The Chennai I trust

I was cursing myself for not having installed a helmet holder on my bike when my friend, mahesh, asked me to leave it on my bike. This puzzled me and i asked him, what if someone steals my helmet(hey, its expensive and in a city where the helmet rule is strictly enforced, i had my doubts). But mahesh assured me that none would steal it. When i came back, it was there and i have been doing this ever since that day. I trust fellow Chennaites not to steal my helmet :-). But sadly, i wouldn't trust their driving skills which makes me wear a helmet in the first place.

Tale of two cities

People often ask me which of the two cities, Bombay/Madras, i like the most. Ab initio, this question is inherently flawed. One cannot compare the two cities on the same factors. Culturally& topographically, they are poles apart. There are certain things which are so unique to Bombay that it can exist only there. For example, i for the better part of my stay in Bombay stayed in a hostel,SYMCA, on Grant road. My street consisted of a hostel, a bar, two temples, a school and Bombay's biggest whore house bang opposite to it. They all live in harmony. You wont find all these institutions on the same street except in Bombay. Nuff said about its never say die spirit and how fast paced the life in Bombay is. The one thing i admire about Bombay is its appeal to hard work. You work hard and work smart in that city and you are bound to go places(Its s\a struggle considering there are a million like you aspiring to do so but that's what makes it challenging to live there).

Chennai on the other hand is city which has shaped my values/ideas. Having spent a good 18 years in it, its my first love!. But i find Chennai too conservative for its own good. The so called Tam-Brahms(the community from which i hail) are too rigid and discriminatory. This aspect of it needs to change(saying this cause a care a lot about my city). Chennai is arguably the best metro to live in India( I have stayed in Delhi, spent the better part of my under-grad student life in Bombay. Bangalore is way too developed for its own good). It's got a good balance of commerce,culture and opportunities.

This brings me to another question which people often ask me- After law, will i be working in Chennai or Bombay. To that, all i can say is, to fulfill my aspirations, it's best if i stay in Bombay for the next 5 years.

A dose of Murphy's law today morning

Today morning felt real good. I got up, brushed my teeth and decided to study Economics. I searched for a book on the subject but couldn't find one in my house(what else can i expect a house filled with engineers :-(. I was very keen to start it off today so i called up my friend, Anirudh and asked him to suggest me a book on the subject. Anirudh promptly replied that the best book to him would be the Schaum Series on Economics. I called up all the famous bookstores in Chennai to procure a copy but none of them had it:-(. I contacted the publisher, Tata Mcgraw hill and they reverted back stating the book is no longer in production.

Determined to source the book, off i went to Odyssey Bookstore which is located close to my home. I walked upto the sales rep, and told him the title. He in turn contacted some chap at the Non-fiction department. The non-fiction chap contacted someone else at the Businees/Management section. Ultimately, one of the rep got me a book on Shaun Micheals-the wrestler :-). Shaun Series on Economics turned into Shaun Micheals, the wrestler in the span of five minutes!!!!

Got back home, called up Anirudh and told him my dilemma.He promised me that he will source me a copy. I had my lunch, took a power nap and forgot about Economics.

Come next week, i will again have this urge to study Economics and the same story with a different date will follow.

The year ahead and the Bangalore Ultra 78kn

Have been doing this every year and hopefully will materialize this time around. Will make it happen. Things to do before the Dec, 2010

1.Get a Job in the MFI sector- As a human being, i believe that i should bring about a change by assisting the poor in helping themselves. Have always wanted to do it. Hopefully i will be able to feed/fuel myself while doing it :-). Micro-finance is an idea whose time has come.Period

2.Run minimum 3 half marathons- This is something i am quite confident about. Have signed up for mumbai half on Jan 17th. Auroville Half on feb-14 looks good(haven't registered for that). I am reserving one for either the Shimla or Delhi Half organised by Runningandliving.com.-This one is long due. Promised my good friend and metor, Mr Rahul Varghese,CEO-Runningandliving that i will be doing at least one of their runs in 2009. Couldn't keep that promise. Shouldn't break it next year.

3.Bangalore ultra- 78km in November- This one is to test my limits- physically and mentally. Need to find what i am made up of and Bangalore Ultra is just the right venue for it.

4.Cycle 5000kms- This can be done if i average 400-500km on a monthly basis. Cycling to work is an option(if i get a job) i am looking at to achieve the target.

5.Improve time management skills- Well, simply put, if i need to achieve all the above, this is a pre-requsite. Need to utilize my time more efficiently. Easier said than done. Will try and reverse that age old adage.

6.Public relations-SWOT analysis needs to be done- I must confess, i am bad at this. Too self-centered for my own good. Need to be a lot more accommodating. Till now, have done things my way without analyzing the other side of the coin. This should be challenging and interesting. This well help me a lot and make a better at people management.

7.Be regular at updating this blog:-). Hey, i have a follower and i cant let her down :-).

8.Should or Shouldn't i?- This one is a bit tricky. Have kept this to myself for quite sometime. Should i confess or not?. Need to decide and decide fast. If the former, then when-post i get a job?( a man with some money is always appealing). If not, i should tuck-it into a tiny space inside my cerebrum and move on!.

9.Yoga,rock climbing,swimming and a new language- Yoga looks like a good bet considering i have learnt it recently. Learning swimming and have signed up for rock climbing. A new language should be tough to incorporate but as the saying goes, Impossible is Nothing

Phew, thats about it for next year. Will get it done by December 2010. :-)

A new entrant

I finally have a follower to my blog:-). My first:-). Sounds juvenile but wtf, its my blog!. The follower happens to be my good friend Tanisha Deshpande. Welcome aboard Tanisha. Hope you have nice comfortable reading experience on Flight AB 123. This is the captain, Ashwin Bala and i promise you, we will serve you the finest on wine,woman and song(not necessarily in that order). Hope you enjoy your stay and feel free to give your valuable feedback. Over and out

Big Fat....Gym

We have often been foxed into joining a gym by those attractive advertisements which feature men with sculpted physique and women in a thong. Take the case of the carbohydrated India. He takes a look at the flier, imagines himself having a ripped body and then coughs up his hard earned money(which was the main cause of his belly fat) to join a gym. Having paid, he goes to the nearby Reebok/Nike store to buy gym apparels. While at the store, he makes a foolhardy promise to himself that,by the end of the year, he will be 2 sizes down. Once inside the climate controlled environs of the gym, he finds himself in the company of men with similar aspirations. Within a month, he is termed as a "regular" at the gym, has his own workout buddy and makes the minions who work there, play his favorite number every time he goes under the bench. This becomes a routine aspect of his life for the next three months. At the end of it, he realises that he hasn't lost a pound since he joined and gradually loses interest in it. Disgruntled, he doesn't renew his membership and stops visiting the gym. This process repeats every 6 months

Maa-Lay-Rice-Yaaa!

I am down with malaria. Apparently female anopheles mosquitoes have this huge crush on me. I have been smitten by them twice in less than six months. My mom is in Boston and is weeping her heart out. Don’t worry ma, will get well soon. The disease got me an opportunity to go back home and devour some home-food. Used it as a bait to get me a flight ticket( for a change, I didn’t incur my fathers’ wrath when I informed him about my travel plans) . My dad has a huge bias when it comes to his son flying. He always insists that I travel only by Indian railways. This got me thinking and I wanted to find out the opportunity costs when I fly.

A one way flight ticket to Chennai (If booked a month in advance) would set back my dad’s account by 2400 INR. A train ticket to Chennai(3rd AC) will cost him 1350 INR( assuming Mamta Didi was kind enough not to increase it since the last time I travelled by railways). I stay 5 minutes away from the airport and hence traveling cost is nil. I get to reach home within the 3 hrs and hence I end up saving close to 200 INR on food and other expenditure if I had to spend the entire day in Mumbai. The railway-station is quite a distance form my residence and it will cost me close to 100 INR to get to it. Once on it(the train), I usually end up spending anywhere between 250-350 INR on food/water/magazine. The journey from the station to my house works to around 110 INR. To sum it up-

One way trip to Chennai by flight-2400/- INR
One way trip to Chennai by rail -1350+200+300+100=1950/- INR

The difference of 400 is negligible when compared to the extra day I get to spend with my parents. Hope my dad realizes this!