The Other Side of Life

Do you have a happy place? I never did. But now, I do. Last month, Sherlock and I were on a trip of a lifetime. We went driving all around Ireland and Scotland. Here on, if I use the word beautiful anywhere in the rest of my post, please feel free to report my blog as Spam, because there cannot be a bigger disservice to the places we went to than describing them with an adjective as trite as that. It rained a lot there. Except on one day. The day we went to Cliffs of Moher.  On a bright sunny day, we arrived at the Cliffs of Moher. The geography of the place is quite logical - there are cliffs extending to both sides of the Visitor Centre. You arrive at the Centre and decided whether you want to go left or right. And then start walking along the cliffs. The trail is amazing, to say the least. It overlooks water and one step here and there, you can say goodbye to all that you love. So we reached the Centre and decided to walk towards the right. WIth sun out...

It's been so long since I wrote a cathartic post. It's been worth the wait! So much is changing around me. I am afraid to breathe out, lest it results in butterfly effect and some other change that will take the carpet away from under me. In the characteristic ax on the foot style or pair pe kulhadi style, I asked for some changes. I quit my job because I wanted to explore doing something of my own, learn something new, try something different. It's been a month and it's been good. I have struggled, enjoyed, found good work to do.  But it's a change, nonetheless. Every once in a while, I can hear the cells in my body screaming to me saying, "Did you not know how change resistant we are? What did you think when you did this? That we will celebrate with wine?" I ignore the screams and go about doing what I set out to do. Then I see a mail from the bank about account balance. And I can feel those cells getting together and glaring at me. That...

The other day, I was getting my daily dose of depressing news from the newspaper, when my maid pointed to a picture of Sasikala on the paper and asked me if I support her or OPS.  I shrugged and said, noone really, I don't have an opinion on this matter. I could literally see her image of me in her head come crashing down and her dusting the remains of my broken shattered self image into her dust pan. She was disappointed in me for not having an opinion! I don't blame her. We have become an opinion hungry society. If you are not a card carrying opinionated bigot today, you are an uninformed person, living in a cave, trying to light a fire with two stones. You are expected to have an opinion on everything. On topics related to our lives - Apple or Android? Beach or Hills? Eat pizza crust or leave it? Dogs or Cats? Books or Kindle? Books or Books converted to Movies?  On topics not related to our lives directly - Trump or Obama? Right or Left? Amma or...

Some part of me believes that inanimate objects have life and feelings. Psychologists apparently took time out to actually name this phenomenon - "Animistic Thinking", it seems. But I go a step forward. Somehow, I believe that inanimate objects don't just have feelings, they are probably far more sensitive than us humans. If vehicles in traffic jams could talk, I am sure this is what they are discussing: Bike to car: "I am sorry, I didn't mean to scratch you. My boss is on an ego trip. Someone needs to break this to him - he won't fit in this tiny gap." Truck to Scooter being driven by a lady: "Oops. Oops. Oops. I am sorry. I am so sorry. I scared you, didn't I? I am so embarrassed. This half educated nit driving me thinks it's fun to act intimidating on road. I am so sorry." Autorickshaw to everyone on the road:  "Watch out! My boss is on a roll.  Sorry Ma'am! Sorry boss! Arrey, I said sorry. ...

One of those days today. Nothing much to say. But honoring the Blogathon! Cheers! Preeks Image Courtesy: Calvin & Hobbes

Dealing with banks must be recorded in history as one of the more scarier things one has to do in adult life.  Every experience with banks for me is a cycle: Every time.  Today was one of those Bi Annual Bank Days of my life. The case was quite simple. My name is A.B. Preeks.  This is the story of when I did not have a bank account and I had just joined my first job. Banks were after my life to open an account. When I finally opened my first bank account, the pretty lady forcing her bank services on me said, what does A.B stand for? I said, Awesome Beautiful. She said, write that on the form. I tried telling her that I go by A.B. No one even knows the full form. But, no, she wouldn't listen. And for someone like me, who always wanted to keep her money as cash hidden under the bed, the bank was a scary dark monster I didn't know much about. So, there. In capital, bold letters and blue ink I wrote on the form: AWESOME BEAUTIFUL PREEKS...

Do you have consultants in your life? If you don't, you are missing out on something. Almost akin to being the only one on your Facebook timeline not watching Game of Thrones. #ReferringToAFriend #NotMe Being with consultants brings structure to your lives. Suddenly, everything is crystal clear.  Q: Should I sleep on the sofa and watch random movies on Romedy Now, or should I do something constructive, like say, go jogging or learn swimming? The answer is in the wind, my friends. What should I blog about today? Random stuff, gyaan post, a well thought out post, a short story? Everyday choices suddenly become simpler. Ask me a question.Go ahead. Ask me anything. Q: How is married life? You get the drift. Q: What are your future plans? Q: What do you make of people in office? You get it, right? Just give a structure to anything and your life becomes peaceful.  Just to check if you have been following me seriously, please tell me what y...

I always take pride in knowing that all my blogposts have an underlying theme. That of humour, reality, depth, satire, laughter, truth and me. So today, I decided to do a little experiment - to try and bring out all these underlying emotions in a single line blogpost. Here goes: <start of post> I am getting married in 4 days. <end of post> Funny, Deep, true, laughter and me. See you on the other side of bachelorhood, readers. Wish me luck! Cheers, Preeks!

Half is all I ask for. Half the Perfect World..with.. No Powerpoints. Not even if I am good at making them. No Excel. No Outlook. In fact, no Microsoft Office. No Internet Explorer. Lots of instances of Chrome. Youtube. Random net surfing. Travel Sites. Rather, lots of travel. Beaches. Long Drives. Sunshine. No rains. March-like weather, for the entire year. Long vacation.   Holidays. Leaves. Since its my perfect world, make that leave from vacation to go work. Why not, flexible work  play hours. But, good pay, haan? Bonus. Good appraisal. No performance pay. No performance required. No business jargon. No templates. Work only if you love it. Else, just sit at home. No pressure. No graphs. Good health. But no pressure to stay fit. Eat. Loads of fruits. Chips. Nachos. No milk. No paneer. No dal makhani. Pizza yes. Ice Cream. Sitaphal. French Fries. Everyday. Subway too. Bhindi. Fry? Yes. Music.  Nickelback. What? I like Nickelback. Rockstar.  Good old...

*Mush post alert* See. The thing is this. We are all filled with cynicism. And why not? Bad roads, bad weather, bad politicians, bad news anchors, bad job, bad salary, bad boss, bad, bad, bad. Its easy to be cynical. But you know, it could have been a lot worse. Why? Oh well. So much more could have gone wrong, right? We owe the normalcy in our life to many more unknown hands, than we are willing to admit! So I decided to start my new year on a thank you note. A thank you to a few of these unknown faces, who make my life comfortable, despite all the cynicism. Hope the good-will reaches, to at least some of them! :) #1 On My List Already posted this on Indigo's Facebook page. I have a message for the crew of 6E-174 (Flying from Mumbai to Delhi). Would be great if this could be passed on to them.   On the last day of the year, a cancelled flight is bound to make people angry. But your warmth and sincerity made the journey so comfortable. At the end of the flight, you guys stoo...

I was always a geek in school. Teacher's pet. My favorite teacher could have told me that the earth was flat and that Microsoft does no evil, I would have fought against the world to uphold her statements. My Dad often teased me that my answers for most questions began with, "My teacher said..." And I would close my ears and run away before anyone could counter what Ma'am said. But I loved my teachers. I really did. Except when I was in Kindergarten. KG-D. I remember distinctly. I had passed Nursery with flying colors (and alphabets and fruits and whatever it is I was asked to name) and found myself in KG-D. The new class-teacher entered and I started crying. She looked scary to me, just because she was fat! I would cry every morning while taking the bus, "I don't want fat mam!". But relief came when the Nursery teacher would come, sit with me, make sure I was engrossed in coloring and then leave silently. I would have never passed KG had it not be...

That's it. I need to find myself a passion.   I don't have a passion! Oh wait. I do. I do pursue certain things with all seriousness.   For instance, the past 3 months, the most number of calls I have made, have been to Airtel. That is a passion now, isn't it? I call them and I talk to them for hours, discuss my problems with them and bang my head when I dial 1 for English, but it doesn't matter to them. I am very passionate about these call center people. One genius who filled up my form on my behalf, was of dear, sweet Gujju origin. Despite my pleading to her, she didn't understand that the entire world does not adopt their fathers' name as middle names, and most definitely, do not add a Bhai at the end of it. So I took up the cause of explaining this to her. Very passionately. Now my Airtel bill has 180 characters, which include my expanded name, my father's expanded name and a Bhai at the end. That's something to show off for passion, ain...

I still remember the first race I won. Frog Jump. I jumped on my thighs like a damn frog and I was better at it than anyone else. I got a gold medal for that. The Principal congratulated me on successfully making a fool of myself and jumping around like a frog because, yes, that is a skill which will help me for the rest of my life. I also remember how I cried when I didn't win, trying to carefully balance a lemon on a spoon, stuck inside my mouth. I gave up at the start line. The girl who won? She had her eyes squinted on to that spoon through out and she didn't lose her concentration for even 1 second. The Principal congratulated her for successfully running around with a lemon in her mouth. I hope she is using that skill well now. When I look back, it was all so stupid. When I was trying hard to keep that lemon on my spoon and I realized that one kid had already specialized the art of balancing and was racing away to victory, I stopped trying. Nothi...

I have a genuine problem here. Who was the genius who declared our Generation as Generation Y, the set of people who can be gleefully described as Mobile phone addicts, Internet dependents, Junk food lovers, whose staple diet includes Pizza, whose day begins and ends with Facebook and who think SMS language is an Oxford defined standard? I respectfully disagree.   I mean, yes, this is what we may have become now, but this is not what shaped us. This is not what defined us or made us who we are today! There's a lot more to this lot of us, who grew up in the 90s. And today, I undertake the noble task of re-defining my Generation. I may never be able to cover the whole gamut, but feel free to add on in the comments section! We grew up watching Doordarshan! - Cable TV was a rarity. We got our first cable connection only in the 1999 World Cup. Till before that, it was Doordarshan. And the worst days of my life were the days following the demise of former Presidents, whe...

What? You thought I had disappeared again? If only. I am saying this one last time on this blog. Dear God, sometimes, you are really really unfair. And in times like those, I am sorry to say, but I feel jealous of atheists. At least, they don't feel guilty saying thank god. I mean, pray explain your logic behind making me take decisions I will regret later. If you and I had to play the "I-Told-You-So-Game", trust me, our equation would be very different. Seriously? I told you so? That's your BIG idea? I am disappointed.  And while on the subject, it would be great if you could explain to me why some people have ALL the luck in the world, while others have none. You have probably not attended B-School, but any voracious newspaper reader could explain to you the concept of Economies of Scale. Remember? Why do I always get phased out by luck? Why can't you distribute luck equally! Bruce Almighty had a very valid point when he went around dividing th...