Electric!

I am on a major high since yesterday evening. No that I have downed anything ... its because of my new guitar. Before I say anything else, here it is ...


It is a Samick AV3 Greg Bennett Avion, almost perfectly mirrors the Gibson Les Paul in specifications, dimensions, weight and most importantly the playing feel and sound. It overshot my planned budget a bit, but things like these are for life. The better the guitar quality, the richer the sound, softer the play and you can really get into your groove very easily. Now finally I can attempt playing all the stuff I really like \m/

A I was always planning to buy one, it was more of planning only. Having finally bought it, it feels good. The interesting thing is, I was initially thinking of buying it last weekend, but its been raining cats-n-dogs-n-monkeys-n-elephants-n-any-animal-you-like in Bangalore for the past 2 weeks and rain marred last weekends plans. I was kinda skeptical even yesterday, especially since it was pouring at 4:30pm and I was supposed to head out at 5:00pm. Call in divine intervention, or anything else, at a few minutes past 5 it stopped raining altogether. It didn't pour for the entire time that we were at the shop checking out various guitars, or when Kapil and me headed out on his bike searching for an ATM and finally going round the same block in Koramangala twice before finding the exact road back to the shop. When me, Kapil and Ritesh finally got outta there and headed to a restaurant to eat, it started raining soon after. But, and am not kidding, it stopped again when we finished dinner and I reached back home in a rick with my guitar and amp, fully dry!

Thanks Ritesh and Kapil for helping (and convincing :P) me to buy this one. You guys have some seriously packed schedules, I know.

Stairway to Heaven and Highway to Hell, here I come!

One of those days

Ever felt too bored, like on a sleepless summer night?
Can't think clear, just don't feel right?
The hands of the clock have caught your gaze?
This, today, is like one of those days...

You're sitting idle, but you got a lot to do
but you're fed up of the work, and work hates you too?
Your coffee's gone cold, it was the tenth? anyways,
This, today, is like one of those days...

Its time for lunch, but even eating's a pain
Is that rice or some uncooked grain?
for company all you have is the spoon on your tray
This, today, is like one of those days...

There's still a lot to do, and not much time!
But who gives a damn when you're losing your mind?
Every hour now feels like a hundred Mondays
This, today, is like one of those days...

Now you start to talk! But only let out a sigh
Every other sound is like the buzzing of a fly
your sanity and you have just parted ways...
This, today, is like one of those days...

Bengaluru Diaries ... the routine

(This blog article is from a set of mails that I sent to my gang. This is the fifth and final of the post dated 29 Aug '08. Henceforth will be blogging directly)

A very good afternoon to you all!

My apologies, first, for the long absence. I can only say that I had nothing to write for a long time, which might be hypocrisy, since I had nothing to write even in the earlier few mails :)

Anyways, all said and done, tis good to be back!

I despise routines. Fair to say, I hate them. I feel like a friggin' program code! Get up at a fixed time, get ready in a fixed time, catch the bus, arrive in office (owing to extremely good Bangalore roads, this is not fixed), lunch at blah hours, leave before the bus leaves at the due time ... AAAAAH! It is not so much what I do, but the 'when' part is making me annoyed. It's just no fun!

The bus! Yes that reminds me; 2 days ago, that would be this past Wednesday, I caught the 7:15pm bus to return home. Just 10 mins outta the office heavy rain set in. The rains, this season, in Bangalore are a bit like the lyrics from a Dire Straits song;

"it never rains around here, it just comes pouring down".

In fact this August has seen the highest recorded August rainfall for Bangalore. Back to the bus, well, I was in a window seat, in a half filled bus. So I stretched my legs sideways, let my head hang half outside the window (I even stuck my tongue out on one occassion, and the dogs are right!), plugged in my headphones and just laid-back! When the rain started, I had to close the window, which was fine. Late dusk, street lights and pouring rain make quite a sight! My head was stuck now on the window glass, when I noticed that my head was getting wet. Yes, there was a leak in the roof right above my head. Back to sitting position to avoid the shower. But that wasn't the end of it. Next thing, water started gushing in through the window's edges, soon the entire bus floor was in water. For someone on the road looking inside the bus it would've seemed an aquarium. I know, I know, if something has to get messy it will ... damn you Murphy! The only thing that is wrong or unfair is that Mr. Murphy was damn right! (Murphy's Law anyone?)

One of those things that I do during the long 'ride' to office and back, is to just sit back and watch; watch people in the bus, people on the streets and so on. It's a real time-killer on some-o-the-days! Its amazing what all happens around us. Some day this past week, I saw a lady driver, in a Qualis, take her hands off the wheel when she was joining the main road, and mutter a small prayer ... whew! Lady, I only hope no other driver saw you. It has its flipsides; one girl I was observing in the bus (no, I wasn't staring at her) happened to notice and gave me the ugliest frown I have ever seen. Now IBM is a big big place, with so many many employees, so what's the chance of me seeing this girl again? Turns out, its not that small a chance. I have unsuccessfully attempted to hide myself behind the bus seat on one occassion when she passed my row. What was I thinking? Big foot in the bus is just as bad as a crocodile in the bath tub ...

2 months have passed at IBM now. I finally have a permanent place to sit, my own desk, cupboard etc etc. The floor that I work on has recently been opened so there are not many people here, most sections on the floor are empty. On our floor there's a chair in a small empty corner near a window that looks out towards a small pond. I go and sit there sometimes. Its absolutely quiet there, no sound, the kind of silence that can be disturbing and soothing at the same time. I was there for about 10 mins today after lunch. Far out near the pond, I saw a group of workers, sitting in a circle having their lunch. I couldn't help but think about afternoon lunch-times in college. Those were the days! These days, I go for lunch with some guys on my team. It's not all that fun. Maybe I'll tell you guys about it soon :)

Hmmm ... the SMS salary update. This month's pay has just arrived. Back to reality. Another bug to trace ...

Bengaluru Diaries ... a day at a time

(This blog article is from a set of mails that I sent to my gang. This is the fourth of the post dated 1 Aug '08)

Picture this - its early in the morning, about 6:30 or 7:00 am. You are looking out into the morning sun as he too breaks his sleep, stretching out his rays one at a time. A light breeze has wrapped you within itself. You can hear the sweet gurgling sound of water in the stream. You feel calm. Composed. Still drowsy. The breeze gets stronger, you shiver a bit but its enjoyable, especially with the hot tea that you are sipping peacefully. Aah, the sweet melodies of the stream water ... the sweet smell of the wet earth! The breeze is getting stronger and stronger now. Maybe you need to brace yourself. What's this? The sound of the river has ... gone. Vanished! And what's that strange sound? Clang! Clang! What is happening? More sounds ... humans? Animals? There's that clanging again! And then suddenly, the sun goes out ...

Before you scratch your head, lets give you the real deal:
- It is 6:30 or 7:00 in the morning. The only reason you are up at such an hour is so that you can take a warm water bath before the power cut comes along, which can come at anytime "between 6:00 to 10:00am for public convenience"
- You are sipping a cup of tea. How peacefully you sip it depends on how well did you make it.
- You are standing in the balcony of your first floor apartment block which is so well packed on all sides by other buildings that it is always very calm.
- It is cold at such a time in the morning here in Bengaluru. So cold that the hair oil has become a hair gel. Light breeze my ass!
- Wet earth is the nice little muddy path in front of the building. Yes, muddy which is originally sandy. Then, with the extremely large amounts of washing water thrown out by ladies in the nearby places and overnight rainfall (sometimes) it becomes ... muddy.
- There is a drainage pipe that runs on the side of your building it happens to pass along side the balcony. So anytime, anyone in the entire building flushes his *cough* toilet *cough* you can hear the sweet sound of the water gurgling ...
- There are a lot of bhajiwallas that brave the muddy streets everyday morning. Animals? Read as 'dogs'
- Someone in the nearby vicinity performs puja in the morning. During the same he bangs plates together. Yes, he takes two steel plates and bangs them together ... repeatedly!
- Finally our rising sun. It is the toilet light of the first floor apartment across the wet earth path. No wonder the sun goes out many times in the morning ... ;)

A day at a time. A single day at a time. And every day begins like ... this ... :)

This past Sunday I was up pretty early. Nothing else to do (bleh!) I figured lemme play me guitar for a while. Upon hearing the amazing sounds of my six stringed beauty I was joined by Nosey Kid Junior (the Nosey Kid's little sister) who walked up to me straight and yelled, "I play the keyboard!". Great! Why don't we start a band! No problem with songs; your bro asks enough strange questions, we can make those into lyrics. "My brother wants to learn the guitar too. He is learning it in our school music class. I study in blah blah school ... " If he bro learns the guitar he will become the lead guitarist and the lead singer in the band. Nooooo! Where will I go then? Woe is me! Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!

;-)

She even took time to harass my guitar by showing me what the instructor teaches them and how he teaches all what he does. If I ever meet the guy I'll do a sashtang namaskaar to him; I have never known a harsher, louder and unclearer way to play. Maybe someday, sooner or later, I could show you guys the stuff that the teacher supposedly teaches them. Then as swiftly as she had come she left. "Mummy bula rahi hain" Either I am deaf or there was some telepathy involved. Not that I was complaining ... she left ... peace.

By the way, Nosey Kid Senior still lands up once a week, sometimes twice, for either his uniform's tie or shoe laces ...

I watched Batman The Dark Knight this past Sunday afternoon. It is according to me the perfect movie! Heath Ledger's Joker is the best villian ever! I might even watch it a second time and am sure as hell buying the DVD.

Few days back, I picked up a book titled Shantaram, by G. D. Roberts. You know what, maybe I finally found a kind of book that I really really wanted to read. Highly recommended. The perfect blend of philosophy and biography. Tis brilliant!

I'll be back with some great quotations from the book soon ... till then adios amigos!

- Big Foot in Bengaluru

Bengaluru Diaries ... another week is over?

(This blog article is from a set of mails that I sent to my gang. This is the third of the post dated 25 July '08)

Tis a friday, the most loved day for any working person, except of course if the person is Nikhil Shah whose weekend keeps revolving all around the week :-) Not to sound like a complaint, but the week got over in a jiffy! I remember coming in, all sleepy, on Monday and now I am sitting and typing this stuff and it is a Friday.

Well! So this past week was great for two reasons. First being the fridge (ta daaa!!), second being the washing machine (tan ta daaaa!!!). We have a very simple understanding as far as buying appliances in concerned; one person alone buys it, so that if or when the person has to leave he can do whatever he pleases with it - take it, sell it, donate it ;) etc. I bought the fridge, somebody else bought the washing machine, a third person is gonna buy a TV someday.

I can't remember being happier in recent times than I was when I used the new washing machine for the first time couple days ago. Lets put it this way:
Washing a bedsheet - 20 mins
Washing 2 jeans - 45 mins
Washing 5 shirts - 1 hour
Watching the washing machine do all this for you while you sip tea - timeless!

I would like to introduce another character in this series. It is the society watchman. I don't know if I mentioned this in the last mail, but when this dude saw me going back with a new gas stove he very cleverly and dutifully canvassed for some cook that he knows, about how that cook will come in and cook every evening so that I won't have to go out to eat. "Chabi de do shaabjee, uu khaana pakane wali aayegi to main usse khaana bana lega na! Aap ko roz roz bahaar khaane se accha hain ghar baithkar khao aaraam se!" The reason I have not hired a cook yet is because the asked price seems a bit funny. Anyways, one of these days, when he was talking to his cronies, I asked him if there is some person who delivers tiffins at home daily. It was like hearing a recorded tape. "Cook le lo na shabjee! Chabi de do shaabjee, uu khaana pakane wali aayegi to main usse khaana bana lega na! Aap ko roz roz bahaar khaane se accha hain ghar baithkar khao aaraam se!" At some point one of his cronies spoke up, saying that there is some tiffin delivery guy in the area ... and ... that's it! What followed was a conversation between watchman and cronie in chaste nepali (or so I am assuming) and then Mr. watchman turned and said, "cook le lo shabjee!" There is just no reasoning with him! The best part is, I caught hold of the other guy a day back or so and asked him about the supposed tiffin delivery, but by this point he had conveniently developed amnesia ... sheesh! Mr. watchman is a strange chap; he sent back a courier guy some days back who was carrying a courier for one of my flatmates. The reason we came to know later, is since he didn't know all of our names so he couldn't be sure if the name on the courier was of someone who stays in the flat. Yes, I am wondering the same thing that you are - why did he not just come to the house and ask?

I guess common sense is not that common after all ...

And now for the workplace! When I come to my workplace in the morning, the first thing I have to do is find a place to sit. Yeah, there is no space left on my floor; they are gonna shift this new team to another building, what with another 14 people joining in a month that has to be done soon. "You can take whichever free desk you find" or so my manager told me on the very first day, and two days later I happened to sit on another manager's chair. The good thing is everyone's quite cool here ... he just took his lan-cord and left. Of course when I came to know from one of my seniors, what a brave deed I have done, I didn't really pat myself on the back. I have since then mentally marked out that cubicle and the space around it as 'off limits'.

Well, that's about it for now ... next week I'll introduce you to some characters from the workplace. Till then, adios! Have a great weekend (you too Shah) and take care.

- Big Foot in Bengaluru

PS: My weekends are not all that interesting especially since I don't have internet at home yet, and Sundays come with a 9 hour long power-cut, from 8am to 5pm.

PS2: I somehow managed to sneak out early yesterday with a hope of getting tickets for Batman, but all 5 shows at 10:00pm were sold out since afternoon ... guess I'll hafta try this weekend again ... watched Hancock instead ...

Bengaluru Diaries ... the new stove!

(This blog article is from a set of mails that I sent to my gang. This is the second of the post dated 18 July '08)

Good Morning to you, or afternoon or evening or night ... depending on when you read this and what's your (dis)orientation. This is Chapter 2 of Bengaluru Diaries. (I kinda like the name!)

Since I wrote the earlier mail, I have been able to settle down better at the new place; it is still new, I have been here only close to 3 weeks. In that time, the nosy noisy kids next door have had a few more questions, I have formally been awarded my MTech degree, and the event of the week has been the arrival of the gas stove!

Ok, so this past weekend was the eighth convocation ceremony of IIIT-B. For organization purposes a convocation mock/rehearsal is held a day before the actual ceremony. It is something that is done every year. For starters, anyone who wants to attend the convocation has to attend the rehearsal also. Only those who attend the rehearsal are awarded degrees on stage while others have to collect them later in the office. There are some other logistical reasons also which are too boring to list here. The important thing is, I am legally now an MTech graduate. Yippee!

When I got my mattress (read the introduction on Bengaluru Diaries for more on that issue) I thought to myself, "That's it! What else do I need?" I couldn't have been more wrong. Almost everyday I realize that something is needed and that I have to go and get it. One of the earliest such realizations was concerning a soap for washing dishes. Yeah! Fruits, snacks, smelly plates, stinking kitchen --- you can do the math there. So I ended up at a general store and told the shopkeeper to give me a washing soap. He dutifully handed me a Cinthol bar. So I told him I need a utensils washing soap, or the way I said it, in hindi - 'bartan ghisne ka sabun'. Somewhere between the parallels of my hindi and his kannada, this caused some severe disturbance which prompted him to make a long face, the kind which is usually seen at condolence meetings. Please note that at this point, I wasn't able to recollect names of any washing soap brands. So what I did do was, a small enactment of how we wash dishes; I enacted how a plate is washed, he handed me a harpic toilet cleaner. I enacted how a spoon is washed, upon which the lady standing next to me in the store gave me a very stern look, while the shopkeeper managed a muffled laugh ( ... try enacting how you'll wash a spoon, and you'll get the point). Somehow, the other guy in the shop caught hold of the words 'spoon', 'plate' and to my relief he finally handed me a bar of VIM soap. The upside of the episode, embarassing ore otherwise, was that I ended up with all kinds of washing soaps which were all required. This past Monday was a team outing, my first since joining IBM, and as my seniors said it, "saal mein ek hi hota hain". It was at a resort called 'Olde Bangalore' which is on the way to the new airport. Food, games, drinks, swimming pools and all that stuff. I got hold of a new limerick thanks to the guy conducting the games, check it out: "plain bun, plum bun, bun without plum". Now say it fast and repeatedly. Anyways, tuesday was a very interesting day in office. Many didn't turn up; some who did were disoriented, thanks to the alcohol on the previous day. I actually saw a guy in the pantry pouring a cup of coffee and throwing it away before drinking it.

Now for the event of the week: the arrival of the gas stove! I scoured the market near my place yesterday after getting back from work. After a lotta walking back and forth on the same street, which even caused a fruit-seller to ask me if I was lost, I finally found a place which sold this thing, and I bought it! Thanks to it I made f tea in the morning for myself, and occasionally will now cook eggs or maggi. One of my roommates is very eager to display his Idli cooking skills ... I guess that will be another chapter in the series :)

Work is slowly building up. So far so good.

Till next time, adios amigos!

Take care.

- Big Foot in Bengaluru

PS: The kid next door asked me to put laces in his shoes yesterday and questioned me about why I haven't met anyone else in the building so far ...

Lost in Bengaluru

(This blog article is from a set of mails that I sent to my gang. This is the first of the post dated 7 July '08)

Updates from Bengaluru. I have shifted and begun settling at my new place. Its located at a place called Airport Road in Bangu, very close to the erstwhile Bangalore Airport. The Airport shifted last month, but the place is still called Airport Road, of course. Although bus conductors and rickhshaw wallahs dutifully ask you if you want to go to the 'old' airport road or the new airport road, even though the new airport's road is not called airport road ... that is quite a tongue twister ...

My place is a 2BHK apartment, am sharing it with three others, so 2 of us share each room (kitchen and hall is common of course). Its a bit off the main road, so that cuts down the vehicular noise. Three noisy nosy kids stay in the neighbouring flat. The eldest of them keeps asking questions like "where is your office?", "where do you eat?", "do you cook at home?", "why isn't there any furniture in your house?" and so on. The place is sandwiched between 2 other buildings so there is not much of a view through any window :P ...

The first few days were a real pain. I was living out of a suitcase, for lack of a cupboard. Plus, there was no mattress to sleep on, so had to do with a makeshift arrangement of a blanket and a bedsheet piled on the other ... thankfully got a fat kurl-on like thing two days back so now can sleep well. The place gets quite cold at night ... I could hardly sleep the night before I joined, not because of any 'joining-jitters' but due to the cold floor and a bad mattress. Anyways, I got myself a cupboard on saturday so things are bit better now.

My work place is quite far from home (for lack of another word ... home is and always will be Mumbai). It takes about an hour to travel in regular traffic and no upper limit on time if it is bad rush which is common in Bangalore. Bangaloreans have no driving sense really, plus the traffic is mismanaged. I got a company bus pass on thursday which means I don't need to struggle in public buses but the time is still a problem. I leave at around 8:20am and am back at around 8:20 or so in the evenings.

Have some more things lined up this weekend ... have to figure out some stable arrangement for dinner, lunch happens in company itself but there is no good place to have dinner daily; and am fed up of rice-plates ... seriously. Am thinking of getting some sort of stove - electric, gas - so that I can atleast make tea, coffee, maggi (a single guy's best friend) when needed. Other things lined up are washing machine, fridge, TV ... sheesh, I can't tell you how much I miss my mom ;)

I might be taking a corporate Airtel card soon. A reason for that is, there is no hutch network almost anywhere in the office. Due to some weird stroke of luck, there is not much of a hutch network even at the place I stay. I sometimes have to go to the ground floor to make calls :D. If any of you manage to get through to my number when I am in the house then it'll be purely a luck thing :P

I have no internet connection at home yet, will take maybe another week to get that ... till then won't be online apart from office timings.

- big foot in Bengaluru