Raghu

I have been listening about "Valentine’s Day" for past 10 years (May be!!) but the concept still feels new to me. Now I might look like an alien to you but before you categorize me or make me a part of some groups who are not pleased with this concept in India, you must read the below experience. On the way to celebrate  the day with my wife and express my love, I went running around shops to get something new and different for her…..and while doing so I came across a person holding on to a big box neatly packed and decorated. He was sending them to his friend and asked some questions. I will ask you to answer those same questions for yourself, rather simple ones  •Can you name the last year’s beauty pageant winners in India?  •Can you name the last five winners of the Miss World contest winners?  •Can you name 10 people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize?  •Can you tell the number of Oscars your favorite Actor has received? ...

Hey wait…..after a topic like “The Night” about first night, did you think I will go more into it? What were you thinking? Common take it out!!!! (ooops sorry spelling mistake, I meant “say it out”). Hmm what all I was going to tell was about “frustration” and what I did with that. With the way I started out and the people I messed up with eventually will be a good combination but will deal with it some other day. I travel through military area and just yesterday I got into a situation with them and in their area. I was coming back from office and in the late night they were slowing down and diverting the traffic as they were painting newly built speed breakers (literally mountains, anybody traveling through AOC center can confirm on that). I was very much upset with what all happened around me that day and was very irritated with that, while entering that area I saw three people at 5-6 feet distance from each other who were diverting the traffic, by the time I realized what was...

Anybody who has grown up in India, or watched our Bolly, Tolly, Kolly - Wood (or whichever “wood” you belong to) movies, knows about the much hyped “First Night”. If you “STILL” act like you don’t know what it is, it is the night a married couple, even if they have known each other only for a few days, consummate their day old marriage. More so our marriages are very well known for their lengthy procedures and rituals. These rituals have taken a new avatar along with the time; backed with “Wood” guys playing around with it, every one wants these to make it more and more special in their own way. It is quite obvious that you are not expecting me to go all the way in telling how my night went about like….but will let you some insight of what happened a couple of years ago (eee I was a bachelor back then :) ) Few years back I was invited to a Bachelor Party of some old friends office colleague (henceforth known as X), as he was getting married in next few days. We had a good mix...

Starting last April, I started an 8 month long expedition to fill in the “ Empty Seat ” and find a bride for me and attain marital bliss. Carried on with lots of “ Hope ” and here I am back at the blog reliving those moments and few experiences I have had. April; initially thought all that was happening was just an April fool joke. May; Indications were like, this May or May not happen, was just living on “HOPE”. June; we both were in tune and awaiting bliss. July; our hopes were sky high and we let ourselves fly. August; on the very day India got Independence, I attained “In-Dependence” status. September; nothing much to remember October; said “you guys need to wait till November” November; Noooovemberrrrrrrrrrrr was something to reeeememberrrrrr OK Before I say that I got married this November, the feel of being married did not sink into me so quickly, there were some instances that reminded me and said “ Hello...

In the pool of insufficiency, everyone is equal and therefore content; this is what came to my mind with the word recession. Recession!!! Possibly was greatest slogan for past few years and getting to hear it again now. Some of my friends were having a discussion on this last week and were gauging the effect it would have on us. The problem of recession; your company is not individually responsible for this. But it feels cheated, robbed of the comfort zone of a promising economy. Now an organization is a person because it is run by people. This is why it reacts to upsetting situations in much the same way we would. How would you react where you are not in control of your external environment? You would feel insecure, lonely and act irrationally. I’m sure most of you would have seen strange new rules being implemented in your company; rules that probably had no relation to cost-cutting. India is not actually in ‘recession’, as we have been told in figures, with a growth rat...

As per the dictionary version; “ HOPE ” is the emotional state, which promotes the belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. I always had confusion between HOPE and POSITIVE THINKING , now as per the experts; Hope is distinct from positive thinking, which refers to a systematic process used in psychology for reversing pessimism. Basically for a person like me, who is not well educated, getting the difference or the fine line between those two is very difficult. For me this “ HOPE ” has been like a romance for the past 15 years (just for a time frame) and continuing. The feeling that, what is wanted can be had or looking forward to it with desire, and with reasonable amount of confidence so that events will turn out for the best has indeed been a romance for me. I have pursued and persisted with many things (Humans included), and here by including humans as things, I don’t want to sound like a materialistic or a utilitarian kind of perso...

I have no subject matter expertise on “ Married Life ”, but when a close friend with considerable amount of married life experience, puts a mail in response to chain that was going around, it did have a good effect. I do not know how will my blog help his cause but surely this needs a mention. Thank you “Juice Baron”…..Below is the mail: I have few things to say to all innocent wives out there who are so tired managing and training their respective husbands: 1. Don't treat us like a project and try to fix us. You girls knew what you were getting into. 2. In an argument we use logic and you use emotions as weapon. You girls start crying or get emotional (ex: I left my family for U) the moment you know you are reaching nowhere. If we try to put forward our point we are bullies and if we lose we are weak. 3. Kindly do not ask us what we are thinking, the answer would be nothing and believe us “it’s true". We can spend the whole day doing nothing like how you wives can spend...

Yes it happened!!! No I am not talking about my Love life here. It is just a feel good factor that all my friends replied to my crazy mail after a really long time. And that feel was a short lived one... as my main aim and agenda was completely lost after the 3rd or 4th mail and then on the subject matter went on to surprise few of them, troubled some, excited few of them. And ONE in particular had a joy ride of sorts. Husband, Wife & Married life ; precisely that was the matter going around in mails, currently the minority in the group "Bachelors" enjoyed it well while the majority "Married" ones were exchanging their experiences so far. The ONE lady who is "on the cusp" of entering the world of marital bliss, was the one who was having the joy ride. Initially it started out as a "KT" for this lady and she was welcomed and inducted into the world of Marriage and she mentally prepared herself by saying "I am prepared for the disaster n...

In a car, where four people can fit in comfortably and when only three people are travelling there will be an empty seat; that is common sense. When that very empty seat is a subject of discussion then it is nonsense. The three people in the car are me and my parents and the discussion is about my parents going to be daughter in law. Usually I do not like my dad sitting in the front seat because he gets a little tensed with the way I drive. Personally, I believe that when you have a person who knows how to drive in the car, they just cannot handle the way the driver is handling the car. Be it me driving or my dad, it is like, the way I do it is the best way, until unless something goes wrong. So the above being the situation, I at times ask him to sit back royally in the back seat and enjoy the ride. Now they (Mom & Dad) take up this situation to the best use and have their little fun of their own. Now as they know that I already have a “ Daughter ”, they start of saying “how m...

Long back, one of my friends asked me WHY I write. Immediately I gave him an answer through one more blog . Now someone asked HOW do I write? Felt that was a valid enough question; need to answer that for myself first, because I am not known to talk in English (apart from official communication) so much nor am I a fluent orator in that language. So equipped with the elementary knowledge in English and with an outdated education base I have, how come I end up surprising people. After a good analysis, the only reason I could find out is that, my brain thinks in Telugu. As strange as it might sound, that is the process that happens with me. Whenever I set out to write something, initially I narrate it to myself in Telugu and then sit down and collect words in English for it. This might sound like a tedious process but I am working on more effective methods to write. My basic idea of fun starts with Telugu, a language that I am more used to and also being a language that is more captiva...

The feel of claiming a victim with a small gesture you make is awesome. I do not go around killing people but just last week while walking in the mall I made a fellow shopper completely freeze in his tracks and look at me in disbelief. I didn’t do anything fanatical. I just smiled at him. An early morning shopper, in his pajamas and holding energy drink his hand, with a disgusted look on his face. We meet face to face and I Just give him a smile, he must have concluded I was an ET with extra face muscles enabling me to exert a smile. What followed was more intriguing to me, the moment I smiled and he gave those strange look, the man immediately looked down. Now do not ask where but I was Laughing Out Loud (in silent mode). May be I should have told him, Sir there is some more shopping left for you this morning. Surely a smile can bring the best and worst out of a person. Some will be dead shocked and some give quizzed looks and few do smile back. It is more like we approach one an...

Bike ride on a weekend made me realize that, when driving a car, the shouting and cursing I do on bike riders are very much applicable to me also. Came to realize that the speed at which I travel, has got nothing to do with the rules I follow (Speed in my case because after two near fatal accidents, I have slowed down a lot). I know this is not a new discovery to most of us but what amazes me is we still have a dynamic approach to traffic. This must partly explain the traffic conditions around you. We keep making new rules as we go along and dynamically develop a new approach to traffic. I will be a true believer if you happen to say that there will be people who will break rules even if they are in place for their own good. Now I will give a modest try to do a little reverse engineering gimmick and put forward few rules for the “drivers” in general. 1 . First of all, please undermine the white lines on the road those are Just meant to be Modern Art. 2 . If you happen to see “ STO...

That was title of a book I was checking as a part of my work recently, "SIMPLE PAIN RELIEVERS". It was all about the pain relieving technique’s to the day to day problems you might have. What interested me more were the chapter headings? Now in an attempt to make my usual work day bit more interesting I just added few more comments to those chapter heading and had a little fun of my own. Keeping, all those lovely woman in mind, below are the chapter headings and some comments in brackets...enjoy!!! 1. WOMEN AND PAIN ( are Similar ) 2. PAIN IN THE HEAD (is the Early Indicator ) 3. BACK PAIN, SPINE PAIN AND HIP PAIN (will follow one after the other ) 4. MANAGING PAIN WITH FOOD, DRINK, HERBS AND SUPPLEMENTS ( please think again ) 5. MANAGING PAIN NATURALLY ( is not an option ) 6. HAND PAIN, SHOULDER PAIN AND ELBOW PAIN (these will be the after effects ) Wait…this was not all, few days later I got another book to be reviewed and that title of the book was “All Time Best ...

For me, now it is that time of the year when I say Allergies and Flu is in the air! It is time for those nasty allergies and unpleasant flu. You probably might have called in sick one time or the other, But did not know what exactly to do with the time you have got at hand. The usual sick day would be like retired to bed with aching body, lots of coughing, sneezing, headache’s and if you are lucky add high fever to that. All this should not mean that you cannot turn this into little bit fun for yourself. Here you go!!! Below are few things you can try to spice up your sick day: 1. Try singing your favorite songs with that sore throat. 2. Try impersonating your favorite actors and politicians….this should be fun 3. Just recently while in office, there was a case where 7-8 people on the floor went a sneezing spree, so just in case there if ever such event, practice for Synchronized Sneezing or Coughing 4. Try how long you can stay without wiping your nose…..call it the running no...

Did this happen to you any time, when you are giving a ride to a friend and trying to list down the features in the car and the friend asks, “What does this button do?” Did you ever notice these fake buttons in cars? They are not really buttons but just plastic placeholders indicating that, in higher-end models, there might actually be a real button with a real function. Do you know why manufacturers put these fake buttons? Just you remind you that you have been a cheap fellow when the time came to write that amount on the cheque. And they do it just out of grudge that you have acted smart enough not to buy the higher-end model with unreasonable pricing. Just recently I and a friend were going in my car and he happened to ask the same question, “What does this button do?” Me: Nothing. It’s just a piece of plastic Friend: But it looks like a button Me: (OMG, How did you figure that out) Ya, but it does nothing Friend: How come? Here you have two choices. You could tell the fr...

One year from now supposedly there should be some catastrophic events taking place that will change EARTH. According to some, massive solar storms, magnetic pole reversal, earthquakes, super volcanoes, and other drastic natural events may occur by this date next year. Some even claim alien invasions are going to take place. You can go online and get a list of dates predicted for apocalyptic events and for known reasons the one nearest and well known will be Dec 21st 2012. Personally I feel the changes have already begun, take a note of all that is happening around the world. Right from what happened in Libya, Japan, USA, Thailand, London and never the less India; also score of other minor to major incidents that have taken place all around the world. I do not feel it will be end of the Earth but there will be changes around the world that will change the way we operate over here. Right form how we treat each other and how we cross over from the great wall of divides we have built. Th...

Right from my early 20’s, I have been very much fascinated by this thing called "Saree" and I used to enjoy watching women in Sarees. For me it is the sexiest garment that India has given to the world of Fashion. In India every region has their own unique way with it and the way it is presented is very pleasing for the eye. Based on what I have seen so far, will try to categorize them as below mentioned. 1. 10/10's : The Saree looks so perfect on them, you feel as if the weaver had this woman in mind when he was weaving the Saree. Each fold of the Saree enhances their beauty and feels as if the Saree is so proud and happy to hug these women. Recently seen a picture of Sushmita Sen, while she was attending a Durga Puja somewhere in Mumbai (it was this picture that gave me the idea to write on this topic), what I felt was, A simple Saree that was carried off very well and she surely has elegance. 2. Rappers : Just a fancy name for "Wrapping". Here it is more a...

There are many times I have been put on the spot in a conversation? Someone at a gathering makes an insulting or an uneasy comment or your boss speaks down to you? In response, you either say the wrong thing, triggering an argument... or you say nothing at all and dwell on it the rest of the day. Then suddenly it comes to you -- I should have said... But of course, it’s too late to utter that perfect response that you think of now. I’ve had many a situations like these and did my bit of innovation. Still I feel that I am not that well equipped with tools (so to say) for an effective comeback. What I want to have is a collection of comeback techniques that allows me to better handle a confrontation, take control of how people treat me in relationship or at work. When a conversation grows tense or takes an unwanted turn, I often get overwhelmed by feelings and tend to fall into poor communication habits. I typically get defensive or lash out; this is most common reaction I find most ...

These are few habits that I have acquired after a few years in corporate world. For sure I do not know if they are good or bad but for the time being will tag it as bad habits. Filtered / Mineral Water : Basic necessity, but never was I used to bottled water or filtered water not even at home. But these days we go out for a dinner to a new place, it will be only bottled water (or so called mineral water). Lately this has become a default behavior; even a well known waiter at a regular restaurant does not ask for type of water we prefer but just brings two bottles along with the order. Liquid Hand Wash : In marketing terms this should be one product that has been put into our heads very well. And I am getting so used to it that if I do not see it at the wash basin I feel something is missing. Toilet Paper : At home, on a Sunday morning, I wake up and go to the wash basin, brush my teeth, just to get that fresh feel I pour some water on my face. Till here it is fine, after that I...

Contd... No, there was no Non-Vegetarian food but I never thought a real mix of all vegetarian food can trouble you a lot. Ever felt you could see vegetarian food from most parts of India on your plate, let me guide you through with my words. The man serving comes towards me and serves a “tandoori roti” and I put up a face like “what the ____”, I felt like saying “Sir this is what I have daily, I was expecting some authentic south Indian food here”, few seconds later come the “paneer butter masala” and I give the same expression. Now, one more person passes by and serves some kind of vegetarian salad (usually taken before you start main course), then one more passes by and throws in few pieces of carrot. By this time I was making up my mind to have the usual north Indian dinner…and just then….comes “Bhindi Fry”, “White Rice” and “Ghee”. Now like a good old veggie boy I start with Bhindi fry, white rice and just at the same time comes a Kannada dish “Bisibelabath” (hope you read it rig...