pep talk

Life is full of irony, surprises, shocks and awes.

Latest in the series of shocks that I have encountered off late includes a friend of mine.

Hong Kong

Well, so I was talking to this friend of mine whom I know for a very long time. She asked me about my future plan and I started off with my usual rantings about how I want to live the world, and travel to far off places and experience different cultures. She listened me say all the interesting things about the ways in which one gets to see different places in the world. And I gotta be honest with you, I felt superior when I was telling her about my plans. After all, it was I who was telling her about the steps to be taken to go abroad for the first time. Mind you, I am yet to set foot outside Indian subcontinent myself !

So few days back I was checking out face book as usual without anything in mind when I suddenly stumbled across her photographs that she had uploaded.

And it was from her trip in Hong Kong.

And I am ashamed ! I gave her the pep talk assuming that I would make it outside the country before her at least ! I am looking forward to talking to her. Lets see how she is going to make fun of me. Will keep the readers posted of my humiliation.

Cheers.

Rahul

My Experience with a high profile Gym in Delhi

Hi . .

Its been a long time since I last posted in this series of my blog. But better late than never.

So I have joined what they call as Golds Gym. It was started by a certain someone named Mr. Gold in USA tens of years back and has successfully capitalized on their brand name globally.

I started 2011 on a high note and had made a promise to myself to get fitter, leaner and more flexible. My belly has been expending non stop for quite a while now and I guess its high time I start working out to contain the very expansion.

Again I am roving. Sorry folks.

When I had joined the gym, it was my first time. I have joined couple of times earlier too, but none of them lasted more than couple of odd days which makes this time indeed my first time.

I borrow my dads Maruti 800 to go to gym most of the time. Majority of people come from a high profile family. When I show up at their gym, they have awesome cars parked all around. But the front rows are reserved only for those cars that are worth being shown off to the outside world. Even if the space is free, and I park there, the freaks move my car to the end of the back row to remove it from peoples eyes. And the more expensive cars take my cars former position. Not that I am too concerned about it, but it says something about their mentality and their tendency to show off.

I found this incident pretty peculiar, in fact, weird enough to write about it to you folks.

Please post your opinion if you have any so that I can ascertain for myself whether I am the only one finding it abnormal or something is wrong with my normalcy !!

Cheers

Rahul

wow


I was on my way to this place in south delhi for my counselling session regarding admission to University of West of England. I got to know that I am one of the very few students who received unconditional offer from the Univ.

Anyways. . So there I was in an regular autorickshaw when I came across this creature swaying leisurely on the busy streets of New Delhi. The sheer contrast in the speed and the nature of transport being used side by side prompted me to actually stick my head out of the rickshaw, avoid getting bumped into the head by the adjacent automobiles, and shoot !!

Hope you guys enjoy the picture !!

Remember the Euphoria I was in after having clinched the Ericsson Job? Well , its gone long time back. The reason being the extreme amount of traveling involved in the duty to the remotest of the places.

A job at last !

The other day I was randomly checking my email . . just the way I do every fifteen minutes when I am terribly bored and I got nothing better to do. . And I get this email saying there is an employment opportunity and calling the Telecom Engineers. . And I was sane enough to take that mail seriously. The first thing I did was to take the print out of that mail and send back my updated cv. . . I wonder whats there to update in it considering the amount of passiveness I have exhibited in the past couple of months.

So well, I give this concerned person a call saying that I would like to apply for the job and was immediately given an appointment the next day for an interview scheduled to take place in Ericsson Office somewhere in gurgaon; a place I had never been to. Told my parents about it and they were quite okay with it. The next morning my dad booked a cab to the destination, as if I am going to an airport for a trip to Las Vegas or something. But that was sweet of him. And a bit heavy on pocket too.

So I reach this venue quite well ahead in time. I had woken up late that morning and to save time I didnt really freshen up that way I usually do (okay. . dont misconstrue what I say here !)And by the time I reached the office I was quite uncomfortable. My bladder had developed a pressure that would have crossed the threshold level had I not taken an immediate action.
So, I went up to the desk and asked about the interview schedule and was told to wait for some time that I gladly did. Met some cool guys out there who were as bad an engineer as I was. . . (okay I am being humble!) The interview went quite well. They had asked us who would want to get interviewed first, and I was the one who took the initiative, not to show any leadership skills or something, but because of the immense ennui I felt there.

So there I was with the senior guys of Ericsson, who would eventually grill me for half an hour, asking everything from the GSM system architecture to whether I have a girl friend or not, and whether I am serious or not in a relationship. I had answered almost all the questions satisfactorily till there came some questions that I had no clue about. . But since I didnt want to stop the flow of the answer and question back and forth, rather than admitting about my unfamiliarity with the asked question, I was saying all the fancy stuff I could muster, and boy was he pissed. He said its better if I say I dont know rather than trying to answer something I have no clue about. And guess what, Thats what I did. So well . . here is the lesson guys. . in interview, you can afford to be a bit honest about yourself. . not too honest. but yeah honest to a certain extent that it doesnt look too fake. In fact , the interviewers like the honesty thing as long as their ego is being satisfied.

Anyways, So the interview was over and I came out and had a talk with some guys who had come to apply for the same job that I had applied to and asked me what all questions were asked. I tried my best to recall some of them and tried to help as much as I could. There was this person named Asheesh who was quite cool . .the typical lazy ass engineer who doesnt give a damn about anything thats got nothing to do with him. So we strike off pretty well. . And then at the end of eveyones interview we are told we will be gotten back to over the phone call.

The next day I called up the person who had set up my interview and he told me I had gotten a "good, impressive" feedback from the interviewer. I was happy to hear that for a change. . After the debacle at the previous interview my confidenc elevel was not quite as high as I would have liked it to be!

Sadly, Aasheesh didnt make it past the interview as far as I know.  I might be wrong. So well. . the joining date and everything has been fixed. Got a big break in telecom sector and its just so cool to know that. And the best part about this job is. . . Its my own. I did what I had to get this job. And I didnt get what had to get done to get the job to me by itself as many people do ! (not that I could have wither though. . :-))

So there is the story of my first job.
There is a minor problem though. I had registered for GRE exam on 2nd november and I would have office that day. I will see what can be done to be in a position to at least take the exam, if not do well !!

More stories to follow . . . Hold on!!


Rahul

my maiden gig!!

it was like a dream come true. . to see people headbanging listening to our music and . . . moshing. . its the biggest compliment any band can get. . . the more aggressive you get em, the better you are.

anyways. . in the end, what i feel is that . . it paid off man. . traveling in a freaking bus from pimpri to ghorpdi every time for jamming, . . trying to make my band mates understand the huge distance involved and telling em the reasons for my abscence from the jamming sessions on many occasions. .

the credit goes to everyone in the band. . specially bissy. . biswodeep the guitarist and amol the vocalist for putting the band together. . for calling up everyone and showing so much concern for anything and everything associated with the band . .

and i was so fucking elated to see a guy commenting in the rock in pune thread that godstonetrip deserved to win . . even if its a comment by a single guy, but thats more than enough to make us happy. . at least some people out there liked our music. . more than the awards, being appreciated by our listeners is what we care about.

thanks. for everything.

Finally the search ends.

It was in the middle of the technical festival that i realized i had fallen in love. . at the same time cupid was doing something to the person i was falling in love with, and what happens next? we are committed.

I have had a long history with this girl . . I have been in talking terms with her right from the start of the college. We didn't talk much back then, but passed smiles casually, not aware that couple of years later we would be madly in love with each other.

She used to hang out with people who were supposedly bad bunch of guys. And I absolutely hated that part. And I somehow had convinced myself that those were the traits of the sluttiness.

Yes I hated her. Specially after the previous year technical festival due to the incident involving me and her. It happened that we had stayed late night at the college auditorium as we were running out of time for the stage decoration. I was also there. SO was she.

I entered the hall and she made faces the moment i was looking towards her direction. Now I could have kept quiet and ignored her. But the hatred inside made me shout at her. . "What you making faces at?" And she retorted with an equal if not more intensity or rather hatred. . "Its my face. . I do what i want to . . " And I pushed off from there afterwards. . . with even more hatred . . . hatred amplified like a differential voltage gets amplified across the open loop op - amps. (had to sound like a budding engineer. . sorry folks. . . )

And so the zion 2008 happened. I had asked Ripple, the students coordinator, to make me the head of the campaigning department. He did that. And by the most amazing luck or bad luck whatever you call it, she was my partner. She was also assigned the same portfolio.

I was so damn apprehensive at the first working day for the campaigning. I approached her and started talking about some official work to be done . . as if nothing had happened in the past and that we were friends. She also behaved not her normal self for a change and was receptive to what i said. Eventually we made announcements in various classes. And that was the day when I surreptitiously got hold of her number. . !!

And the story goes on till this very moment. Every day is a new day for us. Every second that passes by makes me realise how much I love her and how life has changed since her arrival. How I have started making an attempt to be a better person. . a better human being and more importantly, a better lover.

She is still not convinced that I love her and she occasionally states that I would leave her one day. When I say"I love you!!" She just gives back a smile and gently scolds me asking not to lie. I insist. She insists back. And I give up.

We have spent so much time together. She comes here and we stay together for almost 2 to 3 days and nights. Yet at the time she starts going back, I feel she had just arrived and that I ought to stop her from going away from me.

She is more practical, more light headed and has a sense of judgment. . some attributes that I perhaps lack. . or rather I am not good at.

Its a pity that My parents are against my marriage to someone outside the caste. I am not a selfish guy. I acknowledge how much they have done for me. I also know about their skepticism about their eldest son falling in love with someone outside the caste. . just like the eldest daughter of our extended family did. I remember how hurt my father was when he heard of the news that munmun would be marrying someone who happens to be a Jain.

At her marriage, various people from our extended family approached me with warnings like. . "Son . . you have to carry forth the legacy of our clan" . . or "you better marry a brahmin" or "Dont shame us the way she has!!"

My mother has never been supportive of me talking to some girl. Its stupid but understandable. She has been married to a guy she never knew before and she expects me to do the same. Wonder if its too much to ask for . . .

I had a talk about it with my girl friend when we were talking about whats gonna happen in future. I put a rock on my heart and said I would marry the girl my dad wants me to. . cos if i don't, he would die. !!
No obviously that sounds like we are bound not to marry ever. . . that the possibility of our prospective alliance is zilch. . which I feel is not the case. But I have already said those words and yeah . . words are like arrows. . once you have set them free, you cant take it back.

So yeah . . as of now. I am in a big dilemma. A big, complex and irksome task awaits me. . to convince my parents about the free will to marriage. . but a bigger task awaits me. . to make her believe that what i said was just to discourage her from being too sure about the future. . to avoid making her believe that there is no other guy except me for her in the universe. Future is uncertain. I do not want her to live on this false notion . I love her. And if being honest means she would be mad at me, So be it.

My father just called me up and asked me if I had read his article. Just now. . I reckon he would never imagine I was in the middle of writing something so relevant to him , to me, and to the future of our family.

I so much wish, my parents had not been so caste biased!!

My uncle. . look at him. what happened to him ? He followed what he was asked to. He married a woman he never knew before and whose photo he saw that was reprocessed from some adobe photo shop shit. . Is he happy today ? I seriously doubt it. Yes, he has come on terms with the different situations our society has imposed over him. But somewhere deep down in his heart I am sure he has a sadness . . with the way things unfolded for him. I would refrain from divulging too much . Its his personal life and I have no rights of stating these self opinionated piece of writings in a blog.

On this note I would end.

Do give me some feedback. I am fucking confused.!