The quintessential mid life crisis

So if you are the average Joe spending time on commute-work-sleep-repeat, you ought to know this. There is an entire galaxy of superheroes out there vying for your attention and money. They will save your world for as less as Rs. 270 + 18% GST if you book your movie tickets online on weekdays. Move on Superman and Spiderman. There are far too many of them with special powers. And if you have not been following their global expansion through their franchises, you are doomed. You ask why? Try this at your risk. Fed up by the demands of the world, you take a day off and decide to watch a movie. Let us call it 'Justice League'. You haven’t seen the reviews in advance. What follows over the next couple of hours is that you are introduced to a bunch of good and bad guys with great abilities go against each other in conditions that look intense. The cost of making a mistake is huge and with odds stacked heavily against them, the good guys are pushed to the edge and beyond. But...

Circa: Late 2003. My (office colleagues professing to be) friends and (on her way to becoming) my girlfriend convinced me that it was time I got a mobile phone 'of my own'. A couple of months back I had moved to Bangalore to take up a position with an MNC. Calls were being made a couple of times a week to my concerned parents and sisters back in Delhi and occasionally to friends (concerned about my mating options). My 'social circle' at the time was limited. 6 degrees of separation was still a movie and Facebook was still being beta tested within the precincts of Harvard. And LinkedIn was going through labor pain. Kids this generation will not understand this. But to spend Rs. 5000 on self seemed criminal. I remember calculating that I could use that money to make calls to Delhi from the local phone booth for almost a year. And so, I tried to defer the purchase decision - unsuccessfully. One of the evenings, an office ...

I cant be in denial any more. Some people saw it coming. It is time to announce it the world. So this is my moment of truth. And since this is deeply personal and this blog is my window to the milky way galaxy, let me reveal it here. I am due to turn 40 sometime this year. Oh dear! Oh dear! In the continuum of time, space and Amit Shah, ageing turned out to be a natural process. My innocence is truly lost. And like never before. (That last sentence is a total lie. There was a similar emotional crisis at the cusp of turning 20 and 30. And knowing humanity, it is likely to continue). By the way, I am still erotically enamored by Salma Hayek's snake dance! No coming out clean on that one. But this phase of life is also about a lot of things. Having great conversations with people holding divergent views, discovering spirituality alongside red wine, discussing books, Jagjit Singh gazals, developing an exercise regime, public spea...

Last week, an event took me back in time. Decades actually - when I was probably around 10 years or so (standard IV at best). Looking through those Sepia-tinted times, I remember the humble lives we led. Walking to schools, getting a ride on dad's cycle, playing cricket with plastic balls and makeshift bats, and watching Chitrahaar on portable B&W TVs - mostly at a friendly neighbour's house. For the uninitiated, Chitrahaar was a bouquet of songs that was telecast semi weekly on Wednesdays and Fridays. 6 songs over 30 minutes. This was also where impressionable minds would receive their first lessons in love (not used as a euphemism for birds and bees). Oh that feeling of excitement and mystery surrounding the subject. How could I not be baptised? Every time that the song "Aa ja aayi Bahar, dil hai bekarar" would show up on Chitrahaar, it would set my heart into motion. Let me justify. The song portrayed the yearnings of a princess, stepping into adulthoo...

This blog post almost got relegated to obscurity.  Considering the period of inactivity (since early 2015), I should actually reframe that - This blog post actually got relegated to obscurity. And it took a couple of colleagues from work to remind me that I should pull it out from there and update it. Now co-workers/colleagues following your blogs do not exactly give you the 'YAY' moment. You instead become contemplative -  Which post did they actually read?  What nonsense did I write there? Did they share with others - was it well intentioned (or "I alway knew this guy was hairy, pot-bellied, smelly, with yellow teeth. And his blogs prove he is a fuckin retard too.") So I gently nudged them on how they got hold of the link. The response left me somewhat startled. Apparently, my Skype profile lists out the name of this blog (which I would have proudly entered during the heights of stardom).  So let me get this clear. You click on my picture >...

Mitron   - Please delay your moral pangs. This time it is not Wikileaks. But a nondescript agency (Touch Weekly) yesterday has published a list of Lindsay Lohan’s ‘romantic conquests’. From the late Heath ledger to Colin Farell to Justin Timberlake, there were 26 high profile beneficiaries of her affection. Reactions... Me : How the hell did Arnab miss out? Swami : This is Congress' ploy to keep NaMo out of this elite list. Don't you all see the names that were scribbled out deliberately? Those were all NaMo on different occasions. I have proof and I will move the courts. There is an Italian connection! Kejriwal : Thankfully, I don't  not need to ‘clarify’ anything on this one. As it is, coughing and road shows take up most of my time. The remaining goes into servicing the WagonR. Siddhu : Thonko taali! Move on fellas. National pride is at stake. More stink needs to be raised. More blogs need to be posted. The T20 world cup is about...

Mitron!! Thanks to Kotak Mahindra, we now know that 6% is greater than 4%. We will next learn that Q comes after P. Now raise both your hands and say with me "Bharat Maata Ki...............Jai!" No No No No! LOUDER I say! Bharat Maata Ki? "Jaiiiiiiiiiiiii!" You don't get it. I command! LOUDER! Bharat Maata Ki? "Jaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!" Now have some 'chai' and go vote for me. This is wicked fun... sic :) I understand I have been away from the "literary scene". I have been missing your love, affection and comments. Without getting into graphical details of how screwed life was, let me politely suggest that I was 'sorting' a few things out. But completely empathize if some of you filed a "gone missing" complaint. But a thank you note first. This accidental blog ...