Quo Vadis?

The other day I was driving down one of the side roads in the madness that is T.Nagar. Thankfully I was on my bike, as is the wont of the public utilities a big portion of the road was dug up bang in the centre of a four way intersection. Being a crowded intersection at as it was in the peak hour, the place was manned by a single traffic cop. Anyway drivers were driving everywhere possible till it became a stalemate with vehicles jammed in every conceivable square inch of space on the road. Horns blared, load cursed thrown back and forth but no body budged, for there was simply no room. People of all kinds and classes unmindful of the fact that they were on the wrong lane and that they were hindering the onward traffic tried to bully their way through. I parked my bike and started trying to work out some order in the mess. I saw that a couple of auto drivers and another well dressed guy (presumably returning from office like me) had a similar idea. We managed to reroute the traffic and...

I have not seen the Will Smith movie (surprisingly spelt happyness), but the reviews said that it was ‘tear-jerkingly’ good. Anyway one sure fire way to pursue happiness was a philosophical statement by D. In all fairness I have read the same elsewhere and maybe D did too, but how many of us bring back the knowledge gleaned from various sources when needed and more importantly put it to use? She said that (I have rephrased a little) “Happiness in life is being satisfied with what we have as we are better off than so many others than being sad with what we don’t have like a few others” another version goes “Always compare yourself with those who are worse off than yourself and feel grateful instead of comparing yourself with those better off and feel dreadful”. Its amazing how profound thoughts of wisdom come at the most unexpected times and places. It was close to midnight and we suddenly felt a little bit hungry (both of us had finished a few phone calls that stretched way beyond our ...

Lemonade is a good organizer and you can take my word for it. Blame it on the fact that she has been twiddling her thumbs too long after having so much time on her hands and so little to do, she hit upon the idea of inviting us for a meeting over lunch. By now I guess you would have understood the headline: it was a meeting to eat and catch up on stories in between. So the venue was Sparky's Diner, if you haven't visited this place, you should. It is not like any other you would have seen in Chennai. Personally it looks decked up as if one of MGR's or even Ramarajan's costumers had a say in the décor. Considering that both these heroes had a mad fan following it is not too much of a bad thing. And if you like red shirts, yellow trousers and red and white leather shoes on a mustachioed man you will fit into this place like a glove. I have been to Sparky’s a couple of times before and I think the menu has been changed. Anyway as the resident expert Anju was in attendanc...

Hey ppl! Guess what came in my mail box today? Now can anyone tell me a good format for a resignation letter?

MTC bus today! As I was turning into Haddows road today a MTC bus whizzed by nearly missing a few people on the road as is the norm. Just when I was about to curse the bus and its driver and everybody connected to it, my mind drifted back to the days gone by when I used to travel by these buses. The more my mind drifted, more instances that have been deeply etched in the confines of my memory came out like a mental slideshow. It is amazing how at the most unexpected moments lost thoughts surface and make even poor memory people like me feel good about us. Coming back to the post I thought I will put together a few memorable ones for the record. It was in the days of khaki shorts and white shirts, the old uniform of Dominic Savio Preparatory school (I’m told it has graduated to a matriculation now!) and its bigger sibling St. Bede’s Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School (100 years now, dear school of our hearts). School was a two stop bus ride from home if you got onto a white board bus ...

Got tagged by Dhanya ! I like her blog so I took it up. A bunch of questions with answers that will give you an insight into me. If they don't you still have another 145 posts to read and find out.... I am: ME! I think: still thinking… I know: that life is a circle I want: to retire ASAP I have: more than bare necessities I wish: for an ideal world I hate: deception I miss: days gone by I fear: stagnation I feel: that I can conquer the world if only I get off my chair I hear: french fries cooking (D at work) I smell: sandalwood (D used the room freshner) I crave: for a good book, some munchies and a comfy couch I search: for above mentioned but list not completed I wonder: why people do the things they do I regret: very long list, add to the annexure below I love: D, Family, home, Melissa….. I ache: in my back after a long drive, in my eyes after too much PC,…. I care: for those I love I am not: YOU I believe: in God I dance: to my tune I sing: without a care in the world but alwa...

Rules of this Tag: Pick up the nearest book.Open to page 123.Find the fifth sentence.Post the next three sentences.Tag five people, and acknowledge the person who tagged you. I have looked everywhere and cant find a book with 123 pages. Just when I was about to jump from my chair screaming Eureka, my uncle grabbed the book and settled down to a literary feast. Frankly I have no clue what book it was or how it happened to be within eyesight but it had at least 600 pages. So I have decided to settle for the first book that is within arms reach and so here goes... Turning the pages... Page number 32 and Oops the next page is a huge map stuck to the back cover. Sorry Chriz but if you are a procrastinator, I'm the big brother so I will stop with page 12 (my tag mates may proceed to 123 in their books) and the fifth sentence .... "The last stop before you reach Mamallapuram would be the serene Tiger's cave (52 km) a half finished private theatre built for a Pallava king. (And al...

There are times when I wish that I had not done my MBA and had done something else. Don’t ask me what something else is, at this moment I have no clue. No clue is the operative word today and as the name of my Blog goes, I don’t know where I’m going. Coming to my MBA, I had a good mid tier institute and a got placed off campus in a good conglomerate and 7 years and several job shifts I am nowhere close to figuring out where I am going. The problem with many B-school graduates is that their course insulates them from the world ahead and prepares them for a cushy job in most cases. Campus placement is the buzz word and the raison-etre for many of these institutes. A MBA degree or diploma (even IIM gives a diploma) can take you places but only to a point and then you are left wondering what next? Ironically most of the top business men and wealth creators have not stepped into a B-school at least till they got their honorary degrees or became guest resource persons. So it appears if you d...

If you are a blogger from Chennai you should have been in Dee Cee Manor, T. nagar (personally the choice of venue was sad) yesterday. The Chennai blogger meet, sponsored by Microsoft was attended by around 100 people. I suspect many of them actually blogged. Though there were people of all ages from school kids to retirees, women were conspicuously in a minority. A big thanks to Lemonade for initiating the meet and the cool welcome message she gave the gathering. Liked the 1 minute of fame where many got a chance to introduce their blog to the gathering. It was a good evening and the highlight was not the funny play by the Rebelz, an all male cast who came with an equal number of women whom I suspect were their understudies (no they don’t study their unders get a dictionary) but the near riot that Dave , Anju , Bungi , Lemonade, D and I started. We just couldn’t stop pulling each others legs, suspect Lemonade may have grown 1 inch by the end of the evening. I haven’t laughed a lot t...

A few of my MBA classmates were lounging under the shade of a tree in the hot Chennai sun earlier this week. I shot off my mouth yet again when I remarked, “If Jetti does not meet his target, he will ask Malai, DKR or Will Smith ….” I bit my tongue but it was too late as all my friends gave me funny glances. It is not too often that you see grown up men cry but on that day there was no shame in admitting we all cried for it was the day we were going to bid farewell to Will Smith forever. What can you say about life when a dutiful son, a loving brother, a wonderful husband, a loyal friend and a caring father was relieved of all his duties forever in one cruel minute? He was attempting to board his car having answered the call of nature when God called him on non negotiable basis. Surely there must be a better exit from the stage of life; being smashed to death against your own car door by a truck driver who apparently had fallen asleep is something I would not even wish on my worst enem...