Iss Sheher mein....

I listen to 'sheher mein, hun main tere', the song from Rockstar, as I sit at my laptop and contemplate (nay, fantasize) about going to tomorrow's TED talks session at Ushahidi. The child in me says I'll meet interesting people. I'll make lasting friendships. I'll finally meet some nice people here. But the adult in me knows, I might not even go for it. I'll let you know how it goes. I must get out of this compound. Its getting suffocating. The same people everyday. Night and Day. You live with them. You work with them. This is what happens when work and home are in the same building, nay, on the same floor.

So, well, my first post in a long time. First post from Liberia, from Africa. And I don't have anything interesting to report.

Kenyan Giraffe

Or, do I? Actually, yes. Upar dekho. Thanks to Kenya Airways, who decided to take off from Mumbai 3 hours late, I missed my flight onward to Monrovia. And had to spend 2 days in Nairobi. And it is there that I got to go to the Nairobi national park. And we saw giraffes, zebras, wildebeests and lots of other animals. Pity we didn't have a good camera. the E72 served its purpose though. Not bad, that photo above, is it?

But since then? Nothing interesting to report. We've just been vegetating intellectually. Not that we haven't been doing anything at all. Work-wise, life has been busy. But aside from work, there's hardly anything we have done this last 1 month plus that we have been in Liberia. Its high time we do something. Kuch kiya jaaye, kya boltaay?

Reflections from a Heritage Walk at 1 am

We were bored. And we were wondering what to do. So, after dinner, we ditched the roommate and we went for a movie. Alone. We think that going alone for a movie is the most uplifting experience ever. It is the ultimate declaration of your independence, your assertion that you don't need anyone. Not even to go see a movie. Its a strangely uplifting feeling that can get you to enjoy the crappiest of movies. Try it sometime.



So, well, the movie was kinda ok. Tabu was at her loveliest and we loved the way she looked. And that voice! Oh my God! Drops of caramel dipped in hot chocolate... Sharman was good too. But well, he is not justifying his kind of talent with the kind of movies he is doing.



So, anyways, the movie ended. And as we had ditched the roommate and had no way to get back home, we walked. Walked all the way back from the theater. And instead of coming back home directly, we strayed.



Fontainhas, my friends, is beautiful by night. Even more than it is by day. And there's hardly anyone there. So you can enjoy the beauty of the place all by yourself. Sure there's always one of those drunken revelers (today's a Saturday night, remember?) who want to just speed by you with loud thumping music. Why would someone want to whoosh pass such beauty, methinks?And then I ask myself, haven't I also been doing the same thing up until now? Seriously, these days we have been working so hard that even if we do get some free time, we don't know what to do with it. Because we've forgotten all that we used to do in our sexy single free time. Gosh! I need to get hold of a good book! Suggestions please.



So, anyways, its a beautiful Fontainhas at night. We sure wish we can live there in one of those small little heritage places that you have to climb an impossible number of steps to get into. The very mystery of those dark, dinghy steps is enthralling. And then maybe we could run a small eatery or a little microbrewery in one of those. How fun would that be!

random drunk writing...

ok, so i haven't posted here in a while now. guilty as charged. so, here goes, a piece of drunk writing i did in my final year of college, preserved and reproduced as under:

Inertia versus Action

‘Change’, as they say, is inevitable. An ability to change what one can and live with what one cannot would lead to Happiness. Happiness, over here, does not mean those momentary material pleasures that one experiences but something more lasting and enduring.

One can either accept change or try to resist it. Either reaction to change is an attempt to reach the same end, Happiness. Happiness must not be seen as an end. It is the path that one traverses on the way to the goal. To see matters from this perspective is a difficult task. So, if we accept that the process is superior to the goal, then we might as well accept the change and move on.

Sometimes, we embark upon tasks that are seemingly impossible. Why do we do this? It is Hope that drives us on. It answers the ever-present question of ‘what if…?’ by making us actually do what we are passionate about.

Thus, the original dilemma remains: ‘Whether to accept change or to resist’. To accept change would be to derive pleasure in the journey whereas to resist it would be to strive to reach the goal nevertheless. None of these alternatives seem rather appealing for the time, and so I resign to Hope that tomorrow will be a better day, irrespective of my actions today.

A year in Goa...

Hi Blog! Longgggg time no c... A year living in Goa now. And I am still the same. You would think I would've gotten a girlfriend by now, tried coke / hash / at least weed, partied my arse off, indulged in groupsex (ok, now that's taking things too far, but what the heck! we're just imagining). Yeah, even I thought that after so much time in Hippie Heaven, I could tick most of those boxes. But, unfortunately, you know what? I haven't done any of those things. And, surprisingly, there's a part of me that's ok with it. Is that abnormal? Am I growing old? Or is it just who I am? Or I'm just chickenshit. I guess we'll never find out.

Anyways, being here for a year now has made me realise a few things about Goa:

1. Contrary to popular belief, all Goans (or Goenkars as they are called in Konkani) don't run hotels or restaurants or bars or wineshops. There is a huge chunk of people that is engaged in serious economic activity. I'm talking REAL people. With REAL jobs. Who go to work everyday and come back home to the wife. I know its quite obvious, every place has that group of people. But I always thought of this place as a tourist place with nothing else to it. Well, call me naive!

2. That brings me to my second point. Did you know that tourism is not the only big money-grosser for Goa. There's also iron ore mining. A huge chunk of the state's revenue comes from mining and allied industry (logistics etc.), which is now taking a huge beating, as all commodities are.

3. Tweeting (www.twitter.com/nvavi) is taking out all the blogging from me. Ok, this isn't a realisation about Goa, but nevertheless. Its a good thing, this tweeting. But, is it an alternative to blogging? Its like one big blog gets taken out you bit by bit, each tweet you do. Or does it.

I think that should make for another blog post. Ciao for now, fellas

A second-hand existence…

A call from Maruti Suzuki today, and various other such calls that I have received over the last few months prompted me to write this post. Before you roll your eyes or even raise an eyebrow, no, this isn’t one of those posts complaining about telemarketing. And no, this has nothing to do with Maruti, the new A-star or any other addition to their extensive (or so they claim) 12-model lineup either. So then, what is this about?

The call I got was for Mr. Jack, a relative whose number (thanks to my profound laziness) I have been using since the last 8 months. So, every day I am either subjected to phone calls selling me things I don’t need or reminding me to give for servicing things that I don’t own (Mr. Jack’s Maruti Esteem, for example). I’ve even had some calls inviting me to conferences and offering me jobs in SQL, SAS and other such assorted acronyms.

“So what? Just change your number! Don’t sit and whine about this also now”, you say. Yeah ok, I’ll get a new number. Duly noted. But then, what this got me thinking about is the way we live. The very second-hand nature of our existence. My existence. An existence that isn’t real, a shielded existence, almost like I’m living in a bubble, floating on a cloud. Barely able to touch what I am really affected by.

I just sit there and watch while what I’ve grown up around and what represents to me the city I’ve grown up in is destroyed, vandalized and raped. Asking,”Yaar, what’s the latest on the Taj?” The reporter shouts into my ear the latest on the issue. That’s his version. I don’t know whether it’s the truth. I don’t know whether what I’m receiving is the truth. I go about my job. And when I get back home, I just sit there. Useless, effete, a napunsak. I can’t do anything about it.

This is what we all will keep feeling till we keep living this second-hand life. Until and unless we start doing something…

In Mumbai! Going back to work-home tomorrow though :(

So, the company gave us two days' holiday (Sunday included) and so we rushed to Mumbai, and guess what, parents are here too. Okok, I know I am big now and all, and that parents shouldn't be such a big deal to me now. But, they are. Nice little angels that they are. They support you when you really need them (if you know what I mean, and its Diwali even!)

There is this list of things that I have jotted down to write about, but you know how lazy I am. I just can't seem to get to write about them. Those topics are reserved for later, maybe, when I am really vella (go ask a north indian if ur really that uncosmopolitan!) and have me-time. Right now, its just so chaotic, with parents and cousins and uncles and aunts. And DIWALI! O my God! Diwali is an amazing festival! Yay!

Btw, work-home means temporary home in the city(?) I work in.

PS: Yeah, I know I sound really happy and on drugs, but don't worry the glum seriousness will return to this blog soon (will it?)

PPS: Do you know of that Mininster's son who was accused of raping German girl? We live frightfully close to that Minister's residence.

Short little, bored in office post

Another day in office. Been here since an hour now. And I have done nothing. Yes. Nothing. Zilch. Zero. Shunya. That's how much. Nothing. Not like there isn't a lot to do. But then, I figure, why should I do something I don't like?

You know what? I should have really taken up that job closer home. So what if it was giving me a little less money. At least I would be doing something that is vaguely near to what I really want to do in life. Come to think of it, do I really even know what I really want to do in life? I guess I don't. Maybe that is why I did not take up that job. Because I figured,"Well, what if I get bored of this too after some time? Then there's no turning back." 'Coz, boss, I just can't keep shrinking my pay by so much, no?

Anyways, yesterday I was reading this gorgeous blog. Read it here: http://bombaychronicles.blogspot.com/

Man, she is living the life I want to live! I kid you not! 

And this last post... http://bombaychronicles.blogspot.com/2008/10/with-reference-to-few-posts-back-and.html. I can so relate to it! Really. Read it.