Of white wine and fantasy football

Dear all,

Just got up early today and felt like blogging. Earlier this week, we had a farewell party for one of our colleagues who is moving to our Houston office. We went to this awesome steakhouse called Wolfgang's (http://wolfgangssteakhouse.com/) on Park Avenue. I would call it awesome coz the ambience was great and serving was exemplary. Now, its a total different thingy altogether that I do not eat Steak :) and I did leave the steakhouse really hungry. That said, the high point of the evening for me was Pinot Grigio (white wine). I never tried it before and I must admit that it is awesome. I'd probably rank it second in my preferred list of wines (Riesling is no.1 for me and I hate Chardonnay). The outing was a welcome break for my mind that has been pre-occupied with lots of stuff (personal and professional). Its about time that I sit down and sort them out . And guess what, here I am blogging instead of sorting the issues out. Well, few of the issues are beyond my control and I cant help but worry about..

Anyway, lets leave all that bull crap aside. Its festive season now and the mood in the air is just awesome. Tourists from all around the world flock to NYC during this season and the resulting chaos-cum-gala is too good.

So, I was chit chatting with this colleague of mine about NFL football. Apparently, he is in a fantasy football league where he has to choose 1 team every week. If the team he picks wins its game that particular week, he moves onto the next round. Now that NFl season is more than half-way through, the competition is getting tougher and my friend is still in!!!(isn't it awesome that each of his picks for the past 14 weeks or so has been bang on target???). There are only about 12 teams left in the play. The entry fee for the fantasy football league was about 200$. Approx. 700 teams participated in the league, making the total cash pool approx. $140,000!!! The organizer takes a 1% cut, so the net prize money is approx. 125,000. 2 weeks ago, my friend was offered $10,000 from one of the other teams to leave the field. Thats how intense this competition is!!! My friend politely declined the offer. My initial reaction was - wtf is wrong with my friend?? Y would heleave 10,000 in the hope of making $125,000. However, now that I think about the offer, I totally understand my friend’s decision (well, I think I do) and if i were in his shoes, I would've declined the offer too. It is not just about the money, it is about the fun and excitement; it is about aiming for the best, about killing the competition (in a healthy way obviously!!!), and most importantly, its about doing what you like to do…I can go on and on about the import of his decision but I will keep it short. Its about life!!!

I do not know why I blogged on this. My line of defense : Blogging is all about, as one of my friends puts it, self-expression!!!

I am back and so is the essence of my life

Well, its been a really really long time since i've blogged!!! I dont know why but today I somehow felt like reviving my blog...Maybe, the innumerable thoughts that have been supressed for such a long time need a vent...Anyways, my life has changed much since I last posted. I graduated this May and started working for a middle market investment bank this June in NYC..(middle market broadly refers to the group of companies with market cap < $1000 mm and > 100 mm, the upper and lower limits are user-defined!!!) ...Yep, NYC it is...the capital of the world's financial markets and arguably, the capital of the world...There are many things about this city that keeps me going on and on and on...From the never ending stream of tourists on time sq. to the well-lit Met Life building overlooking park avenue. Hold on...U might think that its these trivial things that keep me going!!! No my friend...These trivial things do matter but the number 1 reason why I love the city is the never say die spirt....All you have to do is walk on the streets and you can see people hurrying to achieve their goals...It is not the chaos on the streets but the underlying spirit that encourages me...

At any particular moment, all of us have one thing or the other going on in our mind...Some of these thoughts are about our long term plans or our daily mundane tasks... Striving to achieve our long term goals while living in the present is probably the "essence of life" ...

Today, while walking to work, I realized that my quest to achieve significant success in my career has only increased with time (As a matter of fact, my quest for success has reached dangerously obsessive proportions!!!)...Obviously, you would be thinking that its only natural for the hunger for success to increase with time...and this is where my reference to "essence of life" comes into the picture.

Ever since I started working for my investment bank, my life has taken a u-turn...Barring a few light weeks here and there, its been work and work and work (averaging atleast 85 hrs/week)...I have not lost sight of my long term goal but I have totally neglected the second half of the "essence of life" -> living in the present and enjoying it to the fullest...My life has basically revolved around work, friends and relatives...I have not "lived in the present" for a long time...by "living in the present", I am referring to a daily (or atleast weekly) activity that I look forward to...It is in this self-introspecting mode that I have decided to join a salsa class....Not that I am passionate about dancing nor am I innately good at it(as a matter of fact, I will make the Deols proud of their dancing skills). Its a 1hr class for 3 days in a week...I chose a location close to work. I have no idea how good/bad the instructor is! All I know is that I can take an hour's break from work (thrice in a week) in the evenings to attend this...It will keep my mind off work and give me an opportunity to do what I LOVE doing-> meeting new people...In the process, if I end up learning a few salsa steps, its a big bonus!!! The classes start next Wednesday...So, hang on in there till I blog on my salsa experience!!!