And the Oscar goes to......

So I turned 28 today. Through the day, I realized that wishes came from 2 sources - Calls and Facebook (Orkut

bhi check kar lena chahiye ek baar). In 'good old times' sms wishes used to form a sizeable chunk of these

wishes. Now it has been almost eliminated - a huge loss in revenue for the Mobile operators for sure.

Actually when you think of it, the case is of Volume vs Value. Facebook is definitely for Volume Lovers -

hundreds of wishes from across the globe - it certainly feels nice to have them.

Sms provided the value. After all it took a little bit of effort on the part of the sender to type it and he/she

needed to know your number!!!

Reading the above lines again, I realize that being a part of the 'Change Generation' - the one who have seen

both sides of the technological revolution - it is a sin to call something 'good old times'. I mean how can you

say 4 years ago as old. Good, on the other hand is definitely subjective.

Anyways, the idea before penning down this post was something else but is turning out to be entirely

different. This was meant to be an Oscar like speech on the past 28 years of life - a suggestion from KT.

But now I realize that for a Oscar-like speech, you need to have an equivalent achievement. Most Oscar winners

have one thing in common - they have been able to focus all their energies on one project and make it the best

in the world. In many cases, they have toiled their whole lives to reach that pinnacle. I compare my 28 years to

it and find myself at the other end of the spectrum. I graduated as Mechanical engineer, became a Software coder

and then delved into learning the art of Management. On the way washed my hands in the washrooms of a heavy

machines manufacturing plant, a steel plant, five star ones of an IT company, a small branch of an Insurance

company and then quite literally with five different types of oil. In a nutshell, these 28 years cannot be more

diversified - quite the opposite of a 'Focus' that is required to be the best in the world.

No prizes for guessing what the learning is out of the thoughts in the last few lines. Wish it was easy to find

out what exactly you need to do in life... You can call that my Birthday wish!

A Rare Exclusive Interview !

Its 16th September again… Oh c’mon, don’t tell me you don’t remember… It’s my birthday today….
I am 2 years old today… taaaliyaaan!!!! Thank u thank u.... In this happening year, I have gained weight of 85 posts… cool na??
On this momentous occasion my creator - my father was exclusively interviewed by mother of my very good friend cuckoo.. read on….. Ya I know..my father is much less interesting than me..but hope you find it OK..
So here it goes…..

Good morning Mr Bedi. Before we start, let me Introduce my pet Tiger to you.. he's always hungry and let me put a few things a little straight to you. As you know I would be taking your interview, you have to remain seated calmly without questioning my questions or no. of questions. There are going to be five main questions with some sub-questions. Treat them as parts a, b, c etc. please be as detailed as possible, it'll give you some practice for your ongoing exams.
And please keep your face a little more cheerful. It looks like you have come here for a mourning or is it that Parampara experience is still fresh ? I hope they've not beaten you black & blue. Yeah, that's a little better now. Keep smiling like that. You look good in that pose. So, shall we start ?
1. Well, Mr. Bedi you have been blogging since Sep 2005.. almost 2 years. What changes have you noticed in you in these 2 years ? You have 2 blogs, how much importance do you give to each one of them? Now that you have again started studying , do you think it'll have adverse effect on your blogging? How are you planning to manage ? You are posting very little on your second blog. What happened now? Have your thoughts stopped provoking you ?


Well, change is the essence of life.. and without knowing we change a lot every moment, every day. 2 years is a long time and I myself cannot quantify the change in this long long time. How much of this can be attributed to the blog – well it is a medium to put in the thoughts.. and your thoughts to get modify if you write them. Sometimes it forces you to think positive, even if you are having negative mindset and that is the most important change one can have any time in life.
Regarding 2 blogs – yes, I have not concentrated on the second one. Actually I had started it as a theme blog. During that time, lots of discussions used to take place between us roommates - KT, Akash, Vibhu, me – so just wanted to capture some of them and hence started the blog. With time everyone moved out and hence the motivation actually went away. Now I do have some plans to revive it after exams in a different manner. Lets see how far it shapes up.
And studies do affect the blogging though I can say that it is not that bad till now…they have become smaller though.

2. Oh I am so sorry for throwing a bucket of water on you. I know you have a cute innocent face but that won't work on me. I told you not to pretend sleepy during interview. Now let us talk about your spiritual & political beliefs. What do you have to say on these? ... You are NOT supposed to copy my answers. And no one liner please. I know you have to complete a FinAcc assignment but that's not an excuse.

That bucket full of water was refreshing.. thanks.. i hadn't taken bath today... and was feeling sleepy too...
Fin. accounting assignment – don’t worry, my roomie is doing it. I just need to copy it… Ok. About political beliefs – I believe in what was said in RDB and Nayak . Oh sorry… I think you have still not seen the movies. In short, I believe that blaming the politicians is not entirely correct. If you blame, you should be courageous enough to step into their shoes or at least so something towards that direction. I know it’s very easy to say and tough to do… but I think it is changing and it will change.
As regards spiritual, I don’t believe in the concept of religion or praying to God. Jesus, guru nanak etc – they may have walked on this earth sometime in the ancient history. But they ended there and then. Their thoughts have carried on but considering them as God and praying them – I don’t believe in that…. But I do think there is some kind of unknown force present. It may be the unknown powers of our unexplored brain – not sure of it..


3. Well, Mr. Bedi. Ah, you have a pretty good short name. Can I call you SiD ? Oh thank you for obliging me. NO NO.. don't move. I understand it's quite hot in there sitting on that boiling pot. It is a matter of a few minutes if you co-operate nicely. Now describe your most embarrassing moment till date and also a moment when you felt like crying.

Shoo.. shooo.. get this tiger away yaar… I feel uncomfortable in presence of animals… specially the species called tigers… thanks.. much better… already an embarrassing question and top of it your ‘protective’ tiger… haan.. what was the question.. embarrassing moment.. umm… umm… what comes to mind at this particular time can be the first project at infy.. I had an important delivery that day to be sent onsite.. first project… first big delivery.. there were some nerves running out there.. I composed a nice mail.. added everyone in ‘To’ and ‘CC’.. and pressed ‘ctrl+ enter’.. had quite recently learnt the outlook shortcut… ..got back to work… and for some purpose opened the sent items folder.. and realized that there was no attachment in the mail… damn it..... it was late evening. That means morning at US… and the PM could check the mail anytime… more nerves now… I copied pasted the mail in a fresh window… added a line.. sorry for not sending the attachment.. and again pressed ctrl+enter…The 3rd mail did have the attachment… my PL later said.. no problem.. happens… It never happened after that !!!
As regards crying, my mother often tells me this story. During class 8th or 9th history exam, I actually cried while preparing for it as I couldn’t understand the damn mohanjedaro’s and iron age, bronze age civilizations…

4. No, you can not remove that bright jazzy red T-shirt which Rompy gifted you last year and again telling you.. remain seated quietly. Don't try to show off your biceps/triceps to a girl. Arre haan wahi your dole/shole. My pet tiger is curiously looking at you and he has just had a bucketful of Vodka. He now wants to taste some non-veg.
Well, the topic of friends has come up.. I can see you have written quite a lot posts about them. So would you please tell us what do friends mean to you ? Do you have any friend of school years whom you have lost touch with and would want to be with him/her now?
What about blogger friends ? What ?? Me ? NO, no don't even look at me. Tiger !! come here & sit near this sweet fella. He is upto something I guess.

Abbey hattt Tiger ke bacchee.. haan so what were you asking.. oh let me come sit near you. This tiger is growling a lot.. I can’t even hear you… ok.. this is much better.. so about friends…well friends are indeed very important for me…my core group of friends have been a great influence in my life.. I cherish every moment with them and when u are with them more than 8 hours every day for 4 years of your life.. you tend to have plenty of such moments.. hence the blogs.. regarding school friends.. orkut has played a big role in helping get in touch with many of them.. I don’t think there is any, with whom I have lost touch.. less frequency, I agree but not complete.
Blogger friends..hmm…you r leaning forward now.. I think this is a topic of interest for you..well.. there are just 2 people whom I have really become friends through my blog. One, whom I already knew and had seen and other one is the one sitting beside me listening quite intently…. I must say that your blogs have been remarkable – the high popularity in a short time proves that you are able to connect with people and their thoughts.. and that is what brings everyone including me to the pink nest of yours.. some one becomes your friend when he/she is able to understand you.. And that has precisely been the reason here…

just out of curiosity, how did u know that i had been gifted a red t-shirt??? it was not rompy though but some friends did gift me a red t-shirt before i came to mumbai..

5. Oh, that was quite fast, we have already reached the fifth question and I haven't asked anything… not even about your girlfriend or about Aamir Khan. Probably we'll sit for another session; that would be a bit longer only. Ok, jaldi se can you tell us about your first crush ? How old were you then and what happened subsequently ? ;)

Oh.*looking at watch*. I have an exam tomorrow yaar.. lets keep this question for the next meeting of ours… the next round which I hope will come soon. ;)


But at the same time I just can not ignore this very important question. Tell me honestly why you opted to be interviewed ? We all need a good detailed answer with why not & why yes. Attempt all the four parts of this.
a) Was it sheer habit of getting interviewed ?
b) You had nothing to post about ?
c) You wanted to find more about yourself ?
d) You wanted to have my mail-id ? Hey, come on, spill the beans now. See, all your friends are chuckling there.

Ok.. now that is an easy one so I will answer that in the limited time that I have…
You have come up with good options I must say…option d will be the priority 1 ;-)

...followed by b. more specifically, I would say I had nothing specific to post on my blog birthday…


Note-Your interview isn't complete yet. We'll sit for another round very soon. Those who are laughing at you, send them to me to be interviewed.

I would like to extend a warm thanks to you for the 1st special interview I have had…hope u enjoyed it… I know u are mad at me not answering all questions… but some bahana should be there for our next rendezvous also.. ryt???
Thanks a lot…

Amazing Effects of Technology..

I have had some really nice birthday experiences in the past 24 years. But nothing was like the one I had this time on the silver jubilee celebration.
It used to be the landline phones at one time where you waited at 12.00 AM to pick it up quickly so that every one else at home is not disturbed. Then came the mobiles where many times it happens that while talking to someone you see a call waiting and later on you have to dial out to your friend to ‘get’ the wishes. Not that I am complaining. Just that it happens. Sms’es also form an important part. If you are feeling sleepy and your friends phone is busy for long time, just sms him(so that he knows you waited till 12) and then call him in the morning. Well, all that has happened over the years.
But another aspect of communication was added this time. We 4 – 5 friends were chatting across geographies in a conference call through Skype. The call started at around 10.30 and at 12.00 a countdown was marked and a nice Happy Birthday to you song was sung to me by Makhan, Sardar and Trainn…Guys, Thanks very much and 1 suggestion – never try your hands at Indian Idol. Hahahaha..
So in this way technology invaded in my life in one more aspect.
We went on to chat till around 2.30 AM. And guess what we did? All of us got on to the Google Maps and Makhan showed all of us his apartment and office in Dallas. Then we came to India and paid a visit to Sardar’s home and School. Then we carried on to our college and had some samosas in the PEC Market. Well, see the benefits of technology. 4 guys - 2 in Chandigarh, 1 in Gurgaon, 1 in US, visiting college together at 2 in the night. Thank You Google !!!!


Highlight of the Day..err Night..
A Happy Birthday to you song from an old movie was put on repeatedly by Train.
Well, I guess the reason I mention this will only be understood by the 4 guys who happened to be in the conf.

Joke of the Night – Side effects of too much technology
Tanny, a first time Skype user was trying to join the conference call. But Train who was hosting the call was having his dinner so Tan was not able to join the call. Moreover he didn’t have a mike also. So in a different chat window, Sardar and I told Tan to call Train on Mobile and tell him to add Tan in the conf. Tan’s reply came “But I don’t have a mike and I am new on Skype. How should I call him?”
So we said, “Bhai. Call him from your Mobile and tell him to add you”
Tan said “OK”. But then after some time he again asked, “But Train is Offline. How will I call him?”
So sardar and I had a BIG laugh and again wrote, “Tan, call Train’s Mobile Phone from your Mobile Phone. Forget Skype for a moment.”

I don’t know how many of you will find it funny, but we had a ball over this.