And I met her

Last Saturday I went to meet MT with whom I have been in touch for a long time. I had once seen her at Matunga station( read here) but haven't met her face to face. We both became very good friends coz we shared our interests in marketing and Branding. Friday afternoon I had sms from her to meet next day. We have been planning to meet for a long time but for one reason or the other we weren't able to meet.
In fact couple of weeks back we had decided to meet but suddenly she disappeared few days before meeting. She didn't respond to my SMS or mails. Later I came to know that she was affected with Malaria and was bed ridden for a week.

So, I SMSed her that I will be there at a restaurant just below her office in afternoon.
I had stopped meeting online friends for past three or four years. This would be my meeting with online acquaintance after a long time.

Next morning I was debating with myself whether I should shave or not. I was sporting a big beard uncut for more than 2 weeks. I hate shaving until and unless it’s really necessary. I thought that since I am not going on a date and as this meeting is just a casual one why care about that. Also I know that MT doesn't care about looks. So I took bath.
During bath I changed my decision and decided to shave for meeting (bath activates your common sense). Since this is my first meeting with her I should try to look decent instead of scaring her away.

Now MT is not like other girls who like to chit chat about crap things and want the boy sitting in front of her to flirt with her so that she can show her girly antiques. She hates anyone who flatters her and can get annoyed by small things.

After bath I took razor and went ahead with self torture. As the blade moved over my skin small droplets of blood from my sensitive skin started oozing out like mini lakes of red water. After I was over I ended up with blood droplets on my neck and face. I felt pity on myself. So much for girls. May be I would tell MT that I had to shed my blood to her.

As I was about to have my breakfast (breakfast at 11AM) I got call from Amravati. It was of my friend from there who told that Gharrya has committed suicide. Now Gharrya was one of the Farmers with whom I had stayed on my visit to Amravati four months back. Unable to bear debts and failed crop, he committed suicide by drinking Pesticide....just like numerous farmers of that region. I felt very sad at that. I never expected Gharraya to take this extreme step though I knew that his economic conditions were not good for past one year.
I didn't feel like eating and left my breakfast uneaten.

I decided not to meet MT.

But later I thought that I will be sitting at home and get too depressed with this news. It would be better idea to go outside.

At the decided time I reached restaurant. I tried to keep Gharrya out of my mind. May be I will have to go to Amravati to meet his family.

Before coming to this place I told myself thousands time that I would behave properly and in gentle manner in front of this girl. No bad, sick raunchy jokes...only serious talks. First impression is last impression. I reminded myself with impression of a Himalayan sage. Show her that you are good guy. You won’t tell her your nonsense stories, political theories and jokes that make people serious....then what will I talk?

I called and informed her that I am sitting in the restaurant and she can come down from her heavenly abode to meet. I tried to make myself comfortable in small sofa. I hate sofas in this restaurant. Bloody can’t they make these sofas big? It hardly accommodates my a**. Just opposite me on other side another girl was sitting. Probably waiting for someone. I tried to imagine how it will feel to have sponge bath by her.
While I was floating in my world taking bath my mobile buzzed and suddenly in front of me MT materialized.
Well I was shocked like a person riding bike suddenly sees buffalo in front of him.
(I am not calling her buffalo..its pun)
She smiled...aha...and that brought me back to my senses. I was about to crack a joke but decided against it.

So our talking started. I realized that I didn't have any topic to talk! I can go on talking hours after hours but dunno why I was dumb stuck now. After meeting on quite session of hour long self introspection I realized that I feared this girl. I feared annoying her. For what? I dunno. We talked about job, her illness, my shut down business etc. Then unknowingly in between chat I told her about my visit to a village in Darbhanga,Bihar. Also I told her how I worked there as a hired goon during Panchayat Elections just for sake of fun. In the next jiffy I realized that I have done something wrong. And then I cursed myself at frequency of 100Hz.Idiot you got story of yourself as goon to tell her? Didn’t you have anything good?
Idiot Idiot Idiot
But MT wasn't very shocked. May be she likes goons.

So we decided to order food. She ordered Uttapam. I looked into the menu and decided to have something light. At that moment MT asked me something. I was about to reply her when the waiter asked me about my order.
I promptly ordered Masala Dosa.

Another mistake. Masala dosa!!! You ordered Masala Dosa?

Idiot Masala Dosa is No.1 on your list of foods that should be eliminated from earth (thanks to my 3 month stay in Coimbatore).

I was still unable to console myself with the fact that I have ordered Masala Dosa.....where is your head you Idiot? Left it at home?

So after some time Uttapam and Masala Dosa arrived. When the Masala Dosa was kept in front of me I felt like pushing bunch of tissue papers in mouth of the over fed waiter who brought it.

Once the food came in front of me I suddenly remembered Gharrya. His face came in front of my eyes. Something that has been happening for past couple of months. Whenever I sit to eat food memories of hungry malnourished kids I have been seeing in Villages suddenly go alive. I realized I wont be able to eat. My mood went sour at that instant.

Eating food was tough for me. And eating Masala Dosa came out to be Herculean task. I slowly stuffed it in my mouth and tried to push it down my throat while I talked to her. After lot of efforts I ate.
While I was eating I got call from Amit. He asked me whether I will be able to meet him as I had promised 2 days back. It had totally gone out of my mind that I was supposed to meet him. I didn't want to meet, but thought that since I have told him I should meet. I called him at Link road after an hour.

So our lunch got over. My mind was partially with both MT and Gharraya.
I didn't know when bill arrived and she took it. I protested that it will be good that I pay for it. But she insisted that she will pay time and will let me pay next time when we will meet. I wasn't in mood to protest and let her pay. She also seemed to be in hurry to go. Then I gave her book which I had purchased for her long back when we had planned to meet. Now MT hates gifts and also has no interest in book. I knew this but decided to give it to her. I expected that she may deny accepting it in that case I will have to take it back with me. But she accepted!!

I came out of restaurant thinking whether I should go home or should wait for Amit.At that moment I got SMS of MT saying that I shouldn't have brought book for her.
Another Mistake....keep girls away from book.

Then I dialed Amit and told him that I am waiting for him at Mall.

Run Run Run

So BSE Sensex has crossed 18,000 mark. It took just 8 working days to take market from levels of 17K to 18K. The Bull run was led by buoyant FII inflows.I read couple of newspapers and saw in news on various channels that how media has gone gung ho on this. As if India has achieved some thing very great.
This inspite of the knowledge that only handful of people have benefitted from this bull run. In India only 6 million people invest in shares.Thats less than 0.6% of the whole population. Thanks to this Bull run, Ambani's of Reliance, KP Singh of DLF, Sunil Mittal of Bharati etc have moved up several notches in Forbes list of Billionaires.

I wonder whether Indian markets have really decoupled themselves from other economies as mentioned in newspapers. This Bull run is obviously after effect of rate cuts by Federal reserve. Since the interest rate is low FIIs and other hedge fund investors borrow from Fed and invest it in India.

Another thing that makes me wonder is whether big investors have started ignoring the fundamentals or is it that gross manipulation in Share Market is driving prices north?
The recent report shows that Industrial Production Index has shown dip in output. Yesterday there was report that in India Automobile sales showed depressing results.Still market is buoyant.

Story behind Sugar subsidies

I came across this nice story in Economic Times,This is how aid money for poor farmers ends up in politicians pockets.


The Maharashtra government last week decided to extend its guarantee to loss-making sugar co-operatives trying to raise fresh money. A closer look at the list of the ailing mills makes it clear the cause of losses and the reason behind the government’s generosity. Many high-profile ministers in Vilasrao Deshmukh’s Cabinet and MLAs are associated with the mills. The list includes Sonhira sugar co-operative run by the co-operation minister Patangrao Kadam himself. A veteran Congressman from Sangli, Mr Kadam’s now-ailing sugar unit was inaugurated by none other than Sonia Gandhi seven years ago. Another prominent name is that of industry minister Ashok Chavan. He is associated with Bhaurao Chavan sugar co-operative at Nanded. Mr Chavan is now eyeing the chief minister’s chair and was recently in the news for the behind-the-scenes role in anti-Deshmukh lobbying. Another high-profile Nanded politician, Union home minister Shivraj Patil, is indirectly linked to the sops. Jai Jawan Jai Kisan sugar co-operative, run by Mr Patil’s close confidant in Latur, has made it to the list. Sugar co-operatives run by former ministers and Congress veterans Kallappa Awade and PK Anna Patil are other big names here. There are many NCP leaders starting with party chief Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit who have high stakes in the co-operative sector. Yashwant co-operative mill at Theur in Pune district controlled by Ajit’s right-hand man will be one of the mills that would come out of the red with the government aid. Also, Aadinath co-operative in Solapur figures in the list. Rashmi Bagal, the uncrowned queen of the state sugar industry and an NCP MLA, is associated with Aadinath, too. Others like Daulatrao Aher and Sundarrao Solanke — both BJP-turned-NCP men from Nashik and Beed, respectively — PK Anna Patil (Congress) and Narasing Patil (Jansurajya Party) will indirectly benefit from the decision.

“The state government alone has taken a hit of nearly Rs 800 crore by going out of its way to help sugar industry this year,” a top state government official said.

Funny Democracy

When the Constitution of India was written it was expected that the Prime Minister and major cabinet ministers would be from Lok Sabha(lower house),ie who are directly elected by people.Though there is no rule stating that Rajya Sabha members can't be ministers; it was unwritten rule that major Union Ministry posts should be held by people who have worked for long time at grass root levels.This was true till recent times and it's good too because if you are not a mass leader then you dont have right to rule them.Being elected by mass is something inherent in democracy. But now what has happened is really a sad face of democracy.Our Prime Minister himself is from Rajya Sabha,that too from Assam,where hardly anyone recognises him. Same goes with many other ministers in key position.ShivrajPatil is Home Minister, a very important portfolio.Amazing thing...he has lost Lok Sabha election from Latur constituency but still lands up being minister...that too Home Minister.
Another one being Pranab Mukherjee,Foreign Minister. He is a great guy.Hehad never won any public election untill 2004 Lok Sabha election,which he fought from Jangipur,West bengal,a Congress strong hold. Same goes with many other string of Ministers.Another one is Hansraj Bhardwaj,the Law Minister.His father was a Nehru and Indira loyalist,later Hansraj continued the family tradition and was a Rajiv loyalists.So much is his clout on Gandhi family that everytime he manages to get into Parliament through Rajya Sabha without fighting any elections.He never leaves any opportunity to prove his loyalty.He was the person who went ahead with defreezing of Quatrochi accounts(Bofors case) and helped him to flee. Again in order to show his eagerness towards Gandhi family he went ahead with filing affidavit on Ram issue and when asked about it he told that he doesnt know about it. The thing common to all of them is that they are all sort of loyal dogs of Gandhi Family.They dont have any record of public service but have impeccable record of Gandhi service. Congress has neglected many mass leaders due to this coterie of selected chamchas or flatterers. Gone the days when Congress had grass root level leaders like Rajesh Pilot, Madhavrao Scindia,PA Sangama,Sharad Pawar. Same goes with the people who are in Congress working comittee. Ambika Soni, the closest politician to Sonia is same. I think Congress is going to be party which is totally untouched with ground reality.And we have a government that doesnt have allegiance to India but to Madam Sonia Gandhi.