Top 5 List

Ok, so the Mumbai terror attacks have made us all sit up and think. It made me do so, and today while travelling I came up with the below list. It is 100% my intellectual proprietary material. Infringement will result in terror!

The list is basically of top 5 things that I feel have been a +ve effect, thanks to the terror attack.

#5
More global coverage makes us # 1 searched folks on the planet.

#4
Insecurity of our lives makes us more compassionate and loving towards our near and dear ones. The occasional hug and thanks is more often done/said now.

#3
24*7 Diwali atmosphere.

#2
We can call ourselves the first global tourists, because even places like Kabul, Baghdad are safer and hence give us more options to visit and enjoy.

#1
From day 1, I kept saying the name 'BOMB'ay was correct and should NOT have been changed. I stand vindicated!!

Cheers,
Ashley

Hurts Like Hell

A two year old Israeli boy, Moshe Holtzberg, lost his parents in the recent attack. Reading this news online made me so damn sick in the stomach.

How can the Indian authorities even manage to go home and see their own children, when they have done this to Baby Moshe? As my friend Pradeep rightly put it, it is the self greed of these politicians that has made this country so poor today. Unrelenting self-attention and continuous ignorance to righteous governance has bought us to see these hurtful days.

Today, no Mumbaikar is safe. Walking on the road, at the bus station, in a train, at Gateway of India, or even in your local cafe, nothing is a safe haven.

I also happened to follow this crappy news item by CNN-IBN regarding India keeping all options open as a follow up to the attack. Dear editor, are you a foreign national or you just want to spice up the news and shoot up your TRP rating. India cannot and will never attack any country. Let the other country kill a million people or take away acres of land, we will never retaliate. This is in our INDIAN DNA. We are bullies, who are royally raped by all our neighbouring nations, day in and day out.

Of course, I do praise the quick response that politicians and their party members take when a few hundred jobs are not given to Marathi Manoos(proved incorrect as per a survey) or say when a legally transferred piece of land is made a national issue just because of a personal vendetta of a single party/person(read Mamta Banerjee). So as it has been happening for the past few years, not a single bullet will be fired, not a single politician will do anything meaningful other than try and gain political mileage out this incident.

A week from now, we all would have forgotten about this incident, but Baby Moshe will live life as an orphan who lost his parents on our soil and their blood is on our hands. We all are responsible for what happened, whether you like it or not!

Be safe, kill a terrorist!
Ashley

Plan

So whats on the agenda, once I touch base back home.
I have some stuff planned out, some of it not.

But there are somethings that I most surely want to do. Some of them being:

Eating those hot samosas from MM Mithaiwala. Packing home the jalebi and having a nice glass of Kesar Lassi.
Having Kebabs from the vendor near Orlem church.
Visiting my old place and if possible, one game of football there.
Playing FIFA 08 with Adrian on our PS2. Barcelona will beat Arsenal!!!

Gosh, there are so many thoughts rushing through my head right now. Ill stop for now and update this space, when something interesting comes up.

Coffe Time,
Ashley

On the attacks...

I heard about the attacks from my friend Manish at work. I've stopped visiting the Indian new sites very often, because all they give me is uneasiness and unwanted frustration. So I just skip the crap and spend more time on finding good online deals to shop for. I quickly ran to make a call and check if all were Ok at home. God's grace and everything is Ok.

But now that everything is over, almost 200 people dead, I recall a few incidents that have happened in my life over the past few years and I start to join the dots.

I was around 15 years old. My grandmother had come to Bombay from Mangalore. She was entering the building, when a young boy, grabbed the gold chain around her neck and ran. My grandmom, healthy and fit as ever, ran after him and screamt. Some folks caught that poor lil bastard a hundred feet from the scene of the crime. First, he got beaten black and blue by the public. Then the cops arrived, packed him into the van and took him to the station. My grandmom and dad also went there. There, as per what my grandma told me. They stripped him to his bare clothing, hung him upside down and thrashed the life out of him. As they hit that poor fellow, my grandma could not see that torture any longer and asked the cops yo stop, but they would'nt budge. When satisfied they stopped, my grandma got her chain back, the poor chap a beating of a lifetime and the cops, a satisfaction of teaching the unlawful a lesson in civilized living.

Fast forward to April 07, 2007. Saturday night, me sleeping at home. Big day tomorrow. Its my enagement. Wow!! The first tiny step to eternal bliss (!). I get a call at 2:30 AM, just 5.5 hours before my mass. My very good friend Glenn has had an accident at the club and is in the hospital. My other childhood friend Munny is in the police lock up. I got up, without telling my Mom and Dad, I left the house. I ran to the hospital, Glenn has had a bamboo hit on his head, 17 stitches to this head. Seems, there was a club fight and he just happened to find himself in the middle of it. He was not even at the club, had gone to meet a friend there. Once I seen Glenn was Ok, Adrian and I rushed to the cop station. Munny and 2 other friends, were getting the thrashing of a lifetime. The cops with their sticks going after them like crazy. Those guys begging for mercy, but no one to listen. I asked the cop to stop, he would not budge. I went at 4:00 AM, knocked on my cousin Ronnie's door. Got him to the station and got those 3 guys out. 6 AM and things look better now. Finally I made it to my enagement, but my closest friends since childhood did not make it.

What is amazing is the indifference in the attitude shown by the people governing us. If you are poor (like the robber) or without power(like munny), you will in all probability get beaten to death in your own country. No one to listen your side of the story. No one to sympathize. Even if you are right, it does not matter, you will be thrown down and beaten to glory.

But, if you are a terrorist country, things get a little different. You kill 50 odd people or 200 people, we do not do anything. We sit, cry, watch and then give the world the headline, 'Mumbai Spirit is Awesome'. I say, screw the spirit. What spirit? You pricks who rule the country, move around in 'Z+' security. No worries for you, you son-of-a-B*****. It is for people like me, my family and the million common men/women in Bombay that life is so unpredictable and hellsome.

Dear cop(who was beating my friends that night), have you ever caught a single illegal immigrant in Malad? I can show you shanties where there are illegal bangladeshis residing in the suburbs. But do you even care? Do you? Have you ever tried to stop slum development in Bombay? No. The politicians want to allow all slums till 2000 to be legalised. Yes, my dear dumbheads do that. All the illegal folks will get legal housing and common like me is paying 11% APR on his housing loan. Thank You!!! 200 people die and what reaction do we as a country have??? Some minister resigning? As if we give a damn for him? His incapability should not be a reason for 200 deaths and if it is, then he should be held responsible for murder of 200 lives.

To all those who think India is a growing super power, my 2 cents of advice, Stop Dreaming. Having the 4th largest GDP is not a sign of a super power my friend. If numbers were the decider, we are the second largest population, yippie...!!!
Economy growing at 8% per annum is noting great, either. Some nations are growing faster than us and believe me, infrastucture wise are miles ahead.
I say, show the people of the country, that they are secure and they can live carefree, in a land where they pay taxes and live as civilized citizens. If you cannot do that, they dont ever brag that we are a great nation, because deep down inside, even you know it, that we are not. Per capita GDP is still outside the top 15. Stats are there to fool us and make us feel nice. May be some are fooled, not me. I've seen a few nations other than ours and believe me, we are still decades(not even years) behind of other countries.

Make the citizen feel proud, kill those who hurt our people. Where is the MNS now? They beat the North Indians because they took their jobs, now some folks have taken innocent Marathi lives? Not one statement. Nothing. Everyone has disappeared. Hiding eh? Saving you own ass???
Is the MNS heading to the border with their SENA and going to rage a war?
I doubt, because all Politicians think the same way, our lives are worthless, unless they give a political mileage(ask Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan) for their campaign.

Cheers and Be Safe.
Ashley

Holiday Weekend!

So a hectic weekend comes to an end, what awaits me is going to be a whirlwind of hectic and fun-filled weekends.

But the weekend did bring its share of scares and unforgettable moments. One of them being a scary accident on the freeway.

With Manish at the wheel and Rodney and Me for accompany, we were headed to the San Diego Sea World. We must have had another 45 minutes of driving on the freeway left, when just descending from a small sloping road, Manish noticed the traffic ahead (in the fastest lane) has come to a stop. He braked and braked like he had never braked before. Driving at 70 MPH and then braking with a car feet away, is tough, and we were lucky to escape with just clipping the bumper of the car ahead of us. It was very little damage considering what can happen on a freeway where all traffic is zoom zoom at 70+ MPH.

The cop came, heard our story and told us to be more careful going forward. We all thanked our stars and continued our journey to the Sea World. An hour and a half late, we still made most of the time at San Diego.

Now that I think about it, anything could have been possible. If we would have reacted even a couple of seconds late, we would have banged into the car ahead and then I cannot even imagine what would have happened.

But, lucky as we are, we came out unhurt and little damage. So the weekend is over, and its back to work from tomorrow. Another few days and then the trip back home.

Wow, I have so much to look forward to. Errrr, heading to Bombay, thats not very calming, is it?

Cheers,
Ashley

Taking you for granted.... Dont Let that happen...

"Ashley you quit, even though you were onsite and promoted!", exclaimed my friend. I said "Yes". The reason life makes you take such decisions is sometimes not the circumstance but people you deal with.

In my case, I should say, more than my fellow Infoscions, it was the DHL client who made me quit Infosys. Unfortunately, they used to always have that notion, no worries, Ashley will do it. So keep loading him with work, assign him everything from functional analysis to performance analysis. He will do it all. He is our slave.

So it might have come as a shock to them, when I left them(all of a sudden) and soon they realised I was not coming back.
You deserved it, I say. Life goes on, DHL has moved on and so have I. But that pleasure that I got, to say ' I QUIT', is priceless.

But whats amusing is that life comes a full circle and it presents you the same challenges again.

Like today, after a hectic week of coding, testing, bug fixing by my track colleagues and me, our management expects us to come over on a weekend to test for other tracks.

Again, they are taking it for granted that my track, which has completed its task deligently shall waste their hard earned weekend to clean someone else's shit. The last time I felt mind-f****d like this I decided to quit the organisation. :)
And guess what, over a period of time the people forced me to do it.

Its, not only at work, but so many facets of life, that people whom we interact with take us for granted. Let it be our roomates, our colleagues, our family, our friends, almost everywhere there is someone, who takes for granted that you will do him a favor.

My advice for people who expect favors is, never assume that someone will do it, take a rational decision whether that work or thing you need from him/her is fair enough to ask for?

If not, then ask politely, if it is possible to do that task, and do give him the option of saying NO. The reason being, it was not expected of that person to perform that task in the first place. So its more of a request than a command. But when people keep pouring these requests a little too frequently, its time to understand that the expectation has changed, and its time to screw the person over. This is when the surprise, 'I QUIT' makes you feel the king of the world!!!

Its been a long hard day so far. Sitting and blogging with GlenLivet giving me soothing company is awesome. Thanks to the scotch I feel relieved and fresh. Time to hit the gym and burn the calories that LAYS just added into me.

Cheers and Nice weekend,
Ashley

Aura of invincibility..

So after the recent India-Aus series, many have started to raise eyebrows of how dominant a force the Oz really are? Has the loss of Langer, McGrath and Warne too big a damage to continue that legacy? May be, May be not, only time will tell.

What is more interesting is the aura of invincibility slowly disappearing from other few dominant forces across the sports spectrum.

Lets take Mr.Roger Federer. Prior to 2008, he was invincible on all surfaces, but clay. Even on clay he had been sublime, but against Nadal. 4 time World Sportsman of the year to back his reputation, he entered 2008 hoping to complete the Golden Slam. That means, all 4 slams and the Olympic Gold medal too.
But, soon things changed after the French Open. FedEx was no longer invincible. He lost his pet grand slam, Wimbledon. He did not win the Olympic gold either.
Finally, as the year nears to an end, he no longer looks the same blow-you-away tennis genius he was a year ago.

For all those Ferrari fans, things have changed dramatically too. From dominating the F1 scene from 2000-2004, they have been quitely over-shadowed by McLaren Mercedes and Renault. Blame it on the exit of Michael Schumacher, but the decline has been noticable. Ferrari won a record 13 races in a season, they have been unable to dominate the sport since that season. Though, they did win the F1 Constructors Championship this year, their dominance is not the same though.

I feel much the same way as Australia(cricket) or Federer look beatable today, the Brazilian football team and Australian Hockey team have undergone a dramatic change in their respective fields and look vulnerable against a quality opponent.

Just goes to show, sooner of later, opponents do catch up to you. Of course, what FedEx did is unimaginable and mostly will remain a record for quite sometime, but he now has his task cut out to win more Grand Slams and silverware.

Becoming a champion is the easier part for legends like FedEx, it is continuing that legacy thats the hard part. For most of us(like me), becoming a champion itself is impossible, so I am spared the harder task of being at that level. So if you are a champion and reading this, it just got harder buddy. To stay up there, you got to work harder, else, you will soon be forgotten.

All said and done, one Mr.Tiger Woods, still continues to dominate like never before. His absence this second half of the year, is already hitting golf as a sport, with declining viewership and sponsorhip, but I am sure, he must be noticing the sudden disappearance of that unbeatable tag from his friends.

Cheers,
Ashley

Around the corner!

Its down to counting days! A few more days to go, before I finally take that deep plunge into the unknown and 'cannot-argue' world of marriage.

The preparations for the wedding are going on pretty smoothly. The only bump I hit was the church related stuff. I hope I have got that sorted out, unless my parish priest wants to give me more surprises when I head back home.

That aside, its been nice going so far, The wedding cards are ready. Lourdes has her wedding gown getting sewed together. Adrian has his suit material ready. Mom and Dad have their own preparations going on. All the personnel incharge of various inventories and tasks have been booked and kept ready.

It should be one big party in December. Christmas has always been the best part of the year for me since childhood. Sweets, holidays, winter chill, parties and so much fun. The mid-night mass at Orlem church will be a memory forever.

For those who are unaware as to how we (rather I) selected the wedding date. The story goes something like this. I happen to be lucky enough to share my birthday with Uncle Mel, my Mom's brother. Uncle Mel, got married on Dec 26. I cant really remember the year. But I remember, how excited my grandmother's house was about the wedding. Lots of Christmas shopping, Relative pouring in from everywhere. To add to the excitement, I was page-boy for the wedding.

It was that day, I must have been 7 or 8, that I decided that I would get married during the Christmas season. To be frank, I wanted to get married on Dec 26 itself. But no harm done, Dec 28 is still close. So I made sure, that I get married in the holiday season, with the christmas fever adding to the glitter and shine.

So as time flies away, I near, what would be the most important, sacred and fun-filled day of my life.

Its one big party!

Cheers and Hope to see you there!

Ashley

Confession!

Yes, I have to confess, the Indian cricket team today is a better team than the ex-invincible Oz. Period.

I have had a zillion discussions with my friends, discussing how the Indian cricket team could never match the Aussies in sheer talent or killer instinct. But from what I have followed of the just concluded Test Series, India have finally proved me wrong and in my opinion can claim the title of the best team in the world.

The record speaks for itself. The Oz had never lost a test series against India for 7 long years. Thats a sign of their stupifying brilliance.
During this period, they not only beat opponents, but mostly(during their prime) pounded them. But things have come a full circle.

India looked dominant throughout the series and beat them hands down. I still remember one discussion with Prasanna, Sourabh and Pankaj. Must have been one of the most intense debates ive ever been part of, Pankaj and Me throwing everything there is, against India.

Well today, to Prasanna, Sourabh and all those Indian cricket fans, whom I must have sarcastically laughed upon, yes, India is a better team. Sheepishly I agree.

All the best India, now its time to raise the bar and beat teams left, right and center, not only on home turf, but anywhere on this planet, just like how champions do!!

Cheers,
Ashley

Those beer guzzling days...

The days I am about to mention, have to be the most carefree and enjoyable days of my life. No hassles whatsoever. No worries in life. Nothing! Just plain adolescent fun and growing up.

All we needed was: 5 close friends, 3 bikes, 50 bukz each, 'Dhana Paani' and voila eternal bliss.

I dont remember who among us decided to head to 'Dhana Paani' first, but whosoever it was, thanks buddy. Dhana Paani is a small strech of beach near to my home. The place does not have any lighting whatsoever. The breeze is a killer and the atmosphere at the place, fantabulous.

The fab 5, Gaurang 'Telia', Rajiv 'Kama', Vijay 'Pandu', Nikhil 'Bhangar' and Me 'Dosa'. The 3 bikes, Gaurang and his so-called 'Worlds Best Bike', Hero Honda Passion. Vijay and his ever-reliable Splendor and Nikhil with his super economy Boxer.

And 50 bukz, was for the Khajurao or Zingaro beer that he bought on the way to the beach. Of course the beer cost us 40, but 10 bukz was for the so-damn-delicious burjee pav that we relished at the breezy beach and the 'chakhna' to go along with the beer.

Nikhil was teetotaler and used to drink Pepsi. Gaurang would crack endless jokes on him but he did not change. We would leave somewhere around 7 PM and get back at 9 or 10 PM. One beer gave us quite a good kick then. More than the kick it was the freedom that we relished. Sitting on those rocks at 'Dhana Paani', the waves hitting the shore, the cool breeze blowing into us, the darkness that engulfed the entire place. It was simply awesome. We would discuss everything and anything. Girlfriends, college, career, fights, friends and more.

The toughest part would be to reach home and quietly go to sleep. My Mom was an expert at knowing when I had beer with my friends. :) Of course, soon she realized that when I slept directly after coming home, meant I had a drink outside. :)

The 5 of us have had so many funny incidents. One of the most funniest was when Rajiv got his own bike. A second hand RX 100, I think. One evening, heading back from one boozing trip, he notices a stray dog ahead of him. Next thing is unbelievable. The dog tried to go left, our Rajiv also went left and ran over that poor dog. Luckily, Kama weighed only 45 Kgs and his bike was a real goner(without most parts). So the dog let out a scream and ran away. But the laughter that the rest of us had was simple unstoppable. For the entire journey, till I reached home, I was laughing. How good a driver can you be to ride over a dog and not hurt the dog or lose your balance. Simple awesome Rajiv. No doubt that guy is a Pilot with Indian Airlines today!!!!

Beware you pigeons and crows, its Kama in control!

Surely, even you have such moments, that when you look back at, give you goosebumps and bring back a grin to your face.

Cheers,
Ashley

What will they say(think)?

From what I have seen, there are usually 2 kinds of people. The ones who do what they want to do, not worrying of what others may think/do and the kind who worry too much.

In what aspect you may ask. Well, lets break it down a little. You enter a classroom late. There are 2 seats vacant, one on the last row and another one on the front row. Hurriedly you take the seat on the last row. 2 mins into the lecture, you realise the seat is broken and uncomfortable for seating.

So what's next? Well, for one, if it were me, I would continue to be seated on that broken bench, because, I am mostly afraid of what people will think. I am afraid of what the classroom will react like, if I make that long walk from the last bench to the first one, even though I have a perfectly legitimate reason for my travel.

But on the other hand, someone else will standup and walk towards the chair on the first row.

The difference in the attitude, according to me comes from the answer of a simple question:- 'What will they say(think)?'

For me, the answer is usually very complex and more often than not prevents me from doing whatever I need to do.

Do something without unnecessarily wondering what people will think about me. Mostly the people in the room dont even care what you are doing. But silly as I am, I will ponder as if I am Prince Charles and then decide against doing something unorthodox.

But this gets me to a funny incident. I have never been a good sportsperson. Never. I was mostly on the bench during my limited school-football days. In school, I was in RED house. So during the annual school football tournament, I was selected to represent RED house. Dont get carried away, I was still on the bench.

So fast-forward to the game. Red-House was losing to the opposing team. My coach had given up all home and did not know what to do. We knew we had lost the game. Now the coach comes to me and tells me, go and play. I was like 'Whaat?'. I said, 'Sir, whom do I replace?'. He says no one. Just sneek in and play.

Even then, I had to answer the same question, 'What will they say(think)?'. I pondered for a moment and then a slight nudge by my coach pushed me on the other side of the white boundary. I was part of the game. I ran towards the ball and must have played a couple of minutes, when the refree loudly blew his whistle. He stared and me and asked me, 'When did you come on the field?'. I did not say a word, just looked towards my coach.

The next thing the refreee did was, count the number of players. Ooops, 12! He asked me to leave the ground. Believe me, it was embarassing for me. But those 2 minutes that I was on the field, I ran like crazy after the football. Did not really do much, just ran.

We lost the game, I came home as quietly as I could. But I dont think anyone really remembers what happened that day. Just goes to prove, you dont need to worry about everything you do, asking yourself what the other person will think. I dont think even one friend of mine on the ground that day remembers this incident and how funny I was.

My point being, just do it if you feel it is the right thing. The world has their own worries to take care of, rather than worry what you are upto!!!!

Cheers,
Ashley

Just missed the bus...

Does it not always happen with you?
When you are late at the bus stop the bus is on time and when you are ontime the bus never arrives on time!

Well, it happens regularly to me. Worst thing being that I find myself late not only at the bus station but also in other walks of life too.

For example, there was a recent Gold Price drop(in Mumbai that I know of). I sat on my buttocks and did not move a muscle. Then one fine day, it stuck Einstein(aka Me) that my folks should shop for the Gold now. I quickly ordered my Mom to do some shopping. My mom took off at the earliest and still we ended up noticing a price rise of 2k per 10 gm.

Next thing I encounter, the price hike on the booze. I asked my good friend Gautam to get me some Whisky, Rum and Vodka for my wedding. Even here, I was a tee bit late. There was a price hike in store for me here too. Even though the price hike was marginal if not negligible, it makes me wonder. Am I always late? Or is it just plain bad luck?

Another perspective is, Prices of commodities keep increasing every other day, but our monthly income rises only once a year(Hopefully!!!), unless we decide to loot a bank some weird day. So somehow we got to manage, not only with the constant income but also with the timing of heading out to buy those commodities.

Believe me, good timing can save some buck!!!

Cheers,
Ashley

Quietly.

Chetan Sharma must have never really thought that Miandad would hit him for a Six of the last ball.Similarly, Dhananjay must have never really imagined me hitting a homerun during our game of scrabble on facebook.

For the record, I have never ever seriously played scrabble. My past record was 0-2 against Dhananjay. And today was no different. The same pattern continued.

I get off to a rollicking start. Make some good words and I look to be in control. Then like a seasoned pro, Dhananjay starts making inroads. Word by word he inches closer, then overtakes me and finally leaves me staring at the board.

But today was different. It was time for Miandad to play scrabble. So after the usual start, the climax was something like this. I had 7 tiles left. None left in the bag. My score was 263 and Dhananjay was 296.

Some more stats. The highest scoring word I had made so far was 39, using 3 tiles.
Also the longest word I had made was 5 tiles long.

So, assuming things went normally, I had no chance of winning this game. But the 7 tiles I had were magical. They were QUIETLY magical.

Yes, I was able to make the word Quietly on my last turn. Use up all my tiles, and even get a triple word score for this word.

And, I made an astonishing 129 points for this word. Final score, Ashley-400 Dhananjay-288.

Makes me believe that one should never give up. Miandad did not give up hope that day and won an astonishing game. Today, I felt a little like him.

Below is a memento of the amazing game!

Warm People! Really?

This is a mystery, it baffles me. May be I have always been at the wrong place all my life. I genuinely hope that is the case, but it sure amazes me, how the same set of people can leave 2 contrasting impressions on 2 different set of folks.

Since childhood, I've always been left stunned by watching/listening to International celebrities speak so lavishly about India's warmth and care. The people being so nice and caring towards them. How they like India so much and they would like to visit the country again and again.
As a child, I never knew what the outside world looked like, so I presumed the backyard for the people from foreign states must have been awefully evil.

Reason being, lets look at it from my perspective. Back home, people on the road never smile at each other. At the traffic junction, people are waiting to run you over. The bus conductor never waits for you to safely board the bus, even if it is completely empty. The people in my society(building) never smiled at each other, unless you knew them personally. The shopkeepers would never give you change. A thank you would be as rare as finding a polar bear in Mumbai. Cops will never help. And atleast another millions incidents where nto warmth but hot-headed behaviour is on display.

Ok, so may be the people that I mentioned above were not really interested in knowing me or treating me with a smile. Ok, so we did not share any common ground, and that may excuse them from being courteous towards me and their fellow beings.

But, what really caught my attention was the people I worked with. At work, clustered with another 4000 odd other engineers, in a small 10 acre campus, things did not change much. I even changed to another campus and still no difference in the attitude.

There were so many people I used to see everyday at lunch break. Pass them when walking to the canteen or sit on a table next to them during lunch. Some of them, I must have seen on my floor for 3+ years, but that smile of comradrie or being a part of one organisation never came. Infact, people at work used to look at each other with a more ferocious look than I've ever seen. Call that peer pressure or what, it sucked. Peer pressure with folks at the same level is understood, but what about managers. The attitude that used to ooze out from some of them was, if I look at it today, was funny. I mean, what was he so proud about? That he sends across estimates which are made by a poor Analyst like me and just negotiates the project dates, which again are made by me. Suckers I tell you, those Infosys managers.

So where was that loving, caring, smiling, i-will-take-care-of-you India? Or does that India arise only if you are a celebrity or a foreign national or someone who can buy respect with lots of dough?
May be, may be not! My interaction since childhood, has still to seriously come across a scenario where, in a single day i meet more friendly people than rude ones.

Over here (States I mean), things are so different. People smile, are polite and make sure they have a kind word or two to say even if you are COMPLETE strangers. Let is be the bus stop, apartment complex, grocery store you will in all certainty be treated with a smile. At work, things are different too, infact very different. Almost everyone smiles, managers included. Still, the western people find our hospitality and scream on top of their lungs about it. Wonder what I missed and where?

Just to understand the situation more clearly. In a country where people of one state will beat people of another state, for no rhyme or reason, I really find it tough to find warmth.

As Black Eyed Peas say:- "Where is the Love?"

Cheers,
Ashley

Sacrificing phase!

The definition very apt for Sacrifice (in my case) is:
Forfeiture of something highly valued for the sake of one considered to have a greater value or claim.

In the above definition, in my context:
Highly valued = Rice+Soad+Pizza and more
Greater value = Wedding

Giving up orkut turned out much easier than giving up rice! :)
Brought up on a pure rice rich diet, gobbling it since I started to eat solid food, to suddenly give up rice, is a tough ask.

But I am somehow coping upto it. Its been almost a month since I have given up rice for lunch as well as dinner. Add to that, Soda too. Never had an aerated drink for almost 4 weeks.

Also, slowly am avoiding oily stuff too. So those fried samosa's that my roomies enjoy, are a NO-NO for me. Period!

Why am i torturing myself you ask?

December 28th 2008!!! I dont want to be a ball rolling down the aisle. I want to be a decent human being, made sophisticated by the tuxedo, walking down the aisle. I want Lourdes, to stand besides a manageable fellow, who is atleast visually palatable.

It surely is tough, I tell you. 5 pounds in almost a month, current weight loss. Lets see, how much of a change I can bring about until December.

What I am worried is about the post-marriage-eating-syndrome!!! Might hog all the things I craved for and end up being overweight for the return flight. Those samosas, rosgullas, onion rings, cheeze pizzas, sodas, rice+chicken curry... might be too hard to resist once it is 29th December 2008.

Tough 3 months ahead and even tougher period after the 'D' day.
Pray for me.

Cheers,
Ashley

Google made me do it!

As such, I am not a big fan of change. Routine is my inherint principle. Why change? Why new hassles? If the current way of doing things does not give me a headache, i'll continue using it, Forever may be!

But, what google makes me do, is amazing. I am sure most of you, also fall victim to googloomph!

Like many of you, I was a loyal YAHOO customer in the early 21st century. Then GMAIL came with the '1 GB' buzz and I was begging for an invite. Today, I dont even know if my Yahoo account has a million emails or none. The only use of that yahoo account, is for Video Chat, that too once in a while. Thats it.
Personally I prefer Skype for video chat though, but not folks have accounts setup on skype.

Also, during this yahoo era, I also had uploaded some of my pictures on Yahoo Photos. The most memorable picture being this one photo of me with Cyrus Broacha and Rajpal Yadav, when I met them at a party in Bangalore. :) Star Struck!!

Soon picasa came along and today, I dont even know where those photos that I uploaded in yahoo are. Last heard, Yahoo had closed the photo's department. Wonder if they can give my pictures back?

Yesterday, google realeased their web browser 'Chrome'. I have already made it my default browser at home. There are some short-comings which Abhishek and I discussed.:) We even managed to find a few defects/bugs. But, as google has already proven over and over again, its not long before many of the IE/FireFox/Safari/Opera faithful will switch over.

Amazing isnt it? Google comes along with a product and I change my routine. I wish google can open a gymnasium in my apartment complex, atleast it will help me change my routine(sleep!!) and hit the threadmill once in a while.

Being a tad more realistic, waiting for Google Operating System. Thats the only software I use which is not googlelised. As for the rest, there is a googlish feeling in everything I do on the web.

Must say, after a very interesting discussion with my good friend Amit, who works with Yahoo, I realised some of the change effect is because of the 'COOL' factor that google has tagged along with it. Just like how an Apple I POD is more appealing (atleast I think) than most MP3 players, even though they hardly differ in music quality and storage (and are more expensive), its almost the same with Google products today. It attracts you and once you switch, not many return.
'COOL' or no, they are innovative, appealing, fast and simple to use.

Later,
Ashley

See I told you...

Don't recall the exact year and time, but I remember watching a news piece of when this Air-India flight was delayed by more than 18 odd hours and there was no food-accomodation provided to the passengers travelling. Pretty common news for an AI flight, isnt it??

The passengers took refuge at the transit stop and somehow made it back home. Back then, the TV crew made a hay-day capturing the intensely pissed passengers. There was this young lady with her young kid, who blasted profanities on the tele. Could Air-India be really this bad?

After all, the nations premier carrier ought some responsibility to build a image globally and quite logically should look to set achieve new higher milestones rather than receive abuses on live TV.

Keeping this incident at the back of my head, I booked my tickets to India somewhere in early May, for a travel in mid December. That is almost 7 months in advance. I had the option of going for British Airways at a slightly higher price, but I presumed Air-India, in todays highly competitive air-travel industry would be value for money.

Hence i booked what looked like a very good deal. Los Angeles to Frankfurt. A tiny stop for refueling and then to New Delhi. A tiny stop again and then to Mumbai. The return was using the same path. I got the paper tickets too. So I was all set. Or was I?

Today, my agent sent me an email. Saying, Air-India has cancelled flights from Los Angeles to Mumbai via the route I had booked. What could I say? Speechless!

For once, I went against my mind and took a bold decision. Believe me, it was not about $$, but I felt flying AI would be a good decision. And AI has proved that come what may, AI will always remain AI!!!

India may become the numero uno super-power, with all the power and might in the world, but our national carrier will always be a shame. Shame not for other people to laugh at, but for its own people to abuse and make a joke of.

Finally, I rebooked myself on a British Airways flight. And you wont believe this. I got a cheaper ticket. I also happen to be a BA Executive Class member, so the miles added on will enable me to procure one free trip soon.

Things always happen for the better dont they??

Lesson learnt:- NEVER EVER, I MEAN NEVER EVER BOOK AIR-INDIA WHEN TRAVELLING ABROAD. ESPECIALLY IF IT IS YOUR WEDDING!!!

Cheers,
Ashley

Pre-Marriage Pains - Latest Update!!!

Yes, I do understand that marriage is a very sacred sacrament in the life of a Roman Catholic.
For me personally, it is the the most important spiritual milestone in one's life. But what really pisses me off is the amount of over-heads that the church has brought in. I might be wrong and may be these so-called steps must have been present since a long time. May be my Mom and Dad also had to go through them, but then, we need flexibility, dont we?

Take my case for example. I made a infrequent visit to my parish priest sometime back. Armed with the marriage course certificate(that Lourdes and I had taken together), baptism certificate and other church related stuff I calmly walked in to meet the priest.

I told him, that because I will be arriving just 4 weeks before my wedding, I would appreciate if he can start processing my case right away. With a cold-blooded look on his face he replies, "You will have to come to sign the document!". "What?" I screamt in my head. Does he think US is like next station or something. That I can come over to sign some document. Confused, I asked him again, "Can I sign this document in December?". "No", came a prompt reply with no hint of help whatsoever.

I mean, lets look it at from my perspective. I have a valid baptism certificate. A valid confirmation certificate. I have a valid marriage course certificate. Hell, I could have even produced a certificate that Lourdes and I have been courting each other for more than 5 years. So, who is he to obstruct me now. So instead of helping me, all he can think of is planning an impromptu trip to India for me, just to sign a document. That too, in the internet age, where everything is faxed, signed and scanned.

Doesnt 'Catholic' mean Universal? If so, then can I sign the document here (in California), at the parish where I currently am a member of?

It pains me to see that instead of helping, people will add more obstructions and unnecessary decrees to a process that can be streamlined and have its exceptions in place so as to handle various scenarios. And here I dont consider the parish priest as people, he is family. A very important member of my spiritual family. Can't he not understand that I have a limitation and it's not really possible to sign that document before December 2008.

For example, what if a person who is a shippy wants to get married. He comes home only once in 9 months. So does he need to leave his ship and swim back home to get this document signed.

'Change'- We can Believe In. Yes, thats what the church needs to look at. Lets be a little more flexible. More understanding and considerate towards our brothers and sisters.

The latest is that, the parish priest has changed at my place. My Mom is going to visit the priest on saturday. Lets see, what happens. Meanwhile, Lourdes has been told that her NOC certificate will take more than a week to arrive. Wonder if the church has a FBI like database where they will match the names to check for defaulters.

Whatever it is, God please save me!!!

Hoping the church does not compound me with more wedding planning headache. I have my hands full already. :)

Update:
My Mom did visit the parish and it so happens that the new parish priest is a bigger pain than the earlier one. He was rude and not ready to help one bit. Makes me wonder is that what Christianity/Roman Catholic all about. I'd rather move on rather than be a part of this community. Believe me, that priest is lucky, if I was sitting across the table, there sure would have
been a heated argument.

Lets see whats in store.

Next Update:

So finally Lourdes got her NOC from her Irla parish. I got my NOC from my Orange county parish. So the next step was to go the St.Anthony's Church, Malad and book for the wedding mass. Lourdes and her Mom reached there today, with the NOC saying that the Irla Parish has no objection in the mass being held at the St.Anthony's church. But is so happens that this church now has a freaking problem. The priest, like all his other brothers does not believe in helping and understanding problems. He fails to understand that travelling from Irla to Malad is not possible in 1 hours time. So if we have the mass at Irla, as this &^&**$%$ priest says then we reach for the reception at 8 PM. This, hoping the traffic is bad and not horrible. I mean, it baffles me, how disconnected the entire church system is. One church X says Ok, you can have the mass at church Y. Church Y says, i dont care about church X, i will not allow you to get married in church Y. WTF is this?

Dear Priests,
You think this is some kind of a joke. Lourdes is running about from Irla to Malad and back to Irla, just because you smart folks are dumb enough to understand a simple protocol between yourselves. She is alone, I am not around and poor thing had enough of headache already. And what I supposed was the easiest of tasks, getting a mass booked is turning out to be the worst hassel of all.

You wonder why people leave the church, this is the reason. Your egoistic attitude and self-belief that you are the ONE makes you turn people away from your doorstep, instead of helping them and understanding their problem.

Once the mass is booked and everything is settled, which I hope is posssible, I will personally make it a point to meet both the priests. My parish and this priest from St.Anthony's. I will make myself clear, if needed even show you my blog and how frustrated you so-called 'God's Servants' made me feel. For once, do you even think, that what you do is service for the Almighty. There should be no reason why I cannot get married at a particular church. You needed a NOC, i got that, now what? Why tell Lourdes you cannot have it? Whats the reason? Ego, supersmart, pain in your ass?

My idea is simple, if I believe in one christ, all churches are the same and I should have the privilege to get married anywhere on this planet, as long as I am not previously married to someone else. That prickly priest in Malwani cares nothing about me or Lourdes, he is just satisfying his ego by putting across a point of how important he is and that I need him at this moment.

FU!

Cheers,
Ashley

Audacious...

Football never fails to surprise me. Year after year, the transfer windown in Europe makes me realise that money can buy anything, anytime!

Take last year for example, William Gallas, a true Chelsea player so far. He had given his all to the club. On the other hand, Ashley Cole, a Gunner to the core. So far, I have never imagined both these players quitting their respective clubs. Come August 31 2007, boom! A swap and Cole comes Chelsea way and Gallas heads for Emirates. Surprise, Surprise!

So come August 31 2008, I was again eagerly awaiting the last day of the transfer window. And this years surprise was much bigger than last years.
Picture this:
Robinho, Brazil's wonderkid and star player organises a press conference, asking for a transfer from Real Madrid to Chelsea. Chelsea had offered around 28 Million Pounds for this transfer. The deal was almost through as per all the leading tabloids and Robinho was on his way to Stamford Bridge.

Come Monday, the Abu Dhabi United Group gets a major stake in the Manchester City Football Club. And what is the first thing the new owner, Dr Sulaiman Al-Fahim does?
Tables 4 bids for 4 different players:
30 Million Pounds for Berbatov.
32.5 Million Pounds for Robinho.
And 2 bids for Spanish player D. Villa and Germany M. Gomez.

Both the bids for Bebatov and Robinho were accepted. Can you imagine what Manchester United and Chelsea were thinking at this moment. Just 12 hours before they were the only players int he race and must have slept thinking the deal is almost through. And here comes the Billionaire from the Gulf and hits their plans for a home run.

Only thing is that Berbatov decided to head for Man U, even though his club had accepted the bid from Man City.
Robinho did not do any favors for Chelsea though. He signed for Man City. A scoop that Chlesea management folks will remember all their lives. A player stolen from right under their noses.

So what does all this mean? Well, Man City have loads of cash now. Their next target, as expectedly, Christiano Ronaldo. Asking Prices, hold your breadth. A little more. 250 Million $$!!!!!! And that Al-Fahim has said this is an OK price for Ronaldo.

Money can buy anything, hence proved.

This weekend in the English Premier League, Chelsea Vs Manchester City. Can you ask for something better?

Can't wait for the weekend, as always!!

Cheers,
Ashley

Fear!

As some of you must have noticed, I have pulled down some of my recent posts. Infact today I wrote a heart wrenched post regarding the Orissa killings. I wrote it with my heart, just penned down what I felt and I posted it.

Then I read the same post, it came out so well. May be it was too raw and hard-hitting, but I believe it was something that I feel is the truth. I then deleted the post, because I have my family who lives back home and people in India just need a reason to hurt each other. Especially when you come from another community or religion.

I want to write so many things, express myself, but the only thing that stops me is the thought of my family.

Have a nice weekend.

Cheers,
Ashley

India at the Olympics.. should we celebrate?

So you think, India has shone like dazzling star on the Olympic horizon? I'll beg to differ slightly. I am proud of what Abhinav, Sushil and Vijender have achieved to bring glory for the nation, but I am sure their hardwork will not ignite any major revolutions to promote sports in a nation starved for heroes. Soon, it will be time for the Olympians to leave the stage and the for the next 4 years, our dear cricketers supported by the supremely talented Sania Mirza will hog the limelight.

Let me put forth a question. How much of Malleshwari did u see once the dust settled on her Olympic victory? How much of Rajvardhan Rathore did you follow? How many knew Abhinav Bindra before he hit the bullseye in Beijing?

Suma Shirur, a super talented sportswoman, whom I personally met, was without a coach before she left for Athens in 2004. She is the current world record holder in 10M rifle shooting (400/400). She stood 8th in the finals in Athens. Can you imagine what she would have done if provided a good quality coach and world-class training facilities.

There are many untold stories like Suma Shirur, that you and I are not aware of. But instead of giving the deserving atheletes an oppurutunity we turn our backs on them, only to cuss at them every 4 years, when they fail to bring us a medal. Whom do we blame? The Athelete? Us? The government? The media? Pakistan?

For a nation that is rated as one of the fastest growing economies, the Olympics is a perfect stage to showcase our prowess. Our GDP is just one factor to guage our rise. Sports success, Military powers, Scientific advances, Infrastructural improvements.. so many parameters to caliber a nations growth.

A simple stat that I discussed with my good friend Abhishek the other day. The top 4 growing economies of the world, labelled as BRIC! Find alongside the medals won so far.
B= Brazil:10
R=Russia:53
I=India:3??
C=China:83

Let us add another nation and make it BRICK!
K=Korea:26

This BRIC and BRICK is not made up by me, it is a thorough analysis done by Goldman Sachs.

Hereis the article to the BRIC study(pretty interesting).

Should we be celebrating our success, or dwell on the reasons why we are not winning more medals.

Please dont tell me, that we dont have the talent. I can name atleast 10 atheletes who if trained well and groomed for the 2012 games, will surely bring us glory. But who will provide them support. Support does not mean 2 crore on winning 1 medal, support means standing by one's side through their good and bad times. Ask Suma Shirur!

I have always raised the 'One-single-astroturf-in-mumbai' issue a zillion times. But one other interesting incident was when i visisted the Chhatrapati Shivaji sports complex in Balewadi, Pune. That place was in a mess. It kind of symbolizes India's thirst for success in sports. Zilch!

Last heard, that stadium was being re-done for the Youth Commonwealth Games in October 2008. Once the games are over, the shrubs will grow again, the rust will set in and the facility will be a Jurassic park in the midst of Hinjewadi, the IT park of Pune. Quite Ironical, aint it?

Cheers,
Ashley

Make Hay when the sun shines!

But make sure you are in your proper senses and not too greedy. A current prime example is Mr.Andrei Arshavin. A sublimly talented Russian football player. He rose to prominence in the recently concluded UEFA Cup 2008. His versatility on the football field and immense talent have made him a must want player for top clubs.
He scores goals, provides assists, has a good engine and wonderful football imagination and visibilty. Ask the Dutch, how he single handedly brought them down.

Currently he represent a russian club, Zenit Saint Petersburg. This club is not Real Madrid, Barcelona or Manchester United. So, as it was meant to be, Ashravin started getting offers to join top notch European clubs. Barcelona, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspurs and a few others.

But our dear friend (or may be his club), is so hell bent on making a zillion hay, that his transfer is just not possible. So Arsenal and Barcelona have given up on him. Today, Hotspurs are also out of the race, thanks to a zero negotiation strategy used by Ashravin and Zenit.

Outcome, he might continue to play in the modest Russian League.

Learning: Dont overvalue yourself, if you do be prepared to encounter disappointments along the way.

All the best Andrei.

An update:
So finally sense has prevailed and Zenit/Ashravin have decided to may be lower his price tag.
Here is the article.

Boybands...

"What a wuss you are?", exclaimed my friend. "How can you even like Boyzone?". Yes, I admit it, I was a huge boyzone fan. So huge, that I even wrote a letter to them and sent it all the way to Middlesex, England!!! Btw, this happened somewhere in 1996-1997. No emails then, no internet to get online membership. My joy knew no bounds when I got a reply, for a moment I thought that one of the five must have personally replied to me. Stupid me, but yes, I did think so. So what did the letter contain? I was so excited to have seen the letter, opening it would have taken me to the next ultimate level of excitement.

Well, the letter only had a invitation to be a part of their official fanclub. It did not contain the boyzone tee which I had asked for. Nor did it have a autographed photograph of Shane. :)
To rub it in, the membership fees was quite an unaffordable figure and that too in pounds. To be frank I dont even remember the exchange rate that time nor the amount those freaks asked for.

But, that letter, it meant so much to me. I kept it safely in my draw. Hid the letter from Adrian, so that he would not laugh at me. Days passed, Boyzone was passe. Enter Backstreet Boyz, N'Sync, Bed & Breakfast, WestLife and so on....

What I really love about these boybands is that they were in perfect synchronization with my adolescent days.
From 'Words', 'Bye Bye Bye' to 'Escape', they have always been parallel and provided background score to my other-wise simple life.

The first CD I ever bought was 'Millenium', courtesy 'Backstreet Boys'. I would stand in front of the mirror and sing 'I want it that way' and 'Show me the meaning of being lonely' all evening.

Right now am listening to 'Back Here Baby' by BBMak... those good ole 'Ganga' days!!

Well Done India!!!

Miserable, Piteous, Shameful! This is how I would describe the performance of our so-called medal expecting stars at the Olympics.

By now, most of you guys must have read my sincere and heartfelt analysis of Miss Sania Mirza's professional tennis performance. I had, have and will always stick to the fact that she has stymied the growth of many other female atheletes who deserve more credit and recognition than an unworthy soul like her.
Her retiring at the games and disappointing loss did not surprise me one tiny-atomic bit. It was expected.

The media, both print and television are a wasted lot. Unnecessary hype, undue attention, undeserved praise and print space have made atheletes like Sania assume they are the bread and butter winners for our nation when it comes to sports.

Wrong, my dear lady. You have sadly been mistaken. Actually, our dear friend Sania is not alone. At the fictious mountain that she rests on, she has company. Company of self-believing, self-assuming and utterly disappointing atheletes like Anju B George.

The problem with Indians is that, success hits the head pretty fast. Blame it on the lack of heroes that India fails to provide or surplus media attention for their mediocre performances, suddenly these atheletes start advocating the role of being world beaters. They presume they are championship material and are good enough for anyone anyday.

Unfortunately, a little sensibility and a little more logic, makes me think otherwise. Performance is your report card. Not the number of headlines you made. It does not matter if Sachin Tendulkar came to meet you when in Hyderabad. It does not matter if you are having an affair with the Pakistani tennis player. It does not matter if you keep cribing about the facilities provided for your practice.

What matters is performance!!! It is the sole criteria to judge a sportsperson. And my dear ladies, you both have screwed India when it gave you such a prestigious platform to perform on. 3 failed jumps? Mrs. George, what the hell were you thinking. Is this some park in Kerala where you go and jump and come back. The whole world is watching, a million and more people have pinned their hopes on you. And all you can do is make not 1, not 2 but un-freakin-believable 3 foul jumps.

You know friends, whats the worst part about atheletes like them. They dont have one single ounce of remorse or self-regret to have let down a nation. A nation that so eagerly is waiting for another hero after Abhinav. All they care about is the spot-light. And our two-penny worth media, is all game for that. Of course, a story on Sania will give their TRP's a boost, rather than focus on Suma Shirur who is giving her 110% at a self-sponsored shooting range in Panvel.

The media is the biggest culprit to have created this hoopla about India's medal hopefuls. The bubble has burst this time, as always. Sania, Anju, Lee/Hesh all have delivered nought. Infact Sania and Anju have been an embarrassment.

But who cares, two weeks later, we will again read more about these hopeless folks who cant really standup a single worthwile challenge and bring us less-than-mediocre success.

Till then, Adios!!

PHELPNOMENAL - 8 Golds for Phelps!!!!!

I know its not 7:58 PM, its just 3:06 PM here. Still another 5 hours to go to see Phelps celebrate his unique and un-freakin-imaginable record of 8 gold medals in one Olympic Game.

But, I know, he wont let me down. I wont have to revisit this post to make changes. No, I wont.
If I had any doubt regarding his ability of his achieving the 8 golds then they have been washed-clear by his last swim in the 100M butterfly.

All sportspersons will always tell you, 110% hardwork does not necessarily give you 100% success. Every single soul needs luck. A small percentage true, but it is a must. For Phelps, we all knew he had given his 110% preparing for these games. But was luck on his side? Oh hell yea!!

Winning the 100M Fly, by the closest possible margin, Phelps has proved that all the forces in this world have contrived to enable him win 8 golds.

About 4 hours to go and phelps will take another dive into history.

For my friends, the race is scheduled at 8 PM today, 16th (8*2) August (8) 200(8), where Phelps will aim to win 8 gold medals...

Amazing 8'nt it?

Adios,
Ashley

I Wish...

Somwhere along this long winding road, I've wished....

I wished for Mom to allow me to grow my hair..
Long locks meant more headcare..
So I keep short hair!

I wished to wear full trousers to school..
Full pants(5th class and higher) meant getting up early to school..
So I cribbed every morning that I want to sleep!

I wished to play football for my school/college..
Football practice meant lots of running and kicking..
So I wished I was dropped and told to go home!

I wished to go to college and get rid of the uniform..
College meant rich folks wearing branded clothes..
So I wished we all were equal and we all wore a uniform!

I wished to earn my own money and spend..
Money brought along responsibilities and more headache..
So I wish instead, my dad gives me pocket money!

All long, I've wished..
Things have happened as I wanted them to..
But, I still cant find that peace, that comfort that I am looking for...

Wonder, what should I Wish for next??

Cheers,
Ashley

Prison Break in A Perfect World?

Now we that we are fast approaching Prison Break - 4, I thought of penning down this column.

I was not a big PB fan at first. Even though Joel and Adrian kept telling me about this dramatic prison escape series called PB, I was not really excited about downloading the stuff or catching it online. But once I started to watch it, there was no looking back. I have even watched 7 episodes on a trot. That is almost 6 hours of non-stop PB. The reason I had to stop was because it was dawn and I had to get ready to leave for work. I found the concept very refreshing and each character had a varied level of tenacity to fulfil their own goals.

Funny that I watched PB - 2 first, then I caught up on PB -1 and then finally PB -3. So you can imagine, the mess that I made, I had to watch PB -2 again to make sense of all those links which I failed to grasp during my first watch.

'A Perfect World' is a Kevin Costner movie that I recently happened to catch. It is a touching story of a prisoner on the run and his bonding with a 8 year old kid whom he takes as hostage during his escape.

The similarities might not be earth shattering or headline material, but they are quite interesting.
1. The escape from the prison is quite similar. The jump over the wall onto a empty street.
2. The escape involves the prisoners wearing white attire during their escape.
3. The protagonist and the lead negative character, (M.Schofield and T-BAG in PB, Butch Haynes and Terry Pugh in A Perfect World) share the exactly same chemisrty. They do mention, that once outside they would be on their own. They both hate each other's guts.
4. T-Bag and Terry are both paedophiles.
5. Terry is killed by Butch, and Scofield makes sure that T-Bag is left for dead in PB 3.
6. Butch and Scofield both had troubled childhoods.
7. The similarity that really caught my attention, was the behaviour of the 2 characters. There was this air of alikeness, a sense of deja-vu when you watch Terry in that role of a escape convict. He has T-BAG written all over him. The way he talks, his actions, his attitude and his screen presence. So damn similar.

I presume this was just a co-incidence, but then the similarities made me curious.
For all you movie buffs+PB fans, if you've not watched 'APW', do try and catch it. It is a Clint Eastwood direction and definetely worth a couple hours of your time.

Cheers,
Ashley

I Phelp(t) it!!

The title is supposed to be read as ' I Felt it'. I am just trying to be a little more imaginative.

But, what a race the 4*100 M Freestyle turned out to be. Described by many experts as the best relay ever, I was priviledged enough to watch it live on the internet. Manish and I have become big M.Phelps fans.

I have been following swimming as an Olympic sport for quite sometime now. It all started in the 1996 Olympics, I was a Alexander Popov fan then. Then came the Ian Thorpe and Hoogenband rivalry and now Michael Phelps. All of them are legendary. They have aimed for the sky, raised the bar so high that other atheletes find it virtually impossible to get even close.

To achieve this kind of success when you are just 23, in the case of Phelps is un-freakin-imaginable.

Back to the race. This was one of the event that Phelps had failed to get a Gold in, 4 years back at Athens. There was ample pre-race media coverage for the race, one because US were not the clear favorites for the race and two, because the French swimmer, Alain Bernard, had said that ' They would smash the US'.

Phelps, ran the first leg of the race and it was not the best swim ever. But his average swim still meant that US was in the top 3. The 2nd swimmer, Garrett , did better and US was in the top 2. But then the twist, the turn in the plot. Cullen Jones, proved to be a tad slow and gave away the advantage and US were left rallying behind.

Perfect stage for the now-legendary Jason Lezak to step in. A small note here, Lezak is from Irvine, CA which is like 10 miles from my place. Go Orange County Go!!!!

So when Lezak jumped in, he was chasing Bernard, with 100 M to go and Phelps hopes of 8 Gold Medals hanging by a thread. Personally, I did not expect Lezak to make up the distance that he lagged.

At the 50M turn, he was 0.82 of a second behind. In terms of swimming lingo, this is almost impossible to cover in 50M. Let alone when the 100M record holder is whom you are chasing. But legendary stories are made of this. Fairy tales are supposed to be outcomes of impossible scenarios. Lezak found energy from some somwhere deep inside and kept pulling close to Bernard. Manish and I kept screaming for Lezak to reach the finish first. 20M to go and it was still looking like a French victory. "No, this cant happen!!" I said. Phelps needs 8 and this is not possible.

The 2 touch the end-board simulataneously, but Lezak had out-fingered Bernard to hand US what is now hailed as the Best Relay Victory ever in a pool. He made up almost a second in the final 50 M. Awesome!!!

The difference between the 2 teams, 8 hundreth of a second.

Just goes to show, what mental strength these guys are made of. The drive to achieve gold, to be the best in the world. I plan to catch all the Phelp swims live. I hope TVAnts does not let me down. His next race is in another 45 minutes and then another one an hour after that.

8 golds or no, that screaming Phelp photograph which is all over the papers today, is so-far the highlight of my Beijing Olympics.

Go Phelps go!!

P.S: As expected, Sania Mirza has AGAIN had an injury. She retired in the second set, after (of course) losing the 1st set. Sportpersons like her, who are made of media hype and not their sporting abilities should be sent to retard homes along with the media scribes who waste printspace on them.

Idea of an innovative mind!

'The most amazing show on earth! EVER', thats how people have described the opening ceremony for the Beijing Olympic games.

I still recall the pictures that Adrian showed me of him participating in the Athen Olympic Closing ceremony, and it seemed to be good fun. His pictures with atheletes from different nations. The relaxed look on all the faces, the jovial smile and the hug of a co-athelete. The pictures had them all.

But, from what I seen of the 2008 ceremony, it was class apart. It was a stage the Chinese have been waiting for. It was a show of power, a show of how far they have come. And it has left the entire world stand up and look.

I am big fan of the Chinese dedication and focus of achieving capabilities. They very well know what they need and have set the path to achieve it.

They wanted excellence in almost all fields for this Olympics and mind you they have almost succeded in the plan. For example, take Field Hockey. 4 Years back, no one had even heard of the Chinese team. They were the whipping boys. Fast forward 2008, they are Asian Games Bronze medallist. They have beaten India and Pakistan more than once. Thats what commitment is, isnt it?

During the opening ceremony I hit upon an innovate idea. India is going to host the 2010 Commonweath Games. Presuming, the hyped comparisions that exists in the media, people will except a grand ceremony from India too. I know it would be tough to deliver the kind of excellence that China put up. But I have a nice idea.

Get the Chinese opening ceremony video. Replace the word China with India, 2008 with 2010, and Olympic Games with Commonwealth Games. Use some photoshop expert and modify the faces in the ceremony to look Indian.

Then, on the big 'D' day, just put up 2 BIG screen in the stadium and play the video.

Perfecto!!!!!

Save Money, Earn Respect, Indian ishtyle!!

Adios,
Ashley

Quality I hate the most in people!!!

During my teenage days it would freak me out to see someone dig their nose to glory. Gold-Mining or Gold-Digging, as I used to call it, was stressful to watch. I would feel like heading to that person and clobbering him, because that act was blissful pleasure to him, but extremely annonying to me.

Now-a-days things have changed. I dont really see many gold-diggers around, I dont know whether it is the professional atmosphere thats to blame or just that I have been plain lucky to avoid those digging moments. Anyways, I'll take any of the reasons and carry on happily.

But, what does annoy me, is the attitude of some ungrateful friends around me. I mean, you genuinely help someone. And if for some reason that solution/input did not work, it so appears you are to blame?

Am I?
Did I really need to spend my freaking 10-15 minutes to figure out your problem, to screw you?
Then spend another 10 minutes explaining the solution to you?

And if because of some unenlightened reason, it did not work out, am I to blame?

I guess not. I do come across folks like these quite often. And the same old self that I am, I lose it pretty fast. If these were school/college days there would have been a couple of fists going here and there. Luckily, this is a professional set up. A setup where people (generally) dont gold-dig, so even I behave myself and dont clobber everyone around. I smile, say Sorry (then a Fuck Off in my head) and smile again.

Silently, i make a promise to myself. 'Never ever help that poor soul again'. Reason, ungrateful folks dont really need my help, do they???

So to all you people who come screaming back to me, if something i said does not work out, FO!!

Adios,
Ashley

P.S: Wrtiting this one from my office space. Imagine the stress I am under!!!

Shaken, Stirred and More!

Was watching the thriller 'Se7en' last night and this one particular scene grabbed my attention. Little did I know that 12 hours or so later, I would find myself in a somewhat similar situation.

The scene I am talking about is where, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman are having this intense investigative discussion looking into the murders happening around them. All of a sudden, the entire house begins to shake. As all other men would have reacted, MF was startled and ready to take cover. But BP calmly tells MF that it is the sub-way and everytime where is a train passing, the house trembles. He cusses the estate agent and continues the discussion.

I never in my wildest dreams ever imagined being in a similar situation ever. Let alone today. So after I reached office at about 11:30 today, i was just getting settled. Logged onto gmail, said 'Hello' to Abhishek, Joel and Vasanth. Then a quick 'Later' so that I could complete my work tasks. It was about 11:40 now.

And then sometime soon, it happened. Earthquake!!!

What started as a small push, soon the stuff on my desk was all moving. People were standing and panic was creeping in. I did not know what to do. I was on the 8th floor. 15-20 seconds into the quake and it got more intense.

The first thing that came to my mind was, "This is it! It is all over.The building is going to come down I thought!" For a moment, I was blank with that thought of the anti-climax.

I followed my colleagues and they were headed to the fire exit. I went a few steps and realised I had forgotten my wallet and cell. Ran back to the seat and seen that the impact had dropped chairs in my cube to the floor. Quickly, grabbed my belongings and headed to the nearest exit.

All the running that I have been doing on the treadmill finally paid off. Was able to cover the 8 floors with ease.

Reached the assembly point on the ground floor. Nothing had come to ground yet, luckily. It was 12:00 PM now.

The first thing I thought about at the assembly point was the co-incidence of me watching that scene in the movie yesterday night and me going through almost the same experience.

And just like the movie, gladly there were no injuries.

As for what went through my head when I seen the floor move, I thought about my family. That should be our priority, should'nt it? The earthquake just makes me realise how unpredictable life can be. Anything could have happened, anything can happen.

So the simple solution to always have a happy ending is:
Be good. Do good. Feel good.

No matter when your life comes crashing down, atleast you collapse on a good note, is'nt it?

Good Luck and Take care,
Ashley

A movie that will move you!

Sorry guys, this is not 'The Dark Knight' I am talking about.

Just finished watching 'Into the Wild', a terrific piece of art. Movies are supposed to have an impact and this movie has left me hollow. It is an indescribable feeling that’s simmering inside me. Prior to this 'Fight Club' was my favorite movie. But 'Into the Wild' has just taken top honors.

The best part about this movie is the simplicity with which it attracts your attention. There is constant undercurrent that makes you wonder, can I take a decision like Chris? Can I abandon all these materialistic pleasures and just live a free life?
Basically, I don’t want to give much away, but the movie tells about Chris a young American who walks away from the materialistic world into the unknown.

As I write and as you read, there is something bothering us. It could be anything, work, family, friends, money, colleagues or some other petty issue, but it restricts you from doing what you would have done in a free world.
May be I would have packed up, left everything behind and moved to the mountains. May be Adrian would have left all his success and taken globe-trotting. May be, you would have left that multi-million $ paying job of yours and headed to the nearby islands to enjoy the waters and make a wonderful living there. May Be?

Alas, it won’t happen. I won’t leave my comfort zone, even though I might find more happiness and mental peace in the mountains than I do here. These decisions are tough and to be frank, inconceivable for an unadventurous being like me.

But, through the eyes of Chris today, I was able to take myself far away. I was able to do things that gave me unadulterated pleasure and happiness. What can be better than a sleep with no worries? A ride down the river with no hassles of knowing which way I am headed. A life without the burden of inner guilt and self pity.
Alex took this decision, because circumstances at home pushed him towards it. Some people don’t need that push. They just head that road and live their life. Yes, they live and we (materialistic human beings), to some extent, only exist.

Alex made sure that nothing held him back. Afraid of the waters, he was soon rafting down the Colorado River into Mexico. That’s what life is all about. Face your fears, your dreams, and your desires and make sure that you at least give one shot at accomplishing them. Success would not matter, but your effort would.

Don’t we all crave for this kind of a life? Carefree, full of surprises and unseen tomorrows?

But, unfortunately, I am not brave enough to take a plunge into the pool of eternal joy. I would rather live a miserly life with a handful of happy moments and perish.

I wish some of you can take that plunge and live like Chris. Chris aka Alex Supertramp!

Big B(aggage)!

Unlike the frequent traveller that Mr.Big B is, I dont have a million flight trips to boast about, but I have fortunately made dozen of international travels myself. But unlucky as I am, I have never lost my luggage. Period.

Our national treasure, Mr.Big B has lost his luggage twice in a week. Now thats what you call Lucky!

Wonder if his bags have, 'I AM BIG B LUGGAGE' screaming all over it or is it 'attention grabbing, cheap publicity' stunt by Mr.Big B to garner more news coverage of his 'Unforgettable' tour???

Btw, I too lost my sticky notes today. Any idea, Mr.Big B what do I do, incase I lost stuff? You seem to have good experience at 'after-losing-stuff' experience.

Bon Voyage and Safe Luggaging!

Cheers.
Ashley

Change is permanent!

So its a different look. The background has become darker, but I promise to keep the writing light and interesting.

Hope the change has a positive effect on you. One should never get enough of change, thats what I believe in.

~Good Nite

What if ....

Tough times make a man strong. This incident is one of the toughest I have faced so far. It just goes to show, how cornered you can feel sometimes in life and then the unimaginable can happen and turn things around in a jiffy.

Just to keep you interested (into reading my blogs), the toughest day(s) so far were those in Infosys, when during my training period, me and my friends had an 'incident'. Some were fired, some were disciplined and some escaped scot free. This 'incident' will be covered later, for sure!!!

Yes, so the second most toughest day of my life. A day, where I cried bitterly, I gave up all hope and cursed myself to death. I must have made a million and counting mistakes till date. But, this was not a mistake, it was the blunder of the century.

I scored a decent 269/300 in my PCM (physics/chemistry/math) papers during my 12th standard. Not a score to boast about, but not a very bad score either. I had never planned what I am going to do after my 12th. I did not even know what Engineering colleges were good. No research what-so-ever. No elder siblings to guide me.

Just because all my other friends were also trying for a seat in the Engg colleges, even I gave it a shot. Now, I had no clue of how to apply and what are the various rounds that the Mumbai University conducts.

My aim was simple, apply for the tough colleges first and the last two options should be those ones where I will surely get an admission. This was what MU called the 30% quota. I did not give a damn and applied using my simple logic. 'Tough colleges first, sure shot admission in the last 2 options'.

So I sat through the night before the forms submission. Finally, at about half past 2 ( I remember the time too), I had chose the 5 elite colleges. Filled the form and kept it ready.

Next morning, my friends and I reached VJTI for form submission. Not even once did I ever discuss my choice with my friends. Of course, it was my research, my effort, I did not want someone else to take advantage of the hadrwork put in by me. That's what I thought.

I submitted my form. I was relaxed, because I knew I was going to get a seat. Wow, I will soon be an engineer. Nice!!

In a few weeks the list was out. None of my friends had got admission, but I had made it through. So this should have been my happiest day right? Why toughest day?

Well, here are the facts of that dreadful day.
I had got admission in a C grade college called S. Jondhale College of Engg, Dombivali(E).
I had got admission into the not-so-buzzing department, Mechanical Engg.

Worse things were in store for me...
The seat that I was so proud about was from the 30% quota. 70% of the seats were still open for admissions.

And yes, the clincher was that I was ineligible to apply for those 70% seats. So simply put, I was royally screwed! I was stuck in a situation and there was nothing I could do about it. It was my 'choice'.

When my friends heard that I had made it through to S.Jondhale, they would not laugh at me, but sympathize. That evening, Sumeet, one of my best friends, came over to my place in Malad.

I looked at him, he gave me a disappointing look. Inadvertently, tears started rolling down my cheeks. I had just screwed up my career. All the hard work put through my school and junior college days were futile. I had goofed up, and that too big time.

He gave me a few words of courage. But I was inconsolable by now. Weeping, I told him, "Dude, I screwed up, what I am going to do now?".

At this time, I did feel disappointed in myself but not as much as I felt bad for my parents. They had given me eveything. Everything I asked for. And they never questioned me. They have never asked me during my entire lifetime, "Why are you doing this?". They had immense trust in what I did (even today), and that gloomy evening, I had let them down. But they did not show it to me, they tried to pep me up and told me to take it easy.

It was a tough day, I must say. I did go to S.Jondhale college for 2 whole months and then stopped.

But, thanks to my parents blessings, 4 years later. I was Bachelors of Engg. in Information Technology from Mumbai University. And the college was not S.Jondhale. It was not a SPCE or VJTI kind of top notch college too, but it was a decent college by the name of Vidyavardhini's College of Engg and Technology.

Life may have been different, if I was to do Engg from S.Jondhale. Hence the 'What if....'.

Thanks to my dear Mom and Dad, things turned out well for me!!!

P.S: The change in college and branch happened due to a change in the admission rule for that year (1999) only. It was an exception year, because the new Information Technology course was added.
How lucky was I? The exception rule gave me permission to apply in the 70% quota and I made it to where I think I deserved.

Value of your life?

Not E-bay my friend!
E-bay may be able to quantify the monetary value of your life, but the social value?
How important are you to someone who is not related, someone who is not your friend, someone whom you have never spoken to, someone whom you know you will never bump into again(hopefully).

How will you measure that? Tough aint it?

Well, Manish( my roomie) and I have come up with a simple solution.
So you want to know the value of your life?
Read on...

Kindly head to the nearest crosswalk or zebra crossing. Wait for the WALK signal to turn green. Then a little carefully start crossing the road.

At this particular moment, you will know how valuable your life is, to the particular society you are in.

Try this at a couple of other signals, just to confirm the results and make sure there is a consistency in the attitude of the people in the society.

I hope you got the answer!

Adios and Be Safe.
Ashley

Disclaimer:
Please be attentive during the above procedure.
Ashley/Manish are not responsible for any accidents/fatalities.

Sania Mirza, India's most over-hyped sportsperson!

"Carrying the hopes of a billion people". Just woke up on this cozy sunday to read this first line on rediff and indiatimes. Infuriated, i slowly calmed down and realised that, India lacks sports heroes. Hence it is but natural for the media to focus on very mediocre talent like Sania Mirza and project her as India's only hope for a medal.

Yes, she can win a medal if, she gets byes in all her rounds and is directly into the finals. There, if there is an opponent she will get Silver, else, she 'May' win a Gold. Reason. She has this uncanny habit of coming up with weird injuries at the most inexplicable times. So in the final she might withdraw with no one to play against. It is possible!

Yes, so why is Sania Indias most over-hyped sportsperson. Lets start with my basic reasoning.

Is she a sportsperson?
NO. A sportsperson is a cut above the rest, when it comes to physical fitness. I for one, know because I have friends and family who are professional sportspersons. I dont actually track, but Miss Sania falls sick more often than a new born baby. Blame it on the WTA or tennis, it does not fly with me. And the best thing about professionals is that, the time they realise their body cant take the toll, they quit. A prime example is Martina Hingis from WTA. But, out Sania will keep blaming the shoulder, knee, head, back and all other biological parts, which I take as silly excuses to compensate for lack of talent.

Even if she is a sportsperson, is she really worth the hype?
NO. India has better sports-persons to look upto. We dont need a flopshow like Sania to follow and waste our prayers for a Olympic medal. I mean, the statistics speak for themselves, she has been a professional for more than 5 years. She has one single WTA tour victory which came at her home turf in 2005. Since then she does not really have anything to boast about.
Her serve is the most pathetic I have ever seen. Infact, even i can serve better. Atleast I am more consistent.
She has not made it past the 4th round in any grand slam, but once.
Her inconsistency is her highlight and strong point. She does not win anything, is very mediocre and is more of a sex symbol than a tennis star.

I mean, I dont mind admiring a Sachin Tendulkar, he is class, he is talent. Nor do i not admire a Dhanraj Pillay. These sportspersons brough fear into the opponents minds when on the field. Do you think, Venus Williams gets scared when Sania is on the opposite side of the net?

The most hyped statement I have ever heard in my entire lifetime was this, "Sania has the hardest forehand in womens tennis". Pardon me, but I dont remember which blind, deaf, dumb soul made this statement, but it made me giggle and laugh at the stupidity that Sania-Mania has created.

What we have today is something like this:
A big bubble. Lots of pictures of a tennis player in tennis attire. A little bit of flesh and Indian hormones go into a tizzy. Zilch tennis talent required for a champion. Let alone a champion, a decent tennis player. More Zilch athletic physique. Hype created by Indian media folks. 1 WTA title to boast about till date. 0 career games that were classics.

And we, Indians look towards this bubble in awe and hope for a medal?

Dont bullshit me. Try someone else. Indiatimes and Rediff, go and hunt some better stories to publish. This is stale and crap buddy!

Cheers,
Ashley

Fire Exit? Where?

It baffled me for almost 2.5 years. And yesterday it stunned me. India's so-called most admired company had a minor fire incident. 25-30 people were hospitalised. Luckily there were no fatalities.

But, sooner or later, one day someone will pay. The reason I say this is because of this weird system that Infosys has. It locks all the FIRE EXITS after 10:00 PM.

I never really cared to ask 'WHY', but it felt plain stupid to me. The reasoning I would like to put forward:
1.Like in all IT companies, there is always a sizeable IT junta working late hours. Blame this on the timezone or work pressure, I dont really care, but yes, there are quite a few people working their ass off and the last thing they have to worry about is whether the Fire Exit is locked or unlocked?
2. One cannot really predict when there would be a blaze. Can we? Parallely, we cannot predict the number of folks working late nights. So it is very possible that we have almost a complete floor working late night and the deligent security guy happily locks the Fire Exit, knowing as if there will NEVER be a fire that night.

The B10 building that caught fire was attached to the B11 building where i worked for almost 2 years. And this Fire Exit locking business happened all along. I am very sure, even yesterday the case must have been the same.

We are lucky enough not to have lost any Infoscion, but what we should really do is learn and keep the Fire Exits open all the time. The people who make the rules will never be in office till 11 PM, it is only the security folks and software developers like me that will be at risk. So time to consider and make a slight change.

Here is a link to the incident.

Trippin in Vegas!

Firstly, a big thanks to my friend, Vishal Kalsi. He made my trip to vegas unforgettable. We met after 3 long years, had a couple of drinks together, discussed old times, gambled and had a mini bachelor party!!! But, it was absolutely fantabulous.

So, back to trip. Yes, 1500+ miles of sitting in the car, the heat of Nevada and Arizona and the heartache of losing 300 $, worth it ? Of course yes. Hell Ya!

The highlight of the trip was the gambling session at 'The Mirage'. The three of us, Kalsi, me and Sumeet were hell bent on making some quick buck. Now, Sumeet is a friend of Kalsi's. He is an absolute dude. I met him for the first time. And by the time it was 5 AM, i felt I knew this guy since childhood. The 3 of us were just killing it in Vegas.

Yes, so we are at 'The Mirage'. None of us had played 'BlackJack' before. Sumeet, called a friend of us and got a high level understanding of what the game is about and tried to explain to Kalsi and Me. Smart ass that we are, we said 'Ok, why dont you try, we will follow!'.

The sport that Sumeet was, he willingly picked a table to rest his ass for the night. Nancy was the dealer. A grandmother kinda woman, very enthusiastic and would mumble.. "Son of a ...", whenever she would get a BlackJack!

For most of the evening, she wanted the three of us to win and become millionaires. But as fate had it, Kalsi and I lost.

Ok, so Sumeet sits on the table and tells Nancy, "I am playing for the first time, can you please explain some rules". She happily explains that the others at the table are novices too and she would be more than glad to assist.

So Sumeet starts with a 100$ bill. The aim of blackjack as i understood that time, was to have cards that summed closest to 21. If you get 21 in 2 cards, then you basically have a 'Blackjack'. The payment in this case is not even but 3:2.

In the meanwhile as I stand there to understand the game, Sumeet has suddenly made about 50 $. I am like, 'WOW'. This guy did not even know how to play and is not making big bucks. So, your truly, jumped into the arena.

Got out some change and sat. Did not understand one bit of what was happening. Nancy, was helpful though. She would tell me whether I should hit or stay. Suddenly, even I started to make some money. As it happens, you win for sometime, then you start losing and it goes on and on and on.

But, what does not happen frequently is what happened to Sumeet. As I told you, getting a 21 is a 'Blackjack' or a 'Natural'.
So a 'A' (Ace) card is 11 and any other face card (Jack, Queen, King) or 10 is 10 points. So for a blackjack one needs a 'Ace' and a 10 point card.

After, about 4 Long Island Ice tea's tripped, Sumeet got 2 'Ace' cards. He decided to split the cards. Split would mean, play those 'Ace' cards are individual games. So he added more cash and played on. His third card was astonishingly another 'Ace'. So he decided to split that card too.

So now, Sumeet is basically playing 3 games. And all 3 have a slight probability of being 'BlackJack(s)'.

So Nancy, draws the fourth card for Sumeet. Please forgive my memory, but thanks to the LIIT, i dont remember whether it was a face card or a 10. But yes, he got 10. So he had one blackjack.

Kalsi, Me and another friend who joined us gave high fives and let out a small yell.

Nancy, drew the fifth card for Sumeet, it too was 10. 'Man this is crazy shit happening' I said. The yelling got louder. The high fives got harder and higher. We were enjoin this. 'Can Sumeet get a third BlackJack? Is it possible? I would get like 1 blackjack in 4 games. And here he was, a possibility to get 3 blackjacks in 1 game.'

So Nancy, drew the 6th card. And all hell broke loose. It was a another freaking 10.
We screamt like crazy. The entire bay would look at us. We stood, gave high fives!! I looked at the cards and it was amazing.

It was improbable that something like this would have happened. But it did. And it was rocking!!! Nancy, kept repeating 'I have not seen that in a long long time'. She was in her fifties. 'Her long time would have meant a real long time', I thought.

Sumeet, made about 75 $ in that single game. But money was irrelevant. It was the fun, enjoiment, thrill, excitement that hit us.

Soon, I lost about 200 $ and Kalsi about 160 $. We decided to stop. Sumeet, cashed out too. When at the finish line(losing money), 2 of my ex-college friends came to our table. 'Ashley!', one said. I wondered, who knew me in Vegas. Chandan and Sameep, 2 friends whom I had not met for quite sometime, were in Vegas too. Had a word or two with them and then the 3 of us left 'The Mirage'.

I was leaving for Phoenix the next morning. I would have loved to stay with these guys and enjoy one more gambling guzzle, but things were not to be that way.

To be frank, I was playing Blackjack for the first time. I dont know how frequently does a player get 3 'Blackjack's in one game, but it for sure is a thrill feeling.

Hope to make some money the next time I am in Vegas. What I do take from the last trip are good memories and the below picture of Kalsi and Sumeet.




Cheers and Love,
Ashley

Long Weekend!

So its Independence day! It time for the real Will Smith to please stand up, Please stand up. But I am too excited about my trip to Las Vegas rather than worry about Hancock.

After approx 6 months that I made a trip to Phuket, I find myself lucky enough to make it to another tourist hotspot. Sin City, here I come.

Reconciliation, is something that I will do once I am back from Vegas.

My trip to phuket was one big party. Prasanna, Vikram, Satya and Me had a rocking time. One of the best part about that trip was that we managed to find an Indian hotel in Phuket. So it meant, chicken tandoori and paneer tikka as starters with our drinks. One more amusing fact was that we had booked 3 rooms between 7 of us. But we ended up with 6 sleeping in one room and 1 happy soul in the other. Blame it on the vodka or luck, but it was a funny incident. We enjoied every bit of that trip. There are no pictures (thank God), but memories a plenty. Nikhil, Amar and Kunal also were along. I am sure, we all carry fond memories and unforgettable incidents to remember all our lifetime.

One incident being, how we kept smuggling beer into the Banana club from the 7-11 outisde. So drunk, we lost count after 6 or 7 beers and kept doing it again and again and again.

Best part about that trip, I did not puke.

So on thursday, I leave for Vegas. Heard so much about it. Now its time to feel the heat. Vegas Baby, here i come!

Driver, Cleaner behind bars...

All these years, I was only a entertained spectator to the nuisances of the police force. But it all changed that cold evening in Ratnagiri. Sitting in that bus, the police would firstly not let us alight from the bus. They had their own reasons, which were not only plain stupid but ridiculous. The assemblage in the bus was that of people headed to bombay to meet family, leave for better jobs or just head home like me.After making us sit in the bus for almost 1 hour and no communication as to why we were under bus-arrest, a wasted hawaldar entered the bus with a notepad and pen. He started doing the unthinkable. He wanted to note down every single individuals name and address. 'Ohh my God' I thought. Instead of booking the goon and getting things settled fast, all our police can think is spend time like this. Of course, not a single soul in the bus gave a correct name or address. That itself speaks for the intergrity of the police. No one trusts them, but their larger than life ego would not bear understand that. So our wasted hawaldar started to make a fictional list of people sitting in the bus. It was hilarious to watch people give the weirdest of names and even more funny places of stay. I played the game too and gave a fake address and name.

In the meanwhile, i was looking out from the window of the bus and noticed that the police took the driver and cleaner somewhere outside the station. I presumed it must have been for a medical check up, because the driver was hurt. Our super slow hawaldar took like an hour to note down the names. Once down he told us that we could now alight the bus, but not leave the station. It was almost 3 AM now. I was supposed to have been home by 6:30!!

I alighted the bus, and came out on the road. It was pitch dark, some vehicles passed intermittently. No sign of life here. So i went back to police station and took a peak of what was happening. The scene was something like this. The goon and his wife sat at a table and narrated some story to another hawaldar. He furiously took down notes, as he ate his pan in the meanwhile. Soon I seen the driver and cleaner returning and they seemed shaken. Not shaken because of the bullet that just grazed them, but because of what was happening. So I followed them to the police station and kept my ears wide open.

In the meanwhile, a white maruti 800 arrived. A white dhoti adoring gentleman alighted, went straight to the senior inspector and had a intense discussion. He seemed to be some kind of a local corporator or neta of the area.

Ignoring him, I noticed the goon was now near his car. I wondered, was'nt he supposed to be near the jail cell. He did fire, did'nt he. But who was the near jail cell were the driver and cleaner. Things did not look right. Not at all.

Simultaneously, some people in the bus, with whom i had managed to make friends with, came upto to me and told me that they were leaving. One of them had an ailing mother back home and the other had a flight at 3:00 PM to catch to head to the gulf. I decided my staying there was of absolutely no use so I too was game.

Now the question was, can we just leave because the hawaldar had asked us specifically not to leave. We decided to screw the police and leave. The next biggest question was how? Of couse, only 1 option. Hitch a ride. So we headed for the road and started using our thumbs to get a lift back to bombay.

I took a break from the lift asking and came back to the police station. The scene is still clear to me. It has since shaken my confidence in the entire system. The driver and cleaner were INSIDE the lockup. The goon was OUTSIDE the lockup and readying to leave with his family.

There was a man, from the bus who was standing and following the entire episode. He did not seem to have anything important to do tomorrow( I think). I asked him what happened. He told me that the cops have charged the driver and cleaner for molestation and drinking and driving. The goon has been allowed to leave.
Molestation? When did this happen? He told me that the goon's wife lodged a complaint that the driver and cleaner tried to molest her and hence her husband fired upon the two. So he is innocent and our driver and cleaner are guilty. The scene inside the police station was appalling. Our driver was an innocent guy. He was almost in tears. His lip was bleeding and eyes were moist. I felt empty. The goon, happily light another cigarette and smoked away to glory. I quickly ran back to the road, I could not watch that scene. It made my hysterical. If i had a bomb or a gun, I would have killed that day.

In another 40 minutes we got hold of a brand new TATA bus headed to bombay for a test drive. It would have dropped us at Vashi. I was ok. Took my bag quickly, and boarded the bus. He charged us 120 Rs till Vashi. The bus ride started at like 4:30 Am and seemed one of the longest of my life. I did think of calling the Press and reporting the incident to them, but do you think anything would have happened.

So i just forgot about it. Prayed for the families of the driver and cleaner and carried on.

Today, I realise that incident was not funny, It was life changing. It changed many lives. The driver, the cleaner, the goon, many folks in the bus and to quite an extent mine too.