Goodbye 2010

Last Day of the Year MMX A.D. At the end of 2009, I had made a few promises to myself. Its time to take stock of what happened to them.

• Watch an IPL match (Done. Watched the finals & 3rd place match in the DY Patil Stadium)
• Try the random bus travel on a 20 rupees ticket (The ticket price has gone up to Rs 25, but did not do it)
• Travel in a train (Done. Only Local Train)
• Visit a new place (Done. Lonavla, Hyderabad. And on official trips visited offshore also)
• Read More (Difficult to quantify, but have done this, 1984, Thousand Splendid Suns, Catcher in the Rye, Immortals of Meluha, Love Story, Animal Farm and some  more)

So 4 out of 5 cleared. In addition blogged a lot more. In fact started a fully dedicated cricket blog. Tried a bit of photography also. Had my first ever chopper ride and then a few more. After almost 5 years since I started working I got my first increment (change of company, doing an MBA, global recession had prevented this earlier).

Lost a loved one. The same story of more people going out of life than coming in continues. However the social networking circle keeps on increasing (can relate it to the light & shadow effect of umbra & penumbra).
2010 ends with the first major change in the past two and a half years. Change of apartment.
Goodbye to another lousy year. Sometimes I do wonder why did I ever grow up?

So here are the wishes for 2011. Continue the Pursuit of Happyness. Find the 3 things to be happy (Something to do, someone to love & something to hope for).

Wishing a Happy 2011 to all readers.

Bidding Adieu...

Last Day of the Year. Arrive in office and see the following mail from a colleague who sits in an adjacent cubicle.

Sub: Bidding Adieu...

Dear All

I had been with you all for almost an year and its been the best time of my life

Though it is hard to say, this is the truth...

I know that you people

would not have expected this so soon from me....

I had been thinking of leaving for a long time…. Now that I have finalized I m telling you guys.

I'm leaving by the end of this month.

I will let you know to where I go within a few days.

Thank You for all the support and love you have given me. It was nice working with you all.

It was difficult for me to come up with such a decision but change is inevitable.

Hope u enjoyed my company .... Bcoz I very well enjoyed a lot with you guys....

Hope u will always remember me... Plz keep in touch...

All the best to you all for your future endeavors.!!!

Now this was a shocker to say the least until I scrolled down and found the following text.

With Love & Regards

Yours Only

Year 2010

Have to say this was one perfect practical joke.

10 From 2010: Songs

Time for another Ten from Twenty Ten. For this list I turned my attention towards the year's music. And frankly speaking finding 10 songs for the year was some task. This is alist of songs which caught my ear this year (nothing else). So here goes.

10. Zor Ka Jhatka - Action Replayy

Sung by Daler Mehndi, Richa Sharma. The song sounded different. And MTV/Channel V played it repeatedly as promos every morning for more than a month.

9. Udi - Guzaarish

Sung by Sunidhi Chauhan. Nice lyrics with flamenco beats.

8. Tujhe Bhula Diya - Anjaana Anjaani

Sung by Mohit Chauhan. Almost slipped unnoticed till I saw a post on facebook about this song.

7. Bin Tere - I Hate Luv Storys

Sung by Shafqat Amanat Ali, Sunidhi Chauhan. Saw the film during a flight. And this was a song played on repeat by my flatmate for a month or so.

6. Sheela Ki Jawaani - Tees Maar Khan

Sung by Sunidhi Chauhan, Vishal Dadlani. The current national obsession. Katrina Kaif was the main reason for the popularity of this song. Although women named Sheela and their relatives would certainly not like (sorry HATE)  this one.

5. Munni Badnaam Huyi - Dabangg

Sung by Mamta Sharma, Aishwarya Nigam. 2 new voices, a remixed song, with Malaika Arora gyrating to it in a Salman Khan film. The song had to be a hit. Amongst others it also increased Zandu Balm sales.

4. Waka Waka - Shakira

Shakira's song for the football world cup. From May to July this was the song everywhere. A Columbian singer singing an African song in English for a football tournament played in South Africa becoming a superhit in India. Just one word, Globalization

3. Wavin Flag - Knaan

Became popular as part of the Football World Cup. The original lyrics really convey the pain felt for his homeland Somalia.

2. Dil to bachcha hai ji - Ishqiya

Sung by Raahat Fateh Ali Khan. At present the best singer in the business. Should have been the best song in most lists.

1. Azaadiyan - Udaan

Sung by Amit Trivedi, Neuman Pinto, Amitabh Bhattacharya. A true coming of the age song. Talks about a new beginning, new thinking. And the movie is set in Jamshedpur.

Have to say this, it is a pretty bad list, summing up the state of indian music right now. Most of the songs appearing are the ones being seen on TV first. Making this list wasn't an easy task given the pretty low recall value of songs.

Hoping for a musically better 2011.

10 From 2010: Arbit

Twenty Ten is passing by and it is time for some annual list making exercise. Following is a list of 10 arbit and unrelated things which happened in the year 2010. A random compilation of memories would be the most apt description of this. Here goes in random order, 10 from 2010.

1. Legend of the Year - Rajnikant

The number of SMSs, mails, blogs which have been inspired would itself have created a record. Chuck Norris, Jack Bauer have been totally overpowered. A classic line - Chuck Norris once met Rajnikant. He was reduced to being a joke on the internet.

2. Musical Instrument of the Year - Vuvuzela

Popularised in the football world cup, it drowned the commentary, made watching footbaal a pain in the ears. No one liked it, no one stopped it. It was just there.

3. Place Name of the Year - Eyjafjallajokull

The Icelandic volcano which disrupted almost the entire European air traffic. Disasters dont have a more exotic name.

4. Management Jargon of the Year - Sweat Equity

The IPL-Kochi franchisee mess did give a new management jargon. Sweat equity. Pretty powerful term. Afterall it led to the resignation of a Union minister.

5. Brand Endorsement of the Year - Zandu Balm

Munni badnaam huyi aur phir zandu balm ho gayi for her darling. Result - Quarterly Sales of Zandu balm increased by 35% post the release of song.

6. Loser of the Year - Prashant
Someone's blind faith in a mental conversation with Lord Ganesha led to picking two wrong choices for the 5 crore jackpot question. And he ended up getting 3.2 lakhs after having won a crore in KBC.

7. Promise of the Year - Larissa Riquleme
In the space of a few days, Larissa became the most famous Riquelme on this planet (beating the Argentine footballer Juan Ramon). Her promise to the world certainly helped garner a lot of neutral support for Paraguayin the World Cup. Though wasn't to much avail as Paraguay lost in the quarter-finals. (She still kept her promise though)

8. Overexposed Gimmick of the Year - the MRF Blimp
It was there in almost every single IPL game. The camera would go up to the sky. The "marvel of tecnology" that was the MRF blimp would come into the picture. And the commentators would simply go crazy. In the next few breathless seconds they would mention everything from tyres to the pace academy to SRT's bat. Whatever goodwill MRF had generated in the hearts of the cricket followers through the Pace Academy had surely disappeared.

9. Anagram of the Year - Sir U Made Lakhs
Suresh Kalmadi. He and his team probably made crores. But the anagram could only come up with Lakhs.

10. The Leak of the Year - Wikileaks
The year ended with wikileaks. On a daily basis a couple of hundred secret cables from various US embassies are being released into the public domain. And a set of governments, officials, companies are getting red-faced. The best line - The last time there was a deluge of this proportion Noah had to build the Ark.

So this is 10 from 2010. A collection of arbit events for the year. Forget this year, Dont worry be happy. Blow your vuvuzela to usher in the new one.

Rush & Rage

Everywhere I look people are in a rush. And if they are forced to take a momentary pause in this rushed existence, something inside them snaps. And they take it out on the nearest available person. And it is this rage on the roads which I am talking about. I have seen lots of examples of this in the past few days on the roads of Navi Mumbai.

Today morning was extra eventful. In the 15 minute bus ride to my work place, it seemed everybody was angry and just waiting to take out their frustration on each other.

Due to the ongoing road rebuilding exercise, the main roads have all been halved. So traffic is plying on just one side, with small markers acting as the road divider. But as everyone is in a rush, people won’t wait on their side of the road. So if anybody sees a traffic jam, it’s time to just cross over to the other side in hope of finding a way forward, without giving any thought to the people coming from the other side.

Scene 1 – A couple were sitting on the roadside near the bus stand after having fallen off the bike they were on. Reason trying to move ahead through the traffic and ramming into the road marker.

Scene 2 – The bus was moving and then had to stop inspite of an almost clear road. This because a biker had nearly got crushed between the bus and another car which were moving in opposite directions.

Scene 3 – Repeat of the same incident, except that no one came in real danger, but the bike rider started abusing the bus driver. The bus driver did not respond, although the fault was clearly the biker’s.

Scene 4 – After getting down from the bus, I crossed the road (which is at full breadth here, no construction going on). However there is a heavy traffic snarl on a daily basis, as people try to enter the office. After crossing the road, I heard a commotion. A truck was parked/ stuck bang in the middle and another person had climbed into it and started beating up the driver. I don’t really know what had happened (After all I myself was in a rush to swipe in on time).

Scene 5 – This happened a couple of days back, which I managed to view from my balcony. Seemed a bike and a cycle had collided. The people had started fighting. Soon the verbal fight turned into a fist fight and then one of them picked up a stone from the road and hit the other person. Thankfully not much damage was done.

These sights are becoming too common an occurrence. Any rush hour traffic would have some hold ups because people have got into a fight. People trying to overtake others; jumping on the wrong side of the road; pedestrians running across the roads. No one even thinks of waiting. And perchance they are interrupted in this rush, the rage takes over. The first angry abuse, the retort, get off the vehicle, time for more verbals followed by fisticuffs, then maybe even weapons. And doesn’t end until something really foolish happens or the need to rush overpowers again.

God only knows what would happen if something like the 10 km long traffic jam in China takes place here.

Bad, Worse, Worst

Bad Thing - A meeting scheduled for after work hours (beyond 6 PM)

Worse Thing - The meeting is scheduled after another meeting

Worst Thing - The meeting is cancelled after you wait.



"Literally" Translated

Saw the film "Phas Gaye Re Obama". Overall the film was really fun to watch. There was one scene in an  English speaking course class. There are a couple of guys talking and do not notice the teacher entering the class. And this angers the teacher who gives them a verbal lashing "Teacher enter class, you no notice. Your Mother-Father manner this".... and goes on and on.

This reminded me of some other examples of such literal translations. During my engineering days, these were attributed to certain professors. And there were some more. So here goes.

• Open the doors of the windows and let the atmosphere come in.
• My legs are answering. I will sit down.
• The HOD just passed away.
• In the morning I appointed a servant. In the evening he was disappointed.
• Fell from the sky and stuck in a date (आसमान से गिरे और खजूर में अटके)
• Pulled and hit. (खिंच के मारा है)
• Rotated hit (घुमा के मारा है)
• Sit go (बैठ जाओ)
• Dont rotate my brain (मेरा भेजा मत फिरा)
• Whose father what goes? (किसके बाप का क्या जाता है?)
• GreenMangoMore (No hindi for this :P)

And to end, here is an untranslateable sentence - "कल दो प्रकार के होते हें, आने वाला और बीता हुआ." Now try translating this to English.

P.S. To be expanded as more such lines come up.