The rainy days

Its been raining a lot for the last few days. And I just had a long long weekend; Diwali holidays, a five day extended weekend. Today morning, its still raining. And I am on my way to the office on a bus. As usual, everyone's now back to work. And the rains have made the traffic situation worse. Moving at a snails pace. Fortunately, I managed to get hold of a seat. It will probably take close to 1.5 hours today. The ride is very bumpy, although my phones spellcheck compensates for that.

Its been a very long time here, for various reasons outside my control. If the rains don't stop by evening, I might as well come back again then.

Bus rides are comfortable, although I have a few arguments against them. My new office is farther from the old one, and its in the heart of the city. The only viable road to the new office is heavily crowded during office hours. And I thought riding a bike to and fro would be very painful. It's been about a week bow that I have been travelling by bus. Although it has been quite comfortable, I end up spending more than 2 hours of my day in travelling.

So I have been able to get back here after such a long time. Last week I was trying to read some articles on my phone to use up the idle time on the bus. But it didn't work out. The roads were bumpy, and I had to concentrate very hard to avoid the distractions. Writing, in such a scenario seems a little better since you don't have to focus for long stretches. Think a bit, write a bit.  Wait... Thinking....

Looks like its raining inside the bus as well. The roofs are leaking a bit. I have changed two places inside the bus, but looks like its leaking from everywhere. The roads are flooded. It is advisable to take the bus instead of your bikes in such weather, if you are in Bangalore. Its better to be inside a leaking bus instead of being in the splashes of the vehicles on the roads, especially, when you are going to the office and you are not carrying a spare set of clothes.

I am just 15 mins away from my office now. Have to get prepared for de-boarding. Its going to take a bit of effort.

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Errrr.... I am lagging behind

I was supposed to write every week. I think I have missed one post. Or may be two. At times when time itself is so precious, we shouldn't ponder over past things. I am not going back and checking how many actually I have missed. But not anymore :) until I take a break again.

The first rains of the year, was quite a drizzle. I cannot express how much I love the rains. And the first rains are always special. And I make sure to get drenched at the first chance I have, and I did that today too. Well, not a deliberate attempt to get wet, but it was enough to set my mood for the weekend.

The week has gone by, and there's been so much noise on the television channels, Facebook, Twitter, and the likes. Politics is in the air. This time around, it's going t be really interesting. Cricket, pre-Sachin Retirement, was the first craze of  us Indians, and now, the game of Politics has been getting the highest TRPs all across the country. The only difference is, Cricket was famous for Sachin Tendulkar for his brilliance, while Politics is, at-least for some, is famous for Rahul Gandhi, again, for his, unmatched presence of mind, public speaking and of-course his thesis on Rocket Science.

So, I had been trying all these days to clock 30 minutes for a 5 km walk + run. Took me close to an year to get here. Last week, I achieved this little feat, declared this on Facebook. Not much likes, or comments, or bravos, and I wasn't expecting any. But, one comment stood out among all of them.

He goes: "Dude, which bike!!!"

I definitely, hadn't expected this.

Go March Go. Go away, Let the new financial year begin, let the elections establish the new government, and let the story continue. Next, my target is running 6 kms within 30 minutes. Obviously, it's not rocket science. RUN BEANIE RUN...

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).

Appjam '10 - A platform for the mobile community

Last Saturday, my dream came true. I had always dreamed to be at an IIM. This came true when I went to AppJam to demonstrate my Android application called "Blogaway" at the event which showcased the best 30 mobile apps. It was a 3 minute presentation and I couldn't really talk much, and didn't win any prizes but it was fun. Especially the iJam session and the ball throwing concept. One of my friends got a chance to present her idea in this session. Hahaha, she was hurled soft balls from all around the auditorium. But I guess, at the end they liked the idea. She is a lazy fellow and wanted everything to be done by her phone, without even her waking up from sleep. :P

The weather was just perfect for the day. There was another app from our company which was also demoed. Solaro for the iPad which is a client for the Solaro website. Tushar from Kolkatta had come down for the demo. The funny thing was, the duration of the demo was a mere 3 minutes. He also was sort of time, but we somehow managed.

It had rained while we were inside the auditorium of IIM Bangalore. And it seemed that everyone in Bangalore was happy that it had rained and the temperature had come down quite a bit. So, I guess all of them walked out of their home and clogged the roads. It took us 1 hour to reach home that evening. IIMB is around 15kms from my house. :(

We got free T-shirts. And the lunch was also free. I gobbled up 4 gulab jamuns. :)

And it stopped raining...

Just a few days ago, I was complaining about Chennai's weather. It was getting unbearable for me to survive here. The moment I reached home from office, the first thing I would do was to switch on the AC. Not to mention, the electricity bill for each month would be always directly proportional to the temperature, raised to the power of temperature itself.

On friday evening, I had plans of going to Bangalore to escape from the heat. But I guess, the rain gods had other plans. After I reached office, it started raining heavily. I was not aware of how Chennai's weather will be at this time of the year. I had a train to catch at 11:30pm (note: station was around 35kms from my place). I thought, by that time the clouds would have poured down all their drops. So, I got busy with my work. Ironically, I am currently working on a weather forecasting application. :) When I configured this application to show Chennai's weather forecast, something seemed to be out of place. It said, "Thunderstorms" for the next 5 days. Well, last week, it said the same thing, and that week was quite hot.

It was 5 in the evening, and I prepared to pack my things. Then my colleague stopped me and asked me to look outside. It was still raining heavily. Damn. I hadn't done my packing yet for Bangalore. I would get late if the rain didn't stop, I thought. After 30 minutes, I decided to leave. By the time I entered the open skies, it was only drops here and there. I reached my room without getting wet. :) Lucky me....

Switched on the AC, oh, that had become a habit, it wasn't needed. After 5 minutes or so, switched it off. Started packing. Got ready, to travel 35kms.

At about 7 in the evening, the rains came back. It must have been the heaviest rainfall that I would ever experience in Chennai. And it didn't stop until Monday morning. I had called up around 4-5 taxi services, but they were over-booked. The bus stop is 1km away from my house and there was no way that I could have walked that distance in this downpour. I had never thought that I would not be able to step out of my room because of rains. Lost hopes at around 9:30pm.

And now, on Monday morning, finally "It stopped raining". 2 and a half day, locked up inside my room, and above all, India loosing the series, it was certainly a test of my patience. My room mate was lucky to leave for Hyderabad at the right time. I slept a lot though. And for food, I used to call up a restaurant. The delivery boy would be cursing me. Ahh... Need to re-plan for the Bangalore trip again, next week.

Please don't rain next week. Please please please