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Its July!

2008-07-10T00:31:00.003+05:30

Its July and here I am once again, blogging for the first time in 2008~! Woohoo! Here's a small account of the events that i distinctly remember happening in the last 6 months.

January - A very cold winter.(People wearing sweaters in Mumbai! people say its cos of global warming...thats nice, I hope it snows next year)

February - Maiden...Maiden \m/(did i mention about my dive, the one i took to get hold of Nicko McBrain's drum-stick), cold winter continues and markets start to tumble.

March - Presentations,Assignments and Markets tumbling.

April - Argh! Exams! yeah, starting from 15th(my b'day)and Markets tumbling!

May - Summer Interns, 'Red Devils' winning both EPL and UCL, IPL, rising prices of crude oil and more of markets tumbling)

June - Euro cup, Ronaldo and his Infidelity, Rains and the floods, Crude oil reaching its peak, INFLATION, INFLATION and more INFLATION.

^^ Thats it, 6 months in a nutshell. :)

Last day of 2007

2007-12-31T14:14:00.000+05:30

Ahh!!
What an eventful year it has turned out to be!!

Had its share of ups and downs,lost some loved ones and made friends with new ones.I guess thats the way of nature; 'You lose some,you gain some'

As the famous Rocky Balboa had once said ' Its not about how hard u can hit, its about how hard u can get hit and move keep moving forward'.

:)

1 2 3 4 by Feist

2007-10-01T23:58:00.000+05:30

Just love this song for no apparent reason.

Maybe cos its got a catchy tune which made me feel really elated. The video is brilliant shot in one take and the camera rotations are superb and the dancing is worth a watch.

Heard this song in the new Apple iPod nano ad.

Chak de India!!

2007-09-24T23:36:00.001+05:30

'Team India' made my day. Who ever had thought of Dhoni's young team reaching the final of the inaugural ICC Twenty-20 world cup and winning it. And that too with Pakistan. Truly an icing on the cake!!

What a game right till the end!! The bowling was up to the mark specially, Pathan. The stats speak for themselves. 4 overs,3 wickets and 16 runs. Thats a big feat in a 20-20 game.He rightly deserved the 'man of the match' award. Pakistan were equally competent. Misbah - That guy has some balls!! He could have the made the difference for them. But as they say 'Jo Jeeta Wohi Sikandar'!!

Its has been a fantastic tournament!! Team India was really brilliant throughout in every section - batting,bowling and yes in fielding too!!!

Yuvraj's Sixes, Bhajji's bhangra, Sreesanth's aggressiveness, first ever bowl-up,sexy dancers and an awesome crowd. What else does one want in a cricket match.

Dhoni proved his mettle by taking risks and believing in his youngsters. Truly a trait of a good leader. India's recent victory stint has not only popularized this form of cricket but has also generated and revived an interest in the game which was lost after its early exit from the world cup early this year.

Chak de India!!!

Gaurav :)

Becometh an 'MBA'

2007-09-16T23:18:00.000+05:30

Well its been almost a month since college started and it already feels like ever. Feels good to be busy again after a year of doing nothing but grade-1 'lukkhagiri'.

Things have been moving at a greater pace than before and its a different experience altogether.I am loving every bit of it. Maybe the reason for that is because the old schedule that used to be fixed or reserved for 'lukkhagiri' activities has changed and a new refined one has taken its place.

For instance,

1. I get up at 7 am instead of 9 am.
2. I m ready by sharp 9 am and take the 9:05 am bus to college.
3. I am never late. (at least till now).
4. I seldom come online in the morning.
5. I attend all the lectures. (shocking but true).
6. I take down notes and i make it a point to understand whats going on in the class.
7. I carry a lunch box with me.
8. I have two library cards and i use them.
9. I have hardly downloaded anything since college started.
10. I go to sleep at 11pm.

Ain't it an impressive schedule.Well there are lots of other things.But i wanted to make the list a perfect 10.

Apart from all this i would like to mention what an MBA course does to people or rather what i have been doing, learning and listening in this past month.

1. You start reading the economic times and realize the paper is not as dull or boring as it is perceived in spite of the boring pink color. And besides that it makes you look important. :D
2. You wonder why India is still a poor developing nation after reading about multi billion dollar acquisitions taking place almost daily.
3. You are suddenly interested in the sensex, the interest rates, the inflation rates etc... about which u didn't give a damn a month back.
4. You hear words like leadership, resources, planning, presentations , break, organization, company, satisfaction and other management jargon at least a zillion times in a day.
5. You start using word and power point more often.
6. You wear formals for 4 days in a week and u get to flaunt your laptop with pride(its optional).

And finally you get to enhance your Gujarati and Punjabi vocab :D

Gaurav.
:)

Melancholy

2007-08-19T23:18:00.000+05:30

Its been almost 4 months today...

This one is for u Mikin...

'Nobody knows where you are, how near or how far.
Shine on you crazy diamond.
Pile on many more layers and I'll be joining you there.
Shine on you crazy ('Mikin')diamond.
And we'll bask in the shadow of yesterday's triumph, and sail on the steel breeze.
Come on you boy child, you winner and loser, come on you miner for truth and delusion,
and shine!'

- Shine on you Crazy diamond - Pink Floyd

Its Raining...Its Raining

2007-08-03T10:19:00.000+05:30

Dekho baarish ho rahi hai
Its raining its raining its raining...
Mera dil ro raha hai
my heart is paining its paining its paining...

I m not a fan of this song nor am i a fan of Anu Malik!!...

But its raining cats and dogs since morning...and this song popped up in my mind :)

P.S and my heart is just fine and it aint paining :P

Gaurav.

Relief

2007-07-26T16:22:00.000+05:30

A Bad Deed

^^
The old man returned today...

And i bought this time

:-)

The things that i can't have.

2007-07-26T00:43:00.000+05:30

The Things that i can't have...

A chateau in France with a wine cellar containing the rarest of wines.
A gorgeous French chick tending my grapevines and then later tending me. :P
A vacation on the most expensive 'yatch' in the Mediterranean sea.
A Lamborghini parked in the garage of my Monaco villa.
A candle light dinner with Maria Sharapova on a gondola in Venice.
Paris Hilton's Victoria's Secret Bra which i can auction off later in 2040.
Royal box centre court Wimbledon tickets for a Federer match.
An AK-47(Kalashnikov) that i can sling on my shoulder and roam freely.
An oil well in Texas that never runs out.

The Things i wanna have...

A chateau in France with a wine cellar containing the rarest of wines.
A gorgeous French chick tending my grapevines and then later tending me. :P
A vacation on the most expensive 'yatch' in the Mediterranean sea.
A Lamborghini parked in the garage of my Monaco villa.
A candle light dinner with Maria Sharapova on a gondola in Venice.
Paris Hilton's Victoria's Secret Bra which i can auction off later in 2040.
Royal box centre court Wimbledon tickets for a Federer match.
An AK-47(Kalashnikov) that i can sling on my shoulder and roam freely.
An oil well in Texas that never runs out.

Gaurav :)

A Girl Like You

2007-07-23T00:32:00.000+05:30

Been in a situation where u have just heard a song in a video or an ad and have no idea about it or who the artist of the song is? And your not not able to get that song out of ur head for some reason...Maybe the tune is too catchy or corny for that sake...

Just saw the MTV Saturday Shuffle ad featuring VJ Mia(Shes Hot!! ) a couple of hrs back...the ad was fabulous showing the voluptuous VJ seducing in every possible position and the song featured was even more fantastic...Its been 2 hrs and i am still humming it and i wanna listen to it again, but i have no idea about the artist.

After an hour of hardcore googling and searching the net, I finally find the song details..YAY!!
The song is called 'A Girl Like You' and is performed by Edwyn Collins.

For all who want to check out the MTV ad featuring the sultry VJ Mia :
http://mtvindia.com/itsmy/its_my_show1.php

And here is the original song along with the video :)

Edwyn Collins - A Girl Like You

Cheers.
Gaurav

Facebook !!

2007-07-07T15:16:00.000+05:30

Well...Registered and made a profile on 'Facebook' today after a friend told me about it...

What is Facebook??

Facebook is a social networking website. As of July 2007, it is the second most visited such website on the, World Wide Web, with over 28 million members. It is surpassed only by MySpace.

Facebook is one of the most visited sites on the Internet, ranked between top 10–20 most visited websites as of June 2007 and is the number one site for photos in the United States , ahead of public sites such as Flickr, with over 8.5 million photos uploaded daily.It is also the seventh most visited site in the United States.
Source : Wikipedia.

Facebook is vast and is much more interactive than Orkut...In fact its better than Orkut in certain aspects such as privacy,security,GUI and functionality...The best feature is that it saves the trouble of searching and adding the already existing friends on Facebook...It imports friends automatically from your Yahoo/Gmail/Hotmail contacts and also gives an option to invite friends who are not on Facebook...

Facebook Vs Orkut

Facebook has most of the Orkut features...
Scraps is synonymous to a feature called 'The Wall'...

Another feature called 'Fun Wall' lets u post videos and pictures to other friends...

Communities are called as groups...People are distributed through networks based on their locations,high schools,colleges and work places...

Numerous photo albums can be created against a 12 photo limit in Orkut...Friends can tag photos and can even add their own photos to the albums...and the privacy feature allows u to set constraint on who can and cannot see the photos...

Apart from this the best and the fun feature of Facebook is the ability to incorporate various applications in the profile...there are 1500 applications to choose from....some of them allow u too set ur mood,draw graffiti, compliment friends, share views about favorite movies and music , play games, see horoscope and tarot cards and even sell/buy stuff through a application called 'Marketplace'.

Finally something to give Orkut a run for its money!!

Gaurav.

Shalimar the Clown

2007-07-06T15:55:00.000+05:30

Finished reading Sir Salman Rushdie's latest work...'Shalimar,the Clown'... wanted to read a Rushdie novel for a long time and chose this book over his 'Booker of Bookers' award winning 'Midnite's Children'.

The book is engaging and fast-paced and not a drag as i thought it would be...Its an immensely moving and astonishing story about love gone bad, betrayal, revenge and the lost ruined paradise of Kashmir...

An amazing book by an excellent author....Rushdie \m/

"If Rushdie cannot make you see and smell and feel the loveliness of life in Kashmir, he does, finally, make a commanding story of its loss." - The New York Times

Gaurav.

'Sivaji - The Boss' Madness Personified

2007-06-22T21:06:00.001+05:30

Its been almost a week since Rajnikanth's long awaited comeback movie 'Sivaji - The Boss' released and has been making waves all over...It has been directed by Shankar along with the lethal combination of A.R Rahman who has composed the music...The movie, made at a budget of Rs 96 crores is said to be the costliest movie ever made in India and has been released worldwide amidst unbelievable hype and fanfare...Its just mind boggling to see how much importance has been given to a single movie and its superstar 'Rajni'...

Its been ages i did something crazy and todays events would stand out to be the most bizarre...Firstly i went to see a tamil movie,let alone i don't understand a single word of tamil and secondly i went to see it alone...I was curious about it since the day it released and wanted to witness the stardom that Rajni demands and possess and the sheer madness behind it....So i had it watch it...

Decided to go for the 3pm show at Aurora... The last movie i saw here was Titanic and its been almost 11 years...I reach there at 2:45 pm...The theater has been revamped into an artificial red colored fortress/castle and has been spruced up with lights...a king size poster of the movie with Rajni standing tall looms in the background...apart from that its surrounded by 10-12 Rajni fan-club billboards with the master himself towering on each of them in different poses...I go to the ticket counter and buy myself a executive stall ticket...There are all sorts of people waiting for the gates to open...Hardcore Rajni fans in groups of 10-12, families,children, single goers like me...all waiting impatiently...its just amazing to see the spirit and enthusiasm...

Finally the gates open and everyone rushes in...The air conditioning is good but the seats are the same...the old wooden chairs with cushions...well i m not complaining and watching it here is not a bad idea after all...The title comes and the crowd goes into a total frenzy...Enter Rajni and the intensity of whistling and clapping is more than ever...and it doesn't cease there...it accompanies every dialogue, every dance and every fight sequence...Every Rajni punchline is like a never ending orgasm for the die-hard Rajni fans...15 mins into the movie and we come across the first song in the movie...the whistling and dancing is at its max....the movie has it all...the big songs set against artistic backdrops...Rajni wearing a blond wig and singing "sunlight moonlight"(the only 2 english words in that song)...a sexy heroine showing cleavage at every possible opportunity...the trademark Rajni stunts defying all the laws of gravity....bouncing the chewing gum off his palm and directly into his mouth....shooting fire-crackers through his mouth...and fighting with guitars...a total entertainment package...

I don't understand tamil but i was able to follow almost everything happening in the movie....this showed the charisma and brilliance of Rajni and his ability to spellbound the audience...'Actions speak louder than words ' is very apt and true in this case...Rajni beats Big B hands down and no one in bollywood can claim the sort of appeal Rajni holds...The movie lived up to its hype and i wasn't disappointed..

All Hail Rajni :)

\m/

Gaurav

A Bad Deed

2007-06-18T23:09:00.000+05:30

Have u done something bad and later regretted it, felt guilty and wished it never happened and wanted a way to undo it...??

I would like to mention about this little incident that occurred today afternoon that made me realize how harsh life can be and how helpless it can render someone...

Well i was at home reading/orkuting/browsing(which some would also refer as wasting time) and doing the usual stuff when the doorbell rang...I opened it to find an old man standing with incense stick packets (agarbattis) in his hand...He was tall ,thin, had white beard and was wearing dark glasses...By the looks of it,he was almost 60+...was carrying a plastic bag full of agarbatti packets on his right shoulder and i could bet that the bag was heavier than him...he was all sweaty and tired..

I thought he was a regular salesman bugging in the middle of a afternoon and was about to close the door as i usually do...But then he spoke in perfect english...He was pleading and i could sense the pain in his voice...He said his son had a brain tumor and this wasn't his regular job...He wanted the money for the operation...My heart wanted to believe him, but my mind kept saying no for some reason...He became paranoid and i could feel his urgency...he became desperate and requested me to buy at least one of them...My intellect overruled my conscience....I just told him i was sorry and closed the door...He went back all deceived and dejected..

My conscience kept pricking me that i had done something wrong...It made me feel guilty...I could have spend a mere 20 bucks and bought at least one packet which would have made him happy,helped his son in some way and didn't make me feel like shit...I m not religious but i certainly believe in karma...There are no good men or bad men...Its the deeds that have goodness or badness in them...It is what we do or refuse to do that link us to good and evil...and what i had done was a bad deed or karma on my part...

Gaurav

I Remember..

2007-06-14T20:57:00.000+05:30

I Remember....

a life without an internet connection..
a life without mobile phones..
eating Yankee-Doodle ice-cream at Temptation's..
waiting for the paperwala to deliver Tinkle every fortnight...
watching jungle book every sunday at 10am
making paper boats during rains (and yes,i didnt make this up :P)
Aamchi Mati aamchi mansa , Superhit Muqaubla and Bomkesh Bakshi on Doordarshan..
Zee Horror show, Hum Paanch , Dekh bhai Dekh and Just Mohabbat..
Vicks Action 500 and hamara bajaj ads...
waiting for the school to get over on a friday..
trying to wake up for school on a monday morning..
studying for exams beforehand rather than studying at the last moment..
running from one tuition to the other and still finding time to play..
playing cricket all day long during vacations..
playing islander, baseball and mario on a 64 bit video game
playing doom,abuse and brian lara cricket on my 486..
Nayan Mongia and his infamous "ai gaa" appeals..
India winning matches for a change..
a world without star tv and ekta kapoor..
Sion circle without a fly-over..
roopam talkies and Mumbai without multiplexes..

I Remember :)

Gaurav

The Afghan

2007-06-14T12:25:00.000+05:30

Just finished reading Frederick Forsyth's latest work 'The Afghan'....

Didn't find it as interesting and intriguing like his earlier masterpieces, 'The Odessa File' and 'The day of the Jackal'...The plot is pretty slow and gives a post 9/11 fictional scenario which might be true....

If you have not read a Forsyth novel before then it can be a good read.

Gaurav.

Why?

2007-06-12T23:13:00.000+05:30

Why do i need to work?
Why do i need to be better than someone?
Why do i need to compete?
Why do i need to be the best?
Why cant i just be ordinary?
Why cant i waste time?
Why cant i lie?
Why do i have to feel guilty?
Why do i need attention?
Why do i need to be famous?
Why do i need fame?
Why doesn't money grow on trees?
Why cant i play cs all day long?
Why is life so screwed up??
Why is it so hot and humid in Mumbai?
Why cant i sport jackets and mufflers in Mumbai?
Why doesn't it snow here?
Why doesn't Ba on Kyunki die?
Why cant i travel back in time?

Why cant this blog be more useful...?
Why cant this blog make any sense?

Wish life was a bit easier with a little less Why's?

Gaurav.

Music For the SouL

2007-06-12T09:22:00.000+05:30

The Transition from Pop to Metal has been a long journey for me and also the most exciting one...

It has taken almost 10 years for me to progress into these different genres of music and understand them...I still remember the last years of school, where the only genre of music i listened to was pop...and i loved it....Be it Michael Jackson, Moby, Ronan Keating , Backstreet boys- Boyzone (hell yeah!!) and even the likes of Britney,Kylie and JLo...Music for me was limited to them...and also some crazy love obsessed bollywood shit!....Never realized that there was a much better music beyond that waiting to be discovered...

It was during my early junior college years i had my first encounter with rock...a friend of mine suggested me some songs namely; Hotel California by Eagles, Californication by Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Nothing Else Matters by Metallica...i went home and downloaded them instantly (not literally...it took me 1 hr to download 3 songs as i had this crappy dial up connection at that time)...and i immediately connected with them...The lyrics were just brilliant and i couldn't get them out of my mind...

So close no matter how far
Couldn't be much more from the heart
Forever trusting who we are
And nothing else matters...

Soon i acquired the entire Metallica discography...It was my favourite band then and will always remain as my all time fav-band...heard each and every song of theirs...had the lyrics memorized...humming and air-guitaring the song tunes 24/7...the more i listened,the more i grew in love with them...Hetfield, Hammett and Ulrich were my idols...!!!

There was no turning back....Nirvana, Red hot Chilli peppers, Joe Satriani,Ozzy Osbourne,GnR,Black Sabbath,Judas Priest,Manson,Korn,Megadeth followed soon....And of course Iron Maiden with those awesome Bruce Dickinson vocals and fantastic rhythm guitars....In fact the first rock tee i bought was Maiden's 'Best Of The Beast' (i still have it).... I started growing my hair, started attending Rock Shows, became a master at HeadBanging n Moshing....Was one of lucky ones to attend the last 'I-rock' aka 'Independence Rock' at Rang Bhavan in 2003 because the place closed for any more shows after that...

As i progressed through this ladder,Classic Rock was always prevalent....Floyd was GOD!!(or rather GODs)...who hasn't heard of 'another brick in the wall'!!... its become almost a cliché and is played at almost every gig these days....Legends like Deep Purple,The Doors(hail Jim Morrison),Scorpions,Queen,Led Zeppelin,Ac/Dc and Jimi Hendrix will always remain in my heart...no matter what...

I personally feel that Rock/Metal has its beauty and power in its lyrics and can portray any range of emotion....be it joy,sorrow,sadness,hate,betrayal and even love....It doesn't judge me and is always there for me....

Metal has always been stereotyped and misunderstood...It has been associated with drugs and doping...but trust me u don't need drugs or alcohol to get high on music...The words like 'rocker' and 'heavy metal attitude' have been totally degraded by shows like Indian Idol (referring to Suhit who recently got kicked out of da show...anyways he cudnt sing shit!!)...Rock/Metal is more than wearing black tees,growling,howling and noise as it as been always been described....Think outside the box and u'll realize the real beauty and the potential of it...Its a lifestyle and not a passing trend..

Heres an excerpt from Sam Dunn's 'Metal - A headbangers Journey'

Y is metal always stereotyped,dismissed or condemned..??

metal confronts what we rather ignore..
it celebrates what we often deny
it indulges in what we fear most
and thats y metal will always be a culture of outsiders..

u either feel it or u don't
if metal doesn't give u that overwhelming surge of power and make the hair stand on the back of ur neck,u might never get it...

Proud to be a MetaLHead
Gaurav.

Passport

2007-06-11T19:59:00.000+05:30

Finally got my passport today....

After numerous trips to the Worli passport office and spending long hours in a line...i finally got the document that would allow me a right to legal protection abroad and the right to enter it....

I had applied for it on 26th April and i got it after 46 days...thats pretty fast,considering that i had applied to it directly without taking any help from a middleman or an agent...The regional office claims to deliver it in 45 days and i was surprised that i indeed received it in that time...

Cheers..Rock on\m/
Gaurav

First

2007-06-11T17:46:00.000+05:30

As the title of the post suggests....its my 'first' feeble attempt to blog...

Was aware about blogging and was always fascinated by it...but never really thought of blogging myself...i always thought blogging was more of pouring out one's insecurities on the net...but that misconception was cleared some days back...

I m no expert in blogging...but will come up with more quality and meaningful stuff in the days to come...

Till then..Tc..Laterzz
Gaurav.