I was pondering today that more often than not, most of us crib about something or the other that we do not have. And most of the times this feeling gets aroused when we compare ourselves against others. Oh! He got that, why didn’t I? Because of this, we end up obscuring all the blessings that have been showered on us by the almighty! We tend to forget that whatever we have is a great blessing. So instead of focusing on what we have and be thankful we rue about what we do not have!
I always feel I am very blessed because God has taken good care of me and I have been lucky enough to have everything that constitutes the so called “good lifestyle”. This feeling of being blessed is accentuated when I see people around me. When I go out on streets I find people who do not have proper clothes to wear, people who make both ends meet to get their daily bread.
You must be wondering-why all of sudden thoughts on this? Actually I am watching KBC for the past 2 days, and two of the contestants who came there were from a lesser privileged background. On hearing their stories and their struggles, I really felt that God has been very kind on me. I have got a good education, and then a good job.
On seeing and hearing that- my belief got stronger, “There is a great mercy behind everything happening!”
I am back to the world of blogging or writing after quite a long interval of time. August and September have been dry months in terms of updating new posts in the blog. And if I recollect correctly, I did not post even a single post on the blog!
I would not give any excuses for not writing for I know for sure that one who wants to would do anything to accomplish the same.But yes, there was one thing or the other which kept me occupied or rather if I be honest- the thoughts never flowed in full passion and even if they did, the reluctancy got better of me!
I am welcoming myself back and would try my level best to keep the tempo going.
Its been quite a long time to update the blog. Infact, if I see there is no post against August month. The posts that I put in August, two to be precise, are showing against July because of the time zone difference.
To be very honest, I wasn’t busy at all with the office work! The reason for not writing could be primarily attributed to dealing with so called “contingency” in Software terminology.
On seeing our cook’s behavior, we had an inkling that our cook might leave on any day! And it happens, sometimes your intuition does get true without giving a knock! One fine day, our cook called it quit ! We were left on our own. Till the time we get a new one, I decided to take the charge of cooking in the evening. I used to cook everything but chappatis. That I feel is the toughest part in cooking- kneading dough and making chappatis! As an easier option, we used to get chapatis from a hotel nearby.
It is because of this, I could not manage time to write. It really takes time to cook! However, I enjoyed cooking, so did my friends who ate the food! I had a good time experimenting with things and exploring the world of vegetables and lentils.
As they say, nobody is irreplacable, we got a new cook yesterday and hence I have time today. He is doing good work and lets see whether he maintains the tempo or not!
I always like to press that snooze button whenever my alarm rings and snatch those few extra minutes of sleep! And if you believe my words, those extra minutes of sleep are are just like road to eternity!
Its been my habit for a quite a long time now, ever since I have started getting up on my own. I do not get up until I press the snooze button for atleast 3 times! Earlier, Mom used to wake me up and I used to say “5 min aur” and thereby strenching to almost 20 minutes. At that point of time, I believe, for anyone, those few minutes of sleep become the most precious and valued commodity.
Today was no exception for me. Moreover today I had the privilege also to snatch those extra minutes because of Sunday. So when my alarm rang, I pressed the snooze button as usual and slept! It rang again after 10 minutes. This time I got up from my bed. However when I checked the weather outside from my bedroom window, it was quite cold outside with breeze blowing. That was good enough for me as a reason. I again got in to my bed under the smugness of the quilt, only to get up 1 hour later!!!
It’s the first day of August and a happy one, it being Sunday! Sundays are the days when your everything is at peak, be it laziness, enthusiasm or appetite!
The first day of the month is usually the cheerful one because you have got your salary the day before. So perhaps the only day when your bank balance seem to be full because as the month progresses it gradually decreases!
I have special liking for August because its my birth month and not only me but many of my friends and relatives as well.
It was a dry July in terms of updating the blog posts and I can only hope that August would be better, in terms of count and rather quality as well.
Today I can see Sun shining after a week in Benagaluru! For the past one week it was a cover of clouds over the sky and I was wondering when would I see the Sun.
The new month has knocked our door, and I hope it brings new energy, hopes and enthusiasm.
Can you put in words the glory of one and the only one- the god of cricket, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar?
I think even if you want to you cannot! All the adjectives in the dictionary would not be able to define the greatness of this humble man!
I was poring through some articles on internet, and I luckily came across the very famous Time Magazine’s quote on Sachin. I liked it so much that I feel it is necessary to share that with you all-
"When Sachin Tendulkar travelled to Pakistan to face one of the finest bowling attacks ever assembled in cricket, Michael Schumacher was yet to race a F1 car, Lance Armstrong had never been to the Tour de France, Diego Maradona was still the captain of a world champion Argentina team, Pete Sampras had never won a Grand Slam. When Tendulkar embarked on a glorious career taming Imran and company, Roger Federer was a name unheard of; Lionel Messi was in his nappies, Usain Bolt was an unknown kid in the Jamaican backwaters. The Berlin Wall was still intact, USSR was one big, big country, Dr Manmohan Singh was yet to "open" the Nehruvian economy. It seems while Time was having his toll on every individual on the face of this planet, he excused one man. Time stands frozen in front of Sachin Tendulkar. We have had champions, we have had legends, but we have never had another Sachin Tendulkar and we never will."
I hope you will like it the same way as I liked it!
The FIFA world cup 2010 finally concluded yesterday with a scintillating final between the Netherlands and Spain! What a way to end a month of frenzy and mania!
I was adamant to watch the complete match and I kept my promise though at one point of time I was feeling dead sleepy!!!
The match was all about getting yellow cards and missed shots to the goal until Andres Iniesta scored the final's only goal, three minutes before the end of extra time after a match watched by an estimated 700 million people worldwide. Just as it seemed a third World Cup final was destined to be settled by a penalty shoot-out, the Barcelona midfielder found himself in space in the Dutch box and hammered an unstoppable shot past goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.
And the Spanish fans over the stadium went berserk with noise!
South Africa proved themselves to be a majestic host for such a big event. They have proved that they have the capability and guts to host any major event. They did with IPL, they did it with FIFA. What’s next? May be Olympics!
Congratulations Spain and not to forget, well played Holland!
I am glued to my TV set, awaiting for the kick-off between the Netherlands and Spain, the Final of the FIFA world cup! The Sunday would thus end on a rocking note! It had been a great month of football which would conclude today.
This Sunday started on a rock and roll as well! I got on call issues one at 7.00 am and the other one at 11.00 am. So the first half of the day went in fixing that only. The afternoon went in eating and sleeping and the evening in ironing clothes.
The closing ceremony of the FIFA world cup was as majestic as the opening one with moves of Shakira electrifying the atmosphere!
I have decided to take a leave from my regular jogging tomorrow and hence would wactch the full match. After all I took so many leaves from the late night matches for jogging, so one day leave from jogging is completely justified!!!
This weekendI am not going anywhere. I shall be confined to the 4 rooms of my flat. And this is not voluntarily, it is a compulsion! I am on a 24X7 on call support this week. It effectively means that the on call mobile given to me can ring at any time of the day and I should be near to my system to immediately tackle any realtime production issue!
I tried my best to avoid getting in to the oncall roster but the lady luck always wish to do against whatever I wish.
Well see the irony of fate- while I was writing this, the on call rang. An issue was reported and we have closed it just now! Its 2.30 am in India and what a way to welcome Sunday!!!!
Need I say anything else-better to catch some sleep. You never know when the phone will ring again!!!
I have returned back to Bengalooru 3 days back from my stupendous vacation! The hangover of the same was only for few hours, and its life as usual for me- long working hours, evening calls and not to forget the on call 24X7 support this week! Phew!
Time is flying and the day ends like that only. Off late, Blogging has taken a backseat for the last 3 months. However, I try my best to capture the thoughts every time I could make it amidst all the chaos! Because the day only has 24 hours and you have to do everything in that! You can’t strech very late in night as you have to get up early in the morning to go for jog! And believe me, I have cut down my late night FIFA matches just because of that!
One feels bad especially when one is full mood and disturbance happens. Imagine-You came early just to blog something good. You have just started and the phone rings that some issue has been reported! You immediately check that, fix that and in the process almost 2 hours are gone. Now its time for the usual evening call. And as your luck would have it, the call streches a bit beyond its usual time and you feel totally exhausted after that! You have dinner after that and think is there anything left? You watch 15-20 minutes of the FIFA match and go to sleep!
Blogging-dear friends, its gone! But can’t help it- its part of the life and call of the duty! What else can I say?
I am back in Bengalooru after 12 days of rejuvenating break from work! It was a much needed one.
As it is usual with vacations- you always feel that are very less! 12 days passed off like anything.
Was supposed to update the blog on a regular basis, and had the time also, but just skipped doing it because I wanted to give no stress what so ever to my gray cells!!!
When I landed yesterday night, the temperature was 25 degrees. It was a welcome change from the stubborn heat of Indore. Bengalooru welcomed me with a cool breeze!
I am back again- back to work, back to blogging and back to the life where I would not get tea or breakfast in hands, sumptuous lunch and dinner with dishes of my choice!
I will be writing this post in “Hinglish”. For those who do not know, this term is coined when we use mixture of English and Hindi Languages in conversations, writings etc. Though, I personally do not like the same in writing, but I feel for this post, it is necessary to preserve the essence of conversation!
While coming back from my regular morning jog today, I decided to stop by a “chai-tapri” to have a cutting tea. Though I have tea ready when I get back home, I decided to have a cutting just to have a taste of Indore. Indore is a place where you would find chai-tapris in every nook and corner of the city. Along with tea there are additional delicacies you can have- Poha, Samosa, Kachori, to name a few.
People here are really mad about Poha and perhaps if I am not wrong, it is the staple diet of Indore, synonymous with the Vada-Paav of Mumbai.
Coming to the matter of fact, I took my cutting tea and stood aside nearby sipping through it. There was a group of few old people of my grandfather’s age having tea and enjoying their worldly conversations, the main topic being politics and price rise. I did not intend to hear them, but they were so loud that my ears could not reflect the voice; they had to rather absorb it!
Suddenly one Dadaji called me, “Beta zara idhar aana”.
I was wondering why on earth he is calling me. Does he know me? I was unable to recollect his face though!
Anyway, I went there- “Ji boliye”
He said, “Itni subah subah tum yaha kya kar rahe ho? Tumhaari umra ke naujawan to dikhte hi nahi hai subah me?”
“Ji main daudne gaya tha. Laut te waqt socha chai pee loon isliye yaha ruka”, I replied.
He seemed quite happy with my answer and said, “bahut achcha kar rahe ho beta.Apne swastha ka khayal har kisi ko rakhna chaiye!”
I emphatically and diplomatically nodded in yes to support his views!
Another Dadaji then asked, “Kya padh rahe ho?”
I thought for a moment, that he thinks I am studying, means I Iook young!
“Ji Padhai ho chuki hai meri” I politely replied.
“Kya padha hai?” , was his immediate next question.
“Ji maine B.E. kara hai” , I replied.
“Shabash bete!” He said as if I have won the whole world!!
In between, another Dadaji jumped to bombard with me questions. “Shaadi ho gayi kya tumhaari?”
Before I could reply, another Dadaji quicly said, “Arey Sharma ji aap bhi! Agar shaadi ho gayi hoti to yeh subah uth ke daudne thodi na jaata.”
I could clearly mark out his mischievious smile!!!
The another question came was, “kya naukri kar rahe ho?”
“Ji main Software Engineer hoon” was my sweet and small reply.
They candidly admitted that Computer was greek and latin to them, yet they know a little of it because the whole world now runs on it.
Just to clarify and dig a little more in to what I do, another one asked “Kaun sa software banate ho?”
Now I was in a soup, because to explain what I do was next to impossible and more over I wanted to go back home soon.
However, I did give it a try and said, “Hum log Airlines ke liye software banate hai-Reservations,Ticketing and Departure Control System”
One of them caught the ticketing word in the sentence I said and promptly said, “Iska matlab tum ticket banate aur bechte ho?”
I had no words for this declaration but I politely explained him that I do not make tickets but make the thing that helps in making tickets. He was not convinced though,I am sure.
The next question was-“Kaha pe naukri kar rahe ho? Poona me?”
I said, “Ji nahi, Benagluru me hoon”
Next was the question on how is Bengaluru and how does it fare as compared to Indore.I explained the same in brief to them and thought to myself that why on earth I stopped to have tea!!!
I gave up and finally said- “Mujhe thoda kaam hai isliye jaana hai”
To this all of them said in a unison, “Haan haan jao bete, humne thodi na tumhe rok rakha hai!!!! Kabhi fir mulaqat hogi”
I said Namaste to all and immediately decided to change my route next day onwards! :)
I am sitting in the 2427 Karnataka Express, heading towards my home at Indore. I can’t be more ecstatic because till morning my leave plans were in soup. I was not sure whether I would be able to make it or not. So this happiness really can be felt only! Moreover, my holidays were once canceled in the month of may so naturally am happy.
I can’t express my gratitude to the lady luck, who has the knack of often betraying me!
I have been working almost round the clock for the past 10 days for these holidays! There were some issues in one of my project and to add salt to the wounds, there were frequent change requirements. So I was not sure whether I would be able to make it or not! But yes, God helped me and here I am travelling in the chuk chuk railgadi :-)
While returning from Office today, I was lost in some random thoughts!
It’s been 4 years since I have become an Engineer! 4 years have passed by and I feel it is a thing of yesterday only. How we prepared for the Pre Engineering Test, the admission to college, the evergreen memories of four years, masti and time pass, passing out, sadness of departing from fellow mates-everything flashed before the eyes.
I feel I have spent some of the best moments of life in college.
I distinctly remember the day, when I passed out with Honors Division. It was a moment of pride for me as it was my goal to achieve Honors! Though my teachers, all throughout four years, were reluctant to give me sessional marks, yet I somehow carried on the basis of my theory marks. More than me, it was my parents who felt proud! Parents have this tendency-they feel elated on small small achievements of their children and my feat according to them was a big one. After all, only five people in my class managed to get that.
I remember the phone calls from the relatives, saying “Badhai Ho, Ladka engineer ban gaya” to my parents! Those phone calls made me realize-Yeah! I am an Engineer finally. Four long years have passed since then! I have evolved from a raw graduate engineer to a more matured Software Engineer. I have used term “more mature” because I am still a kid and want to be the one, till my last breath. Because if we become too wise, we would not be able to enjoy life!
Life will move with its pace and nobody knows where I would be tomorrow. But one thing is for sure, I would always cherish those moments that I spent with my friends in the college.
Before ending-
To my fellow folks and mates of class of 2006-It’s been 4 years since we had fought the last battle to become an engineer! 4 Years, 8 semesters, 40 papers-we braved everything! Hand in hand together, kept us moving!
A toast for those golden 4 years and the 4 years after that and many more 4 years to come…
Today I got to know that Monsoons have knocked the door of Mumbai. It was quite expected because they usually hit Mumbai in the first week of June. At least, my experience of last 3 years, when I was in Mumbai says so!
I love rains and especially the monsoons of Mumbai! They are to die for! Though they are associated with floods and water logging hither thither in Mumbai, Monsoons are still charming there!
I was poring through some old documents of mine and got an article which I wrote when the monsoons knocked the doors of Mumbai last year. I would share that with you all.Here I go-
I was sitting with my friend and roomie, chit-chatting on various issues when I suddenly saw the weather changing outside. Cool breeze started to blow and I got a feel that Monsoons would knock the door of Mumbai today itself. I was right. It started raining just after 5 minutes. The aroma generated from first showers on mud was enchanting and cannot be simply described in words.
Monsoons have been one of my favorite seasons since my childhood days. They still are but sometimes I feel this professional life has snatched away a kid inside me. Because it is been 4 days of continuous rains and I did not get out to take the heavenly showers even once! And when I asked myself why, I could not get any answer. Anyway sometimes some questions have no answers.
As a kid I used to enjoy the rains very much. I still remember my primary school days at Khandwa where we anxiously used to wait for the season’s first rainfall. The importance of rains here is much because this place receives very scanty rainfall. When the first showers of the rain arrived all the kids of the colony used to get out and enjoy the same singing and dancing. Football was our favorite game. And playing football in mud was a heavenly pleasure.
Liking for Monsoons had some other reasons also. Going to school, crossing puddles of water and boasting that how sincere we are that we have come to study in spite of such terrible weather!! Buying raincoats of our liking and comparing it with other friends. We used to say that God has converted everything in to Bournvita by looking at the muddy water.And who can forget the yummy pakodas that my mom used to make!
I enjoyed rains at Khandwa for about 6 years till I was in 6th standard. After that my father got transferred to Mandleshwar and call it a coincidence that we shifted during Monsoons only, 22nd July to be precise. I am still very good at remembering dates!
There was a gloomy feeling that I was leaving all my buddies behind but at the same time I had an excitement of making new friends at a new place. Mandleshwar also had a history of scanty rainfalls. It would rain occasionally and then the rains would take a recluse before coming again. I made many new friends at Mandleshwar and enjoyed the rains in the same passion as I used to at Khandwa.
Unlike Khandwa, Mandleshwar had a lot of open grounds. In the monsoons, the earth seemed to have been covered up with a green carpet. Well the enjoyment of monsoon was a terrific experience here. Playing football getting drenched is one of the feelings that I would always enjoy.
Our school at Mandleshwar was about 5 kms from our colony and there used to be a bridge in between. That bridge used to get full during monsoons and we used to have unofficial OFF. That was so majestic, getting an off from school unexpectedly!
Monsoons have their added advantage. You can doze off cozily under the smugness of the quilt forgetting about the world!
I enjoyed Monsoons at Mandleshwar for about 4 years. After that I moved to Jabalpur for my higher secondary school. Enjoying Rains in Jabalpur was limited as I had no friends of my age group in my colony. It was limited to dancing alone on our terrace in the rains with my cousin brother and sister.
Then came the college, at Indore. We were free birds now. Enjoying rains when in college is the most memorable. In college I used to share a room with my buddy and we had a great camaraderie between us. We had almost similar likings. Moreover both of us liked rains, was the biggest advantage. We used to roam around the city on my bike admiring nature and of course, beautiful girls! At college also we had a group and used to mass bunk the college to enjoy the rains. Enjoying in a group is always a pleasure. Stopping at a tapri to have “bhutta” along with cutting tea was the most enjoyable moment of riding on bike!
In college as they say you are the king. So whenever it used to rain we used to take our wished leave and enjoy getting wet. After that we used to try our hands in cooking pakodas, testing our culinary skills. Can I forget listening to oldie songs like “Barsaat me tumse mile hum” or “Zindgi bhar na bhoolegi woh barsaat ki raat”
After college I had tryst with the monsoons at Pollachi. Pollachi, the Paris of Tamilnadu as it is called is the city where I got my initial and foundation training after getting selected as a Software Engineer in Hexaware Technologies. Pollachi has given me so many wonderful memories that will remain etched in my memory forever. They cannot be erased even if I get Alzheimer’s disease!Here it did not rain much but occasionally showers pouring in unexpectedly .It seemed like God wanted us to enjoy the heavenly nectar even if we were trying to avoid.
When I joined in Mumbai, in August, I was very excited to have the taste of Monsoon there, though the peak of the monsoons had gone by. However I have been lucky enough to enjoy it for three years now! Getting drenched at Marine Drive, witnessing the high rising waves of the sea is perhaps the most beautiful thing one can do in Mumbai Monsoons.
Those were some moments, if given a choice I would love to relive again.
These are only few of the million happy moments that I have penned down. I cannot write down completely in words the how I have grown up enjoying rains! :-)
