One More Ganapati Missed.....

Since past 4 years.. I am able to make it home for Ganapati every alternate year…. 2004…. Yes I was there….. 2005…. Jeddah… 2006... Again home…. And now 2007… Hong Kong….. so chances are bright that I will make it next year...
Also every year Ganapati festival marks… my blog anniversary….
I wrote first blog during Ganapati of 2005….

This year I missed allthe festivals…. Starting from holi… then all the shravan… like dahi handi and all…. Now I after missing Ganapati, I am all set to miss Dasaraa too….just hoping that I will not miss Diwali also.. :-(
I really hate to miss any of the three festivals… Holi… Ganapati and Diwali…

It’s one year since last Ganapati but all the events are still fresh as if it was yesterday… may be because there are no new memories to overwrite them.. assembling of the ”Makhar”… then going together to bring the idol home… this is where the fun starts. Then comes visiting to friends and relatives…. Going together to see “Sarvajanik Ganapati”
Daily “Aarati” that too multiple times…. “Jagaran” and in the end “Visarjan”

All the sequence seems like a dream from here…

This year I think I m missing not being there for multiple reasons…one reason being the festival of course there are other reasons too… Deepa of course is another major reason…
Also since I am supposed to get engaged with her once I am back…that excitement is also there… Then the ongoing job hunt is also adding to the cause. I need to come back to Mumbai at the earliest so that future plans can be finalized…
So many things going on together….

Sometimes I think there must be some reason behind Ganapati bappa making me go around the world during his own festival…… first time2.5 hrs behind and now 2.5 hrs ahead. New countries…new cities…new people… new cultures…. Definitely the god of wisdom is making me wiser every year by enriching me with new experiences…
May be he wants to make me realize the value of family by keeping me away from my loved ones frequently…

The more I think…. More I miss... more I miss more I feel about it… more I feel about it then more is the urge to go back… but I should stay back… till the project completion…

I have always believed that whatever happens… happens for a good reason…
It is just a matter of time before we find what that “good reason was”. I hav learnt that even though the current scene may look bad… but whenever I have looked back to such scenes in from the past…. They always make me realize that they have always led to something good which otherwise would not have been possible…

Jo hua achha hua… jo ho raha hain… achha ho raha hain… jo hoga who bhi achha hi hoga… :-) wait n watch….

Hong Kong……Some random observations

The very first thought that comes to my mind is that this is nothing but an advanced version of Mumbai…. Same story repeated but in a sophisticated manner….
Both are harbors…both are islands…. Both are financially important cities….
Both are full of peoples…population density is very high…people are highly dependant on railway system, Bus and taxi for their daily travels… one more addition in case of Hong Kong is presence of trams. Again all the offices are concentrated in one area and all the residential areas in other parts….. Climate is humid…..
On any given day the scenario at Churchgate and Hong Kong railway stations can be easily compared….. in the morning thousands of people…. Rush there from other areas… and in the evening the other way round…

It is difficult to find out normal eating stuff like biscuits and all…
One day I went out especially to find out something to eat in the area around the office. Went across so many shops… all u can find is some cakes and pastries.. a few varities of sweets and chocolates…. That’s all…
Kaahi thikani biscuits disataat but they r so costly that to an Indian mind they seem disproportionate…. Even when I compare just currency units… I just could not fathom how someone can pay 20 dollars for some small pack of biscuits similar to crack jack… for which I would never pay 20 Rupees… L

All the shops are full of fridges… they contain only 3kinds of drinks….. First category is beer…. Second category is ice tea… and third category for remaining “alpasankhyank” like… juice… water…cold coffee…some energy drinks etc etc…. surprisingly almost negligible quantity of cold drinks… especially the ice tea seems to so popular that all the major players including Pepsi coke nestle; everyone has some brands to cater.

Not only cold tea… for normal tea also... These people have so many varieties…. And all of them taste so different… and true to the Chinese traditions.. with weird taste and smells….in past almost 2 months I have never been able to finish a full cup of tea… somehow I keep on trying but every time manage hardly half cup somehow….

People are game crazy…. Sony has a tight hold on the youth…In train.. in restaurants you can see many people hooked to their gaming consoles…. Not only the children but the middle aged people also can be seen hooked to the gaming consoles…. In trains….on the road… in the parks… in restaurants…. Everywhere…. And all consoles form Sony !!!

People are highly self dependant… u can easily see a very very old man going along the way I could never imagine person in such condition going all alone in India…. They are seen everywhere… doing their bit for the society…. Roaming around independently and even working. On my way home there is a fruit shop. It is open 24x7. When we go in the morning, we see all the young people running the shop... and when we return late after midnight we see a few old people. And I really mean old, some even hardly walking with help of stick. But they run the shop!!!

That’s all for this episode…. More stuff in coming days….:-)

Don't panic...

The title itself should state the condition I am going through... life has become office and office has become life. There is no personal life for me in past 3-4 months. I come to office at 9 in the morning work till 12 00 or 1 00 in the night. Go back sleep. Come to office again at 9 00… those 8 hrs in between contains time for all other activities like travel to and fro... sleep… morning activities etc etc……
There also came a time when I had slept just 3-4 hrs in 72 hrs and was continuously in office.

When I shifted to Hyderabad for this project, I was on a book reading spree. Almost a new book every week was the routine. I had just finished “tough Choices” and was halfway on the “Hung By my Family Tree” when I shifted to Hyderabad. That was in mid February.

After that I could complete hardly a few more pages of the book till date.
I have not seen a single movie in past 6 months!!!!
Late nights in the office seem to have become a norm now for me.
There is no special about being home at 3 - 4 am and again coming back to office at 9 00 am.
When I joined this project I have already anticipated these things. And I took plunge for sake of adventure into this project. Just to test my abilities.

I really began to think about impact of this adventure on my personal life when I was in Mumbai for almost 20 days and could meet my parents and Deepa hardly 2-3 times.

I had not anticipated this much impact. My team had not picked up the way they were expected to.

Now that I am single, these things I can afford. But what when I am married? Definitely this is not the kind of life I want. I think I need to take care of this from my next project.

May be in my next job…

Nonetheless, these past few months have been a testing of my endurance. I learned that I can hold nerve when everyone around seems to give up. Keep my head up when everyone around seem to be loosing faith. Things eventually worked out.

I remember the novel “Hitchhiker’s guide to galaxy”. In it the guide had two words written on its front page, “Don’t panic”.

Those two words have become key words for me now a day. No matter what,
“Don’t Panic”

The worst impacted plan seems to be my plan to relocate to Mumbai. Earlier I had planned to shift to Infosys Pune and then from there to Mumbai. But now I am forced to shift to move to Mumbai directly. The only way out I can see is to switch the job.
Parents are planning to get me married by first quarter of next year. So I must be in Mumbai by November – December. Again an emergency action situation; given the fact that I am in Hong Kong.

But again… Don’t panic.

And so the search has begun. As like all the previous situations…I am sure this too will resolve. I just need to keep my head up….

Back to Basics…

It was after almost a gap of 7 years that I climbed in the local train at morning rush hour.

For office work I came to Mumbai with a never before opportunity to stay for around 15days. Initial plan was to stay at home and make trips to client office from there.

Obviously I landed in Mumbai on the weekend. Intention was clear… a weekend at home after 3 months.

After rest of additional one day... I set out for the office on Tuesday. I came to platform at around 8 15 am. After ticket and all I was at platform 4 waiting for the8 24 train…. I remember, we used to take same train to attend a 10 00 lecture at college.

The train entered the platform and I jumped as usual…. The only diff was that earlier I used to enter first class….this time it was second class. It didn’t make any difference anyway… I jumped inside the train as it approached the plat form… nothing had really changed as far as skills were concerned.

As I entered I got the glimpse of changes in the 7 years…. There was no seat available... not even fourth seat. I had to stand…the only relief was that I was standing in the area between seats.

Soon that relief was gone. Rush began to increase… by mistake I had entered through the door that was just after the ladies coach and the first class compartment. So obviously the rush was more… as the rush begin to set in… as expected we were pushed more an more inside… then I realized one change… my ability to withstand rush pressure had gone down. I was exhausted by the time the train reached Andheri and the rush reduced.

I was to go to Lower Parel. But the by the time I got down at Dadar to change train, I was really not willing to enter the train again. It was only after my contact person from client office made me realize that the train was still the fastest way to reach the office in time that I headed back for the slow train platform.

In the end when I reached office…. I was feeling more exhausted than I would have felt after whole day of working at office.

From next day onwards I shifted to the company guest house at Santa Cruz. After that I made a few travels from Virar to Lower Parel but every time I got bored of it. I think this experience will definitely have impact on my plans for settling down in Mumbai.

Even work wise it was too hectic…I soon realized that if after a job switch to Mumbai also, if these are my office timings then it will have bad impact on my personal life.

Snap Of Sower Parel Station At around midnight...

Deepa’s office was hardly 20-25 mins from my office by taxi and still I could manage to meet her only once in her office… Parag also works at ITC Hotel which is again nearby... I could not meet him also. I think its time to think about my working habits too….

Life after world cup….

World cup is over for India… The team is back at home…
The blame game is over… scapegoats are being searched for…. Chappel quitted…Kumbale retired from one day…Some high level meeting yesterday… to decide upon what to do with this game and now…
Finally all the dust has settled down…


All of a sudden everything is changed…. All those “World cup special’ ads no more aired… All the tigers are gone from the screen… I still remember the news heading on TV after India got defeated by Bangaladesh… it said “Kagaz Ke sher.. Pitch par Dher…” that is “Lions of paper are lying dead on pitch” I think it was inspired by the Pepsi Ad that showed Indian team entering the ground as tigers…

Only player that is seen in ads now a day is Irphan Pathan… may be because he was not part of the team in any match.

All of a sudden all players have become a matter of fun… emails are floating around comparing a photo of Sachin, Dravid and Sehvag with the three monkeys…comments... cartoons… jokes…. All of a sudden everyone seems to have found a target. Security is tight around the houses of the players. Throwing stones… tarnishing, burning images of the players have become a routine now a day.

But one thing makes me wonder… all these protests against players… and other activities are seen on weekdays too. Don’t these people have any job to do apart from protests and damaging houses? Or is this indicator of the unemployment?

In my opinion our country needed something like this t happen…. Even though the event is disappointing; personally I am very much relieved that India is out of the world cup… there are quiet a few reasons…

1. We are in the mid of the summer… there is shortage of electricity in many states… how many megawatts of electricity is saved... :-)
   
2. People would not have worked… how many man-hours saved… this point has two effects…
   a. The people who would be present at work… only physically… but no concentration on work…
   b. People who don’t come to work at all…. In either case we would have effectively lost millions of man-hours…
3. It will help people rethink about all this blind following… and treat the game as a game. Finally players too are human and prone to mistakes…
4. As I can see... One good impact has already happened… BCCI is planning to put a cap on how many endorsements a player can do… that’s a very good thing. Now our player will get some time to practice the game.

Impact of the third point was very much related to my own project team also. Had India continued into the super8… I would have found it very much difficult to keep the project on track. Now things are a bit in control.

We are a country of people worshippers… what we need to realize is that the players are also human… we put such a heavy burden of expectations on their shoulders… they might crumble under that burden itself... and the game will be faltered…

Another thing is that whatever we may think... the players are professionals… they are playing for money.

The game should be treated as a game between two teams. And players as players…. Winning and loosing is part of the game and it should not be linked with nation pride and all those big words…
our nation’s pride is not so cheap that a defeat in a match will damage it. If we agree that the players are representing the nation then even when our team loose a match, we should still be supporting them because they are our representatives…

if they don’t perform… remove them but we should not be treating them as gods… they are players and should be treated as players….