To all those who brought in change

This post is dedicated to a new friend ( who's become a close one in NO time ) and all those people who brought in some serious change in me over the years or in a short span.

"I learn, I fall, I rise, I love, I hate, I confuse, I am confused, I complicate, I am complicated, I understand, I misunderstand, I respect, I dream, I cry, I laugh,
I EXPERIENCE, I GROW, I EVOLVE."

There are very few people who have seen me through this and they know who the real me is. Its very difficult handle somebody who had no focus in life, until sometime. Its commendable to even think that you guys handled me so well throughout.

This post is just to say thanks to all you guys who have been supportive (i know how much I troubled some of you) all through.

Some people realise their passions soon, some never realise, some are made to realise. I belong to the last category. And now, I feel complete. A mere Thanks would be an understatement.  

As for the new friend (I never told this), You came in when I needed somebody desperately. You impressed/ floored, understood, spoke when I needed somebody the most and spoilt my surprises :P. In No time you became special. Thanks for everything.


    

Gambles and Grumbles

Cricket is a religion in India. Agree! 


My adrenaline and I-am-proud-to-be-an-Indian feeling touched it’s all time high during the world cup finale and the Pakistan encounter.

But, what mockery is being made out of the game.

The Game which was once played by the royal clan in England was adopted by the rest of the world for the sheer joy and novelty factor. It was the most sought after game for a long time in the countries that it was played in.

India wasn’t far behind in succumbing to the worldly love of cricket, all thanks to the England Invasion and we loved it so much that it became our unofficial national sport in no time. India then produced stalwarts, from Pataudi to Kapil dev to Azharuddin to Tendulkar to Dhoni,  we had them all. We had a star in each era that we played. No wonder people were crazy about the game and would do anything to catch a glimpse of these players. We also won the world cup twice; 1983 and 2011. We also had the Match-fixing controversy that ripped us. And yes our official national sport, hockey took a back seat after the invasion of cricket.

My post is not regarding the Match fixing scam or the glory that the game bought to our nation or how it crippled the other sports that we play.

It’s about a sham/gamble called Indian Premier League. Where, players are sold like products and traded as goods. And we call it revolution in the world of cricket.


I've heard too much of Its-all-about-money dialogues and they seem stupid .You just can’t let somebody buy you, even if they are going to pay you million bucks. Common now, You’re no commodity to be traded.

Now, all of us know about the people who own these teams. Why are we even shouting from the roof tops about getting the black money from the Swiss bank, all the while ignoring the in-house trading in the name of game that is happening? 

And of course the 48 days of nonstop matches. How can you watch non-stop cricket day in and day out? All the while knowing that it’s open GAMBLING that’s happening. Infact everytime a ball is hit all I see is money flying and whoever catches it would be rewarded with lakhs or crores depending on the grade of the player. 

In a country where the economic phenomenon of the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer is proving to be the order of the day, we have people who are getting richer just by whacking the ball. And of course BCCI was a charity organization until sometime back.

As for grumble, the likes of Lalit Modi, who was shown the door, Saurav Ganguly, who was mightily sacked after being the face of a certain team , the Kochi team or Mr. Shashi Tharoor, who lost his ministry post because of this gamble, explain it perfectly.

A Confused beginning

6 months back a 19 year old, who was just 10 days out of college, joins a celebrated firm.
And her life changed forever.

I am sure you got a glimpse of my JOB in my first post. This is just an elaborate version of the glimpse.

When you get into a BIG firm you get to hear a lot of things like;

1. WOW! You are so lucky. (Which means- Another Scapegoat...Hahahaha)
2. Isn't it difficult to get in there? How did you manage? Your parents must be proud of you. (Hard luck) .
3. You have grown so big and got into a bigger firm. You must have worked real hard for this.
(LOL)
4. The most common of all; Congratulations! Work hard and give your best. When are you getting back to studying? My daughter gave up her well paying job to study…she is such a wise girl….The proud mother goes on and on and on. (And my mom gives me the-i-am-going-to-start-soon look. And I have an I-am-stuck smile on my face.)  

Now, after all these wonderful mixed comments and date of joining approaching at a lightning speed your nervous energy reaches an all time high.

First Day

A sleepless night due to excitement and an early morning rise had drained me a little but the excitement never faded. I started with my entire family before 7:30 am (Paati’s* order to leave before Raghu kalam*) for an office at 9:30. My excitement and anxiety levels were touching new highs. After some mandatory and voluntary temple vists, we reached the place by 8:30.
And all I saw were the watchmen, who were sleepy which meant they dint have their shifts yet and also that I was a bit too early.

But, of course time flew thanks to the number of phone calls I received that day. I have never received as many ALL THE BEST phone calls as I had received that day. Every other person to whom Amma and Appa had super proudly boasted about their daughter’s first job called up. And, I was elated.

Finally it was 9:30, time to get in. I did have a friend along with me who also got selected, which meant I had some company. We were taken to a conference room, where our induction programme started. I had never written my name as many times as I had written that day on those never ending bunch of forms.

The first thing that I noticed about the office was, THEY DID NOT HAVE A CANTEEN (they did have a small area with a TV and some tables & chairs to sit with coffee vending machine- NOT A CANTEEN). Though my work involved being at the client place most of the time and only occasional visits to the office, still not having a canteen is SAD. The office otherwise was pretty okay…not a big one just a floor in a not so big building.

After an entire day of lectures which stretched up till 8 in the evening and with shocks like we would not have a training (Auditing was never part of my syllabus), we would start working from tomorrow itself (after a two hour stupid training), I was drained out completely. And considering the fact that I come to conclusions a little too quickly, questions like isthiswhatyouwanttodo already started creeping in (too early, I know. can’t help though..my brain works that way. :P). I used all my convincing skills to make my brain understand that ‘Work Hasn’t started yet…let’s wait’. It did work out till it started and then the voices just became a little more harsher and louder.

And I am still dealing with it all the while figuring out how to move on.   


The life changing part, ah! let that be for some other time. Too many things have changed since then; need to put on the reverse gear.

Translations.

Paati- Grand mom

Raghu Kalam- Supposed to be the inauspicious timing in a day.

This CB book is not my bet.

 

I am self confessed CB fan. And it took me about 4 days to complete a his book.. huh!. I dont take more than a day and half to complete most of my books. And CB was/is ( confused ) one of my favourites.

Now, a CB book comes with simple expectations; simple english, easy read, unintentionally funny, light on brain and pocket.
After 2 states ( my fav CB book till date) my expectations were on a super high. I never thought that a CB book could be non engaging or boring. Nevertheless, his new book was boring.

Revolution 20-20....a pucca bollywood drama.
A Protagonist/antagonist narrater who is doing wrong thoroughout the book suddenly becomes a hero in the last chapter. CB whats wrong with you. Corruption has been given so much footage and so much little has been spoken about the other guy fighting against it. Shoudn't it be the other way round or atleast equal? and the love triangle does very little to engage you in the read.

I dint expect a CB book to be boring for such a long time. Most of his books are narrated by a character who has equal role to play as others in the book. This time around there's been too much spoken about the narrator and his love for the girl ( who is as confused as he is ). The others sadly end up being a side fiddle ( including the other hero ).
The realisation part wherein the protagonist realises that the real him has been lost in the bad and corrupted world happens so quickly that its hard to believe.

And ofcourse the ending...he leaves the girl ( who comes to him some real hard persuasion ), gets the job back to the other protagonist/rival ( he gets people to dismiss him first and then screws him big time by even crushing his business of revolution 20-20 ( which is a news paper written by the other protagonist who wants to fight against corruption )), and also arranges for his rival to be wedded to his gf. Now, what the hell is this?

I did manage to read through the book simply because its impossible for me to have a book and not read it.
I Dint it enjoy it.


Its probably true that ' expectation Kills '.

Time to mellow down.

While i was thinking what should be my second post. I heard the TV volume in my living room rise.
and it was him again. Times Now..News hour.

At 9 PM every night, (most days i enter home at that time. ) all I see is a man with smart spectacles and crisp suit screaming his guts out and almost jumping out of the TV. He's good. He can make any politician or anybody who's his current target pee in his pants. But, you dont have to sensationalise every bit of news possible. One could always mellow down a bit. 

If his shouting wasnt enough, we have these guests ( most of them are constant ) who speak ( yell ) without even listening to what he's asking.   I understand everybody wants to express their views but have some patience. Now, you just cannot talk some shit always. you have to talk sense at times as well. 

A request, please call relevant people. Now, How is shobha de concerened with kasab's trial? :o.

The show is a big hit with my family and most of other indian families as well i guess. You have almost transformed the indian media and I totally respect you for that. Thumbs up for bringing about changes and exposing some of the worst scams. But, sensationalising and shouting in the name debate is a sure no-no.

My First Post.

Exicitement, Anxiety, Nervous.

These words pretty much define my current flow of thoughts. Blogging was never on my mind until somebody just told over a friendly banter , 'you have to be there' (joke,lol).
I never took it seriously until some harsh realisation ( i mean, seriously)  happened last month.

A lot has changed since then. Some conclusions and realisations have changed the whole way of my thinking. Sounds funny, my proudly boasting habbit of i-want-to-study-MBA (international business) has totally fallen apart. Forget, IB i'm in no mood to even do my MBA anymore in any field. Corporate world does make you take harsh decisions, at times.

At this confused juncture of my life, i decided to blog and kill time ( coz, my current client doesnt have enough work for me :P ). And now that i realised finance or anything remotely related to foreign trade ( my major feild of focus in B.Com {LOL, i know} ) is not my thing, the thought of working in one of the Big 4 doesn't seem alluring enough.

Life's crazy. What seemed to be the best thing that can happen to a 19 year old 6 months back has now become a mean of killing time. Instead of killing time doing nothing at home, Kill time here and get paid ( not a bad bargain :D). And, you do get to see some cute boys at client places :P.

I am so confused. I have no idea how to go about from here. So, here i stop.
If you manage to read the whole blog...do let me know your feedback.

Eagerness Starts. :D