Simply Me
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Jab We Met
A zillion years after it released, Purnima and I finally managed to watch 'Jab We Met'... Obviously no one is asking us to write the review... u have prob watched it already... I am gonna write anyway... [:D]...
Jab we met is the story of Aditya and Geet...
Poor little rich boy Aditya Kashyap is son of a deceased industrialist... whose mom married another guy... the guy, love of whose life married someone else.... whose dad's company stocks are completely reducing to the price of dust and turning into a losing proposition... (OK so we have established that Aditya's fairytale existence is anything but).... So anyway, the day his love marries a different guy, he totally loses touch of reality and decides to walk away from it all..
...And to bring him to back to earth or should we say to make him ride the clouds, he meets bubbly chatterbox and samaritan (well thats debatable) Geet... whose remedy to any problem is 'Chalo BHAAG jaate hain...' (eyes wide open true Kareena style...) in a train going from Mumbai to Delhi... on her way home to Bhatinda, reaching where her idea is to... You guessed right... to Bhaagofy with the love of her life Anshuman...
The last thing Aditya needs is Geet on his case, but she decides he needs some Agony aunt treatment, in short a dose of her... what he (and we) get is a super dose of mind numbing chatter... in a span of 10 seconds she has told Aditya everything about her life AND expects him to do the same... He decides to slip away in the middle of the night... an gets down at some weird station... The lady decides to get down and bring him back... the train is gone and she is left standing in the station wearing a night suit and slippers and a whole lot of tingling clinking jewellery and perfect eye makeup blaming Aditya for her missing the train... What follows are some perfectly funny sequences where they finally reach Ratlam junction with Aditya driving like a race car driver (what they show is a toy car and toy train racing side-by-side childishly refreshingly innovative)... where she AGAIN misses the train and AGAIN blames Aditya... yep Aditya's life is a bed of roses....
Geet is again alone at the station... harassed by Romeos and an annoying station master who says stuff like 'Akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai'... (Lord I am writing half the script aren't I? I was writing this on orkut... ran out of space [:D] )
OK lets cut to the chase... Aditya finally gets Geet to Bhatinda where her family suspects some Kaali daal... only to have their fears confirmed when Aditya and Geet run off... Geet off to meet Anshuman in Manali and Aditya back home but first he has to take Geet to her love... in which time he is hopelessly in love with her.. she plans to get married and return within a couple of days with Anshuman... Aditya returns home and within nine months his life and company are back on track... he has also taken an interest in himself and his life... Everything is fine until Geet's family lands at his doorstep demanding to see Geet... Well obviously Aditya hunts down Geet and la la la... usual rona dhona and sulah and songs and all that nonsense and gets her back to her family... Everything's well that ends well Aditya and Geet get married and everyone lives happily ever after...
Kareena plays the role of Geet to perfection... you feel like strangling her as soon as she opens her mouth and feel like strangling yourself when she shows no sign of stopping... they couldn't have found anyone better for the role... Shahid Kapoor is adorable... acts well... dances well... (drool) just perfect... they make a totally adorable couple... Really funny lines... Beautiful songs... well shot... Jab We Met is a typical bubblegum-popcorn type movie (thats my way of saying fultoo tp... one-time watch)
My rating 3+1/2 stars...
Jab we met is the story of Aditya and Geet...
Poor little rich boy Aditya Kashyap is son of a deceased industrialist... whose mom married another guy... the guy, love of whose life married someone else.... whose dad's company stocks are completely reducing to the price of dust and turning into a losing proposition... (OK so we have established that Aditya's fairytale existence is anything but).... So anyway, the day his love marries a different guy, he totally loses touch of reality and decides to walk away from it all..
...And to bring him to back to earth or should we say to make him ride the clouds, he meets bubbly chatterbox and samaritan (well thats debatable) Geet... whose remedy to any problem is 'Chalo BHAAG jaate hain...' (eyes wide open true Kareena style...) in a train going from Mumbai to Delhi... on her way home to Bhatinda, reaching where her idea is to... You guessed right... to Bhaagofy with the love of her life Anshuman...
The last thing Aditya needs is Geet on his case, but she decides he needs some Agony aunt treatment, in short a dose of her... what he (and we) get is a super dose of mind numbing chatter... in a span of 10 seconds she has told Aditya everything about her life AND expects him to do the same... He decides to slip away in the middle of the night... an gets down at some weird station... The lady decides to get down and bring him back... the train is gone and she is left standing in the station wearing a night suit and slippers and a whole lot of tingling clinking jewellery and perfect eye makeup blaming Aditya for her missing the train... What follows are some perfectly funny sequences where they finally reach Ratlam junction with Aditya driving like a race car driver (what they show is a toy car and toy train racing side-by-side childishly refreshingly innovative)... where she AGAIN misses the train and AGAIN blames Aditya... yep Aditya's life is a bed of roses....
Geet is again alone at the station... harassed by Romeos and an annoying station master who says stuff like 'Akeli ladki khuli tijori ki tarah hoti hai'... (Lord I am writing half the script aren't I? I was writing this on orkut... ran out of space [:D] )
OK lets cut to the chase... Aditya finally gets Geet to Bhatinda where her family suspects some Kaali daal... only to have their fears confirmed when Aditya and Geet run off... Geet off to meet Anshuman in Manali and Aditya back home but first he has to take Geet to her love... in which time he is hopelessly in love with her.. she plans to get married and return within a couple of days with Anshuman... Aditya returns home and within nine months his life and company are back on track... he has also taken an interest in himself and his life... Everything is fine until Geet's family lands at his doorstep demanding to see Geet... Well obviously Aditya hunts down Geet and la la la... usual rona dhona and sulah and songs and all that nonsense and gets her back to her family... Everything's well that ends well Aditya and Geet get married and everyone lives happily ever after...
Kareena plays the role of Geet to perfection... you feel like strangling her as soon as she opens her mouth and feel like strangling yourself when she shows no sign of stopping... they couldn't have found anyone better for the role... Shahid Kapoor is adorable... acts well... dances well... (drool) just perfect... they make a totally adorable couple... Really funny lines... Beautiful songs... well shot... Jab We Met is a typical bubblegum-popcorn type movie (thats my way of saying fultoo tp... one-time watch)
My rating 3+1/2 stars...
Labels: Jayenge hum to Bollywood...
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Trip to Kashid beach
Gotta say last weekend was fun... We were to go to Kashid beach... Our office team... rather the entire ETAC team... Architecture and Design... after a lot of deliberation, in the end 20 of us went... most from the design team and a handful of us Architecture guys...
We were to leave on friday night... I knew that something would go awry about the plan when it turned out it was Design team's Ranjit's birthday... no way were we gonna leave as planned by about 12... work done... dinner had... I sat chatting with Shailesh, Satish and Rajesh... looking at Shailesh's girl friend's pics... then I got bored... Went down to ATAC... sat with Chetashri.. disturbed her... we discussed some of her case load.. bitched about some annoying customers... still no sign of the design team... a trip to level 2 to our bay proved that my guess was correct.. Came down again... Sat talking to Parag next...
FINALLY at 1.30 the design team started to trickle in... outta office by about 1.45 and in the bus... off we went... As already guessed, by anyone who knows Anshul (known as Raju Srivastava), Anshul was pestered for some mimicry... sick with a cold as he was, the guy did some great imitations... and he, Yuvraj, Arun, Ranjit and Vellington went on to sing songs... Anshul, Yuvraj and Arun started off with their very own renditions of hindi songs... complete with acting and dancing... by the time we stopped at a cafe in the night though, most of us were too sleepy to appreciate these guys' enthusiasm... Next time we woke up (well after being awoken and falling asleep and waking up and sleeping and so on that is...) we were at Kashid... After some searching we found the treasure, our resort... Sagar Resort... now the name may be a little misguiding... this was a small place with two bedrooms and a main room and a verandah and little else... but what else do you want when all you are looking is for a place to dump your bags and freshen up?
We reached at about 5.45 and by about 6.30-7 we were out again in search of the beach at walking distance from our resort... The beach was utterly inviting... with lovely white sands and cool water... very rocky right where we reach the beach but walk along the beach and there was a beautiful sandy beach... not exactly a calm beach, the waves were lashing at the rocks and most of us ended up with little band aids at our ankles and knees...
Back and filled up on some necessary fuel of pohe, cakes and fruits we were out in the afternoon after a nice bath to go to Murud Zanjira... the ruins of a beautiful invincible fort in the middle of the sea. I can't believe 6 floor high fort lying in the middle of the stormy seas was still so well preserved... It took 20 years to make this 12 acre long fortress... a village in itself, this place had all the mysteries of the legendary forts complete with secret entrances and an under-sea tunnel to lead to the village in case of attack.. which never had to be used.. all attacks from even the mighty Shivaji and Sambhaji proved futile leaving Shivaji's dream to conquer this fort just that a dream...
After a late (late-late-late) lunch we were back... another visit to the beach supposedly to see the sunset... unfortunately the sun had already set and we were too late... Sarbhjit, Satish, Alpana and I built a sand castle while Shailesh took more pics and the rest played in the water...
Back to the resort... Dinner and then back... for a bonfire... Dada, our team manager regaled us with Bengali songs, Anshul with more entertainment.. a round of shayari from Anshul and Yuvraj, rapid fire antakshari... and we were back to the resort and subsequently to the bus... everyone slept on the way back... everyone was poofed...
Morning 3.30 we reach Hinjewadi... the driver is adamant that he was told that we would be dropped where we were picked up... no diesel he says... half an hour of argument (a euphemism everyine will agree) and a lot of tamasha and convincing and threatening later, he relented... After a morning Pune Darshan right from Chinchwad to Viman Nagar and Wanowrie, I reached home at 6.45 am...
Spent most of sunday asleep... Came to know today of the plight of the rest of the people... Most people were dropped a couple of kms away from their home and had to face a morning walk with their bags...
One way or the other, the trip was a blast...
We were to leave on friday night... I knew that something would go awry about the plan when it turned out it was Design team's Ranjit's birthday... no way were we gonna leave as planned by about 12... work done... dinner had... I sat chatting with Shailesh, Satish and Rajesh... looking at Shailesh's girl friend's pics... then I got bored... Went down to ATAC... sat with Chetashri.. disturbed her... we discussed some of her case load.. bitched about some annoying customers... still no sign of the design team... a trip to level 2 to our bay proved that my guess was correct.. Came down again... Sat talking to Parag next...
FINALLY at 1.30 the design team started to trickle in... outta office by about 1.45 and in the bus... off we went... As already guessed, by anyone who knows Anshul (known as Raju Srivastava), Anshul was pestered for some mimicry... sick with a cold as he was, the guy did some great imitations... and he, Yuvraj, Arun, Ranjit and Vellington went on to sing songs... Anshul, Yuvraj and Arun started off with their very own renditions of hindi songs... complete with acting and dancing... by the time we stopped at a cafe in the night though, most of us were too sleepy to appreciate these guys' enthusiasm... Next time we woke up (well after being awoken and falling asleep and waking up and sleeping and so on that is...) we were at Kashid... After some searching we found the treasure, our resort... Sagar Resort... now the name may be a little misguiding... this was a small place with two bedrooms and a main room and a verandah and little else... but what else do you want when all you are looking is for a place to dump your bags and freshen up?
We reached at about 5.45 and by about 6.30-7 we were out again in search of the beach at walking distance from our resort... The beach was utterly inviting... with lovely white sands and cool water... very rocky right where we reach the beach but walk along the beach and there was a beautiful sandy beach... not exactly a calm beach, the waves were lashing at the rocks and most of us ended up with little band aids at our ankles and knees...
Back and filled up on some necessary fuel of pohe, cakes and fruits we were out in the afternoon after a nice bath to go to Murud Zanjira... the ruins of a beautiful invincible fort in the middle of the sea. I can't believe 6 floor high fort lying in the middle of the stormy seas was still so well preserved... It took 20 years to make this 12 acre long fortress... a village in itself, this place had all the mysteries of the legendary forts complete with secret entrances and an under-sea tunnel to lead to the village in case of attack.. which never had to be used.. all attacks from even the mighty Shivaji and Sambhaji proved futile leaving Shivaji's dream to conquer this fort just that a dream...
After a late (late-late-late) lunch we were back... another visit to the beach supposedly to see the sunset... unfortunately the sun had already set and we were too late... Sarbhjit, Satish, Alpana and I built a sand castle while Shailesh took more pics and the rest played in the water...
Back to the resort... Dinner and then back... for a bonfire... Dada, our team manager regaled us with Bengali songs, Anshul with more entertainment.. a round of shayari from Anshul and Yuvraj, rapid fire antakshari... and we were back to the resort and subsequently to the bus... everyone slept on the way back... everyone was poofed...
Morning 3.30 we reach Hinjewadi... the driver is adamant that he was told that we would be dropped where we were picked up... no diesel he says... half an hour of argument (a euphemism everyine will agree) and a lot of tamasha and convincing and threatening later, he relented... After a morning Pune Darshan right from Chinchwad to Viman Nagar and Wanowrie, I reached home at 6.45 am...
Spent most of sunday asleep... Came to know today of the plight of the rest of the people... Most people were dropped a couple of kms away from their home and had to face a morning walk with their bags...
One way or the other, the trip was a blast...
Labels: Yunhi kat jayega safar...
Friday, November 16, 2007
People... and friends... and company
Its weird how soon we get attached or accustomed to some people in no time at all. I don't need to go a long way back to demonstrate this... Lets just take the example of people I have met since I joined KPIT...
During training, I got acquainted with Aparna... I have never met someone with so much spirit and such a strong person... she supports her family... she completed her studies by taking up a loan and then repaid it herself... I had known her for a total of 10 days and been actual friends with her for about 5-6 days, yet when we parted ways after the 10-day test, I felt desolate... She caled me up recently to ask how I was and we spoke for a while... her bubbly disposition will definitely take her places...
Then another person we lost from our training team who became a good friend was Rushikesh... At 20, the baby of our team, he sat at the computer in front of my seat so we used to talk a lot... discussing whatever task Uday, our trainer, had put before us... He left the team halfway into the 30 day training... Uday thought we had lost a very good engineer... so did I, but mostly I lost another new friend that I had made in so short a time... about 20 days... It was great to see him a couple of months ago when he had visited the office with a friend...
Then lets come to my team... Shweta... she sat in the bay right next to me... an extremely sweet girl with a vile temper but amazingly helpful and patient... I can't imagine how many times a day I would get up and ask her one thing or the other... I have learnt a lot in the one or two months I have worked with her... It felt awful when she quit to go back to her hometown...
Before you start thinking everyone I make friends with ups and leaves the company, lets talk about another friend I made... Imran, Varsha had introduced, was the person to talk to if you had any sort of doubts... She has been proved correct time and again... He is the sort of guy who will help you no matter what... you can very well count on him... a guy with an iron determination, focus and weirdly interesting sense of humour, I feel extremely comfortable around him, inspite of the fact that I know him for maybe 5 months and have pestered him endlessly since Shweta has left... I know that if I need to talk about something, I can definitely talk to him... He has guided me and I he is one of the two people I idolise in this company, the other ofcourse being Uday.
Sheeba, such a sweet girl, the wife of design team trainer Manish, I hadn't imagined her to be so sweet... a beautiful and sensitive girl... she is another person I feel comfortable around... like I can talk to her... again, I have spent time with her for just about a couple of months now, but when these days only Imran and I go together to have a late lunch, we both missed having Sheeba with us when she went on a leave during Diwali...
Last but not least a couple of people I wouldn't have imagined I could miss so much... Neither do I talk much to them nor am I close to them, but Anshul and Yuvraj I missed a lot when they were away during Diwali... Anshul sits in the bay right behind me... He has this sometimes annoying sometimes quirky habit of breaking into songs anytime during the day... everyone will be quite busy and suddenly this guy will be singing some song... he has this annoying habit of singing the same song.. rather same couple of lines over and over all through the day... Yuvraj on the other hand is really quiet...he sits a bay away... lekin beech beech mein aise comments maarta hai, end up laughing... But I seriously missed the two when they went missing over Diwali... I can seriously say I got terribly bored the last two weeks... I had to tell Anshul today that I missed his singing when he came back today...
If any of these people leave though... I'm gonna feel jinxed....
During training, I got acquainted with Aparna... I have never met someone with so much spirit and such a strong person... she supports her family... she completed her studies by taking up a loan and then repaid it herself... I had known her for a total of 10 days and been actual friends with her for about 5-6 days, yet when we parted ways after the 10-day test, I felt desolate... She caled me up recently to ask how I was and we spoke for a while... her bubbly disposition will definitely take her places...
Then another person we lost from our training team who became a good friend was Rushikesh... At 20, the baby of our team, he sat at the computer in front of my seat so we used to talk a lot... discussing whatever task Uday, our trainer, had put before us... He left the team halfway into the 30 day training... Uday thought we had lost a very good engineer... so did I, but mostly I lost another new friend that I had made in so short a time... about 20 days... It was great to see him a couple of months ago when he had visited the office with a friend...
Then lets come to my team... Shweta... she sat in the bay right next to me... an extremely sweet girl with a vile temper but amazingly helpful and patient... I can't imagine how many times a day I would get up and ask her one thing or the other... I have learnt a lot in the one or two months I have worked with her... It felt awful when she quit to go back to her hometown...
Before you start thinking everyone I make friends with ups and leaves the company, lets talk about another friend I made... Imran, Varsha had introduced, was the person to talk to if you had any sort of doubts... She has been proved correct time and again... He is the sort of guy who will help you no matter what... you can very well count on him... a guy with an iron determination, focus and weirdly interesting sense of humour, I feel extremely comfortable around him, inspite of the fact that I know him for maybe 5 months and have pestered him endlessly since Shweta has left... I know that if I need to talk about something, I can definitely talk to him... He has guided me and I he is one of the two people I idolise in this company, the other ofcourse being Uday.
Sheeba, such a sweet girl, the wife of design team trainer Manish, I hadn't imagined her to be so sweet... a beautiful and sensitive girl... she is another person I feel comfortable around... like I can talk to her... again, I have spent time with her for just about a couple of months now, but when these days only Imran and I go together to have a late lunch, we both missed having Sheeba with us when she went on a leave during Diwali...
Last but not least a couple of people I wouldn't have imagined I could miss so much... Neither do I talk much to them nor am I close to them, but Anshul and Yuvraj I missed a lot when they were away during Diwali... Anshul sits in the bay right behind me... He has this sometimes annoying sometimes quirky habit of breaking into songs anytime during the day... everyone will be quite busy and suddenly this guy will be singing some song... he has this annoying habit of singing the same song.. rather same couple of lines over and over all through the day... Yuvraj on the other hand is really quiet...he sits a bay away... lekin beech beech mein aise comments maarta hai, end up laughing... But I seriously missed the two when they went missing over Diwali... I can seriously say I got terribly bored the last two weeks... I had to tell Anshul today that I missed his singing when he came back today...
If any of these people leave though... I'm gonna feel jinxed....
Labels: Ab to aadat si hai mujhko...
Friday, November 2, 2007
Drivers driving us mad...
I can honestly say since I started going to office by cab, I have met drivers who can only be described as 'Namunas' or 'Samples'...
There was once this driver, on way to work. With a hands-free device in his ear, he has that stoic 'Matrix-like' expression on his face when he turns around to face me as we reach the next pick-up point and says,'Do you know she is XYZ's sister?' Heck, I don't know XYZ from Adam... Kya pata maybe some politician or famous builder or something... Aplya adnyanacha pradarshan ka karaycha? 'Oh, is it,' I ask him. A few weeks later another cab driver broached the same subject... Now this guy definitely didn't seem like he would throw me out if I asked... 'Who is XYZ BTW?' 'Oh, he's that person in FLM department...' Dhattt... Socha tha kya... Kya ho gaya.. 8-|
Now we meet a lot of those with the Himesh Reshamiya fetish... Like the one this week... I swear ajeeb tha banda... The first day, it was just I during the pickup... One day of HR maybe u can just about live through... Now the next day, Harsha asked him to play Radio Mirchi... No radio he says... Fine, doosra gaana lagao bhaiyya... Fast forward/Side change... Another Himesh Reshamiya song... Bhaiyya aisa gaana lagao jismein HR nahi ho I say... He changes the casette... Some atrocious oldies casette.. Now I like oldies as much as the next person, don't get me wrong... but the casette player was so bad, the songs sounded like a cheap remix... witout the beats... HEAVEN!!! and just as we reach the office gates, he applies the brakes and before we have even opened the doors, he has put back the HR casette and that at full blast... enough to cause permanant brain and ear damage... Wednesday a remix casette... and what are remixes these days without HR?... Thursday brought some kinda normal songs... Songs we normally hear on radio... Today, he had put on some awful marathi songs casette... where he unearths these casettes is beyond human imagination... the good news is next week there will be a different driver.
The cab driver this week for the drop was another category altogether... He was considerate in that when Sheeba and I ended up talking personal stuff, he increased the volume... Yesterday after dropping off Sheeba and Manish, we were just about to reach the main road when a new song came up 'Ye Ishq Haaye' from 'Jab we met'.. Now I had really fallen in love with this song when I had first heard it, so I asked him to up the volume, he had lowered it so that it was hardly audible(I know, unbelievable but true.. this guy slows down the car or stops the car at the side of the road when he gets a call and reduces the volume of the radio... though he has a penchant for speed and the ditches in the road, and if you are a Punekar, you ought to know, the situation is more like roads in the middle of ditches rather than the other way around and he drives real fast...) So when I ask him to increase the volume, he first fiddles a bit and increases the volume, he slows down and then stops completely, still fiddling, he changes the balance so that it comes up nice and loud right behind my ear from the right-side speakers... This takes 2 whole minutes and I am left wondering what devil had possessed me to ask him to increase the volume. I would rather have gone home and had dinner.. I was famished...
Then there are other categories of drivers... one of the first drivers I came across pretty much told me about his life.. his cars, his houses in Pune... another kept on bitching(does that word apply to guys?)... about the pick-ups, about the company FLM guys... everything... I mean I have observed that many people have the propensity to pour their hearts, feelings, miseries and joys out to me... Agony aunt.. maybe thats who I am... I sure don't mind that when it comes to friends and family; I mean thats what we are there for right? But I sure didn't want to listen to these people, I couldn't care less... I mean, the properties in Pune, the 4 cars and 5 drivers, how this week would be the last... It was more information than I could stomach thats for sure...
One of the most enjoyable drops was in one of the first 2-3 weeks... This guy drove soooooo beautifully, he drove at about 80, but I can honestly say I didn't feel one rut in the road nor did he step on the brakes and accelerator every other second making the ride feel like a jerky ferris wheel ride like some other drivers... On that friday, just before getting down, I bent forward and congratulated him on his wonderful driving skills...
Well with this week ending and next week indicating 2 new drivers for pick-up and drop, lets see what new category I end up meeting...
There was once this driver, on way to work. With a hands-free device in his ear, he has that stoic 'Matrix-like' expression on his face when he turns around to face me as we reach the next pick-up point and says,'Do you know she is XYZ's sister?' Heck, I don't know XYZ from Adam... Kya pata maybe some politician or famous builder or something... Aplya adnyanacha pradarshan ka karaycha? 'Oh, is it,' I ask him. A few weeks later another cab driver broached the same subject... Now this guy definitely didn't seem like he would throw me out if I asked... 'Who is XYZ BTW?' 'Oh, he's that person in FLM department...' Dhattt... Socha tha kya... Kya ho gaya.. 8-|
Now we meet a lot of those with the Himesh Reshamiya fetish... Like the one this week... I swear ajeeb tha banda... The first day, it was just I during the pickup... One day of HR maybe u can just about live through... Now the next day, Harsha asked him to play Radio Mirchi... No radio he says... Fine, doosra gaana lagao bhaiyya... Fast forward/Side change... Another Himesh Reshamiya song... Bhaiyya aisa gaana lagao jismein HR nahi ho I say... He changes the casette... Some atrocious oldies casette.. Now I like oldies as much as the next person, don't get me wrong... but the casette player was so bad, the songs sounded like a cheap remix... witout the beats... HEAVEN!!! and just as we reach the office gates, he applies the brakes and before we have even opened the doors, he has put back the HR casette and that at full blast... enough to cause permanant brain and ear damage... Wednesday a remix casette... and what are remixes these days without HR?... Thursday brought some kinda normal songs... Songs we normally hear on radio... Today, he had put on some awful marathi songs casette... where he unearths these casettes is beyond human imagination... the good news is next week there will be a different driver.
The cab driver this week for the drop was another category altogether... He was considerate in that when Sheeba and I ended up talking personal stuff, he increased the volume... Yesterday after dropping off Sheeba and Manish, we were just about to reach the main road when a new song came up 'Ye Ishq Haaye' from 'Jab we met'.. Now I had really fallen in love with this song when I had first heard it, so I asked him to up the volume, he had lowered it so that it was hardly audible(I know, unbelievable but true.. this guy slows down the car or stops the car at the side of the road when he gets a call and reduces the volume of the radio... though he has a penchant for speed and the ditches in the road, and if you are a Punekar, you ought to know, the situation is more like roads in the middle of ditches rather than the other way around and he drives real fast...) So when I ask him to increase the volume, he first fiddles a bit and increases the volume, he slows down and then stops completely, still fiddling, he changes the balance so that it comes up nice and loud right behind my ear from the right-side speakers... This takes 2 whole minutes and I am left wondering what devil had possessed me to ask him to increase the volume. I would rather have gone home and had dinner.. I was famished...
Then there are other categories of drivers... one of the first drivers I came across pretty much told me about his life.. his cars, his houses in Pune... another kept on bitching(does that word apply to guys?)... about the pick-ups, about the company FLM guys... everything... I mean I have observed that many people have the propensity to pour their hearts, feelings, miseries and joys out to me... Agony aunt.. maybe thats who I am... I sure don't mind that when it comes to friends and family; I mean thats what we are there for right? But I sure didn't want to listen to these people, I couldn't care less... I mean, the properties in Pune, the 4 cars and 5 drivers, how this week would be the last... It was more information than I could stomach thats for sure...
One of the most enjoyable drops was in one of the first 2-3 weeks... This guy drove soooooo beautifully, he drove at about 80, but I can honestly say I didn't feel one rut in the road nor did he step on the brakes and accelerator every other second making the ride feel like a jerky ferris wheel ride like some other drivers... On that friday, just before getting down, I bent forward and congratulated him on his wonderful driving skills...
Well with this week ending and next week indicating 2 new drivers for pick-up and drop, lets see what new category I end up meeting...
