Pimping for a cause

I rarely do it, but once in a while har insaan besharam bann hi jaata hai ya yeh samaaj usse besharam hone pe majboor kar deta hai.

So the thing is, we just launched a blogging site (targeted mainly at the hindi users) where the editors and the users blog on the same platform. Now, my boss asked me to blog on it. I immediately obliged. When my colleagues read my posts and saw the comments, they got excited about blogging.

Next, my boss came up with a competition. She announced that the person with the best blog in the company will get a surprise bumper prize at the end of two months. And the prize, methinks, is an IPhone. I got excited about this competition. Having lost the phone just a week back, I have decided I need to win this competition.

So, since last week I have been pimping my blog and my posts on facebook as well as on twitter. I thought - why not here. Hence, ladies and ledas , kindly take a look at Social Bakwaas. Read through my posts, increase the page views and do leave a comment. In return, you will get to read 3-4 posts. :P

Kripya meri besharmi ko bardaasht karein.

A Journey called 2009 and a Thought called 2010

OK, before I tell you where I have been since my last post, let me tell you what just happened. I opened my blog to write about 2009 and how I see 2010 is going to shape-up. So this is what followed

• Go to the last post of 2008. No year-ending post.
• OK, chill. No issues.
• Go to first post of 2009 where I must have written about 2008. No posts in January.
• Something is wrong.
• Go back to 2008 archive. #Fail.
• Check 2009. First post is in February.
• WTF #$!%&

I had written no post saying good-bye to 2008 or welcoming 2009. What the hell was I doing? Year-ending posts are the easiest ones to do and knowing the fact that I am very lazy in putting up new posts, why didn't I do a new post . Methinks, I was busy partying :P.

Anyway, so after this major disappointment with my blogging habit , the next thought came up in my mind. I made a general observation of all my posts. And there was a striking inference to be drawn. If you read my blog, you can easily judge the amount of effort going into each post : The more the bullet points in the posts, the more lazy I am writing that post, hence less the effort put-in.

And while I was thinking about my writing habit, I couldn't stop but realize that this particular post will be full of bullets. Without further ado, I shoot my bullets :

Do-hazaar-Nau ki kahani goli (bullet) ki zubaani

• Early 2009 was full of parties. I was convincing myself that 2009 will be a great year. Things will change. They actually did.
• I had my debut on the arranged married front. Thank god it was the last. Will come back to it later.
• Lots of road-trips happened. Jaisalmer, Mumbai, Rishikesh (rafting), Jaipur/Ajmer, Gushaini (near Manali), Panchmarhi. Other places visited by chuk-chuk gaadi and Udan Khatolas was Mumbai, Bangalore & Kanpur.
• Couple of best friends got married. Implication - fewer people left for drunken revelry.
• Met Selene. Implication - Found my soul-mate literally & we are bestest of friends for life.
• Found my love for photography.
• Got a chance to drive a Fiat 500, and sit at the rear-wheel of a Jaguar XFR.
• And finally, my job switch. I cribbed all through the year about how I hate my software job and how I wanted to move to Internet-media. The switch happened in November, and am having the time of my life at the new job. People do question my shift of career and my package, but I really enjoy telling them how wrong they are in questioning my actions. So don't even try.

In all, I loved 2009. The year put my life back on track on got my engine started whether it was the personal or the professional front. And now some more shooting to follow on 2010

• Very busy professional life is expected. And I am dying to get neck-deep into work. And it will be a make or break year for my stint in Internet-media.
• I hope I get to do some road-trips hopefully to Leh/Ladakh, Kufri/Narkanda etc.
• Travel will definitely be on cards.
• Marriage will be the toughest deal this year. My parents will be pushing for it big-time. And as days go by, I am getting more and more convinced that marriage might just be overrated. I have stated discussing it with friends as I am seriously thinking of giving it a pass. So lets see where I end-up on the marriage front.

How 2010 turns out is for me to see and for the year to unfold. But, since my birthday is on 20th Oct. (20/10) I have a gut feeling that this is going to the most memorable year of my life. And my gut, my dear readers, rarely disappoints me. :). So stay close to me and you will see a little extra positive energy coming into your life this year.

A very happy new year to you all. My Mantra for 2010 is "party hard, work harder". Cheers

Atthaaees Elaborated

I had promised in the last post that there would be an elaborate birthday post, so here it is.

We start with a quick run-through of my last year. Last birthday was full of sad memories and missed chances, but it also had hope that the coming year would be better. And it was indeed. 27th year of my life has been great. A few highlights of the year are

• A lot of road-trips and vacation . They included desert safari in Jaisalmer, road trip from Delhi to Mumbai, Rishikesh for rafting, Panchmarhi in monsoons and Diwali in the hills near Manali.
• My debut match. After that there has been a lull. No more of meeting girls for marriage has happened. And i hope it's not a toofaan ke pehle ki shanti.
• Good things happening to people around me from jobs to weddings etc. High points were my best buddy New getting married and another friend clearing his UPSC exam after a long wait.
• Me finding a great friend in Selene. We have had blast since the time we met. Khoob saara party and khoob saara fun. And being with her I have improved a lot as a person.
• I started my photo-blog. I love photography but haven't been able to give enough time to it. Maybe this year.
• Finally, I resigned from my current job and got a job I had been dreaming for the past one year. So no more coding for me. Internet-media here I come.

And so what's for next year? Well, I think next year will be a busy one in terms of career. My job will take the top priority in life. And there are high chances that by next birthday, marriage will be on cards.

Finally, to the birthday celebrations. It started with a few special friends dropping by and me cutting the birthday cake at midnight. As it was a weekday, it was supposed to be a quiet affair. But in the end it turned out to be a riot, with tonnes of jokes, a lot of jhatkas and matkas on bollywood songs of 80s & 90s and a lot of alcohol. This was followed by a big party on Saturday.

I had always wanted to throw a big party at my place. And so I threw a birthday cum job treat on Saturday. Around 20 people dropped-in. I have always maintained a philosphy that "Phoenix ke ghar mein daaru kabhi khatam nahi hoti ". This meant that a lot of whisky, vodka, rum, beer and juices were procured. Food was cooked at home. Bappi-da songs was the music of the night. And what started as a socializing party, with one set of my friends meeting the other set, ended in everyone dancing away to glory on the tadakta-bhadakta music.

A colleague in office told me that "agar tumhe birthday pe khoob saare gifts milne lage toh samajh jao ki tum budhdhe ho rahe ho". According to him mera bhi budhapa aa raha hai as I got loads of gifts which included awesome photographs on magnetic stickers to be put on the fridge, a bottle of JD (wood-woof), decanters for alocohol, a beautiful ash-tray, a key-hanger from happily-unmarried, loads of books which included books like "The warrior queen" with "8 color pages of hot pictures" :), sunglasses, shirts, chocolates etc. In short, it was the party I had always wanted to throw. Loved it.

Atthaaees ho gaya jee

So we are the turnings 28 todays. Detailed post we wills the do laters. We are havings the best birthday evers with so many of the gifts and so drunken a birthday partees. Very happy the I ams. And I am sures that me wills always compares the following birthdays with this ones.
A very Happy Birthdayed to me. :)
Cheers ... Let the alcohols the flowing and let the parties the continues and let the love the comes

To Selene from Phoenix

Hi Selene,
This post is just to tell you how important you are in my life. When we first met, we used to get amused with the amount of similarity we shared. Slowly, we realized that we indeed are soul-twins. No two people can be so similar in their thoughts, actions or feelings. We laugh at the the same jokes, we get hurt at same things and we can talk to each other even without uttering a single word. We can talk for hours and hours on the phone and then meet-up and drink till wee hours in the morning, yet our conversations never end. Humari bakar kabhi khatam hi nahi ho sakti.
I have learnt so much from you. I have started enjoying life like there's no tomorrow. You taught me the importance of relationships. You brought back the optimism in my life. The way you go about doing things, or your take on relationships, or your ability to think from your heart are things that I simply admire. I am seriously telling you, "Spiritual Guru" ban jaa(future halogen bulb ki tarah bright hai).
And the small things you do simply make my day : like the conversation that you have every evening with the auto-wallahs near your office or when you say with full-confidence "I am so brilliant that I dazzle me". Whenever I am down, all I have to do is call you and listen to your two minutes, and the ear-to-ear smile is back on my face. In short, in your own words "Abhi tak toh tum saansein le rahe the, jeena toh ab shuru kiya hai".

A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU .

I know for sure the next year will be more fun. There will be many more drunken-revelries , many more night-outs and many more vacations. And we are definitely doing Goa this coming year. I wish for you many more chocolates and ice-creams, many more movies with popcorns, loads and loads of books, silver ear-rings, dresses, dhik-chik dhik-chik dancing parties on bappi-da songs, music-trips listening to coke-studio or sufi songs, many more recipes, phuckas at CR park, beaf-steaks, thousand crates of beer, hangovers and sleepy days in office .....

You will have an awesomest year ,Superstar. I promise.

Tera mujhse Hai Pehle Ka Naata Koi
Yoonhi Nahin Dil Lubhaata Koi
Mera Tujhse Hai Pehle Ka Naata Koi
Yoonhi Nahin Dil Lubhaata Koi

Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na
Maane Tu Ya Maane Na
Tera mujhse Hai Pehle Ka Naata Koi
Yoonhi Nahin Dil Lubhaata Koi

Tu Bhi Rahi Mere Liye
Main Bhi Raha Tere Liye
Pehle Bhi Main Tujhko Baahon Mein Leke
Jhooma Kiya Aur Jhooma Kiya


Dekho Abhi Khona Nahin
Kabhi Juda Hona Nahin
Ab Khel Mein Yoohin Rahenge Hum Dono
Vaada Raha Ye Is Shaam Ka

Updates

So, the latest in life is that the divorce papers have been filed and finally the marriage is coming to an end. Yes, I got a new job. Its the kind of job I had been looking for the past one year. I had wanted to shift to internet-media and had been religiously following it for more than a year. But due to lack of relevant experience and my technical background, my chances were slim. But this job offer came as a sweet serendipity. A friend of mine called me and told me about a position that was open in his firm. I quickly applied for it. My interview was on a Friday morning and by evening I was offered the job. And since then it's been party all along. I join my new job in November. And so October is officially declared as the party-month. And with birthdays and Diwali coming, its only going to get wilder :).

Another important update is about a person whom I met nine years back. It was my first day in college. I could only see nerds all around me. Everyone was talking about how they cracked the entrance exams or what books they studied and all that crap. My worst fears were coming true. I would be stuck with these people for the next five years. With these fears I went to the hostel mess for the evening snacks. As I was eating, I heard some conversation on the next table which I don't remember anymore. Anyway, there was this guy who was busy pulling everyone's leg. Something about him gave me positive vibes. So I walked to that table and asked the guy ..
Me : "Daaru peete ho?"
He : "Sutta peete ho?"
Me : "Haan"
He : "Hum bhi. Dost?"
Me : "Dost"
We shook hands. Both of us were so relieved to find each other. And so began my friendship with New. And we have been the best of friends since then. We talk once in two weeks. We meet once in 2-3 months. Yet, we are thickest of friends.
In our friend circle New was considered to be the last person to fall in love. But when he did I was the only one not shocked :). Friends called all the way from America to confirm it. Another friend nearly fell on the road when he heard the news. Anyway long story short, New just got married. It was an awesome wedding. We danced our way to glory. We also performed the famous "Naagin" dance in the baraat. We had planned this right in college. I played the "sapera" with my hanky as the "bean", another friend was the " naagin" and the third friend was the "basket". It was fun. I wish him a happy married life.

With New getting married and Rib all set to tie the knot in December, the bachelor side of the river suddenly feels a little lonely :). It feels like its just matter time before I, too, cross the bridge. Until then, its party all night long :P

It just takes a TV channel to kill the patriotism in you

First day of US open. Its a delight to read that Somedev Devvraman has qualified for the US open main draw. Also, Sania Mirza is playing. I switch on the TV (after knowing from the net that Somedev has won the first set). I see Roger Federer just finishing up his match. My thought - "It's Roger Federer, and the match should be over in 5-10 minutes. Somedev's match should be on any moment". The match ends after 15 minutes, and the next match they beam is Hanescu vs Isner and I am like WHO THE F*** ARE THEY???? I go back to my lappy to cross-check whether Somedev's match is still on. And it is ON. In a few moments, the net tells me that even Sania Mirza's match has started. I switch on my TV again (the optimism in me never dies) and I see Serena Williams playing on center-court.
It's a shame. A national TV-channel like Ten sports gives a f*** about matches concerning Indian players. Where is the censor-board?? What is the broadcasting ministry doing? I AM HURT.