Bench Time ...Again!

Bench is a very normal terminology in IT industry but for the sake of some non it readers -> Bench means some thing like people put on rest/ hold. I think the terminology came from the players in a team who sit out on bench. If a player gets injured in the match, they will be substituted with folks on bench. So coming back to the topic, I am put on rest! In the industry, the time we spend in bench is a bad thing as it actually reflects badly in the salary perks we are promised to get at the end of each year on salary revision. After seeing the circle through for 4 years, who cares about it!

Bench! I had a totally new, not totally but a rare routine to stick to. For my next client who required an out of the world back ground check before I start working in there location, I had to wait for three weeks. Three weeks, I didn’t had an office to go, so I ended up working from home. Working in the sense checking my office mails from home! Due to the circum-specific scenario, I had no managers to report to. So I ended up spending three weeks of paid vacation at home (In USA). I woke up at morning 10:30 only because of my hunger, slept almost 18 hours one day as my router was not working and my alarm failed to alarm me!

My day went like this for last three weeks irrespective of weekday or weekend.
Wake up at 10:00, have the morning tea left my fellow roomie. Finish reading all online news paper from Kerala kaumudi to New York times. Watch all the Malayalam news channels online available to keep me in synch. Courtesy http://ilikefreetv.com/ Also the movies played in Surya, Asianet plus and Kiran. Once bored with news and movies, get to kitchen try out a new recipe. I ended up making mango-pulishery, Vatthal kuzhambu, Theyal, Pavakka poriyal etc etc which are like the most homely food I could think of other than usual avail and Sāmbhar. As far as the taste is considered, there is no mallu origin in site to taste these and judge them! : ) Once my kitchen experiments subsides with my hunger I will be searching my play list of movies form block buster or Netflex. Thanks to my friends’ special SVG output laptop which will allow me to get the movies to a TV and get the cinema effect all round the clock. By the time I finish my movies, it will time for tennis / cricket / gym / swimming. Next two to three hours is spend in real hard work ending up with a hot shower. Eat out the rest of experiment specimen left from noon and get sleep reading the latest of three books I got hold of. One is ‘Oru deshathinte kada’ by SK Pottakadu which is one of my favorite writers, other is Hitchhiker’s guide and the third is my Certification study guide.

Three weeks with each day scheduled with so many things, I think I am tired now. I have to start looking for some work from my managers. Otherwise I might end up forgetting my office outlook password.

All this is really fun when I think that at the end of the month I will get my full salary for sitting at home : ) But the softy guy in my head is really worried that I spend my three most unproductive weeks of this year. I have to admit one thing. Who cares! :D

American Adventures - II

On my first day in US, just getting ready to office! Just out of bed after a long call with the offshore team, I had a shower. Got a steamy hot shower, fresh and getting into my pants, I heard my room mate’s voice. (He is just 1.5 days old room mate, then!)

Room Mate: Hey R, did you put the shower curtain inside the tub when u took shower?
Me: Which curtain?

I was in a hurry and I did not notice a curtain anywhere.
FYI, in most of the condos and the one - two apartments the IT people usually rent, has a typical American style bathroom. I mean a bath-room with a shower over a bath tub, a ceramic European closet and a half mirror with a wash basin. So as bath is an integral part of any malayali’s routine, bath was more of a shower standing inside the tub. It happened that the curtain was not in place as I was in real hurry. The conversation went on with my room mate like this.

Room Mate (RM): Hey man, come with me.

He gestured me to follow him to the bath room.

RM: Look, this is the curtain. (Pointing the plastic sheet)
Me: Hmmmm Err, sorry man (Embarrassed smile)
RM: You have to keep it like this (Pulling the plastic parting curtain) when you take a shower, ok?
Me: OK man, I will do that.
RM: Also make sure that the lower part of the curtain is kept inside the tub, ok?
Me: ok.
RM: If not, you will make the whole bath room floor wet and there is not outlet also.
Me: Ok, I will take care

I had missed many basic steps to live in US (First day in US)

You have to keep the doors of apartment closed and locked all the time.
If there is knock over the door, look through the peer hole and only if you are sure that you know the person outside will not harm you, then open the door.
911 is a very handy and useful number in case of emergency. Make sure one don’t dial a 911 accidentally as it might trigger the nearest emergency police vehicle.
One cannot make loud noises even inside their own house as the neighbor might call up 911. This can happen even if you are playing your home theatre systems on a loud sound scale.
Avoid being all alone stranded in parking or empty streets. One might become target of mugging.
When encountered with the ‘punks’, avoid looking at them as they might pick a fight with you.
Express your ‘thanks’ even the event is a very small gesture or help. Here they use the phrase ‘I appreciate it!’
If uncertain about anything, please don’t assume, ASK them again. J
Any buffet in US, if you are going for a second serving, leave you first plates and go for the second set of plates and spoons. Here they don’t entertain use of same plates on a second serve.
TIP at least 10% of bill amount, if happy with their help; increase it to 15 or 20%. This includes Cab fares, waiters and room helpers.
Any lift, elevator, make sure ladies get in first and allow them get out first. The gathering really expects this much!
Vegetarian means a lot of Cabbage and tomato over your hamr and if one needs veggie food, tell them NO MEAT, NO CHICKEN, NO HAM, NO BEEF, NO EGG! Consider yourself really lucky if you get anything with these constraints in US
Last but the best; NEVER expect any of these from any of the Desi crowd out here towards us. Desi – desi, no one cares. If you are in a desi food market, don’t even dream about any part of courtesy. They just simply don’t care!

Sleep ...time ..tic tic tic

I heard the soft buzz sound from my client laptop. It pulled me out of sleep. My eyes reluctantly open and started looking for my mobile. Yes, found it, at the other end of my bed. Still with half opened eyes, managed to look at the time, it is 5:15 in the morning. The thought crossed to sleep again but the other part of me who is still worried about the presentation coming up ….finally the other part won.

Open the lap top, entered my password, loading and loading.
My eyes again felt like closing ….i felt the warmth of my pillion on my cheeks, yes I am back on lying posture, a faint smile on my face … and the better half is winning now ….

Again the same buzz sound from Lap top, this time, and the worst half took over. A stream of thoughts came in, yes my boss has sent some review comments and I did not respond, he is asking where am I in the second mail …all these thoughts fled in a matter of no time into my head …..

I checked my laptop, it has loaded, I can see my desktop wall paper with my half opened eye, checked my outlook, yes there are two mails. Oh my god, those where mails from my HR which I usually delete without reading. This time it is all about a half marathon coming up. Who is going to run? The software half was getting beaten up the human half in my head. I got my cheek close to the pillion. No, the warmth is gone from the pillion, I searched with my cheeks on the pillow if any portion has a little warm …I found a small area, tried to get my cheek there, position for next 30 minutes sleep.

The gush of checking mails had dried up my sleep, now it will take at least 5 minutes to get back to where I left over the sleep. Suddenly I heard my mobile alarm again, man hadn’t I set 6:00 or it was 5:30. I just kept my head at 5:30 only. I checked my alarm, it was 6:00. Oh my god, my morning sleep is spoiled. Again I hit the snooze button, thought for a moment with closed eyes, balancing my upper body on one hand over the pillow. My stomach is growling and I felt hungry also. The softy guy came on mind again

Look if u don’t get up now, you will not have time to pack ur lunch, that means going out to street and eating all alone. Also chasing the bus in the morning with an empty stomach! Do you really want to sleep back ? Think again!

Where did this guy (Worst part, softy part) appear all the time when I am quiet happy being lazy, I mean the softy guy in the head, which always think ahead and reason my actions now? I took my mobile, cancelled the snooze, sat up, prayed (Not usual but today yes I did pray)
‘God help me sleep better tomorrow’ went to kitchen looking for the tea maker.

I think anyone who is staying alone might have gone through the same set of things but in different aspects …. Morning sleep! an irreplaceably addictive habit. The sweetness of this sleep increases in case of Mondays and sweetens most when you have an early morning meeting with client!

FACTS ......

Do you think you belong to any of these categories? I don’t know if I belong to any of these! But they do exist in almost all the BIG MNCs.

DNPTC list in mobile phones / phone with caller id.

It is DO-NOT-PICK-THE-CALL list. The category I am talking here is people who just call up and keep talking. I mean they keep talking even if they are properly informed that you have work or other important things to do. These folks always have all the time in the world to keep the phone numbers updated and call up intermittently. They might call you in the morning and again call you in the evening and ask the same question like, ‘how is your family?’ or ‘You still have five fingers in your right hand?’

DNRTM list in your outlook or in outlook rules

It is DO-NOT-REPLY-TO-MAIL group. These are the people who send the same old forwards and wearied news everyday to your inbox. They never forget any of the father-mother-human-women-valentine-etc days. If one unfortunately reply to any of such mail, they will continue with that mail chain until we say that we have to go / we got work / or boss around the corner

DNSTT

DO-NOT-SMILE-TO-THEM-GROUP. This group of people is often seen roaming around the corridor, office lobby and in the reception with coffee or with mobile on their hand. They check their cell phone at least two times in three minutes if they have a missed call or message, but in reality the only messages they get are from the ring tone advertisements and the calls from credit card advertisers. If, in any awkward moment you happen to exchange a smile with them, they will make a biography out of it. Be ready with a statement next time which sounds like “Are you angry with me? You ignored me when you saw me on Eat-Street” This group usually has only guys, but I know couple of females also which falls into this category! These folks always target elevators and walkways where people can be lured into easy conversations.

DNGL

DO-NOT-GIVE-LIFT-GROUP. Often good minded people fall pray for this group. If you own a vehicle, a two wheeler or a four wheeler and you happen to offer one person a lift one day! In the commute conversation, the hunter collects the information on your routine and makes sure the availability of your vehicle and timings. Next day on the same place at the same time, you will find the same person with a plastic smile all over his / her face with an extended hand. I am not against giving lift to people, but every day lift, that too some times, you get a message, “I will be 5 minutes late today, can you leave late or please let me know if you are leaving early today, I want to go to a movie, so have to leave early” kind of messages

KA

KEEP-AWAY group. These are jobless folks who go around the company website and keep track of everyone’s detail and demand treat for anything from a sneeze to completion of 1 month in a new cubicle. They call you up on your date of birth with a cheerful voice and wish you a happy birthday day. Around 3 O lock in the after noon, you can see the same folk leading a group of people to you cubicle with a 70 mm smile demanding a treat for birthday. If you are a guy, some kicks on your butt is a token gift together with a nice bill in the name of birthday treat. You should consider yourself lucky if they don’t come with a cheap cake for the birthday and paste it all over your face and dress. If you are a vegetarian and the cake is with eggs, your so called best day of the year, I mean birthday is ruined! It will remain as the smelliest day of the year.

KA-Version2

This KEEP-AWAY- version 2 are people we have to watch out, if there is some function going on in your office. It might be an open air event or a get together event. These folks can be sported with a nice looking, heavy camera which is carried around like an Olympic medal. They cruise around the crowd, making sure that the best faces are always captured for their personal use. It might not be long before the same snap will come out in the KA-V2 guy’s private orkut / picassa album. If it is a stage event, they join you in the crowd making sure that he makes the most intolerable comments and PJs. He might even run three or four times with one coin or a white hand key towards the stage to win a goodie price from the MC, but will always be late, cursing the crowd about not giving him space to run.


ORB

These are the onsite-return braggers. They are usually spotted with an I-pod Nano or an I-phone, with a face & smile which says, I am just from US/UK. They always complain about the weather, the sub standard AC in office, the substandard coffee provided by the company, about unavailability of MC-DY and Star-bucks in Indian office premises. The fake accent added to their broken English from 6 months to 1 year assignment in US is an added edge. Mostly, these are folks who where sent to create an excel sheet or to assemble a machine from package to desk. They talk like they where working in a NASA- initiated rocket launcher application code and series of escalations they faced in client place. The worst part of this group is their bragging about the places they visited, how smart they where to learn the foreign culture, ‘things’ they achieved in foreign land. Once they get a chance to start, they go on and on and on.

The groups are the unfortunate folks who are on bench or not required in any of the project, who has to kill time inside the office premises without almost anything to do. All we can do is pray that these folks get a VISA soon and packed uo to some far off countries

Feelings...

“A cloud does not know why it moves in just such a direction and at such a speed.But the sky knows the reasons and the pattern, And you will know too,When you lift yourself high enough To see beyond the horizons.”-Richard Bach

Some thing which I read on a lazy afternoon, fighting my sleep! The moment I read this, my eye lids grew lighter and sleep fled away. These words made perfect sense to my mind set.
I cannot see anything beyond horizon and I am struggling to lift my self. My dreams are dried up and mind is empty as an old barn. I have to re discover my dreams, to get in touch with myself, get a direction to move, lift myself from where I am. The biggest question still stares at me - HOW?
My past has taught me how deep love can hurt and how much it can heal.
A sparkle in the eye, a soothing touch or a simple smile can make the world such a better place. One never needs a reason for being happy but everyone including me finds a 1000 reason to be bound with sorrow.
Heart urges to dance like no one is watching and love like it had never failed. But mind thinks and thinks as the wounds from past are still fresh and bleeding!
As I look into a new horizon, a sea of new faces and a bunch of new aspirations, my heart is vibrant with fear and excitement, over flowing with prayers and wishes.
My thee, please guide me through yet another jungle of emotions.

Compliments.....

How good you are in accepting compliments? Accepting compliments seems to be a very easy thing when it is for something which we have achieved, which was out of our shear hard work and effort. But when compliments are poured in just because one has to, then accepting them becomes a real issue. I got into such a situation recently! I had a tough time to fake ‘Thanks’ just because my name was quoted some where!
The worst part is when the person who gives it away and the person receiving it know that the compliment was for name sake. I will be the happiest person to get a compliment on something I got after I sweat out my best to get it, even when it is just a gully cricket match!

Is it just because of social conditioning or is it the way things work?


What is best way to accept compliments? Turning red on cheeks as unable to control the gush of that ‘eerrrr-hmmm’ feeling on your side neck? Such is the only time when I feel that I am getting Romancham* (hair standing situation) on my cheeks!

But down the line when the best words which are the easily forgotten words and goes down the drain. The words which criticize one, the words which hits one hard, are always scribbled on some hard rock inside ones mind. It will be there all long even when the notions and behavior is changed.

But in reality, what ever the people around say, one should go about how they feel about themselves, rather than being a foot ball of opinions and compliments. It is really tough when the compliments / feedback come from some one close to heart!

Fighting sleep …..Crazy post ahead!

Warning ..Totally blizzard and crazy post ahead!

Place: Client office – Vendor office
Time: Late after noon, 2:32 PM
Mood: Too sleepy and out of mind
Song : Mainaaka ponnmudiyil ponuruki toovi poy …. (Mazhavil Kavadi - Malayalam)

Plot: I am writing this post with one and only one intention. I have to kill time for another 35 minutes. Then head for the nearest exit and flee to my house to sleep

(Song change…. Aaro porunen koodeeee- Lal Salam)
Possible problems:

I might sleep in the train, as I am feeling so sleepy.
Client might drop a mail for a critical update while I am sleeping in the train / home
Work might not be complete as per the dead lines

Unsolvable problems:

A dead brain, a mind which wants to sleep and cannot think anything else!

Other creative ideas to kill time / sleep.

Go to 20th floor and do gaga over some thing to some job-less soul over there.
Go to 15th floor and do the same
Go to 15th floor and get the key to my house from my roomie

Drink super hot coffe and end up with a rosted tounge

Drink super cool coke and shugger off sleep

When one is over bundled with sleep, everything seems to stop. No logic in my mind is working. I am unable to think! The moment I stop talking to some one, I might fall asleep. Once i close my eyes, with in two to three minutes, my mind is drifting into weired dreams. I almost hit the table three times, falling asleep.

(Song change …. Swaminatha parypalayasuma …..Chithram - malyalam)

This song a classical song from the super hit movie Chithram, which is a Priyadharshan hit over 90’s. The musical –comedy riot in which, Mohan lal had given life to a un believably funny and interesting character on celluloid. The story is about a rookie photographer trying to find some fast money for his speechless child. The movie has an excellent script and scenario & slap stick comedy by Srinivasan and Nedumudi venu. The music in this film is awesome with couple of classical hits and a couple of melodies.

I have some how spend 12 minutes, but still left with another 23 minutes to 3’o clock.

(Song change …Eran Megham …Chithram - Malayalam)

How bad my work status is for today! My Application is not installing and throwing an error saying 'unable to open a file named para.ini'. I have been searching for three days for the same file, but could not find it. There must be a 'custom action' which is causing this problem, but I am unable to find the exact custom action or the sequence step which is causing this problem. The '/QB' switch together with 'verbose-logging' and a 'search' for the key word 'Unattended' might give me some details on what happens with the 'silent-switch-Install'.

Let me check this and come back to this post.

(Song change ...Megham poothuthudanghi …Tuvana Tumbikal- Malayalam)

The virtual machine is taking its time to start off, giving my patience a hard time. I guess patience paid off at the end and things are working now.

Here comes a call from Mr S and it seems he got some work for me.
He wants me to get into a high profile lunch meeting! Great! and my other planned lunch at small food court is going for a toss!

I think I have fought hard and won the battle with SLEEP. three cheers to myselft to fight back one of the basic human insticnt .....Sleep

Too busy ? Angry ? WT.... ?

I was angry with myself! My ear phones are gone. What will I listen during my train and bus commuting? Why am I so unplanned? The novel I was reading is almost over. What will I read while coming back in the train today? I should have planned! I have the most sarcastic way to find mistakes in myself! As if the songs will be my inspiration for my music album or novel be the inspiration for my next best seller!

Voice on my head Knocked hard Knock knock knock!!

Hey u ther, what are you doing?

The question rambled in my head for the entire train journey. When I first entered my company bus three to four years back from the BTM to Bangalore office, I saw all of the employees neat in ‘tie’ and ‘tucked up shirts’ (I hate ties and tucking shirts but but ….they fine you 200 bucks!) in the bus with a head phones on their ear or a romantic / thriller novel in their hand. I felt it is so un-cool to be with ipod and novels. Why these folks can’t talk, make some friends? But after getting severe neck sprains of getting slept in the bus, with strange head positions, I started listening to 91 fm (Deraous and Sweet Sindhu are two RJs I remember who really rocked my morning) and reading some English novels (Mostly Arthur Healy or Dan brown, Davinci code fame !). The routine of songs and novels where followed to Japan tubes also (No FM and reading English novel is cool in Japan.) Now here in US, the same story repeats (No FM and nothing cool about reading English novels.).
I listen to songs, read some books. All started as I was getting bored to sit idle. Now I don’t find time to sit idle! In house I am busy reviewing reports, chatting over Gtalk, giving advice over anything under sky to almost any one available in my vicinity. In MARTA bus, train, I am busy reading novel, listening to songs. Once in office, time flees with meetings, conference calls, technical jargons ….over lunch, busy planning what on next weekend!

At home, as soon as I reach, will head out for the tennis court to play ‘some thing’ that we named ‘Tennis’ which hardly match the game we see in sports channels. We cannot take a serve from a 10 year old boy who knows tennis, but it is fun out there. We play until we sweat hard in a 5 to -5 degree Celsius. Come back tired, shower up and start experiments with different recipes. After that, watch some movie online or a rented DVD with one eye over my laptop for a ping in Gtalk, a scrap in Orkut or a mail from offshore team.

All these activities where started at one or the other time to get out of boredom. Now I am not bored, I am tired pushing things to fit into this routine. The useless mind woes thinking, I did not play today, did not watch movie today, missed listening to songs today and what not!
Why should I think like that? If I sit idle, with out doing anything for an hour, nothing happens! But …err…. You know ….Don’t know if I am the only one feeling so, or I am realizing such a feeling so late!

Now, where is my DAMN ear phones????

Drive to DMV III

I had two three trips to DMV before this. You will understand better if you follow this first.

I don’t know if it is really getting ‘as stupid as it gets’ or just me!
On last Saturday morning I started of to DMV yet again with a valid original Indian driving license. I had done some research on Friday night to get the DMV address details, also on how to reach there using the public transport. This time I was all alone; ready to travel by bus.

In GA, we have the public transport system by the name MARTA. Here we get all the schedules, maps and other details. I called up the customer service centre to join the dots in public transport system, which will get me to the DMV address. I had to change three bus and two trains to reach my destination. That is

Bus - route 75 to E7 station
Train - E7 to Centre Station
Train - Centre station to N5
Bus - Transit to another county centre - route 10
Bus - county centre to DMV – route 15

As you see, it takes a lot of time as these buses and trains are on different timings. So I took almost 2.5 to 3 hours to travel a distance of 48 miles to find out that, the address I had was wrong! From the first wrong destination, I found out that, there is another DMV in the same county, which sounded/ looked like (They had a snap in the wrong DMV) the one I went two weeks back. I took a cab to the second DMV in the same county once again to realize that I got it wrong twice.

As the person who took my license will be available only in the specific DMV, I had to find out a way to reach there. I called up MR M, who had taken me there first to get the full address (This I should have done on Friday when I was busy finind out the address from internet). He was in the middle of something, but he gave me the location. With help of my roommate and google map, I found that place. To reach there, I had to go by cab for another 36 miles, or follow the route

Bus - Route 15 to County transport centre
Bus - Route 10 to Transit exit
Train - N5 to N11

I didn’t know which Bus to take from N 11 to reach the third DMV address. Some how, I made through this entire route and reached N 11 station. By that time, I had run out of cash and had to find an ATM to pay the next cab. So I took cab to the nearest ATM to see a long queue in front of the ATM (U know the faster you want to go, the lengthier the queue will be!). I was the seventh person in the queue. In my mind, I was thinking what else could go wrong today.

ATM could run out of cash by the time I reach there
The time is already 4:10 pm and the DMV can be closed by the time I reach there
The person I am supposed to meet can be on leave today or left early today.

I got the cash, reached DMV. I asked for the officer at the reception and she showed me in. I went to the counter and asked for the officer, the person at the counter asked me to wait. The officer came to the counter after 15 minutes. My mind was wandering! She asked my original Indian driving license, I handed it over.

DMVO: This does not look like original, it looks like color Xerox.

She took the old Xerox one, which I gave her two weeks back

DMVO: Now both look the same. Which one is original?

ME: No madam, look at the two elephant’s color. (The government of kerala road transport has two elephants in its emblem)

DMVO: This looks fine; here is your US GA license.

Me: Thanks, can I have the copy back?

DMVO: It is illegal to have the copy also, the copy looks like original only. So I won’t give you the copy!

Me: Ok thanks, now you agree I am not a fraud?

DMVO: Ya, now we are straight.

Me: Ok, thanks, have a good day

DMVO: You too man.

I walked out of the DMVO with a gratified smile on my face. Finally I got it!

Even when we are achieving something very small, for which we have to struggle, have to race with time, patience and stupidity, once we reach the destiny, it gives you immense satisfaction. The whole episode of DMV might be a very small think for many, but it really tested my patience and I am happy that I was always able to smile and go back again. After all, I have to go back to DMV with in next two months to change my current address and the date of expiry :)

Trust.....

It takes a lot for us to build trust. Sometimes trust flows along a relation like a mom trusting her son, not to involve with anything that’s goanna hurt another mom, a sister who believes her brother to find a sister in any gal who passes by him…. A faith between friends which makes them decides to open their heart to each other. When heart becomes so heavy with lust/ hatred / sorrow / luv, with pool of emotions, one looks for a faithful face, to un-burden a little of their heart to each other.
Trust is like a magnificent glass art, once broken, never the same. A simple deed can shatter it. Once lost, lost for ever. It is an irrecoverable damage. Like a point in time which is passed, never be felt again.
With trust comes a responsibility to everyone, to live up to the trust of their loved once. It is a sweet burden which lightens us at times.

Me, Myself and I

7 things I plan to do before I die!!

To be a teacher / adviser in some or the other institution
To take my parents on a world trip, at least one country outside India
To learn one musical instrument to a manageable perfection
To have a good looking gray hairstyle if I live enough to be gray haired
To learn ICE skating
Do Bungee jumping
To leave an impression on people such a way that, they have a smile on their face when they remember about me (If any one does remember!)



7 things I can do !!

Bore almost anyone with my preachy advices
To talk endlessly to any one on almost anything
To spend my whole day with guitar / flute or a book
To fall asleep anywhere on any body posture, even standing
Have a serious face even when my heart is gone LROF
To convince ppl that what they have done was the best thing....

(Many ppl do talk to me for this soul reason)
To screw up almost everything but still pull it off at last moment in flying colours

7 things I can’t do !!

To walk up to any stage and dance
Sing out loud
To stop playing cricket
To munch into anything that’s harder than bread….
To be all alone/ to be left alone
To be insensitive at heart
To live without music

7 things that I find attractive in the opposite sex !!

Blue / green eyes
Dimples
Cute Smile
Elegance
Smooth singing voice
Tom Boyishness
Height (I like tall gals ;))

7 things I say most !!

Hey / hi / Wats up ?
Ente Ieeshwara !!!!/ Ente Daiwame!!!! (OMG)
U never know…
Great !
hmmm / Gud gud
Enthuva masheeee ?
U still there ?

7 celebrity crushes !! (from old to recent)

Hema malini
Sumalatha
Salma Hayek
Kajol
Ema Watson
Aaj kal, Raymond gal, Vaishali Desai
Vani Jayaram

7 people I want to take this quiz.

Manichithrathazhu
Devilz
Injey
Rivas

I don't know if 7 people actually read this blog. If anyone else stumble up here and liked it, please take the quiz along.
I took it from here

Burning game - Cricket!

A lot has been told on the field, off the field and in front of camera! Now the monkey business seems to go down the history of cricket as a part of the wild game played on cricket ground on these days. Now the media left the monkey and started chasing the slave masters. I am talking about the BCCI auctions and the IPL bids. Some how the auctions for the best players and the discussion always gave me a slave market feeling

Slavery, generally defined, refers to the systematic exploitation of labor for work and services without consent and/or the possession of other persons’ property. In ancient times, Arabian slave markets where there, where one can select the best slaves. The ‘BEST’ is defined according to muscle power or the mental power a slave has. The same will be done for women slaves where the attributes changed accordingly.

When SRK and PZ is bidding for MSD, GG and SG, the feeling it gave was a modernized slave market. The slave master BCCI is calling the shots and giving its best slaves to the highest bidder.

Hope the best team wins and the highest bidder gets the bunch of slaves who will eventually win!

Cricket which is growing out of proportion is reaching its end by itself. Now everyone sees only money around the word ‘cricket’.
Cricket >> More Air time for media >> More sponsors and more money involved.
The game is vanished, it’s all about money, fame and controversials.

The authority can see only money over everything and we can see the grave of cricket over the horizon. If this trend continues, it will arrive soon, where we will see the end of one of the most engaging and entertaining sports ‘The game of cricket’!

Drive to DMV II

For the first part please follow the link Drive to DMV I

Mom: It is wonderful

Dad: It has been around 15 years since I visit Shankumugham beach. I came here last time when R was on 6th standard

Mom: This is the first time in our life we are out here in this beach on our own in our 32 year old married life!

Dad: Its time lets move

Dad started his blue painted chetak scooter, mom got on the pillion seat and they rode away…..
I think that was the scene yesterday at Shankumugham beach in Trivandrum.

I still think everything happens for the best and the sequence never ends. So we never know if it was the best or not. It all started with my second trip to the DMV. This time also I some how felt that, I will be back there again. As usual my feeling was changed to experience by the end of the day. Everything was perfect; I left a message to client about my half day leave and to the umbrella of managers around me who are shooting e-mails to me from all around the world from different time zones.

Mr Thangachan was rite at my apartments’ door when I reached there to get to the DMV office. As my driver guru M was busy picking his mom from India in Airport, Thangachan (T), friend of M came to pick me up and his car was test car. There was no need to stand in queue as I got my appointment for the road test in DMV. I walked in straight, filled in the form and give it. Took T’s car and got next to the test site. A DMV officer came to me and asked my name and the filled form. He stood in front of the car and asked

DMV Officer : Sound horn

Me : Poom pom

DMVO: Wiper

Me:wshhh wshhhh

DMVO: Right Indicator

Me: Tiick tick tick

DMVO: Left Indicator

Me: Tiick tick tick

DMVO walked to the back end of the car,

DMVO: Now put ur foot on the break pedal

I did it; he came forward and said,

DMVO: Can’t you listen to me?

Me: Yes, I mean no….

DMVO: So test will be disqualified.

Me: Whattttt ?

I was alarmed. I came out to find out what went wrong. DMVO said, the left break light is not working. Car is not fit to take a driving test. So come another day. I sat on the driver seat with disbelief. So again another day to DMV! Mr T called up my ‘M’. He apologized for the mistake, but at the end of the day, half day is wasted for me, him and Mr T!

As I expected some thing got screwed up, I didn’t loose my spirit. I made it a point that I will take this by Saturday, even it means standing in the queue and waiting for the whole day. So asked T to come with his car on Saturday early morning, this time with perfect break lights!


Drive to DMV- III

My friend in our client place had to give a learner's test. So we thought it would be easy if she can accompany me. So I will have company to stand in queue and she can have one trip less. Still the notions of screwing it up in DMV were there in my mind. We started on Saturday early morning, empty stomached. My friend was busy asking law and driving symbol questions and I was having butterflies in my stomach thinking what would go wrong today! Mr T was as cool as ever driving his car. By the time we reached there, the queue was about 30 people length. We stood in the queue and when we reached at the reception desk, the DMVO said,

DMVO: Road test token will be given only at 9:00 AM. Time is now 8:45. So you go to the end of the queue. If you are not in line, we cannot give. Please step aside.

Me: Ok

My friend went ahead with her form and filled and started her preparation for learners’ written test. I stood at the end of the queue again (around 30 ppl) by the time I reached the reception; it was 8:55 AM. So I let some five folks behind me to over take me so that I don’t have to stand at the end of the queue again. The trick worked and I arrived exactly at 9:00 AM at the reception. Got the first number token for my driving test! My friend was busy filling her form. We even got confused if a service address is the correct mailing address. We covered it up by filling the service address as well as the other address available.
I filled my form, took T’s the car and went to the test location. An elderly man greeted me and got into the car. The same ritual of Horn + Wiper+ Left indicator……went on. This time the break light worked. Then he asked me to pull over and do the parallel and reverse parking. Took me out for a ride around the park and check my lane switching and signal reading capability. He was pretty happy and he gave me a pass mark. I came out of the car grinning from ear to ear!

Went to the next counter, gave the test result and they gave me another token to wait for. My friend came out of the test centre with perfect marks smiling all the way. But she was not happy as the DMVO commented that the Indian license she had, looked like a fake one. My token number display came; I went and stood in front of the camera smiling. I really wanted to change the display picture from my learner’s permit which has a face “WHY ME”
The officer at the reception said:”Hey man, you look gud in this snap, I am not taking a snap, and I will give you your license in a moment”

If he had clicked his camera at that moment, he would have caught the most stupid face I can ever make, grinning to a camera where the camera man says, no picture today L
I came to my friend who was waiting for her token. Finally they called my name and give me my license. I was again grinning from ear to ear, even if a little sad looking at the ‘Y ME’ snap on the license.

We waited and waited for my friends’ token which was E227. E226 to E240 was called but not E227. We went thrice to the reception where they gave the same answer,
“Tokens are not in order”
Finally, one officer at the counter got a little kind and started processing my friends’ paper.

DMVO : U have Indian driving license

Friend ‘S’: Yes

DMVO : Please give

S: Here it is

DMVO : Go to the counter 6 and pay 20 dollars. They will take your snap and give you learner’s permit. Have a great day

S: But you kept my Indian driving license

DMVO: Yes, you can get it if you are leaving the state

S: What? That is my primary ID! Is this the processes?

There comes ME as stupid as ever and as much as it could be!

Me: (To the officer) But I have my Indian driving license with me (It was a copy of my Indian driving license)

DMVO: Can I have a look at it?

Me: Yes, please

DMVO: Please hand in your US license

Me: Here you go

DMVO vanishes inside the office and no signs of her for next two minutes. She comes back with a grim face asking

DMVO: Which counter you went in today in the morning?

Me: I don’t remember!

DMVO: You take a walk and find me the person you give the filled form to!

Me: Mam, please tell me what is this all about?

DMVO: Look, I am not threatening you but, according to this state law, having a US license and an out of state driving license is illegal. You have both with you now. I can call 911 and put you behind bars for fraud!

Her hand was on the extension phone!

Me: Errrr WHATTTT ?

DMVO: Get you original Indian driving license and surrender it in the office by next week or forget about this license.

Me: but mam, my ID, license eerrrr …..Look I didn’t I mean I don’t know all this!!!!

DMVO: Don’t waste my time, Get your Indian license original. Bye have a good day

Then it was all international calls in and out to India, to Japan to find out where exactly is my original Indian driving license, and bout the time required to get it to us. Fortunately my mom found it in my room at my home inside my personal file. Also T’s sister was traveling from Trivandrum to US. So everything fell in place to get my original Indian driving license from India to US in two days. T’s sister went to Shangumugham beach before getting into Trivandrum Airport. So mom and dad had to go there and hand over the license. So my Indian driving license is on the way from India to US. I will have another trip to DMVO mostly this week. I am still running high in spirits, I will get my US license …..But god knows what more is in store for me ……. nothing else but more stupidity. Here goes the next trip

My mom and dad went to a beach all by themselves after, err not after, for the first time in there married life of 32 years .....That is something beatiful :) ....you never know how things happen

Playing with key

Time: 4:06 PM, Friday afternoon
Place: My cubicle at client place
Song: Leaving on a jet plane
Mood: High spirited to go home (After all its a Friday)
Climate: Overcast, will start showering any moment.

I was staring at my computer screen and wondering about the line ‘Building your request’ which is flashed on my screen! It has been like this for over last three hours. Then it blinked twice

I had a bad feeling about that. I don’t usually swear, but this time, got the best out of me. I am in the middle of a build* and some how the ‘CONTROL’ key and ‘WINDOWS’ key in my keyboard is stuck up!
I had to type out my username, which has a 'R' and a 'M'.
Each time I type R, the ‘run’ window will pop up
Each time I typed M, every window goes and the chimpanzee on my desktop glares at me.
‘cntrl+C’ and ‘cntrl+V’ are also gone as windows key is already stuck!
90% of any techie work involves copy and paste!
I cannot restart my machine as the 3 hour old build will be lost which is still in progress and I cannot sit for another 3 hour to get this done!
Faced with a big challenge, my not-so-creative mind started looking for solutions.

I searched for folders having an R or M there in it name to copy paste each time. Finally I got my username, letter by letter from some folder and file names. Each time I had to use mosue to copy and paste which is a umpteen task compared to cntrl+c to Cntrl+v!. Now comes the toughest part; I have to get my password also. I figured out that, it is too risky that if I try this too many times, I will get my account locked out which is like the worst possibility :(

So opened a text pad, typed out all the keys and went into the folder names to find the missing letters (I mean the missing alphabets which won’t get typed in note pad as they form some shortcut key as my ‘windows’ and ‘control’ keys are stuck). After a lot of work with F2 key and other keys, I managed to get all the 26 letters.

Wsshhhh ..That was hell lot of work man.(Wiping of sweat from my forehead!!!)

Then started copying the required characters from my text document to build my password and it went in. Then came the surprise bouncer, like the one Dravid got on Perth. But this was rite on my un-helmeted temple. It got me and I was knocked down flat on my back, thinking what next on this Friday afternoon at 4:30 pm! The server to which I had been building my MSI just crashed ……the hours I had been spending for the entire text pad, copying pasting …everything went in vane. When I left office later that night, some phrase rhymed in my mind …..
When god has decided to make you sit back and work on a Friday evening to late night, no matter what all u do, you have to stay back and work :(

Build- A build is a software package which is created by the machine using a building software from a package configuration. Usually a build is a time taking process, which has to be started from scratch if interrupted

Choices

Let it loose to dangle or float
Had he got a choice or two
The celebrated one n the lost
At the verge looking at each

Had a split to set his mind
The lost one looked all too familiar
The color and lust glittering his way
The thought of celebration jolted the flurry mind

How many more ahead there?
The question still ringing on his head
He choose his lost path all again
The path ahead lay with color
Never lost n never will be

All is said and lot more to think
Coloring his way to juncture ahead …..

Mayde Mayde Mayde…Kitchen 7114 sinking!!!

MAYDE MAYDE MAYDE….
THIS IS KITCHEN 7114…SINKING
ESTIMATE 3 INCHES OF WATER INSIDE COMPARTMENT 4 – KITCHEN
EMERGENCY EVACUATION AND PUMPS REQUIRED
MAYDE MAYDE MAYDE OVER…..

would have been the best way to describe the scene!

It all started as a part of shaking off my morning laziness. On a chilly January morning, early at 6:15 AM, I woke up and switched off my alarm. Usually alarm is snoozed at least three times before I get out of my bed. But that particular day, something urged me to be the early bird! My daily routine was broken that day as I started review of reports by morning itself, which I usually do at office. The last late night movie made me cut shot my dinner to a single glass of milk. It started showing its effect as I grew really hungry in early morning itself.
The idea of breakfast crept in, which is not a usual thing for me! I saw my last day’s lunch box was still on the table. When I entered kitchen, I could see a heap of soiled dinner plates in my sink. I added my lunch box to the heap and went on looking for breakfast options.

Options!
1. An apple, work involved: shave the wax out of apple skin, wash it properly, cut it and eat. (I cannot munch into an apple for obvious reasons. Refer here for details)

2. Bread toast / butter / jam: Work involved- Have to microwave the freeze bread, then toast it /apply jam / butter

3. Corn flakes: Pour in cornflakes and milk, add sugar and microwave it.

The first two options consisted of very tedious steps. The third one sounded most appealing as less work involved (Guess how lazy I am these days, blame it on US life style ;))

Before turning to the shelf, I opened the sink tap to let some water into my dried lunch box. Went ahead with cornflakes and milk! Kept it inside the microwave and waited until I hear the customary beeps. The hot milk with cornflakes really amused me as I was really hungry. Grabbed the vase with 'milk n cornflakes' and started eating. It took 8 minutes for me to complete as my eyes went on reading the heroics of Viru on the third test match in Perth on ‘cricinfo’. By the time I finished my breakfast and headed back to the kitchen, I felt some thing was wrong. The moment I stepped into the kitchen, from the hall, my feeling of something wrong changed to experiencing something wrong!

My Kitchen was flooded with at least 3 inches of water over the wooden floor. The water was icy cold and it was in search of its way to the carpet. If I don’t act fast, the whole house will be flooded soon. Having a wet carpet while the outside temperature is below 0 degree celcius is the worst thing one can imagine of!

Action plan:

1. First and fore most, close the tap over sink.
2. Check if any of the dangling electric wires in the kitchen is in water, if found, take them to a dry place
3. Move the dust bin out of flood, or it will end up in a filthy dirty water flood.

Rescue operation:

1. Stop the onward journey of water to the dry carpeted hall!
2. Attack the stalled water with turkey towels and paper towels.
3. Make sure that the water in sink is drained.
4. Make enough space in the sink in between the heap of dishes for water to drain out!

I acted up on the above steps in an organized way (I mean to say frantically) to dry my kitchen and save it from sinking. It took me almost 25 minutes of hard work (Spread out the towel on water over the floor, get it to the sink, dry it, repeat the same for about 50 to 60 times).Then the ‘paper towel’ part, to make sure that the wooden floor is dried out. Heater in the room was of great help.

Root cause analysis: Why all this happened?

I should have ignored my hunger and slept for another 15 minutes which would have saved all this. It means no break fast!

Lessons learnt:

1. Never keep a tap open and leave the kitchen under any circumstances.
2. When adding any soiled dishes to the sink, make sure that the heap is not organized in such a way that water overflows.
3. Keep enough turkey towel and paper towel in case we have plans to flood our kitchen.

When roomie woke up and came out, he saw a tired looking me gazing at the wooded kitchen floor.

Roomie: Why our kitchen floor is a little sticky today?

Me: I am trying a new technique to keep my morning busy and kitchen clean.

Roomie: Hmmm… the floor is looking clean but what about the rest ?

Me: Will try tomorrow :)

Roomie: Good, keep up the good work!

Me: DON’T mention it!!!

Next time if you are going out of your routine to try some new things like having breakfast or a morning jog, be careful. 100 odd things can go wrong :)
But still I luv to have breakfast on a chilly morning, worth its effort!

Spices over Lunch

V: What’s up?

Me: Nothing, I’m bored as usual! What abt u?

V: Doing good (The famous ‘V’ grin after that)

S: How’s ur work man?

Me: Same old story! How abt u?

V: He is busy searching matrimonial sites

S: Nah, I don’t search, I know when my time comes!

V: ya, when the bride is ready to pay 60 lakhs, ur time will come

S: I never said that, I said I have constraints.

V: Constraints should never be such hard, what do you say C?

C: I am over aged guys; I have started looking for brides with lesser constraints (he is turning

25)

C: What about you (to me)?

Me: No plans, let’s see where it takes (I have no clue!!!)

A: (My Roomie, a soul which committed luv marriage) Why you guys have this dowry

constraints?

V: Because we live with money and a good start of anything needs MONEY

S1 (Lady, Slight feminist): Why ppl need money from gal’s dad’s pocket?

Why not guy’s Dad?

S2 (Lady, hardly talks): Curry is too spicy today

V: We have a culture to follow….

C: Culture never said about putting hard constraints!

S: I never gave hard constraints ….

The argument continues until lunch is over
This is one of the usual conversations that we (the group of V,S,C,S1,S2,A and me) run into almost everyday over lunch. May be it is because every one in that group are looking for bride/groom and all have a lot of expectations. Each of them (Including ME) has there own definition of dowry and some have put it in figures as constraints. I almost laughed over S when I heard he is looking for 60 Lakhs as dowry as he has spent 3 years in US. The luv marriage guy struggled hard to put his point that dowry is not required for a family life; it is just a bad tradition. The slightly feminist gal is never ready to pay some guy to marry her!

Every girl is expecting some one better than herself to marry her. ‘If you need some thing good, you need to pay- says the dowry supporters….This group is definitely different from other groups with which I used to have lunch with. So focused on marriage / dowry!

Some day everyone goes through this round of talks to some one or the other. Some pays off, some get paid. Many loose their principles of life when the family/ situation demands otherwise. Many go for dowry just to maintain the family status. Because the neighbor got 1 kg of gold, my son also should get 1.5 kg of gold. If anyone is willing to marry a girl without dowry, then the rumor spreads out as there is some thing wrong with the guy / girl.
Why can’t everyone live there own life leaving the bride’s and groom’s family to decide up and live along????? What I can see is, everyone in this age (24- 28) stumbles on peer pressure / family pressure / greed or any some other pressure and fumble into the dowry marriages. Not the one which ends up with a girl-gas-stove-accident but with a relation where for the initial two years, the dowry statistics will be popping up here and there in family talks when another marriage is in queue in house.

Good or bad the tradition grows on. The one who questions the tradition is considered as a fool, even when the tradition says marrying a donkey might give good monsoon showers! In that case who will give dowry, the daddy donkey or the owner of the donkey?J

Drive to DMV

Finally I’m in line for my learner’s driving license test in US. It has been four months since I put my foot in US and only now I was able to make it to the DMV. In last four months I moved once and had to change my address twice. I can argue that this address change was one reason behind me taking the driving test this late other than my good old lazy approach to anything which affects only ME!

I had driving manual printout ready for the learner’s written test from my second week in US, but it served as the number one sleep tablet. The moment I complete the ‘Contents’ page and look at the first sign-board picture, some one will pop up in ‘Gtalk’ or I will get a call or I will feel hungry / thirsty / Sleepy! Any ways I had spent enough time sleeping over that book to appear for the test.

About DMV and other public relations office in US, it is organized in much better fashion than we have anything done in our country. But the farther the patch, the greener it! If you ask a fellow American, they might surprise you with a different notion. Until I got to the line, I never knew that officials in a DMV always ask for so many documents. Luckily I had enough documents, which mean I was carrying from my birth certificate to the latest MCSE certification to be on the safe side. The certificate bunch included the extra curricular sheet with an A+ from my high school in TVM, just in case

When I reached the DMV by 8:00 am, there was already a long line and I stood about 43rd or 44rth person. At least 10 people in the row where sent back as they do not have sufficient documents to get their request done. I had to give my PP, emigration document, my bank statement, my utility bill, my SSN and document from my employer. Then there was the intelligent machine which will check my finger prints and identify if I am the real guy who I am posing to be which these documents are trying to prove. No there is no grammar mistake in the last sentence J

I got a coupon and a number from the information desk. What is this with numbers and long queues? They give number everywhere these days, from Jails to SSN offices, client offices to even in apartments. I am named as ‘Uncle in apartment 7114’ by the desi kids who play in our tennis court. (Information about numbers in jail is from watching too many jail movies these days and I am not an uncle by age (26) but kids feel otherwise :) )

After the number, the lady at the information counter tried to write down by name on the form before handing it to me. She got it wrong three times before she asked me to spell it letter by letter. I got my sheet which has to be filled on three sides. When I got it filled, my number was called at least three times. I had to do all calculation from my height in Cm to feet and Inches, my weight in KG to lbs and what not! By the time I reached the counter, the next number came in. I had to wait until my number was displayed again. Finally it appeared and I gave her the sheet. She also struggled to get my name typed in to the system. But she managed! Then she asked me to take the test from computer named 2. I went to the system, clicked on a button to start the test. First an agreement page was displayed which read that I should not carry any messaging device, no pencils or pen, I had everything with me! But I agreed and went ahead.

Then surprise bouncer came! There were two tests, the law test and the signal test. I had seen only the signal part in the driver manual (I slept off after the signal chapter, always!). I figured out that I was supposed to know the law part as well. I had glanced through only the signal part and left the law part in the driving manual. I took the law test first. I was allowed to have 5 answers wrong. As I got 5 wrong out of first 11, I had to apply my little brain and all the commonsense to pass the test.

The signal test was easy as 70% of people read signs better than languages. I informed my results at the desk and she gave me the number 933 and asked to wait. The part which I hate about this queue and numbering system is that I am one among unlucky species in this kind of systems. I mean the kind of the guy in Queue who always gets the ‘house full’ board on a theater just when I am next. Here also the same thing happened. After 932, the number 934 appeared. I was not surprised as I am so used to it that, some thing or the other will go wrong. In SSN office, the token system itself came down after they issued my token!
After a while when the display hit 940, I went to the counter and asked about token 932. Then only she realized that 932 was never called. Then the back tracking happened and I got to know that my paper was still with the test authorizing person and it never moved. From there own my name was called instead of the number. You have to see my snap in the license. The face has a message written all over it saying “WHY ME???”

I had to spend a good 3 and a half hour to get my learners driving license. I guess I had spent much less time back in my home town to get the driving license. Said good bye to the DMV and looking forward for another three hours when I go for the actual driving test!

The story went this way

Dreams - Table world

Edge : The thinker
Corner: The sarcastic dude
Leg : The practical gal
Nuts : Common man

Edge : Dreams are the signs for paths we take for tomorrow

Corner : The more you dream the more tired we will be !

Edge: No. Dreams gave us clear vision and steps to achieve them which gives us tranquility

Leg: Dream with in the limit or else we will end up as a day dreamer

Nuts : When do I sleep in this world to dream happily :( ?

New year - Tag

1. Where were you when the clock stuck 12 and the year changed from 2007 to 2008?

2. Who was the first one to wish you?

3. Who was the first one you wished?

I thought about the above questions before answering each and came up with this !
As we interact with people of different time zone, which one should we consider for this answer :)

The Indian time line where New Year was celebrated on my 31st afternoon?

My mom called up at her 10:00 pm on 31st Indian time and wished me New Year and I wished her back

Or

The Eastern Standard Time where it was only 11:00 pm for me as I was in Central US Time zone where my best friend from Bangalore called me up on my cell phone to wish me New Year and I wished her back

Or

The central time zone where the clock actually tic past 12:00 in front of me? :)

I was sitting on a cozy couch watching the Chicago fire works. I exchanged new year wishes with my in-law

4. What did you eat first in the start of the New Year?

If my memory is rite (which is pretty bad these days) I ate Appam with Kadala curry (Chole)

5. The most important question: What is the New Year resolution?

It has been some time before I left making resolutions as I am definite that I will break it. So I didn’t had any resolution this year. I will try to be in a happy mode and keep people around me also happy :)