2007: The year that was

As I sit here waiting to ring in the New Year, I can’t help but look back on the year gone by and recollect all the experiences – good, bad, funny, sad, exhilarating. So let’s go back in time…exactly a year back!

I welcomed 2007 in one of the most perfect ways I could – my band Serenity rocked out a New Year’s party gig with an impressive setlist covering Gn’R, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, RHCP, Pink Floyd, Dismember among others.

- The first good news of the year came in the form of an opportunity to move back to the US for a job.

- Close on the heels of the good news followed a personal tragedy. Lost my grandma after a long illness. May her soul rest in peace.

Arrived in California in February and the year since then has been one interesting journey!

- Formed another band and for the first time, put down the bass guitar and took up full-time drumming duties.

- Got myself a pure white Pearl drumkit that recently has been christened “Bianca”.

- Went rock-climbing for the first time and absolutely loved it.

- Went for an alternative rock concert with a EL (this guy is quite a character!). After fighting through traffic and finding parking, I realized that I had left my tickets at home and had to drive back and fetch them. Luckily didn’t miss a lot.

- Got my first sportsbike, a gorgeous, 600cc Honda CBR F3 Smokin’ Joe’s limited edition.

- Met some really awesome riders and had a great time riding through the streets and mountains of Bay Area. The riding community is almost like my new family.

- 3 months and 2000 miles later, sold my bike for more than what I bought it for (I know…I should be working at the dealership!)

- Attended Ozzfest and saw Hatebreed, Lordi, Lamb of God and Ozzy Osbourne perform live!

- Saw Dream Theater perform live at Berkeley. Watching Mike Portnoy (drums) and John Myung (bass) was a dream come true.

- And to top it all, saw Rush perform live. For a drummer, there is no better experience than watching Neil Peart live in his elements.

- Met Oz and the PFC junta in OC and it was one hell of a party.

- Had an adventure on the freeway on my way back (read my older blog entry about the same)

- Met my childhood friend A and had an awesome time with his kids in OC.

- One of my closest friends PT came to the US for a month on a business trip. I went to Disneyland with her and though she didn’t particularly enjoy it, I had a total blast as I got to be a kid once again for a day. Yay!!

- Was treated to some delicious home-made desi food on a couple of weekends when my maushi (aunt) was in town visiting her son.

- Started working on an original Hindi rock band project with a guitarist friend. The project didn’t take off but I made a new friend nevertheless.

- Had the most boring, disconnected conversation of my life with a girl who got in touch with me through a matrimonial site.

- Made a trip to the Big Apple and spent a nice weekend with my wonderful sister K.

- One of my best friend J had an absolutely adorable baby boy. Eagerly waiting for her to return to the US.

- Learnt to swim! Now if only I could be a little more regular and go swimming often.

- Played my first gig as a drummer with my new band The Joy of ESX (NO, there are no typos!) covering songs by Gn’R, Metallica, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Poison, Dire Straits, etc.

- Met Nishikant Kamat (of Dombivali Fast fame) and Madhavan at the preview screening of Evano Oruvam, the Tamil remake of Dombivali Fast.

- Went to Austin, TX and celebrated my birthday with some good old friends. It was one of my best birthdays ever!

- Our lead guitarist V moved back to India and we are still struggling to find a suitable replacement.

- My colleague and friend KB had a beautiful baby girl. Poor guy keeps complaining about his loss of sleep.

- Saw Van Halen perform live after reuniting with David Lee Roth.

However, most of these experiences would not have been possible had I not met some interesting people along the way. Some I had known from before, some I met here, some came for a while and disappeared, some have stayed on for longer and some might stay all the way. So let me try and mention a few who made a difference….

My bandmates who are an absolutely crazy bunch and have been my Sunday entertainment. My friend KB who in ways unexplainable has somehow helped me out on different occassions. GB, a cool guy from work who has made the afternoon coffee-breaks interesting. DH, a Swedish colleague who helped me out a lot during my initial days at work. M from the local music store who has given me some absolutely killer deals on all my drumming gear. SJ, my guitarist friend with whom I had some fun times in the city. My goofy new friend AR with whom I have had some completely non-sensical conversations and some fun times hanging out. And as the year came to a close…met someone really wonderful (if you are reading this, you know who you are!) and the time (though very little) I spent with this person has been absolutely amazing!

Apart from these wonderful people, I would not be the sane (???) person I am without some people who hold a really special place in my life – my sister K, best friends J, N and AS (Mumbai), and some good old friends – SK, GP, RD, TO, AS (Reno).  I don’t get to meet them as often as I would like to, but I know they are always just a phone call away.

So thank you all for being a part of my life and making me feel special!

Wish you all a Very Happy and Wonderful 2008!

And I’ll leave with this quote by Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden: “Somedays you’re the pigeon, somedays you’re the statue…but if you can, you should only do the things you love”

What’s so civil about war anyway?

This time around I’m just going to let these lyrics do the talking…

“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate.
Some men you just can’t reach…
So, you get what we had here last week,
which is the way he wants it!
Well, he gets it!
N’ I don’t like it any more than you men.”

Look at your young men fighting
Look at your women crying
Look at your young men dying
The way they’ve always done before

Look at the hate we’re breeding
Look at the fear we’re feeding
Look at the lives we’re leading
The way we’ve always done before

My hands are tied
The billions shift from side to side
And the wars go on with brainwashed pride
For the love of God and our human rights
And all these things are swept aside
By bloody hands time can’t deny
And are washed away by your genocide
And history hides the lies of our civil wars

D’you wear a black armband
When they shot the man
Who said “Peace could last forever”
And in my first memories
They shot Kennedy
I went numb when I learned to see
So I never fell for Vietnam
We got the wall of D.C. to remind us all
That you can’t trust freedom
When it’s not in your hands
When everybody’s fightin’
For their promised land

And
I don’t need your civil war
It feeds the rich while it buries the poor
Your power hungry sellin’ soldiers
In a human grocery store
Ain’t that fresh
I don’t need your civil war

Look at the shoes your filling
Look at the blood we’re spilling
Look at the world we’re killing
The way we’ve always done before
Look in the doubt we’ve wallowed
Look at the leaders we’ve followed
Look at the lies we’ve swallowed
And I don’t want to hear no more

My hands are tied
For all I’ve seen has changed my mind
But still the wars go on as the years go by
With no love of God or human rights
‘Cause all these dreams are swept aside
By bloody hands of the hypnotized
Who carry the cross of homicide
And history bears the scars of our civil wars

“We practice selective annihilation of mayors
And government officials
For example to create a vacuum
Then we fill that vacuum
As popular war advances
Peace is closer”

I don’t need your civil war
It feeds the rich while it buries the poor
Your power hungry sellin’ soldiers
In a human grocery store
Ain’t that fresh
And I don’t need your civil war
I don’t need your civil war
I don’t need your civil war
Your power hungry sellin’ soldiers
In a human grocery store
Ain’t that fresh
I don’t need your civil war
I don’t need one more war

I don’t need one more war
What’s so civil ’bout war anyway?

[Song: Civil Way by Guns N' Roses]

Is it only about paying bills?

I was talking to a friend yesterday and reflecting on life and I realized that my life has become like my job. Yes, my life has become a program, just a couple of lines of code. Just like the code I write that does a couple of tasks over and over again, my life has become the same in the real world. I wake up, get ready, ride to work on the same route, sit in the same office, check mails, start writing some code and running tests to check it, go to the same crappy cafeteria and have the same crappy food, attend some meetings, write more code and run more tests, ride back home through the same traffic (believe me…at times I have seen the same cars at the same stop light!), workout, cook, watch some sitcom, sleep. And then the cycle repeats.

Is this what life is supposed to be? Live like a machine? A robot? A piece of code?

 And for what? So that you can pay your bills?

Whatever happened to your passions? What about the things that you loved to do? What about those activities that brought a smile to your face?

Our parents tricked us when they told us as kids that we could do whatever we want and enjoy life once we start earning. That’s so not true! We basically just end up doing what everyone else is doing. You get a job, your bank balance starts to look healthy. Soon enough you buy your own house, you get married, have kids and then tell them the same thing your parents told you. And that’s when it dawns on you that you never really enjoyed life and by then it’s too late. Life has slipped away and all you actually did in your life was pay bills!

I don’t want to let life pass me by while I was busy writing some code. No, I cannot just go all out to pursue my passions. I have to be practical, since paying bills is a harsh reality. But I’m not going to let that drive my life.

I am going to ride my sportsbike at every chance I get, even if it is only riding a few miles to and from work.

I am going to save up to go hit the tracks and improve my riding skills.

I am going to keep practicing and jamming to improve my drumming.

I am going to be more regular with my blog posts.

I am going to watch movies more often.

I am not going to work to pay my bills, but I am going to work to be able to pursue my passions!

10 Reasons why you should leave work at 6:00p.m

I got this in my mail a couple of days back. I found it quite funny as well as insightful and above all, very true (especially point 5)! Here you go:

1. Employment letter stated that working hours finish at 6:00p.m

2. Work is a never-ending process. Even if you stay back till next morning, you will never finish it.

3. Humans are not robots. Even robots/machines need rest to prevent a breakdown.

4. You love your career, but your family is even more important in your life.

5. If you fail in your life, your boss is not going to be the one who gives you a helping hand whereas your family will definitely offer help.

6. You do not want to screw up or make your life miserable because of your job.

7. Monthly salary = Work from 9:00a.m – 6:00p.m

If 6:30p.m = $0.00 + 0 bonus + 0 appreciation + bad health + bad social life + poor family relationship

That equals to: Unproductive employee + performance drop + company reputation drop + increase in retrenchment rate + increase in resignation rate

8. If any person disagrees with the above formulation, we think he/she is a LOSER who has no life, is heartless, doomed, workaholic, etc. He/She deserves the “Best Employee of the Year” award!

9. You don’t give a damn if your boss fires you.

10. For the chinese, remember this “If the house in the East no longer keeps you, then just move to the West house” (apparently in Cantonese its stated as – “Dong Ka Umm Da, Da Sai Ka!”)

What’s the big deal about Hitler’s Cross?

Okay, so a new restaurant opened in Mumbai and they named it Hitler’s Cross. So what’s the big deal about it? Why is everyone creating a ruckus over it? Why is everyone just jumping on the bandwagon to condemn it?

Before getting into any further discussion, let’s get one thing straight. I completely condemn the Jewish genocide committed by Hitler and his Nazi regiment. But it’s high time that we look at things a little more objectively. It seems like most of the posts and news items about this restaurant are just out there to show how righteous we all are. Well, let’s get to those points one-by-one.

First point is that it infuriated the Jews. Ok, point taken. But hey, what about those countless bars and pubs all over US, Europe and Australia that everyone knows are hangout places for Neo-Nazi elements? Why isn’t anyone taking any action against them? Why aren’t they being discussed in the media?

Let’s take another fact into consideration related to the first point itself. How big is the Jewish population in India? It’s definitely not as big as in the western world. Now the important question – what is the strength of Neo-Nazi population in India? I think it would be safe to say ZERO! And how big is the Neo-Nazi population in US, Europe? More than the population of Mumbai for sure! So where the Jews should feel threatened and where should people start condemning the hangouts? This is just a simple restaurant!

Second point that some idiots raised was about starting a restaurant mocking Bal Thackeray’s name and some blogger wrote “Will the Shiv Sena now take arms against the restaurant and burn it down because it hurts the sensibilities of a certain community. I don’t think so.” To begin with, why should you drag Shiv Sena into everything? Are you insane? Do you even know that Shiv Sena openly supports the cause of the Hindu community and not Jews? That’s a totally senseless argument.

And third point. You are all so concerned about the sentiments of the Jewish community being hurt just because someone used Hitler’s name for their restaurant and created a theme based on him. But let me ask you folks, where were you when one M F Hussain painted a canvas of Hindu Goddess Saraswati depicting her in the nude? I am sure most of you were screaming hoarse in support of him saying its ART!

Let’s just give up the double standards and talk some sense. It is just a name of a restaurant. They are in no way deifying Hitler or supporting Nazi beliefs. The Nazis used the Swastika as a representation of their core beliefs. However, I believe you all know that the Swastika is an extremely sacred Hindu symbol. So if I start sporting a big Swastika on my car or paint it on my house during some auspicious occasion, would I be labeled as a Nazi supporter and would I be hurting the sentiments of the Jews?

And the last point. Someone said “Look to what Jews are doing TODAY to the innocent people in Lebanon” and in response a person said “Please be region specific and not religion specific! Is it fair enough to target an entire community due to the wrong doings by some people? Whatever the case might be, you never say that ‘Christians’ invaded Iraq do you? You say USA did! Do you notice the difference?” To this second person, I would like to ask – why do you say Nazis and not Germans? And in that case, you should still be condemning the Germans right? Shouldn’t Auschwitz be razed to the ground instead of making it a memorial where thousands of visitors throng each year? Isn’t that more hurtful to the Jewish sentiments that a place where millions of Jews were exterminated is kept for public display?

It’s just a restaurant name in a neutral country. Flame all you want on my post. But it’s just a name.

Monday Bloody Monday!

After the rains had ruined my weekend plans, I managed to wake up early on Monday morning to hit the gym. It was still pouring, but there was no water-logging and I managed to make it there on time. Had a great workout and left on time. I said to myself, “Wow, this seems to be a perfect morning!”

I think I spoke too soon as some stupid driver t-boned another car, blocking the intersection. I got out to check if both the drivers were ok. Luckily there seemed to be no injuries. I got back in my car and somehow managed to manoeuvre my car around the mess, I reached home and realized that my 5 min headstart had turned into a 15 min delay. Things just went downhill from there.

Two friends with whom I carpool decided to leave without me for reasons only known to them. I got out to catch an autorickshaw. It’s difficult to get one to go to my workplace on a regular day and it was impossible to get one a horrible rainy day. The rains had just gone from bad to worse.

I rushed back home and told my dad to cancel his plans since I wanted the car. Luckily, the traffic was normal and I made it to work without any further trouble.

It’s still raining heavily and I am about to leave for home. Hopefully it’s going to be an uneventful drive back home.

Monday Bloody Monday!

Happy Friendship Day

Got this wonderful message today from my friend Ryan:

“Time can make us forget some memories but there will be some memories where we forget time and those memories will last our Lifetime.”

This a shout-out to all my friends who have given me a lifetime full of memories. Thank you for being my friends and being there with me through all the good times and the bad. Wish you all a Happy Friendship Day!

Open Letter from Mumbai to the Terrorists

Update/Disclaimer: In response to the various queries I received, no, this letter is not written by me, though I wish I could. The reason I put it up here was because it was written from the heart.

Dear Terrorist,

Even if you are not reading this we don’t care. Time and again you tried to disturb us and disrupt our life – killing innocent civilians by planting bombs in trains, buses and cars. You have tried hard to bring death and destruction, cause panic and fear and create communal disharmony but every time you were disgustingly unsuccessful. Do you know how we pass our life in Mumbai? How much it takes for us to earn that single rupee? If you wanted to give us a shock then we are sorry to say that you failed miserably in your ulterior motives. Better look elsewere, not here.

We are not Hindus and Muslims or Gujaratis and Marathis or Punjabis and Bengalis. Nor do we distinguish ourselves as owners or workers, govt employees or private employees. WE ARE MUMBAIKARS (Bombay-ites, if you like).

We will not allow you to disrupt our life like this. On the last few occassions when you struck (including the 13 deadly blasts in a single day killing over 250 people and injuring 500+ in 1993), we went to work next day in full strength. This time we cleared everything within a few hours and were back to normal – the vendors placing their next order, businessmen finalizing the next deals and the office workers rushing to catch the next train. (Yes the same train you targeted)

Fathom this: Within 3 hours of the blasts, long queues of blood donating volunteers were seen outside various hospitals, where most of the injured were admitted. By 12 midnight, the hospital had to issue a notification that blood banks were full and they didn’t require any more blood. The next day, attendance at schools and office was close to 100%, trains & buses were packed to the brim, and the crowds were back.

The city has simply dusted itself off and moved one – perhaps with greater vigor. We are Mumbaikars and we live like brothers in times like this. So, do not dare to threaten us with your crackers. The spirit of Mumbai is very strong and can not be harmed.

Please forward this to others. You never know, by chance it may come to hands of a terrorist and he can then read this message which is specially meant for him!!!

With Love,

From the people of Mumbai (Bombay)

Can India take action against the terrorist nation?

The lifeline of Mumbai – the Western Railway – that carries tens of thousands of commuter everyday was rocked by a series of 7 bomb blasts between 6:30pm – 7:00pm. Everyone knows which nation has its hand in this act of terrorism. Earlier in the day, Jammu and Kashmir was the victim of grenade attacks.

This is proof enough that the peace initiative is a complete failure. India has to completely shut down its borders and now the only way to act is to fight fire with fire. Now let’s see if the world – USA, UK in particular – comes to the aid of India in its fight against terrorism. Its time to smoke out the bastards.

Reservations: Do they REALLY serve the purpose?

Agreed that the caste system victimized the backward classes, the scheduled caste and scheduled tribes. They were not given access to education thus depriving them of a means of earning a decent livelihood. However reforms started even before India gained independence. Now it’s been 60 years since we have gained independence. 60 year is equivalent to almost 3 generations. This is long enough time for at least one generation to educate themselves and pass on the baton to the next generation. But these so called “backward” classes have not been able to fully utilize those 60 years to educate themselves. And the biggest culprit for this is reservations and concessions granted by the Indian government to these classes. Reservations in various government institutions and jobs have been misused by these classes. Instead of making the most of the opportunities provided in form of reservations and working hard for the welfare of their class, these folks have instead taken these positions for granted. They consider it as a privilege instead of an opportunity. They consider it as a short-cut to success. This point has been brought up by almost every sensible person out there. The IITs did a research on their students and came out with figures that indicated that almost 50% of the seats reserved for SC/ST/OBC students were never filled and from among those who did secure a seat through the quota, almost 50% didn’t get their degree even after spending 6 years at the institute for a 4 year course! This indicates a couple of things:

1. Even with lower qualification marks, people from these classes don’t want to work hard to reach even that lowered level.
2. Those qualifying with the lower cut-offs just do not have the intellect or the drive to go through the rigors of a professional course.
3. The empty seats deprived a lot of intelligent, hardworking students from the open category of an opportunity to study at a premier institution.

And this is the case with just about any other institution. How do you justify a student ranked 1000+ securing a seat in the top medical school in Mumbai while a person ranked in the 400s not getting a seat in any of the top medical schools in Mumbai? Does caste score over intellect? I believe that only two categories should be made – Economically Backward and Economically Capable. And there should not be any reservations, but they should provide concessions in fees or some form of scholarships for the Economically Backward students. This will make sure that only the deserving students get into the institute of higher education. The government is just trying to please its vote bank with utter disregard for the anguish faced by the young students who have slogged their asses off only to see someone cut in the line and walk away with what could have been their seat! If the government feels that reservations are the only way to go, then I suggest that they should also implement the following restrictions:

1. A person has to declare in primary school itself if they are SC/ST/OBC.
2. If they declare so, then they can only apply for the seats in the quota reserved for them even if they score well enough to secure a seat in the open category.
3. If they do not declare so in primary school, then they cannot apply for a seat in the reserved quota at any other time of their life.

Consider a case where an institution sets 90% as the cut-off marks for the open category and 65% as the cut-off for SC/ST/OBC. Now a person who is SC/ST/OBC scores 95%. He applies in open category. This depletes the open category strength by 1 and increases the reserved category strength by 1! This is simply unacceptable. Restriction 2 will prevent this scenario. Now consider a case where a SC/ST/OBC student who does not declare his category in primary school, secures enough marks to get a seat in open category and takes it up. At secondary level, he messes up and scores poorly, but enough to qualify through the reserved quota. What does he do? He suddenly flips over to the quota and declares his category. This is completely unfair! It’s downright cheating! Restriction 3 will prevent this scenario. And now my final question, why do our politicians go to USA or Europe for treating their illnesses instead of getting treated by a doctor from the SC/ST/OBC category who probably took 7 years to complete the 5 year course? This is a shout-out to all those “intelligent” office-bearers – “Wake up you dumb ass dodos. Reservations are doing more harm than good to the backward classes. If you really care for them, then let them compete on a fair level with the others. Let them work hard for success. Success offered on a platter never tastes sweet.”

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Personality Analysis – Part I: I, Me, Myself

All through our lives, we meet many different people, each with a unique personality. I have decided to write about various personalities that I have come across. Kicking it off with one of the most interesting of them all – the “I, me, myself” folks.

That seems to be the motto of a few people. They are just normal people like you and I and most of the time would appear very friendly, jovial and fun to be with. But don’t be fooled by this cool demeanor. Once they show their true colors, you would be scurrying to find the closest place to hide.

They have a problem with everything and everyone. Today they might be writing odes for someone and tomorrow they will be using the choicest of curses for the same person.

They refuse to accept that if they have a problem with everyone, then actually they are the ones who have a problem.

They are the epitome of insecurity and this deep-rooted lack of confidence leads them to take up a defensive approach towards anything and anyone. Try telling them something and they would have already retracted within their shells and your words will just be bouncing off high walls!

And it doesn’t end here. They are experts at making mountains out of mole-hills. They can go off on a tangent on just about anything imaginable (and unimaginable). It’s as if the whole world is out to get them.

However their worst trait is their inability to apologize. It definitely comes as no surprise since they always feel that they have done nothing wrong and have no problem in the first place. And if you are lucky enough to get an apology out of them, you will start cursing your luck right away as their apology will be followed by a “but” and that will be followed by a laundry list of things where you messed up!

So this, my friends, is the personality of the self-centered person. The ones who will die lamenting that the world missed out on so much good stuff by not getting to know them well!