The Other Side of Life

The problem with taking strong stands is that at times, you end up taking a stand for the sake of taking it, and hence, end up weakening your cause. The case in point being the new Airtel Ad. Have you seen it? Is it regressive? Is it progressive? Should she be shown cooking? Should she be the boss? Meh. My opinion is this. Its neither progressive, not regressive. Its a just a little bit stupid. Again, this is my opinion. Please allow me to explain. In my limited experience, this is how the work-life balance equation pans out: In other words, what I am saying is this: Case 1: Low Proximity to Boss When you and your boss limit your interactions to mails that start with FYI and end with "Regards" When you have to set up a calendar invite to see his face once a week When you present something to the outside world and he asks you questions there, like he has uncovered your awesomeness there and then Verdict: Your work-life balance is as safe as it could ...

Words are never enough to describe what we feel. So, I decided to take it upon myself to create some new words for convenience. Of course, I mailed the list to Oxford. While they mull over my genius, I decided to share the list here too. Consider this an exclusive preview! Feel free to use them. No royalty whatsoever! ********************************************************* blothargy /blo-thar-gy/ Noun 1. Lethargy related to blogging Adjective 1. The feeling of wanting to blog, but not wanting to lift a finger:  "I want to write about FIFA, but I feel blothargic today." ********************************************************* stratmonger /strat-mon-ger/ Noun 1. One who attempts to spread fear among normal, happy people with usage of terms of and related to "strategy":  "My boss is never invited to meetings. He is a stratmonger, you know." #TrueStory 2. A species of fearmongers in the corporate world *******************************...

My Auto was crossing a busy street in crowded Malad in Mumbai and I suddenly saw a home. Nestled amid tall buildings, there was a home. "Martha's Home", the nameplate said. A nice quaint little home with banana trees and gardens, bang in between claustrophobic tall apartment complexes, with peeling paint and monsoon eroded walls, ugly ACs jutting out and meshed windows to keep the world out. But this little house was standing its ground there. I don't know what it was about the house, but it got me thinking. What was the story behind Martha's Home?  Maybe there was a lovely, happy couple that bought land here in the 1960s. Maybe the lady, Martha, drew out a plan for the house. Maybe she stood there in the heat everyday with a toddler kid under her arm, as laborers struggled to bring her dream to life. Maybe she handed them nice lemonade once in a while, to keep them on their feet. Maybe she touched a brick once in a while, and drifted into a dreamlan...

Dear Readers, I assume you are in good spirits. I also assume that with the current election season, you have been competently benchmarking all the action from political parties 24/7, ably supported, of course, by our seemlessly coordinated media and high decibel Television channels. Needless to say, I also assume you are documenting all your learnings. We may brainstorm on the same, any time you wish, as per your convenience. I also wish to inform you that my Maid has done an AWOL on me. Looking back, I think the reason for that was obvious. My insistence on EATCFD (Efficient Administration through Customer Focused Delivery) seems to have not been in accordance to her values. But, frankly, it beats me why she was not on board with this. I was only trying to systematically improve her revenue generation mechanism through improved Customer Centricity. Beats me. By the way, I have been constantly working out a plan to enhance my absorption rate of TV Series, with a well coo...

Every 3rd day, some 10 people on my Facebook timeline share this link and tag their friends, with the comment - "Lets do this!!". I am talking about this link:  30 Off-Beat Places to Visit in India Before You Turn 30 I diligently go through the list every time and quite valiantly, tell myself that I would, some day cover these 30 places, with Sherlock of course. In the meantime though, I somehow, always find myself in the exact opposite of off-beat locations. The mainstream tourist destinations. I don't know how. I am not complaining. Mainstream tourist destinations have so much fodder for laughter! Last week, I ended up in Udaipur, with 6 hours to kill before a flight. So I sauntered around to City Palace. And there they were. The multitudes of tourists. There is no chance in living hell, that you walk into such a popular tourist destination and don't run into the school picnic gang. A herd of super-excited school kids, who have been allowed to deviate ...