The 2 week hiatus

And I am back after a 2 week hiatus! 2 packed weeks. Owing to the fact that varied stuff have happened in these 2 weeks, which are not really related to each other, this post will be more like a news bulletin, without a proper flow and pattern. Here goes.

MSRTC is weird and its functioning is at times a little difficult to understand. If you book your ticket and mention your pick-up point at say Point A, and then later decide to get up at Point X, there are a few things that could happen. If you are lucky and there is someone else getting up at Point X, then the bus will stop there. Or if there are empty seats in the bus, then it will stop too. But if neither of the above 2 cases hold, then you are screwed. It'll not stop and just zip by you (if your point A is Nerul and point X is Vashi Highway, then it will just take the flyover and screw you). That is exactly what happened to me on 12th October. If you look at it in a positive way, then it also pushed me to return to Pune on Monday morning, which I had been hesitating to to do so far. I can now actually enjoy my sundays and not worry about returning :)

Mom fell sick last weekend and she got really weak. She had the viral but the way it was going it was necessary that she saw a doctor. Dad was obviously against it. So had a mini-fight with him and finally took her to one. Lucky that she didn't have any malaria. I was a little scared that if it was then Dad would have had a terrible time managing everything alone. But the blood reports showed that Mom has very high sugar levels, possibly diabetes. So now that is one more thing to be careful about.

Dad has really impressed me with his skills. If you look at the way a Hindu man's life has been divided into 4 ashrams, my dad after being married to mom for 30 years has finally entered the Grihasta Ashram. :) He is actually doing a wonderful job of taking care of my Mom and the house. He has managed to empty the fridge by throwing out most of the things. The kitchen is so well organized now that it is pretty difficult for me to find anything there. I was more accustomed to my Mom's not so organized and yet a brilliantly successful kitchen. Its funny what love makes you do. I see my folks and it amazes me. I really do not understand their chemistry. Specially the way Dad feels about Mom. They are quarreling 24/7 over trivial things and yet he cannot stay away from her for more than 6 hours. I think I'll never understand these scorpions. Confuses me every bloody time.

Finally had my official induction at work. It was 2 days of presentations. Towards the end I just wanted to run away and get some work done. Got an overall view of what all is happening in the company. Has got a pretty impressive clientele and are involved in some good work.

Ganpati Visarjan is a huge thing in Pune. Traffic gets diverted, roads get blocked and the place is in total chaos! My roomies and I decided to do a little exploring and what we ended up doing was mostly eat :P and planned to buy a lot of things (didn't really buy anything :P). Went to Deccan, only to discover that the whole place was completely blocked and there were a million people there. We didn't even think about walking towards old pune, the Peth area. This is the place where all the action was but we decided to let it pass.

Well Life has been pretty action packed or I should rather say that, it has been trying to treat me good. I have realized that most things happen for a reason, decisions happen at the right moment, at times the granularity of our understanding is really coarse but the best part is you gain. Either what you want or a lesson. What you do with it is of course totally up to you. And then there are times when you have absolutely no idea about whats happening. Its not a good feeling when you have no control over your life's own script. Makes you feel vulnerable. You could fight against it and tire yourself out to slowly drown. Or flow along with it, learning to stay afloat, keep your eyes open and grab the first branch that comes along. Life has sort of become like that for me. Every time I fight to go against the flow, the current just sweeps me with it.

There isn't really much to complain about. In fact I really don't want to but there is one aspect which just refuses to sort itself out. I have tried and tried everything. Its like I am in a place which is positioned between a rock and a hard place. Things are getting so complicated that I can no longer see a solution to it. The truth is, I have no solution. I have thought of all the possibilities and every week seems to make the situation that more crazy. And I am still not strong enough to just shut it down.

Ganpati Bappa Mourya!

The day was a little tiring but good. Ganeshotsav began today. This is the third year that we did Ganesh Puja at home and it turned out decent. The work was cut out from the beginning. My mom would do the maximum, including the management part, I would be the cheap labour while Dad would be useless. All of us did our part well. Dad did take care of the decorations, albeit a little late :P which pissed my Mom off so!

Things went off smoothly. The only crazy part was when my Mom wanted to burn cow dung cakes with "Dhuno" ( I don't know what it is called in English. That's what it is called in Bengali ) Now a lot of times it can also be done using coconut fibre. But this time Mom thought of doing something different. Question was, in what do we burn it? After a lot of serious discussion, it was upon me to find an aluminium vessel from the kitchen. (I cannot find anything in the kitchen, actually I cannot find anything when told to do so). So after a lot of searching I found the vessel in which Mom used to make cakes. I reasoned, what better vessel than this. Cow dung cakes burnt in a baking vessel :P (Anyways the way it looked, I didn't think she was ever going to use it again, given the fact that I do not remember the last time she made cake at home :P) You should have seen the look she gave me when I showed it to her! I almost burnt down to ashes right there. "Waapas rakh ke aa!" Main izzat se waapas rakh aaya :D

Had a lot of guests over in the evening. Its fun when our gang gets together :) Went to a few houses and by the time I got done, I could have killed someone if someone suggested, "Have a modak". As a result no result.

Another thing I discovered today is that there are some Shivneri buses going to Pune which has Nerul as a pick up point and goes via Kothrud. If this works out then it'll be perfect for me :D I just pray it is! Got late tickets for tomorrow so that I have the full day. The bus starts from Borivali at 7:00 pm, so should be here by 8:30.

I have also realized that my Ma can get really crazy at times. She just called me on my cell from the next room to get some chore done! I am happy to know that my mom is also partly responsible for my craziness apart from my dad :P

The week that was

Another week in Pune... a good week actually :) I moved into the new house last sunday after getting back to pune in the evening. Did a very good job by getting off at Pune University rather than at Pune Railway station. Saved me money and trouble :) Picked up my stuff from the hotel and went over to Kothrud. My room was all clean and sparkling. Didn't have a lot of stuff with me, so settled in quickly. Got myself a double-bed there. I just feel so happy saying that, no idea why :P My 2 flat mates are fun. Which is a major bonus to the house deal. :)

Traveling is a bloody pain! There is no direct bus from Kothrud to Senapati Bapat Marg (where my office is) and as a result I have to change bus at S.N.D.T. The mornings are fine, not that big a deal. But evenings are terrible. Fortunately I take a shuttle from my S B Road office to the one at Erandwane (its near SNDT) and that saves me part of the trouble But its impossible to get into a bus from there. They are all bloody packed. Once I had to walk a kilometre in the reverse direction to get an opportunity to get into a bus. From the next day onwards I decided to walk towards my house rather than the opposite. Had to walk almost 1.5 - 2.0 kms before I could see buses that had the possibility of getting in :( It is truly my only problem in Pune right now.

I have got into the Embedded and Mobility Business Unit in Persistent. Which basically means I will now start coding for mobiles, netpads and some super awesome stuff that will be coming out in the near future :) Skill set required is the same - C/C++ with QT and openGL on Linux platform. So life is chilled. I have realized that QT has become a mammoth monster. Its powerful and pretty magical :) I have been fortunate enough to get a nice Team Lead and a great project team. :)

Persistent as a big company has really provided some good stuff for employees. I have started playing TT there and intend to start badminton and gym soon. Food is really awesome. We actually look forward to lunch :) which also equates to the fact that I have once again crossed the 70 kg mark :(

A few interesting facts about Pune:

1. Parking is funny. They have boards marking on which days you can park on that particular side. So if you see a board on one side of the street with numbers 10/15/20/30, it means you can park there on those particular days. Other days, you'll be towed :P

2. There are cycle tracks on the foot path in certain places. Haven't seen too many cycles though

3. The place is teeming with girls. But all of them are dressed as terrorists, with their faces completely covered. So you see a really hot girl, you can't really rate the complete hotness because you can't see the face. Just my luck. Its Baroda all over again :( I always knew that God is a sadist. I think He's trying just too hard to prove it to me.

So that's how my second week at Pune has been. Back home for the weekend/Ganpati. :)

Thus ends the first weekend

I am unable to think of a way by which I could continue blogging everyday till I get my laptop to Pune and due to certain cicumstances I am unable to do so for a while. Blogging from work is not a good idea because I prefer writing in the night, sort of a final wrap up for the day. So it boils down to the point that I could either blog on weekends when I am in Bombay (if I am in Bombay) and wait till I take my laptop there. Hmmmm! Well internet is not an issue cause the guys in my flat have already got a broadband connection and have set up a WiFi. :) Smart fellas!

So how was the weekend at home? Quiet... very quiet. I just didn't feel like talking. Mostly listened. I have got this restless feeling here. I can't really put my finger on it. Dance was decent. Atleast got some exercise for a change.

Anyways... got my tickets for tomorrow. Will be moving into the new place tomorrow. I hope to get things in order in a couple of weeks. Want to really get into work and forget everything else. A very happy teacher's day to life cause it really teaches some awesome stuff and at times shitty! ;)

Feels like a month!

Its been a week since I last wrote, 5 days to be precise :P And such a lot has changed within these few days. Work, location, life, everything! After the experience in Zeus, the one in Persistent is extremely different. Its not like I have not worked in a big company but its just that its been sometime. The scale and dynamics are extremely different. Here's what I have been experiencing in the past one week.

As my previous post suggests, I was a little anxious and sad leaving bombay and my family. I caught the MSRTC Ac-Volvo bus from Vashi. I think it is the best way to go to Pune compared to the other private buses. Its the fastest and there is a bus every 15 minutes. Since I had no idea about Pune, I had decided to get off at the last stop which was Pune Raliway station. It was raining continuously. I was extremely fortunate to get a good rickshaw, who knew exactly where I wanted to go.

Reached the hotel, checked in and thought I should explore Pune a bit. I had to check out the office or else would have been anxious and tensed all night. So I thought of doing a little recce. My hotel was situated very close to F. C. Road. One of the most happening places in town and I soon discovered why :) Anyways, the office is situated in a place called Erandwane and its about 30 minutes walk from where I stayed. Went, saw the office, felt comfortable and thought of returning via a different route (through gallis :P). Big mistake! If one is used to parallel roads in Bombay, parallel roads in Pune aren't really parallel. They can go anywhere. I roamed through various roads and finally after about 45 minutes reached back.

F. C. Road is teeming with restaurants with price ranging from very cheap to exhorbitant. I tried out various places throughout the week :) Had a great time eating! First day at work was weird. There were quite a few new joinees. The whole day went filling forms. But I was impressed with the way everything was happening like clockwork. By the end of the Resource Allocation manager gave us the names of our reporting managers. Spoke to my manager the next day and she gave me leads to whom I should talk about projects. Apparently there were numerous projects which required my expertise (always good to know that).

I was to meet a guy who sat at another office in Pune, located at S. B. Road. Went there and met him. Told me what the work was. Though the platform was different, the work involved all the technologies I knew. So he was happy, I was happy, a very happy environment. :)

Getting a work station is apparently not a quick job in Persistent. I am still waiting for mine. Meanwhile I sit in the Test Lab. Awaiting access to it though :P I currently require others to let me in. But the project is interesting. Will learn some new stuff.

Persistent has some really good facilities. Its got a good gym, a badminton court, table tennis and other stuff I still need to discover. Its got a library containing a lot of technical books. Very good free food at lunch and evening snacks. Once I settle in a bit, I plan to utilize these to the fullest :)

The thing I was worried about is residence. I wanted to stay independently but the cost of a 1 bhk was turning out pretty expensive. Though, it is the ideal situation and I would like to eventually get myself one of those, for the time being I have decided to go into a sharing mode. Decided to stay with a couple of guys ina 3 BHK flat. Got my own bedroom and bathroom and it is also partially furnished. So ya it looks pretty decent. the locality also looks nice and clean. Its in a place called Kothrud. A little far according to Pune standards but will figure out something. Need to get myself a bike eventually.

Well, with my work and stay fixed, I decided that it was time I came back to Bombay and so here I am :) Its just been a week and it already feels a little different. It actually feels like I have come back after a month.

... see you on the other side

And thus I have run out of time :) Praying will not help anymore, unfortunately. Its not the first time, nor the first night before I left home. And yet it feels the same. A little blank, a little nauseous, a few fluttering butterflies and a little sad. But there's a difference this time. I chose this day. It wasn't decided for me by others or circumstances. It was a conscious, thought out decision. And yet it feels the same. Doesn't matter whether it was the kid in class 4 who didn't want to leave his parents but circumstances gave him no option, or the young man who was told that Reliance provided a better prospect for his career even if it meant that he had to move to Gujarat or the not-so-young man who wanted to prove that he could do what he wanted to do, when he wanted to do, just to prove himself.

Funny thing is, its not really that bad. Its not like I am moving far away to a place from where I could not come back home. For all I know, this could be exactly what I needed. The perfect balance of independence/responsibility and the comfort of home. In fact, a lot of you reading this might be far away from home (or the place that used to be home once). But then over time, you tend to get used to the new place and that becomes home. Change and movement is continuous and such is life.

I look forward to Pune, the new job, the new people. At the current juncture, this is exactly what I needed. Will it help me achieve what I wanted and what all this was about? To tell you the truth, I do not know. It doesn't seem to be. Maybe if I concentrate on the path rather than the destination, the journey would be a lot easier and interesting. Who knows maybe I'll get adventurous and find a better destination to travel too. :) That's the thing about it. The possibilities are endless.

So with the hope of a better and more interesting life, I put my current life on hold. I do not know when I'll get to write again, but I'll be back soon. Until then, goodbye and goodnight. I hope to be back asap. :)

Stuffed and Praying for Time

I think most of my past one month has gone in eating. Good food, good places and most of all good company. :) Well today was good too, I bow before the Bengali women for their awesome ability to cook good food! And heading my list of super cooks is my mom. I ought to tell her once in a while how good she cooks :)

Well I feel extremely slow and lethargic. Most of my blood is definitely concentrated in and around the stomach muscles trying to digest the food that I have stuffed in. Well as Po would say, "My Kung-Fu is not that good while I am digesting", I follow, "my writing may not be that good while i am digesting :P".

Here's a song for tonight... since I don't think I'll do justice writing anything. A song called "Praying for Time" by George Michael. A good song with good matter, says how things are. Me on the other hand am for praying for time too. A little different though.

These are the days of the open hand
They will not be the last
Look around now
These are the days of the beggars and the choosers

This is the year of the hungry man
Whose place is in the past
Hand in hand with ignorance
And legitimate excuses

The rich declare themselves poor
And most of us are not sure
If we have too much
But we’ll take our chances
Because God’s stopped keeping score
I guess somewhere along the way
He must have let us all out to play
Turned his back and all Gods children
Crept out the back door

And its hard to love, there’s so much to hate
Hanging on to hope
When there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say it’s much, much too late
Well maybe we should all be praying for time

These are the days of the empty hand
Oh you hold on to what you can
And charity is a coat you wear twice a year

This is the year of the guilty man
Your television takes a stand
And you find that what was over there is over here

So you scream from behind your door
Say what’s mine is mine and not yours
I may have too much but I’ll take my chances
Because God’s stopped keeping score
And you cling to the things they sold you
Did you cover your eyes when they told you
That he can’t come back
Because he has no children to come back for

Its hard to love there’s so much to hate
Hanging on to hope when there is no hope to speak of
And the wounded skies above say its much too late
So maybe we should all be praying for time