Its raining... Its raining...

It was 5.55 pm yesterday. I was in my bus, back from office. It was about to reach my stop. My building is about half km from the stop.

I looked outside the window. It was raining heavily. As one of my friends would say, it was raining cats and dogs. But still i felt very pleasant by looking at the pouring water, flooded streets... My heart longed to be outside and get wet like everything else outside.

I had a raincoat with me and no bag. I checked my pockets: mobile, headphones, wallet, keys, handkerchief. I put the mobile, headphones n wallet in the raincoat pocket, n folded it nicely to ensure no water can get inside and waited.

The bus reached my stop, people hurried to wear their raincoats. I calmly got down with the folded raincoat in my hand, and felt the cold showers... What a soothing experience... Stood there until i was drenched to the skin. People were looking curiously... A man getting wet in the rain, with a raincoat in his hand... I smiled... Rain makes me happy...

I remembered i had very little money with me. Went to an atm, took out what i would need for the next week. Then i went for a food-shopping... Sitting by the window and eating something hot, is one the best thing one can do when it's raining... I bought a variety of stuff: manchurian, dhokla, chocolates (they are not hot, but who cares... I love them...) I also bought some stuff i would need for cooking my dinner...

Having got everything i would need, I walked towards my building. The streets were almost empty. When i reached, our chowkidar looked at me, then looked at my raincoat and gave me a puzzled look. I just smiled, he understood...

I reached my floor, that is the top one, opened the door, threw all the stuff, took off my shoes, then came out and locked the door. Then i ran to the terrace and felt the showers again...
Ohooooo..... Cold water and cool breeze....

Did i mentioned, there's the Tapi river flowing about 3 kms from my building and that the sea coast is just about 10 km from where i was standing... Though none of them are visible from my terrace due the massive concrete jungle, but it sure cant stop the breeze...

Cool breeze keep flowing through out the day. Add to that the rain showers n it becomes a deadly combination... Lovely deadly i mean... I wanted to dance and jump, but the neighbouring aunty was already staring at me as if i was nuts. If i would have danced, that would. So i just stood there enjoying the rains for about half an hour. Came back to my apartment, dried myself and wrote this blog....

P.S. If you are thinking of trying this yourself, make sure you take a bath afterwards, to avoid any itching after-effects. Also keep yourself warm to avoid cold... I didn't and now that i have caught cold, i think i should have...

The Hence's, the Because's & the Inspite of's

So here i m... In my company's bus again... Arguing with a fool...
Yes, i remember the saying, 'don't argue with a fool. He brings you down to his level and beats you with his experience.' but probably i m fool too.

So when we were discussing a very complicated matter (something i think only fools can discuss, as did we..), i came up with three groups of people who work in this company- the hence's, the because's and the inspite of's.

The hence's are the people about who can be described as 'They are fools, hence they are in this company.' I think that sentence says all that i want to say.

The because's are the people who were not fools when they joined the company, but over the valuable time they spent in the company, the hence's influenced them and converted them into fools. So about because's, we can say, 'They are fools because they are in this company.'

Now the last come the 'inspite of's.' These are the ones who were not fools when they joined the company and are not fools even today. I m not talking about those who are newcomers and hence not influenced enough yet, they will take time to chose a group. But i m talking of those who have spent years in this company and yet have retained their wisdom. I have found just 2-3 of them, but all of them at very powerful positions. How they managed to stay wise is a mystery i have to solve... But they are the ones we can describe as, 'They are not fools inspite of being in this company'.

About me, i have not decided yet which category i want to be in... The because's or the inspite of's....

P.S. I think everyone is born with enough potential and a choice: Be a part of the crowd and become a 'Because' OR fight his way out of the crowd and become an 'Inspite of'.

Feeling like a bird in an iron cage

I always get frustrated when i have to get up in the morning to go to the office. The frustration is even more when the office day comes after a holiday. This frustration then exaggerate when my boss asks me to stay overtime. At that time, my temper rises so much that i turn into a volcano, about to erupt.

I always thought this happened coz i hate my offc so much. But now here i m, sitting by the window of my offc bus. I look outside the window. It's raining. I want to go outside and dance in the rain, i want to jump in the muddy puddles, i want to go to my terrace n shout at the world. Its sound crazy, but i still want to do it. But then i feel some imaginery cage has bound me to my seat. I cant dance in the rain coz i have to go to the offc. I cant do what i want coz i have to do to what my boss wants me to do. I feel like a slave obeying his master for the fear of lashes. I wait for that 5 pm in the clock, so that i could get out of this cage, atleast for a few hours.

I can be free then. I can fly in the open sky as a free bird does.

Why did I miss the bus yesterday?

So I as said in the topic, I missed my bus yesterday... Actually I missed it day before yesterday, but that wouldn't have sounded right in the topic...

Anyways, this is what happened...

At 10 am, I was told that some items needed in my project were ready at the yard and I was to deliver them to the contractor. The task took 20 mins. I just had to arrange a vehicle, get the papers ready and bring the items.

I asked the engg at the yard to get my papers ready and check the items, got permission for the vehicle from transport office. Now only thing remained was to go and get the items. Even then I couldn't do it until 5:10 in the evening and so missed the bus. Why?

1. I couldn't leave the site, so had to asked my subordinate to get the items. But he couldn't reach the driver on his cell neither did he tell me about this untill a 2 pm.

2. The driver had switched off his mobile.

3. Drivers of other vehicles were also unreachable. They all must be planning for a strike.

4. After making some 1024 calls, I found out at 4.15 pm that the driver (along with vehicle) was with my colleague. He needed it for 15 mins.

Great, now i had 40 min.. Can easily catch the bus...

5. The colleague didn't free the vehile after he had finished. Coz that lazy fellow didn't want to walk 100 m n asked the driver to take the longer route to offc.

6. Some idiot truck driver had parked his vehicle in the middle of the road. It took 10 min to find the truck driver and hence the vehicle to reach me.

Finally got the vehicle at 4:40... 30 mins left... Could be done...

7. When i reached the yard, it turned out that the papers weren't ready. A bit of running could do it in 10 min, I thought, can still catch the bus.

8. Now the big thing... The parts were not ready... WTF....

So I'll miss the bus, i thought. Somehow i got them done n returned by 5.15 pm.

But hold on, there was one bus left. It too got late probably. So I can handover the vehicle to the contractor n make a run...

9. The contractor wasn't there in his offc n neither were his men. Finally i unloaded the vehicle n while doing it, saw my last bus leave.....

Customer is equal to God

I was reading this article, 'Dont buy racism' by Jug Suraiya published in TOI.

The author says that the main reason for the increasing racist attacks on Indians is the envy that those people feel towards us due to their perception of us being in a better position in this time of recession. He also suggest that to tackle these attacks, we can exploit this perception of theirs and boycott their goods and sevices.

Now, let us leave the author's suggested reason for some other discussion and get on to the solution that he gave.

To tackle Australian Goondagiri with Indian Gandhigiri...

The whole world today is hit by recession. The pre-recession consumers (i.e. those from the developed world) are drowned in debts and can no longer afford to contribute to the demand. Thus the demand to keep these industries alive has to come from emerging economies. The consumer market in India is second only to China. Though china has registered the highest growth, its economy has been hit badly due to the countries export-orientedness. That makes the Indian market the biggest hope of these countries for their survival.
The countries are looking upon our vast and wealthy middle class and its increasingly brand-concious attitude.

Thus if we were to boycott any specific countries goods scarred , imagine the losses that country would bear. That would seriously threaten their economies and compel their govt to take action against attacks on Indians.

For this to happen, we have to stand united in our efforts. Our govt cannot get involved in this and ban their products. That step would severe our diplomatic ties with them. We just have to encourage everyone to boycott their goods.

It would also show that Gandhi's principles are still alive in our country and we are still that same nation that fought the British tyranny without picking any arms. Remember, fighting with peaceful methods takes a lot of strength and self-control.

We are the customers they desperatly need. Its time to show them the power we hold.

As Gandhiji once said, 'Grahak devta saman hota hai.' Translated, it means, Customer is equal to God.

Where the hell is my country?

Currently, I am reading this novel, Namesake. It’s about a Bengali family settled in America, the problems they face, the Bengali’s they meet etc. The novel’s good but what troubles me is that it’s a Bengali family not an Indian family and the people they meet over there are Bengalis and not Indians. Even as far as I remember, there’s no mention of India in the novel, until what I have read….

I am not pointing this out at the author or the Bengalis, but at the tragedy that our country (if it really exists) faces.

Whenever someone introduces himself to you, the state always finds its place (I am not saying that the state is given more priority than the country, coz the country is given no priority at all). This point can be defended by saying that you need not mention you are Indian, when in India. But then what abroad? Aren’t there we suppose to introduce ourselves as Indians and not as Punjabis or Bengalis or Marathis???


There are a few guys in my company who think of me as their friend, a very good friend in fact, even though I haven’t spoken much with them. And this is just because we come from the same state. Whenever we are sitting in a group, they start conversing with me in Marathi and neglect others present who don’t know Marathi. As if this is not enough, they view others who are not from our state as being someone of inferior species.

Though I hate them for this attitude, I have to accept that this is through no fault of their own. They have been taught like this right from their birth. This is no fault of their parents either, coz they too have been taught the same thing. “You r Mr. X and You are a Marathi”. (Not an Indian, but a Marathi.. Damn It…..)

This is not the case just with Marathis, but with every state, every region in India. Even the education system is filled with this stuff, maybe not intentionally.

Thus it has happened that states have become more than a region of the country that we live in, and sometimes even replace our country.

India was formed as a Union of States. 60 years have passed and it’s still a Union of States. Not a country, but a bunch of states fighting among themselves for every silly issue possible.

Hence, I think sometimes…. Where the hell is my country??? Does it exist anywhere except in the nationality column in one’s passport???

the wall clock rule...

A few weeks earlier, I was attending this class. The instructor was giving us topics for extempore... one minute to think, one minute to talk. It was my turn, he gave me this topic... the wall clock...

I started thinking what I can say about this wall clock that would mean something and not just give information that everyone knew. I wanted to say something different, something out of the box.

I looked at the wall clock hanging above the blackboard… “There's nothing different, it’s just a wall clock, idiot...” I said to myself....

I looked at my instructor. He was looking into his watch, the minute was passing away. I looked at other students, everyone with a fancy watch on their hands…

n then it clicked me... the wall clock has a rule...

Imagine.... 50 people standing on the road, everyone with a wrist watch on his hand, everyone following their own time, everyone acting independent of other…
But then, these same 50 people when sit in a classroom, with a wall clock hanging above the blackboard... they have to follow this one wall clock. It shows the same time to each of them... thus keeping everyone under the same rule, judging everyone on the same parameter.... It doesn't care about the sex, religion or age of the person. It just shows you the time, same time for everyone…
Thus everybody's actions get linked and the class acts as a team and they make progress.

This is the wall clock rule... Everybody has to be treated equally, and has to work as a team… That’s the only way progress can be made....
Maybe our political leaders take a note of this...

p.s. What happened at the extempore? Let’s leave that topic for a while.....