Ignorance is bliss

India lives in villages. Or at least it used to. Life in villages is actually quite peaceful. For my part, I have stayed in a few small towns and I have seen a life which is far different from the urban metropolis. The best part in a small-town life is that it is uncomplicated. There are no jams, no big malls, no multiplexes, no show-offs and best of all, no traffic rules. Its so much fun. 

However, there is a sudden and rapid growth in lot of small towns. And sometimes when small towns grow very fast, the original residents don't know how to cope with the change. Our depot manager, Mr Murthy is one such person. Most of his life he has stayed in Bangalore. Before the software revolution happened and The Forum mall happened, Bangalore used to be a quiet place. Peaceful, laid-back and pretty much like a small town. The best part was, there were no traffic rules like now. This is what hurts Murthy most. The damn traffic rules. Thank god its not one person who makes these or he would have got a piece of mind from Murthy.

Yeah, so Mr Murthy still rides a bajaj scooter. For the ones who think it used to be in a different era, it is there. Very much there. And he rides it as if he still lives in the times when he bought it. The other day I was riding pillion on his Bajaj chetak. I think he takes the name "chetak" too seriously. He rides like that. Actually he flies. So every time I sit with him, I hold my breath and get ready for the joyride. Coming back to the point, I was riding pillion and we were going office hunting. So we reach this place which has cars parked in the official parking spot and no parking on either side of the road. I am wondering where would he park his 'chetak' and suddenly I see our man go and park it right in the portico of the next house. For a moment I was zapped and then I did not know where to hide. I was looking at him walking towards me with a smile and I asked how did you park there, and he just said "parwah nahin"! Amazing, isn't it? This was quite a while back but it left a lasting impression on me. 

Today we went out on his chopper once again. We reached our destination and I was expecting some more parking heroics from him, considering there was not much parking space. Expectedly, he stopped right in front of a no-parking board. I was about to jump off and claim that I don't know him when he stopped and asked the small 'chai' shop fellow just across the street "when did this no parking board come here".. I was wondering if Mr Murthy will break that no parking signage. Thankfully, he just parked his chopper couple of feet away from the no-parking sign. Thats his ode to the new city culture. Ride on!! 

Birthday bumble

I am really good at making a poo-poo of myself. Not once, twice I have done this!! Earlier, I had forgotten one of my closest friends birthdays. No its not just that. She had come over from another city, met me in Bangalore on her birthday and even then I forgot it. We dined together, we went out together and I still did not remember. Aray I did not remember it even after she left! And he husband was party to all of this. He never told me. He was there. He could have told me. But no, he din. Yeah I know, next i will blame global warming for my memory slip. Ok, I own it. I forgot. And I apologised. And since then, I have remember it. like they say, if you want to remember a women's birthday, forget it once! 

However, today I forgot another one. Now this case is even more peculiar. Till yesterday I remembered that I have to wish her. Today when I met her, I straight started off with some work that I had. I launched right into my monologue... This, that and all of that.. Not even a mention of her birthday. And then she politely said, harish, can you please wish me first. If I were in calcutta, the next thing that I would have done is jump into the ganges. I felt like Sita maiya, wanting the dharti mata to open up so that I can peacefully dive inside. I swear I even offered to go jump in chullu bhar paani. But the sweetheart that she is, she said I forgive you. Phew! The world doesn't know that it came so close to losing a genius! 

Thankfully, at least in this case, I can say there is always a next time. 

Third front or third-class front!

A motley bunch of fools - a woman so obsessed with money that she would sell the Taj Mahal if she could, a man who can sleep while standing and who slept through most of the parliament sessions, a bunch of jokers who think US is our enemy and China is our chaddi-buddy and a woman who has more shoes in her closet than she has attended parliament sessions. Thats the rough composition of the so called third-front floated last week with much pomp and show in Karnataka. Look at the tragedy of our times when the choice that we have for the people who claim that they can run a country is such! 

Yesterday I read that India has the highest amount of deposits in the swiss banks, larger than 4 other countries put together. No prizes for guessing whose money lies there unaccounted. 

I am all for the campaign Jaago Re. Let us make a choice this time and show these fools that we can think, that we can judge right and wrong and that we will not vote for these idiots, come what may. I shudder when I think of Mayawati as the Prime Minister of India!! God help us if this ever comes true. 

small problem big headache

The other day I needed to send a document out, so I gave a print command and called out for my office boy to get me the print. He said the print has not come out well, please give another one. I gave another print command, he came back with the copy of the print and said sir this time too, there is a problem with the print. The centre portion of the page is blurred. Just then, another employee walked in with her set of prints saying, mine didn't come out well either and she showed me the prints that she had taken the same morning... Blurred. The office manager saw the prints and declared, cartridge over! So we decided to order new cartridge. Calls were made, order placed and we decided for the cartridge guy to come and fix it. 

While this was happening, I thought why not check out if there was something else amiss. Most prints were blurred in the centre and the other areas were just fine. So I started to dismantle the printer - something which the printer guys had shown me. First stage, everything was alright. Second stage, everything seemed ok. The moment I took the cartridge panel out, I discover a cockroach resting right in the centre of the cartridge panel. Summer's here and he had found his cool location! The moment I tried getting him out, our man ran in some corner and became invisible. Till here, it was technical. So everyone around me was quiet. The moment they realized the cockroach was the problem, every one jumped in. "Sir, you leave it, we will take care of this". "yes, I am sure you would". And they did. I was handed the cartridge panel back and the printer came back to life once again. An hour of nonsensical hassle and the reason - ek cockroach!!  

Before

After

Holi hai!!!!

What a holi this was!! I have never played colors like this. Complete riot. From an initial gang of 15, it grew up to a gang of 30 and each new comer went through the induction process ;) Even while in calcutta, I had stopped playing holi because my skin is allergic to colors. So to celebrate holi in this fashion specially in Bangalore, was an awesome experience. The colors, the mithai, the food, the people, the pool that we created by blocking the water outlet, the bhaaaang and the music! Total masti. I will probably post a before and after pic very soon. Happy Holi to all of you :)

the 30's syndrome

Its that time of the year again when we wish all and sundry Happy New year. So hey, Happy New year! I hope you have made your resolutions and have broken them too :) I have!

Well, its been an eventful year so far. I will spare you the details. But I must admit there is one thing about this year thats bothering me. I will turn 29 this year! Its just a year lesser than 30. 30!! I have always been very wary of that number. I have never wanted to turn 30. I mean I have always teased my friends who are 30 or above. In a year, they would be able to tease me too. I am already hating it. I would be soon on the other-side of 30's. Sounds appalling actually. You know, just today I was having a conversation with a friend who I have recently come to know and she thought I was 25. I took it as a compliment. Fact remains though that I am not 25. And 30 sounds old. Really old. At least to a 28 year old. I have always told myself I can experiment with everything because I am not 30 yet. Guess I won't be able to say that to myself,in about a year. Worse still, I am no more "young and rising". Old and rising sounds horrible!!! I wonder how it is to be in your 30's. What changes in one's life. A few things that I can think of - may be the calendar would show more visits to a doc, growing belly?, even lesser sports, worry to settle down sooner, you can now safely tell the college kid - dude I have been there and I have done that and lastly you cant use the word dude anymore.

Anyways, the upside is, I am NOT turning 30. I still have a year to do all the things that I can't supposedly do in my 30's (eeeeks). So I just have one thing to say - I am turning 29. So what!! I say bring it on boy!!