Another wonderful day in Bengaluru…a hot cuppa tea….a boring newspaper which I skim for any interesting offers (not job offersJ)….chirping birds and the occasional crow…as I breathe in the chill winter air sometime in mid December…I realized this is the last 14 days of the 365 allotted to 2010. This has been a year that just whizzed past…..by the grace of God, we got through this year without any issues of health, wealth or mental peace……but if you think back, what can you remember about 2010? What did 2010 mean to us, what have we accomplished in the 8016 hours this year? Don’t worry am not gonna give all of you a guilt trip J If you think of it, your memories of a year is like a rear view mirror of all you left behind….as said by Meat Loaf in a very famous song of his.
Every second we leave behind that second and the next and the next…..
Flipping through channels, I happened to catch an ad an old one shown again…that of an SUV that claims to “Reclaim your life”. A very relevant question it asks….
When you look back at life….what can you remember?
…..The corner office
…..The big house…etc etc
Come to think of it – What can you remember…”How many moments that stay etched in your memory do you have in your life?” For some reason we seem to be able to remember the memories we want to forget more vividly, than the ones we wish stay with us forever. To me, I think the most memorable, were when I first saw Shobi (now my wifeJ) though she had no clue of my presence…..when I proposed to her….when I first broke my arm…..my first car accident….the first time a girl said she loved me J all I can remember is how fast my heart was beating at that moment…Thanx…or UNThanx to my very senior cousins in Shanthi Nilayam in Palakkad who encouraged a 15 year old kid to go propose. What was I thinking…but well thanx guys, I thoroughly enjoyed it!!! Whats even more funny is I met her again almost 16 years later….and well…we had a laugh!!
Well, memories are memories…however sad, funny or odd we still treasure them…my mother even today talks about the chaos at home when my report card came….I guess that is her scariest memory J but she fondly talks about how cute my sister and I were both as kids…..
One memory I have to mention is something that happened in San Francisco….my child hood buddy and I went to SF downtown, partied and were SMASHED!!On the way back I was almost dozing off when I heard this loud siren on the freeway….a cop’s car was behind us and with lights blaring…..was asking us to pull over. My buddy put his indicator and we started getting tense….and he was about to move to the left, when the cop spoke in his megaphone….” Don’t stop here…don’t stop here…take the next exit….” We obliged…. “turn right at the fuel station…” we followed as instructed… “stop the car and turn off the engine….”.
At this point, I thought we were doomed…I cant go to jail here in the USA L Images of NYPD Blue and COPS came flooding in my mind….my buddy rolled his window down and kept his hands on the wheel with his license in hand…..There were 2 cops, one went to the drivers side and the other came to my side and knocked the window and I rolled it down….he asked me for an ID…and I reached out to my pocket….at this point I noticed I was probably a bad move away from getting electrocuted/shot….cause the cop moved one hand towards a holster which held what was maybe a gun or a stun gun.
After a brief round of questioning…the cops concluded that we were harmless and my buddy was not intoxicated enough to cause an accident…suddenly they were best of pals and even wished me a happy stay in the USA!! A total contrast to what a cop would do back home….he would firstly have his face in my mouth asking my name and where I came from to know if I drank…and if I did, he’d probably ask me for a few hundreds and release me….Well that memory stays with me….and so do several others….
Memories….Life’s Rear View Mirror...
Never loose sight of it…
For from them we learn…
For moments as those we yearn
Every moment we breathe..a new one we churn
“Life ain’t about the number of moments we breathe….but the number of moments that take your breath away!!”
Friday, January 21, 2011
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
A letter to my sister....One year while!!
A year since I wrote...literally a year since I jerked those literary senses in my grey cells, if any remain after what has been a crazy year. What inspired this rejuvenation you may wonder...well it was a letter (email - for we have all forgotten how to write letters) to my sister in Boston. Probably the biggest e mail I have written in a very long time apart from the 'e-missiles' I write at work occasionally. When I read, what I wrote, before hitting send...exactly like in the bollywood movies memories of my blog and forgotten fans (if any) came gushing back....and I remembered I had not written in a while...a while that was 'One year WHILE'!!
What took me away from my literary endeavour...probably the only PQ (passion quotient) I have discovered in 31 long years on this planet....was it the struggles of living a life...the chaos called life, as it deserves to be termed and has become in India now.
A step back and I see, 2010 is the year I have traveled the least on work...and this is probably the year I have spent the least time away from Bengaluru, my home city, and is the year with the least time I have spent at home as well! Surprising, yes very surprising to me, shocking in fact....I have spent on an average 12 to 14 hours in a glass box, termed as a comfortable work place - temperature controlled, hi tech seats, phones, cuisines from around the world at subsidised prices, toilets cleaned by the hour, vending machines for magazines to the best beverages on earth, pop corn, boiled corn, roasted corn....and I get paid huge sums for punching keys in a world as this. Why would I want to go home?...OR can I go home?
The fact is, whenever I traveled my wife and I have been lucky to be together on most cases...probably not going to be the case going forward...cause she moved from a company that made her work round the clock, but offered the flexibility of working from anywhere to another of those temperature controlled corporates. This is probably the case of atleast half of the approx 80,00,000 employed by the "corporates" in my country today.
This is not an attack on them...this is not to demean all my colleagues and friends who love working here, this is not to say I hate or despise my job.....Thank GOD for IT and ITES, else even I would probably have been an unemployed Indian for a long time or my brain would have also drained to one of the "First World countries" like my sister's. This article is simple a literary picture of my country today and how it reflects on the lives of common citizens as myself. The STRESS of LIVING is simply gone to crazy proportions of late....lets take the case of a guy who works in a mid size company in a yet to be METRO city like Bengaluru.
Krishna or Krish ....always wished it was my name :-)...an average bloke working in a reputed company...wakes up to the alarm on his cell phone@ 6 AM...its upto his will power now to go for a walk/jog/gym. He has already paid Rs 15,000 to the nearest fancy Gym for a years subscription and who promised will make him look like Hrithik. He turns off the alarm...takes a pee...washes his hand or maybe not....and goes back under the blanket...his self pity of having stayed awake till 2 AM last night puts him back to sleep. He is woken up at 8 by his neighbour's car which plays an annoying noise on reverse gear. Has his cup of tea....hears a jeering comment from a family member that he missed walk/jog/Gym again. Reads the newspaper...which nowadays is best unread to avoid "Morning morning depression". It talks of a chief minister blackmailing the centre leadership that he will wash dirty laundry if they ask him to step down. Next page talks of a fight in Mumbai where 2 neighbours fought over a guest who kept the lift open for too long while they bid farewell....and both landed in hospitals. Next page talks of bollywood affairs...and which movie star's son or daughter got paid 1 crore for the next movie. the next page shows the brilliant performance of Indian sports...and yet being on 8th position among Asian countries....about Captain cool whose team won another cricket match and a dejected sardar with a hockey stick. Krish throws the paper away cause he realized it was already 8:45....and he needed to be in office at 10 and its a 1 hour drive. He rushes to the bathroom...now occupied by his sweet wife who also has to leave at the same time....Krish is now ready at 9:30....skips breakfast and chooses to go by the 2 wheeler to save time. Its a pleasant 29 degrees, but he has to wear a jacket else his shirt is going to be black and dirty by the time he gets to work on his bike. All through the way the top speed he hist is 10 KMPH....flyovers being constructed for traffic capacity of 5 years ago....signal lights turned off and no cops to control the speeding cabbie who forces his way, a driver almost spitting red paint on him....escaping maniacs driving like they are just out of the "Well of Death" in Jumbo circus...he curses sweats under his helmet, barely misses 2 autos, and being run over by public transport...makes it to work by 9:58....as he rushes towards the elevator he finds a huge crowd in front of the lift and his work place is on the 9th floor...too much to climb up and be all sweaty in the meeting. While he waits for his turn...well not turn opportunity to get into an elevator, others who came after him just push him aside and walk ahead into a lift and he has to wait for the next one. God....we need serious lessons in courtesy. Finally on his floor at 9:05...a full 5 mins late....he swipes his badge to open a door and sees a lady behind him so holds the door ajar out of courtesy and she just walks across as if it were her right...."Thank you is probably a good word" is running in Krish's head....and lo, he finds 4 other fellow Indian citizens also walk through the door...turning poor Krish from a manager to a door boy. He finds the meeting room and walks into a dark room...probably a presentation is on he thinks, but finds no one there....so he turns on the light and realizes well the others are late as well...late-r rather. The rest of the day rambles on....his hunger pangs trouble him at 11, so he has a chicken roll....and then Chinese for lunch and then Colombian coffee in the evening....pop corn at 8...and all this while punching keys and speaking accented English on the phone with clients and bosses in other countries. After endless conference calls and emails...he heads home at 9:45...with a report yet to be sent...for which data is to come from another guy who is yet to finish work....reaches home after another forgettable death ride on the road and catches the end of KBC on TV.....a programme he wishes he can see everyday. Finds some food on the table, which he eats as if he were eating it in a jail...cause its simple home food and not the world class cuisine he gets at work....puts on his laptop and again starts punching keys in front of the TV and chatting up with his sweet wife. Finally at 2 AM the couple are ready to sleep....of course sleep, you think after such a tough day you there is any energy left to make babies!! and then the cycle repeats. On Saturdays he is busy catching up on pending work and completing domestic tasks he couldn't do on other days....and so are 1,00,000 Krishs like him doing it on Saturday so every place he goes is crowded as hell, taking an hour to cover 8 KMs on road and so goes all the Saturday plans down the drain. The corrupt official who wants Rs. 2000 to change his house water meter, turns him off since it made him feel helpless. All Krish can think of now is to go home....order in food and have a drink...but then the family wants to go out.....so again it depends on Krish's will power to drag himself....and after the outing again he sleeps at 2 cause he wants to catch up on a movie he missed on the week....so how much of Sunday do you think he sees...well I leave it for you to guess.
Now when I think back....the years when I travelled the most, I spent the most with my wife, cause I got home on time in those countries, never found it stressful to go on holidays or on outings....and always had time for exercises and blogging! Cause the stress of LIVING a LIFE doesn't seem to pull us down but instead inspires us to put more on our job...and that's true...I have got the best reviews on work in other locations....is it because we are so competitive we don't appreciate each other's work...I doubt it, its probably cause I have the ability and opportunity to put in my best.
I don't blame all the millions of NRIs like my sister who wouldn't trade their dear life over there even for an economic downturn, better opportunities in India, missing their families or racism down under....cause life seems to be what happens before and after work. So to every Indian..a humble request to atleast be courteous to each and everyone and atleast smile when you see each other, for that's probably the easiest thing we can do for now else we will continue to see several Krish's giving up and wanting to move out inspite of India being a hotspot today...where a US Prez comes and finds 50K jobs for his country men....I hope our kids...whnever we get the time to make them...see a better India.
What took me away from my literary endeavour...probably the only PQ (passion quotient) I have discovered in 31 long years on this planet....was it the struggles of living a life...the chaos called life, as it deserves to be termed and has become in India now.
A step back and I see, 2010 is the year I have traveled the least on work...and this is probably the year I have spent the least time away from Bengaluru, my home city, and is the year with the least time I have spent at home as well! Surprising, yes very surprising to me, shocking in fact....I have spent on an average 12 to 14 hours in a glass box, termed as a comfortable work place - temperature controlled, hi tech seats, phones, cuisines from around the world at subsidised prices, toilets cleaned by the hour, vending machines for magazines to the best beverages on earth, pop corn, boiled corn, roasted corn....and I get paid huge sums for punching keys in a world as this. Why would I want to go home?...OR can I go home?
The fact is, whenever I traveled my wife and I have been lucky to be together on most cases...probably not going to be the case going forward...cause she moved from a company that made her work round the clock, but offered the flexibility of working from anywhere to another of those temperature controlled corporates. This is probably the case of atleast half of the approx 80,00,000 employed by the "corporates" in my country today.
This is not an attack on them...this is not to demean all my colleagues and friends who love working here, this is not to say I hate or despise my job.....Thank GOD for IT and ITES, else even I would probably have been an unemployed Indian for a long time or my brain would have also drained to one of the "First World countries" like my sister's. This article is simple a literary picture of my country today and how it reflects on the lives of common citizens as myself. The STRESS of LIVING is simply gone to crazy proportions of late....lets take the case of a guy who works in a mid size company in a yet to be METRO city like Bengaluru.
Krishna or Krish ....always wished it was my name :-)...an average bloke working in a reputed company...wakes up to the alarm on his cell phone@ 6 AM...its upto his will power now to go for a walk/jog/gym. He has already paid Rs 15,000 to the nearest fancy Gym for a years subscription and who promised will make him look like Hrithik. He turns off the alarm...takes a pee...washes his hand or maybe not....and goes back under the blanket...his self pity of having stayed awake till 2 AM last night puts him back to sleep. He is woken up at 8 by his neighbour's car which plays an annoying noise on reverse gear. Has his cup of tea....hears a jeering comment from a family member that he missed walk/jog/Gym again. Reads the newspaper...which nowadays is best unread to avoid "Morning morning depression". It talks of a chief minister blackmailing the centre leadership that he will wash dirty laundry if they ask him to step down. Next page talks of a fight in Mumbai where 2 neighbours fought over a guest who kept the lift open for too long while they bid farewell....and both landed in hospitals. Next page talks of bollywood affairs...and which movie star's son or daughter got paid 1 crore for the next movie. the next page shows the brilliant performance of Indian sports...and yet being on 8th position among Asian countries....about Captain cool whose team won another cricket match and a dejected sardar with a hockey stick. Krish throws the paper away cause he realized it was already 8:45....and he needed to be in office at 10 and its a 1 hour drive. He rushes to the bathroom...now occupied by his sweet wife who also has to leave at the same time....Krish is now ready at 9:30....skips breakfast and chooses to go by the 2 wheeler to save time. Its a pleasant 29 degrees, but he has to wear a jacket else his shirt is going to be black and dirty by the time he gets to work on his bike. All through the way the top speed he hist is 10 KMPH....flyovers being constructed for traffic capacity of 5 years ago....signal lights turned off and no cops to control the speeding cabbie who forces his way, a driver almost spitting red paint on him....escaping maniacs driving like they are just out of the "Well of Death" in Jumbo circus...he curses sweats under his helmet, barely misses 2 autos, and being run over by public transport...makes it to work by 9:58....as he rushes towards the elevator he finds a huge crowd in front of the lift and his work place is on the 9th floor...too much to climb up and be all sweaty in the meeting. While he waits for his turn...well not turn opportunity to get into an elevator, others who came after him just push him aside and walk ahead into a lift and he has to wait for the next one. God....we need serious lessons in courtesy. Finally on his floor at 9:05...a full 5 mins late....he swipes his badge to open a door and sees a lady behind him so holds the door ajar out of courtesy and she just walks across as if it were her right...."Thank you is probably a good word" is running in Krish's head....and lo, he finds 4 other fellow Indian citizens also walk through the door...turning poor Krish from a manager to a door boy. He finds the meeting room and walks into a dark room...probably a presentation is on he thinks, but finds no one there....so he turns on the light and realizes well the others are late as well...late-r rather. The rest of the day rambles on....his hunger pangs trouble him at 11, so he has a chicken roll....and then Chinese for lunch and then Colombian coffee in the evening....pop corn at 8...and all this while punching keys and speaking accented English on the phone with clients and bosses in other countries. After endless conference calls and emails...he heads home at 9:45...with a report yet to be sent...for which data is to come from another guy who is yet to finish work....reaches home after another forgettable death ride on the road and catches the end of KBC on TV.....a programme he wishes he can see everyday. Finds some food on the table, which he eats as if he were eating it in a jail...cause its simple home food and not the world class cuisine he gets at work....puts on his laptop and again starts punching keys in front of the TV and chatting up with his sweet wife. Finally at 2 AM the couple are ready to sleep....of course sleep, you think after such a tough day you there is any energy left to make babies!! and then the cycle repeats. On Saturdays he is busy catching up on pending work and completing domestic tasks he couldn't do on other days....and so are 1,00,000 Krishs like him doing it on Saturday so every place he goes is crowded as hell, taking an hour to cover 8 KMs on road and so goes all the Saturday plans down the drain. The corrupt official who wants Rs. 2000 to change his house water meter, turns him off since it made him feel helpless. All Krish can think of now is to go home....order in food and have a drink...but then the family wants to go out.....so again it depends on Krish's will power to drag himself....and after the outing again he sleeps at 2 cause he wants to catch up on a movie he missed on the week....so how much of Sunday do you think he sees...well I leave it for you to guess.
Now when I think back....the years when I travelled the most, I spent the most with my wife, cause I got home on time in those countries, never found it stressful to go on holidays or on outings....and always had time for exercises and blogging! Cause the stress of LIVING a LIFE doesn't seem to pull us down but instead inspires us to put more on our job...and that's true...I have got the best reviews on work in other locations....is it because we are so competitive we don't appreciate each other's work...I doubt it, its probably cause I have the ability and opportunity to put in my best.
I don't blame all the millions of NRIs like my sister who wouldn't trade their dear life over there even for an economic downturn, better opportunities in India, missing their families or racism down under....cause life seems to be what happens before and after work. So to every Indian..a humble request to atleast be courteous to each and everyone and atleast smile when you see each other, for that's probably the easiest thing we can do for now else we will continue to see several Krish's giving up and wanting to move out inspite of India being a hotspot today...where a US Prez comes and finds 50K jobs for his country men....I hope our kids...whnever we get the time to make them...see a better India.
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Main Sachin...tu Dravid....
Saturday, 02 April 2011....Wankhade Stadium, Mumbai. The finals of the costliest cricket world cup ever.....Australia Vs. India...2 of the best teams in the competition....a packed stadium...and India need to chase a chunky Aussie score and that too under lights. The stadium erupts into a roar to welcome the Aussies back on to the ground....Ricky Ponting is setting the field and suddenly the roar gets deafening....the Indian Openers walk in. For one of them in the team...this is probably the last time he will ever walk into such a moment. After 21 years, this was his only cricket dream that he had dreamt several times but yet to realize. He started playing cricket when India won the cup in 1983...its only fitting for him to retire with India winning it again. There was 1983 and then 2011...and in between Sachin happened :-)
We came close to it once...and humiliated in the last pursuit in the west indies...the dream to be part of a WORLD CUP winning team, and what better place than his own home ground to do it, before he bids adieu to the sport. By 2011, I'd say...21 years...over 400 matches....over 12,000 One Day runs with help from over 50 centuries and over a 100 half centuries....he walks one last time in a world cup....for one last chance....one last shot at that dream. Can Mahi's boys do it....26 years after it happened the last time....or will the 'Sachin-Dravid-Gangauly'...the 'Big 3 era' of Indian Cricket be denied of such an honour. If this happens....and god willing, I will do my best for one ticket of the 50,000 available at the Wankhede.
This Article will probably be best appreciated by fans of Cricket...and more if an Indian. We have consistently linked being a cricketer to being patriotic..."Playing for the country!". Probably the most 'PATRIOT'ized sport in India...especially after the tragic state of hockey. Am not sure if The HPL...Hockey Premier League, that started years before IPL, is even happening anymore. Well, back to the topic.....CRICKET....my tryst with Cricket started when I was about 4 years old I think. My father played for his college and at that time all of us wanted to play like Kapil and Kris Srikkant....and I sucked at it. Later I went on to play for my school and eventually proved to be a good bowler, an average batsman and a pathetic fielder :-)
When someone played a super shot we'd say....like Srikkanth for power shot or Azhar for a wristy shot...as a bowler if you uprooted the middle stump you said "come on Kapil!!" That's the extent to which cricketers mean to Indian kids...Give way superman and Mr Spidey...these are India's super heroes.....the Gladiators of the 21st Century...and Sachin, is Maximus.
Recently I was watching a few kids playing and one of them said I will open and be Sachin! Well, well...wonder what Sachin's son says...if he plays cricket that is...man I cant imagine the pressure he would be under if ever he dons the cricket gear. Do we even remember Rohan Gavaskar...we are a merciless society, wherein all want to be nothing but the best...and hence our society gives those who are the best a Godly Status. Even in my job, people are so offended when they are given a MET EXPECTATION rating during appraisals...ideally Id be happy I met expectations and manage to retain my job! All of them want exceeds expectation, nothin less. Well back to the Little Master...even in a recent movie '99' Cyrus Broacha wanted to lead a certain act in a scene and be the hero...so he shuns his accomplice Kunal Khemu by saying...no no today I will lead "Main Sachin...Tu Dravid!"
So much has been the impact of the master, even the present Indian captain confessed he switched off the TV as a lad when Sachin got out....the scene maybe different today...we may be winning more games even after Sachin got out....but, this man showed us impossible is nothing...not just through his ad for Adidas where is writes "Impossible is nothing" in reverse running hand writing standing behind a glass surface, so that it seems normal and readable to the viewer...I assume its not a camera trick :-) Today he is called the genius, a legend, the GOD of cricket, and has a wax statue at Tussuad's....even a certain political party slandered him for cheap publicity. I remember my mother, who hates cricket, commenting when it was reported that he flunked an exam in his younger age..."That evaluator should have given him 5 more marks...poor fellow", that's when I though...Sachin has arrived! He left his partner...one Mr Kambli far behind...who now is part of a reality show!
An eventful career...which simply got better as he played. He excited us like a wizard with using his bat as a wand...but what I loved the most was the last over he bowled against South Africa in a Hero Cup Final. SA needed a mere 6 runs in 6 balls and a Sachin alare walked up to bowl to some good SA batsmen, who only managed to score 3 runs and India WON!! I almost tore apart the sofa at home in excitement that evening....or the sand-storm innings that he played in Sharjah against the Aussies, which I am sure they wont forgte in a hurry....the 'BOMB'-Bay innings he played in NZ...the emotional ton he dedicated to his father against Kenya...he has been an exemplary representative of the game and the spirit it holds for this nation.
From meeting Don Bradman, or selling products on TV...driving his gifted Ferrari, or interviewing with his sweet childish voice.....Sachin has underlined his presence on earth. An Aussie fan even named his child after Sachin...Sachin Austin.....and god knows how many Indian Fans have named their child 'Sachin', after the Little master....well atleast for all those kids....they don't have to argue...they can proudly say..."Main Sachin...tu Dravid"
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
The first Ever Night F1 Race
Vroooom.....not the name of the character from a Chetan Baghat book...just the closure of another wonderful year of F1, where yet again....we have new champions...and some hope for Force India, yes folks we are ahead of STR Ferrari...not the last on the list!! For most Indian F1 enthusiasts, watching an F1 race is closer to reality with a possibility of a race track coming up near Delhi...but how affordable is it going to be, is something we need to see. My job, thanx to my company, takes me to many places in the world...am sure all of us, well atleast most of us heard of the much hyped F1 night race in Singapore. I was fortunate to be in Singapore during the weekend when the event happened last year..."The first Ever Night F1 Race"…..well, I’d let you, the reader decide if I was fortunate or not, I guess it’s the F1 fan in me that tries to be optimistic about the whole incident. So read on...
My quest for a ticket or a pass started the day I landed in Singapore. I learnt from the website that, Singtel, Singapore’s largest telephone company (similar to BSNL), was the official sponsor of the race. So at the airport I picked up a Singtel Prepaid SIM card and got a 10% discount coupon to the race and a complimentary F1 T-Shirt, which today my cousin proudly sports, ‘cause when I wore it, it looked like a stuffed pillow cover.
I held on dearly to the 10% discount coupon and started hunting for a ticket. Mentally calculating, if I get a USD 150 ticket, I save USD 15, yippee!! Typically Indian you see....$ 15 = Rs. 750/-!! Websites, contacts, friends, colleagues…..all exhausted in just 2 days and no good ticket in sight. This was almost 5 weeks before the event! Unbelievable, eh? Well, that’s thanks to the brilliant HYPE the marketing agency created around the event. After all, it was the first ever F1 race in Singapore and that too a NIGHT race!
After 3 days of research I gave up and decided my destiny was to watch the race in my apartment with my feet up and over a few beers. Sounds just too good, but the F1 enthusiast in me would not shut up and kept egging me to watch the race from close proximity. I kept imagining the power of the engines when they whizzed past....the deafening noise......I had to get a ticket.
Tickets were ridiculously priced, well atleast that’s what my wallet felt. At sharp turns, where the cars slowed down, the price went almost to USD 2000!! My quest for tickets sprang to life when I learnt tickets were suddenly made available owing to an additional stand that was added. They were priced at USD 500 and USD 350. Like most of us, I immediately converted it to read INR 24,000 and INR 16,000……a thought crossed my frowning head…“oh, I would get slaughtered if my wife or parents learnt of this”.
Tickets were ridiculously priced, well atleast that’s what my wallet felt. At sharp turns, where the cars slowed down, the price went almost to USD 2000!! My quest for tickets sprang to life when I learnt tickets were suddenly made available owing to an additional stand that was added. They were priced at USD 500 and USD 350. Like most of us, I immediately converted it to read INR 24,000 and INR 16,000……a thought crossed my frowning head…“oh, I would get slaughtered if my wife or parents learnt of this”.
It took another 2 days to decide if I must go for it….my mind pendulum’d between, “well it’s a lifetime chance, dunno if I can make it to Delhi when it comes to India, if it comes to India etc etc"...."its so many years away, what if Kingfisher airlines and the ever crashing Force India cars makes Mallya bankrupt, all will be down the drain......"
Finally after 2 days of contemplation and a lot of extended hours at office, I decided I deserved a reward for the hardwork I had been putting in and went to the nearest ticket booth, a MAN deserves his kicks you see………..SOLD OUT!! All I ended up with was superb looking complimentary post card, courtesy Singtel "the official sponsor of the race."
With all options exhausted, I traced the 5 KM track by foot, on a Saturday, to identify a restaurant or a pub enroute the race track where I could sit and watch the cars and the race on TV……guess what, all booked!! With 2 weeks to go, all that Singapore was talking about was F1. The side protectors for the tracks and the light fixtures started moving in….traffic diversion notices were put up at almost all traffic displays in the city.
Finally, I though it was god send....an e mail from my own Office in Singapore, inviting employees to its lounge to watch the race from there. I was simply thrilled and excited……was it true, it was!! I immediately accepted the invite and waited eagerly for RACE DAY!!
Saturday...QUALIFIERS - The Eve of RACE Day!! 
I was thrilled that Saturday…I finished laundry and cleaning in record speed.......had watched the pre qualifiers/practice sessions on TV the previous evening and the setting looked AWESOME! I could even picture myself watching this from the office lounge....Come evening and I was on my way to the nearest MRT (public trains) station and reached the office. As I got into the elevator, I could feel pangs of joy in my stomach….and a hungry one too, was beginning to growl asking for food. I was so excited that I had forgotten lunch! As the elevator started going up and I saw the floors increasing on the display…..the ladies chit chat in the lift, speaking the typical Singapore slang…. "Hope the race is good ‘la’….." the thought that had never occured to me for so many days crossed my mind…..floor 18…..19…..20 and kept climbing…….the office lounge was right next to the track allright...but...on the 33 floor…….Bing! The lift had arrived….at the 33 floor.
I was thrilled that Saturday…I finished laundry and cleaning in record speed.......had watched the pre qualifiers/practice sessions on TV the previous evening and the setting looked AWESOME! I could even picture myself watching this from the office lounge....Come evening and I was on my way to the nearest MRT (public trains) station and reached the office. As I got into the elevator, I could feel pangs of joy in my stomach….and a hungry one too, was beginning to growl asking for food. I was so excited that I had forgotten lunch! As the elevator started going up and I saw the floors increasing on the display…..the ladies chit chat in the lift, speaking the typical Singapore slang…. "Hope the race is good ‘la’….." the thought that had never occured to me for so many days crossed my mind…..floor 18…..19…..20 and kept climbing…….the office lounge was right next to the track allright...but...on the 33 floor…….Bing! The lift had arrived….at the 33 floor.
‘What can I see from here???’
I was greeted by a full house in front of a large TV screen, watching the a pre show on TV...a lady dressed like a film star was speaking very animatedly. I couldn't hear a word in the din of the crowd. A host of people lined along the lounge’s glass walls overlooking the race track. I walked upto the glass excited, the qualifiers were about to begin…..I wanted a small gap to squeeze in to the front to watch it. I had made it to the front finally…and as I watched, all the excitement just washed away, I felt like I was watching toy cars race far below on a well lit race track. Many had come well prepared with binoculars and people took turns to watch from the sole telescope on the floor.
After spending about 20 mins watching the large screen and a Tiger Beer, I decided to head home. I took the lift down and walked out of the building….as I walked on the street parallel to the street where the race was on I could hear the booming sounds of the cars…..how I want to drive one of those atleast once in my life and here I was trying to catch a glimpse of it. Then a shimmer of hope shined to my left. There was one street which was barricaded at the end and a crowd stood watching the race.
I couldn't believe it, I ran toward the crowd…..pushing through like a few others there. In a few minutes I was drenched in sweat owing to the Singapore humidity and the crowd. After 10 minutes of pushing, I had navigated through just half the crowd. Suddenly a car whizzed past followed by a booming noise, I think it was Kimmi….or Alonso, no idea, I was ever more intent and focused on reaching the front row. I diligently continued navigating through the crowd.....this reminded me of my childhood while traveling in crowded buses back in Mangalore. The humidity in Singapore was bang on as if I were in Mangalore....
Finally reached the front line, feeling all sticky with sweat...mine and others....much to the dismay of a lady standing there, who was now behind me…….I could hear a car…..yes I could finally see an F1 car less than 5 feet from me……I could feel the Doppler effect I learnt about in school….and Vrooooomm…..a car painted in red whizzed past…..in I think less than…well less than a split second…..it was unbelievable. The thundering engines that sped past and the deafening sound that followed, left just a beep in my ears. It was awesome, though just for a split second…..I could feel goose bumps under the sweat. As I stood there I realized, there was no way of knowing who was leading and if anyone crashed, watch them overtake, lap speed etc etc….I guess I was so used to watching F1 on TV. I managed to stand there without being evicted for 10 full minutes, until another guy bigger and stronger than me evicted me of my space. I then looked around for another spot and found only angry frustrated faces trying to move to the front like I was a few minutes ago.
I bailed out and returned home soon.....watched the rest of the qualifiers and the race the following day in the comfort of the apartment and over a few beers. An amazing experience nevertheless...a few months later I learnt that one of the crashes in the race was intentional!! It pretty much ruined the careers of a few people....well...the race must go on...this year the race finished its second year...and it still rocks!! Hoping that we will have an F1 race in India by the promised 2012....See you soon.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Masala World……not a cookery show….
I kept struggling to decide on a topic for my first ever Blog post….looking for inspiration... I was channel surfing....and lo! I happened to catch the movie BOMBAY on TV… I decided to watch it for the nth time, an all time favorite of mine. A love story between a Hindu and a Muslim set in the backdrop of the Mumbai violence following the Ayodhya – Babri Masjid issue. I remember watching this movie on the big screen....the craze of Dolby sound spreading in all theaters, I still don’t know what it means…..I think in 1996-97. A controversial issue, AR Rahman’s feet tapping Humma Humma..and Mani Ratnam’s heartening scenes were a perfect mix for a super success at the box office. The most memorable scenes for me from the movie was when the rioters try to burn the twins and pour fuel all over them….with them being totally petrified, their father running in from one side to save them and screaming …their mother running in from another direction….the rioters trying to light up a match that wont burn…and worse the cops are lining up to fire bullets!! Jeezuz!! I think this is worse that Catch 22…is there a Catch 222? By the way they escape the ordeal with minor dirt on their clothes and body that a good bath cannot take care off. Total Masala….that’s probably why I still remember the scene. Well 13 Years on and the movie still works…and had a lot of commercials during breaks, that too at 10 AM in the morning on a week day!
I remember writing a review on the movie in college for an English assignment and received a lot of appreciation for it. It was even put on the 'notice board that no one read'. Well atleast until my article got in there….I stood there for full 10 minutes, for the first and the last time at the 'notice board no one read' and re read my article from the notice board. Waited and acted as though I was engrossed reading the article, but I was actually looking at the reflection on the notice board glass, at each person passing, especially pretty girls, who bothered to take a glance. I hoped they would stop and read the article so I can tell them “That’s my article…”. Well high hopes…. I never saw that notice board ever in college after that…oh wait! I saw it once more, cause someone managed to slide in some hot gossip about a happening girl in college.
I was trying to read the content wading through a crowd that was assembled... mainly guys, trying to read it. Gosh! It was more crowded than when the results were put up on notice boards. Remember...those boards when you tried to see if you managed to pass and someone in the crowd would say "SHIT I failed...." and you almost fainted or another shrill girly voice saying..."Yippeee...Distinction!!" And all you wanted to do was stuff her face into the notice board.
I remember writing a review on the movie in college for an English assignment and received a lot of appreciation for it. It was even put on the 'notice board that no one read'. Well atleast until my article got in there….I stood there for full 10 minutes, for the first and the last time at the 'notice board no one read' and re read my article from the notice board. Waited and acted as though I was engrossed reading the article, but I was actually looking at the reflection on the notice board glass, at each person passing, especially pretty girls, who bothered to take a glance. I hoped they would stop and read the article so I can tell them “That’s my article…”. Well high hopes…. I never saw that notice board ever in college after that…oh wait! I saw it once more, cause someone managed to slide in some hot gossip about a happening girl in college.
I was trying to read the content wading through a crowd that was assembled... mainly guys, trying to read it. Gosh! It was more crowded than when the results were put up on notice boards. Remember...those boards when you tried to see if you managed to pass and someone in the crowd would say "SHIT I failed...." and you almost fainted or another shrill girly voice saying..."Yippeee...Distinction!!" And all you wanted to do was stuff her face into the notice board.
I was angry with this crowd….my article which I spent a week and a lot of feelings to write; an article which I dreamt would have a 'full house' notice board reading it and friends patting my back on what a good article it was....being POPULAR in college and all! Alas...I think I found may be one or two readers, and here an article someone just wrote….well I can’t say “wrote”, I think he just puked on the page, was getting so much attention. I just wanted to see what the hell was it that he wrote...and honestly, also what and who the gossip was about. I continued jumping and pushing to read it….I could see a picture of the gal also….oh man, I had to see this, just then I turned and saw our student welfare officer….a popular guy in college and a math genius…BOSCO…was shoo'ing everyone to try and open the notice board and pull the article out. He caught my eye…and I could see the words in his eyes…”You too Brutus…” Oops I meant "You too Vinod...?" I had this fizzled out smile..."Chammal Smile" as they say in malayalam...and made me realize "he thought I was a good student...", until now atleast. Well, he quit the role of a student welfare officer the following year...he is still one of my favourites, we even have a group in Orkut "Bosco Sir Fan Club". His classes were really interesting...to all...I think cause he made it hilarious...so we'd never doze off even if we dint understand calculus...did I spell it correct? I remember, he once told an NRI student, who failed to answer a question...."You GELF fellows have an extra tail, put it inside the hole near the tail when you come to class"....Masala again....
Masala works…and that’s the fact…Om Shanti Om was a greater hit than a meaningful movie like Swades. 20-20 Cricket draws larger crowds that Test cricket…or for that matter even one day cricket. Stardust and cine blitz pay their reporters more than most reporters in some of the most read Indian Magazines. Come on…dint you notice the comments written on your Toilet walls than the “No Entry” Sign on the road…or the "Keep the premises clean" sign where you just dropped a chocolate wrapper. I mean...I still remember some of the comments on my college wall – 13 years later- but not a single math formula! My favorite one, exclude the perverted ones, was that of a vertical scale drawn with a pencil…and the top most metric line was darkened with a comment that said… “If you can piss above this you are wanted in the FIRE Department!” Or another one that said “Shake Well after use!!” Masala simply works…..
So, when my wife said…I need to start writing and hone that skill before I look at going on to the big league....I decided to start by blogging. I am sure she would be disappointed at my choice of the first article…but am positive she will still read the article a coupla times atleast….'cause Masala simply Works!!
Masala works…and that’s the fact…Om Shanti Om was a greater hit than a meaningful movie like Swades. 20-20 Cricket draws larger crowds that Test cricket…or for that matter even one day cricket. Stardust and cine blitz pay their reporters more than most reporters in some of the most read Indian Magazines. Come on…dint you notice the comments written on your Toilet walls than the “No Entry” Sign on the road…or the "Keep the premises clean" sign where you just dropped a chocolate wrapper. I mean...I still remember some of the comments on my college wall – 13 years later- but not a single math formula! My favorite one, exclude the perverted ones, was that of a vertical scale drawn with a pencil…and the top most metric line was darkened with a comment that said… “If you can piss above this you are wanted in the FIRE Department!” Or another one that said “Shake Well after use!!” Masala simply works…..
So, when my wife said…I need to start writing and hone that skill before I look at going on to the big league....I decided to start by blogging. I am sure she would be disappointed at my choice of the first article…but am positive she will still read the article a coupla times atleast….'cause Masala simply Works!!
Thanx for your time…if you liked what you read, please tell your friends and keep comin back…..
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