Flashback 2011

As the last sun of 2011 sets on me, I sit here drunk assesing the year that went by. Like any other year of my life 2011 too had its ups and downs. Even though the year was mostly spent in US, the fun quotient was reduced due to me being away from family and friends. Stayed away from my wife, couldnt see simon, xenas plans kept getting pushed, nba season started after i left; all these took the fun away from what could have been an amazing year.

Good thing about this year was that i eventually saved some money that helped me bring down the mortgage of my house. I cleared the air with my best friend and we got back together to our ass kicking ways. Couple of really good friends got married and even though i couldnt be with them on their life altering moment, im happy that they took the leap of faith. This year ended the 2 year long financial and emotional draught for xena.

Bad things happened in 2011 but i took them in my stride and moved on. Sudden demise of some relatives, some bad financial calls, some bad professional choices would compromise the lows of 2011.

Having said that i thank god for giving me all the good times and for helping me dodge the bullet(s). I hope that 2012 brings more joy and solace in everyones life.

Outkast me??!??

Disclaimer: This post might seem disconnected and might not make any sense but i'd to write it to get things off my chest.

Friendship or relations might have different meaning back in my country but over here every thing is equated in $

A working couple goes out for doorbuster on thanksgiving, i mean really; between them they gross 200k and still go out to save 5$ on kids toys, 10$ on a jacket and then they have nerve to talk about being uptown and classy. You take somebody out for dinner at a place that they dont like .. Y??? Cuz u hav a 20$ coupon for that place.

Reach movie theatre 20 mins ahead of us and buy just your tickets.

If the server looks at me for the check its "together" but for you its "separate".

I dont question anybodys choices and neither am i offended by them. Everyone wants to save money and I dont judge anybody for the way they choose but the questions that i ask meself are "Should I do these things"; "why shouldn't I do the same" for I work just as hard as everyone else. I mean at times it seems that everybody is mooching off me.

Am I at a fault if i like to have a good drink and a meal? If i dont update every damn minute of my life on facebook or twitter? If I think living in the same house and commenting on each other status messages is not conversation but sign of drifting away from each other? If i dont ask your job profile or how big is the team you are leading? If i make fun of you for asking everyone in office about the jacket u shud buy?? If i think ive achieved enough and i'd had no regrets if i die today? Or if i count my blessings everday and thank god for giving me all that he has ?


People are weird and the problem is that dont even know it!

Back to Back to Back

Don't you just love your ipod when, even on shuffle mode, it plays your favorite songs back to back to back. 


Best 200$ every spent!!! 

Ecstatic

Mr. Happy-go-lucky has done it again. Well not again again but has made me super happy again. The guy never fails to amaze me. 


Its gonna be funnnnn!!!! 


Feelings encounter: Overwhelmed, joy, happiness, worry, sadness, proud. 

Crashed

Just when you think things are going as per plan, life throws a sudden curve ball at you. Why can't i just enjoy things which everyone around me seem to be enjoying. Why do i have to get things after a struggle. Why can't things just fall in place without giving me high blood pressure and sleepless nights. Why ? WHY? 


If i don't like being cheap why do people have to joke about it? If i don't conform to the regular DESI standard is it my fault? If i just want to LIVE life and not merely exist, should i be asking permission from everyone around? 


Hard to stay spirited if you keep getting constant hurdles to overcome especially when the next one seems a lot bigger than the one you just crossed.

Bday Bash!

This has been the most lonesome birthday ever. BUT i'm not complaining. 


Today made me realize that its important to do silly things like cutting a cake, going out for a drink or 2 (or more in our case), receiving a birthday card, getting calls from all your relative and friends etc etc. And since I didn't wanted to think about all the things i would have done back home, i kept my self busy in work. Didn't keep myself idle for over 10 mins. Even at lunch; which is when i come home and breathe. 


O wait..I'm starting to think about the things all over again...Guess i should just go to gym and tire myself out.

Display

I would never understand the logic behind people uploading their kids picture as their own display pic!!!! 


There are better ways to express your love for 'em people!!!

Space Bound!!!

And I would've done anything for you
To show you how much I adored you
But it's over now
It's too late to save our love
Just promise me you'll think of me every time you look up in the sky and see a star 'cause imma....

Things you do for Love!

On my way to Houston for the long weekend, i had to switch planes in Atlanta (Crazy Big Airport). Just when i was getting comfortable in my seat, a guy comes up to me and says "My wife has got this seat next to you and I was wondering if you like to switch seats with me. I have a first class seat". Nobody denies a free First class upgrade.  I mean I would have taken any seat, I already had a middle seat..how much worse can it get..rite? 


So I happily gave him my seat and flew first class from ATL to HOU. 


PS: That should have been my first cue of how unforgettable this trip would turn out to be.

Tags

There are things that symbolize you and then there are things that symbolize your friends. Friends or no friends those tags are never removed from memory. 

Red Mustang, Lola carrots are the ones I wanted to mention in this post!

Jump Start

What a start to the morning!!! Got up at 6 only to see a Voice Mail by my best friend Simon saying that he wants to get his head straight and would like some time alone. I mean its not like i call him everyday and pester him. This was the first time i was calling him 2011.
I know he had big plans with life and wanted to be somebody but who doesn't? Isolation won't help!! 
Slowly and steadily all my BEST friends have drifted away. Some are busy with their lives, some don't want me in theirs. Read an article on net which said that there is a phase where we want to go the extra mile and want to be the next Big thing but in the process we ignore lot of things, hurts some sentiment. And once the phase is over we find that there is nobody to share the success with. 


Looks like its gonna be a Shitty Friday.

AGING

When do u know you are old?
When you see ur little cousin, who literally pooped in ur lap, on social networking sites expressing their love for a guy in public. 


Time really Flies!!! Isn't it?

Balling @ Golds

There are people who hog and still look good and then there is me, who even if doesn't eat anything will keep swelling. Yea!! That's the exact word. SWELL!!!

I mean I have been pretty careful about my diet and my alcohol intake but still I keep growing. So the only logical reason I could derive from this was that my body misses the outdoor activity (read Basketball). So I enrolled myself in GOLDS GYM. That's right, the legendary GOLDS GYM. I, initially, thought that I would get stuck with the boring treadmills and machines but yesterday during the guided tour I was told that there is an indoor basketball court. How awesome is that!!! 

But today when I went there, I didn't gear up for a basketball game. cuz u knw, its the first day in the gym, don't know the gyming ethics here...yaddie yaada yaada... To cut the long story short, I didn't expect to play today but couldn't resist going to the court. 

"Just to check out the level of the game here" is what i told myself. And i ended up playing. Too bad we had to stop in between. A guy twisted his ankle pretty bad and we called it a day.

But I'm happy that I found one thing that would make me happy, help me relieve the stress and kill my loneliness here.

House Party

Second week was pretty rough @ work. 


The above one-liner can't actually sum up my situation @ work. Since my travel got postponed  by a week, I'm made to do the catching up act. Time lines have remained the same and deliverables have piled up. But lets not get you guys into my shit-o-sphere. The point is that its been a crazy week and all i could think of was Friday night. I wanted to just go @ it as if there is no tommorow and that's exactly how it happened. 

Couple of guys here got promoted and wanted to celebrate the achievement with everyone. So late Friday an impromptu meeting was called by the new 'PM'. Menu/Venue was decide, roles were assigned and wheels were set in motion. As expected I was asked to pick the liquor...so what did i pick?

Couple of bottles here were 1.75L and along with these we had atleast 500 + beer cans..atleast...ranging from Bud to Stella to heineken to Miller to Coors to Corona.... So 9pm is when everyone was expected to gather around but since we (read Indians) think its COOL to arrive late the party kick starter by 10 and the house party was ON.


I donned my bartender hat and took my spot at the counter. Mixed drinks, music(one of the guy had some real nice songs) and helped people stay clear off sensitive topics :).


Since ours was the last group to leave at 5 in the morning( we ran outta beer too), I think i have the rights to sum it up as CRAZY PARTY. The level of craziness was such, that Mr.PM calls me next day and ask me "What happened yday dude" :)

Larger than Life!

Wow!!! Came across some really cool articles over the internet. I mean if you thought you have done/seen it all, wait till you read this.


AIR travel no more for Acrophobic people: AIRBUS just revealed prototype images of their latest 'fully transparent Airbus'. I mean seriously. The takeoffs and landings will surely be a bone chilling experience for some. Not only this WONT have any 'class' difference but it would also have a BAR and Gaming zone. Hello Sao Paulo!!!! Here I come, in 2050 though!


Checkout the images!

Theme park: 
Ferrari is going to open the gates of the worlds largest indoor theme park. Coming from Italian Car giants I can't even imagine what its gonna be. Rides are generally pretty fast but imagine this coming from Ferrari. The article said that one of the ride would touch the speed of 240 KMPH in less than 5 seconds;of course with hairpin bends and twisted tracks.WOW!!!

The magnitude of the size can be figured out from the fact that the Ferrari logo is so gigantic that its large enough to house 7 basketball courts. Abu dhabi surely will be the next tourist hot spot.


All the superlatives suddenly feel superfluous huh!

Squeak!

A newly wed Indian couple moved into the apartment above and all i hear is the squeak noises. Nothing new ..rite??!?!?! Wrong!!! Its a pattern and the timings are weird...6am in the morning, lunch time, 6pm, 9pm, 11pm...fixed time slots. 


I could have lived with the moans but squeaks?!?!?!?!?That would classify as 'Noise'...


*Googling for best 'noise' cancellation headphones*

Ride

Damn its hard to find a car in here especially when u don't know shit about model/miles/kbb shit.
Anyone volunteering to help?

This Town!

Like Frank Sinatra said
"This Town, is a lonely town,
not the only town, like this town"


Man what a quiet town this is...anyone who comes to America has a certain perception about the country; from what we see in T.V or read in papers. But this is totally different, totally unheard of. Haunting silence, open spaces everywhere..good change coming from a concrete jungle. Still somehow am not bothered with the scary quietness of the town. Maybe its due to the fact that I'm kind of person who likes to mind his own business, stay inside and listen to music. Not really a company seeking person but definitely don't mind being in company of someone. Or maybe its been just 1 week for me. Maybe in due course of time I will long for a good company and will get bored of this place but as of now i'm busy in setting up everything. It's fun shopping for practically everything. Long live walmart :)

So Long Seattle

As the days turn into hours i'm starting to get a mixed emotion about the trip. Met some old buddies and couldn't see some. Such is life. Even though I would have loved to see warrior princess, Simon and a NBA game i'm happy that its getting over cuz ends generally mean fresh beginnings plus i think i will be back this year and will accomplish these things when i get back 


Highlights of the trip would be :

• Coke studio: Proves my point that music has no language, no boundary and in this case quite literally too
• Having a roomie or should i say being a roomie: After a decade I was a roomie to someone other than my wife. Thanks for putting up with my shit guys.  Being here and not driving: Didn't drive since I didn't had my license which sometimes was frustrating too as I had to depend on people.
• Getting my identity: From next time onwards I won't have to carry my PP everywhere.

This trip has been good in terms of learning too. Not sure about the professional learnings but on personal front it was good to meet people with different personalities. 

PP: Ever focused guy. Envy your focus and determination dude. Its not easy to distance yourself from worldly pleasure but the way you do it is remarkably exceptional. Thanks for making me your roomie and for all those awesome dishes. 

AD: The consultant :). Never saying No to nobody. Always in ALL the plans but does what he wants. Thanks for introducing coke studio

KD: The jolly good guy. Hope all those last bites of food would get you what WE wanted :) 

Sriku: The bassist. Thanks for letting me stay in your apartment. I hope I wasn't a pain. Just do what YOU want to do. Recipe of disaster is when you to try to please everyone.

IBM: It was fun having you around. If you don't laugh at yourself world suddenly seems to be a hard place to live in.

For others who aren't seeing their names in this list; all of you weren't significant enough to feature here

Creeps

I detest people who would do anything to save a $. Even if that means staying away from their children for years in a row. Get a life people...there are important things in life that money...


Be a billionaire and lose all your loved ones!!! Evidently your choice is clear.

Looking for my Charger!

Damn this image of the Big guy!!! More often than not you are judged on your demeanor and having a cold soul demeanor makes people forget about the fact that Giants too have a gentle side to them. It's not acceptable to look out of sorts when you have people looking upto you for strength, courage, support.


Searched my phone directory for 40 minutes and couldn't find a single name who'd slap me out of this situation...not even my wife, my friends, my brother...none..0..ZERO!

Time dont heal nothing

I don't know why people say time is a great healer. Time does nothing. Its been a year since my granny passed away and it still pains that much..i cried my eyes out that day and have been crying since morning... 


Sitting here miles away from home, I want to call but I don't think i should cuz 1) Everybody will be in the same mood like me and i dont want them to worry about me 2) This is one of the dis-advantage of being a BIG Guy...you cant show ur emotions...so ill just write a note, put it in a bottle and throw it in the ocean of web.


Miss you granny..just keep looking over me like you always had..


R.I.P

Count your blessings!

"Thank you Didi" said the little kids while they queued up and collected their sweets. And that was all I could take. An overwhelming feeling took over me and I had to come out of the orphanage. I actually liked the thought of going to an orphanage and helping the needy but I never imagined that it could end up like this. That I would end up like this.


I had gone inside with boxes full of sweets, candies and a camera thinking that whenever we would be done, ill click a picture..a group photo. And maybe post it on FB to help encourage my friends do some charity or post in LENZ-@-work but looking at those kids I was sure that they didn't wanted to be a subject(of sympathy or pity). Cuz that’s all they get from us..that is our initial natural reaction. And I didn’t want any of it for them.


From the way they organized themselves to the way they behaved, it was all very moving. They all wanted the stuff we had brought for them but no one was in a hurry, no one wanted to step on others toes to get it first. There was a sense of 'togetherness' amongst them. A real sense of "WE". Living without the support of a real family, they surely valued things more than us. They understood the real the meaning of a friend more than us. And they all grabbed it with both hands.


I would have crossed their home at least a million times till now but never did I realized that there was an orphanage in there. The place was something else, haunting for some, quiet for others. Life changing for me.

Dream Sequence

Wow...Day 1 and I already have a weird dream... Don't know what it symbolizes but it sure wasn't pretty ..so here goes my dream!!!

I swipe out from work and to get to my car I goto our 10 story mlpl (multi level parking lot) in office. 4 guys step into the elevator and since my car is parked on 5th floor, I press 5 and wait. Next thing I knw is that a guy is literally stepping on my shoes. He was facing the doors of the lift but kept coming back  .. So as soon as he enters my private space I try to push him away, I hold his arms from his elbow and tell him "there is enough space for 4 of us buddy". I lift and place him ahead ( like someone would move a chess piece) but he keep coming back and with a petrified look says "Can't u see there is blood all over the place ahead". That freaked me out and all I was thinking was 'this doesn't seem right, let's get out of here and go home' ..so to see which floor I'm at and how long it was gonna take (remember I was just going to 5th floor) I look at the screen and realized I've gone to the 9th floor ... "Aaaaarrrggg.. Now I have to get down at 10th and walk all the way down".. All 4 of us were hating the fact that we would have to walk cuz obviously there was some problem in the lift .


So the lift stops at 10th floor but the gates won't open. It stayed on 10th floor for like 20 seconds before going into a free fall. As soon as I realized it was going in a free fall, I sat down and squeezed myself, like in one of those emergency landing positions, and started waiting for the impact. To my surprise nothing happened for over a minute and I started wondering what was going on cuz 10 floor on a freefall would have gone in less than 10 seconds. So I press one of the buttons and the roof goes flying off . It was broad day light and we were on a rail track. Among all the other things that had left me baffled, this was the strangest one. 


The strangers in the lift has turned into my childhood friend Munish and college mate Vishal Tanwar while the lift shrinked into size and all 3 of us were in a cart now, one of those which are used by miners(like they show in the movies). So we were on a rail track, in broad day light and all this had moved from my office to delhi .. The speed of the cart we were in was around 60mph and it tilted every time a curve came, like would literally go on 2 wheels. We were preparing ourselves for the impact but when it happened it was like getting up from a dream.. Like cut to reality. No sound, no injuries, no crash landing. Everything was weird. 


So cut to ground 0 and three of us were wondering how we got together and how we have things to do and places to be .. I suddenly realized that it was my nephews b'day and I had to be home for his party. I had a train at 4:30pm and it was 4:20 already . So I asked a cab driver about the route and he told me its gonna take him 20 min to get me there. I almost gt into an argument with someone, pulled myself outta it since I didn't had time for all that, got into cab and luckily woke up in my bed

Did I made it in time? Guess we will never find out

So I don't knw wat are the signs and what they symbolize ... Blood, free fall in a lift, flipping of cart, rushing to catch a train ...doesn't sound pretty but i'm glad it was a dream..