Its Been So Long..

"Its Been So Long That I haven't seen your face" (of course this is the song by Akon). And very much of course I know that very well. But still , something today told me to actually think & write what I have been missing for quite sometime now. In fact I mention 'Its been so Long..' in almost each of my post, well my last post starts with this. :)

Lets think:

- Its Been So Long that I actually went to a roof top & felt that lovely moon & light cool breeze in the night playing not only with your body (hands, face, legs, hair, all included) but with your soul as well. That same moon which has given so many poets, lyricist something to write for. That same breeze which, when I used to be a kid, played for hours without even knowing about it. I really miss standing on the terrace just like that (especially when there used to be a power cut at home) wondering what world is like. Trees making sounds, vehicles trying to buzz all around, life's true sense in just a small thing called BREEZE. Ohh I just love & miss those wonderful nights. Even more those nights used to be wonderful because those power cuts used to save me from studying. Parents also can't say anything. :) Lovely feel isn't it.

- Its Been So Long that I fought with someone I love the most. Those crazy, stupid fights with mom, those irritated gestures when my best friend used to bug me, those silly looks when my sister always gets best of me when everybody (esp my father) used to take her favor, the wrestling with my grandfather, sometimes serious and sometimes just to bug grandma. I mean what is life all about if not all this. How lucky a person is to experience all the relationships possible, how wonderful it is to feel there are few people who inspite of being bad, scary, funny or whatever without giving a damn about anything still care & love you so much unconditionally. And I mean literally.

- Its Been So Long that I have been away from home now. I mean lets count, almost 5 years now. How badly I longed to get out of house back then, spending 20 years of my life with family, listening to how much fun others (friends & relatives) used to have when in hostel / work, away from home. Nobody to tell you about Do's & Dont's, Nobody to tell you no shit. Just you, your life & whatever you make of it. And now things come back to same old place. Yes I have started missing my family. And I miss that special person even more.

- Its Been So Long that I enjoyed the RAIN. Just get out, not knowing where to go, may be shout in front of your friends house. Ok let me ask you a simple thing. How many of you actually went to see a friend & shouted with his / her name to call him instead of just ringing the door bell. Well, this was my way of calling my friends. I never believed in ringing bells. Then may be just go for a ride. Enjoy the rain. Jump, Dance, walk, do anything. Follow the frogs. Try to jump in the places where water has clogged due to low lying surface. Its Been Really Really Long.

- Its Been So Long that I went 5 Kms just to eat 'Gol-Gappe' or 'Tikki Chaat'. I mean the craze for all such things, sometimes I wonder, has it died or its just that life has started sucking on whatever comes its way. No, this is not what we expected of it. In fact I try to keep my life the same way it used to be few days / few months / few years back. But I guess it all changes because people around you change. As a famous saying goes - 'Only thing constant in this world is Change'. No you can't bend me Mr. Change. Not Yet. I am still strong sweetheart. Bring it on.

- Its Been So Long since I wrote something on / off my Blog. I mean I try to write. Just being a lazy bum that I am & the super duper think switch never lets me do something productive. I mean these things are like Alien to me. Thinking, doing something productive. But certainly there are few things which do matter a lot in life & I think you cant help but to think about them. In fact I happen to see my old diary from 10 years back. Crazy stuff I had written back then. laughed my ass out. Still wondering how innovative I was that time itself. Guess nobody realized the brilliance of my brain. :)

- Lastly Its Been So Long that I have been wondering what / what not to do with my life. And I guess that thing needs to be addressed separately & some other time. Another 'Its Been So Long..' may be.

I know its been a Gyan session in this post. In fact there is quote which says - 'Its better to be quite & called a fool, rather than speaking and removing all the doubts'. I mean WHO CARES? I think otherwise. I always had. Think of me as fool or not I give a damn. Its either you say it or just STFU..

The fact, That Is..!!

Its been so long since I sat, gave a thought and actually pen down something. Infact I thought I would try to be more regular after my last post, but clearly wasn't the case (after all 'try' is 'FUTURE CONTINOUS' for me).Thoughts do come to the mind & infact lot of funny things happened around, but at that point in time, either I am not able to write or I am just too lazy to do anything good. Well, I feel writing is good. In fact most of the authors, lyricists, poets or whatever they are called, would call it an ART. Well, I do reasonably well in this art(at least I feel so). Of course I could not do much in 'ART' if you take the literal meaning of the word. Couldn't even draw a snake properly when I was a kid. In fact my drawing paper became so famous that it was shown to the whole school. What a masterpiece! Wish I still had that.

Lots have happened in life in last few weeks/months, including a job shift. Well, if you ask me I am - 'Life at one place - Jeena sirf tere liye' sort of guy. But guess my ex-employer wasn't all that interested. I was blissfully told to move my ass and go and rub it somewhere else. Although expected, but of course you feel bad. Even if you don't, you have to pretend you felt so, because then already 'shameless' tag would be justified with 'no more explanations required'. These organisations, especially the large ones, can never be loyal to someone. Its like a brothel house (BH) where an employee is a w****, who willingly signs the agreement to get her ass screwed for as long as the Pimp likes and then throw away because you become useless in one or the other way. I hope you would understand what it means by 'USELESS'

Lets dig this a little deeper. Similarities between a Marketing Guy(MG) and a Professional W****(PW).

- Both willingly accept to sell thier skin, no questions asked.

- This was not the first choice of job for both of them

- Both work Day & Night, no leaves accpeted, except on National holidays like 15 August or Diwali.

- Both have to do overtime, whether they want or not, especially on month ends or in festival season.

- Both meet a number of clients everyday with same smile as the first client of the day (infact I guess, w**** are better here because they can still show some attitude to a shaky client. A salesman can't)

- Both get perks/incentives for a good work (well it should actually be taken as 'extra effort put')

- At the end of it, both of them don't like whatver they are doing. Usual question being - 'What the hell am I doing here? I deserve something better.'

- Both of them get selected/handpicked by the clients. You can't force because it totally depends on the clients taste. Someitmes rates are high, sometimes you have small assets, sometimes client have a particular choice, sometimes client go with old tested horse and the list continues.

- Both lose their jobs once you get a bit old, or you are not able to satisfy the clients to the extent they want.

Well, there could be (& there are) many more similarities to mention here, but I don't want any questions being raised to me like "whats the sample of my research?" I would like to clarify one thing I have never gone, (neither do I intend to - 'as of now'), to any of the above mentioned places [& here I don't mean my office ;-)]. Its just what I hear, know and feel. I would still have sympathy with a MGs, as they get screwed even more with daily meetings, Weekly/monthly/yearly targets. In fact being in skin business, is still better than being in a marketing in which you have to give your skin (not to mention blood) with suit and tie. I mean atleast in the former you can remove your clothes and feel the free air playing with your sensitive skin. But this is how life is. One thing assured both of them make sure the customer is SATISFIED as per his will. The fact I would not only appreciate but also feel everybody would agree with me and appreciate as well.

Well, In fact if you noticed, there could be a very good mutually beneficial relationship between a MG and a PW. MGs can make their visits more often to PWs to get to know what sort of clients visited her in last couple of days. I am sure their would be many new leads that could be generated out of it. And of course MG will pay for his time with PW, plus they both can share their sorrows and pains and have a very fruitful discussion. After like minded (or similarly screwed people in this case) do gel well. Now how innovative is that. (Wish I could tell it to my ex-Super Boss) ;-)

Anyways, the last 2 years at my ex-xmployer were full of fun, meeting new people, of different kinds, making new friends, of different kinds. Interestingly, I guess if there is competition saying how many kinds of people you know/have met/seen/intereacted. I would easily be the winner. We call our nation a land of 'Unity in Diversity'. Well, last 2 years couldn't prove it more to me. I had a wonderful time, thanks to all the people who became part of my life in these 2 years. Its been 2 years and I won't say the time was hard to go. The time flew just as it does and I learnt a lot at my first BH. Not relating to my ,job of course. :-)

Hope you like the post. Cheers!!

Room to Share..

And it happened again. The more I try to convince myself that certain living beings on this earth are designed in a sp(i)ecific manner, the more I confuse myself with the curiosity to know whats more in the coming.

I am not sure how many can guess what am I referring to as 'Certain Sp(i)ecific Living Beings [CSLBs]' but there is a hint the subject of the post.

Still not??

OK I will tell myself. Its been two years now when I joined my job down South. 4 of us IBS Grads took a 2 BHK flat in a decent(not looking so, though) locality near to my office. But coudn't continue for long together as one of us wanted to fix the future of great country and went to Delhi to become a lecturer in an ordinary Management College (Good Luck the future of the country). Other one got married and for obvious reasons shifted to a independent flat. I guess guys are so possessive about such things. I mean first we call each other friends, brothers, we can do anything for each other, but when it comes to Girls its just - You Know what I mean! May be he din't want us to hear/see late night sounds or the day time coochi koos. :P

No offence hope he is very happy with Bhabhi and enjoying his married life like most of the other happily married pricks.

The forth one was one of kind. A Southie. Always different, atleast he used to try his best to be. Unfortunately, he lost his job and had to go back to his part of the country. No comments

Then came a interesting Turning point, when I shifted in neighboring flat with another Southey. Wow! Experience started from day 1. I think if I have to explain last one year of my stay with a RP, I would end up writing a book. But here are some of the observations/facts:

• Very Open: I feel they are very open. Infact, once they open anything, they dont have a knack to close it. Be it house door, lid on the sugar/pickle box, Spoon in the jam with no idea where the lid went, Geyser(once on alwaz on, as if we stay in Antarctica and need hot water forever), Gas with pressure cooker on it and trust me lot more which I cant tell here. I always wonder if they had to stay alone with no one to gaurd there house door, how many burglaries would they be inviting considering everyone knows their Love for Gold. I guess thats why most of CSLB's stay in Joint Families. Because then they will have to keep a servant, who will take care of all this. Open to all kinds of dust, dirt and crap. Trust me they can sit/sleep on a bed sheet not washed for like a year. Never seen them washing hands before eating meal. House is not clean for 20 days who cares. The other person will feel shameful and do it one day. Why should we. We are the Royals.
• Fun Loving: I guess this goes well with most of us. Wait a sec, I haven't finished. Till they make fun, comment on someone, they are playing "I am the cool guy now" all is well. But the moment you poke your nose in the middle and try to be extra funny and extra smart, that invites trouble. Their face becomes as if they just peed in their pants and everybody saw. Then starts the warning session - "See, Vikas if you dont stop it now you know what I will do? You know what I will tell others? Its little personal, otherwise I dont have a problem?" I mean go ahead dude tell/do whatever you know its fun for me if not for you. Now I am laughing at my jokes. You are also supposed to laugh the same way I did when you were crapping Isn't it. Give me a break!
• Cultured: Wow! This one just came right. Just once you take a risk of asking about their language and culture. You are inviting a lecture on Most rich culture and the oldest language of the country. And for those who dont/dint know, Tamil(or I should say Tamizh) is the oldest language in the country(even sanskrit is quite modern), well I am not saying it. I wasnt aware either. Infact, we are the ones who are coming down to their territory and destroying their culture and affecting their values and style of living. By coming here, coping up with them everyday, eating a super food (which shouts at me - I am Rice and you will find me in whatever you eat). I have even heard that we are not even true Indians. They are the ones. Yea right! We landed up by mistake from some different planets and decided to spoil these anciently rich Indians. Poor Southeys.
• Style of Living: As I wrote earlier, they are open, style of living also justifies the same. Most of the time you see ppl wearing only Dhotis or atleast no tops(ok guys this applies to men only that too above 40, don't get ideas). I wonder if they try to show they have fat bellies with hair on almost every inch of it. Eeeeks! Girls covered from top to down with very few knowing whats a beautician and how to use beauty products. The food which includes:

1. B'fast: Idli, Dosai, Sambhar, Vada, Uthapam, Poha, Poori, Aloo, Bread(occasionally)
2. Lunch: Idli, dosai, Sambhar, vada, Poori Aloo, Rice, Rasam, Subji
3. Dinner: Rice, Rasam, Sambhar, Subji, occasionaly chapatti which is made with oil and trust me it dries off in 15 min.

Kitchen will be full of utensils everywhere, with each one having something of the other anytime. Utensils not washed for 2 months, no issues, we'll eat outside!

• Others: I would also like to include their taste of programs/movies they watch. Not even once the channel will stop at other than some RC. Once if I take a remote atleast 10 times in 2 minutes I would be asked to put back to the same channel or atleast put something English which is watchable also. Then they appreciate the stuff going on the TV so much that, they laugh in their own, talk in their own, drives me insane sometimes.

So, for me its a fight to grab the remote first. And these days whenver I want to watch the TV, I do it and keep the remote under my lap where its not easily visible. Take that Southie!!

I would still like to write more qualities of Truly Rich SIs or I should say only True Indians. May be next time.

PS - Half of my team in office is belongs to this part of most gifted CSLBs. Will sure write about it soon. :)

A Trip to an 'UV..'

Writing about one's life is not all that easy. I used to wonder its just pen and paper that is needed for writing. OK.. MS-Word, currently.. But the point is, it actually takes lot more than that. Sometimes you actually can't even remember what had happened at a particular point of time in your life. And especially when life is not full of struggles, fights and finally big success stories unlike all the famous people who generally get penned down by themselves or the others.

When I thought of blogging, the whole idea was to put down some of the best moments in life so that I can recreate the memories and also my friends can read about them as they have equally been part of those wonderful moments. But just after few posts I found that its quite difficult to actually think. First the struggle is to find the time out of your ususal boring life to write or even think for that matter. Then if somehow you start thinking, then you simply cant think. It becomes a task like climbing Everest. Actually the fight is to write what everyone may like. Anyways, lets see what I could think of this time.

A small instance, when I traveled across some cities around Bangalore. Or Towns I should say. Well, Actually I am undecided, whether to call 'this place' a Town or City or an Urban Village(referred to as UV, hereafter) :)

Here is a detailed description in brief:

- Muddy Streets (after the overnight rain)

- Knee Height Water

- Multi-lingual people (a very few know Hindi)

- Almost everyone knows everyone (someone told me this is because most of the people are born and brought up here so they know each other)

- No questions asked further!(by me ofcourse)

- No. of Colleges or Educational Institutions looked more than no. of students (atleast I felt, And trust me all of them looked so full as if a whole India comes to that place to study)

- Finally, the Most Popular Hotel in that UV -> Nrupthunga Hotel (Its like a bad swear word coming from deep inside the heart when you are literally pissed off, I mean what kind of name is that, anyways).

• My train reached early morning, Infact it wasn't so early, around 0600hrs and there were three people sleeping outside the hotel gate, in a row, completely covering themselves with white blankets like 'dead bodies'. It scared my *** off.
• Canteen on the top floor with ceilings pouring with rain water.
• AC works slower than a Fan and as warm as a blower.
• Beds, though arranged, but the mattereses felt like someone has just moved the whole cotton inside it, to one side and placed a Dark Red velvet like Bed sheet on it to make it look attractive. (Trust me I thought for about Half an hour before even sitting on it also).
• A Mini Fridge as well, which had some Cool Drinks(actually supposed to be cold) and some Beer types bottles but, I guess all that stuff was atleast 6 months old. I mean whole look gave a hint that nobody has visited that place for a long time. I actually started wondering if the place was haunted.

The only thing good was the Bathroom.

1. Nice and good quality(shining) tile floor,
2. Shower with Hot and Warm Water facility(Actually I din't get the guts to try out hot water),
3. A Brand New Mirror over the Wash Basin,
4. New Soaps neatly kept, Good smelling English Toilet. And the best thing
5. A very heavy Aluminium Bucket with very big aluminium lotta(I don't know how to tell in English) instead of a usual Mug. Atleast it made me Smile. :)

But after all it was a nice experience. Of course some small problems like:

• Printer not working when I wanted to check out. 4 people sweat their asses off to make it work, but Mr. Printer had other plans and wasn't ready to throw it out.
• No Generator in case of PowerCut. CPU started crying due to overload in 5 minutes.

I guess if Ramsay Brothers have to come back and make a horror movie, guess I can suggest a nice place to shoot. :)

PS: The views expressed above are completely owned by only one person and thats me. Don't mean to offend anyone. People may like what I didn't. :)