Middle class

There are middle class people and then there are middle class people.
A conversation I had on train. Note that I am calling her a woman, not a lady!

woman: Which book are you reading?
me: (looking at her and assuming she wouldn't know Adobe Acrobat Pro) Some software book aunty.
woman: What is a software beta?
me: (dryly) It is a book on computers.
woman: (with a bright smile on her face) You must have done MCA.
me: (no expression for such an assumption) Engineering aunty.
woman: Where do you work in Noida?
me: Adobe.
woman: (still joyful) Oh Adobe. It is a factory in Sector 62, eh?
me: (irritated by now) No. Sector 25A.
woman: No! It is in Sector 62!
me: (WTF expression) Sector 25A.
woman: Where do you stay in Noida?
me: (getting tired of her interest in me) Sector 12.
woman: How much rent do you pay?
me: (saying fuck you in my mind) I gotta piss aunty.

These women are yet another reason why you'll find me sitting on the train door frequently!

Our own

Seth Godin recently wrote:

"Mentors provide bespoke guidance. They take a personal interest in you. It's customized, rare and expensive.
Heroes live their lives in public, broadcasting their model to anyone who cares to look.
[...]
Like a custom made suit, a mentor is a fine thing to have if you can find or afford it. But for the rest of us, heroes will have to do."

I completely agree. Life is about finding your own inspiration and your own motivation. Nobody is going to be around for too long, to help through everything.
Deep inside we realize that it has never happened for anyone we know. Let's stop pretending it would happen for us someday. This way we are NOT the chosen few ;-)

I won't ever be getting that company to start my morning jogs, do my certification exams,

If it is to be, it is up to me!

I want to be a Child again

I wish to be as playful as a child, with a kid's selectivity, with a kid's energy...

This is so beautiful--this is vaguely what I believe in when I say that world needs more love.

PS: This is the link at the end of the screen-shot.

Tags Galore

Here is the tag of '3's taken over from Pri's.
Mostly it is 'coz this is introspective and slightly 'coz I wanted to make up for not taking Pri's previous tag and I needed something to post, as the blog has been complaining a lot lately ;-)

Anyways, here I go without much digressions ...

3 smells I love:
- any home made food! (yeah I live to eat :D)
- obnoxious smells of chemicals, etc. Not that I dig them much but I do love to sniff a 2nd or 3rd time if they hit my nose once! We had vials of acetone, xylene, glycerine at home in our fridge which I loved to sniff once in a while:D of course other smells were available in papa's lab! oh & not to forget the Kipp's apparatus :P
- her hair! (okok I know it is not exactly a smell per se, but a manifestation of my feelings! but what the heck, I love it :"> )


3 smells I hate:
- perfumes!!! (I don't know why but probably it is this thot in my head that no one needs to make up and fake up. I hate any makeup whatsoever :| )
- BO.
- those ones emanating from open drains, gutters in city :(


3 jobs I had in my life:
hehe! what kind of tag is this Pri? You should have modified the points for jobless people :P If thank you services also count then may be I do have 3 jobs to talk about!
- unofficial and official system administrator in hostel for 2 years (had helluva painful time)
- student rep in computer center of insti (I wish I had kicked a lot more ass than I did. Though I'm darn proud of never ever doing any moral policing:) )
- lately was freelancing online.


3 forever-watchable movies:
- don't argue about JUST THIS one - I do hate typical hindi movies but somehow I have already watched 'Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein' more than a dozen times. All my frnds are sick of the movie now :P
- Some of these high rated (by me) romantic movies, the so called chick flicks!
- hardcore War movies with lotsa action.


3 fond memories:
- preparations for IIT entrance! (it was Gupta Tutorials, 2000-01, nearly killed us, but was worth it - the teachers, frnds, hardwork, IIT itself!)
- 1st year in college (i know, i know this one counts for everyone)
- THAT first kiss :> (no comments ;) )


3 jobs I'd love to have:
(un)fortunately I am not the so-called career oriented guy, as I like to put it 'an unambitious slog':| So the jobs I crave for are average ones only. I sincerely believe money corrupts + I would never do a job that holds me away from my family after 7-8 pm! There are bigger joys in smaller things, than just slogging :|
- be a technical lead in some small startup IT company :)
- be a technical writer, writing in IT field.
- to be a registered doctor (and to quote Pri, "sigh! everyone can dream cant they ??:-/")


3 things I love to do:
how ridiculous to give only 3 options for things that any person would love to do!!! So I think I'll put generic stuff here instead of any particular activities.

- Talk with & listen to frnds, at a personal level.
- Live. well everyone loves to be alive :P but what I mean is more or less summed up in these lines from the movie Demolition Man - "I like to think; I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech and freedom of choice. I'm the kind of guy likes to sit in a greasy spoon and wonder - "Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?" I WANT high cholesterol. I wanna eat bacon and butter and BUCKETS of cheese, okay? I want to smoke Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in the non-smoking section. I want to run through the streets naked with green jello all over my body reading playboy magazine."
(mind you, I don't run naked anywhere, haven't ever read playboy (there is better p0rn literature to read!), and don't eat non-veg but I hope you get the gist, from these lines, of what is meant by 'living'!)


3 of my fav foods:
again what a limited choice of options for a person who lives to eat ;-)
- ALL vegetables, when cooked by mum! (i know its weird, but somehow all vegetables are my fav. even be it the kadwa karela)
- self-plucked fruits! (sigh! such fantasies rarely materialize!)
- Continental and Chinese food at typical restaurants in the city, though always experimenting:D (I don't drink colddrinks, tea; don't like pizzas, always cut down on bread, hate fried stuff and mostly desist fast food!. . . phew i know to some ppl I am boring :-" )


3 places I would like to be right now:
- Delhi, for obvious reasons ;)
- New York! there are other personal reasons too!
- any green mountain ranges - partly lost and mostly trekking!


3 things which make me cry:
shit! why was this question here?
- senti dad-son scenes in movies :|
- the way tunnel-visioned parents still smother their children :|
- some songs which are of significance in my personal life (I'm compiling them into an album!)



Phew so many thoughts ..... I think I am gonna fall out and get some fresh morning breeze! Its 7am and I am getting all senti about being myself, since last 2 hours!
And the tag goes out to anyone who wants to take it up :-) I'd love to read everything anyone might have to say.

Current Music: Switchfoot! I'm Learning To Breathe, I'm learning to crawl ...