Gibberish by Bhushan

Gibberish goes Wordpress

2009-01-28T12:02:00.003+05:30

I have decided (finally) to shift my blog to Wordpress. Reason? Nothing in particular. The new blog has an appropriate URL as well. Check it out at
http://brainwhacked.wordpress.com

Bhushan

SRK to Play a Superhero......

2007-10-01T10:11:00.000+05:30

….Mohabbatman.

If this news is true then I can die peacefully. I have seen and heard everything this world can offer to show me.

I really didn’t see that coming. Think about the things SRK would do as Mohabbatman. Probably he will carry on his work from Mohabbatein.

Some diversion from original topic here. Mohabbatein made me want to take admission in a college like Gurukul. Not because of a chance of romantic affair with chicks but because the students from that particular college didn’t seem to have normal worries like exams. But isn’t that same with many other YashRaj movies? How come the students never worry about stuff like journals, submissions, lectures(whether to attend and sleep to or bunk and go see a movie), attendance, practicals. Instead of talking about things like Arre aaj ka electronic ka practical mein kuch samjha nahi mereko. Galti se reverse nodes connect kiya. Baad mein bajuwale ka reading utha ke chhapa maine sidha mere journal mein, they always seem to be busy plotting some alien things. And then there is defaulters’ list. What can I say about that! It’s a list of selected hand-picked students who get a chance to meet the high authorities of the college once every year with their parents, which is considered a great honor. Ek shaam principal ke naam. And I am proud to say that I was winner for all 3 years. First time I brought my dad to the party. It was really boring though. I was kept waiting outside while my dad and other professors were enjoying. So what if my dad can be a life of a party. It’s rude to keep me waiting outside. So in my second year when he was called again, I just took some form which was meant for some less important people (like whose attendance was greater that 50% but less that 75%) and had my dad fill it up and fooled the professors back at college making them think that he was not interested in yesteryear’s repeat performance. In third year when I won again, I was so bored that I didn’t even bother to see the list. Neither did the professors bother to congratulate me. I was told about it by some of my enthusiastic friends.

Enough with the diversion. Let’s get back to SRK. I wonder what and whom he will be fighting against. Maybe he will fight against Shiv Sena in the name of St. Valentine. Imagine SRK with his underwear over his tights singing in the streets of Mumbai while fighting against the horde of Shiv Sainiks. That's the stuff that Bollywood is made of.

Besides, I really don’t think SRK needs to wear a costume to be a superhero. His heroics and stunts in Main Hoon Naa will vouch for me.

His topless performance in Om Shanti Om is an eyesore. For those of you who haven’t noticed it yet, let me spell it out for you. I am a hardcore SRK critic. The only reason I liked Chak De because he was less like himself in that movie.

I believe Hrithik Roshan is the one to blame. With Koi Mil Gaya and Krrish, he inspired King Khan to do the impossible deeds. What follows is Baby B in Drona. Now that I saw coming. If Bachchans can do it then SRK has to do it and if SRK does it then Bachchans have to live up to their mantle. It’s the mantra these days.

When I wrote about Watchmen earlier, I definitely did not have these two playing the costumed adventurers. But stranger things can happen. Like me going to a dietitian and actually trying hard to keep to the schedule. But more about that later.

Who watches the Watchmen?

2007-08-28T22:58:00.000+05:30

Shakespeare was a genius. To be or not to be …that is definitely the question.

Earlier I used to think that he was just a 16^th century play writer who had a long sight to write screenplays for some of the current bollywood movies.

Not anymore. He captured the human dilemma in just one simple sentence.

The sudden reason for my epiphany about Shakespeare is a book called Watchmen which I finished recently (Finished reading. Not finished making airplanes out of its pages or drawing moustaches to characters which is what I usually do with books). The book is old. But since I have taken extraordinary efforts to distance myself from the serious literature, it’s new to me. And this book is a serious material though I was somewhat deceived by the fact that it’s a comic. Besides being a serious book, it’s also a very disturbing book. The only book which disturbed me more than this was a book on “puberty issues”. Given to me in my late teen years. The person was a few years too late in giving me that book and I never went beyond first few pages. But whatever I read made me feel as if I was going through that phase again. It was horrible.

Watchmen is disturbing because it makes us ask questions of which answers we already know but don’t want to acknowledge that we know and ignore them. See what I mean? It made me write a completely incomprehensible sentence just for the heck of it.

It makes you ask things like what is right and what is wrong? Who is right and who is wrong? Who decides that? Is everything worth in the end? More importantly it forces you to make a choice in the end.

Personally I don’t like to choose. I can’t even choose between ice cream and chocolate. I prefer my ice cream topped with chocolate rather than choosing any one of it. That’s why all that Shakespeare quote and dilemma thing up there. And I am not good at asking questions. Come to think of it I am not very good at giving answers either.

The book deals with superheroes and their mentality and psychology behind their masks. I mean what sane person would wear his underwear over his tights? Why would he wear tights in public in the first place?

There are many books out there which deal with similar storyline. But its approach and the fact that it’s a comic book – a graphic novel if you will – is what makes Watchmen different. You don’t expect comics to behave in such a way. You don’t want comics to behave in such a way. Being a comic lets it not only tell but show you things that are very real. Or could be real.

There a reason why this book is the only comic to win a Hugo Award and to be listed in the Time magazine’s all time 100 greatest English novels.

“You introduced me to Harry Potter, I give you Watchmen”. My cousin told me solemnly while handing me the book. His entire demeanor was that of king presenting someone the knighthood.

Harry Potter’s is a world where we don’t live in but want to. At least I do. And Watchman’s is a world where we live in but don’t want to.

One thing I can say without dilemma is that this maybe the first Alan Moore book that I have read but it definitely isn’t the last.

Orkut and Associated Craziness

2007-07-05T13:16:00.000+05:30

Orkut is a strange place. Addictive and ridiculous. Addictive because so many crazy profiles. Ridiculous because so many crazy profiles.
Sarcastic profiles are a fun to read. But serious, sincere, love-sick and so called Gothic and dark brooding profiles are even funnier.
I am going to write about the funnier stuff.
My hands are itching to copy-paste the links here. But you must have seen your share too. (If you are not on Orkut or haven't heard about it then you are either a new born or have visited the Planet Earth recently.)

The fun begins with the first section : About Me (Now it has moved to second place. Relationship status is the first section now I believe).

I am a fun loving guy/gal who loves to live life to the fullest. (Yeah and I just cannot wait to give up my life in half so that I can begin my journey towards the afterlife).
I hate people who lie.(Include yourself in that list too then. In the history mankind their are only 3 people who have never lied in their whole life. George Bush Jr., Dick Cheney and Tony Blair.) (When I started blog I promised myself never to express my political opinions. To stay clear of that path. But now I just couldn't help myself. See. I kinda lied to myself too. Hate me.)
I am a shy person. (If you are shy then what on earth are you doing on a social networking site.)
And there are those who write essays in this section. Some very very wordy lines, mostly taken from elsewhere. What they hate and love about themselves, life and universe in general. Value of friends in their life. Kinda like Ms. Universe speech.

The next funny part is the personal section. I don't even want to talk about ideal match.
Let's move on to Ideal First Date:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Candle light dinner on a quiet evening. With Frank Sinatra singing in the background. Cupid practicing his archery on us. Then a nice stroll on a beach. And all is fine with the world. (Reality bites girls. No guy in his right mind would ever spend so much money on a first date. Unless he is insanely in love. Get ready for a movie and if lucky then dinner. According to me the ideal first date is the one that ends with a promise of a second date. What more could one want? By the way, about that stroll on the beach. It is high time you give a visit to Dadar chowpatty. This is the perfect season.)

Let's get to the last part. The Photos.
I can put up with people posting the pics of their dogs and cats with captions like cho chweeeeettt.....or isnt that the cutest little thing ever? I can even tolerate people posting foto of some random baby on internet with same captions used for pets. Like above for example.
But not those who use some strange dark themed pics. With captions like fallen angel, bleeding phoenix, tears of world or any crap like that. These captions can also be their display names.

I can easily write many articles on these topics. In fact when I thought about writing it, I thought of much more. But it's slipping out of my mind now.

I have the right to write all about it because none of above is true in my case. You can check my profile on Orkut. In fact I haven't changed anything in my profile in over a year. After all fallen angels always have same things to tell.

Irony of Blogging

2007-06-25T10:20:00.000+05:30

I spent around 2 weeks creating a blog. I changed the template at least 6 times. I like to blog. At least I would like to think so. It's really ironic that after all this I can't think of anything to write. And I am reduced to writing such utter rubbish. Sheeesh

Falling Hard

2007-06-13T14:29:00.000+05:30

Last week I had my first accident at gym. It was due.
Clumsiness is my middle name along with laziness, obnoxiousness, and many more.
And many times there wasn't even my fault.
This time it wasn't any different either. Here's what happened.
I was standing by the weight rack thinking about what weight to pick up. There was this guy doing dumbbell lunges behind me with his side at me. He stretched a bit too much I guess, but he lost his balance and fell on me. I stumbled forward and hit my left knee on the rack. And I shouted out loud. As if that was not enough he got up by putting all his weight on me. Though I realized that much later as I was more or less baffled at that moment.
I am just great full though for two things.
He was not a heavy weight material. At least not by my standards. And thank god for reflexive actions. He dropped the dumbbells before falling all over me.
Needless to say it provided a little amusement to people around. I did not feel embarrassed though. I quit being embarrassed for such things a long time back. It's a part of my life.
I have been clumsy for as long as I remember.
There is a temple at Khar that we used to visit when I was a kid till one was built in Vile Parle itself. One day we were at that temple at evening. I saw a huge bed sheet or something like that hanging in the backyard. As a kid who had nothing better to do, I decided to run past it (Run past it or through it or whatever). What I failed to see that the bottom ends of that sheet were also tied. Basically it was a vertical trampoline. I ran towards it, bumped against it, was thrown back and don't remember what happened next. I wonder why.....

Just a couple of months back when I was returning home with a friend, I just stumbled and nearly landed on my face. At the last moment I managed to somehow avoid that. It was too not my fault entirely. A pitcher of beer was partially responsible for that.

I used to go to the New English School at Bandra till 5th standard. That time the school hired the infamous Lele's bus service. Man was that dude huge or what. Put 2 to 3 contestants from the Biggest Loser together. Make him wear a white shirt with upper buttons open and a golden chain. Add an admirable amount of arrogance, carelessness and voila!
In those days there were innumerable amount of jokes were born at his expense.
His bus service was as bad as him. If not worse.
If I describe the conditions inside the buses in the monsoon season you won't travel by any bus for days. So I'll pass.
This happened when I was in KG or 1st standard. I am not sure. As greedy as he was, Lele had a very limited number of buses. As a result the buses used to be packed like local trains at peak hours. Once I was standing in the queue to get off the bus as the my stop was nearing. As the driver put break everybody in the queue collapsed on me. And my nose started bleeding. When I finally got off the bus, my aunt who was there to pick up me and my cousin asked about this. I told her everything. Next day she went to Lele and for the first time I saw him nervous. Immediately more buses were added to the service. I literally had to spill my blood for the betterment of the student community. Moral - Not my fault.

Chronicles of Weekend 2

2007-05-28T08:58:00.000+05:30

Last few days were really gloomy. Don't remember much except for work. Even last weekend was blur. I expected this weekend to be the same too. But it was different.

It started Friday evening. I got to annoy the HR. And suddenly everything was great with the world. We all had a gala of time pissing him off. For an HR he is not dumber. Just dumb(Dev my man, if you are reading this please understand that I respect you. But don't expect me to give it to you. You will always be my verbal punching bag).

In the evening while I was waiting for my friend to pick me up, I heard this AIDS awareness ad. Jawan hoon, nadaan nahi. Targeting the youth. This ad campaign usually ends telling that 33% of AIDS affects are youth. That's why this ad is targeted towards the young. Now I have a question. What about the rest 57%? (It's 57 right? or 87? or 39? Being weak in maths is hereditary) Why target the 33%? What about the not-young-but-still-have-AIDS people? A campaign should run targeting them too. Budha hoon aur nadaan bhi hoon.

Afterwards me and friend went to Kobe's and emptied their kitchen. Then we just hanged out till the time when we had no choice but to return to home. Meanwhile I called up my Mom and convinced her that I was working late and will grab a bite on my way back.

Saturday I had to attend a 50th wedding anniversary function. Two of my grand dads were married on the same day. A small recreation took place. One of the "grooms" cracked some inappropriate jokes in a way only he can. Inappropriate but funny as hell. At dinner time I had to curb my vicious natural tendencies and restrict myself to only one scoop of ice cream. That was not funny. Not funny at all.

Sunday's highlight was my yet another futile attempt to find a converter for PS2. I am this close(put your index finger and thumb so close that only a thread can pass) to permanently damage my TV so that Dad will have to get a new one which can support NTSC. But I fear that he will see through my plan and the consequences will be rather unpleasant for me. In the evening there was another function at my uncle's place. But being a health conscious person I did not eat anything.

As a result I was awarded with a reduction of 2 kilos this morning.

One can also say that I eat 2 kilos worth of food at one go.

P.S. This is something I forgot to add before. At the anniversary function there was a photo of all the then kids including me. I must have been a 10 year old. I showed that pic to my sister and told her that my teeth don't look too big and out of the place now as they used to all those years back. Her response was that in all those year I have taken efforts to make my body size match my teeth. That's why they don't look out of the place now.
After she gets married I'm going to use her cupboard to store all my stinking socks and wet towels as a revenge.

Things That Should Not Be Given As Gifts

2007-05-16T16:55:00.000+05:30

I buy the worst gifts in the world. Well...not in the world but among all the people I know, have heard or seen in my life. And actually I am the second in the line of buying the worst gifts. Want to know who's number one? Read on.

For years I have bought same thing for my sister. I always gifted her nail-paint. That too in shade of red. Always. Whenever I used to go shopping for her birthday, I somehow always used to end up picking red nail-paint. Now I am wiser. I don't gift her anything anymore.

Once I gifted my cousin a mouth organ. What the hell was I thinking? He couldn't even whistle. I don't think he can whistle now either. But a mouth organ? I just went into a shop. Mouth organ was the first thing I saw. Bought it. Gift wrapped it. Presented it.

One of the most recent incident was really embarrassing. It was Diwali. And Bhau-beej. Someone had this great idea about family get-together. Now the Pangaonkar clan is beyond counting, but even our small close family gathering could mean dozens and dozens of people. It was a special occasion. So it was pretty overwhelming. I counted and as it turned out that there were going to be some 12-13 sisters expecting gifts from us(That means me and other unfortunate brothers). Personally I think that Raksha Bandhan and Bhau-Beej are both some kind of conspiracies. It's a bloody extortion. And we have to feel happy about it.
Now I was broke and low on budget as always. Besides it's girls we are talking about. I had to buy same thing for everyone. I finally found some real nice turkish hankies packed in an even nicer plastic bags, which by the way I suspect cost more than the hankies itself. It took me nearly 3-4 hours to gift wrap all of them. Because the process of gift wrapping has many sub processes like buying a wrapping paper, cutting the paper, wrapping the gift, finding that the paper size was small and you had to use lot of tape to hold it together, unwrapping the gift, cutting the paper again in right size, then again wrapping the gift, running out of wrapping paper, running to store to buy more paper and just because I am going then buying 1 kilo of potato and onion and other things, then finally having the finished product. Anyways. Then the big day arrived. As I was handing out the gifts, I could see the excitement on their faces. After opening the gifts, excitement was replaced by disappointment. But I chose not to see that. Now one really cute cousin of mine exclaimed that I gave her socks as a gift. She did not stop at that though. She went on telling everybody present there that I was giving socks as present. By the way has anyone noticed that cuter the kid, the more devil he/she is? She even nicknamed me as socks bhaiyya. That's probably the worst nickname I ever had. And I have had some nasty nicknames. Next time I visit her, I am buying her a dozen pairs of different kinds of socks and then explain to her the difference between a hankie and a sock.

I am always at the giving end of the bad gifts. To be on the receiving end is no less embarrassing. It was few years back. My college friends gave me some gifts for my birthday. A useless movie audio cassette that I never listened. A greeting card which was surprisingly good and I really liked it. I had it with me for many years. The last gift was a pack of condoms. Now why would they give me condoms? I kept thinking for a minute. Was there some kind of hidden meaning to it? Some kind of metaphorical gesture? Then I thought nah. These are MY friends. A complete absence of deep thinking and an awesome amount of shallow behavior was the basis of our friendship. A friendship that is still going strong thanks to that solid foundation which till date is intact. They just gave me that as a prank. Now they were expecting party from me. I opened the pack and handed them one condom each. When I ran out of stock, I went to nearby medical shop and bought more for remaining friends. As it turned out my dear friends had bought my gift from the same shop. A medical shop with large stock of condoms near a college. Now that's a gesture. After giving them the return gifts, I told them to do something which I can not write here. I bested my friends. I emerged victorious. But my happiness lasted for only one year.

On my next birthday, they gifted me a diaphragm.

Minting Money?

2007-05-15T10:16:00.000+05:30

Is making money really this easy these days?
I would have answered negative, but with emergence of Google AdSense and other likewise thingies, it at least seems so. Of course for AdSense to work, one has to have those many hits on the site. And to have hits, the site should contain actual useful material rather than some random guy talking about his strange life stories(I think I know that guy).

Now the times have changed. Enter SMS advertising. Get ads on your mobile, read them and get paid. Check this out.

People have claimed that they actually have stated making money. But does it really happen?

Success is Sweet

2007-05-14T12:06:00.000+05:30

Yesterday was a joyous day. A very special occasion. After the gym, I measured my weight again. I had lost over 1 kilo. In just one week. I was so happy that my friend was sure that I gained all that I had lost. One week of workout finally paid off. One week of control over eating habits. Tongue celibacy if you will. This part was more difficult than the workout itself. I don’t eat much junk food, but whatever I consume at home is sufficient to make up for it.

When I told mom about my achievement, she replied with a cynical tone “Darya mein khaskhas”. Any other day this comment would have doused my spirit. But no sir, not yesterday. The last time I lost weight when I was in 9^th grade. Because of jaundice. It was always ladder up after that. From what I heard people become half their size in jaundice. I had merely lost 2 kilos. And I was strictly eating only boiled vegetables and other all oil-free tasteless stuff. When my tuition class sir heard about this, he said that Bhushan was not suffering from jaundice but jaundice was suffering from Bhushan. In Marathi, his actual words were Kaavil la Bhushan jhala hota.

So you can probably imagine my happiness over losing my weight. It was time for celebration. And I celebrated it by eating nearly half of the fresh homemade mango ice-cream.

Tiger Story

2007-05-13T19:37:00.000+05:30

This is something that I heard from a friend this morning. Thought you should hear it too. It's about four friends and a tiger.
These four friends went for a camping trip in jungle. As they were setting up the tents, suddenly a tiger appeared out of nowhere. Friends started running for their dear life. With tiger after them, they didn't have much time to think. Suddenly they came across a square in the middle of the jungle. Friend number 1 took the left side road while number 4 went for the right road. Number 2 and number 3 went straight forward. Now tiger was smart. He could count. Two is better than one. So he too took the straight road and went after number 2 and 3. Seeing this both of them started sweating profusely. Number 2 could climb trees so he climbed the nearest tree. Now tiger could climb trees too but this tree was coconut tree. So he continued chasing number 3. Poor number 3. Now he was sure that he was going to be the snack of the king of the beasts. But suddenly he came across a diversion in road. A road going straight and one going left. He had an idea. He signaled the tiger by lifting his left hand showing that he was turning left but went on running straight. Tiger took the left hand side road and went there. Happy with his fast thinking number 3 kept on going. Incidentally four friends reunited in the next square, where number 3 boasted of his feat. As he finished his tale the tiger appeared there too. Now mad with anger for being fooled by these two-legged creatures. He had lost respect in his community and other creatures were soon going to hear about this incident. It was now matter of pride. With renewed vigor he started chasing those four. Again our protagonists started running. As luck would have it they again came across a square. This time number 1 took the road on the right side. Number 3 took the left side while number 2 and 4 went straight. Number 2 again climbed on the nearest coconut tree and tiger went after number 4. Number 4 now on the verge of wetting his pants -totally lucky- came across a diversion in the road. One going straight and one going left. Remembering what number 3 had told earlier, he too signaled with his left hand and went straight. But he under estimated the intelligence of the tiger. A fast leaner as he was, our chief antagonist was not fooled the second time and he too went straight. Seeing this number 4 just crossed the verge and wet his pants but kept on running. But again he came across a diversion. One straight and one going right. He took his chance and signaled the tiger with right hand and went on straight. Tiger fell for this one and took the road on the right side. Number 4 would have stopped to thank the heavens but fearing that if the tiger came back he would have to go to the heavens personally to thank, he kept on going.
Again those friends met on the next road crossing. There number 4 shared his experience. As he finished narrating, they all heard a deadly roar behind them. The return of the king. The tiger was now seething with fury. Enraged for being fooled two times in a row he was now determined to have at least one of those four for lunch.
As you can imagine, those four again started running. Again they came across a square. This time number 4 took the left road and number 3 went right. While number 2 and number 1 went straight. Number 2 again climbed the nearest coconut tree and the tiger went after number 1. Number 1 too came across a diversion with left side road. He tried the trick of number 3 but the tiger was not fooled. Afterwards he came to a diversion with a right hand road and a straight one. Hoping to repeat what number 4 did, he signaled with his right hand and went straight. But the tiger was not fooled this time either. In fact he became angrier(if that was possible) because number 1 thought that he was stupid and would fell for the same tricks second time. He roared and increased his speed. Now number 1 having lost all hope, did not have much strength left to run any more. To his dismay the road came to an abrupt end with cliff at the end. What was he going to do?
He decided to take his one last chance. He moved to the left side of the road and slowed his speed. And then signaled the tiger with overtake/go ahead sign. The tiger went running straight ahead, fell down and made his species even more endangered.

Moral of the Story. It doesn't matter if you are as stupid as number 2 to take same road again and again knowing the dangers, as long as you have a unique talent which can save your skin. Sometime three times in a row.

Alternate Moral of the Story. Be smart like number 2 and and always take the sure road when in the time of emergency. You may not be lucky like number 1, 2 and 3 who kept on experimenting and nearly lost their life. And every time your enemy may not be stupid like that tiger.

Another Alternate Moral of the Story. There is no moral you punk. All those management moral stories flying over the Internet and emails have made us think that everything in life teaches us something. But since you have taken the efforts to read through all this crap, I'll not disappoint you. Here's your lesson. When at the end of the road, slow down. Somethings in life are to be done just for fun. Raise your glasses of frosty beer and say cheers. Just like those friends did when they planned their next camping trip at a luxurious resort.

Me - A Comic Relief

2007-05-10T08:54:00.000+05:30

Usually in many serious movies there is a character which provides comic relief with his antics and stupidity. I am beginning to feel that I am one.
A public clown.

I provide lot of amusement to all the gymmers(is there such a word? It better be because I am going to use it). Especially my trainer. Begin your day with a laugh. I make everybody's day. When trainer arrives, he is usually is a serious mood. By the time my session is complete, he is in a very jovial and happy mood. Not just him but literally everyone in gym. Laughter is supposed to be the best medicine. I make people healthy. I should be the trainer at the gym.

Now the other gymmers are nice. So they don't stare at me and and laugh out loud. They just keep on doing their own stuff. But that does not mean that they don't look at me. Corner of their eyes are always towards me. And a stifled laugh. When I look at them, suddenly that laugh turns into a warm smile. Nice people. It won't be long before more and more people turn in for morning exercise and a good piece of entertainment.

Cardio exercises are no problem as long as machines are manually programmed except for ellipticals. Those are pain in thighs.

But the real fun is with the weight training and other stuff. For some strange reasons the dumbbells get heavier with every passing moment. "Come on..that's just eight. Give me seven more". Be happy with what you got moron. Eight should be enough. Why do you want more? Didn't your mama teach you not to be greedy? I think that he gets a real kick out of it.

But compared to what he makes me do next, dumbbells feel like wooden stick.
Back extensions!!!!
See that pic(That's not me!! Just a pic from the net). I am supposed to bend completely from my waist so that I can see my toes. Why would I want to see my toes? I don't come to the gym to see my own toes. I can see my toes anytime I want to see my toes. I just have to bend a little forward "while standing" and there they are. Just that my stupid tummy comes in the way. Otherwise I wouldn't even have to bend.
I have to bend completely anyway. No problem. And then I have to come up. With hands crossed over my chest. Now that's a problem. Again the dumbbell conversation is repeated. For even stranger reasons I seem to be stuck on number eight. This too I can do only for eight times before I bend down and stay in that position until I use my hands or someone pulls me up.

I also managed to pull off some antics while I was stretching on a sadistic looking machine. How did I do that is impossible to tell. Maybe you can stop by my gym sometime and see for yourself and you too can have a good laugh.

2007-05-09T08:58:00.000+05:30

If only calorie burning was as easy, pleasurable, tasty, relaxing as calorie gaining.........

I am back.....I am back

2007-05-08T22:00:00.000+05:30

I had a kind of eventful week. First I went to my Mama's place at Ahmednagar. It was after 3-4 years I guess. Grandma was nearly ecstatic to see me. I usually don't like to go there in summer time. It's hot like crazy and then there is power cut. Can't stay in home or can't go outside either. Besides grandma force fed me nearly every kind of sweet and cuisine she could prepare. Actually I liked that part. But I had to leave a day earlier than my original schedule as I had some other plans.

The first thing I did after arriving was to buy a PlayStation 2. Finally I gave in to my desire. After that I banged my head against the wall as it turned out that my TV supports only PAL and not NTSC. So 3 out of 4 games I bought are running in black and white(bang...bang....BANNNGGGG). Only The Godfather is running in color mode. Don Corleone did it again. Maybe he gave my TV an offer it couldn't refuse.

I don't mean any disrespect to Godfather, but I want to play God of War and San Andreas more than anything else. But my TV has to go all colorless at this point. Now I am looking for some kind of converter. According to some we don't get that converter in India. I don't see any reason for that. Probably they just tell me that because they don't have it. But I have faith in the guys at Lamington road. Those people can get any damn electronic contraption in the world. All you need to do is look for it. So either converter or the European version of the games would do.

The next thing I did was......ahm......joined the gym. I know many of you are either shaking your heads in disbelief or laughing. Many would find it impossible to believe that I, Bhushan Pangaonkar, would actually join a gym. But I did it. I am so proud of myself. It was long overdue.

Now the next thing I did was to actually go to the gym. Getting up at 5 in the morning is not fun. Surprisingly I haven't hit the maximum of the pain meter yet. It's not that I want it or that I am more fit than I think. But I think that the trainer is waiting for the right opportunity. I could sense it.

Let's see what happens.

Brain Under Construction

2007-04-30T15:00:00.000+05:30

The brain of this blogger is under construction.
So this site will remain offline for few days.
Please bear wih us.
Sorry for the inconvenience.
Till then take care.

Spidey is here

2007-04-27T09:02:00.000+05:30

Spidey is coming. On 4th May.
I would love to go for the first day first show. But I won't sadly. I rarely go to the movies by planning beforehand. Plans always fail. They have to be spontaneous. Arre bore ho gaya hai. Chal koi to movie dekhte hai. It has to be like that.
My friend used to work with a very famous studio. He invited me to many first day shows. But I never went. Strange right?????
That's because I am not a movie buff.
But this is spidey we are talking about. Have to see the movie.
I didn't like the first movie though. Don't ask me why. I myself don't know. But it's water under the bridge now. Lot has happened since. Played a couple of spidey games. Watched the second movie and loved it.

By the way the decision to watch the second movie was also spontaneous. We were at college at usual. It was raining. Mumbai monsoon. I don't remember whether we bunked the lectures or we got an off because nobody was there. The reason I don't remember because I used to bunk nearly everyday. Attending the lectures was something to remember. So we decided to watch the movie. We were sure that we wouldn't get any tickets in any nearby cinemas. So we decided to go to a cinema in Dahisar. I think the name was Movie Gem. Let me assure you there was nothing gem about it.
Now let me describe something about Mumbai. I leave in the suburb of Andheri. My college was in Parle. At walking distance. And we decided to go to Dahisar in the middle of heavy rains. By local train of course. The pain!!! Only a real Mumbaikar would know it. I am a very lazy and laid back person. But that day something was wrong with me. Otherwise I would have never agreed with it.
We pinpointed that cinema because the rates were lucrative. 20 rupees!!!!!!!!!!!!
For college going students it was nothing short of a lottery. So we four finally set for Dahisar. Out of those four 2 were residents of Dahisar and other was of Mira Road. Just a station ahead. No one else was brave enough to go so far. Moi alone.
Are you guys still with me? Please raise your hand if something is not clear. No hands!! Good. Let's continue.
One crazy fella was wearing floaters. It was all wet and slippery in the underground. So we made him stand still and started pushing him. We literally had to drag him so that he wouldn't fall on his face and ruin our movie plan.
Finally we reached the cinema only to find that all 20 rupees tickets were sold out. I know you are laughing. I would too. But it wasn't funny at all then. With God's grace we received 40 rupees tickets. 40 is still better than 100 plus rates of multiplex.
Now we were inside the hall. The seats were specifically designed to torture the people of my size. There was no leg space either. For next 2 hours I was sitting with my hands and legs close to my body. Squeezed. But it was all worth it. The movie was superb. Fantastic.
Worth every pain that was inflicted on me that day(OK.....I am being too dramatic here. But it's really no fun sitting in that position for 2 hours with wet clothes).

And now Spider-Man 3 is arriving. Who knows what might happen this time.

Insomniac of the day (or night)

2007-04-23T03:07:00.000+05:30

It's 3 in the morning and I can not sleep. I suspect the reason behind it being I hogged like a...well hog...at lunch and slept for 4-5 hours. (Don't judge me. It's Sunday. And it was the first Aam-ras of the season.)
I was tossing and turning in bed till now and couldn't take it anymore and as a result I am here posting at this odd hour.
Maybe I should post something meaningful for once. Something like....something like.....somethiinng likeeee...zzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

.......and Brian Lara retires

2007-04-20T13:46:00.000+05:30

The last of the West Indian greats decides it's time to quit.
Nothing more to say.

My sickness, future and PlayStation 2

2007-04-17T16:11:00.000+05:30

I am sick. For last few days. Not metaphorically but really. Lots of cough. Weather change. Usually I get back to my normal self within few days. But this time it's taking longer than usual. A whole day of sitting in AC certainly doesn't help me. And to avoid coughing my guts out I have to take liberal amount of cough syrup in office. That makes me sleepy as hell. Very tight situation.
Anyways. As I was saying that I am sick. It's sickening. Really. I can't eat ice cream. I can't drink anything cold. When everyone is having cold drinks and other stuff, I am drinking hot water even when there is scorching heat. Not that I like cold drinks. But still. By the way I don't know why but I don't like them.
Also I can't eat pizza. It has got nothing to do with my cough (ok...a little) but because I am trying to avoid junk food.
Why do the most desirable and pleasurable things in life tend to give us either heart attack or cancer or AIDS??????
lolz. Just kidding.
It seems like I can't do anything of my liking these days. Which reminds me of my another dilemma.

When I started working I had two specific objectives.
One to pre-order the seventh Harry Potter book. (Which I did just a couple of days back. Yappie)
The second one to buy a PlayStation 2. (I know that PlayStation 3 is out but I still prefer PS2 partly because it runs every game that I ever wanted to play and partly because I can afford it). I am very close to achieve that objective. Just a few weeks more and I'll have it.
But as it turns out my dad has plans for my money. No surprise there. He always has plans.
This will help you in future. That's his usual punch line (Here punch line means the line that hits me in the face like a punch). I agree with him totally. Usually I go with him. And here's where the dilemma starts.

I have been dreaming about PS2 for years now. Dad never bought it because he really dislikes gaming. Thinks it's a waste of time and money. Specifically in my case because I have no control over myself when in comes to gaming. Totally agreed. I am a complete waste in that regard. Or rather I was. Now I am a lot wiser (What an achievement!!). And that's why I want to buy it. It's really important for me.
If I go with dad my plan for PS2 will be postponed for god knows how much time.

Is it really necessary every time to care for the future at the cost of present?

My heart's desire versus my brain's logic. The age old battle. In the past I have nearly always listened to the logic. And I have rarely regretted it. I am just too much practical. Can't help it.
I can always buy PS2 later. But will it be really desirable at that point? Will I really want it like I do now?

Next few weeks are going to be tough. What do I do? What will I do?

I really need to read Rich Dad Poor Dad again.

Days of School

2007-04-09T11:20:00.000+05:30

Nihal Kenkre is my near & dear friend. A colorful and very very original character. The first and last of his kind to roam the surface of the planet.
He is the same friend I mentioned in my earlier post who felt betrayed by me.
I didn't know he had a poetic side. He claims that he discovered it while getting his B.E degree. Out of depression. Many people discover their hidden talents while taking their degrees. What kind of talents did I discover is a subject of different topic altogether and a very big one at that.
Right now we are talking about Nihal.
He has something to say about his school days.

Few lines about my school life...

Na jaane main kaha ja raha tha,
Na jaane kya paane ja raha tha,
Yuhi subah waha pahuch jata tha,
Jaha duniya ka gyaan bata jata tha!

Ek tha principal, bahut the teachers,
Jab classess shuru the, sab pakte the sar,
Sabhi the ladke, ladkiyan thi kam,
Taraste taraste din guzarte the hum.

Hafte ke beech mein chutti aati thi,
Us din homework ki tayyari ki jati thi,
Woh din Guruwaar tha,
Homework karte karte Somwaar aata tha......

1st unit test, 2nd unit test,1st term, 2nd term,
Itne sab exams dete the hum,
Paper mein bhale kuch nahi likha ho,
Result mein usse dugni umeed karte the hum!!!

March ka mahina aata tha,
Final exams shuru hone ka time aata tha,
Pata nahi waqt kya khel khelta tha,
Lekin woh mahina beetne mein ek saal lagta tha!!!

Yeh sab karte karte hum dusvi mein aa gaye,
Bhole banke humne vacation classes join kar liye,
Usi time mein ek ladki mere dil ko bhaayi,
Tabhi to mirchi bhi lagti thi mithai!!

MORE TO COME.....stay tuned!!!!

With some difference this is true in everybody's case.

What say you?

Chronicles of weekend

2007-04-07T17:54:00.000+05:30

It's getting unbearably hot by every passing day. And it's still April.
Earlier I quite didn't realize it's seriousness because my routine is to get into rickshaw then spend the day in AC and at the evening again return by rickshaw.
But today I had to go to Lamington Rd for some work. I was roaming the streets at 12 noon.
Thanks a million to the person who invented bottles. It is at moments like these when you learn to appreciate the beauty and importance of smaller things in life. Like bottles, water bottles. God how much I love them.

That's afternoon. I spent my morning at my dad's office repairing his computer.
The actual task took less than 5 minutes as I knew what was wrong with it.
It was the other things that ate up my time. To get that blasted CPU out of it's cabin, and to remove it's plastic cover, to put back the cover and most important put back the CPU in it's place. Too much of work. My PC at home is half open. All nuts removed. You only have to slide the cover and voila! One motherboard and components at your service. And besides it becomes even more difficult when people make a huddle around you as if you are a street juggler.

Later that day in evening I had plans with a friend. Pop Tates. Once every month. It is one thing that I never miss. But I cancelled the plan. When I told my friend about canceling the meeting he didn't speak for a few seconds. He was shocked to the core. He never expected such a thing from me. I swear I heard the words like traitor, betrayer even though he was silent. Sound of silence!!!
But the prospect of traveling for another 45 or so minutes was horrifying.
I just couldn't do it. I decided to spend my Saturday evening drinking water. And lots of it. That was my plan.
Instead I spent it with my couple of friends, roaming aimlessly for 4 hours.
Out of those 4 hours we spent 2 hours planning for Sunday lunch. Where do we want to go?
Let's go here, no let's go there instead. There is this place I heard about let's try there.
In the end we all came to conclusion that it's better to have lunch at our own respective places.

Later that night I saw Bangladesh stunning South Africa. What the hell is wrong with Bangladesh? Don't they know how to respect the elders? I wasn't even watching the match at the beginning. Animax was a better choice. But then later I had to. I guess every plan for the day was meant to go for a toss.

After such an eventful Saturday, Sunday was bound to be anti-climactic. I was sleeping for half day. And other half I can't remember. Where did that go? I still can't figure out.

Anyway, hopefully you all had better weekend.
Ciao!!

New Blog Game - BackLink To Me

2007-04-04T21:10:00.000+05:30

Here is a new blog game that we all can play. It is called BackLink To Me. This is a new and fun blog game that we all can play, which will help us increase our backlinks. Backlinks, as we all know, is the foundation to a successful or increased Google PageRank. If you want to increase your Google PageRank, you have to increase the number of backlinks to your site and almost as importantly, your secondary or (deep linked) pages. Backlinks are a collection of other pages on the Net that link back to your site or page within your site. Playing the new blog game, BackLink To Me will help you increase the number of sites that link to your site.

Hello! My Name is Bhushan. My website is at http://pangaonkar.blogspot.com . I have a BackLink to Abru. Here is how the game works:

1. Create a new post and title it, “New Blog Game - BackLink To Me“.
2. Copy my entire post and paste it into your new post.
3. Change my name to your name.
4. Change my website address to your website address
5. Change the name of the person I have a backlink to my name!
6. Link my name back to the url of this post!

By participating in this blog game your site and one deep link page within your site will be a link in a huge chain of blogs that are all connected together. Google bots visit our sites daily (not sure if you knew that). By keeping our chain of links all together in a continuously growing circuit, we gain and increase a united linking strength. I want those Google Bots to visit all of our pages so that we all can have an improved Google PageRank.

If you decide to play the new blog game, please remember to link directly to this post, not my home page. I already have a link to that here on this post.

Please write a quick comment here on this post to let me know you are playing! That way I can keep track.

Have Fun!

Master Blasted

2007-04-04T17:05:00.000+05:30

So finally Sachin spoke.
It means only one thing that internal chaos in Indian Cricket Team is way more than what we see. He is not the kind of person who gives public statements about controversial issues.
You can question his technique, or his form and his timing etc.
But not his attitude, his dedication and commitment towards cricket. Never that.
He is the same person who resumed the tournament after attending his father's funeral.
He is the same person who played with a broken thumb in the last World Cup.
He is the same person who threw Shoaib Akhtar into the stadium for that awesome six over the point.
Chappell really pushed his buttons this time.
No matter what happens Sachin is still Sachin. If Chappell doesn't understand that, he doesn't understand Indian cricket.
But then again if commitment was there, it wasn't visible on the field.
Hopefully something better will come out of this situation. Blessing in disguise!!

This tournament is going to have long lasting effect on Indian cricket, if not the world cricket.
Kerry Packer version 2 (Read: Subhash Chandra) is the first person to dive into this pool.
Many will follow.

What will happen next?

Brotherhood of Bottle

2007-04-04T10:32:00.000+05:30

Many were fallen but few still stood till the end.
A few who refused to give up. They came together and thus was formed the Brotherhood of Bottle.
Three friends. One goal. To protect the last living member of a nearly dead family line.
To protect the Dodo.

Only the worthy shall be enlightened with the knowledge.
Are you that chosen one?

Clue 1:
13-8-3-2-1-1-5-21
SULPHUR CALCUTAUS

In Mauritius, along the shores,
lies a secret many years old,
they searched and searched for years
only to find the bones of his peers.

Clue 2:
at a station on the central line,
where the mind solace finds
in the PAPER everyday
he goes there from anywhere!!!

Clue 3:
And comes the dearth and fuss..
so shall come happiness and sad..
bourdans and guns are icy cold..
here comes destruction by dodo..

Clue 4:
through the darkness he shall arise....
only to cause his own demise....
in the world that is beyond time....
Bhushan Pangaonkar is divine

Let the quest begin......

P.S: This quest is only for people who know those three friends and the Dodo. Others can keep guessing but I am afraid that you will never find the answer.

P.S: Just because my name is mentioned does not mean that I am that Dodo.

Game of Uncertainty

2007-03-27T22:57:00.000+05:30

cricket really is a game of uncertainty. like India's win over Bermuda. hee hee.