Nostalgia - yet again

In my entire life, this is the 12th residence I am staying in and this has come with a very profound nostalgic feeling due to two reasons - one, that it is a new place and I am missing my old apartment and two, that my parents who were here for one month left just the day we settled down in the new place. So everything is new and changed and change is something that our heart is afraid of. I have had this feeling many a times. When I went to Dubai to start my studies and then to Singapore to finish it. When I came to Hyd for the first time and had to spend a night in a lonely apartment. Then shifted to a new place and had to adjust - I could not even find dinner those two days and had to settle down with some crap.

While going through this phase, I was just thinking about various birds having their nest been destroyed by rains, enemies and what not and they must have been going through this phase so often. It is indeed a very low feeling and on top of that, a demanding Monday comes to ask your heart and mind to be as lively as possible to take major professional decisions. After all, you never feel nostalgic when your Boss goes away, except in a few cases (such a case can be when you are waiting for an important email reply such as confirmation of leaves, etc).

Thats the irony of life and thats the way one has to handle it. I ask what can we achieve by being away from our own people, what can a forced profession and its forced location give us other than money and bit of professional fulfillment. I say nothing. I say, it gives us nothing as valuable as the time you spend with your loved ones. So love truly, laugh uncontrollably and smile often - as life is moving ahead without waiting for you - one second at a time.

Uff these women

Now I know very well why behind every successful man there is a woman and behind every satisfied man, there is none. The uncanny habit of a woman to regularly exhibiting uncanny behavior simply keeps a man on his toes and thats why they never rest and keep moving on the path of success - I mean this is superb. You want your kid to be a successful professional, one woman is enough. You want him to be a businessman - two will do but if you want him to be a business tycoon - a bunch should do. Bull shit! You must be saying - yes it is.

I think it is clearly the other way around. A man is successful when he has time to think. (Please note we are not talking about women here as they have ample time to think, but not the right thing). So if a man's brain is occupied by his woman and her tantrums, we should feel very sorry about him as he is always thinking about that. On the other hand if there is no woman in a man's life, he is highly unsatisfied as he desperately wants one.

So why goes the saying that behind every..., there is a...? Cos this saying talks about a different breed of women. The kinds who encourage their partners in being positive, the ones who are there in the back-of mind as a solid support to take the burden of a man's weaknesses and his thoughts to grow ahead. The ones who, when thought about, bring smile on their faces and give them the courage to handle anything and move ahead with vigor and valor. Thats the kind of women I got and I am sure, I am going to be a successful man in life. I love my wife.

Chevy Beat - a review

Following my previous post about my emotional attachment with my Chevy Beat, here is a review I posted on a car review website. HTH.

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Beat's Looks

Looks are subjective to all people but most of them tend to like them. I am one of them. Interiors give me a feeling that I am sitting in an expensive Sedan. Considerably better than others in the same cadre. So keeping looks aside (which are mainly for ladies), we come to the main points -

Engine Performance, Fuel Economy and Gearbox

Performance is Ok. I have to switch off AC to sometimes accelerate in 2nd gear but I am HAPPY to do it as that gives me good FE. As of now, I am getting a economy of 15+ with 25% AC on and believe me, the AC is too strong and I have to switch it off sometimes and switch it on back. Gears are smooth. Road clearance is a problem but I think its mainly because in my city there are new potholes coming up everyday due to heavy rain so can't blame the car. A nice package indeed.

Ride Quality & Handling

I never found any problem. The response to steering is fast, the braking is nice though I have not tried it on a highway yet. I want to complete my 2nd service and 5000K mark before going beyond 80 Km/Hr - yes, you are right - I have not touched it yet. Also, I think the FE should increase after the 2nd service. My beat has completed only 3000 Kms yet.

Final Verdict

I had many doubts before buying it mainly for the brand and resale value - if you want to buy with the perspective of reselling it - then probably you should buy a bike as it has its life of not more than 3-5 years. For a car, that too a hatchback, that too for a middle-class family guy, buy a car that you would like to keep with you always or for at least 10 years and I found Beat to be one of those cars. After 10 years, no car has a value. I have a Maruti 800 which is only 8 years old and no one is ready to buy it even for 25K. Pity. There was a time when I bought a second hand 6 years old Maruti 800 for 1.20 lacs. That time is long gone. Today people do not buy old vehicles as their purchasing power is more and cars are cheap. Nonetheless, there are no good deals available outside. SO guys, ask yourself - are you going to keep a vehicle for life? If yes, Chevy is a good bet. GM is in top 10 largest companies of the world and they have made innovations that are trend-setting. So my final words would be - Go for it!

Even if I buy a sedan later, I will keep this car with me always as a secondary vehicle...

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So emotionally attached to my bbery special Beat!

There are stupid things in the world people get attached too. Gals usually get attached to their Poohs (the soft toys), their shoes and of course, their woes. Guys usually get attached to their sports gear, their electronics stuff, their GFs (before they accepted) and their Cars. I am also attached to all of the above except one as I am married. This post is all about the emotional potpourri in my heart and my affinity towards my car - Chevy Beat.

I will start with a story about how we met - me and my Beat. It is a long and enduring case of emotional atyachar. I booked my car on 7th of July - my first day in Hyd after marriage. It was a Wednesday. I submitted most of the papers and they promised me that they would deliver my vehicle on Saturday and I told them I will take the delivery on Sunday as its a better day - so calm an composed I was. Alas - as it happens with all my timings and plans (read my previous blogs) - it got delayed. The verification failed and ironically, I don't know where. They verified my home town, my Hyd home, my wifes's office and mine too and something failed somewhere. I had to submit a long list of proofs that I was doing as instructed but nothing worked. Sunday went off and so did the calmness and composure. I waited for Monday. Nop - verification documents didn't the loan bank - I was angry. Tuesday, Nop - They are waiting for a mail from Bangalore - I was furious. Wednesday, Nop - Car registration FAILED - WTF - the government site stopped working - I was calm now, toofan se pehle ki shanti. Thursday, I got my Beat (so they just escaped the toofan) and after so much emotional atyachar I had to deal with, I loved the site of my new Beat, the first time itself - not because its Chevy Beat, which is beautiful, but because its 'my' car. Its my first car - glee - makes me feel good about it, I don't know what makes me glee but even then, I glee.

Now, I am so much attached to my car, that even a little bump due to some pothole makes me scream and I had to be ushered to peace by my wife. She does the job well but the emotional attachment is so much, I am happy she is not jealous as most wives are; saying - "You love the car more than you love me" - duh!

My attachment is not to such an extent that I will cry for it (may be I do, but hope and wish nothing egregious happens - amen) but then I will crave for its well being every minute. I feel bad if it is not cleaned everyday and myself have cleaned it for 1.5 hours one weekend from inside out demeaning the car cleaner. I just love caring for it. I wrote this blog as a tribute to my car who should know I love her - lols. So please guys, someone should read this to her and tell her that she has got an admirer who is mad for her, I am too shy to speak it out!!!

Here is a pic for you - open it to see full size - my beat in the greens (Pardon the extra glare - My Beat gleams).

CWG opens with a bang! Marvelous!!

It was indeed a nice show. With a potpourri of all Indian cultures coming together and for the good. I had a vomit of emotions when I started, with my eyes wide open, dancing on the dhol at the near end of the ceremony. This is the exact emotional khichdi cooking in my mind that time telling me - the positives have won it all.

I read people saying "Sh*t! Kalmadi was right! It was better than Beijing Olympics opening ceremony...". It was indeed. I am overwhelmed with joy for just the first day itself. The India's journey by Indian Railways was just awesome and I was so impressed by the show that I could not stop smile on my face and saying again and again "See I told you, it is going to be good". Iwas wrong - it was great!

As the ceremony went ahead, I was also on Twitter reading the latest thoughts. Some praising ABJ as he got claps, some saying stop Yoga and some really impressed by the mere showcase of asanaas and telling the world a lot of stuff. One said "World, not many can do this in your countries...". As a whole the show was spectacular and also attracted comments such as "Obama should learn from us, how to open a show". "World, learn something from us" and it was too appeasing to the mind and heart.

India, you have put a great show and have made us really proud of being a part of such a nation - mixture of cultures, languages, folk dances and religions - and still one nation. Just like we cook delicious food with many ingredients and even the absence of one of them can spoil the dish - we are never complete without any culture in India today.

India rocks and it does have its soft power so powerful that it can't be overlooked anymore. We are a part of India who cheered aloud when the Pakistani team entered the stage. We believe in love and passion, not rage and hatred. It was a great show with such subtle messages that I would remember it for all my life...

CWG - A tale untold, by the media, as it unfolds...

"The sh*t has hit the fan, now nothing can be done". I heard this for India's preparation for CWG. I feel otherwise - I have a strong feeling that India will not only do good but great because for a few important reasons that makes India different from other hosts - I will stress on only one reason here, strong enough to make all others tiny and irrelevant. Let me start with what all happened. In a chronological order, media showed some stats that CWG work is going behind schedule. India's youth laughed it away. Then they offered incomplete site pictures which of course were going to infuse negativity around and they did, media got its TRP (Mind you, the pics were old, go and see the site today. I bet you would like to sh*t on that commode instead of offering it to a fan). In this negative chaos created, the average India started feeling that Indian Govt is not doing its job right. They started aggravating the situation with the help of FB and Twitter. The Indian sh*t thinkers (these are the ones who think while sh*tting such as Chetan Bhagat) wrote to India public suggesting some hard-line measures such as boycotting the games totally. After the sh*t hit fan, Kalmadi was caught with handing over of contracts unethically and it came as the best icing on the cake for media and boo-booers of India. Then came snakes, broken beds and ceilings which aggravated the situation more, but while this was happening a large number of people, just like us, had faith in themselves and were preparing for the games. I am not talking about the likes of Sania Nehwal, Bindra or others, but mainly about the common man and workers who have got their bread and butter due to games and will get in future too. I am talking about the budding sport stars who wanted a good facility to get trained but didn't have any till yet. I am talking about the small shop owner who were looking forward to getting some good customers due to the games and were preparing for it since long. Also the ones who used Delhi's infrastructure daily and thought if the games would have happened a few years back, I would have got all this then. THAT person for me has something positive in his heart even today, after such as mess created by media. And THAT person within me and you will make the games a grand success just like the one Rikshaw-wala who had the courage to throw a stone on the terrorists. It is the positive energy in a million hearts that will make the games a success which cannot be besmirched with tiny pieces of sh*t that hit the fan a long time ago. Long live THAT person with-in us...I can see that positive beaming today with a great confidence as the days unfold...

Swamped with 'urgent' but the 'unimportant'

I recently faced a situation when one can be so swamped with unimportant stuff that he/she doesn't feel time. Logically this can happen in two cases - physically, the most obvious case is when one is traveling at the speed of the light (I never said practical case) and another where the person is just pursuing something without knowing three basic rules, as Chanakya, the great strategist and politician said: "Before you start some work, always ask yourself three questions - Why am I doing it, What the results might be and Will I be successful. Only when you think deeply and find satisfactory answers to these questions, go ahead."

Many people are into this situation today. Even without asking this question, people take the task into their hands. We have the tendency to waste time on doing that thing rather than spending some time to think about WHY and WHAT of that.

Today, life demands are different. It asks you to be "more reactive and tied-up". But is that the right thing? A meaningful life asks for proactive behavior and it is impossible to be proactive when you do not have the patience to sit, think and understand the difference between 'urgent' and 'important'.

Taking a phone call may be urgent, but might not be important at all (read wrong number). Checking personal mails is synonymous to getting interrupts and doing something unworthy rather than spending that time for something that creates value, not only for the organization you are working for but also for yourself. Satisfaction, sense of achievement and relaxation are the peak value attributes of anyone's life. All run in life's race to reach a point of satisfaction. The irony is they become so reactive to everything, they forget what they were looking for.

I write this entry in my blog after so much time because of this same reason. I lost that long term direction and believe me, it was tough to come out of that phase and back to my clarity in life. I was carried away with the 'reactive' syndrome which not only spoiled my few days but also my mood. Feels great now as everything seems to be under control now.