Jingle all the way!!!!!

It’s 6 degrees and am freezing!!!!!

This is got to be the weirdest Christmas of my life.

Weird and lonely…… no family, no friends……

If you have spent the whole Christmas on Facebook, you know there’s something that isn’t going your way.

Choosing a career of your dreams is never an easy option…..but a rebellious heart and a wafer-thin salary packet can make one take a few bold and may be not so clever decisions.

Settling in New Delhi has been a struggle…..the last five months has been nothing else but tough! Seriously tough!

But still, when watching cricket matches on a giant LCD becomes a part of your profession, one can’t complain much. Camera, editing, cricket matches, stories, media stalwarts, visits to the Lok Sabha, Fashion weeks have all been like a dream but the reality hits in every morning when one has to get out of the blanket to make your own cup of coffee…..especially in Delhi winters….trust me it’s no fun!

I took it as a part of professional hazard but suddenly the Christmas Eve brought in a few memories that made me a little week in my knees.

Christmas back in my city is a little different……friends, Park Street, breakfast with cakes and oranges, the hanging socks for Santa and of course the gifts……well, we had our Santa too….

I have always been a part of a joint family where we are five brothers and sisters (well….you may call cousins!) and Christmas Eve we used to run for our beds because Santa used to visit us at Midnight.

Christmas morning we used to wake up and look for our gifts only to find nice packed boxes near our pillows…… chocolates, pens, books and on my 18^th year I even found a shaving kit!

We used to wonder how Santa knew what we want. We knew the answer; still we loved to the feeling of amazement and the happiness it brought along!
This Christmas I woke up….and suddenly looked beside my pillow, I found nothing……

I closed my eyes and thought about my Santa……

I saw him smile at me giving me a thumbs Up saying, “MERRY CHRISTMAS SON…”

That was my present.

Well….my Grand Dad is my Santa……and I can still hear him singing his Jingle all the way!!!!!!!

JOKER of the PACK

“May I come in Sir?”

The whole group turned towards the huge metal doors of the Engineering workshop.

“Sir, I have just been transferred to the Chemical Engineering section…..” the big eyed girl went on,”….I am roll no. 68.”

She uttered the words with much trepidation as the whole group kept staring at her.

That was the first time I saw Miss Malini Guha….Oooops! Then Miss Malini Guha…..

As she ushered herself into the workshop, a few whispers began, a few hearts skipped a few beats and a few meaningful smiles emerged. I kept looking at the newest member of our class. Her eyes were filled with much discomfort as she managed a meek smile at me as she settled into the worktable.

Well….. Those eyes have matured by 6 years since I saw them but they still have the pureness and the anxiety in them. And when those eyes displayed the gentle jitters of a bride, I could hear a few sighs of despair and a few hearts breaking!

Yup! Malini, as expected, finally exchanged vows.

As I was getting decked up for the occasion in front of my mirror, I suddenly realized that I am actually approaching the wrong side of the twenties! The shinny bald scalp, hidden by a strategically placed Mohawk, suddenly peeped out confirming the fact. As I walked in and handed over the gift, those eyes again greeted me with the question, “How do I look?”

I am perhaps the last guy who would come up with a “Wow! So Beautiful……”

Even Malini didn’t expect it! But to my surprise I showed double thumbs up!

“No ways dude!!!!!” I told myself.

I even tried to be the pain in the ass that I normally am but the harder I tried the more I disappointed myself.

I was astonished at my poor form but the thing that hit me the hardest was the lack of connection. There was a clear disconnect between me and my FRIENDS!

I tried to gel but the chemistry was simply missing!

May be I am growing up or perhaps my FRIENDS have grown out of me.

Whatever it may be…….It was a fabulous wedding….the first among my friends. All of them were there…..the Kings, the Queens, the Aces but the JOKER of the PACK didn’t quite make it!

The Wounded Tiger!

After Shane Warne’s wrong one’s it’s time for Tiger Woods to surprise us with his not so golfing swings!

After being in the limelight for nearly 15 years as an international celebrity, Woods probably figured out that the media can rip you apart cut when it came to explaining -- or rather not explaining -- what happened in the wee hours of Nov. 27 when he crashed his car outside his Florida home.

Now, Woods finds himself neck deep trouble and trauma, with several women popping up, eager for their 15 minutes of fame, divulging details of their alleged sexual affairs with the legend.

“I have let my family down and I regret those transgressions with all of my heart. ... Although I am a well-known person and have made my career as a professional athlete, I have been dismayed to realize the full extent of what tabloid scrutiny really means. For the last week my family and I have been hounded to expose intimate details of our personal lives. ... Personal sins should not require press releases and problems within a family shouldn't have to mean public confessions.”

Sure …..Woods couldn't be more right. He’s the greatest golfer of his generation because of his golfing talent and not because he's a paragon of personal virtue. But in today's wildly invasive media universe, being a champ isn't enough to protect your privacy. When a role model turns out to have feet of clay, we as fans feel a need to know every detail about his transgressions, no matter how little they have to do with the hero's public performance.

But the latest sex scandal makes people wonder — why do men cheat? And are the famous and powerful more prone to indiscretion, or are they just under the microscope more than the average Tom Dick and Harry?

Well, whatever it may be we all must pray that he should return to the golf course fueled by the same competitive fire that he has shown us over a decade.

Perhaps Rocky Balboa’s Coach Mickey was right,” women make a sportsman weak!”

Even the Great Tiger has been caught in his Woods swinging it the wrong way!

View from the TOP!

Malcolm Speed must have watched TV on the 6^th December 2009.

His comments on India being the “biggest bully to ICC and non performers” must have been shoved under the carpet after we attained the coveted pole position in the test match rankings for the first time in the history of Indian cricket!

Till date India was the financial nerve center of world cricket, in fact, questions were often raised as to why the money power doesn't translate into becoming the world's number one team? The ghost has finally been buried. It has also established that while boasting of the money and the market that propels cricket forward, India also has the best Test team in the world.

Though India has been always looked upon as the next big thing, we have never made it big in the sporting arenas. Like most of the Olympic Games are dominated by USA and China, even smaller countries like Jamaica produce Usain Bolt and Ethiopia produces a series of marathon winners. We do send in our entries only hoping that someone does a Bindra or a Peas! 1 gold in 88 years of competing does make us a misfit in the schema of being the next superpower!

Soccer is even more far stretched….. We are perhaps one of the most soccer frenzy nations yet we struggle to clear the qualifying rounds. Countries like Ivory Coast, Costa Rica, Serbia, and Slovenia make the cut and we still stay glued on to our TV sets rooting for Argentina and Brazil.

In sharp contrast, when we turn our attention to cricket this despair ceases. Cricket remains the only realm where Indians can flex their muscles on the world stage. Two world Cups, number two in ODIs and now numero uno in test matches does make the situation a whole lot brighter!

In a nation where the cricket enthusiast oscillates between adulation and vandalism, playing cricket is no less difficult than governing the country. In fact, the Indian captain's job is as tough as the prime minister's. At a time when social strife is never far away, the camaraderie in the present team is striking. And it is for this reason alone that Mahendra Singh Dhoni needs to be applauded. We must not forget the role of Sourav Ganguly and Anil Kumble as well. This team deserves all the accolades because no cricket team in the world is forced to carry the burden of a billion, trying to prove to their countrymen that unity is still an achievable dream in Indian national life.

Amidst the Naxals, Mr. Liberhan, nuclear treaties….MS Dhoni and his team has given us a chance to rejoice…but still we will remember 6^th December for all the wrong reasons and Cricket will always be a strict NO NO in the headlines of our premiere broadcast channel!! J

“DE DAN A DAN”----test cricket!

If Ahmadabad was the worst advertisement for test cricket…..enter Dunedin. It produced the best test cricketing action for the year till now! Five days of high voltage drama…..the contest between bat and ball…..Swing and seam and pace….Stirring batting. …Wickets falling in a heap and then the batsmen fighting back. It just had everything.

The first day ended with honors shared; New Zealand pulled away on the second; Pakistan combusted in the first half of the third, and then a debutant stood up and stroked his way to a hundred. On day four, a 17-year-old left-armer and one coming back in from the cold, blew the New Zealanders away and day five began with all results possible.

Day 5 saw a wobble at the top followed by a fight-back involving, inevitably, the debutant, left the last session poised evenly. The final breakthrough was provided by a bowler who had worked up steam all match without a wicket. He bowled into the wind and swung it New Zealand's way after taking a blow to the finger so severe the physio had to pull the digit back into shape. That merely made it more poignant.

If it failed to move you, cricket will be never be your game!!!!

Overall it was a great week for test cricket……be it the return of the maverick Sreesanth at Kanpur….or the rise of the blitzkrieg Barrath at the Gabba! Even Sehwag and Gambhir’s batting displays showed there’s more to batting than just slam bam hitting in the T-20 mould!

Abandoning test cricket will not only be stupid but suicidal. The roots of the game lie in test matches and without it the core values of the game would wither away!

Cricket is a game that is blessed with a buffet of three formats…there’s enough space for all three to co-exist and only if the administrators keep the wits about them all three formats will flourish with great élan!

Test cricket needs a retaliator. It needs men with vision. It needs ownership and drive.

C’mmon Lalit…….just do it!

All izzzz well!!!!

White Balance thik nahi hai yaar…..oye focus hi galat hai….abe sale behen**** edit mein audio jump hai……transition laga yaar….slot nahi mila ya…

Whew….

This is what exactly I have been hearing throughout the last week.

What was I up to?????

Well, all of us were assigned to make short films of 6 to 10 minutes.

Initially, everyone was elated but as soon as one hit the floors what followed were confusion, fights, bitter rivalry and some serious hard work.

All this while I either wowed or bashed up films sitting in the cozy chairs of the glitzy multiplexes but trust me from now on I won't. When my group was assigned the film on the SONY PD 170, I had no idea how much effort will go in to make an 8 min 39 sec film.

To kick off the shoot we needed a script, and I had to make it. Scripting has always my nemesis whether be it C, C++ or VB on QTP! And I found out scripting a short film that to a technical one was no walk in the park. It took me two days and lots of GOOGLE-ing to finally land up with a seven page long script.

If scripting was a pain, shooting the film was an agony. Whatever I thought as a shot turned out to be shabby, shoddy and not upto the mark……then came in the famous lighting problems. We decided to shoot in a three point system and tried setting it up. We kept at it for more than an hour only to switch them off! At times I felt like banging my head against the wall. But I realized whenever someone has their back against the wall …..you just have to keep trying. We got our minds together and finally shot the film in a matter of 13 hours! Imagine thirteen hours of shooting for an 8 minuter…..imagine shooting a feature film….. Mid Longs, close ups, extreme close ups, over the shoulder….. You name it; we had it!

The footage was in……. and now came the toughest part……editing!

It’s more important to know what not to show rather than what to show!!!! So the real struggle began. Visual jumps, audio glitches, voice over laying…..arrrgggghhh!!! Sitting on the edit bay for hours with headphones on gave me bonging ears and dizzy eyesight! After three rough cuts we finally had a film ready to premier! It was hard work…..trust me guys me and my group worked our asses off. Night shifts….long hours…..no food….no change of underwares…..life literally seemed out of control….but then again we had fun and the 3 idiots of group 7 kept singing…..

“Bhaiya all izzzzzz well!!!!!”

“SACH…….Impossible is Nothing!”

The grandma keeps counting her japmala, the nuns keep praying, the young guns run home from school, the phone keeps ringing, the cup of tea remains unattended……..

An early ADIDAS ad claimed that the world froze frame when Sachin Tendulkar took guard!

Well….nothing’s much has changed even after the batting Maestro completes 20 years in international cricket.

Who is Sachin Tendulkar?

Is he just a cricketer, a batting legend, a role model or God to a few of us?

To categorize the magnanimity of Sachin Tendulkar in words would be as stupid as bowling him half volleys on leg stump.

To me he is a metaphor that signifies the common man of India. He is truly Mr. India. He represents the middle class of India at the highest level and through his game he keeps on spreading the deep rooted values of us all Indians.

The legend of the man started at the greens of the Shivaji park of then Bombay (sorry, Raj, can’t help it!!!!), where the Dronacharya of Indian cricket found his Arjun! Both Shivaji Park and Shardashram Vidyamandir had made it into the Indian cricket folklore thanks to the towering achievements of this 5ft someone….

What makes this man a legend?

Lots have been spoken about his technique, shot making, array of strokes, and the weight of his bat….. But very sparingly people actually focus on his real might, his intent and his adaptability. His intent is evident when he says I care playing for India….and his adaptability is visible when he pulls out the uppercut from his repertoire at Johannesburg, against the likes of Allan Donald, not to play it again in the entire series!

As the evening shadows lengthen over his cricketing career, we still expect him to perform like God every time he walks into bat, which in way reveals the place he occupies in our hearts. Ironically, we still recognize the hold he has on our psyche, especially in the venom that we spit on him whenever he fails to deliver. Ironically, the more we curse him, the more we express our need for him!

Perhaps, its only apt that he wears the SAHARA logo on his chest because that’s exactly what he has been for the past 20 years where he has marched on braving the tennis elbow, the back aches, the pulled hamstrings, the painful little toe and of course the hopes of 1.2billion ….

“SACH…….Impossible is Nothing!”

“Antel” Inside!

Who is an intellectual?

According to our Bible Wikipedia, An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence, i.e. thought and reason and analytical thinking, either in a professional or a personal capacity.

The word ‘Intellectual’ can denote 2 types of persons:

· A person involved in, and with, abstract, erudite ideas and theories.

A person of notable cultural and artistic expertise whose knowledge grants him or her intellectual authority in public discourse.

Uff… ki beginning mama!!!! Trust me guys, this is my first and last venture to write “intellectual” stuff. Being from the class of “Uncultivated”, I am a person who has a “low browed taste” in culture and art. So, I embark on this endeavor to find out why am I a non intellectual? (Main aisa kyun hoon???? pobblem ta asole ki?)

So this thesis of mine goes out to my philistine and uninitiated friends!

All of the above was Wikipedia stuff (what else can a non –intellectual, without a writing prowess, do?) so, let’s list it down…….

• 
  
  I love Govinda and David Dhawan….. (khali fajlami!!!!)


• 
  
  I don’t understand Franz Kafka!


• 
  
  I don’t understand the intricacies of Hussain’s evocative paintings!


• 
  
  I don’t find K.K. Menon more glamorous than Shah Rukh Khan.


• 
  
  I don’t understand the clichés used by great filmmakers (does anyone remember the cobwebs from Guide!!!!)


• 
  
  I don’t understand why Gabbar Singh killed an ant and didn’t ogle at Helen after “Mehebooba Mehebooba”!(does that conclude Gabbar was gay…..because he keeps mouthing ”Kitne aadmi the?”)


• 
  
  I prefer the 22 yards over “Do Bigha Zameen”! (Howwzatt!)


• 
  
  I indulge in “Inferior forms of arts!” like punning and mimicry! (dara ektu orna ta thik kore ni……Asha kori bhule jasni ke bolechilo!)


• 
  
  I prefer Nandan because of the wrong reasons. (Tikit hebby sosta kaka!)


• 
  
  “Totallyyy”prefer Bappi da over GnR and Metallica. (“Chirodinee….”…..uff total emotional…..getting goojbumps paagla!)


• 
  
  I am not a Bob Dylan fan.(I still pronounce Dylan and not “Dyeee”lan though)


• 
  
  I can’t ask questions “with insights” stretching up to 45 secs to a minute…..


• 
  
  I prefer six-packs over AF-PAK!

And the list continues…….now I know why I can’t be clubbed as an intellectual….

But I really want to be one because the great thing about being an intellectual is that if you bore people they still think it's their fault!!!! Even I want to get passes for the film festivals! So, here begins my pursuit to become one……

Ahhhh forget it! I would rather stick to my over the top self and keep tickling you guys with my non-intellectual gibberish!

Lekin Jaane se pehle……….ek non intellectual entity ke total non-antel dil se nikla hua chand alfaaz………

Bhabcho pore ki sob jata, likheche kisob shit…..

Thik dhorecho amar matha e ache total chhit!

Sukumar Roy Bhogoban r Gurudev amar Mir…

Punning jodi lage bhalo, kha paagla kheer!

Cricket amar passion kaka, kobita amar hobby….

Comment koro noyle sala EK CHOBOL E CHOBI!!!!!!

“Better fit than Sorry!”

M.S. Dhoni’s words must have been ringing in the years of Younus Khan’s ears after the semis of the Champions trophy. Yet another, finger controversy engulfs cricket and this time it’s a broken one!

A broken finger not only ousted Pakistan from the tournament, it has already started pointing in the wrong direction as well.

“When I ran Gambhir out, people said what a patriot, now the same people will say I was up to something” …..Being as smart as usual, Younus Khan called it before hand. And as one has it now, the Chairman of the National Assembly standing committee on sports MNA Jamshed Dasti has been quoted that Pakistan tanked matches against Australia and New Zealand. Typical of Pakistan cricket…..

It definitely hurts and Younus Khan must have been more pained with the match fixing allegations rather than his broken finger. The pain was visible when he said he would not tolerate the slur of match-fixing and would resign from the captain's job if he felt so.

But a few questions will always tickle him;

Should he have been playing? Well….it was a brave call, but at times bravery could lead to misery.

And why did he try to catch the ball the Aussie way?

He should have remembered, Aussies and fingers always point to some new controversies!

Oh! Captain…..My Captain!
“Rain rain go away, MS Dhoni wants to play”… it must have been the nursery rhyme that the Indian Cricket team skipper would have been chanting, sitting in the dressing room while watching the thunderstorm against the Aussies at the Centurion.
The Indian Team was already in a spot of bother after losing their opening game versus Pakistan but the thunderstorm against the Aussies definitely delivered the killer blow!
India’s hopes relied on the shoulders on their “best friend” Pakistan who, as usual, failed us! But why do we have to rely on someone else??
Of course we need to….because we had the “best bowling” line up possible!
Ishant Sharma refused to get back into his groove, R.P. Singh and Harbhajan Singh lost form leaving Dhoni “two to three bowlers short” and the less we talk about our fielding the better….. It definitely shows a drop in the testosterone levels!
This is the second ICC tournament this year that we have crashed out ….. In the Twenty20 World Cup it was attributed to the batsmen's failure to face short-pitched stuff and now, the bowlers need to put up their hands. But somewhere in these fiascos, Dhoni's modest captaincy has escaped the post mortem. MSD, under whom India is yet to lose a Test match, now seriously needs to re-evaluate his leadership skills. Is Dhoni's flair for captaincy is now becoming a victim of pragmatism? His cool dude image seemed to have frozen his imagination as a captain as well! His approach to batting is simply unacceptable. Instead of being the flamboyant hitter, he now builds his innings way too timidly. The result, India has lost its most fearsome bomber!
The India skipper let Pakistan off the hook by bringing in his part-time bowlers rather than go for all out attack when Pakistan were on the ropes .The result, Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Yousuf soon found their bearings and posted a mammoth stand to pile up the big score. Even against the Aussies the field settings and the bowling changes were way too timid!
Though we won against the Windies, let’s face it with just two good fielders in Raina and Kohli, two dependable batsmen in Tendulkar and Gambhir; just one medium pacer worth his salt Ashish Nehra, India couldn’t have gone the distance. We, unfortunately, did not play to our potential and hence….
But has “captain-cool” lost his Midas touch? Does his captaincy needs a makeover? Does he need to revamp his approach to batting?
I know he and his men in blue have done brilliantly well (six consecutive ODI series wins) throughout the last two years and we had a lot of injury woes but my captain….
It’s not about the defeats; its how one loses.

Vinod Dua Live!

“Aap ke saamne ek chhata hua aiash baitha hai….” A thunder of applause followed as the words rolled out. Only Vinod Dua can pull off such a line with so much of élan!
I have been following Vinod Dua since childhood, thanks to my dad and his obsession with news, right from his Parakh days. After that he has gone on to do many more programs and I have kept following him.
Though I didn’t understand much of what he said, I was always attracted by his very lucid and fluid style of presentation. As I started growing up, I was captivated by his sense of satire and humor.
Sense of humor is a very misunderstood quality to possess….not many people can boast of possessing it. Moreover in our part of the world, a person who can see the funnier side of things is not taken very seriously by people who can look dead stern. (Personal experience, boss!)
So, I was very excited to learn that Vinod Dua will visit us at our Institute. It was a short and crisp visit of an hour but it has left quite an indelible effect on me. I could actually feel what sense of humor was and how this man used it. His quoting of Ghalib and his various anecdotes just brought together his spectrum of learning in front of us. He gave us great insights and we all understood because he delivered it wrapped with FUN! He answered all our questions and all of them had two elements in common, great insights and super fun!
His taking up a program like Zaika India Ka also shows that this man is serious about fun and that’s what he emphasized on, “Have fun in whatever you do…”
And his answer to my question…….
“You don’t need to put up a solemn face to appear serious; you can be serious with a smile on your face….”
I hope all my friends are listening!

Vint”AGE” Tendulkar!

Wine is perhaps the best entity that describes Sachin Tendulkar’s craftsmanship, it just keeps getting better……
As he himself said after completing his 44th century "I am enjoying the game. My effort will be to try and keep playing the game and help win matches but the enjoyment factor is extremely important."
It certainly is. Every innings is crafted, every stroke an endeavor.....And the cynics can only make calamitous predictions about Tendulkar at their own peril.
But every time Tendulkar comes up with superlative performances, one is reminded of the infamous headline carried by a national newspaper in 2006.
"Endulkar?"
Since then, Tendulkar has gone on to conquer many more pinnacles of success.
It is true that age is one process no one can overcome. It is cruel. It spares none……. not even the most gifted of artists or the fittest of sportsmen.
It will get to HIM too but it’s obvious that he will go out on his own terms. That became evident from his hundred in the Compaq Cup tri series final against Sri Lanka. To come up with such an extended master class in extremely trying conditions battling Mendis, Malinga and cramps called for a superhuman effort.
What next?
The one thing that he has set is heart on….. A World Cup in the 50 over format.

So till then just sit back and sip on to the Vint”AGE” Tendulkar!!!!!

Fashion WEAK!

Life mein bohut kuch 1st time hota hai re mamu……. MunnaBhai’s dialogues were buzzing in my ears as I walked past a few Delhi socialites!
Great cars, dangerous necklines, air smooching and a lot of 377 lovers……… this was my first expression of the first ever Men’s fashion week The Van Heusen Men’s Fashion Week!
Another S Size dream of mine came into reality as I walked into the Grand Hotel in Vasant Kunj, New Delhi.
“You guys from NDTV?” I was brought back to the present by one of the volunteers out there.
Frankly speaking, this NDTV ID card of mine has already started talking me to places where my IT card would never have imagined taking to (unless I became Nandan Nilekani part –II)! The volunteers took us to our designated seats where we were welcomed by Mr. Sunil Sethy (President FDCI).
Then the show began; skinny girls and the muscular men walked down the ramp with designer glasses and funny clothing (they literally were!).There were well known models like Jesse Randhawa, Tapur Chatterjee and Ankur Bedi (I came to know all these names on that day itself, thanks to all my lady colleagues!). The showstopper was the famous model turn actor Muzzamil Ebrahim (has acted in some movie named Dhoka!)
The show was ok…..though everyone else just loved it……. I got bored after 15 minutes. Overall a great experience…..but one thing I noticed. I was perhaps the only person not decked up for the occasion…..a jeans and a shirt. Among the gelled hairs and summer jackets and checkered trousers, my sense of fashion was definitely WEAK!

Demo”CRAZY”…….

Dreams can be of many sizes S, M, L, XL, XXL……go ahead guys take your pick.
One such M dream of mine came true on the 6th of August 2009 when I stepped into the Parliament House of India…….. The Lok Sabha.
As our car drove past Rajpath and the Rastrapathi Bhavan, my heart skipped a beat…….
“So this is it….it’s real…”
My mouth went a little dry and palms sweaty as we were given the instructions of how to behave inside the Altar of Democracy in India.
As we went through the first round of security check, I looked up at the huge circular structure that decides what’s good (!) for the whole country.
Up till this point it was all awe and mystery……then the revelations started.
We had to go through a series of security checks, where the guards ran their hands all over our personal ASSets (why doesn’t the government leave the security dept. to Kingfisher!)
Varun Gandhi walked passed in his immaculate tailored kurta paijama (thank god they weren’t doctored as his tapes!).
As we slowly entered the upper galleries of the Lower House, my eyes immediately caught Sri Lalu Prasad Yadav.”Look dude, Pranab Mukherjee….” My friend elbowed me. What followed was absolute mayhem….BJP and Congress MPs slamming each other at every possible opportunity with the diminishing Left not to be left out.
“This is how the country is run?” I watched with wide eyes.
At the end of our stint, we got hold of Mr. Shatrughan Sinha…..who came up with his customary “Khamosh…” on public demand.
Was I disappointed or elated? Well both….. My elation was due to the fact the one M size dream of mine came true….and disappointment…..well my imagination and reality didn’t quite match (a side effect of not watching Lok Sabha TV)!
But again we are the largest DemoCraZy in the world! 

Yeh Dilli Hai Mere Yaar!

As the train tore through the northern part of Bihar and UP, a revelation that got to me was that never ever travel in a sleeper class! A normal reserved three seater berth became quite a five seater and even at times a sixth one said “Zara adjust kijiye….”
Most of the morning I was sitting as straight as Gautama Buddha under the Mahabodhi tree seeking for enlightment (in this case it was the feet of the people seating on the top berth with aromatic footwear……).
After much struggle I managed to reach New Delhi……the capital.
Why am I at Delhi???
This is my fifth visit to New Delhi and this one is going to be long……really long.
This time it is not about the Red Fort, Jantar Mantar, Qutub Minar…….it’s about life, a decision and definitely a challenge.
The very first day in my new class was quite an eye opener….. People from different works of life, different backgrounds and cultures are here…… and are here to only win…..
The prize …….
A job as a NDTV broadcaster!!!!
The second day exposed a part of the city that I never expected…..Rain.
It rained like dinosaurs and Godzillas for the whole day resulting in water logging and widespread jams throughout the city. I was stuck in that for two and a half hours.
I got down from the auto and started walking…….. Completely drenched in the torrential shower, I took refuge in a shop.
“New in Delhi?” asked a young guy standing beside me.
“Ya”….. I said,” does it rain often like this?”
“No…..” the guy smiled,” but when it does it’s quite an event……!”
Flyovers, auto fares, fruit juices, kebabs and Punjabi kudis make up the capital city of India. Here one moment you may get disgusted, the other surprised…… but at the end you have to shake your head and say………
“Yeh Dilli Hai Mere Yaar!”

FED Ex makes ROD "eek" !!!!

"Sorry Pete, I tried to hold him off.".....
Seldom had a beaten player had less to apologize for than Andy Roddick.
Slumped in his chair after the match, the crowd chanted "Roddick, Roddick, Roddick" until he rose to acknowledge them. While most of the words after Sunday’s epic final at Wimbledon rushed to praise Roger Federer after his history-making victory, the image that took hold came from the other side: the pain etched face of Andy Roddick.
Without the American the grand finale wouldn’t have been possible. With Rafael Nadal pulling out due to injury the record Slam was almost into Fed’s kitty but Roddick had other ideas. He knew what he was up against….He knew everyone had come to watch Federer make history, but he stuck at it until the greatness of the FedEx and a hip flexor injury broke him down.
As much as we love to revel with the victor, none of us knows what it’s like to win 15 Grand Slams but all of us do know what it’s like to have a dream crushed. So the celebration is nice…..but the pain, which even Roddick could not hide with his wisecrack humor, did hit home.
Well done Andy!!!

It's time to be DILLOGICAL!

So, finally am here! Enough of defect logging, now it’s time for some blogging!!!
Who am I??? A big question..... Well let me try an answer it.

I am an "ardinary" guy with a few "extra ardinary" actions, like leaving a settled IT job for some crazy media stuff in this recessive market.
My life's has been an adventure.... and a new one beckons me!!!!!

How???? Here it goes...

A wannabe cricketer lands up doing science, sat for JEE, garnered a rank as big as a mobile number, somehow scraped through to chemical engineering.....worked his way to an IT job and now is up for a stint in television!

Bizarre...........isn't it?

I often wondered the number of times my life’s changed its course that it can well match up to Hwang Ho!

But hey guys it has been fun..... And I hope it continues to be!!!!!
According to Chatterjee Kaku "chele ta puro pagol...totaaal fooolish r eelogical hoye geche!"

But I say “Na Kaka, pagol noi........It's time to be DILLOGICAL!"