Yeh hai meri kahaani
…Yeh hai meri kahaaniTanhai ki zubaaniHar zakhm khil raha haiKuch mujhse keh raha hai……chubte kaante yaadon ke Daman se…chuntaa hoonGirti deewaron ke Aanchanl mein Zinda hoon…(Yeh hai meri kahaani-Strings- Movie ZInda)
A dialogue with Srinath Batni
Srinath Batni was here for the Infy Ecellence awards ceremony.
My role in Excellence awards,2005:
1. Was the back up MC- which meant not much work ..:) Was first time with VCing in open air auditoriums coordinating live with multiple DCs and being projected on Big screens in Double size!.
2. Interviewed Srinath Batni, member of BOD
This was challenging. Srinath is known to be curt and succinct. Nobody knew much about him other than his views on 'work'. Sanjeev had hinted me to try to bring out the 'person' other than the member of the BOD in him. I realized this conversation with him was gonna be very different from the one with NSR, Kris, Dinesh, Bhandi or NRN... ( Ya.. I am blowing my own horn by listing all those big names...;))
Marshal and I were at Business Center 2 on L4 at sharp 3.45 pm and so was Srinath. True to the general perception, Srinath seemed terse. Some usual questions which keep the big-wigs talking for at least 15 mins also did not seem to be a bestseller with Srinath. After the initial 5 min I was unsure if this interview would last at least half of the planned duration (.5 hr) I decided to play bold and asked --"Srinath, we minfoscions know you only as a member of BOD. We are very keen to know more. Can you pls share with us your journey to Infosys?" The response we received was a huge surprise- He smiled!..:) And then shared many anecdotes. He spoke about his favorites (or lack of it) in sports, politics, books etc!) I was pretty amazed at his views on Work-life balance! He was of the opinion that His generation and the next could not afford to think of work-life balance. He believed that due to our independence struggle, we lost out on reaping the benefits of Industrial revolution. After Independence, India sort of shut the doors to the outside world and tried its shot at self-sustenance. After a few yrs, when we opened our doors to the world outside, we were not in a position to emerge as a power and project as strong competitors. After many years we found IT as a tool to show our worth! And at this stage we can not afford to think of work-life balance. If his generation and the next one put their blood-sweat into it, the coming many many generations could enjoy life- just the way US is doing now.
The thoughts flew vigorously and very passionately! It was 4.30pm and Srinath was sharing his views on work-n-life in IT vs NON-IT industry. We had to wind up only because he had to rush the awards ceremony. I am confident Srinath enjoyed himself and we could have effortlessly carried on for another half hour...:)
In all, I had fun conversing with Srinath and I was happy I had good news for Sanjeev..:)Note- Mifonews this time is gonna be loaded with interviews. Hey Did I mention?.. I have been asked to join the Minfonews team?...
Cubie Decor
Had Cubie-Decore Comptt for IHL Minfy Today! Though the announcements were made well in advance, not many seemed too interested (at least that’s how it appeared).
Personally, wasn’t all that keen on this! May be I realized that basically what am getting paid for is spending time with VM ware workstation and it would do more good to get back to doing it before people actually start noticing…;)
Holding strong to our conventional Infy tradition, nothing was in order until the HR lady sashayed around the cubes 2 hrs before the ‘inspection’ was due and enthused us to put up sommmmm thing! Its amazing how each team’s creativity showed in the given short duration. Result: a good 2 hrs break for 200+ people; found a vent to the latent creativity though weird in some cases.
My team(deals with investments) turned the cube into a ICUCVC (a subsidiary of ICICI bank) outlet. ICUCVC provides a deposit only ATM. The money deposited is used to invest is various products in the market. We collected some ICICI banners and pamplets and did funny things out of it. We had loads of fun… and winning was never on our minds..(yep rright… we did NOT win..:)
The other themes were Peaceful coexistence wherein the cubes were decorated with softoys representing different animals, New yr, Christmas, Sports(Ravi, Prabu), Minfy in 2010 ( this was awesome—just had lots of chairs bundled haphazardly in the center of the cube--- Sarcy but I loved it-- Rahul). Pavana’s team represented different days of week in their cube. Prashant’s cube just saw to it that there were no printouts lying around…;)
In all, though it meant putting 2 hrs of extra effort, it was worth the fun n frolic!
Raksha-Bandhan
I had just reached office after a picturesque but quiet fatiguing 3 hrs journey from Kudremukh, when I gathered my uncle had reached bengre (my native place) with family. It was almost 5 years since I had met my cousins one of which was a just-born then. I so so so wanted to be with all of them!!! I grumpily logged on to my VM ware workstation to find that the DBR wasn’t completed and the changes would be done n Tuesday (CST). WOW!!! --- this meant I had no work till Wednesday. Hale the long weekend at Client Office and Ms Zeigler for deciding Christmas was more important than DBRs…:)
I was at Bengre by 2.00 pm. As I entered what I saw was that the bachchalog n the badalog at home had queued up behind mama –waiting for him to chop the heads off the tender coconuts that ajjer had just gotten picked from our farm. I joined the queue without delay... :)
Raksha, mama’s youngest daughter was a delight to be around! Without wasting any time on the getting-to-know-the-bada-didi process, she cut to the chase with the story of a lizard on the roof. By the end of an hour, after having exhausted all possible queries on sociability of reptiles, she seemed convinced about my newly founded theory on harmless and rather affable behavior of lizards towards children! I was happy that at last I had found some one who bought my stories... :)
After having some awesome granma-made seafood, it was almost 4.00pm and we all had a tough time containing Raksha from rushing to the sea-shore! When the sun was mimicking politeness, we gave up and hit the beach! Ayesha was the brave loner types… she settled herself at a point where the water was just-knee deep and got lost with staring at the setting sun. Raksha on the other hand, began the drama by telling –“Didi am scared of seawater” she supported her fears with a pretty interesting theory. She thought the planets got closer to us at the sea because the Sun appeared so big and clear at the sea shore. She also had this idea that other planets were bad planets! I realized even I (with the best of my imaginations and creative-thinking) was gonna find it challenging to tackle her theories on astronomy!
Once we were just ankle-deep in water, she asked –“Didi, will tsunami come back?” and the next half hour went in cooking stories (and attempting to make them as close to reality as possible) that would drive away the fear about Tsunami!
After engaging ourselves with hopping-and-catching, kith-kith and running race we headed back home. Just when we all had bathed and were back to our fresh selves, the power went. The power-down was a new event in raksha-n-ayesha’s lives. Mama suggested we go star-gazing at our terrace. Everyone welcomed the idea. Raksha, more so- since the term -star gazing- was new in her dictionary. After a few minutes, she realized it was just-boring stuff about finding strange patterns like Orion and big dipper in the sky and soon lost interest. She wanted to go back downstairs but was scared of walking alone. So- the li’l lady come up to me and went- “didi, there are planets in the sky along with the star. Remember—these are those bad planets. Let us go down!” She was no less than Calvin!
Next, she acquainted me with all the characters in “Letter Land” and how close the sound of a- in Apple, e in elephant and u in umbrella were! Jeez phonetics at 5?!!! Hmm the world is moving fast! It was bedtime. And Raksha surprised me by announcing she wanted to sleep with me. This meant I had to think of a bed-time story which mind you was no easy task--- She almost knew every story that I had ever heard of. Luckily, mogli had some how escaped her so far. I thought how hard could it get to put the episodes of jungle-book together. But once I began, I blamed myself for not having paid much attention to mogli’s friend’s names—All I could remember were Bagira, Ballu and Sherkhan! And of course , I fabricated lot of the dangers events that mogli had to go through in this jungle-life!
Whatever, my attempts seemed to totally occupy her! She had this- mesmerized- look…
I had to wake up early in the morning to catch the first BUS! Surprisingly, Raksha also promptly woke up with me! WE both went to the terrace. The sun had just risen! The sky was pleasant tawny and the crescent moon had still not disappeared. I wished time froze right there- among coconut trees all around with the river at the right and sea at the left and captivating sky above! But Raksha did not let me bask there too long since she desperately wanted anwers on how could moon be there in the morning?
I wished I could spend more time with her ... generally listening to her rattle!
Someday when Raksha is all grown up, I wish to show her this side of her.
Life Cycle...
My hypothesis: Life is a series of metamorphosis. A tale of ‘evolving-cocoon’ evolving into an ‘evolving-butterfly’!
The saga that institutes with love metamorphosizing into an embryo and concludes with flesh-and-blood metamorphosizing into ash! Between the inauguration and finale are again numerous painful transformations (physical and emotional) that no one is spared of. In the continual-transformation process, depending on the –ifs- you choose, decisions you make and paths you take- you also in an extraordinary way select the metamorphosis you subject yourself to.
At mid-life (read 25), you have developed into an impressionable butterfly and are on pursuit to become the archetype one. With each metamorphosis, you get the power to substantiate your present and an opportunity to relish all your observations of past. The ultimate Metamorphosis however discloses the boorishly summarized version of the series of metamorphoses (endorsed by each wrinkle on your body) to the world to evaluate and learn.
This is Life. A mandatory cycle all of us have to complete. While some are mid-way and some have already completed one full circle. Pavi’s granma expired yday.
This just brusquely reminds me that ajjer( my granpa) is also 75+! I wish some butterflies never metamorphosize any further!
Amazing and Amusing!
Last evening, Yantra (Infy’s music group) put forward a compilation of a few English and Hindi numbers for the infy audience. There was an attempt to perform Californication and Savage garden numbers among the other usual pleasant-Hindi numbers. Can’t say it was a treat being among the audience! I attribute 2 reasons to the turn-out it received- 1. Length 2. Timing. The show went on for 2.5 hrs- which obviously was a li’l too long and hence one reason for the early-dispersing of the crowd. By timing I mean- the junta is hardly out of the synergy mood and now gearing up for the Christmas hols and new-yr bash! Given the choice, I would have placed the show in the 2nd week of Jan, 2006. Anyways, to sum up the evening- Yantra has a long way to go! Nevertheless, with the recent flurry of events, the effort put in by the team was commendable especially amidst all the year-end work pressure!
There was one li’l something about last eve that kinda livened some demons from the past! A girl was trying to sing –awara bhavre. When I was busy hunting for melody in what she was singing, I realized she was oblivious to anyone around her and was almost screaming at certain points. One positive thing I noted was she went on even after her voice seemed to crack! And she was as cheerful and happy even after sung it the way she did!...Amazing and Amusing?!..:)
This episode somehow brought back memories of the "Tsunami Fund Raiser" episode at mke. I was to sing to the ‘Dil-hai-chota-sa’ number. I had practiced hard and the song was well within my range. Just after parading over the stage in my new Saree (I was more excited about my straightened hair and new saree that vin had talked me into rather than sashaying on the stage) with flashing lights and constantly changing background score;), I had my song lined up next! Though, I was very comfortable with the song, for some strange reasons had some last minute jitters! Ravi (nair) tried to talk sense into me… but that did not seem to work! Can’t fathom why I was so nervous. Actually, I hadn’t set any expectations/ wasn’t even healthily-worried about the fashion show or the skit- But I desperately wanted to get the song perfectly right!
Once on the stage, with all the lights focusing on the Hansel, Rahul and me, I could not see anybody in the audience!.. That was good..:) Hansel began playing the guitar. I was supposed to pick up on the 4th note! Bingo! you guessed it right- amidst all the tension, I faltered and picked it up on the 3rd one. We quickly made it up. [But I suspect, there was an essential element of life missing in the song-probably because I was more worried about the technicalities] I was done with the first para and the life was returning in my second Para when I felt the sudden urge to cough..!!!! Ofcourse I subdued it, but in the whole effort must have seemed like my voice cracked!!! Mann, I was so so disappointed with myself and wished my friends had miraculously missed just my song!!!! The best thing that god did to me was- did not give enough time to fret over the performance- I had almost no breathing time since I had to change into -tapori girl-for the skit- which was the very next program!. Though I hadn’t cared much for the skit, it seemed to really click well! After the entire show, its amazing how I easily sidelined all the compliments, and could only get uselessly contemplative about missing the 3rd note! So much that I had consciously avoided the free CD copy of the entire event! Neddless to say, kinda lost confidence in my singing. One of the first few things i did after coming back to mangalore was to re-join carnatic music class.
Its almost an year since that episode. Today I think I am over the entire thing after hearing the other girl last night, and after being asked by a few friends as to why I wasn’t singing in Yantra!Nope—I am not very proud at my recuperation rate—but this is me..:(
Therez this friend whoz hardly ever mentioned anything good to me. Surprisingly he too had had a few good things to say then- which I had conveniently dismissed as his lame n hollow attempts to make the lousy me feel better!—He’d mentioned that I was getting over-critical about myself-May be I believe him today…May be I wasn’t as bad as I imagined it to be..:)
Synergy- Finale!
What a fantastic finale to a month long run of sports events! Arvind and I reached the venue- “Hosabettu beach” at around 3.00pm. Prashant and Pavana followed us in an hour. The beach was lovely- clean, calm and shining in the hot sun! Rolled up my sleeves and had my hands deep in the sand right from the moment I reached the sounds-booth! Gathered ‘triathlon’ (the event that was allotted to me to organize) was the first.
I was also to participate in it. Bunched up 4 other hawks. Nidhi and I would start with the 3-legged race, followed by Sohan and Swaroop with the wheel-barrow race and end with Nilotpal with the sack race. I was pretty confident of winning this since I had won 3-legged race before and the guys also seemed very swift. However, unfortunately, Nidhi tripped just after we had taken 2 steps and the lady almost instantaneously gave up. By the time I mustered her and resumed, all the 3 teams were much ahead of us. Some how managed to finish 3rd and the guys then tried their best and could not do much.—in all, it was fun and we had scored 200 points for our team!
Next game in line was lagori. This also had the prerequisite of 3 members among the 7 member team to be ladies—I sometimes hate this rule enforcing woman participation. With all due respect to the noble intentions behind forming the rule, it is really tedious to convince girls who are basically-uncomfortable with being on the court. We came 3rd in lagori too. But I enjoyed one fundu fall I had in order to escape the ball (Its another story that- eventually, the ball did find me. My getting out along with a wrong-lagori call by Vineeth resulted in our team not getting the 2nd place …L)
Just as Suneetha and I were reveling our third place, the rules for Sand castle were being announced. So, rushed to the spot and directed a few guys to get the wet sand after which I modeled a ‘school’ in our “Infy+ colony” [yep, that was the theme that the hawks had decided on- realized it was a li’l too late to invent and influence a new theme – so, decided to improvise what ever the guys had designed]. Just when I had finished the school, volley ball began. I rushed to support our team. We won the first set. It was a tough to play in the hot sun and the uneven sandy court. Nevertheless, it was great treat to watch and play! I had to rush back to Sandcastle as the judges were on their way to inspect our “Castles”. On the way, had a peak at other team’s work- All of them looked decent- [very much like ours- there was minfy in every design..:)]. I helped the guys with cleaning up the place and asked what our representative had in mind for his presentation to the judges. After I heard him, realized it was kinda- bland. Little did I know that giving the presenter some suggestions would unnerve him. He begged for me to take up the staging. Now, I knew I could do more justice than him and realized that presentation was the element that was going to make all the difference. So, I agreed.
But, what would I say? Since what we had built was not exactly bearing lot of semblance to our theme, I decided to build the theme around what we had built. But Kya bolu? And Sudhir Al with Mahesh was already heading towards our spot. I let Sudhir and Mahesh absorb and make sense of what we had built. I then began- “here we present to you our dream—the ‘complete’ Infy+ city. Infosys is more than just work for us. Today, the infoscion lives in 2 worlds. One- Infosys and the other- outer world where his family belongs. This model is a step towards expanding the boundaries of Infosys to make the outside-world a part of the Infy-world. This model looks at developing ‘complete’ infoscions focusing on all the aspects of their development.” Was I actually saying all this!!!... When I saw that the judges seemed impressed, I decided to exploit the artistic license a tad longer... I was ROFLing thinking about all that I’d just delivered! And guess what…the extempore worked -we actually won the FIRST place... :))
Volley ball match that started well before dusk took us into a beautiful moon-lit night. The Awards ceremony was to follow. Pavana won prizes for Volley ball and Carom, Sampath for Volley and Cricket, Suneetha for Throw ball, Vineeth for Cricket and yours truly for Throw ball, Sand castle and ‘organizing’. This was followed by music with DJ. It was amazing how all of us who had played all day still had the energy to rock the dance floor! The synergy finale came to a pleasant finish with sumptuous food by the beach. Prashant, Pavana, Pai and I sat by the beach an extra while to savor some vanilla ice cream slab with yummy choco-nut topping!
In all it was one hulluva day where general-public around hosa-bettu must have wondered if this rustic crowd is what makes Infy , then whats all the hype about!!!!
Priya- the lady i knew
Subba-- He was the one who sang so well that - he was asked for a repeat performance (Tsunami fund raiser -Mke). That’s how I remember him. I have fond memories of the event and all the back-ground work involved.
Got to know Subba's wife-Priya during the singing-practice sessions at Rahul's place. She was sort-of silent but a very enthusiastic and charming person. I used to love those practice sessions-- where all of us sang without inhibitions. She did not sing but was majorly supportive of Subba's singing. Subba seemd to me to be a rather shy guy. Priya seemed to be the -dare- factor in him. ( One might accuse me of being too judgmental--I call it a lady's intuition based on logical interpretation of some visual and auditory information) I had first met Priya in the Infy Cricket match. Subba was in the team playing against the 'Infy Panthers'. She was one of the few wives I have met who did not wait to be spoken to.
She was also in the diya- dance team( Tsunami fund raiser -Mke). I was asked to join it- would have loved to -- but really had my hands full with the fashion show, skit and the singing. I helped them with some choreography- and that was when i knew she too was dancing. She mentioned she was a tronics engg- was employed before being married. She was currently indulging in some consultancy but was also looking for a job.
Somehow, just thinking of her makes smile-- felt she was what my granma refers to as -thumbida koda- " a fully filled pot that doesnt spill "( used to refer to mature and complete people).
Yesterday, read Uma's mail about the unfortunate news. Subba's Wife passed away after giving birth to a baby boy after fighting some unanticipated problem for 4.5 hrs.
I did not know how to react! I did not know her much. But whatever li'l i had known of her, made me feel extremely terrible! Life seems so unfair-- to that li'l life that's just stepped in to this world, that will always wonder how it would be to have been loved my its mother; to the mother who might have had zillions of dreams for her baby and her family, who might have fantasized the new phase she was about to enter; to Subba who would have built countless castles of his new life with his partner and his baby!
Why God?!!... What are you trying to prove here!
The next thought that hits me is-- how much Priya must have suffered before she finally gave up! Why is a girl's life cycle the way it is! The yarn that begins at 13 and takes it toll on you monthly till you reach your 40s! And in this course the pain and suffering involved at every stage-- even at the times when it is meant to give you pleasure! The games that hormones play with you at all these stages makes you feel like you are a guinea pig for all the experiments (on body-abuse) that someone who created 'woman' wanted to try out!
God is rude sometimes… and I don’t understand him( yep , it could not have been a she)! He doesn’t give you what you want. Neither does he take away all that you want. He leaves with you just what you would need to keep going!
Priya, May your son get so much love from all around him that he never misses you!
May your husband have the strength to face what lies ahead of him!
May your soul rest in peace!
Home-Lunch!
Try recalling when was the last time you rushed home for lunch with someone at home waiting to see you, serve you hot food and listen to your endless rattling mostly about general-li'l-nothings!--- Today, got lucky with such a lunch- Pavana's mom and aunt were in town.
Had heard so much about Pavana’s mom from Pavana (had even spoken to her over the phone while in mke) that couldn’t wait to meet her. The food was lovely- made lovelier by the rap-session during the lunch. She had prepared akki-roti, chicken curry, bhindi curry and beans curry to go with rice. I tried to convince her to stay for Synergy- anything to have a few more home-lunches... ;) Must say, I see a reflection of my mom in her. Both are Strong, loving ladies very proud of their daughters but worried to hell about getting ‘em married!!!
I sometimes hate myself for being the reason for vulnerability in my parent’s strength!
Yet another hat!
Synergy quiz,2005:Was on the other side of the table after a pretty loooooooong spell. Yep! rright I was helping with organizing the sports quiz. Na.. na wasnt playing Derek O'Brien, but the computerji in KBC.. dint get it??... baba I was playing the less important - score keeper!-- Ya I take up such roles too!!!...;)Hey.. for those of you who humble the role... lemme tell you-- it is a lot of fun! And for all you attention-seekers, therez nothing better!I dunno if i'll want to do such favors again, but i absolutely enjoyed the attention and the wierd-n-useless-power of announcing the results this time!
Nevertheless, The man deserves better...
...man deserves a better exit!-- Yep its the Tiger Ganguly I am talking about!
Saurav is not in the playing 11 for the next test match. Though I believe that the recent developments in Indian cricket have been healthy and long due, the fact remains that for what the Tiger has contributed, he deserves better treatment than he is getting now.
Unlike many, I was convinced and found decent logic in the decision to not take him in the One-days that recently took place ( though, one might argue that his records prove that he is a better fit for the One days) considering all the polity and the quality of his performance in the recent past ( read 2 yrs).
But, he faired pretty well in the test series with Srilanka- a consistent 40ish in both the innings. The decision to retain Gambhir and introduce Wasim as an opener leaves no scope for saurav in the middle order esp during the times when Yuvaraj has been performing consistently decent.
Might have done better to Saurav if some one mentioned the ‘principle of Boomerang’ –( What you give away, comes back to you- usually with double impact) to him during his Tiger-days!
Nevertheless, I believe this would do good to Indian Cricket!-- open opputunities for the new commers, make the established one not take their positions for granted!
Was that me? Or is this me?
Today, attended a session on "Effective Meetings". It is a welcome change from the regular work and kinda refreshes your fundaes and helps you hone your day-to-day dealings with people.
Through out the session, the instructor was kinda favoring me... a li'l too much and in a more than a very obvious manner. Honestly, felt good- It was like getting back to school days. During the break, the instructor also showed interest in sharing some comments personally with me-was all praises for me. It was good so far. Went on to say that it always does a lot good to have ppl with experience in the class! She was highly appreciative of the -"value I brought to the table"-
While she was talking high of me, suddenly could not relate to the person she was referring to. Out of the blue, had this feeling that the person she was referring to seemed older than me! Come to think of it, people these days give me lot of respect! Strangely, elation seems to have transformed to a weird-melancholy! Come on… It’s just been 3.5 yrs in the industry—and I still feel I joined 3 months back!
Seems just a few months back, when I was attending a similar session in Mke – when I had registered for this course only to gawk at a chap! And how I was in the seventh heaven when this same chap happened to be in the same team as I was. That evening, also had to join Pavana, her uncle and aunt to attend the quixtar party in Chicago (something that was planned too much in advance- it just seemed highly insensitive to cancel on the last minute)— Bohot circus maraa tha! I ended up attending only half the session, making pavi and her uncle wait-as a result of which we were late to the Quixtar party! I hadn’t even bothered to “try” to take the credits for the course— also had to work extra hours to make up for the training hours! Jeez! All this for sometime with a chap!!!—And today, I am the one who brings value to the table! --- Something seems amiss somewhere!
Was that me? Or is this me?
Ball possession ?!!
The most hot topic in minfy now is a discussion on "Ball posession"..;) Looks like the RED guys had 90% as against the Green chaps!... The indignant chillies are trying to counter and maintain that the figures are skewed and in reality it must be 55%-45%. hahah ah ha ha ah--They seem to be more adamant about disproving the BULL's "Ball Possession" :) There were some guys trying to understand- "Ball possession" and in the process even re-defined it!... guys debating over-- We had the ball longer than u.. is killing..:))Dont get me wrong... I am talking of "Ball possession" in the game of football..Ya!...bwahhha ha h ah ah aha h...--- Following in an excerpt from the post on BB that caused all the havoc about "Ball Possession"...
With this kind of mood, RED BULLS met GREEN CHILLIES in the football final with team skipper injured and one key player missing the match for personal reasons. But this didn't reflect in their game. They showed an upbeat body language and the ball possession was 90% on their area. ...
Holidaying in a Six-day Week!
“A mega-jaded cat lazing around on a sluggish sunny day finding excuses for even lifting its eyelids”-- yep that’s how I have been feeling all of last week! The feeling was only amplified if at all due to the six-day week!
Been walking in languidly at 9.00 to the office, spending evenings watching synergy games, kalti-ing the gym religiously and hurrying back home to watch “Harry Potter”— that was my schedule for the last week. All I can say is JK Rowling ROCKS!!! (in the mannerof -LALOO ROCKS- in Jeetu isshtyle!!!...:)She has earned herself another HUGE Fan! Therez not one scene in the movie that’s not my fav!
Initially had this resistance –Thought the story was more on the –fairy-tales- line (not that I dislike fairy tales—but after visiting Disney, realized how effortlessly I just got lost among Cinderella, Snow White, Mickey Mouse, Pinocchio and Santa—almost started believing in Fairy God Mother and Prince Charming! ‘That trip’ just emphasized how easy it was to get back to childhood and the non-existent dreamland! —so, since then have been making a serious effort to be grown-up)
Momz gonna hate JK Rowling for ruining all her efforts to drive some sense into me…;)Which I plan to meticulously counter by narrating to her Prof Dumbledore’s words of wisdom!“This mirror shows nothing but your deep and desperate desires. But it neither gives you Truth or knowledge. It does no good to dwell upon dreams and forget to live... For men have wasted their lives before this mirror... Even gone mad” I know what my mom’s precise reaction would be!—“Lady, I’ve been trying to drive into you what this stupid Dumbledore has been saying since the past 25 yrs”!!!I must make sure not to mention Hagrid to mom... :) [Hagrid does not like anyone who insults Prof Dumbledore]Wonder how I can convince mom that I am capable of multitasking – I can be in my fairy land and talk about volcker report, sachin’s 35th century and do intelligent work at Office!
Talking of Sachin, it was really cool to see his 35th! As expected the topic of discussion in Cricket Controversies on NDTV was “Sachin”. The discussion was made more interesting by comparing “Sachin n Lara”. There were also some anecdotes about Sachin shared by Siddu, Kambli etc- Undoubtedly, Siddu’s was the best- “during the game in Eden garden, while playing on the wet ground, Siddu mentioned to Sachin that the ball was behaving weird and naughty after ‘tapka-ing’ (pitching). Just when thay had exchanged the words, It happened to be Sachin’s turn to face the ball- and it was a six!—Sachin took a moment to come to siddu and mentioned—‘praji, aapne bola tha na ball tapki marne ke baad shararath kar rahi hai, tho maine tapki marne hi nahi diya..:)’
I think its time to prove to myself that I can do much more than watching Harry Potter and blogging--- that am still capable of intelligent analysis!...Time to get back to work!
Hey before I sign off, another piece of bright news: Black Hawks won the cricket match against the Green Chillies. The match went till the last ball. We won by 3 runs with Ravi, Vineeth, Steephen (Green Chillies) and Sampath (Green chillies) continuing to be the unsung heroes!
Our First Gold!
It was 6.00 pm on Friday and the food court was bustling … Nope there was no snack-time festival (neither were there an extensions of the parata-festival or the chicken-with-appam festival)! Raison d'être was – as very poetically mentioned by a Marine, the head on clash between 2 legends mastering different spaces- (personally thought perhaps the Marines went slightly over board considering the latest score card... ;)—but what the heck!! IT IS SYNEGRY TIME—and it comes with free coupons to use poetic license! :))
excerpt from the Marine post being refered above-----Two legends…
Each mastering their own space
Clash face to face
For that single destiny….
One mastering the water
Other the sky…
Both connected by a ball
Over a long table…
Once reached us,
Either in sea or in Minfy..
On mariner’s premises..
Ball won’t kiss the land-----
But once the TT match began, I must confess I was in total agreement with the Marine who had completely exploited his share of poetic license on BB. Marine Dilip, the undisputed TT Champ was up against our star Hawk Arun. Oh! What a fight it was— Though Dilip beat Arun with a spectacular 23-21, 21-19, this was one round where both emerged as proud gladiators! Though the marines had taken an early lead, the Black hawks were confident that the show had only just begun! The hawks did not even let the victory to sink in with the Marines when our expert-combo of Vikas and Ashish smothered the Marine combo of Saif and Dilip with a fantabulous 21-8, 21-19. The Marines countered by taking the Mixed Doubles 21-14, 14-21, 21-14. The atmosphere was all charged and audience awaited the next deciding game! By Now Marines were leading 2-1. The hawks would not give up and proved it by making a fantastic comeback thanks to a very cautious game played by Shanteri. Shanteri beat Hiral 21-16, 21-14. The last game between Vikas and Tej was going to be the decider of this war among equals! Chances seemed bleak when Tej got an early lead and almost had the first match to his credit when the score card stood at 20-16. But Vikas decided to re-write the story and took the first game 22-20. And then there was no looking back. Vikas took the next game and earned the Hawks their first Gold!
The narration would not be fair without the mention of 2 other key contributors to Black-hawks’ Victory- Naresh and Sahu. They tirelessly helped the team (Vikas, Ashish, Arun, Shanteri) with numerous rounds of practice helping the team hone themselves.
In all the Final TT match of Synergy, 2005 was a HUGE treat both to the contestants and the audience!-----PS: I am almost turning to be a reporter for Black Team this synergy! I kinda like this hat I am wearing...:)
Its Worth it...
I was up by 6.00 am. I had to be in the office by 6.30 am- that would give me .5 hr to charge my iPOD before Mom n Dad could pick me up. Had I not forgotten the cable at office, I could have treated myself to another half hr sleep! [My latest interest is to listen to ‘Morning Raga’ and lucky Ali while traveling by Bus—I simply love the feeling of sitting by the window with the wind brushing my face when gazing at the passing trees while listening to lucky Ali]
After having some quick breakfast, we headed towards Dharmasthala. It was almost 2 hrs drive during which i caught up with mom on all that had happened since I had last visited her (which was 2 days back… Its amazing how therez always great deal to catch up irrespective of the frequency of such sessions in a given time period)
Stopped by the nethravati river. After the ceremonious wetting of ankles and sprinkling the holy water over the head, we continued to Dharmasthala. After offering Pooja to Sri Manjunatha, we had the traditional prasada-lunch. Mom n Dad decided we could best use an hour we had to ourselves by visiting the “Manjusha” museum.
Exhibits were mainly sculptures and other utility-artifacts from as old as harappan civilization times arranged with the idea of presenting the transition from then to now. Mom was explaining each exhibit (though the details were mentioned in both Kannada and English)—seemed like nothing had changed since the time when mom was performing a similar exercise at vishweshwariah museum –only I was in 8th grade then!
While Mom and dad were resting, I began trying my stunts with my camera. Did not have as much time as I would have wanted since we had to rush to Subhramanya. Therez a li’l history behind this trip--- mom had found that there was some dosha in my horoscope due to the movement of planets etc – and this could/would cause some uneasy times for me. Though the time period of the unpleasant period had already crossed ( per her- during my stay at mke), mom had gathered that ‘my’ visiting subramanya and offering milk to the snake god will make the gods (and planets) happy and the good times(that were already back per the horoscope) would get better! Though I am a religious person, I find it slightly difficult to correlate and absorb many of these fundaes. I abide by them more cause it gives me a chance to spend some nice time with my parents...:). And have the feeling that papa also shares my view points on this!
The drive to subramanya was not as smooth (literally since the road was not as good!) as the drive to dharmasthala. The Kukke subramanya temple is beautiful. After hunting for fresh cow-milk, we went to Aadi subramanya where I offered the Pooja as per mom’s instructions. I always like Poojas since it is invariably followed by the prasad..:) It was the time of some annual revelry at Kukke —this was the reason behind the huge number of devotees and the fancy prasad..:)
One of the bright things was though there was huge crowd everywhere, amazingly did not have to wait much anywhere!
This trip would have been much more fun had sis been able to join… anyways it only means we get to plan more trips with all the 4 of us ... :)
The only not-very-bright thing was when mamma mentioned that usually per traditions, one does not bathe after visiting temple on the day of paying the visit- since it is synonymous to washing out the punyas that you might have earned..?! weird--- but so are a quiet a lot of things! I knew mamma herself did not totally agree with it too!
But Mann!!! Spending a night in that –sticky- state ( made stickier by the games your mind plays on you) made me wonder if this superstitious belief was any different from the “Fwd this mail to 15 ppl in the next 3 min to bring you good fortune by 1.00pm next day- or bring bad luck for rest of your life”! -- But probably it is not as serious as the latter since it does not demand you to choose between ‘hygiene’ and ‘faith’
Whatever, I had a great time with my parents and my camera got some well-deserved attention in the middle of a busy week thanks to some religious beliefs (though probably blind)!
But Satisfied!
Coming back after an hour long grind at the flood lit basket ball court—Today's was a fantastic match! At the end of the first quart- were leading 11-0, By the end of the second quart, we stood at 12-12, at the end of third quart we were 13-15and by the end of one hr we lost 15-18!
Some fouls from our end which translated into too many free throws for the other team- was what turned out to be pretty expensive!
We played well as a team and our coordination was commendable. We thoroughly enjoyed our game. Our two main loop-holes were 1. We did not have enough subs. 2. Our shooters got tired after the first half an hour. The Bulls that we were up against were like the barbarians (before turning into gladiators)—ferocious looking giants (I did not know infy had this many 6ft-plus chaps—I think its time I started looking around) who never got tired!
Personally,
I had decided, I’d just stick to restricting the girl from the RED (heard she was a state –level player- this wasn’t gonna be easy since she was facing competition from someone who hadn’t been on the court since 9th std) But once we got on to the court, I got so involved- I not only successfully screened the Red Lady I also screened some RED guys effectively! Some of my very well-timed passes were successfully converted into Baskets by our shooter. I also had this Jonty Rhodes-fall(when one of the red bulls planted his/her foot between mine when I was running to dodge the ball away from one of their kin).-- best part being I even enjoyed that fall..;) Apart from a minor scratch in my elbow, no damage done.
I even managed to get a shrieking whistle from the referee in the 3rd quart (the one indicating a foul) when I was busy dodging the ball away from the Bulls placed under the basket for collection in order to rebound. This was slightly unusual since 1. Girls usually do not get the foul calls 2. I was trying to get my hands at the balls in the midst of 4 barbarians!--whatever, I did manage the dodge the ball away from them- but not before I had slapped one wrist in the air-- I had no clue whose it was- couldn’t help, the guys were too tall for me to slap the ball..:)
I was totally drained and could not continue on the court- when I called for a roll-out, some hawks from the crowd shouted for a time-out-- Some unfamiliar faces came to me and suggested I continue since I was screening better than some of the guys![ what more could a novice wish for..:) ]
Best part came in when the match was over and the most barbaric of the barbarians commended the Red Lady- "You did a good job blocking the Back girl, It was definitely tough"... :)
Though we lost, I am satisfied-- with how I played and how "we" played! Victory does matter-- but not so much as the satisfaction I feel now!
Blued?!
Got royally raped at Basket ball by the Blue Marines!!! I had this instant dislike for 'that' chap much before the game began... much before he was on the basketting-spree!!!! He had this 'I-am-the-god' and 'I-have-huge-horns' attitude--which was ousting only-n-only arrogance! But DAMN!-- the chap was a god in the court!I know I know--- just a game.. sportive spirit-- and all that crap!!! ... Damn--Its always hard to take defeats --no matter how frequently it hits you...and this synergy so far seems all about not just getting me familiar but to excel at it!Tomorrow we take on the Red Bulls and the Green chillies!... And I have no high hopes! The Reds and Greens played just before us-- They did not seem to have game plans and angles and those atrociously pompous technicalities( that the marines must have rehearsed a zillion times)...but they seemed better than us!!!Hell!!!.. I hate this thing about having to play when you know you are almost sure of being beaten!!!!Damn Basket Ball!! Damn the WORLD!!!
Had Cubie-Decore Comptt for IHL Minfy Today! Though the announcements were made well in advance, not many seemed too interested (at least that’s how it appeared).