Dalai Lama’s Instructions for Life

Courtesy : Mahesh Bharath, my batch-mate at UoA , Tucson.

Aadab Uncle Sam..Goodbye Mother India

The D day had arrived. 23rd of July,2009 Bangalore International Airport. I was all set to begin what was supposed to be a new chapter in my life. I was there with my family : my mom, my dad, my sis, bhaiya, bhabhi and of course my cute little niece, Poorvi. Those that mattered the most to me where there to bid adieu to me. And for some reason they were more excited for me. And me? I was not really sure what was going on in my head. I was anything but excited. I was just looking back. The journey that had started about an year back with that ridiculous test that goes by the name GRE (and I am not saying this because I am arrogant or something. I actually believe this.) , that then continued with searching and skimming through university web pages during office hours, that resulted in an exchange of a huge number of emails to seniors/profs/lecs/friends/family, that branched out towards that unnecessarily hyped up event called the  US visa interview had finally come to this.

I walked in towards the Air India counter a little while after it opened. As expected there was some confusion regarding the extra check-in baggage.

Guy at the counter: Sir, your total check-in baggage weight comes up to 64 kg and only 46 kg is allowed. You will have to pay blah blah blah.

I did not even bother listening. I reached out for the excess baggage ticket and showed it to him like some param-vira chakra that I had earned. Guy at the counter starts making calls and talking to other AI staff. Clearly he had no clue what to do. I was all cool and gave the person enough time to sort his confusion. I was in no mood to yell at him. I guess I felt sorry for these people given what has happened with Air India in the last few months. Unforturnately some other passenger did not share the same view point. He started losing his cool and yelling at the top of his voice, blaming the staff and calling them incompetent.

The confusion was finally resolved and we did not have to pay a single buck. I was all set to go to the next counter. But before that I decided to go and wave goodbye to my family who were standing on the other side of the glass door. I looked into my niece’s eyes. She also smiled back and said ‘ta ta’. I was not even sure when was the next time that I would get to see her. She would probably not even recognize me. I was touched and with a heavy heart I waved one final goodbye and started towards the next counter.

I dont even remember when was the last time I traveled using Air India. It must have been when I was six I guess. I was not really expecting many things to change. They had those entertainment units on the back of each seat this time around. But apart from that, everything else was just the same. Aunty Air Hostesses who had clearly forgotten to see a mirror when they dumped their make-up on their face. Cabins that were not properly pressurized etc etc.

I was too bored to be bothered. I switched through all the channels on the entertainment unit and there was nothing interesting. I then decided to watch that cricket movie starring that young actor called Harman Baweja (I think). The guy who tries to copy Hrithik Roshan in every sense (Can’t blame him of course, he is an actor. He should try and be someone that he is not). Dont ask me why I was watching this. I guess I wanted to have some fun by watching this bogus movie.

Anyway we reached Delhi within no time. Took a bus. Reached IGI. and within no time we were on our next flight heading out towards Chicago via Frankfurt. As it turned out, the Indian hockey team were also on board. Atleast that is what their jerseys said. I dont follow hockey and I did not really know anyone from the team.

I did not bother playing with the entertainment unit this time around. I figured it was a long flight and I better get some sleep.

I woke up to watch the beautiful mix of colours in the sky caused because of the sunrise. We were close to Frankfurt. We finally arrived at the airport and were asked to wait at a airport before we could catch the next flight to Chicago. Judging by all the !ncredible !ndia posters hanging on the walls of the gate that we were waiting at, I guessed that this must be a common waiting terminal for all flights that come from India. The highlight of the terminal was a german shopkeeper who had managed to chalk out a nice message and the menu for his place, all in shudh Hindi.

Two hours later we were on the flight again. Next stop Chicago. This time a plump looking German teenage girl was sitting next to me. This time I decided to play around with the entertainement unit. The German sitting next to me tried to do the same and by mistake pressed Hindi as her desired language. He he he!!! It was hilarious to actually see her trying to figure out what was being written on the unit. I finally had enough and helped her set the language back to English. She decided to watch some sad German movie. I decided to watch some of the sitcoms that were being offered.

The food in the journey so far had been lousy to say the least. Looking at the German girl trying to eat the rice with some typical Indian curry was real fun though. After playing around enough with the entertainment unit, I decided to turn towards my pod and watch some movies that I had copied onto it at Bangalore.

We were nearing Chicago. I could see the Sears Towers from a distance. We were just about to land when all of a sudden the pilot decided to take the plane to the skies again and give us all another tour of the Chicago city and Sears Towers (Actually he later announced that he could not see the runway clearly and wanted to try landing again, but I think he was lying and wanted to have another look at the Sears Towers.)

As expected at the Chicago airport, the American Airline official asked me to pay 100 dollars for the extra baggage. I had to flip out the param veera chakra out again (the excess baggage ticket that is) and mentally said ‘Up yours!’. All settled. The wait at the Chicago airport was agonisingly long. I had started my journey with a slight cold from Bangalore. And unfortunately that had intensified at Chicago. Swine flu?! I decided to spend my first buck in US of A. I ordered a cup of hot coffee. That helped me get through the agonising wait of almost 8 hours for the next flight.

I was way too tired by the time I boarded my last flight to Tucson, Arizona. I did not even realise that I was sitting next to a very pretty American girl. I was too tired. I slept throughout the journey, even through the landing and take off which had been very very routine events by now.

And there I was. Tucson, Arizona. Got out of the airport to be greeted by the hot breeze reminding us of the blazing hot sunny days that were waiting for us.

Routine stuff buddy. Seen enough of it in Sharjah and Dubai. Bring ‘em on!

More later….

10 reasons….

…why Bangalore is going to be close to my heart. That is what this post is going to be all about. Why this post? Well, because I am going to say goodbye to this city after staying here for the best part of the last 6 years. Why 10 in particular? Well just a marketing cliche that I like I guess

So here are the reasons:

1. I have spent the best years of my life at this place.
2. I started my career here. I got my first job at this place.
3. I have made some very good friends here:  Mota, daku, keshu, tamil sardar, subbu, UD, nayak, yadav and many more. This city has also offered a chance for me to meet some of my old buddies from school : vikram, ani, ramya, Gd and many more again. These are people whom I will probably not forget for some time to come.
4. All my memories associated with V are also indirectly connected with this city. Just like she is going to be an important part of my life forever, Bangalore is not going to be any different.
5. The tree lined roads. The ride down Nanda road is something that is a very very unique experience that not many cities in the world can offer.
6. The traffic. Surprised?? Yes I like the traffic. I think it is fun to get to ride fast on a crowded road rather than an empty road. And I know it is a genuine head ache when you want to get to some place fast but I have used it as an excuse when I reach some place late as a cover for my laziness. The latter is more frequent.
7. The pubs. Purple Haze and the rock music, J cubez near college, Sticks and so many more.
8. The idli-vada combo at SLV mess near Banashankari, the coffee at India Coffee House and the rava idli at Mavali Tiffin House. They are all unique to this city.
9. The weekend get aways like the ride to Nandi Hills, Skanda Giri and so many more.
10. The weather. Somehow people have taken this for granted in my opinion. Unfortunately, the weather has changed a lot because of the growing population in the city and the growing traffic.

When life was at one of those crossroads….

Managed to catch up with one of my old friends from school a few days back who is currently working as a wildlife photographer. It was so good to see a friend choose a profession that differs from engg and medicine for a change.

There are not many people like my friend, Shiva, who talk passionately about wildlife photography. Of course, there are people like my colleague at work too.  He also talks a lot about photography and he tries to enlighten us with the technical concepts involved in a desperate attempt to try and impress the rest of us with his knowledge of the subject (most of which he would have read in some forum or blog just minutes before and have no real idea about himself). But in my opinion, there is a huge difference when people like Shiva/S Karthikeyan/Sandesh Kadur/Austin Stevens talk about photography and, in particular, animal behavior. I see the same twinkle in their eyes which I used to see in Hari sir’s eyes (my zoology teacher in school) when I used to bug him with all those doubts about animal behavior.

I still think about what happened two years ago, when I joined my first full time job. About how I had an offer from one of my seniors (also a well known photographer) who asked me if I would like to work as a wildlife naturalist. The offer still rings a bell in my head. Of course, logically speaking, it was dumb on my part to even consider the offer in the first place (as my Dad later explained to me) because of a lot of factors. But maybe, just maybe, did I make a mistake of not listening to my heart for once?

You know how it sometimes feels like one life is not enough to live all your dreams.  The last few days have felt just like that.

My Niece : Poorvi

There are very few things in life that can provide you with the same joy as that of watching your 10-month old niece smile at you.

In case you’re wondering…

…I am still alive and well.  Just been so busy with work and applicating that I’ve hardly found time to write something out here. Few updates….

[rant]

I am being downright honest when I am saying this, the process of writing your tests ( GRE and TOEFL) and then creating a list of universities you would like to apply to and then eventually applying to them is one pain in the arse job. Why so? Well firstly, you spend an unbelievable amount of moolah.  You probably will not realize the amount you have spent until you see your credit card bill statement soon after.

Then there is the pain of actually writing two extremely stupid tests, GRE and TOEFL. This from a guy who has already given CAT once, the mother of all stupid tests, and screwed it up royally.

But the real ‘fun’ is when you are applying to universities. Going through each university’s web page, mailing some arbit lecturers, begging profs from your college and maybe even your manager at work for a recommendation and then the actual process of sending the application packets and sending queries to the university as to whether your application is complete only to find out that the person answering your queries is a dodo.

[/rant]

The ‘applicating’ part seems to be drawing to a close ( relief ! ). And I just hope that I get ONE admit somehow!

Meanwhile, I was following Sachin’s century on cricinfo on the final day of the recently concluded Chennai test between India and England. What a wonderful knock ! And I felt happy for Sachin because it was on the same ground that he was criticized for not guiding India to victory against Pakistan. Fools still hold that against him without even considering the fact that not one in the Indian batting line up stood up to the likes of Akram, Waqar and Saqlain Mushtaq except Sachin on that day. Also read this gem of an article by Peter Roebuck. Brillaintly worded and emphasizing the importance of sport in a way that I have never known it before.

Work is boring and very uneventful. Nothing much to write there. Just a big yaaaaaawwwn!

I finished reading this book  called ‘Business Stripped Bare‘ by Richard Branson.  Im sure people who know me well will know for a fact that I am not someone who shows keen interest in books on business strategies or the likes. I am not sure why I picked up this book on a dull Sunday afternoon at a Crosswords store. But I couldnt let go off it once I started reading and managed to finish it in one go.  Branson’s approach to explaining things is simple and easy to follow. But his ideas are very unique and interesting.  It is amazing how he is able to draw the same picture that you would probably see at your work place day-in and day-out, problems with the picture, and the solutions that he has learned through his experiences.  Worth a read!

I am currently reading ‘Shantaram‘. I have heard a lot about this book from my brother and some friends.

Ok thats about it for now.  Planning to go home and spending new years with folks! Wishing my readers a merry Christmas and a happy new year in advance!

More later…

Arbit thoughts : Mumbai terror attack

I am finding it quite hard to get the Mumbai terror attacks out of my head for various reasons. Yesterday night, me and my mom were having this chat about whether or not I should apply to Virginia Tech. Mom was concerned because of the shoot-out incident that happened there a while back. She also asked me to consider studying in India as an option. I wonder what she thinks about the same after yesterday’s incident.

Lets face it. We are now in a world were terrorism is a harsh reality. No matter where we are, we are not safe. But we still have to counter this menace especially considering that our present (and probably our future governments) will always think about their vote bank first before taking any actions on busting/trying to bust a possible terror threat.

I just don’t understand phrases like ‘city moves on’ or ‘test of spirit of Mumbai or Mumbaikars’ or the likes that are used so often by the media. That is just cow dung.

I understand that some things will never be the same. Getting frisked at every other mall, or airport or stadium is not something anyone enjoys. But when we realize that these things are being done for our own safety, these things take a backseat. Only ignorant fools would argue that such things should be done away with.

We should be strong and fight back.

::define:life

Excerpt from the Speech given by Chetan Bhagat at Symbiosis.

Don’t take life seriously. Life is not to be taken seriously, as we are really temporary here. We are like a pre-paid card with limited validity. If we are lucky, we may last another 50 years. And 50 years is just 2,500 weekends. Do we really need to get so worked up? It’s ok, bunk a few classes, goof up a few interviews, fall in love. We are people, not programmed devices.

“Don’t be serious, be sincere.” !

Wishing all my readers…

a very Happy Diwali !

Back home ! :)

Yup. I am back in Kundapur. And I really deserve this mini vacation of sorts to escape the madness that so many of you call ‘Bangalore’ or ‘Bengaluru’ or whatever.

This place is heaven! And not just because it is my home and I get to meet my parents and eat some of nice food for a change, but more importantly I get the opportunity to stay disconnected from the rest of the world here.

Unfortunately, that is not going to be case for too long now. I can see how the look of this place is changing. It is still no where close to a full-fledged city, but at this point it bears the look of a small urban town gradually losing its charm with every day that passes by. Sad but true!

Got to go now. Will touch on this subject sometime soon when I am back in Bangalore. Ciao!