Off The Records..

Haircut.

2011-08-05T05:49:00.001-07:00

Noticed No Difference!!!! :)

7-Fjellsturen

2011-06-04T11:23:00.000-07:00

After an arduous 13 hours and getting punched the entire 7 hills on the report card, I reached out for the Marlboro in my Jacket pocket, that I bought the previous evening, for a celebratory smoke, but to my disappointment only found sweat soaked broken pieces of filters, tobacco and paper, that were not fit for lighting. The message was clear ‘No Smoking’ even as a token of celebration. More than half a day ago at around 7 AM, the bus from Marken reached Gravdal. The place where the bus stopped doesn’t look any closer to the hills. Being a new place I got down from the bus, took the time to look around, and to my surprise some people got off the bus and started running. I followed the crowd for over 15 minutes on well laid asphalt road to see the sign ‘7 fjellturen Start’. That’s when the Indian in me kicked in and said ‘That’s poor organizing, can’t they get the bus all the way till the starting point?’ Some more walking on the asphalt led to the trail. The weather was alternating between rain and sun. The rain was good enough to make the soil under turn muddy and slippery. During the first hour, I was trying hard to avoid the swampy areas, but only till few ounce of water got in to my shoes and stopped avoiding the muddy areas before I fell on my bum in to the mud splashing some on the by-walkers, that gave a different color to my pants and jacket and left an impression on the hills. There is nothing to lose and the walk became more fun and less stressful and took one hill at a time. After reaching the summit, I expected to proceed to the next by going up and down some hills but had to come all the way down to the civilization to go up the next one. First four of them are connected to each other only by streets. After getting on top of Ulriken, there was good temptation to take the cable car and get down and go home in time. Then came the an advise from one of the volunteers clipping the cards, and told me that the next 3 won’t take much time. I took the advice and continued walking. At the end of the walk received a Diplom (Certificate), that I have not received in many years now. Probably the last one was my graduation 9 years ago! I also got the T-shirt that looked like a billboard from the sponsors’ logosJ. Apparently there was a badge I forgot to collect. I reached the airport and boarded the flight well in time. I got to use the sitting mat for the first time in the flight to avoid rubbing some of the dirt on the flight seat; well it was of some use finally.

PS: 7-Fjellsturen as it is called is an annual walking event held in Bergen covering 7 hills around the Bergen city. Some 8000 people do this hike every year. I promised myself that I will do this one in 2011 if I am in Norway, when I did the Stavanger 7-Nutsturen last year. Yes, these two events are on the same day on the last Sunday of May. I was very skeptical about completing this 35Km+2400m, but quiet content that it was completed. Next year if I am hanging out in Norway will do this again, after all its good fun and gives a kick!

End Result: A Red T shirt, diplom, Sore legs for couple of days, waxed legs due to sports tape :)

Recap!

2011-03-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

I was all excited before my first ever Ski Jump! Just a few seconds after the excitement, I had to face the reality. Ended up with a bruised back and made a wise man out of me. J

- Learn to ‘Crawl’ before attempting to ‘Sprint’.

- Being sensible is never a bad option!

- Now that the worst is known, the experience will make success taste much better!

- Next time it would be done in a much better fashion!

Ski Lifts

2011-02-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

If skiing is an experience, I would say first time on different ski lifts are nothing less. There are several types of them which could surprise in many different ways sometimes pleasant and sometimes not so. However, they are wonderful experiences which could be cherished and brings back a smile when reflected upon.

You will experience a wide range of physical and mental phenomenon ranging from being relaxed, panting heavily, high pulse rates, stiff and painful arms and feet, blissful viewing the snow clad pine trees, entertained by a adventurous skier, etc. If you think that tumbling down the slope is more embarrassing than to ski down in a ugly and clumsy way. I would say there is nothing to be embarrassed about tumbling down the lift as its equally difficult for the first few times. :)

My experiences with ski lifts mentioned here don’t necessary order the lifts in the order of difficulty, as it is very relative and differ from person to person.

T-lifts: These are very tricky ones, as a first timer its quiet tempting to sit on the T-bar, soon to realize that you are tangled and immobilized and the lift is stopped for a while to clear the debris :) (Skiis, Poles, Hat etc). One positive thing about sitting on them is, you do it right at the beginning and the lift man is there is to help you. Now that you learnt your first lesson, you manage to go up holding the bar so tight as if it decides life and death. The stress is even more if there is another person on the same T bar (Its designed for 2 people), as you have to have more control on those veering skis, not to come in line of the person next to you.

Button-lifts with rope: These are definitely in view are the friendliest lifts. There is a sort of equilibrium and you are the master of things, well most of the times. As long as the button is exerting a force on your bums you are happy, suddenly there could be flat surface, and when you feel that the button is off your body, while actually it is not and you panic and the inevitable will happen. After a few times on these lifts they are your best friends. These are the best ones when the lift stops (probably some one tried sitting on the button and tripped off) half way at a steep point on the slope, as you can hang at an angle to the slope and stare at blue skies happily.

Button-lifts with spring: By now you might have concluded that button lifts are cool and don’t have to expect the unexpected. But there is another variant of this; they look pretty much the same and even friendlier as the bars are waiting patiently for you, unlike the button-lift with a rope which is always on the move. So you tend to be little casual in getting them between you legs, and there comes Spanking on the bums!!! It starts off with a sudden force and shoots up. Yes, for the first timer that’s a shock, but if you survive, the rest of the ride is smooth.

Chair-lifts: These lifts are all about getting on and off, leave the closing and opening of the safety bar to the others. You have to wait for your turn patiently and if you don’t and miscalculate the radius of curvature of the oncoming lift or mistimed, you will get run over by it. While sitting on lift occupy only one seat if you land up in between two seats, pray that handle of the safety bar does not hit the thighs. Though there is an advantage that you get a longer rod to rest your skis its not worth it. Once you are up in the lift sit back and enjoy the view of the hills and the skiers criss-crossing the slope. Getting off is same technique, right timing and moving quickly out from the chair. This is no place for an elevator pitch.

Conveyer-lift: These are found on the bunny-slopes and have to just stand them and rest is taken care-off. Very rarely if there is a lot of snow on the belt you slide a bit backwards, but no damage done just make you little nervous.

Bunny-Slope lift: Don’t know the official name of this lift, but they are for tiny-tots, which means its low lying and a plastic stick to hold on to, pretty much safe, but very tiring to hold on to the plastic stick.

In all these lifts, there is one common problem which is your poles. Half the problem is resolved if you are not clumsy with them. Happy Skiing !!!!!!!! J

Stockholm Syndrome

2011-01-30T12:07:00.000-08:00

The New Year had just arrived and not even a week had passed by, and my phones, wallet, and jacket stolen from the gym locker. What a wonderful start. But what’s important is, when the police read through the usual questionnaire to me, while lodging the complaint, one of which read ‘Do you wish the person who stole your articles punished?’ I answered ‘No’. That answer came without a second thought in mind. For person who always wanted the guilty to be punished (Though I am always against capital punishment) to bring order in the society, it’s a sure change in the way of thinking.

May be I thought these petty thefts are no big deal, while looking at the bigger crimes that happen around the world? Am I disillusioned with the fact that punishments can be deterrent for potential wrong doers? Am I influenced by the media and human rights groups who oppose the death sentences of drug trafficker and woman accused of adultery in certain countries? Yeah, but a combination of many such things might have had an effect. It’s obvious that in some societies punishments are seen as a deterrent and in some it’s to rehab the convict. Both of them has its pros and cons and debatable.

Whatever it is ‘Stockholm Syndrome’ has certainly struck me. J This was not the first time, but there was a genuine case when I felt sorry for the thief, who stole my 5 year old shoes in a pathetic state, at the skating rink, which I am sure is shear misjudgment by the thief. Probably he would have given up stealing after looking at this catch. J

However, I am recovering quiet well from the loses, which helped in thinning down my wallet by getting rid off those unused bank cards, those old business cards, few receipts that got stuffed in to the wallet for several years and a telephone with a blank phonebook, which will help me get in touch with friends out of touch and new jacket. J

Waiting....

2010-08-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

Undoubtedly the most mind numbing thing to do is to wait for few hours at an airport before the flight. There are a few ways to get away with this agony. ‘Grab a Beer’ is the most common one! I could understand why a beer is priced so high in the airports because that’s an easier and old fashioned way to kill time but not the best way. Have you arrived early at the Airport, to start with leave some liquids in the hand baggage to be detected by the X-ray machine, which will give the airport security to get on to his job while he/she ransacks your hand baggage. You can stand there with a dumb face till the whole thing ends. If one don’t mind getting frisked leave your apartment key in your pocket, this could help with couple of minutes. Then its the duty free section! Go around till you get dizzy due to a cocktail of fragrances in the air from the test perfume bottles and tipsy gazing at the liquors. Hmm!! Another few more of minutes lost. Now it is time to look for your gate. You don’t have to be selfish by looking for only your flight. But can look for other flights and destinations, airlines flying to destinations, check if they are on time, if not sympathize for others. More importantly this improves ones geography knowledge. Long automatic walkways are another good way to kill time. Just stand on them which moves at snails pace. Don't be bothered about that brisk old lady who walks past you, thinking what a lazy bum you are? All this is not enough, when you have found the gate and reached there before an hour. There will be few people conducting surveys, smile at them to get their attention, answer a few silly questions. (They can have some interesting ones every time, I answered the same one twice). Now select a random person and start hating him/her for whatever reason, believe me it’s so easy to hate random person. If you have recently watched a crime/thriller flick image yourself to be a sleuth, secretly observing a terror suspect, while your mind voice asking “What has he got in his bag? Why is he moving around suspiciously” “Why is he going to the wash room quite often!!!”

Now if nothing is enough, ‘Grab a Beer’ J

Walrus

2010-05-29T04:01:00.000-07:00

Far in the middle of the sea, from the captain’s deck we saw dark brown dirt like thing on a sheet ice which is about the size of table tennis board. As we got closer and viewed through the binoculars, found that it was a big fat Walrus. The captain of the boat slowed down and moved the boat towards him to have a good look. By now he understood and might be telling to himself, “Oh! These touristy fools will start coming in these boats from now on, as the summer time has started”. He quietly watched the boat coming towards him with no curiosity and no panic. He was enjoying the cold day and just landed on the sheet of the ice to get a breather and relax. Of course enjoying all the attention from the tourists. I think the sea ice to the Walrus is what sauna to the humans. He posed for the people on the boat with the binoculars, cameras till the boat was at a safe distance. And then he realized that boat is infringing his personal space, he rolled himself over his belly, moving his huge fatty body and splashed in to the cold water. It was one of the coolest things I have seen and many who were on the boat.

Location: On board Langøysund, on the way to Esmark glacier heading to Barentsburg-Russian settlement, Svalbard.

Preikestolen

2010-05-09T04:03:00.000-07:00

I woke up at 7:00 on a Saturday morning, which was early by any standards. The weather forecast was fantastic and I peeped outside pulling apart the window blinds to see the sun shining and blue sky. I told myself, today is the right day to go hiking to Preikestolen. I knew that I had to take ferry to Tau and then a bus to the Preikestolen parking, I was not aware of the timings and also if the buses were operated between Tau and Preskeistolen Base, as its not the peak season yet.

I reached Fiskepirterminalen to try my luck and was informed that there was a ferry at 9:30 which had the connecting bus to the base. I had got 90 minutes to take that ferry, it was only 8:00 then. To while away time, I just went around the port and finished a chocolate muffin that I carried. It was a sunny day I was sure there will be quite few like me who would be heading to Preikestolen. There were a couple of Asian guys who were typically in hiking attire, sun glasses, outdoor wear, and huge SLRs, where else can they go other than Preikestolen? Then came a tall guy with an one and half inch length beard and looked like a hiker as well. I was not looking so much like a hiker, as I was in jeans, t-shirt and a laptop bag. At about 8:30 a ferry arrived at the dock to Tau. I saw the Asian guys rushing to the ferry, I decided I will take the ferry to Tau and wait at Tau for an hour to take the bus. I started a conversation with the beard guy and he confirmed that the ferry goes to Tau and I told him I was heading to Preikestolen. Meanwhile a girl came in who also looked like a preikestolener. J She looked caught up in a decision to make, who to ask for directions, a group consisting a South Asian and thick bearded shabby guy or couple of guys who looked more touristy. She decided with the Asian guys. J. Not being a racist here, just stereotyping. :) We boarded the ferry and I was still wanted to check if there was any bus other than the connecting bus at 11:30.

I asked a middle aged couple, if they knew of any bus to Preikestolen Base from Tau, they had a little discussion in a feeble voice which I decided to ignore considering their privacy. After the conversation, they said they can give me a ride to till Preikestolen and gleefully accepted the offer and they saw me with the beard guy and I reserved a place for the beard guy as well. The ferry is already in the move, and me and beard guy started a conversation. I came to know that he is a student in the Stavanger University and passionate hiker from Romania. On the way to Tau, he showed me most of the Islands and said he has been on them. When we reached Tau, I told him the couple offered us a ride to Preikestolen, He said he is not going to Preikestolen but going to explore some other parts of Tau. He said he has been there few times and does not like the marked trails.

So it was me and the couple, we headed to Preikestolen in their Volkswagen. The journey was about 25Km from Tau. And at around 9:45 we reached the Parking place at the base. They said I can join them while hiking and I can join them on the way back. At around 10:00 we started to hike and they both were pretty fast and disappeared in few minutes. The information board at the parking place showed that the hike is about 3.8Km and terrain varied across the whole trail. The total displacement in altitude is about 600meters. Initial part of the hike was over a long stretch of big boulders and then through a short valley. It was demanding at short stretches and easy over some parts. Overall it was easily doable. On the way I refilled my half liter bottle with water from a small stream. This is something I learnt from the Kjerag hike where I carried a 1.5liter water bottle and made my backpack pretty heavy. I realised that I don't need a lot of water, like in the tropical climate. The trees in the woods haven’t got their leaves completely as it just early May. That was a really good as it was really bright and warm due to the sun rays.

It was only 10:30 and I saw a lot of people already coming down after hiking, while hiking you were never alone and will receive a warm smile and a ‘Hi’ from most of the people as we knew that we are there for the same purpose. And the easiest word that one can say while panting heavily through their mouth is ‘Hi’. J

At about half way to the pulpit rock there are a couple of small water bodies, it could also be called as lakes. Needless to say it looked really beautiful. Close to the rock, there were some wooden bridges and barricades looking over the cliff. It gives a scary feeling when you realize that next piece of rock under the wooden log is few hundred meters below. A small almost flat path leads to the Pulpit rock and you can see the steep edge and I already started feeling funny in my tummy. The view of the Lysefjord was terrific from here, with dark blue still water.

I met the couple there said hello they took 1 hours to reach here and then I looked at my mobile phone, I took almost 1 hour fifteen minutes. The guy helped me take couple of pictures of mine. I slowly crept in to the edge of the cliff to see the water down and the few birds flying below me. It looked fantastic. After a few minutes the couple decided to start hike down, they were kind and nice and once again reminded me about the ride back. I gratefully accepted the offer and told them if I catch up with them I will join them. There is a trail from the pulpit rock which takes you to the hill on the right hand side. I just climbed a few meters to have good view of the pulpit rock. I then ate the bananas I had and started the decent. The decent was quite fast and made use of the gravity quite well. J Half way down I saw the girl who I saw at Stavanger port, she was with a group and recognized me as well. Further way down I met a colleague of mine and stopped by, to have little chat and further way down almost got bitten by a dog, before the master pulled him away from me. J

It took little less than 1 hour on the way down, and as I was strolling close to the parking place I saw the lady smiling at me from the VW and they stopped by me. I felt I was so lucky on that moment and we reached the Tau port right in time to take the ferry back to Stavanger. On the top deck we had some discussions about work, Norway, Australia, Cricket and reached Stavanger at around 14:15. I said good bye and thanks to them and started walking back to the apartment, fully satisfied about the trip visiting the landmark of Stavanger or even Norway itself.

Greece- My impressions

2010-04-25T08:09:00.000-07:00

My impressions about Greece during my week long trip is mostly based on the perception about Europe after living for almost 2 years in the Nordics, it was a truly amazing country. The buildings in cities Thessaloniki, Athens looks very different from the cities of Europe, they do lack the character, but I understand it’s designed for the Greek climate. Old parts of the Athens city is truly charming. Churches in Greece look very different and beautiful ( I don’t understand much of architecture but they are not gothic, Romanesque or Renaissance J ) and not massive. Every residential building has a long balcony running all around the building. Traffic is chaotic when compared to Nordics and drivers are really skilled. As a pedestrian you need to take care of yourself. Public transport is effective. Every second person in the city seems to smoke and smoke everywhere, only place where people were not allowed to smoke in my whole trip was in the flights and Athens Metro. Small traders holding meat shops and general stores are common, unlike big super markets in other parts of Europe. Bakeries and Takeaways have some interesting and affordable things to munch. Pirated DVDs are sold and bought everywhere. Food and drinks are amazingly tasty stuff, Greeks eat some tasty food no doubt about it. Country has a history of over 2500 years and everything you see has an interesting story from the past. People are full of energy and dynamic and at the same time laid back. Most of the youngsters speak English and most of the middle aged and old people don’t. Whoever it is they are more than willing to help you. People in the tourism industry (shops, restaurants, guides etc) are well matured; they try to sell things without being pushy. I loved this as it will be really boring to walk across a touristy place, without having a feeling of tourist. Santorini islands are beautiful due its unique landscape and cube houses and clear waters of the Mediterranean. The blue dome churches and white washed houses with doors and windows in blue make Santorini look like a fairly tale down.

Fell in love with Greece...

Dalsnuten

2010-04-18T13:17:00.000-07:00

Dalsnuten is hill close to Sandnes, at an altitude of around 350 meters MSI. It’s a great place for an unplanned getaway from Stavanger or Sandnes for hiking, which is suitable for all age groups and fitness levels. To get there from Stavanger, take a bus or train to Sandnes, then take a bus route 18 to Gramstad. Bus timings could be found at www.kolumbus.no. From Gramstad take Fjogstadveien and walk along the asphalt road, till you reach a big parking area, this will take about 15-20 minutes from Gramstad bus stop. The hiking trail starts from the Parking area. The trail is marked with symbol ‘T’ painted in red. Initial part is through some swamp areas and fields and there is climb on to the rocky hill. It is not required for any special clothing except a spring jacket as it gets a bit windy at the top. The climb will take around 30-45 minutes. At the top there is a cairn which marks the summit and a binocular, to view the towns Sandnes and Stavanger. There are 2 different views that one can enjoy from the heights of Dalsnuten, one in the direction of the town with sea and the boats which leave a trail behind them like the comets. The another view is the direction in which you climbed, looking over the patches of pine trees, small water bodies and hills in the surroundings. On the way back you can take a different path, with leads to the other side of the lake on the foot hills of Dalnuten. It is worth spending some time by the side of the lake and grabs a little snack before heading to the parking area or to Gramstad to take the bus back to Sandnes.

An Eventful Sunday..

2010-04-17T05:31:00.000-07:00

I pulled up myself from the bed early and got ready at 6:00 AM. I was really proud of myself to be awake after a long night and be ready on time. I had to catch a train at 7:15 to Casale Monferrato, to be able to do the Skydive and be on time for a football match at San Siro. I was out in the street and the clock on the street, showed 7:05, it took sometime for me to understand that the clocks have changed to summer time and at the same time a message arrived in my mobile from Dessy which read ‘Where are you?’, by now I knew that my day was screwed, because the next train to Casale Monferrato was at 8:15 and it reaches at 11:50, which would be too late. Getting to this place on a Sunday is really difficult as there are very less trains. There was some constant exchange of SMS between me and Dessy and I tried calling her, but not able to reach her. My efforts to guide to her through SMS about the train, place, and phone number of Luca (Contact person at the Skydive center) went in vain, as it is already late. I arrived at the Central Station at around 7:40. I could see that she was visibly upset, after realizing that the only option was to take the train at 8:15 which means the whole day would be gone in Skydive. Dessy decided to drop the plan as she had plans to meet some friends, and I decided to take the train at 8:15 with a guilt of messing up her plans as she was really excited about the skydive plans. Which means I had to skip the football match.

The train journey to Vercelli was about 50 Minutes and from there I had to change a bus to Casale Monferrato. To my shock, the staff at the ticket counter at Vercelli said the bus is at 13:30 and it was just 9:15, Second biggest blunder of the day, I was not supposed to get off at Vercelli. After wandering around for sometime around the Train Station. I found a couple of Asian guys who also wanted to go to Casale and we decided to share a taxi. Things started going in right direction from this point. I was picked up by a Max from the Skydive center and I reached the center by 11. After a short briefing, we were ready to go. Luca, the guy with who was exchanging emails is the only guy spoke English, so he would do the tandem jump with me.

After strapping on the harness, there were three tandem jumpers including me and we walked across the field to take the flight. I do not remember which flight it was. But it looked really dodgy. I am sure even the pilot would be sitting with a parachute strapped on to him. In what ever little space that was available we all crammed in, for the take off. It took some time for reaching the 4000m and now its time to jump. The flight itself was an experience. The first 2 tandem jumpers jumped off and disappeared in seconds. Third was mine, for a couple of seconds, I felt completely disoriented after coming out of the aricraft and then was facing the ground, crusing at a great speed. The view was amazing, with the Italian Alps on one side and the ground looked the same through out the world from that altitude. J While, enjoying the view and the fall, I felt like I am the master of the situation, forgetting about the guy behind you, who takes care of the whole proceedings. Luca kept showing the altimeter, which showed around 1500 meters. Now suddenly I felt like I was dragged up and the parachute was open. From free fall to a controlled fall. It was really scary to see that, you were right above the motorway, and few houses, and sheds. If someone fell straight down, then you land up in some body’s bedroom, piercing through the roof. Controlling a parachute is pretty simple, pull the right string to turn right, and pull the left to turn left. J Landing was smooth, as I was asked not to put my feet down before Luca does that. Finally you are on the ground safe and sound! J

Immediately after the jump, Max drove me back to Casale station and I was there at around 1.00 PM. I asked a man close to the station about the any trains to Milano and he took me to the station master, they both had a major discussion and then explained me in Italian and some sign language that I have to take a train at 2:50 to Montara and then a train to Milano from there. Now I have a lot of time at Casale and went out to explore the place, before that wanted to grab something to eat and got in to the only Pizzeria around the corner. I found the Asian guys there eating potato chips. I got in and said just one word to the lady there, ‘Pizza’, she started talking obviously in Italian and kept talking and talking, went inside the kitchen kept talking to someone, came back kept talking and finally I heard ‘Toast’. I assumed there was no pizza and only thing available was ‘Toast’. I ordered for Toast. And it was time for a beer, she had Becks and Moretti and suggested tap beer holding up a 50cl mug. I asked her how much by flipping my thumb indicating money. She showed me 3 and something. So it was not expensive. While waiting for the toast, I sipped in beer and then I had a refilling for 5cl. Hope the Swedes and Nowegians are listening… 50cl Beer for 3.5 Euros and a little refill J

While I was eating my toast the man to whom I enquired about the trains, came in explained to me that he is going to Vercelli and I can join him. That was awesome, I could reach Milano at least 2 hours earlier, as there are trains every 1 hour from Vercelli to Milano. I was just about to start, but he asked me to finish the beer and the toast and he would be back in 30 Minutes. I was wonderful! Casale was literally pampering me. On the way, We had some interesting chat about the farms, some biscuit industry on the way, fiat headquarters, Skydiving, all with the medium of communication such as Italian, English and Sign Language. J He dropped me at the station and the next train to Milano was at 2.45 PM and I reached Milano around 3:30.

After reaching the room, I realized that the football match was at 8:45 and I could still buy tickets at the Stadium. I was bit skeptical about getting tickets, but I joined Mutsumi, Masao and an Argentanian guy. They all had a ticket and I wanted to try my luck. We walked from QT8 to San Siro, it was not far, may be a couple of kilometers. There were not a lot of people waiting to buy tickets, and I got one for 19 Euros in the same stand as other three and I had to show my driving license for identity. San Siro is amazing stadium and it can hold upto 85000 people for a big match. I have never been at the Eden gardens watching a cricket match, but I could imagine the electrifying atmosphere with the full stadium. It was a match between AC Milan and Lazio and the stadium was almost half full. The atmosphere was great with the home crowd going crazy during the game, hooting and lighting fireworks and waving huge flags. The game was a draw 1-1 and ended around 10:45. We all grabbed something to eat from the road side eat-outs and headed to the rooms. My eventful day came to an end.

What are you going to do to your country?

2010-04-05T01:02:00.000-07:00

“What are you going to do for your country?” was the question asked to my friend, who is living in the US for a long time after his graduation. The question made me feel guilty and this economic equation is to console myself, as I have been living abroad for 2 years now.

Moreover this question is not posed to someone who lives in the country and lives his day-to-day life. For people who argue that I am a brain-drain, I am certainly not one, because what I am doing is not rocket science and could be done by any average brain from any part of the world.

Also We are no comparison to the doctors working in the rural areas, honest officers working in the state administration, soldiers guarding the ever tense borders, scientists working in state owned research institutes, social workers working in the health, education, child welfare, upliftment of the poor and the underprivileged.

Lets assume I earn 100Units of money working in India and see how much I contribute to the economy.

100Units à minus 20% state taxes à get 80Units take home à I pump 40Units in to economy (part of it goes in to traders’ pockets as black money) à 40Units goes saving in long term investments which could be used by the states development.

Let’s assume I earn 400Units of money working abroad and see much I contribute to the economy.

400Units à minus 30% state taxes à get 280Units take home à I pump 100Units in to the economy à 180Units I invest in India which is indirectly used for states development.

Bringing in 180Units is better than bring 100Units to the country’s economy. That’s my understanding with my little economics!!!

Conversation...

2010-04-04T08:43:00.000-07:00

Location: Road side Ice cream Parlor, Milan

Guy: [scanning through the ice creams in the glass box]

Shop Guy: [Looking at the guy for the order]

Guy: [with a straight face] Give me a moment..

Shop Guy: [Searching for ‘Moment’ flavor, looks back at the guy helplessly]

Guy: Give me a moment [Gesturing with his index finger]

Shop Guy: [Smiles]

Guy: [Smiles]

Location: Duomo, Milan

Me: Can I have a picture with the Duomo in the background?

Japanese girl: Sure!

Japanese girl: [ Moves 2 steps back, 1 step forward, squats and then stood up and settled somewhere between squatting and standing ] One.. Two.. Three...

Me: Thank you!

Location: On the boat to the Volcano in Santorini..

[I heard] One.. Two.. Three..! [Turned around and saw an Asian girl clicking a picture of couple]

Location: Airport, Thessaloniki

Me: [Walking towards the exit]

Cop in mufti: Police [showing his ID card in front of me. I had seen this kind of scene only in the Hollywood movies, The ID card looked like a photocopy of my driving license, if it was not the airport I would have laughed at him]

Me: Yes…

Cop in mufti: Where are you from?

Me: India..

Cop in mufti: Where are coming from?

Me: Milan..

Cop in mufti: Thank you..

Nominate me!

2010-02-27T12:49:00.000-08:00

‘Martti Ahtisaari’, ‘Wangari Maathai’ !!! Wondering who these people are, I would have recognized these as names of cocktails or Japanese food, before looking for them on the internet. Now! ‘Barack Obama’ what about this name!!! I knew, it’s really an outdated topic, but the topic came up a few days earlier during a conversation and I thought of writing this. There was a huge hue and cry when the American president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize few months back. On the onset of this write-up I would like to make a point that I am not judgemental on if the prize is right or wrong.

People all over the world debated and rationalised the decision of the Nobel Committee. Good for people like me, who understood what the prize is for. But unfortunately it didn’t happen when Mr. Ahtisaari or Ms. Maathai did win the prize. May be President Obama fell prey to his own popularity due his Presidency of a super power. A commoner like me and my friends, we knew who is man Obama is and to some extent what he did, so we are in a position to debate on it. Apparently he is the most powerful man on this planet who could be a saviour of many human lives or could be one who could cause damage to human lives. He showed substantial intent towards saving lives and the 5 wise men/women found he had done a good job so far.

Some call the prize is premature and I would call it pre-emptive. There is no harm is awarding a prize prematurely to someone if it’s going to produce good results in the future. Internet says in 1939 Adolf Hitler was nominated for the peace prize by a Swedish Parliamentarian, who knows had he been awarded the prize that year, he might not have gone to invade Poland, which triggered WW II. It would be unfair on Usain Bolt to expect him to run 100M races in 9.58 seconds through out his life and call him world champion at an age of 60. Probably 10 months in presidency was convincing enough for the committee to arrive at a decision. Even if they are to be proved wrong in the years to come, we can say Nobel Prize is after all a worthless prize and it could be awarded to someone worthless by a worthless people who had a 10 million Swedish Kroners to give away to someone and lots of people like me wasted time writing on it.

Off late, I am working for filthy rich Norway, which brings money to a company in rich Sweden, which pay me where the money goes to not so rich India. I am working for bringing in equality in the planet, eventually World Peace. Is this called Welfare-Economics by any chance! If yes! I am already a candidate for Nobel Prize for Economics!!! Who is going to nominate me? :)

Kjerag

2009-09-20T04:21:00.000-07:00

After a failed attempt during the mid of August due to bad weather, Kjerag seemed to be a distant dream with the autumn setting in and buses services stopped to Øygardsstøl. But there was something in the store, On a Friday evening me and Kristoffer had a chat and then decided to do it on Sunday if the weather is good and if Jennifer could adjust her weekend plans.

Everything fell in place at the right time and on the Sunday morning at 9:00 AM we 4 for us decided to start, me, Kristoffer, Jennifer, and 7 month old Rocky. After driving through some winding roads for about 2 hours we reached Øygardsstøl, the base from where the hike starts. This place is also called as ‘Eagle’s Nest’ may have got the name because of the restaurant there. Last few kilometres before Øygardsstøl is full of cairns on either side of the road of different sizes.

At around 11:30 AM we started the walk and followed the trail marked in ‘T’ symbol in red color. The first hill was the toughest I believe, may be because it was steep and Rocky was all excited and he improved the overall speed of the group. He was able to do almost most of the steep parts with ease, thanks to his ability to use his four limbs and low centre of gravity. After climbing up and down twice, we climbed the third hill to reach a plateau. It was amazing terrain with hardly any vegetation and the whole area looks like surface of the moon across the fjord. I could imagine the place could be looking evening more beautiful with snow cover during the winter. The walk on the plateau was long and a bit boring before you reach Kjerag. No doubt this place is impressive, the view of the fjord was amazing. And the vertical drop of 1000m really breathtaking. After a photo session there, headed to the Kjeragbolten which is the landmark location. Kjeragbolten is a rock struck between two cliffs. Without any doubt in mind it is most photographed rock in the whole world. J

Kristoffier and Jennifer had the courage to stand on the rock for a few snaps. I was not able to go anywhere near the rock. Probably next time I should wear a horse blinker to focus just on the rock. J We had the sandwiches that we carried and sat there for a while, before heading back. Way back much easier and not all that tiring. By now Rocky had gained a lot of confidence and it was able to find his own way in lot of places. We reached the parking in just over 2 hours. After relaxing at Øygardsstøl for a few minutes, we headed back to Stavanger and reached between 8-8:30 PM.

Thanks to the weather which remained wonderful through out the day, that made the trip fantastic.

The Great Austerity Drama

2009-09-19T01:17:00.000-07:00

’Austerity’, I believe could be the most searched word in the English dictionaries online by many Indians, recently. I myself did a search before starting this blog. Its not a very common word in political parlance, considering no Elections in near future, So I thought understanding the meaning of it important. J

Indian government has requested or ordered its ministers to lead a simple life. Yes, Ministers were asked to vacate their plush five star hotel suites and travel economy class, all in order to cut cost and save tax payers money. In the whole drive some tried to prove their point by travelling economy class in an airline with a few seats around them vacant and travel chair car train inviting troubles and another made a statement not in the interest of the party’s policy on austerity and had to apologize later. All created a few interesting article for the news hungry media and people like me who browse the news portals online.

Will this drive make a common man happy? Yes, of course it will make you feel happy at the expense of your comfort. I don’t think one will have a comfortable journey with Rahul Gandhi besides him and be worried about the missed stone thrown at him. When a politician travels it’s not possible to avoid his side-kicks, guards, fans who come to see-off him, and most intimidating thing, the armed guards all over the place. To add to this, we could see a dozen journalists and cameramen to cover the rarest phenomenon on the earth.

Don’t they have the privilege to travel Business class? Yes. Of course they do have. After all they are people who run the country and most responsible people in position; if a CEO/SVP in the corporate world could travel why cant they? I don’t think a common man will whine about his tax money spent on their travel. As a tax payer I have no problem if a politician in Office uses a chartered jet or business class or 5 star accommodation, because they spend on all these to work for the Common Man. So the point is as long as they work for the people, they can spend and avoid discomfort to the people. And for god sake hope they don't make our wonderful train journey and flight journey hell by being one of us. It practically doesn't work. If they are still serious about the austerity drive, how about travelling in disguise by wearing a Halloween mask. :).

Hope this Auterity Naatak ends soon……

Pressurized Capsule...

2009-07-13T23:01:00.000-07:00

Beautiful young gals at your service, variety of drinks, magazines, movies, music and documentaries, toys and drawing books (Only if you are kid), you get what you want, of all the possible things, just by pressing a button, sitting at your place… All these comforts at the expense of ones personal space and you are restricted to 4 sq feet area. Spending a day of your life in an airplane is significant part, considering the unique lifestyle in a pressurized capsule, with the scarce resources available and makes a living out of it.

I was not lucky enough to get an aisle seat, instead got sandwiched between a male IT engineer and a female student (I believe). Never, will I explain the person in the check-in desk to give an aisle, in the seats in the center column in the flight, because there will be only one person disturbing me, while going to the loo, as against two people in the seats by the side of the window. The airline official understood something gave the sandwich seat.

The girl to my right was not in a mood to socialize, after some breaking the ice, [Smiles…] ‘do you go further from Bangalore?’… ‘Yes, to Shimoga’… ‘Are you working?’… ‘I am going to meet someone’…. That’s the conversation we had, before she went stuffing her head phones in to her ears. Conversation with the IT guy was typical, [Smiles…] where do you work? What do you work on?.... He went off to sleep, Woke up only twice for the food and drinks. I had to do a few high jumps to go out every time, thanks to his sound sleep, he was not bothered when I kicked him once, miscalculating the height.

Having nothing to do after the lunch/dinner… you really don’t know which meal of the day you have… Is it according to the time zone of the destination or the source?? Anyways, I started watching the moving ‘17 Again’ (a comedy movie) not a bad movie specially when you are bored, I heard occasional laughs from my right hand side….Movie ended and I went and stood near the space close to the toilets, just counting the number of people going in to them. J

After sometime pulled out my laptop with great difficulty and started writing this blog, but stopped writing to watch ‘Shawshank Redemption’, and completed this at my home in Chennai…..

Heading back….

2009-06-30T07:31:00.000-07:00

Irony is 27 C in Bangalore and 30 C in Stockholm.

I will be there in India in a few days and longing for the perfect weather at home. Cloudy day, drizzle, hot tea, egg puffs would be a best way to start after being away from home for so long.

Next few days will be to eat and get bored of idly, dosa, hyderbadi biryani, vada, sambar, chutny. Andhra meals at Bharathi, pani poori by the road side. Shopping!!! Hair cut and oil massage at my favourite barber shop. Next few days will be to make calls, update telephone numbers of friends. Next will be to fix my bicycle, I am sure it will be in a very bad state, get my pulsar, the motorbike which had displaced me over 60k km within the city limits for over 7 years. left hand side drive, had to keep telling myself to look in the right direction while driving and crossing the road.

Next would be to go home, meet parents and brother, photo seeing (they are really curious to know what I have been doing here). Next would be to meet the friends from the Nagar and usual gossips. 16 months a long time, enough, for a fast changing city like Chennai to look entirely different, a few Pizza huts/corners, few Cafe Coffee Day, few Malls, few more Mcdonalds would have sprung up in every nuke and corner of the city.

Watch my favorite series in the television live, not the recorded ones in the youtube.

May be much more……

'Gajar ka Halwa' for Dummies....

2009-06-26T07:26:00.000-07:00

A quick guide to Gajar ka Halwa… (Search for this term in google, if you want more authentic processes/recipe on the net. However, the below process can produce a halwa close to 90%, as that of the original one and its easy :))

Things needed:
1. 1 kg Carrot
2. One can Condensed Milk (Sugared), You get it in ICA
3. Butter (osalted/non salted) 50gms
4. Almonds
5. Cashews
6. Dried Grapes (green ones), not the black ones
7. Milk 300-400 ml
8. Most important thing… PATIENCE
.
Step 1.
Grate the carrots thin using a grater, the size similar to carrot in the salad section in the restaurants should be good enough.

Step 2.
You will need a shallow pan with a thick bottom. If its thin then halwa will get struck in the pan, I am sure no dishwasher in the world can help :) . Heat the pan.

Step 3.
Melt the butter, and fry the almonds, cashews and dried grapes.

Step 4.
Just when nuts turn a bit brownish add the grated carrots to the pan.

Step 5.
Immediately add the milk to the pan, and reduce the heat of the stove. If your stove has a scale from 0-10, put it at 5. (Use this to calibrate to the stoves at your kitchen :)). Remember to add milk immediately as the carrots should not get fried in the butter.

Step 6.
Mix the carrot and milk well, and add the condensed milk to the mix. Stir well.

Step 7.
Keep stirring the mixture every 5 minutes, till all the water evaporates and the milk solidify. The carrot should get cooked well. (May take 90 minutes or so... but not much effort).

Serve it lukewarm with vanilla ice cream. Good Luck!!!

Disclaimer: The author of the blog is not responsible for any damages/dissatisfaction or what so ever caused due to the above mentioned process. You have decided to use the recipe at your own discretion. hahaha :))))

Surströmming

2009-06-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

Just came back to the apartment, after a failed mission with Surstromming.

I have been planning this for over a week, but owing to bad weather conditions last week, the operation was delayed by a week. After hearing from my colleagues about the dangerous gases that the can emits on opening, it was decided that it will be opened in an open area far from the habitation. J (Sounds as if like a nuclear test, it was not all that bad).

While opening the pressurized can spewed, a few drops of liquid on my clothes, (Oops I don’t have a laundry slot bookedJ). The first hole in the can left a horrible stench all around. By now, my mind of almost conditioned that I wont be able to eat it. The liquid in the can was drained, which is the main source of stench. I gathered some courage to took a small bite, it was salty and while chewing it I realized that instead of fish going in, the breakfast ate in the morning was coming out J. I thought it is time and give up and spit the fish. Only way one could eat this to think that stinking smell is due to the dog poo (Anna rightly describes the odor) which is few yards awayJ. I thought the taste is not all that bad though.

After coming back home I realized that, my camera cover, bag, jacket, can opener, all needs a wash. J

As a Consultant 23057826....

2009-06-11T14:27:00.000-07:00

It's nearly 14 months in my professional career, that I have spent at Sony Ericsson as a consultant...and yes, it is nearing an end in a few days...I thought it’s time to reflect upon a few aspects of this assignment and my experience here....

More than a year ago, one fine morning I stepped into this office and got introduced to some 30 odd people, spread across 2 floors (hardly remembered any names)...I found a vacant desk for myself and started working... ‘Don’t they have any kind of induction session or orientation program here’, I thought to myself... Next moment I had to remind myself, ‘Hey! You are no more an Employee now !!’...and rest is history.

Certainly, it is the most diverse work environment in which I have ever worked...In an AM team meeting,one has to just look around to find people from different countries, spanning across the latitudes and longitudes of the globe. I don’t think it could have got any more diverse than that, unless I get to work with Martians or AI Robots in future. J My team is composed of Swede, English, Chinese and me. No doubt it is one of the most easy going teams and fun to work with. A stark difference is that, there is no line manager whom I have to report to, which means that there is no performance appraisal and development plans...hurray !! it was a real blessing in disguise. J

As an Application Support Consultant, what you do is very similar to fixing a multiple punctured bike tube using patches, you are neither allowed to replace the tube entirely, nor, replace the tire, however worn out it is. (Of late, I am riding a bicycle, hence this stupid metaphor J).

Most of the times, one is on the messenger chatting with a customer, who could be broadly classified under the following categories: *Frustrated with a bug in the system (or) *Frustrated with self for not getting in terms with the system (or) *Screwed up something in the system (or) *Waiting to screw up something in the system.

When you are not on the messenger, you will be seen writing an email typically starting like, ‘Dear Customer, This is with reference to ticket number xxxxx….!!’. J

Apart from these, you are either attending meetings and Release related handover meetings...with every new release we solve a few bugs and manage to introduce a few new bugs and the cycle continues J....after all anything to keep the customer happy….: J

Well that’s all about work and lets come to fun at work. Of course the above mentioned things are no less fun. J Every Monday, at lunch hour, it used to be the Innebandy day and it was good fun. The local people are good at it; me and few others (read it as English man in my team J ) are the so called nuisance players. However I did manage to score a few goals both for and against my team during my short career as a bandy player, nevertheless all by fluke. Weekly Friday fika was another regular meeting time to have a cup of coffee and some goodies brought/baked by colleagues on a round robin basis. Apart from regular fika, we had Lussebulle on Lucia day, Semla on a winter day and Glogg on a day during Christmas time (Few events to get an essence of Swedish Culture). Another occasion for people to come together is the breakfast that occurs every alternate Fridays. All these contributed to fun at work.

Overall, last one year has been filled with plethora of experiences, fortunately all of which would be cherished in the years to come. :)

A Free Hamburger...

2009-05-22T03:08:00.000-07:00

Yet again from the streets….

I was walking on the streets when I got attracted to the aroma of the hamburger patty on the grill, and decided to have a bite. It was an unusual road side stall with a long bench with all the ingredients of the hamburger on top of it and half a dozen people on the other side which is not common in Europe, where one single person will be busy multitasking. A man was behind the BBQ was turning the patty at regular intervals that left the whole street filled with scent of lard.

I ordered a hamburger and the assembly line started. Each one in the stall pointed at different colored sauces and made sure I wanted it on the burger; I said yes to all, it really doesn’t make any difference to me, customizing a burger. One of them wrapped the burger in a colorful napkin and other gave me a plastic cup filled with a pink liquid, which I had not asked for. I stood there for a moment and took a bite of the burger, waiting for someone to tell out a number. It looked like no one is ready to take money from me. Meanwhile I saw, an old lady simply said ‘Tack’ and walked away.

I glanced around, a girl looked like boss of the whole group, and asked her, ‘Don’t I have to pay for this?’ she replied ‘No it’s free!’ She continued that they are from Vaasa, celebrating the start of ‘congregation of Uppsala ***** (I forgot what it is)’, and said few more things about the congregation, which I couldn’t understand.

This was very similar to ‘Maari aatha ku koolu uthurathu’ (Language –Tamil, Maari aatha – Hindu God, Koolu – is a thick liquid made from rice/millet), where the Koolu in huge container, carried on bullock carts and distributed to the public around the streets, in my home town during festivals.

I thought to myself in Sweden they distribute Hamburger, I enjoyed the free, delicious Hamburger, However I couldnt figure out what the pink liquid was, it did not have any taste, may be a Swedish version of ‘Koolu’ J.

Susan Boyle

2009-04-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

I have no idea as what Opera singing is and I am no expert in judging good/bad music. All I knew is some Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood by a few Indian composers, occasionally some music from the West, and some random numbers here and there, clearly I haven’t found a pattern in my liking for music till now.

Of late, I saw a video from the talent hunt TV show, that featured a forty seven year old woman who desires to be a professional Opera singer, was booed by the audience looking at her appearance, demeanor and age. At the end of her performance she goes on to win the hearts of millions and stood as an example for the statement, ‘Appearance is Deceptive’.

I would say this video clip itself is a Moral Story and full credit to the editor of the video who interlaced the shots from audience’s cynical gestures, undermining statements, sarcastic smiles, standing ovation, roaring crowd, happy faces, anchors’ comments, jury feedback and the woman celebrating like a child.

As I mentioned earlier I have no clue about Opera, but no doubt I like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY

Neighbor

2009-04-15T13:51:00.000-07:00

My curiosity was satisfied after visiting the famous Khan-el-Khalili Bazaar and I was walking back to the Attaba Station. Someone interrupted me on the way and asked, ‘Where is the nearest Metro station to go to Sadat?’ The man was in his early 40s was wearing a thick woolen sweater, carried a small backpack, and looked like a South Asian. I was not surprised, at someone asking me for directions, for obvious reason that I don’t look like a foreigner there.

I was glad that he asked a question, for which I knew the answer, as I walked down from Attaba to the Bazaar a while ago; I told him that I knew the way to Attaba Station, from where he can take a train to Sadat and he could follow me to the Station. While we walked I asked his whereabouts, he said ‘Pakistan’. The very next moment, I felt awkward and various thoughts started bombarding my mind. I had to consciously avoid showing my discomfort and stop acting indifferently. However, I was glad that he did not ask me where I came from, which would have put him in the same kind of situation. Or, may be he was smart enough to guess, by looking at my stupid body language, which I found difficult to conceal.

This was my first encounter with my neighbor, though an uneasy one, none of us could be blamed.

Google Rocks!

2009-04-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

I have always been a big fan of Google and their applications. Recently I started using ‘Google Analytics’, which, I enabled for my blog, thanks to a friend who told me about this useful tool. Of late, I was impressed by another tool, see it for yourself. Expecting more ‘Powerful Simple Applications’ from them and I promise that I would be a loyal user. J

Me [09:57]:Hi Vivian

Tang, Vivian [09:57]:你好

Me [09:58]:Regarding the PO XXXXXX..

Me [09:58]:are you getting any error while trying to do the GR?

Tang, Vivian [10:00]:这个PO我们做了GR，但是财务和BC那边显示没有做

Tang, Vivian [10:01]:之前是这个PO已经通过批复，但是BC和财务没有显示，现在这个问题解决了，但是他们那里又显示没有做GR

Me [10:03]:There was no GR done, before... I cannot see any previous history..

Me [10:03]:You may do the GR now..

Me [10:04]:Could you try doing a GR now.?

Tang, Vivian [10:05]:不过这个PO不是我申请的，我同事做的，她已经离职了，我没办法使用她的用户名做GR

Tang, Vivian [10:05]:有什么办法可以解决这个问题吗

Me [10:06]:yes..

Me [10:06]:Just a moment

Me [10:07]:Chen Zhang has left the company, Am I right?

Tang, Vivian [10:08]:对

Me [10:09]:Do you know Fiona Gu?

Me [10:10]:She is from the Purchasing Department

Tang, Vivian [10:11]:我知道她

Me [10:11]:She will able to the GR for Chen Zhang..

Me [10:12]:Please contact her.

Me [10:12]:If she also face the problem, Let me know.

Tang, Vivian [10:12]:好的，谢谢

Me [10:13]:You are welcome.

Me [10:13]:Let me know, when its done..

Me [10:15]:Have a good day. Bye for now

Tang, Vivian [10:16]:J

Sum up

2009-04-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

It’s been a little more than a year in Stockholm.

Some random newbies....

Shifted 4 hotels in first couple of weeks , never forgot to carry the metro train map for first couple of months, the SL monthly ticket became integral part of my wallet, met people, colleagues, saw the first snow fall in the place of residence, worked odd hours from 8AM-5PM, 60 minutes lunch starting at around 11.00 AM during the week days, nearly 24 hours on the internet, saw the museums, palaces, islands, streets, ate all kind of food most of the times not knowing what I ate, mid summer, herring, salmons, learnt English names for few vegetables and groceries, carried the lunch box after a period of 11 years, shaved at least once in a week, started cooking, succeeded in biryani, rava dosa, adai and few others, cooked for socializing, did dish washing, vacuum cleaning, laundry, ironing clothes (its kind of Royal life back home ;) ), hiked in sub-zero temperatures, wore the heaviest jacket, hand gloves, hat all first time in my lifetime, saw almost all the bollywood releases until 3 months back, Stockholm marathon ( was just a spectator), fika, St Lucia Choir, modern art, glogg, semla, ice skating (Top 1000 Indian Skater in the world ;) ), skiing, frozen lakes, beach volley ball, inner bandy, sauna (Back home its an open air Sauna, I really cannot understand why the new apartments in Bangalore boast of Saunas in them), travelled in a cruise, had answered the question: ‘What you did during the weekend?’ on a Monday morning (Not an usual question back home), met 2 of my college friends after 7 years, while talking about time started using odd, even, prime numbers while referring to the minutes like 7:34, 10:27, 9:19, opened the door and held it open for others, had set up a timer switch to turn on the light at 6:30 in the morning to wakeup in the winter, visited the super market every alternate day, Surstromming, kayaking…

Truly was an interesting year...

Spring

2009-04-04T09:25:00.000-07:00

Sun is shining above the horizon, grass in the Gärdet area is green enough and deciduous trees are waiting for the leaves to sprout, people have shed a few grams by getting rid of the winter coats, few even decided to wrap their pullovers around their waist, few of them are sitting by the water side, while a few of them are lying on their back reading a book, little ones seen on their bicycles and grown ups following them on their overhauled bicycles, unleashed dogs running around burning few calories accumulated during the winter, little ‘blue and white’ Stockholm city bikes are back on the stands, roofs of the convertibles have gone down, scooters and the motor bikes are bustling around, open top Hop-on Hop-off sight seeing buses have hit the streets in the downtown, restaurants and coffee shops have moved a few tables out in the open areas, a few anglers hoping for a good catch….

Spring has arrived; most importantly… smiles on the Stockholmer’s face…….

Career....

2009-03-30T13:31:00.001-07:00

You decided to stick to a company for more than a decade and half, you can speak fairly good English, could network with the right people and address an audience of over around 50-100 – You are VP, SVP J

You decided to not to quit a company for more than a decade, possess average programming skills, understand/utter some technical jargons, you cannot make a speech to large audience – You are a Software Architect. J

You decided to work for a company for more than decade, you can do some coding, do not understand and use jargons at the right occasions – You are a Senior Principal Software Engineer. J

You decided to change 6 companies in 5 years, IT job market at its peak, you earn the ‘best in the industry’ standard remuneration – You are a Project Manager J

You are not bothered about the career growth, could speak the English language fairly well, possess a bit of IT knowledge to run business, you are interested in making quick money – You are a Consultant. J

You did your Bachelors in Engineering – You are a Software Engineer. J

There are quiet a few roles/designations that vary with several parameters, like experience in the industry, relevant experience in the industry, current designation, current salary, desperation to get a job, desperation to fill a position, market standards, university of graduation, educational qualification, etc etc.

PS: As in any system, there could be exceptions, would you like to discuss??? J

Disgusting

2009-03-21T03:53:00.000-07:00

Out of over a billion people in the country, the elite politicos of major parties, found a man who held possession of a automatic weapon and a man who betrayed the country in the most revered sport of the country in the international arena, as their candidates to contest the general elections, who will run the country if elected.

These are people who cannot even get away with the background verification process, for a post of Software Engineer in an IT company.

Clearly shows the agenda and motifs of the parties.

Truly disgusting....

Ho Ho... Po Po

2009-03-13T11:17:00.000-07:00

Onboard train from Cairo to Luxor, I found my seat, stowed my backpack and sat down and took a breather. A teenager who looked like an Asian followed and took seat besides me, He was followed by a European in his early twenties, occupied the one next to him.

We all looked at each other exchanged smiles; guy who arrived last started the conversation and asked the Asian, where is he from? The guy replied back that he is from Japan. It looked like is knew very little English and returned back the obvious question to him. Till then the guy had no clue that it’s going to be the most unpleasant moment of his journey. He goes, ‘I am from Holland’. The Japanese guy, haven’t heard of the country named Holland till now, replies ‘Oh Poland’. The Dutch guy was obviously not happy to know that someone could not recognize the country where he came from. He gave me a helpless look and started trying his luck again. He continues ‘You know Nederland’, Japanese guy posed a flat face at him. I saw noticeable disappointment on the Dutch guy’s face. But he persisted in his efforts, ‘Holland, its in Europe’…. ‘Oh yeah Poland’. I decided to help the Dutch guy, and stressed the first syllable ‘Ho Ho’, the Japanese guy goes ‘Po Po’. More disappointment on the Dutch guys face.

Now the Japanese guy takes a pause and asked me ‘where am I from’? By now I got a little nervous and answered ‘India’. ‘Oh India…’, Delight on my face and more disappointment on the Dutch guys face. Meanwhile the Japanese guy, pulled out a electronic dictionary and typed in ‘Holland’ and found no match. He asked ‘is it English?’ (Probably meant ‘are you telling the name of the country in English’).

The next desperate attempt followed, I would say this one of the wildest attempts I have ever seen. ‘Do you know the South Korean football coach Guus Hiddink….. He is from Holland’. By this time I was laughing out loud internally. Again the Japanese guy replied back with a blank face. You cant blame the Japanese guy, its too much expectation from the Dutch. The Dutch guy smiled at me helplessly for the second time, for which I gave a reassuring smile. He pulled out a book from his back and started to read it for rest of the journey.

I understand it’s not a great feeling to be in that situation, felt pity for the Dutch guy…..

Reality Bites

2009-02-23T12:58:00.000-08:00

Am I a cynical, narrow minded, pessimist who always, looks at the negative side of the things and fails to relish the positives? I try not to be one. But, I had to put an effort to stop whining about things to myself. This blog is a result of a failed effort.

On the very same day when the websites were flooded with news about a few Indians winning the coveted Oscars, people expressing their happiness through facebook feeds, gtalk, etc. I received an email from a Swedish colleague, in Swedish, calling for donations to one of the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) projects which read something like:

(The mail was in Swedish, translation by Google)

Project 1: Building new sovlokaler in the orphanage in the village of Kolkata
Mathieson Music School (MMS) is an orphanage located in the village of Kolkata in India. Many children in this
by living in a DISTRESSED situation

Project:
- Build new sovlokaler for girls, will be able to provide room for 100 girls aged 5-18 years
- Building safer sovlokaler (build up in height, including to avoid snakes)
- To assist the increasing number of children with education, meals, medicines, books, etc.
General facts about India
- A quarter of the world's poor are in India
- 20 percent of the world's children without education available in India
- 50 percent of children in India are malnourished
More info: www.mathiesonmusictrust.org or talk to Catharina Zetterquist Melander

I was ecstatic and read about the news from all the possible news sites I knew. My patriotic self was brimming with pride and honor that my country men brought laurels to the country. The mail brought me to reality and reminded me of the plight of majority in my country. More importantly got reminded of big hue and cry about portrayal of the Mumbai and its slums in the movie, by some elite people in the country. It’s very important to know that the world knows that we are a great country with some of the exceptional qualified and talented people, at the same time they also knew about the dark side. There is no point in denying it or criticizing the people/movies that portray it. As an individual, given a choice to select between ‘Me not receiving this type of email for ever’ and ‘An Indian not winning an Oscar for next 50 years’, I would blindly go for the first option without giving a second thought.

I am proud of the crew of ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and my hearty congratulations to them for making a wonderful movie. At the same time when I read a mail like that, it puts in a doubt in my mind, if I have to be overly happy. To put it short, its ‘Disturbing’.

Pronunciation

2009-01-18T14:55:00.000-08:00

You know to pronounce the letters, A-Z perfectly, as in English; you can push your ‘P’s and roll your ‘R’s and sound like native speakers of English, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you can read and pronounce everything written in Swedish with your English knowledge. Remember, you are in Sweden and the Queen of Sweden speaks Swedish.

Knowing few letters and the way they are pronounced, will be very helpful in spelling names of places and people. The most pleasing sound to hear, is someone calling you by your name, exactly the way you pronounce your name. Swedish language has few extra vowels with one or two tittles over ‘a’ and ‘o’ them, lets not try to understand them now.

Lets see how the name of the place ‘Karlberg’ is pronounced. Its simply ‘Karlby’, as in English. So remember anywhere you see ‘Berg’ replace it ‘By’. It applies to a lot of Swedish last names, like Dahlberg, Edberg, and Nyberg etc. Now pronouncing Nyberg is tricky again, ‘y’ is a vowel in Swedish and it is used like ‘i’ in English, So its ‘Niby’ or ‘Knee + by’. This applies to name of the places as well, ‘Vallingby’ is ‘Valling + B’. Confusing?!!! ;)

Don’t think ‘Peater’ is your new teammate, because it might still refer to your old friend ‘Peter’. If same letters appear twice consequently, You will find people stressing both of them, like ‘Henning’ is ‘Hen + ning’, similarly ‘An + na’, ‘Em + ma’ etc. Don’t consciously make a effort to pause to prounce the letters, it will sound stupid. J

Another important candidate is the letter ‘K’. It sounds like ‘S’ when followed by the vowels ‘i’, ‘y’. ‘a’ with dots on it (I don’t have that letter in my laptop keypad). The tube station ‘Kista’ is ‘Shista’ and ‘Skarholmen’ is ‘Sharholmen’. Church in Swedish is ‘Kyrka’, which is pronounced as ‘Shirka’ as in English.

When I have to ask for directions, I say ‘How do I go to Karlberg (pause for a moment and quickly) Karlby!’ because sometimes people do not expect a foreigner to pronounce it correctly.

Having said this, I still wonder what the lady voice in the underground train announces, when I arrive at ‘Medborgarplatsen’. I am pretty sure that its not ‘Med + Bor + Gar + Platsen’. Hope I get to pronounce it correctly very soon J…….

Tryst with Tyresta

2009-01-08T15:34:00.000-08:00

I had spent a lot of my weekends and public holidays not doing much at all. And the words I used to describe them were lazing, relaxing, sleeping, easing etc. While thinking of options to break this monotony, Hiking, was the first that came to my mind. As a result the following plan was made, rather a simple one:

Where to go: Tyresta National Park

When: 31.12.2008

Time: 8:00 to 17:00 hrs tentative

I reached Svartbacken, at around 10AM, this place is around 3 Km from the entrance to the national park. There are buses that go to the park but I had to wait for another half an hour, so decided to walk.

After reaching Tyresta By (Village) and checking out some information boards, at 10:30 AM, I took the trail following the ‘inverted orange triangle’ marking on the trees. This orange triangle was a common symbol, back home in India, which was used in population control awareness campaign (See picture).

This trail leads to Stensjödal(Another entrance to the National park) from Tyresta By. The trail is also marked in green and white strips as it is a common path which forms half of Bylsjöslingan (Name of a trail).

I would say that, his trail was easy, and it was a leisure walk with occasional ice sheets on the way, which could give you a few shocks if you put you foot carelessly on them. It went through the forest with pine trees all around. The whole atmosphere was calm, clean and serene. I walked taking my own sweet time, enjoying the freshness of the woods. After hiking for around 3.5 Km, I reached a junction at 11:00 from where the trail diverts towards Stensjon Lake in one direction at 2.5 Km and in the other direction, Bylsjöslingan continued with its green and white stripes which would lead to Tyresta By.

Just after walking in to the forests towards Stensjon, was the most surprising part of the hike. It was the area of the forest that was destroyed by a massive forest fire during the summer of 1999. I have never seen a charred forest in my life, though it was a unique experience, it was not pleasant feeling observing the destruction caused by fire. There was hardly any greenery and it was vast open land, profusely covered with logs of the fallen trees and which in turn is covered with ice. The ice over the tree trunks looked like bright white flowers, which will never wither away rather melt away.

This part of the forest was little difficult mainly due to the ice covered areas which make it slippery. I got off the track, as few of the orange triangles were hidden under snow. Remember that if you are walking over a slightly rugged path, you are little off the route, as the trail is not difficult. If at all there are some ups and down or rough patches, there will wooden steps and planks to make it easy. As the area affect by fire comes to an end, the green woods starts approaching. Few meters within the woods there was a tiny wooden bridge over a frozen stream. This should have been the water flowing from the edges of the Lake Stensjon.

I trek for about 10 minutes took me to the Lake Stensjon. It was a beautiful site on a bright day with blue skies and crisp air; it can’t be anything better than this. The frozen lake was shining like a huge mirror reflecting the mild Swedish winter sun rays. It was here for the first time after entering the fire hit forest I saw 3 humans, we had a little chat and they guided me to Fornborg, which was supposed to be an ancient castle. The man was kind enough to give me a map and enquired if I knew about light fading away by 3:00 PM as it was 1:00 PM by then.

Don’t have high expectations about this castle and imagine drawbridges, battlement, canons etc, I had to search for the castle for a while, and soon I realised that it’s just a bunch of rocks. Tyresta never ceases to surprise you. After a few hours of hiking, I was hungry and decided to have my lunch with a view. It was at the cliff over looking the bright lake, I had the sandwich I picked from Pressbyran and relaxed for couple of minutes before, starting to Tyresta By at 1:30 PM. I did the return at a brisk pace, following the same route except towards the end took the other half of the Bylsjöslingan, which passed by Bylsjon Lake, where few peoplewere found skating on the lake. At 3:00 PM I reached Tyresta and took the SL bus and headed back to Stockholm.

While travelling in the bus, I already started thinking about hiking the trail Kustleden in the National park which goes along the Baltic Sea……

Weird or Creative or Weird Creativity?

2008-12-25T15:42:00.001-08:00

I got a call from Oskar on a Sunday morning, and he asked, if I would be interested in visiting the Moderna Museet (Modern art Museum), I readily said, yes, as I didn’t have anything to do. Modern Art museum!!! Arts and me!!! Are like, like poles of magnet.

As per the plan we met at Kungstragarden and walked down to Skeppsholmen, the island where the museum is located. While walking, he told me that currently there is a touring exhibition of paintings by Max Ernst. I heard that name for the first time and I could just reply, ‘Oh Ok!’ hearing the painter’s name. To our surprise there was no entrance fee on that day, as the event was sponsored by Eurocard.

We entered the exhibition hall and it was fairly crowded. Being a first timer, I was clueless and I am sure it was reflecting in my body language. My feeling was similar to someone who entered a business meeting in swimming costumes. I collected myself, observed others and paused momentarily, in front of those huge wall mounted paintings, pretended to observe them. I was not able comprehend those weird colours and shapes in the paintings as I was trying to relate them to the real world events and objects, and could not appreciate them. It was beyond my imagination.

To add my complex, when I saw people standing in front of the paintings and relish its beauty, I thought ‘why am I not able to?’ The answer to the question was simple. I always asked myself ‘Why?!’ Instead of enjoying the fascinating colours and shapes; I was trying to understand them. I was trying to evaluate and conclude, how difficult or easy and good or bad, they are. It took a moment for me to realise that any form of art is for enjoying and not for me to evaluate. The next few minutes was interesting as I glanced through tens of paintings and sketches. We went on observing the paintings, the patterns in them, thoughts behind them, techniques used etc. They no more appeared weird to me, instead I admired the creativity and how different someone can view things around them.

It surely was a life time experience and one of the wildest things I had ever done. I would be lying if I say I have become a modern arts enthusiast, But I won’t say no to another exhibition. I suggest everyone ( with no taste for arts ) to visit the museum once, I can assure that it will be a unique experience!!!!

Glogg

2008-12-25T15:41:00.001-08:00

The e-mail read,

*Hi all,
Come and have a Glögg andPepparkaka.
See you in the kitchen!
//Christina*

The moment I read that, got curious to know, what on the surface of earth is called Glögg* and *Pepparkaka*.Like anyone sitting in front of a computer, opened the wikipedia.org and searched for them. Now I got fair idea that, Glögg is wine ‘like’ and Pepparkaka is biscuit ‘like’.

I saw people passing by my desk, heading to the kitchen, with their coffee mugs in their hands and I followed them. The arrangement looked like this: an Electric griddle with a saucepot on it contained the Glögg, and 3 bowls containing raisins, almonds and pepparkaka(Ginger Biscuits), all aesthetically arranged on a table.

I stood well behind in the line for my turn to fill the mug, so that I can watch colleagues who helped themselves to glögg, to understand the glöggetiquette. While standing in the line, a colleague explained that glögg is red wine with cinnamons, cardamoms, cloves, etc and served during the winter around Christmas. Well, almost all the ingredients go in to an Indian Curry too!! I filled my mug, dropped a couple of almonds and raisins in the mug and picked apepparkaka.

We stood in small circles, having a chat, while I took a couple of sips from the mug. It tasted good and a bit warm, with a strong aroma. The taste suggested that the drink should be had out of a goblet not a coffee mug. The immediately effect was, I started feeling tipsy and funny from within. The drink hits you hard. May be because its warm and alcohol vapors mix in the blood stream and reaches the gray cells quickly. I picked up an empty bottle to check the alcohol content; it read 15%v/v. A colleague joked, the temperature is just enough to evaporate the alcohol, but not enough that all of them are wasted in the air. There were couple of guys like me, who are first timers to glögg and we had some funny talks about their experiences. By now my first drink is over, and I took the courage to refill my mug and got back to my desk.

For a moment I forgot my password to unlock my computer, and I
realized glögg is not for the ‘Light Weights’!!!! Beware, you ‘Light Weights’ out there, before getting adventurous with glögg.

PS: Oops!! I forgot aboutPepparkaka, its type of ginger flavored, thin biscuits.

Directionless

2008-12-25T15:40:00.002-08:00

New to a place!!! You are bound to face few embarrassments during the initial days.

There is no way that you can avoid those blushes, but, recounting them will bring a smile on your face. I think its pretty easy to identify a person new to the city. Especially if you do not have good sense of directions, you will look stupid in the middle of the crowd. I am no exception to it. Initial few days in the tunnelbanna is as challenging as finding your direction without a compass in the middle of the ocean.

Every time I got out of the T-Centralen, I landed on new streets to find new buildings, new restaurants and new Shopping Malls. Thanks to umpteen number of exits that one can take.

I made it a point not to ask for the directions from people around, thinking of the surprise package that's awaiting. I read some where, 'One without direction in life goes nowhere'. I disagree with the gentleman who wrote that. One who is direction less finds new places, I believe I am nothing less than Christofer Columbus in this regard. :).

My definition of a new comer to the town goes as follows, from my experience in the tunnelbana:

He who comes out of the train, walking out slowly just before the last few people, takes a couple quick steps, stands still for a moment, slowly turns his heads towards either side of the platform with out looking for anything particular wondering which exit to take is a new person in the town. :)

Wish you very good luck in all the directions that you take in life....

Desert

2008-12-25T15:40:00.001-08:00

I thought I should write this travelogue before I forget the details of the wonderful trip to Jaisalmer.

One fine day in the hostel rooms of MREC, few people started counting the savings from their pocket money after the mess bills, DP expenses and Jai Ambe expenses, for a possibility of pulling out a trip to Jaisalmer. After persuading each other and a lot of deliberation and careful budgeting, four of them thought they can make it and I am one of them. Those were the days when we googled less frequently and only thing that could be termed as 'trip planning' was booking of return tickets to Jaisalmer.

The day of the trip arrived and the four us boarded the train to Jaisalmar with our backpacks on, on an evening from Jaipur Station. It was an over night journey from Jaipur to Jaisalmer. Indian railways offered us sound sleep in its coupe and we all arrived at Jaisalmar in the morning fresh and full of energy. I bet no Railway in the world can match the comfort is to cost ratio that Indian railways can offer. We had no reservations made for our stay. At the entrance of the station a ricksaw/auto ricksaw waala (I couldnt recollect) approached us and after telling him our budget, he took us to a house adapted to be a hotel. The price charged by the owner of the property was nominal and that was the cheapest which was well with in our budget and pretty ok when compared to our hostel rooms and toilet.

We got freshed up and hogged the Aalu ki paratha at the hotel, took some sight seeing tips from the guys in the hotel, we moved out to explore Jaisalmer. The only hue that could seen in whole of Jaisalmar is yellow or Orange. No wonder the its called 'The Golden City'. We went to the Jaisalmar fort, from which the small city looked wonderful. The fort had some temple inside it and usual stuffs like Rajas undies, soap box, comb, sword, crown etc. We had an analog camera with 32-36 snaps reel (Noone knew the exact number) and judiously used them. We also visited the havelis may be 2-3 which were homes of kings in the past and tourist places now. All these places were beyond our understanding, its architecture, history etc. and none of us put any efforts to understand them. :)

The major attraction of the trip was the trip to the sand dunes,infact thats the only thing in our minds. Thats how we visualise a desert and were taught and told thats how a desert looks like. We took a jeep to the sand dunes which was few miles away from the Jaisalmar city. Jeep generally would be used for transporting milk cans. Our joys knew no boundries looking at the sand dunes. It was beautiful. There was an ad shooting going on in the sands for some basmati rice. After bargaining for a while we hired 2 camels for the desert safary. We were 2 each on the camels which never brushed it teeth and burped close to our faces. A little boy was escorting us and controlling the camels. With all four of us on top of the camel, we had noone but him to trust. The boy entertained us by making the camel run fast, which was exciting. He also showed huge iron remains and told that was a destroyed army tank during the war. After a tiring safary we relaxed in the sands and it started raining heavily. It cant get anything better when it rains in the middle of the desert.

I do not remember the events that followed or the order in which I have written, but I remember when we boarded train to Jaipur, our seats/berths had a thick layer of sand due winds, which we cleaned up and went to sleep, before roughtly 7 years ago......

Few question in my mind:

Which month and year did we go on this trip?

Was it a direct train to Jaisalmer?

How many day/days was the trip?

Any other important place we visted in the town?

Travellers : Bharathwaj, Hariprasath, Jayapratap, Ramesh.

Mood after the trip : dont really remember

Mood after writing the blog : brought smile in my face.

Line 518

2008-12-25T15:38:00.002-08:00

It was a typical autumn day in Stockholm, not so cold but cold enough for a jacket and constant drizzle. My day came to an end at the Office and I headed towards the boring 20 minute trip back to home. Not surprisingly the red Limo arrived on time and I got in, chose my favourite place close to the door. Line 518 is nothing less than a Limo, just that it is red instead of White or black and I don’t pay the chauffeur and he doest wear a tuxedo, most of the times drives only with me as passenger.

The bus arrived at Kista Centrum and there was an unusually big crowd waiting for it. May be the previous one did not turn up. It was little noisy enough which let me unconsciously observe things, instead of just looking. I lost my privacy but at no cost.

Through the door in the middle of the bus a lady pushed in a pram, that was spacious enough to accommodate two kids, but I could only see one sleeping in one half of it and the other half filled with ICA bags, looked like groceries supply for a month. The hood of the pram was up. Then came a old woman with another pram and pushed it to the other side in the place for the prams in the middle of the bus. Then came the third one this with a little gal aged around a year and half. The little gal was all on her own looking around with her twinkling eyes glanced through everything around curiously. The man behind the pram, who I presume to be her father was a tall, bald and had a consistent stern look on his face. There was no enough space in for the third one, but the women were kind enough to move their prams to the sides and gave way to the third one.

But then came in a shock to her. Her pram was sandwiched between the other two with their black hoods up, denied of all the interesting things she was looking at and in the front, just the wall of the bus just few inches away from her face, blocked from all directions. In few seconds twinkle in the eyes vanished and I could just see sad eyes. The only way out to get out of this claustrophobia is to do something to get her father's attention. She turned around her head and some noise to grab the attention of her father, the man knew the motive behind it acted indifferently and ignored her, as there is nothing that he can do. After repeated attention gathering efforts and spotting a pity looks gave up on her father. She noticed the plastic tape hanging in front of her, they are used to strap on the prams, baggage etc, and put her in mouth and started chewing it, for the rest of journey and kept her busy. After a few minutes the stop arrived and pram was pulled out to get off the bus. Moment the doors opened, shine in her eyes returned back with a smile on her face..

I continued for another couple of stops to get off, it was not a boring journey, after all………

Cozy...

2008-12-25T15:38:00.001-08:00

One third of my life is already spent and will be spent in this place that is my cozy bed, which is unarguably the best place on the earth. There is no substitute for this place as you sink your whole face in to that soft pillow, just leaving that little space for air to enter the nostrils and defy the bright sunlight and manage to dream even in the noon. But then, I do not miss the beautiful horizon, which I get to visualize, when I occasionally open my eyes, the light rays between the crib of my cot and the wall, from the LCD of my laptop which usually is beneath the cot, which apparently resembles the sun rise. To complement these things is the blanket which helps to cut-off me from this world. Not to mention the sense of freedom that is experienced, even though I possess only 6 X 3 sq feet in this vast planet.

In spite of all this I decided to cut down on my sleeping hours, as there is no assurance that I will see her in my dreams when ever I go to sleep. ;) J

///Work out///

2008-12-25T15:02:00.000-08:00

2 KMs on the tread-mill….

Sweat hard till you feel the heat, inside an Air Conditioned room….

Little Motivation around J….

A nice hot water shower…..

Hand combed wet hair….

A stroll back to RMZ…..

Nothing like that… isn’t it?......Started going to gym these days J...

Negotiation with Nature....

2008-12-25T15:01:00.001-08:00

I called up a friend casually and he asked about the plans for the extended weekend with October 2nd being Gandhi Jayanti. “We are going to scale the heights of KumaraParvatha!!”, I replied. “Scale!!!” was the answer from the other end, with a sense of sarcasm and a discouraging laugh. I thought at that moment that I was bragging a little. Now I can call up him to boast of my, rather our achievement of climbing the heights of KumaraParvathaJ.

The team of twenty two started their journey from Bangalore to Kukke-Subbramanya which is supposedly in the district of Mangalore from where the trek started. But this place could easily identify as the temple town that was visited by Sachin Tendulkar before/after his shoulder surgery ;). I tried to figure out the average age of the team, but then thought range would give an idea how diversified we are. The youngest member in the team apparently was 20 and the oldest (Oops!! I wouldn’t say oldest but the) eldest is 50. J. They were from different professions ranging from Students, Lawyers, Engineers, Mountaineers, teachers, et al.

We reached Kukke in the morning at around 7:00. After finishing our breakfast, we all headed to uphill task. There was a briefing from the experts and an ice-breaker from each one of us. Few instructions were given, but the best one which caught my attention was by Mohan, “Never ask how much distance to be covered more!!! J”. Chikki, Dry fruit Ladoos, Apples, Oranges were distributed, all these things seemed to be a extra load, after a heavy breakfast, with out realizing the calories that is to be burnt during the 5 Km steep climb.

The path was well laid (I think most of us would agree on thisJ) considering the terrain. It was good combination was agony and respite. There were some places where it becomes real steep taking heavy toll on everyone. This was followed by considerably flat areas. The path was going through dense forests and suns rays could hardly penetrate through greenery. I believe it would have been a hot day out there in Bangalore and few lucky ones enjoyed the coolness in the hills of Western Ghats. There was no heat except the heat that was radiating from our bodies. The place was rich in flora and only fauna which was present was we people. J. Even though few of us looked a bit fast and energetic, the average speed remained the sameJ. One can find the person who overtook him after a while taking a breather. J .

After trekking for over two and half hours we reached an area at an altitude from where we had a view of the Kukke. The place was covered with lush green grass and was looking beautiful. Many of us stopped here for long time and there were photo sessions going on. Just around 1 Km from this place is Girigadde, the place where we need to halt after a long trek. The whole team reached this place over a span of half an hour or so, between 12:30 and 1:00 and there was sense of accomplishment seen in each one of us. The caretaker of the place, Bhat and his family had prepared the lunch with a wide spread. Rice, Sambhar (Mangalorean style, it had coconut flavor in it), butter milk and mango pickle. Considering the logistics available this is the best possible and only food that one can get in that place. The food I would say was tasty and we did full justice to our stomach.

Bhat’s place is a quaint red tiled roof house, it had no electricity, but the glass opening in the roof lit the whole house sufficiently, it had a cow shed besides it and place had few flowering plants which added more hue to the place. There was a small stream flowing on the other side of the house, where few had a bath and made themselves freshened up after a tiring day. The place also had plenty of supari trees, and plantain trees.

After the lunch, its time to relax and some chatting and discussions kept us busy. Few of us tried some games, puzzles and few exchanged PJs, few discussed about education, city traffic, IT industry etc. In the evening few guys went for stroll to have a look at the place. Some of them pitched in their dome tent that they had carried along, in front of the house.

Once it was dark we had no option to go out, but had to settle down in side the house, eagerly waiting for the dinner, before which the local band entertained the crowd with some classical carnatic songs. After a heavy dinner we all retired to the sleeping bags. Due to the place constraint we had to do a little permutation and combination to fit in every one of us. Before going to sleep we were instructed that we need to start at 6:30 in the morning.

Next morning without wasting anytime we started heading towards the summit at around 7:00. We had to get the permission from the forest ranger in that area which was done by the organizers. This time the trek was a moderate one, unlike the steep slope that we climbed the previous day. Moreover the weather was at its best for trekking. It was drizzling thorough out the journey. The whole stretch was either covered by grass or barren. As we climbed up we got to see some of the breathtaking views. After trekking for an hour we reached a mantap where we all stopped for resting. Few of the members wanted to stay back there as they were getting cramps or tired and it started raining a bit heavily that time. But after persuading them they decided to join the rest. I feel that should be the decision of their lifetime as they would have missed all the adventure and the fun. After trekking for some more time. We reached a cliff where the clouds were rushing through the rocks; it was an amazing feeling to stand amidst the clouds. I confirmed that they are clouds and not mist from some expert trekkers. Now I realized what the idiom “being in cloud-nine” actually meant. The feeling of ecstasy prevailed all over the place.

After enjoying the heights for sometime we had a slight descend in the path which led to the forest which and there was sound of water flowing. This is the place where most of us encountered the most talked about creature in the trek – Leeches. I wouldn’t say the place was infested by leeches as we have gone to their dwelling. J . They had a royal feast as many of us did blood donations bigheartedly. Experienced trekkers acted indifferent towards the leech attacks and some of us panicked. I later heard that even they (leeches) were indifferent towards some of us. J.

We reached a stream and followed it which led to a steep rock face which looked virtually impossible at first sight. But it was not as tough as it seemed to be and all of us made it with ease. We trekked through the slippery rocks of the stream for about 10-15 minutes to reach the much awaited moment. Yes, we made it to the summit. It was greater satisfaction than the one which we had the day before when we reached Bhatta’s place. People congratulated each other. We offered our prayers at the Siva temple and some refreshments which Prasanna had generously carried for us. After 15 minutes we started to descend, this time it was raining heavily, though while descending it didn’t require much of effort, it hurt my ankles many times as the stone under the feet betrayed many times. I and Rohan walked almost non-stop to find the Mantap on the way, we never found it and to our surprise we reached Bhatta’s place by-passing the mantap and it was the case with many of us.

It was festival day on October 2nd and lunch at Bhatta’s place was special. Immediately after the lunch people were asked to leave in batches to Kukke. The route that we took on day one was much easier, (probably we are experienced now) on day two and it just took 2 hours to reach Kukke. Most of us checked in at a hotel to have a shower and changed to a pair of dry clothes. We had our dinner at around 8:30 and took the Rajahamsa Bus to Bangalore at 10:00pm.

Team : Anilkumar, Arvind, Prasanna, Vasudevan, Kamlesh, Lakshminarayan, Mohan, Nalina, Narayan, Raghunath, Rajesh, Ramesh, Ravi, Reshma, Rohan, Sai, Santhosh, Shashi, Sujil, Sumathi, Sumesh, Venkat

Mood after the trek: Great Sense of Satisfaction.

Dash.....

2008-12-25T15:00:00.003-08:00

The spikes were nailed firmly to the ground, to get that much needed thrust. Ears were tuned finely to listen to the sound of the clapper. Of course the heart beat was little above the normal rates. Eyes focused on the track, one must agree that the track looks the best when seen from the set position from the fourth lane. Lips tightly closed after taking a deep breath. I knew that my first job is to be quick and explosive out of the start line. I can be neither early nor late. J

The starter made sure runners are in set position and there goes the starting gun. I knew that I got decent start and took-off at the right moment. I am well aware that TNT is in second lane from mine. Next 5 to 6 seconds were ecstatic, there seems to be no movement of the runners on either side of me. But my joy was short lived, I read somewhere that professional sprinters reach their maximum acceleration near the midpoint of the race and that was true with him. He over took me with great ease and looked invincible. Rest of the race was the period of maximum exertion for grabbing that coveted first place as I plunged toward my destination. I qualified for the semis finishing second. Still that was a wonderful feeling to lead the race for sometime with the fastest man of my college in the dash.

This memoir is a result of flashing back to my college days, while I was watching the IAAF Golden League last week in Ten Sports last week.J

Stress-Buster....

2008-12-25T15:00:00.001-08:00

I met a friend after quiet some time and I was shocked to see that she had put-on lot of weight, what was even more shocking was the reason!! She said she’s been overeating these days due stress and depression. I decided not to ask for the reason for depression as I thought the reason could be even more stupid. Depression Eating??? I thought to myself, what a lame excuse to hog mindlessly and grow fat. At that instance I was not ready to believe it even.

I then Googled to find out more about it … Stress and Depression causes hormonal imbalance which increases appetite abnormally, causing eating disorders which result in obesity. Hmm…. Probably she wasn’t lying. In this hectic and competitive professional life, stress has become an unavoidable issue which takes toll on ones health. Tight deadlines, office politics, a tiff with a colleague, a piece of mal-functioning program code, thoughts about career and future all add to a stressful day. But then all these are daily hassles and everyone has to thrive on a certain amount of these things. After all, these are things that keep us motivated and do things better in life.

I started wondering what I usually do when I am stressed. On a stressful day I don’t miss a session at the gym to burn the extra caffeine consumed during the days work. A nice long run on the tread-mill make me feel light both mentally and physically, followed by a usual dinner and one drink of my favorite whisky, while watching late night comedy shows. Then I crawl into my bed when my computer start playing my favorite playlist which comprises of IIayaraja, Rehman, Kishore, Lobo, Beethoven, Yanni and others and allow the music to soothe the grey cells. Surely a wonderful and healthy stress busterJ isn’t it??J .

Staying Young......

2008-12-25T14:59:00.001-08:00

During the coffee break one my colleague told me that practicing football with the SLI Team will surely improve football skills, I said without even giving a second thought “Is umar mein football khelke Ronaldinho banna hi kya??!(Am I going to become Ronaldinho playing football at this age?)”. The next moment I wondered what made me utter those words. Am I getting really old? I realized that the fact that I am growing old is getting to the sub-conscious mind for sure. What could be more agonizing than the feeling of growing old?

Those odd grey hairs, little flab getting accumulated, slight wrinkles on the face are all inevitable gift that time gives to everyone of us. After all, who in this world can beat the time? But I remember someone saying one can choose to stay young mentally and relive the childhood and age is reflected only in the heart.

I grabbed a pen and a paper, and held the pen in my left hand, if you are left handed then hold the pen in your right hand. If you are ambidextrous excuse me!!! Then I started writing my favorite rhymes, during the kinder garden days.

The ‘a’s looked like ‘d’s and the ‘p’s looked like ‘b’s J. The pen had full control over me, dragging you all over the paper. I was surprised to see my hand writing resembled the one which I had when I was four, the days my mom held my hand to help me write my home work. Anyone will love to relive and cherish those wonderful moments in life….To make it little romantic take help of your girl/boy friendJ. Don’t go to your Mom for help, she will get serious doubts that you had gone nuts….!!!!J

Motivation Factor....

2008-12-25T14:58:00.002-08:00

I had no clue as what to do last Sunday. Adding to the frustration was the power cut. The savior of the boredom, “the idiot box” popularly called as Television was of no use as it required power to live. As a last resort, I switched on my laptop hoping it will offer some entertainment. While browsing the folders I found the dump of movie “Laksya” which I had copied some time back. I decided to watch “Laksya”, one of my all time favorites. Each and every frame of that movie is worth the time spent watching. Now do I have enough charge left in the battery to watch the movie?? Yeah, my luck wasn't that bad, the power meter assured three and half hours of non-stop action.

The best thing I liked in the movie is the scenes showing army life and war scenes, which were shot realistic. As I was watching the war scenes a little thought came to my mind. What motivates the soldier in the war field? How does an officer keep the motivation levels of his soldiers high? I am sure he’s got a tough job in hand. As I have always heard and read that a motivated platoon is the key to the success of the mission. But what does the commanding officer have to offer his boys keep their confidence and morale high? Inhospitable conditions; rain of bullets; grenades going off, and Death!!! It’s a tough job indeed.….On the contrary what does a manager in an IT company have in his kitty to inspire his team? Plushy work environment; fat pay cheques; travel opportunities; job promotions. I am sure these things are better than those mentioned earlier. I started wondering whose job is a challenging one. Can anyone show death to a person and also motivate? I am sure an officer, who shows death to his jawan and manages to motivate them in order to accomplish the mission, should possess great leadership qualities.

As I was pondering about this I saw Hrithik hoisting the Tricolor in the peak 5179 and fired the illuminating shells to indicate victory. The movie ended in a happy note with Priety and Hrithik living happily ever after….I started thinking, what to do next, to kill time…..

Reservation....

2008-12-25T14:58:00.001-08:00

I parked my bike and got into the building to get the shock of the day. That was a pretty long queue for this reservation center in one corner of the city and a lone lady in the counter handling both enquires and ticketing. I was bit apprehensive in the beginning then decided will go ahead and get my work done.

It looked like it would be a long wait before getting to the counter, as I picked couple of forms from the tray and went and stood in the line. A man came enquiring whether it’s the queue for reservation. What the heck?!! He thought we all were standing in the queue to go to the looJ. But the moment I knew someone is behind me in the queue I felt little happy.

I was getting bored and started reading all the instructions that was return on the walls of the reservation center. As I was reading it I was distracted by a heated argument going on between husband and wife which ended, “Haan bol, Jaana hi ki nahi” Saying this he left the place and she followed him weeping. I knew that its not the end of itJ. Then happened the most common thing in a queue, a queue-jumper was confronting with people resisting him. Though he had explanations he was pushed to the back of the queue. Amidst all this chaos a lover-boy was having a romantic chat with his girl friend, a boy was helping a old man fill the form; someone was cribbing about the non-availability of tickets. And the queue was moving in a steady pace.

The man next to me was chewing tobacco and guess was drunk and it smelled strong that I had already started feeling a mild headache. But who am I to complain? Then came a dude carrying laptop, proudly flashing his identity card, had the ear phones on and talking loud in a fake American accent, probably with a client in America- sure he should be a SW engineer. His gestures were like he has never come to railway reservation center before. But at least I am not the one to believe itJ. He looked around, made some enquiries and left the place.

Next 10-15 minutes it was virtually quiet and the line moved faster. The golden moment arrived and I was at the counter. I had 2 forms for cancellation request with me and one of the instruction on the wall read, “Only 1 form per person will be entertained”. I reluctantly gave the forms to the lady in the counter and she was kind enough to process both of them. I was bit fortunate otherwise only half of my work would have been done.

With a sigh of relief I headed back to the bike thinking, when was the last time I came to the railway reservation center? Well that was when I was in my final year of engineering!!!! It was full 3 years and probably I was bit more conscious and carefully observing things because of such a long gap…. J J

Pledge...

2008-12-25T14:57:00.001-08:00

Every time Navneeth passed through that Eye hospital, he thinks of enquiring about pledging eyes for donation. One fine day he stopped by and entered the hospital. He asked the security guard at the gate, “How to go to the Eye bank?” the security guard gleefully guided him to the front office. There was mid-aged lady in the reception. He walked to the desk and asked, “What is the procedure pledge one’s eye?” She confirmed whether he is a major and asked him to take the seat. He could feel that he was treated with great respect just for that simple question. She searched for couple of drawers in the table and pulled out a yellow colored form and explained how to fill them.

He came back home and read the details carefully and filled in the form and the next day he dropped the form at the eye bank. He filled his mother’s name and contact number under the details of the kin who will fulfill his wish after his demise.

There were lots of thoughts wavering in his mind on how his parents will react to his interest. After some deep pondering he decided to meet them in person and tell them about his wish.

One fine week end he visited Jaipur, his home town. He along with his parents was watching KBC. He casually struck a conversation about eye donation. His parents being very orthodox responded positively, which surprised him. With out stopping his conversion he said to his parents that he had pledged to donate his eye after his demise and want them to fulfill his wish. There was sudden silence in the drawing room with only Big B reciting the question to the contestant to be heard.

After few seconds of silence she said to him that she was happy about his decision.

His father listening to this whole conversation smiled at him and gave a pat on his back and started reading the newspaper. He could see his mother looking at him which said “I am proud of you son” and tears well in her eyes. Navneeth pretended as if he had not noticed it and kept watching the TV though none of the questions from AB went in to his mind....

A Code Marathon....

2008-12-25T14:56:00.001-08:00

Twenty four hours of non-stop action in a weekend. It’s not about guzzling loads of beer at a pub; it’s not about watching couple of bollywood blockbuster in the favorite multiplex; not about going out on long drive at thrilling speeds to a holiday spot, but non-stop coding, rather relentless tapping of the keyboard and the clicking of the mouse. Sounds crazy!! Isn’t it? Yes, a group of six decided to be a part of this crazy action.

It was Friday 15:30 hours we were there for the Code Olympics 2005 kick-off meeting. Like us there were many who have gathered and I could see lot of positive energy around. All ears were tuned to listen to the instructions and information about the event. I don’t know about the instructions, but Information was interesting than the instructions and got occasional applauses from the gathering. Big B’s movies, Chinese food for dinner, midnight snacks, mattress and pillows were main attractions. Then the Problem Scouts came to describe the problem statements. Anjina was making a quick note of all the problem titles, while Kaushik was thinking about which one is feasible.

Now we had the problems in hand and the real problem in our hands is “Which one to take-up?” After lot of deliberation at 5:30 pm, one problem statement was agreed upon, and Shahul was asked to register for the same. Now what next? As anyone can easily guess what else could software engineer do? We went for brainstorming. After few minutes of brainstorming it was decided that we work in two different teams to approach the problem in a two different ways. Shahul, Pooja and Sharath decided to work on a solution and Kaushik, Anjina and myself to work on a different path.

Like every programmer we followed the thumb rule of searching for the solutions on the net. We all started googling! As time progressed there were ideas which emerged and disappeared. But it looked like it is possible to show a working model. Initially everything seemed to be vague and uncertain…but we were confident that things will fall in place soon.

At 8:30 pm we decided to break for dinner. Everyone did full justice to their appetite and came back to work. After a heavy dinner most of us felt sleepy. But with the each one of our tasks cut-out and busy working on it. Music was played in high volume and energy level was high enough to go tapping the keyboards.

Its 11:30 pm again time for some munchingJ. Burgers and Samosas were there to be hogged. Someone told the movie started in the cafeteria. We told to ourselves that “No distraction can attract us from reaching the goal!!”….. Actually the movie was not a great one ….

After 2 o’ clock in the night the batteries went down and started finding some cozy places in and around the cubicles to retire.

Next day morning was not fine for many of us. Lack of sleep, heavy food, and hard work J had heavy toll on us. Kaushik had to retire-hurt and went home to take rest.

As the day progressed things started working well for both the teams managed a working program which could be presented. The application looked promising as things started working slowly. We were excited at one stage we thought something is better than nothing and now started becoming bit greedy and want every thing to work. Till the neck of the moment lots of changes were made. There was relief as there is no need for us to chicken-out or go absconding before the presentation.

Evening 6:30 we had our presentation and all our work was stopped on the code at 6:00. The presentation went on well and every one of us was happy that little hard work that was put in had brought some appreciation.

With great sense of achievement we were there at the evening party. Beer started flowing and nice music was played. We enjoyed the party talking about the last 24 hours. I would take back my first line in the write-up as lots of beer was guzzled!!!J The Marathon came to end with lots of happiness and sense of achievement filled in each one of our hearts.

Gutka for Dinner

2008-12-25T14:55:00.000-08:00

Walking in the lawns along the Necklace road is a moment to cherish. The cool breeze that blew from the Hussein Sagar, tall standing Buddha, little boats that shunt between the statue and the Lumbini park, quaint view of the Birla temple in the far end, large posters hanging from the roof of the multiplex, make it ideal way to relax in the weekend.

There are a variety of things that one can get to munch, from pop-corns to peanuts to bhel-puri. Me and my friend took some peanuts and started walking through the promenade. During which we discuss about lots of topics like Iraq war, petrol prices, strategy of MNCs, Indian economy and most importantly girls usually our topics of discussions are the ones on which we have no control at all. We usually arrive at visionary solutions to problems, without bothering who will be implementing them. Discussing these topics we walked and our peanuts got over.

At that moment our eyes caught a pretty girl with sparkling eyes, with neatly tied up pony tail, enchanting the people around her with her sweet talks. She was wearing a bright colored skirt and a top with multicolor flowers printed on it. She was sitting on a cart roasting corn. She looked like a nine year old who showed perfect hand-eye coordination of rotating the corn on the hot coke and kept fanning the red hot coke at the same time. She was bit busy as many were waiting for their corn to be roasted. It looked like she had little education as she didn’t have problems giving us the change for the corn we bought.

We sat in the lawn little away from the cart and started our discussions again. After few minutes she was bit free and she got down from the cart and went for stroll for relaxing. She went to a guy selling cigarette, gutka, on a table and bought a gutka from her hard earned one rupee. The way she opened the pack looked like she is not doing it for the first time. The moment she was about to empty it in her mouth. She saw as both watching her. I could she the embarrassment on her face and she turned her face in the opposite direction and filled her mouth with the gutka in a sneaking way and went back to work.

We both stopped our discussion and started walking towards the bike hardly speaking anything, thinking about the inequality in the society, which gave gutka as dinner for a little girl, haunting our minds.

You will be nailed for sure

2008-12-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

Last time when I was in Chennai I took my father’s Suzuki to meet my friend. It’s a pretty old bike and one should now the tips and tricks to handle it. Usually, my father gives some points to be taken care of while driving that antique piece.

On my way suddenly I felt the rumble of the flat tyre. Luckily for me there was a shop near by to repair the punctured tyre. The guy in the shop checked the tyre for any sharp object and the pulled out the culprit that was struck to the tyre. He handed the nail to me instead of just throwing it. I went on to meet my friend on my way back again I got a flat tyre. This tells about the status of the tyre which was as smooth as a bald head. This time I was not so fortunate, I had to drag the bike a little more than a kilometer to find the mechanic shop. While the guy in the shop mended the punctured tube I was waiting outside the shop watching the road. The mechanic called me inside and gave me the second nail of the day.

I just wondered why invariably both the guys have to give the nail to me instead of throwing it. I could think of few reasons. The bike owner would like to keep the nail as a souvenir, or the mechanic want to boast off his finding the nail that got struck, or to use it to hang a painting at home, or in my case it could be to remind me to change the old bald head tyre. It could be anything….what could be the psychology behind it???!!!!

But I am damn sure of one thing; if in future anyone of you had to get a flat tyre repaired the mechanic will surely return the nail that got struck in your wheelJ. Even if happened to be a Ferrari got a punctured tyre due to a nail Jon the F1 track and the pit-stop crew member finds it, he would surely handover the nail to Michael Schumacher!!!!!

A Rare Night-Out

2008-12-25T14:52:00.002-08:00

Its 4.02 AM. Probably it’s my first night-out since my DSP (Digital Signal ProcessingJ) exam way back in 2oo2. It’s a cool way to welcome the weekend isn’t? I knew that I have the whole Saturday to compensate for this. The reason behind this extra-ordinary night-out is an ordinary “Chocolate”.

I and my friend decided to watch a movie at Innovative. Though it was drizzling a bit it was not heavy and didn’t stop us from driving. We managed to reach the multiplex on time. Thanks to a lady who was driving a Kine, who made us follow like the rats that followed the Pied-pier, but she didn’t drown us. She maneuvered her bike through the traffic on the edge of the marshy road with lots of water log whose depth was unknown and we just followed.

Much to our surprise we found the theater to be empty and got tickets for the movie, Chocolate. We took a butta (Corn) and entered the hall which was practically empty with tens of people and couple of rats to accompany us. I guess these rats also followed in the lady on the Kine. All four was finished the corn and waiting for the painfully boring movie to finish. No wonder that the hall was empty. At 10:15 came the much awaited moment when the screens fell.

We had dinner at a restaurant opposite to the theater. We did full justice to our stomach; both of us hardly spoke a word and had our dinner in silence, except for occasional slurping. My friend had to go a long way to back home so I suggested him to stay at my place. We went for stroll on the Ring Road, for a change, on the broad divider which was covered by grass.

On the way to my home we decided to go to office to enjoy the beauty of the lawns and the canopies. Our search for the office for next ten minutes went in vain. We couldn’t find it on the Google Earth and then made the decision to sleep at the bunker. There were two of them already there to welcome us and we gleefully took the upper berths that were empty. I was not feeling sleepy at all since the place was bit warm but my friend managed to sleep.

I was terribly missing the sound of that old Khaitan at home which sounds nothing less than a cradlesong. I kept counting the metal bars around the crib, but couldn’t count those twenty five metal bars anymore. I came back to my desk and now browsing and reading some old mails to enjoy my night-out. Now its 4:37 in the morning. I don’t want to miss the sunrise so going back to browse…. and hopefully won’t drowse ……

That Parking made me ponder

2008-12-25T14:52:00.001-08:00

Much awaited moment of the week came. I started building a Sabai (in Tamil means a group of people who are interested in doing not so important things) to enjoy that wonderful Friday evening. We all decided to meet at Prasads Multiplex to watch a movie for which we could manage to get tickets. I started winding up, tidied my desk, felt relieved when I pressed the wonderful combination of keys in my keyboard –Ctrl + Alt + Del.

I went down to the cellar to see my proud possession. She was shining and looking gorgeous, than ever before because she has undergone a water-wash a day before. I started my beautiful pulsar and started driving. I remembered and recited in my mind the golden rule of driving in the Nawab City of Hyderabad- “You take care of yourself, I take care of myself”. I enjoyed my drive and the city was looking more attractive as the trees and the dividers are colorfully lit with serial bulbs for some major event that is to be held.

Without any hiccups I reached the best place for entertainment in the city and found a parking place for my loved possession and approached the man in the parking area for collecting my token. It was Rs 3 for two-wheelers and Rs 10 for four wheelers.

I managed 3 Rs change from my wallet and asked for a token. The man doesn’t seem to be hearing me as he was surrounded by lots of 10 Rupee notes catching his eyes from the owners of the cars. Those 10 Rs notes were looking more tempting than the coins that I had in my hand. I waited and kept asking for the token but my words went unheard.

Many four-wheeler owners who came after me got the token and moved ahead. I lost my patience and shouted at the man there “Bhai Saab, main idher bahuth dher se kada hun aap sirf cars ke liye token dethe ho” ( I am standing here since long you are giving token for cars only). To my surprise there came a voice from behind me in fake American accent “This is India Man”. It was a proud car owner who came after me and got a parking token.

I got a parking ticket and walked in to the multiplex to meet my friends, pondering how could a man who doesn’t have the courtesy stand in the line to get his ticket comment on the country, so irresponsibly.