Pacifica

Its been almost 2 months since we moved to the Pacific coast of the Americas, and looking back, it sounds like a wise decision. Good weather, lots of places to see and lots of friends and ppl you know..
Its taken a while, and now I am getting into the groove on the workfront too. It wasn't a simple start by any standards. Its a new company,new place, new colleagues and a new environment. On top of it, I was squeezed between buying essentials for our apartment, and work. To top it, my brainy had started to get a bit rusty for no apparent reason.
There was another contrast which I had to juggle with, and that was the difference in the working style I was used to, in India and on the East Coast vs. the one here in Cali. Now that I have realized what nuts and bolts need to be fixed, the jig saw puzzle is gradually finding its way out...
Though it will take some more time to get firmly rooted and have my juggernaut rolling..

Last month was great on the excursion front. Rahul, Aditi, Vaidehi and I had a great day in San Francisco, the cute city.The weather was chill and at its foggy best...The golden gate park and the golden gate bridge were real treats for us. We also had our first rendezvous with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, and it was biting cold to say the least...Its almost winter here, and the beaches of Cali are know to treat people coldy, they say..hehehehe
The Golden Gate bridge was truly marvelous, but we could just catch a glimpse of it, due to the extremely foggy conditions..Good reason for us to catch it later in the summer.
Thanksgiving weekend was an even bigger outing for us, with the Kakades and Deodhars setting off to Southern California on our maiden sojourn. it was an action packed trip for 4 days, starting with the riches of beverly Hills, Rodeo drive, thru the scintillating Hollywood and LA city, and leading us to Universal studios. The next day was in the sunny town of San Diego, just off the Mexican border, where we got a more than fair share of oceanic fauna, amongst sea lions, manatees, whales and dolphins, not to forget the flamingos...
On our way back we took route 1, going thru Sa Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara, and I had a nice adventurous 3 hours of driving in pitch dark along the winding state road besides the Pacific. What a shame we could not enjoy those moments of exuberance felt during a game of roadrash by the Pacific drive...There's always a next time, ain't it ?

My favorite season

The last quarter of the year more often than not tends to usher in good tidings for me.
Until last year, way back in India, it marked the onset of the festive season, with Navratri coming with a big bang, and Diwali crackers adding that icing on the cake....
The air gets so better, the scorching heat is gone, the monsoons have retired back to their abode in the oceans, and winter is round the corner. Its a trilogy of sorts; as a student there are more challenges to be faced in the form of mid-year exams, but once you are out of the clutches of this education system and onto a job, then things tend to get more relaxing on this front.
Its not just big festivals that leave an impression and give that feeling of gay to us, even the smaller and yet fun filled ones, for e.g Kojagiri Pournima today leave a distinct feeling of elation on my mind...The radiant, resplendent fully waxed moon shines its riches upon Mother Earth and we human mortals try to capture this parent-child romance in ounces of Milk and devour upon its crisp pure creamy taste ...Kojagiri makes me reminiscent of the nice dinners I had with my family in Pune on the terrace and more recently, the Sharad Pournima on the beaches of the Radisson Inn in Goa last year, with a bonfire and waves lashing incessantly onto the shores, with us folks merrying amidst all kinds of music and dance....
Even as I sit in my living room on the other side of the globe, the feeling of joy is pretty much the same..On the personal front too, I have begun this period of the year with lots of reasons to cheer for. The brand new job @Vmware, the brand new car-> Yes, the Honda Accord if you missed those sound bytes from me. I cant but help remember the commercial of Asian paints where Sunil babu gets a naya ghar, nayi gaadi, nayi mrs.. (well, my wife is nayi too, and I am still a naya husband) :-)
Being in the temperate part of the world has other side effects and advantages..I got my first exposure to this phenomenon called Fall (aka Autumn). ANd then there is a big gung-ho about how the leaves turn into rainbow colors and display the Fall colors to mankind... Its almost like a competition between states like Maine, MN, WI and NH as to where the carotenes and xanthophiles are most vivid and colorful....
We came down to the West not expecting any kind of Fall in Cali. But Palo Alto has had its fair share of Fall and its beautiful colors, and has been a treat to our eyes...
Overall, it feels good, being in the hub of Silicon valley, in the midst of the Googles and Yahoos and VMwares of the world..........Enjoy the season guyz..!!!!!!!!!!!

The new dawn...

The summer here is turning out to be better.
Vaidehi is in Atlanta now, and suddenly my mundane existence has sprung back to life.
The ghar ka khana is back and I am already feeling at home now.
Got some plans with Abhi for the labor day weekend, we might go around the city a bit, and probably further, time permitting.
Last weekend we spent a handful of hours in Atlanta downtown, and being here for almost 5 months, I hadnt ventured anywhere close to that part of town. Suddenly I explored the East-West Marta link for the first time, and also took a bus ride.. Underground Atlanta wa buzzing with activity and some pockets there reminded me of Tulshi-baug in Pune :-)
I had a few more exploits of interest in the last month, and some force in me has sailed me thru the objective I had in mind, cant spell it out here for fear of pre-maturely leaking out the news...but yes, life does promise to get even better in the next few months....
Haven't read any novels in quite some time, the last one being Five Point someone, and not Harry Potter, which is what people would expect to have read latest by default :-)

My culinary skills have been put to rest. Thankfully..Yeah, I was almost reaching a point where I wud rather succumb to burgers rather than spent a few hours daily in the kitchen besides the electric oven, trying to get tadkas and Indian cuisine cooked for my stomach.
Planning and will power are the keys to success, i have realized, and I hope to be more and more systematic to make this mortal existence one with lot of substance.
I Pray to thee Lord...

I'm still here

Last month was a blog drought for me, without a single post. And its today that for lack of better alternatives, I find myself blogging again. Also once in a while I need to send KeepAlive(), so that people know my blog is still on :-)
July proved to be a routine mundane month, lacking the action of any sorts....
and now its August, getting warmer day by day in the Southern state of Georgia....
When I suddenly look back, its been 3.5 months out of India and still there are those moments, where I fail to come to terms that I won't be going home anytime soon....Luckily my wife would join me soon later this month and this is a big reason to cheer, since I hope it takes away half of my boredom.......
I have been planning some other things too in the meantime, and am hoping that by dint of my efforts and that element of luck, I should sail thru and successfully complete the project which I have set sail for.....
Today for the first time I went to the movies here, and watched the Bourne Ultimatum, and it was good to watch..Lot of action packed, a bit too fast to palette at times..but some kind of entertainment in general. I also came to terms with the buckets of popcorn that are gorged upon by fellows here. What a contrast compared to the small plastic tini-wini bits of popcorn we used to buy back home, from the market in Pimpri for like 2 bucks...(Rs..not $ hehehehe )

Exploring the US is going to be my next part of the agenda, and I hope to really see some good places and enjoy with Vaidehi when she's here...That would be really something to look forward to...
Let me end with an expression which I learnt from the Wonder Years which ran in the late 60s and early 70s...Have a neat summer !!!!

June te June..will naveen be sone ?

Before I realize the last week of June is here, and as the Sun passes over the weekend, July will dawn. Not that any of these months are real special to me, but I am suddenly faced with the stark reality that half of 2007 is gone..and also means another thing, that it will be 6 months since I got married. Now whenever I look at my marriage photos, doesn't it just sound like yesterday ?
With office chores, this week has been a listless one, and one where my Ashwamegh of triumph, success and glory has been suddenly halted, also stealing away my luv(love) and kushi (khushy) feeling ..
I guess there are always these moments of lull which help us to reflect back on life, take a breath and analyze what has gone right -n-wrong, and whether the boat of life is steering in the right direction. So, I too have taken stalk of the situation and have set the ball rolling for what should lead to my heart's desire.
Tony Blair has resigned today, and for some strange reason, I felt a tinge of emotion for him, guess its always big news when the excited electrons need to return back to their normal state. Back home, the rains are continuing their now yearly routine of lashing onto cities, towns, mohallas and dwarf villages, bringing life to a standstill. As if to remind people, that the surge in technology cannot annul the forces that Nature is made up of. But it does mean a good year ahead for farmers, agriculture, and even the manufacturing sector in general, and makes the bourses even more bullish...
With Presidential elections in India reduced to a two-way battle, the sword-lines have been drawn, and I am a bit unsure myself whom I want to support. I would also like India to have its first female President, and notwithstanding the fact that she hails from Maharashtra, I have some respect for our VP too..anyways..good that this is one election where I do not miss out casting my ballot..
Far away in Western Europe, a bunch of 11 guys belonging to Team India are playing a game called cricket, and I hope it remains sincerely confined to such corners of the world rather than Hindustan, so that our nation continues to be more productive and stress-free...anyways, hope the desis back home are listening....What I am really missing this time around is the tennis action, since the absence of a TV is preventing my thirsty eyes from savoring the green lawns and strawberry with cream that defines the persona of Wimbledon.!!! too bad...

Rains in Atlanta

Its getting warmer here in SE of USA in Atlanta. I can easily feel the contrast in the weather now vs when I got here first in mid-April. Then, it was touted as spring, but the early mornings and nights were really chill, atleast by Indian standards; now its much warmer early in the day and stays like that until late at night. In fact, the sun is scorching at times , in the afternoon..they say more so because of the lack of the ozone layer in this part of the world.

Its been overcast here for the past few days and the weather here reminds me of the monsoon season way back in India. One good thing is not having to face the potholes for sometime now..:-)
On work front, I am really liking the new technologies I am working on, which have been truly refreshing. Its fun to learn stuff urself and then implement it in code. Already new buzzwords like WSDL, web services, SOAP, XML, C# are making me feel elated, and increasing my knowledge.It does feel good to work on cool latest technologies in this fast-paced world of IT.
The new domain also feels nice for a change, outside the BE-lake, where I swam for quite some time. Its only when u get outside the lake, that you realize its a big world outside for us to explore...

This weekend, I will be taking some driving classes, before my test next week, and I hope I do learn the nitty-gritty of parking so that will pave the way for me to get my driving license..and then I can rent cars and visit places and have more fun...
Its strange but already Atlanta sounds like a home to me, i.e when I go outside, and come back it does give the feeling of being in familiar territory, though it lacks the warmth and charm of good ole India and amche Pune...well kuch paane ke liye kuch khona padta hai ...

After a month..

Its hard to believe, but its been just a month since I have been in the US. It sounds like much longer...and believe me, most of the time and energy gets spent in booting up.
Yes, there are things you need for survival here, and each one comes in a specially packed Pandora's box. its all about ur SSN, then debit and credit cards, leasing apartments, paying deposits, setting up utilities, and credit checks.
This must be the only place which trusts credit more than cash. sounds ridiculous to me at least..
Anyways, who can change the law of the land of Uncle Sam?
I am now almost into the groove of coming to office, doing my job and going back. There is a monotony of sorts about it, since there is a traditional difference in the office culture I am used to versus what I find here in AT&T. Its so much sombre and business oriented here..yes, its good to be professional, but don't know what harm a few playful moments or chatting with ur cubicle neighbor would cause...
And in my team, there are just too many Indians, still haven't got the feeling of working in the US in the true sense, since my work and interaction remains more or less shielded from the Amrus.
This time, trying different international cuisines is also conspicuous by its absence. I remember being in the US for just over 3 weeks last time, and trying Chinese, Mexican, Thai, and a few more other places. this time the farthest we have gone with respect to a non-Indian meal is the Pizza..LOL...
India has changed a lot in the past 3-4 years, and so being here doesn't make you feel necessary more privileged. save the cleanliness which is next to Godliness here..(well almost). Is it because In God they trust ? :-)

company gave me a laptop to work, so its good at the moment. Not having internet at home has advantages like not having to check office mail from home, nor bother about work. and yes, i can coolly watch movies and catch up episodes of Wonder years which I was dying to see after some rave recommendations from some colleagues..
One big thing for me to get here has definitely being getting out of the atmosphere at Symantec India, which was turning out to be maze, without the outlet that the free man of today aspires for...
Looking fwd to the Memorial day weekend coming soon; me and my pals planning a nice trip to the Smoky mountains..it should be fun...

Samland blog

Its been over a week since I stepped into US territory. The first few days were gruesome and very boring. Just wanted to take the first flight back home, its only now that tings are getting a little better.
Cooking meals for dinner is a good past time and also allows us to taste the Indian cuisine which is some much in demand by my palette.
I decided to go out blogging with hihg spirits, but looks like i have got bored along the way. So just have to prematurely truncate this one till I really feel like it..Schuuz

Just for gags

Ambivalent feelings run thru my mind at this juncture in life, when I am ready for yet another leap. Though this is not a leap year,I have suddenly accelerated things happening in my life. First I got married, so as to solve the all important issue of companionship, and with this mission having succeeded, I set my issues on other goals in life.
Change is always a difficult thing, and it was this inertia or the affinity for homeostasis that made me stick to what I was doing for the past couple of years. But finally, the simmering within, with the help of a few external catalysts made me take steps towards a brighter future.
With things shaping up well now, I am ready for the Occident to propel myself into the orbit.
Suddenly, since the past couple of months, i find in myself a new sense of confidence about work. Things sound within grasp and my sharpness seems to have increased. Ideally, I would have expected this transformation to be a gradual process, but some kind of magic wand has done the trick, or so I feel. How else would I be brimming with confidence out of the blue, atleast on the work front....
Its not been all hunky dory, though I make it sound that way. At times, the feeling of wretchedness takes its toll on me and sags my spirits to such an extent, that the frustration manifests itself in different forms like anger, anxiety etc. But some kind of divine intervention ensures that I come back on track in some time, only to repent for my actions in the last few moments.
One good thing in the process is that good sense seems to prevail and things dont get out of control. Maybe its just those minor adjustments that need to be made in life. I should be learning to enjoy more out of life, and be more open and magnanimous..this will make life a lot simpler than what it sounds in some trying moments.
Some blogs are from the heart, some out of the mind, this one seems to be a good blend of both...So its as natural as it gets when the mind is without fear and the head is held high, just to quote Gurudev Rabindranath !!! just for gags :-))

Spring has arrived

The new regimen after marriage is still taking a while to get normalized. This has led to procrastination of several tasks, very alike blogging regularly. I just decided that before people think I am out of this world, I need to send in a heart-beat message. Also its important to train oneself to cling on to good habits, which take a while to develop and be ingrained in the mind, but just require a few loose threads to be snapped off easily !
Days and nights are more eventful than they used to be say about a couple of months back. Well, classically speaking a couple of months more than a couple of months, since I was already in the transition phase from single->committed->engaged, until the ultimate wedlock happened. But coming back to the point, the monotony that had set in got broken and was replaced by a more welcome set of changes.
Joining office after that marriage vacation hiatus hasn't been that simple, since getting into the groove sounds simpler in theory than in practice. The pace of things has suddenly picked up for me, after the new work assignment, and being a feature owner gives the feeling of having to shoulder a lot of responsibilities. Also, you become the cynosure of public attention and have to learn to take the credit as well as the blame...
There have been a lot of personal chores to attend too as well, and they are keeping me and my mobile busy for quite some time...This weekend we will be traveling close to my erstwhile native place and meet up with Vaidehi's old granny, and I hope the blessings of the left and right trunk-sided Lord Ganesha will prove to be a double beatitude for us...Spring has arrived, and I can smell the freshness that is floating around in the ambient air like a lilting melody !!

The dawn of 2007

2007 has dawned and the first month has slipped past pretty quick., well almost. The month will always remain special to me as the one in which I got married, besides it has the dubious distinction of being the month of my birthday; winters in India are excellent and that's because the weather is just perfect for that travel recipe. Me and Vaidehi did travel to Udaipur and were truely mesmerized by the lake city, resplendent with its gardens and palaces surrounding the beautiful expanses of pristine water bodies. It gives the city a nice bohemian look, and gives the impression of a European setting.

Mt. Abu also turned out to be an excellent getaway, and not many people go there for the post-marriage trip, is what someone quoted. But within a span of 2 days, I met two people saying they went to the same place when it was their moment of pleasure and joy !!

Vaidehi flew her maiden flight and me my maiden one in the new year...Looking back the whole ceremony and trip sound like a nice dream which came and passed by smoothly. There are moments when I think if this has really transpired or whether it is just a figment of my imagination. Our family watched the marriage CD and it seemed like a fairy tale to us; but it was thoroughly enjoying to relive those moments again and again. I guess, there will be many more iterations over the same before they r back in the wraps, waiting to be watched again....

The pace of life is picking up again, especially this week since I joined office. There are some tasks that I need to gather momentum on, plus some personal priorities to factor in...Abhijit flies out this weekend and I hope i get to see him much sooner than the chasm of 18 months like this time...

Guten abends..

Mixed feelings

The day began on a moderately hectic note and after attending to my household chores I was off to office. The mind was without fear, and head was held high, and this remains my state at the end of the day, although the magnitude of the fear and the high headed-ness dropped by a minuscle through the happenings of the day...
My wud-be gave splendid piece of news thru the middle of the day and her promotion was catalyst enough to make me feel a few notches higher. Now I realize additional advantages of getting married, where the joy of sharing happiness mutually is so wonderful a sentiment...
The evening turns out to be a sudden date to quickly celebrate the success ! I discovered this new thing about coincidences and wish making when you utter the same word simultaneously with someone, so we decided to give it a shot and hope for the best outcome to give us company in the near future...
This last week has been a true connoisseur's treat, and I have already tasted a wide variety of delicacies, with many mouth watering sweet-meats. On multiple occasions, our kind hosts actually guessed what was on my mind and I got to savor those food items to my heart's content.
A good message came in last week by telephone, and I only hope it translates into something fruitful, so that I can bring fruition to my plans..Abhijit's homecoming has been such a wonderful experience and suddenly the home is buzzing with activity. It almost sounds like our lives had gone to a frozen state, lacking the energy and enthusiasm, and spring has returned with blossoms of those fragrant flowers and we r up and running again as we were about 18 months ago. I also got to relive those moments of him troubling me again, which were conspicuous by their absence, and I had to make solitude my dear friend !!!
I sent in quite a few marriage invitations this week and looks like the fag end is approaching, although a tad far...I pray to God that things work out smoothly and any worrisome factors are ironed out before the D-day. Looking forward to a big vacation from next week onwards, probably been a long time, maybe after my Engineering exam breaks. I wish my blog readers a Happy new year in advance, since I'm not sure I'll be signing in soon before 2007 dawns..Happy holidays folks..

Blogging, which was an obssession at one point in time, has now suffered a setback. Today its just when i ran out of options to do that I decided to login and pen a few words here. The office was jampacked with action last week, which never seems to run out of steam, as there is lot of ammunition which is added to keep the flame alive ! My principle of detachment helps me cope up with these daily bouts of anxiety, as I stay aloof looking for the bigger principle in life. This Saturday me and family drove to Khalapur off the Pune-Mumbai Expressway for this 'Kelvan' which becomes a treat if you will, in the pre-nuptial, post-bethrothment era of mankind. Panchpakwan or the five delicacies were the speciality of the house and it was refreshing to be in a village, abundant with rain, and some glorious gift of flora and fauna. It is at these junctures that I inadvertently put on the thinking hat and ponder over our purpose in life. Is it just to lead an action packed life, full of work, TV and other material comforts or is it to discover your true self? Happiness is truly a state of mind, as it cannot be multiplied by the sodium vapour lamps that add color and illuminate the dark city streets, but are not incandescent enough to uplift the human spirit !!!
At times, ridiculous though it may sound, I experience in myself, a miniature Buddha, who felt compassionate towards his fellow beings and reached enlightenment in due pursuit of a solution for the same. I really empathize with the sorrow around and feel I need the power to transform lives to make this world a much better place, devoid of the vicious elements and even the natural phenomenon of life and death. Of course, this thought is too far fetched, since it amounts to transgressing the boundaries of my mortal existence and attempting to barge into the domain of the One God, who very well knows how things should be...
Getting rid of the cricket mania has done me a lot of good and every sorry performance by our team does not penetrate into my system any longer. In fact, I wish people got more wiser and did not look upon victories in a game of cricket to serve as a feel-good factor; the media gets fresh meat on their kabab stick with every dismal loss and tabloids are currently too busy tracking how the heart beat between Ash and the Jr B is getting faster and passionate.
Music is a true refresher as was proven Saturday nite, when I caught up Gazals by the maestro Jagjit Singh on my local cable channel. Felt like it was a true moment of bliss, and was one of those rare moments, when you feel life should just come to a standstill ...

The ball gets rolling..

This is a phase in life where things seem to be moving rather than gathering moss. The last month has not changed life dramatically, but clearly brings along that lilting melody of the hummingbird, which seems to have come back after a rather long migration and hibernation..
Life is set for a change when one gets married, and i can sense that from the fact that i am set to lose my bachelorhood, albeit willingly. The self will be lost and a couple will replace it unknowingly and from what it seems so far, happily. The Atlantic sea of turmoil on this front has turned pacific, and suddenly it sounds like a mission accomplished. A couple of nerve wrecking feelings have also made a stopover at times, but I have managed to quash them under the blanket of optimism. There have been quite a few first things over the past fortnight and while it sounded so intriguing and exhilirating at that time, my objectivity has returned back only to make me feel as normal as the winters which have just started casting their spell over the city of Pune.
The days are getting smaller but my sleep is burgeoning beyond the normal, and for the past few days, I seem to wake up amidst the chirping of birds, but the inertia to get moving takes it toll and forces me to turn back by a right angle into a comfortable prostrate position.
The Champions' Trophy came and went like an unwanted guest and no wonder the enthusiasm was at its nadir. I must have barely watched a total of 15-20 minutes of the entire tournament and did not regret that one bit. What made news was the final, and no, it wasn't the lop-sided match, but the post-match presentation which was such a newsmaker. I must say the Aussies did it in perfect style, very akin to their blood, and the roots of their ignoble origin surface at times like this, causing embarrasment to the folks around. Made me ashamed to Australian cricket of which I have been an avid fan since the Summer of 1999 when India toured there after 8 long years.

Goan Rhapsody

Its been more than a week since the culmination of our Goan Rhapsody, but time has been flying at lightening speed and lots of eventful things around caused me to return to blog-board at an interval greater than the usual.
This trip was special to me in multiple ways; right from the inception of the idea to the planning and successful execution of plans. Our team has been so much used to be shown carrots which never really flourish, and trinkets that can charm babies but not bombastic software engineers, that we tend to look at every object with a jaundiced eye. So it was no surprise that when the news of this trip was split to us, the initial reaction was that of complete disbelief with that distinct element of sattire ! Even a couple of weeks later, when the dates came really close, dark clouds loomed large over us when the impending release was as if stuck up in a bubble gum, unwilling to make the egress. Expectation is the root cause of misery felt really apt, since our blase reaction ensured that news of possibly not going to Goa failed to dampen our spirits...
Sometimes Lady Luck also decides that enough mockery has happened and hence, the lucky BE team actually got the green signal to make gala plans for Goa. A string of unpleasant events in the course of that month, which came to visit me like ghosts of the past almost made me jump off the bandwagon as a silent mark of protest to the ensuing happenings, but ultimately good sense prevailed and all of us were on for the jaunt!!!
Then the angel or the good guy in me stepped up to the challenge and decided to enjoy this to the fullest; that's how I landed in the .org domain and was soon looking at travel arrangements and catering related activities. This was also veiled by my hidden agenda to network more with people and increase the feel-good factor within myself.
When the Goan Rhapsody day arrived, we were in high spirits and set off vy Goa Express towards Madgao. A couple of hours of train delays only confirmed the reliable and predictable nature of the Indian Railways. Rains seemed to be playing spoilsport on Friday morning and looked like we were in for a lot of indoor activites, courtesy the rain gods, but the Sun came shining down upon the ocean waters the moment we stepped into Gomantak territory and this was enough to cheer us up.
The Radisson White sands resort was exquisite and classy in its design and service. The room was pretty cosy and had great interiors, befitting any 5-star hotel. The next 3 days we gorged upon the choicest of desserts, fruit, bread and Indian delicacies during every meal..Non veggies savoured upon sea foods and Goan fish curry. What stood out during the visit was the team spirit which was rejuvenated or rather created for the first time since a long time...
The length and breadth of activities we did there were really stupendous. Just to name a few, got a taste of steam bath and a jacuzzi followed by a nice head ache :-) . Beach volleyball turned out to be the ultimate charmer, in addition to water polo interspersed with some mocktails and pints of beer for few of us.
Kojagiri night celebration on the beach was a truly romantic setting, though I lacked the ammo (read wife/gf) to fully exploit the situation. The campfire experience which never really caugght fire still remains etched in my memory.. Our cultural nite was another highlight of this Rhapsody.
As if this was not enough, we did manage to snuggle in a few more activities like the bowling alley, air hockey and dancing on the discotheque to the tunes of Indi pop and Samba.. Some nice firang dancers were icing on the cake and were really soothing to our sleepy eyes.. And then the great fun we had in Charan's room was remarkable to say the least...
Did have a lot of fun on the trip and made quite a lot of friends and acquaintances as well. Was indeed a Rhapsody !!!!!!!!!

Lage raho Akshay...

Watched LRMunnabhai last weekend, and needless to say it has thoroughly impressed me. Was truly refreshing to watch a pure breed film replete with entertainment and those subtle social messages which will strengthen our Indian fabric !
While non-violence and non-conventional techniques of achieving success have been on my experiment list for quite some time, Gandhigiri has re-consolidated my faith in such philosophies. I think the Lage Raho part of the film title is so apt, and again makes us persevere without feeling exhausted..
My X-factor seems have to have gathered some momentum, and I couldn't be wrong if my friends shower that dose of occasional praise upon me and my personality. Feels good. Also my sixth sense is working a bit or seems to have got the catalyst to pick those ambient signals, which usually just turn into entropy for want of transistors tuned to the right frequency.
Fancy and exotic dreams are also the flavour of this season,and while some of them make logical sense, while others just seem to reflect the ebb and tide of my oceanic waters !! Some of them are feel good and help cheering my spirits, giving me a high feeling without using any spirits :-)
Have a lot of things lined up thru the next week, including a TechSupport session, some Windows Networking readup and then co-ordinating the logisitics of our Goa trip..Keeping me busy and improving my 'networking', after all that has been one of my preset goals. As if the One is saying, don't worry 'Lage raho Akshay' !!!!

Mexican wave

I have conjured up this prose-like poetry to break the monotony which i think has set into my blogs....

The year came like a messenger of growth and excitement,
Gay were my spirits and i was lilting like a butterfly !
This Indian spring would usher in that flavor of merriment(I thought),
Would I pair up with melodies of that childhood lullaby ?
Enjoying every success at work; my mind, body and soul
Felt elated at times with occassional tinges of ego massaging
Then it was almost half-time, but there wasn't any goal
Emotions were running high, but my luck was just relaxing !!
Then came the fresh showers of monsoon, soaking all my emotions
But life had by then become hanging stalactites and stalagmites
Painful swords of Damascus filled my heart with divine devotions,
The hermit crab in me was day dreaming and flying kites ........
Neither a bed of roses nor strewn with the choicest of thorns
My reflections upon life and beyond have exalted my mortal existence
Would I really be exaggerating by saying I was just reborn ?
The market bulls are roaring, but this Tauran(bull) is lacking that ambience
Fall in the West and Autumn in the East is round the corner
My negative beta helps me rise against the massive oceanic tides ..
The final quarter will boost my reputation & replenish my armor
Truimph will be mine with 'name' and 'fame' in my stride !!!!!!!!!

Wishful thinking

Day dreaming has become a habit of sorts for me these days. Many a times, the flurry of thoughts is so rapid that my mind travels like blitzkrieg , making it difficult to apply the brakes. I have to consciously steer my mind towards more worldly things, much against the wishes of the 'mann' !
This effect is more pronounced on weekends when the idle mind is a devil's workshop, and ironical though it may sound, I look forward more to week days when work and even office worries serve as a pleasant retreat compared to the volcano that fails to cool off ...As if to compensate for the paucity of US travel and roller-coaster rides in those theme parks, this wishful thinking has all the elements like fear, suspense, thrill, ecstacy etc and that element of surprise too.

A lazy Thursday afternoon

Its a Thursday afternoon and laziness has gripped me tightly. Planning to make a pre-mature exit from office today and dash off home, core working hours are over anyways and I am all set to enjoy a long weekend by taking Friday off...Planning to make a nice jaunt to Kolhapur this Sunday, and I hope that rains will not play spoilsport in this scheme of things. Its been a little over a year since we went there and the urge grew stronger after a couple of dreams I had last month envisioning the Goddess Shakti herself. As if to say, my son, do not worry, your mundane worries will be solved if you come to me.
Peace and a beatific state of mind have made longer stop-owers in my body and soul since the last few weeks; while I have traditionally had the pleasure of being stoic to circumstances, my 'sthitapradnya bhav' and cherubic demeanor have been supplemented by doses of spiritual reading. I was a bit surprised myself, when I heard people say some 'nice' things about me and experienced that I could relate better to nature and its tiny creatures. And all this transformation happening in a fortnight was truely unbelievable.
I was lucky to have the benediction of reading the English xlation of the Guru Charitra and my faith in the Lord has multiplied several times, as an outcome..
The weekend is not all fun, as it may sound though; there is a pile of exam papers waiting to be evaluated and it feels good, although scary at times, that I contribute to the future of the student populace and future software engineers. And then the holy scriptures and their teaching remind me that its not me who governs this, but the Supreme lord who uses me as a tool to get things done..
Did quite a bit of interviewing since last week and things are getting more fluent with time.It also has additional advantages of brushing up technical skills which tend to rust over a period of time like any good tool..
I decided to try my own miniature fear factor by donating blood. I wanted to get rid of the fear psychosis associated with injuries and blood in general and so I decided to overcome it by being in the midst of things. Was trying to use a thorn to draw a thorn :-) . I did go ahead with the blood donation, but the vasovagal shock which is the natural companion of the activity did make a short visit.I went blank for a couple of seconds and thankfully I was prostrate and this was followed by a streak of sweat, enough to stir a mild anxiety amongst the personnel there, but a couple of cans of mango juice and I was pretty normal then.
My blood group is O+ve but my attitude is B+ve. ;-)

This blog compiled @home

It is always essential to be occupied with some or the other activity. I don’t know that this is the best start to my blog, but today the domain, terrain and environment are all different and this causes me to try harder than usual. [To demystify this puzzle, I am blogging from home for a change and not the usual seat in my office cubicle]. The stream of thoughts is not as streamlined as usual but who cares..:-) .

The end of a release is strange in many ways. While I am happy that the job is done, there is a twilight zone in which ambivalent feelings tend to soak my soul. More important than anything else, it creates a sudden void in the daily bug bashing routine and it takes a while to steer the ship in a different direction.

One good thing during this gestation period is to concentrate on those P3 goals which are otherwise, nothing but ornamental in nature to the goal-setting exercise done every year or six months. I am trying to be a bit more organized and have set a few professional and personal milestones to help utilize time better.

This fortnight, I did manage to put my culinary skills to test on more than a couple of occasions and without letting my alter-ego getting a massage, it is worthwhile to admit that I have passed the exam with flying colors. I have seen that I tend to enjoy this activity and that makes the process enjoyable and has the additional advantage of satiating my palate, ensuring that gastric juices have some good company of mirch-masala. Chapattis are the next on my agenda and that will make me feel a mini Sanjeev Kapoor, I guess.

Today I was amused to ready that our solar system has lost Pluto to dwarf hood reducing the magical number 9 to 8.It is apt though, that in numerological terms, this should happen in the year 2006, which adds up to 8. Though any kind of reductions are welcome to the ever dwindling memory of mankind; generation Y or maybe Z will have one free cell in their grey matter. I was a bit skeptical when earlier in the month, they planned to augment the count from 9 --> 12 and I must say that good sense has finally prevailed.

I am planning to step up the gas on a different plane and see the results for myself. That requires a lot of courage and grit, though the resolve is much stronger in my heart. More on that as things fructify and the Harry Potter in me shapes up lumps of clay into a nice pot. I wish my pot becomes a pot pourri of good luck and has my coveted flower smiling happily in it. Touch-wood !!