If you don't ask...

...the answer is always 'no'.

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I Love this Post!

Check it out here. It's written by my newest friend in the Blogosphere, Rambling Muse :)

Life is...

...like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still. (I've seen some pretty bad 'life is' quotes. This is amongst the worst I've read.)

...a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us. (Hmm)

...like riding a bicycle. You don't fall off unless you plan to stop pedaling. (Any ideas?)

...a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can. (Gotta have color in your life!)

...a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death! (WTF)

...like a hot bath. It feels good while you're in it, but the longer you stay in, the more wrinkled you get. (Can't argue with that)

...either a daring adventure, or nothing. (Hell yeah!)

...good, without it we'd all be dead. ( )

...a whim of several billion cells to be you for a while. (Thanx Groucho)

Runner's High

I ran 10 kms this morning. Starting at Marine Plaza to Sophia's and back. It was trippy! I got to a stage where I was observing myself pounding the road. Just fantastic. It was like there was just the road, me and the light breeze going by. It's called the Runner's High. Check this link out for more on the Runner's High

I'm looking forward to my next fix on Saturday morning. :)

Happy Tripping (or Running)... whatever works for you

Help!

Warning: This may sound like teenage love trouble to some (It isn't!!!! I'm 25 for f#$%'s sake!). Please bear with it.

Ok, here's the deal. If you don't know already, I went to a very close buddy's wedding at Mahabaleshwar. I drank a lot and ended up telling three hot women that I thought they were extremely attractive (or something like that... how am I to remember?!?!?). So I got one girl's phone number the day after and apologised for any indiscretions (of which there were none I was told). We get back on Sunday. I message her on Monday saying hi and eventually asking her out for coffee. She says she will message after she gets done with work. She does message eventually, rather late, saying she just got done with work and that we'll catch up for coffee over the weekend and meet at my friend's reception in Mumbai on thursday (before the planned weekend date).

The thing is I'm sooooooo f#$%ing out of touch with this dating scene (I got dumped after 5.5 years towards the end of last year) that I've forgotten the finer aspects of the game!!!! Not that I ever was a player. But still.

Anyway... is it a positive response or a negative one?!? I'm mindF%#@ed and don't know what to do. HELP!!!!!

Stuff I've Done Recently...

I watched...
Rang De Basanti

I met...
my dentist who made my gums bleed uncontrollably yet said everything was OK!

I drove...
my parents' car. A Hyundai Santro.

I visited...
Mahabaleshwar :)

I hit on...
three beautiful women. :)))

I read...
a nice article on simplicity in writing.

I listened to... (listening to...)
Luka Chuppi from the Rang De Basanti soundtrack

I woke up and...
read a beautiful introduction to the Bhagavad Gita by Swami Ranganathananda (late head of the Ramakrishna Mission)

I learned...
that life is as easy or difficult as I make it out to be.

I wrote...( am writing...)
on this blog and will update it tomorrow hopefully.

Back Home

I got home a few hours ago from Mol Master's wedding and needless to say we had an absolute blast! It was a to-die-for experience and it started from the time we stepped into the resort till the time we left this morning.

Friday was unforgettable. It was my first experience at a typical loud Indian wedding. I come from a South Indian family, conservative and a bit stuffy. You have to dress 'correctly', speak 'correctly' and do bunch of other stuff, well, 'correctly'! Anyway, Friday night was the sangeet and dandiya night. And what a night it was. I don't remember exactly what happened after a certain point of time (yes, white wine tastes rather good at hillstations) but I did manage to hit on the hottest women around. I made precisely three attempts. I managed to drive two of them away but the third was successul, relatively :) That done, a couple of friends and me set the dance floor on fire. Totally grooving it up! Aside: I'm yet to see exactly what we did on that festive night. Await wedding video.

Saturday was nice. I woke at the break of dawn, yeah right, but I did wake up at 7.15 am for some unfathomable reason bounding with energy. So I wandered around Mahabaleshwar at 7.30 am in the cold weather desperately seeking the sunlight. It was nice. Some time to myself, to think about stuff and of course the events that preceded that wonderful morning. By the time I returned, more of the gang was up and we spent the rest of day playing cricket, football and watching some of us roll joints :) Quite nice. The baraat and pheras happened in the evening and the place was tastefully decorated. Mol Master looked quite sharp and his wife looked wonderful too.

So that's pretty much what happened there. On a more serious note, it was an emotional moment for all of us who've known him for over 20 years. A bittersweet feeling. On the one hand we knew that things would never be the same again while on the other, we knew that this was what he wanted (or so we hope). Whatever it is, I am sure he's happy with his decision. Good luck to Mol Master, my brother-in-arms. Peace

Road Trippin'

We're off to Mahabaleshwar tomorrow morning for Mol Master's wedding and all of us are totally charged up for the trip. I'm going to be driving my noble steed (zen) all the way from Mumbai to there and back. Haven't been out of town for a while now. When was the last time...mmm.. yeah! October. Goa. That was nice. But it's been nearly six months since and a two-day break just does it for me.

I went for my morning jog at Marine Drive today after like ages (atleast it felt like that although it's only been a week). Surprisingly, I eased through the entire 7 km (approx) run. Quite happy about it.

Yeah so I'm thrilled to be driving to Mahabaleshwar. It's this quaint hill station famous for strawberries (and gujjus!) and the lake. My friends say we should check out Hindu Gym there and play tennis but I think that's too urbane. I'd love to run around the place aimlessly, scope the area and of course the pretty lasses at the wedding.

Friday night is dandiya night (hello?!?! it's a gujju wedding and we'll be in mahabaleshwar!!) so a couple of friends and me went to Fabindia to buy some kurtas and stuff. Saw a total hottie there. What's with bookstores and Fabindia?!?!? They're always full of hotties. Dang

Back to the trip...we're leaving tomorrow morning at 6 and I have no f@$#ing clue how my friends are going to be awake at that time. I'm an early riser so it's cool for me but the rest of the guys are going to have problems. I see us leaving around 7 (at best).

I'm looking forward to the drive!

On Valentine's Day...

...EPA Warns Of Dangerous Levels Of Romance In Air

Do read!

Sunday Mornin' Blues

If you think you read it wrong (or I got it wrong), you're wrong. It's right. And I do mean Sunday. As I have mentioned earlier, my close buddy, The Mol Master renounces his bachelorhood next weekend. We, his fellow bachelorhood friends who have known him for 20 out of a total of 25 years fo his life, have decided to spend this week doing what he will NEVER be able to do once he steps onto Planet M (no, not the music store) during a well-planned ceremony this weekend.

For starters, we spent the last two thumb-busting nights playing our favourite games on the PS2 till about 5am (I'm hung over from gaming). We went to our favourite watering holes around town (and a couple of new ones along the way) and spent endless hours at the Barista near Sterling Cinema shooting the breeze. So through all this celebration, I have turned my body clock every which way. I'm totally exhausted and I'm going to spend my evening watching 'Rang De Basanti' with a friend.

As The Mol Master walks into the sunset of his bachelorhood, we his school buddies and the rest of the gang wish him the very best. Here, here...

Happy Birthday To My Ex-Girlfriend

It's Feb 5 and it's my ex-girlfriend's birthday. I'm really bad with birthdays actually. I think they're a bit silly. I mean what are we celebrating really? The day we came in to this world and blessed it? Who are we kidding? Well, to me it's more of an excuse to throw a party. I don't mean to be cynical or anything but to me we should wake up everyday with the same enthusiasm or whatever it is we wake up with on our birthdays. (Hangovers? not really) Even age to me is a meaningless number. (after you get your driving license and liquor permit of course) Much ado about nothing. Well, it's Feb 5 and it's still my ex's birthday. Our break-up has done me good. It shook me out out of my stupor (a little, cmon gimme that much) and I feel I can take more risks somehow. I don't what it was but something kept holding me back. Anyway I've learnt a lot from the whole thing and I'm enjoying myself now. Happy Birthday Ex! Hope you're happy and have a great year ahead :) (Who knows? She might read this one day). Over and out.

Cruisin'

Things are slowly falling into place now. After a bad end to last year, this year has been peaceful and more or less as planned. Everything seems to be moving in cruise control. While work is going well and my discipline with respect to exercise has increased, there's still lots for me to work on. For starters, I'm still lazier than I'd like to be. Need to get my butt moving a little more and a little quicker. And I need to work harder on my research and study. I think these are the two things I'm going to focus on for the next month. So while I am cruising (sort of), I should be going a bit faster than I am. Time to pick up the pace. And yeah! I completed the Mumbai Half-Marathon in 2 hrs 15 min. Not bad for a first time I think. My target for next year is under 2 hrs. Hope I make the cut. Here's to tomorrow morning's run on Marine Drive!

Winds of Change

Well, the New Year has kicked off well. I get a feeling it's going to be a lot better than last year. That's not saying much but hey, I am the eternal optimist (yeah right!). Jokes apart, it feels like it's going to be a big year somehow. Just a gut feeling. One of my close friends, The Mol Master, is getting married in Feb (in Mahabaleshwar like a true gujju! heheh.. kidding). Tons of changes in the offing. For starters, I'm single now as opposed to the same time last year. My childhood buddy's getting married. I'm really enjoying my study of Vedic philosophy. I might do a part-time job to help me stay independent of my parents financially. And life is getting easier. Don't know but choices appear a lot easier to me now and most importantly, I feel at peace with myself. I guess I've been making more good choices than bad ones in the last two months so it's kind of paying off. Hope I can keep it up this time!

Moving On...

I'm moving on now. It's been a busy week with lots of work happening so I've had little time to feel sorry for myself. Actually, I'm not anymore. It's still hard to not stay in touch with my ex-girlfriend but I'm kind of managing. Going to my grandfather's birthday lunch. He just turned 78 (I think!) and he's doing pretty good for a 78-year-old. Getting a bit cranky but he's alright. Swell guy. Yeah so that's the plan for today. A birthday lunch and maybe I'll start reading a new book today. A friend of mine recommended Sophie's World so I'm going to check it out.

Rest is good. Nothing earth-shattering happening right now. I think I've had my earth-shattering moment for the year :) Yeah, anyway, got to run now. Maybe I'll catch up on some other blogs. Peace.

And that is how the cookie crumbles

Yeah, it finally happened. We broke up after more than five years together. It's a strange feeling of emptiness, hurt and god knows what. I think the most difficult part for me has been that I have not understood the reason for us breaking up. I believed that we could work it out right till the end but I guess it takes two hands to clap. I have no regrets whatsoever. I have been fortunate to enjoy a beautiful relationship that lasted this long. My girlfriend and me shared some wonderful highs and some awful lows but it has all been worth it. It's over now. She's decided to go her own way to pursue her dreams and I to pursue mine. It's a sad feeling but I believe it will work out for the best. The time has come to move on. Our five-year old relationship is over. And that is how the cookie crumbles.

Almost dumped

Yeah, that's what's happened in my life. I've almost been dumped by my girlfriend. I see it coming in the next week. She's going to call me and tell me 'Ajeya, I don't think I can do this anymore.' or something like that.

We've been going out for more than 5 years now. I don't know how life is going to be after this. It's just that you get used to being with a certain person. I'm going to have to let go of all the memories and all the baggage that I've accumulated witht this relationship. Don't get me wrong. I'm really sad. But I guess life has to move on. She's doing her PhD at a university in the U.S. while I'm here in India getting something started on my own. (I quit my job, last week, yeah, feels good!) I always thought it was going to last and be a long-term thing but I guess life has a funny way. It's going to be difficult, the next few weeks, but I'm going to hang in there, keep my chin up, and do what I have to do.

Like Patty Smyth sang, sometimes love just ain't enough. Cheers Patty! I know how it feels.

On a Sinking Ship?

I work at an office where we create educational programs delivered through the Internet. It's not a bad place, nice people, reasonably interesting job but the question I ask myself is 'Am I doing what I really want to do?'

Two of my closest friends at work are leaving today. One for medical reasons, and another to pursue her dream of travelling around the world. It's not just them, it's a bunch of others who are leaving too. Most to go to other companies who do the same thing but some to live their dreams. And it is these people I'm happy for, but half envious of.

I want to live my dreams too. I want to be able to wake up every morning and feel that spring in my step. Be ready for the challenges of the day. But the only thing standing between me and my dreams is, strangely, me.

These are days when I feel I'm travelling on a sinking ship.

Unwind

Boy! It's been a while since I've come here. Been thinking about a new post for a while but haven't got down to it. Anyway, the weekend is here. It's time to unwind. Going to lunch with the family to this fancy Chinese restaurant.

Things have been good over the past month or so. I did a training program at work, did well on my assignments, got a good review from my clients, and generally things have been looking up. Work has been challenging at times in the past month. But then what's life without a challenge? The most important change in the last couple of months has been that I'm feeling more comfortable with myself. I feel like I've been making the "right" choices more often than not. And it makes me happy. I've been living life the way I'd like it to be. On my terms.

What has changed? I've started giving my everything to my work. Not in a workaholic kind of way, but in a good, healthy way. I go to office early, give my 100%, and come home satisfied. I make my mistakes, but I look at it as a way of learning.

I'm still wary of the corporate world. Not scared, but cynical about the true happiness derived from the job or more correctly, the value addition to my life as a result of the job. How is it helping me to move towards what I want from life? Where's the meaning in all of it? I'm still trying to find answers.

Feels Good!

It's Sunday morning here in Mumbai. The weather's a bit muggy. But it's nice. I feel good. The restlessness about my job is gone. I've ironed out a few issues with myself and I am really looking forward to Monday morning at work. I'm really lucky to have found a job I love. I've got more than I could ask for and I am committed to excelling at what I do.

Incidentally, this year is Lance Armstrong's last year on the cycling circuit. He is my idol and one of the greatest characters I have read about in my life. This will be his seventh attempt at winning the Tour de France (one of the world's most gruelling bicycle races). In true Armstrong spirit, I do believe he will win this year too. Here is a man who battled cancer, its awful remedial therapy, chaemotherapy, and his own mind to come back and win the Tour de France a world-record six times. I doff my hat to the man. It is because of people like him that I believe in the strength of human character, the true potential and good in humanity. Because somewhere, hidden inside is the Lance Armstrong in every one of us. And I am not willing to let go before I find it in me.

Check out this page to know more about the great man.