Just found out to my surprise that orkut is a big, huge, monstrous zillion watt loudspeaker. Within 23.6 seconds of me changing my location from London to Mumbai, I received 492 scraps asking me whether I am back for a vacation or for good or am I just having fun or am I plain crazy.
Should I use 'reply to all' and shout about my situation?
Or should I just get back to my bed and try to lose sleep thinking about another uncertain sunrise that beckons?
PS: This is my ringtone now. :)
Tuesday, 15 July 2008
Wednesday, 9 July 2008
Sayonara
Time to bid adieu to the city which promised a lot but delivered a painful blow. But yes, I have grown up now. Grown much older than the one year I spent here. More than anything else, it has proved me the idiocy in placing too much faith on people, no matter how close they are. I have learnt more and more things as I spent more time in this city. Every place I have gone before has always given me new friends whom I treasure even now, but this place has disappointed me. It has shown me the darker sides of people, that people can be very selfish and heartless. Not that I have been a saint either. I have been at my worst here. Grow up Karthik!
Will I miss this city? Probably a little bit. I will miss the sheer variety of things available here, the closeness to the exhilarating Europe and the clean Thames.
Will this city miss me? Haha, are you kidding me? I had very few close people here and by design or by fate, each and every one of them has hurt me big! So much that I don’t even want to think about them anymore.
But then, I ruminate. I will ruminate.
These people and my moments with them are my memories which I take from here. Please don’t take them away from me! I know some of the emotions were faked, but still I would like to be an ostrich and be naive.
As I sail into the waters both familiar and unfamiliar, I might look back at the peacock feathered page of my life sometime later. Don’t know whether it will bring a smile or a frown in my face. But change my mood, it will.
Sayonara Old Blighty.
Friday, 4 July 2008
My love..
It’s 2 in the morning and I am wide awake. You don’t allow me to sleep. You keep coming back into my mind all the time. I think about you ALL the time.
I know it has been 2 months and our separation has been painful.
I think I need you now.
I crave for you. I want to be with you. I want to feel you.
I love you!
More than ever.
Please come back to me, you little drop of heaven on earth. I miss you sooo much! Mmmuaaahh!!
I know it has been 2 months and our separation has been painful.
I think I need you now.
I crave for you. I want to be with you. I want to feel you.
I love you!
More than ever.
Please come back to me, you little drop of heaven on earth. I miss you sooo much! Mmmuaaahh!!
Thursday, 3 July 2008
Alter - Ego?
I get out of house once in a day for having my dinner. Dinner is fairly uneventful with me taking a book with me and reading it as I effortlessly slurp the ‘South Indian Meals’ at one of the quintessentially Thamizh restaurants in East Ham. However, today it was thankfully different.
I was talking to my brother on phone and we were discussing about the increasing price of samosas in theatres in Mumbai. We generally talk in sentences containing words from English, Tamil, Hindi and Marathi. As I hung up the phone and started salivating in the thought of devouring Chole Baturey, the guy, who was sitting in front of me and sharing my table, smiled at me and asked,
‘Are you from Mumbai?’
‘Yeah’
‘Where in Mumbai?’
‘Dombivali. Have you heard about the place? If not, its near Thane’
‘Dombivali? Wow! Where in Dombivali’
OK, this is getting interesting.
‘East. Pandurangwadi.’
‘Arrey wah! I am from Anand Nagar.’
Pandurangwadi and Anand nagar are adjacent lanes.
Both of us have lived our lives there.
Both of us are Mechanical Engineers.
Both of us were vegetarians.
Both of us ordered Chole Baturey.
Both of us missed Vada pav.
Both of us were returning in a week to the adjacent lanes.
Both us had been made redundant.
Similarities can be painful sometimes.
I was talking to my brother on phone and we were discussing about the increasing price of samosas in theatres in Mumbai. We generally talk in sentences containing words from English, Tamil, Hindi and Marathi. As I hung up the phone and started salivating in the thought of devouring Chole Baturey, the guy, who was sitting in front of me and sharing my table, smiled at me and asked,
‘Are you from Mumbai?’
‘Yeah’
‘Where in Mumbai?’
‘Dombivali. Have you heard about the place? If not, its near Thane’
‘Dombivali? Wow! Where in Dombivali’
OK, this is getting interesting.
‘East. Pandurangwadi.’
‘Arrey wah! I am from Anand Nagar.’
Pandurangwadi and Anand nagar are adjacent lanes.
Both of us have lived our lives there.
Both of us are Mechanical Engineers.
Both of us were vegetarians.
Both of us ordered Chole Baturey.
Both of us missed Vada pav.
Both of us were returning in a week to the adjacent lanes.
Both us had been made redundant.
Similarities can be painful sometimes.
Wednesday, 2 July 2008
L(unch) and T(ea) days - Part 3 - Journey back home
Venky pulls a chair and sits with us. I feel that he kind of knew about who did the work in our group. So he directly looks at Amit and asks, ‘Did you get the paper on Desublimation from the IIT library?’
‘Not yet sir. We did not have access to the IIT Library. I think we need a letter from you to show it to the librarian.’ Another piece of pure genius.
Fact: We don’t even know where the library is located inside the IIT Campus. We have been to the campus twice before.
Once, for submitting the forms of JEE, when we were really inspired about the whole thing and thought that getting into something like AIR 350 would be a cake walk. But then, I don’t like small numbers. So I added a zero to that and ended up being AIR 3500.
I think I still have all the unused Brilliant Tutorials material in my house. It was used for two purposes. My mom sometimes used to roll puris and keep them inside the books before frying them, so that they are not stuck against each other while taking them off for frying. And my brother used to carry one of the books to his school to play book cricket with his friends. No wonder, neither me nor my sporty brother ended up anywhere near the IITs.
Second time was for doing our Communication Skills Assignment. Can you believe it if I say we did our Communication Skills assignment in the Tribology lab at IIT Bombay? Yes, you have to.
Venky then starts explaining about the Desublimation process for the 348th time. And again, only Amit understands it and the rest of us are nodding like Joey. I doze off for a second and suddenly Abhi pinches me and I wake up to see Venky has left.
Amit has already written 15 pages of notes from the discussion. He and Santo are discussing about some concept of Heat and Mass Transfer which they could apply to the project, while me and Abhi go to drink water, discussing about the political scene in Maharashtra.
So, project discussion is over and now we need to get out of our ‘adda’.
As we walk out of the North Block, Abhi suggests that we should go over to his place, do some VB coding for the project, watch some TV and eat Bhel and Pani puri.
Project work for Amit, TV for Santo who wanted to see the match and Food for me. Nice marketing Abhi!
So, we go to the bus stop and wait for the famous ‘Filterpada’ bus. What a funny name for a place! Filterpada. We always used to tease Abhi about this place. Does the name mean everybody’s taps have water filters attached or something? I really don’t know. All I know is, Abhi used to run after the bus every time we used to leave L&T. Every single time. He has never reached the bus stop before the bus. He always used to see the bus go past us and then run unsuccessfully to catch it. Hmmm, probably that was purposely done by him to get some exercise every week.
And funnily, today there is no sign of the bus as we walk towards the bus stop. Santo is discussing about an E-Commerce assignment we had to submit on Friday, about how he cut the answers short and submitted a 3 page assignment. Important point was that there was not even a single answer which made sense since he had copied alternate lines from Amit’s assignment.
Forget about the poor E-Commerce professor, I think William Shakespeare would have died once again in his grave if he had read one of the answers from that assignment.
I am shattered when I hear this from Santo. How could he do this to me? I assumed his assignment was a ‘true copy’ and cut his assignment into half in the same manner and submitted a 3 page assignment with much bigger handwriting. I should have read atleast one complete sentence before copying. But then if you write an assignment in the midst of playing ‘Bollywood Hollywood’ in class, then these mishaps are bound to happen. I am sorry Will.
Yes, the bus has arrived. We get into the bus and get into the seats on the left side of the bus, because there is sun on the other side. But then, you cannot win against the sun, can you? The bus took a number of turns and now the sun was right in my eyes as I was ogling at a Gujju babe standing at a bus stop.
We are back to our best, talking about the Mumbai traffic, E-Commerce assignments, Gujju babes, Kurla’s famous Panipuri waala, bus conductors' unwillingness to give change, as the bus slowly crawled towards Kurla, where Abhi lived. I think we could have walked faster than the bus. But then, we are paunchy people, out of which one person's only exercise in a week is to run 100m towards a bus stop.
(to be continued)
‘Not yet sir. We did not have access to the IIT Library. I think we need a letter from you to show it to the librarian.’ Another piece of pure genius.
Fact: We don’t even know where the library is located inside the IIT Campus. We have been to the campus twice before.
Once, for submitting the forms of JEE, when we were really inspired about the whole thing and thought that getting into something like AIR 350 would be a cake walk. But then, I don’t like small numbers. So I added a zero to that and ended up being AIR 3500.
I think I still have all the unused Brilliant Tutorials material in my house. It was used for two purposes. My mom sometimes used to roll puris and keep them inside the books before frying them, so that they are not stuck against each other while taking them off for frying. And my brother used to carry one of the books to his school to play book cricket with his friends. No wonder, neither me nor my sporty brother ended up anywhere near the IITs.
Second time was for doing our Communication Skills Assignment. Can you believe it if I say we did our Communication Skills assignment in the Tribology lab at IIT Bombay? Yes, you have to.
Venky then starts explaining about the Desublimation process for the 348th time. And again, only Amit understands it and the rest of us are nodding like Joey. I doze off for a second and suddenly Abhi pinches me and I wake up to see Venky has left.
Amit has already written 15 pages of notes from the discussion. He and Santo are discussing about some concept of Heat and Mass Transfer which they could apply to the project, while me and Abhi go to drink water, discussing about the political scene in Maharashtra.
So, project discussion is over and now we need to get out of our ‘adda’.
As we walk out of the North Block, Abhi suggests that we should go over to his place, do some VB coding for the project, watch some TV and eat Bhel and Pani puri.
Project work for Amit, TV for Santo who wanted to see the match and Food for me. Nice marketing Abhi!
So, we go to the bus stop and wait for the famous ‘Filterpada’ bus. What a funny name for a place! Filterpada. We always used to tease Abhi about this place. Does the name mean everybody’s taps have water filters attached or something? I really don’t know. All I know is, Abhi used to run after the bus every time we used to leave L&T. Every single time. He has never reached the bus stop before the bus. He always used to see the bus go past us and then run unsuccessfully to catch it. Hmmm, probably that was purposely done by him to get some exercise every week.
And funnily, today there is no sign of the bus as we walk towards the bus stop. Santo is discussing about an E-Commerce assignment we had to submit on Friday, about how he cut the answers short and submitted a 3 page assignment. Important point was that there was not even a single answer which made sense since he had copied alternate lines from Amit’s assignment.
Forget about the poor E-Commerce professor, I think William Shakespeare would have died once again in his grave if he had read one of the answers from that assignment.
I am shattered when I hear this from Santo. How could he do this to me? I assumed his assignment was a ‘true copy’ and cut his assignment into half in the same manner and submitted a 3 page assignment with much bigger handwriting. I should have read atleast one complete sentence before copying. But then if you write an assignment in the midst of playing ‘Bollywood Hollywood’ in class, then these mishaps are bound to happen. I am sorry Will.
Yes, the bus has arrived. We get into the bus and get into the seats on the left side of the bus, because there is sun on the other side. But then, you cannot win against the sun, can you? The bus took a number of turns and now the sun was right in my eyes as I was ogling at a Gujju babe standing at a bus stop.
We are back to our best, talking about the Mumbai traffic, E-Commerce assignments, Gujju babes, Kurla’s famous Panipuri waala, bus conductors' unwillingness to give change, as the bus slowly crawled towards Kurla, where Abhi lived. I think we could have walked faster than the bus. But then, we are paunchy people, out of which one person's only exercise in a week is to run 100m towards a bus stop.
(to be continued)
Sunday, 29 June 2008
oorath therinjikitten ulagam purinjikitten kanmani en kanmani
njaanam porandhiruchchu naalum purinjiduchchu kanmani en kanmani
pachchak kozhandhaiyinnu paalootti valarththen
paalak kudichipputtu paambaagak koththudhadi kanmani en kanmani
--------------------------------------------------------------
I have understood this place, I have understood this world.
Knowledge has been gained, realization has dawned.
I had given milk to this hungry child
Now it has turned into a snake and is biting me back.
I have understood this place, I have understood this world.
njaanam porandhiruchchu naalum purinjiduchchu kanmani en kanmani
pachchak kozhandhaiyinnu paalootti valarththen
paalak kudichipputtu paambaagak koththudhadi kanmani en kanmani
--------------------------------------------------------------
I have understood this place, I have understood this world.
Knowledge has been gained, realization has dawned.
I had given milk to this hungry child
Now it has turned into a snake and is biting me back.
I have understood this place, I have understood this world.
Saturday, 21 June 2008
L(unch) and T(ea) days - Part 2 - Conference Room
I think this blog has seen too much of blue of late. Let’s change the mood with some good ol’ nostalgia.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We walk across huge metal monsters called heat exchangers and reach the North Block, which housed the Heavy Engineering Division. Quite unlikely division for atleast Amit and me. Both of us together weighed less than a quintal I think. Yeah, for that I would have had to remove my half-a-ton-wallet which I was famous for in college. I think people seriously thought I had ‘some’ problem when they saw the huge wallet protruding from my pant. For your information, I used to somehow squeeze the not so small wallet in the front pocket of my unwashed-for-two-months-jeans.
As we enter the building, Abhi is still convincing Amit that we did not have to send any excel sheet for that week. So, here is Mr. Datta, who was kind of like our assistant guide. But, I am still unable to get over the fact that for a whole year, I repeat, for a whole year, we did not finish a single task assigned by him.
What an achievement! What a bunch of shirkers! What a great manager!
‘Good Morning guys, did you work on the Tube sheet?’
‘?!?!?!’
‘It was the flange design I had asked to write a macro for. Did you guys do that?’
‘Oh! That one? We sent it last week itself. Abhi, you mailed it na?’
‘Yes sir. I think there is a problem with L&T firewall. It seems to be not receiving our emails’ (clap clap clap)
‘Hmmm…Ok. Send it to my personal id. I will take care of it.’ (I think he was secretly plotting to either kill us or send us to an uninhabited island. Poor guy.)
Now we move on to our main guide who is busy ,as usual. He was as absent minded as a scientist. He had just given us access from the main gate, but on seeing us he would give a surprised look and say
‘Oh! Today is Friday? When did you guys come? Can you please wait in the conference room? I will be there in a while.’
The conference room was a small room with a table and eight chairs. It also housed a zillion books on Heat and Mass transfer, German and British Standards and lots of other mechie techie stuff which only Amit had an idea about. For us, three mechanical engineers, they were books in Hebrew. Infact I think Abhi would know more about Hebrew than mechanical engineering. We can talk about that later.
This conference room was our ‘adda’ every Friday. This is where we discussed about everything from Mallika Sherawat to Manmohan Singh, from Nanotechnology to Porn, from Marathi literature to Tamil songs, from crushes to mathematical puzzles, from economics to ‘geometry’ ;-) Everything. This was our street. We played by our rules.
Amit: ‘Abhi, I had told you that we had to submit something for today.’
Me: ‘We had nothing to submit for today. This was supposed to be submitted a month back. I thought he would have forgotten about it. Elephant memory. Saala.’
Santo: (laughs) ‘Kal Sehwag ne kya catch drop kiya yaar’
Abhi: ‘Its ok we can do it this week. I got my call letter from Wipro. I am going to have a medical test sometime this week.’
Me: ‘Tujhke dekhke I feel you will pass all tests except the fertility test.’
Amit starts reading from one of the books from the shelf. It was about Thermal resistance or something, I don’t know what. More importantly, I don’t care. Me and Abhi are more interested in discussing about one of our batchmates love life.
‘Hey, you know what, R gave a huge bouquet to M. It was as big as her. She was floored it seems.’
‘Hmm..some people have all the money dude. I don’t think I can even buy a cutting-chai to my girl friend, if ever I get one. Sigh.’
‘Don’t worry about not having a girl friend dude. Just believe in one theory. Hot girls get ch**tiya boyfriends and handsome guys get ordinary girlfriends. We are no-way near handsome, so someone else should worry not us.’
Just as we are discussing one of the most important theories in life after Newton’s law of gravity, that Venky walks in. There is a hushed silence. Its like a mortuary out there.
(to be continued)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We walk across huge metal monsters called heat exchangers and reach the North Block, which housed the Heavy Engineering Division. Quite unlikely division for atleast Amit and me. Both of us together weighed less than a quintal I think. Yeah, for that I would have had to remove my half-a-ton-wallet which I was famous for in college. I think people seriously thought I had ‘some’ problem when they saw the huge wallet protruding from my pant. For your information, I used to somehow squeeze the not so small wallet in the front pocket of my unwashed-for-two-months-jeans.
As we enter the building, Abhi is still convincing Amit that we did not have to send any excel sheet for that week. So, here is Mr. Datta, who was kind of like our assistant guide. But, I am still unable to get over the fact that for a whole year, I repeat, for a whole year, we did not finish a single task assigned by him.
What an achievement! What a bunch of shirkers! What a great manager!
‘Good Morning guys, did you work on the Tube sheet?’
‘?!?!?!’
‘It was the flange design I had asked to write a macro for. Did you guys do that?’
‘Oh! That one? We sent it last week itself. Abhi, you mailed it na?’
‘Yes sir. I think there is a problem with L&T firewall. It seems to be not receiving our emails’ (clap clap clap)
‘Hmmm…Ok. Send it to my personal id. I will take care of it.’ (I think he was secretly plotting to either kill us or send us to an uninhabited island. Poor guy.)
Now we move on to our main guide who is busy ,as usual. He was as absent minded as a scientist. He had just given us access from the main gate, but on seeing us he would give a surprised look and say
‘Oh! Today is Friday? When did you guys come? Can you please wait in the conference room? I will be there in a while.’
The conference room was a small room with a table and eight chairs. It also housed a zillion books on Heat and Mass transfer, German and British Standards and lots of other mechie techie stuff which only Amit had an idea about. For us, three mechanical engineers, they were books in Hebrew. Infact I think Abhi would know more about Hebrew than mechanical engineering. We can talk about that later.
This conference room was our ‘adda’ every Friday. This is where we discussed about everything from Mallika Sherawat to Manmohan Singh, from Nanotechnology to Porn, from Marathi literature to Tamil songs, from crushes to mathematical puzzles, from economics to ‘geometry’ ;-) Everything. This was our street. We played by our rules.
Amit: ‘Abhi, I had told you that we had to submit something for today.’
Me: ‘We had nothing to submit for today. This was supposed to be submitted a month back. I thought he would have forgotten about it. Elephant memory. Saala.’
Santo: (laughs) ‘Kal Sehwag ne kya catch drop kiya yaar’
Abhi: ‘Its ok we can do it this week. I got my call letter from Wipro. I am going to have a medical test sometime this week.’
Me: ‘Tujhke dekhke I feel you will pass all tests except the fertility test.’
Amit starts reading from one of the books from the shelf. It was about Thermal resistance or something, I don’t know what. More importantly, I don’t care. Me and Abhi are more interested in discussing about one of our batchmates love life.
‘Hey, you know what, R gave a huge bouquet to M. It was as big as her. She was floored it seems.’
‘Hmm..some people have all the money dude. I don’t think I can even buy a cutting-chai to my girl friend, if ever I get one. Sigh.’
‘Don’t worry about not having a girl friend dude. Just believe in one theory. Hot girls get ch**tiya boyfriends and handsome guys get ordinary girlfriends. We are no-way near handsome, so someone else should worry not us.’
Just as we are discussing one of the most important theories in life after Newton’s law of gravity, that Venky walks in. There is a hushed silence. Its like a mortuary out there.
(to be continued)
Friday, 20 June 2008
A truth from Aamir...
Kaun kehta hai aadmi apni kismat khud likhta hai?
Sab bakwaas hai...
How true!!!
You never realize this until destiny hits you on your face and you are absolutely helpless with its sheer magnitude and turbulence.
I have.
Sab bakwaas hai...
How true!!!
You never realize this until destiny hits you on your face and you are absolutely helpless with its sheer magnitude and turbulence.
I have.
Friday, 13 June 2008
Spam -a - lot
I was just checking my spam mail box. Boy! What do people think about me?
Got so many different view points, that I am confused as to what to do now.
Somebody wants to sell me fake degrees. Hmm..would help in my job search. Help me get a very stable job. In jail.
Somebody wants to sell me Viagra. Well, on further investigation, 264 people want to sell me Viagra,
Some Brando thinks I am a woman!!!! She is giving me tips on female masturbation. Never knew my name sounded feminine. Krithika? God, no.
One guy wants to pay cash for minor injuries. Dude, I hardly get out of home. Probably that's why he wants to pay me cash and encourage me to get out of this bed and go out and get injured. Po da.
Kathy (Ah, now I know why I was mistook for being a girl. Karthik or Kathy or Katie) thinks I look really stupid. :(
I know I have a bad haircut, have not shaved for a week, have ugly teeth, but still she was rude. This is not a way to tell people on the face.Baahhhhh!!!!
Joe thinks somebody loves me. Ok, I assume Joe is a guy. So he thinks I am Kathy as well. Oh my god! Get me out of here.
Or, is he gay? I was once felt in a late night bus in London and I know how freaked out I was. Stay away from me you idiot. 'Tumhare baap aur bhai nahi hai kya?' :P
Maria, is giving me tips to act longer in bed. I already act very long in bed. I meant I sleep for 12 hours a day on my bed. :P
Somebody save me please.
Got so many different view points, that I am confused as to what to do now.
Somebody wants to sell me fake degrees. Hmm..would help in my job search. Help me get a very stable job. In jail.
Somebody wants to sell me Viagra. Well, on further investigation, 264 people want to sell me Viagra,
Some Brando thinks I am a woman!!!! She is giving me tips on female masturbation. Never knew my name sounded feminine. Krithika? God, no.
One guy wants to pay cash for minor injuries. Dude, I hardly get out of home. Probably that's why he wants to pay me cash and encourage me to get out of this bed and go out and get injured. Po da.
Kathy (Ah, now I know why I was mistook for being a girl. Karthik or Kathy or Katie) thinks I look really stupid. :(
I know I have a bad haircut, have not shaved for a week, have ugly teeth, but still she was rude. This is not a way to tell people on the face.Baahhhhh!!!!
Joe thinks somebody loves me. Ok, I assume Joe is a guy. So he thinks I am Kathy as well. Oh my god! Get me out of here.
Or, is he gay? I was once felt in a late night bus in London and I know how freaked out I was. Stay away from me you idiot. 'Tumhare baap aur bhai nahi hai kya?' :P
Maria, is giving me tips to act longer in bed. I already act very long in bed. I meant I sleep for 12 hours a day on my bed. :P
Somebody save me please.
Some useless statistics..
These statistics pertain to the last 5 days.
1 - Meal(s) I have in a day
6 - People I talked to, personally
47 - People I talked to, on phone
166 - Emails sent
173 - Emails received (excluding mails which talk about the size of my genitals)
3 - Times I ventured out of my house
12 - Movies seen
28 - Episodes of FRIENDS watched
13 - Cups of tea I drank
bah! I have too much time with me!!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yippee! I am going to Brussels and Amsterdam tonight. Hopefully, the weekend will take me 'high'er and get me out of this mental shit I am in right now. I really need some alcohol. Sometimes, it does act like 'Kiwi Dranex', clearing the mess in our system.
1 - Meal(s) I have in a day
6 - People I talked to, personally
47 - People I talked to, on phone
166 - Emails sent
173 - Emails received (excluding mails which talk about the size of my genitals)
3 - Times I ventured out of my house
12 - Movies seen
28 - Episodes of FRIENDS watched
13 - Cups of tea I drank
bah! I have too much time with me!!!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yippee! I am going to Brussels and Amsterdam tonight. Hopefully, the weekend will take me 'high'er and get me out of this mental shit I am in right now. I really need some alcohol. Sometimes, it does act like 'Kiwi Dranex', clearing the mess in our system.
Wednesday, 11 June 2008
Gautam Buddha says...
‘Accept the pain’
He has been saying that to me for the last 4 fucking months!!!
Enough, okay!
I deserve better.
Or maybe not, maybe I deserve worse.
Is this the best you have got?
Here I am in front of you. Naked.
Naked with no shame, no self respect, no pretensions, no guilt, no love, no pride, nothing.
Just pure me. With a heart for a fight.
Give it to me, I am ready.
One more drop in the ocean doesn't make any difference.
He has been saying that to me for the last 4 fucking months!!!
Enough, okay!
I deserve better.
Or maybe not, maybe I deserve worse.
Is this the best you have got?
Here I am in front of you. Naked.
Naked with no shame, no self respect, no pretensions, no guilt, no love, no pride, nothing.
Just pure me. With a heart for a fight.
Give it to me, I am ready.
One more drop in the ocean doesn't make any difference.
Brother is a friend given by God!
Dear kutti bro Arjun,
Hopefully everything is fine in Mumbai. I had heard that its raining quite a bit there, so hopefully you have time to have a nice chai and batata wada in our balcony. If not, please do that for my sake.
They say you will understand the person’s importance only in his absence. How true! I am just miserable out here. I understood how lucky I was, that you were here during those terrible times. Wonder how I could have handled them myself without your stupid jokes and analogies to tamil movies. When I returned home from the airport after sending you off, I could sense the emptiness in me as well in the house. It was scarily silent. I just wanted to get away from there. I rang up 5-6 of my friends and went to their place since I could not stand the loneliness. I missed you lots!
Though mostly you put up a mature front, you showed you were actually a kid when you received your results. That was the moment when I trembled and realised how much you had changed about yourself just to make me comfortable. I don’t know how to thank you for that da. I know you would say I can thank you by getting you an Ipod Touch.
Hopefully, everything will be alright and we could play Wii Tennis and watch Vivek comedy and eat Pani puri and fight over the remote control.
Miss you kutti paiyya,
Karthik
Hopefully everything is fine in Mumbai. I had heard that its raining quite a bit there, so hopefully you have time to have a nice chai and batata wada in our balcony. If not, please do that for my sake.
They say you will understand the person’s importance only in his absence. How true! I am just miserable out here. I understood how lucky I was, that you were here during those terrible times. Wonder how I could have handled them myself without your stupid jokes and analogies to tamil movies. When I returned home from the airport after sending you off, I could sense the emptiness in me as well in the house. It was scarily silent. I just wanted to get away from there. I rang up 5-6 of my friends and went to their place since I could not stand the loneliness. I missed you lots!
Though mostly you put up a mature front, you showed you were actually a kid when you received your results. That was the moment when I trembled and realised how much you had changed about yourself just to make me comfortable. I don’t know how to thank you for that da. I know you would say I can thank you by getting you an Ipod Touch.
Hopefully, everything will be alright and we could play Wii Tennis and watch Vivek comedy and eat Pani puri and fight over the remote control.
Miss you kutti paiyya,
Karthik
Sunday, 8 June 2008
The Square Root of 3
I’m sure that I will always be
A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed
(Source: Harold and Kumar)
A lonely number like root three
The three is all that’s good and right,
Why must my three keep out of sight
Beneath the vicious square root sign,
I wish instead I were a nine
For nine could thwart this evil trick,
with just some quick arithmetic
I know I’ll never see the sun, as 1.7321
Such is my reality, a sad irrationality
When hark! What is this I see,
Another square root of a three
As quietly co-waltzing by,
Together now we multiply
To form a number we prefer,
Rejoicing as an integer
We break free from our mortal bonds
With the wave of magic wands
Our square root signs become unglued
Your love for me has been renewed
(Source: Harold and Kumar)
Wednesday, 28 May 2008
Insomnia
IPL.
AR Rahman’s Music.
Porn.
Yuvraj’s six sixes on Youtube.
Robin Cooper’s ‘Timewaster Diaries’
Nice South Indian Dinner at Saravana Bhavan.
Chat with an old friend 4000 miles away.
Watch FRIENDS for the umpteenth time.
Still no sleep.
Still the same question.
Why me? :-(
AR Rahman’s Music.
Porn.
Yuvraj’s six sixes on Youtube.
Robin Cooper’s ‘Timewaster Diaries’
Nice South Indian Dinner at Saravana Bhavan.
Chat with an old friend 4000 miles away.
Watch FRIENDS for the umpteenth time.
Still no sleep.
Still the same question.
Why me? :-(
Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Sinusoidal
1997: ‘Congratulations Karthik! For coming first in the entire school in 8th Standard’
‘How did you manage to not lose a single mark in Maths and Social Studies throughout the year? Great yaar!!’
This too shall pass.
1998: ‘We have never seen such a disgusting character before. I think you should be given TC from this school. We don’t want such students in our school, especially when you are going to represent the school next year in Class X.’
This too shall pass.
1999: ‘We never thought you would plunge to such depths. Your English score does not show that you have studied in English medium school, it looks like you are from Marathi medium’
‘I am sorry yaar, you missed Kelkar college cut off by 1 mark’
This too shall pass.
2001: Admissions counselling
‘which college which branch?’
‘VJTI mech?’
‘Sorry, it just got full three ranks before you. That guy with the blue shirt was the last one’
This too shall pass.
2004: ‘Lets see how far your SSLC parents take you. Its going to be very difficult for you, life’s tough. Your horoscope says so as well.’
This too shall pass.
2005: ‘College Gold medal, IIMA admission, Treat!!!!!!’
This too shall pass
2006:
‘If you don’t accept that you have copied, you would have to be removed from the institute’
‘You have been given Incomplete grade for insufficient attendance. You would not be granted admission to Second year of your course.’
This too shall pass
2007: ‘Welcome to Lehman brothers’
‘We liked what we saw and would like to hire you for BCG’
‘Would you like to join the credit structuring desk?’
This too shall pass.
2008: ‘We are sorry to inform you that you have been made redundant. You can take your belongings and leave the office immediately.’
This too shall pass.
‘How did you manage to not lose a single mark in Maths and Social Studies throughout the year? Great yaar!!’
This too shall pass.
1998: ‘We have never seen such a disgusting character before. I think you should be given TC from this school. We don’t want such students in our school, especially when you are going to represent the school next year in Class X.’
This too shall pass.
1999: ‘We never thought you would plunge to such depths. Your English score does not show that you have studied in English medium school, it looks like you are from Marathi medium’
‘I am sorry yaar, you missed Kelkar college cut off by 1 mark’
This too shall pass.
2001: Admissions counselling
‘which college which branch?’
‘VJTI mech?’
‘Sorry, it just got full three ranks before you. That guy with the blue shirt was the last one’
This too shall pass.
2004: ‘Lets see how far your SSLC parents take you. Its going to be very difficult for you, life’s tough. Your horoscope says so as well.’
This too shall pass.
2005: ‘College Gold medal, IIMA admission, Treat!!!!!!’
This too shall pass
2006:
‘If you don’t accept that you have copied, you would have to be removed from the institute’
‘You have been given Incomplete grade for insufficient attendance. You would not be granted admission to Second year of your course.’
This too shall pass
2007: ‘Welcome to Lehman brothers’
‘We liked what we saw and would like to hire you for BCG’
‘Would you like to join the credit structuring desk?’
This too shall pass.
2008: ‘We are sorry to inform you that you have been made redundant. You can take your belongings and leave the office immediately.’
This too shall pass.
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Sporty Religion
From Cricinfo
“After that breathtaking 50-ball century in Mohali, this was Michael Hussey's first home game and the roars and chants of his name as he walked out to bat were similar to those that will greet Lionel Messi later tonight when he steps onto the Nou Camp turf. The silence when he inside-edged one from Dhawal Kulkarni was all-pervasive and it suggested that IPL fans are quickly becoming one-eyed, like every good home crowd should be.
The sole exception was when Sachin Tendulkar was spotted on TV, talking to the commentators. God, after all, transcends parochial boundaries”
Amen!
“After that breathtaking 50-ball century in Mohali, this was Michael Hussey's first home game and the roars and chants of his name as he walked out to bat were similar to those that will greet Lionel Messi later tonight when he steps onto the Nou Camp turf. The silence when he inside-edged one from Dhawal Kulkarni was all-pervasive and it suggested that IPL fans are quickly becoming one-eyed, like every good home crowd should be.
The sole exception was when Sachin Tendulkar was spotted on TV, talking to the commentators. God, after all, transcends parochial boundaries”
Amen!
Wednesday, 27 February 2008
Epiphany
A lazy Sunday morning.
Me, K and A started out for our weekly ritual – buying groceries and other mundane stuff from ASDA, a store as big as a cricket stadium, where you can get 346 varieties of yoghurt, so much variety that, if you are as lazy as me, you would be turned off from buying the product all.
As we trudged along from our house, we felt the crispness of the wet breeze from over the river.
Me: It’s cold this weekend, isn’t it
K: Nahin yaar, I am not feeling cold at all, infact I am kind of sweating.
Me: That’s because you would have been wearing 4 layers of clothing.
K: Nooo! I am just wearing a Tshirt and this jacket.
Me: I can’t believe you. I am wearing a thermal vest, a t-shirt, a sweater and a jacket and still I am feeling coooooold!!!
A: I am not feeling that cold, but I am not sweating either. Maybe, it’s because of the breeze.
K: Tatt-2, I think you should get yourself tested. You might have some problem yaar. You shouldn’t be feeling this cold. The weather is getting better.
A: Leave it. If he’s feeling cold, let him feel cold. Let him wear one more sweater. Tatt-2, if you want, you can wear my jacket. I would be comfortable without it too.
I took the thick leather jacket from A and wore it. After 10 mins of travelling inside a train, we get down at a station and start walking towards the store.
Me: I am still feeling cold.
K: I have been telling you tatt-2, you seriously have a mental problem. You are wearing such a thick jacket, still you are feeling cold? Strange!
A: Will you guys stop. Time to do some shopping now.
While we were walking inside the store, I dropped a biscuit packet. While I bent down to pick it up, the realization hit me.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, even a thick leather jacket cannot prevent me from feeling cold. Even if I wore a thick sweater over that, I would still feel cold. Sometimes, if you get such a strong overbearing realization about something, you chuckle. You laugh at your helplessness. I was so overwhelmed that I just stayed there and gasped at the ultimate truth of the chillness I was feeling. The truth which gave me anger and laughter at the same time. The truth which made my head hung in shame and which was laughing at me cruelly.
The truth was: My fly was open.
Me, K and A started out for our weekly ritual – buying groceries and other mundane stuff from ASDA, a store as big as a cricket stadium, where you can get 346 varieties of yoghurt, so much variety that, if you are as lazy as me, you would be turned off from buying the product all.
As we trudged along from our house, we felt the crispness of the wet breeze from over the river.
Me: It’s cold this weekend, isn’t it
K: Nahin yaar, I am not feeling cold at all, infact I am kind of sweating.
Me: That’s because you would have been wearing 4 layers of clothing.
K: Nooo! I am just wearing a Tshirt and this jacket.
Me: I can’t believe you. I am wearing a thermal vest, a t-shirt, a sweater and a jacket and still I am feeling coooooold!!!
A: I am not feeling that cold, but I am not sweating either. Maybe, it’s because of the breeze.
K: Tatt-2, I think you should get yourself tested. You might have some problem yaar. You shouldn’t be feeling this cold. The weather is getting better.
A: Leave it. If he’s feeling cold, let him feel cold. Let him wear one more sweater. Tatt-2, if you want, you can wear my jacket. I would be comfortable without it too.
I took the thick leather jacket from A and wore it. After 10 mins of travelling inside a train, we get down at a station and start walking towards the store.
Me: I am still feeling cold.
K: I have been telling you tatt-2, you seriously have a mental problem. You are wearing such a thick jacket, still you are feeling cold? Strange!
A: Will you guys stop. Time to do some shopping now.
While we were walking inside the store, I dropped a biscuit packet. While I bent down to pick it up, the realization hit me.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, even a thick leather jacket cannot prevent me from feeling cold. Even if I wore a thick sweater over that, I would still feel cold. Sometimes, if you get such a strong overbearing realization about something, you chuckle. You laugh at your helplessness. I was so overwhelmed that I just stayed there and gasped at the ultimate truth of the chillness I was feeling. The truth which gave me anger and laughter at the same time. The truth which made my head hung in shame and which was laughing at me cruelly.
The truth was: My fly was open.
Sunday, 24 February 2008
Late - Latif to Early - Murli
Places change you.
I am this typical late commer. I had a 100% record in coming late to class during my engineering days. Since in engineering, the benches get occupied from back to front, I was a non-intentional front bencher because of my punctuality or the lack of it. My friend Amit, sometimes used to get so pissed that he used to call me half an hour before the actual time for group meets so that I make it to the meetings just 10 minutes late.
Infact, I also got a career threatening 'Incomplete' grade during my MBA because I missed 3 classes due to coming late.
But nothing changed.
I started working and this is where I received the shot on my head. I entered my desk 5 minutes late at 7:35, and my boss greets me 'Good Afternoon, Karthik!' with a sarcastic grin. He had slapped me a thousand times and given me 500 lashes without even raising his hand. I got the SMS he sent me.
Nowadays, I am the first person in my desk. Even during my recent visit to India, we friends met at a common place and I reached there 5 mins before time much to their astonishment. This punctuality has made me feel s good about myself. It has given me confidence and doesn't make me defensive right from the beginning wherein I would have to explain/apologize for late coming.
But then, sometimes, in some situations, I do think it is better to err on the side of being late than early. You can't win everything, can you?
I am this typical late commer. I had a 100% record in coming late to class during my engineering days. Since in engineering, the benches get occupied from back to front, I was a non-intentional front bencher because of my punctuality or the lack of it. My friend Amit, sometimes used to get so pissed that he used to call me half an hour before the actual time for group meets so that I make it to the meetings just 10 minutes late.
Infact, I also got a career threatening 'Incomplete' grade during my MBA because I missed 3 classes due to coming late.
But nothing changed.
I started working and this is where I received the shot on my head. I entered my desk 5 minutes late at 7:35, and my boss greets me 'Good Afternoon, Karthik!' with a sarcastic grin. He had slapped me a thousand times and given me 500 lashes without even raising his hand. I got the SMS he sent me.
Nowadays, I am the first person in my desk. Even during my recent visit to India, we friends met at a common place and I reached there 5 mins before time much to their astonishment. This punctuality has made me feel s good about myself. It has given me confidence and doesn't make me defensive right from the beginning wherein I would have to explain/apologize for late coming.
But then, sometimes, in some situations, I do think it is better to err on the side of being late than early. You can't win everything, can you?
Wednesday, 13 February 2008
Impulse
Day: Friday
Time: 11:00pm
‘Amma, what are your plans for tomorrow?’
‘We are going for a function in the afternoon’
‘Can you please be at home at around 2pm tomorrow? I would be online. We can do video chat through skype.’
‘OK da. We would try to be at home by that time. Tomorrow is Saturday. So, there would be electricity in the afternoon’
Day: Saturday
Time: 2:05pm
‘Amma, are you and appa at home?’
‘Yes da. Are you going to come online? We will turn the computer on.’
‘yeah, in five minutes’
Time : 2:10pm
‘Amma, are you guys online?’
‘Yes da. Webcamera is also working well. Why are you not online?’
‘Ummm…actually, there is a problem with my net connection. I don’t think I can come online today. We can talk over phone’
‘Po da..We wanted to see your face. Haven’t seen you in a while. Today even our webcam is working. So we were looking forward to a video chat with you. Cha, you disappointed us!’
‘Are you really looking forward to seeing my face?’
‘Yes. Please fix your net connection somehow. Else, send some MMS to Arjun. Please!’
‘Awww..OK, if you really want to see me, just open the door’
‘What?!?!’
‘Yeah, open the door’
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tickets from London to Mumbai: INR* 40,000
Rickshaw from airport to station: INR 200
Fine to TTE for not buying ticket and sitting in first class compartment: INR 500
Rickshaw to home: INR 50
Reaction on a mother’s face on seeing her son who turns up out of the blue on a Saturday morning from 5000 miles away: Priceless!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: * I am a Forex Structurer.
Time: 11:00pm
‘Amma, what are your plans for tomorrow?’
‘We are going for a function in the afternoon’
‘Can you please be at home at around 2pm tomorrow? I would be online. We can do video chat through skype.’
‘OK da. We would try to be at home by that time. Tomorrow is Saturday. So, there would be electricity in the afternoon’
Day: Saturday
Time: 2:05pm
‘Amma, are you and appa at home?’
‘Yes da. Are you going to come online? We will turn the computer on.’
‘yeah, in five minutes’
Time : 2:10pm
‘Amma, are you guys online?’
‘Yes da. Webcamera is also working well. Why are you not online?’
‘Ummm…actually, there is a problem with my net connection. I don’t think I can come online today. We can talk over phone’
‘Po da..We wanted to see your face. Haven’t seen you in a while. Today even our webcam is working. So we were looking forward to a video chat with you. Cha, you disappointed us!’
‘Are you really looking forward to seeing my face?’
‘Yes. Please fix your net connection somehow. Else, send some MMS to Arjun. Please!’
‘Awww..OK, if you really want to see me, just open the door’
‘What?!?!’
‘Yeah, open the door’
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tickets from London to Mumbai: INR* 40,000
Rickshaw from airport to station: INR 200
Fine to TTE for not buying ticket and sitting in first class compartment: INR 500
Rickshaw to home: INR 50
Reaction on a mother’s face on seeing her son who turns up out of the blue on a Saturday morning from 5000 miles away: Priceless!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: * I am a Forex Structurer.
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