Whats it like to be a software engineer!

After reading through a zillion number of posts/emails/updates/comments about whats its like to be a software engineer and all that one would otherwise have pursued, I wanted to really read through my own mind and a little bit of others' before I knew whats it actually like - to be a software engineer.

Every other post that I have read would start something like this, an Engineer in the US sitting at office gazing through the window and suddenly nature reminds him of all the life that he spent inking away the code snippets and all, possibly bad things, that they have caused to his/her life. All of them would want to start a business, do something very "innovative".

Believe me, in most cases where one can attain fame in a possibly quicker way! For instance, open a new restaurant, have a VIP doing the opening ceremony while you stand next to him and give a pose for a photograph and then having it published in one of the leading newspapers/dailies, probably talk about some different French cuisine that you are introducing as part of claiming innovation, and the city talks about it for a while and couple years down the line its all long forgotten. And then there are these people who want to direct a short film after they watch some reality show. Overnight they would start writing a script. And the next couple of days, they live in dreams!

For a moment, stopping here and thinking through it - I can only imagine 2 things for such an email from a software engr: 1. one of the many bad days someone is going through! 2. A confused someone who never actually knew what they need in life.

Now, Instead of being a software engineer, if I am asked to do something else, I'm pretty sure I would mess it up worse than what I do with my code everyday! Given all the trial and error that I do, to have a fork statement working in System verilog, I'm quite sure I'm better off with these trial and "errors" than to open a restaurant or a boutique and so on.. I at least stay a bit happy, if not for a bug in the tape out. i'm okay with the ones that I accidentally slip through, they would not cost me much than that extra amount of debug time.

Also that IMHO, when one actually wants to do something innovative and really think they are not able to put in their heart and mind into coding, I do not think we would still have hiring in IT and that whole lot of people out there fighting to crack a software company interview.

And how tough it is to agree to the statement that coding is less innovative! I have heard Singers saying there's no end to learning in Music, Doctors talking about handling a different case each day, teachers, bankers, even politicians talking all great things about their jobs and probably no one other than a software engineer complaining about their jobs. If only I would want to find someone who would know that every construct in C++, undoubtedly I would be left with no one other than Bell labs' Stroustrup! Agreed that the amount of any given language that we already know to do that everyday job is probably enough, but come to think of it why would a musician not just manage with the number of raagas/kritis they already know. Or anyone for that matter.

Bitter truth is - what a software engineer thinks innovative about doing a business has also been a very tough job for a lot of people, otherwise why would we hear about the fraud finance companies and the losses further. Innovation is not about they kind of work we do, its about the way of doing that same work that's done. Its an inside job!

So when someone goes whining around about the cons of IT, I can only be sure that they are unsure of what they are doing (whining around) or what they want to do (in the future). And given a chance, they will be the last to dust off the fact that they get to earn in dollars and travel across the globe in someone else's money! Its not about your work, its about your mind.

On that note, Hail software industry! :D

 

One of the most unforgettable days

is today, that I so cant wait to write about.. and want to register it so badly, just when the memories are tender! Like they say you just don't know what the day has in store for you sometimes, that you feel all energized and amazing!
Now, I don't know who this >6 feet tall chap is-something quite common in a country like America - a random conversation with a complete stranger. I was in the pantry picking up my morning coffee and was busy checking the creamer-sugar proportion when I heard this feeble voice pretty close. For the kind of person that I am, I would not have cared to give a ear to a stranger. But this is what I call destiny. When it is destined, every damn thing will fall in place, just so well! I turn around and throw a slightly puzzled look. He says 'I was mentionin about the coffee, Don' ya need two cups, isn't it too hot to hold. in the other pantry there is this Dunkin Donuts coffee machine, that coffee is quite hot and then we need two cups.' And he picks it up and says 'ooh this is hot too. May be you can withstand so much heat. That's awesome'. I'm just listening and thinking at the back of my mind 'OH MY GOD!!!!!!!' Are there such handsome men living in this world! phew! Now that's just way too much for me to handle! My brain that's been idle for so long wakes up all of a sudden all geared up and picking up the keyword 'the other pantry' - that means you must be seated somewhere that side of the aisle and so you must be a regular to the pantry there. So you dumb head start walking to that break room the next time around.
In reality, I'm speaking to him. -Multitasking capabilities of human brain is such an amazing creation of God, and it just knows when to leverage that! I told him 'we have it like very hot in India. In fact I feel it's less hotter and wouldn't mind warming it up in the oven for a bit more than couple minutes.' He was amazed! He asks me about Starbucks in India and I talk about Mumbai and how we might need time to develop some taste for it as the coffee we have is quite different. We talk about Cafe Latte n Cappuccino. He says 'oh yeah, but for me I just need it desperately that I can't go on without it and the problem is we go on to spend like a 5 bucks for the same coffee there and though knowing its a bit stupid its just that, can't help! I said I would prefer spending that at Ben n Jerry's. He says oh there you go.. and smiles! I'm melting - how can God set up such neatly placed tooth, like these tiny ones! And his face is wholly lit by that simple smile! I was like I would love to talk to you more - thinking :(
He probably read my mind. He said by the way I'm Paul! And shakes hand. I think 'the one and only Paul!!'
The conversation continues with what do you do and I talk about the SoCs, he relates talking about Verilog and stuff. He builds automation tools for embedded platforms. He says he loves doing what I do! I'm happy. He is from Minnesota and he talks about the weather there and some of his friends in Chicago from Calcutta and how they initially struggle through the weather before settling down! I ask him how he likes San Diego and he talks of the good weather that SD is meant for! Like he doesn't need jackets here most days and likes the sun. He tells me about how weather affects some people's state of mind and all that. He was asking me if I like it here and I said ya kind of, I tell him how I'm struggling through the separation from my family and he says 'ya but apart from that.. Having fun is anyway not very related right' He checked if I have some good friends here and I talked of all the weekends I spent here. He was like cool! He was first of all very impressed with the fact that I'm fresh from India given all the newness one would feel in a place like US of A! His eyes went wide and he smile saying 'That's awesome' - the American 'THAT'S AWESOME!!!' :D

And then we move on. He said 'hey by the way, nice meeting ya'. I was like same here * thinking and that's just not all that I wanna tell you man! You are the most handsome Man I have met in life so far! No Brad Pitt or Jim Carrey would replace your awesomeness! God doesn't bless everyone with perfection. I mean it. Having met so many people even Americans I have NEVER EVER seen someone like him at all in my life and I know more than just sure I never will!

I went back to look up for him in my intraweb, but I was not able to figure out. He just came in and touched like this very high voltage pulse and swung away! I think of his handsomeness over and over again and all the conversation! And it's not enough. This is called driving someone crazy, you lovely American!!

Developing OVM based testbench environment: Lessons learnt

On experience front, I only started about couple months back and I'm sure there is lots more for me to learn further. Why I wanted to write this blog is that about 4 years ago I had done specman e, though for a very short period, I was quite thorough with all the basics, later moved on to work on System Verilog (SV) and ever since its all about only SV at work. Worst thing was that I had completely forgotten whats and hows of 'e' and this time don't want that to happen!
Read through a lot of blogs, websites like testbench.in, verification academy, some eetimes posts etc (all of those sites that come up as the first few google results for methodology search). After some enough learning of basics, started creating a fresh TB env and following are some of the important observations that I thought:

1. Going by the traditional Layered architecture method, I had pulled up an analysis port from driver, just after calling get_next_item, that which my scoreboard will refer and does the comparison against the analysis port from the output monitor. 
  - What I should have actually done is to use an input monitor and the analysis port declaration in here for the scoreboard to pick the input packet. On a large scale, this layer is critical given that all we are targeting via any methodology is reusability. And by not doing this, I limit my scoreboard to be used just as a plug and play item at SoC level (say what I developed is at sub-system level) and now when I try to get this scoreboard to SoC level, it might need multiple modifications to suit the SoC level drivers and I'm only complicating the env instead of easing it.

2. $cast: I was, not a lil, but a lot confused and I'm not sure if I'm still all that clear with this. Firstly, when do I use this: for ex in my env, I use get_next_item and get the first sequence item. I $cast it to the configuration packet object and drive this one on the input interface to the DUT. 
For a long time, I was thinking, $cast is about the simple System Verilog dynamic casting where we try to cast an item of one datatype onto the one of different datatype. And in my env, because I always $cast a sequence item which is the only OVM object on to the configuration packet which is a OVM component, I was convinced probably casting an object to a component needs something more than just what a copy system call can do. 
Now in a discussion, some senior tells me it is not just that (read not that) and there is something more. It acts more like a deep copy. And the concept of relating SV dynamic casting to casting an ovm object onto a component sounds kinda stupid! 
That said, the question next is whats the difference between a deep copy and $cast. I brainstorm and find out, in OVM it's about copying a parent object to child object or copying a derived object onto another inherited object that share the same parent (meaning - 1. it's always from parent to child 2. of which the object that gets copied can have (generally has) more properties/methods defined). I'm only sticking on to this explanation now.

3. set_config_object and assign_vi
 These two constructs were great to know concept wise and there were no confusions until I got here: http://www.eetindia.co.in/STATIC/PDF/201004/EEIOL_2010APR28_EDA_TA_01.pdf?SOURCES=DOWNLOAD.
This document in specific compared assign_vi and set_config_object.
Basically, both these constructs have something to do with interfaces. But going through this article kinda added to confusions and I probably went around doing a research for almost about a day but I'm not convinced yet. Anyway, the simplest understanding is that set_config_object is complete only with a get_config_object and it is a one time declaration. while assign_vi is actually a task and whenever you want to call it, the task definition in that particular class adds additional code. 

4. ovm_report_object
 This is an interesting find for me. And only when I went about coding on my own, I hit this compile time error - Going back to the beginner level of verilog, every interview you give, you have this question the difference between task and function. So you can call ovm_report_object only from a function. That leaves you with this construct not being called from run task and okay with the other phases.

 5. There were couple of other scenarios that we were brainstorming about, may be trying to think out of the box ;) so 1. what happens if we have an empty ovm component defined in the environment - I think it would probably just throw a warning and would occupy some memory in the factory list of components. But the real time output - need to try out yet.  2. the incremental compilation stuff using factory. I kinda remember this existed in System verilog I mean the incremental compilation, not factory, but not sure though. Specman had this aeons ago needless to say. Also that, we have the verdi doing incremental compilation of the design to load the trace and waveforms after there are changes made to TB - got lots to explore huh!
 

2012

okay, I'm definitely not writing a new year blog, though I've been trying to gather a wee bit of interest ever since this year was born.
Quite an eventful year so far and happy to remember the amount of arguments with the spouse has gone way way down in this year. So when I say eventful, I must also be clear about to whom it was so and can't deny its been for him more than me ;)
Tirupathi trip - mid Jan, a very good darshan - felt peaceful and as if it was worked out at the right time of the year! Walking up the hill was an experience after years in life. Though the initial part was hectic and I was worried to see the hubby-dear struggle through the stairs, we somehow squeezed out energy and completed in 4hrs. The drive and company were an absolute pleasure, good to see the wedded life turning into heaven over time. Touch wood.
There has been another member arrived into the family, sister-in-law bore her 2nd kid and life has taken a new lead for all of us.
The new office space and the travel being made hectic, bangalore traffic is one helluva hopeless thing in the world - working from home is an utter bliss though its boring to be without the colleagues' company!
Couple of other good things in the making and I would post as and when it all take a great shape. To look back at all this reminds that however quick life moves on, there can never be a compensatory for what had happened, good or bad.
Reading through the Mahabharata (the illustrated retelling by Devdutt Pattanaik) these days, the couple hours I spend in the cab everyday - very refreshing!
Sometimes it feels, there is no excitement in whatsoever is "happening" in life. Signs of getting old, probably. But time and experience have definitely helped cultivate a lot of good habits. Turning into a more casual, helping, accepting personality in itself is a significant growth.
Being able to realize what the elders at home keep preaching since childhood, rather what was once considered the daily slogan that the jobless people at home sing around, is like, as if 'what goes around, comes around'. There is a very different learning from that, something of tremendous value.
To live with so many people, the way you start perceiving every relation, be it a friend or a cousin or a colleague or a stranger, over years, and such logic on similar lines, is all something I badly missed knowing couple of years ago.
When all "looks" well, at times there are things that are to be termed more than just "strange"! Well, I wouldn't completely agree, on the other hand, that its a strange quality, as what when consciously observed seems to be very common and there were very rare exceptions who did not belong to this pool, the pool that  lack comfort to just to be what they are. And even worse, they do not want others to be their own self.
A colleague here keeps saying that the Buddha teaches how to live in the reality. I admire this concept so much, that everytime when I get back to worry about something in the past, it rings to me that I gotta come back to reality! It teaches to not be carrying over any judgments from the day-to-day incidents, simply called being "non-judgmental".
For ex, you get into an argument with someone, say a week ago and then when I meet the person after a week, what I remember at the first look is about the argument that I had. In this, the reality is this week and the moment when I'm meeting this person, past is the week before and the then argument! I'm largely struck in the past that I lose the reality of meeting this person, here now and there's NO absolute argument in this reality! So, if you can be a Buddha, you'll probably not even remember the past week. and the percentage of happiness or a stress-free life is proportional. Will I gain this over practice, is a million dollar question. I'm however trying to do my best though.
These amazing concepts that, for once, when just listened will make you feel so light about life. And I can imagine how much of a positive impact can be gained, if only followed. The least I could do was to go on to read this book called "How to become Buddha in 5 weeks". I know, the title is roughly funny!
Curiosity and envy are the other two different foods for thought in a while now. I was reading this book "The difficulty of being good" by Gurucharan Das, he quotes that he is around 50+ now and so far in his life he has not met one single person who lives WITHOUT a bit of envy! And I feel, how true!
The goodness about growing up to be an adult is to realize that these are certain holes that are so common in a human and eventually we start accepting even an enemy - The benefits of growing up!
To end this post with, the recently spent Saturday early morning, driving along the NICE corridor - the thought what a good weather evoked in us - with no specific destination in mind, later end up on a typical  Kannada breakfast at the Kamat on the Mysore road is a pleasant musing to the tastebuds.
Life is good!
Thathatsu.

What has God got to do with your fork!?

Most days that went by, of late, I would say were quite philosophical, a little more than the normal dose. I'm not sure if that has got something to do with the Sani peyarchi that's coming the week next, like what my mom claims. But after all that which happened in the recent past and with a set of astrology followers around, I'm driven to give it a frequent thought, the topic that I always wanted to stay away from. More so because like a lot of other family mine was into misconceived astrology, way too much! For me astrology was always equal to fear. The fear of knowing mishaps of the future, with a few 'made-up' good things added by the 'incomplete' astrologer just to see some good profits. And therefore, to stay out of fear astrology became a blind-belief. Whatever bit of sense that I could make out of it is the cause of the 'sani peyarchi' statement above! :)

Getting back to the topic, more often than not I hear 'why is the most honest and ethical people are tested by "God" badly before they can taste success or even happiness, completely'! the keyword here - GOD!

I go back from here to remember Robert Frost's words,
"
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
"
While these are the commonly remembered words by a lot of us around, what impressed me now and always from "The Road Not Taken" were these:
"
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
"
All of us would have been taught various meanings of this poem, after all the school teacher has the authority ;) They all perhaps converge to the same idea.

It's like, in life there are going to be numerous such forks that you'll hit and it will solely be on one person, and that is you, to be responsible for the path that you choose and decide to traverse all along till the end with all the ups and downs, come what may! You may never be able to come back to a fork and try treading a different path than the one that you chose before - most importantly not without losing anything!
For me, pondering over this had let me realize the depth of decision making and the amount of responsibility an individual should take for a decision made by him/herself. So please, let's spare God alone!

If not anything else, let me strive to give him back the satisfaction for showering all his blessings on me through this one thing called 'life'. For no one can ever give back God anything for this gift of life - He is unconditional!!
For you the reader, I wish you get all the wisdom and be a better human everyday and thereby gratify the Almighty God!

1 Madhav Baug

Yesterday was a very fulfilled day after a real long time. Well not because my husband was out of town, not really. Somehow I could catch up with this 'far-fetched' concept in my dictionary - 'punctuality'. Starting my classes in the morning to being available for the get-together in the noon, I could make myself present on time. And to wrap all that up, a pleasant visual treat - impacts created by 1 Madhav Baug, at Ranga Shankara, ended my day in full contentment.

So whats all about this: Putting aside the story of the Play, which more discussed about the relationship between a Mother and a homosexual son, what impressed me was "Other Voices" and how the theater went on to conceptualize such an amazing idea! More here!
The play was at 9.30 in the night, Bangalore's weather contributing to the mind's chillness. It wasn't conducted in the auditorium where usually all the play/activities happen, which came across to be a sweet surprise. We climbed close to 4 floors up the building, lit by huge scented candles all along the path way. And there we have this cozy rectangular room at the corner set up with dim lights, mattress covered with a white bed linen and a couple of chairs on the sides., for the audience to sit... sit so closely to the actor. A very simple ambiance, dark wood table, a chair and a couple of lamps, created for the play, it added up to the richness of the idea. Revathi was all around the space, performing, the roles of the son and more of the mother. A role well done that she could push a few of them into tears and touch the emotional Q of a lot in the crowd. Hats off to Arundhathi Nag or whomsoever who contributed to all of it.

The play had a quite a lot of simple yet strong ideas to be conveyed. 'Everybody is unique and just someone, because it's a blood relationship, cannot be taken for granted';'Why is your children not growing up to be someone whom you expect them to be is a wrong question, have we all grew up to be what our parents exactly wanted us to be!' - they came across like a hard slap on my face - it felt very timely!

They had a simple Q&A at the end of the play and Revathi answered everything. During the play she often reiterated that the play has got nothing to do with her personal life that evoked this 'why' thought in me and 'whats wrong just if that's the case' which I asked her and was answered partly. What I liked the most is, when someone in the crowd confessed that he is a homosexual himself and his parents accepted him the way he is, she said its also about drawing a midway, before turning to be rebellious or accepted completely - how true!

It was a totally different experience, and I agree, it did create an impact to an extent that I did not expect it to!
Job well done! Kudos!

The best way

to kill time as I discovered is behavioral analysis. As in finding out the answers for the five magnificent "W"s in your own way. On that note, penning down a few funny and curious behaviors of people as I got discuss with 2 of my favorite friends over the weekend.

1. The previous generation, moms/dads and sorts, are so poor at covering up stuff.
- My friend explained an incident with his Mother. Like they planned to go out somewhere where his dad did not want them to go that day. They come back home with a Spencer's packet and his dad got to pull out some eatable, upon tasting he commented 'where did you buy this from, it tastes so bad. You must get this exchanged'. His mom answers curtly, 'the Spencer's next door.... NEXT DOOR na beta errrrr...'. The friend smirks wondering if he was on his dad's shoes, it would have just taken zero effort for him to get the situation so well. Now that's the previous generation for you. This is funny!
Another example: there is something about you that your relative knows already and they just want to open it up with you as if they had no clue about it while you can so very well make out the lame attempt! Now this is annoying!

2. The kind of people who just want to prove their point. As in a point that would be of no use proving it.
- A set of relatives (very elderly people - higher risk if they are in-laws) at home and then there is this someone who stays opposite door, that implies the one who can just watch your moves day in and day out. The previous night before the relatives arrived, I was "out" partying crazily. I was home late that the neighbor had noticed. The next morning while all the relatives are around, she pulls up this topic "so it was verrrrrry late by the time you were home last night, I peeped out at 11.30 and could not find your bike". I was like damn, is it so important to be talked now kinds, "not really I guess I was in by 11.30". Her: "no no.. not at all". Me: "Hmmm... may be 11.35 or something then". She says "Haaannn that's what! I checked exactly at 11.30" like as if she can NEVER be wrong. I mean I just could not make any sense out of the whole act. Or is it that the point proved is I was put at risk and there's some fun behind that? And this is more annoying :P

Onto, this set of elder generation who can never agree to what the younger ones say, well at the least not as a counter argument or as a "suggestion", not even while you have a general conversation. I'm unsure if I should call it ego or stubbornness or a time pass. Really. I mean there are people who want to make an argument, for the sake of passing time.
And then you find these people in town who make random comments. What's funny is that the amount of satisfaction they feel by doing that, how foolish! They can know that thing that doesn't even exist anywhere in the world, I mean that so random and then they can give you great ideas on all that if ever you tend to try that out!
Okay, its not that I want to create a Revolution 2020 that I want people to start thinking into stuff and work towards harmony. Just some passing thought, and of course, for the records ;)

So I wish you, the reader, to meet people who are that random, at some point of time in life, just to have some good laugh when you look back :)

Steve Jobs

Like so many others around, on the 6th of Oct '11 I too did not wake up to a good morning, rather its a sense of emptiness!
Emptiness is something I define to be an intense thought, that half of the crowd out there bump onto, when there are too many things for us to work on while we can never be able to connect the dots! Everybody would have a push to make it big in life. We work, live, fail, succeed.. and when the taste of all of these is known, we hit this point called emptiness. I mean, the point where I do not anymore be able to make sense out of all those things that I am doing.
The very first time I read this Stanford Univ speech that Steve delivered was in 2007, sitting at my cubicle in MindTree.. and firstly, I felt pathetic to not know the world that so much that I got to come across it after 2 whole years after it was actually done. Ever since, for lack of a better synonym, I'm a great fan of Steve! cuz like what I learned in MindTree, working through this life is not just for money and fame, its more about adding values to my own life. He did that. Through a lot of other sources, I have heard that he has been a very authoritative leader, that some people call him rude and hostile. I still believed what he does is right, for I'm a person who is actually of the same sorts and I always felt there is nothing wrong in being that way when ever its required!
I felt so insane upon hearing the news, that I went on to change my DP on FB to black and tagged it Steve Jobs and I was fuming so much that I just had to make up my mind that the darkness is something that I feel in my heart but the mind should know he lives forever some way or the other.
The past couple of months, there has been a highly agitated mood prevailing in and around me. And I have not been able to figure a good way out. I'm through with the struggle for money and love. Now everything has reached the 'maintenance and support' phase by software jargon. I'm unable to think like what if today is the last day of life, for I aint diagnosed with some incurable cancer or anything neither that I'm so old to think that I must now start living life for people around me rather than myself for that, I believe, is a parallel process at any point of time in life.
That's when the Stanford university speech is something that I ponder on over and over again. For a lot of us, life without the 'i' today would have been quite a threat. While a person who could make a remarkable change to the world only could connect the dots after few long years, how highly applicable such a thing to me is what I have realized.
The recent trip that we did to Rome, when looked back again gets a rush under my stomach. I'm unsure if Leonardo DaVinci or Michael Angelo would have ever dreamed of doing what they actually did or believed that they would bring in such a positive change to the whole of Universe. So much so that the Human civilization today would have been nothing without them.
While everything I believe is about the inner sense and about a person self to get the way your life is going in the first place, the push to living this life is undoubtedly, a lot outside you. Very much!
Wish the reader, there is going to be a time in your life when you can completely feel the positivity of emptiness and that brings in a new dawn into your life, the kind that you've never seen so far!
Kudos Steve Jobs!

Learnings from the Bhagavad Gita - I

Buying a 'Bhagavad Gita' remained a long time wish until I had been to Iskcon a couple of months ago. After I bought it, I "wanted to" & tried reading a few portion at least every day, later realized that it was becoming an unfulfilled agenda. Slowly I tried becoming a regular reader, currently at an average extent. And wanted to record the learning from what I read!
The edition that I have is the 'Bhagavd-Gita As it is', by the Abhay Charanaravinda Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the well known founder of Iskcon and it encloses the Sanskrit, Hindi and tamil version of the phrases with a detailed description of the intent and meaning of every phrase. When I first started, reading both the Sanskrit and tamil scripts was the motto, but later reading only the Tamil phrase. As I wanted to read the Gita all over again once I complete reading the full for the first time, it would make more sense to read through everything the second time than doing it now. Needless to mention, the day is more peaceful and the mind is more stable through the day.

So, in the initial few portions before Krishna starts the Upadesam, the war field formation of the Kurukshetra with all other nuances involved along with the ability of the soldiers on both the sides, the Dhritarashtra and the Pandavas is described beautifully.
Coming to the learning, I was at a complete awe to read about how fear encompassed Arjuna, when he looked at the war field, and to fight so many of them considering the dharma. He slides away the bow and tells Krishna, this is not how he wanted to make this life of his. There are so many soldiers, elders, relatives etc and killing them becomes the greatest sin. It also shows up the wrong path to the next generation that's growing up in the Raja Vamsam.
- I realize, the greatest of human, the Arjuna, would also feel 'fear'! Being afraid of something at some point of life is no wrong. Without that, life doesn't run into the right path.

So, to this question of Arjun, Krishna replies, 'the most powerful, ambidextrous archer, Arjuna! this is not what I expected out of you. Being the most skillful, I thought you knew to differentiate between the permanent and the temporary. All of those who are going to be killed by you in this battle of Kurukshetra would lose only the life (athma). It is only their body, that's temporary, will be destroyed; the athma is permanent, it will stay back and get transferred to another body.'

- All the good and bad deeds in this life, has no destruction. They will stay back with your athma. Being more careful about one's every action is vital for a human!

On a side note, when I was on my way to office in the morning today, I thought through point #2 and felt, 'so what about the athmas that are not yet transferred to another body! Are they just strolling around here. there are so many people dying each day and is this world full of athmas. suddenly I imagine around me a set of white human structures, without legs, floating in the air like what we see in the ghost movies, phew! whoaaa!' :P

Credit Card Skimming – Beware (June 2011)

- From my husband -

I’m one of those who has multiple credit cards and have been using these for close to 6 yrs. One of those cards (from a bank which claims to never sleep) has given me sleepless nights from the past 2-3 days. While I had the card in my possession, I suddenly got an alert for a transaction from my card. I immediately called the customer care and got the card blocked. I usually check my online account every 2-3 days, but the transactions reflect only after 3 days. In the next few days, I realized there were 29 transactions totaling to an amount of Rs. 45,000 which weren’t made by me. All of these are swipe transactions and not online. The bank will now investigate this and settle the amount in my account if these are found to be fraud transactions.

The fraudster who used the fake credit card number with the same number as mine made merry with the card in just 5 days. The guy started from a wine shop/bar, bought some goggles at an optical shop, some food at a super market, had a sumptuous meal in a restaurant, got himself some nice boots, went on to buy some mp3 players, filled fuel into his cars 6 times full totaling upto 15k, bought another goggles for his friend, had the best sweets in town. Finally when he decided to treat himself with a mobile phone worth > 5000 – it triggered an alert and I guess he moved onto the next card. All of this in 5 days.

I intend to fight this and get the charges off my account and I also believe it will not be very difficult for whoever it is to apprehend this guy given that he had the audacity to shop all of this in & around just one locality – Jayanagar 4^th block, Bangalore.

Reason for this mail though is to give some Dos & Don’ts to all those smart ones out there using Credit Cards. Here goes:

Dos:

1. Ensure card is always in your possession
2. Memorize your credit card numbers
3. Have customer care numbers stored on your phone
4. Opt for lesser credit limit on the cards
5. Configure transaction alerts for any amount greater than 500
6. Have online account access and regularly monitor the transactions
7. CVV should be scratched out

Donts:

1. Swipe your card in shady places (Bars, Petrol pumps)
2. Convey credit card details to anyone over phone
3. Give Xerox copies of your existing cards when applying for fresh ones

BR hills

This is one helluva experience I probably had waited for, in a real long time. And this post is one thing that my husband would've waited for, for long now :P

BR hills, the abbreviation goes Biligiri RanganathaSwamy hills. There is one neat, sweet temple at the hilltop, Ranganathar statue, one of the smallest Venkateswara swamy idols (by size) I have so far seen.
For the good Friday weekend, we were planning for a while for a good drive out of Bangalore. We were inquiring Ooty for long and slowly decided to not venture out during Summer, as the season is peak and everything gets too commercial around this time. We thought of Bandipur, but were too keen on hill stations given the weather. Finally came up with BR hills plan, close to 170+ km from Bangalore, that says a good 2-3hrs drive.
If I had called Horsley hills to be offering a different reality, what should I say about this place - fantasy? fear? fun? should be a mix of all of this.
Quite a "lot" of research, to check the weather, stay, routes, safety, activities etc and we ended up with just carrying nothing [on the head and hands ;)] other than a print out of google maps with the routes. Route goes very easy and defined, unlike the HH experience.
6.45 AM leaving home without any concrete plans. Tank had to be filled, ATM stopover etc, managed to set out, at 7.30AM, towards Mysore, 100+kms and then a diversion near Malavalli circle, (I was checking with my hubby dear if its the same as the M from MTR that stands for Mavalli, he says this is different and MTR history is based out of Udupi - both the hands up, I agree!)
Though we had all this clearly defined routes, we took a left near the circle and went into some gully in Malavalli and then came back to join Mysore road to hit the circle again hehe :D Got to notice a sign board ahead of the circle, only now, to take this diversion that ahead of the circle and not the free left at the signal, just at the circle! Anyway.. now the next 20+ km is a real challenge to your patience! The roads were bad, to say the least, the gears dint go up above 3. We stopped for Chai at a small shop between Malavalli and Maddur. It was so funny how the -walah's son wanted to show me some heroism on the cycle only to not notice the cycle stand was broken and his father had actually tied it up with a rope to the cycle. He pulled the stand off and the rope tore away, and then to see his father screaming and running towards him was a mischievous incident that my husband missed seeing, as he was away for his nature call :P
We then continued driving towards Kollegal, thats another 10-15kms from here, say. Kollegal is a decent town with a few hotels, looked like an important place for business for all the villages around. We went into a road side hotel for breakfast, that's when we decided to come back to this town by night for the stay. Picked up water, juice, chewing gums etc and then set onto the actual drive, 35km towards BR hills. 11-11.30AM at BR hills checkpost, we started driving upwards. The security at the checkpost told us that we would get accommodation up in the hills itself and they were telling us to goto the temple first.
The drive up was enjoyable. There was just nobody around for a stretch of say 3kms!? Both of us were scared like hell. I was trying to make some conversation - I got to read somewhere i' we have good luck, we will spot some wild-animals', to receive this bouncer back 'if we have bad luck!???!?' he continued, 'oh wild animals will spot us!?'
We carried on ahead the fear, thrill, excitement and everything, drove a few kms ahead, spot a view point. We just tried stopping to take a good view of the valley around, only to realize that it was a good amount of slope and then to get moving ahead in 1st gear became very tough. We did not get off the car and wanted to continue, the car engine went off a couple of times when he tried getting ahead and then he threw such a scared look at me, n then I went off for a while :P
Another 5-6km of good slopes, good roads, a very few hairpin bends and this implies the roads were steep. We decided to reach the temple first and 1/2 a km just before reaching the temple, the slope of the road was almost 70+ degrees. He had a nightmare, I could simply guess it!
We got into the temple to find the main sannidhi closed, only then we realized what the guys at checkpost were trying to tell us. We got to see a wedding, may be the most simple wedding I ever got to witness - can't skip mentioning that the groom was shivering like anything when he was tying the knot! We had the darshan of the amman and then decided to leave and look for an accommodation on the hills itself We decided if we get a good acco, we would stay put there itself and that we din't see a point anyway to go back to Kollegal for the night stay if only we find a good acco here itself. We left and went to a nearby hotel, as some of the shopkeepers suggested us to check with that hotel people. Its called 'Giri Darshan'. They were suggesting us to check out 'Gorukhana'. But before leaving I had checked their site and did not want to go for such an expensive accommodation for just 24hrs. So we were asking him for other options and then he showed us a building nearby which seemed like some Government quarters. We went there and the security guard/supervisor told us to check with another place closeby and to mention his name. As we entered the gate, we saw an i10 entering along and then those guys have approached someone before us, so luck just skipped favoring us.
We then decided to go back to Giri Darshan for lunch and then leave to Jungle lodges resort to check for acco. When I checked online, there were no availability, we still wanted to take a chance. Upon inquiring around about the location of JLR, we got to know its a place called K.gudi, that's another 20kms drive from BR hills. We got curious after reading all the reviews about JLR and wanted to check it out at least to know what's so special about it even if we are no going to find an acco there and as there was nothing much to do in BR hills, the time was only 3 or so, we did not mind doing a 40 more kilometer.
After a very very cheap lunch, by taste as well, we set onto the drive towards JLR. The route throughout was apt to the name, Jungle lodges! Completely into the jungle, very deep and dense, with no bit of human heads around, God what should I say, if we were scared climbing up BR hills, me calling this experience "chill-down-the-spine" or "lump-bobbing-up-and-down-the-stomach-and-throat" would be way too less than what we actually experienced. Fear, thrill, excitement multi-folded and what's more interesting was to just know nothing of what was ahead of us. As we continued, at several stretches, it was close to playing roadrash game, as in how the roads and everything seem to be formed as we get ahead, its just the same! So by plans if its like having no clue what was ahead, with the drive it was like literally we did not know what was ahead! The music player did not work while going, so it was more of random ruffled thoughts within and exchange of few stories and experiences, convincing each other that it was worth the experience and everything. After an absolutely wild 20km drive, we reached JLR. We got to check out their loghuts and tented rooms, and as expected they did not have any availability. We sat there in our car for a while listening to songs, got to spot elephants and deers. And then left to reach back BR hills to check out Gorukhana and decided if we aren't finding acco there, we should start driving down, max by 5PM as we read in a few reviews its absolutely dangerous to drive down the hills after dark.
When we hit Gorukhana, the manager there told us that they do not have anything available but they can provide some acco in their sister concern groups, V.G.K.K, who seem to run a welfare centre for the tribals, that includes school/college/hospital/hostels etc. They can show us a few rooms in the hostel rooms in that campus and we can pick if we like something. We went back to check at around 3.30. I must say the campus was so beautiful! A big lawn in the middle surrounded by round shaped cottages and a few buildings. So quiet and pleasant and then jungle view from everywhere! We checked out a few rooms and decided on some room and then planned to stay back there that night. The room we picked was amidst the cottages where some girls who were studying there were staying. I wanted to go for this one, because if at all we shout out for some help in case of emergence, may be there are people to respond.
After leaving our luggages, we went out again to the temple and came when it was just about to get dark. We got into the room, it did not have water, they were running with a very low-lit CFL tubes. There were some people to help. We paid a guy and asked him to get water. He wanted to rest for sometime and then we went out just to take a stroll in the campus given the beautiful lawns and the forest surrounded atmosphere. We sat on the staircase talking stories, a sudden thought 'they say it gets very dark in the forest soon, but its not the case here' and before we completed this statement, it got dark, so heavily dark. We walked back to the room and he wanted to take some rest before dinner.
He was just getting on to the bed, meanwhile noticed this moth what they call Gypsy Moth Caterpillar (kambali poochi in tamil). We got so allergic and then slowly the next one to next to next! We changed the position of the cots and then noticed a few of them up above the roofs, the rooms had this thatched roof. As it was getting darker, more of them started falling down and then we decided to get out of this room. Before that, I just told my husband that I would go, check with those girls as they might also be facing similar problems, so that we might find some solution. In parallel we were discussing, if at all they are not going to give us an other room, we should just sleep in the car, its way too dangerous being there overnight!
While coming back from the temple, I heard those girls chatting and then there was this girl who knew Tamil, to a very lil extent. I went near their room and was finding out. A few of them came out and were suggesting something to turn the lights off and that they will go away. My husband could hear the conversation from that room and when I went back to tell him what they suggested, before I started he said they did not understand what kind of insect you were referring to, the light logic won't work for shooing these off, go bring one of them and show. There were no signal in the mobile phone to reach out to anyone to ask for any help! Then I went and got 2 of them and showed, they got to know what it was and they went in search of their supervisor.
Before going ahead, I would want to write a little bit about the condition of this place and these people who live there. I went to meet those girls to check if they can help us by giving one of their rooms for us that night. The ones that we were given/shown had 3 cots, and we thought there would be 3 people living in a room and with so many rooms around, they might be able to accommodate themselves in the other rooms and give us theirs. But came to my shock was the clumsiness of those rooms with more than 8 girls stuffed into one room and all that! Phew! I simply gave up the idea of even asking them about it. I'm not sure why should that be the case when there were so many vacant rooms available in the campus! These girls live without proper electricity or water. They have to live up with the singly CFL lamps that they are given, to study/work/do anything! The question 'Aren't we blessed' should have an answer in superlatives was the only thing I had in mind after seeing all that!
Going back, we hear the supervisor's voice after a while in Kannada, shouting at them for trying to help us rather blaming them for giving such a room! He was shooing them away. I let my husband talk, and he decided to do the talking not by words. That guy was starting to explain, 'this is a forest and getting a room itself is tough here .. blah... '. Hubs' gave back the keys, implying if you have a decent room, let alone a good one, get me that, else we'll get our way out kinds. The supervisor was then yelling to one of the co-workers to show us the other rooms and then we went back to the very first room which we saw. The first thing was to look for the worms and then we found just one, this was way too better compared to the previous ones and we noticed a loft under the roof, fortunately. This is now the neatly laid cement one, as compared to the thatched roof that the room has. So even if there is going to be some on the roof, we can sleep under the loft and the probability of one falling down from there is too less. We were fine. With all the scary thoughts, we delved into a 4hrs of disturbed sleep, listening to the thunder and lightning outside, we just then knew what is it called 'forest rains' and a 2hrs of deep sleep to save us from so much of tiredness after the drive, skipping dinner. Okay, life can be like this too!
We were up by 5.45am and then saw it was just into dawn. We couldn't resist getting into the nature again. Went out to take a stroll, doing some research on the way that place was constructed and the lawns and garden that they were maintaining and everything. We sat on the rocks and clicked some pictures, chatting and yapping a lot. It was close to breakfast time and those girls were out for their day's start. We joined them along, did the morning chores and were ready to bid good bye to this institute. Now if I call it just an experience, I should be under rating it. We paid some money which they said will goto the institution's fund and we can claim tax for it. With a total new outlook towards the environment, we bid adieu to BR hills and started driving through the forest again to reach Kollegal for breakfast at Annapurna, if I remember correctly.
We started driving towards Bangalore, now via Kanakpura road, no potholes/manholes, a complete smooth drive, with a fulfilled holiday and a happy healthy mind.

Noticed this contact number for accommodation at a house which we missed getting. This might be helpful for some of you. 09036809218.

Isda Thai

I'm not sure what's driving me to write a review of this cozy, peppy restaurant now. But this one was long pending in my 'restaurant reviews' diary.

So this is yet another place on this porsche lively Banjara hills Rd no -12, rather they call it Jubilee hills, rd no 36, not very sure. Its above the Volkswagen showroom, the top 2 floors. Part of it on the top most floor is open roof decorated with some Thai style statues and other similar decors. I recommend visiting this place for dinner and make sure you get a table on the roof open area. The lighting is just perfect to the mood and sit with you favorite drink, under the moonlit sky with some simple lanterns lit all over, does it need anything more to life! I think no!

Being spent close to 4 years in Bangalore before going to Hyderabad, there wasn't one restaurant that I would tag "Ultimate" here though there definitely are some swanky, funky hang outs But Isda Thai, I must truly say is "Ultimate". Its a Thai based design, though the food is Indianized Thai! This place is not for those people who would want to take a plunge into the Hyderabadi briyani or want to eat till their stomach starts aching - their quantity is limited, taste is very very different! It might not fit into your budget if you're a person who is looking out on some cool deals with buffet options. So far, whenever I have gone, I have only seen the Audis VWs & BMWs decked up, okay so typical of Banjara hills. You can go by i10/zen as well, like what we did :P

There was this coconut based soup, with lot of cream and cheese, I don't remember the name, but I still feel the taste at the tip of my tongue, its crazy! May be the other Thai restaurants have similar menu, but after visiting this place, I just did not want to venture out on Thai style anywhere else.

Banjara hills, Hyderabad. A place I would love for life and every time I think of all that we got to do here, it takes me to heaven! Wish life has a rewind button, so hard!
If you're in Hyderabad, and haven't been here yet, you sure are missing out on something.

Kapil Chand

A guy, who was my school junior on and off since my nursery and later never been in touch with him. A week back, one of my close friend who was his classmate got to be in Bangalore and we got to talk after long on phone for a while. Came to my shock was the news that Kapil met with an accident. Slowly I hear my friend saying, he was on his bike, on the day of Mahaveer Jayanthi; on this curvy stretch of the road that connects my native to a nearby town from where he started, got hit by a lorry, fell down; had to call the ambulance, to reach the hospital, only to know that he will have both his legs no more. And then he tells me he is married for a year now! The moment I heard it from him, I did not react too big though I was very shocked. We spoke for another couple of minutes about fate and related things and how these play in someone's life & likes. We hung up.

Gradually through the day, the seriousness of the news that I heard started getting into my head, and it thumped very strong, that I just could not forget or come out of it for real long. I was thinking of this guy so badly, how we used to play together when in school. He had been our tuition-mate as well. My cousin's parents and his parents had common friends in the town and all that. The kind of nightmare I went through thinking of him and his nearest family and friends.

I could not just digest why should God be so unfair to not just answer some of life's question!
The next day I called up my aunt to find out if she had any updates on that. She was convincing me saying that he can have artificial legs fitted in a while, he would be able to do his things himself. Most of all she said that she heard it from his relatives that his wife is very strong more than everybody. She tells people not to worry and that they can live life like this without having even a least bit of problem. What worried me more was the kind of mental trauma these people would be going through, the frustration and then this "why ME"! And when I heard about his wife's reaction to this whole hardship she is exposed to at this small age, I really felt She is like a God-sent! Later my friend told me that even Kapil is very strong and that he just wants to focus on the future and getting ahead, rather than being stuck with what happened and waste time worrying about it!

What should I say! Was such an incident really need for us to realize 'life is about how we look at it; its a mirror that reflects back what we show it'!

God give them more life, more love, more maturity, more happiness all the time going ahead. Not just because they are going through something very tough in life, but for the way they have taught us what life actually is! Love 'em n hats off!

10 things that happen when the managers from US visit the Indian teams

1. More than half your day goes in meetings
2. In all the meetings, the US folks who are by birth/brought up Indians puts a lot of US accent while they try to explain all the statistics and timelines that they have for the next 5 years in those useless power point presentations.
3. You get to hear all those list of verbs/adjectives related to team work/hardwork a million times a day.
4. For once in a lifetime, you will get to hear thanks, thank-you, without-you-it-wouldn't-have-been-possible that you will be overwhelmed with your own performance
5. You will be given all the courage and strength to talk out on the thing that you've been thinking that gates the productivity of the team or yourself after the presentations in the so-called "Questions?" slide.
6. You will be beaten up almost to death if you had the guts to talk of the issue that you have actually been thinking through your work!
7. A few senior members in the team, only in terms of the number of years completed in the company/team, will get "rewards" that they were waiting for, all these years.
8. You see your managers/a few over enthusiastic peers' energy levels multiplied by God-knows-how-many-calories!
9. And then if there is a lady in the visiting team, the female counterparts get added attention. All of a sudden the woman in you is appreciated for just that reason, that you are a woman.
10. And beyond all this, if you're a service provider aka consultant aka contractor the dog's treatment still continues!!

Indian Breakfast Blog.

Cooking was one hell of a thing that I can ever be put into. At home, I grew up in a very strict environment. Mom is the most strict lady in the world, as a consequence I was always looking for a chance to get out of home, only to know what it is being away from home!! It gave me all kinds of experiences - whacky, funny, zombie, moody, angry and not miss anxiety! And at the end I just did not want to experience any of them. However, beyond all the restrictions I was put under and over, mom had never let me get into the kitchen. Be it anything, anytime, when guests are around or nobody at home, she never wanted me to get into the kitchen, well never for cooking. I did not like it. Mom did not enforce it.
So someday, when something called marriage happens and when you were always under this nice impression about a guy who has been a boyfriend for 4.5yrs, that he'll be the most helping lad turns out to be a cooking-hater only to your surprise, thence does not want to share the pain called cooking, that you have to go through everyday, this is what happens -You hit the google search for 'Indian breakfast blog' and there turns up nothing that exactly matches your phrase and I end up in this whole blogging story with this title!

I'm gonna quickly make a jist of all the simple breakfast items, with ingredients, that can save some precious time of your lazy mornings.
1. Idli/Dosa with some simple chutneys.
2. Upma
Rava/wheat rava/aval - fr respective upmas, Onions, Tomatoes, Carrots, Groundnuts, tadka.
I mess up Semia upma and rice sevige big time.
3. Pongal
Rice, moong dhal, pepper, cashew, ghee.
4. Ragi Rice porridge.
Cooked rice, Ragi, (Onions/Chillies - not a must)
5. Bread toast.
With(out) omlette. Jam, Butter, Chocolate
6. Variety rice.
(Tamarind puree/Tomato Onion/Lemon)- with tadkas/simple tadka.
7. Soya Dosa.
I get the mix from the nearby supermarket. Add onion/tomatoes whenever time permits.
8. Rava Idli
Again, buy the mix. Curd.
(Ragi balls -Haven't tried so far. But one of the easiest menu as my friend suggests.)
9. Pancakes
Maida, Rice flour, any fruit(s)/sprouts, Nutella, Lime,
10. And someday when you are bored enough to do any of this, just shoo your husband off and let them enjoy their freedom for a day with their most loved breakfast menu at the office canteen :P

*This post will have updates as and when I come across/remember/think of some menu*

Horsley Hills - A drive in tranquility

Wikipedia says ‘Horsley Hills, elevation 1,265 m, is a famous summer hill resort in Andhra Pradesh, about 160 km from Bangalore, India’. History goes back to 1840-43 during which a British officer W.D.Horsley chose this place to be his summer holiday destination and the place supposedly was named after him.
The drive to Horsley hills offered quite a different reality. Our trip was made in a Ford Figo Exi fully crammed with food, clothing and an Ego laptop that had the directions for us. Thanks to Tata photon that picked up network even in some of the remote villages of AP. A little bit of reviews from team-BHP helped truly.
At 6AM, on a Saturday we were ready with our bags with the notion of blindly following the route that Google maps had in store for us, that took us via Hoskote (after KR puram) to NH 4, then the entire length of Kolar on NH 4 till Nangali after crossing KA border. Then a left to hit NH 219, follow the road to Madanapalle and thence a diversion on the left to reach Horsley hills.
We managed to do 80-100kmph constantly on the NH and the best part of the connecting roads was that there was hardly any civilization found except for a very remote village or two in say, 25kms.
The estimated driving distance was 160km, while we ended up doing 190. Blame it on politics, as the ex-CM of AP was visiting Madanapalle at around the same time. We missed noticing a sign board, which was royally hidden behind the billboard (his portrait), that indicated the diversion to Horsley hills, that which charged us an additional 30+km. We discovered this whole obscurity while driving back only when we got to notice the rear side of this sign board.

Nevertheless, the additional drive gave us another stretch of beautiful scenery with a lot of fields and some forests and mountains on both the sides and a million other stunning things of nature which I really needn’t strike down, most importantly no human lives. The roads throughout the drive were smooth and neatly tarred. The drive from the mountain base till the hilltop is 9km with 6 hairpin bends, that are not so dangerous, covered on both the sides by dense forests at some segments and a lot of Eucalyptus trees grown on the slopes. We reached at 11AM with a couple of stopovers.

Once you reach the hilltop, AP tourism’s picturesque resort awaits you with variety of cottages, lawns and parks surrounded by giant mountains, foggy valleys, plains, forests with a lot of peace and solitude. Into the resort, there is a big banyan tree that marks a history. The whole land area of the hill station would be covered within approximately 1km radius. There is only one restaurant that serves quality food, and beverages. There are a few chai-walahs and shops that sell the most basic stuff required.

We enjoyed the striking sunset, sitting on the plains that slopes down to the charming valleys. The plan was to stay put that day and start driving back the next noon. We picked the cottage that had the best view out to the heaps and the one enclosed by good number of trees. They had some basic adventure activities that come for nominal rates. With a complimentary breakfast and a long chit chat under the banyan tree, we packed up our baggage at 11.30AM and started to leave.

The drive back was through the SH99, a left from Madanapalle and 100km straight down the single lane highway towards NH9, with a couple of villages alongside and villagers selling lot of fruits and veggies here and there. We stopped several times and piled up a lot of them into the already loaded car. Back in Bengaluru at 4.30PM and this time only 160km.

Pros:
- Best for a weekend drive, actual driving time - ~3hrs.
- Leisure holiday - Lot of nature, peace and solitude.
- Good weather. Ideal time to visit: Nov-Jan
Cons:
- Expect nothing beyond nature and yourself.
- Not ideal for family outings.

Beyond the land of Hattamala!

Got to watch this at the Jagriti theatre in Whitefield last night and I must say it was worth a watch. It's one of my friend's debut Play and I just couldn't miss being there. Its was very hectic ride at the peak evening hours of B'lore traffic through the outer ring road, total distance of about 35kms, as it was a sudden plan. The show was at 8PM and I had called a friend of mine to check out for the route in Google maps and as per what I heard from him, it sounded the theatre was not on the main road, and then a big sigh of relief to just bump on it on the Whitefield road itself came up totally to our surprise.

Coming to the actual play, it was quite an experience.

The initial 15 minutes, before the actual start of the show, they did some formations which was a slow motion thingie. Good try and should have been a good warm up to the casts. Once the play started, it was a mix of Kannada, Hindi and English. Kenappa, the main male cast's whole script was in Kannada, and a ton round of applauds to him to deliver it just real. A lot of times the audience caught up with giggles for all the funny dialogues he had. The experience showed up. I have got to see a small piece of his monoacting once before in my company, and if I remember correctly, it was in English. A very good one. Becha was no less, I still remember the way she was throwing up some stares. So funny. Hers was complete English script. She did greater than what's justice to the role. Both the main cast were great actors, and all their efforts seemed to have paid. The other characters that come as a part of the play too did the best of theirs. Each of them had to play multiple roles for different scenes. I just keep wondering how could they manage remembering the sequence and all the dialogues in addition. A job too greatly done. And then there was this guitarist, an old man. He had the excellent skills of singing and that promptly made up for what a lil that was missing here and there.

So now coming to what dragged me to the show. This guy, I almost went on the verge of calling him a pester for all the marketing he was doing all over. He was living with the play, I guess for more than 2 months, whenever we got to speak wherever it is, all I could hear from his was Beyond, BTLH etc etc. He was on this instrument side. Playing some 3 different kinds of instruments namely Bongo, Rainstick and Agogo. A great opportunity to show up his skills and according to me he had used it really well. His debut show and it just did not look like that at all! Kudos.

On the whole the play had quite a good impact on the audience. We went on to remember the dialogues and started relating to them at certain instances. There were no real flaws found except for one or two here and there, which might definitely not a big deal when you come out with this whole sense of gratification for a time well spent.

And beyond that hattamala, moneyless world is quite a fantasy. How I wish we all get to experience that in the real world.

I would upload the poster that I made for this soon, as I dont have the originals with me right now. After all, even I had put in some of my 2 cents for this, you see ;)

- *Poster uploaded on Mar 08*

Godspeed to you good people!

Saraswathi Pooja - 2010!

Been through a very very hectic schedule over the past few weeks. starting pooja holidays till date. Cant imagine how time ran by! This year Saraswathi pooja was a whole different celebration for me. Gollu (as we call it in tamil) had always been a hidden fascination for me. When I was a kid, I used to see it in some of the relatives house and a fewer times have helped them setting it up too. And in the famous Chidambaram temple, this has been followed religiously ever since I was a kid. Visiting the temple every year around this time just to see the gollu is like an important outing that every family does to actually feel complete of that year's pooja celebrations. I have personally seen a lot of aunts and grand mothers who have missed seeing gollu talking about missing it and feeling bad till the next gollu.
This year, my mother-in-law had set it up at our home in Hyderabad and she asked me to goto the neighboring houses and invite everybody home to see the Gollu. This was the phrase I had to memorize for that 'Maa inti-lo bommalu pettamu; perantaniki randi' ;) And my husband's cousins, 2 of them (Sindhu n Vandhu :D) helped me memorizing that. 3 of us went around the streets talking stories about the 'Vangipuram' family and of course, a lot about my husband :) When friends and relatives visited, gave them thamboolam and took blessings from everybody. The gollu that I had always wanted to celebrate at my own house and God had blessed me with that this year. Feels so glad and a lot of excitement still. Planning to do this at my Bangalore house next year, let's see how things go!
We visited few of the relatives for lunch, dinner etc ;) Lot of relatives, neighbors, cousins and friends I got to know in person, now my world is a little more bigger that consists of those people whom my husband had known from his childhood, a complete different feeling that can just not be described, learnt how important it is to be in touch with relatives and how actually the relationships of those kinds work in real time. At my husband's mama's house they had kept gollu too and that weekend being my mother-in-law's mother's thidhi, we were called there for lunch after the pooja. After lunch, I was asked to sing song. I sang ennavale, alaipayuthey kanna and kurai ondrum illai - all tamil numbers, but the 2 krishna genres actually has a series of his names and so not considered completely tamil tho'. And found out that the best moment of applause for a girl is when her husband tells her, "after a few years of knowing each other" (why this - is because applauds happen very often during the beginning years, but the same thing after a few years down the line is of a total different level of maturity that exists in the spouse and that was unfound all these years - something that strengthens the marital bond!) that she has done quite a good job and that it was more than what he actually expected. Yes, experienced that! that too for him, it was a bigger surprise that I could sing some devotional numbers, all by myself ;)) Thanks to the Veena classes and the early morning prayers my mom used to involve me in!
Had done my part to satisfy everybody. It was a great vacation and thanks to my husband for helping me be the way everyone there wanted me to be. After coming back, seems like my mother-in-law had got feedback from people around that she had got a good daughter-in-law that she went on to tell my mom that everybody there liked me and all the praises that they seemed to have poured. Mom was yet again a proud mother of this daughter and for me nothing in the world is worthier than that!

My husband and our marriage.

Firstly, I wasn't sure of starting to write on this title today. But then I did not want to wait anymore. So, the twenty second of August, two thousand and ten.. the day that was yet another beautiful entry to a whole new entity of life. the day I/we got married! I must say it was a very long preparation that went on for four years right from opening it to parents to getting them say a 'yes' till here. The wedding talks started on the third of April, two thousand ten between both the sides and since then it was all like what happens in any other arranged marriages. A lot of talks, lot of doubts, so much of confusion, anxiety, misunderstandings but what ruled out all of these is that both the side parents were concerned most about the happiness that him and I would share after all these things that are getting messed up.
So, further about the wedding as such - it was a bilingual communion - tamil and telugu. The customs and traditions that were followed in the wedding was completely Telugu Iyengar ways of wedding. Starting from the pre-wedding rituals that they do for the groom, then the edhirkolal and then the oonjal sevai, jilakara bellam till tieing the knot.
What impressed me the most was the oonjal sevai. I have got to experience this before in some of my friend's relatives' weddings and have always admired it. They made us sit in the oonjal (swing) and swing it slowly, do some aarathi, sing songs - seetha kalyana vaibohame, the traditional one. Once all that usual ritual was over, they asked a few of them in the crowd who are known for singing to sing. Then came up the 'kurai ondrum illa' and then the alaipayuthey kanna and a few more of krishna genres like 'krishna nee begane' etc :) As such I love music and listening to songs, devotional ones generally elevate my energy and that moment of the whole occasion was like "THE" moment for me! Thanks to my sister's friend Priya who had nominated my side singing 'kurai ondrum illai' which was such a memorable and intelligent pick. Needless to mention his sister and brother-in-law who are a family of singers to add up to the colors and happiness.
Finally for them keeping the jilakara bellam on each others heads is the most important part of the wedding, though that did not give me much of a wedded feel ;) and then when he tied the knot, I will definitely run short of words to explain what/how it was, I can only feel it, the feeling that's most special to me, the feeling that only both of us can understand.. I couldn't control the gush of tears and emotions, mom next to me and periyamma opposite to me, I saw them crying too! All of us finally left a sigh of relief and the whistle was removed to let out the 3 hrs of pressure that was built up inside my head! I don't think I had ever gone through such a tension filled situation in life before!
The moment my boyfriend became my fiance and went on to become my husband. We went on to live together, in the same house, together day-in and day-out. Its quite different! The amount of patience we had to hold on to. the kind of rights we exert on each other. Yet at the end of the day, we realize, all only because of the kind of love that lives up amongst the two of us. My husband, definitely is the greatest, The smartest! There are only a very few people in the world who are lucky to get a balance between in-laws' and parents. And he definitely is one among them, intelligent fella! ;) The Mauritius trip - worth a mention. That's an amazing wedding gift, likewise there are only a very few ladies out there who are lucky enough to find a husband like mine. My convenience before his needs. I can go on to sing a My-Husband-greatest purana. But for now, I'm just leaving it here.
Thank God for such a wonderful gift for life.
And for the readers, may you have someone who loves you crazily enough and several years down the line, may you look back to realize that the love this person showers on you, is multi-zillion times more than what you feel today!
God bless!

F.R.I.E.N.D.S

A little bothered me since two days, not sure why, about my recent past, I mean my past 1yr or so life at Hyd with these 2 Ss! Friends I have ever met in this very very mean and competitive corporate world. The best of their kinds!
That 1 year was just a total bliss in this life. Enjoyment more and more day by day. There is no one place that I can list in Hyd that we have not visited and each place has its own special memories. This kind, probably everyone out there would want to go through, atleast for a fraction of months in their lifetime. Our day begins so late in the morning and goes on really late in the nights. Frankly, a lot of people were so envious of us and the kind of friends we are, through the thick and thin. There is no difference that we saw amongst us. There is no one thing that bothered any of us during those times. Laughter, laughter and laughter - that filled our life and it was so blissful! I don't remember there was one time when we let one of the three cry, rather cry alone. The amazing plans that we used to make every evening, restaurants, pubs, coffee shops, icecreams. the colorful weekends, and the times we used to simply wait for those lazy Saturdays and then we sit for a late evening lunch with the biriyani from Hyderabad house. And then there is this one warm bear hug from the big S ;) that encloses the other 2 of us and the indescribable happiness that encloses the 3 of us. That crazy thing when we used to put on music in S's 10x10 room doing some electrical work to connect those old speakers ;) and then it was all heaven. Do not know what got us so close. Not sure why we did not have a second thought to fill our life with just the 3 of us. No selfishness, no variations. Movies list was endless! The times we used to run at 2.20 for a 2.25 show; the night shows after which I used to get dropped in my PG, the locked gate and my shrill voice 'watchman watchman', the phone call I make after I enter the house and that's their go-ahead to leave from there. Conference chats in the office communicator where we tease and rip the whole lot of those nutty heads at office amidst the hectic work. The way they used to be behind me to make friends with some new girl in the team. Those long drives in the night, we talk about the most useless issues in the world and then end up drawing stupid conclusions. The way I was teased for being girlie at times and how they used to fulfill those girlie wishes like visiting Shilparamam for a mehendi with no other go. The times we used to sit in the pantry, talk and laugh like nuts that the whole office could hear us. 'Never-mind-everything-is-ours' attitude. And then the way we planned the birthday surprises. How I loved to see Sud saying that it was the first time he had put cake on his face in life on his birthday! And how I wish I can be lucky time and ever to give you that. Anything that we did was right, there were no restrictions. One of us do something, there are these 2 other heads to nod. No one time you are allowed to feel low. When we are away during vacations, that was only a break we used to take and we just used to get back and be the 3 of us. I'm realizing all these simple things now, when they have actually become memories. Times that went by was so light, mind used to think so serious of anything. The number of times we had visited the airport must be countless, regardless of the local/international trips that any of us made! And the tough time we used to have with KL-11 still admire it for living through the tortures I used to give it. I was pampered, loved, admired, scolded, irritated, all at once like never before/after! I do not know how was I ready to miss that side of life. I'm sure there is nothing like it again anytime. I need them all back. I need my Friends back. I yearn to live with and feel the selflessness yet again. Probably, the first time I'm missing a friendship this worse. I dont remember a time before in life when I have missed friends so much. Gone by times and all that I'm left with now - memories! We will live that way all through our lives, I'm sure.
And here, for you the reader, from the 3 of us, I'm wishing you that you feel such a friendship atleast once in your lifetime. And may the mix of emotions that leaves my throat constricted now fills you someday that you realize what real happiness is!