Call for Equality

I dont care if saying this out loud makes me a bad person, but, on a few given days I just don't like the smell of human flesh!

This aweful feeling came to me when I woke up one day and did not want to go to work. So I called my boss and asked if I could take a leave for that day, "No Sid, Bohot issues hone wala hai, too much work to do" (No Sid, there's gonna be a huge issue).
On reaching my office, I got to know that a colleague of mine was all ready to go to his native for a wedding, for! three! days!! Another one, a very dear friend of mine, asked for a leave on 28th of December(Monday) so she could have an extended weekend(25th being friday and Christmas). To my surprise, she too was granted the leave. And another one took a friday off as a sick leave and set up his Out-Of-Office mail on for that day. Now, how funny's that, a planned sick leave?!

So I happily woke up one other day, called my boss and asked if I could take a leave, "No Sid, really bohot issues hone wala hai, too much work to do" (No Sid, there's gonna be a huge issue). And then ofcourse, there's the 'I completely understand..' line which follows suit all the time!

With 4 paid leaves still left in my account for the year 2009, when I confronted him(the boss) about whether they would be carried forward to the next year, he grinned.... can you believe that.... he grinned!

So, before logging off on friday(T.G.I.F), I wrote to him over our company's IM which read something like this:

"Just for now, I really hate you."
"And no matter how much you say you understand, you really dont."

"Why?"

"Nothing"
"I just wanted to get it out of my chest"

And then I punched out!

My Wishlist

Hyperlink

Post Script

"Philanthropy is an important subject of liberal education because it examines the role of good works in shaping our conceptions of the good society and the good life."
-- Robert L. Payton

My Wishlist

HTC HD2

With my Birthday coming this friday, and what we call, the Birthday Week in my group (where the entire week is spent living positively, in order to prepare for the trauma of getting a year more older, and includes some soulful impulse purchases), I am prepared to enjoy my 5 days as much as I can.

So this week, I am heavily giving in to my material instincts by updating this list whenever I have the time.

PS: Philanthropy being so hot these days, I'm leaving you with a quote to ponder on:

"The most acceptable service of God is doing good to man."

-- Benjamin Franklin

And I finally updated my blog!!

Going through a few of my regularly checked out blogs of different people (and updated from time to time by them), I had this intense, never ending desire of writing something. Something that would make me think I updated my blog, not that many read it, or would give it any importance, but I just wanted to write.

A lot happened in the past one year that I was away. It started with the dream job knocking my doors.

I got a call one day from a consultant (when I was unhappy with my then job and updated my resume over the job sites) regarding a opening in an international bank having very strong roots in the US and Europe. I jumped at the offer and went for the interview.

Surprisingly, I got the job. I was told that we might have to migrate our work from US, so there would be people coming from there to teach us how and what we are supposed to do. Then the Taj was bombed and our trainers never came. They say, If Mohammad doesn't come to the mountains...
We were transferred to Tampa, Florida for three months on 17Jan09, all expenses paid and that's how I received my first stamp on my passport.

Away from family and the love of my life, it only felt more miserable, lonesome and inadequate. I used to weep in my plush bed and spend my (hard) Tampa-earned money over $10 calling cards. I also shopped from NY, Miami, all the underwears, the tees, designer labels we crave to buy but quench our thirst with factory seconds from Fascination/Fendi/Nostradamus, Bandra for Rs. 500.

Coming back from Amreeka, I found my love receiving me at the airport, after which, followed a heavy punjabi khaana and some heavy petting.

A few months later, the lover fell in love with someone else and I had to bite the dust, but not for too long. My lover's lover left, but the hurt in me stayed. Zillions of fights later, we are still together (and just might never see each other the very next day).

The 'dream job' has turned out to be something completely different, boring, stressful and too demanding of my youth and charisma(ha..), but till the bond lasts, sick leaves are my best friend.

Desperately waiting for the 13th of November, my birthday.

Till then, enjoy blogging!!

"You want some-o this?!"

Since its been long that I posted here and couldn't find a better topic to discuss (you know about my job and all), I decided to share a video here that really touched me!!

Do check out other videos of this guy too, once the video ends, especially the one where he breaks up with his girlfriend.

"This is not meant to be offensive whatsoever."

Live it, Learn it

Honestly, I’ve run out of topics now. I don’t go out, I don’t watch TV, I don’t go for movies, working out is out of question and I have stopped reading completely. Usually that happens when you’ve broken up with someone. I happened to have got a job!!

This unfortunate incident happened the day I came back from Vrindavan(okay, Bubu and I went to Vrindavan again for the weekend early this month, but certain things that happened there are not commercially viable, so would keep at that) and received a call from some consultant informing me about a post open at Kotak Mahindra Bank. I didn’t care about the post, I was more concerned about the brand name, and went for the interview that very day. A few questions later(which to my surprise, came to know were all true), I was hired and told that I wont be on the bank’s payroll. I didn’t care again. Now, I am suffering.

Vandana, a dear friend of mine(clearly overstating ‘dear friend’), who got through in JP Morgan told me, these days banks do not employ plain graduates, they outsource the work to consultancies and therefore, no graduate is on the bank’s payroll. Which means, there would be no Offer letter from the bank, but from the consultancy. Now this’ something I fail to understand, will a graduate who thrives on his credit card for ‘impulse purchases’ and knows Grana Padano is not a car actually require a job with a bank that barely pays his monthly expenditure? We all join somewhere post-graduation for the name, the experience to show in our CV, but if we have to write we worked for some consultancy who served at a bank, what purpose does that serve us anyway?

I gave myself a deadline, a month here and I’m joining some course that will land me in a bank/company’s payroll. I never got to understand why I was never interested to do what others were/are still doing, MBA. A few of us don’t even know the full-form and want to do it!! Coming back to the topic, which I now realized I haven’t set in this post, I now declare myself satisfied with life. I have stopped complaining, I’m working, have an aim in life, I want to study, and it’s the first time I have told myself that in my 21 years old pathetic life.
Relationship side, it’s the same old story. But then, we get to read ‘happily ever after’s only in books, don’t we?


Job: Credit Processing Associate(CPA), Business Loans, Kotak Mahindra
Occupational Hazard: Sore eyes and continuous approvals from parents(even to not coming back home at nights).

My first title-less post! (Ashamed)

Okay, I'll own up to it. And I can't believe what I'm about to do. Well, I couldn't believe what I was about to do when I was about to do it....... God, I'm more confused myself. I got my chest and legs waxed. Period.
I don't know how people are going to perceive me from now on, but I took it quite well, the pain I mean... in quite a pansy way, though. I again went to my only neighbourhood salon, Cleopatra and asked if they did it for men. They answered in the affirmative, but on enquiring further, they told me they did not have any male practitioners. Surprised, I decided to give it a try anyway.

The change came in me when I went to a party last Saturday night and saw my love interest looking at the shaved/naturally smooth, built bodies dancing around. Okay, I'm overstating the "looking" part, but I only thought to myself, if I don't try it now, I might never find out what hours at the gym has fetched me so far, if anything at all. And since Cleopatra was giving me 5 sessions for the payment of 3, my not-so-good business mind stopped working then and there.

The session began with my chest. And so did my 'ooh's and 'aaahh's. I knew it would be painful, but never thought the definition of "painful" would have to be so vast, not to forget, the burning sensation after each pull. "Ladko ko kya problem hai, ladkiya to aaraam se karwa leti hain",(What is it with Men, Women take it so easily) , They ended soon only to tell me the person who does the lower body was unavailable, which meant I had to come back again the next day and go through the gruelling session yet another time.

Day 2: With rashes all over my chest, I went to get a few more of them, this time on my legs. My Economics teacher from School(we called him 'Chattu', for his surname was Chatterji and we hated him, Happy Teachers' Day, Sir!) while explaining the definition of 'Utility' once asked us why we had to pay the barber for giving him our own hair strands. Similar was the case with me, just that I was exchanging hair strands for bumps all over my skin; very generous, yours lovingly, Cleopatra!!

The lower areas were more painful than the thigh portion, and this time, maybe due to a different practitioner, it wasn't that painful. And soon I figured, if done correctly, waxing isn't that bad an experience. And the fact that I had to come back again, to use up the 4 remaining sessions ofcourse, I was satisfied, my future with Cleopatra won't be so bleak. Now, 24 hours after waxing my legs, the rashes have subsided over the chest, my legs are still burning, I smell more of Lacto-calamine, moving naked around the house and every time my love interest calls for meeting up, I give some dumb excuse to not risk being seen this way.

So much for true love!

Election time in US (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED)

It might come as a surprise to you, but I had no idea what Democrats and Republicans meant a few months ago. I'm a citizen of India and differentiating between Congress, UPA, CPM, BJP becomes difficult here. However, I always wondered who was a better candidate for President, Clinton or Obama, or the Caucasian version of Sharad Pawar called John McCain(I am referring to the swollen face common in both of them).

Anyway, I came across this really funny video, a musical satire of the situation in America and the upcoming presidential election.

Enjoy..

My first mard-ko-dard-nahi-hota Pedicure

Translation: My first boys-don't-cry Pedicure
On 23rd evening, I was in two minds: whether to think of Bubu's present(it was his birthday next day and I had not decided on what I was going to gift him yet) or to get myself a pedicure.
Remembering how my professor once explained of losing her toe nail to bacteria (or maybe fungus, don't remember) after dirt got stuck inside the nail for a long time, I decided to give myself a nice cleaning up.

I called up my neighbourhood spa, Cleopatra(Ah, what name!) and asked if they could accommodate me in their busy schedule. They agreed. Sylvia (name changed to protect identity) attended me to a plush chair with a wash basin on the floor. I'd be honest, it wasn't my first time, but since my last pedicure was way before the Nuclear deal had surfaced the news channels, I found myself re-virginised to the entire experience.

The procedure began with the usual nail clipping and then something to do with a thing she named a filer.
Quite erry, I decided to use my "This' my first time, please be a bit gentle" line, she obliged saying something in a chinky accent I didn't quite understand(I'm not racist, its just the way the mongoloids speak). She repeated again, this time more clearly, "Sir, you have in-grown nails, it might cause you some discomfort cleaning the interiors", and she started digging in. Now, being from the adam's family, one has to keep his calm and act as if nothing can give you enough pain to make you cry like a blonde lady, or so has been taught to us by the society since childhood. So I kept myself appearing normal, which was more excruciating than the pain itself.

She finally ended her excavation with a cream, cuticle removing and hot water dip, later followed by a foot massage and surprisingly, it did take away all the tension off my feet. They looked fresh and smelled great, which my dog appreciated too, by licking them all over!!
With my nails still feeling like I just clipped them, even after 3 days since that agonising pedicure happened, I have pledged to myself on never depending on anybody to clip my nails. You could have tears drop down your eyes while getting stitches from a doctor, you can't give away any clue you're feeling hurt from a pedicure!!

The long.. long trip!

After writing the last post on 21st morning, at exactly 3:40 am IST Bubu messages, "r u up?", I replied, and he called me to google on certain destinations.
By 5 am, we had rescheduled our entire plan, on the day we were supposed to leave on our pre-planned 7 days' trip. Now we'd be on a 18 days' trip visiting 4 states and 9 destinations, as against 3 states and 4 destinations. So we started our journey with Bubu's liver hurting and both of us sleepy from Bandra station for Delhi. (Refer map!)


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The ride on Garib Rath is not worth describing, our "sense of humour" is! It did attract a few people on-board, but somewhere between Kota and Bharatpur, Bubu and I had a spat over a stupid issue. And we both thought to ourselves, its just the first day! Anyway, we reached Delhi 2 hours late next day, with eyes hurting from staying awake for the last 51 hours(18+2 hours journey included).

After savouring all the Cholé-Bhaturé, Roshan da Falooda, Aloo tikki, Chandni Chowk, Dilli da hard water and hot weather for 3 days, we left for Jaipur on 25th.
It took us 6 hours, two bad stomachs and a banana to reach Jaipur after which we were desperately looking for good, hygienic food. Since we had heard a lot about Hotel Mansingh in Jaipur, and considering the fact that its one of the finest hotels in India (with a few stars), we assumed the buffet table would be as rich as Marriott's in Mumbai. Hungry, and to our surprise, the hotel didn't even have clean dishes, all the vegetable dishes had only two vegetables, beans and carrots all over and the only eggless desserts we could find were "Assorted Indian sweets". We were disgusted that we were to pay Rs. 990+Taxes per person for something so sub-standard. But seeing the Royal blood of Jaipur compliment the chef for his "excellence" at the other table, Bubu stood up, asked for the Manager and gave him a piece of his mind.

Our next stop in Jaipur the day after was Radha-Govindji and Radha-Damodar, Jantar Mantar and authentic Rajasthani food. Jaipur, in all was a delight, especially Govindji Mandir, which made my eyes go watery for a reason only known to me.

We bid Jaipur goodbye that night and left for Udaipur from where we were to catch a bus to Nathdwara, the land of Shreenathji's. Once there, we came to know of the amazing Maha-prasad offered to Krishna that can be bought outside the temple gates every day at throw-away prices . We relished the prasad made from pure ghee/devotion. The two days' pleasant stay at Nathdwara made us more active and enthusiastic for the rest of the trip, because coming next was Vrindavan, Bubu's real Home(spiritually) which I was looking forward to too. So, we went back to Udaipur and got on a train for Mathura. All excited(in a very indescribable way), we reached Mathura Jn. early morning next day and headed for Vrindavan immidiately.

Though I was a bit too tempted to click pictures of the beautiful town, with rich history about Radha-Krishna and the brilliant aarti ceremony at Iskcon (not to forget the most beautiful deity of Radharani I saw in my life), but on Bubu's strict commands, I didn't do so. "Let Vrindavan remain in Vrindavan". The visit to Radha Kund and Aindra Prabhu's Kirtan was heart-filling, and when the day had come to leave for Delhi, we only wished we had planned on spending some more time in Vrindavan.

We reached Delhi on 1st July (2.5 hours drive from Mathura), and went back to the same hotel with cheap rooms as we were there barely for 12 hours and had to catch a train 6:30 next morning for Puri. Jagannath Rath Yatra was our focus.
By that time, both of us had grown home-sick and weren't willing to commute the 30 something hours all the way to Bhubaneshwar and then take a bus to Puri, later back to Mumbai again commuting 30 something hours train journey again. But, we still packed our bags, paid good tip to the concierge(if I can use that word for the cheap hotel boys there) and left for New Delhi station.

"Puri Express 6:30am CANCELLED"

Bubu: "What?"
Me: "This can't be happening."
Bubu: "Go ask the Enquiry counter what we're supposed to do now...... or else, lets just go back to Bombay."
Me: "No, Wait, let me check."

The Enquiry counter later informed us the train was cancelled 3-4 days ago and the entire money would be refunded.
Content, we left for the airport, happy(and surprised that we were happy), only to realise the clothes we wore weren't very appropriate for an air travel, so we stopped our auto rickshaw, got a few good clothes out and somewhere between PVR and Central Park, started changing into them in the middle of the roads of Delhi.
"LETS GO"

We took a direct flight back to Mumbai, where we can survive without Chandni Chowk, Narula's, Cholé bhaturé or the "assorted Indian sweets", and the green autos without their fare-meters working. We found ourselves a bit attached to the trip but thought maybe God cut short our trip for our best interest, even though we really wanted to see the Rath yatra. I still wish to go back to Vrindavan sometime soon, its on Bubu now, if he would ever plan on his next trip with me.