Heaven on earth

It was an utterly chilly morning at 5 ,complying to the usual Bangalore weather.After 3 phone calls and 2 alarm rings ,I decided to wake up.The worst part was,it was a Sunday.

Yeah,we were to go for a trip to Nandi Hills.On bikes.Fine for me....but getting up at 5 on a Sunday morning???Impossible was the word I had uttered earlier.Disgusting was the word I felt then.

A trip was being planned for a long time but without any concrete ideas.I was the one most excited.Soumen,Deepanjan(Soumen and my college friend),and his two oher room mates were the ones to go.At last after much arguement and debating we opted to go to Nandi Hills and as suggested by Soumen it was to be a bike ride(which I well understood why... reason being his new bike!)

So I finally got ready and after sipping a steaming hot cup of tea,rushed down where Soumen and others were waiting for me.As I stepped out of my house,I felt the cold wind against my skin..God,it was midnight;or rather it seemed to me.It was totally dark and brisk chilly winds biting through our bodies made it worse.I suggested starting a bit late...but in vain.Nobody seemed to notice the ghastly condition of the weather.Instead they said the weather suited the bike journey!!!

And thus started our first trip after coming to Bangalore.

As our bikes gathered speed,I geared up for a rough day ahead.But the moment we were on the highway,my senses immersed in a sea of beauty.The road was so perfect ,with trees lining up both its sides and shiny mirages created in it, and the rising sun seen in the horizon nearly took my breath away.Everything was so pure,so natural...nature was entirely at its best.

As our bikes zoomed through the twisted road,I was deeply taken aback at nature's abundance.Beautiful yellow flowers garlanded the sidewalks and I could soon see the looming silhouette of the hills ahead.

We made our way through the road leading to the point from where one needed to walk to reach at the top of the hill.We parked the bikes,and admired the nature around.It was almost 7.

Having a small breakfast of cakes,chips and tea,we headed for the hill top.The weather still was chilly enough and fog descended upon us like a canopy.Up there,it was prettier...

After taking a large doze of nature's heavenly aroma,we decided to return back.It was becoming sunnier and the fog was swept away swiftly.We left the place at about 10.

The way back was fun as well.We stopped at completely strange places to have tea and snacks.Everyone joked about how I had reacted earlier that morning.

It was truly a great trip and I still cherish every moment of it.As well said by the great poet Wordsworth....

"I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils....."

Flash Back

The other day ,while I waited for my bus at my stop,ready to face another hectic (probability of it not being a hectic one was minuscule) day at office,something happened that almost distracted me for the whole day.
I was tapping my toes to the music that swam into my ears through my ipod, my mind raced through a whooshing memory path starting from my home in Durgapur,my first day at office,my mom trying to hide her tears as she left me in Bhubaneshwar and even about my to-do tasks at office.Suddenly a cacophony of giggles and gossips made my mind come to a screeching halt.
They were a group of young guys from college,(my bus stop is in front of a engineering college)who seemed to have bunked their morning class.As they enjoyed the cool breeze outside and discussed about their feat of bunking the class of some well known strict professor,I failed to keep myself from staring at them.They appeared to me as a bundle of joy... few frivolous,indecisive minds free from the stress,responsibility and corruption of professional world.I felt so very jealous of them.
I suddenly wanted to go back to those golden years again !!I started craving for the days when I could just keep on reading a novel lying on my hostel bed without having to think twice....I was awefully taken aback by the tremendous change in my life that had swept in after I joined my job!Why was I here wasting my life...was the question I kept asking myself again and again....
The whole day after that was like a flash back to me.On every free moment, my mind would again race back to my college days.I thought about all the sweet and bitter memories of those days.....even the bitter ones brought a smile in my lips....
I thought about my "ragging period",when we were asked by our seniors to go to college in two pigtails with oil in our hair and with a tricolor dressing style....
I reminisced about our cultural fest "Recstacy" where we enjoyed to our limits till 1 AM at night without thinking about the consequences ....
I remembered how Soumen and I used to spend all evenings after college together just sitting or roaming about in our favourite "City Centre" sipping coffee and talking....
All of these and many others really made me feel alone and depressed even in the hustle and bustle of professional Bangalore life.My heart ached to get back those days.My mind wanted to run away from here.Every thing seemed so irrelevant,so insignificant to the huge loss which I had just realized...that I had lost the best days of my life and I knew I would never ever be able to relive those days even if I sacrificed everything in my life...
Somehow tears overcame me,I rushed to the restroom.....I washed my face,drank a glass of water.Something reminded me of the old saying that whatever God does,he does it for our good.That made me feel emotionally stronger and I decided to return to face the shackles of the harsh reality pledging to try to make it less harsh from then!!

A gem....

I was pretty satisfied with the project I was put in ,not because it was a development project where I could learn a lot but mostly because of my fellow team mates with whom I started interacting there.They were a group of young talented people,not sticking their eyes on to the computers all day and were quite jovial and friendly.They preferred gossiping at tea breaks about some interesting thing at work or some daily soap that was aired the last night ,to sitting in the library trying to gain some more knowledge like a true professional!
There was this particular tall,sweet looking girl in the same group,just a year senior to me,who was assigned as my mentor.She was the one I had to take work from and report to her once I was done.To be honest ,I was a bit skeptical about this in the beginning.The reason was pretty obvious.She was utterly sincere,very intelligent and was a perfectionist in her work.On the other hand I was this college passout who had no idea about professional work,not at all sincere and over and above, had a severe lack of confidence.I thought I was screwed big time!!!
All the above notions were lifted like a purdah once I got to interact with her more closely.Her confidence,her obesession to deliver any work perfectly and her humility petrified me.I was stunned at times just by looking at her approaching any complex work item she was asked to work on.It was liked a smooth process.Analysis,design and then coding was her usual procedure on tackling a problem and each of these she accomplished with sheer finesse.This nature of her reflected in her daily activities too.She was a devoted follower of the great Sai Baba and worked voluntarily in many institutions(set up in his honor) helping the less piviledged ones.She was a beautiful person.
Whenever I faced any problem in my work ,I would rush to her.She asked me to sort it out myself.Mostly I couldn't even after trying ten times over,but at other rare times I would find a really silly mistake I made and we both would laugh together.This grew in me the confidence which I lacked then.Slowly I grew so fond of her and her ways that I felt I was trying to copy her in some ways.May be I really did .
We were in the same cubicle and our seats were adjacent.All day besides working we both enjoyed joking about silly incidents and some really funny guys at office....she was my friend and guide at the same time..
Soon she was leaving India.Yep,she cracked the GRE with an awesome good score and was going to NCSU in few months time.I felt heart broken.So much was left to learn from her..so much was still left to share,so much was left to blossom the friendhship which had just started budding....
I decided to make most out of the time left with me.As she gave me KT(knowledge tranfer),I would genuinely study her ways to deal with things,her naturally confident approach towards problems and her awestrucking humility which never seemed to attenuate even a bit inspite of her soaring success in every field.
Then the day arrived,her last day in office.We gave her a warm farewell and wished her luck.I was not able to express my feelings about how I felt in words to her ...so I decided to put them in ink.I gifted her with a small Ganesha that would bless her in all her future endeavours and a diary where I penned down some gratitude I owed her.
Thus she went miles away from us leaving me with a dull feeling of losing a real friend ,a teacher , a guide and a gem whom I would never ever forget in my life....Hope she continues to be just the same girl whom I knew for that short but precious span of my life.

Friends in need....

2230 HRS ,a lonely street .....few stranded dogs yelling their hearts out as if something's seriously troubling them...whatever few shops in the locality had shut down already....absolute darkness prevailed ....5people,2 girls 3 boys,arrive at the doorstep of a house.No,this is not really the first scene of a upcoming thriller movie niether is a preface from a Jeffrey Archer novel.....this is a fact from my life @ Bangalore which still haunts me ....I had landed up in a paying guest accomodation the week I came to Bangalore and since then had continuosly cribbed about its lack of ....err....almost everything!!!The lack of cleanliness,the lack of hot water ,the lack of good food(ohhhh...I so missed ma's fish curry that time),over and above ,the lack of a home....My friends (Vipul,Anupam and Ritesh) and Soumen tried searching for any rented house or an apartment near to office that may meet the "deficiencies" mentioned above.My PG roomie was also interested in moving with me(she also was genuinly pissed off with that PG )...So even we joined in the search...Mrs Reddy seemed pretty nice lady at first sight.At Rs 8500 as rent amount and an initial deposit of Rs 50000 which we said we'll pay the day we move in,we settled with Mrs Reddy,our "to-be" landlady,to rent a 2BHK of her huge house.We decided to move in by the end of that month.Still 15 more days at the PG?Horrible....We soon came to realize that those 15 days were worse that we could have ever imagined.Mrs Reddy repetitively called us and asked for that deposit money that too in cash....she threatened us that she will give that flat to somebody else if didn't pay immediately.Both of us were new to Bangalore and obviously hadn't made so much savings to pay her immediately.To add to our misery,we had already given notice to the PG owner about vacating by month end.Thus,we were left with two only two options:1.to search of another place(God,save us from the ordeal again!!) and 2.To pay the hefty sum(that seemed better to me).....We opted to seek advice instead.Soumen said he'll arrange for the amount.Ritesh and Anupam asked to confront the landlady.Vipul wanted a more peaceful settlement.My roomie had guts and brain I suppose to agree to Ritesh and Anupam....I being the meeker one,wanted some less risky way.....but bravery won over cowardice !!We had to do it that very day,that very night at 2230hrs....Then 5 of us(my roomie,me,R.. ,A ... and V..) rushed through the deserted streets of Munnekolala,the almost underdeveloped locality where we lived,to Mrs Reddy's house.Ritesh knew Telegu(the language Mrs Reddy spoke) and started to reason with her regarding her insane demand.She listened at first but later her arrogance seemed to overcome her and she started abusing us .Her son chipped in few slangs.This infuriated my brave friends and they lost patience.No more sweet talks were exchanged,instead only heated conversations filled in the hollow of the night and echoed down the street...I was terrified.My legs wanted to run away from this horrifying situation...but my mind was filled with pride for my friends and that provided me the strength to still be with them....Suddenly my roomie mouthed something rude to her out of sheer disgust and that was when Mrs Reddy's anger crossed its limit and she said "You guys don't know me and my family,we can hire people to kill you guys"...the anger was real in her eyes.That very dialogue petrified us,even R...,A... and V.... were silenced.I think this thwarted their anger and they understood our plight.We decided to stop at that point.We left the place by paying some amount to her (which she said she deserved since she didn't give that flat to someone else in those 3 days).Whatever happened that day left a bitter mark in the memories of Bangalore ,but had left me with an obvious truth..that is,I had got some real friends who can help me out in any situation and be by my side whenever I needed......

Sep 07..The month I arrived in Bangalore :)

I assume,I am thrilled to have started mine own blog spot after all these years of hesitation and lazying :P......
I wish to put my daily saga in Bangalore in black and white in this blog,which I can well warn in advance may or may not be a colorful read for all!!!! Hereby I take the pleasure to start the odessey......
I've been in Bangalore for almost 2yrs(will become 2yrs on 9/09/2009).My job brought me here....yes,I am now a fully "confirmed" associate of the Tata Consultancy Services,having joined the same on 11th of July 2007(* Interesting fact:My birthday falls on exactly the same date i.e,11th of July).After having completed a wonderful (let me take time later to throw light on its wonder ..... :-))2 months of ILP(Initial Learning Programme ,which is a compulsory training for all TCS joinees) in Bhubneshwar ,I came to Bangalore with 3 other college friends.With excitement being predominant ,I failed to notice what life has for me in store in Bangalore.I was too excited about my new job, the so-called "hep n happening" Bangalore life... and the happiest part of my brain knew I was in the same city as my boyfriend(somehow,I fail to understand why I dislike this word,but yes my "Boyfriend" also worked in Bangalore then ).....!!!
Nights at Bangalore in Sep 07 was not entirely comforting for me as the days usually were because they brought in enormously the memories of my nearest ones who were actually the farthest ....my ma,my sis,my baba.....who were still in my hometown Durgapur......
Yet,when I woke up the next day....the mellow warmth of the morning sun seemed to melt away the little lump of sadness, which had appeared as every other night and had secured its place in a corner of my mind......
Thus,before any other thought overcomes me,I decide to kick start another day in Bangalore with energy,enthusiasm and liveliness !!!!