Reminiscing 49/4

Screaming out loudly "Mama Vandachu" , I trigger a resonance in the house and rush to the door in anticipation of one of my uncles who would just be returning from the office.
On his entry, I poke my hands through his pockets in anticipation of some goodies..May be a dairy milk or a pack of nutties.This would be a scene from most of my summer vacation trips to my Maternal grandpa's place in Madras...

49/4 Icf East colony was more like a second home to me and a place that's probably the reason behind my liking for Madras as a city..

The sound of the Bell from the tricycle of the "Kulfi wala" , apprising the kids of the colony that he's back to business that night, is still fresh in my memory..

The huge window in the hall through which I used to peep out to see kids of my age play and dance in joy, elderly people go for late evening/night strolls and the youngsters just gather at one corner of the road to babble out their time..

For long, My Uncles, all of whom were bachelors then and my grandparents kept me under this impression that the person who rides through the streets every night with a pot covered with a red coloured cloth was infact selling "Puliyogare" and not kulfi.. Being a very gullible kid that I was, I used to fall a prey to their fallacies.

No wonder My Mom was very much the phenomenon behind my folks deluding me..She would just not allow her kid to have a kulfi from a road side vendor...That s not salubrious..

Being the only grandchild of the house then, I was very much a darling of the house and that I still enjoy that much of love inspite of all my uncles getting married off and some new kids arriving in the family, speaks volumes of how much I was loved in the family..

Anyway, lemme not digress..More on "One night at 49/4"...I would have just come back from a visit to the type writing institute, where my grandpa used to be an instructor. Until before a few years my grandpa was riding a bicycle...It was this very cycle in which he used to take me to the type writing institute..Man O Man, He had the patience to commute in a bicycle for close to 50 years of his life..

My Mom and grandma would be busy in the kitchen..My third uncle used to be busy studying in one room..He was a model of Perseverance.My dad still quotes his life as an example of how not to get flinched by failures and push hard for success. The eldest of all uncles jocularly used to remark that he would not be surprised if the chair my third uncle occupied while studying gets damaged due to extensive usage..Such was the intensity with which he used to study. He's now a fellow in CA,ICWA and CS...

The 2 youngest of my uncles were what I was until a few years back in college..Friends, road corner meet up's, late night chats was almost a regular feature those days..They used to storm into the house as late as at 12 o clock and have their dinner..Not speaking a word in return to grandma and Mom s railing, they used to go on serving food for themselves and hit the sack in silence...If this was the case inside the house, on those occasions when I used to go out of the house looking for my Uncles, who ll be standing at the end of the road along with their friends, I enjoyed staying late outside the house..Carrying a cricket bat along, I always used to find my uncle or his friends coming forward to bowl a few balls at me,under the brightness of the light coming from the big lamp post at the end of the road...Flood lights had just embraced the world of cricket then and I was already experiencing it.

It would have already been 12 when My mom would start pestering me to sleep...Sleeping so late meant that I would invariably wake up after every other person had woken up..Most often, I would find myself being awakened by the "Divya prabhandham" that starts playing in the Music system..As much as I hated it in my childhood, I realised the essence of the prabhandham as I grew old..No wonder it symbolises the faith of an Iyengar household !!

If Paupers were Hailed as Kings !!

courtesy: http://arvind-iyer.blogspot.com

A Pastoral jaunt, a holy experience and a House warming ceremony- Part I

Very reluctantly, I obliged to My Dad's suggestion to go down to Madurai for the Weekend that just passed. It might have well been an order had I turned down my Dad's suggestion :-)

The reason behind my nonchalance was that I ve never enjoyed those one or two trips I ve made to south Tamil nadu as a kid..Those trips had created such an impact that it was the first time in 13 years that I was going south of Trichy...

I cited reasons like heat, cleanliness etc to avoid the trip..But My Dad was not gonna budge and he kept insisting that I make the trip... I wish I could give him that more authentic and valid reason behind My reluctance :-)

The trip did happen and I took a A/c Volvo bus from Bangalore.. Li'll did I realise then that A/c was not gonna be on inside the bus...It took me very few minutes to get bugged with the comfort in the bus...Add to that, the old tam songs that were playing in the video were loud enough to drive me crazy...Wondering if there would be any serious objection from any of the fellow passengers, I went ahead and asked the cleaner to reduce the volume and thankfully no one objected..May be, it was bothering every one else too :-)..May be, I could have asked them to switch it off..

Adding fuel to the fire of frustration was the speed at which the bus was driven by the driver who looked to be a sexagenarian.... To me, it seemed, his legs were more often on the brake than on the accelerator :-(....It was 4.45 am in the early hours of saturday that the Bus had stopped at some place..I just opened my eyes and thought of getting down from the bus to get a feel of fresh air..I searched frantically for my sandals that I had left beneath my seat..Found one, but the other was missing...Much to my disgust, I found that the other one was under the foot of the guy sitting next to me...obviously, that guy had mistaken My sandals to be his in sleep...Just as I got down from the bus, I enquired with a person standing there as to how much time would it take to reach Madurai, oblivious of where the bus was currently...His answer stopped my breath for a while...He said 3-4 hours....It was then I realised that the six hours journey made till then had taken the Bus to Salem, which is supposedly a 3 hour drive from Bangalore....I am gonna feel scared everytime I see a old/tonsured guy at the driver's seat in the bus journeys I make in the future :-(......A farmer might comment "My bullock cart would run faster than this Bus"....

It was 8.45 am and there was still no sign of approaching any city/town....Just the Advertisement boards read Madurai...Atleast those boards brought back life to a shattered soul that I was :-)...9 o clock and I was there at the Madurain Bust stand..My Maternal grandpa eagerly waiting to receive or rather pick me up from there...At 71, My grandpa has more energy and patience than what I possess..He infact works at this age cozz he intends to be self sustaining, thereby also engaging in some work...He clocks 12 hours at office...More than What I do at this age...People of yesteryears are Men to be saluted...

Reached My Uncle s place and I was happy to note that it was a nice li'll residential area unlike the roads that took me there :-)..It was my first visit to this maternal uncle s place in 13 yrs and it took a house warming ceremony on a weekend to take me ther again :-)...The ceremony was to happen the next day and I was eager to catch up with lost sleep...

But, that was not to be...The rest of the folks including my Parents( who had come down frm cbe) were all geared up for a trip to the temple town of Srivilliputhur...The place that gave the world a great female saint called "Andal" who eventually married the lord himself !! This is my grandpa s native place apart from being a predominant vaishnav shrine....It took a while for the tired legs to actually stand up, carry the body along and head towards the bathroom for a shower.....I dressed up in a dhothi for the trip...I have enjoyed wearin dhothis on auspicious occasions and on trips to temples. I was helped by one of my Uncles in casting the caste mark on my forehead...

All set and we stepped out to take the tempo traveller waiting just outside the house...1.5 hours passed and We were there at Srivilliputhur....Much to my delight the temple was less crowded and my hope of having a good darshan got some life to it...As soon as we got down we were told by somebody there that we needed to visit the "Ranganatha" deity there at the earliest so that we get a darshan before the "sannidhi" (Lord's sanctum) is closed...This was the deity that Andal had adored during her times and was completely devoted to...Lord came down to marry her and in memory of that, the main deity in the temple has Andal and the lord in "Thiru kalyana" kolam (Together as a couple).....

The darshan at Ranganatha temple was one of the best I had and given my affinity towards Ranganatha, I was bound to enjoy the darshan....got to have the closest possible look at the God hoping for his blessings and a list of wishes to be fulfilled....Just as we turned our backs to the deity and walked towards the exit point of the sanctum, I noticed my dad completely absorbed in a conversation with the purohit at the sanctum....My Dad was waving hands frantically at me asking me to come over to the sanctum again...Wondering what could be the reason, I strolled towards the sanctum...It was then I found out that the purohit there is a person my dad knew so well and one whom he was meeting after more than a decade...The customary enquiries about each other's welfare went for a while before my dad introduced me to him as his son who used to work with Infy and is currently working with Juniper....Even before My dad could complete his sentence, the learned Purohit jumped the gun by sayin "Good good good"...I am quite sure he didnt hear my dad say Juniper.....huh...If this be the way that My dad 's gonna introduce me to his friends, then 10 years down the lane, he may have to carry a notepad to recite the companies I would have worked in a sequential order :-)...Infy's popularity is still a big problem to me :-)

May Ganesha bless our Routers !!!

Friday dressing is usually trendy, casual and colourful..But today was not to be a day of casual dressing..A mail asking all juniperites to come in traditional attire was received yesterday.Just that, it was not well received by my brain..It somehow got off my head..

Just as I entered the office, I spotted someone in a kurta and at that very instant the mail flashed in my mind. I might not have felt bad about not having worn it, had it not been for a Hawaian Shirt I was wearing. On a day when a lot of other people were gonna be in Kurthas, I wore what should probably be the most casual attire for guys :-(

Slowly, as I walked towards my cube, much to my relief I found a lot of guys in jeans-Tshirt combo.

The reason behind asking Employees to come in ethnic dresses was that Ganesh Pooja was being celebrated in advance here...

How does a headline like this sound :

"JUNIPER ADVANCES GANESH CHATHURTHI"

Anyway, this was not any Nasdaq crash or a bullish run for Juniper to make news..So, the headline does not serve any purpose but for adding spice to this blog

12 o clock was the time that the pooja was gonna kick off and a reminder mail was there in our inboxes to make sure that We all get blessed by the lord..

It was 12 and there was Prasad who was nudging me from behind saying "chal chal chal, pooja ka time ho gaya"...A few minutes passed and I was there in the cafeteria where the pooja was taking place.. Lot of People in traditional attire...Could spot more sarees than Kurthas...Guys probably are more hesistant towards wearing ethnic dresses. I was looking out for Prasad and there he was in one corner..His remark that I wear a short kurtha on almost every other day and not this day, made me feel ignominious of having such a volatile memory :-(

Saree gave a very pleasing and gentle look to the ladies and I was impressed with the dressing sense of almost all the ladies in attendance, with one of the Hr's dressing standing out among all..To me, she was the best dressed of all .... Pooja started and the customary "Ganpathi bappa moriya" was shouted a couple of times and there I was standing in a queue to have a closer look at the Ganesha idol and offer my Prayers to the lord...On my way back, I was treated to a few delicacies in the name of prasad....Even before I could swallow the first bite, Prasad had almost finished a major portion of the sweet that was given to me, which I had asked him to hold for a few seconds until I put on my shoes again...Few seconds were probably not enough for him to consume the sweet completely :-)....Calling him "Kameene", I just started walking towards the door as I spotted this female who was looking drop dead gorgeous in her costume..Not that she didnt look good on other days :-)....Aneway, all that I could do was to get admired, astonished and go spell bound or even drool over her...After all, this is the case when I bump into any good looking girl :-)

Back at the desk, I found a mail from one of the HR's that was supposed to test our Spiritual quotient...It was Ganesha trivia and the person who gives maximum number of correct answers was to be given a prize..
Mythological quiz was always something I considered myself to be good at..Just that it was pertaining to Lord Ganesha...I would have probably preferred anything on Lord Vishnu...Am surprised why there was not any such quiz leading to Krishna Janmashtami :-)..."That s gross prejudice" I told myself :-)

Pinning hopes on my Mythological intellect, I attempted the quiz and with a few discussions with fellow team members and a lot of googling, I was ready with the answers in 10 mins time...The results are awaited :-)...Lemme see if Ganesha's blessing is with me or someone else :-)

Nuptial knot - A filial obligation ??

Back from a long weekend and as I hit the sack in an attempt to sleep, I knew I had enough to blog based on what I came across over these past four days.

My Uncle and his family had come on a trip to Blr and Mys and I was pleased a punch to accompany them to various places..It was a fun filled trip in Mys after which we reached Blr...Mys trip blogging laterz...

It's such a strange thing that in Hindu families, to have contacts with someone beyond the immediate paternal and maternal relations seems almost impossible...
For someone who has seen second cousins and distant relatives only in Marriages and other functions, this was a rather new experience. My uncle insisted on meeting a few of his cousins here in Bangalore and what followed was quite dramatic...

Due to lack of acquaintance, I was initially very much reluctant to go to their houses, but finally decided to accompany them...Thought I ll make them feel happy that Jana's son dropped in to visit them and thereby also make my dad proud :-).. That brings me to this very interesting topic on how I get introduced to long lost relatives at marriages...The introduction has always been with My Mom or dad as reference...Charu's son/ Janardanan's son...For some reason, I hav always been introducing myself as Charu s son on most occassions, not coz I hate my dad, but Coz there s a stronger affinity with Mom...

The first thoughts to flash in my mind on talking to those second cousins and my Dad's cousins were definitely related to how iyengarish were these iyengar folks of mine. I could definitely see a big difference in their approach to life from how it is in my immediate family and relatives. I could spot broad mindedness in terms of tolerance to love marriages in almost everyone..My sis funnily remarked them to have a small national integration built in their families. All that seems ridiculous and uniyengarish to my uncle, aunt and my sis. I am not sure why I am not able to see them as anything bad..

My views over these past few years have gone through a lot of transitions(may be for the good) and I reckon I am far more broad minded than what I was a few years back...

My family as a whole takes so much pride in claiming that Children and grandchildren of my late grand father shall never attempt to do anything that would be against the wishes of the family and in anyway be detrimental to the good reputation that the family enjoys in the society..All that is fine.But, is marrying someone of my choice such a big crime ? Would I lose the liberty of claiming to hail from this family just on account of marrying some one of my choice ?? How can someone who s loved the family as much as I have, be outcast if I were to marry a Woman I may love ?

These are intriguing questions that have haunted me for years and despite some open discussions with the family, I never ever managed to find a solution to this problem. That I came across a phenomenal difference in the approach of my second cousins has probably rekindled this entire debate within myself to a degree that I decided to vent my queries in the form of a blog.

I am as devoted to the lord as much as any other Iyengar, even if not as religious as a few.

I am as much an iyengar as anyone else, even if not as conservative as a few.

I am as much a vegetarian and teetotaller as any other pristine iyengar, even if I consume cakes.

I have a cross thread unlike most of my second cousins who had long back lost their faith in being what they are..

Society is such a strange word these days..Families are more obsessed about pleasing the society than getting their children married. As much as they hate the society they live in, they also pay more attention to it than what is required. Everytime, I bring up this discussion with My Mom seeking a rationale behind their stand, they dont say anything but this "The society is gonna hold the family with huge disregard if someone from the family were to anything that s unethical by caste and religion".

They make what is probably a society for the third person.. This is the truth. But, They only seem to think of a society that constitutes other people. They often forget that they are an integral part of it and have as much liberty and freedom to define their own boundaries. Some one who sets up to do something uncommon may as well be looked upon by the society as unethical, but the bottomline is that the very person will be seen by the future as someone who set a precedence. A precedence that may be looked upon as a classical example of social liberation.

Conservative living is like a capsule that we only bother to consume, not bothering to know what are the ingredients. The only difference is that while a capsule more often than not has a positive effect on the body, this capsule called conservativeness is a slow poison and a self inflicted incurable disease...

This apart, there s something that s always common in almost every family reunion. A discussion on the nuptial guys and gals in the family as little bit of match making goes on..It was no different past weekend when My second cousin was interested in knowing from my Aunty if I would be ready for marriage and was bent upon getting me into a nuptial knot with his maternal uncle's daughter. He was supporting his stand suggesting that well settled guys are getting married early these days and it would not be a bad time for me to get married...It s not the first time that this girl s name has been taken by my distant relatives as a prospective alliance for me. This time though, My Aunt seemed to show some interest in it and was asking if they would wait for a few more years.. It baffled me and through me off guard.. It s not even taking hours to decide upon marriages these days..I was clear on my stand of having no idea of even thinking about a marriage in the near future. Uff, I have already grown sick of the whole concept of horoscopes, match making etc etc and the days ahead are probably gonne be tougher as I grow old :-)

Hilarious !!!!

Winners of the "I Look Like My Dog" Contest

courtesy: stumbleupon.com

Dormant to Terror !!!

Sounds of Horror they are
Scenes of Panic they are
Times of Distress they are
Periods of frustration they are

Hard it is to digest
Weird it is to digest

Killing of Mankind
Weeping of Mankind
Mourning of Mankind

Threaten they do the terrorists
Act they dont on the terrorists

How long we lived it is indelible
How long we ll live it is inscrutable

Temporize do We, exihibiting timidity
Rise dont We, inhibiting audacity

Yell we do at the gun men
yell we should at the top men

Spirited are we to rise to normalcy
Spirited not to fight the cowardly

Parlance they give to the world
nonchalance they show to the people

Patience we lose in being patient
Tensions we gain in being patient

May the day arise,
When independence shall not just be spelled
But shall also be felt

Reluctant Worker and the Enthusiastic dreamer !!!

As the world around her travels,
Her world still sleeps

As the world around her works,
Her world's getting over blues

Castles are built in our dreams
flyovers are built in her dreams

Dream she does, not just at home
No wonder she's seeking work from home

Shuttle is always early for her
late is she always for the shuttle

fan of the dorm
dorm is the second home...

Rest is she always bereft of
"Rest" is she always depressed of

Inspiration !!!

A group of frogs were traveling through the woods, and two of them fell into a deep pit. When the other frogs saw how deep the pit was, they told the two frogs that they were as good as dead. The two frogs ignored the comments and tried to jump up out of the pit with all their might. The other frogs kept telling them to stop, that they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and gave up. He fell down and died.

The other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and just die. He jumped even harder and finally made it out. When he got out, the other frogs said, "Did you not hear us?" The frog explained to them that he was deaf. He thought they were encouraging him the entire time.

This story teaches two lessons:

1. There is power of life and death in the tongue. An encouraging word to someone who is down can lift them up and help them make it through the day.

2. A destructive word to someone who is down can be what it takes to kill them.

Be careful of what you say. Speak life to those who cross your path. The power of words... it is sometimes hard to understand that an encouraging word can go such a long way. Anyone can speak words that tend to rob another of the spirit to continue in difficult times. Special is the individual who will take the time to encourage another.

Flyovers...

Not certainly a plane that helps us fly
But most certainly is it called a fly over

Strive We do for as many of it
thrive we cant with as few of it

Stand do they symbolising Indian infrastructure
banned are they until opened by Indian chief minister

Decades we take to design one
Generations we take to construct one

They are what we wanted for eternity
they are what we get in senility

Legacy they are to our grandchildren
legacy they are we failed to inherit

[This poem s dedicated to Bangalore city and it s patient Junta]

Frustration quotient !!!

Now this is how the tenure of a techie in any damn comp ends :-)

One last mail to trusted frnz/colleagues goes this way:


Hey all,

It gives me great relief to flee from this Project at xxx where I have wasted the last n years loitering on this project. I sincerely want to express my deep unexpressed feelings (hatred, disgust, rancor, frustration, malice..) towards my PM whose useless suggestions, ignorance, and continual cribbing has given this project its current distorted shape. Every long and vague discussions with him had left me more confused shattering my fragile fundamentals. I will also like to extend my disgust to those who have unnecessarily showed undue interest in this project by poking their noses and hammering suggestions in areas which did not in any way concern them. Their destructive criticism and sardonic and superfluous remarks coupled with shabby grammar are greatly depreciated. Lastly I would like to thank all my friends for helping me to endure through this catastrophe. Do keep in touch guys!

Worst Regards,
A battered Team Member Soul


Copying this for usage elsewhere is strictly discouraged/prohibited !!!

Thats creativity at it's best !!!

This AD for a sleeping pill(Man dozing off while setting the alarm) won an award at Cannes Ad fest :-)

The Early morning conundrum !!!!

Over these past few days, An algorithm to decide upon how to commute to office seems to run on my mind just as i get off the bed....No wonder, possessing a bike s driven me all the more slothful...Add to that the kind of frenzy that the soccer world cup seems to have stirred, I dont see myself hitting the sack before 1 o clock and that s the last thin that i would hav wanted to do in order to take the only office shuttle at 7.45 am in the morning.....

Now, wat s the problem in opting out of the shuttle service and deciding upon going by bike??? Not many, but there are a few gud enough reasons to refrain from commuting by bike..

Firstly, it s got to be the reluctance towards going through the pain of driving through the highly congested/ jam prone roads of bangalore city...With evey place seeming doubly farther than it actually is(thanks to the traffic jams and the resulting time loss), more and more people are thinking on the lines of either shifting to houses closer to office or atleast commute by office shuttle, which allows them to dilute the pain of jams by browsing through pages of their favourite books or by getting absorbed in the music of their choice, as a driver(shuttle) bears the brunt for having chosen a profession that sucks big time in Bangalore...

Be it Suchi of Radio mirchi fame in chennai or Vasanthi of Radio city in blr, their immense popularity is in no less way related to early morning jams across these cities..

I realised the biggest pain on account of traffic jam last week, when I rode home after having worked out heavily inthe Gym and the night turned out to be a nightmare to me...My knees failed to respond...My eyes were drooping....My back was inflexible and head was giddy....Cant attribute anything but the 1 hr drive from office as the foremost reason behind these aches.....

Secondly, Bangalore is a kind of city where it starts pouring cats and dogs from no where. Over these 3 years of mystay in Bangalore, I had realised that it doesnt necessarily need to be monsoon time to see rain in bangalore.Rain triggers total fiasco on the roads...My colleagues say they hav experienced 3 hour journeys from office on rainy days.Rain makes it even more difficult to ride a bike...Biting time by being inside the shuttle is anyday better than having to maneuver a bike on these water clogged roads...
It reminds me of the very funny thing that one of my ex colleagues used to do...He used to commute by bike to office.The time he used to leave office was neither governed by work in office nor by his personal commitments back home,but by his self assessment of the clouds at around 5'o clock in the evening..Over the years, he had probably acquired a very special talent of predicting the possibility of rains to precision, just by looking at the clouds. No wonder I am missing the services of such a Gentleman here :-)

Thirdly, Bangalore traffic may soon earn a dubious reputation of bettering the temperament of bangaloreans, just by having them toil hard on the road, highly watchful of the vehicles around and completely absorbed in the world of driving for hours together until reaching the destination....There have been countless occasions when My feet hav been so close to being run over by the adjacent vehicle...This morning, for over 20 minutes as I was crawling through a traffic plagued area in first gear, the"dupatta" of the female driving next to me was brushing my knees atleast a couple of times..That s how close are the vehicles near by....People here are craving for space, but the rate at which the human/vehicle density is growing, even breathing space seems unlikely in years to come :-)...

One of the most pleasant places to live in the whole of India is turning into a living hell...Climate s probably the onlything that s holding back the people here...If that were to change, I would not be here to write one more blog on this once lovely place called Bangalore !!!

Destiny brings them together !!!

Frndship can happen anywhere, anytime....This blog is dedicated to those 5 frnz of mine who hav become my frnz purely by virtue of having the same destiny as I- meeting/bumping into each other by sheer coincidence...

If My joblessness just after my final semester Engineering exams brought a frnd, my joblessness after quitting my first job, brought another.....I shall never regret for having wiled out time during these 2 phases, for it gave me a few memories to cherish, to blog and may b script a novel sometime in the future...Now, dont b surprised at that wish...Wat u r about to read is as dramatic as a novel, as exhillarating as any movie and as interesting as our own life :-)

That all of this happened post college has definitely made me convinced that I hav left college for the gud :-)

Now....I require immesurable time to write on each of these events that led to making a new friend, building a new relationship and sustaining it....Time being a huge constraint, I am putting off the start of this topic to the next blog....

Keep visitin, cozzzz this one in all likelihood will be my best blog :-)

The problem of being ME :-)

Gawd....Cant believe it was sept'2005 when i last wrote a blog...the other 2 posts after tht jus being cut n paste stuff :-)

hav no clue wat pushed me to write after such a long time, but here i am with my first writeup in over 10 months :-).....i Certainly don hav a clue on wat to write......though I hav a gut feeling that my spontaneity will help me get ther...am in a strange quandary here..my heart says there's a lot to write on..but i am only finding myself jus struggle to get on with writin wat shud also b a gud read not jus for me but for the rest who r readin it....is that me who s struggling for topic/words to write?? gawd...i cant allow this to happen...so here goes the writeup

I hav been thru a huge transition over these past 10 months and the most important of all of them is the fact that I am not typing this from inside the Cisco development centre in Infosys...First job change is as special as the first job....wat to expect and wat not to expect ?? new companions, new boss.....was extremely circumspect abt all this...but therein lies the exposure and no doubt it helps me mature as a professional....

With no element of doubt, I can say it s been a very smooth transition...hardly felt the pinch of working for a new organization and I ve thoroughly enjoyed these few months in my new organization.....My love for Computer Networks has grown by leaps and bounds and the work here is demanding enough to hav me go thru books, config guides, manuals and wat not...Now that s a total shift from how it was in infy, where my reading was more out of interest than out of purpose :-)......

The job hunt phase was so intense. loads of calls, umpteen interviews happened over a period of 20-30 days...yeah, that was all that it took......i still cant believe that one Monday when i took four interviews on a single day, apart from contributing a li'll to work in office :-)...Now that s serious lack of dedication if one may call it that way, but that s the way this generation behaves..Loyalty is not human but a dog s job :-)
Not sure if tat was a record of any sort for most interviews by any person on a given day :-)...but, such was the intensity of the job search....Consultants/comps kept pestering me with calls and I had realised that I had come too far that my stint in Infy was soon gonna end....After 5 offers, 25 days of monumental effort in taking interviews(not sure if i ever realised the advantage of hands free as much as i would hav during the course of these interviews..i was certainly craving for one), the day had come....Ater repeated persuasions from managers, the unyielding guy that I am managed to make them yield to my request, the promise of immediate onsite to london/US notwithstanding... :-)....Quality of work and the supremacy of the company mattered most to me than a trip that gives me money and nothin else...Not that Money is unimportant, but I can get it anytime....Moreover, I wasnt leaving for peanuts either :-)

More than any1 else, the person whom i found the toughest to convince was my Mom..For a layman/every Indian parent, Infy s up ther in their mind as a demi god among companies :-)...To my Mom, leaving it was nothin less than a fatal mistake and she would for no reason digest my decision to relinquish a trip to california sometime this year...but, bein the sort of guy that i am, i never really cared for these tools of motivation called onsite...I would rather wait for a trip on purpose(may it take longer time) in my new comp :-)

Now....that's not the only transition....My mind has gone thru a transition too....After close to 2 1/2 years, I started thinking seriously about wat I intended to do in my final year of Engineering...I had locked my passion for MBA in one corner of my heart and never gave it a chance to haunt me for over 2.5 years...but, these past few months hav been tough....those dark days of failure in 2003 flashed in my dreams;Those days when i messed up CAT and blew up the chance of getting into xlri in the interview and was in a total disarray wondering wat next....

Infy was an alternative to feel secure...but, little did I know then that Infy would not be a stopgap phase, but a career shaping phase......

After years of work in IT, I have managed to surprise myself with the kind of passion and expertise that I have in the field of networks....somethin that I would have laughed off as a big joke, if someone had asked me about making a career in Networking some 3 years bak :-)

Wat I do, Where I work are all factors that are firmly taking me away from a passion that I had cherished for 10 years.....In comparison...A experience that s lasted these past 3 yrs can easily be superimposed by an ambition that s lived in my heart for over 10 years??? Thats a trillion dollar question that am tryin to answer every day,night,dream and wat not......

After all, life s never devoid of trade offs.....Ones who havent realised it r fewer !!

Wat hasnt changed is the significance that the phrase below has in my life....this was somethin that i told one of my buddies spontaneously and was just bemused at how precisely I had described my own life :-)

It goes this way.."wat i am is somethin i didnt want 2 b and wat i wanted to b is somethin that i am not"......................It has to b seen for how long this phrase is gonna b applicable..May b for life?? or may be not ??? :-)

Officially unofficial !!!!!!!!!

Last night, a discussion about "Ways to converse" in Corporate circles popped up as I was chatting with My roomies and believe me, It was such an intense argument that each of us shared our frustration about the Medium of communication in corporate circles. I didn't have much to say on this because I was totally alien to the the kind of experiences that My roomies were sharing last night.

The discussion kicked off when We discussing about the prospects of one other Guy joining us in our house. That he was a malyali, made one of my roomies feel that he might feel alienated in a house where all of us speak Tamil. I raised a counter argument suggesting that it might not be a problem as all of us were courteous enough to converse in English if at all we have someone who does not understand the language amongst us.

This immediately prompted one of roomies to go blah blah over his experiences off late with a few of his team guys who were just not sensible enough to converse in English when he was amongst them.
[None apart from me knows Hindi in my House]
He was so emotionally conveying how much he had come to detest this senseless approach of a few guys around him. That they had conversed in Hindi even in team meetings was the height of ignorance. It was then that my other roomies also started echoing their views on this. I for some reason had never had a problem while conversing with my team guys. I feel Hindi has allowed me to get more close with the guys around, but it's fine until it's inside those demarcations that make a cube, provided every1 in the cube understands the language. I was shocked to hear from one other roomie that he was time and again being spoken to in Hindi, by people onsite in his team, irrespective of his conveying that he did not follow the language.
I was prompted to think that Hindi was being used as a cover up by people, who had started finding solace in Hindi, to hide their shortcomings in conversing in English. For all the emphasis and trumpet blowing that software companies do about the significance of English speaking skills, they were not managing to achieve that at all. These incidents are standing examples for this.
There have also been incidents where people get so used to conversing just in Hindi that they end up using one too many Hindi words while talking to the Client. That indeed sends a bad signal about the individual, the company and the future of that project's continuation in the company is at stake . It might seem a silly issue, but I guess it is of extreme significance in a world where one slip can cause a huge pit fall.
So much fuss is made about Interpersonal skills, cross cultural skills and wat not during the entire course of one's stint in a software company. All for nothing?? I guess not many have learnt their lessons !!!!!!!!!! It's high time that companies had a serious rethink over this issue and bring about certain measures that will curb people from being unofficial in official circles :-)

Tourists of the Home land !!!!!!!

Such was the awe with which We were gazing at the beauty of our own campus today.

Infosys campus here is one of those biggest campuses around and it would never be required for one to travel from corner to other. Being in the same building that had ATM'S, Travels, Accounts, Finance and Food court next to the building, there has hardly been a necessity to go down to the other end of the campus, where a lot of developments were happening of late.

Today, I for some reason felt like going over to a new Food court at the other side that was started just a few months back and My colleagues accepted it momentarily.
Thus, We strolled towards the new food court there. On our way, My tech lead talked of seeing a stall in open space in that area, some time back, where people were having coffee. One of us had replied It was the CCD. My lead very shockingly replied "What has the CCD(Computer communication department of Infy) got to do with coffee." Well, Didn't his reply trigger a spontaneous outburst of Laughter, that took a while to stop. The reason was that CCD that we referred was "Cafe Coffee day". Yeah, That's the way we call it here....

A small deviation in here. I must say about my coffee drinking habit here. For a person who never touched Coffee for 20 yrs since birth, Coffee is now a part of day to day life. Yeah, Thanks to My team guys, I changed myself(still not sure whether for the Gud or Bad). Invariably,on most days, the lunch ends with a cup of Cappuccino( at the CCD stall closer to our building). We had even become such distinguished customers there that the sales Guy there used to provide me Cappuccino with Honey at no extra cost. I for sure was having a nice time.

Back to the topic on which this article is centered, We had reached the new food court. The variety of dishes in the thali was nothing different from what most of the other food courts serve. But, the quality of the dishes remained to be seen. The restaurant had a very unique architecture and semblance and I was told that it was a revolving Restaurant. Meaning, the roof can actually revolve. There were a series of steel girders and pillars erected from the ground to support the roof. It was not functional atleast for now. I am not sure if they are surely gonna make it a reality in the future. If that be the case, it will be yet another feather on the cap of Infosys, the tourist destination. It already is a place that's becoming a must see for all those visiting Bangalore. Surprisingly, The Development centre in Mysore is even better. It surely is a living heaven. Just wondering, if this is any trick for Employee retention, thereby lessening the Attrition :-) (Attrition is quite a strong word in corporate circles. There is a school of thought that firmly believes that the Quality of a company is not made up it's client base or quality of products, but by the Attrition ratio that prevails there.)

The Food fortunately was tastier and We found it much better than what we have been consuming for months now. At the back of our mind, We certainly knew that this was just an ephemeral delectation. Its such a common phenomenon when staying away from home. No food satiates our taste/Requirements in the longer run :-). The biryani was just too gud. My liking for Papads is so much that some 100 guys like me can actually empty the papads for the day in all the food courts. Though, I would initially bring that many papads, it will not even remain for a few seconds on my plate after I take it to the table. My colleagues will feed on most of them, leaving very few for me. That they don't even care to take papads, hoping that I will bring as many, is enuf evidence to how big a papad crisis I would be creating for all those hapless ones having late lunch :-):-). The sweet was "semiya payasam" and a few raised eyebrows over calling everything payasam down south and called that vermicelli. I was quick to add that it was "Payasam made of vermicelli". I had to convince them that Payasam was just a generic term and there are a variety of dimensions to the same dish based on it's ingredients. What prompted this question from one of my colleagues was that a sweet in liquid form was served yesterday as Onam special dish and was termed "Payasam". That today's vermicelli sweet(as he called it) was more of a semi solid paste caused aspersions over what is the true form of Payasam. Hmm, Now, I am confused too. what should be the true form?? To me whatever be it, it's just fine until it tastes good.

But, What we liked most about this Restaurant was that it was not one of those congested food courts of Infy. It was a food court devoid of queues and space constraint. And it had far more sophisticated tables and chairs, resembling the ones at posh Restaurants in heart of the city. We left the food court after having food, quite satisfied with the overall experience. Then, our attention diverted towards the basement of the same building. From outside, it looked like as though it was a sophisticated version of a tunnel, probably leading to Infy's BPO office 10kms away :-). We decided to explore it further. After all, We knew it would take months for us to come through that side anytime again :-). The Basement had a series of shop like demarcations. Airtel office, ICICI bank, Hair n beauty care saloon, all being part of it. The Beauty saloon is one of the latest additions to Infosys havens. The parlor was open and none in there except for a house keeping staff. We just peeped in to see what was all in there, in the parlor. Just as we were gazing at the interiors and equipments there, the house keeping lady told us, the parlor was a ladies one . Gawddd, Thank God nobody noticed us there. The parlor actually did have a board stating it was for Women, which we had overlooked. We were still having a college like experience in corporate :-).

After we got out of that, a huge Pyramid shaped building attracted our attention. It was the Infosys media centre. It had a small waterbed on both sides of the pathway leading to the entrance of the building. Water was seeping through small pores on the walls of the water bed to a gutter below, giving a feel of walking through a small time cascade on both sides. The Media centre was again empty except for a security Guy. The way we were gazing at it was such that the security guy came and told us that outsiders were not supposed to enter into the building :-). A strange question to a group of guys, among whom none was less than 2 yrs old in the company. But, that s the way we went about our exploration :-).

Our next destination was the CCD that I talked off in the beginning. Just like any other day, this day cannot end without a cup of coffee. It was just that it was a different CCD centre inside the campus. The seating arrangement here again was quite similar to the CCD's anywhere in blr city. The place was also a free smoking zone and it was just the right place for people who smoked. We could also spot a lot of chinkees there. A few new Foreign beauties just for a change, as compared to those that We get to see every other day ;) .

Thereafter, We proceeded towards our building to continue with the days' work and had realized that the walk worked out to be a gud work out in the end.

Thus came to an end, a lunch break that lasted close to 2 hours, and one that could cost Infy a few dollars in it's billing amount, ofcourse if we were to record it in our status reports. After all, there is a provision for it :-)

Unlike me !!!!!!

Tired of being an Extrovert:

I am growing tired of having been an extrovert for years. Had spent years with a reputation/criticism(from a few) for being as much loquacious as I have been.

I have begun to suspect my own abilities to sound serious when It requires me to be serious. Over these past few years I ve only been finding myself get serious for wrong reasons and ridiculous squabbles over trivial issues. But, this is not the seriousness that I enjoy. I wish to possess the kind of seriousness that would command respect from the rest of the crowd that moves along with me. I can understand, I might not find people mingling with me as much in this avatar, if it were to happen. But, I really see myself to enjoy it.

By doing this, I am only gonna give time for myself. Friends, fun and masti will just be part of life, but will not be a compulsion, as the case has been over the past few years.

This wish comes out of a desire to see people around me relate me to those serious,sincere and dedicated characters. The way things are going now, I will always be one to have fun with or crack jokes with. But, I ll never sound or seem an intellect that I wish to become. I need silence and a "live for oneself" attitude to see myself conquering the heights of intellectuality in whatever I speak,do or write.

I wanna start listening to people's views, for which I had hardly given time with my urge to keep talking and the exceptionally fast language.

I want to extract wisdom from the rest of the crowd.

I want my observation sense to be sharpened. Silence will help it in no lesser way.

I want to give a break to people who have found difficulties in conversing or rather listening to a monologue from me.

I wanna spread humour and not originate it.

I wanna spend time reading/writing and not talking. I ve done enough of the latter that I have started to realize the true essence of the former.

I want shock the people I know with my new found obsession for silence and an introvert behavior.

I want people to take my views with as much seriousness as it shud be rather than being laughed off as being just another hilarious comment.

I wanna be a less taxing influence on people whom/whose views I wish to get changed.

I wish to accept people as they are and allow them to mould me, rather than being an influential force in causing transformations in them.

The above is just a wishlist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I WISH I COULD ACHIEVE THAT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As I decide to pen down the last line for this strange wishlist, It seems all too hypothetical and impossible to me. I guess I will only keep wishing all this to happen throughout my life. I really don't see myself getting there :-):-)

Bandipur part - II

Just outside Bangalore, the Tempo stopped for fuelling the tank. Just as that was happening, We noticed a two wheeler's tyre getting burst, while pumping air into the tyres. The boy who pumped the air went pale. But, to his shock and to a greater extent our's too, the owner of the vehicle spoke not a word to the boy and silently pushed off considering the incident as just another accident. I am not sure how many of us would have done that. Atleast, I would have unleashed my anger on that boy and torn him into pieces. But, the damage had been done. No use in cribbing about it. The repair had to be done. The Two wheeler rider's attitude surprised me. But, I thought he was only giving himself enuf time to get the tyre changed. An argument with the bunk guys would have only caused further delay !!!!!!!! Even a person passing by on the road can teach us a lesson or two :-)

More funny was the desription given by one of my team members when he went on to categorize the boy as an "Amateur air filler". Sounds really funny. aint it??:-)

The tempo Moved on. Swades movie songs were playing. Until then, We never realised that We had not consumed anything for Break fast. We slowly started to feel the pinch though. The only thing that we could feed on was the biscuit packet that was kept for the child. It would sound strange and clumsy. But, We knew we'll soon come across a gud restaurant and we can get as many biscuit packets from there. But, for the moment we had to satiate our Hunger with biscuits. We wanted to have food at a lovely restaurant on Blr-Mys highway called "Kamat Lokurchi". This place is just after the famous "Ramghad" village of sholay fame. That was the place were a major part of the film was shot.

Some 1 hour later, We reached the restaurant. It was a lovely place to be in. The costumes worn by the waiters, The ambience of the restaurant and the type of dishes served..... We could feel the nativity that is truly characteristic of this part of the country, in all of them.

2 hours later, We had just gone past Mysore. Mysore is a place that will remain very close to my heart, for, that was the place where I spent the first four months of my career as a software professional. I can't resist sayin "Those were days........." whenever I am reminded of this wonderful city. But thats not the topic here. So, am moving on.

Just as we came closer to Bandipur, We found a subtle change in the climate and it was getting cloudy and the threat of rain was looming large. That would be the worst thing to happen when one goes for a wildlife safari. But, the climate was as pleasant as it gets. The resort we had booked was another 3 kms from the entry point for the sanctuary. Lots and lots of deers on the way .....and the serene location was a photographer's delight. The restaurant in the resort was kept open just for us. So, soon after check in, We proceeded towards the Restaurant. The food was simple and delicious too ..Not surprising this, After all We were paying a huge sum for our stay :-)

The next thing that caught our attention was the Swimming pool. Due to time constraint, We decided to suspend our decision to swim for the time being. After a quick walk around the picturesque resort, We moved on for the Jungle Safari. The type of vehicle chosen was the kind of vehicle that would allow us to move around inside the vehicle and give enuf room for videos and photography.

Just as we entered the forest, I could smell the unique fragrance/smell of a variety of rare flora that could hardly be seen outside. Most often, the focus in any Jungle safari is so much biased towards fauna that We tend to overlook the rich flora that we come across. The climate was really pleasant and cold and that made me enjoy the flora all the more. I might not be the right guy to be commenting on the kind of flora that I came across, but I am quite sure that I did come across a rare breed of them, that I ve never seen before in my life. The safari had lasted for 2 hours. It was a bumpy ride throughout that took us quite deep inside the forest and back out of it. Wild buffaloes, Deers, sambars, Wild squirrels, Kingfishers, peacocks were all over the place.But, the worry that we could not meet an Elephant or a Tiger loomed large in our minds. Considering the fact that the sanctuary boasts of 8500 Elephants, We sure must have been the hapless ones to have not seen an Elephant during the safari. But, overall the safari was a thoroughly enjoyable one. It was all the more enjoyable as I was visiting a forest as dense as that for the very first time.

The moment we were back, We set out to swim. It did seem a li'll crazy to us to be swimmming at 6.30 pm in that cold weather. We kept swimming for close to an hour and Gawd !!!!! Wasn't it getting reallly cold as time passed. It got cold enuf for us to decide against swimming further at 7.30 Pm. We changed over and followed it up with a display of our TT skills. TT needs some special mention here. For a person who had hardly touched TT bats before, I had come a long way in playing tt after joining Infy.

I can't forget my first time experience with TT during my 10th std, when I claimed to be knowing to play TT to my house captain(despite the fact that I had never touched it before :-) ) . Wat followed was a disastrous loss in my first doubles match to an average team. Wat was more disastrous was that We failed to score a point. That my house captain, who partnered me was a champion player, made me the sole culprit for the loss (which I was). My house captain was my big bro's classmate and forgave me for his sake . It s always a nice thing to have a few of u'r folks among the seniors in any institution :-)

But, post Infosys, My TT has got really better. I see myself as an aka Sania Mirza with TT. My winners will be as gud as it gets , but my unforced errors are a disgrace to even a person who plays against :-)

Just as TT started to tire us out, We proceeded for the camp fire. can't ask for more in a cold climate like that. We had a variety of cameras ranging from the lower end ones to the most sophisticated ones. So, it was time for every1 to put their cameras to test, as they tried capturing photographs of the camp fire.

Next to us was another group of foreigners seated, enjoying their campfire. As if to disprove one of my team member's comment "Bandipur mein bandhi hee nahee hai", We did have a few lovely looking grls in that group :-)

The campfire proceeded with lots of jokes and pranks among ourselves. It was time for dinner. We had taken our food items outside and started to have food around the campfire itself. Just as that was happening, Myself and Akash(One other team member) put forth our intentions of waking up early in the morning at 4 o clock and travel down the ooty main road, in tempo, in search of the wild elephants. After all, wat s a wildlife experience without a wild risk :-). People were supportive of the idea, but at the same time were also circumspect about it.

We enquired the Resort Manager and he sounded quite comfortable with the idea and lastly added in a very casual way(as if it was no isssue) that "Please dont press horn and shout inside the tempo or ride past the elephants if u come across any on the highway". I asked him why???? His reply left us pale " Well it's just that the elephants dont like that and might chase u down" Gawd, I was shocked and so were the rest of the guys in the team. He has told such a big thing with absolutely no signs of warning at all. After all, He is no stranger to this part of the country and for him, it is nothing adventurous. But for us, It surely was an adventure that We had never tried before. The next question that popped out from us was what was the likelihood of coming across elephants. He replied in a typically Malyali accent "Elephants are happy now(HeHeHe, I suppose u got the underlying meaning of this very polished statement) . They sure will come down to the highway. "

I was prepared to bite the bullet and made sure that every1 else was ready too. I had put a word to our Tempo driver also about it. Just as decided to bid Gud night for each other, in came another suggestion from the Resort manager asking why were we planning for 4 o clock in the morning. Late night would also be just as much the right time as early morning. Suddenly, People started thinking of going for it that night itself, that would atleast give us a break from waking up early on the next day morning. We immediately fixed our plan and decided to go out that night. Before that, My Pm wanted me to be doubly sure about the Driver's confidence level. When I approached our Driver, he, with a cigar in his mouth, replied in a slightly offhand and superiorly confident manner "Haan haan patha hai, haathi aathi hai, tho kyaaaaaaa???" That was a confident enuf answer for us. So, thus we set out for our wildest experience on the trip yet......But, U guys keep waiting for more updates :-)

A Weekend to Cherish !!!!!!!!!!

I was just back from what's probably the first time, I had gone for an outing(not a party. Parties have been many though) with my Project members. Courtesy a very generous client :-). For long, We had been lamenting over the fact that We could never utilize the amount that our client kept sanctioning for project
parties. Off late, the worry was even more!!!!!!The client had recently approved of 2 project parties/outing per quarter. Though, our initial reaction to this was joyful, the very next moment, what struck us was how We were gonna make it. Because, every time We planned a trip, one of us would always have some engagements and will not be complying with the date suggested.

The responsibility of fixing up dates had always been entrusted on me by my team. Just as I was planning for a Dinner at Le Meridien, I was suggested by my PM that an outing would be a better option. We had spent enuf project parties in Restaurants having food. Why not something special this time. The idea was pretty much welcome. But, wat about the dates?? I had my own suspicions on whether an outing for a Weekend was feasible. But, I was to be wrong this time around. We did manage to fix up a weekend for that. The first time ever that it happened, since the day I got into this project. Andddd, the date was 27-28 of August. The place we chose was BANDIPUR.

There were 3 weeks left for that weekend when we unanimously decided on that Weekend. That gave us time to plan the trip well. I got in touch with a few Resorts and browsed quite a few sites assessing the pros and cons of each of these. That being a long weekend(Friday,26th aug being a holiday for a lot of people), the rush was huge. But, We did manage to get a few rooms booked in a resort called "Tusker trails". A tempo traveler had also been arranged for the same. The best part of this trip was that 3 out of the 9 members, part of the project were joining with their wives, with one of them having a kid, who's just over a year old.

It was a day before the journey(i.e 26th August), the travel plan had been conveyed to everyone. The Cab was supposed to leave from one of my team member's place at 6.30 AM. All of us had got back and were up early in the morning at 5-5.30, hoping to leave by 6.30.

But, that was not to be the case. We were waiting anxiously at our respective residences for the Cab. It was 6.50 and there were no signs of the Cab. I got in touch with the person who was supposed to board first, only to be informed that the Cab had not started from his place itself. Soon after, one other team member had called from Mysore junction to inform his arrival there. He was supposed to board the Cab from there. I pitied him, for the simple fact that, I knew that he would have to wait for atleast 30 more mins, even if I was to assume that I ll be taking the Cab in 5 minutes. But, what I didnt know then was that, the person who had to board first by himself would have to wait for an hour to board it. I was at the height of desperation. All my attempts at calling the travels went in vain as the travels guy was not picking up the call. Finally he did, and gave over the contact number of the driver. Just as I was beginning to get relieved, much to my distress, I found that the driver's mobile was switched off. That was like adding salt to the wound called frustration. After 10 mins, the Driver's mobile was ringing and I was given the information that He would reach the pick up spot in 10 more mins. At 7.30, the Cab started from the first pick up spot. It was 7.35 when I boarded it. By then, My PM had also boarded the Cab. Along with him was his wife and the person who boarded the Cab first.

Our next stop was at a posh Apartments in Jp Nagar. The first thing that one will get to see in that area is the number of Apartments there. There is a whole cloud of Apartments around that place. But, the road leading to that Apartment had one too many pothole to feel comfortable. After a bumpy ride for 5 mins, We reached the Apartments. Two team members with their families and one other colleague were supposed to board there. Just as We were supposed to leave from that place,I suddenly realised that We had forgotten to pick up one other person from a place just before mine. So, that meant travelling back for another 5 kms. All this while, I kept receiving messages and calls from the Guy who was waiting at a place 30 minutes away, at Mysore Road Junction. This time though, He was giving a gud news that one other team member has joined him. We were happy that atleast he is having some company to keep him engaged. Watching the traffic pass through, for hours will be highly agonising.

After picking up the one person We missed, The Cab headed towards Bandipur. On our way We picked up the two guys at the Mysore Road junction. It was around 9.00 Am when that happened. When one of those two said that they were in for some interrogation from a few cops who saw them standing at one place for a long time, We could not help control our laughter. The two guys were spirited enuf to take them with a light heart.

Thus started, our Journey towards Breathtaking Bandipur, A forest dense enuf to help a Brigand rule the forest for close to 20 years :-)...................

No doubt, We were heading towards Bandipur as frustrated souls. It had to be seen if the trip has enuf in store to make us forget the awful morning. Believe me, It did have all the ingredients that would make any trip a lovable,cherishable and enjoyable one.

Keep Visiting http://whizkid81.blogspot.com/ for the remaining and the most interesting part of the story........... Our stay at Bandipur