The Great Betrayal

Almost all of us have stayed in hostels/flats/apartments with our friends and then these friends become more than just friends; they become your ROOMIE ( or Flattie), a relationship more sacred than most.. I am sure you all would agree when I say that there are certain expectations that one has from his/her flatmates… The standard Flattie/Roomie JD is given below:

• Provide home delivery of food whenever flattie/roomie goes out on his/her own


• Pick-up/drop facilities when flattie/roomie is in need of transportation


• Give a patient hearing when Flattie/Roomie is in a bad mood and wants to unload some frustration


• Help tide over tight cash flow situations


• Rescue flattie/Roomie from fights where he/she is sure to lose


• Provide company when flattie/roomie wants to drown his/her sorrows in alcohol


• Shopping assistance, including going to out of the world places in search of bargains, providing expert feedback on clothes selected, get different sizes of clothes when Roomie/Flattie is in the changing room, help with money to pay for the purchases, help carry the loot back home and finally, appreciate the selection during the late night fashion show at home
• (Added on a CA-MBA working with Axis's request) One more important duty of flattie is : "He should help in patofying a girl and if the other flattie already has a gf..flattie has a moral responisbility of staying away from her"
  

I & my Flattie, who, till now, was the epitome of the perfect Flattie, went out shopping yesterday for a pair of track pants. As the model flatmate, I had supported him in this quest from day 1 (starting about an year back) when he thought it was high time he started working out. He STILL thinks it high time he started working out and hence the frequent shopping expeditions.
2 malls and 5 stores later and nothing to show for it, I happened to come across a “different” T-shirt that I quite fancied. So I told my Flattie that I was going to the trial room with the said item. 5 mins later, standing at the door of the trial room, I looked around for my Flattie, but he was not to be seen anywhere. So I called him on the phone, “Hey, where the %^$$# are you??” Flattie, “umm…where are you, which floor….ok ok” and he disconnects the phone. Waiting there, withstanding the malevolent glares from the people waiting for me to exit the trial room, the appreciative looks of the female shoppers ( after all I was wearing a “different” tshirt) and the irritated security guard repeatedly asking me if I was done, were the most frustrating 15 minutes in quite a while for me. I called up Flattie again, “What the hell….where are you?” Flattie,”Eh….arre yaaar…I have exited the mall man….i am waiting outside…McDoanld’s ke outlet ke pass..eating a burger..ab anndar aaane ko bahut time lagega”..wtf…BETRAYED BY MY FLATTIE…after all that I had done for him!!

This totally violates the Flat-mate Code of Conduct and point 7 of the Flatmate JD I mentioned earlier. Outraged, I denied Flattie any expert comments on the clothes he tried on from that point onwards resulting in him having to end the day empty handed. I would recommend that you too do the same to him in case he approaches any one of you for help. Am attaching the photo of the shameless betrayer here for you all to easily recognize him and save yourself the embarrassment of being left high and dry in a trial room.

THE BETRAYER

1 Yr Crib

Written on one sleepless night with no internet

Sabse Peeche Hum Khade..by Silk Route..& Guncha..from Mai Meri Patni Aur Woh
That’s what I am listening to right now. The songs that never fails to remind me of my days at Indore, thanks to Nehbur in D309!!
Its 1:40 AM…the time when life started on campus..the time when nostalgia strikes you in Pune, an year later.
Its been one year!!! WOW….its hard to realize how time flies, how life changes so dramatically in just such a short span of time. Its hard to believe that its been one year since THEN…
People have gotten married, people have separated, PEPOLE have got committed, people have left jobs, people have left the country, people have moved on…but… have they?
Life was much simpler back then…there was more trust..less worries..somehow the solitude made you shut out the rest of the world…we created our own little world on top of the hill…the rest was just something that was happening somewhere far far away in some other world to some other set of people…something we barely glanced through in the newspaper…and now we are IT.
IIM Indore enabled us to make friends…forge that special bond…That’s my takeaway
Senti crap..i know..but as Da would say..FIC !!

Addendum to Frustration

Someone once defined Frustration as the feeling you get when you are looking for your glasses without your glasses...
But i'll tell you what a better description would be...
Its the feeling you get when you go for a hair cut...and tell the barber to "just trim it" .........."zyaada chote mat karna bhai" and then you take off your specs, close your eyes and settle in for a relaxing haircut and head massage...AND THEN YOU OPEN YOUR EYES, PUT ON YOUR SPECS AND LOOK AT YOURSELF IN THE MIRROR...now...thats frustration..

Frustration

This is what i wrote while sitting idle at work today

Frustration- impotent rage … is an integral part of everyone’s lives…I haven’t met anyone who isn’t frustrated with something or the other…be it work…or lack of quality work, money, girl friend…or the absence of one…….the list is endless...btw….i am writing this while at work…and you guessed it right…I am writing this cos I am frustrated….nothing special to get frustrated about…just that had an unusually boring day, with nothing to do…no Internet connectivity at office…no one sending me forwards to read…..and to top it all…the IT Security team came and disabled my Minesweeper game…&*%^(()*&*&*&%$##@
What is interesting is to observe how various people handle their frustration… some smoke it off ( remember the song from Kaante? Dhuene me uddake…jaane ka hoga rama re…??)….some drink it off…and some take it out on their co-workers..
I generally blow off the steam by drinking some coffee…playing minesweeper ( not possible now) and calling up my friends….but apparently everyone else was busy…so this is the only outlet possible now.
Below in the ”Before” and “After” pics is my flat mate- PP’s ,unique way of letting off steam

Before

After

Hot Chick Ratings

Revised Rating: Deepika Padukone...revised to 5/10
Reason for Revised Rating: Poor taste in men
Current Status of DP: Blacklisted
Current Hot Chick: Position Open...

Name Trouble

Now...i understand that all of us are Global citizens....Indians at heart....no regional attachment to a large extent..and we are proud of this fact..Smug in saying.."i belong to Kerala...but then..i have never stayed there..."
How many of us think its cool to say..." well..i understand Malayalam..but cant read or write in it"?? Most of us take it as a indication of how modern/smart/above all we are..
But then this attitude can come back to bite you on the rear end...like it did to me..

I was filling my forms for US Visa...and in the usual style..had just 10 mins left to submission time when i saw a blank saying " Please fill your name in your native tongue"!!
"Holy Crap!!" i said to myself. I didn't have a clue how to write Siby Mathew.
So i ran frantically around the office, shouting for all Mallu's to gather around and help me write my name. All this wild running and shouting resulted in 3 Mallu's in a huddle trying to draw circles on a page and telling me that this mess that looked like miniature elephants with their tails twisted around could possibly be my name!
Bloody idiots....don't even know how to write in Malayalam.....shame on them,...had i been their manager, would have definitely screwed them in the annual appraisals...
Anyway...during the course of my aforementioned frantic running around and histrionics, i had spotted a cute new chick on the floor silently smiling to herself. The eternal optimist & opportunist that i am, i asked her if she was one of my kind...and Yippee!! she was !! so we managed to pen down "Siby Ma" in Malayalam with her help...but then got stumped with the "thew"...after some frantic calls home and instructions to draw weird circles and loops and curves from my bewildered parents....we finally decided that this is what my name in Malayalam should look like!


I hope the US consulate does not have Malayalees checking my form!!

Wine Appreciation

Wine....the drink of the classy ones..the cool ones...the studs..and so...Lallan, Minzy , Gupta and Yours Truly proceeded to a wine appreciation and tasting event one bright Sunday afternoon. Our GRAND entry, sandwiched 4 in an auto, created quite a stir in the refined environs...all full of bada bada gaddi's and gaddiwale in hats and shades. But then...screw them...we had paid for our ticket just as they had!!!
As Da would have said....."FIC"

We had some starting trouble...you see..not knowing the wines....not knowing what to ask for..but then Lallan got the ball rolling with his "Livewire" act...and go getter attitude..making the guys at the counter clean his glass after every sip of some wine...and spitting and pouring away the contents every now and then..a true blue pro.

12 noon – 1 pm ( 20 odd samples): We started off well….listened to the session on wine appreciation and did all the right things…like swirling the wine, sniffing at it a lil and taking a small sip and trying to identify the walnut, pineapple, oak, orangy..fruity…and other flavors….
Gupta had not had any breakfast, so he started gobbling the complimentary bread given along with the wine. Lallan drank cos he thought wine was non alcoholic….after tasting about 10-15 wines, he started feeling funny and that's when we told him the truth. He stopped drinking and started cribbing about how hungry he was.

1pm- 3 pm( 50 odd samples): That was only for the 1st hr and about 20 odd samples..then we stopped tasting and just started drinking…. Minzy tried to show off his newly acquired knowledge on wines ( post the appreciation session) by loudly commenting on the texture and body of wines while in the earshot of some hot chicks. We loudly commented about his Insurance Salesman job :) I also won a bottle of white wine "Chenin Blanc" in the raffle. I was made to stand on the stage and give a thank you speech…which I did in "high spirits'. Was kicked off in a hurry.

3 pm- 5 pm( 30 "bada" samples): Sampling stopped and boozing started. By now, the people serving wine started recognizing us…so instead of small sample quantities, they started filling our glasses to the brim.

5:30 pm: Lallan drove me home…

Thankfully none of us were wearing IIM I stuff, so the IIM I name still stands untarnished :D

New Camera- 1st Snap

i know..i know....been away for long...and the only excuse is LAZYNESS ...

will be back...but for the time being..here is the 1st snap with my new camera

btw..thats not me :)

Moooooooombhai !!

Mumbai is awesome...if you have a lil money in pocket...an inclination to spend it ...and awesome frnds to help you do it !

I drove down with my flatmate...PP...in his new car...

One thing is for sure...E Boy has definitely NOT lost any of his E Quotient :)...apart from all the E Stuff he unloaded on me, he took me to this great place on Charni Road...its called Crystal...an old world, rustic, quaint lil place ....ghar ka khana types...bahut daba ke khaya.. The best thing about the place is the atmosphere...old wooden chairs...and tables that are about to fall apart.....old 40's 50's music blaring in the background from a set which must have been the in-thing during my great grand dad's school days...feels like a different world altogether...MUST VISIT place for sure..and it definitely doesn't burn a hole in your pocket :)

One should read Shantaram before going to Leopold's....helps you really appreciate it...i must say..it definitely lives up to its image...beer...girls...foriegners...girls....astronauts...girls....the place was awesome..

Some more E and that was the end of day 1 !

Day 2 started with Medu Vada Sambar.....then down to Bongo's and Bambi's house and a lil shopping gossipping gyan session with the kids..and then we proceeded to watch the Kingfisher Open Tennis Tournament,,,,was awesome watching a match in person..1st time i am doing that....and the crowd was good and smart and somewhat hot too :) 250 rupaiya vasool kar liya :)

and after another E Dose before i slept...my Bombay trip ended :)

Bombay is different...u get to the see the entire spectrum of humanity...the have's and the have not's..the palatial homes and the humble hovels..the rich and poor...and the thing is that one is forced to mix with them...that's where i think Mumbaites get their special character...they accept everyone...there is no separation of the classes...and u learn to accept everyone, from every walk of life..

Current music fav: Ajab si from Om Shanti Om
Current hot chick: Deepika Padukone
Current Book: Malgudi Days by R.k. Narayan

The Movie Experience !

Chak de, India!!! ...AWESSSSSSSSOME...a must watch..i loved this movie, sooooooooo much, that i eneded up watching it twice over the weekend.
But this post is not gonna be a review of this movie...thats been aleady taken care of by critics. This post is about the movie experince, or rather, the lack of nowdays due to the multiplex culture.
I saw this movie at Inox 1st and then at a small place with just the one screen...WestEnd..the place where we watched all our movies during 1st and 2nd year engineering.
The experience was simply amazing....what the 150-200 rp ticket at a multiplex does, is screen the crowd, and put you in a theatre with the so called " refined and cultured" junta. But do u really wanna watch a movie like Chak De...silently sitting in your seat, clapping politely when Komal scores a goal, or do you wanna watch it at a place where people scream and jump in joy when there is a goal, catcalls and whistles all over as we see Sharukh get the better of everyone...a place which makes you feel as if you are a part of the script, a real, live spectator to a real, live hockey world cup final. The choice is yours..pay 250 bucks towatch it in a sterile envirnoment, or pay 60 bucks and mix with the masses & enjoy the movie .

Ashes...........

I don't know what title to give this post...its not a obituary...its not a description of their lives...its just a little piece about two people who were part of my life

Neha and Nitesh, i cant claim to know you two very well...

Nitesh..you stayed on my floor...a couple of rooms away. A silent guy, we have had quite a few discussions about acads and life in college...and i remember how we drenched you with hot water during the first water fight we had with your batch. We were never close friends, but still, the bond that holds all of us together at IIM I still binds us. I wish such an unfortunate tragedy had never occurred..i wish i had gotten to know you better...but then...
I wish you are at peace....and i pray for your family to have the strength to bear your loss.

Neha..bubbly ..effervescent...mischievious...always taking my case about my singing skills after you once heard me screaming in my room..or imitating my dance moves....my first memory of you is at the morning PT class during your 1st month....you were a total " natakbaaz" even then...trying to wriggle your way out of PT, making all kinds of excuses. I was hoping to meet you when i came down for the Alumni meet...

Somethings are just not meant to be...but i am honored to have been part of your lives, having you guys as part of mine. You will be missed...but i know that you will always be part of the family we know as Planet I.

Polotical Whims and Fancies

"Mayawati to demolish premier sports complex in Lucknow"

That's how my day started..reading about another ridiculous act by our politicians. When there are a million productive things for our politicians to occupy themselves with, they still pursue such stupid and trivial things. Stupid because it defies all logic and common sense and is totally self serving.

Apparently Mayawati wants to pull down the Sports Complex and build a memorial for her mentor Kanshi Ram. What an idea !!! The sheer absurdity of this renders me speechless....these are our elected candidates....we put them there to work for us...what utter crap !!
Mayawati: If you want to build a memorial....please feel free to do so....spend your ill gotten crores to buy some land and commission some artisans to build a "larger than Statue of Liberty" of Kanshi Ram or Dr. Ambedkar....don't waste our money on it

Gymming Pain

My arms are hurting, back is sore, neck isn't turning, calf is burning, chest is on fire.
Aftereffects of 1 day of josh in the gym.
Yes....Siby is sweating it out...and enduring the pain and lack of sleep as my gym partner had the brilliant idea of working out at 6:30 in the morning.
Gym management is full of sadistic b******s who enjoy watching you grunt and heave and make funny noises while you try to push a measly 5 kilo slab of iron around, with some Mr. Bulging Biceps who probably could bench press a baby elephant standing over you, smirking and watching condescendingly and saying " super" like a stuck record. How i wish i could punch him square in his face when he adds another 10 kilos to my 5 and then sit back enjoying the show. But then, i am going to gym to build, not break my body...so i just glare at him malevolently and grunt some more.

Girls have it so easy..just put some powder and lipstick and Lo...Behold...HOT GIRL...not like us poor guys who have to sweat it out for their benefit. I wish..........

Revenge of the Cat

After living in style at the company guest house for a couple of weeks...and going through the painful house hunting stage where we and the broker took turns driving each other mad, we finally settled on a warm 3 BHK row house in Baner.
Along with the furnishings and other fittings, we got the owner's pet cat free in the deal. Now this cat is really crazy...the moment you open the door, she darts in and then refuses to get out of the house....will constantly mew and mew and mew....beg for food...do the Puss in Boots act ...sleep on our couch and get in our way..she even managed to trip us over a few times.
She has no respect for us and doesn't get out of the house when we tell her to..hiding in the most remote nooks and corners of the house when we try to throw her out. So we decided to take firm action.

She usually waits just outside the door... waiting for us to open the door so that she can dart in. So yesterday,i just stepped out..sugar talked her into my arms and then launched her into the garden. After a couple of high velocity- high altitude launches, she understood that there was no way i was gonna take her inside..so she struck back. When we came back from work...our waste bin looked like it had been hit by lightning..everything scattered around the front yard and torn to shreds.
WAR !!!!

Today's launch specs:

Expected time: somewhere between 9pm -10pm
Launch Velocity: more than 11.6 km/sec
Payload: 1 stupid cat

Launch will be captured on video for posterity

Dont know what to call this

What pains me the most is to see a person who has so much potential just lose it all, lose focus, drive, energy, ambition….hope. I just hate feeling that sense of resignation..the passive acceptance of “fate”…
We can never take full credit for what we are…we are what we are cos of the influence of millions of things, family..friends…location..accident of birth…and our own effort is but a minuscule part of what it took to shape us to our present state. I feel so frustrated to see close friends just waste away their entire future....maybe they didn’t get the right kind of support at the right time... all of us have had moments of despair, when we think all is lost..and then ..someone pulls us through..maybe they didn’t have that someone.

Whatever it might be, hope is never lost…we have to realize that there is always another chance…what is life without struggle? May God give her strength and the spirit to fight on!

Check this out !

The Gap

Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.- Jawaharlal Nehru

This speech to the Constituent Assembly on 14th Aug 1947 still gives me a strange feeling..i don't know what that feeling is..pride..patriotism..hope...despair...its a weird mixture of all those. I have read this particular extract hundreds of times and i still keep going back to it.

There was a time when we Indians appreciated the gift of freedom..the privilege to make our own decisions and the honour of helping make this country a great one. Where has all that emotion gone...have we become so indifferent towards the progress of this nation that we spent more than 200 years to free? What has changed?

Politicians no longer enter politics out of a sense of duty to their fellow Indians...regionalism is gaining ground...corruption is rampant...the red tape stifles us..the guardians of law and order are not in order themselves...the judiciary is at loggerheads with the government....license raj is over but now its quota that rules....power and money are the only things that matter anymore!
Who is to blame? the politicians? the police? the administration?

I don't think so! We..the indifferent ones with the " chalta hai" attitude are squarely to blame for this mess. How many of us exercise our franchise? How many of us think twice before paying that bribe to the cop? How many of us accept pathetic service with silent resignation? How many of us still do not pay our taxes? Why do we have this colonial hangup that makes us feel that we shouldn't expect the best..be it product or treatment from others? Why do we indulge in senseless violence and meaningless "bandhs" all the time? Why do we even remotely consider religion a factor in making any decision when it should be merit? Why do we suffer those who do?

I don't know why i am indulging in this kind of a diatribe...its just not me...i guess its cos i happened to read this speech...and was saddened by the fact that in spite of the amazing talent and strengths that we, as a nation, possess, we are still spiralling down.. out of control.....saddened by the thought of what we could have been ..and what we are.

Monsoon

Monsoons are for riding your bike in the rain enjoying the spray on your face
Monsoons are for sitting in your balcony with a steaming cup of coffee and hot plate of pakoda’s looking out into the rain
Monsoons are for curling up in your bed under a warm sheet and not waking up
Monsoons are for some quiet introspection
Monsoons are for catching up on your reading
Monsoons are for having a romantic candle light dinner with your girlfriend
Monsoons are for trekking in Lonavla
Monsoons are for Jhingalala after losing in a game of cards
Monsoons are for being cruel to animals ( ;) Shreyan would know more about that)

Monsoons are DEFINITELY NOT for sitting in your office staring at the computer and missing out on dinner !!!!

Stalked !!

Has it ever happened to you? The feeling that there are that things happen to only you and no one else….

I have always been at the receiving end of weird occurrences…be it having the experience of getting a lift from gay drivers, or being complimented by waiters: “ Sir, you have a nice figure” were HIS( yeah…”HIS”..unfortunately) exact words…being caught by security guards with one leg on either side of the water tower gate…to having a lot of money being deposited into my bank account by mistake…to having love/lust maddened girls stalking me ( ahem ahem :D ).

Well I had another kind of a stalker yesterday afternoon. While coming back from a friend’s B’Day treat…a cloud of barely 100 m radius decided that I didn’t look clean enough and followed me all the way from Le Meridian to S.B road and drenched me to the core. Now, I don’t have anything personal against clouds or rains or nature in general, but I certainly resent being singled out this way by this cloud. I could actually see the rain falling only in a 50 m radius around me and nowhere else. What business did it have…following me around the place and raining on me?

When I finally reached office, dripping wet and miserable, people stared at me as they would at a chimp suddenly scrambling into office. I don’t blame them…its hard for anyone to understand how a person can get so totally drenched when there is not a hint of cloud in the sky.

Stupid Cloud!

Chapter III

According to Vedic philosophy, human life is divided into four stages: Brahmacharya, Gruhasta, Vanaprastha and Sanyas...

If only life was so clearly defined..i seem to be currently stuck in an undefined crack between stages...Brahmacharya apparently over...Gruhasta a long way off...and contrary to Hindu philosophy...i am experiencing Sanyas :P

Anyway..i am back in Pune ..this place rocks....after 2 years in the wilderness of Indore and 3 months in God's own backyard....Pune is like a soothing balm to sore eyes and to those with a passion for ornithology... E square, FC and DP road are the usual spots for birds to flock together....real exotic ones at that..
What one needs is a bike...and some money...the former i have...the latter..unfortunately not...hence the misaligned stage in life i guess

btw..if you are wondering what the title has to do with what i have written till now..the answer is : NOTHING...
i was planning to write about how my life has entered a new phase...Phase I at home, Phase II in college and hostels..and Phase III being the work life that i have started now..but then..i got carried away .
and in 2 days..i have learnt something already..
Lesson Learnt: we are insignificant specks of dust
Reason: Cognizant canteen with 1000's of nameless faces..and i was 1 amongst them