Goodbye 2012, Hola 2013

This new year's eve, a friend had this thought of how big 2012 was for him. While it wasn't a question I had to answer, it surely brought up a few thoughts in my mind.

When it came it surely was big for me, for it was taking 2011 away from me. It brought with it, things I hadn't imagined would come along. For instance I would always remember 2012, for the first professional abroad assignment in my career. Got to visit Philippines for a short duration of 7 days and London for a comparatively longer duration of 45 days. Work provided me a lot of professional challenges, learnings and some rewards with it. 

Above all 2012 gave me time, patience and perspective. Time, which i was critically wishing would come by and heal my wounds, patience that told me things will get better with time and in the midst of all this, a perspective of life in general. And having one with a positive outlook in life is something that definitely comes with time and a lot of patience. Guess I can say so, as a lot of time is elapsing and patience luckily isn't running out, helps when it is not an option though.

2012 was memorable for many of my friends, many of them bit the bullet and got hitched. Many others are still on the bullet :) On that rather silly note here's wishing you all a beautiful 2013.

Cheers
~Sanju

London dairies-3: Pre Christmas Days

My Penultimate week in London and it couldn't have been any more untimely. There is an air of festivity permeating everywhere. Beautifully lit up trees, artificially setup but naturally looking ice rinks, winter fairs with screaming children,giant wheels, merry-go-rounds, little stalls selling wines, waffles and wax candles. 

At the Oxford Circus

At HARRODS, the UB city of London so to say.

At Hays Galleria near More London Place.

The Shard, in the background. Some sights are just to behold with the naked eye. Amazing hues  !!!

Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a Happy new year. I know its a tad too early, but then it's my last day here today. Thanks for the all the memories London. It was good to meet you.

~Cheerio

London dairies - 2: Skyfall the IMAX experience

Have always been a movie buff and when I realized skyfall was releasing in the first week of my stay at London, was secretly thrilled. Not so much because of the movie, but because of where I would be viewing it: IMAX

Not that India doesn't have one, but it feels so amazing when an opportunity presents itself and you are there to take it up. Things fell into place like it always does when you least plan for them.

With a show starting at 12am in the morning, it was a few firsts for me alright. First time at IMAX, first time a movie started with an announcer making an announcement before beginning of the screening, first time a movie this hour of the day and first bond movie in a movie hall. Yea! Really.

And the rest of it was pretty much speechless, partly due to the wow experience of viewing it in an ambience there was at the BFI London IMAX and partly due to the time of the day where my sleeping sense started to kick in ever so potently. Movie was okay... No great expectations, hence no disappointment.

London dairies - 1

A few images clicked during first 3 days of my stint at London. More to follow!!!

Early Morning View of the London Eye

EY Office at 1 More London Place overlooking the London Bridge

Night view of the London Bridge

View of the house of parliament

Night view of the London Eye

In your eyes

It's all in your eyes !

A year rolled on the calendar, a silent prayer on the lips, a not so evident tear in the eye.

The eyes that once looked through your eyes, now looks at the world like never before,as if they only realized their existence now.

And the other set of eyes with all the promise in them, have now started dreaming afresh.

Yet when my eyes look into yours, all that's left behind is a bit of sinking earth beneath.

It's all in your eyes! It's all in your eyes!

Artwork by Shilpa Srivatsan

What-what-has-to-happenO-happenE-HappenU

5.30AM: Woke up from some side of the bed ;) not that i have two sides, just that I decide to put my head in different directions.

5.45AM: Ghaaannnnnn... Ghaaannnnnn... Ghaaannnnnn... Ghaaannnnnn... That's how my alarm sounds! And its titled 'swimming time'.

7.30AM: It's time for my glassful of Boost after the tiring swimming class.

8.45AM: After flipping through 'The Hindu' I am all ready and geared up for the important day ahead.

9AM: I'm on my Royal Enfield all ready, and thumping to go. (You see with a Royal Enfield, its never raring to go, it's always thumping to go)

9.45AM: 9 kms hence, almost close to Silk board, and snap goes the accelerator wire of my Enfield. And when it did, i suddenly ceased to move, and a fellow biker, couldn't be patient enough or be empathetic and thought he could chug along not withstanding my little finger on the leg. After successfully showing my middle finger on the hand to him, i started retracing back towards the interior areas around silk board. The quest was for a mechanic who could replace the accelerator cable. The push must've helped me loose some 500 calories easily before i could find a garage and he asked me to fetch a new cable. I parked my bike and started my quest, walking for around 40 mins up and down to the garage losing 200 more calories, thanks to the laptop bag I'm equipped with.

11AM: The bike roars yet again, thanks to the sweat and blood of the mechanic, no really. Poor guy peeled of his hands while tightening the screws or doing something similar.

11.15AM: Finally reached the client location, all geared up for the much important meeting scheduled later in the day.

11.30AM: While the wait was on for the client to escort me in, it was now time for something more to go wrong. This time it were the stitches on the pant, and it was a No-Go situation. Gearing up all the situation readiness skills, bought some time from the client escort, went back on my way and landed up in Big Bazaar express.

12 PM: Who'd have thought of landing up in Big bazaar at this time of the day, unless it was one of those 'sabse-sasta-din' or whatever names they call it with, quickly picked up an other pant, wore it, paid for it and back i was at the client place again.

Rest of the day, well after so much that didn't go per plan, it wouldn't have been much of a surprise if the rest of the day didn't go well too, but then it did.

All through the day I displayed an unknown sense of patience and calm and realized, sometimes its best to leave things to unfold for you, because What-what-has-to-happenO-happenE-Happenu.

Father's day and a eulogy that can't be written

It's not really easy to cope up with a sudden event that abruptly forces you to stop using a particular word from your vocabulary. ''Dad, appa, and pa'' words which used to come out with every breath, now feels new and I rarely use it while I converse. A year it will be very soon and it has passed by, as if those few days were just an aberration in our lives. We've been living as if the particular segment of our memory has just been wiped out just like in Men-In-Black. But then, they probably haven't made them of the kind which can erase memories from the heart. Father's day never felt so hapless.

During my growing years whenever I witnessed days with some tension, like an agitation, bandh or something that would have some violence, I used to dream that dad wouldn't come back home get nightmares that dad wouldn't come back home. Thick skinned that i was, always used to wake out of it, slap myself and go back to sleep thinking the slap would take care of it. I have been trying to slap the daylights out of me and make myself believe that what has happened, hasn't really happened. It's a different thing altogether that neither have i been able to slap myself nor make myself believe of anything. Somebody please shake me out of this nightmare of a slumber that won't let me sleep. This has gone on for way too long.

An year normally enough to change the course in a person's life, has done so to mine in just a fortnight. When i was wading through all of this, i did think that spending some time away from writing might help me gather my mental space and one day i'll write my dad's eulogy.

That now, I know will not happen, not after a part of  me has also vanished with him. While I hope, I still will some day in my life pen a proper prose, all i can only think of right now is ''Pa, wherever you maybe, please guide me and I'll take care of everything here like you would. Or I'll at least try!" 

Credits of the video and the sketch go to my sister.

Of moving on and Resignations

There are a lot of changes around me these days. This is one mail I wrote once upon a time, when change meant a hell of a lot to me.

Resignation

This post is dedicated to everyone who is smitten by change and is embracing it on the way.
Happy exploring!!!

Cricketalicious Shivraatris

Good Night Ladies and gentlemen. 

Well... wait... this isn't how it sounds. Even though in normal parlance it would seem so, there are times when what time of the day it is hardly matters. Giving job interviews during the placement season, attending a business fest, getting the stage ready on the previous day of a major event, getting things ready during your sibling's wedding, and many more such occasions are good examples of it.

While the above are memories each and everyone of us had nights to remember, this night long ago used to be a night full of passion, intensity and vigor. Night to remember, full of passion, where am i headed, eh? If its not about sex, then in India it has to be about cricket.

I am talking about how spirited the nights of Maha Shivaratri used to be, just some 8-10 years ago. The locality where i stayed, then used to be a hotbed of gully cricket. A compound hexagonal in shape yet looking like a huge square, it had coconut trees on the left within two arm distance(my size :P) of one another, an open well on the extreme right corner and a depression of 4 feet just after the playing square. Yes we had a proper bowling square of 22 yards, that's where I learnt my trade of fast bowling running in from the toilet end. The boundaries in operation were 2d and as many as you ran. So the deal was that if you happened to pierce the field and ensure the ball got out of the compound after pitching within, you were assured of 2 runs declared. If you happened to hit it out of the compound you were given OUT. 

If you are wondering what's all the fuss about, you only have your lame, boring childhood to blame. Ask any kid what his passion was while growing up in Bangalore or for that matter anywhere in India and getting anything other than cricket for an answer, would be like finding a dead black ant in a bowlful of sesame seeds. 

With such already existing craze for the game, the pinnacle for us used to be the Shivratri night out or 'Jaagarane' as its called in Kannada. It was not joke after-all, we played for the Maha Shivratri cup. Cricket here was so popular that it brought a lot of people to our road striven locality. On this day especially, there used to be so many players in the field that you even had teams with substitutes after the 11 members and the number of teams ran up to as many as 4-5 in the best Shivratri nights. And then there was my best buddy lakki's house, from where there was a constant supply of water and other refreshments not just on the festival, but every single day we set out to play. I have this Those-were-the-best-days-of-my-life feeling right now.

We shreevaishnavites don't celebrate much of Shivratri due to statutory purposes at home, but i have never again felt the joy of tying shoe laces by 9.50 PM in anticipation of 10PM. While the larger purpose of the night out on a shivratri was to pray the lord and seek his blessings, we only prayed the lord to help us win his cup. Passion, Intensity, Vigor, Aggression. 

And there is now, 21st February 2012. Its so easy to stay awake all night, I don't even have to try. Isn't this post an example ? Har har Mahadev. 

Good Morning!!!