When Some Things Go Wrong...

Before I start.......Let me wish all the readers of this blog a

I don’t know if its just a mere coincidence or is it planned by the God above? It’s happening for the second time in a row. We always plan out for a Tour-de-Goa for New Year celebrations and something has to go wrong with greater part of the species of the Animal Kingdom. The last time we planned out… we started out with 9 guys and at the time of departure we ended up with only 3 guys. And those 3 guys included myself, Tarun and Naveen. Rehan and Atul at the last precious moment managed to get a job and we cursed them to hell. This part of the story has become so famous that we have dedicated a post to this story. Click here to have a look at the comedy of errors.

But this time the tables have turned. The trio, who enjoyed in Goa last year have got new assignments. Tarun has been sent overseas to San Diego for his HP project from his company. He is scheduled to return only in the first week of March next year. To know more about his story in Amrika click here. Naveen and myself managed to repeat the performance of Rehan and Atul. Yup!!! This time we got new jobs. Last time we managed to give creepy reasons and escape... but this time we are not gonna approach our new bosses with some weird reasons. We both have already done that performance last year and we don't wish to repeat our Oscar award winning performance again.

But this is not the only reason of canceling out the trip to Goa. The two most excited guys this time who were planning out the Goa trip have made themselves unavailable. The reason???? Rehan managed to perform a stunt on his bike that has landed him on the bed with bruises and a black eye. Nothing serious. And Ali… Uska Kya Kehna!!!! Today he is departing to Hyderabad for his job venture. Happy Journey Ali!!! BYE… BYE… (Say this to the tune to V.I.P. ad jingle). Atul is already out this time coz he has his eyes set on his target. He is planning to give the GATE to enter one of the most esteemed university in the world -- the IIT Bombay. Best of Luck dude. Do well and make us proud!!!

Finally, the last year’s experienced campaigners to Goa have decided to land in Goa for the Goa Carnival, which will be held sometime in March. So, Goa be ready….we are coming again…. And before I conclude this saga of betrayal and frustration…. let me spread a little happiness and joy around.... I will do this by wishing Rehan and Ali … Many Many Happy Returns of the Day… So guys if you want a Shandaar and Jaandaar treat from these 2 guys, rise to your feet and wish them. After all this occasion comes once in a year and the treat comes once in a blue moon.
Here is a tribute to their Tom and Jerry friendship. We all know who is Tom and who Jerry is. Anyone having doubts can have a look at their nanga punga picture again. The smile on Rehan's face says it all. Do I need say more???

P.S. Wishing Rehan a speedy recovery. Saale… Get well soon… We have to rock the 31st night this year. And no more of your bike stunts please. :)

Room Partner

This post is the sequel to my earlier post "The Room". Special apologies to Mr. Arvind Khutkar for divulging his room secrets. No hard feelings !!! Please take this post sportingly. And all my room partners beware!!! You are NEXT!!!

Afer shifting our books and more books and a handful clothes, to our new room, myself and Tarun wondered how are we gonna manage living in this room. The room was so small that I just had to stretch my arms and I had half the room to myself. We racked our brains and came up with some good plans to utilize the room to a maximum extent. We did not want even a inch of space to be wasted. Every inch was precious in our room.

And now we also had to share our precious space with another guy. We did not have to wait long to meet our room partner and it took even less time to befriend him. He mixed with us as salt in water. He stood at 5' 4" and must have weighed at around 45 kgs. He ranked in the top 30 of some biological studies in India. We called him Plant doctor when he was around and Ghas Phus ka doctor behind his back. His name was Mr. Arvind Khutkar.

He was the perfect specimen of a bachelor. You just had to stay with him for one day to find that out. When he got his salary at the start of each month, he would take me and Tarun out for dinner. He spent money like there was no tomorow. As the end of the month neared, he was broke. I still remember those days when he used to go to bed hungry. When we asked him if he wanted us to bring him something, he would decline politely by saying..."I am not hungry"...He believed in the saying... "Dine like a king at the start of the month and starve like a beggar at the end of the month".

Even if Arvind went to bed hungry, he did not fail to apply some face pack on his face. He did that almost every alternate day. He was more metro sexual than Mr. Shahrukh Kkkkkkhan himself. He spent almost one hour in front of a small hand held red mirror every night. He liked to admire his face. I still remember that day when Tarun knocked off that mirror and it shattered to pieces. But, this did not deter the poor guy from admiring himelf in the same broken mirror. Hmmm.. I guess ..Old habits die hard!!!

Even if Arvind was one of the toppers in his college, he did not behave like one. He was a cool guy. He taught us to play guitar. But there was one habit of this guy, which i can recollect even to this day. As everyone knows, we bachelors are lazy bumps. But this habit of Arvind, was the height of laziness. I would suggest: Don't try this at home!!! Whenever he had any paper in hand after eating something, he would simply roll the paper and drop it on the floor. Then, with the talent of Ronaldinho he would kick that roll of paper under the sofa. GOAAAALLLL!!!!!

At the end of the month, there were many such balls in the 'goal'. Long live the unique skills of a talented soccer player.

Animal Kingdom in Water Kingdom

Before I start, special thanks to Orange for making this event possible. I also take this opportunity to apologize Kandu (Arun) for not informing him about this outing. SORRY DUDE!!! And the other guys who missed out were:
Pritam: Various interviews scheduled and a medical test on the cards too
Sanjith: Couldn't convince his boss
Manprit: Tried to convince us instead of his boss

Last Saturday, the animals decided to get away to Water Kingdom - Asia's largest theme Water Park, courtesy Orange. Orange came up with a scheme which distributed free entry passes to its customers. Now, since all of us did not use this service, we decided to do some cheating. And the partners in crime were Tarun, Rehan and Naveen. They arranged for the extra SIM cards and the latest bill statements. Thanks pals... this free trip would not have been possible without you all.

It was decided that the group will meet at Mira Road station at 9 in the morning. For the first time, myself and Tarun got the opportunity of meeting at a convenient place from our homes. As usual, Naveen was the last one to turn up with Anna. Anna and Atul had turned up from their night shifts. Rehan was hungry as usual and so decided to hog in a nearby restaurant. There were two new members joining us this time....Prashant and believe it or not!!!!! Kamzor Kali aka Bawa from Prod.... I guess he cleared the fitness test this time.

The group of 9 soon split into three groups. 5 got into Tarun's car, 2 on Rehan's bike and the other 2 on Bawa's bike. It took us around half an hour to reach our destination. The trip was made more memorable by a small mini train which took us to Water Kingdom.
Getting free entry was easier than we expected. Nobody checked our mobile phones for the SIM cards. Once we were in, we changed to nylon shorts. 6 of us wore the rented ones.

Brrr!!!! This is what happened when we all went under the shower. The water was icy cold. Somehow we got out and headed straight to the Wet Atlantic - the world's biggest wave pool.
After diving and playing with the waves, we headed straight to the 90 degree slide. There are 2 such slides both adjacent to each other. One is bright red and the other bright yellow. The only difference between these two slides apart from the color is its structure. The red slide has a curve and a steep drop while the yellow just has a steep drop. So, when you go down a yellow slide you literally experience free fall. Its one of the most thrilling spine chilling slides. In local language - FAADU. You lie down on the slide on your back, fold your hands to your head, cross your legs and whoosh!!!! Within 5 seconds you descend from a height of a 4 storey building to the ground. Its really difficult to keep your eyes open when you are coming down at such a high speed. Another best part about this yellow slide is there is no queue. You climb up and slide down. No wastage of your precious time. This is the reason we mustered up courage and tried it a second time. This slide is recommended for those you dare to defy gravity and believe in the saying "Time is Money".

(The red and yellow slide is in the background)

After the 90 degree, we tried out a slide known by the name Black Demon. As the name suggests, this slide is a huge black circular pipe and it lives to its reputation. As you slide down screaming at the top of your lungs, you keep awaiting the next turn and the steep curves. Its very much similar to a Black hole which sucks in everything. Every second of the 30 second ride in the Black Demon is full of suspense curves and beware!!!! one steep drop.

After experiencing all the thrills in less than half an hour, we headed to the other 2 slides. I don't remember their real names. We called one Bubbly and the other one Lazy. You can see Bubbly in the above snap. Its dark blue in color. The slide down the Bubbly is so slow that you almost stop midway. In the other slide, you need to use a tube. This slide gives you the feeling as if you are out on a mission. All of us tried out both the slides twice each.

After the Black Demon it was the turn of another thrilling slide. In this slide one had to lie down on the mat on one's abdomen. There are 6 such parallel slides. At the push of the button, the mats are raised and one goes down the slide.... face first.

This was my favorite slide.

The next ride which we were all so excited about was the Adventures Amazonia. Its a stream of 3 rapid rivers. But one was closed down this time. One needs to sit on a tube and then you find yourself drifting down the river. The ride is very bumpy and your bum is literally taken for a ride. This ride was so much fun that we found ourselves in the queue once again. This time we decided to take the second route and make a tube train by each person holding the legs of the other. The ride was more fun this time, with our tube train chugging along the Amazon's bumpy river. We tried out our experiment one more time till we all had enough fun.

Our next destination after enjoying all the slides and the Amazon river was the Rain Dance Discotheque. The DJ was belting out great Bollywood dance tracks. We had a great time grooving and gyrating to the music. It was a experience in itself. After draining all our energy we found ourselves back at the wave pool again. After having a quick snack of samosas and bhutta, we decided to laze around in Drifting River. This river is a never ending loop of slow flowing water. Each one of found a tube and lazed around in the river like rich business tycoons on some 5 star holiday resort. This pool was the perfect place to play pranks on one other by turning the tubes upside down. Poor Ali was the worst sufferer.
After some prank time, it was time to get the body some much needed massage. So, we headed straight to the vibrator pool. The pool was shallow with hardly 6 inches of water. There were some vibrators at the end of the pool. We all lied down in the pool for a soothing massage. The smiling faces in the below picture says it all.
The massage session was soon followed by a quick shower after which, we all left Water Kingdom with clothes on our bodies and a smile on our faces. After reaching Mira Road, we all went to Tarun's house to celebrate his dad's birthday. We even managed to sing a birthday song for him. The cake treat was followed by a dinner at Hotel Western on the Ghodbunder Highway.
(Left-Right): Myself, Rehan, Prashant, Naveen, Tarun, Amit(Bawa), Ali, Atul & Shirish(Anna)

The night stay was planned at Anna's house, as his parents were out of town. And we guys never miss such fantastic opportunities to host a Bachelors' Party. This is what I call.... "A good weekend with even better friends".

Animal Kingdom Rules!!!

The Room

After getting admission in one of the the engineering college in Dombivli, I began my search for a place to stay with a roof on the head somewhere around the college. This was because commuting to and fro from home to college was like a trek everyday. My parents wanted me to be an engineer and not a professional trekker. So, they suggested that I rent a room and stay in Dombivli.

I was thrilled at this idea of staying away from home. Imagine staying in a place far away from your parents. I could do whatever I liked, no one to nag me and living life on my terms. In short, I could live life KINGSIZE.

So, myself and Tarun rented out a room somewhere around Dombivli station. Our room was a secret hideout in itself. The narrow entrance of the building was well concealed by line of shops. Our room was further hidden in the dark alley on the third floor. If it was not for pure observation, you would find it difficult to say that our room even existed.

Our room resembled a pigeon hole and it was divided into two compartments by a hollow wooden partition. The room was painted baby pink. Each compartment of the room had a balcony. But the balcony served no purpose as it opened just within a handshaking distance opposite to our adjacent building. The buiding was not painted in years and wore a dull gray cement color.

The kitchen in our room was sort of a stock room with the tin drums neatly stacked along the length of a wall. The room wore a dark and smelly look. I could sense the mice peeping around from their holes.

The loo was in bad condition too. There were muddy footprints all over the floor. The sparrows had made their nest here too. Now, imagine your private place being invaded by someone.

It is not all. You are yet to meet my and Tarun's room partner. He was my first ever room partner. You will meet him in my new post. Till then..... keep guessing.

Amul - the Ads of India

Baaaju!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now its time for women to step aside.... coz.... the fairer sex is being ignored and men are being wooed in the beauty industry.... for the first time in the history of the mankind...

Com'on gals!!! We men need to change with time.... No!! No!! I am not praising the new "Fair and Handsome" fairness cream for men launched by Emami ... In fact, this is what Amul has come up with .....

This is what I like about the Amul ads..... Their ads are not just a source of amusement but they also make us aware of the controversies surrounding us....Somehow they always manage to bring a smile on the faces of people.... All the credit for this utterly butterly girl goes to Mr. Sylvester daCunha, the then managing director of an advertising agency, ASP, in the late 1960s.....

From the late sixties to this day... Amul ads have come a long way.... What continues to amaze me is the catchy lines they use..... Hats off to all the brains behind the Amul ads for coming up with something new every time.....In fact, Amul is ready to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for being the longest running ad campaign ever....

I am a big fan of Amul ads... Its my dream to make such fantastic ads..... May my dream come true.... Amen...

P.S. All the guys who want to get amused can click here. I promise you wont be disappointed...

And the Oscar goes to...

The recent Indian film sent to the Oscars seems a Paheli to many.... It has raised hue and cry from each and every corner of the country. The choice of the jury members is being dissected by all the movie buffs across the nation. I don't understand what this brouhaha is all about. What difference does it make if we fail to win an Oscar? And why the hell should we be worried about winning an Oscar??

How does one decide that Oscar is the best award one can get for his contribution in making a film?? What makes us think so?? Let us face the facts....

Hindi film industry is the largest film industry in the world. Hindi films are watched by millions of people in the Asian subcontinent and the craze is being caught in U.K. and other European countries as well... On the other hand Hollywood movies are watched by a selected few... No one can compare the audience level of these two film making industries.... The Hindi film industry has half the world as its audience...

No doubt... the quality of films produced by Hollywood supersede those made by Indian film makers... Also many of the Hollywood movies are remade shamelessly by the Indian film makers....But the point is ... why should the Hindi film makers vie for an Academy award when the Hollywood audience hardly acknowledges the efforts put by other film makers outside U.S.A.... I just want to make my point... "We don't need Oscars to prove that we make good films to the West...." Don’t you agree??

Let your Hair Down

It’s been a long time since I have heard the musical sound of scissors chopping my hair. Yes, this time I am growing my mane. I never thought I will be growing my hair at any point in my life. But yes.... I did want to go bald once .... Just imagine the cool breeze blowing and soothing your bald palate....

I always wanted my palate to be shiny and so dreamt of applying lots of oil on my shaved head to make it shine like a sun in the clear sky.... I wanted that shimmering effect... But alas!!! My dream never materialised......

After joining a call center I met a guy called Jai.... He was a kind of guy who had this mischevious smile and believe me... he lived to his reputation.... I bonded with him pretty soon... I guess thats the reason they say.. "Birds of a feather flock together"..... I always love doing Keedas....

Now, Jai with his pony tail looked like a perfect punter on the prowl for doing that Keeda Masti...He was the one who inspired me to to grow one pony myself..... But then there was a problem.... my hair is curly... its like a dog's tail... No matter what you do.. it always wanders in direction of its own...... So, I was about to give up this idea of growing my hair but then decided against it....

Months passed and my long hair came under severe criticism.... everyone from my family members to my friends had an opinion on it...... My mom was the one who I feared the most..... After all she had warned me.... "Denzil... you tie a pony once and it will be easier for me to chop that pony off....."

Poor me!!!! I was scared.... had night mares at night....What if my mom really did that... "Main toh kisi koh apne Baal dikhane layak nahi rahoonga"....... Thank God... she did not do that.... It's been close to 8 months now.... I have visited the barber only once during this period....and this is how I would have looked if I had been to the barber....


Now... its become a trend for the guys to grow their hair.... You can find such long haired guy species in any of the call centers...... Its very typical for any call center guy to have long hair.... Most of them are in the race to grow their hair just to get that rockstar look...

My new hairdo has even earned me a new nic name from my manager .. "CURLY" ... Tell you what??? My manager is jealous of my long curly hair (ghane mulayam kale baal).... You know why??? Simple... I think you guessed it right....

P.S. I charge nominal fees for featuring in Shampoo advertisements.

Game Over...

Cricket may be your religion and Sachin may be your God..... but I don't like your religion and I dont like your God.... I dont care what you think about me and I dont care a damn...

No.. I am not insane.... I may sound very sarcastic... but then that is what i feel about this game taught to us by the Englishmen..... Cricket according to me is nothing but pure waste of time and money....

People shirk work for watching a cricket match on the television..... Hockey is our national game.... but even then the focus is always on cricket.... All the other games like Football, Hockey, Athletics take a beating....

You may have your own views about cricket.... For you it may be the greatest game ever played... But i just dont love this game... When India wins a cricket match..there are celebrations all around... But did you ever pause and think... "How many nations play this game?" Hardly 12.... And despite of that.... India is not the No. 1.... Just look at the population of India.... How many medals do we win in Olympics??? One every four years... After winning a lone medal... we all feel proud.... Have you ever thought why do other countries with a population half than ours like France, UK, Germany win so many medals??? It is because in India...all the youngsters want to grow up and become Sachin Tendulkars or Rahul Dravids...... but no one ever dreams of winning a gold medal in Olympics for our country????

Com'on India... wake up... its time for us to promote other games... Have a look at other Indians who are making their mark in other sports....


Watch out for Narain Karthikeyan....nick named "Fastest Indian in the world".. he drives a F1 car.... the first Indian to do so... considering the fact... there are only 20 seats in the world... he is among the top 20.... and he is also the first Indian to score 5 F1 points... and one of the best debut drivers having a good season...





Watch out for Sania Mirza... she plays Tennis.... is the first Indian to break into the top 50....currently ranked 34th.... and has the potential to break into top 10... has a big (both male and female) fan following.....

Watch out for Anju George.... She is a long jumper..... Has won a bronze medal in World Athletic Championships.... she is also the first Indian athlete ever to win a medal in a major international competition.... she achieved this distinction when she won a medal in Paris...

Now guys.. did you realize.... what did you miss out... you missed out these guys making their debuts and making it BIG..... now just keep a watch on them.... you dont know... when they will say... "CRICKET ----- GAME OVER"

One Night at the Call Center...

When the city dozes off at night.... a small section of the city starts working.... No..no.. I am not talking about the FBI.... the secret agents... the terrorists..or the Gurkhas.... I am talking about a new generation of youngsters who work in the call centers.....

Working in the call centers implies working with the overseas clients.... the work pressure is high..and the probability of losing your cool inversely proportional to the IQ level of the person on the other side of the call... I would like to describe one of the interesting conversations that took place when I was working in a call center....

Note: All the names have been changed to protect identity and embarrassment

Me: Hello, my name is Denzil. I am a help desk engineer for Microsoft process. How may I assist you?

Julia: Hi.... I am unable to hear any audio on my computer. I don't know what the problem is....

Me: Thank you for describing me the issue, Julia. Before we proceed to resolve this issue, can I ask you a few questions?

Julia: Oh Sure, Denzil. Ask me what you want to.

Me: Thank you Julia. Can you tell me since when are you facing this issue?

Julia: It happened right after I installed that damn SP2.

Me: Okay, Julia, it seems that your sound drivers are not updated. We need to update them.

Julia: Okay, lets do it.

Me: So Julia, do you have the audio driver CD with you right now?

Julia: I think I do. Just wait a sec till I get them.

Me: Sure, Julia.

(After 2 mins)

Julia: I got them. Can you tell me where do we insert the CDs in the computer?

(I was shocked... What???? She doesn't know where to insert the CDs.... or is she kidding???)

Me ( with a puzzled look and tone) : Julia, do you see the CD-ROM in the tower? (A Tower is the CPU cabinet)

Julia: No. What do you mean by that?

Me (confused like a kid in the streaptease bar): Okay, Julia. Do you see a small push-button on the tower? when you click that, a tray is ejected. This tray is the CD-ROM.

Julia (in an icy cool tone): Oh.... I know this Denzil.

Me (letting out a sigh of relief): So we need to put the audio driver CD in this tray.

Julia (with arogance): I can't do this Denzil. I can't.

Me (with WTF look on my face) : May I know the reason, Julia?

Julia (in a cute childish tone): That is because it is my Coffee Cup holder.

Me (banging my head on the wall): SOMEBODY STOP ME!!!!

Talk to Me!!!

The war is ON!!! Its really ON!!! Never before it was so easy to stay in contact with friends..... But now... with the launch of a new Messenger... Google Talk things seem to have changed...... After all the big name messengers were blocked by my company firewall..... finally I can chat with my friends again.... I was sick of that IP Messenger.....









As we all know, MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger are the two big daddies of the internet messenger world. Rediff Bol is a just another new born.

Well, when I started chatting, mIRC was the hot favourite among youngsters like me.... Then slowly, I shifted my loyalty towards MSN. Chatting on MSN Messenger was fun because I could invite my friends in a conference.... Later on..I began to like Yahoo. It was because when none of my friends were online..I could go into one of the chat rooms and have fun chatting with complete strangers from different parts of the world....

After chatting with my friends, here are my some of my observations about the chat machines we use today:

Name : MSN Messenger 7.0
Why Yes: Winks which occupy half the screen, Messages can be sent in one's handwriting
Why No: No chat rooms

Name : Yahoo Messenger 7.0
Why Yes: Indian Audibles, Launchcast Radio, Stealth Settings
Why No: Bad Conferencing facility

Name : Rediff Bol 7.0
Why Yes: Indian Chat rooms
Why No: Dhinchak Skins (Purple...Eeks)

Name : Google Talk (BETA)
Why Yes: Cute interface, Small in size (Size does matter)
Why No: No invisible mode, No conferencing

But I must say that Google Talk is the best of all the messengers available today..... Its because it has a cute interface.... and it looks cho chweet!!!! Also, it can be hidden any time when your boss comes around for his usual rounds..... But I would like to add some featues to Google Talk like the Mr. India mode.... I mean..the Invisible Mode..... Also, the addition of the conference facility will be an added advantage.....

So guys.... if you have not yet downloaded Google Talk ....what are you waiting for???? Click on the link and start talking..... I mean chatting...

Yeh Jodi Hai No. 1

Whenever I think of dedicating a song to my friends.... the 2 songs that come to my mind are: "Yeh Dosti...." from the film Sholay..... and "Dil Chahta Hai...." from Dil Chahta Hai itself..... The message that both songs convey is the same..... "Friendship is everything..... We laugh... We cry (to be frank...Boys don't cry.... I put this word..just to rhyme) We fight.... but the next moment we are still friends..... and we are always united..."

This is what friendship is all about...... Sharing...Caring.... Enjoying each other's company.... Fighting..... Having fun..... Bitching ( yup.... if you girls think..its your domain...you are all mistaken).... Playing..... Planning trips and ditching at the last moment ( Remember..GOA)..... Planning trips and going together ( Alibaug).... Partying (Bandra).... making a Bakra out of someone (Ali).... watching movies (First Day... any show)...... Bunking lectures together..... catching the same local train..... taking admission in the same engineering classes..... ordering the same food in the restaurant ( so that nobody steals food from your plate).....

But here is a pair from our Animal Kingdom..which was always inseparable....

On 9th of this month (August) ---- KANDU the guy in Italian T-shirt (made in India) celebrated his birthday.... and today (18th August) ... THAKUR the guy in Blue T-shirt is celebrating his birthday..... Well, these are not their real names.... Yeh to hum unhe pyaar se bulate hain.....

Hey guys.... WISHING THAKUR MANY MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY!!!!! and KANDU....BELATED HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY.... Now, Thakur (Ameya) is leaving for the USA next week for his further studies..... Best of LUCK.... dude...... Wahan jaake desh ka naam roshan karna!!!!!

Independence Day ... We the people

Happy Independence Day to all the Indians in India and Indians in other countries as well!!!!!

I had no intention of writing a post on Independence day..and believe me....this is not a post on Independence day..... All of us know what Independence day is all about.... for us teenagers its just another holiday to freak out with our friends.... By the time we get up on this day.... the flags would have been hoisted... the national anthems would have been sung... the Prime Minister would have given his speech ( most of us are still confused whether its the PM or is it the President who gives the speech at the Red Fort on this historic day)

Well... do you remember when was the last time you sung the national anthem??? No... (Besharmi ki bhi haddh hoti hai yaar!!!) .... I too dont remember..but i think it was when i was in 10th standard.... maybe... I am not sure....

Ok... lets forget all this.... Tell me how many of you know the national symbols of India??? No..no...no.. this is not a quiz.... I am just checking your general knowledge... There are just six National Symbols ...

1. National Flag
2. National Emblem
3. National Animal
4. Natinal Bird
5. National Tree
6. National Flower

Just scratch your brains for a while... i.e. if you have one.... Else you can cheat and look at the answers below.... The answers are :

1. National Flag --- Tiranga (The simplest one... those who failed chullu bhar paani mein doob jao)

2. National Emblem --- Three lions visible and fourth one hidden from view ( Check out the cover page of your passport or if you dont have one... borrow a coin from your Dad)

3. National Animal --- Tiger ( Its not Lion or Elephant as some of you thought)

4. Natinal Bird --- Peacock ( White Dove is a peace symbol you nut!!!)

5. National Tree --- Banyan ( Not Ashoka yaar.. whats the matter with you??)

6. National Flower --- Lotus ( You will only think of Roses... all you romantic types)

Now that I have shared so much knowledge with you guys..... Do me a favour... Write down these answers on a sheet of paper 10 times and paste it on your bedroom wall...

That will make sure you never forget this!!!!

Life in 944 mm

It seemed like a normal boring day at work....... I was working as usual inside my air-conditioned office .... unaware of the outside world..... suddenly my friends started complaining that their mobile service provider Orange was out of network.... I whipped my cell out of the pocket.... Thank God Airtel was working....

Rumours started making rounds that there was water logging everywhere...... This was enough to make me stop my work.... it was not because I was worried how to get home..... but it was out of sheer excitement.......

Finally, we decided to stay back in office and spend our night here..... I was not new to this idea..I have stayed back in office a couple of times before.... the only difference being this time I had company to stay back and no work pressure..... YIPPIE..... I thought this wil be a night to remember.... 26th July 2005...

But my hopes were dashed.... not because my Manager loaded me with work.. but because one of my friend... (should I name him...should I not)..TARUN.... was feeling sleepy.... Rest followed suit.... My other colleagues were watching the most acclaimed film of the year SARKAR

I had already watched it... had nothin else to do... so thought.... maybe I can finish off my pending work... yup this is Denzil....workin when no one else is.....I worked till 3:30 in the morn..and then dozed off in my chair...

I did not know how three hours flew by...Tarun, Pratichi and myself got up early in the morning (6:30)and walked all the way to the BEST bus stop... the bus frequency was bad....and the buses were crowded as if it was 6:30 in the evening... So gave up the idea of catching the bus... Walking all the way was the last thing on our minds....(LazyBums!!!)

Thanks for Pratichi and another girl... a kind lady offered a lift in her QUALIS ... It was a ride I will never forget... We saw some amazing sights on the way.....2 feet fish crossing the concrete road...(Beleive me ...I am not exaggerating)..... Cars parked in the Aarey Jungle.... looking as if they are coming out of the jungle... a 10 feet ditch right in the center of the road.... I wish I had the digital camera to capture these moments...

Well.... by now everyone knows the hardships...the island city Mumbai had to go through.... This picture says it all....




944mm rain in a single day.. a record of some sorts.... well, I want to thank all the people who helped us to reach home safely... and all the people who helped each other when help was needed the most... Long Live ....Mumbaikars!!!

Good Old Days

It just seems like yesterday...... But its been a year now that we friends have graduated from the college..... We have cursed the college and the crowd out there.. we have cursed the professors....the staff... the building... the principal.. everyone I can remember.......

On the last day of the college life ... I can vividly remember the date... 27th May 2004..... (How can one forget that day in his life???) ....... it was the last day of our college as well as our tough engineering life..... We all were on Cloud Nine......

We clicked a group photo that day in the college campus..... When I was going through my old mails..... luckily I found that photo yesterday...... Here is it for you to see.... Its one of the rarest photos in my album......

Lemme name the guys in the photo....coz everyone has changed now except for couple of them....
Standing (from Left to Right).... Parag (hiding behind me) , Myself , Cedric (with his trademark Cap), Nirav (with his elbow resting on my shoulder), Atul (the happiest one), Ameya (with his hand in the air), Vinay (serious. must be thinkin about the results), Anil ( matured gentleman pose), Manisha (yeh naya rang kaunsa hai???) , Sheetal
Kneeling or Sitting (Figure it out yourselves)(From Left to Right)... Abhijit (our Shahrukh), Shirish, Manprit ( Sardar with all 32 teeth on display) and last but not the least Ali (Yeh Kya Ho Raha Hai??)

This pic brings back my college memories... some good and some bad... Bad memories are meant to be forgotten and the good ones to be cherished forever....

Alibaug Adventures

Whenever you do something silly, you must have often heard people saying... "Alibaug se aaya hai kya??"..... Well, I often thought what was so different about the people in Alibaug.... Then finally I got a chance to see them... Yes.... the species of the Animal Kingdom decided to the visit the so called happening place in the monsoons....ALIBAUG...

Majority of us were going there for the first time.... so we were all excited as usual... We hired a Scorpio coz we knew Nothin else will do..... We literally had a blast in the SUV.... The songs on the CD player were played to defy the decibel limits..... The hot favourites were the "Dus.... Just Chill.... and Kevin Little's Turn me On"....

The journey was fun all the way.... As soon as we reached Alibaug.... the hungry wolves in our bellies started howling... But as our luck would have it... all the hotels were closed.... but our hungry eyes spotted a small eatery...named Hotel Akshay...

The hungry pack settled in the seats and started deciding what should be eaten to satisfy the hunger....then finally the lone waiter showed up saying that only Keema Pav and Bhurji Pav was available... The orders were given... and the poor waiter started dashing in and out of the kitchen.... the plates full of food disappeared with the speed with which he got them..... the hotel manager had to go to the market coz all the pavs in the hotel got over.... Can u beleive that??? .... after filling our stomachs..... we went ahead and finally got a place to spend the night in a small bungalow....near the Kihim Beach.....

As it was early evening...we played a game of football on the beach..it was Reds Vs Blacks.... The match was similar to Brazil Vs India Soccer Match... The Brazilians here were the Reds...The teams were so named coz of the colour of the apparels worn....I dont want to get into the details of naming the players...

Finally after challenging our stamina.... some guys went to the market to get some samaan and the rest stayed back..... The night was Fultoo Dhamal... AWe made a bakra out of someone... I dont want to name that guy...While he was dozing off..... dreaming.... We just gave that guy a toothpaste massage on his body....and then we also clicked some photographs.... the poor guy had to take a bath at 3:45 in the morning....

After the mission was accomplished..we went back to sleep.... Woke up in the morning.... went to the beach for a stroll and then started our journey back home.... The return journey was fun too.... We got down from the Scorpio a couple of times to click some nice photographs....
The exciting weekend was utilised to the maximum extent possible... and finally the Animal Kingdom returned to its Jungle.....

No Smoking!!!

Suddenly the air seems less polluted... there has been drop down in the suphates floating in the air.... No it is not because of the rains... It is because many youngsters have stopped aping our HEROS on screen...and as a result stopped SMOKING WHAT A JOKE!!!

According to a recent law passed by the Censor Boards... the characters are not allowed to smoke on the screen...If they do smoke then a message should be flashed on the screen saying "Smoking is Injurious to Health". According to the Government the youngsters smoke coz their idols on screen do so...

I don't agree with this new rule... It is not because I smoke... In fact I have never smoked in my life and I hate Passive smoking... But even then I want to ask you whether you think this new rule will bring down the smoking rate??? I don't think so...

What do you think about all the action movies where the Hero kills the Villian and thrashes the goons coz they did injustice to him and his family when he was a small kid... Doesn't this influence the youngsters to take up Guns and kill their enemies????

What about the Item Numbers they show on screen??? Doesn't it tempt the youth to visit dance bars??? Is this less harmful than smoking???

I think the Government just wants some cheap publicity.... If it is really concerned about Smoking.... then let them hike the taxes levied on Cigarretes and other forms of tobacco... What Say???

The Birthday Boy

On this day.... many many years ago.... .... an Animal was born in the jungles of Animal Kingdom...... He was named SHIRISH -- meaning Flower or Rain Tree .... (name meaning courtesy -- Google ).

So the ANIMAL KINGDOM wishes Shirish MANY MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY!!!

May you inaugrate your new venture "ANNA's -- THE BAR" soon.....

Now comes the question everyone was waiting for..... "WHEN IS THE PAAARRRTTTTYYYYY???"