A great time after so long!!

A chance to experience something which gives you a sudden change from the near monotonous life you have just got used to. I happened to have one such thing, I got a chance to attend the SSB interview of the Indian Army. I happened to get a city named Allahabad as the place to where I had to travel to attend this. There were 77 other guys alongwith me who had come there. I reached the city of Allahabad on 9^th July. This is the city where the holy rivers of Yamuna, Ganga & Saraswati meet. The river Sarawati doesn’t exist as such, it is believed to be a historic river which used to flow thousand of years ago. The city is also known as the Prayag or the city of Sangam. It hosts the famous Kumbh Festival (Kumbh ka Mela, where twin brothers supposedly get separated in Indian movies to meet later in life under tragic conditions). Sangam resembles the confluence of these three holy rivers of India. I had to stay in a hotel for the first night to which I traveled by a rickshaw after a long long time.

Anyways, there was enough time for me to see the city and the next day I had to report to the Army station. I reached the Military office at 1 in the afternoon from where we travel to the selection center by the Army bus which came to collect us. Yes, collect us. We reached there and straight away we were called for our first instructions. The instructions were quite brief telling us not to roam around, not to be outside campus after 6:30, not to even see the girls let alone chasing the girls batch (this was told very sternly). The next day we had to report at 6: 30 inn the morning which meant waking up at 4:30 and the day was followed by lots of psychological type of exams. The results of that were out by afternoon, which meant only 14 of us were left, rest had to turn back and leave. We all were given chest numbers which we had to wear everytime. Mine was 5, and so was my name. My name was Number 5.

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The whole 5 days that followed after were real fun. There were lot of things to be learnt, lot of new things to be done and new friends to be made. The best part was that I made a lot of new friends and met lot of people whom I would remember for the rest of my life. Probably, I enjoyed this more than most of the guys there, the reason is pretty simple to me. I have been living in Mumbai almost since last two years living a very mechanical life. It was all about moving to office, sitting infront of your computer, waiting for the mails, a conference call once in a while, an occasional meeting I think there was no dynamism and nothing to look forward to. I had kind of lost the will and passion to do what I was doing. I seemed just so out of place to myself. Meeting new people in Mumbai is easy and happens all the time, but they don’t really count as friends. But only 5 days with some of these guys and I got so very attached. It was a relief after such a long long time. It was as if we were carefree, ready to take on whatever may come, buzzing with confidence like back in a school or college. I would like to count these 5 days, the dates of 10-14 July of 2009 as a time when I reinvented myself. Whatever I am writing right now might sound a bit off track but I guess all of us have different ways of seeing things and getting motivated. This was the thing for me.

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Thank you Number 1 to 14, me included, we made a great lot!! Heres your intro for you :)

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Number 1: Shashank HN, self proclaimed Wolverine, also the guy who almost made it, bad luck buddy, but cheer up!! I will change my orkut name for you to find it more easily.

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Number 2: Deepak Singh, cool and confident, I thought you never spoke but you did that well.

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Number 3: Bangali a.k.a. Victor Chatterjee, Bangali was made to sit on a iron T with a heavy plank over his balls by Number 1. Bangali later said it dint hurt but I wonder! He can speak at times, but all he likes is whistling. His interview question was repeated two times “ Why is your name Victor??”

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Number 4: Mr. Moradabad or Bada Hanuman, dude you rocked on the beer table that night, I am going to remember that always!!

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Number 5: Areey..thts me!!!

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Number 6: Ashish Doifode, couldn’t climb the long wall, kept falling from the last obstacle with the snake in between his legs…(when I say snake between the legs, it doesn’t mean what you re thinking right now).

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Number 7: Abhishek Diwan, he was smart enough to say he works with Mahindra Satyam and not Satyam! I wore your shoes for the interview..thanks dude!

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Number 8: Ansad K, very polite and seedha saadha baccha. Moradabad was telling something to him in Hindi which he couldn’t comprehend at all at the railway station and almost missed his train.

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Number 9: Anurudh Yadav, poor guy whose name was suddenly changed from Anirudh to Anurudh on a fine bright day due to typing mistake in Class X. Worse, now he doesn’t know what his name means.

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Number 10: Parwesh K Rangra, always to the point.

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Number 11: Bharat Chawla…yaar phir se propose kar de, you are tall fair n handsome!!

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Number 12: Sandeep Khanchi, first real Haryanwi guy I met in my life. On his way to become a police inspector with Delhi Police…bahut kamayega ye to!!

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Number 13:Raut Amit Khemraj, fundooo hai boss!!

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Number 14: V Satyanarayana Bhiri, he dint know hindi and wanted to learn it. The Second day, I went over to his bed, he takes a good look at me, holds my hand and says “ Man, you are very handsome!!” I never went to his bed again….! But he was the most polite and the most confused too. Whenever any instruction was given in Hindi, he would come over and ask me “kya bola??”

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Anyways, we were allotted our rooms thereafter and we were told that we had to report the next morning at 6:00 A.M. at the testing hall for further exams & tests. That meant I had to wake up at 4: 30 in the morning as breakfast was at 5:30. Well, after 6 a round of exams followed with lots of stuff. The results were out by afternoon, we came to know that only 14 of us were now left, it meant the rest had to leave. 14 of us were selected and that day was the start of 5 days of grueling, exams, interviews. It also meant for us great fun, outings, gossip, friends. Something to remember for a lifetime.

Wish you loads of luck!

SUMMER OF ..umm....'96...one of my school holidays

I had been out this weekend to a nearby place called Karjat. It was somehow planned with office colleagues to just get some time out and maybe enjoy. So we had booked this small time resort there complete with a swimming pool and slides. That place..leave the resort...i cant call it a town. It was a village..a small village where shops close at 8:00 in the evening, there is no electricity(at least not when i reached there). There were these kerosene wicks and a very few people. The railway station itself was in such a desolate & dark state that it reminded me of some other places i had been to in my life till now. 

My dad is in transferrable job, and so typically every 3 years he is into a new place which 80 percent of the times is something which would seem prehistoric to people in the cities. So, it was our yearly ritual to go and spend summer holidays in the place where my dad would be currently posted (we stayed away from dad most of the time, just because the places he lived werent that good to stay..mainly becasue our parents cared so much about our schooling part). I think, had they not cared so much about us, i would be another of those spoiled and wasted brats trying to find a way back!! I am talking about these places so when i was in 7th grade, my dad was transferred to this place called Maneri, which is near to a place called Utarkashi. It is in uttaranchal...upper himalayas. Its very much near to Gangotri, the place where river Ganga originates.

So, like every summer we went to this new place with my mom. It was a perfect place likes ones u c in a canvass...hills all over..a river..village...it was just beautiful and  I would like to recreate it :) It was on the banks of river Ganges. At these hills, the rivers are like anything! There are rocks moving alongwith with water, of the size that would otherwise seem unimaginable to move. There was another village which looked all fresh on the opposite side of the river, and i was told that the year before  it actually was all washed away by floods and was relocated. There were very dim lights there..of course kerosene lamps. There was a school there too, but no roads, there was a hanging bridge that connected ends across the river. If anyone walks on this bridge it would start oscilatting like this pendulum, and i always feared walking on that. Once i went almost halfway, but then came back and sat in the middle crying. I was almost dizzy( but this thing happened 15 years back..!)  It really is an example of bad engineering i guess, because it shook so much that i thought that if someone ran on it, i am sure it would turn upside down!! It was a free roller coaster ride of sorts! There was only one shop in Maneri, or two..i dont remember clearly, and it sold everything. Every evening, my brother was all excited, because in the evening there was a bakery guy who came on his cycle. He rode all the way in this hilly terrain from a bakery 14 kms away. He sold some heart shaped cakes which my younger brother manish loved. Oh, he shared it with me a few time and i can recall its taste, it was good. Where we lived, above that was papa's office( it was all site work, so its just an office for namesake ), and it was all fenced. I was told that in the night there were tigers that came from the jungle. Once in the night, about 10 people inclding me were sitting after dinner with a kerosene lamp in between, and there was this cook, who had been there for very long at this same place. That day he told us the stories, of how many times he saw a tiger. Hardly anyone went to the office room, atleast i avoided. even if i did, i made sure to keep an eye for a tiger. In my mind i had already imagined how i would kill a tiger if i faced it!!  Obviously..no tiger dared...some dogs did but.There were also a decnt sized vegetable garden that my dad made sure were maintained, and he put a person specially for taking care of this small farm. I remember what grew there...potato, sugarcane, spinach, cauliflower...lots of things. This thing also saved lots of shopping from a market far away. So this summer this day my dad told some people to get the potatoes, as they were ready. I was very excited and we three brothers joined in to get the potatoes. That was the day i realized that potatoes grew inside the soil. Otherwise i always thought that they grew like tomatoes or brinjals or peas hanginng. We enjoyed that day to take these plants out and get the potatoes. 

One other day ..everyone was sleeping and i wanted to have this sugarcane thing so i went out with my brother, with a kitchen knife. spent 2 hours, trying to get that thing off...but it didnt. I had to leave it half cut there....then i remember i got a beating for getting out in the sun. Me and my brother had all gone dirty and sweaty! Since there were no electricity there,we were told that we have to study in the day and complete holiday homework, evening was for cricket...with some people from this camp( driver and the helper). This cricket place was close to the river and we very very very strictly told not to touch water. And actually we were sent alongwith the bhaiya to look out for us. Once my brother went near to the water.....even i was so angry over him that i slapped him. He gave me a punch..that the fight continued till the bhaiya came in between. Later i complained to mom that he had gone near water ..and he got a good beating! now call me anything for that....but anyways scores were settled it was all settled because even i got a beating and my third brother too. This thing was typical about my mom....if one got a beating..each one of us three got atleast something. And so for the next few days atleast we were like the best kids around. Well but apart from the shared beating we got, my two brothers also murdered the two fishes in the small plastic bottle where i had kept them. This time i cried for real..and only these two got the beating..i dint. But my fishes were dead...:( . My father got me enrolled for a computer course, because he did not want that i should waste my time.moreover, i had a computer clases in school and he thought it would help. So i was enrolled for this, and i had to travel 14 kms everyday...n i was about 15 or smaller...everyday i reached this place..bought a Cadburys Gems...ate it...reached late for the classes....evening back..i took an icecream..and back home. I dont remeber if i learnt anything at all ther..but i still have the certificate that reads "Certified that Mr. Ashok Kumar Joshi (later in 10th grade i  removed this kumar from my name as i thought i sounded uncool!)completed course in language BASIC ,from balahblah institute and his perfomance is V.GOOD" well...!!

One other day, there was a person who came with a bear(a real bear)! I remeber that peron had a suitcase with him. He showed a teeth and said it was a tigers teeth. Then there were tigers hair..beerrs teeth, hair...and he was selling them as some kind of medicine. He also  had a drum and made the bear dance and shake hands with the few ppl around. My dad handed me a 10 ruppee note to give to the bear but damn!! How cud i touch the bear...i was so very afraid of it.

While our summer holidays were almost over, we were about to leave and dabbu went missing(one of the dogs). These two had become very friendly with us, and also accompanied us for cricket. We thought he would be back, but he never did. Later on the cook told that the tiger had eaten dabbu. Poor dabbu!

All in all, it was a fabulous summer...and this thing happened to me more than 12 years back. I had lot of beautiful summers like this one. And i remember each and everything..as this is a

thing of yesterday. Only yesterday we were kids..not ready to think about anything! Things change....dont they?

:)

I heard that that village now has electricity....with loadshedding... well maintained school and other things.

 

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China is a big country..with lots of people..lots who use internet i guess. Because i just came to realize that whenever i am surfing the blogs...every second blog that pops up belongs to someone who has the chinese looks..i mean alright they may be korean..japanese..vietnamese..or whateverese....but to me they all look like chinese..infact 90 percent are. Ya..so every second blog that pops put is from a chinese and what is common to this cult of blogs is this:

Its full of pictures..picture of them with frenzied hairs.

Everyone is wearing this..a benetton tee and converse shoes..trying to look like a punk( hey what the hell!!) suddenly..punk is cool? It is actually i guess ;)

They would scribble something in english but if u try to read it it would sound like gibberish ( Well..some people write that in chinese only..this time me browser would almost crash trying to decode it...finally what i would see is only squares n special characters)

ummm..anything else so typical? ..who the hell cares anyways...but population..biggg problem really !! take INDIA..big country...lot of people ..but they wont eat up the blog space..thats good..yayaya...... save a few like  me :(  ..reason is simple enough..they dont know calculator...who would give a damn about a computer!!  Talking of population.....i remember this..i actually know someone who has lfair number of kids...proud father he must be....10 kids is such a feat (see his face anytime to define proud)........the latest one is a small baby girl...i dont understand...is this a kid factory?? Theres a store nearby my home..but its called ShoeFactory not KidFactory!  

I want to actually write about recession and give you all a lecture on economy but i am feeling to sleepy for it now. willl dooooooooo itttt llllllaaaatteeeeeeeer.......see? i am almost sleeping now!

Anniversary Issue !!

6th of November 2007. 

Exactly a year back, i was in the streets of Kolkata trying to find a place called the IFBI centre. This was the day i joined the working lot with a big smile. It was also the day when i started writing this blog. So, this also happens to the day when this blog of mine was born. So its a happy birthday! clap clap!!

Thank You..Thank You!!

6th November 2008

I didnt realize i finished a year as a working professional till i received a mail from the HR that i am now a confirmed employee with this firm. I dont know if this is a good thig or bad..because that doesnt reallly change anything. Ya..one thing it changes is that if i decide to leave this company, i would have to pay them 3 months of my salary. So, apart from that i dont now what changes are there. Ah alright, one more thing i just ralized..my younger brother, he also joined today. This day would be his first...actually second..count as first! ..working day. Lots of things changed in a year.  I moved to Mumbai, got a new place to live, then again my office got shifted..learnt quite a few things. Basically, a very busy one year it was. I guess one reason was that everyone was waiting for some new guy to join in....because thats the head to dump all useless work. So that was also something i experienced...and learnt..bad thing to do..but thats basically a joining gift you get. Sure, i also passed on some. Nothing much i have to write for this time.....i just wrote all this crap..just because i thought i should do it..but i harldy liked writing this. So thats the end...for now.

Sunday night out at Leopold' , Colaba

Sunday night was spent in downtown Colaba. I was just reading through a blog, and it was pretty amusing when i read in that ( Colaba is a tourist place in Mumbai). I dont really know if it is. Maybe selling cheap clothes(of course with a touch of traditional Indian taste) and imported fake jewellery from China makes it of this sort...addd to it s few stores and pork or beef serving shops. Ya...good bars too!.... So, i was there with some of  my friends who had come from Pune, they wanted to drink at a good place, so we chose LEOPOLD( See my friend in the picture).  Leoplod is good of sorts, especially if you have that thing to be amused by the sight of old and young foreigners sipping on their beers and discussing things which range from Bollywood to the recession in US..to the new great big bang which ppl say will occur in a month or so! I want to write just a bit more about Colaba..its amusing. Perhaps, its the best place to be in Mumbai, because of lot of reasons. Go there any weekend and see the most beautiful girls there. Apart from that, there are a lot of other things to be seen at Colaba some of which i noticed like:

1. Seeing a couple of foreign girls handing a child beggar a 50 rupee note, then clicking a picture of him. (Later on they'll go on to write a book about beggars in India, and talk about the mess they saw here..which eventually will become bestsellers). The picture might fetch them an award as well.

2. A long line of shops selling T-shirts, handbags, cheap perfumes, ethnic indian wear, indian jewellery ( all this indian stuff comes from China actually...so its a chinese thing with an indian look n feel.....!)

3. A guy selling a Dholak( those who dont know..consider it as a single drum which is much rounder and fatter!!)....a guy running to sell it to my friend( who is indian but looks chinese...he just mistook him)..and asking him to buy in a broken english.."Sir, Sir......drum drum..very good sound..party ..party!!!!". 

4. A man coming back to the same friend of mine and saying...Sir, sir..indian girl..china girl...very cheap..very cheap...500 only!!!

Well, apart from that, Colaba has a good crowd, good stores..its good to shop there. Perhaps the churchgate area also is the cleanest in Mumbai. It still got good architecture from the britishers.....then theres the Asiatic society( its a national library i heard). Its a very beautiful building, but its pathetic from inside (our government is good at giving names to places...no one cares to maintain it). A school library is lot lot better!!

 But Lemme not talk about it and come back to the Leopold...somethinngs cooking in there.. So we were there at leopolds besides a couple( Australian.later i knew that..and an oldie). The aussie girl was good looking and my new friend..he came from pune a day back..he cudnt get his eyes off her. So, he said this to us. "I'll listen to these people talking and i will laugh when they laugh"..pretty awkward..but then its alright to do what u want to do..ppl say tht right!! So in between we were talkinng he'd just turn around and start laughing. He just made friends with the old aussie sitting there..dont know what all he talked about....(he made the old man wait 20 minutes to fill his mug of beer..he ont let go!) .......but whatever it was, the ending was like this, The old man didnt know the girl..they just met over beer..and so...it implied he cidnt help him with the girlie! I dont really followed up on this, but while leaving the old man took a picture of him n others..the girl ws in there too. So well, maybe thats some solace for the poor fellow. So that was sunday...like tht.just saw them off to Pune..came back and dozzzzzed off. Its been abt 24 hours since..and again i am going to sleep...office office again...sucks!!!!

Free Tip@me.com: How to buy a wine for the first time, find u dont hv a cork opener...n ruin it all!

It was meant to be just an outing at the nearby mall..just to find a beautiful girl i saw last week with whim i exchanged glances..thats it! only tht much....she dint come this time..why wud she actually? Well...so thers this new wine store which opened. I never drink beer....save a few breezers, but this shop was really cool and the shop owner just repeated so much so the importance of wine in life( U'd rather die than not buy a bottle from him shop)..that well i had to say..ok lets try.  Soo after much explanation he did about Red wine..port wine..white wine....grape wine..apple wine....imported wint...local wine..desi wine....he started with showing us the imported ones ..the bottles looked good n really good...However, considering the fact that it wass month end with a credit crunch, we(actually it shud be he..my friend paid) settled for this good looking bottle at a cheap rate. See the piccy there(with a floating cork). Finally after much wine suggestions from the old glass wearing Uncleji....we paid n came out.

So, here we are, two glasses perfectly cleaned...one plastic glass n one glass glass( rest were like...off to heavens long back). So..heres the perfect ceremony to make me drink for the first time. Ver carefylly open the bottle..openthe wrapper above it. Made sure we had a bottle opener( the one u have in a nailcutter). So its opened, and viola!! whats this? Thers no nothing////whats this!! ITS a CORK! Cork opener? I imagined it must look like a screw n u move it round n round. So i explain this to my friendo who is already poking the knife into the cork. The cork wont budge ..it wud just tear off a bit from here n there. So well...knife over..what else...probably a pan holders edge? naaah......after much engineering i got a pen tried to poke it hardinto the cork and then...SPLASH....whats that? thats a WINE FOUNTAIN idiota!! ya some got into my mouth as well with pieces of cork!..YUCKS!! was it the wine or the cork which tasted so bad in my mouth!! BAD BAD BAD..

But the cork was inside the bottle to let us pour it into glasses..say CHEERS..with wine all over the clothes....n everywhere else....and it tasted like....dunno what...no comparisions......but a piece of another advice for free...DONT BUY CHEAP INDIAN WINE IN A GOOD LOOKINNG BOTTLE..N YA>>>MAKE SURE U GOT A CORK OPENER!!

T