Neo's adventures.....A trip to MUNNAR.....serenity mixed with silence.....

Fall summer of 2008, Chennai is burning like a hot pancake, only three weeks left for 3rd sem, life couldn't have been more sweaty and uninspiring. One night we four buggers were boozing and watching dead poets society(mohabatein in hindi) when ssuddenly amit screamed," guys lets go munnar"!"munnar"! whats that! Is that some kinda

A busy day in office..........

“WTF"? , already 6.45 am!!! Suddenly Neo got up from bed......shit man! Why on earth, you gave a Monday Bhaggu! Neo thought while brushing his teeth...and if you have given the same, why it always follows a Sunday! Now neo is having his breakfast...it's gonna be a bad, bad day...neo thought while sitting in the Cab!


7.50 am, it is....still half an hour away from the den!!! 1st flash in the newspaper in bus, and it says, whoe, City hospitals are more crowded than multiplexes, 700+ positive cases of swine flu....every other passenger is wearing a mask!!!! Aaahh...where's mine! Shit, left it!!!!!! Anyways, 15 mins to the den, what’s the order of the day today!

Hmm...9.30 am, meeting with product manager, he wants us to meet for some unknown reason, and 10.30 am ...swine flu awareness campaign...have to promote the brand, 12 pm...recruitment...some guys should have to be interviewed for confirmation...evening have to meet HR for understanding the changes in some of the HR policies and communicating the same to my team...7.30 pm, team meeting, discussing the positives and negatives of the day.............5 mins to the den......mom called " do go to mandir today atleast"! I am going mom....office is the mandir now....she cut the phone.....8.45 am now, preeti called and screamed..." why on earth, you switched off the cell last night"?? and continued for another 10 mins....I only said...yes baba, no baba, sorry preetu....she cut the phone ...now this is unreal....with my big boss on leave...I have to handle everything...checked my new cell...32 messages yesterday...I could have guessed how many tried my no, but it was switched off....

Anyways 9.45 am, meeting started with product manager which came out with no major conclusions....11.50... I am in the car...meeting some of the Ad agencies....for discussing the ingredients of the right pamphlet for the awareness campaign , ( most important discussion there was budget)!!!!, anyways came back at 3 pm to the office...in between 8 messages from ASM asking the days contributions....hmmm.....gave the figures to him...half of the day has passed , still no lunch.....luckily preeti reminded....was sitting alone in a roof top restaurant around 3.30 pm when a gal on the opposite table saw me and gave a devilish smile....um....I know the meaning! Just was about to take food...when ASM called...neo....figures not happening......I want your team to be very focused in the next 4-5 hours....it SHOULD happen.....left the food half way....when a call came from product manager that he wants to meet urgently.....4.10....met him again!!!!!!...again all high value fundas! No implementation at the lowest level....gobbled all of that...Till 5.20 pm....ahh ears are red listening and listening and saying Yes sir, Yes Sir and Yes sir!!! Anyways had a cup of tea around 5.45 pm....was just checking official mails...in it a new standing instruction came...and I need to submit the report by 7 pm.....whoe....whats for in a day...completed it....by 8 pm......final team meeting happened at 8.30.....day was not good according to numbers...so have to deal the same in a hot and sweet way...5 more calls....in between from family and friends....just answered as swiftly as possible....finally when I packed my happy...its 8.45 pm...I guess ...I am the last guy to have gone out from the branch...

Hmmm....the evening was chilly and light shower was pouring...was just walking slowly ....called mom....yaa mom, went to the mandir, now khush!!!! She asked, you looked tired of enjoying today!!!! Ahhh, yes mom....I enjoyed every bit of the day( on a sad note), but guess what it was eventful to the core, I met many people, talked with many people and negotiated with them!! ....9.10 pm ...preeti called ...hmmmm....out right!!!......I told...hmm...in the cab....going home....but hey love you a lot and I missed you and I am very sorry about today! She just smiled and said, “I know you can be quite a pschycho, but I love you too, Happy B day! “ 9.50 pm ....reached home....thanks to Bangalore traffic....

That’s neo's definition of a day in office...hmmm....it was a pretty normal day....just another 7th august 2009...just another B day.....it was....quite an intriguing day.....

love aajkal....whats the difference!!!!!

"Love" !!!!! you crazzy neo, huh! again you are joking right!!! " You Love me"!!!! isn't there a better joke than this crap of yours!!!! she laughingly replied!!!! 30 second silence !!!! Now she is serious!! Are you sure? When did this all started cooking!!!!

" What Cooking yaar"!!! see , i donno what i am saying, i donno what i am doing, i donno whether it is right or wrong or whatever Okay!! But it just felt sooo nice to say you that i love you because you just seem soo right for a idiot like me "!!!!!

"Neo"!!! Shit man, Oldest Cliche from the book, she screamed ,same old lines every lover is saying to the other from generations, cannt you people get over this DDLJ phobia!!!! These old bunch of roses, looking down from balcony, running around in a paddy field and saying the most borring lines u just said to me right now, ufff neo, cannt you think of something innovative!!! Chal , i gotto go now, but remember this is 2009 dear not 1996 when everyone was happy to show off their Motorola handset, think of " Love ReLoaded", think something new okkie and gimmi a call !!!!

" Ahh!! "Their goes neo's 43rd attempt to propose a gal", Neo silently said!!!! Atleast could have been much more cheaper, 250 bugs of crispy chicken waiting to be eaten, 85 bugs of beautiful red roses ( Ohh good lord, she took one from the bunch though) and 150 bugs in Auto for taking her, hmmm!!!! lets finish the 30 bugs coffee atleast!!!!!!

" Love Reloaded"? " what is this love reloaded"!!!! Will someone say me!!!! Over the years we are witnessing the battle of sexes ( One misearable movie of Akshaye Kumar also released on that issue last friday !), over the years we are witnessing great love stories ( Starting from the books of eric seagal to the Genious cameroon's " Titanic), but times are changing and with time love is also changing. So, whats the difference between Love of AAJ to Love of kal? Is their any at all or it's a Myth !!!!!! Something to think about!!!! lol, coffee is over, bill has come, time to move out ! All these questions kept the mind of Neo Puzzled the entire night but the answer also is very simple.

" Naah re"!!!! No Difference, " Preeti Said, " Same re Same"!!!! What Silly question is this? " But how come it is the same from what it was, say in 1950's"!! Debby questioned?? " The context is always the same, love is always the same, feelings are always the same, only the articulation, the content has changed"!!!! Preeti forced now! " Hang on guys"!!!! " i dont want fights, just simply tell me, what was changed than". " Nothing, simply nothing"!!! "Your question is wrong only"? Preeti Screamed now, " You should ask what are the added features in love of aaj than that of love of kal dude"!!! Okkie , my Juke- Box, You tell me than " what"!!!!!

See Love of kal was straight to the point, it was very plain, very simple, subtle, heart warming, soothing, calm and quite, in that sense, love of kal was eternal, think about it decades back we used to hear a love story of a Romeo- Juliet , a Heer- Ranjha, where are those love stories today!!! Where as Love Of AAJ is loud and is more of a show off. Kurtas have been replaced by trendy Jeans, Chapals have been replaced by Aqua Shoes, loads of show element is mixed in love of aaj!!!! Preeti Said. One big difference is Its now Considered must to show off your love where as in the older days eyes were enough to reflect how much one loved the other"

" But deep down, the feelings are the same right"! Neo asked!!!!! " Yes Offcourse"! They are !!! And trust me it will never change, deep down inside love is the same only, still deep down inside every Indian girl likes a boy friend like Raj Of DDLJ who has the courage to ask her parents to marry her instead of trying to run away with her.!!!!!! " Bulls Eye", Neo Said, but what about my 43rd Attempt", Neo Wooed"!!!! " Was i wrong in preparation"!!!!!! No Dumbo! Preeti said " You choosed the wrong girl and asked her the right things!!! Because their is nothing called as love reloaded, there is only love in this world and it will prevail in every where the same way irrespective of how modern this society becomes." Got It"!!!! Now enough of Gyan"!!!!!! time to cook....................

And When Neo locked the door of 3rd Floor, 27/12, Royapettah for the last time.....................

" As they say every good thing has to come to an end Roy", the inner self of Neo tried to console as he locked the door of 27/12, 3rd floor, Royapettah, chennai-14 for the last time!!!! 

" But this was not scripted"!!!!! Neo thought as he slowly walks down the stairs for the last time. " After all what happened inside that door for the last two years, memories, incidents, everything is unforgettable "!!!!!!, but the ending is sudden, abrupt and sad"!!!!!! thought neo as he walks in the middle of an empty road  that night!!!!

 " True, life throws different puzzles all the time and one gotto move ahead solving them", but there was no end to this puzzle!!!!! Neo felt as he crosses a slum child crying by the side of a sewage!!!!!

So whats so special about 27/12 than? Rooms were big, windy and there was a big terrace from where one can see the main landmarks of central chennai but what made 27/12 a worthy experience?

recesión. mi querido amigo recesión( Reccession, my dear friend Recession)

" Its all in the Keynessian Theory, Roy"!!!! Professor Screamed!!!! 

" Who Keynes"? Neo asked the right side chick  with sleepy eyes sitting in the extreme left corner of the class room!!!

Neo still remembers his utter struggle to survive macro economics classes back in his MBA; not only macro economics went over neos little head but also the professor made it soo interesting that neo could hardly wake in the classes.

" Macro economics is all about holding the right set of assumptions forthe right  model,be it the multiplier concept or the theory of international trade"!!! the Professor yelled again.

" wow ", neo asked, " Than Sir, who decides the  right assumptions"? Everyone in the class looked at Neo for a second including the professor!!!! 

"After a small pause, The professor commented, " Well asked," Roy, But We will get back to it later on", now concentrate on Keynes Please."

Neo never got the answer in the class and sooo macroeconomics, as previously said, ruined Neos first few important dates with chicks before the exam.

Neo enjoyed a great 2007 chilling out with friends, group studying, playing , roaming , and enjoying life; as if, you name it, neo did it!!!! but that very question in the macro economics class still remained unanswered!!!!

But than 2008 summer, Neo started getting answers to his question as Neo encountered a new term " recession" not in his class room, but  this time in the real world !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well starting of placement season in B schools is rather fun. you gotto see the glow in the faces of students, more and more people in libraries, loads and loads of chatting around  the canteen side, rumours flowing  like bee humming around ears; 10 lakhs it is, no ! no ! bloody, 10 lakhs they gave last to last year; its 15 min this time around!!!!!! But this time , it was different. Industry started showing ominous signs and faculties started introspecting things may be different this year.

Amidst all these happenings, Neo was passing quality time bunking classes, roaming with chicks,  occassionally jumping around   across hill stations of south,  and doing what he enjoys doing best " Sleeping"!!!!! BUT one fine morning, the turnaround started; neo opened ibnlive.com as a regular routine, but this time the headline was something unexpected!!!! in red bold letters news started flashing " END OF WALL STREET? LEHMAN BROTHERS CRASH"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' whoe,' neo uttered, " whats coming next now"?

What followed has been a sad sad story which Neo has no guts to discuss.  Everything turned upside down. Sequences of  unfortunate events continued to occur and their cascading effect destroyed the financial bigwigs, wall street came to a spot of bother!!! Automobile majors of  The Great Detroit were shattered, share prices plummetted everywhere!!The great money making Europe could also feel the heat!! In India, the dream Growth was over and out, in 2 months, Share markets crushed like a pack of cards. We all were counting the numbers, sensex plummetted from 21k to 15k, people introspected, this being the lowest; but more and more FIIs running out with all money proved them wrong, it continued going downwards, from 15k to 12k, from 12k to 10k and lesser. Everyone across the world was shattered. Industrial production for the 3rd quarter and 4rth of 2008 went down like anything!!!! what followed was lack of funds anywhere and everywhere. Investors came to roads. Dalal street became empty. Dow jones felt the heat!!! no capital, no money, no positive introspection across the world  markets!!!! For a developing  Economy like India, things started falling flat on toes, with Oil prices touching record high, Inflation never seeming to come down and the world economic crisis at its peak. In US and UK, people saw record number of job cuts in the last quarter of 2008.

Well, for MBA student like us, we were listening new new buzz words in the name of " downsizing," "bail outs","flat outs ," etc every day. Neo still remembers in that particular month , four or five companies came to recruit and guess whats their most favourite   GD topic : "economic slow down and the impact on India"! as if the recruiters wanted to know from us whats coming next. Trust neo, the batch of 2008 is a master at economic slowdown issue. From Dow jones capital depreciation to China's automile growth deterioration, we have recited it all infront of the recruiters like bible and Geeta.

Now where lies the answer to Neos humble back bench question in the sleepy macro economics class? The answer is pretty much straight forward!!!!!!!

Economists are dull people, they can only hypothicate or predict; but they cannot provide the exact scenerio as their is no way by which any one can decide upon the exact models because there are vague and clumpsy assumptions always. But what can we do learn from the " recession" is the virtue of saving or holding rather than spending and also to relook into the unregulated capitalism concept propounded by the West!!!! We always need to remember one thing " economics is a like an unbiassed coin, where there are two unequal sides influencing each other", like on one side if we promote LPG ( liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation) policies, knowingly or unknowingly we are favouring the unequitable distribution of income which results in mass and class divide. Let Keynes be  reigning in his economics book, understand him, but think twice  of all other aspects before following him!!!!!!!

lol enough of pot boiling words....time for Neo to sleep.....life moves on ............!!!!!!!! 

26/11/08...........Where are the terrorists coming from..

Fall winter, November 2008, a time of celebration in different parts of India, a time when India is waiting for a more promising 2009, came the ultimate havock.

2008 has been a trouble some year not only for India but also for the world. with the sudden quadrupling of world oil prices, accompanied by the ultimate subprime crisis guaranteed that the world will be seeing events that no one would have ever imagined. And truly from the collapse of the great wallstreet with the wash out of Lehman Brothers to the bankruptcy of Ireland, investors all over the world were shattered. Even the dream growth run of the Asian Superpowers ( china and India) came to a hault with China's automobile sector and India's IT/ITES sector showing signs of stagnation and resistance.

All these are  macro economic issues which more or less are kinda inevitable with globalization, privatisation and liberalization being the center point of focus; but world is facing a different resistance altogether in the form of Global Terrorism and Mumbai 26/11 Attacks pushed terrorism to new heights. World was shattered to watch the audacity and the magnitude in which the attacks were conducted. 

Neo knows there is no point in discussing what happened during those dreadful, never ending, 72 hours but Neo surely feels that 26/11 attacks raised several questions and two most vallid questions are: Who is responsible for the attacks? and where are the terrorists coming from?

LeT is the name that every Indian will remember for ever!!!!!!!!! BUT Neo feels that there is more than what meets the eye. 

Neo feels very sad to say that " lack of a common political will" and a massive failure of several governing and guarding institutions resulted in this attack. Let us look at this attack in two phases, firstly,  from the execution point of view and secondly , what actually followed in the next 72 hours!!!

Look at the enormity and the audacity of the attack, an attack of such high magnitude is impossible without long term strategical planning backed by hard core training which must have been going for months, if not, years!!! now, coming to real facts, on 19th Nov , RAW submitted a special intelligence report quoting high alert and fearing that the terrorists can come from Sea!!!!! Several Foreign Intelligence Agencies have been said quoted that "The Taj" being one of the  most preferred targets by merceneries and that Long term strategical operations were being planned out against India!!!!! All these points indicates towards a shameful failure of several intelligence agencies across the country and also to the fact that how lightly stuffs like RAW reports are being taken in this country !!!!!!

Now, lets think for a while about what happened in the 72 hours of  extreme gun battle between the terrorists and the brave NSG commandos, The navy and offcourse the State Police Force to begin with. Neo may be very harsh but Neo feels like saying it was nothing but utter stupidity the way the entire operation has been conducted. Also Neo feels that Again the root causes are much much deeper ingrained, the lack of a police reform to start with, the debate between a 303 Rifle and an AK 47, the untimely delay in the transportation of the NSG commandos because a Minister's timely schedule cannot be compromised, all these issues are something to laugh about!!!! Also to laugh about were some of the political instances surrounding the Taj and the Nariman Point, where an honorary Minister ( front runner now for the Prime Minister's seat) delivered a high time communal speech just 100 yards outside the Taj Building  giving oaths of his soo called " foresightedness".

Neo Salutes those people who actually came out as the heroes and sacrificed their lives trying to save the disgraced faced of the system!!!!!

Lastly Neo took a lot of time to complete this article, the motto of which was to wait for the right time to express. 2nd phase of the General election is over and political parties are doing their best to grab whatever attention they can get  to cash in votes. Ideally, neo feels that India needs great thinkers and even better implementors. India needs thoughtful reforms covering  the three major arm of the constitution of India....The Executive, The Judiciary and The Legistative. After all, things should follow a process which should be transparent and visible. People, irrespective of whether politics being considered as a " SERVICE: needs to be Appraised transparently for their deeds. Only than can we see a true shining INDIA.

Early Influences......

" Whats wrong with felu da"? one day neo asked! how come one be so dominating when it comes to searching a clue"?; that tall man is just too perfect!! Early teens, Vacations, soothing afternoons neo used to exploit every moment reading Satyajit Ray's Works. Neo still remembers how he used to ape felu da and roam around the big villa searching arbitrary clues.

Neo remembers Charles Dickens being someone whom he really admired when he was a kid. Dickens was not only the most influential novelist of the victorian Era but was also someone who lived in his characters. Dickensian characters—especially their typically whimsical names—are among the most memorable in English literature. The likes of Ebenezer Scrooge, Fagin, Mrs. Gamp, Charles Darnay, Oliver Twist, Micawber, Abel Magwitch, Samuel Pickwick, Miss Havisham, Wackford Squeers, and many others are so well known and can be believed to be living a life outside the novels that their stories have been continued by other authors.

If you are bengali teen u must have admired Satyajit Ray in some way or the other. He is a versatile genius when it comes to creativity and imagination and he redefined bengali literature by his very simple and lucid way of writing. He gave us many memorable characters but Neo enjoys Professor shankhu the most, the 1st BengaLI schi-fi attempted for sure. Felu da, though has been largely influenced by Sherlock Holmes is another legendary creation by Ray.

As Neo said earlier Paintings are in his blood. He has a long list of painters whom he admires. Out of them two painters are just beyond expression. The first one has to be Leonardo Da Vinci, he was an Italian polymath, being a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, painter, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer. Leonardo has often been described as the archetype of the renaissance man, a man whose unquenchable curiosity was equaled only by his powers of invention. From verocchio's Workshop paintings in 1466-1476 to the famous Mona Lisa or " La Gioconda" the laughing one. The Mona Lisa painting is famous, in particular, for the elusive smile on the woman's face, its mysterious quality brought about perhaps by the fact that the artist has subtly shadowed the corners of the mouth and eyes so that the exact nature of the smile cannot be determined. The shadowy quality for which the work is renowned came to be called "sfumato" or Leonardo's smoke. Neo always enjoyed the color mixing and the use of shades in Leonardo's Painting's, simply legendary.

The second and particularly the one whom Neo tried to ape was the famous 'Pablo Piccasso'. Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was an Spanish painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. As one of the most recognized figures in 20th-century art, he is best known for co-founding the Cubist movement and for the wide variety of styles embodied in his work. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907) and his depiction of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. he was the Expressionists of his time and he propouned the concepts of figure painting like any other painter. However his works were equally controversial due to nude depiction of woman in most of his figure sketches. Picasso still remains on of the most influential painters in Neo's life and his works so far.

There are many other names which always perplexes Neo's mind, but one common thing Neo observed in all these Legendary people is their power of expressing and way of expressing visions , imaginations, creative stincts and the positive vibes that is reflected in their works which cannot be explained in terms but can only be Felt and observed and followed.........

Early Years Of Neo.......

"Nostalgia, sheer nostalgia", thats the right expression which comes in Neo's mind when he thinks of his past.

From the very early days, Neo has been groomed in a natural subtle environment where there was ample room for creativity and dreaming. "there should not be any compromise when one dreams", golden words from Grandma. Neo spend most part of his childhood sitting in her lap hearing stories of truimph, stories of failure and above all tales of one chashing his/her dreams and fulfilling it. Soo there were angles, phantoms,dreamlands,ghosts ruining neos little mind. Granny made one thing pretty sure that Neo should live his dreams, so there was no shortage of short stories, Novels around little Neo. She used to read them taking Neo in her lap and Neo used to travel in the land of dreams. So on one side there was an honest Rama, who's charisma, who's patience,who's cause to kill the evil was something Neo always appreciated; On the Other hand, there was an evil Ravana, whom Neo feared like hell due to all wrong reasons.

Everytime Neo dreamed something, he used to draw it in what ever and where ever possible. Little Neo loved expressing his dreams and drawing used to be his medium of expressing. Slowly Neo started enjoying sketching and in due course of his life sketching has been quite an influence.

Childhood memories are something Neo sits and cherishes everyday. In every lonely corner of Neo's heart are those people and memories who left an indellible mark in the sweet and sour journey of Neo. Neo still believes in the "little neo", who always forced Neo to dream and dream endlessly. As adults we all know how hard it is to chase ones dreams, but there should be someone or something that pushes one to go for his/her dreams, fortunately Neo has the " Little Neo" inside his heart who has no limits when it comes to chasing his dreams.

Neo Begins his Journey

Midnight 12.30 am;

somewhere in India.............

Last 50 minutes: i was thinking why to start a blog?

40 mins Earlier: i decided why not? lets do it.

30 mins earlier: uhhu!!!!! biggest hurdle!!!!!!! Nickname???

20 mins Back: confused; damn confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

10 mins Back: hmmm!!!!!!something which means A BEGINING or NEW!!!!!!!!!!

2 mins back: Yuppee!!!!!Can be NEO.

Journey of NEO begins..........................................................