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!
Tuesday 12 May 2009
Thursday 7 May 2009
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
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 !!!)
(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 ....
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.
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.
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