Dr One Year

Cr Lots of learning and experience

Cr Lots of friends

Cr Lots of happiness and joy

Clearly the credit side seems to outweigh the debit side by a big margin . I hope I made a difference in someone’s life somewhere. At least my life has worked for me till now and I hope it will remain so.

And thanks to everyone for being around. You people make it worth living ..

I love my life … !

• My Newspaperwallah : Boy, I hate you already when you deliver the paper late (or not at all) but why do you effing have to announce that you’ve dropped the paper by ringing the doorbell ? I really hate getting up in morning to answer the bell to find there’s no soul outside .. My neighbors don’t steal newspaper if you must know …
• Kachrewali : (I don’t even know if she can even read Hindi / Marathi let alone English .. But for whatever its worth… ) … I don’t understand why do you think I generate enough crap everyday so that you can collect daily … I don’t understand why you look so disappointed when I tell you there’s nothing in the dust bin .. I don’t understand why you don’t show up when I DO put that dust bin in front of my door …
• “Ghar main paanch saal se kam ka bachcha hai kya?” waali’s: I really don’t understand why do you have to come and check every month to find out if I did get a baby miraculously when I already told you last month ..? I know some of you girls might wanna help but have I ever asked any of you “Come on inside and we’ll see what can be done about it” …
• Feedback wallahs : I only have this feedback : If I don’t use your service doesn’t it mean it sucks already .. and if I do use your service : Dude .. Do something about it … It sucks …
• Cablewallah : How come the only time that I get to know of your existence is when you come to collect the monthly bill and not when I complain about your pathetic set top box from hell on an average of ten times a month …?
• Telephonewallah: Well .. I don’t hate you that much anymore .. Not ever since when I fixed my telephone line myself and told you when you did show up on time .. And when I lodged the complain next time and you did show up (after a week) and said “Maine socha aapne khud hi theek kar liya hoga ab tak” … Grrr
• “Saamnewala ghar par hai kya?” wallahs : Moron … If he was home wouldn’t he answer your crappy banging-his-door-for-ten-minutes ..?? I really wonder if the saamnewala has to endure the same pain …
• “Papa ghar par hain kya ?” wallahs : Do I really look this young ..?? I really hate it people think its my dad who works in SBI and not me …
• Whoever comes knocking when I am shaving / taking bath / you know what …
• Towing wallahs : I remember we use to call them in Tonche wallahs … Though you people dont come to my home but added you to this list anyway … I really hate worrying about my ride when I’m shopping or visiting someone …

Hmmm… It looks this can go on and on … I am gonna take a print out of this page and stick it on my door and see if works …

PS: I really think I can start writing more often now … So keep bugging me if I dont blog often …

Here’s to all of you who left us during the recent unfortunate incidents..Here’s to all those who I never knew ..  We might have crossed the road in the same subway .. I might have smiled at your young children .. You might’ve helped me in finding a milestone .. We might’ve shared the same movie taste .. We might’ve helped each other unknowingly ..

These are the moments when one’s faith in higher power is shattered (and someone else’s faith is strengthened ) but I have to confess that I didnt know how to react when people started calling and then telling me that I was lucky not to be at the fateful place .. I was afraid that I’ll hear some bad news any minute .. I kept myself cut off from tv and news .. wasting my time at office pretending to be working and unafraid and uncaring .. But I did care .. You know I did ..

I now understand that I feel more pity for the people who did this than hatred towards them .. I pity them .. I pity their mothers who’ll now never admit that they gave birth to some monsters .. I pity them because I know they met their end on the wrong path .. They dont deserve to get more mention here that this much ..

People say that those who left us have gone to a better place now .. I know it sounds consoling .. But I know this world is left poorer when you are gone .. I know that we’ve lost something which we can never get again ..

… . .. I wonder what was going through your mind in your last minutes ..  Here’s to everyone whom I’ll never see again now .. I mourn for you .. And I feel guilty that I couldnt do anything in your time of horror and pain .. I really wish that this never wouldve happened .. 

Rest in peace all of you .. I’d like believe you’ve really gone to a better place .. .. (Not you who did all this … You’ll rot in hell)

So I am remembering the unusually rainy day when I arrived this place dreamy eyed two years ago. As I’ve already blogged about my adventures in the year to follow, I’ve decided to recall and post some incidents that happened this year ..

So here are some notable incidents that happened this year :

• Being scolded for coming late : Hahhaaa .. Man .. I tried defending my case by saying I stay late at office but my DGM says “Officers are on 24 hour on duty ” .. Someone tell him insomniacs cant reach office at seven .. They SLEEP at seven ..
• SBI winning over TCS : So this was the first year that SBI turned the table and won more matches in this season. We in fact won a tourament too this time ( I wasnt playing though and it was NOT the cause we won ) .. My performance was just so so this season .. But I’m playing well in our local matches ..
• I cleared JAAIB : Hahaahaha .. Thats not the news .. News is while I was taking this CAIIB exam, I was warned by the invigilator not to create a ruckus in classroom. He took my admit card and ID card away and I’ve no idea if he had reported me to IIBF .. If he’s done that my chances of being a CAIIB this year are gone .. I hope IIBF dont ban me or something … (
• The adventures of visiting card : Well .. If you carry your visiting cards in your wallet, check them daily .. If you dont distribute them too often, they’ll stick to each other .. And you’ll be embarrased when you’ll give one to someone .. So once in a blue moon I am talking to this hot girl (married already … and I didnt know that ) .. And I decided to show off and give her my visiting card .. Man .. Those cards were stuck to each other and one of them was stuck to my driving license .. It was a funny situation ..
• [Identity Protected] posted a transaction in Live environment : Hahaa .. So it goes like this .. We were assigned to train our newly joined officers .. One of my -close- friend wanted to test whatever he was gonna teach these guys .. So he posted a demand draft transaction .. Catch ? It was in the Live environment instead of test environment he was using earlier .. And funnier was what followed .. We were experimenting with menu options on how to reverse that transaction on Live again ..
• Where are the holidays ..??: Man .. If anything suck about working in Foreign Offices department is that on any given day or time at least one of our offices will be functioning .. So you wont get a lot of holidays to enjoy .. In fact last time I wanted to take leave for going home, my administrator wasnt very keen of giving me a week’s off .. Fortunately my DGM took my side and granted me with this comment to my Admin :  ”Dekhiye _______ ji .. Hum log to ho gaye hain buddhe .. Humain office ke alaawa kuch dikhayi nahi deta hai .. But these young people still have something else in their lives .. Let them enjoy it .. “ 
• I got a passport : Boy .. That was one tough task .. After applying online, you have to goto passport office for submitting and verifying your documents .. That guy wasted my two days ( during MY office hours ) .. Then came the police verification stage .. So I have to visit this police station where our “enlightened” policewalla will ultimately sign the documents .. So for waiting for what seemed like an eternity, ( I remember there was a power cut in police station and it was freaking hot that day ) we were herded to inspector’s room. He checks everyone’s face and sign the document asking him some regular questions .. When my number comes he asks me “Tumcha gaanv kuthe aahe ?” Though flustered on this sudden marathi outcome, I answer him .. He checks my papers and say “Abhi ek saal bhi nahi hua idher rehte aur passport banane aa gaye ..” And tell his assistant to check me again .. Sigh .. The assistant is a nice guy .. He tells me to come next week .. So I come again next week and after another waiting for four five hours, I am again in this Inspector’s room .. He’s doing the same procedure .. My turn comes and he asks me “Tumcha gaanv kuthe aahe ? ” I wonder wtf .. He didnt ask this question to anyone .. and he didnt speak to anyone in Marathi .. why me …?? And he asks me the same questions he asked last time .. And then he remembers me and ask me “Aap pehle bhi aaye they kya ? ” I tell him yes I came earlier too .. Here the assistant comes to my rescue saying sir we have checked everything about him .. The inspector isnt gonna sign this time too .. But our assistant is adamant .. He shows the file again and uttered the magical words :  ”Sir yeh SBI main kaam karte hain !!” .. And I get a new passport .. I didnt know working in SBI was a character certificate .. .. And yeah I am waiting for getting some new stamps on my passport ..
• Lying over the phone : So one of my colleagues in Singapore calls and ask for me .. And I am the one who picked up the phone .. .. I was sooo busy with some other stuff that I forgot his work .. So I tell him ” Shahab didnt come today .. He’s sick ” .. .. Man .. He believed me and then I recieve an sms on my phone for get well soon ..
• Some misadventures of locked up key : This happened twice (or thrice ) this time .. One of the time, I come out of my room with my bike keys and forgets my wallet ( I keep my key in my wallet … Silly me ) .. So bhai goes for shopping and then when its time to pay the shopkeeper, I find out that I have no money .. Well thats the least of my worries .. I have got NO KEY to enter my room .. So I call up Thaslim (my colleague .. stays near my building .. My room’s spare key is with him ) and ask him where he is .. He says .. Just near DY Patil .. So I drive to DY Patil and finds Thaslim walking near the bus stand .. He says “Bahut lucky hai tu .. Main Pune se aa raha hoon .. Kal aane wala tha lekin plan change ho gaya ” ..
• Being stranded on a train : Yeah .. It could happen to you .. I am coming back from my home and expected to join the office on Saturday morning .. And some goods train gets derailed .. So our train driver decides to take a Bharat Darshan tour .. Out train is now going to Nagpur instead of Bombay .. And finally when I reach Bombay, Its Saturdy midnight and I’ve endured a LONG hot day in the train .. Eating junk food and drinking cold drinks worth around hundred rupeee ..
• The Urgent Memo : While I was on train during the above misadventure, I recieve an email .. The subject says “Urgent Memo” and is sent by my Admin officer.. So I download it and when I read it, the content was “Kindly do not sit on the tables.. Sufficient chairs have been provied” .. It turns out there was a “discussion” while I was not in office about people sitting on tables ..
• Getting chased by Pandu the Hawaldar : Ah .. Riding a bike with a different state’s number plate ? This was bound to happen .. First lemme recall another incident : There I was .. Going to office and standing at the traffice light minding my own business and this Traffice constable comes attracted by my bike’s number plate. (This guy thought it was a Mumbai number while it was an MP number .. .. Bombay = MH04 , Bpl = MP04 ).. So he comes and asks me for documents .. I show him driving license, vehicle registration (which he didnt see anyway) .. Then he asks where’s PUC .. (PUC is actually some certificate for pollution generated by your vehicle) I tell him this is a new bike so no PUC is required .. He says no no .. “Yeh Mumbai ki gaari hai .. Idher chalane ke liye PUC lena parega” .. Guess he meant NOC .. I was wondering htf he thought it was “Mumbai ki gaari” .. Anyways I tell him its not with me, I left it at my home .. “Challaan lagega phir to .. ” .. So I try to negotiate and tell him (showing my ID card ) I work for SBI and I am in real hurry to reach my office and he says no no .. “Challan to bharna parega ” and all .. So after more negotiations I ask him he’ll reconsider and take out my wallet . He says .. “Paisa waisa mat dikhaao humain .. ” (I had a lot of money in that wallet.. fortunately he didnt see .. ) And after some sweet talk, he let me go after taking 50 Rs .. After taking the money he says “Student hona tum ..? Isliye chhor raha hoon … ” I said yes yes .. I am student … College ja raha hoon .. And on another day, I am in real hurry to reach office, I jump the traffice light .. Only to find out three constables standing on the turn .. Crap .. One of them saw my jumping the light so he tries to block the road with his stick .. I aint getting stopped .. So I keep speeding and this guy is running after me .. Hahahhaha .. Man what a scene that was .. So after running for some time, he let go and yelled some “Hut saala .. ” at me .. I too yelled at him “Bhag saale .. ” I was wondering if he noted my bike’s number .. … Anyway .. So for the next week I took a different route for office .. Now I am back on the highway and extra cautious ..

Well .. Those were *some* of the incidents that happened .. In fact a lot of things happend this year which I didnt write in my diary .. But all in all .. Another year has passed .. And it will never come back again .. I wonder what I’ll feel after some years reading these posts .. Maybe I’ll be happier then ..

So long .. ..

1: Yelp! Someone stole my crap ! : Imagine people going to Police Station for complaining that someone has stolen their litter box .. “It was about seven kilo in weight and smelled pretty bad .. It was in a black plastic bag ” .. “Btw .. What are you hiding ??? That looks like my piece of crap !!” .. To which the policewallah will sheepishly tell the man that this was his own crap collected from a rave party at his home last night …

2: Everything is crap … ! : People will start selling everything they have no use to BMC .. People will start bringing work to their homes and sell them to BMC babus in the morning .. I can almost imagine little Chunnu proudly telling his mother “Ma .. I earned twelve rupees today by selling my school bag ! “…

3: My crap is better than yours ! : People will start competing in the quality of their crap .. Those selling big packets of kachra will have more recognition (they are keeping the city cleaner) .. Saas bahus will gossip about how much crap their next door neighbor is collecting these days ..

4: A new breed of entrepreneurs : Soon a new surname will join the Cablewallah, Tyrewallahs .. : Kachrawallah .. People will start importing and exporting kachra from Bombay .. Boy ! Thats a nice new opening ..!

5: A new source of income : You’ll have to declare how much you earn from selling your kachra .. It will be added under the head Income from other sources in your Saral form ..Govt will start taxing those who sells too much kachra .. !

… … …….

I have some more world destructive ideas in my head but I dont want to voice them .. See I am in a very crappy mood right now .. Where the crap is my litter box .. I need to weigh it ..

</crap>

Time to get back to home .. My boss has already left and people who came late brought equipments to deal with the rains .. I didnt have rain coat . .. nor umbrella .. Umbrella is pointless though as you cant use it while you drive .. At around nine in the night, the rain’s intensity looks diminishing … it will be over soon .. I said to myself yet again … I didnt know ..

At around ten in the night, I decide to take the plunge .. Those are little droplets, I’ll reach home in no time .. So I try my luck at praying .. “Oh God .. Please stop the rain for just five minutes ..” and starts from my office.. No luck .. it kept raining .. and after only a minute of drive, I stop at a chai dhaba .. I’ll wait here and soon it will be over .. So drinking hot chai and watching water leaking from all corners of the dhaba shade .. and listening to Lata Mangeshkar “Chalte chalte yunhi koi mil gaya tha” on the radio .. Welcome change from Atif Aslam whom I am listening to very much these days .. All this environment makes me nostalgic .. So I brace myself again and start again towards my home …

At first I close my eyes when the rain drops hits my face .. then I began to enjoy the feeling .. I’ve always loved rains but after I spending my last year in Mumbai’s rain, all the romance was lost .. Anyway .. earlier I was driving fast .. then I started driving slow .. there is nothing that can match driving in rains .. Raindrops entering your eyes ..dodging the splash of water / mud from the car you are trying to over take .. hitting brakes too hard .. singing (yelling) on the top of your voice .. How come rains make people crazy …?

I am shivering when I reach the building .. Smiled when I see neighbor girl giggling at me .. Warm my frozen hands on the gas burner for at least five minutes (or was it ten ) .. Check my phone line .. whoa its not dead .. check the internet connection .. whoa .. its up too .. Great …!! Listen to November Rain for some five times .. writing this post and watching rain drops from the window .. ..

Its official raining in Bombay …

Some great things about Windows Live Mail:

Interface : First impression is the last(ing) impression .. And WLM scores huge here .. Right from its splash screen, the interface rocks. Outlook 2003 like interface combined with a Vista like look and feel makes it look very appealing. It seems like Microsoft have now understood the value of eye candy plus ease of use in their applications. Filters like Unread Mails, Unread Mails from my contacts makes life so easy.

Supports Hotmail: Now you can check Hotmail (ugh .. Windows Live Hotmail ) using Windows Live Mail. If you are like me who lost the email client support on your Hotmail account some years ago, here is a good news for you .. WLM lets you check your Hotmail account without any subscription involved. I think Microsoft has now changed the strategy and allowed httpmail access to WLH because every other email service is offering it. Before using WLM,I was logging into Hotmail account in three or four weeks .. Now I check it daily ..

Lightweight : Although it sports Outlook like looks and Thunderbird like spam catching capabilities, its very light weight on system. It boots in 2 3 seconds and doesnt put any load on memory.

Integrated Feed reader: This is another feature that hooked me onto this proggy .. I usually check my feeds after I check my email and my email client having RSS capabilities stopped me looking for another RSS clients. The feed reader fits seamlessly in the interface and have all the options that I look for : When I click on links, my default browser opens ( I hate those rss readers which show the link in their own integrated browser).

Security features: Microsoft have improved so much on this front. The spam filter works great and catches most of the spam that I receive. It also checks for phishing messages and alerts when a suspect phishing messages is received. WLM is better in catching phishing messages in comparison to Thunderbird which use to think every mail I receive is a phishing scam.

Integrated blogging and contacts : If you have Live Space account, you can directly post entries to your Live Space from inside WLM. The contacts are synchronized with your MSN / Live contacts and you can choose to receive contact updates (great feature) ..

No nagware : One thing I used to hate about Outlook express was it combined Windows Messenger, MSN Messenger with it . .. And whenever I check my mail, I am automatically signed in to messenger service. And you couldnt exit messenger when Outlook Express was running as it would say “Other programs are using it “. Windows Live Messenger is supported in WLM but it doesnt start by itself nor it is needed when you have to check your contacts. There are no advertisements in the client also .. and it wont add any signature in your outgoing mail like other free / adware email clients. It is reported that the final version will also be advertisement free ..

Some not so great things about Windows Live Mail :

Feed Management : Definitely needs improvement. When you click on Add a Feed, it doesnt automatically pastes the link from your clipboard to add link textbox. Another thing is I dont see any option to make this program my default rss reader.

Blogging : I cant change my blogging platform from Live Spaces to any other services .. So this blogging link is practically useless to me as I dont use Live Spaces…

Cant Import Export Contacts : Thats the worst of things I didnt like .. As contacts are stored on Live server, you cannot directly import or export them .. Too bad if you want to import your Outlook contacts to WLM ..

Cant Import Export Message rules : So if you are going to format your system, you are going to lose all your email filters as there is no option to import or export them .. Blah ..

Cant define my own Search Folders : There are some predefined Search Folders and you cannot edit them .. Either you create some filters and redirect your mails to a folder and then use Search Folders with them .. duh .. Improvement needed here too ..

Conclusion :

Windows Live Mails looks like a very promising application to me .. If they take care of some quirks here and there, and include support for other blogging platforms, this is going to become the best free email client over there..

After some time, a new character will enter the show as Tulsi. Disbelief and confusion will reign, later everyone will know that Tulsi had undergone a plastic surgery after the accident. Supposedly Gautami Kapoor has been finalized as the new Tulsi.

Star Plus have also organized an opinion poll on who is gonna replace Smriti Irani in KSBKT .. The choices are Padmini Kolhapuri (porn star of yesteryears .. then featured in some great movies like “Woh Saat Din” ) .. or someone called Gautami Kapoor ( duh .. I dont watch much TV so I dunno if she’s a tv actress or something ..) .. Whack …

Yesterday I got a nightmare that Smriti Irani after leaving Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi is gonna make a show called “Kyunki bahu bhi kabhi saas hogi” and will air it on Sony clashing the time with KSBKBT … Man what this information and broadcast ministry people are doing ..? Banning FTV and AXN which are nice eye candy channels but not banning this BS programs which are mental torture ..

Yaawn .. Why did I even write this post ..? I hate soap operas .. :-w

The opening lines of every post are the most difficult ones to think .. How to write something that the reader will find interesting and captures the theme of the entry .. ? Well .. For this particular post, I couldnt think of any such opening so here it goes ..

It all started a year ago when I arrived in this city of dreams called Bombay ( I still call it Bombay) with many dreams and even more hopes in my heart… It was raining heavily and I was all wet when I somehow managed to find out the SBI guest house (where my friend Nisheet had already booked a room) .. We chatted about how our next day which was going to be our reporting to the job was going to be and how life would be after that ..

The next day was even more interesting .. We found out that we’ll be posted for the rest of our service in Bombay itself (or if you are lucky you’ll get a foreign posting afterwards .. ) .. We were allotted departments and roles… We had our first lunch in the Officer’s mess (why is it called Officer’s Mess ? ) and then went to our respective departments for introductions and all .. I still remember one of my senior told us “Now with what qualifications or experience you have come with doesnt matter ..What you can give to the bank will matter the most .. ” I still believe in those words .. Anyway .. too many things happened in the first day and I cant write all of them here .. We were given temporary accomodation in guest house till our flats were ready .. (Getting listed in guest house was another great experience) ..

So .. I moved into a new room in guest house and it turned out it was to be shared with three more guys .. Three guys literally from three corners of India .. Man those guest house days were some very well spent days of my life .. As I stroll down memory lane, I remember listening to FM and chatting till late night .. Learning Malayalam .. or Manipuri .. .. Having dinner together .. Racing in morning to get the bathroom .. Getting others late for office ..:D .. Sleeping in boring training sessions .. Waiting for the rains to stop which poured as if its the end of world ..

Earlier days were spent in shock and awe .. Being so far from family and friends was a new experience for me (and a very tough one).. Slowly official work started to fill this void. .. Earlier it was feeling important .. than feeling responsible .. sometimes feeling exhausted .. Then I got my first salary .. Earning money was not a new thing for me but now I had to manage my living all by myself .. Seems I am doing pretty good … A major part of our salary used to goto mobile bills .. And eating those horrible food at mess .. And as you are expected to work at office, chat protocols were blocked and most timepass websites were also blocked .. So that ended my Orkut addiction .. Finding out proxy sites to bypass the restrictions and finding out new new ways to access blocked site ..  It was nice experimenting with our newly found independence ..

So this year brought many ups and downs in my life .. It highlights again that life is a constant learning process .. and I am still learning .. and I am still coping .. I’ve made so many friends here and who made living here all alone a bit easier for me .. Thanks to everyone just for being there for me ..