V, R and Me

Time flies. It was about three months back that my friend V told me about her wedding planned in September. That got me, and another common friend making plans for the wedding and at the end, both of us ended up not attending the wedding.
As luck would have it, this other friend also got engaged and is now busy preparing for her own wedding and thus could not make it to V's marriage. Why I never made it - that is another story - which I would rather not discuss :(
The bottomline being, that we didn't make it to V's moment of happiness.... I can only imagine V clad in a rich silk sari with heavy gajra (God knows if she would have worn jewellery on her marriage or not - she was always a no-jewellery person) sitting in the mandapam amidst the sacred chants with R by her side, clad in a white dhoti ("Topless" as V describes the look).

God knows if we ever will meet again.... All three of us together again, like we used to when we were in the college - over a lunch at Shrikunj or for that pao bhaji at the Unit 1 market.
O! What fun it used to be. Going all around the city of Bhubaneswar in an autorickshaw to visit various temples, or a trip to the far flung forests of Simplipal and the adventurous Hirakud dam excursion, or the innumerable visits to Puri and shopping at Raghurajpur, or (as a matter of fact!) the various assignment where we played those you-did-not-do-anything blame games, getting caught by the professor for helping each other and sending apology mails to clear the mess - they will all be the sweet memories that one can never forget.
Am sure V and R (not V's R) will agree to this.

Two summers ago!

It is one of those days at work when I don’t seem to be having any work. Guess this is what disguised unemployment means.
I have been thinking to post something here on this blog, but there were no stories to tell. So, when this friend of mine invited me to her birthday bash I thought I would blog about it.

Her birthday has a history. A two summer old history.

That was at Marine Drive in Mumbai. Some 6 of us decided to give this lady a surprise party and broke as we were during summers, we decided to treat her to a modest Pizza from Pizzeria and a pastry on the Marine Drive.

So, this (another) friend of ours was entrusted upon the responsibility of getting a Pizza while returning back from work and we would meet her at a pre decided place. And as we would have expected, she lost her way and created a big confusion regarding her whereabouts. After a mile long walk, we did meet and tried setting up candles and all on the marine drive when we noticed that the couple sitting next to us was getting quite cosy (ahem!) and we had no option but to shift our place.

So after all the mehnat mashakkat our birthdaygirl did “cut” the pizza and we had a good time giggling and screaming while we savoured it. And now was her turn to return the favour. One among the gang suggested a modest looking restaurant and we walked in.

Well, it didn’t turn out to be that modest while our budget was. So finally after a lot of brainstorming we settled for sum soups (three-by-six, I guess). The sauces and water were free, so they were used in copious amounts. The giggling and laughter continued in this fine dining restaurant, right under the pricey Ambassador Hotel on Marine Drive. The waiters gave us side long glances, as if we cared! :)

After we were done (with our soups and the payment) we gifted her some unique cards that were available for free at the restaurant… and wished her a soupy birthday.
And from them this story has been pretty much a wonderful memory of our summer of '07 at Mumbai.

Winds of Change!!!

One thing that I used to like about my place of work was the freedom we had.

The freedom to do things your way and the freedom to take a break when you wanted.

So much so that I have been home on almost all alternate months ever since I joined my company.

First it was July. That was Ahmedabad. And then is was Rakshabandhan in August in Faridabad. Then came Dussera in October in Ahmedabad and then Diwali in November in Faridabad. This was followed by Christmas in December in Ahmedabad. Gosh!! 5 times in 9 months!! that is incredible.. but those were the good old days when the Indian economy was booming!

I remember someone coming to our campus and telling us that we are lucky to have been graduating this year when the economy is at an all time high.

Who would have guessed then that the tables could turn so quickly. That in a span of one year it would become impossible for a batch of 120 to be placed! That the golden era of investment banking would come to an end! That the high paying finance jobs would vanish! That we would have multi million corporate scams! That the stock market, being shoved up by the bull would be brought down by the bear! That oil would come down to record low and the dollar rise up! That we would prefer a salary cut than to loose our job! That taking leaves would become such a pain in the A@@.

We had a course in our B-School that questioned the current world order. Sitting there in the classroom we analysed why the World is the way it is! Why US is so strong and Japan is sinking. Why India is not a world power and why it may never become a developed nation! The course taught us how a firm is the centre of an economy, a Private Enterprise Based Market Economy (PEBME) as he called it. How the currency markets were equivalent to a shadow world government! And many of us were the sceptics.

But when I look at it today, I get a flashback of those lectures... With the crash of the i-banks and the bursting of the mortgage bubble the world has changed... The shadow Government has doomed the fate of this current design and a new design is emerging.

The firm is still at the core... the Private Enterprise!! We are now having more stringent corporate governance rules being put in, banks don't go door to door giving you loans... we have seen lot of restructuring within the firms and outside them.. lot of mergers have happened and lot of demergers... At the end of this turmoil only those firms are going to stay alive and kicking who have made their internal processes stronger and the other would die...... Countries like India are beginning to change their outlook towards the growth of the economy.... may be we would learn that it is not the KPOs and the BPOs that are driving us, but it agriculture and capital goods that would make us a sustainable force!!

Though I hardly remember anything what we discussed in those lectures but this thought of a change in the world order always stuck to me...

I am reminded of the last lecture when we had no discussion... but just a song... and how we really felt what we were singing!!

aa chal ke tujhe main le kae chaloon ik aise gagan ke tale.... jahan gam bhi na ho.. aasoon bhi na ho, bas pyaar hi pyaar pale.... ek aise gagan ke tale !!

The whole class reverberated to the tunes of this song..... how each one of us wished that the world would change.. but it would be like this... no-one would have imagined!!

The Chilika Lake

Incidentally Orissa, which is backward economically, is well endowed with a rich heritage and natural beauty. Chilika, the largest salt water lake in the country, is one of the major tourist attraction here.. So when we found that it was the new year eve, and we had nothing to do for the day.... The plan to Chilika was conceived !!!
So we started at around 8 in the morning... And what a trip !!! I will let the pictures speak for themselves !!

The road surprisingly was superb....And the Cumo that housed the eight of us was not as uncomfortable as I had thought !!

And such scenic views made the journey fun !!

And then we experienced what most Indians in Delhi and Mumbai face on a daily basis...We waited and waited but the traffic wouldn't move...All this when we were just a kilometer form our destination.

And while we waited..we saw this group of laborious Oriya women carrying dry wood for their chulhas.

And then we were there finally....And the sight of these boats was shocking !

And we searched for that one boat which would be fit to take the weight of the eight of us....but to our dismay .....

And then we met the CHUPA group !!! and then the 24 of us began our maiden voyage on chilika.

And try hard as we did to spot the Dolphins which our guide cum boatman was trying to show us...we managed to see these little black sea birds..the sole group to be seen in the entire sanctuary (Yes, Chilika is a bird sanctuary)

And we sailed on !!!

And on !!!

And Mr. Boatman finally brought us back to shore !!!

And how we had a tiring journey back to the Insti.... andd then we waited to the beautiful night to fall and we JLTd ...Nachenge Sari raat style !!

Photos (C) Shikha Khangarot & Mayank Madhur.

A Walk On Golden Sands

Sea never fascinated me. May be for the reason that I have grown amongst them. Gujarat gave me ample opportunities to be on some of the most lovely beaches for hours...
But there is a charm that the Chandrabhaga beach near Konark has.
The clear blue waters with pure golden sands, were a sight that one remembers for his life. The sun shone bright and high. The breeze was cold and the so was the water. Tall waves splashed the shore...the sound of the sea was music no organ could replicate..And, the moment we thought that we were at a safe distance from the waters sea would come to you in a big splash...wetting your folded trousers and more...
Huge masses of water would wash the shore and leave behind creative patterns on sand..Nature has immense creativity.
It was a delight to walk on the beach and observe the life at sea. A boat tied on the shores rocked everytime a wave brought waters to the shore. The fishermen were busy with the fresh catch of fish. The distant din of the trawler engines like drums accompanying the music of the sea...The group of people on the beach busy taking photographs...the crabs busy shunting between the sea and their eggs....everyone was busy but for our group of eight...we were the most vella souls ....and how we seemed to be on a picnicing spree...It had been a hectic week for most of us...and how we enjoyed being free with nothing to do, not even studies !! Unfortunately for us, we din have our star photographer with us !!

Some More From My Kitty !!!

You got any other option ??

Me in different moods...Artwork Coutesy Pragyaan

Silent Night...

Wats there on my table ?

Floating Hopes

Invoking the lords....Diwali 2006 @ XIMB

Kailash Temple - Ellora Caves

Lessons I learnt - From friends & foes

1. You are Welcome
Whenever I am on the chat on Gtalk and I say thanx (in its various forms like thnx, Thanks, etc.) a friend of mine would always make it a point to respond back immediately with a "welcome" and a smiley :). This I felt is such a nice gesture. You feel Good after this....that the person whom you are thanking actually values it !!!

2. Smile
This I read somewhere is the most contagious disease. You smile and people smile back. Feels good at the morning.

3. Hi Sudeep
Always address people by their names. They will feel special. This friend of mine, I am not taking names lest i might be infringing on IPRs, would always address me as "Hi Sudeep"....and I know wat it feels like....Try it out someime

4. Thanks
This is the most abused word...though the most kind also. And whether its accepting a compliment or is getting some work done, this comes handy.... I use it profoundly, but sensibly....

5. Lukkhe

This is something which we used during our Engg days....My bunch of friends there...we wud often address each other...I dunno wat it means exactly, but its litereal meaning is not what everybody would like..but to us it was and still is (How can I forget calls from two of my close friends...one of which cursed me for sending "that" news thru an SMS...thought its a separate story that even she did not give me "the" news......) ya...it is a sweet way to address.....How I miss those dayz !!

Thank You friends... Thank You all......(I had thought of writing names....but hten i might be doing injustice to those whose names I forget to write...so I am better-off this way !!!

The world through my lenses

Me has been thinking of posting this fpr quite sometime....Me's desire has reached a culmination point today , and its now or never.....

Me is talking about a photoblog...Me is a die hard photography enthusiast, its a separate story that me doesn't have a camera, else Me would have been spinning a new world for hmself.

What if Me doesn't have a camera of his own....Me views the world through other's lenses. So Me posts a series of photographs that he feels re simply awesome.....

The Red Moutain ....


The setting sun paints a different hue ...


Mountain Vs. Mountain...


And he thinks...


And now they think....