Your questions answered - Lurker

[Lurker]

First up thanks to everyone who asked questions. I thank you guys not only for taking the time but also because some of your questions set me thinking and also brought back some nice memories. Okay so now to questions: Varun asked ----------------------- 1) How many hours do you spend on ICF daily. I'd say about 2-3 hours on weekdays, not so much over weekends. At work I generally have ICF window open that I keep chiming into depending on my workload. 2) You're heavy in to bodybuilding yeah ? When did you start and what inspired you ? NDA exams, thats what started it. My first aim was to become an Air Force Pilot and to do so you had to qualify NDA. I probably started when I was 13 or so trying to become as much fit as I possibly could. I remember how big steel buckets filled with sand acted as my "dumbbells" while thick wooden logs(the kind used for construction) acted as shoulder press barbell. Did a lot of pull-ups and push-ups too. Cardio was limited to summer when I did about 15-20 km cycling everyday. It brought some good results and more importantly I liked it, so been doing it off and on ever since. Ah and I did qualify the NDA. 3) If given a chance to see India win the Test series against Australia live at the MCG vs. having one night with the girl of your dreams, which one would it be. With my girl of course. Maybe with Enigma or Rammstein playing in the background. The thing is I like cricket, even love it but it does not rank too high on my priority list of things, people(and life) do. 4) Coke or Lassi ? Lassi. The Benaras kind where they have this huge never-ending glass(they call it Amritsari lassi) Kabira asked --------------------------- 1) Whats your advice for someone who wants to lose weight? How can you exercise daily? My advice for someone to lose weight would be first and foremost to be positive about it. The thing is that people approach exercise as a means to lose weight, which in itself becomes a negative approach. Instead look at exercise as how it shall improve your health, how it shall boost your confidence, how it shall enable you to pass on better genes to your kids, how it shall make you look so much in shape, how it shall send your sex life thru the roof! Frankly whats there not to like about it? But if you approach it as a chore you would lose interest after a while. It is like putting a kid into school when he doesnt want to go there, vis a vis someone who actually wants to study. To exercise daily you need to take out 20-30 minutes everyday. This is time you shall give to YOURSELF. It can be as small as a brisk walk in the beginning followed by light jog. After a few months you can do some free-hand exercise like push-ups. Try to do this on an empty stomach. Also watch what you eat. Cut out sugars, juice, fat. Take small meals and feast on vegetables. If you would want I can make a health plan for you Kabira. 2) where did you get your nick? Actually I was just lurking around the web when I ran into ICF, hence the (nick)name. 3) Who do you hate more, Bheema or Dada_rocks? Hahaha no I dont hate either of them. Obviously their thoughts are more often than not completely at odds with mine but I am sure they have their reasons just as I have mine. 4) how many hours do you read daily? Not as much as I would like to really. Still on an average I finish 2-3 books every month or so. probably an hour every day. KR asked -------------------------- 1. How often do you hike . Was this a hobby you pursued in India as well ? I probably hike 3-4 times a year, generally in summer. This is strictly a habit that I picked in USA. More so in Arkansas which has some of the best hiking areas in USA. 2. What are the cities you have stayed for more than a month in USA? In order of first to current: Washington DC Albany(NY) Battle Creek(MI) Milwaukee Chicago Little Rock San Francisco Houston Dallas Morenci(AZ) Phoenix 3. Which according to you is the best city where in you would like to settle down be it USA or India ? Gaya. Simple place, simple town. My home is about 2 km from Railway Station but if you got down, came out of the platform and asked some of the paanwaalahs outside about my Dad they will tell you right away. Why would I leave that & move to any other city? Plus of course Gaya has history and culture as vivid as any town I know of. 4. Are you planning to move into SAP ? Hahaha you may not have realized how right you were when you asked this question. See KR one of my skills is Business Intelligence, specially using Business Objects tool. As you may perhaps be aware that BO has been acquired by SAP this week which means it is only natural that SAP and BO technology shall merge someplace. I would like to take a dip in SAP world and see how I like it. 5. How long you think you can survive without Non Veg ? I can survive as long as I want to really. I am quite disciplined that way, if I walk away from it I wouldnt have it again. 6. Favorite Beer is ? I dont drink KR but I do like sitting with drunk friends 7. Enigma or AR Rehman ? Between the two I shall take Engima. AR Rehman is obviously a genius but Engima does something to me that borders on drug impact I suppose. 8. Your Idea of Nirvana ? The pump that I experience right after finishing a gruelling leg squatting session. The feeling of a warm body as it engulfs mine as light goes out. Sitting on the edge of a mountain on the bonnett of my car as a soft Hindi song plays in the background. Sriram asked ------------------------------ 1) Best childhood memory ? Coming home from school with my siblings. My elder brother and me held the hands of our kid sister on each side as we walked home. There is also this summer time memory when my parents and us kids slept on the terrace. The electricity would keep going out for long hours so we decided to just move the mattresses out on the terrace. The way it was done was me and my brother would chug of buckets of water and cool down the terrace in the evening, the mattress were spread out, mosquitoes net put in place in. My Dad has this knack of picking the absolute best station on radio and so we would talk, watch the stars, listen to the song and then fall asleep. Pure unadulterated fun. Come to think of it, its been ages since I saw the stars *sigh*. 2) What do you like most about the place in which you grew in ? What we call in Hindi as Apnapan, a sense of belonging. When I go home these days our washerwoman when she comes to know I have arrived will drop all her customers, comes to my house and just sits in the corner watching me for a few minutes. I have never understood it but I suppose I never will. She then takes all my dirty clothes and gets it done overnight as best to her ability. No wonder growing up I was lost atleast 3 times but every time someone identified me and brought me home! 3) Funniest college moment ? Would probably be the time me and my friend from Assam played a prank on this girl from Tripura. She was a terrific singer and absolutely gorgeous so obviously was popular. And for some reason she had a thought that both me and my friend were after her. So anyway there was this whole Annual Day function where she was singing. After the song was done she was supposed to pick a note thanking teachers etc for the past year, but we had that note switched to be a love-note. Only it was all crazily assembled, every second line completely opposite to other(in a funny way). I have forgotten it but it went something like this - The very first time I saw you I fell in love, but the very next day I fell out of love..It went on for about 2 minutes or so and it brought the house down, she was laughing her butt off at the stage and looking directly as us..guilty as charged. Good times. 4) Favorite holiday destination ? I dont think I have any in particular really. As boring as it may sound I am actually one of those who likes the travel and not the destinantion. 5) Happiest moment so far in life ? Ha, this was when my sister won the Scholarship to Oxford. It was as much due to the fact that it was obviously a very tough exam but also the sheer timing was priceless. I had just about finished my Engineering and was into my job, my elder brother was in his final year as Doctor(MD) and getting job offers. So pretty much us kids were on our feet so to speak. I remember my Dad's face when he heard the news, he just sat down on the sofa, looked at my Mom, smiled and said - I am proud of my kids. It had taken them both a lot of sacrifices for 2 decades to see us through and also my Dad, like most Indian Dads, is not very expressive(aka hugs etc) so I knew how much it meant for him. 6) Saddest moment ? Luckily not so many, though leaving India comes close. 7) If you could change one thing about your life, what would it be ? hmmm maybe I would have studied more when I was in my college. Always was playing, doing pranks and getting up teachers nerves! 8) Your idea of happiness ? Tough one, hard to put in words. I suppose if you are just what you are, no false pretensions to show you are something bigger/better than what you are, maybe that shows you are happy? 9) Which would you choose among the two ? Intermittent happiness or permanent peace of mind ? Why ? Peace of mind. Happiness is transient. I know I was happy the night before exams not even thinking about it, then was miserable in the exam room. Happiness is always transient, peace of mind is not. 10) Greatest regret so far ? You only regret what you do not do Sriram. I have pretty much always done what I have wanted so no regrets. I would change a few things yes but not regrets as such. HC asked --------------------------------- 1) How can you lift an elephant with one hand? Maybe use that hand to operate a Mechanical crane? 2) How can a man go eight days without sleep? Dont ask me! I get cranky the next day if I havent had decent sleep. 3) what is the official height for a cricket stump? It is half the size of the distance between the tip of my middle finger and thumb. 4) Do you have a girl friend? Yes and she also happens to be my best friend. Cricketics asked ------------------------------------- 1. Your Favorite Indian Cricket moment? 1985 Benson Hedges semis with NZ. India were seriously trailing and the asking rate(around 35th over or so) was well around 8-9 runs and climbing. To compound problems two of the most economical LOI bowlers Hadlee and Chattfield remained. It was beginning to look impossible. Then Kapil happened, smashed 4 fours off Hadlee,scored 50 plus in 37 balls. India won with 7 overs to spare. Sometimes I think I was so lucky to have watched Kapil in full flow because if ever there was a player whose stats shall never show what he was, it was Kapil. 2. Tendullkar or Dravid? Tendulkar. Have been following him ever since he started his cricket. People of my generation actually grew up with him. 3. Favorite Dish(Indian) The aloo bhujiya that my mom makes. 4. which one do u prefer more? playing cricket, or watching cricket? Playing cricket is what I would prefer though watching cricket is always fun. GKD asked --------------------------------------- 1- How many times a day do you view tharki images? Hahaha..Who keeps a count? Think of a high number...now square that number, yep thats how much. 2- Which city do you like the most? Gaya. 3- Would you forgive your partner if she cheated? Tough one. I suppose you mean physical cheating(and not emotional cheating). I suppose I will make a judgement depending on the cause but even if I did forgive I am sure it shall take a lot away from the relationship. 4- When did you loose your virginity (assuming that you lost it)? Early 20s. 5- Am I your best friend? Of course. You are also my Valentine's for next year. 6- Car or motorbike? Bike. 7- Kuta or Billi (Cat or dog)? Dog. Not so much a cat person. 8- Winter or Summer? Winter. I love the chill in air. But by winter I do not mean sub degree temperature. A 10-15 degree temperature is best. 9- Tea or coffee? Tea...Love it! 10- Murga ya murgi? Chooja Mandrake asked ----------------------------------- When was the last time you posted a one liner Just up above(to GKD) lol..But yeah I like writing longer replies instead of one-liners. Rajeev asked ------------------------------------ 1) Are you a geek with a six-pack? A Mix which is rare to be seen Haha, no I am not a geek. Actually far from it. Never particularly liked studying and as soon as got my hands on a job I decided never to go back to a college again. 2) My usual question - if you had a decent job and good pay; would you settle back in India Actually for me personally Rajeev it is going to be on a whim. Job/pay are important yes but I also think they are more an excuse than a reason(for me anyway). I think the way it shall work for me is that one fine morning I shall say okay I had a good run now lets go home. No unneccessary overanalyzation. 3) How much of a Mumbaite are you Love Mumbai. My second favorite place after Gaya. To me it shall remain the city of hope and reams. I certainly dont appreciate the ghettositaion of Mumbai these days though where certain areas are fast becoming community centric. 4) After booze chat, life or cricket Life. I like cricket but I love life. It is amazing how we all go through the same issues everyday and yet are so different and yet so similar. Somehow post booze makes for some really stimulating conversation, never quite understood how it works. 5) How easy it to pick girls for you I suppose it has been alright. Like most guys I have had my shares of Yes and Nos. The fascinating thing about picking girls is that there is no one-size-fits-all. So long as you treat any girl as if she is the only person in an entire crowd you are interested in, and not one of those there-is-another-bus-after-this-one, you should be good. Also I personally have picked as much girls by my writing as I have through any other traits of mine. Girls loveee well expressed emotions. 6) Diplomacy or Sir "Frank" Worrell Pretty frank. Too late in life to learn diplomacy now. 7) Tell us something COOL we don't know about you Hmm cool. Well I can do wheelies on a bike, atleast used to(no bike these days). I can make candles, different kinds from layered ones to ones which has a picture(I prefer to put the picture of the ones I am gifting it to). Holysmoke asked -------------------------------------- Describe was the last time you got KLPD'd? Hmmm well it would probably be a few years earlier when I took this trip to Vegas. Me and my gf at the time drove all the way from Houston to Vegas(about 1500 miles or so one way). We drove through TX, AR, OK, NM and finally AZ before we reached Vegas. It was around November or so and temperature had started to go down. When we were driving through AZ it became particularly cold. We had to stop at a gas station to get some oil and boy did we freeze our butt off! Now as a guy you sure appreciate that cold temperature can get you all funny. So we get in the car and I see my girl wearing mini skirt with a high ankle boots. 5 minutes later I was driving on I-10 controlling my car with my thighs. I still can't say how I saw the cop car but I did. About 100 yards in front the 3 lane Interstate was merging into 1 with 2 lanes closed for construction. In a flash I had pushed my lady on the passenger seat and applied the brake as fast as I could, luckily for me we stopped few feet away from the cops. But if you think KLPD for guys is bad, let me assure you that it is as bad, if not worse, for girls! I got a proper dressing down in the car and till date I have not understood if I was supposed to drive over the cops or what!! CA asked ---------------------------------------- 1) You seem to have an opinion on anything and everything. How do you manage that? Its all due to my parents. They inculcated this love of reading, Growing up we always had bunch of books, magazines, atleast 2-3 newspapers everyday. So pretty early I started to get opinionated(for right or wrong). The habit continues. 2) North India or South India I havent lived in South India for long time so it would be wrong for me to comment. I should probably spend a few years in Bangalore/Hyderabad to form an opinion. 3) your opinion of Shah Rukh Khan's che-packwa (is it really photoshopped?) Firstly I greatly appreciate anytime someone tries to get in shape. Trust me it takes a lot of hardwork and disciplined lifestyle to get there. I have been sceptical about SRK for 2 reasons. 1) All the pictures of his if you see concentrate on his 6-pack, often the shoulders, chest are darkened under lights. Plus of course he is always wearing pants so no way to check his legs. All this tells me that he has a weird kind of body where he has everything else lagging except abs. 2) Almost all the pics I see of him shows him looking at the camera with his torso twisted at an angle. This is the oldest trick in the book to hide your love handles. The best way to judge a man is to look at him from straight front or behind. I havent since much of his pictures in that pose so not convinced thus far. 3) What to do you say about cliche'd phrases about 'Biharis' (for eg 'Bimaru' states?) Some of them is obviously true. Like lawlessness for example. I have myself witnessed it so I can completely understand the criticism, as also the fall of infrastructure, politicization of state, casteism etc. What I don't understand is why rest of the country is often so ignorant about Bihar. Bihar has arguably been the place which has contributed most to India's ancient glory but often the rest of country is oblivious to it. So you can understand my frustration when a talk about Bihar immediately brings a mention of Laloo and not people like Jayprakash Narayan, Rajendra Prasad etc. By the way can you imagine the uproar had Laloo Yadav(or Mulayam Singh Yadav) said the same thing as Karunanidhi did? That is Rama was a drunkard, a wife beater and there was no such thing as Ram Setu? The whole right wing would be up in arms calling them a slave of Muslim. That in a nutshell is how Bihar gets the wrong end of stick sometimes while other walk away without much of an uproar. 4) What is the best way to lose weight? Watch what you eat and just have a bit of exercise everyday. It is not very difficult really, it is just a matter of will. Look at it this way, you probably spend atleast 1-2 hours everyday watching TV. During cricket games maybe that goes up. How about you get a treadmill and just walk on it for 30 minutes as you watch tv? Not only do you burn calories but also boost metabolism. At the same time you arent sitting on couch, eating Haldiram Bhujiya. Just do that for 3-4 months(30 minutes cardio while watching tv) and then tell me if you did not lose pounds. xxxxx

[Mandrake]

Excellent write-up...must confess I normally hate long winded posts but I read this one thru....witty,sensitive and wicked..your answers have it all:hatsoff:

[Cricketics]

gujob lurker.. thanks for answering..

[kumble_rocks]

Excellent answers Lurker. Thanks for taking time to answer . Good luck with the big kahuna SAP if you decide to move. Let me know if you need some assistance with it.

[yoda]

wow. lots of details. will take a few readings to digest. sorry I missed the thread asking for questions.

[The Outsider]

Just got around to reading it. Terrific read. Very eloquently put!

[coffee_rules]

Good read. Thanks lurks for taking it seriously.

[Gambit]

Great read Lurker. Thanks for taking time to write such wonderful answers. :top: Following tradition, choose your bakra. :D

[veer]

wahhh lurker... great read.... you got lost 3 times?? hahhaha.. :cantstop: .. tell us more about it.. it surprised me reading some of your answers of your childhood considering responses i read from you on various topics..

[Gambit]

There is also this summer time memory when my parents and us kids slept on the terrace. The electricity would keep going out for long hours so we decided to just move the mattresses out on the terrace. The way it was done was me and my brother would chug of buckets of water and cool down the terrace in the evening, the mattress were spread out, mosquitoes net put in place in. My Dad has this knack of picking the absolute best station on radio and so we would talk, watch the stars, listen to the song and then fall asleep. Pure unadulterated fun. Come to think of it, its been ages since I saw the stars *sigh*.

This was quite moving.

[Lurker]

you got lost 3 times?? hahhaha.. :cantstop: .. tell us more about it..

Yes I did Veer. When I was about 3 or so a daily ritual was my Mom would get me ready every morning then sit me on the living room sofa. My Dad would finish his breakfast then take me around the block for a quick walk. One day he was in a hurry so left for work without doing so. I obviosly did not realize and after waiting for a few minutes I started following the route we used to daily on my own. Lucky for me someone recognized me and took me to my Dad's office who was shocked beyond his wits. Funny thing is I distinctly remember him taking me for a walk around his office before he brought me home! I sometimes wonder if my love for travel started with those early morning walk with my Dad. xxx

[veer]

Yes I did Veer. When I was about 3 or so a daily ritual was my Mom would get me ready every morning then sit me on the living room sofa. My Dad would finish his breakfast then take me around the block for a quick walk. One day he was in a hurry so left for work without doing so. I obviosly did not realize and after waiting for a few minutes I started following the route we used to daily on my own. Lucky for me someone recognized me and took me to my Dad's office who was shocked beyond his wits. Funny thing is I distinctly remember him taking me for a walk around his office before he brought me home! I sometimes wonder if my love for travel started with those early morning walk with my Dad. xxx

hahahha.. :hysterical::hysterical: thats funny... ohh the childhood days.. !!

[veer]

actually that reminds me of one of the episodes of malgudi days..

[Holysmoke]

Lurker baba, when i said KLPD i didnt mean it in the literal sense :hysterical:

[Holysmoke]

Lurker, can u relate to this? [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BoIvHlIxB2s]YouTube - ischool ke tem pe aana[/ame] :hysterical:

[King]

Good read Lurker, thanks.

4. Are you planning to move into SAP ? Hahaha you may not have realized how right you were when you asked this question. See KR one of my skills is Business Intelligence, specially using Business Objects tool. As you may perhaps be aware that BO has been acquired by SAP this week which means it is only natural that SAP and BO technology shall merge someplace. I would like to take a dip in SAP world and see how I like it.

From what I know the deal isn't finalized as yet. Oracle's looking to counter bid like they always do.

[Holysmoke]

Lurker, can u relate to this? BoIvHlIxB2s :hysterical:

BUMP!:hysterical:

[Ram]

Thanks Lurks , for taking time off and answering all the questions. As usual , your works are always a good,pleasant read. :two_thumbs_up:

[Cricketics]

rofl that guy in that video dances like rajesh khanna

[Guest Gunner]

Absolutely fantastic Lurker. I really got a wonderful insight into you personality. This is exactly how most of us should aspire to be in life. A very well balanced outlook to life.