The Surprise Caller:

I don’t know why but I seem to come up with topics or stories for my blog only when i am alone and awake at night and it’s after a long time that this opportunity has come since my marriage.

 Nimmi had gone to her mom’s place and i was just back from a get together with ex-colleagues and friends from Deloitte, the basic purpose behind the get together being to congratulate a friend on his marriage.

For some strange reason, i could not get sleep and the conversations during the meet up flashed across my mind. The standard question that i had asked my friend on how has the married  life been going for which i got a standard answer (so far so good) left me pondering on how my married life been so far.. I guess the fact that i am missing her so much tonight would imply that it has been going grt. I remember when she had just moved in to our house, the first thing that she told me was “well from now onwards, u have a roomie”. And i think that’s exactly what she has been to me – my roomie, my best friend. Apart from getting along with each other really well, the fact is that with her around, I am neither ever bored nor ever hungry (the amazing cook that she is!!). At times when we have nothing to do, she just says lets fight and the next moment we are hitting each other with pillows .Of course, she has her mood swings, but then it has not been something that i have not been able to handle...so coming back to the question on how has my married life been so far, i would reply “so far so good” J and yes not to forget, being married means u never have to search for company to watch movies J J J

And now, moving on from my personal life to a fictional snippet:

The Surprise Caller:

I was just glad to hear the phone ring.  With half an hour still to go before my friends could join me, i was hoping that the call would be from someone whom i could talk to for a long time.  But i was disappointed when i saw an unknown number flash on my screen thinking it would be a marketing call.

“Hello” , i said in a tone that made me sound busy and wanting to hang up.

“Hi....is it a good time to talk to you?” i was surprised to be greeted by a cute girlish voice at the other end.

“Yes...who is this?” i continued, this time not sounding too busy.

“Well, actually you don’t know me....”

“Then how did you get my number and why....” from being surprised, i was now getting curious.

“I am a friend of Rohit, the guy who stays in your building, and got your number from him.”

  “OK?” I wondered why Rohit did not tell me about any girl asking for my number.

“I have been noticing you waiting at the bus stop and wanted to talk to you.”

“Sure....tell me”. And all the faces I have seen at the bus stop started flashing across my mind. Could she be the tall fair girl who looked to have loads of attitude or was she the short pretty girl whom i have wanted to talk to, I wondered.

“Well my name is Neha and i stay couple of blocks away from the main road.”

“Ok and what is it that you wanted to tell me” Now, I was plain excited and my thoughts were racing ahead thinking that finally there is someone who is probably interested in me. After all, i was the only guy in the group who did not have a girl friend.

 “I was just wondering if we could meet somewhere. Maybe we could become friends”

“Sure”. I tried sounding not too desperate and trying to contemplate who among those 2 girls would she be or was she someone else.

“Great. Today and tomorrow i have my classes. Can we meet on Saturday at CCD, just behind the bus stop?”.

“You mean the coffee shop opposite to the bus stop. It’s Barista, not ccd” I replied thinking she had got it wrong.

“ No no. Sorry, which bus stop are you talking about?”

“The one near to the Chembur garden, where you have supposedly seen me.”

“ Oops...is it 9821546545...Aditya, Rohit Shetty’s friend?”

I don’t know why but i got disappointed hearing that and the pause that i took was long enough to make her realise that she had got the wrong number.

“Oh...i am so sorry. I got the wrong guy” she replied.

“Hey, that is ok. I can still come down to CCD” i replied trying to sound funny.

“Haha...no thanks and sorry again” and she hung up the phone.

I just chuckled to myself when my friend came in and asked “Dude, who were you talking to and why are you smiling?”.

“Well”, i replied continuing to smile, “was talking to a girl who was apparently interested in me, but you know, i just want to be focusing on my studies now, so declined a potential date” J

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A “Cocktail” without the kick!

This review has been lying in my PC's hard disk since almost ten days but havent been able to post it due to internet issues at home.....This one has been written by Nimmi....

A “Cocktail” without the kick!

When you run, hop , jump and reach the theatre for watching a Hindi film running out of time, gasping for breath and then getting to know that the tickets available are in the first row, all that you pray is the that the movie is good & it’s worth all the effort, especially on a Sunday morning!

Few years back I suffered from this “Run-to-catch-a-movie” syndrome, but managed to enjoy all such movies, be it – Rang de Basanti or Gangster!

This time it was different..!

After all the annoying advertisements, especially the Vicco Vajradanti ones (which my hubby loves) came the teaser of “Ek Tha Tiger”!! (Whistles!!!) Salman Khan in his always sexy avatar and his beau Katrina Kaif :-p and the action scenes. Full paisa-vasool …! After recovering from this, came the national anthem & then the movie – C-O-C-K-T-A-I-L

The movie starts with the not-so-appealing, psycho maniac; women obsessed Saif Ali Khan (Gautam KAPOOR) hitting on an air-hostess in the flight. He talks like a zombie who has lived all his life in the woods amongst animals and his eyes are now preying all the gorgeous ladies in the world.  He is a “software engineer” who is on his way to a super-lavish job in London. All his dialogues in the movie are those minutes when you eagerly want him to shut up!! You have heard most of them in Love Aaj Kal!!! Wtf !!

Next scene, focus Diana Penty (Meera) sits in another plane to the same destination in search for her newly wedded husband. Certainly, her attire, hair-do and simple looks is quiet convincing the character she is required to play – the soft & subtle Meera! J

She then gets off at the airport, goes looking for her husband, with an incorrect phone number & address only to go through an ordeal later when she finds out her marriage was “hoax” and her husband (Randeep Hooda) has done all this only for money!  Hit by this emotional turmoil within a day of her entry into London, she finds herself in the washroom of a local store, in tears and distress!

Enter – Deepika Padukone (Veronica), the madly dancing, always boozing, oomph factor oozing girl who steps into a pub and makes the crowd go “Aaaaaaaaaaa….”  (The audience had their heads paining and screaming and begging to stop the damn lights & music) though she conveys it across rightly with her acting that Veronica had a troubled childhood, which propelled her to seek refuge in alcohol and hard core partying.

Lots of colorful disco lights, falling on to the laps of girls & guys, smoked eyes and the urge to pee after a lot of alcohol makes her walk in to the same washroom as Meera. The otherwise psyched out girl feels pity for this Indian abla naari and takes her home, gives her food, clothing everything on –the-house! (Woooaaaa now who would do that!)

Few days later, Veronica and Gautam bump into one another and after gulping down lots of daaru end up sleeping with each other. So they begin with a casual fling without any commitment. Meera ji is not very happy with this new additional member in the house initially, but within the next few minutes and one “Daaru Desi” song you see them hanging out intermittently with each others like chaddi buddies!

All this while Veronica and Gautam are enjoying each other’s company and the three are having a ball in their apartment where Gautam is dancing in the avatar of a cross dresser. Must highlight, Saif doesn’t look good there at all and hasn’t done a great job! A Ritesh Deshmukh would have been perfect for that scene!

A “Maa da ladla” déjà vu happens when Dimple Kapadia (Kavita Kapoor) and Boman Irani (Gautam’s Maama) is aghast and taken aback to see her laadla son in this avataar sharing a room with 2 ladies and Gautam convincingly spins a story that Meera, the coy girl is his muse! From there on things take a turn! All of a sudden they plan a trip to Capetown! Now there are some points which are beyond my thinking and imagination capacity:-

Meera, the angel who just got a new job in some graphic designing company can afford a holiday to Capetown within the first week of joining. (I want to know which Co. this is & join there right away!!!)

Deepika is a self proclaimed photographer, but throughout the movie I fail to understand why she is not doing her job! And prancing around on bar tables and drinking!?

Gautam!!!  - Software engineer, Which Co. has employed you to play around with women and dance and party and holiday! (Never saw him “at work” except one scene!!!) :-O

 Capetown holiday is a mere display of many sun-kissed beaches, bikini clad girls and a dance sequence during which Gautam suddenly realizes he is in love with Meera! Meera doesn’t refuse his kiss and they hold hands! So we assume she also is in love! She has forgotten about her estranged husband and her tragedy struck life. They try staying apart but they can’t. Finally Gautam decides to “talk it out” with both the ladies and openly blurts it out all to Veronica that he is now in “love” with Meera!

The chilled, cool Veronica is all happy and wow for her “friends” and decides to set them up together for always. But slowly starts feeling the pinch! She starts feeling jealous & realizes she cannot live any more without Gautam’s touch and smell!! (Rofl)

More disco lights, more alcohol, more mad dancing, hair let loose, breaking mirrors at public places and an accident drags Gautam in to living in with her and her “closest friend” Meera steps out of the house! (Qurbaani) and goes back to her husband so that Randeep Hooda gets some more screen time and 3 more dialogues! :-p

OMG! This story is so boring now, that I am bored to even review it further! And then suddenly Veronica realizes that she has been unreasonable and that the alcohol in her body has spoken more than her. So Gautam and Veronica fly to India and they propose to Meera. Of course in the end we assume that Gautam has finally married Meera and only hope they are not having an awesome threesome! :-p

Cocktail has a tagline which says “Some friends are too good to share”

The movie may migrate you to the much more happening world called London for some time, but overall it’s like a Cocktail that you ordered out of the menu card of an expensive lounge but didn’t get you high enough! 

A New Beginning

This one comes after a gap of more than a year…had made few attempts to write in between but it never got completed as movies n sitcoms took priority over writing…But now as I enter a new phase of my life, I thought I should blog and if nothing, then atleast inform ppl that m getting engaged couple of days before the new year sets in…..Couple of friends had suggested about writing my experience on how I met my partner ( Nimita- hereinafter referred to as Nimmi)..but before I could think about it, Nimmi had already written a poem for me which beautifully summed it up..And as I believed that I couldn’t come up with anything better, I decided to post her poem on the blog (with due permission of course)….

So here it goes…..

“How Nimmi met Viju” !!!

A lazy Sunday & I was whiling away time,

Some Westlife songs played in my mind

Thought of looking through the social sites

Thinking that I should catch up with few friends online…

It was then that a familiar name appeared to me,

A name that I heard of earlier, which began with “V”

Smart move to initiate a friendly talk,

“Does he really want to know me?” I thought.

Talked about weekends, talked about cars,

Talked anything under the sun and beyond the stars,

Felt a strange connection and I wondered why,

Then sat back and thought, “Could he be the right guy”?

Small minutes, many hours and few days passed by,

Thought I should meet him and give it a try,

Yet another Sunday and the moment had come,

I felt at ease, all smiles with him, his Dad & Mum. J

A couple of days more and we confirmed the news,

He is my man and I am his muse,

The feeling was special, the feeling was new,

I knew it in my mind that my soul mate is “YOU”

You make me laugh, you make me smile,

You understand my madness and my life,

We dream about the future and travelling miles,

And your presence in my life makes it worthwhile.

You are the one with whom I wish to spend the rest of my life,

Like your best buddy and lawfully wedded wife,

Whatever be the seasons and however the times

I’ll be yours forever, will you forever be mine… ???

Loads of love,

Nimmi J

(Nimmi also has her own blog which has few poems she had penned down - http://nimita21.wordpress.com/)

After she mailed me the poem, I called her up to say it was beautiful and indeed special to me but as we ended the call she asked me for my reply to the last line in the poem. While I had made my decision thinking that she would be the right partner for me, I thought the love element was missing in our relationship as things had moved on so fast between us. I realized I couldn’t reply to her immediately when she said that she wanted my reply to be in the form of a poem. While I am nowhere close to bein a poet, I promised I will write something for her…While I eventually replied in the form of a gift (and m glad she liked it and even more glad that she got it at the right time) I still thought I had to fulfil my part of the promise…So this is for you Nimmi…..

I Love You….

I Love You for havin the patience and standin by me

When I freaked out thinkin I had to decide abt our relationship in a day

I love you for havin understood that I needed time

To get fully involved in this relationship

I love you for givin me the comfort that

I can talk to you endlessly about anything under the sun

I love you when u get upset as soon as u sense that I m upset

I love you for being as filmy n as cheesy as me

I love you when we share our liking to the lyrics of a song

I love you when you make sumthin for me

n come to my office to give it to me

I love you for the efforts u make to connect to my family

I love you when u say u luv me and that u r mine

I love you for the person u are

And yes, I ll forever be urs……

Loads of Luv,

Viju J

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LSD - Part I

Seems like I m wakin up from a deep slumber!!!! Mebbe I shud atleast set myself a target of 1 post every quarter just so that I don’t forget I had created a blog once upon a time….

Anyways haven’t had much to write about…Life is still the same – plain n borin….after 2.5 weeks of struggle with my CFA books, level 2 exam was a disappointment....well but as it is said u shud never lose ur hopes…so fingers crossed ..waiting for the results…….

After watching the utterly disastrous Kites (but I guess I can watch any movie if I get free tickets), hopin to catch up with Rajneeti the comin weekend (atleast the trailers looked impressive and majority of reviews sounded positive)….And of course all my HR (read himesh Reshammiyya’) movieclub fan members hav a reason to rejoice…Kajrare trailers r out…hope this tym I can get a bigger group to see the movie…I guess ther wer around 8-9 ppl for aap ka suroor n 11 for karzzz….need to beat that….

And now I ll continue wid da snippets…Again stickin to the movie theme, thought of writin down my version of LSD (read Love, Sex aur Dhoka)…so decided to break this down into 3 stories starting with:
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LOVE:

Chapter 1- The Beginning

It was already 9.15 and I had to be in office by 9.30 to make a presentation. After fighting my way through the crowded railway station with a bag in one hand and umbrella in the other, I ran to the taxi which had just dropped a passenger.
In no time, I opened the door sat inside, when I realized another passenger hopped inside the cab from the other door.
“Excuse me”, I shouted, “I caught the cab first”
“I don’t think so” she replied. That was the first tym I got a glimpse of her. Dressed in a blue salwaar and half drenched in rain with water dripping out from her hair, she looked cute. Any other day, I guess I would have probably offered to drop her and then continue with the same cab to the office, but that day I was in too much of a hurry.
“Listen, I am already late to my office and have a presentation to make. So can I just request if I can take this cab” I don’t kno why but my tone automatically changed to that of a humble request.
“Sorry, I am also running late and today is my first day”
Realising that neither of us would give up, we decided to leave it to the taxi driver as both of us shouted out “Worli Naka”….we then looked at each other and smiled. Quick glance at my watch told me I could still make it on time and a tax ride with a beautiful girl meant today might just be a lucky day for me. But unfortunately, the cab driver had other ideas when he screamed out “nahi jayega”. While she got down immediately, I decided to fight with the cabbie. “Kyon nahi jayega,,Nahi jaana tha t
oh rukaya kyon..Tum na nahi bol sakte”..Before the cabbie could reply, I heard a voice shouting “hey do you wanna join?”
I saw her in a cab. I quickly rushed out not bothering to hear what the cab driver had to say, though i was sure it wasn’t sumthin pleasant, and got into the other cab. “Thanks” I said “It is difficult to get a cab to worli naka from here”. “Yea, I found that out today” she replied.
Sitting next to a beautiful stranger, concentrating on the presentation papers wasn’t such a good idea, I thought, but then I had no choice. And as soon as I was done with the last page, the cab came to a halt and in matter of seconds, I handed over the money and ran across to the opposite side of the road where my office was located. I could faintly hear a voice behind my saying “hey take my share” but I dint have the time to even glance back once. Luckily I reached on time and the presentation, which took almost an hour, went off well. Once out of the conference room, my thoughts ran back to the morning journey when I saw her sitting outside at the reception.
I went across , “ hey so you followed me to give me your share, is it”
She replied, “Well not exactly, this is now going to be my new work place and I am waiting here for my new boss to call me and show me my desk. But anyways, heres my share”
“Oh cool..congratulations, And you can keep your share and pay the next tym we share ……”., my voice trailed off as the receptionist asked her to step inside. Waving a goodbye, she went inside as I realized I did not ask her name. Anyways, next time, I thought…………….

(To be continued)
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Quote (ctrl c + ctrl v; source : Google :-)):
"To him she seemed so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else's heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He had not missed a single one of her gestures, not one of the indications of her character, but he did not dare approach her for fear of destroying the spell". Gabriel Garcia Marquez
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05/07/10
As sum ppl would have realised, I had written the above almost a month back and since then, I have seen Rajneeti..(first half I thot was fantastic but 2nd half a bit melodramatic – but definitely worth watchin)..when I started the above love story I had two endings in mind and thinking that I will decide about it later, I decided to postpone posting this on the blog. But between then and 2day, nothing has changed as I an realizing its becoming more and more difficult for me to finish off posts in 1 go…and coming to think of it, I guess this would be only my 2nd post in the year 2010 and post deletion of the 25 chapter long story (Apeksha – in case ppl hav forgotten…lol), the number of posts luk so small :-( but I do hope to finish this trilogy (LSD) sometime soon :-)………
Anyways, before I end this post, there was something that caught my attention today…the quality of reporting on the News Channels…ofcourse India TV is by far the leader in this category, but other news channels aint behind as I caught a quick glimpse while surfing the channels ….the storyline read “Raina aur Bhajji khup nache Dhoni ki shaadi mein” WTF!!!!!!!!! Incidentally, today, I also overheard couple of guys talking at saloon abt a news which featured Sallu…Apparently, the storyline read, “ Kaun hai jisne salman ko jhapad mara jisse salman rone lag gaya and sum crazy shit like that. After half an hour of this torture, it turned out that it was Salman’s mom!!!! No points for guessing which channel it was (India TV!!!!)…Not that I am an avid News watcher, but seriously, What have we come to!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, New bollywood songs recommended for listening:

Pee Loon (Once upon a time in Mumbai – Mohit Chauhan)
I am in Love (Once upon a time in Mumbai – as usual KK and Emran Hashmi duo rock)
Sadka Kiya (I hate luv storys)
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The Final Goodbye

Gosh….It seems like I am writing sumthin after ages…(well it actually has been over 4 months I guess)….Probably cos I m either running short of ideas (neither any stories nor anything interesting happenin in lyf – as usual) or mebbe cos hav become so addicted to watchin Friends (now reached season 5) / movies on the PC (saw raat gayi baat gayi sum tym bak) that I don’t get much of a free time to sit and write…..And its after a long long tym that I am awake at 3.00 a.m so finally decided to giv it a try….
On the personal front, the only update has been in terms of my driving and purchasing a car…decided to buy a second hand Zen after a lot of deliberations and well the start to it wasn’t all that grt bumping the car against the neighbours wall (fortunately or unfortunately…only the car got a lil damaged)….anyways got a driving instructor to teach me and after 15 days of drivin lessons and 1 drive alone to my worli office on a holiday I was beginning to think that there wouldn’t be any further crashes….oops but that was not to be….now for the incident in detail:

28/01/10 10.30 p.m- Decided to go for a drive and things were going smooth till I reached a check point manned by the traffice police….i was trying to work my way behind an Innova (I think) which swiftly made its way between the road block on the right and the vehicles on the left…but I guess I wasn’t too lucky with a truck coming from the left which got behind the Innova and to be fair to the truck driver, he showed me his hand asking me to stop…and I had no clue wat I was thinking when I was trying to make my way into a non existent gap between the truck and the block…Bang.,,,the car crashed into the truck…luckily I was driving close to 0 and being a check point so was the truck…anyways the truck driver stopped…gave me a stare….got down…started complainin sayin I was askin u to stop…I just decided to keep my mouth shut (golden tip – in such situations when u kno its ur mistake – keep mum and have a sorry+guilty look on ur face – don’t worry that luk comes automatically – generally have observed that in such cases the other person mutters sumthing n then goes ahead – cant guarantee this thou)…anyways the traffic police had to move the road block for me to give side to the truck to move ahead (aah too embarrassing – and well this was not over yet)…the truck moved ahead and the traffic policeman asked me to halt the car onto a side…After asking for my license..he asked me to step down….there were few more policemen standing next to a jeep on the left….the guy who took my license said “check karma padega”
I asked “kya checking?” when he said “ drink and drive ke liye….alcohol test lena padega” Since I don’t drink, I thought I could manage an escape here without any fine or sumthing…thankfully the traffic guy was quite friendly asking questions about my background etc and was quick to spot that I had just learnt driving….i was asked to blow air into a handheld device which I did…but 1 of the traffic guy dint seem happy with the result…he said “aapne barabar nahi kiya…jaise balloon mein hawa bharte waise bharo…saans jaldi nahi chhodne ka” for a moment I got a bit scared thinking if that was an effort to extract money out of me…anyways I did as instructed and thankfully this tym he din complain….the friendly cop then returned my license and after some words of encouragement and drive slowly/safely tips, he finally let me go…after dat reached bak safely but that was sum experience….anyways just thought it was a better idea to give my parents a shorter version of just the brush against truck avoiding the mention of traffic police and alcoholic test………..whoa I finished writing 1 full page and now for the snippet (decided to continue with a conversational one as I guess its easier to write and also the feedback that it is interesting to read)…..

The Final Goodbye:

Neha: Hi…wassup?
Aniket: hey wat took u so long? I have been waiting for the last half an hour…
Neha: well take a guess
Aniket: Meeting prospective bridegrooms?
Neha: no points for guessing that…
Aniket: hmmm …so now whens your meeting with next guy in line?
Neha: well I guess no more meetings now….
Aniket: what? U givin up so soon? Come on some one or the other will surely like u
Neha: very funny….
Aniket: u mean u found someone?
Neha: well I guess so
Aniket (looking disapopointed): oh who? The same software guy from US?
Neha: Yup…met him yesterday again…seems to be a nice guy….his parents had come today and they are quite interested in taking this forward….and so are my parents,,,,,,
Aniket: and what about u? u liked the guy?
Neha: yea as I said…nice guy…decent salary…well settled…seems to be the best pick among the guys I have met so far,,,,
Aniket: yea but u can wait for some more tym…u mite get a better guy….
Neha: no don’t think so and don’t see any point in waiting further…
Aniket: why such a hurry all of a sudden
Neha: well I ll have to decide some day or the other…and this one seems to be a good relationship…but y r u getting so upset?
Aniket: what do u mean y? u know wat this means to our relationship rgt – a goodbye forever.
Neha: yea but we always knew that rgt…before even beginning to date, we had mutually decided that rgt…the relationship will be only till 1 of us meets his/her life partner…this was always going to be a short term one…
Aniket: yea I kno but,,,
Neha: and I had already told u my parents were looking out for a match for me…
Aniket: Yes but I dint expect this to happen so soon….i jus din expect dat u wud be dumping me so soon
Neha: hey don’t say like that,,,,we will always be friends…by the way u only keep saying that love marriages between 2 ppl from diff regional background don’t really work…and u wud prefer marrying someone who belonged to ur caste
Aniket: yea but I said that long back when we had just started dating…things have changed a bit from then….
Neha: and how?
Aniket: ever since u tol me abt meeting future prospects I have realized that my feelings for you were much stronger than I thought….
Neha: hmmm…but then theres no future here rgt….forget my case, u urself have told me that u will never go against ur parents wishes and ur parents would never want a North Indian Non vegetarian girl to be their daughter-in-law…
Aniket: I agree I have..but cant we just give it a thought…I m sure we can work things out…I really love u and I thought u did too…
Neha: well I do….but
Aniket: No buts just tell me if you are with me on this….
Neha: ok but when can u speak to ur parents….
Aniket: They will be back in the next 2days,,,I will speak to them and try convincing them…I really don’t wanna lose you….when do u have to reply to that US guy…
Neha: which US guy?
Aniket: What????? Don’t temme…O gosh u scared me…
Neha (smilingly): well I just wanted u to realize this before its too late….
Aniket: hmm…so we have time now…
Neha: hey don’t forget….my parents are still looking out……
Aniket: ofcourse I ll speak to my parents as soon as they are back…..
Neha: ok then …bye m getting late..
Aniket: thank God…it isn’t the final goodbye….luv u….
Neha: luv u too……

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I love you. It's not a weight you must carry around. I love you. It's not a box that holds you in. I love you. It's not a standard you have to bear. I love you. It's not a sacrifice I make. I love you. It's not a pedestal you are frozen upon. I love you. It's not an expectation of perfection. I love you. It's not my life's whole purpose (or your's). I love you. It's not to make you change. I love you. It's not even to make you love me. I love you. It's as pure and simple as that. -Anonymous
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The First Date

Its been almost 5 months now since I have written (I am not counting the last post as it wasn’t written by me). Probably coz neither did I feel like writing nor was there anything interesting to write. And I guess its after a very long time today that I am awake at 2 in the night. Well I guess I will start with some updates on the personal front:

The Good News: Cleared my cfa level 1 (yipppeee)…got promoted…now a Manager (yipppee – note-1 e less…hehe)

The Daily Stuff: Nothing but work….and the more I think abt my work the more I get confused…..i don’t know if I really wanna continue with what I m currently doing in the long term…n the sadder part is I don’t kno what is it that I exactly wanna do…..and I finally came to a temporary conclusion – STOP THINKING…..atleast for now….and other than work - have been watchin loads of movies lately – on pc, on tv (all weird movies, the latest being “AB BAS” (lol I guess only I cud hav seen dat), and occasionally on the big screen.

The Decision - decided to learn driving (finally!!!!!…..will pay the fees tmrw hopefully….n suggestions for a gud small car is always welcome)……….

And now let me continue with my story writing. Another short one..………….

The First Date (suggestions for a better title is welcome):

I was anxious, nervous, eager, excited, all at the same time. I was going to meet her for the first time after 1.5 years. It started with online chatting which moved on to sms ing, then to frequent calling and finally talking with each other every single day.

We had shared our snaps with each other after 6 months of chatting. Though it was a group snap, I was still able to identify her correctly. She looked the way I had imagined her to and I knew instantly she was the girl for me. And now after 1.5 years of knowing her, I expressed my intention to meet her for the umpteenth time, to let her know my feelings for her. I never wanted to express the same over the phone or on the net. Luckily she agreed to meet this time, though I never understood why she never agreed before. That’s what made me quite nervous thinking, ‘what if she didn’t share the same feelings as mine?’ Though I always had got the impression that she liked me equally yet I was not sure if she loved me.

We decided to meet at the Beach Café. Besides being close to her place, I thought it was also the most romantic place where I could propose her. I had already got a ring for her and rehearsed my lines as well. Infact my thoughts were racing ahead of me trying to figure out as to how I would convince my parents, when I looked at the time and realized I had to make a move.

I reached there 10 minutes before and just as I was searching for a good place to sit, I saw her already seated next to the window from where the beach was visible. She looked so beautiful in her red attire and I couldn’t stop staring at her when she caught my eye and waved at me. I went across to her and greeted her with a smile and a ‘hi’.
She replied back smilingly, “Hi. Seems like you were very eager to meet me. You are here well before time.”
Pulling up the chair, I simply said , “so now that explains why you reached even before me”
She: “I think I had told you I am meeting Swati here. She just left 2 minutes back”
Me: “Yeah right. So you should have asked her to wait. At least you could have introduced her to me”
She: “And why do you want to get introduced to her”
Me: “Well ur frend..my frend..”
She: “Ohh is it?,,, anyways…I guess if I m not wrong you have got those flowers for me”
Me: Oh yes ..sorry forgot abt it (handing across the flowers)…flowers for one of the prettiest gal I ve ever met”
She (blushing): Thanks for the compliment thou I think it was a lil bit exaggerated
Me: No. Indeed you are looking very beautiful, particularly when you are smiling. Infact I cant take my eyes off you.
She (continuing to smile, but taking her eyes off me) : hmm... That’s enuf compliments for me for the day. So bolo…what is it that u wanted to tell me which you din wanna say over phone?
Me: Come on…its not just about having something to say. I wanted to meet you. Have you never wanted to meet me?
She: Well its not that…..just that…
Me: You were scared of me?
She: excuse me? Why do you say that?
Me: Because….(laughing) i can see a stick next to your chair….for your safety, is it? Hehe
She: hmm…well that…
Me: ok anyways,…..now coming to what I wanted to say….(it suddenly occurred to me that it would be better if I took her to the beach and gifted her the ring there)….hey temme first, r u hungry?
She: well not really…I jus had a sandwich wen I was wit Swati, but u may order sumthing for urself….
Me: well even I m not hungry….lets go to the beach then…I wanna show u sumthing…
She: whats it? U can show me here….
Me: Nooo….lets go over there….and saying that I got up from my seat and prompted her to….
And then, I was shell shocked to see her reaching out to the walking stick and as she began to stand up, I realized her left leg was paralysed.
Seeing the shocked look on my face, she started, “Well this is sumthing which I had not told you, but always wanted to….”
“So that is why you never wanted to meet me, isn’t it? And I thought I knew everything about you”…..
“Well…I thought you would…it had happened when….”
“Its ok….you don’t have to explain.” I thought I already knew why she never told this though I could nt still believe it…
After 2 minutes of silence, she said “Come lets go to the beach”……
And now I wasn’t too sure if I could still stand by what I had decided….I thought I really loved her, but there was a practical guy inside me who said I needed time to think over this. My thoughts were interrupted when she repeated, “Shall we go….the beach?”
I just din know wat shud I say. I jus glanced at my watch and said, ‘Well , I jus remember I had to go sumwhere. I m sorry I have to rush…will call you later”….Trying to hide her disappointment, she jus smiled and said bye….I couldn’t look at her face when leaving. I just couldn’t dare to………

And on my way back, the thoughts that I had on my way here was jus flashing before me. Holding the ring tightly, I jus thought to myself that it was now no longer abt convincing my parents. Infact even before wanting to know her feelings, now I first had to convince myself and I wasn’t too sure if I could do that……….

Its only Words -2 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Please Read this after reading Its Only Words!!!!!!!! post below)

(this one is not written by viju)

Me: Heylo heylo
She: How are how are?
Me: Gud Gud….wassup?
She: Nothing much
Me: Read the blog?
She: Hmmm … very sweet, but not all is true… u din succeed in makin an April fool outta me
Me: Yea yea u did catch me early!
She: So I was not wrong wen I said you wanted to say something haan?
Me: Ummm for u to guess…
She: oh come on bol na!
Me: kya, kya bolun?
She: Wat did u have to say?
Me: Nahhh … nothing important
(in the background, song hoshwalon ko khabar kya.. with lines goin… hum labon se keh na paaye unse haal –e – kabhi …)
She: Nice song na.. I love jagjit singh
Me: I don like him
She: hmmm see I diverted as usual…u’re not gonna temme are u!
Me: What?
She: forget it, bye (disconnects without saying a bye)
Me (smses) what hapd y did u disconnect
She: (smses) u throwin a lot of attitude
Me: calls again… ok you think I wanted to say something dat night? What wud it b then
She: (smiles devilishly) I donno….mebbe u like me (says in a matter of fact manner)
Me: (smiles) says who…
She: your blog.. n “the comments”
Me: u believe in them, I thought you & I had already laughed them away.
She: ummm but u are still not telling me.. acha ok listen mom’s callin me… talk to u in a while and then you better stop beating around the bush.. n yea even I have to say something now bye take care (disconnects)
Me: hey wat…ok …bye

All this while I thought mebbe only I wanted to tell sumthing N now I was curious to know wat did she have to say.

Its Only Words!!!!!!!

Time: 2.00 a.m

Me: Heylo heylo
She: How are how are?
Me: Gud Gud….wassup?
She: Nothing…getting ready to sleep…how about you?
Me: Same here…so how was the day?
She: was gud…how abt you?
Me: Yea it was gud…so what did you do?
She: Started with….and then…..well pretty much that…how abt you?
Me: got up at….and then…..and now abt to sleep..
She: hmm…ok then…
Me: u wanna hang up??
She: u said u are going off to sleep
Me: ok (long pause) bye then…good night…
She: u wanted to say something?
Me: No why?
She: no..i just thought u wanted to say something…
Me: r u expecting me to say something?
She: no
Me: or r u wanting to hear anything specific?
She: no, nothing
Me: hmmm…well then I don’t have anything to say…
She: alright then…bye gn sd tc…
Me: hey on second thoughts mebbe I did want to say something
She: yes?
Me: u think I shud say this?
She: sure…go ahead..
Me: hey but u gotta promise u wont feel bad or something
She: ofcourse not
Me: And that you will still continue talking to me…and at odd hours as well
She: don’t irritate me now….i m feeling very sleepy…
Me: ok…just wanted to say..
She: yea?
Me: Happy April Fools day
She: funny…bye gn tc
Me: ok bye gn…..
She: u haven’t yet kept the phone..
Me: I always wait for you to hang up first.
She: ok bye (disconnects)

I still don’t know if there was something that I wanted to say that night. Though I sometimes do feel that she is not “just another friend” to me, yet its also true that I don’t like her beyond that, atleast not as of now. Guess there are few relationships which cannot be described in 1 word. This is probably one of them.

Hum Kis Gali Jaa Rahe hai…………………

March 11, 2009 :

“Hum Kis Gali Jaa Rahe hai
Apna Koi Thikana Nahi”
Was jus lissenin to da song and I guess da first 2 lines jus summed up precisely my current frame of mind……

Its been a while since I last wrote the story and after that have seen atleast 3-4 friends writing stories…but hey I started it (I luv to take credits, don’t i?)…so guess after reading all of that dint feel like writing anymore stories, atleast for now or to put in other words couldn’t think of anything better to frame one (thou I guess I wud luv to write sumthin comic but too difficult…lemme see if I can come up with 1 some tym later). Anyways just thought that the blog was losin a personal touch amidst all the reviews and stories…And now that m not at all feelin sleepy, hav decided to kill tym by updating it with sum stuff happenin on the personal front ….

Oops, but thers nothing happening there!!!!!!!!! I call it the “Wats Happenin? Nothin Much” syndrome….well can probably write an update on the “Dusvidaniyan” topic I had written exactly 2 months back…..

The only progress has been in terms of enrolment for CFA level 1….finally decided to give a crack at it…I may still be unsure of its benefits in terms of what I m currently doing…but more importantly atleast for the next 3 months I have sumthin to work towards…for a change I have a goal for myself (toh abhi ke liye humein apna thikana pata hai) which is to clear the level 1 (hey pls do pray for me :-) )…..And have atleast started with my studies, thou not much but a start nonetheless, thanks to the bak to bak holidays….For a change decided to giv movies a backseat…ofcourse with stuff like 13B and Dhoondte reh jaooge, it aint that difficult either!!!!!

But ya thanks to the enrolment, hav decided to postpone my digicam purchase with the new target date being prior to going to Nepal (that’s my centre for CFA exam)…And ya will also have to postpone my weight loss deadline to April end (have been hogging too much n gymming has gone for a toss…lollllll) ………

And now am too bored… wat a boring lyf (:-) :-) :-))…..cant even write 1 page on the interesting happenings in my life (is it the same with every1????)….

Changing the topic, have been observing quite a few interesting taglines (difficult to find even 1 person on gtalk without a tagline), some of which I have liked….so jus writin them down from whatever I can remember:

“I try to lose weight, but it keeps finding me...”

“There Are Three Kinds of People - Those Who Can Count and Those Who Can't"

“A chocolate bar in each hand is what i call a balanced diet!!!!!”

“Save Earth!!! That’s the only planet which has chocolates”

“Whenever you feel like working, sit down for a while until that feeling goes away.”

“I like work. I can sit and admire it for hours…”

“Some people put so much thought into their taglines!!!!!”

And ending on a serious note:

Love is giving someone the ability to destroy you while trusting them not to…..

Its 2.30 a.m now and gotta try and sleep….have to reach office on tym else wil hav to see a mail on “Office timings” from boss….Oh God!!! Pls help….n yea as far as office lyf is concerned …waiting for the Inspection to get over…Gosh I can actually write a post on the Event Called RBI Inspection…its jus been crazy…chao….bye for now…will probably have sumthin interesting to write next tym….

The Perfect Robbery

This is something I have been thinking of doing for a while…writing short stories. After Apeksha shared her story with me, another friend of mine had expressed her willingness to do a story with me and I was more than ready. And this one was to have a happy ending. Though she started with writing (and very well I must say), I guess she got a little too busy with her life and the story never worked out. Since then, I have been thinking of writing some short stories.....no reality stuff, just my imagination. But never got the time and opportunity to sit through and think of something. Today turned out to be the perfect day to start with it. Somebody was to come with me for a movie, but she had to drop out due to some reasons at the last moment and I decided to devote my time to write this…My first attempt at writing a story. Pls lemme know how this goes…….

The Perfect Robbery:

“So are we going ahead with this?” questioned Jack.
“Why the question at this point of time? You want to back out?” I responded.
“Nopes. But I was just wondering. Do we have to include Jenny in this? I don’t trust her 1 bit”
“Don’t worry about her. She loves me and will stand by me”
“Well, in that case, I would insist lets include Julie as well”
“You know we cant take that chance. Jenny and Julie cant see each other eye to eye. And moreover,her brother is in the police”
“Don’t worry about her. She loves me, as much as she hates her brother, and will stand by me”
He continued “Anyways we need 4 people to execute the plan. And she is perfect for this”
I could sense an aggression in his voice and I knew this time he wouldn’t listen to me and if I refused to side along with him, he might just back out.
“Well, if you insist. So we 4 meet tonight for the final discussion and our last supper together” Saying that, I headed towards Jenny’s place.
Jenny opened the door trying hard to keep herself awake after a long night. She looked so dazzling in her white night gown with her long hair falling over her shoulders. I knew I was doing all this just for her. Though its been only couple of months since we met, I knew I could even go to the end of the world just to see her smile. I kissed her cheek and stepped in.
As she was preparing tea for me, I was searching for the appropriate words to update her with the change in plans.
“Honey, I need to tell you something. There is a small change in our plan. Jack wants Julie to be a part of it”
“Joe!!” she screamed, “have u gone crazy? Her brother is an inspector. And he is always on the look out to nab you. And you know I just cant stand that bitch.”
“I understand all that dear, but we cannot do this without Jack and if Julie is not a part of this then even Jack wont be”
“Well Joe, I just know we cant trust her and we need to have an alternate plan in place, just in case….”
“Hmm…we will think through this. Now get some sleep. We will be meeting them at the camp tonight for the final discussion before we execute the biggest robbery in town”

I had planned it meticulously taking care of even the finest of the details as I laid out the final plan in front of all,
“At sharp 12.30 p.m, 1 guard would go out for lunch. Jenny will engage into a conversation with the only guard present there and keep him distracted while I and Jack will slip inside so that the guard never recognizes us. Jack will get into the control room where everybody would be out for lunch and deactivate the systems. After that, he will come to the lobby and after going across few antiques, will drop down unconscious. The few visitors coming to the place on a Tuesday afternoon would rush to help him and I will slide in the duplicate jewels in the box and steal the real ones, hand it over to Jenny who will move out and towards the car in which Julie would be waiting for her. I will rush to Jack and under the pretext of taking him to hospital, will get him into the car and from there all 4 of us take off. We will sell the jewels, divide the proceeds equally and by the time the theft is discovered we would be far away from this place and maybe from each other as well.We would be millionaires!!!!can u imagine that. But just keep in mind if anybody tries to double cross then all of us would be in trouble including the one who tries to backstab”. As I was saying this, mine and Jenny’s gaze went straight towards Julie who was quick to spot it and retorted, “You guys can trust me”. And we left the camp.

“But bro, you have to promise me, Jack wont get into trouble because of this” said Julie
“Don’t worry kid sis, you just play along their plan, I will take care of the rest- Jack and the money” said Inspector John holding his gun tight.

I crashed into bed as soon as I reached back home but I couldn’t sleep. I kept dreaming about me and Jenny in an island far away in each others arms. All our problems would come to an end tomorrow and we would start our lives afresh. All that we had to do was stick to our plans.

It was a big day and I was confident the plan would be executed successfully. I trusted Jack and Jenny to carry it through but was a little concerned about Julie.
The clock struck 12.30 and things started moving as planned. I handed the jewels to Jenny and rushed towards Jack. Jenny walked out and then all of a sudden instead of getting into Julies car, she jumped into a speeding jeep which stopped for second and then just took off. And from nowhere came 2 policemen who handcuffed me and Jack.

After traveling a safe distance, the jeep driver took off his police cap, smiled at Jenny and gave her a long kiss. “ I had tipped off couple of my colleagues. Jack and Joe would be arrested under suspicion and once it is verified that the jewels lying in there are duplicate, they will file a case against them and then a trial. The police might not be able to prove them guilty depending on evidences but we will have sufficient time to escape with all the money and they would never be able to reach us.”
“And what about Julie?”
“I did not want to cheat her, but she was getting a little too close to Jack which would have spoiled our plans. I am sure she will be alright and will forgive her brother”
“I love You and the devilish grin on your face” said Jenny kissing him again.

In the jail,
“Joe what do we do now? We have been cheated. We will have to suffer in the jail for the good part of rest of our lives.”
“Why do we have to be in jail? What crime have we committed?” I smiled.
“Oh nothing much….we just stole jewels and replaced it with duplicate stuff at the place from where we got arrested. I guess that isn’t a big enough crime for you”
I continued smiling “Have we?”
"You mean to say......but.....how did you....?"
"Well, Jenny happened to warn me that Inspector John was looking to nab me which was for an earlier case which only I and John knew about and I had always hidden it from her..."

“Sorry madam, these jewels are fake. I cant pay you more than 100 bucks for these.”
Jenny and John looked at each other in despair and disbelief!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dev D review - Emosanal Attyachar – not for the faint hearted (A):

The Background:
Nopes, writing this review was not at all there on my “to blog” list 5 mins back. Was having a conversation on the recently seen movies with a frend when she mentioned that she was writing something and I said I am yet to finish writing abt my panchgani trip, jus too bored these days to write abt anything and as an afterthought jus said that mebbe I shud write a review on dev d ..that wil get me all excited and she responded sayin that will excite everyone…n I decided to give it a shot….n a statutory warning before you go ahead…Read it at your own risk….

The Rating:
Apparently the movie had got great reviews, 5 stars which obviously meant I couldn’t miss the movie. And I have always considered Abhay Deol to be a good actor…so decided to go for it and experience the modern take on Dev D by Anurag Kashyap.

The Movie:
The basic plot sticks to the story of Devdas, with extra adult content added...So the movie has a bunch of despos who are too horny waitin to get into the bed with any1 he/she can possibly lay hands (other body parts included) on…
Dev/ Paro track:
The movie starts with a 5 min flashback and then the dirty talk between Dev and Paro with dialogues like:
Dev: Do you touch yourself? And
Dev: Tumhari ek tasveer bhejo
Paro: Hai toh tumhare paas
Dev: Bina kapdon ke…..well that pretty much sets up the tone for the entire movie…
So after seein Paros nude pic (the face loses its importance here…whoever said gud luks are important??), dev decides to come back to India, basically to have sex with Paro which is evident from the fact that as soon as he sees her, instead of starting with a hi-hello, dev tries to get all over her, but the scene gets interrupted with the entrance of Paro’s dad ..…And if you thought only Dev was horny, wait a minute…Paro packs a punch too…rather much more than a punch as explained below: …
Paro: Mera Dev aa gaya hai. Mujhe tere kamre ki chaavi de
Sunil (who is sum random naukar) : Paro, main tum se pyar karta hoon
Paro: Maine tujhe kabhi mana kiya hai kya kuch karne se…waise tu kuch kar bhi nahi sakta…Nahi chahiye teri chaavi…
All the while there is some wedding happening in the background…though I couldn’t really figure out whose wedding was it, my best guess was it was Dev’s brother’s. And in the wedding you come across another despo, Rasika (the only decent lukin chick in the movie) who is awestruck by the fact that Dev is from London where she intends to go and then takes Dev to car from where they go to a Stable to have sex, but Dev stops after smooching…though in the entire context of the movie, I couldn’t understand y did he stop…anyways he returns to the wedding and overhears Sunil (the naukar) talking dirty abt Paro…Dev goes to him and he tells Dev abt Paros extraordinary abilities in bed “ Maa-kasam, palang tod deti hai”. Dev gets up and smashes a bottle onto his head…
Meanwhile our Ms hornie, denied a key by Sunil, manages to take a mattress from her house carryin it on a bicycle all the way to the green lush fields where she sets it up and calls dev there (and the audience keep wondering y the heck did she need a key in the first place)…And as soon as Dev arrives, our heroine topples him over WWF style , removes his clothes when Dev remarks “ Wahan se haath nikaal”, and gets up, calls her a slut, slaps her and then walks out….Dev decides he doesn’t want to marry his Paro and Paro decides to marry a guy named Bhuvan (Rasika s Brother and a father of 2 kids) who had got horny when he saw Paro in the wedding…And in between al this, Dev has sex with Rasika….And then Paro-Bhuvan marriage is highlighted by Paros dance and the song Emosanal Attyachar which again is highlighted by the lyrics “Bol bol why did u ditch me whore?” No clue as to what was this song doin during the wedding…Anyways moving ahead, Paro gets married and Dev takes to drinking….
Now for Chanda’s track:
Lenne (I guess her name thou not sure) is a school gal who is goin around with some random guy who takes her to a room, shoots sum scenes and sends across to every1 via MMS (basically the MMS scandal)…Post this the school gals life is ruined and so is her family’s….Her parents take her to some remote place and as she is just about to step out of her house for a walk,her parents ask her to go in and she retorts “I am just goin out for a walk. I am not goin to suck every c**k that comes my way” And u get a glimpse of wat Lennes track is goin to be…Her parents force her inside when her Dad asks," how could u do that…I have seen that video" and she retaliates, “How could you see that video?” ..its too much for her dad and he shoots himself…And quite expectedly she ends up being a prostitute and takes the name Chanda….Till here the movie is tolerable to say the least, but beyond this u r jus waiting for the movie to end….
Dev ends up at Chandas place on 1 fine night when he asks “how old are you” and she responds “old enough to get into bed with you” then some chemistry (add physics and biology as well) develops between them with scenes like them eating momos at a dhaba, jumping into a swimming pool in the middle of a night, etc etc…also add havin cocaine together,,,,And in between all that, there is also a scene where Dev calls up Paro and asks her to come and meet him and she lands up at his house in the middle of the night and randomly starts cleaning his room and sits down to wash his clothes..Audience is just left wondering “wat in the world is happening…atleast if they would have shown Rin or Vim bar we would have understood it was an advertising gimmick,,but alas it wasn’t even that!!!!!” Dev tries to have sex with Paro and for the first tym in the movie, our miss hornie refuses and throws in sum dialogues (don recollect exact words but they were on similar lines as above)…wow!!! Ethics!!!!!!!!!!there sure was a lot of that in the movie…
But as the love story or rather the lust story between Dev-Chanda begins to develop, a customer (m using the most decent language I can) comes looking for Chanda and Dev decides to leave it at that….Then the director throws in the angle of drink and drive cases where dev runs over few ppl lyin on the footpath…he is arrested …but released on bail to perform last rites of his father…he then tries to run and all of a sudden when he was almost goin to b killed by a car, he realizes all his wrong doings, starts seacrhin for Chanda and decides to give in to the police…Not convincing at all,,,One jus fails to understand the character of Devdas in the entire movie…
The movie is torturous to say the least…and one can jus feel only relieved when it ends…

And for the characters, Abhay Deol is gud in the movie, so is Mahi (Paro) minus her looks,,,but the movie contains nothing except sex….And the movie reminded me of Life in a Metro which again revolved around sex….and at the end of it (in both movies) u lose a count of who slept with whom??.So now if at all anybody wanted to go for the movie based on the excellent reviews…think again…And if anybody has got excited reading the review, I would suggest watch a porn movie instead…btw 1 positive aspect abt the movie..the background score…twas gud….hey coming to think of it…I actually managed to finish a post in 1 go from start to end after a long tym…..hopefully next post wud b on the Panchgani trip…..

Different Strokes – III

11/01/08 8.50 p.m

Firstly, Wish you all a very happy and a prosperous new year…Quite a few ppl have been asking if there has been any update on the blog and my answer “got no topic to write abt”. And now m getting so used to discussing the daily happenings with V at the end of the day that don’t feel like writin abt the daily stuff….Infact even now nothing interesting to write (I guess after the story-its become difficult to live up to the word “interesting”…post-story blues I guess) but was getting quite bored now, so thought I will scribble down something….

Dusvidaniyan:
After watchin the movie, I had thought of writing down my 10 wishes, but later on scrapped that thought…but now since it’s the beginning of a new year, I guess I would like to write down few things I want to do in this year (short term goals mebbe coz I don think long term plans work)….2007 was a grt year while 2008 was jus abt ok. I hope 2009 has got sumthin gud in store for me. So here goes the list with timelines ofcourse:
1. Learn driving and Get a car – timeline….6 months frm now mebbe…so lemme say before July 31.
2. Buy a digicam – I guess my bank bal shud permit this, so lemme say before Feb 15th (Sudeep pl help me with sum gyan on which cam to buy)
3. Vacation with parents – timeline – donno, mebbe second half of this year. Actually, I now don even remember wen was da last tym I had gone wit my parents on a vacation (except da trips to native place)…gues t was Kanyakumari long long bak….
4. Road trip with friends – Again no clue when this will happen (within first half of this year) no clue which set of frends
5. Learn something new…..mebbe guitar….
6. Pursue an additional course….most probably CFA n wil giv a crack at CAT again, but this tym hopefully with adequate preparations
7. And lastly, always on my agenda: Shed few extra kilos (hehe….target atleast 5 kilos before March end,,don ask wat my current weight is!!!!!)
Hopefully I ll b able to execute majority of the plans above and yes will keep posting as and when anything is achieved.

The Birthday Treat:

8/1/09- Gaurav’s birth day (deloitte friend) . We had decided to give him a treat. The original venue decided was The Barbeque Nation, which much to my disappointment, got shifted to 5 Spice at Bandra….Around 17/18 ppl in all I guess and surprisingly I knew most of them…I jus thought I ll write a one liner on each of them (no offence meant to any1)in the order in which we were seated:-
Ajay: I guess busiest person of us all…well he was da one who used his card to pay the bill, after collecting everyones share but going by PwC standards, I jus hope he didnt inflate the bill and collect higher amts frm us….mebbe I can jus wait for his confessions 1 day..till then fingers crossed….
Gaurav: the birthday boy….so no comments,,,,,jus 1 question- who got the cake for u at hexa????????
Vidhi: I m too scared to write anything abt her
Sulu : was laughin all the tym…sumtymes I dinno y…by the way just remember that u r not supposed to have non veg on Thursdays, henceforth…
Me: no comments (if any1 else wants to they can)
Avani: was supposed to get a chocolate for me but she dint!!!!! So no comments except dat she was basically interested in the photo session n sadly the photos din come out well
Rohit: was only keen on pushing the panchagani plan to the 25th….wonder y??????
Keval: was unusually quiet, I thought (in comparison to when I had met him earlier durin a picnic) or mebbe since he was sittin far I dinno…(hey btw u haven’t sent me the snap u took with some funny background)
Sanjeev: well da only statement he made was (in response to the question that y u aint speaking much) “ main kuch bolunga toh log bhag jayenge”….completely agree with it…got nothing more to add…..
Jay: Has only jain food including jain chicken (I repeat – no offence meant)
Manali: confused!!!! How else would you explain some1 holding a menu card n wondering out loud “what m I supposed to do with this”…m sure u were not thinking of byheartin it, were u?
Rohi: my beshtesht frend …she got US chocolates for me….so no comments
Riten: was his usual self….
Chandni: confused again!!!!! She took almost couple of minutes to say she stays at churchgate…I guess she was a bit uncomfortable out there, though some1 said it was due to the influence of her senior…lol…no clue….
Bhumi: nothing except dat she was wearing an orange coloured jacket (ok mebbe it wasn’t that weird)
Dharmen/ Rajdeep : no comments here…
Well all in all it was great fun….fud was decent and so were the rates…I guess we should be havin such dinners atleast once in 2 months if not every month and next tym it cud b barbeque nation….

The Movies:
A complete movie buff that I am, eagerly awaiting the release of Slumdog millionaire (heard outstanding reviews from ppl). Also heard fairly gud reviews of The President is Coming…And of course our very own, the next big superstar KRK’s (read kamal r khan) blockbuster movie “Deshdrohi”….now dat ban has been lifted on dat movie, cant wait to see it on da big screen ..lemme kno if any1 wants to join me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well not bad…I managed to write whole of 2 pages without having anything to write…now tym for me to hit the bed…have a great week…cya guys…

The Journey from IB to Compliance:

Aug 15, 2007:
India celebrated its 60th year of independence and I celebrated mine from the bonded labour called “Articleship”. But 3 years at Deloitte was fun in terms of learning, experience and friendships. And now was the time to look forward in life- to choose my career. And like all others, I din exactly know what I wanted to do in life. I knew I could continue with audit for couple of years more but not for very long, so might as well step out of it sooner than later. I knew I wanted to do something in finance and Investment Banking was the buzzword then. But before getting into it I guess I would wanna share few of my interview experiences (if at all it helps ppl who are givin interviews lolz).
A rank at the CA final helped me get couple of interview calls from FMCG majors.
Though very gud packages, I really dint wan those profiles but gave the interviews for the experience of it…
The first one was technical with questions on Tax, Accounting Standards which I guess I answered well though fumbled a bit when questions were thrown on VAT (I wanted to say it was never in our portion…lol). Things went well till the interviewer asked abt operating leverage. I just couldn’t recollect but I did babble somethin. Thou I don remember now wat I said but it was some crap after which interviewer told me, “Vijit, You can say I don’t know but don’t bluff” (well a golden rule learnt from this interview).And after that neither did he call me nor did I bother him.
The second one at another FMCG was a completely different one. There was a written test first after which the first round started with questions like “Tell me an instance where you have demonstrated your leadership skill, ur strengths, ur convincing abilities, ur analytical abilities, etc etc etc” And if 1 round wasn’t enuff ther was 1 more with similar questions and at the end of it I was like too tired n wanted it to get over. Here I had no clue how they would be judging candidates and here too neither did they revert nor did I call.(Golden Rule learnt here: Expect the unexpected. You can never be fully prepared for an interview, jus keep an open mind).
The third one was at an IB KPO, where again I din get selected, but this tym I was disappointed not knowing why. Did some introspection and realized the goof up..Golden lesson learnt: The answer to why u wanna chose a particular profession has to have a strong reason to be demonstrated by your competence to perform well in the same…….but anyways I wasn’t too disturbed as was hopin for sumthin gud to turn out at campus…
Oct 1: A written test at campus for an IB KPO again, got selected…and the same day evening went to a large engineering and const co for an interview. Some forms, Again a written test first, got selected and then PI…an interview which I guess I can never forget…. The interviewer, probably in his late 40’s, took me by surprise when he started, “Tell me something interesting about you. How often do you go to pubs?” and slowly he moved towards question answer session based on articleship, studies and gk. The interview continued for around half an hour after which it slowly turned towards a counseling session when he asked, “So what are the options you are considering now?”
Me: Sir, waiting for the campus, targeting Investment Banking in one of the Banks.
He: Why are you so attracted to IB? And that too in a bank? IB is very different from banking and it is difficult for a bank to establish itself in IB. This is not the right age for you to get into IB. You need to have some industry exposure. You are too young to join IB and you will be thrown out in 1 year. Tell me, if I offer you a job here right now, what would you choose?
Me: Sir I would still like to take a crack at IB. What profile can I get here?
He: Here, ideally I would want u to be under me in Internal Audit, but since you are insisting so much I can try to push you into M&A or treasury though I cant promise it.
As per me , u should join us now, work for 3 years, simultaneously prepare for ur MBA…u will get enuff time to do that here, do ur MBA from IIMs and then join us back….(Wowwww!!!! I thought he had my whole career planned!!!!!!!!!!!1)
Anyways I am giving u a spot offer right now.
Me: And when do I have to reply sir?
He: Today’s youngsters….you will want to have 2-3 offers on hand and then evaluate..take your time, reply in another 2 weeks from now.
And before leaving, he reminded me of a saying in Malayalam (he was a tamilian who hailed from Kerala) which basically meant, “Whatever elders say will sound sour in the beginning, but will taste sweet at a later stage”
Well, at the end of it, I was just happy that I had an offer on hand and was satisfied with the way the interview went and got the required confidence boost.
Oct 3: 2 rounds of interview and got selected at the IB KPO, but managed to delay the signing of offer letter.
Oct 4: Finally, the interview for profile that I was targeting all along. Just 1 round of interview and I guess results were declared at around 10.30 p.m or so and yes I got through along with 2 others who got into IB!!!! IB focused on mid-markets….not bad at all….joining date Nov 1:
Things started well, new types of assignments, lots of learning, glamour, parties (which i dont really like) increasing contacts (the most imp aspect in IB i realised), but with the pressure of achieving Targets….1 year has passed now…the markets have seen its all time high and all time low during this period and so have I… Exactly 1 year later, the HR tells, “As you are aware, organizational realignments are happening. Without mincing words, let me tell you that you will have to be transferred to Compliance. Please don’t see this as a downgrade in your career and these are difficult times, but once things pick up, we can always consider you and transfer back to IB if your senior recommends” Aah the normal HR thingie, I thought, but I dint have any other option. Toooo disappointed, thoughts just went back to my earlier interview..Those words still play loud in my ears…..
And the 2 other colleagues who had joined with me also got similar transfers…I dinno whether I should be feeling sad for them or happy that we all were sailing in the same boat….So Compliance it shall be from now, I thought.
Its been couple of weeks in the new set up now. And though initially I was quite negative about it, now I have started enjoying this profile…Increased interactions among colleagues with queries and approval requests coming from all around the bank, learning the banking operations now (earlier depts. like OSD, TBG etc were jus few alphabets clubbed for me, now I kno they are an imp part of banking), interpretation of RBI circulars, corporate laws,etc…well this may not be glamorous but it aint too bad either…or Maybe its just that I genuinely believe in the saying, “If you don’t get wat you like, you shud like wat u get”. But what remains a worry is if I would wanna make this a long term career? Is there enough prospects and more importantly money in here, thou I know it would be a stable profession? To be frank, I believe it is those big fat bonuses which attracts ppl towards IB, but then who doesn wanna make money in life…that’s wat we are primarily working for, right?....Aah jus too confused….and eitherways I don’t have much of a choice…the job market is really bad with IB being totally screwed…and the golden rule to be followed now is Stick to what you have!!!!!!!!! And 1 thing which did make sense to me was what my current boss told when I had expressed my apprehensions in joining compliance, “Your career is 35-40 years long and there wouldn’t be a single profile which you can stick to for all of these years. You will want to change your profile after every 5-7 years and you can definitely learn a lot here if you approach it with a positive frame of mind”….Did sound too “Global” but somewhere it also appealed to me…………………I jus wonder if I will ever be able to get rid of the confusions in my life….lolz……….
Oops....fuhgot to mention...miss playin those pen fights and ofcourse lunching, rather hogging together wit the BBFA team (earlier dept that is).............

Books and Me

21/09/08
Its 2.50 a.m as I finish my last story from Jeffrey Archer’s Cat O Nine Tales…Found the book to be just about ok as m tryin to develop reading interests again (inspired by my pathetic scores in English in SIMCAT)…..started with One Night @ Call Centre n found the book to be quite interesting that I finished it one day…..Total filmy n probably dats y I liked this book….And its not that I never used to read…I actually luved reading durin my school days….used to sit from 12.00 a.m to 4.00 am durin my vacation to finish off a book (favourites being Enid Blyton’s Mysterious 5, Hardy Boys, R L Stine’s Fear street saga) despite some serious warnings to go off to sleep frm my grandfather…..I donno y but after 9th std I completely stopped reading….n now making an effort to start that again………Luk fwd to reading 5 point someone and 3 mistakes of my life in the near future…

18/10/2008:
I had written the above post initially as a part of diff strokes -2, but then dint feel like posting it…so removed dat part while posting….n by now I have already read 5 point some1 and 3 mistakes…after reading one night @ call centre, dint really find 5 point to be all dat interesting but after reading 5 point. I liked 3 mistakes….though interestingly book like 5 point actually inspires me to write as well….but then sadly I don hav frends like Ryan and Alok, nor do I have a galfrend like Neha (jo ek crush thi who bhi kahin kho gayi n gues m actually happy abt it), nor do I have too many memorable moments of school/college life (the only ones I remember are couple of embarrassing moments…wonder y these never leave u) and hardly have I ever screwed up my grades….infact this reminds me of few instances where I had screwed up my scores (CA course not included):
One which I distinctly remember was in my 9th std during my science-1 practicals..the experiment was to measure the volume of a stone by immersing it in a beaker filled with water upto the brim n calculating the volume of water displaced by it…I took the stone tied onto a thread and immersed into the beaker holding the thread, and then realized water was not filled upto the brim and as I was trying to pour water into the beaker using other hand, the thread slipped from my hand and the stone was going inside…as an immediate reaction, I put my hand inside the beaker to collect the stone and the water started flowing onto the table and my answer sheet (and to make matters worse , I was occupyin the first table) when prof quickly came up to my table and helped me with cleanin up the answer sheet and remarked with a smug on his face “ R u trying to measure the volume of your hand???” n sarcastically added “ u r the same guy who scored full in algebra? How much do u think u ll get here?” I thought to myself “ ok fine I m a duffer when it comes to science…big deal”…I never even liked dat subject

Another instance which I remember was da maths paper in FYJC in the second term which I guess no podarite of my batch can ever forget….twas the toughest maths paper I mite have ever come across…I remember wen I started writing that paper , questions were looking like greek and latin…absolute bouncers to me. I realized dat I was consuming too much time on the initial questions and after wasting considerable amount of time, I thought I will start solving from behind and I quickly realized I wont run short of time…infact I will have too much tym on hand coz I jus dinno how to solve…but then here situation of others weren’t too different …all of us were lookin at each other n one of my frenz walked out of the exam in half an hour….but I did manage to pass securing a 42/100 (ohh I stil remember those marks) I think not more than 6 students mite have cleared out of our class of 50 (majority of whom were those who secured 85+%in SSC)

Apart from the above 2 instances, another subject which scared me was “ Foundation Course” (FC) in SYBCom…had no clue wat was dat subject doin in syllabus…it was abt sum historic n pre historic stuff…sumthin which I could neither understand nor mug up..i think I scored 19/50 in first term n 17/50 in 2nd (meaning 36/100 …just managed to pass thou technically speaking flunked in the 2nd term…n I guess the first and only tym I mite hav flunked)…neways I made sure these marks never reached my parents…I jus gave dem the overall percentage I scored which was quite decent I think (don remember dat at all) probably the reason y they never asked individual subject marks….

Oops….got a little carried away… now comin bak to the topic I was originally discussin …dat abt writing a story…wel quite clear dat I don’t have much to write abt myself that can be converted into a story so sumthing like a 5point sum1 is ruled out….but then a “3 mistakes” kinda story is possible…for which I jus needed sum1 else to narrate their story to me….and importantly an interesting story….n yup I did find dat person…..so next few posts on my blog wud be her story….Apeksha's love story……well I don really know how well can i/she put it across…but ya can definitely assure u dat its gonna b worth a read…..keep reading……….

Karzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz………..( o.k now wake up guys n pls read this)….

Monty is back….with Vengeance.. (n so is the audience after watchin the movie)…
19/10/08:
The Background (absolutely compulsory for this review):
It all started on 30th June, 2007 at 6.00 p.m. As I was getting up from my seat after watching Aap Ka Surrooorrr, I promised myself I will come back for Himesh Reshammiya’ s (HR) next movie…..
And as the release date for Karzzzzz came close (17/10/08) started gathering people for the movie….its no fun watchin HR movie alone or with jus 2-3 others…. rather its suicidal but then no difference as far as the end result is concerned if u r taking a group alongwith u since others in the group will do the honors……
So shout out mails to all the possible friends who I thought would either come for an HR movie or those who I thought I could convince to come with me….and after all convincing and last minute cancellations there were finally 11 of us (had booked 12 tickets but Ramaiy’s car broke down on his way and we had to sell his ticket n thankfully we did find a buyer)…n now let me immortalize their names by writing it here and in the order that we were seated from left to right….
Sulakshana, Rohit, Avani (deloitte frends), Viju (Myself…lolz), Vaidehi (gotta know her thru a common frend), Sangeet (GMCS), Mihir (Yes Bank), Prapthi (Mihirs cousin), Ashwin (School & College), Sudeep and Vaishak (deloitte again, with vaishak being the only guy who was der for aap ka surroor as wel)
Diverse group where only I knew all of them except mihirs cousin ofcourse….
N now THE REVIEW of THE MOVIE of THE YEAR…..
The Movie:
To sum up in 1 line “ Monty (HR) is the super dude who can sing, dance, romance, fight, etc, etc, etccccccccc (the z effect)…. all gals are jus crazy over him…In short hes da best guy in this world” or so he thinks… but alas!!!! We wish he could act as well….
The storyline is absolutely the same as the old hit Karz (so m not gonna narrate the story), which has jus been “modernized” rather ther was an attempt to modernize…n the only notable change being the few extra zzzzs which is very much reflective of the movie…it puts audience to sleep,,,,
The movie starts with the background music of “Lut jaun Lut jaun is karz mein” yup distributors toh lut hi gaye is karz mein….but I liked the song….
And then there is a song by our rockstar after every 5 mins…all sounding the same…
I understand HR playing the character Monty as its basically wat he aspires to be….and can only aspire….but wat on earth was Dino Morea thinking when he played Ravi Verma….. uff wat kinda roles can a series of flop movies make a person do!!!!….but seriously hero bane na bane HR toh fir bhi paise banayega thru his music…wonder what will Dino do???
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Sorry, a break in between…..Well incidentally jus came to know that 2 of the above mentioned 11 have already blogged about the movie (hey but dats not fair guys, I was supposed to be da first one to write….) Neways after reading them, I don’t think I have anything more to offer…….. so guys pls do chk out these blogs for the movie review…….
http://veekay4u.blogspot.com/2008/10/monty-is-back.html
http://lostonmyway.blogspot.com/2008/10/karzzzz-why-did-monty-ever-come-back.html
n ya before concluding, a thanks to everyone who came for the movie….Expectin each one of u to show up for Kajra reeeeee…..HRs next movie….lolzzzz……