Merely stating my opinion

The exuberance of youth

2012-01-22T09:22:00.000-08:00

This incident happened exactly 5 years back (21 January 2007) so my memory is hazy and some of my recollection could becompletely made up.

Four guys meet over drinks and dinner at Timbuktoo. Nanduhad convened the meeting, which had me, Dhaval, and one of his friends. He hadrecently heard/read about the Manali-Leh highway and was all excited to conquerit. He had even brought a map and a copy of Lonely Planet - India.

Nandu - the mastermind

Dhaval - we eventually did go on other trips/treks

We discussed the schedule, places to visit, possibleproblems that we would face and agreed that it could be done in July – sixmonths was enough time to prepare for this trip. Now all we had to do was buybikes, learn to ride it, and go for a practice run before the big trip. Youread that right – as you can imagine, I had absolutely no idea what we were getting into!

Ideas for ideal bikes were alsodiscussed in the course of the meet up. Nandu was going to buy an Avenger. Iwas going to buy either a Discover or a Glamour. Dhaval was going to get his dad's Pulsar.

Nandu started a Yahoo! Group to help coordinate the ride.
I brought the HH Glamour a couple of months later.

The others didn't.
I got busy with my work andforgot about the whole thing until 2011.

Book Review: The Creation of Wealth by R.M. Lala

2012-01-07T13:38:00.000-08:00

The book has a winner of a tagline - The Tatas from the 19th to the 21st Century. That's a great premise and there's quite a lot to cover - from the grand plans of Jamsetji Tata to the recent transition to Cyrus Mistry. I picked it up because I admire the work of the Tatas. Having spent my entire life in Mumbai, I know first hand how their philanthropy has touched the life of millions and expected this book to provide an interesting insight into the group and its origins.

The Tata group is probably the only national industrial house that continues to uphold its integrity and ethical standards missing in its contemporaries. Over the last 145 years, it has seen a fair share of churning and has to its credit phenomenal achievements in the fields of steel, automobiles, software, and telecommunications.

So does this official "best-selling" edition with a foreword by J.R.D Tata and and epilogue by Ratan Tata live up to the expectations? A big NO. The latest edition of this book, which came out in 2004 is clearly outdated even for the early nineties. Adding a couple of pages in the end about the Nano makes not an update! While you do get a sense of the Tata's past and work in the book, many achievements and failures are missing. I don't know the relationship the author shared with the Tata group, but he approaches the topic like a soft-spoken, obedient servant. The bias is obvious in several chapters and there is no hint of candid thoughts or disclosures that were new for the time of the book's release.

The first section that covers the life of Jamsetji Tata is the least painful part of the writing but things nosedive from there. The illustrations in the book are by Mario Miranda and are a sharp contrast to the poor writing. The book has gone through a few editions since the early nineties when it was first published and the update has been very shoddy. The book needs major revisions at a lot of places. I lost count of the number of times the same bit of information reappeared. And this happened often enough to irritate me. I would be surprised if this book was ever edited and if there is an editor, I would love to share my detailed views with the person's boss. While we are at it, the indexing was the work of a total amateur. This clumsy update has no business being up on bookshelves asking for money.

My experience with Mobile Number Portability on Airtel

2012-01-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

I've been an Airtel customer for close to six years now. My experience with them has not been good and it seemed to get worse with every passing year.

The final nail in the coffin was when my SIM card's lifetime validity was mysteriously revoked. Repeated calls to their customer care and personal visits to their relationship centers gave me a good idea on how well their systems are managed. Absolutely no one I spoke to, even the managers of the call center execs and the main guy at the relationship center, had any clue on what had happened with my account and how the terms had changed without any reason. The standard line I got to hear was "According to the system, your validity will expire in two days". No explanation whatsoever, just this standard line repeated by their staff over and over again.

From what I understand now, some scheme that was activated conflicted in the validity terms and the new scheme overrode the lifetime validity. I got this information from my own research on Airtel's website and online forums with no help from any authority at Airtel.

At first this was not an issue as a six month extension to the validity came at the expense of Rs 10 (subtracting the talktime that came with the recharge). In December, when the term was to expire, the earlier scheme was revoked and I now had to pay Rs 200 for one month's validity. That was it - I decided to go in for mobile number portability. After a lot of research it was down to DoCoMo or MTNL. I chose MTNL because:

My dad has been using their services for around 7 years and has not faced any problem
MTNL switches to BNSL outside my home circle and that is the network you would want to be in if you travel extensively. BSNL is the only network that seems to work in the deserts of Ladakh, national parks in the Himalayas, or the interiors of Maharashtra.

The DoCoMo site has all the information you need to port your number along with this helpful manual (PDF).

I visited the MTNL office close to my place and spoke to the lady in charge. She said that while other operators went through the procedure without hassles, Airtel acted as a sore loser. She recounted horror tales of customers who had started the process only for Airtel to take their own sweet time with the process. After 14 days the porting number lapses, customers have to resubmit applications, and after several such cycles many eventually lose interest. She also warned me that Airtel would offer heavy incentives to retain me. This was going to get interesting, and I asked her to go ahead with the process.

Two days back, I got a call from someone from Airtel. He asked me why I had chosen to go for MNP. I had rehearsed my answer well:

"I have been using your services for close to 6 years now and through this period I have been randomly put on services that I never agreed to. There is no easy way to find out if this has happened, and I would always accidentally discover this theft from looking at my account balance. Each time the money deducted wasn't refunded (though it is mandated by TRAI) and I was given an assurance that this would not be repeated again. Repeat it did, and I have lost count of the number of times it happened.
My second major problem is that the lifetime validity that I paid for when I brought the card has suddenly vanished with no explanation. I have given up after trying the customer care helpline and relationship center. Your systems have no idea what/why/how this happened and I have lost confidence in your ability to be fair and honest in your dealings with me"

I wanted to give them a fair chance to take back my business. The ball was now in their court. Here is the reply I get:

"Sir, I would like to tell you that we completely understand your problems and we would like to help solve it. I would like to offer you a Rs100 recharge free of charge to take care of the unnecessary services you were charged for. I also assure you that no more add on packs will be added to your account in future. That is not all, your account will now have lifetime validity and all calls to Airtel mobiles will be charged at 10 paise/minute and other mobiles at 30 paise/minute. I would like to remind you that this will be a lifetime offer."

So the solution to my problems was a ridiculously generous validity+ talktime combo. Of course, it could easily be revoked the next day because something changed in their system or because one of the schemes they automatically added me to came with a fine print that would override these offers. I would never know because this information is not public and I know from past experience that there is no way to beat "their system".

If I had continued with my rehearsed answer, I would have told him that I wanted the exact details of each service that I was charged for and the amount refunded with interest. I wanted them to publicize the details of their schemes so that customers know exactly what they are getting into when they subscribe to a new scheme. And as in my case, I still have no idea why the validity was revoked, you could return it to me as a goodwill gesture.

However, still startled by the offer that was made, I started my answer with:

I have nothing against you but I do not trust your company to honour its agreement and this sort of ridiculous offer would only come at the expense of several other Airtel customers being added to unwanted schemes without their consent..

**CLICK**

The guy had kept the phone. My stand was vindicated. I don't want my business to remain with a company with no ethics or moral standards - where paying customers are tricked so that wonderful schemes can be offered to those who threaten to take their business elsewhere. If you continue to remain an Airtel customer you know what you are going to go through if you try to port your number. The Airtel card stopped working today and I am now on MTNL.

Continuing their unethical practices, Airtel does not let it's customers call my number - as if my number is blacklisted. If you try to call me you will be asked to "Please check the number you are trying to call". Looks like they still managed to have the last laugh!

EDIT: After two days the problem resolved automatically and I can now receive calls from all numbers!

Sindola fort trek

2011-10-02T12:14:00.000-07:00

I first heard of Sindola fort in the album of some guy who commented on my Picasa album. A quick Google search revealed unbelievable pictures, similar to that of tea estates in the high mountains. The place was just ahead of Malshej ghat - now I have climbed Naneghat and Harishchandrad, which are both in the Malshej range but had never even heard of Sindola. I have no idea how a place so beautiful hasn't yet caught the fancy of trekking groups from Mumbai and Pune - this just added to the mystique of Sindola.

Anyway, I was instantly hooked and immediately announced the trek on Facebook. This was exactly a week ago, Kartik was ready and later Jinesh and Paramanand agreed to come along and the trek was fixed for Saturday.

There is very little information available on the web for Sindola but there's this great site where I found all the information we needed. It has a couple of very useful maps of the route to Sindola and the fort precincts, which we carried along. There are three routes to Sindola, each with a different base.

Karanjle phata
Velkhind
Pargaon

You can start from any of these, we chose the Karanjle phata route because it's the one that comes first coming from Mumbai. Velkhind is next and Pargaon after that. From Wikimapia, it looked like you have to take a right from Madh to reach Pargaon. Those with a private vehicle would prefer this option.

Start of the trek

We had a "fancy dress" event in office the previous day, which was followed by a treat from a colleague for her promotion. After all this, I came back home and was watching movies till 4 AM. Woke up in a couple of hours, picked up Kartik, and we were at Thane station at 7 AM - Kalyan by 7:30. We packed some vada pavs from Pandit's which is close to the ST stand and had them in the bus. I also caught up with some much needed sleep on the journey.

The ST conductor charged 77/- per head to drop us at Karanjle phata. If you conductor acts clueless at the mention of Karanjle phata, tell him its a couple of kms ahead from the very well known Khubi phata. There's a green board along the highway that announces this village so keep your eyes open for it after Khubi.

The bus ride from Kalyan took us 2.5 hours, this included a 15 min break at Murbad. We asked around for the route to Sindola and were asked to take any route along the highway that went towards Sindola. We started the trek at 10:45.

THE TREK

There are many criscrossing routes that seem to be frequented by localites - just keep in mind that you have to reach the top of the ridge to the right of the fort and you should be fine. The route took us along some fields, a small pond and through a forested patch before we reached the top of the ridge.

There are three levels of the ridge. If you come from Pargaon, you will start at the first level. While coming from the Karanjle route, you will meet the route directly on top of the second level. As you move upwards, towards the final level of the ridge, you will get two routes - one that goes right up in a zig-zag pathway and the other is along the left-side of the mountain. We started along the side, with was very narrow and very steep. Paramanand had taken the zig-zag path up and was on top in no time. While we were nimbly walking ahead, he called out to us - he was already on the top. Dont make the mistake we did - ignore the path along the side of the ridge.

The final level of the ridge gives you the first clear view of the Sindola fort. There were some weird looking plants here, and I got busy photographing. This was going to be a standard feature of this trek - weird and amazing flora that I have never seen in any other part of India, leave alone the Sahayadris.

From here, you have to go along the side of the mountain. The path was covered with waist-high grass and it was about a foot wide. If not for this, the trek would have qualified as a medium trek but this was a genuinely difficult patch. The grass makes it very difficult for you to know exactly where the edge is. Also, there are 3-4 places where there's a break in the path, a good foot or two wide where you will need to jump. It was slow progress and it took us half an our to reach the column of the final ascend and then we saw it.

The grass was beginning to turn shades of brown so I had doubts if we would get to see the scene I had come here for but it was right there in front of us - the fields of tea plant, well not exactly. It's some other plant that looks very similar to the tea plant but it's just as beautiful. We clicked lot of pictures and climbed up the rock path till the Ganpati idol. This is the fort entrance, take a right here and you are on top of the fort. It was almost 1 PM, just over 2 hours since the start.

The top of the fort

Not much to see except for a few water cisterns. There was no path anywhere which indicated that the fort had seen very little activity this season. We had to make our path, trampling through those cute tea plantations.

We circled the perimeter and could see Khireshwar dam, Harishchandragad, and the thumb of Naneghat as we moved upwards. This was the north most point of the fort and here we were attacked by an army of bees, not honey bees but they were very irritating. My full shirt and collars helped here. We scampered back to safety and noticed one of the water tanks. The view from there was just brilliant, with clouds of fog rushing past us occasionally.

We got out our food and chit chatted about this and that. I got some good macros in the tank and I don't think any one realized or minded that we had spent a long time here. It was all downhill from here i.e, we started the descent at 3.

Getting back home

Jinesh and Paramanand were leading on the way back while me and Kartik clicked anything that moved and anything that did not. I think we took a different route back to the ridge because we didn't cross the set of trees near the first column.

The weather was pleasant - it never got hot. I slipped a couple of times along the slope but I managed to hold on to something each time, other than that it was an uneventful walk back. We were back on NH 222 at 5.

There is a shop at the junction and a dhaba on the opposite side. We had run out of water a couple of hours back and the dhaba was a god send. Everyone who has been on a trek will agree that simple food tastes divine when you are back from a trek but I am sure that the poha and tea we had there was extraordinary. The guy at the dhaba is very helpful and can arrange for guides, private vehicles if needed. We got a private bus heading towards Kalyan as soon as we stepped out and enjoyed the fully reclining seats at the price of a ST ticket. It dropped us right outside Shahad station and I was back home before 9, much earlier than I thought!

2011-10-01_Sindola

Korigad trek

2011-09-03T10:21:00.000-07:00

What was going to be a relaxed long drive to Lonavala changed to a bike trip + trek after mom backed out at the last moment. I don't think I have EVER been on any trek where someone hasn't backed out.

Me and dad left home at 6:30 on my bike. I drove slowly so that dad could enjoy the light rain and the washed out scenery. We reached RamaKrishna at 8:30, had a hearty breakfast and then set out for the second leg of our journey along the Aamby valley road. The road after Bushy dam, which is maintained by the Sahara group, has always been awesome and was no different this time. It was completely fogged out after Lion's point and the road twisted, turned along till Aamby valley. The base village for this trek is Peth Shahapur, which comes 18 kms after you take the turn from Lonavala.

I parked my bike at the village temple. The route starts from behind the temple and the fort is always at your right side through the route. The first 20 minutes were through a well defined, mud path which halts abruptly close to a tar road that comes in from Aamby valley. This was my first view of Aamby valley and it was very impressive -- wide well paved roads and great looking bungalows. I hear it's 5000/- for spending a day in there.

Anyway, when you see the Aamby valley road, take a right which takes you through a short forest patch. When out, you will see the steps that take you up to the fort. The steps seem to be laid by the Sahara group and there are even hand holds at a couple of stretches. When we were there, a group of workers were clearing the road where there had been a mini landslide. The steps should take around 15 minutes but because I was with dad, we moved slowly taking frequent breaks.

Halfway through, there's a Ganpati temple and a big cave. The Ganesh Darwaza (you can climb to it's top) signifies that you are almost there. The top is a big plateau with a wall running around it's side. Make sure you take a walk on top of this wall -- you can see Aamby valley (with a runway), the lake of Mulshi dam, and if you go in the monsoons the fog coming in from Lonavala valley. Quite some sight!

There is the Korai temple on top and two ponds. We checked them out, took a few pics and quickly headed back down. Dad was missing mom already and I didn't want to come in the way of love. Going down was quicker than I expected with us back at the village within 30 minutes.

The ride back was awesome as the fog had reduced visibility to some meters. Dad had only heard of these things from me and was quite happy to experience it first hand. At Lonavala we again had lunch at RamaKrishna and after a two hour ride were back home before 5 PM. The earliest I have ever come home from any trek.

BTW, this was dad's first bike trip or trek.

2011-08-31_Koraigad

My happiest day as an amateur photographer

2011-09-01T13:47:00.001-07:00

In the future everyone will have their fifteen minutes of fame - Andy Warhol

Today was Ganesh Chaturthi. I am a firm non-believer in organized religion... however there was always something not quite right about Ganpati. As a kid, I was regularly taken to temples and if you have ever been to one, you will know that every temple has a Ganesh statue. Rather than remembering each god by his name and the technique to pray to each, I would simply hold hands in front of the Ganesh statue and petition for a cycle/good marks/my crush of the time.

I also liked the Ganpati temple at Titvala, not just because going there involved a full day trip but as it was really peaceful once you are in. It's very Maharashtrian, very old school, which works for me.
In junior college and a significant part of my engineering life, I was a regular at the local temple, thanks to my influences at that time. It was a Shiva temple but I would pray at the Ganpati idol outside the main sanctum and consider my visit done.

Also, some of most cherished memories are of the time I (with a group of my close friends) organized the Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in my society. The buzz surrounding the festivities was infectious and I was involved in every activity, of course except the dancing competition.

Anyway, today was Ganesh Chaturthi. We have a set routine that's followed every year on this day. Dad plays tapes of Ganpati aartis in the morning, we hear the society Ganpati being brought in to the sounds of Nashik dhols, and this is followed by a traditional lunch on a banana leaf. Things were going fine till dinner after which I came online to check my emails. I glanced through the emails on Yahoo and then logged into Gmail -- It said 54 unread emails! Something was not quite right. I first thought that I was the victim of some spam attack but that was before I checked the subject line of these emails. All the emails were notifications from Picasa -- in the last 20 hours I had recieved close to 60 comments and another 40 had favourited me (still counting).

I checked the oldest of these mails and they were comments on the crab picture I had taken at Kalavantin. And below the first comment I saw another 20 comments. Didn't take long for me to realize that this picture was a featured photo on Picasa. Second on the list, not sure if that's of any significance. What I do know is that anyone in the world logging into Picasa would see an impression of my photo if he cared to scroll down. There were comments from all over the world, and thanks to Picasa's built in translator feature I could make out the good things being said.

It was unbelievable that this was happening to me. Every time I logged in to Picasa, I would look at featured list and seriously doubt if I would ever make it to these hallowed halls of fame. It was a day I only dreamed of... because there was no information online about how a picture makes it on the list, which could be engineered to make my way into the list. I still don't understand how photos are selected for the featured page. This pic is not the best I have clicked, in fact I wouldn't rate it above average. While I am still elated, I have a feeling similar to what A.R. Rehman must have had on winning the Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire.

On that note, here's my winning speech. I would like to thank the crab who tried swimming in flowing water, my friend Mahesh who pointed him out to me, and lastly... the great Ganesha who continues to work in mysterious ways.
As I said there was always something not quite right about Ganpati ;)

My first and last bribe

2011-08-19T12:37:00.000-07:00

This was back in November 2007. My workplace had arranged for my visit to the main branch in the UK, for which I needed to get a passport. The experience at the Passport Office, though tedious, went off well. The problem was later at the police verification stage. I was called to the police station and a plain-clothed officer asked me about my background, surprisingly most of his questions steered towards pinpointing my financial status. His questions done, he asked me to pay him 200/-

I was 22 back then, working for a year. I naively told him that I had already paid all the money due at the Passport office. He said this was for the police verification -- I still wasn't sure what this was about and told him that I did not have that much money on me. He asked me to go home and get the money. It was while walking back home that it struck me that I had being asked for a bribe.

I went home and told my parents about the incident and also that I had no intention of paying him off. I even checked online for places where I could complain against the guy. However my parents convinced me that this is how things work and I shouldn't mess with policemen as they could easily stall my passport.

I went back to the police station with the bribe amount and paid off the policeman INSIDE a police station. This is where I would go to complain against corruption, and instead those who should fill in my complaint were too busy filling their pockets with bribes. I was in a daze throughout the experience and just wanted to move out as soon as I could. However as I walked out, I resolved never to pay a bribe again and I am proud that I haven't yet in the last 5 years!

Invention #1 - useful motorcycle dashboard

2011-08-11T13:38:00.000-07:00

When it hit me: On the way back from office, while riding my bike.

What got me thinking: Most new bikes, even the entry level bikes from the Hero MotoCorp (Honda's out remember?) have a digital display in the dashboard. I know that the Karizmas and Pulsars let you program the display to display a customized welcome message, your name, or some other useless flashy thing.

So whats the idea: Put in something useful in the dashboard. Here is what I would like to have:

1) The time - I haven't worn a wristwatch since I got a mobile and I can't believe wristwatches still aren't extinct. Anyway, if I am riding a bike, my hands are in use, and I usually need to reach some place quickly. The first thing I would like to know is if I am late or on schedule. How difficult is it to show me the time, I wouldn't even mind an analog watch! BTW, it's illegal to even have your mobile phone switched on while riding a vehicle (look it up if you don't believe me)

2) Programmable dates for date of expiry of PUC and insurance - why should I have to memorize these dates? OK, I can fish out my keys, open the bike's glove box, remove the panel, find the cover that holds these documents, find the relevant doc among these, scan it for the date but wouldn't it be that much easier to press two buttons on the dashboard to access this information? Are you more likely to forget your own name or the date your PUC/license expires?

3) Fuel tab and mileage calculator - show me exactly how many liters are in the tank and reset the trip meter automatically every time I fill in petrol. A press of a button should reveal the current mileage figure and I can then finally throw away my calculator.

Kothaligad Trek

2011-08-07T01:25:00.000-07:00

This is a trek I've wanted to do from a long time. I had first seen pictures of this fort after Mahesh/Jayendra went for it. The pinnacle is unique and the spiral staircase leading to the top is the stuff of legends, obviously I was hooked.

It is said to be an easy trek and it is - there are a couple of spots just before the pinnacle where it can get narrow and getting down gets scary because one side is exposed to the valley below. But without these it would have just been too easy and Kothaligad deserves better. It's not just a trek, it's a complete experience. You get a village at the base for rest and food, caves on the way to the top (with bats, ancient sculptures, temple), pond and waterfall close to the base village where you can relax after the trek (non-functional when we had gone because it was just the beginning of the monsoons), water cisterns, brilliant views, scary rock patches, and the crème de la crème -- the spiral staircase leading to the top of the pinnacle.

This was my first trek in the 2011 season and the plan was initiated by Prasad. He handled the logistics of the trek and I only had to turn up. We were plotting and planning for quite some time before D-day and after a bunch of cancellations (as always), it was 5 of us in the end.

Kartik and I caught the 6:40 Karjat local from Mulund. The others were already in the train and we had a nice long get-to-know-each-other-better session till Karjat. We were in Karjat at 8 and headed to the ST stand. There are buses to the base village (Ambivili) every hour and the next one was at 8:30. We quickly polished up a dabba of neer dosas and chutney, which came courtesy Prasad's mom. The ST got us to Ambivili in just over an hour. There was a big group with us in the bus and they too were headed for Kothaligad (also called Peth).

We got off to lovely overcast conditions and just the right amount of drizzling -- not enough to get us wet but enough for the walk in the clouds feeling. The trail starts off as a tar road, take the left at the first diversion and then the road loses it's tar and continues as a stone/gravel track. The route is wide enough for a truck, free of diversions, and used frequently by the residents at Kothaligad village.

Soon after we started, we bumped into an old couple trying to take gunny bags full of food grains up to the village. The gunny bags were strewn around the place and their bullock cart was some way up the route. They sweetly asked us if we could help them load the bags on the cart. We couldn't say a no to the 50+ elderly couple and pulled those (20-25 Kilo) bags up to the cart. We hadn't even caught our breath when they asked us to help with the last bag, which looked double the size of the ones we had just carried. This time we could say a no.. helped by the fact that there was a local chap who turned up to help.

Within an hour, we had reached the plateau from where the fort could be seen clearly, there was a nimbu-pani wala here and we took a break and clicked a lot of pictures. From here it was a short walk to the base village. It had taken us around 1.5 hours to reach the village from the start point of the trek.

From here, the top is another hour. We took a mini-lunch break of chivda-filled theplas accompanied by tomato sauce, this was courtesy Shreerang's mom. Good stuff again! First stop was the cave, very clean and lined with intricately carved pillars. The cave adjacent to the main one was filled with bats! The caves immediately lead off to the spiral staircase carved inside the mountain. It's one of the best sights I've seen in the Sahayadris, with ledges, viewpoints, and temples along the way. The steps are quite high and there are a couple of tricky spots, the most tricky one coming soon after we are out of the staircase. It's a narrow patch where you are hoisting your body up some steps, with one side open to the valley. This is quickly followed by the main darwaza, which you cross to reach the top of the peak.

The peak is a very small place, and offers an awesome 180 degree view of the surrounding hills, one of which has a series of windmills on top. There's a water cistern on top -- a group had pitched their tent next to it and had probably stayed over the previous night. Prasad went off to meditate in the clearing under a huge cactus plant, while the rest posed/clicked pictures.

A dog joined us on the walk back to the village, we thanked him by forcing him to pose in photographs with us. We had arranged for lunch at Bhairavnath Bhojanalay, which promised potbhar jevan at 80/- Quite expensive for a veg lunch considering we were in a far off village in the Sahayadris. The lunch was reasonable but the service was good.

On the way up, Prasad asked every one we met how to reach the dhabdhaba (waterfall) and if it was functional -- we received contradictory information each time. The guy at the Bhojanalay directed us to the dam, which turned out to have about a foot of water. Slightly disappointing, however there's always next time.

The walk back to the base took another hour. We were trying to be ahead of the other trekking group -- they were over 30 and we feared that if they reached before us, all seats on the ST would be taken up by their group. That did not happen though -- at the base both stopped to have tea. The ST chose that precise moment to turn up, and since we were just 5, we managed to finish up and board the bus before the rest. We had to share two seats between three people but I still managed to catch a couple of winks. Finished the trip with vada pows at Karjat and a long session discussing the current music scene through the train journey back home.

2011-06-25_Kothaligad

Things I dont understand about Mumbai

2011-07-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

What happens inside these Video Game parlours - why do they have dark tinted glasses and why do only seedy uncles go in. I have never seen a kid enter it so I wonder if these are indeed video game parlours

Bajaj's monopoly in the autorickshaw market. These machines are outdated, underpowered, flawed in design. Any manufacturer can clean up these flaws and launch a much better version but that just hasn't happened. Admittedly, TVS has launched one recently but it doesn't seem to be picking up. It's almost as if all the laws of market dynamics don't work when it comes to autorickshaws.

How Muslim-owned hotels manage to keep the prices of their food low while providing great quality and quantity. On the other hand, the Udipi restaurants (basically the AHAR group) keeps cribbing about new/increased taxes, price of raw materials, price of diesel and use these excuses to justify increase in prices.

(I'll keep adding to this list - last updated 31st July 2011)

Me and Maine Pyaar Kiya

2011-07-27T12:33:00.000-07:00

Maine Pyaar Kiya was being shown on cable today and my brain cells flashed memories of the first time I saw this movie in my head.
It was my building's annual day celebrations. From what I remember, it used to be held just after the monsoons. And the magic of Bollywood would play out under the stars in building #99, Dev Ashish.

There would be buzzing excitement for weeks before D-day -- the older guys would do all the work and set up a stage at one end of the road. We would have sports competitions during the day, which would extend into the night. I have a couple of pictures taken at night where I am doing the frog jump and balancing a marble in a spoon. My mom had prepared me by arming me with the biggest spoon in the house :D

In parallel, the Satyanarayan Pooja would usually be set for the afternoon in the building's elecricity meter room. Could there be a better place to hold a havan? I have a faint feeling that my mom dad sat for the pooja that year, or it might have been the year before -- I was only 6 when this happened so please excuse my memory (or lack of it).

The evening was reserved for adult games, no not that kind. You know... stuff like housie and musical chairs. I am not sure if someone performed on the stage, or if it was used just to house the Satyanarayan idol after the pooja - and I think there used to be dinner for everyone.

The one thing that I do remember are the ice sculptures which were brought in the evening. There would be replicas of animals, fishes, dancing girls and what not. They would melt away as the evening progressed so you wouldn't really be able to make out what it was by the time dinner was done.

You would have noticed that I am good at digressing :D ... So after all the festivities were over, it would be time to watch a movie. I am not sure if this happens anymore in Mumbai, but I am glad it lives on in my memory.

Some one would get a VCR player and rent a cassette of the latest Bollywood movie. Extension cords were sourced out to set up a TV on the street outside our building and everyone would huddle up in front of it.
As a kid, I was mesmerized - sitting on the chattai, being bugged by mosquitoes, and throughly enjoying Salman Khan and Bhagyashree being "good friends" on screen.
Movies and cricket were and still are the opium of the masses in proletariat India.

I think I fell asleep just before the movie ended, or my Mom asked me to come back home because it was too late. And for days after the experience, I was dying to watch the movie again, to see what happens in the end.

I think kids shouldn't be shown movies till they have comprehended the difference between the real and make believe. I was 4 or 5 when I watched Tezaab in the theater. My mind thought that everything that happened in the movie was for real and couldn't make out how Chunky Pandey was alive and kicking in another movie. According to me he had died in Tezaab.

Ending with a prank that was played on me in the School Bus just after Maine Pyaar Kiya was released:

Evil Senior Girl: What is the name of Salman Khan's latest movie
Innocent Me: Maine Pyaar kiya
Evil Senior Girl: Haaaw, pyaar kiya? kiske saath?

No wonder I hated the sight of girls back in school.

How I read the Times of India

2011-05-27T23:10:00.001-07:00

There was a time when I read every single article that appeared in the newspaper. A good 2-3 hours were spent every day to make sure each printed word was read and understood.
Then life got busy, I wasn't a student anymore and I had to cover the entire newspaper in 45 minutes. When you think about it, its easy to know what to skip and what's important. Here is what I do.

Bombay Times

Ignore all the stories, most of them are paid-for advertisements anyway.

Show zero interest for celebrity interviews - there are better things to do with my time than to know what inspires a film star or cricketer, what he eats, where he parties, and his opinion on whats going on in the world.

Scan for pictures of good looking girls and mentally note down their names.

Stop at the comic section and read selected ones.

If I want to see any movie, then check timings in the movie ads.

Lifestyle Supplements

Read the headings of articles, to know what sells. Ignore the content.

Devour all travel and food related articles while being careful to spot a paid-for ad early.

Main Times and Mumbai Mirror

Scan through all headings.

Only read stuff that would make a difference to my life. For e.g. knowing news about Mumbai and changes to its infrastructure, laws, etc. Also stuff like accidents on NH-17 would let me know which spots on the stretch are dangerous.

Ignore saddening news. Details of Murder, rapes can be ignored unless they happen in my locality or a serial killer is on the loose.

Selectively follow news and editorials on Indian and World politics.

The Crest selection, their stories are very interesting from a sociological point of view.

Read the headlines in the business section and if it's something interesting, read on.

Ignore the Sports section. I get my cricket news online.

Local Times - Mulund/Powai

Scan through the headings and read what's interesting.

It's easy to catch the articles that have been put up for money.

Wasted Weekend - follow up

2011-04-30T13:15:00.000-07:00

After leaving office, I didn't go home. I went to Hampi - riding all night!

I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking.

2011-04-22_Hampi

Wasted Weekend

2011-04-20T14:09:00.000-07:00

After a cancellation earlier in the month, I was hoping that the good Friday weekend did not disappoint. Sadly, it was the same story with everyone backing out and it was me alone in the end.

I didn't see the point of going to Tarkarli if I was going to be the only one. Hampi sounds interesting. I have done the initial research and it looks like a plan. The only thing that glaringly comes in the way are my exams - the dates for them are not announced yet.
I know I am really short on time and have a ton of stuff to ready. Either way, I would be cramming everything on the last day. So that's not such a big problem really.

The real problem is that this is going to be a solo trip and it also happens to be the longest bike ride I have ever attempted till date. That is the real problem. 1600 kms is a good 400 kms more than my previous longest ride, and for that I had Tarun for company if anything went wrong (and it did!)

Do I want to do this so bad? I will know tomorrow :D

Etymology of the work Guru

2011-04-10T05:34:00.001-07:00

While reading my Sociology textbooks, I found the etymology of the word Guru. I have known this word for ages but never knew that gu means darkness and ru means disperser of
So gu-ru would mean someone who gets you from darkness to light.

On a related note, Kabir in one of his dohas says that revere the guru over your god because it is your guru who made you see god.

Frauds getting better

2011-04-06T00:13:00.000-07:00

I got this email from: "MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD (MSIL)" info@MARUTI.co.uk

MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD (MSIL)
Head Office Maruti Suzuki,
India Limited Nelson Mandela Road,
Vasant Kunj, New Delhi-110070.
Board No. 46781000.
Fax: 46150275 and 46150276.
http: //wwwmarutisuzuki.com/
Email: marutisuzuki_2010job@w.cn

REF: "MARUTI SUZUKI" DIRECT RECRUITMENTS OFFER.

Your Resume has been selected from MONSTER.COM for our new plant. The Company selected 62 candidates list for Senior Engineer, IT, Administration, Production, marketing and general service Departments, It is our pleasure to inform you that your Resume was selected as one of the 62 candidates short listed for the interview. The Company SUZUKI is the best Manufacturing Car Company in India, The Company is recruiting the candidates for our new Plants in Delhi, Bangalore, and Pune and Mumbai. Your interview will be held at the Company Corporate office in New Delhi ( On 11th Of April 2011 at 11.30 AM,) You will be pleased to know that the 62 candidates selected 55 candidates will be giving appointment, Meaning that your Application can progress to final stage.

You will have come to the Company corporate office in New Delhi. Your offer letter with Air Ticket will be sent to you by courier before date of interview. The Company can offer you a salary with benefits for this post 62, 000/- to 200, 000/- P.M. + (HRA + D.A + Conveyance and other Company benefits. The designation and Job Location will be fixing by Company HRD. At time of final process, you have to come with photo-copies of all required documents.

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS BY THE COMPANY HRD.
======================================
1) Photo-copies of Qualification Documents.
2) Photo-copies of Experience Certificates (If any)
3) Photo-copies of Address Proof
4) Two Passport Size Photograph.
======================================
1. Full Name:.................................................
2. Full Address:………………......................
3. Mobile:…………………...........................
4. Sex:.............................................................
5. Age:………………....................................
======================================
You have to deposit the (Cash) as an initial amount in favor of our company accountant name in charges to collect your payment. Department for Rs. 10,200/- (Ten thousand two hundred rupees) through any [STATE BANK OF INDIA] OR [ICICI BANK] Branch from your Home City to our Company accountant name in charges. Account No, which will be sending to you upon your response. This is a refundable interview security. Your offer letter with Air tickets will be sent to your Home Address by courier after receiving the confirmation of interview security deposited in any of the STATE BANK OF INDIA OR ICICI BANK. This Company will pay all the expenditure to you at the time of face-to-face meeting with you in Company. The Job profile, salary offer, and date -time of interview will be mention in your offer letter. Your offer letter will dispatch very shortly after receiving your confirmation of cash deposited in STATE BANK OF INDIA OR ICICI BANK. We wish you the best of luck for the subsequent and remaining stage. (The last date of security deposited in bank 19th Of March 2011) you have to give the information after deposited the security amount in bank to The Company HRD -direct recruitment via email. Your Letter with supporting document will be dispatch same time by courier to your postal address after receipt of security deposited confirmation in bank.

The interview process and arrangement expenditure will be paid by SUZUKI COMPANY. Lodging, traveling and local conveyance actual will be paid by SUZUKI COMPANY as per bills. The candidate has to deposit the initial refundable security as mentioned by HRD.

NB: You are advice to reconfirm your mailing address and phone number in your reply and Rs. 10,200/- (Ten thousand two hundred rupees) will be the refundable amount, as 200 rupees will be deducted as bank charges for funds deposit and if you are been selected or not, still the amount will be refunded to you, as the amount is just to prove that you will be coming for the interview in order for us not to run at lost after sending you the air ticket and you don't show up on the day of interview.

Wishing you the best of lucky.

Regards,
Shinzo Nakanishi
Chief Executive Officer, Managing Director,
MARUTI SUZUKI INDIA LTD (MSIL)

Awesome - a mail sent to me by the Japanese CEO/MD of Maruti Suzuki. The offer sounds too good to be true. It's a classic case of a Money Transfer Fraud. The recipient is one of 65 candidates selected from lakhs of candidates selected for the biggest automobile manufacturer in India. I like the way they have customized the mail to appeal to most middle-class employees. Notice the deliberately vague job postings, every resume would fit into at least one of these postings.I have highlighted the obvious mistakes that should stand out when reading it

Anything that asks for money upfront is fraud/soliciting business/not worth your time. Spam it!

List of DOs and Not TO DOs while at IDOL, Mumbai

2011-02-05T10:00:00.000-08:00

This is a work in progress post -- expect additions with each visit to the university

Taking admission:
Carry a whitener
Carry a black ball pen, then you wont make the mistake of filling the form with a blue pen
Visit the campus on a weekday as there are fewer people around. Another option is to go on late on the last day. If the deadline cannot be extended you can be assured that the admission will be done by night in half the time it would have taken otherwise.

How to work your exams
Read the official books given by the university. If you can make your way past the spelling/factual mistakes you will do fine.
Work on your handwriting - practice practice practice!

Exam Results:
DO NOT enter your register number for checking your results. It is your seat number that gives you your actual verdict.

Exam Notifications
The exam dates might/MIGHT NOT come up on the site. Before exam time check the site every day and collect your hall tickets as soon as they are available. My second year exams started 7 days after the hall tickets were being distributed and I missed my exams because I collected the hall ticket after 10 days. Too late by then :D

Every country gets the government it deserves

2011-02-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

When I read the news about Kashmiri leaders calling for independence and Indian politicians discussing how to silence them, I can't help but relate the situation to the Indian fight for independence. I struggle for reasons why the Kashmiri struggle is any different.

The reactions of the for and against media is similar.

There are extremists on both sides.

Some of the extremists receive help from foreign interests (remember Subhash Chandra Bose receiving help from Japan!)

There are the moderates of course on both sides.

The British were firmly in control of India till the end of the second World War so going by history, it's just a countdown till India faces a major economic recession.

I hope Kashmiri History text books are not banned in India :D

What makes a memorable moment

2010-12-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

One of my friends asked in his Facebook status what was our most memorable moment of the year. I couldn't decide if I should choose one of the happy moments or pick from one that changed the course of my life forever.

After two days of being busy with my life, I pondered over it again and realized that while happy/sad moments can lose their significance over time, nothing can ever compare to the finality of death. Those moments when you are not sure if you will survive.

On top of the list is the time I made that stupid decision to climb down from Louisa point in Matheran. This was in the monsoon of 2007. I saw a goat walking down on a narrow 1 foot wide pathway and followed it only to realize that there was a 150 feet drop on one side. I was walking with my back to the valley, holding on to the hill with both hands. The road had wet gravel and.... I slipped -- my hand instinctively grabbed at the side of the hill and the grass/gravel combo came in my hand. For the next 10 seconds that I was frozen at that spot sure that I was living my last moments. With encouragement from Suhas and Mahesh I managed out from there. I realized pretty early in my trekking life where to draw the line between being brave and being dead.

Another time was when on the Thunder ride at Esselworld -- the harness I was tied down with was loose and I thought it would come off any second and I would fall down on the ground. That would have been a terrible way to die :D

The ferris-wheel ride at Mahabaleshwar. It was a pretty small wheel but I could see a lake far away down in the valley and the height (even in pitch darkness) scared me like nothing else. I was screaming to be let down throughout the ride and later closed my eyes and grabbed the rails. Ved and Rashmi had a lot of fun at my expense.

When the clouds came down on Sagargad and a lightning struck meters away from the tree we were under. Me and Jinesh had no clue what to do next, the tree we were under was a potential death trap but stepping outside wasn't any safer.

My first Rajmachi trek where we survived 5 hours in the blazing March sun without food and water. I was confident I would live only after I had reached the base village.

The epic climb of Taramati from Harishchandragad - stuck on a 90 degree incline with no way in sight.

Dozens of times on the bike. Reasons varying from little girls running onto the main road in a small hamlet before Alibag, cars/buses breaking all road rules to put me in a situation where I have to swerve/brake hard or do both at the same time (Pen/Malshej/Powai/NH17).

The time I felt this piercing pain in my chest at 3 in the night, I remember, I even wrote down a note, just in case I dropped dead. As you guessed, I lived to tell the tale.

If I Die Before You Lyrics

2010-10-31T23:42:00.000-07:00

From the soundtrack of Community, lovely song by Ludwig Goransson. It was difficult to find the lyrics to the song but here they are:

If I fall would you take my car back.
If I fail with the test would you know what is best?
Be my friend, be my love, follow me to get lost, all the time.
If I die, will you cry on my eye, little boy?
We could live in a house with 2 kids, you and me, diamond ring.
We would do our own thing.
Be my friend be my love follow me to get lost, all the time.
If I die, I will lay by your side.
Come here, don't think, don't stop, open up.
Believing in a place where you feel free.
It's just another race for you and me.
Let's fall in love

Can be heard here

Airtel's unethical practices

2010-10-07T19:49:00.000-07:00

I am an Airtel Prepaid subscriber.

7:30 AM - My alarm rings. I switch it off and continuing lying in bed. My phone makes a sound and I see that "the last call cost 1.00"
Only problem was that I hadn't made any calls in my sleep. I double checked just to be sure. Then I remembered that a similar deduction had been made the previous night. It was time to call Airtel's Customer Care again!

I had a bad bad feeling in my head. Airtel had probably put me on one of their stupid schemes again - there was no other explanation for the random disappearance of my balance.
The guy answered in Marathi. There was a time they had English speaking executives but that is no longer in the list of services provided by Airtel. I replied in Hindi - explained the problem, the guy quickly diagnosed the source of the problem. I was on the movie something something (I had woken up a couple of minutes back) scheme and he said he would refund my money, which was done. I told him that I was aware of this money being cut twice - the scheme was active for 4 days and they had been cutting my money since then. Oh and did I mention that Airtel charges me for talking to a Customer Care Executive - 50 paisa for a 3 minute chat. They are just looking for ways to make money.

My problem is that this is not the first time - this has happened with me at least 4 times earlier. It is just frustrating to be on the other end of a big corporation trying to squeeze money off you with such cheap tactics.
The heights was a previous occasion when I requested the call center girl to cancel the Friends Chat Service. She was programmed to say "Aap itna accha service kyun band karwana chahte ho" (Why do you want to stop such a great service) and then launched into the benefits of the scheme. All this while they charge me for the call - 100% for money making, 0% for empathy and customer care.

Two days after this incident, I am enjoying the sunset in Palolem beach and call up my friends to check where they are. Instead I hear a recorded message that I need to submit my documents at an Airtel Center in the next 48 hours or else my number will be disconnected. I try calling my friends again but this message is run every single time and I can't make any calls. I am going to be in Goa for the next two days but really, I would be glad if this helps me get rid of Airtel.

Today, my outgoing calls are barred. I guess I am an easy target because I don't get Airtel a lot of business. I recharge with a 30 every month and only splurge up to a thousand when on my Himalayan trips. Airtel doesn't want my business, well neither do I. I am waiting for them to disconnect my connection so that I can move on to a better service provider.

Edit
Found these:
Airtel's list of Integrity and Ethics for its Business Partners

Google Results for "Airtel Unethical Practices" show that Airtel is a pro at this stuff

MA - Part 1 conquered

2010-08-26T11:44:00.000-07:00

I go to the marksheet distribution counter and give him my i-card. The marksheet guy asks for my seat number, I tell him it's on the i-card but he points out that this is my roll number and my seat number would be on the hall ticket. (bulb hasn't blinked yet)

I call up dad, get the seat number and ask the guy for the marksheet. He quickly hands over a marksheet. I scan through it and see "Passes" in the last column. Here is the conversation that follows:

Me: Yeh mera nahi hai, main toh fail hua hoon - maine online check kiya tha
Guy: (takes the marksheet back and compares it against the i-card) Yeh tumhaara hi hai
Me: (cross checks name) Par online toh "Fail" dikha raha tha
Guy: Tujhe toh khush hona chahiye yeh marksheet dekh kar
Me: (bulb blinks followed by a big grin on face which hasn't stopped yet)

This Udaan has not taken flight yet

2010-07-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

I first heard about Udaan a week back. As it was a Anurag Kashyap production, that too directed by the same guy who did the screenplay for Dev.D -- I knew it would be good.

The first plan was hatched for Friday evening at Goregaon Hub. Everyone was invited but they had backed out by evening. The show was at 6:15 but I was busy working on the bonus thingy till 6. And then I got a couple of calls, and also had to turn back and go to office to pick up a friend's medicines -- so bunked the movie plan.

Second plan was on Saturday morning, this time at Imax Wadala (11:15 AM) but my friend turned up late and we couldn't go for the show. Now the thing is that there are very few shows of Udaan around and the timings are odd. We moved to Cinemax Sion (12:30 show) well ahead of the show time but this time and the show was houseful. I didn't want to go back home without having watched anything so we watched Tere Bin Laden.

Not giving up easily, I planned again for Sunday and called up all my friends. Three friends were ready at night and had backed out by morning. I had to meet a cousin so didn't go for the movie alone. I would have, for sure, otherwise. Fourth unsuccessful attempt.

After picking up "the stuff" from my cousins, I landed at Goregaon Hub for the 3:30 show and the thing was again houseful. Tickets for the 6:15 were also sold out except a few on row 1 (Fifth and sixth attempt). We checked out shows at other theaters in the vicinity (PVR Goregaon, Huma Adlabs, Cinemax Versova) that started in the next hour or so and they too were houseful (7th, 8th, 9th).
Moved to Cinemax Versova and tried to buy the music CD for Udaan at Landmark - in keeping with the theme, even those were sold out!

In the end, I spent the entire weekend trying desperately for something and it remained elusive. Moral of the story: dont try!

Edit1: Monday, I tried again for the 6:15 show at Hub, but the show was houseful again (10th). Watched Inception instead - good movie.

Edit2: Thursday, same story, 6:15 show at Hub was houseful (11th). I went to Oberoi Mall to check out laptops. If the earlier show at Hub was houseful then it was obvious what the story would be at PVR GOregaon... but surprise surprise, the 8:20 show had tickets... priced at Rs 130. Good things come to those who wait :D

Naneghat Trek

2010-06-12T12:12:00.000-07:00

I've been to Malshej ghat around 4 times on my bike. On each occasion, I've passed the Naneghat board on the right side of the road - it's so prominent, almost calling out to passerbys to stop and take a detour.
I had done my homework for this trek a couple of times before and it looked interesting. There was no fort on top but supposedly, the view was good.

Anyway, so people from my office were enthu about going for a trek. I had initially suggested Kothaligad, the plan shifted to Karnala, and later when we
found that no girls could make it and zeroed in on Naneghat. It was Chaitanya's brilliant idea.

I had reached Thane station at 6:45 AM and only Chaitanya and Mehul had arrived till then. I have never read a trek report where everyone turns up on time, and this one will be no different. Rohit got up when we had all assembled at our meeting point and we scheduled in an unscheduled breakfast halt for him to catch up. Catch up he did, but the train did not catch up with anything else on wheels, ever.
We stopped 32 times (frankly, I didn't count but it looks like a good enough approximation) and took twice the time we should have to reach Kalyan.

Kalyan's ST bus stop is on the west side, anyone will direct you to it. The enquiry guy told us that buses leave every 5-10 minutes. All the buses that passed through Malshej/Naneghat had Nagar as their destination. It took me some time to realize that Nagar is AhmadNagar

The weather all through the ride was awesome but the sun came out within the first 10 minutes of our trek. Here are some first hand tips for those doing the Naneghat trek

The entrance to Naneghat is not a ST stop, its around 3 kms ahead from Vaishakhare village. You need to cajole the conductor into stopping. The bus ticket costs 50 Rs from Kalyan ST stand

The trek route is well marked with arrows and you dont need a guide.

Once you start from the Naneghat board, there is no village or food... so be prepared.

There are water cisterns on top, but quality isn't great. It was brown and had colloidal particles, that is not how clean ground/rainwater is supposed to be.

It's a simple 2 hour trek till "Naneghat". After that you can explore the caves and the peaks on either side.

There is a road that leads right up to Naneghat, which looks in reasonably good shape. It comes from Junnar -> Aptaale Phata (10 km) -> Chavand Phata (7 km) -> Ghatghar (12 km) -> Naneghat (3kms). If you are not up for the trek, just drive/ride up through this route.

Monkeys throw stones, etc at you once you get close to the pass - so be careful.

You wont find an ST easily for the journey back, around 10 STs ignored us till and we started walking the distance to Vaishakhare village when luckily, the 11th one gave in.

We started at 11 and reached the top by 1:15, this included a high number of breaks. Our trek till the top was eventful, we ran out of water and the water cisterns on top were our only hope, no matter the condition of water in it.
After reaching the top, we all climbed the peak to the right. This is a long, steep peak with a great view from the top. Just follow the steps from the Ganpati mandir, that comes on the right after the Naneghat kund. We had our meager lunches on top, filling our tummies more with the views.

After that everyone just lied down to relax while I headed out to the peak on the left of Naneghat. The two electricity towers on the way make weird buzzing sounds, and my head started to pain after standing below them for some time -- but I got a couple of good shots. The other peak offered a great view from the top but I couldn't spot KonkanKada, which I thought should be seen.

We started back at 3:45 and had reached the highway at 5:30. The traffic gets horrible once you reach Kalyan station area. We also needed to eat so we went to a bar right opposite the ST stand -- we wanted to eat non-veg food and all the "family restaurants" were veg. The food was excellent but the prices were also excellent -- never imagined places in far off places to be so expensive. I couldnt find a rickshaw at Thane station and had to go to Mulund, where I didnt find a rickshaw either but at least the walk from there was shorter. I was home at 10:30

2010-06-12_Naneghat

Exam Day 1 - Theoretical Perspectives of Sociology

2010-05-04T12:04:00.000-07:00

OK, here's an update on my studies. After my initial enthusiasm I didn't post more study updates because I took an extended break on finding out that my exams were postponed They didn't start on the 23rd anymore but were pushed back to the 4th - that's today.

Meanwhile, I spent my time slogging in office and finished with Sociology of Development. I started studying for today's paper on Friday night and had covered half of the syllabus by yesterday. That wasn't all that bad and the odd question format was such that I only had to study half and would still be able to attempt all 100 marks.

This was the first time I was writing any exam in 5 years so I was a bit rusty and took time to get going but managed to do just about OK. It's going to be a just pass scenario or I will miss the boat by 5-10 marks. It all depends on the way these papers are checked, I have no idea right now. Next one's on Monday - again one where I haven't yet started.

Lessons learned:

- Wear a wristwatch, it is very important to have a sense of time while writing any exam.

- If you haven't written anything using a pen and paper for over a month (in my case, 5 years) practice writing for long periods of time. Those 3 hours in the exam hall can be more taxing on your wrists than a 3 hour bike ride.

- Revise what you have learned thoroughly and forget all about the stuff you haven't started with. I forgot a few crucial parts for the 2 answers I knew well.

BabyBird In The Country lyrics

2010-04-19T00:34:00.000-07:00

Another set of lyrics that I couldn't find when I looked for it. I am not sure about some of the words (marked with a ?)so if you know the right words, please let me know.

Artist: Babybird
Song: In the Country

If you know whats good for you
Then you'll know whats good for me
Little house in the country
Little grass and a big tree

If you know whats good for you
Then you'll know whats good for me
Little house in the country
No car no TV

Walking through the doors to heaven all I want is you
God has gone and left us here with everything to do

If you know whats good for you
Then you'll know whats good for me
Cuddled up in a bricked(?) up car
Little gas and a cigarette tar

If you know whats good for you
Then you'll know whats good for me
Sat here with my baby star
Just the way you are

Walking through the doors to heaven all I want is you
God has gone and left us here with everything to do
Take my car and burn my house down - all I want is you
Let the sun make us believe that everything is true

If you know whats good for you
Then you'll know whats good for me
Little house by the sun side
Shot gun and a new(?) wife(?)

If you know whats good for you
Then you'll know whats good for me
A little wrong, a little right
A little love, a little life

If you know whats good for you
Then you'll know whats good for me
Little house in the country
Little grass and a big tree

If you know whats good for you
Then you'll know whats good for me
Little house in the country
No car no TV

Walking through the doors to heaven all I want is you
God has gone and left us here with everything to do
Take my car and burn my house down - all I want is you
Let the sun make us believe that everything is true

Walking through the doors to heaven all I want is you
God has gone and left his children with nothing to do
Take my car and burn my house down - all I want is you
Let the sun make us believe that everything is true

Study Update - 5th April 2010

2010-04-05T14:22:00.000-07:00

Couldn't study because had to be with my aunt at the hospital. By the time I came back home, I was feeling feverish so I hit the bed and lay there for an hour without a hint of sleep. Better sense prevailed and I hit the books for a couple of hours. Couldn't do much today, but will cover up tomorrow if health stays OK.

Paper: Sociology of Development
Chapter 5 - Gender and Development
+ Revised Underdevelopment

Previous Plan for tomorrow:
Chapter 5 - Gender and Development
Chapter 6 - Culture and Development
Chapter 7 - Environment and Development

Found Most Boring:
All of the Gender and Development chapter, is it just me or was this really dull?

Plan for tomorrow:
Chapter 6 - Culture and Development
Chapter 7 - Environment and Development

Study Update - 4th April 2010

2010-04-04T13:27:00.000-07:00

Woke up late and also went out for a movie. Time's running out so will have to cut down on the movies I watch. Anyway, here goes...

Paper: Sociology of Development
Chapter 4 - Underdevelopment
Chapter 8 - Gandhian Alternative and E.F. Schumacher

Previous Plan for tomorrow:
Finish half of this book
Not achieved, but have a more realistic view of what's possible now because I know how long each chapter takes me. For the record, it's 2 hours

Found Most Interesting:
Paul Baran's The Political Economy of Growth

Plan for tomorrow:
Chapter 5 - Gender and Development
Chapter 6 - Culture and Development
Chapter 7 - Environment and Development

Leaving Home - The Life and Music of Indian Ocean Review

2010-04-04T12:38:00.000-07:00

I finally caught the documentary at R-Mall Mulund. It wasn't easy because the original schedule put up on Indian Ocean's Facebook page was wrong. The coolest part was that the tickets were for 50/- and 70/-
Other shows at the same time were priced 175/-

The uncool part was that there were around 15 people in the theater but they all stayed on right till the end of the 2 hour show, clearly shows that they love the band. Same goes for me, I love the band and respect them even more after knowing their story. Indian Ocean is right there in the top of my list and their story has all the highs and lows that most great bands have. The story is told well, but it seemed like a really amateur documentary right from the word go.

The camera work is terrible, shaky and out of focus many times. I mean, a documentary doesn't have to have bad camera work, right? Were they trying to impress with their authenticity? The flow is OK but could have been much much better. The subtitling could have been more crisp, for example, the Kandisa (?) song is played in the bungalow and there is no subtitling to explain what the lyrics mean and then the same song is played in the Garden of 5 Senses and the explanation comes along. That's amateurish. Also, possibly all their songs could have had subtitles.
The lyrics for Indian Ocean's songs are no where online. If anyone knows, please leave the link in the comment box.

Overall, the documentary is not tight and doesn't evoke the same reaction that Indian Ocean's music does. With such a great subject, Jaideep Verma could have easily woven the stories so that the audience stand up and applause for every song -- but that just didn't happen.
And haven't they heard of Cinemascope or whatever the wide-angled format is called. Anyway, enough of the bad now for the good.

Rahul Ram is the star of the band. He cracks the best jokes and without him the band would just be a bunch of old guys making great music. His recounts how 20 VHP activists tried to disrupt their concert in Baroda and were stunned to hear a Sanskrit Shloka. They ended up dancing away till the end of the show. Other highlights are the classic "Money and happiness are unrelated concepts" and his funny ramblings of the drunk neighbour who thinks the band makes porn movies in their bungalows.

The interactions between the band members are genuine and their impromptu jugalbandis world class. Each band member's background is touched on (wish Asheem was more open though) wonderfully and you get to know the men behind the music.

A wonderful story poorly told.
P.S. I am going to have Indian Ocean on my playlist every day next week!

Study Update - 3rd April 2010

2010-04-03T12:35:00.000-07:00

My exams are in two weeks and I have only really finished one book given by Mumbai University. The funny thing is that each of these books has a preface where they state that reading these books is sure to make you fail, not because they are that bad (or so they claim) but because this is just the starting point from where my real reading has to "take off".

The list of reference books runs into 100s so there is no chance of me ever finishing all of them. This calls for some smart work instead of hard work. So I am reading the MU books first and then plan to read a set of readers my friend has generously provided.

Now the problem is that I have already whiled away most of my distance-learning academic year working hard in my office. However, all is not lost. I received a manifestation in the form of my office banning anyone from working after 8 PM. Now I have to go home and that's one reason less for not studying

I start recording what I do today and this is what I have covered.

Paper: Sociology of Development
Chapter 1 - Emergence of the Concept of Development
Chapter 2 - State as an agent of Change/Development
Chapter 3 - Modernization theory.

Found Most Interesting:
Evolution of the Development project over the last 50 years

Found Most Confusing:

"Teleological approach is one where the purpose which is not explicitly intended by anyone is fulfilled while the process of fulfillment is presented as an inevitable sequence of events"

Plan for tomorrow:
Finish half of this book

Reflective Entertainment

2010-03-20T11:14:00.000-07:00

There are two times a movie moves me.
The first is when the protagonist overcomes all odds to emerge on top. The last scene of Dead Poets Society or the Jahanpanah Tussi Great Ho scene from 3 Idiots are good examples.

The second is when a movie mirrors the worst of the society you live in. It's scary - I go for a movie in a nice AC hall leaving the world behind and I am made to realize what is happening out there. It happened this Friday when I was watching Love Sex and Dhokha - Dibakar Banerjee, waiting for your next one!

what is the best way to remember stuff?

2010-02-28T13:19:00.000-08:00

I posed this question to Divya, the great -- you will soon find out why!

Divya: OK what skills do you have?

me: photography
a little writing
my editing skills are good

Divya: exactly
get hold of your book
edit it
and write it
in your own words
and if you like photography - and you have a photographic memory
just stare at a page
for 1-2 minutes
you'll know what is in there
that works for me
i mean i cant explain it
its like
i can look at something
and i have that picture
in my head
so even in the exam hall if i cant remember
what was there
its like i can visualise that paper in front of me
n see what is written
my skills lie in gossiping
spreading/sharing stuff
so whatever i read or study
if i tell it to someone
any person
i NEVER EVER forget it
which is why i actually agree to teach
more out of selfishness than for doing them any good

me: you should patent this idea
it will work for everyone

Divya: lol

me: the diagramming thing works for me
i have been doing it since 6th std
i draw everything in a flow chart/diagram/table - it's a form of editing

Simply put your strongest skills to work -- works with almost any problem.

Dev.D lyrics

2010-02-20T16:57:00.000-08:00

I was introduced to Dev.D when I saw its promo on MTV that had the Emosional Atyachaar song. The lyrics, the music, the video -- I had never seen anything like it before and it totally blew me away.

Later I found out that the movie was from Anurag Kashyap. I had loved his work as a scriptwriter (Satya, Yuva, Honeymoon Travels) and Black Friday was brilliant (even No Smoking was a path breaking idea, though incomprehensible) so Dev.D was on my watchlist.
I expected the music to be good but 18 songs was too much and I liked most of the songs the first time I heard them. The remaining grew on to me later -- so much so that if I were to compile a list of my favorite Bollywood OSTs, I am sure that this would be in the top 3.

These songs had come out more than a year back and they are all still on my regular playlist. I have noticed a trend with music, you first like the tune of a song then start to dive into the lyrics. Things could go either way after this, either the lyrics turn out to be pretty ordinary or they touch a chord and lift your liking to the next level. And this is what happened with me and Dev.D.

Strangely, I could not find the lyrics for all Dev.D songs at one place. The lyric sites I knew only had about half the songs and the less common ones were on never-heard-before sites and blogs.
If I was searching for it, so would others so here is my little tribute to the genius of Amit Trivedi. All Dev.D lyrics in one place.
Have fun everyone!

Emotional Atyachaar Lyrics (Brass Band version)

yeh dil pighla ke saaz bana loon
dhadkan ko awaaz bana loon
smoking smoking nikle re dhuan

seene mein jalti hai armanon ki arthi
arrey what to tell you darling kya hua
arrey sapne dekhe jannat ke
par mitti mein mil jaye
phookein re ghar baar ki duniya
ko bole good bye

chad jaye haye allah
jisko bhi yeh bukhaar
tauba tera jalwa tauba tera pyar
tera emotional atyachaar
tauba tera jalwa tauba tera pyar
tera emotional atyachaar

jao jao oh dilbar
oh dilbar ohh
tauba tera jalwa tauba tera pyar
tera emotional atyachaar

ho gayi dil ke paar tragedy tragedy
lut gai re bahaar gul sukh sukh murjhaye
ho gayi dil ke paar tragedy tragedy
lut gaiy re bahaar gul sukh sukh murjhaye

bol bol why did you ditch me
zindagi bhi lele yaar kill me
bol bol why did you ditch me wh#re
bol bol why did you ditch me
zindagi bhi lele yaar kill me
jao piya jao piya jao piya

tauba tera jalwa tauba tera pyar
tera emotional atyachaar
tauba tera jalwa tauba tera pyar
tera emotional atyachaar

jao jao oh dilbar
oh dilbar ohh
tauba tera jalwa tauba tera pyar
tera emotional atyachaar

Duniya Lyrics

hai duniya
yeh duniya badi gol hai
hai duniya
hai isme kitne jhol

galiyon galiyon chappa chappa
aplam chaplam laare lappa
tauba tauba rabba rabba
ji ji ji ji ji

tola pal mein
pal mein maasa
pal mein choda
pal mein faasa

agdam tigdam
dekh tamasha
ji ji ji ji ji

hai duniya
yeh duniya badi gol hai
hai duniya
hai isme kitne jhol
(Tol Tol Tol)

arre aadi tedi
tirchi tirchi
mithi meethi
mirchi mirchi
dikhti asli lekin farzi
ji ji ji ji ji

aati jaati
dukke dukke
aankh micholi
chupke chupke
khud mein rehti
neeche chupke
ji ji ji ji ji

hai duniya
yeh duniya badi gol hai
hai duniya
hai isme kitne jhol
(tol tol tol)

phuslake bulaye
phir thenga pikhaye
kaise choona lagaye rama hoo

pehle lori sunaye
phir horn bajaye
kaise choona lagaye rama hoo

na jhatka laga-ee
na khatka laga-ee
bina shor fatka lage-ee

arre bhaiya bhaiya
bhaiya bhaiya bhaiya bhaiya
aye bhaiya bhaiya bhaiya bhaiya hoo

galiyon galiyon chappa chappa
aplam chaplam laare lappa
tauba tauba rabba rabba
ji ji ji ji ji

tola pal mein
pal mein maasa
pal mein choda
pal mein faasa

agdam tigdam
dekh tamasha
ji ji ji ji ji

hai duniya
yeh duniya badi gol hai
hai duniya
hai isme kitne jhol (tol tol tol)

Nayan Tarse Lyrics

nayan tarse
nayan tarse
darash na mile
nayan tarse

nayan tarse
nayan tarse
zoron se bahe dhaar
nayan tarse

haare yeh path nihaar
nayan tarse tarse tarse re

bisar gaye bisar gaye kithe
bisar gaye bisar gaye kithe
biraha mein jal jal
pal woh gaye badal
swaha swaha hey hey hey hey

bisar gaye bisar gaye kithe
bisar gaye bisar gaye kithe
sunahre yeh din kaali raat mein gaye dhal
raama raama raama raama re

saawan barse saawan barse
tapish ki phuhaar
sawaan barse
saawan barse saawan barse
chubhan de hazaar
sawaan barse

gaali si lage malhaar
sawaan barse barse barse re

bisar gaye bisar gaye kithe
bisar gaye bisar gaye kithe
biraha mein jal jal
pal woh gaye badal
swaha swaha hey hey hey hey

bisar gaye bisar gaye kithe
bisar gaye bisar gaye kithe
sunahre yeh din kaali raat mein gaye dhal
raama raama raama raama re

Pardesi Lyrics

o pardesi o pardesi
mitha sa chada hai bukhaar
he re main thara pardesi

o pardesi o pardesi
ramji karo beda paar
he re main thara pardesi

waqt ne kar dala banta dhar
ib ke hove gaal akae yaar (mistakenly heard by Anurag Kashyap as Atyachaar)

mann bawri bawri buzhsa lage
kabhi ith ku dole
kabhi uth zhoke

o pardesi, o pardesi
naino mein sapne hajaar
he re mai thara pardesi

lage mitha mitha chadhe-a bukhar
ishq mushq na chupe bawari yaar

dil ki taqhti pe naam likha tera gehra
katil aankhon pe zulf ka saje hai lehra

hua pardesi hua pardesi
mitha sa chadha hai bukhar
he re mai thahra pardesi

o pardesi o pardesi
ramji karo beda paar
he re mai thara pardesi

Saali Khushi Lyrics

jalte jalte rakh hui hai saari
khak jaisi bewajah ji umar saari
kahan chali gayi hai saali khushi
kahan chali gayi hai saali khushi

jalti aanhein hai saans bhi
jali hui jali hui
dhoondu kaise hai aas bhi
jali hui jali hui

saanp jaisi kali raatein hai
hai yeh zehar si yeh zindagi

kahan chali gayi hai saali khushi
kahan chali gayi hai saali khushi

kahan chali gayi hai saali khushi

Payaliya Lyrics

jaanu nahin kaise
jaanu nahin kaise
piya ghar jaun

jaanu nahin kaise
jaanu nahin kaise
piya ghar jaun

paayaliya paayaliya kahe ke piya ghar jaun
paayaliya paayaliya
(my god)

paayaliya chhan chhan chhan chhan shor kare
mohe piya ghar jaun (my god)
paayaliya chhan chhan chhan chhan shor kare
mohe piya ghar jaun
paayaliya paayaliya kahe ke piya ghar jaun
paayaliya paayaliya kahe ke piya ghar jaun (my god)
paayaliya
paayaliya
(my god)

araj araj kari karaj karajwa ko
kar hal pal bechain
daras daras ko kahe paayaliya
aas lagawe din rain

soojh boojh bhulawe
goonj goonj uthawe
piya ko pukare haye re
han jiya pe chhaye jiya pe chhaye
chhaye chhaye chhaye chhaye re

paayaliya paayaliya kahe ke piya ghar jaun

asar asar aso basar basar kari
neend bisar kar de
janam janam ki preet lutati hai
saiyan ke milan ko re
paas paas bulawe
raaz raaz rachawe
piya ko manawe hai re
han mujhe sajaye mujhe sajaye
hai hai hai hai re

paayaliya paayaliya kahe ke piya ghar jaun
paayaliya paayaliya kahe ke piya ghar jaun
piya ghar jaun ..piya ghar jaun ..piya ghar jaun

paayaliya chhan chhan chhan chhan shor kare
mohe piya ghar jaun
paayaliya chhan chhan chhan chhan shor kare
mohe piya ghar jaun
paayaliya paayaliya kahe ke paayaliya paayaliya kahe ke
piya ghar jaun piya ghar jaun

Mahi Mennu Lyrics

ishq de gede vich giya phas ji
gum laga dada hun kara dass ki
ishq de gede vich giya phass ji
gum laga dada hun kara dass ki

teri chale marzi
hoyi bhool chuk ji
hone geya geya geya mai to ji

mahi mennu nai karna pyar
hai nahi karna pyar
rabba mai hun kara das ki

mahi mennu nai karna pyar
hai nahi karna pyar
rabba mai hun kara das ki
aye mahi mennu pyar

feem da nasha tere naina vich ji
sulfe di laat vaaregi tu lagdi
feem da nasha tere naina vich ji
sulfe di laat vaaregi tu lagdi

aisi tand hai tutti,
kinnu kaiye aisi ki,
mere reha reha reha duss ki

mahi mennu nai karna pyar
hai nai karna pyar
kinni kauda koti lamha hun pi

mahi mennu nai karna pyar
hai nai karna pyar
kinni kauda koti lamha hun pi
mahi mennu pyar
main nahi karna haye nahi karna main pyaar

mahi mennu nai karna pyar
hai nai karna pyar
rabba mai hun kara das ki

mahi mennu nai karna pyar
hai nai karna pyar
rabba mai hun kara das ki!

aye mahi mennu pyar
main nahi karna haye nahi karna main pyaar ..mahi ve

Aankh Micholi Lyrics

ye kaisi kaisi aankh micholi khele zindagi
ye kaisi kaisi aankh micholi khele zindagi (zindagi)
kabhi door kabhi pass aye
kabhi yun hi muskuraye
kabhi aye jaye aye jaye aisi zindagi

ye kaisi kaisi aankh micholi khele zindagi
ye kaisi kaisi aankh micholi khele zindagi (zindagi)
kabhi door kabhi pass aye
kabhi yun hi muskuraye
kabhi aye jaye aye jaye aisi zindagi
zindagi

kaise kaise kaise kaise rulaye zindagi
kaise kaise kaise kaise nachaye zindagi
kaise kaise kaise kaise rulaye zindagi (rulaye zindagi)
aise kaise kaise kaise kaise nachaye zindagi (nachaye)

aa khele zindagi ye
aise hi to rehti hai ye
mazaa mazaa mazaa mazaa

teri jholi mein khushi hai
yaha pe sirf bekasi hai
sazaa

ye kaisi kaisi aankh micholi khele zindagi
ye kaisi kaisi aankh micholi khele zindagi
kabhi door kabhi pass aye
kabhi yun hi muskuraye
kabhi aye jaye aye jaye aisi zindagi
zindagi

Yahi Meri Zindagi Lyrics

utra utra mausam dhalke phalkon mein
katra katra pilu aa is pal ko main
suraj ke kuch boondein tapki hai peshane pe
sargoshi kudh se karti hu main hairani mein

yahi meri zindagi hai zindagi hai zindagi zindagi
yahi meri zindagi hai zindagi hai zindagi zindagi
yahi meri zindagi hai zindagi hai zindagi zindagi
yahi meri zindagi hai zindagi hai zindagi zindagi

yeh mere pal
mere din jaise ho
chand shabz shake ek sajhar pe khili
ooo

hai maine (sab sapne rang dale)
jee bharke (dil mein leke ujale)
khilkilake main toh ud chali
ooo

kudrat muskurati hai meri nadaani pe
sargoshi kudh se karti hu main hairani mein

yahi meri zindagi hai zindagi hai zindagi zindagi
yahi meri zindagi hai zindagi hai zindagi zindagi
yahi meri zindagi hai zindagi hai zindagi zindagi
yahi meri zindagi hai zindagi hai zindagi zindagi

utra utra mausam dhalke phalkon mein
katra katra pilu aa is pal ko main

Dhol Yaara Dhol Lyrics

o chala chal
o chala chal
chha gaya mujhpe jaadu karke
vaari tore jaun main sadke
dhol yaara dhol (dhol yaara dhol)

mann mein more hook uthi hai
koyal jaise kookh uthi hai
dhol yaara dhol (dhol yaara dhol)

mauj ki dhinge jhulun
dede mohe haath dede dede mohe haath
ambar udke chhoo loon
thore saath saath tore tore saath saath
paon mein ghungroo baje re
nathaniya bindiya saaje re
isak mein doobi haye re

chha gaya mujhpe jaadu karke
vaari tore jaun main sadke
dhol yaara dhol (dhol yaara dhol)

mann mein more hook uthi hai
koyal jaise kookh uthi hai
dhol yaara dhol (dhol yaara dhol)

ho ranjhna mere yaar
tore sang tore sang rang rangayi
preet mein tori main hoon nahayi
khushiyon ki khatiya hogi
sang honge hum tum yaara
wah wah re wah wah

preet mein bawari ho jaun main ho-o-o
jism ka tohre aanchal odhloon main ho-o-o
tujh pe kurbaan kurbaan ho jaun main ho-o-o
tu sang to baat ban jaye (tu sang to baat ban jaye - 2)

chha gaya mujhpe jaadu karke
vaari tore jaun main sadke
dhol yaara dhol (dhol yaara dhol)

mann mein more hook uthi hai
koyal jaise kookh uthi hai
dhol yaara dhol (dhol yaara dhol)

mauj ki dhinge jhulun
dede mohe haath de de
de de mohe haath
ambar udke choo loon
tore saath saath tore
tore saath saath

paon mein ghungroo baje re
nathaniya bindiya saaje re
isak mein doobi haye re (Repeat - 3)

dhola... dhola re
dhola... dhola re

Ek Hulchul Si Lyrics

dhadkan maheen dil mein jagati
ek hulchul si (ek hulchul si)
kohra hata ke sooraj jalati
ek hulchul si (ek hulchul si)

ek hulchul si
ek hulchul si
ek hulchul si (ek hulchul si)
ek hulchul si
ek hulchul si
zinda hai ek hulchul si

hadh nazar ki
jahan talak hai
ek bharam hai
wo jo dhanak hai
sach hai sach hai sach hai

jeene ki ek talab phir jagaye
ek hulchul si (ek hulchul si)
bujhti si saanson ko kash banaye
ek hulchul si (ek hulchul si)

ek hulchul si
ek hulchul si
ek hulchul si (ek hulchul si)
ek hulchul si
ek hulchul si
zinda hai ek hulchul si

mehsoos kar le
ya dil ye pal
saanson se choo le
lamha ye bekal
bekal bekal bekal

o-ho ho ho ho ho
o-ho ho ho ho ho
a-ha ha ha ha ha
a-ha ha ha ha ha

kar le kar le ab kuch aisa kar le, kar le, kar le
tu aaj an gin roshan kirano se tan man, bhar le, bhar le
macha le, jala le, dil mein

o-ho ho ho ho ho
o-ho ho ho ho ho
o-ho ho ho ho ho
a-ha ha ha ha ha
o-ho ho ho ho ho

hadh nazar ki
jahan talak hai
ek bharam hai
wo jo dhanak hai
sach hai sach hai sach hai

Hikknaal Lyrics

hikanaal lake jind tere utte var di
naina dunali tere thaan goli maar di
hikanaal lake jind tere utte var di
naina dunali tere thaan goli maar di

mileya malook jeya
vekheya salook tera
paata puhwara hun tera

ki mutyaraan ton bachna
aye husna de nagan dasna
ki mutyaraan ton bachna
aye husna de nagan dasna

roop tera haye ni tu fiza hai chenab di
balle teri taur ni tu shaan hai punjab di
roop tera haye ni tu fiza hai chenab di
balle teri taur ni tu shaan hai punjab di

paake yaariaan kitta haye tu kharab ni
bulliyaan de haseyaan ne ditta haye maar ni

lak jad nachke
jaan teri chanke
paata puhwara hun tera

ki mutyaraan ton bachna
aye husna de nagan dasna
ki mutyaraan ton bachna
aye husna de nagan dasna

haye tera jalwa tera hai shabab ni
hashe hashe hashke kudi lajawab ni
haye tera jalwa tera hai shabab ni
hashe hashe hashke kudi lajawab ni

tera ni khumar ditta kar de sharaab ni
phatte gaye munde pind de behisaab ni

heer sanu lag di
sohniye tu pub di
har paase charcha hai tera

ki mutyaraan ton bachna
aye husna de nagan dasna
ki mutyaraan ton bachna
aye husna de nagan dasna

kikanaal lake jind tere utte var di
naina dunali tere thaan goli maar di
hikanaal lake jind tere utte var di
naina dunali tere thaan goli maar di

mileya malook jeya
vekheya salook tera
paata puhwara hun tera

ki mutyaraan ton bachna
aye husna de nagan dasna
ki mutyaraan ton bachna
aye husna de nagan dasna

ki mutyaraan ton bachna
aye husna de nagan dasna
ki mutyaraan ton bachna
aye husna de nagan dasna

Dil Mein Jaagi Lyrics

dil mein jaagi armaan aise
kho jaun khwaabon mein
neela ambar halke baadal
bhar loon main aanchal mein

saanson mein sargam gaaye
haule haule kuch keh jaaye
dhuan dhuan hai ye sama
lagta hai saara jahaan hai mera hai mera

(ho ho ho ho)

bhanwra phool phool mandraye
geet koi gaata jaaye
kabhi yahan kabhi wahan
rangon mein kho jaaye saman
pheeka pheeka hai ye aasman

ha haano main hoon dhoop mein naha ke
khushi ka geet gungunau
khilkhilati hui ye hawaayein chalein
baharon ko choomti huyi ja rahi

dil mein jaagi armaan aise
kho jau khwaabon mein
neela ambar halke baadal
bhar loon main aanchal mein

saanson mein sargam gaaye
haule haule kuchh keh jaaye
dhuan dhuan hai ye sama
lagta hai sara jahaan hai mera hai mera

Emotional Attyachar Lyrics (Rock Version)

bharpa jo ek shor hai
pukhta hai purzorr hai
agg rag jalte iske sarmaye

kal mera bebaak tha
aaj magar kamzor hai
khud se aankhein hi na mil payein

aankhon ke aage jo hai
manzar lava barsaye
jalta hai dil jalta hai
til til main jalta hoon

is lamhe ki haqeeqat
gawara na kar paaye
jalta hai dil
til til main jalta hoon

hat ja re hat jaa re
pare hat ja re nazron se
pare hat ja re hat jaa re
arrey jaa re

hat ja re hat jaa re
pare hat ja re nazron se
pare hat ja re hat jaa re
arrey jaa re

mere labz ke haar jaise
hain yaadon mein chubte jaise
aansoon mere behte rehte
khoon ke khoon ke
khoon ke khoon ke
khoon ke khoon ke

aankhon ka hai dhokha
aisa tera pyaar
tera emotional atyachaar

aankhon ka hai dhokha
aisa tera pyaar
tera emotional atyachaar (Repeat - 7)
you b#tch

Ranjhana Lyrics

na raha mera yaar
tune sang tune ang naa lagayi
birha ki agni mein chokhi jalayi
hadh se behadh hadh kardi
na chaali dil ki marzi
chhaliya ve jaa jaa
vaat dekhi teri barson maine ho-ho-oh
gaaj tune gira di dil pe more ho-ho-oh
bedardi samjha na tu more sak ko ho-ho-oh
tujh bin din raat ke saaye
tujh bin kuch bhaaye na haye

(dhola dhola re)

Mahi Mennu (Sad Version)

mahi ve
ve mahiya
main nahi karna
nahi karna main pyaar

mahi ve oh-ho
ve mahiya
main nahi karna
haye nahi karna main pyaar
mahi ve maahi ve
mahi ve mahi ve

main nahi karna hun pyaar
mahi ve mahi ve

Bowling Injury

2010-01-15T11:37:00.001-08:00

I had never gone bowling (as opposed to bowled) till about a month back.

My first score was around 50 -- reasonable start.
The second time I made 84 -- reasonable improvement.
And then the third time I went playing with my office guys, I ended with a 141 -- which was strangely better than anything these guys had made before.

Then we went again the next Friday -- my third time in a week. I picked a 12 pounder and followed my routine when *snap*... I had a piercing pain in the palm of my hand at the place where my middle finger bone joins the bones in my palm.

I played with my left hand the rest of the game.

I've been watching Globe Trekker every night regularly -- it comes on at midnight and fits in well with my schedule. And that reminds me to sleep -- got a bike trip to Lohagad tomorrow for which I have to wake up at 6.

Wake Up Sid - the movie review and other things

2009-10-02T03:42:00.000-07:00

Theater: Cinemax Eternity Mall
Show: 10:35 (I guess, it was first day first show)

I loved this movie. I thought I had seen it all with coming of age movies but this movie is "different" - yup. Ranbir Kapoor's character, Sid, has been seen in different Bollywood variants before. He also retains the familiar themes of being a rich spoilt brat, making a mistake only to realize it later, newfound individualism, finding love, etc but yet you don't get that sense of deja vu. The story is predictable yet engaging. The second half drags on a bit with all the love plots around the main characters but everything besides that is just right ... and it's fresh, yeah that's the word that describes this movie perfectly.

After watching this movie, Ranbir Kapoor has made it to my list of favourite actors - I have only watched Saawariya before this and loved his work in both movies. Being good and being consistently good is all it takes to make the cut.
Konkona Sen Sharma looks ugly throughout this movie, she looks even worse in the scenes where she has make up on. That doesn't matter though because that's her role - the old ugly woman, and she fits in perfectly. She can act but I liked everyone else's work better.
Anupam Kher is brilliant throughout and very convincing in all his scenes. I think Supriya Pathak was doing a Kiron Kher in the first few scenes but then lends her own personality to the role.
Sid's friends, Rishi and Laxmi are just like the friends you and me have and I am pretty sure those young at heart will identify with their on screen camaraderie.

Let me warn you that there is very little by way of conventional comedy in the movie, but you can't help not having a smile on your face regularly. The scenes and dialogs are very realistic - kudos to the dialog writer.
Warning #2: A few scenes do poke hard at your tear glands.

The movie starts and ends with the title song and I can remember two other songs in the movie - the soundtrack is brilliant. Amit Trivedi's Iktaara clearly the winner - there are two different versions of this song in the movie but only one is available on the album.

I won't watch the movie again in theater but I think it can be watched again and again when the rights are released for television.

Getting there (A tale of two Theaters)
The original plan was to see the 10 AM show at R Mall. PVR Cinemas used to be my standard morning joint but then they scrapped the 70/- shows two weeks back.

I reached the theater 10 minutes before the show and saw a huge crowd of at least a 100 people crowding around the box office. Finally, when I was third in queue, a couple of cute 8-9 year old girls flashed their broken-tooth smiles at the guy in front of me... and he just let them in :-|
I remembered how fiercely I had defended the sanctity and discipline of "the line" at the University just a couple of weeks back. I had turned away a couple of attractive looking girls and a woman old enough to be my mom, among others. Today, however, I was not sure I would get support in my fight against these two - kids can get away with anything.
And they are incredibly lucky too - the last tickets were snatched up by them.
Not being the one to give up so easily, I called up dad and found out the show timings at all nearby theaters and headed to Eternity for the 10:25 show. We were already 10 minutes late when we got the tickets, some running ensued but when we got in the national anthem had just got over - just in time and good riddance!

Problems at the theater

Ranbir and Konkona and sitting on the terrace and he tells her that he is going to get a job. Suddenly, kaput - a blank screen. There was no announcements from the theater management and we sat in the darkness for at least 15 minutes. This gave me the impression that we would be driven out without a refund. The rest of the (mostly collegian) crowd was surprisingly understanding and there were no catcalls or stone throwing :P
Then the screen came to life but it wasn't where the movie had stopped, it was the previous scene and we saw a recap of what got Ranbir to think of getting a job and then again, kaput at the exact same place! There was a second, much longer delay (maybe 20 minutes).

Irritatingly, the Cinemax theater management did not even care to inform us of what was happening and if/by when they expected the problem to be sorted out. They got the scene right the second time but then there were issues with the sound system, some scenes had a terribly high treble sound that added a nails-scratching-the-blackboard component to the already loud sound. This is not the Dolby experience I had paid for.

Problems outside the theater

I came home and the new channels were flashing news that the MNS had agitated against the use of Bombay in the movie instead of Mumbai. Raj Thackeray says that I should be offended and my sentiments are hurt. The producer, Karan Johar, dropped in at Raj Thackeray's place to submit his personally apologies and promised that the offending references would be replaced with the right word.

Perhaps we, the Marathi manoos, should also be offended that Raj Thackeray's kids study at the Bombay Scottish School. So what's the plan Marathi mansano? Wake up!

Hero Honda Passion Pro Ad

2009-04-28T22:55:00.000-07:00

I have been seeing this ad for about a month now and the jingle's just stuck in my head.

kuch bole bin kahe sune
meri yaar hai zindagi
kuch bole bin jo sab kuch kahe
andaz hai zindagi

The music and the lyrics are as straightforward as it gets and like all great things, the simpler the song the better it sounds.

I tried finding it online at the usual places, without luck . And then Ved shared the ad for Vodafone's Star of the Match, which btw is the best ad of the new series they have.
That reminded me of the Passion Pro ad and I searched the ad again on YouTube, and got lucky - click away thanks to tendua04 for the upload)

You can download the ad from http://keepvid.com/

Why is GMail still in BETA?

2009-04-19T11:16:00.000-07:00

I have had this thought in the past and it struck me again today. GMail has a well stocked Labs feature so all the experimental stuff could go in there. I can't figure out why they are doing it - maybe Google just forgot all about it being in beta!

whoosh!

2009-02-16T11:34:00.000-08:00

A rather amazing thing happened while cycling back home from office.

After IIT, I took the new road that leads down Powai hill, it's to the left of the existing road and the slope's gradient is much steeper. I was probably going faster than I have ever ridden this cycle before and was enjoying the feeling. A biker overtook me from the right and I noticed that there was no one else behind me and another biker just ahead. The other biker was a bit slow and I was catching up on him.
I shifted to top gear, gathered momentum and ... on an open road with no traffic in sight, cleanly overtook a machine powered bike.

I just couldn't stop smiling all the way down till Gandhi Nagar. I am anything but a speed freak, but life would suck without these moments of madness.

Bike trip to Korlai fort and lighthouse

2008-12-13T22:11:00.000-08:00

After a lot of pleading, last moment gaddari, fights, 2 hours scouting around Mulund-Thane for petrol, and air and phone refills, 3 bikes were all set to leave for Harihareshwar. The big plan was to meet up at Vashi at 5 AM.

I slept for less than 2 hours as Sonal called me well before the time I had set up my alarm. After a session of filter coffee at her aunt's place, we were off and I reached RAIT at 5.
I know... RAIT is in Nerul and 2 stations ahead of Vashi. I took a wrong turn and there was no U-turn all the way till Nerul.
Anyway, that didn't matter much as Mithun didn't turn up till 6:30--long story!

Harihareshwar started to seem too far away but we didn't give up just yet and decided to skip the breakfast halt so as to have a reasonable chance of reaching the place by noon.
Again, that didn't matter as Mithun took the road to Pune after Panvel instead of going towards Pen. The Harihareshwar jinx continues...

We caught up with them and the time was just after 7. After a hot debate of the options we had--Aanchal blocked all my attempts to steer the group to Karnala--decided to head on to some beach in Alibag.
There is a exit at the right that says "Rasayani" on the old Mumbai-Pune highway--every biker should try it out. The winding road passes through many small hills and is dotted with little villages. A (highly polluted) steam runs through the length of the road that ends just before Pen. I got some fantastic snaps over there--must try the route again!
We drove leisurely now that Harihareshwar was off our maps, and stopped for breakfast at Vadhkhal naka. Everyone was super sleepy but somehow managed to chew through whatever was on our plates.

We set out for Nagaon--this is the same place where Ashwin wanted to arrange our office picnic. It was a long detour through typically sleepy villages, which gave me the impression that the place would be good... but the place was crowded, commercialized, and we didn't like the beach.
The best thing about the Alibag area is that we are spoilt for choice as the next beach is never more than 10 minutes away.
We decided on Nandgaon which is after Kashid. En route, we stopped at Revdanda fort - I have passed this fort on ALL my trips but never noticed it. I still need to explore the area completely.
On Revdanda bridge, we could see a fort on the hill parallel to us and I talked the others into exploring it.
I had no idea we would discover what we did. There is a left after the bridge that leads to Korlai village. To reach the fort/lighthouse we had to go to the end of the village and then on top of the hill. As soon as you get out of the village, you find yourself on the side of the hill, on a rock track with the sea on one side and the fort walls visible high up on the other.

The entrance of the fort has a board saying it was a restricted zone and we need "permission" to enter, but we pretended to not see it. The keeper of the lighthouse was eager to show us around but there were a few other "official" looking people who didn't like us loitering around but Sonal's buttered them up in Marathi and they were taken care of.

The fort is pretty well preserved and we explored the entire north stretch. It was exhausting and the fact that we didnt have water didn't help our cause but the view was fabulous and it kept us going--first up and then down, and further down, and further, till we reached the sea. On the way we stopped for photographs, snatched a kid from a goat, and explored the doorways and canons lying around the place.

There is a huge wall just before the sea and a mini beach at the end, it would make for a perfect hidden getaway if the water was cleaner :P
We enjoyed the scene and dragged our feet back up to the top of the fort. We were in a mess, no water and no food. There was no food at the caretaker's place either and he asked us to go back to the village. I really wanted to get down to the beach and put to use the new shorts I had picked up from Nagaon beach but my stomach got the better of me.

We found a decent place 5 minutes down the road towards Kashid (just before the diversion). There was a nice long debate over whether there were other girls having food in there and we finally got in for a nice authentic cuisine. Plates of kombdi thali, misal pav, anda burjee flew off the table. The food was very good and it made up for not being in the water.

On the way back, I talked everyone into trying the jetty route from Revas. We rushed to make it in time but I knew at the back of my mind that we would have to be really lucky to make it during high tide. We reached the place before 6 but the boat was scheduled for 7:30. Bad luck--I was dead by this time with no strength to ride back home. I could have waited all night to catch the next jetty if I had to. The good thing about riding in a group is that I don't get to do what I want--which is good at times.
We rode back... 2 hours behind schedule... thanks to me.

After the bad stretch at Ispat, I could hear weird noises from the back of my bike as if something had broken. There were no lights over there so I stopped at Vadhkal nak, right in front of a police chowky. The cops were very friendly and tried to help me source of the noise. I tried rocking my bike, shook every part I could but there was no sound. Hoping it wouldn't resurface we rode on and thankfully, it didn't

I dropped Aanchal and Swapna misguided Mithun AGAIN on the way back! The trip ended just as it had started!

2008-12-13_Korlai

Bike trip from Mumbai to Rajmachi

2008-12-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

Fridays are usually very busy in office and it was the same this time around. Our trip to Harihareshwar seems jinxed as something seems to go wrong every time we think of making it happen--it was the same this time around.
Saturday was the 6th of December, a historical day for more than one reason and to add to that, Mumbai was on high alert. Another reason to escape for the weekend.

Harihareshwar was left for another time and I was left thinking of alternatives through the day. My mind had almost settled on doing a trip to Jawhar--almost. While looking through the net for information I stumbled upon the account of a bike gang's trip to Lonavala. The last strip of 16 kms was total offroading and something that I had never done earlier. This was at 9:30 PM when I was almost about to leave for home.

I had been to Rajmachi earlier, actually that was my first ever trek and my most memorable one till date. It had taken us 5 hours in the blasting April sun (with no water reserves) to just make it to the base village of Udhewadi.
But that was through the Kondivade (Karjat) route--this was through Lonavala. I remembered how everyone we met last time told us how easy and picturesque the Lonavala route was and how we had taken the "wrong route" for that time of the year.
Like many of my other brilliant decisions, I made a last minute change and changed our destination to the twin forts of Manoranjan and Shrivardhan.

Everyone was informed and I roped in Dhaval who was still in office when I called him up. He got off his shift at 8 AM and he had office again at 10 PM. The 14 hours he had in between were actually meant for sleeping but he felt it was better spent riding bikes to remote villages and then trekking up forts. Who can argue with that!

We were off on time and zipped to Khandala stopping at Kalamboli McDonalds. After you get off the Lonavala exit the road goes on below the flyover and as soon as you get out, look out on the left for a road that leads down. There is a board on top of the entry point that says Summer Hill, you cant miss it. Ask locals if not sure but make sure you mention Rajmachi fort, the locals first directed us to Rajmachi point, which is lovely by itself but you would need a glider to reach the fort from there.

The road is OK for the first 8 kms. At this point we reached a dam. There was a wall of a mountain right in front of us and the road went left along its side towards more mountains. This is where the road ends and we were on a kuccha road that was more rocks and stones than mud and gravel. The road was the worst at places where it passes over smooth round rocks like those found in a river bed. These are river beds--but only in monsoons.
It was a terrifying to imagine how much more difficult this area would be in the monsoon... I look forward to finding out ;)

I had a fall on one such patch.
It wasnt exactly a fall, I was going up a steep 60 degree incline when my front tyre hit a rock, which threw the bike sideways. My feet slipped and the weight of the bike just seemed too heavy for my battle worn wrists. Me and Swapna got off and I let go of the bike. Thankfully, it didn't slide down the the incline.
Swapna had been taking a video of the ride while all this happened and she later told me that the first thing I asked after the fall was, "Did you get all that?"

The last 10 kms took close to 2 hours to cover but that includes many breaks where we just stopped our engines and enjoyed the view. The entire stretch is just too beautiful--nevermind the rattling human bones and bike parts.

At the village, we stayed at the same place I had stopped at last time around. Everything around was just the way I had left it. After a refreshing break and food and drinks we set off for the village pond. It was right at the edge of the plateau and the sight is worth the detour. The moon was out, undeterred by the afternoon sun--and it just added to the sight of the magnificent fort walls.

The trek to the top wasnt easy and we were left panting more than once. I got some good snaps and we headed down through a different route from the windy side of the mountain. We collected our stuff from the village and headed out 4 PM to make sure we reached the main road before the sun went down.

The setting sun allowed me a few more pretty looking pictures. We stopped at the top of a waterfall, or atleast what should be one in the monsoon, on the way back. This spot looks like a mini Konkankada from the top of Shrivardhan and the view of the forts from down there was no less brilliant.
The trip back was safely uneventful and I can now boast of having conquered Rajmachi twice.

2008-12-06_Rajmachi

The first mishap

2008-12-02T20:05:00.000-08:00

Wiser from my first ride to office, I now knew that cycling all alone on a highway is a sure fire way to discourage yourself from doing it again. Pedaling slowly while everyone else zips by at seemingly supersonic speed was enough to dampen my spirits.
So for my second ride, I made a few changes...

Route was changed to skip the highway and go through LBS road.
Wore a t-shirt minus the jacket.
Pur on some good music to not let my thoughts wander too much.

I felt much more comfortable this time around, I climbed up the flyover easily and was zipping around west's market area when ta-daa. My seat just fell off.

It didn't make sense at first--how could that happen! I checked and found that the end of the seat rod had bent as I had attached it too much to the end of the rod. I should have kept some more of the rod inside the frame.
Not the end of the world, I figured I could still use my allen key to loosen the hold and put it back in. Just one problem, I couldn't find the key--it had probably fallen off when I got on my cycle in the morning.

It was 7 in the morning so I was thinking of turning back home to get my bike. It was the easier choice but I just dont think right at times. It would be a retreat back to safety on facing the enemy--I could'nt bruise my ego. I carried on, holding the seat in one hand and found a puncture shop opening within 100 meters. Unbelievable luck!

But the guy didn't have an allen key for the size of my seat. There was another guy who was getting his bike's puncture repaired at the shop. He was very helpful and managed to wrestle the seat back in. It went back in - but only till the part that had bent, so basically it was just about staying in and a good jerk would make it fall again.

I carried on thinking my incredible luck would get me to another cycle shop in the next 100 meters. Those 100 meters stretched on to well over 18 kms - and my seat fell off (I think) 8 times during the ride. I couldn't sit on the seat as it would just bend the rod further and I had to pedal standing up most of the time. I stopped at a few places to get it fixed but was shooed away. One bike repair shop at Powai, just in front of IIT, had the allen keys but the guy simply told me he wouldn't do it. He must have had a bad experience with cycles as a kid.

Well, I reached office after 2 hours and Rameshbhau told me off a cycle shop just outside the office road. I went there and the guy had the audacity to ask for 10 rupees to loosen and tighten one screw. The allen key that he uses cost me 6 rupees--I didn't bother pointing that out to him but simply made a mental note never to visit/recommend that shop again. It's worth 10 rupees never to meet such people again!

Back on the saddle after 8 years

2008-11-29T08:08:00.000-08:00

I have wanted to buy a cycle for a long time now. After 3 years on the job and 4 years before that in an engineering college, my body is in the worst physical shape it has ever been. It's not all that bad because I try to travel as much as I can but my stamina isn't a tenth of what it used to be, as I realised one fine day gasping for breath in the office kitchen.

That really was the trigger, I decided that I shouldn't wait any longer and started to seriously look at the options I had. I could either get a cycle, or increase the frequency of my treks, or join a gym.
My friends and my trekking group dont manage to plan a trek/bike trip every weekend. A gym membership would cost more than a cycle and I think it's pointless exercising while listening to the latest Bollywood numbers in a conditioned room. Its a waste of effort and not sustainable because you are doing it for the sake of it. The day you stop--your muscles disappear and your stamina goes back to where it was.
If I cycle to work, even if its once a week, it will fit in as a task of my daily routine--getting me to work and back. And to add to that, I love cycling.

My first "cycle" was gifted to me on my first birthday by Krupakka. It was a yellow tricycle and I had it for a couple of years. I spent the rest of my childhood pleading with my parents for a real cycle. They promised me one every report card season and every other Diwali but I soon realised that they were dangling a carrot while I played the donkey.
Well they did get me one and I had to stand first in my class to see that day.

We checked out a few stores and finally landed at Ravi Cycles, Mulund (West). There was this beauty being fitted in the store--nothing like I had ever seen before. Jet black with fluorescent orange lettering, it had those fenders on the handlebar and a chain lock mechanism that hung on the frame in front. It looked out-of-the-world and I was in love. It cost 1.5 times any other cycle in the store and I wasnt sure if Dad was that impressed with my first rank but I think he noticed the little hearts circling over my head because he actually got it for me.
I returned the favour by having my first crash while we took it home--my BSA SteetCat.

The envy of every boy who laid his eyes on it, my first love was with me for over 6 years and took me as far as Kopar Khairane in the south and Kalwa in the north, and I also owe all my "slow" cycling trophies and certificates to it. I stopped using it after I moved to junior college - I dont remember why but it wasn't in great shape after all those years. The watchman asked me if he could have it and nothing stopped me from handing him the keys. It was passed around in the group of Nepali watchmen but I didn't see it after a couple of years.

That was a long digression--let's get back to the present. So I knew I had to get a cycle and as usual my first stop was the internet. I subscribed to a few groups but the real breakthrough came after I joined the BikesZone forum.

I did a bit of research and put up a post on the forum. The guys over there were very helpful and I decided on the Hercules Ryders AV102. I loved it's look but then saw the ACT 105 which looked almost the same (except for the plastic fenders and carrier--but those can be fitted in right!) and cost 2000 less.
I found a dealer who said it could be done and I booked my cycle on the 8th of November (a Saturday). He promised to get it by Monday assuring me that it wouldn't be a day after Wednesday. The week went by without a call from him. I tried to go there on weekdays but I never managed to reach before 9, which was when his shop closed for the day. I caught up with him the following weekend and he asked for a few more days. I had paid the guy an advance and figured I could wait, I didnt get any calls from him till Friday, which is when he told me that my cycle had arrived from Chennai.

I landed up at the shop on the 23rd (a Sunday). I asked him to remove the metal fenders as I planned to put them on later. I headed home for lunch, went back at 4 PM and rode back home on my Hercules Ryders ACT 105 MAX--quite a mouthful.
He hadnt fitted the carrier and U lock that I wanted. I plan to go collect them tomorrow.

I knew it was going to be difficult to convince my parents about me getting a cycle so I never bothered. Dad disagreed but accepted my decision, he always does but Mom was as adamant as ever, she always is. I had to listen to a lot of stuff, I dont want to start on that.
The best taunt was that about my peers moving "ahead" in life, buying cars, etc while I backpedaled to immaturity and irrationality. Now how may times have I heard that before ;)

I carried the cycle up 6 floors to my home and was welcomed with a diktat that I couldn't keep it in the house. I tried reasoning with Mom knowing it would be futile--my cycle had to spend it's first day on the staircase. I didn't expect things to turn this bad but there wasn't much I could do in the situation.
But I had to do something with the frustration in my head and I decided to do something I would never have imagined.

My original plan was to gradually get back on the saddle, that would mean starting out with short trips to the market and in and around Mulund. Once I had the hang of things and settled to riding in traffic, I planned to commute to office once a week which would finally settle down to twice a week.

My cycle lay out on the stairs unsafe, easy prey to all the little kids who would simply love to try out all the gears, sit on it trying to imagine themselves riding it. I probably would'nt care a few months down the line but I didn't like the sound of it for now. Without any real thought and simply to prove a point, I decided I would commute to office the next day--24th November 2008.
I wasnt thinking that:

My office is in Sakinaka--my bike's odometer reads 36kms after a round trip.
There is one major climb at Powai and several minor climbs on the route.
I was getting back on a cycle after 8 years and had very little highway experience.

I was only thinking that my cycle is safer with me in office then on the staircase all by itself. That night, when I went to bed at 2 AM, I set the alarm to 6 AM and tried to not think of everything that could go wrong the next day. The plan was to leave at around 6:30, which would spare me the traffic and pollution.

It was still pretty dark at 6:45 when I stood in front of my building, all geared up with a change of clothes and the helmet in my backpack. I was back on the saddle after 8 years.