Am I Lucky?

Disclaimer: This post is only for keeping track of my thoughts....just like all other of my posts....

A very close friend of mine booked a house in Gurgaon....his thinking that this is a good time as well as a good age to take a house. Another one searching for a house to take so that he can have peace of mind for the rest of his life.......and what am I doing? I am looking for a loan so that I can open 3 more branches of my small business which I started almost as soon as I started earning...and have since been putting most of my savings into it (it HAS started paying back now so I feel that is a good thing...)

Now my thinking...am I lucky that I have a liability in the form of a business to take care of? Because once I had done these things...namely:

1. Invested in a house, car and other "basic" amenities required in the future....
2. Put most of my money in EMI's for loans for all the things purchased/booked in point 1...
3. Become comfortable thinking that whatever I have taken in point 1...and will be paying off through point 2....is all that I need....

Will I ever think of opening my own business??? Will I ever think of coming out of this comfortable scenario??? On the other hand....if as I am doing, I am putting money into a business which is growing....then possibly 5 yrs down the line, I will actually be playing golf or roaming around the world or doing something else when everyone else who started there comfortable life 5 years back will be working monday to friday......am I lucky?

Arrow in my heart....

I was just a little too drunk today i guess....so started thinking....

Medieval ages...a war going on. I am a simple soldier whose sole responsibility is to shoot arrows into the air and try stop the knights from coming to close to start using their swords...I have been doing the job pretty efficiently for the last 2-3 years but as they say...the life of an archer is pretty short....one knight gets through or one foot soldier gets his sword near you and you are dead...very simple reason that due to shortage of iron, an archer only gets his bow and arrows and no sword to save himself. Even the bow is usually made of wood and if it breaks, your only option is to start running back...which in a way is good because it takes you away from the front where all your mates are getting slaughtered from the swords that have been able to escape your arrows...

And then I started having my thoughts run to a possible time when the enemy swords DID get through...and I was the unfortunate one to get one spike right through my stomach. That would possibly not have been as painfull but for the fact that the dude who pumped his sword into me was in a hurry to get it out...and hence the sword...which probably had not been sharpened before the war...managed to scrape a part of the aorta and the food pipe on its way out...the point is that even this is not painfull since all the nerve endings which result in the feeling of pain are present in the skin...which only has a thin slit in it. The point is that due to this "scraping", the blood has decided to start flowing out. And since the aorta gets its dosage of blood directly from the heart, and the heart has not yet decided to stop pumping, I end up lying on the ground...which is really hot due to the sun up in the sky beating down on the stones and making them small embers piercing into me....watching my blood flowing out. I am really surprised at the amount of blood that was actually present in the frail body where everyone in my entire life had said that not even a litre of blood will flow out. I am willing to take a bet that at least 5 litres flowed that day at least....and then the darkness arrives...

Is that death? Maybe it is...maybe i am just fainting....but what the hell.....I do know that I never woke up after that.....but if our life truly is so cheap...then why do we fight our entire life to just stay alive?

Welcome Aliens

Welcome Aliens, Welcome to Earth
The land of the yellow sun, the misty mountains, the deep oceans
The land of the corrupted politics, the unbridled terror, the morbid battles
Welcome Aliens, Welcome to our planet Earth

Our weapons are outdated and semi-affective
But we know how to survive, we practice regularly
Our armies kill each other across the globe,
Ensure that the weapons don’t erode
We practice regularly, the art of warfare
Welcome Aliens, Welcome to War

Our terrorists are precise and on-the mark
But we know how to bear, we tolerate regularly
Terror strikes again and again and again
Ensures that we don’t feel safe in our own habitat
We tolerate regularly, the dread, the fear, the despair
Welcome Aliens, Welcome to Terror

Our politicians are insatiable and rapacious
But we know how to forgive, we elect again
Economies sink, avarice overcomes faith
Ensures that we don’t know if our money is ours
We elect regularly, the same hungry politicians
Welcome Aliens, Welcome to Greed

Our viruses are unique,
You will not have seen them
Let us gift you some, let us gift you all
War, terror, greed have no antibiotic
Take them, take them all
Welcome Aliens, Welcome to Earth

I am sorry.......simple words to end all worries? That is what we all think unless we actually come face to face with a situation when what is more required is not a "sorry". That, as a matter of fact is the last thing that could actually take things out of the rut that you have so nicely put them into.

How I wish that I knew just what to say (because that is the only thing i can do on the phone) at this very moment to make things so much more better and easier for the one person who means so much to me. How I wish just what i can do to make that someone feel that she is not alone in this world....because i know that is what she is feeling. How i feel that i cld actually discuss this situation with her because i know she wld have the absolutely correct thing to say.....

God, plz give me strength to make her and me pass through these times because i know she will not ask for strength....plz need all the energy that can be diverted to her so that she can fight this battle....AND so that she can feel that she is not alone.

how i wish i was one of those ants whose sole aim in life is to collect food so that the queen can lay her eggs and the progeny can flourish......at least they have an aim.....and they keep going after it. AND it is THEM who have everything in thr hands to go after it......not like me whose entire locus of control is external....

something happening to me.....dont u thnk....i keep going in these tangential directions again and again

No Title....

Ever felt something missing from ur life? Usually feels when we just need someone to whom we can just go and talk and feel and they are not there.....its a strange feeling....just been feeling that way for last few days so thought i will put it down......
Suddenly while doing something....an everyday chore or something completely different.....that sudden empty feeling deep inside the heart....as if something is missing....and knowing that the person due to whom this is happening is not going to be their to meet u in the evening or even talk to u on phone when u most want to?
Suddenly while sleeping.....u wake up feeling as if their is supposed to be someone thr who is not....and she is actually not thr......and u know u have to wait looong for her to actually be with u....since our priorities in life r completely different......

are these priorities actually so important for us? That we just cannot live without them...even though they keep us away from everything that keeps us actually happy? What is more important.....a "career" and "experience" or "life" and "happiness"?

What am i going on about.........since this blog is such that no one reads it......provides a great way to take out my thoughts.....thanks blogger

Thank you IPL

Yeah!!! Thanks IPL...for promoting what we should not...
In one of the recent advertisements promoting this new mode of cricket...a patient is asked by the dentist about his likes for teams....the poor guy grins and names Delhi...and in the process loses all his teeth...because the dentist was for Mumbai.

This concept which is so prevalent in the European countries for various games is being imitated by IPL in India now. Unfortunately, it so happens that India has a cultural diversity which showcases a different India after almost every 100 kms...In such diverse environs, it anyways becomes a big task to ensure that people call themselves Indian and not address themselves by areas (thanks to Chak De! and SRK for promoting Indianism which seems to be losing its importance and relevance in this new India...really unfortunately) And now IPL is making things even more stingy...

I keep saying this and I keep thinking about it...I just hope that a day does not come when people forget that their is an India which they live in.........

Rgds,
Falcon

Learnings on unity...from a taxi driver

We call these huge ambassadors in Kolkata as Yellow Buffaloes...one such buffalo was taking me from my office in Taratala to my guest house in Alipur - a small distance of around 15-20 minutes. These were some of the most interesting minutes of mine for quite some time before.

The driver was from Bihar - a small district called Burdwan. I had felt that my knowledge of development was too good and started having a small conversation with him regarding the latest development related activities which the new government of Bihar was doing. This includes setting up of educational institutes, infrasrtucture, setups for MNC's etc.

This is what the driver had to say (the entire thing was in Hindi but translated here for convenience of the idle reader) :

"Saab, I am matric pass. I call myself educated from Bihar standards but I know that I am still uneducated. When we uneducated people have a dispute, we have a fight. It may or may not be a fist fight but we definitely fight. We abuse and we shout and scream at each other. We say things about each other's mothers and sisters. We do everything that our feeble mind feels will give the other person pain. But we do it on their face. AND we forget about it as soon as the incidence is over.
What do educated people do saab? Look at Maharashtra. These people call themselves educated and developed? They keep small things in their hearts till these small things become big and then simply cut up the poor person who is living away from his village working in their homes, offices and factories, doing menial jobs just to ensure that his family back home is able to eat two meals a day! Will you call Bal Thakeray or what is his son's name...educated? If this is educated and developed, then I will not want Bihar to be this saab.
I will want that before opening all these IIM's and IIT's, we should first teach our people to live like one...to ensure that the education - if and when they get it - is used for purposes that it should be used for...and these are for the development of the fellow beings living not only in their localities but also in their states and even more importantly...in their country.
Its been such a long time since I last heard someone saying that he was from India saab. All that everyone says is that he is from a state of a region."

Eye opener? I was stunned by this seemingly 30-35 year old who claimed to be just class X pass to say something so astounding that I wish I could make him stand on a podium and say these words in front of the entire country....I wish I could hear him speak for some more time...

Rgds,
Falcon

Waiting....

Still waiting....for "something" to happen to me that will make me appreciate my own or anyone else's existence in this world...
Still waiting....for "someone" to appear who will make us understand that we dont exist just because we need to and their could be other reasons...
Still waiting....for "someplace" to open that could give me the solace and the peace that I feel is what we should endeavour to achieve in our short stay here....

TRYING....to understand that maybe that "something", "someone" or "someplace" could be inside me rather than outside....
If their is God....Prayer to thee for everyone here......help me live or help me otherwise

Getting late...and lovin it

I am one of those people who love to reach the airport an hour in advance if the airline wants me to be their 45 minutes before. I follow this and barring afew anomalies, I have stuck to this...and then will be sitting on a chair waiting for boarding announcement and very religiously board without anyone in the airline having to worry about me.
Last week, I had to take a flight from Guwahati to Jorhat...Jet is my fav airline (after all they treat thr frequent fliers in the most royal way) and I was at my best reaching the airport an hour in advance. Checked in and went and sat down comfortably....and went off to sleep.
I was the last to board and the airline actually had to arrange a separate bus to take me to the flight...and they got at least 20 mts late because of this......I understand that this will possibly be common (or not so uncommon) for a lot of ppl....but frankly this was a first for me (after arnd 100-150 flights taken till date)
And the experience (airlines ppl....plz dont read this)......it brought an ADRENALINE RUSH! Absolute thrill...!!! And the stares of the airline staff was awesome!!! Felt so good that immediately went to sleep again on boarding.....a tired satisfaction.

Falcon

Long time no see...heeheehee

Some ppl will be surprised that I still remember the password of this page. Sply those newspaper guys who write about all those ex-bloggers who have stopped writing anything on thr blogs. Anyways.....you all guys can count one out...because I m not going to let go so easily.

These last few months have been toooooo long. Lost some very very good frnds....to accidents or to time....whatever. Gone.

Joined (of all the places in this entire country) ....North East as Area Sales Manager...and now taking care of something like 25 odd ppl getting in a whole lot of sales. I never understand where and in whose stomach all those biscuits go. I never bought so many of them at one go! But then...why do I care....these ppl get me my salary...and that is what I m here for na!

And then....started my own biz!!! Surprised??!!! Hehehehe....more at some future date...lets see what happens on this front.

Anyways...do stay in touch with my travel blog....i m going to make it a glossary of various places in North East very soon!!! Complete with pics etc!!!

For Ramki...

I dont know how to put these thoughts into words. I had a holi which I know I will never forget but I will have loved to forget ASAP. And I know that till the time I stay in Britannia, from this sunday onwards, everyone is going to remember me as the guy who got Ramki out.....I just feel sad that it was not Ramki that I got out of the pool but just his..............

Feels earie to think that the nice sweet fellow who used to wave a hi whenever he saw me and whose voice used to boom into my ears whenever I went to take coffee on first floor is no more.....and I was instrumental in finding out that this was the case.....

Ramki.....in your end, I have found a new meaning of life.....and I assure you that I will not forget this new meaning.....this new meaning that life is not in our hands....a meaning that life can be as short or as long as someone else wants....a meaning that whatever is left of our life....we shld ensure that we live it not just to the full for ourselves...but try to make everyone else arnd us know that life (or whatever we have left of it) is to be enjoyed and lived to the full. That life has been given to us for making us do what we are capable of....hence we shld do what we can with it to ensure a very happy and fruitfull living for ourselves and all the stakeholders in our life.

To Ramki......may your soul rest in peace

tooooo looooong daaaaaysssss :-((

HR stint...saara kaam khatam...finally

Phew!!!! That was some work. Possibly because the only time I have tried doing something in HR was during my MBA and that too with a mind and body both refusing to obey the commands of my HR profs and (having a mind of their own) deciding to go to sleep at the slightest mention of Human Resources...almost the same ordeal was being sufferred by the poor me during these last couple of weeks. Infinitely looooong hours of using my hands keeping my eyelids open rather than using them for purposes more useful (like typing this blog)

Finally it is over and I am starting on my marketing stint...the last but one stint in this 6 month training program which I am sure has taught me more than I learnt in any other 6 months of my life....and this from me after having completed only 4.5 of the 6 months I am talking about.

Lets see what Britannia has in store for me next. I am sure it is going to be fun...working on the largest brand of the company...and to top it all...the brand manager is from XIMB!! (came to know that yesterday only during my first introduction to her)

Wish me luck pleeeaaasssee somebody...

Regards for the minions of the Earth,
Falcon

Blood Diamond

Leonardo Di Caprio in a hell of a role. Along with Djimon Housou (both of them in award nomination roles....should win if I were to decide) they have created a movie with an impact so powerfull that it can be put into league with the very best. Djimon has shown the kind of talent that lies in movie industries which even though are not as famous as hollywood or bollywood but have starts who can compete with the very best in business (incidentally this is the second such movie after Kabul Express taking support from local actors who have worked wonders to the movie).

The movie is a lovely package which though could possibly do without the love part cropping up. Thankfully it was not hyped any further than it was. And Leo dying in the end made for a fitting end to a movie which was intented to work on the emotional nerve of the audience. To top it were the dialogues....my fav..."...I sometimes feel that God left this place a long time back...he got too depressed...." (this one is currently my google talk status message).

An all out blockbuster which makes you feel that living in Kashmir in the 90's would have been peacefull. I hope the condition in Africa is not that bad....and if it is...I hope to God that it improves ASAP.

One mention too for all the other characters in the movie. The director played his part and so did all of them.

Must see...if u already have not

Regards,
Nishant

HR ppl do work!!!

HR guys to work!!! Yep, that is the conclusion that I have drawn after this rigorous HR stint that just got over. 3 working days + 3 holidays in between and I had to finish preparing one training program. Thanks to my great pals working as HR managers in different companies, I managed to make some progress and finish the work on time (I totally screwed up my long weekend in the process with Guru and Salaam e'Ishq still remaining unseen..).
Result of the stint: Realization that HR guys do have some work to do...even though the job that I did could have been taken care of by any vendor but a great experience in googling :-D
And I did not get to write about Blood Diamond which is a superb movie btw...will be my next post.
Take careRegards,Nishant

The World's Fastest Indian

I was surprised to hear Antony Hopkins in a movie about an Indian. Good that it came out to be the old bike.

Awesome movie shot with a 1963 New Zealand and USA as the backdrop, it talks about how a man dreamt big and ensured that he achieved it amongst all odds. Who cares if the dream was just to break the land record for the fastest streamline bike under 1000CC. Who cares that the man had a bad heart and a bike with hairline fractures in the wheels and no chutes or breaks to stop. Who cares that the bike was almost done for on so many occasions that the movie watcher will lose count. The one thing that matterred was the old man's attitude....sample this one; "what if I lose a leg....I have a spare one" or for that matter....."if you do not dream son....you might as well be a vegetable..." Their are more where these come from.

I will definitely recommend this movie for anyone and everyone who actually wants to get some motivation to go out into this world and get what they dream about....and dont just watch the damn movie....learn from it....that is what I am going to try and do....or rather try...

Salem...an unknown wonder

Some of the most beautiful places in the world are still unexplored. The words came true when I was forced (literally) to do my Sales Officer stint as part of my training program in a place called Salem. Salem is a district in the north of Tamil Nadu, a place where people do not speek any other language but Tamil and without which, I felt my life for the next one month will be a living hell...

It was not. What it actually was was a beautiful experience visiting some really lovely locales (not always with my camera since I WAS on an official work) and some good food (most of the times I even liked the rice meals most common for lunches).

What follows in the next few posts is an account of all that hapenned (and did not) in Salem, Krishnagiri, Vanyambadi, Thiruannamalayi and loads of other places where I went.

Hope the accounts are as intersting as the trip was.

Regards,

Nishant

Yerkaud today....mast Salem

Seriously a great place....Yerkaud was coooooool!!!!!!!

will write in detail about it during more time... :-(

imagine not having time even for my beloved blog...but now...will come with pics!!!...from my very own Canon

Numbers...Salem and more

One month in Chennai has given to me more education in FMCG S&D and a host of other things than I could have imagined in my wildest dreams. After all how can anyone find out on their own how pathetic they have been at so many things that they always thought was their forte? Take presentations for that matter....I make a beautiful presentation (according to my mundane standards) and with pride, show it to arnd 3 top-brasses of the company! A royal screw will be a much pleasurable experience compared to what I went through after that. Butchered, annihilated, swashbuckled......these are the words that come to my mind. 24 hours and around 14 hours in front of the computer later, I came up with something completely different. Now that same presentation is doing the rounds of almost everyone on the company's board!!! So one day to learn something so important which I had never realized I did not know for all these years and months as that flashy MBA!!!

Another thought went through my mind while waiting for a table at a very good restaurant (in terms of the mughlai cuisine that they serve). We always seem to feel that a person inside a prison will be spending a life as a number and not as a name. For some time during our lives, almost all of us do have that kind of life in our daily work.....in a restaurant, you are known as Table no 4, in a cinema hall u r seat no F42, in a flight u might be 12D......so what is the diff?

Next stop...Salem for my SO stint!!! Hope to keep upto the reputation that I have created here.

Nishant