God is great

I was quite lost in my own thoughts, and when I got a chance to think what I am up to, I got to know that its already more than 1 month since I wrote my last blog. Today someone (reader of my blog) asked me where my new blog is, or the passion inside me is gone, then only I decided to post it today. By the way this 1 month about which I am talking has brought good and bad news for me. I have got my appraisal, which was as expected, but I am happy as I got at least some in this market situation as well. I have completed 1 year in my company, and this is an achievement for me. And I guess I got reward for this in terms of appraisal only. My friend Ananda met with an accident, and got a fractured hand, for which she is now taking treatment. My friend Saurabh and Lokesh have got their better halves. Holi also passed in the mean time, and I got some quality time to spare with my families. In this duration I got a chance to watch Gulal, and I quite liked that movie. Ground reality.

A coincidence also happened in this duration. I am mentioning this incident without even taking consent from the concerned party, but I am pretty confident that concerned person will not have any objection with this. One of my friend(a) asked me if I knew someone in company(b). I told her that one of my colleague(c) worked in that company for 4 years so she can help. It was regarding a person(d) whom a's parents were considering for a's sister. Although it is like picking a needle from hay for anyone to tell about any individual, and that too when there are almost 5000 employees. So I asked my colleague c to let me know whatever information she can get from her friends. She told me that she(c) has one friend(e) in company b which will pass whatever information she will get.

Later on I went to my house on Holi vacations, there I got a message from c that she has got the information about that guy d, and there was nothing exciting in the information. When I came back, she asked me whether that guy has done his graduation from Lucknow, and whether his parent's are doctors. After conforming from my friend I replied to my colleague. She had got a vital link to that person. Her friend e and that guy d were class fellow in Lucknow. And the information which I got was quite shocking. I passed on that information to the concerned party. I told her what I got to know from my friend, as that person eloped with someone few months back, and after getting married they returned, but their marriage was not approved by there parents. And as if this alone was not enough that person was dropped from his project because of his performance which was not up to the mark, and to make the matter worse that person used to stare at gals. My friend a later told me that they did not find any negative point in that guy and they could have finalized that guy. But thanks to the God that they were saved. Later on while I was thinking about this incident I found out that one can be in such a big mess in case of arrange marriage. It all is up to the God what kind of partner he has selected for you. So we will have to cross our fingers and hope that we will get a perfect partner.

bad luck

One of my dear friends, who is getting married on 27th February, just finished 1 year in his current company on 11th Feb. I was asking for a party from him on this occasion. Somehow he denied for party. At this time we were not aware what destiny had for him tomorrow. A day after this, I was in office and I got a call from one of my college friend who told me that Sapient has just laid off several employees. My friend was also in this company, so to worry about him was my natural response. I was not aware about the fact that my friend was also on bench from last 5 days.
I called him to know about him, but his phone was going busy. I tried for around 1 hour, just to get same response. Later on I got a call from him, and the thing which should not happened, had happened. Sapient had taken a step of retrenchment, and axe had fallen on around 600 employees, and of those unlucky employees 3 were my friend. My friend about whom I am writing was consistently in project for last 360 days. But unfortunately when Sapient had taken this step he was on bench. Neither their past performance nor their bench duration was taken into consideration.
Luck has its own share for this friend of mine, who is with me since 2001(starting of 1st year in college). Very talented and sharp guy, who finished his engineering with more then 70% marks, struggled with me after college to get a decent job. My struggle was finished in January 2006 but his struggle prolonged for few more days. We appeared together in MBT's interview in Noida, while I was asked some normal questions from engineering, he was grilled in concept of physics from school level. Later on he completed his PG diploma in embedded from C-DAC Mohali, but unfortunately he did not get a job from there as well. In one company when he was short listed, the company did not get project for which they were recruiting these people. Later on he get through ABB, and selection in ABB itself tells his level of knowledge. After hopping from Mumbai to Bangalore he came to Gurgaon for Sapient, to receive this award for his hard work. Average of 10-12 hours per day was his routine in this company, which gave him this reward. He will definitely get a better job from this and I am sure for this, but his faith has been shattered by this incident. And to make the matter worse this incident took place when it was least expected, just a fortnight before his marriage.
He has got an offer from his past employer by the time I am writing this blog, which might turn into blessing in disguise. Hope for the best for him.

funny, isn't it

It took almost a month for me to decide what I should write. Still at the time of writing as well I am not pretty clear about whom or on which topic I should write. The reason for being idle for this duration was my daily struggle. The area in which I am currently living has severe water problem, area is known as DLF phase -3, where water comes only for 30 mins in morning and 30 mins in evening. We have a water tank on the ground floor which fills from the supply water, and once the supply water is off, we route water from this tank to the tank on the roof, as per our need. The mechanism written here must be looking very simple to you all, but it is as complex as it can be. Let me take a scenario, Supply water timing is 7.00 AM to 7.30 AM, and during this duration we are also getting light supply, then to route this water from tank at ground floor to tank at roof, after 7.30 Am as well light should be there. And further in the winter season I need some more time to heat the water to be used for bathing purpose. So It would need at least 75 minutes of continuous light supply.
Now to make the matter worse imagine a situation when light goes at 7.30 AM and comes at 9 AM, or light goes at 7.00 AM or goes at 7.45 Am. So it becomes very tough for me and my flat mates to take bath daily :) . So not to find myself in midst of such scenario, I used to get up at 6 Am in the morning, to make the proceedings easier. one or two times my friend went to his office without taking bath, so remaining two of my friends thought that they will wake up at 05.30 Am in the morning. And will start their daily rituals. The day they decided to wake up at 5.30 Am in the morning I applied a alarm of 5.25 Am, and thus finish my bath first. Now again the load shedding schedule has been changed and light goes at 5.30 Am. So now Our wake up time has again been shifted.
Every time I wake up at or before 6, I starts thinking is it really necessary to wake up so early. That's why I used to go to bed early in the night, and was not able to write blogs. This complete struggle changed me in such a way that now I started planning in advance, as now in the evening only I fill a bucket, dip the immersion road in the bucket, and plug in the switch. So the only task remained for morning is to switch on the plug. How many times did I not ask my flat mates to change the flat, but as this is near to their office so they are not comfortable in moving from this place, and thus all my hues and cry about changing the place goes in vain. And on Friday evening when I have got some time, when I am not in a situation when I need to wake up early on Saturday morning, I am burning midnight oil to write this blog. This is the place which we call as Gurgaon.

resolution for 2008

The day on which I took the resolution, I was in Pune and it was 31st December 2007, and I was having a good time with friends (Lokesh and Anuj) in the on 31st evening. Although all three of have joined gym which was in our society's vicinity by that time, but no significant improvement was there by that time. In the beginning I shall write that I and Lokesh have joined gym in order to loose some extra pounds that we have earned till 24 years of our life, and on the contrary Anuj joined that gym to increase his waistline.
On that day I along with Lokesh took a New Year resolution that we shall go to all the lengths to reduce the potbelly. While exploring all the options to achieve this target we also had to consider the fact that we can not spend much effort in this complete exercise. Right from the days when we joined above-mentioned-local-gym, we had started taken all precautions for not to take more calories in complete day. Day started with 1.30 hour exercise in the gym, in which emphasis was on cardio section, after coming back, lime water with honey, and fresh fruits/tea and upma was our schedule for breakfast. But in spite taking all the precautions and regulatory measures differences were not clearly visible. So we looked out for another option and that was in terms of better facilities in Gym and this search ended at Endurance Gym, where we both opted for a quarterly membership. By this time Anuj left us and he remained busy in his office work.
I spent almost 2.5-3 hours per day, and all courtesy to Capgemini Company in which I did not get a project, and was on bench for 3 and half month. Lokesh was not able to continue that gym after I guess approximately 1 month of joining, as he got a lot of work pressure from his organization, and to complete that he had to go to office on weekends as well. So I was left alone to go to the gym (after Anuj and Lokesh withdraw from this). From that time my endless journey continues till time. After certain duration of approx. 20-25 days, running on treadmill turned into a pastime for me, this earlier was a nightmare for me. I started getting compliments from my friends that I am looking slimmer, which motivated me a lot, and I changed my allotted schedule which was designed by the instructor, as per my mind. I started doing cardio a lot. And a lot means a lot, as to 2 sets of 20 minutes running on treadmill, 2 sets of 20 minutes on elliptical and 2 sets of 15 minutes on cycle. And the best part in this complete stay in gym was that we could have listen to good music as per our choice as we can plug our headphones onto the treadmill and listen to whatever we wanted to. My daily schedule of gym became mechanical, as I used to read my weight twice once before and once after exercise, and then to write down this on a notebook to compare my efforts of any particular day. Once someone was wearing a tee-shirt with tag line as "Play hard or go home" which I liked a lot in that duration, as that line motivated me a lot during my exercise duration.
When I came to Mathura(my native place), it was a shocker to my parents as they too had never seen me so lean. They told me this as I was appearing weak to them. I have changed my place from Pune to Gurgaon, I have changed 2 gyms but one thing that remains constant was regular running. I still run for almost 3.5 KM per day. Once my manager asked me what positives you have seen in this organization, I told him that I am able to spend time for gym in almost 95% of the cases which is a biggest positive that I have seen in this organization.
Once I was calculating and I came to know that I have run for almost 750 KM during this complete duration, and this much distance is as good as going to Mathura 5 times from Delhi. The compliments and the confidence which I got from this weight lose were worth spending so much efforts and sweat. Year 2008 is now finished but my resolution passed on to the subsequent year as well, as now I want to keep my body fit.

Manali Trip

This topic came to my mind as and when I reach Manali, and saw the natural beauty of that place. If one really wants to see nature at its best, go to Manali and have a look. You will not regret your decision if you will go with complete preparation.
After a lot of discussion and dwelling around Shimla or Manali, We finalized for Shimla, as Manali was too far from Delhi. We here means me, Saurabh and Dheeraj. 1st January was a holiday for all of us and 3rd and 4th being weekend, we all had applied for leave for 2nd Jan 2009. We were planning to leave from Delhi on 31st evening, so we were looking for a train on 31st itself. But as per the foggy weather in Delhi, the train which was scheduled to arrive to Delhi at around 9 in evening, that was expected to be around 12 hours late, which was enough to spoil our plan. We had foreseen this situation and to make the matter worse there was no snow in Shimla, as per the feedback which we got from our friends. So as the things were shaping in front of us we decided to go to Manali which was going to 15 Hours journey of Bus. Luckily I got 2 more friends of mine who were also ready to go to Manali.
So finally we took a bus to Manali from Delhi at 6 in evening, and after a hectic 15 hour journey in bus, after spending our New Year night in bus we reached Manali in the morning of 1st Jan. We had booked a guest house from Delhi itself; otherwise things might turn up a little more complex. The road which was leading to guest house, starting from club house alone was enough to shake our confidence to stay in that guest house. As that was a narrow road, there was no barricading to prevent any casualty. Had we taken a step there, we would have fallen from height of 30 feet. But finally we checked in there only because that guest house had got a decent look. After routine task we were ready to start our sight seeing plan. We enquired about all the possible options from guest house owner and we planned our itinerary as per his suggestions. We visited 2 temples, and saw a waterfall by the evening time. The amazing part in all these visits was a hot water spring, where hot water flows out continuously, and this spring is famous for its heeling properties.
By the time we were done with these places it was already 6 PM. At the same time we had to book our tickets for return journey so we spent approx 30 mins in that as well. We saw a monastery as well during this. We were new to that place and so were not aware of the weather condition in the evening time. It was bleak cold in the evening time and it was getting tougher to stand or roam there, so we finally decided to walk back towards the guest house. In the mean time we took our dinner. And again after a lot of efforts on that tough road we reached the guest house. This day was long enough for us to learn the lessons. And we did it. After reaching the guest house we booked a cab for next day’s plan.
In Manali temperature was very low, but snow or snowfall was nowhere in sight. Our day 2 was allotted to see the snow only, so we reached Gulaba for this by Cab. After spending almost 4 hours there, we were done with skiing and we started to move for Solang Valley. A shivling was there almost 3 KM from Solang. And the complete path was of irregular stairs so we opted for horse ride for this part of the journey. It took almost 2 hours for this journey. After almost 2 days of our experience we were like once bitten, twice shy. So we started negotiating a lot on every deal. On this part of our journey, we came to know that how intelligent a horse can be. Suppose 5 horses were moving in a queue, once they will reach the destination 1st horse in the queue neighs to pass a signal to all other horses that this is the end point. Horse finds his own way to move on the road, whatever is the situation of the road. After coming back to Manali from Sholang, on the Mall road we went to a shop named Gulati. That fellow started to deliver his dialogues to impress us. I am into this business for last 48 years, I am designing all these dresses, I can design whatever you want and can deliver that to you within 4 hours, my clothes have my contact number imprinted on the logo, which no one have done till now, I can design for 1 day old child to any size were some of his dialogues. Anyhow we managed to escape from there and as we were moving out, another customer came in, and that shopkeeper started his tape again. This day passed on smoothly without bothering us much in the evening time, as we were prepared for the cold weather. Finally after reaching guest house on day 2 evening, we planned for day 3.
Finally to conclude this I shall say Manali is worth going there in any season, If you want to enjoy snow fall, go in late January or February. Make arrangements to cover yourself completely. Try to reach back to place where you are staying by 7.30 in the evening. Negotiate as much as you can (start from 50%). Book a place before reaching there to avoid last moment hassle, and do not carry your worries to Manali, and believe me there is lot to enjoy.

surprise

After a horrible response for my last blog, I was not feeling like writing another one, but true to my character I am following my newly gained passion of writing. Some contents used in this are of my friends, and rest all are mine.
Biggest feeling of satisfaction for me is to be a reason of smile for someone.Whatever this smile will cost, it will be worth to spend for this. And to give surprises to any person on any day is something that I like a lot. It all started with me in fact. One of my friends, asked me to accompany her for shopping on my birthday in Pune. It was quite obvious for me to guess that this shopping was going to be for me only. We finished our shopping, but one thing that was annoying me was absence of my another friend who was supposed to give company to us. Later on I came to know that she has swelling in her leg due to some accident. So the friend who was accompanying me asked me to come to her home for a visit. I was not aware what this visit had in store for me. When I reached her home then I came to know what it all was about. And I got a nice surprise over there.
Second incidence is for my friend's birthday. I asked for a bouquet from the market to be delivered to her home, at a time when we would already be there, so that she can not figure it out who is behind this. I along with one of my friend reached her home. I was expecting that bouquet after 15 minutes, but that did not come. I asked my friend to excuse me for a moment, as I need to go to market due to some reason. As per my expectation she was not aware of any of my plan, so she did not pay a heed to this. At that time load shedding was also going on, so it was pitch dark outside. As I left her house to go to the market I saw a person standing outside with bouquet, I asked him why are you not going inside to deliver this? As soon as he heard this from me, he started walking along with me as I turned to my friend's house. I instructed him to come after 2 minutes, otherwise there would be no meaning of surprise. But that fellow came inside the house without ringing the bell, and behind me only. This was enough for my intelligent friend to guess whose mastermind was behind this, and thus that fellow spoiled my plan to give her a good surprise. Third incident is also with same friend when I send a cake to her, by mistake I wrote my number on the address slip, and the fellow who was delivering that cake did not remove the address slip from that packet. I got a call from her, she was thanking me for the cake. I asked her why she is thanking me? She told me about my foolishness. And again a spoiled plan.
Last incident is very recent. This belongs to a surprise that is yet to be delivered. It is one of my friend's birthday in Bangalore. Me along with some of my friends decided to send gift for her. We did not have her address. So I took this responsibility to gather her address, without letting her know why I am asking this. On GTalk I asked her that one of friend is coming to Bangalore and in case of any need she might call you, could you please pass me on your address, so that when she will be in Bangalore, she can go to your place. As per this genuine request she gave me the address, but along with a news, that she has temporarily moved to her sister's place. Now the challenge for me to get her sister's address without giving her a slight clue, why do I need this?
I got that as well, along with her office address as well. Then we planned to send a surprise for her. We contacted one of our friend in Bangalore, and asked her to deliver a gift to her. Which she should get on her birhthday only that is 28th Dec. I am not sure by the time she will read this, she will get that or not. But I am sure for my friend in Bangalore, that he will fulfill his role and will make sure that she will get her gift well within time.
According to me smile on that person's face for 2 second Worth this much headache. Hope the best for each and every reader of this blog.

I miss you Shailesh

Some memories even can not be faded with time. Even though time heals almost all the wounds, but not each and every one. Its almost 2 and half year, but I still can not forget that day of 4th June 2006, and I guess nobody from the 27th January 2006 ITPian batch from Tech Mahindra would have forgotten this day. This was the day when we lost our dear friend Shailesh Gupta in Harihareshwar. Now after 2 and half years I want to narrate this story, so that everyone will know how God unfolds individual's fate.
In Pune on the terrace of our Alankapuri society, one fine day I along with Shailesh was planning for a weekend trip. After so many rounds of discussion we concluded at Nashik as our destination for weekend outing. Then as a next step, we went to a travel agent for booking of cab. We didn't pay a heed to the fact that we saw that travel agent's shop on that day only(Fact#1). That was the nearest agent from our home. That fellow suggested us to change our destination, as Nashik was going to be tough in 2 days, moreover we were planning to go out Saturday morning. He suggested us to go to Divyaghar, Harihareshwar etc on that route. After discussing it among our friends and trip mates (Aditi, Anubha, Ananda, Saurabh, Raghvendra, Amit Khetan, Roopali) we finalised this place(Fact#2). We started from Pune on 4th June morning. In the beginning cab picked up all the gals, and then came to pick us(boys). I remember that Gals were carrying sandwiches with them.We started from our place at around 7 in the morning. It was dense fog in the morning time, and to make the matter worse it was raining also at that time. One of the gals from the group was suggesting not to go, as she was afraid of the weather condition(Aditi). We stopped at 2-3 places in between Pune and Harihareshwar because Pune to Harihareshwar was approx.250 KMs, and sitting in same position in a cab for such long duration was tough. On one of the point we clicked snaps, where Anubha lost her slippers in the pond, later on with the help of Shailesh she managed to found them. I can recall that we had a hot argument with Shailesh on one side and other 8 on the other side, topic of discussion was do a person really needs spouse, or a best friend can replace need of spouse? We finally reached to the Harihareshwar temple in the afternoon of 4th June. This temple was on the sea shore, but on a height. The sea shore also was not one which has sand on the shore, instead it was rocky. We worshiped there. It was raining at that time. Then after spending some time in temple campus we were about to leave from the temple, when Shailesh pointed out towards stairs which were attracting his attention(Fact#3). Actually it was the way used for parikrama of the temple. Out of nine people only 3-4 were with Shailesh to go on that stairs, moreover because of rain stairs were slippery.
After discussion we all agreed to on that path(Fact#4), which was about witness a horrible scene. The stairs were divided in two path, one out of which was leading towards the rocky sea shore. Unknowingly we opted that way, which ends up on a place place just few feets before the sea water level.
There railing were deployed by the temple management, but it was not mentioned over there not to cross that railing. Just after that railing was the end of that plane surface, and after that it was water water everywhere, but not a single drop to drink. We were also not able to see how deep that water level was, and what was beneath the water. Actually very sharply pointed stones were resting there. All 8 peoples other then me went to enjoy the water, they opted for a route which was plane having plane stones and adjacent to the mountains. Let me clarify again that stairs were leading to a plane surface, and on both the sides of stairs mountain was there as temple was on a height. I did not go with them because I was afraid of the sea.As I was there on that plane surface I was able to see tides which were very high at that time in the afternoon.
I called all of them to come back, but due to the sound of water they heard my call after 3-4 repetition(Fact#5). All but one people started to walk back, no prize for guess as the remaining one was Shailesh. He told all of us that he will come after spending another minute there(Fact#6).The Tides were of around 5-6 feet in height. I am not sure what he was doing with his cell phone in his hand and facing sea at that time.
All the people were not even have reached to the railing, when I saw he slipped when he also started to walk back, and falls into the water. I shouted then and there, and all the friends saw there immediately. We ran to the closest point, where we could have reached. What I saw there was after first fall Shailesh get hold of some stone and was saying I am alright. But at the same time another tide came and he lost his control.After this tide his head collide against the pointed stones, and bleeding started at the same time. We shouted for help, but no coast guard was there to help him. By the time we could have done anything, tides were pulling him far from us. Raghvendra and Saurabh ran back to call someone, but when they came back Shailesh was no where in the sight, and nobody came with them as they were aware about the dangerous weather.We last saw him when he was trying to get hold of something, and expecting some kind of help. At that point we were of no use for him. We saw our friend drowning in front of us. By the time villagers and some help came, it was too late for us and Shailesh. He was nowhere in the vision. We were hoping that somehow Shailesh will be able to come back, but deep in our heart we were aware that we are consoling ourselves. On the next day we found his body. We were to inform his parents. And this too was very difficult for us, so me and Saurabh went to a PCO as our mobiles were also not working in that remote location. We were also not having Shailesh's number, so we called up one of our common friend Vishal Jha, who was from his hometown Jabalpur in M.P. and got the number. He was asking why do we need his number, but we were not able to tell anything to him.We were not in a situation to talk to any of his family member, moreover we were not strong enough to face any of his relatives, so a local person from that village helped us. He called to Shailesh's home and as his parents were not at home, he took his uncle's number from his sister, and in turn told his uncle in Dehradun about this accident.
The question that still haunt me, is the question asked by his father to all of us, that how come out of 9 people only Shailesh fell there, why not any one else? Shailesh was of such a jovial nature that he once even danced in front of our batch just for sake of one bet. Till now it is very tough for me to believe that once-upon-a-time my room mate Shailesh is now no more with me. You can conclude with all the facts what God had for him in his store. Now too whenever I think about this incident, I always thinks, had he too come back with all of us, he might be with us now, or had they heard me on my first call, they would have returned safely.