A little more about me......General gas...

Anyone who knows me well enough will definitely know that food, Hollywood and sport constitute a large part of my life. So here is a blog about some of the things that people might not normally know about me.....

1) All roads lead to............Ro...errr......a restaurant: It has been established on numerous occasions in the past, that food is an integral part of my life (as clearly mentioned in the first line)... But I take this fact a little too far. I have a friend by the name of Deepa, who always makes fun of the way I give directions... She says that ALL LANDMARKS that I give are invariably restaurants and coffee shops or some institution connected directly or indirectly to food! So if a normal person would say "go straight down MG road and take a right at the huge rounder....", I would say "Get on to MG road... You'll pass Tandoor and BBQ nation on the way. Keep going till you see Wimpy's on the left... then take a right...If you get to Coffee Day, you've gone too far"........!!!

2) Another thing that is very characteristic of me is the way I beat around the bush. If anything can be said directly, I will keep going on and on... like the Energiser Bunny on a tangent. Which is why, during the 2 years of my MBA course, whenever we needed to stretch a presentation, that was left to me!... I would talk about anything and everything and buy time....Especially subjects like CSR and Consumer Behaviour  where we had difficult teachers who would have clauses like "each group has to give a presentation for AT LEAST half an hour"... this when the essence of the presentation could be delivered in 3 and a half minutes - that too by eloquent chaps like Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his element who could tranquilise a virile ox in half a minute...

3) Oh... Since I have given such an elaborate analogy, it would be appropriate to mention here that I am FAMOUS for giving such analogies. I guess this is something that someone who is a regular reader of my blog would figure out.. But none the less, this is for the benefit of someone who has chanced it for the first time.

4) Procrastination is another of my favorite pastimes.... Trust me when I say that I started this blog 2 weeks ago!!!. I couldn't seem to be able to complete it (as it is about me you see!!) so I kept pushing it further behind without completing it... This trait has got me into trouble MANY a times. Submissions, household chores, haircut Sundays, duty visits to relatives... oh the LIST goes on.. 

5) Talking about lists... A majority of things that I say are heavily embedded with a whole lot of shit that normal people don't bother looking up - Trivia. I wont say I'm a quizzer. In fact, I'm far from a quizzer. But if someone were to ask me to give them a list of the 5 most feared people in the history of humanity, I would rattle the top5 in an instant. Lists have been things that have always got me to sit up and think. The List of people with the highest recorded (or estimated) IQs (which btw, is headed by an English chiropractor who's name I don't recollect followed by 2 of the greatest musicians - Mozart and Beethoven -  known to mankind in the top 10), or List of the countries that could blow up the World in 1975, 1985... and so on...or List of the most famous gangsters known to mankind...List of sporting events with the highest TRPs......AAAAAAAARGH .....The lists go on and I cant get enough of them... The reason for this, I guess, is attributed to the way my father (probably one of the most glib talkers I have ever seen - a personification of the phrase "gift of the gab") speaks - Comparisons and lists.... A normal conversation about a seemingly harmless topic like say...mmm.. Tennis.... would invariably see you hearing him say something like "Mc Enroe had the greatest game followed by Borg, Cash and Connors in that order..."...This with an air of such confidence that even Jimmy Connors would believe that he was inferior to Bjorn Borg or John Mc Enroe.... whoa.. come on man.. I didn't ask for that.... Well.. that's what people think when I talk!!!

6) What else...mmmmmm... aaah... yes....Punctuality.... Its pretty ironic, but for a serial procrastinator, I follow German standard time when it comes to punctuality. I'm usually NEVER late.. as a result I HATE waiting....... There is a famous joke/saying which goes like this

"People who come in last(read: L.A.T.E) for a get together often have the MOST amount of fun".................... Very true shit...

7) Another one of my favorites apart from the usual suspects (i.e. Food, cricket and Hollywood) is music. Yes yes...  I have written a blog about my favorite 10 bands (a LIST again folks)... But something that even people who know me surely cannot fathom is the fact that I am absolutely infatuated by Western Classical music. Actually, I can even go as far as saying that I love good Indian classical music or better still fusion music(or PURE music... in the form unadulterated by a squeaky voice) . Though I wouldn't be able to name even ONE Indian artist to save my life, its the pure music which gives me high. Among the Western artists, my all time favorites are Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and Vivaldi (in that order)... sue me if I am boring you with another list! This form of music just calms me when I'm pissed off in/with life :D... There have been a numerous occasions when I shout/bang doors/abuse using family references/break things in a fit of rage (etc) and just calm down in a jiffy after a 20 minute session with the masters!....

8) I am superstitious to the bloody core. If it has been said that one must NOT break mirrors or cross the path of a black cat or walk under a ladder balanced against a wall (etcetra etcetra and the other Spanish girls).... I wont. Oh.. Believe me, there have been times when I have sat in the same god-damned position on a bloody sofa just because Sachin Tendulkar hit a boundary in a cricket match. 

9) And finally, this blog would be incomplete if I do no mention that I am a born PESSIMIST.  That too of the highest order (if there are orders of pessimism that is). "The bottle is HALF EMPTY".. is an attitude that I have always carried off with seemless ease. A simple explanation for this is that I believe that it is better to not hope for too much in life simply because if it doesn't match up to what you wished for, you will be disappointed. For instance, right from the beginning, I don't believe that too many people will read this blog even though it will make me happy if a lot of people read it. But when a lot of people message/mail/scrap/comment about it, it makes me happy simply because I wasn't expecting too much of a response.

On that happy note, I shall sign off for the night. I hope I have not bored you people with too much of gas. But hey, this is what has been taught to us in the last 2 years!

Good night...

Hurray by Toutatis....

Ive been writing blogs (note: I DIDN'T start with "I've been blogging") for a 2-3 years now so its pretty strange that I have not written anything about one of my favorite pastimes - ASTERIX. I am so fond of this comic that if I recollect correctly, it was the first thing I ever read in my life. It so happens that my Dad too, happens to be a huge fan of the series. So my dear Mother (very far sighted woman) bought him 20 of the then 27 published books for the first of my Dad's birthdays after their marriage. ( The purchase happened around June 1983 - The original series was completed by co-author Uderzo sometime in 1983!!)

She bought the first set of books at Rs. 18 per copy!!!!!!!!! When she bought the rest of the books(i.e. till Book No. 27 - "Asterix and Son") 2 years later, they were going at Rs. 25/copy so if we consider that the paper back edition goes at Rs. 400/copy today, we're sitting on a mini fortune! Today, we are the proud owners of every Asterix comic in print. Here I say "we" because the last 5-6 books  were bought by me - Whenever I happened to spot a new book, paperback or hardbound Id grab hold of it (Though they stopped being as hilarious post "Asterix and the Magic Carpet" - Nevertheless, one must complete a collection once started) - So much so, I'm guessing my mother and I have spent almost the same amount in getting the entire collection!(without getting time value of money into the picure) 

My mother's  favorite story (that she narrates to anyone who cares to listen) is how at one point, the men of her life would sit on opposite sides of the Sofa in the drawing room, each with a copy of Asterix in their hands, and guffaw/giggle/bellow in laughter/snicker at what they read.

Moving on from the trivial details, Asterix is one of the most entertaining pieces of work/art that ANYONE could ever get their hands on. Personally, I believe that it takes the pants of any other comic ever created (Including Mr. Bill Waterson's brainchild... I hope I don't get killed for saying this though!). If an English language translation (from French in which it is originally written) can be SO hilarious, I can only imagine what it must be like in French!

Seen in the figure on the left, Asterix is the little guy in the winged helmet. He is with his inseparable friend Obelix (P.S. MY CHILDHOOD HERO) - the thin guy in the blue and white vertical stripes (He's NOT fat.....His chest has slipped a bit you see!)... They are the inhabitants of a little Gaulish Village in Armorica (Part of ancient Gaul a small strip near the Brittany peninsula) which is filled with these FEARLESS Gauls who's only fear is that the sky might some day, fall on their heads!

 

I wont waste too much time on giving a synopsis of the comic (as Wikipedia has done an exceptional job). However, it must be said that my knowledge about the Roman empire (around the time of Julius Caesar - i.e. Circa 50BC) is above average. According to a very old Hindu newspaper article  (written around 1990), people who are well-versed and familiar with the comic strip are said to have a better idea of that Roman period than students of History who have studied about Rome! This is understandable as almost every book of the series has some tiny yet witty little  reference to Julius Caesar's empire - for instance, in Asterix and Son, when Brutus's evil ploy is uncovered, JC says the immortal line "E tu Brutus..?" - Pure genius!

I recently finished watching an HBO series on this period by the name of ROME. Though this is not a comedy by any stretch of imagination, it is perhaps the best serial I have ever seen (and believe me when I say that I have watched MANY MANY serials in my stay at Mumbai). Having read the Asterix collection (over 300 times each... at least) it made watching Rome all the more enjoyable as I was able to relate the above mentioned "witty" snippets found in the comic to what is actually shown in the serial (and which in fact, actually happened 2000 odd years ago!)

The funniest part of the Asterix comic book set is the NAMES of all the characters. A separate blog can be written on the names alone as they will make anyone with a decent sense of humour, CRY with laughter. On this note, I shall stop by naming some of the Gauls (that I can remember off hand) and hope that this blog makes anyone who hasn't read the comic , READ IT!

Asterix - The main character. All the comics are centered around his adventures along with...

Obelix- The Menhir delivery man! (already introduced as my childhood hero). Would it be reduntant if I mentioned that he loves eating?

Dogmatix - Obelix's tiny little dog

Getafix - The village druid who brews the famous Magic potion which makes these fearless warriors invincible

Cacofonix - The village bard...Has the ability to make milk curdle with his voice..... when its still in the cow!!!

Geriatrix - The oldest man in the village!

Fullyautomatix - The village blacksmith

Unhygienix - the village fishmonger. These 2 are always BASHING each other up. A very common scene in an Asterix comic shows Unhygienix thumping Fullyautomatix with a rotten fish as the blacksmith gives it back with his famous hammer!

Chief Vitalstatistix - The brave Gaulish chief of the village (perched high on the shield of Vercingentorix)

Note: these are only a few of the characters. (as seen in the picture above)

If anyone hasn't read this series yet - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR????

YUM BEE AYE....

All good things come to an end.... Or that is what they all say.

And like everything else, my MBA course at NMIMS, too, has come to an end. Unlike the Engineering course that I completed from MIT Manipal, I leave NMIMS with a heavy heart. These 2 years have been a life saver - simply magical - for a whole lot of reasons, the biggest being that had it not been for NM, I would have surely committed suicide!!! Most people who know me would know that I wasn't exactly the happiest bloke before taking up this course. (Note: already been extensively blogged about). It is only after one gets a little bit of work experience does one value  "studying" again. I had heard about how difficult it was to get back to studies after money came into ones hands - all bunkum. Not only is it easy, its also more valued!

This being said, the course has also taught me a lot. Having an Engineering degree and a "science background", a whole lot of things that were taught as part of the course were new to me. My friends here who have a commerce background or have done courses like BBM, have already had an exposure to a lot of Marketing/HR/Finance models and basics. So to them, this course might not have been too much of a value add (for some, not more than the value of the paper on which our degree will be printed). Even simple terms/common marketing jargon like "Positioning", "targeting"and "segmenting" (which by the way, form the core of our marketing course) were new to me. So in a way, even though I haven't been placed yet, I can truthfully say that I am now better equipped to face the world.

On the social front, I have made a lot of friends and acquainted myself with a lot of people who I would have ordinarily not known. Due to the diverse background of my class, I have met people from all walks of life from most of the States in India (this is something I didn't get even in an institution like Infosys). 

And finally, I have had an opportunity to stay in one of the most famous places in the World (more so, post Slumdog millionaire) This is the first time that I have actually had hard core exposure to proper "city" life. Bombay can easily be the mascot for Citibank as I truly believe that this city, NEVER sleeps. I wouldn't go so far as saying I like the city (I DON'T!)... but it sure has taught me a lot - given me a sneak-preview of life and how hard and unfair it can get. 

With this, I stop. I am tired...Very tired. With another chapter of my life done, I hope the future has good things in store for me.