Year of Marriages

GMBC inc. had declared the year 2010 as the 'Year of Marriages'. The nomenclature is pretty much self explanatory. However, fortunately or unfortunately, we seem to have chosen a very ambitious target. It is certain now that we will have to stretch some deadlines. Managers we are and will always be. Sticking to time lines is not our cup of tea.

However, for me, this tenth year in the new millennium is still turning out to be a year of marriages. Everybody seem to be in hurry to lose his/her single status. So much so that the joke is that I cannot seem to find a date for my marriage 'coz all of them this year have been already booked by my friends. Winds don't seem to change direction in early months of next year either. 

[Time for a detour to satiate those nagging ones amongst you who, like my mom, have troubled me a lot with the question about my marriage.
Guys and gals,
This is to certify that this post is intended just for general discussion and has no mention or discussion about any probable dates for my marriage. Anything resembling such a date is purely coincidental.
End of detour]

Such a jam packed schedule brings with it some very practical issues which will put my learnings from engineering and management to good use. Here is just a brief list of the major concerns for me:
1. Resource Allocation: limited amount of leaves need to be distributed in an efficient way to utilize them to the fullest and attend maximum number of marriages for everyone's satisfaction.
2. Shortest Path Algorithm: Remember traveling salesman problem? Well, I am the protagonist today in all literal or practical senses and trying to solve it today when planning my travel arrangements.
3. Resource Sharing: Ethnic and party wear and of course credit cards to extract maximum purchase points and cash back returns.
4. Negotiations: specially with boss for leaves and with everyone else who are still in the planning phase.

But no worries Sumana, Chandu, Manan, Piyush, Sandeep, Ankit, Bora, Manoo, Charlee, Chawla and others who have not yet finalized the dates!! I am going to be there.

Cheers to the Year of Marriages...

Damn...

Damn! It’s been 10 minutes of me trying to write a new entry and still there’s nothing on my notepad!!

Damn!! What was it that I wanted to write on?

Damn!!! I have forgotten the idea for today’s blog :(

Damn!!!! I have been infected with STML (Short Term Memory Loss).

Miss Sonam: You are going to pay for it!

...'I hate love storys' songs playing in background...

50 Starred Mails

Oh My God!!
I just did not realize that I had more 50 starred mails in my inbox. And it was just one of the multiple mailbox that I use at this moment. With at least three active mail ids, two and half active social networking profiles and two mobile connections life is as virtual as it can get. Unending conference calls, infinitely long mail threads and multiple chat windows - that's what makes up my social life now. I am really thankful to the market visits that keep me in touch with reality. Dozens of people whom I meet during these visits, not just get me an insightful view of my business, but also become part of the real life that I live.

I was going through some of the old mails in my mailbox. It brought so many nice memories back. I was involved in so many things then. Many of them very different from what I do today. I have changed. I used to regularly read and write then. My blog was my passion. But somehow it got a little lost in last couple of months. I miss it the most.

I can not describe how self satisfied I felt after posting photos from EuroTrip mini on my facebook profile. I was getting scared that I was losing my touch with my camera. I have not and I have found that passion again. New targets have been set and I have to work hard to achieve them. Passion clearly drives human efforts.
I am looking forward to try new things - new literature, new music, new movies and everything else. Any suggestions are welcome.

Hoping to blog more often and write better again.

Some Memorable Cinema Experiences

In no particular order...

Ajanbee: My first movie after joining RVCE. Our day out with seniors, buying textbooks on Avenue road and then a movie with the gang. Laughing out real loud in hall, random comments and other tp. And yes, we belonged to PESIT then ;) We became the youth of the nation.

Golmal:
Attempt 1 - Bought tickets for 10:00 hours show thinking it was 10pm show. Reached well in time to 10pm show to realize the tickets we had were useless. Show was fullhouse. So we came home cursing i-dont-know-who.
Attempt 2 - Telebooked tickets in innovative multiplex thinking it was inox and reached inox well in time. Inox guy tried hard to explain that they had no telebooking facility. Not again! Luckily this time there were few seats left in the theater so we finally got the chance to see the movie.

Asoka: It was during the first Diwali break after joining RV. A well deserved trip to home. What an adventure it was with a re-routed train, night-long journey in MPSRTC red dabba bus and the unexpectedly chilly night! Movie plan with Arpit against mom's advice (ghar aaye ho to ghar par raho. Movie to bangalore me bhi dekh sakte ho..). And Asoka in Sapna-Sangeeta. Long talks about experience in college and life in general. And to top it up - Asoka theme. This movie is hard coded in my memories now.

Jurasic Park: Ashok talkies in Khandwa. Purnima mausi had recommended us the movie. Most probably the first english movie that I had watched. Mausi said 'it's a must watch'. The hype of it having scenes where they have shot the one helicopter from another above it, was just too much for us. And then ofcourse it had Dinosourous. New craze was to remember names of the varieties of them. T-Rex the dude rocked the most.

 I hate love storys: First and most probably the last movie I watched alone in Hubli. No multiplex. Old type single screen theater. Damn! I was actually scared that some cockroach might pop up from below the seat and spoil my movie experience. Very nice movie. Loved the characters. And ofcourse I love Sonam. :)

Pyar kiya to darna kya: First movie that I watched after moving to Indore. It was shot in Daily College Indore. So there was a strange attachment that I felt for the movie. Sapna-Sangeeta was an experience in itself.

Ham Aapke Hai Kaun: I don't recall the first time I watched this movie. But the second was a screening for Jain Social Group in Abhishek talkies, Khandwa. Lots of samosas and pepsi to enjoy and majaak-masti throughout the movie. We watched this movie once more in Rajmandir cinema in Jaipur. Ofcourse this time the idea was to visit Rajmandir theater. Movie was secondary. Grand and beautiful theater. I actually dozed of in the movie. Was it the movie or the AC in the hall that did the trick?

Housefull: first experience in Mumbai. After an evening out with Sonam. One of the longest auto ride of my life. Reaching the theater late and then realizing my friends who were supposed to have booked the tickets had not done so. And they were running even late. To buy tickets or not to buy. Finally they arrived. Bought tickets and ran towards the screen picking up a bag of someone else thinking it was ours. Thank god, he took it sportingly. What crap of a movie. I actually updated my facebook from the theater advicing everyone to avoid it.
Alas that was not the end of it. And I had to watch it for the second time with GMBC gurgaon chapter. My first day in Gurgaon. Jet lag or whatever it was. And the late night show at 11:20pm. A total of 12 people in the hall. While they laughed their heart out in the movie, I snored at my best. :)
And if you thought that it was over?? Well I saw it again during my flight from Delhi to Helsinki. :D

Some random murder mystery: In Mangalore. What better movie to be the first movie that I watched with my future wife. So romantic. It did bring her closer to me, I must say. Oh yea, I had one friend of mine to accompany us too. :)

Avatar: GMBC Inc out in the wild. I just don't need any more words to describe it.

Mangal Pandey: PVR. Advance booked. Front row seats. What a disaster it was! Adi's face was worth watching.

continues...