The Pursuit of Happyness

Different routes ?

Get the one thing that you want most in life right now - like Ali and Zara

Change the world - like Gandhi

Speak up - like Jeffrey Wigand

Fulfil your dream - like Iqbal

Leave your existing baggage and do what you loved when you were in college - like Aditya, Jo, Rob and KD

Just be with someone you love - like C.C. Baxter

Go back to your best friends in life - like Sameer, Akash and Sid

Find a purpose - like Oskar Schindler

Take revenge - like The Bride

Forgive someone - like Cristina Peck

Make the one unforgettable sacrifice for someone you love - like Rick Blaine

Get lucky - like Bacon, Soap, Tom and Eddie

Live your life for someone else - like Chris Gardner

Or work inch by inch and minute by minute to work your way out of the shit around you - like Andy Dufresne...

Class of '98 at Goa !

We still recollect our school days from 1996 and can laugh on any of the Fire Extinguisher, Artifical Snowfall and Cell Diagram episodes. And I also learnt yesterday that Vijay had made something called Lancelot (Merchant of Venice?) Cell. What I can't seem to explain is why we laughed our guts so bad on this new bit of information that our tummies hurt !

One of us got married yet we can't help trying to better each other in cracking bad PJ's. Our hit ratio is worse than Courtney Walsh's batting average but it just doesn't seem to matter - we keep trying.

We can still just laze around all day and feel we've done ourselves a world of good. What's changed though is now we invariably want a beer in hand and now these days are very few and far in between. But we've made a start.

Rajputana Pride, Cricket, 'Nothing is Impossible' are recurrent phrases in our conversations. We've heard them all and still want more.

Tomar Sir, DD and Kho-Kho got their mandatory mentions.

We haven't seen each other's families in years yet everytime we meet, we feel our families have come closer.

We learnt a new way to say Boolean in sign language !

I introduced her to them. Touchwood.

Gaurav, Jaydeep and Vijay - Words fail me but I thank the Lord for still keeping us friends.

We want to meet atleast once every year from now on. It makes us feel like we're in St. Mary's and that means it makes us feel that God's in his heaven and everything's right with the world. Amen !

Date

I've set myself a date of August-end to finish off something - some sort of a personal goal. In school and college, I used to be quite particular about these date lines but this is a new one...

A Channel of Discomfort

Aman pushes the door aside with his hand on the knob and this girl pressed against him. They’re passionately kissing each other, his hand sometimes moves to her hair and sometimes to her waist. It’s love making like now or never. On the edge, volatile, this is sexual intimacy at it’s violent best with clothes on. They close the door behind while still kissing each other.

Aman manages to turn the lights on with one of his hands that search for the switchboard. It’s only for a second that he takes his hand off her but it feels to him like forever. His hand is back on her like a flash.

And suddenly they take their hands off each other.

The look in her eyes says it all. She wants all of him. Not an inch of his body will be spared tonight.

The sweat over his eyebrow says it all. He’s invested too much in this tonight to let it pass. It’s been hard work getting her here.He reaches out for her hair in one final lunge of a kiss and then he realizes he wants more.

“Can I do you tonight?” he asks fearlessly.

“What on earth makes you think I need to answer that?”, she says.

“I’m sorry I asked.” he screams out loud passionately and tears open her top.

She screams out loud too. This is it. This is the peak of his mundane 32 years of existence.

She isn't done screaming.“Why the fuck did you have to tear it off? It was my favorite top. I got it from Chanel.”

He’s… He’s…, He’s …well… stunned, to put it politely.

He mumbles and reaches out for her caringly. She will have none of it. All her passion has just dissolved in the Chanel top that lies on the bed, almost geometrically torn into two shreds now, held by this teeny-weeny button that’s somehow holding the whole thing together.

“Do you have any fucking clue what you’ve just done? I spent months trying to get this exact piece.”

"Hey…don’t worry baby. I know Channel. I’ll get you more… I’ll get you the exact piece. Don’t spoil this moment now…”

“It’s not Channel you nincompoop, it’s Chanel. Get out…”

Just about...

... settled in Bombay.
... figuring friends out.
... finding way around
... keeping sanity.

The Deccan Chargers have arrived !

We have it!

After 13 months of when I first wrote about it and a month after I last hinted we might be moving towards it, the job's done.

Three sights that will forever remain from this year's final.

a.) Gilly urging his team mates just before the RCB innings took off. The passion in his eyes and his animated quick discourse firing up his team mates to win this almost told you DC will win it but the players had to live up to the captain and live up they did in style. If you need anymore proof of this, just replay in your mind Harmeet Singh's catch to dismiss Vinay Kumar in the 19th over - as good a catch as any you will see in any form of cricket! And possibly the best in a long time given the context of the game.

b.) The other is Pragyan Ojha's reactions - first after getting Manish Pandey and then after getting Van Der Merwe. If Gilly's eyes were all about passion then here was a man who wanted the win so badly he was going to get everyone from RCB out if they gave the man a few more overs. That belief in his ability shining through his face.

c.) The reserve bench running towards Gilly's arms after the game ended. As a fan, I would've to confess, that was something to see and not to write about.

All in all - sometimes it is indeed a function of how badly you want to achieve something. Looking at both the teams especially, looking at the way DC came out all fired up didn't you get the feeling Gilly wanted it more than Kumble?

Or maybe like analysts of all hues, I'm just trying to make sense where there's none.

In anycase, DECCAN CHARGERS - good on ya mates!

Moving to Mumbai and IPL

Two things affecting my life right now.

IPL is turning out to be 'happening' !

And my internal transfer to Mumbai office is happening.