Scared…

12/19/08


These are scary times. .. And I would be a liar if I said I wasn’t …

~KK

The week that was & its effects!

The train had just passed Kalyan Jn and was speeding towards Mumbai … I had gone to use the rest room and that’s when I heard this man talking outside the rest room. He was probably on the phone asking if it’s ok to be kept at the station. There was nothing out of the ordinary in that until he said “more would die there”. I was rooted to my spot. Then for a few seconds there was silence. I opened the door as stealthily as possible and peeped out. A man, wearing pant and shirt was standing a few feet away with his back towards me and was fiddling with his cell phone. I did not know what to do. Not having any thing to use as weapon, I just pushed him with all my might and started hitting him. He fell by the compartment corridor and the few people who were there in the compartment, looked out on hearing the noise … I was shouting he is a terrorist but there was no reaction as such … then a man came hurriedly towards us and shouted something which I could not understand. I looked up and saw that he had a gun in his hand … he did not look like a cop so I assumed that the man I had jumped was not alone. All I could do was shout on top of my voice … this new guy was also shouting until he raised his gun and fired at me … All I felt was a push on my chest and then I don’t remember anything …
No! Not coz I was dead (which would be obvious) but because I had woken up …feeling terrified and disoriented … the darkness around me seemed scary till I heard a dog bark and it brought me back to my senses … I was not dead… I was at home … on my bed … no guns, no terrorists … I was safe … that was what I was saying to myself. I saw this dream yesterday night … I looked at the time on my cell and it was 1.25 am … thank god it was not an early morning dream …(for they say that early morning dreams often come true … though I haven’t had any such luck …) I could still remember the guys face … and that unnerved me all the more. Tossing and turning, I tried to close my eyes but it was not so easy going back to sleep. Probably watching all the Bombay attack on tv and reading about the experiences and the deaths for the past 5 days had taken its toll on me … lying there in the dark, looking at the silhouette or the fan, I realized that it was such a big thing … being alive!

I could not go back to sleep after that. After a few minutes, I looked at the cell again. It was 2.40 am … more than an hour had passed since I had woken up. There have been continuous reports of how the terrorists had come in to Bombay or Mumbai … how they attacked the Taj and Oberoi hotels and ghastly recounts of how people were mercilessly gunned down at the CST and Leopold and Nariman house…. It could have happened to anyone… I might have been at one of those places and I would have also perished… it hit me then as if a basketball had hit my face (ever had that happening to you? It is sheer agony, trust me). What could I have done? I couldn’t have dodged those Kalashnikov bullets … I couldn’t have stopped time like Mr. Anderson did in matrix and blown them bullets away (though I wish that was possible)… If The Dream I saw, had not been a dream I would have been dead! As simple as that…

6.30 AM - The alarm went off but I was ready for it … I picked up my cell and called my family … though I could not talk to all but did manage to catch my mom who is usually up well before 6.30 … I just wished her good morning and did some small talk … but I what I really wanted to tell her and other people of my family was that I really love them and they mean the world to me …. I wanted to hug each and everyone but they were too far away for me to do that… we don’t know what’s going to happen … to whom and when … this has always been the case but when such incidents occur, it makes you realize all the more. Why have regrets … why feel shy or think twice or postpone telling a loved one that they are special. It may or may not cost you to do that but it’s worth every penny spent, every moment lived.

So the next time I meet my family, I am going to give them a big hug … hopefully it should be soon.
Like SRK said a few years back … Kal Ho Na Ho!

~KK

11/27/08 – 7.22 PM

The gun battle still blazes on @ Taj Hotel, Oberoi Trident Hotel and Nariman house … so many innocent lives lost to these fidayeen terrorists … crazy psychophants … its really been a slow day … following the goings on from work … a feeling of pain engulfs just seeing the images … what will happen and when .. no one knows nor can one predict. Hope things get better.

As I write that … realization strikes that so many things can go bad or wrong. The financial crisis, this … problems don’t stop coming do they … one after the other … we have to soak it up and come out stronger … scathed may be … but surely stronger!!! Easy for me to say … I know … just scribbling my thoughts here …!

~KK

11/27/08 – 10.36 AM

Bombay is burning with terrorists attacking the city making it a war zone and a city under siege. 101 people killed. I wish they hadn’t died … Innocents lost to crazy ideologies and brains working in the wrong line …

~KK

Recession has hit us too …

For those who thought India was not going to be affected like other places w.r.t. the recession and those in my organization especially who thought so, were in for a rude awakening… Today morning we got a general mailer from the head of HR and Admin stating that the evening snacks that were fully subsidized (read as fully free) were no longer going to be … starting 1st December. Also the bus travel which was partly subsidized will also now be on cost basis … That would be at the most a 1% saving for them but then the scary part is what is going to follow!!! For sure something is going to happen. No one can remain totally unaffected by the happenings @ Wall Street and other places around the world. So in the corridors and the meeting rooms and the pantry and the parking lots, people are only discussing this topic.

Moreover, for an organization which boasts of no retrenching since its inception in 1988, can we be spared of any pink slips this time? Considering the fact that the pundits are hailing this as the worst ever recession to hit the globe yet!

So although we won’t be having those free ragda-samosa or the pineapple juice, all would only hope there aren’t any unscheduled “come and see me mails” or any more shocking general mailers.
Wish us all a bon appetite :)
~KK

The Visitor ………..!!!

Since I shifted to my new “kholi” or apartment (if I can call it that), I had a first visit of the rodent kind. It all started yesterday night around 1 am when I heard noises and knew that there was an intruder around but I shooed off the thought thinking it was not “inside”. Today morning after I returned home from the gym (yea yea yea I know .. it’s a recent phenomenon) and sat down with the paper, the rodent a.k.a. house rat or mouse or whatever made its appearance, scampering across the floor from point a to point b. As a startled and shocked onlooker, I was rooted to my spot. I don’t have a cot or a bed and my mattress is basically on the floor so I dint have any elevated place to jump on to also (well I ain’t a big fan of rats and mice). So my next few moments of existence were spent trying to figure out what to do.

Managed to come back to my senses and grabbed the broom though I had no intention (nor the guts) to kill it. Once I had moved the mattress onto the chair, I opened the window and the main door so that it has an escape route out of my kholi. Then I started tapping around the place where it was hiding and all it did was run across the room to hide below the cupboard which was next to the door. So that was now my intention, to lead it to the door … broom tapping restarted and after a couple of minutes, it ran n slid across the floor as if it was the most terrified being in that room (no two guesses as to who was…) and managed to dash out of my kholi! (“Phew!”) While I was left to recollect my senses and let the fact sink in that I had just had a visitor who probably was looking for some grub but had to be shooed away.
It’s been a while (last visit was at my bund garden apartment) but I hope there aint no more such visits. One thing that this visit has done is I would be entering my house for the next few days tapping away to glory and making silly noises to see if it’s around. :D
~KK

Ps: Visitors to my blog … please feel welcome to put in any comments on any of my posts … would love to hear from all.

Rolle Models!

I came across this article in NY Times about a Football Star who doubled up as a Scholar. Sounds out of sync, do I? Not this time. You can check it out for yourself.
Myron Rolle is a Florida State University Football player whose presence in the Seminoles team makes him a star. He also holds a degree in pre-med and a GPA of 3.75 and is vying for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship – only 32 people can get it. The article mentions how it is a proud moment for the university if he does get it and how it can be a great PR. Well sure… that it is going to be but it would be a bigger PR for all those African American children who look up to these Football and Baseball and Basketball stars in the United States of America - a must for a society which has seen literacy and education going down on a large scale and more youth taking to crime and drugs. As his name says, he is truly a Rol(l)e Model for all.
Having said this, I am inclined to look homewards and look at the P.T.Usha’s, Vishy Anands, Virendra Singhs and Abhinav Bindras of India who have achieved a lot in sports – some with a silver spoon at their disposal, some without but all of them having put in the hard work and perseverance in achieving what they have. We tend to look at sports-persons as larger than life figures and try to ape them be it in playing like them or drinking the same cola as they do (or at least they endorse). There are only cricketers who form the main pool of world renowned sports people in India with a few more interspersed in other sports like shooting, boxing, chess, etc. Maybe we need more sports stars so that there a lot more options for our coming generations (I speak as if am an oldie but I am surely getting there :D)

BTW India is now down to whopping some English A*** very elegantly in cricket.
~KK

..... Times ....

All the websites – local and global, are having news about the problems companies are facing. Europe is down – officially announcing recession. Ireland and Germany started it out and the EU followed suit. America on the other hand has not yet announced officially that it is in recession but the state of affairs of the economy and the apathy of the people is very sad. More than 180,000 people would have lost their jobs by the end of this calendar year in the US alone; the number now stands at 152,000. So all these people would opt for unemployment benefits which amount to $650 approximately for a period of 39 months. It sounds scary when you come to think that India is not at all good when it comes to severance pay and unemployment benefits, in fact there are no unemployment benefits. So what should one do? There was a time in the late 90s when VRS was an in thing but now the companies don’t go for offering VRS to their employees as they discovered that it was not beneficial for them.
As I was typing the above write, I received 2 forwards talking about Citi Corps 52000 job cuts and HSBC cutting more jobs. The rut that has built up now with these news items is depressing to the core. Where are we going from here?
But hey … in all this chaos when you hear about people getting a job, it brings a smile to your face.  Lets us all know that this is not the end … this is a new beginning and we have only one way to go – up and by this I mean progress.
So hang in there all … don’t give up! And don’t stop trying …!
~KK

Surprise!

Last week was quite eventful & fruitful for me…. Got some long pending things done finally.. Like getting my bike insurance renewed and Saturday saw me finally getting down to servicing the bike after a lot of postponements :D
Also had to go to office for some work on Saturday so couldn’t go home to Pune. So when Saturday night arrived, I had this “keeda” to do something whacky. And thats when I decided that I will have Sundays lunch at home!

Had to get up early for that … 4.45 alarm made me get up and keep the water for heating but I went back to sleep. Luckily I had my backup alarm going off in25 minutes (I do know my habits) so got down to getting ready.
5.55 AM: all geared up – jacket, helmet & backpack (sadly couldn’t carry my camera as the rechargeable cells have become useless. Have to buy new ones) and was off from g’gaon. Decided to take the Airoli route which I had no idea about so once I reached the eastern express highway off Kanjur Marg; it was all dependant on the road signs and whatever little I could remember from google maps (yes! Google maps for India are working though it doesn’t give the route and all as in the US). To my surprise, the signs were always there and I safely joined the Sion-Panvel highway off CBD Belapur. Zooming down the road, at a constant 60-70 kmph, I reached Panvel at 6.55 AM.
After stretching my legs and downing a chai (no tea latte to go with it :D), I was off towards my next way point- Lonavala via NH4 and passing Khopoli and Khandala. As I crossed Panvel town and went down the NH-4, I was passed my 4 high end Suzuki, Yamaha &/or Honda bikes, zooming across the roads at 120 kmph at least. Mostly on the way to Amby Valley for the weekend ride. Also saw many college folks and other enthu bikers on their rides – Pulsars, Apache RTR, FZ-16s and what not. My discover seemed like a minnow – well it was one – but I didn’t care as long as I was doing fine.

8 AM: was at Lonavala after safely crossing the 12 KM ghat from Khopoli to Khandala. Had steaming hot idli-vada sambar @ RK’s and was again back on the road towards Pune. This stretch of the NH4 is really smooth and well done – not too many unexpected pot holes (thankfully) and since it is also a tolled road (though not as much as the expressway and best thing is no toll for bikes :P) they have managed to maintain it well. I was able to hit 85 KMPH on this stretch. While I was leaving Lonavala, mom called to ask if I was up. I told her that I was outside but nothing else …. (I don’t know why I like giving people such shocks …they call it shocks, for me it’s giving them a pleasant surprise; like arranging a surprise birthday party for your friend and getting the chance to shout “Surprise” when they enter and lights go on and then being able to see the mixture of joy, shock and a myriad of other reactions on their face; some people don’t like it always but even then it’s just that their anger is a wee bit more than their happiness; so that’s ok)

9.05 AM: I was turning from the NH4 on to the Dehu Road – Katraj bypass which goes 10 kms from my home. Another 20 KMS and I was knocking on my door at 9.25 AM, exactly 3 hrs and 30 minutes since I left goregaon. Mom was surprised but when she heard I came on the bike she was shocked. Got some gyan from her n my grandmom. Then it was dad’s turn when he saw me. “It’s risky!”. Very true but it was fun too and something I like doing. Much better than sitting at home and just reading paper all day anytime. Total distance travelled was 165 KMs.

So I got to have lunch at home, got too see Harry Potter & Order of Pheonix and do small talk with mom & dad.  5 hours at home and time to leave. Did not want to do night time highway driving since it has been a long time. So I was off at 2.30 and it was decent till Panvel but then the traffic of Bombay came into picture and I took 2 hours to go from Kharghar to Goregaon. Ah well that’s the norm these days so nothing to complain.
Was home at 7.15 PM – a total of 330 KMs travelled. Yet to calculate the mileage I got but it should be decent I guess. The bike is doing pretty well.

It was a spur of the moment thing (Kal's gonna curse me ;)).
Hopefully should have a chance to go riding again very soon. :)

~KK

Hope floats ... !

The mind plays a thousand games ... raking up thoughts and ideas .. dreams and nightmares ... hopes and disappointments ... we have such a myraid of options to consider and dwell on .. why then do we look at things which are bad or which would have a negative effect on us ... is it because we tend to look at the worst and plan for it or is it because human being at his/her core is fear personified? Fear of the unknown, fear of failure, fear of hurt and pain? Why do we not look at the good things we can achieve by our actions and build on it? Why should we let go of the hope that the morning would bring a sunshine so bright that it would show us the bright side of everything and the evening would be lit up by the moonlight albeit with its own luminosity. There would be nights when there would be no moon .. there would be cloudy days ... but these would only give in to a day filled with light. isnt that how life is? We should look at our life in the same way .... n'est ce pas?
Mais oui - But ofcourse as the stylish french would exclaim!
Someone once said "If I let go of the hope that I will prosper, I would not have been nourished in my mothers womb! The day hope dies, i would cease to see a planet full of the creations that come with it"
:)
Oh BTW ... India kiked a bunch of kangaroos at their own game, made em eat "apne desh ki mitti" and are now touted as future champions. Hope floats there too :D.
~KK

Scribbles while in mayhem - II

November comes with new developments globally. United States of America has new President Elect - An African American by decent - A Black in crude American lingo ... (I won’t go further down as it is uncouth). But fact is it a first for USA after all the talks of world power, world supremacy and what not. Barack Hussein Obama is the person who has managed to ride the anti-incumbency wave and the credit and world financial crisis and the Wall Street collapse and come into power. He has the same middle name as one of America's former enemies - Saddam Hussein and has a last name which sounds a lot like another enemy of theirs Osama. But he has done what no one before him could do - become the first black president of USA. Kudos to him!

For the past 2 weeks, America had shut their eyes to the problems ... preferring to debate on democrat or republican instead of rising interests, reduced holiday spending and job losses. But with the decision made in a land slide manner, now it is back to counting its losses - again and people in the thousands searching for jobs ... their stock markets crashing every day to new lows .. Losses rising to levels unheard of before... And this is affecting the whole world. Because America, after all is a world power! :)
Back home, Diwali is over, people are back to working knowing that there is Christmas and new year to look forward to. We are also picking up the pieces of the destruction going on because of the recession – which one can safely say is here. Vegetable prices are oscillating daily like a yo-yo.
Am I complaining a lot here? Guess the environment is like that.
Well amid all this chaos, life goes on!
~KK

Twin Towers ....

Twin Towers ... of INDIAN CRICKET!!!
It would not be untrue if they were called the towers of Indian cricket…. Anil Kumble, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, V.V.S. Laxman. The veterans of many a famous Indian victories over the past 20 years …Pillars around whom the Indian team has evolved with its own fair share of ups and downs.
And with this India-Australia Test series, having reached its finale at Nagpur starting 6th November, India would be bidding farewell to 2 of those towers, pillars, legends! Anil “Jumbo” Kumble and Sourav “Dada” Ganguly, both announcing their retirements with Kumble having already played his last test @ Delhi which ended yesterday.
They have truly been great servants of Indian Cricket (as Gavaskar put it) and as a cricket fan, I have enjoyed seeing them play some great cricket. If I had to recount any memory of each of these two; Kumble taking the last wicket in the 1993 Hero Cup to defeat Windies with a class act of 6 for 12 or his 10 wicket haul against arch rivals Pakistan at the Kotla in 1999. Dada .. well his best moments were when he danced down the wicket to hit spinners for a six or his running around Lords, waving his shirt after India managed to pull off an astounding victory against England in the Natwest Trophy.
I specially admire Kumble for the person he is .. soft spoken and fully dedicated. “Shabaash Jumbo …. “ (as Mongia used to shout from behind the stumps :D)
Thank You Jumbo and Dada for the wonderful moments that you have given us cricket fans.
~KK

Alas for Red Sox ... and more !!

Well I could not update last week but the news is that RS did not make it ... they had a tremendous comeback to catch up with TB Rays (sounds diseased :D) to tie it 3-3 but lost the last game to allow Tampa Bay Rays to go into the world series. Well if it is of any consolation, TB Rays lost to the Phillies in the World Series finals. So bottom line was that there was no Boston .. no LA .. in the MLB finals (that would have been some match-up for me as a supporter 
This past 2 weeks have been very happening … I officially got work … Bombay a.k.a. Mumbai went to the dumps with riots following arrest of a local political honcho. It was a pity to see public transport and property damaged and burnt .. with the perpetrators not realizing that it was public tax money being wasted. I failed to understand how any of the actions that took place helped the people of Maharashtra … Politics has this dirty way of ridiculing the common man, time and again by showing its ugly a** & face frequently.
Diwali was calm n tumultuous (in the right sense) for me, at home with family. Managed to gorge in a lot of sweets and gain some weight :D … and then back to the grind …
And then, yesterday, some more blasts, in Assam this time … an earthquake in Pakistan … so many deaths … as if god is orchestrating a population reduction agenda… gets one thinking where the world is heading and what would be there for our generation and the future generations to come.
And the biggie is the recession slowly descending over the world … US being the worst hit and the rest of the world following suit … the US dream and the H1B bubble seems to be a very bad idea now all of a sudden. I hope people think 10 times before taking any rash steps … cause the worries that it can bring will affect everyone connected to them … it is sometimes a good thing to listen to others in addition to yourself and take any advice positively … n’est ce pas? (Is it not in French)
Hope things change for the better soon world over. (Do I sound like AB Sr. here hehehehehe)
~KK

One more for the RS??? Lets See ...

Its October 2008 ... 19th day to be precise ... the year has gone by and a lot of changes have occured ... I have moved on to a new job ... a new city ... well come to think abt it ... i now work in a bigger company ... which is in a bigger city .... and a high salary (I cant call it big :D) ...
So yeah .. .things have changed .. but then again seems like nothing has ...
Oh! ... one more big thing .. we have a BIG recession which is hitting people globally in places where it hurts a lot ... !!! lost jobs .. rising prices ... growing stress .... so that kind of explains my statement earlier that seem like nothing has changed ... :-)
People still discuss cricket and politics while travellling to work ... it now is T20 instead of test cricket .. but the bat n ball are the same ... Last year around this time I was in the US and there was this talk of will the Red Sox be able to win the World Series .. well they did .. and guess what this year also they are in with a chance ... 3-3 in the ALCS against Tampa Bay Rays ... tomorrow morning is the game 7 ... lets see if they can win and go on ahead like last year ... hmmm that brings a lot of memories with it ...

Ah well .. I am just a blabbering and clattering away on my dads laptop ... oh so badly miss having one of my own ... probably that shd be the next thing i buy .. and soon .. else m gonna go crazy ... coz my new work place doesnt allow me to chat or surf the net or see videos on utube or any of those timepass stuff that we could manage to sneak in .. between our work @ PTG ...

well I have said a number of times and thought even more that i will make this clattering a regular part of my daily schedule .. but have failed to do so ... till now .. (sounds like some new year resolution ... but nope ... just that it gives me a nice feeling typing my thoughts ... :-] )
Hope to do it this time .. !!! lets see :P

will update later this week on how things work out for the Red Sox ... Go RED SOX !!!

Ciao,
KK

Sarkar Raj ...A Big(B) Blunder?

I remember 3 years back I had typed a review for Sarkar which was an atempt to renew the Godfather magiv on the hindi cinema scene .. The same director has come out with a sequel to it ... named Sarkar Raj .. much on the same lines as Godfather II. And I watched it yesterday .. It was no-where near the hollywood sequel.
If it has to be a described in short, Sarkar Raj was an attempt at bringing together the Bachhan family together on the silver screen. How else can one explain why Anita (played by Ash) who is a London based businesswoman takes interest in family history of Shankar Nagre (AB-Jr) who is a powerful Mumbai don icon's son and why Shankar and Subhash Nagre (AB-Sr) discuss business in front of Anita - which they avoid doing in front of their reel life families too. I mean come on ... the watching public is no fool.

A story line capable of creating an excellent movie and startcast capable of giving stellar performances was wasted by RGV ... It instead turned out to be a movie with some forced political objectives apparantly and sadly, a slow-mo fizzle.

RGV has done better stuff. Whats wrong now? Probably this was payback time for him.. paying back to the Bachhans :-p

Advise: Watch at your own risk.

Resurrection

Been a long time since I have been dormant on this front .. So many things have happened .. so many new places visited .. so many new people, I have met ... a few accomplishments on the professional front too .. Pity I did not take the time and effort to keep this endeavour going... but now its time for resurrection !!! :-)