Escape from Embarassment

been quite sometime since i have blogged...was stuck with work? not really...i dont know...did have some work...

but something that hpnd today that compelled me to write...

i generally come to office early arnd 8am and go for breakfast arnd 9.30...and did the same today too...went to the restaurant, ordered a masala dosa (was bored of eating the same set dosa daily....) and after having given the order i remembered that i forgot to fill....not my bike...but my purse :)....i dint have cash...and card was accepted only for bill more than a Rs 100...and i dont think i can eat 5 dosas to make it hundred or even if i have 2 milkshakes it would come only to arnd 60 - 70 bucks....now this was really very embarassing...and i cant leave for the atm now...so called my roommate...we both work in the same company but different projects...

a long call....kept ringing...felt like ages....and he wasnt picking up...then i rmbrd he goes to gym in the morning so probably on the way to office...but watever...i needed help...atlast i rmbrd a colleague of mine had come to office by then...and luckily too i had his number....called him up and asked him to comeover...this was again another embarassment...u can ask ur frens...they wudnt mind or rather you wudnt mind asking them...but colleagues...

but i guess this embarassment was better than the one that could have been if i had noticed that i had no cash after the waiter had brought the bill...

(a big sigh of relief....................)

Confidence

2 reasons to not be confident....

the first among them is i am going for a project...first time and no experienced person arnd to help me out

next having worked for almost 3yrs i still havent done any decent savings...

2 reasons for me to be confident...

i am still learning...(havent got that thing most people get into once they get to a job...i still feel like a student...or a college kid)

Tom Peters blogsite makes me confident (with statistics comparing India, China to US...he actually gives me more confident than awakening the West to a more competitive world...he makes me feel like GOD...because i am an Indian and the West is scared of me ;))

distraction...

shud say...the heights of distraction...dont know why...but 2day i have written 2 blogs....including this one...the mind kept wandering or probably was getting too many topics to blog on....compulsion at its heights again...

but anyways...i read a blog on a person attending interviews and i remembered one of mine...just cant understand now as to how cud i have been so arrogant ;) well this is wat happened...

during my PG we (me and my friend) were picking interviews....i mean we dint want to get into companies that we dint want to be in...but were generally being shortlisted because of one or another reason...it so happened that in one of the placement processes with an IT major in India(my friend got into this company) we had a test which we both passed and then there was the interview...i dont know i was very averse to IT (i liked computers but dint like the idea of working with them....its different now)

the first question in my interview....

interviewer: Hi, tell me something abt urself..

me: Most of the things are already there in the resume....ask me wat else you want to know

interviewer: #$^(*

and you could imagine how it would have gone further...;) and obviously the results

later in the evening, some guys trying to impress the HR wanted to have a feedback abt our department and students...and this guy was there in my interview panel and he told..."good, but some guys are too arrogant..." looking at me...

sorry buddy...dint really mean it...just wanted to do something different....

but the expression in the interview panel's eyes....i just cant forget it ;)

Politics...

i was just wondering if the government is what it is supposed to be? "for the ppl, by the ppl" or the ppl in that phrase is just the politicians or all the citizens?

because most of the nations fighting against each other...is it the people fighting or the governments or the politicians? I am a citizen of a country and i as an individual have no hatred or hard feelings about a citizen of another country...now also theres the issue of terrorism....this if u see u dont have all the terrorists fighting for a single cause...they seem to be fighting for each individuals cause and then the politicians name it as "fight against terror" or "fight against sinners" or watever...

now is there an element of self-gratification there? in terms of popularity, money and power for the politicians? i wouldnt say every citizen in a nation is enlightened or sophisticated to know everything...and there are huge chances of most of the uninformed being misled in the name of religion and caste and language...

are these ppl (politicians) really leaders with development in their mind or just some better informed and manipulative individuals trying to gain power? and doesnt this thinking undermine the efforts of some real good leaders who are into politics in the right sense?

dont know y this topic came....usually not my style...but just happened....

wats happening these days?

getting to be a compulsive blogger

feeling guilty in doing that...(wasting office hours?)

started to work at office...atleast am feeling so...not my PM probably

wanting to go home....(anyways am going this weekend....theres no place like home - mom, dad and bro....wat if u r not at home...i am always reminded of the fight for tv channel we generally have ;)...usually u win but now since i am alone...tv is all mine...he he he...)

eating well....developing a special interest to eat....nothing particular but eating whenever am feeling hungry....lot more different than i was some 3 months back (used to skip meals even when was terribly hungry)....well started eating chocolates too...dont know why....probably b'cos someone told me that u would gain weight if u eat them...well i wud gain weight if i eat properly and that i am doing now :)

washed my bike sometime back....(first time since coming to B'lore....i have become more lazy than before....earlier i used to give it a wash every alternate week)

missing my solitude...(i really love spending time with myself...doing nothing...and thinking of watever comes to my mind)

started reading too....(when in college used to read atleast 2 novels a week....now after probably 5 yrs read my first novel...."Disclosure" by Micheal Crichton....ok...wudnt say my favorite...but completed it in 12hrs straight...brought it from the old book shop in the morning...started reading from 2pm and completed it before 2 in the nite or morning)

and just when i was writing this blog....my PM calls for a meeting...to discuss wat i will be doing in the project...my first one...and then tells me all that i dont know... :( and now i am depressed...
also a new development...i would be coming early in the morning at 7 to work on the current scenario of the customer and analyse his present system.....

GOD PLS SAVE MEEEEEEEEEEE

One trip that i can never forget....

i have taken most of my friends home and to my knowledge most of them have enjoyed their stay...generally because it was Nilgiris and most never got to stay in cold weather...

just thinking of that i remembered taking one very good friend of mine home...well apart from home we were also to visit my UG college as i was having my convocation...so one Friday (or Thursday...i dont remember it exact) evening we headed home from Trichy (where we were doing our PG) and reached the next day morning...we rested for sometime and then took him arnd some places of tourist interest and while returning thot that i would take him to my old school and also that it was a very long time since i had been there...almost 10yrs...so we go there and then trek all the way back home...it was arnd 4-5kms...this guy was all the way saying that he was not tired and was fine...but on reaching home he had his lunch and then slept from 2pm to almost 7pm...

after this the next day we (me, my friend and Dad) left for my college at Coimbatore...we had a very early breakfast and ha ha ha....i am not able to control my laughter thinking of it....

my Mom generally takes pleasure in giving good food to whoever is at home....whether its me, my friends or any guest for that matter...and good food in both quality (i dont know if i can say this...the guests would have to say...but i always loved her cooking) and quantity i shud say...so wat hpnd that morning...my friend ate so much that the food was at his throat...ha ha ha...

and again we were to leave to Coimbatore...

unluckily that day there was a road block in the normal route and the vehicles were diverted thru another route...via Kotagiri...and the road in this route is generally narrow and a little steep...so u have it running in a lotsa curves and bends...ha ha ha...so this guy sits at the window seat to have a view of the scenery....this place is really very good...called the "Switzerland of Nilgiris or TN or WG..." but being compared with Swiss...so he was excited...

now the road was so difficult on him that he was nauseating....and generally u have this feeling of "Altitude sickness" when travelling in ghats...he felt it very bad and mind u he was also stuffed with food till his neck...ha ha ha...he held it back very effectively till the foothills and generally its gets alrite once u reach the foothills and u feel fresh...but he was still feeling sick....

the most funniest thing was that he let it out when he came to Coimbatore....some 40kms off the foothills....which is very rare...most of the ppl vomit during the decent and its generally considered normal and the onlookers wont mind it...but this guy let it out when the bus was at a signal at Coimbatore and the look on the ppl down at the road was very funny....(ha ha ha....falling off my seat)

must say thats one of the trips i would never forget...ha ha ha....thanx buddy for making me laugh thruout the journey and also now when i think of it....ha ha ha....

Last weekend

i had plans to go home for the weekend but then it was cancelled at the last moment as one of my newly married friends fixed his reception on Saturday...and had to attend it as he was flying to US on Wednesday...

the reception was at Walajapet some 2 hrs before Chennai...on the Vellore-Chennai highway...and he told us that it would take only 4hrs to reach there from B'lore...so we happily started at 1pm, got him a gift and went to the bus stand at 2.30...and the conductor says it takes 7 1/2 hrs to Vellore and another 45 mins to Walajapet...now wat the h@#K? arnd 8 hrs travel? and how r we supposed to reach there before the reception gets over at 9.30pm? so we thot that instead of taking a single bus to Vellore we would split the journey...that makes sense as these long distance buses generally stop arnd 1/2hr to 45mins for rest...

so we went to Hosur...then from there to Vellore (very slow this guy was....2 weeks back i was in the same road on a RE and did 120kmph....he was driving the bus at 60kmph...but got to see the movie 12B...decent one...) and when we reached Vellore it was already 8.30...and by the time we got a bus to Walajapet...it was 8.45...we were running short of time...but this bus was a little faster... we reached W.pet at 9.20 and took a rick to the Kalyanamandapam...

and there we were...late...everything was over...and the bride and the groom were having their dinner...and we went straight to the dinner hall...so funny it was...and it was the first time when i went to eat before i could wish the couple :) was so embarassing...most of their relatives were there and one of my friends who had come down from Chn dint get many items in the menu when he sat for eating...he had come very early...was waiting just to meet us...so he was sitting with us and was eating all the things he dint get the first time ;) so had some fun at his expense and went to wish the couple...took some snaps and then waited for him to finish all his formalities...thank got we had company with some small kids playing with us...his sister and his cousins...

our plan was to return to B'lore on the same nite but then the groom made us stay that nite and we started only on the next morning...again another embarassment...we were the first to eat the breakfast...everything rite from the stove to our plates...somehow we finished it and moved quickly...we were dropped off at the railway station...Walaja Road...and this was first time i was travelling with an unreserved tkt...but talked to the TC and got into the reserved coach...got a seat at Katpadi...and then there was no one to claim the seat...so he let me sit in it and guess was he took only 20bucks for it...i was very surprised...my friend dint get one...so alternated btw sitting and standing...

So wat the the moral of the story:
train is faster than the bus ;)

we made it in 4hrs by train...had some nice sleep after reaching home

sleep is very important u see...

Did i treat myself, yesterday?

well before i could do it to myself...we had a treat for the new confirmees at office yesterday night...so we went to this place call "Inchara" and surprising it was near to the place where i stay and i never knew about it...

we had some good food there and the team was slowly getting to shape as a single unit...though theres still sometime before you get the bonding...

but i dont know if i would be a part of any team for long...'cos generally the functional consultants keep moving across projects and its like the specialists in their chosen fields or more appropriately modules as called in sapoo (SAP)

now about the treat i had very spicy food and was wondering would i be ok the next morning...but luckily nothing big happened (with my stomach) probably the curd rice at the end helped a little...so was very fine this morning

and another news is that i came to office in jeans today...officially Fridays are casuals but jeans is not allowed...but everyone else wears it and no one cares...so thot i too would...dint feel like i was working...or probably that was just my thinking...but during the first half of the day i was not very comfortable...feeling better now :)

Wow...

the feeling of getting something done right...the feeling of success...if only i could express it in words as i would emotionally....

it was very very true when someone said..."the kick u get with success is nothing compared to anything else in this world" mite not be the exact words...but then who cares...

now why am i writing this? i just completed the complex exercise in SAP and again should say...i have grown a lot from the first time i did the same...and my god...am dumbstruck at the way the human brain works...i was able to link many things while executing the transaction...like why this is not happening and where i would have to do the changes....this was excellent...wonderful...watever watever...

these small successes...u need to pat urself...would give u a lot more confidence and i have seen that more u appreciate urself the more confident you r rather than waiting for someone else praising u or approving you of your success...

i love this feeling...am leaving now...going to celebrate it myself...by having a tea ;) alone now and getting a chocolate for myself later in the day

Pondy stay and return

well i thot of having 2 separate blogs for the stay and the return...but was getting stuck with work and also losing the details...

so heres a quick thingy....well dont know how quick and short its gonna be :)

on reaching Pondy we couldnt get a place for all of us to stay at a single place...we had to hunt arnd for an accomodation...and me being the only Tamil speaking member was by default the hunter...

after arnd 2 hrs search we located a place...it was a charity organisation for the handicapped... making prosthetic limbs and distributing them for free...and they have this facility which the rent it to the tourists and the amount they receive as rent goes to the trust...

we guys took a dorm and the gals had a place with 2 rooms...it was pretty comfortable...

i was more tired travelling arnd Pondy looking out for the accom than the trip of 350 kms...this bike was tuff riding inside the city and again Pondy roads are too narrow and too crowded :(

Saturday evening went with some guys helping out the guy whose bike got conked and the others (including me) went to the nearby beach...we went arnd 7pm and it was already dark...

then coming back some guys boozed and made a lot of noise till arnd 1 or 2 am...we were supposed to leave the nxt day...

the nxt day...on Sunday...we went arnd the city and somebody went shopping and suddenly the whole group is shopping...and it was decided then that we would stay on Sunday...bunk office on Monday (i rmbrd my college days)... only me and another couple...three of us were planning to return...now thats risky....so we decided to stay back and start on Monday morning at 5am...so we roam arnd Pondy and then go to Auro beach near the ECR in the evening...we had nice fun and it was the first time that i road a bike in sand...was very tuff at the same time very exciting...were in the water for arnd 2 hrs...

most the ppl were asking for a place which serves fish...and since i had already worked arnd these areas when i was with my previous company i had a person who was from Pondy... on contacting him he gave me the place "Anjappar"...we reserved the place and these ppl had good nv food while the veggies had no big choice as usual :( (i am a veggie)

by the time we reached back at the dorm it was 12....i forgot...after food these ppl wanted to go to the beach...so it was arnd 12.15 and i felt very sleepy...so took my bike and left...and now these guys behind had the keys...so they were forced to come to the dorm...

i was the first to wake up at 4 in the morning...and woke up every one arnd and by the time we started it was 5.45...and now there was this new thing...ppl wanted to see the sunrise...and everyone was behind the idea...so went to the beach and found that it was cloudy and wont be able to watch it...so took some snaps and were abt to leave when the sun came out of the clouds and delayed us by another 1/2hr...so started from Pondy only at 7 am...while the original idea was 5am...:( i had plans of attending office atleast half day...

and then the return journey was all race...average speed again at 90kmph and with very few stops....we reached Krishnagiri by 1pm...it was only another 90 kms but one of the bikes had lost the route and were far behind...so we had to wait for them to join and in the meanwhile we ordered "double-omlettes" at a roadside dhabha...we ate close to 18...and that guy had a roaring business...also there was the test match going on...so we sat there and waited...

and when we left the place it was 3.15pm...we reached Bangalore arnd 5pm and went straight to office...informed my PM that would fill in the formalities for leave the nxt day and then left to the Enfield showroom to surrender the bike...that trip was very funny...wud require another blog probably...and my usual style a long one...

then went home...had a nice hot...i mean real hot bath and then slept...

nxt morn...surprisingly very fresh...must thank the RE i rode...:)

Pondy Bike trip - onward journey

and again another activity from the very very functional adventure club of my company...

we had gone on a trip to Pondy from Bangalore in bikes.....was really scared of thinking of it before the trip....was wondering if i could make it as once during my college times...i had gone to Madurai from Trichy in a bike (a TVS Victor) and returned on the same day....and at the end of the day...my butt was aching so much that u cant imagine...

but this trip was different...

as a promotional activity, Royal Enfield sponsors bikes to companies....and my company having a very active adventure club does get their support...

its generally like this...a guy who is going to a trip the first time or riding an Enfield for the first time gets one...while the vehicle comes well serviced...the fuel expenses will be shared by the rider and the pillion...

since this was my first trip i got a "Thunderbird"...and i shud say the feeling was overwhelming...infact i was a little scared to ride it from the service station to office on the evening before the day of travel...so i took a friend of mine along with me and he drove it back...then i parked my bike at office and took the Enfield home...i wanted to get used to it and also wanted to show-off to my roomies that i got the bike ;)

had my dinner a little early and then slept at arnd 9pm...was to get up at 4 the next day...

woke up at 4 and picked up my bag...was already packed the previous nite...was pretty cold outside but then the anxiety of the trip kept me very very warm ;) and at arnd 4.30 am left home (had to kick the bike some 10 times...pretty tiring) and reached office by 4.45 and no one was there...was wondering if i got the starting point wrong...but went into the reception and found a guy waiting...

we were supposed to start at 5 am....but then except for us both...there were none...and slowly ppl started appearing...and we started at arnd 6am...and we had coffee at a highway teastall in the Hosur road...at arnd 7.30 and were to stop at Krishnagiri for breakfast...the group of vehicles were making big noise and was a great crowd puller...it was really a nice feeling with all the attention arnd in the highway on u...

and when we crossed Hosur the traffic became very thin and there was an occassional truck or a long distance bus...so the road was for us...the whole thing...and now it was time to test the bike...a real test ride...and i drove like mad...never have i driven anything to full throttle...not even a TVS 50 ;) and this bike was responding so well that almost the whole stretch of Hosur road i drove it full throttle....i reached the maximum speed of 120kmph...and it wouldnt go further...these guys have tuned for that :( and i dint want to change anything 'cos it would lower the mileage...but then i was in the first with 2 guys following close...we were a total of 9 bikes...6 REs and 1 Yamaha Fazer, 1 Pulsar and 1 Passion...

we reached the toll gate at Krishnagiri at arnd 8.30 and had to wait for the others to catch up with us for half an hour...then there was a little drama arnd...the 2 guys with me had travelled some more distance while we had to take a left to have the breakfast...and then after all the confusions...the joined us at the restuarant...well cant say that a restuarant...a dhabha..

we had some idlis and dosas and left at arnd 10...and now the road was not a national highway...it was pathetic...lotsa pot holes..and to add to it...the tree shadows masked the pot holes very good....and at 2 - 3 places i just left the bike go...but must say it is very rugged...nothing cud shake it and never did it move out of its line of motion...very good i must say...

we crossed places like Chengam, Tiruvannamalai and Tindivanam before we reached Pondy...there was this fort on the way...Gingee Fort...an excellent place...we couldnt go as we thot that we better reach Pondy and shall make to it on the way back...

we reached Pondy at 3.30...we had a breakdown of a vehicle...the guy had not put oil..and was running with only 20% oil in the engine...it got very heated up and was abt to seize when one guy had brought oil along with him...we put that and moved ahead...on reaching Pondy we come to know that we had put 15w40 oil while these bikes run on 20w40...the whole engine was spoilt and he bought an old engine for 600 bucks and only after that was he able to ride it...