100. Proust questionnaire

The Proust Questionnaire is a questionnaire about one's personality. Its name and modern popularity as a form of interview is owed to the responses given by the French writer Marcel Proust - source Wikipedia


I figured that I'd do at 25 what Proust did at 13 and 20, which is answer this questionnaire. Not a bad way to commemorate 6 years of blogging(credit goes to a special someone who asked me to start writing in the first place)


Your most marked characteristic?
Easy-going fun lover, Clumsy and humorous


The quality you most like in a man?
Composure, sense of purpose


The quality you most like in a woman?
Effervescence, Enchantment


What do you most value in your friends?
They add greatly to my understanding of the universe.


What is your principle defect?
I build castles in the air. All planning and no execution.


What is your favorite occupation?
I like to read snippets about random anythings. 


What is your dream of happiness?
Happiness for me is momentary. And I can conjure up many such moments which would be equally delightful. But in the spirit of the question, I shall say that I dream to do something substantial for underprivileged kids and dream of attaining happiness once I've done that (which I may or may not attain)


What to your mind would be the greatest of misfortunes?
Losing your loved ones. 


What would you like to be?
Thin


In what country would you like to live?
From all that I've seen, I think Germany


What is your favorite color?
Turquoise. I'll fall for any girl wearing anything turquoise. Its that a brilliant color


What is your favorite flower?
Cauliflower


What is your favorite bird?
The Bat. Its such a fragile yet scary mammal


Who are your favorite prose writers?
John Grisham, Khaled Hosseini, Nicholas Nassim Taleb 


Who are your favorite poets?
Kabirdas, Vemana, Alfred Lord Tennyson 


Who is your favorite hero of fiction?
Spiderman. Kudos to Stan Lee for creating an amazing character


Who are your favorite heroines of fiction?
Abby Mcdeere from 'The Firm' and Reggie Love from 'The Client'


Who are your favorite composers?
A.R.Rahman, Hans Zimmer, Illayaraja, Eric Clapton, Rammstein


Who are your favorite painters?
Don't really follow art. But the two Karthik(s) I know are brilliant. (Karthik Talloju and PSK Kartheek)


Who are your heroes in real life?
All the lone crusaders behind lost causes - Irom Sharmila for instance


Who are your favorite heroines of history?
Golda Meir 


What are your favorite names?
Recently, I've been given the name A.Raja, which is an abbreviated form for 'Anubhavinchu Raja' (a classic song title from the 70s)


What is it you most dislike?
high handedness


What historical figures do you most despise?
Aurangazeb, Cornvallis 


What event in military history do you most admire?
Little Boy and Fat man


What reform do you most admire?
The RTI Act 2005 


What natural gift would you most like to possess?
To never age :p I need more time to see the world


How would you like to die?
I wouldn't like it any which way


What is your present state of mind?
Pensive


To what faults do you feel most indulgent?
Gluttony. I eat like there's no tomorrow sometimes. I think every man should have two stomachs, one internal and one external (pluggable like an external HDD)


What is your motto?
Live within limited means

99. My vehicle, yen vandi, meri gaadi, naa bandi

Riding a vehicle was always a very big deal for me. Simply because I'd never done it ever before. You may argue its not a big deal anymore since most of you would have learnt how to ride a bike when you were in high school(some even in primary school). But for me, it was. Up until high school, the APSRTC was good enuf to get me to school and back home. And after that, staying in a hostel pretty much dint require me to learn the art of driving since there were many others who knew how to. I belonged to the urban minority who dint know how to drive anything(even a bullock cart).

And our gender-bender society is such that it only expects all its men folk to have this skill. Women folk are exempted. They have their boyfriends or 'just friends' who are ever ready to take them out on their vehicles. Talk about gender equality, no equality in this case.

Anyways, Abhay Krishna did not know how to drive a vehicle, especially a 2 wheeler for the first 25 years of his existence. Nothing to be proud of, but that is how it was. A notion that I would never ever learn to ride a bike was getting deep-rooted in my head. One's inability to do something feeds on itself, grows in size in the mind until it eventually becomes so gigantic that it cannot be uprooted at all.

When I told this to my zonal head in Idea Cellular, he laughed. How was I supposed to work as a sales guy without owning a vehicle. It was insane. Well, certain things change for the better, however late. Lemme put it in question answer form to be convenient.

Q. After so many years, how did you suddenly get the motivation to learn driving ?
Ans: It was as sudden as the increase in the pressure from my zonal head, asking me to get more and more sales numbers from my territory. My boss wanted numbers. I wanted to hear lesser gaalis. This was the only way out. Sad but true.

Q. When did you learn how to drive a 2 wheeler ?
Ans: New Year's Eve. Dec 31st 2010. Wanted to start off the new year with a bang. While the whole city was busy consuming alcohol and puking all over public spaces, I for one was driving my 2 wheeler in the lanes and by lanes of a fairly quiet colony. Now I drive pretty well. Almost 6k kms done. Am a reformed man.

Q. Why TVS Wego ? Why not an Activa or a Pulsar or a Yamaha ?
Ans: Good question. Having never driven one before, I wanted to go for a more hassle free and quick to learn kind of vehicle. And I was told by my sales colleagues that scooters were better when it came to driving thru narrow lanes in villages during the sales call. The Activa was on top of my mind but that was the case with hundreds of others as well. It had a lead time of 8 months (festival season, so many bookings had been done at that time). The sales guy told me that he could only get me this vehicle in 2 weeks. And it was 9k lesser than Activa. I said yes. By the time I got my vehicle, I had quit the sales job. So that is the story in short.

Q. How was the first ride on the main road ?
Ans: Scary, downright scary. I was driving at 20-25 kmph and even cycle fellows overtook me. (I still don't go over 50 kmph :p)

Its been 8 months since I started driving the Wego. And its been 8 scary and cautious but eventful and glorious months. From not knowing how to ride a bike to getting a recent compliment from a friend that I am a safe bet when it comes to driving, I have come a long way :)

I don't leave the house 2 hours in advance to get to a far out place anymore. I don't carry change in my pocket for the bus ticket anymore. I make it to many more events now and I make it on time as well. Agreed that driving is no pleasant experience in Hyderabad, but I'm having fun. I still enjoy the cool breeze that hits my balding forehead whenever I hit the accelerator on my Wego. Little joys, I'm still a kid.

There are two morals to be imbibed from this short story (especially for those of you who are yet to learn the two wheeler)


1. Don't wait until its too late. This is true for anything in life. Its better to take the 'leap of faith' early. (Otherwise you'd have to do it under pressure later, like I had to learn the vehicle)


2. Look for motivations to complete a task(learning to drive in this case), rather than waiting for the motivation to come and look for you (the boss in my case). Hell, if someone as paranoid as me could do it, you surely can do it.

ps : That's how my vehicle looks. Nothing too fancy but it does the job. And keeps me happy :)