A journey and settling in!

This time last week, I was still in Hyderabad still not sure about how I would be reaching here. There seemed to be not much options left. My dad wasn't at home and he was also going to come. HE arrives on Saturday morning at 9 in the morning. By that time, we had someone say they could arrange for reservation by some Sampark Kranthi Express leaving at 11 AM. So it was a rush to the station.

Things didn't work out since it was a Saturday and we had to sit in a cramped position near the toilet in a reserved bogie for the whole duration of journey till Bhopal. In between we had a berth given in Nagpur which was useful since my parents used the concept of time-sharing on it. At Nagpur I was able to meet my friends Prasad and Pravin. Then we enter MP and we have quite a reception in the form of a chain-snatching gang almost snatching mom's chain but ma was too alert for any nonsense of that sort. A minute later we heard screams and I came to know of at least 2 people in the compartment whose chains were snatched and a person's whose purse was stolen. Oh the modus operandi was to pull the train chain in some God-forsaken place and then go along the track and capitalise on any opportunities available. That was quite a welcome and has taken away all desire of traveling by train in MP.

We reach Bhopal at 3 in the night(or morning depending on your being a nocturnal creature or not being one). Dad is not well at all. We go to the waiting room and I try to get some medicines but it was in vain. We managed with something in ma's purse and some Limca. At 5:30, we go and engage a cab to Indore. My task being to stay awake in the front seat so that the driver doesn't fall asleep and it was quite a task, since I didn't get to sleep in the train and the previous two days too. We reach Indore at 10 and then life gets real easy. We had lots of family friends taking care of us.

I have a great lunch at a real good hotel in Indore called Sayaji. Do go there if you happen to visit Indore. At 4:30 we start off with the rain pouring heavily. Reach my home for the next 2 years at 5:45. Manage to get my room allotted and after some time my parents leave along with batch mates who managed to get a ride to the city. I go to my room and find that the senior in the room next to mine is an acquaintance from Hyderabad, so that makes the transition easier. I meet some people and then go have dinner. A meeting is scheduled at 11:30 and by the time I sleep for the first time here it was 4!

Then I get my system on Thursday and life has begun in earnest here!(Oh the assignments, meetings and quizzes had already started)

The place is truly beautiful and the joy of watching football matches on the screen in the auditorium is really worth experiencing!!!

Thanks, I am going to IIM-Indore!

This is going to be the last post from this office! I have had news!! I am going to IIM-Indore!!!
It has been real short notice. I came to know yesterday and I am leaving tomorrow!

So there is a lot of work lined up and I won't be able to do all that I have wanted to In case I get into an IIM.

However there are loads of people to thank. Gosh, and I haven't even won the Oscars!

So where do I start? From the obvious: God. It has been one heck of an experience and thanks for it. Then thanks for all those whom He has surrounded me with.

My parents word aren't enough so I would reserve them for others. Then there is Sandeep my brother who does everything at home whenever he is at home so that I don't have to(that he scolds me once in a while is a different thing).
My cousin who was at home when my parents were not there and took care of the house and me during the the CAT session and my Granny too who was a presence.

Then there are friends who asked about how I was preparing (even though they knew I don't do much in that way). Friends who were excited when I got the calls for the interviews and helped me in the preparation. And who had to listen to me when I didn't get a call from anywhere. Who were waiting with me for the final call. I could go on and describe a lot more but this is clearly a case when words are surely not enough.

And even as I type there is a tear in my eye! If they are reading this, great but I guess they would know anyway. I love each one very much.

there are friends from pagalguy with whom I was able to have some great times in a very short time of knowing them. Encouraging me through what has been a tough time! The same applies to friends at office who were great through the time I was with them


Some say I deserve it, there are some who would say that I deserve something better but I know that in more ways than one that it is more than what I deserve. However the people I have around me have played a big role in making all of my life such a great journey that any success I have can rightfully be claimed by them too.

I haven't mentioned any names but each of the persons know who they are! If I make a list it would be a long one with each one contributing in their own way! I would love to do that one day if I ever get around to an autobiography(hehe that was supposed to be funny)!

Thanks everyone!!!

I want to write about ....

There are a lot of things that I want to write about!!!

From the World Cup to the advertisements being shown during the breaks(the adidas ads are real good especially for a football freak with a knowledge of the game's history). The one with Patrick Viera saying 'deja vu' to Ballack has to be the clincher. The other ads in the series too are brilliant.

Football is something which I haven't written about on my blog and considering how much I love the game I think it is pretty amazing that not a single post has made it to the blog yet and this one too is not about football. But I want to write one soon!

Then I wanted to write about a lot of other things, some seemingly trivial but have angles which I consider important and then there are some issues which can be very deeply delved into.

For example I wanted to write a bit about marriage expenses and the good work being done by the Hyderabad Welfare Society. Read the it here(hope the link works, do inform me if it doesn't). While I think that marriages should be very simple but as I think more about the issue and realise the importance of memories I can understand the need for a little bit of pomp(the poor girl in most cases is going to be married only once). So when I read the article the first time round I was a bit skeptical but then realised that it was only through the Society's initiative that these people were able to have marriage which would have been beyond their reach. Hope that these small gestures which might not seem significant on the surface but are vital to the overall well-being of society since it is increases the good-will factor.(Logically it doesn't make as much sense but people are not just rational beings, at times I wonder if they are rational at all).

As I typed out the previous paragraph I had a call on my phone which I ignored and that was from the sales department(or whatever) of HSBC credit cards. While in the beginning I willingly cooperated but their persistence in asking for all sorts of details meant that I decided not to take the card and have not been receiving their calls since a month now(that they still persist is amazing but it is also a sign of desperation to sign on new customers, I wish I could help out that agent by giving him the information but I no longer have the patience to cooperate)

There is one I want to write about the nature of love, the seeming inexplicableness of the whole thing. This being prompted by the death of a boy who was around 10 years old due to tumors in the brain. His parents had to care for him for around 14 months and since I am not mentioning any details here but I just want to express my appreciation, the boy was an adopted one. I was going to write 'I know the pain must be great' but then realised that I don't. My thoughts and prayers at this time are with them and I pray that there are more people of their kind in this world. They would surely be an inspiration to me. And I want to explore more about the nature of love(especially in the broader sense of the word which is much misused to my annoyance).

I want to write a post about my friends each of whom is a special person and write a post each about the best of my friends. They are all pretty precious. Then there is a friend I made during the summer, so I would like to write about meeting people.

There are a lot more things which keep propping up in my mind and I think maybe I should blog about these too.

Now if I wasn't so lazy and if only I had the capability to write all those posts!

Shifting Office Locations

I usually do not crib about things but I have decided to do that now since it would be a different kind of post and I have told a person or two that I am going to do this post.

All was going well at my office, the place was good and the tea breaks even better, till the time they decided to shift locations for my project. We shifted from a building called 'Cyber Pearl' to 'Cyber Towers"(which is what one could consider the face of the IT/ITES industry in Hyderabad, yes it is the round building which you must have seen on TV). Seems a good move? Wait till you hear my story.

It has been a little over a week since we shifted and I still haven't got used to the place and don't like the look of it .
The first thing which goes against Towers is the fact that it is an older building and seems to have been designed to use all the space possible for work.However a deeper inspection would reveal that even that goal isn't fully achieved due to the circular shape of the building which doesn't allow for baloncies on the outside so has to make to imitations of the indoor variety. THe structure being such that it lends itself to being very dark. So much for the architecture, I haven't yet come to the part where the shift has been an irritant and then there is a real tragedy lurking there too.
I am trying to be expressive and lucid but my horror at being in this place doesn't allow me to go through my limited repetoire of words efficiently.First, coming to the machines on which we work, they are the same but we simply don't have the same access previlege to same number of sites. Earlier our project had access to almost everything other than sport and even that could be got on a few newspaper sites. But now they have blocked newspaper, orkut anything you can think of. Even the proxy avoidance scheme doesn't work with proxy avoidance blocked. The height of it has to be "Philanthropies and Charities blocked", Come on , give me a break!(breaks are also a tragedy here as you are about to find out) This has to be a tragic blow for anyone but for someone like me it is an unmitigated disaster which falls beyond measurement by the Richter scale.

Now, if only the place were more convenient, this could have rankled less. But even to take a break and drink a cup of tea one has to hold the cup of tea in the hand and then swipe the card not once but twice, struggling to keep the door open(Try conjuring up images of someone getting to all sorts of shapes just with a cup in one hand, card in the other and the leg try to keep the door open). It is definitely not funny if the door consistenly bangs into the back as you let it go. Once I agree is funny, twice and thrice too but everytime?

And now to the real bad part. You have to swipe twice everytime you have to go to the toilet!!! I mean what about the poor fellow who is in a hurry. I guess I can't elaborate further without being crude so I stop this paragraph right here. And I just remember the facility here is also real poor and the quantity low. So leading to queues at particular points of time. Ok, I stop here. But give me Pearl anyday!

Now the cafeteria! The food is equally pathetic at both places but the resturant downstairs at Pearl was better for the small snacks(However I admit I am yet to explore this place fully).And I have to go to change floors to get there! The cafeteria in the company however is totally insufficient to even hold the employees. The Coffee Day Express doesn't have enough variety of snack. I guess those who know me will surely be feeling sorry for me by now.

And then there are the elevators(or lifts as some would call). They have to be travelled in to be believed that such a variety too exists. There is one which would qualify to be a compartment in the narrow guage railway and it feels that way too. The lifts, because of the number of people are usually crowded and even when you manage to get into the lift, it takes an age to reach the floor you want. There are friends for whom it takes less time to travel from home to the building than from the ground floor to the office. I would recommend the stairs especially during peak hours.

Oh there is still good coming out of it for me! Maybe I would lose weight! Maybe I would work!!!

Thanks for a great time.

This summer has been one which I have thoroughly enjoyed insipid of having to go to office and lingering disappointment which now has stopped surfacing hull's someone brings up the issue. My parents had gone out for most of the time and my brother was at home and we had a whale of a time. My cousin who finished his twelfth had joined us too in the party that we had. While describing all the experiences is beyond my limited abilities and I don't have many pictures to post, there are a few things I would like to mention and a few people I would like to thank.

The reason being the football that we could play. We had this whole gang of around 10 to 12 and Saturday mornings were great. As were Sunday evenings! There could be no greater feeling of freedom and exhilaration than that of playing football in the rain. Absolutely great!!! And to follow that up with servings of mirchi and masala vada, with music accompaniment if one wished for it! I guess I would give more description as I keeping mentioning names.

First up would be Sandeep, my brother who got everyone together and organized and planned everything. From the idea of playing to the trips, most of the things were his ideas. And the best part was the entertainment with football, he was on the opposite team most of the time but I enjoyed being on his team. He almost always scored when he wanted to. I am privileged to have such a brother(I guess there are times when we all have a go at younger siblings but I keep thinking at times I know him even before he was born!)

Then there is Johnson 'the wall'(in footballing terms, so that means that whoever went in against him inevitably had to take the fall, ofcourse there were honorable exceptions which needn't be mentioned here!). He is someone who is always ready to help(and that is the one of the grossest understatements of my life)

Benny, awesome player, can dribble real well and always ready to play. He was willing to come at 12 in the noon just because I had to fulfill my whim of playing football that day as I had some other things lined up for later that evening. Great fun to be with and to quote him as he describes himself, "in one word 'cool'"

Then next on the list would be Vamshi, my brothers school mate and his brother Vimal, who not just added numbers but gave variety to the skill on display.

Sudeep, my cousin, enjoyed his time with us too. The best description I can give is one that an uncle of mine uttered ,"nee voolu antha etkaram"(when translated it means something on the lines of 'your whole body is filled with sarcasm'. He did help with the cooking and stuff around the house. And provided laughter on football field with regular mistakes.Talking of mistakes leads me to Rohit, whose being on the team seemed to boost the opposition but Sandeep did say that he could do a job if given clear instructions. However he is pretty enthusiastic and lends some of the variety needed to make the fun complete.

There was Arpan who joined us 2 times, he got so excited about playing football, he went off to buy a ball without even asking us(that he didn't seem to find it is another matter).

Paul, who played goalkeeper and whose size allowed him to perform a good job, managed to ignore the jibes and provided more entertainment of the comical error variety(ofcourse Rohit and Sudeep would rank way above him but still)

Sam, who was I guess the youngest but never let it show. He joined us on our night together in the house when we had a riot. And he liked to play defence but I think he would useful on the wing too.

Then there is Leena, she has to be seen to believed. Full of energy and towards the end picked up the nuances of football too pretty well. She was usually the last to feel tired and nothing seemed to faze her. Balls hitting her with force, clashing of heads for balls in the air and tackling did seem pretty routine for her. Atta girl! Way to go!!!

Beryl and Chrysolite did join us for the jaunt at Eat Street and the boat ride was fun too.

I seem to have left someone out. Hmm.. He played Defensive Midfield, tried to pass the ball(and was successful once in a while) and in general used to tire easily. However he enjoyed it to the hilt and is grateful for the time he had and would like to thank all involved in making this summer almost as good as the summers in Kotagiri!