5th Oct 2013

I don't even know where to begin.

Looking at the title, one could easily deduce that it is one of those days when the writer's block has a dual with the itch to express the state of mind.

I started watching Elementary last week. And Boston Legal. Add that to the usual Big Bang Theory rerun on TV and the Indian version of 24. It's too much of TV, I must say. After the hectic days at work, this one seems to be one reliable way to divert mind.

Elementary is not as brilliant as Sherlock. But it does entertain to a large extent. I find it hard to admit that I've started liking Luci Liu as Watson. Sometimes some interpretations, however hard to accept, are refreshing.

Boston Legal - well I started this to satiate the hunger of legal drama that has grown manifold after Suits. It lacks Suits' flair and has much more complicated plots. I've already found my favorite character. Looking forward to more of it in coming days.

Enough of TV. Actually I should stop this crap here.

Just before I close, one more last minute thought - Garbage Bean has been giving some rib tickling moments on a regular basis. This comic strip brings back so many of those memories from childhood that we've almost forgotten. Give it a shot, you won't regret.

Undo Redo

Undo and redo.
Save, delete and recover.

These are some of the greatest gift of this computing and internet age. Iterations ensure that we've less to repent about. If there were some mistakes, there are high likely chances, we can correct our course at a later stage and stay as if nothing had happened.

It's a tricky gift. One would want to have it applied to anything and everything that happens to him/her in this lifetime. Alas, world is not yet fully a digital imagination from the age of Matrix.

For now, I guess the way forward is to learn from the mistake committed and hope it is not repeated.

You've Got A Mail

It's fun reading through old mails. I'm not talking about the forwards and almost 'spam' mail that we've sent to our circle. I'm talking about those personal mail that we wrote to our friends, well-wishers and some time to even people who we've not even met. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people who write to themselves, otherwise that would been exploration of a different proportion. 

I still have some of those handwritten letters preserved that my parents and friends wrote to me when I was in college. Those were the days of snail mail, greeting cards and demand drafts/cheques. Every mail was awaited with so much anticipation & desperation. Those mails could not be cherished in just one reading. A one pager small letter of sort (or note) also could mean so much happiness. One could see some hidden tears spoiling writing and thus bringing some more in your eyes.

Then came the days of emails and RTGS transfers. Emails are different from snail mails in one very distinguished way - I could never imagine the writer's emotional face popping out at the top left corner. Damn you Bollywood, why did you stop that brilliant special effect from those old days. From a technical point of view, emails are instantaneous. But then waiting for a email is equally frustrating. Interestingly, by this time, sms and yahoo chat had taken over a big share of our expressed views. It brought some more suffering for the impatient types. Worst kind of suffering was when you could see that person you are chatting with is typing something (in case of those online chats) but you are just waiting for the enter or send to be pressed. Those were the days, of thinking a hundred possible answers, reactions and counter reaction to every question that was typed in.

Email has one more peculiar issue - the backspace and delete functionality gives a lot of time for revisiting our views and thus hide that natural response or view that one has. In a snail mail, it meant cutting and thus could not be hidden from reader if the writer was confused or nervous or having a doubt about something.

It hid our handwriting too, and thus the entire focus shifted to spelling mistakes and grammar. If one was methodical in his method, even that could be avoided.

I have found myself changing my writing style over this period, there are more questions than ever, fonts have changed, so is the color and way I sign it off. I guess these are the things that will define our progression in life. One day there will be a science (like those handwriting experts's work) where one will tell things about me by reading my old mails.

Till then... lets just write a couple more mails to record our this stage of life and persona.

Disappointed

I'm disappointed with the way whatsapp behaves on my Lumia 800,
and with the increased tariff from Airtel for the broadband that has become a continuous source of entertainment and knowledge,
and with the false alarms that rains are playing in Bangalore,
and with the capsicum bun that I just ate and now feel like puking,
and with the way unread emails keep increasing in my email,
and with the count of todos in my mind,
and with the increasing number of people I've to keep happy,
and with the increasing number of people I've to not make sad,
and with the pace of my learning to become a good driver,
and with the dents that spoil the beauty of my car,
and with the way my photography is improving,
and with the speed at which I've written this blog, or the frequency of posts
and with the fact that this list is never ending.

All I can think of now is this song called Bitter Sweet Symphony by The Verve.

Cause it's a bittersweet symphony this life.
Trying to make ends meet, trying to find some money then you die.
I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places where all the veins meet, yeah.
No change, I can't change, I can't change, I can't change,
but I'm here in my mold, I am here in my mold.
But I'm a million different people from one day to the next
I can't change my mold, no, no, no, no, no, no, no

Peace Time

I wrote most of my post in that first hour in office during my Lucent/Juniper times. I guess my punctuality made me one of the early birdies in the office thus giving me my sweet little peace time. It was a nice time to reflect on things around as nobody was around to disturb the chain of thoughts.

This scenario changed in Ahmedabad when the free time became a luxury. Howmuchever I try to think what made me stop writing regularly, I cannot pinpoint any particular reason (including studies and class work).

Later in Nokia days, morning time was the critical most hour of the day to plan for rest of the day (and be prepared for the daily sales call) and thus my writing schedules (however few they were) tended to shift towards evening. Same trend continues in Zovi now and I write this at 7pm in the evening waiting for Sonam to come.

[Finally posted at 9am the next day]

and that was 2012 my friends

I don't feel 900 post old anymore.

It's a fresh start every third month now but unfortunately it just lasts two or max three posts. One of those post is a essentially a crib about how life has become very hectic and how I intend to overcome this challenge and go back to regular writing. One more is a honest effort to write something from my heart - mostly ending up being a blog about some song or movie. And finally gibbupness overcomes the constant struggle to either find an interesting topic where I can think and write or an interesting thought that I can write and share. And of course there is always the biggest challenge of putting a title to the post.

I'm sure many bloggers will relate to it. Why just bloggers, inertia hits even on facebook, twitter, foursquare and other most happening social things in this virtual world. At least it does for me.

2012 has been a good year. From telecom to apparels, Hyderabad to Bangalore - all the major changes revolve around work & career. It's the crucial pivot that's brought pleasant changes in life. I traveled, hired team, opened offices, fought the biggies to get small things done, used my camera a lot, finally started watching tv series, watched good movies regularly and listened to nice music, learnt a bit more deal about girls shopping and moods, and to appear to be more sensible and responsible, had the best trip home, attended some of the most awaited marriages and events, spent innumerable moments with some of the best friends, building even stronger relations, did zipline, ate almost everything I wanted to, put on lots of weight (damn!), missed lots of birthdays/anniversaries and got scolded every time without fail, did house hunting twice and shifted twice - list is random and never ending. All that matters cannot be compiled in a silly list like this. All we can do is to just make a small effort to capture some of those moments/events for our future reference. Memories can be of any form, after all.

Lumia 800

It's not conventional to say the least. There are no boundaries and somewhere that's a good feeling. No boxes to restrict your imagination. Interestingly  there are no exit signs also,  making you feel like everything is always part of your life and it's just a thought away.

That's a purely nontechnical description of windows phone mango v7.5 on my new Nokia Lumia 800. Migrating from Symbian to 7.5 is not the easiest to say the least. Symbian offered so many things that we started taking for granted. It defined the way we called, smsed, mmsed, took picture, access internet and what not. I surely feel that no one will ever write songs about those and just blame it for not keeping up with time.

About my love for nokia, well it's true that I'm hooked onto nokia for quite some time now. Be it my first smart phone E63 (how can I forget using it for those free calls on nymgo and updating my eurotrip blog using free wifi at mcdonalds), then the second one E72 (that was a really good companion, I must say), nokia n8 (with it's amazing camera and a really cranky software), E7 (the hulk who did nothing) to finally to Lumia 800 (style that could match Moto Razor and OS that's a refreshing change), it's been a journey filled with unlimited stories to talk about. Not forgetting those small flings with C2-00, X1-01, C1-01, 1600, C3, X2-00, X3-02 and some more protos, this love story is here to last for some more years.

Old wine in a new bottle

That seems to be the easiest way to smell the past while remaining in the present. Reading old blog entries have the same soothing effect. Some entries are so old (or those memories have settled so deep in some dark corner of my mind) that I feel I'm not aware of those or I don't know the person who wrote those words. While others like my times in Europe are so fresh and top of the mind that I can relive those moments with all the colors intact.

Somewhere I think, writing those blogs has been a really good decision. How much ever easy or difficult it was, the effort has paid up and will be a big treasure in future. PooCh mentions about how he had hidden some of his favorite items in his grand mom's old house so as to find them in future (and get surprised). I've done the same over these years. Hoping to add more to this treasure as I grow older. Investing in future is the best bet I've for myself.

Househunting and other stories

Hyderabad seems to be a relatively 'chill' city. Temperature has been moderate so far. Tempers too. I did not bother anyone and so did they. I love any city that shows this character.

People's definition of traffic jams here does not match mine as I learnt about these things in Bangalore, Mumbai and Gurgaon. Road sense seem to be off the mark by quite a distance. Thank god the roads are wide otherwise I wonder where would these people show all their driving tricks and stunts. It's not easy to find metered auto. Nothing new when it comes to big cities. I wonder how did they manage to build this culture in Mumbai Autowalas to use that black box called meter.

I've still to find a place which I can and will call my home. Till that time, Taj Banjara is a good makeshift abode. In spite the stink that has marred the surrounding lake, it is still a beautiful place to be. Night skyline from my 8th floor room is as memorable as you can imagine in any of the city hotels. And guess what! I serves an ossum breakfast buffet. My +1 for Taj Banjara if you really are looking for some comfortable stay in this city. For those who do not speak the language of '+1', I've a few invites left in case you want to join the bandwagon on G+. Who knows, you might be riding another wave.

hybernation... lost and found

It has been a really long break. I started then vanished, restarted and then again the hibernation but today I vow to be regular to this place.

Where should I start from? I have been blogging regularly at different pages. But most of my posts have been like a diary. Me writing about my mundane life (I once wrote about new floaters I bought). Sometimes I wrote about my experiences in Dream-a-Dream. Sometimes they were just random thought. But I could never think about one particular way to direct my interest in life. All the entries were written on the sheer impulse of the moment.

Actually my whole life till now is driven by impulse. Many a times, I thought about finding a goal in life. But I could never make any goal in life. I always thought there is nothing wrong in living life anyways as long as you are happy. You can make your own rules. This is true to some extent but in the long run I feel today that I should make a goal and bring some discipline in life.

I meet so many new people. Each one from a different walk of life, each one with a different attitude towards life. Just like that yesterday I was in a group of friends. Two hours of discussion and I realized that what I was (or actually I am) missing in life. No aim, no goal in life. What I want to do in my personal life, what I want to do in my professional life and most importantly what I want to do in my life?

Right now I am feeling that something is really missing in life. I will try to find the goal. Will update soon.