Together we are strong

Pre-requisite to read this:
1. Take off that unseen lense you are putting on, it could be saffron, green or blue or any color for that matter.
2. Try to be as neutral as you can while reading this. Else there are very high likely chances that you end up tagging me with certain parties or hindu/mulsim, or majority/minority bla bla

I am shocked to see the social media and electronic media these days, we are constantly bombarded with hidden agendas from the people who are on the pay role of our political parties. The kind of posts, tweets and programs I see all are trying to divide us, polarize us, scare us. I am not saying this is something new, ofcourse its age old but its intensity and volume on mass media has increased like never before. Our political leaders (past, present and future) have figured out better means to program our minds now.

Any incident, be it rape or murder is presented in all the colors saffron, green, blue etc on media.
Based on our current programming and inclination we choose the one and believe it to be true.

Certainly it is beyond our capacity to stop these mighty forces. So all I choose is to stay away from brain washing and look out in my immediate neighborhood instead of social/electronic media. Well, I am glad to see there is still harmony around but..... not sure how long this will last. Say not to brain washing

Cheers!
MSK

Few tips for B1 visa interview

Key points for preparation:

1. As VO can hardly spend 5-10 mins for interview (it mite go long in seldom cases) so it becomes extremely important to choose your words and thus your answers very carefully.

2. Prepare well on questions like "purpose of the visit" and "duration", for former question if possible write it clearly and memorize it, cause at times you mite feel quite anxious the moment when you face the VO hence better to memorize, but please dont look artificial.

3. Be confident and present yourself as confident, cause your impression on VO also matters a lot.

4. Be in synch with the information you had given in your DS -160 form.

Key expectations of VO before approving B1:

1. VO expects that you’r a genuine candidate for B1.

2. VO expects that you will come back to your country once your purpose of visit is done.

A right preparation.. that is all you need to bag your opportunity.. best of luck and fly safe :)

PS: Travelling guidance for those who has interview in Mumbai.

Most of the taxi/riksha drivers know BKC (Bandra kurla complex) but they mite not know US consulate office, so it is better for you to have an idea of the locations.

For OFC: It will be in "Trade Center" this building is towards the end of BKC.

For Interview: It will be in G block which is near hotel Trident, any driver would know about hotel Trident if not ask anybody over there.

Cheers!
MSK

Social-Network-ly Responsible

With the increased number of incidents like Shaheen's comment on Balasaheb on Facebook which created havoc in her n her friend's life, a comment in Twitter on P. Chidambarm by a Pondichery guy who was arrested by police and last year some one form WB sent to jail for commenting on Mamata Banarjee and there are several other not-so-popular incidents  which are making it quite clear that its high time to realize that… along with being socially responsible one should also learn to be social-network-ly responsible.

I am not at all judging what these people commented on social network was ryt or wrong, that is not the point the point is now these social networks has a vast reach, earlier whatever I said on these networks was only among my friends and my groups but now saying anything against politicians  against the communities or against any individual for that matter is like publishing it in Times of India, every one under the sun has has a reach to it.

Well,  I am finally learning to toned down my temptation to comment on anything which is against anyone ... at least publicly!!!... however the gossips and the un-yielding discussions about system continues over a tea with friends but not over network ;)

Happy FBing :)

We miss u Sachin!!!

The man who epitomes God himself, The greatest genius cricketing world has ever seen, The cricketer with mammoth records,  The king of centuries, The man who single handedly won several matches for team India,  The most loved and worshiped celebrity of India, The man who absorbed pressure of 1 billion expectations, The man who ruled the international cricket for two decades,..... has called-it-off!!!!

I think  Mayan calendar was right in way, for 1 billion cricket fans its nevertheless an End of the world indeed!!!

We miss u Sachin!!!!!

Gayle Vs Malinga

For SL its d now-or-never opportunity to break their world cup final jinx and grab the title at home. For Windies its time to bring back their glorious past.

Now the entire T20 tournament boils down to a simple equation… The current best T20 batsman (Gayle) Vs the current best T20 bowler (Malinga).

The one who holds his nervous and successfully convince his own mind that he is better than the other best.... will have the last laugh.

Looking forward for an existing match.... :)

M$K 

Happening or Making?

From past few days this question was lingering in mind

Love really JUST-HAPPENS or WE-MAKE-IT-HAPPEN?

Going by our bollywood movies which heavily sells the former idea that somewhere someone spl is made for u and one fine day u happen to meet.. and from that moment ur love at first sight takes off (sounds interesting)
well, it can happen perhaps @ one point of time all of us might have felt that ahhaa moment in our life.
Infact few of us went ahead with that relationship and very few of us converted in to life-time-commitment but many of them went in vain.

This is where MSK-VANI poses the question, if he has found his love-of-life or soulmate then why should it go in vain?
And this is where we "WE-MAKE-IT-HAPPEN" comes into picture.
The JUST-HAPPENS can give u an exciting start and all those butterfly-in-stomach feelings and we make the bond instantly with the person but....... is it enough to hold on to a relationship? mind u..we human are fickle minded so does our Rships.

As they say talent can only fetch u rewards till ur school days or till under-19 events, if u really want to be a pro or to be truly successful then we should look upto WE-MAKE-IT-HAPPEN attitude... with our commitment n dedication we need to nurture our talent CONSISTENTLY then only it can make difference in our lives else you will remain school-days-champ for rest of ur life.

Applying the same funda to love I guess I found my answer ..... u just cant relay on JUST-HAPPENs sort of love, WE-MAKE-IT-HAPPEN should be in place to make it a successful love.

Well I wont think twice to go step forward and utter: @times WE-MAKE-IT-HAPPEN sort of love alone is strong enough to withstand d storm, where as JUST-HAPPENs sort of love cant do it alone and ......storms r obvious in any long term Rshpis...mind it!!

Happy Love making :)
MSK

Identical Valentine days?

I think its more than couple of years, may be ever since this UPA is in power (well, as everyone is after UPA ryt from inflation to corruption let me blame them for this too) my V’days have became identical , be it 2010 feb 14 or 2011 feb 14 n now 2012 feb 14…. No difference!!!.

I don’t remember when was the last time I had been to Archies gallery or booked flowers or gifts online.

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But lately I realized that not having a particular valentine on given Vday has been more interesting than having a FIXED ONE!!!

Infact these were much more unidentical Vdays than the previous one.

Now the possibilities are wide open, u r free to see a valentine in the girl next door to you or the girl who sits just behind your cubicle or the girl U met in FB last nite or also sometimes the girl with whom u shared a seat for a while (thanks to Indian railways and shared rikshas :))

It could be annnyyy one and…that’s the FUN.

I think I found my new mantra for this Vday….” Be terribly crazy and have fun ” ;)

Happy Vday!!

MSK

My first hunt -- Part 3 -- A Never Ending Saga

It’s been couple of months for my first hunt but it is still haunting me!!!

Since then I came across few more proposals and now finding it hard to keep on denying without any specific excuse, even my favorite savior line “I need some time” seems to be helpless these days.

And at last, bro said, dude set a deadline soon.

Al right!! Here I go with my favorite panel of I, me and myself for a brainstorming session.

Well, from long time it’s been a standard process for me to take my long term decisions by either fast forwarding or going backward to 5 years from now.

Fast forwarding myself to next 5 years:

Five years down the line will I be happily involved with someone for the rest of my life? Will I prefer to be more responsible? And will I still prefer the chick chase and single hood?.
Mmmm….Not sure.

Al right let me try the backward process:

When was just done with my Engineering and was about to start my professional life. Getting into a 9-6 job for 5 days a week for a highly disorganised freak like me looked like a daunting life style, but if I would have backed out at that time I would not have grown in my life.

Just to convince myself I went 5 more years back:

When was aiming to do my engineering having studied in kannada medium for 10 years and all of a sudden expected to study all those dry engineering subjects in English looked an impossible task (as I was scared with English  ) but I just took it up and managed to get an engineering degree and surprisingly with an affinity for English language.

Hmmm……Looks like these two backward analogies are striking the cord.

At least they made me to think over whether I am really running away from the next challenges of my life? Am I not willing to get in to the next phase of life only because it seems daunting and demanding?

May be right now I don’t have any clear answer, and I can’t stop pondering unless I deduce the one .

Hope one fine day I will deduce my answer and may come up with a last part of this post “My first Hunt” but till then let my hunting blog keep you haunting, best of luck :)

My first hunt -- Part 2 -- I need some time

I was just making myself comfortable in the back seat of gaddi (I needed to relax badly after getting rid of those (20*2) + eyes) bro whispered again “So….?”

Immediately same question popped up from mom too “So beta…?” and obviously I repeated the same to myself …so what??? And a complete blankness followed in.

You know, I am a typical Gemini, very indecisive may be more than a typical geminate but for that moment I survived with my favourite saviour line “I need some time”.

Finally, I set a meeting with I, me and myself to take a decision on this.

Nope I could not figure out a single advantage (apart from ONE obvious ;) ) besides could see hell lot of negatives if say yes to this, just not this any alliance for that matter.

Just to count few

1.The very thought of sharing my rest of life with someone else sounds so freaky! And mind you she is still a stranger to me so its more freakier.

2.COMMITMENT!!!! If I say yes to her it obviously means stop chasing/flirting/staring other girls. Then the very purpose for hanging out with friends on the weekends in malls, pub and canteen is lost.... inshort the fun is lost.

3.I should bid good bye to my hard earned freedom and happy days of single hood, I think single hood is the only phase of our life which truly and only belongs to ourselves.

4.Now I should start living my life as per her wish, I hate this part the most.

5.Be accountable for your where-abouts and how-abouts for 24/7.

6.This one is the killer ....You have to buy two new cell phones (Preferably reliance with R to R free since you’re the one to pay the bills) and gift one to her. Now every day… literally ever day log in to call as soon as you get up and continue to be logged in while your working and wait.. u r not done yet...call goes as long as your day is on :( .

Do I need all this??? …..NOPE, clearly no, (very seldom I get clear answers when I set a meeting with I, me and myself).

So I mustered my courage and said to mom “mom say no to them, I can’t get into this.” (And how can I get away without using my favorite line) “Mom,I NEED SOME TIME”.

As usual this line worked and I managed to get escape from my first hunt.

My first hunt --- Near death experience

Finally after a long pursuit of one of our close family friend I agreed to meet his family friends daughter for the alliance (back in my mind was excited after seeing her photo :) )

PART - I

Before getting into their home Big B whispered ”Don’t be nervous dude” and that was enough to shake my confidence :(

Amused (Horrified) to see some 20+ people and later get to know that many of them are their relatives specifically came to SEE ME!!!!, huh!! when some (20*2)+ eyes are on you, you will become damn conscious, you cannot be your own and certainly turn stupid with your words and acts.

After waiting for a long the to-be-bride arrived with best possible make up available. I was not even comfortably having her glance due to these (20*2)+ eyes, but to be candid in the last 5 years I have mastered the art of peeping girls, “Hmmm…cool” that was my 1st unexpressed expression when I saw her.

At the final H-hour we both were let to talk or rather exchange few questionnaires.
Out of complete nervousness we greeted each other, I mustered my courage and said “Please don’t be nervous”. She might have said 'look whose talking', if she has sensed my nervousness.

Well, in that short span of 10 mins in which you are suppose to decide your spouse (or ur future MASTER) I ended up asking very dumb questions like what’s your qualification and occupation etc, which I already I knew!. In the last 2 mins she too completed the same formality about asking same Qs to me and TIMES UP!!!!

....... (has)To be continued................

Thanks to Team India and Anna Hazare

I am pretty glad to witness two back to back events of patriotism in just past two weeks

1.Team India bagging world cup after 28 years has certainly lifted the spirit of nation, it may sound irrational but such a victory will surely act as a confidence booster to billion plus people.

2.Anna Hazare’s anti corruption movement, though this X army man has executed several such movements before, what makes this one so special is the magnificent response he received especially from the youth and the media. It certainly talks volumes about the new citizens of India.

I think leaves are changing and India is all set for it’s spring time… Jai Ho

M$K

Five reasons why men in blue should deliver their best performance of their life on 2nd April 2011

1. Cricket is a religion in India and I don’t think there is any other way to set EUPHORIA for all the 1.21 billion people or 17% of the human beings with that single moment.

2. Common guyz Its been 28 years we won the world cup, this nation has given so much to this game and it can’t wait more than this.

3. The greatest player this game ever produced, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar who steered you and your team to the victory for innumerable times when you were in crisis, is asking for it, perhaps this the last time he will be playing with you for this only unaccomplished glory of his career.

4. A one such victory in 1983 made this game so popular in India, just imagine what it can lead to with second world cup in its kitty.

5. We never know when you are gonna play your next world cup in India again, and that to be the finals.

It will be a joy of heaven winning infront of home crowd, winning in Mumbai winning in INDIA

Team India, this is the moment to bleed your life and become immortal.

Best of luck

M$K

Return of the prince….. but as a King

The man who was struggling with injuries and was going through the worst form of his life, who almost thought of quitting his cricketing career has now bounced back as a real champion, who is the frontrunner of man of the series and is certainly the triumph card for team India in WC 2011.

Way back when Yuvraj Sing scored a quick fire of 84 off 82 balls against mighty Aussyz in his second ODI in 2000 media adored him and hail him as the prince of team India, and apparently Yuvi played like a real prince but he remained a prince even after 11 years of his cricketing career with his flamboyance attitude. Somewhere down the line he refused to grow to the next level, he was floating in his past glory and success and consequently lost his form.

Now the same media ridiculed him, he went through a roughest patch of his life, he saw the worst humiliation when his own fans were addressing him as “Water man” when he was an extra player in the squad.

During this rough patch Yuvi held his ground amidst all the humiliation with sheer grit and learnt his lessons.

Now with more sensibility and maturity in his game he bounced back as a great match winner.

The point here MSK-Vani wants to convey is Life is not sadist and it doesn’t throw adversities to you just like that, it wants you to learn and grow to the next level of life by defeating those adversities.

Remember whenever we meet a real tragedy or adversity in life we can choose to react in two ways either by losing hope and falling into self destructive habits and thus making the situation more worst or by simply using the challenge to find our inner strength to raise to the occasion.

Any time, Choice is ours!!!!

M$K

My top five events of world cup so far

1.Ind Vs Aus: India beating three time world champions and setting a semi final against their arch rivals, its double bonanza!

2.Ind Vs England: Super close match so far in the tournament, total of 600+ runs scored in a single match.

3.England Vs West Indies: England bowlers fighting hard their way to snatch victory when they almost lost the match against w Indies.

4.Pakistan Vs New Zeeland: Swashbuckling performance by Ross Taylor scoring 90+ runs in last five over. Pure entertainment.

5.Ind Vs South Africa: One of the strong batting team losing their 9 wickets merely for 29 runs and how can one forget Nehra’s last over!

How about yours?

Paying Attention to attention

As usual today also I turned off my alarm assuming it as yet another week day.
And very lately I realised when I reached VT (Victoria Terminal) that am not on my bed and itz Indian Railway’s Sleeper class upper birth!! Thanks to my co-passenger who woke me up saying Dost last top aagaya.

Due to my sound sleeping habits instead of getting down at Thane I landed on VT at Sunday 5am!
And to my dismay there wasn’t any immediate local to return to Thane 
So had ample amount of time to spend at VT, within my 5mins of waiting I got bored to the core.

I decided to enroot to marine lines instead of waiting for local train, it is one of my fav place in Mumbai and I never had an opportunity to be there before sunrise (thanks to my brilliant sleeping habits).
Hired a taxi and kicked off my journey, seems I was pretty much hooked with boredom, realised sitting all alone in taxi too so boring, having said that there are many interesting things can be done in taxi provided u have a good company ;)

Just to kill my boredom I asked Taxiwala to turn on the music and must say these Mumbai taxiwalas have good sense of music, Kishore da was singing aanewala pal jaane wala hai ho sake to isme zindagi bitaloo, the last two words caught my attention and I started my dissection on zindagi bitaloo.

I was wondering what actually zindagi bitaloo means. At physical level it could be merely breathing in n breathing out, so looking at mental level what does it really mean?

Was drilling through my knowledge accumulated from past 2.5 decades and finally came up with an answer for zindagi bitaloo and to my surprise the answer was giving thought or paying attention to, let me clear that its my understanding of zindagi bitaloo and it is not in synch with the lyrics here.

I think its little complex to explain. The reason why I linked attention with life is whatever object you pay attention in that particular moment that object will come to an existence only in that moment, for example if your thinking about your Ex gf/bf in that particular moment then everything associated with her will come into existence for that moment and instead if I choose to think of my boss in that given moment my boss will come to an existence with respect to that moment.

Notice that you can choose to give your attention to whatever you wish. You can choose to pay attention to your work, girl friend or your income.

Well, with this dissection I realised that attention is a precious commodity of our life, its an investment we make out of our life. So use it carefully and consciously.


M$K

iGate acquires Patni

FYI:

Finally the much delayed deal between Patni Computer Systems Ltd. iGate is inked and iGate CEO Phaneesh Murthy made it official today.

US-Based iGate has acquired close to 63% stake in Patni Computer Systems ltd which is Currently India’s Sixth largest IT firm.

The deal is said to be 1.22 USD billion, iGate will buy 46% of stake from Patni Brothers and 17.3% from Genral atlantic.

This makes the combined entity of iGate-Patni a billion dollar company which reported $941 million in the third quarter of 2010 and the total head count shoots up to 25 thousand.

M$K

Thanks to the Mayan calendar and the Hollywood block buster 2012

Huh! Itz already 6th Jan, as usual this year too I am late to chart my plans and resolution for this year, with this laid back attitude I was wondering will I be able to follow my resolution at least this year but thanks to the Mayan calendar and the block buster Hollywood flick 2012 which depicts end of the world by 2012, well, I am not saying I am gonna believe this dooms day theory, however I wonder if I happen to believe this just for a while and just before chalking down the road map for 2011, I understand I can add immense value to these upcoming 365 days (6 are already gone :( ).
For a lazy loony like me this fake belief will certainly kick the ass.

So going ahead with this dooms day theory for this year, I am all up to cherish my dreams which are being fantasized from ages and have hardly put my efforts to cherish them.

So here I make up my mind to enjoy, accomplish, and most importantly live these 365(minus 6) days to the FULLEST.

I wish you too will say thanks to Mayans and add a zing to this year and also to the many more to come ;)

Have a rocking year :)


MsK

Amchi Mumbai and its Vada Paav

A lot has been written and a lot can be written about this mayanagri called Mumbai, it truly has multi cultures, multi traditions and multi shades of life for which no amount of words suffice to describe this wonderful city.
Here I am just making a fun filled attempt to define Amchi Mumbai associating it with its most popular snack VADA PAAV.
Here we go with the couple of well known areas of Mumbai and the VADA PAAV served there.
Juhu: Vada with more masala ----- just like our Bollywood films
Bandra: Less vada and less paav ---- page3, diet conscious people u know
Collaba: Vada paav with ketchup ----- with its international touch
Andheri: Less vada n more paav ----- as a part of their brilliant profit making strategy
Dadar: Vada paav with roti kaanda and dahi ---- who said its just a snack? Its served as lunch here
Ghatkopar: Dhokla embedded Vada ---- Obviously, with its Gujju touch
Matunga: Vada paav with sambaar ----- as it will be served by one of the Rajnikant’s fan
Navi Mumbai: More Vada n more paav ----- nope! not because I stay here, it is relatively sasta

Now next time before having a bite of ur VADA PAAV just gaze it and get to know about the ambience and people around U 

MSK

Kissing good bye to the freakiest decade of my life!

I am all amused to know that, time is up to kiss a goodbye to the freakiest decade of my life, which I have started as an teenager and winding up it in my late 20’s.
The only Mantra throughout these 10years was MERI MARZI, neither any sort of responsibility nor commitments, and the only funda of life was to have fun in my own terms.

I think this decade was the most coolest one of my life, it has seen my (Not so?) lovely Engineering days, Hostel life, entry of life time friends, a shift from a three-tier town (Gulbarga) life style to Cosmopolitan Metro (Banaglore, Mumbai) life style, It has seen me freaking around chicks, It also witnessed my first job and my hard earned first salary, and all the tantrum of corporate life and many more wonderful things which are too personal to share on blog.

These last ten years have taught me many things it may not be wrong to say that I am altogether a different persona at 2010 as compared to 2000, however my new year resolution has not changed from past ten years, getting up early @ 7 AM and going for jog has been a Davinci Code from past 10 years , hopefully I will be able crack it this new year with a new beginning and new decade.

Well, I am sure the upcoming decade will not be as fun filled as this one, rather it will be more demanding in terms of responsibility but I am all up for this phase of life too, I know each phase/decade of our life has something to offer.

So with that heavy heart I am bidding adieu to this amazing decade of my life and very enthusiastically looking forward for the upcoming one!


In Advance I wish U a Happy new Year and Splendid New decade :)


MSK

Quotation for the day

When I was young, I believed that life might unfold in an orderly way, according to my hopes and expectations. But now I understand that the Way winds like a river, always changing, ever onward…
My journeys revealed that the Way itself creates the warrior; that every path leads to peace, every choice to wisdom. And that life has always been, and will always be, arising in Mystery.


Socrates