Saturday, December 7, 2013

From the other side

The glorious past is now gone. Life takes a new turn.

The last three weeks had been busier than ever. And the most enjoyable ones. Not for a second, I wasn't surrounded by at-least half-a-dozen people, and with all hullabaloo around, there wasn't a moment when I could just stop and think about what was going on.

In short, I just got married. Phew!!! And I joined the coveted (also not so coveted) club of the non-single guys in my friend circles.

What has changed? It's too early to say I think. It hasn't been even a month yet.

Friday, September 27, 2013

Fortunate enough?

I stay at near Total Mall, Old Airport Road, Bangalore. Now you would be wondering why the hell I am publishing my location information on my blog when Google already knows my whereabouts!!!

Well, apart from the 9 hours this week.

For the last 3 months at-least, I have seen the potholes on the Old Airport Road stretch go bigger and better. I wondered if the potholes had evolved over the months to be able to reproduce.

But one fine day, on the way to my office, which is again on the Old Airport Road, and in-front of The Leela Palace (A ***** Hotel), I noticed that the whole stretch has been patched up overnight.

Many of you must be wondering, why is it called the Old Airport Road!!!

Once, the road was addressed simply as The Airport Road. But, when BIAL(Bangalore International Airport) was operational , this had to be renamed to the Old Airport Road. It was actually under the control of Indian Airforce, and was also known as HAL Airport.

Looking at the condition of this road, I always used to complain. But, that day, I was really proud of the authorities. All the potholes had been patched up within hours, since the evening before, they were threatening to gobble up the 2-wheelers who dared to put their foot near them. In some, there was room for multiple vehicles also.

I was happy. Well, the potholes haven't come back since then. It's been days now. Today, I happened to travel towards the other end of the stretch. As you might have already figured out about my observation power, I again noticed something. The potholes on the other stretch of the road, were still alive and kicking, and growing at an alarming road. My spine complained about them. My bike tried cruising over them. That was really weird. As far as I could see, and observe, the road was divided into two stretches.

The potholed Old Airport Road and The buttery smooth Old Airport Road.

That's a conspiracy, but at-least I was happy that the part of it, which I regularly used has been worked on, and it has become more treadable. And then I came across this article.

Bangalore: President Pranab Mukherjee arrived in Bangalore yesterday on a two-day visit to Karnataka to participate in official functions.
"The president, who flew into the city from Mysore, was given a red carpet welcome by state Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy and Mayor BS Satyanarayana. He also received a guard of honour from the Indian Air Force (IAF) warriors at the HAL airport," an official told IANS.

Mr. President, you should come to Bangalore more often, and visit some other places too. This time, I was fortunate enough to be staying near Old Airport Road. Thanks a lot. Hope to see you back soon.

Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Counting days...

Waiting is never really exciting. Each and every second tests your patience till you give up. The seconds seem to tread slower than ever. But the only thing you can possible do is "Wait".

Things have their own mind. You might no t believe in destiny, but they only happen when they ought to happen. Not sooner, not later but on time. This year has been a long long year. Probably the longest for me. I want it to go by as fast as possible. 2013 has that unlucky number in it. I guess that's the reason.

3 more months to go. That's a long time.

Oh. By the way, I am getting married this November 19th. But again, that's quite far away. May be I should enjoy my bachelorhood more. :D

Moving into a new house, shopping, and the preparations would be starting soon. I guess, then I would have no time to count the days.


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The story unfolds

The Destroyer

That's going to destroy the plane. Should do something about it. But, dont know what. May be draw a paper superman? Got to learn that first.


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Monday, September 16, 2013

Ready for Launch

3...2...1... And launch

Whenever I get a piece of square or rectangular sized paper, my brain is hard-wired to make a paper plane out of it. I must have made at-least some thousands of them.

And after they are made, I make it a point it test it well. And confirm whether it passes the flight tests.

Anyone else still plays with paper planes? Oh and by the way, when I was a child, I always dreamt of being a fighter pilot. But my ambitions crash landed when the optician told me that I have to wear glasses now. That very day, I cursed myself of not listening to Mom and not eating enough green vegetables.


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Thursday, September 12, 2013

The Race Begins

The 8 Week Fitness Challenge - "The Biggest Loser"

The race to the day when I won't be a bachelor, begins. Just over 2 months is what I have to get in shape. And a circle is not a shape when we are talking about our bodies.

8 weeks is what I have to achieve whatever I can. And I have got competition for that.

"The biggest loser" competition, I mean. It's a competition in our office. And that starts from tomorrow. I have been making my preparations for a week now. What, you might ask!!!
  1. No gyming for a week.
  2. Eat as much as I can to gain weight, which I would be losing from tomorrow.
  3. Get enough sleep so that I am not sleep deprived during the 8 week program.
  4. No hair-cuts or shaves.
There are 23 participants (none have backed out yet), and I have no idea who they are. Tomorrow is the first weighing day, and I hope I should weigh at-least 73 kgs because of my early preparations. I weighed 70.5 a week back.

There's a prize for the loser as well, I mean the winner. And I have good competition I guess. One of the competitors, I already know, is my team mate. Although he has a good chance to win, but 

"What's a competition where everybody doesn't hope to win!!!"

I am wondering whether I would win if I lose about 5 kgs or more. That would require scandalous amounts of determination, herculean self-control and mountains of motivation. 

I would be updating my progress, and others' as well, with all the statistics and all other news about this. Watch out for the announcement of the winner. I am quite sure you would see my name at the end of 8 weeks. Fingers crossed. 

@My Friends: Don't host any parties during this period, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE
@Colleagues: PLEASE!!! No more team lunches till the results are announced
@Fellow Competitors: I have everything planned out. Beware!!!

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

7th year and still going strong

Its been over 7 years that I had first stared blogging. I clearly remember my first post here. It went..

Blog, blog, blog, blog, blog, blog,

Although I have now deleted that post, that memory still is with me. When I started off, I never thought I would be able to continue for 7 years. Not only that, I managed to maintain 3 other active blogs of mine, although the post counts there are quite low. That would make me a "blogaholic"?

Anyway, its been fun, and has helped me in quite a number of ways that I never thought. Be it knowing more fellow bloggers, making new acquaitances or for passing my time when I had nothing else to do.

A few quick facts about this blog:

1. Started on 5th July 2007
2. Lifetime visits: 58,688
3. Posts counter : 161
4. 53 followers

This is the most read post of my blog.

 The New Year Post 

Hope, some day soon, I would complete 10 years of blogging. Well, you know, that's only possible after 3 more years.

And perhaps I should be concentrating on increasing my batting average.


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Friday, August 23, 2013

That trip on bike

The route plan

The trip to Kerala on bikes. 370 odd kilometers, 2 bikes, 2 bikers, rains, sun, dust and mud. I wonder when I would go on the next bike trip. It was quite tiring, you know, sitting and riding the not so smooth terrains. You normally won't find a shelter to hide from the rains while you are passing through a jungle at odd hours.

That was last year. But the memories are still fresh. I want to go on another trip. And this time too, on a bike. Before I grow too old, and lose the thrill and stamina in me. Although I am working out these days, and so is my partner.

What say partner? Should we plan the next one?


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Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Happy Rakshabandhan



Got the rakhis right on time. And had to take an early morning bath. But that's OK.
Anything for you sisters. :)

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

When is the right time?

How to know when is the right time to do something? The obvious answer, you would never know. Why then, some people are more successful than others? That's a good question, but doesn't have a straight-forward answer.

There are the philosophical ones, and then there's the randomness theory. People who believe in the philosophy of being rewarded for their hard work, can't be wrong. Because there are no facts to prove or disprove this theory. And probably there would never be a proof.

But the ones like me, who believe in the randomness, are actually a lazy lot. Not all, at-least me. There are obviously people who think events in their life are random; still they are very hardworking.

I have my troughs and crests though. I wouldn't consider myself very hardworking, but when I do work hard, after an hour or so, I feel tired. There's so much going around which distracts me. The dogs are barking, the phones are beeping and the sleep fairy keeps knocking.

Sleepy now. Need to wake up early tomorrow. Its going to be one busy day.

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Friday, August 2, 2013

Only 24 hours!!!


In a day, only 24 hours!!! This is probably the 3rd time I feel the clocks are ticking away frantically. That's not good.

Those slow motion pictures are so amazing. Wish we had that in real life.
Everything's getting older, and faster. Me too. Its crazy. But, still I manage to sleep for 8 hours these days. Hahaha. Trying to reduce those hours to about 6 for a long time and then my days would be 26 hours. Yay!!! But the question is when?

I have 3 alarm clocks actively watching me when I am sleeping. And I have trained myself not to hit to stop alarm. But that "snooze" button is too tempting. Each morning I snooze those clocks at least 4 times per clock. I hope someone invents something better than alarm clocks.

Back at home, when all the alarm clocks and my Mom failed to wake me up, Dad used to come to my rescue with a cold glass of water. SPLASH!!! and in a nanosecond I am awake and ready to pick up a fight. But slowly, calm myself down when I see Dad holding another glass of water in his other hand.

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Saturday, July 13, 2013

It's that time of the year...


  1. When I keep falling sick.
  2. When the weather requests me to sleep longer.
  3. When my expenses are way ahead of my income.
  4. When the stupid box keeps telecasting the same old movies over and over again.
  5. When I don't feel like working anymore.
  6. When I don't feel like cleaning up my dusty room.
  7. When the weekends fly past before I have my quota of deep sleep.
  8. When my brain fails to reason.
  9. When the first tab that I open on my browser is "Google".
  10. When the first thing I search in the newspaper is my horoscope.
  11. When I rejoice and celebrate on getting a call from an unknown number.
  12. When I doze off while watching movies at the theater.
And I desperately hope that these days go away soon. Waiting for the bright and sunny days ahead.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

The Thought Series: Rickshaw puller

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia Commons
I always wonder, how other people think. Do they think the same way as I do, or differently.

Every action of ours, always has at-least a handful of thoughts that cross our minds. And sometimes, people just think without any reason. And smile. :)

And at times, our thoughts are too serious. Thinking is one of those things which we tend to do all the time. Doesn't matter whether you consider yourself clever or a fool, you still think.

Just like a person breathing, it doesn't matter if he has got a large pair of lungs, or a small one.

Ummm..... What am I thinking!!! Anyway, that doesn't really matter right now.

If I were a rickshaw puller, I would think: (Not in any specific order)

  1. What a lovely cold morning!!! Let's just sleep for a few more hours. (Waking up on a winter morning)
  2. I should get a new pair of chappals, when I have saved enough.
  3. There should be more trees on the roads. (They can save me from the sun and the rains)
  4. Ah!! This man is so heavy. My muscles are getting tired.
  5. Nooooo. Not again!!! Have to re-fit the chain, and spread the grease all over myself.
  6. I wish people driving motor vehicles would have more respect for others on the road.
  7. Everyone is in a hurry. I think I have to sell off my rickshaw and buy an auto-rickshaw now.
  8. I wish someone did something about the pot-holes on the road. Or may be I should install large shock absorbers on my seat and the 3 wheels.
  9. That guy wants me to keep thousands in change for a ride which costs Rs. 20!!! Can't he see that I am a rickshaw puller!!!
  10. Oh no!!! 5 people at a time!!! I am going to die today.
  11. Ah!!! There comes an uphill road. :(
  12. Ah!!! There comes a downhill road. :)
The Thought series: What do they think about? Why do they think  like that? Can I think like them? These thoughts are random, and are not fictitious. any resemblance to any person/thing/object living or dead is purely coincidental. However, if you would like to know, the only one responsible for this is "My Brain". And  please be careful not to harm "The Skull". It has no contribution, whatsoever, in this act.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

A few things to unlearn

Since the beginning of time, that I have been able to understand things and people, and perhaps the world, I have started to think that all the good things that we were taught in school, really have no meaning.

1. Wash your hands before your meals?
Almost everyone uses spoons, forks and knives. That small tip might need to be removed from our coursebooks. And even if we used our hands, the food, themselves have so much filth in them these days, that they would need more cleaning and disinfecting than our hands.

2. Honesty is the best policy?
Haha. That one surely needs some immediate attention. Well, maybe, not such a drastic change. "Find and replace" all occurrences of "Honesty" with "Dis-Honesty".

3. Justice is same for all?
Really!! Ahem... Do you even need examples?

4. Look left, then right, and then left again before crossing the road.
In today's world, you can't follow that. Vehicles have taken to the footpaths. You should pray to God before stepping out of your houses.

5. Sources of water?
No. Not wells, freshwater lakes, ponds or rivers. You get water from the tankers that visit your building premises every morning.

6. Constitution. It clearly specifies the limits on the powers of a Government.
I almost had forgotten that one. But, that too, needs to be amended now. Umm. Maybe, it's not needed anyway. The Government is all-powerful, and it can and will override the constitution as and when it feels it needs to.

Thank God, that the laws of physics haven't changed. And the maths that we learnt still works. 

Saturday, May 4, 2013

Coding Exercise: Am I engaged?


isSearchComplete = false;
while (!isSearchComplete) {
        if (isBeautiful(girlAtHand)) {
                isSearchComplete = true;
                exchangeRings();
                break;
        } else {
                girlAtHand = getNextGirl();
        }
}
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
more_beautiful_girl_1
more_beautiful_girl_2
and intelligent too!!!
.
.
.
.
exchangeRings();
isSearchComplete = false;
Hope, I don't get killed after this.... :D :D :D :D 

Friday, March 22, 2013

Exams, Results and Dreams

Exams, well, obviously, they are not the stuff that people love. Results; even more hated. And the wait for the results can be sometimes, never ending. How long can you really wait!!! And especially, when you are just hoping that everything turns out good. But, it almost never happens.

Before exams, I have had weird dreams. Really really weird...

"I am writing my exams, and I then realize that I am completely naked. With that realization, I rush out of the exam hall, out into the street, no where to hide. I keep running towards home, and then I wake up."

One of them actually turned into reality. During the class 10 board exams, I was preparing for History. That was the most dreaded subject I have ever had. The next day, when I started walking toward the exam hall, one of my friends asked me if I have got color pencils and threads. I was terrified. I was laughing at the same time, on my friend, imagining how he would react on getting the History question paper, when he was expecting a Geography paper. Soon, I realized that it was me. I would have sweated out the most that day. I flashed towards the stationary shop, collected all that was required for the Geography paper and ran back to the hall, 10 minutes late. I was allowed to enter. And finally, I was able to score 78 in that paper.

At times, I have dreamed about being caught cheating.

By the way, I never cheated during the exams. Ummmm.. there might have been one instance as far as I can remember. I don't exactly remember which exam it was. I think it was in class 8. I had finished my paper, and was looking around. There was a classmate, a girl, and she happened to look at me. I was nervous. I had to do something. She looked beautiful that day. I had to do something. I had to strike a conversation. And then, I put up my hand, and gestured her to tell me the answer to one of the questions. She was happy to help. She murmured the answer. The distance was far, and I was very bad at lip reading. She must have tried 4-5 times, but failed. And then, she explained the answer with gestures. By the way, I already knew the answer. :)

I once tried to take bits of paper to the exam hall, but gave up the idea at the last moment. I guess, I never learnt that art, although in college, we were exposed to all the tips and tricks of the business.

And now, again, I am writing my exams. Things have changed though. One of the exams that carries the maximum weight-age is an open book exam. But still, when it's time for the results, I can feel my heart beating fast and loud.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013

A girl and a boy talk


She: Hey, why didn't you go to the gym today?
He: Ah!! I tried very hard to wake up in the morning, but my eyes refused to co-operate.

She: This is not done. You know, I wish that my boy friend has a good body and looks muscular.
He: I try my best..and .. ..

She: Nothing doing. Do you feel that going to the gym is a burden for you everyday?
He: Sometimes. You know, working out alternate days is recommended by many people.
She: Look, I need my boy-friend to be fit and have a few muscles which he could use to scare away at-least 5 people.

He: Umm... Well, I also want my girl friend to be fitter, slimmer and healthier.

She: Ain't I? I am already so lean and thin.

He: Haha, you need to cut off a few pounds here and there.

She: My work timings are so hectic. Ok. If you want, I can come with you to the gym in the mornings. Earlier the better.
He: Are you sure?
She: Of course. You want your girl to lose some weight, right?
He: Yeah, but..

She: Let's go in the mornings. What time does the gym open?
He: 5 am

After a long pause...

She: We will discuss about this some other time. Got to sleep now. Good night. :)

Disclaimer: All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Friday, January 11, 2013

Random something

What is a "Problem"? Who has defined what should a "Problem" look like, sound like or feel like. Why  do people run away from a "Problem"?

Whats the definition of a problem? How are we supposed to react and handle the situation. Is there a universal solution to a specific problem? Or, there is an array of solutions? If yes, and if you know it already, how does one decide which is the best solution among so many?

When people find themselves in a problem, they would seek advice, ponder over it, think about it again and again, and finally try to address it. And everyone of us do it all the time. And still, some solutions that we arrive at, don't seem to be a perfect solution, and thus our mind becomes restless. Restless to the extent that we don't seem to get away from the already lost opportunity. Well, of course we missed a chance, which might or might not affect soon. But then, didn't we do our best?

A second lives only for a second. I wonder why they named it as "second"!!! Why not "first" or "third"? Perhaps, because it just sounds right. Wonder how milli-first or micro-firsts would have sounded.

The problem of the "Problem" is the word itself, according to me. It's like a ghost. The ghost is fictional, almost everywhere in the world. But, still, people freak out at the mere mention of that word. Taking a more real world example, it's like "a scorpion or a big spider on your chair". It's the name and the image of the objects that scare us.

Think of a situation where a person encounters a King Cobra. Both, actually are facing the problem in their face. Both of them want to save their lives. Both of them think that it's a life and death situation. Well, 50% of the times, it might just turn out to be a fatal duel, where one survives depending on his, as well as his opponents thoughts and actions. But, for the other 50% of the time, there is a possibility of both handling the situation a little differently. And in the end, saving each others' and their own lives.

I often think that whatever we do, in the spur of the moment or even after contemplating our probable actions, we could never have done better. That was the best we did and we should forget about it even if it didn't turn out in our favour. Forget the previous problem and face the next one. Don't waste those seconds and minutes for the ticks that are already gone silent. There will be countless more ticks for you, and hope that those are more musical than the bygones.

Happy New Year to everyone :)

Let's start with a blast.... And make this year the best, better than the previous years. For the next, let's plan after a year. :)

A small story might go well with this:

"One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops - a few people got on, a few got off, and things went generally well.

At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a Pathan got on. Six feet four, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the conductor and said, "Pathan doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back.

Conductor didn't argue with Pathan, but he wasn't happy about it. The next day the same thing happened. Pathan got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. And the next day, and the next.

This grated on the bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Pathan was taking advantage of poor conductor. Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff.

By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong; what's more, he felt really good about himself. So, on the next Monday, when Pathan once again got on the bus and said, "Pathan doesn't pay!", the driver stood up, glared back at Pathan, and screamed, "And why not?"

With a surprised look on his face, Pathan replied, "Pathan has a bus pass."

Management Lesson: Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one."