Ripping The Decade

Well it is that time of the year to retrospect on all the important events that have happened so far this year. Coming to think of which, it is actually the end of a decade. Ten long years have just gone by and do I even remember what all has happened all these years?? That is when I thought I will push my retrospection to not just this year but the last decade. So here goes,

2000 – Fresh out of school and ready for college
Ten years ago, I was still a teenager; all excited about getting into college and saying good bye to my school uniforms, lunch boxes, polished shoes and regularly trimmed nails. Sweet 16!!! An awkward age for everyone. Overly conscious about pimples, trying to act pricey with guys and a receiver of prank calls. Thinking of which I don’t remember studying at all but I’m sure I must have studied a bit or else I would have definitely remembered flunking that year. So I basically just stayed pretty and gossiped my way through the whole of 2000.

2001 – The longest year ever
With the board exams coming up, I had no choice but to study and get bored to death. I pretty much made up for not studying the previous year. It was an extremely bland year and I felt like a complete geek sitting with books all the time either at college or at tuitions or at home. The only time I listened to music was probably when I was finishing my record work, how sad can it get?? I finally passed the boards with flying colors and put an end to the boredom that had consumed me the whole of the year.


2002 – My first step towards becoming an Engineer
Like every other person of my age, the next big career move was to get into Engineering and make everyone around me proud. The buzz word around that time was’ Biotechnology’ and luckily for me ‘Biotech Engineering’ was just introduced for the very first time in Karnataka and I thought these were signs for me to get into the field. Quite honestly I don’t think any other stream would have suited me better enough. So the mid of this year saw an enthusiastic and nervous me with an admit for Biotech Engineering at Sir MVIT, Bangalore.

2003 – Realized I had made friends that would last a lifetime
First and foremost, there are a lot of people who are not present in the picture below and that does not imply they are not my close friends. They may not be part of this picture but they are still in my thoughts. Engineering without you guys would have been like food without salt. Apart from the professional education I received in college, there were so many life lessons that I learnt from each of my friends. I can write a book on how I met each of them and how they became an integral part of my life.

2004 – Year of Confusion
People around me were already preparing for GRE and planning the next stage of their life and I was absolutely clueless about what I wanted. Was I interested in getting a good job after engineering or was my inclination more towards higher studies? Like the rest, even I started preparing for GRE, joined coaching classes but I knew I lacked the passion that one should have when they are sure about something. It was all about being in the rat race and not getting left behind.

2005 – Still in college but unemployed
Till now I was happy that I was doing well in Engineering and had even managed to get a distinction in all the semesters. However there was a worm in my head that was not letting me live the happiness. I was in my third year of engineering and this was the time when different companies would come to campuses to recruit the best of the lot. I saw people who got lower grades than me getting selected in more than one company and I was still “Unemployed”. My ego was hurt like never before, I remembered all the times I did well in the exams and sympathized with the ones who hadn’t done so well and destiny had totally turned the wheel upside down on me now.


2006 – Welcome to the Corporate Culture
A few months after I started cribbing about my unemployment status, I got hired and by a company that was offering a better pay than the rest. Finally I could roam around with my head up in the air and went around telling all my relatives that whatever happens, happens for the good. I was still in college and my company was kind enough to give me the final year project and also paid me for it. I was in awe of the corporate culture, the way everyone would call each other by their first names irrespective of the age or designation and the fearless attitude of the techies who always thought they would sell like hot cakes even if their current company threw them out. This year was all about learning the new culture, wearing formals, gaping at managers and trying hard to get out of the college mode and behave more professionally.

2007 – Is this what they call love?
Along with me and several others who joined the company, there was a special someone who caught my attention with his antics. I was amazed by the way he would openly flirt around with me but it was only during this year I realized that it was love. I have had crushes and infatuations before but was always confused and skeptical about how I would recognize that one person whom I truly love. After knowing him for more than a year now and being in a confused relationship with him, I decided that we both were just wasting time by not defining our relationship and only after I broke it off, did I realize that I was truly in love.

2008 – Marriage jitters!!
I guess marriages are really made in heaven. On April 18th I got hitched to the same guy I realized I was in love with. We anticipated some drama from our parents but surprisingly they were pleased with our choice and immediately gave their thumbs up. There was a brief period of marriage jitters where I and my future hubby successfully freaked each other out but it ultimately ended in a happy marriage. This was most definitely the most significant year of the decade as it gave me a partner who I am confident will hold my hand and walk beside me for the rest of my life.

2009 – The world outside India
The perks of being in the IT industry is that you get to frequently travel abroad and it was during this year I finally got my chance. This was my first trip abroad and I can’t explain the excitement and anticipation of visiting a new country and experiencing the culture. On the day of the flight, I got really nervous and emotional about going alone without family and was even wondering why the hell I agreed to it. Once I reached USA, it was a completely different experience, loved every bit of it. Strangely I loved the fact that I was independent and had to make my own decisions, I enjoyed the long flight watching movies at a stretch, I enjoyed shopping in a new country, I enjoyed talking to new people, I enjoyed the food. In short I enjoyed the whole experience.

2010 – Am I really brainy or am I just stressed out??
After working in the corporate field for a while, I realized that I wanted to do my MBA but was just way too lazy to prepare for the entrance exams. This year I decided that I should at least start preparing for the exams and with a lot of hope wrote the entrance for PGSEM at IIMB. What distinguishes PGSEM from the rest of the MBA programs is that it is specially designed for IT professionals who would want to work and pursue the degree. This seemed like the ideal course for me as I did not want to quit my company to study. After giving the entrance exam, my hopes were shattered as I knew I was not up to the mark but I guess fate had something else in store for me because not just did I clear the entrance but even got selected for the program. It was a great feeling to finally walk the corridors of IIMB as a student but little did I realize about the stress factor at that time. This year I realized that if I’m capable of managing work, studies and family, there is nothing in life I cannot face.

With this I end my retrospection of this decade. It has truly been a whirl pool of emotions and experiences and I eagerly await the new things in store for me as I welcome 2011.

The Race

After a long wait I’m finally having my end term holidays for a week. When I mention a week, it just means that I will not be attending classes for a week because as I have mentioned in my previous post, I’m still working so that doesn’t leave me with any “Holidays” as such. Well I don’t want to talk much about the exams, it was a traumatic experience and I hope I don’t get scarred for life with such experiences every quarter. Last Sunday when I was relaxing and enjoying the sweet pleasures of freedom, I happened to notice that the movie ‘3 Idiots’ was playing on TV and I wanted to watch it again. The last time I had seen the movie was just after its release in the theatre. I knew it was a great movie with a lot of emotional moments sandwiched between some really hilarious scenes which I’m sure the audiences were really able to connect to.

When the movie was playing on TV, I couldn’t help but notice the difference in me. I was not just laughing when there was a funny scene nor did I just have a lump in my throat when the scenes got really emotional. I was thinking about each and every thing that was said or shown in the movie and my thoughts were profound and deep. My heart specially went out to the two protagonists struggling to make it through in the college. One is bombarded with the stress of providing for his family and being the only savior of his poverty stricken family and the other is caught in a web of parental pressure to do something he doesn’t feel passionate about. How many times haven’t we been in similar situations? The race as they call it in the movie begins very early in life. I’m sure 90% of us are not what we aspired to be when we were young. As we grow old, the realities of life cave in on us; we start thinking about things practically. It’s all about money and not about passion anymore.

Thus begins the never ending race to join the best school, best college, and best university all in the quest of finding that perfect job that will flood our homes with so much money that there is no such word as “Want” in our dictionary. Just the very thought of having so much money makes me so happy right now. What scares me sometimes is everyone feels that they will become rich and famous some day. At least most of the people I know feel that way but if that were to be true, I’m sure the world would be populated with rich people. Well what happens to those countless people who feel that they will be rich someday? They just realize that they were immature to think that way at one point in their life and they just get practical in life and accept the harsh realities of life.

Nevertheless the race still continues and the number of engineer’s, doctor’s and MBA’s keep growing at an exponential rate harboring dreams of success and a better tomorrow.

I Will Be Back!!!

It feels like ages since I have posted something here. The reason is I just joined an MBA program at IIMB for working professionals from the IT industry called PGSEM. So this gives me the flexibility to work and study at the same time which is definitely a good thing or thats what I thought when I got a call for interview from IIMB. I have to attend classes on Fridays and Saturdays and work the rest of the week.But now I have realized that it is really stressful, balancing work and study is a painful act because you cannot ignore either. After 4 years of leading an almost stress free life after college, its hard to get back to the grind and believe me the IIM's have mastered the art of grinding students. I know in the long run I will be benefited and everything will be just fine but right now its really hard for me.

On one hand it gives me a great high to be studying at a prestigious institute and every time I watch a scene or a song from the movie 3 Idiots, I cannot help but recall where the scene or song must have been shot on campus. On the other hand, I really miss the good ol days where I eagerly awaited Fridays as I knew there was nothing much to do than laze around. The worst part is I'm not getting any time to blog, I hate to see the same blog post every time I open my blog page.

I just need some time to get used to this routine and after that I'll definitely chalk out a plan to get my life back on track and most important of all to blog regularly. Adios for now but I'll be back very soon.

Won the Caption Contest!!!

One of my dear blogger friend Lazy Pineapple  had a caption contest on her blog last week and guess what, I won it along with two other bloggers!!! Yippee!!
She was kind enough to send over a trophy which you can see below.

It was a very innovative contest, where we had to give a funny caption to this picture.

Well my caption was "I wished for a man whose heart was as pure as a child's but looks like there's none left because this is what I got. "
Thanks Lazy Pineapple :)

The Icing On The Cake

I would like to call myself a great thinker because there are so many random thoughts that come into my head out of the blue. When I’m supposed to be concentrating on my work, I suddenly start thinking about the movie I saw the previous night or when I’m actually supposed to watch a movie, I start thinking about the unfinished work at office. So basically I have a wandering mind that keeps me very pre-occupied most of the time.

Today happens to be one such day when my mind is wandering at dangerous speeds into infinity, eternity or just call it what you want. I suddenly realized in the midst of some important work that there is really no time that we can devote solely for the purpose of being happy. The mind is imprisoned because we do not really follow what it tells us. If it asks us to just take an off from work, it comes across as a highly irrational suggestion or if it asks us to just slap the person who is bragging in front of everyone, it comes across as the most foolish thing that anyone can think of. However the beauty lies in the fact that though we cannot devote days together to do what we want, there are sudden unexpected moments in a person’s life that brings so much of happiness and joy. Probably it’s moments like these that really inspire us to believe that life is indeed really beautiful. These are moments that are like the icing on a cake.

Let me take you through some of these amazing icings in my life,

1. As a blogger what I cherish the most is receiving comments on my blog. Be it a bouquet or a brickbat (but I definitely prefer the former), I love it the same as long as it comes in the form of a comment. The way my face lights up when I see one on my blog is something I cannot describe. Thanks to all the beautiful people out there who make my day just by making their presence felt on my blog.

2. I know most of you like sunny weather but I definitely do not belong to that category. I hate it when I wake up with the sun right in my face. I work in an air conditioned office, all credits for being in the software industry and as you all know the windows are probably more for accessorizing the place and have become vestigial. The only purpose of a window in my office is for people to catch a view of the lovely cubbon park right outside. What would we have done if not for this amazing view? So there are moments when in the dead of summer I lift my head to peer over my cubicle and I see this really amazing cloudy weather coupled with the wonderful view of cubbon park staring right back at me. All the frustration and stress just take a back seat and life seems so much more beautiful that time.

3. If you have read one of my earlier posts Of Sleep And Repairs you will have a fairly good understanding of how weekends can totally go for a toss at times. Fortunately life is not always cruel to me and there are times when it shows me some mercy in the form of weekends when I have absolutely nothing to do. It’s all about sleep, movies, wine, food and all the good things in life.

4. Sometimes I get really temperamental when I know I am going to eat stuff that I do not like. Just when I am getting used to the fact that dinner would be a very boring affair, hubby announces that he’s in the mood for Italian or Chinese. You won’t believe the sudden transition in me from “Not at all hungry” to “I am so hungry, I can eat a horse” but I keep those emotions to myself. It’s always better when the dinner plans come from the hubby’s mouth so it gives me a chance to pick on him the next time I want to eat out and he’s not in the mood.

5. There have been very few times when I have laughed so much that my stomach would hurt so bad that I would have to force myself to stop laughing. I always look forward to the next such moment.

6. What could be better than waking up in the middle of the night with sleep written all over the face, checking your mobile to see the time and realizing that it’s just 2.00 AM and there’s a long way to go before you have to actually wake up. There are times when I do the same routine and realize that the next day is a Saturday or a Sunday. The slothy smile that comes on my face at that time is probably one of my best expressions.

7. I have mixed feelings when it comes to cooking. I love cooking what my hubby and I like but not the routine stuff. I absolutely love it when my hubby and I make Pasta and Stir Fried Mushrooms and Bell Peppers together. What makes it all the more special is the fact that the recipe is totally ours and we love it every bit. Thinking of which I will probably give out the recipe sometime soon here.

8. I love watching movies but I totally hate the melodramatic kinds where the characters cry at the drop of your hat. I’m sure all of you have seen movies that are so beautiful that some scenes just bring tears to your eyes because it feels like you are living the movie. It is quite embarrassing to shed a tear when everyone’s around and you will find me looking at the ceiling most of the times to hide my tears but I totally love giving in to the movie when I’m watching it alone. “Roman Holiday” and “Green Mile” are by far the best movies I have seen.

9. I love reading novels but there are some that leaves you in awe after you finish reading them. There is a sense of satisfaction that you have just finished reading a breath taking novel. You can’t help but retrospect about this novel immediately and instantly share it with someone. I love this feeling.

10. Ahhh!! The satisfaction I get when I have just given it back to a person I hate the most is indescribable. Don’t I just love sarcasm in situations like this? It feels like I have just won a battle. I do feel bad for the person a lot of times but I have ways of consoling myself in such a way that I finally end up feeling like a Good Samaritan.

These transient moments make life what it is for me and life is definitely beautiful.

A Special Post

This is a special post dedicated to my best friend who has stood by me through thick and thin. I do not want to reveal this person’s name but rather describe this person. This person has been my support all through my school, college and professional life. In school this person was the one whom I would pick on my birthday to accompany me to every class to distribute sweets to the teachers. My day would not be complete without calling this person after school and talking for at least half an hour despite the fact that I was with this person all through the day in school. Life would have been drab if I did not have this person to discuss about rumors, gossip and how can I forget, long talks about cute guys and endless rants about teachers who messed up our happiness. This person was my accomplice when I transformed into a detective trying to find out my secret admirer or the mystery caller who would torment me by his calls and put me in trouble with my parents. You my dear friend were the source of my encouragement when I did not want to slog in the workshop during engineering and instead wanted to get the wrought iron models in some workshop outside by joining hands with me in this endeavor. I cannot imagine my engineering days without our giggles and pranks. You were the person who lent your shoulder for me to sleep on when I was unwell, you rejoiced when I did well in my term exams and you cried when I cried.

Should I even have to mention the episode on the library terrace when you endlessly threatened the person who stole my phone? I couldn’t help but smile even in that state of mind. I also remember the ugly SMS’s that were sent to this person to return my phone. I hated the time when you would get so scared when I raised my voice and then pull my leg about the incredible temper I had. You were so jealous when a new person wanted to be part of our group. I remember bunking classes with you in the name of doing something eventful for the college fest, laughing at your playfulness and careless attitude with the teachers. I always wondered how you would cram everything in the last minute and still do better than me in the exams and how can I forget the disgusting names that you would call me in front of the entire class. You would claim that I was the only person with whom you would actually gossip but otherwise you were a very non-gossip and non interfering type of person. I still do not believe that.

Only you know how much I would love bunking half a day of office just to gossip and shop and have lunch or watch a movie with you. I can’t forget the time when we had nothing to do so we just ate and ate so much that we walked like pregnant ladies. I admired the way you drove out an unwanted, obsessed pest out of my life with just a single phone call. At first I thought you were extremely quiet, I off all the people had to make an effort to strike a conversation with you and then there came a point when I had to ask you to shut up. . I still remember the time when we all went for a movie and you just went dumb, I was cursing my stars for sitting next to you because all you would talk about was regarding the schedule of when each movie would release in the future. I was so bored and just when I was about to judge you, you sang the happy birthday jingle loudly and very melodiously (Sarcasm to the core) to me over the phone on my birthday. I was surprised by the diversity of your nature.

Your flirtatious nature intimidated me; I started believing in the adage that looks can be deceptive only after seeing you. I must admit that I hated you at first but no words can express how much I’m attached to you now. I still remember the time when you lost your balance and dropped a whole glass of cake shake which I was eagerly waiting to have in front of everyone in the mall. God wasn’t I embarrassed!!! All your stupid antiques actually came across as cute to me and your temper is something even Lord Shiva will shudder to think about :)

I still can’t forget the time when you came to India just for a month and were eager to meet me and I couldn’t meet you due to whatever reasons. Only I know how guilty I felt and it was like the sky had finally taken its rightful position and was no more resting on my head when I apologized to you.

You were the only one with whom I had an instant connection. I could just be myself, talk gibberish and be foolish with you. Most of my photographs with you are indicators of the wild, crazy times I have had with you. I have never felt so emotional when I dropped you off at the airport. I was already planning a trip in my head to meet you again.

I could go on and on describing about this special person for days or months or years and what makes it all the more special is that the person I have described about till now is not just one person. I have described all my special friends who have made a profound impact in my life in this post. They are extraordinary people who have given me great memories to cherish all my life and the least I can do is dedicate this blog to them. Cheers to all of you!!! You guys have made me laugh, cry, scream, angry to the extent that I have pulled my hair out, bored, irritated, authoritative, sympathetic , made me look like a fool and I can go on and on. In short you guys have brought out the best in me.

Of Sleep And Repairs

Today is a Saturday and as I write this post I can’t describe just how drowsy I’m feeling. In fact the whole idea behind writing this post is to keep myself awake. We just shifted into a new house and there is so much work that needs to be done that I just can’t stop cursing the previous tenants. I’ll surely go to hell for all the cursing and swearing that I have been actively involved in. The thing I really look forward to every day is a nice hot shower. After we were done with 60% of the shifting we knew we had to call it a day and I needed a shower immediately. I switch on the Geyser and guess what it doesn't work and the best part is there are two geysers at home and both were not in working condition. It took a week to get that problem fixed because the electricians were like VIP's and getting them to come to my house was like fixing an appointment with the President. As mentioned before I cursed my previous tenants every time I had to shower in cold water for their irresponsibility. As Santosh and I are both working professionals, Saturdays and Sundays are the only days we get to finish pending house hold jobs and to also relax. From the past couple of weeks, we are not able to differentiate between a weekday and a weekend because during weekdays we are at work and during weekends we are getting work done at home. Sleep is what I love the most and it is very dear to me. I can sleep for hours on end if no one disturbs me and these days I seem to be compromising on that. Shifting houses is not an easy job, every new house has its share of surprises and so does our new one. Santosh wrote a checklist of things that were required to be done and it spanned for literally two pages!!! The worst is the fact that the carpenters and plumbers take their own sweet time to get the work finished. Right at this moment, the carpenter is finishing up some work which he was supposed to complete 3 weeks ago. Every weekend we would wait for him and he would never turn up or he would come and work at snail’s pace and don’t even get me started about the electrician or the plumber.

We get back from work and we immediately call one of these guys and if we are lucky they turn up or else we have to wait till another weekend to get the work done. Come weekends and we are woken up by these guys who seem to work till eternity. As a result the weekends are destroyed, my sleep is short lived and I go to work on Monday as if there was no weekend in between. Just like how sleep is dear to me, weekends are dear to Santosh and he is all the more pissed off with the events of the last couple of weeks. The funniest part is that every day when I wake up, I console myself that I will get to compensate the sleep over the weekend. Honestly I must be kidding myself to think like that because come Saturday or Sunday..... well I don’t have to repeat the whole thing do I???

Sorry for boring you folks but I must vent out my frustration somewhere :)

Memories Of A Fading Friendship

Life operates in strange ways. Why is it that we suddenly start thinking of old memories and friends out of the blue? There are some memories that bring a smile on the face and some that makes you equally sad. Your best friends become rare acquaintances, long phone conversations are reduced to awkward hello’s and hi’s. Only memories remind you of the good times that you have had. Some relationships drift with time, life moves on and so do people. How nice it would be to wipe away some memories and its implications. Life is cruel at times; it creates situations when you come face to face with your past and you are left with a buzzing numb sensation of how things have changed. How you wish the incident that caused this distance had never happened. You wonder if your friends feel the same way too or if they are too pre occupied to even think of these things. Common friends are probably the ones who are still keeping the fading friendship from dying and they are also remainders of the great friendship that was once shared. The whole purpose of looking at photographs is lost, it no more brings joy, it reminds you of the wonderful past along with the reality of the present. Are some friendships meant to be short lived? It’s surprising how years of mischief, ridicule, protectiveness, giggles, apologies can all be upturned by one bad incident and life will never be the same with that friend. Many times we wonder if our friends also feel the same.

The Most Bizarre Project Ever!!!

School life was full of fun, frolic, friends, tests and projects and when it came to projects I was a maverick. I would call my friends daily and talk to them but somehow for strange reasons I would never take their help for project work. It baffles me even now when I think about it. I shifted to a new school when I was 12 yrs old and here they gave a lot of importance to project work which is a very good thing as it diverts a child’s mind from the routine and makes learning more fun. To make it a little more competitive our beloved teachers would also allot some percentage of marks that we could secure in the usual tests to project work. Since I was a new student here, I wasn’t very equipped with how to go about with these projects as my old school was not really into all these things. It was during this time that an incident happened. I would cringe whenever I thought about it in school and college but now when I think about it, I can’t stop laughing my head off. I really proved that I could be a maverick and a very strange one at that.

I was 12yrs old when this happened and we were learning about Civilizations in our History class. You know civilizations like the Aztecs, Mayans, Indus Valley etc. Our History teacher was terror personified to most of us. She was your typical teacher, old with a curt face which was adorned with spectacles, all out to get you if you didn’t do something right. While teaching us about Civilizations she chanced upon a brilliant idea for our project work. She asked us to make a model on any one of the Civilizations. Quite frankly it didn’t bother me much, I thought it was a pretty lame idea back then and I was almost dead sure that she was a sadist and was doing this on purpose to torture us. I didn’t understand the concept of making a model on a civilization, what could we possibly show and what use is it off??? Several questions in my tiny head but no answers to make them go away. Me being a maverick at that time obviously did not take the help of family or friends so much that I didn’t even bother to find out what my friends were doing.

The days were closing in on me and I was least bothered. It fills me with envy when I think of how I was back then. I used to lead such a chilled out life, no tension of anything, totally contrary to the kind of life I lead now. I remember some students discussing about what they would be doing, I didn’t overhear it, they were just too loud. Just a day before the submission of the models, I had a panic attack. I suddenly remembered the teacher’s face, her anger, her wrath, her gaze and it all made me weak in my knees. I did not know what to make and besides it was too late to make anything elaborate and beautiful. At that moment I remembered one very important point from the Indus Valley Civilization. Any guesses??? You are absolutely right, Indus Valley Civilization had an almost impeccable drainage system which was a radical thing back then as it kept the surroundings hygienic and saved people from diseases. I saw the picture of the Drainage system in the History text book and believe me I couldn’t make head or tail of what I saw. This was when I decided that I had to awaken the genius in me and put her to work and fast.

Just a couple of days ago my dad had brought this table fan cum emergency light cum radio and god knows what all was there in that thing. My eyes hovered on the thermocol mould that was used for protecting that multi utility equipment. The thermocol mould had a circular depression towards the left and there were various grooves all around it. I decided that the Big circular depression would be depicted as the ‘Great Bath’ (I’m sorry if I got that wrong, not very strong in History right now) and the other grooves could be depicted as canals and channels. There was one problem, the depression and the grooves were all too neat obviously because it came out of a machine. No one would believe that I did that even in a hundred lives, so I had to make it look more hand carved than machine cut. I took a pen knife and started scraping the edges so that it would look a little shabby but no matter what I did it still screamed ‘I CAME OUT OF A MACHINE’. After the ill luck of trying to make the thermocol look more handmade, I decided upon coloring it. It was a bad idea to even think of coloring it as the paint was just not sticking to the surface, why you may ask, the answer is because I was using water paints. At that time that was the only thing I had and it was too late to buy oil paints as the shops were all closed. So I had a pretty messed up Indus Valley drainage system in front of me and I had to do something to make it look presentable and you won’t believe what I did. I took a transparent blue colored plastic sheet and pinned it on all four sides of the thermocol and my magnum opus was ready. It wasn’t pretty but at least I could sleep in peace.

The D Day had arrived and my class was swarming with students and their models. I saw some fabulous Mayan pyramids and the likes and I was embarrassed as hell. How on earth could I tell people that my model was on the Indus Valley Drainage System. I maintained low profile till the History teacher’s class and the rest was history. She came to my desk and I showed her my work. Her expression was priceless. The Conversation was something to this effect.

Teacher: “What is this??” (Read: What the hell is this crap??)
Me: “Miss, this is a model of the Indus Valley Drainage System.”
Teacher: “How do you know it looks like this?”
Me: “I saw this in a History reference book.” ( Read: It was my imagination at work)
Teacher: “The cuttings are very perfect. How did you get it done?”
Me: “My Uncle helped me out, he is very good at these things.” (Thank God I had the presence of mind to not say it was me)
Teacher (with a disgusted expression) : “I hope you referred to the right books to get this model.” ( I’m sure she had no clue on how it looked like. I really don’t think any text books will have detailed images of the drainage system of any civilization).

She scribbled something on her notepad and walked away to review the next student’s model and I breathed a sigh of relief. Later I got to know that she gave me 2/5 which was a lot better than getting 0/5. When I think about it now, I can’t believe that I came up with something as bizarre and absurd as that. After that incident I was ashamed for a while for being so careless and for not having paid attention and I decided I would not talk to anyone about this. Now when I think of this, it makes me happy. How many people can brag about such memories? Its memories like this that you can think back and laugh about and that is what prompted me to write this post. I always say never underestimate a child’s mind, it’s not as innocent as you think it is. At least mine wasn’t.

The Visa Interview

It was beautiful, a 15 day long vacation to Kerala and Andamans with my hubby and I didn’t realize how time just flew by. Before I knew it I was back in Bangalore and getting prepared to go back to work and do what I was employed to do. It was a cool Monday morning and I was kind of excited to get back to work, to catch up on all the gossip that had happened in the past 15 days. As usual I first opened my mail box to catch up on all the work details and there I saw a mail from my Project Lead asking me to apply for my US Visa and another mail from my HR to send her a scanned copy of my passport. At this point of time I was completely clueless about what was going on until my Team Lead updated me that I might be travelling to US soon with three of my other colleagues.

I had to immediately rush to my parent’s house in the middle of work hours to get the passport and almost half the day went by commuting from office to home and vice versa. I was excited about the whole thing but I was kind of worried about the whole Visa procedure. In my mind there was this picture of a big carpeted room with a huge teak table, on one side of which sat a group of three to four interviewers and on the other side sat the people with appointments for the interview and there was this big queue to get inside the room. It was only later that I learnt that it was a really crowded place with umpteen number of counters like the one’s in banks or railway stations.

I’m quite famous for my procrastination and as usual I was just hoping that this whole Visa interview thing be delayed but much to my disappointment I got a mail from my HR almost immediately about booking my interview date. All the other guys who had to appear for the interview including me were discussing with each other about scheduling our interviews on the same day so that we could travel together. Unfortunately my visa interview got scheduled for the 24th of November and I pretty soon learnt that I would be travelling alone. The only thing running in my mind at that point of time was about travelling alone to Chennai as it would be the first time I would be travelling all by myself. I could have asked my dad or Santosh to come along but something stopped me from doing it, it was this whole “I can do it by myself” thing. Some people were saying that since there was a weekly quota for the Visa, I would definitely get it as I was going on the first day of the week, it comforted me to a certain extent.

The next couple of days just went by in searching for the documents that I had to take and arranging them. I also learnt that I needed to carry an updated resume since I was applying for a B1 Visa and I couldn’t think of updating it since the resume I had was the one I had prepared in College for the campus recruitments. It was a pain in the a$$ updating it. We were all assured from the HR that we would get the visa as our company was enrolled with BEP and the US Consulate had all the information about the company. She also pointed out that no one had got rejected till now after the company had started the BEP process. This information was comforting in one way but I also believe firmly in Murphy’s law, if I happened to get rejected by ill luck it would be so humiliating, to be the first person to have gotten rejected, so I was tensed as ever.

Finally it was time to attend the Visa Interview. My colleagues had all attended their interviews and they didn’t have any problem whatsoever in getting the Visa. I was the last one in the boat. I had to board the 6.30 AM flight to Chennai so I woke up at 3.30 AM. I would be lying if I said I was not nervous because it was the first time ever that I was travelling all by myself. Once I landed in Chennai everything was such a cakewalk. I took a cab to the VFS office, waited in the Stars and Stripes lounge till my interview. Once at the US consulate I realized it was not as I had imagined, my colleagues were right when they said the counters resembled railway station counters. It was funny how I had gotten tensed for absolutely nothing. The whole process took about 1.5hrs and the interview hardly lasted for a minute. Just a day before I left for Chennai, I was watching this movie called ‘Pursuit Of Happyness’ and I remember Will Smith giving himself a small clap when he finally manages to get a job in the firm he had been interning for. I was greatly inspired by that scene and had decided that I would give myself a small clap if I managed to get my Visa. I know it’s a pretty silly idea. I could in no way compare my situation to Will Smith’s in the movie but it would be my way of appreciating my confidence of travelling alone to a different place for the very first time and getting what I came there for despite people around me being apprehensive and also for not being afraid even for a minute. And I did just that after coming back to Bangalore, I gave myself a little clap.

Trekking Mis-Adventure

I was under the impression that I would love all Adventure sports, stuff like Bungee jumping (Which I have never tried and would love to sometime soon), parasailing (loved every bit of it), ski diving ( quite adventurous but don’t know if I will muster the guts to go for it) and finally the sober of the lot, Trekking. Never did I realize that I would have so many fond memories of Trekking. I have gone trekking three times in my life so far and the memories that I have will last for a lifetime. I’m not going to reveal at this point of time if the memories were pleasant or unpleasant.It’s for you guys to find out(Duh! I know the title gives away the answer).

It was on the 12th July, 2008 when I went for my first trek. The date holds prominence because it is also my birthday. Many of you must have already guessed that the trekking plan was part of my birthday celebration. I was quite excited because people have always raved about how fun trekking can be. The place we chose was Masinagudi, which is a small village surrounded by the thick Mudumalai forests. We stayed in a lovely resort called Jungle Hut which is amidst the jungle and believe me it’s quite an experience by itself staying there. All the superlative adjectives that you can think of will be an understatement to describe the ambience. Coming back to the trekking part of the trip, we were supposed to go trekking at 6.00 AM on the morning of my birthday. We were given an option to choose between an easy trek and a difficult trek. A wise choice on my part would have been to go for the easy trek as it was my first time but me being the quintessential me, decided to go for the difficult trek. I want you guys to visualize the picture in my head at this time. I was thinking of a nice walk in the jungle where we would be surrounded by greenery on all sides, just like being in the middle of a picture perfect postcard with deer’s running around and the sound of a stream somewhere close by. In short it was my idea of a perfect romantic getaway.

Well let’s get back to reality, shall we? We started on time and our first task was to cross a small stream which I thoroughly enjoyed. As we proceeded with the trek our guide showed us a grave which looked like an elephant’s foot and just when I was beginning to wonder why it looked like that, he explained to us that the guy buried in the grave was killed by an elephant during the trek, the mistake he made was that he did not go with a guide but instead decided that he would take a stroll with his wife and dog. The guide also gave us some tips about how we should move about, about being silent and all that stuff because we were entering a dense jungle and there would be wild animals everywhere. The only weapon that we guys had was a sickle which the guide was using to pave the way and quite frankly it didn’t look like it would be of a lot of help.

The scenery was breathtaking just like how I had visualized, I had never imagined that I would be in the middle of a jungle ever in my life. We came across a beautiful waterfall and I was so mesmerized and it was precisely at that time that I saw a carcass of a deer. The guide reminded us that animals generally hang around water holes and we must be cautious and not make any noise. The moment I heard that my only thought was to scoot from that amazingly beautiful spot. All the way we saw animal poop, especially that of elephants, on plain grounds, on extremely steep cliffs, on precariously narrow paths. It’s amazing how animals like elephants that are so huge manage to trod on such terrains without losing balance or grip. I noticed that the terrain which was leveled till now was becoming steep but I had no problem with the ascent. I was enjoying it, the scenery was just breathtaking and the air so pure and the whole thing felt so serene and peaceful. It was tiring no two thoughts about it. It was almost a 2hr trek to the top of the mountain, our destination of the trek.

I completely forgot to mention who else were with us on this adventurous trek. We started off from Jungle Hut with another couple and met a few more guys on the trek who were with a different guide. We decided to trek together because the more the merrier, that was just one of the reasons, the real reason was because I felt I would be more secure in the Jungle if there were a lot of people around, probably the wild animals would be too afraid to come near us. The guys who joined us were an extremely energetic bunch, they were just brimming with energy and it was quite hard to match up with their pace. Midway the girl who was with us was feeling very tired so she didn’t want to come along with us till the top so we left her with one of the guide and we proceeded towards our destination. At this time even I was beginning to feel quite exhausted but I was almost there and decided to go on. We came across this huge boulder which we had to climb in order to reach the top. When I looked at the boulder I was wondering if all the guys had gone crazy because there was no way of climbing it. It was almost inclined at 80 degrees. After a lot of hue and cry, I managed to get to the top. Whoa!!! What an achievement it was to trek through the thick jungles of Mudumalai which was Veerapan’s abode at one time and climb the highest peak there. It was a rush to just look around and take in so much of beauty.

All the while during the ascent, there was one question that was always on my mind, “The terrain is so damn steep that it is an effort to climb without falling back, how the hell is it going to be while getting down”? I was very soon going to find that out. As you remember I was on top of the mountain and to get there I had to climb this really steep boulder. First step in getting down was to get down from the boulder which was really an effort by itself because you make any silly mistake here and you won’t go down but straight to the heavens instead. This is from where my wonderful trek takes a steep diversion and becomes one of the most horrid experiences I have had till date. I somehow managed to get down the boulder with the help of my hubby and trust me there was no reason for me to be happy about that because at that time I remembered that the ascent was a good 2hrs which meant there was a long way down in the almost 70 degree inclined terrain. There was this time when I saw almost all the guys slip at this really precarious site but they somehow managed to cross it safely. You slip from here and you go straight to hell this time. It was my turn to cross that place and by this time I was so drained of energy and so freaking scared that I was almost in tears. All the guys were convincing me to cross, the first one being my hubby and at this time the guide asked us all to hush up because it was a jungle and there might just be a bear lurking around and it may just pounce from behind if it heard us. Just imagine my plight now, first I was tired, second I was scared that I would fall and die and third, the threat of a wild animal killing me. I didn’t have a choice I had to move ahead and as anticipated I slipped but I held on to some twigs and somehow crossed. My husband faced the complete brunt from me of getting me on this horrid trip which was for professionals and not me.

The ‘Descent’ as I would like to call it was very slow for me. Like I mentioned the guys with us very super energetic and super excited about this adventurous trek so they were just gliding down and my poor hubby could not obviously leave me behind and glide with them so he was also stuck with me. I was beginning to feel that we would just lose track of them and get lost here and we did get lost for a couple of minutes not just me and my hubby but the entire group. The guide suddenly got confused about the way we came by and was trying to figure out the right way. No prizes for guessing how I felt, I just fell short of fainting. Imagine getting stuck there with all the wild animals, even if an animal chased us we would not be able to run decently and I was pretty sure the animal would attack me considering I was the slowest. The guide suddenly realized we were on the right track and we had not lost our way. Thank You Mr. Guide for literally giving me a heart attack!! So we continued on our ‘Descent’, with me holding on to dear life and I bumped into a small rock and low and behold I had a twisted ankle on a treacherous trek. I couldn’t have asked for more because we had trekked down only a couple of minutes and I knew there was a long way ahead to my destination. This time my destination being flat ground away from the wild animals. I walked a little and limped a little only to realize that the path we were taking was different and fortunately it was not as steep. It was then that the guide told us that during the ‘Descent’ we take a different route as people are already quite exhausted and would prefer to walk on fairly flat ground. I thanked my stars and proceeded ahead and I fell again this time and I twisted my ankle some more. But I was not so depressed this time because I knew it would not be so tough anymore but I knew that if any wild animal attacked us now, I would surely be the prey because I was again the slowest.

Everyone walked and I limped and we finally made it to plain grounds. I wanted to bend down and kiss the earth and thank god that he did not let me die on my birthday. All was well after that. Not quite, actually because my brave story was narrated in a grand way by my hubby to everyone who asked about the trek. Everyone had a hearty laugh about the incident and so did I after I was a good long distance away from the trek site.