Day 1 amidst Dhakkkka !!!

Honestly I had no expectations!!! But there is bare minimum that a civilized human needs for existence!! One who has not been through this would probably be apathetic to the pain or rather frustration of a human soul.

Lets start from scratch. The Kolkata International Airport – The first thought that came to my mind, are we still living in the stone or iron age. Probably those people would have lived in better surroundings. If this is what the state of affairs is, I wonder what is the impression that we are giving to tourists who land up here!! Leave apart the fact that they would never ever in their wildest of imagination have the thought of revisiting this part of the country. Whoever is travelling through the KIA please make sure that you never use their washrooms (well if I may say those are washrooms). Funnily enough, aboard the crampy ATR aircraft for the half n hour ride we find strange people involved in even stranger conversations. I wish I was blessed with some sardonic annoyance but there are certain things that kind of hit you right in there.

So finally the travel to country, that boasts of far too many doctors than engineers (probably 10 times). I later found out that here they provide graduate doctors degree through distance education as well. Wow!! A neurosurgeon who has learnt the same through distance learning!! Amazing!! I am sure that I am hitting too hard, and the situation is not that bad here, but such is the plight of my situation right now, I need to vent this out in some form.

On arriving at the immigration the officer seemed really polite, well that’s what I am thinking right now considering the aftermath. We complete the lengthy immigration check and move towards a counter that was supposedly the most popular telecom service provider. For the first time some pleasantries were exchanged and the guy asked for some documents. The formalities over the guy hands me over the SIM with the assurance that SIM would have talk time worth 50 TAKA. Happily I put on the SIM on my phone and when I switch it on, a new surprise. The phone displays – Invalid Sim Card. This guy astonishes us with his worldly knowledge – “Sir you must be from Bangalore. We have seen this problem to happen in all Blackberry sets from Bangalore”. Could someone in the world help me understand what is the difference in a BB purchased in Bangaluru and one in Kolkata. I would be surprised if RIM has evolved to such levels of customization that they have started recognizing Indian territories as well. The communication by this time had changed from Customer service oriented mode to a victimizing mode. Fine I take help of my colleague, and check whether the SIM has been activated and yet another surprise. The talk time left was only 44 TAKA. I have been divinely blessed with the power of selective ignorance and since I had landed up here with an expectation of facing such tyrannies I took that on my stride and moved towards the prepaid taxi counter, with a wise thought of not falling prey to the touts outside!! The guy at the counter suggests an AC and a NON AC version of the cab the difference being 100 TAKA in this country. When we request to book a non AC cab, the guy promptly replies that only AC version is available and there is an additional 100 TAKA of service tax that comes along with it. Great news! God wants us to lead a comfortable life considering we are so well paid; some amount should go towards the development of the economy of this country. The guy starts writing a voucher in some language which would have given the highest paid cryptologists a run for their money. Finally we take the voucher and look for the cab – please bear in mind that although you have paid for it, you need to look for the cab. All the luggages inside we started our way towards the Guest house. Strangely the cab driver seemed to have no interest in putting the AC on. We thought of reminding the driver gently considering that we had put in hundred extra bucks. “Ac’s doesn’t work on CNG” – prompt reply from the driver. We have had enough till then already and chose to silently curse the driver, the country, its people and anything remotely connected with the place.

Finally we reached our destination, our home for the next month. The place looked decent, the community around looked pretty good. So finally at the end of the day, some respite and time to rest. God knows what lies ahead. Yet to face the people with whom we are going to work. I hope the little bit of good that started towards the end of the day continues tomorrow as well.

Island in a stream of forgetfulness

It all started with the dawn. The sky was a brilliant blue so different from the grey dusty sky above us today and I felt something well up inside me a sense of happiness so strong that it made me lift my head and yell as to much my own surprise as people around me. This was a day, the day I had been looking forward to for quite some time with sense of anticipation. This wait had been in all sense exhilarating. Moments in life are filled with glory but it often happens that the path to that glory is more intriguing than the moment of the glory itself. The day would remain as an island in a stream of forgetfulness.

I wanted to get wet in the rain, but as the sheer sense of joy set in, the cold gusty wind brought along with it the sense of reality. It had rained before, and it would rain again, the nature would be at its elemental best, what would change is time. One cannot live in dreams, live with ideas. Lines and boundaries have been drawn, rules have been set, and freedom of expression has been curtailed by what we call - Society. Looking back now I see the society, pragmatic and effective - only with a few exceptions. The society can outlaw the water but can it ban the thirst?

When dreams turn real!

I gazed at her in incomprehension as I tried t recall our last encounter. Now that it has come to such a point that staying apart for even some time is so difficult, whenever I see her I always feel like asking – will you stay like this – forever? I am in a situation where getting an answer to these questions is also a luxury that I could not afford. And yet human soul cannot be restricted by the practicalities of a regular life.

Fragments of thought keep crowding my head and it is then that I need to pull myself away from the profound dominance of the fantasy land. Ours was not a relationship that could afford sudden unplanned expressions of love. The expressions got lost or buried by the obligations whatever they were. It’s one life and everyone is allowed a couple of mistakes, if they are mistakes at all. Who can predict the future, or for that matter why is that important? When we keep brooding over the past and get worried about the future, why do we not enjoy the present so that when we move to the future it is this piece of the present world that stays with us as good memories.

Weekend in a Train !

I am one of those people who likes going places but hates almost all the forms of travel available. Not that I don't like travelling in business class, got that chance once but the whole travel experience I find like having your teeth pulled out through your nose. Gosh that's a horrible way to put it. Rail I know is utterly charming, watching the green go by, rocking very gently, if you are in the higher category of the AC coupes. The fun starts when watching the landscape the fork misses your mouth and stab you in the cheek. However even this euphoria of travel lasts only for few hours after which the green landscape gets very boring. Its not very often that you get a charming company, such that you don't even realise when time flies by and it gives a feeling the journey ended so soon. Considering that one is travelling alone the worst part what I find is the train always seem to go either just too fast to not see anything or so slow that you are thumping your head in sheer frustration.

How does this sound - spending an entire weekend on a train!! Yeah I know those qualitative adjectives that are almost common in all our yo dictionary. It would be a very crude sense of sarcasm to say that the start was not that bad. At the station saw few people carrying some 10-15 coffins. Realized that those are for the bodies of people who died in a horrible train accident just the day before. Kind of gives an eerie feeling to board the train after that. Long old principle - "don't think much". It really helps. The journey starts and few hours into it, starts raining. Makes the view outside all the more pleasant, but for how long! Boring boring and I am sliding slowly under the blanket. Very soon I am into a deep slumber. Going by indian mythology, SRI RAM has appeared in different form or incarnation over ages for the benefit of humanity. I woke up to the scream of a chaye wala. When I am at home every morning I wake up to the screaming of my dad.


Its already 8 pm. Life is such a balancing act. Last night I was enjoying one of the most charming company I"ve ever had in recent past as far as I remember and engrossed deep into conversation about life. Now here I am feeling so lonely, travelling alone in a crampy side upper birth of an AC 2 tier. At least I have blackberry for company. I really wonder if anyone has posted a blog while travelling in a train through a blackberry. But honestly I am liking it. The meal arrives. Rice n chicken curry. For some reason I like the food they serve at the indian railways. It has all the earthly flavors that is incomparable. Not that I am hungry but I still want to have it right away. Signing off.

Waiting at the airport !!!

This is one hell of a wait! Guess everybody goes through this once in a lifetime. In my case the worst part is - it’s some airport of a very small city where you cannot spend your time appreciating the beauty of the airhostess or the ground staff. Gossshhh…..They only handle 9 flights in a day….The airport is deserted..Some people roaming about speaking in their native language - and it’s hard to figure out what the discussion is all about - not that I am interested. So what do I do - open my lappy praying in mind that the data card would work in this ghostly place!! And it does...some orkutting…Then Facebook....bad real bad...people don't even scrap this days…..a poke here and there...checked the 'Fate' and 'Luck' quotient - who creates these applications...Christ’s sake a luck factor of 97%....screw you whoever made this application with whatever logic !

Now add to my fate...an announcement thru the PA system...AC would be off for maintenance...wow I feel like checking my luck once again...should be 99% now.....a welcome break.....I can hear the sound of stilettos on a marble floor....yep....one good looking lady...there she comes....quite a decent sense of dressing I must say!!! Her skirt a tad shot for her height.....and that’s appreciable...for my current state of mind.....her lip-gloss kind of reminds me of Poison Ivy !!!...

Girls...girls..they are so predictable...they can while away their time so easily...one call to some bastard on the other side...who must be so glad at receiving her call....I am already bored....I guess I am a dedicated husband loyal to my wife...huh...thatz why I don't find these interesting for long enough ! Don’t smirk...!!!

Scanning around for something more interesting....an interesting banner - "NIRMAL BANG" and the punch line says - 'A relationship beyond broking'...Below that its written - "SMS BANG to 54646"
Gosh that brings horrible thoughts...a company that has a BANG in it and which is into broking.....food for thought for all perverted minds...not me ....I quickly shifted to something else.....in any case I always believed in the fact that in films the director is the god...while writing a blog GOD is the director !!!!

A refreshing change to my current state. The PA system speaks up and it comes to my rescue. All passengers can move up to a lounge where the AC is working....Good for me….Although need to climb three storey’s to that lounge...not that I am afraid of height..I am only afraid of width!! Climbing climbing...I wonder what kind of an airport is this...Between two evils, I always pick the one I never tried before...however in this case I am really skeptical..Whether the decision was right!!!

Ok….Now I can't even keep my laptop open..A lounge that does not have a power supply point..I mean it does have..But not those international ones...and my battery ain't working...I guess it’s time to log off...kinda pissed off anyway!!!!

Tears of the Sun !

A peg..two three or more doesn't drive me any more..
I still wait for the sun to set...
Coz I know a new sun will rise...
And my day would come...

A night when the moon would be wise..
Be it a day be it a night...
what i have gained...what i have lost...a lot to analyse..
as long as there is hope..there is light...
My battle with life...is still on
Will I win????? I might ,....I might !!!!

My Birthday Cake

03/02/2010

karthik calling karthik!!!

If not anything else...just to testify the name the movie should be pretty engaging.
What else...karthik calling karthik - engaged tone !!!

Right....Wrong....There can be multiple Karthik's on this earth, or for that sake the Karthik in question can have two cell phones. Why the hell on earth would he call himself up from one cell to the other? You never know. This world is full of weirdoes and the one in question might be one of those checking out the quality of the service provider offering the telephone connection.

What am I doing with all this! Nothing...just trying to stay awake after a sumptuous lunch on a Tuesday afternoon at office (subsidised huh!! :P)

Let’s play a guessing game on what this movie can be about. Is this a movie or an advertisement? Well it can be a good promotion. How about it putting it this way - A service provider puts an ad - We have a karthik calling karthik every minute across the globe. How does that help? Well it goes to show that there are so many Karthik's on the customer list of the service provider. If that is true, just imagine the customer base that this company might have, considering there are two Karthik's on the line every minute.

Let’s see if we can come up with any new ideas other than this.

Keep postong...Keep blogging!!!

"Mile Sure - (New one)"

The very focal point of the argument, did we ask for a change? Were we not happy with the one we had? Why are we being driven by the Microsoft philosophy? With all my due regards and respect to Bill Gates and his awesome organization, that stems out a new version of the Windows every two years, even when there is no need of the same, we find we have quite a few followers of the same principle. Neither do they take learning from the year on year debacle nor do we. Hopefully after Vista, they'll take a break. Now coming back to our motherland, the new "Mile Sur Mera Tumhara" promotion which I guess most of us have seen by the time now. Is this portraying a national theme or is it portraying the power of Bollywood of being the largest film industry in the world. Is the country all about film stars and cricketers and thankfully some musicians? Does the Lok Seva Sansar Parishad still exist and even it does why is it turning a blind eye? With much pain I could list down all the participants in the new version only to realise that it would have been better to just write down - "Bollywood and some".

Here goes the list - Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, A R Rahman, Sonu Nigam, Salman Khan, Aamir Khan, Prasenjit Chatterjee, Baichung Bhutia, Shahrukh Khan, Mahesh Babu, Deepika Padukone, Ranbir Kapoor, Shahid Kapoor, Shaan, Bhupen Hazarika, Kavita Krishnamoorthy, Dr. L. Subramaniam, Anoushka Shankar, Mammootty, Shivkumar Sharma, Rahul Sharma (musician), Gurdas Mann, Juhi Chawla, Zakir Hussain (musician), Thetakudi Harihara Vinayakram, Vikram, Surya, Abhinav Bindra, Sudarshan Patnaik, Shilpa Shetty, Vijender Singh, Sushil Kumar, Karan Johar, K. J. Yesudas, Shiamak Davar, Shobana Chandrakumar, Shreya Ghosal, Rohit Bal, Priyanka Chopra, Louis Banks, Rituparna Sen Gupta, Amjad Ali Khan, Amaan Ali Khan, Ayaan Ali Khan and Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy.
It is hard to find name that is not a Bollywood parasite or at least one which is not followed by one. Where is Sachin Tendulkar?? Are we not the most cricket fanatic nation of the world? Where is Ratan Tata? The man who had single handedly put India on the global map. The man who made the car affordable to ordinary middle class. All that is forgotten so quickly. What about APJ Abdul Kalam?

We keep saying India's face is changing in the global arena, but the news mostly is a Shahrukh Khan getting an award in some neighbouring country or Amitabh Bacchan inaugurating a film festival that would showcase first his family and then the upcoming movie releases. With due regards again to Mr Bachchan - one of the greatest actors of my lifetime, now he has a brand ambassador within the family.

Its time we understand that the REMIX is not for everybody and its time we understand that if we do not have the capability of producing something original, we cannot bull**** the public just by packaging an old wine in a new box. We still prefer the old wine as it is because - "iye jo public haye, iye sab jaanti haye"