Thursday, March 30, 2006
On Tendulkar...
I read this right now
http://greenchannel.blogspot.com/2006/03/feeling-tendulkar.html
And I feel the same. Cricket to me has always been Tendulkar.
Period.
He's not playing the one day matches against England now and I will not take interest.
Thats the way it is.
Its a reflection of my boyhood - idol worship - hero worship
Call it what you like.
To see him torch bowlers in the most humbling manner ever and retain his sanity
To see perfection and modesty together
When you don't see it around you
We know, there are a but a few more years, but we must cherish them
We must allow the master to become what he must become
That legend.....called Tendulkar
http://greenchannel.blogspot.com/2006/03/feeling-tendulkar.html
And I feel the same. Cricket to me has always been Tendulkar.
Period.
He's not playing the one day matches against England now and I will not take interest.
Thats the way it is.
Its a reflection of my boyhood - idol worship - hero worship
Call it what you like.
To see him torch bowlers in the most humbling manner ever and retain his sanity
To see perfection and modesty together
When you don't see it around you
We know, there are a but a few more years, but we must cherish them
We must allow the master to become what he must become
That legend.....called Tendulkar
Tripathi's Quatrain
This post was really funny...its not really a quatrain, but who cares, you can see the orignal on this link
http://tripathi.blogspot.com/
You''ll get mixed feelings from this and here goes
"When I was born nearly thirty years ago, my mother was troubled by the unique date of my entrance into this world. To assuage her worst fears, she took me to see a Shahman in a village near the present day border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Please note that I said "Shahman" and not Shaman. The man was Indian and his last name was Shah. Cast out by his own family, he had taken refuge in this remote bush. The local tribe appreciated his visions, whereas the Jains considered him a pariah. However, this was mostly due to the fact that he only liked to eat potatoes and other roots, a practice which is generally frowned upon in Jainism. The Shahman asked my mother to lay me naked on a banana leaf in the middle of his abode. She did as instructed. He then sprinkled some liquid on me (my mom to this day suspects that it was the urine of a mountain gorilla) and began to chant while spinning in a circle like a...Jain Sufi. At the end of his chant he scribbled down the following prophesy and then quickly ushered my mom out of his village, instructing her to "be gone from this place forever":When the new world turns red with zeal,When the fanatics turn away from the pastries of the north,There shall rise the lone white one,From out of the dark forest.Your beta will then be forced to chooseBetween madness and wisdom,Between good and evil.I know. It's pretty chilling. I have kept a copy of this prophesy in my wallet all of these many years. Sometimes, while eating lunch or sitting alone in the park, I will try again to decipher it. I've kept on trying, never knowing for sure if there is any truth to this or if it was all mumbo-jumbo. I've usually attacked it like one of Nostradamus' quatrains (even though there are seven lines instead of four).This past weekend however...something happened. I got out of the shower and as usual looked to see if there were any wrinkles on my thirty-year-old face. Thankfully there were none. That shit is tight, yo. Then my eyes glided down. There, in the middle of my chest, was a single, solitary white...hair.I immediately fell to my knees as everything became clear to me in a single instant. The time of the prophesy was at hand:
When the new world turns red with zealDon't you see? In the last U.S. presidential election the religious right-wing caused the electoral map in America (a.k.a. the new world) to bleed red, "with zeal" one might say.
When the fanatics turn away from the pastries of the northSurely those of you reading my blog are clever enough to decipher this one?? The "fanatics" must refer to radical Muslims throughout the world who are boycotting the "pastries of the north." Danishes.There in the mirror, just beneath my horrified visage, was the lone white one rising out of the dark forest. My single white chest hair was the one that the Shahman had foreseen. So it was written, so it has come to pass.From my knees I proceeded to lay down on my bathroom floor, in a fetal position, for nearly half an hour. In these next few weeks I will be forced to choose. Which direction will my life take, now that I am old..."
http://tripathi.blogspot.com/
You''ll get mixed feelings from this and here goes
"When I was born nearly thirty years ago, my mother was troubled by the unique date of my entrance into this world. To assuage her worst fears, she took me to see a Shahman in a village near the present day border between Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Please note that I said "Shahman" and not Shaman. The man was Indian and his last name was Shah. Cast out by his own family, he had taken refuge in this remote bush. The local tribe appreciated his visions, whereas the Jains considered him a pariah. However, this was mostly due to the fact that he only liked to eat potatoes and other roots, a practice which is generally frowned upon in Jainism. The Shahman asked my mother to lay me naked on a banana leaf in the middle of his abode. She did as instructed. He then sprinkled some liquid on me (my mom to this day suspects that it was the urine of a mountain gorilla) and began to chant while spinning in a circle like a...Jain Sufi. At the end of his chant he scribbled down the following prophesy and then quickly ushered my mom out of his village, instructing her to "be gone from this place forever":When the new world turns red with zeal,When the fanatics turn away from the pastries of the north,There shall rise the lone white one,From out of the dark forest.Your beta will then be forced to chooseBetween madness and wisdom,Between good and evil.I know. It's pretty chilling. I have kept a copy of this prophesy in my wallet all of these many years. Sometimes, while eating lunch or sitting alone in the park, I will try again to decipher it. I've kept on trying, never knowing for sure if there is any truth to this or if it was all mumbo-jumbo. I've usually attacked it like one of Nostradamus' quatrains (even though there are seven lines instead of four).This past weekend however...something happened. I got out of the shower and as usual looked to see if there were any wrinkles on my thirty-year-old face. Thankfully there were none. That shit is tight, yo. Then my eyes glided down. There, in the middle of my chest, was a single, solitary white...hair.I immediately fell to my knees as everything became clear to me in a single instant. The time of the prophesy was at hand:
When the new world turns red with zealDon't you see? In the last U.S. presidential election the religious right-wing caused the electoral map in America (a.k.a. the new world) to bleed red, "with zeal" one might say.
When the fanatics turn away from the pastries of the northSurely those of you reading my blog are clever enough to decipher this one?? The "fanatics" must refer to radical Muslims throughout the world who are boycotting the "pastries of the north." Danishes.There in the mirror, just beneath my horrified visage, was the lone white one rising out of the dark forest. My single white chest hair was the one that the Shahman had foreseen. So it was written, so it has come to pass.From my knees I proceeded to lay down on my bathroom floor, in a fetal position, for nearly half an hour. In these next few weeks I will be forced to choose. Which direction will my life take, now that I am old..."
Monday, March 27, 2006
the Ongole Adventure (as promised)
From Ongole Diary in March 2004...verbatim...
“Somebody said ‘India is a big country!’ So What?”
(Prof AP Arora, MDI, after the first ever Marketing Project presentations by pg01)
Ongole exists. I swear.
142 kms from Vijaywada as the headquarter of Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district.
But let me begin proper.
To most North, East or West Indians anything south of Goa has always been Amma’s Madras. So this has been a tremendous journey of discovery; for I have chanced upon the ancient and extremely idyllic civilisations of Podili, Cumbum and Kanigiri among the erstwhile ruins of the Vijaynagar Empire. These are world famous discoveries for the World (according to the new definitions of George W Bush of what comprises the world). I have therefore have had the privilege to explore this land following in the fortunes of the vastly adventurous explorer of yore ‘anand babloo mohan murthy’ (my colleague, compatriot, and 'in arm fmcg salesman') who has spent many a wild night in this country promising stronger teeth for a healthier lifestyle last summer.
Ongole’s fame to the World Hall of popular anecdotes rests on its cows. Its bovine animals have been successfully imported as some of the strongest and best breeding stock in the world. And if you don’t believe me or are interested in getting in the cattle business check out http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/ongole/
But first I have to confess I have been impressed by ‘infrastructure’. Generally we Indians do not understand the meaning of this word till we have made a trip abroad. But Andhra Pradesh and I mean non-Metro non-B class town is developed (by Indian standards of course). Public transportation is efficient, buses (over 50%) are deluxe and roads are a joy. Power cuts happen in villages but for about 2 hours a day (Delhi!!!). Re 1 local phones are in plenty across all villages and connectivity is a buzzword. Water is still a problem more because of the lack of rivers and underwater resources than initiative but government machinery is efficient and the ‘e’ seva kendras are an excellent example.
Food. Well they have two concepts
a) Tiffin
b) Full Meals (pronounced mills)
Ideally (I think) you are supposed to have tiffin first, then a ‘mills’ then tiffin and then ‘mills’ again. The Full Meal is a four-course meal with first a helping of rice and vegetables (bitter gourd and beetroot being the popular ones) with one yellow dal. (I promise you, you will not get another type here). This is followed by more rice and sambar and rasam. This is followed by Rice and curd and then a sweet. But you can as for chicken at many places and you will get awesome stuff. Every village has its own delicacy but for simplicity and language reasons I generally order ‘Chicken N&$#HF&@#lg’ Almost every time this dish is excellent.
Telegu cinema well I rather not comment on its direction (though I think with rural audiences it would be anybody’s guess) but about its people yes. This has got to be the most film crazy state around. Small villages have half a dozen halls (AP has the maximum number in the country) and the fastest selling fmcg item has got to be the Re 1 posters of Chiranjeevi. On a recent bus journey (APSRTC express) a movie was begun at 7 am. It woke, shook and surprised me and the macho hero looked very much like M Manoj having a bad day at the office.
And to add to my woes I reached a village where most elders seemed to be smitten with what was translated to me as poppy (but seemed something else). I had a very interesting conversation
Me – what is everybody smoking
Elderly villager on a cot – “kaomah djls;;l ;sjdhsl”
Me – English/Hindi
Elderly Villager – ‘nnnn mmmm bbbb’
Me – what is everybody smoking, smoking, smoking
Elderly villager – ‘jsjsj smoking’ then turning to a small boy ‘ jkdhd jjdkd fjfjjf’
The boy then led me to another man
I was feeling relieved that I had finally been understood
Me – Namaste
Man – My name babu, am village schoolmaster, this boy tells me that ‘the elder told him that you were a mad north Indian who kept saying smoking smoking’
Well India is a big country no!
So what?
(Khalid thanks again, AA sorry bugger back in Ongole again, Dinu please dont drin and sell, Vijit alright chelsea are a little behind but we still beat Manu!, Subhayu/biyani will be in vjy first week for whole week, and for the rest 'Happy Pongal')
Ides January 2004.
“Somebody said ‘India is a big country!’ So What?”
(Prof AP Arora, MDI, after the first ever Marketing Project presentations by pg01)
Ongole exists. I swear.
142 kms from Vijaywada as the headquarter of Andhra Pradesh’s Prakasam district.
But let me begin proper.
To most North, East or West Indians anything south of Goa has always been Amma’s Madras. So this has been a tremendous journey of discovery; for I have chanced upon the ancient and extremely idyllic civilisations of Podili, Cumbum and Kanigiri among the erstwhile ruins of the Vijaynagar Empire. These are world famous discoveries for the World (according to the new definitions of George W Bush of what comprises the world). I have therefore have had the privilege to explore this land following in the fortunes of the vastly adventurous explorer of yore ‘anand babloo mohan murthy’ (my colleague, compatriot, and 'in arm fmcg salesman') who has spent many a wild night in this country promising stronger teeth for a healthier lifestyle last summer.
Ongole’s fame to the World Hall of popular anecdotes rests on its cows. Its bovine animals have been successfully imported as some of the strongest and best breeding stock in the world. And if you don’t believe me or are interested in getting in the cattle business check out http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/cattle/ongole/
But first I have to confess I have been impressed by ‘infrastructure’. Generally we Indians do not understand the meaning of this word till we have made a trip abroad. But Andhra Pradesh and I mean non-Metro non-B class town is developed (by Indian standards of course). Public transportation is efficient, buses (over 50%) are deluxe and roads are a joy. Power cuts happen in villages but for about 2 hours a day (Delhi!!!). Re 1 local phones are in plenty across all villages and connectivity is a buzzword. Water is still a problem more because of the lack of rivers and underwater resources than initiative but government machinery is efficient and the ‘e’ seva kendras are an excellent example.
Food. Well they have two concepts
a) Tiffin
b) Full Meals (pronounced mills)
Ideally (I think) you are supposed to have tiffin first, then a ‘mills’ then tiffin and then ‘mills’ again. The Full Meal is a four-course meal with first a helping of rice and vegetables (bitter gourd and beetroot being the popular ones) with one yellow dal. (I promise you, you will not get another type here). This is followed by more rice and sambar and rasam. This is followed by Rice and curd and then a sweet. But you can as for chicken at many places and you will get awesome stuff. Every village has its own delicacy but for simplicity and language reasons I generally order ‘Chicken N&$#HF&@#lg’ Almost every time this dish is excellent.
Telegu cinema well I rather not comment on its direction (though I think with rural audiences it would be anybody’s guess) but about its people yes. This has got to be the most film crazy state around. Small villages have half a dozen halls (AP has the maximum number in the country) and the fastest selling fmcg item has got to be the Re 1 posters of Chiranjeevi. On a recent bus journey (APSRTC express) a movie was begun at 7 am. It woke, shook and surprised me and the macho hero looked very much like M Manoj having a bad day at the office.
And to add to my woes I reached a village where most elders seemed to be smitten with what was translated to me as poppy (but seemed something else). I had a very interesting conversation
Me – what is everybody smoking
Elderly villager on a cot – “kaomah djls;;l ;sjdhsl”
Me – English/Hindi
Elderly Villager – ‘nnnn mmmm bbbb’
Me – what is everybody smoking, smoking, smoking
Elderly villager – ‘jsjsj smoking’ then turning to a small boy ‘ jkdhd jjdkd fjfjjf’
The boy then led me to another man
I was feeling relieved that I had finally been understood
Me – Namaste
Man – My name babu, am village schoolmaster, this boy tells me that ‘the elder told him that you were a mad north Indian who kept saying smoking smoking’
Well India is a big country no!
So what?
(Khalid thanks again, AA sorry bugger back in Ongole again, Dinu please dont drin and sell, Vijit alright chelsea are a little behind but we still beat Manu!, Subhayu/biyani will be in vjy first week for whole week, and for the rest 'Happy Pongal')
Ides January 2004.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Some funny stuff from sidin...
I came across some really good posts by Sidin on his blog. To be very honest, reminds me of my sales stints and my writing in Ongole, and i might just post that too and you can make your own comparisons..
anyway the link is here http://sidin.blogspot.com/2006/03/gasket-and-hole-in-ground-part-2.html
Some of it was really funny. I particularly like the start
anyway the link is here http://sidin.blogspot.com/2006/03/gasket-and-hole-in-ground-part-2.html
Some of it was really funny. I particularly like the start
- Aurangabad, incidentally, is known as “The Optic Fiber Capital of India”. However when we asked one of the locals why it was so i.e. “Aurangabad ko ‘The Optic Fiber Capital of India’ kyon bolti hain?” he told us, in a somewhat complicated marathi accent, that the omelette walah did not come till 6 am. We nodded and left.
The dietary habits of the region are well articulated by this passage
- Apparently the staple diet of the locals in central Maharashtra is alu bondas and various bhajiyas. And they serve this from dawn to dusk. Now I do not mean to not appreciate this diet, I am sure there are traditional reasons why this diet is preferred, but to the outsider it was a little hard to digest. Every stopover we were served nothing but tea and deep fried vegetables. It was so bad we could have easily played that schooltime game with the locals:
What’s for breakfast?
Bonda Bhajiya
Whats for lunch?
Bonda Bhajiya
Whats for dinner?
Bonda Bhajiya
What is your name?
Bonda Bhajiya
Ha! Got you!
I won't go overboard, just click on the link and read it.
The defeat at Saigon
Saigon Saigon thats where we thought we were headed. When you haven't eaten for hours, walked around a mall, smelt the coffee and every single spice from a hundred places...its difficult not to be hungry. Did we get there? Oh no we didn't... we got defeated in the battle of the walk. Well i called them up and asked for directions. It was a comedy of errors and it went something like this..
"Are you at the mall?"
Yes said I
"What are you looking at?"
Macy's said I
"Can you see Nordstrom?"
Yes said I
"Well you need to take a left and walk for 5 minutes"
So we did that...and called him again
this time he said we need to go straight from Nordstrom and walk for five minutes
So we did that
The next time we called he told us to ask someone at Nordstrom..and we waited for five minutes...noone passed us by
40 minutes and a complete tour of Pentagon city later we are at the mall;back to square one
eating at California Pizza Kitchen
Why go halfway across the world when you can eat a pizza...
"Are you at the mall?"
Yes said I
"What are you looking at?"
Macy's said I
"Can you see Nordstrom?"
Yes said I
"Well you need to take a left and walk for 5 minutes"
So we did that...and called him again
this time he said we need to go straight from Nordstrom and walk for five minutes
So we did that
The next time we called he told us to ask someone at Nordstrom..and we waited for five minutes...noone passed us by
40 minutes and a complete tour of Pentagon city later we are at the mall;back to square one
eating at California Pizza Kitchen
Why go halfway across the world when you can eat a pizza...
Friday, March 24, 2006
Harper's Ferry...
Somehow having grown up in the mountains there was never a desire to holiday in them. There were so many other things to see. But now they seem a lifetime away..so far away. Yesterday went to an interesting place called Harper's Ferry (www.nps.gov/hafe/home.htm )
Three states (Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia) come to meet at the point where the Potomac and the Shenandoah meet in the blud ridge mountains in West Virginia (sounds like country roads right!). Unfortunately the mighty rivers were reduced to a trickle, not much rain these days.. just hurricanes.
The other funny thing is how a country with barely any history preserves every little bit of it. Its a national park- this place had some battles fought over it in the civil war. Back home we would have to declare the whole damn country a national park.
So they have these tablet like boards erected all over the town preserving history. It was funny how small inconsequential things were documented. American meticulousness at its best. And yet it was soothing. College Park is no Harper's Ferry, and the fresh air was worth it. They say its beautiful in the autumn when the leaves fall, hell standing on the hilltop looking down with a wind in the face it just didn't matter..
And yup i promise the photos will be up soon...as soon as i can figure out all things digital :)
Three states (Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia) come to meet at the point where the Potomac and the Shenandoah meet in the blud ridge mountains in West Virginia (sounds like country roads right!). Unfortunately the mighty rivers were reduced to a trickle, not much rain these days.. just hurricanes.
The other funny thing is how a country with barely any history preserves every little bit of it. Its a national park- this place had some battles fought over it in the civil war. Back home we would have to declare the whole damn country a national park.
So they have these tablet like boards erected all over the town preserving history. It was funny how small inconsequential things were documented. American meticulousness at its best. And yet it was soothing. College Park is no Harper's Ferry, and the fresh air was worth it. They say its beautiful in the autumn when the leaves fall, hell standing on the hilltop looking down with a wind in the face it just didn't matter..
And yup i promise the photos will be up soon...as soon as i can figure out all things digital :)
The more the merrier!
Its been a few months since I started this and have managed only ten posts.
I have spent a lot of time reading other blogs, getting 'ideas' of what not to do. But then i thought why not open this blog to a few more people, that way..there may be life. So I hope you guys join because now i am determined to be regular, enterprising and ensure that there is life...
So welcome Hari, Akarsh, Sorbo and Pant...
I have spent a lot of time reading other blogs, getting 'ideas' of what not to do. But then i thought why not open this blog to a few more people, that way..there may be life. So I hope you guys join because now i am determined to be regular, enterprising and ensure that there is life...
So welcome Hari, Akarsh, Sorbo and Pant...
