Mobipost

I am well aware of the fact that the monthly readership of this blog is restricted to me, my sister (I beg of her to read this) and the software engineer from Bangalore (now that’s a cliché) who doesn’t say much but just writes “Loved your post keep them coming” followed by his blog’s url. Bottomline you will be more interested in reading the autobiography of “A K Hangal” than this blog, but to live up to the name of this place, I am still alive.
First things first I have completed one year in the big bad corporate world and till now successfully survived the downturn. When paycuts were as common as Mayawati’s statues in UP, also words like downsizing and cost control looked like “starring Oscar nominated” in a firm’s annual report. But to be fair my bank didn’t retort to such cheap gimmicks and they successfully retained almost all of us. So what if the stock prices are lower than a movie ticket but as long as I am getting paid enough to buy those movie tickets I am not losing any sleep over this.
But one thing, which can’t get out of my head is, I lost one of my most prized possessions for a long time, my Iphone. Oh yes the 8 Gb sleekest and coolest looking chic magnet phone. I know all of you must have lost a phone in your life, when it comes to phones we all have a story to share and here is mine…………… main aur mere mobile.
I still remember my first cell-phone, my parents went to DILLI and got me a silver colour Panasonic the year was 2002 (first year engineering), though the cell phone was as big as the dairy milk bar in “Aaj Pheli tareek hai (love the ad)”, the blue display was something I loved the most. My father at that time sported a Nokia which helped him to build his biceps that too unintentionally, so I myself felt on the top of this world. Snake was so outdated as I had a cool ball rolling game and Bipasha Basu was the brand ambassador and that’s not all. The antenna wait for it ……………………was not there. On the whole one of the best gifts to have after getting into an engineering college. Some of my batchmates had flap phones and some NRI kids flaunted their alcatel mobiles but I loved my phone. That phone stayed with me for almost 2 years. One frightful evening I was coming back from the class and suddenly it started raining I tried to cover my phone by hiding it under my windcheater but as you know Panasonic phones have a durability of less than that of a mosquito coil,………the display went off.My father got me a brand new colour display phone from Benq………………..oh what a mobile it was. That time Benq had the cheapest colour display mobiles and I was one of the 500 Indians who bought that phone (the phone was taken off within months because of horrible sales figures). The phone had polyphonic ringbones and was much sleeker and lighter than the Panasonic. But this was year 2005 and mobile industry had evolved a lot, people were talking about 1.3 megapixel cameras, net connectivity, mp3s etc. I never gave a damn as mobile phone’s utility was limited for me coz :- a) Most of my wingmates used to bunk lectures so all of my friend’s were mostly together, b) No hot girl used to call even after my desperate attempts of flashing my mobile number on Mumbai global chat and C with a capital. Only my parents and sisters used to call, mostly to scold me for falling grades and increasing ATM withdrawals But as people flaunted their speaker volumes and the cool FM radio things, I used to avoid taking in a public place, especially in the vicinity of the fairer sex. Not that I had a chance otherwise with them but even when death is inevitable how many people commit suicide, right? I somehow survived on that phone for a year, somebody stole that Benq phone from a canteen (can you beat that what a low self esteem guy to actually flick that phone). Around the same time I got through CAT and got into an MBA College.
Filled with the new excitement of buying a new phone I was tricked into buying a tata indicom’s flap phone (some nice marketing manager must be up there) and what a phone it was. Everytime somebody called me the phone used to go into Bappi Lahiri & mithunda mode yes I am talking about D-I-S-C-O mode. As the yellow, green blue and pink yes pink light started to go flashing with a ringtone which was pre loaded and that sounded like Anu Malik’s attempt to sing a bhajan. The camera quality was so great that all pictures looked like Xray slides. In most of the picture teeth were the only identifiable portions of one’s face. I identified my mistake within a month and sold off that phone for a loss of 50%. Feeling guilty for that loss I bought the cheapest available nokia 1100, the snake on that phone is the best mobile game ever :)………..
When I went back at the end of first year my father gifted me the newly launched Nokia N70music version, what a phone it was but as is the common thing with Nokia phones, within 3 months that phone was outdated and prices were slashed by 50%. I was heartbroken as the 1.3 Megapixel camera was substituted by 3 megapixel cameras and sound quality was getting better and screen size was getting bigger day by day. I thought I am not gonna buy an expensive phone again as no matter which phone you buy, after sometime they all feel like bell bottom trousers in the age of denim.
But then came Feb 2009 and on my birthday my friends gifted me an Iphone and it was love at first sight………I knew this phone will make time stop as it can never be old, this phone will be janam janam ka saath and this phone will put the S back into STYLE. But one day I lost it, how and when it doesn’t matter what matters is that I lost it. I don’t want to write anymore coz it breaks my heart to even think about it….....................

I Can't Concentrate

The title has got nothing to do with the post .......... but these days its the in thing. To randomly name a movie. Like Tasveer 8X10, 99 etc....

Monday afternoon as I pretend to be working in the office staring into my laptop screen with a straight face, I realized one thing. I have tickets for 27th of march on my desk. Yes I am going to Goa for an extended weekend, which translates into three days holidays. I have no clue what Gudi Parwa means or what m I supposed to do on that day. All I know is that it has forced the Banking industry to give their employees a well deserved break on Friday. Take that consultants, this is called work life balance :)

I have finally booked the tickets and confirmed the booking over phone (Judith you sounded so sweet). Maybe next time I will book the hotel recommended by you so what it costed 2000 bucks more.

Now I know for people who have stayed in bombay it's not that big a deal to go to Goa. But even though I did my graduation in Mumbai and traversed the narrow streets for four years, I have never been to Goa. Now that is some record which looks more embarrassing than Celiena jaitley’s acting skills. But before you judge me and brand as the un-cool uncle types guy, let me explain the reason behind my inability to put the GOA xing into my life.

Last time when I finalized my plan to go to Goa, believe it or not Tsunami struck India’s southern coasts. Now my father thinks I am as responsible as Prof Khan was with N bombs. So he thought I will be in the sea for most of the time in Goa and yeah with a reaction time slower than that of A K Hangal, he said don’t go abhi, go later. Now this later is like submitting your project report. Once the deadline is over it really never comes again. So those plans were shelved off and I had 4 consecutive no-goa Christmas-newyear in Mumbai. After joining my job in Mumbai hardly got a chance to go on vacation. But now I have seized the day and stole the moment of thunder, I planned this holiday way back in januray can u beat that.
Well if you look at it, it was not difficult given the fact that 70% of my time in office I am googling and reading about random things.

Job life is treating me well. I mean in the current market if you are able to talk about job life it’s a big relief in itself. Every morning I come to my office and offer my prayers to the almighty if my access card works and yeah then the double check comes in when I log on to my laptop. I look up with a sigh of relief as the screen flashes “welcome ad897797”. The smile goes from 6 inch wide to a small frown when I see 81 unread messages… but yeah part and parcel of work life.

Lately my friends have developed this special interest in scrabble, now my vocabulary is as broad as Taliban’s mind. I mean what do you expect from a small town boy from Bhilai. But still dosti ki khatir khelna padta hai. Infact looking at my vocab one friend of mine said “ Tune class 3 ke baad words sikhna band kar diya tha kya?”.
As my friends fight over the existence of some classy words ….( atleast they sound classy to me) like Celeste. I remain happy stealing 3 pointers and 6 pointers with “JUG”, “Bed” when one day I made the word “ELATED” the word was not only there on the board but was evident on my face and the wide smile. I mean common I used 6 out of 7 tiles.
Lately I am also too much into bowling, but like all other sports initially I helped my friends with the technique n all and now they all defeat me hands down. But I have realized this I am the man whom they call it as the first gear man. I get into things out of excitement than snap out of it pretty soon. With an attention span of Dewegowda’s status that makes it a very fatal combo.

IPL moved out of India, now all my plans of faking a headache during office hours to take an early break are ruined. I was so excited about watching a live match … but it’s all gone, I so wanted to cheer with KKR’s knight angels to add to the glamour quotient Shilpa Shetty was also around this time. OMG, where is natural justice.
But then life has never been fair.

Victory

“Her-man” Baweja’a latest offering after the first sci-fi futuristic romantic saga Love Story 2050, the modern city of that was conceptualized in 1999 by warner brothers(The Fifth Element), is Victory. Talking about his last release Harman said LS2050 was ahead of its time and probably it will be a classic when his son “She-man” Baweja will make a debut.

However, taking cues from this shaktimaan meets chandrakanta flick , Harman intelligently picked up the safest option in India for his next venture, Cricket. India has a history of some classic portrayals on cinema of this nationwide extravaganza. Dev Anand did it with Awwal Number where his police commissioner cum national selector cum pilot cum sharp shooter’s methodological performance was considered to be the most overall character in the 90s. Then there have been recent attempts like Say Salaam India or meerabhai not out. Although most of these movies met their fate the same way LS 2050 did, however artistic accolade is something you cant take away from these movies.

So riding the high tide of recent Indian Victories India Vs Srilanka Ajit Mangat decided to direct the movie Victory. The movie is already getting 3 star rating from the greatest critic of modern India Taran Adarsh, who keeps on referring to him as HURMAN for god knows what reasons. Harman Baweja & Amrita Rao, whose fight with her dress designer continued in this movie were also present at the India Srilanka match to cheer for India’s victory in the second ODI.

There is not much to say about the movie as the trailer says it all. It’s a regular story of a local guy from a small town of India who makes it to the Indian team. However once on top he loses his focus and success gets onto him. Gulshan Grover plays the bad guy, who introduces Harman to the big bad world of glamour related with cricket. Harman fumbles and then he is ridiculed by public, selectors his own father and the curtain clad Amrita Rao.

However Harman redeems himself , practices hard and drinks boost to focus again on his game and comes back as a winner.

Although a linear story it’s the execution that makes this movie a class apart.

When Harman sledges Bret Lee and says “ Tune sahi kaha tha chutiye”. Theater audience had the same tremors of rage flowing in their body when Sunny Deol shouted in Gadad “Humara Hindustan Zindabad tha Zindabad Hai and Zindabad rahega”.

Victories casting directors had a tough time casting so many cricketers and Amrita Rao was pissed as she says here "Harman acted with so many cricketers and i didnt even get a scene". However poor Amrita rao doesn’t know that more than half of the cricketers are morphed into the scenes.

But Harbhajan Singh makes a sensational come back and although this time he doesn’t slap anymore nor does he says "Maa ki" but he got a chance to perform a Victory Bhangra along with great Indian cricketers like Ashish Nehra, Romesh Powar and bunch of players who are currently not in the Indian Squad who will make it big in the ICL just like Harman will make it big in Bollywood after this movie.

Sreesanth was nowhere to be seen, though he desperately wanted to be a part of this masterpiece, but with Sreesanth is following a 50 feet distance from Bhajji. Moreover Sreesanth failed the auditions because of his famous kathakali.

Harman awaits the Box office verdict, but for movies like victory its not about the money afterall .....

Do i look like a guy with a plan?

“Do I look like a guy with a plan?” Joker immortalized this line when he said it with the confidence, which can only be equaled by Pakistani army generals.

Well if you ask any one who knows me enough or infact has seen me for more than 20 minutes can tell you I fit the same category. Not because I wear war paint of I have scars all over my face but I have always been that kinda person. Never thought about the consequences and just acted in the moment. Paid some price for it but never big enough to revisit my philosophy of life. But things change and sometimes some things hit you so hard that you need a moment to just stay back and think where the hell did I screw up. It’s more than losing a test match it’s more than failing a course coz it changes you as a person.

People regret things in life we all do. Sachin regrets the attempted lob against Pakistan at ferozashah kotla, Jeetender regrets about that night he conceived Tussar Kapur and Advani regrets his Pakistan visit. But I always thought if I can look back at anytime in my life and can say that given another chance I will do it exactly the same way again I’d be a happy man. We all crave for a second chance some people are lucky enough to get it like Sachin did with his century at Chennai but some people are not lucky enough. Things have been on track till now n pretty smooth and then u hit a roadblock and the world around us starts to crumble.

But with all the roadblocks comes a hope a small ray of light which keeps the belief alive which helps u going which gives us the momentum to breathe to whisper and to live.

It’s easy to understand the jokes of a random guy but its difficult to understand the pain n ironies of life. Just remember the college days when sitting at the coffee shack hours used to go by when chatting and cracking jokes. But the moment some guy will start telling some serious stuff I used to disappear. Life comes full circle after all J

Its been a long time since I wrote something well when life is full of so much happiness its difficult to take out time to stare at the lcd screen and type in on the key pads. Especially when you do the same or at least pretend to do the same for 10 hours daily in the office. But when there is a void in life you come back to things, which make u feel good. I am writing this down because 15 years from now if I will read all this I will feel good that I survived these times. I was so weak at some point I was so regretful n disgusted at some point but I had the courage to fight back I had the will to stand up and walk tall again.

I just lived the most beautiful part of my life and wanna live it longer infact forever ………………