Crash n burn

Woke up VERY late. I was supposed to get the SIM this morning, but once you wake up in the afternoon, the morning's passed you by. This line is the same as yesterday's. That's 'cause the same thing happened.

Jolly called up at 2 o'clock this afternoon. He had made it through 4 rounds of the S.S.B. but in the 5th round (a G.D.), the boys had started arguing majorly among themselves. As a result, the whole group had been scratched! While saying this he was actually smiling. Now, I remember the hell I had gone through when I didn't make it through the TCS technical interview in July last year (even though I was largely responsible for my rejection). I of course, had the comfort of knowing that there were lots more companies coming for Campus Placements, but for Jolly this had been his childhood dream. To watch it go up in smoke in front of your eyes like that........I don't know if i could have taken it as coolly as he did. My bro is one of a kind.......no doubt about that!

Prashant called up in the evening. Went to meet him at Aakashdeep Plaza with Lucky. Guy seems to have thinned down. Met Deepu on the way home. Guy seems to have become fatter than Jeetu!

I C U, but u can't see me :-(

Woke up VERY late. I was supposed to get the SIM this morning, but once you wake up in the afternoon, the morning's passed you by.

Mummy had the prize night at her school so Daddy suggested we all go & spend some time out of the house. Left mummy at Beldih at around 5:30 p.m. Daddy had some work at Bistupur so he parked the car near TATA Textiles. Lucky & me stayed behind in the car. I'm chatting with Lucky when I spot these 2 girls buying flowers from this vendor on the pavement.

Lucky says he's spotted better chicks this time in Jampot than ever before, but MY mind is going into a tail spin. That girl in the white top & blue jeans looks like...........HER. No way, can't be, I even say that aloud hoping to convince myself (even though I'm wishing for the opposite!). But yup, IT IS SHE, in the flesh, right there with her younger sister. KAZAM.......dunno what to do, dunno what to say!!! Should I step outta the car & go meet her. Surely she'll remember me, I met her twice during last Christmas's round of parties. We even got talking, yaar! Even as I'm contemplating my future course of action she completes her transaction with the vendor & they start moving off. Come on do SOMETHING, I say to myself. By now my mind is in a whirl, thinking of what to do next while simultaneously answering Lucky's queries regarding who she is, stepping out of & locking the car & trying to maintain a straight face. I follow her as she turns the corner. She's entered that sweet shop next to the Hong Kong meals-on-wheels thing. I keep an eye on her from the corner of my eye, but I think her sister has seen me. Shit! get out of that place, I think & keep walking on till I reach the end of the block. What next? Turn back, that's what & we are soon retracing our steps while Lucky gives me tips on 'baterbaazi'. She's come out of the shop & they're probably waiting for somebody to pick them up. This time, I take the road, walking around the ad board & spot Daddy waiting by the side of the locked car. Couldn't he have stayed away a bit longer? Anyway, we are soon backing out of our parking spot & she seems to have left when we pass the spot on the way back. Man! now I know what Sweta must have gone through everytime she saw Sridhar. There goes my thought process for the coming week. If only she knew. I still don't know what this feeling is. Some say, it's love. All I can say is, if it IS love, I hope it doesn't end up lost like the last time.

Back to Ranchi

Jolly left for Allahabd for his S.S.B. interview by Purushottam. I leave for the bus stand to catch the bus for Ranchi. We board the same scarlet Shiv-Shakti video coach that Daddy & me had boarded for the BIT interview in August 2002. Some 80s dacoit film starring Jeetendra & Dhrmendra is playing on the video. I'm more interested in sleeping. The seats are highly uncomfortable. The sky remains cloudy for most of the journey. Sid is happy at the prospect of some rain.

We reach at 11:30 & head for college. Meet Awadhesh & Richa at the library. Pay him money for getting done our hindi name affidavits & deposit our no dues forms. Meet Ravi, the MBA guy on the way to Shivam. Meet Aunty. She seems happy to see us. Next, we head for 'our' room currently occupied by Gunakar, Neeraj & their batchmate, Abhishek. Poor guys have their exams looming ahead but chuck their books for the next hour & a half as we get chatting. Sid borrows Neeraj's Pulsar & we head for MESRA. Meet Amit (the Paul Walker lookalike), on the highway. He's manged to snag a job with Hughes through an off campus interview. He seems visibly happy. Get our acceptance letters at the T & P office. Sid meets up with Antara at the R & D building. She seems like a fun-to-be-with girl. It's a pity that there was such little interaction between the people of the two sections. Soon, we're on the way back.

Have lunch at Laazabab. Don't get to see Vimal (the waiter) though. Meet Santosh & Manilal. At Kantatoli, it's the same bus that we came by in the morning. What are the chances of that happening! Anyway, we get different seats which are as uncomfortable as the ones in the morning. The journey is really tiring even though they're playing 'Baap Numbari Beta Dus Numabari' on the video. Reach Jampot at 8:30. As we walk past the hotels & parked cars near the former bus stand, I can't help but think.......it's probably one of the last times I've made that journey.

Back home

Jamshedpur & Jharkhand are seeming out of place. Back in Bangalore, JSR & JH had always appeared as the old, familiar home town & state 10 times better than the south. Once here, I can't help but contrast the dynamism & spunk of Bangalore with the monotony & lack of initiative prevalent in my home state. Never thought 4 months in Bangalore would affect me so, but the place does seem to have left an impression.

Sid came in the evening. Says we'll have to get our WIPRO acceptance letters from MESRA tomorrow as its the last day. I'm lucky to have friends like him.

Berth 44 3rd AC

Woke up & got ready in time. Sid had fixed up an auto to take us to Yesvantpur station. Said our goodbyes to Sittu who seemed pretty cold. Maybe it was the lack of sleep. We were out of G.S. Pallya by 5:30. On Hosur road, the Volvo sleepers from Chennai, Hyderabad & elsewhere were on the last leg of their respective journies as our little auto criss crossed between these behemoths. We reached Yesvantpur at 6:45. The auto ripped us off Rs. 500/- (Harsh says City Taxi would have taken Rs. 300/-) and the porter pocketed Rs. 60/- (the tea vendor says the normal charge is Rs. 35 - 40).

The train journey was memorable for a no of firsts. It was the...

-1st time I was travelling by a Summer Special.-1st time I was travelling by A.C., & thank God for that since it was baking hot outside.
-1st time I sat on the footboard alone under an almost full moon night as the train was passing through the CKP-TATA section. Awesome feeling!
-1st time I sat on the footboard alongside a girl (Sweta), as the train passed through the Saranda tunnel.
-1st time I smoked on a train. The fine is Rs. 250/-. We did this after duly informing the attendant (R.S. Prasad from Munger, who kept us entertained with his minibus-brand of shayari).

We also managed to kill time by playing dumb charades with our co travellers (Rony, the 1st year student from Ramaiah College; Arun, the ex-Infosys guy who was going to start his MBA; Kavitha, who had just appeared for her 12th exams & was preparing for AIEEE). Good fun. Reached Jampot on the 26th, about 2 hours late.

It was one of the more enjoyable train journeys I've had.

Deposit travails

Uncle had been acting iffy since the last 4-5 days. The thought that he would renege on his promise of returning our deposits had entered my mind, & our worst fears came true when he said he couldn't return our deposits since he was banking on the future renters of our room to pay him the deposit which he in turn would have returned to us! All the world's expletives wouldn't have done justice to this insane logic. Sid almost blew up in Uncle's face & demanded a talk with the actual landlady. She in turn asked us not to worry, go home & that she would send a D.D. to us soon. As Sharad Kapur said in JOSH, "halwa hai kya?", no way, the 3 of us wouldn't budge from his room till we got something to take home. Ultimately, uncle managed to get us a post dated check from the guy whose friends wanted to rent our room once we left. It's dated 7th May 2005. Let's see what happens that day.

The Sid & Sittu back to back drinking spree is on its 7th day today.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned

It was the 6th day of the longest back to back drinking spree that Sid & Sittu had ever been on. Earlier in the evening, the 3 of us had been to Princi's (to get the ticket) & Sweta's (just so) & Sittu had had the inevitable face off with Sweta followed by 3 back to back cigs. Now if anything can be considered portentous, THAT can! Sure enough, after 2 or 3 swigs, Sittu had tapped away several SMSs to Sweta which had hit point blank. She began calling up Sid who cancelled several of her calls. Ultimately, when none else worked she called up yours truly.

Now this verbal/psychological duel between Sittu & Sweta had been going on since the last 1 month. I had sensed the cold vibes between the two but didn't know that Sittu used to talk to her & send SMSs, the contents of which often drove her up the wall. She had said as much to Sid who had asked her to refrain from confronting Sittu or saying anything to me (of course!). So, things had finally reached the stage that I was the one being called to complain about something which had originally been sought to be kept away from my knowledge. Crazy how things work out, ain't it?

I answered her call & man! was that girl angry or what! Using my rudimentary negotiative skills, I somehow managed to calm her down. Meanwhile, Sittu in a fit of anger had flung his Panasonic on the wall breaking it into two! The worst thing was, I had lost interest in the Chicken Manchurian Fried Rice I was eating prior to getting Sweta's call.

That sinking feeling

It's sinking in now. Especially after deleting all my mails & project related folders. 'Boys of Summer' playing on the headphones is not helping matters either.

Last day in office

Am posting from the office for the last time probably.

Anupam came over last night. Had beer n chips for the last time on the roof.

I'll soon be handing over the access card & id at Gate 6. Hope I get them back again soon ( when I join WIPRO as an employee, that is).

Cleaned up my machine's hard disk. Nothing except the music remains. That too will go soon.

In 2 days time this will be my former address
c\o P. Venkatasubbiah,
Suraj Building,
Rajeshwari Nagar,
Govind Shetty Pallya Road,
Hosur Road,
Electronics City,
Bangalore - 560 100.

It's over!

Got Shashank's signature. The project is finally done & over with.

Said final goodbyes to Anil Kant, Shashank, Sridhar, Anjani, Amit, Disha, Manzur, Ashwin, Kavita, Soumya, Hemant, Puneet & Asim.

Naresh & Vidisha gave the 4 of us a send off lunch.

Shashank gave us his blessings ('May you be posted onsite & sign $20 travellers' cheques for $5000' since we made him sign 8 copies of the approval certificate).

It hasn't sunk in yet,........but it's over.

The 'Quarter' Awards

Quarter => January 7, 2005 - April 22, 2005

MOST OFTEN HEARD COMMENT OF THE QUARTER
Smart boy; What the hell! - Sweta, Bahut kuch seekhne ko mil raha hai - Sittu

LONGEST PAID CELLPHONE CALL OF THE QUARTER
55' 56'' - Mayukh (from Bombay), closely followed by 50' 10'' - Soumya (local call), days before he realised that HUTCH had been charging his 'free unlimited local calls' since March!

PERSON-I-LOVED-TO-HATE OF THE QUARTER
Ashwin Hiremath

SMS BARRAGE OF THE QUARTER
Goraksh Bedarkar; Kavita Chawdary & Harshwardhan Agrawal

CONTROVERSY OF THE QUARTER
Obscene postings on the bitmca02 group by 'ankeshbit02'

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF THE QUARTER
The hunt for the person responsible for the above incident involving simultaneous investigations in Bangalore, Calcutta, Delhi & Bombay. Perpetrator nailed in a day!

NICE GUYS OF THE QUARTER
Rama Rao, Goraksh Bedarkar, Riyaaz, Abhishek Jain

SOFT SPOKEN GUY OF THE QUARTER
Sushant Devatha

BEST ALCOHOL RELATED COMMENT OF THE QUARTER
'Kya karta hai.....daaru peeta hai?' - Ravi, closely followed by 'This is heaven' - Sid (answering the question 'What is this?' asked by Vipin regarding a bottle of RS)

WRESTLING FANATIC OF THE QUARTER, no make that THE wrestling fanatic!
Vipin Ravindran

MOST-LISTENED-TO SONG OF THE QUARTER
Wo Lamhe Remix (Zeher, by Atif Aslam), closely followed by Batter Up (Country Grammar, by Nelly)

LIFE-OF-THE-ODC OF THE QUARTER
Anjani Kumar Jha

NICKNAMES OF THE QUARTER
Setting, By Far

VERBAL ABUSER OF THE QUARTER
Pritish Mohanty

WEBSITES OF THE QUARTER
emp3world.com; centova.net; musclecarclub.com; blogger.com

FIRST-TIME-EVER OF THE QUARTER
Tequilas at Styx Pub

MEETING PLACE OF THE QUARTER
Forum Mall

LIVE SOUND OF THE QUARTER
Porsche 911 at the Forum Mall

REGRET OF THE QUARTER
No stipend by WIPRO during training

ILLEGAL ACT OF THE QUARTER
Sid caught smoking on the TATA-ALLEPEY Express

UNDERACHIEVERS OF THE QUARTER
Indian Cricket Team

PERSON-WHO-TURNED-OUT-TO-BE-DIFFERENT-FROM-WHAT-I-HAD-THOUGHT OF THE QUARTER
Sweta Raj

and finally, COINCIDENCE OF THE QUARTER, or is it the coincidence of the year?
Sweta, Sid, Sittu & me getting calls for training TOGETHER at Bangalore. The best possible people at the best possible location. Howzzat?

Done!

Project completed. Anil Kant Chaudhry has given his signature of approval. Waiting for Shashank. Hope he shows up soon.

First post from Flickr

Bhai Log, originally uploaded by itsvivek.

Bhai Log @ BIT, MESRA.

Flickr

Am a member of Flickr now. Uploaded lots of pics on my account. Exploiting the internet facility well!

The end of the beginning

It's the 2nd last day of the working week & also of our project internship at Sub Cubicle 00, Cubicle 46, BP ODC, B Wing, 3rd Floor, Tower 5, EC 2, Wipro technologies, KEONICS Electronic City, Bangalore.

We'll soon leave behind everything that we had grown accustomed to & familiar with in the last 3-4 months. The '1 BHK' pad, the mirror on the kitchen window, the Baron 14 inch portable (C.P. 3,800/-) & its remote, the karate practice in the mornings on the nearby playground, the struggle to wake up on time in the mornings which I often could not overcome, the daily bath with 'heated' water, breakfast at the mess (& the people at the mess-Aunty, Ravi, Rajesh, Prasanna, Rupa), Govind Shetty Pallya.

EC phase 1, the 5 rupee auto ride to work, Gate 6, the people at the office - Anjani, Shridhar, Amit, Arun, Manzur bhai & his shayari,Shashank, Anil Kant Chaudhry, the people at the other BP ODC - Ashwin, Hemant (ye 'galt' baat hai), Puneet, Kavita, Soumya, Sodexho & egg biryani @ Rs. 26/-, the pond with its ducks & the yellow plastic 'duck god', the stream of buses at 6 in the evening and walking back home past Omnesys, Flextronics, GE Thermo Electrics, Siemens, Infosys, ICICI ATM, HP, FANUC and AISIN NTTF before reaching City Sagar & coming across 'our' familiar waiter.

The good times - the rides to Madiwala @ Rs. 6/-, Forum Shopping Mall, Styx Pub & the tequilas, Sid's B'Day & Anupam's visit, Div's visit to our place during Holi & the airport trip, Soumya & his gang - Makode, Shirke, Netaji, Arvind (Chinki) & Princi. The drinking sessions at home & Vipin's dropping in at that very time and my attempts at 'smoking'.

The people - Sid, Sweta, Sittu, Goraksh Bedarkar, Ashok, Tarun, Riyaaz, Abhishek Jain, Pritish & Madhavi & not to forget the reestablishment of contact with Mayukh, Nilabja & Anand........

As Ali Haider sings.....bas yaaden, yaaden, yaaden reh jaati hain. So long Bangalore, hope we come face to face again.....soon.

Documentation troubles

We are facing some last moment hitches in getting the documentation approved. Shashank does not want us to use the words 'oig'; 'isthmus' & 'shell'. So we've decided to replace them by A, B & C respectively. Genious!

Downloaded lots of Tutorials on C++, JAVA & JSPs. Hope they reach my gmail account alright.

Some idiot is again having bright ideas & using an SMTP server (whose ip can't be traced) to post on the bitmca02 group. Ankur had removed the moderation this very morning! Thankfully, there hasn't been anything objectionable posted yet. Maybe, its just a matter of time before it starts all over again.

Fav wheels

1979 Chevy Z-28 Camaro


2004 Nissan Skyline GT-R

2 of my favourites!

Boys of Summer

Stumbled upon this write up on one of my fav songs at this place http://www.celebrityaccess.com/news/letter.html?id=14

"
"The Boys Of Summer"

There's that percussion intro. And then Mike Campbell's guitar. Then the synth part. They talk about the video. This is one track that's SO great, the video, HOWEVER good it is, can't eclipse it, can't make the mental movie for you. In late September, it's "Maggie May" that gets to me. With the line about needing to be back in school. But on the first cold day. Before late September on the east coast. Sometime between September 15th and October 15th in L.A. You'll be driving down the street, and you'll wonder where the summer has gone. Where your LIFE has gone.

Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer's out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone
I'm drivin' by your house
Though I know you're not home

But I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

I never will forget those nights
I wonder if it was a dream
Remember how you made me crazy?
Remember how I made you scream
Now I don't understand what happened to our love
But babe, I'm gonna get you back
I'm gonna show you what I'm made of

I can see you-Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
I see you walkin' real slow and you're smilin' at everyone
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

Out on the road today,
I saw a DEADHEAD sticker on a Cadillac
A little voice Inside my head said, "Don't look back. You can never look back."
I thought I knew what love was
What did I know?
Those days are gone forever
I should just let them go but-

I can see you-Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that top pulled down and that radio on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

I can see you-Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that hair slicked back and those Wayfarers on, baby
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone "



This is the cover of the album "Building the Perfect Beast" that released on 1.1.1984. 'Boys on Summer' was the first song on side 'A'.

I've always thought this song had that long lost, wistful feel to it. Now I know why.

Nearing completion

Sittu & me managed to schedule & run 1 of the 2 programs we were originally asked to write. The other one's causing some live-server-password-related problems. Nothing much we can do about that.

Documentation's almost over.

Hits of the 80s

Am listening to some retro hits from the 80s today

Broken Wings - Mr. Mister (1985)
It Must Have Been Love - Roxette (1990)
Boys of Summer - Don Henley (1984)
Hysteria - Def Leppard (1987)

Missing Run to You (Bryan Adams) & Circle in the Sand (Belinda Carlisle), though.
These songs bring back a lot of memories from childhood. The 80s were THE best years of my life. I'll write about them in more detail sometime later.

Managed to download ATB's 'The Fields of Love' from a free MP3 site as a pdf document!

Team India spoils my Sunday

In the last ODI at Delhi's half completed Feroz Shah Kotla stadium, Pakistan made 303-8 batting first. I predicted India would make ~150. They made 144. Pakistan take the series 4-2.

Princi is here with our tickets. Will go & get 'em next weekend. He says Bunty's coming to Bangalore on the 30th as he's got a job at 'Bell' - a call center.

Sweta has also got herself tickets on the same train on the same day as us. WIPRO EC 2 will thus be devoid of project trainees (from BITS, MESRA) from 25th April, 2005.

Another Saturday in the office

The deadline for the documentation hangs like Damocles' sword over our heads. Consequently, all 4 of us are in the office on a Saturday.

Sid is using his Rs. 15/- chinese headphones as a loudspeaker!

Jolly is home

Jolly is home & called up to ask me how to connect the USB mouse & the headphones after managing to set up everything else on the computer. Smart!

Copycat

Himesh Reashamiya has let himself down in my eyes. I thought he was one composer who strived to be original. But now I know of 2 songs that he's lifted
1) Gela gela (Aitraaz) lifted from 'Thoya Thong' and
2) Kubaku (Dil Maange More) lifted from ATB's 'The Fields of Love'
Ho hum.........another one takes the oft trodden path.

Fickle minds.......?

Pritish says he's got the testing job. 3.5 l.p.a.! I guess it pays to be fickle minded. I've got to start thinking out of the box. Talked to his girlfriend Madhavi. She seemed pretty nice.

A false fire alarm at the office had us all scrambling. Thank God it was false!

On the way

Jolly sent an SMS from a station called Rajgangpur in Orissa. He's on the way home from Jabalpur with Daddy & Lucky. Called him up & had a talk for a minute.

Dildaar

Sittu has this habit of coming up with nice surprises. He got his brother Mintu-ji (as he calls him) to send him an mp3 version of Dildaar by Ali Haider. Haider has been one of my favourites ever since his first (launched in India) album, Chaahat. Dildaar also continues in the same vein. What I like about this guy's music is the simplicity. Simple lyrics, hummable tunes & a nice rhythm to round off the package. No wonder I've spent most of today listening to it.

Sittu has somehow managed to wriggle out of Ashwin's grip citing the documentation deadline. He's also been ribbing me about Kavita Chowdary ever since she sent me a string of mails this afternoon.

Had a minor skirmish with Sweta in the cafeteria, but managed to sort things out soon.

And they've lost again !

The champion chokers have gone from a 2-0 lead to a 2-3 deficit. They lost the 5th ODI at Kanpur after scoring a paltry 249 batting first. Afridi blasted the 2nd fastest 100 (102 off 46 balls). No other team barring perhaps, Zimbabwe in its current state is capable of such a dubious honour. Hell, i'm not wasting more of my time writing about this group of supreme underachievers.

Fickle minds

Pritish wants to get into I.T! He's got an interview scheduled tomorrow for a job that involves software testing. He's presently in his 4th job in a span of ~2 years....... Delphi,Nestle,Metlife & the current one, ICICI Lombard (which is barely 2 weeks old). Says that he desperately wants out of Sales & Marketing.

Sweta has rejoined the mcabit02 group after leaving it yesterday!

Got an SMS this morning presumably from Bunty . Says he has got a job in Bangalore & will be coming here soon. This after maintaining all along that if he'll do a job, it'll be in Jamshedpur.

India lose again

The 4th ODI at Ahmedabad goes Pakistan's way. It's 2-2 now. The Pakis chased 315 in 48 overs losing 7 wickets. Love Pakistan's ability to fight back. The highest paid chokers in the world should learn a thing or two from them.

Sweta has left the bitmca02 group. Dunno why. Girls can be really whimsical.

D Day approaches

It's the 12th. Barely 13 days left. The documentation is not proceeding at the rate I wanted it to. Its the first time that I'm feeling the jitters regarding its completion.

Plus its India vs Pak at Ahmedabad. The connection is really bad today as it is wont to be when ODIs are on.

Goraksh gave his placement party last night. Sid & me had Kingfishers. Sittu chose to down a whole quarter of Royal Stag.......NEAT! Neat, dude. He's still feeling the aftereffects this afternoon.

I haven't seen a guy more fanatical about wrestling than Vipin.

Coffee is beginning to smell like Gold Flake cigarette smoke! Better quit whatever little smoking I do lest it turns me against my favourite beverage.

The latest gem from Samir Kumar Raut

This is what Raut sent me today.........

Hi ,
Since logn enough when i send u message. No once agina i m here, aah kal kaya chall raha haa. project ka kaam kab tak challga . apna project ka bhare ma bhe batoo.

Sid bhe ajakla mall karna band kar deya haa. I think u should send message soon .

Most important aaj kal yee group ma kaya chal raha ha since i log after a long atime i m not very much aware of it i u have some information than pls send it

Yours
samir

And this is what he wrote to Sittu.......


HI!
kaya ba aajkal bohoot busy hoo gaya ha . ya sirf group ma hee mail karne ma maza aataa ha.
khbee kabee hum logo ko bee mail kar leya kro sifr present partner ke hee bare mee sochtee roho ge.

Yes, and hows ur project is going on. kabhee kuch bataa deya karoo.
Most important is that agar hum jase logo ke leya koyee opertunaty ha to bathna .
agar samjoo to ma apna resume thuma forward kar do . sooch lana.

yaar kabhee kabee free kee service ka use kar mail to kar deya krooo.
Bye
samir

Man! if this guy had worked as a code writer for the army, the Pakis would have gone crazy!

Now playing

# One & One - Robert Miles,Maria Nayl (Great voice, good lyrics & Miles at his best)

# So Young - The Corrs (Fantastic guitar play)

# What Can I Do - The Corrs (Voices & background vocals)

# Love Bites - Deff Lepard (Ummmm........but I like it nonetheless)

# It Must Have Been Love - Roxette (You can almost feel the emotion)

# Pyar Zindagi Hai - DJ Suketu (This one ROCKS!)

A beautiful morning!

Woke up early and was ready by 8:15! Was feeling a
new kind of freshness too. Plus the cold which had
plagued me for much of last week seems to have
vanished! The sky is absolutely devoid of clouds
and is a great light blue (though I would have
preferred it to be cobalt blue) giving absolutely
no clue about last night's weather. In the office I
open the mailbox and get 2 fundoo mails from Prav &
Div. The day has started well. Hope it stays that
way.

Back in touch with Nilabja

MG called up last evening while I was still in the
office. Said he had gone into the free pool and was
going home for 3-4 days this weekend. Also said
that he had given my number to Nilabja. Ah well!
back in touch with another good school time friend.

I remember 'Nil' most for his high pitched voice
but MG, him n me formed a great threesome & had
some great times together. Especially those races
from SRP's chemistry tuitions in Adityapur to the
Bistupur gol-chakkar with me on my 60 cc Puch & him
astride his 150 cc Bajaj Super. Those were the
days! Also, he had lost to Khushnam in a drag that
they had after school. He had himself revealed that
piece of info to me........rather sheepishly. Now
he's doing pretty well with his freelance software
development work.

While going back home at about 8:30 p.m., Sittu & me were
faced with Hobson's choice. There were no autos so
we either walked back (getting soaked in the
process) or stayed put (& missed out on dinner). We
chose the former. SRK's show in Bangalore also got
cancelled due to the rain. So we weren't the only sufferers. The signs for the coming week were ominous.

3rd template in 2 days

Have been fiddling around with the templates. This is the 3rd in 2 days!

NOT feeling well

It's a Sunday & I am in the office. I can feel a fever coming on. It's the last thing I need now. Sid wasn't feeling well either & stayed home.

Had a talk with Monty yesterday. Dhyani couriered a CD (containing the projects) to him. Monty seems to be enjoying married life.

Daddy goes to Jabalpur today. He'll come back with Jolly and Lucky on the 15th. Mummy stays home alone in his absence. Can't help but worry about her.

Swapnil called up from Bombay yesterday. Needs a house for somebody in Indiranagar/Koramangala. Asked Soumya for an agent's no to send to Swapnil. No reply yet. Swapnil isn't happy with his current job. Wonder what he'll take up after pharma & advertising.

Don't feel like writing any more.

Goraksh gets a job

I met Goraksh for the first time on 9th January 2005 at Bangalore. I was looking for a dig near Electronic City and Soumya had called him up for help. Now this guy had a test/presentation that day (he was studying at NCST, Bangalore) and yet he managed to sniff out a very good (under the circumstances) place for Sid, Sittu & me which is where we stay to this day. I really needed that place desperately and on that day itself & Goraksh was like a God send. Our friendship grew during meetings at the mess where we ate dinner. He seemed perpetually busy & I often wondered how he coped with his huge workload. Came across as a really down to earth, easy going, fun to be with person.

Last Wednesday, 7th April Sittu informed me that he & his room partner Meghdoot had both managed a job at Tata Power during Campus Placements. Both were required to join at Bombay by the 15th of this month itself. This is the mail he sent me yesterday -

"Hi guys/gals,

the most naughtiest frd of urs has got a job in TATA POWER COMPANY LTD (Strategic Electronic Division). So i m leaving NCST Bangalore. I m going to join the company by 19th of apr. My posting is in AAMCHI MUMBAI.

Goraksh V. Bedarkar

C-DAC,

(NCST)BANGALORE-560100

Mb : 09886777405"

The guy seemed really happy. I was happy for him too. It's nice when you see that nice guys don't necessarily come last. All the best buddy. It was nice knowing you. Enjoyed the short time we spent knowing each other.

And so I part company with another co traveller on the journey called life. Hope I get to meet him sometime in future though! Maybe when I go to Bombay to meet Swapnil, Mayukh, Bobby, Pappu, Abhijit, Archana.......man, I know lots of people in Bombay!

In office on Saturday.

Am in office on Saturday. Sridhar calls me up as soon as I enter. The guy's looking to buy a car for ~6 lakhs and Sid has referred my name to him for advice. We get chatting. Haven't ever talked to him face-to-face for so long. It's always been for some official job or the other. He comes across as a nice guy. I tell him to go for a Scorpio, Getz or a Fusion. He shoots down the thought of buying a Scorpio although he likes it. I also manage to impart some technical funda to him in the process (about engine power, rpm etc). He seems to get a hang of it pretty quickly.

I've seen that in these cases people often want you to reinforce what they already have in mind. So does Sridhar. I give him my suggestions anyway. Anjani is downloading NFS Underground's demo. I don't think it'll run properly on his machine.

Sittu's working on some kind of 'Love Meter' on santabanta.com. Turns out it rates Sid & Antara at 85 out of 100. Sittu & Nivedita also get the same rating! I'm not trying it out!

India lose, the cold doesn't.

In the 3rd ODI at Jamshedpur, Pakistan bat first and score 319. India could have made a game of it........but went down tamely, losing by 108 runs. Well, at least the series has become wide open now. One more win for the Pakis and who knows, maybe they'll run away with the trophy. India have shown signs of being an improved side under John Wright but it's been a case of so near yet so far more often than not. The World Cup 2003 final and the drawn test series in Australia come to mind. Anyway, we'll soon be getting a new coach. Let's hope he can help us cross the final frontier(s). Amen to that!

The cold is still with me. Missed office due to it on Friday too.

Daddy's managed tickets for me & Sid on the Summer Special. 3rd A.C.! It's a first for me. Looking forward to it. Princi's coming from Jampot on the same train on the 16th. He'll be bringing the tickets and Soumya's Pulsar.

In other news.....

India beat Pakistan in the 2nd ODI at Vizag with Jharkhand man M.S.Dhoni doing the star turn (148 off 123 balls). Feels great when somebody from the home state does well, especially at this level. He was particularly severe on Afridi and that made it all the more sweet. India lead the (6 game) series 2-0 and I must say I didn't expect this kind of domination from them. Let's see what happens when they chase.

The next match is at Jamshedpur. I miss the ol' hometown. That place was so much better than here. Anyway, I'll be returning soon so........ Hope this documentation thing is completed fast enough. It's beginning to get on my nerves and I haven't even started!

The bus from Srinagar to Muzzafarabad (POK) was flagged off this morning. May it keep running. God knows how quickly this Kashmir issue needs resolution!

Down with the cold !

That old friend of mine, the cold virus is back again. I've got it for the first time in Bangalore. As it is wont to, its made life miserable since yesterday. Didn't go to work yesterday and thought I would do the same today, but the boredom at home drove me to the office at 1 o'clock.

Sittu had another telephonic conversation with his loved one & Sid managed to extricate from him beers for us all. Keep talkin' Sittu. Cheers to that!

The posting controversy on the group seems to have boiled over. Sittu uploaded (on the group) definitive proof of Manuj being the culprit. Since then, there hasn't been a single posting from Manuj. All posts have come under scrutiny of the moderators and expectedly, the rate of postings has reduced to a trickle. Oh well, it was good while it lasted.

Iqbal-e-Jurm

Manuj decides to own up in the face of the incriminating evidence we managed to ferret out. Sittu became hopping mad (because Sam again tried to defend Manuj) and sent him a stinging mail not to ever do so again after presenting him with proof of Manuj's wrongdoings.

Manuj seems to be going crazy waiting for Sweta's reply. Has already posted 3 reminders after his 'iqbal-e-jurm'. Sweta says she'll give a suitable reply tomorrow and goes home. Can't wait for the action to begin again tomorrow morning. It's perverse but watching the tamasha can also be good timepass........ sometimes.

It's raining very heavily outside.

Shenanigans on the group........... continued

Somebody is upto no good again. This morning somebody posted a really nasty comment about Sweta on the group. She was expectedly livid. And this was from the same 'Ankesh' who had posted the previous 'wedding invitation'. A flurry of calls ensured....Sid calling Antara(moderator); Sittu calling ankur(also moderator) and me calling Ankesh(perpetrator?). Finally, Deepanjan had to be asked to remove the offending post.

Div and Sittu sat down in earnest to track the ip of the sender. Turns out that the source ips of Manuj's, Manish's and 'ankeshbit02''s mails are the same. That's probably cause they're from the same mail server. Now, Manish I don't suspect, but Mental.......hmmmmm, could be. Especially since everyone else posted in Kolkata is posting from different ips. Div suggests so without naming anyone and Manuj takes it upon himself to give a rejoinder. The crazed moron even manages to 'lalkaro' Div to a face off during the viva in Ranchi. Things are hotting up pretty fast.

Now Playing....

Zeher's 'Wo Lamhe' is the song i'm listening to most these days. The remix that is. Suketu's done one hell of a job remixing it. Some DJs really go overboard with the beats. It's only Suketu and to an extent Aqeel who manage to sniff out oldies and remix them to be really appealing. I mean, who would have thought 'Bin Tere Sanam' would have such great remix potential. Half the people didn't even know such a song existed!

I had liked the song when it had released way back in 88-89. Sometimes I think my mind works like a DJ's. The same love for beats and dance tracks. I probably should take up DJ-giri once i'm through with I.T.!

Sittu forwarded this mail sometime ago. Really makes one think.... "The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be".

On the relative front

Monty got in touch a few days ago. Turns out that he needs a few projects for his wife whos in the 2nd last sem of MCA from IGNOU. Strange how people remember you when they need help and conveniently forget later. Anyway, got him in touch with Ajay Dhyani who's also in Delhi. Thought that Ajay would greet me with a tirade of abuses since I had just about kept in touch with him (via SMS and email) but he turned out to be a picture of cooperation! This guy is one friend in need. God bless him and his kind! Monty still hasn't got back to me regarding what transpired between him and Dhyani. Oh well, can't do nothin' 'bout that, can I?

Daddy says Vini's bought a new cell with all the bells and whistles worth 18,000. They've also sold off the Esteem and got 2 new dogs. I think they'll be buying a Corolla next. Those guys really know how to live it up. The 'chappad phaad ke' muhaawra comes to mind.

Jolly's doing well with his exams. I at least hope he is! God help him with his studies and the SSB interview. My lil' brother has grown up and I miss him and his smart comments.

Anisha, Anurag, Bonny and Lucky are neck deep in exams. All the best, guys.

Bunty remains incommunicado. This time i'm not gonna be the first one to call. No news from Shalu either.

Yabs hasn't replied to my last few SMSs. Probably gone abroad. He was supposed to go to some place whose name started with S. Scandinavia probably.

The bitmca02 group and the weekend

Ankesh posts a really vulgar 'wedding invitation' and all hell breaks loose. Lots of people who were so far content with simply reading the postings and occasionally posting how-are-yous see this as the chance to break in on the action and prove their moralistic/dignified/holier-than-thou credentials to all and sundry. There's bedlam as allegations/counter allegations/suggestions and even apologies flood the group. I also got caught up in the action and did a few postings, 1 of them reminding Sam of his folly in berating the moderators/owner, one of whom happens to be Antara. Antara thanked me in return! Felt good!

On Friday, the 1st of April there were about 25-30 postings. Compare that to 117 for the whole of January and 97 for the whole of February and you get the picture about the kind of posting frenzy ignited by Ankesh's posting and the subsequent happenings. It was like an avalanche....... a small jhatka and it rapidly built up into this big movement. All good fun really..... as testified by Deepanjan in one of his posts ('life is good again').

In the course of events on Friday itself, a battle of postings ensured between Div and Sweta. Div posted some really nasty ones hitting Sid where it hurts the most......in matters of the heart. Sid, the emotional guy that he is, took it really hard upon himself and promptly left for home at 4 o'clock (a first for him). Sittu and me also decided to clear out pronto at 5 o'clock in order to beat the impending rain. Got caught nonetheless.

Next day(Saturday 2nd April), its India vs Pakistan at Kochi. Vipin, the IMG guy living close by comes over to watch with his friend, also called Vipin. Sittu tells me that last night Sweta almost suffered a heart attack! Chest pain and stuff! Me thinks yesterday's postings have a role to play in that! India score 282-8 and we 3 head off to the railway station for ticket reservations. There's a very convenient Summer Special running fromYeshwantpur to Tatanagar. Little do we know that the railway reservation database hasn't been updated with its details yet! Even after a half page ad announcing it in the papers! And this in the country's I.T. Capital! Sometimes India frustrates me like MAD! Sittu manages an RAC for himself, though.

From the station we take the bus to Sweta's to 'see' her. She seems fine. We get chatting. Harsh is also present. Soon Div calls and says that he's managed to crack all my email id passwords. I can hear Praveen's excited chatter in the background. Both sound really elated. They've managed to totally ruin what was already a bad day. Someday, it'll be payback guys! Tumhare paapon ka ghada bhar raha hai.

Sunday(3rd April) and I wake up to a power cut. Sittu says there wont be any power till 5o'clock. We decide to head off to the office.

So much for the weekend! God, what have I done to deserve this? The only silver lining is that India beat Pakistan.