It happened a few months back, where the staff wouldn’t respond to calls of Cabbie. The poor guy had waited for ten to fifteen minutes to no response. And he decided to skip that staff and arrived at my place ten minutes late. Mid way through to office, the Cabbie got a call, it was from the staff who missed the cab, I could hear the voice from other end, he was using a cheap handset. The staff was yelling at the driver for not waiting, he tried his best to be polite explaining his state – he called, he waited, he had other people to pick up and was answerable to Admin staffs for delay in reaching office. The person wouldn’t listen, after sometime I could hear another voice that started to threaten the Cabbie that he had to return back to pick up his wife, I couldn’t stop laughing at the plight of the cabbie, we were barely few hundred meters away of office.

They were talking as if they were been insulted by the Cabbie, they even went to the extent of threatening to assault the driver. Losing patience, the driver asked them to speak to admin and cut the call. But he got calls repeatedly until we reached office.

More recently, today, I tried reaching my cab driver, his line was engaged for more than fifteen minutes, assuming that he would be arriving shortly, I went to my point, the Cab had already come, I alighted and he was still on the phone. Again, the conversation was looking all but familiar. I could hear the driver requesting the staff to check with admin for a different cab as the stop wouldn’t fall into his route and the staff repeating that this was the allotted cab and would want this Cab only, and wouldn’t get in touch with admin people. The driver was in deep conversation that he lost his concentration completely; we even had a couple of close shaves.

At one pick up point, he even started rolling the car even before one guy could get in. The conversion was endless with both parties repeating the same lines again. Finally, I could hear “There is no point talking to you, I will talk to the admin” from other end. For which the Cabbie replied “That’s what I am saying from first!”

These are two different stories, but they force me to offer certain perspective.

1. Yes it is the duty of the cabbie to wait and pick you up. But, he does his best. So let’s respect them for the work they do.
2. No, it is not a dedicated Cab, you have to value the time of other staffs who use the Cab.
3. It looks bad, when a person who is not associated with RBS group, speaks rules to the Cabbie.
4. You, me and the Cabbie isn’t perfect with time. Each of us has made the other wait at some point of time. But just because he picks you up doesn’t mean you can command him.
5. Don’t take it personal with the Cabbie, you are just another staff, he is just another Cab Driver.

I do agree that few of the Cabbies who do get on your nerves, I am not talking about them. There are a lot of others who respect us, so let’s be courteous with them, at minimum. Respect the Cabbie, for the work he does!

11.45 AM
I called her up again. This she cut the call. Assuming that the meeting had over run I waited for her to return my call.

12.30 PM
I was waiting in queue for lunch; I thought I would give her a quick call to check if things were ok. Waa…This time she picked up the call. Phew! Finally I thought.

“Two minutes I will call you back!” she said. Before I could reply I heard the beep.
1.15 PM
I was taking medication to speed up lung cancer. Guys around me were seriously discussing about the quality of the food served at the counter. I got involved for namesake as my mind was elsewhere.

2.30 PM
She called me up finally! I was relieved finally that I could get the details I wanted.
“Hey sorry, I got stuck up in a load of work”
“That’s ok” I said.
“I know you aren’t completely ok…Just a sec…hold on…”
“Can quickly mail me the details of meeting that we just attended” I heard a feeble noise on the other end.
“I am so sorry. I will call you back in two minutes” She kept the phone down. Yet again she didn’t wait for my response.

4.00PM
She called me up again. I picked up the phone before the first ring would end and started towards the lobby.
“Hey I sorry again”
“I said it’s Ok!”
“I said sorry right! Can’t you talk properly?”
“I am not angry! I am talking normally only, my throat is not clear” I tried clearing my throat which was already clear.

“I never told that you were angry. Don’t pick up fight now. I already told you in morning, that I will be having a busy day at office”

“Yes, you are busy and I am jobless”
“Don’t do this every time” She pleaded.
I got a second call, it was my manager. “I have work, we’ll talk later” I yelled and cut the call abruptly. This time I didn’t wait for her response, of course intentionally!

As I walked back to my desk, I started to think. She was busy all day, which I was already aware off. I couldn’t wait. But, the moment I got some work to do, I slammed the phone down. I projected it as if the mistake was on her. But deep inside, I knew that I yelled not because I was angry with her, but I was angry with myself. I was angry because I realized my mistake but I didn’t have the courage to admit it or at least my ego would let me do it. That’s the reason I yelled.

PS: I am still an eligible bachelor and the above story is completely fictional.

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June 18^th, 2010

It has been five days since I have come to Pune. I haven’t had any exciting experiences like I have had in the earlier trips. Things are going on pretty normal.

In my previous visits I had wanted to write a daily diary on my daily life in Pune, the people I meet and my experience. Thanks to my lazy bum attitude, I have procrastinated things till my third visit.

Again, this time around I thought I will start blogging from day. Not bad, I have started it on the fifth day. I hope I make this a habit.

************

My misery with the Cab driver continues every day I find so much difficulty in telling the cabbie the location. It gets tougher, because I seriously don’t have a clue of location where I stay. I still continue to speak in single words to the cabbie, reading out all the building names I could see from the sixth floor of the block I live in.

Oh yes, this time I had to travel in the train, I loved the journey, except for a small part, where I had to bear the constant nuisance created by two Brahmins, two men in their mid fifties.

Who wouldn’t close their dirty mouth, all they did was gossip about their entire family, comment ill about all their relatives. I couldn’t stand their talks. As a matter of fact, they two were two fucking losers who hadn’t changed their jobs all life, working in a hopeless place for ages.

A new kind of nuisance has started in office. People are referring to south Indians as black people. I just try to keep myself away from these conversations. Especially, when females, who color themselves with loads cosmetics, criticize south Indian as uncultured black people. I get very agitated. I felt like telling her that “Unless you don’t have a P*&^ p****y or a C**k, you are colored and you aren’t white”. I will probably do that the next time.

The weekend has been good. I have watched quite a few movies.

SCARFACE – Seen too many movies of this type. But hats off to Al Pacino for his incredible acting, especially his dialogue delivery.

SEVEN YEARS IN TIBET – Okay Okay kind. Could have been made more gripping. But, the beauty of Tibet urges me to renounce everything I have and go on a pilgrimage.

IT’S A GIRL BOY THING – The idea was good, the movie was ok

MEET THE PARENTS – Have seen it already, but I can watch it any number of times.

CRAZY HEART – Amazing movie. I fall in love these type of movies.

HOT TUB TIME MACHINE – An average time pass movie. Love the Logule part.

I have a few more to watch, the internet here is good, so I can download a few more as well.

I am telling people that I have been working on a PHP application for a long time now, but I would put less number of hours on it than the number of people I have told about it.

“Jitto, stop exaggerating, its only two meals a day, it is bad I know, but it is better that bad”

For first three or four days, I was surviving of Roti, Dhall and curd. I want to eat something that I have been used too.

Once fine day, when I was walking back from the office,

“You stupid, you aren’t writing a fairy tale story or a novel, just get to the point. And don’t forget the fact that it wasn’t a fine day!!”

I was coming back home, I was hungry, I was walking, I found a Andhra mess look-alike, it was not just me, I also had a friend accompanying me back. He was also coming back home, he was also hungry, he was also walking.

“I hate your writing style”

We were the only customers, I should have realized that I was making a mistake at least then, but hunger made me blind. My friend ordered for a Veg. Thali. I went through the menu several times looking for the best dinner, after many confusions and confusions, I decided to take dosa.

“Hey, are you crazy, just a dosa, go for the special one, its should be good with ghee on it”

Although, I decided to take dosa, I ordered for a ‘Special Dosa’, the waiter went in came back with the vegetarian thali, my friend finished the first round, I was still drinking water to cancel out the Mozart in my stomach.

“That’s a cool cliché”

I know that, you just shut up and let me finish it. I started to get impatient, I enquired the waiter in deaf and dumb language, I think he was a Marathi, so knowing Hindi would have helped me. Anyways I knew or understood neither. hey made me wait for 15 minutes when finally the waiter came out.

I readied myself to feast on it, also had the thought of ordering another dosa. But when the waiter kept the Dosa,

“Dude, do you think, this is cool, a blog on dosa, that is the dumbest blog one could ever think off”

“Fuck you, get off my shoulder, and don’t peep into what I am writing”

“Don’t abuse me, I have the power to convince you that this blog is a piece of …., and make sure that you don’t post it”

“Alright, I give up”

Ok. So where was I, Ummm…? Yeah, the plate on the dosa, err… the dosa on the plate.
My first reaction to the dosa was, WTF!!! Why? The dosa had raisin and tutty-fruity thrown all over it. Why would they ever put tutty-fruity on a dosa? What were they thinking? Where they making a pancake or a dosa? I pacified myself that the raisins and tutty-fruity were only on the outside. As I tried to explore the inner side of the dosa, I realized that it was actually a masala dosa, Ummm…actually not, it as a tutty-fruity dosa, because there was more of those red and green, dry jelly kind of stuff inside that the masala. I tried eating it though I didn’t really want too!

I didn’t have another option; the Mozart of the stomach wouldn’t let me sleep if I had eaten the Tutty-fruity dosa.

That was the day; I decided that I shouldn’t try any of the south Indian dishes here. It has been almost a month since I came here; I still survive of the Roti and Dhall, and not to forget potato.

Many Things happening here in Pune are a little new to me, so I thought I can ramble about it.

And hence the title ‘’The Adventures of huckleberry finn a Madarasi up North’’

Why Madarasi? People here still cant differentiate between Tamil Nadu and Chennai, or even south India and madaras, they call me Madarasi!!

During my time here, I have also realized that “Although, a man tries to move away from people he knows very well to a lonely place in search of peace, he can never run away from ‘inner demon’ which sits right on our shoulders all the time, whispering things to us constantly, a man is never alone!”

‘What career plans? I have a GMAT score, go do an MBA’.
‘Dude, wait, talk to people, you will get broader view’.

So I though it would be cool to explore my other options rather than sticking to an MBA.I started to talk to people about my career plans. I got a variety of suggestions on the best suit career for me. One suggestion was that I should become a Psychiatrist. Wonder what would be the end product when a Psycho becomes a Psychiatrist!!!

Three weeks have gone by, I am in a deeper confusion than I was before, on what I should do. ‘Darn my split!!, I should have sticked to the Original Flow of getting campus Placement in a IT firm, working pointlessly for couple of Years, appearing for CAT, XAT, GMAT, SNAP, CRAP, getting a MBA and selling Soaps, preparing strategy to sell soaps, managing people who sell soaps, recruiting people who sell soaps’

Hmmm…Now I am in a deeper confusion.People couldn’t give me clarity. So I hoped that internet will. I googled,digged, stumbled for career suggestions, career options, career advise, career whatever. It was adding more confusion than clarity. What is the Best option? Is there a best option? Should I stick to some option, and call that the best option? Finally….

I did not get what I want. But I came across a blog ‘Wish, I knew it when I was 20‘. A part of it struck me, I knew that the blog wasn’t going provide me an answer for my career choice, but it would help me in understanding what I want.

3. Find the intersection between your interests, your skills, and the market.

One comment that really resonated with me is the idea that passion isn’t enough. You also have to understand and appreciate the other two pieces. For example, if you have only passion but no skills or there’s no market, you have a hobby. If you only have the skills but don’t have the passion, you are working a job.

this part of the blog stuck me. It suggested how one could choose a career! Something I badly needed!

We have heard different people say different things :

Dude, go by your Interest, do what you love to, don’t just do something because it gives money, do something that would give you satisfaction

Son, listen to me, I am telling to you from my experience, choose a career which has a market, accept the offer from the IT firm, in the future you will realize you made the right decision by choosing it over Fashion Design

I don’t know how they recruited you as a Programmer, you are better skilled for farming, it is my fate that I have to manage such morons

So with what should you go by? Your Interest, your Skills, the market. There are a lot of tools that are available online to help you identify your interests and skills, some are good ( because they are free) while some are really bad( they charge up to $50 to give you 200 page report, WTF am I going to do with that!!).

But I thought the best thing to do was to sit down, go back as far as I can into my past, think of everything I enjoyed doing, list them as Interests and think of everything for which people appreciated me, or I thought you were good, list them as skills. And I knew that what were the happening markets. Now, I have something tangible, I decided to find out if any of my skills, interest and market match.

If you happen to be a human being, you will find something for your career that satisfies your interests, market and skills. So your career choice triangle should be something like this:

If someone gets a triangle like this. It is best for them to commit suicide

Now, did that work for you! I bet it would have, at least i thought it would for me. It did work! But, the problem was there more than one match my interest, skills and market!. So what do I do now? So how do I select now?

Is confusion a way of Life?

The Mayan Calendar is creating quite a buzz about extinction of Human Race. I was wondering what would happen if this was true?

Then I asked to myself, What are the things I want to do if the world Dec 21st, 2012 is the Doomsday? I am not greedy person, I have just three wishes. Here goes the list…

Feature in the top 10 list of Serial Killers of all time:

The world is going to end anyway, so how about a fun ride, where I go kill people at will. No patterns, No sexual abuse but just murder people. The chances of getting caught by police within three years is less. I don’t intend to follow any patterns, so that makes things difficult for the cops. Even if get caught, it is just three years, after which everyone is going to die. So does it matter?

Feature in the top 10 Robberies of all time:

Just imagine how great it would feel to be in the foot of John Dillinger ( Remember the movie Public Enemies), to be famous but people don’t know you. I don’t know why, but I feel that fooling people gives oneself immense satisfaction and a sense of fulfillment. So this is number two. I want to be a great Bank Robber!!!

A vacation at the Bora Bora Island: A vacation at the Bora Bora Island, I feel this is the real heaven, not the one high in the sky, where you have to live with invisible people, isn’t that spooky!!! Bora Bora would be the ideal place to watch the world end. Also it would be the perfect hideout considering the fact that I would be the most wanted Criminal in the world.

But, I feel that is another one of those stupid conspiracies which remain true only on papers and I will have to try to live a sane life which is of course BORING!!!!

Few other similar conspiracies I remember are the Y2K (end of the world at the start of the millennium) and the Failure of the Large Hadron Collider experiment would suck the world!!!!

So what’s on your wish list?