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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
Ashutosh Joshi's Blurty:
| Saturday, July 8th, 2006 | |
| 4:38 pm | A visit to a hospital... The moment I woke up on friday morning, I realized that something wasn't quite normal. Within seconds, I realized that my right eye was still closed and however hard I tried, it wouldn't open. Sensing the trouble, I immediately got up from my bed and rushed to the bathroom mirror to see what was wrong. I saw that my right eye was badly swolen. It seemed to have caught some infection. I won't go into the gory details but things looked pretty bad. I decided to see a doctor immediately even if it had to be with only one of my eyes. I came back to my bed, sat down and looked at the watch. It was around 3.30 in the morning. So I thought that it would be best to go back to sleep and lied down. One might typically assume that with one eye already closed, it would be relatively easier to fall asleep. But unfortunately that wasn't the case then. And since I was unable to sleep, I started thinking about where I should take my swolen eye in the morning. I remembered a certain 'Devi Eye Hospital' near my place. Although it looked a pretty decent building from outside, the name turned me off. So I decided that I'll go there if I am not able to think of any other options. Then I was reminded of the Manipal Hospital, a very well known hospital in Bangalore. Quite a few of my colleagues had been there and no one had complained. And since it was a big hospital, it ought to have an eye division. So I decided that I'd go there. Sometime after that I must have fallen asleep. I woke up at around 7, got ready and started for Manipal hospital. I decided to take an autorickshaw. Surprisingly, I got one pretty quickly and some time later, I was standing in front of Manipal. One glance at Manipal hospital and you start believing that it's a brainchild of a businessman rather than a doctor. And further glances only strengthen that belief. The hospital has a huge building, the kind that gives you the assurance that you will be cured irrespective of the quality of doctors inside. It has a moderate sized garden in front of the building, a small pond inside the garden and some real swans within the pond. There's a big parking area surrounding the garden and an ICICI atm in one corner. How very thoughtful! As I entered the building, although I was looking for the reception, the first thing I saw was a temple straight ahead and a pujari, who was performing some pooja. A temple inside a hospital is a very cool idea because whenever someone is being operated on, his loved ones don't have to go far to pray for him. Dava aur dua ek saath! Plus people tend to get extra religious when they are inside a hospital. So there was a conspicuous daanpeti in front of the idol to make sure that all this religiousness reached the right place. The reception counter wasn't hard to locate either. I went there, filled a form, paid some money (apparently for becoming a lifetime member) and was directed to the ophthalmology division. Reaching there, I found out that I had come a bit too early. The doctor wasn't expected for the next two hours. But I still decided to wait there because going home and coming back to airport road at 9.30 was practically impossible due to the traffic and also because I had just paid 50 bucks for the auto fare. I didn't want to make it a habit. So I turned back to the lady behind the counter and asked her if there was some snacks place nearby. She said that there was the hospital canteen just behind the building. A canteen inside a hospital is again a cool idea. And it was a pretty neat canteen too with big multi-colored umbrellas embedded in tables and all that. I had some snacks there and started roaming around the hospital campus generally. There was a small book stall for waiting patients to pass their time. There was a cyber-cafe too, for the technologically savvy patients. A couple of telephone booths here and there so that patients can call their loved ones to tell them that they are fine.. or not. But I was surprised when I saw a travel agent's counter inside the hospital! Then I guessed that it must be for out-station patients. In fact, I also saw a lawyer inside the hospital but later found out that he too was a patient. I sat in the waiting hall for some time. Two hours seemed to pass quickly. I went back to the ophthalmology division again, paid the consultation fee this time and waited for a while. The doctor finally diagnosed me and said that it was a viral infection, nothing serious. She gave me a prescription for which I thanked her and left. I followed the medicine routine without fail and seven days later, I am a much better person now. But I still remember the day I visited the Manipal Hospital. |
| Thursday, April 27th, 2006 | |
| 2:54 pm | Adventure fiasco... "Daredevil" may not be my middle name and an adventure is certainly not an event in my life occuring as often as brushing my teeth. But a little bit of excitement once in a while is not something that I tend to shy away from. Just some time back, fate presented me with one such opportunity and I grabbed (well... tried to grab) it with both hands.. literally in some sense. Few days back, on a pleasant sunday morning, I was on my bike driving on the inner ring road. As soon as I started on the ring road, the first thing that I noticed was the vehicles on the road or rather the lack of them. The ring road is never the crowdiest of places but on this very day, it was almost completely empty. And as soon as I realized that fact, I immediately had this compulsive urge to race my bike. I hadn't raced my bike a considerably long time now. In fact, I have never done it after coming to Bangalore. The only thing I remember about driving in Bangalore is looking at the pedestrians moving faster and getting jealous of them. Now, this was my turn to get back at them. The fact that none of them was there to witness the spectacle, seemed irrelevant somehow. So I decided to go for it and accelerated. I had kept the visor of my helmet open. I usually do that because if I keep it closed, I see objects on the road that don't exist. It gives me a feeling of having a sort of sixth sense which most of the times is scary. Anyways.. so since the visor was open, as I accelerated, I could instantly feel the breeze cuddling my face. I liked that. This is good, I thought. So I accelerated further. I could feel the surrounding moving more rapidly and I felt a sort of adrenaline rush within myself, if that was the correct interpretation. Now there was no way I was going to slow down from there. So I accelerated further and kept on doing so till the handle started trembling. The wind was literally slapping my face hard by now. I felt just on the verge of control and the lack of it. It was a slightly scary feeling but at the same time a great one too. The speed needed utmost concentration. Any lapse could cost me dearly. I realized that and took my eyes off the road just for a fraction of a second, looked at the speedometer and back up. As I looked up I found something to be abnormal. Something on the speedometer seemed weird. So I looked back for slightly longer this time and found that it was true. The speedometer was showing a speed of fifty five kmph! What the .., I thought. This was impossible, I knew it was. But just to confirm, I raised the speed slightly and the needle moved too. It was indeed true. Now this was pathetically unbeleivable. I was driving at fifty five kmph and getting all excited about it. But I still hadn't reasoned it out. It was then that I realized that driving in Bangalore, I had gotten so used to speeds of tens and twenties, that even a speed of fifty five seemed unmanageable to me. And with this realization suddenly all the feeling of excitement, the adrenaline, etc started vanishing one by one. Finally, the only feeling that remained was that of fear. The speed was still uncontrollable irrespective of its absolute value. So I yielded and slowed down to a safer speed. |
| Tuesday, January 24th, 2006 | |
| 2:28 pm | Bored of cricket control of India... I am bored of cricket. These words will make even the most bovine of the Indians raise at least one of his eyebrows. "What did you say?", he'd ask. An average Indian will slap himself twice to confirm that he's awake and then approach the quoter to do the same to him. The reaction of an enthusiastic Indian can be anything between violent and very violent. Having said this, consider what'll happen if you say, I don't like cricket. We had a concept of untouchables long back. I'm not sure if we still have it but if we do, then you'll be one of those. People will shut off all contacts with you. They might even appeal to the Government to withdraw your citizenship. Given all this, imagine, just imagine what'll happen if you say I hate cricket. I certainly can't. In fact, my hands tremble as I write these three dreaded words. A chill runs down my spine. My body temperature suddenly rises. If you say these three words in front of any four randomly chosen Indians, the moment you utter them, bang! you're dead, murdered, slaughtered. And this is the best you can hope for. If India were Taliban, people would've declared a fatwa against you. Kill at sight. People like these are harmful to the society, they'd say. I, for one, certainly don't hate cricket. But I can't help but say that I'm slightly bored of cricket lately... Slightly, mind you. But I was not this way always. Long time back I used to be a normal kid, totally crazy about cricket. I still remember the 1992 World Cup, my best encounter with cricket till date. I had religiously followed every match. I even had a notebook dedicated for the World Cup in which I would paste the scorecards and write various statistics. Those days we used to play cricket everyday. Then over the years, I grew lazy and restricted myself only to watching. And then for some reason, I simply lost touch. Returning to the real world wasn't easy. I still remember a conversation with 3 collegues. They were discussing about some match, about how the pitch was flat and there was nothing for the spinners. And how the bowling attack was weak. Finally they concluded that it would be a draw. They looked at me in antecipation for some comments and I happened to ask, "I'm sorry, who's playing?" There was a silence for a few seconds. They never talked to me again. But that was because I had lost touch. This is different. This is because I've had a bit too much of it. Before shifting with my brother, I used to stay with my friends. I was under the impression that Sameer was the greatest cricket fan. But my other roomates were not behind, in fact they were even ahead. If there was some match on Saturday, my day would be as follows: I would be awakened by the crowd cheering the openers. Then we would watch the entire match ball by ball. Then the 'Masterblasters' and 'Fall of wickets' and of course the highlights after the match. And then again in the news, in case we missed anything. And finally, not to forget those great segments, third eye, fourth umpire, fifth referee, tenth wicket-keeper, eleventh twelfth man and so on. There are 12 people playing for a team and there are 112 people analysing them. These are truly great people. They are commentators cum analysts cum face-readers cum astrologers. For example, if a batsman is looking tense, one of the commentators would say, "What do you think is going on in his mind, Ravi? What should be his next move?" And Ravi would reply, "Well, he just looked at the scoreboard. Only four overs remaining. I think he's going to cut loose." When what the batsman would actually be thinking is, "Man! Four more overs to go... Its getting hard to control now..." Well, he wants to cut loose alright.. When Sachin and Sehwag are in the middle of the pitch, discussing, an astute commentator would say, "Sachin seems a bit disturbed here. Maybe they are discussing about the confusion in calling in the last over." When what Sachin would actually be saying to Sehwag is, "Yaar, wife ne kuch saaman laane ko bola hai yahan se. Parson ki flight hai apni. Kal shaam market chalte hai kya?" Whenever some batman hits a century or breaks some record, the news correspondents from various new channels invade the house of the person and of all those living in the vicinity. They start interviewing everyone including the parents, wife, kids, watchman, neighbors, neighbors' watchman and so on. "I saw saabji when he was leaving for the tour. He seemed very confident. I knew he would break the record," the watchman Bahadur would recollect. And the correspondent would finally summarize all this. The point is, people are trying to strech and encash on cricket a bit too much. Cricket is very special to us. Its like a religion. But if it continues this way, cricket might just lose the special place it has today. |
| Friday, January 13th, 2006 | |
| 10:28 am | Lesson learnt... Today morning, me and my younger brother Abhishek were heading towards our daily breakfast point, Udupi Vihar, on our bike. He wants to open an account in some bank and was telling me about the pros and cons of different banks. As we neared Udupi Vihar, he said, "So I think I'll open an account in ICICI. It has a lot of ATMs so it'll be more convenient." "Hmm..", I said. "But you can also think about other options. For example, as you said, the lock-in amount in UTI is quite less. So if there are sufficient number of UTI ATMs, that can also be a good choice. So just consider it before making a decision", I said, parking the bike. "Hmm..", he said acknowledging. "Ok.. I'll find out more info." It seems, I am in good form today, I thought. So I might as well give Abhishek some more words of wisdom, some gyaan, some lessons that life has taught me. After all, being the elder brother, it is my duty as well as right to do so. As we reached the counter, I ordered for 2 plate idli-wada and 2 coffee and turning to Abhishek, I started, "Also Abhu, what you said about ATMs is absolutely correct. But generally I feel that its not a good idea to depend entirely on ATMs. I mean, there might be situations when you need money and there's no ATM around. So its always good to have some money, say 500 odd rupees in cash in your wallet." Saying this, I took out my wallet from my pocket to pay up and as I did so, I found a solitary 10 rupee note lying in it. She was probably cursing me for depriving her of any company for the past few days. I checked out the coins pocket and the coins amounted to some 4 rupees. For a few seconds, I kept looking at the spectacle, thinking about what's the best thing to do next. Abhishek was looking at all this. He assessed the situation and quickly took out his wallet and paid up. I was still looking at my wallet trying to consume the turn of events. Finally, I said, "You see." "That way, you can avoid such situations," I concluded, putting my wallet back in my pocket. |
| Thursday, January 5th, 2006 | |
| 11:18 am | Sorry... Q : What did American superhero Superman say to Indian superhero Mr. India on meeting after a long time? A : Yaar, tum dikhte nahi aajkal... Q : And how did Mr. India respond? A : Yaar, udaao mat please... PS: Thank God, homicide over the Internet is not yet a reality. |
| Monday, November 28th, 2005 | |
| 5:13 pm | Vikram and Betaal... King Vikram was given the difficult task of bringing the spirit, Betaal by a sage for some rituals. The task was difficult because Betaal was an extremely intelligent spirit and it was very difficult to catch him. Vikram on the other hand was a valliant and persevering dude and would give up at no cost. Vikram was bravery personified whereas Betaal was intelligence spiritualized. Every single time, Vikram would fight hard to catch Betaal, but Betaal would somehow escape. This time was no different. Betaal went back and rested on the tree. Vikram followed Betaal, caught him and putting him on his shoulders, started his journey back. Betaal was an expert in confusing any person by his smooth talks. So he started, "What Vikram? When are you going to leave me? And why don't you bring your new Corolla to take me? That way we can reach much faster. Plus the AC and music will make the trip enjoyable. Ok.. can I go back and get my new ipod? I have a lot of good songs. We can both listen to them. Shall I come in a mintue?" But Vikram was not to be fooled by Betaal's talks. So he kept walking. Betaal continued, "Ok Vikram. Since its a long journey, let me tell you one story.. just for timepass. At the end, I'll ask you one question. If you know answer and don't say it, I'll break your head into pieces. I've just bought a new head grinder. And if you talk, I'll go back to my home-tree. Simple rules? Ok so let's start." Betaal started the story. This is a story about Sukhiram. Sukhiram was a project manager in a leading multinational. He was in the industry for 12 years now and was respected in the company. Sukhiram had a beautiful wife Kalawati, who was also a software engineer and twin kids, Staticram and Dynamicram. Both were in 5th standard and very bright. So Sukhiram was a happy man. Although he had occasional fits of depression like other software engineers, overall he was a contented man. Everything was going fine for Sukhiram, till one day... It was Tuesday morning and it was drizzling outside. The rains hadn't stopped for 2 days now. Sukhiram had a conf call and wanted to reach office early. Kalawati had come late the previous night so Sukhiram didn't want to wake her up. Sukhiram got up early, got fresh and made breakfast quickly. He ate it fast and started to leave. Halfway through the steps, he realized that he had forgotten his helmet at home. Recently government had made helmets compulsory and Sukhiram being a law abiding citizen, didn't want to break the laws. He quickly went back home, took his helmet and started wearing it on his way through the stairs. But while wearing the helmet, he lost his balance and fell down. He rolled down the stairs and his head hit a sharp stone. But since he had his helmet on, he didn't hurt himself much. He got up and left for office with some bruises. Saying this, Betaal stopped. Then he continued, "Now tell me Vikram. What was the cause of the accident and how could it have been avoided? Was it the helmet? But the helmet saved him too. So tell me, Vikram, tell me." Vikram thought for a while and then started, "Betaal... since Sukhiram was a project manager in a multinational and was in the industry for 12 years, he must have been a rich man." "Ok... so?", Betaal was listening. Vikram continued, "So he must definitely have owned a car. And since it was raining for 2 days, it was best that he took the car." "Hmm, nice", Betaal said in appreciation. Vikram continued further, "Sukhiram, in his haste, failed to realize that it is not necessary to wear helmet inside a car. Had he realized that, the accident would have been avoided." There was a silence for a while. Then Betaal spoke, "That was good thinking, Vikram, very good thinking indeed. I was thinking more in terms of attending the conf call from home. But I like your answer." Betaal fell silent again. Then he talked, "But Vikram, you have broken your silence. So I must leave... Hoohoo haahaahaa." And Betaal started flying back to his tree. "Oh shit!", Vikram cried out and followed him. |
| Tuesday, November 8th, 2005 | |
| 6:41 pm | Attitude... Last sunday, myself, sameer, apurva and alok were travelling by Gorakhpur express to Bangalore from Nagpur. Myself and Sameer were sitting together while Alok and Apurva were in different boggies. We were sitting on the side lower berth talking generally. Sameer's dad had got him some oranges for the journey and he was enjoying them. The train had an unusually large number of beggers. So many that they seemed more than the passengers. While we were talking, one of them was dragging himself towards us, cleaning the train. He was a young fellow around 20 years of age, handicapped, couldn't walk. After he finished cleaning our compartment, he streched out his hand to the people around and then finally to Sameer. Now Sameer is a person who finds it extremely difficult to say no to people. If daanveer karna really existed, Sameer was the second most generous person on earth. But he had given so much chillar to so many beggers since morning that he was out of coins. So he gave a negative reply to the begger with a look of helplessness. The begger looked down for a while and then looking at the oranges, said to Sameer, "Bhaiya, ek santra to do." Sameer was already impressed with this young lad who was cleaning trains to earn his living. So he quickly took out an orange and with a smile, gave it to the lad, saying, "yeh lo". The lad took the orange and after looking at it, returned it to Sameer, saying, "Yeh kharaab hai... Doosra do." Sameer looked at me with surprise. I was already surprised. The first thought that struck me was, "Yeh ladka aage jaake zaroor kuch banega!" Sameer promptly took the orange and gave him another one after proper checking this time. The lad looked at the orange and after confirming that it was good, stood up and walked away! |
| Monday, October 24th, 2005 | |
| 6:02 pm | Pune revisited... Last weekend was a time for my journey into the past (ok... four months is not that long a duration.. but its still 'past'). It was time to visit my favorite place 'Pune'. The occasion being Addie's engagement. When I had first heard the news about Addie's engagement, I was really happy for multiple reasons. Firstly because I'd get an opportunity to visit Pune but more importantly because, of all the people I know, Addie is one person who desparately wants to get married :) My journey started with me leaving office at 6 PM on friday for an 8 PM train as I had full faith in Blore autorickshaw drivers and the traffic. Surprisingly as well as unfortunately, I reached in just 20 minutes. But killing time being one of my core strengths, this wasn't a difficult situation for me. I spent some time on the station looking at people. Alistair came pretty soon , so we had an early dinner and boarded the train. In the train, we met a sweet old aunty who was keen to know about software engineers. We were enjoying the conversation until she asked the most difficult question of all, "So tell me, what do you software engineers actually do?" I have been confronted with this question a number of times and never have I given a convincing answer. But this may be because I don't know any. Rest of the journey was cool and we reached Pune on time. As soon as I set foot on Pune station, the first feeling that came to me was, "Wow". I had really missed Pune. At the station, we took an auto and Alistair went to the hall while I proceeded to Nirmiti Horizon, my home in pune. Soon I met my comrades of the adm gang. It was great to meet them all. We all went to the hall and met Addie. Addie was looking extremely impressive in his sherwani, an ideal groom. But although impressive, Addie will still be Addie. During the rituals, he was given a sweet to offer to Richa (his fiancee). Addie took it and promptly ate it himself :) The ceremony went on well after which Addie introduced us to Richa. I had heard praises about Richa from everyone and was eager to meet her. But we couldn't talk to the couple for long since they were the busiest people in the room. The function was very well organized and uncle (addie's dad) played the perfect host. After some time, we bade them all goodbye and returned to nirmiti. There, all of us played Shyam's favorite sport, cards. We played GKB (gareebon ka bridge) for a long time and finally slept. Next day, I met my nagpur friends before going to Esquare (my first love). We saw 'hanuman' there after which we went to Horn Ok Please (my second love) on FC road (my joint first love). Had a treat from Shyam, roamed for a while, returned and retired. Today morning, I left pune for bangalore ending one of my most expensive yet fulfilling weekends. |
| Monday, October 3rd, 2005 | |
| 2:38 pm | Lift me alone, please... At the end of the day, when you are returning (exhausted) to your room through the despicable and testing Bangalore traffic and are waiting for the traffic signal to turn green (for the nth time), one of the last things you want is a tap on your shoulder by a stranger who would ask you for a lift when you look at him. Friday night, when I was in a similar situation, in Indiranagar, waiting for the signal to turn green (green is my favorite color, since I came to Bangalore), I had my share of tap on the shoulder. I turned back to see a man in his 50s, carrying a black office bag. I asked, "yes?" He smiled and asked, "Can you drop me till NGEF?" I find it extremely difficult to refuse, when caught in this situation. Things are different when I am on the move and someone asks for a lift, standing on the edge of the road. That time, I can pretend to look in the mirror or the trees on the other side or any other direction. But this was not one of those occasions. Also, his face was such that it seemed he had put in a lot of practice in looking pitiable. So I said, "Ok". He was an old man but he was extremely quick in hopping on my bike. And we moved along. In the next 15 minutes, I covered a distance of 2 kms and somehow managed to reach NGEF square. I pulled over and told him that we'd reached NGEF. But I felt that he didn't have any intensions of getting down. So I turned around to look at him. He was smiling at me. I asked, "What? We are at NGEF". To which, he replied, "Actually I want to go to KR Puram. Can you drop me there?" This was too much. He had tricked me! It hadn't been the best of my days anyway and now this. If he hadn't been old, I would have asked him to get down then and there. Well.. at least requested. But then my place wasn't much far off. So I thought I can take him till there. So I moved along. On reaching the turn for my house I asked him to take some other mode of transport from there. He politely got down, thanked me and left. One would ask, so? What's the big deal in lending a lift to someone in need? Well, there is, when it is the third time, you're lending a lift to someone on the same day. And that's not it. In Bangalore, where you are moving at 10-15 km/hr for most of the time, its very difficult to balance the vehicle with someone sitting on the pillion. Your hands begin to pain after a while. And they pain even more when you realize that that pain is totally uncalled for. Plus you lose the flexibilty of cashing on the opportunities of small spaces between vehicles, which vanish in blink of the eyes. The number of people who ask for lift really amazes me. Why are they so many? Are they really in need or its a habit? I certainly can't believe its the former because there are so many poor or middle class people. All don't use lifts as their mode of transport. They use the public transport. But this lift business was strikingly prominent in Pune as well. What pisses me off the most is that even after helping people umpteen times, God still hasn't been generous to me. Never has it happened that some beautiful, single girl has ever asked me for a lift. It really hurts me when I think about it. |
| Wednesday, August 31st, 2005 | |
| 8:09 pm | Love hurts... There are situations in life when one has to make tough decisions. No matter how hard it hurts, it has to be done. In my life, somehow every decision has been tough. But the toughest one came last weekend when I was forced to think about breaking up with the only love of my life. On saturday, I was with Sameer. We'd gone to check out the Garuda Mall where Inox had just been inaugarated. We wanted to watch some movie which we decided to be "My wife's murder". Entering the mall, we rushed straight to the ticket counter. I have realized that in Bangalore, similar to Pune, there are enough number of idiots who reach any movie hall to watch any stupid movie that is released. We just wanted to be ones who actually got the tickets. So reaching the ticket counter we straightway joined the queue. The screen on the top of the counters showed 'few tickets remaining' for the movie we were interested in. Our hearts started pounding heavily and we started praying to God. Within some time, we reached the counter. Sameer asked, "My wife's murder?" The guy politely asked back, "How many, sir?" Me and sameer looked at each other and smiled. We had finally made it. "Four," sameer said. (Akshay and chirag were to join us. Actually mrugank too but thanks to akshay that fact was kept as a secret from us (for which he yelled at me later)). Anyways, so the guy at the counter said, "Sir, we only have club class." We looked at the guy as if asking, "So?" He continued, "The ticket fare is Rs. 170." "Kitna?!?" sameer asked, astonished. People around us started looking at us. "Sir, 170, ", he repeated and waited for our reaction. I leaned forward and asked, just to confirmed, "umm.. 170 per person?" "Yes sir," he replied, smiling, almost laughing. "Oh," I responded, looking at the ground as if all our dreams had just shattered. But then we decided to go ahead and watch the movie since we had taken so much pain to reach there. Later we saw the movie which we didn't like that much and were even more disappointed. But I was left with a thought, actually more than one thoughts. Will I have to quit watching movies in multiplexes? How can people afford such exorbitant fares? Shouldn't there an MRP on ticket fares as well? And I was reminded of Esquare in Pune, the place where I spent most of my time on weekends. The best thing that has happened to me, ever. Oh, how I miss Esquare! But as far as quiting multiplexes is concerned, I doubt if I can manage that. Its an addiction just like smoking. You know it's slowly ruining you but you still can't resist the temptation of one more. I don't smoke BTW. But later that evening, I met Ajaybhai. So I was happy again. We roamed around in the mall talking and simultaneously looking around. Ajaybhai had to leave soon. And I did so too. But I had learnt a lesson that day. If you want to have a good time in Bangalore, you need to spend a lot of money. Later next friday, I saw an english comedy play, "Big B" with apurva, alistair and bala. It was a great play and i enjoyed the experience thoroughly. Highly recommended. |
| Wednesday, June 29th, 2005 | |
| 12:06 pm | Bangalore... Idli wada sambar, lots of people, fantastic weather and radio city. Yeah, I am in Bangalore in search of a different life. It was saturday 18th June 2005 when I set my foot in this happening city. I was apprehensive in the unfamilair surrounding but it was not long before I saw the first familiar face. It was Aks waiting for me (thanks buddy) and then Sameer. And suddenly the city felt different. I looked around breathing the new (somewhat polluted) air. It was the beginning of a new life. I am now two weekends old here. MG raod and Forum mall are apperently the only holy places in here. I visited them immediately on the first weekend. The places are overwhelming more than anything else. It seems as if the entire Bangalore population gets distributed in two equal parts and goes to each of them. Every city has its own peculiarities and so does Bangalore. But the thing that struck me most is the behaviour of the auto rickshaw drivers. It seems that by running the autos, they are doing us a great favor and we should be thankful to them. In my first week, since I didn't have my bike, I had ample interaction with them. If you feel bad about being rejected or neglected, come here and try to get an auto. You'll get used to it. Once I was walking from my office, wanting to go home. I walked around 1 km being rejected by around 10 (or more) autos. Finally I saw an auto standing at a distance. I rushed to it and walked to the driver. "Old Madras road?", I asked. He looked at me and said, "Go straight". I looked at the vehicle he was sitting in. It was an auto rickshaw alright. I asked him, "Won't you take me?" "No," he said. "Why?" I asked, irritated. "Its not in my way," he said quite plainly. "Take 1 1/2 times fare," I said in desperation. He thought and then said, "umm.. No." This was unbelievable. I moved ahead (I had to). Finally, I got one kind auto driver, who took me home taking 1 1/2 times the fare. It was really nice of him. The auto drivers here remind me of shopkeepers in Pune. But I'll talk about them sometime later. Over the weekends, I met Shailu, Mrugank, Alistair and Bala. Saw two movies Parineeta and Paheli. Washed clothes, arranged stuff and still have a lot to do before I call myself settled down. But I do miss Pune. My friends, the girls (I think they are the best), the holes with roads around them, radio mirchi and most of all Esquare. I hope to see them all again some day. |
| Tuesday, June 14th, 2005 | |
| 4:46 pm | Priced tag... Being tagged by John and Aks are incidents that can't be ignored and I am going to do the same (meaning, not ignore them). So here goes... Reading is something that I enjoy. But that's only when I can manage it and that's not too often. I had talked about this in one of my previous post so repeating the same thing would be a repetition. But that said, there *are* certain books that I have succeeded in reading (most of which are comic books and those that are not, are read by almost everyone). Number of books read : Prefer not to answer The last book I bought : That would actually be the new RC book for my bike since I am shifting it to a different state. But if that's not an acceptable answer, it would be The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The last book I read : Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. As I have said, most of everyone must have read it. Needless to say, its a great book. Also needless to say is that the sense of humor of the author is out of the world (pun intended) and that it should be read eventhough hitchhiking the galaxy is not one of the items in your todo list. (Just for the record, I haven't completed reading it). Five books I love : There is no doubt about this one. Here is the list of my high five. 1. Chacha Chaudhary aur Raaka 2. Chacha Chaudhary aur Raaka ka intekaam 3. Chacha Chaudhary aur Raaka ka hamlaa 4. Chacha Chaudhary aur Raaka ki vaapsi 5. Chacha Chaudhary aur Raaka se moothbhed As far as my tagees are concerned, I nominate adizone, addie, namoona and nilay. |
| Friday, May 20th, 2005 | |
| 2:55 pm | Visit to a government office... I had heard a lot of stories about visits of people to government offices and the terrible experiences they had. That is why when my dad asked me to go to one and get some work done, I was a bit apprehensive in the beginning but then agreed to, because it was important and also because I didn't have a choice of not going. But contrary to what I had heard, I found the experience pleasantly surprising (or surprisingly pleasant, whatever). This was my first visit to a typical government office, alone. Actually the second. The first time was when I had been to the same office but was sent back by the gentleman on a certain counter for the want of some documents. I had those documents now. I took those and entered the office. As I entered, I looked at the counter I had been to the last time. I saw the same gentleman sitting there. This gentleman I am talking about here was extremely well spoken, kind and approachable. I approached him. Currently, he was talking to a lady (another employee) explaining her something about taking a document, xeroxing it and bringing it back. I waited patiently for some time. The lady left and he turned his attention to me. He recognised me from last time. I felt really nice. I told him stuff I was supposed to, and gave him the documents. He was happy to recieve those but his face suddenly turned tense. I asked him the reason. He took me to another counter which had many piles of documents on it and no person sitting there. He chose a pile and put those documents in it. Then he told me the problem. "The problem is", he said, "The man on this counter has retired recently." "Ok", I said. I was listening with concentration. "Now he is the man who brings these documents to me and then I process them. So the work will done only when a replacement is hired." I was a bit confused. But surely I had missed something. "Ok", I said, "So when will he be hired?" He said," We have sent an application to head office. So whenever they send one." The response was not quite satisfactory. We came back to his counter. "So... can you tell me some approximate time till which it will be done? so that i can tell my dad." He looked at the calendar, "Its may now... umm.. lets see june, july, august, september, october, november. It will be done in november." That seemed a bit too long. "August", said a lady's voice behind me. I looked back and saw a face popping out of a newspaper, but just for a second, after which it plunged back in. "August. It will be done by august.", said the man. Hmm, probably a man of conservative estimates, I thought. "Ok then", I said and thanked him for his time and attention. "OK", he said and smiled. He also gave me an acknowledgement sort of thing and a phone number on which I can enquire the status. I told you he was a nice man. Then he asked some info about myself like what do I do, etc. I told him whatever I knew and found relevant. He listened patiently, smiling at times. "Ok", he said. I thanked him again and left. |
| Monday, May 9th, 2005 | |
| 1:12 pm | Strangers are strange... Last saturday, around 4.30 PM, I was on my bike outside my favorite weekend place, ESquare, waiting for my friend to get the tickets. We were to watch any movie whose tickets were available, at whatever time available. We did have our preferences but they weren't rigid, as such. As I was waiting, looking at the people around, I suddently felt a hand on my shoulder, as if it was trying to get my attention. I turned around. I saw two men standing. One of them asked, "Shivajinagar kahan hai?" I usually don't prefer answering to such questions because once in my childhood, a certain man had asked me for directions and when I had given those, he had gone in the opposite direction. That had hurt my ego at lot. But still I curbed my ego and answered, "Seedhe jaao". The man was still looking at me. He asked, pointing to the man standing beside him (who prefered to maintain his silence), "Nahi.. inko jaana hai wahan." I was almost sure that the geographic location of a place A relative to another place B is independent of the object wanting to go from B to A. So I asked, "To?" as in "To main kya karu?" To this he replied (with a question), "Aap chalenge na?" My bike was not yellow and black in color, it did not have 3 or 4 wheels, it did not have a meter, or any other feature that would characterise it as an auto or a taxi. And if he was asking for a lift, he was doing it in a rather unconventional way. In either case, I didn't want to continue the conversation and replied, "Nahi.. mera dost hai mere saath." He looked at me as if trying to read my face to figure out if I was telling the truth. Few seconds later, he said, "theek hai." and both of them left. Later that evening, we ended up watching "Kingdom of heaven" which I found to be quite ok. Next day, I saw "Kya kool hai hum" which can easily be rated as The Cheapest Movie ever made in the History of the Universe. I enjoyed it a lot, for the same reason mentioned above. |
| Thursday, March 31st, 2005 | |
| 4:45 pm | Sweet memories... Thanks to my good old friend John , I found one of my creations from 3 years back. Its my homepage that I had created when I was at IIT bombay. Good old IIT days those... It may not seem so but it had taken me 4 full days to create the homepage. Although all my pages have not been archived, the wayback machine has done a pretty decent job. Reuniting with a 3 years younger myself is a great feeling. PS: Songs of Zeher rock. Current Music: Zeher songs (in loop) |
| Tuesday, March 22nd, 2005 | |
| 12:54 pm | Dental block... Yesterday, 21st March 2005, would go into history as "My first visit to the dentist". This month seems to be a time when I get my whole body serviced. First it was the stomach which would growl everyday after 3 PM (I am still on medication for that). And now its the teeth that are causing the trouble for which I decided to take the giant leap. I reached the clinic at around 5 in the evening. Removing my footware, I entered the clinic nervously and approached the reception. The lady at the reception looked up and asked, "Yes?" "I need an appointment with the doctor", i said. "First time?", she asked. "Umm, yes," I said. I was facing problems answering to even the simplest of the questions. Then she noted down some more details and asked me to have a seat. I obeyed her and started waiting. Some time later, a girl (white in color) emerged from the doc's cabin. She went to the reception and asked, "How much?". The receptionist said, "Rs. 700". "What???", I said (to myself) and simultaneously took a look at my wallet so as not to get embarrassed later. I had just enough. The lady asked me to go in after some time. As I entered the cabin, I saw a babe standing there who seemed ready to leave. "Wow.. this doc has really good patients.", i thought. The doc asked me a few questions which I answered correctly. Meanwhile the babe stayed put. She wouldn't leave. The doc asked me to lie down. He took a pair of spoon-like instruments and split my mouth wide open. As he did that, the babe leaned over (from a distance of course) to see what lied within. "Ok.. She must be a trainee", i thought. Then the doc switched on a bulb to have a look at the filth even more clearly. He handed me a mirror and showed me an area on the inner side of my jaws and said, "See this?" I saw it alright. The color was different from what the teacher had said the color of teeth to be. The babe saw it too. Then one by one, the doc showed me problems with my teeth while the babe changed angles so as not to miss any filth. She was making a mental note of everything. "Cut that out", I wanted to say but couldn't because she was beautiful and also because my mouth was wide open and I couldn't talk. All this exhibition of filth stopped after a while. The doc gave me the required medication and I started to leave. Before leaving I looked at the babe. She looked disappointed. "Rightly so," I thought and left. Not a good way to get introduced to a beautiful girl, is it? |
| Tuesday, February 22nd, 2005 | |
| 8:00 pm | Late for meeting... We had our team meeting at 3.00 PM today. 3 PM is the time when I am sleepy to the maximum extent and in dire need for tea. Tea usually arrives sometime later than 3 and I have to idle away the time between lunch and tea. So I was sitting at my comp trying hard to do some work. I heard a voice coming from my cube entrance, "Ashu". I turned in the direction the voice came from. It was a collegue. "Meeting", he said and hurried towards the conference room. I looked at the watch. It was 3.10. Shit, I was late. So I locked my comp, took my notebook and pen and ran towards the conference room. When I entered the conference room, people were already there. But luckily, the chair just near the entrance was vacant. So I quickly occupied it hoping to cause minimum disruption. As I sat down, I started turning pages of my notebook as if everything was normal. But suddenly the room had fallen silent and I somehow sensed that all the people in the room were looking at me. I looked up at the person sitting in front of me. He was the manager of one of the groups at our location. "Why's he attending our meeting?", I thought. Then I turned towards the person sitting on his side. I didn't know him. I looked around and I realized that I knew noone else there. Some of them were even foreigners. "Shit, I'm in the wrong meeting", I thought. "Oh... sorry", I said and got out of the room as quickly as I could, embarrassed of course. Later I found out that our meeting was postponed because some other meeting was going on in the conference room. "At least I didn't enter the wrong room," I consoled myself. |
| Monday, January 17th, 2005 | |
| 11:58 am | Tryst with baba... almost Nothing much happening in life as can be gauged from the date difference between the last and this post, other than the fact that I joined the endurance fitness club in an attempt to silence my critics (read relatives). Saturday was a day off for me at endurance but not for mukund and since I had to collect my programme from there, I went along with him. I didn't get the programme so I idled away some time in the book section and then decided to leave while mukund started his workout. I entered the lift with an old couple and as I was stepping in I sensed the liftman staring at me. I felt uncomfortable since I'm not used to being stared at (and that too by men). The lift closed and started moving. The liftman was still looking at me as if wanting to say something. Finally he whispered to me, "Baba hai ander?" as if talking about some underworld don whose whereabouts were known just to the two of us. I didn't quite get him. Probably he was talking about mukund who was accompanying me some time back and was missing now. But that seemed improbable. Who's baba? Somehow the idea of some spiritual baba working out in a gym seemed hard to imagine. So I asked him, "Kya?" He repeated his question, "Baba hai ander ya gaya?" Ok I'd heard right. So I finally accepted my ignorance and asked back, "Baba... kaun? Samjha nahi..." The old lady in the lift who was listening to this conversation replied, "Haan hai na ander. Workout kar raha hai." Now this was too much. Who was this baba whom all the people in the lift, apart from me, knew. The suspense was almost killing me. So I asked again, "Baba kaun?" The liftman replied, "Sanju baba.." "Sanju baba?", I asked. "Are Sanjay Dutt", the old lady said. "Sanjay Dutt hai gym mein???", I asked so loudly that even sanju baba in the gym could have answered the question if he wanted to. "Haan..", the lady said in a matter of fact way. "Tumne nahi dekhe? He's been working out for quite some time now." She was waiting for an answer from me but I was too busy being disappointed. Being so close for so long and yet I'd missed it. "Nahi aunty, actually I didn't work out today so didn't go on the floor." "Oh...", she said sensing my disappointment. "Abhi hai woh upar... jaake dekh lo." I thought about the idea for a while and said, "Actually aunty, the day that we'd joined last week, he had come there once. I'd seen him then." Saying this I got out of the lift. And as I was going away, I thought of mukund who was still up there. Some day he would proudly tell his children, "I have worked out with Sanjay Dutt" and I'll envy him for that forever. |
| Monday, January 3rd, 2005 | |
| 1:30 pm | Sinhgad... Yesterday, I'd gone to Sinhgad with my kaka, kaku and cousins. Its a Shivaji fort very close to Pune. There's a lot of history associated with the fort and its a good trekking area. Hence its a very hot spot for people in Pune. There are two roads to the fort, one is a trekking road which is around 3 1/2 Km climb to the fort and another is normal road for vehicle which takes you directly to the entrance of the fort. I'd been to Sinhgad once before but that time we'd tortured our bikes till the entrance of the fort because of which it was a good experience. This time my cousins suggested that we trek to the fort. Everyone liked the idea so I had to agree too. So we started. Earlier we were enjoying it, climbing rocks and all, drinking lemon juice and all but later we started getting exhausted. Our frequency of halts started increasing and there was I point when I thought that I can't go any further. Any more lemon juice and my stomach would have exploded. Actually I'm not a long walker. I'm more like a cheetah... just that cheetah runs fast for small duration and gets tired and I walk for small duration and get tired. We saw a man descending the hill. Lucky man, I thought. We asked him how much was remaining. He replied, "Only half more is remaining." "Half more???", I shouted. I wanted to go back. I remembered how I used to sit at home on sundays and listen to the radio. Why the hell did I have to come here? But we were at a point of no return so we started walking. We started avoiding shortcuts as we thoght that shortcuts were more tiring. And after a valiant effort, we finally reached the top. There we had a lot of food first and I found my energy returning but few steps later I was tired again. We walked there looking at the hills around. They were beautiful but looked similar from all places. We spent some time there and after a cup of tea, decided to return back. "Let us walk down", my cousin suggested. "Nahii... please no", I thought. Surprisingly, everyone liked his idea again! even my kaku. My kaku was the 'heroine' of the trek. The whole climb was a cakewalk for her while we kids were gasping for breath. So we started walking. This time pain accompanied me right from the begining. Each step I took was more painful than the previous. My feet were trembling and I could collapse any moment. But somehow I managed to come down in one piece. And that was the end of it all. I looked up at the hill and high up I saw the tower that we had crossed while roaming in the fort. I couldn't believe that I had been to that place just some time back. Not bad, I thought. |
| Monday, December 27th, 2004 | |
| 2:26 pm | Jai Bhim! On 24th December 2004, at around 8.30 PM, Vidarbha Express which had left from Nagpur was nearing Akola. The passengers of the train were pretty relaxed and were preparing for dinner. Everything was going on smoothly till the train reached Akola. The passengers started hearing noise whose volume kept on increasing as the train prepared for a halt and when the train became stationary, the volume had reached its peak. The doors opened and thousands of people entered the train with cries of "Jai Bhim". And from that point onwards the misery of the train passengers started. My aunt and cousin were among those. In no time, the intruders occupied empty spaces and vacated those that weren't. People with reservation had to beg to them for some space on their own seat. One of the passengers said to them, "Bhaiyya, humara reservation hai yahan pe..." to which one of them replied, "Abhi kiya hai na reservation? Humara reservation Babasaheb ne bahut saal pehle hi kar diya tha..." The passengers were getting agitated. One of them said, "Bhaiyya, yeh jagah khaali kar do aur kahin aur baitho." The person replied, "Nahi uthunga.. kya karoge? TT ke paas jaaoge? Jaao... TT, MP, MLA kisi ke bhi paas jaao... humara koi kuch nahi bigaad sakta.." which was unfortunately true. One of the intruders, an old man, was sympathizing with the pitiable state of the passengers. He said to a passenger, "Bhai, jab aapko pata hai ki yeh humara time hai, to kyon travel karte ho is time mein?" Is this all not disgusting? I mean, all this for what? Just so that few people can have fun for free? And that too at the cost of others' comfort, causing them nightmares to be remembered for ever... My uncle was once traveling with them. He said that it is almost impossible to get out of your seat even for toilet. And as for them, the whole train is their toilet... I had heard about concentration camps during Hitler's time. This situation would not be much different. Is it not high time that all this is put to an end or at least be controlled? But i think, it'll need someone like Indira Gandhi to eliminate these practices. The least they can do is to start extra trains for them so that passengers with train reservation are not troubled (much). But I think, this problem is here to stay and eventually we'll have to listen to the old man and stop travelling in december. |