Be Right Back

I will be back. Watch out!!

This post can be considered to show the signs of returning back to blogging.

Be right back….

Happy New Year 2011

Alright, I am gonna update blog regularly from now. Thats one of several new year resolutions 🙂

Had a really good time on the new year day. But was occupied and even now getting occupied with work. Before that I wanted to update.

Few iPhone video uploads, the fireworks in Marina Bay for new year.

Cheers 🙂

New year fireworks:

Video 1

Video 2

Video 2 seems to be tilted sideways!!!

 

Staying away – my updates

It has  been more than 1.5 years that I wrote something here. Staying away what have I been doing? Putting down: short updates since I wrote last.

The last time I wrote was when I got my birth day celebration photos, that was in Cognizant. I quit cognizant in 5th May 2009 and joined Keane the very next day.  It has been 6 months I am working in Keane. Time passes so soon. I had given my XAT, SNAP last year. Had not the market condition- recession touched peak, I would be doing my MBA in some institute, would have finished one year by now!!  The reason same applies for quitting Cognizant. Few changes in the team made me think for other opportunities. Not that I did not like the new role I got just few months before I left, but it was just getting hectic. Change in role is always good if  you work in a pleasing time and not completely to the new required timings.  I did learn a lot after that transition. Well it was time to move on to new job and Keane gave me a chance. Now I am deprived of weekend holidays but do get in the middle of the week-the same complete two days.

Not to forget about the drafts which never got chance to get posted.  The trips to theppakadu with cognizant team;  Melkote, Shivgange with batchmates and bus mates. Vellore and Thiruvannamalai with family in our car. Confirmation and travelling woes  in cognizant,   also one more post about job switch all remains as draft and I would not think of completing them and posting as I think they are stale!!

My Bday @office

First birthday celebrated in corporate life! The photos speak everything.

I don’t have an answer if you ask why 3 candles!! It may be because: CTS-3 letters, WMC-3 letters(The client I work for)

Looking at the camera!

My team(few are missing)

Life @ Cognizant

After first day in C V Raman nagar we were told to report at Airport road office the next working day for training. The training lasted for more than two months. At the beginning of the training I had no clue it would have a beautiful ending. I always thought training would be very boring. The basic idea behind the training and the work after that had created few doubts in my mind. But whatever it was, at the end of two months it was like a time bound journey which will stay in the memory for years from now.

Initial days were spent thinking when the training gets over and we will start working. But as the days passed it was not the same. At times I have felt why don’t this continue for two more months. It was all fun to be in that training. I had a nice time listening to the trainer! Most of the times it was not true. Best part is the outlook chat! As there were no chat engines(web sense) outlook played a major role. Entire day the screen would not stay without outlook. Also the games we used to get from other batch mates. The days passed too fast than expected. I can not forget the days we played basket ball and cricket. My college was located in J C road, can imagine in that busy area there was no playground. It was like I had not played for years. To compensate that we almost played everyday unless we had a strict trainer who would not leave till the minute. Not to forget the tests. Fudge, share, copy everything was allowed till we were caught!!!

Life at academy had one more best part I can always remember. The bus journey. I can continue writing for pages about the bus journey. Dc being the best part.

1st Day @ Cognizant

I joined Cognizant on 17th August. The first day was very good. They made us feel very comfortable. The fear of being exposed to the corporate world did not prevail for long. We were made to play virtual volley ball after taking our signature on various documents. The basic idea of making us play virtual volley ball was to know each other in the batch. First we were divided into 6 groups consisting of 5 members in each team. My team reached till finals and we were runners up. But we were presented with the same prize as of the winners. That was a cap on which the company name was written on the sides. After lunch we were told to report at wockhardt hospital for medical check up. This is a group snap of my batch. There are 30 in my batch. One missing in the snap. .

Touring continues….

After coming from Ooty the very next day I packed the bag and left to my grand parents village. Whatte fun it was this time! Though It was too late I somehow got a reservation for the night journey in Shimoga express. The train did not leave on time. It was late by 20 mins. However the train takes 6 hours during night time. But It was late. I had to change two buses to reach the destination. The frequency of the buses is one hour one bus! I missed the second bus the next bus was after one hour. The telephone connections went dead due to heavy rains. I did not have network coverage. Without second though I decided to walk. I had to walk 10 km to reach my destination. I just wanted to reach home before the next bus would reach. I knew I would not make it. I fell 5 min short. I had walked 8 km. My speed had decreased. To help me I was dropped to my destination by someone I dint know. First he thought I was some naxalite! I was sweating in that rain too and my face looked red. But I wade it. I reached my uncles house before the bus reached there.

It was raining heavily for next few days. I visited all nearby places in that rain. One of the day I went to meet my sister. She stays in a hostel some 25 km away. My uncle gave his bike. It was very good driving there. Me after driving my unicorn I don’t feel like driving any bike. But I was wrong, my uncle’s Zeus was good enough. In the city limits I hardly get to ride in top gear for more than 10 min. From the start I was in top; until I got few steep curves. On the way it started raining heavily. I could not stop as my sister had classes. It took 20 min to reach Koppa where she had her college and hostel. Even while returning it was raining heavily. I traveled a lot this time in rain which made it a memorable one.

One of my uncles and his family desired to come to Bangalore as they had not come from long time. My college days had come to an end and I was free all the time. This gave an opportunity to roam with them. The main place of visit was Bannerghatta National Park. The Safari was for 20 min but it was good. I can say I had a closest face to face with a tiger. The bus moved at the movement I could capture only the body part in camera . I missed its face! I had heard about Butterfly park. It was a bit disappointment. It was not upto my expectation. The butterfly exhibit of various kinds and the arrangements for them to survive in that place was soothing. Iguana and Zebra were new to me! Other than that there were many birds and animals in the zoo which I felt I had seen them at least one. The collection was surprising. It is worth a one-day program.

Tour de Ooty

Here I’m back writing about the awesome experience about the recent trip to Ooty with friends-Gautham, Avi, immi, Sunil, Sujay.

On June 30th early morning at 3 30 we left Bangalore. We had booked a Tata Sumo. We took a first stop at Cafe Coffee Day on the Mysore road just few kilometers from Mandya. We have a nice time there. The purpose of stopping there was to get rid of sleep. But no one seemed to feel sleepy. The next stop was at St. Philomena church at Mysore. It had started raining at times we felt it would destroy our program. But it was mild and chilling. It did not last long. There was a break to take snaps in front of Mysore Palace. Though we were in hurry to reach Ooty as earlier as possible we faced few problems on the way.It was well in the city of Nanjanagudu that our vehicle tyre gave a major problem. It almost took one hour from 7 15. We had coffee and waited till we could resume. At 8 30 we were still more than 100 km to Ooty.After crossing Madhumalai and those 36 hair pin curves we reached Ooty by 12 30. We had booked the lodge from here. Hotel Nahar residency. It was a real pain to search Hotel. When we asked route to that hotel, people there just said “STRAIGHT”!, even thought there would be no road straight!!! Then we had lunch at ‘Ooty meals’. It had already started raining. Our first place of sight seeing was Ooty lake. Boating was there but I had a fear they would stop it as soon as went there. When a year back I had been to Ranganathittu. the boating was stopped till the rain stopped . But here they did allow. Rs 250 for 8 heads and for 20 mins. We were only six. I saw a family with a kid. I called them to join us. So it was a full boat journey for half an hour. Next was Doddabetta. It was the best place in the entire trip. We went there at the perfect time. It is the highest view point in south India. It is 8138 MSL(mean sea level). The temperature was very low about 3-4’c. The entire place was covered mist but at a time it got evaporated and there was a clear view. Then we had to search for Fernhill Palace. We almost wasted 20 mins. At last when we got it we came to know it was a guest house. The palace did not entertain visitors. Botanical garden was the next in the list. The garden was cool. A nice time pass. But what shocked us the most was the parking. There was no board or instructions for parking. But as sson as we took our vehicle out a person having the parking receipt charged 50 bucks. The entrance for the garden for one head was Rs.10 but for parking its 50!! Our day with sight seeing came to an end. We had nice time in the hotel that night.

Coonoor: The whole of next day we had to finish places at Coonoor and return to Bangalore as early as possible. On the way we also wanted to go for a safari at Bandipur. We had to reach Bandipur by 4 PM. The day started off bit slowly. The way to Shola forest was very scenic. The roads were not too good but however it was well maintained there. In Shola forest we came across a view point from where we could see the rail passing from many kilometer above it. The point was called Pakka Surana view point. From there we went to Lamb’s rock view point and Dolphin Nose viewpoint. They were all similar with enormous scenic beauty. We were running out of time so we had to drop laws falls.Another botanical garden Sim’s park was thw last till lunch. After lunch we left for Bandipur. We reached Bandipur at 5 15pm. The bad news was waiting for us. It was july 1st and in Karnataka safari at many places were called off for a month from that day! With this our vehicle broke down at Gundalpet at 6 50 PM. We took a tea break by the time the vehicle had to be repaired. We reached Mysore by 8. The problem did not end. Almost when we reached Mandya again vehicle gave a problem. This time it was a major one. It was a Sunday night and all the automobile shops were closed. The driver was from Mandya and his family was out up there. He somehow managed to get the vehicle repaired by 10 PM. From there we took two and half hours to reach Bangalore.