Mystic Kerala – Trip to Munnar

Yet another long weekend and we were off to munnar as Bangalore can be very very boring and mean to you on long weekends.

As it was last minute plan due to unsystematic & uncertain kind of work environmnet we are into we didn’t have any choice but to book it via a tour operator. And as being typical boys are we never bothered to go into the finer details of the trip all we knew that it was 2 night & 3 days trip and it came at XXXX price to us.

So off we went to munnar from Bangalore around 8:30 pm on a sleeper bus only to be waked up to 7 in the morning by the conductor, we were the only two people left in the whole bus so we thought that the munnar has come but when we went down we came to know that we were at kattappana some 100 km away from munnar :) . It came as a rude shock but I prefered to play it down, so we went to a restaurant and order some aappam.Strangely you can have it with egg curry also at 7 in the morning!!!! Around 7:30 we were picked up by a mini man after some desperate calling to contact number given to us.

Drive was smooth and heartening as we were climbing up, breeze was fresh and view was mesmerizing. Always felt jealous of people who live in this kind of terrain as they have one thing certainly in their life and that is peace!!!



Finally reached munnar around 10:30 and met the person who was our tour operator there. As outsourcing is the in thing we came to know that our tour was out sourced to this guys agency, fine till now but then came the surprise. It was a free day for us, we were dropped at our hotel which was just OK, we freshen up just to look at each other and ask what we are going to do on this rest day. As we were two guys and perfectly straight also ;) so we thought it would be better if we go out and do some sight seeing on our own. We hired a taxi to show us around few points but as luck was not our side that day, it was pretty misty and finally end up coming back to out hotel around 4 after seeing loads of mist instead of any view point. Somehow survived that evening & night on our dependable source of enjoyment :).



Next morning we were off to some sight seeing and one thing I must admit that I have never seen so much to greenery in my whole life. It was tea plantation all around us no matter where you see and what you see. Went around few spots like photo point, madupaaty dam, shooting point, Echo point & Top station. But it also got over by 2 and then there was a strong desire to go back to bangalore and we felt that staying any more there was a sheer waste of time. But as luck was not our side that day also we end up spending that night also in munnar and as usual with the same source of enjoyment.

Finally the D day came and after cursing and abusing our local tour operator for almost whole day in his office as we have nothing better to do in munnar we again boarded a mini bus to go back to Bangalore via udumalpet. Finally god has heard us as route was very scenic and beautiful and as icing on the cake we have to pass through chinnar wildlife sanctuary and anamalai tiger reserve. It’s always thrilling to cut across a forest reserve when it is pitch dark and I really love that part of the journey although we didn’t met with tiger but we definitely encountered a family of elephant's who stopped us for nearly 20 minutes as they came on the road and were not very willing to get off it. The experience as tense and enthralling I loved every bit of it. Finally boarded bus to Bangalore and reached Bangalore around 5:30 in the morning.

Munnar is a nice place but please try to go for 1 night and 2 day if you don’t have suitable company to kill your ‘Free’ time. For me it’s a big 'NO' to tour operator’s as I am not going to travel with them again!!!!!!!!!!!!

Somewhere I belong

How does it feel when reality hits you hard?
Why we try to live in the virtual world of our own when we know that we are real and our problems are real. Why we always run away from the ‘Facts’ and take shelter under ‘Assumptions’??

After been subjected to acute pain, loniness and frustration many times I feel it happens due to the way we follow our heart & mind. When one has to think with their ‘Mind’ at that point of time they act on the advice of their ‘Heart’. And when one has to follow their ‘Heart’ they end up getting instructed by their ‘Mind’ thus ends up being a mess.

As I am acting ‘Abstract’ today so will not dive into scenarios or examples but I hope you can empathize and can correlate.

Self love is important and I feel somehow it is driven by our mind but at the same time we can’t hurt any ones feeling by just behaving as I, me and myself. But what if when there is no way out and you have to hurt someone to settle your score or to get your peace of mind. We don’t hesitate as we are driven by our mind at that point of time and then latter on feel guilty as now we are following our heart. So why we do this way?
This is something which needs to be thought upon and strategized going ahead.

There is no thing as perfect relationship, perfect person and perfect attitude the only thing which is perfect is the ‘Circumstances’ and the ‘Situation’ which always get the worst out of you. How many times have you pondered back on your acts done in the past and thought that you could have reacted better!!!!

So think on these lines...as usual I am keeping it short...Maybe this time I want you guys to fill the blanks!!

Letting Go

Just wondering why I am writing this on a Saturday evening but it’s something which is coming somewhere from inside!!!

Never been a master of the art of befriending people but do feel that I had my share of good people around me. Like bad stuff even good stuff comes with an expiry tag on it. And then come’s the biggest question of letting people go out of your life.

How easily you let someone go out of your life depends upon the importance of that person in your life. So sometimes it is as easy as just exchanging one big hug and saying ‘keep in touch’ and then taking your own path but sometimes this whole affair becomes very painful and tormenting.

What one can do and what one should do is very individualistic approach and thus people take it differently. For me it’s always been tough to get out of it but once they becomes bygone they remains bygone. One should look forward instead of looking backward as you will only end up falling if you look back.

Just a word of advice, always trying putting yourself first in these situations and then try to think about others.

In the end just want to share two lines with you…

“Log jaatey huey mausam ke tarah hotey hai,
Yeh jamaana he kisey din tujhey baatlayega”

So look forward and let it go dude!!!!!!!!!!

Mystic Kerala - Trip to Wayanad

After running from pillar to post during last 30 days; Changing my source of income, Shifting my loyalties, Making new acquaintances, Moving from Kolkata to Bangalore and dropping from 65 to 46 in Indi rank finally I am back :)...Bangalore has changed a lot in these 4 years and I think it has become better than what it was 4 years back when I left it anyways this is not about Bangalore :) it’s about Kerala and to be more specific it’s about Wayanad.

As last weekend was a long weekend so thought of visiting Wayanad. After a lot of hiccups we set out for Wayanad in a rented Qualis. We started early morning on Friday around 4, our plan was to reach there by 10 in the morning. Route was simple Bangalore -> Mysore -> NH212 -> Gundalpet -> Wayanad (Right turn from Gundalpet approx 50 km). Faced a little trouble at the Kerala border as the vehicle papers were not up to date …as a result ended up in paying Rs 1500 as fine and 1 hour delay. Nevertheless we reached Sultan Bathery a place in Wayanad around 11. Quickly found an economical place to stay. After getting fresh we went out looking for lunch. To my surprise food we got was pretty good & economical. If you are Non Vegetarian then you will love the Kerala food. So ended up in having fried fish & Kerala style chicken biryaani (this was best modified version of chicken biryaani I ever had, chicken was fried but it tasted good).

After having lunch we went to see Eadakkal Cave. One needs to walk about 1km on steep and difficult terrain to reach there. One has the option to take jeep also although we went all along by foot and found the terrain a bit tiring..Once reached up the view was good but there is no comparison of Edakkal caves with the Bora caves of Aarku valley (near Vizag, AP). Anyhow came back to our vehicle and went to saw Karapuzha dam. It was a small one but a good one…got a chance to get on the top side of the dam...view was good. From there we moved back to our hotel and visited a little known view point called Phantom Rock …This was the best one of the day….a good view point where you can sit and see the world coming to a standstill. Spent 1 hour in just sitting there and admiring the god’s own country!!

A view from Karapuzha dam


A view from Phantom Rocks

Next morning we went for Meenmutty water fall ...entry fee for that fall was 300 bugs for a group of 10 but as we were only 3 guys we waited for some more guys to come. After a wait of few minutes we were off to the 2nd largest waterfall in Kerala, way to waterfall was one of the most tiring and dangerous track I have ever taken in my whole life. We went all the way down through coffee plantation and on latter part using the bamboo/rope support. So if you’re an ‘OMG!!that’s Dangerous!!’ type of guy or gal please avoid this one :) ... View of the fall was just OK…but I really enjoyed the way to the fall…as it was exiting, dangerous and challenging. After that we went to Suchipara waterfall, a more popular one as it was bloody crowded. So avoided the temptation of taking a dip in the water.

Meenmutty Falls

On our way back from the fall we stopped our vehicle at a point where there was a small channel of free flowing water. So we went all out and enjoyed the natural Jacuzzi. As it was getting dark we moved back to out hotel and decided to move back to Bangalore next morning as there was nothing much to cover apart from Wildlife Safari but people advised against it as there was nothing worthwhile apart from deer & peacocks. On the way back to Bangalore we stopped at Mysore to visit Mysore palace..Sheer waste of time …I felt …entered Bangalore by evening via outer ring road ….and finally back to home!!!!

Tuesday Special – Few Good ones (Part IV)

Disclaimer: None of the below is mine; I am just an admirer and collector of good words!!

Aadatan tumney kiye vaadey,
Aadatan humney aitbaar kiya,
Teri raahon mei tanha ruk kar,
Humney apna hi intezar kiya….


Ek pal mei ek sadi ka maza hum se poochhiye
Do din ki zindagi ka maza hum se poochhiye
Bhooley hain rafta rafta unhey muddaton mei hum
Kishton mei khudkushi ka maza hum se poochhiye
Aaghazey aashiqi ka maza aap jaaniye
Anjaamey aashiqi ka maza humse poochhiye!!!!


Mera Dil bhi shauq se todo Ek tajurba aur sahi
Lakh Khiloney tod chukey ho Ek khilona aur sahi
Raat Hai ghaam ki aaj bugjhaado Jalta jua har ek chiragh
Dil Mei andhera ho hi chuka hai Ghar mei andhera aur sahi
Dam Hai nikalta ek aashiq ka..Bheeed hai aakar dekh tu Lo
Lakh Tamashey dekhey hongey Ek nazara aur sahi
Khanjar Le kar sochtey kyaa hoo Quatl kar daalo
Daag Hain sau daman pe tumhaarey Ek izafa aur sahi.....

Previous posts : Part I , Part II , Part III

Obituary of my Internet connection

My gratitude towards my internet connection (which is going to be dead tomorrow :( ) in the form of my first ever self written poem/rhyme or whatever you want to call it :)

You my friend were my life
As I don’t have a Girlfriend or Wife,
You were my first and last crush
I used to put you ‘on’ before putting toothpaste on my brush,

You were the one who made me realize that I have grown up
When one of the site asked me whether I was 18 or above,
You were the one who told me that women are from Venus
When I was just looking in Google for ‘Women + masseurs’,

When I was searching for my first crush you were my TOM TOM
We did find her but came to know that she is now a Wife + Mom,
Thanks to you only I came to know about my Ex GF’s new lover
Although I did not like this but my best wishes are with that sucker #@#$

You were there for me all through the day & night
Whether I have to book a movie ticket or a flight,
With your help I was always online on facebook, twitter and orkut
But from tomorrow everything will come to rest, as I need to stay put,

I believe in reincarnation and I know you can come back and you will
But first let me think of something to pay my internet bill!!!!

A Perfect BCP !!!

Our municipal bodies may not be up to the mark with their contingency plans with respect to Monsoon but Rikshawallhas in Kolkata are ready with a perfect business continuity plan!!!
May be it’s something to do with the hardship they face everyday for earning their daily livelihood. About which our callous municipal officers don’t have to think as they are being graciously fed by the government with the tax paid by citizens like us!!!!!

A Cloud with silver lining

Clicked from my mobile cam ..A cloud with silver lining :)

Another one..if they look same to you ..don't curse me this was the only clickable cloud and I clicked twice :)

Tuesday Special – Few Good ones (Part III)

Disclaimer: None of the below is mine; I am just an admirer and collector of good words!!

Few more ...Hope you will like these !!!

Jo dard ke sehra mein akela bahut hai,
Us ke liye dewaar ka sayaa bhi bahut hai..

Dekha nahi tanhaai mein tum ne kabhi us ko,
Bichrey howey logon ko woh roya bhi bahut hai..

Ghaam ke andheron se bhala kasiey bachata,
Ek shaks jo terey hijar mein jaga bhi bahut hai..

Kahaan aa ke rukey theey raastey, kahaan moor tha usseyy bhool jaa
Joo mil gaya ussey yaad rakh, joo nahien mila ussey bhool jaa....
Woh terey naseeb ki baarishey, kisi aur Chhat pe baras gaayi
Dil-e-Bekhabbar meri baat suun, ussey bhool jaa..ussey bhool jaa..

Mei tu ghum thaa terey he khayal mei, Teri aass mein, terey gumaan mei
Saba keh gayi merey kaan mei, merey paas aa ussey bhool jaa....
Kisey ke aankh mei Nahi Ashq-e-Gham, terey baad bhi kuch nahi hai
kam
Tujhey zindagi ney bhulaa diya, Tu bhi muskuraa ussey bhool Jaa.....

Naa woh aankh he teri aankh thi, Naa woh khawaab he tera Khawaab thaa
Dil-e-Muntazir tu yeh kis liye tera jaagnaa, ussey bhool jaa, usey bhool jaa...
Yeh jo raat din ka hai khel saa, Ussey dekh us pe yakeen naa kar
Nahien aks koi bhi Mustaqil Sar-e-Aaena, Ussey bhool Jaa..Ussey bhool jaa...

Joo Bisaat-e-Jaan he ulatt Gaya, Woh joo raastey mein he palatt gaya
Ussey rookney sey husool kya, Ussey mat bulaa...ussey bhool Jaa!!!!!!!

Daag duniyaa ne diye, Zaakhm zamaaney se miley
Hum ko yeh tohfey tumsey dil laganey pe miley

Hum tarastey he, tarastey he, taraste rahey
Woh falaaney se, falaaney se, falaaney se miley

Khud sey mil jaatey tu chaahat ka bharam reh jaataa
Kyaa miley aap jo logon ke milaaney se miley!!!!!!!!

Previous posts : Part I , Part II

Tuesday Special – Few Good ones (Part II)

Disclaimer: None of the below is mine; I am just an admirer and collector of good words!!

Yes!! I am back again with few more from my collection...

Ek naam kya likha tera saahil ki reet par
phir umar bhar haawaon se meri dushmani rahi..



Tum mujhey bhool jaao yeh haq hai tumko
Meri baat aur hai mainey to mohabbat ki hai..



Lamha lamha kiya intezar jis lamhey ka
Who Lamha aaya to bhi ek lamhey ki liya...


Takdeer bananey waley tuney kaami na ki
Ab kis ko kya mila yeh mukkader ki baat hai….


Dil naumeed tu nahi, naakaam he to hai
Lambi hai shaam-e-gham, magar shaam he to hai !!!


Apney gham ko sharabon mein duboney chala tha
kya khabar thee ke Janab ko tairna aata hai!!

And one of my fav !!!

Aadmi ke khwaaishon ke intehaa nahi hoti...
Do gaaz zameen bhi chahiye, do gaaz kaafan ke baad!!!!

Previous Post : Tuesday Special

Woh 12 Ghanatey!!!!

Sometimes we do things in spite of knowing the end result!!! And I did the same :)
Result??? Stranded for 12 hrs!!! Thanks to our so called Bharat Bandh.

I was happy that finally I was going to get a break from my nothing doing, nothing happening office life!!!I have planned for it just in time to get confirmed rail tickets.
But even before the journey started bad news started pouring in that there will be an all India Bandh on Monday. Oops the very day I am going to come back to Kolkata.
Given the reputation of Kolkata during the strikes (also known as ‘City of Bandh’s’) I was pretty apprehensive about my prospect of getting back to my home from the railway station. I am a firm believer that one should experience everything which a place can offer where your are living and as I haven’t observed even a single bandh in Kolkata since I landed here I decided to go ahead with my trip and decided to return to Kolkata on the very day of the strike to get a look and feel of the atmosphere :).

But guess what destiny has planned something better for me :). By the time I boarded the train I was told by different sources that on Monday my train would not be allowed to even enter in west Bengal due to bandh. WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
How can somebody stop a Rajdhani? I asked my self naively :(.

Anyways there was no point in cancelling the trip by that time. So I boarded the train and happily spent my holidays and again boarded the Rajdhani for my return journey.
I was greeted by an Old man in the train who was just sitting next to me ( Why does all the hot chicks sits in the next boggie whenever I travel :(:( ) and he told me that it is going to be a boring journey as we are going to be stopped before entering into WB. I agreed to him that it is going to be a boring journey as I was expecting some hot chicks in front of me instead of that old man. It’s bad that even in II AC you don’t get good company ;).

Finally the inevitable happened!!! I wake up at six in the morning (my morning shift has made in so habituated that I end up waking at six even on Sundays also :() and found that train was not moving!!!!! Dragged myself out and found that we were stopped at a lonely station called Gomoh (Jharkhand). Can’t help it so I went to sleep again and wake up at eight and came to know that we were at the same station. Pretty cool!! As I could not have asked for a better start of the day, I asked the pantry boy to get my morning tea. By the time I finished my tea the train started moving and finally I was happy that BJP and other parties delivered as promised that they wouldn’t touch the railways!!!!!!!!

But to my dismay, surprise and disappointment just after 15 minutes the train stopped at Dhanbad station (Jharkhand) as it was a better station to stop by the Rajdhani standards.
And we started wondering that when this train is going to move in spite of knowing that bandh will end at 6 in the evening. Only good thing which happened during this whole episode that AC of the train was ON and meals were served on time although they were pretty knocked down in Quality and Quantity :). I was just thinking about the other trains where there is sleeper class and a general class with no AC and no Food Service!!!!
Bad!!!!Very Bad!!!

Anyhow took 5-6 rounds of the railway station (Quite clean by Indian standards :)), got my shoes polished for 5 bucks , tried Jhal Moori and litti choka to get the regional touch and to kill my time and finally resigned to my fate and came back to my seat passed a frustrating smile to the old man and slept . Finally by 5:30 the train started and by 8:30 I was in Kolkata!!!

I am not going to debate on whether these bandh’s are right or wrong as it is not going to make any difference to the people who initiate these for what so ever reason and cause. I just feel bad about the common man who has to earn on daily basis to have food at the end of the day!!!! And believe me my suffering is far lesser than the agony and pain of these peoples!!!

For me it was an experience but for many it was a bad day in life!!!

Tuesday Special – Few Good ones

Disclaimer: None of the below is mine; I am just an admirer and collector of good words!!

Few good ones which are close to my heart !!!!

Mat puch ke merey sabar ki inteha kahan tak hai
Tu sitam kar le teri razaa jahan tak hai
Wafa ki umeed jinhey hogi,unhey hogi
Humey to dekhna hai tu bewafa kahan tak hai



Toot Jaate Hai Sabhi Rishtey Magar
Dil Se Dil Ka Rishta Apni Jagah
Dil Ko Hai Tujh Se Naa Milney Ka Yaqeen
Tujh Se Milne Ki Dua Apni Jagah


Badanaam mere pyaar kaa afsana hua hai
Deewaney bhi kahtey hain ki deewana hua hai
Rishta tha tabhi tu kisi be-dard ney todaa
Apnaa tha tabhi tu koi be-gaanaa hua hai


Mujhko tanha chor ney waaley
Kahi tu na tanha rah jaye
Jis pe tujh ko naaz hai itna
Uska naaam zamaanaa hai


Isey se badakar dost koii hota nahi
Sab judaa ho jaaye lekin Gham judaa hotaa nahi



Mera duniyaan main koi nahi

Yeh duniya waley kahtey hai
Par ye nadaan kya jaaney....
Mein..mera dard...meri tanhai....sath saath rahatey hai

And my most fav !!!

Woh jis ko jazzbon ki har lehar ne thehar ke deekha..kahin nahi hai
Dil ko phir bhi yakeen hai…ke woh yahi kahi hai
Tum he ko dekha.. tum he ko socha.. tum he ko chaaha….aur tumhein he na paya
Mohabbaat ke hazaar raastey…..bas koi manzil nahi hai!!!!!

Navy cut – Still above the Cut

Disclaimer: Smoking is Injurious to Health specially if you are a girl!!

­Last night was WOW to say the least!!!
I was itching to do something good to cheer me up and thanks to the world cup, I decided to go to a local pub/lounge for Brazil vs. Portugal match. Football is a craze in Kolkata and I seem to be getting addicted to it. Anyways match was a stalemate as we all know. I don’t understand the concept of draw in a match as I feel just like life one has to win and other has to loose!!! But never mind this post is not about football or philosophy :)

As usual I was down (or Up?) by few beers and few vodka shots and was happily enjoying the night. And as I am regular there …DJ is very supportive in playing the requests I wanted to listen. Pop came the surprise; two hot girls along with a guy came to promote the New Avatar of our Good Old Navy Cut. Those who smoke knows the value of navy cut :).

99% of the smokers in India start their journey into the ‘Jungles of the Smoke’ by kissing this Queen of cigarettes!!!

Although I am predominately a non smoker but I still dragged my self to have a look and feel of this new product or maybe I just wanted to gain some proximity with those two girls ;). So the details are: New packaging, Large Filter, and a new price (90 bucks for a pack of 20). As it was a promotion I was offered few puffs which I gladly accepted. I mean if a girl is ‘Offering’ you something how can you resist it ;). Even after their so called triple filter I felt it was ‘Strong’, so Kudos to the company they have made it to the cut.

Believe me I am no where associated with this Brand, I am just writing this one to return the favor as I offered few free puffs. I love returning favors :) as I hate keeping any. Zest of my life is to Square Off !!!!

Now I know you guys also wanted to know about the second best thing in this blog after the cigarette …The Promoting Ladies :)
Well….combination of alcohol, smoke ,some foot tapping music and some visible skin transforms every girl on the floor into Katrina kaif :) . But nothing happened apart from some genuine smile exchanges . I know I am not good in marketing my self!!
But I really liked the longggg hair of one of the girls. This species of girl is dangerously getting extinct day by day thanks to boy cut, shoulder cut, bob cut and whatever cut available in beauty parlours.

So after they went away I put my dancing shoes on and DJ happily played all the tracks I wanted to Dance On…Twist, Summer of 69 ,Numb, Pardesi , and what not!!!!! And I went on and on and on alone on the floor till everything came to a logical end and somebody whispered in my ear ‘It’s time to go home good boy!!!!’

Wake up 6 in the morning …can still feel the smoke in my throat and alcohol in my head.
I need a nap badly …GN..SD..TC..KS!!!!

Honor killings – Honoring our Narrowness

It seems like that Honor killing is latest fad among the smitten parents/relatives/communities whose children’s have defied the norms laid by the society to get married to their dream partner with whom they were deeply in love !!!
As we are frequently hearing and watching in utter disbelief about these cases & with each passing incident only one thing goes in my mind why…why…Why..WHY.. WHYYYYY!!!!!

It’s inhuman to hurt someone and I don’t understand what you would call it when somebody who is your own blood just rips you apart for the mere reason that you have taken a decision which was against your own blood. Is this is the cost which one is supposed to pay for following his or her own heart?

I was going through few of the comments which were posted against a news article related to Honor Killing …and it’s sad to realize that there are people who are silently game for it!!!! How inhuman can one be if anyone is justifying it….even if we look back into our history sacrificing one’s own life has been the trend to savor one’s pride and honor but few people think otherwise these days.

It’s true that it hurts when one stands against his or her own family for someone whom they know just from past few months or years. Our parents who have undergone considerable amount of ordeal during our upbringing have lots of hope from us which is fair enough but I seriously feel most of the time they over do it!!!!

As we all know expectations when not fulfilled give rise to frustration and anger and thus erratic behavior and acts but what is most shocking in these cases is that all have been executed in cold blooded fashion. This looks more like a revenge than a knee jerk reaction and that’s make it more dangerous and condemnable.

As we are developing and becoming more liberal and self oriented thus defying our cultural/traditional values surrounding us, our society is becoming more and more reactive/desperate/restless in its action to teach us a lesson. And if the person who brings you in this world is not considerate to you, you cannot expect much from this self centered / narrowly type casted society of yours.

There is no point in discussing whether these killings are right or wrong as you cannot make a wrong thing right by attaching honor and pride angle to it. Practically speaking I don’t see any end to this kind of brutal assassination of one’s feelings very soon and let’s hope our government enforces some strict laws to discourage this maniac behavior.

I just want an eye for an eye kind of justice for all these cases so that those who have sacrificed their lives may rest in peace and those who are supporting it should know that they just can’t escape after doing this heinous act of crime as they have approval & support from their society. No one is bigger than laws of the land!!!

Arrange Marriage – What, How & Why

Finally I am back from my self inflicted exile!!!!!!

As I am getting older day by day, I am precariously close of getting sucked into the greatest vortex ever existed in our society which is known as “Arrange Marriage”.

Before jumping to what it is? & how it is? Let’s first try to find WHY it is!!!!
For this we need to go back in time to the Era of Adam and Eve, I bet it was not there at that time :). It is safe to assume that we were polygamous in that era!!
And as we started developing and evolving there was a growing concern regarding how we can be different from Animals in terms of our sexual behavior towards each other and thus monogamy came into picture for the betterment of human being although I doubt it ;). ‘One partner, One relationship, One life’ gave birth to the term called ‘Marriage’.

But this approach was tweaked a little by our great civilization thus giving birth to the concept of Arrange Marriage which is a subset of Marriage. As we all know our society was initially divided into four different castes on the basis of nature of work a person does. And as you belong to a particular caste it is safe to assume that you want that caste to grow and outnumber the others which in turn will give you security and prosperity. I feel this gave birth to the concept of Arrange Marriage where parents makes sure that their son/daughter can only marry a woman/man of their caste which will indirectly help that caste to grow when they mate.

And as we kept on evolving this whole concept of Arrange Marriage become more and more complex and intimidating. Now days your parents will try to find a match for you who matches you physically (height, weight, complexion) and academically, who’s caste is compatible to yours, whose family is economically parallel to your family with good repute and to add icing on the cake horoscopes of both of you should be perfectly in sync with each other.

No wonder why it is said that marriages are made in heaven!!!

Believe me it is a very complex phenomenon, the amount of permutation and combinations involved in this process can bring a whole mainframe down.
The very first step of this process is to convince the boy/girl that now they should get married and settle down in life. And given the kind of generation we are and given what is going to come. I feel this is going to be the most difficult task in coming years with average turn around time running into years.

The Second step is to find a suitable alliance that satisfies all the parameters set by you. Again a daunting task but we have some traditional tools like relative network, marriage brokers and some cutting edge technologies like matrimonial sites to make our life easy.

The step three is all about human touch :) . I mean some ‘Deekho’ sessions by your parents and than by you. You can aptly call it a question answer round also as you gear up to face few easy ones like …Can you Cook? What is your highest Qualification? What are your hobbies? How much you earn?
And few nasty ones like Do you like joint family? Can you leave your Job? Are you Virgin? What about your ex-girlfriends...List is endless and so is the suffering!!!

The step four is all about negotiations ;) your negotiation skills are thoroughly tested.
How much dowry one can get or give all depends upon how one negotiates. If some body worth a bike then there would be a desire for a car. Gold should be accompanied by cash and fridge will not look good without plush Sofa. Then one needs to decide over where the marriage will take place. Would there be a common reception. How many people will attend the marriage, what would be the menu and blah blah blah ……All in all this is one step which is heavily dominated by the groom’s family and bride’s family doesn’t have much of a say in it …Thanks to our Culture and Society !!!!!!

And then there is Step five the preparation phase and step six is the D day but by now ones fate is sealed. And you just don’t marry the girl or the boy; you end up marrying with each others family/neighbors/cities and even to their pet dog!!!

Now the question is where I am right now …I feel I am still at step one only :) ..Which mean I still have few more bachelors months or years left :) .

Happy to be single…and today is Friday!!
What else one can ask more.... Time to enjoy my bachelorhood!!!!

Blast from the Past

Finally it's my 10th Blog!! Didn’t expected that this number will come this soon as I usually ran out of ideas while writing :) and given the small range/scope within which I use to write, I feel good about writing about this one.
Why this is special to me??
May be this is could be my last blog !!!!!!

May be I have special feelings for number 10 as I was born on this day or may be I just want to make myself feel a little better as I am not in the best of moods these days.
So what I am going to discuss in this special blog of mine. Thought hard and hard enough but wasn’t able to get any topic, so I searched outside my comfort zone to get inspired.
Thanks to my fellow Blogger / my very good friend , I got an idea !!!....A Photo Blog!!!
So I dig deep into my hard drive and came out with few pictures of my travel/adventures around the world which makes me feel happy..So here we go..enjoy !!!!

Wish this could be the way to my office every morning :) (EHV, The Netherlands)

My experiments with camera (Chandipur Beach, Orissa)




Our bike after Goa trip (750 Km from Hyderabad to Goa covered in one day both ways, in total 5 days 2000 KM and still good enough for one more trip)

Dodhsagar fall near Goa

Morning time in Ghats (Goa)


My lad :)(Grampians, Australia)

And finally me………

The One ‘Missing’ Thing

Sitting alone at home on a lovely Friday evening what can beat this feeling in terms of loneliness.
But still here I am sitting in a corner of my room thinking about what is missing from my life. And suddenly many things pops up in my mind.
My Ex Girl Friends, My Flash friends, My sold bike, My previous companies, My Ex Managers :) ( don’t know where this came from) to name a few but suddenly my conscience reminded me that I am a practical person and these ‘things’ were just a part of my life , a chapter . I should not be bothering about these.

Then I shifted my focus to an another set of things like my almost zero bank balance, My Dream bike (not that found of cars but a convertible can make it to the list :)), My 2BHK (with fully functional bar, billiards table, and voice command based lighting system), a company sponsored Europe trip but again my conscience dashed me that I not a materialistic person also, this is all too fancy stuff. I am not supposed to miss these!!!!

Then is it the joy or satisfaction or ambition or zeal or sense of success which is missing from my life again my conscience told me that these are just feelings. One cannot feel the same joy/satisfaction/ambition/zeal at all times. These are meant to vary from time to time.

Then what is that 'One' thing which I am missing which is making me miserable…Probably these few lines can answer that ….

Tabiyaat en dino begaana-e-gham hoti jaati hai,
Meri hissey ke goya har kushi kam hoti jaati hai,
Wahi hai zindagi lekin ‘jigar’ yeh haal hai apna,
Ke jaisey zindagi se zindagi kam hoti jaati hai….

Inconclusive ending, Not done, abrupt but again my conscience told me that this is just an ending of my blog I should not bother about this also!!!

PS: As usual the piece of poetry is not mine

Keep Distance!!!

“ Rabathey haadh se baadah jaaye tu gham miltey hai,
Yahi soch..har shaks se hum kum miltey hai”

Deciphering it in simplest words means that - As we get closer with people there are chances of getting hurt thus try not to get up close and personal with people.

I know few of you might have already started sulking …What this guy wants to convey??
First he wrote a silly stuff on how valuable the second chance is totally negating the thrill/exuberance/joy of first experience , then he raises question on friendship , then he went on to explain calculated love and how to keep your self happy/satisfied with ‘Something’ when the whole world is after ‘Everything’ and now a lesson on keeping distance!!!

Come on dude…how defensive/narrow/pragmatic one can become?

Personally speaking getting hurt is not a bad thing if you know how to get out of that feeling!! Sadly most of us have no idea about it. And once hurt we keep on digging the wounds, thus making ourselves more miserable.

Let’s start with workplace where we spend a reasonable part of our day. We try to build a niche for us by gelling with people we like. We go together for coffee breaks/lunches. We do gossiping and most of the times help each other in work also. But sometimes unwanted thing happens and everything goes haywire.
Like appraisals, you get good rating and your friend/colleague just gets an average one. With no fault of yours, you can feel the discomfort/dissatisfaction affecting your relationship. You can sense the change in behavior. Your friend will start mixing with the people who got the same rating thus ignoring your company (may be to share his/her feelings towards their manager :) ) . One of my friends calls it CSR (Community of Same Raters) syndrome. It can also happen that your friend finds another person with whom he can relate more than you, same language for instance. People feel more comfortable when they get a chance to interact in their regional language thus giving no regards to your presence even though they know that it’s Greek and Latin for you. Or it could be two of you splitting apart just because both of you are falling for the only hot girl of your project/department. Although this one seems to be fair enough after all everything is fair in LOVE!!!
But what ever be the case you end up hurting your self.

Coming to broken relationships, it always hurt to see you’re EX doing well without you. Well I might sound ‘MEAN’ but tell me any other way to put it across. I am not saint.You had a great relationship with your GF/BF and now they are not in your life due to any X, Y, Z reason. You feel low when you see them doing great with some one ELSE and believe me it hurts most when you haven’t been able to pick yourself since the breakup and your partner is going places. I have seen people scrapping their social networking account, changing companies/cities to come out of it and almost end up screwing their lives and career. Love is still a matter of great emotional distress to us if it doesn’t turn out the way it is meant to be!!

Hope till now you have realized the value of keeping distance. No, I am not asking you to stop getting into relationships!! That would be the worst advice I have every given and you have ever taken. Only thing I am asking you to do is to keep a comfortable/manageable distance in your relationships without letting other person know. Be mentally prepared that things can go wrong. Have faith in your abilities. And once it happens with you just try to think from other person perspective that why it has happened to you, you would be able to cope it better. Always thinking from your perspective is not going to help you in this regard. Well easier said than done!!!
The day you will master this art, that very day you will end up being an emotional fool. Though I am still waiting for that day to come for me :).


“Jo bas chalta tu duniya chheen leti jaan meri,
Hum tu bus zinda kyunki Zeeney ka hunar rakhte hain”





PS: Both pieces of poetry are not mine

‘The God’s Pill’

How many times someone sitting up make us realize that we are just human and it doesn’t take much to bring down this poor soul on its knees.

Yes we are mortal, perishable and above all a delicately balanced machine that most of the times just bluntly refuses to admit the fact that it is susceptible. I as an individual also fall in the same subset; I also sometimes become so mean, arrogant, self centered that other human beings ceases to exist for me. I, me, myself is the motto for most of us, nothing wrong also after all we are in a race!!!

We tend to ignore our weaknesses, our body, our surrounding when every thing is falling in place for us. Seems like a fairy tale or honeymoon period. You can’t do any thing wrong and nothing can go wrong. You feel divine, you feel great and you feel like you are the world.

But what goes around comes around. Something happens which makes you feel that you are not divine!!!!
A disease/illness, some mishap, something bad at work it can come in any form, any shape, any way and you can’t see it coming and it just rams into you …Head On..Bang!!!
And then the suffering starts, sometime it is for days, sometime it is for months and sometimes it is life long!! You can’t do anything about it. You have to go through it. You have to suffer and live with it. And then surfaces the oblivious thought WHY ME!!!

Its not only you, it happens to every one it just changes its forms. God is just trying to be creative that’s it!!! Having gone through it, still going through it and seeing other people going through this game of destiny only one question comes in my mind.
What’s the way out?
Well there is no way out!!!

Sometimes I feel that there should be something like ‘God’s Pill’ which can relive us of all the pain and suffering which we are going through. But sadly the doctor sitting up is in no mood to prescribe this pill to us!!!

I am signing off, I could be inconclusive but I hope you will understand the reason why.

‘Love by Chance’ or ‘Love by Matrix’

Disclaimer: This blog is not an attempt to change the way you think, I am not that good enough.

As I am growing old with my horizon expanding I am being exposed to a new school of thought about love which I would like to call as ‘Love by Matrix’. Though many of us are not aware of it but somewhere it is running in parallel with our good old ‘Love by Chance’ philosophy. And I certainly don’t think that it can surpass our conventional way of approaching love but I do feel that we have a strong contender in our hand given that we still live in a Caste & religion driven, economically divided and deeply narrow minded society.

I am assuming here that 99 percent of the people who are happily in love think marriage as the ultimate destination, so that they can live with the person whom they love for the rest of their life. Fair enough!!
For rest of the 1 percent it is more of an experience although I haven’t met even a single happy ‘Dedicated’ couple who just want to end their relationship only at love.

Let’s talk about our conventional approach towards love. In which two people meet, they interact, they get attracted and finally they fall in love. Simple, familiar, uncomplicated!! This is the way we fall in love in our life sometime ones, sometime twice, sometime many times!!

But the real problem starts when you try to convert this relationship of yours into marriage. ‘She doesn’t belong to our caste, how dare you’ or ‘Do you have any idea how much your monthly expense is and how much that guy earns’ or ‘What will happen to your sister/cousin sister /cousin cousin’s sisters, who will marry them if we let you marry that boy friend of yours who doesn’t even belong to our religion’ or the most common and the most pathetic one ‘What our relative and friends will say’ as if what they say means a world to you!!!

And what do we get in the end …people marrying as per their family’s will thus sacrificing there love, People getting married against there parents will thus sacrificing their families, Couples committing suicide as neither they can withstand family pressure nor they can live without each other thus sacrificing their valuable life and worst of all honor killing thus sacrificing on humanity!!
There are few lucky ones who are able to convince their families and thus they get married socially!!

Let’s repeat this again with our new school of thought. Two people meet, they interact, they get attracted but before plunging into love there’s a small matrix which needs to be analyzed. It’s more of a sanity and feasibility check. Its horizontal can be you and your family and its vertical can be the girl and her family. Do a SWOT!!
Don’t think about the obvious next step which is falling in love; think about two steps further about getting married. Are you socially and economically compatible? Can you weather the storm which is going to come ahead?
Is it asking for too much?

I know love is blind and people don’t think twice before falling in love but this little thought process can be used as a handy walking stick!!

As already said above that this is not an attempt to change the way you think. It's just an observation. As I look around me I still find people falling in love but in a calculated manner!!!!!!!

It’s a pity that I am asking you to hold back and think about your feelings rather than writing a big page on how to change the society but I do believe that things will change sooner or later and I am eagerly waiting for the day when we would be independent enough to take our decisions without succumbing to the pressure of our family and society.
I don’t want another US but I want a sensible India.

PS: By Chance or By Matrix do fall in love once …

From Grampians with Love

By luck I am founding my self in Melbourne, Australia and after having five usual days in office with some ‘Good to have face against name’ kind of stuff it was going to be an exciting weekend as I decided to take a two day tour of Great Ocean road and the Grampians National Park.
But there was more fun waiting for me before that, thanks to a colleague I got a chance to visit a local beer brewery on Friday evening and believe me it was one of the best beer I ever had in my life. Drinking Fresh beer just where beer is brewed and listening to some good blokes singing…what else can beat this?

As beer was quite smooth so even after having a substantial amount of it (read Jugs) I was awake on Saturday early morning to start my trip. It was a mix of nationalities with Americans, Japanese, Chinese, Germans, Singaporeans and our driver cum guide was a Dutch born and bought up in Australia having typical Australian sense of humor.

Great Ocean road is amongst the most scenic, rugged coastlines of the world and driving on the road is an experience which you cannot describe in words. It indeed was a good drive and we visited the famous twelve apostles (though our guide told us that there were only 10 apostles ever existed it’s just a phony name given to promote tourism...btw there are only 8 left now) and then there were few other famous structures like London Bridge and beaches. Need not to mention there were many clicks with “Yes, I was there” kind of poses around all these great structures.

From there we head towards Grampians national park as it was our night halt and we were told that we can expect Kangaroos during the journey. Our bus went slowly as there were chances that we might ran into Kangaroos which is very common is this part of the world. There were few instances where we need to slow down or even stop to let kangaroos cross the road. Finally we reached our destination and we were in a small town called Halls Gap which is located in the heart of the national park, with an average of 300 families and around 6000 beds for tourists.

After having my dinner I went outside to try my luck with kangaroos as our guide told us that they do come down from the forest , and there were instance where you can found them just outside your house , producing their typical sound. I was not disappointed as I saw a few but as it was very dark and I was a bit scared also. I called it a day and decided to see them tomorrow early morning.

I wake up around six next morning, it was drizzling a bit but when I went out the view was worth enough to compensate for an early rise. I was surrounded by mountains from all sides, lush green trees and a beautiful road. What a view!!! I went on the road still scared although our guide has told us that the kangaroos found here are small and not dangerous as Big Red kangaroos found in other part of the country.


Suddenly I saw a small kangaroo family (they are social animal, always found in groups) and I went close to them to get a good picture , but they ran away once I was in their comfort zone. Never mind as there were many jumping on their two legs making a great sight to view on a beautiful morning. Finally I was able to get few clicks with one being my favorite as the lad I was clicking didn’t move at all even though I went quite close suddenly I realized that the lad I was clicking was peeing !!

Then we started our trip to the national park. Few view points, a water fall and a walk inside the tropical forest were few things which we did before we started moving back to Melbourne. As the last stop of the tour we visited a wine brewery for some wine tasting. So there I was sipping glasses of white and red wine and I was happy as the journey which started with some great beer ended with some good wine.

PS: Photos would be uploaded soon once I am back as I forgot to bring the data cable for my cam :)

GDC to B-52

I never realized the significance of Friday till I was in IT. The very mention of word “Friday” fills every one of us with some kind of unexplainable joy. GDC’s (Global Donkey Centre) of all the companies wears a deserted look as the sun sets in the west on Friday and all road leads to only one place…The BAR.

After being part of many of these Friday night boozing parties for years, I feel competent and credible enough to write something about these.

Venue of these parties usually changes are per the pocket of the host or all, if it is being equally split (which means you can be at loss sometimes, if you don’t drink much :) or you end up drinking too much just to stay at par with every one so that you don’t feel ripped off :)).

The range and depth of topic’s discussed during these lively parties can beat GD round of any of the B school by a long long way.


One of the most ‘Discussed’ topic during these parties is “Girls”…every single noticeable attribute of the subject is discussed (by subject I mean the “girl” under the scanner) along with a highly detailed split analysis of her nature, appearance and what not :). The person excusing in between to pick his GF’s phone is seen as the most pathetic soul on earth and is rewarded with best of the best abuses available on this earth.

Self appreciation comes second on the list of discussions. When ‘High’ few people speak so highly about their abilities in all the fields that you start feeling as if you’re a waste on earth. Discussions can sometimes turn into a bet with both parties wanting to prove their point in pursuit of which tools like Google or options like ‘Phone a friend’ are often used. Although nobody remembers in the morning what the point of discussion was :).

People do crazy stuff like push up, dancing in bare minimum cloths , making unwanted calls to Ex GF or Current GF which hurts the most in the morning apart from hangover as they don’t remember what they said or rather over said over the phone last night :).

But still it is fun to be a part of these parties as long as somebody is not vomiting along side you or over you.

PS: Still wondering what a B-52 is :) ..Well go to a good pub ask the bartender for it but please don’t curse me if it leaves a big hole in your pocket :)

Something is always better than nothing

“Something is always better than nothing” is the adage with which I try to console my frustrated soul whenever life throws peanuts at me instead of rewarding me with jack fruit :).
I don’t even remember since when I have started finding solace in these lines and I am sure even God doesn’t remember also else I wouldn’t be writing this one…….

When I swing between feelings of ecstasy, euphoria and joy to sadness, agony and disgust .I try to find equilibrium using this phrase somewhere in between these two extremes of emotions.
I mean what’s the point in ruing for a lost opportunity think of what all life has given you apart from that.

We crib about lost opportunities, lost love, lost ventures and what not but we never try to realize that still we are better off than many ….Dude!!! At least you know what it like/feel being in love …look around there are so many who are clueless about love …..
Well your love life not going right is altogether a different issue :)

Every failure leaves you with at least experience about how things can go wrong if not anything. Things will fall in place later if not sooner. Till then try to make your self feel better by thinking that at least you have something which many don’t have and you are better off than many in many ways.

I am not asking you to concede to “Something is always better than nothing” ….that would be suicidal!!!That would be the end if you start feeling content at “Something” and not going for “Everything”. I am just asking you to console your self with this thought process if things are not going very right for you.

“All can’t be well” in life after all we have to live it and not to sail through it!!!

“Flash Friends” - The Dark Truth

Disclaimer: I truly believe that there is something called Good Friend and think that I do have few :) (Btw thinking doesn’t mean that one is right..its more of a perception )


How many times you meet a colleague, a room mate , a batch mate with whom you can connect …and how many times this acquaintance of yours end up being your friend,
Well….. the throughput for me is very less coz I am very choosy …..but still there are few instances ..I am human after all!!!!!!!

I am not going to talk about how two people become friends that is too trivial for me to write. I know your time is precious if not mine :) So to cut it short … You and the acquaintance of yours becomes “Flash Friends” and the honey moon period starts……
You share your GF’s/BF’s between you (well not literally ;)) ..You enjoy your drinks with him/her (especially if bill is not being paid by you)..You always want to go out with that person (Just because his GF is quite hot and that is only chance you have to interact with her …Bad ..Very Bad.. :):)) …You start believing (in every lie he/she tells you) …
You feel blessed!!!!

Resembling?????

And then the so called “Flash Friend” of yours goes out of your life..Reasons ..mmmm
God doesn’t want to see you Happy :):)
Well nothing like that ..New Job…College Over…Marriage…Onsite.. are few which I can think of

Then there is a futile attempt of being in touch via phone….but sooner rather than later even this also ends as your “Flash Friend” is either too busy ( what the hell !! every body seems to be busy when you need them the most …..)..or has got new “Flash Friends”….or too busy in his/her married life… or just doesn’t want to talk to you ( common… ppl can get bored of you, after all you are not the most charming/smartest soul on earth :) )
You end up being alone suddenly and sometime it hurts ….coz ..there is no one to empathize with you …your emotional distress call goes unanswered…your advice seeking call goes unanswered…your request for a new laptop/iPod at lower price from abroad goes unanswered ..Gosh this one hurts the most ..I tell you :D
Needless to say that there is no follow up call also ..wondering how people can be busy for months…sometime even years …

So what to do now ……….
WTF dude!!!!…..Life never Stops ...People change….what’s wrong with it .. ‘Change is the only constant’ ..accept it!!!!!
Stop being emotional fool… Move on ..Move over ..Push aside rather than being a pushover …Still not feeling good… Buy that Laptop/Ipod of yours ....will hurt your pocket a bit :(….but it will make you Happy and there is no price tag for Happiness……
Through with it.…Good for you …

Your gone “Flash Friend” is like a Dormant bank account….not active but still there …Don’t delete them from your Orkut, Face Book after all head count matters ;)

Few months down the line.. want to touch base with your old “Flash Friend” again ……You are such a loser man!!! Do whatever you want to do.!!!!

What’s the point in wasting your time/energy for those pricks ??
No Second attempt here :)

TGIF…Time for Beer with new “Flash Friends”…..
Would be back with 3rd one…………….

PS : I "think" even I have been a “Flash Friend” to many ….

Significance of "First"

Shall I do it..or Should I hold?..What if it didn't work? ..such questions bothers you when you do something new."Do the New" has always fascinated me!It can be the First day at office ..First Proposal..First Drink...First date with "First" Girlfriend ......First Kiss ....and the list goes on and on and on with every possible thing which a person can do for the first time ....and it includes every damn thing under the sky.....
And once done with that "First time" stigma ..we start doing the split analysis of how it went....cribbing or gushing about it .........I, as a person always look forward to the "Second time" ...no matter how good your first attempt was ..there is always a chance of getting greater satisfaction when you repeat ....although that curiosity will not be there but you still would be able to get something good out of it......coz your Second date and subsequent ones will lead you towards a relationship ....your second and subsequent round of boozing will make you understand this world in a better way ( may be more on it in next blog ) ......your second and subsequent kisses....well I think I need to stop here :)
So think ..improvise..innovate...and go for it ......but watching a movie second time .........need to think about it :)
And yes .. I am going to write a second one very soon....so keep watching for more..no matter what you feel about this one .....there is always a second one coming :)