Wake up, Karan Johar!

Karan Johar must have had an impossibly happy childhood. So he refuses to grow up. And paint a contrived, over the top view of the world.

A cute 20 year old who wears t-shirts with cartoon characters. The first time, it's cute; the fifth time, Grow up!

A spoilt 20 year old who does not understand that money does not grow on trees watered by tequila & vodka? Grow up!

An unemployed, middle class 27 year old stumbles upon a vast apartment overlooking the sea in one of the most expensive cities in the world. So much for all the Bombayites who break their backs for decades, trying to own their tiny little piece of heaven!

A 26 year director who decides to make his first film based upon, guess what, his own trials and tribulations (spoilt kid belonging to a top film family who obviously grew up believing money is watered with beer and girlfriends).

A young 'serious cinema' actress who has taken her intellectual label so seriously that she carries a perpetual sulk in all her movies. It looks fresh the first time, but by the tenth time, you just feel like straightening out her mouth with both hands so she looks less like the Joker. WHY SO SERIOUS Konkana?

The redeeming moments - the tension between the hard-at-work girlfriend and stay-at-home younger boyfriend. The music - the beautifully worded Ektara and the breezy Kya Karoon. And Ranbir Kapoor a.k.a. Sid, who has surely inherited his dad's genes as he infuses the main character with a believable innocence.

It's finally sinking in!

After months of anticipation and excitement, the day is almost there - in another 4 days & 4 hours, I leave for Beijing on my onwards journey to Chengdu for my Corporate Service Corps assignment.

As I inform my project and department teams about the away-time, I can sense their excitement. I am flooded with follow-up emails & ST's - how do we apply; do you know what you will do; do we get to choose a country; who are the other team members; Wow, you'll be involved in some of the earthquake reconstruction work; etc. As friends from outside work who are aware of the assignment also email me, I realize what a unique opportunity IBM has presented us with!

For now, my life revolves around checklists – and the entries are increasing by the day!

- Passport & Visa: Green
- Complete background reading on Chengdu & China: Yellow – you can never read enough about this vast and fascinating land, can you?
- Collect previous team experiences on my assignment: Yellow – again, so much information, so many different places.
- Plan travel in other parts of China: Almost Green :-) I just need to choose between Lijiang and Wuyi Mountain for the last leg of the journey, and make bookings accordingly.
- Shopping: Red. Guess I’ll save this for when I get to China.
- Scream from the rooftops that I’m off to work with a global, cross functional team on social and economic issues: Green, font 100

It’s difficult to stay focused when I can barely contain my excitement - 7 weeks - hurrray!!!