Trip towards the sea…

I am definitely not a travel freak, but then, India is such a big country, that you have to travel 2000 kms to get to your home. Last week I did some travelling, all alone. Though the experience was one of it’s kind, I don’t intend to travel in that direction ever again.

My destination :

 

 

CHENNAI

 

 

 

Just for your knowledge, I HATE SWEATING.

On Tuesday morning, I had to catch the train, at 6:30. It was easy. After walking for some metres, I was lucky to get an auto-rick, and that too at the normal rate. I reached the station in time. And when the train finally arrived, I cuddled into my seat, without any problems. I had only one bag-pack. The journey was about to last only 24 hrs, to and fro, so there wasn’t much to carry.

But, as soon as I boarded the train, my horoscope for the day was activated.

Whatever I saw, it had a pinch of Tamil Nadu. The people, the morning newspaper that my neighbour was reading, the talks of other passengers and everything else. I had “Masala Dosa” for breakfast. It was very different from what we get in Bangalore. The Dosawala, to my surprise, wasn’t speaking Hindi, not even Kannada or English. And in this part of the world, people normally don’t speak Oriya. So, how do I communicate? Alphabets are one thing, I really don’t know why the number system cannot be generalized for all languages? With the help of a fellow passenger, I was able to pay off the Dosawala. I felt sleepy, the AC in the compartment was tuned perfectly to suit the weather. The travel would last 6 more hours.

After 6 hours, the train stopped at the “Chennai Central”. I had heard a lot about this monument. This was the first time that I would see it with my own eyes. I was very excited. The moment I set my foot out of the train, a drop of sweat trickled down behind my right ear. I didn’t seem to notice it. I had hardly taken a couple of steps towards the exit, I realized that I was sweating profusely.

Being a well-informed traveller, I knew that Chennai was the “humid-est “ of all the cities. I was prepared for this. The handkerchief that was lying in my pocket got a chance to feel the heat, and taste the salt of my sweat.

From the station, I had to go to a place which was very difficult for me to even utter. Just near the entrance, 5 auto-walas surrounded me, “Saaaar, Auto” ???

I promptly refused, and walked away from them only to find another group of auto-walas waiting for me. The bus stop was just in-front of the station. I looked at one of them. Gosh!!! Everything was in “Tamil”. I asked one fellow, if he knew a place called “Semancherry” and how far was it. He replied in Tamil. The next person also seemed to know only Tamil. After 4-5 tries, I gave up and finally walked towards the auto-walas. He knew the place, Great!!! “Saaar, 450”.

I fled.

Luckily, I was able to reach the place in time for the interview changing 2 buses.

The interviewer, seeing me, laughed and said,”Boy, we need more ACs in here”.

The interview went on for one and a half hour, and with 2 ACs switched on, I was still sweating.

After the interview, I changed 2 buses and took an auto to reach at the “Chennai Central” just in time. Now I remember that I had missed my lunch. I didn’t have to look hard for dinner. There was a Biriyani Counter, from where I had my lunch-cum-dinner. A glass of fresh lime juice, i thought would dry up all the sweat . But it didn’t help. Even the cool evening breeze failed to evaporate my sweat. The return journey was in a sleeper coach. Though I was sleeping on the return journey, I was still sweating.

I had planned to visit the Marina Beach, but was short on time. I will go again in the winters there to see if I sweat again.

Recession and Me

1. Recession is the buzz word, even the sabzi wala uses it.

2. I have stopped going to movies every week.

3. I am in the process of changing my Airtel plan, to a cheaper one.

4. I wash my clothes myself.

5. I use the bus, instead of auto-rickshaw.

6. Number of visits to pubs reduced to 1 in a month.

7. I am always on the look out fro free offers.

8. I use Skype and G-talk for short conversations.

9. No more shopping sprees.

10. Posting frequency has increased, to increase Adsense revenue.

Well, it’s office again

For the last 5 days, I have been going to office regularly. And I stay  there for quite unusual number of hours, around 6-8 hours. But don’t worry, “I am still on BENCH”. Yet again, I have learnt some management tips from my revered managers.

They think :

“When a resource is on bench doing nothing, keep them busy by putting them on training”.

Well, training is fine. We gain knowledge, we become more competent. That, I would say, is required in today’s scenario. We should keep ourselves updated. And, most importantly,  the managers think, that the resource is “BUSY”, and they are satisfied. But the training on which I have been put on for the last 5 days, I have not gained anything, neither I have learnt new things. Because, this is the 3rd time that we have been put on the same training.

And being a developer, it’s just so torturous to be put on a training on “Testing”. To top it all, the trainers are just world-class here. They don’t even skip a single ‘char’ from the slides. Wow, what an eye for a tester! They read out each and every ‘char’ from the slides, loud and clear, and they sometimes do re-testing too, and regressing testing as well.

After 5 days of training, I can appear for an interview for a post of a “Tester”, that’s for sure, but I really don’t have a clue as to why “THIS” training and why “ME”.

Perhaps, those colleagues from the testing team were also on bench, and their manager, just like our manager, wanted to keep their resources busy.

And by the way, I hate myself being addressed as a resource. If I had the power, I would re-write all the management books, and ask the managers to call us as employees at-least, and not a “resource”.

No CAT “shat”

     My 2008 plans were pretty straight-forward. To shun my “IT  Consultant” tag, and adopt a new one, “MBA Student”. But unfortunately, something went wrong. I don’t know what. I had applied for each and every entrance exam that I could lay my hands on. It cost me around 15K of my savings. But still, no pebbles were moved. No CAT “shat”.

Don’t ask me about my future plans. It’s not that I don’t have any. Well, to be frank, I have lots. But the only problem that I can foresee at this point of time, is that I have so much to do, but so less time. I am on bench for the last 8 months, but I consider these 8 months as the busiest days of my life. I will tell you how.

1. I have to go to office daily, well, everyone does. But I go to office daily, twice – in the morning to swipe-in and again in the evening to swipe-out.

2. Since I am not in office most of the time, I have to search for a good restaurant to have my lunch. My search hasn’t ended yet.

3. It was in college, when I used to take afternoon naps. For the past 8 months, it has become a habit again. At-least 1 hour of afternoon sleep has become necessary for my body.

4. I have been working with my Laptop a lot, so that thing takes up the rest of my mornings.

5. And in the evenings I am busy again.

6. For dinner, its time for “Dinner Search”. There are no good places to eat near my house. And I don’t have a bike. I hate travelling in auto-rickshaws.

So, this is how I have been keeping busy. I don’t get bored. But at times, I wish that I were into some project and keep myself busy in some other way. And this recession has sucked up all the new jobs that I would have been interested in.

Oh, I forgot to mention one more thing. Last month, my laptop crashed. It took me 2 whole days to get it back to its own self. It has already crashed 4 times. Hahaha… What a way to keep oneself busy. I am desperately waiting for a significant change in my life, and it better come soon. Else, this post could be copy-pasted with some minor changes again. Keep watching!!!!

Olympic News

The Torch:

The torch is lighted using the rays of the Sun by a parabolic reflector at the site of the Ancient Olympics in Olympia, Greece. The torch is then taken out of Greece to the main stadium where the cauldron is lighted on the final day/opening ceremony. This torch is left to burn till the games have been officially closed.

There are interesting stories about so many Olympic Relays.
In 1976 Summer Olympics(Montreal), the flame was transmitted "electronically" via satelite from Athens to Ottawa, by means id an electronic pulse derived from the actual burning flame. After a rainstorm doused the Olympic flame, an official relit the flame using his cigarette lighter. Organizers quickly doused it again and relit it using a backup of the original flame.

A lot of money goes into designing of the Olympic Torch. They have to withstand wind speeds up-to 65 km/hr, rain upto 50mm an hour. Other requirements are that the design should be such that it can be identified and photographed in sunshine and areas of extreme brightness. The fuel is propane which is in accordance with environmental guidelines. The material of its form is recyclable. For Sydney 2000, there was a special requirement since it had to be kept submerged in water.
WOW: I never thought that Science and Technology would help us in such ways.The final carrier of the torch is often kept secret until the last moment, and is usually a sports celebrity of the host country.

Some more facts:
The torch has been carried by an airplane in 1952, when the fire traveled to Helsinki.
The Torch Relay symbolizes the passing of Olympic traditions from one generation to the next.

Facts from : Wikipedia