500 Feet of Concrete Nothings

"Did you follow up with the media houses?" She asked.

"Yes, I did! A follow-up mail has been set and an excel sheet mailed :D " , I replied.

"Oh, So Negative!" She said and walked past me. Now, walking past an intern isn't normally such  a big deal for a consultant at a big fat cheque paying corporate. She didn't realise how alongside my foot she also stepped on my dreams of a good feedback from a fellow mentor on my second day.After all,What is an intern?

Now, I honestly haven't interned outside India. But for my country, I have something to say.

They don't believe in hiring interns as such. They demand slaves. Slaves with MBAs/degrees from brilliant colleges with talent only to be used in making excel sheets and word docs. I always thought the sayings of those philosophy kings must be bullshit because there must be no such thing as being your own boss. Now funnily, the mission and the vision of these 'corporates' talk of 'Passion' 'Creativity' 'Innovation' and tons of 'iCAN's', but the reality is quite the opposite.

What corporates really do, is build big offices, of hopes and aspirations, the kind they would show in a Bollywood movie 'the poor hero' dreams of working in. Yes!  Now their wall may claim we build people. But they never do that. No Feedback, No responsibility. Just work. Dumb work about google docs. When questioned regarding more opportunities, they bring in their master blaster point of 'you're just an ant' on our never ending corporate ladder politely often put as, 'First do this, for that, there's plenty of time'.

'The concrete is  deep but the human is hollow.
He is ignorant to care, his heart is shallow'

That is exactly why 'they're 500 feet of concrete nothings'.

As per the WHO, Every 40 seconds a life is lost through suicide.According to reports 50% employees in India Inc are under stress :30% have problems such as addictions and marital discord.20% suffer from depression.

So if we do the math, nobody working at a corporate is happy. The big boss gets screwed, he screws his junior. His junior screws his junior and this cycle continues.

Now, I can go with my hatred parade of corporates but one needs to look for alternatives and Obviously the bright side!

A newer ,fresher and of course 'younger ' age of companies are quite the saviours! Yes, Startups! They're fast paced. They have the kick. People with mostly single digit teams. Places with people less than your age but potential beyond the fat pay cheque a safe bet corporate pays!

You are given more responsibility, more opportunities. Such an inclusion makes you a member of a family and not just a random corporate slave.I probably don't need to tell you that most startup jobs won't pay as well as some of the bigger corporate and business jobs. You (or your degree) may be worth more than a startup is able to pay. But working at a startup offers a different type of reward: an incentive-based system that isn't based on INR, but rather in skills attained and opportunities seized.

You will do a variety of things with true innovators. You will learn so much you're going to thank your stars for letting go of fat pay cheques ( or well, if money is your real motivator then this won't happen). Your failures and work , everything will be recognised. Yes, the Feedback mechanism with Startups is very high !

That is exactly why most executives today are leaving corporate jobs that suck the life out of them to find something meaningful. They want to move beyond tiers of hierarchies full of sycophants and corporate whores with calculated steps to skip ahead. Again, the corporate ladder does offer the top , but only after
a.time
b.compromising of morals
c.both( since you learn b post a)

What should one do? Whatever makes one happy!

Try and sketch a brain map of yourself. What you like.

Autonomy or Money?

Mastery or Slavery?

Being your own Boss or Having one?

A map for a number V/S People Choice in your life.

What would I pick? Isn't it quite obvious?

Considering how I've lashed out at corporates and how I am so Pro Startups!

Why I think that is  because ultimately in business your ability to lead, manage and supervise people is what will make or break your career -- not your ability to do math! And hence I let go of numbers for people! What would you pick?

Screw Calm and Keep Butter Chicken

Of the thousand days I spent eating food, I never thought I'd pen this down. Having eaten it a million times, I never thought I'd sit and write my love for it.

Yes it may come as no surprise that  I'm a foodie. Yes I'm one of those people who travel to places just to check out  the food. Yes I'm  a Michelin star struck -watching too much TLC and reading too much Veer Sanghvi on Sundays kind of person .

I'm one who'd make friends based on food preferences . Okay that says a lot , and it's not entirely true but food plays a pretty major contributing factor when it comes to making new friends. It's  the perfect conversation starter.(YES The pun was intended ) . So so so coming back to the point .

So, FOCUS guys. There are tons of food items to discuss and debate about. But today is special, it's an ode. A non poetic,straight from the stomach one.

                 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The title reads calm and butter chicken? Yes all those lovers of the traditional Indian recipe of cooking chicken under the tomatoes and tons of ghee this one goes out to you.

Butter chicken, my love, the perfect salute to being an Indian . The solution to every day.I tell my friends abroad with great pride I'm from the land where this delicious meal was invented .

 You can travel the world, you can taste penne , you can all have sorts of fondues, blueberry cheese cake could give strong competition, but nothing and I swear I mean it , nothing beats butter chicken when it comes to gastronomical satisfaction . A sense of belonging comes to you when you eat this. I swear I felt Indian the first time my mom served me butter chicken. Bowl full of happiness.Bliss.Gratitude. YES, I felt them all at the same time. 

I salute the hands who invented this. *insert teary-eyed bollywood mommy smiley*

With great fame comes great responsibility of living to expectations . This particular dish has been very used to what we call customization and after having had butter chicken and naan at 23467834949484 places I remember how I quoted ,"too creamy", "too dry" , "too gravy-ish " "too bad to be butter chicken" after tasting them .

As far as I remember butter chicken was an accidental discovery at the old Moti Mahal , I don't know much  about the original Moti Mahal but the others suck. Pretty much.

 Their butter chickens are too tomato-ish like they have a place cthey get tomatoes for free dude . 

Though, that's the scene with most north Indian dishes. Take Shahi Paneer for example. Anything orange and requiring cream and tomatoes needs to be loaded with tomatoes because hey we are a bollywood obsessed country and so what if we can't go to La Tomatina, let's serve it in plates. Let's have them so much tomatoes that they resent the vegetable( I KNOW IT'S A FRUIT. seed fact? So 6th grade)

So ending the tomato story overload, we speak of where to find the best butter chicken?

And Bukhara has the best daal , but their butter chicken too bleh. Puran da dhaba , Ambala. Yeah The Mutton, not the chicken. I know my food right.

 The place which offers the best butter chicken in Delhi has got to be The Dhaba at Claridges (Aurangzeb road ) !! 

What gravy, what oil , what thickness and that baby chicken so soft . Gastrorgasmic is the word . Delhi boys , word. If you want to satisfy girls , drop chocolates . Take her out to a lavish meal of butter chicken. Let the girl eat her feelings out . She will give you the good loving that night .

                                       

Concluding this article( Well Almost concluding) , I'd like to acquaint you all with the fact that a better butter ( alteration, OH YEAH)chicken is available at Chandigarh and if you live there and are reading this please have me over . That's cos I had a butter chicken there in grade 3 and haven't been over it. It's a ten year old love. It was magic. so you can ask me, After all this time and like a harry potter fan, I'd say 'Always'.

So you thought that Chandigarh had the best chicken. 

Funny thing someone told me , a lot of shops there take it from Amritsar.

Woah, Shocker.

There is an underdog in this culinary 'where do you get the best butter chicken' WAR. HOLY SHIT. where did this come from? Yes friends, DELHI and CHANDIGARH can not provide you what Amritsar can. It's the underdog champion, the dark horse. But believe you me, once you taste the chicken at the dhabas there, you shall forget your five stars.

 This article has a flair for melodrama, but what would we Indians without it? Admit it you may enjoy watching inception because hey intellect is the new status symbol, you may even enjoy the occasional spaghetti for a brunch or two, but at heart you are Bollywood loving butter chicken Indian full of pride.

So to all the burahsss and licking fingers ,I rest my case.