Sunday, October 28, 2007

The Week That Was...

Here am I, writing for the second time in a week. The week which just went by was a rather interesting and eventful one and hence deserves a dedicated post. The events which made it such are enumerated below in chronological order:
It started on Monday (as most weeks do), which involved me spending the day in my office in a sleep deprived state. However, Monday was special because among other things, it was involved me being appraised of the fact that I was given an award at work. This news couldn't have come at a better time. Maybe that last statement needs further explanation, but I can't reveal more at this moment...
Tuesday was nice because we had a lovely team lunch at 'All Stir Fry' in E-Square. The good thing about this was not only the scrumptious meal but also the fact that our entire team interacted with each other in a totally informal atmosphere and had fun together, something which is not usual in the 'multinational corporate culture' normally seen in my company.
Wednesday was different too, again detailed reasons as to why, mustn't be made public.
Thursday was definitely among the better days I have had in the whole year, and apart from the excellent Dandiya event in my office (to which the previous post is dedicated), it was also the day of the week in which I managed to get the maximum work done.
Friday and Saturday were different, since we had a training session in my company. The topic of the training session was 'Ethical Hacking', which is an interesting topic. One thing about this activity deserving mention is that the trainer himself was quite 'entertaining', to say the least!
Sunday morning was spent in a boring but necessary exercise, the afternoon was spent getting some well deserved rest, while the evening was spent meeting up with various sets of friends, some of them after a long time!
Here is me finishing the wonderful week off with a post summarizing its various events. Hope, the weeks that follow continue to be this exciting :)

Friday, October 26, 2007

Dandiya Again!

This year, due to certain circumstances brought about by my own doing, I missed out on the Dandiya programme organized in my society on both days. However, I was given another chance to club sticks when my company decided to organize a Dandiya evening on the 25th of October. Initially, I was quite skeptical about how the event would turn out, especially with regard to participation, since the environment in my organization is reasonably formal.
However, when I saw the way some people had come dressed in the morning, I realized that - well there is a fun side to all those grim intellectuals too and in the afternoon when I saw the way the preparations for the event were underway, I was certain that the evening had a lot in store.
The 'ethnic' attire worn by me included a kurta (which I changed into earlier in the evening) worn over my jeans and a set of mojari's bought from Udaipur. After completing my work for the day I headed off toward the cafeteria. I reached there just as the music was starting. I was astonished to see such a lot of beautiful people there since I didn't know so much beauty existed within my workplace :)
Well, here I was playing Dandiya again this year, initially with my colleague friend Ritesh, then joined by a couple of other colleagues, then joined by some more till we had a nice big group of around 8-10 people. Then on it was one and a half hour of continuous and fast dance and sheer enjoyment arising from dancing to the beats of the excellent music being played by the live band! The good thing about Dandiya is that its reasonably simple and even people who aren't accomplished dancers (like me) can appear to do a decent job of ... well 'dancing'. The last half an hour saw the band playing disco hits like Bhool Bhulaiya which had us abandoning our sticks and dancing 'freestyle' for a while.
Not normally a party type guy, I really enjoyed this one, mainly because of the fact that this was one party without the stench of alcohol, unsocial behavior of some intoxicated by it or any unpleasant cigarette smoke. Also, I find a good refreshment in expressive art forms like dancing and singing. (I must add, that I am an amateur at both.)
All in all, I had a wonderful time at this event thanks to the excellent work done by the organizers, great music played by the band and the splendid company of fellow colleagues in my group!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

An Hour At The Railway Station

I had started writing this post almost a year back - the draft says 30/09/06, but that was under a different context, and in different times.
To give justice to the time spent then, I quote whatever little I had written:
"This was among the common easy topics in school. However, the actual experience is a lot of fun. Especially when you aren't there to catch a train or receive someone, but to simply spend an hour there, observing and experiencing the activities at a railway station.
Rail travel always entails more confusion and tension than any other form of travel..."
However, last evening the mood was on another plane. Having had an interesting day, I spent an hour at the railway station. The time was approximately between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. This time, there were no long distance trains that came and went. The platforms were either empty or had empty trains berthed after their journey from Bombay. The normally buzzing and chaotic station was quite calm and peaceful today, it felt almost as if I was walking in a frame frozen in time. That was good for me, since I was able to sit down and think over my life and over my current and future state. My friend was with me too, but I still did get time to reflect while both of us were taking in the serene atmosphere.
So I got thinking- I thought about trains - how at times there are two places you want to go, two trains you want to catch, but its almost impossible to decide. Its even worse when you don't have a reservation in either train and don't even know how far the will trains take you toward your destination. So the chance of either decision not working out and of you getting back to where you started from after a lot of effort and sacrifice is significant. Then I tried to explore the cause of this confusion and I realized that its main cause is the fact that you want to get somewhere. In my case, I want to go someplace else even though I am not particularly unhappy with my current state of affairs. I have more than enough of what I need, and at the rate I am going I am sure that situation will at least persist, if not improve. However, I want to change the status quo, go elsewhere, someplace better. Knowing that I have brought this confusion upon me out of choice, I feel a little better, I don't feel sorry for myself for being unlucky.
Now a little effort towards its resolution, there is no point in trying to get reservations in two trains which I can't board simultaneously, I know I have to make a choice. Also, I know that I might get at a place similar to the one I forfeit now, sometime in the future (irrespective of whether the journey I chose now is successful or not), the alternate place may not be all that good, but then it would be my choice. As they say 'you win some, you lose some', I just hope I am not unlucky to lose all. Also, from my current position, I don't have enough information on which choice will be better or in which one I will be more successful, both are risks.
One may feel that I am trying to palm off responsibility on luck by calling my choices risks, however, I know that my choices will only affect me and I learn from mistakes if any. Another short one on luck - at times isn't on your side at all. Just a few hours back I had an accident. I skidded on a turning because there was a trail of some viscous liquid (probably a lubricant of some sort) spilt on the road, at a turning. The trail was quite thin, a tyre width at max, but my back wheel had to go on it at the exact same time I turned. So I skidded and fell and injured myself when there was absolutely no fault of mine, and the chances of me turning while on the thin trail of liquid weren't very high. That's luck and it does have its effects on ... well, life!
One positive conclusion was that I have to make a choice and that this is a good thing. So I thought of what I have to do next. For either of my choices, I must act fast, time is running out quickly. Try my best in it, and if it doesn't work out, learn from my mistakes, and move on. Worrying about it now will not help, it will only consume my time and waste it!
I have made my choice, I feel a little sad for the other choice but I hope the future will hold something better. (Hope is really powerful you know!).
Here's me signing out promising myself on working toward my goals to the best of my ability without worrying about things that are beyond my control and don't warrant the attention.
The hour at the railway station also deserves my gratitude for helping me make this resolve!

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Random!!!!!

Okay - here's a warning to anyone who has started reading this post - DON'T! Scroll up or down and read other ones which make at least little sense. This one is just as the title says - Random!!!
To start - I hope I finish this post, but then again - I shouldn't really care whether its ends logically.
So what is it that I want to write? Do I want to make statements or ask questions? Well, lets see.... why the hell am I wondering? This is random, hence no rules! I am already beginning to love random!!! (To those who are still reading, get off NOW while you still have some sanity left!!!)
In a random world one would easily be able to walk up to the girl one liked and asked her out! Not go crazy wanting to but never really going ahead and doing it. In a random world, one would just go ahead and follow his dream and not suppress it in the name of practicality. In a random world, one wouldn't have to worry about being careful of people trying to stab one in the back or mischief-mongers who twist your words to use them against you! Now wait a sec, is this a random world I am talking about or a perfect world? Doesn't matter really. One person's randomness is another's perfection. How? Well, simple - a perfect sentence written in Chinese looks random and therefore senseless to me. Hence how the world seems depends on who is looking at it. Also, this proves that ignorance transforms perfection into randomness!
I talk about a random world, then say randomness is at times a view of perfection distorted by ignorance. Ignorance some say is bliss! Maybe that is because there is no perfection in the world, hence people like to feel that the reason for them not seeing perfection is not because the world is a place devoid of perfection, but because they are ignorant and what is around them is in fact perfect, its just that they can't see it and are happy thinking it is there!!
Hence, I too can attain bliss by saying that my life is perfect, its only my ignorance because of which I can't see it. Unfortunately, I am among those unlucky beings who don't like ignorance. It is imperative for them to know or at least try to know the hows and whys of life. However, the more they know, the more they realize how far perfection is... the harder they try to attain that perfection. This goes on till they run out of their greatest strength..... hope!

Sunday, April 22, 2007

The Bombay Sojourn...

Day Zero
Having a quick dinner consisting of Maggi Noodles, I left for Pune Railway Station at 10:45 p.m. on Thursday, 19th April, 2007 , a good 15 minutes later than I had planned to reach there. Having reached there at 10:50 and quickly purchasing a normal ticket to Mumbai CST, I moved toward the platform where the Mumbai Passenger was waiting. The train was packed. Worse still, I couldn't locate the T.C. from whom I wanted a reservation. At last, when I found him, we had a slight altercation when I insisted that I wanted a receipt for the reservation and he responded by telling me that there was no reservation available, even though a minute ago, he had quoted to me a price for the same. We ended with a mutual consent that each of us should get lost. That in a way was a blessing in disguise for me and also a proof that honesty pays, for the Chennai-Mumbai Express which pulled into another platform was almost empty.
Getting my favourite aisle lower berth, I opened both the windows and looked forward to among my favourite activity as the train started its four and a half hour long journey at approximately 11:50 p.m. I managed to stay awake till Lonavla enjoying the night landscape zoom past supplemented with nice cool breeze, the music from my excellent SE earphones further enhancing the experience. I love traveling by trains as it is - and this, was very close to the perfect setting!
I was woken up by a gun-holstering cop at around 2 a.m. who asked me who I was, where I was coming from and where I was headed, and being satisfied that I wasn't one of the terrorist types - proceeded towards the rest of the compartment. On his way, he was checking the empty berths for any suspicious items. I was a little amazed at first, since this is the first time, I have observed such a thing, but at the same time, I was happy that now, I would feel a little safer with such guys doing their duty well.
I overslept at Dadar, waking up just as the train was leaving the station.This would make me loose an hour, but going by the fact that I love trains, I didn't mind it much. Even an 4:15 a.m in the morning, V.T. (CST) station was crowded with lots of people waiting to catch trains. The main terminus' compound too was full of people sleeping on the ground. At a rough estimate there were at least 1000 people asleep there when I walked by. What surprises and amazes me the most about Bombay is that there is a flurry of activity at all times at the railway stations. The local trains I caught to get to Malad, weren't totally empty as I thought they would be and at Dadar Station's over-bridge, there was a guy selling shirts for Rs 10/- at 4:30 a.m in the morning
!! Finally reaching my destination at 6 in the morning, I fell off to a much need sleep...

Day 1
After a few hours of sleep, my dad, my brother Rohan and I set off at around 11 a.m. to Essel World - among Bombay's best amusement parks. Getting there was fun too since it involved a ferry ride across the Gorai Creek. We had a great day there, getting drenched in the Splash roller coaster several times, and getting our systems flushed with adrenalin in the Zyclone, Thunder and the other scary rides. It was Friday, so we were lucky that there wasn't too much rush and we didn't have to wait in big lines for the rides. Getting back at around 6:30 p.m. after having a wonderful time at Esselworld, and after failing to convince my friends to come to a point midway between Malad and Fort, I relented and left for Churchgate at 7:30. Traveling was relatively expensive since the BEST buses were on strike, but fortunately, Malad Station was only 25 bucks away from where I had put up.
I reached Churchgate at around 9 p.m. and after a little confusion which involved me going to Marine drive while my friend was waiting at Churchgate itself, I finally met my friend there. That was followed by a little path-finding since our cab driver didn't know where Cafe Churchill was and our other friends who were waiting there hadn't given us crisp directions. The food at the small restaurant was quite great. I had a 'Prawns Nirvana', a continental dish, which though expensive was extremely gratifying! Thereafter we walked to Gateway of India, spent some time there and then parted ways. I was lucky to enjoy another night train journey, before reaching home at 1 a.m. and dropping off to sleep after a hectic but enjoyable day.

Day 2
I got up lazily at around 9:30 a.m. and had a good breakfast of scrambled eggs. Our family, including our grandad whom I was staying with, then left for Churchgate. There after my dad and got ourselves a couple of electronic items at Lamington Road, we had an awesome lunch at Delhi Durbar in the same area. The original plan was to explore South Bombay for the rest of the day, however, calls from insistent relatives to come and meet them, prompted my parents to decide that they would spend their time there. I had a friend of mine visiting Bombay, so I decided that I would spend the rest of my day on that front.
I met my friend Radhika and her other friends Zaher and Rajiv at Barista at Phoenix Mills at Lower Parel. We then went to CO - a bowling place where I played the game for the first time. I didn't do too badly for a beginner since I came in a close third among us four. We then decided to go to Worli sea face at around 6 p.m. There we were joined by another couple of Radhika's friends. In gaps while they were busy reminiscing of their college days and catching up on old times, I had the opportunity to take in the beautiful sunset-time sea views. Having spent a
wonderful 2 hours at the sea face, we started heading back. Rajiv was kind enough to drop Radhika and me to Dadar Station, from where we caught our respective trains back home. I reached home at 10, by when, even my family was back. The remainder of the evening was spent chatting with my grandad.

Day 3 - Today
Well not much happened today. We got up early, got packed and left for Pune via the Expressway. The journey was comfortable and good, but nothing compared to the night journey I had in a train 3 days ago.
This was my second trip to Bombay this year and though the earlier one was good, this was much better. All in all, it was a great trip, I had a wonderful time and a nice break from my regular routine. As always, I look forward to many such trips in the future!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Do I Care?

The title sounds a lot like a rhetorical question from some popular rock song, but in my case, it is a genuine question I am asking myself. As to why, is not totally clear to me too, but hopefully as the article progresses, we can get some sort of a rough idea at least.
First, let me complete the question - this is not a 'do I care about the world' kind of question. The question in its totality is 'Do I care what others think or feel about me?'
Had I been confronted with this question a few years ago, my answer would have been an outright no. However, as of late, I am unsure of what the answer should be. The thing is, people are always making opinions about you. Most of these opinions are based on how they observe you at a point in time. Sadly, therefore, these opinions are based on assumptions and incomplete information. Moreover, these opinions affect how those people interact with you and value you. Now the answer may seem that - well those who matter - will end up making an opinion about you over a period of time which will be a fair one, while the others don't matter anyway, so why bother? However, this solution weakens, when potentially significant people have to chose whether to interact with you or not. Often, to make this choice people don't have too much time to expend, all they have is their opinion of you in a short period of interaction. Also, in the beginning, people are more averse to accepting your idiosyncrasies than when they know you well. So the question now boils down to whether it is worth living your life trying to make an extra effort in portraying yourself to be something you are not, in an effort to capture potential opportunities or living freely, as you are, perhaps letting go of potentially enriching opportunities at the cost of personal freedom?
I find this a tough choice to make, because I value both equally highly... this is where my quandary lies... I hope to find the answer... but don't really know whether one is possible without making a sacrifice..., which sacrifice to make is a tough choice too...

Saturday, February 10, 2007

The First Week...

My first week at my new job was quite an experience. If I were to highlight the main difference between my previous company 'AirTight Networks' which was a start-up and the current one 'Symantec', professionalism would be it. Everything was totally organized and processes were in place to streamline everything conceivable. This is not to say anything bad about my previous company which was a great place to work at in its own right, but I was amazed at the way people worked here and at the facilities offered here.
The facilities at my new company are great - my PC seems to have the best configuration in the market, my workspace (cubicle) here has privacy and at least 3 times more room than my earlier one, and facilities like transport, food, recreation and in-house gymnasium make this a great place to work at! The work environment however, is not as open as it was at AirTight, neither is the pace as fast, but this corporate experience is exactly what I came here for. Another good thing is that the work here seems quite promising and interesting!
I hope my remaining experience here is as good as it was in the first week and I have a mutually beneficial association with the company, just like I had with the previous one.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

The 10 Day Vacation of 2007!

Today is the last day of my 10 day vacation. What made this vacation different was that in the course of these 10 days I was unemployed ... peacefully. It was a break I took between my job change. It was quite relaxing because there were no pending responsibilities to get back to at the end of it all. It was a break between a good and memorable tenure well ended with my last company and the start of a fresh stint with my new company.
This break started off with my favourite trek - Torna-Rajgad making it my 3rd trek in as many months. We started on Friday at 10 in the morning and spent the first night at Torna. The sunset on the top of the fort was awesome with a tricky stunt at Budhla Machi, a well cooked dinner and a camp-fire at wind-point being the highlights of the day.
The second day was as usual the most interesting one because it included not only a trip to Jhunjar Machi along a treacherous path, the main trek along the ridge from Torna to Rajgad with awesome scenery along the way and a night climb to the Bali-Killa at Rajgad, but also saw me reunite with a couple of my seniors with whom I had last trekked with more than 5 years ago at Bali-Killa. The food at both times consisted of Maggi which was reasonably well cooked. My day ended late at 3 in the morning with a late night rendezvous with my seniors on an edge of Bali-Killa overlooking Torna.
The final day of the trek was rather lazy as usual, with people being quite tired and subsequently relaxed. In the morning, tea and biscuits constituted our breakfast. However, a sudden flash in some of our minds caused us to go diving in the icy cold water of Bali-Killa's pools. The moment I hit the water, I felt my entire body scream for a moment and then felt pangs of chill streak all over my body. With this dive, I can imagine what the passengers of the Titanic must have felt on hitting the icy water of the North Atlantic Ocean. The trek ended with a good rustic lunch at the base of Rajgad, thus ending the first phase of my vacation.
Pictures of the trek can be seen at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/varun.menghani/TornaRajgadJan2007
The next two days, I spent recuperating from the exhaustion of the trek and also completing some work at home which I always wanted to do, but never had the time to end up doing it.
On Wednesday, at 6:30 a.m. in the morning, I left for Shirdi. I was lucky enough to catch the luxurious Goa Volvo. The journey to Shirdi was extremely comfortable owing to the Volvo's excellent shock absorbers, AC and reclining seats. However, I was unable to get the 'feel' of a journey. Thereafter, I visited lord Sai Baba's Temple and prayed and payed homage to Him. After that, I decided to travel back by S.T. to Pune. Getting a window seat, this was a journey I really enjoyed with the wind blowing in my face and by being able to see the scenery along the way not through tinted glasses but in all its natural colours. Thus ended my second trip and also the 6th day of my vacation.
I spent Thursday getting some more work accomplished and also got a little rest on that day. My day ended with a lovely dinner at Coffee House.
Friday morning I was off again at 6:30, this time headed to the city of Bombay. I was lucky enough to catch the Deccan Queen. Since I didn't have a reservation, I had to make do with a spot near the compartment's door. I enjoyed the view and the cold wind for quite a while before some people wished the door closed as they were feeling cold. I had no option but to oblige, since they were many in number. Thereafter, I spent the remainder of my journey in seats temporarily vacated. Surprisingly, I got to sit for a majority of the time. On reaching Bombay, I disembarked at Dadar and caught a local for Malad. While in Malad, I met with my cousin, my aunt and uncle and also with my grandfather. The main purpose of my visit to Bombay was to spend some time with my grandfather, something which I had neglected to do all these years. The evening was spent with my grandfather and cousin at the Inorbit Mall there, which included amazing demos of Bose music systems and Apple products. The day concluded with a nice dinner at the Mall's Food-Court.
On day nine, my grandfather and I headed for town (V.T.) where we went to Marine Drive and Nariman point and he showed me some important landmarks of the area. The pleasant weather and the view of the sea ensured that our time spent there was quite enjoyable. Our lunch was at the famous Status Restaurant at Nariman Point. Thereafter, my grandfather and I parted company at V.T. station where he caught a local back to Malad and I caught the Mumbai-Kanyakumari Express back to Pune. I specifically chose that train because I love traveling in sleeper coaches. This time I was lucky enough to get an aisle seat all to myself, so I could lie down as well as see the beautiful scenery along the way fly past. The wonderful return journey brought to an end the penultimate day of my vacation.
The last day - Sunday was spent preparing for the new phase in my career and also in personal housekeeping like clipping of nails and cutting of hair. In addition to that, I spent the afternoon in school playing a wonderful game of cricket and enjoying a thought provoking discussion on leadership with the Scouts. The evening was spent enjoying a sumptuous dinner of Pav-Bhaji. The last part of the day was spent writing this log of the events of the last 10 days.
This vacation saw me visiting 2 forts, one town and one city for a total duration of 6 days and all this with an extremely peaceful and relaxed frame of mind.
I am thankful for this well needed (and well deserved I think) break before the start of my new job and hope that I get several such vacations in the future.

Monday, January 01, 2007

Happy New Year!

2006 is gone, 2007 is here. Another year of my life gone by, another new one to enjoy! As is the norm, one is supposed to make new year's resolutions. So let me get started.
Firstly, I would like to improve my shape and physical fitness levels. I am happy at the amount of improvement I had in this area in the last year, but this year I want to not be only 'decently fit' but 'really fit'.
This year will be 'The Year of Action' for me. This year I am going to make more concentrated efforts at doing things that I wanted to do but could not because of lack of time and motivation. There are many things to explore and this year, I have resolved to explore a good amount of them. I may need to further up my time management skills but I will do it this year. That, I am sure will raise the level of my knowledge and subsequently my overall profile.
Besides that, I intend to grow in my wealth of friends, trek a good amount, travels lots and also make more determined and concentrated attempts at getting into good post-grad schools.
I don't think I have asked for too much of myself and I sincerely hope to work towards and achieve these targets. How far I am successful, time will tell...