Mumbai Trip, in a Dream

It was around 1 P.M and the sun overhead was shining as bright as there was no tomorrow.The heat was too much due to reflections on the water, but as wee moved away from the shore, it was cooler with the breeze from the Arabian sea. I have been on boat rides ferrying across rivers with good distance between shores, but this was a different experience. Being on the sea is a different feeling altogether. Hundreds of ships, all sizes and shapes, some known many unknown, gave me a feeling of the vast water body we were exploring on a simple motor driven ferry boat. One catamaran passed by and we hit the trail. The boat shivered up from top to bottom!

Elephanta Caves greeted us with a small toy train and 3/4 stalls selling only liquid(water in all forms till ice), with hints of solid in form of biscuits. I was ecstatic about the place and it is a good feeling when you hunch doesn't go wrong totally. For any person who doesn't love to travel or is less ready for an adventure, might find the place very dull, but thats not the case with me. I have great pleasure to visit places with fun, adventure and mystery. These caves were built between 5th to 8th Centuries and is currently in renovated form. First stop was for an entry fee, then a long climb to reach the top where the caves start. It was too hot and every drop of water was costly by Rs.10-15 per liter! Conserving energy was not important as we have to do a descend of a few hundred steps. We hurried through the steps, clicking the camera shutters here and there! All the space around the steps were filled with hundreds of curios, clothes and lots of eateries whenever there was a plateau  structure available. And interestingly enough they all serve chilled beer! I guess they have a dynamo each or some coveted power plant!

At around 2:30 P.M. we were at at the top, took an entry ticket and cave one greeted us with a huge orifice, supported by beautifully carved, huge pillars. These were caves built by gods as the local traditional history depicts. The shaivas or followers of lord Shiva, built this cave and one can find many inner sanctums with the shiva lingas intact. There are many huge statues, about 40 to 60 feet in height and was a spectacle not to be missed. The walls were inscribed with stories from mythology of that day. I felt awe as to how many sculptors were engaged and in those days with non sophisticated modern day tools, how they managed to finish off with such intricate designs! I am not an archeologist and hence cannot give a detailed description, also this would become a more lengthy entry. Go and visit this amazing creation of man yourself, to feel it all. We visited three caves and it was time to go as exploring the Island meant we should have taken the very first ferry.
On the ride back, Rahul and Deepak dozed off, and I was drowsy too, but suddenly a sight made my eyes wide open. This was a bunker in the sea, few kilometers from the shore. It was resplendent with heavy firing guns on the turret and places to hide and fire. then there was a fleet of the Indian Navy, resting on another side of the place where we'll be getting off the ferry. It was a sight to be remembered as well. There were all kinds of fighter ships, frigates to destroyers. I felt very safe!

It was 5:30 when we were back on land and headed for churchgate station. We'll be boarding a train to Bandra, the posh area where almost all the demi-gods of indian Cinema have lived or still is living! Bandra is more like esplanade and park street of Kolkata, in certain characteristics and I found more autos than people on the road! As we went inside posh bandra, it felt like people who live here are millionaires for sure!My friend Rahul is a die hard fan of Shahrukh Khan, I am too.So we headed for Mannat, abode of King Khan. After a small photoshoot before Mannat, we approached bandstand, but from it's look it was one of the worst beaches I have seen. Payal joined us from there and we took two autos and headed for a good place for dine and wine. Stopped at carter road and took a walk to the CCD(Cafe Coffee Day). After a few considerations from the Mumbai kars (Payal and Deepak) we headed for MasalaCraft. MasalaCraft is an uptown restro-bar, with an ambience for both, the loud and the meek. They serve good food and drinks, though no surprises or extra credits for that. We took the non-smoking/closed space. It's a decent place where you can sit, chat, enjoy the delicacies in between your serious discussions as well. Interesting part was, when we had a disagreement on the ingredients as well as the preparation of chelo kabab, they put it off the bill! That was an amazing gesture of courtesy and professionalism mixed with pride from the management. But one word of caution, if there is someone reading this, and wants to have a free lunch or dinner, disagreeing on all dishes and drinks. Please stay away from Masalacraft and my blog as well as me!

We had a peek of the famous Leelavati Hospital on the way to masalacraft, which was an extra sightseeing albeit from the auto.After a stumptous dinner, we headed for a cab to get back home, it was 11:30 P.M. Only one who missed out on food and drinks was Deepak, the poor chap had an upset stomach. Anyways, we  steered past the Mumbai Ceiling (a bridge over a part of the sea) a very hyped place on it's opening day, and a quite useful track for daily commuters and people who just can't get stuck in day-time traffic. It was about an hour and half or a little more journey back to Kopakhairne, Navi Mumbai. Went to bed after a tiring day, and slept off instantly.

Tomorrow would be a day, when nothing is planned whatsoever, and I kept it to myself for meeting up old time friends.

Mumbai Trip, en-route to Dreamland

Got bored with my signature style of blog entries so for a change trying to be in classical blogger style of entries ...

Had two great weekends back to back! First one was on the first week of April, my Mumbai Trip... journey to the City of Dreams and the second was again in Bangalore, City of Gardens ... my second home for past two years! 


We started for Mumbai as a semi-planned (I say unplanned) trip to the city of dreams. The only planning we had was booking return tickets, roughly deciding on spots to visit. It was early in the morning that I started to pack up on 1st April, though I had been planning to do so from 30th March! I had a morning shift and took my rucksack, which was half filled with extra clothes and some junk I carry almost everywhere, to office. The sun was at it's best when it comes to burning in Bangalore, at around 3 P.M and I set out for my bus ride sweating (uncommon thing in Bangalore). Rahul joined me in the way and we had a small bus ride from BTM to the pickup point. We were excited, and the bus to Mumbai started at around 6:30 P.M .... with hindi chartbusters in full volume. At night you hardly have anything to stare at out of the window, other than street lights and whizzing two/three/four and more wheelers, so we decided to watch the movie that was playing, an unsuccessful, partly boring Hindi Movie. It was a laugh riot at times with raunchy humor of extramarital affairs of the protagonist Govinda! He was a good actor, had given many hits and made people laugh off their seats in many previous movies but this slapstick one was what did not suit him. The bus stopped at a roadside dhaba, where they sell almost everything all through the night. Think who will buy cheap party wear, from the roadside on a bus trip! We also had more shocks to come by. One dal (edible quality), one egg curry (only egg was edible) and two rotis (non-edible) presented us with a bill of Rs. 110, while the juice center proudly boasted of its Rs.20 Musambi juice! It wasn't even worth Rs. 50 in total. Anyways, this is a explicit show of monopoly and we just played to their tunes. The predicament was well rewarded when we hit the Bombay-Pune highway. One should at least once take this route to Mumbai(daytime, or you miss the fun), it's exotic. With tunnels, meandering hill roads and heinous gorges it is wonderful.Loved this part of the journey very much. Rahul even went to the drivers cabin to have couple of snaps! I was happy sitting and shooting by the window.


We almost reached Mumbai, at last, dropped off at Vashi, Navi Mumbai. And it was again scorching heat at 12:30 P.M! The walk to the auto standing 10/15 steps from the bus made me realize there was something called humidity still existing on earth. Sweating in the sultry sun only relief was when the auto rickshaw ... oops only rickshaw in Mumbai terms, picked some speed. In about 15/20 mins we were meeting Deepak, our school friend, with whom I lost touch long time back. After a sumptuous Chinese chicken packed lunch, it was time to doze off  the fatigue of an exhausting journey of about 18 hours. Rahul poked me out of sleep at around 5, and we were already late. We had to go to CST(Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus, earlier known ad Victoria Treminus, shortened to VT), and from there a taxi ride to Marine Drive a la The Queen's Necklace. On the way to CST, dropped off at Chembur, to pick up Payal and have tea on a bean bag. CST resembled Howrah station we have back in bengal to some extent, and I was amused. The first thing any south eastern railway traveler would notice that these stations have a unique style. First time I found platforms on both sides of the train! Good way to handle rush hour. The next surprise was the Premier Padmini Taxi's, not that I haven't seen them on the way, but felt curious was this the standard in Mumbai! At bangalore, we don't even have the good old ambassadors (Hindustan Motors make), here Indica's to Logan's are cabs. So as a present bangalorean, it was a new sight. When we boarded one, first thing I missed was the leg space and the puffy yet slightly hard feel of the Ambassador seats.Leg space is not crampy, but still does not have the feel of an Ambassador. Now did I realized that I love Kolkata for it's Ambassador taxi's as well! These taxis were a good ride as I realized on the way to Marine drive, as well as in the next 2 days. In Mumbai, you have less busses and more cars, padmini taxis and rickshaws, this factor coupled with the excellent train connectivity might have led the padmini taxis affordable to common man.The taxi fares here were lesser or at max comparable to Kolkata fares, far too cheaper than what we face in Bangalore.
Queen's Necklace is a place which you would not get tired of if you visit everyday.The pleasant welcome breeze from the sea soothes one's souls and frees your mind.There is a broad pavement and you can walk all evening to the night life of Mumbai.The fabled night life of Mumbai was a reality when at around 9:30 P.M we were before Leopold cafe and it was brimming with life, which continued long after we had left at around 11:30 P.M. Though I did not have time enough and chance to jive and rock n roll to the DJ's tunes in Mumbai Discs, this was a fine experience. The beer taps they use here are slender and finishes before you have quenched your thirst to the fullest, yet has a charm which exudes from the Signboard which says "from 1871"! I'm sure they served only coffee then. One thing I must mention, as in restro-bars like these, one usually finds great non-veg we had a nice surprise. The paneer here is just too good. If you visit Leopold Cafe, and is a non-vegeterian, do try out paneer and roomali roti.


Back to our den by 1:00 P.M fell to our beds and dozed off soon. Next morning it was Gateway of India, The Taj and Elepanta. Oops ... by the time we left, it was about an hour to noon! Thus hurried our way to Vashi station, boarded the famous trains of Mumbai, crossing a stretch of the sea, the Thane Creek.12:30 P.M and we were at CST. Took a cab/taxi to Gateway of India. It was a strange feeling. This was the place where the English ships would have sailed in the early 19th Century carrying King George V and Queen Mary ! The imposing structure with beautiful engravings and carvings would have greeted the english to this land of wealth and happiness.Before every monument you get more patriotic, it seems. There was Shivaji, riding on his horse, a splendid work in bronze. The Taj faced the sea and the Gateway of India reminding me of the disturbing day of 26/11(2008) as well as how it has been a visual beauty and sign of grandeur for years before, and will be in forthcoming days. Our boat was to start for elephanta in about an hour, so after a few photo shoots we headed to the ferry. It was a derelict boat and had a queer way of getting to the gateway of India steps. It started to tilt side ways propelling itself towards land in a horizontal manner, instead of coming in a circle. It left the gateway of India in the same manner, and I did feel insecure at times after climbing to the top of the double decker ferry boat. 
It was a different feeling this time, as I had never been this far into the sea, having various vessels, many of which were unknown in my limited knowledge of water vessel classification. There weren't any waves except that of the catamarans and speed boats trails.We hit one trail of a catamaran and the whole ferry was shaking up like the paper boat in a strong current. Near to Elephanta caves was a huge tanker, resting after it had been relieved of all oil and yet it was 6 meters sunk.The markings told us it sinks up to 17 meters in high seas and oceans. Mumbai port was in the vicinity. We landed at elephanta at around 2:00 P.M and a small toy train greeted us with the stark, harsh Sun above.

28 Mar 2010 04:03 AM

04:03 AM : It's damn hot .... sweating on my bed, the ceiling fan is rotating, as it does everyday! Just that as it rotates I can see and count the blades. There are two windows but in the wrong direction, so no hope there as well! Hence I decided to sprinkle water on the bed, cooled it momentarily.
A terrible headache, Skipped dinner, Trying to sleep, Typing a useless blog, Cribbing on better things in/of life ...

27 Mar 2010 04:25 AM

04:25 AM : Today I woke up at around 02:00 A.M after a nap of around 2 hrs! I am having middle-of-the-night insomnia!! Trying to sleep now would mean counting a zillion sheep all through 06:00 AM ...

20 Mar 2010 02:55 AM

02:55 AM: I am still not sleepy !! Can't call my self Insomniac ... I would sleep the day out tomorrow ... given a chance. But have office tomorrow... have gotten bored with this so called corporate life. I dream't of doing some big/small changes of the world as we know, being obsessed with advent of computers (ENIAC/EDVAC/Mainframes/LispMachines in computer history classes) to the latest buzz then Google! And now I am a sitting duck here, in mercy of some big MBA guy with big words of hollow/shallow meaning! Whatever .. golden 80's and 90's are gone and software remains mostly as a service...

To get out of the mundane ways ... I chose to get nostalgic today, as you can see below :












Hope that cheered you up a lot ... it did to me !!

19 Mar 2010 02:33 AM

02:33 AM : Today was a holiday for me... spent it sleeping and watching movies for most of the time... but the really engrossing, interesting, awesome thing happened shortly after midnight after I crossed over to 19th march officially. Dhrubo was online, we chatted and I discovered how ignorant i have been for the last week ! This cool video was online from March 11 2010. And as to why I am jubilant and excited at this wee hours is something to be seen... Here I unfold a seemingly possible future:

21 Feb 2010 Sunday 01:30 AM

00:30AM: Today was another carefree day, met up with another old time school friend Joydev.

We had a great time together, less speaking and more fun makes it a memorable day. Nothing was planned and we just wandered from one place to another, hitting up le rock in the end :-D. It's one of the niche pubs in Bangalore, and the ambience is just so perfect! I'll love to get back there many more times :-)  as I crave for 13th Floor !
Strangest part was how i have failed to meet this oldie (friend wise) for 2 years of my stay at Bangalore! When I came to this city, I called him up, decided to meet but ... it didn't happen! Blame can be on me ... I became such a workaholic and also my damned project doesn't allow me free on every weekend. I get only 26 weekends a year minus the days I have to go to office on weekends!! Phew I have screwed up my life !!

Anyways, I am trying to gain control of my life as far as possible...
Wish you all luck in your journey ahead Joy :-) Your current company is a great place to work!

We were yet to be more amazed rather surprised this evening, as suddenly one MTV icon just barged in with a full camera crew! Our fun and booze high was almost killed by sudden flash lights and we discovered we were in the middle of a ad campaign/promo for some EGO t-shirts, by Cyrus Broacha !! The strong flash lights almost destroyed the ambiance ... good that they left soon, but those 20 or so minutes seemed too long.

Sorry Cyrus, if I am being too critical, but then barging in with the crew could have been averted by informing the general public, isn't it? I understand this may have resulted of you being mobbed ... but then we smaller earthlings could have enjoyed a little more, as it was the time when the DJ changed to Pink Floyd and they reduced the sound so that you guys could shoot well! Well, after having a good time with my friends, I guess I have no qualms about the surprise. Well at least we cached a glimpse of the icon in broad spot-light!

Also became fan of another band today, thanks le rock. It's Green Day ... and here is one of my favs



Another great Saturday comes to an end ... looking forward for another nicer one :-)

14 Feb 2009 Sunday 02:05 PM

A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:

Its loveliness increases; it will never

Pass into nothingness; but still will keep

A bower quiet for us, and a sleep

Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

-- John Keats

Today is Valentine's Day and I could not keep myself from quoting Keats! This day has been the day when St. valentine gave up his life, for the sake of love back in 496 A.D. The holiday first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished.(from wikipedia). but Hold on ... there was no one St. Valentine, there were many saints who martyred in ancient Rome and the day February 14th made famous by  Pope Gelasius I in 496 A.D. Enough of history, for more go through these links:
Valentine's Day              Who was Valentine?       


Numerous love birds chirping together, nudging, cajoling, hugging and kissing is a common sight on this auspicious day. But what is so special about this day, why people who have a partner (boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse) gets so excited by this day? The Singles trying to be Doubles is quite understandable :-P
I have felt the sudden rush of adrenaline before on this day and it remained unexplained, that the girl I used to meet every day, suddenly became more lovelier, the mundane day became bright by the hour! Strange but true, and I realize it now what is it that makes things seem so different.... Arguably it's the kick that brings in with every day that has been tagged in a year as a special day, may be another marketing strategy (Archie's/Hallmark?), may be it's taking time out of the 24 hr busy schedule we get swirled into. But the very different ingredient that makes out the special flavor is the feeling of being loved and cared for that gets in the air with hundreds of people following this as a ritual and marking a day in the calendar to make sure you think and feel love all day long, be it with a plain rose or a jet plane for a gift. It's the gifted persons happy moment in the year and since love doesn't cost you (materially) and is so rare to find and stick to, makes it a special ingredient.

Today I'll be going to office as the person in shift, has a boyfriend to attend to (also she had done my shift in January when I was in vacation) and it again makes me feel happy. Had I not been there  (if I had my ex, or a new girl :-P) someone else was to be called in (which was again a tough thing to do, no one wants to come to office on a weekend!), but still would I be happy enough? I don't know.

Albeit borrowing a few lines from Lord Byron, to my unknown, unnamed love !
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.


Sometimes I feel I am attracted to the girl sitting in the other corner of the ODC floor, sometimes it's the ITPL hottie every other guy is eying, or the quaint beauty of the next door girl, and mostly it's no one, I know or can reach out to. I at times get bored with these smaller love stories of seconds/minutes/hours (infatuations) ... and I am also not having these infatuations of late! :-( Talk about people interested in me? Somehow, I don't think I am made for them!  Am I getting stuck somewhere ?? May be ... 
But, as they say Love is in the air!!
Below is the hindi song that suddenly caught my attention and I have been listening to it all day long !







I am not unhappy or sad that I don't have an arm candy to flaunt tomorrow, I am not unsatisfied that I haven't fallen for any girl in between. It may just that the brimful of love has spilled over accidentally, and I have no clue where the refill occurs!
Is a girl that much required? It's funny how on Valentine's day I am getting urged to have a counterpart (or betterhalf ?) just because ... as they say "Love is in the air?" 


Just another weekend at office for me, though!

17 Jan 2010 Sunday 02:23 PM

 02:23 PM: have been busy with a lot of things these days, tweeting, klouting, drawing cartoons on the whiteboard in office. Klout requires a special mention as I have considered the idea of measuring reach within a Social Network primarily for business houses last month and klout has been on the net from december'08 !! How ignorant I have been! I had almost forgotten that there are about 6 billion minds out there in the wild filled with amazing ideas, to put it in an implementation would just require some dedication and determination from say a few million!
Thinking on these lines I had a crazy thought (was thinking of putting this one in my crazyinsanechronicles), what if all these minds were a network end point? Say a open network without restrictions or regulations, you don't need to fear any organization or government. Free flow of ideas and implementations simultaneously.Think of it in the concept of gaia where the human civilization is made up of millions of sentient elements. There would be only one god, one human in the larger scale. All inventions that take tens and hundreds of years would be a small time engagement. The human gaia would have been the supreme thought process with intelligence and forces that would resemble photons to the smallest particle it is the same as an aggregation of it, albeit bringing up certain physical property changes at times! Imagine the huge data flow, control mechanisms that would have evolved (may be telepathy wouldn't be fiction!). The sheer unimaginable context  is what makes me overwhelmed. But then what about individuality? As sentient beings have some kind of legal and ethical rights we would have too. Talk about photons, they can change wavelengths! The world would have been so alien, isn't it?
This makes me think that we posses a certain kind of problem solving attitude in what so ever be the case. Imagine walking, you never think you are walking but behind the scenes you mind calculates every step, assisted by the  cochlea and the medulla.Whenever you are about to slip your reflexes are so developed that you most of the times don't fall, of course that comes with lots of practice! So if we were like gaia, every coming generation would learn a little more than the previous one with practice, whether the very next generation would be adept at coding/handling computers to software engineers, or the child after birth would ask questions about velocity of light to a physicist is a debate, but we would have been more advanced than what we are is for sure.
Now coming back to the real world I do see some gaia like symptoms in the current society. There are blacks an whites, Muslims and Hindus, Australians and English and many more to go. As long as one gaia does not hurt another gaia it's fine! But wait who decides what hurts and what not? An eight year old frisked at an airport hurts his family, twittered around it hurts many more emotional people. But talk of security it has become necessity these days. Methods of implementing it can be another debate another time. Lets say if this was a case of rape how would the victim feel being twittered around? It can be a political issue or whatever, but bottom line is what is it that hurts and whom. Say for example, Muslim jehadis proclaim they were being hurt by Americans (Christians) while the US will say it's they who brought down the twin towers. It has been pain and more pain in the end, no matter who started and who is the bigger terrorist!
All a simple man wants is to live happily and die honorably! The basic need seems to be in line with sentient beings. I don't know whether we can be one gaia but something tells me we had the potential long back, now its lost!

15 Jan 2010 Friday 01:26 AM

01:26 AM: Now I am having weekends on Thursdays and Fridays! Why? Well I have to go to office on Saturday and Sunday !!! I know it sucks, but have to do it for some more days and may be months :-( . It was a Local Holiday today and hence was time to meet old friends again. Had a nice time, and planned ahead for a FRIDAY NIGHT :-P
Have started to tweet a lot of late and after the Haiti Earthquake have been retweeting and tweeting even more! One kind of attempt to help those unlucky people.
While twittering came an amazing news from SANS ISC (whom I follow in twitter) that top 6 links in google search for "Haiti Earthquake Donation" (search string) shows up fake-AV malware to the victims machine! These spammers and rouge malware distributors are really becoming pain in the internet! Have a look below for the attack mechanism.
First you search for "Haiti Earthquake Donation" come up with a page showing results like the ones shown below. (The screenshot is from SANS ISC)

Then when you click on any of these links which have the pattern  "?q=haiti-earthquake-donation" it will redirect you to the site http://fullcomputerscanm.com and it will warn you as below. 

Now you get paranoid and click "OK"!! No don't do it. If you want to know what happens next, take a look below.

As soon as you do "OK", the page shows you all scan completed result and asks you to install the (fake)Antivirus in one or two or more steps as shown below. Once you do this last step, the malware (trojan/key-logger/virus) to your machine! 

To get more information on this kind of attacks please do check this out: http://isc.sans.org/diary.html?storyid=7144 . It has got the whole story, I just tried to focus on how any lay man can be more secured and be his own guard!
Happy Internet Surfing,Social Networking and whatsoever you are upto! :-)

09 Jan Saturday 2010 02:37 AM

02:37 AM: Busy ... no I wasn't ... Lazy ? Not really ... just that you forget your daily coffee at 4:00 PM at times and I did not post. Also nothing big or small happened these days, life is flowing like the meandering river, in it's own slow pace. Well not really slow in classical sense, remember we are all thrown into a mad rat race! Life of a software engineer working in a big huge reputed company, only sometimes gets interesting.You can argue on perceptions, but then working long hours under the sun makes one habituated and the salesman doesn't realize that he has broken the world record of marathon, same here! Sometimes I feel like the rudderless ship wandering in oceans unsure of the land, sometimes it skips islands too in hope and search for better soil or pastures or scenic beauty!
Had got real bored today, doing nothing while I had the whole day to spend on fruitful work.I guess it takes little more time for me to leave past bad habits :-P
Woke up late toady, skipped lunch hoping to reduce some fat! Biologically speaking the fat should get used up when you are starving(I am perpetually weak in biology,forgive me if I am wrong), or by exercise(speaking more scientifically). But then what happens when you exercise? It increases muscle activity, you need more energy and in the process you burn some fat(layman knowledge). If say I can burn 100 units of fat by say, 1 hr of exercise, why won't it get burnt 10 units if I am starving? May be I need a biologist friend to help me out! :-P
Then it was movie time(whatever I have downloaded in my laptop over the time). And then some social networking and yes ... WAVING ! In between I had my dinner. And at the end of the day I am happy.Strangely enough I realized it when someone pinged me! crazy things does happen :-)
Well on the getting organised part, what I have done is polished my shoes, washed dirty linen(clothes) and they should be ready by tomorrow or day after tomorrow. ONE BIG SMILE :-) as I would struggle to do these before and ended up paying for laundry, even at times had to borrow washed sets of formals from friends on that Monday morning! :-P Another good change I have brought in was organizing my work and stopped doing extra stuff/being helping Samaritan after my shift is over. Hardwork hardly pays and smartwork pays better! It allows you to have time for yourself! may be I am getting out of that workaholic mode.Given any day thats another good news as until you are a business owner and work for someone else, it is nonsense to be workaholic! Well I am not running from responsibilities, not undermining work, but then you need to draw a line somewhere. And let me assure you, had I been the business owner, I would be the first one to get to office and the last one to live, work-alcohol would have fueled me and my new year resolution would be Do More Work! :-P
Another sweet thing I discovered is that all the Laziness can be killed by a single word called Determination. And to be organized, program your mind for the basic plan for the day, break it into hours, keep plan C's ready for the biggies(big activities) and start doing what is required right now.It works like clock work, believe me!


On a lighter note, I just discovered how two lines from different songs can mean the same. The line goes like this
Somebody needs you
Below is Enrique ...
--------------------------------



And this is Westlife
--------------------------------


Funny, we do notice these things but then seeing(the AVATAR way, as the navi's said I See You) into them is what lacks! Have fun and enjoy life to the fullest, as it is a gift and you get it only once :-)

6th Jan 2010 Teusday 12:54 PM

12:54 PM:Today was another Busy day ... unlike all working days! Today Krishna left Bangalore for Raipur, for a huge vacation for lifetime! He has left the company already and now he has left Bangalore for good. It pains somewhere in the chest, unexplainable and I can only name it sadness. He was a guy who would win hearts in moments, and I wish I had spent more time with him. I should have brought something for him as a farewell gift from kolkata, but as always with me ... remembered it today, when I did not have time to get a good present for him. I feel guilty. I just bought the Two States by Chetan Bhagat, and a Classic pack.
It was a tiny gift, but it has the warmth of my heart...
One last pic at ITPL I would like to share:

I really hope this is not the last pic I have clicked, but it is true that the place would be different.(Might be we meet at the same place, but times would have changed us a lot!)


And as they say It's never too late, I think I can 
modify it to ... It's never a last time!


By the time I finished of with the junk reporting decks, it was daily call time. It was a 5 minute quickie today, and sent out the daily report marginally by 10 and ran for home :-P I have become less workaholic! Good step forward to a new decade, I guess.


Let me share some funny facts about coffee at approximately 25000 feet above sea level! Do we have a CCD(Cafe coffee Day) there ?? Guess what ... YES !! Well I know you think I am crazy, and thats where our perceptions put us in the wrong foot!
Is there a CCD ? Yes ... in a packet as Coffee mix and served by the flight cabin crew! With no offences about the crew of the airliner, I will tell as well as show you what we got as coffee :-P
First of all no one expected a coffee machine up there, but I thought they might serve it from the flask. But strangely enough they served hot water and the coffee mix separately in a pouch! What you need to do is dissolve the mix in the hot water already in the paper cup! Anyone who has ever made bournvita/complan knows that you have to have the powder in the cup/glass before you mix hot water/milk... right? Did you ever try mixing the powder to the hot water/milk! If you have you know how tough it is to mix it then. And we had to do the same.... and it took us 10/15 minutes only to mix/dissolve the coffee mix to hot water! Well it was kind of a time killer :-P Now my friend Rahul found out an innovative way to make the froth and mix the coffee well, after the powder is no more visible (due to slow stirring) you have to blow slowly, small amount of air into the half made coffee to make a froth and dissolve it into the hot water!! By the time we ended the coffee was half cold, and the last sip felt more like a chocolate milk shake!! lolz! :-D
Here are some pics of the "innovative" coffee - 25000 feet above!

Next time I will have all the coffee I want before boarding or after landing!!

4th Jan 2010 Monday 01:48 AM

01:48 AM: Back to Hell (?? I'm still not sure 'cause in a few days it would be heaven). Well I am back to my step mom, aka Bengaluru, hence one can see almost regular posts from now on. This place is what feeds me (this is the city where i do a job) and hence can't be harsh on it :-P but ... when you come back from your mom's lap ... it feels like this :-P And who said hell is a bad place to be in!! You can do all the sin, you can, out here!!


Wish you all a very happy, prosperous, blah blah blah ... New Year 2010, and guess what ... this is a new decade.
So, wish you all success and happiness and harmony for a new Decade!
A new dawn and a new beginning, and my new year resolution is TO BE MORE ORGANISED !! Leaving all to uncertainty doesn't always pay off, and sometimes costs heavily! At least I am feeling it that way. One may argue, without a plan almost nothing succeeds, but then you need to have a plan B, just in case you need it. Hence this risk factor/uncertainty is what I had banked upon for sometime. Never bothered for a plan B. Now I'll even have a plan C ! Sounds crazy but this plan C is a amazing plan which says plan things ahead on time, if possible before time. Lets take an example of going out for a coffee and finding my fav place closed/filled up, till yesterday it was to find another place or drop the plan, now I am going to make sure I know before hand (intuition is something which has failed me rarely, alternatively call up that place beforehand ) whether I am going to get a seat! How? That I still need to figure out, but that's what i am going to do. Coming to getting organised, first I need to figure out what I need to do exactly and spend my vacations such that there is no tomorrow ! So next time I am going to have a rooster/schedule for every 8 hours for a day at least. I have stayed home(at Kolkata) this time, and I am happy for that, and yet I think I should have met more people, gone out more! Anyways it was a mixed feeling, and this was a good vacation at the end :-) (also a much needed one)


There was lot of masti back home and more to follow here as well. Another resolution is I will be happy no matter what, actually I need a break from this mad rat race.I am not quitting, but slowing down the kerb a little, need some repairs, change of tyres and I will be back for sure. The has not ended, neither my hunger to win!


Follow your heart is something often said and forgotten, but I will make a point to keep a note of it in whatever I do.Another of my new Decade resolutions! this may be a grave risk, given the circumstances I am in, but I would like to take a plunge into this madness as well in this next 10 years! I need to have a strong plan, need to be focused and stay away from most distractions as and when they come in.I won't just plan, but make it see the daylight.Sticking onto something is what I haven't been able to do for a long time, and I would make it happen this time.


Enough of blah blah blah ... lets look into the new dawn with new hopes, as hope is what gets it going!