling is feeding kaju kishmish (cashew raisin) sweets to his wifey for the permossun

take 7

old man dressed like he is still from the victorian era comes on screen complete with a coat, bowler hat and smoking a pipe...cant get more englees than this!

then he says stuff which only confirms your doubt that the stuff in his pipe is truly hash....saral englees will change your life forever you will go from being a watchman to a ceo in no time

at this point i barely managed to keep my hands off my mobile and throwing it at the tv

but then i realised the simple way to truth is to show a watchman bhaiyya an inside of a call center and all the slaves working day and night and all because they can talk englees, walk englees...

and it wont take long before he decides to go back to previous job!

anyways i suggest if you want to jump up the corporate ladder stop kissin your boss's ass and grab a copy of saral englees..the sureshot way to stardom!

MAASSS

Lately i see a trend of south indian movies being dubbed in hindi and the same being telecase on channels like star gold and max. If it wasnt bad enough to dub english movies into hindi now they are dubbing southie movies as well but for me and I am sure for quite a few other ppl this is comedy at its best and the choice of movies that you have is simply mindblowing...

the other day i was watchin this telugu movie which was dubbed starringg nagarjuna, rahul dev, charmi and jyothika. the name of nag's character was MASS...now what kinda thinking goes behind naming the hero as MASS???!! i wracked my brain for why he was named MASS..is it a short form for somethin, is it the first half of some word..guess i will never know

corny dialogues which feel even more corny when its dubbed in hindi and the word masss masss being screamed in the background for no reason

but it was good fun..it gave me a new perspective in life

you want to have fun and be educated from a movie watch a nice telugu flick dubbed in hindi and you will get your money's worth.

The day technology abandoned me!

Getting back to "Client Location" after being home for a good 4 days is always painful...anyways I spent the friday meeting a good friend of mine in Haze Koramangala eventhough I knew I had a bus to catch in the evening...meeting this buddy of mine after a long time was really nice...after nicely settling down we ordered for two long islands and were feelin all nice when the management decided to give us a promotion and asked us to hit the terrace...one long island down we decided to have another...now I was feeelin really nice...almost two down i realise after i get a call from mum that I am late ..guzzled the rest of the LIIT and had a few large gulps of my friend s second as well cause he wasnt feelin upto it...by now i am reeling...i pay for the bill through my card and waiter goes current illa saar..need cash wonly...i have 400 bucks friend has just 1 note of 1000 and we pay the waiter...now I have a bike which has enough petrol to take me home while friend has paid all that he had to the waiter...i give him whatever remaining cash I have so that he can take an auto home...waiter comes back and so does the power..i ask him if he could return the cash and swipe my card now...waiter goes and checks with his evil boss....comes back saying sorry saar not possible...i dont have the time to argue...we leave the place in a hurry after an emotional male bonding sequence of hugs and i love u man kinda lines....phew what booze does to men...i scram home breaking god knows how many signals...thank god they dont do breath tests in the afternoon...i come home pack my stuff in a hurry...get in the car with dad and again i floor it...dad is yelling at me to slow down...i am the epitome of cool saying relax dad i know what i am doing....reach the bus station with 15 mins to spare...my throat is parched i feel like having a bottle of water...open my wallet and alli find is zilch...not one rupee...ask the bus guy where i can find the nearest ATM...he points across the road to an SBM ATM...i walk in and the security guard gets a call and he leaves...i put my card in the slot and i am waiting for the machine to swallow it and show me the please enter ur password screen..nothing happens...the darn machine is just refusing to swallow my guard...i wont give up so easily i push it further..but i can still see the darn card..i still am not givin up...i take my credit card and try to push the debit card through...still nothing happens..then this gentleman comes in and tells me I have put the card in the wrong slot...thats when it hits me!!!the slot is for the transaction slip!!what the hell was i thinkin???i pull my credit card out immediately but now i cannot see my debit card...i tried banging on the machine but no luck...the card s gone...i put my credit card in the right slot but realise that i dont have my pin number cause i have never really withdrawn cash usin my CC...so i head back to the bus i am thirsty as hell but i remembered i have to block the card first...i call up customer care and block the darn thing...i am sure the guy on the other end must have been thinkin what an idiot!! i am out of cash...thirsty as hell..i call up dad and tell him what happened...dad tells me he has only 500 bucks and he doesnt carry his debit card...so i tell him anythin will do...i tell him the coordinates as to which route the bus takes and where he can meet me...at this point i am unable to even think straight...the bus driver gives dad the directions and then my phone conks out literally..i cannot make any calls and i cant even receive any calls...i hate nokia at this point...anyways I am beiginning to think i will die of thirst and me being me i never ask a stranger for help...so asking for water is ruled out...i put my hand in my bag hopin for a miracle and lo a bottle of water...i love u amma...u r the best :)...i sip like a hungry dog...now i am feelin a lot better...and once the bus reached yeshwantpur i saw dad and the bus stopped literally just for a sec and dad handed me 1700 bucks! dad actually borrowed the cash from a friend of his...love u appa...u r the best :)...got back to client location...hot as hell...applied for a new card said it will take another 6 days for it to get here..i can live with that...got a call from dad..i tell him the story as to what happened in the atm and he calmly tells me that he knew i wasnt sober!! i felt gawd awful at that particular moment...really horrible...mum also tells me that she knew...felt sick in the gut...and dad being dad tells me to drink responsibly...again! i have been a really horrible child to my folks..making them worry about me all the time and i still cant mend my ways after umpteen mistakes all of which have been forgiven..anyways all this wouldnt have happened if my train tickets had gotten booked...they were on WL18 last time i checked...couldnt cancel the darn ticket cause irctc.co.in dint let me!! so i pretty much got screwed by technology that day and not to mention i paid for my own deeds as well

Golden Kela!

Couldnt help but resist sharing the insanity of Golden kelas....in case you are wondering what it is ...it is a spoof on the all the hindi filmy awards...like the razzies for the oscars...but more importantly check out the golden kela blog and read the reviews of hindi movies kela style! will keep you in splits till your internet/power shuts down or your computer blows up!

http://goldenkela.com/wordpress/