Happy Morning

I'm in the process of learning to say "Happy Morning" instead of "Good Morning", especially when I really mean it. This has been passed on to me by my dad-in-law who has come over to visit us these days. So, does it work? Yes, I must agree.

Saying "Good Morning" has become so routine you deliver it without even giving a second thought and hence it's also received in a same way. And when you change the way you greet people, it comes out more genuinely, make the opposites person take notice and brings smile on their face.

So, next time when you really mean to say "Good Morning", try "Happy Morning". Spread the happiness.

Have a Happy Morning Every Morning, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.

Small Change Big Impact

The Petition

There Will Be Blood

Over a year ago, I changed by job and had to work at a client's place which is right next to Red Cross office. Everyday in the morning, I walked across their office and thought to myself, I should donate blood. After about couple months, I got letter from Red Cross politely reminding me of blood donation - I was registered with them couple of years back when I went for my first ever donation. I thought to myself, now that their office is just next door I do not have any excuse of not to donate. Next day I went to my office was determined to visit them during lunch time. Unfortunately, work was hectic and I couldn't do it that day.

Couple of days went past, days became weeks, weeks became months and months turned into a whole year. In between this, I heard that it takes long time in there , ie., at least an hour, if you go to donate during office hours. Also, I thought of asking some colleagues, friends and ex-colleagues who work close by and see if they are interested to go and donate as a group but I never gotten around to do that either.

Now everyday when I walk past their office I think, bloody hell you haven't been in there yet. Also, seeing their adverts at bus stops or on the buses I take everyday didn't make my life any easier. And last weeks event in Mumbai has just compounded my guilt. I fooled myself all these days by saying, "will definitely do this today", but that today never came.

I'm not sure why I haven't done this yet. How can I not take some time off to go and talk to them and arrange some time to donate? Is it becoz I have turned into this unsympathetic monster who doesn't care? Is it becoz no one close to me has yet required blood and hence I'm unaware of the importance of donation or gravity of the blood shortage situation? Or Is it that I'm thinking what difference does it makes if one person doesn't donate? But then if everyone thinks in this way and I am sure most of them are, then who will donate?

So today, I'm gonna courageously call up Red Cross and will take an appointment to donate in a weeks time. Also, will email all my close friends and colleagues and see if anybody is interested in joining me. Yes, this time I promise myself that I'll donate blood and do it regularly and as usual I'm "sticking to my...".

Quote Hanger

Here is where I hang my original quotes. You can rent them for free, but an acknowledgment would be nice.

1. Babies are nature's clever marketing & packaging trick to get us to buy into.
2. Sometimes, ignoring is bliss.
3. Why does it take life-threatning-moment to change our life around?
4. Ask not if it is right time or wrong. Ask if it is your time or not.
   

You like them or hate them, I am "sticking.." of quotes.

Movember

but my wife would leave me :-(.
So I donated instead.

Defining Moment...

Let me start by saying, I wish I could vote in this election.



Barack Obama in the above video starts with, "At this defining moment in our history, the question is not that if you are better off than four years ago, we all know the answer to that, the real question is will our country be better off in four years from now.....".

And the video ends with subtitle, "Barack Obama - President". Cocky or Confident? We will know answer to that very soon.

Yes, definitely it is a defining moment in not just American history but world history and hopefully they - Americans - don't make a stupid mistake third time in a row by choosing McCain.

BTW, I believe, as most of you do as well, world would have been a better place without Mr. Bush as a president and I am "sticking...".

Do dreams ever come true? – II

....Continued...

11-10-2008 Sat: Got a call and was called for a quick audition. Wasn’t happy with it and thought would fail the audition miserably. While driving back home, got an idea, did a video shoot at home, posted on a youtube and sent the link to the producer.

12-10-2008 Sun: Got a call from the producer, he said the youtube video did the trick and got me the role. I was elated.

13-10-2008 Mon: Got the full script. Had to search and take a note of scenes where I’m supposed to appear.

14-10-2008 Tue: The main cast, director arrived from Indonesia. Went for rehearsals, gave around 20-30 takes, and failed terribly, I was disgusted with myself. Came home midnight dejected, slept couple of hours, got up at around 3 am, re-wrote some of the dialogs, went back to bed bit more relaxed.

15-10-2008 Wed: D-Day arrives.
Went early - 8:00am - for the shoot, waited for couple of hours for everything to be in place and was ready for the 1st scene.

• Scene 1: As I didn’t have any dialogs and just had to dance carefree, it went well.

• Scene 2: had a monologue and was the one which I had failed in rehearsals and hence was bit worried. But I am not sure if it was the costume, or location or my dialoges, I gave my best shot and came out triumphant in about 4th or 5th take. I was the happiest and most relieved person on the set...or may be it was the director.

• Scene 3: I was not aware of this scene unti th last moment. The script I got did ave this. But anyways, shooting for this scene was physically hard. I had to crash into the main character of the movie, some how had to make my turban come off with the whole wig of long hair still sticking on my head and also had to utter a one liner in Indonesian language. I would have given at least 3-4 takes in 3 diff angle and by the end of it I was literally dead. So was the make up lady as every take she had to do the turban again.

• Scene 4-6: These were very easy compared to above ones. Just had to stare at the camera or the protagonist and utter a word QUALITY. My nuclear family joined me at the shoot by then. I could see how proud they were of me. I could see it in their eyes; especially my 7yr old was speechless.

By the time I finished shooting it was 11 pm. It was hard work but was very satisfying. THANK YOU ‘Kambing Jantan’ team for the unforgettable experience.

Now, waiting for my pay ;-)

Yes, dreams do come true sometimes. Keep dreaming...

Do dreams ever come true?

Lazy Saturday morning, I’m lying on my bed and I’m thinking, “Don’t have to rush and take my kiddo to Ice Skating classes, no parties to attend except in the evening. Wow! It’s gonna be a relaxing day today. And then, out of nowhere, comes a life changing call – tring tring.

[ ]- This is when I am thinking to myself.

Me: Hello
So and So: Hello Praveen, this is ‘so and so’, how are you?

{Snipping all the obligatory ‘small talks’}
And then, out of the blue, came the question.

S’n’S: I was wondering if you are interested in acting in a movie?
[What? Me? Why me? Is it some kinda joke? 1000 questions running through my mind but trying to be calm]
Me: hmm…sure, what is it?

S’n’S: It’s a small role in a movie for which they need Indian origin actor.
[ What, a movie? You mean “A Real Movie”? You must be kidding]
Me: What, movie? You know, I haven’t done any acting in my life before, right? But I’m interested for sure and I can give it a try…and I will for sure give it my 110%.

S’n’S: I know. But I got this email asking me about any Indian actors I personally know and I was not sure who to contact and first person I could think of was you.
[But…But…Why me? I never told you I’m aspiring to be an actor. Yes, sure we had some discussion around similar topic, but…calm down Praveen, take a deep breath]
Me: No worries. I really appreciate it. So what is this role and movie is all about?

S’n’S: I don’t have much details right now….only thing I know is it’s a Indonesian English movie being shot in Adelaide and for a small role they want an actor whose looks are Indian. The actor would have to wear a turban and act as a convenient store owner and stuff. It’s a small role.
[What the heck...c’mon, give it a try...worst come to worst, you will fail terribly in audition, will be laughed at and cruelly rejected. But, who gives it a damn. None of my friends or family (apart from my better half) will ever know about my humiliation.]
ME: hmm…ok. I am game. I don’t mind wearing turban…Actually, I don’t mind any role as long as it doesn’t involve removing clothes.

{Laughs on both sides}

S’n’S: So, if you are ok, can I give them your number and they can get in touch with you?
[Suspicious of passing on my mobile no. to complete strangers]
ME: Sure, give them my home number.

S’n’S: [hesitantly] Can I give them your mobile number instead?
ME: [reluctantly but not showing it] yeah sure here it is….blah blah

S’n’S: Thanks. I will pass it on to them and they might contact you ASAP.
ME: No worries. Thanks again for considering me [a worthless non-actor].

S’n’S: No problem. I was not sure who to contact and your name popped up in my head first…thanks for agreeing.
ME: Hey, No worries. Let’s see how it goes. [Not believing if this will ever go any further anyways]

{Exchanging some more obligatory pleasantries}

S’n’S: Bye
Me: Ba Bye

Me, Myslef to I: [What really just happened? Was I dreaming? Somebody pinch me.]

Me Wife: Praveeeeeen, can you pls get up now…we got to vacuum clean our house today.

…and the reality hits.

If it comes to fruition or not...I'm sticking to my dreams.

Are you a responsible parent?

Some recent ads in australian tele which forces you to question yourself, "Am I a responsible parent?".

1. After seeing this ad, you would think twice before answering your kids questions.



2. You should be careful with your language when kids are around. Watch this ad...



3. Kids absorb your drinking...so, drink wise.

Boot Camp

On a eventful 2008 labour day long weekend
We went camping - with Shahs - at our wits end.

WoodHouse it is called where we set up our tent
Along came friends and for orienteering we went.

Maps in our hand, we ran like wild goose
Across acres of land to find hidden clues.

Youngsters won it, second came we old
Day went easy but night was bloody cold.

Camp site was like a Hobit's shire
Even better when we lit camp fire.

Our face lit up when the fire was on
In went wood, potatoes and lot of corn.

Next day we tackled Challenge Hill at noon
Would know what we are made of...very soon.

Ribs were almost broken
But spirit was never shaken.

We hit our head & landed on our bun
But we never stopped & had a lotta fun.

In summary, we had a ball & a big blast
For sure, our visit here won't be the last.

Thanks Shahs for organizing the camp
What if it was more like a boot-camp.

Body is still paining but regrets are none
As you know, I like sticking to my gun. ;-)

B+

Couple of days back, on a Monday morning at work, a colleague of my groaned a very familiar groan and said, "Oh!, it's Monday again". But as negative as the comment was, the reply to that from another colleague bowled me over. Whether he meant what he said or just said it as one of those off-the-cuff wise remark is not the point here. Anyways, the reply went like this..."Look at the bright side. You are one day closer to Friday". Now this is what I call a positive attitude.:-)

Am I a person who always thinks positive? As much as I would like say, "Yes", unfortunately I'm not. But, now a days, I try to consciously follow the motto - Be Positive - which fortunately runs in my blood too. It would be interesting to see how long and how often will I be able to "stick to ..." of motto.

100 Years [१०० साल]

Yesterday, I received a heartwarming wish from a friend of mine "जीयो... १०० साल तक जीयो" which made me glad and sad at the same time. Glad that I was of some help but sad because I was not sure if it was blessing or a curse.

One thought led to another and out came following -

रहेंगे जब ना दांत या ना बाल अन्दर चले जायेंगे जब दोनों गाल सिकुड़ गई होगी जिस्म पे जब खाल चल न पाएंगे जब वो मतवाली चाल क्यों चाहिए ऐसे १०० साल? नहीं चाहिए ऐसे १०० साल खाने में जब पियेंगे सिर्फ़ दाल [जब बच्चे कहेंगे] करदो हवाले अपना सारा माल [और वो जब पूछेंगे] पिताजी, अब और जीयोगे कितने साल? खड़े होंगे तब ऐसे कही सवाल क्यों चाहिए ऐसे १०० साल? नहीं चाहिए ऐसे १०० साल

Rahenge Jab Na Daant Ya Na Baal Andar Chale Jayenge Jab Dono Gaal Sikhud Gayi Hogi Jism Pe Jab Khaal Chal Na Payenge Jab Vo Matwaali Chaal. Kyon Chahiye Aise 100 Saal? Nahin Chahiye Aise 100 Saal Khane Me Jab Piyenge Sirf Daal [Jab Bachche Kahenge] Kardo Hawale Apna Saara Maal [Aur Jab Poochenge] Pitaji, Ab Aur Jeeoge Kitne Saal? Khade Honge Tab Aise Kahi Sawaal Kyon Chahiye Aise 100 Saal? Nahin Chahiye Aise 100 Saal

So would you want to stick to your gun (read life) for 100yrs? Becoz, in this matter, I am not sure if I am "stick..."

'A Wednesday' that made my day.

Yes! I am talking about a bollywood movie - 'A Wednesday'.

I wish it was in theaters in my city. I wish I hadn't watched a downloaded - even though it was a good quality - print. I wish..oh! well. Director Neeraj Pandey, forgive me mate. But I would definitely make it up to you by buying the DVD.

A Wednesday? = Amazing Wednesday
A Wednesday? = Awesome Wednesday
A Wednesday? = A-Simply-Superb Wednesday
A Wednesday? = AnupamKher's/Naseer's Wednesday
A Wednesday? = ActorsGoodButActressBad Wednesday
A Wednesday? = ANineOutOfTen Wednesday
[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1280558/]

No review can do justice to this movie. So don't try to read about the movie anywhere. Just watch it. But, if you have to read a review before/after watching the movie, then you cannot go past देसी पन्डित...:-)

I am not a qualified movie critic (are there any?) but I liked the movie and I am "sticking..."

Hail Him Or Jail Him?

I would have hailed him as a hero, if I were 2/3rd my current age and if I were in India. But, alas and thank god, strictly in that order, I am not...so I will boooo him all the way to jail. What would you do and what do you think? This incident reminds of my younger days in Karanataka, India. I remember the state government committed Harakiri and bought in the unpopular 'helmets-are-compulsory-for-2-wheel-drivers' rule just before the elections. Opposition party made it a big political issue and I believe, till today, that above was one of the main reason the ruling party lost. And the first thing the opposition did after winning was to abolish the rule. Can you believe it? Yeap, somethings happen only in India :-( Back to the current topic, what gets my blood boiling about this article is see how this journo is trying to brand this whole charade as Gandhigiri. Gandhi would be squirming upstairs and saying, "Gandhigiri‽ My foot". But as title of my blog homepage says, it's just my opinion and you know what I like, yeap "sticking..."

Irony...a nation that is and once it was.

Yesterday, I received a very interesting forward, which pointed to an irony in India’s performance in recently concluded Beijing Olympics. It was in big red fonts as if it really wanted to ram home the message. It read as follows…

It's so ironical. India is a peace loving country but the medals we have won in Olympics are only in Wrestling, Boxing and Firing

This got me thinking…yeah, so very true. Why is this? Why? Why? Why?

And then, a thought came to me and hit me like a thunderbolt, which questioned the very basic premise that this so-called irony is based on. Is India really a peace loving country, which it once used to be? As much as my heart would like to believe, my mind doesn't allow me. Let’s see…

When we talk about India we are basically talking about we Indians, the general population. So if the people are peace loving, the nation is peace loving, agreed? If you not agree then there is no point in reading further.

Now based on above presumption, let's see if we Indians are peace loving? Some of the points we hear in favor of this debate are…

1. We never attacked any other nation in our history. We only defended our freedom or land.
2. We got our freedom through non-violence through Gandhis and Nehrus of the times.
   

And my counter argument is as follows…

1. We never attacked becoz we had, have, will always have, enough issues internally to kill/murder each other. You call this a peace loving nation?
2. We were peace loving people for a short time in our history but not anymore and even that was just becoz of one person - Gandhi. But now, almost half of the nation either despises his way of thinking or doesn’t know him at all. And to support point 1 above, he was murdered too.
   

And I cannot think of anything that would make me believe that India is a peaceful country, except it’s non-violent independence movement. And even that because of one man. Big thanks to him but, hey, who cares about him anymore, he is dead. Let’s strip him off from his achievements in public…seriously it can’t be just one man who takes all the accolades…can it? What if he paved a different path to our freedom and united a deeply divided nation? What if he was forced to take some wrongful (in hindsight) political decision? He is just too good/peaceful for this violent nation…let’s just shoot him. Do you want to talk to him before? Nah…shoot him and काम ख़तम्

C'mon honestly tell me where we a single nation anytime in last 1000 yrs or before that? Apart from may be those 90yrs (1857 to 1947) which sounds like a blip in long history of this nation.

Before British came in, we were happily fighting against and killing each other for either power, money etc. Do you call these individual states peaceful? Was there a one single nation ever before British?

After independence, have we been a peaceful nation? I can talk mainly about era I grew up in, which I know better than say 50's to 70's.

In a nation where solutions for most of the major conflicts are either swords, laaties, throwing stones, bombs, do you call a peaceful nation? Give me one example where we as a nation resolved conflict by sitting across the table to start with? It always has to be lot of bloodshed before common sense prevails. Either we ignore the conflict completely, or let it go out of hand before we start talking.

Take an example of some of the crisises of our times, like Karnataka-TN fighting violently for every drop of water, or Naxilites in Hyderabad and western states of the nation, or hindu-get-out-of-kashmir crisis. Or think back to Punjab crisis or Hindu Muslim crisis in Gujarat or non-maratis-get-out-of-Maharashtra crisis. And less we talk about UP and Bihar being peaceful states better it would be. Now, which states have I forgotten to mention? I am sure if I dig deep I can find recent violent history in each of them. And even if we find one or two state that is peace-loving (may be MP?) does that make the whole nation peace-loving? Shouldn’t we be ashamed of how low we have gone compared to those non-violent movement times?

On an ending note; the true irony of this post is even though author of this post comes out as a big fan of Gandhi or non-violence, his blog-site is named “stickin…” ☺

Deaf copassengers

Recently, during one of the interesting email conversation within my close group, we started exchanging our thoughts about how annoying a simple bus travel to/from work, can become sometimes. Specifically, when your deaf co-passengers have their music player on, blasting some crap which you are forced to hear/endure. Sometimes you are sitting next to them or in a row not too far from them. And most annoying is when the whole bus, literally, can listen to their choice of music. I am so frustrated with these deaf people that I know one day I will just snap!!

And that's when I started thinking...instead of loosing my cool and creating a scene, how about if I make the whole scene so funny that it embarrasses them and at the same time might make them realize what they are doing. So, following are some of the scenarios what I came up with....may be one day I gather some courage to implement them during one of those rides :-)

Prelude to Dialog 1 & 2:
[Me poking the deaf co-passengers sitting next to me and waiting for him/her to remove that bud from his/her ear which is closer to myside]
Him/Her: What? [bit annoyed]

Dialog 1
ME: Good music, but I can't hear that lyrics properly, can you
pls increase the volume a bit more?

Dialog 2
ME: Beautiful song man! could you pls replay it for me? Please Please Please

Prelude to Dialog 3:
[Turning towards my partner-in-crime friend, BABS, who's sitting in the last row of the bus]

Dialog 3
ME: Hey Babs, c'mon here...you should hear this..it's soo
cool. What? You can here from there too?
[And e'body on the bus Laugh Out Loud]

So, what would you do? And when I asked this same Q to Babs, a very talented friend of mine, following are couple of scenarios he came up with. They are so hilarious you would literally cry laughing if you imagine yourself in mes shoes.

Scenario 1: [male co-passenger listening to jarring music]
me: [Taping his shoulder]
Friggen Dumbo: [nods his head] wat
me: [in subtle voice] They say if u masturbate a lot u can hear well.
FD: What???
entire bus rolling on the floor.........

Scenario 2: [Female co-passenger listening to mind numbing music]
me: [tapping on her shoulders]
Friggen Dumbie: What?
me: Like the music Do you come Free as well?
FD: mind your language mate.
me: cool, u mind ur music then...
[irritated FD cranks the music louder and ignores me]
me: [tapping her shoulder again]
FD: Now what?
me: This number started at stop No.2 and its Stop 23 now...can u please change the music...
FD: F-Off will yaa, its my friggen pod and I wud listen to any number. any number of time i wish too..
[Few chuckles in the bus]
me: [after 5 minutes another tap]
FD: [pauses the music and yells] Driver this man is harassing me....
me: OK i have proposition, I pay u $1, you can use that to download anything from iTunes, pls show me ur playlist lemme play with it n choose nice one (No double meaning implied here)
FD: I'm not a friggen mobile Juke Box for u....u want one get ur own pod.....
me: Wow not bad i thot ur brain wud be as numb n blunt as ur ear drums, but u picked my subtle hint that I'm implying u r juke box for half the bus here, and an admant one that doesn't listen too....
FD: OK assole I give in.....
whole bus applauds n some whistles...

I hope/wish you are not one of those deaf passengers and if you are, I would think you got the moral of the story. And instead, if you a victim then you exactly know what to do in your next ride.

I know, I know, I didn't (or did I!) end this post with "I am stick..."

Weird, Witty and ...

I work in a IT department of a well respected local company which is situated on a top floor. After finishing my daily grind, I caught a lift all alone and was hoping that I will get a non-stop-to-ground-floor ride. Every time it happens I think it's my lucky day and I should buy a lotto ticket. The things I think and do to make mundane tasks interesting. Now you know why I call myself 'weird'. Wait, read on and you will know why I call myself 'witty' too.

Continuing...but, as most of the time happens, the lift stopped on the 4th floor. After couple of secs of opening of the doors, a pretty lady hoped on and screamed looking at me. Ok, not SCREEEEAM scream but was she was shocked and said, "Wow!" as if she had seen a ghost. She had assumed that the lift would be empty and didn't expect me in there standing in the corner and hence the shock. She explained this in a quick few words. Doors closed and lift started it's journey downwards.

Realising how embarrassed she must be feeling that she might have offended me and to lighten the mood in the lift, and me being me, I was quick to react and said, "...and I thought I shaved this morning" which instantly made her smile. Determined not to stop their, I added, "But you know, that's exactly how my wife reacts in the morning when she sees me on 4th to 5th day after I have shaved". Now she laughed a very hearty laugh. My job was done. The lift door opened to ground floor, we parted our ways with huge grin on both of our faces and well-meant "See Ya Tomorrow" on our lips. 'All's Well That Ends Well' they say and how true it was today. Nothing like ending the day with a smile and if you can make others smile along then it's a lotto win.

So, what would you have done in similar situation?

If you don't think I am weird and witty, I will make you change your opinion. But until that happens, you stick to yours and I am 'sticking....'.

Guess the movie!!

Yesterday, one of my friends sent an email asking to see if anybody is interested in watching a movie with him in the theatres. I could sense the excitement in his email as he is a big fan of the actress in the movie.

So now your task is to guess what movie and which actress he was talking about? Just read below a snippet from my reply to his email and see if you get it.

[Melody: For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow….]

For He's Jolly Good Fellow
For Want'n 2 C Jolie In Yellow
He's Got A Wife Who's So Mellowwww...
...and so say all of us.

If you had a laugh, that’s great. If you didn’t, then I still think it was funny and as you might have realised by now, I like “sticking to my guns”.

Antakshari – The Journey (First Half)

So, once I got my creative mojo for ‘Antakshari’ back, I started scavenging the net for video snippet of bollywood songs and this is where youtube came in very handy. Man! It’s whole different world out there or should I say 'in' there. Also, becoz of my past experience with organizing songs for ‘Sangeet’ night, I had landed myself a cool little shareware tool/website that converts youtube videos to mp4 format. It was like finding a piece of diamond among coals.

Now, that I could collate the video of the specific songs I was after with the help of the tool, most of the other tasks like choosing songs for various versions of audio rounds became a breeze. Not quite a breeze but as I already had a large collection of audio songs in my iTunes, it felt easy. Only issue I found here was that I felt as if the non-picked songs were suing me for discrimination. Imagine a parent’s plight when they have to hand-pick between their twins for a competition in which there is only one entry per family. Now multiply that plight by 1000. If you have kid(s), you would have understood what I wanted to convey and if you don't have one yet, then apology - for a wrong analogy.

As I digitally posted the RFI for the event, pinned down the possible date, pestered people to at least act on my invite, I had this urge to push the limits a bit more…it was all going too smooth, it can't be so easy, right? So, I had this flash of an idea, (not again you might say and I agree. I might have to see a doc soon) how about adding a mixed-bag buzzer round at the end? It would be a perfect icing on the cake…and not just any cake. It has to be a vegetarian Black Forest cake from a bakery in Kumara Park, Bengaluru, India. Damn!! I am distracted again…let’s get back on track. Was I pushing my luck bit too far? Was I going mad as if this is my first and last event which I will get to organize? But I didn’t care; as I just said, I had this rush of an idea and adrenaline was flowing like a, like a, hmmmm say lava. Yes, that sounds all right. Anyways, I went to work (with my Industrial & Production Engineering background) and came up with an idea for a buzzer system, which at that moment I thought was just brilliant. Some part of me still thinks the same even today. Below is the digital copy of the original draft.

From Blogger Pictures

With this initial concept, I went to consult with bunch of my friends who also happen to be my ex-colleagues and all most all of us are in IT field. What is that idiom, "Birds of same feather..." or something like that. As always happens when we meet, even though there was unanimous and exciting approval for my idea, (or invention, as I love to call it) a bunch of radically different ideas were thrown in the ring. One thing lead to another and I started having second thought about the ease of getting the material required, time to build, economical feasibility etc of my invention and at last I zeroed on a software solution instead of a mechanical one.

With a quick online research, I found very handy old-fashioned basic interpreter, CHIPMUNK Basic and a software solution started taking shape on a cool MacBook Pro. The initial idea and code came from a lab report written by Jeff Adkins . And after rewriting the entire code, when initial version of the software came into life I was elated. I forgot all about the disappointment, which I might have had for ditching my original idea invention. A quick beta testing with same brain storming (or should I say brain washing ;-) who rightfully directed me to software solution) group gave me the confidence that it can and will work. While testing, I ignored a very crucial thing which would come back to haunt me at a very crucial juncture during the event itself but I will save that for later. Only if I had discussed it with my group that night, my next story might have been a completely different one. But hey, then it wouldn’t be so interesting read, would it?

During all this, the date was finalised for the event, enthusiastic RSVPs started trickling in, ppl started offering to help, in one form or the other, after realising that the event of this magnitude is not a one-man job. THANK GOODNESS FOR THEM. In between, as I had enough motivation and time on my hand, thanks to my very understanding and equally enthusiatic life-partner, I started improvising the buzzer software and at last came up with what you see in the video below.



Realising that the minimum number of songs, including, both audio and video, needed for the whole event would be approx 90+ and extra work required to select and convert them into right snippets, some of my well-wishers offered to lend me a hand by volunteering to drop from competition and one such person was my ‘partner-for-life’ or you can say ‘partner-till-death-do-us-apart' but, the former sounds more positive than latter, doesn’t it? And even after constant pressure from her, and knowing how much my life-partner loves humming songs and that she would love to be on the other side, I didn’t budge and I was firmly ‘sticking to my guns’.

PS: Rest of you who volunteered to drop, if you are reading this, you know who you are. Thank you for your consideration.

Antakshari – The Germination

A year ago or so, an idea flashed (yeap, I have these panic attacks regularly ;-)) in my mind, thinking of organizing an ‘Antakshari’ nite for people who I enjoy being with. I am exactly not sure what triggered this panic attack but I guess I was bored to death doing my 9-5 job. Searching for that elusive dream job which would satisfy me, didn’t take me too far. Actually, on the second thought, it almost took me to Brisbane.

Oops, back to the topic. I start putting my thoughts behind the project, the format and the type of rounds and all the usual things a good ‘Antakshari’ event should have. One and only hindrances I thought at that moment was that if I were to organize it, then I wouldn’t be able to participate because of the format of the game. But it was a price I was willing to pay for a one good night of fun filled entertainment. The round which would take lot of my time I thought would be a video round as it’s hard to get snippets of the popular songs and especially if you are thinking of various genres and various generations of participants.

I started collecting snippets of video if and when I found them on the net but didn’t make much progress। Only snippets I could find were of latest movies without much of variety between them. And during this, my work life took turn for better and I landed myself a very exciting opportunity at a start-up which had signed a contract to provide a ‘from-the-scratch’ software to a joint-venture company formed by two giants from completely different domain. The project surpassed all my expectation (which was already low anyway) and my work life started looking up again. My 9-5 of the weekdays flew even before I could blink my eyes and weekends went eating, drinking and being merry with my nuclear family, mates and companions.

Between all this, my ‘Antakshari’ idea took a back seat and eventually was pushed way back in a closet, which we like to call brain। Literally, 8 months passed as smooth as a warm knife through a butter, government changed (I had a contribution in that too for first time) in Canberra, we as family went on our first big and interesting road trip covering east side of the country and life couldn’t be any better. But what I had not realised was that "अपने पैर पे ख़ुद ही कुल्हाड़ी मारदी थी" by contributing towards change of the guards at Canberra. New government while in opposition was always against the contract awarded to the join-venture company. Very first thing it did, among lot of other things, was to cancel the contract by giving one of the bullshit excuses I have heard in my life. Joint-venture fell through, my parent company had to retreat and reassign the troops to different projects/companies and my work-life again started looking gloomy.

This is when one day I got an invite from one of my close family friend for a Saturday night dinner. Also, buried in the email was a mention of ‘Sangeet’ party later that night. One thing led to another, ideas and emails flew back and forth and before I could say “What the..” I was holding a DVD of most lovable songs chosen by different invitees compiled by ‘Yours Truly’ ;-). Even though that ‘Sangeet’ night didn’t go as well as I would have liked to (apart from fabulous food as usual) but my artistic inner half was some what satisfied.

And within couple of days I started thinking again of that long lost idea called ‘Antakshari’ and I decided, whatever happens I am gonna organize it and this time I am ‘sticking to my guns’.

Next : Antakshari - The Journey.

Why blog? Why now?

Recently, I organized a fun event involving some of my very close mates and companions. This was the first time that I had taken such an initiative and hence was very excited, nervous and wanted to give it my best to make it a very successful one. Until this event, I was more of a follower than a leader/organizer. I was like, “I don't have enough time for all this...” or “Hats off to the event organizer but no way in the world I would able to manage that…” etc.

After I finished organizing the event just couple of days ago, whether successfully or not is not relevant here and not for me to decide anyways, there was this tremendous after-effect which hit me like a…like a…hmmmmm…lightning. I was going through so many different range of emotions that it was not funny. I was depressed, elated, relaxed, and thrilled, all at the same time. I had so many thoughts going through my mind and I was like WOW!!! That was really ‘some’ experience.

Anyways, after the event I wanted to write e’body an email on what I was went through during selecting songs for the event and etc. But, who would want to get spam'd about my राम कहानी? Why force people to read it if they are not interested and if they already had enough? Why fill up their mailbox when there are already plenty of emails flying around about the event and what not. But at the same time, I wanted to preserve my thoughts for so different many reasons but mainly,

1) Sometime in future, I would love to look and read back on some of the most memorable moments of my life and this event is one of them.

2) I would like to point the participants of the event, my family and other mates who missed out because of the physical distant, to my thought and leave it to them if they want to read/leave it or share their experience or thoughts on the vent and life in general.

And this is where, like a flash, a thought came to me…why not blog? Why not put your thought when they come to you and preserve them digitally for your future reference or for you mates and family to read if and when they want to. So, here I step into the world unknown to me even though I am confident in using the tools behind this technology. I don’t know how long this ‘blogging’ will continue for or if it will ever go beyond one or two posts but I don’t care. Right now, I just want to hit the keys on my keyboard and want to see and let others see through my eyes/heart/mind what I am going through before this euphoria dies.

PS: Apologies to my English teacher as he would have died thousand deaths if he was alive to see this post and would have had harsh opinion of his own, but I am ‘sticking to my guns’;-)

Next to come…. ‘Antakshari’, in three part series, where I am going to pour in here my thoughts and emotions I went through while organizing a first ever event in my life.