Nuptial Knots

Within the last few days, I've got news about the marriages of 7 of my friends! Seven friends! Can you imagine that? I mean, what is happening? Were all these people waiting for me to get out of India and then, decided to hitched?

Whatever the reason, I was pleasantly surprised. It's so nice to see all the friends with whom you have played pranks on poor teachers and lecturers, with whom you have joined the first job, with whom you have gone on innumerable girl check-out trips suddenly getting mature and settling down in life. What's more enlightening is the understanding of the complexity in this nuptial arrangement that seems to be coming to the fore when the matrimonial plans are getting finalized.

Being a hopeless optimist and a lazy guy, my attitude has been something like this: If somebody says, "Tomorrow, the sky will fall." Well, I'll not do anything much about until tomorrow morning until the sky actually starts hurtling towards the unsuspecting earth.

In this situation, it's quite overwhelming when you hear the friends making plans about, "Where will we settle? Near whose office should the house be? Who will sacrifice the career opportunities for making way to marriage?" And so on. Is it like these are the things that girls always have in mind or is it something like a dormant seed in everybody’s brain that suddenly sprouts whenever the marriage is imminent (adj: used in sentences like, ‘the storm is imminent’ Notice the similarity?) The reason is, my friends who are getting hitched were until the last few months thinking of only new restaurants, movie joints, latest certification and stuff like that. Oh yeah, also the best time to go to Prasadz to catch a glimpse of the best babes in Hyderabad. But, now, they just seem to have become as uninterested (note: I'm NOT using disinterested here.. that word means entirely something else) in all the typical guys activities. Please don't misconstrue this statement, but, is it like falling in love cures the guy like feelings out of you? Or is getting married such a heavy burden that nothing more in life is interesting or worth doing? Well, I've thought about it enough. And finally said, like a typical American teenager, "Whatever!"

Now, all this has left me in a precarious position. Suddenly, all my friends will be no longer bachelors (or bachelorettes, as the case may be {please forgive the spelling if it is wrong. My MS Word could not find it!), all of them will be having a family to think of and the typical family problems. What I am worried is, "What will I do with these guys?" If I go to a friends house and say, "Chalo man, let's go to Prasadz." Tat comes the reply, "No man! Gotto go to Food World and buy atta for tonight or else, the better half will get very angry and Shurpanaka would look like an angel in her comparison!" Mind you, nothing against Shurpanaka (minus the nose), but, didn't these guys know the various facets of their would-be just before jumping into the life-imprisonment of the institution of marriage... Even life-sentence in India is not more than 20 years!

Of course, I am going to be beaten up for having written such blasphemous things about the metamorphosis of the guys and girls after marriage. But, I say, that's occupational hazard... and after all, what's life without friends who'd love to hate you.

Talking about metamorphosis: In schools, we learn about how a butterfly lays eggs, then, it turns into a caterpillar (the egg, I mean) until it eats and eats like Jayalalitaa (note the 2 a's) and then, suddenly becomes a coccon (like Uma Bahrati often does in the alleged Himalayan caves) and then, behold! A beautiful butterfly emerges.

Now, even in human life, the human animal goes through something of a metamorphosis. From being happy, satisfied and happy-go-lucky individual, you see people going into misery, depression and helplessness that they have to (literally and figuratively) sleep with the enemy! I question the gentry of so called educationalists: Of what use is the caterpillar's metamorphosis to me when the human metamorphosis is infinitely more important? In case any of the aforementioned gentry members read it, mind you it is known as a rhetorical question.

After all this circumlocution, I shall return to the crux of the matter. {Or is it that I am speaking of the crux only now? Like I said before, Whatever!} That is, despite knowing all of the facts, and despite having seen the perils of matrimony, I shall one day ultimatelt fall into this curse. And I'm worried that if all my friends fall for marriage like flies, then, time's not far when my mom shall deem it important to help her son out his blissful existence into the shared misery of his aforementioned friends.

Well, whatsoever be the outcome, I just want to say, "Gals & Guys! Have a blissfully wedded life!" And hopefully, may the joy remain with you and may you stay out of the dangerous metamorphosis that I've outlined above!


Read on technorati at: Nuptial Knots

Fears, Worries & Childhood...

Today, while chatting with a college of mine, we were discussing about how people seem to worry so much. Yet, if you look back over it, it all seems to be such a trivial or silly thing.

Do you remember the childhood? I used to worry about reaching the school on time. But, my biggest concern of all was on Sunday mornings. On Sundays, Dad used to make omlette and bread. Somehow, it has become a ritual that we follow till today at home. Fact is, the moment he’d pour the egg on the pan, I’d run into the kitchen and stretch to see what was happening to my precious. If, and God forbid, if it tore, I’d sit and cry. It was probably the only thing, I remember that I used to cry a lot. Now, here when I make omlette daily in UK, I miss that passion for my precious. If it tears, I still eat, without a fuss. But, somehow, it never seems to taste like what it used to be in childhood.

At around the same time, my parents had devised a method to control my tantrums – it was locking me up in the toilet and switching off the light. It was such a fearful thing, that the very mention of it would instantly subdue me. I used to be shit-scared of the very fact that something that I’d do would result in this horrible punishment! There are nights now, when I’ve had to stay alone in the house and don’t think twice about it. Yet, when the light finally returns, there is no thrill or the utter relief of being safe – the cynical mind now says, “Ok power’s back. Donno when it’ll go dark again.”

During the school days, the biggest fear was facing the wrath of teacher over an incomplete home-work. I’d do anything to complete the geography maps, the history answers and the science projects. (Hindi homework, I used to procrastinate) Yet, if the same teacher wrote a simple, “Good” in the notebook, it’d be the greatest victory on earth. A simple four letter word in a barely readable hand-writing was worth so much. Today, there are client appreciation mails and Cognizant’s Associate of the Year award. Somehow, it never seems to give the same sort of inner satisfaction that used to there when I was a kid!

When I was a kid, my dad used to go on long tours, sometimes, for almost 10-15 days. When he’d return, he’d get some chocolate like Cadbury’s dairy milk or my favourite, Crackle. I’d be so thrilled that I’d clutch it and walk around for half an hour without putting away the precious gift. After that, I’d put it in the fridge. I’d revere the chocolate so much that for the first 3-4 days, I’d not even eat it. By then, my Mom would get totally restless with the chocolate staring at her everytime she opened the fridge door. One of the days, when I was at school, she’d open the chocolate packet and bite off one of the pieces. And there would be hell to pay for her transgression! Today, I go to shopping malls with rows and rows of chocolates. I’ve not bought a single one, even though I sent many packets back to the team. Somehow, it never appeals and never seems to hold any sway at all!

Finally, when I was a kid, the biggest worry of all was being away from Mom. Even today, she says, “Sereg hindene irtayidhe”{You used to be behind my saree always}. One day, my parents left me at my cousin’s place. There were 6 of my other cousins staying over at his place. Until night, I was fine. Suddenly, when the time came to sleep, I was petrified. I started crying and pleading. Unable to bear it all, my uncle took me back to our house. I rushed into the house and hugged my mom tightly, sniffing all along. Yesterday, my mom broke down over the phone and said, “There was a time when you’d not leave my saree.. Today, you are thousands of kilometers away, without a chance of running back to me. How do you feel?”

Well mom, all I feel is that if I could turn back the time, I’d do it just now and go back to the wonderful childhood. After all, who gives a damn about this job, career, promotion, politics and client appreciation? I don’t mind the fear of my omlette tearing or the dark toilet, if only, I could turn back time…….

Raju's mail

Raju was my room-mate in Hyderabad and is now onsite, currently residing in US. October 30th was his Birthday and I'd asked him, what was his Birthday program. And he replied with this *Program*!!!

This was my birthday program :))
birthDay()
{
sleep++;
sleep++;
movie++;
drink++;
eat++;
sleep++;
sleep++;
}

I'd also told him that within 15 days of coming to UK, I'd felt that everything here seemed to be running on money. And this is what he's replied:

" You seem to have learned the truth about being onsite quite early. Though you have not seen the worst yet. I am not trying to terrify you, but thats what happens to most of the ppl. And again not necessarily to everyone. And hope you are among the better half. What happens is boredom starts to kill you. You are desperate to go back but you cannot, coz of the "MONEY" and commitments. How much ever you think, "MONEY" will supercede all your decisions. Make lots of friends and you can spend a better time here."

Well, it does seem scary!

Book review: Lexus and the Olive Tree

Today, I was reading a book, the Lexus and the Olive Tree by Thomas L Friedman. It’s a book about the spread of globalization and the repercussions felt by various countries, cultures and the people all over the world.

In it, he has raised a very nice point. Globalization is being spread at a rapid rate because of two factors:

• Rapid technological growth
• Gigantic economies of America, the Western Europe and Japan

He says, just imagine what will happen if the economies of US, Europe and Japan suddenly stagnates. One fine day, the engine of globalization is just shut off!

It is a scenario that is quite hard to even imagine. Countries like India have benefited hugely by the fruits of globalization. IT is not the only thing that has come in. Just look at the manufacturing sector. Toyota has outsourced its components to Bharat Forge. Many well-known fashion chains in the West source the clothes from factories in Coimbatore. The result is a rapid increase in the standard of living for Indians.

Just 10 years back, I remember an India where the socialistic stamp was present everywhere:

Want a telephone? Book and wait for three years.
Want a Maruti (Ambassador and Premier Padmini were getting out of fashion)? Wait for two years.

See the difference now:
Want a telephone? Give the address, next day, telephone will be installed. If not, buy a SIM card right now and start talking.

Want a car? Come to the show-room. Take a test ride. If you like it, take it right now. Pay later!

Yes, India as a whole has improved a lot. Yet, most of the change has been driven by the growth in the Americas, Europe and Japanese economies. If suddenly they were to stagnate, what will happen to the growth in India?

It’s a rather gloomy thought. Companies like Infosys, Wipro and TCS would overnight find that they have no new clients. The existing clients too could stop starting new projects. What will happen to the thousands of engineers who are passing out of the assembly line of the Engineering Colleges in India? What will happen the banks who were behind the life selling loans, house loans, car loans? Guess they will go back to the mode of being the stingy Shylock that they generally were.

The second point though was a real eye-opener. Globalization is spreading, not because labour is cheaper elsewhere, but, due to rapid growth in technology.

In the book, the author says, a receptionist was fired in his office. She was fired because a voice-mail system was used as a replacement. But, the poiliticians out there would never raise a slogan, “Throw out the voice mail! Boo to technology”. Instead, they would target Mexican immigrants. Mexicans are responsible for the job losses! Extradite them all. Build higher and higher walls.

Why was this done? Because targeting an intangible high technology is not a good campaign policy. Mexicans are a lot more tangible.

Similar thing is happening now when it comes to the question of Outsourcing. Low labour is being blamed. Indians and Chinese are being projected as leeches sucking out the jobs from the affluent markets and driving them to joblessness and poverty. Is this the only reason why such a mass exodus of the jobs is happening?

Isn’t the fact that these nations have got used to a system of social security and other free lunch programs left them lot lazy to work? Hasn’t the excess indulgence in “good education” made them phobic to technical subjects, letting the Asians take advantage of the better higher education standards in the same counties?

Well, these some of the points that just came to my mind. I know I’ve not put in any solutions to the issues. Still, I just thought I had to put all my thoughts down somewhere – so here it is on my blog!

Negotiation strategies in Mahabharata

Got this forward from a Karthik. Very nice analysis of the strategies involved in Mahabharatha...

Negotiation is an important skill in business. How to negotiate? There aren't any standard rulebooks for it. But even much before the modern books started wring on it, Mahabharatha gives us some guide lines to negotiate.

Time: The timing of your negotiation should be perfect. Krishna makes kunthi approach karna at dawn to negotiate. The visit was unexpected and thus karna is surprised. In negotiation surprising your opponent is important. He will be caught unguarded. Further at dawn karna worships his father Surya and during that time his mother walks in.

Isolation: It is important to isolate the opponent in a negotiation. If he is with people who can influence him or make him think, then negotiation will be difficult. Had karna been with Duriyodana he would have felt embarrassed to give the boon which kunthi asked. He might even have refused to give the boon which kunthi asked, since it was against his friend Duriyodana. But he was isolated when kunthi approached him.

Starting high: In negotiation if you want to sell a product for Rs.100 you should not give the first quote at Rs.100. You should ask Rs.120 or Rs.150 bargain and finally settle down at Rs.100. If you start at Rs.100, your opponent will ask for Rs.60 and you will settle down at Rs.80 finally.

Similarly kunthi starts high. She asks karna to join pandavas and karna refuses it as expected. But then he is weakened by this refusal. His mother's first request and he refused it. So he says 'ask me anything except joining pandavas. Kunthi then asks him not to kill any pandavas except Arjuna. Krishna and she know that karna cannot kill Arjuna because Arjuna will be protected by Krishna. Further among the pandavas the only person who can kill karna is Arjuna. Thus karna signs his own death warrant.

Selecting the negotiator: Selecting the negotiator too is important. Krishna selected kunthi, the mother of karna. Not all businessmen can have such negotiators at his service. Krishna had them and used them properly.

Don't start negotiating initially: Nobody should negotiate the moment you enter a shop. Be friendly with the shop keeper, talk friendly things and finally negotiate. In other words create an environment suitable for negotiation. Weaken your opponent and finally negotiate when the situation is apt. Kunthi does this perfectly. First she emotionally weakens karna. Then while leaving she asks what she wanted. Karna refuses; kunthi persists and finally gets what she wanted.

Don't empower your negotiator to weaken yourself: In negotiation if you give too much power to the negotiator on your side you have a danger. Your opponent might defeat you and will get something dangerous from you. Krishna found this out from sending Indra as the negotiator. Indra asked for karna's armour and got it. But Indra was so moved by karna's act, that he gave him 'Shakthi'. Karna managed to get something from the negotiation.

So Krishna sends kunthi this time. Kunthi could never have given anything solid to karna. Kunthi had nothing with her. She could never have revealed karna's identity to her sons, thus karna could never have asked anything that could weaken pandavas from kunthi.

When negotiation fails weaken your opponent as far as possible: Krishna too negotiated with Duriyodana. That negotiation failed. So Krishna weakens Duriyodana as far as possible. He creates a rift between Duriyodana and Vithura by staying in Vithura's house. Duriyodana abuses Vithura for this and Vithura leaves Duriyodana. Then Krishna makes Duriyodana appear mean. When Duriyodana gets infuriated he wont listen to any small request from anybody. So when Duriyodana is totally infuriated Krishna climbs down from his stand point of asking half the kingdom. He perfectly knew that Duriyodana will refuse even a single penny with that mindset. So he asks 5 villages, and then asks 5 houses....the lowest which anybody can go.

Had Duriyodana been intelligent he could have given 5 houses and he would have won. But he even refuses it. Krishna knew this perfectly. He did not come to Hasthinapura to get 5 houses for pandavas. He wanted to weaken Duriyodana as far as possible. Duriyodana by refusing to give even 5 houses earns the wrath of public. "All they asked was 5 houses and he even refuses it. He is adamant and only because of him the war started" will be the common impression among public and soldiers.

Thus Krishna managed to gain even while the negotiation failed.

Interestingly even hanuman does that in Ramayana. When Ravana refuses to handover Seetha to Rama, he weakens Ravana by burning his capital, killing asuras. This was the first time when Ravana's capital city was ransacked by anybody. All asuras were weakened by thinking "one monkey did this; millions of monkeys will attack us in future. What will happen?"

Marriage and Family compatibilities

Yesterday, we (Anagha, Suyog and me) met up with Swathi. She'd been here for the week end. Ashish's parents and grand-parents had come over to meet Swathi's parents and relatives. They wanted to finalize on the entire process of the marriage. (In Cognizant software terminology, they wanted to get PSPH {Project Specific Process Handbook} in place!}

While having lunch, Swathi recounted the entire episode was and how pleased she was that the families seemed to be so very compatible. She kept on repeating the point that for a girl this is a very important factor. This got me thinking….. about the rituals and the traditions that we have in India.

The Indian tradition is so really strange. It expects that after marriage, the girl will become a member of the husband's family and the she'll lose her status of the family member in her own family! Also, the Indian tradition says that the male descendents are the only ones responsible for the welfare of the parents when they grow old.

In olden days, with huge families, maybe this policy made sense. There was more than one son to take care of the parents and also, the girl had to relinquish her hold on the property. This I feel was correct especially if the girl happened to marry the eldest brother. Traditionally, he's the one who'd inherit the lion's share from the parents. The girl on marriage would become a partner, superseding all the husband's brothers. If she had a say in her own family too, then the passing on of the heritage would have become a mess.

But, in modern days, with nuclear families and the single child policy, is this a really correct way of uniting families? Let's explore the repercussions on the guy and the girl in a modern day situation. Let's start with the traditional setup:

After marriage, the girl becomes a member of her husband's family. She is supposed to adjust and ensure that her addition does not drastically alter the delicate structure of family relationships in the husband's household. She is supposed to serve the in-laws and take care of the husband's needs. In return, all she gets is the love and affection of her husband, if he is a good one. If not, even this is denied. The girl was entirely dependent on the husband for all her needs.

For a guy, the change was negligible. He'd get a nice advisor, cum friend and a person who'd help him at all his needs. The wife was someone, who was taken for granted. She'd do whatever he said and she'd probably have no say in his lifestyle.

In modern day, most of the things are not true. The girl is financially independent. The guy cannot take her for granted. In this scenario, what exactly does marriage mean for the guy the girl in terms of the compatibility of the families?

For a girl, she is worried if the guy's parents will accept her. She still is considered to become a part of the family after the nuptials. She still has to take care of the in-laws. But, she's now also responsible for her job and her parents. Since the family size is small, she may be the only kid and she may have to take care of the parents in their time of need. My question is: does the Indian society event recognize this need? What if the son(s) neglect the parents and they are left with nobody but their daughter for help? Will the Indian society accept the fact that the girl's parents are staying with her after marriage?

For a guy, things are a bit simpler. The expectation from the girl's parents is just that he keeps their daughter happy. He's not expected to serve the in-laws. Still, isn't it his responsibility to ensure that his wife's parents too are cared for? What if a situation arises where the husband and the wife are both the only kids of their parents? How is the guy supposed to choose if he'll support his parents, the girl's parents or both?

I really don't know why I got all these questions in my mind. Maybe it was just lurking somewhere after I'd seen my maternal grand mother die in-front of my eyes. That was one sad episode.

My mom has five brothers. Her father (my grand-dad) was en extremely short-tempered man. He'd mistreated the male kids quite badly, beating them or neglecting them. In the old age, the children had no love left. Unfortunately, even my grand mom too got blamed for the behavior. Since, my grandpa did not have much of property; the children were not really worried about taking care of the parents.

My grandma had come to our place in Pune. She'd been staying with us for about 15 days and then, she was supposed to leave. She seemed so happy and peaceful when she was with us, compared to the tense and worried person that she'd always appeared to me. Just about 2 days before we left, she became very quiet. On the day we were supposed to leave, she woke us up at 6 am and complained about a heart-ache. Immediately, we rushed her to the hospital. There she suffered a seizure in front of my eyes. That was probably her end even though she struggled for about 10 minutes more.

My mom still believes that what killed my grandma was the sad and dejecting thought that she'd go back to a place where nobody wanted her or loved her. Sure, the sons ensured that she got food, medicines and shelter. But, she got no love. In this situation, if my dad had asked her to stay, I guess, my grandma would have been pleased. But, she'd still moved back to Bangalore as the society would view it as a bad thing. They'd comment: "Even with five sons, she's staying with her daughter". My question is, is it so bad to stay with the daughter?

Well, looks like finally I am trying to get a hang of what the marriage business is all about it. The sheer complexity of the inter-woven relationships, the hidden traps and the intangible layers of expectations is quite daunting. Hope, things are not really this difficult in everyone's case!

Value-Addition: A New Perspective!

Value Addition - A new Perspective!

For about a week now, I'd been working on estimating for a proposal. Since we are IT Services Company, our buzzword is "Value Addition".

Until this time, I always used to feel that it is just a management jargon thrown in to add weight to our work. For the first time, I actually got a glimpse into what that is.

For example, we as Technical guys are always caught up with the task at hand and we never look at the bigger picture. In our case, for two days, our team was reading and re-reading the requirements document and to ensure that we understood the system. Then, in the evening, we were discussing with our Center Head about the proposal.

He said, "The system has so many customers. Assuming they pay an X amount, the company uses Y part of it for the salary and Z part for the infrastructure; they make a profit of (X-Y-Z) dollars. Our proposed system is costing ABC dollars. Would our client want to replace the existing system or is the new solution feasible?"

Somehow, none of us in the development team had ever pondered on this question. It was truly amazing that the he managed to ask this question when he'd not even read any of the client proposal documents!

Apart from this, I had to work with the Business Analysts. Their point of view was entirely different from all others. They were going through each and every client instruction like Holy Grail! The print-out of client instruction document was completely filled with underlines totally highlighted.

They were also responsible for the planning of the resources for the project. That is, how do we get the people to the project, as it moves in the SDLC and also, ensuring that the people are kept occupied. Based on the effort estimations that we'd given, they had to come up with a plan about how the people will be pulled into the new project, used effectively and moved out when their role ended.

Apart from all this, the main motto at every point in time was the principle, "What is it that we are doing that adds value to the client?" For example, we made a simple requirement document from the one that the client had provided. All we did was to arrange it into modules so that it was easier to read and modular. The suggestion was, "Whatever we've done is just copy paste. What can we add value to this document?" So, we created a section detailing the gaps in requirements, our observations and suggestions. From a mundane document, we turned it around to be a really insightful one for the client.

One thing that I realized was proposal is a very hectic activity. Event though it involves just going through the client documents, the effort that we put in to understand the system, to find areas for improvements and then presenting it in an attractive, yet affordable manner; all this was a real eye-opener for me. Hope all our effort does not go waste and we manage to win the bid!

Vacation part 2 - Trip

Simsha

On Saturday, my parents, my mom's brothers and kids went on a trip.

We first went to the water falls called Bluff. Its also called the Sivana Samudra (Simsa). There are two water falls beside each other, Gaganachkki and some other chukki. There was no water in one fall and the other one was looking like a leak from a tap!

All of us were feeling totally dejected. Then, we went to Talakadu. This was an amazing place.


Talakadu

It is on the banks of Kaveri. Generally, the river banks are rocky or covered by mud. In this place, there is sand. It almost looks like a sea beach! The explanation for this was provided by a guide (its a myth rather than an explanation).


There was a governor of the city of Talakadu in ancient time. He used to report to the Mysore King. He and his wife were great devotees of the Lord Sri Ranganatha at Srirangapattana. On all important occasions, he and his wife used to visit the temple and decorate the idol with lot of ornaments and offer prayers.

The governor fell ill and died. The king of Mysore sent his soldiers to collect the ornaments. His belief was that the pryers shold not stop due to the death of the governor. The widow mistook the intentions. She felt the king was a very mean guy who had sent the soldiers to usurp and steal the ornaments and the property. So, she took the jewels and tied it in a cloth. She dropped it into the river. Then, she heaped three curses:

1. Mavalli madilagali (Mavalli will become a whirlpool. It's a point in the river Kaveri)
2. Talakadu maralagali (Talakadu will become sand)
3 Mysorina Maharajarige makaalagadhirali (Mysore Maharaja will not have sons)

Then, she jumped into the river and committed suicide.


Until today, the curses hold. The river has a permanent whirlpool at one spot. The place Talakadu is covered with almost 40 feet of sand. The Kings of Mysore do not have a direct male descendant for every alternate generation. For example, the previous king, Sri Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar is an adopted son. The present King, Sri Srikanthadutta Wodeyar is the son of Jayachamarajendra Wodeyar. But, he does not have a son. He has adopted her sister's son. This has been happening now for a long time!


Well, myths apart, the river was wonderful. The water level is barely till the chest and the Kaveri water here is absolutely clean. So, all of us dived into the river and had a great time. Also, by then a gang of college guys came in. It was from the Jain College in Jayanagar, B'lore. There were two really great looking grls. Half the time, I sat staring at them.


Somnathpur

Then, we went to a place called Somenathpur. This is an ancient temple built in 780 AD by the Hoysala Dynasty. They are the ones who built the famed Balur and Halebid temples in Karnataka. The temple was an amazing piecece of art.

There are more than 5000 idols carved out of stone. The temple has the complete depiction of the Mahabharatha and the 10 avtaars of Lord Krishna. The intricate carving and the detailed sculpting is incredible. It took 58 years for 500 sculptors to work on this.


The sad thing though is that it was ravaged by the Muslim Invaders. It was invaded twice and the idol was desecrated. So, there is no puja at the temple and it lies dead. On top of it, the British smuggled all the smaller pieces of art during their rein. So, what remains is a graveyard of the masterpiece.

Well, that's about the second part of my trip.

Vacation part 1 - Marriage

Hi ppl,

I'm back after a loooooong *vacation*. Now, I'm expecting to get some relaxation at work!

God, the trip was hectic! Right from the time I got down at B'lore station till I came back to Sec'bad, it was one hell of a busy schedule....

Anyway, marriage went off very well. I was in-charge of lots of things and so had to run around a lot. Since, my cousin was learning dance and the mother-in-law is the dance teacher, there were lots of *students*. Three of them were really *interesting*.

The strangest thing was that relatives were openly asking abt marriage and all. The typical scene would be like this:

Mom/Dad: Hello! Meet my son. Akshay, this is so and so.
So and so: Hmm. You were this small when I last saw you! {*this* varied from 30 cm to 100 cm... Never more than that}
Me: {One silly smile.} Hello
So and so: So, what do you do? OR Where are you studying?
Me: I working with Cognizant at Hyd.
So and so: Oh! You work huh? {What did he/she expect? Am I the Mysore King, to sit at home after studies?}
Me: Ya, its almost two years now.
{Then, some stuff abt wrk and food. Then, I am dismissed.}
So and so: Hmm, So, what is your son's age? Any plans to get get him married? I know this grl....

Hey, this was really surprising. I mean, I hardly remember this relative of mine. He/she's telling me abt some relative of his, who is probably at a marriagable age....

Anyways, there were two pestering proposals. One was hell bent on getting his daughter married to me! Fortunately this happened on the week before I went to B'lore. Mom had gone to B'lore to buy some sarees and meet her relatives. One of them literally cornered my Mom abt the marriage! Finally, Mom got irritated and told him, that I was just 24 and there was at least 2 more yrs. Then, she also pointed out that the grl was 10 days elder to me and that she'd never agree for that. Only then, this person went away.

Another one happened on the 23rd. We had just finished the Anniversary dinner {23rd was my parents 25th wedding anniversary}. One of the friends pulled my mom aside and whipered, "Are you getting him married? I know this relative of mine...." My mom cut in and told the same standard dialogue: me 24 yrs, 2 more yrs break etc....

At the cousin's marriage, I was given a lot of organizing wrk. So, I had to run arnd and move up and down the stage. Aunt was telling me that lot of ppl had noticed me and were asking abt me! She's warned me that when the photos and video are out, there may be more proposals!

It was really strange! Ppl expect you to be a total Brahmachari while studying. All of a sudden, when you turn 24-25, they expect you to become a family man! I mean, where do they expect the maturity to seep into a kid's mind, coz they believe you are a kid unitl 24!

But, who's complaining! I mean, I never ever though anybody on earth would want to risk sending their daughter with me... and here they were literally pestering abt getting them married to me!

Oh yeah, there was one more girl. The girl's dad took on a very different approach... The dad is a Oncologist in Mysore and his daughter has got into Deloitte. He asked me to talk to her abt Hyd. All the time I spoke to her, she was tossing her hair and giving me prolonged stares.... I felt that she was flirting with me.. I really don't know coz, this has never happend before....

Well, this was the first part of the trip.. The Marriage. Second part, I'll write after some time...

Mysterious Girls

Yesterday (Sunday), I'd been to my favorite book shop. As I was browsing, a girl appeared to my side. I just noticed that she was wearing a nice pair of jeans, white top and looked smashing. Anyway, I moved to a side to let her browse. Instead, she suddenly turned towards me and said, "Can you suggest some books for me?"

For a moment, I was stumped. I mean, it's not a daily thing, that beautiful girls come to me and ask for suggestions. The only ones who ask me anything are my colleagues, who are stuck up in some issues.

So, there I was, looking at her large black eyes, feeling like I'd lost my ability to speak. Guess, she was wondering if I was some dim-witted geek. Anyway, after what seemed to be an eternity, my sense of mind returned. I asked her, "What sort of books do you like?"

She said, "I've read a few books by Jeffery Archer, Sydney Sheldon and Josh Grishim."

I told her that, I did not read Archer and Sheldon. I could suggest a few by Grishim. I asked her which books of Grishim she'd read. So, she pointed to the whole collection and told me that she'd completed almost everything in it! I on the other hand had read just about 50% of the books!

Then, she started talking about other authors and stuff. No matter what I suggested, she was not interested in them. She seemed to be interested in only taking to me! And, I was so shy and nervous, I felt like an idiot standing in front of her!

Anyway, by then, she got a call and started speaking to whoever was on the phone. I made a retreat, with a mind in turmoil.

A little while later, another mysterious thing happened. I'd not taken my bike as I'd given it for servicing. So, I took a shared auto. There were two good-looking girls. The driver asked me to sit beside them. So, I sat. We traveled together from Panjagutta to Jubilee Check Post.

There I tried to catch another auto. I stopped one and was about to get in. Surprisingly, the same two girls were in the same auto. By now, one of the girls gave me a big smile! I was totally scandalized.

Generally, I am not used to getting smiles from strangers. That too beautiful girls, never even notice me. Let alone giving a smile. A big smile is an impossibility. But, here I was, about to board an auto and a beautiful girl giving me a big smile! My mind has switched off by now. Logic was a out of the way. So, without much thoughts I sat in the auto and reached home.

What's really surprising is that both the events happened on the same day and within an hour of each other! Guess, my fortunes are finally turning around. Or maybe, the Hyderabadi girls have started to have pity on this lonely heart. Hey, anyway, who' s complaining :-)

By the river Piedra, I sat down and wept

Last week, I read this fabulous book Paulo Chelho.

It is a story of a lady, who is completing her studies in some small town. She suddenly gets a letter from her childhood friend, inviting her to attend a lecture to be held by him. The lady recollects the joys of her childhood and the goes to meet the guy.

The guy is now a student of a seminary. He's preaching about the feminie side of the God. He's travelled a lot and learnt a lot. He's invited the lady as he is and he has been in love with her from the childhood.

The story is about the stay of the girl with the guy for a week, over his lecture series and how she progresses from the cynic that she is to a child. A child, which can believe in magic and hope. Then, she progresses to an adult, who can accept that Love is possible in this world. And that Love need not be a hinderance to the goal of life, but, it can be a very potent support on the path to the destiny.

I am in the process of still collating the best quotes... Until then, have a look at some of the best!

Buy the book, India Only

You have to take risks. We will only understand the miracles of life fully when we allow the unexpected to happen. - Him I could have.What does this phrase mean? At any given moment in our lives, there are certain things that could have heppened but, didn't. The magic moments go unrecognized, and then suddenly, the hand of destiny changes everything. If we are not reborn - if we cannot learn to look at life with the innocence and enthusiasm of childhood - it makes no sense to go on living. - Him In real life, love has to be possible. Even if it is not returned right away, love can only survive when the hope exists that you will be able to win over the person you desire. But love is much like a dam; if you allow a tiny crack to form through which only a trickle of water can pass, that trickle will quickly bring down the whole structure and soon no one will be able to control the force of the current. For when those walls come down, then, love takes over, and it no longer matters what is possible and impossible; it doesn't even matter whether we can keep the loved one at our side. To love is to lose control. Love is like a trap. When it appears, we see only light, not its shadows. "But, I am going to fight for love," he continued. "There are some things in life that are worth fighting for to the end." I was speechless. "You are worth it," he said. I was tired of playng the child and acting the way many of my friends did - the ones who were afraid that love is impossible without even knowing what love is. If I stayed like that I would miss out on everything good that these few days with him might offer. The universe always helps us fight for our dreams no matter how foolish they may be. Our dreams are our own, and only we know the effort required to keep them alive. -Him This was silence that spoke for itself. A silence that said we no longer needed to explain things to each other. I saw the well in lamp-light, with the bottle of wine and two glasses on its walls. A couple of sweethearts must have been here, I think. Silent, allowing their hearts to speak to each other. And after their hearts had said all they had to say, they began to share the great mysteries. ..When we were quiet with each other, I was able to see how close I felt to him. Neither of us had said anything. Love doesn't need to be discussed; it had its own voice and speaks for itself. That night, by the well, the silence had allowed our hearts to approach each other and get to know each other better. My heart had listened closely to what his had said, and now it was content. But love is always new. Regardless of whether we love once, twice or a dozen times in our life, we always face a brand-new situation. Love can consign us to hell or to paradise, but it always takes us somewhere. We simply have to accept it, because it is what nourishes our existence. If we reject it, we die of hunger, because we lack courage to stretch out a hand and pluck the fruit from the branches of the tree of life. We have to take love where we find it, even if it means hours, days, weeks of disappointments and sadness. Love never comes just a little at a time, I thought, as I watched him, absorbed in contemplation of the Virgin. The previous day, the world had made sense, even without love's presence. But now we needed each other in order to see the true brilliance of things. "You shouldn't have asked," I said. "Love doesn't ask many questions, because if we stop to think we become fearful. It's an inexplicable fear; it's difficult even to describe it. Maybe it's the fear of being scorned, of not being accepted, or of breaking the spell. It's ridiculous, but that's the way it is. That's wy you don't ask-you act. As you've said many times, you have to take risks." Wait. This was the first lesson I learned about love. The day drags along, you make thousands of plans, you imagine every possible conversation, you promise to change your behaviour in certain ways - and you feel more and more anxious until your loved one arrives. But by then, you don't know what to say. The hours of waiting have been transformed into tension, the tension has become fear, and the fear makes you embrassed about showing affection. But he wasn't listening. He had stood, siezed my hair in his hands and was kissing me. I clutched at his hair, too, and squeezed him with all my strength, biting his lips and feeling his tongue move in my mouth. This was the kiss I had waited for so long - a kiss born by the river of our childhood, when we didn't yet know what love meant. A kiss that had been suspended in the air as we grew, that had traveled in the world in the sovenier of a medal, and that had remained hidden behind piles of books. A kiss that had been lost and now was found. In the moment of that kiss were years of searching, disillusionment and impossible dreams. I kissed him hard. The few people in the bar must have been thinking that all they were seeing was just a kiss. They didn't know that this kiss stood for my whole life - and his life, as well. The life of anyone who has waited, dreamed and searched for thier true path. The moment of that kiss contained every happy moment I had ever lived. "I always look at the well there in the plaza. And I thil to myself that before, no one knew where there was water. Then Sait Savin decided to dig and found it. If he hadn't done that, this village would be down here by the river." "But what does that have to do with love?" I asked "That well bought many people here, with thir hopes and dreams and conflicts. Someone dared to look for water, water was found, and people gathered whre it flowed. I think that when we look for love courageously, it reveals itself, and we wind up attracting even more love. If one person really wants us, everyone does. But, if we're alone, we become even more alone. Life is strange." "Have you ever heard of the book called the I Ching?" I asked her. "No, I haven't." "It says that a city can be moved but not a well. It's around the well that lovers find each other, satisfy their thirst, build homes, and raise their children. But if one of them decides to leave, the well cannot go with them. Love remains there, abandoned - even though it is filled with the same pure water as before."

The Alchemist - Some Nice Quotes

I read the Alchemist over the weekend. Felt the book was amazing.....

Got down with a pencil and marked a lot of nice lines and then, came over to the office and typed it out....

Here are some of the best ones, I collected:

Buy the book: India Only

• It is the possiblity of having a dream come true that makes life interesting.
• Is is the simple things in life that are most extraordinary; only wise men are able to understand them.
• World's greatest lie: At a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us and our lives become controlled by fate.
• Whoever you are, or whatever you do, when you really want something, it is because that desire originated in the soul of the universe, its your mission on earth.
• Everything in life has a prize.
• But the sheep had taught him something even more important: that there was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with life and purpose, of a search for something believed in and desired.
• Yet the boy felt that there was another way to look at his situation: he was actually two hours closer to his treasure... the fact that the two hours had stretched into an entire year did not matter.- On his decision to seek his destiny, after working at the Crystal Vendor for a year.
• When someone makes a decision, he is diving into a strong current that will carry him places he had never dreamed of when he first made the decision.
• The closer one gets to realizing his destiny, the more the destiny becomes his true reason for being, thought the boy...
• Because, I don't live in either my past or my future. I'm interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man. You'll see that there is life in the desert, that there are stars in the heavens and that tribesmen fight because they are part of human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festivel, because life is the moment, we're living right now. Caravan camel driver to tbe boy
• The secret here is the present. If you pay attention to the present, you can improve upon it. And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better. Forget about the future and live each day according to the teachings, confident that God loves his children. Each day in itself brings an eternity. Seer to caraven camel driver
• God only rarely reveals the future. When he does so, it is for only one reason: it's a future that was written so as to be altered. seer to the caravan camel driver.
• When a person really desires something, all the Universe conspires to help that person to realize his dream.
• It's not what enters man's mouth that is evil, it's what comes out of thier mouth that is. Alchemist to the boy, while drinking wine.
• You must understand that love never keeps a man from persuing his destiny. If he abandons that persuit, it's because, it wasn't true love.. the love that speaks the Language of the World. Alchemist
• They were looking only for gold. They were seeking the treasure of their destiny, without wanting actually to live out the destiny. Alchemist, explaining why many people's attempts to convert lead to gold had been foiled.
• Even though I complain sometimes, it's because I'm the heart of a person, and people's hearts are that way. People are afraid to persue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don't deserve them, or that they'll be unable to achieve them. We, their hearts become fearful just thinking of loved ones, who go away forever, or of moments that could have been good, but weren't, or of treasures that might have been found but were forever hidden in sands. Because, when these things happen, we suffer terribly. Heart to the boy
• ..the fear of suffering is worse than suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.Alchemist
• Every search begins with beginner's luck. And every search ends with the victor being severey tested. Alchemist
• When you possess treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed. Alchemist, when questioned by Boy about why he told the truth to the Arabs in the desert.He would have revealed that he has the philosopher's stone.
• Your eyes show the strenght of your soul.
• When you are loved you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there's no need at all to understand what's happening, because everything happens within you, and even men can turn themselves into wind. The Boy

Lost childhood joy in shopping

Yesterday, I had gone to buy some shoes for myself. I had to buy new ones, since the old ones, obviously had worn out. The old ones had been the last pair of shoes that I’d bought before joining my first job.

This started me to get into a retrospective mode. The last pair of shoes had bought me so much of joy! Somehow, when parents get you some stuff, it feels so nice. It feels like they really care for you and they want to get the very best for you. The formal shoes had cost more than a thousand rupees and I was always in awe of my Dad for having got me such expensive shoes.

This time, I bought a pair of formal and sports shoes. Each pair cost me more than a thousand rupees. Still, there was no thrill in the shopping. I just did not feel like I had got something new. I just felt that I was need of something. The old ones had worn out and needed to be replaced. Somehow, the harsh rationality had replaced the child like enthusiasm that I used to have for anything new.

When I was a kid, even opening a new toothpaste from the packing and using it first was a great achievement. Now, even if I get a thousand rupees shirt and wear it for the first time, there is no ebullience in it!

Maybe the thrill was all because of the fact that I did not know the value of money. More importantly, anything new meant the parents were concerned for you and were taking care of you. Buying something for yourself means, you have grown up and can take care of yourself. Somehow in this transition, the sheer joy of newness is lost! Hope someday, I can regain it.

Campus Visit to Guntur

The Journery

As part of the recruitment drive, we’d been to the RVR & JC College at Guntur. This is this story of our journey and the actual selection process.

The campus visit was scheduled for 14^th May, a Saturday. We were to leave for Guntur on Friday the 13^th, after Abhinay. Since the event was getting over at 7:30 pm, we had planned to travel by a bus.

At 9:30 pm, we assembled at the Phase 2 building. We had been told that the bus would be a Mazda. It would have AC and the comfort of a Volvo. So, all of us stared expectantly at the lone Mazda waiting outside the campus. When it came and stopped before us, we were amused. The bus had AC. The seating arrangement though was congested at its very best. I really can’t imagine how Bala managed to even fit inside!

Anyway, the bus journey started at around 10. We picked up Jayant and Pani on the way. By Tank Bund Road, all of us were hungry. So, we stopped for a quick ice-cream break. The options were few. So, most of us selected matka Kulfi (in a plastic Matka) and others chose Vanilla or Chocolate. After that, the bus halted again at Big Bazaar where Rahul had to withdraw some cash for the trip. This was the last stop before we actually left Hyderabad.

By now, we had realized the comfort level of the Volvo like Mazda. The driver had put on some songs. Unfortunately, his Hindi songs music collection ended at the time Rahul and Bala passed put from College. The latest song he had was from Saajan! And to top it all, during the whole night he repeated the songs more than 4 times! We were totally bugged by the “Tu Shaayar hai” and “Dekha hia pahli bar”. Still we had no option. We could either listen the songs repeatedly or have the driver doze off while driving. We thought the latter was too much of a risk. So, we gave Saajan a few more chance.

All of us tried to get some sleep, curling and twisting in all sorts of contorted positions. I am sure any Yoga teacher would have been proud of our flexibility. After all, you don’t see experienced(meaning corpulent, euphemistically called Healthy) IT professionals managing to curl up and fit into a tiny two seat of a Mazda!

The bus was moving at a pace that would have made lorry look like a F2 car! By 3 am, we were all worried if we’d make it on time. So, we asked the driver to switch off the AC. Only then did the Mazda get enough power to overtake and move ahead on the road. Pani though was very frustrated at this. He vehemently opposed the idea of AC being switched off. Sulking over the heat, he finally went of to sleep.

Finally, we reached the hotel the next day morning at around 6:30 am. Bala and I shared a room. We got ready immediately and by 7:30 we had all assembled at the restaurant for breakfast. The placement officer of the college joined us by then. He had got three cars for us. After performing a lot of permutation and combination, it was decided that Rahul, Sandeep and Bala would go in the first car. Supreeta and I went with the HOD of Mech department. In the third car, Jayant and Pani were supposed to follow us. On the way, we observed the huge cold storages for the famed Guntur Chilli. It seems, Guntur is famous for Tobacco too. The HOD told showed us the tobacco processing plants along the way to the college.

After traveling for about 15 km on a fabulous road, we reached the gates of the college. It looked magnificent. The backdrop was breath taking. The whole campus is lush green. The place is flanked by hills on sides. The main building literally seems to have been built at the lap of these hills. Guess it must be a really beautiful scenic place in the rainy season.

Pre Placement And Aptitude Test

We entered the seminar hall where the students had already assembled. At 8:50 am, we started the first campus pitch. It went off quite smoothly. Somehow, Sandeep managed to pull the melodrama of “Emotional Bond” into the presentation.

I thought the tests would begin soon. Only then, I realized this was half the crowd. There was still one more roomful of students waiting for a second campus. This time, Rahul introduced the Cognizant team a little more elaborately. He introduced me saying I was a fresher just like them, when I’d joined barely two years back. He said, the students could ask me questions regarding the change from the college life to professional life to me.

During the QA session, one girl got up. She said, “This question if for Mr Akshay”. Somewhere at the back of mind, the word, “Akshay” registered. The “Mr” sounded funny! Nobody had addressed me like that before. She wanted to know if I felt that I’d made the right decision in joining Cognizant. I said yes. She then wanted to know specific examples of the times when I felt good. I gave the example of HiFliers. By now, I was really getting worried about her motives! Was she interested in Cognizant or was she interested in me?? She finally asked, ”Can you give me the assurance that if I join Cognizant, I too will be given such a chance?” What chance will I give her? She’d not even cleared the aptitude test! Anyway, I told her, she’d definitely get a chance, only if she too could prove the company that she could deliver. Finally, she sat down. God, that was strange QA! When I sat down, Bala, Fayaz and Jayant had a field day. They were like: “Boss, she’s has a major crush on you. Why don’t you take her number down?” Bala said, “Your final answer was a bouncer!”

Anyway, the QA ended and the written tests started. It was then that we realized how hot Guntur really was! If you were not standing under a fan, you would feel like standing in a hot pan! Heaven only knows how the poor students attend classes in this place.

From 12:10 pm to 1:30 pm, we were trying to beat all odds in completing the correction. Luckily, we were made to sit in the Computer labs that had AC. Or else, I believe most of us would have landed in hospital with sever dehydration. The college was taking very good care of us. Every now and then, they would get tea, coffee, cold drinks and biscuits. The aptitude scores though was rather depressing. Anyway, we declared the short-lists by 1:40 pm.

We were then invited for lunch with the Principal, Placement Officer and others. The food served was heavy! I mean there was Roti, two types of Sabzi, Fried Rice, Sweets, Rasam, Sambar, Curds, cut Mango and Ice Cream. After this all of us were half asleep. After all, we still had to catch up on the sleep! Dragging ourselves, we started the interview process at around 2:30, a full one hour delay.

Interviews

Initially, Supreeta asked me to help her with the allocation of students. Then she said, I could sit with some panel. I initially sat with Sandeep. Then, having seen that Bala was selecting all the girls, I decided to sit with him in the panel.

Once we started the interview, we were shocked! The sheer infrastructure of the campus had given us a feeling that the college was good. But, the students’ level was shocking to say the least. People in third year engineering were telling us that they had forgotten subjects from second year or third year. Some were even claiming that they had not prepared for a technical interview. Well, we were there to recruit for CTS, not for Channel V or something!

Anyway, we were getting steadily appalled. After 11 interviews, we had selected just one candidate and she too was a benefit of doubt! Then, came a real refreshing candidate. After the interview, we asked her, if she had any doubts. She said, “Last week TCS was here to evaluate the campus. One of the guys told us that IT is a very tension filled profession. People at the age of 32 years suffer from heart attacks!” At that moment the look on Bala’s face was a real Kodak Moment! In life, there are situations when the mind just goes totally blank. This was one such moment. After a pause, Bala replied, “I am 32 years old and I’ve not yet suffered a heart attack!”

Well, the interviews went on and finally got over at 9:30 pm. We went to announce the results. When we told the Placement Officer that 32 candidates had been selected, he started to sulk like a kid! I mean, he literally started throwing tantrums.

Even when we announced the results, we were surprised. The selected candidates were so quiet! I mean, they were accepting the offer letters like some participation certificate! Anyway, our job for the day was done and we came back to hotel. The Campus Officer raced like crazy at speeds over 125 km to show his frustration!

After having dinner, all of us left for Hyderabad. Suffering from the same Yogic gestures, we slept along the way and reached the office at 7:15 am bringing the campus trip to Guntur to an end.

16-May-2005

A Strange Dream

Yesterday night, I woke up with a start after having the strangest dream ever. And when I woke up, I was intrigued by the clarity of the dream and the details that I could remember... it had never occurred before in my life. So, here is what I saw.

I have gone to visit some place. Which city, I have no idea of. But, all of a sudden, I remember, I am in a temple. It's a very beautiful temple with lots of trees and lush lawns.

I go into the main temple. There is a very beautiful deity. But, I can't remember the deity of which God was placed in the temple. I kneel down to pray, when all of a sudden the Pujari(priest) comes running.

He asks me, "Take this Prasad".

I take it into my hands. Immediately, he says, "Pay Rs 50 for the Prasad!". I say, "Excuse me.." He says, "Pay Rs 50 for the Prasad."

I am totally angry now. I had never asked for the Prasad, and this guy come running, thrusts it into my hands, without giving me an option and demands so much money. So, I just say, "Sorry." And place the Prasad back into the plate.

The pujari is shocked by my actions. He pleads saying, "You can't reject Prasad like that! Surely, the wrath of God shall befall you!" I just shrug and say, "So be it." And walk away!

At this point, I even meet my father. How he came there and from where, I have no idea. He just says, "Well done son." And walks away.

What hit me the most was the details and dialogues that I could so clearly recollect. I remember the intense anger that I felt when the Pujari demanded the money. After all, he came like a silly street hawker. When I was about to kneel down, he came like a hawk and offered the "Prasad", without giving me an option of rejecting or without telling me, that it even cost some amount.

I also remember the sense of satisfaction that I had on rejecting the offer. I can't remember when I have taken such a harsh decision in life. Being very considerate of others, and God-fearing, I'd most probably have paid up. But, in the dream, I took the right stand. After all, the blessings of God should not be earned by such bribes. And money should be paid, only as a donation, not like some fees.

At the end, I did feel happy about the way I'd behaved. Maybe, in a few days, I'll understand what the dream was all about.

Honeymoon - What I feel it means?

Marriages, they say, are made in heaven. I guess, you discover this bliss of the Paradise, even if for only a few days at those incredible days, spent as The Honeymoon

Until marriage, a boy and a girl may be in a serious relationship with total commitment to each other. Yet, there is a small amount of insecurity as the relationship is still not formal or legalized until it gets the stamp of the age-old institution of marriage. It is only when the couple get the blessings of all, make their relationship formal and take the pledge of staying "with each other until death" does them apart does the couple get into a higher plane where courtship ends and the life for each other really begins.

To get a couple used to each other to each other, tradition has it that they shall embark on a sacred journey of mutual discovery, a temporary Nirvana called Honeymoon.

It is a time when the couple have made the final plunge and the games of courtship has ended and a quest for the discovery of each other begins.

For a few days, the newly weds escape from the normal life, from work, from parents and friends. It is a time only for the two of them. As far as they are concerned, there are only two people on earth and nobody or nothing else matters.

The place selected for the honeymoon is generally a part of the earth pregnant with enchanting beauty. A place so exquisite and so filled with marvels of nature that you feel that you have finally reached the ultimate destination that so many religions speak of: Heaven, Swarga or Jannat.

At the feet of such lavish beauty, the couple when left alone can connect with the whispers of the wind, the freshness of the dew, the vista of the sunrise or the enchanting beauty of the moonlit sky.

I guess, a couple, when in such a close contact with nature can become like the children of Creation and loose all the cunningness that gets built over the years. Devoid of all the false facades, the two interact with each other like adults, yet, discover each other with the unquenching curiosity of a wide-eyed child.

At nights, when they can be with each other, without any guilt or worry is the real highlight. At a cold place, in the lap of Paradise, all that the two people can share is each other's warmth. I feel, when they fall into each other's arms, they do so after stripping off their masks that they put on for the world, of cloaks that they wear to ward off the arrows of pain that the world keeps hurling at them. What remains, is a pure human being, with only his values, principles and warmth. Nothing else. All other things are stripped away. It is at such a point in time that the man and woman open up completely. It is a time, when sex is an act of tender, yet enchanting journey of discovery. It is not the mindless, animalistic carnal thirst. The pure pleasure, the enchanting ecstasy and the consummating climax, all are moments when a human can experience heaven, right here on earth. In fact this quote from the movie Bicentennial Man sums up the meaning of sex so very well:

That you can lose yourself. Everything. All boundaries. All time. That two bodies can become so mixed up, that you don't know who's who or what's what. And just when the sweet confusion is so intense you think you're gonna die... you kind of do. Leaving you alone in your separate body, but the one you love is still there. That's a miracle. You can go to heaven and come back alive. You can go back anytime you want with the one you love.

This is also a time, when you allow yourself to be overwhelmed by your partner; a point, where you stop understanding where one person ends, and the other beings: it is a supreme point of oneness. A time, when you feel life has a lot of meaning and that, it is meaningless without your partner. Your partner and you. Nothing else.

Of course, the honeymoon does not last forever. As they say, to be in heaven, you gotta be dead first. So, the couple returns back to the daily life, a life filled with its own challenges, pains ,sufferings, tensions, worries, separations, meetings laced with lots of happiness and sadness.

With the passage of time, the enchantment of marriage vanishes. You are sucked into the daily grind of life. At times, situation seems so bad that the very partner with whom you had experienced a glimpse of the Paradise, feels like the greatest Satan

Yet, what services are the tender memories. Of times you spent holding hands and watching the sunset; of seeing a sky filled with millions of stars. Of times, when you had whispered the three magic words, "I love you" and had actually meant it. Of times when you just sat with each other and understood the vast meaning of silence. And of times, then you had promised, "No matter what, I'll be with you." Because, these are the moments that act as a balm against any tribulations of life and these are the promises that brings very heaven to the earth!

Iconism or Iconoclasm

Yesterday, while coming back from Pune, I had to sit through a grueling torure… I had to watch a total no-brainer movie called, “Mujhs Kuch Kehna Hai”. While watching the movie, I could not help, but start thinking about the strange amount of Iconisms that we Indians believe in!

Everything for us is represented as some sort of an Icon. We as Indians have started to revere and respect these icons, but have totally forgotten the very meaning of them all.

For example, we respect the Idols of our Gods and Goddesses. Yet, we never give a second thought to the meaning of the God’s image, the compassion, the knowledge and a lot other symbolic meaning that was to be portrayed by the idol.

We have so many leaders and their statues dotting at every corner on the cities roads. The ones that command the most respect / demand are that of Gandhi and Ambedkar. People like Mayawati have been playing on the psyche of the greatness of the people, by installing hundreds of statues of Ambedkar, a champion of the oppressed. Yet, the people today, only care about the number of statues and the place to install new statues. Never do they even give a thought of the teachings or the guidance given by Ambedkar or for that matter, any leader. Reading and understanding takes time and intelligence. Installing an icon, is very easy and needs no brain, but earns votes!

Similarly, the Kakhi dress that our netas adorn themselves with! Khaki was supposed to be symbol of the self-reliance of the Indians. Today, it has come to represent the ubiquitous dress of the disgusting, demeaning, morality challenged and principally corrupt politicians! Still, the rational beings of the nation are overshadowed by the people who have given up the difficult process of thinking. They just shrug the sholders on seeing another neta violating the sacred symbol.

Coming back to the movie, the heroine was a symbol of the Indian Culture. It is always depicted as such a colorful, so very cheerful and sacred in every movie that I can think of. The heroine has to be a beautiful girl, disciplined and totally selfless. This selflessness is often at the cost of losing out her self-respect. She’s almost always shown as a girl, who is always weak and dependant on the hero. The heroine’s only motive in life is to become the lady love of the hero. This is her career. Her end. What happens to this ravishing, fun and frolicking person is never shown. Why is it that we are so hypocritical? Why do we not show, that after marriage, the heroine literally has no existence of her own? The so-called ominous and omni-potent hero dictates her choice, her lifestyle, her wishes, her passions and her very reason to live. We talk of equality of gender. Yet, shamelessly we watch such trash of movies. We cheer it and set the heroines as examples to the girls. Then, when the human resource index is released, we sit and wonder what went wrong!

The movie had one more pedestrian symbol of Love. Forgettting that we are the nation that gave the world the Taj Mahal, here in the movie, we see a real mockery of this wonderful emotion. The guy sees a girl and falls in love. Her sister probes him, asking him, if he is in love or is it just infatuation. He says, he can’t live without her. He can’t concentrate on studies (he’s already been a failure for the past two years). He can’t do anything… But, he was not living as a human even before he fell in love. He was a failure in studies before too. He was not doing anything worthwhile before he fell in love. So, what’s the difference between his previous life and the new love filled life? I really wonder.

The heroine on the other hand is shown as an intelligent girl, involved in a Phd research on Indian Culture. Strangely, her thesis is restricted to the saccharine sweet traditions, like the Diwali and all. Never does she probe into the violence in the name of the marriage in the form of Dowry, or the repressive culture that brands a widow as a witch. Her whole character seems to be so very hollow, that you can literally see through her. On top it, she is shown as falling in love with a guy, who has no ambitions, who has no goal in life, who does not know the meaning of his existence. His knowledge of girls is restricted to them as being made only to be object of some else’s love, passion and most importantly compassion.

God, all this was so sickening that I was feeling like just getting out and walking out of the bus! Yet, I could not do that coz, I was sure that I’d then be on another bus. There too the driver would play some such movie. The problem is not with the movie itself, I guess. It is the culture that has stagnated and has stopped using its collective intelligence. Maybe, people are too consumed by the sloth that the inertia of non-thinking has brought about. It is after all a very painful process to think rationally and act on it.

VIT BE Comp 2003 Reunion

On the 14^th of November 2004, the ex-students of VIT, Pune met at the Vaishali Hotel, FC Road. It was supposed to be a re-union of the 2003 batch pass-outs. With Diwali festivities around, many people had gone home. So, very few people managed to turn-up. The attendance was not compulsory. VITians being accustomed to the habit of doing everything under compulsion, failed to comply, when there was no Compulsory tag attached to the meeting!

The meeting started off on a very nice note. Afroze, Ketan, Dheeraj, Damle, Deepak, Swapnil and Vignesh arrived at Vaishali, at scheduled time of 4 pm. Suyog and I were yet to reach. All the guys were talking with each other, but the eyes, I’m sure was hovering around. All of a sudden, there was a miss in their heart-beats! A slightly old man got of a rickshaw in-front of the Hotel. He had a look at the guys. The guys felt the same old thudding of heart, which was a common syndrome of Prabhuophobia! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the old man in front was Vaishali was none other than our HOD, Prabhu sir. It seems, he gave them all a smirk and told, “So, this is how you people pass time, looking at the people coming at Vaishali”. Before anyone could answer, he walked away.

Coming to Suyog. He told me, that the meeting was at 4 and he’d be coming to my place and then, we’d leave together for the FC Road. At 4:10, he called saying, he’d be coming in 10 minutes. I got ready, packed my bags and sat waiting for him. My bus to Hyderabad was at 9 pm. So, I’d decided to get all my stuff to the Hotel itself and leave from there. So, I was all dressed and ready to go. But, Suyog’s middle name is Punctuality! At 4:45, he called to say, that he’d mysteriously locked himself out of his house. He’d had to perform some death defying stunts. With God’ grace, he was saved and the door had opened. Now, he told me that he was really coming in 10 minutes. So, in exactly 10 minutes, at 5:15 pm, Suyog turned up at my place. Catching a bus, we finally reached the venue at 5:35 pm, local time. That is exactly same as 4 pm, IST. By then, frustrated at our display of time-consciousness, Afroze had left.

After the initial talk, we all started to comment on our figures! The conclusions were, Dheeraj has grown thin, compared to the past few months. But, overall, he’s grown fat. Incredible, though, people concluded that Ketan has grown a little plump. I do not agree to this! All others, it was decided are more or less of the same shape and size. Suyog of course, is getting into shape, after all, round is a shape. (I too am in the same category!)

The initial bantering completed, we all entered Vaishali, expecting some good sights and eye-pleasing moments. Alas! We were hopelessly disappointed. FC College was shut down for Diwali. So, there was no sparklers or sizzles at the Hotel! So, we all consoled each other and managed to get on with the business of the day.

The menu was taken, a cursory look given and seven SPDP’s (Shev Puri, Dahi Puri) and one Burger was ordered. With the stomach getting fuel, the mouths started to work. All of us updated each other about the projects, the lack net access at Infy, Security at Disha, Device Drives in Linux, pirated games at Microsoft and Annual Day at Cogni. Of course, all the talk was laced with a few harmless, pure vegetarian jokes, which only the mature audience amongst us can enjoy. Since, there are many who probably do not consider themselves mature enough, I shall refrain from recounting those refined moments.

The bill came and people had to find a Bakra. That turned out to be me! I had to pay the bill for all the guys, as it was a treat for my Award. It was only at this point that I was really happy at the low turn out. Or else, I would have been looted.

Then, we all went and continued the discussions, right at the entrance to the Hotel, until the security guard shooed us away. At this point, all of us were pondering over the work habits of PSPL guys. I mean, how can someone be so interested in work, that people go to office on Sunday evenings, during Diwali day and even on Diwali day, that falls on a Sunday. Vignesh was supposed to go to the office after the meeting. Jury’s decision: Daal mein kuch kaala/kaali hai! The probe is still on. Keep in touch for the updates. The sensational news will be out soon!

While continuing these discussions, we all went to an Ice Cream parlor and got double scoops of almost all flavors. This time, Ketan had to bear the brunt of the bill!

After a few more mature jokes and updates, we left, agreeing to meet again, as soon as possible. So, guys and gals, who missed this once in a lifetime opportunity, please do not miss the next chance!

Ornithology - The Art of Bird Wathching

Ornithology is the scientific study of Birds. It is one of the most commonly held habits among the boys and men. The reasons are aplenty and the sheer excitement, fun and the surprise element of this hobby entices a lot more enthusiastic followers to take up this hobby, year after year.

Of course, there are many types of birds. The primary classification is that of birds with feathers and birds that have none. The featherless birds are flightless. (Yet, they have the ability to take you on such flights of dreams that when you wake up, you’ll be asking for more!) This is the category that interests ornithologists more. As they are flightless, the probability of finding them at a given place is higher. For example, if you want to see the rare species of birds that migrate over thousands of kilometers, you need to awake early in the morning and be at the sanctuary before sunrise. Also, most of the birds go in for roosting early in the evening, just before sunset.

In the modern world, waking up before sunrise is difficult. And getting out of office before sunset is unheard of. So, the ornithologists have identified a species of birds that come out of the nests in the evening and return to roost late at night. The category of birds belongs to the female species of Homo Sapiens. These birds are found in large flocks, around shopping malls, movie multiplexes and such place where there shops that generally sells things that you either don’t need or, don’t have any known use.

The tools needed in bird watching are very simple. A keen eye and a right position is all that is required. You see, the birds have a very strange habit. Before leaving the nest, the birds spend hours preening in front of the mirror admiring the dress and adjusting the hair. When others on the road try to get a glimpse of such exquisite creative prowess of God, the birds feel their privacy is being invaded. Of course, modern technology has done its bit to reduce the privacy. But, the general habit of looking admiringly at well dressed and well made up birds is harmless habit. It is also quite helpful for the brain as it keeps it sharp and eyesight keen. Before actually indulging in the habit, enthusiasts must get some overview of the behavior of the birds, in order to get a pleasant experience.

The birds that most interest ornithologists fall in the category of featherless birds. They come in lots of colors and lots of types of outer covering. Some range from the traditional sarees to the modern low-cut-low-neckline-strapless dresses. Of course, the covering changes by the day and the occasion. Some times in can be traditional, sometimes; it can be eye-popping modern dress. Ornithologists are perpetually excited in trying to pre-empt the covering that the bird they are watching will have on the next day.

The next feature is the behavior of this strange species. Ornithologists have suffered the most on this aspect. It is also one of the things that even the modern marvels in science have failed to unlock. The birds have a very unpredictable behavior when interacting with their male counterparts. For example, these birds have an unforgettable memory and astounding ability to remember important dates, like friends’ Mom’s birthday to the first anniversary of things for example, first date, first day in office, first time on a night show at a movie, first time buying a mobile phone, etc. To top it all, these birds remember the anniversaries like the day somebody was married and the corresponding anniversaries. The male counterparts are lot more simple. They remember their own birthday, as they need to fill it in various forms. Apart from that remembering other dates is purely a coincidence. The problem starts when the females expect the males to remember the dates and to get some gift to commemorate the day. This taxes the male brain a lot and results in many a frustrating evenings, spent locked outside the house or sleeping on the couch.

The birds too have a very finely developed sense of punishing the male counterparts. Normal birds just peck the offender and that’s that. But, in the species of homo sapiens, it is lot more severe. Punishments ranges from total withdrawal from any conversations, constant frowning, answering in questions, fretting and frowning, sighing and crying, sobbing, temper tantrums and a lot more. The poor male counterparts have to bear the brunt. Being lowly developed in this area, they just do not know the response. Also, the birds with the charmingly disarming looks promote a false sense of vulnerability to the male counterparts. The males just melt in the hands of such fine manipulation.

Still, the passion of getting to know a new attractive bird is an incentive enough. The ornithologists are happy enough to find some bird, whose looks can kill. This is the ultimate prize. Getting know such a bird will be a dream come true. Of course, what happens later on is strictly out of scope of this dissertation. Hope this small article has helped you in providing a basic overview of the daunting subject of Ornithology.

Lonely Tunes

Yesterday, I'd called home. I was telling them about the girls finding a house in B'lore. It was at that time, it hit me! My own room-mates were moving out of the house. And they were never going to come back to the same house! When the time comes for them to return from onsite, it will be the time of their marriage. And then, they will no longer be bachelors and so, there will be no need for the bachelor's abode. Their bachelorhood would be over. With a chilling feeling, I realized that I was the only one without any such plans for the next year!

From the time of the call, this theme has been going on and on in my mind. In fact, from today morning, I am feeling very lonely. There seems to be a sort of forlorness in everything that I'm doing. When I woke up, I pained to hold someone close to me, just to feel the heart-beat. The pain to be with someone and hold someone is getting overpowering from the dawn. Sadly, there is no such person in my life!

This has started make me wonder.. Why is it that I suddenly feel so lonely and so very alone? After all, I've been alone from the past 24 years in my life. Then, what has changed in the past few days to make me feel this way?

I have no clue for the reasons. Maybe, one of the reason is the realization that people in my age group are all getting their soul-mates and moving on in life. It is this sheer fear that I'll be left alone which could be the cause. Or, the selfish fact that, friends who used to spend so much time with me, now hardly have any time to even talk to me. Or, it could be the peer pressure over the fact that I am alone.

Generally, all the friends are concerned about the fact that all of them are settled and I am the only one who has no such special person in the life. Whenver we go out or talk, somehow it meanders to this topic. Everytime and at every place, I keep getting remainded of the fact that I am alone. I understand that the motive is good on everyone's part. But, I sometimes feel hurt over the fact that these people keep remainding about the same topic, again and again. Why for heaven's sake can't the friends pick on some other topic?

Such talk used to never make any difference initially. Over a period of time, with so many repititions, I really have started to feel lonely. I was happy to be the way life was going on. The friends seem to have taken up the cause of helping me out. Or at least, trying to remind me. This has got me thinking over topics which I have always felt too complex for me to imagine immediately. After all, I am barely 24 years old. There is no rush to get hitched and settle in life. Yet, if all the people you know are getting settled, the mind starts to cook up thoughts like, "Is there something wrong with me?" Or "Why is it that I am the only one without a special friend? Is it some fault of mine?" And the most fearsome of all, "Am I going to be lonesome for the rest of life?"

Sure, the adage of idle mind being Devil's workshop is true. But, with nobody to help you spend time, the brain does get devious. And in throes of total loneliness, creep up such crazy thoughts. I know, many of them are plainly wrong. Yet, there is a fear lurking somewhere deep within and that sometimes gets terrifying.

I don't know why, but, even when all the people around are out hunting girl-friends and such, I feel that even thinking about these things is blasphemous. Is it really so bad a thing to do? It is definitely not. Then, why do I feel so guilty and try to abstain from even such thought? I don't know. Maybe, it is the fear. The fear that once I cross this rubicon of thought, the action will follow soon. And I am really terrified as to what can happend next. I feel that there are so many unpredictables in selecting a partner. With a mind driven by fear of loneliness, I feel, I may not find that right person.

To top it all, everytime, I go home, Mom keeps piling up stories of broken marriages, ruthless partners, malacious in-laws and more. If I were to remember everything of it, it would seem like, the marriage market is inundated by Satans! Still, there is a conflicting view. The friends who are going to settle seem to be so happy. They seem to be perpetually in the Seventh Heaven. I am torn between the two extremes. I just can't understan which of the two is the reality. Maybe a blend of the two would be the realistic picture. Yet, it is difficult to reconcile the fact the the angel and Satan can co-exist!

I really can't understand what to do or wheather I even need to do anything at all. I just felt like putting it all somewhere. So, wrote this thing!

A Momentous Journey

Last weekend, we had been to Chennai as a Cheer Squad for our Cricket team at the Cricnizent. The whole time was filled with wonderful memories.

The train journey

It all started with us leaving from Cognizant office to Chennai. The train was at 4 from Nampally. Vehicle had been booked for our sake. Ananth at the right moment had gone off on a team lunch! The time was already 2:40 pm and Ananth was nowhere in sight.

By the time he turned up, the weather was playing spoilsport. It started to drizzle and we were unable to find our taxi. Just started when it started to rain hard, we found our guys and left for the station. We reached the station well in time. Unfortunately, we had not got a complete cabin for ourselves. Two of the lower births had been allocated to an old couple. We thought, God help the couple!

The train journey began with a very pleasant event.. It had started to rain and the oppressive heat had given way to moist cool breeze. We had bought a stock of soft-drinks and bananas. We started to attack it almost immediately. We sent the old couple to another place. They were to return only for sleeping at night. They definitely wanted the lower births and we could not manage to get those for them.

We started with a game of cards. All together we played three different games, with at least 3 rounds of each game. All of us got bored of it soon. Everyone could easily look at others' cards! So, there was no fun in the game.

So, we started to play the game of "Yes/No/Maybe". Within 8 questions and three guesses, the others had to guess the personality. This was good fun. We played this for over 2 hours. Personalities ranged from Shankar Srinivasan, Osama bin Laden to Barkha Dutt.

By now, the old couple had returned. The time was 8:40 pm. They said, they wanted to sleep at 9 pm. So, we vacated the place and the births were put in place. The couple went off to sleep. All of us just stood there and started having our conversations.

At around 9:30 pm, all of us had given up hopes of food. Mani had said, food would be available at Guntur. We were worried that we had missed the place while we were playing. Luckily, this wasn't the case. We reached Guntur at around 9:40 pm. We got a lot of egg-oblates and dosas. Ate it while standing on the platform itself, as there was no place to sit and eat.

Then, started the real conspiracy. Ganesh and I were feeling sleepy. We pulled the birth and thought of sleeping at around 10:45. The rest of the gang had other ideas. They would not allow us to sleep. Every two minutes, Mani would tickle my feet and say, "Just in case you felt left out…. I have some updates: We are reaching Chennai in another 7 hours." Then, the update would be changed to 6 hours, 58 minutes and so on! Finally, I just gave up the idea of sleeping and sat up and chatted with the gang. At around 12 I could no longer sit and went off to sleep. The others were awake for some more time , it seems.

Next day morning, we reached Chennai. Mani's parents had sent the car to the station. Mani warned us all that we were in Chennai now. That meant, no more Chennai bashing. Talivar (Rajiini) was a Super-star here. Amma rules. Mani rocks. Any opinion against this was just not welcome; he said, it would result in dire results. We just accepted this. We had no options!

First day

The hotel booked for the Pune and Hyderabad team was the New Woodlands. The rooms were fabulous. It had a huge sitting room and an even bigger bedroom. I had to share the room with Niloy. The AC in the room and fan in the bathroom was really a boon. Otherwise surviving in oppressively hot city Chennai would have been an impossible task.

We went to the ground for our first match. It was Hyderabad versus Pune. We caught a place on the stands. Got some empty mineral water bottles, few whistles and posters and went on with out job. This was cheering our team like crazy. Obviously, our team won the match.

We then went back to the room, had a nap, got back to the stadium and cheered Pune which was now playing against Chennai A team. Unfortunately, Pune lost the match.

The Beach

Mani, Ananth, Shivani, Sai, Niloy, Supreeta and I decided to go for some outing in Chennai. We kidnapped our captain, Sriram from the ground. The plan was to go to the Eliott's beach. Mani, Sai, Shivani, Rowdur went off for the beach by the car. Ananth and Supreeta, Sriram and I were to go by an auto.

As luck would have it, our driver was a Tamil fanatic. On top of it, he was drunk. To top it all, he had an affinity to mobile phones! So, from the time we left, he'd drive sometime, and then ask me to call Ananth. Then, he'd take the phone from my hands, ask Ananth to hand to phone to the driver and they would speak. This happened some three times. Talk about technology and its misuse! By the time we got out of the auto, I'd lost some 50 bucks on the calls made by our driver.

While driving, he gave us a sermon on the great language that Tamil is. He asked us where we were from. We replied that we were from Hyderabad. Then he asked, what languages were spoken in Hyderabad. We told, Telugu, Hindi and English. He asked why people in Hyderabad did not speak Tamil. We did not answer. He then said, that Tamil is the oldest, the sweetest and the most beautiful language that is there. Sriram was seething beside me and I was getting ready to get my hands on this driver's neck. Finally, Sriram and I got bored of the loquacious driver and asked him to dump us at some point where we saw the beach! Luckily, it turned out to be the correct spot.

One by one, all the gang started to trickle in. We were all very hungry and a nice bajji stall was inviting us with the tantalizing chillis. So, we decided to have them. We ate Mirchi bajji, Banana bajji, Potato bajji, Onion bajji and Gobi bajji. The chutney tasted heavenly. Then, Ananth said that masala channa is too good. So, we got that and ate that too.

The sea was inviting. So, we decided to just get our feet into the water. The moment I hit water, I could not contain myself. I just wanted to get totally wet! The waves were strong and the tide was good. All of us had a good fun.

Then, a hawker came selling a sweet that is Indianized version of Cotton Candy. We had that too. By then, Niloy realized that his mobile was missing. All of got into a massive hunt for the mobile. We coaxed a hawker to help us in the search with his petromax lamp. Despite this, we never recovered the phone. It seems, this was Niloy's third phone. He'd lost two of them before! It was then that Mani told us that he too was almost going to loose his mobile in the train.

In the morning, while brushing his teeth, Mani had put the mobile on the wash-basin sill. He had forgot to take it back. He'd realized it only on reaching Chennai. That too, when he wanted to call for the driver and could not find the mobile. With a sinking heart, he went to the exit door. Amazingly, his mobile was still sitting pretty on the sill. How nobody noticed it is a real mystery.

Coming back to the beach. Niloy's phone was lost. We could do nothing about it. There was still one thing that we'd not done: eating the totapuri mango. So, we fulfilled this need/greed too. We were gobbling it so fast that the hawker had a great difficulty in matching upto to our speed in cutting the mangos!

We then came back to hotel, had a bath and had dinner. The thali was delicious. Then, we all crashed. The first day in Chennai had come to an end.

Day Two

Sunday morning seemed to be pleasant. Either the weather had cooled down or we had got adjusted to Chennai.

Anyway, we all got ready with a great sense of time. Hyderabad was supposed to play Chennai A at 9 am. People in the hotel managed to get ready by 9:30. Then, we had a heavy breakfast. After this, we left for the stadium. The time was 10. We thought at least one innings would have completed.

Only on reaching the ground, we realized that it had rained the previous night. The pitch had to dry. So, the match was postponed to 10:45 am. We weren't late after all!

We went back to our place to watch the match. This time, Chennai had a lot more supporters. So, we ensured not to bait the crowd. No point in it. They tried to bait us a lot. But, being the genteel group that we are, we took it all in stride and never fought back. We never needed it. Our team won the match in great style. We won by 5 wickets and 3 overs to spare!

We went back to the hotel. Ananth and gang went to some shop and got a dirty colored yellow T-Shirt. We were to make the team shirts. We started our artistic job at 4:30 while the match was supposed to start at 5! Rushing through it, we managed to print "Team Hyd" on the front and "Rocks" on the back of all the 11 shirts. The best thing was, no two team T-Shirts looked alike!

Wearing it, we all rushed to the road to find our team aboard the bus, about to leave for the stadium! Again, we were right on time! It seems a last minute match for the managers had been decided and was going on. The finals were to start only at 7.

Superstition

This time, the team was extremely careful. They did not want to upset any of the Gods! They had been visiting a temple before every match. This time too, they did it. The conditions were many though. Every action performed or not performed in the morning had to be repeated exactly. People who had left their shoes in the bus had to leave the shoes in the bus. People who had gone in to the temple late, had to go in late. We were not present in the morning at the temple. So, we were not allowed to go. {We were actually not in the bus in the morning. Why did the team allow us to accompany them? This is a big mystery still!} People were wearing the same T-Shirt, same trousers and same socks (at this point Swaroop stopped the team to list the similarities.)

We too were not behind the team in our beliefs. On every match before, we had gone to first floor only after the game commenced. After the opponent's batting, we had gone to meet the team. We had come up only when the game had begun, missing the first over in transit. We repeated all of it for the finals too!

The match

The match was about to begin. The ground looked bathed in light. The sheer brightness was unbelievable! From the ground floor, the view of the stadium would deceive anyone about the time. It looked like the time was something like 6 in the evening. It felt like the evening was about the being and the twilight was fast approaching. Yet, if you looked around it would be dark! The only give away was the shadow. Instead of one, there were now 4!

We went up to cheer for our team, wearing the T-Shirts. We were getting looks from one and all. There were various types of looks: surprise, fascination, disgust, curiosity, ridicule and a lot more. Braving all this, we majestically went and occupied our seats.

The previous evening, when Pune was playing Chennai A, we'd supported them. Also, when Bangalore was playing Chennai B, we had supported them. So, these guys all decided to support us! All the telugu gang from Chennai offices came to our support. On the finals, the strength of Hyderabad supporters was no less than that of the Chennai gang. We could match them in sheer noise and loudness. And we actually out did them!

Nishant played a magnificent innings in the finals. Despite being the wicket-keeper, he showed no fatigue while running between the wickets. The Chennai team played badly scoring just 106 runs in 20 overs for 9 wickets. This was a big achievement for them. Their score was something like, 1 wicket at end of over 1 to 4 wickets at end of 4 overs! Our guys had the trade-mark four catch miss. Once, we dropped the Chennai captain's catch. Someone said, we just dropped the cup. Himani retorted saying, this was the first catch. We had three more to go! This was because, in all the matches, we had dropped exactly four catches! And in the finals too, we repeated the performance!

Playing solidly, we were easily poised to win the match. We were 96 for 3 in 17 overs. By then, the guys on the field shouted and asked us all to be present on the boundary line. We were reluctant. Superstition mandated us to be at our seats until we completed the innings. But, we decided to go ahead anyway. This was a major turning point. In this over, we lost three wickets for just 2 runs!

All of us were sitting with the hearts in the mouth when the Chennai team started to field badly and gave away three runs by just overthrows. Ritanshu finally scored the winning shot. He had also done some amazing fielding, which got a special mention from our Chief Guest, Mr. Gundappa Vishwanath.

The after match ceremony was sheer ecstasy! We all could barely stand on the boundary line! Shankar had urged us not to cross this at any time! And we were managing to stick on to our promise. Finally, while our team was receiving the trophy, Sriram said, "We are a team of 25 and not of 11." That was the ultimate tribute we got.

First Flight

That night, we had dinner at Savera and slept only till 4 am. We had to reach the airport by 5 am. Somehow all of us managed to drag ourselves! There we had a great time looking at some good looking females. In fact, Mani fooled us all by saying there was Sania Mirza at the checking counter. There was a female with the glasses that looked like hers' but, she was a totally different person! Still all of us sat gawking at her!

The flight, my first ever one was not all that glamorous. I'd thought the plane would be huge and airhostesses would be incredibly beautiful. The Airbus A 320 is the bigger of the planes, but on the inside, it looked like a railway coach. In the extreme fatigue, the airhostesses did not look appealing. Still they were beautiful! I managed to get the very last window seat. This was a real experience!

As taxied, I thought, it was really boring. But, the take was fabulous. From a mere 16 km per hour, it seems the plane accelerated to over 100 km per hour in under 15 seconds! The thrill was amazing. The plane stopped on the runway. The propeller noise rose steadily. The brakes were released. Like a wild beast on a chase, the plane just leapt off and before even I could realize, the wheels were off the ground.

All the while I was busily watching the wings. The flaps being opened, closed, adjusted and controlled. This was a real humbling moment. One wrong move on the flaps and we could all plunge down to earth!

After taking off, the plane took a turn. It felt like a Tora-tora ride! The way the plane bends while turning really gives a thrill! All of a sudden the wings seem to bank. The horizon gets tilted and the massive plane will be making a change in direction.

Once it reached the cruising altitude, everything was quiet. Since there were clouds, initially looking out of window felt very exciting. We initially flew through the smoky plumes and before we knew it, we were flying above them.

There were various types of clouds: the little abandoned small ones, hovering aimlessly, the small group ones, which looked like small balls of cotton floating over each other and the big bad group which looked like a churning mass of white stuck together and stretched miles and miles across the sky.

By then, one hour was up and it was time to land. I tried to figure out Tank Bund. But, never managed to locate it. The landing too was a great experience. All of a sudden the plane slowed down. The flaps were moved down and suddenly the giant mass seemed to just halt in mid-air. I was getting tense that it would stall and fall down! Yet, it did not. The braking mechanism is truly frightening! When the plane did land, the flaps were completely opened like a flower blossoming out. Only, the internals of the wings are not as beautiful.

After deplaning, we all took our autos home and thus ended the great Chennai trip!