Weaving it and stopping by!

Life is a string of moments, which we weave. We always love to pause in a little while, to observe how good it looks. Sometimes, we try and weave it very slowly, to ensure that even the smallest bit of it comes out perfectly, and spend hours admiring it, whereas sometimes, we unknowingly weave it very fast, without spending a moment to cherish what we are doing or experiencing. Very often, the pace with which we weave and the elements we use, are not under our control.

For the last one month, mom had been with us, in Mumbai. Dad joined us towards the end of the month, to celebrate mom's birthday and new years. As a no surprise, the time flew very fast. I enjoyed every bit of time spent with my family. Me and my dad used to go for a walk every day, after dinner. He is more like a friend, than a dad, and listening to him about how he has lived his life and how content he is now, is always music to my ears. Though without mom's approval, we even managed to sneak out to a nearby restro-bar for an unwinding session. One of his best qualities is that he always tries to fulfill his wishes and also encourages us to do the same.

While mom is quite the opposite of dad, she is one who has the capacity to work perennially, and loves it too. Its almost impossible to see her take rest, and relax. She gets up every morning at 6, and takes the responsibility of all the household work to be done. A Phd in sociology (gold medalist) and a housewife by the course of nature (as she often says), she is simple, naive, energetic,a doer and an inspiration in herself! 

Gutlu, my little niece, turned 8 months today, is absolutely adorable. Even now, when she is yet to grow teeth, she greets everyone with a smile. If you are new to her, she will take her time to scan you, and only after she is done scanning, will she make you her friend. Just seeing her smile is enough to make your day. 

A short trip to Mahabaleshwar was definitely one of the high points of this family time. It gave me, didi and jiaji, the Mumbaikars, a way to temporarily break out of mumbai's mundane life. While mom and dad were neutral, they definitely loved visiting a new place. Great resort, thulping at Mapro, twice, good weather, me, jiaji and dad posing beneath the three monkey point and stopping at small shop to buy an induction cooker, which i doubt, will be used ever again, definitely made the trip memorable. 

Office was more or less neutral, barring the team outing we had yesterday, which was terrific. I am also scheduled to travel to Dubai, next week, for 6 days, and I am really looking forward to it. 

With all the elements I have been presented with so far, 2014 looks like a good year in the making. So here's to the continuing life. I hope to weave out a good story for this year, and who knows, may be I'll stop by more frequently to cherish it as well! 

Of Choices and Changes

Yesterday, I completed the first year of my first job.I had been thinking about this for quite some time, more so because I had been at home for the last one week without any work. I wanted to celebrate the occasion, and even left the office early.

As I sat in the auto I pondered, about how this entire year had been. I thought about the life I had been living in college before joining the firm and about the friends I made there. I remembered my optimism like that of a fresher who feels like winning the world on the very first day of the job. I remembered how the corporate world then, gradually started feeling mundane with every passing day and how I tried to retain my enthusiasm for enjoying the life I had. I thought about the first team of colleagues I worked with, about the excuses I made to be able to make it to the college reunions, about my transfer, and many more things.From people to places, it seemed everything was changing.

Swimming in a sea of thoughts, did I hit a question still unanswered in my mind. In the midst of the ever changing surroundings, there had to be something about ourselves that did not change. The thing about us that defined us. That something in each of us, which stays forever. 50 years down the lane, if we happen to meet again, what will it be that you would still be able to recognize in me?

Certainly, such a trait is present in everybody and needs to be identified. We are usually engrossed in the choices we make in our life, be it regarding career, higher education etc. and end up choosing the generally accepted option. I believe that any such choice should be in sync with our inherent quality more than anything else.

As for myself, I haven't figured it out so far. Probably it would take some time. But this journey of self discovery has surely begun! Meanwhile, as I stated earlier, I wanted to celebrate the occasion. So cheers to everyone as I sign-off to gulp some Absolut!

Its been a while..

Its been a while, since I last wrote something here.

And meanwhile, a lot of things have changed. I have finished my college, have a new profession, a new city to explore. Life has practically taken a turn around. All those friends and people with whom I spent last four years of my life seems to have just disappeared somewhere from my sight , and its only rarely that you get to hear from them.

There were days, back in college, when life was fairly simple. Friends, hostel, stadium, occasional booze, nothing to worry about and nothing to fret over. It was like a dream when you don't have to care for anything and life was as easy as it could possibly be.

Bang! and suddenly you realize that your free time is over, you are kicked out of the heaven, and thrown to the real world!

Real world, If somebody would have tried to explain to me about this, when I was in college, I would have probably laughed it off, taking it to be some nonsensical-illogical-crap.

But the fact is , as I understand it today, real world is different and indeed challenging. Off-course, you still have the liberty to live the way you have always had, but you had dreams then , and real world is place to make them come true. You are supposed to make choices, act, do things, commit mistakes, crib about things you don't want, everything in the pursuit of finding your true self and adding those missing elements in your life which you crave for.

Deep down it feels its going to be long and good!

Immense Pleasure

It gives me an immense pleasure to be back to blogging, thanks to two friends who told me how they relive and cherish every moment, about which they have written on their blog... Nice way to remember those memories... eh??

And yes it does gives me an equally immense pleasure to write a blog post, after being high, being senti, in the reminiscent mood, almost on the verge of extension, awaiting the result of a correlation which might just help me get my degree on time, and let me enjoy my sister's wedding!

I am glad..

Love these days, love my college life!

Insti Days

The Otherside

Some mornings are bound to be gloomy..

You get up, browse through the newspaper and the first thing you notice is that a major finance company just laid off 50 k employees! You are all wtf’s, as it suddenly strikes you “Wasn't this company coming for recruitment??"
Moving on with the morning, I went to the bog, while brushing, remembered the conversation I had with a senior the other day (on how a top financial firm goes about laying off its employees, in Bangalore):

Senior: It's not good dude!
Me: How?
Senior: Well, the manager comes to your desk, and asks you for a coffee. You surely go along with the manager. You come back realize that your system has been locked, and its password has been reset. Then, to explain things, your manager takes you out for a drive, which ends up exactly at your residence, with you being told “Get down and move on dear, best of luck!"
Me: Shit!
Though it’s not always that such thoughts come to my mind, but with a little less than two weeks before the placement session begins, it seems natural.

As if the fate had it this morning, I went down to the mess hall, only to find a branch councilor, disclosing that another recruiter has bumped placements this year. And he wisely advises "Listen machcha, it is worrosssttt max this time. Put fight for whatever companies that are coming. By the way, how did you write CAT?"
"CAT?" sounded like a perfect nail to the coffin-box, because I didn't write CAT on account of my application getting rejected. Inevitably, my appetite for the breakfast broke loose then and there itself, and I tried to cheer up myself and figure out other options.
Returning back to my room, feeling like not doing anything, I again picked up the newspaper.
As anticipated, it was flooded with articles on financial meltdown, layoffs, and market recessions. To add to the fury, even talks in the wing and peer groups eventually converge to the same theme.

Its obvious that the placements this time don’t guarantee to be a spectacle , but its just a matter of days and I'll be through with it, again on the other side . Till then, its business as usual. The only positives I can sense from here are that I'll still be from the golden jubilee batch of IITM, after all ours was the last batch to enter IIT's clearing screening and mains both, and the only passing out batch ever to face such a recession.

Countdown to Chinese Democracy

Awaiting the release of sixth studio album of

Guns N' Roses, on 23 November.

7 more days to go.