On this New Year

Students,

Here's what your Big Daddy thought on the eve of new year.
As 2010 and along with it an entire decade draws to a close, I looked back at each one of the years that went by in this decade. Almost all of the years had more disappointments than triumphs, all of them seemed absolutely wasted. I felt as if I did not do anything at all over the years.
Then I looked back at the entire past decade and honestly, had someone told me on 31st Dec 2000 that after a decade I would be what I am today, I would have happily taken it.
Moral of the story - In short term things may really look bad, but when you have a long term perspective you really see the 'Bigger Picture'. With this thought I would like to wish all my students a very happy 2011!

Of An anonymous Priest

Dear students - in this course of guide to life, big daddy will showcase some of his talent (which by the way is like Israel - in the sense, some countries just don't recognize its existence while others find it irritating). Please read on the following piece of poetry.

Of An anonymous Priest

Not so long back somewhere in a country nice and new

An anonymous poet published his masterpieces few

He would write poems that would make people cry

Hardly any humour not even sarcastic, mocking or dry

Sailors would set on explorations to be devoured by sea

Cruel kings would capture men to never set them free

Investors at the bourses would lose their savings of life

And the lives of honest men be full of struggle and strife

Even love stories would end sadly with hero losing out at last

as heroine would decline marriage sighting difference in caste

All poems would showcase triumph of evil on good

Cowards making merry while the brave begging for food

I met that poet on a rainy night last week

I asked him why his outlook on life was so bleak

“Life”, said he, “my friend in the term short is unfair for sure”

“But things smoothen out in the long term, time is only cure”

“My outlook in my poems is bleak for a reason deep,

Poems are not like the dreams that you see in sleep

Dreams still tend to come true while poems don’t any more

Let poetry trap all grief while we bask in happiness galore

Let poetry trap all grief while we bask in happiness galore”

Repeating the last line he faded out in dark

But his words have left in my mind a mark

How I wish I could go back now and ask him his name at least

But ‘what’s there in the name after all’ let’s just call him priest!

Blast from Past

Well sometimes when you don't have anything worthwhile to do (which is almost always the case with me), you choose to go back into the past and reminsce. Well I was doing something similar when I found out this piece of poetry that I had prepared when I was extremely angry at the way internet worked at my alma mater. The net has now improved a lot but that great life has ceased to exist. Anyway I hope some of my fellow inmates at NITIE hostel will enjoy reading this poem which was circulated on IP several times. Cybercom please have a look:

Ode to the NITIE net: (written sometime in Aug 2009)

Little did I know when I joined NITIE year last
That compared to the net here snails seem fast

I thought that it was a mere temporary hitch
net will work fine when they change some switch

After an year of patience, frustration and hope
I find this menace just too irritating to cope

Still my heart says that one day NITIE net will work
and with pride a la Placecom the cybies will also smirk

Hey Lord , please show me the light of that day soon
when NITIE net will rock hostels in night and afternoon

 An optimistic net seeker (KGV)(then)
NOW - bandwidth waster.

An ode to NITIE

25 months back we went to a place grand..

A B-School one of the best & yet not a big brand..

A crowd of a dozen dozens with not even a score of girls..

spent two years in heaven like countesses and earls..

More friendships were forged yet there were a few foes..

The 'time of our lives' went by with hardly any woes..

The Age of empires never went off despite the counter strikes..

Where FIFA world cups were won even without wearing spikes..

The groove yard blossomed into Mandi ,two Preranas went by..

Before we could even realize we were flying out in open sky..

All that remains now are memories and a special bond..

All those calm stary nights and those walks around pond..

The saturday chchole bhature, the happy singh sunday lunch..

Those weekends were so lavish despite the cash/credit crunch..

Few Facebook comments have replaced those hundreds of multi-casts

Chats that would last for hours then, now not even two minute lasts

Life past NITIE is exciting and will continue for sure..

But NITIE Nostalgia is recurring and it has no cure..

I am waiting for the convo and surely that day will come..

All my friends please stand up now.. lets start bunty anthem!!!

"Bunty hain ek sasti... .........."

Dedicated to my heavenly alma mater (which despite being continuously ranked in top 10 B-schools is still not recognized by the general populace and often mistaken for NIIT) and the time I spent there with my wonderful friends.

I hope that a day will come when the 'aam aadmi' will be aware of the existence of a heaven on earth in Mumbai - National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE)!

Oh My GOD!!

My blogs suck but my poems do not..

blogs are remembered but poems forgot..

I wrote a poem three days back..

with it my blog was back on track..

I wrote something about girls shy..

while I titled is 'I don't know why'..

Such mismatch and such lack of thought..

yet more readers than a blog it brought..

Aren't there any takers for my thoughts deep..

How long should one's patience one keep..

I am not going to stop the thought process..

Neither am I going to wait as if playing chess..

I shall keep writing, and posting on and on..

Care not whether you're there or you're gone..

If there is class in my words, thoughts and mind..

Some day my readers will come and find..

The real happiness lies beneath the meaning broad..

Lest you understand it.. just shout 'Oh My God!!'

I dont know I dont know why...

Don't know I don't know why..

I never wondered what if I could fly..

Don't know I don't know why..

I never thought what If I were a girl shy..

Dont know I don't know why..

Every time when I write a poem..

I go for a 2 by 2 rhyme..

Now though I want to show 'em

I am not falling for it this time..

They are those critics of mine..

who find me as sweet as brine..

who call me asinine or swine..

Who question my intentions divine..

Those critics if read this now..

will say with utter dismay

" you are as holier a cow..

that only worship the gay"

I tell them with a lovely smile..

you can think whatever you may..

forgotten my thoughts will be in while..

But my words with this poem will stay

My words with this poem will Stay!!

I don't know I don't know why..

I never wonder what if I could fly

I know now I know why..

I was busy thinking about a girl shy!

Matter of Choice...

In life one has to make innumerable choices, in fact what you are is a product of all the choices that you make in life. Some decisions are more complex and important than others and this lesson is about how to make correct choices in life.

There is a lot of existing literature on decision making, in fact there is a whole academic line of decision sciences but decision science has to be scientific and interestingly most important decisions of our lives are to be taken emotionally. Since the science of predicting emotions has not evolved yet decision making has to be an art form.

Karan Johar in his work Kabhi Khushi Kabhi Gum, 2000 says that one should only listen to one's heart while making decisions "Zindagi mein kuch banna ho, Kuch hasil karna ho, Kuch jeetna ho, To hamesha apne dil ki suno, Aur ager dil se bhi koi jawaab na aaye ... To apni aankhein band karke apni Maa aur Baba ka naam lo ... Phir dekhna tum har manzil paa sakoge, Har mushkil aasan ho jayegi, Jeet tumhari hogi ..... Sirf tumhari... "

Well most of the decisions in life are made more difficult by the thought "what will others say?, will others approve of it?". This leads one to embrace the flock mentality. Do what everyone else is. If you do what everybody else is then everyone will approve of your decision and as a result you confirm to the "mould". There is nothing wrong what-so-ever in confirming to the mould , in fact most often it is the safest bet. But sometimes one is faced with decisions which prompt one to take a different path. When heart says "Take a chance" and brain says "Dhopat Marga sodu nako' (quote by a popular Marathi poet Anant Phandi in one of his 'Phatka's - meaning don't leave the established path and tread in unchartered territories') here comes the real matter of choice.

The author doesn't intend to demean other matters of choice like 'which shirt to wear at a friend's marriage' or 'whether to long or short Nifty futures' or 'whether or not to upload your new photo on a social networking site' these matters of choice are also important but don't need the kind of analysis which the above mentioned matters of choice do.

When it comes to making difficult - potentially 'life changing' decisions you will always find plenty of people on both sides of your decision. Some even branding you a fool for thinking about your alternative as an option but then all others can see is just the part of the picture and that too only the present but you are the best judge of everything. Back yourself to take the 'leap of faith'. Till the time you feel that your decision is in your best interest and in the best interests of all the stakeholders who would be directly affected by it , go for it!

If you make a choice on your own and fail at least you'd have the satisfaction of having done something by your own wish while if you make your choice based on someone else's opinion and fail then all you can do is to blame yourself for not trusting yourself. And remember as rightly said by the great P.G. Wodehouse :" the worst three words in English language are 'could have been' ".

So when it comes to the matter of choice. Think about all the aspects, stakeholder and possibilities, back yourself to take the correct decision and Go for it! At the end of the day its 'your' life and it should be 'you' who chooses!

What constitutes a boring life...

Well, one of the most misunderstood words in today's lingo is boring. It is extremely subjective yet each one of us thinks that his/her definition of boring is correct! There are some people who find this blog 'boring' while some kind people like it (and even ask for it!!). So lets first have a look at what boring exactly means.
Boring (adj) refers to what is so uninteresting as to cause mental weariness. Boring implies feelings of listlessness and discontent. Now, what interests you should not necessarily interest me and vice versa (Although there are certain kinds of gossip that interest everyone). Then how can somethings be generalized as boring? Another way of looking at it is lack of patience. Due to lack of time at hand or just because of selfish undercurrents or even due to plain lack of etiquette there is this tendancy of being impatient especially when it comes to listening. As someone who had been labelled poor listener umpteen times and someone who is still trying to learn the art of good listening, this author can tell you that being a good listener is absolutely vital in one's life. It takes a lot of patience to listen to things that don't interest you and even more to read such things (for the author reading most of his course books was a real test of patience which he failed quite a few times, just falling asleep with the book below his head) but many a times it is important.
Well the author is not asking his students to be all ears all the time but the point is about patience and acceptance of others' opinions no matter how senseless they (either the opinions or the others or both) may be.
Now lets move on to what constitutes a boring life:
1. Not going to pubs/dance bars/ awesome places where one can afford to go only once a month due to exorbitantly high prices of seemingly normal food stuffs.
2. Not smoking or drinking - in the modern world having no addiction is akin to using language with proper diction. No addiction -> No a(ddi)ction and No Action -> Boring life.
3. Sticking to same brands and choices of places/music/authors - Not exploring exotic things is wasting life - How hollow your life will be if you haven't the lebanese cusine or you haven't been to the new theme restaurent that is exorbitantly priced!!
4. Not watching foreign movies - How can let go of watching foreign films (even if you dont understand the language use sub titles) oh common - you came on this earth to see the best that it has on offer!!
5. Not flaunting - If you dont flaunt your latest purchases/acquisitions/achievements then you surely are leading a boring life - See your life should be like an 'Aaj tak' or 'India TV' report i.e. always replete with Sansanikhej happenings- shorn of such interesting tough your life is boring!
6. Last but not the least your life is not interesting if you enjoy it it is interesting only if others find palpable signs (read high valued purchases, travels to exotic locations, status messages saying 'I am having a ball- life is great', photographic evidence of overtly happy moments, or even a perpetually 'busy' message which implies you have absolutely immersed yourself in some universe changing project) of it being interesting. What you appear is what you are - So if you want to have a rocking life avoid the five habbits mentioned above and achieve the ultimate goal of your life - an intersting life!!!

Jealousy

I can sense the excitement and the anxiety that all you readers have about this post because of the prolonged absence of a new sermon from your big-daddy. And hence without much ado lets get to today's topic - Jealousy.

Before we begin, let me first tell you what is the difference between envy and jealousy (which I myself did not know until I heard Mr. Gurucharan Das talk about it at one of the functions at my college - well to be a good teacher you need to learn from others too). Here I quote what Dictionary.com talks about Envy and Jealousy:
Envy denotes a longing to possess something awarded to or achieved by another: to feel envy when a friend inherits a fortune. Jealousy, on the other hand, denotes a feeling of resentment that another has gained something that one more rightfully deserves: to feel jealousy when a coworker receives a promotion.

Jealousy also refers to anguish caused by fear of unfaithfulness. (This Jealousy although quite prevalent is out of the scope of this discourse as the author wants to eradicate both fear and unfaithfulness from the minds of his readers).

Well envy is one of the biggest drivers of the world economy or the entire world for that matter. Most people are envious of others (after you finish this course in life (as the name suggests author's blog is one big course in life) you might be envious of this blog but you would be able to control your feelings extremely well by then so it should not be a problem). Envy makes you do things that you would not have done otherwise. The reason why big brands which sell a pair of jeans which is otherwise available for Rs. 500 for Rs.5000 or people who run behind money to lead a comfortable life suddenly start running on a trade mill , that too after paying money for it to build six pack abs is - ENVY! Yet envy might be good in some way or other (although the author personally may not agree with this opinion in many cases, there is some degree of agreement) as it may lead to better outcomes. But when it comes to jealousy it can just change your life.
Being jealous and trying to make others jealous seems to be in fashion these days ( the author is sure that it would have been there from times immemorial but unless one brands something as new or novel it won't sell hence the sentence). Although jealousy comes naturally there are some ways to try to induce jealousy in others. Why induce jealousy- simple read Lesson 1 of Big Daddy's guide to life - to show others that you are successfull and hence better than others.

One of the ways of inducing jealousy, is using extravagantly priced Branded items. Extravagantly priced - something that is being sold at more than 200% premium to an ordinary item. (e.g. a tie for Rs. 1350 when normally good quality ties are available at 250-400).
Many people use this under the facade of quality but this also is questionable as even quality items don't guarantee anything.

As the author sees it - if one starts getting jealous one might entirely forget the basic reason for one's existance and start running behind things that others are running. If my friend buys a Goodsand shoe for 3550 even I need it- see it is costly but it lasts longer than a KATA. But the fact is - is it really necessary? Do you really want to wear the same shoe for 6 years?

It is even worse in case of those who consume liquor. My boss consumes Bodkha so even I want that. I shall work 3 hours extra every day and get that extra bonus so that even I can have it. After Bodkha - Gum - Jisky - Botch - and up the 'value chain'. In the end many people just end up working harder for that better brand. If looked at from a higher level - all the hard work you put in is going into pockets of the Brand fellows - who create an illusive perception. Most of the times we just dont need the high quality that these brands have to offer, yet we fall pray to it.

So next time you choose your Brand - just ask yourself is it really necessary ? is it really worth it? (Remember money doesn't grow on trees) If it is - go for it. If it is not worth it then also don't worry just buy it and hope that some other person becomes jealous of you !!!

I don't care, should I?

Well, some of the readers might have started laughing already reading the topic, (it was a good college time joke- nothing out of the world about it) but today's topic is not going to be humourous. Today, the author has decided to point out some ways of behaviour that are highly avoidable. There is a small set of manners and etiquette that one needs to follow to be nice. It is simple yet the majority doesn't adhere to it. Being nice is fun. Try it out and you will feel the difference in your life:

Simple ways to be Nice or rather nice ways to be simple:

1. If someone smiles at you don't ignore and go off as if you have not noticed - smile back it doesn't cost money.
2. If someone asks you "How are you?"don't just say 'ok/good/fine' and go away, care to ask the other person "How he/she is" (How often do we miss that?)
3. If someone is talking about something that doesn't interest you, at least try to listen for some time - 'things have different levels of importance in different people's lives' this statement is equally true for others as much as it is for you.
4. If you get a missed call/mail try getting back - replying to communication is a basic mannerism - sadly we are too busy to even read what others want to say.
5. Try to make someone happy - it isnt all that difficult, help someone out with directions, assist someone, listen to someone's stories patiently. Why always be in a hurry?
6. Most of the times we do things that we enjoy - sometimes, for a change, do things that others might enjoy - just to make someone happy.




Now to explain how all these things should work with a 'real life' example:

1. You get a link to my blog - don't feign as if you never got the link.. at least click it - it is free.
2. I write so much for you guyz- at least write a one liner comment. It is reciprocating.
3. Even if you don't like what I write try reading it. 'Things have different levels of importance in different people's lives' this statement is equally true for others as much as it is for you.'
4. If I send you the link of my blog, at least read it -and you don't want to publically comment on it send a personal note through chat.
5. Make me happy by regularly reading my blog and commenting.
6. I know you don't enjoy reading long posts - but I enjoy writing long , so for a change read my entire post - just to make me happy.

I am sure you got your lesson in manners and etiquette. So no more not reading "guide to life". Follow the guide to life and you shall be happy sooner or later!

About the title: I don't care whether the title is apt or not, should I?

From Fifteen Love to Thirty Love..

Well, the smart student of life would already have realized that the author, although seemingly alluding to tennis intends to lecture about love life. The smarter student would be wondering if the author has any legitimate authority to lecture on a topic where the author hardly has any experience. While the smartest student would be busy enjoying this wonderful Sunday with the wonderful company of his/her valentine (physical or telephonic or electronic).

This said, the author intends express author's feelings about the hallowed valentine's day from the times the author started understanding the meaning of valentines day. The readers here, must remember that the author understood the meaning of love even before he passed 2nd grade but the concept of valentine's day caught on pretty later.

At Fifteen love, the life had served an ace to the author and author was trying to see whether he could spot the ball. 'The serves of life, sometimes are so fast that the other player has no time even to spot the ball leave alone thinking about a return'. The author was , at that point thinking about fifteen all (or rather all fifteens). (If you donot understand what the author is talking about , you need to understand that there are some things that need further reading and some things that need re- reading. This is the latter. Read the stuff again and maybe you will be able to make some sense out of the words written here. But there maybe no sense at all as well so "choose wisely- live better" (guess the company whose tagline is this?)). Fifteen all did not happen and neither did sixteen love, seventeen love and with today the remote possibility of twenty-six love also comes to an end.
As the score now approaches thirty love and all other friends of the authors having "game-set-match" one by one, the match point seems coming closer. But this has got hardly anything to do with today's lecture.

Today we (read I) talk about Love and Valentines Day. Five ways to ensure that you have a happy valentine's day (if you are single):
1. DONOT send happy valentine's day message to your friends - it is a waste of your money, it doesn't make anyone happy- for those who are commited care a damn about your sms and and those who are single are reminded of their failure to get a valentine by your message. So you end up spending money without making any impact. In case if you want to make someone your valentine, then if it takes only an sms to convince that someone then think twice- why only you ? Why not someone else? It is better that you talk in such case. So SMS is a strict No no!
2. DONOT go to coffee shops, gift shops , restaurents etc. Reason - at such places you would either find couples or extremely frustrated singles - so unless you are also extremely frustrated don't go searching for your valentine at such places. If you could find your valentine at coffee shops these shops would have sold addresses and contacts not coffee!
3. Go to temple, offer prayers to the God! At temple you might end up finding some well cultured guy/girl who is away from all this show off stuff. And there's a high probability that the other person will also think the same about you - if not at least the God(ess) will shower his/her blessings on you.
4. DONOT build expectations! One day can change your life - surely! But why only this day?? If your life has to change due to arrival of some beautiful person in your life then why does it have to be only the 14th day of February? Remember this is just the day of expression - not necessarily the day of acceptance.
5. Send out the link of this blog to other single people like you. This will give you romantic browny points - something like romantic karma so that next valentines day you'd rather be with someone interesting than reading this blog for single people.

If you are not single and have read till this point - you are really a good person because you have shown committment towards completing the task that you have taken up - in this case reading the blog. I wish you a very happy and fulfilling romantic life! Enjoy!!

All singles - your day will come for sure - because if it isnt 15-love, 30-love or 40 love - It can surely be 30-15, 40-15 or 40-30 ;-).

Dedicated to my favourite author P.G. Wodehouse on his 35th death anniversary!

Lesson 3: How to write a great speech

Now that you have learned how to attract attention of people through the first two lessons, the next thing is holding on to the attention. For this you need to be a good speaker and a good speaker can deliver great speeches. So the challenge is how to write a great speech.

Well, people have come up with books and what not but for you guys I will capture the essence of all that in just few , easy to remember rules:

1. While introducing your point beat around the bush. For example if you want to say that - I am here to ask you to read my blog - instead of saying it in plain simple way, Say - "Today as I stand in front of you, in this chilling January cold, with my hand on my keyboard (while the other is busy scratching my back), I am not just entering random words on the screen (that I do in my blog!), I am trying to attract your attention to something that has the power to change the way you think, you work, you perceive life and in fact this something can change your entire life and this is not some kind of a magic medicine that I am talking about. I am talking about my blog - "big daddy's guide to life". So I request each and every one of you to please take time out of your busy schedules and have a look at these sincere words which come straight from my heart."

2. Include thoughts/sentences of great people e.g. Winston Benjamin once famously said that "Whether or not you become great is a matter of chance but whether or not you want to become great is a matter of choice."

Now if you think that remembering lines of great people is a pain, first of all if it is a pain for you it is pain for others as well. So whatever lines and names you remember just say it. (Could you find out when I quoted Winston Benjamin that actually Winston Benjamin is a West Indies Fast Bowler and if you google the quoted line you'd get some results like Princess Bride etc.)

3. Include some stories in your speech so that if people are not interested in your speech at least they will try to listen to the story. It is expected that the story has at least some relation with the message that is supposed to be conveyed through the speech yet you may always innovat e and tell absolutely unrelated story.

4. Always make it a point to criticize the system here in India. Everybody feels that (s)he is not as big a success because of the system or (s)he is a big success despite the system and hence people will readily agree. See you want most of your audience to agree with your point so try first state some obvious points that the audience will surely agree to and once they get into that habit of agreeing pass off your point - at least a few will fall for it.

5. Never miss the audience - talk about them, everyone wants to be talked about so does your audience. Praise the audience (even if it is insincere but be judicious!). Show faith in them - use expressions like "Nothing is impossible for audience like you, its just matter of resolve / you guyz are absolutely wonderful etc."

6. Always end with a question - if possible an interesting one so that the audience will be busy thinking about the answer of the question rather than the poor quality of your speech ( poor quality -thanks to these guidelines), see it is like after an aweful meal if you get a very nice ice cream or a dessert its taste keeps lingering in your mouth and you tend to overlook the aweful meal. e.g. "All said and done - at the end it all depends on the God's will (wish) just like - who will win this year's French open (which depends on the tennis God Roger Federer's wish :-))? (Smart speaker will use a more generic question(like wheather Katrina will marry Salman/whether Vidarbha will ever be a separte state?/Whether KGV's blog will ever become interesting and popular? etc.) instead of French open because not many people are interested in Tennis)

With these 6 points as the six stumps in the ground start your new innings in lecturing! May the force be with you!

Now I Get Your Brother

Ever since I saw the first episode of "How I met your mother" I was very impressed with the character Barny Stinson except for his loose character (see my conventional old fashioned mindset, somehow doesn't approve of his one night stands and all). Robin also, I feel, needs to be a responsible and dignified 'one man woman' like Lilly. And if all the people are 'one man woman or a one woman man' then how can the story of How I met your mother unfold? Well to solve this problem, I decided to awaken the dormant script writer inside me and decided to change the plot and rewrite the entire series myself to make it fit for the Traditional Indian Viewers. So the New serial will be called as "Now I get your Brother"

Please read on for the new plot:

Lilly is Married to Marshall and has common friends Robin and Barney. Marshall and Ted are Brothers (Not Bros). Ted, Robin Marshall, Lilly and Barney are a group of close friends and then comes Alice (if you think "who the fuck is Alice?" then -

Oooo

we don't where she's living

or where she's gonna go,

we guess she's got a reason

and you'd get to know

that in the end she gets married

to Marshall's Ted Bro

She's Alice.. Alice..

She's the protagonist Alice)

Alice wants to marry Ted but Marshall won't let her marry Ted or even let her tell Ted that she loves him and wants to Marry him because Marshall wants Ted to Marry Robin. But over a period of time Ted, who is initially infatuated with Robin, gets to know that Robin is not his kind of a girl. While Robin falls in love with Barney who is too busy running around other girls trying to impress them. Robin being a shy girl, cannot express her love for Barney while Barney thinks that Robin is too hot to fall for him. So the "Barney-Robin" relationship although mutually agreeable doesnt get through. When Alice gets to know of this through her talks with inebriated Barney and Lilly (Lilly tells her about Robin's crush on Barney) she enters into a swap-bet with Marshall that she if she is successful in making Barny marry Robin (without ever telling either of them that the other loves him/her), Marshall will swap Alice for Robin and allow Alice to Marry Ted. Marshall agrees to this bet and tries his best to thwart efforts of Alice who is secretly helped by Lilly. By the way, Lilly is appointed as the swap-bet commissioner by Marshall and Alice. Ted in the meantime changes two professions and starts liking Alice but is told by Marshall that Alice already has a boyfriend. Ted being a gentleman doesn't want to step into Alice's relationship.

To see How exactly this maze of emotions and schemes is broken and how the drama unfolds.. keep reading this blog because Alice wins in the end and she says "Now I get your Brother".

Lesson 2 :Se*! , - It Works!!

Well Its time for the lesson 2 of Bigdaddy's guide to life. This lesson is regarding how to attract attention of general populace (please DONOT confuse general populace with girls, as the author himself still doesn't seem to know how to attract attention of girls yet.) towards your profiles,blogs, webpages etc. The gimmick written about here is an extremely cheap way of getting attention but interestingly seems to work most of the times, even in TV shows, movies or books.

Talk about sex! Have references to or double meaning dialogs hinting at the tabooed three letter word and you'll get a lot of attention! Lets take the case of this very blog.

After three posts and a lot of canvassing , the response to this blog could euphemistically be termed as lukewarm . So , while on my way to Mumbai, I thought about carrying out this experiment of having a vague title hinting at something different!

(Well, I was pretty much tempted to include a description worded "Travels and travails are sometimes necessary in human life as they engender some of the most wonderful thoughts in one's mind. While en route to Mumbai for his pre-joining Medical examination, a similar thing happened with this author. The author, whose mind, many a times suspected to be a devil's workshop because of its supposed emptiness, thought of a wonderful gimmick to increase the traffic on his blog" but then this thought actually occurred to me just now and hardly any reader will be interested in the motive, nature and outcome of my recent visit to Mumbai )

And lesson 2 was christened as "Se*, it works!"

I will be tempted to deduce that almost all of you who earlier chose not to visit my blog, came to this page because of the title of this blog. Many of the readers will tend to confuse the first word with a word that is like a taboo. Even I myself have been (and most probably would be) very sparing in usage of the word and honestly prefer to spell it with an * instead of x.

But here I haven't done so - for this * stands for an e and not for x.

I am tempted to check whether the then famous statement by a then budding (and still budding too) actress Neha Dhupia that only two things sell in Bollywood SRK and SE* applies to the world of blog.

Sex although a very important part of one's life, should, in my opinion, be confined to more intimate surroundings both for discussions as well as otherwise. Although there is a lot of interest in this topic both on the author's as well as readers' side, let this topic be not touched in this blog.

So I really hope that the Title "See! it works" is proved as a misleading title in letter and not in spirit (because it was meant to mislead you into reading this article).

Interested reader might be surprised to know about one of the proposed ways of de-tabooing the word sex - By introducing the usage of this word as the highest order superlative for all the adjectives with positive connotation - which was suggested to Modern English Grammatical Society, in which case the word could be used like good-better-best-sex, funny-funnier-funniest-sex or tall-taller-tallest-sex.

e.g. Today is one of the Sex days of my life!

Mount Everest is the Sex peak in the world etc.

Interested readers even if tempted to use this grammar in comments section are requested to avoid it as this grammar is only proposed and not accepted yet!

So the real Lesson 2 is - although double meaning stuff and sexual connotations tend to be effective, Big Daddy's pupils should try to avoid these unless in an intimate environment. Such discussions are best enjoyed when in company of close friends and not in public.

Notice: The author is busy in writing script of a new parody "Now I get your Brother" and hence there might be some delay in the release of the next lesson. Readers are advised to revise the first two lessons during that time!

Kartik calling Kartik

Well, ever since my childhood I had a keen interest in movies. Not exactly in watching movies but in acting. My research work on human behavior through prolonged verbal interactions with Indian males from across the country kept me busy and hence the Hindi film industry was robbed off another struggling actor. Yet I am a decent fan of good hindi movies.

One thing always used to rankle me - never ever did in a movie a hero, leave alone a hero any character had the name Kartik. (Technically that still remains to be the case) Finally some three four days back I saw this trailor of a new movie Karthik calling Karthik. As much as I got excited about watching the movie with Karthik as both hero and villain (I presume the other Karthik in the movie is a villain) the plot somehow seemed to have settled in my mind.

And I came up with this- a poetic conversation with kartik the bold blogger (on right below) and kartik the cold reader (on left above).

Kartik calling Kartik

Dude KGV next time when you blog

remember people dont like to slog

such a ridiculously long post

someday even the websites wont host

Hey man read my rules first

I am not here to quench thirst

thirst for fame or thirst for name

I dont care even if you also blame

Why publish if people cann't read

why have a pet that you cann't feed?

Life is not all about success and greed

I blog because I like blogging in deed

You must have read my 'success mantras'

The post was popular like Nagpur Santras

When I tried reading the Lesson one

till the first few lines it was surely fun

then I woke up and started again

it felt as if it was duranto train

on and on.. with no signs of a stop

no new embarkers and same old cops

Duranto is fast it is better than the rest

If you have the patience its perhaps the best

are we talking about the blog or the train?

I dont mind anything lets talk about brain drain..

Dude you just waste time yours and mine

your literary success already died with NINE*

now if you want success with each of your post

write tiny little tidbits like a good blog host

Ten sentences per para and four paragraphs in all

use simple words n phrases; fontsize should be small

Nobody has the patience and no-one has any time

when epics are being shortened, long blog is a crime

I know those who love my style will always stick

whether I write nonsense or 'kartik calling kartik'

Your blog and your style, I just told you a trick

sweet short and powerful advices kartik calling -kartik

(*NINE - NINE is an acronym for NITIE IP NEWS EXCLUSIVE a moderately popular periodical published under the leadership of the author in his post graduate days. The author had to shut the periodical down as both his editorial team mates resigned after getting offers to work with a leading bank, and author by himself was hardly effective.)

It remains to be seen which Kartik ends up convincing the other one, but for the time being both the Kartiks are awaiting release of the movie "Karthik calling Karthik". Not because the name of the movie but to see 'Shonali Mukherjee - Deepika Padukone'.

Lesson 1: How to pretend to be successful!

As this blog is titled "Guide to life" it becomes imperative that the author includes at least some lessons or at worst has a didactic tone ,which, by the way, comes naturally to the author so should not be a problem . So here's the first lesson - How to pretend to be successful in life.

Well, the author himself doesn't know how to be successful in life, had he known he would have been working towards it or would already have been successful by now, in either of the cases he probably won't have written this blog.

Now, why does one need to pretend to be successful? Well, even the author doesn't quite understand why but as they say, you are the perception that the world has of you (If nobody has already taken credit for this/such a quote, I shall like to take it). So people want to show to the world that they are successful , maybe they want the world to be jealous of them or whatever, but yes the fact is that it is in vogue to pretend that one is successful irrespective of the fact whether one actually is.

So, here come the easy to follow and extremely effective rules which will help you successfully pretend to be successful no matter how big a failure you think you are. The results may vary case by case but success or a perception of it is guaranteed:

1. If you are logged into a chat program, always keep your status as busy. If somebody pings, DONOT reply immediately, in fact don't reply 3 out of 4 times and whenever you do - use a lot of short forms, try to show the other person how jobless he is whereas you are so busy in your rocket science research. Try to make the other person feel guilty of having pinged you.

Please find a typical conversation between a successful person and a jobless fellow:

KGV (Jobless fellow) : Hey "Pretending to be a successful person (referred to as PTBSP henceforth)"

sent at 20:55 PM on Wednesday

KGV: You Thr?

sent at 21:25 PM on Wednesday

PTBSP: wht?

KGV: Where are you these days?

KGV: Long time no see... how is life?

PTBSP: ya dude.. had been busy last few weeks..

KGV: Do you still work with ARHPCFW? (Awesome Rocking High Paying Company with Fantastic Work)

sent at 22:05 PM on Wednesday

KGV: ??

sent at 22:25 PM on Wednesday

PTBSP: I left them... now I work with EMARHPC (Even More Awesome, Rocking , Higher Paying Company)

KGV: Kab se?

Chat has been disabled ... reconnecting in 29 sec

The fact of the matter most of the time will be that PTBSP will be busy watching some sitcom, chatting to unknown ,pretending to be female chatter, playing minesweeper or maybe even sleeping as you sincerely try to strike a good conversation. Yet PTBSP is successful in showi

ng off that how successful, busy and preoccupied he is while you are just a jobless jerk who keeps disturbing the successful people.

2. Whenever someone calls you up never answer the phone in two or three rings. Rejecting the call works even better. But the best way is to pick up the call then ask who it is (even if you have the number stored, this makes the caller feel even more unimportant and you more important.) and tell I'll call you back. Never call back in the next 3 hours. Never calling at all will make the other person think that you are too successful to be in touch which will reduce your overall success perception score!

3. While you are talking to the other person try your best to confuse or even misguide, the listener by using as much jargon as possible. Your motto should not be to express and communicate , it should rather be to impress and befuddle.

E.g. If you want to say that shares of telephone companies may fall as all the service providers are slashing tariffs , say with the ARPUs dwindling due to the intense price war like a pack of cards in a storm (Who cares if the simile is correct ! Remember you don't really need to communicate you just need to impress) I see the scrips of front line telcos tanking in the next series.

Warning!!

Don't use extremely high level language like - Pulchritude possesses purely cutaneous profundity. ( Beauty is only skin deep). This is because even if it is grammatically and otherwise correct people will fail to understand it and may brand it as "Gyan". It is an observed tendency to brand anything that one is not able to understand or finds high level as "Gyan" and "Gyan" is considered as good for nothing and a tool used by unsuccessful losers.

The challenge is to confuse people without completely blanking them out.

4. When in a conversation, never be a patient listener. If the other person is taking some time to come to the point, ask point blank - please come to the point fast. Remember a PTBSP is always short on time. If at all the other person is able to express his point, ask sarcastically is it over? And smile mockingly. This shows that you are very confident of your conversational abilities and the other person is not and the reason behind this is obviously your success!

5. Whenever you visit a place which is famous (definition : famous place is where people will want to go after seeing your photo, it is not necessary for the place to be well known. It is successful people like you who make the place famous) or picturesque (even if it isn't, remember you with your style and sunglasses make it picturesque), without fail click a photograph and post it on Orkut/Facebook/Twitter/Any other website where people get updates of your recent uploads. Mention the caption as "Rocking life / Enjoying to the fullest/ any other caption which will imply that I am successful and happy you bloody sucker you don't know how to live (which by the way is just like the intention of the author behind creating this blog :D)"

E.G.

The Rocking 2nd ODI Ind Vs Aus @ Nagpur

6. Always make it a point to offer advice to people especially with regards to their behaviour. Ask people to talk less or more or point out some mistakes in their pronunciation, or tell them how they can become more successful if they mend some of their ways of behaviour. The best time to do this is when people are down having faced slings and arrows of misfortune.

7. Always exaggerate when it comes to your achievements and question the authenticity of others'. Even if you pass a driving test conducted by your regional transport office before granting you a driving licence, proclaim that "RTO conquered in first attempt" or if your blood group is A+ve keep your gtalk message as "A+ yet again!" if someone asks which test , proudly tell blood test.

8. Use the seven rules mentioned above regularly without someone else coming to know of it and if someone finds it out and confronts you - say that "KGV is a big lukkha.. he doesn't have anything worthwhile to do, so he bloody rants on in his blog. I did not know that you are such a big loser that you actually read it. I will teach you how to be successful in life and tell him stories about hard work and perseverance. "

These 8 rules will help you pretend to be successful in life. But the author advices all the readers to someday give up these pretensions and firms believes that if you keep reading this blog regularly at least either the author or the reader will be successful.

This blog is not for you if...

About the Author: This author has had his fair share of success as an unpopular editor of a widely read yet hated periodical named NINE in his post graduate days. The author, over a period of time, has developed mastery over the tact of using at least three times as many words as compared to the number of words required to express something. The tact although difficult to develop has been mastered by the author through consistent practice both in speech and in the written word. Author's sense of humor although, questioned for its very existence by a majority of the mankind has some serious fans. Author specializes in making divisive speeches, hate accounts, critical analyses and misquoting facts. Author's interest in creative writing is zilch and he uses it just as a probable tool to make money in future through ads. The author is shameless enough to urge all the readers of his blog to click on the ads that are displayed in the blog area. Despite all the shortcomings, the writings of the author can be addictive and the general public is adviced to monitor and control its exposure to views and opinions (if any) expressed in this blog. This blog is supposed to be nothing more than a dump for high end spiritualistic and social gyan which is good for nothing. So read at your own risk!

As I don't know for exactly which segment of readers this blog is, I think I must tell at the outset who this blog is not for. This way one can save a lot of one's precious time. I don't know whether your time is really precious if you choose to read what I am going to publish. Nevertheless , please ensure that you don't belong to any of the following classes , before you embark on this roller coaster ,roller coaster -as the quality of this blog is liable to detariorate and suddenly improve intermittently over a period of time, ride.

This blog is not for you if:

1. You think that you are a better writer than the author. If you really think so then better concentrate on your own blog and make a name for yourself, don't waste time here reading substandard stuff.
2. You think that the author should care for your opinion and/or your patience. This author has a proven track record of exceeding all expectations, especially in terms of lenghts of speech, writings so don't expect the blog posts to be short and sweet.
3. You think that you'd get something to learn by reading this blog. This blog is written for the pleasure of the author and not with the readers in mind. If the readers are pleased in the process it is great, if not at least someone is happy!
4. You expect the blog to be updated regularly. The author is not a jobless 'Lukkha' like you who has nothing to do except reading useless blogs. Author is often busy thinking about ways to improve the lives of the billions of people who constitute the mankind and very seldom gets the time to express his opinion so don't be surprised if the next post doesn't get published till diwali.
5. You are well settled person in life. If you really are well settled in your life then bloody go and enjoy it. Why the hell waste time here reading non-sensical stuff.
6. You think that the author should stop all his literary activities and concentrate on something important in life. The author already has vast experiance in wasting time (Author has wasted around 10 years of his life indulging in unproductive activities till date) and he is just leveraging his core competancies. You have no right to try to change the ways of the author. The author is an adult who deserves to live his life his way.
7. You are someone who will just read the blog and not comment on it. The author, despite being an aggressive speaker and an extremely poor listener, believes in dialog in principle. Author hates passive attitude when it comes to important things in life. As this blog is an important thing in life, the author expects you to express your critical views, differneces in opinions and remarks offering support and encouragement freely. Those found guilty of just passively reading the posts and not clicking on ads and/or commenting run the risk of being debarred from having access to this prophetic prophecies by the author.

The list of this rules is liable to change from time to time without any prior notice. Readers are expected to be mature and expressive. No queries about personal life of the author including proposals for matrimony will be entertained on the blog.

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Till the next time .. rememeber these rules!