Ginger & Cardamom

I was having a chat with one of my friends, It was a catching up after a long time chat and the conversation moved in such a direction, which can happen only between two MBA's. The amazing point was there was nothing substantial in the conversation; but still both of us had a hearty laugh and shared an amazing moment of connect. I am reproducing an excerpt of the conversation which happened between us-

I was got into this Tag by Nidhi, so here I go. Answer these questions for me in comments and Leave a comment in the blog if you want answers of the same questions for you from me, I will reply back.


1. Who are you?
2. Are we friends?
3. Something I have and YOU want?
4. Give me a nickname and explain why you picked it?
5. Describe me in one word.
6. What was your first impression of me?
7. Do you still think that way about me now?
8. What reminds you of me?
9. If you could give me anything what would it be?
10. How well do you know me?
11. How do you see me in the future?
12. Ever wanted to tell me something but couldn’t?
13. Are you going to post this in your blog and see what I say about you?

I found this interesting link which asks questions about 10 people you mention. So here are the ten question and the answers I gave-

1. Does Sumeet have any pets?
No I don't think he likes Animals.

2. Who is Vikram's best Friend?
Shreya, I think so.

3. Would you love to read Bhatia's very personal diary?
No,If it is Bhatia's there would be nothing personal in it.

4. Would you open a mystery gift Reena just gave you, without much hesitation?
I am sure of Reen's ka choices in everything

5. What's Ankit's opinion on cheese?
Loves it absolutely

6. What would Aditi not be caught dead in?
A state where she is without her handbags, accessories, hair properly done and absolutely branded clothes.

7. In a race between you, Praveen and Reena, who would win?
Praveen, Reena would come last as she would be wearing stiletto which would hurt even while walking and I am a fat-ass so won't run fast.

8. What would you do if Shantanu and Ankit were going out?
Join them for the blast, what else?

9. Name something you have in common with Deepti?
Books, books & a lot of other things for which she will kill me if I disclosed here

10. Can Neha be a bad influence?
Naaah!! She is too kiddo to be bad!!

Buying a car is one of the most important moments in the life of a person. The whole decision making process to buy a car is not much different from the other major decisions one takes in life. Courtesy the events in my life, yours truly have earned good experience in helping a lot of people to buy cars. So here are my 10 cents of wisdom on owning the car.

The first thing which one needs to remember while owning a car, it’s just like finding the ideal women of your life. The most important thing people tend to think are numbers like 1.6L, 1300cc engine capacity. But these numbers are like the vital statistics. They are highly irrelevant, neither do you drive your car at astronomically high speeds regularly nor do you make your girl walk the ramp everyday. So next time when the sales person confuses you with the mumbo jumbo numbers of the engine capacity, remember in the city driving conditions anything above 1000cc would be more than sufficient.

Another common thread which links the women with the cars is looks do matter. When you choose the women of your life or a car, the way she looks and the way she stands by your side is important. And more importantly you should find her beautiful enough that even after two years you should feel good about her.

But the thing which actually more important than the looks is how you feel when you are inside her, pun intended. As important is the warmth, joy, and the behavior of the women is in your life so is the feeling when you are inside the car. One should be entirely comfortable and if you think a feature is something which would make you feel nice. Then try to have it, you are not going to get another too soon is it car or….

One thing which people tend to ignore when taking crucial decisions is the cost of ownership. A highly sophisticated lady with a decent employment might seem like a very lucrative and a steal for a deal. But you know her javed habib’s bill, her Versace handbags, her Guess & Espirit designer wear might turn to be otherwise. Same happens with a car, which in terms of price might appear as a steal but if the mileage is low and the spares parts are costly it might make your wallet bleed bit by bit. So ensure you are making a right choice.

All who have been or are in a relationship would know how important the accessories are for a woman. You know if the stiletto doesn’t match the earrings you might always regret why you actually decided to come out for the occasion. So if you don’t have the accessories, like matting, mud flaps, Teflon coating you just might wonder why you stepped inside the car on a particular day did. So always insist your car is complete in terms of accessories, its better to negotiate to have them from the dealer.

To end it all once you are through with everything, always remember you don’t let other people go out alone with your wife. No not for a trial at the least, no in most cases not even to close friends I assume. So avoid doing that with your car as well, and I am sure you and your love will do just fine.

After all true love as pure as between a man and his car can not be bought its nurtured over the first times and times yet again. So in your lives just enjoy the RIDE (all the pun intended).

I have always loved Limca Ads, generally they go well with the image. I somehow find myself relating so much with their new ad. Specially with the kind of chemistry the girl & the guy have and the music track & lyrics conveys the message right across. It just seems to be perfect. Good work Limca, good work O & M. I feel the need to be refreshed after watching this one.
You can watch the Ad here, and The lyrics are as following-

Fuhaarein, Baucharein, Nazaare chura lo na,
Kuch boondein chura lo na,
Thaki si zindagi se, ruki si zindagi se, kuch lamhe chura lo na,
Kuch yaadein, kuch sapne apne chura lo na,
Thaki si zindagi se, ruki si zindagi se, raftaar chura lo na.

The previous ad which was on a similar theme featuring Riya Sen was this one.

Things have suddenly been acting against me out of turn. Somehow things which seemed like if not in my favor then at least neutral somehow the whole world is conspiring against me. I know I sound like a cynic but actually I am a bit cynical, and I have always believed that when left to the world it tends to act favoring me the least. However, coming to the present my life is acting weirdly on multiple accounts; an interesting incident is here.

I am generally a person who likes to plan things perfectly and I have a backup plan B & a still backup plan C. Though both B & C are waste enough to be implemented, if they were good enough they would have been plan A. But anyhow, I came to Kanpur for celebrating Diwali. I am supposed to return tomorrow back to Pune. I had asked someone in Mumbai to get a Tatkal ticket for the train which I wanted to take. I still did not get the confirmed ticket, so in the end I had to look for Plan B. The plan B was to take flight, here the story starts I had three options I could take a flight from Lucknow-Mumbai and then take a bus from Mumbai flight costs 12,000+ Second option take Flight from Delhi-Pune costs 8,000+, third option Take flight from Delhi-Mumbai and take a bus thereafter cost 6,000+. Lucknow option was smilingly rejected, given the current situation of market & credit crunch situation hitting IT, they just might start the cost cutting from my job saying “you can afford too much”. What my plan B assumed was totally in contrast to what they teach you during MBA “Never rely on assumptions” which in my case was Kanpur-Delhi has awesome rail connectivity, there are more than 50 trains on the route. However when the world conspires yours truly just perspires. Every train was booked with every class. They didn’t even left Shatabdi first class which generally goes empty. Then to add icing to the cake trains to Delhi & flights to Pune were at such odd timings that I could have never ever caught any of the flight. So I decided to take a train to Delhi in the morning and booked a Mumbai flight in the evening. I was happy that at least something was happening as per the plan. However it would be unfair not to mention my Plan C was try and haggle in the Lucknow Pune train with the waiting ticket and pataofy the TC to give me a place to sleep in the night. The plan was a bad one, because running after the TC with the bag full of Sweets, Mathris, dry fruits and Home made eating stuff eagerly packed by my mom (did I mentioned forcefully) is a bad idea. Confident that my plan B was the best one, I went to meet my old school friends in a get together. There is turned out that one of my school time buddies was back from South Africa just at Diwali time and would be travelling by the same train back to Pune and he had a confirmed ticket. Now it in all probabilities makes the Plan C far more attractive than Plan B just because chasing the TC in the train without luggage is far more easier than the traumatic Day time travel in the gen category compartment from Kanput to Delhi. Now I had already spent 7,000 bucks on a flight, now I went back to the cancel the flight loosing almost 4,500 bucks for nothing. Now there came the best part, I was supposed to receive the ticket through courier and somehow the courier people managed to lost my courier. Now here I was 4,500 bucks down the drain and on the verge of failure of all the Plans A-Z I had, I could just feel irritated. Like I said, the world has definitely something against me.

P.s: I finally managed to get hold of the ticket form the courier head office here and I am hoping for an eventful journey involving a lot of human interaction with the TC from all the zones of railways.