Raving Rambling

Last afternoon I ran into Govinda. Nothing much had changed. The same 100 watt smile, the same jovial self. Running into him took me back in time to those days of carefree indulgence. It's been five years since we passed out of journalism school. I can't even recollect the names of many of my batch mates. At that time Govinda was in charge of facility upkeep at XIC. But what a transformation. He is today an associate at Sampark PR. A perfect example of where sheer dedication and determination can take a man. I wish I had his spirit -- fighting seemingly insurmountable odds to rise above his situation and attain his dreams. Our course coordinator Ms Jane Swamy rechristened him Govinda after the bollywood film star for their similar colorful dressing sense. That's one thing that seems to have changed. Govinda has now adopted more corporate colors--still bright but not as flashy. And he now speaks fluent English. There are hardly any traces of the vernac. He has been in the co...

Another late night. Once again ended up hitting the sack late. I am worried about survival. And it’s only Monday. How am I gonna stay active the remainder of the week? One option was sleep late into the morning and reach office late. But then the same rigmarole would be repeated this night and the next. And you can’t reach office late everyday of the week. Ok, you had a good time with friends. But the ‘feel good’ factor seems to disappear the moment you are on your own. Bad, really bad. Since I enjoy my own company most. The time I spent reading or relaxing and just enjoying the boredom of having nothing to do or worry about has now been replaced by turning shrink cum counselor for people who just can’t seem to understand your need to be on your own. And all you do is talk about trivial rubbish—love, hate, women, work and oh such banalities. Reiterating the same old arguments over and over again. Never arriving at any conclusions. Not that that would have made any impact on the way thi...

Last night I realized why I try to forget things immediately—people, incidents, everything other than what may be related to work. I thought my memory had deteriorated over the years. Not true at all. It had been suppressed. It reminded me of a belief I still hold true—good memory can be bad. Regrettable memories from the past don’t let you live in peace. After having slept a total of some 20 odd hours in the past week, the only thing on my mind during the weekend was sleep. And that’s exactly what I did. Slept whole of Saturday and most of Sunday. But since my system was not used to so much rest, I couldn’t sleep a wink that night. After tossing and turning and trying my level best to tire myself out I decided to resort to a long forgotten remedy—reading. This passion from the distant past, which used to keep me awake night after night, had sometime back degenerated into a sure shot remedy for instant sleep. And that was the biggest mistake I could have committed on a warm sleepless n...

The various cultures that exist within India today -- the media culture, the call center culture, the software industry culture, old economy culture, classical culture and all the rest, which will win the day. What will be the future culture -- the culture that emerges out of the amalgamation of all this? I look around me and I feel we are growing up in cultural silos. Each unit, I feel, is so cocooned in its own ways they seem far removed from all the other units around them. Well, there is exposure to the traditional culture. Can’t escape that. I don’t think any of us can even if we try. There are vested interests at work there to ensure this remains so. But unfortunately more often than not these parties are bent on promoting a skewed notion of right and wrong. In the present scenario, I think, there is very little communication between members of different culture. None are interested in building bridges to connect two disparate silos. The common refrain seems to be – we are leadin...

Last month, the long bike trip I have been dreaming about for eons actually materialized. Of course my original plan was ride all the way to probably Kanyakumari and back. However, some friends said they were planning to go to Vizag for a camp; and to make it interesting, bike it all the way. A Bangalore-based cousin's impromptu wedding plans put paid to this cross-country trip and saw us heading instead towards the Garden City. I am not complaining. The friends, Benny and Johnson, agreed to come along. Very important considering their original plan was very different and most of the others had dropped out at the nth hour. But we had our bike trip, saw lands we never planned to see, and I attended a wedding after more than a decade and a family one for the first time (reconfirmed my feelings about the worthlessness of it all) and after 10 days on the road made it back home safe and sound. I won't go into the details of the trip now. Will save that for later. As I keep telling f...

I visited my native land after almost nine long years. It was the first real holiday in more than six years. Now my friends might argue that I am always taking off somewhere or the other on short trips every other month. Well, yes. But those trips are generally more tiring than office work. I have never considered trekking a relaxing exercise. Well it does de-stress you but it also tires you out like crazy, and the aches and the pains after a really strenuous one can put many first timers off trekking for good. Holiday for me is spending time sleeping, eating or just sitting and whiling away your time. It may sound boring. But my whole being craves for that kind of boredom. Just sit there and think about nothing in particular. Daydream all you want. Imagine yourself in paradise. To me this kind of boredom means that I am at peace with myself and the world. No phone calls, no computers, no Net connection, none of the regular people you hang around with, no worries about office and other...

I was waiting outside Vashi station for a friend when I saw some unknown NGO calling out to people to come and light candles in memory of all those who died during the blasts. There were coupla guys taking turns on the loudspeaker inviting people to think about how lucky they were to be alive and so to spare two minutes to do their bit for society in return. Almost 4,000 people (or so they claimed) had already lit candles at their set up. Now, first of all, I wonder what society had to do with us being alive and whole! Why should I thank society for the fact that there is a man up there who watches over me? What role did society have to play in my being alive? What is this bledy society that they keep harping about? (No, I won't get into that now--it calls for a much bigger argument) Secondly, how will burning wax candles help those who are dead and gone? Some candle maker surely made a lot of money--wonder if the particular NGO itself is in the business. But other than burning fue...

I am getting fed up with all the talks about Mumbai's indomitable spirit. I don't think spirit has any major role to play in ensuring that a major chunk of the jantha were back at work the very next day. I was roaming around town the next day and overheard one lady tell her colleague that she had already taken two days off during the heavy rains the previous week. She couldn't afford another leave cos her plans to club all these leaves and take a vacation with her family sometime in November was already in jeopardy. Another guy said they are targeting the Western Line so we are safe. Maybe he travels by Harbor or Central. So tell me what does spirit have to do here? Nothing. All are scared probably. Many don't even care. And if not for the all the stories in the media and the initiatives taken by a few political parties and NGOs it would have been a topic of classroom debate in less than a fortnight. And I was very glad to read similar thoughts expressed by a feature wr...

One thing I hate about Mumbai--the DUST. I thought the rains would do something to settle it a bit. But the issue seems to have gone from bad to worse. OK I understand that the city is under construction--roads, flyovers, bridges, apartment buildings, malls, office complexes, etc etc. And that five years from now we might have a city to be proud of, something truly international. But then if you go to any of the cities outside India, even the ones in the so called developing nations, the dust problem is not so acute. Construction activities go on in most of these cities too. But I wonder how these guys manage to keep the dust levels down. Here, by the time you have covered a few KMs by road you want to pluck out eyes and give it a thorough wash. Just thinking about the dust irritation is making my eyes twitch. And to add to the pain, the current humidity level doesn't help any. Run your kerchief after spending half n hour on the road and you will forget what the original color of t...

We were discussing what is better -- fantasy or experience. Many a times, the actual experience is never even close to what one had imagined. A complete let down of all expectations. Well here's what a friend had to say... If you find yourself fantasizing, wondering what it would be like, let your imagination take you where it will. Not only is this the safest method ever, it will be far more pleasurable than the real thing -- without any of the associated hassles. Fantasy is not escape: it is creativity at its most evocative... and least destructive.

I have been reading articles about the power shortage problem in Maharashtra for sometime now. Never actually gave it a second thought earlier. But I actually had a taste of what a pain load shedding can be earlier this week. Then I did a bit of digging and found out that New Bombay suffers from power cuts for almost 5 hours everyday. Can you believe that? New Bombay, which is supposed to be the answer to Mumbai's congestion. The New Bombay that is being projected as the city of the 21st century. The New Bombay that is a part of what the STPI has termed Maharashtra Knowledge Corridor. A knowledge that is totally dependent on India's software leadership. Where would this knowledge be if there is no power to run those computers upon which the development of that knowledge largely rests? And to think that when I lambasted the government in my last blog, quite a few of my friends told me to stop being so cynical. Now just tell me, is it cynical if I crib about 5 hour power cuts in ...

I hate the months of Feb and March. Especially salary days. To some extent the fault lies with me. But come Feb and I go all out in damning our bloody government comprising largely of old booda phusats. These paragons of corruption live out the dreams we dreamed thanks to the taxes we pay. Yes, you guessed right, I am cursing our taxation system. Taxes that are cut from our measly sals with the promise that we will be provided with better roads, cleaner cities, and a safer and more cleaner environment. Well, I do see some work happening as far as roads are concerned. Relatively good roads around town were recently dug up to concretize it. Roads which didn't need any serious maintenance to begin with. And those that really do need to be repaired are "patched up". I sometimes think the potholes were safer cos after the bloody PWD finished with their patch work you don’t need to go all the way to Essel World to experience a roller coaster ride. All you have to do is go ...

The trip to Kalsubhai, supposedly the highest mountain peak in Maharashtra, finally happened last weekend. I usually don't write about any of my trips. Somehow I feel that words can't do justice to the experience. Trekking is an experience. And an experience that can only be felt. Or maybe there are people who can make u experience their feelings thru words. But I definitely am not good at that. Still, since this friend of mine wants me to write something about the trip I will make an attempt. We were supposed to meet at 4 Am at Bandra. But there was a change in plan and the timing was revised to 5:30. However, Raj the colleague who was supposed to inform me about the change forgot to do so. So there I was at 4:30 outside Bandra station shivering in the cold. The only consolation was that Raj himself arrived there before me. I guess he forgot to tell himself about the new timing. Heheh. All of us finally met at around 5:45 and before 6:00 Am we were off in a Toyota Voyager. Gon...

Last evening I had a chat with an industry veteran who has been a journalist for more than 30 years now -- 2 decades with a leading national daily and then various trade magazines and journals. He has seen it all -- insecure bosses trying to cut down a promising reporter, overtly ambitious juniors trying to pull you down a peg or two and much more. I have seen some of his work. Quite good stuff. And going by the conversations we have had quite intelligent too. But probably because he was not too ambitious in life he hasn't really moved up the corporate ladder. After all, of the 100 odd journalists in every publishing house how many will ever actually make it to the top. There are only so many positions vacant. And with the competition increasing year by year sheer survival is at stake especially if you are ambitious. I am not overly worried about that aspect. But in an industry where quality no longer seems to matter can your experience and the quality of your work take you where y...