Bye, Big Apple

Long walks across those streets and avenues - Those 'wow!' night views of the city from new port, empire state & water taxi ride - Confusions @ the Subways & PATHs & Metro city buses - Several tries before properly getting the metro card work & so my travel card! - Pitas & Rolls & Biryanis from those road-side carts - Chicken biryani from Utsav :p - Rides to New Jersey, Penn - Niagra!!! - Window shopping @ Macy's ;) - Those stop/walk symbols - Times Square - Roaming around with those new friends - Luxurious stay @ AKA - Walks across streets of huge beautiful towers @ night to just click pics - And and the very reason for my trip, that super cool experience that I've had @ desco :)

I might slightly miss you, nyc! :D

Ping...

Yes, I'm alive. I just wanted to update about the stuffs happening around me & I'll try not to make this post to be one of those usual ramblings of mine.

Firstly, people around me are moving & getting into their next phases of lives. Yet another big-good-bye that I've to face, in the coming weeks. It has always been hard for me. This particular thingy is even more harder in a way that it's the relationship which has been my last connection to several things around me! Makes me wonder, how very unstable life is. Looking at things from my selfish context, makes me worry about my non-changing, monotonous life. I've really been not willing to give a head for any change, which is bad. But, the kind-of excitement at work makes me keep moving. Desperate attempts to do something new & interesting like -- learning guitar or car-driving or yoga or photography -- doesn't work for me either. I'm becoming one of those laziest pigs, which doesn't want to move away from it's comp/internet.

Secondly, I'm really becoming bad at keep in touch with friends. I'm hating to type mails & make calls, and even to reply to scraps :( I'm actually hell-bored from checking scraps in orkut to setting/changing statuses in facebook & to taking/publishing those meant-to-be-funny facebook quizzes. Listening to melodies & having my head burried into some novels makes me feel good than anything else these days.

And, thanks to those short lived friends of mine -- fever, cold, headache -- I've been able to get some sleep in the past weeks due to those heavy doses of drugs. But here I'm, back to normal, back to those sleepless nights, yay! :)

Reading at the post again, makes me feel that it's yet another trademark post of mine :p
CIAO.

Dandeli

Enjoying & loving the beauty of nature -- Feeling that proper mix of thrill, fear and enjoyment with those adventure sports like Rappelling, White water rafting -- Feeling that initial thrill & later that disappointment with that Wild safari ;) -- Getting to know a lot more about friends, their likes & dislikes -- Enjoying those real fun moments of playing cards, dumbc, teasing & pulling each other legs : The trip to Dandeli was a real great break for me with my current hectic schedule.

Pics

Long time no see...

Oh well it's been quite some time since I updated my blog. So, here I'm to write a masala post, as I don't have anything to write on a specific topic.

Of the recent set of movies I've watched, I liked or (to say) was impressed by these 3 movies : Bala's Naan Kadavul, Arundhathi, The Blair witch project. I actually watched the Telugu version of Naan Kadavul & now and then translating the telugu dialogues to tamil for my room-mate :) Arundhathi was a good, rich in technology, fictional telugu movie. Guess, it'll be dubbed & released in Tamil. And and, about this Blair witch project : I couldn't get out of this movie for some 2 or 3 days after watching it, and I literally didn't sleep at all the night I watched the movie! :)

And of recently, I feel like I've not been really marching or working towards any proper goal & that I really have to concentrate more on what I need & what I should do, rather than just whimpering out all the time about what I'm not & I can't. Let me see if I'm keeping my word on this front! :)

I also feel like, I've been so immature all the times. It's like 2 weeks before I might have felt how naive I'm 1 month back, and now I again feel like how immature I've been 2 weeks back. That might probably mean I'm growing ? :P Well, I'm actually facing quarter-life-crisis.

On yet another unrelated note, the code I've written a month back as well looks like a real shit to me today! Yeah, I should've to learn a lot more in everything & everywhere!

CIAO.

Mission Fun - I

It was C, who started this discussion thread among our gang @ office, with those we-need-fun-during-weekends-after-hectic-work kind of dialogues. And, we're not still very sure about his true intentions for proposing such plans. Anyways, the first plan of our Mission-Fun did indeed go really well! Since few people dropped out due to their vacation plans, we decided to meet up in our house, do some cooking, play some games and have fun.

C was punctual! After that really fast shopping of groceries, we were all set to start with our cooking plans, as the gals dropped in a bit late! C is really great at cooking. Be it the way he cut the vegetables, or the way he prepared : C is like a professional chef. In an hour, the spicy veg-briyani & the mushroom-masala were done! The late-comers did finish the cooking with their roti preparations as well :P

V liked my room much compared to the other rooms in our house (yeah, mine is obviously the cleanest room you see :P). S was doing all his usual pranks while playing UNO. It was a nice get-together, which made me feel better with the not-so-good-happenings that are going around. It also reminded me of the get-together that our old hyd-gang once had in our house.

Here are some pics.

Excel rocks!

Btw, I won both the games today! :)

Idleness

Wake up by 10 am.
Have breakfast.
Check e-mail.
Chat in GTalk.
Read HP7.
Check reddit.
Think of a status message for Facebook/Orkut/GTalk.
Have bath.
Have lunch.
Read HP7.
Have a nap.
Check e-mail.
Check reddit.
Get back to continue reading HP7.

This has been my day so far. And, Life seems to be more emptier than ever. Going to office and doing these routine stuffs would have atleast given an impression that I'm not idle and that I'm doing something useful. Curse me and my Life!

Say 'NO' to Tata Indicom Broadband

Instead of trying to make 'a post a day' which I said in my previous post, I'm making more than 2 customer service calls a day!

I've to apply for Tata indicom broadband as there is no coverage by Airtel in our area :'( But still I went for these guys, as my lucky room-mate is already having a Tata indicom connection and hasn't got any problem so far with the connectivity. So, if and only if you are one such lucky persons, you can go for Tata Indicom I guess. I had my issues started with these guys right after applying for the connection. It took almost 3 weeks for me to get the connection activated (Since I got no response for my first request, I logged 1 more to get the connection. How stupid am I to do this? Huh!)

So, I got the connection on 30th July 2008. And my connection was active only for 2 days. The link went d0wn on 1st August. And, its been 11 days now that I'm struggling with these guys to get a proper response of what's going on. Every time I call the customer service, I get the same reply "Sorry for the inconvenience", "Work in progress", et al. But no one has called me back.

It's been a mental torture for me to come home everyday to see the state of my router and to call the CSR to start explaining the issue all over again every time. I even got this obsessive compulsive disorder of keep on restarting my router every day to see only that my BP raises every time. I even threatened them that I'm planning to cancel the connection, but no response for that as well. I've paid 4 months tariff as advance to get free installation :'(

After googling today for "Tata indicom customer service", I got to see a lot of frustrated posts and complaints overflowing everywhere about their customer service. But then, I guess its all too late for me. I should have done this before applying the connection :'(

If you do have any plans to apply for internet connection, please don't ever go for Tata indicom. Huh!

Post from my new lappie!

Though I got my new laptop months ago, after several weeks of procrastination from applying for internet connection, and then weeks of struggle after applying the connection (I'd have to log 2 requests, mail the customer service etc), I finally got my Internet connection today!! :)

The Departure

I'm here right now after sending off Q in that very same Charminar express, unable to forget that exact moment when he had tears in his eyes, and also not able to sit back at home to see that completely evacuated room of his. This emptiness isn't exactly the same as the previous one when I was alone at home, rather different probably because of the fact that this change is something permanent.

Though we've been discussing about this change or move for the past 2 weeks, even going to the extreme of uttering statements like, "Nothing is permanent in life, except change", it still hurts. It hurts at least for the moment when you say that final "Bye" to the people, the city, the places which have been your Life for quite some time.

And yeah, I'll be missing his kannada, his corrections on the so-called-telugu that I speak, his sambar and the cooking that we used to do together, the intranet chats (which nobody else would be able to understand due to the proper mix of Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and English), the sharing of those team/office topics and gossips, those night time chats at our balcony. And the list just doesn't end there..

But still, the journey goes on. Every one has to move on, to see those different phases of one's life. And Q is moving into one of the important phases of it, stepping into those great grounds of the prestigious IIM-B. All the very best da!

The IPL experience

I had a wish for a long time, to watch a cricket match sitting amidst the crowd in a stadium. Once, when I was in College there was a plan to go to Chepauk for an ODI, which finally somehow got dropped. But this time it wasn't for an ODI, rather for the short & aggressive form of the game, T20 and that too an IPL match!

We planned to book for a final league match between Chennai and Hyd, and the booking was also done successfully. But, then came an option of 2500 bucks ticket (South pavilion) for the same match as Team outing organized by our AD! and who'd anyway miss this special offer compared to the 250 bucks tickets :P And yeah, our team was all geared up for the day's game, and also for the reason that its the decisive game for the Super Kings to dream about a semi-final match.

The bookings and everything were all done. But there came an oscillation for dropping the whole plan due to a possible security threat in the Uppal stadium. And few people started saying NO for the match. And, I just thought, I even missed the 250 bucks ticket :( Anyways in the end, as there were 150 more people from our company who were also going for the same match including the director, our plan stayed alive!

When we reached the stadium, and when we were given way for showing the VIP car parking slip and everything, we were all started feeling like flying in mid-air. And the moment I entered the gates of that stadium, the floods of lights and the green pitch and the players there gave me such a "Wow!" feeling. I really loved the environment, the place which we got, 2nd row from bottom, next to the Cheer leaders! :P (Chennai's though). Few of the stars who waved back at the our side of the crowd includes; Rameez, Shrikanth, SS music's Leka, and the rocking star of the evening "Drums" Sivamani. His beats for the Chennai's fours and sixes, even made the Hyd supporters cheer up and dance. Though only some 4 of us from our Team, the Chennai supporters, constantly stood and cheered for fours, sixes and even wides! :P And when Dhoni got caught, there were few Hyd people shouting loud, "Ippudu kottara", asking for Sivamani's beats.. :)

After every over, Cheer leaders from both the sides refreshed us (Replacers for the ad time in TV), and we even did the Mexican wave twice. Sitting there in front of that small ground, we could easily guess when there is a big hit, whether its gonna be a six or wicket or safe landing, which we can't do watching the match in TV!

Overall it was an amusing experience, and that too when the team you support wins in the end!

20 to 30

It's the approximate time period of your life when you step out of your family to continue your studies or to start working and until when you start a family of your own (or at least till you get committed!); which could be the most crucial and decisive period of one's life time.

It's during this period, when one could as well change the entire flow of his life. It's this period, when one can get to see the most wonderful days of his life which would long last in his memories. It's this period, when one can work towards achieving whatsoever dreams he might have had. It's this period, when you start standing on your own legs; when you start realizing about the world, the people, the sin, the joy, etc. around you; when you get to know and meet the most important persons of your life.

You could either be in a college environment doing your undergrad or postgrad, or in a workplace during this time period. But its altogether completely 2 different feel that you might get in them. You could cherish your college days forever, and its a place where you feel more secure, where you are always surrounded by a gang of similar mindset people, where you wouldn't even get an idle time to sit and write such a crappy post like this! (:P) And I wish even now, that I'm back in a college environment.

Workplace - here is where you'll start looking at the unseen-dimensions of your own life. Well, to start with you'll have to look after your stay! when you're out of your secure-home or college-hostel (It might not be an issue for most of the hostelers to get accustomed to new places where you share things). Or otherwise you could be facing at least few problems with your beloved room-mates!, Iff you're not willing to adjust and share things ;) But, if you wish you could make your staying place as a home-sweet-home, if you get set well with your roomies, et al, you would surely even miss those days when you keep moving forward in your life; when you think of those moments like - first day first show at IMAX, self cooking tryouts, hang-outs during weekends, lunch at those favorite restaurants, marvelous 1-day to 5-days trips to places never seen before, playing cards & dumb-c @ night times gossiping and pulling each others legs, midnight birthday parties, etc etc

Back from home-sweet-home to workplace, you could as well be jammed in with nice and joyous moments to few bad moments as well. Chit-chats about the work & manager during snacks time, wonderful team outings, mind-blowing party times, eccentric birthday bashes, hot technical discussions, euphoric carom/fuzz ball games, small fights with manager, etc. Its again in your hands, in increasing or decreasing those joyous and bad moments here as well.

Well, how am I gonna end this post now ?
And, why did I ever started writing one ?

Its probably because, both of my roomies have left for US. And my parents and sister who were here in Hyderabad for 2 weeks to give company for me, have left as well. Though, I kind of starting to like this loneliness, the silence, the calmness; I wouldn't even compare it with the time I spend in home being with my parents or roomies. May be it all drills down to 'I' vs 'Family & Friends' ?

Okie, I guess I should stop here. See you all soon!

Weird Dreams

A huge group of forest animals, reptiles, cobras would be coming after me, though I try so hard to move my legs not to run but at least to keep a step, I can't move them. I'd try to shout out loud, though no sound would come out of my throat!

I'd be brushing my teeth and goggling to find that suddenly all my teeth have gone missing!

I'd be trying to climb stairs, to find that the steps which I've crossed kept on falling somewhere underneath the core of the earth!

I'd be trying to curse someone with the same curse again and again, with a so-called-wand, and after quite sometime realizing that the curse didn't work, I'll hit him hard straight away with that wand!

A big flight would be landing in the small road in front of my house, and it'd come to a halt just few inches to the gates of my house!

I'd be traveling in a bus in a steep hilly area, to find that the driver has suddenly given so much acceleration that it has started flying in the mid-air of the mountain near a huge-peak, and finally though the bus returns back to the road! (or else I'd just wake up)

I'd have put papers in my current company without having got another job and with only few days remaining for my last working day!

And above everything else,
I'd be debugging, writing code and designing stuffs in many dreams! :P

Destination.. Determination.. Deliberation..

I remember writing this post quite some time back. I was endured with a similar situation one more time (only 2nd time ? No, I don't think so), rather every time I plan a trip to Tanjore. I got vexed up, that every time I book a flight from Hyd-Chennai, (so that I could go by train from Chennai-Tanjore) my flight gets delayed and I've to book some other flight and change my plans. So during the Diwali trip, I decided that I should book for two trains, Hyd-Chennai and Chennai-Tanjore. And as the Murphy's law always holds good, even the train from Hyd-Chennai got delayed, and I missed the 2nd train, and was lucky enough (?) to get seat in a govt. bus from Chennai-Tanjore travelling hard, all through the day on the worst roads I've ever been.

Okay that was a lesson to me, and so I decided that I'll stick to my flight-and-then-train plan as I used to do previously for this last week Pongal trip. But there I'm failing yet again, to catch the train from Chennai. It was around 11 30 pm, and I was in Tambaram, and I have missed my train, which was a 2nd AC ticket :( To make things still worse, I missed another special train in just a matter of seconds, after getting an unreserved ticket from the same Tambaram station counter! But, I was lucky enough to get into an Air Bus from there to my place, with a single free seat near the driver, though I couldn't sleep through the night :-) Probably because I was to witness 2 accidents, and an almost an hour long heavy traffic jam at that thick of night. I'm not sure how these heavy jams get sprouted. Is that because of that accident ? Or is that because I was able to see most of the lorry & bus drivers asleep in their seats, not even noticing that the vehicles in front of them have started moving, Ooof pathetic.. We actually woke up 1 lorry driver, on the other side of the road, as he was asleep, so did most of the drivers behind him :)

But I've reached home safely, and have had a wonderful 1-week-vacation at home :-) Btw, coming to the title of this post, for all those muggles who aren't aware of what those 3 words together stand for : they are the 3D's of apparition. If only I'm a wizard, if only I've a wand in my hand, if only I've a broomstick, if only I can use a floo network, or If only I could just fly; I won't be suffering at all every time when I make my trip to my native!

Ok now don't look at me like that, its probably because I've started reading all the HP books again starting from the first one :D

Bye Bye 2007! Welcome 2008!

So, how was the year 2007 to me personally, professionally, miscellaneously ? No major stuffs happened, though its always nice to recap a few of them, isn't it ?

• Well, few more of my college friends poured in to Hyderabad, which just added up to the fun and enjoyment we were having. We went on a trip to Manali, and I had a great time having fun with the group. Had some small fights and reunions ;)
• I got my N73! :P Suddenly got some interest in photography, and tried taking some funny shots now and then.
• I got my new bike, and even did some somersaulting ;)
• Woow, It was a big year for the Harry Potter maniacs (7th book, 5th movie). With the tension and expectations for the 7th Book. I just finished the day after the book got released, and felt happy one side about the book end and everything. Though felt sad that it has come to an end. Long live Harry Potter!
• In the office environment, we shifted our office to a new bigger building, though I miss the old one, very much. And I had some nice, fun moments with my team-mates, team-outing, parties, etc Not to forget the try-outs for caterers, and the free snacks scheme which lasted for few months ;)
• Just got a bit bored with Orkut (though they kept on releasing new stuffs), and got introduced to Facebook, and may be I can say that I got addicted to few of the apps there. I love them all.
  

I couldn't remember much though, except that I started looking at things a bit more seriously than the way I've been looking. I even started feeling like being more independent is always better. Lets see, how things are going to change my life in 2008.

Wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2008!
Have fun.

Busy being Vetti!

Was that a contradictory title ? May be, but I've been extremely busy being and doing the most silly and vetti (jobless?) things for the past few days, and now I'm here writing a post about those ? Because, I couldn't control myself from doing so!

Well to start with, the first and the most funniest thing that we started discussing/planning was to trick one of our dearest gang-mate, G in the creative-just-for-laugh-gags way. We used to watch this program everyday, as it is one of our favorite. And we have been discussing quite for sometime about a well and nicely planned trick, to be tried on G. I can't explain even a bit of the so-called-plan over here, probably for the reason that, then my blog space would come under porn-related search results :P

But OMG, those lengthiest/funny gmail threads could be one of the most vetti-est of all the vetti things, I am doing these days. Everyday someone or other just starts a mail thread, and it keeps on getting appended to some 20 or more replies in few minutes. And how very modest all our dear gang-mates are, to put a busy status in gtalk, with additional status messages reading `Really Really Busy' ;-), For that matter, even I remember in a thread discussing exactly about being busy/and setting busy status in gtalk. Ooof. And I looove those gmail threads and appends, with different colors for each person, etc etc. Long live gmail! :)

And coming to another most interesting and vetti thing, I'm doing for the past 2 days - Gossips! What else would be more interesting for somebody who is vetti, other than chewing about and peeping into other's personal matters, and that too about my dear room-mate's, and that too if that's D. Is that because, I have never even dreamed of Gossips-and-D, that I paid more interest than normally I'd do, I don't know. But I thoroughly enjoyed doing a bit research work on that front, and even starting a discussion in our Orkut community :-)

But, I did even some useful stuffs during weekend, doing loads more of shopping for Diwali, getting stuffs for everybody (Buying sarees on my own was a big nightmare. But did it with an ease this time, and thanks to U). Did watch 2 wonderful movies :P, `Happy Days' and `No Smoking'. I clapped heavily, as soon as this `No Smoking' got over, without even realizing myself, for the first time after any movie. Is that probably because, I'm sooo happy that the movie got over :'(

Okiee, And enough of writing a vetti post about all the vetti businesses!
My advanced Diwali wishes to you all! :)

@ times & @ other times

I've always felt that soothing experience while scribbling something here in my blogspace, when i feel or think that i am in a somewhat bad state of mind. But, can the layout/template change of my space alienate me from writing whatever that i wished to ? I am afraid i don't know, except that i decided just to cry out!

At times, I have felt that everybody around me are trying to put up a big nice play and that i should go far beyond the reach of any human touch or smell, and sit alone, and enjoy that loneliness.
At other times, I have enjoyed being with my dear and near ones, being missed and missing people.

At times, I have felt extremely sad even amidst sitting a bunch of enjoying people.
At other times, I have enjoyed beyond the limit by spending time with those, and even when i was alone.

At times, I have felt extremely disappointed and felt extremely sad that people didn't even try to reach my expectations, my feelings and sensations.
At other times, I have happily accepted the way they are and enjoyed even those particular behaviors of them.

At times, I have felt jealous of other's work, intelligence and successes.
At other times, I have felt the joy from deep inside my heart about my dear and near one's milestones and talents.

I've always wondered time and again, how much ratio of the weight i have given for these @times and @other times in my life, has it been 50~50 or 70~30 or .. ?? I am not sure though, but I could have made things better, or can make things better if i can march towards a 30~70 or 10~90 ratio ?!

On a completely unrelated note,
I've bought a new bike, owing to the following facts :

• Our office has been shifted to a new bigger and better building, not only that but also at a faraway distance from where we live.
• We didn't even imagine about searching for a new house near our office, as we didn't wish to end up paying the rent which we give for our 3BH, for a single BH in that posh Jubliee hills area.
• Last but not the least, I can never more beg for more than 20 or 30 autowallahs, in various languages and with various facial expressions before i get one. I've even come across certain guys, who just shook their heads, before even i start opening my mouth. Oooof!

On an other unrelated note,
I was extremely touched seeing for the 2nd time, but for a puccah censored version of 7G Rainbow Colony on Oct 2nd, thanks to Sun TV. But, don't ask me whether Gandhiji would have been touched seeing all those colorful and nice special programs being relayed amidst tight competitions, on his birthday, from heaven! ;-)

Gardening

I was around 4, when we moved to our newly built house. These such similar conversations or fights or whatever, even happens now in our house.

Mom : I always shouted, asking you to leave some extra space in the front of the house !
Dad : I actually wanted more space to be left behind in the backyard.
Mom : See, we can't even park two vehicles next to each other comfortably, then how can we park a car, probably in the future. Nobody hears to me in this house. Huh !

These such conversations, might not end in such a smooth manner at times though. But yeah, as we have some what of a free space at the backyard, we wanted to maintain a garden. Out of greediness, we planted all those trees and plants; like coconut, mango, papaya, lemon, pomegranate, some two varieties of guava (one is called china-guava, it will be very small and reddish, i love that one) etc etc. And all those roses, different types of jasmines, henna etc. (I still remember fighting with my sis, as i did some ugly mehendi in her hand and spoiled it)

And out of those 5 coconut trees, we got each one of them assigned by dad to me, my sis, bro and mom. Its our responsibility to take care of them. And there always used to be competition between me and my sis, in watering or manuring.. But one person who doesn't even care about these is my bro. We have got rounds for watering every evening, though i don't much remember seeing my bro in the backyard.

Before the rainy season starts, we used to grow vegetables every year. Dad used to do some magic with the soil, prepares well spaced areas individually for different kinds of plants. And one nice evening, we all used to sow seeds (for brinjal, pumpkin, tomato, ladies-finger, gourds etc etc). I used to wake up early for some next 3 or 4 days, to check if the seeds which i have sowed has grown up. It was all fun to watch them grow, and giving vegetables. Gardening was the only good hobby for me during my childhood, as i won't get out of house much, for playing games, etc (Though i did, i hardly remember those memories, than these). And as years rolled on, and as each of us moved to various places for studies and things, we stopped doing all those nice gardening things.

And, why all of sudden I got back to those old memories. Its probably because, a week back I came to know that there was a Nursery Mela happening near Eat Street, over here in Hyd. Though my roomies showed some interest initially, they weren't able to accompany me. Is it because of that, or that I didn't want to kill too many lives, I just got a single rose plant in a pot. And here is the first [and the only one so far :(] rose of it.

[I got it uploaded using http://m.flickr.com/ ;)]

I should probably try getting few more added to the balcony in our apartment. Wouldn't it be nice and peaceful to see them growing up, before you go for work every morning ?

200 Secrets.

Quite sometimes back, when i started blogging, and i was in a kind-of a bad state, i remember writing a post about Meaning of Life. I am not very sure whether that post was a crap or made any sense at all to people .

Though things in my life has changed a quite better from those final days of my College, and particularly for the last one year or so [new people, better environment, etc], I still feel that i am not upto anything good or great. I feel, i am not putting any of my efforts at all for some greater good or for achieving something. :(

At times saying, Life is boring, Life has become a routine, looking at my everyday work and if weekend starts, going for movies and tasting various restaurants around, worrying frequently with friends about not having gal friends.. Is this all that i can do or i can worry about ?

Ahem ahem.. Coming to the point for which i started typing this post.
I got this nice stuff from my best, which i wanted to share with everyone.
Please do try reading this one.

The Top 200 Secrets of Success and the Pillars of Self-Mastery
- By Robin S Sharma

And let me see, if i can find any change in the way i look at things and doing stuffs.

A Storm coming..

I got this pic, somewhere from a reddit link.
And i was just kept on looking at it, May be it resembled to some extent the state currently i am with. I feel like exploding now, but i should calm down and think deeply to plan what should i do next.. Lets wait and see..

Should i be the storm or Should i be the one who runs away seeing the storm coming ?? I am afraid, i dont know !!