Seven months is a long time. A lot can happen in seven months. A lot did happen in the last seven months.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Chatni
Two things happened in November - I joined a new software company (lets call it Chatni Computer Systems Ltd.) and the first part of the last part of the Harry Potter movies was released.
I have always been a huge fan of Harry Potter movies. It's not because of the excellent production values, or the scintillating special effects or the fact that it is the biggest movie franchise ever. I realized the reason after reading the books. It's the story. You get transported to a not-so-completely different world. A world where anything is possible with only one explanation (if you demand one, although you never seek any in Karan Johar movies) - magic. As kids we were always fascinated with magic, but the journey through adulthood taught us that unless your name happens to be Rajnikant (Voldemort never calls Rajnikant by his name), there is very little chance of performing it. This movie was no exception - it was brilliant. Infact, I'll go a little further and call it the best among the seven. The reason being that since it is split into two parts, it follows minimum deviation from the book. After watching this movie, one can feel the agony of waiting for the second part.
On the other hand, if you are a jobless software engineer working part time cleaning toilets in a hospital full of diarrhea patients, and Chatni is the only software company in the world, and is offering you a job, go back to cleaning toilets. When meeting hours are more than working hours, when words are more important than work and when there is more paperwork in procuring a pen and pad than the whole lot of Abdulkarim Telgi's fake stamp papers put together and multiplied by a decazillion times, you start wondering if you are working in an effing government office. Don't blame me for being extremely Gollumsque, quite a few people have left this company in utter frustration. One of them started a new software company of his own and is now quite a bit successful - ever heard of a certain Narayanmurthy and Infosys?
Tooti Haddi
Come December, I was very happy about completing a highly successful month (I became the best table tennis player of all people who joined Chatni on or after eighth November) in my new company. Then I took my first leave of absence from office, because of a wet road. My bike slipped, don't know if it was water or oil on that road (felt like water, tasted like oil), and I broke my arm. Although "broke" seems a tad too much since it was just a hairline fracture, but it surely feels a lot macho. But since there was a cast, "broke" seemed justifiable. Calls were made to the office and home, lectures were given about "Why a bike?..And not a car?" and I began wondering how to do "everything" with my left hand. Three weeks it took to take the cast off, plus one more week to completely straighten my arm, and in one more week I was again the best table tennis player of all people who joined Chatni on or after eighth November.
Chakrata and Chakrata (Beta Version)
On our anniversary, my wife told me that we'll go out somewhere. I agreed. Just go out, have dinner. It was cheap. I was happy. Then she explained. We'll go out means we'll go out of town. I still feel those two seconds were the happiest moment of my life. So, with a lot of deliberation and no planning, we decided to go to this obscure little town in Uttarakhand called Chakrata. It was listed in "52 Weekend Getaways from Delhi" and had a picture of snow capped mountains in a distance - that means a snow view if not snow itself - which persuaded me to go there instead of a sand bowl in Rajasthan. My wife would have enjoyed the drive if somebody else would have been driving. But since it was me, and there was almost forty kilometers of mountainous roads, she was, to some extent, oblivious of the unbelievably beautiful scenery that sped past us. The reason why Chakrata is so beautiful is because it is unfucked by man. It's a cantonment area so civilian construction is prohibited, hence few hotels. There is a small market where you can spot a rare tourist. A must-do is to try momos in Chandna's. Unbelievable chutney. There is a place called Deoban some twenty kilometers away and some thousand meters above. We were not ready for it. It was snowing when we reached there, saw a frozen pond, got caught in a snowstorm and got out of there just in time. Freezing. There are miles and miles of forests and lots of walks and treks. The hotel was a British era bungalow renovated to some extent, but still beautiful. And with an excellent view of the valley and an absolutely wonderful sunrise. I told the hotel manager - I'll be back.
My office mates are lazier than a dead cow. So it took a whole month to persuade them for a trip. Destination Chakrata, quietly and discreetly suggested by yours truly. It was different now, we were the ones whining about the driving. Words like bewakoof and sala which I used while driving with wifey became Bose DK and bhen***d, respectively. A simple romantic fire became a roaring bonfire with twelve talli software engineers shouting, singing, dancing, drinking, ROFL-LMAO-LOL-ing. This time we went to a waterfall called Tiger falls which was reached by a six kilometer trek. Five years of absolutely no physical exercise and a hundred kilos of my body mass made this trek brutal. But the moment you step into the waterfall pond, you forget all the fatigue. The romance of the first and the freedom and laundai of the second one made both the trips memorable.
28 years
On second thoughts, seven months do not seem a long time when you compare it with twenty eight years. If you ask me if I have any memories of twenty eight years ago, my answer would be - only one. I remember someone shouting and running around our house (may be my dad or my uncle) shouting, "Richards Out !!!...Richards Out !!!". As I have already mentioned, it was one of my favorite moments of Indian cricket history. Hell, I don't even remember 1987. After that, thanks to Sachin Tendulkar, I started following the game. Every world cup I prayed to God to make India lift the cup. But sometimes it was a cracked pitch at Eden Gardens, or hard pitches or chilly weather of England, or humiliation by Australia, or humiliation by Bangladesh. This time, the stage was set. God's last world cup, in India, and the final in Mumbai. Sometimes its a cliche, they've got to win...and how.
Its actually eight months now. But hey, masterpieces don't depend on deadlines.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Chatni
Two things happened in November - I joined a new software company (lets call it Chatni Computer Systems Ltd.) and the first part of the last part of the Harry Potter movies was released.
I have always been a huge fan of Harry Potter movies. It's not because of the excellent production values, or the scintillating special effects or the fact that it is the biggest movie franchise ever. I realized the reason after reading the books. It's the story. You get transported to a not-so-completely different world. A world where anything is possible with only one explanation (if you demand one, although you never seek any in Karan Johar movies) - magic. As kids we were always fascinated with magic, but the journey through adulthood taught us that unless your name happens to be Rajnikant (Voldemort never calls Rajnikant by his name), there is very little chance of performing it. This movie was no exception - it was brilliant. Infact, I'll go a little further and call it the best among the seven. The reason being that since it is split into two parts, it follows minimum deviation from the book. After watching this movie, one can feel the agony of waiting for the second part.
On the other hand, if you are a jobless software engineer working part time cleaning toilets in a hospital full of diarrhea patients, and Chatni is the only software company in the world, and is offering you a job, go back to cleaning toilets. When meeting hours are more than working hours, when words are more important than work and when there is more paperwork in procuring a pen and pad than the whole lot of Abdulkarim Telgi's fake stamp papers put together and multiplied by a decazillion times, you start wondering if you are working in an effing government office. Don't blame me for being extremely Gollumsque, quite a few people have left this company in utter frustration. One of them started a new software company of his own and is now quite a bit successful - ever heard of a certain Narayanmurthy and Infosys?
Tooti Haddi
Come December, I was very happy about completing a highly successful month (I became the best table tennis player of all people who joined Chatni on or after eighth November) in my new company. Then I took my first leave of absence from office, because of a wet road. My bike slipped, don't know if it was water or oil on that road (felt like water, tasted like oil), and I broke my arm. Although "broke" seems a tad too much since it was just a hairline fracture, but it surely feels a lot macho. But since there was a cast, "broke" seemed justifiable. Calls were made to the office and home, lectures were given about "Why a bike?..And not a car?" and I began wondering how to do "everything" with my left hand. Three weeks it took to take the cast off, plus one more week to completely straighten my arm, and in one more week I was again the best table tennis player of all people who joined Chatni on or after eighth November.
Chakrata and Chakrata (Beta Version)
On our anniversary, my wife told me that we'll go out somewhere. I agreed. Just go out, have dinner. It was cheap. I was happy. Then she explained. We'll go out means we'll go out of town. I still feel those two seconds were the happiest moment of my life. So, with a lot of deliberation and no planning, we decided to go to this obscure little town in Uttarakhand called Chakrata. It was listed in "52 Weekend Getaways from Delhi" and had a picture of snow capped mountains in a distance - that means a snow view if not snow itself - which persuaded me to go there instead of a sand bowl in Rajasthan. My wife would have enjoyed the drive if somebody else would have been driving. But since it was me, and there was almost forty kilometers of mountainous roads, she was, to some extent, oblivious of the unbelievably beautiful scenery that sped past us. The reason why Chakrata is so beautiful is because it is unfucked by man. It's a cantonment area so civilian construction is prohibited, hence few hotels. There is a small market where you can spot a rare tourist. A must-do is to try momos in Chandna's. Unbelievable chutney. There is a place called Deoban some twenty kilometers away and some thousand meters above. We were not ready for it. It was snowing when we reached there, saw a frozen pond, got caught in a snowstorm and got out of there just in time. Freezing. There are miles and miles of forests and lots of walks and treks. The hotel was a British era bungalow renovated to some extent, but still beautiful. And with an excellent view of the valley and an absolutely wonderful sunrise. I told the hotel manager - I'll be back.
My office mates are lazier than a dead cow. So it took a whole month to persuade them for a trip. Destination Chakrata, quietly and discreetly suggested by yours truly. It was different now, we were the ones whining about the driving. Words like bewakoof and sala which I used while driving with wifey became Bose DK and bhen***d, respectively. A simple romantic fire became a roaring bonfire with twelve talli software engineers shouting, singing, dancing, drinking, ROFL-LMAO-LOL-ing. This time we went to a waterfall called Tiger falls which was reached by a six kilometer trek. Five years of absolutely no physical exercise and a hundred kilos of my body mass made this trek brutal. But the moment you step into the waterfall pond, you forget all the fatigue. The romance of the first and the freedom and laundai of the second one made both the trips memorable.
28 years
On second thoughts, seven months do not seem a long time when you compare it with twenty eight years. If you ask me if I have any memories of twenty eight years ago, my answer would be - only one. I remember someone shouting and running around our house (may be my dad or my uncle) shouting, "Richards Out !!!...Richards Out !!!". As I have already mentioned, it was one of my favorite moments of Indian cricket history. Hell, I don't even remember 1987. After that, thanks to Sachin Tendulkar, I started following the game. Every world cup I prayed to God to make India lift the cup. But sometimes it was a cracked pitch at Eden Gardens, or hard pitches or chilly weather of England, or humiliation by Australia, or humiliation by Bangladesh. This time, the stage was set. God's last world cup, in India, and the final in Mumbai. Sometimes its a cliche, they've got to win...and how.
Its actually eight months now. But hey, masterpieces don't depend on deadlines.
