It's a great feeling to be back 2 blogging. Hence this list begins with 2 and not 1.

2. Damn. So many things happening in such less time. I wish a day had 28.45 hours so that I could get more time to blog.
3. I have a confession to make. As much as I hate to admit it, I miss The Times of India when I am in Pondicherry, where all I have to feed on is The Hindu. I would rather wake up to see Rakhi Sawant's bosom than M/s. Karat and Co every morning! Reading The Hindu end to end is no enjoyment as compared to The Times of Indiam which appeals to all your senses. I source my information from various sources, and The Hindu doesn't really help me with its so-very-righteous espousal of the Left.
4. It has been an amazing journey, a true Discovery of India with spending time in the villages in the lush green sugar-cane fields to meeting really influential and powerful people in posh hotels.
5. There is nothing like the spirit of Mumbai. People just go by their routine work, are truly heartless do nt bother to even mourn after the blasts. They are truly citizens of the rudest city in the world.

But, wait a minute. Isn't Mumbai the city which has something for everyone? Isn't Mumbai the city where millions have had their dreams come true? Of course an equal number or even more have had their lives come crashing down. Isn't this the city which rises from every disaster and is back to normal in a flash? Isn't Mumbai the city where most shop-keepers and pedestrians go that extra mile, literally and make sure you reach the address you wanted to? Isn't Mumbai the city where you make friends with people when you actually say b$#&n%%od and m@!#$$%od?!

Maximum City and Shantaram apart, Mumbai is an amazing city and no number of bomb blasts can stop Mumbaikars from being citizens of the best city in the world. Cheers Mumbaikars. Give it back to the terrorists. Resilience is what the bloody terrorists do not like.
I do not necessarily agree with Bal Thakrey, but he is true to a great extent when he says, and I am not quoting him because I don't remember the exact phrase! It was something on the lines of. Mumbai is a prostitute whom everybody uses to fulfil their needs, but the same people do not even turn back once to thank her!

For all that Mumbai was, is and will be, I love Mumbai!

6. The UPA government is heading nowhere. First it was the whole reservation ruckus and then the blog ban. It is indeed foolish on my part to place the blame on the whole establishment for some goof-up committed by an imbecile babu in the Sanchar Bhavan or an over-zealous official of the ISPs, but the fact remains that the government which claimed to work for the ,aam aadmi, has done nothing for the aam, leave alone the aadmi. Resign and get to the World Bank, Dr. Singh. You can actually do something good there!

7. The more I visit malls and places these modern Indian yuppie kids hang out or chill, the more I see India heading towards a disaster. For all the talk of India becoming a knowledge economy, it is my belief that the more these PYTs feast on costly junk food and the more they think it's cool to ape Eminem or closer home, Emraan Hashmi, my belief gets re-affirmed. I know I have to substantiate with more elucidation, but a longer separate post or that planned documentary with Komal would clearly explain my thoughts.

8. It was great to be back to my first love - quizzing. Scott and I represented PlanetRead at the Tata Crucible regional round at Chennai. The quiz was an immensely enjoyable experience and we thought we performed pretty well. My knowledge of the Indian corporate scene together with Scott's economics background helped us do well in the quiz. On a good quizzing day, we wouldn't have made those silly errors and for all we know we could have been on the stage for the finals! But we did know that even if we qualified for the finals, we knew we could not stay there for the entire duration of the quiz. Pappu's new found sense of urgency together with fears of longer security checks because of the blasts led us to leave the quiz very early. I'd have preferred to stay a little longer at the quiz.

Scott and I proved to be great partners even though it was our first time as quiz partners. So while I had no idea who David Ricardo was, and Scott did not know that the author of The Fortune at the bottom of the Pyramid was C K Prahlad, we trusted each other's instincts and got the answers right!

9. It's like a SpiceJet, Then I came to know it was a boy, Oh, you are also shuffling shuffling?!, Can you move, I want to smoke!, In Chennai, we used to roam around like anything, Arrey Baba, who is using Mac machine?, This tripod is quite light and good I think so ,You are taking pill before food?!, You go to Brown University and release Chikun Gunya, find a cure and send it back!. I shall never forget these hilarious and immensely memorable quotes. Scott, Pappu and I are laughing our arses off, and it is not without no reason that we are doing so! What's the story behind each one of these? Answers in the posts to follow.

10. It was great watching the World Cup in Pondicherry with actual French and German citizens. Felt really sorry Jonathan on Germany's heart-breaking loss. Head-Butt I think he was more than happy to see France losing to the Italians. And I think I was equally happy!

(Zi)Dane (Zi)Dane pe likha hota hai head-butt karne waale ka naam?! :D

11. People I met - I

KSA - Scope, Pong, Sap, Pole, Raghuram, Ram and Kaak. Bastards all.
College - Pragnya, Dhir, Amit Gupta, Jaideep, Abhinand and Ankur.
Bloggers - Arjun, Sidin and Komal
Rest - Pragnya's sister!

12.People I met - II

Hebballi, Karnataka - Dr. Deshpande, Mahesh, Mr. K.G Patil, The Guru, Santosh, who's joined the Guru leaving the software job in the US, the famous boy in the "Then I cane to know it was boy" episode, the manager at the Guru's cattle house.

Ashwi, Pune - my favourite man - Sarjerao, Gauri Warudi, Mr. Kokje, the kids at the school, the dude at the health club gym!, the advocate, the old farmer full of wisdom.

13. Trip 1



I am too tired right now to write the details of each of these trips. I have already committed semi-suicide 3.43224 times for not having written about these trips previously. And because I have not done that, some details might escape which I think is a shame on my part. And because we are traveling to different parts of the country and traveling is a part and parcel of our work, parting with regular blogging is something which I have to cope up with. But I shall make sure I participate in as many blog sessions as possible and enjoy them as most kiddo yupiies would enjoy in a party. Damn. I am indeed sleepy.

I am leaving with photographs of our journey. A journey spanning from the rural villages of India to the malls and multiplexes in the cities! A truly memorable, enjoyable and a enriching journey. After all, isn't it fun to try and make the whole world literate?!


Jet, set, Go or Jet, SpiceJet and Go?!