Life!

The last prayer call of the day voiced over the loudspeakers jolts me from my day-dreaming; its been almost 6 months in this country and atlast i get to go home. Life is very weird; especially for the travelling kind. U never know where your next assignment will be, all u think about during the projects is home, friends, family, your bike/car/cat/dog/girlfriend (they can be reagrranged in any order ;) ).

I've lived outside India for a while now; 4 yrs is kinda long enuf to make judgemental statements. India for all its flaws is still a magnet, everytime i cant wait to catch the flight home to experience the untold hasseling, pollution, traffic jams, honkings, stupid-pedestrians, superemely arrognat driver in a Benz, super egoist ticket counter person aka govt servant...the list can go on. But tats the way the country is and i love it ;)

Think it will be while before i write an other post, i've promised to myself to not touch the computer during my holiday......but..........its just a promise, can always break it.

To all the brave men!

India was attacked yet again and yet again it was the brave men in the uniforms who so valiantly defended Mumbai. Today i will forget abt the tainted policemen and military personnel. Im gonna salute the police officers and miliary personnel who took the fight to the enemy and won.

They put their lives at risk to save ours, a truly supreme sacrifice. How many of us would be willing to die for somebody not even remotely related to their life??.....none!

Case in point, were the fuck are the brave men, son of the soil of Maharashtra?? MSN and Bal Thackrey and RSS are probably hiding behind their women crying and clinging on to their dear life at the sound of bombs and gun shots. Be a man and face an armed enemy of the country rather than being wimpey women and harassing unarmed casual civilians. Shame on you.

The officers and armed personnel who defended your Mumbai where not son of soil but they laid down their lives for you. MSN and similar like minded idiots should now slap themselves in their face. Shame on you.

Jai Hind!!

Of temples and mosques

Its easy not to be overwhelmed by the beauracracy in Saudi Arabia, sometimes i feel its worse than India. Not that i dont love my country but considering the 'favours' u gotta do to people to get things done in India, id rather be a country hater.

Indians are hospitable, modest, brainy, innocent, god fearing...blah, blah.........yeah yeah i've heard that before. In many ways Saudi Arabia is similar to India, in India you can be the most hated, criminal, pimp arse monie laundering politician yet if you construct a temple all ur sins are washed away. Same concept here, do wat you want, but pray 5 times a day.

Everybody lives in a world of make believe...next time you donate to a temple, think of the malnutritioned street kid who so enviably watches your own son or daughter drive to school. Think stupid.....frikkin think....God can wait, not the hungry kid.

Of sin rooms and submissions

So im in Saudi....its weird how things work. The other day im sittin in my house jobless talkin to mom, now im here. Its not even a year since i left UK for India but now im in Saudi. So why am i writing all this....im fuckin bored. I've got 5 document submissions and my proponents have decided to mind fuck me for the rest of this project. All my documents have gone thro' 4 versions and they still keep calling my submissions as drafts......when on earth will they stop callin my document a draft and accept it for submission......God im pissed!! Sorry abt the rambling, needed an outlet.
To make things worse, its Ramadan month so no eating, drinking in public. All canteens are closed in the office and my team has to literally tip toe to one of the 'Sin-rooms' made available to us sinners for having our lunch and coffee. Is'nt my life great!!
Further ramblings are inspired by the regular bomb blasts i see in the news, wer the this all heading to? Innocent lives are lost on a daily basis and these pimps(read politicians) dont seem to fucking care, all they do is read out prepared text in front of the press. Hello.... is anybody actually doin something??
More inspiration comes from our Prime Minister who seems to be hell bent on the Nuke Deal? Agreed it wud supply the much needed energy but is congress actually interested in beefing up security, naah not their personal black cats, but for the common man on the street.
Sorry abt the rambling......had to let go of the steam.

Realizations!!

There are somethings which you realize as you grow up although most of the time u live in a state of denial. I've actually realized the following things today:

• i dont know to say 'No'
• i really need to control my weight, its no longer easy to stay in shape after ur 25
• drinking is only for fun and should not be done religiously
• learn to control your tongue when your drunk
• not all beautiful girls are girlfriend material
• speeding is fun but an arm and a leg is a little too much to loose
• your dad is always right (well almost alwayz)
• your mom still thinks your 16 yrs old and treats you like one
• your girlfriend(s) are not the end of the world
• you really need to start saving monie
• your relatives dont need you
• most of your friends dont need you
• respect your parents and buy them gifts
• your mobile is an extention of your body
• cartoons are boring
• world news actually matters
• tv serials are the worst things happening to women at home
• politicians suck big time, they can wipea@#$ instead of laundering monie
• there are genuine good people in this world
• never judge people likewise never confide in people
• cricket is the most overhyped sport in India....Dhoni prbly contributes to more than half of the GDP of Jharkkhand
• did i mention politicians are bigots, thiefs, criminals, pimps and they happen to decide the fate of our country.
• tamil is an incredibly amazing language and has to be preserved

Compulsive confessor

The compulsive confessor, google it guyz and im sure you will not be disappointed. Came across this personal blog and now im hooked, here is this young chic from delhi rambling sweet nothingsss and i cant stop reading her posts. Ya know wat is addictive abt her blog? its the way she writes about personal stuff......well everybody likes a bit of voyeurism. Hey shez releasing a book now!!! But her writing is awesome, very bold and very well written.

Culture, Urs and mine

The word is isssssssssssh!! Saudi's have a tradition of not talking about the obvious. Every word you say, before it leaves your mouth has to be censored. I share my office cabin in Aramco with my saudi college, a junior yet to graduate....a great guy to spend the boring afternoon hours. We simply talk, its actually an enriching experience to sit with somebody who belongs to a totally different way of life and talk about common things...generic issues like USA, Religion, Cars, Customs...lots of things.
Religion is a defacto topic of discussion between us, he wouldnt believe that i dont pray and im not religious although im a default hindu. He talks about life, death, afterlife, afterdeath.......the fact that i dont believe in all this totally beats him. His system simply does not accept that somebody without religion can actually live. Although Ahmed(the chaps name) tried to hide his dispeasure about me not accepting his argument i could sense it. Well he is not wrong and i am right so its a stalemate.
I like Ahmed for his wayz, the guy is young, very matured and staunchly defends his religion which i think is very fair. He convinced me how Saudi Arabia 'the land of the pure' is different from other Arab nations. We in India have our own religious places with absurd and weird customs to suit traditions. Saudi Arabia is one such country where traditions far outweigh the religion.
We talk about girls, here you cannot find youngsters hanging out, well they do but guys seperately and girls with their husbands or fathers. You have sprawling malls all over the country but you dont find the vibrancy of youngsters talking, laughing, lovers walking hand in hand. Here the malls are quiet, eerily quiet where you want something to happen to break the ice.
Oh i nearly forgot, 'Rajnikaaaaaaant'. After my daily meeting with the proponents of the project we had an 'off-the-topic' discussion with the guys (all saudi's) the topic of discussion: Movies and obvious i had to justify the dance-around-the-tree routine of our illustrious actors, then out of no where i heard the name 'Rajnikaaaaaaant'....i didn believe it at first but double checked it with the guy who mentioned it and yes he is an avid fan of 'Rajinikanth'.......tell me abt it! In a country where movies are banned (no theaters in Saudi Arabia) and television and internet are highly censored...Rajinikanth is famous!!
If you think this post is highly unorganized, let me clarify that im somehow managing to blog inspite of certain restrictions and this one particular post was composed in 4 days of 2 different weeks.
Will try to keep posting...but now gotta run home....taxi waiting ;)

Outta blogger range!!

Im actually in a part of the world where my internet is highly restricted and worse i dont have access to a lot of websites in my office too, so sorry guyz need to wait for another few months before i can start rambling again ;)
Im in saudi arabia on a project deputation, so will try to find a way to blog by wat so ever means possible. Moreover my blogger home page is in arabic and im just guessing the buttons to post a message ;)
Meanwhile im having real fun in this amazing company (Saudi Aramco) google it and u will know abt it, trust me......just google it and u will not be disappointed !!!

Coimbatore

Ok, this is something which everybody will agree on. Coimbatore(cbe) does not rock, does not have a proper shopping mall, does not have proper roads, does not have a proper pub. But wat it does have is amazing climate, greenery, ooty and sweet water. I would not compare cbe with chennai(mas). Mas is a thriving city with a real cosmo feel about it, u have ur italian/spanish/continental joints, pubs, clubs, malls everything an individual would need to spend his monie on.

But mas has got amazingly bad weather, insanely hot and humid, polluted to the max, millions of ppl on the flithy streets, water(aaarrg!) u call that water?? and traffic, takes u eon yrs to commute from one street to the next. Wen it rains, chennai sucks big time...water everywhere, something outta "Water world" set. Draining seeping, traffic congestion and what not....

Coimbatore is peacefull, pleasant weather, really cooked ppl though(oops i hate to generalize), dont be fooled by the sweet 'kovai' tamil. IT is still nascent is Cbe but its catching up big time and u can tell, the infrastructure is not bummed up, the roads are beginning to get clogged, multiplexes are propping up everywhere, high rises and appt's are a common site. But does all this bring a cosmo feel to the city, sure it does only that coimbatore is becoming every bit chennai has become.

Sorry abt the rant, just though i need to speak my mind......wat are the friggin politicians upto?

Absolutely rocking!!

I had to have this information posted, read http://fakesteve.blogspot.com Its quiet possibly the funniest shit you can read on the web for a long long time. Absolutely hilarious.

Aimless.........ramblings

I've changed the banner of my blogspot, decided to go for the black theme......pretty gud eh?? im impressed. I thought the previous banner was nice but decided to create a new one and hey this one seems to be much better and professional!
Just when i think, i've done something well/nice/gud i realise the next time i can do it much better.
My realizations:
"U never stop learning"
"Just when u think u've given a 100%, u realize u can do much better the next time"
"Creativity is all about freedom, try limiting it, the result will show"

9 minutes of absolute freedom

Ok this is something which was advocated by one of my mates, wat wud i do if i got 9 mins of absolute freedom?
* reduce crude oil prices
* get Bush a special posting in Iraq (not as a diplomat but as an army unit engaging the occupied forces) for the rest of his life
* make politicians suffer for their disregard to the society
* get myself admitted into IIM
* reduce my abs
* learn to swim
* steal a 9 min ride on an R1 (thats God, for yamaha enthus)
* crash a Rolls-Royce just for fun
and finally
* keep doin bungees of a bridge in NewZeland!!

A broken promise

Ok, i broke a promise...i made a promise to myself that i wont needlessly drive like an idiot with other idiots on the road. I really dont have to put my life on the line and race with guys i hardly care abt. Of course it gives me a high wen i beat the crap outta 'em but is it really worth it?

I did it on Friday and did it 2day, i need to stop this whole "whoz the man?" stuff. Now im seriously thinking abt swapping my Yamaha for my sisters Honda. Who knowz, it cud save somebody their life.

"Speed kills", oh yeah i've heard that before!!

Wer the f*&k is my money??

I made my mind to check my bank balance 2day and was in for a nice surprise, i swiped my card in the slot and clicked on mini-stmt...i waited and waited for eternity (apparently the bloody machine was conked and the security guard at the ATM didnt bother putting up a board on the machine). So I waited till the other machine was free and eagerly clicked on "mini stmt". It came finally and came with a bomb, my balance was so damn rockbottom. I've not spent a lot the past few months and i expected my balance to be healthy but its always the same, the more u yearn for something, the harder it is to get. Further more my company has made it a habit to never pay in time so id actually never calculated this months wage. But still u gotta have something left in the bank!

This means one thing, either im not earning enuf or im not saving enuf :( all i wish is a few more rupees and im a contented man but that few more rupees keep rising every month just like inflation and im never a contented man. Does anybody else out there feel the same??

Of eyes which tell you a story.

On route to work everyday I've noticed this handicapped young guy sitting on the roadside near a busy bus-stop. The guy is young with an pair of the most innocent eyes i've seen, they literally seem to tell you his story. I deliberately try to make eye contact with him everyday as my office cab passes by and was hoping to give him some money the next time i see him but now i don't see him in his usual place and its now giving me a nagging feeling, i should have given him monie when i could have......hmmm keeping fingers crossed.

When i was his age i would have probably been on my bike driving up and down aimlessly and spending monie for no reason etall. But he sits in that corner helplessly looking upto people for grants and pittances. Life is so very unfair! some have everything, others have nothing....

Help!!

Is it just me or does everybody else feel the same?

I really dont seem comprehend wat girls actually say, i seriously dont for God sake!!

The female species is seriously f@#$kedup!!

Yami!! the very best

I ride a Yamaha RX100 and im mighty well proud abt it. My bike may be as nearly as old as me but it still rocks and can beat the shit outta any goddammed 4 strokes on the roads. My driving days are on the backburners now, im done with my college and settling down into this new job but occasionally i gun the throttle just to see if i've still got the adrelain rush to go flat out in heavy traffic. The pleasure of zipping through traffic at breakneck speeds past unsuspecting 4 strokes is just pure worth the risk!!!

I was riding home from work on friday nite, my house is on the outskirts and it normally takes me 30 mins on the state highway to reach my place. I was doin abt 60-70km/hr but since i've got a Yamaha RX100 i would sound like its doin 100km/hr. I was just beginning to enjoy the rev and the roar of the engine when a Pulsar with a female pillion rider meanly cut into me, that really pissed me off and broke my peace.

The guy obviously trying to show who's the boss to his female partner thought ill give up easily and he can boast abt it with his girlfriend. Well well well....i had other plans, we had nearly 15 kms of the state highway to ourselves, being pongal season the roads wer not as crowded, so it was just the both of us and a traffic free highway, wat a setting.

For some reason i dont like the Pulsars, i dont make assumtions, id driven many pulsars right across the plains of coimbatore to the hills of ooty, the pulsar is not a very good bike as portrayed. Its not got a gud riding position and its not rock solid at highspeeds and more over it doesnt really accelerate etall. Its cumbersome and heavy and drags from 0-100 in goddamm watever mins...

Well coming back to the race setting, i had a feeling that the pulsar was going to be fast on the straights and my only chance was acceleration. My yamaha is nearly 15yrs old but its got a new engine with just 400kms logged and i didnt want to push the bike hard. Imagine my surprise when i gunned the throttle, i was doing 90 and began to gain an definite edge over the pulsar, but by 100 the pulsar started kicking up a real fight! The bike is afterall brand new and its a performance bike..... lol!!!!

Searing past 100 the dynamics of the bikes came to play, the yamaha was rock solid and very firm on the curves and during overtaking, but the pulsar was kinda bouncing off the road at every bump and hole. I immediately knew that if i manage to go past 110 the pulsar is history and history it was!!

I raced into my neighborhood and waited by the road side to let the pulsar pass. I honked when he passed just to spoil his repute, the arse thought he could show off in front of his gurlfriend by taking on a yamaha.....idiot. And the best past....... the look on the girls face ....priceless!!!

"Somethings money cant buy for everything else there's a Yamaha!!"

Guilty pleasures!

Like every common man i have my list of things id like to do before i hit the ripe old age of 60.......

1. Jump outta airplane
2. Bungee Jump from a bridge in New Zealand.
2. Own a BMW
3. Drive a Ferrari
4. Visit the 7 wonders
5. Do a road trip across Europe

The year gone by.........!!

Its become a habit of me now to take a moment and reflect the year gone by, 2007 didnt promise much, but it somehow didnt disappoint either, i switched jobs, couple of the guyz got married, i came back to my own country, made a lot of new friends in office....hmm its actually not quiet the lethargic year i expected 2007 to be.

Im learning the nuances of living with my parents again. Its actually more tricky than i thought, my whole thought process has changed since i've to come back home every nite what ever the time may be. Im back to being the No.2 in the household, ur decisions are always scrutinized and critized which was never the case when i stayed alone in Glasgow. More over the family car and the stereo in my room is not entirely mine, im not allowed to drive more than 80kms/hr, i cant swear at erring drivers, i can listen to music only at a certain decibel and i cant play music rite into the night!!

Coming to 2008, i decided to buy myself a nice gift, my YAMAHA was in dire need of a new engine, so thats exactly what i did; i took to bike to the mechanic on the 30th of Dec 2007 and made sure i got the bike back on the 1st of Jan 2008. Im really happy the bike has got a spanking new engine and a much needed service.

So..an other year has gone by, im fairly satisfied with the progress i've made, but i really need to jump start 2008. The world moves very fast, if u dont make it on time, ur gonna miss the bus, and the whole world awaits to laugh at you!!

Prayer:

I hope the US stops throwing bombs on which ever country it pleases, i hope the oil price rise stops, hope i can fill up my RX100 and feel the wind on my face just like the old times.......price of petrol was Rs. 30 then!!