Hyderabad ! My Short Term Transfer !

The life of a software engineer is always full of uncertainties. This was yet another example. On a Wednesday morning, October 5th, my Project manager came to my cubicle. I was playing with registries and dll's as usual using my MSI editor tool. He pulled a chair from the next cubicle and sat with me. Began to ask about my future plans. Slowly the topic slipped into the technology I'm working with which is ' Windows Installer Technologies'. My instinct said something bad is coming.Then the question came
PM: Ramesh, "How Much u r interested in learning one more tool for Windows installer?" My answer should be a YES, and I gave it away.
Next question came like this
PM:-" How much comfortable r u relocating ur self into another place on a short notice".

This question sounded like they r gonna send me onsite. So I have to say I'm comfortable. Now comes the real hard hitter
PM:-“ So Ramesh, Get ready for a journey as u'll have to attend training on a new tool and get into a new project in Hyderabad, u'll have to report there my next Monday". This is how the transfer traps are laid...But this was all official.
I was getting bored up with Bangalore life. Things were getting into a mess. I was stuck up with a bad routine. Everyday the same bus, different faces, but no body cares to smile as ‘being social’ is not easy for a software engineer! In office it always end up as same food, same kind of work and same ppl all around you. I needed a break, little fresh air, to get out of my comfort zone and do something refreshing. I badly needed change from my cubicle at least. So god gave it this way.
My journey to 'Hyderabad' started with one of colleague who also fell into the same trap, but in her case she asked for the transfer.The journey started with a lot of things happening. My colleague’s auto rickshaw was hit by a BMTC bus on the way and we had to keep the bus waiting for 20 minutes. The driver was moving the bus a few inches every now and then, but she was able to make it in time. Her friend was also there helping me out to keep the bus waiting!!! We were standing in front of the bus ensuring that the bus won't leave without us!
The hotel booked by our company was not up to the cooperate standards. The rooms were small compared to what we had in Bangalore. But it's paid by our company and that too on for one week, " Sub kuch chlata hey". My colleague who traveled was a northy from ‘Bareli’. Being with her for some time, my Hindi improved (if u can call moving from 1 to 2 in a scale of 10 as an improvement). Still I struggle with the gender problems of Hindi. Some time it’s for the Subject and sometime its for the object, but I was catching up quickly. Hyderabad seems to be less crowded than Bangalore. May be I haven’t gone into the crowded places. Lot’z of places to visit in Hyderabad.
There was a Half Marathon going on in Hyderabad and I was very happy to finish 10 km in one hour 8 minutes. I was running after a break of 8 years. The last time I ran was in my High school and I don't remember the chronological place as there was more than 25 participants and I was among the last five to finish.
Another fellow who fell into this transfer trap was also in there, who traveled before me. He was enjoying things at Hyderabad. He called himself a 'Daarobaaz' and enjoyed the new buch of folks he got at hyderabad for 'Boozing'.He was focusing on a good cycle of 'daro bazz' in the next quarter with entries from all the good pubs in Hyderabad topped with an entry in 'Goa' around the Newyear! He told me about the corperate nights happening in one of the pub which was pretty much interesting for me. I had plans to visit the place but struggled to find a good company and time. I was shocked to find my reporting project manager as this was the same fellow who rated me bad on communication skills because I had spelling mistakes on my first mail to him. This guy can hardly say an English word properly but kept on saying
" Ramshzz U have to improve ur communication skilshzzz otherwishzzze itszzz not going to work out!!!"
I kept a note in my mind not to take a ride from him this time. The first day itself he pointed out me about the onsite account getting locked. The real problem was there was an automatic logging enabled and it got locked. PM raised my name and told me hard on face that i have to be watchful with my passwords. I gave him back then and there stating the problem and how I’m not a part of it.Then his managing skills sprang up and the usual sentence followed.
" Rameshzzz U have to take it from a poszzzistive frameee of Mind...".
I got accommodation with my friend from my X-project. I was very happy with the 3BHK flat and the group to which I was introduced. There were three guys from a US based MNC with the same name Arun, so we ended up calling by their father's name. There was one more guy from another US based company who was the senior most in the house. The house had everything a bachelor will need. TV, DVD player, PC with 24 hr internet connection, washing machine, good company for cards, for booze up, smoking, for everything ;). I started to like things around except my PM. But that also got resolved with in one week as the PM got into a new project and went onsite. Poor client ppl as he flew to Japan! They are defentily gonna suffer.

I started to look for some interesting faces in our floor, basically my PU (project Unit). One girl was little attractive and bold, but as us usal good faces are always booked :D. Our company has a reputation for good looking gals but in Hyderabad it was different. The concentration was far below what we had in Bangalore. No hard feelings Hyderabhadiyan's, it depends a lot on beholder of the eye. I never found anything interesting in Hyderabad apart from some faces which stole some glances. As things were getting settled, it got rattled again by a mail from my SPM (senior Project Manager) saying that our project is held up for another two months. So we three from Bangalore got held up in Hyderabad on bench doing some 'Phaltu' work as my colleague will phrase it!
We had nothing to do until another PM started to bug us for some innovative ideas for the process we are dealing with. It was nothing innovative and we figured it out that the job was just to keep us with work until the project is kicked off.
I got to attend three treats as it was a birthday season from my X project mates. Went to Hussein Sager lake, hotel Paradise and had Hyderabadi Biriyani!!!. I have heard a lot about it but I didn't find it tastier. The biriyani was too rich for me! I luv my old Kerala chicken biriyani :D. Went to IMAX and saw the movie 'Harry Potter and Globlet of Fire', one among the only two of that kind in India.I have to admit, the screen is too big for my eyes and it was a memorable experience. The ‘Necklace road’ and ‘Eat Street’ is a good place to spend an evening if you have a good company. But we 'the mallu' group from my room was left stranded looking at couples there. One guy from our room was getting married by Jan. This was the second part of a two year old love story. We had fun teasing this guy about his future plans and the ealry inroad to the nuanses of life.
I tried a lot of new things here like Gym, Aerobics and all. I got inspired from by my colleague. The funniest thing in Aerobics was I was the only beginner who created the maximum headache for the trainer as I erred steps and always disrupted the rhythm. But as usual the regularity for health governing activates began to fade with weeks.. By December first week I got information from my PM asking me to apply for Sweden VISA and to prepare for my first assignment abroad.
Things started off good but later I came to know that there are only remote chances for me to make it to ‘Onsite’. The work permit application got stuck up as the consulate found it difficult to find my face in the dark back ground photo and asked for a white background photo. I should have smiled with my teeth out to ensure that they can locate at least a white strip in the photo… Still I was happy to be in a good project which might come up. By December third week, the Project for which I was transferred got started and all the team members started to work. I was the lone boy left out from the group to one of the corner cubicle waiting for the project which might come up during the next month.

Life is always full of uncertainties. I came here for one project but ended up doing some other work and found my way to some other project which is a long way ahead to start. A thing starts to look very exciting for a moment and it fades off. The off beat mode of a person springs up suddenly from no where to heights of excitements. Life is not always fare with anyone. When it’s playing fair, express the thanks to thee and when it goes the other way ask god for strength to play with the unfair life.
Looking forward to yet another spree in ONSITE.... I'll come up with my next post...
'My First Onsite Visit'