Half a month of rush and push

Its been long since I wrote. Do I attribute myself for the gap? Nah! I wanted to write but then, as we say, was busy doing nothing. So when I was just about to hit bed, I just thought why not to fill the gap. This is exactly what I have been doing since last 15 days. Am washing off the old sins in my professional pursuit to improve my company's branding and marketing infrastructure which has numerous gaps but hey, is it not a blessing in disguise? Yeah it is. I remember my time in one of my previous companies where I used to work for more than 12 hours a day. I was a team leader there. No no, I was the project leader actually and believe me leading the team was a pretty difficult part. Wondering why? Cos' the team I was leading comprised only myself. There was no one leading me but my own drive to learn and reach new heights. I used to crib, cry, make some hue and what not. That was the time when I learnt to such an extent that landed me to many golden opportunities in future. There was a peculiar point to notice: I was doing the work I loved.

I see the same happening right now. I have loads of work and I can't even take my head out to see around and take some breath. But then, I remember those words of wisdom:

"Karmanye Vadhikaraste Ma Phaleshu Kadachana"

I know it is going to bear fruits but is that the motivation for me? No. Are the above words of wisdom the motivation for me? Hmmm... Thats a question to ponder over now.

Oh! "I better finish fast as I need to get back to work". Hope you got the answer...

ZooZoo Story that won me a Vodafone gift

So, am I a writer? No no. It was a story that I just wrote thinking, may be one day I can make some advertisements. Being in technology marketing, which is far different from retail and consumer marketing, it was an off the track thought. But then what harm in trying?

A zoozoo story completion contest was on when I opened vodafone.in for recharging my mobile and what I see is writing a story for the contest. They said there are some Blackberry's, t-shirts and other gifts to win. Crap! I never get gifts that easliy, my previous blog describes a story on that.

Even then I wrote one story. Here is the snapshot they gave and here is the story I wrote. Remember, this won me a prize, so it gotta be not-that-bad after all :D...


My story is based on this snapshot. Here it flows out of my mind...

Magician ZooZoo MagZ : Shivering a bit as he is a novice.
Box ZooZoo BoxZ in the box : Smug and smiling. He is confident nothing will happen.
MagZ: Slowly closing his eyes cuts the box in to half
BoxZ: Still smiling as the box remains togthr for a few secs.

Then the box separates BoxZs tummy tears apart open. All the secrets that the BoxZ has in her tummy come out and the MagZ laughs out aloud and calls all friends and tells all the secrets one by one. Ad ends with a banner "Share secrets in seconds pay per sec"

Aah, I got my award at last...

November 1, I get a mail in my mailbox saying "Congratulations, you have won a blog contest. Please send us the following details so that we send you your award". It was an international blog contest on "Your toughest job interview" by an Indian company, 24/7 customers. I went Gaga. Sent mails to my friends circle, shared the link with all and also made plans what I am going to spend those vouchers on. I declared myself a winner in blogging (yeah, am that dumb sometimes).

I got a call from one of the cntact point in 24/7. She told me I will get my award in next three days, around 6th November. Yeah Yeah, muah muah... oh sorry. I got really very excited as if there is no stopping me doing weird stuff. 6th went by, so did 7th and so did 12th. Hmmm, this is dirty. After declaring to all am the blog-king, they must be jaughing about me, I mean joking and laughing at me. I didn't have the award in my hand even after 12 days.

I call up my contact point. She shouts: "We have sent it across, you should get it soon". Aah! I mean are you giving an award or assuaging yourself for shedding out money on such a pathetic blog entry :-|. That was heights. I waited for a couple of days more. 14th, 15th went by.

I wrote a mail, also called the same number. Nobody home :( . May be she has been sacked for selecting my entry as the winner? What if she has resigned feeling disgusted choosing my blog entry. Or may be she has got great offers as she did the wise thing by choosing my entry. I settled down with the last thought and also with my apprehension for the day. I persistently called everyday. Then one day, every hour. No response.

My award has gone under the table in the hands of some better blog writer? Can't say. Then one day she picked up (22nd Nov I guess). It was music to ears even talking to her. She recognized me and said "I am sorry. It has not be sent yet, we will dispatch it soon and you should get it in next 3 days". Oh no. Mentioning 3 days was a big mistake as I started having that same gut feeling of never getting the award and she changing the job. Gulp :(

23rd passed, So did 24th, 25th, 26th, 27th, 28th. WTF. 28th (Oh did I already mention it, no harm emphasizing), 29th, 30th.

I had lost the hope of getting my award. Saturday afternoon when I was fast asleep, I get a call from DTDC. The lady says "I have a courier from....". "24/7" I jumped out of my bed. She says yes. Aah at least it came out of their office.
Me: "Are you going to deliver it today?"
Lady: "No sir. But we will deliver it on Monday before 1 in the afternoon."
Me: "Ok thanks. BTW, pls do it for sure. It is running away from me since long"

It was a good morning omen. I had a peaceful weekend. I reach office on Monday. Ask the reception in lunch, "Any courier for me?" "No sahab". Its ok Rohit, may be they are a little lazy to start. You will get it by the eve...

Monday gone, so did Tuesday, Wednesday. I had lost the hope again and here come Thursday. I just received the courier 20 minutes back (thats why I started writing this post else would have refrained from the limelight, you know) and have clicked a pic and posting this as a keepsake for the emotional atyachar it inflicted on me and the kind of emotional khichdi I had to feed on... I don't even know what is inside the packet. But whatever it is, it has a very high value...

Shaadi Waadi

I heard 6 guys got engaged in my company in last 15 days. Phew! That's a large number. Not huge, but large at least. One particular guy's story struck me hard, right on my face. He is the same guy who was looking for someone, along with his parents of course, when I had a talk with him around 20 days back. In just two weeks, he told me he is engaged.

Wondering how the events would have turned out, his family going to her family, he trying to look at her, she shy, he asking for water and trying the glass base while drinking water to look at her so that it is not obvious that he wants to stare at her (may be he would have done that daily on the streets), they left lone for some time, he asking are you ready for marriage and instantly falling in love with her (duh!).

Their parents agreeing on caste, financial potency as well as gestures (which must have matched theirs') and bingo, all set. I am amazed how someone can choose a life partner for himself/herself by just meeting a couple of times and talking. I mean, I couldn't even understand a guy forget a gal in so many years. There are zillion of situations that you face in everyday living and the promise to LIVE together is facing those together and that too without panic, and to add to it, with love.

I have heard stories where a 10 year school time affair got converted to a marriage and then a divorce. I have heard stories, my Mom and Dad are a good example, where the couple met once and they lived happily ever after, after getting marriage that is. It doesn't seem to be a very viable scenario today. Financial, professional, social and even emotional independence have made people loners and they do not understand the taste that dependence can actually give them.

So what DOES NOT matter is:
- you met him/her once or twice (think love at first sight, Bollywood is ripe of such stories)
- you have been together for years (may be you will get bored and go for an extramarital affair)
- your frequency matches (forget frequency shrequency, its bullshit and the hz someday will be Khz. Also please keep out words like attitude, adjusting types, compromising etc. They all go down the flush once you get married. You only get more salt in food and more stink in socks if its not working)
- same caste (only for social acceptance? yes. for success of marriage? nope)
- age difference (I think of Sachin and Saif together, you got the drift right...)
- beauty (understandable yes for first few years and then what?)

We can go on and the list of "does not" matter will keep on growing. Asking the question upside down makes the question unanswerable for me as I have not been able to understand what DOES make a marriage successful.

To all my fellas out there, I wish you all luck and a happy married life. I would be in the bandwagon of married people sooner than I think and I know one thing about successful marriages: there are more successful ones than the failed ones. That does make me rejoice...