Trash or a gateway to heaven?

A result of unlimited supply of liquor as part of our company’s annual day celebrations.Mind you the number of people present were not more than 1200…out of which the number of people who consume alcohol would be around 350-400..:)

3 Idiots…by the way who is the Idiot?

The murky fight between the writer of the book “Five Point Someone” and the makers of the movie “3 Idiots” cannot get worse than this.On one side, there is this writer of one of the best selling books in India, and on the other side, we have one of the finest movie makers of this country.

Firstly, after reading the book, I was really impressed.It was one of the best books I’ve read till date.Surely, Chetan Bhagat had done a great job by catching the pulse of the readers through his one-liners, and plot which several of it’s readers could relate to.The simplicity of the language, the light thrown on the obsolete education system by setting the plot in India’s premiere institute came as an addition.

However, it was only after watching the movie “3 Idiots” ,that I realized how this book lacked the critical elements required for the script to become a bollywood flick.The film crew surely did a job in its finest form as far as the moulding of the script and its execution is concerned.The cast was perfectly suited, except madhavan, who with his overweight, looked more like an alumni of ICE, instead of a current student(Siddharth looks like a better choice).The one-liners, the witty statements and scenes(though some have been copied from those infinite forwarded emails) along with an obvious love story added all those flavours which were missing in the novel.

While I strongly feel that in the novel, a strong focus was only on “How three people did only thoses things which were not so advisable to do at IIT!!”, the focus in the film was completely on how to achieve excellence by non-participation in the unavoidable race resulting because of the competition brewed by the existing system of education.This was enough to convince myself that the film had a lot of deviation from the book, infact the irrelevance even surprised me.

What came out as tale is the fight over credit, and that too from a writer like Chetan Bhagat.There is onething which I feel that Bhagat is surely missing.Even if his name wasn’t included in the title credits along with the film team, he along with his book would have got enough credit for his outstanding work(Hey, he already got it.Didn’t he?).Anyone who had read his book already knew that the film was loosely or tightly based on it, and those who didn’t know might have known by now.By now, the book, the writer, the film and its crew all have got what they wanted to …infact much more than that.Further rivalry and public accusations is only providing additional publicity for both the parties in complete form, and some cheap time pass for the audience.

Lastly, the whole episode kicked off few doubts in my mind:

1) Why didn’t Chetan Bhagat fight for credit when the movie “Hello” was released? Did he get enough?

2) Why is an issue being made only for “3 Idiots” ?

3) Why now? One week after the movie released and was declared to be hit.

4) What exactly does he want? Credit(I think he already got enough of it, how much more? )?, Money ?

If this fight by Chetan would bring some respect and recognition for the rest of the writers of this country, then I surely support him(provided this is the only cause), else the matter is more trivial than what it looks like!!!…

Arey yaar….Tussi Great ho – Taufa kabul karo

Happy New Year :)

Wishing you all a very happy new Year…:)….Hope we live and go green this year !!!!

Maggie once again saved me :)

I woke up after a happy 7 hour long sleep(the one you’ll have after working for 14 hours in the night),  to only find that there isn’t anything to eat in the house.Coincidentally, there wasn’t anyone in the house to cook for me, and moreover it was one of the most succesful telangana strikes in the entire state leading to the shutdown of even the tiniest of shops….After a tiring search to satiate my hunger, I found what turns out to be the best meal for all those lazy bugs who are tooooo lazy to cook, and tooo eager to eat some food.A 2 minutes wait…and I then had one of the best meals of my life at 4:30 P.M today

IITs, IIMs and Kapil Sibal

I strongly believe that Kapil Sibal is laying too much focus on IITs and IIMs.It is time we realize the IIT/IIM students: NON-IIT/IIM students ratio and decide which category requires more concentration.I also hope this chaos to end soon, thereby triggering some immediate attention and action towards rural education.

100000$ required :-(

I am in need of 100000$ !!!!

Reality shows

Rakhi ka swayamwar, Sach ka samna, is jungle se mujhe bachao are the now the ruling programs which took the front seat pushing behind the Saas-Bahu serials.Despite their popularity, these shows take us to a point where the right to view channels and programs of our choice are questioned, moral values and culture take the stride and their TRP ratings contradict the statements made by people against these reality shows.Irrespective of the number of controversies they stir, the ground reality is that there is always a large section of audience which prefers these reality shows which is more than an indication that majority of the people around us admire these programs.

Firstly, Whenever there appears to be a talk about reality shows,I have seen people talk about culture and morals, they say that the reality shows and western culture destroy our culture.Okay, now let us go back to an age where there weren’t any pubs, discos and reality shows in India.What did we have then? We had open lands and numerous roadside bars constructed with palm leaves where people drank toddy; we then had an insatiable husband who used to drink there, come home and beat his wife for money.This was a problem in each and every village then and even now.As time changed, this problem remained(though abated to some extent).On the other side, people in metropolitan cities go to pubs(not everyday, toddy bars are always full ..dawn to dusk), dance(Yes, didn’t we dance during baarats? didn’t we dance when movies starring our famous heroes were released?didn’t we dance when dead bodies of our people were being taken through the mainroad?).I don’t see any culture being destroyed, when we already had enough problems in the well respected and famous Indian culture.It is just the approach to the already practices which has changed.

Secondly, people accepted soaps inspite of their horrible double games, strategies to emotional defeat, torture and kill each other.Nobody commented about culture and morals then, and above all these were a hit in each and every household of this country.Will this account to the fact that all those dramas shown have been openly accepted as our culture?

In the end, we all know the ultimate motive behind the show Rakhi ka swayamwar.Without considering TRP, money and fame the swayamwar would have never gone public, if at all rakhi is too serious in deciding her life partner.If swayamwar was not part of our culture, then epics would have been burnt already. Then where does the problem of culture come into picture.We display our marriages in front of all our relatives, somehow if rakhi is honest then why isn’t it accepted that rakhi has decided to display her marriage in front of a much bigger crowd.Either ways going public has always remained.

I firmly believe that we have much bigger problems to deal with, and we should let people enjoy channels and programs of their choice.It is high time that we realize the suppression of our feelings and emotions which we always had given the invisible pressure our society and culture had upon us.

Latest favourites…MUJIK…

And now it is the turn of Lady Gaga’s-Poker face and Kanye West’s-Love lockdown to play in an infinite loop.I regret for being a bite late in this discovery…got too much indulged in telugu music…these days..

Poker face

Love Lockdown

Touching Lyrics….

I feel like climbing the roof of the newly constructed ICICI headquarters, stand on the corner, tear my shirt, shout, face the rain and sing…If I can’t do it…let Akon do it for me

It’s been so long,
that I haven’t seen your face,
I’m trying to be strong,
but the strength I have is washing away.
it won’t be long,
before I get you by my side,
and just hold you, tease you, squeeze you, tell you what’s been on my mind.

I wanna make up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
wish we never broke up right now na na,
we need to link up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
wish we never broke up right now na na,
we need to link up right now na na,

Girl I know, mistakes were made between us two,
and we showed,
ourselves that night, even said somethings weren’t true,
why’d you go?
and haven’t seen my girl since then,
why can’t it be the way it was,
cause you were my Homie, lover, and friend…

I wanna make up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
wish we never broke up right now na na,
we need to link up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
wish we never broke up right now na na,
we need to link up right now na na,

I can’t lie, [miss you much]
watching everyday that goes by, [ I miss you much ]
till I get you back I’m gon’ try, [ yes I miss you much ]
cuz you are the apple of my eye, [ girl I miss you much ]
I can’t lie, [ I miss you much ]
watching everyday that goes by, [ I miss you much ]
till I get you back I’m gon’ try, [ yes I miss you much ]
cuz you are the apple of my eye. [ girl I miss you much ]

I wanna make up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
wish we never broke up right now na na,
we need to link up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
wish we never broke up right now na na,
we need to link up right now na na,

I want you to fly with me, [ want you to fly ]
I miss how you lie with me, [ miss how you lie ]
just wish you could dine with me, [ wish you could dine with me ]
the one that’ll grind with me, [ said the one that will grind with me ]
I want you to fly with me, [ want you to fly ]
I miss how you lie with me, [ ohh miss how you lie ]
just wish you could dine with me, [ wish you could dine ]
the one that’ll grind with me. [ ohh the one that'll grind]…

[Chorus]
I wanna make up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
wish we never broke up right now na na,
we need to link up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
I wanna make up right now na na,
wish we never broke up right now na na,
we need to link up right now na na,

Those 3 days…

The following post, except the last two paragraphs, was written on October 19^th, 2007.A lengthy post, and you might get bored half-way through. So, read at your own risk:

Those middle class dreams in which you dream about buying a camera phone, Reebok shoes worth 2500,a fast track watch worth 1300,and getting bike’s petrol tank filled to its maximum capacity will no more remain a distant dream once you have received your first ever Job Offer Letter of your life. It is more than an assurance – in fact a gateway to your much bigger dreams. At that moment you will not ponder over why you have chosen IT when you wanted to fly high in those distant clouds, all you think about are those quick bucks you make, lavish buildings, Cubicles, Tie,Big brand company, your uncles and Aunts who look up to you with their hands on their wards heads, and those weekend holidays and parties which you had never experienced before. Your emotions get aggravated when you first realize that your first day at office is going to be at one of the most adored campuses in the entire world.

With few newly bought shirts and trousers you step inside the campus. As soon as you enter, you see buildings which reflect the brand value of your company, and which can only be seen by the rest of the world through the eyes of the media. Lush green lawns, spherical Multiplex, Neat and clear roads, Star rooms, a dominos corner, coffee day, shopping mall, books corner, one of its kind library, the training centre which is no less than a huge gigantic building with roman architecture, trillions of cycles and umbrellas-all welcome you!!!

The next moment when you stand there looking at all of them, you are disturbed by a person who starts off calling you “Sir”, and you feel “SIR? Did someone just call me sir? Nobody ever did that before. Not even the guy at the petrol bunk whom I use to give 50 bucks to put some petrol into the tank of my Maruti, 800”.With a smile he hands over to you the room keys, and wishes you good luck. You hurry up, you run towards your room holding up your suitcase not realizing that the suitcase shop owner in Abids had cheated you and handed over to you a suitcase with very cheap quality. You only have 5 minutes before the suitcase explodes and you remain embarrassed in front of the whole crowd who remain to be your colleagues for the next few months. You enter your room with reflecting floor, A/C, TV, telephone, electronic safe, wonderful bathroom you’ll never want to leave. At that moment there is only one thing which comes to your mindà “WOW!!!”.

Soon, you start your work…you get engrossed so much that as time passes the unexpected happens. Things you never wanted happen, and you’ll find yourself in a situation which you cannot resolve or come out of. As Ramalinga Raju rightly said,”It is like riding tiger.You will not know how to get down without being eaten”.

4 Months later…

You will reach your desk, with the black coffee cup which has the company’s name neatly printed on it.Your coffee is hot, so much hot that you will decide to go through your emails so that you’ll give the coffee sometime to cool down. You will have only one unread email. In fact, a meeting request from the HR; A request which has no subject to let you know what the meeting is all about, a request which doesn’t even have a body but only the time and place of the meeting.”Meeting at 9:30 A.M? Now?…I just came in, and the meeting is now?” you will be left with an element of surprise and 101 doubts.Soon you rush to the meeting room to only see girls crying and boys facing their heads down.You won’t need a phD then to realize what the meeting is all about.You will know what the subject and the body of the meeting request should have contained.

A female who welcomed you on the first day at office comes up to you and leads you to the admin room. The next moment, you’ll stand in a line second only to a person who will be asked to hand over his ID Card and leave the room. You’ll know what you have to do next…but what you will not notice is the brutal act. An act which will leave you astonished and speechless. Obviously, after all your ID Card is cut into two pieces in front of you. Even before this brutal act is completed the HR asks you to fill up and sign a form which has the content already printed on it.

“I hereby submit my resignation to pursue my other interests”

“Pursue other interests?”.Both the HR and you will know that you don’t have any other interests, and the statement is false.But,you will not have a choice to choose. You will not know what those interests are…You will feel like shouting at them…so brutal…so stupid…they talk about ethics, values and what not? Where did the ethics go? Trust me. Those people speak about values and ethics in interviews, but they hardly follow what they speak.

You will collect the offer letter and walk back to your room, and soon you’ll realize that you have only four hours to get out of the campus.One big thud!!!!

Your heart becomes so heavy that things go blank, you’ll not realize where you are, who is beside you, and what to do.You’ll rush back to the HR room to beg them to reconsider, but within no time you’ll know that it is too late.You will even try to explain them that you don’t have time to book your ticket..but there will be hardly anyone to listen.After all, it doesn’t matter what happens to you…you leave and there will 100 more available for your place.This is India, you are always on the receiving end of the society…the driving seat is never yours.

After 50 minutes of heated and emotional discussion, you’ll be given a two day respite to book your ticket and leave the ticket.You will also be informed that you have “3 days time from now”.

You’ll walk back then with those three days and your exit letter.With a heavy thud in your heart you’ll open your room door, and fall flat on your bed.After the first tear drops on to your pillow, you’ll rush back to the door, bang it with your firsts and will drag yourself crying till you reach the bottom of the door.After 35 minutes, you lie flat on your bed with a bulged face and a red nose.

2 Days later…

You won’t feel like going out of your room, have your breakfast, lunch or dinner.For two days, you’ll only survive on 8 cups of coffee and nothing else.You will also have 48 missed calls, which you never wanted to attend for the past two days.And then your door bell rings, even without your permission 6 people will rush in..Shiva, Arjun,Srikanth,Vasu,Yaseen, SGT. With no smile on his face, SGT will handover the 800/- worth ticket. Shiva will be intelligent enough to realize that you haven’t eaten anything  for long, and decides to take you out for lunch along with others. He even plans to complete things before you’ll take the 4 P.M bus, and then another thud. You will almost forget that you had to leave today and it is your last day. The rest of the boys will help you in packing the things…after all who can wait and see you while you stare at the floor crying? .Without breakfast, lunch or dinner for the past two days… lifting your own weight becomes a herculean task. Don’t worry!!! Your friends might have already called the Golf Cart by then.Huh!!!

While you go ahead to board the cart, you will hear someone say,”Excuse me?”.Yes, by then you might have already recognized that he is your block’s security guard, and why doesn’t he refer to you as “Sir”?. He won’t, why will he? You don’t have that card hung to your belt. Unwilling to reply, you’ll turn towards him, and by then you would also know what he would be asking.Slowly you would remove your exit letter, to only show him that you are still eligible to stay in this campus for another 3 hours.With a heavy sigh, he gives you a fatherly and “I am so sorry” look.But, he’ll never again call you “Sir”. Realizing the same, you’ll feel like crushing the exit letter, but it is not just your survival pass inside the campus but also you exit pass, without which you are no less than a terrorist for those fellas who talk about ethics, values throughout the day…but you’ll never and ever get the golden change to see them walk the talk.

After a 2 hour meal at the “GUFFA”, you’ll remove your wallet to pool in your share of money as you always did.But your friends will stop you to only make a statement with two words….”Not today !”.You roll back the money as soon as you feel alienated. You aren’t one among those anymore…

18 hours later…

You wake up in your house…will brush your teeth, take a bath..and sit on the sofa. There…at that moment you will hardly have any idea what to do…where to go…and how to go about things.Your brain just goes blank…

For the next 4 months…

You’ll gather some courage…prepare your resume, gather all your contacts, and work out all the options…The following things happen while you are in a state of depression:

1)      Forward your resume to the same company.When you look back to check the count, you’ll figure out that you have forwared your resume 39 times, and you haven’t received a call back.

2)      Get ready to leave the country, just in case you emerge as a loser.You will need refuge.

3)      Speak to your friends whose uncles,aunts, friends, friend’s husband,friend’s wife, cousins work in some noteworthy position, and forward your resume to them.

4)      Your first interview call will be from a company in Ameerpet.You go there, to figure out that nobody in ameerpet knows the company, and you’ll have a tough time finding it.You’ll call back to that company to enquire about the address.And for sure, you’ll make the call standing right in front of the company,which doesn’t look like an office but like any other apartment in your country.You’ll reach the top floor and then you’ll figure out that the company has recently received a single project which requires 5 members who are going to sit in the hall of the flat which also has 2 bedrooms, kitchen,dining hall,two attached bathrooms.The so called servers are adjusted in the kitchen, and the company headoffice will be one corner of the room.People would be interviewed in the dining hall.5 positions, and there will be 124 members to competing with you.Unwillingly, you’ll sit for the aptitude test while your friend refuses to do so.You’ll answer all the questions…Infact, all the questions…and then while you sit in a nearby cafe to take a break after the exam, you’ll never attend the phone call(Yes, you have cleared the aptitude test..and it is time for your interview in the dining hall) from that company lying in 5^th floor of an apartment without a lift.

5)      You will not attend any phone calls, go to any gatherings, marriages, functions for there would be only question-> “What are you doing now?”.What will you say?.Even though you feel like saying,”Oh, me? I am just waiting here to hump your daughter in front of you”.You just can’t say it? Isn’t it? After all, it is only a marketing strategy of parents who have studious or intelligent children. The funda goes like this

“Their children study in IITs, BITS, NITS.Work in multi-national companies…with fat packages.But, all this would go waste unless and until other in their social circle won’t really know about it.So these parents have two chances, one wait for a chance for someone to ask what their childrens are doing currently or go to others and start enquiring what their wards are doing..the reply is always followed by an answer and a question..”my child is doing this…what is your child doing?”Gone …you will give them the best chance to market their children..and they’ll start right from the moment their child came out of the womb till date”

6)      You and your friend will forward your resumes to a person who is an uncle of the same friend who forwarded his resume along with your’s.Uncle works in a company in which there is high probability for you getting in.Unfortunately, your resume never even reaches the company HR, but by then your friend will already get a job.

After all this hulla-bulla.One day, you’ll get interviewed by the World’s Largest Private Wealth Management Bank, you go through 6-7 interviews before you get a call from the company HR..saying..”Sri,you are in”.Off with wet eyes, you will rush to celebrate.But, boss…you don’t have a job now, all you’ll have in your pocket is Rs.23/- you had borrowed from your Mother the day before.Enough for a jobless candidate.Isn’t it? Enough for you to have Veg-Noodles at a road side restaurant in Ashok Nagar.You’ll want to eat chicken noodles, but it costs 25/-.You’ll not have those 2/- nor you’ll feel like asking your Mom.But those veg noodles will turn out to be delicious for sure, you will relish the taste as soon as it clears the lump in your throat.

15 months later….

You’ll sit with your laptop, and a coke bottle beside you writing all your experiences for your blog when CNBC declares that the share price of the first company you have worked in has dropped, and then with a sarcastic smile you’ll say…”WOW!”.

Meanwhile, your phone rings…and the person on the other side says…”Sir, Cab aagaya”.

“Boss…wake up.Someone just called you….SIR!!!”