A day in the life of LIFE

Nope it’s not the next Anil kapoor Sri devi starrer on lines of Chaal baaz!

A Sutta Baaz, as defined by the Rashtriya Hindi Shabd Kosh (also called dictionary: for those of you who dint know) is a person whose “har prograam ka main phood” is sutta.

Sutta comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. And a wide range in fact – from Mangalooru Ganesh Beedi to Raabart wala Marlboro. From the information that I have gathered, apparently sutta and cutting chai are supposed to be an unbeatable combination that is relished especially by engineering students who wish to give their breakfast a miss.

P.S.- Any description is not truly the author’s experience. It has been collected from a variety of sources. Ma! This is for your informaiton, lest you think of me as a DTM (Dari Tappida Maga – translated as the son who lost his way).

Ok. Back to the topic. Since my inception in the corporate world, (which is roughly for about three and a half years now), there is one place that has caught my attention as the most happening “adda” and that is the Smoking Zone at office also called the Cancer Club.

The criteria to join the club require you to be a connoisseur of tobacco in either active or passive mode. This is one place where you can find people across departments, hierarchy, caste, creed, color, gender(this is catching up specially outside BPOs) and all the other non-discriminatory parameters as laid down by the U.N. General Assembly.

This is the prime location where a variety of topics are discussed right from the Sensex to behind the scenes stories of office politics. What text books on Organization behavior call “Grapevine” is precisely this.

What’s more, this elite club is organization agnostic.

Overheard this morning at the Sutta Club:

1 “Kings” is lit.

Mr. B: Yaar, Bohot tension ho gayi hai
Mr. J: Kyun bhai kya hua?

J uses B’s cigarette to save a match stick for India. (Applause!!)

Mr. B: Saala 2 lakh gaye mere, Mukesh ke wajeh se?
Mr. J: Arre apna Mukesh joh humarey department main hain?

Mr. B: Nahin re, Mukesh Ambani, usne kuch Iraq mein locha kiya hai is liye bhaav gir gaya, abhi joh maine teesra flat kharida tha pichley haftey usko bechna padega. Kya naubat hai.

The rings of smoke resemble Kekule’s benzene structure! (yes, I still remember :))

Mr. J: Chal Chill maar yaar. Yeh bata, is baar Quarterly payout ki kuch khabar?
Mr. B: Kyun muh khulva raha hai? Shukar karo is baar negative mein nahin jaa raha hai

The cigarettes are half spent

Mr. J: Suna hai Mrs. K ko out of turn promotion mil raha hai?
Mr. B: Haan woh Mr. P ke team mein jaa rahi hai.
Mr. P: Meri team mein? Mujhe khud pata nahin
Mr B: Maine tumhe bataya nahin aur tumne kuch suna nahin

The cigarettes are almost dying out like the lamps at the deathbeds of the aged actors of bollywood movies(wah! Kitni filmy hai!! Nirupa Roy would be proud of me)

Mr. J: Chal woh chhod. Weekend pe kya plan hai?
Mr. B: Bohot hectic yaar. Saturday ko London mein hoon. Wahan se Paris hotey huey Wednesday ko New York mein hoon. Return flight via Dubai hai, who bhi 1 day stop over ke saath. Travel kar ke thak gaya hoon yaar. Ab dekh last trip mein around the world in 80 hours ho gaya tha. Bohot pressure hai

(Nautanki Saaley!)Me began thinking on lines of Mungeri Laal –

“Na ghooma mainey UK
Na dekha hai Amreeca.
Par shikayat, beta inki sunkey
Ghoom aaya khwabon mein poori duniya”

End of conversation.

The cigarettes that provided a medium for the conversation are crushed under the expensive “Franco Leone” shoes, which completes their 2 minutes and 37 seconds life span from the mouth to the foot.

(The butt is almost out with the last bright flicker!)

Not sure how to end this post. So let me just say, An ode to the sutta, sutta club and the sutta baaz.!

John Abraham would definitely love it...

Music in any form is something that I have enjoyed through the years, but there are very few songs have caught my attention so much that they get ingrained in memory simply for the quality of music and emotion that they portray.

The last Bollywood song that I remember belonging to this category was “Kya Mujhe Pyaar Hai” from Woh Lamhe. But looking at the Kannada film industry, there has not been a single song of this repute that I’ve enjoyed as much for a long time.

As they say, for music to be classified as “classic”, it should be near perfect in all constituent aspects including melody, tune, lyrics, emotion, situation and most of all how it is packaged and rendered in totality.

For almost 4 weeks now, I have been listening to one particular song that has swept me off my feet – “Ninnindale..Ninnindale..” from the movie Milana. The first time I heard this was on a local FM station while returning from work at 11:30 in the night, and has since redefined my liking for the song, each time I listen to it, so much that it has mandated a separate blog post to be dedicated to it.

With music being composed by none other than Mano Murthy , lyrics by Jayanth Kaikini, ,picturised in the exotic locations of Europe and melodiously rendered by Sonu Nigam and Shreya Ghoshal, this song just makes the listener sway and get fully immersed into the elements of the song.

Kudos to the team that put together this song. It simultaneously brings out emotions of energy ,tranquility love & angst, and combines the genres of rock, hip hop, fusion and classical carnatic. A unique combination indeed.

And even as I listen to the song in repeat mode on my laptop for the 21st time in the past 4 hours, I also find the same reverberating through the headphones of colleagues around me, and am not sure this would continue for many days to come.

Signing off, here I am, diving deep into the melody of the music. “Ninnindale Ninnindale..” turn on the volume guys. This is heavenly..

P.S. - Thanks to M.V. for sharing this song.

After a long absence for over 6 weeks on the blogsphere, I am back with a bang with as much fanfare as that accompanying Benazir Bhutto's return to Pakistan.

I am happy for Benazir. After allegations of corruption against her and her husband Zardari (who by the way was called Mr. Dus Percent), apparently Mushi who has a heart of olive (yes, everything about Mushi is Green - his uniform, his vegetable meal, his envy, well, it is understood that he refuses to touch anything non green lest he be stripped of his uniform), had a change of opinion towards Mr. & Mrs. Bhutto(or rather Mr. and Mrs. Zardari) and offered the olive branch (see,there's green again :)) as a mark of friendship, and has thus managed to stage a puppet democacy in Pakistan. And the stage is set for Benazir's return in a style comparable that used for the victorious T 20 team. She would be on an 18 hour procession from the Karachi airport to the mausoleum of Jinnah,in a specially modified 20-foot shipping container attached to the back of a lorry. What joy!

Since I am not expert on international politics, all inferences drawn are part of those of a demented mind, trying to make sense of why such similar things happen in the sub continent.

You see, Bhutto's compatriot, Sonia has had a see saw on the nuclear deal as frequent as Rahul Dravid's recent visits to the pavilion, and the joke that during the rounds is that congressmen call up the left for permission even before they visit the rest room.

Meanwhile, even as Inzy wobbled off the field like an overused bull dozer, struggling with his English, just as he used to a couple of decades ago, Sachin is showing no signs of retirement. A recent report said that he is keen on playing with his son in the same Indian team, claiming that Boost was the secret of his energy. One word of caution though for Sachin. Hope his son does not face the same fate as Rohan Gavaskar.(Rohan who??)

I cannot compare the movie industries of the two countries, since I know not of a single hit Pakistani film, actor or actress, so my mind draws a blank there.

Finally, even as the Indian aviation industry gears up to carry Mallya's tummy oops baby, the all new "Simplifly deccan" in true Kingphiser ishtyle is set to create a new record. I heard they are now proposing to launch "a free air ticket with every beer" scheme to promote the newly launched brand. If changing the color of paint could change performance, the "hangover in the head" Indian cricket team could do with a change in uniforms.

Coming to think of it, do Pakistanis have any other option other than PIA? Maybe they are going to allow Air China to operate domestic services.

Enough of comparisons! Even as we bask in our similarities and bite into our differences, the aam aadmi on both sides is yet to get his necessities of roti, kapda, makaan and mobile! the sooner, the better...

I have not been tagged for quite a while now. Silverine has posed an open tag dare and I just happened to pick it up.. So here goes....

1.Pick out a scar you have, and explain how you got it.

Well, I suddenly realized that not having a scar was rather uncool when my cousin kid sister, visited us after a Harry Potter movie and exclaimed –“ Harry is a wizard because he has a scar”. The poor me, with no other avenue to become a genius, used the divider of Ma’s students to get myself a scar. People tell me I have gone from bad to worse. “J K Rowling, you are sure to get to your lawyer soon”

2.What does your phone look like?

Phone? What’s that? All I have is a gadget that has the latest MP3 songs, doubles up as a camera, uses quick office like a mini computer, acts as an alarm clock, but makes no calls….I wonder why…maybe it does not have a SIM card.

3.What is on the walls of your bed-room?

Hmm. I grew up in my bed cum study room over the past 14 years. So the walls are no longer recognizable. They have everything from Sachin Tendulkar pin ups, Trigonometric formulae, stains of Boost (9 years old and growing strong), and an examination time table containing the good old subjects that have been part of most curricula from the eras of Shah Jahan to Sonia Gandhi.

4.What is your current desktop picture?

Bah! How I wish I could choose my own pic. The Systems guys in the company have put up a desktop picture having text that reads as , “ You are looking at this in case your window is minimized which means you are not working!”

5.Do you believe in gay marriage?

I have been advised by my brand manager to be neutral in my response. So here goes – “ While the right of choice of an individual is to be respected, Societal norms out to be kept in mind as well”

6.What do you want more than anything right now?

Something!

7.What time were you born?

Though I am told that it was 8:17 p.m. on a cold winter night, I must admit I have no confirmed source of verification. But irrespective of the exact time, I know for one thing that my mom had a terrible time.

8.Are your parents still together?

The word “Still” needs to have a reference. I saw them together yesterday, and Dad’s away on a work related trip and am not sure of the situation post that.


9.Who was Last person who made you cry?

Well, boys are not supposed to cry. But the last time I shed tears (of joy) was when, I burnt the midnight oil for a straight 2 weeks and delivered a job of high quality and got the recognition from my boss as “ not a bad job”

10.What is your favourite perfume/cologne/ deo?

Cigar, The fragrance of the deo helps camouflage the real ones. :P

11.What kind of hair/eye color do you like in the opposite sex?

The last time I tried assessing my choice from among a wide variety available, I was almost jailed by the moral police..So there..

12.What are you listening to?

The sound of silence (most people are sound asleep, post lunch)

13.Do you get scared of the dark?

Nah! I’m just pertified!

14.Do you like pain killers?

Yes as long as they help you get rid of people who are a pain in the !@#

15.Are you too shy to ask someone out?

The last time someone asked me out was the Department HOD in Engineering course. And he wasn’t quite shy during the process. I am yet to arm myself with that confidence..

16.If you eat anything right now, what would it be?

PUDIN HARA!

As a matter of fact, I just returned after a heavy meal immediately followed by a colleague’s farewell, that comprised of veg puff, chocolate pastry, French fries, and ice cream, on the menu.

Why did you have to ask? *groan* *burp*

17.Who was the last person who made you mad?

LOL, no one can make a person mad when he already is one…:)

18.Who was the last person who made you smile?

The kids in the school bus that I saw from the window of my bus this morning, all cuddled up and cute, on their way to school….

Happy Long weekend, everyone....

A big thank you to all of you who have endured my writing over the last year and a half. I have completed a century of blog posts and am grateful to all my readers.

Warm Regards,
Asmyaham.