My new hair-style

Last week, I got a call from a friend just after lunch. She was coming towards my office for a meeting and had no plans of going all the way back to her office. Even I was relatively free that day so we decided to meet.

Soon after that, another friend of mine called me. She was also in my office for some meeting (and had no plans to go back to work either). So all three of us decided to leave office early.

We were thinking about all the possible things that we could do when one of them came up with this brilliant (?) idea of taking me to a Hair-stylist and get me a new look.

I have a feeling that it was pre-planned. The first friend had been telling me to change my hair style for years now and the second one had been planning to take me to some famous hair stylist as my new year gift since the beginning of the month.

So, when both of them got together, it was mutually (?) decided that we will go to a hair stylist and get me a new look.

Yves Saint Laurent once said, ‘Fashions fade, style is eternal. And style needs your attention and time’. And since I couldn’t have YSL’s attention and time, I came up with a very simple style funda of my own – ‘let the ladies decide’. I have been using this funda for years now and I have seldom gone wrong. If you know the right ladies, let them decide your clothes, accessories – in fact your entire look. I keep experimenting with my looks and my clothes, but only if it has been suggested / approved by some lady I trust (when it comes to fashion).

I can wear a pink shirt and a pink tie, or a white belt with white footwear, or slim ties with broad belts (straight out of the 70’s), color my hair or have a weird hair-style altogether, or wear caps and ear-rings, and many such so-called fashion disasters, and still walk confidently because I know I can carry it off – ladies can never be wrong (but you have to know the right ladies).

So, that faithful day, both the ladies took me to a hair-stylist they knew. They discussed my style with him as if they were discussing the implications of Israeli attacks on Ghaza. And for close to an hour, when the guy was cutting my hair, they both were standing behind me, instructing him continuously (poor man – I’m sure he knows the true meaning of performance anxiety now).

And after an hour, when the ladies nodded their heads in affirmative, the guy finally smiled (man – was he relieved). The ladies looked satisfied and obviously nobody cared for my opinion – though it wasn’t much different from the earlier one, I liked it too.

And almost after a week, I still like my new style (despite few nasty remarks by few of my friends and colleagues – they anyway know that their opinion doesn’t count), because the ladies decided I look better this way – and I trust them, as much as Nicole Kidman or Naomi Campbell trusted YSL.

 

Ki Dada…sab bhalo??

Last weekend, a friend of mine took me to a famous Bengali restaurant for lunch. Having spent most of my growing up years in the eastern part of the country, I have had several encounters with Bengalis before. And I must say, I’ve hardly seen such ‘emotionally’ charged people (matched only by Punjabis).

 

Anyways, coming back to the restaurant, it wasn’t a big joint by any standard. And to top it all, there was a waiting of around 30 minutes. I was sitting at the waiting area, observing people around me. And then I realized that I was surrounded by Bengalis. And trust me guys, you cannot miss a Bengali even in a mob.

One thing which I have noticed about them is that they behave differently in different environments. A lone Bengali in a group of different people will come across as a soft spoken introvert. Put him/her in group of Bengalis, and he/she will suddenly become a loud and over aggressive individual.

And I had to deal with many such individuals, all waiting for their turn to hog their all time favorite ‘Macchhi-bhaat’. And for some reason, they all knew each other (I wasn’t surprised – theirs is a closely knit group outside Bengal).

If you ask me, Bengali women are arguably the hottest lot in our country (Punjabis are more beautiful, but Bengalis are hotter). And I had all the hot bengali women around me – (loud, in every sense) slightly over-weight, over-dressed for a simple lunch, deep loud red lipstick and weird accessories. All of them yelling at the top of their voices – trying to overtake each other in the ‘yelling and gossiping competition’.

Men, on the other hand preferred floral printed shirts. For some weird reason, almost all of them had distinctive hairstyle – long hair originating only from the left side of the scalp and covering the entire bald patch. They were more interested in the “Satyam” saga. I also overheard a group discussing Fidel Castro’s health. Another one sitting next to me was complaining how the bus fare in Kolkotta has increased – he had to pay 25 paise more this time to reach Salt lake from Park Street.

To be honest, I was enjoying myself when the Bengali owner yelled my name with a different pronunciation – Prrotosshh (to announce that I can take table number ‘choddoh’ – he meant ‘14′ )

Once inside, the ambiance reminded me of Kolkotta. A small over-crowded place with everyone yelling in Bangla. There were framed pictures of famous Benagalis on the wall – Ravindranath Tagore, Satyajit Ray, Kishore Kumar, Suchitra Sen, and of course – Saurav Ganguly. Absence of Subhashchandra Bose’s picture came as a surprise. The only Non – bengali to have his framed picture on the wall was non other then Che Guevara.

His famous picture (taken by Albero Koda at the la Coubre) was placed right above the owner’s chair. Che Guevara is one of the most famous people in Kolkotta. In fact, long ago, one of my friends from Kolkotta (then Calcutta) didn’t talk to me for weeks when I told him that Che Guevara was captured and executed in Bolivia (He is seen as a hero in Kolkotta and the guy was not ready to believe that he was captured and executed).

Anyways, there is no denying the fact that Bengali food is delicious. I don’t eat Fish but the fried fish that I was forced to have was yummy. I even loved the potato in my Chicken curry. And by the time I finished my ‘misthi dahi’ and then “Rosogullas’, I was stuffed till neck.

I came back home after lunch and like a true Bengali, slept in the afternoon (i never sleep in afternoon). I got up when I heard my phone ringing. It was late evening already. The call was from one of my friends who wanted to take me out for dinner for some ‘yummy’ food (she is a complete foodie). I had no place left in my tummy for dinner but then she was in no mood to listen. She came to pick me up in next 30 minutes.

Another 20 minutes and I was parking her car in front of another famous Bengali restaurant in the city. And I didn’t mind at all. It was my ‘bengali day’ afterall.

 

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He was just doing his duty

 

It was close to midnight and I was on my way back home after meeting a couple of my friends for coffee at Carter road. For some reason, there was too much traffic on road despite it being a weekday.

 

Though I wasn’t very surprised to see the usual bottleneck at Juhu Circle, I was slightly agitated. And just when I was about to cross the junction, the Policeman standing there stopped my car to let the cars coming from the other side go, even when the signal was green. I was so frustrated (for some weird reason) that I rolled down the window and started shouting on him. He came to me and said “Please bear with us for some time Sir. The traffic is more on the other side.”

 

I just ignored him and looked the other way. He came very close to my car and said “I’m just trying to do my duty Sir – to make life easier for you”.

 

I looked at him – he looked tired and he looked embarrassed. And I knew he was just trying to help. I didn’t know what to do. So I smiled at him and nodded.

 

And after some time, he again walked all the way to my car, said sorry again, and asked me to proceed. And as I pressed the accelerator, I looked at him again – he was trying to stop the traffic from the other side. He still had a smile on his face – but he looked weak and tired.

 

And as I drove on the relatively empty road (thanks to the policeman), I felt terrible. I had no business shouting on the man who was doing his duty. He was probably more tired and frustrated then I was. I was late because I decided to catch up with few friends for coffee after work. He was late because (maybe) more people like me decided to catch up with friends and hence there was more traffic at midnight.

 

I took out my frustration on him and he just smiled and resumed his work. And suddenly, I felt like a loser. I was almost about to reach my place when I decided to turn back. I went back all the way to that place. He was still there – doing his duty – and he still had that weak smile on his face.

 

I parked the car and walked all the way to him. He probably recognized me and looked confused. I went to him and said sorry. He looked more confused. I shook hands with him and told him that he was doing a great job and I was sorry I shouted on him.

 

He still looked surprised but happier this time. He just smiled at me and nodded – and resumed his work – of making life better for people like me.

 

Final Report

 

So here it is! My final report card. Its almost two months since I first decided to get things in order and came up with 10 things I wanted to do before December and then go out for a 15 days holiday.

 

2 months down the line, and things have changed so much. What this exercise has taught me is that the world is full of uncertainty and we shouldn’t take anything for granted. But first of all, lets have a look at the final report card –

 

1. Setting up a 40Mn/month channel – Easily one of the most exciting and challenging task I’ve ever initiated. Setting up an end-to-end channel, which meant lead generation through internet and mobile, call center set-up for calling on those leads, and then documents pick form the respective cities, was a huge challenge. I did manage to set-up the entire model, and though the numbers aren’t happening, this project is one of the most talked about initiatives in my organisation.

1. Online budget tracker – I’ve set up a proper budget tracker but couldn’t get it online. It was too complicated to set up an online system on our intranet. Now all my regional marketing managers send me the updated tracker every week.

2. Loyalty Program – It was an ambitious project which I thought of in last quarter. But things have changed so drastically in last few months that we don’t require this program for at least another year or so.

    

3. Physical fitness – Two months of regular fitness activities and I know I’m much fitter now. I feel much better physically and I also have a toned up body. I know nobody will tell me to lose weight anymore

    

4. Books – I’m glad I did this. I Don’t waste my time on phone chatting or messaging people till morning anymore. Now I read before I hit the bed. In last two months, I read 5 books and the sixth one is also almost over. I finished reading ‘When a tree shook Delhi’, ‘The Afgan’, ‘The white tiger’, ‘The long tail’ and ‘India Unbound’.

    

5. Cooking – I can live on my own now. I can cook the basics

    

6. New dance / Language – A complete failure this one. Couldn’t even start (in fact I didn’t want to start before I knew I would be able to finish it).

    

7. Cuisine – From knowing nothing at all, now I can easily talk a lot about Chinese cuisine after ordering delicious food without even looking at the menu.

    

8. Discover new places in Mumbai – This was always going to be easy. Initially I wanted to explore at least 5 new places in Mumbai but in two months I explored more then 10 new places.

    

9. River rafting / para gliding – I know I would never have gone for rafting had I not included it in the list. Its just that I was too lazy to do anything like this. Para gliding didn’t happen but now I keep my eyes open for all other adventure outings like rappling and trekking. And I know very soon I’ll be out doing something like this on some weekend.

 

Last couple of months have been eventful to say the least. There have been many ups and downs both personally and professionally. When I thought of setting up the alternate channel, I never thought this will prove to be the turning point of my stint in my company. Thanks to this initiative, I can breath easy even now when people around me are feeling the heat, and I know it has made my year.

 

Almost two months of continuous jogging has made me fitter. I love this part of the day. So much so, that I got up early in the morning and went out jogging even when I went to Delhi for the weekend. Not because I had to – but I love doing it.

 

During this time, I read a lot. And there are few obvious merits of reading. Hence I’ll not even touch upon them. But I never thought my reading would help my employers save some money. I’m sure my telephone bill for these two months would be half of my previous bills. Instead of messaging and chatting for hours before sleep, I read now.

 

In fact, everything that I did, taught me a lot of things. And the blog did help me in reminding myself of my goals and the progress. So much so, that I’ve already started making a list of things I want to do this new year. And very soon, I’ll have my list of 10 things I want to do in 2009.

 

Over the moon

 

At 8:31 pm on Friday, a tri-colour-painted probe, after a 24 days journey during which it covered 3,84,000 km, crashed into the shakerton crater close to the moon’s south pole. The MIP (moon impact probe)separted from Chandrayan-1and took close to around 20 minutes to reach the surface of Moon.

 

With that, India became only the 4^th entity after US, former USSR, Japan (albeit via a malfunction) and the European Space Agency (17 Nations), to reach the surface of Moon.

 

And to be honest, I was eagerly waiting for this moment. I rushed back home after work to witness the event on TV (I also skipped my daily jogging). I had some important work and hence I was slightly late, but once I reached home and switched on the TV, I didn’t move for almost an hour.

 

I moved only after an hour, my heart pounding hard, full of joy and pride. I stood up with my hand on my heart, closed my eyes, and for few seconds forgot everything else – The Indian Mujahidin, Bajrang Dal, sadhvi Pragya Singh, Raj Thakeray and other black spots on my country.

 

I stood there for almost a minute, with my heart full of pride, love for my country – I felt over the moon.

 

Progress report IV

 

Now when the festive mood is over, its business as usual. people are back from their holidays and there is a buzz in the air again. And thank gods for that – things were really boring for few days.

 

Coming back to my experiment (10 things to do before December), lets see the progress first, and then I’ll tell you how I feel about it.

 

1. Setting up a 40Mn/month channel – Easily one of the most challenging task I’ve faced in recent times. Things are in place now – waiting for the numbers to happen. This might change the way we look at internet as a medium in my company.

2. Online budget tracker – I have to close this in November. At times its difficult to deal with the IT guys but there are no two ways about it. Guess its time to pull up my socks and make sure that it happens at any cost

3. Loyalty Program – Don’t see it happening. At times you feel helpless – this was a very ambitious project but thanks to the recession, not many seem interested at this point of time

4. Physical fitness – The best part of my experiment. Though I didn’t go for jogging a couple of times, I make it a point to take out some time and atleast work out at home

5. Books – I have already read three books – When a tree shook delhi, The Afgan and The white tiger. I’ve started “The long Tail”. Its on internet and its future

6. Cooking – As mentioned in my last report, I’ve removed ‘made new friends’ from the list and added cooking to it. And I’m glad to announce that I managed my first Daal and rice this weekend. Will learn how to cook chicken this week

7. New dance / Language – Given up on this. Simply because of lack of time. To do a basic course in Salsa, I require atleast 14 classes. I don’t have so many weekends before my december deadline gets over. But I promise I’ll learn Salsa once I’m back from my holiday in December

8. Cuisine – Since I’ve become very health conscious these days, I’ve decided not to have spicy Chinese food very often. But I already know a lot about Chinese cuisine by now

9. Discover new places in Mumbai – I did go to a lot of places last week. But only one of them was a ‘new’ place for me. Ironically, I’ve been staying in Mumbai for so many years now but I went to the famous “Bade Miyaan” joint last week

10. River rafting / para gliding – Done with rafting – para gliding and trekking shall happen this month. Though I already have some plans for this week end and its my best friend’s birthday next week end. So I guess this will have to wait for some more time

 

Halfway through the experiment, and I’m already glad I decided to do it. My life has become much better now. Work-wise, the internet channel is proving to be a great challenge and might go a long way if I manage the numbers.

 

I have cut down on my coffees or shakes thanks to my jogging routine. Instead of meeting people for coffee or other stuffs, I finish my work early and rush home, so that I can go for my jogging.

 

And instead of wasting my time over phone, I read before i hit the bed. No more messaging and chatting on phone till early morning now – though I’ve lost some ‘budding’ friendships because of this, but I’m happy anyways.

 

I’ve literally lived in town for almost a year but I had never been to “Bade Miyaan”. Back then, I was more then happy with Leopold, Mondygar and our favorite restaurant next to the sea. But going all the way to “Bade Miyan” at 2 in the morning and then having that amazing Chicken Tandoori was an experience itself.

 

So, overall, my life is much better now and I feel good about myself. I also did a shoot after almost two years. It was for a print campaign for an NGO called ‘Disha’. They wanted a male model and the agency approached me. Though I had a total of 4 shots, it took me hours to complete two shots. The other two are still due and shall complete them next week sometime.

 

And there is a sad news. Turbo died yesterday (If you still don’t know, Turbo was the name given to one of the fishes I had – the other one is Xeta) I don’t know how it happened. But when I got up in the morning today, she was dead. I’m planning to get a couple of more fishes to accompany Xeta. Though during one of my house parties last week, a friend of mine begged to add some alcohol to the fish bowl. This was at around 3 in the morning when everyone was high and they wanted to see how the fishes react. Thankfully, I wasn’t high and somehow convinced them to leave the fishes alone.

 

And in all probability, I’ll get two more fishes today. The problem is that I’ll again have to think of more names now.

 

Out of the blue

 

“Mr. Pratyush Pankaj, there is no way you can ditch us today. You have to come with us.”

 

I had absolutely no intentions of ditching them this time (I’ve ditched them many times before), but at the same time, I was not in the mood to party mid-week. But I gave up and promised to meet them after work.

 

We went to “Out of the Blues” at Carter road. I like the place (I have had two of my ‘first’ dinner dates at this place). They were also thinking about “Totos” but I didn’t want to go there for some reasons.

 

So, we landed up at Out of the Blues at around 9:30. Everyone ordered their drinks and so did I. The only difference being the ‘drink’ itself. When everyone, including the ladies was ordering alcohol, I ordered an orange juice. I’ll never forget the look in Timtim’s eyes (she was serving drinks). It reminded me of Joe. Joe is an attendant at the Sports Bar and he gets me my orange drink without even asking (of course with a cunning smile on his face).

 

And suddenly, everyone was shouting at me. I could hear them comparing me with the ladies and how sporting the ladies were. Didn’t matter to me as I’ve been hearing this for years now. I was in no mood to drink.

 

But then, somebody asked me to drink and I just couldn’t say no (at times its tough to say no to few people). Though I warned them all – I told them that once I start drinking, there is no stopping me. But I guess they wanted to see me drunk. And to top it all, I also had to drop a lady back. But I guess she was not at all worried about it.

 

So I called Timtim and asked for a large tequila shot. She gave me a naughty smile and looked at everyone else, as if she was appreciating everyone else’s efforts. When I had my first shot, everyone was looking at me (including people around us), and I heard quite a few high fives (and not only from our table – wonder why were others interested in me drinking).

 

It was only after around 5-6 shots (all mixed – tequila, whiskey and vodka) that I realized that people sitting at other tables were as surprised as the people sitting with me. Everytime I called Timtim, there were others also who responded. And I had a feeling everyone was smiling. I noticed a very pretty girl sitting with her friend. And everytime, I called for Timtim, she looked up as if I was calling her. So, after my 5^th (i guess it was my 5^th) shot was over, I called for Timtim and the pretty girl looked up again with a smile. This time I was ready. The moment our eyes met, I shook my head to ask “what”? She just smiled back, shook her head saying nothing and gave me a thumbs up before getting back to her own drink. I looked around, everyone smiled at me and shook their heads in affirmative (as if they all wanted me to have that shot). I decided it was time to pay back and hence I stood up and raised a toast to everyone.

 

At around midnight, after having few more shots, when we decided it was time to leave, I got up to visit the washroom. And for the first time in my life, I felt I couldn’t walk. But I’ve noticed that when I’m high, I’m more determined, specially after what happened on my birthday – I did few things I shouldn’t have done.

 

So, I got up and walked towards the washroom as if nothing has happened. And when I managed, I heard my friends cheering for me from behind.

 

Before leaving, I gave a generous tip to Timtim and asked her how many shots I had. She just smiled and said – ‘Not many Sir, you are still sober’

 

I reached home at 3 in the morning. Just about managed to change, wash my face and hit the bed. I had to get up early in the morning.

 

I got up with a terrible headache and felt better only in the evening. But I loved the evening – specially because it was mid-week.

 

Thank god the weekend is over

 

People say its sin to lose your temper. “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you…” (Ephesians 4:32) .

 

When we lose our temper, we say and do things which we almost certainly regret later. And more often then not, we end up hurting our dear ones. I can count the number of times I’ve lost my temper in last few years. So much so, that my friends accuse me of being emotionless. My best friend says she doesn’t want to be like me – she thinks we need to be emotional at times.

 

In fact, not very long ago, I did admit to her that at times its better to be an emotional fool rather then being a practical stupid. Specially after the realisation that we all act super cool at times.

 

I like the fact that I can ignore most of the things around me. I know how to differentiate between important and small things. Small and meaningless issues have never bothered me. At times I wonder if anything affects me emotionally?

 

I’m not sure it was because of this or something else, but I lost my temper 4 times during the weekend. Not surprisingly, it turned out to be a horrible weekend.

 

First of all, I had a fight with Ships (my best friend) over a stupid issue. Guess she was in a bad mood (she always is these days). And I was not in a great mood either. In fact, the whole week was very frustrating. It being a Diwali week, nobody was working which delayed few of my jobs. There were few other issues which added to make it a ‘zero output’ week overall (both professionally & personally).

 

And when Ships opposed a suggestion, specially when I had just returned after another frustrating day at work, I lost it completely. Thankfully, both of us didn’t try to solve it then and there and only few messages were exchanged.

 

So, when I got a call from the lady with the hot legs who wanted to hijack me again for a drive at around midnight, I gladly accepted (not that she gives me a choice anyways). In fact, during the course of the day, we have had a “SMS fight” already and we had exchanged few nasty messages.

 

What I didn’t know was that she wanted to sort it out during the drive. I was already in a very bad mood and the last thing I wanted was a matured and serious discussion (I’m not justifying myself – in fact I was being unreasonable). In short, the long drive was a disaster.

 

And just when I thought the worst was already over, I had a terrible fight with a friend who is an air hostess and was in town for the weekend. So much so, that she walked out of my house slamming the door on my face.

 

And to add salt to my wound, I had a terrible argument with my cousin over buying a LCD TV.

 

To be honest, I don’t remember when was the last time I fought with people. I do admit that I’ve started losing my temper more often now, but then I don’t react most of the times. I prefer ignoring things but this weekend was an exception. Whatever the reasons were, I know I was in a very bad mood.

 

Though for some reason, I’ve a feeling that I’m still not in a very good mood. But thankfully, nobody has poked me yet. And I promise I’ll try and behave. These guys know me too well to remain upset for long (all four of them are ok now). But maybe, someone wouldn’t take my nonsense. Hopefully, that someone will not meet me anytime soon – because I’ve a feeling a big fight is just round the corner.

Progress report – III

 

Its that time of the year when nobody wants to work. Everyone around you is in festive mood and the last things that he/she wants is to talk about work. And this mood is very contagious.

 

I had a tough time myself. You don’t feel like doing anything when you see everyone around you in the holiday mood. But I did manage few interesting and good things this week.

 

Out of the 10 things I decided to do, the new sales channel and the physical fitness part have become my obsession now. And I’m loving every bit of it. Lets see where do I stand now at the end of November –

 

1. Setting up a 40Mn/month channel – This is very challenging and turning out to be good fun. Visiting the Call Centre has been a great experience and I’ll discuss that later on. Being a Diwali week, the progress in terms of lead generation and disbursal hasn’t been great. But I guess the time has come now – wait for the next week report

    

2. Online budget tracker – A new proposal has been made and sent to the IT team. Awaiting their revert on it

3. Loyalty Program – Tough times for such an ambitious project. Though my Boss is with me on this, we are having a tough time justifying it to the senior management

    

4. Physical fitness – Loving every moment of it. I have been very regular and doing it diligently. I’ve shifted my focus a bit and now I’m doing some weight training also ( afterall, I need to tone up a bit). Though I’ve always believed that there are only two types of people (apart from the professional body builders) who want to show off their body. The first type are the film stars and the second type consist of the ‘wannabe’s’

    

5. Books – I’m done with “The Afgan”. It was an amazing book and I intent to read it once more very soon. Due to the book, I also read a lot about the Taliban and and the so called ‘jihad’. Will talk about these later sometime

    

6. New Friends – I’ve learnt one thing from this exercise. You can force yourself to make good friends. You just meet people who can or cannot be your friends. Though I keep meeting new people but I don’t think I can make good friends for the sake of doing it. So, I’m removing this from my list and I’ll add another one instead. I’ll learn to cook. More information on this will come next week

    

7. New dance / Language – Going by the current situation, I guess learning Marathi would be a great (life saving) idea Anyways, my friend has already figured out some Kaytee’s salsa classes and we shall start next week

    

8. Cuisine – Being a Diwali week, I stayed away from Chinese food. Though I plan to learn how to cook Chinese food

    

9. Discover new places in Mumbai – Add Sahara Star’s Lagoon Lounge to the list. And this is by far one of the best places I’ve been to. Overall, the place is much better then the two places I visited before this.

    

10. River rafting / para gliding – As mentioned earlier, I went for river rafting last to last week and loved it. planning to go for para gliding and trekking this month

 

From the beginning itself I knew few things would be very difficult. Specially when a lot depends on external factors. I’m glad the 40Mn channel thing is shaping up well but I’m finding it difficult to start the other two (professional) things.

 

As mentioned, I’ve removed ‘make new friends’ and added ‘cooking’ instead to my list as I don’t want to force myself to make new friends.

 

And yeah, during the Diwali cleaning, I came across a lot old cloths and other things which were kept inside somewhere. The cloths went to an NGO near my house (lovely place – will talk about it sometime). I also found one small Fish bowl and decided to use it. So, I went and bought two gold fishes and hence I’ve two fishes staying with me. Everyday before coming to office, I give them some food and its always good to see them swimming around in the bowl when when I get back home.

 

I’m thinking about naming them now. I thought of a few names but still not sure. But atleast I’ve two new friends staying with me.