Week 2 - Mentally and physically drained yet worth it

Second week of my 8 week challenge to bring my professional, personal and fitness life back on track.


Professionally an awesome week, even though i have clocked already 64 hours and it is still not over it was worth it. It began well this monday and everything was going as per plan, however on monday evening there was a WTF moment due to a manual error and we were looking at a delay of 1 week. So i had to stay back late to plan the recovery and communicate the impact, the good thing was my director trusted my judgement and it gave me a lot of confidence to replan things on the fly. Things will be back on track next week thanks to the wonderful team i have, i am going to miss them in a few weeks.Thursday, caught up with a few people regarding my next role, they were a few promising options, let me see how they materialise in a couple of weeks. I also got a surprise last friday when i won the Q3 award for best performance, will know this wednesday what the award is. This week need to bring things back on track and start catching up with a few more people.


Personally another good week, our dream house project has kicked off, they have identified the point for the bore well and the draft plans are ready. This  also means i have to sort out my finances in a couple of weeks to take it forward. Booked in a vacation for a couple of days for the snow trip this year to Mt Buller in early July, my fifth trip to Mt Buller for a well deserved break after this project. My car is back up and running, drove 40km to a restaurant last friday just to have some nice south indian cuisine idli and dosa with my friends and drove a 70km yesterday house hunting for my friend. Feels great to be back driving it again after a break of a couple of weeks. Felt a bit low for a few hours this weekend when i felt that in a few weeks i will be the only unmarried single guy in my whole group but came over it once i started getting calls from office on the issues. 


Amidst all these my fitness level is taking a hit, could only manage a couple of swimming session this week and the gloomy melbourne weather is not helping my cause. 

Sachin is God but when it come to IPL, Dhoni is king of Gods. Taken @ MCG 2012

Chennai super kings are having a roll this week hope they close it off with a big win over KKR tonight, at least for the sake of SRK chennai should win. If my team chennai can come back from being written off by everyone, i can get my life back on track too and the next 6 weeks should be more than enough. Off to office to finish off the week.

Satyameva Jayate - Episode 2 & 3

My Sunday evening time slot has been taken up by Satyameva Jayate for the last few weeks. The effort Aamir and his crew has put behind every episode is commendable.

Episode 2 focused on Child sex abuse, It was shocking to see the stats and how the people whom the parents trust turn into monsters. Hope this episode not only empowers the parents and the child to prevent and stand up against child abuse but also instigates the guilty feeling among the abusers.

Apart from child sex abuse from my perspective there is one another abuse that today's children in India undergo, "mental abuse". I was recently watching "Dance India Dance - Little Masters", it was great to see the world class performance of 8 year old kids. However what goes through the minds of the thousands of children who failed to qualify and the millions of children who didn't make it even to the qualifiers.The expectations from the parents today are through the roof, they want their child to be a topper in studies, a top performer in dancing, singing and a top performer in sports.

 One of my friends nephew who is a 10 year old kid has a 16 hour schedule every day, starting with early morning yoga classes, then school and after school he has to go for chess coaching/tennis coaching classes,then dancing classes and finally studies and homework. If he comes second in any of the activities he has to hear an earful from his parents. I am not a parent so i would not want to comment on parenting but  i think every child deserves a good childhood with great memories and a lot of self confidence for the rest of their life. Fortunately i had a great childhood but seeing the kids at DID -Little Masters i still feel my parents should have sent me to some dance classes.

Let the children follow their heart  

On a lighter note, one my colleagues from a non english speaking country spoke in the meeting telling "The Paedophile is not coming". Every one in the meeting was shocked, then another guy jumped in to explain that this guy meant "PDF file" not "Paedophile".

Episode 3 was on marriage becoming a business, the way this sensitive topic was approached was very good. There has been a lot of discussions, debates, articles on dowry hence this topic didn't struck with the same intensity as the previous two. However, it was nice of way of put it forward i don't think anywhere the word "dowry" was mentioned. I totally agree that today marriage has become a business and a show off. Why do you want to invite so many people who never even thought about you until the day of your marriage and would not think about you the day after your marriage? I personally think the western method of marriage makes more sense where you only invite people who really care about you making it a simple affair.One of my colleagues got married with only 5 people one priest and 3 of his children and a photographer.

"If you were absent during my struggle, don't expect you to be present during my success - Will Smith"

I have felt this during my sister's marriage, i still don't know how i controlled my anger during those couple of days. These are people whom i have never met in my life, who were upset for stupid expectations and these are not only from the groom's side but also relatives from our side. These included outbursts for the fact we didn't personally ask them to go and have breakfast, the food didn't have a potato curry, there were 3 sweets, the invite was sent through post which was insulting. Come on folks grow up at some stage, this was an important occasion for my family and they expect me to take care of their stupid expectations. I thought of announcing in the loudspeaker when the lunch was ready but didn't want to make it a scene so went to each of them and personally invited them to have lunch. My friends noticed my stress and jumped in and started helping me out of that mess.Why would someone want to invite such people and ruin one of the best occasions of their life?

Should the volume of Gold really define the happiness the marriage?
Gold Smelting @ Ballarat gold mines

On the subject of money in marriage, i don't think you can start a good relationship on top of a debt. i also think it is all based on your upbringing and a the main culprit is  the groom doesn't have the guts. My role model in this case has been my dad, my mom used to always tell us how my dad said no to any dowry when he knew his parents had asked for without his knowledge. I still remember my my grandparents brought us a "VCP (Video Cassette Player") from their Singapore trip from along with a lot of other gifts, my dad silently packed it in a bag and placed it in among their luggages and told them when the train started moving. My granddad was furious he said we think you as one of our son but it looks like you dont think the same but my dad wasn't the one who would go by emotions. On our way back i asked my dad why he did that because we had to rent VCP every month to watch movies, he said "Money and luxury is not everything in life, you should never get used to living at other's expense. The feeling you get when you buy something with the money you have earned is priceless. The day you start living on other's expense, you stop living you merely exist in this planet".

Looking forward for another touching episode of "Satyameva Jayate" this weekend.

Week 1 - Good week & Movie Marathon

First week of my 8 week challenge to bring my professional, personal and fitness life back on track.

Professionally a pretty good week, gave my first interview in almost 2 years. The interview was pretty good, the interviewer rightly pointed out one of my flaws which i needed some improvement. I used the word "we" everywhere instead of "I". I used it to my advantage and told her i am a team person and the credits of my achievements goes to my team hence i have not used the word "I" very much in the last 2 years. Got through this round and the next round will be with the client in a couple of weeks time. Also have lined up a few catch ups next week to look at other options. Surprisingly one of the recruiters pointed out that i should finish my contract rather than break it else i may loose the pay of the last 10 days. I was shocked to read this as a sub clause hidden in my contract and i also came to know that there is no notice period from either party. Learnt a very important lesson, don't sign contract without reading it thoroughly. This really pissed me off this week.

Personally, have taken some of the initial steps to start building the house for my parents. Currently looking at options on the floor plans and i hope my dream project kicks off soon. I am also very happy for providing my German car the necessary attention it required, it broke down last week due to a coolant leak and i was praying it should not be something big. Luckily it was just the water pump and require a few hundred dollars but should be up and running by tomorrow. This is my first car and am very much emotionally attached to it. I literally emptied my bank account when i wanted to to buy this 3 years ago. I prayed a lot for it to get back on road soon and also promised to take care of it like i used to when i first bought it.Also, I also made an critical decision to give up on a girl from whom i wasn't getting any response. I was able to break my ego to take it forward a few steps but this is where i draw the line. My self esteem doesn't allow me to go any further. Giving up doesn't mean you don't have the courage to follow your heart, it also means you have the courage to let things free.Well i guess this is how it is supposed to end. I know this will be good for her, as every girl i like either gets married or hitched in a few weeks from the day i start liking them.

My car during the Easter road trip

On the fitness side, i didn't hit gym or go for a run or swim this week. It was a hectic week at work, hope this routine gets better in the next few weeks. I will at least try to go for a run or a swim tonight.
Overall a good week and a great weekend. Friday went out to hardware lane for dinner with live music. Had a nice Mexican dinner and finished it with sizzling chocolate brownie with ice cream. Then went to the crown casino which is 100 m away from my apartment and actually won $50 with an initial investment of $10.

Lambo @ crown casino this weekend

 Saturday was a movie marathon, started with "White elephant" then moved on to "Rocky IV" , went to the theatre for "The Dictator" and finished the day with "Vicky donor". The Dictator was hilarious, you loose the fact that it is extremely abusive and the whole theatre explodes in laughter. Vicky donor is also a pretty good movie with a nice subject and good songs. I loved the conflict of opinions between the bongs and the punjabis before the marriage. Finishing the week with calls to family and friends, it is interesting to note the tribe of single guys from both my college and school is now on the list of endangered species and is slowly moving toward being extinct.

Parents love - the only unconditional love

Last week, my parents celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary. Their story is a true reflection of the sacrifices parents have to go through to bring up children.

My mom is a house wife and it still amazes me how someone can do all the household chores, cook food, bring up children, never get paid or promoted all life and still be very happy. In today's world, not many people of my generation can even think about doing this for even a couple of years.My dad was a bank employee all his life until he retired a couple of years ago. The commitment and dedication to his work has always inspired me. He started his life with literally nothing and built his way up to raise such a beautiful family. My dad knows when my mom looses her cool and what needs to be done to bring her back.Together they make the best parents of the world.

In our family, my sister was always the special and the pampered one. Right from her schooling days, one of us had to drop her and pick her up from school, tutions and coaching classes. We had a tough time choosing colleges for her under graduation and post graduation. My mom used literally all her contacts to finally get her a project and job. For me it was totally different, i was always told being a guy, i should take care of myself. How else would i learn how to live in this world? I still remember, my first day of college my dad  just got enough leaves for my family to drop me in Chennai but they could not wait until the first day. So i picked up an auto from my relatives house and went to college. I was truly frustrated seeing every other student with their parent on their first day of college. However, i have no regrets today as this is what taught me great lessons for life. A couple of more incidents in my life redefined my love and respect for my parents.

The most unforgettable incident of my life is the arrival of my little friend who is a premmie. He was less than a kilo when he was born and this totally changed my life. Since my friends parent's or in laws could not make it in time we had the responsibility to support our friends during this tough phase of life. This changed my perception of life, how in a day your life can be turned upside down and things like career, money, passion everything becomes irrelevant when it comes to family. I have never prayed so hard in my life, went to all temples in Melbourne and prayed for my little friend. It took my respect for motherhood and parenthood through the roof. What a difficult phase of life it is for a mother to go through pregnancy, raise her child and sacrifice a lot of things on the way? I started loving my mom even more from that day. Still today, my little friend is very close to my heart, i pray for him everyday and he will always be my favourite. He is more special to me than my own nephew, my sister will kill me if she reads this.

Even though my grand mother passed away when i was 11 years, i still have the best memories of my childhood associated with her. One of the best memories is my grandparents Sashtiaapdapoorthi. We always wanted to celebrate my parent's Sashtiaapdapoorthi in a special way. The best thing about working in Australia is no one questions your personal/annual leave of 3-4 weeks if you inform them 2-3 months in advance. So i planned my annual leave in such a way that i have sufficient time to prepare for the function and also be with my dad on his day of retirement. The function was a awesome and a great reason to get together with family and friends.

On the day of his retirement, our family went to his office as they had a farewell party organised. It was great to see so many people praise my dad for all the hard yards he had travelled for the bank. I was asked to speak a few words which i wasn't prepared for so just spoke from my heart. I just told them for me spending a lifetime in a single job with the same dedication and commitment till the last day is a great achievement. I also told them i can't stay in a single job for more than 2 years.Then one of my father's general manager spoke, he said the reason why i can think of switching a job in a couple of years is due to the basement my dad had built spending all his life with the bank. If it was not for his sacrifice, i would have ended up in a job which i could not have quit for my life.

Hewitt teaching his son a few tricks during pre-match
 pratice in  Aus Open 2012

I used to be very proud of myself until that day as i stood on my own legs and never took and will never take a penny from dad since the day i got a job. However, this incident changed my way of thinking. It made me realise that i was able to reach for the stars because i was standing on my parents shoulders all my life, no child can repay this in any of their lifetimes. The only way you can try to repay is to bring up your children with the same unconditional love and support if not more.

Emotional Atyachaar

Another week, a few good things and few not so good things overall a week where you can't complain much.

On a professional side got a couple of informal offers even though the pay is pretty good, the work will not really make me jump out of bed on a monday morning. So it is difficult to make up your mind.There are only 7-8 weeks left in the current project but i still find myself so emotionally attached to that i cant think of a change. However, i know i have to stop getting emotional and start focusing on the next options.

On a personal note have not had much time to speak with my family this week until yesterday, things are gradually falling in place for fulfilling my dream for my parents. I was feeling lucky on tuesday looking at the daily horoscope and did a few crazy things but didnt work out very well. I guess i pushed my luck a bit too far.

The good part is that even though i have lost some sleep over the last week over a wide range of things i was able to complete a couple of 9-10 km run/jog/walk from my home to albert park. The timings were not that great 10-15 mins higher than my personal best run in the melbourne marathon 2011. I physically feel much better and  i think i will put up a better show this year. The worse part is the melbourne weather which is only getting worse and makes me miss chennai summer. I never thought i would say this when i was in chennai during my college days.

Albert Park, my training location - famous for the first F1 race of the season

I can't complain about my life but there was a silver bullet this week to take it over the roof. It was the 70million lotto on tuesday. Tuesday, i was feeling lucky and i also convinced my friends to grab a share in the lotto so we bought a ticket. Given the fact that i am writing a blog today, you would have understood the results of the lotto. Yes, it came up with better luck next time, i really pushed my luck very far. A couple of interesting facts around this. First, nearly half of Australian adult population brought a ticket, there is still a lot of hope in the world. Secondly, i came to know the odds of you winning a lotto are lower than the odds of lightning striking you.

Friday night was fun, had to choose between the screening of "Dirty Picture" with Vidya Balan who is melbourne to promote indian film festival or night out with a few good friends. Easy decision, went to a nice pub, it was a pretty good place, not very crowded on a friday night with a good ambience and nice music. The good part is that you dont have to wait for your drinks, ended up having a blast with a couple of whisky's, a cocktail and a couple of shots of "absinthe". It was my first shot and it didnt feel that great but ended up gulping it. My friends were pretty surprised because i had just started last year having a occasional drink and they have never seen me drink so much, even i thought i was going to get high like they show in the movies. Though the only thing i could not remember from the night is the name of the cocktail, which i would not have remembered even on a normal day.

Absinthe shots - lined up ready to be gulped

I thought getting drunk would help me clear my mind and start looking at things differently. I didnt end up both getting drunk or clearing my mind. Even a 10km run yesterday didnt help the cause. Writing this blog now is helping me though, there are a lot of turbulence in my life right now and hoping for a miracle or winning a lotto is not going to help. I have to stop getting emotional and start taking some tough decisions in the next few weeks to get back my lost sleep. Will provide a regular update for the next 8 weeks, which i believe should be enough to bring my life back on track.

Satyameva Jayate - A start of a revolution

Satyameva Jayate is the new show by Aamir Khan telecasted in Star Plus at 11 am every Sunday. This week being the show made its debut covering one of most sensitive social issues in modern india - Female feoticide. This show is not for the faint hearted and if you are someone like me who can't stop the tears then you should watch the show online rather than with family and friends. Female feoticide has been prevalent in India over the last few decades. There has been several attempts by film makers through films like Matrubhoomi and there has been several documentaries, news articles to educate people the reality and stop this. However, Aamir khan has taken it to a new level.

The efforts in making of this show is commendable, It starts on a very sad note and only gets sadder in the first three women he interviews. Each story more heart touching that the other. Then he starts analysing the root cause of the issue, how this all started. There is some light hearted views on guys who are still waiting to get married and he takes a dig at Sallu bhai. He also discusses the plight of two brave journalists who sting operations revealed the sorry state of indian hospitals. He also discusses a role model who was able to have an impact on this issues. Finally he urges that this problem will only be resolved if each one of us make an impact in our own lives.

I thought Rang de Basanti was a master piece but this has the potential to go from a T.V. Serial to have an impact on the people and the government.From my view apart from the family members who support this crime, the prime accused are also the educated doctors who are perform this crime. Come on, how can you sleep at night if you kill innocent babies during the day. How can these people forget that their existence in this world was only possible because someone had not killed their mom before birth.

It is a sad reality that people have got used to. The Government of India has to answer now and take strict steps to show the world that this is no longer acceptable. The doctors will be more afraid to support this crime. Sincerely hope the revolution started today doesn't die tomorrow and people go back to their lives.
If you have missed the episode it can be viewed here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1vASMbEEQc&sns=em

On a lighter note, there is news in victoria that there are only 86k blokes for 1.3m females aged between 25 and 34. This mean i have a better shot a the local pub than waiting for my parents to find the right girl.

Indian ad industry - a class apart

Recently saw this ad at a friend's place. Indian ad industry has always been a class apart. Used to love the virgin mobile, fevicol, menthos ad's but this one "Indian Idol 2012" has become my personal favourite.

The ability to convey the message strongly and leave the audience emotional with tears within a minute. Hats off.

Melbourne food and weather

Melbourne is the only place where fashion is determined by the daily weather forecast. I got it wrong all 5 days this week. Had my overcoat on for the first two days while it was pleasant and the next two days went to office in just my suits and it turned out to be freezing cold. Friday, i had my sweatshirt and jacket on when i walked out of my home it was pleasant so removed my jacket but a few minutes later it became cold enough to wear my jacket again. Jacket on, Jacket off, Damn you unpredictable melbourne weather.

Being a vegetarian, i am always asked how have do you survive in Australia? Australia is known for its meat and BBQ but it also has the widest range of international cuisine and Melbourne is the food capital of Australia. Every international cuisine at least have a couple of good vegetarian dishes. In the beginning i was reluctant to go beyond the 1000's of indian restaurants in melbourne but being in a group of mad foodies, i was forced to explore and i have developed a liking for them so much that i take them out to these restaurants now. Some of the my options are

Mexican - My personal favourite, you can start with nachos, tacos and move on to burritos, fajitas, Enchiladas for the mains.

Tasty and cheesy Mexican food

Thai - Red Curry, Green Curry, Satay Veges and Stir Fry Veges.

Italian - Funghi ripieni, Bruschetta for entree and for main choose any of the veg pizzas, pastas and risottos.

Japanese - Vegetarian Tofu Don, Vegetarian Teriyaki Don.

Chinese - Dumplings (Steamed or Fried),Tofu and Stir Fry Mixed Veges.

Indonesian - Satay veges.

Sri Lankan - Veg Kottu roti, curries.

Persian - similar to indian, you get curries and aloo palak.

Singapore/Malaysian/Vietnamese - roti, curries, noodles and fried rice.

African - Surprisingly had plenty of veg options, you can choose shiro.

Middle Eastern - Falafel is my saviour while my friends relish the kebabs.

Greek - Vegetarian Souvlaki is my only option.

Korean - you need some luck to find a good veg dish.

You also have options of veg sushi and fake meat soy dishes which i don't have the stomach to try out.Also you have the sandwiches, burgers, pizza's and pasta's in most of the other restaurants.

I have had a couple of embarrassing moments with food. The top one was a team lunch in a pub, the menu was circulated a couple of days ago and only option i saw was a pumpkin risotto but wanted to have pasta i saw an option of marinara pasta. This one had no mention of any meat/seafood so i googled marinara sauce and found that it is a tomato sauce used by sailors for long journeys. When the food came, i was shocked to see shells, shrimp and squids in my plate. I learnt it the hard way that marinara meant a mixture of sea food.Should have guessed why would sailors be vegetarians. Had a total blonde moment but the waitress changed my food and gave me the world's first vegetarian marinara pasta and added some salad as a compliment. The more common one is egg is vegetarian, had to send back my order a few times for not mentioning quite specifically.

If you are quite specific about being vegetarian remember a couple of things.

1. Tell them no egg, no meat and no sea food. Some cuisines egg and sea food are vegetarian.
2. Always check the food before you eat and incase of any doubt don't feel shy to question it.

Overall, Melbourne is a food friendly, veg friendly place and i have even had instances where the restaurants modified their menu to make something vegetarian for me. Well if you are looking for good breakfast options, the cafe menu leaves you with literally bread, baked beans and fruit salad when you remove meat and egg.The other place i was discriminated for being a vegetarian is during blood donation, after a couple of donations i was told my iron content is a little above normal and so they wont take my blood as iron content in vegetarians are low and takes a longer time to re-generate.

Dinner with the leadership team

Had an awesome dinner with my leadership team on tuesday. I am not a big fan of Asian restaurants but this was a good one. The food and service was good and the ambience was awesome.

For entree we ordered "Split Pea Fritters with Spicy Tamarind Dipping Sauce" and "Betel Leaf Topped With Pomelo, Crispy Shallot, Peanuts, Mint and Chilli". I must admit i had to google the menu to get the names correct but they were pretty good. I was touched by the fact that the entire order for entree was vegetarian so that i could have more choices. I have never been treated so royally.  This is the best leadership team one could ever work with. It makes me sad that i am going to miss them in a couple of months. I was thinking of ordering coke but this was a special day for me so decided to go for some wine. A bottle of Shiraz was ordered, i somehow finished my first glass of wine.

For the main course we ordered "Chilli Five Spice Fried Tofu with Stir-Fried Gailan and Hot ‘n Sour Snowpea Sprout Salad" and "Vegetarian Green Curry with Roasted Carrot, Roasted Shallot, Apple Eggplant, Pumpkin, Corn and Kipfler Potato" and a few other dishes.  Apart from a few work related discussions, we had a lot of discussion across a wide range of topics. I was actively participating in discussion around New Zealand, Australian and India tourist locations, Indian food, population density etc. The topics where i could not speak a word was "Toddler Taming" and "Golf".Got some handy tips on bringing up children and started to know a few things about golf which i used to think was the most boring game in the world.

For dessert we ordered "Passionfruit Brulee with Puffed Wild Rice and Coconut Ice-Cream Choc, Chilli", "Mint Parfait with Salted Peanut Caramel, Rice Puffs and Pineapple Sorbe" and "Mango Marshmallow, Lemongrass Pannacotta and Watermelon Jelly ". Thank you folks for the awesome experience.

Unfortunately didnt take any snaps. So have to post one of the snaps from my archive of my personal favourite "Sizzling hot chocolate brownie with ice cream".

Sizzling hot chocolate brownie with icecream @ amigos

The Melbourne weather is having a toll on me this week. Officially the winter has started and the overcoat is out. All i needed was one reason not to start training this week and i have got more than one.