Making a Comeback

This is definitely not the Sourav Ganguly types...Yes, I want to make a comeback to blogger. But not sure how regular I can be be (and also the quality of the stuff that I put on here).

The last year or so has been a very interesting challenge for me. And I can say that I was neither successful nor a failure. My move to Chennai was a big change in lifestyle. Living, food, the language , the weather, meeting people....every aspect of life was a Paradigm shift. (Maybe we can discount the food part cause I'm comfortable with all kindsa food). It was an experience which will be difficult to forget. It was a challenge for me right from the word go...firstly, finding a place to live. It is very difficult for a Bachelor to convince people to let out their houses in Chennai. Folks there are absolutely adamant with letting out houses only to 'Families', 'Vegetarians'...(Hope you get the picture!). And the fact that I knew absolutely no one there didn't help. I spent the better part of the year living with my cousin's roommate after which I finally found a place for myself...(unfortunately by the time I had settled down there, I made the decision to move out :)

However, I should admit that having my cousin there initially helped me a lot. I was introduced to quite a few of his friends and my limited social life in chennai eventually revolved around these few wonderful folks....Weekend lunches at their place, attending Weddings ( two of them tied the knot) etc. Although Chennai is an awesome city with numerous entertainment options, my activities over the year were restricted to watching movies at Satyam (an awesome Old time multiplex), at the beach on a few occassions, a couple of visits to nearby Pondicherry ( on the magnificient East Coast Road) and in-between weekend trips to Bangalore. Besides these occassions, I was bitten by the 'No-Social-Life' Syndrome. (Yes kinda hard to digest).

Well...I guess i can't narrate a year's worth in a single post; but I guess I did just OK. Which is not good cause when you don't really enjoy living in a city, then everyday becomes a compromise. And that's why, I jumped at the first opportunity I got to move to Pune.

Yes...that's where I am now..In the 'Oxford of the East', the 'Punya Nagari'. Although I had to quit a great job, I fell more at home now. And I don't know why! Is it because I'm closer to Mumbai? Is it the food, the weather, the language, the people?...I just don't know. That's how some things are; you just can't explain them.

And I'm hoping that things get better.
More on Pune soon..

Au Revoir Bangalore!

Boy! It's been over six months since I posted anything. Kinda had lost the will to write anything...it was like I had lots to say but somehow never found that Push. So I guess it had to be something real special/important to pull me out of this hibernation.

Yeah...My project in Bangalore has ended...I'm back in Mumbai...not for long though...cause I'm moving to Chennai :(

I remember approximately a year ago when I had similar thoughts of moving out of Mumbai...my first stint ever outside the city! I had endless thoughts about finding accomodation, setting up the other Infrastructure, working with new people, finding new friends etc etc. In the end, everything worked out so fine that I was really sad when I said Goodbye to Bangalore and all the Wonderful People there last weekend.

Will definitely miss all you guys back there.
Right now though, It's time to soak in some Mumbai. Hopefully I'll be more regular with my posts.

Bachelorpad Paraphernalia!

Books, CDs, Glasses!, a SPICE prepaid pack with Priyanka chopra on the cover..and other useless stuff!

Fun through forwards!

Recently, I've received quite a few E-mail forwards from people I know, where there's been some 'Software Engineer Bashing'. Most of them have been projecting Software Engineers as Big Losers who live away from Home, Miss their friends, hate their job, Speak a lot of jargon etc etc (I'm sure you got the point).
Now, Since I'm neither a S/W Engineer nor did I ever Aspire to be one, Lemme share this Fwd.
It's Apparently the Profile of some S/W guy posted on Orkut (It's an Online community thing). Read on!
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About me: I think I am changing the world, but I am not. I think I am contributing to the Indian economy, but I guess I am not. I think I love my work, but I do not. I think I hate all people who made me earn my engineering degree, and I do. I think I am living, but and most importantly, I am LOOKING for someone!! Ok...I won't be funny anymore. I am a cool guy with a zeal to enjoy life (If you know me--> "Just stop laughing!!")

Relationship status: what?
Birthday: The day my PL is about to fire me
Age: 10111
Here for: web browsing in company hours
Ethnicity: Programmer
Languages I speak: Java, C/C++, 010101110101
Religion: I get holidays on all religious festivals, so I love all religions.
Political view: the guy sitting beside me is a pig!!
Humor: weekly
Fashion: Ask my company HR. Btw, I like jeans, t-shirt and a cross-bag.
Smoking: The second greatest pleasure on the earth
Drinking: The first is this.
Living: Cummon, this is a stupid one. How can this be asked to a software engineer? Believe me, I am living!!
Hometown: My company (Oh God! Please bring my appraiser to this page)
Webpage: http://naukri.com, http://jobsahead.com
Passions: searching for the cheapest pub around, cursing my company, looking for another company, remembering my good old college days, worrying about my future
Sports: quake, CS (Counter Strike), computer chess
Activities: Are you crazy?
Books: "How to lose weight in 20 days?", "How to live a happy life?", "101 ways to attract a girl", "Java Unleashed", "C++ at your footsteps", Others censored
Music: Metallica, Pink Floyd, Nirvana, ACDC, and anything depressing
Tv shows: can't afford one
Cuisines: Bread Butter, Maggi, anything available within 200 metres of home
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Signboards.

That's The Signboard of TCS going up at the Bangalore office of the erstwhile Tata Infotech Ltd. So now I'm a TCSer and not a TILian :)

To the Moon and back!

Well..of course, i am equating my trip back home as a trip to the Moon. 9 days of Bliss they were! And now that I'm back in bangalore, I am badly missing the things back home..badly missing Mumbai for that matter!

This never happened to me when I originally moved here about 6 months ago. And I guess I'm being too dramatic about this! But it was really cool to get back home to family and friends, to get back to Mumbai, the townside with it's splendid Seafront (which I just cannot stop Missing), to ride the crowded Local trains and the magnificient BEST buses (the red wonder). Missing all that and much more...hanging out with friends,spending endless hours with them talking nonsense, the movies......the list goes on.

And thanks to my friends, I had a fabulous birthday. We did so much nonsense stuff...I just can't seem to get enough of that. I'm telling you...Mumbai rules!

Back to work now though....I hope I get through this week and then I know it's all going to be back to normal ;)

That's How We Celebrated The New year at Work