Do we live for ourselves today???????

Before i really get to the subject which i guess is a lil serious, i was wondering as to how come every coin has two sides, every subject can be looked at from various perspectives and so many schools of thought for every matter under the sun. Wish things could be looked at with just one view....things wud have been simpler....but then the other school of thought is.....see see...i told u....anyways the main issue...before i start , i wud apologise for the complexity of the below written materiall.....i am not a psycho....i swear..

i believe somehow that all of us today hav become complex humans. We do not think simple...and do not live simple either. i guess this article is an evidence to that. we live very insecurely today. There is a high sense of consciousness when with peers and friends. The way we eat, talk and move around is all calculative. All the time we are worried by the fact that the people around you probably think you are an ass of the highest order. Hence you become conscious and lose your own self. You try and become a different individual, trying to impress others all the time. in this process you tend to look down upon people whom in real you are actually scared off.

My favouritessssttt quote somehow happens to be from a bollywood movie called Bawarchi where rajesh khanna says-" Its so simple to be happy but its so difficult to be simple".

All of us somewhere have become arrogant, lost our humility and lost the need to respect people. All this really comes from the immense pressures we face in our daily lives. The competition with peers, the expectations of elders. but the real individual is that who retains his self in turbulent times. Alas! thats not the case today............we dont live for ourselves anymore.....

A Day in the Life of Alibaug....and Us

Entry long pending....better late than never and also this blog wud have been incomplete without this entry. Our trip to alibaug on independence day. from goa to mahabaleshwar....and from lonavala to matheran....we planned it all and settled for nothing less than alibaug ;). They say the ferry is the best way to reach alibaug but we defied the ordinary and set out in a qualis....6 pirates of IB and....it took us 5 hours to cover a 2 hour journey(cos we held the bull by its tail) and believe me it was worth it. The journey till alibaug was ausum....it was pouring....we got stuck up in a huge jam for an hour and reached alibaug when almost all the eateries except one had closed shop. But we sang, we cribbed, we gossiped and bhala, our entertainer remixed every possible song his way. We ate in the best chinese restaurant in alibaug which was on four wheels. Funny it may sound but we had the tastiest noodles and soup that day (evidence: all of us had sound bowels the next day).

We found a hotel room....each had his own bed to sleep on .....luckily. We gossiped and did all the bakchodi and finally managed to sleep. In the morning we checked out and first hit the alibaug beach....had bhutta. We cudnt dive in cos the water had come in due to a high tide. So we set out to the next closest one called Vasai. "Green and clean"...."Made in Heaven"....these tags were probably inspired by such places. We took snaps till eternity, hung on trees like monkeys....and bent a few as u see in the snaps.

We then went to Kashiv beach. The sea was beautiful. We lazed around, had maggi and eggs and finally we took the big plunge (hehehe....into the sea). After almost an hour of masti and exposing we gave up and got back into the qualis to visit the Janjira fort.

To our dismay, all ferry services had been on the occasion of independence day. We visually conquered the fort and left to a so called waterfall in the inners of alibaug.

For me the journey to the waterfall was as splendid as the waterfall. My pirate buddies would agree to that. All of us were in awe of the place after we reached it walking through jungles. The snaps say it all.

We left the place with happy hearts and with the satisfaction that we had covered a lot in a day but there was action to come.

We drove back to Alibaug beach as we were told that the waters wud reced in the evening and that we cud go to the alibaug fort on the khachars(a young horsey).

What caught us by surprise was the level of amount of recession. The water had receded back by almost half a kilometer. And the best part....instead of khachars we actually waded thru the waters ourselves...water knee deep...to reach the fort. We came back feeling proud of ourselves. We had conquered alibaug like noone had....after all we....my friends were the pirates.....OF ALIBAUG

Innocence Lost

No real deep thoughts into this one except the simple fact that in order to gain something people lose something. People dont think twice before venting out anger and regret it afterwards. Anger never puts things to an end, it just aggravates the pain. However idealistic it sounds...its true. Bhashan over....thank you :)

INNOCENCE LOST

the smoke rises in her eyes,
relentless, unwilling to die down,
the days pass by, life moves on,
and yet the fire rages like it started afresh

she tries not to show it,
alas! shes doesnt know it cant hide,
she wishes the smoke turns to water,
but the fire burns on.

a feeling of quandary,
to let go off the rage in her or not,
the urge to avenge overpowering her humanity,
and she does nothing about it

the rendezvous finally happens,
the wait finally over,
she lets out the fumes of anger,
she tells him what she feels

as she walks back,
she feels free, she feels alive,
somewhere though she still feels sad,
that she reacted like everyone does,
had she defeated the whole purpose?

V.V.VIKRAM

Experiences in a troika: A tribute to the Biharis

When it happened twice i just kept it to myself and pondered but when it happened the third time, i decided to blog. These experiences are worth mentioning as they move you in a way. You feel sad and proud at the same time about that one state of india- Bihar.

I have traveled many times in the great troikas of Mumbai. More amusing than the rides has been the experience chatting with the drivers. Mumbai is full of Biharis. Low levels of income, education and infrastructure has driven many of them to come to mumbai to earn a living....in short to meet the two ends meet, barely.

Everytime i have travelled in the auto, its a Bihari babu who rides me to my destination and its fun talking to them. But then when they go into the details of their lives (which they always do) u think for a moment about how lucky u have been.

Three instances, and its like the same story is being narrated by three different people. Believe it or not, all the auto drivers from Bihar that i have met have been graduates (Hum BA kiya hoon sirji....thats what they say). All of them have been forced to pursue a career which they never ever wanted.

Ask them the reason for doing so....

1. Ab kaa batayen aapko. BA hindi kiya hoon lekin bihar mein kahan job milta hai humko. Meri do badi behen hai. Dono ki shaadi nahi hui. Pichle 4 saal se auto chala ke paise bhejta hoon. Ab jaake ek behen ka dahej de paoonga.

2. Metric paas hoon sirji. Aaap belieb nahin karenge par sach bolte hain hum. Apni iskool ke topper reh chuke hai. 87% aaya hai humko metric mein. Hamare bapu nahi padhne diye humein. aana padha idhar. shaadi kar liye abhi. aur aaga kya padhenge

3. Graduate hoon main sirji. LIC agent tha. Paise hai hi nahi usme. Bihar mein paisa deke job milta hai. Haraam ki kamai hai woh. Hum nahi kar sakte. Usse achha tho auto hai sirji.

I am always taken aback by these comments. I manage to mumble a few words like... aage padhna hai bhaiyya....important hai (not knowing what was the hindi word for important). They smile and nod.

I have always respected every state for what it is. But the saddest part is this: I can understand if a state is short of funds and cannot provide higher education, but i cannot somehow accept a state not respecting a citizens graduate degree by not providing him the encouragement and forcing him to take up a job less that what his calibre can match.

I salute the Bihari of india today who is true in what he does and what he says and believes in dignity of labour. They think beyond themselves and that is true spirit.

Title??? What the heck....read on.....

Life has changed a lot over these years. I have evolved as a person in some ways and yet i feel i havent changed much. From an introvertish journey to opening up has taken time for me. I have learnt a lot about myself in the last 3 years. Some things about me though still scare me.

A failed relationship is definitely one. Believe me when i say this, one cannot talk about things till one actually experiences them. I really thought that i would be a practical guy and handle things pragmatically, but the heart rules and it rules like the king of kings. I made too many mistakes and today i regret. A regret that will remain for life. I have learnt what not to do tomorrow in similar situations and yet i dont find the guts to be in similar ones.

I still miss a relationship. But i have a personal space today. I have my friends back. I have my sense of humour back. Yet sometimes i miss a relationship.

These 3 years have also made me realise that i can work hard and give my best when required. Somewhere though i still feel that i am the same old lazy guy who has to push himself.

An introspective post this. Seriously, even i dont know what it is!!!!!

The Vodafone Campaign and the Controversy: Was it called for?

Whats common between the pug(the dog made famous by hutch) and the cheer girls these days..well both are definitely cute and adorable, but at the moment both are surrounded by controversies. The only difference is that one controversy has been raked up to protect the cute doggie whereas the other one is against the cheer girls. Well for now lets not talk about the sexy cheergirls made famous by IPL (POB for me for not talking about them) and lets talk about the latest controversy surrounding vodafone over the campaign involving the cute lil' doggie-the
pug.

Firstly let me congratulate O&M for coming up with such a brilliant campaign. For those who havent seen the ad, the campaign has primarily marketed its customer care with the tag line being "Happy to Help". At the moment, 4 ads are being telecasted as part of the campaign. The ads show the pug and a little gal and how the pug being a good friend helps the little girl out with the smallest of the things.

Within a week after the campaign was launched, the animal rights activists have raised protests against the ad blaming the company for showing ill treatment towards dogs by humans. Some activists have gone to the extent to say that the little things that the pug helps out the little girl with are actually a strain and that pugs due to their tiny physical structure are incapable of doing heavy work.

Now the point: Is all this really called for?

The reason why I congratulated O&M is that I felt that it was an outstanding campaign. Being an MBA mind, I tried to analyse the ad and believe it was a pretty simple analysis. I do have a few objections though.Lets talk about the pros first.

Two ads that have been aired as part of the campaign, convey the intended message to the consumer brilliantly. The little girl is getting ready for school, wearing shoes, and is trying to find a single missing sock from the pair (Obviously, the cinematography is excellent and adds to the cuteness of the ad), the little pug friend comes in with the missing sock in its mouth and gives it to the gal. Simple and yet its shows how when we go to the customer care centre of a network provider, we search for the best connection for our phone and the executive there helps us
out. The second is where the little girl is fishing with her hands in a pond and the lil doggie come running from behind with a fishing net. Brilliant campaign. Trying to show that if an executive of the customer care feels that you as a consumer are using the wrong scheme for your phone usage, he tells you to shift to the right one.

The other ads i felt were a little away from the message conveyed. The little girl is sticking stamps and the dog kneels down and sticks out its tongue to provide lubrication (ooopss...donn u go wild...m just talkin about an ad) as gum basically for the stamp. It somehow did portray a demeaning angle, as though the dog or the customer care is at the hands of the customer. The other campaign shows the dog running behind the little girls school bus with a tie in its mouth that the girls forgotten to wear. Is the customer care that desperate ???

Well, to be honest, the campaign itself was so strong that a few small factors like the one I mentioned shouldn't even count. I feel that Vodafone did the best thing by repeating what hutch did with the pug. In fact Hutch was successful in achieving the highest percentage of customer retention amongst mobile service providers after its campaign.

I do believe that the protests by animal right activists was uncalled for as somewhere the protested because they had to without a reason. Why would you protest if the campaign has been shot as per what the campaign has to convey. The animal rights activists saw an animal on the screen in ad and found an opportunity to be heard. I also do feel that the activists are hypocritical when they did nothing over the ORBIT ad which demeaned the buffalo. I found nothing wrong but what about the masses, the rural India, whoa are 70% of the whole population. For them, the buffalo and the cow are holy animals as they earn a living through them. Why did not they protest then? Well, obviously because Vodafone is a bigger company and the leverage effect is higher protesting here.

Anyways, I loved the campaign and so did many people.

THE MATRIMONIAL FARCE

I am back home for my summer interns and what a relief its been. My taste buds have been rejuvenated but the sad part is that people living around are taking a while to recognise me. First its the tonsure that i got done...secondly people think that i have got some kind of eating disorder...cant blame them i hav lost quite a lot of weight since i went to mumbai.

Anyways the buzzword at home is MARRIAGE these days. Dont worry, as all celebrities proclaim and calm the media by sayin they will let the whole world know when it happens, i too will let, if not the whole world, the known know that i am getting married and its not happening for another 4-5 years. Well its just that so many known people are getting married around and so many matches are being searched for that eventually 5 in every 10 discussions are about marriage and since the time i assured my parents that it wud be an arranged marriage for me as well, my mom doesnt need an execuse to rake up the issue.

Its quite crazy though, the frantic search for the right matches, especially for the gals in my family and for that matter in any family. The sad part i feel is that gals are not given enough time to really settle down professionally. 22,23...these are the numbers that trigger the search. Things havent improved much though. A.L.Basham mentions in his book THE WONDER THAT WAS INDIA and i quote him

"The normal religious marriage was and still is arranged by the parents of the couple, after much consultation, and the study of omens, horoscopes and auspicious physical characteristics...while a husband should be at least twenty a girl should be married immediately before puberty"


Whats the difference today? Nothing. Except that in the urban society a girl is allowed to reach puberty or a little more than that(a degree at best) and the rural india still lies within the quotes. Let the parents choose the guy for her, after all parents will always look for a good match for the child, but at least let the child choose the time and age.

And sadly there exists a discrimination between the boy and the girl and to emphasize on what i mean i quote Vrinda Nabar from her book CASTE AS WOMAN

"Discrimination between the sexes in India begins at birth, or even before it. It starts before the child is born, in the mother's womb. None of the conventional blessings showered upon a pregnant woman mentions daughters"

The guy is definitely luckier as he can take his own time, choose a dozen and then select the most ravishing beauty whom he can proudly call his better half (if he is bad looking).

Anyways, all said and done, I too would be a part of this ''great'' process( particular course of action intended to achieve a result) and yet i have a lot of time for the process to start. What the heck, I am a guy man!!!