Christmas, New Year and A phone call

When I got up today, I knew that this was going to be an interesting, happening and a tough day. My to-do list included participation in tug-of-war contest, preparation of skit for the performance round scheduled in the evening and, of course, my work in RTLC. Tug-of-war and performance were part of an intra-mentor inter group competetion where the entire set of employees were classified into 8 teams, basically based on which manager one reports to. This competition was named as Managers' Mahayuddha by the Cornucopia. Box-cricket was also a part of this competition but we were knocked out in the first round itself. So, I didn't have to worry about that when I was coming to office this morning, as if I had less things to worry about!

Our team was already suffering the loss of one of our star performers - Ajeet who had met an minor accident last week and was unable to participate in box-cricket as well as tug-of-war. Then, two of our team-mates, Pankaj & Pradish, went off to Kgp for recruitment. Well, Pankaj is manager and Pradish is also very senior to us. But I have taken the liberty of treating almost everyone as team-mates for the time being. We were the weakest teams in tug-of-war, going by physical appearances. Even the audience suggested that our team should be allowed one more player :-). But when it came to real sport, our team was better than the other team and we had almost one the first round when the tables turned. Because of lack of space, we were not able to pull any more and eventually we lost mometum while the other team gained some... so, we lost there also! But we did put an impressive show.

Next in line was the skit that we were supposed to perform in the evening... along with the sword that was hanging on my head to finish off this project by this weekend and that, if you are mistaken, is tomorrow. We had already decided on theme and had assigned roles to individuals. And everyone of us was supposed to bring out more funny lines for his/her character and, as expected, no one had done it. Everyone of has to get back to his work as soon as he gets back to his seat. We did very little of pratice/rehearsal where we basically mugged up the lines, tried to remember the flow of events and that's it. And we ended up taking away the seond prize! Not bad... certainly not bad, I shall say...thanks to good theme that we had chosen. This is only the second time that I was part of a skit and part of the group that brings up the whole idea of it. And my record has certainly not been bad. We won in the first one (although my role was quite small :-D) and second in this one (I really had to curb my habit of speaking super-fast). Besides the team that won today, deserved to win. They had put in a lot of effort and they had been practising since Monday!!

In box cricket match, we were a team of 6 each. Matches were 6 overs a side. If anyone hits directly out of box, he is out. Other than that, rules were pretty much normal. In our match, we lost 4 wickets very cheaply. At a score of 4 runs in 2 overs. Then me and Rohit took it to 25 in 4.4 overs when Rohit was tempted by a ball wide outside off stump and he hit it outside the box. By the way, 25 was the highest score by any team till then and before us 4 teams have played their innings. However, our bowling was bad and so was fielding. If only Praveen and Ajeet were available, it would been a much better match and I believe that we would have won. But as one of my friends once wrote - "If pots were pans and ... :D"
Oh! I wrote this much and I have still not written anything about its relation with Christmas and New year. Well, we used to have a party every year for Christmas and New Year.. both combined. This year Cornu-copia (This is a team of mentor employees which is into organization of all such parties and events) came up with the idea of this Maha-yuddha. And this was certainly better than having a party where only half the people will turn up. This was much more involving. And we had great 4 days. Oh! Before I forget, belated wishes for the christmas and wishes for a very happy new year to you!!
Just that I see now that I have finish up my project in one day! Oh boy! That's gonna be impossible. I spoke to my manager and the date is extended to Monday. So basically, if I don't finish it off tomorrow, my new year will probably be celebrated with me coding in office. Now, this is not new. This was the same last year as well. Me and Ayan were in office till 3 am on 1st jan 2005. I'm hoping it to be a different story this year.

However above all, I got this phone call from a friend who is going to US in couple of days. We were not in touch for quite a long time, so it was a very pleasant surprise. I would have liked to savour this fact and the good old memories, only if this day was not so hectic :-(. Or should I be happy that I didn't get a chance to think all about it one more time and get sentimental?

Updates..

It's been 11 days since last post. Well, yeah.. that was not exactly a post. It was just a forward. But for the time being, let's consider that as a post. So, it's been just 11 days since last post. But I have quite a lot to write about what I did in last 11 days, quite opposite to any other 11 days when I am in delhi and when I spend most of my time in office.
We had two days off for Dushehra in office - 11th and 12th, thanks to the large number of people from Bengal and nearby areas in Mentor. I took monday off and went home for 5 days for the much needed break from this hectic schedule. I was to go in Rewa Express since I was, as usual, late for getting a berth in Shram-shakti express which is THE best train to travel between New Delhi and Kanpur. But probably that was for better. I met Prateek and Ravi on the platform. It had been more than 2 years since Prateek & I had not met and that when Noida is his home town and Mohali is not very far away! It was good to see that he is also growing wide and bald just like most of those in software industry :-P. Unfortunately, these two guys didn't have confirm ticket and that meant, without any discussions, that all 3 of us were going to travel on one berth. It was an interesting journey :-), not only because of Prateek and Ravi but also because of an incident that was eye-opener for me. I don't wish to write about that now....may write about that in future. For now, let me just write that I and Prateek had a blast. It was so much fun. Those who already know about the incident, must be able to understand :-).
I landed in Kanpur on 8th, reached home around 8am and after not more than one hour, I was on the way to my village (paternal village, to be precise) with my mom on TVS Victor. It is not a bad bike. In fact, it is really good for anyone who drives in Kanpur. But I had tough time riding it. Reason - gears are exactly opposite in my beloved Honda Unicorn and Victor! I had to be extremely cautious while driving it. And in spite of all the caution, three times I went down on gears when I wanted to go up! :-(. Another problem was those monsoon plants on both sides of the road. Those were 7-8 feet high and the road was not straight for more than 100 mts at any place! It took us around 2 hours to reach there and it was more than enough to miss the 'mundan' (shaving off all the hairs of head) ceremony of my seven month old cousin, considering the fact that we started off approx one hour late from home :-(. But the good part about this trip was that I could meet all of my aunts (3 'bua's and 3 'chachi's .. yes, we are a large family!). Ever since I am working, I could hardly find time to meet them and they have been asking me for that. I had real good time. I, being the oldest of my cousins (& for some other better reasons :-D ), am very dear to most of my elders. Being pampered by so many people is always a good feeling. I didn't have to move even for getting water to drink! :-D. I mean before I could start off for anything, I was asked what I wanted. And despite me saying that I shall do that myself, I was not allowed to :-).
Then, I had couple of interesting discussions with my second cousins (who are almost my age. In fact, couple of months older) about farming. The problems & difficulties they have to face & the solutions that they have found for some of those problems. Can you believe that the interest rate for the loan to buy a tractor is around 12-19% for farmers while that for car loan is around 6-8% for people who earn a lot more!! So much of research is being done for farming but no one cares if the results of these research is actually reaching the root level. Apart from that, I overheard (i.e. I was there but was not a part of) a few discussions, one of which was really disheartening. I feel terribly bad about it because it relates to my dearest cousin sister & I can't do anything about it.
I came back to Kanpur on 9th evening, Spent next 3 days meeting friends and relatives. A discussion with one of my old friends was really funny. He had deduced that the sun actually rises from north-east!! Also that you will get closer to sun and hence feel more hot, if you move towards east. I wonder how he had passed 10+2 exams and, for that matter, all the other exams :-) :-). But then, he has always been deducing 'facts' from incorrect basis. No disrespect for him intended, but I had a good time discussing these issues and convincing him that he was wrong.
Chats with Rani bhabhi are generally very interesting. She likes to talk a lot and she does not give me any chance to get bored. I get to know about a lot of stories about so many people everytime I visit her. Generally, I don't like to listen about the stuff that has no relation with me. But she knows the art of telling those stories! Although this time, I had thought that it would be different because she has just gone through an operation. But she defied my expectations and she was in such a jovial mood that I can't explain.
I also met couple of other relatives but with them it is more of a formal talk. I also get to meet my friend Shweta . And man!! Irrespective of what she writes in her blog, she sure likes Cal for that was apparent from her appearance. :-P
I came back to Delhi on 13th. Return journey was, unfortunately, not as peaceful as it normally is, thanks to those snoring people around me. Those who know me, would understand that if I had problems with their snoring how loud it would have been!
Apart from this trip home, there was this sad incident. My flatmate CV fell ill. He suffered with typhoid and had to be admitted to hospital. Good news is that he is in sound health now except the weakness. In fact, he came to office today.
In other updates - On 15th, our cricket team had a cricket match with KPMG team and we lost. I was not part of team. So, most of the time I and Partha were practising on nets. And because of that my left elbow and right shoulder are still stiff. I guess I should be more regular with sports now that 'Diamond/Veloce' project is over and I am not that busy.
Enough for today, I think. There are some more updates. I Shall come back with those and those I already promised next time, probably :-).
-gauraw

That night it rained

I got this forward couple of days back. I don't know who the writer is. But I vaguely remember that I have seen it one of the blogs. It deals with complicacies of friendship between a boy and a girl. Not 'really' well dealt. But anyway, here it is -
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Lets go for a walk", said Rahul.

"Yippee. Lets go", said Swetha, almost jumping out of her seat.

It was yet another boring day in the Mysore training institute. Dusk was breaking in. Swetha had already taken two breaks since lunch. Nevertheless, she had been anticipating Rahul's invitation for another break.

Rahul and Swetha had known each other for the last couple of months. They had been together since the training days. People knew them as the best of friends. Rahul, the regular T-D-H type, who spoke with a heavy Bengali accent, was a popular flirt in the DC. On the other hand, Swetha was a chubby sweet little girl, who was always on the lookout for sorrow souls. They enjoyed being in each other's company.

Swetha would disclose all her crushes to Rahul, and Rahul would always be seen taking classes from Swetha, on how to impress a girl in 24 hours. Rahul had helped Swetha to forget her 7-year-old single lane relationship and Swetha would see to it that Rahul would never be lonely. Most of the time, they were together. People admired, some even sneered with jealousy, the relation that these two shared.

The walk today was unusually long.

"This is gonna be one of our last walks", muttered Rahul in a low tone.

"I know", replied Swetha in a soft, almost inaudible voice.

Mysore DC had completed the long cycle training and the postings had been announced the previous day. Swetha was posted at Mysore base location, while Rahul would have to shift to Bangalore. Even though they both always knew that they had to separate one day... they did not expect it to happen so soon.

Swetha, who belonged to the sentimental group, looked at Rahul and managed to pass a disguised smile. "I tried my best for a swap. The HRC is stubborn. She is still holding on to 'EURP P.U. doesn't encourage swaps.' I cannot stay here alone Rahul."

"I swear, I am gonna miss you badly too dear" replied Rahul, again faking a smile.

"Hey don't worry sweetie, Mysore is just three hours from Bangalore. Just call me and I will be here." said Rahul, trying to cheer her up, though his words did not light up Swetha's face.

She just replied with a frown. "You will be busy with your new girl friends and your work. You will soon forget me"

"Hey come on!" said an offended Rahul. "You are my best friend. Can I ever forget you dear?"

"You just wait and see", came an almost sobbing reply.

"Don't start crying dear." Said Rahul with a gloomy face... "Oh... by the way... it's getting late... let's go back" he said, taking a U-turn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As destiny wanted......... the next week saw Rahul packing his bags for Bangalore, while Swetha moved out of her PG, to a rented apartment closer to her office. They parted with a few wet handkerchiefs. The bus started moving. Rahul looking through the Volvo glass was trying to say something to Swetha. His actions deciphered, as "I will call u when I reach there. Gonna miss you. Take care... Bye-Bye"

Swetha was comforted by her own tears. She felt very lonely, as if she had lost something. Something, very precious. Consoling herself, she went back to her room, shut the door, and started sobbing again. She had found a very good friend in Rahul, and he was her major support. She had no clue in the beginning that she would get so much attached and more important... too much dependent on him. She sobbed herself to sleep.

A couple of hours later, she heard her mobile ringing. One look at the tiny screen, which happened to display, "Rahul calling..." and she was overjoyed. She answered the call with a "Hey... You reached so soon? How was the trip?"

"Yo dear! Just reached. Bangalore seems to be bliss. The climate is almost like Mysore. It is wonderful... though Mysore was better.... Coz I miss you badly here..."

"I miss you too dear," said Swetha... trying to stop her tears. They talked on for almost an hour. Swetha was all the time advising him, on what to do and what not to do. And Rahul was responding with a "Yes dear" "Ofcourse I will" "Sure, I wont"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of days had gone by. They used to call each other every day. They did not miss the good morning / good evening / how are you / I am fine ... SMS almost every hour. Thanks to the Airtel to Airtel free SMS scheme. Slowly the days went by. Two weeks had past since they parted.

That Saturday, Rahul called up Swetha in the morning and said... "Hey Swetha... you know what... I am gonna have a terrific weekend. We are going to check out Nandi hills today."

"We? What do you mean by we?" asked a puzzled Swetha.

"Oh Oh. I completely forgot to tell you about my new friend. She is so cute. We are in the same project. We both are going to the hill station. Just about to leave... So thought of calling you up and say a hi."

Somehow the "hi" was not so enticing for Swetha. Back there, she was finding it hard to talk to anyone after Rahul left, while on the other hand, someone had already taken her place in Rahul's life.

She managed to mumble out "That's great Rahul. Have a nice time... and enjoy yourself." She was kinda upset, but dint show it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Days went by and Swetha was feeling that the distance between her and Rahul was slowly increasing.

Then one day... the phone at her desktop rang.

"Swetha... you have to go to Bangalore for one week to gather the details of our APPLE project". It was the voice of her PM. Swetha could hardly believe her ears. "Wow! What luck! I can meet Rahul for a week," she said to herself.

She was very much happy and excited over this new twist. As luck would have it... it was Rahul's birthday next week. She thought of giving him a big surprise. Therefore, she hid the news from him. Next week, Swetha was in Bangalore. Thanks to the huge crowd of people, she managed to go unnoticed by anyone, especially Rahul, for the first day. It was evening. She had left office early. She went to the market and brought some beautiful flowers. She had been waiting for this day. Flowers have this magical way of pleasing people... and so she was choosy in selecting them. Rahul was her best friend, and she cared a lot about him.

Taking the flowers home, she had her dinner and was waiting for time to pass. She knew Rahul's address... she left the hotel at 11:30 and hired a taxi to reach Rahul's place. It was a short distance away, so she reached pretty soon. She groped around and found out his flat. The lights were still on. She frowned. She wanted this to be a magnificent surprise and hence had expected him to be sleeping.

Nevertheless, she timidly went to the door and rang the bell. The door opened in a few seconds... There was Rahul. "Happy birthday..." said Swetha. Rahul was stunned. He could not believe his eyes. Taking the flowers, he said. "Oh gosh! Thank you so much Swetha. I never expected you... come on... come inside..." Swetha removed her shoes and went in.

Little did she knew that there was a bigger surprise waiting for her inside. She saw that the room was decorated and there was a birthday cake, which had candles on it. There was a pretty girl standing there in blue denims and a red top.

"Err... Swetha let me introduce you to Neha. And Neha, this is my friend Swetha" The girls exchanged smiles and said Hi to each other.

Swetha felt uncomfortable. She wanted to be the first one to wish him on his birthday. But look here! It seemed that someone else had already done it. Still, controlling her feelings, she did not react. They sang the birthday song together, cut the cake, and had fun. The Party was over. Swetha said, "Rahul, it's getting late, I will leave now. Can you tell me where can I find a taxi?"

"Hey, are u nuts or what? It is very late. You don't need to go anywhere. Sleep here tonight. Even Neha has decided to stay back."

Swetha would never have accepted this, but the last line "Even Neha has decided to stay back" drove her to say, "Well, if you insist, I will stay back." The next day morning, once again Shweta wished Rahul and left for her hotel.

Work was hectic. She met Rahul for his dinner party in the evening. Neha was with him. She found this annoying, but as usual, did not utter a word.

The next day morning, she called Rahul and said... "You mean fellow, you haven't shown me around Bangalore. I am free today evening. Take me to the good places"

"Sure we will do that baby." Was his reply.

The day was boring for Swetha with not much work to do. She waited until five and then buzzed him on his cell. "Where are you Rahul? Come on... let's go!"

"Oh... I am so sorry Swetha; I have this telecon thing... I am gonna be late... just wait for some time... please dear"

"Sure I will wait dear, you finish your work. Tell me where are u, I will come there and cheer you up", said Swetha.

"Hey that's fine dear. No need to take any trouble... Besides, Neha is also here."

Swetha was surprised. She had not expected him to say this. This time, not knowing how to react... she was searching for words to reply... she struggled and said... "Well.. err ... Rahul.. I am.. err very tired.. I think I will go back... err.. Let us go tomorrow..."

Rahul replied "Wow, that's fine... no problem. We will surely go tomorrow okay, thanks a ton Swetha for understanding."

Unfortunately tomorrow never came. Rahul was busy with one thing or the other. She was feeling all the more lonely and desolate. The feeling that Neha had replaced her position sank her. A frustrated and irritated Swetha was waiting for her last day in Bangalore.

That day, she did not expect Rahul to call her. So to inform him that she is leaving, she called him in the evening and told him that she is leaving in an hour. She was shocked by Rahul's reply. "Oh I am so sorry dear; I won't be able to come to see you off. Today I have a very important meeting, I am really sorry yaar."

"Its okay Rahul", said Swetha, thinking at the back of her mind... what meeting could Rahul possible have after office hours.

Heartbroken by the crushing changes she found in her best friend, she left for the Majestic bus station and boarded her bus. She kept on looking outside as if she was expecting a miraculous surprise. But no one turned up. Resting her head on the slide seat, she closed her eyes. Memories of those wonderful times spent with Rahul were flashing in front of her eyes. She did not have any grudges that Rahul had replaced her, but what pricked her was how easily she was forgotten and forsaken. The journey was perhaps the dullest and saddest for Swetha.

Back in Mysore, and back to work, Shweta was trying to cope up with life. After a week, Rahul called her up. She did not want to create an issue, but just could not stand it. She blurted out everything. She asked him to give an explanation. His reply was "Look Swetha, you are a very good friend of mine. But now, there is someone more important in my life. Someone with more priority. Swetha... I am in love with Neha." The words were so cold that Swetha could feel its bite.

Gathering all the bits of her remaining calm, she sobbed and said. "I don't have any problem with that Rahul. But falling in love doesn't essentially mean that you have to forsake your old friends"

"You have never fallen in love. What will you know about love, Swetha?"

Rahul's words shattered her heart. She had never expected to hear this from the person she cared and loved the most. She quietly cut the phone. She shut her eyes tight and cried.

That night it rained.

How dare you ....

This is taken from a guest article on rediff. There is something funny about the way it is written. What do you say?

-----------------------------------------------------------
How dare you kiss in Chennai?
Chennai, the city of auto majors Ford, Hyundai, BMW, Ashok Leyland. Chennai, the city of software majors TCS, Wipro, Infosys, Xansa.

Chennai, the city of several engineering colleges and thousands of engineering students.

Chennai, the city where the country's first six-lane information technology expressway is under construction.

Chennai, the city of the Big Brother.

Scene One

A park in Chennai. A young teenage boy and a girl are sitting on a bench munching peanuts. The distance between them slowly reduces, and the boy puts his hand on the girl's shoulder and draws her close to him. They are still talking and munching peanuts. No, they are not about to kiss, but their physical proximity is such that they can. That is, if Big Brother does not turn up. And he does.

The terrified kids jump up.

"What are you two doing here?" asks Big Brother.

"Nothing…" the boy stammers.

"Nothing? What nothing? You are doing something," Big Brother thunders.

"We were talking and eating peanuts," the boy's voice is barely audible.

"What? Can't you talk loudly?" Big Bother's voice is so loud that the two young things clasp hands in fright.

"Take your hands off her." Big Brother whacks the boy with his baton so hard that his eyes fill with tears. The girl has already started crying.

"No tears. No crying. Don't you know boys and girls are not supposed to sit so close to each other and hold hands in a public place?"

The boy wants to ask 'What's wrong in us sitting close and holding hands?'

"Don't say she's your girl friend?"

The boy nods.

"Girlfriend and boyfriend? What is this world coming to? Come on, get into the jeep. I am taking you two into custody."

Moral of the story: If you are in Chennai, never sit on a park bench with your girlfriend or boyfriend. And, most importantly, never hold hands. It is not part of the great Chennai Culture.

Scene 2

A party in the discotheque of a luxury hotel. Loud chatter, louder music. Couples dancing merrily on the floor. The music gets louder and the dancers more passionate. Bodies intertwine. Soon, some lips lock.

Enter Big Brother on the dance floor.

"Stop!" his voice booms, but the music is too loud. He keeps shouting, but no one can hear him. He rushes towards the DJ console and terrorises the DJ into stopping the music.

The romantic world of the couples shatters.

Big Brother jumps onto a chair and shouts, "What's this? What's going on here? Don't you have any respect for this great city, and its great culture?"

"What's he saying?" A woman whispers as she comes out of the trance.

"You people better listen to me. This is a great city..."

"How many times will he say that?" Another woman laughs.

"The culture of the city is so great that here, no woman and man should hug each other in public, nobody should dance like mad people. You should learn to dance Bharata Natyam. That's our culture, and not this. Here, no man and woman kiss each other in a public place."

"This is not a public place. This is a hotel, and this is a dance floor," an angry young man shouts back.

"I will arrest you for insulting our great culture. No man and woman should kiss in a hotel even if they are husband and wife. You will be arrested if you do that. Today, I, the Big Brother, forgive you," he jumps off the chair and walks away.

Moral of the story: In Chennai, you should not go to a dance party unless it is Bharata Natyam. You should not kiss your spouse even if you are dancing the Bharata Natyam. You should respect the great culture and traditions of the city.

Scene 3

An engineering college campus. Three students are summoned to the principal's room to appear before a panel of five teachers whose duty is to question 'immoral' students and punish them. The students' fault; they are wearing short, sleeveless tops and tight jeans, and they were caught talking to boys.

"What kind of dress are you wearing? Were you seducing the boys when we caught you? Don't come crying to us if you get raped. If you dress like this, anything can happen. Remember, this kind of indecent dress is not allowed in this city and in this college, understand? Now, go home and get Rs 500 as fine for wearing sleeveless top and tight jeans. If you want good jobs in good companies, you should learn to dress properly, and also learn not to flirt with boys," The teachers shout at the girls.

Once the girls are done with, five boys are called in. They also undergo a dressing down for 'wearing dark coloured shirts,' 'talking to girls' and 'flirting with them'.

"You people will never see even the gates of an IT company," the jury declares.

Moral of the story: If you are an engineering student in Chennai, you should dress 'decently' and never talk to the opposite sex. That is, if you want a good job in a good company.

Scene 4

Angry women demonstrating -- with brooms and flip flops -- in front of a movie actress' house. The women shout unprintable abuses, spit on the gate, burn her effigy.

In an interview, the actress had advised people of the city to have safe sex. She had pooh poohed the idea of pre-marital virginity as an essential virtue.

"You dirty woman, you insulted our great culture. How dare you live here? We will banish you to the Andamans," roars the mob.

Moral of the story: If you are a woman living in Chennai, a city that has Big Brothers who flaunt their several wives/mistresses as proof of their wealth and social status, never talk about sex, sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, AIDS, condoms or virginity.

Scene 5

The bedroom of a newlywed couple. It is an unusually cool night, and passion is running high. As they are about to kiss, the voice of Big Brother booms.

"Stop!"

They stop in mid-kiss. "But why? We are husband and wife. We are not in a park. We are not on the dance floor of a hotel. We are in our bedroom. Can't we have some privacy in here too?"

"No, Big Brother is watching you. You should abstain from sex today."

"But why?" The couple dare to question the Big Brother.

"Today is Thursday, the day of abstinence." Big Brother announces.

"Can we have at least one kiss?" they plead.

"No kiss today. You can kiss on Mondays and Wednesdays and can have sex on Fridays and Sundays. This is Big Brother's order. Remember, Big Brother is watching."

****

No, this is not an adaptation of George Orwell's 1984. This is 2005, and the city is Chennai.

Yes, Chennai, the city that has blah blah blah.

Time to write something?

There are times when you have so many things to write and still you do not feel like writing. Today is one of those days. It is really strange because I had been looking forward for the weekend when I'll have time to write.
However, just an update - I got an invite from Abhaya for wordpress.com and I really wanted to try it out. Thanks buddy! :-)
More later!
-Gauraw

Khrrap!

This is one word, I would describe the movie 'Salaam Namaste' in ...The word which Nik (Nikhil Chopra, that is Saif) uses more often than necessary in the movie. I finished watching it just an hour back with GS in Waves. Yeah, I had heard some negative reviews of the movie. Just yesterday my colleague, Praveen, told me that he wanted to run off from the theater just after the first half was over and that even the first half was tormenting. This is when he generally like movies and specially the senti ones. Still I went to see the movie because the reviews promised something different. I thought it would be a fun movie. When I went to watch it, I just wanted to have some laugh and watch the bubbly Priety. Only if it were what I thought! The movie was a complete crap and the Priety, who plays Ambar in the movie, has started looking old. Okey! The subject was good. It was bold and this is one thing that is probably in mind of many of the youths. The idea of 'living in' is attractive. Because we always think of the positives and we think that we can do away with the negatives. A very good movie could have been made with this subject. In fact, 'Kya kahna' was a very good movie which dealt with the subject touched in the second half of this movie. But NO. They had to mess up with everything... I literally mean 'everything'. And that 'sorry - eckjhaktly' part - what the heck! [What was even more sad was that people around us were actually enjoying it - How can one!!]. The only thing I like in the movie was the role of Abhishek Bachchan, not that there was much to do. But still, I think he did it pretty well.

Now, let me try to be a little objective. Why don't I like this movie? Is it because - as one of my friends among fairer sex had said - it has feminist shade. Not that I have any very strong opinion against feminism. But people (read girls) say that guys generally don't understand what feminism is all about. Agreed. I don't claim that I know what it is 'all' about. But I know enough to say that this is not the reason for me not liking this movie. Then, what is it? Have I grown above yash chopra movies? Because I did like 'dil to pagal hai' and 'kuchh kuchh hota hai' in those times. I still don't dislike watching those movies. Yes, I am not so fascinated about those as I was when I saw those first time. But still. Or is it that Yash chopra's creativity and directoral sense has taken a dip? Well, may be! Anyway, enough about it.

I saw 'Chocolate' on the weekend with my flatmates. But I would probably write about it later. Other than movies, there have been plenty of things in past one month and a half that I would have liked to write about ... only if I had time. I had been very busy with two projects in hand. And now that one of those is on the verge of being over, I think I shall have time to be regular with blogging next week onwards. I am sorry if you have been visiting this blog all this time only to find that I had not made any post. [although I don't think there will be many of 'you's :-)]. It's next week then.
Till then, adios!
-Gauraw
ps: By the way, the title of this post is 'crap', just in case you have still not been able to get it. I know that i wrote it in a crappy way. :-)

A sound post

I was about to leave office for the reasons I wrote in last post, when I thought of browsing through my friends' blogs. And I makes it really happy that I did that. I came across this profoundly sound post 'To bend and not to fold' on my friend Abhaya's blog.

And as Kaps wrote in the comments of the same post, this one is undoubtedly his best post. Akshaya is no-less correct in saying that abhaya's word flow when he is nostalgic and sentimental. I wonder if anyone can put it in any better way.

Be it Akshaya, Abahya, Diwaker, Kaps or me, we are all proud that we spent some of our best years in IIT-K and we have a very strong sentimental value attached with the place. Abhaya has echoed those feelings in such a sound way that I can do nothing but feel overwhelmed with. After reading his post & thinking of the days I spent there, I am very much tempted to write something on the lines of his post. But neither I am anywhere close to a good writer as he is nor I am in such a mental state right now. I am feeling really sleepy and I better leave office now. But I shall get back to it sometime someday. I got to do that!

-gauraw

Aug 04, 2005

The day started like any other day. I reached office & the first thing I got to know that the DR which was finally fixed yesterday, is not running in US. Bad start of the day in office! I tried it one more time here, it worked. I tried couple of other ways to compile it, it worked again. Finally reported it to the concerned person.

I was pretty happy with it and I decided to chat with one of my friends who was not in best of the moods yesteday just to check that the things are ok now. Thankfully, it was. Then, after a long time, there were some mails on my wing yahoo group as today was the b'day of two of my wingmates. There was some interesting discussion going on and I participated in it. Overall, pre-lunch was all fun.

Post lunch, there was a traning session for the new project in which I am supposed to be working for next two months. The product is internally known as Diamond. And believe me - its design part sounds really good! I still have to check out the implementation part but I have heard that it is also very good. And if it continues to develop the way it is doing right now, we shall be able to leave the competition far behind. I think I shall have great time working in it.

Post training before I could get into action and do some of my work, I was held up by freshers. Today was the last day of HDL code-contest and one of the groups was having problems with their design. I (along with my friend CV) spent two hours debugging it and pointing out the mistakes they made. It was pretty apparent that the group was not coherent and that's why the design was so badly written. I was quite sad to see that the efforts we had earlier put in during HDL trainings have not been fruitful to the extent we expected. But yes, some other groups have grasped the concepts very well. Hope that only those guys/gals join my group.

All said and done, the result was that I was at my seat at 8:30 pm to do my work. Not that I was not mentally prepared to stay late, but this was a bit too late to start working. Also, my plans of playing badminton in the night were shattered by now. Anyway, I was at it when this issue surfaced. I had to build my executable one more time and am firing the regressions with this exec for the release. And this is a tedious and uninteresting thing to do. Currently, I am in middle of it. :-(. Running those on different platforms with different options.... only if I get time to automate it all once!!

And since I had some time in between these routine deeds, I am here to catch up with my blog. I was thinking of writing yesterday itself. But then one of my colleagues was giving his b'day treat. Now when it comes to treat, I almost never miss one! :-D. It was a wonderful treat and we had a great time. Thanks, Amit! There is another treat due sometime soon.. and that of my flatmate who also had his b'day yesterday. It is 'sometime soon' because he is too busy working in office! I hope that he will get some time on the weekend :-).

That's it for now. I am here, in office at 1:34 am, waiting for the results of at least a part of regressions so that I can leave. It is already late and today (i.e. Aug 05) I have to come to office in time to attend a meeting. And I better be in time as this is a meeting with big shots!

Signing off,
-gauraw

The First One

I contemplated for a long time about writing a blog, weighed it's pros and cons, thought about what all I should write in a public domain like this if I do write a blog.

Then one day, after a long time, I decided to go for it and I did all the settings for this webpage. And since then, I am thinking about starting to post & what I should write in the first post.

That's a lot of thinking. Isn't it? :-).

Today, couple of minutes back, I decided that I should stop thinking and should take the first step in blogging. So, here I am - doing my first post. :-)

-gauraw