Of Orkutian Fans and Tech Gimmicks

By Anonymous

A month or two ago, Parul Sharma found an Orkut fan who visited her profile every now and then. But this passive soul never wrote a scrap nor sent a teaser to her.

Parul, known as Miss No Malice for her humanitarian views, failed to guess who the mysterious fan was as his profile didn't give her any clues.

Flummoxed at reading this stranger's name in the list of visitors to her Orkut profile, the sassy Delhiite sought advice from a friend who had gone through a similar experience. This tech-savvy correspondent asked Parul to make some changes in her profile. And Voila! Henceforth the alien name never appeared in her visitors' list.

Analysis by our research bureau showed that after Parul made those changes, the number of her fans doubled and she got almost a hundred scraps praising her newly uploaded photo album.

Of Holidays and Nature's Oxymoron

Foreign Desk in-charge Vandana Ramnani recently took a well-deserved break from her usual work routine. She travelled via Uttarkashi to a little-known tourist spot called Raithal, 182 km from the holy city of Rishikesh.

And from what she had to say about the "awesome" trip, we can only imagine how fulfilling Vandana's tryst with Nature was.

The river Bhagirathi is so very pure and beautiful and as you come down and see the Tehri dam it gives you the sense of danger ahead. What if it would break. I'll call it nature's oxymoron. On the one hand you have beauty and on the other the sense of destruction which may befall... the magnitude of destruction.

Of Glad Tidings and Good Wishes

It's the time to make merry - the sheer number of weddings, infants and new jobs over the past few months has been mind-boggling.

Legal eagle Krishnadas Rajagopal tied the knot with The Hindu lass Anima Balakrishnan. Another legal eagle R Balaji has also reportedly taken the plunge into married life. Setuka Mahajan will do so with a Bangalore-based engineer early next month. Also waiting in line are Hanit Kaur and Ratul Ray Chaudhuri. And I suppose you already know about Manash Pratim Bhuyan.

There were resignations galore too. Shambhu Jha took off for Aajtak. Sovi Vidyadharan found greener pastures in NDTV while Ratul did so in Reuters, Bangalore. Liji Ravindran's taken time off for research even as Prasant Kumar Sahoo and Shohini tried their luck in the pink papers. Ashutosh Joshi left for Business Standard, Mumbai.

On the plus side, there are plenty of interesting newbies too - including News Editor Rezaul Laskar's wife who joined the Desk recently. And the interesting case of Sumit Upadhyaya who gave up life as a reporter for the rewards of the Business Desk. And of course all our friends who were enjoying themselves abroad - Achinta Borah is back from France while Manoj C G and Sukanya Mohapatra just returned from assignments in Singapore.

And as for the storks who came visiting, it seems girls were more in demand this time around. Alok Sharma was blessed with a daughter (Jhanvi), Kiran with P... (she's reportedly mulling over names beginning with P) and Richa with ??? (Yep, her little one hasn't been named yet) And we hear Jitesh Wadhawan's infant son Kabir is looking more and more like him. So, don't be too surprised if he grows up to be a journalist.

Anyhow, we offer everyone (and others whose names were inadvertently missed) our heartiest congratulations.

Update 1 Parul Sharma's gone right ahead and joined The Hindu. And as for Kiran's newborn - the two-month old has been named Paridhi

Of Good Samaritans and Mobile Phones

Chandigarh damsel Misha Pillai has quite a reputation of being a Good Samaritan. But even Misha was taken aback by what two youths in this bustling Punjabi metropoils did for her.

Our story begins with hubby Jasbir presenting Misha with a swanky new mobile phone. On November 3, Misha was commuting to office in a rickshaw - yapping away to glory to her dear husband.

Suddenly, two guys on a motorcycle slowed down near the rickshaw, snatched the phone from her and zipped away leaving behind a tearful and shocked Misha. Two other youths (also on a bike) witnessed the incident and sped off in pursuit.

As for Misha, she informed the police but was told there was little hope of getting it back since she could not provide any details on the phone-snatchers.

Back at her office, she found two youths waiting for her. Wonder of wonders, they had her phone with them. It turned out that the youths had followed the snatchers to another city, had an altercation (one of them sported a black eye), got the handset back and searched the phone's contact list to get in touch with Misha.

Well, Misha dubbed them Good Samaritans but we prefer to stick to this 20th-century idiom - What goes around comes around.

Of the TV Journo and the Sea

Zee Business anchor Mriganka Dadwal got her first glimpse of the sea recently. It seems Miss Dadwal was covering a fashion shoot in Pondicherry and was returning to her quarters when she spied the blue waters of the Bay of Bengal. She screamed so loudly that the driver of the car is said to have lost his hearing.

Anyhow, the poor guy immediately applied the brakes and watched as Miss Dadwal ran down to the water's edge and started splashing around in obvious delight. Well, we all know how much fun being on the beach is. After all, it was Mriganka's first tryst with the sea. We wish her many more such wondrous experiences.

Of Humble Pie and Mention Nots

The 2006 Osian's Cinefan film festival had drawn to a close with the screening of the Iranian film Offside and anchor Rajit Kapoor heaved a sigh of relief. As he left the stage, he spotted a woman running towards him with notepad in hand.

"Ah! A journalist," Kapoor smiled and awaited her arrival, rehearsing a few stock quotes for reproduction in the next day's newspaper.

"Excuse me! Can you tell me where the film's scriptwriter is?" came the breathless query from the reporter.


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His face ashen but hiding all traces of emotion, the star of Byomkesh Bakshi and The Making of the Mahatma pointed into the crowd. "There he is!" he mouthed in despair.

"Thanks!" said Sheelpa Kothari - hurrying away in her quest for a tete-a-tete with the writer of Offside.

"Mention not," replied Kapoor in a voice barely audible to bystanders, as he thumped his chest with a clenched fist - all prospects of an interview fading away into oblivion.

Of Mumbai blasts and narrow escapes

The Indian Express has been regularly carrying accounts of people who lost their lives in the recent Mumbai blasts. But what of our Mumbai-based colleagues who regularly travel by the local trains? Fortunately, not one of them was on the ill-fated trains. But it was a narrow escape for many. Here in their own words, our friends recount the evening of July 11, 2006.

Ashutosh Joshi

We were in the office on Terror Tuesday. I was supposed to attend an Air India press conference that evening. But I refused to do so. The person who went for it witnessed the blast at Mahim station. He was at the platform when the blast took place. Thankfully he did not suffer any injury.

Ambika Pendharkar

Was at home in Pune during the blasts. Sangeetha called me up when she heard the news on TV. We were desperately trying to locate a cousin in Mumbai who didn't reach home on time and could not be contacted on mobile. As for Zeeshan, he escaped death by a whisker. He had actually got down at one of the affected stations at 6.15 pm.

Kapil Kelkar

I was in the office and had just returned from the High Court. We first heard about the blasts when one of our clerks called from Mira Road station to tell us that there had been a explosion in the compartment next to the one he was travelling in. All the blasts happened on the route I use daily.

Shilpa Jamkhandikar

I was in office doing another mundane story when the blasts happened. Our Regional Manager Subimal Choudhary got a call from one of our staffers saying there was an "accident" in his train at Mira Road and he could see dead bodies everywhere. We decided to run a flash. Just as I was transmitting the story came another call from another staffer about another blast. After that it was mayhem. I don't remember much except stories, images on TV and numbness.

Abhijeet Kulkarni

I was having tea at the corner of my office. It is just a road away from the Mahim railway station. My colleague and I rushed there when we heard the blast.

Ashish Agashe

I was in the Delhi office then - looking at the ticker and the news channels as the number of dead (and the blasts) was shooting up. My mobile battery dried up due to unsuccessful attempts at reaching my dear ones back home in Mumbai.

Several months have passed since the fateful blasts. But life goes on for our colleagues and they continue travelling by the local trains. Ambika tells us that Zeeshan reported extensively on the recent Malegaon blasts and his work was much appreciated. In fact, he is now part of the HT bureau for Nashik and nearby areas.

As for Ambika herself, she gave up trains for good and switched to zipping around Pune streets in her brand new silver Honda Activa. To be honest, she did crash into an innocent schoolboy who wandered into her path but the kid escaped with minor bruises. Ambika stopped venturing out on the roads for a few days after the incident but it didn't deter her from driving. We are happy to report that the Maharashtrian lass and her Activa are now back on the streets of Pune.

Of Delayed Posts and New Podcasts

Yes, its been ages since this blog was updated but I promise to put up lots of new stuff by the end of this month. Until then, I am busy converting the archives into podcast format.

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Of Police Vans and Shaken Reporters

Dharna reporting can be quite a hair-raising experience. And David Lalmalsawma would certainly agree.

The dude was covering a Narmada Bachao Andolan protest march in the national capital when the cops arrived and started bundling agitators into the police van. Medha Patkar went in first followed by a couple of her supporters and then it was poor David's turn.

Paying no heed to the emphatic declaration that he was a mediaperson and not interested in getting arrested for the noble cause, one policeman pushed David into the van.

Things might have gotten worse but at this point our dude flashed his office I-card and thrust it into the cop's face. The 'Press' tag worked and the officer let David go.

The police van left with Patkar, supporters and all - leaving behind one-hell-of-a-shaken reporter.

Of Interrupted Naps and Media Guys

The Rahul Mahajan case was a nightmare for Abgeoth Varghese. What with the media frenzy at Apollo, our guy spent several exhausting days outside the hospital on the vigil for news about the Junior Mahajan's health.

One fine day, the overworked reporter succumbed to sleep on a comfy bench outside the hospital. And was woken up by a hospital staffer -

"Hey, this is not the place to sleep. Let the media guys do their work here. You go find some other place to sleep"

Poor Abgeoth had to fish out his office I-card to convince the Apollo staffer he wasn't a tramp.

And what of the adage that birds of a flock stick together. Instead of sympathising with Abgeoth, the other media guys stood there suppressing giggles. Can't blame them either - the endless hours spent waiting for a quote must have been punishment enough.

Of Old Colleagues with New TV Shows

After successfully completing over 300 episodes of the hit series Ab Aayega Mazaa, Zee Business anchor Mriganka Dadwal has been rewarded with a prime time slot.

The lifestyle correspondent is certainly going places and we wonder if she even remembers her former colleagues. Especially now that she's been seen with some top-notch celebrities. But we are not at liberty to reveal more. Don't worry Mrigs, our lips are sealed.

In the meantime, you can catch the IIT Kanpur lass unwind with the glitterati on Metro Masala at 8.30 pm on weekdays and Aisa Bhi Hota Hai at 2 pm on Sundays.

Of Wild Horses and Orissa Fans

Nothing but wild horses could drag Sukanya Mohapatra out of Dilli Haat on Orissa Day.

The Bhubaneswar lass was mesmerised by all things Orissan. Be it palm leaf and tassar paintings, stone and wood carvings, handloom products, sand sculptures or the Pattachitra painting technique, Sukanya spent the better part of a day marvelling at products and cuisines from her home state.

And when the Gotipua dancers came out in traditional finery amid the ubiquitous pipli lanterns, Sukanya stared at them as if she longed to join them on stage. But she didn't. Perhaps it was the imposing presence of Cabinet minister Renuka Choudhary that deterred her. No matter, there's always next year.

Of Malaika Arora and Licence Trouble

It's not that Malaika Arora isn't a gorgeous babe and Indian men don't drool over her. But apni Malvika still hates being called by that moniker. And pray, what is the reason for this confusion?

Apparently, Malvika's driving licence mentions her name wrongly as Malaika - an error she hasn't been able to rectify despite several trips to the local traffic office.

And she's not amused by people referring to her as Malaika. Try it and see - at your own risk, of course.

Of Impromptu Alumni Meets and Seekh Kebabs

Debjit's daughter's annaprasadam ceremony in June turned out to be a sort of alumni meet.

Sure enough his relatives and family friends outnumbered us but it was a pleasure bumping into our former colleagues - Vandana Lalchandani, Mayank Bhardwaj and K Dinkar. Our office was represented by Aparna Nair, Malvika Bhatnagar and yours truly.

We reminisced over old times while munching on chicken legs and seekh kebabs at the impressive Flying Club near Safdarjung airport.

Sreejoni, in whose honour the entire ceremony had been organised, looked a trifle uncomfortable at being subjected to such torture.

But the veritable spread of dishes on the buffet table soon drew everybody's attention. And what a feast it was. We do hope Debjit invites us for his daughter's first birthday.

Of Wannabe Cooks and Expert Chefs

Wondering what Setuka Mahajan is up to these days? We'll let you in on a secret. She's learning how to cook. Not to find her way to a man's heart or impress prospective in-laws. She just wants to cook for herself.

So whenever she's free, Setuka runs off to her masi's place for practical lessons on whipping up lunch. The tips come in really handy when she's alone at home and hungry to boot.

And now that we have exposed her little secret, please feel free to blackmail her into cooking something for you.

Also ruling the cookery sweepstakes is Neha Bhatnagar who reportedly cooks the most delicious food on the planet. Colleagues swear by her sabzi and wait with bated breath for her to reveal her 'tiffin' delights.

Of Deceptive Smiles and Miming Skills

Beware of Sarvottam. People who think he's just a sweet, innocent guy with a friendly smile are making a big mistake.

Behind that grin lurks a talented mime artist who can drive people crazy with his antics.

In fact, the monotony of back-to-back classes at IIMC Dhenkanal had been broken by impromptu mime performances by Sarvottam.

A special favourite of his was the story of a student who fails his exams and commits suicide. Sources reveal there was nary a dry eye in the audience by the time Sarvottam wrapped up his Oscar-winning rendition.

Well, we think our office also needs some mime artists to pep things up and Sarvottam would be perfect to play the harried journalist.

Of Bangalore Trips and Driving with Devraj

Swaty will never go the Driving Miss Daisy way. The Bihari lass has just returned from a family trip to Bangalore, where she spent time learning to drive.

For five days, Swaty honed her skills on the road, taking help from a certain Mr Devraj, who we are told made her sing 'We shall overcome' every time they set out.

Devraj was eager to show Swaty the sights of the city and encouraged her to forget the clutch and enjoy her surroundings. So much so that Swaty turned the steering wheel left and right and then left again before realising Devraj had made her scoop out a perfect 8 on the sand track.

Even hubby Manas says he's impressed by Swaty's driving skills. And we think Devraj deserves a Hot Chocolate Fudge. Wotsay?

Of Secret Weddings and Angry Colleagues

We never knew Prashant would do the vanishing act and come back to office a married man.

His wedding to Bhagyalakshmi in Bhubaneswar last month was an event few in New Delhi were aware of.

The Banking Correspondent had no explanation to offer except the very lame one that he didn't have enough time to inform his colleagues.

But we decided to give Prashant the benefit of doubt and listened attentively to his sob story.

According to the Orissa dude, it was so hot in the state capital that he got boils on the inside of his lips, which he says accounts for his silence on D-day. We, however, suspect Prashant was struck dumb by his bride's beauty.

His ordeal was made tougher still because of a community tradition that the bride and groom should not eat anything on the wedding day. Which meant Prashant, and of course Bhagyalakshmi, had to survive on water.

The marriage itself was pretty low-profile. Prashant says it would have been attended by more of our office chaps in Bhubaneswar had not the Budhia controversy chosen to rear its ugly head just as Prashant was getting hitched.

And what does Bhagyalakshmi do? Prashant is loath to give any details but he did let loose this info - She is doing her Masters in Sociology.

Well, although we haven't actually forgiven Prashant for not telling us in advance, we wish the newly-wed couple the very best for their life ahead.

Of Hindi Guides and Visible Hickeys

For people hailing from the North East, adapting to life in the Hindi belt is no easy task. And David Lalmalsawma is no exception.

The trauma of tackling invective-spewing bus conductors and paan-chewing vegetable vendors has sent him rushing to a Hindi-speaking guide for help.

Yes, David carries around this book with him wherever he goes. He's assiduously learning the North Indian tongue and it has already started showing results.

TV Monitoring sessions, usually fraught with nondescript monologues of political bigwigs like Lalu, no longer give him nightmares.

And if you spot a hickey - that mark of amorous kissing - on his neck, don't you dare ask him anything. Coz it's likely to make him blush from head to toe.

Of Advertising Dudes and Umbrella Pics

We found it surprising that Setuka Mahajan was unfazed by "uncle" Pramod's 12-day battle for life at Mumbai's Hinduja hospital, but was devastated by the untimely death of the dude who created the Hutch You and I ad.

Indeed, Setuka is an ardent fan of stalwarts in the field of advertising. But what of her recent 'Page 3' appearance in The Hindu?

It seems an enterprising photojournalist captured on his lens the image of Miss Mahajan wielding an umbrella to protect herself from the summer sun. And it was good publicity for us too, considering the office notepad was clearly visible in Setuka's hands.