The Ex Roomie...

I reckon you already know who am i talking about.... it's Deepesh Shah.... उर्फ Chheda.. now in VJTI I kept my distance with this guy... may be even he kept his.. but the destiny had some other plans in mind ... at first when he told me the story behind his name "Chheda" , obviously i did not believe him.. that's one of his qualities...people just don't have the ability to determine the truth in his words... specially when he is serious....

when you meet this guy ... his hairs lurking out of his shirt will greet you first... i mean if ever Anil kapoor needed a skinny body double... this is the man for the job... and may be that is why people call him "Baalu... "

This guy can also be called a "Psuedo Gujju".. Most of the time I heard Gujjus in the local train compartment... if 2 of them meet, they'll bombard each other with the words like "Interest.. byaaj.... takka... capital..." and as neighbor you have to take most of the heat from that bombardment... like all Indians can make out Punjabi.... most of Mumbaikars can make out Gujarati and of course Marathi... and always the gist of the above conversation is money... I survived such occasions most of the times but the precious half an hour's sleep which we mumbaikar crave for in the local train's compartment is already lost.... and here i met a gujju (I even doubted that at first).... who does most of his talking in Hindi... and almost never said above mentioned words... and may be he was one of the first guys who called me "Aap".... and i was like "WTF?? Do i really look that old?? A little less hairs does not mean i am in the "Aap wala" category...

before coming to Pune i heard so many things about chheda.... "The master of triangle conversation with swapnil" and the "Best interpreter of the language gooda" are just few of his early achievements... But soon his popularity saw new heights when he was awarded with the title "Kamina" by the god himself ... even vishal bhardwaj was tempted to make a movie on such a title....

So when i came to pune i saw his hidden passion to bargain was surfacing with every broker he met... though he seldom talks about those 14 days ... I believe he lived his life in those 14 days.... here i found Deepes bhai in his fullest form and trying his bestest to get us a room... chheda has this knack of gifting the new words and phrases to the language.... Bestest is one of such words... Well i can say chheda can write his own dictionary....

whenever someone mentions chheda.... he cannot refrain from talking about gooda.... even the superhero needs a supervillain likewise gooda had his share with chheda... but in this case chheda seems to be hiding kryptonite underneath his hairy body.... what else can be the explanation of god's defeat.... their early conversations were extremely fruitful to the Hindi language... so many idioms were produced during the intercourse between the two.. and the conversation ended with "Chheda kamina hai..." it was always chheda who had the last laugh.... Waisebhi Jahan AP khatam hota hai wahan Gujarat shuru hota hai.....

Chheada's affection towards the south-indian states... it started with shiv... it florished with gooda and it saw the peak when he met praveen kumar V... Now praveen is one of the guys who'll never believe what chheda has to say.... even in chheda's farewell party he was not convinced.... and the problem with chheda is that he understands south indians very well but may never be able to convince them....

Photo which Jeetu bought for his collection

This is the guys who takes share market very very seriously... We know what not to buy when chheda does the share shopping... though he looses most of his money in the share market he never quits it.... that "never say quit" attitude is not only limited to the share market.... but he even shows that quality in some other areas... sometimes for 100 $.... madness of course but only chheda has the guts to do it... and sometimes due to this attitude , you can even find him sleeping in between the door and his bed.... sometimes while asking the names of the girls even to their mothers... and sometimes eating papad from a total strangers plate... he tried to keep that attitude even in amdocs but while working behind the enemy lines of C, he could not keep up with his own attitude... Still i'll say this is one attitude which'll make him successful in future (Just trying my best to be good...)


Listening is one of his hobbies.... he listens to whatever is there in his hearing range... with a playlist which never ends... he is always listening something.... When i felt frustrated about a whole lots of things... he was always there to listen (again just trying to maintain the goodie goodie)... and when he stops listening... the critic in him is awaken.... and then you'll never have any diplomatic replies... you just have to face the wrath of a critic... after listening to each of the roomies he motivated everyone enough to quit the company before him but all his efforts were in vain .... and then suddenly he left.... just like that.... whatever i thought of doing for over 3 years... this guy did it...

Drinks usually bring out the true feelings which are burried in the bottom of the hearts... and therefore the applause and the salutes Chheda got on his farewell cannot be forgotten... Chheda... a vegetarian who survived with a bunch of pure non-veggies just cannot be forgotten.... (This is my bestest effort to write good for him... hope he does not forget it and keeps a place for me in his company once he is a successful entrepreneur....)

पुणे

पुणे... खरं तर ह्या विषयावर खूप काही लिहिलं गेलं आहे पण तरीही मी माझा वेळ ह्या विषयावर आज वाया घालवावा म्हणतो... पुण्यावर लिहायचं म्हणजे मराठीतूनच लिहावं लागणार म्हणून आज खास सवड काढूनच लियहायला बसलो आहे आणि जर तुम्हाला काही पुलंशी साम्य आढळलं तर माफ करा कारण पुण्याविषयी कितीही लिहिला तरी पाया पुलंचाच राहणार.

तर तब्बल ३ वर्षांपूर्वी इथे यायचा नक्की झालं.. तरी आमची फॅमिली पक्की मुंबईकर आणि त्यात वर मालवणी असल्याने अगदीच पुण्याच्या विरोधात... "काय करायचे आहे पुण्याला जाऊन, मुंबईत नोकर्‍या काय संपल्या काय रे" पासून "घरच्यांचं ऐकेलं तर तो सिद्धेश कसला?? " पर्यंत ऐकूनच मे पुण्याला निघालो.... पुण्यात जायचं असल्याने मराठीचा व्यासंग वाढावा म्हणून पूल आणि चिवीं सारख्यांची अनुभवाची शिदोरी घरी आणली... आणि थियरीचा अभ्यास पूर्ण झालयावर आम्ही प्रॅक्टिकल कराव म्हणून पुण्याला निघालो....

तसं पाहायला गेलं तर माझ्यासारखीच इतरांनीही मराठीची तयारी केली होती.... पाटेसारख्यांचा सहवास लाभल्याने गुडा तर आधीपासूनच तयार होता... पण कधी कधी ध चा मा जरी करता आला नाही तरी ध चा द पासून ढ पर्यंत कुठेही पोचल्याने पुण्यात त्याचा निभाव तसा अशक्यच होता... छेडाला मराठी जरी समजत असली तरी त्याच्या बाइकप्रमाणे मराठीही त्याला कधीच बोलायला जमणार नाही बहुतेक... एकच सर्वांना पुरून उरु शकणारा होता तो रीदवान होता... मराठीतून प्रश्नावर तितक्याच खुबीने कोकनीतून उत्तर दिल्यावर समोरचा स्वतःच हिंदीतून बोलायला सुरूवात करत...

पुण्यात पोचाल्यावर आमची पहिली गाठ पडली ती रिक्षावाल्याशी... तसा आम्ही पोचल्यावर गुडा पुर्णं तयारीताच होता पण आम्ही मराठीत बोलायला सुरूवात केल्यावर रिक्षावाल्याने ईंग्लिशमध्ये बोलून एकाच बॉलवर आमच्या दोघांची विकेट घेतली.... आता बॉलच्या एवजी जर उद्या कोणी हातबॉम्ब टाकला तर पुर्णं टीम गारद झळ्यास नवल ते काय.... आणि पुण्याच्या रिक्षावाल्यांबद्दल पुलंनिही काही न लिहील्याने आमची थियरीही फेलच गेली...त्यामुळे पुढे ह्या सब्जेक्टमधे आम्हाला आमच्या निरीक्षणांवरच अवलंबुन रहाव लागलं... बहुधा सर्व रिक्षांचे मीटर एकाच वेळी कसे काय बंद पडतात हे प्रत्यक्ष ब्रम्हदेवालाही एक कोडच असावं..... हा पुणेरी एकदा रात्री एकटा घरी जाईल पण ५ रुपये कमी करणार नाही.... कधी कधी नको त्या विषयांवर खूप वेळ हा बोलू शकतो आणि वर त्या वायफळ उपदेशाचे पैसे जोडायला मात्र तो विसरत नाही..... आणि हो मुंबईकरांचा भाड्याविषयीचा आचरटपणा त्याला बिलकुल चालत नाही.... पाऊस पडल्यावर तर तो मुंबईकरांना (मीटर बंदच ठेऊन) सांगायला विसरत नाही ही असा पाऊस मुंबईत तरी पडतो काय... अरे मुंबईसारखा पाऊस जर इथे पडला तर तुला बहुतेक बोटच चालवावी लागेल .... हे आपलं आम्ही मनातच म्हणतो कारण भर पावसात रिक्षावाल्याशी पंगा कोण घेईल...

तशी पुण्याला ऐतिहासिकतेची काहीच कमी नाही पण तीच ऐतिहासिकता लोक जेव्हा लोक विसरत नाहीत तेंव्हा सर्वात जास्त प्रॉब्लेम ट्रॅफिक मधे होतो... पुलंच्या पुण्यात लोक साइकल तलवारीसारखी चालवत होता तर तेच लोक आता बाजीप्रभूच्या आवेषात बाइक चालवताना दिसतात... आणि नखशिखांत झाकलेल्या राणी लक्ष्मीबाई तर रोज दर्शन देतच असतात.... आणि ह्या सर्वा गोंधळात रिक्षावाले घोडदळाच्या जोशात जेंव्हा गाडी हाकतात तेव्हा एरवी मुंबईत शनिसारखा वाटणारा ट्रॅफिक पोलीस इथे देवसारखा भासु लागतो... पण शीटीसारखा निश्प्रभ अस्त्रं हाती लागल्याने हताशपणे बघण्याशिवाय तोही बिचारा काहीच करू शकत नाही....

ह्यात सर्वात स्वतंत्र अस्तीव कोणाचे असेल तर ते पुण्याच्या दुकानदाराचे... पुण्याच्या दुकानदारांबद्दल आजपर्यंत बरेच नाही लिहिलं गेलं आहे तरीही अजुन खूप काही गोष्टी कवर करायच्या राहून गेल्या आहेत... जसे की पुणेरी पाट्या... पुण्याच्या दुकानदारांचा मराठी भाषेचा अभ्यास तर आपल्या परिचयाचा आहेच पण तरीही तोंडावर अपमान करण्यासाठी हजरजबाबीपणा असावा लातो आणि ह्यावर तोड म्हणून पुण्याच्या लोकांनी दुकानासमोर खास लोकांच्या अपमानाच्या पाट्या लावायला सुरू केल्या... बहुतेक त्या न लावल्यास तो फाउल पकडला जात असावा... कारण अगदीच काही नाही तर लोकांनी "आमची कोठेही शाखा नाही" अशा पाट्या लावायला सुरूवात केली... एका ठिकाणी तर त्या मजकुराच्या पुढे कॉपीराइटचे सिंबलही लावलेले मे बघितले आहे... आणि ह्यामुळेच पुण्याला World's funniest city म्हणत असावेत ... funniest च माहीत नाही पण पुणे weirdest तर नक्कीच होऊ शकते....

माझ्यासारख्या मालवणी माणसाचे माश्यांचे दुःख पुण्यातल्या लोकांना काय समजणार... जिथे आमच्यासाठी एक पूर्ण आहारशास्त्र तयार होतं तिथे पुण्यात फिश् ह्या एका शब्दात त्याची अवहेलना होते... एक तर इथे ताजा मासा हा २-३ दिवसांपूर्वीचा असतो... दुसरं फिश् तंदूर मधे टाकायची ह्यांची सवय कधीच जात नाही... आणि एवढं केल्यावर बोनलेस म्हणून माश्याचे काटे काढायची पद्धत तर मालवणी माणसाच्या गळी कधीच उतरत नाही... किंबहुना २-३ काटे गळ्यात अडकल्याशिवाय तृप्ततेचा ढेकर आमच्या नशिबी नाही हे पुणेरी लोकांना पचतच नाही... एवढा असूनही मी पुण्यात मासे खायचा आटोकाट प्रयत्न केला पण शेवटी एकदा ताज्या माशांच्या नावाखाली सुकट खाऊन मला हा नाद शेवटी सोडावाच लागला...

पुण्याच्या विक्षिप्तपणाबद्दल जेंव्हा मी पुणेकरांशी बोलायचा प्रयत्न केला तेंव्हा "काय राव, फक्त जुने लोकच विक्षिप्त आहेत" आणि जुन्या जाणत्यांच्या मते "नमुने फक्त सदाशीवपेठेतच आढळतात" अजुन मला सदाशिवपेठेतला जाणता माणूस भेटायाचा आहे... त्याच्या मते बहुतेक मी मुंबईकरच विक्षिप्त असावा...

आजकाल मात्र मला वाटतं पुण्याबाहेरच्या लोकांनी ह्या पुणेरीपणाविरोधात कारस्थान रचलं असावं... ह्यामुळे एकंदरीत पुण्याची संस्कृतीच धोक्यात आली आहे.... आजकाल टूरिस्ट वॅनच्या धाकाने रिक्षावले चक्क मीटरवर यायला तयार होतात तर तिथे ट्रॅफिक पोलिसांनी पण नवीन आलेल्या कार जमतीला जरा धाकात घ्यायला सुरूवात केली आहे.. तर कुत्र्याच्या छत्रीप्रमाणे उगवलेल्या मॉल्समुळे पाटी संस्कृती धोक्यात आली आहे... हे असच जर चालू राहिला तर ही पुणेरी संस्कृती टिकणार तरी कशी... तेंव्हा पुलंच पुणे जर टिकवायचं असेल तर पुणेकरला नक्कीच कंबर कसावी लागणार आहे.....

The power of 7

It all began from Jeetu's office in VJTI..... Finally we had the joining date... 20th Aug 2007 was the date... List was confirmed and we 7 were about join Amdocs India from VJTIMCA 07.... and after that what people did with the list is an another story...

I always thought the class @ VJTI was the weirdest possible combination of people and a subset of 7 cant get any better... but little that i knew was that when acquaintance is turned into the friendship.... it creates an awesome flavour....

So on the 19th Aug the fate was sealed.... we found ourselves on the way to pune... We knew each other very well but we all belonged to different regions of the class.... Everyone had their own characteristics... but the only thing we had common was madness....Everyone had their own share.... meanwhile we have stayed so close to each other that now we can feel that the characteristics are overlapping these days....

Starting with the honeymoon period @ amdocs when everyone lived in the dreamland.... we were fast and furious... We wrote Shayaries, poems and gave presentations :P ..... and those who could not write, simply added the commercials in the mail chains.... We even had the lunchtime agendas of "how to kill sid?" when all 7 together had lunch together and even though it was about to kill me... that's a thing I've missed for many days and in future will surely miss it.....

Just like the dreamlands were shattered... The amount of exuberance with which the company was joined.... equal and opposite was experienced by most of us just after an year.... but as no one wanted to take the lead.... and the bond prevailed...

And how can if forget all the madness.... how can i forget all the parties, picnics and our knack of discussing the world in official mails and technical discussions during our leisure time... We had our differences, we fought, we had our silences but we've got over it... and that i think makes this group special.....

Meanwhile we even tried to create a T shirt for the grp but the even after the successful design we could not bring that T shirt in reality... So the lesson learned "Project is not over till it goes into production...."



and here is something mitul wrote for the grp


One would be the greatest but still lonely,
Two would be a couple but it would still ignore the rest,
Three was never a company,
Four will never be company,
Five would always be on a high,
And Six would still need another taste,
We are 7 Names, 7 colours, 7 Flavours!

Each with highs, each with issues,
Each different, but incomplete by themselves,
Blends well but each has its presence,
Not too sweet, Not too sour, Not too spicy, nor too bland,
A perfect taste, each in its right quantity,
We are 7 Names, 7 colours and 7 flavours...

We are The 7..... We did not do anything extraordinary but still we enjoyed the time together and will separate in future and that is why cant help it to feel nostalgic about it but one thig is for sure.... we'll remain friends... friends for life....

A small Dedication To Siddhesh

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