Rab ne...

Watched Rab ne... last Wednesday with my team. I dont want to comment on the film, but here are some points worth noticing.

* "Raaj.. Naam to suna hoga" - he doesn't seem like getting over from it. Ever since DDLJ.

* One scene where Taani tells "Thank you ji". And he tells "Mention not". - I predicted that he would tell this!

* One scene where he comes back winning after a fight with a Sumo wrestler - "Yeh sab karne ki kya zaroorat thi?" she asks - I predicted this too! Still wondering - Sahni is hardly 80 kgs & the Sumo guy definetly more than 200 kgs.. HOW?

* Sahni daily has a bath, with tap open. (I still dont know the inclusion of this scene, oops.. 3 scenes of this!)

* Sahni always carries a pendrive hanging around his neck. Never seen using it though. Was he in the accounts section as an ambassador for Compaq?

* Whereever Raaj goes his troupe follows him - Kajol, Rani, Preity, Lara. Thankfully, Arjun Rampal and Kiron Kher didn't turn up.

* A section of Amritsar is under Sahni's control for electricity. And he knows the alphabets.

* At one point, I thought Rab was infact Vinay Pathak when he mentors him!

* Also predicted that in the final dance scene, Raaj would turn out to be Sahni to dance. And we weren't wrong!

* The tagline - "Hum he rahi pyar ke.. Phir milenge.. Chalte chalte.. Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna.." looks like Raaj is obsessed with his movies.

Some unanswered questions..

* How can a teacher trust his student more than his daughter?

* How can a wife not recognize her husband?

* Why doesn't a wife tell a stranger that she's already married and not to flirt with her?

The list goes on.. but enough for now..

Overall, I enjoyed the film.

Did I say "I enjoyed the film?". No! I enjoyed the company with whom I went for the film. Working professionals at office, students elsewhere :)

All I ask Rab - Kab tu banayega meri jodi?

Untitled - Part 2

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* Please read the previous post before proceeding with this.
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Her words were still ringing in his mind. He was feeling very helpless, lonely, irritated, depressed, and what not. But he wanted a way out of this, as it wasn't going out the way he had planned.

He called her and told her that he wanted to talk to her.

"What was the matter?" she asked. "Hmmm.. nothing.. just wanted to talk to you for sometime" he told. "Ok.. this would be the last time, as he doesn't like this" she said. "Fine, I get it. Please suggest time when you are free" he told. He began wondering, when was the first time?

Finally they agreed to meet. A friday evening, a week after he was shattered. At coffee day. A lot can happen over a coffee.

"I have a confession to make" he told. She looked surprised.

"Knowingly or unknowingly, I'd fallen for you. The first time I saw you in bus, you looked marvelous" he said.

"Hey, no!" She interupted. "I thought we were friends. I never had such feelings for you. Sorry, I'm already taken. I wish I had already made you aware of this that I was committed."

"Yeah.. yeah.. I know. I just confessed. But there is something more that I need to tell" he said.

"Go on"

"You know, once you had only said that getting a birth on this earth in Kaliyuga is a sin and we need to get liberated soon and reach God. And that, you should be in control of yourself, and not anyone else. At first I disbeleived it, but now I realize that it is indeed a sin to be born here. There are no emotions attached to anyone, no feelings for anyone, everyone just want themselves to be happy and this whole world is filled with greed." he told.

"What are you getting at?" she asked.

"Yeah, coming to that. I know you have been asked to avoid me by your boy and you are doing that. But, remember what you had told earlier that you need to be in control of yourself. But now, you are just listening to him. Rembember one thing - relationships are built on trust and not on doubts or conditions. Please understand this and make your guy also understand. If you can't do this, please get me his number and I'll talk to him and tell him that he doesn't need to feel insecure and there is nothing going between us and abandon the restrictions put on you so that we could just be in the same way as before. Just friends and nothing else. Common yaar, its your life and you chose how you like it to be. I wonder why guys get possessive on their girlfriends!

"I am now beginning to feel that there is no love at all in this world. Its only compromise and sacrifice. People say that if you pray with a pure heart, your wish will get fulfilled, but no longer I believe this. May be you weren't destined for me. Call it fate or whatever. Rab ne didn't bana di jodi. And people also say that whatever happens, happens for good. So, I'm optimistic on the other end. May be someone else is waiting for me. But, I'll make sure I wont end up like this again. Probably all girls should wear a tag around them saying single, committed, married, etc to save guys like us to fall into the well." he told.

She smiled for the first time after a week. A perfect 100W smile.

"Life is a game. You win some, you lose some. I won your friendship and lost your love. This happens, and life moves on. Time is a great healer. I'm just never serious in life. Now I know what a fool I've been. I just want everyone around me to be happy and if I was a problem somewhere, I needed to get things sorted out. I wish you the very best and you get the one you are longing for."

She rose and stretched her hand. "Sorry again, and thanks. I know how you are feeling. Its just that I'm not the one for you. I hate getting possessed by anyone, but still he takes good care of me. You don't know under what all situations I'd been thru and he was always there with me. Some things which I cant tell to my sister, I tell him. One or the other day I'm going to get married, so why not with him? Anyways, I'm happy that you finally got over it. Lets just be Friends?" she asked.

"Yes babe! Just friends!" he told and hugged her.

He pulled out a keychain which had her name on it and handed it over to her. She looked surprised. "Whats this for?" she asked.

"I know you have a habit of forgetting days, and I also know that on someone's birthday, you need to be gifted by the birthday guy. So, here's this for you on my birthday" he told.

She couldn't believe what he was saying. After much hesitation, she finally accepted his gift.

"Thank you!" she laughed and cried at the same time.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked. "Ya, go on" she told.

"Is your sis free? ;)"

Guys will be guys.

Untitled

The 3 magical words were ringing in his mind. "Can we go out for lunch today? I need to tell something." he asked her. He had planned to propose her in few days.

"I need to tell something to you, wish I had done this before" she replied.

He became excited. Was she going to tell the same thing to him? He was all ears.

"I have someone, like a boyfriend. We have been going around for quite sometime. Both our families know about this, but nothing is finalised. He doesn't like me talking or going around with you, for that matter, with any guy. It wasn't that serious, but he has been very persistant on this. I also thought, instead of some person whom I don't know, why not him? I am really sorry, but I'm just listening to him. I should have told you before that I'm committed. I can't join you. Please dont be sad." she told.

He stood stone silent. He froze. He couldn't digest what she was saying. His eyes were heavy, but the "guy" factor in him didn't allow him to break down in front of her.

"Oh.. Ok.. Cool.. No issues" he told and left the place.

Back in his place, her words kept ringing in his mind. He finally broke.

To be continued..

Flying colors

The D-day had finally come. All the efforts spent would be shown up on that day. A whole weekend was spent on this. It was infact, the certification exam day! Dec 1 2008.

The last minute preparations started as soon as I got into the bus. I began to get nostalgic, when I remembered the ways I had taken to prepare for exams in college. This was different, though.

She also joined me in the bus, holding a bunch of one sided printed papers. Thank God, she hadn't printed those & reused the material given by her friend. She too starts her last minute preparations.

"Nothing is going in my head!", she exclaims. I get a shiver that I may also be forgetting everything at a fast rate. I told her to keep her cool and give the best she could. I was telling the same to myself.

"I studied till 3:30 in the morning today", she tells. I get a little complex, "OMG ! I slept at 10:30 PM itself", I told.

Finally we reached the bus terminal and split our ways to our buildings. We decided to catch up before leaving.

The time came soon. I left my desk after cursory last minute glance of pages, went to her building, and we rushed to the examination centre. An irony here, we were walking fast to the place where we were scared to be!

The clock struck 10 and we were let in the exam hall. I could sense the aura of examinations. People were holding booklets together and reading continuosly. When will they stop?, I thought.

The exam went off well. The last 10 mins was very crucial. I had exactly marked 11 questions which I knew were wrong for me. My brain stopped thinking and actually got diverted to those who left the exam. These 11 questions could make me or break me.

Taking God's name, I submitted the paper just a minute before the alloted time. 2 seconds passed by. Nothing was happening on screen. Phew! A screen came up showing the scores. I had passed! And the best - all those 11 questions which I marked wrong, were wrong ! An exact, on the dot pass!

She sat next to me and at the same minute, a broad smile flashed on her face. She couldn't believe she had cleared! And with a whooping percentage!

Both were far too relieved. Of all the tensions.

We exited from the exam centre with flying colors. The way back to our buildings was at ease.

Work imitates Life

You come across a beautiful good girl either from friends or friends' friends or at work.

You come across a potential good client either from friends in other industries or by understanding your clients' clients.

You see an oppurtunity in her.

You see an oppurtunity in them.

You go ahead, ask your friends about her, background verification.

You go ahead, find out what they are doing, background verification.

You approach her, analyze for some time, understand her requirements.

You approach them, set up meetings, understand their requirements.

You identify the risks - parents, family, any ex-boy friend, etc.

You identify the risks - project risk, stakeholder risks, etc.

You prepare an estimate - costs that you can afford to gift her, take her out, etc.

You prepare an estimate - project costs, margins, revenues, etc.

If everything suits you, you propose her.

If everything suits you, you prepare a proposal & submit.

She might agree or disagree. If she disagrees, you re-propose after an increased estimate.

They might agree or disagree. If they disagree, you resubmit your proposal after a reduction in estimate.

Consider she agrees. You plan & work - design your world, build relationships, test it.

Consider they agree. You plan & work - design documents, build code and testing.

After sometime in relationship, you decide to marry her. You mark your worthiness to her family and prove that you are stable.

After sometime in project (after all testing phases), they decide to go live. You prove that no defects exist and code is stable.

You get married and everyone's happy. You are satisfied with your efforts. You throw a party to all.

The project is implemented and gone live and everone's happy. You are satisfied with your work. You go for a project party.

Ādi Chunchungiri Trip

Yesterday, taking a break from my routine schedule, I'd arranged a small outing to Ādi Chunchungiri hills, to see our Home God (mane devru) - Sri Kālabhairaveshwara Swami. Just the 3 of us - myself & my parents. We started at around 8 AM and boarded a Hassan bound bus from Majestic. We were to get down at Bellur Cross and from there take a rick or something to reach the temple, as this was the info given to us by some relatives and also some websites.

It took us nearly 3hrs to reach Bellur Cross and landed there at 1145. Immediately, we caught a rick (seat auto - 10 bucks pp, as many people) and reached the foothill of Ādi Chunchungiri at around 12. On the way, we saw a big Kalyani. A huge number of steps (200, to be precise) and a big arc at the top was awaiting to be climbed.

We reached the top (first level) and a magnificient temple was there in front of us. We directly entered the temple thru one of its side doors. There wasn't much rush, as I had expected initially. There were small dieties of God all over on the pillars. When asked someone, he said there were a total of 64 Bhairavas around the interiors, 8 Bhairavas in the centre & 1 Main idol of the Lord in Garbhagudi. Probably, photos can explain it better..

Needless to mention, the dog is the vehicle (vahana) of this Lord and he's there right in front of Him.

The main Garbhagudi was made of black stone while the rest of the temple was of white stone. We had a view of entire temple, did Archana there and left the temple. Adjacent to the temple was a 27 foot, single stone carved idol of Shiva - Sri Nagalingeshwara.

Beside this, there was a board which read - Way to Gangadeshwara, Kattale Someshwara and Chola Stambha. This again were to be climbed. At another 150 steps was the Gangadeshwara temple, which looked as if it was in a cave. Very small with little light around. Further up the hill was the Kattale Someshwara, but mom stayed behind and me & dad only went up (lil adventurous). After 200 steps (each step was approx 1 ft high), we came across a small cave with entire darkness. We had to use the light in our mobile to get in thru it and saw the Kattale Someshwara idol. (Kattale = dark). We further wanted to go up and see the Chola Stambha, but as people over there said that we had to do some rock climbing, we rejected the idea.

We then came back to the place where mom was resting and decided to have lunch there, which was packed and got from home. But, to our dismay, some monkeys attacked us and made us leave the place. So, we had to discontinue our lunch and hurriedly packed everything and came down. On the way down, we saw Swamiji's Kuteera and resting place. Back near the temple, we saw Sri Annapoorneshwari Prasada Nilaya and just went in. To our surprise, they were serving lunch as Prasada ! Immediately we got in and had the Prasada. Thanks monkeys ! They didn't want us to have home food & have the Prasada !

After the lunch, we checked into some exhibition cum shopping centre and looked for idols of Kālabhairaveshwara. But, none of them suited our requirements, so left the place without buying anything.

When we got down the 200 steps at 3 PM, a rick was already waiting for us and we barged into that. In 10 mins we were back at Bellur Cross and a bus too was waiting for us ! It all appeared like all ready ! We were back in Bangalore at around 630 PM.

There were no hindrances like rain or anything. The weather was also just too good. The Lord truely takes care of His devotees. Thanks Lord :)

Functions and Relatives

I recently had been to a marriage reception of one of my far relatives unwillingly, as I was forced to attend it by my parents. There I met quite some people, whom I’d never seen before and some other common relatives. I just jotted out what all they asked me. Here are a few.

Oh.. you have grown this big..! When I saw you that time, you were so small. Now, you are thiiiiis big !
Plastic smile .. Ya..
What do they expect, I shouldn’t grow?

You remember me?
No..
What the heck.. I’m just seeing for the first time..

Your brother is taller than you.. !
Another plastic smile.. Ya..
Big deal !

Oh.. Infosys..? You know Srinivas?
Naah..
He stays our next door only..
So what? There are more than 30k in Bangalore .. Do they want me to know everyone?

How do you commute?
Company bus
How long will it take?
3 hrs up and down
Oh.. that much ! It must be hectic na?
Ofcourse.. theres no other option..!
Traffic must be worse na?
Ya..
What would you expect? You only came an hour late !

Oh.. Infosys..? They must be paying you well na?
THE END