Norway: Stavanger: Sverd i Fjell (3 Swords)

Walking upto the 3 Swords

When: Saturday, July 31 2010
Who:  Wifey and I
Where: Three Swords , Stavanger, Norway
How: Bus from Stavanger Sentrum to Madlasandnes followed by a long walk.

It was less than a week since we moved into Stavanger. We had shifted to our new house and settled ourselves by unpacking the tonnes of card board boxes. It was the last weekend before wifey travelled back to India, so we thought why not make the most of it? Used google and the local bus map to set our short on-the-spur-of-a-moment planned trip to see the Three Swords.

Lush fields on the way

The Three Swords (Sverd i Fjell) stand on the edge of Hafrsfjord, 6km from the centre of Stavanger. There are various ways to get there. We chose to take the local "Kolumbus" ( a la BEST in Mumbai paralance) bus. We ended up getting down at the last stop and had to walk back for almost half the distance the bus convered from our house to the last stop! It was drizzling a lot (nothing new now that we think of UK, Denmark trips when it poured crazy!). So armed with an umbrella to wade those drizzles, a smile on our face and some self motivation to walk back - we clicked some pics on the way.

There were nice long lush fields in yellows and greens as we walked back to the 3 Swords as shown in pic . Reminded us of all those silly movie songs! 

Finally saw the 3 Swords and were delighted seeing them! This pic has a very mystic effect like that seen in the Harry Potter movies. This monument is apparently a famous backdrop of lot of wedding ceremonies in Stavanger. This monument was unveiled by King Olav in 1983 and commemorates the Battle of Hafrsfjord in 872, after which King Harald Fair Hair united the three districts of Norway into one kingdom.The crowns on the swords represent the different districts which took part in the battle.

As we turned back and started walking back to the bus stop,we saw this man who venturd out into the sea on his kayak, though it was drizzling like crazy and the sea was a tad rough. Perhaps he wanted to prove the age old adage of "Time and tide waits for no man" wrong and rewrite it as "Time or tide or rain, i can tame them all"! No wonder Norwegians are the Vikings, who tamed the sea and exploited its potential to the fullest over centuries!

The parting shot has to be in "Sepia" mode of the Sony. It is just wonderful and makes the pics look so good!                                                                

3 Swords, Stavanger

  Travellers tip in Stavanger: If you are taking the Radisson Blu Airport Express Bus from Sola Airport towards Stavanger Sentrum, remember to sit in the line of seats which are behind the Bus Driver. You can then catch a glimpse of the 3 Swords clearly! While travelling towards Sola Airport sit on the other side of the line of seats where the bus driver is seated

Marriage is all about communicating on the internet while sitting next to each other!

Facebooking next to each other on the weekends!

Marriage is all about communication. If not in person, when words fail you - over internet through chat, twitter and social networking sites like orkut, facebook. This pic is taken during one of the many weekends me and my wife spent watching movies and soaps like Sex and the City, The Big Bang Show, How i Met Your Mother, having conversations & fights, chatting to family and friends over internet or just sipping tea and planning to prepare some great food! Is this where the next generation of the human life is moving to? Sitting next to each other and connecting to each other on the internet? Grr..this sounds like the ending of a "Sex and the City" episode?

Bachelorhood 2.0: The “Gayathri Mantra” of Cooking

If you are a Bachelor – either living through Bachelorhood 1.0 (before marriage) or Bachelorhood 2.0 (forced bachelorhood post marriage) and want to sharpen your survival instincts, no better way than to learn cooking. Cooking is a very peaceful process that gives you so much of creative liberation, which at times makes your regular day jobs more mundane.

Capsicum Fried Rice

A lot of times the typical response from guys (read roomies / peers) is
“Cooking is for girls”
“I can’t cook for nuts”,
“Cooking means emptying the Maggi packet in boiling water—right?”

Thanks to these dumb asses the likes of MTR, Maggi, Top Ramen and other fast food companies have created a small scale industry with “Ready To Eat” (RTE) foods where all one needs to know is to boil water in a vessel and empty the packet inside it or warm it in a hot water environment. At times these “RTE” are real life savers – when you are traveling or are too busy to cook anything. If RTE becomes a way of life, it just confirms the fact that one has given up on life and the excitement that cooking is about to unravel. Cooking will also help you to wade the troubled waters of a kitchen strike by your wife due to a tiff or sudden demand for a trip to restaurant or if they are ill!

Aloo Gobi

For starters to the cooking world, here is the “Gayatri Mantra” of mastering cooking. This is not only the “Starter Kit” that gets you started as a novice, but also will be a “Weapon of Mass Destruction” as you reach the expert levels to try cooking different varieties and cuisines. The mantra is written more like a poem as cooking is more of an art than the process of following step wise instructions with measurements from cooking books and sites like Tarla Dalal, NDTV cooks, Sanjeev Kapoor.


The “Gayatri Mantra”

Stanza 1: Background

“A little bit of oil in the frying pan that boils
Invites the mustard seeds (rai), cumin seeds (jeera) and asafetida powder (hing) to dance on it
and while they mingle and start bursting
smear the party with some colors - a dash of turmeric (hing) and salt (namak)
Spice it up with ginger (adrak), garlic (lasoon) and chilli (mirchi) to taste and fry till they turn brown”

Stanza 2: The beginning

“Then come the onions, who sweat till they slim down,
The tomato is excited to toil in the sweat of the onions
Now is a good time to add X
While they get friend and mix with each other, keep tasting a tad bit at regular intervals and stir the essence of them through your magic wand - The spatula till it tastes good for consumption”


Stanza 3: The various facets X - Factor

Where X is
1) a vegetable like carrot / beans / cauliflower / cabbage / red or green pepper (capsicum) / ladies finger if you want to create a curry as a side dish with no gravey

2) including some water to make it gravey like and any vegetable to make it a gravey vegetable that can easily go with rice

3) X at times can also have some more masala’s like “Garam Masala”, “Ghoda Masala”, “Corriander powder”, “Cumin Powder” apart from the water and vegetables.

Mixed Vegetables

Stanza 4: The closing

“Ensure that when all is fried and raising smoke that tantalizes your your nose to glory or burns the base of your cooking vessel to black
What your dish is asking for is some pampering after being stirred , fried and baked in the heat of your stove
While you don’t need to please it with bouquets, kisses or the latest platinum earring set, all you need is a sprinkle of coriander leaves, slice of lime or slice of red pepper/ green pepper (capsicum) to complete the decoration and consume it asap!”

Chole Masala

Remember that whatever goes into this mantra in the form of your vegetables, with the true devotion of your patience – comes out in the most palatable form – cooked by your very own hands! The measurements etc. are all per judgment and a true cook never measures what he puts. He just knows to put the right quantity – if not by birth, but by experiment and experience!

A glimpse to some of the successful dishes out of this mantra are attached in this blog!

On the lighter side, ensure to forget this mantra when you become a "grihasta" - marry or get back to your wife post Bachelorhood 2.0 and you suspect that they would strike a deal to force you to cook, just grin innocently and say
"I think i had the Ghajini Effect and forgot cooking"!

Enjoy cooking!

The transformation of Siva Rama Krishnan (Part 1)

He wasn’t any different than any of you who are now having your eyeballs glued on this text. He was inquisitive, had a self esteem and was a good person at heart, untouched by the cruelties of the “smarter people”. Traditionally born and brought up in a traditional Iyer family, he had his share of idli, appam, dosa and sambhar’s. When someone asked his name – his answer was “Mudalipuram Venkatanarayanan Siva Rama Krishnan”. And by the time he could complete his name, the person who made the mistake of asking his name was already a year older or perhaps gasping for breath to at least catch the tail of the Hailey’s comet called a south Indian name!

Siva, fondly addressed at home by this name, though born and brought up as a shy, god fearing, ashes-smeared on his forehead traditional prototypes had hatred to his own name. He was neither a hit with the daughter of the neighbourhood Marwari aunty whom he used to secretly admire nor with his friends. The reasons were aplenty, but the one he felt strongest was his name.

It was a year after engineering, once he started working in Bangalore in one of the well known IT companies and getting almost Rs. 1000 more per month than the nosy aunt’s son who lived next to his house when he transformed. He transformed overnight from a veshti draped lad with stains of sambhar on his t-shirt and a forehead smeared with ash to a guy wearing tight jeans that fitted the crotch so perfectly and the latest attitude T-shirt with a smart tag up his chest. Wirey eyeglasses with lens as thick as diamonds were replaced by flimsy lenses which could help change the color of his eyeballs per his dreams, wishes and fancies. The Atlas Goldline cycle was replaced by a smart bike with big tyres and all that was missing was a girl on the back seat to make the “vroom” complete.

It was during these days that during one of the weekend trips back to his hometown in T-Nagar, Chennai in South India he accidentally met the beautiful neighbourhood Marwari girl – his childhood crush. As he was just about to walk into the courtyard leading to his house, the rickety sound of a rickshaw chugging smoke into the air made his head turn. And a head turner she was. After all, hadn’t her father named her Mallika when she was a kid? Siva was still unsure if she is the same girl he had a crush on for so many years. But the new found confidence in himself, made him take a bold step to walk backwards and ask her – “Aren’t you Mallika?” and she replied “Gosh, aren’t you Siva?”

His response was “Call me SRK!”

To be continued..

Bachelorhood 2.0 Week 2 in September

Phew…so it was yet another week that went by me. It wasn’t that fast now that I try to think deeply on how it was. There was this cursory trip to Oslo for 2 days for business and what helped me survive those long hours commuting to the airport, flight and my journey back was the book “The Toughest Indian in the World” by Sherman Alexie which I had picked up from the Stavanger library on Sept 4th. What made me pick up the book was the word “Indian” expecting a book talking about NRI’s living in the US of A.

However I was wrong. This book is an interesting read on the lives of "American Indians" not the Indian-Indians, but native American Indians. Sherman has interwoven an interesting mix of short stories showing the changing times and affluence of the native Americans in the US. The way even the author tried to clear confusion amongst its characters is by saying “Indian with arrow in the hand” and not “Indian with a dot in the head”. Good read on the feelings, growing up pains of the native Americans in a white dominated society.

Movies:

Peepli Live: Awesome movie on a very serious topic proving we Indians can take a chill pill and laugh over the political and media circus that is taking the country by storm in various spheres with a specific case of “Farmer suicides”. The movie has all the touches of the same old art movies that came in the early 80’s starring Om Puri, Smita Patil, Naseeruddin Shah with the wit and humor of Jaane Bhi Do Yaaron kind of movies. A difficult balance, rightly achieved by less acclaimed actors. Hats off to Amir Khan Productions!

Udaan: Good movie on an dysfunctional Indian family starring a kid who is kicked out after 8 years in a boarding school and is now to live with his dad (Ronit Roy) and step brother. The step brother is very cutely essayed by the child actor. Ronit Roy has also grown in stature as an actor – thanks to his Amitabh like presence on the TV screen. The kid who essays the role of the main protagonist has also acted well.

Salt: Wow…what a movie! Angelina Jolie rocks! Probably the first movie that I remember seeing of this much talked about lady. She is almost like a rubber band – doing all those dare-devil stunts as if she is playing on the cot with her kids doing silly stuff. Liked it for the stunts and of course Ms. J!

We are Family: Was actually not going to watch it, but had one of my friends Doney come over to my place for lunch. So while we were thinking what next to do post lunch hit upon this movie. After 40 mins we both were not saying it, but had enough of it. Thanks to his rescue, he pushed off to meet some other friends for tea. Since I don’t like watching the same movie twice (and my wife hates me for it at times!) I decided I shouldn’t leave it half way. In between going to the Gym and speaking to folks back home in India I completed this movie. Kajol, Kareena, Arjun and the kids have given commendable performance. But the film won’t work, cos there is something missing, which I am still not able to figure out apart from the fact that Indian audiences have still not woken upto this fact on television. All that happens in real life can still be not admitted by folks as reality in life and if they get a chance to shun it, they will – by boycotting a movie like this.

Phew…enough banter on movies. This week should try finishing this Rudyard Kipling book I got from library, titled “Soldiers Three and In Black and White”. Tadaa…!

Bachelorhood 2.0 The survival guide in restaurants

Going to eat out to a restaurant is always a pleasure when you have company. But what does one do, when all one has for company is his shadow, thoughts in his mind and memories of companionship? Well here it is -

1) The "I am comfortable coming alone" confidence:

Make a decent entry into the restaurant, a confident walk and ensuring your eyes don't given in to the temptation of finding the nearest corner where you could dunk in and hide till your meal is completed. If you are supposed to wait till escorted by the waiter, have a pleasant plastic smile on your face (the one you usually have painfully acquired by posting for numerous wedding pics!) till the waiter comes and confidently say "Table for 1" as if it was a no-issue. Once you are led and seated on the table, be totally oblivious to the surrounding stares/ conversations from others. Be your pleasant self, order what you want to eat, have it and push off with the same confidence and smile.

2) The "I need some companionship" or "dependancy" mode:

Once seated, try opening your mobile phone and start playing with it as if this was what you always wanted to do in life - Buy a mobile and take it quietly to a restaurant so that you can play with it! Try SMS'ing all those friends whom you would never have wanted to SMS until this time. Also good time to catchup on some of the features of your phone, which made you buy the phone - though you may never have used those ever till this date. Other option is to clean your sent items of messages and re-read old sent messages. Try calling someone if you would like, while you wait for your food to arrive and have the same laughter, conversations that others around you are having.

3) The "Bookworm":

Once seated, open up the book that you are in the midst of reading, totally oblivious of the smell, sound, stares and the pitiful thoughts that you and others have for you for dining alone. Get absorbed totally into the book, creating the charachters in your mind and even imagining they are seated next to you and enacting the book out there in that restaurant. Just ensure you don't emote openly like laugh, cry or scream while reading through the book as this is the shortest way to be ostracized from the small society of which you are a part of!In fact even after the food arrives, you can balance the eating and reading simultaneously and feed your mind and stomach at the sametime!

I have tried all these three successfully so far! The bookworm was the one i hadn't tried for so long and yesterday i was "The Bookworm" in an Indian (read Indisk in Norwegian) restaurant.

Bachelorhood 2.0 The last week of Month 1?

Yeah its been sometime since I flaunted the movies, music and books I have gone through so here it is.

Movies:

Natarang: This is a Marathi movie starring Atul Kulkarni, who was also in Rang De Basanti. Awesome movie! Finally glad to watch it. It was as brilliant as Jogwa, Harishchandrachi Factory or Sanai Choughadi. Atul Kulkarni’s all encompassing performance from a masculine farmer to a feminine ‘Nachya’ to being the “Arjuna” in some of the plays. The dexterity with which he is able to switch back and forth between his masculine and feminine mannerisms and the clash of thoughts internally as he does that reminds you of some of the tough roles that Kamalhassan has essayed in his creative career. Atul will truly always be an actor for the classes than the masses like Kamal Saar is.
Bas Ek Pal: Good movie. Nice to see Urmila Matondkar ( who was in the same school – though different branch, as me). Dunno how I missed this movie before. Good one.
Dinner at Fred’s: Cool Hollywood movie with little bit of magic, absurdity but in the end all-in-all a love story.
The Hairdresser’s Friend: A French movie, which I saw reading the English subtitles. Nice movie on the obsession of a little boy on his hairdresser and how he pursues his dream of marrying a hairdresser and his journey through that experience.


Music:

The Most Celebreated Flutist of India – Hariprasad Chaurasia: Very melodious, rhythemic and enchanting. Track 2 has also a mix of flute, Tabla. Feel very peaceful at the end of it.
Don McLean – American Pie: Apart from the title track “American Pie” all other tracks were ok.

Books:

Finished reading “The world of Nagaraj” by R.K Narayan. Awesome book, though at times a bit irritatingly slow due to the comic and senseless thought process of Nagaraj. In essence the author has rightly potrayed the way men sometimes evade real issues by reacting weirdly. It also shows a kind of tolerance and patience that Nagaraj so effectively displays to keep relationship with his brother and brother’s son intact, which is the backbone of the joint household system in India. Instead of feeling bad and reacting with an outburst, he takes their reactions and indifference to him as comical and just keeps quiet. Amazing read.
That’s it for now. Rest in next!

Republic Day 2004 Trek to Mullaianagiri and Bababudanagiri in Bangalore

Pre-Word:
In the past 8 years of my life since I started staying out of Mumbai in a string of places like Bangalore, Pune, Middletown, Oslo, Stavanger I have had my share of travel and fun with friends and my family. After being egged too hard by dad one of these evenings to list down my travel in a blog, I decided to finally budge in. Here is a travelogue written way back in 2004 and I managed to retrieve it from my e-mail archive to my family. Its unabridged and is “as it was written” then. I have not digitally re-mastered it. This trip to the biggest peak in Karnataka was made during the long weekend of India’s Republic Day in 2004, just before Vishal and I voluntarily took a transfer to Pune office of Infosys from Bangalore. This was the last re-union with our batch of Infoscions cum roomies from the batch of September 2002 and other friends in Bangalore. So here it goes!

The Blog:

Period: Weekend of 24-26th Jan 2004
Trek to: Mullaianagiri and Bababudanagiri
Place: Bangalore, India
With: Myself and former roomies Vishal, Rana, Ashish and other friends Manu, Roopa, Swapna and Deepak Mahesh

That weekend, we had been for a trek to Mulaianagiri and Bababudanagiri. MuLainagiri is the highest peak in Karnataka and happens to be one of the topmost heights between Himalayas and the Nilgiris. It is at a height of 6000 feet above mean sea level (msl). The base camp from where the trekking could start was a district called ChickaMagaloor, which is 250kms from Bangalore.

We bit adieu to Bangalore Bus Station at 11.30pm sharp on Friday, the 23rd of January. The bus was running in "vibrator" mode, which really stole our sleep and made every bone of my body cringe with pain.mWe reached ChickaMagaloor Bus Stand by Saturday morning, the 24th of January, at 4am. After completing the morning routine and also breakfast, we guys went via local bus to the place from where the trekking was to begin. We guys sat on the roof top of the local bus, and commuted as they show in movies!!! It was really great fun. We sang a lot of songs, and also shot a video. Link is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mjs05f21Ac8

We started trekking by 9am. It was a very adventurous trek. There are pockets where the slope is close to 70 degrees and can really freak you out. Our group of 8 people, needed lots of moral & physical support to get through this stretch. This was perhaps because the path that we chose was not a proper trekking path. There are places where you can rest, be amazed at the path you have taken and look beyond that to appreciate the heights ! At times some of us used to ascend the terrain a bit quickly, in order to search the best possible route, for the entire team that was following. At times the distances really grew.

All thanks to our mobile phones, because of which we were able to "Express Ourselves" and were able to say "Karlo Mulainagiri Mutthi Main". Even perhaps, leeches cannot climb these heights :) But somehow we managed to find our path and reach the top by around 3pm on Saturday afternoon , with heavy backpacks and hungry stomachs!


At the top, there was a temple where a priest and his small family were living.
This temple was dedicated to Lord Shiva, who is known by the name "MulayanaGiri" and worshipped .They cooked food for us, which was rice, sambhar and also curd rice. The food was really amazing and we guys just couldn't stop gulping down food! After the lunch, some of us snooped around to see the excellent, uninhibited view from all the possible directions.

Myself and Rana were pestering a small cow called 'Chini'. He was just 6-7 months old and very out of love and sadhu (a indian word which means innocent). I spoke to him a lot and asked him about his mom, dad and life in the hills. He was too bored to answer and showed his back to me more than once! After Chinni ran away with utter boredom, we climbed down a bit to explore some caves. There were two caves, which were very close to each other, but still amazingly both never connected each other. The entrances of both these caves were next to each other.


Cave 1 had a statue of Nandi, and also a Samadhi of Baba Mulayanagiri. Legend has it that Baba Mulayanagiri came here many years back for penance. He achieved his Samadhi after years of praying. I offered Gayathri Javams in the cave. I also meditated for some time.

I never had got so much of piece and concentration in my life before, especially while meditating/praying. Also prayed to Maha-Avatar Param Guru Babaji, who is the Supreme Babaji. Beyond the samadhi, the cave penetrated deeper into the mountain. The interiors of the cave were having well cut rocks, which were cut due to water. The shape was amazing and also when you ran your hands across the rocks, your hands felt the same way when you touch ice-creams - very cold.

There were dew drops around, which looked like shining diamonds in the snaps. We explored deeper inside and found some friends like a spider, who was happy to see so many people visiting him. There would have been some other insects and pests, but they were too busy playing hide and seek amongst themselves i believe.


Cave 2 had one entrance. But it split into three different directions, inside. So we went through all the directions, torch in one hand and memories of Enid Blyton stories about adventurous naughty kids on our mind.

We all then sat inside and had a series of snaps. We were discussing about calling Spirits by doing planchet, but then the idea disappeared somewhere in between our talks. Also there was a small stream of water in Cave 2. One of the villagers who accompanied us, did a pradoshanam of that on our head, saying its a prasad of Baba Mulayanagiri, and it was oozing from the nearby cave 1. We then left the caves and went upstairs. Replenished our energy reserves with Lemonades, Glucon C's, Chocolates and biscuits.

In the evening one group was pitching in the tents.

Other group was involved in collecting firewood, for cooking food for night. I was involved in the collection of fire woods. At night ultimately, i myself lit the ''choola" and cooked the food. It was an amazing experience! It was very cold at night and sitting near the choola and managing the flames of fire from dying down was a unforgettable experience. The food was nothing but ready-to-eat food stuff's, which we had carried.

These include - tomato soups, bisibelle bath, tomato rice, sambhar rice and rajma , which all are ready to eat, and need just boiling water to get cooked. We had also carried some 22 Chapatti's from our house, which were cooked in the Priest's House Choola and had with Rajma. Then we all again had some Glucon C's, Electrol and Chocolates. We also had dates. All these really help one to instantly gain energy, and keep up the fluid levels in your body. The moon kissed us, and the view from the top was amazing. It was just like the view from Aeroplanes - all the things below us appeared to be dots. A stream of lights along some arterial roads, some 6000 feet below our eyes, was appearing like a string of diamonds, worn by a newly wed bride.
Then we guys slept in our respective tents. Five guys slept in the Big Tent. The three ladies slept in the small tent. Inside the tent, we had the flooring of foam sleeping mats, which were individually carried by all. I also had the opportunity to wriggle inside a sleeping bag for the first time and zip myself from the feet to the neck.

Being inside a sleeping bag, not only makes you look like an Egyption Mummy, but also doesnt allow you to hug your friends nearby (now don’t catch me wrong there!)!
Me and Rana were the last to wake up on Sunday morning, the 25th of January. Finally the rest of the team of 6, was successful in waking us up from our dreams, as we were obstinate enough to wade off the wake up calls for more than 2 hours! We freshened up, then packing began, Tents folded into sticks and bags and we were ready to leave the top of Mulayanagiri. But not before a final group snap outside the temple, and also after i paid respects to the Lord of Mulayanagiri. Got vibuthi on my forehead and also a folder paper with vibuthi.



We guys then began descending, the range of 6-7 mountains with challenging slopes in between and the force of gravity energizing our moments like never before.

The path we followed to reach to a proper road was a hilly terrain and can easily make you loose your way, in between adoring natural beauty every microsecond. But nature and god had some other plans for us.


The person who was leading our entire team of 8 was Tommy, a dog. He lives with the priests family at Mulayanagiri, and feels its his moral responsibility to take all trekkers to their destination. Hence, were following Tommy for more than 3 hours.

When we took a break, even he took a break and waited for us. He never once was out of sight. All this descending , was done by this Hero of Our Trek with a limping leg. Where ever Tommy went, our network of trekkers followed him. I salute Tommy, for his undying faithfulness. He has really disapproved a common feeling that all two legged intellectuals like us share that stray dogs are a menace. After reaching the road, we gave Tommy some biscuits and cuddled him till a healthy limit.

With no bus in sight for some time, we hitch-hiked our way to Baba Budanagiri, the next target mountian, with the help of a Truck. Sitting in the open truck not only strained our heart for bidding farewell to the Gladiator- Tommy, but also our asses. as it was too hard to be comfortable. So through the winding roads and dusty tracks, we climbed many ranges of hilly area, which have looked so convincingly achievable on television and magazines, but so exciting and unpredictable in real life. We finally reached the top of a hill called Bababudanagiri. It is yet another important trekking spot. At the top,the truck driver was willing to wait for us and get us down.

This place was famous for a waterfall, which was really gave me an impression of a running tap..let alone a fully spread fierce waterfall. Legend has it that the waterfall was the result of a 40 year strong, committed and continued penance by Baba Budanagiri. He had come down from the Middle East, some 900 years back and made penace. The result of his 40 year continued concentration and efforts was the waterfall. It seems till now, the source of water of the waterfall can not be located. Lot of people were having a bath there, to wash off sweat and sins. We decided otherwise and came back to have tea, biscuits for the tummy and sunscreen for our face, to save us from the piercing sun. The truck finally left the peak of Baba Budanagiri and took us to a village below, where there was a shrine. We got down there, to end the short association with a truck and truck driver, who will always be alive in our memories, for his helpful nature.

This shrine is one of those rare shrines where Hindu's and Muslim's worship together, under the same roof. It has Lord Dattatray from Hindu sect and Baba Budanagiri and his chisti's in the same shrine. It was really heart warming to pray to the same source of energy, with fellow human beings from a different religion. It really made one hate the politicians rule of "Divide People on basis of Religion". More such kind of shrines and activities should be entertained, so that we work towards the ultimate goal of embracing all faith, which lead to the same source of energy and existence.

After the prayers, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant. Then we boarded the bus, back to Chickamagalur, which was a good 30 kms away.

Once again, the adventurer in us, made us to move to the rooftop of the bus. There we were, climbing down a hilly terrain, singing songs on the top of the bus and our eyes feasting on the picturesque surroundings. The "Sama Was Suhana" and we were "Musafir hoon yaaron,with no ghar or thikana" and finally we could pay a tribute the clouds, who were kissing us periodically,by singing "Yeh Haseen Vaadiyan,Yeh Khula Aasman". Finally we reached Chickamagalur bus stop on Sunday evening at 4.30 pm. We inhaled the last packet of Chickamagalur air at 5pm,after which the Bangalore Air was 6 hours away by bus. The bus journey showed us how tired we were, and at times each of us sneaked to catch our share of 40 winks in the shortest possible time. We finally reached Bangalore at 11.30pm on Sunday the 25th of January.

Indeed a wonderful journey. Monday was a holiday, being the Republic day of India, so we could relax ourselves.

Post Word:
There is another version of this blog at link well written by my mate Vishal (urf Sandy) the master planner of the above trip and who has helped me shift houses n number of times in life from this point of time in life not only in India, but also in US. Though not one of the most active ones in life and likes to be proud of his laziness, he is one guy I know I can always count on!

Mulund Reminiscence:Tribute to "Bhau"

And yes…he was just called “Bhau”, which means “brother” in Marathi. Bhau’s real name is Chandrakant ( I hope I remember it right). He has been a part of the lives of all 20 flats in Guruganesh Society in Mulund, where I grew up for years together. He has literally seen most of the folks in the building to grow up from tiny toddlers to adults who now have spread out in different parts of the world. Some of the original tenants of Guruganesh have already moved to much more luxurious apartments in and around Mumbai and out of Mumbai. But I am sure, Bhau would still be there. He has to.

He has been a part of that area even before our society was constructed way back in the late 1960’s. The times before which there was a cemetery with dead bodies of animals and small wet and waste lands, where now our building stands tall with 4 storeys, having been a roof of fun, sorrow , success and pain for 20 flats (or apartments) and over 80 lives. Bhau has been one of the guys who could always be counted on for the odd jobs at home. Though he had a job of his own which included working in the nearby godown in the beginning after which he shifted gears to having his own autorickshaw. He did not have to really do a lot of odd jobs, like lifting some heavy stuff from the attic before festivals or restoring them to their original place post festivals, but still he used to support all of us in all ways he could.

There was a time when I was caught onto a small gambling kind of a game in the nearby shops, where for 25 paisa we could flick a card hanging out of the shops and get a small gift that might be written on the card. Most of the time it would be things which were not of much value and the shop keepers smartly used to plan it that way to shortchange us kids of whatever miniscule pocket money we could quietly wriggle out of our homes in our sagging pockets. It was also called “Saurat” in the local lingo, the name which still ponders me. Bhau has also been kind to sponsor my “Saurat” games at times. And then there were his “Rickshaw” days when he decided to be an entrepreneur. So during the last two years in school I literally stopped cycling to school (which I did for almost 4 years) and started taking his rick, sharing it with other kids from my building. Be it rain, sun or winter we knew that three wheeler was a short joy ride and moment to enjoy. At times we used to be 5 of us in that 3 seater (excluding the driver – Bhau) and still I don’t remember a time it broke down and we couldn’t reach where we ought to have reached. Bhau was kind enough to also sponsor lot of “on the house” trips to folks from the Society, when he caught them coming from the local markets.

His extended family including his wife “Sobha”, sister-in-law “Shakuntala” and other folks from his basti were the extended support strengths who helped the women in Guruganesh to keep their houses clean and those utensils shiny for the next meal. His brother “Vitthal” and other friends were a good source of stories and it was almost like Bhau and his family, were virtually family members for a lot of us as we knew so much of each other’s lives. I still can distinctly remember his mother, who though aged, had a sweet smile on here face always. I remember the time when his son was born and was named “Sagar” and every time I used to enquire about him for some reason I remembered Kamal Hasan and Dimple Kapadia as they had acted in the movie “Sagar”. I guess I saw the movie “Sagar” around the time “Sagar Chandrakant” was born? He also had a daughter names “Kavita” and another kid between Kavita and Sagar. I am sure they would all now be pursuing a different career and into a different phase in their lives.

I grew up running around the shanties which gave way to concretized houses of Bhau and his fellow colleagues with my friends, playing hide and seek. The smell of firewood and the strange smoke that emanates when tea is kept boiling on it is still freshly ingrained in my memories and my nose can still sense it and remember those times. Of course things have now changed and there is LPG cylinder and piped gas in those areas. The last time I had been there was close to 2-3 years back in 2007-08 when I wanted to return to the place I was born and see the apartments which had 22 years of my lifes memories out there in the open. I did visit his house and unfortunately couldn’t find him, but found his mobile number. I am not sure the profession he is in now, but the last I heard was his rickshaw days were nearing to an end after he had his first heart attack. I hope he is doing well for now and relaxed in life. Bhau, wherever you are, hope you are doing well and next time I am in Mumbai, want to catch up with you and take you out for a dinner!

Reminiscence to the good old days in Mulund

The place is not easy to remember fully as it was due to the rapid changes with urbanization, but never easy to forget till i breathe my last. It reminds you always in movies, while reading on books or while listening to songs - the town you grew up in, your universe of sorrows, pain, joy and fond memories of growing up. While you were growing up there, you wanted to always move out of it to explore the world and now when you explore the world, that is the only place your mind wants to go back to. But does your heart and brain want you to go back there? Probably, it doesn’t.

Because the small town has exploded beyond its capacity, adding thousands of people and millions of automobiles, paving very less way for you to breathe, walk without worrying over colliding with other humans or having a rickshaw run over your feet. The roads that I used to walk on for hours together, holding my mom’s hands which over the years gave way to my friends shoulders are still the same. The tar in them is now “concrete” kind of signifying the deeply etched memories of my childhood days in that small town. Those roads which bore the brunt of my weight and sweat through my cycling endeavors or my automobile escapades in scooter and car still have a part of my life in their own way which no other road can have. The trees, the traffic, the crooked corner houses or the sloping shopping complexes with oceans of people all are testimony to my existence, my growing up or my struggle with my growing up years to be where I want to be.

And just today after completing “The World of Nagaraj” and a few clips of “Malgudi Days” from R. K Narayan, I pay tribute to my home suburb from Mumbai - Mulund.

Bachelorhood 2.0 Month 1

So its about a month now since i moved to Stavanger and yeah - being a forced bachelor.

How does one kill time, if the demarcation between your office and home is a walk of 2 seconds between the living room and bed room? The lines get blurred when you think of what are my "working hours" or "time for myself" and makes you at times feel all messed up and not enjoying anything thoroughly.

Well to take a step back, i not only invaded the local library (a la bibliotek in Norwegian) and keep getting a stack of Music Cd's, DVD's and after a lot of coercing from dad decided to borrow books too. So the past few weeks here is the dump:

Movies

East is East: Awesome movie on the mixed up nature of asians settled in UK. One can associate with some parts of the movie, if one has stayed outside his home country.

American Splendour: Nice movie. It was an accidental pick, but indeed inspiring so to say for a man who had nothing special about him, but yet was a rage in the "underground comics" movement in the US.

Umrao Jaan: Had pushed this movie off my list from the time i started watching movies (maybe 25 years??) and now that i have nothing else to do and my options are narrow, saw it. My mind lied that you wanna see this for Rekha, and my hand obliged and picked this movie up. At the end of the movie and now post 1 week realize that the sad ending in the story is what my mind yearned to see to fill in some peace of the loneliness in this quiet town. Glad the movie is down and off my checklist for now!

Elvis: Awesome movie! Really have more respect and love for Elvis's songs! The energy and passion evident from Elvis's foot tapping music is something that can not come easy for many singers. Elvis, you got a fan for your songs from this moment on!

Music:
Promised Land - Elvis Presley: Awesome songs. I decided not to return this CD and listen 1/2 more times.
Soul Dance Mix - some dhinchak bollywood songs out in the last 2-3 years
Bombshell baby of Bombay - some dhinchak bollywood songs between 60's - 80's.
The greatest film songs of lata Mangeshkar - good songs.
Trail of Memories - Randy Travis - listening to this now. unfortunately doesnt have "Three Wooden crosses" which is one of my favorites which i ended up loving after tuning onto the radio for n number of times while in Middletown, CT, US.

Books:
Read the book "The death of Vishnu" by Manil Suri. Finished 330 pages spread over 5-6 days. Not too bad knowing that i picked up reading after a long time, thanks to dad's motivation. Good book, but the end was kinda weird. Would have been good for the spirit of Vishnu to set Mrs. Asrani and her clan, cigarettewaala, paanwaala and Tall Ganga straight before being couriered to the heavens by Yama!

Grr - the pains of vacuuming, cleaning up the house are now no longer to resist and its time to clean this bachelor shack. Rest in next!

Bachelorhood 2.0

Some updates from my end.

- Had moved to Oslo in Oct'09 for work. Had a heck of a time in the snow and great times when my wife joined me in Oslo - enjoying the summer's to the hilt. It was the end to an era of staying with roomies since the time i lived out of the suitcase in cities like Bangalore, Pune, Middletown, Mumbai (while in SP Jain) and finally in Oslo. End of Bachelorhood 1.0. More about those experiences in my next blog.

- Moved from Oslo to Stavanger in the last week of Jul'10 again for work. Wife moved back to India in 10 days after this and am now onto Bachelorhood 2.0. Bachelorhood 2.0 is more difficult, as you are pampered and spoilt. Its tough getting back to doing things for yourself and that coupled with the fact that you are staying all by yourself in a city with no friends and strange language. What does one do in that case? Well what i did was joined the local library and got the following CD's and DVD's to keep myself occupied.

Week 1#
Movies: Chokher Bali, Mother India, Ek, Pukar (all Indian Hindi movies)
Music: Tabla (Ustad Zakir Hussain and his dad) and Pandit Bhimsen Joshi's CD.
In the end, finished the music cd's (loved the tabla more than Pandit ji's songs. no offence to Panditji, but just that its not the phase of my life to enjoy his richness) and also Chokher Bali (good movie).

Week 2#
Movies: Renewed all movies from week 1 except CB, I for India ( a documentary)
Music: Best of ABBA, Golden memories - hindi old songs collection, Eagles - Hotel California album.
Its just the beginning of the week. Saw Pukar and finished the GM-HOSC. Kind of cool.

Also saw a lot of "How I Met Your Mother" clips from season 4. Kinda hilarious. In Bachelor 1.0 days was hooked onto Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, That 70's Show, Bill Cosby Show, Sex and the City.

Enough for the nite - got an early morning flight to Oslo for a 3 day business trip. Rest in next.

Adios!

Why "All izz well" with 3 Idiots?

3 Idiots (3I) is one of the most recent movies around the “common man stack” (closer to the experiences of the common man) from the Vidhu Vinod Chopra – Raj Hirani – Amir Khan stable of movies. They have been credited for some of the most successful hindi movies around these themes (not together as a team though) for Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par, Munnabhai MBBS (Part 1 and 2), Dil Chahta Hai.

3 Idiots does bring in that association with the common man in today’s Indian middle class where parents strive to put their kids through the best education, though it is well beyond their means. It challenges the convention that though we bow down to society pressures to get into an engineering degree or medical – is it really worth running the rat race, when you don’t know if you are the right rat in the right race?

The movie does make one think about this seriously amidst the experiences of the three protagonists – Aamir Khan, Madhavan, Sharman Joshi during their days in an engineering college. If you have been through an engineering or MBA course in India, you definitely would associate with the movie. The storyline of 3I is like a sketch of a huge painting, which is the storyline. As you continue watching the movie – you start filling this sketch with the colors of your experience. Your mind rewinds back to the days when you were ragged in college or those funny moments you had with your friends which may now look silly with the newly acquired “professional maturity” and “inside the box” thinking. This flashback of things in your life, which didn’t come out so far – does hit you real hard when you watch this movie and makes you laugh louder or perhaps cry more than what the storyline or characters can bring out. This is perhaps because you identify some parts of you, your friends,similar circumstances, your family and your professors with each of those characters as the movie winds along and kind of makes you pleasantly relive those long forgotten days.

This movie would be a hit and recoup its investment as it caters to all the classes – the students who are currently studying in colleges in India and between the age group of 18-25 (about 2-3 lakh), those folks who graduated out of their courses between 10-15 years till now (about 20 lakhs), and the last class would be the parents of such kids and bringing out their struggles in putting their kids through school.

The movie may definitely not be one of the best you would have seen in the past few years (Rang De Basanti, Taare Zameen Par, Munnabhai MBBS (Part 1 and 2), Dil Chahta Hai) , but the judgment for this reality is blurred further as you see yourself in the movie in the various experiences portrayed by the characters. So you may end up liking this movie and rave about it citing “All izz well”!

But – when you head back from the cinema hall, back to the confines of your routine after reliving your experiences, it does make you think – “Are you doing the right thing that you can with your skills and abilities? “ “ Is this where you want to be?” “ Would life have been different if you would have pursued your passions?” But can you act upon it now or is it too late? Comments welcome!

Saturday Night in Norway

"On a dark desolate Saturday
Cowebs in my head
Wanna smella fresh air coming through the open window
Up ahead in the distance - saw a shimmering light"

Hell - no shimmering light for now! This is where the similarity between "Hotel California" and "Deepak in Norway" ends!

Its Norway - we have very limited access to sunlight or actual day light.
The clouds haggle over to suck most of the light in the day and the nights are well - at the mercy of the moon and the streetlights.

Weekends are days to be totally socially outcast - a mix of me having grudgingly chosen to take this step and also a flavor of not-many-indian-people-whom-i-know around. Since childhood, i for some reason have not been able to forcefully get myself invited to someone elses's house or purposefully barge into a group. Even if i want to do these things now - show me the people! I will as well continue to be in my cocoon - read my house and go out only for the weekend shopping to buy groceries. Eagerly waiting for my wife to travel here to Norway - so that we could explore a few places around - even in the cold and get ourselves socially active! Till then facebook, orkut, you tube rule my social life!

Life comes a full circle!

Hi there - haven't written in anything here for sometime now. Well i am through my MBA from one of the top 10 institutes in India, accredited by AMBA and landed the best job on campus per my aspirations in 2008! College life ..rather hostel life was anything but dull and tempo was up through a vibrant batch, challenging environment, exciting opportunities for leadership through placement committee and other initiatives! In 10 months after graduating, i got married and here i am in Oslo, playing the role i dreamt of few years back!
Yawn - well since you are reading this blog, you need to get more and not my history...right?
Well i am into watching some serious stuff these days. Called "art movies" or parallel cinema commonly in India. Have literally been banished and dismissed as insane by my family for this sudden enthusiasm in watching close to 7 movies in 2 weekends - Mandi, Nishant, Bhumika, Katha, Ardh Satya, Manthan, Suraj ka Saatvan Ghoda. I have always wanted to fulfil this desire of mine to watch serious stuff and try to look at this movie from the director, the charachters and actual issues perspective per my limited intellect. It has indeed been an eye opener and the right food for my mind and thought, which was until recently well satiated by an urge to aggressively read books during my journey from work to home and back, in Mumbai India. I read a lot of Jeffrey Archers ( i started loving his style of writing btw), Ken Follets (all time favorites!), John Grisham (the best author per me), Michael Crichton, Arthur Hailley, Arvind Adiga, Gregory David Roberts to name a few. Am i now starting to move towards this new urge to get back to writing serious stuff through this blog? Only time would tell! Till then - Tada!

What made us come to One Year MBA Programme (PGPM) at SPJIMR?

Was it the lure of the motherland or an escape from the confines of a cushy nine-to-five job in the US, with all luxuries and no worries of heading back “offshore”?


Was it my innately foolish desire to see how I can take a risk and yet triumph victorious? Or was it a spark of inspiration that my sub-conscious mind captured after watching SRK’s “Swades”?

After having literally taken no risks in the five plus years of my work experience, something inside me spurred up all the courage my spine could muster to spring up and helped me take the leap.

And no – it was not that I was not forewarned by near and dear friends, who had already been “through the grind” at SPJIMR for this one year programme, and had opined that nothing would be doled out in a plate and we had to earn our meals. The best thing about challenge is when you are told its not “doable” or “may not give that much ROI” and you are determined that much more to prove things otherwise. It’s like you are all cranked up and want to again end up being an underdog to emerge triumphant.

Call it the ego….or the thirst for challenge. But this has definitely made 56 of us leave well defined and well paying careers in reputed organizations in India and all the other continents to take this up lock, stock and barrel. Each day I have spent since joining this course early this year; have never felt I have ended up in the wrong place after meeting my peers. In spite of our varied backgrounds and experiences, we work together and agree to disagree and agree to agree on various themes/ topics and discussions. The childlike enthusiasm to play pranks on each other, to crack those stinking jokes which make one cringe and rebuke the joker, to accommodate each others differences and yet accept one and all are some things which are priceless and cannot be weighed in terms of “loss of opportunity cost” or being in some other B-school which is the arm candy of the recruiters, but has MBA’s with the A emphasizing “Attitude”.

The eve of your birthday, when you are thrown up high in the air and caught with the same strong hands that threw you to the skies are the same hands which are going to form really strong bonds and networks for years to come. Birthday parties are celebrated each month with usual frenzy with cake, piece of samosa or a potato crispy and loads of coke and pictures of each other.

In the last nine months, we have been twice to the lush green locales of Khandala-Lonavla where we had fun and some subjects. We have had an opportunity to do pro-bono work with NGO’s and provide them consulting, to improve their operations which has been very satisfying for the heart and mind. The numerous presentations in class, the trillions of assignments, the no. of surprise quizzes, the antakshari competition, the grand welcome party given to our junior batch, the wins of our batch mates in various B-school competitions, the guest lecture series, the company visits and the alumni interaction through MILAN 2008 have all indeed brought out the synergies of being in the B-school where I should have been and where I am proud to be.

A one year programme indeed provides you the opportunity to have the same fun and enjoyment in less the time with the same learning’s as a two year programme as your prior work experience makes your learning curve much shorter. Raised eyebrows on the one year programmes – try giving us a look and am sure you would be impressed!

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Happy New Year!

Hehe..looks like only yesterday i wrote a blog on 31st December for the New Year resolutions. Its again the 31st today and its about 15 minutes to go to the New Year. Am in London with sis and her family and down with 3 swigs of white rum.This year..would be jobless experience as i would be joining school for an MBA and i always wanted to do one.A promise to myself would be to give my best while in B school this year and get the best job that i ever can. I need to make the best of this opportunity and upsurge the risk taken. The anxiety of how this would turn out to be is still there, but there is a lot of optimism thats oozing out. Let this not die down dude!!

Fall

Its 'fall' here in the New England region in US. The season in which trees get a new shade on them for some time in the form of leaves changing color and finally these leaves desert the branches and trees they hung on to, only to mix with earth and come back next year.

Think of the trees. Every year come spring..the new leaves spring up on their branches, adding color and life to their otherwise dreary life. The trees are able to make their presence felt with each passing gust of wind by swaying their leaves and by throwing a zillion shades of green under the piercing sun. Then comes fall...and thats where the story reaches its climax. The leaves cant bear the cold and snow. Nature roasts and bakes them to change the green to shades of yellow, orange and red. Finally when the leaf and turn into no other color but brown/ black, they fall off the tree. Rain also comes as a gatecrasher around fall, to ensure that its a clean job and through brute and force all leaves are brought down to mother earth. None of it sticks to the tree. The tree is left to fend for itself in the cold winter. Nothing to cover it up but fond memories of leaves.

Such is life..

Interesting Facts

Am pretending to post this fact as though i am regular blogger on this site and doing this pretty routine thing :) Apologies! Shall write soon!

This is awesome - I bet you didn't know this... Letters 'a', 'b', 'c' & 'd' do not appear anywhere in the spellings of 1 to 99 (Letter 'd' comes for the first time in Hundred) Letters 'a', 'b' & 'c' do not appear anywhere in the spellings of 1 to 999 (Letter 'a' comes for the first time in Thousand) Letters 'b' & 'c' do not appear anywhere in the spellings of 1 to 999,999,999 (Letter 'b' comes for the first time in Billion) And Letter 'c' does not appear anywhere in in the spellings of entire English Counting ******

Today is one of those days

- i lazed throughout the day
- i wanted to do something but ended up doing nothing
- i saw a movie - "Ewin Almighty" and finished the remaining of "Madagascar"
- Madagascar was hilarious...hehehe fundu.
- Now going to watch an Indian movie "Chak De India" starring SRK.
- Cya till then!

"He trusted me"

It was just another week day, but a day when i had one of my appointments with the dentist.
I did the pre-requisites - setup an out of office reply on my Outlook Mailbox, emailed the people with whom i work about my limited availability during the appointment and zipped off in my car 20 minutes before the scheduled appointment.

Route 9 didn't have much traffic and downtown traffic was as usual being slow. Parked my car in the parking lot, didnt forget to turn off the AC,stereo and iPod before cutting the ignition. Its a sequence of events, which when completed quickly in succession, gives the ultimate satisfaction.
The attendant greeted me with the car parking pass, which i kept inside the car, to ensure its not towed.

As i settled myself onto a seat and tried to familiarize myself to the surroundings with a smile, i saw a sort of troubled American waiting for his turn with the doc. After shedding the initial inhibitions with a smile, we just introduced ourselves with a hi followed by our names. Conversationalists that people in this part of the world are, Paul mentioned that he was having trouble with his car which he had brought about 4 days back.

An ad in the local newspaper led Paul to meet the seller (previous owner) of the car. The owner sold the car with all the promises of a smart seller. Paul succembed to those with a look at the car and more importantly the trust that he placed on the seller.

Day 1 and Paul couldn't have found a better car, he felt at the end of the day, for his shoestring budget of under 5000 dollars. At the end of Day 2, Paul's car broke down and upon showing it to the garage, he was told the transmission was faulty and would need 1200 dollars in part itself for a fix. Paul was flabbergasted and shocked to see his money go down the drain. Over talks, i got to know that Paul didnt have a regular job and was doing some odd jobs for a company. Now he cant commute to that company, as he didnt have a car.

I tried asking him if he did a carfax check or showed the car to a mechanic before buying it. All he could say was "I trusted him".

It was time for the doctor to call him for his dental treatment and his words for the doctor were "I hope its covered under insurance. I am broke ". Thankfully for him, it was covered under his insurance.

Paul, don't know if our path's cross again, but hope things get better for you. There is a prayer for you from me.

I still exist

Yes. I would like to re-affirm that i still exist and i have not forgotten this blog. Writing was a passion for me since college days and now all i write is only emails to my colleagues and clients. Don't even reply to emails of family and friends as i directly speak. Too lazy or too level headed on the $$, spending them on calls. I got into SP Jain for the 1 year. Should i take it or shouldn't I? Time would tell, perhaps!

What a New Year?

What a New Year it has been. In the past 1 week the following has happened:

1) Got a "Reject" even for an interview at ISB
2) Got "additional responsibilities" at work
3) Had a car accident yesterday, for no fault of mine.

For 1) I was dejected. But now i question myself, what right do i have to get dejected? Did i give it my best shot - GMAT and app's? In the slog overs (end) i did, but needn't one be serious and work rigorously towards one's goals right from the start? Where did i do that? There would have been so many better profiles/sincere students than mine? Why should i feel bad? I probably lost to better people than me. I should take this in the right spirit and change the way i approach things.

For 2) yes i did. I am now asked to oversee a project. So have cut down on my late sleeps in the early hours of the morning and have started waking up and being in offshore calls from 6.00am. For last couple of days, i have been working late too. I am going to give my best shot, to ensure that the project doesnt suffer.

For 3) it was kind of a sad saturday evening. I was taking my colleague - SM for house-hunting on West Lake Drive. After prodding over 2 possible accomodations, myself, SM and VS set out for a drive to Udipi Indian Restaurant in Route 9S. Just when we crossed Exit 16, while we were enroute to Exit 11, i changed lanes after checking my blind spots and signalling. Suddently there was a throw and jerk experienced in my car and i could hear the splintering of glasses and the screaming by my rear passenger - SM, who fell on her stomach towards the front car seat. I stopped the car and took stock of the situation. Came out and checked that the driver behind me in a Chevy Trailblazer was ok. Asked her if she wanted some water, which she then politely declined, but later asked for, which i gave to her. She was ok and she had called the police (911).
In that wait, ensured that SM was feeling ok, as her back and neck were aching. VS was ok and not that hurt and he called RK to come to the scene. While we were waiting for the police, the traffic had a bottleneck for sometime. Some ppl stopped and screamed "Park your cars right to the curb, you are creating a jam". Already jittered, the Chevvy lady asked me if we need to do that. I declined as i didnt want to move before the police arrived, which was the best thing to do as per my knowledge. I asked her not to worry about the chiding from other car stoppers as she may never see them in life again. Once the police arrived, they took my side of the story and her side of the story.They also checked with SM and VS to get their names, address and other details. Me and the Chevvy owner also gave our License Cards, Insurance Papers. I had already noted Chevvy's number and the insurance information. Cops asked me for the actual Registeration Papers of my car and since i didnt have it in my car, asked my roomie's - SS and DG to get it.

While the cops took their time in preparing the case for the incident, it was a pregnant wait for all of us. In the meanwhile RK , DG and SS arrived at the scene. I was in a state of blankness, a bit of shock, but could handle the situation the right way. Did feel hurt on seeing my car the way it was...squeezed out totally from the rear. I admired her and liked my car so much, as it was almost new. Probably, just because i liked her too much, she is no longer with me..as it always happened with me. Anyways, there was towing truck called by the police, which towed my car away. Me and the Chevvy lady got our case information, license, insurance and went separate ways.

I am glad that SM and VS were not hurt. SM came onsite just 3 days back and here we have this incident. I am thankful to god that all of us escaped without a scratch. Its indeed miraculous. The loss in money/ metal is nothing before the human health.

Happy New Year!

Its as if was just another wink of the eye and bang - here comes the year 2007 with its share of promises, hope and ups and downs!

Was just speaking to an ex-roomie of mine -AG who told me that in the past year neither did my relationship succeed nor my MBA plans. I nodded, pondering over the bitter truth.

My resolutions made for the last year were hardly completed.

Now that we have this year, i would like to work back on where i left off.

Important thing is for me to take an idea from inception to conception and bring things to closure.

Here's one for this new year. Welcome 2007! Thank you 2006!

Long Weekend!!!

Yippee!!! Yet another long weekend for X'mas! Its so nice to have this day, cos
i) Today is Friday and we dont have to get back to work till Tuesday . Things are the quietest on a Friday like this as there is not much activity and lot of folks are out on vacation.
ii) Tonight, sal would be credited most likely! Love to see those $$, though i have a sal cut these days :)
iii) Its so nice to know that all your major deliverables are completed and all you need to do is come down to your room, and hop onto your comforter and write this blog :)

I lost my cell phone somewhere, while winding up things at work and leaving for home in all the excitement. Hopefully my roomie DG should pick it up from my desk (i instructed him :) ) or i should find it in my car!

More blogging later :) TC :)

The Wait

Since Sat night, i have been visiting yahoogroups, orkut on information on R1 admits at ISB. Its indeed positively intimidating and threatening to know the good quality of folks getting into ISB. The GMAT scores are nowhere below 700, so even though we know the standard line - "GMAT Score is JUST one of the criteria", still am not really that comfortable that my GMAT score of 660 will get a call. I would have logged into the ISB site for atleast 4-5 times in the past 2 days, trying to see if there is any further progress on my application evaluation and that most awaited interview call. Hope it happens! The wait for the interview is just like a pregnant women waiting for her child to be delivered. With due respects to all women, i understand that its more painful then than the wait that i have to endure here, but nevertheless mentally it is the same.

I indeed have to literally drag myself to work each day and see through those 9 hours (though it passes of in a giffy amist conference calls, lunch, tea-breaks, email). Need to do something different. There are close to 200 ppl in this account of Infy in Middletown and all have been almost doing the same thing for the past 2 years. This is my second trip here and its just like, nothing happened between my 2 trips to the US and i was never in India. Things haven't changed at all!

Finally glad now that no longer i have that bad tooth ache i was suffering from about 2 weeks back. That molar, which survived all the grinding, biting,chewing, acidic pepsi and coke, was finally removed and laid to rest. He had consolidated his position so much that Dr. Shashi had to "divide and conquer" - cut the molar into 3 pieces after giving 5 shots of local anesthesia and then pull this guy out. The other tooth were not that happy i guess, and now that the molar has left, there is void between the two teeth he earlier fitted into. Hopefully with the passage of time, i would get an artifical molar there, so that it keeps them company :)

Was on NUS site today. Looks good and impressive. Neverthless, nothing like ISB though :)

Weekend chores - laundry,folding clothes, filling gas in car are done. No ironing needed for tomorrow as i already have ironed clothes from last week :)

Achievement of this weekend: It was undoubtedly cleaning and clearing the clog in the restroom potty. The house maintenance guys were to leisurely come on Monday after i lodged the complaint on Saturday. Me and my roomie - SS thought that we shall fix it before them, so that life is much more convenient. We went to Wal-Mart and got a pump - the one with a long handle and a rubber cup at the end. Used and using suction and air pressure, cleared the traffic jam, cleaned the potty and we were all set!

Of Appraisals, Introspection and Future Life

Closed my appraisal yesterday. Wasnt way too happy with it as things were
A) pushed to the end by my appraiser and reviewer and consultant
B) ratings were rolled back from the earlier ones given by previous ML (who left the company cos he could not be promoted) to a level below as they felt he had over rated all people who worked with him. Voila! What a crap reason ? Couldnt it be that the person who got an A, atleast some of them deserved it? What about all those initiatives i took to create KT Documents? They weren't rewarded at all. The usual sling was - "U are a PA, and thats expected" Expected my foot. I dont see my peers taking so much pains to create documents and give so much attention to detail.
C) All the technical and behavorial competencies are satisfactory. Phew..also agonizing comments with each of them.
The list could go on, but the thing is that Infosys appraisal , though tried to improve itself this year, still is way away from where it should be. My appraiser was of the same band as me and its a lesson learned for me that from the next time, i would like my appraiser to be the next role and not my role. I will make that evident in my 1-1 scheduled some time in the next 2 weeks.

Now that this year, when i had a tumultouse personal relationship and now the professional boat also rocking, need to really see what i need to do to get where i want to see myself. Also gave a go ahead to folks for releasing my horoscope :) Thought, what the heck..lets see how life takes a turn from there. Would definitely like to make my expectations clear and what my aspirations in professional life would be :)

From next time, wouldnt chide my friends, as i usually do, asking "Shaadi Kab Kar Raha Hai?". Hehehe...

Sleepy Eyed Wonder

These days i have got into this regular routine of sleeping late by 1am or so and waking up by 7am and getting ready for work. Its not that am utilizing all the time that i am awake productively, but its just that i am wasting a lot of time into stock markets and other miscellaneous items. Need to cut the crap and start working in app's to other B-Schools. After all isn't that the reason i travelled onshore and said a "yes" for this assignment, when asked to travel just 2.5 months back?

Yesterday finally returned the Sony Car Stereo to CC and the Antenna Adapter to BB, since i completely agree with my roomie SS that its waste of money, as i cant take them back to India, and it would stay with the car when i sell it. So settled for the Belkin Tunecast 2 FM Transmitter that i had picked up from Walmart this weekend. Its good, and much better that i had expected it to. Of course nothing can beat a direct CD player or the Cassette Adapter- MP3 player combo in a car, but hey i am no nosy geek. Tunecast2 is good. I will return this to Walmart this Friday as i have already ordered it from Amazon for a lesser price and also some books on Management Consulting. Got to know what this consulting is all about, so that i can give some funda's when required and also seriously take a call as to where to go from this crossroad of my career. Also in my order at Amazon, was able to use the 20$ Gift Coupon i got as recognition from 'Jersey Rhythems' for the help for their show in NJ in Oct.

Today was doing a Business Analyst's job and working on some real detailed requirements for a change for a new application. Glad with what i could complete by EOD. No turns for cooking today! Will check appraisal to see if its closed and then will check ISB to see if there are any further updates! Pls pray that i get into a B-school!

Of Stock Markets, Cooking Turns

Woke up this morning to note that there was yet another fall on the stock market in India and it was down by 400 points for the second consecutive day. My unrealized profits head southwards by 20k INR not counting Mutual Fund's. Phew...looks like the predictions i had heard on stock market stabilizing around 11.5 on the BSE by Dec 2006 end will come true!

Today was my turn for cooking food and prepared "Karela Sambhar" by a very tedious process. Tedious process was to ensure that the karela, which is bitter in taste has the right mix of spices and bitterness. Though time consuming, nevertheless it turned out too good and i was proud of myself.Though ppl hardly appreciate as its just routine! I dont mind, cos i know i gave it my best :) So next turn comes on Friday for me to cook.

Finally modified appraisal and sent it back to appraiser. Dont know if the ratings would need to be negotiated, but am open to be a pain in the butt this time cos i think i deserve what i self-rated. After all, dont we all feel so?

Got an email acknowledgement from ISB that my application packet contents were verified. Oh Lord, pls help shortlist me for the interview and let me make it into ISB! Jai Hanuman! Hope the ad com goes through my CD and is impressed by all info in there! Lord Balaji, pls help!

Am dozing off now..sold IDFC @ 70 tonight..12% profit (including brokerage).

Lazyness

Sorry for writing in after a long time. The wanderer who is the lazy,pipe dreaming geminine in me found yet another excuse for not blogging. Its been couple of weeks since i submitted by ISB Application. In the past few weeks, i have been checking their website regulary to see if there are any updates with regards to being shortlisted for interview. I hope strongly that i do. That reminds me..i have to start preparing for my interview soon and not laze around. So will plan not to indulge in my racquetball games that i have everyday with my roomie DG @ our apartment clubhouse from 9-10pm. Eventually i end up loosing most of the games to him, but nevertheless enjoy most of it.

Need to check appraisal status, send monthly expenses for consolidation :)

Work Hours: India vs USA

India:

• I had to work from 2pm to 11pm for this project. Pay was not encouraging for working in these odd hours, where we had to miss of our personal life for this work.
• Initially we were given cab to commute from home to work and back to home. But the signs were that even that would be discontinued in some time. There will be a bus which will pickup employees from common points spread across Pune city and drop them at work, and same way bring them back home. At odd hours, dont know who will take the bottomline of security and safety of employees walking back from common point to home. For this pay, who would like to go that extra mile in extreme danger and very demanding work environment?

US

• In US, you can land in office anytime between 7am and 9.30am. You can come back home by 6.oopm (earlier if you are a BA or in a cool project).
• Pay is satisfying though.
  
• Commuting is no worry, once you are through the dependancy phase i.e you have your own car.
• At times you may need to stretch week days and week nights, but you atleast have the money to keep you cheered to go through that extra mile.

Just finished some ab crunches and dips. Can sniff the aroma of eggplant rice siffling across the kitchen. Yummy...dinner in some time.

Commuting to work: India vs USA

Its so different commuting to work in India and in the US.

In India:
1) I used the office bus to commute from a common point (near home) to office and back home from office. It took close to 1 hour per trip, but could take more time depending on the road traffic and other extraneous conditions.
2) The gas prices are way too much to be affordable for a low mileage yielding Fiat Uno, so driving down to work day in and day out would be stretching myself too much. Especially after whatever that remains from my monthly paycheque after the homeloan EMI's.

In US:
1) If you are in a small town like Middletown, you can use the local Middletown Area Transit bus to take you to work at Aetna. Timings are not that flexible, but much better for one who wants to reach work between 7am and 9am and wants to leave anytime between 4pm and 6pm back home.

2) Most of us have a car. So it becomes really easy and convenient. The total driving time is not more than 10 minutes for each trip and the roads hardly have any traffic.

3) Gas prices aint that big a pinch in your pocket. But one has to go through the initial pain of obtaining a drivers license and more importantly searching for a good vehicle. Insurance costs and vehicle registeration costs are very much, but then you dont have a choice if you want independance do you?

4) In the long term the comfort, flexibility and freedom that your own car provides in the end rules out all pains mentioned in 3) Another important advantage is that when you have your car, you can drive down home for afternoon lunch. Its indeed very comforting after the kind of food we have in our cafeteria. Its not that food in cafeteria is bad, its just that i am a vegeterian and that limits my options!

More later :)

Its all coming back to me now..

It would have been a little after the second week of September 2006. I was at home, spending some time with my parents, who had just returned from a 2 month trip to London, UK visiting their daughter( in other words my sister), neice and son-in-law. It was a memorable and never to forget experience, re-living the older days, when i had the luxury of staying at home during my schooling and college days. Got to taste some of the best food that my pallate could every have had till now, re-live the banter, fun and enjoyment with my folks. I had missed it for so long, for my close to 4 years of stay outside home - in Bangalore, Pune and Middletown. It was paradise. Its so easy and comforting to have all the fun, joy and family experience staying at home that who wants to go out for vacations? Of course family vacations are a good change, but when you have so much of aura associated in spending time in your own house which is more than 1200 square feet, what more does one need?

Its too sad to see parents growing old and accepting this simple piece of fact is indeed hard. I want them to be as young as they were before, but alas its like being an adamant child asking for the moon. Childhood days were so much fun, when all your overheads like worrying about finances, paying your bills, being cautious of poachy colleagues and the external world were outsourced so willingly to our parents. All you needed to do was enjoy everything and throw tantrums and create more problems for them. In spite of that, the way the situations were handled by them was indeed awesome and i suspect if i may be as mature and kind with my kids.

Coming back to now, well am in the US now and away from home since the above mentioned good times with folks for more than a month. Today had given the customary weekend call to mom and dad and spoke to them their sunday evening (my sunday morning). Dad sounded ill and he indeed was. Nice to hear mom stronger and being able to do things on her own. This is the part about being abroad. You have all the money, good life you may want, but somehow you however cannot be at home when they might need you.

Though now am not on a commitment state with this abroad stint and can be sent back or i may opt to go back whenever i want, it still gives me the freedom to take my own decision and be by my family when the time may arise. Had it been that i would have agreed to someones demands, i may have had a relationship on, but not this freedom, which would be a call of duty no true son will shun down.

Ganesh Chathurthi

Today is "Ganesh Chathurthi", which is celebrated with great pomp and reverence all over India, and especially in Maharashtra. It usually comes in August / September each year.

Being a Mumbai-kar since childhood, i have always grown up around the usual festive spirit by tolerating the blaring music emanating from the crackled public speakers of the "sarvajanik (public)" mandals, enjoying the clinging sounds of the gong and the melodious aarti coming from a million like minded spirituals in unison. A typical family which celebrates the festival, brings home the Lord's idol home, for a period of 1.5 days, 5 days or 11 days. There may be other intervals apart from these too. During this entire period, right from the time the Lord is brought into the house to the time he is grandly carried back to a water body for the holy immersion, its a time of unity, togetherness and spending quality time together for millions of families across India. Friends and relatives are invited for a "darshan" of the Lord.

The Lord is respected, decorated and pampered with chantings of numerous mantras, hailing him as the one who removes all obstacles from the path of one's pursuit for success. There is a nice divine and mystic feeling amist the smell of Jasmine incense sticks lighted around the Lord, amist colorful garland and flowers, and the sounding of the "shankha" (conch). The "aarti" (devotional songs hailing the lord) can be supported by not only singing it (if one knows it) , but also by ringing gongs and by clapping hands, to a unique tune of the aarti. No matter how tired one may be, with all the preparations, suddenly some divine force on earth brings in all the energy into the "bhakt" (disciple) and he sings, claps as enthusiastically as ever one could have.

Celebration of Ganesh Chathurthi publicly was started way back in the early 20th century by Indian Freedom Fighter Bal Gangadhar Tilak. Tilak started it to bring unity amongst people and get them together on a single platform, through celebrations of Ganesh Chathurthi. This practice still exists as there a lot common areas across Mumbai and other areas, where "mandals" (temporary bamboo sheds) are created and the Lord is worshipped in these public places. The public contributes funds to take care of the expenses of mandals in their locality.

Finally when the time of immersion comes, the Lord's idol is taken through a public procession and finally is immersed in a water body. People do feel very sad on the day of "visarjan" (immersion) that the time passed so soon. But nevertheless they do cheer up knowing that its the truth of life. The Lord takes shape through the flexible earth, shaped by the artisistic sculptor, and then he disperses back to mother earth, through water. It just indeed confirms that the cosmic power, god or the unknown force that some would like to call it, exists in each element on earth. Its upto us to find the Lord / force, respect it and worship it.

Sabbatical

Writing in after a long time. Kind of coming to terms with change in work, responsibility, environment and lifestyle. Encouraging, but taking sometime to come in terms with it. Right now on a sabbatical from work since July28th. Kinda nice to be away from work. Gives a lot of time to ponder, introspect, dissect the have and have not's and must do and must dont's. On a journey to a place where i want to be..this is the pit stop. Gotta shower, cook herbal/spicy rasam, to be had with rice. Cya later..

Welcome Back to India!

Had a good week's vacation in London where i happened to not only spend quality time with my sister, neice and brother in law, but also got to do a lot of sight seeing. Also planned my trip so that i was able to attend an Information Drop In session at London Business School. A really impressive school and had a first feel of being in a B- School.

After that came back to India. Its but of course - nice to be back home! Getting adjusted to honking car's, the right hand drive of cars, the people, temperature etc. Cut short my vacation at home and joined office in 2 days flat! Even before i could synchronize my body clock with IST, i joined office. Am on bench since then and will be starting a project mainly from May 1st.

A lot of pending items need to be taken care of in the next one - two months. Also need to ramp up my GMAT Score from 530 to something above 700. I know its do-able. Only thing is need to have discipline, perseverance and hard work.

Thats it for now..yawn...rest in next..

All good things come to an end...

Its 7:04 PM EST and i am blogging this from Newark Intl. Airport, NJ. Waiting for my British Airways Flight to London, UK. Will be there for a week and then head back to India.

Its almost 2 years since i landed here in the US. Came here on June 5th 2004, for an assignment for my organization. Really now that i think back...dont know how i spent those 22 months.

Its been a great experience being here in the US and i would definitely be coming back. As i head back at this juncture of my career, i am indeed concerned about my career, family and personal life. Its almost 3.5 years that i have been in IT and now i definitely look all ripened up to do what i want to do and what i like to do. I may face a lot of obstacles as i would always be stereotyped to be a developer. But this not where i should be and where i want to be.

Some things that i need to work upon - be better organized, time management and setting priorities right. I believe i have the power in me to wake up from the lazy slumber triggered by the kind-of-retired life for the past 2 years and channelize my mind, body and thoughts to where i need to head. I just need to stay calm, focussed on what i do. The results should take care of them.