Turn ons

I was just thinking what kind of things can impress people:
In the 4th standard, girls thought I was too cute.
In the 6th standard, a girl loved the speed with which I typed (So much for being a computer addict)
In the 7th standard, a girl liked me because I was good at Maths
In the 8th standard, a girl liked me because I irritated the hell outta her.
In the 10th standard, a girl liked me because I kicked her out of something I was handling.
In the 11th standard, a girl liked me because I had nothing against anyone.
Enough! I'll come to the later years a few years later.

World Press Photo

Now I'm not much into all this, but I got to know from a friend that there was a photography exhibition in Nariman Point. A curious interest in photography and nothing else to do drove me to the Express Towers, where the World Press Photo Exhibition was put up.
The photos were, as expected, beautiful. Now the exhibition had been put up in two separate rooms; and to no surprise, one of them was filled with only tragic pictures: of a girl being stabbed in the face, of earthquake and hurricane victims, of gang violence, and of famished children. So much for the state of the world today!

Cricket

Its amazing how you, can speak right .. Aargh...
Its amazing how one win can make you forget all the losses of the near past.
With Team India looking more like Tame India in the one day series, the test series has taken a great turn.. what with India scoring their first in SA.
There were moments in the match which you just cannot forget for a long time..
Day 1 - Glimpses of Sachin; Dada is back, and back with a bang!
Day 2 - Shreesanth and Zaheer, God!
Day 3 - The return of the VVS; Shreesanth does a number!
Day 4 - Old Lord Kumble strikes the blows! Blood.. aargh.. Beer bath! You thought they would spare you, Dhoni?
Day 5 - Victory is a day old!

Thought monitoring

For people who know me, I've been sensible! I'm positive they will agree. From staying arrogant to being straight forward, I know myself as I'd like to be.

But then, there are these moments; these times when I think I'm just too right. I should be wrong at times. It gives people more of a chance to get close to you. If you portray yourself to be unaffected by anything, you put yourself inside a shell; and don't give any reason for others to try and break that shell. And then the worst part comes: for all your life, they who you thought knew you, understood you; go away, stop understanding you.

These are just moments. As much as I think about it, I know I will never do anything that I feel wrong. I'm just what I am. And I'd stay this way!

Pest Control

If you were wondering why I was quiet for so many days, it might have been because of the increasing number of unloved living beings in my bathroom. There have been spiders, cockroaches, mosquitos, and insects which I couldn't identify. So they kept me busy.
First I tried using Baygon cockroach spray. Next day, I found only two in the bathroom. Encouraged, I tried the same spray in the air to get rid of the unidentifiable insects. Next day, I found more of them; and thought to myself; maybe the cockroach pesticide wasnt working for them. I could only think of them being like mosquitos, and so I put a Good Night mosquito repellant in the bathroom for the night. No effect. Then, I sprayed Hit Mosquito Spray all over the bathroom, and voila, most of them were gone. Another night of Hit got rid of them.
If this sounds like an insect repellant test; it may just have been it. Practical testing of three prominent brands in the market.
Best buy: Hit Mosquito Spray (Only Rs. 63/-)

Robotics and PC controlled circuits

I have developed this rather new interest in robotics in the past few days. I was checking out these sites for wireless control circuits to try building a robot and came across such things that excited me to the core. Umm, from building a PC controlled oscilloscope to wirelessly controlling electrical equipment, wow. I am excited to start building such things; and am sure it will be as exciting as it seems now!

Mumbye

So I am finally leaving day after. After months of planning, I still do not know my itinerary yet. We will see. All I know is that I am really excited that I'm going, all alone. It's going to be loads of fun. Would love to keep posting from there if I get a chance.

Ah. But I will miss Mumbai. Just the other day my friends were asking me why I was going for so long, and I was all like, I'll have a real good time; but now that I'm on the verge of going, I have already started missing Bombay. How will I be away for so long. We will see!

Arjun Singh 6/6/6

A caricature by me of the man himself.

"Walking on crutches, and making India do so too."

ANA Company

OK. So it was my first trip abroad. It was 1998. I was travelling to Zambia with my sister to visit my aunt.
Now, Zambia is a country which grants visas on arrival. So it was a much unplanned decision that I may go. We booked my ticket and went to the airport. There was a hitch with the airline, and so we went to the Airport Manager at Mumbai airport. Every two minutes, he kept explaining to us (in his South Indian aiee-aiee-o accent) that we needed to get an ANA company form for me to travel. It was weird. We had never heard of any company with that name, leave aside relating to travel. Further more, I had never travelled abroad before and knew nothing about any such form.
After racking our brains, we understood what the manager was actually talking about. Surprise, surprise, he was explaining to us that we needed to have signed the Unaccompanied Minor form, or I would be travelling at my own. Huh. So much for a UM form.
At the end, I ended up travelling without one; my sister travelling as a UM.

of brazilian samba on punjabi songs

It is a phase, it seems. Just today I read about Isha Koppikar and Shahrukh Khan being obsessed with the PlayStation 2, when I thought to myself; ain't I too?

To be honest, I have been playing around 2-3 hours of PS2 everyday since we bought it, even when my exams are going on.

It is funny; Harwani betting on winning a game (laugh), Manmeet dancing on the Punjabi song which plays in the game menu, Tanay's tactical genius, Panno challenging everyone and then losing, Shreya and Taha passing wild-ass comments, and each partner of Manmeet shouting at him for his solo dribbling gameplay; it is sure funny.

It is a mania. Dunno how long it will last, but when we could buy the PS2 just for playing FIFA on it, I'm sure it would last long!

Airport woes

In the recent past, I have been to the Mumbai airports a couple of times to just come back exasperated.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport, Santacruz
There is constant policing to prevent people from parking near the terminals. I do understand why even then, people are happy to take rounds of the airport rather than park their cars in the Airport Parking Facility; the bloody parking costs Rs. 50. Now, not even ten rounds of the airport would burn a litre of fuel in my car, so why should I park it for the price of a litre? As a result the parking is half empty all the time, and the Authorities still do not learn to reduce the price. Sigh.

Sahar Airport, Andheri
All these hotels in Mumbai need to take care and train their staff (read: hotel car chauffeurs). It is pretty embarrasing to stand next to them while they go about cat calling every foreigner that exits the terminal, waving their boards above their heads. And even better, when the person who they have come to pick up finally responds to their frantic waving, they issue a "Good evening" and a "Aa gaya saala gora" in the same breath. 'Atithi Devo Bhava' or something was the government's campaign, wasn't it? Sigh.

Cry baby, cry

Yesterday, I cried. Well, I think it is fine to once in a while cry to yourself; it helps to understand yourself a lot better, if you know what I mean.

36 China Town

I don't understand why Indian directors just cannot grow up! I mean how can you print in the movie that a particular scene is placed in Mumbai, and then show vast deserts and mountains and lakes.

Then you try and make the film into a funny flick by giving horrendous dialogues to an equally horrendous actor, who goes by the name of Kapur.

And to top it all, you have a certain Tanushree Datta, a Payal Rohatgi, a Tanaaz Currim and even Kareena Kapoor displaying ample skin to maybe compete with Tanisha of Nikki fame.

Add to it Himesh Reshammiya's music, and there you have it; a pathetic movie which will surely be labelled as a box office hit!

Surprise

It happens so often now on birthdays that I was ignorant not to realise.

Heres what happened. I went out with a couple of friends for bowling yesterday. And one of my friends was all into his phone. I asked him who he was talking to and he ignored me. I didn't make much of it. He asked me of my plans after bowling and I told him I was going out with my family.

These friends of mine land up at my place five minutes before I am about to leave, and I am shell shocked. I was just so happy to see them. One by one, each one entered, and I looked as dazed as I ever could. So all the phone calls were leading to Siddhesh's house then.

Thank you guys for coming though. It really made me feel nice.

Drawing

After nearly two months of engineering drawing, I switched to drawing portraits, after three years. Three years back I had made one of Sachin, and a few other cricketers. This time around, I tried my hand at my new favoured footballer, Cesc Fabregas. Hehh. The face is not recognizable but any football fan would recognize the frame and the posture of Fabri..

Firefighter

I was sitting by the PC trying to work out a way to understand the Linux interface, when my mom suddenly shouted panic. I rushed out to see a small fire gaining wind right above the electrical board. The bell, which was placed right above it, had somehow caught fire. The stupid maid suggested throwing water over the fire; that would have surely electrocuted us. I picked up a doormat and banged it right on the bell a couple of times. The fire went out and luckily, it did not catch the electrical board. Man it was a scary day. Soot flying all over the house, even to my room and dirtying my laptop. The wall has now turned black and there is still a lingering smell of burnt plastic.

Highlights of the day - Saturday March 18 2006

- Munaf Patel bowled brilliantly

- Yuvraj Singh came to field at the third man boundary and the whole North Stand erupted in chants of KIM SHARMA, KIM SHARMA... Yuvi turned around and gestured to slap the crowd. Two minutes and the crowd started to chant SORRY, SORRY.. then came the surprise.. just as Yuvi turned to acknowledge the crowd, they chanted... @%#&!@ banaya, bada mazaa aaya.. It happens Yuvi..

- WE WANT SAURAV chants erupted as soon as Dravid dropped a catch

- The usual SACHIN SACHIN was on, but attempts to get the Mexican Wave started proved futile, with the East Stand refusing to cooperate

- All in all, a boring day's play, with neither the batsmen scoring at a quick rate, neither the wickets falling..

All the attention

It sometimes happens that you suddenly get so much attention that it seems unknown to you and you end up doing things people do not expect of you.

A person who has been in those unnoticed few ever since school, where he was neither too good nor too bad, for him to be known; if he is suddenly noticed and famed for a good thing of his or by chance of no one better being there with him..

Everyone starts talking about him, and then a few months down the line, you realise, is he really that good? And then your brain replies, "No, I mean he might be OK, but nothing that you have not seen before." And by then, you have raised that person to such a pedestal that bringing him to himself is a tough task.

Sizzler woes??

I did this in probably the 9th standard, and it works even now..

Kya aap Yoko jaane ke liye tadapte hain, aur phir vahaan pahunch kar ek sizzler bhi nahi kha paate? Do you call the waiter half way through your sizzler to clear your platter? I have the answer. Siddhesh Mehra presents to you the 'Sizzler woes to wows', your best way to finish a Yoko sizzler... (I know its cheesy, but I wanted this para to be this way)

Now once you have got the sizzler of your choice in front of you, and once the sizzle has burnt your face with the smoke, you decide to pick up the fork and start with the fries. Do not tempt yourself to put the fork straight into your favourite food, chicken in my case. In fact keep it till the end. It is a sure way of getting through your sizzler. You eat the fries, and the other vegetables. Remember to eat onions and mushrooms later because they are the most likely to burn your tongue, if you haven't already. When your stomach says enough, you will end up with the chicken on your platter. Now obviously you cannot skip that. Thats what you came for. Remind yourself of the name of the sizzler 'Sizzling CHICKEN in *your choice* sauce'. And there you have a reason to eat all the chicken. And then probably your friends sitting next to you, who haven't read 'Sizzler woes to wows' will stare at you in admiration.

Hehh. I just love Yoko.

The Metro Ride

When you think of railway stations in India, you expect a crowded, dirty place with so much noise that two people standing a foot away need to shout. Forget about sitting in a local train. (Now now the New Bombay stations are an exception)
But think again. Go to Delhi, travel in the metro there, and I am sure you will come out impressed. With working escalators and clean floors, the stations are beautifully made.
Picture this. In a car, a ride from Delhi University to Connaught Place takes around an hour; if you are lucky and the traffic is moving. Contrast that to the metro, which takes fifteen minutes and leaves you in the heart of Connaught Place. You get a place to sit easily; it is centrally air-conditioned (obviously) and even for a first-timer, there are enough signs and boards to have a trouble free journey.
Mumbai needs a metro. Though it has been passed, I am sure it will be years before such a project will be undertaken in this city. Why, we do not know? Remember the Bandra Worli flyover?

School

I always wonder why my parents decided I should go to a boarding school when I was just in the fourth grade.

It was a brave decision; and to say that I also wanted to desperately go to a boarding school was another thing. I had always been in awe of my sisters who were in Mussoorie International School. My sis never failed to tell me how much fun they had in school, besides the independence they got.

So I, who had torn an acceptance from Welham Boys in the second standard, suddenly wanted to join a boarding. And then, I was at Scindia School, Gwalior.

I did not know then, that I would have to bathe in ice cold water in the even colder winter, or that I would have to eat tasteless food for three years.

What I did know was that I was to live on my own for those years. I would be introduced to so many people from so many parts of the country, that I would later be able to distinguish a Bihari from a Bhaiya. (Most people in Bombay confuse between the two.)

There was this fascinating person I met. He was a German guy, of German parents, not an NRI. And surprise, surprise, he was a Hindi teacher.

I went to so many places. Went to Bangladesh, went to Ajmer.

Good my parents thought I should go to a boarding school. Everyone should.

Lacklustre

After watching movies as rang de basanti, there is a definite surge in the minds of many people; to do something, extraordinary.
But I ask, what if I want to do something? I do want to, but I am just not able to.
Whenever a movie portraying all those patriots is released, I have a feeling of guilt. I put myself in a predicament which I do not know how to get out of. I know that in five years, I will be in the US and paying taxes to the country who would have already charged me a bomb for the education there.
When my father gives me money to buy a painting for the house, he trusts that I would spend the money on a nice painting. If I get a bad painting, the next time he would go and get one himself, not tell me to buy.
We; at least I, have lost trust in the government I'm giving money to. But what do I do. I don't step into it, I keep paying. And I know the country is going to the dogs. But I am too scared to come forward and take something into my own hands.
I lack the courage. Because if someone does come forward, he will die in this vicious political circle. So it will probably need another few courageous people to save the country. I know I can't do it, unless I suddenly develop a will so strong that a miracle does happen.
This post is more of a confession. I today know that there are certain ties to me with my world, that will never let myself be carefree. And I believe that that is very necessary for someone to do something of such a stature.

Poetic Moods #1 Black River

Water rustling, we could hear;
the lights on the sides in the night, see;
A sight one would love to behold;
A river joining the Arabian Sea.

So we told the flat owner,
we wish to buy,
An apartment,
so beautiful as thy;

A golf course is coming up, Mr;
he told us with a smile;
What more could we ask for;
A beautiful view for a mile.

So we bought the house,
And came to stay;
And then,
to our utter dismay;

It was a drain;
the rustling sound;
The Black River they called it;
all around.

We called the flat owner and asked about;
the river and the sea;
He said "Don't worry Sir;
In ten years you will also have a Black Sea!"

posts and comments... post comments

hey guys. when u post comments, please leave your names. It is pretty tough to keep guessing who is commenting on which post.

eminem songs and cricket woes

Sometimes such incidents chill you out. OK. So I was keeping wickets while playing cricket at this ground in Juhu. The bowler was a lousy one. But one of the balls just bounced off the pitch (may be off a stone) and bang; it crashed into the batsman's spects. The spects broke and the guy went down. Now I didn't even know this guy. I rushed to him and asked if he was fine. But it was so chilling; I mean what if even a small piece of glass went into the eyes. The guy could have gone blind. Phew!
I was watching Eminem on VH1 one of these days and I never knew Eminem was a Micheal Jackson himself until I saw those yankees going mad outside Times Square. I just wonder what Eminem has in his songs. There is a lot of emotion. And then there is this frank confession to himself. He does not seem to have any pretence. I mean that guy could go to the Grammys and accept an award without so much as a glint on his face. I would not be able to do it. Amazing.

cheese balls *jalapeno poppers* and broad shoulders

I was at a friend's party yesterday. One of my friends actually thought I had started gymming et al. He told me he could not recognise me at first glance (I meet this friend 5 days in a week). I supposedly have developed broad shoulders. Huh. None of the girls told me this. But still, I take it as a compliment; and keep hoping that it comes from a feminine mouth next.
Moving on from the broad shoulder episode, the highlight of the party was the CHEESE BALLS *jalapeno poppers*. I had more than fifteen. Yummy. The cheese oozed out just as I pricked the toothpick into it. We had a great time.
By the way, I actually went to the gym today!

purani jeans

wow. You feel great when you talk to a person who you last met 6 years ago. It is exciting, to say the least. You start remembering things which were kept in an unknown corner of your mind which you never opened in those years. Hehh. I met a friend last year after 8 years; I met a friend today after 6 years. I hope to meet more of such feeling. Brings in a little bit of tickle in the stomach!

That inner feeling

I had only heard it but now I think it must be true. OK fine, I travelled on the 1st of January; it seems I will be travelling the whole year. Two days out of Kerala, I was in Lonavala; now with my family. It turned out to be a comedy of sorts. I was so excited to be on a vacation after a vacation; but somehow I just could not wait to return to Bombay again. Something funny was going on in my stomach. It was as if after Kerala, I was expecting those bunch of friends to be with me in Lonavala too.
And so driving on the Expressway as fast as I could (with all the nagging from the rear seat); I came to Bombay. Then I went for tutions where I was going to meet the Kerala bunch today after the trip (exclude Ajmera's bday please). Hah, so they were happy to see me. There were a lot of "Hey"s and "Lonavala and all, huh?"s from them. But then when I was finally settling down in the class, one of the assistants came and told me, "Listen, you have missed the first class, so it is better that you come tomorrow and attend that lecture instead of sitting for this lecture straight away." Hah. What was that all about? But I was at least happy; happy to see the Kerala bunch.

Down South

I don't know if I would have gotten close to so many people in the four years in college had I not gone to Kerala for the Industrial Visit (hehh.. that is what they called it). It was wonderful. I actually never knew that Kerala had hills too; I thought it was just beaches. But it would have been better if we were given more time on the beaches; I mean two hours was just not enough. Beedi, mingi, and a lot of other things; it was great.