Showing posts with label Observations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Observations. Show all posts

Observations

Author: bondgal_rulz / Labels: , ,

Disclaimer: These observations are my observations and are thus limited to my knowledge of my world and can / should not be generalized. They may / may not be true for the entire population at large but they hold true as far as my knowledge is concerned

1. Girls can get jealous / insecure with other girls they don't even know for no reason at all. A slight glance by their boyfriend at another girl, the mere mention of another girl's name in a conversation with her guy (more so if she is someone hitherto absent from his life), the slightest appreciation of another girl by her boyfriend, the slightest appreciation of that girl by another friend (!!), can all be sources of this irrational jealousy.

2. Autowallahs ask double the fare when you are all dressed up and everything as opposed to the normal exorbitantly high fare that they ask for otherwise when you are plainly dressed. On these special occasions they finally settle for one and a half times the original high fare.

3. Naukri and chokri are not just two similar sounding words. There's much more in common between the two:

>> You keep thinking that you deserve something (someone) much better but do not make any efforts to move on, as you are extremely comfortable in/with the current one and are scared of whether or not the next one will even be worth it

>> You have this constant feeling that your efforts are not even noticed, let alone appreciated

>> Your guards go up at the very instant of a new entrant in the scene and consider him/her as competition

>> No matter how much you crib about it/her, how much you think it/her makes your life miserable, it all becomes 'worth it' at the end of the month when you receive your salary/when you receive that one hug, one kiss from her



P.S. I suddenly get this feeling that this post should have been titled "Similarities between naukri and chokri" :D

19 comments

Emotions Unlimited

Author: bondgal_rulz / Labels: , , ,

We live in such a mechanical world nowadays that sometimes it becomes necessary to just stop, take a break, and appreciate the smaller things in life....

Today morning (meaning the morning of the day when I wrote this post in my cell drafts), I was all ready for another gruelling day at office, waiting for my cab (which had been delayed due to the city's pitiable traffic situation) and I happened to come across various genres of movies playing on different channels...and I was amazed to realize the human mind's capacity to feels so many emotions that soemtimes even words cannot convey the EXACT feeling that we may be experiencing....

Think of it...you can be MADDENINGLY happy....like when you crack the college of your dreams! Or get your dream job...or you can be just plain normal happy that you have had a good day at school/college/work

You can be devastated if God forbid, a close one is no more...sad that you didn't get that promotion you had been hoping for

Furious that a trusted one lied to you....angry over a stupid fight with a friend

Irritated with the guy behind you in the traffic jam who's constantly honking...pissed when someone is overtly obstinate

Scared to death when your dad catches you doing something you shouldn't be doing

Proud when you see your work being appreciated

Disgusted when someone spits on the road

Curious when you know a friend has some juicy gossip for you

Excited when you are taking your first trip with friends

Lonesome when you are missing someone badly

Compassionate when you see someone dealing with the hardships of life bravely

Thankful when you realise that you are lucky to have the life that you do

Jealous when someone beats you at what you thought you were the best

Nervous before giving your first interview

Relaxed after it goes surprisinglt well

Embarrassed after you have just managed to drop a mannequin in a huge departmental store

Ashamed when you realise you have hurt someone

Regret when you realise what you did was not only stupid but wrong

Tired with dealing with life and its unending problems

Amazed at how a two year old can be addicted to smoking

Surprised on how much you can write on a nonsense topic :D :D

20 comments

DUSK

Author: bondgal_rulz / Labels: , , , ,

Dusk - that time of the day when light surrenders to the darkness around. When it's neither day nor night, quite like the much-talked about "grey".


The time when a husband, after a day's hard work, drives back home with the hopes of seeing his wife soon and enveloping her in his embrace.


The time when a wife frees herself from the household chores to get ready for her husband and lays out the dinner for him in anticipation of a great evening.


This is the time when I travel in my cab, (on some few lucky days) reminiscing about the day's events. Some bitter moments, some sweet, and some insanely irritating.


This is the time when random songs playing on the stereo make you go through a gamut of emotions.


Some make you smile despite yourself...and the cab driver looks up i the rear-view mirror wondering what's wrong with you.


Some make you lean your head against the car window and stare outside at the thousands of twinkling headlights. You see the traffic around you, but what you are looking at are random scenes from your life playing in front of your eyes.

And those of us who are lucky enough to have found their someone special inadvertently imagine their rosy future with them.


This is the time when you observe people around you - a group of young girls in an auto, all dressed up for a party; office people stuffed in a cab, glad to be on their way back home; the guy in the swanky car at the red light eyeing the light-eyed beauty in the bus and what not.


This is the time when I sit in my cab and switch off my cell to write this inane post.

44 comments

A Reminder of Innocent Times

Author: bondgal_rulz / Labels: , , , ,

Kshitij was confused. He normally liked to watch the sunset, he liked the pastels it generated because he knew that he would be around for the crisp new day which it would give birth to. Every sunset marked the culmination of another day in Kshitij's life but today he was looking elsewhere. He was confused because he had just finished having a conversation with his nine year old son Anmol. He had asked Anmol, quite playfully, what his ambition in life was. As a nine year old, Kshitij had expected him to come up with answers like a soldier or a pilot or any other heroic pursuit seeking to find expression within a child's mind. Kshitij remembered fondly that when he had been asked the same question , he had shouted out "Superman!" with a proud grin on his face. But Anmol's answer was different, "Investment Banker" Kshitij was surprised more than anything else. He stared at the setting sun and thought about his days as a nine year old, when dreams were utopian yet simple.

He smiled as he thought of how his late Uncle Kapoor would have been extremely surprised and maybe even a little aggrieved at Anmol's reply. Uncle Kapoor had once said "When you are five you want to be like your father, when you are ten you want to be a superhero, when you are fifteen you want to be a soldier, doctor, scientist et al. By the time you are twenty, you do not know what to do with your life and when you are forty you want to be five year old again." Uncle Kapoor was not around but his words still brought a smile on Kshitij's face.

He sighed and switched on the television. Even here his confusions were multiplied. A grim faced news-reader informed him that a certain section of the crowd had jeered at Sachin Tendulkar as he was walking back to the pavilion. He was utterly perplexed. Wasn't Tendulkar supposed to be the messiah of Indian cricket? Wasn't he supposed to be the flaming symbol of exuberant greatness? He remembered a time when he had a fist fight with one of his classmates just because the latter had said that Gavaskar was not good on the on-side. He wondered about the fickle mindedness of the people around him. Uncle Kapoor had once said, "Legends never fade away. They just reinvent themselves from time to time. You just have to wait." Yes, Uncle Kapoor still made sense.

He switched the television off and decided to check his mails. Here again his brows furrowed. He read about his cousin Ashwin who was a fourth year mechanical engineering student in 'one of those obscure colleges in Bangalore'. Ashwin had been offered a job by one of the software companies which he had readily accepted. Kshitij was surprised. What did mechanical engineering students have to do with software consultancy? How can a student who has toiled hard for four years, studying subjects like fluid mechanics, work in a software firm doing the 'donkey work' for MNCs? Uncle Kapoor had once said, "Engineers are the creators of the nation." Kshitij was not sure about the prospects of creation of a nation in Ashwin's career.

Kshitij felt thirsty. He walked to the kitchen to fetch himself a glass of water. There he found his nine year old talking to his mother animatedly about 'Rang De Basanti'. Anmol was telling his mother how nice he had felt when he heard Aamir Khan narrating 'sarfaroshi ki tamanna...' "Did Aamir Khan write those lines himself? Aamir Khan is a true national hero. First he defeats the haughty British in Lagaan, then he shoots corrupt politicians and now he comes back to show how the educational system needs to be revamped. He should be given the Bharat Ratna. What does sarfaroshi mean Mom?" asked Anmol excitedly. Kshitij just smiled and nodded his head. He remembered that as a child he had a photograph of Subash Chandra Bose on his desk. He used to have long discussions with his father about the repercussions if India had gained independence the Bose way. Back then celebrating heroics was more cerebral than today where icons are selected out of the reel life. "True heroes are those who appeal to your sense and question your sensibilities," Uncle Kapoor used to say. Kshitij sighed and thought about today's times when excuses like 15th August, 26th January or an occasional movie like "Rang De Basanti" are needed to feel patriotic.

Kshitij looked at the watch and realized that it was time to take his son for his cricket coaching at the academy. His mind instantly jogged back to his childhood cricketing days. They called themselves the "Cheerful Chums". Some of them could play and some could not; but they still had a lot of fun. They played with whichever ball they could lay their hands on. They played anywhere and over any distance. And they got together to read a book about Gary Sobers whom Uncle Kapoor called the 'greatest cricketer in the world.' ever since he had read it, Kshitij had wished that he were left handed. Now his son talks to him about his thigh pad before putting ball to bat, he puts all his gear on and does a shadow practice in front of the mirror. "Why do you need all those gloves and and pads before you learn to bat?" Uncle Kapoor would have asked. But the boy went to an academy and the coach had insisted that he buy these. He had almost been talked into buying an expensive helmet.

He returned to the sunset. At least the sun does not assume the garb of modernity. He thought about his times, the innocent times when emotions, ambitions and aspirations were real and devoid of all the mundane attributes of materialism. He thought about the times when a man could choose his dreams rather than buying them.

Kshitij switched off his sunset, called out to his son and talked to him about peaked caps, sandwiches in the canteen, shirts that puff up in the evening breeze, colours during Holi, animated conversations on the way back from school, stylized radio commentary and a lot of fun. His son asked him about television rights, cartoon network, Mc Donald's, ambush marketing, sting operations, branded shoes.....and he smiled. He looked up at the photograph of Uncle Kapoor. He too, was smiling.

59 comments

Cliches

Author: bondgal_rulz / Labels: , , ,

"The past three years have been a blur. For all I know the time spent at college was but a rapturous moment filled with euphoria that was too good to last..." With these closing words of the farewell speech by a final year student, the hall exploded into applause. There were smiles and there were tears, of joy I hope!

For I would definitely have shed tears at these oft-repeated words by every outgoing batch. Forget the emotional moment and you can actually laugh out loud at these cliches that have percolated through years of public disapproval of the moment of separation from the college.


Consider this: "Words cannot express the hollow feeling that is plaguing my heart right now." Can't they? Then how do you intend to deliver the rest of your speech? Through a mime, maybe!


"It seems that it was only yesterday that I was seated amongst the audience, listening to the inspiring Orientation Speech by the Director."


There! The genius has just demonstrated the hitherto unproved theories of Time-Contraction and Time-wrapping. Take that Einstein!


"Thank you, dear teachers, for having guided us throughout the our management education. It was under your able guidance that we hatchlings developed our wings and are now ready to take flight into a world of endless possibilities." Bravo! Nothing wrong with that except for the fact that you can actually notice the unbelieving smirk on the speaker's face for having pulled off saying something that incredulous.


Imagine a flock of chirping birds escaping from a cage, year after year, celebrating freedom after two years. Add to that the immense possibility of their spraying droppings on those left behind. The above platitudes don't seem quite so believable, do they?


Come to think of it, it is not only at farewell speeches that we come across such repetitions. Placement interviews, for one, are another cliche heaven.


Preparation for interviews heavily involves mugging up smart and impressive (and now decaying!) answers that have been doled out innumerable job - seekers for years. Needless to say, these answers have become the contents of a placement formula. Notice the subtle humour attached with renditions of these cliches in the interview room-

Question: So, tell me something about yourself.
Smart Answer: (after a formal introduction stating name and place of living) I am an ambitious, hard-working person. Quick grasping power accentuates my cognitive skills. I am a good team worker and believe in developing innovative solutions. Besides, I can assimilate myself comfortably into any work environment and can work amicably with fellow workers.


Spare a thought for the poor interviewer who has now interviewed the thousandth person exhibiting the same set of 'cognitive skills', 'team spirit' and 'hard-working' capabilities. This truly is an "Attack of the Clones".



Question: Why do want to join this particular company?
The same stinking answer (The plastic smile still intact): The company has an unparalleled market reputation. It provides ample growth opportunities to individuals. I, as a persevering professional, found the work ethics of the company quite alluring.
Money, to me, is but a reward for doing good work and nothing more. A decent salary obviously gives you a high.

Washing your hands off the "filthy lucre", eh? Wait till you see this intellectually motivated professional brag about the anticipated fat pay-packet in front of his drunken cronies. Well, at least he was honest about money giving you a 'high'!


Question: Who is your idol in life?
The answer to this much anticipated question: My mother/father.

Aha! Now the candidate can almost clearly hear his management coaching teacher hollering away, "Choose your father or mother. They can't screw you dimwits with questions pertaining to those two people at least!"

But can you blame these individuals for resorting to such a blatant show of this lack of creativity? Hell! Our day to day life involves cliches of the worst degree.

How many times have we heard friends sympathising with you, "Chuck it man! No point crying over spilt milk."

For God's sake, leave the poor milk alone. Wonder who that jobless man was who dedicated all his cunning to create this proverb about this mundane event of spilling milk!

Ever reached the class late? Panting and puffing (literally) when you reach the class at last, you are sure to be greeted with these famous words, "You are too early for the next class!" Apart from the murderous feeling that arises in your heart at that instant, you rue this lame attempt by the teacher to show off his smartness (at something at least!) If the gurus themselves cannot come up with a new catch line for something as simple as throwing an unpunctual brat out of the class, how can the students be expected to break with such cliched conversational routines?

All said and done, we can finally conclude that cliches are an inseparable but indistinguishable part of our lives. They claim their position in any dialogue with panache. To say that we need a language revolution would be too far-fetched an idea. But guys, is using a little bit of creativity that difficult?

44 comments

RIGHT THINGS AT THE WRONG TIMES

Author: bondgal_rulz / Labels:

It was just one of those numerous internal exams in college for me. I sat pondering over the solution to a question that had me baffled for the past half an hour.I finally decided to give up, when it suddenly struck me ! No, not the answer to the question, but the weird way in which you get the brightest ideas when you least expect it, and worse, whenever you need ideas the most(like in an examination), you are blank !
Yes, I'm referring to all those strokes of genius that occur when you're in the middle of a shower, or in the loo. I mean, isn't it really funny that the greatest ideas occur in seemingly whacko situations, and not during brain racking sessions ?
I guess it all started with Archemedes. Yeah he was the guy who got his stroke of genius in the bathtub.Okay, so some of the water in the tub became the water on the floor,when he stepped into the tub.Now, under those circumstances i would have happily gone on to enjoy my bath. Cleanliness is next to Godliness, they say.But Archemedes who, it seems, was not a person overly concerned about personal hygiene, wondered about the phenomenon and went on to state the principles of buoyancy(No, it's still not a good enough reason to go around running stark naked on the streets)
Not to be outdone, Isaac Newton discovered gravity under equally odd circumstances. A mundane thing like an apple falling on his head got him started. The normal thing to do when such a thing happens is to curse the tree and maybe kick it to add injury to insult and go try catch up on your nap under some other tree(preferably not a coconut tree !) But no, the little apple that landed itself on Newton's head led to the formulation of the laws of gravity.
Okay, now my brother who has been looking over my shoulder for the past twenty minutes, while I was typing this out, wants to come under the lime-light too, and goes on to explain how he got this amazing idea about black holes transforming into quasars under the influence of another black hole.(Nope, I have no idea what he's talking about either!), on the potty. Yeah, that about explains the seemingly interminable wait I have to endure each morning for the use of the toilet. He has a million other examples to give on the issue, but I'm not going to delve into them so as to protect the sanity of the readers(I'm assuming that Stephen Hawking will never read this !!)
Coming back to the examination,the solution to the question occurred to me while I was playing a game on the computer later that day(You saw that coming, didn't you now !) Reflecting on all this I can only draw one conclusion. Contrary to popular belief, we all get our best ideas when we're chilling out. So the sensible thing to do during exams would be to play tic-tac-toe with the person sitting next to you in the hall. But no, they'd never let us do that, since it would make the whole process of answering examinations a piece of cake. So I guess we're going to be stuck with getting ideas at all the wrong times for a long time to come.(Needless to say, I did not write this entry in the shower !)

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