Aseem’s Blog
Leap over the bounds…
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Drink like a MAN and not like a LOSER |
Dear Someone,
DRINK LIKE A MAN AND NOT LIKE A LOSER!!!
Please. For your own good.
From
Someone who cares for you…
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Yana ka gaana nahi chahiye! |
Venue: Canteen of one of
Time: Tea break (Officially anytime between lunch to dinner)
Scene: A beautiful HR executive is sipping her tea while giving a frustrated look to a Yana Gupta song being shown on News 24 (Newly joined the league and has undoubtedly lived upto the reputation of over-exaggerated hindi news channels). No mention required of those frustrated IT coolies sitting around and watching the television with utmost concentration [:p] (Very precisely their only source of entertainment).
Act: The beautiful HR executive yells (I am unsure of what to highlight – beautiful or yells [;-)])… from a distance, at the canteen incharge… with a strong voice just like one of those mahila mandal’s morcha leads… “Humein Yana ka gaana nahi chahiye!!!”. Oh did that rhyme? Seeing the canteen guy perplexed who is busy giving food coupons for cash, she says it again to make her point.
“
“Professional environment rakho. Koi achcha News Channel lagao”.
Nobody would have refused to such a beautiful lady’s humble yet “intervening” request. But this time it was probably the authority in her voice and position(ofcourse!) that made the canteen head change the channel. And while he did that, a sequence of Kareena Kapoor’s latest movie Tashan plays. She(The beautiful HR) looks at the TV screen with all the more disgust. And then looks back at all the employees lost in watching Kareena’s super toned figure… She(The beautiful HR… ok sorry wont do this again [:p]) seems all the more upset with something…probably the employee culture going down the line which she had to do something about…! Probably!
And suddenly it’s NDTV… back to business… back to serious news… employees stare into their plates for a couple of seconds only to realise that they were here to finish something. They still didn’t have a clue of what happened. She walks out of the canteen with immense satisfaction of setting the professional mood she was probably looking out for.
Can you simply swear at your HR and get away? NO (without giving it a thought). So you better get done with your tea break.
Oops…
“Chhaliya chhaliya chhaliya… Ruh churalo mein hu aisi chhaliya…”
Eyes pop out, jaws drop, tongues hang out (well… ok…not exactly…[:p])… canteen fella smiles to himself… and the tea time extends again… [:)].
Conclusion: (Pick your choice)
- Food in canteens of software companies tastes great!
- Beautiful girls hate others watching other beautiful girls [:p]. - “How mean!!!”
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A journey from Goregaon to Mount Mary Church, Bandstand |
Sometimes you have a lot of frustration and anger inside you… so how do you vent it out? Anger management? Count 1 to 100 and back? Or you prefer to go back to your A…B…C…D…??? Well I have found a way that works for me. Just keep walking, whatever the time, whatever the place… Haha.
Yesterday night went for a late night show of One Two Three (pathetic movie!). Paid 200 bucks for a seat at Cinemax, Andheri. And that’s why the frustration! :p Or was it that April Fool prank that I got fooled by and I couldn’t take it? Haha. Or maybe it was something else! For whatever it was, I didn’t know how to control the angry me. Angry with something, angry with someone. So I did what I felt was right to do at that moment. At 2:00 am when I reached back home, I emptied my wallet (credit card, debit cards, too much cash, etc :p) while kept a few bucks and an ID proof with me and left home. Left to go where? Don’t know. As I walked away, something inside told me that I could go on and on. And there was nothing that could stop me. I didn’t want to. Even if I could.
Walking speedily and talking to myself in a way that I never did, I was in a hurry to go somewhere. Again Where? Again I didnt know. My thick red jacket made me realise that the night wasn’t cold enough. I wished I could have gone back to leave it home. But then would I come back here again to continue doing what I chose to do? Was I done with the frustration of the crappy movie? Or the April Fool prank that fooled me? Was I done with whatever it was? :p. No. So I continued to walk out of the residential area which had countless garbage bins and dogs… yea a lot of dogs. Some would only chase wagons. Some followed pedestrians like me. And some had specifically caught fancy for my red jacket which i wanted to leave back home. So I had to hurry before they got mad at me. Luckily no dog did.
Slowly I realized that it was going to be good fun. Fun to see Mumbai at this hour at night. Still pretty much awake and hustling. The highways were busy. As good as the ones at peak hours in
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To Love Is To Not Expect |
To love is to not expect.
To love is to not expect.
To love is to not expect.
To love is to not expect.
To love is to not expect.
Yes I always believed in it. And it feels all so guilty to catch yourself red-handed expecting what you arnt supposed to (Or maybe you can?). Nevermind. Period.
Had forgotten this little line I always preached to others. Just needed a self drill.
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BlogCamp Mumbai Style at the BarCamp Mumbai 3 - Did you make it? |
Having registered for the BlogCamp Mumbai Style organized at the SJMSOM IIT Powai Campus, I was very much looking forward to being there as it was the first of its kind for me. This time I had one more reason than otherwise to be there – ofcourse it was just a drive away! Now settled with my job life in a happening place like Mumbai, I guess there are atleast a dozen more such events I can simply drive to. Oh yes
So how was the “Blog Camp Mumbai Style”, for me? I and Amit were amongst the early birds to flock there. The Blog Camp being a part of BarCamp Mumbai 3rd Edition, there were a lot of participants trying to get their way around. Many like me who just hired a rick from home (yea and there were sexy sportscar owners too) while also with quite a few who had come over with all their luggage there (:p) right from many other places like Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune, etc. All in all it was great to see the enthusiasm in everybody. I wondered why I had missed it all this while!
I was looking forward to meet a few online friends here… Deep, Ashwin, Mani and many more. While also few more bloggers like Sakshi, Meetu and some net freaks I only knew by their name or even pseudo names. I am really glad that I got to interact with most of them. And now certainly it’s gonna be more fun following their blogs. Well getting back to how the blogcamp was…
The organizers gave all due respect to the Indian Standard Time for the start with the event ;). Ok I know it happens everywhere. No offence please :). So those who joined in late were probably lucky not to miss anything. After a round of introductions(which we could barely hear) by the speakers for the camp, the sessions wiki was put up on the whiteboard only NOT to be followed :(. Because of which there was a lot of confusion as to where what was going on. As a result we missed Rashmi Bansal’s light talk on blogging. Luckily all the blogging related stuff was put up in one auditorium and we found our way there. We decided to stick there all day as we didn’t get great feedback from others who attended the sessions going on in the other audis. But am sure we missed some good ones there.
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Seeing mom like never before… |
I have seen her complain to me, shout at me, work all day round for us all… but certainly never like this before. Past 2 weeks were a little rough time for my family and hopefully only getting better from here. Mom wasn’t well and had to be admitted to the hospital. She still lies there on the bed with so much to do in her mind which her body cannot complement to… You probably won’t realize it until you are one of those people as my mom who would do everything under the sun for the family all day round, never complain of and suddenly be reduced to a complete compulsory bed rest. Very certainly there is one example at your home too. Yes you got it right… all Moms are so. You can’t help them change their attitude or maybe you just don’t push it further until you see her where I am seeing as of now.
I hvnt been to hospitals for long ever. Probably after my birth this is my longest visit :p. Though altogether its been a good learning curve. Things I have seen around and those I have felt within, also a few much needed realisations… maybe some which I can jot down here.
- Money is of such miniscule importance or just no importance against your family member’s wellbeing (I never disagreed to), but now feeling it all around me. You do not want to think of saving money for your future plans, you do not want to think of earning money for now… nothing… the first thing on your mind is to see your loved ones all doing good. And all those useless things you ever spent money on might just hit you back to leave you whishing that you never had done so.
- Maturity comes with experiences and not age. With such experiences you will certainly see yourself grow ahead of time. You see life more seriously than ever before. Just what I have been feeling within in the past two weeks.
- You can’t take care of the ones ill if you don’t take care of yourself first. You just don’t need to panic. If there are more family members around you for help, share the responsibilities. Take it cool. Speak to your closest friends… When you hear them say that everything is going to be fine, believe me it weighs much more than even what the doctors can assure you of. And if you can find an evening free for yourself, catch up with friends. Nothing else can make you feel better.
- Its only at such times that you realise of how much your family does for you, how much you owe to them, you were maybe unaware of or indifferent to all this while. But better late than never…
Leaving for Pune today, for Mom’s further treatment. Have a huge to do list to follow once everything is in place like it was a few days before… Hopefully I should be back to regular blogging too then.
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Beware of Royal Sundaram Insurance Company |
An insurance agent fetches your personal details from your credit card company and calls you to market his health insurance company’s offerings. The deal does not interest you, so you decline to subscribe. You thought it was all over here with this one telephonic conversation. But in a few days the Insurance company calls you, informing that they have charged your credit card company a yearly premium and have mailed you the required documents. And there starts yet another struggle to retrieve your hard earned money that this Insurance company and your credit offering company have ripped off from you…
This is exactly what happened to my Dad and probably to many others. My dad has a GE Cash Card, Royal Sundaram is affiliated to. He declined subscribing to any health policy offered by Royal Sundaram. But the agent went ahead and issued it while also charging my Dad’s GE Cash Card. GE also proceeded with it without confirming of whether there has been any written consent from our side. According to GE and Royal Sundaram, they do not require processing of any documents for such a purchase and the whole process is completed over phone. They proudly call this fatuous idea…”Tele Marketting”! Since then we had been paying the interest to GE towards an amount of 4.8k which was the yearly premium charged by Royal Sundaram. And in no way both parties were ready to refund the money.
Even if we cancel the policy, the following are their short term cancellation charges:
Within 1 month: 75% refund
1-3 months: 50% refund
3-6 months: 75% refund
After 6 months: No refund
Which means, we would be charged a minimum of 25% of the premium towards a health policy we never committed to.
And the best part is, they do not respond to your complaint emails, give you phone numbers to contact which never worked, do not give you contact numbers of higher authorities in the organisation and play around with you as though you were a tennis ball… Bouncing between the courts of GE and Royal Sundaram. After an endless number of calls to both and assurances from them for over six months, we were told that we are not entitled any refund since their 6 month period fro refunds was over.
So we had to take the hard way. We really wanted to put them both to terms. So after threatening them to take to court, they finally refunded the premium fee but again not the interest.
Recently an exactly similar thing happened to my cousin, who was charged over 8.5k by Royal Sundaram on her SBI Credit Card. And yet another struggle has begun…
Its such an irony, where credit card facilities are meant to ease your life, managing your financial transactions, but they end up making it even more difficult for you. And you are left to fight for your own hard earned money!
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A Ride in the Rain! |
I just love to ride… yea you could bet on that blind… While its raining cats and dogs out on the streets, you ride over 30 kms with almost dead bike brakes yet maintaining an average speed of 70kmph… it cant be anything else. You simply love biking! Drenched in one of those few unmerciful heavy rains in
I am not a great fan of rains… infact I hate them because everywhere I go on bike, I have to carry my rainwear… Today while I had over 30kms of travel to reach back to Panjim there was a sudden (nah! expected) downpour of rain which didn’t look like one that would stop soon. Nor was I in to wait for it to die out of water. Luckily I had a jacket… but my trouser was soon getting all soaked. Kinda giving a cooling effect everytime a little more of it got wet :p. Soon it was all heavy as though it had drank over 100 gallons of water. Wearing my jeans which were more water and less denim by now, I just couldn’t care for the roadside dingy water splashing all over me as wagons paved through puddles. What I was busy enjoying, was my ride in the rain…
The rainwater drops were hitting me like a swarm of honey bees would sting onto your body, over and over again. But I was in no mood of taking a halt. Luckily I had a bus in front, I was riding just a few inches close to, so that I could miss the hard hitting rains. Hoping that the buswala won’t brake all of a sudden, as I knew my bike’s brakes will not follow suit.
While I reached a bridge, I noticed many two wheelers parked aside and their riders wearing full length raincoats having stopped by… and before I could wonder why, my bike’s pace had already got me onto the bridge. And there I was on a toss by the violent wind blowing over the bridge… Shifting my bike along with me from the left lane to the right, ofcourse which wasn’t for me but for vehicles traveling back from where I had come. And boy… this time right in front of a truck, head-on! Thanks to the super sweet response time of my bike’s brakes, I couldn’t stop, even if now I wanted to. I was wishing so badly that the wind could blow from the otherside just for once (God Plz…Plz…). The truck flashed its lights… those headlights looking like angry eyes suggesting me “Boy… this is your last ride!”. Luckily the truck had decent enough brakes to slow it down, leaving just a little chance for me to get back on my track defying all the Newtons in the force of the wind which was pushing me back onto the right lane (I mean the wrong lane :p). My bike followed a zig-zag path for a while, and I was glad that the bridge was finally over. Kids in air-conditioned cars passing by looked like kinda mocking at me. But I couldn’t care more… I was back to busy enjoying my ride in the rain…
And after I made it back… at the same CCD with the same friend, the same hot Cappuccino I ordered yesterday, suddenly had a great taste today!
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Yahoooo!!! Finally its all over! |
Finished up with my engineering exams yesterday… though still have the final year project presentation (and project itself!) pending and a couple of vivas which i never study for. It seems like its almost all over! :D.
And now, I am on a never before like schedule… enjoying my last few days in Goa before I join TCS.
DEGREE was a dream… but ENGINEERING made it possible!
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Where the hell is Aseem? |
This is the one question that my blog asks me everytime I logon, only to read a few new comments on the older posts… I want to answer it, but the silence has stood too loud all this while. Yes sadly so, I have been pretty irregular at blogging in the recent past. But I have been busy with newer and interesting projects I have given a go to. Some of my own or partnered with friends and ofcourse there is always a little webdesign work that I usually do. Announcements on my newer sites will follow shortly. So blogging does not float on top of these priorities. But am trying… trying to give everything in life the time it deserves.
While in a few days my final engineering exams are scheduled and I am busy with photocopying class notes, buying reference books (yes now!), collecting question papers from the past…lol! Lots to do! Just the last 3 papers of my engineering now and then no more of it! No exams… no tests… nothing! But I will miss these times I am still holding on to. Yes I will miss exams and tests too. Times when I have been awake all night studying and then my brain a Kora Kagaz on the next day of the paper. Or those small internal tests I never cared to study for… but yet always somehow passed! Ok I have taken a couple of class photos and videos too during the tests, so you know how strict or serious tests can be :p. But for sem exams, there is no escape. Gotta start studying and give a break to all other work. Yes the last time I will be studying for an engineering paper (hopefully!!!)!
We also have our most talked about final year engineering project go doom. Have to make it presentable enough now to scape through. Yea, lots of stuff going in and around me. So my blog might remain in this inanimate state for a while until I have enough time to give it some life :).
And if ya still asking this question… “Where the hell is Aseem?” You can catch up with me at CCD( Café Coffee Day)
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