Of Testimonials - I Hereby Delclare ....

I feel rather strongly about this issue, of course as I have Discussed earlier. (okay… maybe ‘monologued’ is the word I am looking for.. coz obviously, no one must have read that particular post – sans any spice or humour :D .. orr even for the lack of good food-for-thought therein)

But yeah, I do feel strongly about vouching for someone. And vouching for X,Y,Z qualities possessed by someone. No doubt, every one of us is unique, and possesses certain strengths, distinguishing personality traits that define us, and define us in a most beautiful manner.

It makes a whole lot of sense for us to appreciate the good in everyone we know. And it is definitely advisable to look out for the positives in every person, and acknowledge the same. This not only helps in reinforcement of desirable behaviours, traits but also helps us in developing a positive approach towards people, and encourages honesty and fairness in our dealings with them.

BUT to use, with casual indifference, blanket concepts in every other soul that you know, seems ridiculous. Not only does it dilute the potential utility of the tool (as a feedback mechanism, and as a source of reference for others), but it also dilutes the meaning and utility of words.

Subjectivity, and other influences such as social obligations, emotional sways etc are but natural. But tempering our testimonial with caution in this regard is certainly not a bad idea.

Anyyywayyyyyyyyyyyyyy ……

Who cares … I know anybody who’s checked in here, by mistake, does NOT. ..

Well, well, the main purpose of this post :D ..

In my previous blog, I had started the tradition of documenting all the testis that I have written .. coz they are nothing but character sketches of people I know … (esp: close to my heart, are the ones that DID come from the heart :) … without any external influence *ahem ahem* there I go again ) …

Well, There are three character sketches that I wrote recently, and that I certainly wish to document.

More so, coz two of these are stories, and weird ones at that … :D and shall always remain close to my heart …

Deepak … SIR ..

(In a bid 2 allay fears/anxiety amg juniors, aftr a rather intimidating placecom intro-speech by anotha SPC member) *a low decibel, seemingly innocuous voice spoke* “But, The placecom is very interesting. It’s not at all boring. It is quite fun. Not very boring. Not too difficult. It is very interesting--- “ n on n on n on
*basically, d SAME idea conveyed in 20 different yawn-inspiring ways *
At 1st glance, he came acros as sm1 upon whose innocent, tired shoulders the entire IMI Building stood, rather mercilessly- what with tht deceptively innocent ’hardworker- good guy’ expression pasted on his public face, which wud make any unsuspecting bystander go “ooooh.. god bless the poor soul, give

him some rest!!’ Somehow, he became an obvious target for my unclassy brand of humour. A FEW PJs in the same vein as above (with sum mimicry thrown in ) was ALL it took to spread the *inside * joke like wildfire … dun want to dwell 2 much on the mortifying (4 me) tale dat followed!

Here is the person I’m testifying for- something which he least requires (esp: 4m an utterly underqualified, lesser-mortal like me)- but something that his subtle n grossly underplayed Grandeur compels me to do!
DA (read: Devil’s Advocate- part two) in a nutshell: King of Biting Wit/Sarcasm, delivered in his inimitable soft yet precise manner (‘Kaat ke kat lete hain’), alwayyys calls a spade a spade (tho in words as sharp as a sweet little blade )-wont spare own kith n kin in this regard; extremely clear-headed, self-assured, honest, enterprising, Hard(LY?? )-working , a keen observer,objective in analysis of ppl/situations , rational , intelligent & Articulate (it’s been a pleasure to explore n create all kinds of theories with u ) ,full of wisdom-one pearl of wisdom that he dropped in a passing manner, n which I shall always preserve - “Just control your life, before it starts controlling you”..

anothr amusing soundbyte is his take on (Constructive) Politics- d cause of wich, he claims 2 champion(along wit his er.. Partner-in-crime );a natural leader, his excellent sense of humor coupled wit an acute sense of people-dynamics make him an unconventionally ideal HR person .. tho b warned, this mite not be vry apparent at 1st, 4 sum strange reason!
I hvn’t known him much- bt cn firmly stand by each adjctive dats listed up ther
Btw: I hope, 4 a CHANGE, what I’ve written makes sense 2 u .. cudnt hv been more explicit
In fact, I wudnt hv DARED 2 rite testis 4 Raghav Sir and Deepak .. err (adds as an afterthot ) SIR , 4 the sheer magnitude of their personalities, wich makes many mortals’ pale in comparison- if dis hadn’t been d only way of expressing my heartfelt gratitude-cum-apology and great regard for them (n their grace n kindness), as we bid adieu...
I realy hope that v live up 2(or go beyond) the standards that your batch has set before us,
Cheers n God Bless , Shruti

Raghav SIR. (period)

You know.. sometimes wen u do sumthing utterly stupid n embarrassing..n wish that u cud dig a hole(even better- a GRAVE) n crawl into it? Or tht u cud jus becum invisible 4 a moment? or run as fast as u can, in the opposite direction?
Well, I hv been thru all tht ..n more, everytime I ran into him in the past 1 year at IMI !...
I cringe in embarrassment to think of the 1st thing I uttered when I 1st saw him (in the Lean Mean “Ragger” Avtar- eyes looking daggers at the hapless freshers, shooting a volley of answer-less questions, with d typical anti-social look-(must mention the Gold Chain) - to boot ) ^uh-oh.. I actually hv d guts 2 redo the verbal version of the PERFORMANCE ^) .. I’d squeaked- in a nervous ‘I’ll-be-his-next-victim’ tone:
“Such people shouldn’t be allowed here!!” *CAN U BEAT THAT*

Wel, RELIABLE sources leaked out stuf like dis 2 him, n I shudder to think of dose summons tht followed “wat traits in me remind u of a GUNDA?” he calmly, kindly, asked me many a time, wit amused curiosity
Now do u understand the 1st three lines of the testi?!
* I wished to drown to death everytime…out of embarrassment! *
And in the months dat followed v got 2 c the other side of Him: his towering persona, his inimitable, disarming demeanour/signature style (he actually stopped to greet me everytime- just to beat the FEAR out of me- when he cud hv easily, in 1 stroke beaten life out of me ) ; his inherent, natural flair for people- acute understanding of people issues (n Politics); effortless leadership, methodical approach to everything .. a hard taskmaster -his passion 4 every task dat he undertakes is awe-inspiring, n yeah the surprise element – his appreciation (& flair)4 poetry …

Sumhow, I still fumble wit words in His Majestic presence- evry time I open my mouth (mostly in reply-wen I hv no option BUT to speak up) the thot dat crosses my mind is: “this is stupid, stupid…plzz stop talking, shruti!”
I hvnt known him much, but owed him an explanation of whatever l’ve ever learnt abt him from a VERY RESPECTFUL & SAFE DISTANCE .. altho, me riting a testi 4 him is like Chota mooh, badi baat And really, I cud sum up the entire 3-piece testi in one line :
Raghav Sir. Naam hi kaafi hai

In fct, I wudnt hv DARED 2 write testis for Raghav Sir and Deepak .. err (adds as an afterthot ) SIR , 4 the sheer magnitude of their personalities, wich makes many mortals’ pale in comparison- if dis hadnt been d only way of expressing my heartfelt gratitude-cum-apology and great regard for them (n their grace n kindness), as v bid adieu…
I really hope that v live up 2(or go beyond) the standards that your batch has set before us,
Cheers n God Bless … Shruti

******

Now, as we were discussing one day, and this question came up : If you can write 3-piece testis for people you barely know.. how much would you write for people u DO know …

And yeah… even I never realized that. Until the other day, when I sat down to write one for DA Sir ..

(I basically updated the 3-piece testi I’d written for him earlier.. )

So, here goes …. The lengthiest testi .. for my Favourite person on Orkut .. and one of the favourites in life, in general :) … PS. Although after I posted it… it almost embarrasses me .. the sheer length!!

Anywho..

Himanshu

This was long overdue & urgently so, Dear Devil's Advocate...4 d world shld no d phenomenon dat is Himanshu Jailkhani-frm an insider's point of view.D insider being ur err...Sister whom u had the cheek to ask upon meetin aftr 3 long yrs.."what have u grown in2?"...*rolls eyes*btw, if u shud know...my first impression ws tht u've grown in2 a well meaning --but slightly "frivolous" boy!(ha! all ur HP bashing contributed majorly towards this of course)..Butttt..today, I am actually proud of the person that u have grown in2( i myt be the only one in the family tho!! no jk..v al no u enjoy a vry wel desrvd high status amg al d kids). Self-confessed libertarian--in his fanatasy world..."evry1 CAN/SHUD be free to do EVRYTHING...unless u can rationalize against it in terms of anything except MORALS"...so i found myself rationalising with him "why cannibalism is NOT GUD/RITE..." amng othr weird things..but these r nt silly theories of his--its becoz he believes in Ethical Nihilsm(c, did u know ur no freak bt actually

a sophisticated philosopher?) Outwardly, he is a conformist- n a real good one at dat.1 of the beter human beings i hv known in al my lyf(wich is not much tho).Vry rational, sensitive, a thinker, cool as mint--u have to be a monster to get in2 his bad books--a thoro gentleman( i wil quote 4m our li'l sis' "bhaiya chalisa"--has immense respect for women)..nvr loses his cool or raises his voice, great sense of (non-offensive) humor--excelllllent timing..depending on ur perspective of course-his best one was outside our granny's ICU ward at 2 at nite! Verry humble-can suffer fools politely, if not gladly(1 of the favorite preys of "plss-stop-talking-shruti"-wil try all antics to make her STOP TALKING e.g plugging in his earphones, snoring loudly etc except ASK me to shut up(m not dumb,bro,tho i no i luk it ;)), Vry str8frwrd, bt d only reason he mite hold bck frank opinions is tht he is tooooo sweet to hurt any1’s feelings (except his mum’s – tho she gets EVEN :D – their acid- exchange is so much fun 2 watch!)

Is a real ROCKSTAR of a brothr(nope, no ref. 2 the venture called Blown Marrow [:P] –n so what if our li’l sis asked him once -petrified after watching a performance video “Bhaiya, *err-gulp*u guyz hvnt played in public naa?” lolz[;)]) ... *seriously senti mode now* You, of all ppl do not hv 2 ASK me 4 a testi Sada. I love u loads, n owe u loadssss-er still! He is Alwayys just a gtalk-ping away! .. whether I am sad, mad, in tears, happy, exhilarated, in a fix, in dat “I dun want to do mba” mode, or in my “u-know-what ..” mode, check-this-thing-I-need-feedback-on’ mode …WHENEVER I ping him .. he answers back widout fail, patiently, calmly, evil-ly, sarcastically, humorously, wisely, affectionately‘-- oh just the perfect thing to suit the situation… he has this magic wand … and is the reason for many smiles .. both within (n outside) our family [J] …… n d best part—he expects nothing in return!I hv alwys just TAKEN 4m him.. n the only return-paymnts must be my force-fed-stories, so dat doesn’t count!!

I stil rem the day when I ws almost broken- wit my first stint wit d real-world-outside, at IMI … u dun evn know, u loon, what an angel u wre 4 me dat night [:)] .. He helped me ‘DISCONNECT’ (er.. he actually suggested dope as an option, didn’t ya? [:P] ..ookkk .. weird sense of humor- runs in r genes ) .. &Oh gawdd… is so well-cultured, (*yuck*) tht his knowledge n sensitive understanding of so many “home/family/household-related” things put me – 1 of d The Daughters in the family, to shame, with my utter ignorance, n uncultured traits.! On d other hand!! *beats me HOW!* .. manages this very super-cool-rockstar-like lifestyle with friends.. (m seriously worried abt THE JOINTS tho, bro .. *raises brow* ) … has GOOD grey material (strictly non-academic, but with strongly intellectual overtones) … tho I wish he wud spend some more time with books too .. although, it’s too late now ..*sigh* .. Andd.. a/c 2 li’l sis, he used to look like a Pig 4 years ago *what?- they shud know the facts!*.. tho dunno how,

no such traces can be found now.. (err.. on d contrary, at present, maybe thx 2 ur genes, DA Sir,but, I wud more-than-OKAY ur appearance .. n that’s huge certification[:)]) altho..can reallyyy play d Devil's Advocate in every debate( u can have a LOT of mentally/intellectually stimulating convos with him)...with tht all-knowing..stupid, "wise" smirk on his face....wen u find u cant shut him up...here's a mantra...tell him ..."it's alrite, maybe ur rite....NOT A PROBLEM (COMMA)MATE"...watch him go red in the face, ask him why ;)..n sit back n enjoy ur victory... sorry cudnt keep it short yet again...signing off ...please-stop-talking-Shruti

PS. Tell ur Boss Lucifer DA, Thanks but NO THANKS! LOoove is the LAST thing I need *pukes*

And LAST but certainly NOT the least!! ... Thanks a dozen for checkin in, Healer Geller !!!
You cannnnnnot imagine how thrilled I am :) :) :) ... was going to declare a 'Katteee' anytime now .... coz of your inaction for so long :( .... And yeah... The same old girl here(even worse than what u saw !!) ... and I do miss those lectures :( ....

Cheeerrs !! (no cheers for Arps *folds arms-not talking*)