There is no escaping the proposal for a man. Proposals are like expenses, they grow overtime, the require greater planning and they also have a tendency to turn on you as you get older.
Let us do a chronological analysis of Proposals with examples:
1. Proposing the purchase of the cool as shit Sony Playstation to your dad at 13
2. Proposing the purchase of 17" alloy wheels to your dad at 19
3. Proposing to the girl you like (which also gets more complex as you get older)
4. Proposals to be sent to a client for a new project
5. Marraige proposal (not only do you want to make this the best proposal you every gave, the
other side is also expecting the best - bewarned there are probably are no second chances)
6. Editing the proposal you sent last week to give it that extra flavor and make it a winning
pitch - yes and i think i sometimes find these more difficult to understand and implement
than a marraige proposal
7. Your wife proposing a foreign holiday to you
8. The fed proposing a $700 billion dollar bailout to the stock market that did nothing for all the investments that you had
As you can see in the first few proposals, your dad was the one sweating. Somewhere in the middle you were doing the sweating for someone else and in the end... jus about anyone makes you sweat.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Wedding Season
2008 to 2009 - there are already 20 weddings planned amongst people that i know. And most of them didnt even know that they were getting married 4 months ago. Its approaching winter and wedding season is about to begin. I got married this summer and i have some advice for all those guys that are gonna get married now.
When marraige is in the air, you have no control over your life cause everyone around you makes decisions for you, shopping will be done for everyone but you (Mom: Son , you just need 2-3 suits, dont you? ) and you will be relgated to being a porter!
Yes, truth be told - getting married involves serious olympian effort! You will spend your day hopping between 20 different locations - starting from fixing your spouses wardrobe, getting the locations fixed, getting the cards organized, getting the invite list done and above all working the family into agreeing on things!
When marraige is in the air, you have no control over your life cause everyone around you makes decisions for you, shopping will be done for everyone but you (Mom: Son , you just need 2-3 suits, dont you? ) and you will be relgated to being a porter!
Yes, truth be told - getting married involves serious olympian effort! You will spend your day hopping between 20 different locations - starting from fixing your spouses wardrobe, getting the locations fixed, getting the cards organized, getting the invite list done and above all working the family into agreeing on things!
Once the big day reaches, your expected to look your best. Well that's the challenge, cause you would have not slept well for weeks, you will be busy ferrying , feeding and chatting with people, and taking care of rituals. Try not to kill your photographer because he will make you put up a smile when your feet are killing you.
So what are the tips to sail thru this? :
- Make sure you have all the good booze to keep you going.
- Plan for a honeymoon where you can sleep.
- Make sure you know nothing about womens clothing - cause if you do your screwed.
- Last and senti thing - keep your eye on the prize (in this case your to be spouse). Cause if the person is right, in the end you will realise that all the effort was just worth it.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Welcome to Mumbai
Its been nearly a month since i moved to Mumbai and the question on everybodys mouth is "Sachin, dude.. how are you settling in? Hows your new job? Where do you stay? How do you commute?"
Its a set of both tough and easy questions to answer to be honest. so lets go one by one:
1. Sachin, dude.. how are you settling in?
The easy answer is ..so so what could be so difficult anyway?? The tough truth is that somehow airtel just wont activate my number in mumbai for some reason. The cops are extorting my TN registered car at every given chance and somehow i get the feeling that im spending a lot more lately. Extra Cost of living adjustment allowance, please daddy? :)
2. Hows your new job?
The good part is that i am finally doing what i wanna do. Indian market centric , strategy consulting position, decent money and good brand name. The people here are nice too. Sounds pretty good on the long term perspective. The tough part is that i wont get that experience of working at nariman point - one that i always wanted. I infact have to experience going past a bhajji market at lower parel each day. Least i get to train in veggie bargaining and selection for make benefit the case of being a good son when i eventually settle down with my folks me thinks. I tell myself each day "I suppose i was a spoilt brat with a car and food court - Whatte change in personality i will be for me mum!"
4. Where do you stay??
The easy part is that i live with my sister. The tough part is that its a temporary solution, and i aint able to find a decent crib cause everything is so friggin expensive and trashed in comparison to what i get back home. Painted exteriors are a luxury in Mumbai apparently. Something blessed with that virtue is called 'Quality Building with extra premium' so to say. But im sure i will find something soon. I have discovered that all real estate brokers in bbay are sindhi and have that extra sympathy for a young kid of their community working away from home. I hope no one offers me their daughter in marraige in due course else my fiance will force me forget the flats that guy shows me.
5 How do you commute??
And i say with pride - "local - first class!! I have a pass too!". The truth is that, In BBay it makes no damn difference dude. It takes human perseverance and sheer energy and calculated platform positioning to board a first class comaprtment. If you are late, you are not in! When you are in you will get squished like a sardine in a can on each day to work and back. The people give you jibes in english instead of hindi and the place is as filthy as the second class. The only respite is that people in first class are marginally richer so .. they dont smell as bad. thanks to god.
Well all in all.. i think im settling in fine. The opportunities in bbay are simply the best. The office and social crowd is too. After landing in bombay i already feel like my days are moving faster, there is that extra spring in my step. Its almost like the city has forced my existance into this fast daily process. The city has a pulse that has already grown on me. Im sure this is bbays way of saying "Welcome sachin!!"
Its a set of both tough and easy questions to answer to be honest. so lets go one by one:
1. Sachin, dude.. how are you settling in?
The easy answer is ..so so what could be so difficult anyway?? The tough truth is that somehow airtel just wont activate my number in mumbai for some reason. The cops are extorting my TN registered car at every given chance and somehow i get the feeling that im spending a lot more lately. Extra Cost of living adjustment allowance, please daddy? :)
2. Hows your new job?
The good part is that i am finally doing what i wanna do. Indian market centric , strategy consulting position, decent money and good brand name. The people here are nice too. Sounds pretty good on the long term perspective. The tough part is that i wont get that experience of working at nariman point - one that i always wanted. I infact have to experience going past a bhajji market at lower parel each day. Least i get to train in veggie bargaining and selection for make benefit the case of being a good son when i eventually settle down with my folks me thinks. I tell myself each day "I suppose i was a spoilt brat with a car and food court - Whatte change in personality i will be for me mum!"
4. Where do you stay??
The easy part is that i live with my sister. The tough part is that its a temporary solution, and i aint able to find a decent crib cause everything is so friggin expensive and trashed in comparison to what i get back home. Painted exteriors are a luxury in Mumbai apparently. Something blessed with that virtue is called 'Quality Building with extra premium' so to say. But im sure i will find something soon. I have discovered that all real estate brokers in bbay are sindhi and have that extra sympathy for a young kid of their community working away from home. I hope no one offers me their daughter in marraige in due course else my fiance will force me forget the flats that guy shows me.
5 How do you commute??
And i say with pride - "local - first class!! I have a pass too!". The truth is that, In BBay it makes no damn difference dude. It takes human perseverance and sheer energy and calculated platform positioning to board a first class comaprtment. If you are late, you are not in! When you are in you will get squished like a sardine in a can on each day to work and back. The people give you jibes in english instead of hindi and the place is as filthy as the second class. The only respite is that people in first class are marginally richer so .. they dont smell as bad. thanks to god.
Well all in all.. i think im settling in fine. The opportunities in bbay are simply the best. The office and social crowd is too. After landing in bombay i already feel like my days are moving faster, there is that extra spring in my step. Its almost like the city has forced my existance into this fast daily process. The city has a pulse that has already grown on me. Im sure this is bbays way of saying "Welcome sachin!!"
Friday, November 23, 2007
Going down School Memory Lane
Its surprising how you conjure up alot of content when you go down school memory lane. The good times, what the teachers said, who went out with whom, the major fiascos and all the continuing gossip. In spite of having such a well oiled set of grey cells when it comes to this topic, i am mostly found wanting when it comes to recalling names of people from school.
I had a great time with my school time buddy Avinash who had returned to Chennai after several years to attend a cousins wedding. We met briefly at leather bar over beer. As usual the topics revolved around the 4 boys that comprise our school group, all the girls of our time, and continuing updates of people that we still know from our batch.
Suddenly, this familiar voice and this familiar face comes up and says hello to us. While we reach out and superficially say " Whats up dog?!?!? long time man... " both Avinash and myself are working over time to place this fellow and remember his name. Was he Raja, Vijay, Vinay or Jignesh? We were so lost, that it wouldnt be surprising if his name was Osama.
Time was running out. This chap knew our names and continued to address us as Sachin and Avinash. Then out came his cellphone and he requested our numbers. The polite thing as we did was to ask for his inturn.. however at some point , we knew we had to store his name with the number. Expecting that he would be offended if he realised we didnt know his name, the anxiety was killing me. I was gonna be in some serious embarrasment.
Then out of the blue, HDFC, my most trusted bank came to my rescue with a misdirected credit card sales call to the still unplaced person in front of me. "No im not interested, and i am not subumani, i am Vijay Manwani" he screamed.
Vijay Manwani!! Yep, you look like a vijay nichani now. But, Who cares? Im safe .. i mean i still dont know anything about Vijay Manwani. But i seized the moment, and danced on my chance - i was all over him now. "You know Vijay, i remember so much about you from school, we must meet up sometime for lunch!", i said.
We exchanged numbers, and now i am in touch with a london based investment banker - good contact i hope!
I had a great time with my school time buddy Avinash who had returned to Chennai after several years to attend a cousins wedding. We met briefly at leather bar over beer. As usual the topics revolved around the 4 boys that comprise our school group, all the girls of our time, and continuing updates of people that we still know from our batch.
Suddenly, this familiar voice and this familiar face comes up and says hello to us. While we reach out and superficially say " Whats up dog?!?!? long time man... " both Avinash and myself are working over time to place this fellow and remember his name. Was he Raja, Vijay, Vinay or Jignesh? We were so lost, that it wouldnt be surprising if his name was Osama.
Time was running out. This chap knew our names and continued to address us as Sachin and Avinash. Then out came his cellphone and he requested our numbers. The polite thing as we did was to ask for his inturn.. however at some point , we knew we had to store his name with the number. Expecting that he would be offended if he realised we didnt know his name, the anxiety was killing me. I was gonna be in some serious embarrasment.
Then out of the blue, HDFC, my most trusted bank came to my rescue with a misdirected credit card sales call to the still unplaced person in front of me. "No im not interested, and i am not subumani, i am Vijay Manwani" he screamed.
Vijay Manwani!! Yep, you look like a vijay nichani now. But, Who cares? Im safe .. i mean i still dont know anything about Vijay Manwani. But i seized the moment, and danced on my chance - i was all over him now. "You know Vijay, i remember so much about you from school, we must meet up sometime for lunch!", i said.
We exchanged numbers, and now i am in touch with a london based investment banker - good contact i hope!
East Coast Road
“Let’s hit the coast dude”
“Let’s rock it at the beach house”
“Dude lets bajao it”
“Lets drive to pondy man”
“Moonrakers for lunch”
“Be there at Uthandi”
“just the second left after tvs avenue”
These are a sample of phrases thrown by my friends to suggest that we must engage in our weekend pilgrimage to east coast road – for whatever reason.
Now ECR is the social destination of Chennai for people of all ages. If you aren't there, you are square. Just look at the importance of ECR across the age graph:
At 6: If you didn’t goto VGP Golden Beach you were a nobody
At 10: It was this grand announcement that your dad took you to Fishermans Cove swimming pool during the weekend
At 12: School trips were all about mahabs
At 14: We discovered beach house party. Whatte Fun!!
At 16 it was the cool thing to say – “I’m going to Dublin and then heading to a beach house party”.
By 18, if you didn’t say it you were this loser.
At 21, We spent months describing our weekend at pondy
At 23, It was the cool thing to say “ I’m not into partying at all, I’m just going to chill at georges”. In other words it mean your driving to your buddy georges beach house to spend the day with friends
At 25, We're still chilling at georges, going to moonrakers for lunch and talking about all the years past at ECR
I certainly believe that East Coast Road or ECR is the golden goose of Chennai. I couldn’t imagine life without it. God Bless Georgie.
“Let’s rock it at the beach house”
“Dude lets bajao it”
“Lets drive to pondy man”
“Moonrakers for lunch”
“Be there at Uthandi”
“just the second left after tvs avenue”
These are a sample of phrases thrown by my friends to suggest that we must engage in our weekend pilgrimage to east coast road – for whatever reason.
Now ECR is the social destination of Chennai for people of all ages. If you aren't there, you are square. Just look at the importance of ECR across the age graph:
At 6: If you didn’t goto VGP Golden Beach you were a nobody
At 10: It was this grand announcement that your dad took you to Fishermans Cove swimming pool during the weekend
At 12: School trips were all about mahabs
At 14: We discovered beach house party. Whatte Fun!!
At 16 it was the cool thing to say – “I’m going to Dublin and then heading to a beach house party”.
By 18, if you didn’t say it you were this loser.
At 21, We spent months describing our weekend at pondy
At 23, It was the cool thing to say “ I’m not into partying at all, I’m just going to chill at georges”. In other words it mean your driving to your buddy georges beach house to spend the day with friends
At 25, We're still chilling at georges, going to moonrakers for lunch and talking about all the years past at ECR
I certainly believe that East Coast Road or ECR is the golden goose of Chennai. I couldn’t imagine life without it. God Bless Georgie.
Thursday, November 22, 2007
Chennai and Nightlife
I am engaged, and happily so to my long time girl friend Shradha. This post is to describe the thumbs down 10 Downing Street (among the better pubs in chennai) got from her, when she came down to visit me in Chennai.
So Shradha comes down to visit me in Chennai during Diwali. The both of us were all happy and looking to explore the new ‘happening’ spots in the city. We decide on 10 Downing Street - the much hyped bar chain from Hyderabad and head there.
It has been a year since I moved back to Chennai from Mumbai. Scarily enough, the forces of human adaptation have made me believe that Chennai has some good party crowd. So while I was there at 10 downing , I boastfully quipped to my fiancee – “Not bad eh! look at the decor, look at the crowd!!”
Her face first cringed, and it was written clearly all over her - the triple forces of 1. “You traitor to the Mumbai clan”, 2. " I am in Disbelief of your taste" ; 3. “The taste of kingfisher in Chennai sucks!” were screaming to get out.
And then she lay-eth the smack-eth down with the following words:
“There are 3 times as many men here than women. Most of the women here seem to be excessively guarded by the 6 boys surrounding them, the beer here tastes bad, the music is 10 years old, every boy looks like a tourist dressed in a Hawaiian out-shirt with jeans and running shoes, i dont understand a word of what is being spoken around me, you don’t get Bacardi breezers, and to top it all if you have visited siros and china house in Mumbai you would dare rate this place at all”
I had nothing to respond – I just continued to drink that awful Chennai kingfisher beer – and decided that I’ll have a teachers next to ease my taste buds. And some how, as adapted as i am - i was tapping to the music of "Brazil" by the vengaboys
I guess I’ll go visit her in Mumbai more often instead.
So Shradha comes down to visit me in Chennai during Diwali. The both of us were all happy and looking to explore the new ‘happening’ spots in the city. We decide on 10 Downing Street - the much hyped bar chain from Hyderabad and head there.
It has been a year since I moved back to Chennai from Mumbai. Scarily enough, the forces of human adaptation have made me believe that Chennai has some good party crowd. So while I was there at 10 downing , I boastfully quipped to my fiancee – “Not bad eh! look at the decor, look at the crowd!!”
Her face first cringed, and it was written clearly all over her - the triple forces of 1. “You traitor to the Mumbai clan”, 2. " I am in Disbelief of your taste" ; 3. “The taste of kingfisher in Chennai sucks!” were screaming to get out.
And then she lay-eth the smack-eth down with the following words:
“There are 3 times as many men here than women. Most of the women here seem to be excessively guarded by the 6 boys surrounding them, the beer here tastes bad, the music is 10 years old, every boy looks like a tourist dressed in a Hawaiian out-shirt with jeans and running shoes, i dont understand a word of what is being spoken around me, you don’t get Bacardi breezers, and to top it all if you have visited siros and china house in Mumbai you would dare rate this place at all”
I had nothing to respond – I just continued to drink that awful Chennai kingfisher beer – and decided that I’ll have a teachers next to ease my taste buds. And some how, as adapted as i am - i was tapping to the music of "Brazil" by the vengaboys
I guess I’ll go visit her in Mumbai more often instead.
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Where is your native??
I cant tell you the number of times people have asked me - "Where is your native?"
This question has the assumption that every human being in India has his roots in some village/small town. Looking at me, Its almost like the average person is expecting me to answer faridabad, or jalalabad or ahmednagar or some 'god-knows-what'. But hold on to your safety bar - im pure urban - my great grand pa, grand pa, dad and myself have all been born and brought up in the Metros. Im this Sindhi metro creature that has no regional identity!
But coming back to my answer to them , when i utter Chennai - they appear astonished.. literally looking like they are deep in analysis. Suddenly, they come back with a retort and ask me how come i am fair and i dont speak tamil? And how on earth i dont have a native? Some even quip - "You need to be from somewhere,what is it?"
I just cant beleive this crazy perception. I mean in the world i know - there are tonnes of people from Chennai that dunno tamil. I even know tamilians that dunno tamil. Whats so weird about it? And its really amazing how i have to explain my ethinicity - Sindhi, in terms of the Indo-Pak partition and how my community moved from Pakistan to India, and also how our people are spread across all the major cities in india etc etc. Im sure they dont understand a thing of what i am saying, because nearly all the time they have have this blank look and keep nodding their head vertically.
Suddenly, and as if to repeat, There is all sorts of predjudist questions put against me. "Why do u not speak tamil?" "How come you did not pick up the langugage although you have spent 23 years in this city?" - Some even start asking me these questions in tamil!?! - as if to project that i am this abnormal person whose decisions thus far can be rectified, and hence i can have the privledge of being normal.
The truth of the matter however is that, contrary to what most beleive it is not necessary to know chaste tamil to survive in chennai. However, what you maybe able to speak to an auto driver is not something you can speak to the boss or someone elderly. Chennai tamil is trash so they say.. something like what bombaiyya is to hindi. Its strange, what kind of minority born chennai, brought up and living in chennaites are today - because almost everone in my age group is a migrant today.
Its now true for me too - in my case i have moved to mumbai.. So now for the benefit of the masses i have decided my native is Chennai - and the answer to the whole fair, tamil and 23 years story... "its long and complicated"
This question has the assumption that every human being in India has his roots in some village/small town. Looking at me, Its almost like the average person is expecting me to answer faridabad, or jalalabad or ahmednagar or some 'god-knows-what'. But hold on to your safety bar - im pure urban - my great grand pa, grand pa, dad and myself have all been born and brought up in the Metros. Im this Sindhi metro creature that has no regional identity!
But coming back to my answer to them , when i utter Chennai - they appear astonished.. literally looking like they are deep in analysis. Suddenly, they come back with a retort and ask me how come i am fair and i dont speak tamil? And how on earth i dont have a native? Some even quip - "You need to be from somewhere,what is it?"
I just cant beleive this crazy perception. I mean in the world i know - there are tonnes of people from Chennai that dunno tamil. I even know tamilians that dunno tamil. Whats so weird about it? And its really amazing how i have to explain my ethinicity - Sindhi, in terms of the Indo-Pak partition and how my community moved from Pakistan to India, and also how our people are spread across all the major cities in india etc etc. Im sure they dont understand a thing of what i am saying, because nearly all the time they have have this blank look and keep nodding their head vertically.
Suddenly, and as if to repeat, There is all sorts of predjudist questions put against me. "Why do u not speak tamil?" "How come you did not pick up the langugage although you have spent 23 years in this city?" - Some even start asking me these questions in tamil!?! - as if to project that i am this abnormal person whose decisions thus far can be rectified, and hence i can have the privledge of being normal.
The truth of the matter however is that, contrary to what most beleive it is not necessary to know chaste tamil to survive in chennai. However, what you maybe able to speak to an auto driver is not something you can speak to the boss or someone elderly. Chennai tamil is trash so they say.. something like what bombaiyya is to hindi. Its strange, what kind of minority born chennai, brought up and living in chennaites are today - because almost everone in my age group is a migrant today.
Its now true for me too - in my case i have moved to mumbai.. So now for the benefit of the masses i have decided my native is Chennai - and the answer to the whole fair, tamil and 23 years story... "its long and complicated"
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