Polite tricks

Ever since I remember, I have always tried to stay away from the front pages of the newspapers, where the news is about the daily happenings, especially about political news. I would usually find myself glued to the last few pages of the newspaper, where it has some sports events.

As I inch towards my mid-thirties, I find that sport, although keeps me as interested as before, is not as pertinent in affecting my life anymore. And so, I start taking an interest in the politics of the country of my current residence, India.

Here are a few tips from this political-low-brainer:

1. Say no to caste or gender based reservation. It is to give sops to those who are poor, but ensure below-poverty-line cards are given to eligible folks only.
2. Please dont conduct budget before elections. Let the incoming government decide the future for the next year.
3. Talk about what your party did, not what is wrong with the other party.
4. Instead of protesting after the government does something, the opposition should mention the top things they feel should be done for the country, and then start the constructive debates.
5. Political parties should make their stands transparent for each discussion topic.
6. Government should bring in better transparency:
1. Inform people in each locality/constituency/district/state (whatever works) that this is the amount of money we have to spend
2. Ask the people what their top priorities are for the locality
3. Validate feasibility and get time & money estimates for these tasks
4. Prioritize, take actions and keep giving status updates at least every month or so
5. Don't splurge on building bridges or statues without asking the people
7. Governments should look at basic necessities, instead of promising the moon
1. Keep the city clean; impose fines on those breaking the law
2. Ensure traffic rules are obeyed; impose traffic fines on those breaking the law
3. Build basic infrastructure for roads and footpaths
4. How easy is it to get a driver's license

World Champions

It isn't exactly everyday that India wins the cricket world cup. Apr 2, 2011 was one such day. It was a day, when after 28 years, India lifted the world cup for the second time. The last time this happened, I am not sure I even knew how to say the word cricket. This time, the team was termed as the favorites to win the cup, and they did. Sachin Tendulkar has been playing for India for 21 years now. We all awaited him to get to his 100th ton, but it was not to be. That could have been the icing on the cake. But as Sachin himself would admit, India winning the world cup finals was a much (need astronomical terms to explain this comparison) bigger result. India beat West Indies, Australia, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in the last 4 games to make it as champions.

In a way, this might also be the end of an era - the era of a cricket fan, who, when getting late to watch the match would wonder what all those folks on the road were doing instead of hurrying to the nearest source of entertainment! A cricket fan, and a Sachin fan - who used to jot down the updated runs and average of this star player after each match. Now that India has got to the zenith, it might be the right time to switch off this cricket fanatism, and concentrate on the more pertinent points in life.

Its time for me to become a world champion now.

Oh, and we got the visa for the kid. :)

Another long march

It has been quite hectic these days. What a hell of a project (2 of them actually) I am in now. There is so much to do. But unlike old days, I make it a point to go home early enough so that I can spend some time with my wife and kid.

About the 2 pending items - the khata transfer document for the apartment, and the passport for the kid - well, they are done. Next up is the visa for the kid.

Have cleared the company's mandated technical certification as well this month. That forced me to reschedule the Microsoft certification to next month.

And in the cricket world cups news, India has reached the semi-finals. They will be playing Pakistan in Mohali. Should be a good match, and hopefully the 2 things we are waiting for would happen - Sachin's 100th ton and an Indian win.

Hope all goes well. :)

Hello 2011

Happy new year!

I celebrated the new year at home, with family. It was also nice that mom had made some good stuff to begin the year with - gulab jamuns! :)

So, what else has happened this year so far? Well, I bought this king size bed for our master bedroom. I feel beds in Bangalore are highly overpriced. I also got an LPG connection in my name.

Couple of things that are on the horizon - we are about to get the khata transfer document for our apartment. And we have applied for a passport for the kid.

Have a great year ahead!

My New Lap Top

We had the kid's naming ceremony on Saturday. We named him Sachin.


We named him so because of the following reasons, not that we needed any. :)
1. Anju definitely wanted to name him after a Hindu God. Sachin, it seems, is a synonym for Shiva.
2. I wanted to have a name that is more contemporary than other godly names, such as Sriram or Shankar.
3. The obvious reference to a modern God of cricket. It seems he was named so because his father was a fan of Sachin Dev Burman.
4. We wanted a name that was not easy to misspell or mispronounce.
5. The meaning of this name in Sanskrit is Sat+chin = good mind, pure, existence, essence.
6. None of the Sachins I know are despicable. In fact, they are mostly of good humor.
7. We liked it. And so did the few folks to whom we suggested this.

Here's wishing Sachin greatness in his chosen field.

O Boy!

It's November 2010. When the month started, I knew that this would one of the biggest months of my life. No kind of preparation was enough for the days I just spent.

First and foremost, the announcement - as on Nov 7th, I am a dad. Wow! Yes, it feels great. Its a role change that has respect built into it. I mean, for most of us, a parent automatically deserves respect. And I guess I am in the stage now during the initial few days finding out why that is so. I am earning it now.

Time for some flashback. We were celebrating diwali. Shopping, sweets and firecrackers. It was Saturday night. I was feeling a bit (ok, quite a bit) sad as I had to go back to Bangalore after spending 10 days at home. The plan was to take Anju to her place in the morning, come back to my place in the afternoon and catch the train in the evening. Thankfully, the kid had other plans. And boy, was it timed properly!

We got to our bedroom at around past 11pm. But we werent feeling sleepy, either of us. I guess initially it was just because we wanted to spend some more time together, talking, as I was supposed to leave soon. But, within an hour, we had other reasons not to sleep. She was getting pains in her mid section. And the frequency kept getting shorter. The pains were getting more acute as well. I could judge that by her reactions, although she kept telling me that it was all right. After 30 minutes or so of this, at around 1 am, I coudnt stand it any longer, and thought I should get some expert advice. I went downstairs to wake up my mom. Even with her bad knee, she climbed upstairs, and after inspection, agreed that we should go to the hospital now. In the worst case, if it was a false alarm, we could just come back.

I got the car out. My father and sister were up by then. My mom and wife got into the car. We started at 1:20 am. We got to the hospital within 10 minutes, thanks to the less crowded roads at that time of the night. Once we got there, we asked for some help. Anju went inside the maternity block. Once she went directly inside the labor room, I could just stare at the slippers she left behind. This is all so sudden, I thought!

We had called her parents before starting. Soon, they came by, and the 4 of us were just talking for some time. I could hear somebody screaming "Entammeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee". It sounded like my wife, but I couldnt be very certain. She later told me that the delivery pain is like no other pain in the world. You can get delirious then, it seems. My mom asked me to come back to the waiting room instead of spending time outside the labor room, listening to the goings-on there. We were quite eager to know what was going on in there, but they there was no status update, much less them letting us in. At 3:40 am, a nurse came to us and said that Anju has delivered, and its a boy. We were quite surprised, as the parents were just telling me how the entire process could easily take a few hours, and in some cases, a few days. 2 hours is awesomely fast time.

Soon, the nurse brought out the bundle of joy. It was an amazing sight! I hadnt seen anything like that before. Its arms were quite blue. I guess it must have been the lack of blood circulation there. And the rest of the body was quite reddish and whitish. He looked like a person from Shimla with no tan at all. But, overall, it just looked quite beautiful. It was getting to be daybreak soon. So, no point in getting any sleep then. That was the first sleepless night I had.

We spent 3 more days in the hospital, and 3 more sleepless nights. Well, I did sleep for 2 of those 4 nights. But, the mothers, all 3 of them, couldnt really sleep for much time. Most of my time was spent fetching supplies - to the canteen or hotels to get tea or breakfast, or to the medical store or driving back and from home.

We were quite relieved, when on day 4, we were allowed to go back home. We got the kid to Anju's place, and every day, we get to see some new antics by the kid. Its such a fun time! :) As I have said before, I am quite lucky about the big things in my life. Thank you, God.

Where has all the time gone?

Another busy day, with a big list of tasks completed, and an even bigger list of tasks that should have been completed this day. Not unlike any other average day these days, I feel the need to multi-task quite a bit in order to get stuff done. And I suddenly ask myself, where has all the time gone? I remember quite distinctly, when we were kids, there used to be so much time at hand, including 2 hours of play time in the evening. I am hard stretched these days to even manage a day or two every week to spend an hour in the gym. And seeing the temporarily bulged shoulder muscles now isnt half as entertaining as time spent on the hot terrace during those days. So, where has all the time gone?

Is it just because we have too much to do these days? Longer work hours, compared to the school hours might be one explanation. And coupled with that, we need to think about a great deal of tasks to be done - both at work, and in our personal lives, such as family, finance and friends.

All right, past midnight already, and need to go to sleep now. No more time to blog, you see! :)

Nerd Storm

To provide an update on my previous post about IRCTC blocking my id, to be fair to them, they did it as per orders by the Indian Railways. An account that has filed a false TDR needs to be deactivated, it seems. My fault was a misunderstanding of one of the categories of filing TDR. I had selected an option that mentioned that the train was late by more than 3 hours. Of course, it was, by the time it reached my destination. In fact, it didn't seem like reaching there. So, I got down at an earlier station and then continued by bus. The misunderstanding here is that the TDR can be filed only if I had not undertaken the journey when the train is late by more than 3 hours from the originating station. And I found out from their customer care (they never answered my email, and I had to call them up) that to cancel tickets booked from a now defunct account, I can simply send a mail from the email id associated with the account. Funnily, I did  have to switch from English to Punjabized Hindi (hainji, haanji) to make sure the lady in Delhi understood me properly.

And now to why the subject is titled this way. Of course, there needs to be more than one reason for Nerd Storm. First, quite simply, I just got into a project, where the client's name sounds very similar to it. Secondly, and more importantly, they have given a clear direction to use all the latest technologies in the .Net world, most of which aren't even 6 months old: Visual Studio 2010, .Net Framework 4, ASP.Net MVC 2 and Telerik Extensions for it, as well as IIS 7.And to top it, I am not really conversant yet with AJAX, jQuery and LINQ. And to think of it, I am supposed to lead the way for the team on how to use these, and what best practices to follow. The best practice that I can recommend for now is to follow the articles, tutorials, samples, videos and demos on the official web sites. I also get sleepy in the afternoon these days, thanks to all the reading, which I am not so used to currently.

On the personal front, I am staying in the new flat all by myself. My wife is at her parents' place, gearing up for an important event. :) I am not permitted to say further on this topic for now. Being all alone and no one to talk to can be quite boring at times. This reminds me of what I read somewhere. Loneliness is different from solitude. Loneliness is when you are with nobody. Solitude is when you are with yourself. Most often, I shuttle between the two these days.

Certified Store Manager, and a fraudulent (it seems) online train traveller

And I am back. Yes, another posting within 24 hours. And I have cleared the certification exam that I wrote this morning. How many exams would have a passing percentage of 70? Well, this one had. And, I got 82%. Yippeee!! I am certified in the concepts of "Store Management" now.

I got a strange mail from IRCTC today. At first, I thought it was a spam mail. But, on second look, it seemed original, but just badly constructed. It mentioned about the TDRs (ticket deposit receipts) that I had filed last year. I had filed 3 of them, because I felt the Indian Railways owed me money. The TDR was approved for one instance for a ticket which I had not used to travel. The second one was filed since the train was late by more than 3 hours. I swear they had a category like that. They rejected this one, for some strange reason. And my reason for filing the third TDR was that they had failed to provide me blankets in a 3rd AC coach. I guess I selected a category of something on the lines of 'Others' for this one. Of course, they rejected this as well. So, eventually I was left with 1 successful and 2 failed TDRs. The emails (2 of them) that I got today was about these 2 failed TDRs. They mentioned the PNR (passenger name record) numbers of these 2 tickets, for which I had raised TDRs. They didnt mention the date of travel. But thankfully, as I had archived all those e-tickets, I was able to find out which date they are talking about.

The key part to these mails was that they informed me that my userid has been disabled because this was a "fraudulent activity". Of course, I replied to them today stating the reasons for which I had raised the TDRs. I hope someday I will get a reply to my email. I guess the odds are instead in favor of me calling their customer "so called" helpdesk sometime within a week.

Oh, by the way, when I try to login to the site, it tells me that my userid is an invalid one. Hmm. I tried going to their page where a new user can register, and they mention that my userid is available to be taken up. Who writes such code?! Of course, since I cant login to their site now, I cannot view my previous tickets or TDRs. Thankfully, as I mentioned earlier, I had archived those e-tickets locally. I wonder what other folks would do in such a circumstance!

My only concern in getting back this userid is to be able to cancel some of the tickets I have booked online. I already had created another user on their site, as they had a rule of only 10 tickets per user per month. So, I still have a way to book new tickets, but if I dont get this userid back, I might not be able to claim cancelled tickets. I still have roughly a month before I need to do so. So, I guess there's plenty of time to get things back to normal. Or, do I? :)

Re-another-turn

Another sizeable break (of 9 months, this time), and I welcome myself back (again). I hope I can be more regular from here on. So, what are the excuses, err, reasons this time? Let me just say I was waiting for an internet connection at home. At my new residence, that is. After 3 failed attempts of trying to get an internet connection at my previous residence, I did the only logical thing - shifted my residence. Well, not physically, but just a shift in the logical reference. Heheh.

But wait, it is not just a shift of residence from one place to another. It is also a very major shift from being a 'tenant' to a 'house owner'. That's right. I am, or rather we are, now the proud owners of a brand new 2BHK flat in Bangalore. A small step but a giant leap kinda stuff.

There was also another major role change at work. I have now been promoted to Technology Architect. This was something I have been aspiring to be for quite a few years. Because of recent changes in the company policies, the bar had just supposedly been raised for another 2 years, but I got thru sooner than that. Kudos to me. :)

Another role change is about to happen. But, as usual, I need to have at least one topic left to be blogged on another day. So, thats it for now.

Also, I need to brush up on the study material as I have a certification exam tomorrow. So, thats my plan for today, before I hit the sack in an hour or so. Well, more like half an hour by the end of this posting.

Hope to be back here soon.

Encaged

I welcome myself back to the blogging world. Well, it has been quite some time (around 14 months) since I took this... break. I decided to call it a break, and not a breather, since otherwise I would have to call it a deep breather.

So, what took me so long? Was my life so boring that nothing could be reported in the past 14 months? Well, on the contrary, the last few months have been so eventful, that I really couldnt put that all down on digital paper. Secondly, my company has blocked access to post anything to the blog site. Next excuse: I was practising... my art of procrastination. Bet you didnt know this: procrastination is a modern art. It could have been an ancient art, but those guys kept delaying it. Heheh. ;-)

And now to the main reason of why I couldnt blog. Because sometimes words just arent enough to express a feeling. Its one of those feelings - how did it happen? And so fast? And to me? Hold on... lets see what happened, in chronological order.

August 22nd, 2008:
I was at onsite, and was packing my bags to get back home, having convinced my manager and more importantly, myself, that the time had come for me to put more interest in my personal life rather than my professional career. As my parents would call it, I was coming to India to look for suitable brides.

August 24th, 2008:
I land in Cochin Airport in the morning, get home, and am told that I already have an appointment that day. In the afternoon, I am quite groggy because of the jet lag, or perhaps we should call it jet lead, since I had returned from onsite. Anyway, I was prompted to action, and having washed my face, I readied myself to the visit.

We took a taxi to get to the girl's place. I got to know later that I had hardly bothered to even comb my hair. We got welcomed inside the house. Quite a lot of people were giving directions, and someone pointed me to a plastic chair. Since I saw that there were quite a lot of elders in the vicinity, I didnt try to act otherwise. I got to know later that this was taken as a show of humility. Hah, little arrogant me, being seen as a humble person! After some boring chit chat, they called for the heroine to come to the scene. And when she emerged from the room, the earth suddenly screeched to a stop. Or was that just my heart pounding? "Boy! She is beautiful!!" was all I could think to myself. She looked much pretty than in the photograph that they had shared with me earlier - the worst of hers I have seen till date. We didnt speak much, rather, at all, in front of others. Then, having been asked to have some tea and snacks, we were led to the adjoining dining room. Soon, we were left alone. I think, in the next few minutes, I had come to the conclusion that this was the most good-natured, god-fearing, shy and beautiful girl I had ever met in my life. Later, this dialog came to my mind: "Main to samajhta tha ki bhagwan ne aisi ladkiya banaana hi bandh kar diya tha." Translation: I used to think that God had stopped creating such girls. This thought was primarily because of her shyness. During the course of this discussion, I honestly dont remember what we talked about, but I do remember that she gave me a few smiling glimpses.

When we returned home that day, we didnt talk much about this event. Next day, my mom asked me. Although I did like her very much, I gave myself a few minutes since if I said yes, it would mean that there was no looking back. Leading the life of a married man is a life of responsibility. Till now, I didnt have to support anybody on my own. Now, life would be about 2 individuals supporting each other. Eventually, I decided to respond in the affirmative, as I had myself believed that this was the right thing to do.

The rest, as they say, is history. Relatives of the girl came over to visit our house. And on that day, the engagement date of October 26th, 2008 and the marriage data of March 22nd, 2009 were fixed. Few days later, when I went to Bangalore to resume my official duties, my parents accompanied my relatives to the girl's house, as was the custom.

Before I left to Bangalore, I called her up on the phone one day. She was quite tense then, since it was the first time for her as well. In due time, we learnt to relax and talk our hearts and minds out. Initially, I was adamant that marriage should take place only at least 6 months after we met each other. This was so that we get to know each other well before we got into a committed state. But in time, we found that this was a bit too long. I used to come to our hometown every weekend. She would wait at a pre-decided place in the heart of the city. We would then spend time having ice-cream, going for a movie, having lunch, walking, motor-cycling, travelling in an auto-rickshaw, visiting the museum, the palace, the zoo, the art gallery, the dam... we were running out of places available in our small hometown. Before we got married, I also bought a car and we drove together once around town. All those days will still be cherised dearly by us.

Now, it has been a year since our engagement, and our love (the feeling I mentioned as hard to express) for each other has only increased every day. Anju, I love you a lot. :-)

I usually consider myself unlucky for the small things in life: like waiting in line to buy a ticket, and the counter being closed as soon as I get to it. But, I consider myself lucky for the large things in life: my family, my friends, hey, even my sometimes lousy job. And now, I thank God for giving me such a lovely wife. Good nature and beauty is a difficult combination to get, and she has loads of both. I just wish I can be as good a husband to her, as she is a good wife to me.

I wish us a happy and prosperous life ahead.

Known-believer

And it occurred to me. For a long time, I used to wonder about this. But, I guess I have figured it out now.

Most people in this world can either be classified as believers or non-believers. There are those that believe in the existence of a super natural force - call it God, fate, luck or anything else. These people believe that this force would take care of them - to guide, nurture and protect them in life. Then, there are those who can be called non-believers. They dont believe in any such external force. They make their own fate. They create their own destiny. Anything good or bad that happens to them is a result of their own actions.

For a long time, I have been wondering which group I fall into. And then, I realized that there is a third group. And that is what I come under. Because of certain previous instances, which can only be classified as miracles, I accept the unverifiable gospel that God or some other such entity exists, and this entity plays a governing role. But then, here is the twist in my belief. Although I believe in the existence of God, I dont have faith in him. I believe that God exists, but I dont feel that he is on my side. And I dont think that he does a good job of ensuring justice.

I know there would be those that would say that all that happens does so for a good cause. But, considering all that happens in this world - how innocent people lose their lives, how miscreants flee away after imposing atrocities on people and so on, one wouldnt do wrong to acknowledge that injustice prevails.

If God is so good as I hear the first group of people talk about, why does he do things or allow things to be done, that cause mayhem and cant be undone? I can only leave that as a rhetorical question for now.

The Ladder

"Another rung in the ladder" said the subject line as I sent out a mail (2 years ago) about my recent shift to the technical architecture group in our company. It was only later that I would have realized the profound meaning of the word 'ladder'.

Last night, as has happend at the end of any recent weekend, I lay in bed, waiting to get sleepy. But, that wouldnt happen for around an hour. I guess my brain is most active at this time. Just before its time for the shutters.

I was thinking about what I had thought of as a kid. What did I want to become? I guess most American kids want to become pilots or fire fighters. And for most Indian kids, becoming a cricket player or a movie star would be the dream. Name, fame, money and recognition, all at a young age is perhaps what drives many to such a lucrative career. I remember that I had written in one of the school autograph books that I want to become a professional sportsperson. If not, to become an engineer. Well, as they say, we end up in life doing what we are second best at. So, an engineer I am. But, I was just wondering why I wanted to become a sportsperson. I wasnt really as good in cricket. I used to dream of competing in the olympics running race, winning a gold medal for my country. It wasnt really the money or any of the other dazzling gifts that usually people associate with sports. Its the satisfaction of being the top guy in the field of your choice. In sports, that goal is very tangible, unlike in other fields. But that, ultimately, is what most people want. To exceed in whatever field they choose or whatever field chooses them. To quote the dialog from Lakshya, agar main ghaas kaatne waala bhi ban gaya, lekin achha ghaas kaatne waala nahi bana, to kya faayda?

So, aiming for excellence in whatever we do is the ultimate goal. Now, there is no limit for the heights of excellence. And if you consider the field I am in, there is really no gold medal that says "here is the best programmer in the world". But, I am ok with that. The search for excellence persists.

I came into this industry with a true interest in it. What I have noticed, like in the film industry, is that many people get into it, not because of true interest, but just to make some quick bucks. I see that majority of people fall in this category. The search for excellence is not present generally. Doing better is a comparative analysis for most. The questions are - how can I do just enough to make people feel that I am doing better than the other folks? Its no longer a matter of how high you can fly. Its more a matter of how can you bring down someone else so that you can look higher, or how you show yourself being higher instead of actually having to do so! All this is rubbish. In the search for excellence, we need not compare ourselves with others. We need to compare ourselves with what we were. This is also pretty similar to what one should do in the gym. The comparison is only with yourself, with what you were and what you are now.

Having said that, I am not saying that you need to work on your own. Working in a team is good. Its mutually beneficial for all. But, co-operation, not competition, is the key to success.

All that was general talk. Now, time for some reminiscence. Over the last few years, I put in efforts, with personal sacrifices, to be a person that aims for excellence. But, things havent been going well for the last 2 years. I tried to rise high, becoming a ladder which can be used by others to get high as well. But, in my attempt to become a ladder, I found that a few used me literally as a ladder, by stepping on me for their own benefits. And now I am like a used tea-bag for them, thrown away after use. The ladder lies on the floor. What used to look like a means to achieve great heights is now just a wooden fixture, strangely full of large holes, and seemingly useless. It has taken quite some time, but I have learnt not to give up. What was that saying? If you get up one more time than you fall down, you will succeed.

Communication Exception

I have always felt that my oral skills are not good enough, not even as good as my written skills. Couple of events a few days ago reconfirmed this belief.

It was Friday evening. The busy week was coming to an end. We had got out of a team meeting. One of the relevant points made by the manager was said to a colleague (RS), specifics about how she should send the status update mail before leaving for the day. After a few minutes, I was looking for a friend of mine (TK), and I found him in RS's cubicle. She was drafting the mail and was about to send it. I just had a glance at it and noticed that the manager had specifically asked her to do something else. I pointed out the issue, and instead of thanking me, for some reason, she felt that I was trying to confuse her. This put me off. Later, TK started to talk to her about some issue that I had brought up earlier in the day. RS just waved it off, telling TK that he shouldnt believe what I say. That blew my top off. Perhaps this attitude was a general approach taken because I kid around a lot. But, such generalization is not good for the team. Even my good intentions were not taken with the right approach. So, I decided to not say another word to her for the rest of the day. Highly unprofessional of myself, I must say, but there you have it. I felt something went wrong in the way I have communicated to her.

On the next day, a friend of mine asked me if I could help her out with some money, as she was planning to buy a house. She had the same kind of job that I had, and since I felt she was financially as secure as I was, I gave a very frank reply. I told her that I like to help only those people who dont have other means to. For example, I would help out one of my neighbours back home, an auto-rickshaw driver. Or I would help out my cousin when he doesnt have other means. But, why should I help out this friend of mine, as she could as well take a housing loan. I told all this very frankly to her. And I guess, you can expect the result. She didnt like my response. She said, she didnt need the money then, but was just seeing which of her friends could help when the time comes. And with such a response, she wouldnt approach me even if she felt the need. I believed I was right in my own way, but I was wrong in communicating it properly.

I am reminded of a story from my school days. Person A is desperately in need of some money. He finds a friend of his, B on the beach. When asked, B responds saying that he was just taking a stroll on the beach and had come without any cash. A is livid at this response and says that B was just making an excuse. A approaches C, another friend of his. C mentions that A is late by just a few minutes, as he claims to have given all the money he had with him to another friend of his. A is happy by this response and thanks C. But, in truth, C told a lie and didnt share the money he had on him at that moment. Yeh duniya hai!

Sax and Violins

Well, I dont really like sax music. But, I love the sound of violins. They have to be played by one who knows them well, though. When in the wrong hands, as with other great things, it can cause as much catastrophe!

I am led to believe that it is the finest instrument in terms of expressiveness, that it can play all kinds of tones. Ah, I wish I werent really so tone deaf. Or do I just think I am that? I would have definitely made a great violin player, if I had the gift. Well, perhaps I do have the gift and I have never tried as much. Maybe the time will come some day. :-) Hey, at least wishful thinking is better than lamenting.

The Dallas Trip

The last time I met my bhaiya, bhabhi and the kiddo was on 1st Jan last year. I was on my way from Cochin to Atlanta, and I had to gatecrash at their apartment because of flight problems, which thankfully happened in Hyderabad. "Welcome to Atlanta" mocked my bhaiya, who really isnt as famous for his witty remarks as I am. He does make up for lack of quantity with some more quality, though. :-)

Then, after my 6 week onsite assignment, when I returned in Feb, they were on their way to Dallas on the same day. I was wondering whether we could wave each other tata as the planes pass by, like trains in nearby tracks. Heheh. Well, as you might have guessed, that didnt happen. And so, while I remained at offshore for the next few months, these folks remained in Dallas. I got my chance to come back to US in December, to Chicago and then in Feb this year, to Minneapolis. And since I was supposed to go back soon, with these folks still here, I thought it would be a good idea to go meet them. Visiting family and friends is what I like to do a lot, although I am all at sea about what to do when I get there. This reminds me, when was the last time I travelled by sea? Anyway, back to the point.

I decided the right time would be on a weekend, with the impending India trip, so that I could hold on to as many leaves as I could. Hey, if there were more leaves around, I would be Tarzan. Back to the point again.

Now, the question was to figure out the right weekend. That was an easy choice as my niece, Malutti's b'day fell over a weekend this year. Of course, my bhaiya and bhabhi had predicted this as I kept delaying my weekend plans before this date. My bhabhi's brother, Rahul was also coming from San Diego for this. So, it was to be the nice family get-together.

I left early on Friday, direct from office, got onto the metro train, which left me at the footsteps of giant escalators, 3 of them. This led me to the MSP (Minneapolis & St. Paul's) airport. It was raining cats and dogs outside, although pets arent allowed in most of the places here. Eventually, the flight was delayed by 3 hours. In compensation, they offered us a $25 discount coupon, to be used on the next flight booking.

I reached Dallas airport safely (havent been on one which was otherwise). I had my iPod and a book for companionship. Its easy to spend the few waiting hours with them around.

My bhaiya had come to pick me up. "Welcome to Dallas" he said. I smiled. He remembered our last meeting then. We made a few rounds at the airport, just buying enough time to park again, since Rahul was getting down from his flight. We picked him up. He had brought his bag with him, the one that bhabhi had asked us to bring so that we could take back packed home-made food. His bag was smaller than what I had brought. So, you can guess who got to take back more of the food. Heheh.

When we reached home, the little kiddo was awake, and was jumping with joy. We got in just by midnight and in time to wish her 'Happy birthday'. The next 2 days were spent all with her, with the kiddo enjoying her time with her mamaji and chachaji.

On the b-day morning, we went to the store to pick up the birthday cake that was ordered by bhabhi. I didnt even bother to put on any additional (read protective) clothes or even comb my hair. Dallas was pleasantly hot enough, when compared to the harsh weather in Minneapolis.

Then, it was time to get ready and get to the Indian restaurant where we had asked some of bhaiya's colleagues to come with their family. It was fun. Bhaiya had devised this game on the lines of KBC, and it was called 'Kaun Banega Achha Pati'. :-) I was to be the host, acting out like AB, which was strangely, for the first time in front of my family members here.

So, after a heavy lunch and more cake for dessert, we were all tired on our way back home. When we reached the apartment, the kiddo wanted to go out to play in the park! "Park, tata" was the cue. She kept uttering it until her mom took her to the park for tata. Heheh. Rahul and I wanted to go, but just couldnt keep up with the dynamo's energy level, and went flat on the beds.

Next day, we did go with her to the park. That was fun as well. Playing along with her, on the swing and then, on the slide. Climb, slide down, run back fast - she kept doing this over and over again, until we had to execute a break in her seemingly infinite loop.

The best thing was the way she used to laugh at just the little gestures we used to make. Even a poor imitation of a lion's roar would generate uncontrollable laughter from her. And sometimes, for no reason at all, she used to come and give a hug. Such unconditional love was something I had rarely seen. So, here was another person (in the very small list) who meant more to me than myself. :-)

On early Monday morning, with some grief of departure and the bag full of food, my bhaiya took me to the airport. I came to the airport 50 minutes earlier than the departure of my flight. But because of waiting at the line to get a kiosk to check-in for my flight, I got delayed. Also, Delta airways said that they could not check me in using their kiosk although they had mentioned Northwest as their partners. Lost more time there. At the end, when I got a NW kiosk to check in, the airline staff told me that I was 3 minutes late (with 27 minutes remaining for the flight to take off). They put me on standby for the next flight, and the one after that, and another one after that. I kept waiting for 4 flights and thereby spent 10 hours in the DFW airport. Even after calling customer support to reschedule my flight to sometime later in the evening or for next day, I was told I have to pay around 389 dollars for this. I checked with my roomie and he got me a confirmed seat for the first flight on the next day with the minimal charge of 50 dollars for the reschedule. The airline staff at the gates and at the check in counter were not that helpful either.

Meanwhile, I had called up my manager and told him that I would be delayed in Dallas by a day. I just hope he doesnt think that I had this preplanned. I called up my 3 of my friends in Dallas, asking if they were able to meet me then. I couldnt meet them earlier since all the 2 days was spent with the kiddo. But, none of them could meet me that day. Now, they shouldnt be able to complain anymore. I gave them a chance, right? :-)

I asked my bhaiya to pick me up. On the way back to the apartment, I was wondering - on my way to Dallas, the NW flight was delayed by 3 hours due to maintenance and they gave me a 25 dollar voucher off for next time. And on this flight, when I was delayed by 3 minutes, NW took me off the confirmed list, asked me to wait for 10 hours and then ask me to pay 389 dollars to get on board the evening flight. Also, both my checked in bags were sent to MSP on the previous day. I had to spend a whole day in Dallas without my stuff and had to rush at the MSP airport to make sure that they dont dump my baggage. Well, the silver lining in this dark cloud was that I got more time that day to spend with the kiddo.

On the next day morning, the flight was at the same time as on the previous day. This time, we didnt take any chances and went there 2 hours early. It was easy this time and by 10 AM, I was in office. I had already got a call from my manager on the way there. Ah, another beautiful day of work to look forward to, I thought, with the travel bag still on my back.

So, should I call this the Dallas trip or the Dallas fall? :-) Well, this happend in the month of April, so it was the Spring season and not Fall. Secondly, although I had this minor hiccup (trip) at the airport, I really didnt fall. Silly, but simple.

Let me finish off with this old Chinese proverb:
"If you get up one more time than you fall, you will make it through."

So, what happened, exactly?

"So, what exactly happened over the past 2 months?" is the first thought that crossed my mind when I saw my blog site today. Its been 2 months since I posted anything here. Few of my friends have been telling me about it and today, while talking to one, I reminded myself to do this on the same day.

Of course, the fact that I am not feeling very sleepy at present, even though its nearing 1 AM, helps me put in some thoughtful words here. So, let me crank up the flashback memory and see where I had left off.

April - the Dallas trip, ok, I owe you that.
May - the India trip, ok, need to blog about that as well.
June - Boy! this month is almost over, with just one significant event.

Ok, before I keep forgetting stuff, I need to blog about these. Right on, the Dallas trip it is then, in the next posting. :-)

Note: Procrastination is an ancient art.

So, in this posting, let me mention my current state of mind.

I dont know what to do. Over the past few days, there has been a lot to do at work. But, in effect, its not really much that I am doing. For quite some time now, I feel that nothing much is happening in life these days. I feel down. But, I also feel elated at the same time, for some strange reason. Perhaps it is because of the 'calm before the storm' feeling. I feel as if I am on the verge of something, as if something major is going to happen. So, what would that be? And when will that happen? Only time will tell.

Pretty Face

When I first saw her, I thought I had never seen a girl more beautiful than her in my life. I couldnt resist the urge to go to her. Her father was right behind her and was showing his disapproval when I first tried to touch her. Her response to me was to offer a hug. I did so, and her mother came to the spot, amazed at all this. Her mother mentioned "She knows when she has found one of her people." "What do you mean?" I asked. The reply was "Well, when she met her mamaji, she was very friendly to him, but not so with any other strangers. Now that her chachaji has come, she knows it well!" Of course, I am talking about my bhaiya and bhabhi's kid girl. She was just a few months old when I first saw her.

Next time I could meet her was on her second birthday. Thats when I had the Dallas trip planned. More about that in the next posting.

Vish-U a happy Vishu

Today is Vishu. A day that historically coincides with a lot of good news for me. Lets see how the next 24 hours unfold. Just thought of putting in a placeholder posting here before I go off to sleep. You see, I have to wake up early tomorrow morning - planning to get up before the sun does, and get darshan of the little vishu-kani that I managed to assemble.

12:30 AM - In an effort to get everything ready before I go off to sleep, I pulled out the plug of the little electric clock that remained in the corner of the room. When I put it back on, the time was reset to 12:00 and it started blinking irritatingly. Nice start, I thought initially. In a few minutes, I tried out a few attempts to make it appear normal, but in vain. Then frantically, I pressed on a few buttons in tandem, thereby getting to know that it was the manner in which to use the buttons on it. I needed to press one of the buttons and then make the hour and minute changes. Well, so finally, by 12:45, I learnt to set the clock time and to set it right. That was some achievement considering the fact that the little clock had always intrigued me and it was always in the back of my mind to set the time right on it some day. Today was the day.

01:00 AM - Trying to go to sleep, but for some reason cant. Now since Vishu is new year for us, perhaps I was wondering about all the bad events in the past year. Of course, no one can go to sleep thinking about such events. So, I changed the strategy and it worked. That's why I dozed off soon thereafter. Now dont ask me what the strategy was. I dont remember as I dozed off, you see. :-)

05:00 AM - or thereabouts, I dont know the exact time but I surely know that this was before the alarm time. In the faint light of my digital equipments, I took darshan of the vishu-kani that I could touch by hand. I started getting into meditation mode, but wasnt getting strong enough. Went back to sleep soon.

05:30 AM - The first of the alarms started ringing. I say first because as is my practice, I go back to snooze mode at least twice. I was still very groggy but suddenly decided to have darshan of the digital vishu-kani that Mom had sent from back home. I went over to the laptop. Tried out the fingerprint sensor login thrice, didnt work out! Logged in using the password, trying not to read anything. You see taking darshan on this day is all about starting off the day with setting your eyes first on something pleasant. Well, I had set the photo ready to be seen as soon as I logged in. And it worked! The divine sight looked too real to be called just a digital photo. I wondered in amazement, perhaps not thinking about God, but just about how the lamp looked so real. The light from it appeared to fill the room when the sun wasnt up yet. And this surely got rid of my grogginess. I was truly awake. Perhaps I should try this daily since I spend around 30 to 60 minutes every morning in the groggy state. I spent some better moments in meditation.

06:00 AM - I decided to put down all the happenings here. I see that the sun is fast catching up. Of course, it eventually wins everyday as it knows what to do. It has a clear path set in front of it, whereas I just keep wondering day after day.

06:15 AM - Have to leave by 7. So, let me start getting ready for work. More updates later.

07:00 AM - Got a voicemail from my SPM that she wont be coming to office today as she is down with flu. The only other guy with whom I carpool had already told me that he wont be coming today. So, that just leaves me with the bus option, unless I want to get desperate and call someone else this early in the morning.

07:10 AM - Doesnt matter how early I get up. I always end up rushing at the last minute. The bus is supposed to leave at 07:10 and I am making sure that I have my breakfast before I leave the flat. I am drinking the milk so fast that it is coming out of my nose. Talk about a release valve! So, I reach the bus stop at 07:12 AM thinking that the bus would have already left, but I see quite a few people standing at the bus stop. Nice sight - 5 Indians and one white lady. I greet those I know and go to the end of the queue. Thankfully, the bus came 5 minutes late or perhaps someone told me the wrong actual arrival time.

07:15 AM - Now the thing about the buses here is that they accept some bus passes. Others can put in cash - currency notes or coins. The bus fare is $2.75 to the downtown and on the first day here, I made the mistake of putting in a 5$ note. The change didnt come out of the box and the driver told me that he was helpless. Ah, the agonies of an automated civilized life! Since that day, I made it a practice to tender exact change. But this day, I was out of 1 dollar notes. I had some 1 dollar coins - a rare and I believe new sight for most. So, I asked the driver if his coin consumer would accept the 1 dollar coins. He said he didnt know but that I can try. I put in the dollar coin and the machine shows 0.20. He said thats ok, put it all in. I will make it a discount. Some discount! I was putting in the entire fare. Anyway, this was better than losing out. So, this was a nice start.

07:18 AM - Yes, unlike most other places, the bus actually stops at the bus stop here and it does so for a few minutes. I sat down next to one of my colleagues - a senior technical architect. I did this as I figured I had forgotten my trusty iPod. In a few minutes, I had the big guy sleeping.

07:45 AM - The bus reached the office gates. Another boring day ahead!

09:00 AM - Got some time to follow up on lots of mails since offshore is on leave today.

11:00 AM - Such a great day. I just have one meeting today, and a very safe one. I get to spend the rest of the time in my cube - lucky me!

05:00 PM - Another gruelling day comes to an end, with me wondering about what I was doing at work. Is this the kind of job I wanted?

06:00 PM- I get back home. I upload the Dallas pics and send some design review comments to offshore.

07:30 PM - I rush off to the gym, trying to get something out of this day which is otherwise seemingly devoid of any happenings.

08:30 PM - Quick shower and time to cook some food. And time to start blogging again. In parallel, I get involved in some chatting with my friends.

10:00 PM - Dinner and a movie

11:00 PM - Offshore call

12:30 AM - That was another long call. Now for some chat with folks at home.

01:00 AM - Time to sleep. Another early morning is on the horizon. I will let the sun beat me this time.

Evidently, there were no miracles on this Vishu. Looking forward to a great day. As some great singer has said, or sung rather, "On a day like today, the whole world will change..."

Note to self: Blog about my last weekend's Dallas trip - with the :) and the :(

A long March ends soon

It has been quite a busy month. So busy that I hardly realized it. I had just enough time to put a blog entry at the beginning of this month. So, here I am again to salvage my record.

So, what kept me busy? Work, to be frank. There was enough of it that I used to lose my sleep over it. What I mean is with the work timings, I used to go to sleep late and also had to get up early. 6 AM in the morning would just be normal for many people, but that time is way too early. In fact, when I was on my way to work one of these days, I saw a big orange ball of fire in the sky looking directly at me. Thats when I realized that it had been quite some time since I had seen the sun rise, or quite simply - sunrise. The only time I saw sunrise in the last few years had been when I would burn all of the midnight oil and leave the workplace at dawn. I know that my parents still wake up very early, even during their retired life, seemingly trying to outpace the sun and as if to say "Lets see who gets up first". Its just a matter of habit for them. But for me, the few extra minutes (which sometimes turns into a few extra hours) of sleep in the early morning is just golden, too costly to sell or settle for anything else. But for some vague reason, I kept getting up sluggishly every morning this month and went to work.

Its not as if the work was that interesting. It was just a matter of untangling the knots. And since last week has seen many of the knots being untangled, I am relatively relieved. Or should I say, was? Because this weekend saw a few more events that got me a bit worried again. Well, stuff happens. And thats what keeps the ball rolling. Many a times I wonder why I dont work on the important things that I have in mind. Perhaps I just try to finish off all the mundane tasks so that I can focus on the important ones. In the last few days, I told myself to take care of the important tasks first. The rest of the small stuff were then easier to brush off in the remaining time.

Another fact that I realized over these days was that I had just stopped doing anything just because in recent months I wasnt getting rewarded for working hard. But as some great mind has said, the harder I try, the luckier I get. So, let me just keep working hard and not worry about the result. But in doing so, one has to take a step backward once in a while and ask whether what I am doing is right. Is there a better way to do this? Or should I do something else instead? Well, that is what I have been doing this past weekend. And although I got more than my share of failures during these days, I also got quite a few tasks done, which have been pending for quite some months.

I know I have been holding my cards too close for you (the reader) to get anything substantial out of all this, but bear with me for now. More about it as I come to know the results.

Ok, time for me to put some more tangible points on this post now.

But, before that an ice-breaker. Warning - original joke ahead. If I have to give a gift, I would give a felt tipped pen. Why? Because its said that you need to make your presents (presence) felt.

We are so much obsessed with round figures. Do you really think about 32 as a benchmark number? Well, usually no, unless you are counting your teeth. But then, 32 fahrenheit is zero celsius. And, thats the benchmark figure here in Minneapolis when we want to find out if the weather is warm enough. Its officially spring here, but its still snowing all around. I guess I would like to look ahead to summer then.

Oh, one of the things I got working this weekend was getting my new digicam. It a Sony again. The last one had some irrepairable damage done to it in the torrential rains of Kerala. And the estimated repair costs exceeded the price of this new one. So, understandably, I got the new one. Couple of events coming up within a week where I can use this beauty. Looking forward to it.

Thats it for now. Will come back soon with more thoughts. My, the word count here exceeds my expectations! Let me pat my back. Ow, its that much more difficult after a workout.

Later.

The march is on!

Its March! And it was a good way to start this month. First of all, the month started with a weekend, and we have enough days in this month to get 5 weekends. Wow! So, what special has happened this weekend? Well, to begin with, I watched India win the first cricket finals against Australia in Sydney and I watched it till the end, although it was 5.30 AM then. The icing on the cake was that Sachin scored a century, was man of the match, and also stayed at the crease till the end. Wonder when I will be able to see that happen again!

Strangely, I prefer to watch cricket matches alone, instead of with friends. Sometimes, I like to do that with movies as well. I wouldnt call myself a loner, but I wonder why I feel that way sometimes. And its not a behavior I have developed recently. Maybe I just like to give more attention to get a better percentage of entertainment.

I just watched a couple of movies today - Se7en (which I categorize as psycho) for the first time, and Anand (which I categorize as great) for the umpteenth time. I hadnt planned to watch the latter completely today. I just started it when I got down to lunch. But, as with most great movies, I just dont know when to hit the stop button. This also happened to me when I watched Forrest Gump for the first time. My mom had called me for lunch and I just stood there watching the complete movie, thinking after every few minutes that I will just watch it for just a few more minutes, until I realized they were showing the credits. I didnt even get time to sit down. But yes, I did watch that alone as well.

But, If I am watching something that I have watched earlier, this behavior changes. I realize I spend more time looking at my family/friends enjoy the show rather than being focussed on the screen. Well, I do have a few good friends.

Next up on my task list for the weekend, I decided to call a few of my friends during the weekend. I made 4 calls to India, where most of my best friends still live. I had a nice time talking to them. Then, I turned to talk to my relatively new found friends, who are in the US. There, I distinctly found the difference. I hung up after 5 calls, since 4 of them said they were too busy with what they were doing right then and would call me back later. Only one of them actually did. So, that set me thinking. The obvious part was that the ones whom I consider to be my best friends had enough time for me. One of them said she had enough mouth to talk although she was having lunch right then. The other part that I thought of was why is it that most people in general had become quite busy? Perhaps being married takes away a lot of your time away from friends.

A few days ago, some topic brought my client manager to express his desire to visit India and to know about the marriage system in the country. My Infy manager mentioned that its true that arranged marriages are still very common in India, but more number of people are finding their soul mates by themselves. Its a trend you can see very easily in urban India, where the youth has become more courageous and decisive. To put in my 2 cents, I told them a couple of points. One, that in India, only the adventurous still get into the love marriage, since essentially they have to play hide and seek to stay away from their parents, the so called well-wishers and the society at large. Its still not considered to be something ethical to do in my country, although the perception changes when the divine blessing of marriage is bestowed on such a couple. My second point was in favor of the social structure in India - where we have this catch all scenario for people who are not able to find a good soul mate on their own. For such people, the arranged marriage system is a very good option to find their better half. In the US, on the contraray, you are on your own and your folks would at best just term you a loser if you cant find someone. So, we now know what is the best (or what I consider them to be the best) of both worlds. Perhaps if we can accomodate the good points from both the countries, we would have a better world.

Instead of making the world a better place to live (which I consider is what engineers are most good at), the last important point on my weekend to-do list was to catch up on enough sleep. The overnight cricket match didnt really allow me to do that and since Monday morning is just six hours away, I guess I better hit the sack now. The sack! Let me hold on that point for now. I will revisit that in a few months. Thats is for now. Adios amigos!

Note: I hope you like the way how my different thoughts here have a good flow in this article, rather than being random.

Me.Random()

A few random thoughts that I collected over the last few days - thought of penning (or keyboarding rather) them down here.

I dont feel like working!

All the talk about my brother and snow earlier brought me fond memories of my childhood when we used to save all our pocket money to buy Tintin books. Whats that got to do with snow? Remember Tintin's dog's name? My brother used to be Tintin in those days and I was his able assistant, Snowy. My brother wanted me in on the deal to buy the books so that he could use my share of the pocket money as well. And I was a little trickster myself. Although I enjoyed those books, I would sometimes tell my brother that I didnt understand what was in the book and so, I enjoyed the time when I got him to read it for me. I guess it was mainly because I dont think he would have approved if I had directly asked him to read it to me. Thats the way we always used to love one another in our family. Nothing that is too mushy. We dont openly say it, but we know it and do things for one another as long as it is just in our hearts and not too evident.

What do you do when the tap goes drip, drip, drip? You try to do something about it, as you have been taught that water, like many other things, is a precious commodity. As I lay down to sleep yesterday, with my hand on my forehead, I heard a significantly similar sound. This time, though, it was my wristwatch that was making this sound. A strange thought crossed my mind then. Time is also such an, if not the most, important commodity. And I feel that I am wasting it away. Agreed that I cannot stop the flow of time like I can with the water in the tap, but I feel I am not doing anything useful with it at present.

There are so many meetings scheduled here that I guess their favorite song should be "Tumse milne ko dil karta hai, re baba, tumse milne ko dil karta hai..."

Knowledge is the essence of life. Gyaan praapt karo aur gyaan baanto. Gyaan baantne se badhta hai.

I feel everyone is selfish. Everyone does things to make them happy. Some like to earn money, become famous, have carnal pleasures, etc. Some people like to make others happy, but they do so because doing so makes them happy as well. So, finally, I dont feel so bad since I always knew that I am quite selfish. At least, I dont try to exploit others. I dont have ill feelings towards anyone, unless of course they knowingly try to harm me. Even then, I dont try to harm them myself. I just dont wish for their good health as much then. But generally, I just hope that everyone does well in whatever they want.

I am not really hungry for money, but I do look forward to salary day for some reason. Ok, I got my onsite salary for this month. But, I need to wait another 2 days before I get my offshore salary. The reason for it is that although this is the month of February, since this is a leap year, there is this one extra day - 29th Feb. Come to think of it, this would be the last Feb 29th for me in my twenties. Gawd! The countdown has already begun!! And come 2009... oh, 2009!! Get it? 1979... 2009... I will be 30 then!! Past my youth, and into the primes. My brother would be 35 then, and in another 5 years, he would be 40. Gosh, thats old! How can he become 40 years old so soon? It was just yesterday when we had our childhood squabbles. Come to look at it, I guess the age 20 to 40 is the best in a man's life, at least I think so. Under 20, you are just not sure what to do. I know I am still not sure about that even at this age, but when under 20, you feel that way all the time. I just wasnt feeling strong enough when being a teenager. Life was just a big mess of problems then. I guess all teenagers feel that way, even that your family is conspiring against you. Why are you parents being so nice to you sometimes? Are they aliens? Are they feeding you to eat you up sometime later? Gosh, the awful thoughts! They are the best folks in this world now. 20s is the best. I feel at the top of my health. Agreed, I dont run around a lot like I used to when I was a kid, but I know I can run all the 10 miles from home to office (or better still, from office to home) if I needed to. Going back to the thought of age 40, it looks like life is done then, at least from a position of being proud of your health. So, now, I guess its time to say thank you God for giving me this health... agreed with a few minor problems, like one of my teeth hurts some times. But, I see lots of people who dont have a limb, are deaf/blind/lame. That would be so awful. As they say, you value your eyes only when you lose them. So, let me say I am so thankful to be so healthy. But, again, 40!! I hope I find the purpose of my life at least before that.

About money, I just realized last month that I became a millionaire. Yes, thats right, but in Indian rupees. Of course, not all of that is liquid right away, since a part of it is invested. But, I am not counting my assets (stuff that i bought) or the profits that come out of my investments. Wow, I am so rich! Why do I want to have more money? I havent yet thought about being concerned about getting money. Let me just do my job. Thats all that matters now. I used to think money will come on its own (like it has) and that later, I can concentrate on doing things in my job that will get me more money, that is if I ever feel the need to. Thankfully, I now feel I wont ever feel that need. Hope that feeling continues. After all, how much money is enough money? I know a friend of mine who feels that her monthly allowance is enough. And that is less than the (positive) square root of my offshore monthly salary! So, all that matters is how you differentiate the needs and the wants. If you can live within your means, you are rich!

What could be wrong if all people are transparent with their thoughts? Would that be bad? I say this because I know many people just smile at you and then have ill feelings about you in their mind. It all comes out sometime, and when it does, you feel so bad. Feelings of what did I do to deserve such a feeling from this person? I just wish that all people can just be frank and straightforward to express their feelings about others. I dont like all the faces people put up. Maybe, thats why they say the world is a stage. But then, if the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting? Good joke, but that wasnt original, I am afraid. But hey, I am being frank here. Modesty is not my strength, but at least I dont take up credit for things I dont do. By the way, the modesty part is an original. Yep, I sure like that. I am so proud of myself. Heheh. "Modesty is not my strength."

Who says one cant learn a few things from cricket interviews? First, the funny one. When asked about how it was to play with all the youngsters around him, Sachin said age was never a factor. It just matters how well you play. Because when he was sixteen, nobody was bowling slow to him just because he was young. LOL. Good one. Now, the more serious one. Wasim akram said that when he used to play as a youngster, all he used to think about was how to become the number one bowler in the world. That set me thinking. Is there something like the number one developer or technical architect in the world? Hmm, perhaps not. Then, what should I do? Should I change my career?

Thats it for now. Later.

Sunshine!

I see sunlight!

And it happened, one fine day. After days of waiting, I finally get to know that I have to make my shift from the windy city to the icebox of the country. That's right, I am now in Minneapolis. The temperature around here used to be -40 last week. But, its getting better ever since I came down here. Ok, time to back track. I am going too fast.

Before I continue on the exploits here, let me deviate to another leaf in my not so leafy personal life of interactions with members of the opposite gender. It was another quiet day. One of my room mates had just returned from office, while I had again spent all day at home, wondering about my days ahead. I was listening to some music, and was strolling thru the living room and back into my room. Another stroll to the living room, and I distinctly heard something that resembled a knock on the door. I went to check at the door and looked through the peep hole of the front door. And, there was a young lady of a stranger, waiting for the door to be opened. My initial thoughts were "What the...?!" Obviously, I had to open the door. She introduced herself and said that she was our new neighbour, stays alone in her apartment and had just come up to make some friends. Ah, the stuff that dreams are made of, something that you see only in the movies. The proverbial girl next door. Anyway, she was looking to make some friends, and as I knew I would be moving out in some days, I told her about a lady in the next building, who she can spend some time with. In the last 2 days that I spent in Chicago, I introduced them to each other. Another good deed done, and forgotten. Neki kar, dariya mein daal.

Now, about the new assignment. I came to know about it while I was at Navin's place for his birthday celebrations. After a few Sachin and Amitabh impersonations to entertain the little crowd that had gathered at his place, I got a call from the big boss. He told me that something turned up in Minneapolis because of which I had to go there quickly, as soon as possible. Well, thats how it always happens. When it does, it is just so sudden. But, I knew that meant I could take my own sweet time of 2 days.

I thought about taking a rental car to make the six hour trip. But, it was snowing so badly, that it changed my mind pretty soon. Otherwise, I was arguing with my brother about taking some risks for an adventurous trip. So, finally, I arranged for the travel, and asked the manager there to do something about my accomodation as well. I just had one more comparitively sunny day left. So, in the evening, when my room mate came back, I asked him a favor - to drive me to a few of my good friends in Chicago, and bade them a quick farewell.

The packing didnt end till about just an hour before I was to leave for the airport. And yes, the drive to the Chicago airport was interesting as well. The driver was a Gujju and as I got out of the cab, he helped me from getting squished by a city cab driver, who just managed to run one of the wheels over a part of my leg. Oww, it hurts! But, as mom says, instead of giving out a curse of "Why does this happen to me?", I smiled and thought "Thanks bhagwan, shaayad koi badi museebat tal gayi." Guess some big mishap has been reduced to this.

First day in office is always difficult. Being in a new place, you have so much to remember - new locations, roads, directions, faces, designations, new terminologies and some events. I guess it would be fine to say for everyone that one gets accustomed to these as time goes by. But, learning all these quickly is what makes a difference for you to be comfortable in the initial few days.

Day 1 at the new place was full of meetings. I remember at least five of them. And in the first meeting itself, I was able to contribue to the meeting more than I had expected myself. I also got a GPS (Good Point, Sudheesh) for one of my suggestions.

Day 1 was fortunately a Friday, something which happens rarely. I learnt that from Monday thru Friday, the office wear is quite professional - a blazer/coat/suit or a tie is required. Well, I didnt particularly like to wear a tie, the abhorrance perhaps been due to the fact that I had to wear one on a few days in mInfy. On the other hand, this was the only chance where I was able to use my coat - I had just used it 2 or 3 times in the last 2 years. So, day 2 was exciting on that front. I also travelled to office by bus on this day as the others had left by carpool early. The bad part was that when I put in the 5 dollar bill, I didnt get my change back for the ticket. "I am sorry. Didnt you know?" was all the driver could say. Talk about daylight robbery. This is one of the instance when you have to think of the pitfalls of the over-automization in the US.

Today was day 3 at the new office. This morning, 2 of the world's strongest forces were working against one another. my sub-consciousness and my consciousness. the former wanted more sleep and the latter wanted me to get up. After an hour's struggle, it was over.

I was in a bit of a hurry today - didnt shave and forget to get a blazer or a tie. In fact, I didnt even have breakfast. Blame it all on the extra few minutes of sleep. I hope I can get to sleep early tonight. I will as soon as I finish this blog.

First thing to do in office is to check mails. But why? Perhaps expecting some good news. Well, that hardly ever happens. Still, one can keep the hope alive. There was a meeting at 9. Didnt even read the doc once. I have to check the cricket score though, before going to the meeting. India won a last over thriller, but Sachin didnt score. Good that I didnt spend my time last night on it then.

Before going to the meeting, I got a tie from Amjith. He is beginning to prove to be quite helpful. A couple of hour long meetings are done now. Most of what was discussed either seemed too obscure or too trivial. Slowly, things will make more sense, I guess.

By the end of the day, I see that all day was mostly spent in meetings again. People in this office seem to have a lot of meetings for seemingly trivial reasons. Designing a single table required an hour long meeting. Maybe there is more to it than meets the eye. Getting to these meetings isnt that easy either. This building has 37 floors. And, I am seated on the 21st floor. From where I am, to get to the top floor, I cant simply take the elevator. There are 3 elevators in this building. The first one goes only upto the 12th floor. The second one doesnt stop to the floors upto 12. It just has stops from 13 thru around 26, I guess. And similarly for the third elevator. So, to get to the top floor from where I am, I first have to get all the way down and then switch elevators. Sheesh! Well, actually, least there are 3 sets of elevators of around 6 to 8 each. Still, sheesh!! Isnt there a better one?

And since I still havent got my access card made yet, once I get down at any floor, I have to either wait for someone to open up the door or have to call someone to open the door for me. I mostly do the former, of course. And I cant take the stairs! Gosh, I did that once. Then, realized that I was trapped as to get back to the hallway from the stairs, I needed the access card as well. Well, it makes the first few days just that much rougher.

Some meetings are kept at other buildings. And its so cold outside, that we have skyways here, which are closed paths, connecting 2 buildings. The skyways are at a height of the second floor. So, when we cross over to the next building, we do so over the road underneath. We can also enjoy the view when doing so. Pretty good, I say.

Hmm, that was quite a lot of blogging. Better head to catch some sleep now. And here's a sign off I learnt from NFSMW. Later.

Still dark

"Ek hawa ka jhonka aaya, toota daali se phool.
Na pawan ki, na chaman ki, kiski hai yeh bhool?
...
Mera jeevan kora kaagaz, kora hi reh gaya."

If you could understand the above lines, you might have guessed that I am not in a particularly good mood right now. So, this might not be the perfect time to write a post on this blog. But then, isnt this the reason why I created this blog - to capture my ups and downs in life, which, over a longer time, one tends to forget?

So, whats the reason for being down? Lots of time, its nothing in particular, strangely. But, I guess this time its because my employer has let me down, by grading my performance in the past year as below average while I considered it above average. Well, this is not the first time this has happened to me. But, thats the concern. Am I losing the touch? The feeling that I am good in what I do in my job - is that just a personal feeling? Doesnt my employer realize what this does to my self-confidence? And to think that some (including me) used to think of myself as arrogant at times, considering myself to be the best thing since, well, sliced bread, as the saying goes.

Also, the future, even the short term, is pretty undecided right now. The horizon (which I mentioned in the last posting) never materialized. So, its still all dark at this moment. I dont even want to call my mom right now as she would sense the 'down' feeling in my voice. I dont want to disappoint her.

All I can do is to wait and look forward. These are the times when I am reminded of my own quote - "Bad things happen to good people." But, I would not like to lose hope. I will look forward eagerly, for sure.

As for this moment, I guess I dont have anything better to do, and so will go to sleep relatively early, which is defined as before midnight.

Whats that on the horizon?

I knew (a hunch, perhaps) that all it would take for me to be out of the current situation is to let it be known to the www (wild whacky world) and to post a blog about it. In fact, I was halfway through my previous post when I saw the first signs of it surface to light.

Letting it known to the world gives me back all the "oh, you are in heaven" responses. In fact, I got that so much that I possibly started feeling guilty about me getting a paid vacation while others struggled it out with their lives. And perhaps, I started wishing, without myself knowing about it, to get back to the work (whatta) life.

I got a few phone calls within the last hour - the only common thing being that everyone else is as confused about my assignment as I am. But, one thing is almost certain. By the end of this weekend, I will come to know about my next assignment and then the happy days are gone, for now. Sob!

But hey, I am happy for whats going to happen next. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.