random ramblings

In college, when we discovered drinks, we used to chide each other saying that somebody’s hands tremble to signal that it is time for one. Somewhat like that towards the end of the week I feel like writing something (read complaining). As usual on Mondays I kid myself that there is a plan for the week and psyche myself up to get going. But towards the end of the week, enthusiasm dies down and then thoughts about what could have made my life better kicks in. Start dreaming about what if I went to work in jeans, T-shirt and slippers and worked with a bunch of fantastic guys who are out to do something than make-believe they are doing something. Sometimes I think I know what I need crystal-clear, talking about illusions. Started reading ‘Fight Club’. I must be very bad in writing reviews, if I ever attempted. But somehow I seem to like every book or it must be that by spending one hour to choose a book from library I am making sure that it is appealing to my taste. I took this because its...

How do people grow into absolute morons? I have completed the discovery of what I like and don’t like in everything including food, drinks, dress, music, films, books, people and life. I have set opinions about everything in this world. I don’t want to move an inch when it comes to explore uncharted territories. “Think out of the box” they say, but I know don’t know that I am in a box. Yesterday somebody was saying, “You think you know, you think you are in control, but you are not”, felt like a definition of ‘The Matrix’. I don’t eat mushrooms, I just don’t like it and I might vomit if I taste them, or that is what I thought. I ate a Mushroom Fajita today, but didn’t finish it. I am a vegetarian, having never wanted to try chicken, without having the pressure of religion forcing me to be. Once a good friend of mine told me to try, insisted he won’t force me if I don’t like it afterwards (he was so convinced that I will like it), I ate a piece and promptly told him that I didn’t like i...

Missed the train twice today, so one hour at my disposal. Now they are saying that it may get delayed, re-routed or cancelled. So first time a blog post from public. It doesn’t feel like I came here two days back. By end of this week, I think I will feel that it had been ages. Got so much info about getting setup in UK that my friend KH might be bored to his bones answering my questions. I am getting enough exercise everyday, around 40 minute to and fro from hotel, office and railway station. Add last minute dashes to it, I got jogging also. Add 7 pounds laptop along with it, I got weight training too. By end of this year, I should be really fit. I guess last couple of months has been really good for me. I bought a new car, a new house at Trivandrum, got couple of awards at work, got out of the project in which I already spent more than 1 and ½ years and came to UK now. It also had been some learning experience for me – did performance appraisals for some people and they gave me a good...

Life has gone from a tranquil pace to a frantic frenzy within two days. It is like that F1 advertisement (or is it Toyota?) which shows a snail for half a minute and then suddenly shows a race car zooming at break-neck speed. I have to travel to UK next week and there is a mountain to move before that. Relocating is like uprooting a plant. Back to mangalore after a long time, I almost got into the rhythm of established routines, faces and places. Sometimes I feel we are kind of gypsies, without having a permanent place to stay, moving around with bare minimum furniture to get by comfortably. It must be really getting into the nerves of our parents. They say, “but you came back only 6 months back..”. Within last 3 to 4 years, I have stayed in 6 or 7 houses ranging from 2 months and 1 year at one place. Not that I regret going to UK. In more than one occasion, we have glanced at Thomas Cook vacation package for London. So now it gives me another occasion to see some part of the world whi...

My latest read: “Jack: Straight from the Gut” by Jack Welch. I wanted to read this one for some time. Somehow my previous boss (an MBA) instilled this belief in me that books by great management experts is worth reading and he gave some recommendations – this is one of them. But over time, I have developed some distaste for self-help kind of books which advertises “10 ways to make your wife happy”, “How to become popular” etc and the likes of “Chicken Soup for the soul” (I think they must have got a kick from the success they got for their first editions, so they started giving these soup bowls for Teenage soul, Couple’s soul, Mother’s soul, Daughter’s soul etc – you can find soups for any soul now). This one has a tag line which says “For every man and women who wants to succeed in 21st century” or something like that. Just because of that line, I would have dropped this book, but I saw that line only after borrowing it from a friend. To tell you the truth, he is really an amazing man...

Question in today’s newspaper: - Do you think we should have something similar to corporate culture in parliament? This made me think a little bit about corporate culture. Maybe when it comes to parliament, we should talk about culture first instead of getting into something else. When I was a kid, I used to think that how can people ever be able to behave like they do. I thought maybe it is a problem with older generation, newer enlightened/educated/forward thinking youngsters will change all that and world will be a nicer place once again. I thought how one could ever be able to even think about the religion or caste of your friends or neighbors, when I listened to such discussions between my elders. I thought how you could be so mean behind ones back and say such things about them. How could you ever loath your friends and still smile at them and make sweet talk with them? I thought all this is going to change, I used to tell my father so and he used to wisely say that I am yet to g...

In Mangalore when it rains it really pours and when it is hot, it is red hot. Now the rainy season has started. Didn’t even notice when we slipped into the routine of carrying an umbrella. It usually starts with the exact same day school opens after summer. I think I have bought the car at the right time because umbrella is just a play thing for this kind of rain. It will beat it and soak you by the time you count ten steps. Right now I am exploring all the byways, alleys around the office with the car – still not confident of taking it to the main road. It is like those parents say that they are afraid of bringing up their kids in this kind of world. It would pain you when, with just a warning from a horn just behind your ears, they overtake you and you almost fear that they have touched your rear view mirror. I was in Bangalore for most of last week. I think I am lucky not to bring up my car in Bangalore. It is jungle out there. If you stop at a signal, autorickshaws and two-wheelers...