What's on your plate ?

Well I'm stepping into the shoes of a blogger after almost 2 long years. I have missed the world of blogs all this time away, for reasons I don't want to declare openly; though many should be aware of that ;). Anyways I'll resume with a small post, a rough draft of which was saved in my dashboard all these days, to my surprise. Hoping for the same support and appreciation that I received for my last (infamous) blog! :)

I'm pretty sure the title would bring a definite smile on the faces of my ex-teammates if they see this post. It's been almost 2 years since I heard this phrase, but still manages to stretch my imagination to its weird comic levels ;).

Often being directed, like a fired up arrow, towards us by our ex-Manager to find out what exactly we are doing for 9 hrs in office, other than just checking mails, chatting around & taking numerous breaks in regular ( very often many unplanned & unwanted leisure breaks too ! ). Most of us usually used to have 2-3 spare answers ready with us ( unless of course we were actually doing something & not just bluffing ). My favourite one was ' I'm just checking the shipping list issue!'. Of course there might not be any 'shipping list issue'; or if at all it was there, might have been resolved days back; or who knows maybe the very 'shipping list' in question didn't even exist at all, who am I to judge all this :).

'What's on your plate now?'. Most of our days used to start with this seemingly inncoent enough but deceptively venomous question from our ex-Manager (When I drafted this he was still my manager. The 'ex' is injected in now).

Rather than promptly replying for his curious query, for me, answering to this was like firing something right back at him. If he's not sure of what I'm talking about, he'll stop the lecture in half the time (including the possible cause of the issue, potential resolution & an extra proactive step needed to avoid these issues in future). If I'm not able to divert my attention towards other things & stay awake at all during his lecture sometimes I feel like shouting at him, ' There is no issue you Jerk, I just made it up to stuff up your ears. Now stop your lecture & leave me alone !'.

I'm sure most of us should have faced this kinda situation at least once in our office lives. Often, when being confronted about the work plan for the day, we come up with different kind of innovative yet effective ideas to stay SAFE for the day.

But staying safe becomes meaningless after a while. The IT bug starts getting to your nerves soon enough. And when it does (it sure will, only 'when' is the mystery here) it gets you hard. I feel scared enough for that dreadful day. Will it be too late to crawl back up ?

Will I regret having kept my plate empty for most of those 'safe' days ? Only time will tell. So what's on your plate guys?

Being with you..

Was it my fortune that brought me to you,
Was it fate that gifted my life with your smiles,
Was it God who blessed my days with your laughter,
Or was it just You bringing me back my life.
I can't think of anything else that completes me,
For long I had my dreams of being with you.


Just got me bedazzled from the very first sight,
Baby you brought magic into my mind-numbing life.
Days got stagnant and our nights got brighter,
Sure you know how to bring the best out of me.
I wouldn't trade this for anything in the world,
Coz baby I just love it being with you.


I Wish to live each day seeing the stars in your eyes,
Dream of spending each night with my arms around you,
I promise to spend even the last of my heart beats,
Discovering more and more of you, my love.
But can't think of anything other than being with you
Oh baby, being with you..

Grilled

Bangalore is getting hotter for sure. Owing to the scorching heat, I prefer to stay indoor these days on weekends. On one such lazy Saturday afternoon, browsing through the TV channels, i came across a movie which caught my attention, right from it's title. 'GRILLED', a pretty unusual name for a movie, the presence of Ray Romano & Kevin James adding to my interest.

The movie revolves around Maurice (Ray Romano) and Dave (Kevin James) , two door-to-door meat salesmen who need to make at least one sale by end of the day to avoid getting fired. Things take quite a turn, nothing as planned, as they meet Loridonna (Sofia Vergara) in her house, who seems to be attracted to Maurice, for some reason. An emergency call from Maurice's friend leads them ending up meddling in a mob feud at a murder scene. Taken by the mobsters, they end up making the deal of their life, with another mob-lord and the movie ends on a pleasant note.

The film may not be a laugh riot or an insane comedy like most of the Priyadarshan movies. But it certainly has its moments. The scenes where the protagonists find potential customers to sell their meat, in the the mobsters & the Mafia-lord, all while still being in a life-threatening situation, surely deserves credit for the smooth narration & story flow. I could somehow relate them to the business managers of the IT world, on the funny side. Another sequence worth mentioning is the scene in which the Mafia-lord gifts his son with a hooker, oops sorry, 'Pretty Woman', to celebrate the occasion of him turning into a man from boyhood. It might not captivate the fancy of everyone, but sure did mine :).

Performance wise , Ray is awesome as always; it's a treat to watch him with a constipated look on his face, when Sofia tries to seduce him. I really miss the 'Raymond' days. Kevin James is also really good & looks best for the role of a meat-seller. Juliette Lewis as a not-so-sane mafia princess did justice to her role. Sofia looks amazing in the role of a "woman" (she plays a guy having undergone a sex-change surgery) & her scenes with Ray are truly funny.

You can catch this movie if you are a movie-buff like me and if you are not looking for any brain-bursting comedy. But surely you won't regret the 80 minutes spent in your couch watching this. Or else, you can wait for Mr.Priyadarshan to remake it with the typical masala and watch then. Cheers.

The "EX" Factor

I've always been amused by the way people behave (or rather make complete fools out of themselves)in the presence of their Ex's. It's natural to have a feeling of awkwardness obviously, but still I can't find a way to justify their trying to avoid any such situation to face those persons who, once were supposed to have been "sharing their souls". [I'm nobody to judge the credibility of the word 'soulmates', hence the double quoting! I'd rather play safe here! :) ]

After the school days, I had scripted out a possible scene if i ever came across my "girlfriend" from 12th std. It was more like a way to kill the time, waiting for the college admissions. I had made up a mental questionare for her, and an answer key for all her possible questions for me. Now before you guys jump into any conclusion that I'm a total nut-case, in my defense, the "relationship" lasted for about 8-9 months; so there's nothing much to ask and reply for. Still the picture I had in mind was more of a sit-com kind of a scene and not a soap drama. But I know for sure, most of my friends, if were ever put in that situation, would rather go and hang themselves than face the Ex.

Last month, we had a small get-together with some friens. Among them was the girl, for whom I had "spent" 4 years of my high-school life, going crazy & delusional with her thoughts in my head. [and of course, yes, she never accepted me ! :) So technically, she's not my Ex.]. Maybe that was why, I never found it awkward, not even for a single moment, being around her. I can't really say the same about her though, still she managed to keep her cool & there was no long killing minutes of silence or loss of words. It was a pretty funny deal, picking up the old memories, mostly embarrassing things, and we all had some good laugh out of it.

One of the guys who had shown up was hugely amazed by the ease with which we could talk to each other, and even 'about' us, without any feeling of humiliation or an urge to strangle the other one! He later told me that he'd be embarrassed to death if he was ever put in that situation. I took it rather as a complement for both of us, that we were able to put aside everything and take it on the lighter side. This was my impression until later when she made a pretty huge mess out of an argument with me for posting some pics of us together from that day in Orkut, which I had thought she'd take with the same spirit. How wrong was I. I was rather surprised than offended by  her still clinging on to the feeling of insecurity. This was clear when she later referred to me as "Brother " to one of my friends, when he tried to tease her with the story.

I can understand why she was trying to make her side clear. But I still can't help asking, 'why bother so much if the other person is not interested in you anymore ?'. Same is the case with anyone I presume. No matter how much history you have, if you guys have moved on and have no feelings towards each other, then what's there to feel humiliated or guilty about ? Can't we keep it that simple ? Why can't we treat our Ex-crushes/Ex-admirers/Ex- lovers more like friends, than like utter strangers whose presence could impose a potential death upon you ? My question remains unanswered. You guys are truly welcome to share your thoughts on this. Help me find an answer :).

my 1st blog :)

Just ask yourself : How many times have you come across a short story which ends in the usual climax, 'and my Mom started screaming and pulled away my blanket. It was all just a dream.'

I am not sure what it is with these young 'authors' and this typical story-ending. Maybe they just confide in the age-old climax to write out whatever they feel like, stretch their imaginations to a point which surpasses all logics of sense and sensibility and then finally end it up on the safer side, saying it was all just a dream, it'll never happen in real life, don't worry.

Tomorrow, on the 27th of February 2010, I'm turning 24. And I'm forced to ask myself, how much of my lifetime have I spent dreaming about my future life.

First it was my "infanthood" and the preschool days where I used to dream of becoming a grown-up & making myself useful in some way (yeah right!). Then it was the boring (but hectic) school days where the sole purpose of my existence was to clear the 10th board exams with flying colors. There I dreamt of a prospective future college-life, pumped up with fun & joy.
Once I finally reached that college life, which I had dreamt about of for so long, I felt like I finally found my 'life'. But soon the viruses of 'series' & sem exams were injected into us, but still most of us managed to fight the virus & enjoy the savouries of life at the same time. Here my only dream was to keep living my 'dream-life'. Then came the placement season & along with it, the next dream. Now everyone's mind was inflicted with the idea of getting into some decent MNC & secure their future. I never really could digest the milestones & targets that my friends set for themselves for the next 10 years of their life. Still I too joined the rat-race with no serious interest of passion, but just not to get lost in the commotion.

Most of us managed to acquire an entry into the cell-life of IT. Something which was supposed to settle our lives, make us free, independent souls and make us what we always wanted to be: distinct 'individuals'. It didn't take me too long to find out how wrong it was all going to turn out to be. The moment my Manager referred to me and my fellow team-mates as 'Resources', my prospective life for the next 2 years flashed up in my head. I was no more the 'Dinu' of my family, nor the 'Athul' of my friends; here I was (or rather still am) just a "resource", coding my life away along with other thousands of fellow-"resources".

I'm stepping into the 25th year of my life with one more dream. I dream of the day I get to choose what I'll do for the day; not having a pain-in-the-ass manager to boss me around; not spending most of the day dreaming about how my day could have been, but living the day in the best possible way; not to be canned up in suffocating cubicles with people i find disgusting & irritating, but to be around my loved-ones. I dream of the day I could be myself again. So fellow-dreamers out there, welcome to the dreamer's lounge. Let's keep dreaming..