One Life. One Lives....

Writing again

2009-12-04T10:10:00.000-08:00

Been like years since I wrote something!

Anyways have been publishing some thoughts over at: http://ekalavya.tumblr.com

Not sure if I'm ever going to be posting here again.

Some stuff...

2009-02-18T03:21:00.000-08:00

My Writings...

I've not written for a really long time! Been almost a year...

Sat down to write again, but the words just refused to flow....

Anyways here is a collection of some stuff I've written in the past which you might have missed:

Into the void...

Manipulated

Praying Mantis

You Sacrifice The Love. I'll Sacrifice The Friendship

A bump, a sorry and a smile

The Mosaic (My first go at poetry)

Drops of Time (This ones a favourite for personal reasons...)

The Unattainable Love

2008-04-02T14:16:00.000-07:00

...and then she looked!
And I waited...
but the words never came!

The unattainable love!
Why does one always love someone who loves someone else?

People always want the dream that they can't have!

Its 3:00 AM and I know I am typing non-sense! Haven't written for nearly 3 months. I know thats really bad. Somehow the number of readers seem to have increased.

Life update time! FusedBulb.com (my blog on web, marketing and more) is still in the pipeline. Finally took some time out and launched IPL2008.com.

Every day I think that I'll pen down a few lines, but I somehow it just doesn't happen...
At times I've even started writing and then it all just goes blank. Why?

The more unattainable, the more attractive. Perhaps.

India getting Bucknored

2008-01-08T04:33:00.000-08:00

New word in the cricket dictionary:

Bucknored

Pronouned - Buck-nur-dd
History - The word was conceived after the infamous 2nd Test Match between India and Australia played at the SCG in January 2007. Steve Bucknor created a world record of giving the most number of wrong decisions in a match.
Usage: Rahul Dravid got bucknored yet again in the 2nd innings of the match.

And here's a hilarious video which you all simply have to see:

Shattered thoughts...

2007-12-23T20:55:00.000-08:00

Why?

Why not?

But it's not right man!

But it was pretty damn awesome...!

But what if it messes up the current relationship?

Hmmm...no one will ever know.

But God! She's married!

How could...?

It just happened...it wasn't intentional.

What if it was a trap?

Trap?

Hmmm........

Man! I was pretty drunk.

Shit...shit...shit..........

Damn man...

Manipulative bitch!

But why would she do that?

Man o man! Why not! I should have used....

WHAM!

One second you're there...
...and then time runs out.

These were the thoughts he was having as he was biking on the two-laned highway.

Riding and riding pretty fast.

It was a two laned highway without a road partition.

Always use a condom!

Life Update

2007-12-23T20:11:00.000-08:00

Haven't written for a really long time. I don't know how many of you have experienced this - but the threshold energy required to write a post on your personal blog is a LOT! At times you get these thoughts which you want to pen down but that just doesn't happen. It's like the moment which just passes away...

Perhaps some day soon some one will come up with some Thought Blogging engine...where your thoughts are recorded and published whenever you want them to be...

Well...a small life update...10 things which have happened since I last wrote.

1) My laptop screen cracked! God! I stepped on it!

2) I finally traveled between Pune-Bombay in the AC Compartment of a train!

3) Went to Bangalore for a conference. Awesome damn weather there! Wish bombay was a little like that!

4) I started BollyViewed.com - But Alas! Haven't posted there ever since the first movie review.

5) Also booked FusedBulb.com - My future blog on Online Advertising and Marketing.

6) On of my ex's got married! Happily married?

7) My bikes turned 3 and is pretty un-happy that it wasn't being used much for the last year or so. So now it's in Bombay and I bike to work everyday.

8) A new commandmant - Thy shalt always falleth in love with someone who doesn't give a shit about you or someone whose pretty happy with someone else.

9) Shifting houses again in Bombay. That'd be the 4th time in 2 years! Does anyone know a decent broker?

10) Work's pretty good. And here's something which you ought to see:

Merry Christmas!

Mumbai via my Sony Ericsson P1i

2007-11-03T01:48:00.000-07:00

Long time since a post! Well a lot has happened....

A vacation in the Gulf and joining as Product Manager at the all new Contests2Win.com.

Haven't really had the peace of mind to pen down anything.....anyways here are a few pics of Mumbai via my new Sony Ericsson P1i.

Waterproof @ Mumbai Central Station:
What better way to sell cheap water proof watches? Manu sold each for Rs 30 and managed to make around Rs 350-400 everyday.

A fine balancing act near Mumbai Central station:
I was running pretty late on this particular day but still couldn't help but snap this picture up.

A sumptuous Gujju Thaali:
We had actually planned on an Italian meal before the Gujju flavour of Ghatkopar drew us inside a rather posh Gujrati restaurant.

Crushed at Dadar:
Dadar Station (Central) - Between platform no. 1 and 2.
Time: 8:25 PM

She Loves Me…She Loves Me Not…

2007-09-23T05:34:00.000-07:00

Numb?
When the pain is the anesthesia and the surgeon is the person you love. Ever felt something similar?

It’s like the rain. Not everyone loves to get wet in the rain. But then when it’s raining hard and you are already wet – you reach a certain mental stage when you just don’t care anymore. You just let the rain drops do their thing.

It’s something like how Counter-Irritants work (Vicks, Moov, Zandu Balm etc). They produce a somatic pain which subsidises the visceral pain.

That’s what most people require in real life – one pain to forget the other.

[Note: Though usually I embed photographs taken by me, the photo embedded in this post is one I wish was taken by me. It’s via Worth1000]

Life 3.0

2007-09-17T07:07:00.000-07:00

People do business with people.

This is a very important lesson I learnt few days back and am moulding the next stage of my life based on it.

Life 3.0 is a new me. A little more mature, a lot more responsibilities and a lot less ego. Celebrated my birthday a few days back. Didn’t meet anyone the whole day except for one person, who at one stage of my life meant a lot to me and of course my Mom. Took Ma to Le Meridien for a lavish buffet dinner and also went to the largest Ganpati pandaal in Pune since it also happened to be auspicious Ganesh Chaturthi. Not that my belief in God has risen much, but I know something out there is pulling the right strings...

Got pretty lucky with my blog on the ICC Twenty20 Cricket World Cup – WorldCupTwenty20.com. Managed to earn quite a lot of money off it.

A new job is around the corner. New dreams are around the corner.

Cheers to life!

You Sacrifice The Love. I'll Sacrifice The Friendship.

2007-09-03T06:58:00.000-07:00

'And what if this messed up our friendship?'
He was going through a myriad of emotions. Countless apprehensions. He did love her but he just couldn't admit it. He knew this wasn't going to work out.

She on the other hand, knew what she was getting into. She believed it would work.
...faith and love...
Most of all she believed in herself.

She'd known his parents since a long time. She thought she could convince them. She was definitely above average. Way above average. She wasn't quite ready for marriage and that was the problem. Or was it?

Should friendships be sacrficed for love?
At times perhaps they should.

He had been the perfect son. He had an unbelievable amount of respect for his parents. They wanted an arranged marriage with someone of their choice. Someone who came from a very big business family. It would be a financial arrangement of sorts. He had to oblige.

His life meant nothing to him.
Her life meant nothing to him.

He could either choose her - Someone he loved and someone who loved him back immensely. Someone who knew everything there was to know about him. Someone who could lighten his moods in the darkest of hours. Someone who could stir emotions in him. Someone who brought a smile to his face.

Or he could choose to spend the rest of his life with a complete stranger.

He sacrificed the love.

Life always gives you a second chance. Doesn't it?
Mistakes can always be rectified...
...but certain mistakes can't!

You sacrificed the love. Now I'll sacrifice the friendship.

And then time stood still....

2007-08-29T19:39:00.000-07:00

Long time since I wrote...in fact almost a month! Thing was firstly there was no god-damned net at home and then whenever there was net access....it is the English Premier League Blog which i was busy with.

Almost a month in the new place and there's finally net access. Bombay-Pune journey's haven't been much to talk about. Except for perhaps the slight delay cos of the incessant rains.

Professional life is seeing horizontal growth...

Here's an interesting reply by a rather educationally accomplished friend of mine....when queried - Why are you a god-damned vegetarian?

"A person of my spiritual intensity does not eat corpses."

That's apparently George Bernard Shaw!

The joy of a WiFi World!

2007-08-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

Well just had to blog about this!

Just shifted into my new place in Mumbai today. Haven't even started unpacking my stuff yet. Decided to just work on some offline stuff and Voila! My feed reader started auto-updating feeds....

The next instant it was confirmed! I'd manage to access a wifi hotspot! Not sure how long it'll last....but like they say....make hay when the sun shines!

Wonder when the whole of Mumbai or Pune will actually go wireless and free WiFi would be accessible...

Conductor! There’s a fucking duck in the bus!

2007-07-30T04:01:00.000-07:00

Trust the Mumbai Monsoons to throw surprises at you. Standing in the jam packed RC Church 103 (VT-Office), I suddenly experience pandemonium breaking through! The reason? A man was carrying a DUCK! (Yes a proper duck) and he’d let it loose in the bus.
These are the moments I wish for a decent camera phone.
Well was a cool experience to have a Duck break the Monday morning gloom.

Nothing else blog-worthy been happening…except for a rather dream-esque time last week. Details on that ‘eventually’..

Oh yeah – have started another blog @ http://EPL08.com. As the name suggests, it’s dedicated to the upcoming English Premier League season. Do check it out. Will save details for a later post.

Rains thrashed the city on Friday night and messed up my plans to reach Pune by mid-night. Had actually planned to go home (Ghatkopar), pick up my bag and then Chembur-Pune. As luck would have it – the Fast train stalled between Sion and Kurla for hours and I ended up walking on the railway tracks and then wading through knee deep water to reach my new place (Where I’ll shift in mid-august. Couple of guys have already shifted in. It’s a HUGE 2BHK in a rather too-posh-for-me building. We are still looking for another roomie, so if you are looking for a place in Mumbai at the confluence of Sion-Kurla-Chunabhatta-Chembur…feel free to leave a comment. INR 4K/month). Feasted on Butter Chicken before the mosquitoes feasted on me.

Pune in the morning. Private car. Rs 120. Reached in 2.5 hours. Nothing filmy.
Returned today morning. AC Volvo. Nothing filmy again.

Well talking about Phones….I’ve got my eyes set on either the SE K800i or the SE P990i

SE K800i won the Phone of the year (2006) at Engadget and thought it’s pretty old abroad, it’s still pretty damn hot in India.
The 3.2 MP Camera along with the other jazz would compliment my Canon S3IS.

The P990i is a true Smart Phone. Pretty old now but the 2MP Cam, Symbian OS and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Since both cost approximately the same price in Mumbai, I think I might opt for the latter.
The only problem is that I don’t need it as a phone! i.e. for Talking and Texting - The primary functions of the phone.

Any suggestions?

Life Update and a few Busines Lessons

2007-07-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Haven’t posted anything for a considerable amount of time here (Though I’ve been pretty active over at WATblog).

I don’t really have a reason – it’s just not wanting to post, or perhaps not being in the mood to post. So finally at 2:30 in the night - I thought...chalo thoda post karte hai!

Well rains were pretty bad the weekend I last posted…here’s a pic of Ghatkopar station on the Saturday (June 30th)…

Will try to upload other pics when I have enough dedication to do so!

Well that very day – always being game for adventurous Mumbai-Pune journeys – I took off for Pune around 4 in the evening. Heavy rains had lashed the city till about 3:30 and at 4 it was just a drizzle.

Waded through water for 2 KM’s and then managed to get a highly over-priced rick ride to Chembur. From there after a considerable wait, was able to catch a Karnataka State Tourism Bus on its way to Bangalore.

Was able to convince a friend to pick me up at Hinjewadi on the outskirts of Pune (Some where on the Pune By-Pass road)…

Return journey and the next weekends journeys were highly boring and not even worth mentioning!

Other arbit incidents in this phase:

Bike puncture last to last weekend. This is where I learnt a very important business lesson – Provide a service to people at a time they aren’t in a condition to bargain and you’ll definitely be on your way to a successful venture.

Why do I say so?
The tube had 3 punctures – the repair waala said, ‘I don’t have time to sit and fix 3 holes, I’ve a lot of customers waiting – do you want a new tube?’
I mean WTF? But what could I say?

So anyways he shows me some third grade local tube which had a price tag of 120. He said Rs 180 hoga!
WTF?
150 tube ka and 30 Rs service charge.

I’ve been biking for as long as I remember – and I've had my fair share of punctures, but I’ve never paid this much. Me being me – obviously had to argue and bargain…to which he simply said – Jao, mujhe nahi karna aapka tube change. Kahi aur se karva lo.

Yeah right! There was no tyre repair waala for around at least 2-3 kms! Plus he’d already taken off my tyre, so I couldn’t even think of dragging the bike. Thus, I had to ultimately give in to his price.

But come to think of it – I liked the arrogance and self belief of that chap.

Another incident:
This is one time I really miss not carrying my camera.

Was eating at this local Chinese dhaba in Mumbai – there was a door hanging of sorts which said – Hot Garlic Prowns

After staring at it for like 10 mins – I finally summoned enough courage to ask the owner as to why he couldn’t get the spelling right?

He started smiling. WTF?
And that’s where I learnt another essential business mantra – Always keep your end consumer in mind. Market your product according to the guys who are going to be using it.

He said – you know the correct spelling of prawns and so do I. But the average customer in my small place doesn’t. A day before I got this hanging printed – I asked 10 of my regular customers to choose the correct spelling of prawns – Prawns or Prowns?

7 of them selected prowns!

He further added – everyone knows what hot is and garlic is considered as a staple Chinese product.

Damn! They need to teach such stuff in Business Schools.

Well back to my life update –

Too much on my plate….too many thoughts….too many ambitions…..i hope I don’t run out of steam. At times believing in yourself is much more important than believing in the mere presence of God.

Loneliness:

P.S: I paid only 160 to the Puncture Waala :-)

A Sea Of Black Umbrellas

2007-06-29T02:17:00.000-07:00

A sea of black umbrellas. That’s how I would describe the Mumbai Monsoons.

Each day as one steps out of VT Station….it’s this black sea one gets to see. Tried to get a few shots today…but wasn’t able to get anything real nice. Will upload to my flickr account over the weekend. In fact been a shutterfly for the most of last week. Gateway (Day, Rain n Night), Marine Drive, Worli Sea Face etc…

Well monsoons have truly set in….and the best dose which I received was during the Mumbai-Pune bike ride last Saturday. 3 hours of crazy rain riding! Was soaked to bone marrow cells!

Back in Mumbai been treated to the constant drizzle disrupted occasionally with burst of heavy rains. A bad mishap in the local train left me with a rather painful wrist. Traveling by local trains becomes such a pain in the rains. The fast train from my place to VT usually takes 27 mins and a slow train 41 mins. Today’s fast train took me more than an hour! And even the bus journey from VT to Colaba gets longer cos’ of the nuisancical rainy traffic jams.

But no matter what one says – the rains carry their own charm. It sucks to be a single in this city during the rains….sucks even more when you are not really single but are still single!

" जब मिले थोड़ी फुरसत....मुझसे करले मुहब्बत
है तुझे भी इजाज़त....करले तू भी मुहब्बत। "

Divine Intervention

2007-06-24T02:22:00.000-07:00

Was a long long day. Almost 90Kms of intra-city riding…most of it in the rain.

Caught in the middle of Chembur-Sion jam…I wipe my hand on my jeans and notice to my horror….the golden snake had disappeared. Damn! It couldn’t have just slipped off cos’ of the rain.

It couldn’t be true. It was worth a decent fortune….one could consider it to be in the family heirloom category.

Had met my sister for dinner and mid-way through dinner, she had asked me for the ruby headed snake and I’d blankly refused….i think...or did I?

Almost 1 year to date, I’d lost the diamond headed one, though not too precious…it still had meant a lot since I’d had it for nearly 10 years! Had just slipped off one fine day….I remember that day….a person I considered close to me had asked for it and I’d refused…

All this had a weird sense of déjà vu. Damn!
Did it have to happen today?

I’m not the staunchest believer of the almighty, but I do remember him when I’m in situations like this. A short prayer….more a call of desperation to turn back time. I was already wondering as to how I was going to tell mom about this.

Reached home and decided to call my sister.
‘Damn Sis! I lost it!!! Today of all days! I can’t believe it!!!’

'What?!'
I lost it yaaar…..should have given it to you when you asked for it.

What? The ring?
Yeah

But I’m wearing it right now.

Phew! Intervention….divine intervention. I can’t remember having given it to her!

Filmy giri again!

2007-06-21T05:35:00.000-07:00

Well filmi-journeys are here again!

Both Mumbai-Pune (15th June) and the return journey (18th June) were full of their dose of bollywood! 2 of my Colleagues, my sis and me decided to take a cab to Pune.

As things would have it, we had a puncture on the expressway! But no, thats not all...

Our driver Mr. Shankar - was driving an Indica for the first time in his life. He had also never driven on the expressway and had never been to Pune his whole life! He didn't know where the jack went (for lifting the car)....!
Pretty hilarious eh?
He even managed to smash my fingers, by banging the door shut on my fingers!

The journey otherwise was pretty cool......lonavla stretch is simply heavenly during rains.

Monday morning - was supposed to catch the 6:30 Non-AC MSRTC Volvo from Station. It left at 7:15 AM...! What's worse is that the 8:00 AM Bus reached before us!

Next weekend journeys ought to be cool too - plan to bike down on Saturday afternoon.....lets hope the rain gods are kind though.

I earn Rs 1 Lakh per month? You got to be kidding!

2007-06-17T23:34:00.000-07:00

You might come across this hilarious piece on the web (or might even catch it on the news!):

"Blogging isn't just a fun hobby, it can also be highly profitable. 21-year old Eklavya was the key speaker at this year's Blogcamp 2007 held in Pune. He made his way to the podium through sheer hard work. A professional Blogger Eklavya earns around Rs 1 lakh every month by reviewing gadgets."
- CNN IBN

The only thing true about that line is that I am 21! And to an extent - I am a professional blogger, but I'm more of a marketing strategy consultant.

Firstly, I was not a key speaker at 'this year's Blogcamp 2007 held in Pune'.
Secondly, I do not earn around Rs 1 lakh every month! How I wish that was true. I am sure it will be true in another year or so though. Currently I barely make enough to survive in Mumbai.
Thirdly, I do not review gadgets! Those of you who follow me at WATblog might be knowing that.

Blogging - be it personal or professional is not the easiest way to earn money and in fact is one of the most difficult methods of earning money!

Though at times it feels nice to be covered on TV, it really sucks when the Media guys get it all wrong. This is primarily the main reason that I feel - people are shifting from Traditional Media to Modern Social Media (Blogs etc)

You can read the complete CNN-IBN article here.
And you can see the video here.

...And It Rained!

2007-06-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

It had been a frosty frigid winter
depressing....gloomy....killing.....

and then came the sun-shine...
mid-february!
drove the gloom away......flowers sprouting everywhere!
the birds chirped away in joy
there was love all around

it was great for 4 beautiful months
...and then it rained!

Speed, Rock n Roll

2007-06-15T11:18:00.000-07:00

Well the 'roll' would have to be rolling thunder!
Rains have finally hit mumbai.....and things are just gonna get bad now.

Speed?
2 real speedy journeys....mumbai-pune and back.
this was last weekend.

3PM - left office in colaba
4 PM - reached Kurla
4:15 PM - reached Chembur
5:55 PM - reached Aundh

Fastest journey from office-home. This was all due to the 140+ speed being hit by the Hyundai Tuscan. 200 bux well spent.

Monday - biked down from pune.
total time - 2hrs 10mins
Riding through the clowds in lonavla in the slight misty drizzle was pretty much as close to heaven as you can get in these parts of the country. miss not having my camera on me.

Rock?
Went to Hard Rock Cafe (Mumbai) for the first time in my entire stay in mumbai. Was pretty cool and i'm sure its going to become a regular hangout.

Roll?
Like i said......rain....depressing......and it's not done to cool down the temperature at all.

Time kya ho raha hai uncle?

2007-06-08T20:49:00.000-07:00

I rarely go for morning walks. In fact a morning walk is almost like an annual thing for me. Once in a year I might actually have the interest of waking up early morning and going out and walk aimlessly.

Well today happened to be one of those days….i woke up around 630 in the morning in a pool of sweat. One rarely has to suffer power cuts in Mumbai and this was one of those rare occasions!

Without a fan or the net….not to mention I am yet to possess a TV here….and without any roomies….it does get a little boring!

So…what to do?!
Let me go for one of those morning walks! Peeped out of the window and noticed that it was actually pleasant….a few black clouds suggesting showers later in the day…

What do morning walkers wear? I would be the last one to possess a morning walker’s attire….so just set out in a jeans a tee and Trekking boots!!! :-)

In my 8 months here (at Ghatkopar :-s) this was the first time I’d set afoot outside at this early hour. I was shocked to know that there’s a park at a 5 mins distance from my place!
Oh! the little joys of life!

Anyways the main point of this post being – just as I was getting back (those who’ve been to my place – I was crossing the shady gully!), a lil kid asks me – Time kya ho raha hai uncle?!

UNCLE?!?

I’m 21, in decent shape – not that I need to go out for morning walks n jogs daily and the kid could have noticed that I wasn’t wearing a watch…..what did he mean by Uncle?!

I’m an alien in the world of Morning Walkers…..but are all Morning Walkers old? Uncles and Aunties?!

Or was it the kids way of being respectful!

Whatever it was….i feel old!

Bombay 2 Pune journeys getting Non-Filmy

2007-06-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

It's almost been a month since I posted about a Bombay-Pune journey....main reason has been that they've become quite non-filmy and un-interesting.

Have tried out a variety of modes in the last month....

May 18th - Bombay to Pune - Non AC Tata Indica
Rs 150. This ones a wee bit filmy. Was meant to meet up a friend at Dadar n travel back to pune with her.....but reached Dadar just as the bus left n the queue was soooo long that I didn't really want to waste time. Decided to go back home....met an IIM-A alum in the local train and had a nice chat with him about formal MBA education and entrepreneurship.....left for Pune after having dinner....took one of those shared private cars....and almost reached simultaneously with the volvo i was to be in. The filmy angle was taking a lift at 2 in the night to my place from Aundh!

May 21st - Pune to Bombay - MSRTC AC Volvo
Rs 200. One of the most expensive methods to travel between these 2 cities....but its worth it when you are sitting next to an attractive girl for almost 4 hours!

May 26th - Bombay to Pune - MSRTC Non-AC Semi-Deluxe
Rs 117. Was tempted to take an AC bus...but the queue was just toooo huge and the queue was non-existant for the non-ac line. But a seat in the last row of a rickety state transport bus is not the coolest methods of traveling.

May 28th - Pune to Bombay - Deccan Queen
Rs 90. Was traveling by train after a long time. I still love the Deccan Queen. Fastest means to travel between these 2 cities - If you want to reach South Bombay in the morning during office hour.

1st June - Bombay to Pune - MSRTC Non-AC Semi-Deluxe
Rs 117. The total journey took me around 6 hours. 40 mins to reach Dadar from office and 1 hr 20 mins was the wait to catch the bus. And why was i going to pune? Just so that I could bike down to Alibaugh the next day! Which is much closer to bombay than to pune.
One thing I noticed was that - everyone got off the bus at the halt @ the food mall in lonavla. This was the first time i've witnessed everyone getting off....and as you can imagine....it took around 30 mins for everyone to get back! Oh ya...damn the Rs 12 vada pav!

4th June - Pune to Bombay - Chevrolet Tavera
Rs 150. Hadn't slept for almost 3 days......so don't remember much except for a highly uncomfortable sleep-ful journey.

Monsoon Mention: Rains are about to hit Mumbai soon...and i'm not looking forward to it. It rained for the first time this year on 31st May....the same day it had rained last year for the first time (for me).

A year in Mumbai!

2007-05-29T19:56:00.000-07:00

Not sure how many regular readers - this blog of mine commands......but apologies for not having posted for quite some time.

Pune-Mumbai journeys haven't been too filmy off late....but there shalt be an update about them soon...

Well have finished a year in Mumbai....it's been an experience.
Great at times and not-so-great at other times...

Here's something my sis wrote for me...

The Power of One

The first step,
The first rain,
The first job,
First journey in a local train,

The first is the most...
difficult...
most exciting...
most memorable...
most scary...

The first vada pav,
The first submarine,
The first beer - one pe one free,
The first of many more...

The power of one...
The one that inspires,
The one that strengthens,
The one that gives confidence,
The one that helps you grow...

Dream on...

Thanks didi :-)

You don't love me enough...

2007-05-29T19:30:00.001-07:00

This is a clichéd piece. I know.

There was this Prince.
Royal, Charming, Caring...

There was this girl.
Beautiful. Stunningly beautiful.

Now as fate would have it,
He fell in love with her.

She of course had lot of 'lovers'...

In every relationship, there's a lover
and then there's and a loveé...

This was another of those relationships....

But he loved her,
She loved being loved...
She loved the by-products more...

Those envious glances by other women,
The money he spent on her...

And then there were his parents,
They didn't like her. Not at all.
She wasn't cultured enough for them...

He left his parents for her.
He truly loved her.

He gave up the money!
The royal-ity....

And then she says -
'You don't love me enough'!

In rage or was it in desperation?
Was it in love? Or a fit of madness?
He took out his pistol and.....

Death Arrives. One Dies.

....shot himself dead.
Damn-it!
He loved her too much.
Just too fuckin' much.

Latest in the Web Advertising Technology World

2007-05-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well the last post was just to link to a post on WATblog, which talked about Google's Picasa and Yahoo's Flickr.

Here are my latest posts on WATblog...

Click Here to subscribe to the RSS Feed of WATblog.

Picasa Album vs Flickr Badge

2007-05-18T00:21:00.000-07:00

WATblog: Picasa (Google) introduces Slideshow Embedment feature
Read the entire story here.

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Life in a Metro!

2007-05-13T21:48:00.000-07:00

So is life in a metro really like the movie portrays it to be?

Everyone's sleeping with everyone!?! Is it really that way? It's movies like this which cloud the imagination of a small towner.

I actually over-heard this comment while coming out of the theater 'Let us go to Mumbai and get laid man!'.
2 teenagers, couldn't be more than 15 for sure.

Anyways, I am about to complete a year in Mumbai in another 10 days or so. This cities definitely a little different. Dreams and ambitions are given new highs by the occassional zephyr which happens to blow on a hot humid day. Oh yes, I dread the rains in this city - not because I hate rains but because rains mess up the already messed up city to a great extent!
Crazy traffic jams, trains become un-functional, the 1 hour journey to office becomes 2!

I liked the movie to some extent though....and it's one which every mumbaikar should watch, though I'm not sure if i would recommend it to the aspiring mumbaikars!

Biked down Mumbai-Pune this weekend. 2 hours and 7 mins of crazy biking! That too after a night when one consumed one drink too many!
The lower part of the bike got smashed in some pot-hole and has developed a leak from which the engine oil is trickling out..

Which reminds me, Mumbai doesn't give you the time to repair fridges! My fridge has been non-functional for around 2months now and somehow it's just not meant to be fixed. Had bought it for like Rs 1600....never going to buy a 2nd hand fridge ever again!

If anyone's willing to gift me a new fridge...do give me a buzz!

Cheers!

Nothing like failure to spur you on...

2007-05-06T10:08:00.000-07:00

Well Chelsea just lost out on what could have been a hat-trick of English Premiership titles, but they didn't give in meekly.

They were a goal down and a man down against a pretty strong Arsenal side. They sure did fight back, but couldn't get the winning goal. All is not lost though - they can still beat Manchester United twice and the next season beckons.

Chelsea will be back...better...stronger....cos' there's nothing like failure to spur you on.

By the way....
Mumbai - Pune journey was a speedy one! Less than 2 hours from Chembur. An AC Octavia! Highly comfortable but no excitement. Only excitement was in switching radio channels!

By the way.....did you know....the superlative degree of perseverance is obsession?!

Aapko chutiya banaya!

2007-04-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

[VT Station, 6:30 PM - Saturday]

'Excuse me' - there was a certain apprehension in his tone...

'Sir, this might sound stupid to you - but I lost my wallet and I needed to go to Lonavla....and uhhh...the ticket costs 65 and I have only 25....so I was wondering.....if you....please sir....'

Being in Sales and Marketing for almost a year now - I've developed this strange knack of being able to read the tone of the opposition, more often than not.

I could hint a sense of honesty in this chap.

What was he doing in the 1st Class coach though?
But perhaps I would have done the same too - only guys in the first class dept. in Mumbai might be having a spare 40 bucks on them!

I wanted to test out Mr. Irfan (He'd introduced himself by now. He dealt in perfumes supposedly).
'Well Irfan, I'm biking down to Pune - want to accompany me? I'll drop you off at Lonavla?'

This would be a killer question for a novice in this game.
'Sure' came the reply. 'But I'm a little scared of bikes!'

That was enough for me to buy two samosas and break the only 100 rupee note which happened to be in my pocket and give Irfan 2-twenty rupee notes.

He refused the samosa!

Thanked me profusely - said there's God everywhere. Which is not the best of lines to use on a person like me! And then he left...

A by-stander passed an audible smirk - a typical mumbaikar sound which is an extremely popular sound in the trains. I don't exactly know how to explain this sound?!
After which he added - Aapko chutiya banaya

Banaya rahega...par insaniyat jaga di mere mein.

Am not sure if Irfan was one who belonged to the class of skilled-labour - but if he was....he sure was good at what he did!

Arbit thoughts

2007-04-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

there's this strange emptiness
is it the ego which hasn't been quenched?

ever woken up one fine day
and wondered - where the fuck is my life going?
where is it headed?

does the unknown excite you?

i'm scared
i'm angry

but what is it?
there's this strange emptiness

where are you? who are you?

My Latest Posts at WATblog.com

2007-04-29T00:42:00.000-07:00

My latest posts at WATblog.com:

Cheers!

Biking in Mumbai!

2007-04-25T08:39:00.000-07:00

Oh it's fun as well as painful! Love the fly-overs...especially the Byculla fly-over is awesome! Hate the traffic jams. Was caught at the Chembur Priyadarshani crossing for around 20 mins!

Yesterday I covered more than 100Km of city riding!
(Ghatokopar-Chembur-Sion-Dadar-VT-Colaba-A lot of Colaba-Parel-Bandra-Kurla-Ghatkopar)

The bike ride to Mumbai was obviously with the usual thrills one can associate with my Pune-Mumbai journeys. Took a wrong turn some where near the Panvel turn and ended up taking the NH-48 instead of the NH-4....to JNPT (Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust) and then had to back-track almost like 40Kms and cut through Navi-Mumbai to get to Ghatkopar!
Crazy stuff...
Total journey was 180Km instead of around 130Km. Took me 3.5hrs instead of 2.5 hrs.

But nice experience of course!

Would be again biking across the city tonight to catch the Chelsea-Liverpool Champions League match :-)

A bump, a sorry and a smile

2007-04-21T09:26:00.000-07:00

9:45 AM Ghatkopar Station
Damn! Late again. Why can’t I leave home 10 minutes early and go comfortably in a Slow train – as compared to getting mashed, bashed, abused etc in a Fast train!?!

9:46 AM Hell
Well after 11 months in Mumbai, I’ve gotten quite used to the so called jam-packed hell of a Fast train, during morning rush hour….but getting used to hell doesn’t quite make it heaven you know?
The daily dose of pushes and abuses.
No! Everyone doesn’t get quite as many abuses as me. Why? I like to carry a back-pack containing my laptop and other stuff rather than those regular laptop bags.
I can list 10 reasons why I do that, so don’t ask me why!

9:51 AM Somewhere between Ghatkopar and Kurla
I spot Mr. MusicLover. White shirt, sleeves rolled-up. Economic Times in his hand. No he wasn’t reading it. I assume he must one of those working in a Financial broking company where ‘carrying’ an Economic Times is a necessity – reading is not!
Nokia N93 in hand. Must have been a new acquisition. How can I say that? Because he was not doing anything on it. It was more like a show-off element I’d say. Like look – I read Economic Times and I also have this flashy cel via which I can listen to music!
A very nouveau riche attitude.

9:58 AM Departing Kurla Station
I spot Mr. Quirky. Why quirky? There was this certain strange weirdness to him. The face – the face had this shrewd contorted look. The eyes were hazel. They lacked the softness you associate with hazel eyes – these were sharp wicked eyes.
He had his eyes fixed on Mr. MusicLover. And by fixed I mean fixed….continuously fixed. As if he was studying him, sizing him up….or was he trying to flirt with him?
Trust me, one finds all sorts of characters in Mumbai locals.

Dadar station. 75% of the coach clears out. The remaining 25% included the three of us. More people poured in.

10:12 AM Approaching Byculla Station

Mr. MusicLover queues up at the exit, takes his ear-phones off and puts them in his left trouser pocket along with his prized phone.
Mr. Quirky takes his place behind him.

10:13 AM The Bump

From behind…

A second later….
‘I’m sorry’

They walk in opposite directions

Four seconds later The Smile

A little later…Mr. Quirky admires his prized new possession – the Nokia N93.

Almost gotten gorgeous! Tragic!

2007-04-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

Why does every pune-mumbai trip have to be so tragic?

Just got a call from Channel-V an hour back asking me if I was free tomorrow – why? Well they wanted a photographer for clicking auditioning beauties for their Get Gorgeous beauty contest!

DAMNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!

It required me to be in Mumbai early tomorrow morning!
What a weekend to be in Pune! Have prior commitments here :-(

Wonder if I’ll ever get such a great opportunity for mingling with soooo many gorgeous gals? Could have done with some money too and of course could have been the first break in my photography career!

Well the journey wasn’t too interesting. The 1 hour wait to catch the bus prior to the journey was disgusting.
Friday evenings are real pain to catch a bus from Dadar.
Infact Saturdays are better! Why are Saturdays better?
The working puneri junta in Mumbai who work on Saturdays tend to stick on in Mumbai – rather than getting just a few hours in Pune.

Well was a 1 hour wait to catch an AC Volvo. Took another 2 hours to get out of Mumbai. Got off at Pune University at the stroke of midnight. Must thank Rohan for picking me up there. Followed it up with some nice tandoori chicken at chowpatty….

Awww damn…..imagine the number of gorgeous girls I’ll be missing out on!

Planning on taking my CBZ over on Monday, so its ought to be an interesting post!

Back to Mumbai - in record time!

2007-04-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Well overdose ho gaya tha of these mumbai pune journeys over the last few days....
Well had gone to a friends house for lunch on Sunday.

Was again trying to explain the concept of Web 2.0 :-)

Anyways this was how the conversation ended...

So uncle, off to Mumbai today evening?
I have to catch a flight to Jamnagar tomorrow morning at 11 - so i'll be driving down tomorrow morning around 7, what about you?
Same here uncle
What? You've got to catch a flight to Jamnagar at 11?
:-) I meant I'll be leaving at 7 too.
So you want to come along?
Wouldn't mind!

I was actually planning to bike down to Mumbai....wanted to explore Mumbai on my bike before the rains...when that'll become impossible. Btw...it rained in Pune...the first rains...auspiciously on the day of the Bengali new year. I even got poetic and penned down a few lines....which i'll share the first day it rains here in Mumbai.
But well needed to get the bike serviced etc....so decided to postpone biking plans to next week...

7:15 AM
Hyundai Accent
(Yeah i know, it was meant to be 7...but I do have a problem with waking up on time! especially Monday mornings)

5 min halt to fill up petrol

Home by 9:20 AM!

Well nothing much to write about.....Uncle must be thinking 'How does this boy manage to talk so much?'....i think it was a non-stop jabber right since we left...cos i didnt want to fall asleep!

The next Pune-Mumbai trip is sure to be exciting....i've already gotten the parking in our building sorted out!

Cheers!

A tire burst, an ethical sardar and a Web Techie – Mumbai-Pune!

2007-04-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

Mumbai-Pune-Mumbai-Pune all in less that 48 hours. Yes, made 2 to-n-fro trips in the last 2 days.
Grandmom passed away day before, so I decided to come to Pune to be with mom for some time. Was Thursday evening, didn’t want any trouble en-route, so promptly decided to take the ever-dependable MSRTC Shivneri Volvo! Little did I know, what was in store.

Well, was just reading some stuff on the laptop…un-eventful journey…at least half way!
Was wondering as to what I was going to blog about – since this was such a boring journey….the only eventful thing was the chilling AC!

And then it happened….like a mini earthquake and then a boom followed by a bang!
I thought we’d crashed into someone in the front…but it was a tire which had blown and the bus had crashed into the road divider.

Oh o…..
Well, exciting part was I was going to have something to write up – depressing part apart from getting late was that I was not carrying my camera. The odds of catching me without my camera are less….but had left it at my place for charging the batteries.

There was pandemonium in the middle of the express-way! Only thing was no one stopped there to help…it was just the 30 of us. It took nearly 30 mins to assess the damage and decide on a move. I was part of the core management team out there :-)
Well, a back-up bus would take at least 2-3 hours….the damage supposedly wasn’t too much and we decided to change the tires and see if it would be possible to go ahead.

It really pissed me off when me and another chap were the only ones helping the poor driver change a 100Kg tire! A stern – Can we please have some light here….got me 14 cel screens beaming at the tire.

Changing tires is not a joke, especially if it’s a mega bus! It took around 1 hour to change the tire and another 30 mins to wrap up stuff and hook the burst tire back up under the belly of the Volvo…that’s when we all got back in….the sweet aroma of burning rubber lingered on. The driver brought the engine back to life….and the bus refused to budge. One could actually feel the tension in the bus. 30 chaps…praying to god…egging the bus to move….the engine purred and then roared….3 min 47 seconds after it had been brought back to life….the bus finally decided to roll!
Slowly at first….a little faster after that….but the driver had decided to go easy on the gas.
Slept off soon and woke up after the bus had crossed my place….had to walk back for around 20 mins. Reached home quite exhausted around 1AM

Had to get back to Mumbai the next day. Mom was catching a flight from there and I was to accompany her. Change in travel mode: Indica – AC – Cool Cab!
This was the first time in like a million pune-mumbai trips that I was going to travel in a cool cab….that too in total comfort!
We had a pretty aged Sardar-ji as our driver. My mom poured on the sweetness right from the start. Rather than going straight to the airport, we wanted to go to Parel…pick my sister up from her hospital and then to the airport. Took us some good amount of convincing – till he said it’ll cost extra and that we had to sign a piece of paper too and call the cool cab office and let them know of the diversion! Here he had a chance to make a quick buck, but he just didn’t seem interested. Well mom was impressed by his driving for some reason (I doubt the speed-o-meter went above 85 km/hr during the entire journey) – so she enquired if she could avail of the same cab during her return journey – to which she was greeted with a stern ‘No’. He only queued up at the official Cool Cab line. Nice to such people still exist.
Well nothing else worth mentioning about the journey…except for perhaps a delightful pizza at the food stop.

Saturday evening…time to make another of these trips. This time I just wanted to go to pune n chill. Needed a mental break….was quite a mess in the head.
But! I love adventure of course….so tried out the 3rd mode of commuting. The ever-reliable Deccan Queen (train)!
Office is at colaba – it takes more time getting to vashi from there…than vashi Mumbai! And one actually gets to save some time in the train…or so I thought!

No! no train accidents this time around. Was rather an uneventful journey. Read the 5kg 500 paged Times of India. Subscribing to TOI provides the perfect ROI I feel. One can actually make a profit by selling the raddi. Anyways, the paper kept me busy for around an hour n a half….the remaining was spent talking up to this jobless techie…who was in mumbai searching for his dream job. Pretty smart for a small town chap….knew delicious, flickr, wikipedia, youtube n other web 2.0 stuff!
Time flew, I love talking about my work!

Got off at Shivajinagar stn at 8:10…exactly 3hours from Mumbai. Wow! Will reach home early - I thought. But a certain Mr. Ambedkar was having his jayanti celebrated on the streets and the ensuing traffic jam ensured that I reached my home at 10pm!

Well I love these journeys….a friend asked me today, ‘how can you tolerate so much traveling?’
I guess it’s the only time I get to relax n chill ;-)

Google the Master Killer and the necessity of SEO

2007-04-13T20:31:00.000-07:00

I was reading some stuff up about my new infatuation - SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
and came across this rather interesting post

It talks about a co. which got killed cos' of google! :-)
or perhaps committed suicide cos' of google, would be a better term...

Heres an excerpted portion of the story below:

Over the past months, however, organic traffic from Google.com dropped from an average of 1'000 or so visitors / day to exactly zero. In sympathy, sales dropped along side, resulting in perhaps one or two sales per day or less, mostly from people who stumbled over the site by chance or by recommendation. For some reasons our pages were either removed completely from Google's index or have been tagged "supplemental result" (for a possible explanation, see below at "Other consequences"). Obviously, we could still pay for ads but that would never make up for the loss in traffic and, hence, revenue. Also, while we realize that Google owes us nothing, we are not inclined to reward Google for dropping our site. The little traffic coming from localized versions of Google or from Yahoo and MSN doesn't convert to revenue at all. We didn't find a way to remedy this situation because, although being a multi billion dollar company, Google doesn't seem to have a phone number.

Anyway, the resulting revenue from the current sales is far too low to maintain this site, to continue development of the software and to provide customers with good, useful, timely, and free support. We have therefore decided to call it quits and release all our barcode software into the Public Domain.

[Complete story at: http://www.pro-barcode.com/background.html]

Well this company obviously must not have heard of SEO companies....
but this also made my mind wander into what might be another of google's masterplans!

Why I say another is because - a particular video about google's masterplan on youtube has gotten an amazing amount of views off late.
Have a look: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zKXCQpUnMg

Anyways, as you would have read in the above story - the incredibly dependency on google.
What if google one fine day decides to intentionally kill off such sites...and perhaps ask for huge amounts of money for a re-listing?

Pretty incredible eh?

Or what if a co. figures out a way to externally do so? some dirty work to get companies totally de-listed from google?
They can pretty much make a fortune - just scaring companies off!!!

Ha ha...sadistic and as ridiculous as it sounds...its possible!
At least it has gotten me crazily interested in SEO!

Insights into the Web 2.0 World

2007-04-13T19:45:00.000-07:00

Well a lot of my friends have been asking - Eka! What exactly do you do man? And what is Web 2.0?
Well have a look at this video @ YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE

It beautifully explains what it really is....feel free to ask me questions after that!

Well apart from that I have introduced RSS feeds for this blog and also a button for socially book-marking blog posts. I'll explain these in greater detail in one of my later posts! As to what folksonomies are and what exactly is a RSS feed!

Well been blogging at WATBlog.com are here are some of my latest posts there:

Compete measures your Attention
Well to explain this in short - Till date web analytics and stats revolve around page views and hits a website receives. But what is happening is that with the advent of Ajax and flash, people are not having to keep refreshing pages etc...so Compete has come out with a new parameter - which is of measuring the attention span of a user on a website and engagement levels of a website.
Click here to read the whole post...

Search Engine Marketing growing
The search engine advertising and spends are on the rise as more and more realize the value of targeted search engine advertising. In this post I just review the current scenario and draw some comparisons with the SEM scene in India.
Click here to read the whole post...

What's cooking in the Social Networking scene in India?
Well all of you have obviously heard of Orkut! But did you know there are at least around 20 more social networking sites in India?
In this post I talk about some new-comers in this segment and what some of the other players are up to.
Stuff about SirfDosti, DesiMartini, Hikut, Yaari, Minglebox, ApunDesi, Snehah etc
Be sure to check out the whole post...

Blogging in India - A WATConsult Research
A unique research report about blogging in India. Covers the top 18 Indian cities. Some interesting figures revealed - like, 2-3% of all the online users of a city have a blog!
Click here to read the whole report...

Influence of TV Advertising - DesiMartini.com
In this post I just talk about the impact of television advertising for a web 2.0 product. While web 2.0 is all about pull marketing - how in our country a Push is also required.
Some criticism of DesiMartini too.
Click here to read the whole post...

Alexa Watermarks traffic graphs:
I think I was the first one to write about this....should have book-marked it in all the social engines! Well Alexa is a web analytics site where one can obtain data and stats about pageviews and traffic reach of almost any website out there on the internet.
Also mention a little about their tussle with Statsoholic
Read whole post...

Blogger.com out of Beta - But how cool is it?
World over people prefer WordPress to blogger....but definitely not in India. Perhaps because of it being associated to google or perhaps cos' they have the perfect URL.
But Blogger is definitely popular - as we found out in our earlier research report too.
Well in this post, I just review the simplicity of blogger...
Read the whole post....

Google's April Fool prank:
You would have definitely heard about this one....if not...be sure to check it out!
GMail Paper and Google TiSP

Well stay tuned to WATBlog.com for more on the Web 2.0 space!

Cheers,
Eka

Distinctive Connoisseur of Bourbon Whiskey!

2007-04-10T13:46:00.000-07:00

Well thats what this certificate in my hands says:
JIM BEAM certifies Ekalavya Bhattacharya as a distinctive connoisseur of Bourbon Whiskey.

This was after attending a 'Unravel your Bourbon' session.

Its 2:30 AM....i'm supposed to be pretty high! Honestly speaking, I've never had whiskey - apart from the occasional sip or 2 of dad's chivas. Well consumed 6 neat large shots of whiskey today followed by 3 in cocktails!

This is how it went:
1st - Some Canadian Whiskey - spicy!
then - Jim Beam White - smooth!
then - Jack Daniels - smoky!
then - Johnnie Walker Red - this one was quite strong!
then - Teachers - beautiful!
finally - Jim Beam Black - fulfilling!

Followed this up with - Jim Beam Black and coke and then a crazy drink cocktail called Manhattan followed by a Jim Beam White and sprite.

Quite an alcoholic adventure....and sure to remember this day forever....the day i lost my whiskey virginity....over and over again!

Have a client meeting at 10:30 in the morning plus an important presentation at 3pm. Jim Beam bless me!

Though am sure, at 21 I must be one of the youngest whiskey connoisseurs out there :-)
It's quite an art and i'm going to master it - now that the paint is on the canvas

Hic! Cheers! Hic!

P.S: Chelsea are through to the semi-finals of the champions league...and are still set for a quadruple this season. Theres a chance of 3 crucial Man U vs Chelsea ties in the coming month. That'd be - the league decider at the Bridge....the FA Cup final (If both manage to overcome their semi opponents) and the Champions League Finals (Again if both manage to overcome their semi opponents).

IIT-K and a 2 MBPS connection

2007-04-07T22:53:00.000-07:00

Posting this sitting in the visitors hostel of IIT-Kanpur indexing almost the whole of YouTube on my hard-disk :-)
Well getting download speeds of 200Kbps+....unfortunately all peer-2-peer sharing networks are blocked, orkut is blocked....so downloading YouTube videos!

Journey here was quite cool - took the Pushpak express from Mumbai. Jobs4Freshers.com the the second of our companies came in the top3 in some show-casing competition here....gave lots of gyaan on the web 2.0 scene. The female species are quite a rarity here.
There was a music show last night - which has everything from classical sa ra ga ma, to ghazals to rock n metal.
Enter Sandman by the local IIT-K band (Called : Metalligasms I think) and Brick in the wall were pretty cool.

Witnessed yet another upset by the Bangladeshis - this victory would have definitely infused some new life into the English and perhaps Windies too.

Have also gotten a chance to play around with my digital acquisition last month - The canon S3 IS...will update this post with some pics later.

Gonna be a painful return journey. Travelling 'Sleeper Class' back to Mumbai! Lets see how one survives that.
Well am back to indexing all possible videos for another 2 hours.

Cheers :-)

The co-incidental Khosla and uska Ghosla!

2007-04-02T20:42:00.000-07:00

'So have you seen Khosla ka Ghosla?'
'No yaar....really wanted to see it...but just happened to miss it', I replied.

'Well you should definitely catch it, I've seen it 4 times and its just toooo funny!'
'Well lets see...I like the song chak de phattey!'

Well fast forward 12 hours.....10:30 AM Monday morning....Parihar Chowk, Aundh, Pune
Vehicle: Metrolink Volvo
(Well I don't usually take a metrolink volvo - they are shit expensive! especially on monday mornings, but well i wanted to work on the laptop on a presentation while travelling)
Managed to bargain from 230 down to Rs 190/-
Which included a promise from the conductor's side that the bus will take the ghatkopar link road after vashi and it would be easier for me to reach ghatkopar, which is where i apparently hole up in Mumbai!

Anyways, bus rolled soon.....out came my laptop. Some interesting stares from people around. Wow! What a professional!
Naw...this wasn't for show-offing, it was a genuine attempt at getting some long pending work done.

Well as co-incidence would have it - The Khosla family decided to intervene and Khosla ka Ghosla started up in the small lil tv in the bus - with me sitting waaaay behind.
Well as you can imagine - the work I was planning to do happened to get indefinitely postponed.

Funny movie, definitely worth a watch....perhaps not when you are traveling in a bus with an important presentation to work on - but Boman Irani is too good as always. Some versatility that chap has. He's ensure he doesn't get stereo-typed with any role.
The Khosla tribe was pretty cool too......

Well rest of the journey was un-eventful - the bus didnt take the promised link road to ghatkopar, well got off at Sion and went off to office directly. So guess it was a good thing.

Will be off to IIT-Kanpur this weekend to batofy some gyaan to the junta there....so no mumbai-pune to write about but it'll be an interesting journey. We've not gotten AC seats so imagine traveling Sleeper Class in the hot UP-MP sun. Gonna get roasted!

Cheers!

Mumbai - Pune : The case of the missing passenger!

2007-03-31T21:45:00.000-07:00

Well I've finally decided to blog about each of my Pune-Mumbai or Mumbai-Pune trips.....cos somehow they are always just toooooo damn filmy!

Like last week when traffic police hauled over the Sumo driver and we were just left on the road! Or when the car broke down and I had to tempo it back......etc etc.....

So well I thought why not blog about these trips and am sure it'll be worth a laugh reading it after a year or 2.

31st March, 2007

Vehicle: Silver Tavera
Usually its supposed to contain: 10 commuters + 1 driver
Commuters: 7 (A newly married couple with a large bag decided they'll take the entire middle row....no....not for what you are thinking!)
And well then there was the case of the missing passenger.

Well a note, I like to catch these cars - not cos' of comfort or price but because they are fast. Usually reach my place in Pune in 2.5 hrs.

Well we were all mashed in and ready to roll at around 8:15.
In the front row along with the driver there were 2 middle-aged biz-men i guess....

the middle row was obviously with our newly married couple and their biggg bag!

the back had a muslim baba! a middle aged south-indian truck manager and a timid old student sorta guy who kept asking me the time and 'aur kitna time lagega' after every 2 mins.

And then it happened....at the first traffic light: the muslim baba just opened the back door and slipped out. Every1 saw this happen except for the driver supposedly (which we came to know later).
None of us in the back row complained - cos of the additional comfort!
The others couldn't be bothered if the driver was about to lose 120 bux or whatever!

Smooth journey........then as we neared the toll naaka on the expressway the driver demanded we all pay up and thats when it struck him!!!! Ha Ha....should have seen his face!
He actually lost 120 bux + 25 bux commission he pays the chaps at the bus stop!

Well rest of the journey was uneventful except for the Rs 9 vada pav at the food centre.....9 bux!!!! freaking expensive man....its sticks between 3-6 everywhere in mumbai!

No cop interference this time..........the south-indian was taken up by me and my entrepreneurial (damn i still have trouble spelling this word) attitude! Was cool trying to explain what the internet was....i think at the end of the conversation he must be either be thinking - what the fuck was he talking about? Or - This chaps a god man....he must have invented the internet!

Well.....shall blog about my pune-mumbai trip on monday.............if i dont get toooo lazy that is!

52 Pt Italian Serie A COINCIDENCE

2007-03-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

Just felt like blogging about this...
have a look at the following pic:

Lazio, AC Milan and Fiorentina - were each docked points at the start of the season for their respective roles in Match Fixing last season.

So lets do some calculations:

Lazio:
Current Points: 49
Deducted Points: 3
Without deduction: 52

AC Milan:
Current Points: 44
Deducted Points: 8
Without deduction: 52

Fiorentina:
Current Points: 37
Deducted Points: 15
Without deduction: 52

Cool eh? Would have been quite a cool and close season if the points hadn't been deducted.

Yahoo goes the Unlimited Way and Reliances BIG plans for an ADDA

2007-03-31T13:18:00.000-07:00

[Blogging at http://www.watblog.com]

Yahoo! Mail goes the Unlimited Way

Yahoo is announcing that all Yahoo Mail users will have free unlimited email storage starting in May 2007. The current storage limit is 1 GB per account (2 GB for $20/year premium users). With this change, Yahoo leapfrogs Gmail (2.8 GB and growing) and Live.com Mail (2GB). Though Rediff.com (Rediffmail), primarily an Indian mail service went the unlimited way earlier this month. Yahoo mail currently has 250 million global users, more than any other online service (Live.com has 228 million and Gmail has 51 million users).

When Yahoo! Mail launched 10 years ago, users got 4MB of storage for their entire mailbox. This was still pretty considerable in those days. These days an MP3 song would be a enough to fill that space up.
In 2004 they increased the inbox size to 100 MB, and 1 GB in 2005.

Infact I still keep my 9 year old email iD at Yahoo active by logging in every second month, only to shudder seeing the astronomical figure of junk mails in the inbox!

I guess it is only a matter of time before Gmail follows suit and all others do the same too. Imagine having a hard disk drive which you can never completely fill up!

Read the complete post at: http://www.watblog.com/?content=detail&id=614

The BIG ADDA and the Reliance connection

Reliance is all set with the sabse bada ADDA! The BigAdda!
Company officials, however, declined to comment, saying only that they’ll divulge more once things are finalized.

But have a look at this:

The domain name ‘bigadda.com’ has been registered by Nikhil Soman of Reliance Entertainment, and the name servers are hosted with Zapak.

BigAdda is currently having a logo poll up at their site...

ADDA does go well with the ADA Group and BIG is also Reliance Entertainment's FM channel.
Apart from that adda does capture the essential Indian essence and mentality of a hub and gossip. It has been difficult for players like Yaari and Minglebox to eat into the Social Networking pie which is pretty dominated in India by Orkut, but these 2 are also few of the relatively successful ones. There's around a dozen social networking sites around in India and more coming up each passing day.

Read the complete post at: http://www.watblog.com/?content=detail&id=613

The misery of march...

2007-03-26T10:28:00.000-07:00

'Aapko shayad Vikhroli station jaane padega', said the young policeman at ghatkopar station - 'since case ghatkopar aur vikhroli ke beech ki baat hai and train vikhroli ke taraf jaa rahi thi'

well at vikhroli station, 'humhe to nahi pata, aapko ghatkopar station mein hi try maarna chahiye - kyonki hum idhar to FIR nahi file karte'

GOD!

at kurla station, 'aapne ghatkopar mein complain file kyon nahi kiya?' OMFG!!!
'bill dikhaiye please'
WTF? I've just lost my cel and it is 10 months old...do you think i am going to roam around with the bill?

The police of this country just pains me.
Anyways, will try to file a complain tomorrow if i can manage to conjure up the bill some how.
Things get even more complicated! the cel phone which i lost is not even registered in my name! And you might suffer a heart seizure caused by excessive laughter if i were to tell you how the person whose name the phone is registered in - is related to me.

Anyways had to attend a seminar in IIT-Bombay today evening and as you can imagine....i lost my cel somewhere in the train. Peak office rush hour (6pm) - central line - local train.
'I am going to get crucified in the train' was the message i had typed but could not send as the train arrived right before i could click on the send button.
Once i reached kanjurmarg station i decided to send the message - by saying 'just got crucified in the train'
and indeed....i did. the cel was missing.
been in the trains every damn day in the last 10 months and had suffered crazier rushes, but had only heard of pick-pockets.
Disgustingly skilful indeed...
Whats even more ironical is that the seminar was on Mobiles and mobile internet etc etc!

Well lets just sum up the mis-happenings of this month:
Lost my digital camera (This was actually lost by a friend - so i did manage a refund of sorts)
Lost quite a few clothes and stuff along with the bag which had the camera.
My fridge blew up.
Had my first bike crash.
Switched jobs to the agony of close friends and parents.
Landlord turns out to be a bitch.
Friends turn out to be bigger bitches.
Broke my spectacles.

the misery continues....!

Cricket Cricket and more Cricket!

2007-03-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

[Blogging at WATBlog.com]

Well Reebok are the latest to join the online bandwagon of Cricket oriented marketing. Well I do wish that this at least inspires India to a better performance later today when they face Sri Lanka in an extremely crucial world cup game. Millions of advertising dollars are at stake and if India does manage to get knocked out – I wonder how much online blogs and their marketing would work for the remainder of the campaign.

Nonetheless, Quasar Media have undertaken a blog marketing campaign for Reebok in a contract which is definitely in crores (I heard the figure 8 crores – but have to get this confirmed).

Piyush Rathi, Associate Media Director, Quasar Media, said, “Blog marketing is a new concept in digital brand marketing in India. It gives the brand an opportunity to engage and interact with both customers and non-customers and take the communication to the next level.”

And we being in the same field, simply couldn’t agree more.

Reebok demanded some innovative marketing in the digital medium. Well apart from the blog site: RBKcricket.in, they have also loaded their World Cup ad on Youtube.

Quasar did do some cool work for Zapak, but the last I heard was that their contract with Zapak had ended.

Anyways, other user engagement features on RBKcricket.in include a game called ‘Squad Selector’.

Talkin about games, contest2win and mobile2win had launched some cricket centric games and Intvo has launched CricCast, Crick Playalong and Sports Guru on the mobile, with Airtel, Idea Cellular, Yahoo and Indiatimes.

Back to blogging – Visa are the ones behind InspireIndia.in – where they literally give you the chance to inspire India to a victory. They’ve even got a catchy Visa Inspire song up for download!
These guys have been advertising quite a lot too, though activity and user participation in the form of comments still leaves a lot to be desired for.

But blog marketing is definitely picking up in India, which is definitely a good sign for the future and I am sure we will see a lot of brands exploiting this medium in the days to come.

Cricinfo has got lot of content rolling in their blog section and seem to be getting the most activity too.
This article on the tragic death of Pakistan Coach Bob Woolmer has gotten more than 700 comments. Though I still feel that these blogs are more like guest columns being regularly maintained.

Ending this post on a lighter note, here is really funny video which you should definitely check out.
Indian mimic Vikram Sathaye with hilarious impressions of Tony Greig, Michael Holding, Geoff Boycott and Viv Richards as well as Sunny, Sachin and Azharuddin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKU3ZsYRqt4

Blogging is driving up bike sales

2007-03-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

(Blogging at WATBlog.com)

“The first review of our latest Pulsar was on our table within three hours of its launch in Chennai thanks to bloggers,” Bajaj Auto VP (marketing-two wheelers) S Sridhar told ET

Being an avid biker myself and a blogger to some extent – I never did doubt the influence which review-blogs can have on potential bike buyers. More than blogging its the online biking communities – like the popular forum xBhp.com which can really do wonders for the image of a bike.

Each bike owner there is a passionate marketer of his brand and I’m sure Bajaj, Hero Honda and TVS would be following the forums their with quite some interest. The only thing which does blur the extent by which message boards and online communities influence a biker is the rural internet penetration of the internet in our country.

Performance oriented bikes (In our mileage conscious country, anything above 150cc’s is categorized under performance bikes) are the only ones which would actually be benefiting from such online activity. Both TVS and Hero Honda did quite a lot of activity for their ‘performance’ offerings – the Apache and CBZ Extreme had dedicated websites up. Apache tried to get a community going revolving around its fans – Apache Tribe.
Sub 125 cc bikes are pretty much ignored in these online communities and that is primarily because the youth like to associate themselves with power, style and speed.

Krishna Kant of ET nicely puts it, “Blog posts are now finding their way into the marketing strategies of motorcycle makers. What started as platforms to share passions and frustrations of bikers are now being tracked by corporates to fine-tune their offerings.”

Pulsar, CBZ and Apache have communities on Orkut with a couple of thousand members in it. In fact the Pulsar communities command more than 10,000 members. This actually made us start a WATBlog community on orkut too!

Well let us go back to xBhp.com. Two years back they had just around 5,000 members, but now they have in excess of 30,000 registered members and more than 2,00,000 posts – which is all User Generated Content. The site says it’s supported by Castrol – and it has been for more than a year. Kudos to Castrol for realizing the potential of this biking community at quite an early stage. Off late xBhp.com has seen a lot of sponsors coming up in the form of Nokia and Canon (Photography goes hand in glove with biking) and even content tie ups with the likes of Rediff and OkTataByeBye.com.

Reading a positive bike review from a Biker who has in excess of 50,000 Kilometers of biking experience will definitely have more impact on a prospective buyer than seeing a TVC over and over again.

India 2.0 is definitely catching up, though Web 2.0 is still in a very nascent stage in our country – one can’t deny the shift happening.

Manipulated

2007-03-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

i walked into this dream
or was it a dream

it was all so..
..so unrealistically perfect..

it all fell together
except for her

she made it so..
..so dreamlike

the way the light fell
..it was just so
..so manipulated

soft
glowing
highlighting
shining

i couldnt look away
it drew me in

softly
surely

how can light be manipulated?
dreams i'd say..
..are a manipulation of the reality

a reality that we might want to see
perhaps a reality which we only want to see
not wish for

its a safe haven
whats the worst that can happen
you can wake up

but this was real
there was no waking up
or so it seemed

click
the shutter opened n closed

the dream was over
it had been captured
the frame had been frozen
the photograph was a dream
it had been created
manipulated

Midnight Rain...

2007-03-22T11:03:00.000-07:00

take a moment to look up
look up
at the sky

the light of the moon
its plays there
it plays there behind the clouds

hide n seek it plays
n maybe a smile?

n then theres rain
heavy rain
sudden rain
midnight rain

a dark emptiness
the emptiness gets filled...
ur one wild storm!

Nike - Viral effect of a Cool Ad

2007-03-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

(Blogging at WATBlog.com)

I am sure you would have seen the latest Nike Ad, which captures the very essence and passion of cricket in India. It has been shot quite brilliantly, the back-ground score is awesome and the cricketers (Zaheer Khan and Sreesanth) for a change don't hog the limelight.

A search for the string: Nike India on youtube gave me a result page which had this Ad displayed 7 times.

Total views till now: 2,00,000+ (And this figure is bound to increase each passing hour)

And considering the fact that youtube is not really too popular in India, the above statistic is simply awesome.

Apart from that, the Ad is also one of the most debated Ads on agencyfaqs! The video is also being forwarded/emailed a lot virally and it also commands an Orkut community of its own!

If you have not seen it yet, it is definitely worth a watch:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpvuz8gg79Q

Read the post at WATBlog: http://www.watblog.com/?content=detail&id=592

Innovative Listerine Campaign

2007-03-17T22:23:00.000-07:00

(Blogging at WATBlog.com)

'Oye, tere mooh main keede...ja Listerine se mooh saaf kar!'

Sounds funny?

Listerine have come up with a very innovative form of reaching out to people online!
They are using Yahoo Audibles!

Have a look:

Read the post at: http://www.watblog.com/?content=detail&id=591

Un-Perfect

2007-03-17T21:56:00.000-07:00

Ever planned out a perfect ride?

The excitement….the first long ride with someone you love…an exquisite destination…a new camera…perfect weather.
And then someone decides – things are just way too perfect.

Biking experience = 30,000 Km

Long Rides = 20+

Crashes = 0

…and just on the day…when things were meant to be perfect…an old man in a black indigo decided…fairytale stuff should be limited to the books.

Cruising on the NH-4…at a modest 90km/hr...and then those 5 long seconds…i don’t know what happened.

Was suddenly hit on the right…bike wobbled like crazy and I have no clue how I managed to avoid a fall…but she fell off…saw her rolling on the highway…damn…the world just stopped for a second or too.

Things could have been worse…'thank god' for that? But then couldn’t it be 'thank god' that nothing at all happened.

Its been exactly a week since the crash and I have re-lived it over and over and over again.

I don’t even know if I could have avoided the crash or not....but questions haunt me...

Life 2.0

2007-03-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

Well haven't blogged for a long long time....!

Life 2.0 - Arising from the web 2.0 lingo would be the change in my life...

Have left PaGaLGuY.com...learnt a lot....and it was time to move on to something which I always wanted to do! Batofy Gyaan!

So anyways, have joined another start-up....a Web 2.0 Strategy - Consulting company!
Ha ha...sounds cool?
Well will be looking at some marketing and strategy there.
Off-shoot of the popular WATBlog (Am gonna be blogging there too from now on)

Rest is all pretty great. My names been highly popularized and has attained a very filmy tag off late cos' of the release of an Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan et al starring movie 'Eklavya'. They even spelt it differently!

India are most seemingly out of the World Cup - though all of us are already praying for a huge victory against Sri Lanka and Bermuda and then hoping we have a substantially higher run-rate than the others. Or perhaps let us all become Irish? After they ousted Pakistan yesterday and pretty much booked their path to the next stage.

Well hope to be blogging more regularly from now on...but thats a promise I make after each post!

Cheers!

IIT and how!

2006-10-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

As a kid...my parents....especially my dad....always dreamt of me going to an IIT. To study i assume. Was supposedly a computer whiz-kid in my bachpan!
Well...was labeled the black sheep of my family soon.....
Didn't even opt for engineering....a simple graduation n stuff...

Dad was definitely sad....
Mom was dissapointed cos' i didn't even opt for medicine.

Funny life!
I still of course love my parents a lot!

Going to IIT-Bombay [SJMSOM]....to give a talk tomorrow!
Web entrepreneurship....online marketing...web 2.0 and all that jazz!
Pretty cool eh?

Shall update tomorrow about how it went and stuff....

One Life, One Lives....make it big....

Zen and the art of writing!

2006-10-19T23:28:00.000-07:00

Hmmm....thought of starting the footballing blog! even sat in a pune-mumbai train journey and reviewed all the games on a gameweek which saw me not seeing even 1 minutes play!

anyways, guess its the laziness factor......

shall start writing again.....cos words can be magical!

Life's been quite hectic....Asst. Manager, Business Development - reads my new visiting card.

The festival of lights is tomorrow - wishing you all a very happy diwali!

Blogging Just Not Happening

2006-10-01T20:49:00.000-07:00

He he....
its just not happening!
perhaps these personal blogs just dont tick....

Am venturing into a new sport blog - gonna be primarily for the EPL season

Well gonna be updating this too....jab bhi time mile.

Durga Puja was cool......total binging out!

Am moving to a new apartment in mumbai tomorrow - lets see how things develop now.....quite nervy!

Cheers....

Life Update!

2006-09-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

Damn!
Never thought such a day would come - when i initially started blogging! Well i knew the interest would die down...but never thought i'd forget my blogger login password and even username! ha ha...sucks eh?

Well its been 3months and 1 week in this city called Mumbai! Yeah...am loving it....
Been through riots, floods, bomb blasts, temper tantrums at work, house eviction orders, break ups, fights et al.....
but then again....those are just the good parts!

Ha ha...well PaGaLGuY.com was perhaps the best thing to have happened in my life.....i love this place...i mean its the sort of co. every1 would dream of working....you get the freedom! freedom to do what you want...

Its 10:15 Pm rite now...im at office....and no...i could have gone home at 5 in the evening if i wanted!
Snapshot of work here:
Have met CEO's, attended NASSCOM meets, been to police stations, was flown to bangalore for an event at IIM-B, got my visiting card signed by Philip Kotler, won a corporate debate at SP Jain, worked on graphic designing till 6 in the morning!
Lots more....will definitely blog a lot more......well cant promise! but will try to...

Most probably i'll have another post by wednesday nite....next few days ka schedule is jam packed!
Cheers!

Alive!

2006-05-29T21:02:00.000-07:00

Long long time....
there's something about writing for fun and writing as a profession. Somehow i need to have this certain inspiration....one could say 'an orgasm of thoughts' to actually write something.
Being a student of chemistry....if writing is a reaction....we all need some activation energy....which needs to transcend the limiting laziness.

Well i do profess to become a regular blogger again.

Well i've finished the last batch of exams before my graduation...and unless there's some remarkable twist of fate...i should be an official graduate within a month.

Next, i've postponed my MBA plans for at least 2years.....today....yes today....30th of May, 2006, i'm moving to mumbai. The city of dreams!
There's a certain hue of laziness omnipresent in pune....and then theres this fervid atmosphere in mumbai.
Im scared....im excited....im quite looking forward to it.
Would be joining PagalGuy.com....it seems that name suits me to the bone.

Man writes in lonliness....thus im sure to write more often.

Next up would most probably be a longish post about my stay in Fergusson. And then how can we forget the approaching monsoons, the manic mumbai showers, the rather crazy local trains...lots of inspiration to be had.

Scene: Pune
Exit Eka

The Mosaic

2006-03-29T19:23:00.000-08:00

Who am I? I wonder...
Shattered glass, millons of pieces
I try to find myself
Lost in the oblivion

Each piece, a colour...
A colour of deceit,
A facade of hypocrisy,
A mask put on

Who am I? I wonder...
I look at the broken pieces
Shards of illusion and pain
A life, A soul...where is it gone?

Who am I? I wonder...
A life of pretension
A pedestal of lies
I escape from it all

I pick up the pieces
and put them together
I see a picture
And its me I see.

The vision of my life.
There's still time,
But I can never change
I'm one of a kind.

[Have translated this piece in hindi too...please click on the 'comments' link, to view it]

The Praying Mantis

2006-03-25T02:52:00.000-08:00

'Come here!' she hissed.
It had been planned to perfection. The lighting was dim. It had a green-aphrodisiac tinge to it. She was ready. She wanted it. She wanted it bad and hard.

He on the other hand, had been waiting for this day for quite a long time. Every male would.
A night of passion beckoned. Was he ready?
He thought he was.

Aren't guys always ready and willing to do it?
But there was this certain apprehension about his behaviour. He was making her wait.
Was he shy? Or was he making her wait? Making her want it bad?

When you make love, unless she is so aroused that she pulls you towards her, continue with foreplay. Once a woman's desire is aroused, the animal in her is unleashed. The waiting game is also an excellent art of foreplay. An art which needs to be learnt.
- Vatsyayna, The Kama Sutra

It was an agonising wait for her.

There she lay. Naked. A heavenly creature.
And he was making her wait...but also ensuring she didn't lose interest.

'An art which needs to be learnt'

She crawled closer to him.
She begged him for it.
And then she ordered him!

'...the animal in her is unleashed.'

What ensued was the wildest, and most passionate intercourse you could ever witness.
He made her buzz in carnal delight.

She had been with many males before. But there was something different about him. He was the best she'd ever had. He matched her libido to each thrust....but there was this strange seriousness about him....

Then it happened. The moment of bliss. Nirvana they call it in their world.

In a swift motion of brilliant agility, she bit off his head

Death Arrives. One Dies.

He had been dreading this day for quite a long time.

He definitely was the best she'd ever had!

The Female Preying Mantis - lethal killers, are known to bite off the male's head during or after the act of copulation. They sometimes even devour the whole body. For nutritional benefits they say.

Trust National Geographic to make such classy sex flicks. Thank god the censor boards are busy watching raunchy remixes to satiate their visual desires, or else they would definitely be snipping such wild encounters too!

On a more serious note, The Praying Mantis are the most fascinating creatures in the insect world. Aptly named because the forearms are in a "prayer-like" stance. Also called as the preying mantis by some, as its one of the deadliest predators in the insect world.
Some also say - other insects start praying for their lives when a Praying Mantid is around!

My apologies to those who got disgusted and didn't read the whole thing! :-P

Outside

2006-03-24T20:51:00.000-08:00

Feel like writing. But the words wont flow.
Had a miserable interview @ TAPMI, and down went my dreams of getting into the hallowed portals of a decent B-School this year.
Perhaps i don't have a right to crib, cos' i never really gave my best shot.

Gotta take a few important decisions.
Life's changed. Well life is supposed to be full of change.

I know i'll be big.
I'll remember Mrs. Anuradha Rajan for ever. She said [in the interview], that I was not ready or meant to be doing an MBA!

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
- Robert Frost

Here are the lyrics of one of my favourite songs, one of the few songs which never fails to cheer me up:

OUTSIDE - Staind

And you
Bring me to my knees
Again
All the times
That I could beg you please
In vain
All the times
That I felt insecure
For you
But I leave
My burdens at the door

But I'm on the outside
And I'm looking in
I can see through you
See your true colors
'Cause inside your ugly
Your ugly like me
I can see through you
See to the real you

All the times
That I felt like this won't end
Was for you
And I taste
What I could never have
It's from you
All the times
That I've tried
My intentions
Full of pride
But I waste
More time than anyone

But I'm on the outside
And I'm looking in....

All the times
That I've cried
All this wasted
It's all inside
And I feel
All this pain
Stuffed it down
It's back again
And I lie
Here in bed
All alone
I can't mend
But I feel
Tomorrow will be OK

Into the void...

2006-03-16T03:20:00.000-08:00

[Fictional]

She came out of nowhere. And I saw her. I knew my life was going to change. I didn't know why or I didn't know how, but I knew. It was innocent. It was not for me. But I thought it was. I believed it was. I wanted to make it for me. And then she looked. The way she looks when she does. And it took me somewhere. Else.
I was in love.

And there she was. Dressed in black. She took my breath away. Her eyes were pools of darkness. Her long hair was the darkness itself.
Those shapely never ending legs, the sensous curves...she was perfect...heavenly.

It had been 11 months since I'd seen her. I'd finally been able to muster up the guts to ask her out for dinner.
Last night she called me up to ask - 'Where are you taking me?'
Anywhere you'd like...?
'Anywhere is fine'

I'd spent a considerable amount of time to zero down on a posh lil' Indian-cuisine-speciality restaurant. Elegant enough to impress, but subtle enough not to appear desperate.

We decided to walk to the place from our point of rendezvous.
The full-moon made for quite a scintillating night. Or was it the radiance of her face which did that?
Her face was striking. A perfectly sculpted one...it seemed straight off the cover of Vogue - sans the make-up. It emanated beauty. A certain sexiness which could make any man weak in his knees.

I'd quadruply confirmed the reservation. The Maitre D' guided us to our table...
He had been well briefed last evening. Things had to be perfect. It was a table for 2. Not in the corners where one could see a couple furiously necking away. Not in the general arena where the commoners dined. It was...well all restaurants [at least the better ones] have few of these tables, meant for such special occasions...they are perfect.

The first date! We would both remember this day for the rest of our lives.
I managed to avoid a candlelit dinner - the accepted epitome of a romantic date. Perhaps that would come across as too eager (which I was!). The lighting however was dim and cosy, as I took my seat, it seemed 'just right'. It made her look all the more ravishing.

What ensued, seemd to be straight out of the pages of 'The perfect date'.
Wine, followed by an appetizer - the chef's recommendation. A kebab platter for the main course and chocolate fondue for dessert.

The conversation flowed. We discussed art, politics, cricket, music etc....the night was going splendidly well. We flirtatiously talked away. Hours seemed like minutes.

After a thoroughly enjoyable meal and leaving a handsome tip on top of the more-than-handsome bill, we walked out. Hand in hand! There was a certain nip in the air. I didn't want the day to end. Neither did she, it seemed.

We walked till her door. Then there was silence. These are the things they need to teach us at school - What should one do at the end of the first date....at precisely this moment.

Then it happened. She came closer. And still closer. Never had I been so close to such a heavenly being. I could feel the warmth radiating from her curvaceous body. I could feel her breath on my left ear. And then she softly whispered those 3 words to me.
Three words which can alter your life. Three words which are enough to kill you.
'I am married'
& just like a killer drills a couple of extra bullets into the lifeless body of his victim, for good measure or for sadistic pleasure. She added -
'Happily married'

Success of Failure [I]

2006-03-12T18:03:00.000-08:00

Have you ever failed to succeed?
Have you ever snatched failure from the jaws of success?

Ricky Ponting. The whole cricketing world felt for him yesterday. Here is a captain who wears his heart on his sleeve for his country. Here is a captain who performs time and again...and then again. Here is a captain who defines captaincy.
Sunday, the 12th of March 2006. A bright sunny day @ Jo'burg, where many a soul wanders. We saw another brilliant knock by Ponting. Australia put up a target which defied the very ethics of the gentleman's game. Never had a bowling side been plundered so bad.

434! Yes, four hundred and thirty-four. An asking run rate of 8.7!
A commentator had the audacity of suggesting the probability of a possible chase. Could they....?
Laughter.
Are you serious? Chase 434?
It was a forgone conclusion, that Australia who had just managed to nick victory in the last 2 matches and draw level in the series - had lived up to their big-game status & had won the final in style. Or had they...?

What ensued was carnage! Batting which defies the very definition of batting. It slowly started happening...the pieces of a massive jig-saw puzzle were starting to fall in place.

Man always manages to rise the best when he's at the nadir.
A phoenix - rising from the ashes.

Wickets didn't matter, tomorrow didn't matter. What had happened earlier in the day didn't matter. The 'belief'. The belief is all that mattered.

South Africa had recently been humbled by the Aussies in Australia and in every other place too. Time and again. Things had to be done. Something massive was called for.....
& it was delivered.
'Its not luck', I argued with my grandmother. She'd suggested that South Africans were lucky!
Lucky? You don't chase 434 cos' of luck. You don't chase it because of God. You chase it because you want to.

It was a great game. No! It was the greatest game in the history of one-day international cricket.

No one thought South Africa could pull it off. Even when 2 runs were required of 3 balls, I could visualise Ntini's off stump being uprooted by a Brett Lee classic.
Sitting at home one could feel the tremors in the crowd. The nauseating experience where fervor becomes a fever.

And then came the winning runs. A nation erupted in joy. The other....there were no words. They were shocked. Shell-shocked. Was this a dream? A Nightmare? A tragedy?

History will remember the Australians as the ones who lost. The ones who couldn't succeed. It's a cruel game - it really is. One shouldn't forget that it were the Australians who had set the humongous target. They had forced the South Africans to dream big.

What was achieved yesterday was not just a mere failure of success or a success of failure. The achievement was that - the word 'impossible' was banished from the dictionary of cricket.

This was part-I of the saga of success and failure. I have an exam in a couple of hours for which I have not even started studying yet. Shouldn't become a case of succeeding to fail!
Will post part-II later. That will not be a cricketing or sport related post...but one of those gibberish musings of a bored mind.

Drops of Time...

2006-03-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

This is how the story goes, in and out
one minute you're there, the next time runs out.

Ever noticed a leaking tap?
No, not those in which the water leaks as a trickle, but one from which water drops...

Its often one of those taps which have not been highly rotated shut [or closed you may say].

Drop. Drop. Drop. Drop. Drop

It goes on...

Did u ever really think about the time you had?
its the grain that falls, every second that crawls...
to the minute to the hour till infinity recalls.

And then it becomes
Drop..Drop..Drop..Drop

The pause becomes longer. The drop a lil heavier.
Each splash in the bucket below,
more noticeable....more audible.

And then it becomes longer.
Drop...Drop...Drop...Drop

Its like a marathon runner whose messed up his strategy and tires rapidly mid-way.
Every drop of perspiration....making it tougher.

It becomes a strenous affair. Adrenaline keeps him running.
Gravity keeps it falling.

Waqt dhalta raha, main chalta raha...

Soon the pain becomes unbearable.
Drop..........Drop..........Drop..........

You can see the life in the drop. How the tiny water droplets literally co-agulate to mature into a drop.

Drop.............

You can sense it.
You can sense the end.
But it goes on....

Waqt dhalta raha, main chalta raha...

Like a man on his death bed. Each word being uttered after a long eternal pause.

Did u ever really think that time even cares?

And then comes the Drop.
Its massive. Its the final effort.

SPLASH!

Death Arrives. One Dies.

The tap goes dry.

Here's a little something that you really can think about
the time that got left and time that ran out
keeping in mind what I left behind
my sanity my soul, brought down to a fine line
the pain the shame too late to quit this game
I can never change....cos I'm one of a kind
even if I wanted to, I couldnt decide
cos I never really had time on my side
- Waqt by Entity Paradigm

The Evening Rain....

2006-03-09T10:04:00.000-08:00

Trying my hand at poetry. A few lines. No! It doesn't rhyme. Its not meant to.

The Evening Rain

She comes from nowhere...
just drops from the heavens.
Mesmerises you...
soft n slow...
memories galore!
She makes you think,
she makes you cry.
The evening rain...
my evening rain...

It rained today. It was the end....or was it the start?
It brought up lost thoughts, stolen moments....or was it trying to wash away them all.

It surprises you. Its meant to.
The sun tires...the clouds pour.
Kids rejoice. Commuters not so.

She's hurt....and she howls with passion.
Torrents of rain...

She's got the subtleness....
the tantrums of an immature girl.
A naughty girl.
She'll stop. She'll make you beg for more.

The evening rain...
will it come back again?
The evening rain!

Love makes time pass; and time makes love pass
- French proverb

The influence of 'cool'

2006-03-07T18:26:00.000-08:00

I wanna be cool!
What is being cool?

People hate being alone. There's this fear....the fear of not belonging.

I want to belong!
Why do people try and be cool?
So that they can quench their loneliness for a few ephemeral seconds?
Or are they trying to be different?

Right from school days, everyone wanted to be cool! To belong to the coolest group.

Mom!!! I want a new pen!!!
Why beta?
All my friends use this new cool pen.

Mom! Lets go and buy some stamps!!
Wow beta, you've started writing letters?
Nooo Mom, not those stamps....I want those flashy foreign ones!
Why beta?
Everyone is 'collecting' stamps in school, its cool!

[Which reminds me of how the art of philately has changed and evolved over time, I used to be one of the genuine 'collecters'....but I quit because I realised....ultimately even I was collecting them just to be cool....but is it wrong in trying to be cool?]

Then the influence of coolness transcends into college life;

[ referring to' engineering' as an example...pertains to all other courses and career options too]

Dad!!! I want to do engineering!
Why beta? You hate maths, physics and everything which can be categorised under technical stuff.
Oh come on dad! Anyways Ram, Harish, Sunil, Neha etc etc are all gonna do engineering.

I have seen the above happen to most of my friends. Basically engineering or for that matter any other course would be an escape for 4 years, during the course of which...they might realise their true dreams! And at least they'll have their friends around.....friends who are in the same condition.

How unknowingly one leads a life as a puppet.
Where people called 'friends' are the masters with the strings.

You might have seen the glimpses of this in the Onida TV ad. Its so true....

I've seen people do strange things to appear cool. Strange things to be accepted. People make mighty sacrifices, mighty decisions.....
Lose their identity.

Try and be different. You'll be labelled selfish and uncaring and uncool too!

At the end of the day, does it really matter?

One life, One lives.
Make the most of it.

Master of Puppets I'm pulling your strings,
twisting your mind and smashing your dreams.
Blinded by me, you can't see a thing.....
- Master of Puppets, Metallica.

Why?

2006-03-04T21:17:00.000-08:00

There's this want. A want to do something. Then there's this apprehension. What happens to the want?
Half the people are not strong enough to want that want bad enough. The other half loses interest soon.....but there's this small fraction of people, who want it bad enough.

Ego? Why are people egoistic?
Do you believe in destiny? Why do you belive in destiny?

I hear from people and then I hear it again.
What happened....happened for the good.
Good? Perception? So after a failure....do I perceive that what happened was actually good? And what could have happened would have been bad? Or what could have happened would have been very good!?

Hasratein......
Yeh hasratein khwaab ban ke na rahe...
Yeh hasratein khwaab ban ke na rahe....
Yeh khwaab sirf khwaab hi ban ke na rahe!

One life.....One lives.
Death arrives.....One dies.

Welcome to my blog. My first post.

My lifes at a vital cross-road. Decisions have been made. Decisions have been repented.
Decisions will still be made....