A few years ago, I had an email conversation with my friends regarding life in Bangalore. Most were of the opinion that it was just too trashy and mundane a life and that the main reason for that was the city itself. I had more or less concurred with those thoughts there. But many days and months after, I think I’ve slowly started coming into terms with Bangalore.

I come from a sleepy suburb of the small city of Trivandrum, with all its old world charm. Compared to Bangalore, the hustle-bustle, the traffic and the noise is almost non-existent there. So I was brought up, being used to a bit of peace and quiet. The transition to the metro life of Bangalore was quick, and it wasn’t a very easy one. It was like you had gone fishing beside a serene lake and then suddenly getting kicked into a Metallica concert.

One thing Bangalore gave to me (and a lot of us) is freedom - financially and otherwise. Used and misused it, and in the meanwhile enjoyed it a lot. It gave me new meanings to life and allowed me to see things in other dimensions. I appreciated all that but still it never felt like home. I could never imagine a settled life here. There was always a feeling that I was a stranger in a strange place.

But that was some time ago, and time changes perspectives. I spent last week in my dear own Trivandrum celebrating Onam with my family. It was good, but strangely for the first time really, I started badly missing Bangalore - the congestion, the traffic, the crowds and everything associated with it. That was when the realization came that I had indeed accepted Bangalore as my new home. Bangalore has now become the routine, and Trivandrum the (welcome) aberration. They say home is where the heart is… I guess I have learnt to give some part of my heart to Bangalore… 3 years down the line.

I would describe myself in the weight attribute as a little bit over average; 5 to 6 kilos above the technical norm for my height. And I am pretty consious about that. So when my friend Anu told me that she had undergone this magic diet going by the name “GM Diet”; I thought if it shaves off some kgs and since it lasts only for a week, why not give it a try. So I did.

Surprising myself; I actually managed to more or less follow the diet up until the sixth day with minor altercations. And I did loose 2 kgs (though the claim from Anu was atleast 4kgs). But the thing that interested me the most was why would General Motors; the car manufacturing company in dire straits; come up with a diet plan? With the “Internets” at my disposal; I went searching. And as I suspected; GM had nothing to do with their namesake diet plan. That too from the reputed New York Times. So why did I still follow it? I saw no harm at that point of time and the article writer himself said that he too had lost a few pounds.

After the whole experience though; I would suggest not to do it. It’s not worth loosing 4kgs in a week only to gain it back in half that time. Though I’m not an expert in the way the human body works; I suspect such rapid cycles of weight-loss and weight-gain would not do any good for your body. The best thing to come out of it though was a no non-veg week after a long time (I took the vegetarian diet). I don’t feel any rejuvenation of the mind, the soul or the body after undergoing it, like various sources on the net claim it to do.

Lesson? Nothing beats exercise. If only GM had come up with a plan to cure laziness!

It is a very strange point in my life now. I turn 25 in less than 2 weeks; and if you ask me: Am I what I wanted to be at 25? I am undecided.

This is a season of changes for me. Friends getting married; people going off far far away; my parents almost into retirement. And me? Well; I am just going where the wind takes me; rudderless. I suppose that’s not how it should be once you are 25. You need to have a sense of direction I suppose; but even as I write that; it is extremely difficult for my mind to consider that reality. My friends tell me I still act like a teenager sometimes and some others say I act like a 50 year old. Maybe they are right. But what’s a 25 year old supposed to act like? Well - I am even more confused.

The easy-go attitude seems to be very difficult to shake off for me. Nothing affects me profoundly; despite my outer mask suggesting otherwise. You call me; I always pick up. There’s no bad moment to talk to me. I have seen many people tell; this is a bad time to talk. But honestly I don’t remember a moment (ok one; but that’s it!) when I’ve said that. Others of my age have already started tackling life’s difficult tasks and they already have had that turning point but I am somehow stuck. I started building a house on my own (”my own” is relative) and I thought such a huge responsibility would mean that would make my life change. But it didn’t. Even that for me seems to be a snippet for conversation with my friends and nothing more. It doesn’t give me the tension I wanted it to give me. But no. Not even that. Some people say that’s a good thing; but no; not for me. I am bored; I need some stress to cure it I suppose and to feel like not being an alien in a strange planet.

I have a job I like (despite peer pressure to not; hating your job seems to be in-fashion); I have a steady income; I am surrounded by friends; I have a supportive family and my problems are miniscule compared to others’. Even then I feel incomplete. Every single day; even the productive ones; even the entertaining ones; seems to be one more day wasted. But “wasted” vs what? I am unable to define that.

Is this my quarter life crisis? I think so… and I have no clue as to what the remedy is. Here’s going back to where the wind takes me… see you at the next place I crash into.

I along with a lot of fellow Indians were shocked and disgusted at what happened (rather is happening) in Australia to Indian students. It was indeed an outrageous incident. And the Indian media was ready to jump in and go ahead with an all-out attack on the Aussies. That was reasonably expected behaviour considering the trigger-happy nature of our media and their undying thirst to proclaim - “Your channel brought this to you first”.

Now while this is happening; I wonder how many of us looked in the mirror and pondered how racist we too are. How comfortable are we with people from other countries living amongst us? Let alone that; how comfortable are we to have people from other states living amongst us? The honest answers would be in different shades of gray. But as I see it; in the overall picture every one of us has some racism inside. As we put pressure on the Australians to protect our citizens; it would also be good to think about how we can make ourselves better. After all ‘Adhiti devo bhava’ shouldn’t be limited to tourism department ads.

I read a comment in one Aussie newspaper the other day that summarizes my thoughts pretty well - ‘Every country in the world is racist, but most are experts in acting that they are not. The best we can do is to improve our act.’

Update: Read Jug Suraiya’s post too. Totally agree to what he’s said.

Goa has been in my mind for quite a long time and each time we have planned a Goa trip; something or the other would eventually block the trip somehow. So the other day two of my colleagues Arun and Gummy (Goutam) came and asked me whether I knew any place where to get a self drive rental car to go to Goa, I joked that I’ll get them one if they take me along too. In the end; we eventually left in Gummy’s Swift and not the rented car; but I still managed to get a seat along with Gummy, Mathew and their two room-mates Rakesh and Rakshak.

We started off from Bangalore in the evening; a bit apprehensive about the road conditions and driving at night. However almost everything went along smoothly except for some stretches of bad roads in between and some scary maneuvering by ’some’ of the drivers just to make sure that the ABS works We had begun a round of betting in the car as to when we would reach Goa. Bids ranged from 4.30 AM to 8.30 AM, but Rakesh got it perfect at 8. Once in Goa we had a brilliant government guest house to host us; courtesy Mr. Mathew. Along with an A/C room; a complimentary breakfast all for the price of Rs 40 per head. Now that’s what I call value for money!

After dozing off till evening; we were ready for our first (mis)adventure. We went to the Casino! I know you would be already guessing as to where this story is heading to… and yeah you are right! We went all-in and we returned all-out! But as we consoled ourselves after the fiasco; it was indeed a different experience. Now we can say that we have tasted sweet victory in a casino despite the bigger bite of bitterness in the end. Next destination was Baga beach. The shack restaurants on the beach were awesome. The atmosphere with the IPL matches going on in one place and karaoke in another one with people dancing all around was amazing. We had initially planned to go to a disc and even got entry into one (using Mr. Mathew’s influence off course). But then we were so comfortable at the shacks that we decided to drop out on that. The other reason could also be interpreted as the lack in willingness to go in a disc as a stag and drool over the hot chicks while they were dancing with other guys.. ahh.. no .. we didn’t want to look like losers! :p So we stayed at the shack very late into the night and finally came back to Panaji (were our guesthouse was) and crashed into bed.

Next day was quite the same pattern with us sleeping most of the day. Afternoon we went up to Wagathore beach where Aamir Khan and his buddies had done their gig in ‘Dil Chahtha He’. It was a short trek up to a fort near the beach. The view from there was spectacular; covered on three sides with the sea and nice looking beaches. After a few photos we headed back down. The scorching sun sucked all the energy out of us and at one point it seemed that it was impossible to move a muscle! But we overcame that and headed towards Condolim beach to do some water sports. But it was way too expensive there; so we headed to Calangute were the prices were much better. We did a round of parasailing (which is awesome; you should try it once) and also a trip on the water scooters (which is not so great; unless you convince the guy to let you drive the scooter). After that we crashed back to Baga which was not that far away.

We stayed on at the shack long into the night and then after we were convinced that we were drunk enough we headed back to Panaji. On reaching Panaji; Gummy and Mathew wanted to go back. Now that wouldn’t have been a crazy idea if Baga wasn’t 25 km away and it was already 2.30 am. But anyway I was game for it too; and Gummy, Mathew and I went back. We were caught by the police thrice; and I’m really impressed with the user-friendliness of the Goa Police. They just asked me for my driving license and when I produced it; one guy just quipped whether I was sure that it’s my photo in the DL (it was taken 6 or 7 years back you see). But that was it! They just waved us off. Cool! The trip back was really worth it and a feast to our eyes. The carnival atmosphere was still going strong even at 4′o clock in the morning! After a satisfying and ‘educational’ trip we headed back home.

Next day was our last in Goa and after filling up the car with the legal amount of liquor we were allowed to carry back we returned back to a mostly uneventful drive back. On the way we also had a short stopover at Old Goa were we visited the church of St. Francis Xavier. I had heard of this person in a Social Studies lesson in third standard and always wanted to visit his grave; where his body still lies preserved after 500 years. One more tick in my checklist. The guys also put on some temporary tattoos on their hands; I wasn’t that wild enough to do that; even though I should have tried something like that.

That was it. Our Goa trip. And in the end I can say that Goa is simply awesome. Don’t ever miss a chance to go there! If somebody asks you to arrange a self-drive car to go to Goa; always say Yes!

The other night, I was watching Tendulkar and Jayasurya smash every bowler to all nooks and corners of the ground in the IPL match. Watching that performance, made me that little kid, giving me the same old excitement when the 4s and 6s were smashed. It made me think how I fell in love with cricket at a very young age.

My first memories of cricket was invariably watching Sachin play. He was the first cricketer I knew by name. At 6 or 7 years old, despite not knowing the difference between silly point and deep fine leg, I knew one thing - Sachin was a legend. He was my first hero. As years went by and my cricketing brain developed I found other heroes to worship, some of whom I liked more than Sachin. But then he had a special place. Maybe because he was my first hero, or maybe it was because his career coincided with my growing up days. Whatever it is, Sachin was, is and will be very very special.

I mean can you imagine (if you are Indian, that is) any other player in the whole wide world like Sachin, for whom your heart sinks into a bottomless abyss when he gets out? I don’t think so. And the genuine bliss you get watching him hit a four or a six you never get from anyone else. It’s not Lara’s flair, Sehwag’s flamboyance, Warne’s rock-stardom, Murali’s charm or Dhoni’s charisma. It’s something different - unique only to Sachin. I mean, for a second just forget what he is and then look at him for a while. It beats me, how a person can be so humble, calm and quiet despite being the most paid, most adored, most famous and arguably the best cricketer of all time. He is the perfect role model. This is how you should treat success according to me. I can’t remember one incident of arrogance in his entire career. That is just absolutely incredible for a person of his stature.

I cannot imagine the day he hangs up his boots. I’m sure I’ll be that emotional child again who weeps in his heart when he gets out. Oh how do we explain to the next generation that such a man walked the pitch one day. We were lucky, to be born in that generation to see a legend in all respects in action.