The day I met my First Best Friend

There are very few days in our lives which stand out for its uniqueness, from bizarre to delightful, yesterday was one such in my life. After a mammoth gap of  2 decades, I met Ashvaraya Kharoo aka Ankur, my dearest childhood friend, a kid whose toothy smile, porcupine like hair and carefree gait were ever so deeply etched in my memory.

Ankur and I were neighbours, classmates and more importantly friends who shared some fantastic moments as kids. However, in 1994 our cord snapped abruptly, he moved to Dehradun and things drifted away. But, I was forever curious to know his whereabouts. And then fate it seems had its own way to bring back bichde huye dost, thanks to the world wide web, we connected and planned a get together.

So, we decided to catch up for a drink at CP. Finally, the moment had arrived, I was going to meet my first best friend, needless to say I was brimming with joy. And we met, spoke for several hours, about our childhood, school, college, family, careers and beyond, it was a seamless experience, though things had changed over the decades but it never seemed to take away the sheen of the friendship we had built long ago. Ankur was still the pleasant mannered kid whom I knew. It took me by surprise when he recollected many pieces from our childhood, it is such a shame that I don’t remember any of those but he seemed thrilled to recall those memories with extreme fondness. All this while, talking to Ankur, never for a second did I feel that here was someone new infront of me. And then the magical realization of meeting your first Best friend sank in. As I said goodbye for the evening, I knew this was an extraordinary moment from where our dosti will commence its 2nd innings. It was totally worth it and for some very strange reason we still sounded relevant and connected from where left 20 years ago. I was extremely tempted to click a buddy selfie but resisted and decided to absorb this priceless moment as part of memory.

 

 

Yet another d***head bites the dust

So yet another d*** head dies of Substance abuse ( la polished term for drug overdose ). And yet again the media has gone soft on such a roach. I feel extremely angered when I read about these mindless celebs going nuts, wrecking their life and worse influencing an entire generation to doom.

It makes me even bitter when popular media goes gung ho, showering praise and at times even rewarding these pests ( like Oscar to Heath Ledger ). Though many may argue it’s to recognize their work but, I strongly loath such a debate. Doing drugs and producing results is treachery, an act of misguided superiority. It’s as good as doping in sports, if a sportsperson is being banned for doing drugs, so why isn’t a musician or actor or whoever it maybe left free and worse rewarded for producing results under the influence of drugs ?

Now that some ‘Glee’ jerk is dead, his channel comes out saying he was an “exceptional person”, my question is exceptional at what ? Why not make a strong statement and let the public know that drug addicts would never be a part of their show or set this case as an example to communicate to aspiring professionals to embrace a more sensible path to success. By calling him exceptional will send a wrong message. And to all those going bonkers over his death, please wake up, he’s just a dirty roach who doped his way to death, pity is not meant for such freaks. Such a waste.

 

A start

 

Ever since my under-grad days, I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, someone who created jobs and wealth.

And then I went to a B-school, by then I was pretty sure which direction I wanted to go. But after studies, I failed flat with my first venture, probably because I wasn’t ready and my commitment was lacking.

Naturally, I fell into the conventional track, took a job but for some reason my attitude towards work was terrible, initially I thought this was temporary, would get adjusted. But, it continued. I shifted jobs in search of the “perfect” one. The deal at iGate did provide great relief but somehow, it was not happening. And then after several years of agony, Jan 2011, I was asked to go out of Kaar, which happens to be my last employer. I would like to believe that was the best thing to happen.

That’s when I started things on my own, it was really hard to get things moving but eventually the wheel was in action, slowly & steadily thanks to brilliant clients and associates life improved. Now after close to 2 years, I’m taking the biggest leap of faith, an office 🙂

A very kind and generous client is offering office space for three. Now I’m in the process of hiring couple of  amazing youngsters, extremely pleased with the guys I have short-listed. I sincerely hope, I can provide a nourishing work environment where their limits are challenged and everyday is unique, filled with exciting experiences which would not only help them develop into cutting edge, professionals but also groom them into better individuals.

The theme I have for my shop is “Employees First”, for without them nothing else would exist. I’m also going with my instincts and building a workplace where it won’t be about BOSS or peers, a place where focus would be on being AWESOME!

Fingers crossed as the D-day is nearing, hope for the best :- )

 

 

How India nailed the Aussies, 4-0

Before the Border-Gavaskar series began, I was quite weary as a fan. Recent defeat against England didn’t go down well with the Indian Cricket fan in me. Against Oz, though I knew it was one of their weakest teams in decades but, I wasn’t too sure about the Indian line-up.

However, MSD’s mind blowing innings in the 1st Test wiped out my early doubts of the usual Batting catastrophe. It was the kind of knock which seriously dents the oppositions psyche. A double hundred in 2 sessions is quite an achievement. From that point onwards it seemed like Team India had magically taken complete control over the match and the series.

Then the 2nd match happened, nothing much to talk about as Aussies were simply blown away to bits, first by Vijay-Pujara’s partnership and then some lethal bowling display. A paltry 131 is all that Aussies could make in the 2nd innings, a shameful performance by the once “Mighty” Aussies. Around that time most Indian fans and I had sensed that this is going to be a piece of cake for the Indians.

Team India

In the 3rd Test, Aussies had a great start to the innings thanks to the openers and rain gods for taking away Day 1’s play, but then lighting struck and once again they were wrapped up for a modest total. At that point of time no one thought there could be positive result to the match, but then ‘moochad’ Shikhar Dhawan wanted to tell the world that he has arrived. A staggering century, fastest by a debutant completely changed the momentum of the match. Such a special innings, this should easily qualify as the best 100 in the recent times. After his blitz, Oz did try its best and set a modest target, which India finally scaled and just to tease the Aussies, they added some drama during the last hour. However, it was still an easy win for Team India.

By the time the last match commenced it was almost sure that a spinning track was awaiting the Aussies. Well, it just took less than 3 days to destroy them, though I must say they did pretty well, especially the bowlers, having said that at no stage they looked like winning the match, atleast it was a decent fight.

Team India’s triumph, a 4-0 whitewash, youngsters coming through and MSD the captain back on track. As an India cricket fan, I can’t ask for anything more. History says that Oz has always had difficulty visiting India, even Steve Waugh’s invincibles fell flat but a clean sweep is little too much. However, this story is not about Aussies fall, it’s India’s rise from the ashes, a story of a team propelled by bunch of youngsters, a team which was had lost 10 of its major Test matches. A win of this nature was unexpected, unbelievable. This series sweep has revitalized and renewed the joys of being an Indian Cricket fan. Looking forward to more thrills, more wins.

Fight against Rape – A pitch

In a land where every possible crime is committed, having laws, be it strict or lenient is not going to solve anything. The ones who are not going to commit crime are anyways going to stay away and the ones who would are going to work things around it.

For example, Terrorism, perhaps the most severe punishments are served against such acts but has that stopped or minimized Terrorism ? I guess the answer is NO. So, why hasn’t stringent laws deterred random youth, in few cases educated youth from flirting with such draconian activities ?

I like to believe that a mind of a criminal is lot more complicated than a regular guy. Especially, the ones who commit one after elaborate planning. And statistics reveal that a mind boggling 97% rapes are committed by people known to the victims. Which means we can safely presume these were planned and executed with clinical precision. Now, that is alarming. So, the next logical question would be how do you stop such planned crime against women ?

I know many a suggestions and recommendations are doing rounds, each one has an opinion, few strong, few confused and few contradictory. Take for example, a news channel was talking about having more police around Malls, Railway stations, Bus terminus and other crowded areas meanwhile, another TV channel was lobbying for more protection is isolated areas since, they’re the places a lady would be at highest risk ( makes sense to me ).

Here are my set of recommendations,

1. Install Surveillance Camera’s in every street. Especially, ones which are isolated or far away from police stations or police chowk.

2. Permit shops, malls, establishments etc to be open 24X7, 365 days. Let the city never sleep.

3. Instead of distributing ‘Aakash’, the stupid tablet. Divert those funds to provide combat training & if possible some local variant of pepper spray for the female students.

4. Of course, the laws need to be terrifying, I mean just chemical castration or 30 years imprisonment won’t do, it has to be something more torturous & lethal that would send shivers down the spine. ( I understand human rights violation and all, but do these criminals really deserve such rights ? )

5. Movies & other mass media platforms need to reinvent themselves, when was the last time you saw “women” portrayed as a women in the Cinema,, my guess is ‘Mother India’ way back in 1957. After that it’s either bullshit or regressive. We need stricter guidelines for mass media, female folk deserve better representation.

6. Women need to lift their game. If you want an equal standing, rise to it. Do not expect some man to respect you if women folk themselves are looking down on you. It’s not done at all. I don’t like the campaign which says ‘ Don’t ask your girls not to go out, teach your sons not to rape’ . Well you’re a mom or a sister to someone, why don’t you go and teach your folks. I mean stop blaming men for everything, look into your own world & fix the issues.  I recommend a massive overhaul, a steady and sustained educative campaign to empower women.

7. As SRK put it ‘ I am so sorry that I am a man ‘. The biggest losers in this shameful process are the Gents. Raping or molesting a girl is an act of insanity, just terrible. We really need to revolutionize the way we treat our women. I know this is not going to happen in a month or a year or even in decades but it’s time to push for change. 50% of India’s population is under the age of 30, which means we have a sizable population which can be taught the right stuff at the right age. It’s in the governments hands to impart sufficient knowledge & sense of empathy to the budding minds. Again a humongous task, difficult but not Impossible.

Fight against Rape

The recent gangrape and subsequent death of ‘Amanat’ has led to widespread outrage in India, and rightly so. Crime of this nature has been rampant in India especially in Delhi, NCR. Naturally, the heat is on the government and in a certain manner on Gents.

I don’t want to trivialize the crime, the criminals deserve extreme punishment but at the same time I take a cautious look at the other side of the crime.

The question I would ask is if my house got robbed, whose fault is it? Is it the robber’s because he derives cheap thrills by looting others? or Is it police’s because they didn’t provide enough security in my locality? or Is it mine for not doing enough for keeping my house safe and out of bounds against theft ?

The point I’m trying to make is if I’m cognizant of the fact that I live in a crime prone area and still leave my house unprotected, then how can I blame a robber for targeting my house ?

However, in the case of a rape, the situation is lot different. But, my point is the onus is also on the women to protect themselves, for it is impossible to police & offer protection to every lady in the country. Even if the force were doubled or tripled such crimes are in every likelihood going to continue.

So along with trying to teach manners to an entire generation of men, equal effort must be put in to educate women folk to fight and in way predict potential scenarios. Some random stat says that 97% of rapes are committed by someone known to the victim. And it baffles me that the victim in most cases might have never figured it out that she is targeted by that person.

Women need to be sensitized about various means to tackle such scenarios and be well equipped. It’s not about carrying pepper spray or wearing modest clothing, it’s more of attitudinal change which would allow them to judge people & scenarios which can lead to disaster.

This is just an opinion, as long as women feel safe and such crimes end, I’m in support of ANYTHING & EVERYTHING which can get us to that juncture. Let me know your thoughts.

A quick review – Visit to Batam, Indonesia

Earlier last month, I was in Batam, a tiny Island right next to Singapore. This was my first visit to the Island nation of Indonesia. In this video I have captured the essence of the place. But, then my opinions are biased 😀

Team India: Failure, yet again

Four good wins and one terrible defeat meant Team India failed to qualify for the Semi’s third time in a row at the T20 world cup. This time the performance was average but output was a failure. Which reflects on the teams preparation and MSD’s fading midas touch ( or has he lost it long ago ).

Team India was among the pre-tournament favorites but their poor show against Oz has left them in the cold, yet again. Blame game

India cricket crest (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

has already begun and it looks like after series of disastrous overseas tours and losses at  various high profile tournaments, MSD’s reign at the top could be over ( atleast in one format of the game ). Last week BCCI announced a new selection committee which means men who favored MSD have left and a new team is place. And the new chief, Sandip Patil is known for his tough approach. Only saving grace for MSD might be the lack of potential leaders in the current team. Virat ( Vice-captain ) who has been a top performer for a while may not be elevated as yet. Besides him no other player is performing to full capacity or they aren’t permanent members of the all 3 formats. So MSD might just escape for a while.

Personally, I believe MSD must be relieved from captaincy ( atleast in Test matches ) and Gautam, despite his dodgy performances must be made Captain. And if Virat has to tried out, he should be first allowed to lead a T20 side and slowly moved to other formats. My radical choice for captaincy would be Zaheer. He has played for over a decade now, though his fitness is a major concern he’s still India’s best bowler. Zaheer could probably do a ‘Kumble’ before he retires.

It’s not just the captain, lot of other players also should be dropped, atleast till they are back to their best. Likes of Sehwag, Rohit should be immediately sidelined. Manoj, Ajinkya, Cheteswar, Vijay and rest deserve to be included. I’m mighty pleased with Cheteswar, he blasted back-to-back 100’s at a domestic tournament and led the side to victory ( He might be a Captain in the making ).

For now, Team India has to get it right in the upcoming series against England, as of the early exit from T20 WC….Well, we’re used to it 🙂

 

Rise of Andy Murray

After 4 shots at glory, Britain’s Andy Murray finally nailed it and how. After a sensational comeback from Joker, Murray’s inspirational last set heroics sealed the deal for him. Ever since he hit limelight losing to RF in 2008 he’s has consistently failed to end up on the winning side, he has made it to last 4 on ten occasions before Monday nights victory.

 

For my friends and me, and I guess for most people Murray was fast becoming a synonym to the word “Looser”, a someone who didn’t have the big match temperament. However, over the last 10-12 months he has grown  physically stronger and elevated his overall gameplay. Though, I’m not an expert at tennis, I guess it’s more to do with his mental and physical provess. Earlier he strugggled to knock out the big players at the key moments of a match, even Djokovic had a similar problem. But, with time and maturity ( and RF’s fading charm ) these younger men have eventually caught up. This was bound to happen, a player like Murray was too good to keep loosing for such a long period, now is his time and I foresee over the next few years he will be a formidable force. Which means there will be a three way fight for supremacy alongside Joker and Nadal ( who has made French open his own for a while now ). No disrespect to RF but we have to accept the fact that sooner or later age will win the race, though he might steal 1-2 grand slams before sun sets on him.

 

Going back to Andy Murray, he’s now a epitaph of perseverance and hard work. It’s very easy to loose heart after the kind of loses he had at the top level but, he hung in there and delivered big time. A huge lesson for all of us, take a leaf out of Murray’s career, hang in there your time will come.

 

 

 

Is he the new “Wall” of Indian Cricket ?

Ever since the retirement of Rahul Dravid, Cricket pundits, media and public were asking the same question ” Who will replace the WALL? “. Many names cropped up, Virat Kohli looked like the most probable replacement, he was already doing great stuff in ODIs at that position. However, good number of people were convinced that the team needed someone more on the lines of “WALL” and that was the big reason why selectors called upon Cheteshwar Pujara. He has been in news for all the good reasons, his recent match winning performance in WI for the India ‘A’ team made sure he booked a berth to play in the national team.

I had first seen Cheteswar Pujara during the 2008 domestic season, an innings where he scored 70 something and he flayed the bowlers all over the ground with astounding grace. For a long time I hadn’t seen anyone of that class ( the last one who really caught my attention was Ambati Rayudu ).

Few years later he made an audacious debut against Australia and helped India win. But then he was gone for a while, mostly due to

injuries. However, from the time Rahul Dravid announced his retirement Cheteswar was back in the reckoning. He found support from Cricketing legends and media rallied for him to take the No.3 position.

 

After all the hype over the last 5-6 months today was the day. After a brief suspense he came into bat at the coveted No.3 position and by the end of the day he had eased into his first Test 100 in style. A patient knock, where he displayed every possible shot in the book ( more on the defense department ). First half of his innings was sedate and cautious and then just as if to show us that he can play at a completely different gear he clobbered the bowlers and raced away to a richly deserved century. He for sure looks like someone who can carry the team and the hopes of Billion plus fans. Have we found the new wall? that’s what everyone is asking after his debut century but I guess wall isn’t built in day 🙂

 

For now fans, experts, media would rejoice the making of a new Cricketing hero however, only time will tell how big a hero he would turn out to be.