“Strike”ing

Today morning on an atypical – a tad non-cluttered – drive to office owing to the auto strike I was reminded of an incident that happened 4-5 years back during another auto strike (that was for higher fares).

I was in second year and that time my mom and dad were in Hyderabad for a function. The venue was some obscure place in Secunderabad (I no longer remember the name), and on the day of the function the autos went to strike. After searching for an auto for a long time we caught one lurking in the alleys, and he agreed to take us to the venue albeit at one and a half times the actual rate. Reluctantly we agreed. He kept off all the main roads; we traversed through alleys of Hyderabad to reach our destination. I did not recognize any road or alley the auto had taken, and till date I am not sure what place I had been to and how I reached there.

After a long and boring function, it was time to go back. Again we had major problems finding an auto, but finally managed to do so. This auto-guy was verbose. He chattered non-stop, and expressed his displeasure at the ongoing strike, saying that it was a forced on them. He said that they were earning daily and spending the money daily with no savings to bank on in such times. That’s why he was taking a risk in driving an auto even on the day of the strike. He said most of the autos were hired and they had to pay a fixed amount to the owner irrespective of the amount they earned. If the strike was successful, and the fares were increased, the rent to the owner too would increase and so the take-home amount would be the same for the auto driver. According to the auto driver the union forced the strikes on them, and most of the drivers agreed to it only under force.

While passing through Osmania University, unluckily for the auto driver the union guys had blocked the road. The driver was literally dragged off by the strike perpetrators. That time I did not know where we were, and had no idea where to go and how? Dad talked to the auto union people, and luckily they agreed to drop us off to our destination. We asked the new driver what would happen to the guy who was driving the auto earlier, he nonchalantly replied, “use thoda maar kar chhod denge” (he would be beaten up a bit). I could only hope that that auto guy was fine.

Status: Not Available

Bloglets-2: Of Sports and more Sports

Looking forward to the final race of the season on Sunday. I have no favourites; I just wish that Alonso does not win the Driver’s Championship. Kimi or Hamilton, any one of them would do

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I want tickets for the Sampras vs Federer match Will need to check the TV schedules, where and when is it being televised live.

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I understand why there is brouhaha over the senior players in the Indian Cricket team, considering that a team not having any players aged over 30 (not counting Agarkar, as he hardly contributed anything) won the T20 World Cup. What I fail to understand is why are the three (SRT, SG, RD) being treated as one entity by the media? They are three individual players, with very different styles of playing with very different fitness levels. Treat them individually, not as one entity. I still feel SRT is the best batsman India has, although I would not deny he does not have the same destructiveness he used to have in late 90s, but then has the media heard about something called “maturity”. Anyways go and read this, Rakesh puts it in a much better way then I can.

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Viswanathan Anand rocks

Technorati: Sports, Viswanathan Anand, Sachin Tendulkar, Pete Sampras, Roger Federer

Penta-Petalled-Phools

Sorry for the Phools, I was not getting a proper word to alliterate

It is surprising that no matter what colour the flower is, it goes superbly with the green of the leaves.
Here I tried to capture only the brightness of the pink and purple, without trying to bring out the contrast.
Shot with the macro mode at KBR National Park, Hyderabad.

A Small Push

At the bookstore, the boy bumps with the girl.

Girl indignantly says, “Hey watch out.”
Boy apologizes, “I am sorry, I missed a step.”
Irritated, the girl replies, “That sounds like an explanation to your Physics teacher while doing an experiment that went haywire.”
Innocently the boy agrees, “That may be true – I never had an appetite for Physics. Literature was my forte.”
The girl’s interest is piqued, “Literature? You seem to be the true geek type.”
Boy, “Well I am a geek who is into literature, but how can you be so sure that I am a geek.”
For the first time the girl smiles the smile that says isn’t-that-obvious, “A stubble looks sexy only on Abhishek Bachchan, tousled hair looks good on Tom Cruise, and spectacles look cool on Hrithik Roshan. Combine all three where the stubble is approaching beard, tousled is approaching disheveled, and spectacles are more like the ones worn by Babu Rao in Hera-Pheri, the result – a geek to the heart. And with a cookbook in your hand I can also proclaim that you seem to be a bachelor.”
The boy gets out another innocuous reply, “You do seem to know a lot about me.”
Grinning widely the girl replies, “Oh yeah I have been spying on you.”
Finally the boy musters some courage to get out more then a few words, “Well well well. I did not know the paths trodden by a geeky bachelor could be of any importance to a beautiful damsel.”
If real life could have smilys the girl’s face would have shown Instead she says, “Hey did you just compliment me? I thought geeks to be tongue-tied.”
Warming up to the conversation, the boy replies, “Oh yes! Shyness is a trait of our breed which can be overcome only in select company.”
The girl retorts, “Hmmm, you have known me for about 75 seconds and I am in ’select’ company.”
Now the boy smiles, “Well my Physics experiments did go haywire, but I was a Chemistry whiz. Maybe the chemistry is working its charm today.”
Girl asks, “Are you sure about the charm? “
Boy answers, “Ohh! I am sure. I have broken my record of talking to a beautiful girl by at least 75 seconds. Till now the record was of 2 seconds that were used in saying, ‘Excuse me’.”
The girl concurs; and not, “Well I am still not sure about the charm, but there sure is some chemistry. “
The boy calls up on every ounce of audacity and blurts, “Shall we add some caffeine catalyst and observe the reaction?”
With mock anger the girl replies, “Did you just ask me out?”
The boy misses the ‘mock’, but catches the ‘anger’, “Ummm, maybe. Well… “
The same mock anger lingers, but the corners of the lips are curling upwards, “Where did your verbosity disappear? And did you really ask me out?”
The boy stammers, “Uhhh, I just realized that I asked a girl out for the first time in my life and without the original context it could have been easily misinterpreted as a chemistry experiment statement.”
A smiling face says, “Once a geek, always a geek.”
Hopefully the boy says, “I hope you change me.”
Quashing the hope the girl replies, “Hey I did not even say yes to your offer of coffee. How can you be sure that I’d change you?”
Confusion is written all across the boys face as he stammers again, “Uh-huh… So… is that a no?”
The girl laughs loudly; “No, where is the coffee?” takes her hand and leads her out of the bookstore.

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An instant message pops up – “Satan: Hey I saw you nudge him“
The reply reads – “God: Satan, aren’t marriages made in heaven? I just gave him a small push; rest was what they did “