So we shifted our house from the awesome Sarita Vihar colony to super costly Safdarjung Enclave area. The reason for the shift was that I wanted a house so near to my office that I can walk there everyday. Hence this new house is 5 minutes from my office, 25 minutes from my gym and 30 minutes to IIT (all walking) which are practically 99% of the places I spend my weekdays. However living so near to office has its own disadvantages like you cannot get out of home late and sms your boss, 'stck in a bad jam.. will b late'. Moreover such localities are very costly.

However for me the entire shifting episode was a very big learning for one reason that it was the first time I did such massive packing, house hunting and shifting together when generally I suck at all the three things. But in this case as my flatmates ( who were also my batchmates ) were helping me in the entire shifting + packing, I got insights into certain 'shifting & packaging' personas which I have mentioned below:

1) The packing 'champions': These people are so comfortable with packing and shifting that it makes you feel as if they have injected themselves with Monica Geller harmones. Such people take charge of the entire packing and know exactly what is to be done at what time. In this case one of my roomies not only did most of the packing but took care of all bills, disposing unrequired furniture, security money, net connection etc. etc. etc.etc.

2) The packing 'daunteds': These people literally suffer from packing phobia and as you can see in the piture might even forget to take a bath in the entire shifting trauma. In my case I literally kept on delaying the packing till the last moment and moreover when now I am in my new house, I dont feel like unpacking. (I just realized that I might prefer buying some basic stuff again rather than unpacking)

3) The packing 'smarts': These are rarest (and ofcourse the coolest) of the breed who will get up at 1 in the afternoon on the d- day, start packing when everybody has finished and literally outsource the shifting to the other flatmates (no costs attached of course). In this case the second biggest shock (and I will come to the biggest shock later) of the whole packing was that this flatmate of mine litreally had twice the amount of luggage the rest of us combined had and yet he was not half as bothered.

 So, all packed and done we waited for the truck which finally arrived one hour late, uploaded our stuff in another half and stood on our colony footpath for another hour and half for the 'Delhi no-entry' to open and finally travelled 12 kms in the same truck to reach our dream house which suddenly (and this was the biggest shock) started appearing an inhabitable place to live. The same house which looked fine earlier now seemed like an inhospitable and depressing jailhouse. I dont know what had made me finalize it (maybe because we had 3 day to be thrown out and I have this gorgeous habit of postponing everything to the last moment, which has actually become my core competency, but about that in some later blog). So we entered the house at 9:30 at night and at 9:32 at the same night I had decided to start looking for new houses. (Actually we got that house through a contact and hence luckily there was no brockerage involved. Moreover it will be easier to find better houses in the same area now that we have moved here and I can give ample time to the broker to look for better houses. Finally, now I know what all NOT to do while shifting houses and the first mistake came at very low costs).
And the best thing out of all is that now when I anyway have to move in the next couple of days, I don't need to unpack!!

Ok, Lets see how this goes... As commented on Mr. NOt so HOt's post here is my end of the story -

Says Who... Says You...

These guys are getting out of hand... a couple of liars taking all the credit to start this contest... Ok Ok, the argument between so hot and so not seeded it but it was yours gracefully me who actually watered the baby seed, to develop enough where it is called a contest at the end.

So it happened in the following way:
Achintya and Karthick come out of the room arguing I am so fat and I am so thin... Now I know why we do not need as many girls in 2020 Social... When I went ahead and challenged both of them to loose my little extra tummy buldge... Karthick was glad that the conversation shifted from his oodles of fat and thanked me personally. Initially Achintya agreed to bet on it but later got too afraid to lose... This hence was seen by the 2020 Social Boss.

Now it was his turn to give us some gyan on how Maya and her social networking can help us lose weight, it is when he consulted her and announced this contest... Ok now that's the true story...

As for above... Keep Dreaming Achintya and Karthick... The ticket will ultimately be taken by the Boss himself. If you might have noticed his announcement yesterday, he lost one inch already... :)

So, here is me, and looking at the pic above... you might understand why I am so keen on losing weight... :)

So finally, after the verbal battles between Mr. Hip-hop-o-potamus and our Champion, I thought I'd get everyone's focus back on what started the whole thing (Including Gaurav's unflattering-definitely-not-to-be-put-up-publicly pic).

The Biggest Loser contest.

P.s.- And I still don't know why Achintya getting all worked up about losing weight. Maybe, size Zero is not that gratifying after all ;-)

And since, no one has posted any progress reports on how they're on track to be the Biggest Loser... I thought I'd just perk up people here by informing everyone how I lost 2 kgs in the last 1 week.

And I can tell you that none of the mumbo-jumbo cited by Karthick is actually of any help.  Nor is any of Achintya's gyaan (on losing weight; Achintya=elephant examples, etc.).

For most people, gaining weight is just a result of not doing any physical activity and eating more food than required.

For the kind of work we do here at 2020 Social, the amount of food we eat would seem like a feast for someone from Kalahandi in Orissa or other places like that across India.

And also, even a small amount of exertion in the form of playing a sport (No, Computer games are NOT a sport Mohitji!!), like I did over the weekend can do wonders for most of us.

However, we should not overdo anything also (Ask Upasana for more details).

Therefore, just try and be active (Before or after work would be better… and Upasana/Hardeep/Divya, giving karate kicks to guys is NOT an Exercise!!).

p.s.- I doubt anyone is taking this contest seriously. However, if Gaurav does end up falling in love with Maya, then I presume he's already down 4Kgs!!

Cheers!!

And Happy New Year!!

This is in continuation to karthick's last post 'Let the lard fall begin' and the 2020 Social biggest (weight) loser contest where the winner gets a return ticket to Bangkok. Karthick's previous post talked about the prologue (the bet ) and the story today ( how.. although miserably... he is putting up a fight to lose the extra kilos). In this post I will write about that part of the story which karthick's post missed. So here it goes:

Epilogue:
Day: March 31, 2010 ( The day when the contest ends )
Time: 10:00 AM

Achintya Gupta is busy working on a cool and top secret project in the super awesome 2020 Social office when the door opens and Kar'thick' walks in. He appears sad and tired and is carrying the CCD cappuccino to the office as usual.

Achintya: Hey Kar'thick', you look thinner today
Kar'thick' : Dude please don't mock at me. We both know that I completely failed in the contest.
Achintya: Pal, failures are often preludes to great success ( philosophical but true.. and henceforth such statement will be * marked )
Kar'thick': Oh don't you tell me that.. I tried my best to reduce weight. I joined gym, I cut down on food and fat. Initially 15 days were fine but then everything started looking impossible. I got too frustrated of excessive workouts and fat free food. And moreover all these attempts did not show any results. It looks like I am destined to be fat (sigh).
Achintya: Hey cmon.. don't feel so bad. On a second thought it is good that you feel bad.. it adds determination*. But look at it this way, it has been just 3 months since you started, so it isn't very late. Moreover when we placed the bet I was sure that you are not gonna win.
Kar'thick': Really?... and how were you so sure?
Achintya: Lets calculate it then. The average calorific value of human fat is approx. 9000 Kcal /kg. As you decided to reduce 10-11 kgs in 3 months, that is approximately equivalent to creating a deficit of 0.1 million calories in 100 days or to say 1000 K cal per day! That is like the amount of calories in a dominoes pizza for 2 PER DAY FOR THE NEXT 100 DAYS!
Kar'thick': Oh my God! So does that mean it is impossible.... am I going to die a fat man (sigh).
Achintya: Patience Kar'thick', patience. That is the key. Let's try to sort this out. So tell me, what is the problem?
Kar'thick': You know what is the problem! I am 50% more than my BMI!
Achintya: No Kar'thick', that is a mere implication of the problem. I think here the problem is that you want results too fast. You are more interested in the end that the means. Great things never happen overnight*. For a sustainable change, you need to enjoy the process. Think of all the pizzas, butter and gravies you would have gulped in the past 3 years. Do you think you can make up all of them in 3 months. And even if  you do, you would end up a tired, unhappy man who cannot enjoy his life. After all we all love a treat for taste buds.
Kar'thick': So do you think it is possible?
Achintya: Yes, I am sure. Loosing weight is no big deal. Trust me.
Kar'thick': Now I realize where I was going wrong. I just hope I had listened to you earlier. Now I will focus on more cardio like jogging, swimming than muscle building in the gym, eat healthy food and look for a sustainable way to good health.
Achintya: Definitely, and don't forget to keep changing you workouts. Try new ones so that you don't grow bored of them.
Kar'thick': Yeah, that's a good idea, you are awesome.
Achintya: I know

( The End )

Since my friends at 2020 Social are feeling shy about posting their "before" pics and weights, I am setting the ball rolling with mine.

My three-point plan of action: 1) stop ordering pizzas three times a week 2) wake up at 6 am and practice yoga 3) well, fall in love (I always lose 5 kgs in the first month of being in love).