Life Beyond Bengaluru...

Its been almost 5 months since I have left Bengaluru. I loved being a part of the city which is a reflection of India's IT prowess.My stint there was however quite short, exact 1 year to be precise! I landed there on 29th October 2009 and bade good bye on 30th October 2010.Somtimes occassionally I do miss the city. It happens more often then not, that you miss the city you have been living in for quite sometime. When I was saying good bye to Mumbai, my heart was heavy because Mumbai is the city I had loved to be in and would always love. For me it is the best city in the country-a true mark of India's progress!


After the hustling bustling 3 years in Mumbai, Bengaluru was a welcome change, though initially I did have a tough time getting settled there.But gradually I got blend with the city and its culture.


After Bengaluru, it was the time to say Hi to Pune. I was happy that I am going back to Maharashtra and moreover near to my hometown. However, all the transition do not happen smoothly.I had my share of tough time getting settled here. Initially I stayed at my Uncle's place which is 30 kilometers from my office.Commuting was the biggest challenge that I faced initially. 30 kilometers in public transport in Pune-you really got to have guts for that. I had heard about the pathetic public transport in Pune from my friends, but after tasting the bitter medicine personally,I can emphasise that God only help you if have to commute by public transport for long distances.


For me,the things were even more difficult because I had to change over 4 times to travel those 30 kilometers.It took a whooping 2 hours daily one way for that!Sometimes used to question myself-what was the need to come to a city that is lacking in basic infrastructure?But then every black cloud has a silver lining and every situation a purpose.The poor public transport, actually made me to get a bike for myself. I always wanted to have a bike but the public transport in Mumbai and Bengaluru was so good that never got in to a situation that compelled me to purchase a one. I said to myself that finally my dream of owning a bike is going to materialize!


This post is primarily intended to showcase the transition from Bengaluru to Pune and may be to contrast the difference among the two cities and the problem a new comer face-


1. Initial Days: I spent initial couple of weeks at my Uncle's place. As already mentioned, my office was 30kms away from his home. I used to get sapped of energy when I used to come back from office.The public transport is very pathetic here in every literal sense of word!My initial days in Bangalore were quite smooth as I stayed at a friend's place and the office there was merely 10kms away. However the beauty was that the public transport was so strong that there was an AC bus every 5 minutes! Here if you miss a bus then it would only come after atleast 20 mins or may even more than that!


2.House Hunt:When you come to a new city, the first aim is to get a house and get settled quickly.Since my early days, its been my aim to always stay near to office. This literally saves the commuting time,and the precious energy which could be utilized for other good purpose.So the initial couple of weekends I roamed around the areas in the vicinity to office. The major problem that I faced was me being a "bachelor". Owners,housing socities etc were reluctant to rent out flats to bachelors as if bachelors are terrorists!This was the same problem that I faced in Mumbai and then in Bangalore.And I suppose this is prevalent in all the cities of India per se. However if you are in a city you are bound to get a home.And I was also lucky enough.Luckily got a semifurnished 2 BHK about 10kms from office. I shifted to new place amidst a big drama. The society people were creating problems but my owner fought and I got in! Initially lived 2 months alone in such a big house as was in a search of a matching room partner, which I got last month.


3.Food: Food is the next major problem.Its been 4 months since I am cooking on my own one time in weekdays and both time on weekends.And I take the pain to cook myself because of the craving for good food!And since my return to home from office is not fixed and my room mate has a 12 to 9 shift, we have not kept a cook yet. Anyway,you have to adjust as the situation demands.Cooking sometimes is tiring but the gratification you get after having a great meal is the best motivation to take the pain.



From my experience, if I compare Bengaluru and Pune, the transition to Bengaluru was much smoother because of the ease of availability of basic needs and good infrastrcuture.It was quite easy to get a gas connection, a cook or for that matter anything that mattered to ease out transition.


Having said that, I would also say that-no pain no gain!Though I faced problems initially, I am happy being a part of Maharashtra again!The transition from Idli-Dosa to Vada Paav, Misal Paav is a happy one.

God Bless!
Cheers!
Adi

Welcome Back!

After a long long break, I am back to the world of blogging.If I look back, its been really long time since I have updated my blog.I can cite many reasons for that but I feel that those would only be excuses in one way or the other. The fact of the matter is that, if you really want to do something you would some how do it!!! And as far as I know, I somehow kept procrastinating finding one reason or the other.


So how come out of the blue, I am back in to the picture again? One simple reason is that I have been assigned an official laptop yesterday itself. And when you have the resources you can make best use of them, wise or unwise depends on person to person!


For 5 months now I had nothing so that I can write.I could have purchased a personal laptop of mine but avoided it because the only thing that i would have done on that is to watch movies!So just thought to save few bucks!!!


I shall start this post with a disclaimer that though I am back I am taking no guarantee that I would still be able to write frequently.The reason for time being is simple-I have a laptop today but no one knows I would have it tomorrow or not!


Well, the last post I had put over this blog was in the month of October 2010 from Bengaluru. And after 5 months I am writing from Pune. Yes!I am back in Maharashtra. Though I loved Bengaluru but I do not know why I have a special camaraderie with Maharashtra. I had a rocking 3 years in Mumbai and now I am in Pune.Being from Madhya Pradesh, I can closely bond and relate myself with Maharashtra.I am now near to my family and back among my great college friends!


Vibrant Maharashtra!Jai Maharashtra!


However, having said that,it doesn't matter where you live, life moves on at its own pace with its hustle bustle and chores! It seems that it is a thing of yesterday only when I came here.4 months have passed since I have put in my steps in Pune.Anyway, this is life and it moves on!


I am back again....

God Bless!
Cheers!
Adi

I would never want to be Sachin....by Harsha Bhogle

Remember when you failed an examination. How many people recall that, your class, friends, relatives? You failed to make it to the IITs or IIMs. Who remembers. How many times have you had the feeling of being the best in your class, school , university, state….., you failed to get a visa stamped this quarter…, you missed a promotion this year…, how did it feel when you dad told you in your early twenties that you are good for nothing…..and now your boss tell you the same...

You keep introspecting and go into a shell when people most of whom don’t matter a dime in your life criticize you, back bite you, make fun of you. You are left sad and shattered and you cry when your own kin scoffs at you. You say I am feeling low today. It takes a lot from us to come out of these everyday situations and move on. A lot??? really?

Now here’s a man standing on the third man boundary in the last over of a world cup match. The bowler just has to bowl sensibly to win this game. What the man at the boundary sees is 4 rank bad bowls bowled without any sense of focus, planning or regret. India loses, yet again in those circumstances when he has done just about everything right.

He does not cry. Does not show any emotion. Just keeps his head down and leaves the field. He has seen these failures for 22 years now. And not just his class, relatives, friends but the whole world has seen these failures. We are too immature to even imagine what goes on in that mind and heart of his. That’s why I would never want to be Sachin.

True, he has single handedly lifted to moods of this entire nation umpteen number of times. He has been an inspiration to rise above our mediocrity. Nobody who has ever lifted the willow even comes close to this man’s genius. His dedication and metal strength is unparallel. This is specially for those people who would have made fun of him again last night when India lost. They are people who are mediocre in their own lives. Who just scoff at others to create cheap fun. Who have lived in a small hole throughout their lives and thought they have seen the oceans.

Think about the man himself. He is 37 years of age. He has been playing almost non stop for 22 years. The way he was running and diving around the field last night would have put 22 year olds to shame. The way he played the best opening quickies in the world was breathtaking. He just keeps getting better which is by the way humanly impossible. Its not for nothing that people call him GOD.

But still I don’t want to be in those shoes. We struggle in keeping our monotonous lives straight, lives which affect a limited number of people. Imagine what would be the magnitude of the inner struggle for him, pain both mental and physical, tears that have frozen with time, knees and ankles and every other joint in the body that is either bandaged or needs to be attended to every night, eyes that don’t sleep before a big game, bats that have scored 99 international tons and still see expectations from a billion people.

And he just converts those expectations into reality. We watch in awe, feel privileged.

Well I think its time that his team realizes that enough is enough. They have an obligation, not towards their country alone but towards sachin. They need to win this one for him. Stay assured that he himself will still deliver and leave no stone unturned to make sure India wins this cup.

This is not just a game, and he is not just a sportsman. Its much more than this. Words fail here.....

--- HARSHA BHOGLE

Blessed!

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!”

God Bless!

Cheers!

Adi

Long time no see…

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.

Good Bless!

Cheers!

Adi

Cooking Shooking- Hai Rabba!!!

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!

God Bless!

Cheers!

Adi

Snooze Snooze!

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!!!

God Bless!

Cheers!

Adi