Hi All, I am back

It's been quite a long time since I blogged. Quite a few things have been happening around me. Now things have settled a little, and finally, I got some time to take a deep breath. Had been real busy for the past few months. And as everything has an end, I am hoping that this (not being so busy) doesn't end so soon.

A few days back, I was a little sad and taken aback when someone told me that I was ignoring everything else for work. But the good part is I realized that it was actually true. I also realized that I was not getting enough sleep and rest and that, in a way was really getting back to me. Thanks, "whoever" it was. Actually, 2 of them.

Ok, enough said. 

• Amit Chahar got maried. Congrats Amit and Asha. Lets meet soon. Sorry I couldn't attend your marriage.
• It was Amit Kunjal's birthday yesterday. I actually wished him a day in advance.
• Happy Birthday Shakul Jugran. Calls for a treat.
• Happy Birthday Debasis Biswal. Come to bangalore once and we will have a blast, all expenses to be borne by you of course. 

I recently went to a remote rural school on an official visit. It was a joy ride. The weather was perfect. But the best part of it was interacting with students and teachers. I didn't know the local language (Kannada), but that didn't matter. I was surprised to see almost all of them conversing well with us in English. I am not sure if I was that good back then. Students even in the 7th grade looked so very young. They made me look really old. Brought back old memories. Came back and added a few friends from school and college on facebook.

One day, away from office, city traffic and among the children was worth spent. Looking forward to more such trips in the future, now that I am trying to reduce my working hours :) (Seriously.....@"whoever(2)" Believe me... I am not a workaholic, it's just that someone needed to pinch me to wake me up).

No words for this

Courtesy: http://icc-cricket.yahoo.net/photogallery.php?gallId=901

A trip to Kolkata - Part I

This was on the cards for a very long time. I flew to Kolkata on 28th of February. It was an early morning flight, 6 in the morning. And for that, I had to take a cab at 4:30 in the morning. I never like to carry lots of stuff with me, so I managed to get my things packed in 15 minutes, on that very day, somewhere around 3:30 in the morning and stepped into the waiting cab.

The driver was probably busy watching India vs England world cup match earlier that day. We had a small conversation about that, and then, the cool morning breeze started lulling him to sleep. I could see his eyelids fluttering in the rear view mirror. I was a little scared, but some kind of an alarm seemed to wake him up every now and then. I tried to find out the source, and realized that the cabs were fitted with speed governors which would not allow them to go over 80 kmph. Wow!!! I am saved.

I was relieved, the moment the driver dropped me off at the airport. Come on, I still had hopes that India would qualify for the next round, and I was not going to miss that. This time around, with Sachin perhaps playing his last world cup is the best chance.

Kolkata, after so many years!!!! Yellow Ambassador Taxis!!!! breathing out thick black smoke!!! Perfect. A sign board said, "Welcome to Kolkata".

Since it was a Monday, I had to walk into the office the same day. I wasn't tired though. I dumped my luggage in my guest house and hired a "Yellow Taxi" for office which was about 5 kms away. In that part of Kolkata, traffic seemed to be much better than what I am used to in Bangalore. But, within a few minutes, I also realized that there were literally no rules for vehicles. Cars, bikes criss-crossing all over, screeching and honking all around, finally I reached office. It was a big big building, Technopolis in Salt Lake. I had heard a lot of about Salt Lake. I should say that Salt Lake was well planned, with more trees than I expected. Fortunately, the weather wasn't that bad for the whole 2 weeks of my stay in Kolkata.

Meetings!!!!! Ummm, of late, I have been attending so many of them. A short introduction with everyone, and it was lunch time. Yippee....Pizza Hut with Suman and Cameron.

To be continued...

Beaches and Trees

I had mentioned about my trip to Kerala some posts ago. A lot happened actually, and I don't find enough time to write about everything. Well, that's really an excuse, but when I sit down to write a blog, I run out of thoughts very quickly. Errr...what was I going to write?? Oh yeah...Let's see.

We did a lot of biking, 4 guys and 2 bikes. We had big hopes from Lt. Parida (not late, lieutenant, :) ) that he would be arranging at-least some 150cc bikes. But, we had to manage with one Discover, and one errr... ____________, Please someone fill it up (Samiran, Parida, Kunal). We didn't have problems with any of the bikes, fortunately, though we (Me and Parida) who were on one bike, survived a small accident, or rather a fall. The only thing hurt in all this was Lt. Parida's bike. See the photo. Can you see the scratches? Sorry Lt. Parida.

The same day, when we were wandering inside the campus, we saw a big Anaconda (not as big as the one on TV) crossing the road. It had probably just had it's dinner. Inside the campus, there were signs at places saying, "Go slow, animals cross roads here". At first I had laughed. When we had crossed the crawling thing, a truck came from the other side. We returned back to see if it was still there, but couldn't find any signs of it. It was already dark, we wanted to take a picture of it, but decided not to search for it now.

Then there were beaches, and coconut tress (reminder, we were in Kerala). We smoked on the beaches, threw some stones into the waters, (Kunal got a record number of 7 jumps), we drank at night, and played cards. :) :)

All these days, approx 4 days, I hadn't checked my mail once. I had my laptop, and I was also carrying my Reliance data card, all prepared to upload photos as and when they were being taken, but to my horror, there were no mobile network signals other than BSNL. We couldn't even use our cell phones (sometimes took photos with it). :(

We took a lot of photos, lots and lots....




We went up a light house, "No Problem". Wasn't a big one, but I had never been up a lighthouse ever. And as soon as we entered the building, Mr. Samiran had a question ready for us, for which, even he didn't have an answer? "Why aren't there any lifts in Lighthouses?" As if, he had been to all the light-houses of the world, and had made his amazing and non-existent discovery/theory.


While we were walking on the beaches (don't remember the name), something bit me on my foot. I though I would have stepped on some stone. But the pain didn't go away after I moved. When I looked down, I almost fainted. A strange creature was holding onto my left toe. "Illlo Bopalo", I shouted, and hit that thing with Lt. Parida's helmet. After 2 blows and lot's of shouting, it let go of my toe. The other's were enjoying this scene, quitely from a distance. Only Kunal came running towards me, I was bleeding. This is what he did after that.

Damn it, he came running with his camera, to take a picture. Huh, Can you see the blood on it's teeth?


They didn't even care to take me to a hospital. Not even a tetanus, what I had in mind was an anti-venom. Though, none of us knew what creature it was (poisonous/not).

While returning, Parida said, since you were bitten, let me drive. I said I was okay and I was in a condition to drive. But how could I ignore Lieutenant Parida's orders!!!! I finally gave in.

A Driving License Needed…

Let' me first come to the main point : I DON’T HAVE A DRIVING LICENSE.

Well, I had one, but some crazy fellow dared to enter House No. 490 on 5th May 2007, and walked out unharmed, richer by 5 mobiles, my wallet, some 20 bucks, my PAN card, and my DRIVING LICENSE.

That was my first Driving License, it wasn’t a genuine one though. This little piece of paper made me 5 years older. Though I was born in the year of the BOAR, i.e, 1983, the date of my birth was shown as 1978. Whenever any one doubted my not being an adult, I would promptly show them my Driving License. With this forged piece of evidence, I have evaded so many fines and challans throughout India, mainly the North, South and the East.

Without it also, I have been able to survive the check posts of the Bangalore Traffic Police for quite some time. And I was very proud of it. Last week, somebody asked me, “How come you don’t have a DL?”

I said, “Dude! Who needs a license to drive in Bangalore? There are so many vehicles in Bangalore. You would have to be a very very unlucky guy if you are caught without a license.You can be booked for riding without a helmet, jumping red lights, driving without a number plate, and if you accidently happen to hit a policeman head-on. But you have to be the most unlucky person in the world, if you get caught for riding without a DL”.

And the next time I was riding a bike, well, I guess, I was the most unlucky guy in the whole world that night. Mr. Rwitam Mitra, had to be dropped at his house in Marathalli, for which we had to enter the Outer Ring Road. I was imagining how the cold winds would make me shiver when I will be on full throttle on the empty roads. But, before we could hit the deserted Outer Ring Road, Felix’s always-lit-pulsar’s-head-lights showed me a police waving his “danda” in-front of us.

Little did Mitra know about my loss of that fateful night. The first question he asked, “Tere pass hai na?”

I have hearts of steel, but I was not sure how Mitra would react to my denial. So, I said, “yes I have”. Just before hitting the brakes hard enough, I had second thoughts of using the throttle instead, but I changed my mind. So, we stopped.

There were 3 policemen. Each of them were busy attending to other unlucky people. One of them asked me for my License. I pretended to search my wallet hoping that I would find a pice of paper that would at-least look like a Driving License. Hehe…Seriously, I was thinking this…

But at-last, I gave up. Now the policeman asked me to hurry up and went away to another biker. There were around 5-6 people waiting to show-off their DLs to these policemen. So, we had plenty of time. Mitra did have a license, and we though of a plan. We swapped our roles. It was dark, and we put our brains to work. When the policeman came back, Mitra showed him his license, snatching the helmet from me. Hahahaha… 

The policeman took it and started examining it, asking general questions about our addresses and purpose of late night journey. Everything seemed to be working, till another policemen came along and stood near us. He smelled something fishy, and finally realized the anomaly. Shaaaaaah!!!! Caught again. They asked for the bike’s RC, pollution certificate and insurance, which Felix said, were at House No.490.

We knew what had to be done now. I started counting my money in my wallet in my mind. But, how were we going to make an open offer for bribe to this man? Mitra tried his best to convince them, that we were good people, and are aware of the mistake that we have committed and asked them to leave us just like that. That was not going to happen. I hope Mitra wasn’t very serious about such a thing happening.

Finally, the policeman asked, “How much do you have”. Mitra answered first. “40 bucks”…

What the hell!!!! Weren’t the pop corns and cold-drinks enough?? I had to pay here also?? Well, in the dark, I put my fingers in my wallet, and pulled out 2 notes, in the dark. They were 2 Hundred Rupee Notes. “Unlucky the second time”.

In 2 minutes, everything was settled. We were warned and let off. Just before running off, I thanked the policeman, and he replied, “No Problems Beta”. All the way, till I reached home safely after dropping off Mitra near his house, I was extra cautious, in the look out for another check point. But there were none. I guess, the clock had struck 12, and the unlucky day was over. Thank God!!! We were not drunk, else we would have been behind bars.

The next day, I searched the Karnataka Government website for details on how to obtain a DL. Realizing that I had to spend at-least Rs.200 and dont-know-how-many-hours, I thought, I would just avoid the check posts from now on. I still don’t have a DL.