Enter the matrix

Yesterday was my first visit to Taj after the ghastly terrorist attack last month. It was a strange feeling looking at the building after watching it burning on TV. The surrounding was very quiet not many people were allowed to go near the building and it resembled a very secure zone. Generally the area around Taj is always bursting with people mostly tourists taking pictures of the building alsong with the Gateway. It felt eerie to look at those empty streets and it brought back those bad memories once again. I remember being locked in my office and looking Taj buring from my window as written earlier in my blog entry. There was security at the entrance but not the way I was expecting may be hospitality and security don't go hand in hand. Inside the hotel everything looked exactly same except there were very less people in the lobby. We went on to Nalanda the bookstore to catch up with the guys there. The sales man told us how they were locked in the godown with 12 guests for mor

It started all at the Leopold cafe just a street away from my current address. For the last 5 years I have been living in colaba and visit "Taj" and the "Leopold" very often. They both being a stone throw away from my office were often used for our business meetings and birthday bashes . On the fateful night of November 26 when they were attacked I was in the office working late and catching up the cricket match. I was about to go down at exactly 9:30 for having my dinner and would have crossed Leopold on my way to "Olympia" one of the other food joints. I was alerted by the peon who went down to grab his dinner. He called me and told me to stay indoors and lock the office from inside. I was the only one left in the office. For the next whole day I was locked inside the office watching the horror unfolding on TV and catching the glimse of Taj from my office window. It was bombed burned and sprayed with bullets for the next 62 hours. I along with the whole

This is a message from a friend..I liked it so putting it here .. Life Is A Gift Today before you think of saying an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak. Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat. Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went too early to heaven. Before you argue about your dirty house, someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets. Before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet. And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished they had your job. But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us are without sin and we all answer to one maker. And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and thank God you're alive and still around.

Is there a limit to what we can achieve? We are all born with some traits and some we gain as we live through life. We create our aims , dreams and our aspirations take flight as we go through the different phases of our life. When we are small probably we dream of riding a bicycle the whole day or playing the 'gully cricket' from morning to evening or scoring good marks without studying. As we grow up we dream of big fast cars, big houses, foreign tours and even buying a Greek island. But as the life unfolds the reality dawns on us. It is not all so simple. There is a limit to ones abilities, intellect and the opportunities life presents us. So is this all just luck and a predetermined fate with which we all are bind to and we end up getting what we were supposed to? What if we are to challenge our circumstances and in turn ourselves? What if our dreams overshoot our abilities ? Can we still fight for them? I was never proud of my abilities and add them to my laziness, I us

While talking about school life the other day I was

The rejection is really a terrible felling but not necessarily a terrible thing. It makes our confidence go down the drain and it greatly affects the moral of trying things again. Rejection occurs in all walks of life whether it is romance or carrier and every time it happens..it tends to bring down our faith in ourself and our abilities. Rejection is very painful specially when someone was very hopeful of it. We as humans have inherent needs and we work to satisfy those needs. Now there are more than one ways of meeting the need like a house is a need but whether we want a flat, a Chawl or a Bungalow is a separate thing. Similarly sharing life with someone is an inherent need but whom do we settle down with is a matter of luck and choice. So when there are many things to run for there will be times when we don't get the things we aim for whether it is a person of our dreams or a flat with great view or a job in a rocking MNC. When a rejection happens we start finding fault either

It has been a while since I last wrote a blog entry. Past month was very hectic and sometimes life moves so fast that it does not give time to look back at it. It is however a silly thing to do as moving fast never allows us to enjoy the life as it goes and some day suddenly we feel that we don't have much time left to live. Anyway this post of mine is not about my bullshit philosophy but about a great book I read recently. The book is called " The Last Lecture ". It is written by Dr Randy Pausch . He was a professor in the computer science department in Carnegie Mellon before he died on july25, 2008. He died of pancreatic cancer and this book is about the last lecture he gave after he was diagnosed of this terminal illness and was given just few months to live. It is a book about life from the eyes of a person who had just few days to live among his loved ones. It is about what matters in life and it is like a last letter he wrote for his kids to read it long after he i

Tagged again by " Straight from the heart " but its quite an interesting tag. The rules 1. Put Your iTunes/ music player on Shuffle 2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer. 3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT!!! After you've answered all of the questions - IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY? Babe I am gonna leave you - Led zeppelin (Wow hilarious) - WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Pehli nazar mein - Atif Aslam - WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL ? Zara si dil main de jagah tu - KK - HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? Sultans of swings - Dire straits - WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? Teri Ore - Sing is King - WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? I did it my way - Frank Sinatra( Wow bang on target) - WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS? Summer of 69 - Bryan Adams -WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? Bakhuda tumhi ho - Kismet Konnection - WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Good Bye blue sky - Pink Floyd - WHAT DO YOU THIN

In his famous book " Build to last " Jim Collins talks about the elements which make companies survive the turbulence of time and the threat of market randomness. He follows it with another book called " Good to Great " where he talks about how companies can actually become great. Though the books talk about the large corporations and macroeconomics it is interesting when we apply those principles to our day to day life. We are all born with some resources and over a period of time they are used, modified and sharpened to form distinctive characteristics. These resources keep on changing and multiplying as we grow old. However the rate of change varies a lot from person to person. Utilizing these resources help us source our food, find a mate, and above all interact and survive among various alive and inert elements. We as humans are blessed with a lot of these resources and fortunately we are conscious about their presence. We can shape these resources to achieve o

1.Last movie you saw in a theater? The dark knight 2.What book are you reading? The Dip by Seth Godin 3.Favorite board game? Chess 4.Favorite magazine(s)? Wired,Scientific American, Readers digest 5.Favorite smells? Petrol, Earth after the rains 6. Favorite sounds? Laughter 7. Worst feeling in the world? Not performing to my potential 8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up? Thank God..I am alive 9. Favorite fast food place? Bare Miya in colaba 10. Future child’s name? I will let them choose it themselves.. 11. Finish this statement. “If I had lot of money I’d….?” Open a school and a big library 12. Do you drive fast? Sometimes 13. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? NO.. 14. Storms - cool or scary? Cool n sexy 15. What was your first car? I have not bought it with my money yet. 16. Favorite drink? Lassi 17. Finish this statement, “If I had the time I would….”? Read more 18. Do you eat the stems on broccoli? No 19. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be

Whats the best way to lead a life? We hear and read a lot about it everywhere. People from different walks of life have a different take on it. An optimist will tell you to risk and be adventurous, a pessimist will tell you to be vary of bad times and always look for security, a youngster will tell us to live life king size, whereas the seasoned uncle will tell us to cherish every moment. So it is pretty much clear that its almost impossible to follow everything as at times it is so confusing if we are to live with a specified philosophy of life. I believe as we grow up we take much from our environment and it shapes our behavior but deep down inside there is something which is unique to us. It may not be very obvious but it is there nevertheless. Life is about sharing this common world with our friends, with neighbors, with every living being around, with deep blue seas and lush green grasslands, the lofty mountains and the hot deserts, the infinite stretch of the cosmos and that hid

It has been a long time since I completed my engineering and all these years have just flown by and before I noticed it was 5 years. I wanted to do an MBA for a long time now. This year however I planned that I must enroll myself in an executive MBA course. The first I came across was in NMIMS and I wasted no time applying for it. Luckily it clicked and in no time I found myself back to school. It was a business school this time. Today was the first day and I was expecting long boring lectures. However to my surprise it was one of the best display of effective teaching to me. Firstly the crowd is great I mean my class has people from very diverse backgrounds and age. The people are from finance, marketing, logistics, medicine, information technology and physics. People have work experience ranging from 3 to 25 years. The oldest in our class is 55 years old so you can guess we really have a great atmosphere to study in. The facilities in the institute are very good at least it looked gr

If you ask me what is the most single most important aspect that determines the fate of any relationship I can bet my ass on Honesty. Relationships are based on mutual respect and belief and when we are not honest with each other the relationship will not last for long. We may love the person with our heart but if we are afraid to speak the truth with that person then its not only disrespectful to that person but undermines the relationship. I understand when we start a new relationship we generally want to impress the other person with all our positive qualities and don't reveal everything about ourselves very quickly. I also agree as long as the other person is comfortable one does not have to bring up unfortunate events from the past. However once we are in a stable relationship one must be truthful to each other. We tend to lie to hide something and it indicates that we are afraid of something. Fear can have very bad effect on health of a relationship. It better to come out of

She will always speak her mind but her silence says the thousand words She is strong enough to walk alone but wait for me to catch up at times She will lie for fun but is brutally honest when I need to hear it She is always near when I need her but will go away for letting me myself... She is the one out there for me.. She will walk in the rain like a free soul but can lock her self to finish her favorite book She is patient with my stupidity but will loose her cool when I procrastinate She will adapt to a change very quickly but will stubbornly fight if she is wronged.. She is fiercely independent but will take care of request people make She is the one out there for me.. She will worry about future but will enjoy each day as it comes She is conservative in her expectations but never shy away from giving everything she has She will be my glass mate if need be but will know when to stop me from drinking She is open to complaints but will put forward her case under any circumstance She

Well..I guess I will find most of us if not all to agree that our friends make our life worth the experience it is. Friends not only multiply our good times but take away the sadness by being there when needed. Good friends are more than a shoulder to cry on. They not only provide a new perspective to our problems but being close to us know what will work better for us. Though I like keeping my problems to myself at times and finding my own solutions to them but at times it so very necessary to share it and every time I have done it I have never been disappointed. I came out of the problem easily and with a better understanding of life. I strongly believe a good friend is god's blessing to us. But like any relationship friendship also needs time and effort. In our materialistic pursuit we tend to ignore the people who are close to us and at times when we look back we are alone no one left to even share our success left alone our grief. I believe the best way to have a good friend

World does not work the way it seems. Either I have an underdeveloped processing system to process information or people in general are so complex that it’s almost impossible to correctly identify the real self of people around you. People are seem to be hidden under this web of lies, and somehow are afraid of revealing their true self. Well its not that I am against anyone decision to hide their personal secrets but deceiving someone with false facts and promises is certainly cruel. Its not that I have met only pathological cheaters but on the contrary people I know are frank and brave about themselves. I guess that the reason when I met people so very different it is difficult for me not to believe in them. I am not very proud of my social intelligence so I never feel bad when people generally turned out to be different than I expect them to be but it hurts when you feel manipulated for some petty gains. It deletes your faith in humanity and you feel revengeful which ultimately harm

Well the title may seem directly lifted from a booze commercial but I say this to myself every time life gives me a lesson. You know whenever we become arrogant enough to think that we have figured out mostly what life is that we get a new lesson and the problem with life is that it takes your exam before it gives you the lesson and you know exams they are never easy. However what matter at the end is that we get our lessons. Well this post is not about my latest lesson but about life in general. Life is the best thing we have and its up to us what we make of it. It is governed by random laws beyond our control but we still have to live it the way best we can. Life will be unfair at times but no fun complaining about it. It is a game with ever changing rules so we just need to accept whatever it gives us but never stop trying. It will take from us the few things we love and at times will give limitless joy from small things. It gives us sweet memories to cherish, dreaded incidents to

Ok! How many of us really think any guru can fix those thorny relationship issues..I guess a lot thats why we have so many counselors and therapists. I think more than anything they provide a whole new dimension to view the problem helping individuals make informed decisions. When a person is in emotional pain its difficult for him to come to a solution all by himself and talking to an expert always help. But the problem is to find a real guru and not a dude whose life is dedicated to screwing people to milk money out of them. Sometimes the real helpers are our own people who can really channelize the pain out of you. The other day we were having an informal chat within our group of friends and colleagues. It all started with this couplet.. Nafrat bhii nahi Adawat bhii nahi Us saksh ko humse mohabat hii nahi..... Hum jee nahi sakte jiske bina Us zaalim ko hamari zarurat hii nahi.. being orated by one of the guys nursing his broken heart. Well it got serious when this dude lost it and

Have you even been treated unequally? If yes then you can relate to what it feels when you can't stand up to someone. It is not only humiliating but wipes out your self esteem completely. I feel the same when I can't stand up to you and feel burdened by your mammoth persona. Why you have to be so nice to me? I really don't deserve it. I have always believed in equality of human potential. So I never felt smaller just because one drives a bigger car than me or takes home a fatter salary check. In totality my potential is as good as anyone else so if there is a difference its there in application. I always believed in fair competition so always treated my adversaries the same way they should be. I never thought they are of smaller stature and deserve my mercy or charity in any way so even if they loose out they will have their dignity. But when it comes to you I don't know why you have been treating me unfairly. When in response to my nasty behavior you maintain your cal

Disciple : What is the easiest way to rise in life, Master? Master : Fall my son fall and you will rise. Its pain of the fall that holds you back learn to fall and there is no limit to your rise. It was the 12th day since the project started. He was busy with new framework company decided to use for the project. He knew the team needed some serious help or else the project will go out of hand. He was expecting the new lead to arrive anytime soon and the door opened. It was not as if he was looking at any girl for the first time but it struck him hard. She was all that he ever imagined. They say when god made us he divided us into two parts and its just that we spend our life searching for that half. Some people find them easily and some never. The moment he saw her he knew she was the one he wants to grow old with. The training went smoothly and perhaps things got better for him there after. It was like a switch that was thrown open and a new program was now running on his system. H

The time stands frozen for me now. Nothing moves its just a long sleepless night brighten momentarily by your memories and that is all I have got now. Meeting you was the best thing that happened to me and the time we spent together will always be with me like a gift wrapped in eternal fragrance. You gave me everything even more than I deserve and now when you are gone I look back at the journey we made together, the jokes we shared, the roads we crossed, the books we bought and the music we shared. It was like a dream as long as it lasted. I don't know why we could not walked further when we started so well. I was always with you but this time you took the turn and left me at this cross road frozen in time. I wait now only for you to return standing there at the same place where you left me. My senses are worthless now as they can only be revived with you sight now matter how momentarily it may be. My hands are waiting to hold you just for once. Its the pain now that exist withi

Well this is my 50th blog. I am glad I reached this milestone well it may be nothing in this blogger universe but it surely is a personal achievement given my track record of unfinished activities. I hope I will be able to write a bit better as I grow and learn but whatever it may be I pray I should never be dishonest about what I write. What I write is firstly for my consumption and I hope I should be able to do justice to myself. The blogging has given me many new friends in the blogosphere. I have learn and shared a lot and I will continue to do the same. ...its such a pleasant journey..I hope I continue forever

Fear ..is strange it can cripple you or it can lead you to do impossible tasks..its just how you react to it. Brave they say is not the one who is not fearful but the one who holds on even with it. I am no brave but fear brings the best in me. Over the years the things that scares me have undergone remarkable changes but still there are things that scare me. If I can remember correctly when I was a little kid i was scared of the big wide well in the neighborhood, when I went to school I was scared of the empty store room which all our teachers threatened to lock us in. When I was in primary my art teacher got into the scene and scared the hell out of me with her innovative punishing techniques. Things began to look good as I grew up. Fear became a rare commodity but was occasionally experienced during the college exams. It further vanished as I move around for work. So I must admit I missed being afraid. However a recent incident brought back that adrenaline rush in me which

Who am I ? The kid from the neighborhood just walked in and asked me this question. I thought for a while and could just answer that "you will experience it for yourself". 'I' is so profound and deep that we seldom look beyond its literal meaning. What does I represent. Is 'I' my name, my face or my body. Well even if I change my name I still remains the same and so after a plastic surgery or even death the 'I' representing 'myself' will still exist . So is 'I' my brain or my mind? Then what is I in a brain dead person or even a mentally challenged person. If we ponder carefully I points to something which is cumulative total of different entities some of which are apparent and some are hidden. My body , my name and my face do point to my existence but they don't entirely constitute me. I also exist as conscious living being who can ask himself this question. Human mind and consciousness we think has been created by millions

Forward mails can be a real pain but at times they do bring in some smiles. I recently got this forward message regarding cricket which I thought of sharing... Enjoy The Sledging in Cricket .. You thought cricket was gentleman's game think again... Aussie paceman Glenn McGrath was bowling to Zimbabwe number 11 Eddo Brandes - who was unable to get his bat anywhere near the ball. McGrath, frustrated that Brandes was still at the crease, wandered up during one particular over and inquired: " Why are you so fat?" Quick as a flash, Brandes replied: "Because every tim e I make love to your wife, she gives me a biscuit ." Even the Aussie slip fielders were in hysterics. Ian Healy's made a legendary comment which was picked up by the Channel 9 microphones when Arjuna Ranatunga called for a runner on a particularly hot night during a one dayer in Sydney... " You don't get a runner for being an overweig unfit, fat c*nt!" Its common knowledge that I

‘Bad’ in all its forms and manifestations implies something negative to human senses both morally and objectively. Like all adjectives it is also relative to its context. There are frames of references which contain the test subjects and we can apply valuation theory to be certain of an act or object being good or bad but applying in wide social world with our improper understanding of the context can lead to absurd results. To measure badness quotient among entities around us require different benchmarks and relative parameters to obtain it correctly. Let us consider the statement ‘Violence is bad’. We can easily make it that this statement though hold correct for many references it may be incorrect in some of them. A person countering violence by violence may not be called bad. So a person being abused violently will be called brave rather than bad. Our mind is quick to point out something negative in others; I guess this is how we evolved where we prioritize our own self befo

This is in response to your post 'The art of growing up' where you have expressed that growing up in this world is about being mean, selfish and greedy. I must say that you really missed the point in your post. I agree growing up involves experiencing all the negative emotions but its about the triumph of your positive self over the so called negative ones. Growing up is a life long process and it never stops but the day our positive self eclipse the negative self we are grown up..the age hardly matters. Here I must tell you the things I have learned as I have grown up. 1) For every cold dark night there is warm day waiting round the corner. 2) We never know what we have till we loose it and never know what are we missing till we get it. 3) Failure is never final till we stop trying. 4) The good and bad adds to the flavor of life and without one the other is meaningless. 5) Every moment lived is a new experience in itself. 6) Hope is the best thing a man can have. 7) To be lo

Everyone wants me to grow up. My parents, my colleagues, my friends and even my twelve year old cousins. I wish I could fulfill their request..but have failed miserably till now. I always thought growing up is a science where in mother nature stretches you from an invisible cell to a complex organism with the passage of time. The interaction with everything outside you teaches and help you evolve into grown up man or woman or perhaps both( your choice). The growing up in this world is no longer an science but perhaps an art which everyone must master to be a truly grown up being. I wished I could attend some coaching classes which could help me grow up. As learning and success is now directly proportional to the classes one can attend so I was in search of something which could help me behave like a grown up man. It was until I met this gentlemen who promised he could help me grow up. It was an exciting experience with him for sure. If my laziness could have permitted I would have e

Does god exist? People world over and from time immemorial have pondered on this and have given their explanation. Over a period of time common interests and power struggles have bundled these ideas into organized religions which we see in the world around us. So if we look into the origin of god as a belief we will notice that it is associated with the unexplainable and the random nature of the world around us. When we could not understand the rains, the days the nights and the natural processes around us we offered this all an explanation and a name which we call God. Though the idea and concept of a supreme being controlling the unexplainable was meant to satisfy the individual curiosity it was broadened and practiced as new ideas were added to it with progress of human civilization. Many with political insight used or rather abused it in binding together communities and creating religions with rigid rules ,dictates and customs. These have over the period of time affected human

I read a year back about how the Y chromosome which differentiates a man from a women is loosing its genes and in about 10 million years the man as we know ourselves will disappear from this planet. One of the female reporter commenting on the discovery summarized that men as a race are not worth saving. Well that was a long time back compared to the neck break speed of our our technological evolution. But today I came across another interesting article here http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/sciencetech/men-no-longer-necessary-for-sperm-production/750 and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/01/31/scisperm131.xml which reports of a new breakthrough where scientists are able to create sperm cells by harvesting stem cells from a women's marrow. So now even our contribution in keeping this world going is no longer required and I was feeling like an obsolete being already. But to my rescue came Champu. Champu we all feel is like a tormented child, he is

The memory of the last 26th is still fresh in my mind. Its not because I celebrated it with pomp and show but I managed to finish lots of my overdue work which I generally skip on a normal weekend. I made myself think that all my activities are my duties towards the great nation of ours and amazingly I could gather all the strength and passion to do them. This little experiment made me realize that we all citizens do share a sense of responsibility towards motherland and probably will give our best for it. So I thought let me make a list of problems which we as citizens should tackle for our nation to help it develop into a mature and welfare state. If we start complaining it can be a never ending list but we must acknowledge that each nation will have its share of problems so a perfect harmony is meaningless but at least there are few things we can do and change at personal level. 1) A Broader Outlook - We as knowledgeable citizens of this country should broaden our outlook towards

' Behind every great women there is a man...............checking out her ass .' I cannot agree more. Love Sex n Relationships are hotly read and debated topics and I have written about them in many of my previous posts. So whats new this time? Nothing much except that you can never write enough about them. I am not a relationship guru and I don't intend to be one so its just my take on things. When I talk about love in this post I just mean romantic love between couples so the deduction and inference may or may not hold for other relationships. Different Stages of Love 1) Attraction and lust - Romantic relationships starts with attraction. Well it may not be physical attraction only but couples get attracted to one quality or the other. We as humans have so many physical and personality traits which affect different people differently. Some one may find reading books a great hobby some one may just find it boring so relationship starts when one find the other attracti

I have discussed and debated at length about pros and cons of Socialism and Individualism with lots of people and have gained a lot from these conversations. I just want to summarize my views on these two contrasting systems. Individualism as a system emphasize on individual freedom, choice and reward over group laws and rules where as the socialism requires preference of social obligations over individual choice and freedom. Anyone can point out numerous flaws in both the systems in isolation but these two system can hardly survive of their own. It is the relative density of these two systems among cultures which decide its fate. We can observe various societies and nation states around the globe and conclude that political and social forces determine the density of either of the systems. Now the question arises what is a perfect mix for maximizing well being among all humans. If we increase individual or capitalistic pursuit we will have a free market society. This system will reward

Metropolis was big, not as grand Mr X would have liked but it had the flowing undercurrent which holds together millions of souls moving them and churning out progress of them. It was like the huge machine clumsy to look at and making a lot of noise but with a perpetual motion embedded into it . Mr X never disliked the idea of being part of this grand machine contributing to it and immersing himself into its mesmerizing energy. Since the day Mr X landed, metropolis embraced him with all its vigor like it always does to everyone who comes to meet it. It gave him those wonderful little moments to cherish, the test of fire, warm loving friends, hordes of competitors, occasional victories, not so usual disappointments, warmth of the crowd and seclusion of the desert. He liked it all and the wise old Metropolis was hotbed of his experimentation and self development. His love and fascination for it was now evident in his personality and Metropolis was able to mold one more man to somethin