Snapshots

1.5 months back -

An Indian seer who figures in epic Mahabharata, Charvaka, exhorted the people to borrow, spend and live happily, and not bother about how to repay the debt and not feel guilty if unable to pay it back. Even though he commended this thousands of years ago, the people of his country continue to disregard his prescriptions till today. But the US economists seem to have patented Charvaka's economic theory as theirs. The latest effect of this theory in practice was the sub-prime crisis and losses. The only difference is that the American version is definitely an improvement over Charvaka's economics, as it made the borrowers feel that their borrowing and spending was not for themselves, but for America!
They say that the first few lines of Mahabharata go, "All that you find in here could be found elsewhere, but all that you dont find in here will not be found anywhere." Vyasa really knew what he was creating, you've to give him that; what with the Charvaka theory coming in handy, thousands of years later, while trying to understand the roots of Sub prime crisis.

Nope, I'm not here to praise Mahabharata nor am I here to analyze the recession. But at the same time I just cannot ignore it and imagine that it never happened. It's not affecting me yet (touchwood), atleast not in the way you would expect it to. I do see some changes though. For instance, finding a place in the toilet of my overcrowded 5th floor has become a lot easier post the retrenchment. Back in India, I was telling my ajji (granny) that I work on the 5th floor, she was visibly disappointed to hear that and murmured that having gone so far till Singapore, I should be working on higher floors as it was easily possible for me to work on 5th floor even in India. This is the same ajji, who during her visit to my first company Deloitte consulting, in the posh suburbs of Hiranandani, after having taken a tour of the whole workplace had innocently asked me, "Parts kuthe bantaat?" (Where are the parts made?). Bechari just couldn't believe me when I told her that the company does not produce any parts and was into an IT consulting business. The amused expression on her face was more evident when she learnt that all the salary that I get, was only for "TYPING" into a computer.

1 month back -

I wrote the post till this point and the news of Ramalinga Raju's admitting of fraud has just crashed in, add to this the fact that my client has decided to scrap the project and I would be
bundled back to India. The future of thousands of Satyamites like me looks very bleak. I cursed the line "It's not affecting me yet (touchwood)", then i cursed myself for not having touched any wood after writing it, finally i cursed my destiny for all this turn of events and have decided to scrap this post all together, taking it as a bad omen.

3 weeks back -

The feeling has sunk in and with the client discussing the possibility of extending the project, the hope is back.
Today at the bus stop, a gujju couple kept staring at me and my i-card, then they started discussing satyam issue in Gujrati. Admitted that with my curly hairs, wheatish complexion (*citation needed) and the silly expression on my face, i do look south indian at times; but having stayed in mumbai and pune for most part of my life, i do understand Gujarati. The male gujju was telling female gujju that somebody should save Satyam, lest 50,000 people will come out and take away the bread and butter of other innocent (!!) people. So now we Satyamites are villains for the rest of the innocent society, eh?
I just walk away to the Indian cafe nearby, suppressing the urge to debate. The waiter gives me (and my i-card) a long hard stare, he probably weighs the option of asking me to show the money before placing an order, then thinks against it and gets me my regular order. One of the two guys sitting on the table across me approaches me and asks "Yaar, ab aapki company mein recruitment band hogi na?". My reply, "Bhai salary band hone ka time aa gaya, aap recruitment ko lekar baithe ho!". Somehow, he thought it was a joke and went back laughing.

2 weeks back -

I had fun today at a friend's send off party. With destiny playing so many pranks on me, i have stopped playing pranks on people but today was an exception. There was this cute waitress who came at the table to take our orders. I wanted some food and she kept saying that the kitchen is closed but the bar is open. I kept on insisting that I don't consume liquor but do consume food from time to time and was feeling very hungry right now. She was convinced at the end but it did take some time. Andy, who was out for a cigarette that time, saw us talking from the glass door and on coming back, asked me "What was it all about?". I tried giving him the real version that I was ordering for food but he said, "Why did it take sooo long??"
My reply, "Oh that! She was asking me if i had any plans for tonight" - he believed this version, infact fell in love with it.
"So what did you say"
"I said yes, i am gonna go home and sleep"
"You are a sick bastard man, you should have asked her out"
"Why dont you take that honour"
And he really fell for it, went over to the counter asked for her, requested her to come away from the music and spoke to her for about a couple of minutes. It would have been a poetically happy ending, had the girl said yes to his request of coming out with him. But in this real world he came back extremely dejected and when severely probed by us on "What happened?", simply muttered "You all are sick bastards".

1 week back -

It's the eve of valentine's day and i'm a happy soul. My job is done, i have with me a decent valentine's day message and the person i gave this message to, is also happy about it!
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I'm not sure if "Marriages are made in heaven!" but (thanks to you) i know that "Heaven is made by marriages!" especially with marriages like ours.
I tried a lot to get a nice poem for you - but that didn't really make me happy, I also tried many fancy quotes for you - but again that didn't please me and finally, i also tried writing few good things myself - but alas, that too didn't satisfy me..
And when i was disappointed at not having found anything, a simple plain thought came to my mind, it made me smile and really really happy - and the thought was, 'You are MINE!".
On this valentines i want to thank you for being "MINE"..
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Now comes the twist - a beautiful female friend knocked on my chat window yesterday and asked me to write something for her about Valentines. And before i could have some fancy ideas, she made it amply clear that, it was supposed to be for her husband and the only reason i was being dragged into this is, she thinks i have a better choice in these things than her.
Period.

So, i plug in my earphones, with Tera Emosanal Atyachaar playing in it on a repeat mode, and get on with the task of writing something. This is what i could cook on the first attempt - and i've decided to leave it there.

1 day back -

It's 0900 in Singapore, 0630 in India. So, i'm very curious when my phone rings and AP's number is displayed as the caller. He's a dear friend who has got his H1B recently and is awaiting the opportunity to fly outside India.
"Hi AP, so early in the morning?"
"I havent slept whole night, could have called you even two hours back"
"Why?? everything alright?"
"I was asked by my company to fly out to US for an assignment"
"Great news man!"
"I declined the offer and have decided to quit IT"
"Why?? To do what??"
"I'm gonna study"
"Study for what? That bullshit MBA? Do you really think it's exclusive anymore? Everbody i know is doing an MBA these days, except for my parents."
"No i'm getting into civil services, to be an IAS officer"
"Ohh! so it's your college days dream back?? Get practical man, do you really think it's possible? So many responsibilities on you, studying at this age isn't gonna be as easy as it was in college days."
"I have worked out the logistics to some extent. Abhya, India is going to be a developed nation in 2020, there are so many ideas waiting to be implemented, so many things to be done. I want to be part of it. I want to be responsible for where our country goes from here. Besides... who'll pursue my dreams, if not me?"

2 hours back -

I'm just out of the movie hall after watching Delhi-6. What happened to the good old belief that you needed to have a good story and not a mere thought before making out a movie? You dont have to preach us everytime you make a movie Mr. Rakyesh Mehra. For a change give us something that can be measured only on the entertainment meter and not on a morality meter.
Flaws - less use of Rehman's music in the movie, childish ending, strong actors wasted in bits and pieces roles, less use of Sonam Kapoor and lastly, a plot trying to do too many things.
Strengths - Couple of brilliant sequences, music, Vijay Raaz, Sonam Kapoor and Abhishek Bachhan in few scenes.
Overall - 2/5