A long long time ago, I can still remember how that...

A long, long time ago...
I can still remember, how that music used to make me smile.
And I knew if I had my chance, that I could make those people dance and, maybe, they’d be happy for a while..............
--Don McLean - American Pie

Here probably it s not music but equally intersting SPORTS.
Well this is definitely not a typical masala movie inspired by a true incident but then this have been inspired by another blog of one of my very good friends, the blog which showcased the intricacies of past very nicely. Even I have a few but what I have been thinking at times is my madness for sports. :-)

Looking back at time, I feel what does it mean to do when you do anything you like to do and you are good at it. Sports have been one of them and feel that like was beautiful with me in it. Its something which I like to share with someone but couldn't do till date.

I have a park in front of my house (infact the house where I spent my 20 years of life but now get less chances to be there). That was my home ground. I attribute my success in life to it too. Have been a cricket freak during my syudent hood days so whatever is being said ahead is with respect to cricket until n unless specified. :)

I still remember the golden days when this thin little boy was favourites of all and fearful to all.

I still remember when I cried on the road coz one of my friend refused me to play in the game saying I was a good player and they never get a chance. :-)

I still remember the summer vacations when I was invited to play cricket by a bunch of guys and that too for their college. I scored a half century on the winning 4 off the last ball of the match. Now don't say that if I wouldnt have been there, the match would have had ended way before. :-) But then I'll say that true, coz the match would have been won by the opponent team.. lol.. :-)

I still remember when I played a cricket match but did only fielding coz my SOW stated only abt my +ve fielding. :)

I still remember the numerous catches I took. Seriously I might have done better catches than Jhonty Rhodes or Ajay Jadeja or may be Yuvraj Singh. Thinking of each dive and each catch I took really makes me feel go back into time and catch a few more moments there.Inspired by my Gods Sachin and Jhonty I have grown up playing cricket all day and night.

I remember the time in IT-BHU when I took my much awaited catch running backwards and catching the ball in air, remember the way my team picked me up on their shoulders when I stood at the crease till end chasing a score of 175 in 20 overs, remember when I made in to the final year cricket team by my good performance, remember my friends at times saying they won't hit a shot on my side coz I was a monkey who can jump anywhere.

I can still remember the numerous times I got hurt and got stitches.
I can still remember when I used to ask my mon "Can I got to play?". My mom used to say "No" at times but then I used to say "No way No.. I am going". In short no STOP sign if it was about sports. She used to tell me that I used to sleep with a cricket ball and bat in my earlier career days... lol .. and used to search them under the bed during my sleep. :-)

A regret, like not been able to make to the stadium for cricket trials coz of that damn rain that postponed it and then I could not get the next date after that. Life is not everything that you don't get, life is perhaps everything that I am getting.

Since then there have been no looking back.
Athetics team in IT-BHU, winning max possible 6 medals in the Athletics championship in my 3rd year, losing marginally in relay races in IIT Kanpur and lots more.
I can still remember one of the best compliments while football :: "Bhaiya aap jab field par bhaagtey ho to aisa lagta hai jaisey cycle ke beech main se motorcycle nikal rahi ho". Yes buddy, this motorcycles left leg is gone now.

I still remember the Tug o' War final where my chemical engg 1st yearites and mechanical engg 1st yearites had a bash. There were mere 4 final year guys including me and how my senti leactures made them calm.

Still remember my madness for pool and badminton which I could play for hours and hours at a stretch and my current craze for tennis and basketball is at heights since past few months.

For sure there are lot of things which I think about those great days but then writing everything here at once may not be possible....

Kabhi miltey hain hum log haathon main jaam lekar,
Sunaayenge kahani apni-apni subah se shaam le kar,
Chalengey un rahon par jo hain sunsaan aaj bhi,
Dekhengey un palo ko jispar kartein hum naaz aaj bhi.

Till then keep smiling .. chow chow ..

aas...

Door hain to kya hua, dil to pass hain,
Milan hoga humaraa, bus isi ki aas hain,
Dard itna hai judai ka ki aakhein num hain,
Tera saath agar hai to kahoon, yeh ek zindagi kum hain.

:-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) :-)

Am fac(e)ing another addiction

It was 2004 june when I was under training in my company I heard of http://Orkut.com/. People use to ask me if I was there on Orkut but I as innocent as ever and unaware of all the techi-stuff going around me, used to say no. It was then I decided to make an acount on the same. I was pretty inactive member for the first year of it but now, after 3 years, I have 375+ friends and 4K scraps (scraps are less as compared to my friends list but then everywhere I went had messengers so never felt a need of Orkut to chat atleast). Laterly Orkut have been an addiction to me. Now usually thats the first site I open whenever I switch on my laptop. Arbitrarily,I go to 15-20 friends profile and drop a hi so that they can reply me back and hence increasing my scrap count ... lol... I have been doing this since last many many months and I attribute it to all my travelling, a hell lot in India as well as in US now and hence definitely add people on Orkut as friend whom I meet. My next short term target is 400 friends. :-)

Now, these days, a new addiction has caught me -- "http://Facebook.com/". A short history of facebook.com. Like Orkut is keep-in-touch application for India and few other Asian countries, facebook is the Orkut of US/UK. 'Facebook' is/was a booklet that is/was given to the new joinees at Harvard University which helped the know the place and people in the novel world. This application was developed by and was open for student at Harvard long back but was later opened for other universities too and probably since 2006 it was open for general public. Now here on facebook there are hell lot of stuff to do which I guess which was obvious been built up by/for Harvard. There are a lot of applications/ games etc that a person can pass his/her time on. Many of those applications have been made by Indians (obvious again :-) )

Latest, I am a pirate cruising over the endless sea, encountering islands to search Booty, attack enemies (may be my friend sitting right beside me playing the same game), stealing gold, attcking villages,pillaging , going to harbour for a drink etc etc.

You can play scrabble too with your friends. Its like, you play your turn and wait for your friend to take his turn so no obligations to sit continuously. :o)
Then there are quizzes and competition. Quizes to judge your movie knowledge, your geography etc etc. I guess if I ask where is the vancouver island or where is Timbaktu then I know it'll be a lil difficult for you to answer it but then I am pretty good at it now. :BProbably there is so much in it that its difficult to chalk down here for sure.

So, do remember if you are ready to get into this quicksand, be prepared with your escape.

The Pursuit of Nap-piness

I completed my half-seen movie 'The pursuit of HappYness' today along with Bacardi and 'Kettle' cooked potato chips. Though the movie was a real inspiring one but then I guess Bacardi was stronger. I was forced to take a power 'nap'. The time was about 11:00 PM and I thought that I'll get back to senses in half an hour and then go about my dinner. I got up at 3:45 AM to make me feel 'get up and brush your teeth' to realized soon that it'll be too early for a morning brush. But then right now I am all fresh for the next day (infact.. the next day has begun and I am all in that 'next day').

Power 'nap' is a real powerful tool. I have been taking this power 'nap' at times during my study for the certifications not forgetting to mention that I cleared them too.

:o)

Please find beside, me taking a 'nap' while we were at Disney world, to meet Mickey Mouse. And I assure you, it was refreshing. :-)

Lately, I have felt, sleep is a bliss. I remember few of my cousins who used to sleep for 12 hours at a strech. I wondered how have they been doing that until I broke my own record one day. Some days back (probably a weekend) I slept at 1 AM and got up at 7:15 PM. That makes an incredible 18+ hours of sleep. And the best part, I went back to sleep again at 1:00 AM.

And to share few facts about my sleep.

-I never got a dream (that I could remember) throughout my 4 years in college.

-If I sleep during the day time, 99.9 9% times I get a dream which can script Ramgopal Verma's next horror flick. fyi, the last horrow movie I saw was 'Vastushastra' around 3 n half years back. Since then I have been skipping all the horror movies.

Anyways, I'll continue my good sleep.

Good Night/ Good day to all- please select whichever is applicable.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.....

Jab main laloo ban gaya

Well,

Find Me in this video. "Laloo proposes Priyanka Chopra"

Coming late to a party (Retail Party, Mangalore) can't be better than this for me. I mean, I was pulled to act as soon as I entered the rooftop where we were having this party. I was asked to propose Priyanka Chopra with me as Laloo. Also, I was asked me to choose a girl to act as Priyanka Chopra but then I did not want to reveal my crush .. hahahaha.. Kidding.. :-)
Enzoiiiiii !!!

Our Sunset at Kanyakumari

Around one n half year back 10 guys from my ILM team went to TVM for the project transition and to end an era full of hardwork and struggle. We made a program to Kanyakumari from there and had a memorable time.

ILM Hall of fame(as in the photo):: L --> R

Himanshu -- Servers are up and running
Gaurav -- Useless bugger
Srikant -- The Enthusiast
Vivek -- Theee dude of our group
Anees -- The PM
Ravishankar -- The Whiskey lover.
Indu -- Seedhi-Saadhi-Sharmaati hui ladki.
Senthil -- Lambu with brains
Ritha -- Thee poetess with emotions
Nithya -- The girl with 'adayen' while playing Dumb-C. I love copying this girl. :-)


This poem is a joint venture of Ritha and Me written after the visit.
Definitely one of the nostalgic ones.

Here it goes:::::

-------------------------------------------------


Traveling a long distance …At last we reach there,
An amazing place called Kanyakumari,
It’s a place which is beautiful and touching I swear
Where East meets the West in a very obvious way.

All the masti…..all the joy….

At last we are here, oh my boy,

This is the place we have been waiting since long,

Colourful, Soothing Kanyakumari Sunset where we wanted to sing this song!!!!

Sandy beach of different colors, huge stones which are very very hard,
It always reminds me of my favorite Milk Shake and Caramel Custard,
My thoughts swayed seeing what nature has in store,
Seeing the sunset what a bridal look it wore.

A long walk before we settle down
God!! If I do this daily, May be I just slim down.
Some reach the top of mini cliff here,
Some stood down to gaze them from there.

“Catch it” cried one throwing the ball in air,
Diving on the hard sand only we mad guys can dare,
“Is this angle good ?“ asks one of the chaps
We hear someone saying “Abbe Uncle!!! Quickly take my snaps”.

I always had a thought,
What is it special about sunsets, they are all the same,
But great that I was wrong, this one was the best,
Coz I had some Gems from ILM hall of fame.

~G n R

A feel good factor

Now, well when everybody knows that I love sports, yesterday evening's was great. I was supposed to get yet another books from yet another library.
I found a library here in Lyndhurst,NJ. Was probably going to the library when one of my roommates asks me for a basketball game. uh uh uh I said.. Probably each 'uh' 'uh' shouted 'yes' 'yes' and finally in 30 mins I was there at the court.

Well we were just a little late and there was just one halogen bulb for the whole court. Less light was a problem but then we were able to see the ball and the basket and that enough.
The game went great. Struggled in the beginning coz of less light.
Anyways, had a great time. Did a few unbelievable baskets too.
Lost elegantly by 29-30 in the end and yet feeling refreshed.

The coming days will all be filled with basketball, tennis and probably badminton. I have found my buddies. Cheers !

Well!!! Doing something what one wants is definitely a "A feel good factor".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Me ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

This topic 'Me' seems to be very selfish and at times I hate using it too.
Still, here its definitely about me and hence you can know me better.

This is a poem 'Me' wrote long back. 'Me' keeps on adding more lines as he moves on.
Enjoyyyy !!!

-------------------------
This story is about a very simple guy,
Reason you know, and don ask me why,
Things have been gr8, things have been fine ,
It’s nothing about whisky, nothing about wine.

I remember the days when I was all alone,
It was just my career and nothing else was known,
Had tedious times, but never did I rest,
Always had in mind "Its survival for fittest".

Things went good, but never went great,
It was the success, I always had to wait,
College times were tough, they were hard as the rocks,
It was a busy highway where I always got knocked.

It is a history I never want to read,
It is a history I never want to repeat,
I made mistakes all through those days,
But carried on the work all thru illicit ways.

Hearing since years, and always had in mind,
"Every successful man has a woman behind",
I still believe that i’ll get my awaited fame,
The women im talking " Lady Luck " is her name.

But now, life have got revived with lots of snow around me,
The best thing here are my great friends that always surround me,
They praise me for good, they kick me for fun,
We make an awesome group like Stars, moon and Sun.

Now am roaming from one place to another place,
Seems its the Great Gods grace,
I went to the north and went to east,
I want to visit all places one time at least.

Amazing days are ahead, the days will be great,
But losing to obstacles is definitely what I hate,
I'll rise like the champagne from the bottle in bars,
And my shine will outshine the brightest of the stars.

@ ~ @ ~ @ ~ Coffee ~ @ ~ @ ~ @

Don't know how much each word/ line mean to different people.
But then you'll like it.

Here it comes::

Coffee
-------
A cup of Coffee to start your day,
A cup of Coffee is a refresher in a way,
You can have it dark or you have it light,
You can have it after lunch or may be at night.

It tastes so good and its color is brown,
It gives you a kick whenever you're down,
Tempting as always, you always gonna miss,
It’s the froth of the Coffee you always wanna lick.

You'll like Latte and will love Cappuccino too,
Dear Coffee we can hardly live without you,
It’s better than a whiskey and is better than a wine,
The taste of cocoa puts you on cloud number nine.

A Coffee mug on a romantic date,
Or a Coffee mug when it’s a time to wait,
Some drink Coffee with friends to gossip,
While to open their eyes some take the holy sip.

A taste so unforgettable and to treasure in your mind,
An aroma to allure your senses you'll nowhere else find,
Thank you Coffee for you existence and thank you for your presence,
You made our life beautiful and you're no less than a present.

~GS

~*~*~*Getting a 1st Prize*~*~*~

Now this wasnt a surprize but then it was...
There was a competion recently held at the MInfosys.(Infosys Mangalore)
A competition I would have never missed to take part , A poem competition.

Well you are going to read the Prize winning poem :o) and yes this 1st prize is really special for me.
The poem goes like this::

Confidence
----------
I have heard since long and I believe it too,
Its just not an assumption and its just not a view,
A hard work will never ever go in vain,
You'll get the sweet results for all the taken pains.

When the situation is tight and conditions are tensed,
Its when the importance of the moment you have sensed,
You want to succeed in this race for sure,
You want to win the opportunity knocking at your door.

You focus yourself hard and then pump your fist,
Fill your heart with all zeal and zest,
You give your max, you give your best,
Unless you succeed never think of rest.

You say to yourself not once but twice,
The patience today will pay the price,
You know its right and you know its true,
You know you are the master and you have it in you,

Believe you'll be the winner in the end,
This is Confidence I say to you my friend,
yes !, and this is Confidence I say to you my friend.


~GS

Our Complete Life at Lunch Hour

This is the one I dedicate to my friends (S.V.A.R.G.H.A.M.) -- cant reveal anything more than this though. But its true and its all from the heart.
Wrote it long back and now putting it here.
Enjoyy and comments are welcome :o)
-------------------------------------------

It seems to be simple; it seems to be great,
Never ere thought our life would get laid,
Our story seems to be lullaby, and seems to be a tale,
It hurts like a hammer and is sharper than the nail.

We worked like ants; we struggled like a dog,
Got fed up of testing and checking of the logs,
What we thought to mend, got made up from scratch,
Along with our Heart and Soul, everything got snatched.

Lunch hour was life, lunch hour was fun,
Sitting arrangement was important for which we had to run,
This arrangement was best, the requirements were fit,
But always found someone saying ‘You dint get better place to sit?’

Its time to pour our emotions out,
May be in lowest volume or may be it’s a shout,
We were like prisoners, out of terrible jails,
We were part of the same sea; we were part of the same sail.

Daily drama was a movie, where stories began like this,
Chutki is mine and Substitute Color is his,
But soon you will know about the celebrities we’re talking,
Thus you’ll realize why our lunch hour was rocking.

Oldest are the Mainframes, reliable and best,
The technology we always sneaked at and never thought of rest,
One of the Mainframes was Aroma in its own,
Apartments was the name popularly it have been known.

But soon came the Java and to change individuals’ life,
It made us fall in Love, to make living worthwhile,
Ciney was hallucinating; she made our Hearts drool,
With beauty like her, who are the other 2 fools?
Sleeping Beauty; as she was called at times,
She reminded us often ‘Sweet Child of mine’.
Her smile is calm, like the coldness of the moon,
She deserves to be with us we say, later or soon.

We talk often about this girl, highly graceful and dignified,
She transformed herself that well, to get called as Modified,
She shed off each and every bit of excess fat,
She set up examples for hard work like that.

Queen of Hearts is Color of the Day,
Perfect in each and every possible way,
With flawless skin, and amazing smile,
She stops our breath every then and while.

Perfect example of elegance, and grace,
With hairs as curly and skin shining as glace,
Substitute color is example, of beauty and simplicity,
We suggest our heroes with fundaes of proactivity.

Chutki is another name in this hall of fame,
Her cuteness and shortness is where she got this name,
Her smile has made few of us go mad,
Would she been in our group, we never would have been this sad.

Talking about the best, the best shape we see,
We’re talking about the Nose, we always watched with glee,
She got this name with a feature on her face,
With best figure in all, she always wins this race.

We recognize her from closest, we recognize her from a mile,
With her name so obvious, named Eyes for a while,
Open hairs and beautiful smile with which she always stole the show,
With Cupid playing the game of Love, using arrows and bow.

But, we also talk of our work, what is wrong what is right,
15 mins of discussion here, save hours at night,
Sometimes the talks are wild and amuck,
It helps us swallow easily, the junk that sucks.

We talk on quizzes; we also talk of songs,
We talk of cricket where Tendulkar is going wrong,
Vast topics and elaborate explanations,
We talked about Jinnah and Father of the Nation.
There are praises and there are mocks,
You’ll often hear us saying "Look at the babe at 5oClock".

Thinking of the days, so enjoyful and great,
The memories are fresh and wish they never fade,
In my mind sweet memories have been set,
Truthfully speaking, nostalgic I’l get.

~GS

My journey from a PERFECT START to an IMPERFECT END

Disclaimer : Any resemblence of any character here may NOT BE coincidental. Also, no mobile was broken in making of this blog, it just got bruises. :o)

My thoughts giving an overview of the happenings.

Day long wait for the party,
Traditional dresses,
14 miles drive,
Light yellow light,
Drinks flowing,
Photograph clicks,
Heavy 'tubs' of vodka,
People with 3 glasses and 3 straws,
Speeches,
3 people, 3 glasses and 3 straws,
Good n delicious food,
More poses and more photographs,
Restroom,
Purse gone,
Panic situation,
WTF,
Got the purse,
Sigh of relief,
Sadness,
Mobiles and messages,
Ride back to home,
Thanks giving for all the fun,
Explanations for the 'PRACTICAL JOKE' to KNOW each other more-WTF,
More explanations,
Bang........... Mobile in 3 pieces,
More and more and more explanations,
"Lost and (Never) Found" tales,
Good Night to all.

This is what I called as THEEE IMPERFECT END to THEEE PERFECT START.

Still we're rocking as ever and again I'll say 'Wish the smile never fades off'.

This is what I call as .........

When life is changing with someone special around you,
When she has started visiting in your day dreams too,
When the sweet sound of music always rings your ear,
This is what I call as "Love" I say to you my dear.

You'll feel the way she touch your hair,
Its great to catch the Flying-Kisses in air,
You feel its cozy when you're in her arm,
When you feel her touch is so nice and warm.

You'll enjoy each moment, you'll love this feeling,
You'll feel the wounds in your heart are healing,
When life is colorful like blue, green and red,
Its just the music of those few words unsaid.

The cozy lounge and the candle light dinner,
Each smile of her make you feel like a winner.
When the Menu has wiskey and the menu has wine,
Dimples of her puts you on cloud number nine.

When the happiness of being together is beyond the limits,
Its the joy of the moment when together you sit,
You share the jokes and you share the tears,
Its the hand-in-hand which takes away all fears.

The throbbing hearts and the fickle mind,
Its the patience you always tend to find.
As time pass by, you'll come so near,
This is what I call as "Love" I say to you my dear.

Wo bhi kya din they

wo bhi kya din they, wo bhi thi raatein,
wo kya they nagmey, wo nautanki bhari baatein.


wo tha cheekhna, wo bhi tha chillana,
wo sabkey saamney doosrey ki zabardast waat lagana,
wo tikhi hasi, wo senti sama,
wo ghaayal parwaana, wo jalti shama.


wo raat bhar bahar baith kar suttey ke kash lagana,
wo baju baithi ladki se chupke-chupke aakh ladana,
wo tirchi nazar jo dhoondti hai usey,
wo num aakhey jismain aansoon hain basey,


wo naachna, wo gaana,
wo whiskey soda pee ke party main dhoom machaana,
wo birthday ke din buri tarah maar khaana,
wo lena chutti college se bana kar isey bahana.


wo jaagi hui raatein,wo vyastata bharey din,
wo dil main machi hulchul,na jee sakenge unkey bin.
wo badappan ke din ka pehla pyar,
wo tadapti hui raatein jab laga dil pe waar.


wo picture hall main item number par seeti bajana,
wo diwali ke din ghar ko diye se sajana,
wo ghar jaaney ka mahino pehley se plan banana,
wo ghar jaa kar waapas time par na aana.


sirf reh gai hain yaadein jaisey tasweer purani ho deewaron pe,
reh gaye hain nishaan jo baney ho pathar ki lakeero se,
bus ab soch ke khush ho jaata hoon, bus yeh soch ke yeh geet gaata hoon,
aur kabhi-kabhi sapno main un haseen palo main chala jaata hoon.


wo bhi kya din they, wo bhi thi raatein,
wo kya they nagmey, wo nautanki bhari baatein,
wo kya they nagmey, wo nautanki bhari baatein.

Great ol' days

A small poem I wrote for my childhood friend, Shreya.


I remember your first day in school with me,
You were so scared as if going to scream,
You sat beside me as if known since years,
I never knew this girl will be so near.

Though eight houses apart, we came so close,
The smell of that friendship is more than a rose,
Never knew ere, what a friendship was,
Where there were no rules and there were no laws.

You had a friend you were close a lot,
To tell you today, I was jealous a lot,
But things changed for better ,things changed for good,
And that friend of yours just seemed to be vanished in the woods.

Thinking of maths made you shiver like in cold,
But I tried a lot to make you a lil bold,
I crown you for my english, I was too much weak,
Your efforts made me write well and helped me to speak.

You remember the girls I always ran after,
The stories of mine gave you tons of laughter,
But I too rememeber your phone talks at nights,
With guard whistling at 2 with all his might.

Remember the numerous Planes I crashed,
Which became a memory in just a flash,
It happened for good I'll say my baby blue,
With someone so uncaring didnt deserve you.

Remember the days and the tunes we swayed,
When you sang the songs and the Tabla I played,
Think of the day we were invited to school,
We were honoured with trophy to make our hearts drool.

Years go by in a matter of days,
And though we go a separate ways,
The light of friendship wud never have lit,
I'm lucky a lot that we just got met.
Thinking of the great days so enjoyful a life ,
sweet memory I set,
Truthfully speaking ,nostalgic I get.

-William Gaurav Wordsworth :o)

She'll still be laughing

We were going to have our project party and were looking for options here at the Stamford,Connecticut. We planned for bowling, we thought of movies and finally we landed up going to a restaurant :(.

So we were in a conf room and we called this restaurant "Dakshin" using the phone there in the room. We were a little concerned that since that was our first project party hence we all need to sit together rather people sitting on different table in different group. The restaurant confirmed that they can do such kinda sitting arrangement but then I said that I'll be calling them for a final say in 5 mins. We came out of the room and discussed and then decided to go ahead with "Dakshin". And in this time the conf room got engaged and hence I took my mobile to call to this place again. I recalled the number (using my amazingly great memory) and dialled the same. As soon as the lady picked the call I immediately started saying,

"Hi This is Gaurav Srivastava. I just called around 5 min back for reservations for 20 people. I want to confirm the same and we'll be there at around 7:30 Pm today. Please try to make the siting arrangements till that time. Try to have the arrangements so that we all are around together since this is our first team meeting"

The lady replies

"Well .. Are you aware that you've called a Maternity Home..."

And she'll still be laughing and so am I.

My First Blog...

This is my first blog. Just to ckeck how it comes on the screen.

Best ones are yet to come so watch this space...