Gift from a Stranger!

Just after a week of travelling by public transport, I noticed a very strange thing here. I was able to see exactly the same faces with their typical routine behavior (having cofe, reading newspaper, on phone, chatting with another friend) at the exact same time and exact same car (thats what its called here for a train bogie) or bus.

Even while I was wondering why? within a couple of weeks, I was one among them - The TYPICAL ME came into being. Taking the exact same local train/bus, then cofe on train and then either msging or talking on phone :)

Almost 2 months on this routine, I obviously had lots of familiar faces on these trains and buses. I purposefully avoided talking to anyone due to obvious reasons. But, there was this early-40's gentleman who always used to smile at me when he was boarding the local train and used say "bye, have a nice day' when alighting. I couldn't avoid that and even I used to say Hi/Bye unwillingly. Finally, one day, he opened up and started talking and shared his name, work etc and so did I. Felt a bit odd, but it was alright. After that day, my greetings were genuine.

It was holiday mood everywhere, all shops/lightings have turned red and the last day of work before holidays, he boarded the train with a huge bag of gifts and then ta-da, he gives me a gift!! a Wine bottle, nicely wrapped and a small note too!! I was perplexed. Didnt know how to react... I was like..":D thanks" thats it! I didn't even start a conversation. Donno what held me back. After he got down, I was like.. I could have atleast wished him happy holidays or atleast Thank you, Sorry I didnt get you anything.. So, my next task was to return a gift to him. I had noticed that he used to have a novel in his hand every day. As soon as I reached office, clicked on amazon.com and ordered this book - Surely, you are joking Mr. Feynman. Well, that was my best choice of the 2 books I have read till now. The other one was Love Story by Eric Segal. I was desperately waiting for the book to arrive, coz i had to confront him everyday without a retun gift. I had to extend my days in the train just to gift this to him. At last the book arrived & I gifted him with a sigh of releif in my mind & a smile on my face :)

That was my last day in the Public Trasport :(

After this incident, I kind of felt good, but , kept pondering about
Number One......Why did he gift me???

Number two.......What do I do with the wine bottle??? :)

Life takes a full circle

Finally!, found time for myself to scribble down whatz happening at my end...

Last couple months have being quite an experience!! As soon as I landed here, I had a list of things I needed to settle down. Thanks to my wonderful friends, I didn't have to worry about anything - where to stay, what to eat, how to go here and there etc., all these basic stuff were taken care of. I'm so lucky!

First and foremost, I had to find a job. Its good to attend interviews after six years! But its totally different to attend interviews without a job in hand. The interviews here are very different than in Bangalore. First, it will be a phone screen, the hiring manager will call to check what you are doing and if you really suit the profile they are looking for. If you clear that, then, it will be an onsite interview. Usually, it will be 4 or 5 people talking to you 1-1 for 45/60 mins duration each! Its really drilling. Most of them ask you to write C programs on board and of course, none of the programs are straight forward. And some of the questions are like discussions, they just want to know how you approach the solution. Learnt a lot of new stuff while interacting with people here [including C and UNIX ;)] Finally, some of the interviews which I thought I did well, didn't go through and some of them which I thought I wasn't so impressive, did go through! :)

Even though I had a full-time offer, I had to work for contract for few months becoz of some visa logistics.. the contract job I landed up was in SFO! I remember the first day I had to go to SFO for the interview, I was so excited and nervous. Just becoz I wasnt used to seeing many people at a same place :) and of course the stories I have heard about the city and the main thing was about using public transport. This was the first time I was going to use the public transport, I was bit skeptical. Things went on well and I got used to public transport and travel to SFO daily. As days went by, I started liking to work in the City. 2 months and I was completely comfortable with traveling to City for work. One day, I had to return the rental car, so drove to SFO airport, dropped the car, took the bart to office, coming back, bus to caltrain station, then train to mountain view and then light rail from mountain view to santa clara and then finally walk from light rail station to home!! This was the day, I had to use ALL modes of transport available to go to work and come back home and I was thinking, I could easily be on any travel channel doing the 'Ways to travel in bay area!' :)

Overall, its been a roller-coaster ride starting from scratch all over again! Well, now comes the question of why all this roller-coaster ride itself? Is it really worth to come all the way out on unknown land, leaving all the friends and family out there? and Is it ever possible to come back home after say 2-3 years and settle down? There are many aspects as one could think of: career opprotunities, having time for self and ofcourse 'making hay when sun shines'. Even though, I had all these on my list too, but what I like about this place is the quality of life and the system. The best thing I like about this place is ROADS and everyone following rules (well, almost!) Ask any Bangalorean, how important is it to have nice roads and public transport and most important the time spent on travel for day-to-day activities. Here, Travel made simple is all I can say! I used to reach home (around 70 kms) in 1.5 hrs even while using public transport! You can just take your car out on any time of the day(or night) and drive to wherever you want. There are thousands of wonderful places here to see (I agree that there are equal or more number of places to see back at homeland, but how accesible and practical are those? Can you imagine going to Shimla/Kulu and coming back over a long weekend?)

The system teaches you so many things, you are on your own and HAVE to do every little thing yourself starting from making a coffee to assembling your cot. To have a easy and smooth run in this country, just follow the system, how-much-ever dumb it is. To sum it up, this place is a Beauty without Life or Body without soul!

Makes me feel good...

Just browsing thro' old mails and look what I found...

A list of what my team thinks of me, on the day I completed 5 years @ HP!!

• For he's a jolly good fellow, for he's a jolly good fellow For he's a jolly good fellow (pause), and so say all of us And so say all of us, and so say all of us
• Obsessed with Calvin & Hobbes. He used to love Susie too, but then he got married. :)
• The best person to team up with if you have a Prank in mind.
• He is very particular about the fashionable clothes and designer hair styles.
• Loves cars and a die hard foodie. Nobody gets more excited when you mention a new car or a new restaurant in town. :)
• The irony to the above is how much he loves to drive his family around.
• Life of the party, he is someone who is missed when not present on special occasions, be it a team lunch or a colleague's wedding.
• Techno-freak and Bhavani Bangle Store is where he shops - EVERY WEEKEND.
• Gregarious is the word, having captured the hearts of Bangaloreans, he is poised to capture the world.
• Team eagerly awaits the trivia every Tuesday rather than in his weekly report and promptly deletes his WSR reminder emails.
• Disappointment and jealousy was evident on the faces of SNIL women the day he announced his engagement with Lakshmi.
• Metro-sexual male even up to the point where women consult him for beauty tips.
• As the patent coordinator for the team he asks for new patents/idea every day, and in this front he leads by example.
• He is trendy, at the same time conservative. This makes him understand a wide variety of people and get into everyone's good books.

Definitely makes me feel good!! any time, any day :)

Moaning meme

I got tagged... by Anu

5 people who will be annoyed you tagged them

- Ashwin
- Deepti
- Chetan
- Pavan
- Rohini

4 things that should go into room 101 and be removed from the face of the earth

- people who lack driving/road sense
- people who break the Queues
- people who stare unnecessarily
- corrupt politicians/officials

3 Things people do that make you want to shake them violently

- who jump traffic signals and who dont give way to ambulances
- slow autoricksaw drivers
- who duck their neck out of a car window to spit!

2 things you find yourself moaning about

- I have to be pushed everytime to do anything other than the normal routine
- I am neglecting my yoga and not doing anything about it

1 thing the above answers tell you about yourself

I got be more self-disciplined and take up more responsibility to change things within me and outside.

RULES OF THE MOANING MEME
- Link to the original meme at freelancecynic.com so people know what it’s all about!
- Be as honest as possible. This is about letting people get to know the real you!
- Try not to insult anyone - unless they really deserve it or are very, very ugly!
- Post these rules at the end of every meme!

newwwwwwwww campussssssssss

Finally! after 8 months of waiting.. we have shifted to the brand new campus!!!

The most dreaded bus journey was awaiting me this monday morning.... Alarm was at 5:30.. but woke up at 6.. couldnt afford to sleep for another 10 mins too :( Got ready and started the walk.. One good thing about the shift to new campus is that the nearest pickup point is 1km away from my home.. and either I need to walk or ask wifey to drop me or take a rik.. I picked the first option.. to WALK! that too the steep road and with a heavy laptop!

The bus came exactly on time and thanks the driver didnt know the route... We reached Old madras road in a quick 50 mins.. then the most welcoming traffic jam near krpuram railway bridge and all upto the flyover which takes to marathalli ring road.. we were literally moving at snail's pace and it took 40 mins to cover that 1/2 km stretch! Imagine, first day to the new campus and the traffice welcomes you like this...I thot this might be the one-off case, lets see tomorrow... And rightfully the next day was smooth without any jams anywhere and reached office at 8:10 AM!! I was wondering what will i do so early in the morning in office! I just remembered the good old days i slept till 8:30 and quickly get ready and zooom in my Baleno to office and reach by 10 or so... Gone are those days :(

Now, the campus.. Its HUGE! its some 12 acres of land.. an old factory lended way to HP! the building is huge, lawn is huge, cafetaria is huge with large lcd Tvs at each corner, parking lot is huge (of course u dont need it now), a full-fledged cofe day with sofas and chairs, large pantry with chairs in each floor, glittering toilets, amphi-theatre and a food world and yet to come are the gym, yoga room, lawn tennis etc... and ofcourse.. people.. loads of them.. i have never worked in a building more than 200 people in my entire professional career.. now there are almsot 2000 people! and 9 out of 10 people you see are strangers! never seen them before! damn! Where am I? I'm lost!

I do not know how long I can take this... I guess its time for change! OR get used to these red fancy carpets on the floor in the new building and this horrible smell of new furniture... and of course waking up at 5:30 and bangalore darshan everday :)

Whattae Race!!!

Last weekend was one of the best races of this season. Yes! , its just because Ferrari won the race and the strategy and drivers working really hard to get on top! :)

For me, this was the only race which reminded me of Schumi... Both kimi and Massa showed a stint of what Schumi would've done if he was in that position...

Kimi, starting from 2nd kept on pushing and he did so well that he could easily overtake Hami in the first pit stops.. and for the second time around.. he pushed so hard before he pitted that he almost ran till the last drop of the fuel. This is exactly what Schumi would've done.. or rather Ferrari/Schumi teaming would've done. I'm so glad that Ferrari strategy and kimi driving is all coming into place to take on the competition.

For Massa , with the bad luck of the ferrari getting stalled at the beginning of the race and had to start from back of the grid.. Again, what Ferrari/Schumi would've done? Switch to one pit stop startegy and keep pushing.. the way he overtook the slow and compartively fast cars was really good... he could make up 8 positions within 10 laps of the race... May be if Schumi was in place of Massa.. we would've seen him on the podium inspite of starting from the back! ;)

Nevertheless, its not going to be a cakewalk for McLaren, 8 more races to go and I'm sure 25 points is not a unbeatable gap!

Some of my fav snaps in recent times...

...But don't YOU go anywhere

22 all the way!

Just 3 races completed this year and look at the championship points!

1	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	McLaren-Mercedes	22
1=	Kimi Räikkönen	Finnish	Ferrari	22
1=	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	22

Reining world champion, A rookie and the ice man , all the 3 drivers at 22 points each... With the rookie getting better and better by each race and BWM capable of overtaking a McLaren! , imagine how exciting coming races will be...

Of course, these races would have been even more thrilling if Schumi was on the track.. he was/is the only one who could turn around a race, even while starting from 22nd position!

Miss you Schumi :(

The wait is almost over

Courtesy : http://www.formula1.com

The wait is almost over - the 2007 season is finally upon us. Or perhaps we should refer to it as 2007 PS - Post-Schumacher. For the first time since Belgium 1991 (barring the races he missed in 1999), the great German’s presence will no longer influence the outcome of races and world championships.

Think about that. The king is gone, and whenever that has happened in the past there has always been a period in which the next great begins to make his presence felt. This time it may be that Fernando Alonso has already done that, having beaten Schumacher these past two seasons. But even when he was doing so, Michael was always the man he had to beat. Now it is likely that the mantle will rest on the Spaniard’s shoulders initially, but with other changes throughout the paddock it may not stay that way. Will Kimi Raikkonen finally find at Ferrari the key he has been seeking to success ever since he rattled the establishment with his driving of a Sauber Petronas back in 2001? Will Felipe Massa, for so long underrated by those who looked no further than the top teams, become Ferrari’s pacesetter?

Jaane Kaha GayE WoH Din

Tue, 6th Mar 2007, 10:45 pm: Just before going to bed, I was browsing thro' the TV channels and in one of them I see a young girl, head shaven and wearing white saree...

Tue, 6th Mar 2007, 10:47pm: Sudden rush of Nostalgia.. Having watched this movie a dozen of times on our national channel, who can forget this? I remembered those old days, when we used to sit and tolerate 15 mins of News for hearing impaired and pray that it would be a Kannada movie; those days DD (Doordarshan) was the ONLY channel and they aired regional movies, supposedely award winning movies on sunday 1:30 pm, every week different language movie... And if it was a kannada movie, it would be either pAniyAmma or one other movie I cant remember the name.. a story of a sadhu, he goes around the village along with his bull (or cow?) for begging (preferably in kind), sometime people give rice, ragi, flour etc.. i cant forget the scene where one guy puts a chicken into his bag :))

Those were the days of Gaint Robot, one of my favorite TV series, would love to watch Robot fly out of the lab and kill a demon.. every week it would a new demon.. it was so much fun. Then, there was Chitrahaar, the only 1/2 hr of the week where you could get hindi movie song videos on TV.. sometimes, if you are lucky.. you can see 5/10 secs of the movie too when the song is over.. that was awesome! we could get a glimpse of the movie.. :)

Wed, 7th Mar 2007, 1:30 pm: I relish those moments of fun when we kids used to fight for a front seat infront of the TV on a big carpet in a neighbor's living room and sit and watch Gaint Robot or Chitramanjaree or Cricket or The Owner's choice :)... 20 years later, I wonder where the fun has gone when we watch TV in our own rooms with choice of more than 100 channels to watch, whatever movie, whatever song you like to!!

How to say 'I Miss You'?............ In Kannada

Happened to hear this song in a music store and immediately grabbed a copy of the same... and needless to say.. its playing in loop .. in car, ipod, office pc, except at home.. or else my wife will throw me out along with the cd ;)

The song is 'Neenillade' and goes like this...

NeEnillade NanGenideA
mAnasellA NinNalle NeLeyagideA
Kanasella kAnalle SereyaAgide
NeEnillade NanGenideA ||

NinagAgi kAdu kAdu
PaRitapisi NondE nAnu
KahiyaDa Virahada nOvu
HagaliruLu Tande nEnu

yEdeyAse Yenu yEndu NeeKanDade
NiSheyonde NanAlli Ne Tumbide
BelKonde Ninnida Na BayaSide

NeEnillade NanGenideA ||

Beautiful Song and well sung by Hindustani Classical Singer Pallavi Arun (better known as M.D. Pallavi of popular Kannada TV. serial Mayamruga :)

50 days to go!

The wait will be over in just 50 days... The lights will go off again and its race time!!

But, will F1 be the same without Schumi? I dont think so... Whatever be the case, may be he used to bore us by not letting others win or he used to never give up and always had to make his presence felt in each and every race.. F1 == Schumi and Schumi == F1.. things will never be the same again, unless.. he decides to come back ;)

Now my dilemma is whom to support? I used to support Schumi (becoz he is THE GOD), Montoya (becoz he used to be with BMW, which hp sponsored) and then our very own NK from India.. but now.. no one is there !! :( Anyways.. I will stick to support Schumi's team even though if he isnt there.. So,.. GO KIMI GO!! :)

Life goes on ...

Life is full of decisions! yes, it will be nice if you make it right... but you'll never know if your decision is right or wrong until you see its consequences and repercussions...

Probably if I read my tea leaves.. this is what I'll see right now...

aircraft---journey;
axe---difficulties;
baby---small worries
bell---unexpected news;
bush---new friends or opportunities; something growing in life
butterfly---fickleness
face---achange, may be a setback
feather---lack of concentration
forked line---decision
hammer---hard work needed
harp---love, harmony
hat---improvement, especially a new job
hourglass---need to decide something
insect---problems are minor and easily ovecome
letter ---news
lock---obstacles
nail---injustices, unfairness
ostrich---travel
shoe---change for the better
sword---arguments
triangle---something unexpected
wings---messages
zebra---adventure, especially overseas

Yes, thats quite confusing and thats the situation I'm right now in... and now I sit in office, on national holiday, hearing some unknown tamil song at the other end of the floor, sirens screeching from the convoy of some VIP... while I try to debug how this freaking list got corrupted!

Life is waiting!

One of the things I long for in a weekend is to scramble thro' my dvds collection and watch a movie even though I have watched it several times :)

This time it was 'The Terminal'. If you haven't watched it yet, then stop reading this now, run and get a dvd and watch it! Its an absolutely fantastic movie based on a true story. The combination of Tom Hanks and Spielberg has done the trick! This is a story about a common man stuck in an international airport becoz of immigration reasons... Okay, I dont want to give up the whole story now itself...

Some of the things/quotes I liked in the movie

"Big apple"

Victor wakes up to the sound of an airplane landing thinking he is being attacked :)) "Dont shoot Dont Shoot"

Victor finds a way to get 25 cents :)

Victor says no to a dinner with Amelia just becoz he didnt know how much would a dinner for 2 cost and he didnt have that much money!

"Are you afraid to go back to krakhozhia?" --- "No!"

Victor waits for the phone call about a job till late night and then runs to the loo :)

This is definitely a five * movie (from TOI standards).. Dont miss it!

What you missed in 2006?

Rang De Basanti, Krishh, Dhoom 2, Fanaa. Gangster, Khosla ka Ghosla....

Does these ring a bell? Yes, these were some of the best movies released in 2006. There were better movies than these.. I'm pretty disappointed to have missed these movies :( I'm sure you would've missed them too. Try to catch hold a copy of these and watch them and don't forget to pass them on to me :)

Here is the BIG list of these wonderful movies:

Abhi To Raat Hai
Bajrang - He Man
Beda paar karte bhagwan Amarnath
Beparda
Beega Badan
Bipasha - The black beauty
Chumban - The Kiss
Eight Shani
Ek baar Aao Na
Ek Pyar Aisa Bhi
Ek Se Mera kya Hoga
Free Entry
Good Boy Bad Boy
Haseena - Smart Sexy Dangerous
Hot Girl
Hot Maliaka
Hot Money
Husn - Love and Betrayal
Iqraar - By Chance
Item Girl
Jaana - Let's fall in love
Kaamwali
Karo Na ... Pyar
Ladies Tailor
Lips
Mast Chalaak Chhokri
Men not allowed
Mera Dil Lekhe Dekho
Meri Life Mein Uski Wife
Mp3 - Mera Pehla Pehla Pyaar
Mr 100 % - The real player
Naughty Boy
Sandwich
Shaitan Ki Premika
Soutan - the other woman
Tathastu
Tera Pati Mera Pyar
The Angrez
The Real Dream Girl
Yeh Hain U Turn

Courtesy: Filmfare December 2006/CNN-IBN

Look forward for review of some of these on this blog as my new year resolution is to watch all of these and write reviews :D