Comeback!!!!!

Well, I would like that the subject holds true for me and let this be my comeback to writing.
It's been a long time since I wrote something, I don't even remember me scribbling anything either.

It's been almost a year and a half and if I look back some big things have happened since. Couple of best buddies got married, my elder brother too took his vow's (well no one thought he will ever have a love marriage). But the best thing what I think of is, me inking myself.

I did spent a lot of time to finalize the design and then spent some more time in convincing my parents in order to get the tattoo done. Finally a Tribal Leo was inked on my right shoulder on 16th April 2011.

Apart from this I cannot pick up things which changed anything in my life, it's the same as it was a year and half before. Well, I think I have stopped nourishing the small moments.
So, let this be a change again in my life, which can teach me to enjoy everything that is happening around me. More than anybody else, I would like to write for myself.

So, till next time, I am signing off.
-Anup

2010...so far

Its been two weeks now since the calendar started showing 2010, and it has just flown by. At this pace it wont take much time for the calendar to show 2011, and this saddens me. I really wish something good to happen this year and make me remember this year life long.

As of now, the first two weeks passed on nicely. In the first week itself there were two parties one at Curve in KP and other at Invitation 365. Had loads of fun in the latter one, as it was Ronny's marriage party which eventually turned out to be more or like a TTMM :) one.

Then two of my very good friends celebrated their birthday last week. So wishing them a very happy birthday again, first to Amol (14th Jan) and to Ashish (16th Jan). Also one of my good friend Nambi have become an Uncle (his sister gave birth to a baby boy).

One thing I am most happy about the first two weeks is that, I have been following my resolution without fail. I have been going to swimming daily and am also continuing my work out in the evening. The only thing is, this makes me impossible to keep my eyes open after 11 at the night.

Apart from this nothing much have happened, so can't think of anything else.

So signing off (this word have been taken from RK) at the moment.

Anup

What a Year !!!!!!!!

What.......a year it had been. It started of with me, B and AT enjoying the fireworks at the London eye on a chilled weather. The 14 minutes of spectacular fireworks. And for a fact not many might have noticed this, but the clock was put behind by 60 seconds at the midnight and we noticed that, at the Big Ben.
I went on to spend the first 4 months of the year in London and enjoyed the stay to the fullest, specially the Snow Fall. Playing all over the snow with  bare hands, making snow fall, also using the snow of the balcony as our natural freezer; it was simply amazing.

After coming back to Pune, I just had a gala time with colleagues and used to party ever now and then. There were many events, the birthdays, the promotions (yes, I was promoted in April) and all other for just no reason. Then came the Hyderabad trip, where we went to KD's place. This was the first time, I had gone out with my friends outside Pune.

Then, my Big B came here for his visa stampings during Diwali. I had my house warming at that time. But the stealer of his Pune visit was something else which I will be posting at some other time ;).

The year ended with me piercing my ear, it was a shocker for my mom. And on the last day, my collage friends made my day. It was just a perfect end for the year. I met with most them almost after 2 years.

Its been 1 year since I have started blogging and I am really happy with it, that I am still continuing it. I have also started reading after a gap of few years and I am really enjoying it. I have read many book this year and just finished with 'The Winner Stands Alone' yesterday (the review I would give in goodreads.com). I have also been listening to a lot of Malayalam and Tamil songs. I would definitely take this on to the next year as well. Also, I have came up with few resolutions and would hope to follow it.

All in all, this year had bought me a lot high in many ways but there were few downs as well, which I would like to forget it. But yeah, I have learned couple of things from those lows.
But I am really glad that I have managed to reconnect with few of my very very old friends and I am also happy that my bonding with many of my office friends have become more stronger. And it is my friends and my family which helps us to keep going.

So a Very Happy New Year to my Mom, dad and to my Big B. And the same to my friends B, RK, KD, MM, GTM, Sam, Mahi, Ronny, VM then to my School friends Raki, Sandy, Rip, Vic, Reems, Mallya and last but not the least to my engg gang Jay, Joshi, Yaddu, Pappu, Sammy, Karwa, Mickey and Amol.

Departure

Here another story of his life have been closed, and his worst fear have come true. He was just hoping a while ago, that his fear should not come true, while watching the setting Sun. But, he should have understood the pattern, which life had shown him in all these years. Life always follows a sequence and it is upto us to understand it. He has always lost the people whom he had loved, but still he went ahead and dared to get close with her, without understanding that he will have to loose her at the end.

He understands that, no matter how beautiful the story is, it has to end. A story cannot go on for ever. But he didn't expected this story to end in such a way. It ended right in front of him and just couldn't stop it. One small message had changed everything, and the moment he received it, he knew, that things cannot be the same again. No matter how hard he might try, it will not change anything, and he realized that life has again won with him.

He just cant wait for the night to fall, hoping against the hope that everything will be normal between them the next day, but it isn't. He is just trying to pacify himself by saying, 'to start a new story the old one has to end'. He knows, it will be very difficult for him to get over it. As somebody said 'Girls cry and just move on, whereas boys don't cry and they live with it'. And he knows, he will have to live with it.

Sunset

It's winter, and the Sun have began to set early than it used to a few weeks ago. He, doesn't want the sun to set so soon, or rather doesn't want it to set. He had always loved this view, and never had enough of this. And with winter approaching, it gives him altogether a different pleasure. The cool breeze, a thin layer of chillness, the birds flying in an arrow shape back to their nests and the splendid view of the Sun, it looks a bit bigger than it used to, always takes him back to all the happy moments he has spent with the people he had loved the most.

He had nourished all those moments very close to his heart, because his life have always been overshadowed by the departure of the loved ones. The evening tells him that he is in love, but he is afraid to believe it, as he doesn't want her to leave. All his loved ones have left him one after the other.

He just hopes, that the new found love should not end like the setting sun and again turning his life into loneliness, but is it really love which he carries in his heart, or is it something he is not yet aware of. But life has taught him to think beyond this and he understands what it is. His mind has always played trick with him, and he thinks this is just another one.

Now, he just wants to drift away from this thought and enjoy the last beam of light which shines just before the sun goes down the mountain. Another day has passed by with her thought flying in his mind, with not sure of what is stored for tomorrow for him, but he hopes he will find the answers and will enjoy the sunset peacefully.

My Story of Joining GLT

Here I would like to share my memories of the those 3 days, which proved to be a turning point in my life. I really, really thank GOD for making it happen.
This is how the story unfolds.

14th July 2006 (T minus 1 Day)

Noon Time (The Phone rings):

I was hanging out with S at the ABC in search of few books. I was then thinking of giving SCJP exam. As, I had just finished giving my final practical exams, and, with no placements I had no other idea of what to do next. My brother was then doing a Kerala outing with his friends.

Suddenly the phone rang and I could see my Mom's call flashing on the sceen (ofcourse it was S's cell as I didn't a cell then). I called my mom back, and it was then she told me about my brother's friend who had called up informing about the Walk-In which was about to happen the other day. The word Walk-In sent in cold shiver to my brain, as I was afraid to see large number of guys hanging out at one place for a job.
Finally, I bought a book for the certification (which I havent opened yet till date) said goodbye to S and went home.

Evening Time (You have got a mail):

Till this time I wasn't sure about going for the Walk-In, and it was then my brother called from Kerala and asked me to go and attend the walkin (I was always scared of my brother). I called up that friend (Subbu) who forwarded me a mail with necessary details about the time and place.
I was shocked to see that the rounds would start by 7 in the morning and it was somewhere in SB Road and as usual I didn't knew the place.
Finally I slept for the day and cursing that I would have to get up very early the next day.
15th July 2006 (T Day)

Early Morning (Morning Panic):

Got up very early in the morning somewhere around 4 and hurriedly got freshed up and was ready to leave by 5, to catch the first local. Got down at the Shivajinagar station and somehow managed to reach the place by 6:15. I was amazed, because I couldn't see many people out there, I waited for another 20-25 minutes but still there weren't many people waiting outside.
Actually this made me happy, as I thought there would be very few people to compete with.
So at 6:45 I thought of going in and it was then my jaws dropped open. There were hundereds of people waiting inside a very big hall. After 7 the HR guys asked all the people to move out and asked us to come in patiently for the aptitude test. Suddenly I could feel the rush of hundereds of people and I started panicking.

Late Morning (Survival of the fittest):

Thank God I was very fit in those days (I still am ;-) ) and it helped me to push people and move ahead, otherwise I would have never made it till the gate. It was then I saw a girl getting squeezed in the crowd and I helped her move ahead making way for her. This was noticed by the security guard, and he, pulled me in too, and finally I managed to get in where the HR guys were collecting the resume.

Afternoon (Pay Back Time)

I couldn't managed to sit in the first round of aptitude and was kept waiting for more than a hour for the first batch to get over. It was then I realized that a reference was must inorder to appear for the aptitude and it was then I came across very weird people, who just refused to share there reference's. Finally it was pay back time and the girl whom I had helped to get in, gave me a refernce, a name of a person whom I didn't knew and gave me an 8 digit employee number of the person.

Late Afternoon (The Stress)

After the aptitude we were again kept waiting for another hour for the results to be out. They started calling the names and asked them to go to the other room. I was praying and wanted them to call out my name, but GOD had other plans, and they didn't called out my name.
I was stressed out as I thought I didn't made it and was thinking what am I going to do next.
But then striked the other plan of GOD, the guys who were still waiting in the room were selected. And I just couldn't beleive myself. I had felt two complete opposite reaction of myself in just a matter of few seconds.

Evening (Walk in the Park)

I was then called for the technical interview, again almost after waiting for another hour. Thanks for the Linux project which I did in the final year, made my interview very easy. Because Linux is one such subject, in which very few people have got knowledge about. Then, there was HR interview again after an hour wait. These interview were just a like a walk in the park. And later we were asked to to fill a form giving our contact details. And I left for the day, pretty much relaxed without realising what's stored in for me for tomorrow.

16th July (T plus 1 Day)

Whole Morning (Quiet Morning)

It was a Sunday morning, so I got up a bit late, and the first thought which came to me was about the interview which happened a day before. I was not sure what to expect, I was completely blank and tried to keep myself calm. So, I spent the whole morning quietly watching TV, with one ear on the phone wondering,
whether would it ring today with a good news.

Afternoon 3:10pm (Phone Rings Again)

Yes I do remember the exact time when the phone ringed. I was watching something on the TV. My heart skipped a beat as I attended the call. The same lady called me, who had taken my HR interview. She gave me the good news about me getting selected for GLT and asked me to reach office by 4:00 pm to collect the offer letter.
I hate repeating this sentence, but can't help. Even here I didn't knew in which of Pune does Kalyani Nagar comes. I rang N, one of my collage friend and he dropped me at GLT and left with my bike.

Evening (Feeling of happiness)

I walked in the office building feeling lost, but definately with a sense of happiness bursting inside me. It was the most happiest moment in my life till date. My first walkin and then collecting my offer letter. My joy knew no bounds. I was ecstatic.
There we were instructed about the technology we would be working on. It was the one which I had never heard of, and we were asked to join GLT on the next day. But that didn't mattered me.
I was on Cloud number 9 and felt so happy.

I don't think I can ever forget those 3 days of my life. It just changed my life and I am really happy that it happened.

City and Town

It feels to be good back to the place where I actually belong, and that is Pune. After two weeks of holidays in my native place in Kannur (a district in Kerala), I realized how much a Punekar I have become, and how much I miss the Pune City. It doesn't mean that I don't like my native place, place where I was born, I like it very much, and the main reason for it, which I believe, is because the place is not a city yet, its just a small town like place. A place where the roads are narrow, a place where you won't find much traffic, not much people with high fashionable branded clothes.

Pune is a place which have always changed with time, and it has always amazed me. The first time I was away from Pune for long, was in 2006 when I had gone to London. Pune did changed in those 6 months, and now I always sense that change happening in the city and I also sense that change creeping into me, which a city does to its own people. But to my amazement, my native place haven't changed, it still looks the same to me. the only change happened are the number of houses which are being bought up people with their hard earned money from the Middle East countries.

I do believe in the changes which a city does to its people, and I have seen that. The people in the city are always busy and does not find time for any body else. The eyes of majority of the people speak the same language, and it tells us that I does not care for anybody else. But you won't find this in a village or in a small town like Kannur (my native). Their eyes are different and they speak a different language, a language which is spoken by majority of the people. Their willingness to help others. I have felt it and can relate it with an example, the way the conductors behave in the buses. It is because of their simple eyes, I guess, I remember the face of every conductors I have in the last 2 weeks, and I dont remember the face of the conductor of the bus in which I traveled from Panvel to Pune. But with said so, I agree by the saying "All five fingers are not same".

But still I love Pune, the Pune city, because the person I have become today is because of the city, but with my roots still finding its way to Kannur. As a person, I would like to keep on changing with the pace of the Pune city and would like my eyes to speak the language of Kannur.

Anup

Anup - Served Fresh and Hot

Another lazy Sunday is passing by, but the good thing is I happened to eat few 'modaks' as it's Ganesh Chaturti today. Though I am writing this a bit late, but still I would like to call this as my Birthday Post. I just tend to write few things about myself here.

-> My name Anup and my nick name is......don't have any, anyways my name is just a 4 letter word so why short it further.
->I couldn't pronounce 'R' when I was a child. So I would say 'car' as 'cal', this is not all, I had my own list of funny words, like 'bashashe' for 'namaste', 'eehhh' for 'food'. Really don't have any idea from where these words came to me.
-> I have been wearing specks since my 3rd Standard. It started as -0.25 but now its -5.75 and -6.00. Damn I am virtually blind without my specks.
-> First thing one would notice about me is the scarcity of hair in my head. And I hate when people point out saying this, as if I don't know about that. People don't you have anything else to look at.
-> I had my first email account when I was in my third year engg. I couldn't think of any good name, so I named it 'brave_anup' and it went through in the first go.
-> There was a guy in my 12th tutions who taught me how to sign. The way he signed for me looked really good, but when I started adapting it, it started to look pathetic. Still I use the same signature.
-> I was very proud of my muscles during engg. because I did worked very hard for that. But it's all gone now, and its been almost 8-10 months I haven't gone to gym.
-> I enjoy reading, and have been reading a lot since last 6 months. I have also started to love Malayalam and Tamil songs, I should thank Bala for that.
-> I did my schooling from IGHS and would not like to remember those days. I am in contact with few friends, but still I would not like to remember those days.
-> I did my 11th and 12th Science from SMV college and would also like to forget those 2 years. I avoid having communication with those friends.
-> I did my engineering in Computers from DYPIET and those 4 years just flew by. If given a chance I would like to re-live those 4 years. Those were the best days of my entire educational life. I had great friends and I am in touch with most of them.
-> Now I am work with the World's Local Bank and thats HSBC, as a SSE. My interview is not less than a story.
-> I just cannot imagine myself without my office friends. I have been started enjoying life only with them. And we are a big group.
-> My mom and nani are the like icons for me, people can learn from them how to live a life even when you are surrounded my difficulties.
-> And last but not the least, I believe in the 'Power of Dreams'.

Wishing myself a belated Happy Birthday again.

Anup

My Silver Jubilee

Its been few weeks I haven't written anything and that is because I was expecting (yeah exactly EXCEPTING) to write my 25th blog on my 25th birthday and what better would it be than to write about myself.

But, I have been typically myself and didn't posted anything, and by the way I celebrated my 25th birthday on 18th of August, so here I am writing this post but not about myself.

The day didn't started off very well, I had to push my bike a lot as it was punctured and damn it costed me 120 bucks for many other reasons. Then the whole morning I felt like sleeping, so in the office I was nagging NS (yeah she is the tester of one of the project and damn I dont know much about that project), then I didn't had my lunch as I went on to see my new house (yes guys my new house,and I know I haven't talked about it yet, but may be next time in detail) then kept myself focused completely in work.

And now as I am writing this, I am few pegs down, had my dinner, and these guys are making a lot of hulla hops over here, specially BS and MM. This is the second consecutive Friday where I am doing my night out, but I won't like to stress myself, as I need to go to office tomorrow and complete some of my work.

But people I promise to post my incomplete blog may be by early next week, serving me hot and fresh.

Tada to all for now.

Anup

Terrible Day

What a day it had been yesterday!!! Things happened to me as if somebody has penned down a story and fitted me as a character in that.

I must say, things started to happen right from the midnight. Since past few weeks I have been facing problem with my cell-phone, where I was not able to cancel any call because the key was not responding. Now suddenly the key have started to work and the worst part is, it is always active. As a result, I am not able to make any calls nor I am able to receive any one either. So, just before going to sleep, I had fully charged my cell. Then after dinner, I went to watch some Russel Peters, Jeff Dunham and Criag Fergusson (which my brother suggested me to watch).
Then at about 5:30 in the morning, my cell gave an alert saying the battery is discharged, thanks to the key which is always active. As a result, my alarm didn't work and I ended up getting late. And, this is funny, I really don't understan why, but my mom started arguing with me and ended up saying whole lot of stuff, and that argument went on for some 30 minutes.

Now with such an amazing start to the day, I wondered what was stored for me ahead. Then I took another handset (which looks like an antique piece) and left for the office. It was pouring down heavily and was enjoying every single drop of rain by riding slowly. Now my shoes were completely soaked up, so most of the time I roamed in the office floor on my bare feet. And, like the same old story (since last 2 months) I didn't had any work, and am acting just like a filler, and still awaiting for the final approval by the business for the project.

So, spent my time by going through different sites, played TT, and most of the times was just monitoring the share market. It was just rallying, with ABAN being the top gainer with almost 24%.Wonder if I had bought some more a day before, then I would have been a happy man. Damn my Luck.

Now while going back, again it started to rain heavily, but now I just tried to flew through the road, instead of going slowly. Mom, was a bit OK in the evening and thankfully didn't mentioned anything about the morning incident. I didn't talked much as usual because I wasn't feeling that good, thanks to the morning incident.
Then, late evening I went to play badminton, and tried playing back-hand a lot. Damn, its too weak and I really need to improve it a lot. N have started playing back-hand really very well. Then again on my way back home it rained heavily, now I really doubt whether the Rain God loves me or does he have something else in his mind.

Then before going to bed, I showed few snaps which bhai had uploaded over the net, and after that I went on to a deep sleep, but only after watching few more of Craig Fergusson, because I really wanted to end the day on a happier note after it had such a bad beginning.

Now eagerly waiting for the weekend to arrive as I would be completing my 3 years in the present company.

Cheers,
Anup

A Weekend to Lonavala!!!

Another weekend flew by, and it's Monday again. But the weekend wasn't bad, it was a bit happeningnThough it didn't started the way I wanted to, but still everything fit into place very nicely.

The weekend happened to be long weekend only for me, as I was bedridden, because of some junk food which I had in my office canteen. I had my evening snacks on Thrusday and went home, but during my entire ride my stomach was grumbling. Even after that I went on to go and play badminton. That made me complete sick. It was planned that we would be going to Lonavala on Saturday, and I really didn't wanted to miss the trip. So, I did what I can do best, I didn't go to office on Friday and took a complete rest. Watched an old Malayalam movie in the morning, then went on to read 'Not without my Daughter' (it's an amazing biography about a woman and her daughter who are trying to escape from Iran). Meanwhile Gautam confirmed the timings for Saturday.

Saturday started of really well, though I had an upset stomach but it didn't dampened me. I was on time at the pick up spot, and we began our drive to Lonavala.


The scenic beauty was amazing, all the mountains were lush green, and covered by clouds and it was raining consistently to add on to the beauty of the weather. As we were heading towards the Tiger Waterfall, the fogs became more dense, with just about 5-10 meters visibility, and we were thoroughly enjoying, the music playing in the vehicle was adding some spice to the jovial mood we were in.



As were heading towards the waterfall, we could just hear the music which water was creating but were not able to see the waterfall because of the fog. The pressure was really good and to add on, the water was chilled. We got ourselves soaked in the water for more than hour or two.Then we moved on to the BhushiDam, but didn't enjoyed that place as it was very crowded as if a procession was in place. It was late noon, and we all were started to get hungry, thanks to all the 'masti' which we did.

Now to find a place for a good decent lunch for 14 guys and on a weekend in Lonavala, itself is a task. But we finally managed to find place in RamaKrishna. To the amazement KV paid for the lunch.

We all bought some Chikkis and left the place, I reached back home by 6:30, took some rest and again went to play badminton at night, and had a good game. Meanwhile, S called up regularly the whole day.

Sunday was a lazy one, exactly the way how I wanted to. Got up early, downloaded few songs, did some chatting with bhai, read the book, watched TV, then again chatted, TV, book etc..etc..

I am excited for the coming week, that's because I will be completing my 3 years in HSBC, so looking forward for the same.

Cheers,
Anup

School Days:- Yaadein Tazaa Ho Gayi

In my last post I did mentioned about the School reunion, yes, finally it happened on Sunday. Excitement was really gripping, as I would be seeing few of them after 9 years.
So, in this post I would be talking about those who made it on Sunday.

The funniest part over here is, we 15 people are very much in Pune, but never thought to meet in this last 9 years. People in small groups always used to meet up either in Pimpri or FC Road.
Latish had initially planned for this reunion almost a year back but it never happened, and now this happened exactly when he is not around here, he is in Dubai working in some Shipping company. He came to our class in 9th Standard. He was the most 'tapori' kind of a boy in our class. But he is very kind hearted. And moreover he looks like a typical South-Indian guy with nice mustache, leaving behind all the 'taproiness' which he had.

I will start with the people as and when I did meet them on Sunday.

Rakesh, he is one guy with whom I have spent my whole childhood, We have grown up together in the same locality. Now he did his Hotel Management and is working in a firm in Pune, which has to do something with the Sales stuff. We have always bee in touch.

Reema, I remember her from my first standard. She is a sweet, good looking and a big time chatter-box. She always used to compete with me in studies. She was (and is) the most active girl I have ever seen in my life. She did her MCoM and is now pursuing her MBA from Symbiosis.

Sandeep, or commonly called as Sandy. He is quite but gets very hyper when somebody provokes him. And Rakesh is really good at this. He has now opened is own frim which outsources work from some of his US clients, and his approach is really impressive. Hope his does really well.

Ripin, this guy came to our class in eighth standard. He did his hotel management and did his training in US if I am not wrong. Now he is back in Pune and don't know what is he doing, because he didn't waited for long as he had some work.

Ramya, now this news about her came as a shocker, Latish got engaged to her. Nobody from our group could believe it. She was the most silent and lovable girl in our class. And I am really happy for both of them.

Vaibhav, he was the Joker of our class. Complete fun loving boy, and would always try to make others laugh with his instant one liners. Now, he work with some firm and also have his own PC hardware shop.

Shailesh, the image which I carried for him before we met on Sunday was the same one when we were in school. But, he is the one who have changed the most. He looks like a definite politician and he is really trying to get into the same, with the help from his family members. Sounds impressive isn't it.

Bhasker, he was one of the most simple and innocent guy of our class. He would not even utter a word like 'kuthe' (Dog in Hindi). He is still the same and is working with one of the leading Mechanical Company.

Rita and Gita, these were the two girls who always used to hang out together. Rita was the steady performer in the class and the most reliable one when it come to home work and craft. Gita, would always try to match Rita's steps. Now, both of them work with an IT firm in Pune.

Rajeev/Sameer, now these guys were not from our class, they were from the other division. But I know Sameer very well, he was with us in our tuitions in 10th, but, with Rajeev, its only Hi-Bye kind of a relationship. We never had an actual conversation in school and I am pretty OK with it and that's because I never appreciated the attitude which he carried.

Vicky, now he was the one who arrived late among the boys, and he is the one who got married first among our boys. Yes, he lost his bachelor hood. He is doing good and is also working with an IT-security firm, if I am not wrong.

This is all about the 14 people who made it on Sunday. We all had a great time together, recollecting many of the mischievous we all did and were still doing some pranks in the hotel.
At times it felt we all are still the same. But as we say, 'Everything does not change, but, somethings do'.

I wish we have more of such kind of reunions in the near future.

Think about Something

This is what I have been telling to myself since last few weeks, and guess what I have not been able to think about anything new. Here, to think about something , means, to just wander the thoughts freely and it should come up with something new and you can build up a story on that thought, or just about some fantasies. My fantasies are weird, sometimes I think, how good it would have been if I had the power to become invisible, or if I could fly around, then even I would have been a friend of Wolverine and joined his community :-)

Many of my fantasies are inspired by movies or tele-serials.By watching the movies, it feels what if I had the moves of Hrithik, physic of Salman and style of the ever green Rajni. Girls would be really dying for me if I have those stuff. It would have been so wonderful.

I have not been able to think about anything in these last few weeks, and thats because, I have been drained out completely mentally and physically, and also I didn't had enough time to do anything else.
Last week started with one of my brothers marriage, as my brother is not around, so I had to attend that, then the next day I could not go to office because of the palkhi, they had jammed the road, but fortunately S came to my place that day, and we had loads of fun. Then next day, I had to go to Panvel to receive my Mom and again on the next day there was some people protesting on the Highway disrupting the whole traffic. So, I took a 4 day off last week.
And this week started with celebration in the office, with the whole Europe team having a 'Mauj Mela' organised for two days, and being a part of the decoration team, had to spend the weekend in the office decorating the cubicles and on the weekdays decorating the game stalls, which went on to collect the highest revenue.

And to the worst part, it hadn't rained here the whole June, which is very depressing. I hope it pours down heavily in the coming week and I would like to come up with something good by next week.
So meantime, I would like to relax and have decided to read a new book which I had bought almost 2 months back and will update on the story once I finishes the book.
Cheers,
Anup

Flag Hoisting

We have been always seeing the flag been hoisted on two main occasions, it may be either the Independence day or the Republic Day. As a school going kid, I remember going to school early morning for the Flag Hoisting and then doing the parade in the school ground. Other thing which I used to like is, the Republic Day parade which happens near the Red Fort. The full display of the artillary and the Soilders marching their way to glory, its a spectacular view. The other ocassions where I saw the Tri color being hoisted were at the Olympic Games.

Now, I am writing about this because, few days back I was just going through my pictures, which were clicked during last visit to London during 2007. During my stay there I visited many places, but this one place was special. Every Indian must be aware of this place, its the Mecca of Cricket, yes The Lord's Stadium.
The ground was small to what I have imagined, but the field was lush Green, resembling a green carpet being layed down there. The stand where Ganguly removed his Shirt imitating Flintoff. Its really amazing to be there in the stands, looking over to the pitch.It was a guided tour and as we were going towards the Media Centre, there were flags of all the cricket playing countries being hoisted. I was looking for the Tricolor, but couldn't find it anywhere, it was then I saw that our Flag was lying down and I guess it was the knot which wasn't strong enough to withstand the blowing wind.

That was the first time I hoisted the flag, and that too at The Lord's, it was a proud feelingfor me, I had goosebumps all over me and couldn't beleive myself that I was actually hoisting our Tricolor. I really felt proud of myself with the oppurtunity I got, because how many of us have actually hoisted the flag, there would be hardly anyone except the politicians, mostly who do it without the proudness in them, others are the school Principal's, which I am not sure how they must be feeling and few includes the armed force personals who hoist it with proudness. And I was proud of myself and thank god for granting me the chance, which may be once a life time.

Jay Hind.

Thirty Question to Dodge :-)

Really found this question very funny and interesting. I am picking this up from my brothers profile.

1. When you looked at yourself in the mirror today, what was the first thing you thought?
==>Why am I so sleepyyyyyyy (yyaawwwnnnn)

2. How much cash do you have in your wallet right now?
==>200 Rs and 2 Pounds ;-)

3. What’s a word that rhymes with DOOR?
==>more(the peacock), chhor (rice in malayalam) and floor thats it.......

4. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list on your cell phone?
==>Ghar

5. What is your favorite ring tone on your phone?
==>'Eye of the Tiger - Scorpions (Rocky 3)' - follow the Youtube Link for the song

6. What are you wearing right now?
==>Nike shorts and a T-shirt

7. Do you label yourself?
==>A BIG NOOO and would never like to.

8. Name the brand of the shoes you’re currently own?
==>Nike, Reebok and Red-Tape

9.Bright or Dark Room?
==>Its weird but I prefer a Dark room

10. What do you think about the person who took this survey before you?
==>He is good, a bit idiot but afterall he's my brother.

11. What does your watch look like?
==>Got a Fossil, gifted by my brother.

12. What were you doing at midnight last night?
==>Watched Rohit Sharma smashing the ball all round the ground. (India Won by 9 wickets against Pakistan)

13. What did your last text message you received on your cell say?
==>It was from Balaji and says 'Partner in Crime, very organised, helpful and truthful are the words that come to my mind when I think about you'

14. What's a word that you say a lot?
==>'arre yaar'

15. Who told you he/she loved you last?(please exclude spouse , family, children)
==>Cant think of anybody

16. Last furry thing you touched?
==>My new bean bag :-O

17. Favourite age you have been so far?
==>My Engg Days

18. What was the last thing you said to someone?
==>Good Night to my Dad

19.The last song you listened to?
==>Its a malayalam song 'Jalashayayil', its a very beautiful and soothing song.

20. Where did you live in 1987?
==>In Pune

21. Are you jealous of anyone?
==>Depends on my mood

22. Is anyone jealous of you?
==>There might be somebody

23. Name three things that you have on you at all times?
==>Wallet, Watch and Cell

24. What’s your favourite town/city?
==>Without any doubt Pune, but I have also started to like London.

25. When was the last time you wrote a letter to someone on paper and mailed it?
==>It was to my Granny many years back, and guess what the letter was in Malayalam

26. Can you change the oil on a car?
==>I dont have a car, but bike yes.

27. Your first love/big crush: what is the last thing you heard about him/her?
==>It has to be 'S', today but hung up the call quickly.

28. Does anything hurt on your body right now?
==>Yeah my whole body and its since last Sunday, and thats because, I Swimmed, played TT, badminton, Volley Ball and also started to go to Gym after say, 8 months.

29.What is your current desktop picture?
==>Rocky Balboa

30. Have you been burnt by love?
==>Not burnt, as was able to pull the plug quickly, so just felt the heat.

Trip To Back Home

The excitement wasn't gripping me last week. But as the date was approaching nearer and nearer I could feel that, the small rumble tumble in the stomach, whenever I used to think about my flight or about home.

I bid farewell by placing chocolates and some cookies at my desk to all the colleagues with whom I had worked for past 6 months.
Then after bidding good bye to all, I left for the day a bit early, as I haven't started packing my baggage, and thats because I knew it won't take me long to finish with my packing.

Then instead of packing I went to A's place, we were 4 guys there, made food watched the IPL and slept there.
The next day morning was fun, full of hurry and a bit tensed, I reached home at 8 then slept again for few more hours got up at 11 had my bath and started packing my bag.By around 2 in the noon I finished all the stuffs and was waiting for my Cab to arrive, which was suppossed to arrive at 3:30.

Now, imagine this, a Benz coming to pick you up. Yes my Cab was a Benz, amazing isn't it and it was the first time I sat in that car. That machine is truely beautiful. No wonder Germans are proud of themselves.
The ride back to the Airport was intresting, and, the intresting factor was in the form of the Taxi Driver, I didn't asked his name nor did he. But he introduced me saying that he comes from Karachi, Pakistan. I must say, that man talked so much and his topics were only ranging between problems happening around in London, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. And guess what, he even knew who the culprit was, discovery of the Great Columbus.

My flight was at 9:30 and before 5:30 I had by baggage checked in, so I had all the time in the world to roam around the so called Duty Free Shops. I did my shopping from there, and was almost fainted by the prices they charge at the airport. The shops say they are duty free but even a small pack of chocolate was costing 3 pounds more.

After the shopping I had still some 3 hours left for my flight, so I thought of reading a book 'Before I Die' by Jenny Downham, it was then R called me, and when I told him what I was doing he suggested me not to read books with that kind of topic when you are about to board a flight. Ohhh God, then that was it, I stopped that, and was wondering what to do, suddenly the man sitting next to me started a conversation with me. Now this man also belonged to Karachi, Pakistan and was a psychiatrist and guess what, this man was able to talk more than the previous one.
Shortly after, he left for his flight, and I was just killing time, looking here and there, to the people who belonged to different countries, different races, different religion, speaking different languagus. It felt so unique. I wont be able to find this in India again, this Cosmopolitan culture.

And the time arrived, as the clock was ticking to 9:30 the boarding announcement happened, and with that the rumbling tumbling was at its peak.
I could already feel like home. This feel became reality the next day when I had to face the burning Sun, yeah the Mercury was raised more than twice, which I faced a day before.
But it really feels great to be back home.

VISHU - വിഷു

Vishu marks the first day of the month Medam of Malayalam Year.

Although the calendar year is changed in the month of Chingam - which marks the festival Onam.

Vishu, which means 'equal' in Sanskrit, is the harvest festival of Kerala, and is celebrated in a very grand manner.

The day starts with the Vishukanni, followed by Vishu Kaineetan, crackers or Vishu Padakam, loads of masti and then the Vishu sadhya, yummmmyyyyyyy.

Vishukanni is generally made by the elderly lady of the house, and is believed that the entire year should be as prosperous as the VishuKanni. Kanni is generally set with the photo of Krishna in the middle and with deepams lighting, along with many traditional things with Konnapoo being the most important one.

After the VishuKanni, elder people give Kaineetam to the young ones, generally in the form of rupees. This is followed by the fire works i.e. VishuPadakam. Also new clothes are weared on this auspicious day and it is called as VishuKodi.

Then, in the afternoon the lunch is served and is termed as VishuSadhya, where traditional Keralite food is made and serevd in a Banana leaf.

I wish everybody a Very Happy Vishu (Vishuashamsakal - വിഷു ആശംസകള്‍).

May this year be as prosperous as the VishuKanni.

Break The Rules!!!!!

RULE - a regulation, a guideline, have always binded ones life. Since the very childhood memories, one can remember, we always live our lives sticking to rules. Rules set by parents, rules set by society and some we don't know who, but they always exists.

Right from the early school days we are told to abide by the school rules. Rules like, we should not laugh loudly, should not talk loudly, will they implant a silencer in my throat to cut down my voice. If a child is loud in expressing himself, he should have the freedom to express himself the way he want. And if the rules are not followed we are marked as B or C grade students.

Cmon its time to Break The Rules set by the School!!!!!

Our society is not far behind. They will have hundereds of crappy rules set, and its really hard to believe majority of them follows them. The worst part is these rules vary from society to society, like people living in middle class locality will have different rules than to those of the higher class. If a guy is talking for long over his mobile phone, immediately people will start making gossips about them, and these can be best seen, where people rent out their homes for clg or IT guys. If one comes home a bit late on friday, its considered to be a taboo in the society. It really doesn't make any sense why people have any objections about this. Specially the aunties of the house. And if we dont follow the rules, we are being treated as the irresponsible people of the society.

Cmon its time to Break The Rules set by the Society!!!!!

The so called IT firms too have their own rules set for people. In one hand they will talk about flexibility on the other hand they have their so called policies which kills the flexibility and the free atmosphere. Rules like wearing formals on a particular day, wearing casuals on some other day, should have Tie on this day. Why do these firms follow the so called western working culture so blindly, though on ground reality we both dont have anything in common.

Cmon its time to Break The Rules set by the Companies!!!!!

It's really big time now for us to Break The Rules, and step outside the cocoon which had been tightely wrapped by the threads of the so called unwanted rules.

???

Its been few weeks now I haven't posted anything on my blog. It's not like I have not written anything, infact I have worte few of them but never felt like posting them here. Don't know why, somtimes its really confusing on what all things to write. I think of a topic and even start dumping the stuff onto paper, but somewhere down the line I loose touch on the topic and am lost somewhere and I am just not able to find my way back.

Its because of this reason, I have also subjected the post as '???'. Even writing this I am having a feeling that I may get lost somewhere, but I am determined that I am definately going to post this one today.

And also I have planned to rename the title of my Blog to 'MAVERICK' from 'Simply Me - Anup'. Tejaswini have branded me Copppy Cat (mind the triple p in that), the day I gave the title as 'Simply Me' thats because even her title have the same name 'Simply Me'.Now I guess she remove that 'Copy Cat' tag from my name [:)]
Lets come back to 'Maverick'Maverick because I loved the character of Tom Cruise he palyed in 'Top Gun' (he was called by the name Maverick).
It also means 'person who thinks independently'.
And honestly on top of all I love the way it sounds 'Mav-e-rick'.
There is one more word which I like the most and that is 'Deja Vu'. I heared it first in the movie Matrix, and liked the way Neo tells it, then I didn't knew what does this mean. The first thing I did after watching the movie was to check the meaning of the word in the dictionary.

There are few happening things stored in for next couple of weeks. First is, the project on which I have been working for last 6 months is going live this weekend, so fingers crossed for that. Second is, it's my Big B's (my elder brother's) birthday on 30th. He will definatily be enjoying his birthday in US, guess what he was about to come back to India on 28th but his stay got extended. Lucky Guy.

-Anup Nair

I read the post which I wrote and clearly it didn't made any sense to me. The flow jumped from one topic to other without any link. Its only because of this reason I gave the title of this post as '???'. I hope I will come back next week and really write some good stuff.

A Demoralising Week..........

This is the first full week of the year 2009 and has not gone well so far.

With Monday the office filling up completely after a long holiday, people were busy reading their previous mails, which kept the work low.
As not much things were happening, I then just thought about go on and surf net about some articles or some current affairs.
Dunno why I went on to read about some bad things which kept me morally down througthoutthe week.

First one I started with was about Chernobyl Disaster. I never knew it really happened so bad, the first of its kind in human history a level 7 instance on the Nuclear Event Scale.400 times more fall out was released than by the nuclear bombing in Hiroshima.
Really the week started on with a very sad thing.
More details can be found in the link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

Then I went onto read about the Darfur Genocide, I have read about this in my brothers blog,so was just tempted to read aboutit. It really disappointing to read that one group wants to eliminate the other on their racial basis.Almost 450,000 people were killed in the span of 2 years.

I thought this must have been the worst ever to happen, but to my shock I realised worst have happened before this in a place called Rwanda.Things happened their was beyond imagination where 850,000 people were killed in just a spanof about 100 days.
Links of Darfur and Rwanda
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darfur_conflict
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rwandan_Genocide

After all this, there came a news about Satyam collapsing in the market by their 5040 Cr Rs forgery in the balance sheet which shocked the entire Indian Corporate industry.

Really dont know where the world is going with all these things as we also continouslyhear on news about the GAZA war between Isreal and Hamas.

I just wish the current recession in all the markets and terrorism and wars vanishes with the year 2008 and the new year 2009 to bring smile and happiness to all.