Freshly minted from Workshop of Idle Brain

Shingles or Herpes Zoster as it is commonly known or rather not so commonly known is a painful thing.. more so if experienced first hand ..

Well am blessed to be 1/~50 adult in age range of 30 years , male who got this out of a BILLION people in the country !!! isnt that an achievement ??? Hmmm.. some people are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them .. Shingles is painful so it could probably explain " The Pain behind this Gain" .

As I bask in the new limelight ..it occurs to me now that this is the first time ... the very first time in my 5 long professional experience that I have capitalised on my sick leave !!

And how did Shingles bring me down ? One word answer ==> " Blitzkreig"
The longer one ===> The day before I realised I was P.O.W of Shingles, I was at my usual merrier form, with least respect and recognition to things in general and Shingles in particular. I was busied at office by a FULL DAY training following which I was doing the chasings for BOSS. So as it happens, The clock ticks and follow up list expands, doesnt matter that we are already strectching 3-4 hours after the office schedule. Nothing scary of that but this was Harbour Line of Mumbai- the areas where people go home earlier, the areas where street lights dim out sooner and the areas where the regular " auto - wallas " turn " Muggers " . Masculinity is me - It is not that I am afraid to confront the social evils and fight then singlehandedly like a super hero without being one, but then MBA graduate ( why to do it ) spoke louder than an Engineering Graduate ( How to do it) in me :: why to work on something and not get rewarded for it or why to not get rewarded if you work on something? I could use my talent to mug some one else rather than prevent myself being mugged. But currently thatz not in my radar of interest. So for sake of calling it a day and to sleep at my home - I took steps towards the railway station. As I waited for the next train due in 10 mins ( It never takes more than 10 mins to catch a train at Harbor line) , I was gearing up to Push, Kick , throw people and things out to make way for my foot to be inside the train, but then realisation dawned on me that its past 10 and people who do this are already out of train, sharing dinner with their family or teaching virtues of sacrifice and gentle behavior to their kids. I was as I always am - Correct . It was the least crowded trains I came across in a months time, less crowded to give me place for both my foot - The next challenge in this art of "commuting via train at Mumbai" is to get a place for your hands so that you are sure that your body reaches the destination in one piece and not that the next train brushing from opposite side carries a part of you. It was then - that moment of Truth - knocked. It knocked hard. I was not even able to raise my right hand and cling on to the edge of train. It was damn Painful, and it came to me at moment when I needed the arm much but then am a man with all solutions, so I oriented myself to use my left arm and switch my centre of gravity so that rest of all norms are followed for a safe travel . When I reached Vashi station, I was pushed down so no effort needed in getting out from the train but I realised that I cant sway my right arm and I was turning blind to the sensation in my arm pit and shoulder. I went home and gulped down whatever was stashed in the refrigirator and thought of encountering this villian - the first thing in morning. I woke up but to Pain, I found little redheads across my arm , shoulder all on one side and they were gates to HELL.


All these 5 days I have been in agony but it gave me time to unwind myself, to contemplate, to relish hospitality and to ramble about as I am doing now .. So dont shoot yourself with a Disprin when you reach here, thank GOD ( and hope ) that you are not suffering the pain, that one goes through in Shingles.

Bye-Bye mail at Reliance : Ooops I did it again .. a Poor song even when I depart

Memories remain memories when you remember them :: So my farewell mail etched from one and half years of doing nothing good at reliance except sneaking out with bunch of friends always available on call, to carry out covet operations like extended breakfasts at nearby malls, matinee shows of all those movies which score less than 2/5, and ofcourse making the best use of office bulletin board... so here it goes
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The waves were rough, the clouds were dark , and all we did was anchor, cuddle with fear and be together
but then we dissolved the differences; fought hopelessly, bruised, bled but emerged out stronger.
Now as the weather is getting calmer, and shore is getting closer, questions flounder
" will prosperity ruin us more than the devastation" " " did we just jump, to fall down deeper"

History is Amir Khan of GHAZNI, Hefty, Rich and lots of learning but less of retention
It has an undying mission but clouded with inchorency and digression
A Resolute short term goal, left helpless because of faded vision
So efforts are enormous but they cant pull one out coz are in different direction

The key is putting the jigsaw puzzle together, to see beyond boundaries and synergise
Its not how deep are we in; how high we need to climb, But a spirit relentless to rise
Persistence and a united front, have helped us win when we could have failed otherwise
and if this mail could just bring a smile and a breath of hope, it would be one of my most wonderful byes

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Bye Bye Reliance ADAG

As my tenure with Reliance ADAG approaches the end, the emotions wrapping around has shades similar when I left Tata Consultancy Services, in summer of 2007. Undeniably there are comparisons:

• I joined both these organizations, from campus. So I carried the carefree attitude of a student and walked in the board room with a set of friends with whom you had shared late night Maggie or gulped mugs of coffee and shared stories before. There was a companionship and support structure with you when you enter the gates the new world. The platform where you were before joining the organization and set up you need to get geared to are same for all these campus hirees, so the degree and steps of adjustment are same, example living together again in same or near by apartments, the same mode of commute, the same period of shopping spree and lot others.


• Both of these organizations are conglomerates, so huge, so much so that, even a set of 200 campus hirees could get lost and its becomes difficult to be pin pointed, your group becomes your camouflage. One refers to you as MT ( Management Trainee) or GET ( Graduate Engineer Trainee) or simply Trainee. You are given space of time and comfort, nursed and treated with series of programs to help you assimilate to main stream.
  The noise and color of excitement level, when 200+ invade offices straight from campus is so vibrant. The rest of world looks on with curious eyes and sometimes with eyes of interest.

So I move on to take the first step of my corporate life, to move from one organization to other rather than a campus. I think, Change is inevitable and 6 years after graduating from REC Trichy, it is too late an experience. As I leave Reliance, I look back to those times when I had been cribbing about the culture and work ethos, quite a similar way to which I had done at TCS, also the lack of opportunities and grooming but also losing a set of close buddies who made the journey look so beautiful and memorable.
But this is inevitable and confrontation is the best way forward, so “Keep walking - Move on “

"Missed me" - Song

They say lose it to gain it ... same goes for love..
get bruised .. get the pains .. to relish the sweetness...
This poem is for those who miss their beloved ones and who are on their return path
for you always return back at least once to those you love..
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Life is a cyclone
Minus you
I am all alone
without a glimpse of you

Seconds are spread across mile
If I cant find you
Jokes are without " the cute" smile
If I cant share that with you

Wish you cared
how much I missed you
Wish you wondered
how much I felt for you

World wont have been dear
Had it not been for you
I was a stranger in my mirror
But only for you

I always dreamt
I was beside you
I always thought
I walked along you

What was it that hurt
And I still cant blame you
What caused love fall apart
And I still dont wish to realise it was you

For you .. and it was only you ..
who awakened me to what was love

and then again it was you

who has filled my waiting eyes with love

Love ....

a sweet bitter thing called Love ..

a roller coaster ride called Love ...

Find it .. lose it .. and find it not to let it go....

and call it LOVE

Poor Song gets poorer

Poor song for those who stay in house, lock them up, are stingy and just not like the vagabonds ( including me )
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It is such a wicked thing to do
to spend your youth in home and loo

Arise , Awake Mr. Singh
and realise that life is to sing
to spread a smile
and walk a mile
than confine
and shrugg to dine

out and hard, coz you misthink
that it would stink
if you dont hoard money
for your dreams and honey

But do you realise
that these long life filled with years is small in size
so it should be filled with smiles and fun
and not with the tension gun

Dont be the busy bee
or the caged poddling of the pea
Kill the inner Lust
Get out, explore, and dont just rust

The RICHNESS of POVERTY !!

So History has been created on 23rd February. Danny Boyle and Co. have finally placed Mumbai and " aapun ka story" in the world map and world of Oscars.

Prima facie brings just a shrug and " so -what " expressions but just have a look at the following glaring statistics:
800: is the number of movies produced per year in Bollywood( Hindi mainstream) alone. Coupled with these is similar number of movies produced in 10 other regional languages ( and most of the times, its the regional languages movie which spearhead and direct the next stage of cinematic evolution/revolution of Bollywood).
600: The number of Hollywood movies made in year 2006, 2007 ..
1896 A.D: Is the suggested year in which Indian film Industry was started (with an Advertisement in Times of India for a play). This definitely doesnt help us in highlighting that we are amateurs in Enetertainment Industry.
1906 A.D : Los Angeles predates Hollywood in setting up a studio.

Can we claim that we had more movies per year and been there longer ? If so just compare the number of Oscars belonging to each camp.. Its Hillarious... Its Sad....

We have been ZERO all the while.. And what gives us an Entry point is a movie made by Danny Boyle.. Well I dont have shades of Xenophobia but just cant evade this :--->" The much awaited Oscar for an Indian movie, based in an Indian story of Indians depicting the Indian background, and Indian mindset, about an Indian Television show and its interaction with Indian juntaa in an very Indian ecosystem ( the starcast and crew were all Indians), goes to some one who is on tourist visa while in India".

So... are we Indians so much deprived of Creativity or is it the other way round, Creativity eludes us ? While I cant comment on behalf of a billion people, but yes could ponder on what made this movie guide Bollywood from ages of Darkness and unknown to the glitz.

so what makes Slumdog special? Is it the Actors ? Is it the Director ? Is it the musician ? Is it the banner in which it was sold ? Every logic gets beaten up here ..
But if one looks from the business point of view one gets startling answers

Is it because the target segment for the movie ? Is it because the lives it touched? Is it because of the content of story which touches a billion life hence the motivation for them to have a look at it? Yes, to some extent. May be Hollywood has realised later but better, that Slumdog has tapped the yet untapped but a huge customer segment. So we could see more videshiz coming 2 Indian cities and making lives about us than selling their livestories, their history to us. Brand India clicks.. but then again why doesnt a movie from shelves of Karan Johar or Chopra banner, staged in Switzerland with an Indian cast ( and most of the time its our beloved, national heart throb Regular Badshah and Shahenshah) and crew ( including A.R.Rahman)succeed? Is it more than Brand India ??

Also heard this from some quarters that there is definitely a shade of sadism, running in the viens of the Oscar haunting crowd, who want to see more of dirty side of poverty, of mis rule, of anarchy, of being in dark ages in some third world country... And when you look at that along with the acceptance of movies like Water, Bandit Queen, Lagaan, you are forced to contemplate and toe the same lines of thought.. well then this is dangerous but again an opportunity. Its thus ironical that Poverty is Richness...... Jai Ho..

Stocks withers..... Love Blossoms ..

The best part of year 2008 is that its over..

The year that saw catastrophes like 158 year old Investment Bank Lehman Brothers going bankrupt, once booming bank like northen rock left with begging bowl and some lucky ones like Bear Sterns humilated in their rescue by governmental efforts. It also saw commotions like ascent and then descent of oil prices, housing prices going south , spiralling Inflation just to stop at a bigger devil of stagflation and deflation, a dent in boominig economies like China and India ( layoffs, companies closing down) and even unrests like sponsored terror by Porkistan ( mumbai attacks). So in one word.. year 2008 ... should be forgettable and if remembered it was only for recession when everything was going wrong.. Well did everything went wrong ??

Yeah the Stocks withered and national stock exchanges had to be closed more often than usually done.. and office goers had the axe of uncertainity hanging right over their neck by silken twig..
well but infact that created an environment which bred love ...

Employees ..mostly with reference to Indian IT sector who had become more demanding and had very low breakeven point for attrition suddenly lost their mobility. The stickiness to job came not because they loved what they were doing inside but because they hated more to be outside... Inside even if you were a dog ,, you were paid and thats more than enough in these troubled times..

This meant that there were few faces fading away with resignation mails. this meant that for people like me .. the girls whom we (romeos) eye.. were in our radar for a longer time..
more time to eye.. more time to catch a glance... more time to spread a smile.. more time to recieve the forwn... more time to stare again . more time to spread a smile.. more time to wait for the smile back... more time for a coffee together ... more time to walk beside the lake .. more time to talk .. more time to come closer .. more time to be in the path to start the new life..

I discovered that MANkind knew this phillosophy right from their inception and started practising this as soon the recession blossomed.. so the recent months have seen lots of love birds in the campus and outside... more tied to each other for fear of not getting another than for love of each other.. Recession has done one great job .. it has created an environment to help ripen love..