Trip with Friends

Heyaaa! Long time, no write..right? Right. I have the same feeling. This blog might not have happened and I would have maintained a distance from the 'Pensee' page if my cousin had not asked me to write something on the topic - 'Trip with friends' for some vocal test he had to undertake. I was wondering, since the request was made, whether I've drafted something regarding the trip I've had with friends and memories of which I cherish a lot. Some of trips that are close to my heart are -
a) To Manali during college time, 
b) To Solan for college placements, and
c) To Lonavla during 1st year in office.
Now, as happens always, I'm recalling more and more trips from the past and God! they were all awesome! The one that I originally intended to write about was the trip to Manali but that idea got trumped by the one to Lonavla. Wait, now Lonavla has a couple of contenders - one where we went to Guhagar and another is the one where we went to Kashid beach.  I'm unsure about which one to write..ummmm..let's do Lonavla, a trip that had a lot of 'firsts'.

Monsoon 2010 had arrived in Mumbai. It wasn't my first encounter with Mumbai rains, which have a special place in my heart ever since I stepped in maximum city in 2009. My project team had many "new" recruits and we built a special bond very quickly. I think that was primarily because Project was still new and there were lot of things to learn so we struggled equally. Also, we're all of same age, almost. Team had 7 members - Sudhir, Mohnish, Reena, Shuchi, Aastha, Divya and myself. One Friday, a plan was made impromptu and we decided to rent a Tata Sumo and drive to Lonavla and from there to a fort named Koraigarh. It was one of the fort of great Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Mohnish and I were flatmates and we left our place at 7 AM to reach the designated pickup point. Sudhir was the wingman since he was a localite and he had prior experience of trekking  to many hills and forts in Western Ghats. Soon after we boarded, we were joined by Reena, Shuchi and Aastha. Divya boarded last. Everytime someone boarded he or she was welcomed with a loud cheer from the occupants of the car. Boarding completed and we finally set off the journey. We were on the Mumbai Pune expressway sooner than we expected. We're told that this highway is notorious for the accidents, especially in monsoon season. We cared a little since we had an experienced driver and we had instructed him against over-speeding. It had only been half an hour since we touched the expressway rains started  and our joy doubled. The scenery around the expressway was breathtaking. There was greenery everywhere, mountains were laden with thick green cover, streams came down the hillocks like a waterfall. I was overwhelmed with the beauty outside and company of friends inside. Rain stopped however overcast remained. Thick black cloud cover suggested that heavier rainfall is imminent. We sang songs, played games and pulled each others legs during the journey. We made couple of halts midway to click photographs and make videos. It all looked serene and picturesque. In 3 hours time we reached 'Tiger Point', one of the famous tourist attractions in Lonavla. Clouds touched our faces. For me, these were all new experiences and I was thrilled. It was cold out there and it rained for a while so we're soaked. Hot cup of tea and Parle G biscuits were a welcome relief. We stayed there for about an hour and clicked lots of pictures. Girls made lot of poses and we did not miss any opportunity of photo bombing, It was fun!

From 'Tiger Point' we started our drive to the fort and in no time we reached the point from which we had to start the trekking. Trekking was a first for me, before this I had not even climbed a tree let alone climbing up the hills. I was wearing a pair of sandals -  not an ideal gear for trekking, but who cared. The fort looked quite high at the start of the journey and I was wondering if the climb to the top and descend back to the car would be possible in 4 hours, but we're bunch of enthusiastic youth riding high on adrenaline rush. We took off and in about 50 minutes climb we're at the entry gate of the fort. Each step in the stairs were quite high. These must have been designed for horsemen, Mohnish, brainiest among us and civil engineer by education, reckoned. We were welcomed at the gate by a small waterfall, spell of rain and a gang of monkeys. We soaked ourselves in the waterfall, clicked more pictures and went inside the fort. God! the place was magical! Although in ruins now, with a little imagination, we could establish the magnanimity of the place in its time from whatever was left. There was greenery everywhere. Mosses were grown on the rocks owing to the rain and made them very slippery. We roamed around, had a round of refreshments and enjoyed the scenery around. Amitabh Bachhan pose, Titanic pose and James Bond 007 pose were quite famous and lots of groupies and selfies were clicked. Everybody wanted to capture as much of the nature, surrounding and the moment as possible. While we're still at the fort, we discovered that there is a narrow walkway to the farther end of the fort which had a beautiful view and had a well. Our curiosity grew, but we're aware of danger as well so we looked up to Sudhir to decide for us. He decided to go there and check the claims and place, if is is approachable for us newbies, were correct.. When he came back, response was affirmative. We decided to explore that corner of the fort as well. With little difficulty we're in the not-much-visited part of the fort. It was the good decision and we're in front of the most beautiful view I had ever seen. I wished if time could stop and I remain in this place forever.

We started our descent and were at the bottom of the hill right on time. There was smile on everybody's face and not a single person looked tired. We could have stayed longer if the time permitted. I think we might have climbed the mountain again, if anyone had floated that idea. We got into our car and drove towards Mumbai. It grew dark by the time we entered Mumbai. When Mohnish and I got out of the car we realized we had developed cramps and could barely walk. I think the cramp and the pain were because we walked too much in a single stretch without being in any habit of walking, owing to our sedentary lifestyles in corporate job. Although the pain remained for couple of days it was all worth it. When the pictures of the trip were shared, every other team in the project wished if they were part of this trip. Snaps were all captured perfectly by Sudhir, the photographer, the planner and the wingman.

It has been a pleasure moment and remembering it after 9 years was a good blast from the past! I hope I get into habit of blogging more often. Let's see. I've the first and one for 2018 at least.

Biryani would never taste the same!

Death - Cruel (might or might not be), certain, a truth, has taken away the man who had introduced Biryani to me. Kushaal Singh, who had provided the lip smacking combination of Chicken Biryani and Egg Curry last night is no more. He had a cardiac arrest about 4 hours back, while he was having a hearty laughter session with a gang of colleagues on a busy market road. He could not survive.

I'm still coming to terms with the truth. His wife lifes in Pauri-Garhwal, I'm not sure if she has been made aware of the news. His working son is traveling from Mumbai after hearing the news. His another son studying in 7th standard cried uncontrolably. I'm thinking about the younger son right now, while he would be thinking of his departed father there is no other family member to console him. I'm thinking about the son, who's taking a maiden flight to his place in Delhi, the longest-fastest journey ever. The journey of the widow from the village in the Himalayas to the capital city. 36 hours long jouney during which she a thousand memories would come to life and die. The void, the hollow, the vaccuum which will never be filled again, ever. Is this the reason why death is called cruel? But, it's a truth as well.

      My means of introduction to him were minimal, in fact I don't remember seeing him ever. No one from the Annexy that I know of meets the description provided by my mother about the departed. But I do know him one way. The name flashing on my father's mobile 'Kushaal Singh'. Last I "heard" of him was yesterday to confirm the delivery of last night's dinner to our place. During the call between him and my father, I was insisting my father to ask dinner's menu to be delivered for lunch, which Kushaal Singh had declined with a smile and insisted items to be served for dinner. We got mutton instead, for the lunch.

I'm thinking the contact from which no further calls will be made. The person who always cared to ask if there is no "order" for tonight. He, who, prepared the cutlet with the choicest of the dry fruits. He, who, prepared every food with so much love and passion. He, who, has fed us sumptuous Biryani several times. He, who, introduced world of Hyderabadi cuisine to me. He, who, I would never see again.

May your soul rest in peace - The great Khansamah!
 

Long Time..No see!

It has been really long since I opened blogger to draft something.

The charm is gone for some reason. I hardly use Google Talk, GMail, Orkut! Ohh good Orkut! You're  the so good in those days.

A lot of thoughts are rushing and I unfortunately don't have time to write them all.


September 30th 2014 marked a closure of a couple of things which I intended to "see" for one last time, probably. One certainly is Orkut. When I visited the page yesterday, it had already locked down on the user profiles. Only public communities contents could be seen.

Another item was CAT'14. It occured to me today morning that CAT'14 should be taken this time having read one newspaper article about there is still time left for prep! No sooner than I visited the page, I found September 30,2014 laughing at my face.

Need to end this abrupt post here. I'm falling short of words, time and creativity.

Reason

I saw this reasoning question in one of the slides I was going through at random. It's quite intriguing:
Chris is 6’7”, 300 pounds, has 12 tattoos, was a champion pro wrestler, owns nine pit bulls and has been arrested for beating a man with a chain.
Is Chris more likely to be a man or a woman?
A motorcycle gang member or a priest?

Turning tables?!

In one of my previous post, I mentioned about the girl who made me feel all jittery for her prompt answers while I was still trying to get hold of the question. The same girl performed the same act, in the same class but after 4 months, again!With less than 2 months to go for the exam and this being my 'last' attempt for CAT the situation is far from ok, let aside good.
In Quant section, I can't say I'm confident but I'm confortable. My verbal sucks though and DI is all luck based for me. It's not actually luck per say, it's lack of practise. Things will click if I'm trained enough to appreciate/anticipate/comprehend the number presented in front of me.

To get motivation I often reminisce about the way I went about standard 1oth exam. Mathematics then, became my food, sleep, drink and everything. I could solve any given problem easily and time limit. It was sheer practice and eventually things turned around, given that fact that I hardly scored anywhere above 50 in Maths in class 9th.

Practice is the way to go, seriously. Preparation timetables is 'drafted' and posted on the desktop and implementation also remained on the desktop! With hardly anytime left, a good and informed usage of the available material is to be made. Go with a BRUTE FORCE! Try it. It WORKS!

The day of achievement

Yesterday, July 30, 2011 was the day of achievement because

• We(Biji, Kiran, Reshma, Priyanka, Sud, Hitendra, Akshat and I) went to Lohgarh despite I being not very well.


• I could successfully move songs to a folder in my phone that automatically make them available to be used as an alarm tone. Earlier I used to move them phone memory first and later move to a folder in it. This time it was just one move command in the memory card and the job was done!


• I found the answer to my using a surname of 'Rao' and yet not being a South India. I'm quite excited about it!


• I once again finished a medium size pizza, half of which was a cheese burst by myself. Yesterday's meal was all junk - 4-5 packets of Chips and wafers, 1 plate poha, 3 cups of tea, 1 Parle G biscuit, 2 McAloo (i call them makalu tikki) and a pizza McPuff and about a litre of Coke.

I'm happy of the 'feat'!

I'm Rao and I'm not a South Indian

I know the secret of being a 'Rao' and yet not a South Indian. Ohh!! My my. I had been giving 'made up' answer for umpteen times the question of my being a 'Rao' and yet being a 'Bhaiyya' ( a Bombay slang for people from UP and Bihar, states from Northern India), was asked.
I had gone to Lohgarh fort (Lonawala) today. Awesome trip it was! I could have enjoyed it more had I been better, healthwise. I must thank this trip and questions it left me with which led to google for the Lohgarh fort , then Shivaji and later Maharana Pratap (a legendary Kshatriya warrior from Rajasthan, a Northern state in India). Through this post on Wikipedia I found out that Maharana Pratap was referred to as a 'Rao' by a poet of his time. I'm copying the text from Wikipedia, just to save you the trouble of opening a different page:

The letter from Prithviraj Rathod sent to Pratap in poetic language, ran like this.

Patal sun Patshah, bole mukh hunta bayan
Mihir picham dis mahn, uge kasap rao ut
Patakun munchyan pan, ke patakun nij tan karad
' Dije likh Deewan,in do mahali bat ik


(The mouth of Pratap has begun to say "Badshah". O Rao! has the sun started rising in the West, as well? Should I keep my hand over my mustache or should my body fall with my own hands? Write, O Deewan! to give an answer choosing between the two.)

Pratap replied to this letter like this.

Turak kahasi turakado, in mukh sun Ikling
Uge jya hi ugasi, prachi bich Patang
Khushi hunt Peethal Kamadh, patako munchyan pan
Jete hai pachatan Pato, kilama sir kewan


(Lord Eklingji will always make my mouth call him "Turk". The sun will rise in the east always. O Prithviraj Rathod be happy and put your hand over your moustache. Till Pratap stands on his feet, his sword will keep hovering over the heads of the invaders.)


My great granfathers moved from Chanderi district in Rajasthan to UP very long back. I am sure that explains the us being using a title 'Rao', which was carried by them to the land of UP and since then the select clans use 'Rao' as their surnames. Many branches of Kshatriyas have emerged since the migration, a few prominent among them are - Singh, Shahi and Pal. Great thing is I found the conceptualy derived answer to the question. My answers will no longer be derived from 'titles in English times'.

This session of blogging was interrupted by a 'perfect within 30 minutes' of Pizza delivery, pizza can wait.

The one where Bai reads a Playboy

I woke up in hurry as I was late in getting up. Alarms went unheard. I didn't mend my bed afterwards and everything was left where they were. I got ready, packed my bag and left when time showed little less than 7 am.
I came back from office. I saw a different bed altogether. Everything was in place the Playboy magazine folded nice and proper in one side of the bed. I didn't realise it at that time, but later while I was going to sleep, it struck and struck real good! Who mend my bed?
Gosh! I was the Bai, she very did it. I was embarrassed for the fact that she had always seen TIME on my bed which is now replaced by TITS and busty naked babes. Did she love it? What would have been her reaction? I don't know for sure but the way magazine was kept, that does suggest a lot of things.
I have hidden the magazine in one of the corners, depriving Bai of her 'good times'. Call me good or call me bad for the action but Playboys' are men's recreation.

Voice is deceptive.

Listening to a female radio jockey..what is the one thought that come to my mind? Is she as beautiful as her voice? In most(rather all) the answer is NO. Female RJs are no Vidya Balan of 'Lagey Raho Munnabhai'. Reel life is indeed reel life which bears no resemblence to real word.

Why should I be cursing female RJs only having seen a live example a moments ago, when all my hopes came crashing down! Ohh my God! how sweet the voice was..I just could not put the receiver down after talking to her. I wished the calls were longer and not ending. I guess she felt the same..since I was the caller only a couple of times. My subtle/soothing voice did do some trick and without disappointment [smiling]. Now that I've used the great Facebook I realize that.....chhod yaar kya likhu..bas itna samajh lo ki katt gaya. Had she been the one whom I had been thinking her to be, it would still have been tolerable. I was witty, I was funny, I was considerate and what not..hoping for the best but....Now I need to be in check in the next conversation - no masala(or flirting) included.

There is another instance where I heard another voice, no appealing, hissing, attracting everybody's attention for being different, not in the positive sense. Yet when I actually relaized that this was the voice of a beautifully intelligent girl whose mention can be found in another post of mine, I was amazed.

I feel the strong urge to chalk a rule, with exceptions certainly a possibility that:

1. 
   
   Don't go by the voice - Although advised by many and learnt by experiences, I'm not sure if I can save myself from falling in the trap.


2. 
   
   Do check the source of the voice - The voice is deceptive..no rule can actually be formulated on that.

A session with Sir Parvez

Title so because I treat him in high regards.
Having feeling not very good about my work environment these days, I tried to have a discussion with Parvez about the work life. I really won't like to elaborate much but gist can certainly be put here, before I go onto jot down key takeaways. I feel I'm too loaded these days, get no credit for the work I do, rather someone else is taking the credit and I do not feel enthusiatic about the work anymore. Thus I got into discussion with sir and I was 'enlightened'.

1. Prioritize - My per day work gets revised after every couple of hours and yet I'm expected to do all of them, whatever told whenever told. Sir advised to prioritize the task by asking upfront from the supervisor and telling timelines for each of the task. This way both, the supervisor and I will have a fair idea of the deliverables of a day and I'll have clear goals. Also keep a track of the work I do so that when September comes I've a ready reckoner.

2. Goals - Not idealistic but realistic. These days, while I 'prepare' for CAT, I set goals way ahead of my reach and end up shunning the preparing activity altogether. Getting up at 4 am is no way possible nor is study for 2 hours straight after coming back by 9 pm, at least not for the start. Start with something achievable say an hour in morning and build up on that. With not much time left, it's better to get a start or else the expectation/determination may die very early because of the magnitude of the task.

3. Involve - Sir could assess that it's the unsatisfaction at some level for the troubled soul. 'Twas the not getting credit/recognition in the current work scenario. I was asked to get involved in DU activity/Project PPA activity, Testing forums, white paper activity etc. This along with helping in getting recognition will also help in moderation and CAMS!

There is one more, I wish I could recollect it, but my eyes are burdened with sleep, plus I need to sleep 'early' (12 midnight already!) to get early.
One point before I go to sleep - A colleague of mine got into US and other got the visa. I got nothing. Not that I regret it, I miss it. There could be missing dot. Connecting...

Bak**od that I'm

Having atttended achievers' meet at a college, organised by TIME it was expected from me to study sincerely for all this remaining time of Sunday.
I'm sorry to say..but the inspiration has not materialzed till now. I came back having absorbed good enough knowledge and adsorb a few witty lines used by the speaker, who in appearance had a striking resemblance to a combination of one girl who went to IIM-A and another guy, from her batch, with whom I went for IBM off campus.
Once I was back I felt the desire to have something to eat, not out of hunger of course. I ate 2 Maggi, prepared with diligence. I watched TV..did a couple of 'exercise' and every other stuff but study.
I had burrowed the laptop from Nishant sir to start my RC prep. ROFL -Really?! I ask myself as I type this. The answer is YES. I did borrow it for studies. I just happened to check the yahoo mail.then gmail then office email and later facebook without realizing when the 2 mintute browing turned into hours of unproductive activity. When, about 5 minutes ago, it actually struck me to start the prep, I thought I should document the bakchodi events of today and thus I browsed Blogger as well!
I'm feeling sleepy now. I feel I should sleep. It's the best way to make dreams come true.

आज बाई आई है

आज मेरा दिन बन गया
आज बाई आई है
घर सज गया, खाना बन गया
आज बाई आई है
कपडे धुल गए, तह हो गए
आज बाई आई है

आज करीब एक हफ्ते के दुःख के बाद बाई आई और हमारे घर में खुशियों की बहार छा गयी। ना ही कपडे धोने की टेंशन न खाना बनाने की। मैं घर आया तो देखा सब कुछ बदल चुका था। इतनी ख़ुशी है की काफी कुछ लिखने का मन है, लेकिन थकान इतनी की हिम्मत नहीं होती..सुबह ५:३० का उठा हुआ हूँ। कैट जो ना कराये सो थोडा है।
आज क्लास में थोड़ी लग गयी मेरी, कोई competitor मिल गयी है मुझे। दो सवाल ऐसे आये जो मैंने बार बार गलत सोल्व किये। मैं ये सोच के संतुष्ट था की, ठीक है किसी का भी answer नहीं आ रहा है तो question ही फाडू होगा। लेकिन फिर उस बंदी ने मुंह खोला और दोनों answer सही बता दिए। मेरी इतनी फटी सिर्फ उसकी आवाज़ से, उस कांफिडेंस से, की मेरी हिम्मत ही नहीं हुई की उसको पलट के देखूं। खैर ऐसे देखना भी awkward लगता। पूरे रास्ते मैं इसी टेंशन में था, एक बंदी ने क्लास में मेरी supremacy की धज्जियाँ उड़ा दी थी..वो भी quant की क्लास में।

मुझे ऑफिस जाने के लिए आजकल २ ट्रेन बदलनी पड़ती है। सुख के दिन अब ख़त्म होते दिख रहे हैं। वो सुबह की ऑफिस की बस का आराम अब लोकल के धक्कों ने ले लिया है। But it is fun! My office is cool. SEZ में काम करने का अपना ही मज़ा है। बड़ा compound बड़ी बड़ी बिल्डिंग, बीच में हरियाली..awesome..आज मुझे कंप्यूटर भी मिल गया। पिछले २ दिन से मैं सिर्फ किताबो में टाइम काट रहा था..Now I've a PC to work on and I must say some actual work is lined up for months to come.
I'd given ASDA yesterday and as the result says..I've cleared it.

Week# 17

Sitting by the window with a calm breeze over my face surrounded by sound of a passing train and relatively quiter environment (since I live next to CG's plant) I write this post detailing activites of past 48 hours. I feel the need to put the date so as to keep a track..since there will many 48 hours in coming days, I might loose track! It is May 1, 2011 today.
Friday was no 'period' day..it was one of the 3 days of a week on which I can have non veg and drinks. I had eggs, the best I could do on that day and for the pupose of drinking I had KF. I was having a beer after a very very long time and no wonder as soon as I has it I felt the suroor, the effect. It got me slowly and never got any less till I dozed off. Although I tried to convince myself and others a zillion times that beer can't get me high, but it did. What vodka and whiskey failed to do beer did! The friday ended easy. I got off the dinner and went straight to bed. Saturday morning was lazy and late..I got up at 7 then slep again till hunger woke me up again at 11 am.
One cistern was lying dysfunctional since the time I joined this place and its repair was getting postponed since we could do with one. As they day 'necessity is the mother of invention' but it was 'emergency' that triggered the necessity to do some invention about cistern and I repaired it. I'm such an (jugaadu) engineer. I had Maggi+Cereals as my breakfast and I slept again. When I got up I set for CST to get some handy oldies (books) that I was longing to read. The journey was good! Central line have some classic stations - Chinchpokli, Byculla et al. scu typical names! The names make me love this city more. CST's architecture is majestic. I love the building. While searching for the book stores I reached Hutatma Chowk, which I had always wanted to visit and always confused it with some other crossing near Churchgate. It is advisable to visit Fort side whenever one visits Bombay. While enjoying the beauty of the place and with a feeling that I was moving on a wrong path I reached the place where I intended to reach. I bought 5 books..all were a good deal. Later I went to Marine drive, met Cock there. He is to leave Bombay on May 3 after completing his stint at Jamnalal Bajaj. We had some overpriced Pav Bhaji and returned.
Sunday was a early start and I continued an attempt to finish - 'It's not about the bike'..I'm still behind the schedule and a lot I must say. Afternoon was all about sleep and and lunch. Later in the evening, after a long long time Nishant sir and I played gully cricket. I was fun.

Events - Confused Chronology

Things have changed a lot since I last used this page..cliche, but true. The following would contain a few stories which will enter my head as I type about happenings in the recent days or months.
Onsite - USA
I was lined up for the role in Philadelphia, US. So excited I was that I spread the news around leaving only a few whom I had lost touch with. The process started in December 2009 and took it's course for around 6 weeks and I was set for interview with Mumbai consulate in February 2011. The consulate was up with some infrastrcuture upgarde and had postponed the interviews for H and L category till indefinite time. I saw the notice and forgot about scheduling it at another consulate/embassy. One fine day in March my manager asked about the progress with the interview! That nudge reminded me of an option of rescheduling the interview at some place - Delhi/Madras/Hyderabad. Delhi embassy was the obvious choice for a. I would be at my place b. I had heard 'rejection rate' is lesser in Delhi compared to Bombay consulate. I was happy when the date was fixed, April 5, 2011. Earlier, I was, in my mind and otherwise, USA ready. Not be interpreted incorrectly, I intended I was ready to move to US and not feel short of anything as in a place to live, food to eat, basic emenities to survive and of course dress for the occasion. I had seen at least 100 houses on rent, virtually traversed every possible road around the office and fixed upon routes from those 100 would be 'home' to the work site. Travel plans, daily routines and all other 'activities' were listed already. All this effort was done because I was sure in my mind/attitude that I'll make it. For the interview, I had been following a site for the success stories on visas and prepared about 50 questions and their answers for the interview. I think I was prepared enough.
With high hopes, confidence and required documents I left for Delhi on April 1, 2011. On the interview day, I was brimming with confidence. I chose the best pair of tailored shirt I have and the perfectly fitting pants. I was looking smart! Daddy had to take my uncle to a doctor so a car was called from the taxi service to take me to the embassy. I collected the documents, seeked everybody's blessings and left. I didn't take much time and I reached there. There was a queue and many others on the other side of the road waiting to be the part of the queue. My heart was pouncing but my face showed confidence. I walked with confidence not to make myself feel better but with the intention to shake confidence of others present there. Why I thought that others confidence would be shaken? I'm not sure. Anyways, I entered in when my turn came. The whole process happened - token number collected, documents rearranged, fees deposited, fingerprints taken then wait started for the interview. My turn after half an hour and I went to the window. First question asked..while I was answering I was asked about the client and that was it. Past 30 seconds and I was told visa denied. I asked - Why? I was told to wait for a minute and I was given a blue form and asked to apply again. I walked back confidently not showing any grimace. for I did not want the 'outside' world to know about my unsuccessful stint. I could do so successfully because I had not registered to me till then that I was denied a visa.
I came back to Bombay and since then life is a roller coaster. The project is not decided nor the fate regarding the onsite oppotunity.

House Shift
Vibhu and Rohit hadgiven notice of exit to the company, I was lined up for USA and Karthik had already left in June last year so all the legitimate renters were to leave in a month. There were a few others who were living with us they agreed to move out as well. Thus we gave the notice to the landlord about out plans to vacating the flat. Everything was fine and I left, in hight spirits, for the visa interview. It was unsucessful and A-8's (previous flat) move out deal had been inked. I had to look for a flat before vacating A-8 since US was off the table for at least 6 months. Living with other flatmates from previous flat was an option since they had found a place for themselves in a building nearby and had offered me to stay with them. I had different plans though. I was looking for the flat where I do not get involved in brokerage and do not have to pay the security deposit. I was also looking for some flat near Airoli where, in near future, my new office would likely be. Abhinav told me about his and others plan to get the new flat's deal inked and that reminded me of house hunting which I had pushed to bak of my mind because of laziness. I frantically opened the classifieds at Accenture India's website and zeroed in on 3 prospects. I decided to see every flat before deciding upon any one. I first started with the one in Marol which was quite close to my current office. The size/condition and the attitude of the people living in the flat turned me off completely. I was quite worried on starting with a 'disappointment'. I wished others do not turn out to be like the previous one. Next day I saw one in Kanjur Marg and other in Bhandup. I was delighted to see the flat in Kanjur, it was spacious, airy and nice people. There were ACs in the one I checked in Bhandup but there were ASEs (freshers) as well. Not mature enough and college attitude these lad had. Thus Kanjur became the obvious choice and I happily moved in there. It's airy, spacious and I got relieved of the worries of cleaning of any sort be it clothes or flat itself plus no worries about food as well. Maid does it all! I'm drafting this piece while sitting besides the window lying down on a mattress on a floor. As the breeze flow in the words are flowing out and getting saved on this pages! This is how I always wanted to write. I also, sometimes, imagine myself enjoy studying like this as well. I hope this becomes reality!

The Accident
March 12,2011 - Mohnish has gone for daaru party at Adtiya sir's place and he was taken to a makeshift idli shop at Sakinaka junction by Aditya at 3 am. Mohnish, I believe relished the taste so much that the next day when he returned he persuaded Vibhu and I to visit that place. By 2 am we were ready. I was dressed in shorts others wore their gears. I, as always, asked for bike keys and was reluctantly given by Mohnish. While he handed me the keys he doubted my driving skills. I told him that by now I'm pro and I've an experience of driving 50,000 kilometers. I'm not that convinced him..but I was driving the bike and that was inportant. We got the fuel and we started. No sooner we started than we encountered a truck standing horizontaly in the middle of the road. I manuvered successfully. This must have made Mohnish trust my biking abilites, I thought. It was downhill from there and although accelator was not pushed enough bike had gained speed. We crossed the Holy Spirit hospital and a gaurd there shouted at us seeing three of us on a bike speeding in wee hours of morning. We had gone more than a 100 meter from the hospital when I saw a speedbreaker. Fearing the fact that Vibhu will fall off because of the jumo at the speed breaker. I applied both the breaks, in front and at the back. It was disc brake, of which I had zero experience. My eyes were closed by then all three of us were in air. When my opened I found myself getting skidded on the roadside and bike skidding even faster and going to the other side. When I got up I first checked if my face and my head are intact as we were not wearing any helmets. I was ok on my upper parts. I went to check the damage I had caused to others. I was satisfied for the fact that I was the one with most bruises, nothing serious though, quantity had won over quality of bruises!
I drove the bike back to the hospital, more with the sense of responsibility and compulsion and least with the free will. Mohnish and Vibhu took an auto. First aid was given and some magic spray was sprayed. Fuck! I yelled 2 seconds after it was applied on the first wound. That burnt more than acid and that too when applied on a fresh wound, several layer of skin below the surface. I was finally done with spray and stiches and others turn came. They felt the same pain, I was relieved for the fact that I didn't act like girl and the spray actually caused a lot..a lot of pain! I tried to flirt with the docotor on duty but she didn't buy it. Seeing this attempt Vibhu and Mohnish burst into laughter and I smiled. I was happy..all was well.
When we came back sleeping was the biggest problem. There was no position left which I was aware in which I could sleep. I managed however. Later in the day I was sure that I need to go to Delhi for proper care and medication. I left the same night and Vibhu next day. My parents got suspicious on my sudden plan of arriving and I had to tell them about the accident although I didn't reveal the seriousness. I was going to Delhi anyway so I left on them to judge how badly I was hurt.
My family came on airport, my younger brother, Abhijeet, was totally unaware of any of the happenings..when he saw me crippling he came rushing and took bag off me. I was asked thousand reasons for driving bike at 3 am! I wish I could lie but my medical report from Bombay mentioned the time sp no success there. I did not let the reason out for my driving the bike at 3 am and certainly not the fact the we were three on a bike. I had covered all my wounds to mirage the stiches as well, which however, was revealed but it saved me during my first 30 mintues in Delhi. I recooperated well, celebrated Holi and come back to Bombay with just one wound to heal.

These were a few events that happened and were not captured in any of the posts. There certainly are a few more which will be covered in later series.

The great day - Saturday, January 15, 2011

Having cursed in the first post of the year..2011..this is kind of an attempt to lighten up the mood; through a new blog and some reminiscence.
I guess it was by mistake, that we received a discount coupon from Domino's which had some real offers. The coupon we received, when we enquired, came to know, is not the ones that every one receives and are sent to the loyal customers via courier. We were lucky!
I had prepared khichdi that day in afternoon and being a khichdi lover I overate and slept for good 4 hours. I got up at 7pm and I was all hungry again and that's when Vibhu and I decided to use up the lucky coupon. We order a 'Gourmet' and 'Farm fresh' pizzas..of which one was free, courtesy coupon. Order came on time, alas! we missed the chance for free pizza. We paid and opened the box to find that we were delivered pizza of same kind...I called Domino's guy to tell them of their mistake..and they promised to deliver right order in next 30 mins. We started to gorge on one of the pizzas..smell was irrestibale and in no time it was over while there was still some time left for the replacement pizza. We waited..waited and waited before we opened the pizza we had kept for replacement...I called up Domino's and demanded a free pizza since they didn't provide replacemnt in 30 mins. To my surprise, I won the third (replacemnt) pizza for free!! It was one hell of a night..we had 3 pizzas for the price of one and we managed to keep the coupon intact on which we had asked for the offer!
Later in the night..as my facebook status said..Vibhu and I went for victory lap to juhu, bandra, marine drive, aarey colony and powai lake! btw..aarey at 4 was as fun and chilly as it has always been...Fuck! was the only word that came out of my mouth all the way through dark..in a way dense and very cold forest! It was fun.

Fucked up!

I'm so fucked up at this moment because of this behench*d bihari girl!..she's sick. I'm not sure why am I tolerating all the shit from her for past 3 months now. She irritates me with the regular humming of some hindi scores..i agree she has a nice voice..but what the fuck! You are not supposed to sing in your work bay!
What happened just now, totaly blew my mind off..the other way. We were assigned some task..and we had to provide the details EOD(end of the day). Being an intelligent foolish I decided to tell her the best way to provide the detail and seek answers to any queries, and being ignorant bitch she didn't pay heed to them. Consequence is I'm writing this blog all fuming, justified in every way.
I want perfection in my work..the 'work' work..and not other stuff! I can't and will not tolerate any slippages on that.
The other reason for my finally bursting is because she has been eating my share of performance points in the past, plus, I had to share credit for the work I did sitting continuously for 12 hours and I skipping my lunch for a month while she was all bakchodi.
I guess I'm done abusing..the bihari gal will have to do some listening, all in corporate lingo, of what I just said above. For actual 'lessons' I would recommend this post.

This day - Today, Dec 13, 2010

I was so charged when I got up this morning that I had decided to write about how wonderful my day was. And here I'm writing the content with sleepy eyes and not much of a interest. Reason being overworked, over tensed and what not!

When I woke up I knew what was in my kitty today and I had estimated the time it would take to finish my task and do miscellaneous though important organizational work. I had planned to start with learning 'Python', a language that might give an edge over others in coming interviews. But could do none..besides doing my work I had to do other's job as well. Shuchi is sick and did not come so I had to take up her's as well. On the flipside, people(and I) may think, it is a good oppotunity to learn new things, but UAT is no good time for experimentation. I had my time for it now it's passed. Now it's either do the thing or get some anal-ysis of work.

It could have been worse had i not been fed with some great namkeen, sweets and chcoloates from various people who came back from their vacations. At work I also got unprecedented support from Siebel application team. Thanks a ton guys! Without your support I would have vanished. - I took a pause midway to thank Siebel guys using office portal -

Another pause...got a call from my manager..regarding an email we have just received from a senior executive! Super awesome day! I say so because I feel proud and good when I get into this pressure cooker situation..the only problem is..most of the time I land unprepared.
This is a very abruot ending I know but I'll get the other bad things happened in the day with something good to happen.

What I achieved today!

I have found a song which got erased from my phone's memory long back : Sarina Paris' - Look at us!
Just a second ago I realised why I got an idea to get this song..somehow. Last night, I had a dream, I saw shukla, she's been in my mind for some reason for past couple of days. This song, I must have mentioend in previous blogs, reminds me of the rain, the meeting with her after very very long period. No wonder why I wanted to hear this song so badly once I woke up this morning. Human brain! I believe I did do some causal analysis!
I've been missing from this page(my blog) for quite a time. Last post was written good 2 months back that too with a depressing content. Lot of good things have hapenned since then! I've been to Delhi twice. I've received 400+ performance points. I probably gained a couple of kilograms. Since McDonalds has opened next to our office...I don't see me loosing any but gaining a few more. I met a wonderful person from US, courtesy - Vibhu's friend's colleague, John Mark. I got a taste of Jagermeister(spelled as, yager-meitzer) or Jager Bomb (Jager + Red Bull) - one word to describe it is-awesome. We've got 8 bit video game to play - Contra/Mario/Pacman/ Duck hunt/ Tennis..I can't name all, the cassette contains staggering 999999 games! And I attended Ruchika's wedding - it tops it all! It is one of the selective pleasure moments. To see a girl who you went to school with, in a wedding dress (as I write, I smile), was an amazing feeling.
Very wonderful things are lined up as well..Year end I'll be in Delhi. I've so many friends to meet I haven't met in a long time. Vijay(friend from Tagore), Selyucus(FAPS), Madhur, Ghosh Vaibhav, Rahul et al. (JIIT). I might give certain interviews too. But for that I need to prepare my resume and I'm off to do that..bbye..Cheers and in John's word - B*******ds. He offered us Jager we offered some Hindi gyan.

Tough times at Work

I had been thinking of inking the thought running through my head for a very long time. I could not do it for the simple reason that I'm lazy..for the same reason I missed out on writing about my memorable trip to Solan and later placement in TCS..the whole process. Anyways, I'm writing about the happenings, lately, which I've been thinking to write about since Tuesday, Sept 14th.
Last week on thursday at my work, I was asked to make a tool work, which, actually, I was supposed to use for the testing, once provided built.
I didn't ahve to start from scratch and I had the basic prototype yet I struggled the whole day with query. Ila and Sud provided a great deal of help..without them I would not have moved a single step since the making and working of the tool was all about playing with query and data. I have had bad bad experiences with DBMS, so much so that I was on the verge of being thrown out of Accenture had I not 'asked for help' or re-re-re-exam wouldn't have been simplest. The tool requiring queries and stuff, made the job difficult. My Thursday, last week, was completely devoted to this activity. Siebel team had no work to do on that day..btw post thursday Sept 9th our team size reduced to 3 and has now, reduced to 2, with Dholak being rolled out today. I'll miss her badly. Ab mera khoon kaun jalayega?
I was the only one surviving from the Lodestar and thus started my struggle. Before that..since tool did not complete on Thursday..I was asked to work on the same on Monday as well..while testing environment was down due to data migration. I was loaded with work and Siebel testing team had a good time..no work! Having involved Ila and Sud already so much on Thursday I didnt want to consume their day in something I was assigned to work upon. I had also gained some sense about the approach I was to follow to make the thing work. Thanks to Mori's insight on the query on Thursday evening and discussion with Vibhu later in the night.On the Monday eve..it was a Eureka moment the tool got made..I tested it..it worked fine. I drafted an status email anticpating kind of an 'appreciation'. However I did not get any.
Next day, Tuesday, tough times started. With all the DholakS (singing and poking fucking nose in everything and everytime) and the daunting task for days ahead till today, were a trouble. I was asked to Smoke Test the system plus generate 18 invoices! DholakS as usual didn't have to do anything..at all and they didn't 'do' any either. 5 & 10 DD were done easily and on time before 6:30. With all the invoices remaining to be generated I started working out a 'cycle' so that I used 'Prebilling' lesser number of times. Strategising took a long time and before I could identify the accnounts to include in a cycle or even zero in on accounts, On-shore demanded the status on invoices as they would be running COBRA after a few hours. Hastily I geenrated 2 and used the other 2, generated from the process run earlier in the day. Wednesday's email on Critical path mentioned non-delivery of the said numbber of Invoices from the IDC.
The workload on Tuesday was as much as it used to be when we were team of 8. Probably this was not considered while assigning the task for each day and that's why till yesterday I had 'Everest' to climb alone.
Wednesday and Thurday were some hopeless story, with 16 and 18 to be delivered respecitvely and actual delivery was 11 and 12. On thurday's call I let onshore know about the situation and my points were well taken. It could be my conern for the amount of task assigned and/or Reshma's and Komal's update, to Onshore about my skipping lunch and working late hours to get the invoices done, that I not only got 1/3 of the daily work but also appreciation email! God..I was happy and I thanked Offshore as well as Onshore for recognising my efforts. I am/was happy!
I'll happier if I get rolled off on the scheduled date. God - please make it happpen.

Threefold Dilemma

I start this post being undecisive about the title..maybe I'll find it during the course of this writing. I remeber there are a few posts those are rotting in the 'Draft' folder, unnamed and unpublished. They might have fortune change today..God knows.
I've a lot of things runnning through my mind, probably because a lot has happened, a lot is scheduled to happen and some that I was told, may happen.
I got promoted last week, great! I'm happy but my rating sucks! I didn't slog my ass more than 12 hours a day or 10 months to get a 'CC'. I proabably didn't realize the bad-ness of my rating because it was capsuled in the sweet coating of a promotion and I had no idea of the impact it would be having on the money I would be making. Since I know now, the difference, it troubles me. I didn't get time to talk to my TL and thus, my manager, about this. My TL was not available for past 2 weeks because of ill health of her child, maybe Monday could be the day.
There has been no developments, as such, on my plans of getting transfered to Delhi(as if it is in my hands). This fucking project is getting delayed day by day and so are my transfer processing date.
The other day when I walked up to my manager to ask him to look for a project in Delhi till the time I serve this project, to my surprise, he offered me an onshore oppotunity. I was happy hearing that. I replied with a 'Yes!' the next day, since I asked for a day to ponder over it. The reply I got for an enthusiastic 'Yes!' was a faint 'Ok' and an unconvincing nod. That has got me thinking whether it is a 'lollypop' or something to defer my plans of going to Delhi, or there is actually some opportunity. I hope there should be some. I can't miss going to Delhi though , so, I'm going to ask for a transfer and might go onsite while I'll be Delhi. Sounds great!
I was adviced by a fellow roommate, a techie turned consultant, to hone my (non-existing) skills in Siebel. Being in a testing team, I don't have much exposure to this technology and I've been doing Lodestar testing almost all year around but hearing him say Siebel being a 'Hot Technology' I'm raring to try my hands on it with whatever time I've left in my project.
There is a 'threefold dilemma' though, the onsite opportunity that I mentioned above is in the Lodestar. If I choose to go ahead with Siebel, I might get (huge, as they say) returns in 2 years time but if I choose Lodestar and onsite happens, that would be great. In both of the said scenarios MBA is going to take to a backseat..I don't want that. I love Corporate and I love being a consultant. MBA is the only thing that can help me get that sooner. So, the bettter idea could be that I do nothing but take transfer to Delhi, do what I do i.e. Testing and later take a MBA degree and become a hard core consultant..then I can take as much onshore and as much traveling I want.
Last option sounds perfect keeping current situation develpoing in my hometown. Politics is dirty. Very soon, I hope never, I might be doing something which is not thought of and very different. That time has to decide, right now I won't prefer coming out of my comfort zone. If I'm forced to do so..uncomfort-ability would prevail then, for a long long time.