PussyCat Dolls

What worse could follow after such a caption to this post. I better not write anything uncultured or profane considering the audience that I have to my blog (nor do I have the skill to write such stuff).

No, its not the name of the last X-rated film that I saw. (Btw, anyone having a blue movie with that name is surely running out of good porn). It's also not any of those (so very direct) exotic cocktails which are consumed these days.

Well, some of my snooty friends might just discard my existence after reading this post.

APPARENTLY, this is the name of some (one woman) band/group which grabbed my attention sometime back with their new (super hit) track called "Don't Cha..."

I am hiding my face while writing this, but I don't believe that there'll be any guy who will disagree with the lyrics of this song, some of it goes like...

Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me...
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me... Dont cha, dont cha

Dont cha wish your girlfriend was raw like me...
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was fun like me Dont cha, dont cha

A pefect no. to hip hop with a Hottie (of course dat can't be your gf here).

I heard it the first time at the most appropriate place (as far as the lyrics are concerned) -> a STRIP BAR in the US. (I can see the ladies nodding with agreement now)

Do not miss the video of this song. Btw, I should start writing some meaningful posts now :(.

Before Palolem - At Baga

Could have got a better tattoo, but decided to go for the dolphin as I was wearing one too...

After Goa Blues

The pic reflects my mood, not because I had to come back to the jungle after a brilliant vacation in Goa but because I came back earlier than I had expected.

X had to fly back on the 2nd so the rest being fond of x, decided to go back that same evening. I could have always stayed there alone (which I wanted after he left) but me declaring to stay alone would have made others think twice to stay back (which I did not want). Thus followed the crowd who had followed Mr. X and landed back in pune sooner than expected.

Felt sick after a day of coming back, I mean who the f*** wouldn't visit Arambol with all that time in hand. I can just say that company matters a lot, in this case may be for everybodyelse as they decided to wind up from Goa when a friend left.

Anyway I could really unwind with this break from work and had the most lazy, laid back, tranquilizing vacation with my good friends.

SPIC-&-SPAN

I was traveling in the MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) of Singapore, when someone, hesitatingly pointed at my shoe.

I, for a flash of a second thought that he liked my blue ID shoes before I saw this piece of paper which possibly belonged to him. So rightly knowing that he was pointing at that crushed paper, I picked it up and gave it to him. He too quietly (crushed it even more) and put it back in his bag.

I did not know where to look and started relating to those stories which people/teachers tell you about how aware and dutiful these chinks are about keeping there city absolutely clean.

The snap shows this chap cleaning one of the big aquariums in Sentosa's under water park.

Unaccustomed Driving

This ain't about the smooth drives at 90mph on the freeways of the US. It's not about the Buick Le Sabre that I drove. Neither about the so easy to follow driving-rules/directions. Also not about the religiously followed lane driving (which apparently if followed in India, might cause an accident).

This actually, is about something which was quite strange for the natives and a pretty normal thing for me to do when I am driving back in India. Infact some people might have been amused or prolly could have enjoyed the moment.

I stop at a red light confused whether to go straight, take a left/right. Pretty obvious for me to just pull down the glass and glance across inside the car halted next to mine. The person gives me this strange look but then in a flash gets back to what he/she was doing i.e. listening to the music or simply wait for the light to turn green. Next second, that person sees from the corner of his eye "me waving desperately..", becomes pretty obvious by now that I need help.

Next thing I do is quite casually enquire about the exit (or the way) to take for some xyz road.

I used to find it quite amusing when my team lead in the US (an Indian) would go out of his way to even sometimes draw the maps on a bloody tissue paper or on the white board in the conference room, but would make sure to always give us the correct directions in writing.

It did not take me long to realize that any person, new to the place and driving, would just need a detailed map of the city to reach to the destination. Of course why shouldn't they, when there no paan walas, auto drivers or x y z to be seen hanging around at every corner of the street.
There are just roads and zooming cars.

Yes, the MAPS are something absolutely invaluable for anyone driving in the US.

I still remember the looks I used to get at those red lights. I guess after a while I actually started enjoying irritating those firangs :).

Wanted to write about my experience of driving the car I rented in the US for month.

Nahhh... It ain't what you see. This is the HUMMER. Man, couldn't keep my eyes off it. Jaw dropped and next word which came outta ma mouth was... aaaaaawesome.

I hope this guy doesn't sue me on putting this snap which was taken without his permission.

Grrrrrrrrrrrrr...

Don't you dare think that I wanted Australia to retain Ashes.

It's bloody irritating not to watch even a single ball bowled because of the fucking tiff between the cable operator and ESPN Star Sports.

I checked out the news, in which a guy held this poster proudly which said "I missed my wedding for this". And here I am, absofucknlutely helpless with no fault of mine and missed one of the finest series played.

Please join me in giving a BIG EXTENDED MIDDLE FINGER to whosoever, resposible for this shit.

First Presentation in the corporate world

It is quite an expected statement which people make, after doing something successfully for which, they might have been a little nervouse to begin with.

They say... "It wasn't a big deal" or "It was actually a piece of cake".

Do I need to say more?

To be honest I was relieved more than anything. Something which was off my shoulders and the relief was also to suggest that it did not go bad at all. The IT Business school from where I did my masters had helped me a lot in letting me face the audience with the confidence that I do now. After giving some n no. of presentations at the school (which carried a significant weightage in our assignments) this wasn't something which would give me a jittery voice or a not so confident look on my face.

Ok, coming back to where I work @ "International Business Machines Global Services India", I thought giving a presentation would be a heavyweight task, but it turned out to be a storm in the tea cup.

My boss was the last one to leave the room, and said something which would not make me feel on top of the world, but just to let me know that I did well. I had few of my team mates come up to my desk and congratulate me on quite an informative/useful presentation, they thanked me for the time and effort I had put in.

Three possibilities : -
1) The audience has been void of some basic, clear and informative presentations for some time now!
2) The audience underestimated me.
3) I am actually quite good at presenting.

I go with the first one.

One thing that hit me after all of this was over : - For us (Indians) personal praise or appreciation means much more than the material benefits which follow after the success. It could apply to everybody in general, but to us, it surely does.

Sania Mirza

This post is not about how much I love her (game) and blah blah... Also not about the interest and intrigue surrounding the 18-year-old Indian in locker rooms, media centres and viewing galleries around the world. (Oh how can I forget) Nor about how HOT she looks...

I saw her interview with some News Channel, after she won her first round (US Open) against the American Mashova Washington.

I somehow got this feeling to relate her to the Maestro Sachin Tendulkar some 12-13 years back (when he too, was a teenager). And wondered how different she is (in her attitude) as compared to the (then teen) Master.

Not that I do not like the way Sachin handles the media nor am I in a position to question Tendulkar's very down to earth Media friendly attitude. But I simply loved Sania's (coming on to the face) attitude with the media personnel. I felt it made the person taking the interview a little vulnerable. She made a very good balance of being polite, up front and most importantly made sense of whatever she talked about.

I am simply amazed to see how the circumstances can make one so mature at that age. (Well Sania can always stop me here and say that all this maturity comes at a cost of losing her boisterous and whoopee teen years. blah blah...)

A little off the track but I might want to relate this attitude to India's global brand strengthening and booming economy in one of my future posts.....:) Of course not taking anything away from our new champ.

Pre Tournament (US Open 2005) Interview

To Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova
Press: What do you think of Sania's Game
Kuznetsova: "What has this got to do with the US Open?"

ME: She kicked your "US Open champ ASS", earlier in the year at Dubai. REMEMBER!!!!

YO babe!! We are all behind ya... go grab it...!!!

PS: Mature in attitude but lacking some in the game when our babe lost the 3rd game in the final set after being 2-0 up. Went for 3 mighty (ambitious) strokes (may be as she had broken the opponent's serve) quite silly but very much like me ... ;)

Do you like Apples?

Will crosses the street and approaches the plate glass window and stands across from Clark, separated only by the glass. HePOUNDS THE GLASS to get Clark's attention.

WILL (cont'd): Hey!
Clark turns toward Will.
WILL (cont'd): DO YOU LIKE APPLES?
Clark doesn't get it.

WILL (cont'd): DO YOU LIKE APPLES?!
CLARK: Yeah?
Will SLAMS SKYLAR'S PHONE NUMBER against the glass.

WILL: WELL I GOT HER NUMBER! HOW DO YA LIKE THEM APPLES?!!
Will's boys erupt into laughter. Angle on Clark, deflated.

Ok, the above is the extract from the script of the movie "Good Will Hunting". People who have seen this movie can relate to it. The above act takes place when Matt Damon (Will), embarrasses Clark (Mr. Harvard) and gets Minni Driver's (Skylar's) number.

The first time I saw this movie, was in my College hostel room, on my comp. As soon as this act got over, I (hesitated) but asked ma friend to take it back as I could not get the joke. To my surprise no one in the room could get it, and all willingly accepted to go back and watch the whole thing again.

There is always this feeling and a childish thrill to watch something the second time (especially a humourous act) when you know that you hadn't got the joke in the first place, not to mention the confidence to nail it the second time you see it and go... "ahhhhh ... that's what I thought"..

But horrors of horrors... I was stunned not to completely get it even when I saw it the second time. Did not have the balls to declare it in the room, that something was wrong with my sense of humour. But to my relief, one of my friends got up, paused the damn thing... and asked openly to all, to explain him the joke. For a moment, all of us looked at each other (still no one ready to accept that they hadn't got it) and tried to explain it to the (humble) friend of mine of what it could mean. This was easy, as one could make out the context of the whole act.

But then till yesterday, I was never confident of discussing this joke in a social gathering, with the fear of being the only one who hadn't got it. It turns out that there is whole god damn thread/conversation on the net, which discusses this joke and the possible meaning of it. Felt good to know that I am not the only person who was not aware of this American slang possibly used in the early 90s.

Well, Parin (one of the victims in the room) came up with the exact (if not exact) meaning (of THEM APPLES), and quite honestly told me that some American chick had informed him of it. And as I had mentioned it before, the moment one explains you a joke (which apparently sucks out the humour from it) there is this feeling inside and you always go ... "ahhh... i thought so..". Well, that's what happened with me :-).

WILL: WELL I GOT HER NUMBER! HOW DO YA LIKE THEM APPLES?!!
or
WILL: WELL I GOT HER NUMBER! SCREW YOU / HOWZ THAT !!

Quite honestly, it was pretty easy to make this out from the context, but then there is always that itch to know the history behind a humourous phrase or where could one use such a phrase.

*Relief*
PS: One of my fav movies, would post about it sometime. Here is the SCRIPT

Colloquial American IT/Business Jargon

I don't know, how much of these terms are used in India. Some might be used of which I was not aware of, but majorly these could be the part of American colloquial.

Can be helpful if one is working in a global team.

1) "Putting it on the table" - Believe it or not, this phrase has different meanings in the US and the UK. Ok, it could be used in these forms, "Putting the thoughts on the table" or "Table down the thoughts".

What it means in the US: When you say that you are putting "something" on the table (during a meeting), it means that you want that thing to be discussed and would want to have an open discussion before taking a decision or coming to the conclusion.

What it means in the UK: When the same thing is said in Europe or specifically in british terms, it would mean that you have taken a decision and putting it on the table for others to take a look. But it would never allow a further discussion.

Just in case if this term is used by your foreign counterpart, be aware of which part of the world he belongs to, if any doubts then be clear before taking a decision.

2) "Converging to a RatHole" - This generally happens during a session of brain storming. During the discussion there might be a small disagreement on something which might lead the conversation to a totally different trip. After sometime people realize that they deviated from the main topic or "find themselves converging to a rat hote".

As far as usage of it is concerned, it could simply be "lets not get into a rat hole". It would thus mean not to corner oneself.

3) Sleep on - This, I believe should be pretty global and most people must be aware off. But just in case...

It means, to think about (something) overnight before deciding. Thus if not clear about things in general I might say during the meeting that "ill sleep on it and we can put it on the table tomorrow" :-)

4) TBD - To be determined (This acronyms is used quite often)

At the EOD
A: Should we expose this method to the client?
B: Hmmm, not sure we might have to consult C
A: ok, so m putting this under TBD

5) Follow the sun - Oh boy.. should I let this one out ... It's actually a term used in my project but this is something in general and every IT professional (with a entrepreneurish nature) should be aware off :-).

These days after so much of outsourcing to AP (Asia Pacific) region the number of people in the team in our part of the world is increasing rapidly. Thus, it becomes important to work around the clock because of a huge time difference between India and the US. This term basically suggests how to make this time difference the strength instead of a weakness.

Imagine, my boss in India assigns a work to me (assuming m in the US) before leaving for home and finds an email when logs on the next morning with the work done. In between these 12-14 hrs, I might have done the same to my European counterpart and so on and so forth. Thus it is nothing but to follow the sun and delegate work in such a fashion that it gets completed without anyone losing sleep.

It won't be long, before people in a global team start replaceing their 12hr clocks by 24hrs clock in their homes and offices to save time and meet the customer's demand.

Should be appending this list as and when I come across new terminologies.

Michelle Pfeiffer

From where the hell suddenly Michelle popped up? I am kinda watchin a movie of hers as m typing this.

Sheer beauty... I mean check out her upper lip, aint it simply kissable. Wowww...

She has the grace too, and of course I like her as she is a brilliant actress ;-).

PS: Had to google to spell her surname right!

Texan Lingo

Apparently, texan english is a mix of American English (Whatever that is) and the southern accent. But whatever they speak, the accent is slightly different from the normal english in America.

Somethings which, if one say, can tell that either something is wrong with the dude or he has just come from Texas.

Yall - (pronounced as yaul) Its like a short from for "you all" and would probably substitute "you all" or "you guys" when addressing a group. So after going back home, ill be like, "how yall doing!! :)"

Scadadle - Its like, "gotto go" or "ill get going now"... so some Texan would be like "gotto scadadle now" or "lets scadadle from here"

Howdi - Transformation of "How do you do", it might be used as a subject in a mail, or sufixing "do" with it, something like "howdi do"

Disclaimer
These terms could be used in the US in general. But as per my American team mates (one of them is a Texan) these could have originated from Texas.

NEW YORK

The synonym (if any) for this city, would be BUZZ.

Reached at about 2am at Rohit's place. The travel from Austin to Newyork was quite dramatic. May be more for Rohit than me. (Had missed the connecting flight, to see Rohit all worked up when I finally reached NY)

I had just one and a half days to see the city. Felt like a typical tourist after I was asked by a coupla people to take the tour bus if I wanted to cover all the major destinations.

My far off relative, Ajay, had other ideas. He met us at about 11am at The Grand Central (Dadar of NY). He asked us to cover as much as possible on foot, which we did. Saw the China town, City Hall, Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Wall Street, Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State Building, Union Square, Times Square, White plains and what not. At the EOD, had walked about 25-30 miles in all.

The last major thing we saw at about 12:30 in the night was The Times Square. That place just absorbed all the pain in my legs and gave me that Red Bull kick which I badly wanted. I don't want to get tempted and mention it all here, I mean that place deserves an exclusive post.

Had hot dogs all day :-).

PS: The pictures were taken by a Canon PowerShot SD200. Caption pic is taken from the 86th floor of The Empire Tower. Not a bad night shot haan!!

The bull was taken at the Wall Street.

Yup, this is the place which is the centre of gravity of Austin(the live music capital), its called The SIXTH Street. If somebody is looking for a music festival, this street on a friday or saturday night is no less.

Gosh!, the number of people hopping bars/clubs is mind blowing. There is music. And not just music but LIVE music all around.

From Hip hop to jazz to rock to heavy metal to piano bars to country to something quite bizzare and "never heard off" is what I have experienced here. Yup there are clubs too, where all the party animals get drunk and then hop to pick up the cats.

Austin, apparently, is the place which is liked by most, especially people living in Big cities like NYC or Chicago. Well, I am just plain lucky to come for work here.

I wonder how these places will make money if they put a "No Stags" board outside their gates. Such a concept is unheard off here. When I told one my American team mates about having a gal along, when visit a good known pub back in India, he laughed and said "hope they dont ask for marriage certificates someday".

I had a Bud Light in each of the 3 places I visited on a single night, and going alone to bars is quite ok here, I mean the whole point is to meet new people.

Met different kinda people and exchanged numbres ;-). One is into production in making documentaries, the other was a whako and asked me to hump bitches (his friends) on the dance floor (don't ask if I went). Then there was this couple and interestingly the gal (Texan) was the one who came down and made a conversation.

Some places I visited: Styx, Pete's Piano Bar, Logan's, Ruta Maya Bar, Treasure Island (Don't go by the name, this is a normal night club), Buffalo Billiards, Pool Club.

A coupla others but can't remember the names.

Group Dinner

We (as in my IBM team at Austin) went out for a group dinner tonight.

"We" consists of - Vasu, Russell, David, Ronald, Xaio(pronounced as Shaio), Kanika, Aloke, Yaju, Manish and Moi.

"Tonight!!"... well it was 6pm here when we set out. I was not comfortable with the concept of dinner, especially when the sun hadn't set. Didn't matter much as I was starved. The sun generally sets at about 8:30 here in Austin during this time of the year.

Ok, coming back at the timing issue, Russell told me that Americans generally have dinner between 6-7pm and 8pm being the latest. Well, no wonder all the good restaurants shut so early. But I guess as long as I am having lunch at 12 noon, 6 or 7 is fine for dinner.

Dinner was great, we went to a place called P.F. Chang's China Bistro

I had extra spicy "Chang's Spicy Chicken". I hate to give stats on food, but here is something interesting about this dish I ordered.

CHANG'S SPICY CHICKEN
Lightly dusted and stir-fried in a sweet Sichuan sauce.

Calories - 990
Protein - 61g
Carbs - 70g
Total Fat - 51g
Saturated Fat - 5g

Ingredients: Marinated chicken, Chang's sauce, white sauce, chili paste, cornstarch, garlic, potato starch, sesame oil, green onions

I have no idea about how much intake should any of the above mentioned be taken. Since when have I started talking about calories? Dino or bobo would definitely take my case on this :-).

The interesting thing which I ate, was the appetizer, CHANG'S CHICKEN IN SOOTHING LETTUCE WRAPS. What I liked was the way it was served, with Lettuce leaves served separately so that we could put the chicken inside that leaf, roll or wrap it around the chicken and eat.

As I was sitting closer to Russell, Dave and Ron, the level of the conversation was just what I was looking for. Talked about traveling, India, Texas, Music, Wines(I will come back to this later), food and family stuff.

Russell (57), is a good man not to mention strikingly intelligent (at that age). It's great how he could relate to a 23 year old and we couldn't stop talking. or was it me up a level ;-)? I ended the dinner with Graham's "Six Grapes" Porto, I can describe it one word, smoooooth.

Catching up...

It has taken sometime for my second post. The reason for the delay is the sequence of events which have taken place since my first post, and gosh!! have I fallen behind in posting those events?

I'll catch up fast. So where should I start from. Well... here are some of things I have gotto write upon.. This list should help me, recollect my thoughts...

1) Taj (What to take back home?)
2) Visa interview (Dos and Donts)
3) Travel (Indian Vs Firang Airhostess)
4) Austin (The live music capital)
5) Hip Hop concert @ Austin
6) The Piano bar
7) Raju Mani @ Ruta Maya (Bar)
8) Yellow Rose (Strip Bar) (Dos and Donts)
9) Lap Dance (Dos and Donts)
10) Jaw Dropping Hotness (Its summers here.. :-))
11) New York (Gosh!! this was something)
12) Have to include a separate write up on "Times Square"
13) Corporate Terminology in the US (Will be about 2-3 posts)
14) My Indian Vs US bosses
15) No Stags ... yes Stags
16) You may all go to hell, and I will go to TEXAS :-)
17) Believe it or not THE INIDAN ACCENT IS Cute (of course for the blondes)
18) Mark & Gina, Joelella
19) San Antonio
20) Driving in the US
21) Buick Le Sabre
22) What you cannot do in India...
23) Shopping Spree
24) Small things which make sense.
25) The chinese massage.

Lots more to add... ill let it go here and rest will be posted at runtime...

I will be visiting MidNight Rodeo tonight, a great place to Dance, they pair you up with someone before teaching some Salsa :-).

Alter (Humble) Ego

One of my close friends, Parin, has been after my life to have my own blog and start posting. Me too, was getting that itch to start writing as my thoughts were getting pushed up into my mind stack that can throw an exception anytime now.

Though for many days I kept wondering, about what could be so appropriately "cool" or "witty" that would deserve a mention in my first post. Possibly Parin too was stuck at the same stage before he gave up and wrote something very lousy to start with. But crap, why should it be something that has to impress others. Anyway, here I am, writing something which I felt quite strongly about and got that unbearable itch to take it off my mind.

I am sitting in this cab right now and penning it all down (yes will get a notebook soon). For the record its running at 82kmph on the expressway and heading to Mumbai. I am off to Mumbai for an official trip and would want to show off by mentioning (in bold) that I will be putting up in the TAJ President for a day.

I am still in that transition phase of my life where I try to adjust in the work/corporate culture and wonder how I miss my student life. Anyway this is the first time that I am on an official trip (with IBM approved cab and putting up in an IBM approved Hotel)

The moment I left my desk to reach to the waiting cab in the office parking space, the driver of the cab (Gurinder from Patiala) got up from where he was sitting and...

Gurinder: Good Evening Sir.. Good Evening Sir.. Opens the back door of the cab.. Please Sir...

Me not expecting such a greeting, thus taken aback, maintaining my composure and with a sir kind of attitude...said, Thanks

I could not swallow of what just happened. Well, I wasn't totally shocked or anything but this had never happened to me before.

Alter Ego: Tush, cut the crap.. and concentrate on stuff you going to Mumbai for..

Being from a humble and a middle class family I had never had such a luxury and this style of living. Just then this thought passes by me.. What the hell have I done to earn such a respect.. or watever.. Have I really done something great apart from Sloggin hard for my exams, or is it just my parent's effort in my upbringing..

Alter Ego: Tush, why do you go on such senti trips.. come back.. to reality... get used to this shit.. this is the life you'll be leading now...

Will I be able to stay in touch with such down to earth attitude (which I am trying to lose after every passing day)

Alter Ego: Mother of all ... J.. Christ.. dont be such a ....

Well I dont know, nor do I want to know!! But yes, I am sure that after 5 years when I read this post, it'll be interesting to know the thoughts of ME or my Alter (not so humble) Ego's on the same. I'll be grinning for sure..

Parin, here is something you were waiting for, but dude, may be not upto your witty expectations. You can leave some witty comments though :-).

Holy shit.. I have my own blog.. :)

PS: Treated Gurinder on the way back at McDees. More about TAJ and that official stuff soon.