And So The Story Goes..

.

.. but for there to be a story, must have taken place an adventure.. alright, let me stop trying Yoda-izing this post. ( For those who didn't get the reference, two words - Star Wars )

But the point is the adventure, the odyssey, the ordeal is over. I am back at the best place I can be right now.. home. Thanks to the Rajus, there are around 10K more people just like me waiting for these dark clouds to scatter & give way to bright sunny days. On top of that, some of the people that survived the initial "Virtual Pool"-ing have now been asked, politely of course to resign by the end of the month. This is the best recovery plan that the new business entity has come up with. My best wishes to them. After all, haven't we all grown up to moral values such as "Satyam-eva Jayate" (Truth Alone Triumphs). This particular one is inscribed in all the courtrooms of India. Rajus are going to see a lot of this. Maybe the message will now get home. Somebody must also inscribe "Honesty is the best policy" in their cells.

Anyway, enough of the bhadaas.. Today would have marked my one-year anniversary as a Satyamite, as a professional. In some ways I still am one (still on their payroll), but am I working? No. And that is frustrating, no matter how you try to convince yourself. I wasted a whole month staying back in Hyderabad trying to find some kind of a new job. You wouldn't believe the kind of places I went to. But then, "you are from Satyam.... ahhmm", "how about 40% of your current CTC", "you are over-qualified", "you are an IIIT alumnus, what are you doing here?".... these are various samples of the responses I received. And there were a lot of them. Now, I'm getting ready to get these responses from potential interviewers in the NCR. Wish me luck.

This abundance of free time enabled me to catch some interesting tidbits of "news" floating around. Mr. SRK got detained at an US airport. Never before, only now. So what? Habitually, we Indians find it easy to say "Do you know who I am?". It is indeed very difficult for us to swallow our pride, doesn't matter if it is false ego or a deserved one. So what if a random ignorant official in a foreign country doesn't know you as the superstar you are. Just for once, play by the rules. How difficult can it be? All the other normal people do it. And by the way, what's SRK's next movie titled? "My Name is Khan". Oh!! And by any means, is the theme of this movie anything similar to this recent controversy? But then, SRK has come out and publicly stated that he doesn't need cheap publicity stunts. Yeah, Right!! What were you doing at all those IPL matches in the first season with Deepika Padukone? Does she also own some stake in KKR? There were some issues back then as well. Some BCCI official had objected at the movie-promotion being done.

Mr. SRK, you sir possess a great marketing mind. Just like our beloved Mr. Lalit Modi. He has very confidently stated that all sports authorities need to market themselves & their respective sports better and mentioned the success of IPL. He has conveniently ignored the fact that our cricket-crazy nation will eat up anything that's cricket related, without even batting an eyelid even if a monkey promoted it. And Mr. Modi, for all his attempts (most, if not all, failed ones) at delivering a single charismatic speech, is still better than a monkey. And if he truly believes in his abilities as a super-marketer, he should make an attempt at promoting any other sport of his choice in India. Then, we will see.

Anyway, Liverpool lost Alonso to Real Madrid. And away to Spurs in the first league fixture by the same scoreline as last year's corresponding fixture. The difference being, this time Spurs dominated the game. More than the absence of Alonso, it was defensive frailties after that big collision between Jamie Carragher & Martin Skrtel that did the main damage to us. Both of their goals came from set-plays. Anyway no matter how good Aquilani is, he will take some time to adapt. I think we will suffer from Alonso's departure as much as Manchester United are going to suffer from C. Ronaldo's. And I hate to say this, but I think the title will be at Stamford Bridge next May. And if not Anfield, that is my favoured option as well since Arsenal don't look like the force they once were. But, the top 4 will stay the same. Manchester City might come close though.

.