Mode C is as much for Calvin as it is for Chaos, as much for Cool as it is for Cold, as much for Class as it is for Crass.

Mode C is a way of life, the Calvin way of life which I am so fascinated by as to keep trying to make it my own way of life. But what exactly is Calvin's way of life, you ask...and I say that there are no clear answers to this one.

I strongly believe, however, that almost all the seriously critical fundamental concepts of life, they are just the bogies under Calvin's bed that he is afraid of. Everyhting else...Miss Wormwood, Susie, Mom and Dad, and of course above all, Hobbes...aren't they all merely the means that he uses to attack these bogies?

It is nothing, therefore, but the perspective of each of these players on the stage of Calvin's dramatic life that helps him fight these bogies and move on in his own unique way...listening to all but doing only what finally makes sense to his own individuality. This is what comes closest, I guess, to the Calvin way of leading one's life...

Thursday, March 04, 2010

Back again

I had almost given up on the blog after what happened last time I tried to write something. There was also this thing that is popularly called writers' block that I had hit and I hardly knew what to write or even had the enthusiasm to try finding out things that were interesting enough to recount to those who still read this space. Habit, however, as they say, is a leech and so I am back here with yet another update. If I offend someone or something by what I write (both here down below or anytime in the past or future), I am unconditionally apologetic but that is the best that I can do.

So, what have I been up to all these days? Let me see, I have watched a lot of movies for a first. Unfortunately, none of them have excited me enough to want to write a review. Whether it is the idyllic Ishqiya or the message-heavy My Name Is Khan, the thought-provoking Up In The Air or the different Karthik Calling Karthik, or even the visual marvel Avatar, I may have liked or disliked them but not really loved or hated any of them enough to warrant a blog post.

Holi just went by and was awesome because Papa and Mummy were here to celebrate it with us at the new house (this is the first Holi here). They are here for another week or so and plan to go after Papa and I go to watch the inaugural IPL (Indian Premier League) cricket match at the stadium on the 12th. The times when parents are home are such blessings, one looks forward to going home from work and spending weekends out of bed with so much more enthusiasm. Priya, my sister, does manage to keep me on my toes even otherwise but hard as she may try, poor thing can never match the impact that Papa and Mummy have.

Life is chugging along just fine and I am in one of those phases of mine where even if I am not really excited about the way things are going, I am pretty content and that, I believe, is more than half the battle won. I like my friends, am reasonably stable financially and do not hate my work even though I have form and content issues (more content than form, if you know what I mean)

Work, as I said, is getting slightly complicated with the mid-work-life crisis showing its face yet again. As a practice so far, I have not spent exactly 22 months with each of my previous assignments, 22 months at Infosys, another 22 at Kotak Wealth, Delhi as a Relationship Manager, and as you may have guessed by now, I have completed 22 months in Mumbai at Kotak Wealth. So is it time to start something new (as the logo of Shoppers Stop, the company in which my sister works, says)? I am not too sure but what I am sure of is that I need to be prepared for some tough questions from both sides during the upcoming appraisal.

Appraisal reminds me of something Jassi (colleague and dear friend) showed me this morning. It was the status update of a friend of his related to appraisal which pointed to the dialogue of one of the few classic Hindi Film Industry's comedies, Andaz Apna Apna. The dialogue goes like this (and reads beautifully if the context with which you are reading it is the appraisal process):

bbbbba .... bolna kya tha chup kara diya
unka ek ek sawal, mere do do jawab
sawal ek ... jawab do
sawal-jawab...sawal-jawab...sawal-jawab

chupppp...lambi khamoshi