Good for you Sirjee !!

Sir finally got it!!

One of the few great people, I met at B-school met salvation at last. It is uncanny as to how he landed up in a profile that was almost tailor made for his likes and skills.

I had a chance call with him while updating about my status at Bangalore and his happiness was contagious. For a minute I shelved under the rug (or rather beside the railway track, which incidentally is near my place!!), all my worries and immediate concerns.

Happiness is indeed best when shared, (Christopher Mc Candlass), and a corollary to it, sorrow/pain is a solitary activity.

Now, a little about this guy, an absolute genius. He however ended up in a place that did not quite do justice to his intelligence, or to use modern colloquialism a shit hole, shoveling shit.

He says, “I had almost resigned myself to this place, and then I saw you fighting to get out, and I thought why not I too try it, and see now ended up with more than offer, and all are better than this one, I kind of owe it to you pal"

I said, so you are also a little mad now huh !!

"Not mad, but rather I am not ready to compromise at least on the work part of my life"

Good for you sirjee !

It pays to fight, for the reward is unique each time. Familiarity breeds comfort and that in turn gives rise to complacency, which in turn gives an impetus to inherent laziness in every one.

I have heard a lot about my antics""You are 25, how long will you skip jobs, remember a rolling stone gathers no moss, it is time you start planning ahead”

Career planning is an oxymoron; best things in life are a function of serendipity. 

Now I am not implying that you spend life like Ivan the lazy, sitting wide open mouthed under a cherry tree waiting for the cherry to fall in your mouth. Rather I am just saying that opportunities, by definition are un-modeled, they just arise as a complex function of life, surroundings and friends.

It is useful to have a general idea of what you end up doing but do not end up in a iron straight jacket, or rather with an ostrich mentality with head inside the ground as a fantasy to not see the imminent attack, or an opportunity.

 I have never ever compromised on my liking, I tried once and it just did not work out. Money is a statistic, with a very low diminishing marginal utility, function. Out of 24 hrs in .a day( I am not taking into account the leap year part of it), close to 70% you end up doing something to fulfill your cardinal desires. If you don’t like it, then it is akin to murdering your soul, your existence.


There are so many compromises we end up making, but compromising, 70% of your life, well statistically significant isn’t it?

I believed I could find solace in splurging, but that did not work. In fact, I felt even shittier.

Murder my soul to earn money and try to spend it to compensate for murder, ahhh...that is like a gang rape on your existence, post death( necrophilia, argh, what a morbid thought indeed)


You can see those people who have done that for a long time, you can see it in their shoulders, and more importantly their eyes, the resigned acceptance of futility of existence. (Btw Bangalore is full of them!!)

Banglore Times!

This city is weird , it seems like people from all across India are here.You cant spot on person and say bang on................... that this guy is a local...............he is the Bangalorean equivalent of the Marathi manoos.

You would have trouble doing that.

Some things that strikes you the minute you enter in Bangalore

1. Volvo Buses - Red/blue, shiny and expensive( the maximum ticket fare I paid was 50 for a one way 40 minute trip) , but leisurely
2. Advertisements Galore - sample"PG available , 24 hrs uninterrupted supply of water, electricity broadband..blah blah blah..."( who needs 24 hrs of all that ??! a couple of hours would be fine, I guess !!) - A note most of them are matchboxes some small some big, but matchboxes essentially ,  a hazard to good living.
   
3. Auto Guys = Linguists , they can talk in any language, Hindi, English Tamil , in fact one guy told me that if they did not do that they would lose customers.
4. Shave Puri & Chow Chow Bath - I haven't mustered the courage to try either of them
5. Dug roads and half completed BMTC pillars - I just mentioned it because it is one factor akin to Delhi
6. Traffic Jams are passe, here there are traffic nightmares, my boss in fact warned me to not get a place far off from the unit.
7. There are 2 Bangalore's , ( Yeah the adaption of the binary dissection of India , as in 2 India's) 

Take a Snap !

I just remembered this.

I had the chance of chatting with my nursery teacher back home. A quarter century and she ……is still not bored of A for apple and B for ball.

Her memory belies her age, she remembers with astonishing clarity me, and places my family at the first glance.

I am surprised, so I ask her" how can you still recognize me after 25 odd years”.

She smiles and says "Just like that".

I am not about to be satisfied with that, so I press on. She does not reply, immediately.

Staring into space she says something rather very thought provoking

She says , "I have been with kids for most of my life. I have observed that by the time a kid comes to nursery his future life has been decided. I can say at a glance who is going to be what; in life, success vs. failure, right vs. wrong. It is akin to an X- Ray that has already been taken, or a photo snapped, only the developing part remains. And there is not a frightful lot that can be done on developing a photo/X-Ray"

This is intriguing, so I also want to learn, and of course I want to know about my X-Ray/Photo too !

I ask madam,

She sidesteps deftly, and replies" You ask me how I could recognize you, tell me do you remember the name of your KG teacher, or for that matter even mine"

Of course I do!!

Then so do I……… Srikant …………Remember you………….Its mutual and causal.

Aree tell me more madams…. my photo, and ……my negative am I right/ wrong …….ding or dong?!!

She says , "Ever so impatient, but now I see something in your eyes"

What…is “something”??

Twinkling eyes…….. Peer at me……but no verbal response. I got it that that is the end of discussion.

Nearing 60, with wit as sharp as a razor and memory to give mine a run for its youth, I realized that she won’t say anything more. I shook her hands and in a rare gesture touched her feet too and recited my traditional introduction.

Her scaly hands touch my head lightly and she says, very softly “All the best beta …be happy”

Btw any of you remember your nursery school teacher’s name??

That piece of information could possibly explain your development (photos part) now, and if you figure a connection please let me know too.

Individual Excellence vs. Collective Brilliance

This is a piece of humor.

I am told I have a penchant for glamorizing the mundane, and being able to complicate simple things.

My dad, working as an auditor now, having tallied BS and ledgers all his, says that it is always the simple things that are potentially brilliant, at least in the world of accounting.

I cant take names, but it seems a leading apparel, company famed for giving mind boggling discounts, (70 to 80%) off, did a simple way of showing itself bankrupt, even though the auditors knew it had a bundle , they could do nothing about it.

My dad rounds off, wryly saying” They have a sale even now, its showroom is right next to my office, its always packed”, and they say there are no sales happening.

And on paper it’s true.

Anyways this is digressing; I got to do justice to the title.

Well, an acquaintance of mine, is into a bit of money, and he hasn’t seen much of it .So off he goes, shopping to get rid of his sons of soil image. In pops a ray ban, a shirt and jean which would get 4 of my types of shirt and jeans, and for shoes make it 5 of my types. No question about the quality of the cloth or material, it is excellent, in isolation, individually excellent.

Now I will painstakingly (and vividly too, I hope!) describe the collective part of it. The jean is a blue/green hue with some kind of washing on its front and side (the worn of part, which is what makes it smooth to touch).Now my limited sense of fashion does tell me that there are not a frightful lot of combinations you can pair this jean with. He, however pairs it with an electric green shirt (it is Zodiac Classic limited edition….. I think), with bright green and white stripes, the wide stripes. Now the belt, it is brown with some sequins or glitterati.

At least the shoes match with the belt, they are again brown, but can’t do much to salvage the fashion disaster which he has just become.

Hell, I forgot the Ray Ban, they are again, green with gold rims, the oversized variety.

Visualize this short, slightly plump guy,(the picture of good lving) with a blue/green hued jean, a full shirt with and electric green and white wide stripes. A brown belt which throws some flashes of light at you as he moves around and a brown pair of shoes.

The coup de grace is the gold rimmed oversized green hued Ray Bans.

Overall he looked like a cross between a giant leprechaun and a human. I guess the gold he had on him gave him the feel of a leprechaun (green and gold)., and mabe the picture of good living too.

“How do I look?!” this is the million dollar question, and very, very gender specific!!! You are trapped whatever you answer.

At this point I got the title of the post in my head, which I willingly shared with him……….and I take the liberty of sharing, with you all too!