Its the one with the attractive front gate...

Saw a billboard sign for a new apartment complex today in pune...It had photos with accompanying captions for all the usuals...The manicured lawn, the clubhouse, the pool, the 20 floors per building, fallala fallala...but then it had one photo/feature that took your breath away. It had one feature that astounded your senses...that made you salivate, it made you fantasise about living there..the photo and the caption was "An attractive front gate!!!" Ppaaraaaa Parrraaaaa!!!!
Oh my Gawd! now i know why i could never understand the high rents in pune..obviously i wasnt noticing the importanat features at all. I never even looked at the front gates to see if they were "attractive" or not. I mean who wants, running water, fire safety, good roads, etc when you can have...u can have...oh my Gawd!!!...AN ATTRACTIVE FRONT GATE!!!!
Please to note: Its not just any front gate...its an attractive front gate

Now you dont need to have a postal address...you just need to direct people by saying " its the one with the attractive front gate"

Note to myself; Please revisit fundas on house buyer needs and wants as well as advertising...You need to refresh your knowledge!!!!

P.S: This is not meant as any kind of disrespect to front gates. I sincerely apologise if I have inadvertantly offended any front gates. I like you. I really do. And if you are attractive, even better so..but darlin front gate..do u really feel you must be advertised?

Rain, Rain come again!!!

I got up this morning feeling very very cold...i had actually wrapped myself into a feotal position...
yipdee!!!!...the weather has finally changed...has the winter (read indian (hyd) winters: whr u dont faint from the heat) ..has it finally arrived...????
its only after i stepped out did i realized it had rained last night...and thats why temperatures had dropped
Anyways, the weather was simply brilliant today..the sky was slightly overcast and a there was a slight drizzle
For the uninitiated, it time for a little education.
See, in Hyderabad, India, it doesn’t actually rain, it only drizzles…
And if you been brought up on a healthy Mumbai diet of pouring cats and dogs, lightning, thunderstorms, waist high water, you walking completely drenched…the drizzle doesn’t just make the cut….
However, I wont complain, since the weather was awesome…
Besides hyd doesn’t completely disappoint on the rain front.
Firstly, temperatures drop to a really pleasant chill (for normal ppl)(for ppl like me…I get out the sweaters and jackets!!)
Secondly, and much more importantly, that miniscule drizzle actually manages to flood the streets to a respectable ankle high water level at least. I didn’t believe any city in the world could have a drainage system worse than dear old mbai, but bless hyd…it keeps me hoping.
Now, that’s what I call rains!!!
So I am the sole person dressed formally (read: office formals) on the street, whos walking away merrily in ankle deep water (read dirty water), grinning silly-ly from ear-to-ear…I have even broken out into singing once in a while.
My roommates have given up on me. I am sure they ( and most of the ppl who live on my road) think I am deranged…I mean they cannot understand that normal ppl might like walking through calf length dirty water..kicking and spurting water all around…!!!they are strange, like that! Whats not to understand??!!!

My happiness list (Things that make me smile...)

This has been inspired by Clare and her 3 beautiful things. This is a list of all things that make me smile...I plan to keep updating it...

1. Curled up in bed with a good book
2. A hot mug of coffee in one hand, and a book in the other
3. When its raining cats and dogs outside, and I'm sitting on my favourite sofa as home
4. traveling through the city alone at a window seat in a bus
5. Watching a little baby walking on the road holding his fathers/mothers finger
6. A young father carrying a baby girl
7. Listening to fast music while having a hot shower
8. Getting in touch with a old friend whom I had lost touch with
9. Planning a trip
10. Looking forward to a trip
11. Walking through ankle/knee high water in my old jeans and mackintosh...And its pouring
12. When my 2 month niece falls asleep with her head on my shoulder and her nose against my neck
13. Talking about books with friends
14. Mom still complaining that I'm never going to grow up
15. Talking total nonsense with old friends
16. Listening to classic songs..And singing along with my roommates
17. When a newly tried dish turns out well
18. Holding hands
19. Watching F.R.I.E.N.D.S.
20. Watching mushy movies
21. Getting personal mail from friends
22. Getting a snail mail letter
23. Getting a courier from home
24. Buying new books
25. Finding an unexpected book in a small book shop
26. Writing my blog
27. Getting comments on my blog
28. The first drops of rain on my cheek after a harsh summer
29. Finding a very old greeting card or school book at the back of my drawers at home
30. Looking at childhood photos
31. The smell of a new notebook...Reminds me of 1st day of school
32. The smell of new plastic...Reminds of new raincoats and new schoolbags
33. The smell of wet mud
34. The smell of paint
35. My nieces toothless smile
36. Listening to radio on a long drive
37. When I learn something new
38. Wearing new clothes
39. Fitting into old clothes
40. Sitting on top of the dining table at home
41. Discovering something new to eat in the cupboard/fridge
42. Riding pillion with the wind blowing through my hair
43. Rolling up and jeans and dipping my feet in a stream
44. Washing my hair, roaming around with slightly damp hair,smelling the shampoo in the damp hair
45. Having hot soup on a cold day
46. Waking up at 7 on a Saturday morning, realizing i dont have to go to work, and going back to sleep

Yipdee!! I have been promoted to lead fruit picker!

Was wondering about that cliche debate of balancing family life with work... And I thought-When the heck did this actually become an issue...
I visualized my ancestors back in the caveman age....
So this is how i see it...

Mr. Mehta used to go to the forest, kill animals, drag back the carcasses, plus some fruit and berries and give it Mrs. Mehta to cook over the fire... the little mehta boys used to amuse themselves by throwing rocks at each other and playing pretend fights with animal bones....while the little mehta gurls built small caves from the mud lying around outside the cave...
Mr. Mehta came back as soon as he had collected the essentials for his family and spent time with the kiddos...teaching little rohan mehta and ketan mehta how to give blows with a club and telling stories to little nita mehta about how one day she would have a cave of her own...
Mrs. Mehta went about her work which at that time included cleaning the cave, washing the loin cloths and preventing the little mehtas from breaking their heads in..

Now I agree that the womans life has definitely more enriched today..but leaving the gender issue aside for a moment, taking society at large...I wonder if Mr. Mehta back then ever said...
"hmmm..Mr. Agarwal is managing to get more berries than I am..and getting the meatier rabbit...I have to better my performance.
Did Mehta start working longer hours to get back with a rabbit that was just a little meatier. Did the mehta family get used to the meatier rabbit and expect still more.
Did mr. mehta start missing his evening time with mrs. mehta where they sat together at the entrance of the cave and watch the sunset and talk about how little rohan mehta wasnt mastering the art of bashing animals head well enough and talk about how he'd do in the future...
Did mr. mehta miss little nita mehtas concern that the agarwals son kept pelting her with pebbles and tried to show off his fire making skills to impress her...
Did mr. mehta stay out longer and longer just so that one day his name would be carved on the tree bark above mr. agarwals' for having collected more berries
Did Mehta come home one day with an extra bunch of berries and gift of a free bunch of grapes shouting "Yipdee!! I have been promoted to lead fruit picker!!!"
...only to find nita mehta had run away with the agarwal boy to live in the posh new cave colony that had come up on the other side of the forest with special facilities like a private rock bed for each cave for washing and a private hot spring geyser for a payment of 2 rabbits every month...
Have we really evolved in every sense???

Tennis, David Foster Wallace & Federer

If you like Tennis and if youve even heard of Roger Federer to say the least, you have to read this...

Federer as a Religious Experience - David Foster Wallace
(Read it here!!!)

My thoughts...
This article is a tribute to Federers game. Now, I admit, though i really like tennis, I have stopped follwing it of late after the departure of greats like Pete Sampras, Monica Seles and Ivan.
But this piece leaves you breathless. You get the sensation of actually being there on center court, whiplashing your head from side to side as the greats battle it out. You fantasise about watching the next Federer game. You dream about going to the next game :-D
You curse that day when you put down your tennis racket coz u were "busy" (ha!!! fat chance!!!)
It makes you fall in love with Federer without having watched more than a game.
You can feel the exhileration, you get an adrenalin rush, you can hear the soft perfect thud when the racket makes contact with the ball...you can smell the grass.

I dunno about Federers game, but this reading this was definitely a spiritual experience..Can't wait to watch Rogers next game (sorry, but I feel like i know him intimately after having read that piece)

If you are a Federer fan, then THIS IS YOUR TEMPLE...
(Read it here!!!)

My love, my books

Reading a pirated book feels like making out with your lovers twin brother. It might look the same... but the feelings and excitement are not the same. When you curl up in bed with it, you feel like you are cheating on your lover by being in bed with his twin. The irony being, they say the same things, and even touch the same chords, but at the end of the experince you feel unfulfilled and are left with a feeling that something was missing from the experience. It just isn't the same.

And besides after youve finished reading it, and its sitting there in some corner of your room...when you steal glances towards it, a pirated book just doesnt bring a spark to your eyes. I rarely go back to it. Even now when I look at an original book lying on my table that I read some time back, It brings a loving look into my eyes and warmth all over. I remember the long cold winter evenings spent with it and the nights spent curled up together. The brief affair might be over, but the feelings are never dead. I will keep going back.

Someone once asked me, about a very good book, whether it was worth the price I paid for it. It felt like a slap across the face. It felt like he was asking me how much i paid for my love. The fullfilment and companionship doesnt come with a price tag, mister. It comes with unquestionable faith and unconditional love.

I'm going back to goa!

I'm dreaming of white sands and blue waters of the sea,
I'm dreaming of the swishing of the river water against the walls
I dreaming of the barges making their way home
I'm dreaming of goa

I'm thinking of snow white steeples
I'm thinking of sleepy buses
I'm thinking of vast grassy fields
I'm thinking of goa

I'm seeing the college gate
I'm seeing the open quad
I'm seeing the parking lot
I'm seeing goa

I'm smiling about the open doors and opens arms
I'm smiling about everybody being an uncle's cousin or aunt's cousin
I'm smiling about the love and warmth
I'm smiling about goa

I'm remembering the glasses of wine and beer
I'm remembering good friends and good food
I'm remembering good times
I'm remembering goa

I'm missing the classes and assignments
I'm missing the music and movies
I'm missing the bike rides
I'm missing goa

I'm going back to the wide open roads
I'm going back to the fresh air
I'm going back to the open skies
I'm going back to goa

Check it out...
(Samarth Kholkar's site :http://picasaweb.google.com/samerth/CharmDeGoa/)

General wellagiri...

Good friends, good food, good "spirits" make for a great saturday night. Pathetic jokes, that everybody laughs at, bitching about work and bosses, pulling each others legs, cursing a "single" death, talking @ the past and future, shopping, movies, gupshup- Its a life!!!

WOO HOO!!!

Read this somewhere.....i think this totally describes what life should be.... Get high! Be Merry!--

"Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, Champagne in one hand - strawberries in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming WOO HOO - What a Ride!"

The 4 Walls

This is your world, this is your universe
This is where you rule, this is where you falter
This is your kingdom
This are your four walls...

The walls have seen many a lives
They have seen the sweets of successes
They have seen the tears of failure
They have seen shoulders bent forward
They have seen heads held high

These are the 4 walls which have seen it all
Many before you, many after you who will come and go
But the walls remain motionless against this passage of time
Only the scars and stains on the wall reflect on the times gone by

As you leave after another long day and return every morning
The walls welcome you into their arms
As you come ready or not to face a nother day
They wish you a soulfilled goodbye as you trudge home into the twilight

These walls have seen hearts filled with love and hate
Plotting scheming heads and malicious hearts
Restless bodies and souls
Grateful and gracious minds

They have seen nurturing friendships,
Budding romances and broken hearts
Sideways glances and stolen chances
Entire dramas created in their womb

They are a selfless lover who gives all
And never asks for anything in return
Protects you from looks and glares
Gives you your space but are always around

This is your world, this is your universe
This is where you rule, this is where you falter
This is your kingdom
This are your four walls...

A place called home

Another place, another time,A place called home
Its not a city, or a flat, its a place where you own the streets
Where the roads are yours, the air is yours
You are not an intruder in somebody elses air
Where every person on the road knows you belong...where you know you belong
Where the nearest family or friend is a stones throw away...so is the farthest.

Where things around you change but yet they dont

Ina strange land , the possilbilities are endless
the roads are always exciting, always new.....Where every turn can bring a new surprise.. or shock
Slowly, the road starts to turn automatically under ur feet....ur feet find their hold on the cracks in the pavement and roads become familier
You start to own the air u breathe....
You start to feel like its ur city....
Here too, u feel like u belong, here too..

Things around you change but yet they dont

Learning for today

Date: 16th Jan

Venue: Pricing Strategy Class

Great Big learning : If you are gonna screw with the law, don't leave the condom behind.

The Sailor

There were a 100 sailors
Looking new and peachy clean
In their caps and hoods
About to go a-sailing

Each one thinking of his journey
Wondering in which direction to set sail
Wondering where the wind was blowing
Where is the easy sailing

There stood one man in that crowd, young for his age
Not wondering where the wind was blowing
Looking at the sun on the horizon
Knowing where he wanted to go

The sailors set off
All in his own direction
The undecided following another bunch
None knowing where the wind was pushing them

They who were pushed by the wind
In the wake of the boats ahead
Sailed around mindlessly
Seemingly enjoying themselves

The young sailor set off
In the opposite direction to the wind
The wind, she beared down on his little craft
But the sun guiding him...

He pushed ahead, enjoying the strain
Enjoying the thought of reaching that island on the horizon
He pushed against the wind
Didnt hear the other sailors laughing at him

He reached his island
Throwing himself on the sand
The other sailors wondering why...
The young sailor feeling the sand

And then the storm came wrecking everything in its path
Every sailor tossed like a dice
All those whom the wind was helping
Dying...just like our young friend

The storm subsided,every sailor in his watery grave
The easy sailors lying in the water, still in the harbour
As the young boy breathed his last
He smiled, for he carried the sand in his hand.

Memories of MBA

As the sun dips slowly and the day moves towards twilight, the barges chug their way slowly up the river. The students let out a collective sigh of relief as the classes and tests for the day are over and ...THE MADNESS BEGINS!!! Our days consist of group meetings, project work and plenty of fun. Staying up all through the night, pretending to being completing an assignment, but actually arguing about some arbitrary theory about life, propounded by some genius amongst us, is a regular sight here. And then the clock strikes 12 and its time for our midnight meal, accompanied by the same genius, who insists on convincing you of his theory. You have a glass of ice-cold creamy bournvita in one hand, and the latest finance case in the other (which, by the way, you are still pretending to be doing). At the same time you are trying to kick the idiot(or rather, genius) of the life theory fame while try to stealthily eat french fries, egg rolls or noodles from the plate of the person next to you. That, my friends is how you learn multi-tasking at my B-school, which as managers of tomorrow, blah, blah, blah.....(lets leave that gyaan giving for the professors and the sorely kicked genius) But don't think you can get away here just like that. We did do our work, whether we planned it days in advance and finished it 1-2 days early or stayed up till the wee hours of the morning the day before the submission (with me..normally its the second option). We’ve done the days and nights of theories of marketing, gotten blurry eyed doing accounts, traveled to the industrial complexes for our projects, struggled to sleep without getting caught in class, with your neighbour nudging you every time the professor looked at you over the top of his soda glasses and heard about how "CHANGE IS THE ONLY THING CONSTANT IN OUR LIVES" :-)) Visions of volleyball and football matches, the cricket cup, with throngs of supporters crowding the quadrangle, the colours of holi, the lights of diwali,and the rafi, kishore, juggy D, metallica or some very famous tamil number vibrating through the corridors of the hostels, will forever remain with us.