Purely random

And the election results are out. The candidate I voted for has lost. Let us wait and watch if the Elephant can dance. Also, there is another election due on 12th. But that is more of a formality as Ahmedinejad is bound to return in Iran. 

Reading R K Narayan’s The English Teacher.

Federar won French Open in a dull final. I had expected Soderling to at least put up a fight after denying us the joy of watching Federar and Nadal in the final. Trapped they define each other. I hope Nadal is available for the Wimbeldon.

Few more days left in the company and in Pune. And then off to Kerala. The feeling is mixed. Two years will pass ‘just like that’. But again two years is a long time.  But I go by the design as always.

Don’t cry darling

for there are better days ahead

just round the corner

i see you and me together

laughing over silly jokes

cribbing about everything

praising Bombay roads and people and traffic

dreaming more and doing still more

setting up a family

first house

first car – hey ! who chooses the colour

there i see you

and i see her  (are you sure about the name?)

and a dog

All this seems so distant and

yet so near.

My middle finger

I made use of my middle finger as did many others in India. Yes! I went to vote… and the entire exercise wasn’t all that taxing given the fact that it was a holiday in office… i realized that most of the times, all it requires is a little bit of perseverance from our side esp. in states like Maharashtra where Govt bodies don’t completely shy away from their duties.

I voted for an independent candidate. I ain’t sure if he would win but the fact that in the last Generl Election he managed to get 60,000 votes does make me hopeful. The national parties not giving ticket to such candidates is the reason why we don’t have enough honest people representing us. An inner feeling – i don’t want this indelible ink to go…

Mahabaleshwar trip

It was decided after much deliberations and few beautiful photos taken by Juee that we (Vera and I) should go to Mahabaleshwar. The name sounds as if it’s a religious place for Hindus. Far from it I found many Parsees and Muslims in the area. It’s a small town with the usual attractions of any other hill station. However, the commercialization of the place has still not completed.

We started from Pune at 7 in the morning of 20th Mar 2009. The ride is beautiful and one needs to be a little cautious esp. in the Ghat sections. A must stop is ShriRam Wada Paav in Shirwal. We took another halt at Parsee Point near Panchgani. We crossed Mapro factory on our way. Mahabaleshwar is 15-20 kms from Panchgani and from Pune (Aundh) it is 130 kms.

The bookings at Hotel Dina had already been made and we immediately took a liking to the place because of its Victorian elegance coupled with a breathtaking view of the lake from our room.Also, there was lot of greenery and a nice sprinkler.

The two dogs Tommy and Lucy were friendly to the point of getting on the nerves – esp mine. Tommy was a tad older than Lucy but had damn good body language.Tommy would always see us off when we went for our morning walk

The owner Mr Mahabaleshwarwalla was old and grumpy. It seemed that the job of exchanging pleasantries and showing hospitality was left to the waiters who were indeed very courteous.

There are few points/activities in and around Mahabaleshwar which one should not miss – Bombay Point, Kate’s Point, Lodwick Point, boating in Venna Lake (expensive though!), going to the main market area in the evening and just loitering around. Also, if you’re an early morning person – do go for a jog or a walk. Everything around is so green, quiet and a little cold – you’ll love it. While boating in Venna Lake, go a little away from the banks and let the oars/paddles rest. Allow the wind to sail for you. Believe me ! it was lovely.

While returning we stopped at the tableland before Wai. Wai the way, Wai is the place where Swadesh was shot. We actually paid 20/- to see through a telescope, the building where the village panchayat was held and the school was run.  Not only that we also saw the house where Hritik Roshan stayed with Rekha in Koi Mil Gaya. The guy who owned this telescope was funny. He used to first narrate to me the location of the place, its relation with the movie and sing a line or two from the movie. Then he would repeat the same process while Vera peeped through the telescope.  On our way to Arthur’s seat, we stopped at a point called Tiger’s Point where there is a small but natural water source. There’s an old fellow manning that point. He offers you a glass of water. You drink that water and offer something to show gratitude. He tells you a little about why the name Tiger’s Point. And you move ahead.

How are you doing??

Read my friend’s blog after a long time…. something somewhere was not well…. has something changed? I’m sure something has changed but not quite sure how to undo it….. May be we need to talk more about things that we have been doing…. And then  probably we can talk of all the good things and bad things and also about things which are neither good nor bad but they are there….

few updates

“Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?”

Finished reading ‘One flew over the cuckoo’s nest’ and watched the movie thereafter…. will write about the two some other time…. Also watched ‘As good as it gets’

work from home or the traditional arrangement

I was discussing this topic with few of my friends. I was of the view that individuals allowed to work flexible schedules at home will be both more productive and happier.

In this case, the person will get more time to spend with his/her family. More time spent with the family would mean lesser household burden on any one of the couple. Needless to say, confrontations and fights would reduce and people will be happier. A happy mind would definitely be more productive and innovative.

Another major advantage would be a life free of traffic. It might just be a wishful thinking but, life without traffic woes really be better. To add to that, by not being part of the traffic, we would not be contributing to the traffic. There would be lesser consumption of fossil fuel resulting in reduced pollution.

Even the company would be able to save on its office space, parking space, electricity bill etc.

Contrary to this, close supervision of workplace doesn’t leave a good taste in mouth. Also, human beings tend to defy rules when it stifles them. You don’t feel like belonging to the company and hence, your productivity is marred.

However, any liberty in due course of time tends to be misused. To continue with such a policy would primarily depend on the way employees respond to it.

love, parents and prices

Read on a friend’s blog – everyone has to pay the price, for his or her own fault, for loving someone, for being loved by someone.

I don’t know how to respond to this….. especially the latter half….. “for loving someone, for being loved by someone”. May be he is right…. But, i think in life we always pay the price for making choices…. any kind of choices…. Even a choice as mundane as ordering Pizza from Domino’s or from Pizza Hut comes with its own price….. here is another – buying an original book from Landmark (Vera loves this store!) or its nakli copy from a roadside shop…. the price has to be paid for making a choice, isn’t…..

The bad thing about LOVE and its pricing policy is that it involves much more than an individual…. In a country like ours, it includes religion, society, parents etc. Again, here we pay the price for being a social animal(was it Aristotle?)…. we want our parents to be happy, our parents want us to be happy….. but sadly, this entire exercise results in misery for both the parties….. we are not happy because we lost what we loved and our parents are not happy when they see us transformed into an unhappy, distressed soul…. I think that parents also somewhere feel a sense of guilt for forcing their will upon us. Isn’t it an irony that we give all kinds of freedom to our children during their process of growing up but when they have grown up, we can’t help to remind them the right way….

I crib…. so what?!

I crib when i have not a moment to rest…. i crib when i have nothing to do but rest… but isn’t that very natural…. to be dissatisfied with whatever little/great we might be having…. Isn’t that the way to seek more, to keep inching towards perfection, to go beyond the blue montains….. Yes ! the verdict is out – “To be dissatisfied is to prosper”

The Outsider

Finished reading The Outsider by Albert Camus….. Didn’t like it much…. but would surely like to read it once more….. few things remain on my mind though – Meursault’s (the protagonist) wish that there was an after-life as nothing more than his desire to be rich, or to swim very fast, or to have a better-shaped-mouth.

By the way, Sree! where is my copy of The Outsider? For those who would like to read a better informed analysis of the book you can read it here

A new look, book and few good movies

A new look for my blog site… But the quote which followed the header seems to be lost…. Needs to be investigated…

Watched two Hollywood flicks: Iron Man, The Forbidden Kingdom. The good thing about Iron Man was the humor which thankfully stayed till the end. And the bad about The Forbidden Kingdom was that the two teachers Jackie Chan and Jet Li could not carry humor when together. They looked too old and Jet Li was too stiff to be humorous… esp. the scene where he snatches the wine jug from Jackie was too animated…. And the boy-turned man-turned boy again was too boyish to be taken as a man…. he kept failing at all the occasions….. The fight sequences were the usual ones…. fight scene b/w Jet Li and Chan was too long and boring…..

I have started jogging everyday in the evening and my Squash has taken a backseat at the moment….. The new t that I’m wearing today is cool…. soothes the eyes….. The life is beautiful….

Started with The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell…. the book is gripping… i like it… a line from the book – “Animals are happy so long as they have health and enough to eat”