CATching up

Its been a very very long time since my last post....what kept me away was my busy or rather Lazy schedule....when procrastination is more than just a word ....for me procrastination had become a way of life....
But I have risen from the ashes and intend take control of my life (atleast it feels better when I say these words with some attitude, for a little while I feel proud of myself)...Anyways as the title suggests that there has been some CATching up by which I mean that I was after the CAT. Over the last few years I have been told that cracking the CAT is the only way to survive in this world....every person you find, irrespective of their profession or qualification aim for the CAT. I had tried once but failed so pathetically that I was shocked to the very core.
But now that I was reached the Nadir of my self-confidence I have to go for it again....I decided to pick up the bits and pieces of my shattered self-belief and give it a go...although generally people write about the experiences about CAT after they have cracked it, I chose to be different....you see due to cumulative grading if my percentile score lies on the minimal extremity of the curve or simply if I fail again...I might not be in a state to share the story of my loss...and it would be very harsh on my part to deprive you of such fascinating disasters that have become a part of my daily ordeals with CAT.
Anyways I shall come back to that later, but I must share something else. Yesterday, there was an end-of season sale at Pantaloons which I decided to attend as religiously as if it were some entrance exam....I followed every instruction about the offers announced on the floor and tried to find the best deals for myself......After finally narrowing down on the products and goods I would finally take home..I went to the counter...I saw that the queue was so long that a kid had grown into an adolescent by the time he reached the counter.....It was so pathetic that some of them had  brought folding chairs and sleeping bags as the journey to the counter would be a "journey" indeed.....when finally my turn came the guy at the counter who was quite aged  told me that he had been to one these "end of season sale"-s  as a customer earlier ....the queue was so long then that he had to use most of the food items and other grocery in his journey to reach the counter.....when he finally got there he was about to pay via credit card but learnt that he was in queue for such a long time that the validity of his card had expired.....so to repay for the items he had used in his "journey" to the counter he had to work at the same same store has over the years and now after so many years this store had become his second home now..........

DISCLAIMER :-  The above article shows the mental state of the author and the agony and pain he is going through. We request you to send in your wishes and messages for his speedy recovery....may he get back to his nonsensical best as soon as possible -
                                                    On behalf of the Ranchi Mental Institution
                                                               Dr. Screwwala

gone with the wind!!!!

Hi, guys...am back....but this time I'm serious .....no silly jokes this time around....I shall make up for that next time around :-).........
Anyways, today as I was searching for a particular video in youtube....I came across that beautiful ad of "dhara"....remember that cute little kid..leaving home and then being entyced by "Ramu kaka" to come back home and have "jalebi".......I hope many of you may remember that ad......fond childhood memories those.....so simple yet so special .....these ads were simple and low budget ads compared to the ads nowadays, that comprise risky stunts by professionals.....yet those ads seemed to be so effective to drive the point home......it felt like those ads touched your heart......and one gets a feeling that the ones responsible for making these ads...didn't care about how many "Dhara" packets they sold...but rather focussed on the "feel good" factor......
I am posting a list of certain ads which were "special" to say the least:

1. Dhara                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTuudwy0o8w&NR=1
2. Ericsson mobile phones         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osuAI4Kj3lo
3. Eve teasing awareness- Aaj Tak         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk6Bi23Q7-E&feature=related
4. Funny  Camlin ad                              http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ns1nuTrztU&feature=related
5. Vintage Amul ad                    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKfcSMDnI7U&feature=related
6. Titan                       http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzHLL2ZWAn0&feature=related
7.Doordarshan (evr so special)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukqIgpcKSO8&feature=related
8. Surabhi Theme song         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1rNDOdFOYY&feature=related
9. Nescafe Classic           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xk7hG84VOIQ&feature=related
10. Cadbury(one of my favourites)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuDKvYYMjsM&feature=related
11. Asian Paints           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F41OwroAQS0&feature=related
12. Liril (the first ever Bold indian ad) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvMHpp7rkBM&feature=related
13. Complan(shahid kapoor and ayesha takia)                                                            
            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-fysFHfBYM&feature=related
14.Doordarshan Archive Special  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42pZsOygdVk&feature=related
15.Fevicol Special http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHAblhERzRM&feature=related
16. Mother Dairy   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZ0u-iZUHV0
17. Rasna   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpuFsje06d0&feature=related
18.Vicks Vintage   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w39oiYeeTec&NR=1
19.Forgotten LUNA  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odJC-JC8rLg&feature=related
20.The ever elegant Raymond(excellent ad)   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zz3o1PS7IFo
21. Hilarious Pepsi Ad  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDy2mhq1ffU&feature=related
22. Gold Spot( dont know how many have watched this) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knZpch5N30Y
23. Hamara Bajaj  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEV8MWd1p3M&feature=related

This list is not according to any rating,but a rather random compilation.......I know many of you might recall some other classic ad that I might have missed out.....do pass on the link........
For the time being ...watch these ads.....and go visit ur childhood again.....You never know some fond memories might rush back.....and if you feel any bit better or even nostalgic about the bygone days...feel free to share the same.......
A new dawn might be awaiting the us, but the sunset of yesteryears was ever so special, ever so close to the heart.......going thru these commercials, you might have a feeling of meeting a long lost friend all of a sudden.....savour the moment till it lasts.........

Shall be back with some other post some other day......as of now...enjoy these ads....and do suggest any ad that I might have missed out......till then...see ya!!!!!!!!!

Hectic Battle............

Urgent Note

It is unbelievable!!!!!!!! I have got a group of some really lazy readers!!! Only if I gave away some treats as a bribe, my posts would be flooded with comments.......some really lazy people are reading this who are also shameless enough to read this, giggle a bit, curse me mentally or literally abuse me over phone and yet not post any comment. But I guess what most would do is to have a wry smile on their face and laugh it off saying  " Sala Nautanki".  I mean we humans really need some incentive to do something which does not have any tangible result.....Come on guys...I have insulted you enough to atleast say something in your defense....but alas you have developed an outer skin of a Rhino....would feel the pinch years down the line.........waiting to hear from some, who have any bit of self-respect left!!!!!!!!!!
Anyways, disappointed as it is with such a passive readership I have decided to keep on writing despite your cold reactions!!!!!!!!!!! By the way, for your kind information, I have also decided to pay for a black-magic ritual, performed with the sole purpose of targeting those lazy bums who do not comment on my posts so that they are struck by lightning!!!!! For those who do not comment, better watch your step, bcoz I am watching closely!!!!!!!!!! And for those who silently read the posts and then say via chat "Nice!!!", to them I say "Grow up"....atleast say something when and where it matters!!!!!!!!!

Enough of  verbal attack today....I cannot afford to give you lazy ones any more footage.

Back to Actual Post

Today happened to be a strange day at the battlefield. Suddenly in the middle of the battle we were low on ammunition (read internet server down) and it all the soldiers to have a group discussion (not like the ones in B-schools...this was more of random speeches of random topics and only the ones with loud voices were audible)
So, the discussion went like this:
The accounts person suddenly started saying why is it that always the branch head has to be a guy from the sales department. To this the logistics guy said, would there be a Punjabi chief minister in  Kerala??? Not understanding the logic, the accounts guy retorted how is this logic pertinent to the Branch Head issue??? The logistics guy replied by saying that it was too hot outside to discuss this issue........suddenly the sales guy said that it was because that sales drives the business so sales people usually become Branch head .....to this the planning guy retorted that what would the sales guy sell if the products were not manufactured at all, much to the glory of the mfg guy.........
suddenly the one who serves us tea said that IT was the all important dept as it keeps us connected.....and much to our surprise the service guy got agitated and asked that Tea guy to keep quiet.......
So the sales guy replied to the planning guy (refer to last para) that unless the goods are sold there was no point in manufacturing them.....he also said that if sales stops selling then salaries of all the staff would stop instantly but if production is stopped , the sales people could still sell the machines in stock as well as all the physical assets(including furniture) to atleast pay us our salaries for two months (should look for a new job within this time)........this suddenly agitated the Value controller(in-charge of assets) as he was trying to cut on the expenses and consolidate the assets and the sales guy was talking of selling off  all that he had done during all these years..........
During all this, the receptionist was sitting quietly, who suddenly inquired what was the actual topic of discussion....to which the logistics guy replied "Never mind"..........
By now the IT guy had arrived who was supposed to fix the server issue (remember this was the actual problem)...but instead of fixing the problem he was asked to share his views on the hot topic of discussion, which by the way was not clear to anyone........suddenly the tea guy was asked to provide some refreshments which he blatantly refused saying that this discussion concerned him as much as others....and everyone seemed to honour his sentiments..........
By now two customers had walked, one with a service complaint and the other with a sales inquiry......both were told to wait as the office people were busy in a "Meeting"...........

  Suddenly the sales guy said that there were shortage of machines and demand was more.....but the mfg guy retorted saying that the planning guy did not plan properly....to which the planning guy said that the sales guy was bringing arbitrary inquiries without proper planning....to which the sales guy said that the customers did not convey there requirements before hand and wanted the machines only when they wanted them......to this the receptionist(who understands the customer's view point) said that it was no fault of theirs as they had no idea about the rising heat......and we all blamed it on the weather forecast dept........
Now the IT guy who was feeling left out said that he should better attend to the problem and he was allowed to do so........
By now the logistics guy(remember from the first para) suddenly went back to the discrimination of appointing a sales guy as Branch Head.........the accouts guy was fuming by now as he was short of any more analogies........the planning guy suddenly said how KKR found there form when it wasn't needed......to this the
tea guy said how he liked Dada...but the rest of the team sucked.......suddenly the logistics guy refuted saying that Laxmi Ratan Shukla was good too and there was no reason to blame him.....suddenly some name calling started about the players........
Then the IT guy returned (it was almost an hour) and said that it would take some time as he "couldn't quite figure out what the problem was"............. The tea guy obliged us by serving us tea (which was "whoakk" to say the least)...but left with no choice we gulped down that liquid called "tea"........

Finally we decided to postpone the "meeting"  for some other time as the server issue had been fixed......and finally normalcy was restored..........(much to the relief of the customers)

So, as you see I had a really tough time today......really hectic schedule !!!!!!!!!
See you some other time......chow for now...........

NOTE: Remember the first part of the post.........I am damn serious about it!!!!!!!!!!! Choose your next action or inaction carefully ....."I am watching closely"............

In retrospection (Feelings- Default, Sarcasm- File not found, Humour- Error)

I remember when I wrote my first post of this blog. I was utterly frustrated and was looking for a way to vent out my feelings and express my views with a touch of creativity. I was also looking for a platform where I could express my views on various issues and expected my readers (no matter how few) to express theirs.

When I started off, I made it a point to keep my blog a little different from the rest. I tried my best to pen down my experiences and views in a rather funny and interesting way(atleast I would like to believe so).After my first post I forced (by insisting regularly) many of my friends,colleagues and relatives to post their comments. Although the general perception seemed to be a good one (but I am still not sure whether all the praise was for my writing or a personal liking for me influenced it) but I had decided to experiment with my style of expressing my views and the result were a few average posts after the first  post. But I decided to experiment a bit further by trying to present a vulgar story in a humorous way and I failed miserably. Not only was the writing cheap and vulgar but it was something I was ashamed of. Not many of you may have read it as I deleted the post pretty soon.
I carried out all this experimentation because I thought that if my kept changing my style with each attempt, may be I would be able to break the "niche" barrier,i.e, to rise above ones tried and tested formula and be truly global. But with every post  I  learnt a lot about how to tell a story (we all have stories of our own.....what matters is to tell them well ) and what I realised is that every good story-teller has a unique style(call it "Tashan" if you like) and those who dont are the ones who get lost to obscurity. To stand out among the rest you need to re-define your goals, defy limitations and yet hold on to that special "uniqueness" that made you "unique" in the first place.

Day before yesterday I was very busy working at office, so much so that my other colleagues enquired if my boss had threatened to fire me bcoz they had always seen me busy "Hardly Working", now the sudden disappearance of the "ly" made them uneasy. Nevertheless, after showing much dedication and diligence I decided to call it a day and on my way back just dropped by at an Oxford Book Store. Going through some of the books I found many pretty interesting books but something strange struck me. Right after the success of Five point Someone there has been a huge surge of books that talk about campus life, I mean some are really good but some are utter non-sense. Why on earth would a publisher even consider to release such rubbish manuscripts to the public, they are no less than WMD. Without sounding disrespectful I must say they r awesome.....oops sorry gross error...actually its awful.
By the way, after the good response to my first post I thought about writing about my experiences about campus life....but I now fear that I might add another pathetic work to the already existent ones.
I am not a good judge of my own writing but you are. At times I would contemplate whether to use bombastic and ornamental words and increase my vocab just to make writing more florid, more expressive, more showy, more vibrant and more verbose. But I realised that all throughout my life I have believed in simplicity, simple words put in simple places conveying simple ideas is what I would enjoy as a reader. So, instead of playing with the use of  difficult words I decided to play with the placement words and thereby altering the meaning they conveyed. I tried to use wry humour, teasing sarcasm, naughty double-meaning pun and the subtle anecdotes of "Non-veg" stuff to make my stories more bearable (although I admit they take their toll on you once you have read quite a few).

How have i faired in my attempt so far is for you to decide. I am on a learning curve and your inputs and feedback are important for me to analyse myself. After all everyone blogs nowadays, whether I am any different or "just another blogger"...I need your frank opinion on that. So, now that you have wasted so much of ur precious time reading this non-sense, plz (for God's sake) post ur sincere and candid comments.
Note: Kindly also share with me, in your opinion, what does the title of this post mean??????

Looking forward to hear from you............and soon there will be some "Different" posts...which I hope you might like.
Keep your comments coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oops! Did I say so????

Considering that I am using Microsoft word to vent out my feelings at a time when I should actually be using Microsoft excel to prepare the quotatins and payment collection schedules from rather unsuspecting yet highly deceptive customers must convince you that I take work ethics very seriously. I didn’t realize when I did start procrastinating so often, may be I always used to. For once I have decided to procrastinate my habit of procrastinating and pen down my feelings before my frustration takes up other different ways to let itself out. So here I am busy fighting (remember office is battlefield) and yet somehow managing to be an author at the same time. In school days, I used to use the word “Versatile genius” a lot in my essays , guess I turned into one. For all those abusing me for such a blatant outburst of self-appreciation, I am sorry but every now and then I need to re-assure myself with good words and thoughts, simply to carry on fighting, its my only shield against radioactive levels of criticism.

Coming to the point ,at sunset yesterday, after ceasefire was declared, I was making my  long tiring journey back to the base camp (read home) alongwith my fellow soldiers, I happened to board the military vehicle (read public transport) which ferries many soldiers like me back and forth forth from the battlefield( read office). After a long day of battle(read work) all that the soldiers can speak of is the feats they achieved today on the field,with some whinning about how another soldier in his team did not co-operate and he got punched in the face by the enemy(read customer). Some complained about how they were asked to make extra rounds of the field after battle by their commanders as a note of punishment for not obeying orders or falling out of war formations. To divert my mind from this senseless gibber I plugged in my earphone and Words by Boyzone just helped me relax.

Listening to the song I realized how words control our lives and to prove this to you I decided to share my thoughts with little stories and anecdotes here and there to drive my point home.

Wrong or improper usage of words or incorrect way of expressing oneself can lead to devastating effects.  

I start the discussion with an incident at office today. I was presenting the same sort of excuses to my boss for last couple of days. Today, on being summoned I smartly presented the same excuse.....and he howled at me at the top of his voice (he was so fuming that he somehow blurted out these words) "Do you think I am a fool??"....what I should have said would be "not at all sir,....blah blah blah".....but what did do was maintain pin-drop silence......and on repeating the question I held on to my ground.....this created so much friction in the air....that my boss started perspiring like anything with the AC on and had take take his BP pill just to save his life......

On another instance, a friend of mine was with one of his female friends and they went to the ticket counter.The person on the other side out of amusement asked"Aap log bhai behen hain kya???"......and this fool kept shut the entire time with his face blushing red......Finally the girl broke the ice by saying that they were just friends......

Thinking of all this inside the military vehicle I soon realized that it was stinking inside and another thought came to me.Although I am saying that words or expressions do matter but on some occasions they do not. Like in school we learn that pigs sweat and men perspire......but as matter of fact...it doesn't matter....because a group of perspiring soldiers smell not better than a group of sweating pigs......

Say the taglines of some of the leading brands were changed with corresponding synonyms, would they mean the same thing, lets see

Airtel :  Express yourself (actual)...........Reveal Yourself (changed)

Vodafone:  happy to help you (actual) ................Gay to assist you (changed)

                make the most of now (actual).............  produce plenty instantly (changed)

Idea :    An Idea can change ur life (actual)...........An Intent can alter ur vitality ( changed)

Nokia:   Connecting people(actual)............ Welding the proletariat (changed)

Reliance: Kar lo dunia mutthi mein( actual).............. You don't need to change this. Its hilarious as it is.

Motorola : Intelligence Everywhere (actual)........... Omnipresent Gray matter(changed)

LG :  Life's Good (actual).........................Pleasing  vigor (changed)

I am getting tired of thinking of more names. Maybe I would add some more in some other post.

I would finish this rather meaningless article with a story that demonstrates how wrong usage of words can even cost lives..............

A Pastor entered his donkey in a race and luckily it won
The Pastor was so pleased that he entered it in the race again, and it won again
The Local Newspaper covered the story but what was the headline....It went like

"Pastor's Ass Out Front"

The Bishop was very disturbed with this kind of publicity.
He ordered the pastor not to enter his donkey in any other race

The next day , the flambuoyant reporter wrote:

"Bishop Scratches Pastor's Ass"

This was too much for the Bishop,
so he orderd the Pastor to get rid of the donkey.
The Pastor decided to give the donkey to a Nun in a nearby convent.
Next Day, the reporter who had a different way of expressing things wrote:

"Nun Has Best Ass in Town"


The Bishop fainted on reading this. He asked the Nun to sell the donkey.
The Nun sold the donkey to a farmer for $10.
The reporter told this story as:

"Nun sells Ass for $10"

The Bishop was fuming on reading this.
He ordered the Nun to buy back the donkey and lead it to the plains,
where it could run wild.
The reporter reached to the zenith of his journalism career and wrote described the story in the best way he could,
the next day the headlines read:

"Nun Announces her Ass is Wild and its Free"

The Bishop could not take this shock and was buried the next day.

So, here we have learnt that wrong words or no words at wrong places lead to not-so-right results. 

This article was written because my fellow soldiers wouldn't stop their nonsensical gibber and I was forced to listen to Boyzone (although I listen to them even when not forced), so I dedicate this my battalion bcoz matter how much I ridicule them, I am one of them.

Signing off now.......shall be back with some other meaningless post soon.........

futuristic predictions based on herculean assumptions.........

"Does your Horoscope nearly always bring forth considerable amount of  "horror" and bits and pieces of "scope".

Well that seems to be the case with me. And whats more disgusting is that whenever I log into to facebook, I  invariably find the heading "Astrology- Today's _______  Horoscope" of my friends and to my surprise I find that many of them are exposed to hard and terrible predictions about their day (reading which should ruin their day anyhow) and still people keep reading it, I mean how do you get the enthusiasm to go on if some "Technically advanced and highly accurate" software keeps telling you that you have been doing fairly poorly throughout your life and a dismal future awaits you.

On this rather high (or low) note I would like to discuss a story of one of my friends. This person( lets say X),

{ I would have to post a different article about how we use or rather abuse X, I mean since time immemorial we have used X not only to denote unknown quantities , or designate the location of a treasure or indicate danger or use an animated version of it - you know with the skull an bones to designate Captain Jack Sparrow or rather the Pirates and also the famous "Danger 440 volts" symbol. And it is when we use multiple X that things start to get out of hand.I guess all this boils down to X denoting the "land of the unknown" where things are just a bit out-of-the-way.}

Anyways, getting back to the person called X, he was rather addicted to computer games more so with counter-strike, although he thought that he would somehow manage to scrape through all the exams but the professors had someone else in mind and how did it all go??? Lets just say the exams results can be summed up as "X proposes but Prof disposes".  With a "not-so-good" grade card he happened to find it tough in the campus interviews and unfortunately could not bag any offers.

He then started to apply through off-campus drives and found it rather difficult to compete with thousands when his competition in college were not even a hundred. This is the time men turn to astrologist s frantically seeking help and are willing to do anything to turn-the-tides.(Another footnote here: considering there is a single piece of each planet governing our future, and astrologist s prescribing all sorts of things to change the effect the planet has on us, doesn't the planet fnd it rather amusing that any of its movements, a little here and a little there could change the fortunes of an entire nation, considering politicians are out-right believers of astrology. I would rather love to be one of he planets, preferably saturn, as I would wake up in the morning and stretch-out my arms I would look down on earth and see that suddenly a dictatorship has changed into democracy, or if I scratch my back I would find the Berlin wall bring brought down.I wish!!! I wish!!) and any  improvement from the previous situation, we thank the astrologer for his services. Moving back to the story, Mr.X visited the astrologer as he had already spent a month-and-a-half and hardly had any interview calls.Finally the astrologer predicted that a change of place would do miracles for him along with a gem that he prescribed to be purchased from the jewellery store he prescribed or else results could be devastating.

Mr. X followed every bit of advise and moved to another city but faced the same situation there. What was worse that he had applied to a lot of good companies when he was at home and took them some time to respond and by the time the responses came in he a sitting in a classroom that taught some professional computer courses in a far away city. So he decided to go back to attend the last few interviews and when he did that he missed his chance to attend interviews in the new city. So, basically he lost out on all the best offers while he was moving to-and-fro. A little bit of patience and a little faith in himself and he could have landed a dream job.

Nevertheless, talking about astrologers , I admit to having visited a fair share of them, not out of necessity per se ( although I needed my fortunes to change during many phases of my life) but more out of curiosity and more so to be an obedient child. On one such visit I happened to learn that my life was in disarray and some serious predictions and allegations about my character and thus my future was being put forth. He even mentioned the day I would die.I once thought of asking him his due date of death and see if could relieve him of his duties simply by choking him then and there, thus proving predictions wrong, but then I thought that his other prediction about my nature and future would come true. But then I soon found out something that allowed my mind to have some peace, I learnt that his wife had eloped with another man simply because....well lets just say something wasn't right....what it was, I leave it to your imagination!!!!!!!!!!

Now that we have established my undying faith in astrology I would like to know yours. For all the ardent supporters of astrology or astrologists themselves who are reading this , I am truly sorry. Not that I am sorry for what I wrote but more so because you of all people had to read this.

Anyways I believe most of you reading this must have visited an astrologer atleast once in your lifetime, I 

would like to hear your experiences, great-good-bad-horrible whatever it may be,and I would like to hear from the other side( in-favour of astroogy) just to restore some balance to the conversation.

Here I would like to sign-off saying that ...."Haat ki lakiro mein kya likkha hain........kismat to unki bhi hoti hain jinke haat nahi hote"

I do not know whether you have watched Back To The Future( if not do watch it). There in the very last scene the scientist from the future hands the girl a parcel containing a photograph of her in the future. The girl anxiously opens the parcel to see herself in the future but finds that the photograoh is blank.Confused she asks the scientist what this meant and he says that "Your future has not been written yet. It is upto you to make it a good one".............

Sayonara!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday bumps (or rather goosebumps)

I woke up today startled by the rather unpleasant ringtone of my mobile and barely managed to say hello when a  warm voice said "Happy b'day dude" and all the swearing that I did before picking up the phone was gone in no time.....and with a Colgate smile I said "Thank you so much"............Well we believe that the morning shows the day.....does it really?????? Bcoz the very next call would be my supervisor who demanded in a rather grumpy voice why the presentation had not been prepared yet. Whether it was my birthday(my only special day) or not
approximately 20 people in my department couldn't care less.
So, after a series of "Thank you"-s and  alternate apologies ( for the presentation) I got myself out of bed and stood in front of the mirror and said "Happy B'day mate.....today you will do just great" !!!!!!!!!!!!
Feeling good about myself I quickly got dressed and set out for my battlefield (read office).....and there too I would have to offer cakes and pastries to my fellow soldiers and commanders who do not leave a stone unturned to make my day just awesome (read awful).After slight distraction caused by the pastries and some light-hearted talk they all wished me in unison and for a fleeting moment I felt special and felt good about my colleagues.I then realised that these soldiers are human after all and probably were just like me when they had entered this battlefield but due to over-exposure to radioactive criticism and monumentous workload they had all become institutionalised. And I shuddered at the very thought that I could someday turn-out to be one of them and then a new guy in the block would have the same perception about me as I have about them.........I wouldn't be like this....I promised myself. Suddenly the words "I want the presentation ready by today" got me back from Neverland and I turned around to see that my supervisor meant business today and so I sunk into my chair and got back to my "battle"..........I guess that one fleeting momen of feeling special should see me through the day.
By the way en-route to office I had another realisation about birthdays.When we were younger, we probably awaited our birthdays with more anticipation than we do now.I vividly remember that during the first few years of school, I would celebrate my birthday at home with some of my close friends from school and neighbourhood. It used to be low-scale on sometimes or grand some other year. Sometime all my relatives would come down as well as we used to have a blast with all the cousins and friends.Also the gifts would be something that we all await on our birthdays. All nicely wrapped with shiny ribbons. It used to be a special feeling to unwrap the gifts, the anticipation with baited breath to know what lay inside, maybe a book, a nice pencil box, some automatic car or simply a large box of crayons. Especially the moment of blowing out the candle felt very good and the singing of "Happy birthday to you.....". It was so much different , so much better.At that time we hardly could afford expensive gifts or to go out to good resturants.....but irrespective of the monetary value of the gifts and the standard of the resturants it all felt so close to the heart, so special!!!!!!
Now, my birthday gifts are just cash,jeans or something like that ,which I receive a week or two before or after my birthday bcoz everyone (including me) is busy in their respective "Rat race" and silly birthdays don't count for much.....A hang-out  with friends or dinner with relatives at good resturants isn't much of a thing nowadays......
but what I miss the most is the warmth,the anticipation, the joy , the laughter and that fleeting moment of feeling Special !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!