Bargaining - is an ART

There we are, at one of the shopping location to buy some clothes for myself. This is the only time I am actively looking to shop and make a quick finish of shopping and get back home to spend the remaining time in a better way. But this time, it was different. I had come to this shopping with my wife and somehow wanted to show some smart bargaining tactics to her. So at the entrance of the shop, I asked her to just maintain some distance from me while I go to the counter and demonstrate my bargaining tactics. Here it goes -

I go to this fellow in the shop and as usual ask him to show few T-shirts. Then I choose the T-Shirt I like and usually I do not do a trial as i feel it is a waste of time, so the only part pending is the price negotiation. So being confident of my skills on bargaining and to show-off to my wife, I ask him the price - he says "Sir, Rs. 699". I say, "No way, I will pay you only Rs.500" (and I stealthily look towards my wife with a little smirk on my face), She is calmly watching and listening to the conversation.  

Fellow - "Sir, it is not possible to give at such low price, It is surely not possible. I can give you at Rs.650"

Me - "No, cannot accept, it is still very high for this quality of shirt. Make it Rs. 550, that is my final offer."

Fellow - "No sir, we do not even get our margins for this amount. Last offer, I can make it Rs.600 sir"

Me - "Well, seems OK, but since you are a good guy, I will accept it and lets deal it for 600. done". And with this I go to billing counter get the savings of Rs.99 and with a proud face, go to my wife and show her the savings done. She acknowledges and slowly and steadily congratulates me. I ask her, if she has now learnt on how to bargain, and she gently pushes me aside. Says - "Yes, I have learnt a lot. Let me show you what I have learnt". Now she asks me to stay in her place and she goes to this fellow to buy another T-Shirt for me. And finally after the selection process, bargaining time comes -

Wife - "Rs.699 is too much. I can only give you Rs.350".

(Behind the scenes, I laugh a bit. I think starting with half price for bargaining, this will not go anywhere and I feel good that my wife will return empty handed)

Fellow - "Madam, not fair, this is too less. I can offer you for Rs.650"

(I am delighted as the fellow is consistent and I feel confident he will not go beyond 600 which is the same price that I bought for.)

Wife - "NO NO NO... for this shirt, the fellow in that other shop is giving for 350 only."

Fellow - "Cannot give madam. We get this at a higher price than this. OK final offer I can make is 600"

(I pump the fist and I hope my wife agrees to this and ends the bargaining so we can go home soon. But my wife is still adamant)

Wife - "No way, I will not give a rupee more than 350. You want to give then give, else I will go to that other shop"

Fellow - "no madam. That is very less. I can offer you 500 as final offer."

(The laugh on my face is wiped off. I get a bit serious. The fellow is offering at 500 and still looks like he can reduce further.)

Wife - "If you give it at 350, I was planning to buy another one, but 500 is too much. Ok I will go to other shop now." (and starts leaving from there. My smile comes back as she has failed to go beyond my price in bargaining and she could not buy the t-shirt as well).

Fellow - "Wait madam, if you are buying 2, then I can make it for Rs.800 for both."

(My jaws drop. I cant believe what that guy has just gave in with little more pressure. I now start wondering what would be the original cost at which this guy gets it)

Wife - "No, 750 is my last offer for both. Take it or I am leaving."

(I cant believe she is still bargaining. I would've blindly accepted it even for 500 a piece and my wife is still going on....!!!)

Fellow - "Done madam, do you have a bag. The carry bag will cost you another Rs.5"

Wife - "Bhaiyya, what 5 rs?, you can adjust it in the 750 only. Give me the carry bag."

Fellow - "OK madam. Take it" (and hands the carry bag with 2 t-shirts, all for Rs.750).

I tend to avoid the shining victorious smile on my wife's face as she comes to me and raises her eyebrow. I try to look away from her and that is when I understand that bargaining is really an art which is cultivated differently by Men and Women.

And the worst part, I had to live with listening to this story for another month or so when this was repeated to every person that visited our home during that time. I vowed never to show my bargaining skills in front of my wife again.....!!!!

Story of traffic signals...

Scorching heat... Middle of summer... a drop of sweat tried to flow down my cheek... Without bothering or de-focusing myself, I looked straight at the RED signal light in front of me and it was quite a while that it had to turn to GREEN. However it was taking forever to turn into GREEN. Still keeping one eye on the signal, I could sense that there is a three wheeler to my right who was also as anxious as me to turn the signal GREEN, however the signal had its own plan on when to turn GREEN. It was a similar situation on my left too as another 2 wheeler was waiting keeping an eye on the signal. It seemed like a start of a formula 1 race where we are all on the starting grid concentrating on the RED lights to go off. By the god's grace, the signal finally decided to show some mercy on our side and turned GREEN. In the same instance all 3 of us and many more following us started to move ahead. It was just like a race... everyone wanting to get ahead of the vehicle in-front of him... Although there are no winners or no prizes to gain, it was still a race for all people. Knowingly or unknowingly we all tried to push each other, honk at each other and accelerate to get past the vehicles in front of us only to find there are more vehicles blocking us from moving ahead.

I had my vision this time on the next signal which was looking green from the distance. As I neared the signal, it turned to Yellow. Instead of applying breaks, I could only think of accelerating to get past the signal before it turns back to RED. As the horror thoughts of waiting endlessly at the signal came to my mind, I zipped past the yellow signal as I passed I could notice it turning into RED. It felt like a glorious victory... An ultimate triumph where I have crossed the finishing line in shining colors. Just as I was about to slow down, a cop watching my victory celebrations could not tolerate and indicated me to stop. All the time I had saved in the previous signal was just about to be lost. He looked at me, I smiled and said "Hello" in the most polite manner. He smirked at me and asked my License. I took out and gave it, he saw my photograph on my license and looked at me... The photo was a 10 year old copy of mine... He looked at me again, I smiled again and said "I know, its from my college days...". He asked me for RC book. I gave him that too... again he looked skeptical about the photo in my RC book. Thank god this was 5 years old photo which had some resemblance for me.

Finally he said ok pay 100rs fine. I asked him for what reason? He said for jumping the signal. I told him, I did not jump the signal, it was yellow when I crossed it. He looked at me and smirked again and told "Sir, when signal turns yellow, it means you should slow down and not accelerate to glory...". I responded saying "but sir, this is what all people follow in our city, Only RED, we stop and not for other lights"... He glared at me and told "If a lie is told by 100 people, it doesn't turn into a truth... please give 100rs". Well there was no choice left for me, I just had to pay 100rs and get back on my way. Just ahead, met with another signal just turning from green to yellow... Instinctively again accelerated towards the signal... Another race to win and many such races continues forever...

Shopping - Men vs Women

Sunday Morning - 8 AM - Early to wake up on a lovely cold sunday morning. So lazily lay on bed with my eyes closed when suddenly my wife comes and shouts me to get up. She murmurs something about going to shopping early in the morning (say 10am). Just as I hear the word shopping, my sleep just runs away. I am wide awake, not because I am exited about shopping, but its because my wife and my mom have already planned for shopping and I know its gonna be a long.... very long sunday.... Yet again my role here is to be a driver and a baby sitter (take care of my kiddo) when my wife and mom are shopping. 

"So what shopping?"... I blurt out... and 

my wife starts saying - "just couple of sarees for the function that is scheduled in couple of month's time".

"Couple of months away..!!!, and shopping so soon...."

"No more time is available after this weekend, so get ready soon, we can come home early if we leave early...".

Certainly that did the trick, i start thinking, alright, its just a couple of sarees and we are going to be home soon, so my sunday is not totally gone... Cool. 

So I get ready and by sharp 10am, we are on our way to our pre-defined shopping place.

10-25 am - My wife and mom enter the shopping place. I am in the car looking after my kiddo.

10-35 am - Kiddo is troubling me a lot and I plan to go for a small ride.

10-55 am - After a small ride amidst heavy Sunday traffic, I come back to the same shopping place.

11-10 am - Again my kiddo is troubling me and does not keep quiet in the stagnant car. So decide to take him to a ice-cream parlor for a juice which we share together

11-25 am - An hour gone since we reached shopping place first time this day, so we reach the ice-cream parlor and order our favorite Mexican soda.

11-45 am - Sipping all the way to glory, we are done with our small ice-cream parlor outing.

11-55 am - I call my wife on the status. They say, another 15 mins. So I continue my wait at the ice cream parlor.

12-05 pm - Its just not valid to stand in front of ice-cream parlor and watch other people hog up all the items one by one. Hence I decide to place my next order, a hot choco fudge.

12-25 pm - Its almost done, we have finished our hot choco fudge and it was yummy. What next...!!! ??? Lets check the status as its already an hour gone. Call... no change in status. Another 15 mins to wait.

12-40 pm - Now, we are not feeling hungry anymore, but there is a nice hotel in front of us. We want to have something light before retiring for the day which was supposed to happen early but we decide against it. Half the sunday is gone.

12-55 pm - Waiting.... Still Waiting.... call.... Same status.... another 15 mins.

13-05 pm - My kiddo is full, he is getting ready for his next task... Sleep... So he is quietly staring at the front window sitting on his seat. I know its time for him to sleep. In a blink he is asleep. I am all alone...

13-15 pm - I get a call... Finally, Thank God... they say they are at billing counter swiping my credit card to glory... Ask me to return to the shopping place.

13-16 pm - I get a message on my cell - credit card transaction of Rs. 16,245/- ONLY.

13-35 pm - I am at their shopping place, only to see both my wife and mom carrying two bags in each hand. They dump it in the boot and with a smile wife tells me... "We got additional 4 bags free". Stunned at the sentence, I do not know how to react. If I were the shopkeeper, I would not mind giving another 50 bags free because its WORTH... NOTHING for the goods they have sold... And yet I only nod my head and get back to concentrate on getting back to home.

14-00 pm - We are back home for lunch. And I wonder what happened to the plan and focus about the shopping. 

Analysis goes this way -

1) They had decided to go shopping for 2 sarees and came back with around 6 sarees and 3  dresses and of-course the 4 free shopping bags.

2) They had decided to go to shopping early and come back early and yet we are here at home at 2 pm which is not early by any standards.
3) The shopping is for a function which is more than couple of months away and I wonder whats in store for coming weekends.

3) I lost my sunday once again.

So what exactly happened here? The women lost their focus on seeing bunch of sarees in the showroom, lost the focus and bowed down to the might of the various choices shown by the shopkeeper. Totally a lost battle. I could not imagine how that can happen. Maybe that's the power of the word called "SHOPPING".

So next day, myself and my friend decided to go for shopping ourselves. We decided to buy a pair of jeans for each of us. All this we had to do within our office lunch break.

13-15 pm - We are on our way from office to buy a pair of jeans.

13-25 pm - Enter the shop. Walk straight to Jeans section with all other sections blinded to us. We only see jeans there. Shopkeeper shows us 6-8 colors of jeans.

13-30 pm - We have tried out couple of them for our sizes and we have made our choice.

13-35 pm - We are at billing counter with 2 jeans in separate shopping cover. Supposedly the shopping covers are free here too... ;) Swipe the card for Rs.2,500/- ONLY.

13-37 pm - We are out of the shop. So the whole 12 mins, we were focused on what we wanted and got what we wanted and our shopping was done in flat 12 mins... 

If only women could understand this logic of focused shopping.

So does this mean men are more efficient in shopping than women? Lets reverse this trend to say men shopping at an electronics outlet or a sports outlet and women at a super market. Who will take more time? So thereby I can only conclude that its all based on our own interests. We spend more time in what we are interested in.... Do you agree?

Harry Potter... Who?

"Harry Potter... Who?". This is exactly the question I asked to my friend in college when he told me that a new movie called "Harry Potter-Chamber of secrets" was released in theaters. I asked my friend - "Isn't this a kid's movie? Just some special effects and nothing else right?". He stared at me as if I had made a crime in asking that question. He did not bother to answer me on that, instead he took out a book called "Harry Potter-Sorcerer's stone" from his bag and handed over to me. I always thought this Harry Potter was a movie made for kids and was also surprised to see that the movie was also based on book series with same name. I was also not a kind of novel reader at that stage. First thing after seeing that book, I opened up last page to see how many pages do I have to go through to finish this book. It was 236.

Somehow I made up my mind of spending some time on this book to see what is so special about this guy called Harry Potter. Opened up and started to read the book. Into second chapter and somehow the book had got over me completely. It suddenly turned out that I had actually started enjoying to read this book. Slow and steady read turned into a swift interesting read and within a week (I know its a bit long, time but for myself, this was a new record) I had finished up the first part of the series. On same weekend, some of us friends got-together and watched the first movie in a original dvd. The concept of DVD was new then. In the world of floppy drives, the word DVD made you raise your eyebrows and just say WOW. Naturally we were all excited about watching the movie on a DVD. It turned out to be quite a wonderful experience of watching the first part on DVD and since the book was read recently by every person there, we broke into discussions about some incidents which were not covered in the movie etc etc.

I had started becoming quite interested in this series now. I heard that that part-5 of the book had been recently released. I was still on one. Immediately the next day, I bought part-2 from my friend and started reading that. couple of weeks time and the part-2 was done and dusted. Then moved on with the third. The third was slightly complicated and the series had just moved into a teenage phase. Suddenly I realized this series was just not for kids anymore. We also booked tickets for this third movie when it got released. I had the pleasure of going to this movie with some friends who had not read the third book yet. As proud as I was about knowing the story of the movie, I had to explain lot of things from movie to my other friends. It turned out that I explained more than watching the movie.

Then came the fourth book which changed every view in me about this series. The fourth part was just so amazing and interesting that I could just not let the book down even for a minute. This was the book I finished the quickest with my reading sessions extending until 3am and I had to forcibly put the book down to get some sleep. Somehow I was turning into a novel reader now. Was getting to know some new authors like Jeffery Archer, Sidney Sheldon etc. Then came the fifth book. The slowest of the lot and the most boring on the series. Somehow dragged it for couple of months and finally completed that one too.

The sixth part was still another 6-8 months away. Everyone were waiting for that. When it came out, everyone in our class was eager to get their first shot at the book. Finally I got my chance after couple of week's wait and this was somehow again got the interest back in the series. Quite brilliant and a shock in the end which shook the whole basis of the series. This book induced few questions which were supposed to be answered in seventh part but the concept for seventh book was clearly laid out. Everyone were just eagerly waiting for the release of seventh book and it was an year away from release. When release date came near, I was so excited that I had pre-booked the book to be delivered on first day of the release. Indeed I got the book delivered on first day of the release and immediately started into it. Couple of week's time and I was finished with the series. Suddenly it felt so over. No more books, no more wait only waiting for further movie releases in this series.

So here I am coming out of the movie theatre after watching the final chapter of the Harry Potter. Somehow it was all over now. No more movies as well in the series now. Thinking back at how I had a belief about the series being for kids and later got me dragged so much into it that I had to pre-order the final part of the series. One year was all that changed my view about reading novels. Somehow I started feeling that reading a book was much more wonderful feeling than watching the movie. People say "A picture is worth a thousand words", but this series taught me that I would rather go for more words than picture. I had never thought about reading novel but here I was after completing 7 books which started my hunger of reading novels. A new change, still continuing to read other novels but none as exciting as the time spent on this Harry Potter series. Now I would never have to say "Harry Potter... Who?" because I know that he is the one who turned me into a novel reader....!!!!

Are there any silly questions?

"Tring, Tring", the bell was ringing in my head or was it my phone ringing. Yes, it was my phone ringing but why am I not picking it up. Slowly, I open one eye and look at my phone. It is still ringing. Slowly I move my right hand towards phone and hold it near my right ear and speak "Hello, who is it?". "hey its me, your friend. Did I wake you up?". Its my office friend, suddenly I think I am probably late for office and open both my eyes. I look at the time, its 5am in the morning. So I am actually not late to office but my friend is really very early in calling me. I think do I really need to answer his question?. My mind answers "What else do you think I will be doing at this time".

With great control on my anger, I reply back politely - "Oh no.. not at all. Whats the matter? How come you called me so early in morning?"
He replies - "I was just heading towards Mysore. Wanted to know if the road near your house which connects to kanakapura road, is it proper? Last time it was under repair".
Me( Oh, do you think I keep track of all roads around my house on weekly basis? ) - "Hmm... Ah... I think it should be proper by now. Its been a long time I went that side. You better take the longer route."
my friend - "Oh yes. Thanks a lot man. You continue to sleep now. Will talk to you later. Bye for now".

So I keep the phone. With my sleep gone, I get up and think about the incident. Was the first question really genuine and was the answer from my side really mattered? I mean, obviously my friend DID wake me up and he knew that too, still he went on to ask the question as a formality. To continue with the same formality procedures, I did answer with a NO, but deep inside, both of us knew what went on. Also even if I had answered him with an YES, I think he would still have continued with his next question with a "sorry for waking up" statement.

Scene - 2 -

Recently I was watching the IPL final on TV. Suddenly my mom asked me "Which team has the highest score in IPL?". I replied - "Chennai - 246 or something".
mom - "Who won that match?"

I stared at my mom. Was that really an intentional question? My team was already getting thrashed on TV, over top of that do I really need to answer this question?. My mom was still looking at me and probably was expecting an answer too. Wasn't that obvious if Chennai has scored highest total, then naturally they did WIN IT. Yes, there are other rare conditions, if it rained and the duckworth-Lewis method was applied, but that would not be the case in 99% of such matches and I do not think my mom was thinking about that either. I just held on to myself and explained her the logic, if Chennai had not won that, then some other team would've got the highest total right?. Relief atlast. Obviously my mom got the hint and got the answer too. I continued to watch the finals where my team was getting beaten by same Chennai side.

Scene - 3 -

I got some news from a family friend. I told this to my wife. She was pretty excited and asked me "Who told you this?". Natural instinct, I thought. Obviously when some news is important people tend to ask the source. I told her yeah, that person told me. Immediately she asked back - "Did he message you or call you or email you?"

Now, here is a question again which I tend to think, should I answer. I mean how would the answer to this question make any difference to the news. I held on to silence for a while and really wanted not to answer this, but my wife peppered me with same question for the next 5 mins. I really ran out of patience and told her that it was through an email. She felt relieved and did not bug me any further. Looking happy she went away for other work. I really wondered, if that answer really was so important?

So here I am, still not conclusive about the silly questions? Are there really silly questions where answers really do not matter and yet we continue to ask them in our day to day life? I really think, yes since it has become a part of our life. Whats life without being a bit silly after-all. Have you guys gone through such stuff too?

Finally ending the blog with one from my side - "Did you guys like the above blog?" (Never mind to answer this...!!!)

--END--

Chakde India

The whole Indian team is watching chakde India on a big screen on the eve of a big knock-out match in world cup to keep themselves relaxed and get some inspiration from the movie. The coach of the Indian cricket team (Gary) moves out for some reason. After sometime a watchman comes and tells Sehwag something in his ears. Sehwag gets up and goes out to the cricket ground. There he sees Sachin standing and waiting.

Sehwag - "Hey Sachin, why did you call me here now?"
Sachin - "Hey, I did not call you, it was you who called me"
Sehwag - "Why would I call you when watching a nice movie with others?"
Gary (comes out of shadows) - "I have called you guys here"
Sachin and Sehwag - "Why?"
Gary (Taking a deep breath) - "Tomorrow we are going to lose the big match"
Sachin and Sehwag (looking at each other in surprise and back to Gary) - "What do you mean? Have you fixed the match?"
Gary - "No, but we would lose the match because of you two"
Sachin and Sehwag(Looking perplexed) - "Why do you think so?"
Gary - "Because you two have been playing so well at the top and giving good starts for the team. With such good starts, our middle order has not even had any decent match practice. Also due to your good starts, the target is so high for oppositions, that our bowlers get relaxed and bowl as if they have already won the match.This has made our bowlers forget how to bowl under pressure. You know when you two go out into middle to bat, our batsmen do not even bother to pad up because they all know that you two do not get out so easily. They do not even turn out for batting practice sessions since they seldom get a chance to bat. The fielders field as if they have all the runs in world to defend and dont care if they just leave aa couple of boundaries. They do not understand the importance of every single run unless the match comes to a very close finish. It would be too late then to realize. One match if you two get out soon, then the rest of the team will not be able to cope up with the pressure. However there is one problem which is critical. Running between wickets from you two."
Sachin and Sehwag - "Yes, Gary. We are working to improve upon that".
Gary - "You guys always start hitting boundaries at will and when it comes to last couple of deliveries in an over, you guys try to retain strike by taking singles. Do you think the opposition captain/coach are fools to not notice this clear strategy from you two? They can keep the field out for first 4 deliveries and then bring the fielder IN with last two deliveries."
Sehwag - "You tell this to Sachin. The crowd always cheer louder when he is on strike even tough I give a bright start with boundaries. Also he is the one who takes quick singles with couple of deliveries left."
Gary(to Sehwag)- "So are you planning to not respond and get him run out instead?. This is exactly what the opposition captain wants too. And you Sachin, you have seen all these in your 20 years of cricketing experience, why do you still go for those quick singles in last two deliveries when you can take some more time and give Sehwag some strike too".
Sachin (looking timid) - "I... I never did it on purpose, it was just pure instinct in me, that urges me to keep the strike and get more and more runs for the country."
Gary(With full feelings and looking sad) - "You guys... you guys do not know how heavy the burden of defeat in world cup big matches are. I have been through this in the 1999 world cup when my mate lance and donald could not get one run which costed us the cup. The burden of that defeat is still lingering in the hearts of millions of people in my country even today. I do not want the same to happen with this team here. So how you want to play, you guys decide. I am going to dhoni to discuss about our other strategies for tomorrow's big match."


**** Gary leaves and joins the other team members who are still watching the movie ****


Sachin and Sehwag look at each other and Sachin speaks out - "I have been playing cricket for more than 20 years now and I am hungry for more runs. Since this would probably be my last world cup, I would still thrive to make runs for myself and my country and do everything right to win the cup for my country. I will also definitely be the top run-getter in this tournament."
Sehwag - "I am the leading run getter in this tournament now. Even I will see to it that I keep my position as top run getter in the tournament. Also what are you trying to prove to me by being top run getter?"
Sachin - "I dont want to prove anything to you, I just want to prove it to the people of my country who again and again point fingers at my calibre to win matches even after giving them so many centuries and so many victories. I want to show them what a single man can do if he is hurt by his own people. I just want to prove it to other people out there..."
Sehwag - "Oye, dont worry, even I will see who will point fingers at you. We will together score as much runs for the team as for the country, let other team members support us or not."

Both of them shake hands and move towards the team members. In the background - title track of Chakde India is going on.....
[Hoping India to win the world cup this time... not just for Sachin, but for his wonderful career which has entertained for more than 20 years now.]

Road to Ooty - Story of 36 hair pin bends

"Hey. There are two ways to go to Ooty. One is the shortest and just 36kms from the deviation near masinagudi safari cross. But beware that shortest route is very steep and has lots of hair pin curves. Your car being santro should be able to make it easily, but lesser cars do not. Also traffic is less there since buses dont ply on that route because of steepness. Anyway happy journey". These were the words of advice given to me by my friend in office. Now those exact words were ringing in my mind when we had just started our journey towards Ooty from Mysore. Unaware of this risky road ahead, my wife beside me was pretty excited about the whole journey. I never dared to spoil her enthusiasm too (For now). Somehow I had got the feeling that I will be directed towards that short route itself instead of a nice long relaxing alternate route. My adventurous mind was wanting me to take that hair pin road but my heart was thinking otherwise. Finally it came down to that safari cross where we saw a sign-board showing Ooty direction and mentioning it as 36kms away. I felt somehow that this was leading to that risky road and soon after my fear was coming true. The road was clear with no heavy traffic, infact very rarely we could see another four wheeler passing by. I had seen lot of such mountain roads before so I thought this would just be another of such types. Being confident of making to the top of hill, I went forward.

Couple of minutes later I could see some sign-boards of caution like "drive slowly", "accident zone", "Hair pin bends ahead" and "Steep curve ahead". Then finally a big board read "36/36 hair pin bends". Looking at the board, I could make out that there would be 36 hair pin bends ahead and Ooty was around 18 kms away now. First couple of hair pin bends were just like any other normal ones which I had seen lots but then when the third one was passed, I could feel some fear within myself. I thought "the coming hour does not seem to be an easy one". Eventough I was beginning to feel nervous now, I could not show that nervousness to my wife who had probably realized by now about what lies ahead. She was sitting pretty stiff now. The small chats here and there had come to a complete standstill now. With the cool silent environment outside, there was a nervous silence inside our car now.

By this time we had crossed another couple of hair pin bends and the board now read 31/36. My car engine was roaring now toggling between first and second gears, but I could not be any nice to my car because of the situation we were in now. The left hair pin bends were really scary only because they were so steep that you could not see if any vehicle is coming from the other side. But the vehicles on the descent were really helpful. When they notice upcoming cars, they used to stop until we completely cross the hair pin bend. Guess usually thats one of the nice highway disciplines among cars when driving on such difficult roads which is seldom missing in our cities.

When the board read 18/36, there was a bit of relief since we had passed halfway now. I could see my wife still stiff beside. To release some nervousness, I casually asked her to take some photographs of the scenery outside. To this she just shouted back saying, "Just look ahead and drive, dont talk please". The situation was just worse than I had expected. The roads seemed good now and my confidence of making it to the top was back eventough my car was still roaring admist the foggy mountain. In my second attempt to cool her down, I asked her, "You have been on scarier rides in wonderla and other amusement parks on which I dont even dare to go, why are you feeling so scared now?". For this she just plainly and truly replied that "Are baaba, those rides get over in couple of minutes and we still have 15 more mins on this scary ride". I did not know whether to laugh or get worried for this reply, but I realized one thing that my wife would cool down only once we pass all the hair pin bends. So without wasting any further time, I concentrated on the road ahead and on the mission to reach the top.

Finally the boards started to look less dreadful when the reading came down to single digits Then once we saw the board which read 1/36, we both gave sign of relief and looked at each other and immediately I told her that lets not come on this way during our return journey. While telling this thing to my wife, Internally my heart and mind were both saying "Not only on return journey, never again we will come on this risky road again". Surely this was the most difficult pass for me with my aging car and nervous wife in my whole driving career until now. I have been to lot of such hills and mountains before but never had I been so scared with the doubt of making it to the top of the hill. Anyway, all well that ends well. On return journey we just came on the other alternative route and the road was not a little bit scary but took an additional hour to reach our destination than that risky road. At that time I thought we could just have gone on that risky road to save some time, but then...

Most Romantic Evening

It was silent... Very silent... unusual at this time of the day. The silence was frequently broken by the sound of thunder. Little drops of water had started knocking the windshield of my car. I could observe the splash of each drop on my windshield but soon the drops of rain got heavier and suddenly I could see only the flow of water on the windshield. The most unusual thing about this was, we were in the middle of road and none of the vehicles seemed to move an inch. Inshort we were in middle of a traffic block most commonly known as Traffic jam. "We" would refer to me and my "would be wife". This was our first date after our engagement. Infact we had just come out of watching a movie and then I had to drop her to her aunt's home which was around 25kms from my place. We had started our journey an hour ago and just after half an hour of journey we were stuck in this Traffic block. Initially we could hear lots of honking from other verhicles (including mine), but slowly everyone started realizing the honking would not clear the traffic on road. So one by one everyone had turned off the engine and it was very silent now (apart from the noise of rain falling over the rooftops). So with nothing else to do, I turned towards her, she was busy admiring the heavy rainfall outside the windows. I wanted to start some topic for discussion, but just kept looking at her for sometime. Guess she realised that I was watching her and she tried to look back at me. Realizing that, I started the conversation -

"So as you see, this is how our overcrowded city looks like, unlike your calm city."

She: "Hmmm... yeah our place is so calm and silent when compared to yours."

Me: "Well, I guess for sometime tough, our city has become silent anyway" and I start to laugh.

This did not amuse her to some extent. So clearing my throat again I start thinking on my next conversation topic. "So you liked the movie?" ... She: "Yeah... it was good".

Now there it was a typical situation where you are searching for topics to talk and make use of this good time and the topics are not coming out. Also the situation is worse since SHE is not helping in getting a new topic either. SHE is just replying to my questions without giving anything back for me to answer and find some time for next topic. So my mind was again racing to get on with some good nice topic and nothing was coming out. I had to spend some time asking her some basic stuff like Favourite food, Favourite hero etc... This helped since she gave her answers and responded with "What's yours?". We spent around 20-25 mins on this "Favourite" game and then it was silent again as we ran out of all "Favourites".
The rain outside had reduced a bit but the traffic was standstill yet. There were no signs of traffic getting cleared in near future, when suddenly she started the topic of "how was your college?". Aaaahhaaa... That was nice, more relieved now, since this topic could be extended further to pre-university college, high-scool and primary school. So there was plenty to talk. So we got started with this and as expected it lasted for more than an hour and was still going on, when suddenly we heard few car engines getting started. Finally the time had come to start my car engines as well to proceed to the destination.
This journey of 25kms took us 3 and half hours to complete in turn starting a new journey in our life symbolizing the beginning of a new relationship in which we are committed to each other.
By far the best evening of my life till now, hoping many more to come in our way...

Proposal - 2 -

Missed the first part. CLICK HERE to read the first part.

So we reach the front door and Mr.Everything now rings the bell. The door opens and the man himself is standing in front of us.
"Hi Uncle. How are you? This is my friend and we have come to meet... Ms.Lovely. Is she at home?"
"Hello. I did not recognise you. WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?"
"Uncle... its me... Mr.Everything... Ms.Lovely's friend uncle... "
I was almost on my way back to the gate when I thought Mr.Everything would get beaten up, but then Mr.Uncle somehow seemed to recognise my dear friend and finally he called us back and let us into his house. Then he called Ms.Lovely who came and took us upstairs with the permission from her dad. So here we were on the terrace of Ms.Lovely's house. It was quite a huge house with lot of space to waste. They had beautiful green lawn in the backyard and lots of flower pots on terrace. This was just the perfect house to lead a retired life.
"So whats up. How come u r here? Who is this guy?" - She started.
"Oh yeah.. forgot to introduce u to my close friend.. Dear buddy" - He replied
Then the usual hello Hi happened and then there were lots of talks between us about general stuff. This made Mr.Everything frown a bit and he had to make up a fake cough to interrupt us. And then suddenly this guy bent on knees in front of her and started -
"Ahem...uh.. Ok... Can I ask you something?"
"Oh Sure, why do you have to bend on knees for that?"
I could not stop my laugh coz I knew exactly what he was intending to do, but poor girl did not even realise this. Everything stared at me and then turned back at her to continue -
"Ahem.. Will you marry me?"
That hit the girl as a bullet and suddenly she came down on knees. She was totally in confused state and could just ask "Excuse me... WHAT?"
"Ahhheeeem... I just wanted to know that if I propose you, then will you accept it?"
"What IF? You have already done that!!!!" - I spoke and realised this was probably not the best time for logistics. I got a cold stare from both of them and then they continued to stare at each other.
"So....?" Our hero was still waiting
"Wait a second... I mean... I just cant accept it now... U see... I am not sure... Actually I dont know... I need some time..."
To make things worse, her dad ends up on terrace. He sees both his daughter and Mr.Everything on knees. He is totally confused.
"Is everything alright?" - he asks.
"Yes yes.. everything is fine" - Both my fren and she speak up at once and get back on toes.
"So what happened?" - Dad asks still with a confused look on his face
"Oh..Uncle, I was just looking at this flowerpot here and she was just showing me how to sow a seed into this flowerpot"
Dad looks at them and then stares at me expecting some truth from me...
Taken by surprise.. I speak out saying - "Uh..I am actually not interested in flowers uncle"
"Ok... You all can come down... Tea is ready and have some snacks too"
Realising that her dad had probably not listened to any of the proposal conversation, we all proceed downstairs. While going down the stairs, lovely asks Mr.Everything to talk to her dad about the proposal. I could see Mr.Everything already shivering. But neverthless, this talk has to happen in any case. So we are in the Hall and uncle has started general talks about the daily work in Software companies and then he starts explaining some techniques in gardening. The talks were getting boring and I was just waiting for the moment when Mr.Everything would speak out about the proposal. The girl standing behind her dad indicated through her eyes to my fren forcing him to interrupt the uncle's gardening techniques -
"Uh...Uncle... I need to ask you something..."
"Yeah sure.. go ahead my boy"
"Uncle I want to marry your daughter.. Ms.Lovely"
Suddenly the frown comes back on uncle's face. I am all set to run towards the gate for the second time today but then something unusual happens. The girl speaks out - "Dad, I think even I like him very much and I would want to marry him, only if you are willing to agree"
Dad, gets more angry now and then calms down a bit realizing there is no point in getting angry and starts asking the general marriage questions to Mr.Everything. Ofcourse he is able to answer since he has come well prepared for the general questions.
Then there is a moment of silence for sometime and then Dad takes his daughter to some room to have private conversation.
"So... would you like to have some snacks? I am feeling hungry" - I say
My fren gives stares at me. I realize that he is probably not hungry but nervous. He has done everything fine and now there is the room door behind which probably the most important decision of his life is being discussed. He is totally restless. I enjoy my cup of tea and some snacks kept on the table. Finally the time comes when the room door opens. Our hero is anxiously waiting for the answer. Dad has mixed emotions on his face with mixture of worry and anger. The girl is crying behind.
Dad comes to Mr.Everything and says "So you want to know if it is a YES or NO from my side right?"
"Hmmm.... I would like to know the answer uncle."
"My son... The answer from my side to you is ..... "

[THE END]

Proposal - 1 -

Sunday morning. Door bell is ringing. I hope its a dream.
"Oh.. Hello.." comes the voice from my mom.
"Hello.. Aunty... Where is Sachin?" Replies the person at door.
"Oh.. Sachin is still sleeping..Come in.. Sit down, I will wake him up..."
I really hope no shouts come from my mom and this is still a dream, but then u cant really hope that ur hope is true, so the inevitable finally comes - "SACHIN....SACHIN... GET UP SOON... UR FREN Mr.Everything has come and waiting for you downstairs". There is no choice left for me as I have to get up on this early sunday morning (10AM) to meet Mr.Everything. Downstairs, I saw Mr.Everything, a little nervous, biting his nails and waiting anxiously for me. I came down yawning, told HI..HELLO.., he seemed to be taken by surprise at first and then returned with a nervous "Hello, good morning". I washed my face and took him upstairs to know why he was early to my home. The conversation went in this way -

"So what brings u here so early in the day dude?" - I ask.
"Hey maan, I am kind of worried. I need to tell u something" - He replies.
"Sure. Go ahead. Anything to help you out man".
"U see, this is very critical for me. This is a decision of my life"
"hey its ok dude. Tel me whats the problem"
"You know my girl friend, Ms.lovely, right? Today I am going to her home"
"Ahhhaaaa... So...."
"Actually, I think you did not understand. I told.. I AM GOING TO HER HOME DUDE"
"Oh... Haan... So... Which part do you think I dint get? U r going to her home, Right!!!. Is this some kind of trick question or statement?"
"Abbba... Ok, its like this, I am going to meet her parents, GOT IT?"
"If you are going to her house, u will OBVIOUSLY meet her parents.. Whats the trick?"
"No use explaining to u, Ok listen.. I am going to meet her parents to ask her hand"
"Oh...Like that.. Oh... U mean u have decided to marry her?"
"OBVIOUSLY da..."
"Wait, this is confusing.. if u want to meet her parents, u should be going to her place, so why are u here on an EARLY SUNDAY MORNING!!!!"
"Oh, U see I am feeling bit nervous and couldn't muster the courage to go to her place alone..."
"Aaaha.. I see that.. So what do you want me to do now?"
"I want you to come with me to her place"
"Oh... oh... Hold on mister... NO WAY... What will I do coming there... I dont even know them."
"Oh Dont worry dude. I am there right. It will be fine. Dont worry."
"Hmmm... Alrite if you say so, I will come with you. So the girl knows that you are going to talk to her parents about the proposal?"
"Actually I want this to be a surprise. She doesn't know about the proposal. But I am sure she wont deny my proposal. We are sooo close."
"hmmm...Lets hope so..."

So we head for Ms.Lovely's house. Both of us now nervous. Him for obvious reason, me for being stupid enough to accept the invitation of going along with him. I am wondering what would I talk to her parents and what questions they might come up with. The same worry is going through Mr.Everything's head as well. I start the talk during the ride...
"So what do you think her dad might ask"
I was already feeling bad and to make the situation worse, I got the following reply -
"Oh I forgot to tel, her dad is a retired military officer."
"Oh I see....!!!, So what do you think he might ask?"
"Hmmm... Dont worry dude. I have come well prepared for general set of questions which he might ask. I did a research on FAQs for marriage selection process and have come up with this list".
He showed me a list spawning through 3 pages of A4 size sheets written on both sides. Probable questions and most likely answers and he proudly announced "The most likely answers are all written by me. I am totally prepared dude. Dont worry."
"Hmmm... Not bad dude. Nice... Ok then lets just go there and u do the talking"

So finally we reach her place. The place looks deserted with a warning on gate which reads "Beware of the dog". In this situation, the word dog did not seem to scare us than the word "DAD". Carefully we reach the front door and Mr.Everything now rings the bell....

[To Be Continued...]

AMALL… THE MOVIE – Part – 2 –

You can read Part – 1 – of the blog by clicking the link - http://sachinss.blogspot.com/2008/02/amall-movie-part-1.html

Loud cheers started from the crowd (Well… WE WERE THE CROWD)… So finally the movie AMALL began… First 5mins it was all going fine. Movie looked good, they were still showing the names of all people in the movie. Then it happened. Nobody had thought about such a thing would hit them. From the first frame of the movie, people started to point out mistakes. So most people started making fun of the characters in movie including the super duper hero. Well, it was a hindi movie afterall and the hero in question was not among the popular in our class. This was bound to happen and it happened. This continued till the interval and since there were seldom any people watching movie in the theatre, it really did not matter how much noise we were making. The hall looked like anything but a cinema hall. The first relief finally came when we saw some scribbling on the giant screen which kind of read as “Interval”. The whole of first half of movie had one song repeating again and again. Everyone of the 25 people ran out to get some fresh air. Half of them were already thinking of just leaving the theatre right there. Finally after a 5mins gap, everyone decided to just go in once again and have some more fun by making funny comments on the movie. So the second half was about to start.

Suddenly we realized that one person from our gang was missing. It was funny, we had seen him enter the hall after interval, but now he was not in our group. We looked around in the hall, but we could not see him because of the darkness. Anyway after 5mins of vain searching, we continued with our normal chitchat stuff. The movie was just going on and on and it everyone was now starting to get desperate to get out. The movie was going to the limits of torture. Around 10 people started walking out of the hall, since they could not tolerate anymore. So here we were sitting and waiting for the end of the movie to come. Finally there it was, the movie finally ended. Ofcourse it was a happy ending since we were all getting out from the torture hall. At this point of time, we realized that the trailers were just the amazing part of the whole 3 hours. And once we came out, we found that missing guy out there. We asked him where he had disappeared suddenly, and immediate reply was “Oh…I was actually sitting in the last row and meditating!!!”. Aaah… there… meditation in the torture hall. Nice idea to try to relax, we thought and then the person who had suggested this movie was surrounded by the whole of 25 people. Now she really had to come up with some nice reason for suggesting this movie without which she would not be spared by the tortured group. The reason came out as “Dint you people really enjoy the movie? It was so nice. I liked it so much. You should appreciate the hard work that goes in for making a movie…. Blah blah blah”. She went on and on giving out reasons and one by one everyone started to get out of this another torture session. This was the first instance of watching such a underrated movie. Ofcourse even after such a movie, we again fell for the same girl’s suggestion on 3 more occasions. But none of them were as horrible as this one. Hence this movie stands out as the best of the worst movies our class group has ever watched.
Oh btw, the movie was AMALL – Aap Mujhe Acche Lagne Lage.

AMALL… THE MOVIE – Part – 1 –

You people must be wondering what AMALL stands for… Keep waiting for a little bit longer, you will know the expansion. So now let me give you a hint of what you will be reading in coming paragraphs. This blog is about people from college bunking the class to see a junkie movie. Yes after a week long discussion on which movie to watch, it was finally decided that around 25 people from our class would be going to this so called movie AMALL. Everyone were wondering would we get tickets for this movie.. etc etc ( The usual worries ) and finally decided that all people would be going to theatre a clear one hour prior to the start of the movie and take chance of buying the tickets. Oh btw, we had all decided to go to a morning show. So a clear one hour prior to movie start means we had to be at theatre by 10.

So finally I arrived at the theatre at 10 past 10 to see only 3 of my classmates on time. The ticket counters were empty and there was no hurry to buy the tickets. It was really shocking to see such an empty theatre especially when the movie got released just a week ago. This was probably a hint on what followed next, but unfortunately nobody seemed to get that hint. So we decided to buy tickets once everyone arrives. So now here was a tricky situation, I was alone, and the 3 classmates who had arrived were girls. And by the past history our class girls do not come close to having any girly characteristics. They were commonly termed as “Unruly girls”. Hence the constant fear was always there before talking to them. Being a daring guy, I had to talk to them somehow. So I slowly approached them, they were having some private giggling conversation. Ignoring their giggles, I went and said “Hi, so how long have u all been here?”. One of them replied “15mins. So u came now?”. (What a dumb question. Should I say “No I am still on my way”) instead replied “Eh… Yeaaaah!!!”… At this time, one of my close friend arrived. First time I was very pleased to see him at right time. Then he just said his formal “namaskara” and then we both proceeded to talk on our games stuff. Soon one by one, all 24 people had arrived and we were waiting for one guy (Who was known for his untimely appearance…). One of us called him and as usual we got a reply saying he will be reaching in 5more mins. So we asked him to buy his won ticket and enter cinema hall. We 24 bought the tickets and went into theatre. We saw few people here and there but by large ours was the biggest group in whole theatre. This was a good license for us to scream and shout whatever we want since it would not disturb anyone ignoring the empty chairs.

The big screen lit up with a few ads followed by 3 trailers. The trailers were probably the best part for next 3 hrs, only we dint realize it at this point of time. Loud cheers started from the crowd (Well… WE WERE THE CROWD)… So finally the movie AMALL began…

To be continued... Click Here

Weight Challenge

On one fine day, people in my office came up with a challenge. The challenge conditions were something as described below –

THE CHALLENGE – I Sachin, should reduce my weight by 2.5Kgs in 2 weeks failing which I would be treating 5people from Appoint for a big budget 1k treat. If I succeed in reducing my weight as challenged, then those 5people would treat me everyday for a whole week estimating budget of Rs200 per head. A weighing machine near our office was chosen to check the weight after 2 weeks to maintain the consistency.

I was confident of myself winning because of two reasons. First, out of the 2 weeks, 2nd week I was supposed to be traveling to my native place by driving in my own car. Driving usually reduces weight (I know… debatable). Then secondly, in native place, usually we can’t have lots of food because of high humidity. The humidity helps in sweating and thus reducing the weight. So considering these two strong points, I accepted the challenge. And then out of curiosity I just asked my fellow mate about the possibility of me winning this challenge and the reply was immediate… “NO CHANCE”. On asking the reason, he said, for reducing 2.5 kgs even by going to Gym and having normal diet will take a month easily. In 2 weeks, it can be possible only if I starve for 2-3 days and then have normal diet. This was a killer blow to my hopes of winning. Now I dint have a choice but to consider losing or starve (Which was never going to happen). Then I tried for different plans, like setting the initial weight on weighing machine show reduced weight by taking help of shop keeper. Since it was an electronic weighing machine, people would not know.

Then the time came when I was traveling to native place. The things got worse when people started giving more food and we had no choice but to have it. My confidence was slowly reducing… Now I was looking at the prospect of losing the bet…I had to do something… quickly… This was just a thought and I couldn’t do anything so quickly anyway. So the day came when I was back in Bangalore and the winner would be decided by lunch break. I knew I had lost the bet, so I waited for the inevitable.

Interestingly there was a twist in the tale. All people involved in the bet were supposed to be present when I would check my weight, but ultimately due to various reasons, only me and one of my colleague ended up for checking the weight. I saw mine first, and as expected, I had reduced by only 1kg. Then my colleague saw his weight, and would u believe it, he was actually around 2.3 kgs less than me. Well I made a pact with him and got a snap of his weight from the weighing machine. So here was my plan, I would show that I have reduced 3.3 kgs in 2 weeks and ofcourse for supporting my lie, I would treat my colleague twice for 100 bucks each. That deal worked out awesomely well. Everyone in Office could not believe about my weight loss and I had to cook up a story saying I had only one time food for last 3 days… etc etc. Finally at the end, I was treated by all people for the whole of one week. The next week, I and my colleague were sitting in some restaurant pondering over how we had managed to win the challenge out of the blue and grab a treat from others. This remains a secret until now, hope noone from our office reads this blog… ;)

Broken Hearts

Topic sounds like a real boring, sad story is gonna be revealed below, but then, I would like to take this as an interesting topic and try to make it interesting.

So here we go in the search of a real broken heart -

I was wondering that there might be so many people who fall in so called "Love" and after sometime, they come out of it saying their heart is broken. Now what actually this broken heart means to some people is what I am going to find out and come to a conclusion -

First I met this guy (Mr.A), who was looking kind of sad and he was staring at blue sky.
"Hi dude, what’s up? Howz life", I asked him. He was kind of surprised and gave a "Do I know u" kind of look. "Hi, who r u?” he said in return. "I am kind of doing a survey on broken hearts, so is ur heart broken?” He stared me for a couple of minutes and then spoke "Yes, my love left me last month. She got engaged and hasn't invited me for her marriage". "Yeah, man, very sad indeed. I know how it feels!!" I said though I dint know how it feels really. So this guy had a broken heart just coz his love dint invite him for her marriage and this bloke spent his time staring at the blue sky. I dunno what he is thinking. So I moved on to this next person.

"Hello... Hello... I can’t hear u properly... can u call me later?" this second guy (Mr.N) was talking in his cell. I went near him and as usual started with "Hi". This guy took it very nicely and returned with enthusiasm saying "hello". I started off with usual talk abt knowing him and finally asked him "Is ur heart broken?” Suddenly his face went pale, he let out a big sigh and then started "Maan, dont ask me, u dunno how it feels when heart breaks man". I thought, this guy looks cool but is so much depressed and intended to listen to him. He continued - "I dun have any girlfrens, nobody understands me maan. Sometimeback I liked this girl (miss.X) who rejected my proposal. Then I liked this other girl (miss.Y) who dint even try to understand me and left with her BF. Then.... ". He goes on and on and I am wondering if this guy's heart has been broken more than million times and still this guy continues his search for the "true love" which seems non-existent in this whole world. his cell phone rings, "Hello... Heeeeey hi... what’s up?" he goes on.. I thank god for breaking this conversation (one way) and start wondering whom is he talking to so nicely even after so many heart breaks. Finally his conversation ends and I ask him who was it. He says, some nice girl in his office whom he likes very much. That was enough for me.

I went on to meet many people with their own stories of broken hearts and finally realized that some people keep living in past after their heart is broken and some others keep searching for the person whom he believes will not break his heart. There are some more people who spend their time writing such blogs to repair their broken heart