Blogger Play & My New Blog

Hi There!! While the work on the Shanghai postcards continues, I just wanted to post something to introduce to you my new blog on technology as I had promised in one of my previous posts and to let you know of another cool thing that Google has come up with, Blogger Play.

First of all, Blogger Play. What should I say? Check it out yourself Aint it cool?

Lastly, I have also started a blog on technology I am working on. Check out my tech blog in Some Sassy Links. And let me know your feedback/suggestions.

I might be going to Mysore for Dussehra this weekend and try and click as many pics as possible. But before I post about that I will complete the Postcard Series! So watch out!

And please keep commenting! It really is a source of encouragement for me to keep on posting!

For Mr./Ms. Anonymous

Though the postcard from Shanghai series is still not complete... I am breaking the continuity of that series of posts...

Recently during just another discussion with some of my MIT friends after a long long time came up the topic of the tragic events of 2006...Almost a year is gone since his accident but Shashank still lives in the mind of many....and so does the Gujju guy..watever his name is...

In my last year's post regarding the incident, an anonymous person had commented on my posts and had vent anger on the gujju guy... I had also been asked to correct my post....I dont see anything wrong from the post but I do agree that it doesnt bring out things in the way they happened....
As anonymous had commented it was the gujju who was driving the car when the accident took place... well I dont have any police records but what everyone knows is what anonymous has written...it was indeed him...and hence many people blame him for that...

.I am not a person in a position to blame anyone.....I just ponder over the past and try to understand things as they happened and try to learn lessons from them so that I can avoid any unpleasant experiences...For me the gujju guy represents people who you should beware of...beware if he claims to be your friend....beware of him.... the guy has put the photo of the Ford Ikon after the accident in his Orkut profile..... the same Ikon which caused the death of another person... He seems to be flaunting it....What kind of a person does that....?

Many of us have clouded judgments....Our instincts fail to judge correctly or we dont trust our instincts...If it is the second case then it is really sad... In my experience you should be aware of your instincts.... You should be able to judge how much you can trust a person... how much can he be your friend..... Misjudgment can lead to very bad results.....as we found out last year...

I cannot even imagine the pain that his parents will be throughout their life.... I just wish that they have the strength to move on....

Postcard from Shanghai - 3

Where were we? Ah yes! The flight from Bangkok to Shanghai....I spent time listening to the various music channels till very soon lunch was served...It contained chicken cooked in some kind of sauce with rice and a few other dishes including a sweet dish made out of corn..the air hostess was also roaming around calling "Chinese Tea! Do you want Chinese tea sir?" I wondered how different would Chinese tea be from Indian Tea and remembered that they put some herbs etc in their tea. I was tempted to ask for it but decided not take any risks. I read the Thai Newspaper from Bangkok and let me tell you one thing which I felt at that point of time.....India's democratic nature reflects in the nature of its press..the arguments and the articles published along with the news in our leading national dailies are a good food for the intellectual mind... and that was something which I found missing in that Thai Paper...Maybe it was because most of what was written was about something which was unfamiliar for me... !!

I was tired and decided that I should sleep. They were showing a movie, which was set in the early 1900's it seemed and my tiredness got the better of me and I decided to have a short nap..(as most of you would know...taking naps come very naturally to me... :)

When I got up the movie had stopped and the map was on display... We were over China and very close to Shanghai..Another half an hour and we would land.

The air hostesses started distributing the immigration forms. This was the first time in my life I was doing that ( In case you are wondering why I didn't fill it when I landed in Bangkok, that's because I wasn't going into Thai territory...I wasn't crossing the immigrations..... You know....immigrations.... the TERMINAL....Tom Hanks ...) I started to fill in the details carefully...... After all, a small mistake could cause hours of delay...and I wasn't sure that my pick up would wait pretty long....The forms asked the general stuff, but also asked about the medicines that I was carrying... Now I wasn't sure what medicines I was carrying...nothing special I knew but still.... I left that blank....then there were questions about my health and illnesses... Hmmm.... Blank again...I needed advice...There were questions related to poultry...WHAT..?? Oh the bird flu scare... and SARS Questions as well.. wow... so that is really how they do it... to prevent a epidemic...

I realized that the man beside me was also filling the form... Hmmm... So he was Japanese...So why was this guy going to Shanghai... business...?? Must be...And now I could make out that he was Japanese...His facial features a bit different from the Chinese ...or was it my mind playing tricks again...??

I looked out of the window and could see....haze... and below that land... it was pretty hazy ...reminded me of the winter haze in Delhi...but i knew that it wouldn't be that dense... If you fly from Bangalore then you would have noticed the dusty haze that clouds the city.. its just that you get a different view of things from the top... I was anticipating the Shanghai sky line to be visible any moment... but all I could see were factories and industries and ships on the far side...but no sign of a city... Come on... This must be the final descent of the plane... I can see the ground clearly and the vehicles..trucks carrying goods.....but still no sign of the city!! I realized judging by the height that I am not going to see the Shanghai skyline from this flight....for it doesn't go over the city side...

Touchdown... we had landed...and i could see the airport building on from the window on the other side... it reminded me of Geneva Airport Building in Tintin and THE CALCULUS AFFAIR... As the plane Taxied along the runway to wards the terminal...I saw a whole lot of huge boeings and airbuses belonging to Air China, United Airways, Singapore Airlines, Japanese Airways, Air France, Lufthansa, Virgin...WOWWWW!! I also noticed the Red and Yellow colors of the Chinese flag fluttering in the wind..So this is it ...I have arrived in China...I remembered what people back had told me...They are hostile towards Indians... I also remembered that India lost the 1962 Indo China War....and that George Fernandes had once called China as India's biggest threat...

There was no democracy in this country...I could be jailed and the authorities would deny all knowledge of it... I would spend my life in a Chinese Prison...doing what..? Learning Chinese perhaps...? What if the authorities deported me back ..? That would be better than being stuck in a jail... Suddenly I wasn't very sure I wanted to get off the plane..

The plane had stopped and people started to get up, among them many Indians that I had seen at Bangkok airport before boarding. The sight of fellow Indians was a huge relief. I started to arrange my papers and then got up and walked. "Thank you sir, Have a nice day", said the lovely air hostess with her hands joined in a Namaste. I too joined my hands and said Thank you and out I came...Brrrrr.... Iiiiits...ccc..cold... Maybe I should have brought some warm clothes... I got down the stairs to find that the first bus was already full an on its way... I had to wait... Then came the second bus which I boarded and was glad to find that an Indian also boarded and sat down right next to me.. He must have been around 30-32 years old.. slightly bald and dark... I still had to fill the missing columns of the immigration forms... So I started a conversation with this guy.. He was working for HP and hailed from Bangalore.. He had been to Shanghai many times...I told him that I worked for TESCO.. I asked him about the form and the columns regarding medicine...He asked me if I was carrying any special medication.... I said no.. just the normal cough and cold ones....he said then do not fill that you are carrying any of the listed medications...coz that will only delay you check... I thanked him and told him how grateful I was for it was the first time that I was traveling and was all alone. We discussed how badly India had done at the World Cup and what a disgrace they had been.

The bus stopped and we got down. I told him that I needed to complete the forms and get my papers in order. He wished me a good stay and Shanghai and all the best.
I went to a pillar where they had a pen and the forms that were given on the plane.. I took out my copy and filled out and then put everything in order.. The passport...The immigration forms and the Invite letter... "Answer the questions in a calm voice and do not contradict yourself, or you may land up in trouble", the hurried travel briefing at HSC had told me. Well moment of truth.

I walked and took my place at the end of one of the many queues behind the immigration counters. Soon it was my turn to get my passport stamped. I went and greeted the Immigration officer whose face was absolutely expressionless. I handed him the passport and the invite letter and the forms. After checking the papers he stamped my passport. This is it. I have now officially entered China. I moved on to the ATM which was just outside the immigration counter(As my friend Mano had instructed me, I planned to withdraw some local currency and use the World money Citi Bank card which had been provided)The card was not working. I could not withdraw any currency!!

Normally I would have panicked but thanks to Mano I knew that the card may take some time to get activated as he had found out earlier when he came to China. I moved on and collected my luggage. Then I decided to get some of the dollars converted to the YUAN so I had some local currency. Once finished I found my way to towards the exit. CUSTOMS!! No I had nothing to declare in India, so i guess I got nothing to declare here. But still one cant be too carefree! I went and picked up a Customs declaration form and read through the rules. Nope I did not qualify for any declaration. I just walked through the nothing to declare area of the exit confidently. All this currency exchange and customs etc had really taken some time and I was beginning to wonder if my pick up would still be waiting. Just as I was getting out I saw a man with the placard with my name written on it. He was looking at various people and pointing to the placard. I approached him and he heaved a sigh of relief. So did I.

The company had sent a goldish-brown minivan. I boarded and we started away from the airport.... Lot to cover about the trip from the airport to the hotel.... this post is getting pretty long so watch out for the next one..!!

Postcard from Shanghai-2

Wowwww...!!! Look its here..! The Second Postcard from Shanghai! Well actually it has been sent from India only but never mind..... finally we get to know what happened in Bangkok and the journey onwards....That's where we left at the end of the first postcard remember..I had just landed at Bangkok.. Well it was 4 in the morning...local time.... So here it was... I had stepped onto a soil not Indian for the first time in my life... Wow... Now I don't know if any of you who have been out of India ever realised that but I did...It was a strange feeling.... Like the beginning of the expedition to explore the Unknown...
Anyways, in the flight they had shown that Transit passengers had to restrict their access to specific areas of the airport.... Now from the videos of the airport that I had seen in the flight.. I knew that it was amazing... but you got to see it too believe it.... It was the first truly International Airport that I had been to...it was huge...you would get tired just getting out of the airport..must be like a kilometer or so from the terminal.. so they had these conveyor belts...just stand on them...you wont get tired when you come out.....

It took around 20 minutes to reach the spot where I would get the boarding pass for my next flight... however it was so early in the morning that all the counters were closed...they would open at 6 am I was informed...

So i was just strolling through the Airport and exploring the duty free shops.. Then another guy approached me and asked if I was getting any Network Coverage on my cell.. He was Indian and from Accenture Bangalore going to Manila, Philippines...He had to make an urgent call...I told him that I wasnt on roaming...He had to send an important message to his manager..So now we started looking for an Internet Cafe..We didnt have to look very far...But guess what the charges for browsing were like... any guesses..?? It was $3 for half an hour... i could not believe myself... but later on even I spent $3 to surf the net...even I had to send a few messages to my team members...

It was morning and after having explored the length and breadth of the Airport we decided it was time to go back and get our passes...I wanted a window seat coz I wanted to see the Shanghai skyline when we flew over it...After getting the boarding passes...I bid the gentleman goodbye॥and sat there waiting..there was still a good 4 and a half hours before the departure....

So I decided to surf the net for a while and bought a coupon for 30 minutes for $3.... I checked the mail and responded to people back in office and to some of you as well... and guess what... 30 minutes had gone by.... So I left to refresh myself... after that I decided to check in and then wait... After passing the Baggage security, I walked down along the long stretch towards the last gate where I was supposed to board... I found a bench and sat down.... I was one of the first guys to get in... A few other people came but there was still a good 2 hours for the departure... Feeling absolutley heavy and with nothing interesting to do and no stranger chicks to talk to, I decided the best thing to do was to sleep..Some people were already asleep on the bench..and no they were not Indian.. So convinced that sleeping on the bench would not harm India's reputation in any way as other countries were already doing the same, I set an alarm in my cell and went off to sleep...I woke up to find people boarding an aircraft and panicked that I had over-slept...but I quickly heaved a sigh of relief when I realized that it wasnt for Shanghai..I went and washed my face and came back to see the Thai staff getting ready to start the boarding... Observant as I always am, I was just lloking around at the people who would be boarding the flight... Predominantly there were Chinese and you could make out that the flight was taking you east... Someone had commented.."The more east you go...the thinner they become..." ....What becomes thinner..? Any guesses.... Well I dont know what was on your mind but I am talking about the eyes.. The transition from wide eyed India to Thailand and now Thailand to the more Chinki China was apparent... There were all kinds of people.. Young, Old, Married, Single, Asians, Europeans, Americans.. There was this lady I remember who I was sure was from China who looked to be the CEO of some company...If I remember correctly she was carrying a simple backpack which had the logo of IBM or TI (am not very sure which one) and looked to be around 40-45 years old..though you really cant tell their age just by looks... She was accompanied by a fair guy wearing a jeans, shirt and a blazer who I felt was probably from America and was mouch younger than Her...CEO to be maybe.. I thought...They were walking around and talking and it looked as if she was explaining him something...like how to do business in China... And he was listening very keenly....I wondered how it would be to work with the Chinese...I had heard a lot about that back in India from my manager..."They dont like Indians..!" "They cant take decisions" "They dont understand anything" "They will make your work difficult.." I had the feeling that it was going to be really tough time ahead...And I was preparing myself for that...

There were a few Indians as well waiting for the boarding to begin...Then there was a french couple who were going to Shanghai to meet the girls brother...who had a life travelling and doing work for some kind of a charity organisation or something..as far as I could make out.. the young lady was talking to this guy who probably was from Great Britian... Then again there was this family travelling, young parents from UK, with four kids, who were running all over the place creating a lot of noise...Huh..Kids I thought..Doesnt matter whether they be black or white..Asian or european..all they want to do is play and have fun...
Quite a lot of Chinese had also gathered by this time.. I saw a young couple with a new born...The only child they are ever gonna have..?? I thought...

Anyway...The whole scene reminded me of THE TERMINAL...and I also thought about the world as a whole new place.... I was also playing this game where you look around and try and guess who your co-passenger is going to be..you know..the person seated next to you....There were quite a few people in my list...

Ding Dong...Ladies and Gentleman We are now boarding Business Class only.... Hmm.. I am travelling in Economy...Anyway...Finally Got up and boarded the aircraft...took my Window seat...and waited in anticipation...would I be lucky this time... Nope...A thin guy wearing glasses (most of them do wear glasses) came and sat by me...He was wearing a T Shirt which was pro american...Hmmm...so some of the Chinese are pro America..? But he had a face which was expressionless...A face which told ... Dont Disturb me Buddy...So I just did what I am best at...kept quiet...I plugged in the earphones that the air hostess handed over (at least they were damn pretty) and gazed out of the window... The first few channels had Chinese/Japanese/Korean/etc..I dont know which exactly...then came the 8th one which had english..not rock ...the 9th one had Hindi..but then the music suddenly stopped and the voice of the video recording came..there was a tv screen in front(probably 25")..The standard safety procedures were detailed.. then the screen showed the map...we were currently in Bangkok and it showed then where we were supposed to go... I had a good look at it...I had never really paid attention to this part of the world much... and now I was going to fly over it... I really liked the map which they showed...

So I decided to relax and have a nice flight...! About the flight, the gentleman sitting beside me and more...in the next post... This one's getting pretty long..!! Watch out for the next one..!!

WTF is happening to me...?

Hello out there...So the Sassy postal system is back to its old ways again...Long time no post....and what about the much awaited postcards from Shanghai...when are they gonna be delivered... patience friends..patience..that's the name of the game... well as some of you know that Shanghai was really hectic..and if I started writing the postcards then I would hardly have the time to visit places or sleep...now obviously I HAD TO visit at least some places... and as you know I never compromise on sleep... so my grand plan was to write beautifully about Shanghai once I was back in India.. but to do that I needed NET connectivity at my home... well that has been a long time coming..but guess what it finally came one fine day..and guess what happened next.... the comp has gone insane...no anti virus... and now there is some problem with the hardware so the comp wont start...Well thats how my life is as you already know...

anyways..dont really know what crap I am writing right now.. just know that will be sitting down soon and will be delivering the whole postcard from Shanghai series with snaps.. all in one go...

Please wait a little longer... there is some quite interesting stuff on your way...

And as for the delay ..."Dibuchi.."

Postcard from Shanghai-1

So here it is...Shanghai, China... Things happened really fast the last couple of weeks... I had finished the previous project I was working on and thought I would take a much needed break and head home.... I was about to book my tickets when one fine morning I got to know that I will be working on a project for China and that it was happening very soon... Life has been really hectic after that...Didnt even realise that I was going outside India until the last day, when the Travel desk at my company gave a travel briefing...It suddenly hit me.. Shit.. this wasnt just Bombay or Delhi I was going to.. It was China. Shanghai.. I was going outside my country for the first time and I was going ALL ALONE..!! Now I was pretty confident about things initially, but suddenly there were a lot of questions in my mind.What if something went wrong? If i wasnt too well or anything? It wasnt that I was going to Bombay or Delhi or some other place in India where in case of emergency some long lost family member or friend would come to the rescue... I was going into the unknown..And I fear the unknown...

Anyways...here I was at Bangalore Airport checked in and waiting...caliing every one I could think of...unable to reach anyone for an hour or so...damn Airtel service is going down...I grabbed a bite at CCD and then luckily was able to talk to people... and then I was on my way.. After a nice dinner of Chicken & Rice with wine and apple juice.. I was fast asleep...Woke up just when the plane was about to land at Suvarna Bhumi Int'l Airport...Bangkok.. (FYI..I was flying THAI..)

About the Airport and the journey after that in the next post.... gotta grab some Chinese food for Lunch...!!

Just time pass...

People who are too shy to sing in public or they have a voice so musical that even Julie Andrews would shy away, engage in what is commonly known as bathroom singing. It's interesting that singing when you are alone has been christened as bathroom singing. Bathroom is not the only place when you are alone. Riding your bike to the office also presents you with a great opportunity for you to explore your hidden talents.
For an absent minded person like me to concentrate on driving, I need some thing to be focussed on. Unfortunately, the Bangalore traffic requires too much concentrtation during rush hour, something which I believe no human being can achieve(if you drive the way I do, rash but always trying to be safe, you probably understand what I am talking about.)
Hence I sing or hum when I am driving alone. I find it a very suitable way not to get irritated at the traffic situation here.
Only the other day I was singing "Here I am... On the road again.." on the road..?? Where the hell is the road man..? all i could see were boleros, marutis and then a bmtc bus limiting my view of the horizon to a few hundred metres. Dring rush hour there are no roads in Bangalore. Every road is converted into a parking space. What the hell am I talking about? Well, the speed at which traffic moves from Marathahalli Bridge towards airport or the other way around, you can check out the latest offers at the factory priced outlets lining up beside the road till you are clear and out of the jam.

That is pure frustration. I have to drive back home again in a few minutes. I just found out time today to post as there was no work to be done today and I dont want to leave early and get caught in the evening rush hour. But I guess I'll leave now. As for the posts, there are 2-3 posts which are pending and which I wanted to write about a long time back. Well, with connectivity improving with a new broadband connection soon you can expect some more nonsense from me. Till then take care.. Cheers...

I need Feedback

Search for the cigarette pack
Its up there, High on the rack
I jump to grab it, but I hurt my back
Oh I just need some feedback

Dream of flying a Lancaster amidst the German flak
Playing games on my Apple i-Mac
There are so many things in this world I lack
Oh I just need some feedback

The CIA Supercomputer one day I will Hack
All my wishes dont fit in Santa's Sack
Heaven on earth is Timmy's Shack
Oh I just need some feed back

Met a guy yesterday named Jack
He spoke Like Donald..Quack Quack
Dhoni will Hit Mcgrath on Sunday..WHACK!!
Oh I just need some feed back
Ya I just need some feed back..!!

A Great Day for Freedom

Long time, no post! Well, have been a bit lazy lately... you know.. there were quite a few things to write about but just didnt have the drive to sit and write.. But finally I decided that it was getting a bit too late.. So here we are...

This post is titled a Great Day for Freedom...Freedom.. that's an interesting word.. I wonder how many of us understand its true meaning.. In my view a state of complete freedom is one when whatever you do, wherever you do, whenever you do, your actions are not bound by constraints. Your surroundings do not have any effect on the outcome of your actions and vice versa.

Can we ever attain this freedom? Its like asking "Can we ever tell where does the curve xy=1 meet the coordinate axes?" I hope you understood what I meant. There are a number of things from which we want to attain freedom. One of this things is getting up in the morning to catch the company cab just to find out that you have missed it by a whisker.

Yah you guessed it right. "I've got a bike. You can ride it if you like." A Black Honda Unicorn 150 cc with 0-60 kmph in less than 6 secs. I guess life will be a lot convenient now.

image courtesy

This is the End....

"This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end "


That's how the song begins. It tells you, "This is the End". Seems ironical that the first line of the song, its beginning, talks about the end. It's not that ironical when you look at life. At the beginning of anyone's life, one doesn't know what will happen in the future. Everything is uncertain except for one, THE END. Yup, the only certainity in Life is Death.

I have never seen death closely. I have been kept away from it. Some of my close ones have embarked on their next journey, but I was nowhere near to bid them the final goodbye. And that is why I am afraid of it so much, that I avoid it. I dont know how it would affect me. But I know it would. It affects us all, in some way or the other to know of a person's death. This is something unknown for me, and I want it to be unknown for as long as possible.

"Of our elaborate plans, the end
Of everything that stands, the end
No safety or surprise, the end
I'll never look into your eyes...again ....."

Never. For Gone he is. A week after his terrible accident on the intermediate ring road, Shashank Upadhyaye is no more. All the plans, everything which he had have gone with him. Forever. That's what hits you the most. It's effect is permanent.

I had known him since my first year of engineering. Though we lived in the same hostel, I hardly knew him for the first few months. He was mostly locked up in his room, studying, isolated from the rest of the world like a hermit. However, in the second semester, I got to know him as he was a very good swimmer and wanted to participate in the swimming competition, whose organisation was being assisted by me. His worry at that time mainly was his branch, "Industrial and Production". He wanted it changed and so was always studying hard. I still remember the disappointment on his face when the first sem results were out. That was the day when the competition was to be held. He had managed 3.5 or so and was disappointed that he would be stuck with IP for the rest of the four years. He did not feel like participating. I tried to cheer him up a bit so that he would participate. He came to the competitions . A few days later, the list of people whose wait-list for branches had been cleared came out. Shashank got Electrical. You should have seen him that day. It was one of the happiest days of his life. After that we bumped into each other now and then and I had good conversations with him about various things ranging from Swimming to Subjects(we were in the same branch)to teachers and anything you can think of that 2 people from the same college would talk about.

The day you get your first job, is again a moment unforgettable for anyone. The same was for him. I had congratulated him when he was selected by Perot Systems. It was also a turning point in his life, or so people who were around him more say. After the placements, he changed. Everybody in MIT does. He started enjoying life, so to say. I used to hear about him and his girlfriend, when he was doing his project in Bangalore.

That he already had an accident in Bangalore, didnt deter him from driving fast, as I found out when we were returning in his car from Legends of Rock after watching Argentina lose to Germany in the Quarters of the WC. Driving over 80 kmph, after a couple of mugs of beer is not funny at all. But who is there to tell you of the risk you are undertaking? You are so high: on beer, on the song "ya ali.. yaar pe qurbaan.. " playing at full volume and the rest singing along at the top of their voices, and on the speed of at which you are travelling, that to think or talk sense is a far cry.

"Lost in a Roman...wilderness of pain
And all the children are insane.. "

Yes. Even after graduating from college, we are still children, and we are insane.

"There's danger on the edge of town
Ride the King's highway...,"

A danger which we don't realise...

"The blue bus is callin' us
Driver, where you taken' us ......
. C'mon baby, take a chance with us .."

And if someone talks sense, to play it safe, that's what we say. C'mon baby, take a chance with us ..

"This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end "

Now, he is gone. But he has left us with a lesson. "Don't drink and drive". I guess its tragic incidents like these that bring some sense to us. How many of us have made the same mistake so many times? Yet, it has taken the demise of another for us to realise our folly.

"It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die

This is the end"
Goodbye, dear friend. May you rest in peace.You will always be alive in our memories.

Robbed in Bangalore..!!

Hi...If you live in Bangalore, then you must be knowing what I am talking about. Its very unsafe these days to venture out alone. Crime is on the rise in Bangalore. At least that is the impression you get reading the newspapers. You thought you were being helpful when someone asked you for a lift. Beware of the hitch-hiker. Roberries by people who hitch-hike is on the rise. And if you thought that the damsel in distress is harmless for a machismo like you, I am sorry dude. I have heard of robberies where beautiful ladies ask for a lift and the next thing you know you are dropping her off where armed members of her gang are waiting for you. You dont need to carry cash. Your Debit Card is enough. You will be more than willing to part away with your PIN number with a loaded gun or a knife aimed at you. People who tried to fool around by giving the wrong PIN number have had their fingers chopped!! Or so I heard..!! Of course if you are like my flatmate then you got little problems giving away your PIN number. In case you are wondering what kind of a person is my flat-mate who parts away with money so easily, let me tell you a thing or two about him. His salary is spent in a matter of two days of being credited. The rest of the month he borrows money, and for Food we got SODEX-HO's..!!So it's a robber's bad day if he cathches him, coz he is not what they would call a Good Catch.

Anyways, thankfully we havent had any such experience in our almost 3 month long stint in the Silicon City. However, I have had some similar experiences here.
It wasnt what people call robbery, but I do. And it has happened to me thrice now.

As People are scared of guns and knives, I am shit scared of one more thing. It's a weapon which beggars from outside Bangalore have started using very effectively. I feel threatened and a chill runs through my spine whenever I see it. Just the thought of it sent shivers down me as I looked around to see if there were any present in my room. Phew!! i can continue writing now..

Confused..? Well, this very deadly weapon I am talking is none other than..... the slithering COBRA... Come every weekend, and I am scared of going out of the secure confines of my apartment. For out there, they are roaming, waiting, hunting...This is a kind of beggary I have never seen before... Or would you call it begging..? I believe its more of a robbery.. They come towards you, seeing the fear in your eyes... They read your mind... "Please, dont open the lid of the casket..Please",you beg. And that's when they do that revealing the encircled Cobra, lying as if asleep. You freeze for a moment as you realize the imminent danger that's there in front of you. And then the NagaRAj starts to wake up.. showing signs of life... OOPS.!! Better get out of here soon..You ask the snake-charmer to close the casket as your hands move into your pocket with your eyes fixed for an imminent attack by one of the deadliest snakes in the world... You grab hold of whatever change comes to your hand and take it out... Seeing that his objective is fulfilled, the charmer closes the casket and takes the money from you. You dont bother to count how much you gave. You just heave a sigh of relief.. And move on...



Well that is what has happened to me thrice in Bangalore... People talk about about robberies in the night at Gun point at desolate places... I was robbed at 10:00 am in the morning in the busiest of places at Snake-Point... What is the government doing..? How safe are we today walking down the streets of Bangalore..? No one seems to take notice of this menace except me, once again forcing me think.."Has living 3kms. from India's largest Mental Asylum for more than 10 years really made me paranoid..?"

Training ends...I get commissioned on Monday... part-II

Did you read the post below...?? No..? The read it first...Read it..? So now you are wondering how come Sassy Boy ended up in the army.. ? Well, I am still in the software industry..(alas!) but isn't it interesting how similar they are..?The life in the army and the life in the Software Industry..

Any new recruit who gets in the army or the industry goes through a compulsory training.. Of course training is difficult from the life you were having earlier(We got up and slept at times we thought ridiculous in our college days.) But as they say..it is the best time you are going to have in the industry....Life in combat is not at all easy.. well..neither is it easy in projects...

One thing that you will notice in new recruits that they are so goddam confident about themselves initially that they think they can take on the world.... everybody wants to be where the action is.."I want to be in the regiment where i get to see some fighting... ".."I want to be in the Development team of the company.."..Similar thoughts, isn't it? But as you undergo training, you begin to hear stories from the battlefront.. And then some people would rather have a testing job than be in development..

IT-Training has another interesting similarity to Combat training(maybe that's why they call it Combat training in some IT companies)..As in combat training you are taught different skills to fight and survive, you would realise that that's what happens in IT-Training... .NET, JAVA,Testing,UNIX,Mainframes etc. are nothing but different weapons which you must have trained on to survive in different scenarios.. pretty much the same as in the Army...

Hmmmm...Interesting...Isn't it..? However, there is one huge difference between the two.. There are martyr's in the army... but no such thing exists in the software industry.. Its survival of the fittest out here.. And if you aint fit, then you wont survive... Not for long... So...Stay fit.. !!

As for me... Well, lets see what's in store for me..?

Training ends...I get commissioned on Monday...

Hi there.. Ya.. My two month long training is over...and I get commissioned on Monday... I heard from a friend who is already on the frontline that we got some important missions ahead of us. .. Boy.. Now that should be fun.. I hope... Many of the soldiers already on the front line say life aint easy... and when I look at them..I tend to agree.... If training was tough then what would the real thing be like.. "We are pampering you in training... Life out there is a very different picture.. And I aint Bullshitting you man..!!" That's what our General had to say...He sure wasnt Bullshitting us.. . He said that though we had an extensive weapons training, the real thing is pretty different.. It's easy to fire a Gun in training...but firing it in a battle is a completely different proposition... We are inexperienced... Maybe better equipped and trained..but inexperienced... and experience counts in Battle... that's why they say..learn from other's mistakes as much as possible... and ask questions.. however stupid it may seem..ask them ...for even a stupid question may save ur life in the battlefield.. the only stupid question is the one which is never asked... hmmm..interesting... I was assigned my Regiment the first day of training... I really dont know what kind of missions we will be assigned but it was really helpful...I see the rest of the guys in training.. everyone anxious which regiment will they end up in... Some are keen to go to the frontline and assault.. the rest would rather be support or other services.. The next few months are sure goin to be interesting.. As i say nowadays.."I am Lost in Transition.."

Pesticides in Soft Drinks

So its out in the open again.... The international cola companies have been feeding us pesticides in the name of soft drinks.. well let me tell you one thing... I dont know which pesticides they feed us.. but they sure do taste great.... And the governments of various states have gone ahead and banned these drinks from various places.... hmm.. since when did the government start caring for the health of the people of this country...???

The timing of the revelations couldnt be more apt.... just when the movie CORPORATE had released... I wonder if the movie had in any way inspired anyone...

So how has the controversy affected you and me... Well drastically I would say.. . Instead of diluting my vodka with sprite or my whiskey with Pepsi, I have it neat or on the rocks nowadays... Truly, this controversy has sent my head spinning..

August about to end...

Hi there..whoever is reading this...if anyone is reading this shit apart from me...wait a minute..How dare I call this shit.. this is far from it...

Hey you..! Yes you.. you idiot! Are you there ? Are you reading this..? .. you must be thinking what the hell is going on..? What am I writing ..? It makes no sense...Ya I know..It makes no sense to a moron like you....Oh so now the Royal Highness feels offended..How dare someone call you a moron.. well I dare.. and you can do nothing about it.. and you truly are a moron... still reading this shit.. God.. people like you... I just hate them.. Dont you have anything else to do.. spending hours after hours on the net.. Get up and Get out of your room..go get some fresh air.. Go out into the real world....
hmmm...not used to taking orders... that too from a complete stranger... well never mind... I dont mind ..I have no mind.. .. ....................ooops...now that was a real PJ.. ..so now lets get down to the question that has been really troubling you since you started reading this.. what the hell is it that I want to say..? Who the hell reads this..?

Well answering you... I dont have anything to say.. not yet.. Secondly.. who reads this..? well you are still reading this are you not....Let me tell you one thing dude... I dont write for you to read.. I write because I just felt like writing.. (in case you are thinking that sounds familiar....but cant remember where you heard this.. Go and take some Memory capsules.. remember Finiding Forrester... ya the same movie which had Sean Connery..not seen it yet..? what the hell have you been doing..? Oh so you have seen it...well good for you thats all I can say..)

Coming back to this post..if you liked this shit.. you can just add a comment...and if you add a comment that means you like SHIT..!!!

But the Memory Remains..!!

It has been a fortnight or so since batchmates started leaving Manipal, but yesterday and today saw the first of the Compass group people bid final good-bye's to Manipal...and their friends... But I hope the Au Revoir to Manipal is final.. not to their friends... I hope to keep meeting my friends and relive these moments..these years...the best years of my life... But I can just hope...God knows when will I be able to meet them again... But thanks to Orkut I will always be in touch with them.. hopefully..

The end is near. Or has it already come. I don't know.. I never imagined it to be like this. "Hum aandhi ki tarah yahan pe aaye...to fir toofan ki tarah yahan se kyon nahi ja rahe...?" Just imagine the damn college is not even bidding us farewell...!! Huh...And they want Alumni to come and let this college grow.!! But why waste any more thoughts on it...?

I hope I am not the last person to get out of this place...I hope I can say in a few days "All's well that Ends well.." and bid Adieu to this place...and move on... On the top of the door of Room 3114 now you find three words..."Jason was here.." The mark of a legend signing off..I hope to leave a mark soon...

Waiting

I enter the room in disdain
The time has come once again
when i got to slog through night after night day after day
with my eyes burning and my body in pain...

The first three battles are over
Battles not won, but lost....maybe...I dont know...
They were battles for survival...
And alive still I am..Breathing..
Hoping for a miracle to happen...anxious..

But also there is a strange calmness..
As some part of me waits...waits..
waits for the confirmation of defeat..