Aseem's Blog
Leap over the bounds…
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Happy Independence Day |
I was traveling from Mumbai to Goa today. My bus stopped at a restaurant… and here is what I saw and I instantly smiled :)
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Yeh Aakhri Alvida Na Ho… |
More often than not, you have to learn to let go a few things in life… specially people you can’t hold on to forever. Sometimes for the better, sometimes because one day you want them to come back… while often because you have no option left. And whether you like it or not… in this school of life sooner or later you have to learn to say goodbye.
I feel the same today, I felt a few years back in memory… when I had to give away my dear Nokia 3315 after religiously using it for 4 years. Its keypad looked like a blank slate, its screen could be read only at its will, I had to bang it on the floor a few times to open it and often re-insert the simcard when it hanged. While its battery died as soon as I plugged out the charger, I had to announce that we now had a new landline at home. As a result my electricity bills soared high as to that of the whole of Uganda. But I still loved it. I didn’t want to give it up. It was like what a grandmom-gifted new bicycle meant to a kid, like what the first love letter response would mean to a guy and like what silicon means to Rakhi Sawant. In short… so very dear, precious and indispensable. But then on one ominous day when I returned home, and the sky was filled with dark clouds and the sun couldn’t shine, I saw my dad standing at the door with sharpened new screw drivers pointing towards me and my mom with Baygon spray in one hand and the electricity bill in the other. The only way I could enter the house was to swear on my beloved cellphone that I would never use it again. So I had to say a final goodbye to it. I know it’s tragic. My life has been full of tragedies. If I had to make all of them public, I am sure the government would have announced a 3 day mourn. But sooner than I thought a new cell replaced its special place in my heart. Now I could view and store good pics, nice pics, sweet pics, cute pics, dirty pics(and hide them also). So I loved this one even more.
But with people… I believe it’s a different thing. You simply can’t replace them as easily. Especially when they have been what oxygen is to human beings, a shahid-kareena lip lock video tape is to the news channels, and what a good script is to today’s bollywood movies. But what you need to understand and accept is that they have a life beyond yours. And as you have always wanted them to be happy and cheerful, let them choose to do what they wish to. While you can only hope that it’s not a final goodbye.
At the end of this post my heartfelt thanks to… the people who have been the inspiration behind this post, my boss for allowing me to blog at work when I should have had another round of coffee and to the Strings band… as I stole the title of this post from one of their songs. Sweet people and I love their songs! So I hope they won’t mind…
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Kya yeh safar yunhi chalta rahega? |
“Aaj khidki ke baahar dekhta hoon to wohi station nazar aata hai jahan se meri train kal nikal padi thi. Najaane kis safar ke liye nikal pada tha jo wapas wohi pe aake… aaj tham
Its better to regret why you did it, than why you didn’t…So just do it!
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Why infants like me dont like to go for weddings… |
After a hectic schedule on a business trip and flying from Sydney to New York, moving ahead to London and then back to Washington, I took the next flight to Sitapur and then moved to Belarampur in a private jet, only to suddenly wake up out of the dreamy little sleep I had managed to get in the train after a sleepless and tiring weekend. I immediately checked for the existence of my luggage stuffed with stinking socks and briefs, few unwashed clothes, a kurta apt for my cousin’s wedding (that costed me as much as Bill Gate’s new house in Los Angeles) and a few hand grenades and time bombs (these railways just have no security in place!). So I cudnt afford to sleep and leave my baggage to the mercy of a thief… I had to be the watch dog!
On reaching Pune my Mom launched a full fledged ballistic missile attack of 2-3 Prithvi missiles and a few more of the Agni range. How the hell could a 22 year old mature adult forget to carry footwear for a wedding and walk in with only sports shoes? While his travel bag stinked like one those tabelas in bihar he needs to be readmitted in atleast Class I or even worse in Kindergarten if he wiped his running nose on his t-shirt ever again. So without being entitled for a much awaited sleep I was sent to shop… I felt frustrated like an innocent guy who is jailed for 14yrs and on release is sent to prison again, just because he didn’t salute the jailor. That’s how life treats you sometimes…
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The best night I had with a guy! |
We did it in taxis and rickshaws, in barely lit smoke filled rooms, on wooden chairs and on cozy couches, also at romantic sea side spots, not to forget in cafes with deafening music which got our hearts beating even faster. And yea shamelessly… to be honest a little more than even shamelessly we did it in five star hotels all night. Kya mamu? Bheje mein kya soch rahela hai? Tension nahi lene ka re mamu. Apun ekdum seedhi baat kar rahela hai. English mein bole to apun bilkul eshtrate hai. Ekdum bapu ki lathi ki mafik! Hehe Ok… I know you must be feeling as clueless and confused as a Salman Khan in a discussion of the effects of dollar appreciation and depreciation on the Bulgarian economy. Well let me tell you in the simplest of words… for which you will need a little of…
Flashback: We had a nasty college gang. Remember Eagles from the movie Josh? Just like one of those… with cool thick leather jackets, fast bikes, supercool apparels like chains hanging all over our body… falana falana! You don’t have to believe me on all that! But yes we were atleast those few small-time brats in college who bunked lectures and sat all day in canteen drinking slice and maaza and never paid the canteen fella for whatever we picked up from his little store. The last thing that I heard about him was that he tried committing a suicide from the top of our college’s administrative building as he had landed up in huge debts because of the poor business he made in our college. No wonder! Yes so we were those troublesome guys who never informed at home and left with our bikes for niteouts to explore the ever so beautiful Goa, which we realised that it unfortunately lays inside 5 star resorts… where you also get to drink for free Tropicana juice from tetra packs left as leftovers at the beachside parties… You don’t need to be as shameful as Rakhi Sawant for doing it. Get in with a gang of as many as you can and order just one hundred buck coffee. You get to play carrom, watch movies on a plasma TV, use their bedroom-like-washrooms and ofcourse brag to the Bichchu gang that you stayed in a 5 star resort last night!
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Drink like a MAN and not like a LOSER |
Dear Someone,
DRINK LIKE A MAN AND NOT LIKE A LOSER!!!
Please. For your own good.
From
Someone who cares for you…
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Yana ka gaana nahi chahiye! |
Venue: Canteen of one of
Time: Tea break (Officially anytime between lunch to dinner)
Scene: A beautiful HR executive is sipping her tea while giving a frustrated look to a Yana Gupta song being shown on News 24 (Newly joined the league and has undoubtedly lived upto the reputation of over-exaggerated hindi news channels). No mention required of those frustrated IT coolies sitting around and watching the television with utmost concentration [:p] (Very precisely their only source of entertainment).
Act: The beautiful HR executive yells (I am unsure of what to highlight – beautiful or yells [;-)])… from a distance, at the canteen incharge… with a strong voice just like one of those mahila mandal’s morcha leads… “Humein Yana ka gaana nahi chahiye!!!”. Oh did that rhyme? Seeing the canteen guy perplexed who is busy giving food coupons for cash, she says it again to make her point.
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“Professional environment rakho. Koi achcha News Channel lagao”.
Nobody would have refused to such a beautiful lady’s humble yet “intervening” request. But this time it was probably the authority in her voice and position(ofcourse!) that made the canteen head change the channel. And while he did that, a sequence of Kareena Kapoor’s latest movie Tashan plays. She(The beautiful HR) looks at the TV screen with all the more disgust. And then looks back at all the employees lost in watching Kareena’s super toned figure… She(The beautiful HR… ok sorry wont do this again [:p]) seems all the more upset with something…probably the employee culture going down the line which she had to do something about…! Probably!
And suddenly it’s NDTV… back to business… back to serious news… employees stare into their plates for a couple of seconds only to realise that they were here to finish something. They still didn’t have a clue of what happened. She walks out of the canteen with immense satisfaction of setting the professional mood she was probably looking out for.
Can you simply swear at your HR and get away? NO (without giving it a thought). So you better get done with your tea break.
Oops…
“Chhaliya chhaliya chhaliya… Ruh churalo mein hu aisi chhaliya…”
Eyes pop out, jaws drop, tongues hang out (well… ok…not exactly…[:p])… canteen fella smiles to himself… and the tea time extends again… [:)].
Conclusion: (Pick your choice)
- Food in canteens of software companies tastes great!
- Beautiful girls hate others watching other beautiful girls [:p]. – “How mean!!!”
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A journey from Goregaon to Mount Mary Church, Bandstand |
Sometimes you have a lot of frustration and anger inside you… so how do you vent it out? Anger management? Count 1 to 100 and back? Or you prefer to go back to your A…B…C…D…??? Well I have found a way that works for me. Just keep walking, whatever the time, whatever the place… Haha.
Yesterday night went for a late night show of One Two Three (pathetic movie!). Paid 200 bucks for a seat at Cinemax, Andheri. And that’s why the frustration! :p Or was it that April Fool prank that I got fooled by and I couldn’t take it? Haha. Or maybe it was something else! For whatever it was, I didn’t know how to control the angry me. Angry with something, angry with someone. So I did what I felt was right to do at that moment. At 2:00 am when I reached back home, I emptied my wallet (credit card, debit cards, too much cash, etc :p) while kept a few bucks and an ID proof with me and left home. Left to go where? Don’t know. As I walked away, something inside told me that I could go on and on. And there was nothing that could stop me. I didn’t want to. Even if I could.
Walking speedily and talking to myself in a way that I never did, I was in a hurry to go somewhere. Again Where? Again I didnt know. My thick red jacket made me realise that the night wasn’t cold enough. I wished I could have gone back to leave it home. But then would I come back here again to continue doing what I chose to do? Was I done with the frustration of the crappy movie? Or the April Fool prank that fooled me? Was I done with whatever it was? :p. No. So I continued to walk out of the residential area which had countless garbage bins and dogs… yea a lot of dogs. Some would only chase wagons. Some followed pedestrians like me. And some had specifically caught fancy for my red jacket which i wanted to leave back home. So I had to hurry before they got mad at me. Luckily no dog did.
Slowly I realized that it was going to be good fun. Fun to see Mumbai at this hour at night. Still pretty much awake and hustling. The highways were busy. As good as the ones at peak hours in
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To Love Is To Not Expect |
To love is to not expect.
To love is to not expect.
To love is to not expect.
To love is to not expect.
To love is to not expect.
Yes I always believed in it. And it feels all so guilty to catch yourself red-handed expecting what you arnt supposed to (Or maybe you can?). Nevermind. Period.
Had forgotten this little line I always preached to others. Just needed a self drill.
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BlogCamp Mumbai Style at the BarCamp Mumbai 3 – Did you make it? |
Having registered for the BlogCamp Mumbai Style organized at the SJMSOM IIT Powai Campus, I was very much looking forward to being there as it was the first of its kind for me. This time I had one more reason than otherwise to be there – ofcourse it was just a drive away! Now settled with my job life in a happening place like Mumbai, I guess there are atleast a dozen more such events I can simply drive to. Oh yes
So how was the “Blog Camp Mumbai Style”, for me? I and Amit were amongst the early birds to flock there. The Blog Camp being a part of BarCamp Mumbai 3rd Edition, there were a lot of participants trying to get their way around. Many like me who just hired a rick from home (yea and there were sexy sportscar owners too) while also with quite a few who had come over with all their luggage there (:p) right from many other places like Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, etc. All in all it was great to see the enthusiasm in everybody. I wondered why I had missed it all this while!
I was looking forward to meet a few online friends here… Deep, Ashwin, Mani and many more. While also few more bloggers like Sakshi, Meetu and some net freaks I only knew by their name or even pseudo names. I am really glad that I got to interact with most of them. And now certainly it’s gonna be more fun following their blogs. Well getting back to how the blogcamp was…
The organizers gave all due respect to the Indian Standard Time for the start with the event ;). Ok I know it happens everywhere. No offence please :). So those who joined in late were probably lucky not to miss anything. After a round of introductions(which we could barely hear) by the speakers for the camp, the sessions wiki was put up on the whiteboard only NOT to be followed :(. Because of which there was a lot of confusion as to where what was going on. As a result we missed Rashmi Bansal’s light talk on blogging. Luckily all the blogging related stuff was put up in one auditorium and we found our way there. We decided to stick there all day as we didn’t get great feedback from others who attended the sessions going on in the other audis. But am sure we missed some good ones there.
