Stupendously Sublime

The thing with titles is that they are ridiculously difficult to justify, or is it just me? I have sat and thought and thought and finally it struck me that I’m at my wit’s end, that I, who is regularly complimented on my literary prowess (though it is mediocre at best (please please please disagree with me and tell me I’m better than average) and insipid at the worst) am at a loss of how to tie 3 divergent stories connected only by 2 threads, Me and Mumbai, HEY! That sounds like a good title…but is a bit broad to cover this particular tryst, so let’s just say that it is Me and Mumbai: Shots So, abstract title done…on to the meat of the bone. Me and Mumbai: Shots The intrepid recruiter (shouldn’t this be the Inept Recruiter??) was on the move, and his first assignment was the land of Maratha pride, Maharashtra. Recruitment aside this was a most tough land to compete in and the availability of good human capital always comes at a premium, a premium I could not afford to pay, ...

As an  intrepid recruiter on the move for  the past month or so I have realised 2 things 1. What 18 hour workdays  mean 2. The beauty India has... Now, I was told when joining that campus recruitment is very tough business and the travel can be  crushing and as is my usual self, i considered these warnings as gross overstatements (STUPID, STUPID), what i really should have understood it as was a massive understatement. I have not seen what my house looks like for the past months in fact my only concern while visiting (I use visiting, and not living) my house is that i have to wash clothes. Now, if we had the numbers of last year i'm sure i would not have seen my house for atleast 3 months and every single event means an 18 hour workday. But, the questions is "Do i hate it or do i love it?" and the unequivocal answer is that i love it...it is hard, it is fast and out of the office... This job has some other perks a...

Today in conversations with friends, ok...with friend, we spoke about the concept of LOL or HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAH or HEHEHEHEHEH or ROFLMAO and other such text expressions that are used to signify gales of laughter emanating from the receiver at something extremely witty or humourous that was sent by the sender. Now, usually it is a cut and dry thing, but because of my extremely keen powers of observation I have noticed that these expressions are not usually accompanied by the laughter that is being texted back. What is really being texted back is the appropriate response to what was said and this is the common decency of texting, at least what I see in my style and those who text to me...cause let's face it, I’m not the wittiest guy in the world. But this brings me to another question, how has texting and technology changed us in general? Has it made us colder? More distant? Has it reduced our ability to make new friends? What i thought was, and i could be compl...

The titile of this particular blog post is symbolic rather than about a delicious vegetarian treat, the symbolism of matar paneer is financial security and risk, but lets start at the very beginning of the thought, what is matar paneer, why is it important and why oh why do we love its taste. The answer is very simple, it starts with our society and more importantly marriage. As a modern indian man (i consider myself so) there is still a very high possibility of my marriage being arranged by my parents and their relatives and people of x,y,z standing in various friendships with my parents and their relatives, and thus is the origin of such a business deal, and lets not romanticise the indian arranged marriage, it IS a business deal where both parties negotiate and search to get the best deal for their offspring. The girl is expected to be beautiful, fair, dutiful, fair, religious, fair, loving, nurturing, fair and must have an aversion to jeans and other such western outfits and did...

One thing that I was saying almost constantly towards the end of my time at MHROD was, “You can either capitalize on what we have done, or you can choose to re-invent the wheel.” Now I have little or no idea about what my dear juniors will do, but I do have some free advice, which by its nature is completely disposable, you can either keep it or you can throw it away without considering it, but I really urge you to read through it. 1.        Make them feel welcome: Welcome the new batch with open arms and make them feel welcome, one of my biggest mistakes was not making the batch feel welcome and wanted at MHROD, I considered it my overzealous work ethic, others might consider it my arrogance. Hindsight is a comfort of the future, not one of the present and we did what we thought was right, as should you. Do what you think is right for the course and not for your own reputations. Reputations are built on sand, merit on stone. 2.    ...

Till now i have stopped myself from writing film reviews, with a lot of success i might add, but a few days ago i saw a movie that was so beautifully crafted, played with such nuance that it left me breathless, i won't really try to review this movie but what i will try to write about is how it impacted me, how it gave me a longing for the next part, how it suddenly increased my respect for Manoj Bajpayee, Piyush Mishra, Tigmanshu Dhulia and the other members of this fabulous cast. The first and the best part i liked about the Gangs of Wasseypur was that nothing was done in half measure, the violence was brutal, absolutely unadulterated and in your face. The humour was lewd, crass and sexual but it was also physical, impeccable and found in situations where we see the humour, it was never forced. The hatred that was portrayed was so real that i felt the characters hatred bubble up inside me. The second thing (which came very close to the first) which i loved was the reali...

Exactly what i said in the title is something that i have come to believe in very strongly, life is a TV series and everyone has episodes, assuming that i'm the main protagonist of my life (this fact could still be argued), i have seen many seasons: Modern School Arc Drop Year Arc JUIT arc Post JUIT arc MHROD arc And these arcs were made of episodes, amazing, stupid, gracious, embarrassing, triumphant, destructive and many many more. What I will say here is end of a couple of episodes from the MHROD arc, and these were, lets say, season defining for me. Episode: Kava goes Dutch Circa March 2012, The first monumental episode came to an end, a recurrent theme in my life, a constant source of fun, Kava left for the netherlands and with him left my Noida destination, where i have spent the best part of my 3 years post JUIT. As i drove away from IGI that night, at 2:15, all i could think was damn, ab noida kaise jaoonga, and its true, haven't been to noida since. ...