If it has to, It will... who are you to Stop it :):)

This incident reminds me of a famous Rajnikanth's diaolgue

"Dakkedi dakkaka Maanadu... Dakkanadi ennatiki dakkadu"

(If you are supposed to get it, you will get it...if you are not, you will never get it)...

Getting train tickets / bus tickets to Vizag on weekends is always a problem and more so if it is a long weekend ( 4 days)... One such weekend was the August 15th weekend. As expected all the tickets were booked long back and the waiting list ran miles..(courtesy my adhoc planning too)..Now comes TATKAL the Saviour...But but ...what is the use if I forget on the D -day...a day late and booking was closed :(:(.. I had to latch onto some of my colleagues who have confirmed tickets and luckily whose travel dates also coincided with mine....

"Neelu, Can I also come along with you people???"

"Oh!! With pleasure Bandaru we will adjust and go".. Hummayya, solved ooochhh..

Now what else , All I was needed to do is take a general ticket and board the train along with them..Wasn't it so simple ??? If that is the case then why the hell am I giving this prelude....Till now happy.. now starts struggle...

The journey day arrives.. I haven't packed my bags yet.. Here is the plan..

Godavari departs at 5:50 P.M. in Secunderabad.. So, me to leave office by 4:00, reach home by 4:40, pack bags by 5:00, reach station by 5:30.. WOW!!! what a cool plan naaaa....

We went for an outside lunch and were coming back happily at 2:30 when Neelu confronted me and asked

"Why are you still in office? When are you planning to move to station??"

I said.. "I will leave at 4:00, go home and come to station"

"But will you be able to make it as the train will depart by 5:00"

Me - "Come on stop kidding Godavari leaves by 5:50"

"But we are going by Visakha and not godavari"

"Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat the Heck??" (Sheer carelessness from my side - assumed quite a few things:(:( )

All my plans went for a toss and now I had to rush fast as I already lost an hour....Went to my cubicle and opened my mail box..."Call me to discuss" read a mail from my DM in reply to my mail in the morning..Its already 3:00 but its DM .. what to do??? Decided to take the call on my mobile (What a brilliant idea sirjeee :P:P ) and left the campus promptly by 3:15 ..Was at Mehdipatnam by 3:30 until I got struck in middle of that traffic jam --(Why should everyone hit the roads the same time??)..Took me 20 minutes to cross a stretch of 100 m :(:( ..Forgot to mention - in the meanwhile I called up Neelu and asked her to stand in the queue for my general ticket until I reach station...with my bike on full throttle I zoomed past everyone and was at last junction before my house...Someone hit my bike from behind and went away..No time to even settle scores with him...Lifted my bike and went to my house...I was at my home by 4:05..

Five minutes packing and I was again on road to catch an auto..After waiting for 10 minutes I finally got one and boarded it and sighed relief that I was on time...Is that it??? there is more to follow folks...

While I was on my way, the auto came to a screeching halt at Spencer's Plaza.. Why??? But Why???

"Sir, Gear wire tegi poyindi (Gear wire broke)"...Come on give me a break yaar.. you can't do that to me..He was helpless and so was I...I was very lucky enough to hitchhike on to someone immediately who is going to the station itself.....When I was about to take my wallet out he stopped saying

"No No, What are you doing???"

"Boss, don't worry here is my visiting card and you can contact me whenever you need anything.. I am very grateful to you" --- Googly to him :P

So I was at station at 4:40 PM... I went to the ticket counter and saw long lines..I patted myself for being clever enough to ask Neelu to stand in queue before hand...

Picture Baaki hein Mere dost....

To my utter disbelief she was not there in the queue. On inquiry I found out she never even cared to stand as they were all gents.. Now what 20 minutes left for train's departure and 30-40 people in queue. It was probably for the first time I was sincerely hoping that the guy at the ticket counter is the most efficient person on earth.....If that was not enough , to add to my woes
someone was bickering over 1 Rs or 2Rs change at the ticket counter......Some 20 odd coherent shouts shooed him away...Now its 5 minutes and 10 persons left...The clock struck 5:00 , 5 more persons left and I got a call saying the train is about to move...I requested all my front queue mates and jumped the queue..Put my hand in and almost snatched the ticket from the person.... I ran in full steam with all my luggage and finally boarded the train...As soon as I stepped into the train the train moved....

The irony or rather should I say the Icing on the cake was that the TT never checked my ticket and I landed in Vizag for a cost of 151Rs

Friends for Ever!!!

Most often your schoolmates, +2 mates, collegemates, gully mates, Colleagues make your friends list. But how many of them do you believe are with you through your thick and thin..As the proverbial saying goes "Friend in need is a friend indeed".. Well, I felt there is something much more to that. The strength of the special bond you share is not always quantifiable in terms of his availability in your needs..Did I make any sense??
GOD forbid, I may not be in a position to help my closest friend who is in need but that shouldn't make me his enemy. He for sure will definitely understand my position.
I have seen people who made friends just on need basis i.e.
When you need him - you make friendship and
When you don't need him - Why the hell should I care??
I have also seen job hoppers who are afraid to make frienships with their colleagues for some interesting/strange reason like "I can't lose friendship again if I shift the company"
Thanks for our loyal ways for not switching companies, I have made some wonderful friends out here in Infosys..Not only for us but for outsiders too it seemed as though we were friends since ages.... We may not share each and everything but they are with me in modelling my professional and personal career.
But
Just like everyone( I believe :P), even I have very few close friend(s) to whom I disclose each and everything. One of my +2 friends falls in this elite category...It's been almost 12 years since we met for the first time. Always wondered why that late :(:( He is the one who patiently listens to my gibberish talk ( Poor him)... He is the first one with whom I shared all my joy... He is always there with me when I am down and out...It had to be The Destiny that put me onsite when he got married..It seems as though It is still playing with me... He is now onsite and I am offshore...Now our timelines no longer overlap :(:(.. We hardly get to chat once a week....People say in this age of technology there are no longer Geographical barriers..I am definitely not one of those proponents of this theory...Now who is there to accompany me on a fresh evening walk on Vizag beach...Who is there to accompany me for my late night dinners in that famous Dhaba on the city outskirts?? Can some gadget give me that feeling??

True Friendship can never be broken... No matter how many spam mails we get about Friendship, it can only expand and not shrink..

Although our professional aspirations parted us, we are Friends forever emotionally!!! I can see through his eyes and he can see through my eyes.

Love at First Sight!!!!

Some believe in Eternal Love and some others are not even in a position to fathom what Love is all about. There are people who believe in "Love at First Sight" and there are people who believe in "Systematic Love" as appearances can deceive. I for one have joined the first club recently courtesy my recent transfer of IBUs....You might be wondering if I have accidentally bumped into some damsel in this Tinsel town Hyderabad... Naaaaa... I was mentioning about my recent Junket to "Mangalore - the city of beaches on Mallabar Coast". True my friends it was Mangalore only and nothing else ;) ;)..It was on that eventful evening of 17th Sep that my trip to mangalore for training has been confirmed...
I have never heard about Mangalore before( may be because Mangalore was not part of national news) except for the fact that my Infy has a DC out there...But going by the norm, as I am going there, something strange should happen right.... to add to my already apprehensive brain??? .. Here it is... All throughout that week Mangalore was in the National headlines purely for wrong reasons.. The communal clashes :(:( But what the hell !!! I come from Hyderabad and why should I fear about Mangalore.. Ok All was set to go...The D-day arrived and I had to catch a flight to Bangalore and then to Mangalore.. As usual Bangalore journey was a routine affair and there I boarded the Mangalore flight...Oh !!! I forgot to mention that the Flight was KingFisher Red service....All my "Kingfisher Joy" went into drain when I came to know that KingFisher Red service is nothing but erstwhile Air Deccan..:(:( poor me.... Anyways I consoled myself saying that it doesn't matter yaar as the travel time is only 1 hr....just some 30 Minutes into journey I could see some dense forests beneath and it felt as if I was travelling on a plane over the great forests of Amazon..... The white clouds added to the beauty...It became better and better as we approached Mangalore...Incidentally Mangalore airport is built on a Hill Top.... God knows why :):)... That is when I fell in love with this City....."Love at first sight"... If thats not enough the next day journey to office was mind blowing....To my pleasant surprise my office is located on a Hill top too...Although our journey started on a Pot Holed Road, it never was the same when we crossed Mangalore... All through the journey it was greenery and greenery....We had a to cross netravathi river on the bridge on our way through.. It was definitely a breathtaking sight....Had I been a Nature poet I would have compiled atleast 100 short poems till now :):)... Just imagine going through this greenery, listening to Jalsa songs especially "Sanidapa Magarisa... Karo Karo jara Jalsa" with cool breeze blowing acrosss...Are we going for work or some vacation????? I am not sure how mangaloreans here work with such an ambience but I definitely struggled to concentrate......May be they get bored seeing the same thing day in and day out but it is definitely worth a trip once in a while... How I wish I had my Canon S3IS with me for capturing the Glimpses of Beautiful Nature one can come across...

Oho thatttaaaaa!!! I think Whatoooo Whatuuuuu

Why are people so obsessed with learning english / Engilipeeechuuu?? Language is never a barrier for unconditional frienship....huh... enough is enough.. enough of philosophical touches....How good do we feel when we reminisce some of the humorous titbits of yesteryear movies like Chantabayyi, Ahana pellanta, Chitram bhalare Vichitram, (the list goes on and on...) "Welcome Miss Jwala, I would like to interrogate you.. You please co-operate with us" from Chantabbayi or "Aha... parama boring face....." from Ahana Pellanata are one of the best pick up lines to start an hours long discussion on COMEDY bits...Comedy is one genre which i will never ever get vexed with....I may be the butt of all jokes during our friendly get togethers but I take it with good spirit because I see others happy... As for most of us our College days are the best days if we retrospect.... I can cite many instances where we ended having loooooooong discussions on movies... Thanks to some of my friends who are very good at rememebering some famous dialogues verbatim and also some friends who can mimic anyone seamlessly and I mean it...Most often in a group (atleast our group) your joke / mock will succeed only when you have majority of the group on your side other wise the tide will turn upside down...hmm there are situations where some people collude to make you "Bakara" irrespective of the quality of the joke. :):)... This is probably one of the very few instances where "The Ball" (as we called it) should never be in your court...Ala "Passing the parcel" .. No matter whatever Cross Cultural Sensitivity modules say, the best pick up line for us is always a topic on movies and not weather as mentioned... I believe smile is what that keeps up live and kicking...
Start a day with a smile and see how long you can sustain it ;) ;)..

Scope for improvement - A different perspective

Being in software engineer's shoes, one is supposed to get acquainted with the typical Jargon of the day to day life. One of the few things which bemused me the most are the words "There is still a scope for improvement". Bosss do you know the exact definition of perfection??? I wonder if there is anything in this world which is absolutely perfect and leaves no scope for fault finders... I sometimes feel the main driving force behind these WORDS of WISDOM is GREED ....This reminds me of an anecdote.. Once Mr X. had to go to a place by 10:30 A.M. sharp. He had no other means apart from catching a bus. Here goes the chronological sequence of events....
First Wish : Bus to come early on time - bus comes
next --> Hope to alteast get a foot space on the foot board -- He hardly manages to get one
next --> Kaash Bus ke Andar jagah miltha --- Luckily he gets space and goes inside the bus
next --> Why is that school boy sitting the Raja way?? Why can't he share his seat???--- seeing his plight the school boy offers to share the seat...
next --> It is a bit clumsy out here.. why doesn't he alight the bus so that I can sit comfortably--- Thank God his school arrived .. He got to sit comfortably.. (Did I say comfortably???)
Next --> wish for window
next --> wish for a beautiful girl to sit beside him.......
His greed knew no bounds....
Are you not comfortable with what you have??? Are you not satisified enough???
There is always a scope for improvement... Should some lame person who is not even remotely related to us tell that to us?? Are we not wise enough to know that there is scope for improvement.... It seems as though they are the so called perfectionists and purists and we are their disciples...It is not only in this hyped software profession but it is the buzz word everywhere...They feel this is the most euphemistic way of expressing displeasure...They also sometimes say this even if some one performs splendidly lest he gets carried away...Even if you reach the pinnacle of success they still say "There is still a scope for improvement..."
Just Imagine if everything on this earth is put into objective terms......

An Open Diaryyy

Ever wondered what a blog is??? Blogging nowadays has become more of a fashion and passion. There are some very active bloggers and also active bloggeees ( thought bloggee is brunette version of blogger- the blonde:P). My friend R after being an active bloggee for considerable amount of time, decided to embark the blogship and become a blogger. He was successful to some extent and was happy that he got some rave reviews until he stumbled upon one block.... My friend C who is not soo much into this Hi-Fi business of surfing ;) asked My Friend R "Arey what is a blog ra??" with me being the third person in this banter...I couldn't resuscitate after receiving this jolt.. Can some body be so naive to not to Know what a blog is???? I knew the question was for Mr. R but what if I were to be made the target... The question was not intriguing but was made so, mainly because it had to be explained to someone who is so naive(Layman) and inquisitive.. But Thank GOD Mr. R has come up with an Answer which dumbfounded me for a moment...."Emi ledu ra Blog antey oka Open Diary anthe" (for non - telugu folks "Blog is nothing but an open diary")...As such my mind is a paradigm for convoluted answers but this Answer made me think think and think.... Is Blog really an Open Diary as he claimed??? With due to regards to the original closed/confidential diary--Can we peep into someone's diary even though we know it doesn't contain any confidential information?? Can we comment on their thought process?? It is all upto admiration but can we really criticize the way people think about ourselves?? .. There were several such questions which pounded my brain relentlessly from then on...But really is there any other way to explain what a Blog is to a layman (may be to my dad :O)

One typical Friday Evening...

On a Monday morning clad in a blue shirt and navy blue trousers ( Monday morning blues :P ) ,I sit here to pen down few exciting moments of the past gone weekend. Unlike any other weekend, this time I had no company to rejoice on friday ( Courtesy Optional Holiday). Some of my friends have opted to take the optional holiday on the same day may be fearing what lays in future. I was so bored that the moment it struck five, I logged into Bookmyshow to see if there are any movies left for me to watch...Humayyaaa. I found one.. It was "A Wednesday" the much acclaimed movie but some thing scared me. It was in fact the show timing which read 6:45 P.M. in Adlabs.. Who would accompany me to the movie if it is so early in the evening?? Yes mere doston yeh hein Software ka world.. Yahaan 6:00 p.m. is considered to be way too early to leave the office...I thought " Let me give a try to find my soul mate ( Cinema mate actually :D :D) " I called up Kicchi gadu and demanded he accompany me to the movie..." Ok baava naaku 2 minutes ivvu nenu tirigi call chestha".. The "dreadful" call never came back ...There goes the water to douse the fire... I had to settle to my usual evening routine of playing Carroms and going home.... It being a Friday, enroute to home( Via Toli Chowki , Mehdipatnam) I could see a sea of Haleem counters crammed with people....Although my mind was inclinded to have one, my body was pushing me to drive home ASAP...My Journey continued and continued until it came to a halt at my timepass rental shop.."VENKAT's VCD and DVD Rentals" :) .. I finally grabbed on to the movie "Bandhuvulu vastunnaru Jagrathha"... Haan then came the most cherished moment of the evening.. The cultural fest at the Ganpathi pandal of my colony... It was a lovely treat to the eyes to watch small kids dancing to the numbers of Jab we met, OSO, Chirutha etc... Boyyyy they did have the enthu to dance the whole night...What was supposed to be a dull friday evening ended with a drooling moment... Don't dispose a day just because you had a bad start :):)