my dad met an accident...

my dad met an accident Friday night... he was driving back home when he had a head on collision with a drunken driver coming from the wrong side. he's hurt and is admitted in hospital now; has got 10 stitches on forehead for a deep incision and minor injuries on the left hand & leg. he's stable and under-observation, recovery will of course take some time. these are the times when you have just one question in mind,"WHY". why did it happen... or why did it had to happen to my loved ones (but not me)?? what's the good/reason behind it?? or you thank god that thing's are not that bad at least and feel glad that worse was averted... or as people say that no one can fight destiny and things happen the way they are planned. not sure what to say, i m just glad dad is okay & getting better. and one request,

"please do not drink & drive irresponsibly, your fault can cause trouble not just for you but others too who are not part of your plan... and you or your loved ones can be in those others too".

ॐ नमः शिवाय... Jai Ho (Slumdog Millionaire)???

Today was Mahashivratri, a festival of Lord Shiva and I had a 'niraajal vrat' (a fast where you don't even drink water) till evening. I am a religious guy and I am a proud Hindu as well. Also I respect all religions & I do believe in god in all its forms and ways. I have started weekly fasts this year on every Monday, for Lord Shiva (as Monday is considered day of Shiva in Hinduism) and also for fitness reasons (not because we need to save money in these days of recession but I have heard fasting once a week is good for health). Although these are 'falahaar vrat' (fasts where you can eat fruits etc but no grains/cereals, so feed on expensive fruits which doesn't helps recession or economy much) and are supposed to be good for stomach/digestion & health; probably will give me my flat tummy (& 6 packs which I have been targeting long time now). Yeah, the dream started 6 months back and I have been working hard with stable results (stable means my tummy has been stable without increasing and so has my weight been stable, not reducing much somehow though). I would like to wish Happy Mahashivratri to everyone who celebrates it and happiness to all others, may god bless everyone (what about those who don't believe in god?? may satan bless them or who ever they worship!!).

Anyways, I was going to talk about Slumdog Millionaire (SM) since LONG time and in the mean time it has won 8 oscars today (seems I got late in my movement); does it really deserves JAI HO (Jai Ho means 'hail/praise you' or 'victory be ours')?? I am happy for Rehman (whose name was not being pronounced right, they were saying REKHH-MAAN. Don't worry, Americans do that, I have been called RAAOOL!!), and for Resul & Gulzar as well. They worked for it and deserved it; in spite of the fact that I believe that all of them have done better work earlier (in fact I personally feel that SM is one of Rehman's most mediocre work in recent times, compared to all the great work he has done). But it's all about getting the right opportunity to get recognised and I am glad that they did. Danny & other's getting there awards is good too, I think because they have worked hard to earn it and it's nice to see that good work is being appreciated (except me who's still waiting to be appreciated... don't wonder what i did though, lol).

So what's my problem then?? The problem is why someone from outside India makes a movie on us, on our stories and our culture, our facts and about us... and gets all the accolades and awards for that?? Can't we come up and make a movie for ourselves?? And I think we actually have made great movies in past but they didn't get recognised at this level. Do they understand us more than us, and can express us better than we can do ourselves?? Last time it was Gandhi and now its SM, both the movies about Indians & India made by foreigners. It takes 26 years for India's name to shine in Oscars again and still done by not one of us ourselves... and we are rejoicing and celebrating it sooooo much as if I got a billion dollar lottery or something!!

The second pain is the movie itself; as an Indian it's sometime shameful to watch a movie like this. I mean it doesn't glorifies our country; even if it's not a complete lie or maybe a fact about us, it's till not a happy thing. And it has been definitely overdone too in some places. These kind of movies represent us in a very bad shape to outside world, it strengthens there misbelief. Even now there are people from western world who think of India as a country of snake-charmers & elephants & poor people and all that, I have met those people and hey really think so. Now this movie just strengthens the misconceptions. Why don't people make some movies which shows the positive side of India, the great growth and development going on & awesome things happening around us (like Chopra's or Johar's movie where Amitabh uses a chopper to go to office in K3G or the heroes go to Switzerland just to sing songs). And as such, all other countries have there share of dark side & poverty etc. Why somebody else tries to capitalize on our problems (shouldn't we be doing that ourselves; our politicians are better in that sense I guess, as they are really capitalizing all our problems)??

The third thing is why so much fuss about OSCARS anyways?? Oscars are not an International award or a Nobel of some sort, it's just an American Movie Award. International recognition for good work is always great, but why do we need an approval from an American award to tel us that we are great? I would love our work & artists to be watched by whole world as we watch foreign art & cinema but I don't think that we should create so much fuss & desperateness for an American Award for an Indian movie or artist (actor/director/lyricist/musician/technician). We are not part of there awards because those are not for our movies anyways. We don't give awards to there movies & neither do they care. If any of our movies does goes there under certain categories (like foreign movie or documentary etc) and it's greatness is appreciated it is good. Or if our people (like Rehmaan, Shyamlan, Bhanu, Resul etc) get recognised for there amazing work, which is really awesome. But we need to understand that world doesn't begins or stops at Oscars; and we need to continue appreciating & loving the great work of every artist & that's there biggest award (also we can support them by saying no to PIRACY. I was trying to rent Sarkar Raj this Saturday and surprisingly the guy was trying to sell me a good print of Dilli-6 which I didn't take as I wanted to watch the movie in theatre).

The phrase "Jai Ho" used to be very popular greeting of mine in college (wishing friends Jai Ho & all that) but then I saw some music-director/judge of Saregamapa using that and I stopped using it. But for me it's still mine & that's how many of my friends & people know Jai Ho!! Like the small beard under lip I used to keep (just because I couldn't grow a french cut beard & didnt wana grow moustache, i kept this as facial hair) which became a national craze after Amir Khan flaunted it in Dil Chahta Hai. Or my folded half sleeve shirt style which I have been sporting since college days has become a style statement after Amir did it in Ghajini (he copies me a lot i guess, even my chuha-cut hair which I had in school back in 1995 or so). Anyways, I'll stick to my style-statements & use them as & when I want without worrying about what people think... Alright boys n girls and dear friends, that's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (do COMMENT to let me know of your views too). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck... JAI HO!!!!!

(click & also read my TRM blogs here)

everything happens for reason... (part-1)

and 'reason' is in question... that's what i said last time. the reason is still not clear, confusion persists. things have been happening and i have been hoping they are good or will turn good. being positive is a great asset, i have had too much of it in me. as much that it tends i am overconfident, which i am sometimes. i always try to look at the positive side of things or look for something positive in it... just one thing i say, "there are 2 kind of people; people who wait for thing's to come & fit in there lives and people who fit themselves to the things as they come in there lives. however i am the one who tries to bring thing's in his life as possible and fit them as i need them".

last week on Feb 12 layoffs happened my company as well, around 8% people were exited. this was being expected for a long time and i personally feel that ours was kinda a late player in the game, seems they tried there best to not do it but couldn't avoid at last. the people came to office and had the mail in there inbox in sometime and then were told they'll have to leave the same day, i am not sure why this is done like this. i have been told that the people have been provided with good reverence packages and nice money which is really a good thing; nothing can make something like this happy but at least some compensation is nice. in fact few of my friends have immediately found new jobs with better money and seems that it worked out well for them, "a boon in disguise" as one of them told me. no one can feel absolutely safe in these times of recession, lets just hope things will get better...

(Oscars are close and I really do not want Slumdog Millionaire to win awards, really I don't!! I'll write a dedicated blog on this after the results are out and express my thoughts... read another funny blog entry here about layoff & management CRAP!!)

Valentines Day!!!!!

V-Day was around the corner, so just wanted wish you people a "Happy Valentines Day". As for me it was a sleepy V-Day, I slept all day (really i did!!). I woke up at 1 in noon to have lunch & slept again till 7 in night again. You might think I celebrated my V-day in dreams, but actually I didn't even dream about it (just plain sleeping. but i did get some dreams about office, grrrr). Not as if I have anything against it but I have never celebrated the V-Day as anything special till now... now that may mean that I never had a valentine with whom I could celebrate it or something else too (like what?? I'll leave that to speculations for you). BTW, do you think we need a reason to celebrate love? What if you don't have your love to celebrate with on V-Day (sleep at home like me??), or what if you want to celebrate love with someone at some other time except V-Day? I feel that with your love round the corner, everyday could be a V-Day or else none...

I am glad to know that V-Day went pretty safe in Delhi; with all the moral police hanging around, love is not an easy task in India these days (when was it easy though??). I did hear some bad incidents in certain parts but it wasn't too bad. One of my friend was in Mumbai & he told me that it was cool there too; he was on Band Stand in Mumbai and he told me that it was not crowded atall as he was expecting. But the good thing was that there was a big poster from NCP with there contact number in case of any issues, quite appreciable (i am glad that there wasn't a counter poster from Shivsena). We do celebrate everything too much though, we already have so many of our own Indian festivals & we still comeup with many other stuff & days to celebrate (a good earning for greeting cards & gift shops). I was in US last year on V-Day and didn't see much buzz inspite of... (ahh, i am not saying anything & will let you guys speculate!!).

I am still not very happy or excited but not as bad as earlier, just hoping things will get better (they eventually do) soon. I watched Luck By Chance yesterday, it was a nice movie. The storyline is pretty nice & the movie goes well, has a decent mix of comedy & emotions (no thrill, suspense or horror though, not even action). I am not very impressed by Farhan Akhtar as an actor though, he was nice in Rock-On but didn't work too well here. I felt the acting was not very sharp or hitting & the dialogue delivery was too monotonous, his expressions and personality are okay but not very impressed by his overall performance here. Konkona was great and Isha looked pretty too; Hrithik, Dimple, Sanjay, Juhi were all good. Rishi Kapoor has given an amazing performance in his role as a movie Producer; the role is funny, edgy and hits pretty well. Rishi still has all the charm & charisma and I really enjoyed his performance. The story is about a newcomer's luck which makes him a star without much struggle, but struggle of people around him to become something and his struggle to cope up with all of that.

Alright boys n girls and dear friends, that's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (do COMMENT to let me know of your views too). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!

...everything happens for good??? (part-1)

today is friday the 13th & i m frustrated, very frustrated... and that's causing me to write this blog. i had this question in my mind for long time and i am still debating, seems debate would go long. i had told in my previous blog that i used to believe & say that "everything happens for good; because if something better would have to happen, it would have happened". but how can i say that anymore when life sucks so much, i feel like... i m not in mood to discuss what has happened but things are not good atleast. i keep looking and thinking that the stuff which happened is good in someway or may cause some good in future, but how can i be happy if i see the good stuff being taken away from me in front of my eyes? how can i expect that whatever i got is right, when i can see that the better things are not coming to me & neither do i see them coming in future?? life is uneventful & unfruitful, i m getting bored now... i may be the one to blame, or i should say i am the one to blame; cuz this hoping good is not working. i am fighting my fight, i have always done that but how long? i dont just want to win but get over with this war... but i guess life is a war which never ends... life is a stage where we keep playing our part until we can't play it anymore and others come to take our part... life is a road where we have to keep travelling until we reach our end or find our manzil & get settled... yeah lots of BS people tell us or we tell people. all easy to say than do and still life sucks. but who said it's gonna be easy... who said it's gonna be always my way??? anyways, not much to say right now... will talk to you people later. just one last statement "everything happens for a reason", now the reason is in question!!!

Emotional अत्याचार... इमोशनल Atyachaar!!!!!

Emotional Atyachaar (EA)... 'Atyachaar' means 'assault' (it actually took me long to think of this). So we are talking about EA here, which most of us must have been subject to. And surprisingly you cant do much except suffering, can you?? Like many of us, I feel that I am not emotional but still I become victim of EA so many times... it sucks!!! I guess it's something about all us humans, and even more about all us Indians that this is how it works for us. We try to sell emotions & we try to buy emotions. As much as anyone might say that emotions can't be sold & purchased, we defy all the rules and succeed in whatever we want. See around you and you might see that I am right, Movies, TV Serials, Advertisements, NEWS etc are a live example of how they try to buy our emotions to sell there products. Or worse, just look around... you'll see that your family & friends are trying to do the same; sell there emotions to buy your time, money, effort & you.

Hmmm, the whole point here is that I have been feeling kinda emotional these days. Emotional for my self actually, with all that has been going on. Nothing seems to be going good, atleast not as I planned or wanted it to be. Never thought the economic crisis or the happenings around me could directly affetct me so much. Like many of us I also thought that I was shielded, but it turns out I was not and I have to go through this suffering & pain. I always used to believe that everything happens for good (because if something better would have to happen, it would have happened. my dialogue!!!), seems I have started questioning that seriously. Lots of stuff happened which I didn't actually want & I am not sure how it's gonna be good for me but lets see. I got into a TRM (Trading & Risk Management) training in my company and that's gonna be my project for next month or two. I have been told it's something very cool or hot in upcoming future and we are being prepared to rock it for the company & ourselves (corporate motivational & emotional mumbo-jumbo!!). There was a tough competition for this though & I am glad I made it it beating many others (may god bless them, many of them are my friends afterall). I am starting to write a new blog on TRM, so you may read it & enjoy!!!

I went to CP (Connaught Place) to meet some of my old friends on Sunday, it was nice. I used Delhi Metro for the travel which was okay, I had to wait 20 mins to catch the metro at Dwarka Metro Station though. The 45 mins ride wasn't bad though, not very crowded and decent crowd (yeah, everyone knows what is a decent crowd). CP has changed for good, but still it was a tough ride to find a decent restaurant in CP; we had to make 2 rounds of inner circle to find Embassy Restaurant. The food was nice & so was the place, the service was little moronic I would say. We had Mutton samosas (I found out from my friend that samosas have been mentioned in our vedas, they are so old. Never heard SriRam being offered samosa or SriKrishna stealing one though, lol) which were okay and Chicken Malai Tikka which was quite nice. But there was one thing, even after so many years of growing up and now working and earning good money etc.. still we (me & my those friends) are treated as youngsters/collegers and never get that corporate kinda respect. May be we look too young or too jerk; we were the only one dressed in casual there though. There was this white-foreigner guy there who was buying 2 packs of bidi for Rs 300 and he was very happy about it (because when I told him that it's very expensive he said ठीक है...'its ok'), another emotional atyachaar!!

My friend Krishna is back from Philippines to India for few days, gotta be lot of fun. I was in Philippines last April and it was cool, i enjoyed a lot. Now the fun is gotta be in India, let's see what we'll do; Rafting in Rishikesh is in plan, any pointers or suggestions?? I am waiting for Dilli-6 which should be hopefully cool, as it is coming from Rakeysh. I did not watch Luck By Chance or Dev-D (the originator of Emotional Atyachaar) yet, heard both are good. Apart from that I am very busy studying TRM & Finance these days, it's tough but very interesting too. OKAY!!! would just like to through a line before I leave. for my EA. "Usually Girls are Emotional Fools & Guys are Emotional Jerks", what you say?? Alright boys n girls and dear friends, that's it for now. Please keep blogging & keep reading my blogs (do COMMENT to let me know of your views too). This is RAHUL again saying, Good Bye & Good Luck!!!!!

Management and the CRAP Program

Dear Staff,
Due to the current financial situation caused by the worldwide slowdown of economies, since the being of 2008, Management has decided to implement a scheme to put workers of 30 plus years of age on early retirement.
This scheme will be known as RAPE (Retiring Appropriate People Early). People selected for RAPE can also apply to management for eligibility in SHAFT scheme (Special Help After Forced Termination). People who have been RAPED and SHAFTED will be reviewed under the SCREW scheme (Systematic Coursing Retired Early Workers). A person may be RAPED once, SHAFTED twice and SCREWED as many times as Management deems appropriate.
People who have been RAPED can only get AIDS (Additional Income for Dependents or Spouse) or HERPES (Half Earnings for Retired Personnel Early Severance). Obviously people who have AIDS or HERPES will not be SHAFTED or SCREWED any further by management.
People staying on will receive as much SHIT (Special High Intensity Training) as possible. Management has always prided itself on the amount of SHIT it gives to its employees. Should you feel that you do not receive enough SHIT, please apply for CRAP (Corporate Rescue Advanced Program).
Our Management has been trained to give you all the CRAP you may require to excel.
Yours Sincerely,

The Management

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"It’s an intended joke, not to be taken seriously!!"