some call it a layered tag...

Another one taken from Sindhu. Phew, too many girlish questions here.


Layer One

Name: Yellapantula Venkata Sridhar
Birth date: 9th April
Birthplace: Bilaspur
Current location: Pune
Eye color: Black
Hair color: Whatever is left is black...everywhere
Height: 5-9
Righty or lefty: Righty
Zodiac sign: Aries


Layer Two

Your heritage: Indian
The shoes you wore today: Green Woodland Shoes
Your weakness: When I smile I look sad, cannot scold, also am a little shy and very confused
Your fears: Being proposed
Your perfect pizza: Don't like Pizza
Goal you’d like to achieve: To be one of the travellers to the Moon in India's Moon-Mission-2020


Layer Three

Your most overused phrase on IM: hey
Your first waking thoughts: Can't write here
Your best physical feature: My eyes
Your most missed memory: School Days


Layer Four

Pepsi or coke: Coke
McDonald’s or Burger King: McDonald's...never been to the latter
Single or group dates: Single
Adidas or Nike: Neither, I like Woodland
Lipton ice tea or Nestea: Neither. Coffee, Protinex or Horliks
Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate
Cappuccino or coffee: Cappuccino


Layer Five

Smoke: Once
Cuss: Only when I'm alone and talking to myself
Sing: A lot
Take a shower everyday: Twice
Do you think you’ve been in love: Yes
Want to go to college: Yes
Liked high school: Yes, a lot
Want to get married: Yes
Believe in yourself: Yes
Get motion sickness: No
Think you’re attractive: Yes. Ladkiyaan mujhe resist nahi kar paati - one of my favourite dilogs during college days
Think you’re a health freak: Opposite of that
Get along with your parent(s): Very well...Love them more than anyone or anything else in the world
Like thunderstorms: Yes, I enjoy them
Play an instrument: Want to, a Guitar


Layer Six (in the past month...)

Drank alcohol: Yes
Smoked: No
Done a drug: Never
Made out: Never :-(
Gone on a date: No
Gone to a mall: Yes
Eaten an entire box of Oreos: No - Bhaarat ka rehne wala hoon, Bhaarat ke biscuit khata hoon
Eaten sushi: Never
Been on stage: No
Been dumped: No
Gone skating: Never
Made home-made cookies: No (btw, these home-made cookies are supposed to be made by me at my home, right?)
Dyed your hair: No
Stolen anything: No


Layer Seven

Age you hope to be married: 28 Number and names of children: One girl...plz suggest some name
Describe your dream wedding: What a girlish question and what a silly thing to dream about! I'd rather dream about the post-wedding times. Still, to answer the question, a dream wedding wud be a court marriage - sign papers and done...no om-swaha headaches
How do you want to die: Smiling, with all my loved ones around...a painless death
Where do you want to go to college: College days are over, don't want them back
What do you want to be when you grow up: Nothing
What country would you most like to visit: First I want to travel all over India


Layer Eight

Number of drugs taken illegally: 0
Number of people you could trust your life with: Too Many to number
Number of cds that you own: 25-30
Number of piercings: 0
Number of tattoos: 0
Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper: Once
Number of scars on my body: 2-3 may be, not sure...have never seen some parts of my body
Number of things in my past that I regret: 100

Being Punctual

Peru has decided that it is now going to get punctual. I had had the impression that it was only India that was infamous for showing disrespect to time. But I read this, and went through some latest news bulletins, and came to know that we Indians are far better than Peruvians in this regard. A lot begins on time in India these days. Many people do procrastinate in their personal lives but at a professional level, things are improving slowly and steadily. We are far more professional now and respect ours and others' time. There are reasons for this, of course - increasing competetion, pressure to grow, corporate culture, mature young population...

There is a hora peruana, or "Peruvian time", which usually means an hour late. It is very similar to the meaning we "normally" assign to "Indian Standard Time" a.k.a IST. I guess there are many in India who don't really know what IST actually stands for. I heard when I was small that most Bollywood actors in those days (1980's and 1990's) were never on time for shooting on the sets. The South Indian Film Industry was far more professional and all their stars used to come on time. Jitendra, my mom once told me, was an exception. She had read it in Swati, a telugu weekly Saparivaar Patrika. He always reached the sets on time. I wonder whether that was because most of the films he did those days were with South Indian Actresses, were for South Indian film-makers and were remakes of South Indian movies. He couldn't afford to be late when everyone else was on time. This is one reason why things refuse to change in Peru. People are late coz everyone is late. I mean, I won't go to a place on time when I know that everyone else is going to come an hour late; even if I am usually very punctual, or even if I really want to be punctual. It's a vicious circle. India is slowly coming out of it, thanks to the conducive circumstances. It's a slow process, however.

Laziness, Procrastination, etc. are natural to human beings. Sometimes people have genuine reasons for being late. Like for 2 years, during my 11th and 12th standard, I used to deliberately reach my school very late. The reason - I hated standing in my class's line in Sun during the assembly for the National Anthem. No problems with singing the National Anthem. It was just that standing in the sun exposed all my newly formed bald patches, and I hated that. So to avoid it, I used to go late. Sometimes standing in lines was unavoidable. In those situations, I used to stand at the very end of the line. Though I was not tall enough to deserve that place and we were arranged in increasing order of height, I used to fight for it, and manage it on most occasions. It was creepy to have someone taller behind you looking at your head. And what if he sees everything and then goes and tells all others what he saw? And some adjacent lines used to be longer, as they had more people in their classes. Couldn't do anything about those :-(. Anyway, coming back, no one had problems even if I went late. So I did that until I passed out. I'd say, when going late is a strategic decision, like mine in 11th and 12th, it is understandable :D

The problem is very deep-rooted, both in India and in Peru. For example, in Peru, it is even considered rude to be punctual for parties. So in a way, people have started respecting late-comers and are disdainful of punctuality and punctual people. It's become like a religious teaching - you tell a follower of that religion that the teaching is wrong and crap, and you'll only infuriate him, although any rational individual can easily discern right from wrong; but most people are not rational. Some can even become terrorists and kill people, but will never understand something that is pretty obvious. Look at the dowry system in India. Will it ever stop completely?

Now the Peruvian Government rings bells and alarms and asks its people to synchronize their clocks to remind them that they have to be on time. I appreciate the initiative of such a big scale. It would be interesting to see how much it changes the attitudes of the Peruvian people who believe that being not-punctual is right and so are not at all sorry to whoever has problems with it. Peru is a democracy. So for such measures to be effective it is essential to make people realize that there's something wrong with being late. The Peruvian government seems to be ringing all its bells pretty loud. Let's see for how long it echoes.

The Music Tag!!!

Tag taken from Sindhu who had threatened to give supari of my name if I didn't complete it today. So here it is...

My Childhood – Papa Kehte Hain Bada Naam Karega (QSQT), Ek Do Teen...(Tezaab)
My First Crush – Naa Manasu Ki Emayindi, Nee Maya Lo Padindi, Nijama Kala, Telisedi ela? (Nuvve Nuvve – Gulti)My First Best Friend – Yaari Hai Eemaan Mera Yaar Meri Zindagi...
My School – Chauraaha Chauraaha Chauraaha, Jeevan Ek Chauraaha...(title song of one saaksharta program on DD)
My Most Dreaded Subject – Inorganic Chemistry – Kaise Padhoon? Kaase Padhoon? Hai Raam!
My Teenage Years – Nasha Ye Pyar Ka Nasha Hai, Ye Meri Baat Yaaron Maano, Nashe Mein Yaar Doob Jaao, Raho Na Hosh Mein Deewaanon...
My First Rock Concert – I bunked all.
My First Cassette – A Collection of my favourite Udit Narayan and A.R.Rehman numbers I got recorded from a music store at Budhwari Bazaar for 15 Rupees.
My reason to play/learn to play any instrument – I bought a guitar recently. Want to learn it so that I can play it to accompany my singing.
My Reason to Dance – I am drunk enough to freak out freely without feeling shy.
My Best Friend Always – Udit Narayan's songs. Just love his voice. Learn't all my music from him like Ekalavya!
Bike/Car rides – No playing anything. Rather sing Himesh Reshamia's fast numbers.
Song for Rainy Day – Tip Tip Barsa Pani, Pani Ne Aag Lagayi...
My first love – Kyon Chupate Ho Mann Ki baat, Keh Bhi Do Beeti Jaaye Raat, Dooriyaan Kisliye, Dedo Haathon Mein Haath...(Mann)
College Days – Mai Nikla Gaddi Leke (Gadar), Jaanam – Udit Narayan's Album.
My College Gang – Apun Jaise Tapori Ko Kya Malum, Sala Pyar Kis Chidiya Ka Naam Hai...(MunnaBhai MBBS)
My First Job – Sala Mai To Saab Ban Gaya!!!
The Song I just cant relate to – All Englis Songs.
My generations listen to – A mixture of all types of music. Exclusively one type feels boring.
A song that brings a tear to my eye – Mere Khwaabon Ka Har Ek Naksh Mita De Koi, Sookhe Patton Ka Bacha Dher Jala De Koi... (Jism)
My current state of mind – Zindagi Ek Safar Hai Suhana, Yahaan Kal Kya Ho Kisne Jana...
My All time fave – Ghar Se Nikalte Hi, Kuch Door Chalte Hi, Raste Mein Hai Uska Ghar...

So that was it. Anyone interested can take it further...

Spectacles

It was long after everything got blurred that I reported my eye-sight problem. That was when I was in my 9th standard. I went to a an eye-doctor with my Dad. The doctor asked me to read some alphabets of various sizes arranged in a tapering pattern on the sides of a rotating white box with a tubelight lit inside. When he first said "Read those", I was like "Read what?" I literally couldn't see anything to read in front of me. The doc was surprised that I hadn't reported my problem till it got so bad. He tried lenses of -1.5D straightaway into that frame that all eye-doctors have. Those frames have placeholders for lenses. After some attempts to read letters of all sizes with various lenses, we settled for -1.75D. It hasn't risen much since then. It's -2.25D now.

Initially I used to get embarrassed because of my spects. I had had a muggu image anyway, but at least I used to look somewhat cool without spects...or, so I thought. In fact that was the reason why I didn't want spects in the first place and so didn't tell anyone of my eye-sight problem for a long time. I used to manage somehow. Finally when even narrowing my eyes didn't help me figure out characters on the black-board even from the first bench, and when I was not able to get enough glimpse of the cricket-ball to be able to get the bat on it, I decided that I needed spects. And when I got those, suddenly the world seemed very colorful. It felt as if I had been kept away from colors for 2-3 years and now I had rediscovered the world and its richness. I had missed a couple of years of whole-hearted bird-watching :-( I regret that.

My desire to wear goggles when I would be big was almost killed instantly. I tried to find out if goggles with powered glasses could be made. Some of my friends at that time said yes. That gave me some hope. I didn't know about contact lenses at that time. Now I know that I can put on contact lenses and then wear goggles. However, I've never tried that. Somehow, and I don't know why, I buried the desire to wear goggles.

Soon after I got my spects, quite a few of my classmates also did. It was like a chain reaction. May be all those were waiting for someone to start the trend. So, soon I had company. I was teased as 'kandil', 'chashmish' etc. for a few days, but very soon, spects became a part of my appearance. Everyone got used to seeing me with those. And sometimes, if I removed them, I looked weird to everybody. I realized that I had a monkey kind of face. But the spects made the upper part of the face appear more in level with the lower part and gave me a more human profile. So I started liking my spects. I started feeling as if those spects gave me a 'spectacular' appearance :D

It's been many years since I started wearing those. My first frame was a big black one made of carbon. I broke its sides very soon. But I somehow fixed it with parts from an old frame of my Dad's which he no longer used. It also used to get loose very easily. I used to insert bits of paper, wetted by saliva, to tighten it and keep it held on to my ears. It's a little complicated. But I somehow used that frame for 3 years. Then I got another carbon one, and then lots metal ones after that.

Spects need a little bit of maintenance and care. I have often slept on those and broken them. And they need to be cleaned very often. Though, with time, you get used to ignoring the dirt, but beyond a certain point, you cannot stay a moment without cleaning them. It is very irritating when you go to watch a movie and just when the lights are turned off and the movie starts, you discover that your spects are dirty and you also discover that you don't have a hanky. Not many would happily lend you their hankies to clean your spects. And when I don't get one, I try using my shirt to clean them. And if that's dirty or if that's not made of cotton, the glasses get strange marks and lack of clarity. Then I try using my baniyaan, but that's usually clean only on one day per week, and even then, using it needs lot of kalakaari. And if there's a lady sitting by your side, you cannot do any of that. If you try, the lady will swap places with her hubby or boy-friend. And if you yourself are with a lady, I'd suggest, it's good to keep a hanky...for this and other obvious reasons.

My suggestion to kids and adults without spects is to eat a lot of grean leafy vegetables and have a healthy diet. Take good care of your eyes so that you don't have to see the world through glasses. It's not all that fun wearing spects. Prevention is better than cure.

The Human Pretentiousness

There are a lot of things that we have to pretend in our lives everyday. When I think of a typical day of mine, I find it full of things that I do just to mask the reality. It might make you feel that this guy is a jerk. But, for now, I don't want to pretend.

Soon after getting up in the morning, I start pretending to be excited about going to office. Here I actually fool myself. It is like laughter therapy - you're not happy, yet you laugh. If laughter therapy works, even this should. It helps me complete my early morning chores and run to catch the bus. I sit in the bus with a few friends of mine. If one of them asks why the hell I don't buy a bike, I've a ready-made answer - Pune roads, lot of traffic, lot of pollution, bad roads, I hate to drive on them. While in reality I don't because I hate to wear a helmet coz, besides being suffocating, it rubs against the scalp and weakens the hair, which I don't have a lot anyway. And if I don't wear a helmet, wind and dust plays havoc with the hair. I lose both ways.

Soon after I reach the office, I walk fast to my cubicle, as if I have urgent issues to attend to. Everyone else also does that. May be just to give a bada-babu kind of appearance to the peons and that of dedication and commitment to ones own bada-babus. But I don't do it consciously. It just happens. Perhaps my brain is programmed to make me behave in certain ways in certain situations. After checking my official emails, just to ensure there is no important email to be ignored till I can manage, I go to the canteen to have my breakfast. There are not many over there so early. Most of those who come by the bus are married people. There are a few bachelors and spinsters as well. The latter eat home-made food coz they like it and are used to cooking it and they are the ones who have to make food even after they marry the bachelors. So married people, spinsters and the bachelors - who live with parents - have breakfast at home before coming to the office. And most of those who come by the bus are of this category. Most of the remaining bachelors have bikes. So they come late. Those that remain, like me, have breakfast early in the morning at the canteen. There are exceptions, of course, each for a different reason.

I occasionally bump into groups of managers, whom I know, having breakfast at the canteen. Some of them are 'exceptions' mentioned above. Perhaps their wives don't get up that early and they are too preoccupied with stupid company projects to want to cook themselves. Whatever be the reason, I have an alarm bell ringing when I see them in a group chatting 'important' stuff and I have no friend around to give me company, and the canteen is too empty to hide. And on such situations, I am forced to join them. They talk 'hifi' 'idiotic' stuff. I have to keep nodding and smiling and nodding and smiling. And without some aahs, wows, ohs and some questions in between, they'd think I am not interested. Possibly, even they are not interested, but sadly, they are managers. They are paid for nothing else but showing interest.

I go back to my cubicle and sit in front of my work-station. I put on my ear phones and start winamp at full volume, just to avoid my neigbouring manager's blabber all day on his phone. And the daily-nautanki starts. I open Editplus and Eclipse with some java code in them and keep those windows minimized. After that I log on to Yahoo Messenger and Google Talk, check out who all are online and minimize those windows as well. Then I open Firefox and check my personal email. After I am done with reading the emails and responding to some of those from naukri.com, I'd bring up the instant-messengers and ping some of my friends. I turn off winamp while chatting, so that I can hear foot-steps if someone's coming my way. Whenever I do that, I quickly minimize all chat windows and bring up Eclipse and then Editplus and start staring at the code. Both of them for 2-fold protection! You need to be really fast. I have been caught minimizing and maximising on a few occasions. But it's ok, everyone does that.

I have no 'lunch-partner'. I feel really bad about it. Most people go in groups with one or two girls in them. A few guy-gal pairs are also there. Many guys have formed groups too without female members. And there are some exclusive female groups as well, but very few in number. Sadly, I haven't found a place in any of those groups. And since I am alone in my project, I got no project-partner as well to go for lunch with. So what I do is, I stay back till the lunch time is almost over. Then I run hurriedly to the canteen, as if I am totally drowned in work and have managed a few quick minutes to eat something. I order something that can be eaten really fast. Since I go late, the canteen is empty enough for a single person to get a whole table for himself. I sit and eat, staring out of the window, as if drowned in deep thought. I guess, those who see me like this think I am an intellectual. But then, I'm often wrong in my guesses about what people think about me and my actions.

I go back to my cubicle and the usual Yahoo, Firefox, GTalk, Eclipse, Editplus etc etc goes on in turns. I manage to do some 'work' as well in the middle of all this. At least I finish my assignments well on time. Thanks to my Client. He estimates One Month for what can me done in a day. I normally do finish it off in a day and send it to him. And then he's in a fix. Even he has to keep me busy for a month so that he himself looks busy. Even he has a manager. Even he has to do some nautanki in Amrika. So we have calls every evening, that's his morning, where we discuss for an hour and find something to do so that both of us look busy.

I sometimes miss my bus in the evenings due to these calls. I reach home very late when there are calls. It's good in a way, coz it gives an impression that I am working day and night.

We pretend some things without knowing the reasons why we do. Probably such pretensions are just to imitate the majority or the conventionally accepted modes of behavior. Perhaps such pretentiousness is part of trying to be a civilized and mature human being, who is defined, by universal acceptance, to be of a particular kind, who is supposed to behave in a particular manner, who has to like certain things and dislike certain things.

There are many things that we pretend, sometimes to such an extent that we start believing that they are the truth. There are things which affect our lives many times more than do the small ones that I've talked about. There are many which have profound effects on our actions, thinking and moods. Being career-conscious, fearing God, wanting to be rich, adhering to religious and social rules, etc etc. Trying to look normal in this world is a big pressure we all buckle under, trying to fit ourselves to the conventions and norms of ideality. We should rather respect the fact that we are all different in our attitudes, behavior, thinking, likes and dislikes. Setting standards and benchmarks for any of them is the most inhuman thing to do. And manupulating oneself to match such standards is like torturing oneself.

Ae Ajnabi...

Hi Friends,

I was at Gold Adlabs last evening to watch Eklavya. Ok Ok Movie. Had reached the hall pretty early. So checked out the Karaoke-Stall. There was a booth where you could sing on the original music of songs with the vocals removed. After you sang, there was a guy who did all the editing on a computer. He'd mix the best lines from all u'r attempts and put all the pieces together. In the end, you'd get a cd with the final song written on it. He was charging Rs 9.00 per minute. And the whole process - listening (first to the original song), singing, editing, mixing, cd-writing - normally took around 25 mins (according to the guy), that is around 225 bucks. That's pretty costly. So you really can't afford to spend a lot of time on things like listening many times to the original song, or singing each piece multiple times to get it right, etc.

From the list of available songs to choose from, I chose the song Ae Ajnabi from the movie Dil Se. I chose a difficult song. But mood struck and I decided to go with it. The timer starts the moment the guy inserts the cd into his computer and stops when your song is written on a cd for you. I listened to the original song once. I knew it well. So listening once was enough. Then I went inside the singer's booth, wore the head-phones and sang into the mike there. The head-phones were to listen to the music and sing with it. Have been out of practice. But managed ok ok. Goofed up a little in the high-pitched lines. I was always apprehensive about that. Came out of the singer's booth after singing the whole song. Was not happy with the second stanza. So sang it again. It came out better. But I was still unhappy with some of the lines. Couldn't afford more attempts. So I left it for the guy to mix and edit. It took 30 minutes in all. The guy charged 250 bucks. Should have charged 270, but I got a discount!

Here's the link: ae_ajnabi_sridhar.mp3. Download, listen and Enjoy...if you can ;-)

Sorry about the poor quality. I hope you like it. Your comments are most welcome.

Good Morning Valentines Day!!!

Resolutions seem to be working for me these days. All the new year resolutions have been more or less successful so far. And since a resolution needs an occasion to be tagged with, I chose this Valentine's Day to resolve to run every morning.

So I got up this morning at around 5.00 AM. Till 5.30, I did a few things that I do every morning. After that, I wore my old Reebok sports-shoes. They were white when I bought them 2 years back, but are brown since the trek to the Kalsubai Peak in the Sahyadris last rainy season. Haven't washed them after coming back from the trek. But since it was pretty dark at 5.30, it was ok to wear those shoes. And from my experience, I know that most people go for morning walks between 6.00 AM and 7.00 AM. So 5.30 was pretty safe. I don't want to be seen running, until I am sure that I look bearably sexy while running.

I came out of my society, walking slowly. The first running step was the most difficult one. There was tremendous reluctance to start. May be 5.30 was too early. The society watchman and the dogs, all turned towards me, straightened their necks and stared at me with their dreamy and curious eyes. I was afraid that the dogs might howl and run after me if I started running. It was pretty dark. I have had very bad experiences of being chased by dogs at nights. Once, those dogs tore my pants. Those scenes flashed in my mind for a moment. Still, I gathered some courage and started running. I was happy to see that the dogs didn't bark at or run after me. They don't chase people in the mornings. I wonder why. In the day-time it is understandable, but at 5.30 AM it is as dark and as empty as it is at mid-night. Perhaps those dogs have this idiotic notion that only old people and/or good people run on streets early in the morning and only thieves run at mid-night. I'm assuming that dogs are dedicated and committed to catching thieves and ending crime all the time. I started believing this after failing, despite a lot of thinking, to understand why the hell those dogs chase me every night and tear my clothes whenever they get a chance. I ain't a thief. But I guess those dogs don't want to take chances. However, it may not be a valid assumption. It's quite possible that those dogs feel too lazy and sleepy so early in the morning to run after anyone, thief or whatever. They're so human in the morning. I got another proof of this, as I ran a little distance. I saw a dog running after a bitch, wanting to make love. Why do females always make males run after them? Anyway, I always feel early morning is the right time. I agree with the dog! It's never possible to know what the bitch thinks. So it is with all females. Deep ocean of secrets! (Titanic!)

After 2 minutes, I was at the 'Rajiv Gandi Pool'. It's weird - 'pool' refers to a body of water in English and a bridge over a body of water in Hindi. I was running on the Hindiwala 'pool' (pronounced like 'pull'). Somewhere in the middle of the bridge, there was 'Sheetal I Love You' written on the parapet. I wondered who Sheetal was and what she'd think if she read it. And then I thought about the guy who wrote that. It reminded me of an incident during my school-days. Some guy had 'expressed' his love for a girl, a classmate of mine, by writing on one of the walls. It was very prominent and everybody had read it before long. And when the girl came to know of it, she cried like hell.

I stopped running soon after I crossed the bridge. Walked some distance and started running again. I took a 'U' turn to come back, via another 'pool' which is parallel to 'Rajiv Gandhi Pool'. I don't know its name. It has lots of street-lights. It was nice to see my shadow running. It looked more handsome than me. Just like my hand-writing. It looks better to me when I view it ulta.

I again stopped running after crossing the bridge. It was almost 6.00 AM. I ran through a residential area called Aundh Gaon. It is a lower-middle-class locality and is comprised of small houses of one or two rooms. A few of them had water boiling outside in huge iron containers placed over buring firwood. Women were sweeping the floors in a few of them. And in a few, I could see women washing dishes. Women get up early and take care of the house and household activities. Men and kids sleep longer.

My limbs began to pain. I headed back towards my house. Walking and running and walking and running. At 6.15 AM I reached home. Next it was dumb-bell time. I have only one dumb-bell. I don't know its weight. I can lift it comfortably though. I got it from a friend of mine. I lifted it 100 times with each hand. I got very tired. I turned the fan on, hid myself under the blanket and slept. Dreams were fast to come. It's a Happy Valentine's Day!