Birthday bash.....

Its been long, that I have not done justice to my beloved readers….If I had been a Shakespeare or a Tolkien or a McCarthy etc, I wouldn’t have given a shit before using that line…..bah!, but the fact remains, I never got time to update my blog in the recent past…This being the first post since then, I am assuming your benign patience :P Well….with no better topic in mind, I thought I’d rather pen down the affairs of the most wonderful day so far this year, which happened to be my birthday! :)

Starting off…from the previous night, I was badly pissed for a lot of reasons, had a really long n tiring day in the office, slogging my ass off…I had to stay back later than usual, so eventually I missed the last shuttle of the day by hours…

My cubicle mate, Uday cancelled his dinner plans with his roomies & chose to drop me home on his bike at around 11 in the night. I decided to treat him, for which he accepted only on account of my on coming birthday…Boy! that was some dinner, a typical Andhraite cuisine, we had their special ‘all-rice’ meals. He being an andhraite we went to Nandhini Hotel, famous for its Andhra-style delicacy…

On the way back home, I realized it was not long…and desperately wished if it was somehow possible to postpone my birthday by a couple of weeks. Not holding any expectations what so ever, the only wish I had, was to be able to spare some good amount of time so that I can speak to my family whole heartedly…But guess!, I was in for quite a surprise... not just one but a series of surprises :)

Hmmm…as I entered the house I found one of my office friends - Nitin, already sitting inside with Varun (my room mate cum project mate) and his elder bro Ashu was busy on his own….I was actually glad to see him, but since my ambiance was reflecting sardonic monotone since long, I chose to remain quite, casual & as-a-matter-of-fact-ish. Harpreet had to follow support timings and Rohit (another room mate) works on shifts, both were no where to be seen…

Suddenly around 11:50 Sardaar(a.k.a Harpreet) made an entry carrying 5 bottles of beer…looked at me casually and said…

”sab log busy the, aur late aaye….sare shops band ho chuke the to cake nahi mila…I could not help it, isi se kaam chala le”

I said….fine, no issues at all….a stress buster was more than anything that I needed at that time….I went into my bed room to change, then right as the clock struck 12 I heard voices outside in the hall, turned around, saw a hint of Rohit’s shirt (he had come down from the office asking an early leave for the day)

Next moment…….

I was being laundered!!...literally, the noise was worse than what you will find in ‘dhobi ghat’…5 people on a rampage, beating me with stuff I could never have imagined in my dreams…there were Rods, Chappals, Hangers, Skipping rope and I was even threatened by a Leather hunter…Well It was hard to fathom if they were expressing their immense love or relishing their long held desire to even things out, wonderfully disguised by the occasion…Rohit particularly mentioned…”Main to nahi chodunga sale pade ko…bahut maraya hoon me tere birthday ke liye” Damn!…from that moment, I decided, the only day I’ll most eagerly await will be my room mates’ birthdays!!.....

After about 30 minutes of bashing and running around the house, when they finally realized that they might have equaled if not exceeded the count, compared to the total count of beatings, I would have taken in my history of 23 years, I gasped for some breadth…only to find myself running bare feet on the road, the very next moment…

Imagine….12 30 at night at a very peaceful residential locality, running out like mobsters…Things were fine till I was chasing Rohit with the bottle of sprite but it gets a bit nasty if you have a Sardaar wild in hot pursuit, in the middle of the night, holding a bottle of beer and madness struck in his mind…I had accepted it looong before it went over me…

Next when we returned home, I found they had brought the cake as well :)….It was kept safe at our owner’s refrigerator…Then went on the usual cake cutting ceremony followed by a 'cake-body-massage'…No wonder I enjoyed purposely falling over Harpreet’s mattress with beer, sprite and cake laden clothes…That was by far the best part of the night! :D :D

(from left- Nitin, Varun, Rohit, Me and Sardaar...Ashu took the pic)

We wrapped up later with having beer & sutta at our usual hangout, the front parking space of the house before we went to sleep…

The next day I woke up early, took sardaar’s bike and went up to the temple as promised to my dear mum…Immediately after that I received their blessings on the phone…already rejuvenated and happy, before ending the call, my ‘Pa’ asked me to check for a courier in the office…wow more surprises!!!

Upon reaching office, little did I expect that my mail box will be loaded with Birthday wishing mails :) Some unknown people, some of whom I wouldn’t have spoken more than a word in the entire year, had actually bothered to take some time out to send in their warm wishes…May be it shows the power of MindTree’s ‘bench strength’, but still I wouldn’t have done that just for anybody…

Next big surprise, my PM came to my desk around 12 in the noon, to hug and kiss me good bye!! :) He confirmed my release and added he doesn’t want the authorities to bite hiss ass questioning, if I were to be found working there again :) :)

And I did not waste a split second, getting moved by the emotions of the moment, immediately messaged Sardaar n Rohit to stop all the shit they were busy with and book the tickets, cuz we were goin to GOA!!!!! They responded to my SOS with more conviction than expected and quickly explored all the possible options of jugaad …travel agents, on-line sites, jack through somebody’s contact etc…

In the afternoon, I checked out the dispatch dept for my courier and found a lovely T-shirt awaiting me in the parcel. I have always loved my bro’s choice…:) and I thanked god that the day couldn’t have any been better…..but I guess it had more in store for me…

I continued with my work, and at around 5 :30 a mail popped up from Varun. It was sent to the entire team. This is exactly what it read…

“Let us all gather together at Phase 3 cafeteria to celebrate Devar’s Birthday….Bring along with you what ever tool and stuff you can get…sticks, woodland shoes etc etc… to ensure a happening time :)“

Dang!!! No sooner did I finish reading it, every one had already started. It was so sincerely planned and immaculately timed…that it made our project look shamelessly secondary before the cause :P …I was probably carrying the most austerely dumb expression of a happy fool over my face, not able sink in the reality of the moment as I had never expected anything like this, especially considering the kind of atmosphere that was prevailing in the recent days. I was vaguely aware of people murmuring around the way up, either patting my back or warming their hands in a threatening gesture, while I was struggling hard to keep myself calm, composed & again, as-a-matter-of-fact-ish…For those who do not know how my project runs, things like these, never happen, even our PM confronted Varun asking the reason for this partiality :) (Thanks bro.. :))

Well…it happened…more than 50 people had gathered, 2 large cakes were cut, some went over my body for which I too tried to retaliate although it was hard to do while sustaining that gentleman-ly behavior… Then as per the tradition I got loads on my bum...(for a moment Varun had forgotten he had a lingament tear in one of his legs..), then PM handed me a MindTree table clock, and a Birthday Card signed by the entire team…. it was all fun…(except for the Bum bashing part...)

The last one......came as a conformation-of-tickets mail at around 7 :30 PM, Rohit got the tickets arranged; he booked for both onward and return from Goa…finally!!!! :D ... it was decided....and nothing separated that delightful moment except for a few hours wait that’s it!...

The rest of the day was spent over the phone as calls kept coming in tandem from either relatives or friends….

So…that’s how the day ended…I only wish it keeps on getting better in the years to come…. ;) :P

P.S.- I’d like to dedicate this post to all those who helped to make this day such a memorable one…Love u all…

Devar…

Ex - Bangalored!!!!

I used to think, I, being a true ‘Mumbaite’, one who eats, sleeps, talks and even breathes Mumbai; often hung over by the premonition that I will never be able to dig my nest in any foreign land, other than ‘Amchi Mumbai’….but to no avail, I was proved wrong, as I recount my days spent in Bangalore, which is sometimes rightly believed to be a “Bachelors’ Paradise”

And especially, it being my first time away from home and that too with the added responsibility of work and the abundance of liberty made it more exciting for a super lethargic moron who hated responsibilities n considered sincerity as a sinister or ugly disease.

We can often speak about “been there, done that” but what I want to recount in this post is some of the small yet wonderful instances of our lives in Bangalore which made it quite fun filled and memorable….

The ten things which used to make my day!!!!

1) Wee hours…cacophony!
Well getting up was the most dreadful part of the life back then. Wrapped up in a shell of blankets n what so ever available to make up for the bitter cold winter mornings, the alarm bell used to give the most distraught feeling, as the dreamily subconscious mind was aware, somewhere in its deep corner, that the bloody clock is gona ring any minute!!
Alas, sleep was always so welcoming just after u’ve slammed the alarm down. To somehow beat the early morning desperation for sleep, we placed the alarm clock high up the shelf, thinking that it would require enough effort to shut it down, that I can manage to resist my good old soft bed and the beautiful sleep, but to no avail, one very fine day, as I rose to shut the alarm….”Whaam!!!”…….. I turned around and answered to my other half awake room mates…”Well…great!, no more clock!!!” and……we headed back to sleep….Luckily, Himanshu never came to know how d ruddy hell did his clock break when he came back from his home visit :P

2) Say, ‘Rise n Shine’ to your partner!
Goarn!....Have to give up sleep and make up my bed… :(
Now comes the pearl of the day!....Finding an occasional cockroach idling under your bed covers….yawning, and probably gaping at you….annoyed by the sudden exposure to light…cursing u with all his might!, to have woken him up so early. . . .
Whoa!......and people talk about human encroachment!


3) Gay time with the Geyser!
Well…no body actually fancied getting up early in the morning and running straight down to bath, much to the likes of the crazy geyser. The first person used to be in for a boiling steamy prickle, so that half of the hot water used to get wasted only to avoid the heat and the other half while gingerly trying to adjust it with the cold water tap…
And for others…..well what d’u know?!!! No more hot water for anybody else!!!!......as the stupid geyser took an eternity to heat up the fresh water again! Crap!!! All you can do is muter curses under your shivered breath while the running water sends a chill through your spines…. :)

4) A wise guy! Aye???.......U shout up at the sky.
As the time carries on and you bathroom sing, the 9Xm is running in the background, things are looking cool. After a few banging on the door by fellow room mates, crying for the paucity of time, feared that it will eventually burst open, you come out. You check out for the clothes drying outside only to realize your shitty luck and bizarre amazement that they are much wetter than how you had left them after wrenching them hard the previous day! You wonder…
“Shit happens, but this is holy shit!!” on some occasions it is followed by ‘deep shit’, when you realize that a friendly pigeon or crow had a nice time cozying up on your shirt with its droppings nicely patterned on your precious clothes…….doesn’t matter you concentrate harder on the song that is being played on the 9Xm. :)

5) Fire in the mountain Run! Run! Run!
While Harpreet has pleaded someone to iron his shirt which generally mercifully accepted by Varun, Kedar hits d panic button giving us a fake alarm in the form of a miss call that the cab has arrived! Varun responds for the call and makes a beeline to it. While I and Harpreet, both born with the exceptional skill for time calculation and manipulation, force that we may still make it, even if the crooked watch is made faster. A couple of miss calls and then a final call which makes the Clock Tower in our minds strike hard!!!
…Next moment……
We are panting! With bag in one hand, and belt, I-card, watch and mobile dangling from the other, the shoe laces, playing with the wind, precariously avoiding your feet, while they are pumping and your eyes are fixed on the cab!!!(Discreet, yet I am aware honey is running along close by, this thought butters your burnt toast adding taste to your life:))

6) Being the ‘Apple of the Eye’
No sooner do we hop in the bus…all eyes scathingly X-ray us…with an occasional look of disgust and snort they used to be withdrawn, as sleazily as they had groped us before. Finding ol’George (our mate) and wish him good morning was the easiest way of avoiding discomfort :D But mind you a lot goes in for our poor friend Varun…as, he took in a lot of rubbish for always making the bus wait for us! Kudos to him, we saved our asses a lot of times :)

7) Oh...dear me!....I got a wrinkle!!!
Aah…Now as our dear friend honey was having a merry time with Mindtree’s pretty ladies…we all got into the habit of having a maquillage done in the bus. Alas, it used to be a 45 minutes journey, so why not a lil tidying up?? ;) lol….seated in the last so as to avoid surprised gazes, we used to have our make up done quite discreetly….completing the unfinished stuff while we left from home till applying moisturizer and hair gel. Finally emerging out of the bus as ‘Dudes’….
Make way MindTree, cuz Here we Come!! :D


8) Daze…..at the office
The day used to be full of new things….new people and new encounters. Altough there was a slight discouragement in the use of the phrase “Kannada Baralla or Gothilla” yet things used to be welcoming as soon we realized we could get almost everything done by the use of one simple word – “madi”. :) We felt a new freedom, freedom to enjoy eating what ever we want to eat! For the first time in my life I was eating so many chocolates in a day!!! :D :D The free time spent used to be simply awesome! Playing scrabble, pictionary or taboo was fun and if not then we would just team up and combat against each other with gritted teeth and vehement concentration on a CZ clan, never to relinquish or accept defeat. No wonder in a couple of months’ time we all made hundreds of friends, departing from them was agonizingly dolorous :(


9) The awesome ‘Bum Massage’
While this was an extra feature that we were esteemed with, courtesy- MindTree’s Swaraj Mazda shuttle service. The 40 seater mini buses had a pathetic rear suspension; more worse was the fact that the Bangalore roads were deprived of speed breakers; instead you could find rumblers (a series mini speed breakers placed closed to each other). The road, withered because of the heavy traffic, used to take a wavy form n any one sitting at the back was in for a bumpy ride. The driver, vaguely aware of the distant ramblings at the back, carries on but you are skeptical whether your insides have been disembodied and rolled over and your stomach gets churned to make up lasagna of the food u had last eaten!

10) Nighttime Tranquility
As the birds serenade their way back, the day draws to an end, our innocent minds used to be filled with exuberant thoughts about the new experiences and events of the day. I, Honey and Varun (room mates) then set along to have sum nice homely dinner complemented with a juice or a chai form the usual roadside tappri, not giving each other a moment to speak while we all recount the happenings of our day. Being too judgmental in nature was an inbred disease so that gossiping came natural to me and honey ;) and our frequencies matched to such an amazing extent that things used to be better understood without spoken words. Cribbing about gals at office was one thing, but suddenly gossiping about them the very next instant was rather usual. At night, gazing the starry sky, cuddled atop the roof, daring the chilly wind, having the conversation of the life time, four friends, who all had a recent transformation in their lives – distantly aware about the insecurities of this new world and the fact that life now demanded more responsibility – yet engrossed with teenage ‘cakes and ale’, very raw, yet accepting :)


TV and carom used to be the best remedy to swarm out the nostalgia and hurtle us back to enjoy the present! Apart from that, we all used to be game, for pulling each others legs, clicking weird snaps, bemusing over kannada names….which all, I rather enjoyed as I used to loose pathetically at carom...


Things did not change much, even when we moved to our new rented house at ‘Jayanagar’. Out of the initial ten days when we used the shuttle service, we (I and Harpreet) were only able to catch it twice. The daily agenda was grabbing an auto till ‘Devegauda petrol pump’ where we would hurriedly catch some Mindtree shuttle awaiting at the signal, which being the longest running signal. The occasional hunt for a new place to dine and party out on Thursdays had become habitual. Soon we were joined by Rohit and Sunil to live along with us, as my departure to Chennai was confirmed. The remaining days were spent blissfully, enjoying the maximum possible. We used to reach office comfortably at 9 30, neatly dressed, very relaxed albeit lethargically numbed, when we used to get out of Sunil’s car, rather appearing as if each one of us owned an IT company for himself :P

I will surely miss having spent quality time there in Bangalore, having made so many friends and having enjoyed life with them, for all the trips we went to, for all the parties or hangouts….Alas! Some one great has rightly said-

“With good ol’ friends to the valley of joy, these days will never last.
For, life is to move ahead, with lingering reminisces of the past! “

- De’ Varshi Code

Ah! Well…who cares????? I find Chennai as rocking too! :P

P.S. – “Bakki theek Hai”

Morphing thru' Time n Reality

Turning around groggily, ebbing from golden rays
His body numb, eyes swell, seeking unfound solace,
For, insinuating this epoch, arrives another dawn
He still lay on his bed reliving the moments gone…

Feeling the bliss the joy the happiness and the green
The enthusiasm for life trailed by an ecstatic scream
When the days were glee and the nights tranquil…
The morning sun brewed up fresh hope and good-will

Innocence of a pigeon, negligence of imbecile
Grown up in a nest too cozy and irresistible
Groomed with goodness to be competent! not gray
There lived a lad, whom anxiety would never foray

As sun begins to rise, amid the cock-crow cacophony
Thoughts now stirring contemporaneous melancholy
There came a dainty angel of whom he was too fond
Doting her mystic ambience from surface and beyond

Incipient era saw, two seeds strikingly effervescent,
But fate lashed out hard, the affair thus left evanescent.
The sun shone higher, hurtling him back to present,
Writhing by reality, engulfed by lonely crescent

Now he wishes to acclimatize, to this unforeseen reality
That life is a steady change, as true as mortality!
With good old friends to the valley of joy, these days will never last
Life is to walk ahead, with lingering reminisces of the past! :)

(TEST)imonials.......

Hmmm….with the advent of slogging period for us guys I am finding it a hard time to update my posts. The past two weeks have passed away so swiftly, filled with varied emotions, tension and pressure of meeting deadlines that I couldn’t even spare a moment to recapture a glimpse to relive the events. The beginning of these events was marked by commencement our final Term Tests. Although Tests are not at all a big issue at our prestigious college, where we enjoy the liberty to copy as much until we get bored of even doing that and where knowing the probable questions for the tests beforehand is much more like a birth right… still the frustration of writing the answers down on the paper for formality is immeasurable. Thus, nobody or nothing can reduce the importance of copying in our college life. Even the saintly souls who crossed the threshold of our college four years back worshipping the spiritual lambency of education have reverted to cheating having invested their brains to master the skills.

Well… such is the case with us guys and mind you we get a bit touchy with this critical issue and treat it with at most seriousness….hehe… Generally our strategic planning works well until this beefy guy turns up n spoils every damn setting!!!
I couldn’t contain this emphatic zealousness for poetry…as words spur out automatically whenever I think of this eccentric ludicrous lethargic nerd!

This will give a better idea-

” No limit to define this guys lethargy!
prefers to fail!, rather make it early.

Like always he commeth, as 'blank as a wall'
Relying entirely on frnds- me fote n all...

Beaming at us, beyond the crowd reverberating
we curse d fucking bastard! to spoil all our setting

Still, generously we accept him...widout a big fuss
but holla!!!...the fatso sits right between us!!!

Desperate yet musing, he peeps thru' binoculars!
"Bullshit!" he argues...contemplating over our answers

wat next? no bdy gets to copy...

We give up in the end...frustrated to the core.
only to find the asshole cracking a better score!

We admire u honey...
from d ice cool 'chond' to that ogre like trod...
but hell!!! Not Again! we solemnly swear to GOD!

phew......! “



The man in picture- “honey” in Harpreet, one of my closest buddies.


What ever be the case, it’s all over now. These are one of those memorable moments, no matter how frustrating, I would be missing ahead in my life. My foremost partner in crime during such college term tests happens to be an adroit manipulator in real life too- Nikhil Fotedar….others contributing to the coveted list include Tanmay Deshpande- daring and bindaas generally always careless and the first one to get nabed by the invigilators.... Sanket- always the most knowledgeable amongst all guys and a new addition to our gang Tirtha alias ‘chutki’- wears an inocent and confused look but always a helping hand...then there is Preetika-the college topper, though she belongs to a different category altogether, as she has never reverted to copying in her entire life!!! but has a bigger heart to provide all the help in desperate situations.... sitting to her left will probably make you the second highest scorer ;)


Ill miss u all.......

TrekkinG DelightS!!!!!!

"The mountains are not stadiums where I satisfy my ambitions to achieve. They
are my cathedrals, the houses of my religion..." - Anatoli Boukreev and myself : )

The very idea of planning for a trek elates my mood to extreme levels of joy and enthusiasm and leaves me anxiously and desperately waiting for the day to come.
Often I keep imagining about what wild things I would experience and finally get lost in the thought process…as the plethora of joy and happiness is mesmerizing and enigmatic.
The night before the trekking day is always a sleepless one….obviously out of excitement but much due to the fact that we generally start our adventure at night itself so as to make to the base camp early next morning…(my friends hate me for this : ) ).

Trekking has a lot to do with attitude and preparation and being able to accept when things don't go as planned. Not making a strict timetable is essential. If you can't get somewhere, don’t worry about what you might have missed. Just enjoy what you ARE experiencing. The beauty is not just about the adventure and physical challenge that one experiences instead it is more about admiring the natural beauty of the place and I consider myself to be damn lucky to have such places nearby. The silence of the mystique peaks of “Sahyadri Range” (The Western Ghats) speaks loudly about their natural beauty and ancient origin. The mosaic structures of the hills provide astounding views of the ghats from top as well as bottom. The cool breeze that gently tickles past you playfully drags you to a different world altogether, away from the daily rush hour, and pathetic city life….where people have become ignorant about their claustrophobic environment having puffed nostrils and lungs stuffed with toxic polluted air.


Coming back to my own experiences, I won’t be unfair in admitting about earning the reputation of being much like an enthusiastic cockroach with broken antennas often leading my friends to no where and ultimately getting stranded on a lonely mountain all by ourselves…hehe… If I begin counting my wild experiences…..
The first time it was the ultimate rocking Jeevdhan trek (one of the greatest!!! treks our Maharashtra has to offer) where we were left atop the monstrous hill with no water, no hint of a trail leading down, no place to have a bonfire & chitchat, exchange spooky ghost stories to pass the dreaded night ; ) and on top of that we had an adamant ‘papaji’ insisting us to spend the night in wilderness …..then there was the Lonavala trip where we had the guts to climb up the hill under torrential rains on bicycles with wooden seats and no brakes : ) for a 25 km journey…. and last but not the least the recent one to Rajmachi….where our over excitement made us follow a fake trail and ultimately climb a ‘triple headed’ impenetrable stupid peak (named ‘teen-kane’-original aka ‘teen-shen’ (kept by mee) in marathi for its three heads) completely filled with thick dense shrubs and snake pits, pretending it to be the desired mountain….hehe…


I can’t forget any of them. I couldn’t have had all this fun without my mates as we all lived the desperate situations together tackling it with fun and this even helped in increasing the mutual bolding between us to a higher level. Thus I believe this post would be incomplete without their names being mentioned. Here they are:-

Tanmay aka Desi
Harpreet aka Honey or Papaji or Redundant-chond!
Dhanesh alias Marwadi or dhanno and many other names which I am not disclosing bcoz of public viewer ship ; )
Shantanu aka Sunny or Jhantanu
Swapnil aka Powar or h****i
Sanket alias ‘Tiger’ or simply called gawade.
Myself---- ‘Devar’ : )

We rock!!!!! So guys ready for another one?????
Well for experiences like trekking the kind of people one is with doesn’t matter until they are willing to face the heat and ready to accept the unexpected and of course love and admire Mother Nature…..so anyone interested to join our elite gang is most welcome : )