Happy B'Day to me !!!!

"Happy birthday to me... Happy birthday to meeeeeeeee"

That was 20 days back though, but doesn't matter, its a Bday I will cherish for ever like last 2 Bdays :D :D Every time I think "This is the BEST a Bday can get" n BANG the next Bday is even better.

2 years back:
Smuggled out of the hostel.... Blindfolded at midnight on a bike in full speed... Tripsy... Blindfold opens... A familiar looking place, decorated wid balloons n candles n all Idiots(read friends) grinning... "wats this place?? looks like... err..." ..... OH SHIT.... The Pyramid Megastore's outer landscape, one of ma fav hangout places then..... Wow, how did they manage?? CRAZY ppl... (Murli had used her communication skills to persuade the watchman to let us do so....) Skills.... Shift of place... Z- Bridge... 1 AM.... Laughter.. Euphoria... Madness... Gifts... Singing... All the ppl I want around.... :D :D

Couldn't get better I thought.... PROVEN WRONG...

1 year back:
Hostel room... "why am I not being taken out...Its almost 12!!!".... Damn looks like no plans :( Sudden blast.... Everyone in hostel at midnight... "how did they get in???".... Shhhhh... Matron may come... Wat the heck... let her come, I'm past cloud 9.... Gifts lined up... Opening begins at 2AM.... ends after 5 AM.... Letters... Hand made gifts... Cartoon strips.... Mugs... Books (pages missing :P)... IPOD... Small pictorial biography... like that was not enough.... A hand made BAND... Lotta pics... Crazy dances n non stop chats... Exams coming up in 5 days.... Absolute unadulterated FUN... aaah how I miss it!!!!

THIS yr:
Too many things changed after college... Bdays were no more celebrated like 'Festivals' :P Not cos the emotions had died but time restrained us... I had no big expectations for my Bday, just wished the ppl who matter be around. But Mr. God has decided to become a good guy :P [Well, I have always cribbed bout Him in all my previous posts and I guess as He can't 'comment', he decided to "Act"] The news of training in the US broke somewhere in May... Dates were negotiated... As soon as possible... 6 months... no no 6 weeks... Late July... Mid May.. Some other work... 31st May FINAL... NO... Just a day short of getting to celebrate my Bday wid Friends... But then the opportunity of landing in US ON my BIG day... 31st May tickets not available :D :D... Final tickets booked for 1st of JUNE... My Bday.... So I was gonna take off on my BIRTHDAY... Double celebrations... Packing... Shopping.. Bday plans.. Office formalities.. Crunched for time... Friends coming from all over... House full of shopping bags... Hugs... All the best-s... Make the most of it... Big day huh... U made it on ya Bday buddy... Lucky eh.... Wow!! Felt great... Books n loads of books (as gifts)... All smiles... Apprehension of leaving... Excitement of flying... Hint of pensiveness on going away... MIDNIGHT.... Happy Bday to me.... :D :D.... Cakes, candles, chocolates.... Suddenly away from the scene of action and watching it like a Third person... Feeling TRULY lucky to have what I have... Feeling blessed and overjoyed...

Phew... That was a short nostalgic trip to the last 3 Bdays... Hope this unbelievable joyride continues and I'm sure it will.... :)

20 before 30

Well staying alone in US is giving me lotta time for self dialogue. I came up with this (yet another) list of the stuff I wanna do before I turn the frightful 30 (not in a particular order). I wanted it to be "30 before 30", but din wanna write anything for the heck of it, so here it comes..... 20 before 30....

I will need a lotta help on the way... so stick around guys....

1) Run my own NGO in Rural Supply Chain or Education - Non Profit
2) Start a Branding/Advertising firm or a Service providing website - Profit :P
3) Go to the best B-School.... On scholarship of course :P
4) Complete IMDb top 250 list... Thanks to Sagar will finish it very soon :D
5) Read at least 250 books.
6) Own a chain of coffee cum book store... The best in India.
7) Direct a movie and script it too.. Well this might go a lil beyond 30
8.) Write a book
9) Have a Website of my own which is updated regularly.
10) Learn dancing... Singing is outta question so dancing.. at least 1 performing art.
11) Learn to play a musical instrument and perform with a band, Drums lessons to resume soon .
12) Learn swimming and do all water sports :D :D
13) Learn to play Tennis (Had initial courses at Fargo :P)
14) Run a full Marathon and keep doing it every year 13)Watch Tennis Grand Slams, Cricket World Cup, F1 race, Football Finals :D :D
15) Learn a Foreign language
16) Build a school... At my native village or some village.... Ruju, you will be there na???
17) Complete at least 5 treks every year.
18) Go backpacking to Europe w/o a plan
19) Make as many blog/net friends as possible. Continue hanging out with my friends every day and stay insane :D :D
20) Get well recognised in whatever I finally settle down to do.

P.S: My Bday updates n US travel coming up shortly...Its under construction....

Tips for B1/B2 US Visa Interview but lotta crap before that :P

Ok fine!!! I agree the title is not remotely my types… It’s a little ostentatious for starters :P But for ppl like me who Google anything and everything this title will be helpful, will support the searches better. Due to a very busy schedule last week, I hardly got any time to talk to anyone and get some advice on the interview front (anyway, I prefer the virtual ppl more than the flesh and bones moving around me) and I found myself frantically typing key words in Google last moment to seek some help and couldn’t get much of it to my dismay… L So this explains the title…

Oh ya rewind a lil!!! The time has come for me to fly n fly high :D The news was broken last month that I have to travel to the US of A for some Business purpose and need to get there ASAP. Wow!! So began a tedious process of filling ‘n’ number of forms and photocopying them (I learned all functionalities of the photocopy machine, if I look at it positively).The day for my Visa Interview was 13th May, by God’s grace I have such lovely friend’s that they started scaring me that its “13th” and my Visa may be rejected.. Damn…!!!

My Interview was scheduled at 7.45 AM, WTF how am I supposed to reach Mumbai at 6.30 AM from Pune!!! The cab provided by the company would pick me up at 3 in the morning (call it night for ppl like me who sleep at 1 in the night!!) I was completely determined to sleep early n catch some solid sleep. Left early form office (for once !!) while ppl threw a lot of advices at me, few of them completely contradictory.. A lady said smile and a guy warned against even signs of it… Hell!! I was totally lost!! I had to photocopy some more documents, apart form the 100s I already copied in office.. N once again God was playing his stupid games with me… I couldn’t find a single shop open that night and had to visit a real lazy bum who took 20 min to photocopy 6 documents (no exaggeration, I have a person to testify this also), the Mumbai Indians started playing superbly well after I came back (I completely hate them now, after the RR match in which I almost died of a Heart attack :P :P) so I was glued to the TV… A very dear friend whom I hadn’t met for almost a yr called that same night and asked if I could meet.. I just couldn’t deny AND here I was with the cab picking me up at 3 AM, I was still out having coffee till 12….

Just took a small nap and got up at 2, got up and was out on the road by 3… Little did I know that the DOGS in this locality were so unfriendly to the new comers….I was attacked by a group of tappori dogs barking at the top of top of their voices… I wanted to run away from there, wanted to shout, wanted to vanish but none of this was possible.. I saw a few ppl sleeping on the sides of the road and knew only these ppl can save me… They were Superman, Batman n Spiderman for me that time… Finally I crossed the hurdle and got into the cab… Phew…

All this pain paid off.. The cab was a nice Ford Icon with a courteous chauffer, a bottle of water, tissues and mints kept at the back seat… Humm nice, I thought.. He raced the car on top speed ONLY to realize we were on the wrong path… Aaaargh… I couldn’t believe this ALL was happening to me just before my Visa Interview…But the guy realized it in time and assured me despite the goof up, we will make it in time, I had no option but to trust him…. We made it to the US Consulate by 6.30 and by the time I could get into the queue there were some 60 odd ppl standing before me… L L

It was a funny sight… For every one guy in the queue, there were at least 2 accompanist, trying to groom the guy, feed him and give all non sense advices… I was happy I did not have anything of that sort. Finally the officers started admitting ppl at 7 sharp. I had a mini, just a MINI crush at one of the officers there…. :P But I decided to pay attention to the Interview more than any other distractions.. Once the security thin was done, things moved very fast. I was feeling I was in Gujrat inside cos 90% of the ppl were Gujratis and even the announcements were done in their language. I was very alert not to miss my name…

I was seated on the first row, hopelessly trying to appear lesser freaked out :P An American officer in her late 20’s entered in the cube just opposite me and called out a series of token nos to come to her for interview, I was one of them, I went immediately and was the first one to be interviewed for the day for a Business Visa. God, I was nervous.

Officer: Good morning, your token.
I: Morning (fake smile)
O: So you work for XYZ company (visibly impressed by the company name)
I: Yes .. :D
O: How much do you %&*&%^*&( … (I swear I didn’t understand a word she spoke, I work with American’s day in and day out but I did NOT understand)
I: Pardon (Completely lost and terrified)
O: W-h-a-t is y-o-u-r s-a-l-a-r-y..
I: (Can she ask me that question??? What the heck.. ANSWER) so n so annulaly
O: Do you have ^*&^*(^ (AGAIN, I did NOT understand)
I: Pardon (I wish I was dead)
O: Mam, (trying to keep cool) if you want it to move faster, you need to answer faster. Do you have relatives in the US??
I: No
O: How long do ^*(* stay there??
I: (just guessing the question…) 2 weeks… [“I was sure by then, I’m NOT getting the Visa”]
O: ^&*^)&&_((*_*_(*&&^%ulghlhfjsgn^*&^(*&
I: YES (I don’t know what she asked, I hardly cared anymore)

I said “YES”, the question could be anything from, “Do you do drugs?”, “Are you a terrorist”, “Do u hate Americans?” and I had answered… YES!!!! Heaven !! I was so DEAD…

O: Your visa is issued, ^*&^*(&)
I: What??? (I understood a bit but unknowingly my true emotions came flooding out)
O: Your visa is issued, have a nice journey (totally irritated and trying to get rid of me…)
I: Thank you…

Maaan!!! I got it?? Wowie!! An entry into US of A valid for TEN years….!!! Without having a look at any of my documents I was issued the visa in less than 1 min….God is not a bad guy after all, he just likes to fool around a bit…
Half believing what I just encountered, I headed back to the cab n then home… :D

So, here are the tips.. For reading all the rubbish, I will jot down some really useful tips:

1.Make sure you sleep well the earlier day and there are NO dogs in your locality :P Ok more seriously, have all the documents in place and make sure they are in order.
2.Tea, biscuits and water is easily available outside the Consulate, so don’t bother to carry all that.
3.DO NOT carry any leather bag for the documents. Only paper bags n files are allowed inside.
4.Cell phones, pagers, coins, digital watches, medicine (even Vaseline or lip balms) are NOT allowed inside.
5.Mints, chocolates even supari or soof is banned and ppl are sent back if they have it in their pockets.
6.Even glue sticks or staplers’ are NOT allowed.
7.For guys leather belts and wallets are also asked to be removed for checking.
8.Once entered inside don’t be baffled by the Gujrati crowd, there windows are separate and you won’t have a Gujrati Interviewer.
8.Pay very keen attention to the token nos. being called out as many windows start announcing one after another.
10.* If you have any bandage put on fingers removed or you shall be asked to come another time * This happened to a guy. They are very strict at the Fingerprint counter.

Importantly, keep your cool and pray you don’t get an Interviewer with a heavy accent :P :P Any more help needed, drop a comment or e-mail.
All the best !!!

Random Updates

Some updates:
1. I got a new place to stay. Its bigger than the present one but not furnished, but I'm gonna love it, will buy some furniture and everything will be on track once again.
2.Going to Mumbai this weekend for Neha's Bday blast and also to check the TCS buddies' place. They have been raving about it for real long now.
3.Watching A lot of classic movies and catching up with the IMDb Top 250 list. Thanks to KKs new HDD. :D
4. @John Deere, its more of chats over coffees lately :) Chats bout MBA, MS, Market Trends, Recession, Politics, FRIENDS, Movies and everything under the sun. Great time guys.
5. Had a blast at 1000 Oak's (the place just ROCKS) last weekend. Danced to my heart's content. (Ya, u ppl can have a good laugh!!! Morons)
6.Too much of partying over last two weekends so gonna cut down n start saving to make up for the losses incurred due to the new place jazz.
7.Reading has come to a complete stop due to these movies sessions. Will resume soon. Few book reviews pending too. :(

Err... Can't think of more. Will come up with something interesting soon. Till then, keep following...

Peace...

Moving on, Changes, Homeless and crap like that!!!

For those of you who have me on your Gtalk lists must be wondering what this HOMELESS jazz is!!! The only purpose of this post is to clear my mind a little and enlighten those who have been wondering...

Moving on or shifting has never been new to me... I have changed houses (call it homes) every 3 years, even more at times (thanks to my Dad's transferable job). There was a different thrill and adventure to it, of meeting new ppl, staying in a new house, new school, new friends... But each time it was equally disturbing and very difficult for me to say the least. It was combined with a concoction of very complex emotions....... of leaving: old friends, my fav corner of the house, my shelf where I kept my books, the table and the wall where I stuck those lil post-its of things to remember, the swing nearby where me n my bro used to fight to sit every evening, the boulevard where we used to go for long walks after dinners, the gallery where mom used to keep waiting for me n bro when it was time for us to get back from school/college, the bed next to the window where I used to lie down staring at the sky for hours, the warmth created at that place with each passing day, the doodhwala who smiled effortlessly each morning, the kaamwali who told stories of hope from slums, the neighbor's dog who would jump with joy each time he saw me, the unknown old lady in the small hut across the road who became part of the routine....

All these memories were wiped and recreated off course. But knowing it didn't reduce the pain a tad bit... And this time it takes its toll.... Ppl give me "Nothin is permanent but change" kinda shit and that time I wanna shout "I know it bloody, but it sucks". I never actually shout that way though, short of those privileges. Got all settled at one place, happy and content. But Mr. Prankster (The Almighty) was toying around with the idea of throwing around another challenge. I'm sure he never throws any thin at me that I can't handle, I just wish he didn't trust me so much. :P

Lotta premise there, now the actual jazz… After leaving hostel, I shifted to this very awesome place in a good location on the 5th floor. Completely furnished and sparkling clean. We got a new TV, Fridge and all that was needed at that place. It became the center of activity, a HEADQUARTER for all my friends' activity. Every small get-together, fierce discussions, general TP, hang out, movie center, night out spot… This place was everything. It was HOME. In a very small duration of time, a different level of attachment was created. And just when everything seemed Perfect, Mr. Prankster jumped into action. It was 1st April and my owner calls. "I would like to have my house back"…. BEEP BEEP…. I was shouting inside… On the outside "Uncle, I understand your position, but…. Bla bla blu blu.."…. Old guy unperturbed and fully determined to KICK us out was unmoved with my emotional rant. So, here I'm, leaving the place which I totally and completely loved and adored. But, what can be done… Moving on is must…..

Moving on, I just hope its as exiting as it has been so far. And as my earlier post says, the journey is more fun than the destination. And these kinda pit stops make the journey more interesting and memorable. Cheers to the new place (which I'm yet to find) and the new obstacles.... Till then... Peace....

Dream ON!!!

I was never too much of a supporter of "Copy-Paste" on blogs...
As in putting up stuff from someplace and putting across a point...

BUT, today I'm gonna do that....
I'm gonna paste the lyrics of a song here which has gotten into my head for few days now and just refuses to leave....
"Phir Dekhiye" from the movie Rock On!!!
Won't get into the details about the movie but here is a lil deal about the song...

Beautifully sung by Caralisa Monteiro, composed by Shankar Ehsaan Loy and words by none other than Javed Akhtar. The words - their simplicity, the music - its calmness, the voice - its uniqueness.... All these factors together make it an unforgettable song.

It somehow makes you feel good about the journey than to worry about the destination, the pleasure of dreaming and the process of achieving it than the joy of accomplishments...
Many a times the achievement doesn't render as much happiness as much one experiences while craving for it. Like during the Exams and PLs the urge to excel or for ppl like me (academically lesser ambitious lot)while competing in various events the restlessness was the BEST feeling.

One of my friends and I while discussing life and fundas (our MOST fav topic :D) over coffee were contemplating on this very issue and then it had struck me.... What I enjoy the most is this "betaab" (restless) feeling. Someday I might get all I ever wished for (Amen!!!) but then I will miss this feeling and I'm very sure of that. Till then I will enjoy it and you guys enjoy the song...

ITS BEAUTIFUL!!!

Aankhon Mein Jis Ke Koi To Khwaaab Hai
Khush Tha Wahin Jo Thoda Betaaab Hai
Zindagi Mein Koi Arzooo Kijiye
Phir Dekhiye ……

Hoton Pe Jis Ke Koi To Geeet Hai
Woh Haare Bhi To Us Ki Hi Jeeet Hai
Dil Mein Jo.. Geet Hai Gun Guna.. LijiyePhir Dekhiye……

Yaadon Mein Jis Ke Kisi Ka Naaam Hai
Sapno Ke Jaise Us Ki Har Shaaam Hai
Koi tho hai jise Apna Dil.. DijiyePhir Dekhiye…

Khwab Bhun Yeh Zara
Geet Sun Yeh Zara
Phool Chun Yeh Zara...
Phir Dekhiye…

CELEBRATIONS!! (Shrivardhan Trip and a lot more in between….)

CELEBRATIONS
(Shrivardhan Trip and a lot more in between….)

The best part of Hostel Life, undoubtedly was forming a new family. Family, whose members were chosen by me and then the beautiful institution came to life. An Extended Family called “ ANARS “.

ANARS means Anagha Neha Avanti/Aditi Rujuta Snehal/Surabhi. I know it’s a little clichéd for my creativity :P but once formed we never looked back to changing it just to make it sound cooler. Its like ones second name, love it or hate it, one has to shove it up every time one writes his/her full name [Names like P.K Gire, I. M Dukre and what not :P] I guess I’m digressing. The point is ANARS is the name of my Hostel Gang, My Extended Family.

Birthdays is a HUGE affair for we Anars. Its like a Family celebration. Like traditional families celebrates Diwali, Holi etc. My fly celebrates Birthdays religiously. And this time it was doubly celebration time as two birthdays fall on 28th Feb and 1st March, and as good as it could get it was a weekend. :D :D Life sometimes, just sometimes tries to behave well :P So, we decided to take full advantage of this opportunity and plan a get – away. After a lot of discussions and arguments the final place was decided to be KONKAN, Shrivardhan et al. All the Family members arriver from every nook and corner of India [I’m jus kidding, the 4 of us stay in Pune and 3 in Mumbai :P]

We decided to take off a little late on Saturday after some nice sleep and all. All bags packed and we were off in an AC TAVERA [this piece of info is just to make some of you jealous :P] The car had a very good music system even a DVD player n good display. The driver also seemed completely harmless and little did we know, it was just the lull before the storm. We asked him to play music and……..

“Tum tho thaire PARDESI…Saath kya nibhaoge.. eeeeee”
Change
“Aacha silla diya tune mere pyar ka…. Yaar ne hi loot liya ghar yaar ka”
Change
“Tu pyar hai kisi aur ka. Thujhe chata koi aur hai...”

I won’t disagree that initially we loved these B- grade songs, even sung along at the top of our voices but later it took a toll and we HAD to stop the music… We then demanded to start some DVD, it began with some chanting in the name of the Almighty!!! We waited patiently for it to finish and some real action to begin…. Five minutes passed … ten minutes passes but the chanting wont stop… Finally I succumbed to my impatience and mustered the courage to ask him what this jazz was???? The driver, unperturbed by my impatience, smiled back and replied “Chant in the name of the GOD!!! One should always take sharan to god and all shall be well”…… BEEP BEEP !!!! I mean we all do our religious and praying bit BUT we were here for an HOLIDAY for GOD’s sake. I, with all my due respect to him and his chanting asked him to shut it down.
Thanks to Scooby’s N73 we had some music backup, she has A- to B grade songs :P

The journey passed discussing some office gossips and the stories bout our NEWLY FOUND CORPORATE WORLD. [Friends from TCS were dumbfound as they still are to have a rendezvous with this world. There Corporate journey is limited to Carom and Cafeteria :P… Sorry Guys… Couldn’t avoid it!!! ] Its very fascinating to know how our conversation have slowly changed from College gossips to Office politics, from bitching about Matrons and profs. To bitching about our Managers and TLs, from SMSs to E Mails, from casuals to Business formals… Discussions changed but one thing will never change… We still have this irresistible urge to share each and every story of our day to day life… :D Wish it stays so for ever. Amen (Driver shall be happy to know, I believe in God.. :P)

We reached Shrivardhan at about 6 PM, and approached the place where our bookings were done. Disappointment and anger possessed me as soon as I saw the place. I mean I’ve been to Konkan so many times and always had the best of accommodations and this place was just short of being called a DUNGEON. I had a strong urge to strangle the B ‘day girl’s neck as she had done the bookings but only because it was HER birth day, she was saved from my wrath. We decided to spend as less time place in that dungeon as possible and hit the Beach as it was just an hour left before ‘Sunset’.

“Sea” always arises a concoction of complex (wow, alliteration.. :D) emotions within me. Awe, Fear, Respect, Ambition, Modesty and many more….. The Ocean has never failed to teach me a new thing every time I’m around one. Words have abandoned me as I try to explain what I learned, may be the experience is too inarticulate to explain. (Too philosophical eh….) Well, I learned I should wear tight pants so that I don’t have to hold and run races with my friends on the sea shore… :P :P

The sea venture ended and we were back at the Dungeon to spend the rest of the night. (YA, we had dinner at some place where we met, rather saw a Marathi actress, I had no clue who she was but my mom was elated to know I SAW her when I told her this over the phone :P) We began with a Cards session and what a session it was!!!! All laughter!!!! I lost some countless games in a row, Snehal, who with all her faith had betted on me lost all her money as well as her confidence on me…. Duh… I cannot I got so unlucky while playing “3 Cards” that I got a “2” while we were playing highest card wins and a “king” while playing the opposite [I’m NOT making up this shit, it actually happened to me!!!!] Night always makes one NOSTALGIC, and we were no exception. Our reminiscence session began to evoke all lost memories right from First year First sem to Farewell…. We went from tears to titters through this journey… But what a journey it has been so far….!!! [Words have been defying me too often in this post :P]

As always, we had decided to go to the beach early morning, which I’m sure all of is knew we won’t, but still we decided just for the heck of it and ended up sleeping till 9 L We got ready and left for HARIHARESWAR. The place has a Lord Shiva Temple [Don’t ask me for any detailed account, this is all I know and also that the Pedhas were too good there…] On the way back we fell a little silent partly due to fatigue and partly because it was time to say good bye YET again. I do it almost every other weekend but I still cant stop feeling bad about it…. Reached Pune at about 6 PM totally content with this itinerary and ourselves.

More Birth days, more achievements, more parties, more gossips, friends, family and CELEBRATION…. What more can I ask for ?????