Sudipta's Life

Huff... puff... and a thousand other such exclamations later, I am back. Before I launch into a detailed narrative of what I have been doing this long, let me give you all the good news: I scored 1500 on the GRE (and the test is out of 1600, for the uninitiated). That was last weekend on Friday. Today, as I type, I am supposed to go for my GRE, but the Marwah house where the test centre is in Mumbai seems to be drowned, and so it has been rescheduled for 20th August. Till then, therefore, I am here. Ah, folks, let me just thank all of you here for all your good wishes. Everybody who visited, said I'll fare well, wished the best of luck to me... thank you!! I cannot tell you well how I have controlled myself, have been swearing at self-imposed chains and fetters, and how I have squeezed myself into this recluse. I missed all of you, your tales, your messages, your comments, your chains of discussions. This has been a trying time for me... not visiting the favourite haunts, not com...

I am going to go into sleep mode... no more blogging till the end of July... will be appearing for my GRE and I am horribly short of time. I have, therefore, got to go into sleep mode. That will include my not visiting other blogs as well. So everybody who has ever commented on my blog, or is going to... you'll have to wait, friends. And wish me luck!!

The story so far: A monk died and went to heaven, but has not yet been able to go in because there are reservations for the non-general people. Finally he is asked to quit his berth from among the last 10% available. Hermit: Oh yes, God, I think I will be happier in hell. I am sure you sent others like me to hell as well. People who have mattered, people who have done your work and those who have been working this long for their brethren are there, right? So I will be happily off to hell, while let others enjoy heaven. Of course the cynics will always say that it was we who built this heaven, who made it possible. But then, we are going out of our way to help those who did nothing! It was us who have been able to bring together the communities so far, but now that the others who did not move a fig are here to reap the benefits, let us go to hell and see to it that things keep working. Thanks a lot, O God, ... Oh, to hell with us!!

A hermit was dead. What had killed the sadhu was not clear, and nobody was anyone interested in it. For all the villages around his cave, he was THE MAN. He did not do any miracles, he was just a good person at heart, listened to theier woes, gave them good advice and lived and talked about God. His death was just his discarding of this body and leaving for heaven. Now the hermit had done all the good things you could possibly imagine, as I told you before. He thought he had a sureshot berth in heaven. He was already licking his lips in anticipation. However, when he reached God, there was a long queue. Being a monk, he patiently waited until his turn came up. God: So, my man, there you are... let me look at your files. [The hermit was already smiling, he knew that he had done evrything perfect] God: Ahh... discourses, teachings and preachings, all 108 holy places visited on foot! Great!! Hermit: Thank you, O Lord! I feel blessed. God: Good, and I also find a lot of prayers for you by ...

I have been trying to get one of my didis (elder sisters) angry for quite sometime, and she had sworn that she will never get angry with me. So after this long process of big shots and really impish digs at her, these are the top 10 ways I have been able to come up with. Feel free to add to the list... 10. End all top 10 lists with just 9 items. [hahaha... you just took a peek down, didn't you?! :D] 9. Ask her if she will like a non-veg SMS or mail forward. 8. The ultimate compliment... when she asks if her company is boring, tell her 'Yes'. 7. Tell her that men are always better than women in all respects 6. Do not reply to mails for quite some time or irritate her with blank mails. 5. Look at her and smile at times, until she begins to wonder whats cooking in your head. 4. When she gives a missed call, just tell her by calling her up that she is a 'kanjoos' (miser) and that she is making you call all the time. 3. Contradict all she says, including calling her a nu...

Most of us have read (or rather, listened to) this one as the first in the series of morals that are programmed into us soon after we are born. I use the word 'programmed', because we just accept what we are fed at that time, and the number-crunching over those maxims happen much later. Well, it is the number-crunching or ruminating over that story that I was doing last night that leads to this post on my blog. Well, what will you prefer to be? The hare, or the tortoise? Before you shoot off the argument that because the tortoise wins in the end, I want to be him, we need to ponder over something else. What is your attitude towards life? Do you rest when the target is near? Or do you get more charged up and want to finish off all work before you rest? On my part I must say that I love to maintain a clean plate, and want to rest calm and peaceful at the end of the day. Thus, if I were the hare, I would have crossed the finish line and then rested under the tree. The moral of the...

Yeah, in case you've seen me, I don't look the 82-84 kilos the weighing machine always screams at me whenever I stand before it. And if you have, well, it is true. How I managed to gain 14 kilos in 8 months is a long story, but anyway if you think you are lean and thin and need to put on some weight, do get in touch with me. Trust me I am the best person around to tell you that. How did I manage to do that? Well, to cut a long story short, this is my 11th or 12th year straight out of home, and this food that I have now is the best I've had for some time. And thus, because my monthly budget has increased from 2000/- which mother used to send to me all these years to what my company pays to me (figures withheld, you know) now, I can literally buy and eat things whenever they catch my fancy! Earlier I used to think twice even before I had a cuppa tea, and now going to the local vada-pav wala has become almost routine. And add to that the fact that I don't booze, don't...