I'm getting older....

This is something I've been recently seeing in myself. I tried to stay in denial, but as the months have been flying by, I'm finding it increasingly hard to overlook the obvious. I'm getting older.

Some signs that have prompted me to arrive at this conclusion are (in no particular order) -

• I’ve stopped seeing the time from my mobile phone, rather feel the need to wear a wrist watch
• I’ve begun to don a Parker pen in my pocket (the various situational advantages of doing this deserve a separate post)
• Khakhis and formal wear have begun to ‘feel’ comfortable
• I have begun updating my Linked In profile rather than my Facebook profile
• I’m calling it Facebook rather than fb (like all the cool kids do)
• I’m using the word ‘cool’ rather than ‘kool’,’kewl’ like I used to
• Continuing with languages, I’ve literally removed ‘leet speak’ [1337 5p34k] from my vocabulary
• I’m beginning to realize the importance of driving within speed limits (most of the time)
• I try not to be late for appointments
• I make it a point to remember upcoming appointments
• My father has begun to find my financial advice sensible
• Kids call me ‘uncle’ or ‘sir’
• I have begun to call people below 16 years of age as ‘kids’ or ‘youngsters’ (this has to be the crowning glory)
• I feel ‘obligated’ to attend family gatherings and receptions

English breakfast...

Today's drive from Bengalooru to Mysore was one of the best drives I've had in a long time.

The windows were pulled down (the most worthy equivalent of driving top down in my car :( ), the company was lovely (thank you Divya Nagavara!), the conversation was filled with jokes, witty one liners, mundane banter and intellectual topics. I reached top speed of 145 kmph, which was quite decent considering the zombie like road crossing of the villagers enroute.

Today's breakfast was memorable as well. I tried the English breakfast at McDonalds. The pancakes with maple syrup and butter, some muffins along with hot chocolate.

The pancakes were delightfully soft to touch; I watched with delight as the maple syrup and butter together became a viscous solution and made its way down the stack of pancakes. Each bite was filled with sinful amounts of calories, but I couldn't care less. I atoned for my sins with an extra half kilometer at the treadmill in the evening.

All in all, today morning has proved beyond any doubt my capacity and desire in trying global cuisines. The doors have been opened. Here I come!

Current Reading Wishlist...

Here is my reading wishlist until the end of year.

I've somehow gotten caught up in the magic of historical fiction. It all started with Amish's "The Immortals of Meluha', where the author has spun a delightful web of fact, mystery, history and mythology around a pacy storyline. A quick check on the web got me some more books in the same vein.

--> The Rozabal Line - Jesus after crucifixion settling down in India? Sounds interesting!

--> The Secret of the Nagas (Absolutely thrilling sequel to 'The Immortals of Meluha' in the Shiva trilogy. This book, by ex-investment banker newbie Amish, has really come together fascinatingly. Hindus, especially, will have a ball while reading the story as they see mythological stories told by their grandmas come to life under slightly different circumstances.) -

Done.

--> Chanakya’s Chant (Brilliant concept.Promises to be exciting!)

--> Anna Hazare – The Fakir who moved a country (Less than a month, and news about Anna has already subsided. But during his time, he was right up there in the center. I want to know more about him and his work until now.)

--> The Vault of Shiva (by Andy McDermott. Interesting premise. Let me pick it up and then appraise you on this)

--> All other books by Andy McDermott (I want to give this author a try. I'm not going to lie. It was his books' racy titles that got me all curious. But then, I liked what I saw)

--> The Cobra (I simply love Fredrick Forsyth's attention to detail and his meticulousness)

I had thought of a few more. But will write about it in a bit.

Ciao!

The (United) States of economy

Whoa! August sure has been a busy month, hasn't it?!

I came across this cartoon by Mike Luckovich today. Put a smile on my face. And suckered me into some introspection.

(http://blogs.ajc.com/mike-luckovich/2011/08/29/830-mike-luckovich-cartoon-jobs-needed/)

Here I am, thinking about which US B-school essays I need to sharpen my pen for, brushing aside the various macro-economic factors of the world!

But I feel I'm being too hard on myself. Aren't we all somewhat like this?

I like to blame our educational system and society for inculcating this narrow mindedness in our minds. Somehow, we convince ourselves into thinking that we are shielded from outside events and that somehow, the rules and issues don't apply to us common folk. Even the educated ones among us go about their chores, consoling themselves that a hike in the nation's inflation figures will affect only the banks and stock brokers. We idly curse the government when we suddenly have to pay double the amount we did last week for the tomatoes and potatoes. 3 months later, when there is a full blown recession and we lose our jobs, we blame 'fate' and investment bankers for our misfortunes.

I'm not saying our entire lot needs to get degree in Economics, but is a little GK too much to ask for?

1995, 2001, 2008, .... All this in my lifetime!

BBC has this amazing video on the current US debt and job shortage crisis.

Ludovico Einaudi - I Giorni

Oooh, last night I did something I hadn't done in a long time.

I just lay on my bed and listened to music. Not to occupy half my mind while the other half was busy elsewhere, not to lift my spirits or even to just pass the time. I just killed every other activity in my brain and listened intently to the ebb and flow of the notes in Ludovico Einaudi - I Giorni.

A surreal experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmj3iU36Mmw

Phrases I want to do away with...

I need to kill some phrases from my vocabulary because it has become all encompassing in its usage. I need these cliched words in every scenario and to describe every event. It is lame, it is stunting my vocabulary and quite frankly, beginning to get on my nerves.

1) lame

2) awesome

3) nice

4) cool (and all its variations - kool, kewl and so on)

5) major

6) decent

7) sweet

8) kickass

9) sweet

10) bullshit

11) Jesus

Will get back when I remember some more...

I hate it when...

Driving related

- my car stalls in the middle of the road (Exhibit A - juvenile driving skills..aaargghhh)

- I don't park inside the designated parking cube exactly parallel to the lines in the first attempt

A lot more to come in the future...

Feel free to pour in your thoughts!

Weekend readings

I love sitting in front of my computer on a weekend and ambling through other people's blogs and websites.

I don't have a particular topic, but these days, the subjects are centered around Physics, neurosciences, MBA and work-life balance. I have a few feeds on my RSS on my Google Reader.

And you know what? Somehow, reading other people's experiences and updates stimulates me mentally in a good way. And I begin to think of things that I don't generally think on weekdays.

Subject matter could range from Random walk to the Elenin Comet or even Thai cooking. There's something Freudian in the way I get curious and interested about life and other people on weekends.

I generally want to write about it and get it off my chest but ultimately end up forgetting it soon enough. My all-pervasive sense of laziness is to be blamed. Guess I need to explore this in greater detail.

Blah blah blah

Not to be a grouch or an oldie, but these days, I am incredulously finding the vocabulary of our vocabulary to consist of inane fillers like ’blah blah’ or ‘whatever’. I admit, I use these phrases sometimes as a gap filler too, but never so much that it gets jarring!

Why, as I was walking down the road today, I overheard two girls go “…so, he came to me and said “Let’s go for coffee, blah blah blah and I told him to…” Why did she have to speak like that? Or even the American variant that goes “so you should like check him out on facebook or like whatever!”

Shocking!

Is it like today’s youth is like completely ADD or whatever, that they can’t speak like coherent sentences, without using comparison phrases like insanely? Damn, the epidemic is seriously rubbing off on me. Must…shake…it…off!

Do we really have such short attention spans that we are unable to remember what exactly happened during some particular incident that we are telling our friends? Maybe that’s why we have to come up with continuation phrases like ‘blah blah’. Or maybe, we are just too lazy to speak out complete sentences!

Either way, something is going wrong here.

Things to do when you get home...

Came home (or rather, room) after a brief stay of about 2 weeks at a friend's place.

The room smelled musty, there was dust on my toothbrush, and I was feeling a bit low because I had gotten accustomed to staying with company.

Yet, something felt incomplete.Something was missing.

I removed my laptop from my bag, connected the wires and the speakers. Quickly unspooled the internet cable and hit the 'Start' button. The all-too-familiar sound of the OS booting followed by my wallpaper greeted my tired eyes. What a sight! I immediately realized this was the feeling of incompleteness that I felt was in the house, from the moment I stepped foot in it.

There is a bag full of clothes that I now have to unpack, and I have brought home my takeaway dinner.

I am back home. :)

Lit meets Hollywood

Mathew Reilly is the Michael Bay of literature...:)

Wanderlust

I began reading about this Alstom employee who convinced his wife to leave a comfortable life behind and go on a 18 month road trip.

He has a travel blog, which he has promised to regularly update. Don't know about you, but I'll be subscribing to his feed. :)

http://wanderlust.bajan.pl/

Something about this blog evoked deep feelings inside me. Just look at the title - Wanderlust. And the subtitle - Sleep longer, walk slower, and enjoy the day! Simple, but powerful stuff!

I'm not saying that I'll be putting in my papers next Monday (so you can relax Divya Nag :)). It's just that I want to start getting out of my comfort zone, and do things, see places, take in experiences. You know what they say - "You live only once"!

Milestone...

Tomorrow is a milestone for me.

I complete 5 years working for Infosys. It has been an eventful journey, and to many of you, 5 years may not be a big deal even. But considering the behavior of an average Indian IT guy, I believe my sticking to one company for 5 years is a significant achievement (Don't go bursting my bubble, people).

I’ve had my share of ups and downs here in these years. I’ve even tried to convince myself that I do all this, I come to work with zest and enthusiasm because I love being an IT guy in a technology services company, working hard day in and day out, helping businesses grow by providing off-shore support to the tertiary sector (IT) of a company. Yet, I find it hard to make myself believe this is what I am. Is this my identity?

None of my hopes and aspirations I had as a kid had pointed in this direction. Did I lose my way somewhere? Perhaps. I took the beaten path. I don’t know whether I have taken the right decisions in life or not. I believe I am too young to ascertain that for sure. This is only my quarter life crisis. I have yet to deal with the biggies.

On a related note, just the other day, someone asked me a question similar to “Who are you?” …and I told him I was a Technology Analyst at Infosys… I mean, we’ve entered an age where our work not only defines us, but people even judge us by the work we do. I find it hard to believe that I could not describe myself in a better and more holistic way...Is it just me? Do other people answer these questions saying “I am a good husband”, “I am a patriot” ...I don't know what else...Something more meaningful, something more fulfilling and satisfying...It’ll be tonnes of fun to ask this of people and record their answers. But I’m too chicken, too lazy to do that alone…Will someone be my partner in crime?

Under the Glass moon

It was starting to be a heavy drive back home from office today.

At 11:30 PM, there was not a soul on the lonely Mysore road. I was tired, the air was nippy. So I rolled up my windows and settled into a cozy drive back, with the song - 'Under the Glass Moon' playing inside.
I am literally in awe of the band Dream Theater. I started out with the more melodic 'Take away my pain'. I love huddling up and listening to Change of Seasons, Falling into Infinity, or Octavarium.

But this song...
What an awesome opening, stunning riffs, and what a solo...Petrucci is a master.
Still, I can't get this nagging feeling out of my mind...Whenever I listen to it, I feel the vocals could have been better. Was LaBrie a right fit for the band?

A time gone by....

Just the other day, a topic came up in a music discussion group at work.
A colleague of mine, Ulhas V, posted this provoking image, and pondered - "Our children will never know the link between the two"



If you are among the people who are actually wondering what this picture is all about, then my friend, you have not been part of a beautiful time for music that has gone by - the age of the cassette.

I didn't have much exposure to popular mainstream music during my childhood days. Our cassette player was generally inaccessible to me because my parents figured I might damage it or something. Not sure what the reason was really. While it's true that my Dad used to follow ABBA and Michael Jackson during his time, he was more of a Rafi, Kishore Kumar, Illayaraja and Hamsalekha person. My tryst with music grew exponentially only when we moved to Mumbai. I began to feel the need, the craving for music, for an expression of my feelings. It seemed like a perfectly natural extension of my personality. I can never forget my first portable cassette player, my Sony walkman. Believe it or not, walkmans were still cool in India in 2000-2001. Cellphones were extremely bulky, definitely not meant to double up as a music player, and was more of a super luxury than a necessity. I bought many casettes during that time, lapping up the Bryan Adams, the Britney Spears, the Nsyncs and the Backstreet Boys. Rock, Metal, Hip hop and Trance came later in my life.

My walkman no longer works. May God rest its soul. Along with my cassette collection, it languishes in my house in Bengalooru. I can say my mom really knows how to preserve old stuff! But there's always a special place in my heart for my first cassette, I mean, my first purchase -
"Backstreet Boys The Greatest hits Chapter 1".


I've lost count of how many times I've listened to each and every song over and over again. And today morning, after 11 years, I once again listened to every song on my 2.1 music speakers. Let me tell you, it was bliss! I realized that I still remembered every track in its exact order.
And I was transported to my past - a simpler life.
Man, nothing evokes such powerful emotions as memories do.

Suffice to say, I had a lovely Saturday morning.
.
.

Domino

Hmpph, back to blogger.com after countless years!

Time and again, I have been surprised and saddened by our utterly self destructive ways.

We are probably the only beings in the universe who take our time to ridicule and stamp out the goodness in a fellow being, simply because it does not conform to the terms of 'normalcy'. And then have the gall to cry and whine that this good human being has now become hardened and worse than before. Such a waste and so counter-intuitive!
It's like camping out in the cold with a small fire, all the while cribbing about how small the fire is and kicking the logs. Now that the fire is completely out, you cry that you are colder than before!

Tough...