Intimidating

While I was younger, I always misread ‘intimidation’ as ‘intimation’ and I thought it had something to do with being intimate. But when I got to know the actual meaning, I began to wonder the instances when I get intimidated.

The central character from the series 'Tales of Mere Existence'
by Lev Yilmaz  

I am intimidated at sight of an attractive woman, or if she drives an attractive car. Much more if, she rides a bike, if she dresses well, or she talks well, or the slightest thought that she is better than me.

That’s not all that I get intimated by. I get intimidated by my intelligent friend who can talk on every damn thing below the sun, or my not so intelligent friend who can act wise, or my metal-head friend who has a band, or my colleague who I think is better than me, or my colleague who is good for nothing, or my boss whom I work for, or my friends who are fit, or my friends who are unfit.

I am intimated by the person who has a good fashion sense, who wears a pair of good shoes, who is talented, who sketches, who cooks, who plays, who writes, who makes clay models, who has good drinking capacity, who does not drink, who can run fast, who can swim on the back, who can float on water, and so on. Even the word intimidation intimidates me such that I find it difficult to pronounce many a times.

**Note:  This is just an experimental style of writing which I very much adore. The man behind my inspiration is Turkish-American Dir, writer, producer, artist Mr. Lev Yilmaz. Check out his interesting work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P785j15Tzk

Hyderabad diaries: Into the wild (Yeah, almost)-Part 2

Chapter 2: Out of city limits

After an uncomfortable journey and not so good night of sleep, not to mention the Bad-maash Company and a small goof up between Raman and his pune friends who were coming to meet us, we reached Hyderabad. Finally out of one stagnant, crowded city lives to another ;).

We got down at our stop where my brother (Manoj) was to pick us from. Our hopes of an actual Into the wild experience were dashed as we saw my brother in a Scorpio. After initial greetings and ‘Seeing after a long time’ talks, we began to plan our course for the day. My brother booked an A.C car for our trip, bummer! We had a minimum of 3 places we need to cover Golconda fort, Charminar and the Birla Temple.

The Fortitude

   On reaching the fort, we had an intense discussion about whether to hire a guide. We decided not to, but as soon as we entered the fort we changed our decision. We were amazed by the first thing what we experienced. We were told to stand at a particular place and the guide clapped, we could feel some kind of vibration. Hats off to the architects of those times! Near the entrance there were some people who were clapping so that the tourists who came to see the amazing fort could hear them clap from almost 3-4 kms away, the clap was a warning signal. We saw the home of the great Kohinoor heera.  Even though heat tried to get the better off us, we did not deter. We clicked pictures or rather Kartik clicked pictures of us with all kinds of insane expressions and poses. Our guide was a little irritated as we kept him waiting for our photo sessions. Some other attractions were, DJ Bobby written on the wall and the wall which could hear us whispering. The proverb “DEEWAARON KE BHI KAAN HOTE HAI“, sounded uncanny hear. So, the architecture makes it a must visit places in Hyderabad.

After a historic trip to Golconda fort, it was time to visit the most important place the ‘Chaar Minar’.  On our way we noticed that the Hyderabadi’s have a unique knack of naming their shops, they were hilarious. Some names were so funny that, we were ROFL! :D Example, Co Cane: Name of a sugarcane juice centre.    

CHARMINAR (chaar minar)

    Charminar, a monument located right at the centre of one of the most crowded places in Hyderabad. Now, this place made me think that I was in Mumbai. There were people, animals, yellow rickshaws and hawkers everywhere. It was one big chaotic place or as Kartik calls it ‘systematic chaos of Hyderabad’. The view from the top was great; we could see the whole of congested old Hyderabad and the beautiful view Mecca Masjid. Hunger compelled us to eat samosas, which was not even close to samosa. But then Mr. Raman has this habit of eating north Indian foods, especially when he is south :P. We found out the telgu name for taddi fruit, its ‘Kawla Munjal’. We were so fascinated by the name that we kept on reiterating it till d end of the day.After some photographs at Mecca Masjid, we left for Birla Temple and had a filling thali before we went to the temple.

Birla Mandir

    Another adorable place in Hyderabad with the elegant marble finish it enabled us to have excellent views of the city from the top. It is a very peaceful place, we almost fell asleep. Kartik was at his best and maska-maring the Gods, when I and Raman noticed something hilarious. The Sai Baba’s idol casted French cut instead of the normal beard :D.

Lumbini Park

  There was nothing special about this place except the Laser show, which we decided to skip as we were tired after our escapades for the day. Nice view of Hussain Sagar Lake and Buddha statue right in the middle.

 Heading home, we picked up my brother from his office! We relaxed a bit and set out on a search for Raman’s kutte ka doctor :P , for his anti-rabbi shots. Funny thing, when we showed the prescription for the shots 

at the chemist, poor guy unfamiliar with the name of the drug, read out his name and said, “sorry sir we don’t have Aditya Raman.”

   The Doctor was amused to see me and Raman taking our shots (ohh yeah, for me it was tetanus). As I went in after Raman, she asked me about my whereabouts. As soon as she came to know I too was from Mumbai, she had an expression which felt like, “Tum log Mumbai se idhar injection lene aaye hai?? ” :P  

We headed home, had our dinner along with some fluids and then started planning for the trip next day. 

Trivia: This was the end of 2^nd chapter and I still haven’t mentioned about any good looking or smart girls. It is not because, this is a censored write up, but because there are no good looking girls there!!!!!!!! When it comes to this context is one lousy place.

To be continued......

Hyderabad diaries: Into the wild (Yeah, almost)

Warning: For everyone’s inconvenience, I will be publishing this in various parts.

Chapter 1: The Plan

     As the name suggests, it all started after getting inspired by Into the wild and my so called adventure trips to the wild (which by the way is only 1 till now :P). I was done with my exams and I knew I had to go for somewhere to unwind; it was not going to be Kerala this time like every vacation neither Bengaluru for an event as planned a week ago. Everything was in place except to decide upon a place we were heading to.

   We had two options in mind; one is any wildlife sanctuary in Maharashtra where we or rather I could spot some Tigers, and the other was the Land of the Nizams and the Nawabs and (my brother)- Hyderabad. Asking people to join me for the trip was simple, I knew who would be accompanying me for sure or at least try to join the trip. We started calling up every contact in our list, who we thought would remotely help us to plan a trip to Tadoba, Pench or other tiger reserves. Couple of phone calls and sms-es later we gave up the idea of the wildlife trip. Accommodation would have been a real problem apart from the expenses and stipulated time frame of the journey. So we finally decide to go to Hyderabad. One of my friends was a little reluctant about the idea, but thanks to Google he was excited later :D. Before going to bed, I sent out a bulk message to my friends, asking interested one’s to join me. The message was, ‘I am leaving Hyderabad tomorrow; if you are interested join me for the trip.’

     Next morning, it was time to decide which bus and when. Luxury was taboo for us so we thought not Volvo and no AC, but ended up in one of those. Ohhh...Sorry, I forgot to introduce the gang. Me, Aditya (my old travel buddy :P ) aka Raman and Kartik aka Kartik.:P. ‘Hard Sun’ playing behind our heads, we set out from Borivali and Goregaon respectively to embark upon one of our finest and memorable trips.

Hyderabad mein kya hua, yeh jaanke ke liye read kariye agla post!! :D (To know what happened in Hyderabad, read the next post).

Not for you, not for us, but at least for the great man called Sachin Tendulkar

Today, we had to witness yet another century by the man who is considered as ‘God of cricket’ by most fans in India go in vain.  It was Sachin Tendulkar’s 99th century in International cricket and was a treat as usual to watch it.

I do not know, what is exactly wrong with the men in blue, but everything seems to be wrong now. The last eight batsmen failed to put together 50-60 odd runs. I was ashamed to watch it wearing the Indian jersey. Even after providing much needed start from both the opening batsmen, the team managed to mess it up towards the end.    The younger lot of the bunch would get one or two more chances to play the World Cup, but for one man, it is his last chance to win the World Cup. The rest of the team has to take that into consideration while they step out on the field. For, he is the one who made our nation proud every time he made a record and also for the sheer brilliance he is. More than two decades of cricketing and never has Sachin’s dedication for the sport decreased.
Once, Pakistani World cup winning legend Imran Khan said (I had read in an article), Sachin was never backed with a good bowling attack, which sounds absolutely true even now.
  It is high time the #2 ODI team woke up and realised if this is the case, it will be an early exit for us who are apparently the favourites to win World Cup 2011. The bowling so far has been pathetic in the tournament with Piyush chawla, Sreeshant, Ashish Nehra, Harbhajan all failing. Now batting has failed miserably too.  
As an Indian fan, I can only say that we look ahead to see team India win the World Cup and Sachin score more. J

To watch the highlights of Master blaster’s innings or ICC cricket World Cup 2011, logon to http://www.nyootv.com/

Some ways that a gal rejects a guy and ONE special way to be accepted especially by an Indian gal

***DISCLAIMER****

Hello everyone..

This is my small attempt to make people smile.. PLS DO NOT consider this as a sexist note..

I apologize, If I hurt anyone’s sentiments.  

Scenario 1

Guy meets the girl in the school canteen and says

Guy: hey I like you..

Gal: starts crying like someone died :’( (sob sob sob...)

Guy runs like hell and suffers depression thinking about the nxt day in school!!

Scenario 2

Guy finally has the guts to talk to the gal and then,

Guy: hey

Gal (thinks) he is too outspoken better ignore him  

Scenario 3

Guy befriends the gal thinking he will tell her once their friendship grows. He then becomes her good friend and then he waits for the right moment and then he suddenly realizes he is in charge of the band arrangements for the dulha!!

Scenario 4

 The guy and the gal flirt a lot and then when the guy proposes she says, “Meine tumko uss nazzar se nai dekha kabhi”

Scenario 5

A good Guy who used to have many friends got into a relationship with a hatke gal.

Gal: your friends are a lil irritating, i cant be around them.

So, he leaves his friends for them.

Gal: Why do u smoke cigarette and have hard drinks.. Its not like me having hookah or vodka once in while...

So the guy leaves his habits of smoking and occasionally drinking.

Gal: y don’t u buy a nice car, atleast a second hand.

He buys a car and then they fool around in it for couple of months

Gal: arre tumko ab serious hona chahiye life mein..kuch kaam karo ani toh hum aage ki zindagi kaise kaatenge.

Guy fights at his home for some cash to start his own company and then strtas working on developing it seriously. He gets tied up and so the frequency of meetin the gal falls. Suddenly one day she informs him, “gharwalo ne mere lliye ladka doondha hai aur waise bhi mujhe lagta hai tume mujhme ab wo intrst nai raha. Mujhe milte hi nai ho kabhi. So good bye”

Scenario 5

Guy: hey, i am so n so..

Gal: hey, i am so n so..

Guy: actually, i like u

Gal: blushes..Thank u but nobody from the other caste can like me J

Scenario 6

Guy: hey, i  wanted to tell you something from some time now.

Gal: ya tell me.

Guy: I kind of like you..

Gal: ohhh!!! That’s a little bit of a surprise.. also i don’t want to get into relationships now,  i am kind of focused on my career..

You can see the same gal going out with some other guy after a few week!!

Now the One way to be accepted

Guy meets the gal at a party of a family friend

Guy: hey

Gal: hey

Guy:  I am (so n so), I stay at so n so place. I am from this caste (The same caste as the gal is from) and from this sub-caste (again the same as the gal). I am the Head of (some crap) department of some (big and reputed) MNC or an IT firm, settled abroad in UK/US/Canada/Middle-east/ anywhere other than India-Pakistan-Afghanistan-Somalia. I plan to get married (with stress on) due to pressure from my parents. So I was thinking that we can marry the nest time I come and then take you along with me. J

Gal: ohhkk kool!! :-D my parents are right there near the dining counter, you can have a word with them.  

Done proposal accepted..6 mnths dwn d line they get married and fly abroad!! J

Adieu Africa

Its all over. A month of excitement, thrill, anger and desperation has come to an end.


The Champs


Let me first congratulate SPAIN who were crowned the champions of Fifa World Cup 2010. They have shown us that they are indeed the beast side the country has ever produced. They have finally lifted the trophy after a long wait, thanks to their ability to keep possession and pass the ball brilliantly. However, i thought they were not as convincing as they were in the Euro. They lacked the goal scoring power. One of their prolific strikers Torres being out of form, much was depended on the David Villa. The new Barca star delivered his best with 5 goals. Eventually, they got want they were playing for, even if it meant to be the lowest scoring champions. Felicitaciones España.  


The Runners Up


The Dutch were a little interesting when it came to the style of play but became vulnerable to Spain's 'passing' game. They were frustrated which is evident just by looking at the number of cards they managed to collect. Webb was definitely not to the person blame in this case. The biggest feat that the dutch achieved was knocking out Brazil.That is they turned heroes for Pro-Argentines and villains for the Pro-Brazilians and I seriously do not know how many people supported The NEDs before the start of the tournament. Over all it was great watching Robben and Sneijder rising their team to new heights.  


The Most Entertaining Team


This award will undoubltedly go to the Germans. The young team who was led by defender Philipp Lahm in the absence of their captain Michael Ballack, performed exceptionally well. This team had exhibited some new talents like Muller and Ozil alongside stars like Schweinsteiger, Klose and Podolski. What amazed me was that most of the players in the squad were not of German descent. If everything goes well, this team can win some titles for their fans.


The Latin American Heroes  


Uruguay, and not Brazilians or Argentinians deserve this title. The team had a great tournament with their in-form striker Forlan leading the line up. The Latin-American side had an amazing start by not only restricting France but also topping their group. They deserved to be in the semis. There is only one instance, that we can blame them for. Though, it cant be blamed on the entire team one player is to be blamed. Suarez tried to substitute the keeper for a while against Ghana. That was a real disappointment. 


The Latin American disaster


This is how the one of my cousins coined the exits of Brazil and Argentina. The Somewhat ‘entertaining’ Brazil and the ‘Coach + one man army’ Argentina lost it again. While Brazil lost it to silly defensive errors to the Dutch, their neighbours were outplayed by the German army. Even though, there we saw some good individual works, both the teams failed to work as a unit. Lionel Messi will; be all the more frustrated as he failed to find the net even once in the tournament but showed the world why he is considered the best in business.   


The Black Stars


They need a special applause, as they were the only nation who could advance to the second stage. They went one step further and reached the quarters and gave us plenty to watch for in that match. It was very sad to hear (I missed the match) that Gyan had missed the chance to take them to the semis. Nevertheless, it was a brilliant performance from them.


The Best League in the World Failed Again


Stars from the beast and the most talked about league in the world had a very bad outing. Everything seemed well till the qualifiers for England. Suddenly the team which was being rooted as one of the probables found it difficult to secure their place in the second round. The English failed to tackle the German. Though they were unlucky to have disallowed a goal, they failed when it came to cutting down the counter attacks.




The European Ousted


The defending champs Italy had only a brief role to play in this edition. I was not expecting them to retain the trophy but at least expected them to do better than this. Similar was the fate of last edition’s runners up. France had been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The reasons were: The coach, his decision to use Henry to warm the bench, Anelka’s ousted and the drama following it.  


There were some good performances by other teams as well. Like the Portuguese scoring 7 against DPR, Ivory Coast resisting CR7 and his boys, South Africa’s triumph over France, etc. Overall it lacked the excitement and hype which was created before the tournament began, still enjoyed it. Now the wait for the nest WC begins. See you on the other side. Take care.    

Waving All The Flags

Here I come friends(even though i know not even 10 people would read this, i write with an attitude that I have a thousand followers) with a new blog after more than 3 months. I had started off my first blog by writing about one of my passions  i.e football. Here I am again restarting my Blog experience with a similar topic.

The Big Moment 

The moment has arrived, it is the most awaited day in the history of Football- (arguably) the most followed sports over the globe. It will be prodigious to see men from 32 countries wearing their heart on their sleeves and battling it out for pride and honor. Today friends would turn foes. Its once in a life time opportunity for everyone who is taking part in the tournament. Ladies and gentleman, 

Cometh the hour Cometh the World Cup.

As I sit here to watch the opening ceremony, Though I will not be cheering for my Motherland in the competition, I feel very emotionally connected to it. That is the beauty of this game. It feels like the game has adopted me and not the other way round. I feel tensed every time when the team I support takes the field. Its almost like I am going to take the field. I am overwhelmed at the sight of it. All sorts of emotion starts running inside me. Being an Indian, I have to admit that this is something much bigger than cricket and there is a chance that it may be as popular as cricket one day. I am sure many of the fans out there will agree with me. 

Supporting Dilemma


It been a few days that whenever I update some World Cup related news on my Facebook page, people start asking me, "Which Team are you supporting?", "I support the game" goes my immediate response and then listing out some of my favorites. This is because its a country affair and my country aint there, but obviously, I have my second, third , fourth, fifth... and so on favorites too. My friend countered me in an amused manner "Dude, you have mentioned almost every team participating". This is because the players I like are scattered in various teams, so will support everyone. The bottom line remains the same, the games moves the fans as emotionally as it does the players. This time in South Africa, the conflicted African nations will unite and raise their voice for unity.  I have purposely not written about the injury 'jinx' as I feel both sad and angry when I think of it. Lets hope for an exciting and unforgettable tournament. Leave all your work behind and enjoy for a month.

Here I conclude my words hoping to Wave the Indian colors in one of the the World Cup finals and by writing some words from the World cup theme song, which goes

"Give me Freedom, Give me fire, Give me reason, Take me higher 

 See the champions, Take the field now

 Unify us, make us feel proud...

  

When I get older, I will be stronger

 They’ll call me freedom

 Just like a wavin’ flag

 And then it goes back

 And then it goes back

 And then it goes back "