Me Myself and the crazy world

Yesterday I was talking to my Dad on my regular phone call home. As usual we always discuss the whereabouts, weather and work. The weather was hot and I was sulking about it. It was work, yesterday, that we talked about. For once I talked about the huge work load that's present these days. The task of cleaning up the garbage of a code that was written by those who left for greener pastures is daunting. And on top of it, the coffee machine was broke on my floor and the swimming pool was closed. The testers keep pinging like incessant waves hitting the beach. Work these days is what never ends. I just had to get up and call it a day. Still work is what has to be done, it's what I do. And that means I may skip a meal or two, when I get engrossed. I even lose any grip on time, place or the world around me. Just remembered that yesterday, a colleague came over and asked something, but I was so engrossed that I could not understand a word of what she said. Even today I cannot recolle...

It's a pitch black cat with fur of white underneath. The first time I met her, it was a cold winter evening of March 2008 and it lay sprawled under the silencer of my bike which was still warm after half an hour since I had returned from office. I had come downstairs to retrieve the keys from my bike fuel lock, which I habitually forget. She lay sprawled, a young kitten, and purred slightly as I reached my bike to remove the keys, as if reprimanding me for having broken its reverie. I was equally overwhelmed by the nonchalance of a wild cat who didn't show any signs of fear. Instead it moved over and rubbed itself against the fabric of my trousers demanding redemption for my fault. I paid in full, for I brought a pack of Tiger biscuits and broke them into small pieces as I fed her. An uncommon sight watching a cat devour Tiger... And it became a friend, not just my friend but of everyone living in our flat and even of the family that lives in the flat downstairs... It'...

Was just taking my shower on this hot day and I just thought "Damn!!! I really want water." But just by belonging to the land of mightiest rivers, white water rapids, deep forests and "Gods" does not ensure that I shall have what I want in terms of all the water I need. Just a day back, I was picking up my bike from the Infy car parking and saw the Ozone board outside building 12 which said "Recycled water used only for watering plants". And now as I took the bath, this one line conjures up in my mind, out of the blue."Recycled" was the word. Sure the water was used only for watering plants, but it was serving a purpose. All the more, the water cycle took care of the rest, took care that the water ultimately passed back to our drinking cups and quench our thirst. And in this frenzy of thoughts, I thought a thought of using recycled water all across my city Haldwani… How about it? As I see it, the city is perfectly designed for the purpose. Every ...

While the country is still waking up to the fact of dwindling number of Tigers, it so happened that the Times of India published the news "Now, more tigers a problem?" featuring one of the most successful Tiger reserves in India, The Corbett National Park. Located in a realm that I would consider my own, the place is always in my mind. And now the news boasts of an immense population of Tigers in the Park, numbered at 162. There have been some recent and frequent conflicts between people and the Tigers of this Park. But considering that as a sign of overpopulation of Tigers is outright lunacy. The story, aptly, attributes the reason as rapid commercialization of the area. But as it usually happens in this land, the authorities are quick to reach conclusions. A land where the gullible masses limit themselves to headlines. In a country of politicians, who are just that and their problem solving abilities are limited to creating ruckus, it is always threatening to even think abo...

This page pays tribute to those of us who were wannabe soldiers, few years back. Few of us really made it and many of us didn't. Fate has it that all of us, others, turned into Software engineers or management executives... And are the niche group; alive, kicking and performing to the best of a person's ability today. Thinking aloud it appears that it was the whole desire for the perfection required to be a "Man in the uniform" that turned us into what we are today. Sometimes when I am working with my team, I feel like an oddity. No one else, around, barks tasks in conference rooms, takes up responsibility of tasks which require sticking one's neck into the guillotine, plots elaborate plans and loves to draw the plan, architecture just like some map, on the white board (I have heard that it does happen in places like NASA, Google and few others, but thats a different world altogether. Its an oddity here). I don't know how many of my buddies, (Prithvi, if you r...

Yesterday I had a great time starting very early morning, with the Ishquia show at 0850 AM at INOX, after a bike ride of a whole 16 KMs. Then we went to Pantaloons where the gals wanted to have some shopping. It turned out to be a shopping spree for the guys. But that is all normal stuff. So where is the cranky, nerdy, thinking kind of Gautam... Well ladies and gentlemen, here I come... At Pantaloons, as it happens with me mostly I was checking out things in the fragrances section, though highly reluctant to buy any as I have enough right now to burn a corn field in it. Still, others had paid the bills and we were about to leave when one of the gals (no names... Rule no 1 lolzzz... don't get the joke, watch Transporter) went over to try out the Polaroid sunglasses. We all flocked over and the salesperson told her that "These are Polaroids" "So what about it?" "Well these are not tinted or colored and can be used for night driving. And I tell you what? Look ...

The war between question and acceptance has been perpetual. This is just a new chapter where another "asker" tries to hold ground till he can and then go down into history... Surrounded all around by "believers" trying hard to make me believe too, it becomes a necessity to voice out my logic somewhere. And it is always futile to talk logic to those who believe. These days I am sharing my small accommodation with a believer who has "experienced God". And I still ask, has he? He believes so, yes. The argument usually springs from a pamphlet to join so and so course on such and such dates for spiritual healing. Healing!!! But am I ill. "You are". "How?" "You must believe you are ill and you will be healed. Join the course and you will know it, just like when you go to the doctor and he tells you." "But the doctor gives me reasons, conducts tests and shows me results" "Here you will experience, they will show you ho...