गुलाबी थंडी

आज पुण्यात मस्त गारवा आहे
या क्षणी जे जे लोक मस्त दुलईत साखरझोप घेत आहेत त्या सगळ्या लोकांचा मला प्रचंड हेवा वाटत आहे :)

एवढे दोन शब्द बोलून मी माझे भाषण संपवते
जय हिंद जय महाराष्ट्र !

FAQ.....

I wish there would be FAQs for all the questions of life...
today my friend is unhappy...dammit where is the FAQ for this one? google , bing , yahoo???
what should i do ? how can i get a smile ?? is there , is there any good FAQ with answers ofcource :)
this post will be updated soon.....
right now let me just publish it as it is n send it to my friend .... i hope that will bring a little smile :)

SuperMom :)

No post since i m back in India.....well that says it all....i am in "India"..
Hardly any time for myself,dedicated to only Me n my soul :(

last few months busy like hell ....
Possession of new home, furniture, project work, MPL ( will come to this interesting topic later in the post :) )....
oh was feeling like a Super Mom or something like that...
Okie first thing first ....
Got our second baby ....OUR FIRST HOME !!!
yeah i would call it our second baby cos after Ved's birth it was the most happy day in my life...
we planned for it, we waited so long....we saw it developing day by day.... we proudly show the pics to our friends n family....we shopped for it ..... we were anxious till we get it in our hands :)...and the moment...the golden moment when i got the keys....oh i couldn't stop the happy tear .... :D
Getting the final check from bank, possession formalities.... bavdhan-golibar maidan-prabhat road-pashan ....
Then came the difficult part...getting furniture...looking for resources ( is my IT career ruining me, i wanted to say carpenter instead i wrote resources !!whats happening to me !!!) ..finalising designs , patterns (here again !!!)
talking with "mistri ji" and solving their problems.."madam stool nahi mil raha !! madam light kam hai !! aaj to sab chutti pe hai"...
getting small small necessities...tube light (i first time realised there are so many types of a simple tubelight !!! n the rate is too much than i thought would be ;) )....getting the "grill wala"
Doing Puja on the decided auspicious day ...DhanTrayodashi :)

n all this only possible on wkends....wk me project work..tight schedules..deadline...missing the 6 pm bus...PMT jindabad...
lets talk abt happy things only..so not elaborating more on this :)

happy things...hmm MPL...wondering whats that? its Microsoft Premium League :)
yeah we had mini version of 20-20 ....6-6 :) for Microsoft group...
n i was playing :) bowling batting....after almost 8 yrs !!!
Oh it was fun....it was fun as it used to be in college....
the format of the MPL was exactly like IPL.....players, brand ambassadors , bidding for the players....
OH...it was fun :) I played till semi final :) n i played ok good :)
oh yeah..how can i forget MPL grand finale.....the closing ceremony...my two teammates dragged me into a group dance...arey yaar...dance kiye hue bhi 8 yrs ho gaye... i kept on denying but then inside deep in my heart...there was old mugdha saying..arey ab nahi to fir kab...u r still young mugs...go ahead...
n i finally did succumb to their pressure....the dance went too good...enjoyed truly !!! thanks sumi n arpi...

n finally...now when i hear my baby say .."aai ".....feel i achieve too much in these last few months...
my baby is now exploring the beauty of talking ..... its a lovely ..i would say BEST feeling when u hear those first words....it gives a immense feeling of achievement :D
feels like a SuperMom ....all thanks to my SuperBaby :D

The Best of Good...

With a great enthusiasm i entered the city library not sure if we need to pay for the books as we do in India. Asked the assistant ," um..do we have to pay anything? " ..." oh no nothing" she said....n you can issue at a time 100 books !!! Oh my God, I am in heaven I thought.

So much to read in such a short period....I picked up 3-4 books for me n 3-4 for Ved.

Next day picked up one , started reading it....Break ....at evening again continued.....umm break again. Now the duration of breaks were clearly winning over the reading time. N it was already time to return the books. I couldn't even read a single one !! What was happening to me??

Many trips to library went in vain ..in the similar fashion.

I was now being sure..i lost it. I lost my power of reading and finishing a book :(

Few days back, while i was searching for my one of the fav Jeffery Archer book , I couldnt get it quickly and instead i picked up a book called " The Best of Good" ..I didnt know the author (sara lewis) , i had never heard of the book...I simply picked up because the cover was very good and i found the name interesting. I didnt even bother to go at the back and read whats the story about , what are the reviews... Just one thought came to my mind...what will it have? no murder no mystery.....no philosophy, what will it have?? will i really enjoy it?

hmm...lets see...with my current records, i might not even open it !!!

And at night i opened this book...

The story was about Good, Tom Good...a very different man. I finished the small chapter and thought is he mentally retarded or something?? Has he done something terribly wrong in his life? why is he so weird? But one thing was sure....i found the book very easy going, smooth . I like such books. I remembered which was the last book i thought so smooth ...Arundhati Roy's God of small things i guess...

I finished my dinner and again started reading Good's lifestory....

About his love, respect to his elder sister, he says in the starting chapter he owes her too much..why?

Being a fiction/criminal novel lover, my mind was at its creative best and thought about she might have saved him from going to jail or something ..etc etc.

I continued reading.

Good came to know about his long time love and about the child she has , a boy with striking similarity to Good. Is it his?? If Yes why did she hide it for 10 long years?

Whats going in Good's mind? Is he happy/ sad/worried/angry /surprised / confused?? Or everything mixed up?

We can feel the emotions running deep down his mind. I purposely said emotions in his mind n not in his heart..because that's the way Good is.

He is the founder of a popular band. A great guitar player. But works as a bartender.

Why?

Whats the deal with him? why does he buy cloths only once in a year that too from one specific place. Whenever he is upset or happy he locks himself in the closet which is his soundproof music room. He never interacts to neighbors. He doesn't like people as such.

He wants to meet his son and wants to be liked by him.

He does everything possible so that they connect. But they don't.

We came to know why he is under a great guilt, why has he said No to beauty of Life , to the pleasures of Life.

He is living under the tremendous guilt of his elder brother Jack's death. Had he said something to stop his drunken brother to go on a ride. Had he just ....

He idols George Harrison. He is his God.

There is one chapter of just few lines...." George Harrison died " ...don't know why but i cried like a baby..

Good falls in love with his neighbor , divorced with 4 kids but she declines.

All bad things happen when he decides to change for good. To change for a better life.

The journey of Good is simple, beautiful and something we can really feel.

The end is as we expected ; Happy and brings a tear of joy.

We feel satisfied ....we feel good.... as if Good is our Best friend .

The Dirty Game....

A lot has said, written and discussed about the most dirty game ....The Great Indian Tamasha....The Great Indian Politics. The election fever is on...even feel the heat at 1000 s miles away from the "ring"  where 100 s of idiots planning to fool the millions of so called "matdata"....

I always thought of the people as being great in gray matters who write good in politics....but hardly i ever thought of giving a shot at it myself.

Me being not so certain or very firm on my political views...always kept myself distant from this stuff.

Always have two opinions...

Who will be the PM ?? Manmohan singh again....oh but no..now Mr.Karat is acting tough..n Lalu is in fight mood.

Is Raj Thakrey right ?? Oh why yes ofcource he is....but wait a minute do we really heading towards inter country visa system?? n what abt the violence??

Does Mayawati really has the potential ?? Nah..look at her..what will she make of this country ....Oh why Not , she is the most powerful woman in the country today !!!

Will Mr. Lalkrushna Advani win?? And what if he wins?? Hmm..Lk Advani...nah not this time, who's gonna support them?? Left ? Lalu ? Mamta again?? It would be ok if he wins...but will it be better??

so you got my point, don't you ? I always have these two minds when deciding whom to vote.... I remember my first vote 10 years back...i was so confused i stamped all the candidates on the paper !!! so stupid i was then , but the condition has worsen , nowdays i vote blindly !!!

what to do....we never have any clear transparent views in front of us...

UPA still fighting over who will be the PM !!!  All the masala parties still uncertain whom to support. Everybody wants to be PM 

When will we see a mature election process like USA ?

This time I was Lucky ( or unlucky!!) to see the election process in USA quite closely...before the real election starts, there is a clear cut candidate for the President's post. Only 2 parties....so simple. "dokyala katkat nahi jast" . People hear the sophisticated debates on various issues they are facing . Here the debates are very...umm what is the word..not getting the right word in english....umm...vey soft , with no heat,aggression. anyways...its "mulmulit"...

no so called blame game...oh wait its there ....but not the personal one..not the"chikhalfek"

Everything clean n clear...in front of you.

When?? When will we have such transparency in our beloved India??

Anyways, though I am not so certain about my political views , as proved earlier..there are some i am dead clear about...about what i want from these so called political heroes. here is the list ..the list everybody reading this blog has in their heart....

1.  The most imp ....No bastard can ever again have daring to kill a single Innocent life in this country.

2. Our kids will grow in a peace with "bombs" / "terrorist" as words in past.

3. Job security.

4. Clean surroundings.

5. A humanly public transport..... enough of the hell we live in 2 hrs of local train journey in Mumbai.

6. Food ,water , shelter and eduction for all.

7. 24 * 7 electricity everywhere..not just in Mumbai !!

8 .  No "fees" under the table ( its just a phrase now...its always asked with a pride nowdays) in any sector.

9.   No more Satyjit Dubey  .

10 . A little more decency in this dirty game..a lot more power in common man's hands..so that my kids will write a blog with title  "The People's Game ".

hurrayyy

Hurray.....Played tennis yesterday....after so so many years...actually just 2 but feels like a decade :)

मी अणि माझे खेळ जीवन :)

गेल्या एकंदरीत २८ वर्षांचा प्रदीर्घ प्रवास बघता असे म्हणायला हरकत नाही की " खेळणे माझा जन्मसिद्ध हक्क आहे आणि मी खेळत राहणारच " या वाक्याशी मी एकनिष्ठ आहे :)

तशी मी काही कुठल्या खेळात champion वगैरे नाही हं !!! पण प्रत्येकात नाक खुपसून झाले आहे :) नाक म्हणजे हाथ पाय हो....

फार लहानपणाचे काही आठवत नाही (ते कोणाला आठवते म्हणा ) ....पण मोठ्या भावाशी घरगुती cricket खेळणे ..तेही धुपट्ण्याने .. धुपाटणे माहित आहे का हो तुम्हाला? तुम्ही जर अजुन शिकत असाल तर शक्यता कमीच आहे !!! असो, तर घरी hall मध्ये आम्ही धुपाटणे as a bat घेवून अगदी commentary सहित cricket खेळायचो...माझ्या दादाची fav team West Indies आणि माझी भारत .....मग सचिन ला Ambrose नाहीतर Walsh bowling टाकायचे....अणि मग लारा बैटिंग ला अल की दादा left hand ने खेळायचा.....सोफयाखाली ball गेला तर २ runs. direct kitchen मध्ये गेला तर ४ :) अशी एकंदरीत धमाल होती !!!

आम्ही असे घरी बरेच खेळ खेळायचो....आंधळी कोशिंबीर , पाय-पाय ..हा एक आमचा fav game होता....पाय-पाय म्हणजे ३ उड़यांमध्ये दुसरयाच्या पायावर पाय ठेवायचा ..अणि दोघानी एकाच वेळी उडी मारायची हा नियम ... अगदी अश्या मैदानी खेळाचा कंटाळा आलाच तर कागदी fighter planes बनवून त्यांची मारामारी खेळायचो :) :) घरगुती खेळामध्ये २०-२० या खेळाचाही समावेश होता बर का...म्हणजे हे आपले lalit modi चे २०-२० नाही हा ....ते famous person मनात धरतात मग २० प्रश्न विचारून उत्तर शोधायचे तो game....हा सहसा आम्ही light गेल्यावर खेलायचो :) एकदा मी मनात वीरप्पन धरला होता , दादाने विचारले "राहतो कुठे" मी खरे सांगितले "जंगलात".....हे हे ..... अरे हो अजुन एक खेळ आठवला ...."सांग बर 'हे' कुठे लिहिले आहे" अणि मग कुठेतरी कानाकोपर्यात लिहिलेले शोधायचे हे ही आम्ही light गेल्यावर खेळायचो :) तर हे झाले घरगुती खेळ ....माझ्या building मध्ये सगळी पोरेच असल्याने मीही मुलांमध्ये मैदानी खेळ खेळू लागले....थोडी tomboyish होण्यात हे एक महत्वाचे कारण आहे... मग donkey-donkey , लपाछपी , badminton , विष-अमृत खेळणयात दिवस दिवस निघून जायचे..

शाळेत sports days ला खो-खो , लंगडी , कब्बडी ....आजकाल खेळतात का हे शाळेत ??? असो , तर आई आवर्जुन मला श्रीखंडाच्या गोळ्या द्यायची ..खेळता खेळता खा काहीतरी म्हणुन ....त्या अर्थातच सकाळी च मैत्रिणिंना वाटुन संपून जायच्या :) शाळेत पीटी च्या तासाची अगदी चातकासारखी वाट बघायचो ....पण गुरुवारी नाही..गुरुवारी खरोखर पीटी व्हायची ..इतर वेळी नुसते खेळणे ..धांगड धींगा :) सोनसाखळी हा main खेळ असायचा मला आठवते आम्ही मोठे मोठे दगड घेवून त्याचे सिंहासन वगैरे पण बांधायाचो....का कुणास ठावुक ..आता नाही आठवत ...

मग jr. college मध्ये मी एक नविन खेळ शिकले...throwball....अणि तो इतका आवडला की पुढची ६ वर्षे नियमित खेळत आले..

.Engineering ला प्रवेश घेतला....जरा स्थिरस्थावर झाल्यावर जेंव्हा second sem आले अणि sports ची चाहुल लागली तेंव्हा माझ्यातला sports person जागा झाला अणि मग box-cricket , badminton, carom, बुद्धिबल अणि सगळ्यात आवडते throwball सुरु झाले..... college च्या मध्यभागी corridor मध्ये आपण आपल्या team बरोबर खेळतोय , अकखे college support करत आहे..."tronix....tronix..." ओह ....अजुनही ती गूंज कानात आहे... काय वेड्यासारखे खेळायचो आम्ही.....even semester सुरु झाले रे झाले की आम्ही सरांकडे ball मागायला जायचो ....एकदा ball फुस्स झालेला तर कुठे puncture काढणारा मिळतो का शोधत भर दुपारी अक्खे कोपेर्खैराने पालथे घातले होते...शेवटी कोणीच न मिलाल्याने lab मधला एक हवा भरायचा pump काढून आम्ही तिघी....एकजण ball धरून , दूसरी हवा भरतेय अणि तीसरी band-aid धरून उभी.....भोक बंद करायला ....हा हा हा .....हा scene आठवला की अजूनही आम्ही पोट धरून हसतो....

असे हसत -खेळत दिवस जात होते... मग मध्ये काही वर्ष या माझ्या खेल जीवनात खंड पडला ...नोकरी , लग्न .... नाही म्हणायला पत्ते खेळत होतो आम्ही.....

पण मग project निमित्त US ला यायचा योग आला....seattle la Microsoft मध्ये असताना परत एक नविन सुरुवात झाली.. Microsoft चे वातावरण च वेगले होते....तिथे काम करायची एक आगळीच मजा....तिथे दर बुधवारी आम्ही volleyball खेलायाचो.....manager अगदी ओढून ओढून चला बस काम आता खेळा म्हणुन घेवून जायचा....volleyball खेळण्यात ही एक भारीमजा होती.....अगदी जीव तोडून खेलायचो. दर शुक्रवारी ऑफिस मध्ये poker ही खेळायचे...पण ऑफिस मध्ये पैसे लावून खेळणे हा माझ्या मध्यम वर्गीय मनाला फार मोठा धक्का होता....सुरुवातीला खेलुन पाहिले.....नविन खेळ म्हणुन...मजा ही आली...पण फारच $ जात आहेत हे बघून मी रामराम ठोकला :) US ला सगल्या apartment complex ला असते तसे tennis court माझ्याही घराजवळ होते....मग टेनिस ही try करून बघितले...ते यथातथाच जमले ....

आता परत एकदा खंड पडला आहे.... सध्या तरी "peek-a-boo" खेळण्यात च दिवस जात आहेत :) लवकरच माझ्या पिल्लाला football /tennis / cricket ची गम्मत कळेल अणि माझा हा खेल प्रवास परत सुरु होइल :):):)