The Ganpat Playlist!

I was thinking of 10 songs that you want to sing when you are drunk...and somehow I ended up listing bollywood songs with the "underworld" theme. For lack of a better word...this is my "Ganpat" playlist.

1. Topping the list is of course ...Ae Ganpat chal daaru la from Shootout at Lokhandwala



2. Remember Kallu Mama from Satya? Bheje ki sunega to marega kallu... from Satya



3. Aslam bhai! from Love ke liye Saala kuch bhi karega

Dubai Ka Chashma Cheen Ki Chaddi Aur Irani Chai
Aslam Bhai Mere Aslam Bhai



4. Boxer Bhai! from Hathyar...

Borivali me betting ka adda Kandivali me dance baar
Police Chowki me aana jaana barbaad hai uska ghar baar
Boxer Bhai! Apna Boxer Bhai!

Boxer Bhai
Sadly Boxer Bhai ko pasand nahi hai ki unhe embed kiya jaaye :)

5. Bhai .....Mumbhai.....

Bhaigiri ko chod sab.. BAKWAAS
Bhai ka under jo rehta.. BINDAAS
Bhai ko denga tras, hoenga woh khallas
bahenga uska blood just like tomato sauce.

(Are baap re...)

Khaane ka peene ka marne ka jeene ka
chalne ka phirne ka uthne ka girne ka
tension nahi lene ka bhai se poochne ka
Kasakai bhara hai I am Mumbhai.

6. Javed bhai so re le...

Javed bhai so re le

7. Ganda hai par dhanda hai ye!



8. Jaane kya hoga Rama re!....Kaate.....



9. Saaki Saaki .....



10. And to conclude...Khallas!

The Audio format of the Ganpat playlist available at - The Ganpat Playlist

Munni vs. Sheila

Why good girls love bad boys?

This one always ran as a background thread in my head but took a lot of time to put it on paper. I am going to aim for ten good reasons why good girls like bad boys but in case I fall short or go rambling...well...

Here goes.

The bad boy appeal is mainly due to following factors -

1. Opposites Attract
The "you complete me" love cliche transforms into "you excite me" when good girl meets bad boy. In a way, he is foreign to her; exciting, unpredictable. This combination will amount to a co-dependent, combustible couple with opposites being attracted to the other for all the wrong reasons. A good girl jumps in with no awareness of who she is dealing with while a bad boy has the art of manipulation down to perfection. He is excited by the prospect of a new "game" the good girl has to offer.

2. Bad boys are exciting
The truth is, typically the good girl picks the bad boy because of how he makes her feel; fascinating, needed, pursued, and good.

3. Bad boys are interesting and engaging
The truth is a bad boy has faced more struggles and adversity, which makes for a more interesting, complex, and resilient person- the stuff movie roles are made of.

4. Bad boys are 'bad'
a bad boy helps a woman escape her busy mind and become someone totally different. Good girls live under a heavy burden of expectations from others, always doing the right thing, saying the right thing and being pleasing. It's nice to simply not care and relax. Basically, bad boys are equivalent to a full body massage, a few shots of tequila, or a riveting romance novel scene.

5. They need each other
The bad boy may also require a little extra nurturing due to a rough past and inability to love deeply or unselfishly. He is used to using what he can to take what he can- a survival mechanism or maybe a game. Either way a good girl is a prime target; being innocent, she never knows exactly what she is getting herself into.

Good girls find the good in everyone and even she sees the hurt little boy behind his bad boy facade. When she is with this guy, she is always thinking she will be the one to help him. She won't give up on him as quickly as most people will. She gives him endless encouragement, feeding his needs and hers simultaneously.

6. Bad boys are mysterious

If you want to know what a woman is thinking as she instinctively spots the bad boy in the room; "I wonder what his story is? Why is he that way? It's a mystery so I must find out". A bad boy may give her an awkward compliment or or not answer her questions directly, and this instantly draws her in. And the mystery ensues.

Men love a good chase and hunt, but women love a good nut to crack, get someone to spill the beans, and make a mystery out of nothing sometimes. Women love to make things difficult- it's the truth. We make mountains out of mole holes and mysteries out of thin air.

Still thinking...will update soon

November 2010 in FB status'

When a man gets up to speak, people listen, then look. When a woman gets up, people look; then, if they like what they see, they listen.
November 3, 2010 at 10:17am

Dilo ke statement me, Khopdi ke basement me, na profit hai na hai loss :)
November 9, 2010 at 9:45pm

Chukun chukla tari chukun sudhha mhanu nahi ki chuklay!
November 11, 2010 at 11:51pm

Intelligence is inversely proportional to modesty.
November 15, 2010 at 8:01pm

Confusion is essentially a good thing. Confusion means you have more than one viable options present. I would rather have the confusion than no option at all.
November 16, 2010 at 11:53am

It it so complicated even when a human being falls in love with a human being. So why complicate matters by making a human being fall in love with a vampire or werewolf? (The obvious reference to Twilight Series very much intended)
November 17, 2010 at 8:24pm

Gusse ko peeke aur ego ko khaake, Mirchi pe meethe ka tadka lagake
November 21, 2010 at 6:48pm

October 2010 in FB status'

TGIF!
October 1, 2010 at 12:47pm

A naughty thought a day, keeps the stress away ;)
October 21, 2010 at 10:27pm

गण्या : अरे मित्रा "अरेंज मेरेज" म्हणजे काय रे ? बंड्या : सोपं आहे रे . समज तू रस्त्यावरून चालला आहेसआणि नागिन तुला चावते गण्या : मग "लव मेरेज" म्हणजे काय ?? बंड्या : "लव मेरेज" म्हणजे तू त्या नागिनकडे जातो आणि तिला बोलतो "फूस फूस चाव न मला ए चाव ना...."
October 23, 2010 at 8:10pm

My company owns my job. I own my career.
October 23, 2010 at 9:28pm

To do lists never go away! Everytime I strike something off it, two more things line up! It just gets longer day by day. :(
October 27, 2010 at 9:12pm

Drink Beer, Stay Healthy

In Defense of Beer

This is an attempt to convince the people who turn up their noses at beer.

Beer contains barley or wheat or rice and hops.
The basic ingredients of beer are -

• water
• a starch source, such as malted barley, which when fermented gets converted into alcohol
• a brewer's yeast to produce the fermentation and
  
• a flavouring such as hops
  

One cannot call water unhealthy. Nor is it unhealthy to eat wheat barley or rice. The alcohol is not an additional ingredient. It is obtained from the fermentation of barley. So technically even if you are not drinking beer and eating fermented rice dishes (idlis, dosas) you are consuming an alcohol like ingredient. Would you give up eating idlis, dosas and medu vadas just because they contain alcohol.

Beer contains only 4 - 6 % alcohol.
Beer contains only 4 - 6% alcohol. So one can safely say beer contains negligible amount of alcohol. It is technically impossible to get drunk on one beer.

Alcohol is antiatherosclerotic beta blocker.
Alcohol when consumed in moderate amout acts as a antiatherosclerotic beta blocker. It prevents the hardening of walls of the arteries. Beer is ideal drink for "moderate" amount of alcohol. Hence, drinking beer is good for your heart!

Beer contains natural preservatives.
Beer contains natural preservative called hops. Hops are flowers that are found on hope vines. They lend the beer its bitter taste and act as natural preservatives.

Nutritional value of beer
A glass of beer typically has just 72 calories. 0g fats, 4g carbohydrates and 0.6g proteins.

Coke or beer?
So now allow me to compare a glass of coke and a glass of beer.

With Coke, you are drinking God-knows-what, a lot of sugar, artificial preservatives and artificial flavoring agents and a truck load of calories. It is bad for your weight and it just cannot be good for your heart if it has so many things you are not even aware of.

With beer, you are drinking, barley (healthy), no sugar (healthy), natural preservative (healthy), little alcohol (healthy and good for your heart!) and only 72 calories (good ain't it?).

They why would anyone who has the power of thinking would drink coke instead of beer?

Some more secondary reasons -

After water and tea, beer is the third most popular beverage all over the world!
Third most popular! See! It even beats coffee and coke.

The Beer Culture
Beer in itself forms an intrinsic, undefined but widespread and popular culture. Sports fans worldwide speak the language of beer. It has also given us the "pub culture". Getting together for a beer, listening to music, dancing, playing cards, darts! Beer has fostered social life for ages!

So, the next time you are asking some one to give up beer. Think Again! And convince yourself to try it.

I rest my case :)

September 2010 in FB status

How many testers does it take to change a light bulb? None. We find problems not fix them. That's the developers job. How many developers does it take to change a light bulb? None. That's a hardware problem!
September 2, 2010

I was an awful student, who had very good teachers. They taught me knowledge, discipline, my morals,everything...I resented, I rebelled, I ignored, I unlearnt...but they persisted with infinite patience that only God, mothers and teachers can have. Saying thank you is saying too less...all my life, I shall always try to live what you've taught me...that could possibly be the only way in which I can try to thank you.
September 5, 2010

Life would be perfect if some girls had a mute button, some guys had an edit button.
September 6, 2010

"If you plunder from west to east you are great like Alexander, if you plunder from east to west you are a barbarian like Genghis Khan." - Javed Akhtar
September 8, 2010

Universal law of knowledge conservation - No matter what you study, where you study, how you study, the total knowledge content before you started and after you finished remains the same!!
September 9, 2010

Pakistani Sports News - "Our channel exclusively has a sneak-peek at the results of tomorrow's match for you"!
September 10, 2010

"Jab ek mard ki do auratey ho sakti hai to ek aurat ke do mard kyu nahi ho sakte." I laugh like crazy every time I here this dialog!
September 11, 2010

The best part of dabangg was when munni came on screen and my friend said ''Yaar wo apni biwi se aisi cheeze kaise karvaa sakta hai! Bachhe bade ho rahe hai uske. Kya sochte honge!'' :) :) :)
September 12, 2010

Dabangg nahi dekha to kya dekha?!!
September 13, 2010

A Monday morning feels so good when you know that you've a mid-week holiday coming up!
September 20, 2010

In new A,B,C my name means Y.Yedi A.Aayla S.Sumbdi H.Harami A.Aayla D.Dhasu A.Aayla....I am so totally loving it :)
September 25, 2010

To understand how difficult reaching a conclusion was one has to only look at the "Resurrection of Shri Rama": The court had to assert the Lord Ram is henceforth considered as a living human being, having fundamental rights. He can appeal to the court if his fundamental rights are endangered and can be arrested and apprehended if he encroaches someone else's fundamental rights.
September 30, 2010

The Authentic अ ब क ड

A for Aila
(A Marathi exclamation made famous by Sachin Tendulkar in a Pepsi ad when he says ‘Aila, plane’)

B for Bhendi
(A mild expletive or abuse. The ignorant might think this is local lingo for a vegetable (okra). The tapori knows better)

C for Chindi
(Some say it means insignificant. For others it denotes tight-fistedness. Eg: ‘Bindi is chindi. She won’t even pay for the trip.)

D for Dhasu
(It means great or fabulous. Like what a ‘dhasu’ idea it is to read this tapori talk)

E for Ekdum
(Not that hard to figure out. Ekdum means absolutely. So ekdum bekaar means absolutely useless)

F for Fadoo
(Good, fabulous or beautiful quite in the same vein as Dhasu. A fabulous broom might be explained as a ‘fadoo of a jhadoo’)

G for Ghanta
(Means rubbish or nonsense. If a politician claims: ‘I will eradicate corruption’, the janta comprising Santa-Banta might say Ghanta)

H for Hatke
(Hatke actually means original or slightly different. Not to be confused with ‘hat gayi hai’, which means he’s lost his marbles)

I for Item
(Used to refer to a sexy girl — Kya item hai. These days girls also use the word to describe a handsome man )

J for Jhol
(A common word for a scam or a bungle. Examples: What Jhol is all this?; Sounds like some jhol to me, yaar; Solid jhol in this poll)

K for Kalti
(This means to give somebody the slip or not keep a promise. It may also mean a turnaround. Example: Usne aaj kalti diya)

L for Lafda
(Fairly common usage for a squabble. The lafda can also have sexual connotation — Are they having a lafda (affair)? )

M for Maal
(Dial M for money. That is what maal stands for. It’s also a derogatory slang for a woman — Kya maal hai! )

N for Nastar
(This means bad omen or what is more commonly known as ‘panvati’.Or also means atheist)

O for Ookhad
(The word is used rather combatively. Two men in a skirmish might growl at one another: ‘Ookhad kar phek doonga’)

P for Punter
(It means source or informant. Yeh dekh punter aaya, is the way it is said)

Q for Qeeda
(This rather strange word means a person who is always up to something, some mischief or is posing as a major irritant)

R for Rapchick
(More commonly pronounced as ‘raaapchick’, it is used to refer to a sexy, curvaceous woman)

S for Sumbdi
(This stands for a rather secretive person or somebody who is clever enough not to reveal all. Not to be confused with shy or reticent)

T for Tapori
(These are roadside rowdies. Tapori talk is becoming more mainstream and losing its stigma)

U for Ungli
(A rather obvious obscene interpretation. It also means to bait or rile a person and try to get a rise out of them )

V for Vaat
(Means this is the end of you today. It all means the end, khatam, finito — Aaj toh vaat lag jayega)

W for Wohich
(It simply means him and him only — Wohich hai, aur doosra kohich nahi)

X for Xhun
(Xhun is used to describe the sound of a slap. Crack. Xhun se laafa maara)

Y for Yeda
(Also known as veda in Marathi. It means mad and used in a derogatory tone)

Z for Zandu
(Zandu stands for Lallu (not Prasad Yadav) or Mamu, one who is spineless। Apologies to Zandu Chawanprash)

10 Reasons to watch Dabangg

1. I am not a Salman Khan fan...I mean...All the things that Salman does that seem clownish, stupid, over-acting or just plain out of place and unnecessary in other movies....Chulbul Pandey is his Carte-Blanche to do all these things on screen. All those dance moves and weird things that seemed stupid else where look apt with this character.

2. Five minutes into the movie, when the first action sequence is going on and Salman pauses the entire fight sequence to dance on a ringtone and tells one of the goons "Achhi ringtone hai forward kar dena" ...the viewer understands "This movie is not going to have a story!...at all." Hence, after that one keeps no expectations from the movie and just laughs off everything weird. The set down is one of the best things in the movie. If you went through the movie expecting a great story, you'd be sorely disappointed! This movie is for watching not seeing! Just watch!

3. The dialogues in the movie are awesome! Be it "Kamini se yaad aaya bhaabiji kaisi hai?" or "Us Chhedi me itne chhed karunga ki wo confuse ho jaayega ki saans kaha se leni hai aur...". The punchy dialogues and hard hitting one liners are back with this movie! And Salman's comic timing is amazing!

4. The background score and the music is awesome too! Its catchy, pleasing on the ears, well written, well shot! Dabang, Humka peeni hai, tere mast mast do nain, Chori Kiya and we will save the best for the last..Munni! A great job by Sajid-Wajid. :)

5. Now that we have touched upon the songs it would be unfair not to praise the choreography! Farah Khan has outdone herself! :) Simply by letting Salman be Salman and integrate all his weird, clowny gestures into dance steps. I mean the hopping on one leg, the thing with the belt...one says, only you Salman, only you!

6. The action sequences, well, well...they seem to be a cross between a hollywood movie and our good old south movies! Amazing, Amazing! Unbelievably entertaining!

7. The hot bods! Sonu Sood and Salman set the screen on fire. Interesting thing is, Sonu displays his well toned, well oiled body throughout the movie where as Salman shows his only in a 5 min. action sequence towards the end. When Salman is enraged at the end, he just flexes his muscles and his shirt rips off and just flies away!! The entire theater went mad at this point of time!! :)

8. Yes, yes. Munni! She's amazing. Malaika starts the song very well, with her still amazing figure and dance skills. But when Salman enters, you have eyes only for him. You don't look at Malaika, such is his screen presence. Even in multiplexes the public comes on to the aisle and dances!

9. The fashion sense of the characters! It's kind of weird that this makes it to the top 10 reasons, but it's true! Dimple Kapadia's cotton sarees, Makkhi's floral bright printed shirts, Salman's formals in which he does all stupid stuff while looking perfectly formal :) And the Ray-Bans! Those beauties! :) They just add to the entire Chulbul Pandey image!

10. It's Salman! The trendsetter. When he took his shirt off, for the first time a lot of people wanted to have bodies like him and the body building and shirtless trend set in. Then there was the Tere Naam hairstyle. God! That was disgusting, still you could see people sporting it everywhere! The monkey washed jeans, the bracelets! He's made them all famous! So I wont be surprised if next people sport a Chulbul like moustache, or wear formals and that Ray-Ban :) I wouldn't even be surprised if mothers decided to name their kids Chulbul!

After all as Salman said "Hamara naam hamari personality ko shobha deta hai, Chulbul Pandey!"

August 2010 in FB status messages

has had a wonderful evening and a friendship day gift, an escalator trip :) Anyone who knows my escalato-phobia...Once up and once down Central is a BIG achievement! And then yet another pair of earrings :) I love a girls night (evening) out! Thank you gals :)
August 1, 2010 at 9:53pm

Nowadays even Friendship comes with a little * in the corner... T & C apply.
August 3, 2010 at 7:45pm

When a man gets up to speak, people listen, then look. When a woman gets up, people look; then, if they like what they see, they listen.
August 4, 2010 at 7:20pm

Golden Rule #1 Never insist on your friends being friends with your boyfriend / girlfriend Golden Rule #2 Never have a boyfriend / girlfriend in your own circle of friends... Rule out any chance of a division of loyalty :)
August 5, 2010 at 10:02pm

I begin every Monday with the hope that we'll be one day closer to Friday by the end of the day!
August 9, 2010 at 8:34am

The race to perfection has no finish line. So why bother running?!
August 10, 2010 at 3:26pm

Pee Loon...Ki ab hai peene ka mausam....Happy Gataari!
August 10, 2010 at 6:39pm

Giving up doesn't always mean that you're weak, sometimes it means you're strong enough to let go
August 11, 2010 at 8:32am

'I' for India!
August 14, 2010 at 8:25pm

It is easy to love a perfect person. Everyone does it. But love is not about loving the most handsome, charismatic person in the world....Love is to know all about the imperfections of a person and yet love him/her like he/she was the most perfect person in the world.
August 16, 2010 at 8:25pm

PSL Calendar - Jis din khana 'ok' ho wo monday hai, jis din khane me soup ho wo tuesday hai, jis din khane me sweet ho wo wednesday hai, jis din khana kharab ho wo thursday hai and jis din khana wednesday se thoda kharab aur tuesday se thoda achha ho wo friday hai :) missing PSL :)
August 17, 2010 at 7:17pm

My company owns my job. I own my career.
August 17, 2010 at 7:35pm

We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking that we used when we created them.
August 19, 2010 at 9:58am

Smart people see opportunities through the windshields, stupid ones admire them in the rear view mirror!
August 20, 2010 at 8:42am

Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be replaced, you can't be promoted.
August 20, 2010 at 4:53pm

Sometimes things that mean nothing to you could mean everything to me.
August 22, 2010 at 7:53pm

My mother said "If you ever fight with your husband after you are married, don't think you can come and stay at your mother's place!" My brother said, "Di, come to my place and oh, get your kids too!" That's my brother for you :) Times like these I feel I am the luckiest sister in the world :)
August 24, 2010 at 8:30am

Once upon a time I was one of 4000 people, now I am one of 4 million people! :) One in 4 million :)
August 25, 2010 at 8:52am

Don't generalize. Every woman is different.
August 27, 2010 at 9:46am

Sometimes we have to bring back laughter one smile at a time.
August 30, 2010 at 11:23am

Instead of a prince on a white horse, can I have a vampire in a SUV?
August 31, 2010 at 12:26pm

Walking into the bar jokes ....

What triggers off this post is the FB status of one of my friends, who shared a walking in the bar joke. So here's sharing some very popular walking into the bar jokes with you guys

Disclaimers -

1. All jokes are 'borrowed'. No plagiarism intended.
   
2. If you do not understand a joke, ask for an explanation :) That's totally cool. I didn't understand a couple either.
3. Contributions welcome.

Helium walks into a bar & orders a drink. The bartender says "Sorry, we don't serve noble gases." Helium just doesn't react.

A superconductor walks into a bar. The bartender says "we don't serve superconductors here." The superconductor leaves without putting up any resistance.

A parasite walks into a bar. The bartender says "we don't serve your kind in here." The parasite says "well you're not a very good host."

A neutrino walks into a bar. The bartender says "we don't serve neutrinos in here." The neutrino says "I was just passing through."

A sandwich walks into a bar.. the bar tenders says "Sorry, we don't serve food here"

Infinity mathematicians walk into a bar. The first orders one beer. The second orders half of a beer. The third orders a quarter of a beer. The fourth orders an eighth of a beer.
The bartender rolls his eyes and pours two beers and says, "Here, you work it out"

2x, x^2 and e^x walk into a bar.
2x and x^2 go into the integration room, while e^x sits down at the bar and orders a drink.
The bartender goes up to e^x and says, "Why don't you go into the function room and integrate with the others?"
..."It wouldn't make a difference", replies e^x.

A SQL statement enters a bar, walks up to two tables and says "can I join you?"

Another SQL enters the bar, the bartender asks him, "What can I get you?" He says, "No, I am just here for the view."

Neutron walks into a bar. Ask the bartender for a shot. Finishes and gets up to leave.
"How much do I owe ya?" asks the neutron
Bartender says "For you, no charge."

A proton walks into a bar and orders a quadruple shot of Bicardi 151 The bartender says "are you sure" The proton says, "I'm positive"

Two strings walk into a bar and sit down. The bartender says, “So what’ll it be?”
The first string says, “I think I’ll have a beer quag fulk boorg jdk^CjfdLk jk3s d#f67howe%^U r89nvy~~owmc63^Dz x.xvcu”
“Please excuse my friend,” the second string says, “He isn’t null-terminated.”


Eight bytes walk into a bar. The bartender asks, “Can I get you anything?”
“Yeah,” reply the bytes. “Make us a double.”

Next time you walk into a bar, make your own line :)

I'm a year old ...

I'm a year old as a professional today. And if you overlook certain technicalities, I am also a year old at Persistent today. So here's a look at the lessons learnt from the year :)

When I was in school I had decided that I would never ever work in the IT industry. Where was the point, just one more person in the herd of lakhs, instead I thought I would write, bring about a change in the way people think, perceive and act. Make a difference. May be I was young, I was foolish or just may be what we want and what we get are two different things. :)

Gradually I grew into the idea of working in IT but I decided a few more 'never evers'. I would never ever work for Infosys or TCS or one of those giants who just didn't care about the value of a human being! [Many reasons for that, but let's leave it at that.] I decided not to appear for their aptitudes and interviews. And then came along Persistent! It was the kind of company I wanted to start my career in. Sort of perfect... :) But then came another 'never ever'. I would never ever ever do Software Testing. God! What's the skill in that? Even a Commerce graduate can do it! Every single interview of Persistent [there were three] I insisted, if you are recruiting me just to do Software Testing, please don't, I don't need your job and I won't do it. Well, they sort of agreed to that!

And a very happy me joined Persistent on 26th August 2009. A little excited, a little baffled, spotting some familiar faces and making friends with some new ones! A whole week of hearing awesome things about the company, the work environment, the benefits, a week of signing hundreds of forms!

And then came the blow.... You have to do testing! Why? Because you are an electronics graduate. Even if I have more marks in programming subjects than the computer graduates? Yes, even then. Even if I know more programming languages than them? Yes even then. Even if in a test that you would take between them and me I would do as good as them? Yes, even then. Wow! That was like a huge deceit!! Another experience why you should never say 'never ever'!

Again resigning myself to the thought of working as a QA in an IT industry, I set out to make a mark. Gained knowledge, experience & appreciation. Two reporting managers and three project managers later, apparently [and here I quote ] "She is too good in testing to waste her talents on development". Well, well! Let's leave it at that, shall we? :)

A year down the lane I have learnt a few things and unlearnt quited a few. :)

One, never say never evers :)

Two, What you think now, is the best for you, might not be the best. You are too short sighted to know what's best for you in the long run. Instead just take what you get and make the best out of it.

Three, Technical knowledge is not everything. Being intelligent is an accessory. Being smart is a necessity. Be smart, learn a few things that you can apply the most. If you know a lot of stuff, doesn't mean you will be the most successful guy around! Instead be useful, be resourceful!

Four, Technical knowledge is everything! Contradiction right? Well! Its ok if you don't have a lot of technical knowledge you can survive and may be even succeeded! But don't get above yourself and think it's not necessary and you will survive on business domain knowledge and expertise! Nobody gives a damn about your domain knowledge if you do not have a basic necessary technical skill set! Appreciate those who have technical knowledge and always try to upgrade yours! It never hurts to learn an additional technical skill!

Five, Being a team player matters. Learn from the team. Share your knowledge, experience with them, benefit from theirs. There are always different kinds of people on a team. Those who work very diligently. Those who don't work but are very careful to show case that they work. Those who don't work and just don't care. Those who get work done from you and pass it off as their own. Those who know and tell. Those who know and don't tell. Those who don't know and admit that they don't know. Those who don't know but will never admit that they don't know. Those who don't like you because you know. Those who appreciate you. Those who don't appreciate you. Those who hate you because others appreciate you. May be you have to handle each one differently, but the bottomline being you've to go along with them and deliver a team effort.

Six, Being an individual on the team matters! Again a contradiction? From the description of kind of team members above you would have got it that it's not always smooth sailing! Sometimes you just have to put your foot down and assert yourself. No, I am not going to do that. No, I'm not going to do that that way. No, I don't agree. Learn to say no, even if it makes you look a little rude and selfish! You deliver deliverables with the team but when it comes to appraisals or rebukes you are all on your own! Har Roadie Akela hai types!

Seven, Managers have their own agenda and it may or may not always be good for you. To them you are a resource, to you, well, you have a life! To managers you are just a tool to achieve their goals. For which at times they'll flatter you, at times chide you and at times just order you about! It's not always personal to them and you should not always make it personal to you. Think about yourself, let the manager handle the deliverable. All that said and done, there are some very good managers too. I had the opportunity to work with two of the finest!

Eight, Appreciate people for their strengths turn a blind eye to a few weaknesses. Be polite to them, be humble, modest and try to learn from everyone. It will go a long way in building professional relationships.

Nine, you leave teams, projects, jobs, you don't leave friends. Stay in touch. These are wonderful take aways from the place you're leaving. Colleagues come and go. Friends stay. Make friends out of colleagues :)

Ten, money is not everything. At times knowledge takes a precedence, at times opportunity does, at times family does, at times you do! Money is not a goal it is just a means to achieve some goals or simply make the path a little easy. Don't plan your life around money. Plan money around your life!

Eleven, I am too young to hold a discourse on professional life. So stop. And do what you do the best! Get back to work :)


Congratulations to all others who joined with me! We sustained! And we persisted! A year went by in no time at all, thanks to you guys. And I hope another year down the line, no matter how we change professionally, we'll be there for each other as we're today :)Cheers to us! :)

Growing up with my brother....

I had the opportunity to grow up with a younger brother. It was not easy, it was not a smooth sail but over the years our relationship has

evolved and grown in many ways.

I remember early on I would care for him and cuddle him like he was a teddy bear :) and then play with him all the amusing games that all the

little boys and girls play.

Then we got around to the phase where we would tease each other. He would break my toys and tear up my books and I went crying to mom.

Then as we got older, I wound up protecting him and he ended up shamelessly taking advantage of the fact that I would never hit him. I was his

'mini-mom' when mom was at office and we stayed at home, amusing ourselves and taking care of each other.

There came a time when he would tell on me and I would tell on him at every opportunity we could get. As time passed we reached a sort of

understanding and agreement when he would not tell certain things to my parents and I would return the favor too. What started off as a truce,

eventually developed into an understanding, where we would cover up each others faults in front of others.

There was a time he hated me because I got all the respect and affection and he had to be the object of everyone's ire, the perfect child(or so

people thought) compared to the good for nothing one. And I hated him because no one scolded him enough and he could charm his way into making

my parents agree for anything. But over the years his resentment turned to respect and he started looking up to me. And I understood that the

way to bring about a change in him was not to resent him but support him in what was right and reason out with him on what was wrong. Took me a

while to realize that voice of reason is more convincing than voice of authority. :)

At times I was his playmate, at times his friend, at times his confidante, at times his rival, at times his teacher, at times his advisor....

Now we are both adults and he has become a great friend. Someone who knew me as a child and stood beside me, looking up to me as I changed and

grew. Now he is the one who stands up for me, looks out for me, advices me.... :) There's almost a role reversal, now it feels like having an elder brother. :)

I didn't always appreciate having a younger brother, but as I look back, I chide myself for all the times that I didn't! I love you SidB and its hard to imagine what life would have been without you :)

A year in the life of a Software QA

I have been working in QA for about a year now... and this seems to be a good time to pen down how it felt.

Spotting mistakes is like your prime job!.

And the worst part is that you feel so happy when you find a fault! Sounds a little twisted right? But the feeling is so exhilarating and euphoric! That such intelligent people spend days writing this code and I could spot a mistake in an hour! Day's work vs an hour!! How cool is that!

And the feeling of power it gives you! If this build is not QA certified it is not just going into the release!

'The reign of terror' :) Yes! That's how some developers see it, when their module comes to me for testing! It's like having a developer's heart...on a jar on my desk. And the look on their faces when you reopen a bug they have fixed :)

You start to spot mistakes in any and everything. Every alternate day I spot a mistake in the Times of India, the mistake might be as small as a slightly misspelled word but oh! I do find it

All of it makes me look like a witch personified right :) Cruella :)

But there have been disadvantages of it too .... -

Its real hard to make friends [with the developers, I mean] - Though I was really fortunate that friends on my team never let the 'bugs' come between us. Even if we argued right in the morning about something 'professional' we would go together for lunch and forget that there was ever a disagreement :) and.... come back and resume!

The work starts to feel repetitive after a while. How many times do I have to test the same bloody thing!!

Its technologically not really satisfying! All you have to do is repeat a set of steps on the same product again and again. At worst you would be using excel sheets at best some test management tool! But that doesn't change the fact that what you are doing is not teaching you anything new! You think did I become an engineer to do this? Even a college graduate could have done it.

Sometimes you feel thwarted, stunted...like there can be no growth for you in this profession or otherwise. How am I better than what I was six months ago? No progress. No value addition.

And at the end of it no matter what people say, the circumstance never let you break out of the mold or stamp of being a QA. People always keep thinking that's all you can do!

Sounds like I have a lot of complaints right? May be, May be not. May be it's too early to say how I feel about it but may be another year down the line I will look back at this note and re-assess....May be some pros will move to the cons' side and may be some cons' will turn out to be a blessing in disguise :)

But here's to almost a year as a QA! Cheers!

Love...

Last week I heard the most beautiful definition of love and I thought I must share it with everyone I know.

"Why do you love her? If its because of her eyes or her great looks its not love, its lust....
If its because of her intelligence or insight about life its not love, its admiration....
If its because she cries every time you try to leave its not love, its pity....
If its because she makes you lose your concentration and sleep, its not love, its infatuation....
Love is when you don't know why you seem to be attracted to a person and yet you are....
Love has its own reason....
And that reason is meant to be unknown"

The girl rules

The girl rules –




1. The female makes the rules.



2. The female is never wrong.



3. The rules are subject to change by the female at any time without prior notification



4. No male can possibly know all the rules. Attempts to document the rules are not permitted



5. If the female suspects that the male may know some or all of the rules, she has the right to immediately change some or all of the rules.



6. If the female is wrong, it is because of an egregarious misunderstanding which was the direct result of vagrant misunderstanding which was a direct result of something the male said or did wrong.



7. The male must must always apologize immediately for having been the cause of the misunderstanding without any clues from the female as to what he did to have caused the misunderstanding. See above rule.



8. The female may change her mind at any time for any reason or no reason at all



9. The male is never permitted to change his mind or under circumstances without the express written consent of the female which is given only in cases where the female wanted him to change his mind but gave no indication of that wish



10. The female has the right to be angry or upset for any reason, real or imagined, at any time and under any circumstance which in her sole judgement she deems appropriate. The male is not to be given any sign of the root cause of the female's being angry or upset. The female may, however, give false or misleading reasons to see if the male is paying attention



11. The male must remain calm at all times, unless the female wants him to be angry or upset. Under no circumstances may the female give the male any clue or indication whether or why she wants him to be angry or upset



12. The male is expected to read the mind of the female at all times. Failure to do so will result in punishments and penalties imposed at the sole discretion of the female



13. The female may, at any time and for any reason, resurrect any past incident without regard to temporal or spacial distance, and modify, enlarge, embellish, of wholly reconstruct it in order to demonstrate to the male that he is now or has in the past been wrong, insensitive, pig-headed, dense, deceitful, and/or oafish



14. The female may use her interpretation of any past occurrence to illustrate the ways in which the male has failed to accord her the consideration, respect, devotion, or material possessions, he has bestowed on other females, domestic pets or barnyard animals, sports teams, automobiles, motorcycles, boats, aircraft, or coworkers. Such illustrations are non-rebuttable



15. If the female is experiencing PMS, Post-PMS, or Pre-PMS, the female is permitted to exhibit any manner of behavior she wishes without regard to logical consistency or accepted norms of human behavior



16. Any act, deed, word, expression, statement, utterance, thought, opinion, or belief by the male is subject to the sole, subjective interpretation of the female, other external factors not-withstanding. Alibis, excuses, explanations, defenses, reasons, extenuations, or rationalizations will not be entertained. Begging the female for mercy and forgiveness are acceptable under some circumstances, especially when accompanied by tangible evidence of contrition.




PLEASE NOTE: These rules are subject to change as the female sees fit. All rules are null and void under the PMS Exception Law. New rules apply during different stages of a women's life

July in FB status

Happiness is in being happy. And love is in loving. If you decide to be happy come what may....you'll be happy. If you decide to love, come who may, you can...Its the sheer power of will... Pratibha Vellanki, are you convinced of the logic now?
July 3, 2010 at 9:55pm

Weddings always remind me that time's running out!
July 4, 2010 at 4:30pm

The Spanish rompage at wimbledon...hope it contiues to football too!
July 5, 2010 at 7:26am

For new beginnings, there have to be smooth endings too!
July 8, 2010 at 8:47pm

has had two consecutive fun filled days! Thank you Apeksha Shingari, Richa Khemani, Amruta Deshmukh, Disha Dudhane, Susheela Vedula. And special thanks to Pratibha Vellanki.
July 14, 2010 at 8:26am

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning,middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next.
July 18, 2010 at 12:04pm

am going to miss all the fun that I had in office. You know you are in good 'company' when you look forward to going to office even on a monday Morning!
July 20, 2010 at 7:38pm

How lucky I am to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard!
July 20, 2010 at 9:24pm

Inception...dreaming to design, dreaming within dreams within dreams, being caught in a dream, dreaming so real, that lines between reality and dreams start blurring...and one can't tell reality from a dream..is life real or we're just living a dream...Christopher Nolan takes fiction to a new level. Kudos to him!
July 21, 2010 at 7:16pm

For the love of God~ Stop making it rain!!
July 25, 2010 at 10:09am

Why are keys so small and so difficult to find when they are lost! Damn!
July 26, 2010 at 8:39pm

A good tester has the heart of a developer.......in a jar on the desk. May the reign of terror continue :)
July 27, 2010 at 9:32pm

200 Again?! If he put his mind to it he could even make a 500! :)
July 29, 2010 at 6:21pm

Almost a year at Persistent comes to an end....Missing 'em all already :( No good morning to e1 every morning, No coffee breaks every 2 hrs, No ragging sessions, No developers who would have palpitations knowing I found a P1 in there code, No conferences on communicator for no reason at all, No lunches that would last for an hr, No 'KT' sessions about life ka gyaan in my cubicle after 6:30 P.M.! :(
July 30, 2010 at 7:01pm

I am not always easy to get along with, or humble, or polite, or dependable or understanding, or caring or loving, but to all of you who still put up with me even when I am at my worst......Thank you, I am so lucky to have friends like you. Love you all :)
July 31, 2010 at 11:04pm

Inception...Dreams and Realities redefined....

Inception...dreaming to design, dreaming within dreams within dreams, being caught in a dream, dreaming so real, that lines between reality and dreams start blurring...and one can't tell reality from a dream..is life real or we're just living a dream...Christopher Nolan takes fiction to a new level. Kudos to him!

He makes you wonder what it would be like to wake up and find that everything you've been living is a dream...what it would be like to live a dream or live in a dream...what if you were in a dream and you could never break free....an entangled web of reality and dreams...What if life was just an Inception?......

The end of the movie has its ambiguities too...

Dom goes to limbo state to rescue Seiko, and returns waking up in the plane where it all started...He finally goes home to his kids...and just to test if he is in a dream or reality he spins his top....(Cobb carries a spinning top to test whether he is dreaming or awake, which keeps spinning or topples respectively.)The clever thing Nolan has done here is when the top starts to wobble the screen blanks out and the word "Inception" flashes....Leaving the viewer with a question....Is Cobb's long sought homecoming a reality or a dream?

I have never seen such a powerful movie! One that does not leave your sub conscious even after you've seen it!

Christopher Nolan has succeeded in his one goal, to make the viewer wonder if...if it were all really possible...the idea has taken hold Mr. Nolan....You've succeeded in ...

"Inception"

June in FB status

Rajneet is Mahabharat with touches of the "Godfather". Kudos to Prakash Jha, only he could do it! Superb casting. And superb acting even by small time stars like Shruti Seth, Kiran Karmarkar, Chetan Pandit and Darshan Jariwala! Nana, Ajay and Manoj wonderful as always. Arjun and Katrina..not bad :) Ranbir...you've got to improve!
June 6, 2010 at 3:21am

Living is 1% about what life does to you and 99% about what you do about it.
June 9, 2010 at 9:44am

Looking forward to watching Lahm, Schweinsteiger, Klose, Podolski take the field today and Loew take the dugout! If only Ballack was playing.......
June 13, 2010 at 2:25am

Getting stuck in traffic, dragging an Activa through almost waist high water, starting it up again, driving another km. to find almost waist high water again. Finally parking the bike someplace, removing the high heels that you were stupid enough to wear in the 1st place, wading through water and walking barefoot for a couple of kms. to reach home! Welcome to Indian Monsoons!
June 14, 2010 at 8:38am

Madre de Dios! Help them win!
June 21, 2010

David Villa's a hero!
June 25, 2010 at 7:11pm

May in FB status'

Rakat Desha Kankhar Desha Dagadanchya Desha, pranam majha ghyava hey shree maharashtra desha! Maharashtra dinachya hardik shubhechha.
April 30, 2010 at 11:45pm

When I say, "I love you," it's not because I want you or because I can't have you. It has nothing to do with me. I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a hell of a guy!
May 1, 2010 at 9:56pm

When mothers were offering their daughters shoulders to lean on, mine was teaching me how leaning is unnecessary. Thank you mama, today I would not be "me" if you weren't "you". I love you!
May 8, 2010 at 1:18pm

Of all Shakespeare's heroes Hamlet is my favorite....he exudes passion like no other Shakespearen character...which perhaps could be because he fuelled by the desire for revenge! But he is Shakespeare's best work!
May 11, 2010 at 7:18am

I want England to win the world cup! If Aus were to win it would be 'jala', if SL were to win it would be 'jale pe namak' and if Pak were to win it would be 'jale pe garam masala'
May 12, 2010 at 2:28am

When you look at a problem from afar, you take a third person's view of the situation and you say to yourself, I have got this one covered, I will handle it just fiine, but when you actually become a first or second person in the problem, you say "Hell! How could I've thought I would be able to do this?!!"
May 17, 2010 at 9:44am

Learn everything you can, anytime you can, from anyone you can - there will always come a time when you will be grateful you did.
May 22, 2010 at 11:39pm

The process is as important as the end goal.
May 25, 2010 at 10:50am

Bangles....

Bangles…..

What triggers off this ‘discourse’ on Bangles, is the fact that one of my friends asked me today why a bangle is called a bangle…and thinking…and some ‘google - ing’ about it gave rise to the following line of thought….

The word bangle comes from the hindi word ‘bangri’ which literally means a ring for the arm or leg…literally….culturally bangles mean a thousand different things….

Bangles have a different interpretation in every culture. …

Hindu unmarried girls always wear some bangles round both their wrists as it is considered inauspicious to be bare armed. Bare hands are symbolically associated with widows who have been denied the right to wear bangles or any kind of adornment. Generally, they are worn after marriage to signify matrimony. It is tradition that the bride will try to wear as many small glass bangles as possible at her wedding and the honeymoon will end when the last bangle breaks.

Not only this there is diversity n bangles too all over India……

The Kashmiris have the most exquisitely painted papier mache bangles.

A bride from Punjab is traditionally given slender lac and plastic choodas (bangles) in white and red. These bangles are given only in multiples of four. The bride wears these bangles for a period of three to six months and as long as the bangles are on she is generally pampered as the new bride and not given and kitchen duties to perform. The day she enters the kitchen to work she takes off her chooda and gifts them to a priest or to the local shrine.

In Gujarat and Rajasthan, the bride's mother will gift a pair of ivory bangles. With these ivory bangles, a young couple performs the 'Saptapati;' without these ornaments, the ritual cannot occur. The Saptapati consists of seven steps around the fire. Without this ritual, a Hindu marriage is considered incomplete.
When the Gujarati bride conceives, her sister-in-law gifts her a silver chain bracelet. In the seventh month she is also asked to wear a bracelet made of black thread and five kowdis (a kind of shell). This bracelet is unknotted only when the woman goes into labour pains to symbolically help in an easy delivery.

The Ahirs of Rajasthan and Rabaris of Gujarat, the pastoral tribes cover their entire hand with broad plain bangles made of bone. The unmarried wear them only from the wrist to the elbow whereas the married wear them from the elbow upwards as far up as the underarm. Since these tribes are nomadic and they cannot keep their assets under safe keeping they wear their saving in the form of jewellery on their person. When struck by any natural calamity like draught or famine, bands of the tribes flock to the closest town to sell their bone bangles.

In Bengal, woman wear 'lohas' to symbolize their marriage; they are bangles that are alternately known as the iron 'kada.' Brides are also presented with beautifully crafted, white conch bangles and red lac bangles.

The Bastar tribe of Madhya Pradesh wear bangles made of coconut shell. Intricate patterns designed on white metal are screwed firmly onto the coconut shell. The Gonds and Bhils wear bangles made out of brass or beads.

The Maharashtrians give a woman green glass bangles when she is pregnant. But then green is the auspicious colour for a married woman in Maharashtra and they are given green bungles to mark all occasions. A couple of days before the wedding they perform a ceremony called the lagna chooda when a bangle seller comes home and firs stacks the bride’s hand with green bangles onto the wrists of every married woman present. The unmarried girls wear dozens of coloured glass bangles that match their clothes.

The Lambadis of Andhra Pradesh wear these graded bone bangles only upto their elbows.

In the south they practice a similar ceremony called valaikapu when the woman is in her seventh month of pregnancy and comes to stay oat her mother’s home. All varieties and colours of glass bangles are literally stacked on her hands with 21 valay (bangles) on one hand and 22 on the other. She is also given a silver kapu, a thin silver bangle with clasps. This is unclasped only when the labour pains begin. The glass bangles are also taken off then.

The tradition of bangles has been in India for centuries….Ornaments on the arms and wrists were worn in India from the days of the Indus Valley Civilization (2300-1000 B.C.) as is evident from the bronze figurine found in Mohenjodaro. Bangles cover the entire arm of this figures display bangles as do the cave paintings in the Ajanta and Ellora. Armlets are rarely worn nowadays except as fashion statements…but once upon a time these coiled snake like ornaments adorned the arms of every person who could affored them. They came in various designs like sinh (lion), sarp (snake), keyur (peacock) etc.

Even the devi (Goddess) is offered glass bangles. In the south she is offered black ones, in Maharashtra green and in Calcutta red. In the northern belt of India red glass bangles are considered auspicious for the married as green ones are in Maharashtra.

Even the color has different interpretations. Red and Green are symbols of marriage, Yellow and orange for happiness, white for new beginnings, black for power, silver for strength and gold for fortune.

Each area crafts bangles using the materials available locally. Wood in Kashmir, the rhino horn bangles in Assam, lac in Rajasthan. There are many fashionable bangle in metals, plastics, silk threads etc. the variety is seemingly endless.

Call it chudi, kangan, bangdi, Valaya, Kada, Gajulu, Choodla whatever you want…bangles have a special place in every Indian girl’s heart, two simple bangles everyday may mean simplicity, practicality, a subtle expression of feminity….two bangles that match the dress everyday may mean I like bangles or someone likes bangles on me….lots of bangles on wedding like ceremony means I just like the sound or look of it…. To add a foolishly romantic thought on top of it all…The jingling musical sound from the bangles on the hands of the newly married woman is a tickling call to her husband. It is the silent laughter of the wedded girl that adds a special charm to her movements….Whatever be your interpretation of it….go ahead girl…dangle that bangle

I know it was very long….but thanks for reading.

Battle of the Sexes - game theory

“Battle of the sexes” has always been one of my favorite topics for FB, gtalk status messages….and when I actually came across the scientific proof for this…Well you cannot imagine how overjoyed I was…so here goes the formal description…

The Battle of the Sexes is a two-player coordination game used in game theory. Imagine a couple that agreed to meet this evening, but cannot recall if they will be attending the opera or a football match. The husband would most of all like to go to the football game. The wife would like to go to the opera. Both would prefer to go to the same place rather than different ones. If they cannot communicate, where should they go?

Pointers to the above that are in sync with the real time battle of the sexes –
1. They agreed to meet but cannot recall the location…very typical of the husband I’d say
2. The husband would like to go to the football game….typical
3. The wife would like to go to the opera….typical
4. Both would prefer to go to the same place rather than different ones…of course! Don’t we all agree that we should all agree!
5. They cannot communicate…..of course they can’t we wouldn’t be here if they could!

Game theory solves this problem using the pay off matrix…which I am still trying to understand! ….Watch out this space for more interpretation once I understand that…

There can be four cases –
1. Both go to the Opera
2. Wife goes to the opera and husband to the football game
3. Husband goes to the opera and wife to the football game
4. Both go to the football game.

But in event 3, additional harm may occur!! He goes to the opera while she goes to the football game, satisfying neither…and both of them come back and have a nice fight!

Another aspect that can occur in this game is called “burning money”, sounds very realistic doesn’t it? When the husband agrees to go to the opera, he is “burning money” when the wife goes to the football game she is burning money….So now there are additional conditions to the game, the player can choose to burn or not burn money!

The scenario where the wife agrees to go to the football game, she is achieving the objective of going with the husband, but she is choosing to “burn money”! How very foolish of her to choose what Game theory calls the “weakly dominated strategy” where she dominates at the cost of choosing to burn money! Had the wife been smart, she would have known that Game theory suggests that if one iteratively deletes weakly dominated strategies then one arrives at a unique solution where the wife does not burn the money and chooses Opera and where the husband has to choose Opera. The odd thing about this result is that by simply having the opportunity to burn money (but not actually using it), the wife is able to secure her favored equilibrium. Smart, ain’t it?

Another way of attaining equilibrium according to game theory involves the use of a correlated equilibrium. Using a randomized event we can reach a decision. In simple words, this is like flipping a coin…before choosing their strategies, they might agree to correlate their strategies based on the coin flip by, say, choosing football in the event of heads and opera in the event of tails. Notice that once the results of the coin flip are revealed neither the husband nor wife have any incentives to alter their proposed actions – that would result in miscoordination and a lower payoff than simply adhering to the agreed upon strategies. So nothing’s fair when everything’s fair!!

If you’re still confused, don’t worry so am I! But the only point of writing so much about it is to tell you that this is interesting ain’t it?

April 2010 in facebook status messages

April 1, Tata Maruti :(

April 2, Microsoft does not innovate...It buys an innovated product packages it with an existing Microsoft OS so that it cannot be unplugged and sells it at a higher price! Thats innovation for you....ala Microsoft!

April 3, Male mind functions on the principle of differential calculus, the female mind functions on the principles of integral calculus. Though both the things are diametrically opposite, they are very much complementary. One is incomplete without the other.

April 4, Behind every sucessful engineer, there is a substantial amount of coffee.

April 5, I am not anti-man, I am just pro-woman. Really, is it that difficult to understand?

April 6, To tell somebody that he is wrong is called criticism. To do so officially is called software testing.

April 7, Love is....giving someone the ability to destroy you but trusting them not to.....

April 8, Developer: There is no I in TEAM. Tester: BUGS cannot be spelt without U.

April 9, Lionel Messi....God's gift to football.

April 10, The most frustrating thing a developer can say to a tester...."It works on my machine"! Arey mag mee kay karu!

April 11, Project Manager mathematics....If one woman delivers a baby in 9 months, 9 women should deliver a baby in a month!

April 12, If pro is opposite of con, then what is the opposite of progress?

April 13, I don't believe in love because love doesn't believe in me.

April 14, To the comment " I wish there was a machine that could wash clothes, dry them, iron them and hang them in a cupboard." who replies "Get a husband!" :)

April 15, If you think I am rude, you are absolutely right.

April 17, I have just realized how easy it is to give advice to others and yet so difficult to follow one's own advice!

April 18, After watching both phoonk1 and phoonk 2 I still don't get it why Ram Gopal Verma decided to call them Phoonk!!??

April 20, Before asking me if your smoking is bothering me....take a look at yourself, Dude! it's killing you.

April 24, All the people in this world can be classified into 4 categories - dumb playing dumb, dumb playing smart, smart playing smart and smart playing dumb. The question is ... Are you smart enough to play dumb?

April 27, I am missing konkanatla unhala, ambyacha, fansacha vaas, anganatli vihir,mogryache paat, mhashincha gotha, jambhul karvandachya baga, bagan madhe divas bhar khelna, dagdaani kairya padna, cycle varun firna, roz sandhyakali samudravar firayla jaana, mogra-aboli cha gajra laavun bazaraat basnarya kolini, amboli, laal maath, pej, maasli cha jevan, jevana nantar aangnaatlya khaati var padun chandra chandane pahana.....

April 28, Linda Goodman's first observation about Scorpio women goes like "She's magnetic, proud and totally confident. But she has one secret regret. She was not born a man" I so agree :)

April 29, Summer rain and the smell of water touching the parched earth! Heaven!

April 30, I wish there was a beach in Pune!

The Lalit Modi Affair : Justice or cover up?

After the last ball of the IPL was bowled and fate of IPL 3 sealed, Modi was clean bowled. When at the presentation ceremony Mr. Modi was busy garnering public sympathy and banking on the emotions of the crowd, BCCI announced a decision that in all probability might have been taken days ago. Goodbye Mr. Modi, you have been suspended from the office of Chairman and Comissioner of the IPL. What you have just made is also your farewell speech. Modi’s golden run comes to an end. However this raised some very fundamental questions about IPL in my mind.

1. Was IPL all in all a separate concern or was it a sister concern of BCCI? Was BCCI the main governing body and the IPL committee the operational body? Was any such structure defined? Documented? Whose moral responsibility was it ?

2. If BCCI was the governing body then why didn’t it lay down a strict constitution/ rule book for IPL?

3. There was an IPL committee right? Then why was Modi given so much authority and power that it started looking like a one-man show. Like one man running a huge corporation? Why wasn’t the authority decentralized?

4. Why was there a hidden understanding that the names of the stake owners and their stake in each company won’t be revealed? Why couldn’t the stake be revealed?

5. Why couldn’t the profits be chalked up, taxed and made public for everyone to see?

6. What was the BCCI/ IPL committee trying to hide? Or rather the right question would be who was it trying to protect?

7. IPL is not a social cause. It is a business. Then why was the stamp duty for it waived? A stamp duty of 2000 crore! Money that belonged to the people of this country…Money that could have been used for the progress of the country. Add to that the entertainment tax that was waived…..Another 5 crores! Why?

8. Why has the income tax department started investigation into the assets of the team so late? What was it doing for three long years?

9. Is IPL being used as an instrument to make black money legitimate?

10. Are we exploiting the passion that the masses have for cricket to fatten the pockets of industrialists, film stars, politicians all alike?

11. Lalit Modi deserves a punishment….but he is being punished for what? Is it for bringing down a Congress minister?

12. Or is it for exposing the ugly behind the scenes reality of IPL? Is he merely being made a scapegoat to protect some very big and influential names?

13. What more lurks behind the IPL?

Is it justice?

Or is it just a cover up?

Sorry Mr. Modi you have been caught in the trap you laid for someone else!
But thank you, Mr. Modi you have brought forth all the dark secrets of the IPL, So what if it was to hide your own secrets! And so what if it was 3 years too late!

Enjoy your retirement Mr. Modi!

If pro is the opposite of con, what is the opposite of progress?

Congress has been an integral part of Indian politics since ages.

I represent the educated middle class of my country and I believe Congress has neglected me….for ages.

Congress is the farmer’s party, the village simpleton’s party. Party that lives by an age old agenda! Party that has reached a stagnancy in reforms. Party that is afraid to venture into the new realm of reforms. Reforms that don’t necessarily start in the villages. Reforms that demand a revolution. Reforms that demand a dynamic and fast thinking government. Reforms that cannot be implemented in a tried and tested manner but reforms that have to be implemented in a learn as you do manner. Though people of India have immovable, immense faith in congress leadership, what they fail to see is that the leadership is not really leading them anywhere, it is just running your country like say your mom runs the kitchen, no innovation, no experimentation, no breakthroughs, no progress but one day follows the other and everyday we get a meal on the table.

This is where I advocate that we need a BJP like alliance to govern us once in a while. To help come out of the shadow of the old man called congress. The last term that the alliance had at office it brought us a little revolution, a little dynamism, a little life, a little glimpse of the dream of progress. Remember the golden quadrilateral, taking mobile connectivity to villages, e-chaupal, improving the quality of education in the country, asserting India’s stand at world assemblies, giving it a sense of identity as a progressive nation in the world. That is the kind of progress that affects me directly. That’s the kind of progress congress has neglected! Though where BJP lost was on utilizing the “rural” votebank, a votebank upon whose sympathies congress has been playing for ages.

Congress has always been a party of votebank politics. And it puts so much effort into appeasing its vote banks that sometimes I feel the party has no spine. It has to appease the SC/ST, Dalit vote bank hence it will grant them more reservation, It has to appease the minority vote bank, hence it will mollycoddle them, grant them special privileges, It has to appease the huge north Indian vote bank in Maharashtra, hence the party refused to stand up for the rights of Maharashtrians!

Congress also has traditionally been the party of showman ship. Rahul Gandhi staying in a Dalit village, traveling in a local train, Priyanaka Gandhi waving to the crowds and believe it or not Congress pulls in votes based on the showman ship of these Gandhi kids! People who are not even officially a part of the official Congress leadership! Oh and the actual leaders that congress has provided….our madam president for example…come on….couldn’t they at least give us a president we could be proud of ?!

I m not saying I m anti congress. Congress has always been the party to bring about fundamental reforms in the country. Make judicious economic policies, handle crisis efficiently. But that is what congress is a disaster management technique not a progressive one, for that we need a BJP like alliance.

For ever 5 years of congress governance, 2 years of governance by BJP to balance out the kinds of progress that the two governments make.

Again, I am not anti congress. I am just pro progress.

An interesting conversation

Namrata - We can rarely see things from the point of view of another person because we look at the facts through the screen of an impression or an interest which distorts our view; and then there are accusations, quarrels and MISUNDERSTANDINGS.

Yashada -
We quarrel because there are accusations
there are accusations because there are misunderstandings
there are misunderstandings because of difference of point of view,
There is difference of point of view because we have an opinion,
We have an opinion because we have an independent mind......

So to avoid the quarrels shall we give up an independent mind? Hell no!

As much as it pains us, drains us and hurts us to quarrel, if the cause is just we must quarrel other wise we will be unjust to our independent mind...and once we start telling our mind to shut the hell up and take the easy way out we are going to keep doing it, get into that habit and stifle the independent mind that we have developed over years!

Really, is it worth it?

Gaurav - an independent mind negates the need of the logic of being rational and makes one's thinking prejudiced. all it is meant to say is, be independent, but also rational. think of the implications it has on others and then work out a logic that could avoid confrontations due to misunderstandings. now, that is one hell of an ideal "independent" mind... See More! :)

You saying the quarrel is justified if the cause is valid. but then who decides if the cause is valid from the universal point of view? it is again a jaundiced view of what you think is correct. so, it is the need of the hour to be rational and impassionate while also being logical and working out solutions to avoid stand-offs.

Do not stifle the independent mind that is so painstakingly developed over the years. But it is also necessary to be generous and considerate at times. So, eventually, your independent mind has to make a selective choice. standing up for what is right, or standing down in the impeding risk of losing out a friend.

Yashada - Gaurav you are awesome!

And I do agree, you have to sometimes calculate the trade off and then decide....whether quarreling ( I won't call it quarreling, its simply taking a stand and standing by it) is more important than your peace of mind, or your peace of mind is important :)

But if we keep on about thinking about someone else's feelings, most of the times we forget to think about our own feelings and hurt ourselves all the more in the process.

P.S - Sorry, Nammu! But it was such an interesting conversation, it had to be kept somewhere from keepsakes. Hope you don't mind!