tag - a weird post ...

When i saw a comment on ma blog stating that I was tagged; i took it to be yet another invitation of that social networking site where people tag each other ... and having ignored such tag invitations umpteen times already, i was all set to disregard this one too and visited my frenz blog (who tagged me) with the intention of writing a comment on his blog in a very decent language (yea yea .. you got that right) to stop spamming. That’s when i got to know what actually this tag is all about ... trust me i found it weird and senseless to be doing this; but hell … i found it to be interesting too ... so here i am giving it a go ...

the rules of this tag are as below

-->Link to the person who tagged you and post the rules on your blog. - The weirdo who got me into this is Viral and unfortunately I don’t have the luxury to decide whether or not to get linked to him :)

-->Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself. - really doubt if i will be able to come up with 7 weird facts about me ... you know i am so close to being perfect :)

-->Tag 7 random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs. - Again not sure if i will be able to come up with 7 bakra/bakris to do this weird thing :) god knows why did the inventor of this tag thingie came up with this number 7; he would have been better off doing some feasibility analysis ...

-->Let each person know that they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. - this one is not that difficult; if i can take care of the previous ones ...

now below are 7 weird (read as unusual) facts about me ... actually took me an eternity to think of these ...

1. Sleep has always alienated me; and i too keep the animosity burning by eluding it at every possible opportunity ... sleep is never into consideration at all in any of my planning ...

2. i despise a lot of vegetables (no hyperbole intended) and my family & roomies too have been at the end of their nerves to keep up with this peculiarity of mine ...

3. Any song that catches my attention - i can hear to it repeatedly in endless loop (rather than i can, i actually do this :)) ... and to add to the weirdosity (nice word ehh ???) even after hearing to the song countless times; i cant recollect the lyrics except for the couple of lines and the tune that might have caught my attention ...

4. i am a huge donor when it comes to Gyms; I have enrolled in gyms irrespective of my location and the gym costs (india, US etc) ... but i end up hitting the gym like a couple of days (on a higher side) per month :)

5. this one is more like a flaw in technique - in cricket while batting (of course on field and not on the comp), when i intend to hit big shots (which is almost every ball) my fore finger comes out of my grip and is stretched out on the backside handle and the neck of the bat ... (i know i run a risk of fracturing my finger like this ... but then that’s why it classifies as a weird habit) ... somehow this habit has its psychological effect on me ... (and all you buggers who are smirking now that they have got privy to this secret; they can use this to their advantage against me while bowling ... bring it on !!!)

6. my reading habit is really extreme; when i am onto it i finish a book in a matter of couple of nights ... and finish around 15-20 books in couple of months time ... and when somehow i stop reading i don’t read a book for months altogether ... currently i m into the not reading phase since last 5 months or so ... hope to switch to the other phase soon!!! Any suggestions to a good book???

7. now the last one ... and i hope ... actually, i pray … that my manager is not reading this ... i can come up with content for my blog posts only while working in office ... somehow even if i sit at home at leisure to write something i cannot come up with anything ... but while in office and amongst crunched schedule with meetings and other deadlines ... i tend to jot down stuff for the blog ... maybe stress & pressure gets the best out of me :)

now the bakra/bakris in alphabetical order ... although couldn’t think of 7 (didn’t want to tag people just for the sake of it… will add to this as and when I identify someone in the capacity to bring out his/her weird side :))

Ankush – pending
Avik – pending
Manali – pending
Kunal – pending

ciao juntaa,
hiren

Bad Luck ....

With a pile of 300 résumés on his desk and a need to pick someone quickly, my boss told me to make calls on the bottom 50 and toss the rest.

"Throw away 250 résumés?" I asked, shocked. "What if the best candidates are in there?"

"You have a point," he said. "But then again, I don't need people with bad luck here."

- Becky Horowitz (Reader's digest)

Amazing point of view; aint it ????

Catching Up on last 3 months ...

Several times during this self exile of sorts since my last post and today ... I did put pen to paper to write something (pen/paper sounds better than type .. ain't it ?) but somehow never did manage to go farther than a couple of lines ...

Anyways, a lot has ensued during the last few months ... so lemme summarize the important stuff point wise para wise … (those who require more details can get in touch with me ;))

Let me start with something that will give most of my friends sadistic pleasure ... Yes ... I have grown a year older ... on Oct 31^st, I completed 27 years on earth (naturally of this birth ... with all these reincarnation movies coming up nowadays its good to be precise) ...

Another milestone I stumbled upon is that 5 years have gone by of my professional life ... (and also of my loyalty to Infosys:)) ... Damn … can't digest the fact that it is more than 5 years since I made the drastic transition from the enjoyable grueling of academic days to the ever demanding & competitive world of IT services ... Even in this world, all is happening seemingly too fast ... I have transitioned rapidly from a fresher to Software Engg to Analyst to Team Lead and now toddling towards managerial chores ...

Amongst all this; I earned an Excellence Award in my organization for my performance in 2007 (this is the third consecutive year that I have won this award :-) ) ... The award was presented by the Chak De India girl - Vidya (for those who just paid attention to her looks and can't recollect who Vidya ??? – She was the captain/goal keeper of the team…)

And yes how can I not mention the most prolific thing that has been happening all this while; my family members, relatives, close friends, not so close friends, neighbours, neighbours relatives and many other shubh chintaks can not stop advising (along with expert opinions, analysis, and believe it or not case studies too) me to get married and settle down in life … The pressure sure is mounting day by day … seems like some girl is going to suffer soon :-)

Lot has transpired in the world of sports too… the young Indian team won the T20 WC title :); MSD got promoted to lead the ODI team along with T20s (think of it ... he now leads SRT whom he has been idolizing all his time while growing up ... some guys do actually live their dreams...) RD was dropped from the ODI side ... Aussies continued their dominance over the rest of the world ... and Dhoni's boys swept Pak in the ODI series ... and yes this one needs a mention too ... Kimi Raikkonen won the F1 championship despite all odds (life sure is full of surprises) ...

Our very own bollywood too has some updates … RGVs aag has ceased … SLB has tried to do an RGV with Sawariyaa but he has to accept the fact that its impossible to beat RGV... OSO is just so-so … the pick of the lot in the last 3 months or so have been Johnny Gaddar, Jab We Met, Dhamaal to an extent …

Signing off for now and hopefully not for another exile … cya soon !!

Cheerio !!!

(A)AGony !!!!!

Even after reading (g)rave reviews by all possible media mediums; I had to give in to pressure by a couple of good friends (i know its tough to digest that anyone other than a foe can take you for such a movie; but then my friends have always been unpredictable and adventurous). I agreed to make a FOOL of myself by going to watch the disaster (one in a century types) RGV ki AAG ... (although I agreed only after making a deal with ma friends that no matter what we will leave the theatre in the Intermission). It was all the more agonizing for me (being the cricket fanatic that I am); as for this movie I was missing England’s run chase from the Ind-Eng 5th ODI match ...

So, finally after beating the Sunday evening Mumbai traffic; we managed to enter the theatre just before the show was about to start; and believe me I have been to theatre for many many pathetic movies which most of you would never dare to watch on TV too... but never ever in my lifetime I have seen a theatre so empty … that too on a Sunday :-) Well, nonetheless we made up our minds to at least derive some sadistic pleasure from this movie; settled down in our seats with pop corn, samosas, pepsi and then the defining moment struck ... here was Mohanlal in his hybrid Hindi taking some cops into flashback where he got two taporis to help him in his vengeance against dreaded hoodlum Babban ...

I won’t be able to give a detailed review of the film because I hardly saw the film for 20-25 minutes (that too adding up all the time that I was in there eating popcorn as I spent most of my time in the theatre lobby :) ) … but whatever I saw is enough for me to pronounce this film as the best effort to make the worst film in the history of bollywood … whoever say that B-grade flicks are unwatchable should watch this movie for 30 mins (if I advise anyone to watch the entire film .. I run a risk of getting charged for attempted murder)

But then God is great ... the multiplex where I had ended up for a torturous suicide; had plasma TVs in their lobbies and they were playing the IND-ENG ODI :-) So, for most part of the movie I ended up standing in the lobby watching the match :) (those who don’t believe in GOD do take note … RGVs AAG has done at least one good thing; it did amplify my faith in GOD). My friends had more endurance and patience to watch the film for a good 90 minutes … before they broke up …

But I can say that the end of this film is a BIG suspense … more so because there are not many who lived to see the end of the film … so hardly any one would know the climax of AAG !!! Can you believe this; a good 4-5 people left the screen even before the entry of Amitabh Babban.

Even if the original SHOLAY is released into the multiplexes; I am absolutely sure that it will do much much much better business both commercially and of entertaining the people.

P.S: I have never reviewed any film before this … but this time I thought that if I can save even one soul from watching this movie after reading this post of mine ... it would add up to my good deeds in life and I would feel like a doctor who saves a life !!!

Luck ...

He worked by day And toiled by night.
He gave up play And some delight.
Dry books he read, New things to learn.
And forged ahead, Success to earn.
He plodded on with Faith and pluck;
And when he won, they called it luck …

A nice little sonnet by an anonymous writer ... I am sure at some point, all of us have been at the receiving end of this :)

A nice addendum in the comments section by Neo -

One was asked- "Do you believe in luck?"and he replied -" How else do you justify your rival's success!!!!!

Just like that ...

It might seem that I am getting obsessed with cartoon strips of late :) ... but this one presents predicament of thousands in a plain simple sentence.


BTW this ones from "Just Like That" featured in today's TOI.

Saddened by today's Media ...

Not that this is something new or unexpected ... but when you look at the articles and footage and the melodrama created after just one sentence of Zaheer Khan in an interview to a news channel; you are forced to smirk at the desperate measures that media are taking to thrive in today's throat cutting competition ... and reinforces the business strategy of any field ... Give more of what sells rather than what makes sense !!!

Any of you sensible guys out there who must have got a chance to see the interview .. can easily figure out that it was just an innocent sentence which said .."Not really ... I was not tired as such ..." (What do u expect him to answer a question "Were you Tired???" ... do you expect him to say that "Yea .. I was dead tired !!!") ... and voila ... the media got fodder for their cricket gossip ... with headlines "Zaheer contradicts Dravid", "Zaheer takes on Dravid", "Zaheer's disclosure brings more embarrassment for Dravid", "Zaheer's beamer to Dravid", "Zaheers bouncer: I was ready for follow on" ... whereas in the interview Zak also followed up his comment saying that the follow-on was a team decision and he definitely went with the team decision ... never during his interview does one get the feeling that he opposed Dravid's decision of not enforcing the follow on ...

But just imagine what the number of people who wouldn't have seen the interview; will start thinking after reading/seeing all these about ZK as a team man?? Many will think that just one good performance has gone to his head ... Wat repercussions will this have on Zaks and RD's working relationship???

I do understand the competitiveness of today’s media due to which each one trying to come up with something that can lure in audience ... but how I and million others just wish that they would spend the same amount of time, enthusiasm and resources and focus on some REAL news !!!!

P.S: Having said this I would like to duly mention that our media has been doing a lot of nice, extreme and real journalism too .. which has been a triggering force for lot of improvements nation wide ... but just that all of them give more than required footage to such gossips .. which is what gets annoying at times ... you are surfing the news channels to get some news and you are bombarded with BREAKING news like these :-( well ... rather than annoying it makes me sad ...

Addendum to the last post ....

Another cartoon by Rajneesh ... on the similar lines to the last post ... i wouldnt say that this one relates to me .... but its nevertheless entertaining ... :)

.

P.S: - I had obtained the soft copy of the last cartoon strip from Rajneesh himself ... and today he sent this related one across to me on his own ...

.

@ Rajneesh -> thanks man ... and keep up the good work of making people smile !!!!

My state of mind ... literally

An excerpt from a fundoo cartoon strip "This is our life" by Rajneesh Kapoor. I couldn't help but smile after reading this one ... relates to me cent percent :-)

Cheers !!!

Resume Gaffes

A nice read for linkedin members ...

http://www.linkedin.com/answers/career-education/resume-writing/CAR_RSW/76934-7009368?trk=mh_viewq_2

Hum kis gali jaa rahe hai ???

"Hum kis gali jaa rahein hai ... apna koi thikana nahin ...."

I have always wondered how everyone tries to relate to some song/movie/incident in others life to their own. And I bet that almost 90 % of entire human race will relate to the above quoted prologue of one of Atif Aslam's song from his new album Doorie.

I have always admired (secretly though ;)) my friends, colleagues who were so clear about what their objectives in life and planned according to their goals ... and I am glad that most of them have been successful in doing so and are doing pretty well ... (Actually it’s not just the big professional and personal goals in life; I am more amazed at how they are clear about far more trivial things in day to day life)

But damn I am very bad (worse actually) at it ... so I have always coin a nice little excuse for that ... "I like to take life as it comes …" ... well I think I actually do… and by gods grace have been doing well without planning as well !!!

P.S : - Relating to ones own life ("philosophical crap" as most of my friends would put it ...) part of the song aside; this song is awesome to listen to as well with nice guitaring (if there is such a word)... give it an ear sometime and I am sure you will like it ...

Can't make up your mind ????

Whenever you're called on to make up your mind, and you're hampered by not having any, the best way to solve the dilemma, you'll find, is simply by spinning a penny. No - not so that chance shall decide the affair while you're passively standing there moping; but the moment the penny is up in the air, you suddenly know what you're hoping ...

This has happened to me ... and it works !!!! :-)

One more beginning ...

well ... i hv been reading tonnes of blogs of friends, friend's friends, strangers ... and every time i would finish reading one i would be compelled to write one myself ... not that i do not want to be left out of this blogging trend ... but am convinced that jotting down the learning's, observations, experiences (good & bad) etc of owns real life incidents has a calming effect somewhere or the other ... so i m ready to showcase my terrible writing skills to all :) so ppl BEWARE and get prepared for some torture ...