YT's Accounts

Books read in 2008

2008-05-18T23:49:00.000-07:00

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - (***)
2. Inheritance of Loss - Kiran Desai - (****)
3. A Spot of Bother - Mark Haddon - (*****)
4. Chaos - James Gleick - (currently reading)

Books read in 2007

2007-04-01T22:36:00.000-07:00

I have noticed that as the years are progressing, my reading has taken an exponential decline despite the number of books lined up at all times. So this is going to be a shameful year as far as reading is concerned. Nonetheless, the books and my star rating (* being lowest and ***** being highest) on the books needs to be penned down. Here it goes:

1. Cat o'nine Tales - Jeffery Archer (rating - ***)
2. Mein Kempf - Adolf Hitler (abandoned)
3. A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson (rating - ****)
4. The Inscrutable Americans - Anurag Mathur (rating - ***)
5. Next - Michael Crichton (rating - **)
6. The Innocent Man - John Grisham (rating - ***)
7. The Silver Chair - Chronicles of Narnia (rating - **)
8. The Last Battle - Chronicles of Narnia (rating - ***)
9. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (rating - ***)

Is Everything OK?

2006-05-30T06:07:00.000-07:00

Thats the question I often get asked by my wife whenever she senses that there is some abberation in my normal behavior ( for an arbitrary self conceived definition of normalcy ). I reflected on this question for a while last evening when it was posed on the drive back home and later a couple times before bedtime. The question is the most powerful expression for diplomacy. By asking this question, the poser can very safely encompass all possible screw-ups. Imagine asking someone "Hey, are you angry with me?" or "Hey, whats wrong?" versus asking "Is everything OK?". Which sounds better - obviously "Is everything OK?". If there is something that the poser screwed up (knowingly or unknowingly), there is a possibility that the victim of the question will say "No, nothing just don't feel like talking - I am tired" rather than following a potentially sad and miserable conversation. Now the poser has an advantage that he cannot be accused of not being caring but at the same time he can get away with crime.
If the victim reverts with a statement about how the poser screwed up and thats why the victim is miserable, the poser gets all the opportunities to clean up or clarify.

One other term that falls in this category is "Thanks for everything".

I wish people were a little more specific about questions that show care or concern.

By the way, I also use the above terms liberally.

Discovering T9

2006-02-27T05:05:00.000-08:00

While checking my cell phone bill online, I accidentally followed a link to a tutorial on T9. For those who don't know what T9 is, it is a kind of a word completion tool available on almost all cell phones and comes in very handy while using text based messaging systems on cell phones (SMS - Short Messaging System etc. )

My wife is a walking talking sample of the cell-phone generation in India ( maybe I should christian a phrase - cellphoners - here, just like baby boomers !). The cellphoners usually spend atleast 2 hours per day on the cell phone talking and atleast 30 minutes sending text messages. Anyhow, so I always get complaints about how I always avoid cellphoners and how evasive I am when it comes to sending text messages and talking on the phone.

My primary reason for avoiding text messaging using the cellphone is that I simply find it painful typing out using the keys on my cell. Especially you have to wait for the cursor to move automatically when you have to press the same key twice (for example, while typing out "call" you have to press c, wait, press, a, press l, wait, press l). This is just more time consuming than calling and saying whatever you have to type out. But with T9, its a different ball game. To type "call" just press c, press a, press l and press l (notice - without waits) and the thing is intelligent enough to type out "call" for you. I experimented with this for a while and figured that my type-time reduced by atleast 50% - huge improvement and I can be a happy SMSer!!

I think I should join the cellphoners!!

Wishlist

2006-02-17T00:11:00.000-08:00

Books

1. Leather Bound edition of "Lord of the Ring"
2. How to climb Mount Fuji

DVDs

1. Lord of the Ring - Fellowship of the Ring (aquired)
2. Lord of the Ring - The Two Towers (aquired)
3. Lord of the Ring - Return of the King (aquired)
4. Starwars - all 6
5. Friends - all 10 seasons
6. 24 - all seasons

Music

1. Simon and Garfunkel - everything (partially aquired)

Places to Visit

1. The Great Pyramids of Egypt
2. Great Barrier Reef - Australia
3. Newzealand
4. African Safari
5. The Amazons
6. Mount Everest
7. Roman Amhitheaters
8. Vatican
9. Italy
10. France

Got Married on the 26th of Jan 2006

2006-02-17T00:10:00.000-08:00

I got married to Ritu Sharma on the 26th of January 2006 in Hyderabad.

A visit to the US consulate

2006-01-05T20:46:00.000-08:00

I had to go to the US consulate on January 4, 2006 for a B1 visa. I caught the 8:00 PM flight from Bangalore to Chennai with Anil (my colleague) and had a fairly uneventful 45 minutes journey in the air. I am always scared of flying and once I am inside an airplane, I feel I do not have any control left over my life and everything now is in the hands of the pilot or the almighty God or the fierce nature or the machines which humans have built. At the precise moment when the plane made its final speedy run on the runway before taking off, Anil reminds me of the plane-crash series that they show on National Geographic. Anyways, after landing at Chennai airport we were escorted in a huge ass Mercedez Benz (the Merc version of a limo) with a driver in all whites and the complete works. We checked into Radisson and undoubtedly the place is one amongst the top of the line hotels. After a bowl of Arabiatta with a glass of red wine, I went back to my room and had a nice relaxing 45 minutes of bubble bath in the huge bath tub. At 11ish the night, Anil showed up and we chit-chatted till around 1:00 AM.

At 7:00 AM, I was woken up with the shrill telephone ring to annouce my wake-up call. I was in the hotel lobby by 8:00 AM and after having a sumptous breakfast, we started for the embassy in hotel provided Tata Indica cab. Chennai traffic looked much more stream lined even in the peak traffic hours. The roads were wider, limited number of potholes, traffic signals that work at almost all junctions and no random criss crossing of pedestrians or vehicles. However, the place was filled with people and it suddenly looked very swollen and bursting. Anyway, we reach the consulte around 10ish and left the car at the car park on street around the consulate. My first visit to the consulate back in 2000 was not as intimidating as this one. This time, it looked more like a fortress with armed guards and security and all that stuff. The minute we entered the consulate, we were subjected to a metal detector search and at that time, I realized that I stil l have my electronic secure ID with me. So I had to go out, deposited it at a random police booth around the corner and came back in 2-3 minutes. Next, came a line for the draft deposits, followed by another line for pre-screens. It was at that time that the entire green folder idea came tumbling down. We were under the impression that people carrying green folders are priveleged in some ways but unfortunately that is not the case. All men are born equal, then they become unequal and once they are inside the US consulate they again become equal. After the prescreen we were asked to go and stand in the "snake line" for the actual interview process.
I stood in the snake line for almost 30-40 minutes before I was called in and asked to wait. Inside the main interview building there was a sea of people waiting on different lines for different purposes. The men and women behind the bullet proof glass had a cold, glazed, superior expression on their faces and the men and women on the other side of the glass had the sweaty, tired, expectant, inferior third world looks on their faces. Some looked desperate, some looked desperate to prove a point, some looked desperate as if they were still under the colonial hangover, and some looked defiant. But at the end, it was the desperate expectant who over powered everyone else. I was asked to stand in a line for finger printing and at the precise moment when my turn came, the guy behind the glass stepped away from his desk. After standing in line for around 10 minutes, somebody whisked me away to stand in another line and tell the person behind the glass that I haven't been finger printed and I need to do so during the interview. Finally I was called for the interview and after a super short interview process, the 50-something year old moron told me that I need to get additional verification done in terms of my immigration check during my F1-tenure in the US. At that moment, I felt like telling me - "Fuck you! who wants to go to your stupid country anyways".

After hunting around for a bank, I got the draft made and re-entered the consulate. Thankfully, this time the wait wasn't too long and I was finally finger printed the hard way - black ink, all 10 fingers printed thrice on paper. It was an insulting and humiliating experience but the woman who finger printed me told me in 95% of the cases the visa is issued but in 5% cases I might have to reappear.

I think I have already written a lot and it just gets more and more bitter by the hour.

The penultimate and ultimate day of 2005

2006-01-02T00:35:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday, the 27th of December, my mother had gotten a PAP Smear test taken. The results were expected on Friday, the 30th of December. These last 4 days of 2005 were perhaps the most stressful days of our lives and everybody waited in somekind of a suspended animation. The air had a very heavy and melancholy smell to it as if something terrible has happened but the sun rose, birds chirped, children played, i went to work, talked with people, had coffee and did everything that i usually do with a weird semblance of normalcy.

Finally on Friday at 2:00 PM, I got a phone call from my mother saying that the report is normal and there is nothing to worry about. From that very instant the air seemed lighter and the heavy oppressive veil of anger, fear and pain was suddenly lifted. I took an early off from office and spent the remainder of the evening at home with my parents.

The last day of 2005 was spent on MG Road getting my pictures taken for the US Visa application and doing some window shopping with Sudeep. The interesting part happened in the evening after 8:00 PM when and I Sudeep went to eat out. We started to arbitrarily drive towards Bannerghatta National Park on Bannerghatta Road and after much hunting cornered a place called Vasiri. So Vasiri is this place which serves Indian, Chinese and Mughlai and up we went in the hopes of getting some good food and some great beer to wash down the mughlai stuff. To our disappointment we discovered that atleast 50% of the items mentioned on the menu were not being served and as it happened, everything we wanted to eat wasn't available. So we walk out of the restaurant and hop into a cafe across the street. After having ordered sandwiches, I decided not to spend the last meal of the year over a sandwich in a crappy cafe. So we head out of that as well and land at a tried-and-tested place called Wok and Grill. Now, W&G is typically famous for the Wok part (which means Chinese) but not the Grill part (which means Continental). So the adventurous and frustrated souls wanted to try the infamous part. Sudeep ordered fish & chips and I ordered an Arabiata (pasta). After a wait of about 20 minutes, arrived the legendary fish and chips with 4 pieces of fish and local handmade potato wafers. We were like WTF but couldn't say much because technically it was fish and chips. My pasta wasn't that bad but had a multitude of colors in it (saffron, white and green) and for a minute I though I was celebrating India's Independence day. Anyways, so after the meal we decided to have icecreams in the adjoining desserts shop and I ordered my usual Hot Choclate Fudge and Sudeep ordered Brazilian something. So when my icecream arrived it was just smelly vanilla icecream with choclate sauce poured over it - no fudge no hot no nothing! By this time, I was fuming with anger and finally we did not pay the guy for my share of the dessert. It was then that we decided that it is wise to leave before it gets worse. So we reached home at 11:30 and I passed into the new year watching the ball drop on my couch.

Books Read in 2006

2006-01-02T00:33:00.000-08:00

1. The Camel Club - David Baldacci ( **/5 )
2. Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis ( ***/5 )
3. False Impression - Jeffrey Archer ( **/5 )
4. All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten - Robert Fulghum ( **/5 )
5. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden ( ***/5 )
6. A short history of nearly everything - Bill Bryson ( currently reading )
7. Chronicles of Narnia - The Magician's Nephew - C. S. Lewis ( **/5 )
8. The Veteran - Frederick Forsyth ( **/5 )
9. Chronicles of Narnia - The Horse and His Boy - C. S. Lewis ( **/5 )
10. Chronicles of Narnia - Prince Caspian - C. S. Lewis ( **/5 )
11. The Afghan - Frederick Forsyth ( ***/5)
12. Chronicles of Narnia - The Voyage of the Dawn Treader ( **/5 )

Why I chose to marry you

2005-12-21T01:03:00.000-08:00

I got this email today from my fiance which made a failed attempt to express why I was the one she chose to marry. According to the email, it was because of ...well nothing. However, the sentences which were confusing and kindaa stupid were - "I wanted to make a careful choice and it was a big decision for life".

So the big question here is how do we make such big decisions in life in less than a day's time? How does a person know whats right when one doesn't get the time to decide between various rights or between wrongs and rights?

On a more philosphical thought - why do people use the word "love" and "sorry" so liberally in this country. How do people start loving other people without even knowing what the other person is, what he/she stands for, what he/she believes in. I really feel sorry for people who do this - its not only injustice to the person who is on the other side of the table but also a lot of injustice to the person who is expressing himself/herself.

Jesus is the only way to heaven

2005-12-20T04:44:00.000-08:00

While I was riding my bike today to work, there was an auto-rickshaw which managed to keep ahead of me at all times. What was interesting about the auto was what was written at the back of the yellow top which was "Jesus is the only way to heaven".

That put my mind racing across 5 different thought processes and made my boring commute a little less boring. These 5 different thoughts were:

1. Is heaven communal?
2. Is Jesus the name of a street?
3. Was the auto-rickshaw driver homicidal?
4. Was it a warning sign for anybody who tried to overtake the auto-rickshaw?
5. Is Jesus good in bed?

YT gets "officially" engaged

2005-12-20T04:37:00.000-08:00

I got engaged to Ritu Sharma on the 13th of November 2005. (err..13th - lucky or unlucky?). She is a normal non-YT type of person who I got engaged to after knowing her for less than 24 hours (in total). Well this is the typical "arranged" Indian wedding scenario. So half those who don't know what an arranged marriage is in the Indian context would probably die out of shock and other half will stop reading and move over to a next random blog.

Now that I have known Ritu for around 1.5 months, I guess I can possibly devote an entire page about her and what she is like and she is not like, what she would like and what she would not like but that would make me susceptible to criticism and possibly be accused of washing dirty linen in public. So I would not say anything and hope for the best.

I hope to put her pictures (with and without me) on the net sometime but just haven't been able to find the time to do that.

Wish best of luck to me and Ritu.

We (atleast I) badly need it.

New Job

2005-10-04T05:26:00.000-07:00

I have started working in the Internet Operations Infrastructure group at America Online (AOL) in Bangalore, India. I should have blogged about the new job experiences 3 weeks earlier when I had joined AOL on the 12th of September since there is much to be written and blogged about when one meets new people, tries to get aquainted with the new culture (work and otherwise) and so on.

Anyways, there was too much happening at that point in time to write about anything at all. So, I just kept procastinating until today and even today I don't feel like writing anything. It's 6:00 PM and I am supposed to be at work atleast until 7:30 PM but I feel like I am sortaa done for the day. So i guess this is the best time to blog.

In a nutshell, past 3 weeks have been so much better than the last 16 months at Oracle which sucked for lack of a better word. I like my work (atleast so far), like the freedom, like the work culture and like my co-workers or maybe everything is so rosy at this time because its the typical honeymoon period. I hope it remains this way.

Now I don't feel like writing about work anymore. So what else is there to write ...hmmm...lets see. Slugs got married and i guess must be in Columbo by this time, I haven't heard from PV in days - don't know whats up with him, met Kanishka during his Bangalore visit, bought a new pair of glasses and shoes, commute sucks but I feel good riding my bike, got caught in the rain several times, had Japanese food after a long time - sushi was good. I should write to Utsav - have been postponing that for a while now. I think I am having withdrawl symptoms.

More later.

The "morning-after" child

2005-08-17T02:54:00.000-07:00

My friends, Archana and Sudip, have become proud parents of a baby girl on the 16th. The baby was born at 3:00 AM and weighed 2.7 Kilos. She is still in the incubator and probably going through a tornado of emotions. Maybe she is still thinking of her past life or maybe she is having somekind of a premonition about whats to come - who knows but it would definitely be interesting to peek inside an infant's mind. Maybe infants are just ignorantly selfish to bother about just their needs.

Anyways, if she was born on the 15th of August - she would have been in the league of midnight's children but since she escaped the stroke of 12 so she becomes the "morning after" child.

Also, I bought a electric blue kinetic nova yesterday and I am all excited about it.

I resigned from Oracle

2005-08-17T02:49:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I finally called it quits at Oracle. It was not an easy decision by any means but one needs to move on to better things (as the materialist says). Though I was quite surprised by the speed at which the whole "new-job" thing happened. It hurtled like a Japanese monorail and I didn't even have the time to think it over a cup of coffee. Well, I guess I had been thinking about it over numerous cups of coffee and I had it coming anyway.

To err is human but so is to hope.

On completing a year in Oracle India Pvt. Ltd.

2005-05-04T23:03:00.000-07:00

I completed one full year in Oracle on May 3rd, 2005. A lot a happened in the last one year from learning totally uncomplicated work in the most complicated manner, meeting new people to making new friends, moving from rented accomodations to owned accomodations but at the end of if it - its all a big void. Somekind of a train journey hurtling at top speed towards an unknown destination - not having an inkling of what's there is store.

I still stand without beliefs and the only truth I know is that I am still alive.

3:00 is the infinite hour

2005-04-20T04:00:00.000-07:00

3:00 THE INFINITE HOUR. Time grinds to a halt. It's too early to think about
leaving, the food is gone from your stomach, you can't leave for a coffee break
because you spent so much time on the can earlier and someone would notice.

3:05: Are you kidding? Frantically scan the social group for something
entertaining, only to find that people are bothering about home loans

3:09: Mailing list hasn't sent anything either, Shit.

3:10:25 Check email. The send/receive button seems to be broken.

3:15-3:20 Fantasize about what the world would be like if 3:00 could just be
skipped.

3:20:38: Check email. Apparently my penis is too small, and these guys want to help!

3:25: Start revenge fantasies. If 3:00 were a person.

3:30: That rant only lasted five minutes? 3:00 must die.

3:32:41 Check email. Nothing.

3:35: Think about ambushing 3:00 before the work day tomorrow and kicking the
shit out of it. I can see the headline in the Chronicle: "Anthropomorphized time
period assaulted. Suspect busted out of the pen by cheering crowd of cubicle
slaves."

3:38:12: Write email, realize I have nothing to say. I swear, hit send/receive,
and watch the blue Outlook bar cross the screen.

3:38:18: Hey, that was fun! I do that five more times.

3:40: Drank three straight cups of water--going back and forth to the cooler is
fun!

3:45: Watching the clock on my desktop. Resetting it to atomic time over and
over doesn't make it go any faster.

3:48:19: Check email. I qualify for a home loan! Even though my name is
misspelled!

3:50: Cutting fingernails down to the quick and using the clippings to write
things into my arm. I end up with marks that make me look like a heroin addict
who can't get his shit together.

3:52: Oh, dear God, end this hell now. Somebody post a funny blog entry or let a
natural disaster strike somewhere or let Lalu say something stupid or
anything at all. I hate my computer and if that stupid idiot from Citibank calls again to help me
maximize my savings potential I will hunt down his children and turn them into a poorly done,
first-try-is-just-for practice taxidermy project.

3:53:01: Check email. That's it, I'm hiring mercenaries, invading Nigeria, and
stringing every banker in the place together by the balls, coating them in
honey, and dropping them naked into a polar bear refuge in Siberia.

3:53:09: Check email. Nothing. I hate all of my friends.

3:54: The phone rings. It's the guy from Citibank, wanting to "follow up" on a
couple of "action items."

3:56: I'm a puddle. I resolve to get hit by a car every day at 2:57 to avoid the 3:00 hour.

3:56:01.8: Check email. My dick just gets smaller, apparently.

3:57: I don't even bother praying to God any more. It's obvious He hates me, and
invented the human race for his sick sport. Otherwise He would have made the day
23 hours, instead of 24. I pray to Satan instead, offering to become a serial
killer and harvest souls for His Dark Majesty if He'll only make the next three
minutes go by at any semblance of normal speed.

3:58: Satan doesn't answer. That cheap idiot.

3:59: Attempt to pass out. Fail.

3:59:21: Check email. Nothing

3:59:29: Check email. Nothing

3:59:31: Open up the clock icon in Windows and watch the second hand go by. I
swear the programmers made it like those clocks in elementary school that tick
*back* before they tick forward. I hate Microsoft. They'd be the first souls I'd
harvest for Satan if the Prince of Darkness wasn't such a cheap idiot.

4:00: I slump to my desk, exhausted, wrung out from the weeklong hour that just
passed. In celebration, coffee!

Books read in 2005

2005-04-08T04:37:00.000-07:00

1. Eye of the World - Robert Jordan (rating - **/5)
2. State of Fear - Michael Crichton (rating - **/5)
3. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon (rating - ****/5)
4. Destination Unknown - Agatha Christie (rating - **/5)
5. The Sigma Protocol - Robert Ludlum (rating - **0.5/5)
6. Cradle and All - James Patterson (rating - */5)
7. The Winner - David Baldacci (rating - **0.5/5)
8. Die Trying - Lee Child (rating - *0.5/5)
9. Code to Zero - Ken Follet (rating - ***0.5/5)
10. Lie Down with Lions - Ken Follet (rating - ***0.5/5)
11. Night Over Water - Ken Follet (rating - **0.5.5)
12. Shock - Robin Cook (rating - **0.5/5)
13. Abduction - Robin Cook (rating - **0.5/5)
14. Hour Game - David Baldacci (rating - **0.5/5)
15. The Best of Saki - H. H. Munro (alias Saki) (***/5)
16. The Rupa Book of Haunted Houses - Ruskin Bond (*/5)

on missing a friend

2005-02-10T22:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday i was watching "The Shawshank Redemption" the umpteenth time and totally fell in love with one of the dialogues by Morgan Freeman. I don't know why the dialogue never registered before. Anyways, it went something like this:

Some birds are just not meant to be caged. Their feathers are so bright that when they flap them the cage dissolves in their light. Yet it is that when they are freed, it leaves a void in the heart of the sinner who caged them. I miss you my friend.

If I was to tell about a friend I truly miss, I would unabashedly quote this.

The Picnic

2005-01-02T23:45:00.000-08:00

The first day of 2005 had actually started last night at 12:00 with the reverse countdown echoing in the basement, bouncing off the pillars and as if by some magical uplift, crawled up the walls to my second floor apartment, seeped like sand through the crevices and cranies of the closed door and made their way into my ears, riding my nerves and finally registering with my mind which was still floating in the sound of silence. I really couldn't sleep well after last night's experience with the eerieness of silence - all kinds of thoughts ranging from pleasant to scary flashed in front of my eyes like neon signs. I tossed and turned in bed - partly because of the thoughts, partly because of the back pain and mostly because of anticipation of the what the first day of the new year had in store for me. I remember drifting into sleep during the wee hours of the morning when it becomes cold and the head seems to have given up on all waking moments and the only sound that can be heard is one's own breathing amidst the occasional shreiks of a maina or a restless rooster.

The alarm went off at 5:30 and I made an effort fumbling through the blanket to stop its shrieking. My body had reached a stage where changing states from sleeping to waking or lying down to sitting up had become a gargantuan task. So I took it one at a time and finally managed to stand up at 5:45. Still rubbing my eyes, I put the tea pot on the stove, somehow put in the essential tea ingredients and lit the stove. Outside, it was still dark. It seemed last night's thoughts were still lingering somewhere in the corner waiting for my head to get a little lighter so that they could recamp in. I shrugged them away, made my way to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face and got back to the kitchen where the refreshing smell of ginger and tea was oozing out of the boiling tea. I helped myself with a large mug of tea and thought about catching the first rays of morning sun. By this time, the black of the sky gave to an indigo and the indigo was turning fast into a greyish-pink. Still sipping my tea, I opened the door of my north-facing balcony and a cold draught of air hit my face blowing the steam hovering on my tea mug right into my eyes. Though I could not see the sunrise, a small spot of light hit the pillar supporting the roof. It lasted for a minute and then it became cloudy and I knew that I had lost the sun in the clouds. I closed my door, finished off my tea and proceeded for my bath. I was ready by 6:30 since the proposed pickup was supposed to happen at that time. So I just turned on the TV, reheated the remainder of the tea and switched to CNN which was flooded with news of the destruction caused by the Tsunami waves. I just laid on the couch, maybe dozed off for a while and rewoke to another news channel with the same snippets of the tsunami-induced-destruction. I finally switched the TV off, finished my tea and waited for phone calls. Finally at 7:30 AM I left for Sudip's apartment and eventually boarded the bus ( a tempo traveller ) at around 8:00. Among the picnickers were Sudip, Archana, Sonal, Ruchita, Uncle, Aunty, Gautham, Shomu, Riju and Manish.

While the first half of the trip in the bus was spent discussing Babydoll and singing songs, the latter half was spent cursing the road and playing dumb charades on movies - most of which had legacies running into the world of hindi porn cinema. We stopped midway twice - once to have breakfast comprised of hot idlis and vadas and the next time to empty our bladders. We reached Shivanasamduram - the gaganchukki falls - around noon and after taking a couple pictures at a vantage point and refreshing ourselves with coconut water, we started hunting for a place to set camp. After a bit of hunting and a hurtling ride through the brambles and bushes, we reached a spot which overlooked a bed of rocks interspersed with pockets of stagnant water - which at some point could have been a gushing stream emptying into a ravine which extended beyond the rocks. After some speculation on the logistics of time and space, we decided to cut down on our menu and decided to cook some pulav and a curry. So the men started down to the peripheral work of setting up the gas stove and peeling green peas and the women started the core work of cutting the vegetables, boiling potatoes etc. By this time, the cloud cover had vanished and the mighty sun shone in all its glory. Somebody gave the idea of actually setting up a cooking fire to prepare some kheer. So bricks were arranged, wood was stocked and fire was lit. But when it came to boiling the milk for the kheer, we realized that the milk had already gone bad. So the already lit fire was used for boiling taters and cooking the still uncooked pulav. By this time, the heat had become unbearable and was scorching most of us. So we decided to move the tempo traveller in a position so that it could block some of the sun. Uncle and Aunty set down to the work of preparing the curry and by 2:45 we had some of the best food cooked under such conditions. Thanks to all and keep the good work up. Everybody was so hungry that we gobbled up the food really fast and by 3:30 we were ready to make a move somewhere closer to water where we can get some relief from the heat and exhaustion.

After driving about 5 km, we reached another set of water falls called barachukki falls. Without giving much thought, we started the 30-40 feet descent down to the falls. The descent was actually quite exhausting but when we reached the falls, the dampness and the breeze caused by the force of water falling from a height of 50 feet and crashing down on the rocks below caused a reverse osmosis of sorts and drained all heat out of us. So once again we gathered at the bottom of the falls and started to make our way towards the falls. The way to the falls was a bit treacherous as we had to step through mold covered slippery rocks but the lush undergrowth provided enough twigs and branches to support. Once we reached the falls, the water was so inviting that all everybody wanted to do was just head straight for the water and stay there till the end of time. The first to venture out were Sonal and Manish along with Shomu.
Next, I stepped into the pool below and a shiver ran through my spine as the water was icy cold. The setting sun was probably making it cooler. Thanks to the bottle of brandy that we had brought along with us. So on Sudip's suggestion, I had a shot of brandy and headed for the rocks where the water was breaking down on the rocks. Sonal helped me climb up the rocks and once the fresh cool water hit my body, it was the most amazing feeling - envigorating, cooling, natural and refreshing. Gradually everybody made their way up and I think we spent close to 30 minutes sitting under the water crashing down on our bodies, taking away all dirt, grime and sweat along with it. Now that everybody was actually refreshed and started feeling cold as well, we started our way out of the falls and made it to the lake formed by the water. We decided to take the coracle ride to the base of the water falls. The coracle was in the shape of a petridish made out of bamboo shoots and was capabale of holding 4-5 people. I, Ruchita, Manish and Riju ventured out on the coracle ride to the base of the waterfall. As we approached the base, we were doused with sprays of water emanating from the water crashing on the rocks and there our coracle driver started spinning the coracle horizontly. It was the first time in my life I was having such an incredibly exhilirating feeling. The spinning coracle produced a myriad of recurring scenes comprised of green trees, a serene lake, a white waterfall and the sky above. A natural kaliedoscope of immense natural beauty.

We started our climb back around 5:45 and reached the top by 6:00 - exhausted, breathless but happy and energised at the same time. By this time, the sun was on the verge of setting and had it not been for a cloud cover, we could have captured a beautiful sunset. We started our ride back in the tempo traveller and all everybody needed was a strong cup of hot tea. After a few brand shots and driving for about an hour, we reached a tea shop. A cup of tea there did wonders and we started our way back to Bangalore - singing songs and playing donkey. We could have ended the picnic with a good dinner at one of the dhabas enroute but unfortunately Gautam felt extremely sick and we decided to cut short that plan. We reached home around 9:15 PM and it was at that time that fatigue and tiredness hit us really badly. Thanks to Archana for preparing a bowl of noodles after which I reached my apartment and fell into a deep slumber hoping that the remaining 364 days could be as pleasant.

Photos of our trip could be found at:

http://photos.yahoo.com/manishrajsharma

The Sound of Silence

2005-01-02T22:15:00.000-08:00

My year ending celebrations actually started on the 30th itself with a party held at office. I probably had too many beers and bad food which was the cause of my ruin. I was completely wasted by 11 PM and I definitely remember being picked up by Sudip and dropped on my bed. The next morning, I woke up at 6, nauseated, wasted, upset and with a pounding headache. I barely had the energy left to relieve myself after which I again flopped on the bed and finally woke up at 8:30.

Besides having the usual hangover symptoms, too much alcohol typically leaves me with an intense feeling of remorse and guilt the next day. Anyways, I somehow made my way back to work and thankfully did not have to face any work. After having lunch, my nausea and fatigue subsided a little, but it had drained out all desire to do anything on new year eve. Anyways, since sitting inside the office was making me sick, I decided to take the day off and went to see a movie all alone. While returning from the movie I came to know that whatever plans were being made for the new year celebration have been sloshed down the drain for fairly lame reasons. So here I was stranded in the middle of no where and made to do groceries for an impending picnic the next day. So my last 5 hours of 2004 started with me pushing a cart in a grocery store buying vegetables and weaving my way through other cart carriers who were buying chips, cold drinks and liquour. Thankfully the torture didn't last more than 45 minutes. At 7:45, I was riding an autorickshaw being pushed and pulled in 10 different directions, my innards being shaken with the violent force of Bangalore roads, the traffic jams being the only distraction to my anger which had welled up due to a series of bad events that day. Ironically, this was the day when I had finished reading "Tuesdays with Morrie" and had decided to live my life the Morrie-way but as they to err is human. I reached home at 8:30, decided to put away the bad feelings and come into my Morrie-induced-forgiveness mode to welcome the new year with some pleasant thoughts.

So I descended down the ramp which leads to the parking garage of my apartment complex to find it filled with people, all dressed up for the new year, kids screaming, women sitting in groups and pointing fingers, men trying to be "cool" to each other. Amidst all the commotion I meet Rajeev and Vishal gobbling down a puchka. I unabashedly ask them if it was still possible for me to pay hundered bucks and join. Thankfully I did not have to do a great deal of explaining as to why I didn't pay earlier and why I am paying now. So I paid my dues, went up to my apartment to change and came back down. Within 10 minutes I was gobbling puchkas and like other men trying to be "cool" to others. Dinner was served at 9, was pathetic and beyond redemption. Hungry as I was from last night's excessive drinking and lack of food, I gobbled up the junk as fast as I could. It was then that sleepiness hit me like a tequila shot and after saying my good nights and happy new years to a selected few, I retired to my apartment.

The apartment was cold, lonely and sick. I turned the TV on to get rid of the deadly silence which prevailed - though it was filled with intermittent screams coming from the basement. I changed, brushed my teeth, set the alarm for 5:30 the next morning and laid down on the couch in front of the TV. I don't know when I drifted into the realm of the sleepy world, sailing away blissfully when suddenly there was a pounding somewhere - as if someone was dragging my feet back and yelling in my ears. I opened my eyes and realized there were loud crackers bursting in the distance but amplified by the wind which knocked and crashed against my doors and along with it brought the bangs and booms of crackers. The TV was switched off, the hands of my clock showed 11:30 PM. The last 30 minutes of 2004. I decided to get up, my back pained like somebody was pricking me with the force of a thousand needles. So I held on to the edge of the couch, waited for the pain to sink in, allowed my brain to register the pain and sat up. Suddenly time seemed to have come to a complete standstill. There was no sound - complete silence which unnerved me for a second. I did not know whether it was the pain which had blocked everything else out of my mind or the silence was for real. It was an amazing feeling - light, warm, drifting, spiralling. For an instant I thought I was dead. The silence was beautiful, it was big, engulfing, growing like cancer and there was nothing to disturb the sound of silence. All that was echoing around me was silence. I don't know how I long I was in that state but I came back into this world with echoes coming from the basement of a reverse countdown. Six, five, louder, four, still louder, three, two and bang one....claps, screams and more sounds. I knew I have passed into 2005 and I am thankful to the Sound of Silence.

Loyalty and Windbreakers

2004-12-15T04:38:00.000-08:00

The weather in Bangalore in general is a bitch. It changes as often as normal hygenic peole change their underwear. Anyways, so yesterday it got a bit windy and caused a slight chest pain which spread gradually to the back. So today in the morning while coming to office I decided to put on an old windbreaker which had Wipro Nortel Telecom Labs written on it on the top-left. While such things do draw a fair amount of nostalgia, they can also be a mechanism to label loyalties.

So the first incident started with me going for a morning coffee with my manager and I could see that he stared at my windbreaker several times. I immediately realized the reason but he never made a comment so I never responded. Later after a few stares pointed at the aforesaid wind breaker, I was posed the eminent "Were you at Wipro earlier?". It was a polite yes from my side along with some stupid comment to mellow down the embarrassment about showing some kind of loyalty to my old company. Yeah yeah...it was the most lame thing I could have possibly said.

So much to stares, windbreakers and loyalties.

Cheers!!

Self discovery

2004-07-13T00:58:00.000-07:00

Most people, including myself and some of my friends (all of us in their late 20s), go through this phase of self discovery and trying to find what works for them and what doesn't. The biggest crisis comes with respect to what one wants to do and what one is doing. At this stage what one wants to do is definitely not what one is doing. Atleast this is true for 90%. Ironically, we don't know what we want to do. And people who are happy, or atleast appear to be happy, are people who always knew what they wanted to do...wow! hats off!! For me, after spending 4 years in US and 2 yrs of pre-US work ex in India, I am still clueless. Rather so burnt out that I am even happy to sweep the floors if it pays me well.
At the same time, there are these so many young and energetic people around who are still raving/ranting about good/bad work, wanting to go to the US, wanting to switch companies, ....ah the list is endless.

What am I doing? Am I wrong in being so complacent about everything. Isin't there anything called contentment and just "doing" a job and not thinking much about the merits/demerits of its nature? I don't know...I am so confused. There is a feeling of inadequacy, inefficiency, low morale, fear of what the future has in store, fear of what tommorrow will tell me, fears, fears and more fears.

A friend of mine is going to join a class today where she will apparently be taught how to live. Well good for her, but living the way one wants to live should be what living is all about. Living the way you are taught to live is just another form of slavery at a more abstract level. Maybe my cynical bone is just too stiff to understand these things but somehow a motivating speech or an "art of living" class is just not the right thing to do.

June

2004-06-30T02:28:00.000-07:00

After a period of 3 years, I am back in my home country spending a mellow June afternoon in my claustrophobic cubicle space at office. While the rest (well...almost) of the country swelters in one of the hottest summer months, I would say that I can afford the luxury of sleeping with a light quilt in the night.

It feels good sometimes to be back and sometimes I miss all those great summer afternoons spent in Boston. Reaching school by 11 and taking an hour long lunch break followed by another hour long coffee break sipping cold coffee at Espresso Royale Cafe and chatting with friends till it was time to go back to work/home. Ah...how much I miss that.

Well, one has to move on.