Marley and Me....

....a book that made me laugh (out loud, that is) and cry. Yeah, I admit that I was teary eyed and the throat was all choke-y by the time I finished reading it. I had never imagined a book could bring out so many emotions in me. I must say, all the people who love dogs, or let me just broaden the group a bit, all those who can read, must read this book.

Marley and me is about a Dog which, according to the author, John Grogan, is the World's Worst Dog. The kind of humour the author has incorporated and the kind of emotions he has weaved into the story, its hard not to get totally involved with the proceedings in the book. The book is not a work of fiction, it is a personal account and experience of the author with his dog, written in first person by the author (of course). The book journeys from the time Marley is a little puppy to his death. The best part about this book is that I knew what was going to happen in the end, but I still ended up teary eyed.

And now am excited about the movie that is being made on this book. The trailers are out and they look good. Owen Wilson is playing John Grogan and Jennifer Aniston, his wife Jenny. Heard it'll be out this Christmas. Cant wait to watch it!!!

I have never been a fan of autobiographies till now but this book has changed that opinion of mine. I recommend this one to everyone. Read it and you'll not regret.

What a Weekend!!!!

So many things have happened over the weekend (have taken the liberty to include friday as well), that this blog post was inevitable.

First of all, SACHIN TENDULKAR finally (can't stress this word enough) became the leading run scorer in test cricket. Every single human being who has even an iota of knowledge about cricket can assert the fact that this is THE most significant achievement any cricketer can aspire to achieve in his career. The highest number of centuries in both forms, maximum runs in One-Day Cricket (limited overs crickets - according to the new terminology), a few 100 wickets, catches, sixes et al just fade in front of the latest feather in the Master Blaster's Cap. Hail Tendulkar.. You have brought back the record to India.. !!!

Next in is Dada or Dadi as he is lovably called by his team mates. Just imagine the situation of a man who has put in his papers and still earns the best employer award, due to his sheer determination, knowing the fact that this was his last job and promotions and appraisals will be things of the past in a few days. That is exactly what Saurav Ganguly did, when he scored a century in the 2nd test of his Final series. This time he wasnt fighting for a place in the side or answering his critics. He was playing for his own self. A poster in the audience said, " Dada, you will never retire from our hearts" and I second that..

Am not even touching upon Dhoni and his Captaincy part. He has given the term "leading from the front" a whole new definition.

Away from cricket now.

I went to Jaipur last Saturday. A completely un-planned trip. Maybe I could define it as sitting-over-a-coffee-discussing-n-hey-lets-go-somewhere trip :). What a trip it was!! Had loads of fun. Am not an early morning person, getting up early in the morning is like pain in the places I cannot mention here :P. But getting up for this trip was worth every minute is spent being awake (made up for the lost sleep in the cab though). The best part about highway getaways is the Dhaba food and not to mention, a trip with friends is always fun.

Life has a strange way of balancing the good with the bad. The weekend also saw the now infamous Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) goons attacking people from UP and Bihar, in Thane, and wrecking havoc. These people had come for their railway services examination, knowing little about the other examination that Mr Thackeray was planning for them. A news said today that one man perished due to the attack. In my opinion, people like Raj Thackeray should be sent to an isolated island far away from any signs of human habitation. Or maybe tying him to Chandrayaan, which is going to be launched tomorrow, will not be a bad idea.

To sum it up, it has been an eventful weekend. A few occassions that gave me happiness and a few that made me sad.

Joys or Sorrows of Net Banking

Internet has made our life so easy, especially when it comes to banking. Having to stand in long queues in the bank is the last thing one looks forward to. I am sure everyone will agree with me on this.

Last week while I was transferring some money (infact it was quite a lot of money) from my HDFC account to my ICICI account, I realised that, the account which I was tranferring to, was not mine. And then the revelation dawned on me, as to why I didn't get any intimation when I had transferred the money the last time. That was back in July. I had transferred about 5000 bucks and forgot to check my account then and conviniently forgot the whole matter.

After a flurry of frantic calls to the Customer Care of both the banks and listening to your-call-will-be-answered-in-3-minutes crap for close to an hour, in my opinion Customer Care Service should be called as "We-Dont-Give-a-Damn-about-the-Customers" Care.

But then having a friend working for a bank always helps. I called her up and gave her the account number to which I had tranferred the amount. She spoke to the guy, and luckily for me, the guy was generous enough to return the money. Apparently he stays so busy with work that he seldom has time for all the worldly stuff like Banks, money etc.

But getting back the money required me to go to the ICICI bank a couple of times. I was reminded of the foregone days of manual banking. A few calls and e-mails between ICICI and the generous guy, the manager told me that I am extemely lucky (am I?? I don't agree Mr Manager) coz the account holder whom you gave the money lives in Noida. Saying this he asked me to get the guy's signature on the print of the e-mail that was exchanged between the branch manager and the account holder.

I went to meet this Mr Generous in his office last sunday. He works as a Sr Producer with India TV and he happily told me that he was responsible for whatever we watch on India TV. No wonder he is super busy!!! And man, am I lucky or what, to meet the MAN behind all the breaking news shit ;). I joked* saying that I won't be surprised to see a breaking news on TV which says, "Anjaan bank account se 5000 Rs credit hue" dekhiye yeh sach theek 7:30 baje!!!

Producerji, if you happen to read this blog and are offended by the preceding paragraph, I apologise for saying what is true. But what matters to me most is that I got my MONEY back and am indebted to you (pun unintended)!!!

* with due credit to Rajat Singhvi (No i am not confused abt the 2nd name of Rajat Sharma, the chairman of India TV)

Mom!!! I can cook...

When I was busy a couple of months ago, with a lot of things happening on a lot of fronts in life, I had so many ideas and topics to write about. Now that I am relatively free (read not many things playing on my mind now), I can't think of anything to write..

These days there is not much work happening in the office, so I get a lot of time to think. After racking my brain and delving deep into my past (well not so distant past), I came up with the following story.

Last year I had an opportunity to travel to Italy. This was my first overseas travel. On one hand I was excited and looking forward to the 3 months I was gonna get to spend in a foreign country, but on the other I was a bit apprehensive and wee bit worried about what lied ahead for me. I had never been away from home before, always had been lucky that way, be it college or job. And here I was all set and raring to go.

Being a vegetarian is the last thing you want when you are travelling abroad. So food stuff occupied most of my luggage space. I carried rice, spices n all kinds of Dal. I am sure the airport security-check guys must've been thinking, "yeh restaurant kholne jaa raha hai kya??".

Before this trip, I couldnt cook even if my life depended on it. But then, I was surprised, and pleasantly at that, at my culinary skills :). In the beginning it was all about being careful while adding even salt but towards the end of the stay I could cook blind-folded. I could now call myself a decent cook if not an expert at cooking. All this self appreciation and boasting lead to, me falling in a trap. Fed up of my going gaga over my trysts with cooking, a colleague (poor guy, working on the same project as me, was my only listening board), one day decided to call me to his home. His invite was as follows,

Italian (speaking english in italian) : Hey Kartik, there is a party in my house this weekend and I'd like you to come.
Me (happy at the fact that i'll get to eat authentic, home cooked italian food): Thanks, that's so nice of you. I would love to come. What's on the menu??
Italian: Well, I am planning to have Indian Food.
Me (uh..oh, i see where this is going): So where are you going to order the food from?
Italian: No no, you got it wrong. You are going to cook!!!!
Me: #é'@\^**$$!!!

But then, it went off really well. That was the first time I had cooked for someone else (there were 10 people that night). I thought my mom would be so proud. :)

If the trip to Italy was about learning to cook, the trip to France that followed was all about experimentation. I learned to make Chappatis, used to make Aloo Ka Parantha on weekends and made a whole lot of other stuff as well. Even had the French colleagues over for dinner and cooked a variety of dishes.

My mom was worried about my eating while I was away from home. But now, my critical analysis of food that she makes at home, annoys her no end. :D

HEROES : Season 3

Heroes is gonna start again!!!!! Yay!!!!

Volume 1 : Genesis

What a beginning it was.. One helluva show.. Got me completely hooked...

Volume 2 : Generations

A season that started on a damp note but by the end of the 11th episode (post which the show ended abruptly - due to the writer's strike), the show had reached the peak. The episode ended on such a high that I could hardly wait for the season 3 to start.

Volume 3 : Villians

Remains to be seen. The rushes hint at an awesome journey ahead.

Why am I going ga ga over this?? Its the only show i follow religiously, plus it was my only solace while living in the remote village in France. I would watch episode after episode till wee hours of the morning and would end up going to office all groggy eyed :P

Morals of the Story....

Coversation between 2 guys:

Guy 1: Dude, i have applied for a credit card.... finally.

Guy 2: Cool.. from now on you will not have to run after me for online transactions.. BTW, Which one??

Guy 1: ICICI

Guy 2: Have u applied for a simple card or a photo card?

Guy 1: What is a photo card??

Guy 2 (Opening his wallet to take his card out) : Hang On!! Lemme show u..

and then...

Guy 2: Holy Shit!!!! I cant find my card. (He calls home to check if he has left it on the desk, but no success there.) Dunno where i have kept it. Bloody hell i dont even remember when and where i used it the last time.

Guy 1: I think u should call-up the bank guys ASAP and ask them to block the card.

Guy 2 does that and asks the bank to send a New Card.

Circa a week earlier @ a movie ticket counter,

Guy 2 (to the pretty girl at the counter) : Can i have 2 tickets for Phir Hera Pheri for the evening show, please?

Girl: Sure.

Guy 2: Please give the seats as far away from the screen as possible.

Girl (with a naughty smile): Sure sir. Last row from the screen, corner 2 seats.

Guy 2: Ahem, actually am gonna watch this movie with my mom :)

At this the Girl laughs and says "that would be 300 bucks sir" and the guy thinks, "man!!! she is so beautiful". The guy uses his credit card to pay. The girl hands over the tickets to him and he leaves. He watches the movie that evening, with his mom, of course.

Almost a week goes by. One morning in the office, Guy 2's colleague tells him that he has applied for a credit card.

Then it dawns upon the Guy 2. The smart chap forgot to take the card back from the Ticket Counter girl when he booked the tickets. He was so engrossed admiring the beauty that he couldn't care less for his card.

So after work hours he rushes to the ticket counter and meets the same girl. He informs about his goof-up and after a lil searching and some friendly chat with the girl, she hands him over his card, but this time the girl has an even bigger smile on her face and looks even more beautiful.

The guy gets his card back, which is now of no use as it has been blocked by the bank, and moreover, as usual, forgets to take the girl's contact number.

Morals of the story: While admiring the beauty make sure all your valuables are securely guarded and whenever you meet a beautiful, friendly girl, make sure you get her contact number. :)

Oh, by the way, wasn't that a good story?? Now you must be thinking how did I come up with such a story. To tell you the truth, I received my New Card from the bank a week later. :D

WHAT LUCK!!!

Had been waiting for this day since, "i cant remember when". After close to 4 months of slogging and the last one month of literal isolation, I was really looking forward to this day as this was my G-Day. For those not in the know, this was the day i was taking GMAT on.

The day arrived, really bright and sunny. After so many rain marred days, i thought, "what a day!!". Couldn't sleep properly last night as I was in the anxiety mode. Thoughts racing in my mind as to what'll I do if X happens or what would my plan be if Y happens. I reached the test centre 1 hour before the scheduled time. Met a couple of guys there, had a chat abt various B-schools, shared some gyaan and finally we were called to enter the centre.

When my turn came for security check (Palm Vein Scan - some hi-funda new gen method - straight out of a spy flick), the lady at the counter had a look at my passport and then made a cross check on her database and simply asked me to wait. This time I was in "hey-bhagwaan-mujhe-shakti-de" mode. I thought since it was only 8:30 n my test was supposed to start at 9:00 maybe she was just passing time. After everyone else's turn was over, mine came. I couldnt believe my ears when I was told that you are being turned away as the names on ur ID proof and the appointment receipt dont match. Can you beat that?? Passport says "Sri Ranga Kartik" and receipt said Kartik S R.

I felt as if someone had punched me with all his might in my stomach (pictured The Great Khali to be that someone). After a lot of discussions, arguments, requests, numerous calls to the customer care n what not, I had to give up on my fight and return home. Apart from Khali's punch there was an accompanying kick as well, this was the fact that I would have to forego the fees that I had paid for the test. And that is friggin $250. I still am not sure what my next course of action would be. Hey bhagwaan mujhe shakti de!!!

I dont know why this happens with me every single time and that too without fail. I was all excited abt my first trip abroad and my German Visa got rejected. Similar was the case with first job, college admission and even such petty things as Exam form submission etc etc. But the good thing is I get everything after a bit of a struggle and it is better than what I think it would be. For instance, I didnt go to Germany for 15 days, went to Italy instead for 3 full months. I hope it'll be the same this time around as well.

As written in the first post on this blog, my name was again responsible for my downfall, so to speak.

Log kehte hai, "mere naam ki laaj rakh lena" aur ek main hoon, mera naam hi meri laaj nahi rakhta!!!

PS: The picture correctly shows my state. Sad on one hand but happy on the other (maybe I shud replace Hand with Foot :P ). Jo bhi hota hai...ache ke liye hota hai!!!!!