Boxing Day

This is that time of the year where folks go into a romantic mood, holding their hands, walking down the alleys, sharing an ice-cream and would shop till they drop. Singles try to find someone and doubles (I mean couples) will not leave this Christmas undone. Not so strikingly evident in India, but abroad yes. While abroad, you'd feel the pinch of it because you are generally away from your family and it is inevitable to stop you from thinking about your family and the time you spent with them in your heydays. And it's quite natural to go green if you are going out this season all alone to shop something. TIP: If you are alone and don't know what to do the last week of the year, the tip says, don't venture out this season as you would normally do. Very much a logical thing, but the thing is we don't listen to that thing. Definitely not to movies and malls. Trust me it works.

Amidst this chaos, ok, pathos, ok, here we go - Vamos, the next day after Christmas, Dec the 26th is called the Boxing day. Merry Christmas to you folks. Why is it called boxing day? Is it related to that physical sport boxing. No. One explanation is, Christmas gifts and presents are wrapped in boxes and hence it's called boxing day. A quick google might give you a better explanation. The quick thought that comes to my mind on a boxing day is there should be test match played in Australia. In total, three test matches should be started round the world on this day. One is underway at MCG. India did well to restrict Aus to 337 / 9 on day one. Quite an absorbing day's play and this is what I've been looking for. The real cricket bonanza lasts for two and half months. I got up at 5:30 am today to watch the match live before I left for the office. And I think this would be my schedule for the coming four days. The last time when I got up so early in the morning, was............ for a match again. Or tennis I suppose. Not for studies. This year I had been following tennis as closely as I ever did in my life. One last tour of Australia for the best middle order batsmen that India has ever produced. If captain Kumble pulls off a series win here, boy, what a comeback would it be for him at this age. Let's hope the 'Smiling assassin' kicks of the new year celebrations with a victory at MCG.

That's the sports update. And you also have a movie update lying in the store. I preferred 'Welcome' to 'Taare Zameen Par' (TZP) on saturday and I made a mistake. Welcome had comedy, but had this movie been shot a decade back I would have enjoyed it. Now that my thought process is particularly on how the movie is shot, the camera angles and the screenplay, I did not enjoy the movie. The goofy comedy looks copied from somewhere. So Welcome doesn't offer a hearty welcome.

On the flip side, the lesser commercial TZP, is better. This movie is about one kid who doesn't do well in studies and how he is transformed, is the story. First half was lengthy but should keep you hooked. And second half was gripping. Amir Khan, the only natural hero in Bollywood we have has done a great job as a director in this flick, besides acting. Boy and that boy was equally good too. The climax painting scene will evoke your emotions and even Rocks can get shattered. It's a must watch. And taare zameen par means stars on earth. We normally see stars in the sky. This movie has brought stars down to the earth . And when do we see stars in the air? When you go to a five star hotel and order just for a cup of coffee.

I wanted to...

The title would probably convey a message that it should include my wishlist. But no, it's not. It is including the things I wanted to do in life and where I ended up landing.

On the money straight away.

I wanted to do ECE, but I did EEE.
I wanted to go to USA, but I went to Sweden.
I wanted to do MBA, but I did MS.
I wanted to work in Bangalore, but I am working in Noida.
I wanted to work in Audio Codecs, but I began working in Video codecs.
I wanted to work in Video codecs, but I was put into middle layer.
I wanted to work in middle layer, but I am now put into application layer.

WTF ! What next ? That's so far the missed list, not the wished list.

I had been changing my domain constantly and unwillingly most of the times. A rather optimistic person would say, "You are cool man. You are taking life as it comes". I am not saying beep. Good thing with frequent shifting is: You get a chance to finger in unexplored territory. Bad thing is: Your exploration would only be short-lived coz you are not pursuing the territory as you wished. I hope I don't end up being a jack of all trades, master of none. Jackass is not a bad word either.

So that skit hang over in our employee meet is not over yet. My die-hard fans ( I presume two or three would be there in this world irrespective of the gender ) can find the videos here - Part1 and Part2 in youtube. I've also added the same links in the 'Employee meet' post. Clarity would not be so good. Videos are pretty much in compressed format. So I would be happy if you can understand what we were trying to say. Basic knowledge of Hindi would be required. For your information, that bloke with long locks is me. Yes, it's me. I've changed, yes! May be you can close your mouth now? I am still open for brickbats or bouquets for my performance. I owe that I would be back to my school boy looks next year. Don't know what the public outcry would be like. Just as you need guts to grow long locks, one also needs guts to get rid of those locks which you dearly maintained for close to couple of years. My heart aches when I go for the hair cut.

Last week I saw a Hindi movie called, Dus Kahaniyan ( translated to English means, 10 stories). I don't have words to express it. While I was coming out of the theater I had seen a stray dog, jumping freakishly, running around itself trying to catch it's own tail, attempting to catch mosquitoes in the air etc in that cold night. No joke. I had no idea why it was doing so. Finally I found an answer and I captured the plight of her which was very similar to ours. May be she had also seen the movie. This is what (click what) you feel (click feel) like doing after watching the movie. Tear your hair apart. Perhaps, faithful animal dog, is always right.

Net is slow

That's the Friday update. We normally get away by saying, net slow instead of saying internet is slow. A lot of slang is raking up in English and in our regional languages as well. Some people might think it is uber cool to use short cuts and slangs. I've also tried few times but it more often comes naturally. Nothing comes naturally unless you forcibly scream your lungs out.

The normal perception is, even though you haven't got anything to do with the internet for the time being, you still like to have jet setting speed hitting your modem. This is something analogous to holding a remote control in your hand, when you know that you are not going to change your favourite match or program that you are currently viewing. Something similar to having sambar in your dish along with chutney even though you are not particular about idly sambar combination. Something similar to keeping your mobile in your pocket while going out for a tea break even though you are god damn sure that there is no one who is going to call you at that hour. Few things that we involuntarily accept pretending a voluntary need. Happens more so with work. When you know that internet is slow, you have a tendency not to work. As it is, work is not hectic and on top of that if this beeping net is creeping slow and that too when it's a Friday, you can understand the mood and feel of the employees.

My thanks to the commenters who are posting their comments. So the feedback that I obtained for my skit was encouraging. A notch above, satisfactory, which I expected. I am trying my best not to project a dull image in my post in the weekend. Infact who likes to read a post that is sullen and morose. And who wants to befriend a friend who is not smiling? We don't smile often but we always like people that are smiling and chirpy. I found a blog ( www.meghalomania.com) that was interesting to read, in which the author(s) do try to paint a silly picture and yet try to bring a smile out of the reader. I would say it was interesting to read how the writer(s) penned the lines. I doubt though if I am going to visit that site again. But I had seen a quote there that tickled me.

Never argue with an idiot. They drag you down to their level, and then beat you with experience - Dilbert

God knows when will I be utilised to atleast half my potential. Days are passing on. Years are marching on. But the quest for knowledge and expertise is still on. Did you ever hear Roger Federer screaming, Come on ?!

Employee meet

So it's been the longest break in my blogging so far, 16 days to be precise. This is a record and I know records are meant to be broken. One reason for this pause is my previous post itself. I want that post to be displayed as many times across the network via the Blogrush widget, so that who ever has read it might just think of their 'Happy Days' atleast once. In the meanwhile I also got a topic to write about our company's employee meet for this year which took place on Friday. And for the first time I did a skit ( a small play ) on stage with one of my friends. The response was satisfactory. Last year I did a quick 2 minute group dance, so that was the motivation for this year's performance. You can find them in youtube right here. Click here for Part1 and Part2.

Finally I could break that 7 posts per month jinx. It was a hat-trick of 7 posts until November. I also feel that my blog title should be 'Posts from Brain'. When I was writing my first post, I thought every post is called a blog, but no, every topic you write is called a 'post' and all these posts constitute one blog. Like that, you can have umpteen blogs depending on your classification like music, sports, tech, movies, hobbies etcetera. Nevertheless I don't have intention to change the title soon but I am contemplating to change the template, for quite sometime now.

I haven't got any pictures of our Employee Meet as of now to post them. If there are any donors in my office, I shall post them. I feel stupid to take my 2 MP digital camera out for taking pictures, so that is why I don't have my own pictures. We have mobiles equipped with cameras ranging from 2 MP to 5 MP resolution. But one has to consider the fact that I bought my digi cam like 4 years back with my first part time bucks. So for that reason I still like it. Did anyone say, Old is gold? No wonder I keep referring to my part time job that I once I did it, every now and then, and that is when I really slogged which I feel is good now.

After that customary speeches and award distribution our cultural events kicked off. Few songs, a skit, a guitarist, couple of dance performances and a poem were the events done by the employees. We initially had plans to rope in celebrities ( not movie celebs but TV celebs ) to add a splash of colour to the event but cost-cutting came into the scenario real fast. So the employees performing the event on stage are the celebs and on Monday morning I would be knowing if I am going to receive brickbats or bouquets for my skit. Story, screenplay, casting and direction is done by yours truly. I am expecting a few sneers by couple of girls. I definitely sneered on one girl in my office though who looks like a halloween queen. But they had two days in the weekend to forget what happened on Friday and move on with the things on Monday. Everything else went smoothly. In the end we were given a good bag that is spacious enough for half a dozen of your clothes if you are outing. The DJ there was a fat bloke with that 'yo' man get up, but his DJ'ing was booed man. He is neither playing Hindi songs nor English nor Swahili which is spoken in Mombasa. But we blokes are not so music conscious. You feed us with couple of drinks with two drops of rat poison in it and we freak out like crazy on the dance floor.