Blow the dust ...away..!

It was 6:10 pm I just took a u turn in front of Lifestyle mall in Raja Garden and was headed towards Dwarka to celebrate birthday of one of our friends. Just then my friend received a call, the person on the other side was another friend of ours; She told her to reach to the safest possible location ASAP. I was anxious due to her replies to the person on the other side and her face too looked full of tension. Soon she informed me that there has been a blast in Gopaldas building in C.P. My first reaction was “It was coming” Though the tragedy’s news was shocking but to be honest it was not surprising at all considering the recent blasts in Jaipur & Ahmedabad. Even at the time when I heard the news of blasts in those places, I felt bad but couldn’t feel the impact; however this time when it happened right outside the building in which I started my career, I just didn’t feel bad, there was a wave of endless emotions and before I could react my phone ranged “Calling Dad”, I could understand his reason of call. He is otherwise less spoken and hardly ever talks in an authoritative tone but in the conversation of about 3 minutes, I could hardly speak and received orders to come back home immediately. I was more closer to my original destination and after numerous discussions, I finally decided to head towards Dwarka as safety of my female friend was equally important and I couldn’t have left her alone in these troubled times. We shortly received confirmed news of 5 blasts across Delhi, Karol Bagh, CP and GK; All the places where we could have easily been; In fact we changed the location to meet Raja Garden from CP to buy gift at the very last moment!

But quite a few others were not lucky enough and could not escape the terror strike. Official numbers say 30 people have lost their lives while 100 odd people were injured. News channels were carrying the disturbing pictures of blast victims and distorted looking blast sites, I was curious to watch the news but we decided to not to watch TV, The mood had mellowed down to a large extent but still we carried on with our reduced gathering while numerous calls poured in from all possible corners of the nation and we were glad to answer them and reply anxious messages ensuring we were safe.

Our talks endlessly digressed to the tragedy and we helplessly vented our anger out. I reached home early morning and on my way I saw signage written “India Gate” & “ Karol Bagh” while I was crossing Dhaula Kuan, For once my heartbeat became faster knowing the fact that I was quite close to all blast sites. Following the tragic event, one would expect heavy security; however to my utter surprise, I did not encounter even a single men in Khakhi and drove with out any checking till my house despite crossing sensitive places like dehli Cantt & Airport on the way. On reaching home I encountered another bad news of Cricket Australia giving a second thought about the upcoming tour against India due to security concerns

It is just a small illustration of how important is a citizen’s safety is to government authorities. India has always been subject to terror attacks and quite surprisingly, every attack has given boost to the evil powers and no learning to people in power, Be it Akshardham attack, Mumbai, serial blasts or Parliament attack, we don’t seem to have any system in place which can prevent repeat of such inhuman incidents in future, London for instance post blasts in underground stations has developed a system for preventing such attacks in future. The system includes a dedicated team including Dogs who are expert in tunnel activities. The CCTV’s have a wide range and work 24*7, In fact these cameras led to cracking the case; Govt. is equally concerned about people privacy and hence the cameras automatically blurs the image in case any building comes in its range but captures every single movement in public place. There is a team of experts set up who diligently watch movement of individuals These experts are responsible for pre empting any unlike event by studying body science 7 visual language of people. I know all of this can still not gurantee safety but says a lot about concern and efforts took to ensure it

We on the other hand are more bothered about Maharashtra’s Marathi and Up’s Hindi language barriers. Politicians have unmistakingly repeated similar comments and tirelessly given same assurances but to no result. The fact remains that common people are still burning. Every citizen has lost faith in security and does not feel safe while going out. Police on the other hand seems helpless, despite of early warnings; forces did not act to prevent such a heinous crime. Militant groups are openly mocking the security and challenging the administration to stop them. The recent e-mail from Indian Mujaheddin (IM) group who took responsibility for attacks declared, “the dust will never settle down”. Does that mean that thousands of lives will continue to get buried under that dust with no hopes of any one clearing it? I believe that with government, people are responsible too for the safety however the fundamentals of the current government looks very weak and any involvement from public might not get results that ideally should be expected. We don’t want Nuclear deal, not even strong monetary policy to control inflation, even eco friendly fuel is of least importance to us IF you can not guarantee or at least make effort to guarantee our survival, We don’t want tall buildings of rock and concrete All we need is a strong foundation which can blow the dust away and never allows to settle again

A bond called friendship

I woke up this Saturday morning with quite a handful of troubles surrounding my mind (It does exist!). Starting from the regular household chores which wait even more eagerly for the weekends than actually I do coz they pile on me the moment I hit my bed on Friday night (If at all I do!), However this Saturday morning, there were more guests along with the usual ones, For the first time since 2000, I actually let my phone become a victim of an accident, In fact a very bad one…My Motorocker has been accompanying me since November 07 and I proudly owned it hence announcing my entry in to the league of “high end mobile phones”. This lad has been witness to all emotions and knows even the best-kept secrets as all of them pass through him. So after spending such a quality time together, catching each other’s habits is not uncommon.

And I guess after preventing his temptation for GOD knows how long, and getting motivated by the “talli” song which I made him play for me countless times. He decided to take things in his own hands and at a traffic light; He wisely slipped out of my hand and went in for a quick swim session in the glass of vodka kept near the gear knob. Though my friend sitting besides me took him out that very moment, but alas, being his first time possibly, he got a hit and a bad one! The condition is not stable as yet and hangovers seem to have no end. So all those of you who might be wondering that I might have become rude, not replying to messages know now why as I am dependent on a stand by cousin of his who seem to be even a bigger talli, He will not show you who is calling making you receive all crap. Forget about messages, they don’t have any existence here!!

So while getting it to a repair was some task for me, my printer’s cartridge finally decided to not show up for work despite of being ink full! Hang on…there is this cordless land line phone at my home which is not working and badly needs my attention since it’s repair been pending for last month or so.

The fact that I some how stole time to get back home on Friday early to get a new grip on our team Bat and get two balls, brought a smile that at least I will be playing cricket. (My first and only love of life…Female’s are still invited with applications). My fantasy of pitching the ball outside the off stump and ball swinging in the last moment to up root the off stump suddenly brought whole lot world of excitement and suddenly world was a better place despite of all mechanical faults all around me…. Then I looked at the watch it was 5:00 am, the match was supposed to start by 6 in Gurgaon, I called up “George” but to my utter disgust, he didn’t pick up and hence ended my dream of celebrating wicket on the pitch.

As the day progressed, things started becoming little better with most of the jobs done and my phone calmly resting in coma. The match was arranged in the evening and I some how managed to rush to Gurgaon where we all (5 of my friends) were supposed to spend the night at Sam’s place celebrating Friendship Day. The match was better than our expectations as we managed to beat a local Gurgaon team on the last ball. The fact that they have thrashed us in last three occasions when we met made the celebrations even bigger.

It was followed by another round of celebrations with a gala dinner celebrating George’s appraisal and then DJ Sam entertaining us at his place through the night. As the dawn broke, we all started moving to our respective locations.

While all this happened; I some how felt the excitement and thrill all of the sudden dying as I came back home; feeling of loneliness is not strange to me; In fact at times I would read books, learn about things on internet and do other stuff which I usually don’t indulge in to. Still nothing brought solace to me. I kept wondering about this situation and did a lot of soul searching to find the answers but couldn’t. What made things worse is that one of my very close friends (“Vinay” alias “Victor”) is leaving India day after tomorrow for at least 2 years. Victor and I have spent almost every weekend together along with John (“Jeevesh” alias “John”) and believing that he would no longer be meeting and irritating me with his “Honey Singh” song is quite hard. We both know each other since 2000; the first day of our graduation and since then we have been each other’s agony aunt on numerous occasions. In fact we have been so close that My ex girl friend declared publicly once that she would have no issues with another girl in my life but she has serious issues with Victor’s association with me! (No I am not a gay!)

My mind is numb at the moment, it doesn’t know whether to be happy, sad, excited, or be neutral, as all emotions have taken a back seat at the moment. I don’t have any reason for this phenomenon happening to me.

But yes one thing, which is crystal clear, coming out of this situation, is that I am blessed, yes I truly am. I probably wouldn’t have been what I am today had my friends not been around. Each one of them has made a special mark on my life. Origin of my life has been due to my parents and every credit goes to them for what I am today, however credit for adding life in to every breath goes to all my friends, Be it a cricket game or a career discussion, from the long chats on how to propose that girl to deciding on which company to sit for in the campus interview; motivating for taking the right decision and then consoling when things go wrong; In short anything and everything which happens in my life is some where a result of one of my friend’s genuine effort to see me happy.

So here thanking all of them for making this world a better place…you rock guys!!

Happy Friendship Day!

Kyon ki Zindagi .... abhi baaki hai mere dost..!

“Brilliance lies not in the result but in the act which produces the result,” said one of my colleagues, He was right but that forced my mind to think hard that is it not the result we focus most on? Off course when the expected result is clear, then we are more focused on the actions to achieve it so, which is more important, goal or the journey to achieve it?

What we get in the end may not truly justify our actions for it as the success may not be ours after putting in all the efforts, Lets assume that you love a person and you make all efforts to convince him/her for your feelings, to make that person believe that no one else can love her/him as much as you do; and in the pursuit you encounter some beautiful feelings in your heart, all those small things which made you love that person even more and inexplicable happiness for being in love! You write your heart out on paper, you plant that perfect song in your heart and my experience (as told by my friends who are in love) tells me that love makes you a better person. Finally after listening to your heart, you decide to ‘express’ it in the expectation of reciprocation; Now further assume two possible scenarios, One where things work out well in your favor and other where you do not receive the expected response and you enter in to the heart break (again told by my friends who have been through it) which makes you feel sad and disappointed and lonely believing that you have lost everything.

The other scenario is a tricky one where I doubt that the statement made by my colleague actually stands true or not for the journey till that point was no doubt fabulous however the result was way off from what expected, so can peace be achieved thinking that path was great and the whole episode made you a better person and so on?

Well the answer may vary from person to person but who kehte hai na..jo hota hai , ache ke liye hota hai….Sahi kehte hai!, So trusting the supreme power and your instinct, probably the road to where you have reached today was not that bad; you may have achieved some of things from your list and lost on the others but that experience made you what you are today but hey hang on, does it mean that we should not aim for we may not get it at the end and hence enjoy present and be absolutely unconcerned about future? Well I wish if it had been that way; however what life has taught me so far tells me that no matter what ever happens; you got to stand up and take aim despite of the difficulties you know you might well face and enjoy every moment you spend in making an effort to achieve it as those moments will turn in to memories of life time

As a sportsman, you cant pad up and take guard thinking about the mammoth total set by the opposition all the time but what you can definitely do is to face ‘every’ delivery bowled at you with confidence and with a belief of scoring and hence enjoying every moment spent on crease

Now even if you lose the match, you know you gave your best shot and are ready to raise the bar next time you go out and play and hence I believe journey has a lot more significance than the result

If you still haven’t made it then probably have to try even harder (read enjoy even more) to make it large kyon ki zindagi…abhi baaki hai mere dost

A tale of three wandering souls

10:15 PM Robin joins Sam & George in the famous Zaika at IFFCO chowk, gurgaon, After listening to all abuses for joining this late, All three got down to business and what better deal could be to enjoy each other’s company with Fosters (I love Australians for it!).; George as usual had his list of grievances against his boss “Subbu”; Sam had just shifted to an internet media company and hence showed no sign of bad honeymoon; Robin as usual is a victim of wrong person at wrong place, He shifted from ever demanding hours of retail industry to Market research giant in hope of better work life balance and he found his entire life crunched only to weekends with normal working hours stretching beyond 12-14 hours on daily basis. Talks digressed from office to more personal. All three are bachelors so talking about girls is an obvious choice; Common point of frustration all are nearing or reached 25 and still are virgin! Robin in the middle of drinks suggested to go on a drive to which both agreed

1:30 am, Gurgaon-Faridabad highway, three bachelors lying down on grass on a small cut out from the main road, the hustle bustle of trucks crossing by adding to the environmental bliss. Thanks to the remote location from town, the area has no element of electricity and whatever these three can see is due to their mobile phones light. Chatting and reliving their college days when they were together under one roof for two years…. and blessing the maker of Fosters after every sip, for a change appreciating Australians didn’t hurt especially outside the cricket ground.

George – a perfectionist, one who believes in detailing even the minutes spent in attending nature’s call be it early morning must do activity or pissing his way to glory in the huge dug out area right at the corner of IFFCO chowk, see his mail before organizing any trip and you will realize that he can give any travel agent a run for his money and not to forget the way he pumps everybody and literally wakes dead souls to join the party. Better known for his tragedies, which he innocently admits as “Hadsa”. Be with him and you are in for a big surprise and more often than not, his acts will tear your ass apart before normalizing the effect. His list of tragedies is huge but what stands out is an incident where he was running away from another friend of ours in college cafeteria when this soul decided to take quickest way to exit…not from window! Not from pipe or any other remote location, but from the most obvious exit that is the door, but in the most unusual manner where he decided to go “through” the glass door; before we could realize, this guy was down on the floor with glass broken. Always wearing his signature smile, ask him how does he feel after such a stunt? And he would sum it up precisely for you by saying “SKB” and before you run your mind in guessing what abbreviation means…at the cost of being indecent on public platform, let me reveal it…It means S** Ka Bacha!

Since the time he has originated this term, SKB generally gets associated with every good experience; Not that we all are not but he for sure is one SKB who believes in “Live life King Size” and he actually does

Sam – Once GOD decided to give all the raw material to one person to make it large in life; He created Sam and since then, both GOD and Sam are confused about what to do with it! He is one soul whose emotional pendulum knows no midway; He can beat SRK when it comes to romance and showering love on others but beware! Once you are in his bad books, your link disappears from his homepage forever; as he would say what ever he does “Had se zyada”! His skills of flooring girls is a well known fact amongst friends and even today college echoes his songs; hot property in the early days of college, he soon became a craze with his majestic voice and almost anybody & everybody would stop him on road and would listen to “Bheege Honth” on demand. Such was his aura that even director couldn’t help but call the guy who sings that famous song despite of his zero attendance and no assignments submission. Till now, he has managed to indulge in umpteen affairs (contact George for exact number) and even more heart breaks; As his life progressed, he added more and more females in his “cntrl + shift+del” list. A true sportsman who doesn’t believe in declaring his innings except small “breaks” in between when he decided to go in to his most favorite activity of sleep! This human turned “aloo ki bori” is then no contest no matter how hard you try to wake him up an the rule applies irrespective of location or occasion! Being from a small town, despite of all his talent, he has his feet firmly on ground; A real gutsy customer and would never shy from saying truth on face; only piece of advice with this heart of gold creature is Handle with care!

Robin – A wandering soul who grew up in a well protected family environment and for whom fun didn’t go beyond watching a movie on cable TV or playing cricket (his first love) in the neighborhood until he joined college and was amazed to see the pace with world moves; being a real adventurer at heart, He embraced almost everything that came his way. Soon the cupid strike and he fell in love and so far his only love in his life; though his cricket scores were always better and that meant little luck with the love game. People describe him as a cricket maniac and he would oblige his judges by saying no to everything in worst circumstances except cricket. His fever for the game actually started with 1996 world cup and when India lost Semis to Sri Lanka and whole India went in to depression with Kambli’s tears, this folk was busy motivating his colony friends to wake up early morning next day to play the game as a part of daily schedule in those days. He is often a confused personality with little clarity and believes in living everyday on its face value. Though he comes close to match the level of Sam in terms of love, He somehow cant be as straightforward and develop hatred for some body; one of his biggest weaknesses

He could be often found giving his all time famous “goli’s” to his parents just to be with his gang. If lying to your parents is a sin, then he for sure has got his seat reserved in hell. His belief in life is that it is too small to be lived on assumptions and ifs and buts, hence “Make it Large”

All three shared passion for sports and hunger for adventure

2:00 am, after trying all possible numbers to get through a call girl fails and all three get up in frustration to move back to Gurgaon. The journey back to gurgaon was a true pleasure with Sam turning Atif Aslam and sang his all-heartfelt songs with all pain his own heart.

Realizing that it might be too late, Robin decides to leave for home after a fantastic start to the weekend…

To be continued....

Love Strikes!

Love has got many definitions, right from the days of its trivial explanations of “aag ka dariya” to today’s quite simplistic one’s of love at first sight, love has strike for every one around us, and every one has experienced those mushy moments; those who disagree have also tasted the waters though unconsciously.

School time love is infatuation people say; college time love is kiddish, be mature! And then think; love in ur post teens is often considered to be most right by the pundits for the simple reason that people around you believe that your mind has matured enough to take the right decision and your final destination isn’t too far hence the journey will most likely have an happy beginning in terms of getting married.

No matter at what age, at which moment love strikes, when it does, you know it has arrived in a big way; it will not make huge sounds in your outer world but will surely plant a beautiful song in your heart; It will not make you crazy in terms of your actions but it will surely make you go crazy about the person with whom you are in love with.

Like any good bollywood flick; it then takes all beautiful twists and turns before facing the test of times and those who pass it and enter in to yet another beautiful phase called marriage (mind you its beautiful only when above situation is true, else God knows!)

However, for those it doesn’t work out well and the partnership comes to an end earlier than expected; it is a different ball game all together.

Life moves on and so does people around you including those who really matter to you and those who really made you fall in love with them. Experts say that if you believe in your love then do not hold on to it, set it free and it will come back; well I am yet to see a live example. Every one in life make mistakes; goes through the learning curve; for few its faster and yet for others it takes eternity to find out what is right or wrong for them; what did they lose; gain and most importantly; what not to do to get in to the same situation again.

Problem with most heartbreak victims out is the battle between past, present and future. Like any other situation in life; if you cling to your past; you will be doing great injustice to your today and at the same time if you are thinking to much about your future; then you are probably losing out on your current time to make things better ahead.

Like any good batsman; one must not be out of practice for too long; hence if you do not find another partner very soon; you might end up being in this mess even before you know it.

It is not that one must format the hard drive and forget about what all happened; It is impossible to do; It is at times equally impossible to hate the other person who is responsible for your today. The best way is to make a small hidden folder and try to forget its location; even if that does not work out; remember; life is too short to be lived on hopes; so bury the past and chin up to face the today as it will lead to your tomorrow which is even important than your past.

Life doesn’t give you many chances; but when it does, you need to grab it with both hands as life is too short to be lived on assumptions and thinking what might happen due to your action might refuse the success from that action and fear of failure will never let you do it and probably you will add few more ‘Kaash’ for your death bed.

Knowing what’s right and still not doing it due to false assumptions like ‘it is not meant to be’ is the biggest sin I believe. Only thing one will ever gain out of it would be a little boost to self-ego, which will take you nowhere. Knowing the point of correction and still looking away from it would simply mean that your learning curve is taking yet another dive

If life doesn’t give you a chance, give life a chance to prove to you. It is not as trivial as it seems but definitely takes an effort, which will come by intent.

Giving up on life and accepting it the way it is taking you is perhaps the easiest thing to do and most dreadful as well. Your fear and assumptions might make the soil infertile forever where it holds a potential to blossom a garden.

Some times it is best to hit a pause button in your life; take a deep breath and you will know what is right for you to do. If you still fail to do so, life might never throw up any chance for you but if you do give it a chance; life will come up with many as the say, journey of thousand miles starts with a single step; so are you ready to take that step to enhance your future or to accept things assuming it the way it is will remain for ever. It is good to hope for a brighter future, however it is even better to make your present beautiful, which will ensure a sun shining tomorrow.

As far as I am concerned; my umbrella is ready in a hope of bright sunshine; even if it rains; I am sure it will be able to protect me!

And if you still find your self on the losing side despite your bets efforts, then remember…

“Shaakh pe nayi pattiyo ke khilne ka mausam hai.

Yun daal pe gire us ashq ko ilzaam na do”

Relationships demystified : Corporate way!

Mass Customization vs. Mass product

Most men tumble here, In search of a partner, they assume themselves as some one who is a single and ever ready to mingle, and hence they fall in the trap called “Mass product”, however it is important to understand a thin line difference and customize yourself according to the party in pursuit; You may look cool while throwing your cool attitude around but to be sell able , you need to provide customer what she wants; and a good product is one which has mass appeal and widely available through all channels and hence mass customization is of key importance here.

Competition exists…for real.

Lets face it, even the best products available in the market face competition; the era of monopoly is gone and the Manufacturer (Read: GOD) to seem to have run out with the distinguishing features to create monopolistic environment. Getting in to a ‘deal’ does not guarantee life long association, In fact even more efforts are required now to not the other party deviate and get in to the trap of competition which will come quietly and destroy the association before you will know. So next time you see your partner giggling looking away from you, turn your antenna on to spot that source!

Investment vs. Expenditure.

Get this one right folks… any penny spent on your partner on stuff like movies, discs, liquor etc is purely an expenditure and not investment, which may look like at that moment. A hot date in return can be seen as a short-term capital gain with huge taxes that will ultimately bring down the valuation.

Word of mouth publicity

This is a strange situation where the person endorsing good things about you wont like others to explore the same, and hence don’t rely on it and always make you case strong by means aggressive marketing like mischievous glares to potential partners and in fact running a parallel pilot run wont hurt either to be on the safer side. However the word of caution here is that both parties should be made to sign NDA (Non Disclosure Agreement) to avoid any confusion and hassles in future.

Practicality vs Emotions

This one is a deep sea so better wear your life jackets. Any wave called emotions and sentiments can take you along to this horrified sea of pain, sorrow and disbelief. You will be on the top of the world in the initial stages surfing through waves of early euphoria, however in the hindsight these waves are taking you deep to a point of no return, Hence be aware of such waves and always look for small ponds then a huge sea. As the former will give you the pleasure and variety so be Mature and practical; in short “Please read the offer document carefully before investing”

Few golden rules for happy business...ooops happy relationships!...

1. Things do not last for ever

2. And hence do not Expect them to

3. There is more than just meets the eye so always keep updating stuff like 'relationship status' and 'From my past relationships I have learnt:' on your orkut account.

To be continued.... :)

25..What a life!

I remember an advertisement saying that life is all about numbers, so true, I think! For our daily routine itself runs around numbers; few numbers happen to us and others we make them happen; be it our birthdays or 1^st job or day of our first salary. In fact right from the day when we wake up; we keep chasing numbers with every extra number on clock dial makes us feel breathless and rush to work and when we reach office all we do is run after and around numbers (especially if you are in Market research :))

Since my teenage, one number which always haunted my mind was 25. I don’t know why but there was a kind of apprehension attached to this number, may be because of the fact that all the time I used to hear about people getting married at the age of 25; then education revealed to me that 25 also happens to be the age when one’s “Brahamcharya” phase of life comes to end gates to “Grihasthjeevan” opens. But marriage is not the only factor tagged with it. Since early childhood, we all grew up with anxiety and innocence of “teenage” which brought discovery to so many things in life including emotions, liberty, and taking charge of your own life and growing up with no more “Mamma’s boy” tag; that era was of freedom and excitement as anything and everything I did and experienced was for the first time; leaving teens and entering “twenty’s” was again an stimulating experience with some sense inflowing in the system and rise in expectation from all corners to beat the crowd and stand at a position to get ready for the world!, Since then five years have gone and life has turned upside down and within no time, today I have crossed the doors of the number I always dread about, As I turn 25, there are lot of things which cross my mind and top most is responsibility towards parents, career, achieving more to be able to survive for future and getting ready for the next big move in life which is even dreadful to ears that is “Marriage”, though it is still not on cards for some distant future but still the number has definitely brought a sense of acceptance to the fact that D day may not be too far!

No more you are a ‘Mamma’s boy’ the number means that you need to be ready to slog yourself even more to satisfy expectations around you who matters to you. The number also means it is time to pay back, After all, 25 years is long enough time for our parents to feed us, they deserve every moment of love spent with them and every effort which makes them feel that you care about them and every penny if you can add to your dad’s account!

Looking back, I would love to revisit my founding stones which made me who I am today but I know only thing which can be cherished is ‘present’ and hence I am enjoying this moment thoroughly as life has achieved it’s quarter century in such a style that it deserves a celebration worth a half century coz who knows even century would ever knock at our doors or not.

It is a moment to thank the almighty and pray to him for strength for surviving till 50 as the pitch promises to be full of untrue bounce and turns!

So though my age certificate will show the number I always dreaded; My passport might suggest that I am an ‘Adult’ now, deep with in I am and will always remain that growing up child who still gets amused to the discoveries in the world around him, who still believes a home made meal by mom beats all restaurants all around the world, for whom his world revolves around his family and friends, Yes I have turned 25 today for the outer ‘Real World’ but for my all friends and family members, I can assure you that there is a heart of a teenager and a brain of child inside who will never grow up, for adding numbers is for mathematicians, I believe in breaking those blocks of numbers!

We will miss you gilly!

Few do it by compulsion, others do it by passion, and few others do it by obsession and yet others and very few are those who don’t just do it but takes it to the next level and leave behind marks for others to try and follow. In the year 1996, A man walked in to the middle with a traditional baggy green cap signifying pride for playing for Australia and a pair of gloves and the whole stadium welcomed successor of great Ian Healy who still is termed as all time great wicket keeper the game has seen, however what game had not seen before this young man walked in to the middle was a perfect fusion of flawless keeping and aggressive batting, Adam Gilchrist changed the way wicket keepers used to play the game and with in no time, every teamin the world was taking notice and all the coaches have only one thing to tell their keepers, “you keep well, but you have to bat as well as gilly does”. He created a different league of players in his own domain.

Gilly was as devastating in Tests as he was in ODI’s. He is the first player to reach the milestone of hitting..hold your breath…100 sixes …in test matches and any guesses against whom he hit last two sixes of those?..well all time great Muttiah Muralitharan. Ask any new ball bowler and he would describe it to you that how Gilly butchered him almost every time he dared to bowl to him. Ask any batsman about his reaction after edging a ball or missing a ball outside the crease when gilly is behind the stumps, and the answer would be unanimous, you don’t need to look behind coz this man with hands of gold hardly ever missed and executed every dismissal with perfection.

Few of his quotes from his blog characterize his personality

“I am of the opinion that the cricket ball is there to be hit rather than defended, and this sometimes leads to my demise”

“There is no value in looking back at what we have done. We must play for the day, and focus on doing our jobs”

“Returning to India is a pleasure. This is a wonderful country, and cricket fans here are amongst the most knowledgeable in the world”

Unlike most of the Australian players, he stands out in terms of discipline and sportsmanship, in his wonderful journey, he was unbelievably stain less and was never ever involved in any controversies and why would he be, when you can let your gloves and bat talk and that too big time! Gilchrist is renowned for walking when he considers himself to be out, sometimes contrary to the decision of the umpire

Australian Cricket has produced many great cricket players and few of them have proved to be real “Heroes” for the cricketing world and Adam for sure tops the charts. Experts compare d his batting style with great Sir Viv Richards however, I believe, he was in to his own domain and needs no comparison.

Australian cricket for sure will feel the void of such a great player and with Mc grath, Warne and now gilly, Oz would be little worried for the world cup 2011.

Today when this great sportsman takes his final flight with ODI’s, he has surely left few hearts sore and craving for more as he walks in to the sunset. The game has seen many greats and would continue to do so but with players like gilly calling it a day, it would be not just tough but next to be impossible to find a replacement as they have created a structure so great and unspoiled that no one else would ever be able to fit in to it.

As they say that A picture speaks of thousand words. Here’s a video on you tube in tribute to this great player (PS: I found it on you tube, I did not make it J )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDea0Z5urDM

We will miss seeing you in action gilly!

Bond with the best:!

It s again that time of the year which brings mixed feelings to me. End of the year definitely means another opportunity to capture those last twelve months, rejoice moments that went your way and learn lessons from those which didn’t. Amongst the euphoria and excitement of welcoming the new year and bidding fare well to the current one, what seem to be the thorn in the flesh is the weather, Yes you got it right…I mean how many of us would not want to break free and be their own when it comes to an even like “ New Year”, however the weather Gods defy the timing and bring cold waves to its extreme when they are required the least. My agony with the weather has been since ages and it has stemmed from the fact that winters simply seem to win every time when it comes to disturbing my daily routine. Body just cant get active and you need an effort ten times what it takes in summers, however this winters have brought lot of great things to me and I just cant afford to complain for something which is beyond my control.

“The name is bond…. James Bond” Yes the agent 007-stood true to its name and displayed all colors a bond is known for. For reasons more than one, the year proved to be an “Activator” for me. Quite a few things, which I always used to “think”, got going. Year started on a gloomy note with riding on the bandwagon of so-called retail boom, Jan 26^th provided another opportunity to strengthen my determination to count my last days in PRIL. I decided to stay on for another six months just to add some weight to my CV.

March proved to be the better of the first six months for me. I got blessed with a nephew, my consistent efforts in proving the fact that what I was doing is not what I like finally brought results and I got a department shift in office and Cricket World Cup 2007 got rolling. If the World cup proved to be a big miss for our cricketers, the department shifts as I realized later was even worse on personal front. Still that period provided me with a lot of solace I was looking for.

A summer is the time I usually enjoy. Somehow the heat and sweat tends to bring the best out of me. That was the time when I started my job hunt with full aggression I was reading self help books! Well not for the first time but yes for the first time I did “apply” it. A simple sentence from the book “The monk who sold his Ferrari” referred to the importance of fitness. The author says “Saying that I don’t have time for fitness is like driving down with no time to fill fuel, sooner or later you are bound to get trapped!” within a week of completion of book, I hit the gym and continued for almost four months.

Autumn is usually the best time of the year and this year’s autumn brought a few more smiles than the early ones. The Chak De chants came at the right time and acted as a catalyst in my efforts to switch to the new job. My first ever flight to Mumbai brought joy and luck. Mumbai welcomed me with great weather, old friends re union and news, which my ears were dying to hear to. The selection call from Nielsen on my first day of tour meant a fully sponsored farewell trip from my last employer!

Winters brought my passion in to action with almost every Saturday turning in to a match day Cricket has brought that hidden excitement and thrill back in to my life.

My personal front got a little better and it was time to look beyond personal interests. JATAN, a great initiative by my fee fellow batch mates about salvaging small-unprivileged children and supporting their education. Though being a member of this great move, I was least involved either physically or financially. It has largely been said that Sports is a great teacher and teaches you most important lesson of life. My passion about game of cricket got a new partner with JATAN. India tour of Australia was always the most talked about tour and I wanted to cherish every moment of it and at the same time do something which can help the JATAN gain momentum and that was it! “Cricket 4 Care” was born and a super selector form game was devised and invitation was sent to almost every body I know with a small condition, an entry fee of R.s. 100/ which would be donated to JATAN for further enhancement in their efforts towards providing a better tomorrow for those kids.

Today C4C has completed round one with 16 teams registered and many more knocking doors to be included further, I am sure the efforts and this noble act would definitely bring smiles on the face of those innocent victims of life and will ensure a brighter future for them, On this note, I would like to wish all of you all the love, success and blessings from GOD in 2008, Have a great year ahead…and keep rocking!

Been there, Done that ? !!

On this morning, I picked up the latest issue of Outlook, disappointed with the word go, I continued to read in a hope of some thing to rejoice being in the middle of festive session, but news continue to give me more frowns then smile, Lazily, I moved to pick up the remote, all news channels have one common “breaking news” that is Om Shanti Om vs Sanwaria!.

That very moment I receive a call form one of my school time friend, I remember, we used to be best of buddies (we actually started going school together in the same rickshaw!). Pleasently surprised, a thrust of fresh air blowing away dust of old memories swiped my mind. Before I could actually start chit chatting with my chuddy buddy, he announced about his wedding this month..”Marrr..ia..ge?” I asked in a broken voice in disbelief. Off course I wasn’t expecting it at all. After all he is of my age with similar aspirations and family background and responsibilities, For that matter I was more like a family member in his home at one point in time…marroing ratta together for school exams and needless to say going out together for babe watch too!

Before I could sink in the news, my social obligation nerve reminded me to say congratulations! Though I wont say much about my emotions

Then followed series of questions like, her name, where she lives..etc..

Going back last year this time was the first time, I got introduced to the word called Marriage amongst my age group or rather my friends to be more precise. The chain off course started with ladies leading from the front and that honestly did not bother me at all knowing our culture and social pressure on them. Few months later, few more announcements of engagements again with all female friends involved. Other section of people involved were all at least two to three years senior to me in age so that thing also went down easily considering the age group. Since that time till today, I have seen almost half a dozen wickets falling around me, for every dismissal, I had a back up plan in my mind to justify it either with the factor like seniority or social pressure in case of girls but off late there to have changed. The last wicket to fall is one who neither has gray hair (though I believe one shouldn’t have a single gray hair at the time of wedding but should be ready to see one pretty soon after that!) nor does he has any social pressure or family obligations like stuff on his side It is a case of a straight delivery pitched at around middle and off with no shot offered, one cant help but give such a batsman out. And that’s what seems to be happening all around now! Every other friend you meet is either getting ready to bid farewell to bachelorhood or at least interested in exploring options.

“Profile banane mai kya jaata hai?” said one of my other old friend referring to a website offering matrimony services. So what is that driving today’s youngster to early surrender? One thing that stands out is high salary, which is giving them enough confidence to be responsible enough for taking care of a family. In a way it is good to settle early and plan your next innings early in life. Only factor to be kept in mind is how well padded up are you? Becoz it is that stage of life where once you enter, you cant help but burn your boats to rescue so In my opinion it has to be well thought of decision with enough deliberation. Other angle to it is how much have you enjoyed your single hood? Are you ready to say, “Been there done that?” Probably there are lots amongst us who have attained the maturity level, which is required to take such responsibility and my congratulations to all of them for being ready early in life to face next innings which in fact is inevitable for all of us and certainly seems to be full of joy and accomplishment once you are ready to go and fire and with all the protection (financially sound and mentally stable…. what did u think? :) …So all those who have already entered in this beautiful phase or about to enter and all those “aawaras” like me for whom the milestone still seems like light years away, tell me what you think about it and you win a couple ticket to honeymoon location of your choice :)

Fast..Furious...Leaders!!!!

They came, they saw, they fought and unexpectedly conquered. This is how probably the first ever T 20 world cup would be penned down in the pages of history. Indians who were nowhere before the start of the tournament, finally emerged as the world cup champions, a dream which was cherished in the hearts of billions since 1983 but it would be too early to draw any kind of comparisons between the two feats.

The very first match set the tone for the tournament with Gayle from windies hitting towering sixes all around the park putting up an impressive score of 206 in 20 overs only to be over achieved by protease. The opener sent the signal that this format for weak and mediocre. What we saw later on would always be etched on the heart of every Indian for ages to come.

The first match with Ireland forced both teams to share points due to rains. Yuvraj chose Englishmen for his dinner as he pounced on them hitting famous six sixes in one over from poor Broad, Flintoff by then just learnt the lesson of not igniting the tiger of Punjab and his facial expression after the third six was hit said it all. I personally believe that the argument between the two just before Broad’s over had a great influence of what Broad had to face for the next six balls. Collingwood helplessly changed fielding but Yuvi was in no mood to show any mercy.

The match of the tournament for me was the first league match between the archrivals India and Pakistan. The battle that every one waits and none of them could afford to lose. India set up a mediocre score of 143 but did well to restrict Pakistan to produce the first ever bowl out, a method to decide the winner pretty much on the lines of penalty shoot out in football. Indians seemed pretty relaxed and enjoying and hit first three while Pakis made a mess of it not hitting even once! As a result India won the bowl out and world realized that the euphoria and the aura around Indo – Pak clash isn’t exaggeration but for real and by far the best sporting clash between any two arch rivals.

Riding high on pak win, Mahi’s boys did not look back and despite the loss to new Zealand, beat big players of the ring by kicking South Africa out ofthe tournament. Greame Smith by then realized that his team has lost more than just a match. The next big battle, which every one expected including me India to lose, was against aussies. India again reminded them that this format can’t be taken for granted and you need more than just skills and power to win here. India stunned the world and entered finals only to realize that they will be facing Pakistan once again but this time in a battle of life time, a battle which would define death or life for either of the teams.

Like a good commercial bollywood movie, the plot thickened towards the end as Pakistan too proved its point and was now face to face with Indians in the finals of the world cup. A clash that every Indian and Pakistani dreamt and his or her prayers got answered. India entered finals with the tag of favorites and were truly were till the last over when Misbah from Pakistan stunned the billion population of India by hitting a six off Joginder Sharma. The victory was just a strike away for Pakistanis, as they required only 6 runs off 4 balls. The only hope India had was to take the final wicket and then Joginder Sharma bowled the delivery of his life, Misbah tried to loop it over the fine leg only to balloon it towards square leg for a fine catch to be taken by Sreesanth. The whole India erupted in joy.

The pictures that we saw will not erase ever from our hearts. After 24 years, India won the world cup!Celebrations, praises and awards are being showered over the mahis’s team and why I am labeling the team with his name is because of the leadership he has shown during the tournament keeping his cool at the crunch situations and making the right choices at the right time. Bowlers in my opinion still are the weak link but the heartful performances by Pathan, RP and Shreesanth does ignite a strong light of hope which I hope becomes thicker with time…but for now, in the race of fast and furious, Indians lead!

Fast 'n' Furious..

The sound is deafening, the drumbeats are unstoppable. It’s fast and furious. As the International cricket today enters in to a new era putting behind any doubt or qualm what so ever, the stage looks ready for the new reckoning to begin.

It’s not been long since the pundits of cricket were debating about the viability of the twenty – twenty formats and its sustainability. In fact when we talk about twenty – twenty formats, too much has happened too soon at times for the discomfort of the cricket fans. However the message that ICC wants to convey is loud and clear. After experimenting it in England, Australia and involving all test playing nations at least once in to this ninety minute thriller, It is all set to roll out the first ever world cup of twenty – twenty.

Some veterans might be relating it to 1975 when ODI cricket took wings with the first ever world championship. Not surprisingly, the doubts and theories have not changed since then. The fitness level of a player taking toll and techniques becoming an ancient word etc. are genuine areas of concern and worth a debate. But what obviously seems to be overruling these apprehensions is the commercial aspect, which is huge and off courses the fun and thrill for everyone including players.

This ninety-minute thriller conceptualized at the head quarters of international cricket, England is a treat to watch with every ball promising to be a thriller in making. The rules too add to the fun with every no ball has to be followed with a “free hit” where by batsman can be out only by run out. The bowlers have a definite death here and only the strongest of the batsman species will survive and hence Australia becomes the natural favourites with the likes of hussie, hayden and gilchrist all set to send the opposition for some leather hunt.

Talking about contenders, India too would feel confident going in to the tournament with a test series win and close encounter in the ODI against England, and to complement it, India had win the lone twenty – twenty match played against South Africa. There is every reason to believe that Indian team is going in to this tournament toothless as the big three opting out of the tournament but on second thoughts, this game is not about brains neither it is about experience. It is about speed, execution and going all out to do best on every single ball, as it would be over before you can imagine.

Accurate fielding, on target throws, array of boundaries and towering sixes…Welcome to the new age which will change the way you would look at or rather play the game…It is going to be fast and furious!

Bindaas Bol !

There was a appalling silence for almost a minute…. And it was uncomfortable especially considering the laugh riot we were having few moments earlier until some body mentioned the word “SEX” which unbelievably sent everybody in to their shells. The eyes avoided each other’s direct attention and few looked like as if they would rather bury themselves in a deep hole beneath ground rather being alive at that very moment. Somebody decided to break the dead air” Come on guys, let us not discuss such topics”. “Such topic? What do you mean by that? I intercede. “We are living in 21st century and supposedly the new generation which should take responsibility of spreading the right information and be open to discuss your so called “such topics”.

This is what happens day in day out across the streets, houses, even pubs, offices, market places and now even in the political corridors too! The Indian society has long lived in the shadow of avoiding the taboo of sexuality. I still remember the joke, which at our school we used to play with friends, which goes some thing like…”Some dum has come to meet you!”…Kaun Dum? And then goes a big hoo haa and laugh riot enough to embarrass the poor chap who does not realize that he has just uttered a word which has been long forbidden from the so called civilized and open society of our country where by just mention of the word “Condom” can make you under a trauma of social embarrassment and he makes sure that this embarrassment does not carry forward to his children so he decided to keep his mouth shut on “such” issues and avoid any mention of a term even remotely linked with sex, condoms or even burning issues like AIDS/HIV which need an urgent attention by not one but all.

Talking about everybody, our government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that our tradition of avoidance and ignorance continues and at the same time boasts of a government, which is committed to uproot the epidemic of AIDS from the country. We never suspect Laloo Prasad Yadav that he thinks much about family planning, now he justifies it with opposing Sex education in country. Dr. Harshvardhan , the former Health Minister is of firm belief that the country can do without sex education. He of course lived his life without any such education and now he wants the trend to continue with the next generation. What our politicians do not understand that they were not faced with an epidemic of a scale as big as HIV/AIDS and they followed the easier and convenient path of non mention of sexuality in their books, discussions (with no denial to the fact that Pamela Anderson must have made them crave more and more “information” which was easily available through magazines which only to be founded in the back seats of their toilet seats.

Dr. Murali Manohar Joshi, senior member of NDA has gone even further. “The teaching of sex education will lead to creation of an immoral society and will also collapse the education system”. Immoral society! Collapse of education system!!
Yes, you are right Mr. Joshi, no education of sex would only contribute in building high morals in the society and would do the entire education system a proud with the numbers of increasing cases of AIDS/HIV, rapes, sexual assault etc.

There is a clear understanding and empathizing with the fact that the speed with which the society is changing, it might be disturbing and a little uncomfortable for the oldies and rightly so. But the protest here is against the vulgarity, expression of sexuality in open and exposure of uncensored information through wrong channels to the next generation but definitely NOT against sex education. Most of the protestors have taken the term wrongly. Sex education is nothing but clear source of information about sex and teaches the youngsters on how to be a responsible citizen and a family person. The protests are defintelely NOT against the condom promotion but rather the mass media, which promotes its use in obscene and vulgar manner. (How many of us feel comfortable watching the advertisement of Amul Macho and for that matter Durex when our parents are around ?)

The corrected figures of HIV infected cases in India is still a grave area of concern with almost 2.5 million of population is in the trap and growing at an alarming rate promising to be soon bypassing Africa to be the number one. Responsible nations across the world have adopted a pragmatic approach in dealing with this monster and it takes nothing more than shrugging off your ego to come out of this social stigma and embarrassment.

Government or no government, the fact of the matter is that the solution to the situation lies with youth, so next time your friend stops you to discuss “such” topics, ask him and encourage him to “Bindaas Bol”

FM Radio in Delhi - Roar with a "meow"

It all started with Ameen Sayani…who in a big way is responsible for glamorizing and popularizing the dying profession in our country. All India Radio once used to be the pioneer in the frequency space, today faces stiff competition from the likes of industrialists like Times group, India Today group, Times group, Entertainment Network (India) Limit etc to name a few. The above mentioned have not just taken the radio to a next level but also redefined the way the entertainment to ears used to be.

The era of interactive radio started with the players like Radio City (91.1), Radio Mirchi (98.3) and Red FM (93.5) and listening to radio was never the same again. The old gold image of radio was changed to hip-hop, rocking bolly wood songs from the latest flicks with pop songs.

Though the road to sustainability in the market was never going to be easy with Government of India being reluctant to open the market for private players and creating entry barriers such as high license fee. Still the wave had to hit and it hit strong taking the market along. The increase in competition saw the quality of programming achieving new heights and with the race on to grab every audience on, the variety in terms of programs and quality to serve got better and better.

Today Radio is not just a medium of music; it is much more than that. Right from morning hours to late night “love guru” shoes, radio now captures every moment of our day. The race is stiff and no one wants to lose space. The latest additions to the family like Fever 104 (Virgin Group) has taken the medium to an interesting platform where the channel is distributing money to the audience by asking them to participate in a game. 95 Fm is another channel, which like fever focuses more on national and international hits while 92.7 Big FM that has a contract with Actor Abhishek Bachan has entire bolly wood on their platter.


In the heat of competition it is becoming difficult for the companies to keep the audience with them. And fortunately or unfortunately every person with a pair of ears in place is an audience for the market. The marketers here face an interesting challenge as unlike TV shows, audience here is bound to sway away in the absence of quality and most importantly if the mood is not right! So how do you measure that the songs which you have on your play list to offer to the audience is in sync with they’re mood?

The answer is not clear as understanding consumer behavior in this scenario would be difficult a it pertains to the “emotional quotient” of the audience and hence it becomes extremely important for any service provider to establish that emotional connect.
Radio channels hence are focusing on creating shows and more importantly RJ’s. Besides human element, these channels keep the audience on their toes by keeping them in the loop by providing weather, traffic updates, playing hourly contests and initiating debates on current or social topics. So how does one create a niche when every channel has same audience and similar challenges and opportunity?

The Cat is here with a big bang. Err I mean “Meow”. Last week saw the launch of first ever radio channel dedicated only towards women. The channel seems to be a runaway hit with callers from all class, cities (mostly women). The channel tactics are clear, to capture the audience which listens to radio most often and for longer hours than any one else. Also the time of launch seems to be perfect as staying home is a far better and preferable option for housewives and working teachers who are in the middle of there summer break.

Whatever the \is success story means for the customer, it does not seems to bother our Prasar Bharti which apparently was the first one to graduate to FM wave but at the moment is silent and has retained its original touch and following the story of how DD has reacted (or not reacted) against private players in the short screen domain.

So whether it is “Dilli ki sabse pehle uthne wali ladki, Dilli ki Mahek” or “ Khurafati Nitin” or love guru, they are here to rock you all and they will not rest till they have every second of your non-working hour devoted to their channel. So next time you buy a mobile, a car stereo or for that matter a music system, make sure that it has the potential to incorporate all of them as it will simply get bigger and better!