Bye Bye 2013

It's time again to say goodbye to another year. Another year is gone leaving behind memories - some good, some not so good. The year on the whole didn't go as expected and I am not too disappointed that the year is coming to an end.

How the year went
The major theme for me this year was marriage. I had to go through numerous profiles, spoke to some girls, met few of them; but somehow things didn't work out - and I am still single. (I know most of my friends reading this will be disappointed with the outcome but like they say "Everything happens at it's own time").
Professionally the year wasn't anything to talk about - at best it can be described as stagnant. This is certainly an area that needs focus in the coming year.
Personally the year was pretty taxing. Facing family and relatives and friends after each encounter, trying to explain them the reasons, their collective disappointments - everything took a toll. Erratic work schedules added their weight. 
When it comes to friends, there was a lot of difference of opinion. Arguments (more of fights rather than discussions) were pretty much controlling the talks/plans. Even with close friends it wasn't smooth sailing.

But there were some wonderful times as well like stay in Toronto, cousin's marriage, xbox/ps3 times, meeting friends, etc.
And I can't end the post without saying 'Thank You' to friends who made the year it was:

• Manas and Sudhanshu for being around; recent dinners at Murthal and Karim's were icing on the cake
• Saurav and Shilpa for the wonderful times; Saurav's staying overnight and the pasta by Shilpa comes to mind easily
• Office folks for making the office ambiance cool - Raghav, Shuchika, Nikhil, Prasad, Nimisha, Ritu, Vijaya, Sandeep, Vijay, Nitin, et al.
• Football was at a high where in we won few trophies and got a tournament sponsored. Thanks Uttam, Harish, Apoorv, Aaditya, Sailesh, Kunwar, Neeraj, Prashant, Sohan, Param, Gopal, et al for the wonderful moments
• Shubhi, Kunal, Febin and Sahil for some nice times and ... lets call it realizations.
• Minakshi and Seema - it's always nice to talk to you
• Supreet for non-stop bickering about marriage and other good times at chabar; including "murabbe ki sheeshi mein ..." :P

Thanks everyone for making the year a memorable one.

Wishing you all a very happy new year 2014

Thanks Toronto Team

I have spent more than 2 months here and today evening I will be heading back home. I don’t know how the time flew as it always felt I was at home away from home. And I owe a big thanks to my teammates here who not only welcomed me but also made me a part of them. I never felt like an outsider here; and that made the stay wonderful.

Now that I thank all of them I think I should write a line or 2 about everyone, about what I will remember most about them.

I will start with Ankur. He is from the Gurgaon office but we had never met there. And here we became friends. He would persistently encourage me to try/do new things. He made me taste the Raspberry tea in office and he was the one who encouraged me to cook. And he helped me do a lot of shopping as well.

Naveen is someone who comes around as the bully. He will keep bossing most people. But when it comes to work he is the go to person. He has his way of doing things but it was nice working with him. And despite how he comes up, he has a softer side. One night we were in office till late and we ordered dinner. When our order came, the dish I had ordered contained capsicum (my dreaded enemy). And as I was wondering what to do, he exchanged his dish with me.

Rajiv is another teammate of mine who comes across as someone very quiet. He goes about working on what’s need to be done in his own quiet way. He is probably the only person I know who was praised implicitly by a leadership member in front of his teammates.

Andes is one of the most thorough person I have met. He is quiet and doesn’t speak much. But as far as work is concerned he would try all possible ways before coming up to any conclusion. For instance if there are say 10 ways of doing something and an average person will do only 5-6 steps before coming back Andes would do all 10 before reverting.

Evi was the person about whom my impression changed drastically from my initial days to my last days here. I didn’t speak much with her but one day I said something to her – quite bluntly – which I now realize I could have avoided. And she didn’t give an impression that she didn’t like it; so I guess it’s all good J

Abhishek is the PM and has a unique way of going about things. We had our share of manager-developer conversations but they were all in good spirits and there was no arguments (for a change :P).

Andrea joined the team recently and didn’t have much interaction with her; but she is the first girl I have met who has good knowledge of football and enjoys the game as well. Just that she is Red-Devil makes us rivals of sorts ;)

Don is another PM on the project. He is usually very quiet compared to other PMs. I was most impressed with the things he does when he is not working – interviewing students and skiing. And I still remember the day when he put ‘Worrying’ in his LLP J

Girish is the client CE and at his position I hardly expected to see him in office with the team. But he was involved till the minutest details which was pleasantly surprising. And he was as approachable as any other member of the team which I didn't expect. Moreover he loved to take the team out for beer and always had interesting conversation up his sleeve.

While working with Satish I never felt his seniority. He worked as if he was a friend of yours; getting involved in conversations, listening patiently and helping whenever you ask him for help. And he is probably the only person in the team who can make and keep Naveen quiet (which is a major achievement if you ask any of the people mentioned here :P).

Susan is one of the smartest girls I ever met. She is a very quick-learner. You tell her something once and she remembers it. She can mix and gel with anyone. And she is pretty organized as well. I was amazed at her typing speed. She always brought chocolates for the team. She helped me buy a suitcase. One day she cooked and brought macrones which were great. (She only let me eat 4 which I believe is the max no anyone ate ;)). And the icing on the cake was the Starbucks Coffee mug she gave me J

I have tried to capture the most remembered moments because there’s a lot that can be written. And I wouldn't end without mentioning that the best part of the day was the lunch sessions – usually conducted by Naveen. You have to be there to know and experience how they are.

Bye Bye 2012

Another year comes to an end - 2012. It has been another happening year. The year began with me travelling to Bangalore for the 1^st 2 months of the year. There were frequent trips to Bangalore round the year as my office wanted me to work out of Bangalore office. And the year ended in Toronto, Canada.

I entered the 30 club. Many friends entered the next chapter of life – parenthood. Booked a new flat. Got an Xbox 360. Started playing football again – won the intra company tournament. And despite marriage being heavily on the cards managed to remain single for one more year.

And like always I can’t let the year go by without thanking the friends without whom it wouldn’t have been the year it was.

• I will have to start with Shubhi. With so much time spent in Bangalore it wouldn’t have been possible to have a nice stay there without her. And there were other wonderful moments spent with her.
• The football players Uttam, Umesh, Divraj, Apoorv et al who revived the good old days of playing football.
• Manas for always being around and the PS3 times
• Saurav, Shilpa and Ashish, Nidhi for all the wonderful times
• Kunal and Febin for the movies
• Sahil for the times spent over coffee
• Minakshi for the wonderful conversations
• Seema for her advices and encouragement
• Uma, Gunjan, Vijay, Nimisha et al for making the office hours enjoying
• Yogesh, Shashin and Ankur for making the Toronto stay comfortable

And to all those whose names I haven’t mentioned but were part of my journey of 2012. I wish everyone a wonderful 2013 – Happy New Year

Toronto Diaries – Boxing week shopping

Ever since I landed in Toronto I have been asking people about things to buy from here. Also where to buy from. People told me to wait for the Boxing Day. I did. But finding Toronto quite expensive as compared to India, I had my doubts about Boxing Day sales. Also as the Boxing Day came nearer I didn’t see many flyers or excitement in people around.

My route to and from office everyday includes going through Eaton Centre – the largest mall in downtown Toronto. As the Boxing Day neared discount boards started coming up on stores. I and my roommate Yogesh waited on for Boxing Day expecting increased discounts. While browsing through the banners every day we figured there’s something called a boxing week sales where-in the sales start and end before Christmas. And then there’s sale on Boxing Day again. Also we found that in case of electronic items there is an online sale starting the night of Dec-24. The weekend before Christmas we decided to do some shopping as some of the deals looked good to us.

On 24^th when we talked to our office mates they said that during Boxing Day there are huge lines and that people start queuing up from as early as 2-3 AM. None of the folks we spoke to were actually interested in Boxing Day sales and kind of scared us. We were undecided as to what we should do.

It was 25^th – Christmas. We found the roads almost empty. Surprisingly almost all the shops were closed. We were told this is what is going to happen on Christmas; but knowing Christmas is the biggest festival here we expected something. It was a dampener. We had coffee at one of the few opened outlets and came home little disappointed. I started checking online deals. I wanted to buy Xbox 360 and found the Boxing Day in-store deal online. I showed it to Yogesh as well. We browsed the site(s) and found that delivery was within a day or 2. So we decided to order online. As I finished ordering online he changed his mind. He said he would buy it the next day in store.

On Boxing Day Yogesh woke me up at 6 AM. We went to BestBuy and he bought Xbox 360 there. Then we came back home to drop it; and wen t back shopping. There was hardly any crowd and we walked down the road. We were surprised and wondering if this is what queuing up is all about. We went to Eaton Centre and started visiting the stores looking for things we could buy. As noon approached the crowd started increasing. We checked out many stores and Yogesh did most of his shopping; while I didn’t do much. We decided to pack lunch and go home. We would have our lunch at home, drop the packets and come back for more.

When we came back the place was fully crowded. It won’t be wrong to say that this was the biggest crowd I had seen in my entire stay in Toronto; in fact I hadn’t seen half a crowd before in Toronto. Almost all big shops had queues outside. Some of the stores had pretty long queues. We didn’t enter any of those shops, but we saw what Boxing Day sales meant to people here. We did some more shopping – this I did most of the shopping. There was a huge queue for billing as well. It was nice to see people standing in queues patiently waiting for their turn. Almost everyone had some packets containing stuff they had already bought. We were exhausted by then; legs were paining as if refusing to stand or walk. We decided it was enough for today and returned home around 6 PM after having another coffee.

More than 10 hours of shopping totally exhausted us. At Eaton Centre people were sitting on floors, benches, stairs, anywhere they could find a place; everyone having several bags with them. We had our share of bags as well. Overall it was a wonderful experience being part of the Boxing Day shopping. The body is yearning for sleep as tomorrow it is back to office…

Toronto diaries – Trip to the Niagara Falls

The first outing in Toronto outside of Toronto was to Niagara Falls. I guess the name says it all J. It indeed is a wonderful place – amazing sight. More on it later. First the journey.

I, Yogesh, Shashin and Ankur rented a car for the trip. Only Ankur and I had our driving licenses; so Ankur was the designated driver and I was to be a backup if required. We are not used to the left-hand drive and expected some trouble; and trouble it was in the initial part of the journey. It took Ankur some time to get used to the brakes and the seat belts came into good use (yeah me and Yogesh were wearing seat-belts sitting on the back seat). Also he was having trouble deciding which lane to drive in as here it is completely opposite to India. Add to it his confusion in ‘left’ and ‘right’. And to make matters worse he was dealing with 3 side seat drivers. We had one hell of a ride. Although I must say once he got hang of the car and we stopped giving directions he drove pretty well.

Niagara Falls is some 120 kms from Toronto and we reached there in less than 3 hours. The moment we got out of the car we could feel the chill. It was cold and windy. The temperature was touching 0 and it felt like about -3. We parked the car and walked towards the falls. As we reached near the falls came into view. They seemed small compared to what I had heard (and imagined) but never the less they were beautiful. As we reached near the railing I found that they were not the actual falls; the actual falls were a little further. As it came into view all I could do was stare at it (and exclaim WOW). I am sure trying to describe it will be a waste of time. I will let the photos do the talking.

It was freezing out there. We had a coffee spend some more time there and then started back. On our way back we went to a couple of vineyards. One was an unknown entity – a new setup which wasn’t yet in market. The wines were pretty good. Tasted ice-wine for the first time and it was pretty good. The second winery that we visited was a well-known brand – the setup was too commercialized for my liking. On our way back we stopped near Lake Ontario. It was so cold out there that within a couple of minutes I couldn’t feel my ears. Got back in the car and went to an Indian restaurant for dinner. I can’t believe we waited for around 50 mins for vegetarian food (yeah it’s true).

Overall it was a wonderful day and a wonderful visit. Thanks to Ankur for driving all the way despite our comments, and thanks to Yogesh and Shashin for making the trip wonderful. And finally to Niagara Falls for being so breathtaking.

Toronto diaries – the first week

It’s been a week in Toronto and it feels like I have been here quite long. It’s been a strange city so far. Sometimes I feel like going back home and sometimes I feel as if it is a nice place to settle in – yeah settling here has crossed my mind. Haven’t been able to explore much as office has kept me busy. But got some flavor of the place from my colleagues who have been here for some time.

I am staying in a corporate apartment provided by my company. It’s a 2-bedroom apartment which I am sharing with a colleague who has come with me. The apartment is nice and has almost everything. There is a microwave, an oven, burner, washing machine & drier, fridge, dishwasher, utensils, TV, toaster, juicer etc. in short almost all the essentials that you need are provided which makes the stay easier. Thermostat keeps the apartment warm and cozy.

My roommate has brought lots of ready to eats so food isn't a worry as well. Although its nothing compared to home cooked food, it is quite comfortable not having to cook or eating all meals outside. Lunch we are having outside but breakfast and dinner we make in room. A couple of dinner invitations from people already staying here haven’t been bad either. Automatic Washing machine reduces the effort of washing clothes. Dishwasher takes care of the dishes. I guess it has been a comfortable stay thus far.

About Toronto, well it seems a nice place. Our apartment is in downtown, so there are lots of people around. The office is 20 mins walk. The weather is amazing – amazingly cold I should say. The temperature has stated touching 0 and expected to go to -2 next week. Moreover for the past 2 days wind has been blowing continuously making it feel even colder. But I am kind of enjoying it. And I got a glimpse of snow fall although it can hardly be called a snowfall. Can’t wait for the actual snowfall J. Toronto has a nice subway which prevents you from walking outside in the cold; you only have to go few blocks in between in the open. Traffic rules are pretty good. People around seem well as well.

The food here is pretty bland. I won’t be wrong if I say I hardly enjoyed any food so far. There are almost no spices and taste is nowhere compared to India. Even the vegetables seem to lack their own taste. Maybe soon I will have to start cooking, but that might not make much difference :P. Also the place seems to be on the costlier side; at least by Indian standards. Another thing I have seen so far is they don’t seem to have a concept of small. All food items seem to come in large packets/sizes. Plus most of the eatables are towards sweet here I have hardly found anything spicy so far.

I believe that’s it for now. More posts to follow soon.

2011 - Bye Bye

I know I am a little late to say goodbye to the last year but like they say “Better late than never”. The last year was a mixed bag; but I wouldn’t call it a happening year. Trips were far lesser than previous years. More friends got married and others settled into their married life. Many got new members in their family. Office wasn’t too bad. I stayed alone for the first time in my life for quite long – stayed in Bangalore the last two months. And I managed to escape one more year remaining single.

The best thing to happen last year was my trip to Laddakh. It was something I wanted to do for a long time and finally I could make the trip. The place was amazing and it was a dream come true.

I can’t let the year go without thanking friends who really made the year memorable. I can’t mention all the things but I will mention few of the people and moments -

• I will start with Minakshi, without whom the Laddakh trip wouldn’t have been possible. And we shared many memorable moments together.
• Shubhi for making my stay in Bangalore comfortable. I don’t know how I would have survived without her.
• Rupesh, Nitin and Birendra for making the office life enjoyable.
• Seema for helping me with her advices.
• Shubhi and Devadarshan for helping me win the TT and Badminton titles.
• Navdeep for the wonderful time spend playing badminton.
• Febin for all the movies and time spent playing pool.
• Kunal, Febin and Sahil for the great times spent together.
• Manas, Saurav, Ashish and Hina for always being around.

I would like to thank all the people who were part of my last year. And I am hoping for an eventful year - my last year in twenties. So its “ciao 2011” and “here you go 2012”

Bangalore diaries – taking a break

It’s time for a break. I will be heading home tomorrow morning on a week’s vacation. And I can’t wait being at home, enjoy food cooked by Mom. I have already told her what I would like to eat. I can already see the table set.

I have been in here for quite some time now. The initial few days were very difficult. I was feeling home-sick all the time. The work wasn’t too good then; the team members were not familiar; and the area was totally alien. But slowly things started getting better. And now if I look back at the time spent here, I would say it was a time well spent. In fact I have enjoyed the trip.

I have visited some places around which were pretty good. Made new friends here. Got familiarized with the teammates and it is actually fun to be in office with them. Work has also increased but it is good; a lot of learning and I am enjoying it. And in between all this won 4 titles in the Bangalore Sports meet – TT and Badminton, men’s doubles and mixed doubles in both. That felt really good.

But the best part about Bangalore was my friend. When you have good friends around, anything can turn enjoyable. I never thought it could be so much fun. So thanks to my dear friend, I actually enjoyed the Bangalore stay.

I will be back in Bangalore in first week of January. Till then it is time for home sweet home.

Bangalore diaries – Shivanasamudra + PlanetX

One of my friends here in Bangalore suggested I visit Shivanasamudra. It is a place known for its waterfalls. Shivanasamudra is some 150 kms from Bangalore and around 30 kms from Mysore. So we planned to go to Shivanasamudra in the afternoon, visit Talkad and then go to PlanetX, Mysore. Talkad is again a lake. PlanetX is a place where you have stuff like bowling, karting, pool, gaming zone, mini golf course, restaurant, etc. So far the places that I had visited around Bangalore, it was just me and my friend. This time though we had a friend of her’s for company – Rajesh. Rajesh knew the places well and so it was a welcome addition.

We picked Rajesh and then Rajesh took the driving task – a welcome relief for me having driven on all the previous trips. We followed the Mysore road. We stopped at a place for breakfast. I had ‘Plate Idly’ there. The size of the idly was bigger than any I had seen or eaten before. It was almost as big as a chapati (roti). It was served with sambhar and chutni. I had a tea to top it up – a nice breakfast.

We proceeded towards our destination. The road was pretty good and we were having a nice smooth drive. Then we had a take a diversion from the Mysore road. The road wasn’t as good as before. And my friend decided to do the driving. Soon she got bored with driving and it was my turn. As soon as I started driving the road again became good. Perfect timing – I must say.

We reached one of the falls. We wanted to go in the falls but it wasn’t allowed there. We could only have a distant view of the falls. But it was beautiful. We spend some time there capturing and enjoying the amazing view.

Then we proceeded towards another falls called the Bharachukki falls. As we reached there we could see people going towards the falls with towels and clothes which suggested we could actually get in the water. It was way down and we had to make our way through a long chain of stairs. As we climbed down we were expecting the effort it would take to climb those stairs on our way back. We made it down in good time and headed towards the waters. We had to cross a small stream. The rocks were very slippery and I almost fell down once. But we managed to cross it and reach the falls. There were lots of people there who were enjoying themselves in the water. Some had brought bathing clothes with them while some had entered the waters with clothes on. It was a sight in itself to see so many people enjoying the water together.

She was all set to enter the water while Rajesh didn’t want to enter water. I was undecided as always. She went to the falls and came back. She was enjoying it. She asked me join her. I finally agreed. I went into the water. Stood under the falls. The water came crashing on me. It wasn’t hard; instead it was pleasant and refreshing. Entering water with your shirt and jeans on isn’t something you do everyday. As I came out of water for a break the wet jeans made it difficult to walk. But I was feeling good. So was she. Rajesh meanwhile had found a stone to sit on. He was sitting there probably watching the view and keeping an eye on us. We asked Rajesh to join us but he didn’t. So the two of us went back. This time we went further into water. We didn’t like the crowd there and so came back to our original place. We enjoyed a few more rounds of shower in the falls and came back.

The way back included climbing the stairs. It was a long and hard task. We took breaks before finally reaching the top; breathing heavily. We had cucumber with chilly paste – a bad combination we soon found out. I changed my clothes and we headed towards Planet X. The road wasn’t good, just okay. We stopped near Talkad to visit some temples (I have forgotten the names). Rajesh told us the story behind the place – Due to a curse the entire place was covered in sand. The site that we were seeing was actually dug out of the sand. Every year the place gets covered with sand; and the structures are dug out.

The sand there certainly looked out of place. And one isn’t supposed to doubt the stories. There were three main temples. We had to walk on sand to see them. We would have been on a round trip of more than a km to visit the three temples and come back to the car. We then headed towards Mysore skipping Talkad.

We reached Mysore in another couple of hours and headed for PlanetX. The place looked good. We had around 4 hours to spend there before the place got closed. We started with eating as everyone was hungry. We ordered sandwiches coupled with beer/breezer. I had cranberry breezer which I liked. Then we headed towards bowling. There was an hour’s wait for bowling. So we went for pool to pass time. Since we were three, it was Rajesh versus the two of us. Rajesh was playing well and won easily the first game. He would have won the next 2 games as well but he didn’t say the pocket once and pocketed the cue ball the second time. Soon he was back to winning ways. We enjoyed pool for an hour and then went to bowling. Bowling was fun. Here I was playing really well for a change and won easily. Once the game got over, she wanted to have another round of bowling. We had another round of bowling, this time I was bowling left-handed as my wrist was paining. This time though I lost badly.

After bowling we decided to go for Hookah. I hadn’t tried it before so was looking forward to it. It was disappointing. It was just flavored hookah and I didn’t quite like it. But the other two seemed to like it. We had some snacks for company and headed back for Bangalore.

As we reached the car we remembered that we were almost out of petrol. It was quite late and most of the petrol pumps were already closed. The tank had come on reserve. It was definitely not good. We stopped and asked for directions. We continually kept looking for an open petrol pump. We passed 5-6 petrol pumps but all were closed. It was getting scary now. The idea of spending the night in car wasn’t pleasing at all. Luckily we found a petrol pump soon. We got the tank full. It was my turn to drive now. I think we reached Bangalore in two hours flat. We dropped Rajesh first. Then as we headed further we managed to lose our way after reaching quite close. A few u-turns later I dropped my friend and came to my hotel.

A fun-filled but tiring day had come to an end. Monday morning office was looking at us with anticipation while all we could think of was a good sleep.

She hates my cargos

I went to visit my friend. We were to go for a movie. I was wearing my favorite cargo - the one which looks like an army pant. They are quite comfortable and I wear it on weekends wherever I am going. It was one such weekend.

She asked “Where did you buy this cargo”

I answered “Big-bazar. Isn’t it nice?”

She answered in the negative.

I didn’t bother as she disliked most of the things I liked. I thought the matter was closed.

Next day we met again. I was again wearing the same cargos. She saw them and said “Not again”

I said “Well you see these are my favorites. And until it is a formal occasion I wear these on weekends”

She “They don’t look good. I will buy you new ones.”

I “I am comfortable in this. I don’t want new ones. What makes you dislike them?”

She “They look cheap. And don’t suit you.”

I “Because they are from big-bazaar?”

She “Maybe”

I “I don’t care. I am comfortable in them.”

Next weekend I again met her in my cargos. She said she isn’t going anywhere with me until I change the cargos. I replied “Ok. Then let’s just stay here. I am not changing my cargos ”

She said “I am going to cut this cargo”

I “Doesn’t matter. I will still wear them”

She “I will cut it at places you won’t dare to wear them”

I “I don’t mind. I will be with you so you would be embarrassed”

She “We’ll see. I might even burn your cargos.”

I “What have you got against them. They are very comfortable and I don’t want any harm to them”

I am left wondering how come she hates my cargos so much.

Bangalore diaries - a trip to Mysore

Come to Bangalore and not going to Mysore doesn’t make sense. Does it? I was debating with my friend on this. My friend didn’t want to go to Mysore while I really wanted to go. I was pretty interested in visiting Vrindavan Gardens having heard a lot about it. After a long discussion we started for Mysore. We had to take the Mysore road and keep following it.

The plan was to visit Mysore Palace and then Vrindavan Garden. We thought we could spend quite some time in Mysore Palace and then in the evening go and visit Vrindavan Gardens to see the musical fountains. On the way we had an argument and the duration of our trip lengthened. We spent almost half the way without speaking to each other.

We reached Mysore Palace and were pretty hungry. We tried Bhel Puri, Pani Puri but they weren’t any good. We proceeded towards the Palace. My friend had been here some 15 years ago but found the place changed quite a bit. That was kind of expected I guess.

We entered the palace. No cameras were allowed. My friend acted as the guide. We went across the palace going over paintings, artifacts and antiques (if I can call them so). Some of the things were pretty good and some pretty ordinary. Overall it wasn’t as good as I had expected it to be. But then it was still good.

Then we proceeded towards Vrindavan Garden. Vrindavan Garden was a nice place. Well maintained to start with. It covers a huge area. One can take a walk or sit anywhere and relax. Of course if you looking for some activities, you will have to create them on their own. There’s a lake where you could go for a boat ride. We didn’t go for it. Instead we took the long walk towards the musical fountain. The place was filling up fast. We found a place on top row of the stairs – the perfect place to be. Soon the musical fountains started. It started off well. There was some creativity initially but soon it became monotonous. It was fun though; especially for the nice company.

We started our journey back to Bangalore. Although the palace and the Vrindavan Garden were not as good as I had expected them to be, the experience was still good. Actually just being there felt so good. I am not sure how it would feel the second time; but I sure won’t mind going there again.

Looking beyond the mask

There are people who always seem to be relaxed. And there are those who are always relaxed. The two may seem to be alike but there is a lot of difference. Of course everyone would like to be in a relaxed state of mind always but not everyone can achieve it. So the next best thing probably is to appear relaxed. That creates a good impression and saves you a lot of questions.

But people who put on a good act may not be actually feeling what they look or show. They may be feeling entirely different. I understand their whole purpose is not to show others the true picture. But do they really want others to believe their act? Do they really want people to take them on their face value? Or do they want someone to try and look beyond the mask? Do they want to see how many people actually can actually look past the cover? How many people actually want to look past the mask?

I have no answer to these questions. I am quoting a line from the movie The Smurfs that fits the situation – “I don’t want people to give me what I ask for. I want them to give me what they want.”

Bangalore diaries - Hogenakkal trip

This Sunday I went to Hogenakkal with my friend. We had been planning an outstation day trip for some time and all of sudden zeroed in on Hogenakkal. We did some research on the probable places of visit but what made us select this destination were the following lines –

“Hogenakkal Waterfalls, known as the 'Niagara' falls of India, are not a single waterfall but a series of falls and they offer a promising holiday destination for nature lovers from within and outside the country.” (courtesy http://www.mustseeindia.com/Hogenakkal)

We found three routes to reach Hogenakkal. The shortest one was about 120 kms but included a hilly patch. The longest was around 180 kms but the road was awesome as per the site – a 4 lane highway. We decided to take the longest route which was Bangalore => Hosur => Krishnagiri => Dharmapuri => Pennagaram => Hogenakkal.

We started around 4 AM to avoid the city traffic as well as the crowd at Hogenakkal. My friend was driving while I was giving directions. After about half an hour and a wrong turn later my friend got irritated by my directions and handed over the driving seat to me. I had never driven this long before so it was going to be a new experience for me. As we drove the sun began to rise. The view was excellent. Cool breeze was blowing and the weather was fantastic. A slight drizzle on and off added to the beauty. The drive was simply amazing. We were chit-chatting all the way, enjoying the surroundings. We had halt at McDonalds for pre-breakfast and continued on. The road was 4-lane and brilliant and we had done well to choose this route. After Dharmapuri we had to take a diversion. Although it was a 2 lane road with no divider, the condition of the road was pretty good. And we reached Hogenakkal around 8.

The crowd wasn’t much at that time. We proceeded towards the main falls and had a nice walk watching the falls. The falls were pretty good. We even crossed a small stream on our way. We had a quick coracle (circular basket boat) ride. My friend wanted to have a bath in the falls while I was trying to avoid it. While we were still deciding on what to do, my friend decided to go for a head and body massage. I was left alone waiting. I decided to go for a head massage. The worst decision I took on the trip. I specifically told the guy that I wouldn’t be taking a bath, so that he can massage accordingly. And what he did was pour the entire packet of oil on my head in three turns. The massage was ok, nothing special. When he ended I had a feeling he had put too much oil. And soon the oil started dripping from my head. I had no option but to take a bath; ruing all the time my decision to go for the head massage. Anyways I took bath in the falls. No matter how much I hated it the bath was actually refreshing. After that we had a cup of tea and headed back.

On our way back we took the same route enjoying the same view in broad daylight now. We were having a nice conversation. We stopped for lunch and continued our journey back. I couldn’t believe I had driven so long, roughly 370 kms. I should have been a little more careful at a few places; but overall I believe I drove well. (Rest I will leave my friend to comment J).

All in all it was an amazing day. A beautiful place, a wonderful company and an amazing drive.

Bangalore diaries - Open Air Theatre

I had heard about the concept of open air theatre but never experienced it. I always wanted to experience it and finally got the chance this Saturday. I was planning to watch Desi Boyz and my friend here suggested we go and watch it in the open air theatre. For both of us it would be the first time; so I booked the tickets for Saturday evening.

Ever since I have been in Bangalore it hasn’t been raining here, which was quite unusual as per the locals. And the rain gods decided to pay a visit this weekend. The moment I booked the tickets it started drizzling and continued throughout the weekend. We were wondering if the movie would be screened despite the rain. We decided to go anyways as the weather was quite pleasant in spite of the drizzle. The venue was some 15-20 kms from our place and we didn’t know the way. We started early.

The traffic wasn’t helping and nor was the drizzle as we moved in a slow pace. But since we had given ourselves a big margin we didn’t worry too much. It took us more than 2 hours to reach the venue. There was some marriage going on nearby which had added to the traffic. We asked the parking guard about the exact place of the movie. He said the movie is cancelled because of the rain. We wondered if we had come all the way just to collect the refund. We located the ticket counter and found that the movie was on. We parked our car and went in.

The scene looked wonderful. There was a big screen which was playing some old movie for the time being. In front of the screen at some distance there were some 10-15 rows of mattresses. There were people covering them and putting a couple of pillows on each mattress. After the rows of mattresses ended the rows of sofas started. The sofas looked good and could seat 2 to 3 people comfortably. In the middle of the sofas was the projector tent which was used to show the movie on the screen. On the far side there were 2 food outlets – one for popcorn & soft drinks and the second for cakes, pastries, samosas, sandwiches, etc. Overall the setup looked pretty good and we had already started enjoying.

Just as the movie was about to start, it started raining. Luckily there was a covered area at the back. The organizers had put chairs there as a backup plan. And soon everyone was in the cover. The movie started. As the rain stopped people started moving to the mattresses and sofas. We too went to the sofa, got a blanket to cover the wet seat and started enjoying the movie. It started raining again. I was in a mood to keep sitting there in the rain and watch the movie. But my friend had other ideas. So we moved back to the covered area. But most of the people had settled down well and didn’t come to the covered area. We had some snacks as well – samosas, cake, kebab, roll and coffee. The coffee didn’t taste like coffee, but it was hot and good in the weather. It was getting cold and my friend had put on jacket and covered up in blanket to keep warm. I was however enjoying the weather (for a change).

Overall it was a wonderful experience, something I would like to do again.

My eating habits

My friends know me for my eating habits. Mostly for all the wrong reasons i.e. I don’t eat this I don’t eat that. In fact whoever has eaten with me once would definitely know I don’t eat capsicum at all. And call it co-incidence that whoever’s house I visit for the first time for lunch or dinner, the menu for the day includes capsicum – either already prepared or about to be prepared. So I explicitly have to call out at the time of invitation that kindly do not prepare capsicum. And still I often end up having capsicum as part of the menu on my first visit.

One of my friends asked me to prepare a list of things I like and dislike. I was like “What?”. But she didn’t budge. So I sat down to make a list. And believe me it wasn’t as easy as I thought. First of all remember all food items, and then group them into – Do not eat, Like, Okay and Dislike. I did make the list and send it to my friend. But before I talk about the contents of the list let me see how many of you could actually guess the list :)

Bangalore diaries - Passing time

Its been sometime now in Bangalore and I think I am getting used to the life here. The one thing that prevents me from going all out in settling here is the fact that I know it is temporary. I will be going back to my home soon. And so it doesn't drive me to go out explore the locale for day to day needs, to know the neighbourhood, to make friends around. In short it doesn't drive me to know Bangalore as a place to stay but just a place for temporary station.

Lets see what all I can do here. Apart from office work I think I can do absolutely anything. I mean I can literally do anything I want to. There are no restrictions to follow, no routines to carry, no one to answer to. I have always thought about the things I would do if I ever get into such a scenario. And not that I am actually in that scenario I have no clue what to do. I mean there are things I would like to do but I something is stopping me from doing them. Some I fear I will not be able to do, some I am sure I won't be able to do, some I don't think is the right thing to do and some I somehow don't feel like doing. So I guess it leaves just one thing to do - do nothing. And if I somehow manage to do nothing then what will I do. Sounds confusing? Doesn't it? Well that's exactly where I am stuck. I want to do absolutely nothing but need something to pass time. Thinking about it would lead me to something called a cyclic dependency which is heading towards a deadlock.

Does it mean a routine life a better than this life? Does that mean having restrictions is better than having no restrictions? Does that mean it is good to have someone answerable? I am not sure if I could answer them in boolean i.e. plain yes and no. It is probably human tendency to want things they don't have and when they get those they don't want it. And I am no different. There are actually a few things I definitely want to do. And I have everything to do them. But somehow I don't feel like doing it. Nothings preventing me from doing it, yet something is preventing me from doing to it.

I don't think I will be able to figure out what is preventing me. The options left to me are either I drop the idea, or I do it no matter what, or I take some more time to think about it. The third option seems to be the easiest thing to do which is what I am going to choose most likely, at least for now. Wait and watch. Keep thinking about what to do and pass the time. I am sure the mind will be fed up with all this and decide the course of action. I just hope I have more patience that my mind...

Rockstar

Finally watched Rockstar today. I would say it was a decent watch. The songs and music was superb – thanks to A R Rehman and Mohit Chouhan; they have simply put an awesome performance. Ranbir Kapoor has done a wonderful job except the initial stages where in I found him on the verge of over acting. The heroine I felt was disappointing. But overall Imtiaz Ali has done a nice job with execution of the movie. And Khatara bhai deserves a special mention.

There were certain aspects of the movie that really touched my heart. One of them was when the heroine was getting married she asks Ranbir to come to Prague. Did she really mean it? I don’t think so. But Ranbir had registered it in his mind and was ready to sign any contract to go to Prague when he got a chance. Of course he didn’t give a damn about the contract. He didn’t realize initially that he was in love. And he never said so in the entire movie. But he felt that.

Another such instance is when the girl says we shouldn’t be doing it as it isn’t the right thing to do. But she knew she wanted to do it. Ranbir has been projected as someone who doesn’t give a damn what people think. You have to be actually that crazy to be in love. Most people don’t have that courage to do what they want.

Shammi Kapoor plays a nice role in the movie. The scene where he is playing the shehnai along with Ranbir who is playing his guitar speaks a lot. Ranbir had made fun of classical music by calling it monotonous. Shammi Kapoor proves Ranbir wrong not by defending himself but by playing different tunes with shehnai which makes Ranbir realize his mistake. When Ranbir stops playing guitar he actually acknowledges Shammi Kapoor without saying anything. The execution of the movie is brilliant.

If I look back at the movie I don’t think I would mind watching it again. Putting it in my friend Manas’s words I actually liked the movie for certain reasons. And I guess what I think the movie conveys is that you should rather do what you want to rather than do what seems to be the right thing to do. You have one life and it’s better to live it the way you want rather than living it the right way. It actually resembles a line said by Mark Twain “20 years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do, than by the one’s you did do. So throw off the bow line. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sail. Explore. Dream Discover”. I wish GOD gives everyone the courage to do what they want.

To quote from the movie "Kyun sach ka sabak sikhaye jab sach sun bhi na paye..."

A goldfish that disturbed my sleep

“How can the alarm ring so early” I wondered in my sleep as I tried to locate my phone. I had been woken from a deep sleep. As I grabbed my phone I realized it wasn’t the alarm but the phone was actually ringing. I rubbed my eyes and read the name of the caller. It was a friend of mine. I took the call.

“Can you hold a fish?” she asked.

I asked “What?” still trying to make sense.

“A parasite has got on my goldfish and I doubt if it will survive till morning. I need to remove the parasite from its fins and for that I need to hold the goldfish”

I was beginning to understand things.

“But I can’t hold the fish” she continued “Can you hold the fish”

Her voice was serious and concerned. I hadn’t held a fish ever and the thought of holding a fish that was alive was a little scary. But as my friend was so concerned I said “I haven’t done that ever but I can try”.

She probably sensed my anxiety and asked for any other way by which she could hold the fish without hurting it. I suggested her a few ways and she said she would call me in sometime.

I looked at the watch. It was 1:34 AM. She was still awake and googling goldfish. She was concerned for her goldfish as her other goldfish had died a few days back. What she assumed to be baby fish turned out to be parasites and were actually killing the goldfish. The goldfish had come to the bottom of the jar and stayed there mostly which made my friend try and find out why it was doing so.

While I waited for her call I was wondering how am I going to hold the goldfish. If she didn’t find a way to get rid of the parasite I would actually have to hold the goldfish. The thought was a little worrying but I couldn’t have said NO.

The phone rang. She seemed relieved. She had managed to remove the parasite. She said “I used two pencils to hold the goldfish and removed the parasite using a toothpick. Now my goldfish is swimming freely”

I said “Cool. By the way why are you awake so late?”

“Koi kaam to hota nahi hai aapse ab baat karne ki fursat hai. So jao aap” she replied

All I could say was “Ok. Good night.”

This happened last night. Today morning she said that the goldfish was swimming happily and even took feeds from her hand. She was pretty happy. And in the afternoon she bought 3 more fishes to give company to her goldfish.

For those who like keeping fishes here’s a useful link in case they face similar situation as my friend - http://factoidz.com/keeping-tropical-fish-in-an-aquarium-how-to-use-salt-in-killing-protozoan-parasites-plus-an-amazing-video/ She used this link to find out the problem and then sorted it out. In the process she befriended her goldfish. Cheers to her goldfish…

Mind games the Mind plays

The mind is so powerful and yet it keeps playing such petty games. It makes you do great things and it keeps you from doing the simple things. It makes one climb the Everest while it makes one fear cockroaches. It makes things look so simple but prevents you from doing it. It makes the same food taste different at different times. It makes you say things which it feels is necessary and makes you regret after you have said it. It makes you support a point while talking to someone and makes you go against the point while talking to someone else.

The mind makes you believe things will be fine and then makes everything look like a mess. The mind asks you to accept things as they are and then challenges you to bring change. It says you to keep your life simple and then complicates it by increasing your needs.

The mind has the power to complicate the simplest of things and to simplify the most complicated things. I seem to be saying the same thing over and over again. Well my mind seems to have decided to play with me. It is really messing around and I don’t know what to do. It starts with a question and helps me come to a conclusion. We (I and my mind) are on the same page. We decide on the next steps and when it is all settled it pops up a question – “Are you sure?” I am like “We finalized it together and now you doubt it. Come on man you can’t do this”. It doesn’t reply because it knows it already did it.

I can hear it giggling and I shout at it “What the hell are you doing man? Are we not supposed to be one? I mean you are part of me; you should help me; not confuse me.”

No answer. More smiles.

“I can do without you dude.”

More smiles.

“Shut the hell up. Will you?”

Smile continues.

“Go to hell”

It stops smiling. At least I think so. But that doesn’t ease the situation. I know as well as it does that this is going to happen again. Probably this is why wise men have said that one should try and control one’s mind. They could have given a guidebook for the same but instead they gave many guidebooks. Go figure for yourself which one to follow. I think I will patch up with my mind.

Bangalore diaries - the first weekend

My first weekend in Bangalore turned out to be quite good. After the not so good first 4 days here I was looking at the weekend with a lot of hope. Things didn’t start too well as my friends here had other plans and I was to spend the day with me with nothing to do. I didn’t want to spend the entire day in hotel so I decided to explore the nearby areas. I asked the hotel staff for some nearby place that I could visit and he told me to go to Forum mall. He gave me the directions to reach the mall. I had to change a bus at Kundalahalli Gate (might still have got the spelling wrong) to reach the mall. I had already been to the mall for lunch twice and wasn’t too excited but still decided to go there as it also had a movie hall. I wanted to watch Rockstar but that was planned with a friend for Sunday. So I bought the tickets for the next available movie which turned out to be Immortals. It was a decent movie. After the movie spent some time in the mall and came back to the hotel following the same route. I didn’t want to have dinner at the hotel but there wasn’t another option. I switched on the TV, logged in to the internet browsing some sites. Then my friend called asking about my dinner plans. Since I hadn’t had my dinner my friend came to pick me up and we went to my friend’s house. It was the first time I had a cup of home made tea – it was wonderful. Then had Palak Dal for dinner and luckily it was my favourite dal. We spoke about certain things and it was time well spent. I also came to know that my friend had already watched Rockstar with someone else ditching me. We decided to meet the next day for breakfast and go some place.

Sunday morning started as expected. I called my friend who was still asleep and said wouldn’t be joining for breakfast, but would meet around noon. We met around 12:30 and proceeded towards my friend’s friend’s house. It was around 30-40 mins drive and I was asked to drive. The car being new it took a little time to get used to the car. But I must say driving in Bangalore is not fun at all. As soon as the car picks up speed a speed-breaker greets you. We reached the friend’s place and had a wonderful lunch. Then when my friend enquired about the places to visit in Bangalore we got the response as “There are no places to visit in Bangalore. But there are lots of places around Bangalore.” That came as a shock as I expected Bangalore to have some decent places to visit. We finally decided to go to Lal Bagh. It was a nice place to spend time with friends although it had nothing spectacular about it. The drive to Lal Bagh was awesome though thanks to GPS and blocked roads.

While returning from Lal Bagh my friend wanted to have momos and samosa – a deadly combo. No one knew a place where they could get samosas but they knew a place where we could get momos. We reached the place only to find that momos were out of stock. Awesome. We had a cup of tea and some pakoras instead. We then headed to my firend’s friend’s home. On the way they found a place where they got samosas which pleased my friend. We had a game of Monopoly. The international monopoly was quite different from the game I had played in my childhood. I ended up having the most number of cards, the least amount of money and the highest rent payer. We had soupy noodles for dinner and bid goodbye to my new friends. I and my friend drove back and thankfully I wasn’t driving this time. We had a decent discussion on the way and to continue it further went to my friend’s house. We had ice tea and a long discussion.

Overall it turned out to be a decent weekend and the first time I actually liked Bangalore in my entire time here.