The New Adventures of Chip Choker: The Preamble

Chip Choker was a boy. Well, he was nearly a man, but looked and behaved like a boy. His story is very interesting. In fact, it is so captivating that I have decided to devote a three part-series on him (or more depending on when he reads this blog).

Chip had huge eyes.In fact so huge that they protruded out like a frog's. His classmates used to tease him for this. He wore a pair of spectacles which magnified his eyes even more. Once, he was slapped so hard that his beloved glasses fell down from the second floor onto the wet patch of mud below. He didn't complain, but hid behind a huge mound of irritation. Couple this with a giant furry ball of curly hair on the head, and you get a sheep capable of reading books. Coincidentally, he uttered words which rhymed with "Baaa!Baaa!", like "Maaa!Maaa!" during times of distress.You, the reader might think that:Well, what is so special about that?All kids pass through a similar phase of life. You see, Chip was different. Atleast, he yearned to be different.

We will explore Chip's extraordinary life gradually. Join me, and you can rest be assured to be spellbound, enthralled, and plain dumbstruck.

Adios, and more to follow.

The Three Stooges

Recently, I was asked this wonderful question by someone about three ideal travel companions on a road trip. I present my three stooges in a simple conversational style here.

"There are three simple rules that I would follow while choosing my traveling companions. The first is the resourcefulness of the person, for I am pretty sure that a road trip would not be without roadblocks. Next is for pure amusement value, for the trip would be long and quite boring.And the last would be a comprehensive travel guide to help me understand the places that we would be traveling better. I present one person satisfying each of these criteria, and in some ways more than one.

The first person is my father. Growing up, I always admired him for the way that inspite of great personal hardships, he ensured that all of us kids were provided with the best comforts, good food and a shelter over the head. I remember him to be provident and resourceful through the way he made the best use of what was available or given to him.I took this as a life lesson, and followed some of the principles I had learned when I came to the US for my graduate studies. Among many of his personal examples, there are several which stand out. I remember him to budget his resources very well. Handling of money was one of them, and I always found him to be able to spend money on the right things like basic necessities while eschewing unnecessary expenses. I also found him to be a very reliable person, one whom even a stranger could turn to for solving even the simplest of problems. As a traveling companion, he would be the perfect person to help me sort out any roadblocks which I could potentially encounter on our trip. Some of them could be straying off our prescribed route, encountering flat tires, among other things. I am sure that with his vast experience of dealing with problems on a regular basis, and his own road-adventures in his younger days, I would feel in safe hands. Another facet of his would be this penchant for being adventurous which would be ideal to infuse enthusiasm among the rest of us throughout the trip. Also being of the same blood brings together some common characteristics and personality traits. We share a common sense of adventure, and he would be able to support me in taking decisions on which places to visit. He would also give me a boost while voting on these decisions. Overall, he would satisfy to the minimum two of my companionship rubrics and would be an excellent choice.

The second choice would be Robin Williams. For his sheer genius at making people laugh, and for his non-stop loquaciousness I would invite him to travel along with me.Trips tend to be boring, and we could use some amusement to keep us going. I see him as an icebreaker, and not only would he be able to help each of us converse with each other but he would be at his anecdotic best while telling people weird and wacky stories of our trip. I also feel that he would be a perfect foil for my father who lacks some basic appreciation of humor, and they would make quite the odd-couple. Robin, in tune with rigors of a popular celebrity, is also an accomplished and widely traveled person. We could use many of his experiences to good use in our trip, and we could maybe even get five-star celebrity treatment at various places. A nice, long and relaxing massage, followed by an overnight stay at some of the finest hotels (all at Robin's expense, mind you) is something which all of us would welcome after long hours of travel in a day.

The third person that I would take is Tony Wheeler, the founder of the Lonely Planet series of travel guides. He is one person who has traveled extensively across many countries, and we can see his expertise by just reading his guides. What better way to appreciate what you are seeing than from the encyclopedia himself. I hear he is also an automative engineer, which would help us incase our car broke down along the way.Tony, being a widely popular person among travel-junkies (even across continents), would give us pointers to places where he would have been, and where he would have friends. We could use some first-hand guidance along the way rather than relying on maps and atlases, and we could not have asked for a more suitable person. Tony, I believe, is also considered to be a very jovial person and that tilts the balance sorely in his favor for he satisfies all three of my companionship rubrics."

A CEO's Tale

It was hopeless. A deadlock. I had spent the entire day in trying to convince Sergey and Larry that the takeover of Google was probably the best thing that happened to them, and it was best for the industry. Now older and probably used to bulldozing others into submission rather than being at the receiving end, I could understand what they were going through emotionally. But as the chairman and CEO of one of the world's largest software firms, and as someone who probably looked like a lone ranger on the planet Jupiter to two tiny guys standing on Earth, I had to do what would be better for not only this industry but also to instill stability in an otherwise rocky financial market.

Aboard my private jet with them, I was trying to gather my thoughts together. Larry looked lost in own thoughts. I was tempted to think that he was reminiscing his better days. I saw him looking outside the window. He chirped, "Well, it does look like a bright and sunny day today!". Sergey looked grumpy, but his eyes soon lit up when the beautiful stewardess got him his favorite chocolate sundae. I hoped that they would listen to a voice of reason now, rather than acting as 30-something spoilt billionaires that they were not so long ago. I set aside the official papers that I was holding and just observed them from across the table.

"How is the sundae?"

"Good. No better. Oh heck, best I have tasted in a long time."

"It has to be."

Larry, who was quiet till now, interjected.


"Where is my strawberry-topped vanilla milkshake?"

"It is taking some time to prepare. Worth the wait, you will see."

"Hmm-mmm."

I had to thank my stars that Chef Ashwin was flown in specially from Venice for this. He was expensive, but hell, the best in the business.


"Who made this? Heavenly, would be the right word."

"Aw, you will meet him soon."

Right then, a bespectacled chef with a majestic hat came in. He was HIM. The greatest chef of all time. Personally bringing Larry his milkshake.

Larry looked inquiringly.And reluctantly took a sip.

"Holy Google! It is FAN-T-A-STIC!"

The great chef took a bow. I snapped my fingers, indicating that we wanted to be alone. He took the cue and left.

I am always a believer in trusting one's instincts. The fact that there was a sudden change in the atmosphere was irrefutable. I sensed that something very very important was going to take place in a few moments. Larry looked at me with the slightly twitchy look which he always gave when he seemed excited.

"Well, Sergey, old chap, let us put the man out of his misery."

"I agree."

"Boys, boys. Thank you!"

And the rest as they say, is history.