Bag of Crisps and a Sandwich...

I seldom lose my head at work, even if i do nobody would notice, I like this quiescence corner at work, I go there watch these greedy pigeons pecking at minute edible things, hurl my choicest abuses and then come back to my desk, nice!
When I’m gnashing my teeth,sometimes I tend to compare my colleagues to edible things, Salt and Vinegar Crisps; I can’t stand the very sight of that repulsive bag, the moment someone opens a bag of this abhorrent stuff I run a mile. Then there is the infamous Ham and Mustard sandwich, i like this but this is something i will not eat every day, it’s good when you are lazy to cook an elaborate meal, it’s good to eat when you are in a hurry, no messing about with this, no dribbling blob of ketchup, mayo, plain and simple, has what it say’s in the cover,
I feel like a Bacon, sausage and eggs today! (It’s not for the faint hearted)

Recent Events

Blast in Pune has come as a shock, this is indeed an cowardly act, an act that should be globally condemned.I got a little annoyed couple of days ago when Mumbai was embroiled in one of the most useless and mind numbingly painful subject of show casing a movie ‘My Name Is Khan’ (the reasons are so infantile I don’t want to repeat it) this is insane, people with this mentality irritate me, how can anyone elect these people/party. Think again, we are talking about lives here, yet there is a party which goes about proclaiming to be the knights in shining armour, they are all about safe guarding a religion, when there are no more human beings left HOW ON EARTH are you going to safe guard this religion in question?
Illiterate, selfish, malevolent bunch of ignorant people, take care of your own people first, invest more on upgrading and improving India’s security, Educate people, Rather than protesting and wasting time on a silly old Movie, it’s a movie for god sake and that actor gets paid in millions... he’s got nothing to lose...
BUT WE HAVE!!

There was us!

Surprise! Surprise!, Got a call from a very old friend today. I have not met or spoken to this chap in 11 yrs, didn’t know where he was, last time I saw of him was in the summer of 1999, then he vanished from the face of this earth; Talking to him brought back so many old memories...especially when we wanted to make it big as Employers...at the age of 19 something.
We were a dysfunctional unit, clueless, all we cared about was to have fun, unparallel fun, if we were in the army, the enemy would have loved to see us fight but against We were a bunch of immaculate pathetic bunch of boys(i know these lads will not like it when they read this , but what the hell!), we basically did bugger all, out of the 3 of us, One chap had a decent mode of transportation, he loved to call his bike a super bike, a limited edition Suzuki, but in our eyes it looked as if it had come straight out of a gaudy tamil movie and had been a subject of frequent harassment , but it served its purpose, it was not a chariot of fire, neither was it a chariot, but it was there, it was a part and parcel of this silly old mob, it had its identity and identity of carrying 3 guys..
We were inseparable, killing away time, either sitting in someone’s house waiting for a nice cup of tea and snacks, playing short cricket or sitting in a little room with asbestos ceiling, watching my friend’s pet snake slither in his old stinky socks.
We thought we were India’s answer to Bill Gates, we even launched a few little ventures of our own, we were so proud of our creativity. Our first attempt to get into the cyber world;
www.killerattitude.com - this was the mother of all inept websites, we didn’t know why we wanted to have this website, the home page had a picture of a bloody shark! Yes a shark, since our website’s name was killer attitude we thought having a picture of this shark will not only attract a lot of young likeminded losers but it can also be a revenue generating tool!!, On clicking its razor sharp wide open jaws was supposed to redirect to a page with contents, lots of contents, but we had blank pages, lots of them, the website was so unpopular it didn’t even attract the attention of our maid, looking back thank god we did not have a website called www.bangonattitude.com imagine the home page picture.
Here comes www.smartindians.com, There goes smartindians.com it’s in the Guinness book of records, 22:00 website and company launched 22:30 website and company shutdown.
Now we the so called budding, young, energetic entrepreneurs decided to have a company that catered to the mass, a company with a strong work force of 3 guys, these guys will solve any problem associated with your computer, but in order for us to help you, we will need to upload a virus onto your system and then we will supply an antivirus tool for a nominal fee, that was one of the objectives behind setting up code innovations. So here comes code innovations, printed visiting cards, Director, Managing Director, Assistant director, water boy, letter heads, now we wanted to start our marketing campaign we had elaborate plans for it. One of our company founders was in charge of marketing as well, so he goes out to meet our ‘future clients’ but ends up buying a darn snake, a Boa!
Now we missed the main plot of code innovations, we were taking more care of the snake then the company.. we lost it to a snake who did not have a name, a nameless boa constrictor swallowed our company.. we were ruined, we were devastated, we did not know what to do, we were.. ah it’s time to feed the snake chicken from the butchers then!
But we had our equal share of fun, those trips to resorts, ordering coffee and realising there is not a single penny in our pockets, some of us didn’t even have a pocket so to speak, Google eyed nocturnal creatures we were.
We are going to be meeting in March for a little re-union, this time minus the boa and the bike.
Two of my friends have their own company(finally they did it) one guy is in Malaysia and the other in Bangalore.. Im in London....

Moscow Mule!!!!!

I felt like I was run over by a 20 ton truck laden with limestone and granite, My head was separated from my body, my mouth felt like a parched dry land, I even thought there were a pair of sidewinders slithering over my tasteless palate, watched commando Arnie is full of crap in that movie, I had a serious conversation about work with Tinky Winky, Dipsy and Po.. They don’t want to work in teletubbies any more, black coffee, Berocca , Grape Juice did not have any effect , the gargantuan 20 ton truck was still wrecking havoc, screeching and slamming.
Copper mug, or tall glass.. I’m saying good bye to this devilish Mule.. FOR ETERNITY

The Dosa Vendor

Walking down the bilingual sign posted streets of Pondicherry i came across this street vendor, selling mouth watering hot dosas and vadas.
Couldn’t resist taking this picture, the slim forlorn looking vendor goes to get water from a rusty old roadside pump, perfect opportunity for me to capture this in time.
Dimly lit halogen lamps, moth’s fluttering over the light oblivious to humid summer night, a little gas cylinder plugged to a rickety old stove bellowing yellow and blue flames.
In the far corner a lone cyclist passes by my lens; not paying any attention or interest to the surroundings around him.

Particularized Thinking!

I want to buy a laptop, preferably an Apple Mac book pro, i love it, may be i want to buy a new shirt, preferably a banana republic; Now to fulfil my need will i involve anyone else?
Do i go out with my wife, kids(if I have one) and neighbours to buy an Apple Mac book; do i take horde of friends to buy that banana republic?
Particularized Thinking, Individual thinking, is lost here, not for me but for those who were involved in coming along with me.
But why do we do that? Why can’t we do things alone, as an individual? This way you are not dependent on anyone; you don’t need to think about rushing, you do what pleases you the most.
I rather walk a 100 mile listening to audio books then go with a bunch of people who are interested to see what i buy, that i find to be very asinine.
I prefer to be on my own while I’m doing something, I like to sync with my own choice and tastes, I love my wife as a matter of fact i adore her, but I don’t take her along with me to buy myself a spanking new F-15 Eagle RC Jet(64mm Fan) radio controlled plane, why would I? She hates all these and she will not be able to appreciate it, We in turn might end up fighting over this beauty and I will end up NOT buying it...
Certain things are memorable and fun when done alone; many things are done with a company.
There is a very thin line between this..... Particularized Thinking!

You gone Nuts!

It’s around 3 degrees, windy, snowing and it’s so darn cold I decided to sacrifice my lunch for a needy cause.... I would rather sit here and starve than venture out there, but there are these ‘tourists’ don’t know whether I should call them brave or foolish, either ways they are mad..
This is the third bus I’m seeing from my office window, tourists on open roof big bus tours taking pictures of random buildings which they think are of great architectural significance?? Mad?! No INSANE, something’s wrong there, loco, cuckoo call them what you want.
A big building made out of glass is not an architectural marvel; it’s just that whoever designed it was lazy and an extremely stingy bugger.
Seriously why would you ever go out in a day like today, it’s only 14:00 and most of the vehicles I see outside have turned their headlights on, there are no birds in sight even the intrepid, germ spreading portly pigeons are not there to wobble around pecking at things, why would you ever stand on a open roof double Decker bus and take pictures of our mayor’s building, it’s NOT WORTH IT GO HOME, GO TO A PUB, HAVE A PINT, WATCH A MOVIE.. I would do that

Mind the Gap – what I see between the Gap?

Mind the Gap – what I see between the Gap?

Melancholic construction worker, jet lagged and bemused tourists, Sleepy office worker trying to read today’s metro, Osterley station – Confident young woman in a grey business jacket, construction worker couldn’t take his eyes off her.
Green Park – Women in lace stocking, winding vines of thorns, Sweaty regular gym user, busker , banker walking swiftly, gliding though not exactly, Jubilee Line – This is where all the sinners end up, hell on earth, pandemonium, large man with larger headphones can hear bella morte , banker reading economic times,
London Bridge, lots of heads bobbing, star bucks queue, Smell of freshly baked bread from upper crest.
Office - scenic view of tower bridge, surprised happy tourists, flash’s, school kids in a single file ecstatic to see HMS Belfast. Scenic river cruise boats, tugs, police, canoe....
Desk – Coffee, Books, Printouts, phone, privacy – Zero