That state of mind, yet again

Too many ambitions, too many things to do, too many plans in my minds, too much tiredness, too many self-expectations, too much of inspiration, too many role models to follow .. am going crazy, again.

The good news among all this is finally I've got a plan, or maybe a couple of them. Maybe it is only the rush of the moment or maybe the travel of the last two weeks is taking it's toll but I feel really drained of energy. I feel like going invisible and its that same feeling of restlessness and depression creeping in.

This existential crisis is nothing new but each time has a bigger magnitude. Every new idea intrigues me and I feel like jumping into it. Every higher level of existence seems so much satisfying that I feel myself useless at my own level. So much to do, so much to learn, so much to recuperate. I feel like running out of time or maybe I myself am running through the time without doing anything :) Feel like taking a break, but a break from what?

I need a cleanup ... need to trash old rotting ideas and rotting memories. Need to remove all the negativity and maybe, yet again, need some resolutions :)

Nahi rakhta dil mein kuch

Nahi rakhta dil mein kuch,
Rakhta hoon zubaan par,
samjhe na apne bhi kabhi.
Kah nahi sakta main kya,
sahtaa hoon chupa kar,
Ek aesi aadat hai meri


Raste na badle na badla jahan,
Phir kyon badalte kadam hain yahan

Wanted - Friends!!!

There are times in life when you need someone who can listen without having prejudices and can understand what really is going on inside you. Someone who doesnt question your decisions, rather tries to undertand why you did, what you did. Someone who doesnt laugh or make fun of things which dont make sense to the rest of the world but are perfectly logical for you. Someone who can tell you "I understand" and really does. Someone who can peek inside you and see the storm brewing, and instead of adding to the intensity can guide you safely towards the shore.

You have people around, but most of them have some reason or the other for not being the person you want them to be. There are women, who can listen to you and advise you, but you know that in reality they want something else, so you know its not worth talking. Then there are men, who are so lost in their own sense of masculinity and their own "higher" level of existence that talking to them is like loosing your self confidence.

I miss Aakash ... I miss Amit ... I miss my friend Amir ... I miss talking to them, I miss opening my heart in front of them, I miss explaining them how much they mean to me. At times when I feel alone, when I feel I need to talk to someone, when I feel I am being killed by all that I have in my mind, I find myself alone; being stared upon by hundreds of people as someone who has "changed", as someone who "is not the same", as someone who "doesnt appear like the person he really is", as a liar, as a cheater, as someone who cant be trusted upon.

I need friends ... anyone?

Marley and Me

If you think that this post is anything about the movie, then I'm sorry to disappoint you. Though the movie is the reason that it has been written, I am leaving it upon you to see how and what the movie actually is.

We never had pets. One of the reason being the belief of my father that he wont be able to accommodate one more animal in the house after me and my brother. Now that I am away from my family and maybe would be starting my own in a couple of years, I think whether I would be having one. I have always read, heard and even seen that pets bring a lot of joy and happiness into people's life and somehow manage to disturb the stagnancy which often creeps in monotonous lives. If I would really be ready to have one at some point in my life, is really a point with lot of ambiguity.

The one and only apparent reason which I can see stopping me to take that step would be the fear of loss. Against the advice of wise men, I often get attached to small things; living and non living. And when I loose them, I am not able to get over them for a long period of time. Though I have not experienced a loss of anything "living" till now, but the fact that the loss of a non-breathing object imparts such a pain inside me, really scares the hell out of me when I think about the former kind of loss. I know for sure that it would be heart breaking and maybe remain inside me for a long time. So to be safe and sure, I don't think I would take such a chance ever.

Well, life is a anything but predictable. Who knows one day a post comes up on this blog describing how much fun a pet has brought into my life. As of now, it seems a distant possibility. Whatever future has in store, I would always remember these lines from the movie (not the exact wordings) -

How many people in this world make you feel special? How many make you feel extraordinary? How many of them love you the way you are? A dog doesn't care if you're rich or poor, educated or illiterate, clever or dull. Give him your heart and he will give you his.

Not so lucky

Well, against my expectations, he didnt show up. I waited for around 1 hour but no one came.

Cannot do anything about it, but yeah - another lesson learnt. Hope I am able to build on this experience.

Oh no!! Not again :(

Well, time and again I have promised myself not to be careless. But I think this particular character trait is permanently engraved inside me. To the series of losses I have incurred, a new was added today morning – My cellphone, Nokia N95.

I went for running in the morning with the phone in my pocket, as I always do and as I am doing for the past many years. I ran for around 40 minutes and returned back home only to realize that the phone is missing from my pocket. I ran back to all the places I expected it to be, but no use; it was gone.

I came back home and tried calling the number. Initially, no one picked up but later some guy picked and asked who is calling? As my Spanish is not good, I was not able to speak to him and soon he hung up. I rushed to office, so that I could make someone from office talk to him. One of my friends called the number again and talked to the guy. Seemingly, the guy is ready to return the phone but wants money in return. He is not asking for much money (around 5 USD) but is insisting to meet only sometime in the evening. He has agreed upon the time and the place – 7PM near my house. To make things more interesting, my phone doesn’t have enough battery and it can switch off anytime during the day.

It is 10 AM right now and I cant wait for the clock to strike 7. I cannot even explain what kind of thoughts are running in my mind right now. Maybe it is Karma; you do wrong and you get wrong in return. But I do not remember doing much wrong in the recent past. Whatever it is, though my mind is telling me to give up the hope and be prepared to buy a new one, my heart is clinging hard to the thin string of expectations that the guy maybe is not as bad as I suppose him to be. Maybe there are still some good people in this world.

I made some promises to myself; about things which I would stick to if I get the phone back. I would like to make them public, so that I won’t forget them soon after I get the phone (if at all I get it)

• I would never carry my phone for running.
• I would stick to the schedule I made a couple of days back and which I am not following due to laziness.
• I would do all the things which I know I should and I am not doing anyways.
• Finally, a promise which I always make to myself – I will start being careful.

Will update the blog in the evening if (or not) I get my phone.

Avocado y Guacamole

Avocado is something I never heard of before I came to Mexico. My first personal encounter with the fruit was quite amazing. Before I start describing that, I want you to know what exactly an Avocado is.

Avocado or more commonly known as aguacate in the Spanish speaking world is a pear shaped fruit with an egg shaped seed at the center. I have seen two variants of the fruit – one with a hard outer inedible coating which has to be removed before you eat it & another with a thin blackish-purple skin which can be eaten along with the fruit. This fruit has a buttery texture similar to how a banana feels if you peel it and hold it in your hand (that slippery greasy touch). It is light green in color from inside and has a mild taste. See here for more details.

I have been eating this fruit almost as early as 2 months after I arrived to Mexico. The main source of it was the Taco shop just outside my office. The guy at the shop used to put it in my tacos. Also, I ate it in the form of Guacamole at the local restaurants but that started only since a couple of months back when I started eating Mexican food frequently. While living with my Indian friends I never experimented much in terms of food and always stuck to basic Indian cooking. But now that I got an independent apartment with more freedom in terms of choice and variety of cooking I decided to explore the available options. Including Avocado in my cooking was the first thing which crossed my mind. I bought a couple of them during one of my visits to the local super.

It was the first time I was buying Avocados & hence I had no idea how to choose them. I just bought three good looking “firm” fruits and came back home. I had seen the man at the Taco shop peeling and putting them in the food and hence I knew that the fruit was expected to be soft and creamy. But the ones I bought were firm and raw. So I thought that maybe I have to boil them before I eat. I boiled the poor little fruits for more than hour before I came to know thru one of my friends that it is only the ripened fruits that you have to buy and if you buy raw ones, you have to wait for a couple of days for them to get ready. To give a parallel, just imagine something like boiling a raw mango to make it ripe and yellow :)

I am totally in love with the fruit and its taste. I make sandwiches, guacamole, put it in chutneys and even eat them with my salads. Check out the videos below to catch a live glimpse of the fruit.

Avocado the fruit




The delicious Guacamole

A runner's paradise

Running is something which gives me a lot of mental satisfaction. I really enjoy running for long stretches and getting drenched in sweat. It somehow helps me get rid of my stress and other mental pressures apart from keeping me active.

So when I decided that I am going to continue with this passion of mine after I reached Puebla for my 4th trip of Mexico, I was faced with some disturbing little problems. First was a rather dangerous “canine” problem. Yeah, you read it right – canine. The first day when I set out of my house for a run, a huge furry white dog almost bit me on my leg. From that day onwards I was so watchful for dogs that I could hardly concentrate on my thoughts or on the running itself. The second main problem was the traffic. To avoid the dogs in the residential areas, I was running on the side-lanes of the main road and hence was confronted by fast and furious flow of traffic. So again, I had to be very careful about how and where I am keeping my steps. These things virtually sucked all the joy out of my running.

Yesterday when I stepped out again, I saw a huge football field with a nice racing track just across the road, at a distance of around 5 minutes by walk from my house. I have been eyeing it for long but since it was adjacent to a big school and I didn’t know the local language so that I could go and ask, I was avoiding entering the field. But this time somehow my legs automatically took me inside the campus.

I saw a couple of people standing there and I decided to go and talk to them. I approached them and asked “Hablar ingles??” they said, “No”. I knew it was no use waiting there to find for an English speaking guy. But before I would decide to quit, I thought of giving it another try. I saw another gentleman coming my way and I asked the same question to him. Hesitatingly, he replied, “Yes, por que”. I was happy. I said, “Una pregunta. Do I need a permission to enter this field and do some running?” He said “No! Its free”. I replied,” Muchas Gracias” and left the place.

The place was a real paradise for a runner - lush green football field surrounded with a contrasting red running track. I could run forever at that place if my body allows me to. I ran for about 30-35 minutes before coming to a grinding halt. It was getting dark and I had many things to do at home. I just took some pictures with my mobile and started walking towards my apartment.

I was so happy that I got such a nice place to run where I do not have to worry about life threatening traffic or perilous dog-bites.

Here are some photos

Good bye

I saw you standing at a distance,
And I knew it was you.
I saw you smiling at someone,
And I knew it was you.
I saw you hopping around like a butterfly,
And I knew it was you.
You didn´t even notice me staring at you,
But I knew it was you.

Then the day came when I met you
and saw deep into your eyes.
I couldnt help myself
but stare at that magical smile

Never realised I was falling in love
till I knew you were already engaged.
Each passing day was pain like hell
to see you showering love on someone else.
I saw you holding his hand,
I saw you waiting for him,
I saw you sleeping on his shoulder,
I saw you crying for him.

But I held my ground
till you knew that I Loved You,
I stood firm
till you believed that it was me.
I was there for you always
till you said you love me too.

It was magic then onwards
and we were playing in paradise.
Time flew like a bird
and we cruised happily through life.

Then the devil struck
and there were tears all around.
Hell had broken hard on us
and I knew you were gone.
It was never the same
as I realized what I had lost.
You never turned back to me
and I too was lost in my world.

Today I see you going again,
Far far away from anything we had.
Going to another world
Where there wont even be a trace of me.
I cant say if I am happy
neither can I say I am sad !!
I just feel I have lost something
Which actually I never had !!

- Anonymous

Before I Die

There are a couple of things I wish to do before I close my eyes forever. There is no laminated list as such, but if I start thinking, the following points would make a rough list

• Graffiti
• River rafting
• Rock climbing
• Camping alone in the wild
• Grow long hair
• Drive a car
• See Ireland

And last but not the least, know this damn ducker of a person called Pratosh Dwivedi.

MY family

I miss my family & maybe that's the reason I came back to this blog after more than 3 months.

To be honest, I really don't remember when I last even felt like missing them in the 3 odd years since I left my home. It was back in June'05 when I finished my college and went out for a job in Chennai. I've spent not more than 3 months with them in the past 3 years & amazingly, I never felt or regretted that.

It was the excitement of school for 12 years which always used to make me wait eagerly for the Sundays to get over. Which made me brood over the idea of going out somewhere lest I miss my school. Then it was the craze of 4 years of college; the newly found freedom, newly born thoughts & newly born relationships. After college it was the new job, which came with the pleasure of money and a "personal" space amongst all the social mess of course. I didn't even realize how naturally I took "them" for granted or to be blunt, how simply I ignored "them".

Now I see people, I see parents with their children, I see cousins having fun together, I see families going out for vacations, I see Dads giving advices to their daughters, I see Moms caring about their sons & then a sudden sense of emptiness sinks in. Where has my family been all this time? Or where have I been for so long?

I don't care to call home at night cauz its too late & I'll feel sleepy in office the next day. Or its too early in the morning & I will get late for office. Then after a week when I somehow manage to make a call & that too after my Dad tells me that "Dont get your Mom worried, call her once in a while", my Mom tells me that she knew I would be busy with work and she's happy I could manage to call.

I have grown up. I am moving towards my goals. I am aspiring for success. I am following my hobbies. I am earning good money. I am visiting places. I am eating in nice restaurants. I am wearing branded clothes. I am almost half way through my life. I miss my Mom. I miss my Dad. I miss my grandparents. I miss fighting with my brother. I am writing crap ?

Me, Myself & Lufthansa

Date – 12^th Mar’08
Place – Chennai, India
Characters involved – Me, Sonu (My roommate), LTA - Lufthansa ticketing agent, LFM - Lufthansa flight manager, Mohan – from my company's travel desk

Me – Sonu, its already 8:30 man, lets go and have dinner, otherwise I will get late.
Sonu – Bhaiyya!! Your flight is at 1:45 AM, so relax. It won’t leave without you.
Me – Yes man, I know that, but still I always prefer being at the airport at least 2 hours in advance, in case something goes wrong.
Sonu – OK, we’ll just go and have dinner & then you can leave

As we started for dinner, I got the call from the cab driver asking me the exact location of the place. I somehow explained him the way, since he didn’t know English & I had intense problems in speaking Tamil. As we started walking towards the restaurant, it started raining. By the time we finished our dinner, it was pouring down heavily. We somehow managed to reach back home in time and get into the taxi. Since it was late at night and once I go inside the checking area I can’t meet anyone, I told Sonu to stay back and wished him goodbye.

I reached the airport around 10:30 PM. Got my luggage checked and stood in the queue for checking in. Since I was early, in hardly 5 minutes, I found myself facing the guy on the counter.

LTA – Sir, can I have your passport and booking reference please?
Me – Yeah sure (Handed over both the things with a smile)
LTA – Please keep your luggage on the platform for weighing

(At this point I was a bit apprehensive as I expected my luggage to be a few kilos heavier than allowed. But having prior flying experience through the same airline, I expected it to go smooth. Suddenly, my thought process was broken by the LTA’s voice)

LTA – Sir, your luggage is above the permissible weight, you have to pay taxes if you want to carry all of this.
Me – Ok, by how much is it exceeding the limit? How much do I have to pay?

(Expecting a figure of some 4-5 kilos, I thought I will talk it over. But I was totally rattled by his reply)

LTA – Sir, it is 30 Kgs above the limit and you have to pay a sum of Rs 75,000 INR.

(At first I couldn’t believe what I heard, but then I thought he has made some mistake and I should explain)

Me – The weight limit for the check-in luggage is 23 Kgs per piece right? And I am allowed two pieces.
LTA – No Sir, for all flights going to North America via Europe, the total weight of the luggage allowed per passenger is 20 Kgs
Me – Boss !! This is the third time I am having this trip & I this is my 5^th check-in at your counter. When did the baggage rules change?
LTA – Sir, the baggage rules are the same for the past 3 years. There is certainly some confusion here. You can see on your e-ticket, it is clearly mentioned - 20Kgs per passenger

(To my horror, it was indeed mentioned below the flight details. “Have I been ignoring this all the time I was going to Mexico? Ok, even if I ignored, how did these people allow me?” Seeing my blank white face & the long queue formed behind me, he spoke again -)

LTA – Sir, people are waiting. If you have any problems with this, I will suggest that you talk to our flight manager.

(I nodded my head in consent & he called for someone from the back-office. I unloaded my luggage from the platform, put it back on the trolley and started walking away from there, with an embarrassed face. People standing in the queue were staring at me, as if I just broke some international-flying-law. The flight manager appeared in a moment with a big walkie-talkie in her hand. By seeing her face itself I knew she would be a tough nut)

LFM – How can I help you Sir?
Me – Maam, this is my third trip from India to Mexico & suddenly your people are telling me that I can carry only half the amount of what I have carried on all my trips.
LFM – Sorry Sir, but our rules are the same for the past 3 years. I am sure some confusion has happened on your side. As you can see, the same thing is clearly mentioned on your ticket.

(I knew that I have already lost the battle, but I still tried to convince that lady giving all sort of arguments. But as I estimated from the first glance, she was totally “un-negotiable”. I called up the travel desk at my company who told they will try to help but it may take some time. As there was hardly an hour left for the last check-in, I decided to do the inevitable. I called my room mate and told him to come to the airport)

Me – Sonu, I am stuck in thick soup, please take the bike and come here ASAP. I don’t have time.
Sonu – Why? What happened suddenly?
Me – No time for reciting the whole Ramayana right now, I have to return half my things, you come here quickly.
Sonu – Ok, don’t worry. I will be there in 30 minutes.

My face was red like an apple. I felt as if all the blood has come and collected inside my head. I was not able to understand what to do. How will I do away with half the stuff? How will I reduce the total weight to 20 Kgs? After a couple of minutes, I realized there is no way out & I have to go ahead with this. I took a deep breath and found a small place at the middle of the hall to do the re-packing. I laid down both my luggage & opened them. The only thing to me relief at that time was the fact that I had distributed things evenly between the two pieces of luggage. So I just opened them and put all the stuff I had to return in one luggage.
A pair of formal shoes, a pair of sports shoes, shampoo bottle, cosmetics, books, some casual clothes, and all other things I thought I could manage without. I took out some books and kept them in my cabin baggage. Finally I re-packed everything and started looking for Sonu. In another 10 mins I got a call from him telling that he is waiting at the entrance. I got up, picked my luggage and as I was about to take the first step, all the stuff from my cabin baggage came out and got scattered all around me. Gosh!! I forgot to close it. I could feel the staring eyes around me. I somehow stuffed everything inside only to find an African woman photographing me sitting in the midst of the mess. I ignored her and walked towards Sonu. Handed over the luggage to him and gave sincere thanks. Then I walked back towards the counter and checked in what all was left with me.

My luggage was still around 10 Kgs above the limit, but being a witness to what I went thru during the past 1 hour, the LTA didn’t utter a word and handed me the boarding pass. I proceeded for emigration with the” how-I-am-going-to-manage-with-so-little-stuff” thought lingering in my mind. As I was standing in the emigration queue, the guy from travel desk called up.

Mohan – Pratosh, just now the Lufthansa people told me that you have checked in. So I suppose it’s not a problem now.
Me – Yes Mohan, I sent by half my stuff & I don’t even know what all I have with me. So I too suppose that it really isn’t a problem right now.

He sensed the frustration in my voice and decided to cut the call after a brief wish-u-a-happy-journey conversation. I passed through the emigration and final security just to reach the terminal in time for the boarding call.

Lufthansa – There is no better way to fly

I dont wanna be a punching bag

Imagine yourself being constantly in the line of fire. Everyone around you seems to just shout at you, for no apparent reason. Each and every move of yours is kept under the microscope and you are criticized at all possible instances. You develop such a feeling of apprehension, that when you are not alone, you feel like being a part of a play, acting on stage, with a big audience watching you closely and you having that feeling of nervousness in your gut which constantly pricks you not to go wrong anytime during your act. Because you know, the moment you falter, the audience is either going to laugh or make some shrewd comment and you are going to be the punching bag.

Fundamentally, one can react in two different ways when presented with such a situation. The first one, which is widely preached and often the least practiced, is to be calm and let the dogs bark. You are told to ignore these filthy creatures around you and keep yourself calm and composed. Concentrate inwards rather than falling into the trap of this hostility around you. As Mr. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi once told, if the enemy slaps you on one cheek you present the other one in front of him. But at the same time, as Munnabhai told, you really don’t understand what to do when the enemy slaps on the other one too. According to me, there is a limit until which you can exhibit such a behavior. No one can keep on being calm when posed with such a situation without suppressing his self respect. Somewhere he will curse himself for being quiet when others were poking him unprovoked.

The other way, one which is widely practiced, is to hit back. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth doesn’t matter if you leave half the world blind. Because it’s important to make the other person realize how exactly you feel when the same is inflicted upon you. He needs to taste his own medicine. He needs to realize that he just can’t keep on trampling you, as if you were some weak little puppy, at whom any bullish dog can just keep on barking. And supposedly, this boosts your confidence and induces a feeling of superior self respect.

However one may react to such a situation, what goes beyond my understanding is why do people behave this way? What pleasure do they get in unnecessarily condemning and keep on poking other people, who rarely do the same to them? Is it a result of weak self confidence in them which is making them to become aggressive for the sake of their own defense? Or is it because they themselves feel inferior in some way & to overcome that feeling they want to suppress their so called opponent in any possible way?

Apart from the occasional anger and disgust, mostly I feel pity for such people. They just can’t realize how much they are loosing by being like this. Maybe they are happy and contended in their own small world, but on the whole they are just living inside a box. They can’t see the happiness and pleasure one gets by being in harmony with people around him.

Maybe, I AM careless

Though I’ve been tagged of being careless for a long time now, but only recently I have started realizing that it might actually be true. The reason for this, I suppose, is that my luck has stopped favoring me now.

My luck was so much attached to me that I had started taking it for granted. A few examples for this would be:

• Many times I left the key plugged into my bike for the whole night while my bike was standing outside my house only to find it again safe at it’s place in the morning.
• Many times I have left the registration and ownership documents of my bike at places where no one can expect to find them again, only to retrieve them safely.
• I have left my watch & wallet and all imaginable places but never did I lose them till date.

But now I have started realizing that maybe I need to be more careful with myself and with the things I do. A few things which made me think around this point are

• I cut my thumb deeply a couple of days back, while chopping onions.
• The other day, I spilled the glass of juice all over the dining table to the discomfort of me and others seated around.
• I dropped a big meat chopping knife almost on my foot and was lucky to get away with it.
• I spilled a pan filled with oil on the kitchen slab, cauz I though that the pan is empty and just swung it in the air while picking it up.
• At the greatest of all, I lost my camera a couple of days back.

I hate it when people call me careless. I find it too much insulting to bear & accept. Also, I hate it when people see me with accusing and blaming eyes when I do something careless. Most of the times when I’m accused of it, I become highly defensive and give all types of arguments in my favor. But after the loss of my camera, I really have started thinking that something is wrong with me. I certainly need to be more careful with how I am handling things and be a bit more vigilant with things happening around me. But this thought has started creating a sense of nervousness now. Each time I leave my seat or de-board a bus I get a chill down my spine, as if I left something behind. I start checking if everything is there, my wallet, cell-phone, watch. It is as if I have lost all confidence in myself, the confidence of keeping things safe.

It sounds stupid and silly, but it really is happening. In an effort to get rid of my carelessness, I am inducing a hint of freakish behavior inside me. I hope I get over this soon.

I lost it

Last Saturday, I lost my camera. Many would think why it deserves a blog post, but I really need to pen this down as it a BIG loss to me.

As people who are close to me would know, my camera was very important for me and it was something I can’t imagine living without. I used to carry it everywhere, during outings, while going for a walk, while going for shopping to the local supermarket. Now I miss it. I miss it more than I have missed any other thing I ever lost. I curse myself for my carelessness but there is little I can do now.

It happened last weekend when I went for a party. We were waiting on the roadside for some friends to arrive when I kept my camera next to me on the pavement where we were sitting. Later when we got up and started walking towards the place, I realized I don’t have the camera with me. I ran back towards the place where we were sitting, but it was too late. In an interval of 1 minute, someone had taken it. Being a busy sidewalk, I lost all hopes of running and finding the person who took it.

I was totally lost, not able to think what exactly has happened. I didn’t want to spoil the evening of others so I just walked towards the disco with a blank mind. I couldn’t believe what has happened and the feeling of the loss was still to sink in. I couldn’t enjoy even a bit at the disco and somehow managed to do away with the night.

Now that it has been 3 days since it happened, the thing has finally got into my mind. I know my camera is no longer with me. I know I can get a new one, but I can never get the same one back. I’ve had such a nice time with it, taking photos of every imaginable thing. It has been the life of my image blog & now that it is gone, I don’t know how I will manage without it.

My Sony DSC H2 – 17^th Oct’07 to 17^th May’08

Access denied

A toilet is one place in this world where people can move in and out freely, no matter where it is. Be it a restaurant, an airport, your office, or any other public place, “paid-toilets” being an exception, no one will stop you from using the place. Even a stranger will allow you to come and pee in his/her toilet if there is an absolute emergency and nowhere to go.

But things are astonishingly different in my office here in Mexico City. On my first day in office, I had an urgent nature’s call, when I found myself struggling to open the toilet door. It just won’t open. Then I thought that maybe the toilet on this floor is not functional, so I will try the one on the next floor. But it was the same story at each floor. Under such a “pressurized” situation, I can’t even go and ask someone, as people don’t understand English. Also, it would have been quite embarrassing to ask someone in sign language that “Boss!! Why this darn gate doesn’t open? I have to pee!!!”

Finally after an hour’s wait some of my Indian colleagues arrived and from them I came to know that the toilets have been locked. Each employee of the bank has been given a separate key to the toilet. It is just like giving an access card. For a single lock, they have made around 400+ keys and distributed them among the employees.

What stupid concept is this? No one is going to come from outside the bank just to use the toilet, that too when you have a big private building with access controls everywhere. Neither have you engraved your toilet pots with precious stones, so that someone will come and steal them. You have an ordinary toilet, which most of the people will use for normal purposes only. What is the need of doing this stupidity?

On that very day I made sure I have a key to that “protected & confidential zone” so that I don’t have to wait for ages before I can do something that I used to do at my will at other places.

Freaky coincidence

OK, another one for the fight experiences this time. This is a freaky coincidence which is happening with me right from the time I took my first flight. And its not that it happens only 3 out of 5 times, rather the probability of occurrence is 1, i.e. no longer it is a probability, and rather it has become a certainty. I know it would be hard to believe, but you have to.

Each time I travel by air, the seat next to me is always empty. I’ve been on approximately 8 domestic and 10 international flights till date and never have I been sitting next to an occupied seat. The height was reached when I was returning to India from Frankfurt last January. I was told at the ticketing counter that they cannot allot me a seat as the flight is overbooked and it is advisable to reach the boarding gate early so as to get the boarding pass without any problems. The word “over-booked” itself tells you that there are too many people to travel on the same flight. Yet, to my what-the-hell-is-this surprise, when I boarded the flight, the next seat was empty.

I don’t know what the reason is; as there can’t be any. It is just a weird thing which keeps on happening to me each time I fly. I will definitely publish at “counter-post” once I meet with an exception to this.

I'm gonna win

Dark is the night
I can battle the storm
Never say die
I've been down this road before
I'll never quit
I'll never lay down,
See I promised myself that I'd never let me down

I'll never give up
Never give in
Never let a ray of doubt slip in
And if I fall
I'll never fail
I'll just get up and try again

Never lose hope
Never lose faith
There's much too much at stake
Upon myself I must depend
I'm not looking for place ashore
I'm gonna win

I'll stop at nothing
There's still a ways to go, oh
Someway, somehow
Whatever it takes, I know
I'll never quit, no no
I'll never go down, mm, mm
I'll make sure they remember my name
A hundred years from now

When it's all said and done
My once in a lifetime will be back again
Now is the time
To take a stand
Here is my chance
That's why I...

I'm gonna win

(Courtesy - Men of honor)

The missing 'I'

I got my boarding pass for my connecting flight from Frankfurt to Mexico at Chennai itself. I had a look and both the boarding passes in my hand, just to see where I'm gonna sit, cauz I had requested for an aisle seat. For the first flight the seat was 51D & for the second one it was 49K. Given that there are a total of 10 seats in a row in the economy class of a Lufthansa Boing (some model) plane, I got that for the first flight the seat is actually an aisle seat. A, B, C & then D ... ok its an aisle seat. Now I started counting for the second flight. A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I & then J. That sums up to 10. But the seat allotted to me as 49K. How is this possible? I counted the sequence again in my head, at least 3 more times, just to be sure. But each time, to my surprise, it ended at J.

I thought of going back to the counter and asking the guy if there was some mistake. But then I thought maybe this is the row at the end or something where they do actually have an "K" labeled seat. I got into my first flight and thought of searching for 49K before finding out my actual seat. As I boarded the plane and reached the economy class, I realized that they don't actually have an "I" seat. The sequence is - A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,J & then K. The "I" was missing. I had been traveling by the same airline, by the same plane, for the past 8 times. I was amazed that how come I never noticed this before.

Did anyone of you know about this missing "I"? Is it only in Lufthansa or they ate it up in other airlines too?

Innovative cooking

I went out with some friends in the morning and returned pretty much at lunch time. Tired from the whole roaming around and my stomach screaming for some food, I really wasn't in a mood to do some time consuming cooking. Being a Good Friday, the shops were closed for the holiday and I couldn't order something from the nearby Subway too. So all I had was hardly 10 minutes to figure out what edible can I make out of the things I have in the fridge. Given the limited resources which would qualify for a quick meal, I made up this - Steaming corn with scrambled eggs.

Recipe (Serves 2, if I'm not one of them)
Eggs - 2
American corn kernels - 200gms
Green chilies - 2
Lemon - 1
Black pepper powder
Butter - 1 spoon
Onions - 1

Boil the corn kernels and mix the butter & lemon juice in it. Fry the chopped onions and chopped chilies in a separate frying pan. When the onions are brown, break the eggs and pour them into the pan to make a mess. Once the scrambled eggs are ready, add the pre-prepared (sounds inappropriate, but who cares) corn to the pan. Cook for 10 minutes. Add some ketchup and salt to taste. Serve steaming hot along with some orange juice & pickle.

So, I did all this and had a heart warming meal. It came out really delicious I tell you. Hunger does lead to innovation.

P.S - By the time I took this photo, it went cold, so I had to heat it up again in the microwave :)