This rant was written for the Wharton Undergraduate Journal

This is a tribute to the nice guys. The nice guys that finish last, that never become more than friends, that endure hours of whining and bitching about what assholes guys are, while disproving the very point. This is dedicated to those guys who always provide a shoulder to lean on but restrain themselves to tentative hugs, those guys who hold open doors and give reassuring pats on the back and sit patiently outside the changing room at department stores. This is in honor of the guys that obligingly reiterate how cute/beautiful/smart/funny/sexy their female friends are at the appropriate moment, because they know most girls need that litany of support. This is in honor of the guys with open minds, with laid-back attitudes, with honest concern. This is in honor of the guys who respect a girl’s every facet, from her privacy to her theology to her clothing style.

This is for the guys who escort their drunk, bewildered female friends back from parties and never take advantage once they’re at her door, for the guys who accompany girls to bars as buffers against the rest of the creepy male population, for the guys who know a girl is fishing for compliments but give them out anyway, for the guys who always play by the rules in a game where the rules favor cheaters, for the guys who are accredited as boyfriend material but somehow don’t end up being boyfriends, for all the nice guys who are overlooked, underestimated, and unappreciated, for all the nice guys who are manipulated, misled, and unjustly abandoned, this is for you.

This is for that time she left 40 urgent messages on your cell phone, and when you called her back, she spent three hours painstakingly dissecting two sentences her boyfriend said to her over dinner. And even though you thought her boyfriend was a chump and a jerk, you assured her that it was all ok and she shouldn’t worry about it. This is for that time she interrupted the best killing spree you’d ever orchestrated in GTA3 to rant about a rumor that romantically linked her and the guy she thinks is the most repulsive person in the world. And even though you thought it was immature and you had nothing against the guy, you paused the game for two hours and helped her concoct a counter-rumor to spread around the floor. This is also for that time she didn’t have a date, so after numerous vows that there was nothing “serious” between the two of you, she dragged you to a party where you knew nobody, the beer was awful, and she flirted shamelessly with you, justifying each fit of reckless teasing by announcing to everyone: “oh, but we’re just friends!” And even though you were invited purely as a symbolic warm body for her ego, you went anyways. Because you’re nice like that.

The nice guys don’t often get credit where credit is due. And perhaps more disturbing, the nice guys don’t seem to get laid as often as they should. And I wish I could logically explain this trend, but I can’t. From what I have observed on campus and what I have learned from talking to friends at other schools and in the workplace, the only conclusion I can form is that many girls are just illogical, manipulative bitches. Many of them claim they just want to date a nice guy, but when presented with such a specimen, they say irrational, confusing things such as “oh, he’s too nice to date” or “he would be a good boyfriend but he’s not for me” or “he already puts up with so much from me, I couldn’t possibly ask him out!” or the most frustrating of all: “no, it would ruin our friendship.” Yet, they continue to lament the lack of datable men in the world, and they expect their too-nice-to-date male friends to sympathize and apologize for the men that are jerks. Sorry, guys, girls like that are beyond my ability to fathom. I can’t figure out why the connection breaks down between what they say (I want a nice guy!) and what they do (I’m going to sleep with this complete ass now!). But one thing I can do, is say that the nice-guy-finishes-last phenomenon doesn’t last forever. There are definitely many girls who grow out of that train of thought and realize they should be dating the nice guys, not taking them for granted. The tricky part is finding those girls, and even trickier, finding the ones that are single.

So, until those girls are found, I propose a toast to all the nice guys. You know who you are, and I know you’re sick of hearing yourself described as ubiquitously nice. But the truth of the matter is, the world needs your patience in the department store, your holding open of doors, your party escorting services, your propensity to be a sucker for a pretty smile. For all the crazy, inane, absurd things you tolerate, for all the situations where you are the faceless, nameless hero, my accolades, my acknowledgement, and my gratitude go out to you. You do have credibility in this society, and your well deserved vindication is coming.

going back to pune has been on my mind for months now.. no, years. since the day I left pune in nov 06, i hv always wanted to go back and spend time there. I had grown so attached to the city, more so coz of the great and memorable times I had been thru.

its taken a long long wait that I finally managed to make it to pune again, that too with sheer chance rather than anything else. I landed back from HK on sat night, was in class during the day and had to take the evening flight to mumbai.. I had some idea that I could be headed to pune on wed but my mind was more to attend class on wed evening. I just hoped that it wasnt a choice between the two as i would be torn in making the decision.

finally it was on monday evening that i got the call that we would be leaving for pune on tue early morning instead of wed morning.. I was thrilled. suddenly , the tiredness of travel just went away , the sleep deprived swollen eyes came alive and i just couldnt stop smiling. I even jumped in joy repeatedly for the next 1/2 hr as ankur saw me wondering what on earth was I upto. He didnt have much idea in terms of what i was excited about but then neither was I. I was just tooo happy to get a chance to go there again. I still dont know why was I so happy as there wasnt any great reason left to be there .

I woke up early to get ready, check out and get on the taxi on time but instead had to wait for more than an hour as sidd was delayed. I dozed off waiting for him at the lobby. it was raining outside and it looked as if it would rain for a while and then stop later on. or as we would head out the rain would ease out and the weather would be great and dry on the way..

it kept on raining all throughout the journey, it had been more than a year since i was on that road again from mumbai to pune. it had always been in a volvo bus, waiting for the long distance and travel to get over. time used to pass so slowly and i used to get increasingly impatient and restless to reach pune. nothing of that sort happened this time.

i was so calm and cool as i enjoyed the long drive.. i so much wanted to get into the driving seat and hit 120-140kmph on the highway but sidd cut down all such hopes and dreams. maybem i will do something like that when i get a chance some day.

we stopped at some place to have a snack and i was remembering my earlier trips and the same thing. i couldnt help relating my to my earlier trips, the excitement , the wait and all that but this time round i was quite unreactive and unemotional. i was just too hungry and sleepy to think of anything like that ! ! !

it just kept on raining as we got stuck in a jam at some place. site of terrible accident. the hills looked great with the clouds around them.. it was beautiful . would be great to have some one next to you and drive all along the way listening to music and singing together in the rain.. hmm.. worth trying out..

we reached pune after getting the directions from the client. for me it was like a great home coming. i was so happy as I remembered the roads, tried to remember places which seemed familiar but i couldnt place them right. The meeting was fine. exchanged notes with the client. I told him about my wanting to visit pune after a long time and now I would hope they would get me a chance to come again and again.

after the meeting we went to the nearby place to have a bite. I didnt want to eat anything but then some old thots struck me and I had a pao bhaaji and orange juice without sugar. just like I used to have during the IBridge days. and some how the taste of the pao bhaaji in pune is different from any other place that I have had. no kidding !

after the debate of whether to stay in pune or go back to mumbai was simplified by the news of the rain clogging roads and causing jams and other probs. I called up my bhaiya and bhabhi and told them I would be at their place to stay. I would finally get a chance to meet both of them together ! and meet my bro after more than 8 1/2 yrs. thats how distributed and spread out our small family is. really really spread out are we :)

I got dropped at FC road right in front of the deccan hotel where I had stayed earlier. I took snaps of the hotel board, vaishali, the choco shop and the flowers shop there. the CCD, the ice cream shop.. so many fond memories. Every reason to smile and believe that it wasnt a dream and was true :)

I then took an auto to goto some of the place i had been to earlier. I bought my food stuffs from kayani bakery. 2 honey raisin cakes, 2 choco walnut cakes, 10 mawa cakes and 2 kgs of shrewsberry biscuits. I just had to buy all them and more. wanted to goto some more places and buy the lakshmi narayan chewda and bakarewaadi. but that got left out, maybe some other time.

the time spent at bhaiya-bhabhi's place and meeting keez after a long time was so relaxing. keez n me walked from her place to the coffee house and back in the rain. I really enjoy walking in the rain and didnt even ask her if she was fine or not with it. but she didnt complain and made sure I got at auto to go home. really really sweet of her to do so. thats how I celebrated my 5th yr.

i had a really tough time at the airport. while the airport has become much better than before. the taxi/auto stand it just the same as earlier. the construction is complete but still the cleaning up needs to be done. it just kept on raining. I just kept on delaying my going inside. just wanted to stand out side in the rain and get wet. and it was just not surprising when the flight got delayed by an hr or so. so typical of pune.

hope to be back in pune soon to meet friends I missed out on and the food which I need to get. next time around will pick up much much more than what I had this time


more later..

day4, 1:0am

the day was quite interesting at work and outside.

I had a tough time waking up again as I couldnt get much sleep. tonight, i am going to get even lesser sleep.

I got ready in time and went down to have a good solid breakfast, joined the team for the cab and had my star bucks coffee to start the day. I must say this is one fantastic addiction I am willing to have. Its priced well but this is something I have always liked right from my first trip abroad.

avi took the first session on scorecards and tried to explain about the different product options and features. After a while I couldnt take it and asked about the howz and the whys of the product. either she has not worked in the contact center industry or she has little idea how things work in India, I kept bombarding with questions and objections which I realised later were a bit too harsh. but the fact is all that she said or explained would be killed by our customers before even you open your mouth. I realise our clients are far more demanding. and we are in the heat all the time to do better and give more otherwise the competition is relentless. its much much tougher than anyone here can understand or even imagine.

what began as a quiet exercise became a battle of score cards against excel which no one could reverse, excel winnning hands down. I dont know how many people agreed with me there since the response was muted but then I could understand there wasnt too much opposition as probably they face the same probs as well. If I made a fool of myself it was reflected in the later sessions with teh comments related to excel and my questions being taken defensively. but if I dont ask now, I cannot go back and say that I didnt ask the questions which I was supposed to here.. this is the time and place to ask and put fwd the pain points.

I could sense an undercurrent in the training amonng us as we had covered most of these things in the elearning exercises and we are not doing anything new or ground breaking. which is a cause of worry..

lunch was at a vietnamese restaurant, wanted to try somethig new and different. the Oz mates were asking me to be a little more aggressive and open, as Chris said.. go ahead.. dont hold your self back. go cross the line and put it ahead for next time to cross.

So the meal was quite interesting. I chose to play a little safe as I ordered chkn n not the some thig else. Chit Chatted with Gabriel about work, life and other things.

post lunch was a breezy session with the work basics that most of us guys already know. i had a barrage of questions all related to my probs but couldnt get most of the answers..

spent the evening in mong kok again with takeo, gabriel was with us but then moved out as he had plans.. we spent a lot of time moving around in the flea market, he bought something for his wife and his 2nd fake rolex watch. I chcked few things for tau but both were blank as the India PS3 is PAL and HK in NTSE. his wish of having a foriegn underwear with the country's flag wont be possible since a lot of countries dont allow the flag on the undies !

I got my sister all the body shop loot she wanted, it cost me a bomb but thats fine since she wanted it. its not every day that i get a chance to get things for her so this was important. the other things for her from the duty free shops.

Takeo and me just walked and walked and walked till the star ferry. This was something tau and me missed out last time. The ferry was just a 5 mins ride but it was of of the things which I had to do on this trip. there are other things too but lets see about that. visitng a few more places and doing some new stuff.

we found a asian cuisine place after lot of walking and had another new meal there. this time it was japanese. Hokkaido seaweed with sesame sauce and shredded chkn n tofu soup. learnt how the japanese have the soup. have taken snaps of the food I had today..

we walked back to the hotel using the 3G phone maps.. very helpful thing indeed.

its 1:30, i better sleep or would be in trouble tomm morning..

day 3, 12:09am

its been quite a relaxing day. I some how managed to get up in the morning after the alarm rang 2 or 3 times. and i was quite sleepy during the start of the training.

I got ready by 8:15 and the cab was at 8:45, I had my breakfast at my pace.. by the time I was thru with the toast and has browns, I realised I was left alone in the hotel. So took the cab to the office. clicked a few snaps on the way and the video thru the tunnel.

Star Bucks coffee just rocks.. i had a bigger glass of hot coffee today. but like always coffee doesnt suit me and I develop air bubbles which just have to go out either way.. which causes great discomfort and pain in the tummy.

The training was cool today, had a good session intro for WFM. lunch was sad as i didnt know what to have. the food court didnt offer any veggie stuff and I had to go down to the supermart in front of the office. i had an apple celery salad which I remember having the last time. what I didnt remember that I didnt like it then and not this time too. I just had the apple and left the rest. i was soo hungry and jst before office found a packet of bikano corn flakes mixture.. which was priceless.. had a few quick bites before leaving office.

We got left early today so we decided to go out together. Takeo from Japan, Gabriel and Derek from Aus and myself. we took the tube to Mong kok and had a good time looking for places to buy electronics goods and other things. I have been given a long list of stuff ranging from cameras, handy cams, iphone, PS3 games, underwear ( yes.. thats correct ) , liquor, chocs, perfume and more..

I tried looking for things but didnt purchase any thing. not for myself, not for any one..

its was good to be in the mong kok area, my 3rd visit in less than 3 years. i helped the aussies do their shopping. bargained like crazy for them to reduce the prices by over 50% in less than 10 mins.. I dont know whether they were impressed or put off by the hard bargaining I did for them, but they picked up from there and did it on their own for the next rounds of stuff. since I have been in this area, I knew what to buy, what to leave, and how to deal with the sales women. surely very smart women.. they know their trade very well and know how to measure the genuine buyer and the one who just ask and dont buy.

we went to a chinese place called shanghai restaurant.. crisy eel, shredded jelly fish, smoked duck among the numerous non veggie things they had. being a tuesday, i had to have something veggie.. so I asked for sauted veggies which turned out to be boiled chinese cabbage ! someone had ordered duck which was right in front of me but I didnt feel tempted at all. i had it with steamed rice using chop sticks. ordered lemon citron which was more like plain honey water..

i was realy hungry on the way back so picked up a couple of star bucks cold coffee bottles to have.. am feeling full and relaxed now. wanted to complete the post before going to sleep.

lots of snaps today.. would post them on the facebook and orkut accounts.

day2, 12:50am

I woke up at 6:00am after sleeping at 1:30am, thanks to a prolonged battle between A-Rod n Fedex.. didnt sleep much since the last 2 nights were spent out or on flight.

its been a great meal day for me. I have had good food, that too remarkable on time :)

breakfast was awesome, sausages, omlette with ham & cheese. fruits, juice and brown bread toast.. had it with the aussie mates here. listening to them talk among them selves is soo tough coz u dont know if they are talking or mumbling. by the time you try to catch up with the meaning of the 1st sentence what they said, they are already on the 3rd or 4th sentence.. do they really call is aussie english ?

lunch was fruit salad and raisin muffin. I couldnt have the bagel. its been in my bag the whole day, maybe i would have it later.

dinner was at KFC , zinger burger with hot chkn wings.. but it was the haagen daas ice cream which I really like and had it after a long time. yipee !

the one thing I noticed here is the women driving all the long cars. bmw, jaguar, lexus , mercs.. I would really like my soni kudi to drive that kind of car. maybe thats why I have started liking this place. maybe its a good place to settle down, just a long thought.. lets see what time has in store..

the day was over all quite good. the training was ok ok , i didnt fall asleep all day and managed to stay awake some how or hte other ! I had two tall rounds of star bucks coffee.. yipee ! no coffee in the world is better than star bucks. will buy some stuff for tau as he wants something from here.

i like the atmosphere of hte city. young crowd moving around late at night, lots of girls alone or in a group, with friends etc. its so safe. the place is vibrant till late night and there are places to eat, shop and have fun with friends. there's so much freedom in the way these people dress. back in India its next to impossible to imagine a place where girls can move freely any time of day or night, without having to worry some one ogling or trying to trouble them. really, it would be great if we could have a more secure world. would go miles in improving work and life in general for all of us.

and the women here dont drive small cheap cars only guys drive cars by suzuki, toyota , honda etc. the women here drive jaguars, bmw's, open top beetle, huge suv's mercs, lexus etc ! wow.. this is amazing.. imagine my sister or family moving around in a top class machine.. I really relish that idea. another reason I would like to probably be in a place like this.

time to sleep, I have done my home work. some how ! the cab is at 8:45 am tomm morning.

DAY 01, 11:46pm


I had to take care that I had locked all things, forgotten nothing and was ready to move out in time.

reached airport pretty much in time, there were loads and loads and laods of surds all over the place. if 1 was going, then there were 10 to see him off. and all were standing outside to see their loved ones go and wave good bye for it seems like eternity or was it to get to see the most wanted immigration counter, their gateway to to the outside world. Which is quite true..

I have seen better buses at Punjab State Transport bus station than the one in which we moved from the lounge to the flight. it was pathetic experience. imagine, the kind of last thoughts one would have about India. seriously, I was thinking about the complete experience and the Incredible India ads which have been doing the rounds since last 1 1/2 yrs or so. this is the real India !

After locating my seat and after seeing the grose company next to me, I thot could it get any worse with me on flights? thanks to some change in sitting arrangements, i got to be next to 2 families. There were 2 couples, one with a few months old baby and the other with a little older kid maybe 1 yr older. both kids cried and slept alternatively making sure the their parents were busy and occupied most of the time. I couldnt get much sleep as i was right out in the front seat. I tried watching a movie but then after dinner just went off to sleep. it wasnt a very comfortable seat so I dont know how much sleep I got. by the time we had to land, i was quite groggy. talk about landing at 5:45 am !

the airport is fantastic. BKK has one of the largest airports in Asia and competes with HK, Incheon, Tokyo and Dubai for the being the best in business. it will be years before India's airports reach that kind of size and have the kind of class which BKK airport exudes.

I spent the next 2-3 hours checking out all that i could about the airport. endless shops selling liquor and chocs, brands of all kinds - clothes, bags, accessories, watches, memorabilia, electronic gadgets etc etc etc. so many food and beverage brands all over the place too. it was simply crazy.

It was after I landed did I realise the length of the transit , almost 5 hours ! watching people move around in masks was scary as I started sneezing after a while. i was feeling quite cold. I was in a shirt but even then it was quite cool inside the airport.

the first thing u notice here is the greenery, the peace, the neatness and ordeliness every where. not a speck of dust any where, no honking, people moving ahead in a hurry, everything under control. awesome ! what a contrast from gurgaon, where people are willing to kill to go ahead of the people in front.

These surds seem to chase me where ever I go and all the time. any place, city, nook or cranny, even here !

i like this city. maybe its a good place to move to after a while. not for me but for the people I want to make things better. Dont know why but life's a little easier here. but being back in India, is the best feeling. the chaos, the disorderliness.. we like being like that. we will always be like that. altho some how we change when we are out side.

its been raining here since evening. would just love to walk outside for hours in this weather with some one I care about. its such an amazing feeling here. and feels quite safe too. I went out for dinner with my Oz and Jap colleagues, wanted to have somethig vegetarian so had soup and garlic bread. it was an interesting bit of conversation. good to talk to people who have years and years of experience. Chris is double my age ! the other one is sure above 30, so does that make me one of the younger guys here too ? we'll see tomm.

am right in the middle of the city. this place is awesome, there's a stadium in front of the hotel and the jockey club on the other side. the most expensive shopping area, the Times Square is walking distance from here.

I have spent a lot today, I need to save as much as I can. its all about the money , honey.. I dont know if i would be able to buy the things i want to buy and what my friends and colleagues have asked me ti buy, but its a predictable list of liquor and electronic gadgets. he he.. lets see how much and how many I buy !

its past midnight now, I have to wake up early tomm morning. breakfast at 7:30 am ? i dont even remember when I had breakfast so early..