Friday, August 03, 2007

Yeh hai Sanjay Dutt ki kahani!

Hi,

Sanju Baba got it all wrong. Yeah, I am talking about Sanjay Dutt the bad boy of bollywood who has been sent to jail at the age of 56 (or is he 48?) as he had once bought a toy called AK 56. Of all the people who got upset, I can tell you Kallu mama - my ex-roomie would be the saddest one. Today Kallu and I were discussing what Sanjay Dutt could have done to escape this penalty. He could have followed the example of Dr Haneef. He could have bought his toy in Australia and got caught to the Australian police. The Minister would have cancelled his tourist visa and the media would have criticised the Aussie Government for this. His sister or daughter or one of his lovers should have worn a yellow sari (with some help from their homely friends) and made an appeal to the Indian government.

This would have given him all the sympathy in the world and he would have been sent to India. Instead what Sanjay Dutt did was - he acted in this movie called Zinda where he sought experience in jail (his sixth sense would have forewarned him and encouraged him to get some jail experience) and then he did this movie called 'Lage Raho Munna Bhai' where he drew parallels between himself and Gandhiji. Kallu mama, the Sanjay Dutt fan argues that Sanjay Dutt is as great as Gandhiji since both of them got sentenced for 6 years and that too in Yerawada jail. Yo Kallu mama, you are a true fan!

Jokes apart, I feel if his offence is something punishable, the judge hasn't done anything wrong in punishing him. Of course, he still has the legal option of appealing to a higher court. I like the way his family and he himself are conducting themselves. When he comes back he will have lotsa people waiting with bouquets. Long live Sanju baba!

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Brew Ha Ha...

Hi,

There is this coffee place called Brew Ha Ha in Koramangala with a nice novel concept. You can go there and ask for a game for 30 minutes and an instructor would come and explain to you and your partner (s) the rules of the game you have chosen and play a sample game with you and then let you play. You also get some complementary coffee I guess (I forgot how much it costed and all, but only remember that the rates were very affordable).

Neways, there are some negatives to this idea. Since I had gone with my wife and we both like the ambience to be quiet wherever we go, this place did not serve our purpose. There will be lotsa people, some couples, some friends (they have differnet games for 2s, 3s and 4s) shouting, laughing and making some noise which did not go that well with the 2 of us. Another thing about the instructor did not impress us too much. While instructing the rules to us, the 3 of us were playing - me, my wife and the instructor and the instructor was playing his best game. This did not go well with me as I wanted either my wife or me to win. So what I did was, I sactrificed mine and made sure my wife had a lead over him and finally my wife won it. Well, probably the instructor was the nice guy here and I played the bad guy, but my wife and I enjoyed it. Neways, the game itself was interesting and even the coffee was good. Definitely we want to go there again. Why don't you go with your friends some time to Brew Ha Ha and tell me your experience...

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Don't lean towards the left... it's not right

Hi,

I have decided to use more of my right brain at work from now on. When I come to think of it, all the learnings I have had in my life have been in the left side of the brain - Be systematic, be logical, follow rules, be on time, deliver on time, deliver what is expected, etc etc. But never had I said to myself - appeal to the imagination of the end user, Be creative with the work product, imagine yourself in the end user's shoes and look at what might be expected, go beyond what the customer says. Well, I did use some of these at times at work but never very consciously. I believe not using right brain and using the left brain continuosly can be a reason for stress at work. In the sense, being systematic, following known procedures and processes is like routine which bores you easily. This also adds a lot to your guilt conscience because when you do not do something in an organised fashion, you tend to criticise yourselves. So, you are always thinking of the daily routine you are 'supposed' to follow as a resonsibility on your shoulders.

'Responsibility' sounds like a very positive quality but if you look at it what it means is - ability to come with a response. It is similar to 'answerability' and 'accountability'. I am not saying these are not required, but getting them too much into your head makes you think of only how to satisfy the other person, how to satisfy your boss, peers etc, but not yourself. So, next time a task gets allocated to you, instead of getting into a duty conscious mind (the responsible person), look at it as a piece of work at which you can excel. That would make you work for yourself and the quality will also improve because you are using more of your right brain.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Nice weekend...

Hi,

I had a very nice weekend. Well, not because Deepthi had left for her hometown, poor thing had some fever. I had a good time because I did not spend it lonely. Normally, before marriage, I would spend the weekends and holidays rather gloomily keeping to myself. But this time I somehow did not want to be lonely. On Saturday I wanted to cook food (well if you call whatever I cook food), but then cooking and eating alone would be rather boring. So I called Rana home and we had the meal together. I made Bhendi fry and Toor Dal and Rana seemed to have enjoyed it. We watched the movie 'Big Daddy' together and in the afternoon we had discussion about general things in life, what should life be like, importance of spirituality, etc etc. And then I took Rana to the theatre class and he thoroughly enjoyed it. We had dinner with Ratan (the intructor) & Co after the class and left for home at around 1 O' clock. If only the traffic police had not caught us and asked for documents etc, I would have gone to sleep much more happily.

Sunday I called up Vivek and invited him for lunch. This time, my Aloo fry seemed to be getting spoilt, but Vivek came just in time to save it from any further damage. He added Biriyani Masala to Aloo and it was rather tasty. I am now inspired, thanks to Vivek, to try my hand at experimentation at cooking. Then, Vivek added tadka to the toor dal I was making which made it tastier. We both watched the cricket match after that and in the evening decided to head to Indijoe during happy hours. I came back home by 10 in the night and had a really nice nap. Early morning at 8 AM I heard the doorbell ring but wasn't excited as I knew Deepthi's flight would reach by 8 30 AM only. So thinking it would be the baai outside, I opened the door and to my surprise Deepthi was here - she had lied to me so that she could surprise me. Neways, meeting her after 4 days did cheer me up and here I am all charged up for the week.