I'm back...

...well almost after a year after my last entry I'm back at it again. A lot has happened in this last one year...I changed my job...came back to Noida...had 3-4 road trip (to Agra, Jaipur, D'dun, Mussorie)...Chennai Superkings won IPL (yipeeee)...India played Srilanka again for 1000th time.


In the midst of all these changes there are so many things which are still the same...I'm still single...still no girlfriend...still watching 3 movies a week...still not taking anything in life seriously

One of the best part of coming back to Noida was to meet all my College friends...bahut masti maari hai college main...ab baith baith ke woh time yaad karte hain to aur maza aata hai...but at the same time I miss all the fun I had in Chennai...so let me thank all my Chennai friends here, for all the masti...the long drives on ECR...the mid night buffets at Rain Tree...woh BT ka Pudi Dosa...woh Murugan ki Idli...kodaikanal ka mausam...those Tamil to English translations :)

Thanks a lot guys !!!

About friendship...

In one of my initial posts, I copy/pasted a fwded mail about how life changes from masti in college to slogging at work...today I got another fwd about friends n friendship...really liked it...so here it is:

Friendship is not about “I m sorry “ its about “abbe teri galti hai “

Friendship is not about “I m there for u” or “I missed u “ it’s about “kahan marr gaya saale “

Friendship is not about “I understand “ its about “sab teri wajah se hua manhus“

Friendship is not about “I care for u “ its about “kamino tumhe chhod ke kahan jaunga “

Friendship is not about “I m happy for ur success “its about “chal lukkhe party de “

Friendship is not about “I love that girl“ its about “saalo izzat se dekho tumhari bhabhi hain “

Friendship is not about “R u coming for outing tomorrow “ its about “ nautanki nahi, hum kal bahar ja rahe hai “

Friendship is not about “Get well soon “ its about “ Itna piyega toh yehi hoga“

Friendship is not about “All the best for ur career“ its about “ bahut hua, abhi toh switch mar saale“

Interesting weekend...

Atleast till now...after a long time went for a movie on weekday (technically weekend starting, as it was on Friday night). Didn't plan it as such...a friend called me out of the blue n asked if I was interested in watching Sikandar (yeah...not many ppl have heard of the movie)...he had an extra ticket.

Now let me tell you, from my vast experience, that movie watching follows the basic funda of expectation management...in this case, higher the expectations...stronger the jhatka u get after watching a crap movie. And due to the long history of jhatkas (RVG ki Aag, Krazzy 4 to name a few), I've started going to movies with absolute zero, zukk, zitch, nada expectations (and even then I'm sometimes disappointed). So anyway coming back to the weekend n the movies...went for Sikandar...from the starting it looked a coming of age movie with Kashmir violence as the backdrop...this is where I made a mistake...my expectations went up...I though it would be a good movie but nope...by the end of the movie I was scratching my head n looking at other people, just to make sure that I'm not the only one who is lost. It seems the movie was (supposedly) some kind of an intelligent thriller with too many loopholes...too many coincidences...and too many jewellery ads in the interval...clearly not a movie for me.

Now today also I went for a movie...Life partner starring Tussar Kapoor, Fardeen Khan, Govinda, Genelia. This time no expectations...with Fardeen and Tussar as main leads it is near to impossible to have any. But let me tell you frankly...I enjoyed it...Govinda was in full form...songs were passable...Genelia as always was good...and our two heroes, well all they had to do through out the movie was to have bewildered look on their faces. This is the only expression which comes naturally to them...so no worries here as well. At the end movie I came out of the theater laughing...had a good time...and never felt that have wasted time or money on the movie.

So till now (Saturday night), the score is 1-1...one crap and one entertaining movie. A lot depends on the Sunday movie now...Kaminey...this will decide whether my weekend was good or bad. I've received very mixed reactions for the movie...but because of Vishal Bharadwaj (director...Maqbool, Omkara)...I've to see this movie...that means the expectations are alerady up...so I just hope this movie is good and it doesn't end my weekend on a bad note.

But one thing which will definitely make my weekend is England winning the Ashes...which can very well happen tomorrow (if these english don't screw up)...nothing feels better then watching these arrogant aussies getting their asses kicked (esp. in Ashes).

Finally...

...made the Coorg trip...and it was better than what I expected. I had initially planned to go with couple of my office friends, but due to non-availability of reservations, the plan was getting delayed...and as always I was pretty pissed off...but on Thursday one of my friends from B'lore scrapped me that he is plannig a bike trip to coorg along with his bullet gang...I was more than happy to jump in.

I reached b'lore @ 7 am Saturday morning (bus was late due to rain/traffice)...he was waiting with his bike at the stand. We met rest of the gang outside B'lore at CCD...had breakfast and continued with the trip....there were 6 bikes (1 more joined us @ Coorg) and 8 people (2 pillions). One of the riders, Junaid, is a rally driver and knows a lot about bikes...so whenever anybody thought there is any prob. with the bike we would stop, he'll do a quick checkup of the bike...meanwhile the rest of us would be busy in tea/coffee...sutta...stretching etc...in short we had lot of pit stops.

We reached Madekeri in the afternoon (before that had a good lunch ...chicken rolls). From Madekeri to the place we were staying the distance was around 1km...the road was totally screwed...more of an off-roading track...everyone had good fun testing their bikes on the track (esp. our friend...the rally driver).

The place which was booked for us was in the middle of nowhere...loverly house with 2 rooms...double beds...fridge...tata sky. From the house we had a great view of the river below (which we visited next day morning). Inthe evening, the caretake setup the campfire and got some chicken for us...Junaid found a wire somewhere and we cooked (alright he cooked...I guess he the taleneted one) the chicken in the campfire directly...really tastely stuff.

Next morning we left for the river...again awesome place...hardly anybody comes there. After spending about an hour there we started our journey back...it was drizzing a little and the weather was perfect for the bike trip.

On the back we found pretty heavy rain at some places so it took more time than we anticipated and at the end we were having a race against time as I had a bus to catch from b'lore to chennai.

There are lots of places to visit in Coorg near Madekeri but we left as this was more of a bike trip than Coorg trip...but really had a time of my life...Now even I've started thinking about making a bike trip somewhere nearby Chennai (may be Yelagiri, 250 km).

Might be going to Coorg again with friends (that was the initial plan)...it seems there are some falls and trekking which we missed...so I see another trip in very near future.

It happens only in India...

I got a fwded mail couple of days back...it contained an entry by Mr. Nandan Nilekani on his first day in parliament. Fact or fiction...its really funny and is a must read for everyone.

The House was in pin drop silence. I was brimming with anticipation and excitement!!!! Manmohan had informed me that my introduction was one of the important points of the agenda. I hoped that I will be able to make my speech properly. After so many interviews and conferences, I was nervous today!!!!

After the Speaker indicated that the proceedings of the House could begin, Manmohan formally introduced me to the entire House. He mentioned that as the head of the Unique Identification Authority of India, I was responsible to ensure that each and every Indian had a digital smart card as a proof of his existence. Manmohan spoke about why I was selected and also some references to the various projects executed by me in Infosys were mentioned. The House listened with rapt attention. I was asked to say a few words and I did exactly the same!!!

I thanked the Government of India for having given me this opportunity and I assured the House that I would strive to successfully deliver this project. The Speaker then formally inducted me into the House and before the proceedings could move any forward, there was a small commotion on the other side of the hall.

It was Minister of Textiles who had a comment to make before the next point on the agenda. He made a request that I should be attired in a more austere way instead of a flashy suit. It did not go well with the image of a minister who should live to serve the common man and should be less ostentatious in his habits. I stood up to reply. I offered my apologies to the Honourable Minister and assured that I shall be in a more acceptable dress next time. I felt that he was right.
We also used to have corporate dress code in Infosys. So it's here as well!!!!

I sat down and felt somebody nudging me. I turned around and to my surprise; it was the former Indian skipper and one of my favourite batsman Mohd. Azharuddin. I remembered that he had recently won the elections. I smiled at him and mentioned to him that I used to like his game very much, shaking his hand. No Rolex, I noticed. Azhar told me that he would “fix” me an appointment with an Italian designer who had designed his dapper Kurta suit. An Italian designer in Milan doing Kurtas!!!!! I made a note of this and reminded myself to give this example to Friedman for his next book,” The World Markets are flattened”. Since there was no doubt about the “Fixational” capacities of Azhar, I told him to give me the details and I would consider.

The proceedings of the House went on with numerous bills being debated and passed as I sat as a passive audience waiting for my project’s turn to come up. After the lunch break, it was the moment for me!!!! MY PROJECT”S FIRST REVIEW CAME UP FOR PRESENTATION. I was at sea. My laptop did not have any reserve power. I went to Manmohan and apprised him of the situation. I was sweating. He calmly replied that this would not be a cause of concern. I was flummoxed!!!!

The Speaker asked me to explain to the House on what were my plans for the Unique Identity Project. I replied that I have a plan prepared for 30-60-90-120 days’ milestones and I have presentation to make for which I need a power socket, a projector and a screen. I had no idea what was going to happen after this. The next couple of minutes were a complete jolt for me. I was completely in a tizzy.

Let me just summarize what happened. A Joint Cabinet Secretary Committee was set up to judge the feasibility of my request. The Under Secretaries for the Ministries of Power, IT and Broadcasting will prepare a Viability Report after scrutinizing National Security threats to my request. This was because the power socket comes under Power, laptop comes under IT and projector comes under Broadcasting. I have also been told to reconsider my timelines of 30-60-90 days and start thinking in terms of years. Probably, they are right. I did not have the foresight in this matter.

The summary of the issue is that I need to come up with a more inclusive, democratic, comprehensive long term plan for this project to be executed over the next five years. I have also been given a presentation slot 3 months from now (by which the issues related to the power cord etc will also be resolved). I am filled with mixed reactions. I was planning for a quick resolution; the management wants a strategic solution. I come out of the House and text Murthy. “You won’t believe it but these guys work just like us. I am on a NATIONAL BENCH for the next three months!!!!!!!!”