Another Milestone!

My last post dates back to 4 weeks back from now. Bad!
Actually the reason is that when I come to office in the morning, I make this plan – today I’ll write about ---- but what can I do? Writer’s block you see! (Can I use such words or is it patented only to big writers?)
I’m bored to death. Office is too boring and I keep saving up little bit of work left so that I can do it the next day to keep myself occupied. Now, if you think that it’s great to laze around in the office, I would like to correct it – It’s really not when you have the constraint of spending 9.5 hours in the office and especially when all your friends are either in a different tower or on leave or gone onsite or are pregnant! ;)
I met Rahana after 2 years when I was going back from office one day. The same as she was in college. After our 10 minute long discussion, I realized that people are really keen in settling down. So many of my classmates are pregnant and many are mothers by now. Life seems to be running off like loose sand. Guys are picking up as well. What I fail to understand is the differentiating factor that we have gained in the last 4 years after college. Except for a well paying job and stay outside home, I don’t find any significant change. And I was thinking till a few years back that 25 is old. It looks like yesterday when I was running around for Nani’s marriage and that actually is 8 years back. At this pace, I fear that I will remain confused as my kids grow up and suddenly when they are over 20, I will sit and think of how I got married as if it was yesterday. Is it the effect of the place where I’m or just the age. I don’t know the reason; all I know is that I do not like this pace. Enough of philosophy, let’s get to more interesting things – I’m getting married!
Marriage – one time in a life time. You have all the liberty to plan and splurge money to your wish – that’s Nami’s advice. Good or bad, I’m spending enough money and time for planning. And that’s what keeps me occupied all these days. After Sreeja left to Mexico, I have all the time in the world to do whatever I wish. Last time when I went home, we finished the most dreadful and painful part (Gold shopping). After that we thought of going to Coimbatore for checking out Sarees. It was a Tuesday and I suppose it’s not a good day for people in TamilNadu to purchase silk. Good for us, we had at least 10 sales girls around us for our assistance. We chose Ganapathy silks and thanks that we did, we have no regrets. It was like a mall with 5 floors. I have heard my friends say that they have sarees of regional taste more but I don’t agree. They have everything, mostly in silk. Only thing is that you have to specifically ask for, sit and choose. What I was amazed at was the price range. You ask it and you get it. You can go to the shop with just 1000 rupees and yet return back after shopping to your hearts satisfaction. Tamilian’s are known for their hospitality. When we were done with the shopping, they kept the sarees for Puja and gave us a big steel thattu with manjal and kunkumam, also a discount of 1000 rupees. And when I was waiting for acha to get the bills cleared off, I had a chance to meet the owner. I was amazed at the way they managed the store. They have fresh stocks coming every week; they have only one branch and 1500 people working in various shifts in the same shop. They have policies laid up clearly. The employees get PF, performance Bonus, they get salary from ATM’s, they have a clear count of Annual and Sick leaves and what not. I admired the owner and the management there as I heard all this from a sales manager there. We had to admit the difference in experience – the previous day, we shopped for lacks in a Jewellery shop and it looked no better than the street market. No matter how high the gold price soar, the place for the yellow metal in a typical Keralite family is very big!

Things that I like in TamilNadu
· Chettinadu cuisine – Non-veg in particular. They are just so spicy.
· Silk sarees – nothing to match the rich colours and intricate works in Kancheepuram silk sarees
· Jasmine flowers – They wear it for all occasions and when it is unadulterated with orange and green additions, they smell so good and are nice to see (Only if they wear it after taking bath ;) and trust me the reverse is not very rare.)
· Their hospitality
· Respect for women
· Their readiness to change and develop
· Their anklets – Only thing is that they end up wearing it for wrong occasions, a client meeting in office for example.

What I dislike
· The turmeric, which is the all time hit moisturizer there.
· The climate

I started with something else and ended up analyzing TamilNadu … great!
I’m waiting for comments…yes yes go ahead ….!!!

Hobbies - Then and now

This is a write up I prepared for a competition in WOW(Women of Wipro). That's a crazy link they provided - I'm not able to submit it ... Despite cutting it short to fit their word count. Baad mein jao competition, here is the complete article as I wrote in the first go.


When does a person actually take time to sit and think about his hobby? Frankly put, I would say when he has to fill up any application forms, and mostly that will be tailored to sound just perfect for the post that is applied for. The hoppy thus becomes professional! It loses its whole definition (The dictionary defines hobby as an activity or interest pursued outside one's regular occupation and engaged in primarily for pleasure). Looking at the fast pace at which the world keeps changing it’s a fact that when people get stuck in the rat race of moving on, they hardly find time to keep track of their interests. The struggle for existence takes priority over ones passion. Hence he has to actually think hard before answering that tricky question – What’s your hobby?

That’s the generic way of putting it. Talking about me, my interests are short lived which I justify as an invincible element of growth. There was a time when philately, currency collection, why even empty matchbox collection fancied me. My day was done if I manage to do a high profit exchange with my classmates and trust me that would be a serious affair and we used to have mediators for each transaction. After I got into my high school, Nancy Drew, Hardy boys and Famous Five took most of my time. That was like an addiction for me. Thanks to my school library, they had the entire collection. My college curriculum put a big loud full spot on my reading. That was when Music fascinated me. I had a brand new CD player and good huge speakers at my disposal. I liked to roam and my two- wheeler gave me all the freedom to roam around in town and most importantly, come home late. Soon after landing up with a comfortable job, my culinary interests took over everything else. I used to spend a lot of time thinking of what to cook in the evening. The liveliness and colors of a big city lured me and I loved going out to eat and shop. When I was suddenly left with lot of money and ample spending options for the same, the shopping freak in me gets all what’s needed. As time passed my definition of travel also expanded its boundaries. I got chances to travel in and out of the country both officially as well as personally.

Now that I have spent four years here, I feel that I have outgrown many of my interests. And as my age demands, I started paying more attention to my fitness and weight. I was never so keen about maintaining good physique but as the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. So I spend a good amount of my time exercising which I enjoy doing. Since I chose aerobics, I don’t feel that as a compulsion. It’s good to move to the fast rhythms and nice to see quick results. And most importantly it’s not an individual item. When coupled with simple yoga postures in the end, it takes care of you mind and body as a whole. It’s not about losing weight, not even about becoming trim – it’s just a feel that you are healthy and fresh. At the end of a session, you feel light and if you take a brisk walk out, it’s just perfect. Every day in the morning, you don’t have to spend 15 minutes of your time juggling in your wardrobe trying to decide which dress to wear for the day that will make you look slim and hide your tummy. After all it’s nice to have a hobby that you love doing with great rewards as bonus.

Apart from that there is one thing that has caught my attention lately - photo collage. I take time to get the pictures printed out, arrange it in stick albums or get it framed with nice tags. And since that has become my gifting trend to almost all the occasions to anyone I know, I get teased enough by my friends. No matter what, everyone will enjoy those rare moments of theirs to be framed. And although it’s a habit with me, it’s always new and special to person receiving it. It’s like going back to your school days when you work with glue sticks and paper cuttings.

Moving on to my next pastime, I have suddenly become a cleanliness jerk! I have always believed in a little amount of mess. When my mother used to scold when I was a kid for not arranging my things properly, I used to say that I love to place all the things messed up around me. It was usual for me to pile and push all my clothes into the wardrobe and close it with maximum pressure before anyone comes to my room just to hide him/her from the horror of the first-look of my room. But things have now started changing, maybe again as I believed, part of growing up. I take time in cleaning up my room, arranging things in place. I love to play the perfect host for a dinner with neatly kept curtains with the guest room spic and span!

I feel that the remnant of a good reader is still in me and I have started to pen down my thoughts in my blog. I update my blog more frequently these days and with more sincerity. Although I started it just like an email-ID, it has more or less become my identity. My readers count has increased and I treat it like a personal diary of mine.

Thanks to my fiancé, I have now started to appreciate some of the all time classics of Hollywood. I was always a passive movie watcher, and the very thought of watching an English movie continuously from start to end without missing a dialogue used to make me feel bored. I started to watch the most popular of English movies and should say, couldn’t just help appreciating them. So these days, I love to spend some time to watch the evergreen classics from time to time.

Apart from all these, I love to walk and to observe people. I no more complain about bus not being on time or the busy traffic since the place around never remains static. The street vendors, the aunty sitting next to me in the bus, the nasty motorcyclist, the unruly rikshaw driver – all become the characters of my instant play. I have overlooked the beauty of all other places, with a simple self judgment that no place can match the beauty of my hometown. Not that I have suddenly changed my mind, but I have opened myself to explore and admire the intricacies of my surroundings.

Above all, I believe in activity. I feel that one should be always busy to avoid any tensions. Choosing a hobby is a personal taste. But to make a healthy individual, one who is physically fit as well as mentally stable, there has to be something happening around him. Each individual has to pursue a hobby of their interest different from their work on a routine basis to maintain the vigor in life - That spark that keeps him going!

Another Classic for the Malayalam Film industry to be proud of - Pazhassi Raja

If the first thing that I do on a fine Monday morning after coming to office is to write a post on the movie ‘Pazhassi Raja’, then you can believe the extent to which it has moved me. I’m spellbound!!!

I know very little of Kerala history for which I comfortably put the blame on my academic curriculum at KV. Many of the short stories in ‘Aithihyamala’ were new to me when I read the English translation of the same recently. And since I have been very little to towns with historic importance within Kerala, I stayed aloof from the supposed to be very familiar sagas of my state. My disability of not being able to read and write my mother tongue was one more cause for the isolation.

I feel pathetic to say this but I started to watch the movie as an alien - One who had no idea of the history of the place where she was born and spent a good majority of her life. Unlike ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha’, this is not a mammooty movie. It’s indeed a good multi-starrer; all are stars in their own way. Sarath Kumar, Manoj K jayan and Padmapriya were at their best. PadmaPriya was so natural in her performance right from the first scene that I didn’t bother to look at any other actor when she is there on screen. She did justice to the action sequences and she looked gorgeous even without makeup. I liked the way Manoj K jayan climbed the trees and his performance when he was brought for hanging in the cage. Sarath Kumar did the fights like any warrior; he moved the sword with ease, his attire was suiting him very well. Mammooty, as expected looked royal in his costume. Although I didn’t like Kaniha in the movie trailers because I thought that she didn’t have that Malayali look, I changed my opinion after watching the movie. She brings in that tender lady touch to the movie without which it would have been very dry.
The songs are all one better than the other. As actor Devan said, this is a movie to be watched by every malayali. This is a movie which I feel will be liked by children and adults, men and women alike. So don’t feel sad about spending 200 rupees, this is to be watched in theatres else you will miss half the thrill for sure!

I am leaving the rest to be filled in by Etta and Sree as they can bring more facts to this…

Year end resolutions

I can see that the frequency of my posts have reduced significantly. At least, there is a pattern - a minimum of one post in a month. The last two months, I feel that I have spent more time at home than in Bangalore... visited 4 times already, all visits for more than 3 days. No smooth sail in the office coz i got thrashed by my HR and my Boss alike for not maintaining my average hours for the second time. When will this policy change!!! I have to seriously consider changing my transport medium. Back to Office shuttle.. God that means get out of hostel by 7:20 in the morning!!!
I changed my work location to another tower and under a new manager. The first noticeable change came in my designation. It does sound better now I should say. It’s time to renew my visiting card ;) This place is very happening. All young people around. Planning for marriage, About to marry, freshly married, expectant mothers, fathers to be, just became fathers - that’s the range of people in the team. Very vibrant, colourful ;) and yes, lots of maska chaska girly talks in the air. Very different from the dry and old gang there in my previous building.
It’s good to see Rose move around with the big belly ... The whole team is considerate with her and gives her enough room to feel comfortable @ office. Our lunch time gossips slowly shifted from who's getting married to whom to who is in which month. I got my ABC corrected in these matters from the starters.
For the first time, my mother looked worried that I'm gaining weight. I should say that I have been a little careless lately and I do feel bloated myself. So my resolution (to be started from Monday)
Don’t miss aerobics/yoga even a day
Strict veggie till mid of December.
get to office by 8:30 in the morning daily
Avoid fried food :(

Win Win Time...

I’m not talking about any competition that I won. The good news is from my workplace. Wipro, TIS won two mega projects thereby adding the revenue to more than 200 million dollars in one go; Great indeed. But the fact that I’m surprised is that we managed to get a treat for that. It was a good change. I got to see the veterans speak, those people whom I had just heard of. I realized that these big shots just deserve to be there. A few have their own unique style, a positive energy in what that speak and do. It’s not in the attire, not in the catchy words they spoke. They spoke plain English in the simplest way one can expect, without blabbering or stammering, complete and to the point.
I felt good that I belong to an organization that is not that scarce of leaders who inspire people just by their presence.
It’s very well said that the success of a person’s career largely depends on the manager under whom he works.

What does Independence Day mean to you?

This text was flashing in the LCD screen as I waited near the lift in my office building on Aug 15, 2009. Despite being a Saturday, I had to come to the office to start fresh some tasks which had to be demonstrated the coming Wednesday. We are good indeed, known for the last minute rush, huge planning, a chain of workarounds and what not – all of it just a couple of days before any serious presentation. But yes, none of our demos even look like our earlier ones. So here I was again in the office preparing for another demo saga.

Did I miss the main thread here? I remember quite clearly the independence days which I had celebrated in different stages of my life. I’m proud of one thing – I never missed to go to school on an Independence Day or a Republic day. No, it’s not for the laddoo they give, but I really liked to dress up in pure white and stand for the assembly singing all the known patriotic songs in varied languages, to prepare the flags and bands the previous night to wear to school for the occasion, to see all the cultural events in school, repeated year after year – same songs, same dress, same teachers – only the faces of the kids change. Every year new set of Gandhis, Chachajis and Bhagath Singhs adore the stage. Still the feel was great. This day has another advantage that both my mom and dad will be at home when we go back home before lunch from school. After that it was a routine to watch Roja(Tamil) for the nth time.

I vividly remember the day when Ji was participating in a fancy dress and she didn’t have anything ready for the day – leave the costume, we didn’t even have a national flag by 11 O’clock in the morning. One hour of rush, four of us stormed in four directions, got the things, draped her in a white saree, did a li’l make up, I painted the flag in a chart paper and by afternoon our Bharat Mata was ready. This was for a competition organized by the railway school if I remember correctly. She didn’t win a prize but we thoroughly enjoyed the back stage activities.

As years passed, the day became less and less activity filled. There was not even a flag hoisting ceremony in our office. Except for the big images of tricolour in the newspapers and of course a few people wearing it in their wrists, there was apparently no change. It was just another day. This is one of the many things that I miss being one among the geek gang. If I was at home, I would have at least noticed a difference. There would be flag hoisting events in every nook n corner. Thanks to the Indian Railways, they have a divisional office in Palakkad and the associated buildings like the Railway school, The Railway hospital, The IOW, All trade Union offices the list goes on. These are the things in close vicinity to my home and I wouldn’t have missed the occasion. At least not the march past followed by the dog show of the RPF (Railway Protection Force).

Now if I sound like a typical IT employee shamelessly complaining about everything I see and still willingly doing the very same thing, I’m sorry.

With all due respect to the legendary freedom fighters, I salute the nation on its 62nd Independence Day. Jai Hind!

Coorg

A good choice for a small outing (min 2 days). We went there last weekend. We were 7 of us and the trip was awesome. The stay was cool and food was amazing….
Just takes 5 hours to reach Coorg (Kushal Nagar being the entry point) from Bangalore. The roads are quite good and we do have decent eat outs on the way. The place as such looks like a small town in Kerala but for the Kannada boards and hoardings. Coorg has to its credit a great choice of Home stays for us to pick. Most of them offer you great scenic ambience in an affordable rate ~ 2k per room per day. The main attraction of these is the food they make suiting the needs of the guest. For people who are interested, they offer local wine that too in affordable rates.

Since we had very less time at our disposal, we chose to make the trip as less hectic as possible.

We started with the Golden Temple in Bylakuppe which is a big Tibetian Monastery. It is in Kushal Nagar itself. The road which leads to the temple is fully surrounded by corn fields. You feel like you are in Tibet. Bylakuppe has several Buddhist viharas, (temples)
The inhabitants, the hotels, the shops, things which they sell, the names of shops and hotels will be more in their style. You will be able to spot monks from Kushal Nagar junction itself.

The Monastery is really huge with accommodation facility on request. It is the second largest Tibetan settlement outside the mountain kingdom, the first being Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, where the Dalai Lama lives. And you will be able to see their prayers and rituals if you go in the right time. Language is a big problem as they won’t understand a single word of English (I badly wanted to take a snap with one of them, but didn’t know how to ask.) Most of them will give a hearty welcoming smile and that’s it.
A little bit of googling will reveal that there inhabitants there are not the actual citizens of India and that they will have to renew their residence permit every year. They are just Tibetian refugees in exile and are taken care of by the Government of Tibet. It’s good to see the bright colors and golden paints flashing from everywhere once you get into the temple. Their walls are covered with paintings and roofs are colored gold. They have the custom of lighting lamps; their prayed are echoed by rhythmic subtle beats. Everything around including the attire of the monk is bright and colourful. Once you get out of the temple, you have enough shopping outlets where you can get classic Tibetian souvenirs.

Abbey falls – not the biggest or the largest, but since we went in the monsoon season, the water flow was very high and it looked really majestic. It’s around 10 Kms from Madikeri. The waterfall could be seen only from a distance from the hanging bridge since the pathway down was closed ---safety first!

Rajah’s Seat is a small garden offering great scenic view especially the sunset. Legend has it that the local kings of Coorg spent their leisure time here watching the sunset. But since we went in the late morning, we missed the sun set but it really gave a good view from top.

Dubare Elephant Camp Coorg – This is an elephant camp which has close to 150 elephants. We didn’t get inside - No one who has for once seen Guruvayoor Aanakotta would dare to go anywhere else just to see Indian elephants. Beside this camp flows the river Kaveri where you can do river rafting. Now that’s something that we missed but there should be something to do when you go there the next time!

Nisargadhama, a wild life sanctuary is a good spot not to be missed (Beware, there will be monkeys that might scare you). You have resorts inside the sanctuary and it’s nice to see the bamboos neatly grouped giving a good path way to venture through.

We were done for the day after all this and had to start back home. But this trip was indeed a memorable one. Not to mention the Dump charade, the best being Agrahaarathile kazhudha, Kalli chellamma, pakshe and avan chandiyude makan

Nami’s dialogue over the dinner table – the besttttest. For security reasons, I’m not publishing it here. None of us will forget it very soon, especially Kiran, alle Kiran? ;)

Akkru – the best performer. You held the spirits high throughout the trip!!!

Jisha – I have said this before but now in front of a larger audience – you are the best accountant and will continue to be our Finance manager in future.

So I leave the rest for others to complete …

Just like that ...

I have not yet decided on a particular topic to scribble down in this post. It’s just that I’m left with nothing interesting to do on a Monday morning and just decided to write anything that comes to my mind. Oh yes, I was thinking about autobiographies. I believe that only people who have the habit of writing diaries can one day think about writing an autobiography. Otherwise how the hell are they able to remember all the intricate details of a person/incident? Diary writing is something I cherish a lot, attempted quite a number of times and finally decided that it’s not my cup of tea. Well the main reason being the fact that I didn’t feel that I will ever be able to confide everything what I think when I write. Alas, what’s the point in stuffing up hidden meanings in a beautifully crafted sentence just because someone might end up turning the pages of your secret chamber?

Last weekend was another usual one. No happenings. Decided to meet old school pals but thanks to the hartal, I was forced to sit in my room. So once again - movie, movie and again movie. Started with Shakespeare-MA Malayalam, then Sarvam, the Notebook and Love Actually.

Shakespeare-MA Malayalam : It’s more of a drama than a movie. Avoid.

Sarvam – I took the CD assuming that it would be a not very popular Surya movie.
The side view of Arya in that green shirt which appears in the movie poster makes him look very similar to Surya. But the movie as such didn’t disappoint me. It started as any usual Tamil movie – pathetic comedy and stupid romance. But I got very curious when the heroine dies in the first half and after that it’s interesting. Arya’s movies have a minimum standard I believe…. Except for his voice of course!

The Notebook – I rather not dare to comment on a classic like this. Having read Nicholas Sparks four novels, I had a minimum level of expectation set on my mind. I find his writings to be total filmy kind. And I had heard enough reviews from friends about this. This one is really worth a watch – A very cute love story.

Love Actually – Complete Masala. To be watched with friends.

And did I mention anywhere that I saw Love Aaj Kal last weekend. A time pass movie with great songs. Was really shocked to find that the Punjabi kudi in that movie is actually a Brazilian Model. She looks very much Indian.

So that’s all from me for now, but keep watching – I’m gonna come with a BIG writeup on our Coorg holiday.

Thank God - It's Monday!

For the first time in the past three years I waited impatiently for a Monday. No, no, it’s not the salary day. It just happened that I was jailed in my tiny hostel room for a complete weekend. I had rented out my IPOD to its actual owner, My Lappy charger blew off and I can’t switch it on now, there is no TV in my room, and the book I was reading was one of its kind. I would be the first to pass such a nasty comment for the winner of the Booker of booker but really Saleem bhai, you forced it out of me. I don’t think that the author could have stretched the book to one more page. You can safely skip a chapter or two and you won’t notice the break in the storyline at all. If you say that is the beauty of the book, well maybe I should look down and search for my kind of books – Big font, fast moving, easy writing and present age ones. Ok I’m not here to write a book review. I just wanna pen down my feelings on a Happy Monday – Yes Monday’s can be good!

Saturday morning I got up with a blocked nose. One need not switch on the TV or turn the newspaper pages these days to know the variations in Bangalore climate. So I took two DVD’s from the video library and started one after the other. Alas, it was only past 12 and I had no clue on what to be done for the rest of the day. I called up my dentist for a date. My earlier post would have given a hint as to how much I look forward for a visit to a dental clinic L. Well, that was in any way better than slogging in my room. After that I walked all around koramangala, did some shopping, and came back by 6. I got tired of walking and took my sleeping pill – Yes, the book. The next day I went out for breakfast, came back, saw another movie – Videsh, Heaven on Earth. That was enough to spoil the day and to compensate for that I watched another movie (after having lunch also from out) - Calcutta news -must say – I liked it! Evening, I took a long stroll and again ate local snacks from all the street vendors.

Finally after all the adventure and out of experience, I’m with a list of things which you can do on an ideal weekend.

1. Try out all the forgotten yoga postures one after the other taking breaks in between
2. Think of all occasions in the near future and splurge money on gifts
3. Discover all the eating outlets in your neighborhood and in each of that, the best item.
4. Did you think that pedicure is boring – Try it out patiently, believe me you’ll enjoy it
5. Who said you can take bath only once in a day? Try twice – it’s refreshing you know!
6. Play scrabble alone, win-win situation!
7. Clean up your room.

I’ll keep adding to this….

This is angry me writing this post ...

Ya I know, I know – this is not the place to write about official etiquette. But recently I’m getting so pissed when I come across some mails without a salutation.
When you send an official mail, be it an answer to a question or a simple comment, it should have a “Hi so-nd-so” inevitably in the beginning. At least that’s what I feel. Come on, putting someone’s name is not a time consuming activity!

Anzac Oatmeal Cookies

The ordeal of staying in office when there is no big work on your head in itself is really a tough job you see. And to escape the boredom, I have started eating ... really a lot. When the weighing machine showed a figure > 60, I easily blamed it on the machine. Come on ! that's really a scary number !

So with utmost dedication and vigour, I'm attending my aerobics classes regularly. But I just can't help munching. And yes, my aerobics tutor told me that it's always better to keep eating in small quantity frequently. Being a really good student, I'm following her advice strictly. And this long trial and error approach for the best snack led me to this superb thing - Anzac's Oatmeal Cookies.

When Sree told me that Asha's 1 year old kid Kunjan eats this (and only this) as his breakfast, lunch and dinner, I thought of giving it a try - just to check what's so special about it.
But should tell you - its simply too good. I never liked Oats but this one is too good. Try it with tea and you'll love it.

First is FIRST

Be it sweet or bitter, the first experience is something we hold close to our heart. First job, first trip abroad, first love, first kiss, first drink etc; the list is endless.

So when I am sitting here in my office cubicle very tactfully stealing some time from my supposed to be working hours just below the nose of my manager, a volley of sweet memories are rushing to my mind. This is the same place where I “worked” for the first time I landed in my job and I can feel heaviness in my heart and couldn’t help myself jotting it down.

My first few days in Wipro: Those were days of fun, everything was new. We were just like few kids out of college and office looked more or less like an outing except for the serious grave figures who were spotted occasionally passing the corridor moving around in their own world unaware of the surroundings and talking to themselves.

I remembered Sreeja passing a comment “Why is that none here are smiling?”

The canteens and lawns were the hot spots. I kept hearing words like bench and free pool lest did I understand what they actually meant. The cafeteria discussion was confined to choosing the most affordable prepaid card dealer – the affordable here meant hundreds of free messages. Once back from home town, the first thing to do was to book train tickets for the next trip and a trip actually meant 5 days of restless wait and reparation. Suddenly all the new faces whom I had met for the first time in my lives and shared a month of training became my world in this fancy land. I felt strange and wondered how people ate, dressed, talked on phone. It was like so much money pushed to my hands and very less to do in office. One weekend here meant a trip to Commercial Street, lunch from MAS and games in PG. I was happy to live in the new world and everyone around were happy.

Silly stupid things looks more funny now like the whole gang of some 50 rushing to use the proximity card for the first time on a door access card reader, mistaking it to be the one that marked your attendance and each one returning happily watching the green light glow with a beep!

Today am sitting here, back in the same tower and floor. When I see young people moving around here, feel like warning them -”Watch out guys… We are the veterans here”

The Small saplings which were planted then have become big to be called trees. Smoking corner is no more there and there is a small juice junction. The COE lab which was once our kingdom looks very deserted now. The chairs are arranged neatly and nothings scribbled on the white board. No songs put aloud and no demo fumes over anyone’s heads. The conference room next to the lab is titled “WAR ROOM” - I wonder whether someone really went there. There is undue silence here and people looked really busy. Being a wing that handles round the clock support projects, there a very few people at a time in the wing – that meant less noise and mess.

It’s a great feel. Wipro has given me some good friends, a comfortable and smooth work experience and a bunch of sweet memories.

Everything is the same. We still have all the fun that we used to have. We still laugh our hearts out over silly jokes.

Only the gang is missing!

Kichu Stories - Part 1

Being the youngest one in the family, Krishna or kichu as we call her is the most pampered one. I’m talking about my 10 year old first cousin. Her funny stories are worth enough to be compiled into a book.

This incident dates back to some 2 years.

After a movie, we went to a restaurant to have our lunch. The ambience and the menu in itself was not really welcoming. But since my mom is very skeptical about girls roaming around and eating out alone, we settled to a not so good OK kinda restaurant very close to the theatre.

Menu was of no use since nothing in that was ready there or will be ready if we wait. To add to the horror, the waiter seemed all the more confused and he ended up serving Chicken Manchurian in the place of Chicken Lollypop and Ghee rice in the place of Fried rice.
When we came out we were so frustrated that we didn’t actually feel like offering any tip. Still for the namesake we carefully placed a 2 rupee coin inside the booklet that he gave us and hurried to the exit.

Kichu was the last one to get out and she noticed that we have left a brand new 2 rupee coin there !!!

She took it and yelled out aloud “Raichi, you forgot to take the balance!”

All we could think of at that time was – ESCAPE

Zoozooz - Aren't they Cute????

For those who keep teasing me for waiting for these commercials which comes in between IPL and watching them more carefully than the match itself - JFYI there are more than 50,000 fans registered for Zoozoo's in facebook.

(As for IPL, sometimes... err ... most of the times I will be unaware of even the teams involved... All I'll notice is ... Yes... Shah Rukh is in a denim blue shirt, Shilpa has come with her sis to watch the match, and Cheer leaders are more energetic and ... you know .... than yesterday !!!)

So friends, a big round of applause for Prakash Varma(Nirvana Films) and the gang of Girls from Mumbai for bringing Zoozoo's to life.... clap clap clap !!!

Well, I understand that I am not delivering a vote of thanks but cant help it you see !!!

Amchi Mumbai on the receiving end of a great chunk of good publicity - Thanks to Danny Boyle and Vodafone.

How can you just afford to just skip these ads.... they are so Chweet...as you might say !!

Now to the facts - Blame it on the recession, but Vodafone's pockets were also wiped out. Indeed necessity is the mother of invention and here came Zoozoo - the genie.

ZooZoo says :

• It took only 3 weeks for my creation
• I have foam stuck in my costume
• I'm big ( a human head will reach only up to my mouth )
• I was shot in Cape Town
• And I let only ladies and children drive me ;-)

Vodafone rocks - Not in good service, also not in value for money service but their ambassadors are (and were) the best.

Way to go ...

Are you in your Quarter?

Do you experience any/some/all of the below symptoms?

• Feel insecure
• Feel that all the people around you are selfish
• dissatisfied with job
• judge yourself with others actions
• scared/feel alone/confused
• Your past has become very dear to you and you feel like its drifting away from you faster
• Settling down is your top priority
• think a companion for life is better than a hundred in the shack
• talk with your friends about the same topics

Dont Panic... Nothing's wrong with you... All in their twenties feel the same and sceintifically, it is termed - Quarter-life Crisis

Gibraltar Airport : A wonder

Gibraltar Airport is one of the few Class A airports in the world and it has the distinction of being the the closest airport to the city that it serves, being only 500 metres from Gibraltar's city centre. (NOTE: For those who dont know, Gibraltar is a small sweet country near Spain )


The airport here is owned by the Ministry of Defence for use by the Royal Air Force as RAF Gibraltar. Civilian operators use the airport; currently the only scheduled flights operate to the United Kingdom and Spain.


The airport was constructed during World War II , when Gibraltar was an important naval base for the British. Originally opened in 1939, it was only an emergency airfield for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. However, Spain also had a great hold in this airport since it claimed to be in its soil. On September 18 2006 the Córdoba Accord was signed by the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Spain and Gibraltar. This ended all discriminatory restrictions on civilian flights to Gibraltar Airport, including the prohibition of flights over Spanish soil, and exclusion of Gibraltar from all EU agreements on air transport, allowing civilian flights from all nations into Gibraltar Airport.

So that's a brief history of the place. Now the wonder here is ... wait ... see for yourself ...

And from the top ....

FWD: Vanilla ice cream

Well, as part the geek gang, we keep receiving some nice forwards which are you know worth keeping safe ... So just thought of collecting the good Junk in my blog...

A complaint was received by the Pontiac Division of General Motors:

'This is the second time I have written to you, and I don't blame you for not answering me, because I sounded crazy, but it is a fact that we have a tradition in our family of Ice-Cream for dessert after dinner each night, but the kind of ice cream varies so, every night, after we've eaten, the whole family votes on which kind of ice cream we should have and I drive down to the store to get it. It's also a fact that I recently purchased a new Pontiac and since then my trips to the store have created a problem..... You see, every time I buy a vanilla ice-cream, when I start back from the store my car won't start. If I get any other kind of ice cream, the car starts just fine. I want you to know I'm serious about this question, no matter how silly it sounds "What is there about a Pontiac that makes it not start when I get vanilla ice cream, and easy to start whenever I get any other kind?"

The Pontiac President was understandably skeptical about the letter, but sent an Engineer to check it out anyway. The latter was surprised to be greeted by a successful, obviously well educated man in a fine neighborhood. He had arranged to meet the man just after dinner time, so the two hopped into the car and drove to the ice cream store. It was vanilla ice cream that night and, sure enough, after they came back to the car, it wouldn't start. The Engineer returned for three more nights. The first night, they got chocolate. The car started. The second night, he got strawberry. The car started. The third night he ordered vanilla. The car failed to start. Now the engineer, being a logical man, refused to believe that this man's car was allergic to vanilla ice cream. He arranged, therefore, to continue his visits for as long as it took to solve the problem. And toward this end he began to take notes: He jotted down all sorts of data: time of day, type of gas uses, time to drive back and forth etc. In a short time, he had a clue: the man took less time to buy vanilla than any other flavor. Why? The answer was in the layout of the store. Vanilla, being the most popular flavor, was in a separate case at the front of the store for quick pickup. All the other flavors were kept in the back of the store at a different counter where it took considerably longer to check out the flavor.

Now, the question for the Engineer was why the car wouldn't start when it took less time.

Eureka - Time was now the problem - not the vanilla ice cream!!!!

The engineer quickly came up with the answer: "vapor lock". It was happening every night; but the extra time taken to get the other flavors allowed the engine to cool down sufficiently to start. When the man got vanilla, the engine was still too hot for the vapor lock to dissipate.

Even crazy looking problems are sometimes real and all problems seem to be simple only when we find the solution, with cool thinking.

The elephant funda...

I was just going through a video which Sreeja forwarded me early in the morning. It’s about an elephant running to a jeep to crash it down when the driver switches on the head lights bright enough to scare the poor animal!!!
Elephant stories are very interesting to read and I being from Kerala have a natural affection towards these gigantic species. Watching an elephant standing tall with its majestic posture adorned with all its jewels is something so royal that stays in your memories. A festival, what more to say, even a visit to Guruvayoor is not complete if you don’t spot an elephant nearby.
They are the heroes of all the festivals. They are kid's favorites. They will make your heads turn just by walking on the road.
Well, the reason why I started to write about elephants is that I remembered a similar incident which my dad’s friend - Yusuf Uncle mentioned once when he came to our house.
He was a Loco Pilot and was in duty once in the Coimbatore to Palakkad road. In this route is the dense forest of Walayar which is home for quite a number of wild elephants.
It was night time when the Goods train with 65 bogies was crossing Walayar. From a long distance Uncle could see our hero watching the bright lights of the engine. Either it was scared or it had enough courage to face the brightly lit enemy that it didn’t budge from the centre of the track. Uncle tried in vain all the possible methods to move the animal – he put the headlights into high beam and also started blowing the horn. He tried applying brakes but the air brake system in trains will take quite some time before it comes to a halt. Now it was too much for our hero to tolerate and it started attacking back. Nothing was in uncle's hands now and he had to witness the train pushing the elephant forward and it in turn relentlessly resisting it. After some while the train came to a halt and by this time our poor elephant had already developed some wounds in its legs.
He didn’t block the way for a long time and lifted himself and started moving on accepting the defeat as a hero. Uncle was left with a mixed emotion of terror and guilt.
I have heard from many other railway staff that it pains the most when you have to witness the train running down an animal than any humans for the animals like cattle who aimlessly wander through the railway tracks will be amused to see the lights being flashed on them and will keep looking at it with great excitement lest will they be aware of the impending danger. Humans on the other hand would be completely conscious and would have gathered enough mental vigor to end their life – the very act which demands no compassion.

Celebrations

The idle mind is a devils workshop and I guess mine has turned into one. life is monotonous to a good extend and there is nothing interesting happening in work. So I go the way life takes me without much plans for tomorrow.
The above 3 lines may sound like I am one depressed soul roaming in a big city like hundreds. I'am just bored, tired of doing the same things over and over again.

For people to be happy, there should be something to look forward to.Common set of ambitions that rule anyone starting a career will be to earn money, get a house, car, get married, have children and settle down. No disputes, I myself have all these.
But there are some short term things that really drives your day. Like going home after a long gap, your pals birthday, planning for a friends wedding,gifts, much awaited outing, meeting an old buddy...
Well as Rejin told me the other day, my blog sound like the silly fantasies of a stupid girl. I am with you Rejin. These are the traits mostly seen in girls. And according to me these are the things which keeps you going.
OK...coming back to what I was saying. April is a very active month in my calender.Lot of birthdays...which includes mine too.Now that explains why the people with same sunsign go together.

To start with my sis
She turns 20 this year.Its difficult to realise that she has crossed her teens.I can feel to a good extend the anxiety of a parental heart - its strange!!! Ji, I wish you all the good fortune and happiness for the years to come. The most importand era your life starts here - All the best Molu

To my dad
Acha, prayers for your good health and happiness. Will do my best to wipe out those worry lines from your forehead !

To Seeja,
May this be the last birthday away from Akkru. May there be more poovars in the coming year. May the weigh scale and hospital visits stay under control.

To Nami,
Wishing you good health And hoping to hear a gr8 news !!!

To Divya D
Celebrate the last birthday of its kind to the fullest.

To Rejin
Wish you great luck in shares and also in finding someone to manage that !!!

To Sooraj,
Knowing you, Iam waiting for that news to come in with a very short notice.

These were just a set of birthdays, there are more ...

To Lakshmi and Arun
As you start to celebrate a new life of togetherness, wishing you all the wonderful moments that you have dreamed of.May the long wait end with bright colours paving way to new dreams...

To Divya B,
Wish you a great marriage and a superb life to follow that.

To Uncle and Aunty,
As you complete 30 years of companionship, wishing your togetherness to last forever.May the years that follow fill your heart and home with the warmth and happiness that you have always wanted.

To Sivakumar uncle and Jeejaunty: May this year bring good health and well-being to all at home and give a hundred reasons to rejoice and celebrate. Happy Anniversary !!!

April is indeed an eventful month for me!!!

RC Tragedy!!

Of all the treatments that I have undergone, (to those who are not aware I have had a bulk of my share in the past few months) I find the oral ones the most deadly. The last time when I said goodbye to my dentist back in my hometown, I had made a silent resolution that I will take proper care of my teeth and gums just to avoid visiting a dentist again.

So when I sensed that a cavity is comfortably growing in the left rear end of my mouth, I got ultra-alert!!! I was left with no choice - Prevention is better than cure and that thought made me immediately book an appointment with the nearby doc. I just thought that there will be a little patching up required and everything will be fine on track.

The doctor made me feel easy and had a close look at the hole. He had a bad news. In fact the worst that I could think of at that time, the inevitable - yes, you have guessed it right! its RCT. My mind raced thru a sudden flashback and reminded me of all the menace.

He just told me "Am sorry for this, it will be a little painful" - God!! Those three injections in my gums nearly took my life. The war had begun...

The ordeal of keeping your mouth wide open in the most awkward position for hours at a stretch is really something dreadful. You will get to see all deadly tiny needles going in and out of your mouth. This is after the initial groundwork of drilling and grinding. They say that your teeth will go numb and you won’t feel the pain. But these things have more to do with your emotional side. In the end, what they do is to kill your tooth, rip the nerve off, fill the hole with a needle, patch the remaining area with some metal kinda thing and finally put a neat ceramic crown on top and while all this is happening, you stay there fully conscious and helpless.

So moral of the story - Take good care of your teeth or else you are sure to have some great fun - on the unpleasant side!

Two mistakes in a week!

Firstly a big sorry to Mr. Bhagat for stealing his bestseller‘s title. As the header explains I found myself falling prey to silly stupid things, twice in a row.
As any Software Engineer, I didn’t have many plans for the weekend except to hang out with friends, wash tones of clothes, have good food and finally sleep all day. But this list was all that was needed to carry away my long awaited 48 hours of bliss.
I was pondering over the things to be done when I got a call from a friend of mine. In fact she was not just a friend, but the principal of a reputed school to whom I am obliged to in certain way. She called me to attend a business talk @ her school and wanted me to take my friends also. I thought and thought and felt like OK let me give this a chance. God knows… this might change my line of work as she claimed!!
I succeeded in convincing a friend of mine and both of us managed to get to the venue on time. But then we found only a handful people there. After waiting for almost an hour, the session started. The person who did the presentation looked somewhat odd. He looked awkward in his loosely stitched suit and came with a bundle of books on management. Since we didn’t have a hint of what he is gonna speak about, we patiently sat down to listen, constantly monitoring our wrist watches. He talked and talked and talked about various growth prospects in business and tempted, rather tried to lure the gathering to acquire lump sum through “Smart business strategies”. Needless to say, he had enough case studies and examples. After another one hour of beating round the bush, he came to the point. He was to talk about Chain marketing and guess what - it was about AMWAY. God! All that we could think of that time was a reason to get out!!!. To add to the comedy the guy started playing with numbers and started saying absurd facts. Thanks to my friend and thanks to her short temper I didn’t have to do anything. She just walked out of the hall. Now what do I do? Hiding all inhibitions I stood up, passed a stupid comment to my dear Principal and followed my friend. The rest of our day was spent brooding over our stupidity.
Just after 2 days, I got another phone call. Why is that all stupid things start with phone? This time it was different. The person on the other end was very excited and for me the call also was exciting initially. She said that I have been selected on a lucky draw and that I have won many prizes – one holiday with family in Singapore, one Kitchen ware worth 4000, two days stay in their 5 star resorts and so on. I never knew I was this lucky and then we talked for another half an hour regarding her club and various tempting offers. I came jumping to my ODC and told them the exciting news. Was I funny?? I didn’t know… I got confused coz all them were laughing their hearts out. It had only to do with the name – Country Club. Well I realized that it was not just me. In fact I was the last among the crowd to receive such a call! This was another way to tempt people to take membership which almost will cost the entire offer!