2nd October Day

Well, 2nd October, a national holiday, but dry day !!!!!

Many people look forward for this day, so that they can sit at home, enjoy TV, sleep, and chill out. Well, liquor shops would have seen increase in their daily sales if this day had not been a dry day. Perhaps, this holiday would have been better for some people, had it been a NORMAL HOLIDAY, instead of a DRY DAY (HOLIDAY).

So what about Mahatma Gandhi? Well, I remember a friend of mine who just can’t stand the utterance of his name. I have also met people who admire him and follow him. There is so much fuss about this day on the news channels, about why he is not remembered by the youth of today, why people don’t follow wh at he said. Mr. Tharoor has tweets saying that “We should work on this day.”

It’s not only this day, our Independence day, Republic day, and so on are not being celebrated as some people would like us to, these days.

Why am I writing about this today? Well, I had to write something today, and so I picked up this topic. I was happy that Google had put a picture of The Father of our Nation on it’s homepage. I am also happy that it’s a holiday.

I am sad that India is out of the Champions Trophy. I am sad because I am still living in the Furnace city of India, “Chennai”, :-) 

Chennai-Hyderabad-Bhubaneswar

Airports are a fun place. Before taking off from Chennai, I was wondering how would I wait for my connecting flight from Hyderabad for 5 hours. I always wondered how people managed to wait for so long at the airports. The most painful thing being at an airport is that "No smoking". What a relief when a friend told me that there was a smoking room in Hyderabad airport, I was delighted. But then, I didn't have any cigarettes with me. I had around 5 hours to waste before my next flight was scheduled. I could have easily gone out of the airport, roamed the city, smoked a few and drunk some beer.

Well, those things are history, so I saved up so many calories, the local temperature was 30 degrees. So, I bought myself a McDonald's Happy Meal, which cooled me down (the Coke). There was a guy, who bought a Coke, and after one sip, realized that it was Sprite. I thought I would be witnessing a murder today. But the McD people replaced his Cold drink with his favorite brand without any fuss, probably sensing some danger, and that was enough to settle him down. I think, this can be a good advertising idea. :)

There was a kid, who wasn't too happy to see his food at the McD, but was just overwhelmed to see the toy that came with that meal.

I finished mine, and walked out. Now what???

Well, I walked towards the Departures, and tried to enter. The guard said that I was too early. He said that, he would allow me in, but later I will not be allowed to come out. I thought, for a moment, and inside the glass doors, I saw an advert saying, 45 minutes of free wi-fi. That was like, the TOY with the Value Meal. I said, I just had my lunch and I wouldn't need to come out.

Opened my laptop, and tried connecting to the wireless. Wasn't easy, but I always figure out these things. So, in 10 minutes I was logged into GTalk. I started conversation with a few, and after sometime, none of them were replying. Well, I have internet, but now, I can't chat, a dearth of online friend, where have they gone??? May be a bar, today's saturday, one of them has gone for a walk to the beach. :)

So, I thought, why not write a blog. It's been quite some time that I had written. So, I guess, I have used up the whole 45minutes of free braodband, and now I have to take out my Reliance NetConnect Broadband+.

Hold on guys, brb.

Global Warming and Local Warming

Everybody is gearing up to face “Global Warming”. And right now, I am sitting in this part of the world, where I guess I am not equipped to face the “Local warming”. What it takes to start this “Local Warming”, well, just switch off the fan/ac, and all the liquid inside my body starts oozing out from every pore of my skin. But, the others, I have noticed, seem to manage to withstand the heat, and keep the sweat inside their bodies. And when someone sees me all wet, I am sure they must be wondering if it had rained from where I was coming.

Weekends…

It’s been quite long since I had my last post published. And it seems that this year also, I will lose to my dear friend. Though there is not enough time remaining for the year to come to an end, I haven’t given up yet. So, here’s another one.

These weekends in Chennai are probably not those kind that anybody would want to experience ever. I am all alone, in a room, with the AC turned on, a TV switched to some unknown channel (tamil), and my laptop. Since this morning, I haven’t stepped out of my room for even a second. I got my breakfast, lunch and dinner ordered and delivered over the phone. A few phone calls, actually, quite a few, some sleep, Bachna Ae Haseeno (recap), some coding, some chatting and of course, some washing.

That was hw my weekend went. And I believe, as long as I am in Chennai, I will spend the weekends just like this one. I guess, this is the worst way to spend your weekends. I don’t want to go on like this for long. I want a change, ALREADY!!!!!

I want to visit the lovely beaches of Chennai, but haven’t chalked out my plans yet. Don’t know if I will ever strike it off from my things-to-do list. :)

Happy Birthday !!! Not Mine....

"System Software Engineer". This is my new designation at a new office, at a new place. A lot has changed in the last 1 month. And I have adapted to these changes well. The first change, and the most important, at-least for me was the drastic change in temperature and humidity. 1 month back, I was near to the western seas, and right now, I am about 10 kms away from the eastern seas.

About my office, well, its not a very big one. Though the campus has a pretty big parking space, it is rarely crowded by vehicles. The whole campus houses only about 200 employees. So, on an average, we get a mail every week or so, inviting us for some one's birthday. They even put up a printout near the entrance whenever someone's birthday comes, with his photo and name, and wishing him "A Very Happy Birthday". Well, that's not unusual, I guess. I am expecting pretty much the same thing, in a few days. But, they only have a passport size photo of me with them. I am wondering if the photo in the printout will be visible from a distance. Or may be, just before my birthday, they will click some photographs of me, for the printout. It is a black and white printout they paste near the entrance.

Today, there was yet another printout near the entrance, a black and white one. I wasn't wearing my glasses when I reached office. I was sweating and so, in a rush to reach my air-conditioned cubicle, I ignored it. Normally, I would have read the name and have had a look at the photograph.

I was engrossed with work after that and had completely forgotten about that printout. During lunch time, I heard some people talk about someone's birthday. Since it was in Tamil, I only picked up the word birthday. They were probably discussing about the person. When I next checked my inbox, there was an invitation for someone's birthday. I was feeling hungry, and so I was happy with the thought that I would get to eat something sweet. I also thought that I would jump on the cake, the moment it was cut, pick up 2-3 pieces of it, and run back to work. The mail didn't have the name of the person, which I thought would have been a mistake on the sender's (HR) part. They always mess up with things, I thought.

I again got busy with my work. I had to go down to the reception after some time to submit some documents for the tax thing. So, I thought I would have a look at the printout now. After submitting the documents, I walked toward the place where the prinout was pasted. I still wasn't able to read the name from a distance. I wasn't wearing my glasses yet. When, I was within my reading distance, the printout seemed to be different. The picture was unclear, and so was the name. At-last, when everything was clearly visible, I understood everything. The message was,

A Very Happy Birthday To
"Server 1"

And alongside, was it's picture, which defintely wasn't that of a human being. My hunger was gone. I was wondering, who would be blowing the candles!!!!