Crazy wave

To go or not...was my initial confusion as I contemplated the cost-benefit of opting out of my committee hangout plan. After some level of coaxing by myself, I managed to pull myself out of bed, don in the shirt and   beat the 6:00 AM 'shut the alarm and continue sleeping' syndrome. I soon got a text from my wicked boss aka the bucketman to rush to reception. Soon I found nikepedia(the fame guy who needs no introduction) and Indu.

Nikipedia and soup share a moment of
 fun after capturing everyone asleep. 

After cajoling out rest of the members(who expressed their initial desire to head out), we finally started at 7:30 AM. Soup, keyycee, preetha, V-kas, Madhu, nidzz, KC sr, raamyaaa completed the gang as we headed to Yana. After a cozy breakfast, nearly all members were drowned in the whirlpool of sleep. Soup and nikipedia managed to get the 'i am in deeeep sleep' pictures of everyone as we cherished it on the camera. Indeed, the clandestine manner in which both were able to get the clicks makes them eligible for any spy jobs. Finally, everyone woke up after an hour to find their wicked pictures.

 On a break while trekking to Yani 

We finally arrived at Yana. The mini trekking to the temple was a fun journey as the group halted for pictures, drinks(notably 'Maa' is the brand name of the drink consumed throughout the journey) and rest(few people managed to climb to the cliffs, do a running race while coming downstairs and beat the heat and pace while climbing upstairs). The walk was a dance in itself as we calibrated the optimum time of keeping one foot at the hot floor before lifting it up and replacing it with other foot. The trek was exhaustive and we relaxed once we reached the vehicle.

After a dosa and tea break, we landed up at Murdeshwar. While my persistent plea to keyycee(to extend the bus journey to goa while everybody was asleep) was rejected, we managed to compensate dirtying ourselves on the beach. While V-kas queitly chose to head to super giant shiv temple, rest of us hustled to beach.

Murdeshwar was all fun!!

A lot of crazy water splashes, hoopla and camera clicks ensured a constantly high momentum of fun. The temple glittered as darkness slowly took over the control. Soon, we headed back to campus. A food pickup was on agenda as we tried out our desired dishes before breaking off for the day.

It was an amazing leaf in the book of pleasant experience of life. Apart from having free 'lunches', I enjoyed the trip, got pictures clicked and saw various shades of emotion on a single day. As one of my professor said "so far, so good', I am happy that the trip would continue to remain in our memories forever. At least, we were a team then :)

A wednesday: The wonder day

Failures and lessons often go hand in hand. A holiday package to USA as prize money looks lucrative to drive you an extra mile, and yet disappoint when fate refuses to smile at you. Then comes the crushing time for those poor, little and cute dreams of how would you celebrate after winning. Life hasn't been different for me either, as most of times I have been through same cycle. Over time you realize to enjoy those dreams as much as you can and make them grandiose than past one. Today, I essay one of the dreams which I lived in those moments awaiting results after a torrid 3 days of hard work.

Smart dude was furiously transfixed on computer screen, doing the best in his department of editing and calculative thinking(even I wonder how did he managed to get these two contrasting skills together). Gold lady was busy translating the ideas scribbled by me and adding them a value of simplicity and validating the logic of every line. A food parcel order at night, coupled with smart dude airing the rumor of ghost in lab(prank call again) to scare gold lady looked to be the highlight of the night. But the night was yet to finish.

Once again gold lady's adventure mind
got us to a super cool morning trip
to witness sun rise 

"Lets go to see sun rise" popped up a lively gold lady. 

Surprisingly our Smart dude managed to pull off his inertia and agree to the plan. And once again, they were kind to pack me in to the car. The surprise had just started. It was gold lady who was driving the car!!! Being a mechanical engineer made her escape from my suspicion as I was confident that she would pull it through. And..she did it with a style by defying the potholes, cruising through the early morning rushers and maneuvering smartly on tricky chicanes.  The car stopped at end point.

If ever you wonder to see the sun rise or sun set in this education hub, hang out here. Its a perfect place to rejoice the first sun rays in the early morning, bid adieu to night, feel the urge to eat breakfast before brushing teeth and have ultimate wish to sleep after returning back. 

Water Splash! Gold lady attempts to splash
water on Smart dude as he poses for camera

After an initial photo session, the trio decided to head back. Little again did I knew that fate had one more surprise as smart dude drove us to Arabi Falls. Its a small fall with perfect ingredients of early morning ambiance, a thick mix of fog to cloud the entire forest separating two valleys and open the floodgates of adventure within self.

Once again, gold lady took the initiative of spinning the yarn of adventure. We splashed water, exposed our rock solid legs to the cool water of the fall, froze some amazing memories and headed back to campus.The mood was strong enough to instigate the adrenaline of adventure in me, as we splashed water on each other. Smart dude, using his calculative mind, had prepared for contingency and had carried an alternative piece of clothing to look fresh.

We returned back to campus and were treated with Puri(yes, it was wednesday morning). Little do I need to say then how much did I enjoy sleeping on holiday. The results of the competition(which we were working on lab) did not had our names, but yet I felt as if I won something in this loss. I realize today what I won was an amazing time with two good pals. 

A wicked hangout

Tuesday evening is nothing special for me. Unlike Wednesday when I get an incentive to crush my sleep and run to canteen to grab Puri in morning, Tuesday does not have my favorite food/show. Incidentally Wednesday has been kind enough to me ever since my engineering days. From getting faculty approval for project, finding the concerned mentor, finding the right shop 'opened' and many more, Wednesday has been the day when all the deadlocks have been cracked and work done. But this Tuesday(i.e. yesterday) was filled with fun.

It has been a good 4-5 months ever since I have hung out with two of my best pals(which I made during my post graduate stint). Blame my 'no show to mass parties', 'shyness to group gatherings' or 'laziness', I have always shied away from invites. Yesterday however brought back the memories to the de-ja-vu lane.

So, it was Smart dude and Gold lady who played the prank with me. For the first time, I got separate invites from each of them for dinner. My initial assumption that we three were heading for dinner together,  was proved wrong by smart dude with a 'i don't know if she is going too??' text message. And it actually got worse when gold lady replied 'no, smart dude isn't invited'. Little did I knew that both of them were on the way to pick me up.

Gold lady : The talk anchor

After playing the prank for a good 30 minutes, both decided to grace their presence and relieve my tension. Yes gold lady, I indeed was damn pleased, relaxed and super excited to see dude friend arrive and break the news that I was foxed by both of you! You guys were betting on timing of my replies!!!!!

We headed out back to the old lanes of a good restaurant. The conversation was business as usual, with me as the topic of conversation(i have pleaded both of them umpteenth time to spare me, but fate seems to web different plans every time we turn up).

          Smart Dude: Let the food come to me, I
would not turn my head from the TV
 screen to focus on food

The treat turned out to be amazing as we trio tasted variety of foods. A sense of appreciation for dal-khichdi(which I recently have developed fetish for) came from smart dude with a 'this is tasty indeed' remark. While gold lady was vivacious and anchored our talk show, smart dude was fidgety in his choice of smile(often posing with a modest smile). However, we managed to get the best smile out of him and caught him transfixed at television screen. Indeed, his attention to television gave me and gold lady ample of opportunities to click pictures, videos and enjoy the phenomenon. But my limited reflex skills acted the hindrance.

Three musketeers, as smart dude addresses us, continued to have fun at the climax with plethora of jokes and talks of bravery of smart dude to challenge the potholes on the city pavement. In a nutshell, it was fun. 

A super proposition: What can we learn from a magic called 'Coke Studio'

A successful business is a result of well timed product, lucrative packaging, enthusiastic team players and creative selling proposition. Mix these and you deliver the customer value. The same 'customer value' which business books relentlessly mention at each major proponent is that intangible feeling which one gets on being satisfied(ranging from the feeling after testing a delicious dish to  watching a superb movie). One of the best examples of a successful business is 'Coke Studio'.

The Product

Consider for example the above video which is adopted from Coke Studio Season 5. The sound track has the lively punjabi music king Arif Lohar sing out the melody with the Meesha Shaifi.  The video starts with a spotlight on Arif Lohar and darkness around, and slowly unravels the rest of the singers and musicians in the due course of time. Notice carefully the visual transition during 1:08th minute of the video. The lights switch on and introduce the other players. The synergy is apt with the audio, as the chorus comes into play at 1:08 minute. The darkness combined with soft rock beacons a cool music, the bright lights combined with matching colors of costumes and apparels turns out to be the cynosure.

The Team Players

The best asset of Coke Studio are its human talent. From music composer Rohail Hyatt to Asad Ahmed, the program combines best of the talents to produce a quality blended fusion music. The 'behind the scenes' video do give an indication of the amount of efforts that is put in for coming up with the music line for a song.

The Marketing

A visit to the website gives an indication of the product marketing, as the limited series of episodes coupled with a glamorous promo makes it 'exclusive' for users. The whole concept of Coke Studio revolves around the identity of its target customers, which is youth and exuberance with a positive outlook while acknowledging the reality of life. The blended colors of the website integrated with flash loaded videos makes it an attractive proposition for user to explore them.

From Forbes to Wikipedia, Coke Studio has been proliferating across the hearts of people across the globe. And internet media looks to be the best channel of propagating it across the borders. The 1.5 million likes and twenty thousand people engaged in discussions on its Facebook page confirms this belief of internet being the major channel for proliferation.Till date, over seventy four million visitors have watched the videos on Youtube and 138,012 have subscribed to the videos. The above video has got over eleven million visitors and over twenty thousand likes on youtube.

While Pepsi used cricket as the medium in Pakistan to entice the people to consume it, Coke has fought back with a strong reply: music. And with the recent success of the initiative, Coke Studio looks to get bigger and better. If entertainment industry is studied for cues on successful business proposition, no doubt that Coke Studio would continue to be one of the best examples.

Desperate hunger

The world is gaga over the impact of social media, expert commentators join bandwagon in predicting how social media would be the next big thing.  Companies have started leveraging social media in not only understanding customers, anticipating their demand and marketing their product. In this universe where every competition is ready to suck your blood in order to get bigger and better, it is no irony that the feedback have been vocal. In a way this is the price the administrators of the system are paying for a. introducing excessive leeway in the system, b. tightening the screws in customer spending power.

Amid-st of all the hue and cry, we take you to a new world. A world which looks fancy, but is not as green as it appears from outside.

Competition are seen as an opportunity for challenge seekers. The society is in principle with the observation that inequality of chance exists and people still struggle to make it through. Despite all these pessimism the domain of competition is an area which is eyed lustfully by each and every aspirant. Why not? If you win one, you stand a chance to win prize ranging from certificates recognizing your talent, cash valuing the amount of effort you have pitched in or a chance of job. However this prospect of lucrative results has made us morally strip off in public arena.

A classic example of how we morally strip ourselves in a quest of winning something is 'like' competition. Event portals are flooded with competition where user with maximum like wins the event. This primarily serves two purpose for the organizers: a. garner maximum publicity and b. access the cheapest alternative of free labor. Most of us forget while asking our social circles for votes, that we are begging for a third party whom we expect a prize. The unfortunate part is that there is only one winner. That means the efforts of everybody else(who has 'failed' to garner maximum likes) are not worth it.

Interestingly it makes us undergo the ethical test as to how desperate would we be to strip our morals off in public and shamelessly beg for votes. Well, one might argue that there is a management flavor of getting the work done, networking and etc. But deep inside we all know that we do have a choice, a choice of opting. What many people do not realize that the humiliating experience people in their network face and eventually consider the 'please like this entry' post as a spam. It is conspicuous that social media is being overstretched and companies are willing to stretch this rubber band to get their work done at minimal cost.

Some of us may be happy to pursue such initiatives. But isn't it time when we should think deep inside our heart "wait, what is happening?" Isn't it the time to question the system? Or do we need to wait further for a 'momentum' to convey our concerns to the systems?

An affair to remember forever

Every passing moment taught me lessons of life. Music, memories and masti.These three have consistently fed me regardless of good, bad, ugly or joy. Taking a leaf out of the book, I look back to the days when I developed romance with one of my childhood crush. 

I remember the sweet night when I was tired of listening to the cassette in walkman again and again. Welcome to the world of early 2000s. Internet was a rising star, but not strong enough to de-addict us from listening to walkman. While my grandmother was skeptical of earphone usage(often citing cases of hearing impairment due to excessive hearing of walkman), we(me and my sister) were completely submerged in a river called 'nonchalant attitude'. 

Coming back to track. Out of boredom of listening a single cassette over and again, I decided to tinker with the AM/FM meter in the walkman. One could excuse you for not being able to connect to AM channels, first if you are in a lush green colony in a deep jungle and second if technology hasn't been kind to nearby city. However, fate smiled and I was somehow able to connect to AM. 

AM channels are boring, isn't it? I mean they are full of regional broadcasts and AIR and thus must be monotonous. Wrong! Contrary to this poor notion of mine, I suddenly hooked up to the instrumental track of movie 'Swades'. 2 AM, chilling winter and a soft tune in ear. Life couldn't have had asked for a better treat. Yes friends, I was in love with radio.

The AM/ FM noise wasn't sufficient to deter me from listening to radio. The more noise disturbed the radio signal, the harder I tried to align the antenna in correct position. Finding the correct antenna position of a radio is playing a blind dart game. You need to keep on shooting until you find the 'aha' moment. But trust me, once you make the proper alignment you continue to reap innumerable enjoyable moments.

Luckily for me, I was able to spot the correct alignment position(besides my pillow). Soon came morning and it was news time. I wasn't happy to part with the music section(it replicates Chitrahaar of old era). Contrary to my expectations, the news segment was refreshing. The diction of the news broadcaster made me realized that I could learn a lot of things from listening the news. Days passed on and I became an avid fan of AIR Rainbow.

The affair finally ended when I got into professional world as I struggled to find radio signal during my training days. Days passed by and I gave up the pursuit. 

Today I am still hopeful that someday I would relive this romance again. Time passes by and all I hear on tuning radio is the glamorous radio channels. 

The airport experience...

Super tight(I mean it) accessories, protruding bellies, super-cool rowdies and sharp glnces. Welcome to Banglore..i mean Bengaluru Airport. It goes without saying that the airport boasts of having one of the finest infrastructure of the nation. Add to it, the sleek outlets that promise to sway you. The result is a perfect modern infrastructure which caters to the need of travelers. But how stylish are the travelers?

Some ailing, some trailing, some laggards and some lizards(going by the super slim size); the pool of travelers provides a variety of samples to choose from. Make any permutation and combination, you would get every kind of sample specimen of homosapien residing in this holy earth.

As I continue to key in views of mine in the mobile, a lady seated opposite to me continues to drop items while picking from her purse.

“Bahut hai chahne waale duniya mein, tumhe dekhun toh kyun dekhun”…

A beautiful(according to me) girl marches aside with face focused like a solder parading in front of president on republic day. Neither am I president nor maverick. Surely, the song in the radio gives the answer as to why didn’t I receive any glances(I usually am at the receiving end of not so good glances infact).

How can I dare to continue this blog without writing about our so proclaimed ‘cool’ guys? Ironically they do not appear cool when they show up.  Half tucked shirts, ill creased jeans, grisly appearance and a goggle(this further worsens their fashion quotient) mares the appearance of these super-cool dudes.

Next, we come to the business supermen and superwomen. Yes, the professionals donning the business suits and engrossed with their palmtops, laptops and tablets respectively. Outlook express seems to be their oxygen throughout the journey, as any moment of separation(i.e. logging off from OL/ switching off the device) seems to be the “fish without water” moment.

As I was about to settle down in another waiting arena, I suddenly discovered one more species. A family sat beside me and the lady told to her husband “wait here, me(she and her son) are coming from there’ pointing her fingers towards shoppers stop outlet.

I was quite lucky to discover these categories during my stint in airport. I am sure than with the increase in air journeys I would continue to explore more such species. In case you fall into any of these categories, just chill!