A Hindi news channel quoted “Bihar ki junta jise Vikas ka chaska lag gaya hai -  wo junta laloo or paswan ki jaativaad rajneeti ko asweekar rahee hai.

Well said and truly speaks volumes about the basic yet much needed governance policies of Nitesh Kumar.

Way to go.

Jyoti: Hello Sir, I am calling from Citibank. Can I talk to you for 2 mins.
Me: Not now, later

I HANG, Jyoti CALLS AGAIN

Jyoti: Sir, please don’t disconnect. I really need to talk to you. It is my duty to inform you about what is happening with Citibank
Me (curiously): Hmmm, ya go ahead.

Jyoti: Sir, it has came to my notice that you’ve been using the Citibank Mobile App.
Me: Yes, is my account hacked or or WHAT? That is why it is urgent right?

Jyoti: No sir, I’ve not hacked your account. I don’t know how to hack.
Me: I am not blaming you, is my account hacked?

Jyoti: No sir, your account is hacked but please store your password properly, it is important that you keep it safe with you and do not share it with your girlfriend and wife.
Me: I understand, and just to set the record straight I just have a wife. I wish I had a girlfriend as well.

Jyoti: Sir, please don’t flirt with me.
Me: What the heck! No, it is not about you. Anyways, what is that you want. Break the news!

Jyoti: Sir, I don’t want to break your heart but I’ve a boyfriend
Me (amused, where the hell this came from): I am sorry! So, what were you saying about my account.

Jyoti: Sir, your account is alirght it is not hacked. Do not worry.
Me: Ya, you told me, and I just verified and changed my password.

Jyoti: That is very quick. You are smart and fast.
Me: You bet!

Jyoti: Sir, I told you not to flirt. It can be a legal case against you.
Me: WTF, you know what, thanks. I am hanging up.

Jyoti: Sir, please do not commit suicide.
Me: Is it some sortta prank or what. Why are you fuckin with me.

Jyoti: Sir, I’l have to report the use of abusive language to my senior.
Me: Yes, please fucking do that and tell him/her to suck my #@$#.

I HANG, JYOTI CALLS AGAIN

Jyoti: Why did you disconnect, don’t you like talking to me?
Me: Fuck off!

I HANG, JYOTI CALLS AGAIN

Me: I told ya to fuck off.

Now, I am pretty sure that the call is not from CitiBank, somebody was playing with me. After a few hours, when I am convinced that I call is not from CitiBank, I called that number again — turns out is a number of a public phone in Mumbai. Bandra to be more specific.

I am bugged by the fact that who fooled around with me — So I am writing this blog post, whoever this fake Jyoti is please call me back coz I’ve been going nuts for the past 2 days figuring out who you are. I swear I was not flirting

Life is Ironic sometimes

काम करता हूँ दफ्तर मैं
सारा नया काम समझ लिया
लेकिन वो ख़ुशी ना मिली जो तब थी
जब मैंने खुद कुछ नया किया

अच्छा लगता है मुझे यह भी करना
लेकिन यह काम ही कुछ और है
मेरा सपना था खुद कुछ करने का
उसे छोड़ के सारा काम कर लिया

वक़्त के साथ मैं भी बढ़ लिया
जो मिला वो ऑफर ले लिया
जो करना था मुझे असल मैं
वो करने का जज्बा कम कर दिया

उस दिन का मुझे इंतज़ार रहेगा
जब मेरा मन यह कहेगा
सर अपना मैं ऊपर कर एक
सपने को पूरा करने चल दिया

आज मुझे वो करने का मन करता है
आज मैंने वो करने का हौसला बना लिया
इस आराम की नौकरी तो त्याग कर मैं
अपना सपना पूरा करने चल दिया

यह दिन जल्दी आये ऐसे मेरी है दुआ
एक अत्यंत प्रज्वलित ज्वाला मैंने
अपने हृदय से जलाने का प्रयास किया
मैं अपनी मंजिल की और बढ लिया
अपनी मंजिल की और बढ लिया

I came to Hyderabad after finishing my college in Indore on June 18, 2006. Google put me up in this brilliant Guest House in Jubilee Hills. I had an AC room all to myself — After living in a hostel room for about.4 years and sharing a common toilet with 50 other guys in my block,this room with an AC, carpets, curtains, and an attached bathroom with Jaccuzi was sheer luxury. To top that, I shared the guest house (read mansion) with 10 girls. Can life get any better?

I fell in love with Hyderabad, even though I had seen nothing.

My superficial life as a king was shortlived and after 15 days of all apid for accomodation, I had to move to a rented modest 2BHK and shared the flat with a guy from work, Zubin. Later, we went on to become really good friends.

At Google you are really well taken care of, the only meal that I had to worry about was dinner. We used to frequent either Sandarshini, a decent veg restaurant, or Hyderabad House, a chain famous for its Biryani and non-veg delicacies for dinner. Both places offered great food for 60-80 bucks per head.

I used to wonder how these modest and skinny looking hyderabadi guys whom I used to ogle while they ate, can finish a whole Thali (a typical south Indian dinner with usually 6-8 different type of curries, curd, 1-2 chapatis, multiple pickles and chutneys, and several servings or rice) or eat a whole chicken biryani in one sitting. Me and Zubin used to order 1 biryani and share it. Sometimes both of us couldn’t finish the entire thing together. It was not long before I stereotyped Hyderabadi’s as monsters who can hog all day.

To drift slightly away from the topic, as time passed I felt that I am being accepted by the city as one of its own. I picked up some Telugu words and was able to communicate a tad bit better with the local pan walla. I fell in love with the chaos of Charminar, and the pleasent evenings at Hussain Sagar. I started appreciating Sanbhar and curd-rice like never before. I fell in love with the city and its people, and more so the food. I became a cross north-south random Indian who can’t eat lunch without rasam and daal both.

Now, almost 3 years and 8 months later I am a true blue Hyderabadi. I am proud of the city and its culture, food, and am glad that it accepted me.

I am now one of those I stereotyped. I can eat a thali with multiple serving of rice. I enthusiasticly and tastefully mix gun powder, rice, and ghee and hog till I can eat no more. I can finish a whole chicken biryani and still go out for dessert. And I now weigh around 65 kgs which is pretty neat coz it balances the BMI that goes with my height of 5’8″ — when I came to Hyderabad I was 52 kgs.

I think if I ever leave Hyderabad of all the things I will miss Biryani the most. For it is really unique and amazing. I had the best Biryani at Nizam’s Club which I believe was cooked to perfection with the aroma of spices engulfing you the moment it is served. For those of you who are members of Nizam Club, I strongly suggest you eat the Biryani there. For those of you who are not, find a good ol Hyderabadi friend who is a member and is willing to take you to the club, like the one I found

Hyderabadi Biryani rocks!

The funniest part is when they send me SMS saying: “Hi, I am Rhea from Hyderabad and I want to be your friend. SMS Chat at Rupee 3/SMS.” How ridiculous is this? To top this they started sending me SMS on how I can improve my skin tone. As a proud brown man, this came to me as a racist attack.

Now comes this scary part, a guy calls me and says “Hello Sir, I’ve a great offer from Vodafone. For only 400 INR/ month you can chat with as many girls as you want” I laughed my ass off an ddied laughing, my phone dropped and I only regained consciousness and came back to life after a good 10 minutes. Though scary and funny, this conversation made by day.

My rendezvous with phone doesn’t end here and I am sure I’ll be bombarded with such offers day after day. The real question is do I as a consumer have a choice? I did ask them to opt me out of such dumb promotion services but I guess my request didn’t register in their records — or they chose to ignore it. I think I’ll try reminding them once again and if I get further promotional messages/ calls, I might consider to sue them.

Steve is back!

I was thrilled. There are couple of business leaders who’ve influenced me a lot. Steve Jobs is one of them. For a moment, if I keep aside all the great products has Apple has launched in the past couple of decades, I think Steve would have still contributed very significantly in making our life better — probably not so much but he would have — In his own small, humble way.

I think perhaps one of the biggest qualities of Steve is to fight back. And this is something which I admire the most about him.

He lost millions of dollars worth of business to Microsoft in early 80s when Bill and Steve fought the legendary OS war. He kept working and making the products at Apple better. He encouraged the other Steve to join him and ‘change the world’ and not sell sodas. Later in the decade he was fired from Apple, the very company he founded. He had nothing left but public humiliation. He fought back and created multiple world class companies — only to be bought by Apple and get him reinstated as CEO again. He was diagnosed with cancer. He fought and is alive and kicking.

When I saw Steve Jobs earlier today, I saw a pale, thin man who seemed tired after fighting many battles. But, the moment he started speaking about iPad and addresses the crowd — I witnessed the same passion, the same zest, and shiny eyes that I remembered from the last time I saw him. He is here to stay — He made it clear that he may be weak in body but not in spirit and he is going to spend more years at Apple taking care of the business as usual.

Steve, Welcome back!

Now talking of iPad, I think it is the most useless device ever created by Apple. I do not expect a BIGGER iPhone from Apple which they are so wisely trying to push into middle of a phone and a laptop. Ridiculous!

I think iPad is more of a glorified kindle and nothing else. At 499$ it is priced right but I don’t think that it is revolutionary. At the end of the day it as a tablet PC.  So let’s not talk about it, I am disappointed. I was expecting something jaw dropping which I didn’t get.

Such is the irony of high expectations, even Jobs has to work his ass off to please someone like me who is probably gonna give business worth 5000$ in his entire life to Apple. But what the heck, consumer is king.

So, like a good ol’ Product Specialist will do — build user-centric product, I actioned their feedback and made my blog lighter by putting up this simple and neat looking theme by Zack. The pages now load fast, you read my random thoughts, and go tweet, fb, or orkut.

Keep coming!

I guess I don’t have an answer and like a greedy capitalist I think I want all of it. The honest truth is, one can’t have it all — at some stage of life you need to decide what you really want more — you need to define your ambitions and then go about it.

I guess I’ll spend the next 15-20 days thinking about it.

One thing for sure, my top priority remains to spend time with my family and friends for they matter the most to me. That said, I can do with a little more money I guess Ya — money always comes to spoil good ol’ thoughts ::P