When The World Locked-down

Come to think of it, the global pandemic is a boon! Before you start bashing me already, just think about it. When was the last time you had a leisurely stroll at your home in the morning? Or had a heart-to-heart with someone close without the thought that you need to be rushing somewhere? Or committed the sin of dedicating some luxurious me-time? Gone are those days of rushing, aptly known as the "B.C." or "before corona". Yes, the pandemic has brought a boon called "Complete lockdown", specially for the generation that slogs on weekdays and sloths on weekends. It has gifted us time to spend with close family, who had been ignored in the fast paced life we had been leading in "those days". Time to learn "home work" from parents and connect with the kids. The lucky ones locked with spouses around, it's the time to appreciate each other, instead of bickering, and strengthen the relationships. We have again been gifted a chance to enjoy pollution free air (AQI is less than 100 here, in a city where it used to be near 800 at times) and we have been blessed with clear blue skies. Now is the chance to unlearn the past and learn from our mistakes, take corrective action and implement lifestyle changes. Coz these days are here to stay. For a long time. Period. This is a chance to go back to the future with Indianness in everything - light home cooked meals in place of Instagram snacking, yoga instead of gyms and being with family instead of colleagues. The corporate world has realised finally that work-from-home can successfully be implemented in almost all industries and across functions. Unnecessary travel can be, and shall be. avoided, this too shall unfold shortly. Food for thought? I can slog 2 hours more while working-from-home, but would always rush at dot 6:30 PM on as many days as possible, trying to avoid a long drive home in bumper-to-bumper traffic. While we will realise the importance of outings and offices now, this is surely nature's way of pushing some sense back in humanity. Let's see who wins, Nature or Industry! As they say, change is the only constant - but we are yet to find what was the "constant" in this equatio - the pandemic-pushed-leisurely-culture or the rushed-up-life.

Growing Up...

There come some stepping stones in life which are so rare and random and yet so enchanting that you continue to remain enamored by them for quite a long time. Once the lovely mist surrounding you starts thinning, you realize that you have grown up considerably as an individual.

And this growing up is for the better. It’s much sweeter when it’s not growing up only as an individual - yes, you got me right. Getting enchanted by someone, and then growing up with a sweetheart - such a sweet phase. Right from walking together at malls, trying to get over with shyness, trying to suppress the blushes, trying to bump together so that your hands brush against each others' ; to that phase where you stop bothering about someone watching you, when what matters is just the two of you and your togetherness. The togetherness, beyond distances, beyond localities; the understanding of the unspoken word and of the unheard emotion; the depth of love, beyond anything ever felt or heard or otherwise known of - when you begin to understand how foolish you had been till date to pursue other things - so mundane, so useless, such a waste of energy. Guess that's love, the personal emotion of love, as innocent as a new born baby, as pure as the earth washed the whole night in heavy rains on a full moon night, that makes you do stupid things, that makes you go crazy, giving you a recurring grin on your face. The emotion that's so warm, you don't need to wear any woolens during the cool February, when even the Lord above bestows your surroundings with unprecedented rainfall. The emotion of togetherness, of being there for each other, when even hectic days looks so manageable, because you know you are truly blessed by God, that you have a life support system so well in place, there is no possible way you can stay stressed for long. You know hearing her – the voice as well as the shyness surrounding it – it’s simply going to bowl you over as always, you know her best wishes for you forever are going straight to the Lord to bless you even more, and then, as if guided by the angels above, magically she is going to hold your hands in hers, and the world shall stop right there.....

Feel the magic of love if you can, when you can, in any which way you can. That’s the most perfect emotion in the universe, and you can feel it only as a human being, being blessed with the capabilities of the higher order!

 

Blessings Galore

Dear God,
The way you've written the journey of my life, it keeps me astounded. I always wanted to know your thoughts and plans for me, but you always preferred to suprise me.
Each time I've been in doubt, you've given me enough reasons to have strong faith in you.
Each time I thought my belief in you was just an obligation, you've given me more than what I should have been obliged for.
Thank you Lord, for you've been far too kind. Thank you for everything you have blessed me with. Thanks for everything that you have secretly planned for me, to bless me with.
I reiterate that I've complete faith in you!




PS: God does not need to know "From Whom"

Why FDI is good for the Mango-Man

Disclaimer : I do not hold any stakes in any FMCG corporate, neither desi nor videsi. I am not a part of Congress. And, I do not intend to hold stakes in any of these in the near future.

It is the human psychology to resist changes. That is why I, the aam aadmi, the quintessential mango-man, raised such hue and cry on the government (for a change) bringing about reforms, a-la-1991, for opening the country to retail FDI, or more clearly, for allowing Walmart to enter India. One thing I do not understand, why only pinpoint Walmart? Why not Carrefour, for instance? Anyways. Only because I just have to, just need to resist changes, I have to oppose anything that's new.
And that is why I do not want to shop at Walmart. Why? Because I prefer the local bhaiya ki dukaan, kyunki:

1. Only the local bhaiya can take pride in passing expired goods to me, and then sheepishly replacing them with "expire wexpiry toh bas likhne ki baat hai, hota kuch nahi isse".

2. Walmart will NOT serve me Centre Fresh as a substitute for Re. 1, a leaking sachet of shampoo as a substitute of Rs. 3 and Parle-G as a substitute of Rs. 5. (At times the thought of taking 10 packets of Parle-G to the bhaiya and asking him to treat them as 50 bucks has crossed my mind, but it earned me unwanted flak from my mom, so the idea had been dumped everytime!)

3. Walmart will NOT be the local bitching point.

But then, Change is Good, isn't it?  So should I give the firang brands a chance to serve His Highness Myself? Or should I blindly resist?
Lets wait and watch!
 

Turning 25...

So finally, Bond completes 25 years of life on Planet Earth. Isn't everyone oh-so-happy and blessed? No? Then why congratulating me for turning 25? Caught ya! Well congrats to you too, for jheloing me for 25 years here!

This time the birthday was kinda different... There were so many firsts.. I showed whom I love the most - more than each and every dear friend - which will come a li'l later, I got a li'l worried about getting old, hell, I FELT getting older... and then, an unwanted first - first birthday without my Grandfather's wishes - I know the wishes are flowing from Above now, but...

The 25th year of my life begin with a blast indeed. I set my cell on silent mode at around 11pm the previous night and went to a restless yet strangely excited sleep for an hour. Generally I wake up all by myself at 11.45pm or so, murmur prayers, thank God for everything and by the time its midnight, start getting calls. But not this time. I woke up with a start at around 4am, and realized I had crossed all limits, and slept through the historical event - of my reaching the silver jubilee, of completing brahmcharya ashram and entering grahasth! Saw a lot many missed calls (so all those who tried calling more than once that night finally realised my love for my sleep - albeit the harder way), an equal no. of emails (I use a blackberry) and messages. Felt bad about missing the midnight moment, sleeping through the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world was awake and calling (particularly two special friends - one desi and one videsi). Anyways. Got up, said prayers, replied to most messages and went back to sleep. Awoke, visibly happy yet feeling strangely odd and old and mature - 25 now seemed a magical barrier which I had crossed!

Going to office for giving my darshan to the team, wearing new clothes (again a white shirt) and cutting the cake, getting it smeared on my face, attending calls and emails all day, catching up with friends and relatives and returning home to a quite and lavish family dinner at evening are all a strangely fresh yet blurred memory... What has started worrying me is that I have crossed a magical number. I, the one very cautious with numbers professionally, just wish that as far as ages are concerned, the numbers should stop at 24! God, can you grant me this priviledge?

The Gift of Life...

There come some moments in life when your only desire in life is that life - and for that matter, everything - stops and freezes at that one moment... at that emotion... at that one single second where you feel that you have figured out everthing in the cosmos, and yet you understand that you do not know anything... and that one nanosecond has everything you have cherished and desired, and yet nothing is within your reach... its that moment we live for, that moment we struggle for, that moment we strive for, that moment we ache for, we lust for, we pray for, we earn for, we make choices for... and those moments make up LIFE!

Metro Blues

I, like another brick in the wall, am a huge fan of the Delhi Metro. Not going to get into the details, but it does save time, is convenient, and of course, is economical.
Now the women got their share, I just wish we got first class coaches too!

What makes me give such a flamboyant remark? Am terribly sick of the lack of discipline and our general attitude being ourselves!
I suppose every metro on the platform is possibly the last metro for the day, and so the intelligent co-boarders just have to board that, all the while dragging me inside. Please, let me live. Getting late to office is a worry for me too, but only when am alive.
Once inside, we tend to forget that the last time we took a bath was 22 years and 33 days back. And so we stink, coz homo-sapiens and every other organism have a common ancestor, and so we are related to the skunk too!
To give tribute to the movie Sholay, and “Ye haath mujhko de de thakur”, we even hold the holding bars above and the pole, just in case! We are not going to fall in such a huge rush, but we need to remember the huge sacrifice of Thakur too. And such remembrance, combined with our habit of saving water by not bathing, can actually lower population!
A huge rush plus a female- WOW! How can we not try and bump into her, and if chance permits, grope/grab her too? Heard recently, “They have made women departments still if the women enter, they should be abused.” And so, we the people of Delhi hereby give ourselves the right to do anything in this democracy!
And of course, we are modern people. We have iPods everywhere (every damn music player, even if it’s a cell phone” is an iPod. But we are social citizens. We listen to music at very high volumes, even with in-ear earphones. Already the crowded metro gives us humongous opportunities to be close to fellow citizens. So why not make our fellows listen the latest tracks too?

I should not actually rant, coz the metro ride, albeit full of rush, gives me immense entertainment in the ways mentioned above. Hell, it even reminds me of the theory “Survival of the fittest”!

Bewitched!

Sometimes things happen in a way that makes one superstitious. But not me. I, yours truly, is a bewitched guy, and am starting to like the predictability of so many events.

It always rains when I wash and polish my two-wheeler - be it a drizzle or raining cats and dogs, but it always does. On any bad hair day, I've to bump into some crush or someone. My lunchbox always contains something I am in the least mood for that day and I always miss the Metro by a minute (if I reach 5 minutes early, I miss the ealier one by a whisker). Any stock I buy crashes, and, very predictably, any stock I short just shoots up. Any assignment I am on gets pressure and ridiculous deadlines.

As a great person said "if anything has to go wrong, it will". So I've started taking things in my stride.

I've decided that I'd let you all know any stock I buy or short, and you guys can easily do the opposite (all this for just 10% share in your profits). On the lunch table, I name the stuff I'd be least interested to have, and open my tiffin and Voila! its there! And the next time you're sick of heat, ask me and I'd wash my vehicle (last night it drizzled too).

Finally...Long term capital gains, capitalised!

"...At the stroke of the midnight hour, while the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom..."
This is one of the phrases that makes me remember my class 3- that's a 15 yr old memory. Class 3 was fun. The only other memory from class 3? I wrote " I want to be a char-ten-count-ten when I grow up" when I was to write "5 lines on myself". In those days I never knew the correct spellings of Chartered Accountant, let alone knowing what a CA does.

And now, 15 years later, on 13th August,2009, almost at noon, while the world is imprisoned in office and other redundant work, I AWOKE TO LIFE AND FREEDOM.! I finally realised that much seen, much fantasized and much prayed for dream of being a CA, and that's really a lot if u ask me.

And now I realise how the world used to treat me, and me treated the world. And I can't stop comparing the pre- and post-13th aug era!The world is suddenly a wonderful and awesome place (it's raining in Delhi since 3 days, so maybe that's how everything is so awesome now). Everyone and everything is so charmy and nice. And I can't stop grinning from ear to ear (but in a sophisticated, professional way, not like a clown).

And I suddenly realised some of the "things to do post CA" were really stupid- either they are useless now, or I've outgrown them - both - things and people. It's like I've suddenly grown up. The last time I felt this grown up feeling was on 28th May'04, at exactly 5.45AM, when my class 12th results were about to be announced. But things are different now.

And now I realise living a CA life is not that simple. With great power comes great responsibility. This is my gift, and this can be my curse too! I've to uphold so many things - integrity, confidentiality etc etc. (basically all the adjectives in AAS-1). And I am supposed to behave in a much more sophisticated and professional way (though I don't think wearing shorts in public would tantamount to professional misconduct). And I guess am not supposed to do bird watching (atleast let me say that ;))And I realise that now I am supposed to do all that job hunting, the interviews, and the job itself- and that's giving me jitters.

Will write more later, till then, keep appreciating my blog, and keep giving your true and fair disclosures (like I disclosed material facts in this post). And keep depreciating, thou dear earthlings ;)

I want to be a dog!

Yeah, you read it right! I wanna be a dog. Why? The reasons are many. A dog doesn't have to slog and study. It doesn't have to go to office, or worry abt recession, or worry abt savings and investments and taxes, or for that matter, abt properties and estates. And then a dog doesn't have to worry abt clothes or being groomed.

Then again, given a choice, I wanna be a stray dog instead of being a pet dog. Why? Simply put, a stray dog's quality of life is better than that of a pet dog. How? A stray dog is not supposed to "fetch" stuff at the whims and fancies of its owner. It doesn't have to take a bath and stuff (am not against taking baths, but a dog should not have to take a bath). Moreover, a stray dog does not have to wag its tail when the owner comes back, to earn its meals. And yeah, the most imporant thing- a stray dog is not kept on leash in the mating season! ;)

Did anyone say "It's a dog's life!" ???