Messy shoes and a cluttered mind

Messy shoes, untucked shirt,unattended stubble on his cheeks and a cluttered mind full of thoughts about back home. Somehow Amir made it to his flight. He was at the boarding gate all along but never realized when the boarding had started. Thoughts about home had kept him occupied all along.

He wasn't usually the clumsy one. If anything he loved Airports and always reached well before stipulated time. He was always excited by the idea of an airport. That feeling of witnessing first hand the hundreads of happy-sad stories around him.  Couples meeting each other after long, Parents bidding goodbye to their kids working in other cities, college friends going for a vacation. There is so much to look and feel at an airport, he would say. Airport's don't judge. Aren't prejudice. Airports represent all the good we are as a humanity. It doesn't matter your religion, how much money you have,  the color of your skin, if you're man, woman or a child. It's an accepting global village. Doesn't matter who you are, you are welcome to be there.

But, today was different. There was an eerie silence in his flight to Srinagar. This was the first flight being operated after Narendra Modi led Indian government had announced the revocation of Jammu & Kashmir's autonomy on 5th August 2019 and an information blackout had ensued ever since.  It had been 96 long hours since he had a word with his Abbu who had went to spend his one month in his ancestral village like every year.

Almost all other passengers had identical stories, carrying emergency food, clothing, money in cash and hope in eyes to reunite with their loved ones unharmed. Whatever came out of this journey was a thing of discussion for some other day but one thing was for certain, Amir, his co-passengers in the flight and millions of other kashmiri's could never forgive the current government for the way they bought about this change.


P.S. - Sitting here in our comfortable AC homes, we can never imagine the plight of people in valley. Just read today that it has been 75 long days since schools functioned.  Let's be a bit more aware about the situations before we casually put our opinions in a discussion - H" toh Modi ne accha hi kiya. State govt se support khatam ho jayega toh terrorism toh khatam ho hi jayega..." Unfortunately, things aren't that simple. Burned fingers once in Demonetization. burned fingers twice in revocation of J&K's autonomy. How are we so okay with such badly planned, half cooked plans of this government?

Once bitten, twice shy, thrice just a moron!

#75daysofblackout

peace out!

cheers,
Me

Happy 26th

Bhavika was never really big on celebrating birthdays, not even as a kid. She remembered cutting the cake at midnight with her family. But, that's pretty much it. No dressing up for Birthday, No distributing chocolates to classmates, No birthday treat to friends, No pestering parents for gifts. All that was not Bhavika. She would just sit with a book in the favorite corner of her room and read. Like any other day. "What's there to celebrate Amma? It's just another day." was what she will say when her mom would ask for her Birthday plans. 

Fast forward to 2019. She was turning 26 tomorrow night. Nothing much had changed, except for her surroundings. She was a big girl now and had her own place to call home. She was sitting on a hammock strategically placed in her favorite part of the room and reading a Jhumpa Lahiri. The horlicks milk her mom would get her every night was replaced by a glass of wine she had to pour for herself but that was pretty much it in terms of the changes. The breeze from the window was messing up with her hair but for once she didn't mind. She was engrossed in the story.

Just then her phone buzzed. It was Ramit, her work colleague and generally an *interesting* guy to talk to. "Hey kiddo, wassup? What Birthday plans for tomorrow?" She read the text surprised that he remembered. "What's there to celebrate? It's just another day" she thought to herself but instead replied "Am excited. Haven't planned anything yet though. Let's go out for dinner?"

Maybe some more things were about to change. 😇  

P.S. -  4 months since the last post. Documenting life - It's been good generally. New job, New house. A lot to look forward to. Amen!

Song of the day - 'Sage' by Ritviz. The song is really good with Ritviz's trademark electronic feel but what's surprising is how he has blended the electronic feel of the overall track with soothing vocals and a great melody humming. I really like it. Also, the video is super cute. As a tall guy, I relate 😁😁

Humor of the day - 

courtesy - Reza Farazmand from Poorlydrawnlines. He's genius!
This reminds me I still need to watch The Lion king. Care to join. anyone? 

Signing off!

Cheers,

Manish

Gang wars & other such silly things

So, this is back in the day when yours truly was in second year of college and was called Bhalu Boss (BB) by his friends for a) he was fat AF, b) had hair density more then that of a grizzly and c) yours truly liked the ring to the name - Bhalu Boss (sounds like a gangsta. No?) Thankfully, only (b) is true right now. But then I can't do much about it, can I? I can just blame the excessive hair on my sindhi lineage.

Anyways, we were a group of 41 friends/brothers who were always together because we had been ragged in first year together (yea, we were silly like that). Second year had just started and life was going all hunky dory with nothing major to worry about. But, we were a group of 41 boys and 0 girls and hence, testosterone levels were quite high in the group and we didn't mind looking for reasons to fight. "usko toh maarna hai.. aiwai.. yuhhi bus maarna hai" was how any conversation would usually end.

Having set the context, let me move to the story now. So, yours truly one day came to know that one of his 37 brothers, Bhola Bhagwan was beaten by the hostelers last night for he did some fucked up shit involving one of the hostelers and his girlfriend. Lil BB really liked Bhola Bhagwan for he shared the same alias with him.  This was enough to enrage BB and he vowed - 'I shall avenge Bhola's beating and only then would I take a bath'. Yes, our vows were also silly like that!

So, Lil BB took it upon himself to arrange an emergency meeting of his 41 brothers and surprisingly 12 actually showed up. Lil BB quickly setup the broad agenda for the meeting and put forward his message. He not only managed to convince everyone to join him but also to deploy guerilla tactics and beat up the guilty hostelers right then and there. Excellent oratory skills and raging testosterone levels together does make for a lethal combination.

The plan of action was decided including the minutest of details such as the route we will go through, the types of 'hathiyars' we would carry and the role each persons would perform. We had 4 bikes and a Honda activa among ourselves and hence, 13 people including lil BB needed to be arranged. It is important to know at this stage, that the Activa belonged to a guy named Danny Batla (DB) who was easily the most sincerest non-violent guy after Mr. Gandhi. A reincarnation of Mother Teresa would be an exaggeration but you get the drift. 

So, Lil BB came up with another ingenious plan that the 12 people would go on 4 bikes triple seated and DB would drive the activa alone carrying hathiyar in the front of his activa. The hack being no one will doubt DB's intentions. He will lead us on the road and hence, we will sail crystal clear till the hostel. Convinced of the ingenuity of the idea, everyone quickly concealed our weaponry inside of engineering drawing sheet holders and kept with DB on the activa while rest decked up on the bikes. DB started the voyage 2 minutes earlier then us and we followed with revenge in eyes and battle cries in heart . Bhola must be avenged! Chaos must be created!

Two things happened during the uneventful part from when we left for hostel to the point when we reached:

a) One of our 41 brothers who didn't show up but was aware of the plans ratted us out to a hosteler and hence, hostelers were expecting the surprise visit. They had been able to quickly arrange a group of 30 odd boys with makeshift weapons who were ready to fight for their hostel, for their pride.

b) DB's activa was short on fuel and had ran out of fuel on the way to the hostel some 2 kms away from the planned scene of attack.

Unaware of these two minor developments, Lil BB and other boys reached hostel, parked their bikes and entered the hostel porch according to the plan hoping to find DB with weaponry and unaware hostelers minding their own business as targets. Instead, they were greeted by 30 odd blood thirsty boys well equipped with advanced techniques of warfare such as a sledge hammer and a chair among many other things. 

Lil BB quickly realized the gravity of the situation, closed his eyes, prayed, thought of the famous quote "This is not the situation we deserve, but the one we need to prove ourselves," opened his eyes, had one last look at the enemy, turned around and ran like a lil Bitch. His friends soon followed. Let's just say, we did put up a good run and a good fight during that run. When DB came pushing his activa 5 minutes later, he found one of his brother ninja hathodi (NH) running towards him without a shirt which he had literally ran out of when hostelers grabbed his shirt.

Lil BB doesn't remember a lot from that day except for a lot of running and the decision he took later that evening to not only 'not take a bath' but also 'not shave' till revenge was served to the hostelers. Yes we were silly like that.

                                                                        ---X---X---

P.S. - I have been all nostalgic, remembering college days since this weekend. Went to DB's wedding yesterday and he introduced me as "Crime Partner" to his significant other. Felt good. Felt like we shared a bond. A bond that was beyond friendship. College friendships are like that I guess. Congrats DB for the wedding.

P.P.S. - NH (the guy without the shirt) was also there. He still blames DB for the complete fiasco. If only DB's activa had fuel that day, he said after a round of drinks. Yours truly agreed and nodded. :) to DB and to NH and to all my friends, Cheers Lads! We have led a colorful colorful college life.

Song of the day - "Jai wolf - Indian Summer." Beautiful art and music. Magical gift for solo adventure travelers. Do watch the video if you're a beach person.

Humor of the day -

Do follow "jake likes onions" for more such dank strips :D

Cheers,
Me

Objective answers @ life

A guy, shabbily dressed in a Jeans and a Hoodie, walked out of one of the numerous road side eateries that exist right outside the most IT companies/Startup hub areas in the city.

                Imagine you were the sales executive representing a credit card issuing bank. Should you approach him with a pitch. What’s the most spontaneous answer in your mind? No. Right? This guy would probably not make the cut in terms of income bracket that would be required for eligibility.

                 But what if he was one of them, the fancy IIT-IIM crowd, who wanted to try a startup for once and the shabby jeans-hoodie is nothing but his way of belonging to this place. A honest but pathetic attempt. If you give it some more thought, he is obviously here at a big fat pay cheque and would be actively looking at financial products to manage his earnings better. Thus, making him the prime target for you.

                What should you do? Don’t you wish there was this ideal calculator wherein you could factor in for all the traits that exist in this customer and get a binary answer. Yes or no. But then, can anything be perfectly ideal? Can you factor in all the traits of the situation and hence, don't have to make any assumptions at all? No. Right? You must make assumptions and what do they say about assumptions being the mother of all fuck ups. Pardon my French! If only there were objective answers to everything in life, you think. 

Faced with this baffling dilemma, you decide to go with your heart this one time and make the first step. This guy sees you coming towards him and abruptly cuts your first sentence short by saying “arey student hu yar! Credit card nahi milega. Bahut try kiya hai.” All that thinking for mother-fuckin nothing. Fuck French and while we are at it fuck me! Bhenchod such is life!  

P.S. – By Last line you would probably realize that I have moved to Delhi NCR :D . Working for a start up can be so much fun. Sitting here in head office, I decide on parameters that sales executives of my company should employ to evaluate a pitch and try and tailor the pitch for different demographics. But everything is just so subjective. There can almost never be a right answer.

I have started believing off late, and quite strongly at that, that at times, there is just so little in our hands and we spend so much time perfecting that small portion of the jigsaw that we lose sense of the bigger picture. Every now and then, we should afford to give ourselves that time - to halt and to go back and make sense of the complete situation. At least I should start doing that.

Enough gyaan for the day. Spreadsheets can't wait longer. should get back.

P.P.S – Sales is a painful job! Yes, This line deserves a separate P.S. for itself.

Corporate Slavery

Sitting cross-legged by his work desk on sixth floor, he looked outside the window. He noticed the security guard outside the adjacent building and wondered how monotonous his life must be. Opening the main door for the same set of people every day, greeting them enthusiastically every day, knowing who will respond to the greeting and who would just casually stroll ignoring his existence. He wondered how the guard managed to go ahead with this whole charade! What was it that kept him going through the motions?

Just then, he got interrupted by a notification on his laptop. It was the meeting invite for daily evening status update with his manager. “Slavery and Inertia” he realized for himself and chuckled while starting to make notes for the meeting.


P.S. - Documenting Life ! ISB done. Best year of my life so far and am back to before. Being a corporate whore. Slogging & Slacking is a way of life for last 9 months at company.

Song of the Day - Hooked to "In the name of Love - Martin Garrix & Bebe Rexha" for so long now. It's weird how my playlist has evolved so much over the last couple of years. But then, So have I.

Humor of the Day -

Signing off!

Cheers,
Manish