(Nahi) Ho!

Old,Old event- draft completed recently

In my entire life, I have gone to a few concerts, Rehman, Indian Ocean, Kailash Kher to name some, and I generally feel the experience falls into one of the categories, Amazing!!!, Good, kind of OK- you find some negatives, maybe it could have been better.

Till me (with N and J) saw Sukhi Paaji yesterday. I have(actually make that had) generally been a fan of Sukhvinder Singh- and was really looking forward to a nice sunday evening.

Here's how it all went - the scheduled start was 6 pm

6 pm : No, after being to so many Indian events, you learn that Indian Standard Time is at least 45 minutes past the scheduled time. We leave home in anticipation of a great evening. Though N and J had dressed to the occasion, I preferred traditional jeans and t-shirt

6:30 pm: Reach the concert, feel proud that we did not reach on time and still got a nice place to sit. In Gujju tradition, we step out to get some food.

6:50 pm: The show gives it's first signs of starting- a singer comes and sings a couple of songs - and the crowd kind of reacts, feels this is a pre-cursor for the show

7:05 pm: Random singer # 1 enters- he sings well- but people are now cheering for Sukhvinder to come in- my expectation is that he'll make a real big entry

7:30 pm: Random singer # 1 continues- the crowd gets a little impatient, with 'We want Sukhvinder' heard around

7:40 pm: The stage turns dark and someone comes onto stage. The music starts, and people think this is 'the moment' they are waiting for.

7:42 pm: The singer starts singing- the voice is suspicious - and as soon as the lights come on- it is revealed, it's not Sukhvinder , but random singer # 2, more random than # 1, and singing really bad Punjabi songs .

8:15 pm: Random singer #2 continues, there's an announcement, 'Now, we present what you all have been waiting for'. The crowd heaves it's final hurrah thinking yet again, that this is the moment

8:20 pm: The announcement continues 'We present Tanushree Dutta'. No one cares, she is hovered with insults, boos and even shouts to get lost

8:25 : Random singer #1 and #2 continue. Things are getting fairly bad with N,J and me. We update our status on facebook as things become popular in the outside world

8:45 pm: We make a call if we should go home. Think maybe we can wait for a little more

9:45 pm: 'Sukhiji ' makes it to the stage. A few apologies, and then he starts singing, the crowd enjoys it and some of us soon start enjoying the music. But, most people have lost enthusiasm in 3 hrs of wait

10:05 pm: Sukvinder leaves the stage for a 'short break of 10 mins' We realize that things are indeed as wrong as they seem to be .

10:10 pm: Going to a concert with a couple gets interesting when one wants to leave and one wants to continue to watch. I wasn't sure whom I would side with , except that I was equally pessimistic about any good music for the evening

10:20 pm : Leave home - realization of a sunday evening and a (I really don't want to go to office) Monday Morning strike you. Vow to never ever watch a Sukhvinder Singh concert

Since the show was so bad- it would be inappropriate to put Sukhi's photo. This was the only nice photo I could think of, an elderly couple sitting in front of us on a cold, boring , Sunday evening .

A hair-raising, soul-realising experience

I had decided that once I am done with the marathon, I'll put up a post about something non-related. Something more mainstream. Movies,Cricket, Indo-American values and the usual stuff we bloggers love to express our useless opinions on .

But-here's something that happened, that I think I should write:

It was one of the track events for the marathon program. After finishing it, I went to another location and parked my car. I had to buy something and I came back to my car. I just sat inside, all doors unlocked and was looking up a restaurant menu just to check what I could eat for dinner .

Just about then, someone opened the right front door of my car (which was unintentionally unlocked) and came and sat right next to me. I was just too shocked to realise what was happening. It was an old lady with dense white hair . She was probably European and must be really old. She looked scared, and told me something in a language I did not understand. I was shit scared for a moment, but she seemed harmless and was trying to tell me something.

Just as a precaution, I opened my left side door (I seriously thought of an emergency plan to escape the vehicle). But I was still somewhere confident that she was very harmless. She looked a little like Gloria Stewart from Titanic . She was trying to communicate me to go ahead , go ahead.

The first impression was that - she got into the wrong car. I got out on the road to not find a single car. I tried to reason out with her - but to no avail. Finally, I waited for about 2-3 minutes, before I stopped a car (just waving my hand) and a Chinese lady stepped out. She was a little angry on me as to what I was up to- but I convinced her that I was in a situation that needed help.

To my big relief, the Chinese lady understood my problem- she saw and said that there was an old age home board she could spot. She volunteered to go in and find someone as I stood outside my car, still kind of shocked by the event. The Chinese lady came back and said someone would come by soon, and left. I got into the car and tried to comfort the lady, but realised I was only scaring her more.

I waited for what seemed an eternity - after which I stopped another car, and asked a gentleman to help me . Before he could do so, a nurse came out . She went and talked to the old lady . She apologized to me, but all I could say was "No don't worry about me- just take care of her".

It was a feeling that left me sad. Sad enough that I could not eat dinner that night.
What must have gone through the old woman's mind to leave the old age home? Is old age really something that you just need to live waiting for your life to end? Will the western philosophy of "It's my life" lead everyone to such a life?

The question remained unanswered. As for me,it's time to volunteer for another cause that's suddenly become close to my heart.

(Image courtesy trueclassics )

The Marathon - in pictures and words

The first thoughts after the half marathon

As I mentioned in my earlier post , I was training to run the beautiful SF half marathon. Here's how it went:

The build up to the race




I was feeling quite well after I ran 11 miles comfortably at Crissy fields (which was preceded by two 9 and 10 mile runs), and it did not seem to be a big issue to run the 13 as such. Of course, there were 2 major issues. The first being that the race started at an insane 6:02 am, which meant, reaching SF by 5:00, which meant leaving South bay at 3:45, which meant leaving home at 3:15, in short waking up at 2 )

For a nocturnal animal like me, sleeping early was going to be a pain, but luckily I slept at 10 pm. Before that, Mahesh and Arpan came home and we went over my checklist, getting everything ready, so on and so forth :)Everyone's mantra: Make sure you enjoy the race



Me and Arpan the night before the race

The morning

I had a sound sleep for close to 4 hours, and woke up at 2 am. With all preparations in place, got ready, had a little pain in the left leg (which had been a nagging issue), foam rolled a little and got ready for Arpan. Arpan came a little late as I stood outside in the cold updating my f/b status (Boy , am I addicted to that) and we soon got into the sunnyvale caltrain station .

Got into the bus, chatted with Coach Raman, tried to sleep, eat something- too many thoughts.The bus had a restroom too-prob good for runners to avoid the port-a-potty lines [Every SF marathon starts with the first instruction as -get to the race and stand in a port-a-potty line] . My interesting observation was that the toilet in the bus had no flush, no lock, no light, but yes - it had a mirror . People were even more amused by how I observed that of all things

Got down at the drop point- Figured out it was an awesome decision to take the shuttle, it drops you right at the start point. Met a few Asha runners- with similar sentiments, a little bit of fear, a nervousness, last minute things. I figured out that most people were not in the mood for too much stretching. I found Rohit, who was as enthusiastic as me to do a warmup and stretches (I had severe issues once when I ran without stretching). We decided to go for a warmup run - and I did not realise that Rohit's idea of the run was a pretty long one. Came back , did our warm ups (which in hindsight were very useful). The excitement continued till our wave was finally announced.



The start of the marathon. Just about dawn. Awesome time . (photo courtesy Rupanshu)

I lined up with Arpan , Sumedha and Parag (I am not sure how me and Rohit somehow did not end up together) . As soon as the wave went off, I started running with Arpan and Sumedha. The start is something to be careful about, you have to take care to not trip or fall else thousands of people are going to run you over in the race. Kept running, but realised they were too fast for me. I remembered the coaches advice - to run slow during the first 2 miles . I let these guys go ahead, but realised I was without company.

Slowly, I started running, enjoying the beautiful SF coastline. First target- finish 5 miles and get to the Golden Gate Bridge. I went along at about 12 minutes a mile. I was seeing some people running with me , but no Asha folks. Was feeling very bored. As I approached the Golden Gate Bridge, I found a runner from AID. We talked for a bit, she was running a little slower than I was - but we were both in for some well needed company, the race was getting pretty dull otherwise.



The Golden Gate Bridge is visible from very early on in the race- and as you slowly move towards it, the excitement increased. We kept running and soon reached the Golden Gate Bridge



The Golden Gate Bridge Stretch

This was the most amazing part of the race. As we started running, suddenly, the feeling of tiredness and pain seemed low. This was what I had dreamt off 3 months back, this is why I had signed up for the first half at an unearthly hour . The Golden Gate Bridge means a lot to every resident of the valley- and it was a true pleasure running over it.I met Coach Bharath on the way, but he asked me to run faster since he was running the full.Eventually though, I stopped for taking a photo and saw him way ahead of me .




Some more photos along the Golden Gate Bridge

To add to my happiness , I got an sms from Himani- that they were on their way. The bridge was beautiful, I got my iphone out and decided to take as many pictures as I could. It was nice and cool, till my iphone realized that handling 3 applications of Camera, Ipod and the running app was getting too much for it, and it crashed. Crashed pretty bad. It was a tedious thing to stop in the middle of the Golden Gate bridge and try like an idiot to restart your phone .

But then, something struck me. Might sound filmi, but I realised that the app, the camera, the music, was nothing compared to the beauty of this place and the experience of the race. It somehow reminded me of "Zindagi na milegi Dobara" and I decided to shut it down, squeeze it in and just enjoy the beauty. It was heavenly, awesome! I was again down to running alone since my friend had ITB issues and stopped abruptly.

The last few miles

All through the marathon,I have had this psychological thing. Once you cross the halfway mark, it all seems fine. I have had this in the 2 mile run , 3 mile run, right down till the 10 mile run. After crossing the GGB, you knew that you were done with more than 50% of the race and it was just a matter of time now.

The other interesting part is that through the Golden Gate Bridge, with runners running in 2 directions, I was finally able to see some known faces from Asha [ it felt awesome, Team Asha rocks!] . We kept on egging each other, with "almost there" and (Coach Raman special) "Looking Good" . I was running exactly as per my expected time, and maybe a little faster, so I decided to take it a little easy. Did a run-walk for about half a mile.

I saw Balu and Chakri along the way, as they shouted "Hey, it's Harshit " click click! and I posed for some nice snaps. Thanks guys! - it was awesome to see a known face after a while and someone actually shouting for you . Both of you guys rock!



I lost my running companion somewhere, she was running like a hare, stop at times, and then run fast, and I was like a tortoise, running slowly now with a lot of rolling hills. Met some more runners on the way including Vikram (my Baylands AM mentor), who was running with Nupur .

Vikram slowed down a little with Nupur for some stretches, and asked me to go ahead. Soon I hit my 11 mile marker and now I exactly knew what I had to do. It was a less crowded SF street with runners a little more tired and a little less enthusiastic, so I restarted my phone , and called Himani and the other folks that I was expected to come down the finish line soon. I decided not to ask her who all had come, the suspense and excitement were keeping me going .I decided to continue walking till I hit the 12 miler, so that I could finish the race in full strength. It is interesting that amongst all the excitement, you still want to look strong when your friends and on lookers are seeing you. Decided to walk till mile 12.

Hit the 12 miler, it was a little uphill so I continued walking for a bit. Started running , I don't know why, but I felt emotional, had moist eyes. It was maybe the culmination of the dream to run the half-marathon, the happiness of actually raising money for kids, the belief in myself that I could do this, or just the pleasure of being with yourself, or the anticipation that soon friends would see you and cheer for you.


Very soon, could soon spot Sneha and Ritika - who had both run this race last year. Before I knew, I could see Chetan, Himani, Jigi, Nimish,Kanu all coming and running with me, with Kanu instructing me to "go slow" for non-marathoners :). It was such a sweet experience. I carried on to the finish line and maybe missed the idiotic electronic bib tracker which meant my timing was screwed up.But who cares ? I know I finished the race in good time and thats all that mattered.





I went over to collect my medal- and seeing it was so awesome!

Akki came out of nowhere with his DSLR and took very cool photos. It is great when people are like "Mera bhi ek photo Harshit ke saath" -I was enjoying the momentary celebrity status . Some friends called , spoke to them, updated facebook, took more pictures.




The cheering squad (most of them). Thanks for coming by guys!

We had a lovely time together after which they left for home.I met Wako , it was awesome to see her, given that she had been one of the people who had constantly motivated me throughout the season. Soon, I found Vikas, Akash, Divya and we headed to catch a shuttle to the Asha Tent.

We reached the Asha tent to meet our fellow runners/ coaches / mentors and some great food. Imagine getting paneer , parathas, gulab jamun, Raita and Samosas . It was freaking awesome! Thanks to all the people who made it possible (Asha volunteers are awesome. I can name a few, but I am sure there were a lot more who were involved)

Chatted with Coaches,runners before we headed out to Shivam's place for a relaxing session ahead :).Thanks to all the wonderful coaches, volunteers, all friends who cheered and supported me , Mahesh Palekar for being a driving force through the marathon. It's been an awesome one.




Baylands PM group met on the Monday after the race - most of us just enjoyed the feeling while season 2 runners did their stretching and strengthening and then used their help to click so many nice photos . Can you also believe that just the people in this picture must have raised about 40,000$ to 50,000$ this year alone ? (numbers might be approximate)




Both Baylands groups on a potluck party after the race

More coming soon ! Oh btw, if you wish to donate here's the link!

I run ....for them and for me :)

The first thoughts after the half marathon

As I mentioned in my earlier post , I was training to run the beautiful SF half marathon. Here's how it went:

The build up to the race

I was feeling quite well after I ran 11 miles comfortably at Crissy fields (which was preceded by two 9 and 10 mile runs), and it did not seem to be a big issue to run the 13 as such. Of course, there were 2 major issues. The first being that the race started at an insane 6:02 am, which meant, reaching SF by 5:00, which meant leaving South bay at 3:45, which meant leaving home at 3:15, in short waking up at 2 )

For a nocturnal animal like me, sleeping early was going to be a pain, but luckily I slept at 10 pm. Before that, Mahesh and Arpan came home and we went over my checklist, getting everything ready, so on and so forth :)Everyone's mantra: Make sure you enjoy the race



Me and Arpan the night before the race

The morning

I had a sound sleep for close to 4 hours, and woke up at 2 am. With all preparations in place, got ready, had a little pain in the left leg (which had been a nagging issue), foam rolled a little and got ready for Arpan. Arpan came a little late as I stood outside in the cold updating my f/b status (Boy , am I addicted to that) and we soon got into the sunnyvale caltrain station .

Got into the bus, chatted with Coach Raman, tried to sleep, eat something- too many thoughts.The bus had a restroom too-prob good for runners to avoid the port-a-potty lines [Every SF marathon starts with the first instruction as -get to the race and stand in a port-a-potty line] . My interesting observation was that the toilet in the bus had no flush, no lock, no light, but yes - it had a mirror . People were even more amused by how I observed that of all things

Got down at the drop point- Figured out it was an awesome decision to take the shuttle, it drops you right at the start point. Met a few Asha runners- with similar sentiments, a little bit of fear, a nervousness, last minute things. I figured out that most people were not in the mood for too much stretching. I found Rohit, who was as enthusiastic as me to do a warmup and stretches (I had severe issues once when I ran without stretching). We decided to go for a warmup run - and I did not realise that Rohit's idea of the run was a pretty long one. Came back , did our warm ups (which in hindsight were very useful). The excitement continued till our wave was finally announced.

I lined up with Arpan , Sumedha and Parag (I am not sure how me and Rohit somehow did not end up together) . As soon as the wave went off, I started running with Arpan and Sumedha. The start is something to be careful about, you have to take care to not trip or fall else thousands of people are going to run you over in the race. Kept running, but realised they were too fast for me. I remembered the coaches advice - to run slow during the first 2 miles . I let these guys go ahead, but realised I was without company.

Slowly, I started running, enjoying the beautiful SF coastline. First target- finish 5 miles and get to the Golden Gate Bridge. I went along at about 12 minutes a mile. I was seeing some people running with me , but no Asha folks. Was feeling very bored. As I approached the Golden Gate Bridge, I found a runner from AID. We talked for a bit, she was running a little slower than I was - but we were both in for some well needed company, the race was getting pretty dull otherwise.

The Golden Gate Bridge is visible from very early on in the race- and as you slowly move towards it, the excitement increased. We kept running and soon reached the Golden Gate Bridge

The Golden Gate Bridge Stretch

This was the most amazing part of the race. As we started running, suddenly, the feeling of tiredness and pain seemed low. This was what I had dreamt off 3 months back, this is why I had signed up for the first half at an unearthly hour . The Golden Gate Bridge means a lot to every resident of the valley- and it was a true pleasure running over it.I met Coach Bharath on the way, but he asked me to run faster since he was running the full.Eventually though, I stopped for taking a photo and saw him way ahead of me .

To add to my happiness , I got an sms from Himani- that they were on their way. The bridge was beautiful, I got my iphone out and decided to take as many pictures as I could. It was nice and cool, till my iphone realized that handling 3 applications of Camera, Ipod and the running app was getting too much for it, and it crashed. Crashed pretty bad. It was a tedious thing to stop in the middle of the Golden Gate bridge and try like an idiot to restart your phone .

But then, something struck me. Might sound filmi, but I realised that the app, the camera, the music, was nothing compared to the beauty of this place and the experience of the race. It somehow reminded me of "Zindagi na milegi Dobara" and I decided to shut it down, squeeze it in and just enjoy the beauty. It was heavenly, awesome! I was again down to running alone since my friend had ITB issues and stopped abruptly.

The last few miles

All through the marathon,I have had this psychological thing. Once you cross the halfway mark, it all seems fine. I have had this in the 2 mile run , 3 mile run, right down till the 10 mile run. After crossing the GGB, you knew that you were done with more than 50% of the race and it was just a matter of time now.

The other interesting part is that through the Golden Gate Bridge, with runners running in 2 directions, I was finally able to see some known faces from Asha [ it felt awesome, Team Asha rocks!] . We kept on egging each other, with "almost there" and (Coach Raman special) "Looking Good" . I was running exactly as per my expected time, and maybe a little faster, so I decided to take it a little easy. Did a run-walk for about half a mile.

I saw Balu and Chakri along the way, as they shouted "Hey, it's Harshit " click click! and I posed for some nice snaps. Thanks guys! - it was awesome to see a known face after a while and someone actually shouting for you . Both of you guys rock!

I lost my running companion somewhere, she was running like a hare, stop at times, and then run fast, and I was like a tortoise, running slowly now with a lot of rolling hills. Met some more runners on the way including Vikram (my Baylands AM mentor), who was running with Nupur .

Vikram slowed down a little with Nupur for some stretches, and asked me to go ahead. Soon I hit my 11 mile marker and now I exactly knew what I had to do. It was a less crowded SF street with runners a little more tired and a little less enthusiastic, so I restarted my phone , and called Himani and the other folks that I was expected to come down the finish line soon. I decided not to ask her who all had come, the suspense and excitement were keeping me going .I decided to continue walking till I hit the 12 miler, so that I could finish the race in full strength. It is interesting that amongst all the excitement, you still want to look strong when your friends and on lookers are seeing you. Decided to walk till mile 12.

Hit the 12 miler, it was a little uphill so I continued walking for a bit. Started running , I don't know why, but I felt emotional, had moist eyes. It was maybe the culmination of the dream to run the half-marathon, the happiness of actually raising money for kids, the belief in myself that I could do this, or just the pleasure of being with yourself, or the anticipation that soon friends would see you and cheer for you.

Very soon, could soon spot Sneha and Ritika - who had both run this race last year. Before I knew, I could see Chetan, Himani, Jigi, Nimish,Kanu all coming and running with me, with Kanu instructing me to "go slow" for non-marathoners :). It was such a sweet experience. I carried on to the finish line and maybe missed the idiotic electronic bib tracker which meant my timing was screwed up.But who cares ? I know I finished the race in good time and thats all that mattered.

I went over to collect my medal- and seeing it was so awesome!

Akki came out of nowhere with his DSLR and took very cool photos. It is great when people are like "Mera bhi ek photo Harshit ke saath" -I was enjoying the momentary celebrity status . Some friends called , spoke to them, updated facebook, took more pictures. We had a lovely time together after which they left and I found Vikas, Akash, Divya and we headed to catch a shuttle to the Asha Tent.



We reached the Asha tent to meet our fellow runners/ coaches / mentors and some great food. Imagine getting paneer , parathas, gulab jamun, Raita and Samosas . It was freaking awesome! Thanks to all the people who made it possible (Asha volunteers are awesome. I can name a few, but I am sure there were a lot more who were involved)

Chatted with Coaches,runners before we headed out to Shivam's place for a relaxing session ahead :).Thanks to all the wonderful coaches, volunteers, all friends who cheered and supported me , Mahesh Palekar for being a driving force through the marathon. It's been an awesome one.



More coming soon ! Oh btw, if you wish to donate here's the link!

Educate! Encourage! Empower !

Weird blogpost this time - because I am going to ask you to simply visit this page :)

From (huff)(huff) half a mile to (I love it) 10 miles!

As most of you would have observed / known, I have been training to run the Half Marathon this year.

I would not say that I got into it almost by accident, in fact, it was something that I was looking forward to it ever since Animesh's marathon . It was an interesting thing to think about. Can I, who would go huff huff in half a mile of running, actually think of running 13.1 miles (or more than 21 km,or more literally, from Kurla to the Gateway of India )

With so many of friends here in the bay area running the marathon with Asha, it was almost imminent that I would follow suit. And I did , this year.

To be honest, the decision was not that easy. I first played with the idea of just working with Asha. As you would put in a job resume, "Use my interpersonal skills to benefit the organization". I joined Team Asha as a volunteer earlier this year - working towards getting sponsorships , contacting tons of businesses and asking them if they would contribute to the noble cause. I was getting into marketing (albeit for a good cause) after quite a few years- and soon enough, I managed to get sponsorships of almost 2000$ for the cause.

And then came the idea of taking up the challenge. I show up for the first couple of runs, and find people from all ages, castes, nationalities, professions show up and run. Trust me, that worked- or was the "Aha" moment for me. The truth is that you can't stop when a 50 year old gentleman keeps running right next to you and keeps encouraging you.

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9 and today I ran a full 10 miles ( and also a little more due to a missed mile marker :P) ,and am all set to run the SF half marathon which runs right over the lovely Golden Gate Bridge

But then, why run this marathon? Coming up in next post. Soon. Very soon.

The big business men of Mumbai

Post-started in Oct- laziness and work meant procrastination


So Barack Obama is visiting India. While people are speaking about the impact of this visit on Indo-US relations , about what previous presidents did, about how Obama answered students of Bombay, there was one news story that caught my eye.

The closing of sections in and around the areas where Obama was visiting (in Mumbai) and how normal people faced harassment. Security for a visiting foreign head of state is one thing, and enforcing curfew (Some residences in South Bombay were advised- come home at 7 pm - or else next morning ). Well, still, I might accept that.

But the worst I felt was for the small business men of Mumbai. Coming from the city, and also being a Gujarati - who are famous (or infamous) to be very great at business , I felt bad for a lot of people who earn their daily bread and butter by putting up stalls/ tapri's / or even doing roadside vending . While some people might term them as a perennial nuisance , I have somehow always been impressed by this class of people.

I have developed this habit of striking conversations with people in India. More often than not, it works wonders, and also gives me an insight that is very rare to achieve. Like that doli-wallah who lifts people across 3800 steps in Palitana for a meager amount. Like that rickshawallah who earns 200 Rs a day, spends rs 20 on himself and sends the rest to his family. And for all the criticism that these people might fact for making Bombay unclean, unhygienic , disorganized, corrupt - my heart still always has a lot of respect for them. All of them have some common points: A simple business idea, innovative techniques for sales and marketing, a lot of hard work and an aim to make it big.

Last year, I was having a 'Dabeli' at a small roadside joint, when I happened to ask the guy, how old was he, and how did he run this business. The conversation was simply mind blowing. He told me about his business- this guy used to sell about 350 Dabelis in a 8-10 hour shift at 8 Rs / piece. On further analysis, I figured out that the cost of materials/ transport / cleaning /miscellaneous came to about a 1000 rupees a day. And wait, this meant that this guy was making a clean profit of Rs.1800 per day!!!! If this wasn't enough, he said that he takes a lot of party orders where the revenue is much higher.

The truth about Bombay (which I know a lot of people might not be very convinced about) is that if you are intelligent, willing to work hard and know to do the simple things correct- it'll never betray you. I had a similar conversation with a Taxi driver. Sometimes, it just helps if you show some respect by sitting on the front seat and referring to people as 'Aap'. They are after all, simple people, who are trying to make their living, working hard. He said he earned about 20,000 rupees a month and though he himself came from a poor family in UP, he had made sure that his son and daughter have the best access to education and they don't have to struggle. He spoke about his early days, when he had to save money, make efforts to go forward in life, and how that period makes him a very satisfied man today. I could see bits of my first day in the US- and was somehow so happy that he was satisfied by his life today.

The third was an interaction with one of my father's friends, who had come to India in the 1950-1960s , and started doing odd jobs. From there, he started selling pens which he would buy from a wholesale market and sell them on the streets of Bombay. From there, to a small shop, from there, to a wholesale business, and finally to become one of the Bombay-made Crorepati.

True, Bombay has the stock market, one of the best natural harbours, some great industries set up by the Parsi businessmen in the early 20th century- but seriously, if there's one point that is a big factor to the development of the city as the commercial capital of India, it's this bit of entrepreneurship that people seem to have learnt from their mother's womb and the willingness to work hard - maybe not just hard, but hard enough to make the impossible possible. Something that involves self-made management skills.

The only sorry thing is that their businesses (as mentioned earlier) are subject to losses when India or in particular Bombay succumbs to one of the many 'business-stopper' events. Be it the Shiv Sena Bandhs, the rains - and really irritating- Obama's visit meant that a good part of Bombay was closed to the general public - and that too on the eve of Diwali/ New Year which are prime holidays and mean a lot of business to these people.

The other interesting angle I see in this- is the commonality I find between my first days in the US - to what they must have had in Bombay. Any city which breeds immigrants (be it domestic or International) has a flavor which is worth an experience. The Bombay that I have seen- is surely different from what they have . A lot of things we took for granted- from having your own home , to having parents with you always , is something, they have fought their way through. That - coupled with the spirit of the entrepreneurs of Bombay- is what makes the city special !

Do Dooni Chaar ! and some memories!

The Indian cinema in the last decade has seen a lot of change. The most evident according to me - is the acceptance of movies which need not have even one of the basic masala ingredients (a) a love story (b) a fight sequence (c) a conventional story (yes, all hat-ke movies did need to have some kind of convention in the 1990s)- and where a simple but well made story line would still gain acceptance and popularity among the masses

And one of the movies that I really loved off late was Do Dooni Chaar . It's a simple story really- a story of a middle class family in Delhi with a school teacher as head of the family- and how the school teacher struggles between balancing his ideals and wallet to make his children happy.

And the film was really well made, and had a nice message too. And the movie definitely was a reminder of the tremendous effort all those teachers at Friends School put in to make me what I am today. To all you great people, a real big thanks from the heart . I wouldn't have come so far without holding on to your finger. Again - Thanks!

But then, the film disturbed me to an extent. And the reason was it's truthfulness and the fact that there is something wrong in India. Why are the schools not as great as they should be - when the teachers working there are extremely hardworking and intelligent too ( At least I can vouch that for all of my teachers) ? Why is it that people will do timepass while listening to lectures in school but pay the same amount of attention to the same thing being taught by an equal or lesser-experienced teacher in the badly crammed A/C room of a coaching class ? Why is it that people will pay tens of thousands on tution and coaching classes, but crib for a school fee raise of a hundred rupees? Why is it that we sat through 7.5 hours everyday during our summer vacations ( 2.5 months non stop including sundays ), but cribbed about being called for a saturday extra class?

Something , somewhere is not right. Having said that, I won't be radical to say that the system is totally messed up- and neither would I say that coaching classes are necessarily bad. No one in the entire system is bad in their own right, and at the end of the day, they are all good teachers, trying to make their life a bit better by giving knowledge to students. It's any day an extremely noble profession.

A brief analysis of what I think the problem / what the solution could be:

a. Low pay scales at school

This I think is really is the bottom of all things. I could not find enough data on the internet (some stats here ) - but the truth as we all know is (and what the film signifies is) - it's not deserving enough. Some school teachers I know say that the only reason to stick to a school is to have an 'extra income' and to be in constant touch with students. So then, if we are ready to pay the teacher the same salary for tution classes , why not give more fees- which would in turn increase their salaries and in-turn their performance?

b. School hours and attendance worries

This is really the most interesting part here. As I mentioned before, why do people crib so much about long school hours (which are mostly less than the hours you spend in classes anyways)? On the other hand, why do schools crib about attendance?

As a student myself, I know that there are some lectures which would benefit me to such an extent that I would think a hundred times before missing them. This in turn would also enable teachers to develop reputation and the feedback on them (simply measured in terms of how many students actually turn up for their class)- would ensure that good teachers are rewarded and under-performing ones are put through developmental programs.

So, really, why force students to sit through lectures? Also, that is a consequence of (a) . I am sure if a student missed school, the parents would be fine, but if they missed a coaching class , the parents would be "We paid 5000 rupees for this one" - you have to go and you have to be serious about it. Simple solution: let the performance of teachers get the attendance running- and for good teachers, I am sure students would not mind odd hours (longer than the school hours)

3. A constant crib about the system

The classic problem which magnifies itself as "Is desh ka kucch nahin ho sakta" .

If there is one thing I could change during my attitude when I was in India- it is the constant belief in the minds of all that the system is faulty - there's more emphasis on memorizing, there's not enough attention to every student - and so on. During my engineering days, an HR person from a famous IT company in India who came for college recruiting said these words " The first thing we need to do is to train you for 3-6 months. You haven't learned anything during your engineering. We need you to forget all this and begin re-learning" .

Why? Having worked in the USA-there's an enormous respect for Indian learning standards here too. And frankly, the system might be flawed, but it's definitely not something that is not useful. Maybe it needs some tweaks. A greater emphasis on class projects and practical work. A more systematic examination system. But to term it as non-useful is a crime- and also a bad thing to instill in the minds of young students.

The same holds true for schools. Why constantly blame teachers for being too fast when you could have asked a few more questions? Although-somewhere, the schools are also to blame for having given up on a few of these things.

Solution to the problem: An active, secure feedback system - where parents can raise their concerns , not about individual teachers, but maybe point out great ways to improve them.

4. More realistic and popular scholarship plans

I got an NTS scholarship which is awarded to only 750 students in India every year. During my school days, the scholarship used to be less than Rs. 3000 per year. While for me, it was more of a reward, but for students who really needed it- I am sure it was way lower than the mark. To give you a comparison, the Tata Foundations used to give out scholarships upto Rs. 30,000 to Rs. 40,000 to a lot of deserving Engineering students strictly on the basis of performance.

The sad truth is that the NTS is really known for the honour it gives you- but not really for the scholarship amount - which I am sure is one of the important issues it is designed to address.

Solution:

How about corporates giving an income-based scholarship to NTS students (and maybe based on other criteria like merit/sports etc) who actually need them? It could be based in income alright, but then every student would be happy to pay their fees and not burden their parents with it.

Also, how about schools charging a little higher fees, but having 10 selected students - based on merit, performance - to have their school year free?

--Incomplete blog, hope to add more stuff here soon --

Again, a big thanks to all teachers!

How to become a successful astrologer

Note: This post is not intended to be insulting towards astrologers or numerologists . It's just a take on an idea to mimic an astrologer without any knowledge. Please take in lighter vein :)

In my school and college days, my Dad got an interesting hobby- numerology. He found a book and then used to tell people things about them from that book - and it looked as if the book was 60-70% accurate.

One other time, I had an encounter with a self-proclaimed 'Gyaani' who told me things about myself. Slowly and steadily, I found a pattern . There was something about this that would work without any astrology skills.

I have tried this trick on a few people and it has worked. It's simple really.

1. Claim that you have studied astrology via a book/parents/guru for a short time

2. Generate some interest by claiming that you have generally been accurate

3. Take the person's birth details , ask some questions [ like if they say they were born on so-and-so date, ask for time , confirm somethings ]. This simply builds your reputation and makes people think that you know a lot.

4. Start out with the predictions

i. You are a very hardworking person

This is really a line which no one in the world will every deny. Even people like Arjuna Ranatunga will say that they would always claim that they are extremely hardworking

Interest piqued.

ii. You have not really achieved what you are capable of . Something that would match your intelligence and diligence.

99 % of the world thinks like this. I do. My boss does. His boss does. It's human nature. This might result in a sign of "So true!!"

iii. You are very helpful and considerate to people's needs.

This one works in a crowd setting. No one is going to admit in a bunch of people that he or she is the most selfish person born on planet Earth. Even without people, it's extremely difficult to tell your inside ego that you are really quite selfish from inside.

iv. You have had a really major incident in your life in the last x years [ Make x between 5 and 10 depending upon the person's age

Trust me, everyone of us has had one major incident in the last 5-10 years [ Getting a job, an accident, moving countries, getting a baby, starting a new business]. Most people will be like , 'Yeah, absolutely correct! This happened 5 years back!'

If you know the person and his life history well, try to be more accurate here. It'll work wonders.


5. At this point, check the mood. If you think your reputation is built, move to next step. Else loop around

6. Time to start with predictions. This is the easy part. There's no reference to check, so you can get away with what bu** you say.

i. The next 5 years are going to be very important in your life

This is a charge-up line. Like having a coffee before an exam. It'll suddenly get the feeling of "It's time to do something"

ii. You should take more risks at this age

This thing is sure to get some questions. If you are comfortable, make up a Ekta Kapoor-esque story involving Jupiter, Saturn and the Sun ( or in Indian languages as Rahu, Ketu and some term that they have never heard of ] Most people will not understand a word of it and also not admit that they did not understand it.

iii. Predict Marriage

This is a very sensitive one.Of course, it's for unmarried people. Give them a date 2 years from now. "The best 'Yog' to get married is in 2014 . February." After all, who's going to sue you if they don't find someone by that time. If they do, your reputation will work wonders. After all, your luck is also good sometimes .


iv. Predict Age and Wellness

This one is amongst the easiest. Predict an age of about 75-80. If you see a long lifeline and can make up something, put it to 90. Do some jargon about the behavior of the line.

Predict one illness from the present date to the time of death. It's fairly logical and averages out well.

7. Come up with lucky entities.

This is a good time to use your knowledge and end on a high. Check what facts you know about the person, like wife's birthday, anniversary, color of car. If you know some secrets about them, you got a big bonus.

i. Life partner names
If you know that the person is already committed secretly, pick up the letter of the spouse's name and say that that letter is extremely lucky for him

ii. Colour and number combo's
Pick up a color from Red, Blue, green, yellow , a number between 0 and 9, a stone from sapphire, pearl, ruby, emerald, a month of the year and claim that that's lucky for them.

I myself am not too keen on this step since it induces unnecessary superstitions, but nevertheless, something that works .

8. Say "God Bless You" and move on before people get too sentimental .

A tale of 3 captains

The rarest of rare post- I seldom blog about cricket [ These days , I am sure people would point out that I seldom blog at all ] , but something that I saw for a while and I have been wanting to write about it.

It's really simple. It's about 3 captains that I have experienced in Indian cricket, and in some ways , how their attitudes have spoken about 3 different teams, 3 different attitudes and 3 different feelings that I have experienced as a fan.

It all started when I read this article which referred to the time for which cricket started for a lot of us. For me, it started around the time Tendulkar first came in. I remember a news bulletin in which Azharuddin was made the new captain. I was too young to realize that there was a little bit of politics in the move, but nevertheless, Azhar was a great cricket player (of course, sidelined by his part in scandals) , and under him India won several great accolades, the most memorable ones for me being a great test series win in India against England (3-0 including 2 innnings victories) and a win in the Hero Cup. Then came Ganguly, pocketing a great win in England in the Natwest series, and years later he was replaced by another captain - MS Dhoni.

I have excluded temporary captains like Jadeja, Raina, and (maybe surprisingly ) Sachin Tendulkar. The reason is , that for the tremendous respect I have always had for Sachin as a batsman, player, human being - I think he was never comfortable in his short reign as captain- and more importantly, his 'captaincy' in itself did not match his greatness at all.Anil Kumble too was made a leader very late, and anyways, his captaincy was only for Tests while MS Dhoni led the one-day side.

So brings us to the 3 again- Azhar, Ganguly and Dhoni. It's a change that has been over time, but now it seems true.

It was the 1992 world cup game against Australia. India were chasing - a field they considered themselves terribly bad in. We were close, very close agonizingly close. Kiran More came in and punched 2 boundaries. But then at the brink of victory, we lost. Lost by one run. Painstaking. But, I remember this match distinctly- watching it with Mom, Dad who had seen many matches earlier- and the verdict was clear before the match- India can't win a close one like this. They had lost by one run in 1987, and most likely will face the same fortune. And they did.

Fast forward to 2002. A final at Lord's . India chasing a mammoth 326 and 146 for 5, as Mohd Kaif and Yuvraj Singh guide them to an amazing run-chase. The famous Ganguly shirt incident. But more than the attitude, it was a match that instilled in the generation of fans- that India could win a nervous chase. That they could put their act together in a time of crisis.

2007. The T20 final. The new captain-cool, MS Dhoni keeps terribly cool as Sharma bowls a wide in the first ball of an all-important over. And as Pakistan Mis-ba 5 runs , India become the champions, and more importantly, it establishes the confidence of this Indian team in a tight situation.

2010. The commentators are talking about Ricky Ponting finally getting to a win in India. (yeah right). But an injured VVS Laxman and an amazing Ishant Sharma have other ideas, as they take India to their first ever one-wicket win and that too against Australia. It was sweet revenge for most of us especially because it was against Ricky Ponting ( at least for me). The important thing here was that right till the end, there was this confidence, this instinct that in such a close situation, India could still win. and they did...

As greatbong put it rightly in his farwell to Ganguly

"If there is one enduring legacy of Dada, it is that he taught an almost perennially defeatist Indian cricket team “to believe” (For those who have sat through wimpy, gutless Indian performances through the 80s will appreciate even more the truth of this statement). "

We have learnt to win . Or should I say, we have started believing that we can win. And that according to me is the most important transition from the days of Azhar to the days of Dhoni.

Let's hope it stays on.

The magic called KBC

I actually wanted to associate this blog with this post , but as most of you would know , laziness sometimes wins me over and never finished it .

In 2000, we started seeing early promos of Amitabh Bachchan , with a phone number to call to win one crore rupees. Till this time, the concept of quiz-related TV programs had never taken off past the highly educated masses. The problem was really the trade-off between keeping the sanctity of a quiz versus the level of popularity it could generate. On one hand, we had programs like Cross-Fire and Bournvita Quiz Contest, which, though being extremely knowledgeable in their own right, were never past the highly educated minority of people. On the other hand, there were serials similar to the Deal-No deal types which were popular amongst the masses, but depended mostly on luck and hardly had any kind of intellectual touch to it.

As the suspense began to clear up- the rules of the game were made clear. I remember reading somewhere that you needed to answer 15 multiple-choice questions to win 1 crore rupees. Seemed too good to be true. With the experience of the NTS exams behind me - I had the impression that multiple-choice questions were one of the easiest to crack :P .

And then it evolved. From the first person who won Rs.25 lakhs - the show had changed the way India approached general knowledge. Phrases like 'Lock Kiyaa Jayee' and 'Galat jawaab' became household terms - as people from every walk of life imagined themselves in the hot seats. The best example, I remember, was when I had asked a Chemist (Drugstore) owner upto what time did they keep their shop open. The answer was

"Vaise to beta 9 baje tak khulla rakhta hai, lekin ab Crorepati shuru hua hai, to 8:45 ko bandh kar dete hai"

And that was it. Forgotten politicians, sportsmen from otherwise unknown sports, literary gems had come back to the Indian middle class.

But the question was: what made this show so popular? Was it just the money? Was it the the Big B? Was it the unique concept?

Enthusiasm levels of a blog

Enthusiasm levels of a blog:

Day 1: The fact that you decide to start a blog stems from the fact that you've decided your first blog post. Probably first 2-3, some interesting event, some story or just your funda of life. You write it with full energy, and share it with all your (close and not-close) friends

Day 2: Whoa! you are excited about those 2 comments, and those chat messages congratulating to start your blog. Super excited, you write one more blog entry, whose first lines are how you really are interested in blogs. Again, you share it with everyone.

Day 3: The feeling of "I never knew I had so much talent in me". Blog entry # 3. In most cases, the quality of this one will be a shade lesser than #1 and #2. People will be "Yeh kucch zyada hi ucchal raha hai". Number of comments drop.

Day 4,5,6,7: You bask in the glory by not writing any more blogs. Secret reason is that you don't have much to write, since all your enthusiasm was spent on the first 3 entries

Day 17: You read one great news on rediff/cnn/ndtv ( or any stupid news site - included onion ) and you blog about it . Whether people respond or not, you carry a sense of great 'comeback' pride

Month 2-12: This phase defines how good a blogger you would become. Most bloggers don't reach this stage. A little more enthusiastic bloggers blog once or twice ( or more if you are a phd student, even more if you are an engineer without much work)

Year 2: A majority of bloggers, good or bad, are filtered out by this point. Most feel that blogging was not what they thought it to be. Either they did not like blogging or blogging did not like them. Many of them still bask in the glory of their first (and only) blogs . A few lazy bloggers (like me ) blog once a month. Good bloggers still blog regularly.

Year 3: If you have come upto here, you are a , no not great blogger. You are quite a perseverant and persistent fellow. If you get comments on your blog - you are a good blogger. If you get comments on your blog without forcing your friends to do it- you are a great blogger.

Year 4-5 : If you still blog once a month, you are a hard-working blogger. If you blog more than this- there are only 2 outcomes. You have attained Great heights in blogging or people are like "Khudko Arundhati Roy ka bhai samajhta hai " :P

Year 6: Start writing a book 

A great idea!

A few days back, I got a call from a friend. Her father was undergoing a heart surgery and needed AB+ blood in Bombay. She asked me if I knew someone. My answer ,"Sure, I'll get you someone in about an hour". As promised, within an hour,my father had called a gentleman with AB+ blood and he agreed to be present wherever required the next morning.

Many years back, my father did something on a small scale, which I feel is of great significance. We had a small health camp in our society (it was primarily for cancer , but served some other purposes ). Here's what he did:

1. Get 2-3 local doctors/nurses to check and make blood group cards for all the people who came. A simple test, and you get a card which carries your emergency contact info and your blood group, so that God Forbid, if you are in an accident, and some good Samaritan tries to help you, he has all the info he needs from that card.

What you had to give in return was to register your name/phone number and blood group in a small diary that my father has maintained till date. it contains the names of all people and their phone numbers with blood groups. If someone ever calls us in the middle of the night asking for blood, we can ask the concerned person if they would be interested in volunteering and then connect the two parties together.

While I loved this idea and thought this was important enough, when someone actually thanked me more than profusely for getting info about a donor, I was overwhelmed. And that's why this comes as a blog-post because I think it's an idea that can and should be implemented in co-operative housing societies across India.

2. The Indian Cancer Society used to assist in organizing Cancer Detection Camps. Their funda was simple. They would charge Rs. 65 ( am sure it's more than that today) for basic testing of a person for cancer . All they needed was that there should be 100 people attending and that logistics (like tables, electricity , lunch/snacks for staff) would be provided, and they would come and conduct the check. It would either clear you of everything or , if they suspected something, they would recommend a further check.

What I found particularly interesting was, that for a person in India , if I ask them to do a checking on a weekday for cancer, they would think about costs/excuses. But then, on a Sunday morning, a low-cost test would be kind of welcome. Especially when you know that it's done by not-for-profit [I am not sure if the ICS is not-for-profit or not ] .

One more significant advantage was that since it was mostly done on a non-charitable basis, you did not have to go through the processes of fundraising. Anyone could think about it and do it done in one days of effort. As far as volunteers were concerned , kids can always be roped in to do simple things like crowd control and money collection .

The camp was particularly successful as it helped a few people go for further checking and treatment in early stage of cancer.

A small idea- but quite visionary. Kudos to you, Pappa :) .

The true hero

I wanted to write this on July 7, but as most of us 'complaining type' people would say, I did not quite find the time, given the various challenges of life , this , that, bla bla bla!

But then, you think of some men, who have overcome so much, achieved magnanimity and won the hearts of millions and had constraints compared to which our life would seem like a complete cake walk.

It was 1999. I just turned 18 and was stepping to the next stage of life. I personally felt that that was also the year when I understood politics, life and developed interest in trying to understand how deep these things were and their importance and influence in our lives. It was the year of the nuclear tests, a year when Atal Bihari Vajpayee , as a politician, suddenly had a fan following among the youth , a year when NDTV and Barkha Dutt, then a relatively new, getting-popular and if I may use the word, extremely humble journalist were getting popular , and the youth of the country was getting involved in political discussions more than ever before. I like to think of it as the golden period in Indian television news reporting, since it was the phase when we had lesser, high-quality channels and people actually were completely fond of this new source of information .

It was also the year of coalition politics, the blackmailing of the ruling Govt by Jayalalitha, and with AIADMK finally pulling support, the Govt had to be relegated to a caretaker Govt, but by that time, AB Vajpayee and his men had won enough popular support.

In the middle of all this, intrusions by terrorists and Pakistani soldiers began in Kargil, Drass and Batalik and the Kargil war began. This war was the first Indian war I had seen and one of the first which had so much of media coverage. In a time, when such media coverage was very new, it was very welcome to see journalists risk their life and report from the warfront giving us sights of shelling, bunkers and indirectly infusing a deep sense of respect for the army personnel in the minds of the younger generation.

And one day, there was an interview of a captain. My mother asked me, what's his name? I said , Capt. Vikram Batra Little did I know that the name I took would be etched in my memory for life.

(Part of the footage is here )

The captain was speaking about how his boys were so charged up , and Pepsi's 'Yeh Dil Maange More' , a famous ad jingle then, being the war cry. He was cheerful and was joking as to how his soldiers wished that there were more bunkers that they could attack. As a smile came to our faces hearing this man, the screen blanked out, and Barkha Dutt's words came

"Captain Vikram Batra died on 7 July 1999 while fighting in Drass"

A moment when things suddenly stopped. A moment when without a word, tears came to our eyes, and you felt as if you had lost someone terribly close to you. A moment whose memory still makes my eyes moist. A brave young man, had sacrificed his life for the nation. I could not sleep that night. I am sure hundreds of us must have had this feeling.

That one day forever changed my outlook towards men in uniform. A sight of them, and I would feel enormous respect, and sometimes even a bit of shame that I could do practically nothing compared to them for the nation and the people.

What this incident also signified ( and I absolutely credit Barkha Dutt for this, though I am sure a number of us disagree with her today) was how the media could create an awareness in a population which did not even know the names of it's great heroes who had won Param Vir Chakra's and died to protect this country.

Simply put, a true hero. Words are not enough to describe the bravery of these men. RIP, Capt. Batra. We owe it to you.

Of Bollywood and Amrika

Having been in the US for a few years, I have kind of developed this love for Indian-American movies, or just the way 2 cultures tend to portray each other . The amazing assumptions , the great ideas and of course the overpowering imagination.

I'll start with Hyderabad Blues - the first movie I probably saw which dealt with an Indian guy's opinion of India after returning back. To an extent, the film was quite honest - and one particular point that amazed me was when a girl in India describes the USA as ' Fast cars, everyone carries a gun' and perhaps that is the best starting point for this topic.

Most of us - on both sides of the globe, have derived our image of India or the US based on films and somehow some films really mess it up.

Like, in Chachi 420, an America-returned guy is shown as a complete idiot - to American Chai, where an Indian who comes to America (FOB as is popularly called :P), is shown as a sycophant - and in general very irritating.

In fact, one of the very first movies- our very own Ram Lakhan had a nice scene which said 'Arre Chacha, America mein maine 12 saal dance hi to kiya hai' - which gave an impression of the US (link - it's at 5:48 ) . Then, there are some movies which show as if an Indian kid raised in the US is so much similar to someone in India, that it again does not seem to be too believable.

On the other hand, American films have been pretty mixed about Indians or FOB - as called in popular culture. The film American Chai really takes a dig at people like me- who've come from India. While i don't agree completely with the portrayal, I must say- that it's not really untrue as well. There are some characteristics in all of us- which I am sure American raised kids or Americans in general find funny :) and I think we should understand and accept that.

The movie Flavors is one movie that really seems to capture a lot of 'flavors' literally of India life. From the I-know-it-all consultant to the bored housewife, from the parents of a super busy engineer, to the American girl who chooses to marry an Indian guy, a film that does not really bluff too much.

One more film that particularly piqued my interest was Green Card Fever , which , though not being directly connected to student life, gave a glimpse of the struggle here ( I was told by a gentleman that in the eighties, the food vs phone was indeed a dilemma which a lot of really poor Indians faced) , as also the various funny incidents described in the movie.

I would not deny that there are a lot of films made in the USA which look at India as a land where people still use elephants as a daily mode of transportation :) - however, the focus is really not on such films.

I believe, that while all films will most definitely have some kind of bias towards one section of the population, a well researched film with intelligent humor is definitely a refreshing change and especially to people like us, who've both experienced and best and worst of the east and west.

As far as the poster is concerned, I haven't really seen that film :) => but I did like the message , Nothing is what it appears to be !

The Classic Problem

This has been one of the most challenging situations- however big or small it might be- I always find myself struggling with this thing.

The situation: You can do action A or action B. A has a set of rewards A1 and a set of problems A2. So does B. The chances of maximizing A1 or B1 is subject to a lot of uncertain factors. So, what do you do?

My typical solution to this problem involves asking about a 100 people the same Q, taking their opinion and finally doing what I initially thought was the correct thing to do anyways. In most cases, people tend to complicate the situation more than they resolve it. Still, it's emotionally better to get people's opinion.

I am sure if you tell this to my mother, she'll agree 100 % to this scenario. She's been the tie breaker more often than not and she absolutely dislikes it.

So , what's the solution to this problem? I found this answer in an email forward. Solution is to flip a coin . But hey, that's not it.

1.Decide that if it's heads, you'll do A and if it's tails, you'll do B.
2.Flip the coin.
3. When the coin is in the air, freeze the moment and think what you hoped the coin would fall as .
4.You got what you need to do! Go for it! And DON'T look at the coin!!!

The quest for a Jamba Juice

Wow! This is an amazing story. Remember the famous 'essay' in school of ' The Day When Everything Went Wrong' and the kind of things you bluffed in that-

Well , some time, you do feel that going true. Today wasn't a bad day, just that I started the day thinking of something and the as the day progressed, the quest seemed to turn into an impossible quest. Here's a brief description

Morning 10 am: A very hot day, and I think, well today's the best day to have a nice fresh jamba juice . I had to get my car repaired , so thought well, might as well do it then

11 30 am: Get out on a hot hot day in mountain view, the resolve to get the Jamba juice is really over me now.

12 noon: I reach the car repair - I remembered that there used to be a Jamba Juice close by, so I thought, well let me leave the car and walk back to find the Juice center, since the car anyways would take about an hour to get repaired

12:10 : Start walking on one of the hottest summer afternoons thinking that the jamba juice would be about half a mile away.

12:30 Walk for about a mile, and then check on my iphone to find that I might have passed that. Walk back and find that the juice center just got closed a month back. All hopes dashed!

12:40 : Walk back to the car repair, by now I have walked about 2.5 miles in the hot sun and without anything.

12:50 : No worries, now I have my new and improved Corolla. Again, I trust my memory and go for a Jamba which I know is close by. I reach the place, see the board from a distance and feel proud of my memory [ Or as some people might say, 'Maine to Makkhan kaam kiyaa hai ;) ' ] . Reach the complex, which is bustling with activity

1:05 pm: As I reach the door for the Jamba juice, find that it's locked. As if it was the perfect trap for me,every single shop in that complex is open , except for mine.

The next shop is about 4 miles away. Decide to make a quick stop at home and then go for the juice. After all, I have spent too much time on this juice.

1:10 pm: Reach home, have lunch , and think that now I can do some work before going out for the Jamba.

5:30 pm: Think that the Jamba wasn't meant for today. Decide to play tennis instead

6:30 pm: Reach tennis court and start playing- the heat rekindles the craving for the juice

7:30 pm: Finish tennis, call mom and tell her about the incident

7:40 pm: Still talking to mom, and somehow wish that I should try and reach the Jamba Juice before it closes at 8

7:50 pm: Reach the complex, but don't quite find the Jamba. A moment which is like the last few minutes of the exam.

7:55 pm: Find the shop! Reach out my hand to open the door, only wishing it's not locked....Luckily enough, I am on time....

7:57 pm: Get the last juice for the day, as the door is locked behind me. It's the most satisfying ever :)

Review of "My Name is Khan"

Being in the US for 6 years has had one impact on me- whenever I see a Bollywood film depicting the US, or people of the US , I get into this 'reality check' mode- where I try to gauge the film by how true it really is in the portrayal of this country.

I have always not liked films which give a bad image to expatriates like us, or of the Indians grown up here (American Born Cultured Desis as a friend suggested me to call them), or in general of Americans. The truth is that while we are all different, we still have a heart, laugh, cry, have emotions and will not fail to act when the situation demands.

My Name is Khan scores a lot of points for what I would term as a honest and well-researched picture of the US, it's people, it's land, the life of Indians here , the problems that have surfaced in this country post 9/11. What is impressive about the film is it's storyline which is fast paced, and (thankfully) lacks the bollywood numbers popping up at the most inappropriate events . For example, I had seen the film Bombay , which though being fast-paced had the song 'Kucchi kucchi rakma ' in the middle of the riots.

SRK's role in the movie is done well, and though I do have a grudge against him (for the stupid publicity stunt), I must say that he does a good role ,especially with the Asperger Syndrome . But much more than that, it was Kajol's role , the kind of emotions shown, and her acting which really made the movie much much better. There's one scene in the movie ( not putting in here, since it reveals the plot), where she cries and there was a pindrop silence in the theater. One of those performances that can actually touch you, make you cry . One of the role that reminds you that it is also her performance that has been the reason for a lot of hits by the Khan (DDLJ, K3G and the likes)

And, the one thing, the message of the film "My name is Khan, and I am not a terrorist", which is obviously much better understood if you have been in the US for an extended period of time. It's pretty clear that post 9/11, the kind of security checks which have increased sometimes tend to display a tint of religious bias , which can be felt and which honestly, is not beneficial to this country. The message at the beginning of the film, about there being only 2 kinds of people, the good and the bad, and one man's attempt to change the mindset of people who have been affected by 9/11 and have changed their beliefs.

I would again repeat, that one scoring point of the film , is it's honest portrayal of Americans - I must say that Aunt Jemma was someone whom I could identify with , the kind of innocence and friendliness I could associate with most African Americans I have met, to the motel-running Gujju, to the Punjabi beauty parlor owner , to the security officals at SF airport, they all looked like real characters I have meet on the streets here in America.

All and all a film worth watching. A final note to Mr. Khan. The publicity stunt about 'My Name is Khan' was not welcome enough. If you read through the lines, you could clearly understand that it was some check, and you did not need to say, that they checked you when you said 'My name is Khan'. In a world which is already waging a battle against religious intolerance, it would be better to not increase it. People have loved you as Raj or Rizvan, and they have never considered you different because you were 'Khan'.

[Correction: It was pointed out to me that the film is not too honest about America after all. The film does show an event attended by the President where only Catholics are allowed entry. Apparently that's not possible. Thanks Arnab for pointing it out.

Reflections of India

A late post- half compiled in India and completed after coming back...

Wow, can't believe it's been more than a month I have been in India - This time it's been an all round experience with work and visits to Hyderabad and lots of new experiences. But I guess, a good sum up of the whole experience would be some interesting positives and negatives about India - which catch the eye of someone who gets the chance to visit this land just once every year.

As part of my trip, I visited the Oracle office in Hyderabad. It was a different experience for me, because for the first time in my life, I was actually working in India. It started off with a 6 30 am flight to Hyd via Kingfisher airways. Having heard so much about the new and improved experience, I was looking forward to it. 6 20 am in the morning, I got to my seat and saw a nice TV in front of me, and just wished for a nice cup of coffee along with something good to see.

Hopes dashed first up,with an announcement that the TV sets weren't working throughout the flight . All right, I thought, a coffee and a nap would be good. An announcement followed that due to a 'technical glitch', coffee or tea would not be served on the flight. And almost literally an icing on the cake, I was server some very oily food to just complete my experience on a wonderful flight. Later , I checked their site and found this nice picture in there .



I decided to send a feedback message to the airline complaining about the service. The reply I got was as if they were trying to console a crying baby, with a manager replying, sir , we have checked our electrical connections for the next flight.

So much for customer service - I felt. I think that this has more to do with the mindset that we carry. Quality of Service is quite a different phenomenon in India and the US,and this difference is probably caused more by the acceptance of poor service by the people. I am sure a lot of us would agree, that we are more satisfied by the politeness of the Indian consulate in US than that of the US consulate in India. It's frankly not about the people who work there, it's more about the people who take their service, and how they put their need before their tolerance.


Coming back, I think with every trip of mine, I find that India gets richer. It's still quite a mystery how there's so much money given the worldwide recession, but then that's where it is. Newer, bigger, better malls, foreign brands, huge stores, newer mobile phones, lot of money spent on endorsements, just get curios as to where the money is coming in into all this. The only good thing, is that it is generating vast employment opportunities, especially for middle class people with moderate educational backgrounds. The one interesting thing I found was also, how gadgets and popular culture go together. In a train journey from VT to Mulund, I found a teenager explaining 'email' to his friend. He was like, just 'mobile jaise address hoga'. Then 'as you fwd smses, you can now fwd emails' . What I found interesting was, that a 'mobile phone' has become such an integral part of the Indian lifestyle, which has been one of the revolutionary evolution for this decade in India. I mean, who would have imagined this day in the late nineties, that everyone from the 'kaamwaali bai' to the 'fruit vendor' would carry mobiles, and that too with full utilities ? And even more so, I can't imagine how people, who would otherwise be illiterate at most things, never falter in execution of this divine gadget.

And finally, the sad part- I always used to be proud of the fact that though Bombay was a city with heavy traffic, and less-than-great roads, the discipline of people driving made up for it. Quite disappointing this time, that Bombay is following the norm in a few other cities, of not following traffic rules, or jumping signals unless and until you see a policeman somewhere. Unfortunately enough for the city, the cheaper cars, supported by growing salaries of people, and fueled by attractive loan schemes from banks, is all leading to people leaving the good old local trains and taking their 'own' cars to work- which I fear is going to lead the city to a big mess unless steps are taken.

And this post should of course mention the one thing that has not changed, or in fact improved, and that's the reliability of the local trains in Bombay. Love them, hate them, but you can still trust them to get you on time. In fact, I think I beat my Dad in most challenges to reach home before his expectations, and the one facility that always helped me, the good old local trains :). Quite a few improvements too, newer trains, better compartments, more automatic vending machines, and a general 'Go Clean' campaign by Mumbaikars have made the overall experience a bit better. At least if you see the change over years. Kudos to these guys!

So did you celebrate Independence day?

Yes, Celebrate. Did you? I don't quite think so. Maybe you went to a function . A flag hoisting ceremony. Or maybe you just watched it on TV .

But this year, we celebrated Independence Day. Celebrated our independence. Remembered the people who worked for it. Celebrated India. And I must say I felt ecstatic. Thanks to a wonderful party hosted at the Deshwal residence, I must say that it was the most wonderful Independence Day I celebrated.

A small glimpse of the decor is here . Maybe after seeing it, this read will be a bit more interesting.

So here's what the party was all about. The tricolor being the theme of the evening. Everything , from balloons to food, from drinks to dresses , symbolizing the tiranga. People coming in in traditional dresses, all decorations with an 'India' theme, participating in an 'India' quiz (which in itself was quite interesting and informative), having Indian food, drinks (again all in the tricolor theme) was something that made the independence day memorable.

And that's where I personally think, that something is not right. This independence day was much better than singing an anthem whose meaning I don't know, listening to a speech by someone which I find boring, honor the flag for exactly 5 minutes before distracting your attention to 'Samose kahaan hai?' . This gave me a proud feeling of being Indian, wearing my country's colors, listening to old and new patriotic songs (there are some very nice patriotic songs in the recent era) remembering the good people who have brought us independence and got us to this point, and above all, felt like, I was one amongst the one billion of us who were part of this celebration.

This is something I personally believe in, doing something with your full heart, and not because you are 'supposed' to do it. As they call it, 'Direct Dil Se'. This year's independence day party was indeed a memorable one.

< A small disclaimer: Before you think that this post was mistimed :), must say that I have been too busy and hence the delay in posting this one- I did start writing this one on Aug 16 >