GAALEEE GALOCH!!!!!

I always wanted to write a blog in which I would discuss something that is young, famous,well known. People recognize it, enjoy it, use it when they are happy, sad, angry, down ….almost anytime because it offers so much flexibility. Yes hum “Gaalee Galoch “ki baat kar rahe hain.
I had the opportunity or say chance of living life with and without slangs. When was in my teens and maybe early teens I thought these people who use slangs “Shee baba how can they ever talk like that”,”Unki mummy Marti nahin hai kya”. Well I have lived such a Loser’s life and then came this transition when “Pappu Bada hoi gawa” and I flaunted my “Gaali Galoch “skills. Yes you achieve that “Hero “like status when you start using your first “Gaalis” and you really feel that adreneline which makes you brave and rather uncontrollable at times.
Well I have this lucky incident to share with you guys. I had returned from school and it was a bad day at school for me and my friend as we both got punished, scolded, embarassed and all the usual stuff these teachers do to naughty children . I had my lunch and I got a call from the same friend “my partner in crime “and we started bad mouthing some of our lectures in every possible way,we usually did that just to remove that frustration and feel that relief, but to my apathy my father had picked the other phone and quietly listened to our conversation and I am sure that would have shocked him as we were having a decent enough collection … hehe . Our frustration was taken out and I was feeling good now and when I came outside my room I found my dad shocked and he was giving me this really scary stare.
I got it from the look that he was aware of my vocal talents and was also ready for a great bashing.Dad came near me and told in the softest possible manner “Beta aise baatein nahin karte” and told me to chill. I said “Jarooor “and ran out of the house to avoid further torture.
The fact is that we learn it late and when we learn it we hardly forget it and guess what we really mean it when we say it. Slangs have always been this cool thing and was always meant for the usually “Streetsmart” ladke and those who think have done a boon to humanity by coming to earth...”The Attitude Types”.
People make their style statements; create their signatures by using slangs. I have a friend who still finds it difficult to complete a sentence without using a “Maa...ki or Behen...ki”. There are many others too who cant start it off without using a slang as in lets say if there is a group of people sitting and nobody is coming up with anything nice or cool, here we go take anything that irritates you and start serving it with your choiciest adjectives and suddenly you will see the mood‘s improved. That’s the power of slang.
Actually Slang has this power to connect youth and bolster communication for the young generation.things which looked long and boring now can be cut short in a few characters and that’s cool.



When we take the whole picturee of Slang, we find that irrespective of the language , irrespective of the caste, creed,religion,sex…etc we are united by slang . It also crosses the barrier of language and translation as one can easily identify a person if he is abusing or bad mouthing somebody merely by his tone and also if we were to meet some person who knows a language which we don’t…We boys usually would like to learn its slangs first, try it out on our friends and have super fun..Well we all do it.
It is my personal experience that if you learn the slangs of a language first then you actually end up learning the language faster and better because there is always this urge to know more and more slangs.
The only reason I watched “Omkaara “was that it was full on slang wars there… hehe

OFF TAPRIS AND TEA STALLS... A TRIBUTE

Well for anybody here in Mumbai "Chai cutting" would be a household name but during my stay at Bangalore,I found out that very few were familiar with this term but I should admit that there are more "visible" Tea shops in Bangalore than in Mumbai and well if you are an Engineering Graduate you definitely cannot survive without a tea shop, Well we all know about this."GOD BLESS ENGINEERS".

For me the much acclaimed "Tea Shop" was never really a hangout place until i made some friends who just could not do without it.Yes I am speaking of those smokers,Faggers,Sutta fukkads... call them whatever you want.Well the Tea Shops is Bangalore have devised a new sales startegy by making provisions for "Cigerrate,Kharis,Biscuits and Chaklis " which automatically atrract umpteen customers and they end up buying more Tea and more Sutta..hehe..

My bonding with Tea Shops started with the beginning of my second year of my Engineering days as there was Tension,Frustration and all the Pre-Requisites which make you visit tea shops. Be it the 10 minute break or the long half hour break me and my friends would rush to the nearest "Akka Tea Shop" for relaxation.Everybody had their own preferences, I had mine...A cup of Tea..

Well it was barely a few minute walk from our classromm and I have seen people taking out their bikes in order to avoid rush and get the first taste of peace after maybe a rough or hard time at college.There were always orders taken in groups as one single person would become the acting waiter and take all the orders for other friends and go to Akka and get the stuff.

Even the billing process was similar as one would get the accounting done and everyone used to contribute their share. The best part of these small time parties was that the bill never crossed 50 bucks and we all used to have a great time out there. Given the ambience and privacy ths place was supposed to be our hang out place for years together... who cares about malls ...anyways.We always had maximum fun in the smallest possible kharcha... sounds complete consumer satisfaction, that is what their core value is all about, giving cent percent satisfaction to sincere customers.

The entire scene at the tea shop was palpable during the break time as around 25 30 guys used to come regularly to this place and lett me tell you these guys were very sincere about it. We also had one "Manju angadi" ( Angadi means shop in kannada)... down the lane which was a healthy 10 min walk but if yu wish to walk the distance you could have the luxury of sitting down calmly in the hut... rechristened by my friends as"Pizza hut" as Mr.Manju the owner had built a small enclave for the novelty of his consumers.The most important aspect of Tea Stalls is that they never have to invest in publicity and advertising and as a result they can make innovative use of their funds as the one which I had stated earlier.

The progress and development of the Manju Tea Stall from being a small Tea Shop into one of the few profit making enterprises during recession can be very well drafted into the IIM syllabus as a case study.Never I have seen the place empty or quiet, everybody used to make their presence felt, the offbeat attitude hungry students, workers, drinkers who wanna come out of hangovers and etc.

These were two prime locations near my college but during my ending days there came a new stall which was exactly behind our college and this stall was giving the two giants a decent enough run for their money. It all depends on Akka and Manju how are they going to face this competition and the end result is yet to be seen.

Well college or no college we all used to love our favourite Adda the Tea Stall, Wherever we go we used to bookmark our Tea stall first and half the problem would have been solved as if you ask these stall owners about any locations anywhere they shall not disappoint you, in fact they are unnoticed geniuses.

Well everything used to happen at Tea Stalls, From local Gang wars to endless friends banter to some Career discussions to last minute exam preparation, literally everything.Even one can take the effort of making a Docu Drama on Tea Stalls and let me tell you there is going to be a good audience for it.

Time was never a constraint for us and neither it was for them as one could find their services 24X7 365 days a year. Never shall they let go their target audeince as the competition is simply cutthroat. Due to such unparalleled efforts some of them have actually created a niche for themselves.. for example the one in Jayanagar called "Gold flake" has become such an indispensible part for students in and around Jayanagar that the exact location where the Tea Stall stands has actually become a landmark for everybody.

As a move against cafffeine addiction this enterprise has actually stopped serving Tea and coffee and now concentrates more on Soft Drinks and Lime juice which again is a revenue increasing strategy as one may have more sales in that case.in the coming years we may also expect a big bus terminal bearing its name.

Or may be if some IIM grad approaches him and presents him a plan of taking out franchisees we may see various branches of Gold Flake all round Bangalore.

There are also many things to learn from these Pitstops as they offer such noble and continous help to us frustration driven students...lets call ourselves engineers... that there should be some sort of appreciation from the government or from some NGOs.

Well I had a great time at these shops and I hope every person who does visit this place shall feel it for himself. This was a tribute from me to their unending and selfless efforts.

If Dabbawallas can make it to the Managemant Case study Circles why not them?????

Anybody inetersted...........

HUM LOG ...

Its huge, It can block traffics, create chaos, make you wait for light years, yes I am talking about the crowd. Well all these years i never had such an irritating experience with people but what happened today make me actually lose my temper.

It is festive season and well one can expect huge crowds almost anywhere. It does not require any reason. One can easily see people in shops,hotels,station,highways.... and the list goes on and on and there need not be any valid reason for it.

Well for a Mumbaikar like me crowds should not be a problem actually as we are naturally used to local trains, stampedes at Ganesh Chaturthi pandals, Chaos at Big Bazaar on 26 th January and stuff but there is a limit to it.Today my limit was tested and was on the verge of losing it badly.

It all started when my family and our neighbours planned to go to a nearby restaurant for a "quiet" lunch where we could have a good time and also enjoy the holiday. We were aware that today feing a holiday things would be difficult but somehow we shall manage it but there was something else in store for us.


We got down the building and as usual walked some distance for getting an Auto Rickshaw and well the series of events started ...For the next half hour we could not find a single soul who could do his duty .... well forget it ... at least help us. The manner in which these Auto Rickshaws actually deny shows the amount of arrogance these guys possess. Merely saying "Bhaada nahin milega" is not the answer.

After half an hour we finally got a hire and next on the list was the traffic. It was pathetic and highly disgusting to get stranded in something as painful as the traffic jam and where actually nobody knows a clue as in what to do. The noise of people raising unnecessarily, The hawkers forcing upon us, never mention the lechers just added to the pain. Well because of such frustration such tension one can come to know why road rage actually happens.It is simply unbearable.

Escaping from the traffic we finally reached our destination and i jumped out of the ric in joy and relief as i was hungry since morning and well just waiting to jump on food. We all got down and we entered the restaurant and already we saw around 15 20 people standing outside the restaurant chatting and creating more noise.

We crossed them somehow and ran for the lift and well I was already frustrated and well it took the lift another good 10 mins to come to Ground floor and as the door opened again a small hamlet came out of the lift. Phew we entered and well the only time we had a quiet time was in the lift as there were only 10 people around.

We reached the third floor and as soon as we got out of the lift we saw people standing in line, the female and the elder counterparts luckily found chairs where as the male ones were busy discussing about their turn to grab a seat.

"Sir hum 35 log hain jagah kab milegi" asked a person and was expecting a positive answer from the hotel manager. He got "Saab aapko kam se kam 1 ghanta rukna padega".
Well that hit our confidence as we were expecting around 10 minutes to get a seat.Finally my dad mustered up all his courage and asked the manager and he said"Saab aapko dikhta nahin kya ...kitni bheed hain..Ek kaam kar lo coupon le lo aur 2 ghante baad fir aa jao..ya to aap khade khade kha sakte ho kya..buffet chaloo hain", This is where I lost it and i screamed at the top of my voice "Saale baraati nahin hain hum ....khade hokar khaane ke liye paise kyu de", Well that made the manager to eat his own words and he was left speechless.

Sometimes mummies can be very irritating, After seeing the entire commotion and chaos they were still hopeful of getting seats and were giving their own theories about quicly getting a table.

I reataliated and said if thats the case i am going home and slowly one by one all agreed with me. We all came down and searched for the Ric, got in and rushed back home. I felt releived as staying in that crowd was actually killing me and i was feeling suffocated.

I swear not to step outside the house during any festival and thats a promise.
And agar baat logon ki kare hum bhi unhi logon me hain... Hum log....

FIRST BLOOD.....FIRST DAY AT OXFORD

Well i would not like to shed light into how i got into "THE OXFORD COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING", but i would like to enlighten you readers that what a experience it is spending such a substantial time at that place where for an outsider or a third party ... The life would be plain, simple, non adventurous but for me it was something special and rather important.

The Auto Driver said a plain "NO" as if he was asked to lend us 50 rupees hen we asked him to take us to the college and he demanded that we shall pay him twice the fare, as going there would actually mean riskiung his life, and that he is doing a brave deed by taking us there. My dad has this uncanny habit of swearing to Auto Drivers ..which actually looked justified that day. After some efforts and time we finally found someone who would "risk his life".We hopped in as fast as we could as we expected he may suddenly say "NO", but luckilly that did not happen .We just made it in time and it also took us some exercise to reach the college premises as in there was some construction work going on and we actually had to jump a ditch which angered my dad even more as in the process he fell down , luckilly there was no water and it was dry .
Just as a newly wed bride is sent to her "sasuraal" i was dropped at the gate and the bye bye drama continued, I personally enjoyed the whole thing as such a thing never happened to me in the past as my dad rarely came to my school, junior college . Life plays such games with you that sometimes you have to laugh at yourself.

Well coffers are usually locked, for security reasons but there is this mysterious thing at Oxford that we students have not yet figured ourselves for all our engineering days that for what reason on earth are the bathrooms locked... Well even the most hygenic person cannot answer this query and the first thing i noticed after stepping inside the college was this abstarct phenomena, "Maybe the Director or the Dean is suffering from some phobia that someone is going to steal his basins and comodes" I thought, and proceeded to my classroom.

It took me a good 15 minutes to figure out where my Department was because before the "Accredition days " we did suffer from the absence of something as basic as a signboard. After asking a dozen of people and applying those directions i finally cracked the maze and there stood my classrom but again there we go it was LOCKED.

I came a bit early for the classes and as time passed quite a large crowd was formed outside the classroom and all waited for the peon to bring his big bunch of keys and open the classroom.
Finally it happened and i had a first look at the Class where i supposedly had to spend 4 years of my life.. Dancing,Taking snaps and giving the odd seminar.

Before we could actually settle down and settle ourselves our Maths Professor barged into the class and started scribbling on the blackboard as in someone had said that it would be her last class and before I could bring out my pen and paper she had already finished one problem.

Well before i shall describe what experience I had in the Maths hour,I entered the classroom and searched for a good seat, A good seat as in where I would be accessible to the Lecture...(I was like this from the start).So after some search i found the Third bench to be the ideal spot.Sitting beside me was Pavan, my first friend at Oxford and sitting in front of him was probably the most talked about personality in EEE ever "Vaishnav".I said "Hi" to Pavan and he too responded.

About the Maths class I found out by observation that already a lot had been thought,I wasnt surprised as the speed at which the professor was going, I thought well Maths was already over for me. I found that already a Register full of problems had been filled and people were getting ready for a new book. Well all my life i had not purchased a second notebook for any subject, Well here students were aptly listening to the teacher's instructions and that actually impressed me. Among those who impressed me were the Buddies "Vaishnav, Navin and Jashwant"...They are famous personalities now.

Amidst the class some of last benchers got some harangue from the maths lecturer and then the attendance was called and then I proceeded to show the Admission letter to the lecturer and she gleefully accepted it. She told me to give my introduction to the class and i started as i always do it in my way" I am Karthik Premkumar Iyer and i am from Mumbai". I expected a huge cheer from the class and what I got was a loud hush and a whisper here and there. Well in this way i was welcomed and I announced myself to Oxford.
Rest of the day went smoothly as i was rather busy collecting notes and writing down time tables, between I saw some bunking classes and i appreciated their efforts and the day ended abruptly as it was "Aayadhu pooja " and we all were dispersed.

Before i could go out of the college gate I met this Chemistry lecturer "Ragini madam" and i still seriously feel she deserves the Nobel Prize.

If Obama can get it why cant she........Explain it to me.

PRELUDE TO PRACTICALITY....

Passing my HSC examinations was mere a formality as the seeds of Engineering were sown way back and was partly prejudiced as taking up Science and then seeing almost every other person getting sucked into the vicious Engineering circle positively only added to the aspiration.
Well it was my decision and only my decision to go to Bangalore for my Engineering and there are no two ways about it. It was fantastic to spend those 1 and a half months dreaming about what Bangalore would be and what I would be facing there. Every day there were dreams of celebration, Dreams about living a perfectly celluloid..cinematic life.
Well I belong to those kind who hardly think about any thing seriously and fortunately or unfortunately blessed with great adjusting abilities, maybe tolerant excessively at times.
Leaving my parents, my home was difficult but i was way too excited about my life as a Hostelite os rather a person who will be staying away from his parents. protection and warmth.

My bags were packed and everybody was just about to leave the Train in the A.C compartment( That was my wish to travel in AC ...) I saw my mother and she was red eyed( Emotional) and as always tried to control her tears ... a rather difficult thing to do , But i did control myself as I was actually very happy thinking about my life my journey and Engineering .

The Train started, My journey started and there started a transition, a change, a experience that would teach me many things and would also would make me forget many things.

A FRESH START

Well guys i always had the intentions about maintaining my blog seriously but sadly those intentions never materialized.There were times where, I had so many ideas buzzing round my head that I always wanted to share with somebody but somehow could not muster up courage.

Today is Diwali, The Baap of all Festivals and one really feels the energy, the ambience and the auroma about this festival.The students love it, The relatives love and it and its celebration uncensored.This Diwali too I ate sweets, ate sweets and ate sweets.Also I decided that its a fresh start ...

I have been always postponing myself all these days.. and i would sincerely make it a point that things are going to change henceforth and Blogging tops my priority list.There have many other things that have bothering me which also will be taken care of.

Regards
karthik iyer