Sunday, March 22, 2009

Coffee house syndrome

9: 30 am
So, it was a bright calm sunny sunday morning. I was enjoying a nice hot cuppa sitting on a bean bag staring out the window. Fur face decided to go on a hunger strike and was working up a major storm in my usually serene household. This seemed to entertain my neighbours as they decided to feed their 3 yr old son. Watching my dad run after a 12 inch high black fur ball was quite a sight, you know!
I closed my eyes to escape the noise and drifted away to the good old days where the coffee house was my true confidant. The aroma of freshly brewed cappucino on a table with a P.G. Wodehouse turned to page 176 .. Those were the days.
With time, escapism became a way of life. The coffee table melted into the darkness and the book by its side substituted with a laptop. The endless coffees
continued to flow as a presentation for the strategy class filled the screen. Life sure gets its kicks!
The sunday morning calmness somehow managed to create this unbelievable desire for a coffee and a conversation.

6 pm
So, I wound up in a small coffee house.
A latte on a tray in front of me and a black coffee on the other side.
A comfortable conversation exchanging the good ol' days stories.
A book by the side.

9: 30 pm
Coffaholic me completely satisfied. The coffee house syndrome lives on.

Friday, January 30, 2009

Manipulation!

Have you ever witnessed a formal business presentation that began with a slide that said
"All characters and data presented in this presentation are fictional. Any resemblance to an existing company is purely coincidental"
Four geniuses at work behind this so-called strenuous consulting exercise. We were supposed to get first hand information from the company and we did .. from a fictional character that works in XYZ (name changed to protect the fictional!)
Here we are, stuck in a group discussion room for the past 3 hours.
Subjected to bad bad multiple dreams, one of us is sweating and walking around like its the last hour. Rest of us are listening to music and making up reasons for profits / losses.
"Presentations are supposed to be serious stuff", they say. In two years I ve learnt it all!!! Finally its the gift of the gab and "lie with confidence" that works all the time.
Oh and btw, we ended up scoring the highest without even knowing the products of XYZ!!

Tuesday, January 27, 2009

In search of enlightenment??!!

Maybe it was the beginning of a brand new year or maybe it was landing up a job with JWT. I still cannot figure out the source of this new weird apparently good feeling of increased responsibility !!

Last week I woke up one morning and felt different. Felt like there is a larger purpose behind me doing my MBA in an extremely remote place like Harihar leaving behind all my fetish for partying, clubbing and shopping. I mean if God had a design in mind without a purpose then he is being extremely cruel to me. First he drops me in the trade capital - Dubai. Ensures that I live there happily for 8 years and then to Oman for 4 years. From there to Chennai and then to a village?!! My life graph can almost be compared with the recession now - dipping low.

In normal times, I would brush the feeling away and blame it on the forced finance classes. But, that day I started thinking and almost decided to embark on this journey to find my Life's purpose (cliche?) One of my friends (who happens to be extremely spiritual very unlike me) said I had to discipline my life first.

So here's what I did:
- Cut out on junk food
- Started swimming regularly
- Meditation (@#$%^* I know!!)
- Maintaining a log book
- Following the political junkie for extra info

Lets see how long this lasts. Wish me luck folks! If I find light at the end of the tunnel, I sure will write to you.