The Curry Story

Hey, I just realised that Einstein and I are distant cousins. My greatest grandfather(Adam) proposed Einstein's greatest grandmom(Eve) and the rest, for a change, is Biology (Reproduction & Organic Evolution) !!

Sorry for the PJ.

Ladies, Gentlemen and Vamsi,

How are you all? It's been really long since I hit my keyboard and I'm sorry for corrupting your peace now. On my end, life has been as it always was, mysterious. Wanted to keep updating you from time to time, but I preferred to stick to my values and remain a PERFECT lazy bug.

Books: Oh!! can I please borrow your hanky so I can hide my face? Read no book/novel at all. Was half way through Art Buchwald's 'Washington is Leaking' before I flung it out. However I've read lots of nice write-ups of some fine writers. I've identified a decent circle whose every release I just devour.

Movies: Another hopeless score! Missed all the movies I had been waiting for. But I saw KHNH, The Kid, Grimace.(Hey hows 'Kill Bill' ?). Will complete the pending list when I get free (that's an eternal self-consolation, in case you didn't know).

Southern Spice: I live in a crazy state I tell u. Four fools killed themselves fighting for the tickets of the latest Chiranjeevi film - Tagore. What's worse is that this actor gave 2 lakh to each of their families. Just a few days before that, about 25 fishermen/women/kids had lost their lives elsewhere when their boat capsized, and the govt had announced only Rs 50,000 each. How contemptible!! O God, plz wake up!! Anyway, I saw the film to cross-check its hype. It was exactly as I had predicted - mediocre.

Cooking/Food: It's official now. I've grown a little fat!! And I hate this fact every bit. But I hate jogging/gym even more.

Frankly, a part of the blame also goes to, with all due respects - my mom. She is that typical Indian mom who for the last 20 yrs has been asking me the same old question, "beta, ab nahi khaoge toh kab khaoge?". Anyway, after my mom joined me(about 4-5 months back), I've stopped going into the kitchen. So now, my kitchen has lost its erstwhile R&D status. Sad.

Outings: These are a little old. But unfortunately they are only ones I have worth mentioning.

1. If you care for your newspapers then you'd know that Hyderabad is trying hard for a F1 circuit berth. In that effort the city's first F1 club was launched at Bottles&Chimmneys(the newest overrated pub). Some kind bloke passed me an invitation and I jubilantly went there to watch the first F1 race of my life. How was it? Omigod!! What a bor..ing sport!!. It was so hard for me trying not to sleep in spite of the utter chaos all around. In my humble opinion Schumacher's fastest lap is not even half as exciting as Sachin 'The God' Tendulkar's simplest cover drive. F1 be dammed!!

2. Yaar, I never liked Bombay Vikings much. But when I had nothing better do, I decided to go to his show. Wow! That was the best evening I had this year so far. I think it helps to expect nothing and get surprised with all the things u normally like - small decent crowd, lakeside greenery, midnight boating, nice food and of course, cool LIVE music. We (Ashok and I) were among the first ones to reach (7-7:30 pm) and also among the last to move out (2 am). A KINGSIZE evening that was.

Work: I've just been shifted to a new project. I'd be working for Philip Morris (of Marlboro fame) for the next 2 months. No, that doesn't mean that I can provide Marlboro cigarettes to my friends. So please carry on with your Charminar brand. :)

That's it chaps!! My updates are over. Now it's your turn to flood my inbox. ATTACK!!.

And before I forget, Merry Christmas.

Regards,
~ Praveen/GP/Gattu/Jugs
I came .............I saw...................I dozzzzzzz...............


College Coolers:
Arey yaar, this is a fundoo anecdote. It happened in my friend's college (CBIT, Hyd). During Electronics Viva:

Prof: Tell me an application for p-n junction.
Chap: Transistor
Prof: Another application?
Chap: Another Transistor!

The Prof told him right there that he would fail him and like a true professional, kept his word.

Graffiti:
I can write epics, but as my fingers are not insured, I better stop. I wish to sign off paying tribute to a great hero who announced his retirement recently. Many months back I had read a few words that were so impressive that they still linger in my head. These are not remarks made by any great sportsman, legend .etc. Some common man said this:

"It's the qualifier for the World Cup semi-finals, and the World Champions are reeling at 48/3 chasing a mammoth 271. Defeat seems inevitable. Now, who do you want to see coming out from the pavilion?"

Long live Stephen Rudgor Waugh!!

Welcome to the club

Hi. If you are reading this, then we are either new friends (6 months or so) or lost friends. But that should be history now!!

Hi again,

Like everybody, I meet many interesting people in my daily life. But unlike everybody, I try to be in touch with them, of course, only as long as they don't find it intruding/disinteresting.

So I write to all. One common mail finds its way to all my friends scattered around the globe. Be it Old City or Old Trafford, my 'Hi' reaches there.

And now it will touch even you!! Welcome to the club.

Now, what to write remains an unanswered question. Forgive me for I can't weave stories like one Mr Shakespeare did. Nor can I send you interesting forwards every time. But I perhaps can, I think so, blab something without boring you much. Mostly on experiences in this staid battle called LIFE!!

Let's talk some business now.

What should you do to avoid this program?
Option 1 : Tell me. I'll surely respect your decision and relieve you. No hard feelings.
Option 2 : Block all my email ids.
Option 3 : Suffer in silence.

What if want to participate?
Keep in touch. Be active. Write.

So here we go!!

Cheerio,
~Praveen/GP/Gattu/Jugs

PS: If you've ever lived with me, then you'd know that 'mischief ' is my middle name. So if you suddenly find me cracking an ugly joke on you, take it sportily. If you can't, then feel free to box your system. Dishhoom!

ART Club is back!!

All those who want to see ART Club in action please raise your hands.

Whoa!! I can see many hands going up. That's encouraging.

Hi Guys,
It was perhaps in Bronze Age that we had our last ART Club event. Times have changed. Forget the wheel, humans now even fly in the air. We don’t use stones to generate fire anymore. We have sleek lighters. Killing each other with spears is a passé. It's more fun nuking each other. Oh!! Changes galore. But one thing hasn't changed. You guessed it. OUR BUSY SCHEDULE.

This mail is an attempt to change that a tad. ART Club will be organising 'What's the Good Word' on this Friday. The event will have two utterly simple rounds. It might be very difficult for you to perform badly. So form a team of three and show up at the venue to prove me wrong. Please give your team a wacky name to earn a bonus point. The details of the rounds will be announced before the start of the event (they will be simple enough to be mastered immediately).

I know you don't need them as motivators, but still, to prove that we have large-hearted guys amidst us, let me announce that Mr. Anil Santhapuri will sponsor this week’s prizes. You can place your order at asanthapuri@india.ejiva.com (Sorry Anil!!)

Join the party at 6:00 pm, Friday, at the Training Hall.

Regards,

Gattu.

You are SLEEPING.......SLEEPING........SLE

PS: For the new joiners (my 'extended' lunch hours give me a sneaky feeling that you outnumber us), ART club is the world's oldest (and laziest??) cult. We believe in invoking God by having fun. By organising/participating smorgasbord of events, programs, get-togthers..etc. Are you game??

April Ape-dates

Hi Mankind,

Happy Labour Day! (Ain't we all labourers in disguise. Some polished, some not)

In this 3rd edition of "nearly avoidable" mail series, I've added a few more recipients. But having said that, I've also deleted some walls/stones/trees/rocks. It's quite tiring trying to communicate with such fellas. Still a few remain.

To the people who came in late --> You are reading this month's issue of torture-yourself mail series broadcasted by 'yours truly'. Basically it's a medium to tell my friends that I care about them and definitely will be 'a bit' sad when they kick the bucket/tub/whatever. (Seriously, It's just a monthly attempt to say 'Hi' to all my friends)

The last month was pretty pale. Started very bad but thankfully picked up pace sometime in the middle.

So here's how I grew older by a month:

1. Food/Cooking --> Zilch!!! Absolutely no creative experiments this time. My excessive workload resulted in letting our maid handle our in-house-lab(read kitchen). By the way, my roommate's (Kashmiri) mom sent some sweets that were so damn delicious. And even better news was that they wouldn't stay long. So it became my staple food for a few days.

2. Movies -- > Saw some old movies like Angoor. Pretty good shade of the Shakespearean tale. Among the new ones saw only Leela. Was OK.

Southern Spice -- Hey!! great news. There's this absolutely fabulous film released by name 'ithe'. Just splendid work. New-faces, low-budget, hilarious, creative and all other attributes skilfully woven together by some praiseworthy direction. ..a la Varma film. Definitely the best I've seen since I left college.

3. Music - Pathetic improvement. Still revelled in that old collection of mine. But became very obsessive about these 3 songs. Sur-- Jaane Kya Dhondta Hai; QSQT -- Akele Hai To Kya; Lifehouse -- Breathing. Hey guys, suggest something new.

4. Books --> Here's where I scored most this time. I told you earlier that I had joined a library. Am exploiting it unduly.

Non-Fiction: Read works by/about George Eastman, Bill Gates, Kiran Bedi & David Ogilvy.

Fiction: Re-read "Love Story" after ages. Loved it as much as I did the first time. Also finished 'The Bridges of Madison County'.

I had completed the first few chapters of Mahabharat. But have put it aside since it requires long attention. Sometime later maybe!! Presently I'm with "The Diary of Anne Frank".

5. Another great pastime of the month was sugarcanes. No kidding. I had my share and your share and your neighbour's share of them. Pretty cheap yaar, just pay seven bucks and you can take home a barge pole.

That was it. The coming month seems devilish to me . All I see is work & work & work & work. Wish me good luck.

Critters, I must tell you that its a big fun to read all the replies/feedbacks I get to my mails. Some people are under the delusion that I'm having an "enviable idyllic" life. Ha Ha! Welcome back to reality!! Honestly, I write only those things which I find worth writing. Mostly the finer aspects of life. Besides them, God has been consistently benevolent in gifting me my share of mess-ups ( <-- I avoided an obscenity here ).

Bottom line -- "All that glitters is not gold". Courtesy --> Mr. God.

I let go!!

Gattu.
An Ideal Cost-to-Company.

PS 1 :

'There are somethings money can't buy. For everything else I trust my friends'

Funda of the Month :

Did you guys know that the entire Kodak episode is one man marvel. Such an extra-ordinary genius like George Eastman finally committed suicide. His suicide note read -- "My work is done. Why wait?"

Where it all began..

February, 2003

Hi dudes,

Henceforth I’ve decided to send update mails for each month.......and expect you people to do the same......c'mon guys for the last few weeks my 'always loaded' inbox has been pretty dry.....now this aint a good news.......so from now on, let’s say hi to each other at least on a monthly basis....my turn now.

Ya, Feb was quite lively...

1. Had a wonderful valentine.....and before your crooked minds start to work...I attended the ‘Unity of Light’ concert of A R Rahman and Lata Mangeshkar......here the blah blah included Udit Narayan, SP, Sukhwider, Sonu Nigam, Mahalakshmi, Sreenivas, Sadhna Sargam, Sivamani and the lovely Vasundhara 'Cutie' Das.....the entire evening was just unforgettable. Heavenly.

2. Finally our training got over.....RELIEF !!....but saala apna fate hi kharab hai........of all the projects I cud be assigned, I was thrown in one having acute time pressure......we have only one month to wind up the thing......so no holidays, no breaks, leaves etc.....Imagine this - Two days back when almost the entire company was observing holiday (Sivarathri) I had to go to the company for the usual chores......eventually I missed the Pak innings….....thank god I didn't miss the other half !!

3. Attended the Brand Equity Quiz.......another great evening that was.......for the first time watched Derek O'Brien live.....that guy’s repartee is excellent, though I don’t feel the same about the quality of his questions.......(and I won an audience prize as well :-) )

4. Shifted to a new spacious room.....new roommates.....actually this development was because we were expecting a salary hike this month as our training got completed.....but this bloody fellas had an anticlimax in store for us........they announced delay in hikes......and due to this I also had to postpone my plan of buying a bike.......I was just days away from buying one..

That's it guys..............this month had the best possible start one could ask for.........Sachin 'THE GOD' Tendulkar literally 'raping' the Pakistanis......what a treat to eyes that innings was.

See ya,

My parents named me........shit I forgot......it was.. err...help me out you idiot !!

PS: Please expose yourself to the email 'technology'. No kidding, it seriously is amazing.

Wife: If I sleep with your best friend what will be the first thought to come in your mind?
Husband: That you are a lesbian !!