For the past couple of days there has been a rise in the temperature. The nights are getting warmer. Earlier I used to cover myself with a blanket and switch off the fan in the middle of the night. Now even with the fan on I could still sense the heat.

In the morning there was bit of drama in the office shuttle. The cab was full with people sitting on seats which had the capacity of only 2 people. The cab driver stopped the vehicle midway insisting that some people get down. One of the passengers who works in the HR was livid @ the suggestion. He said that its not the employees fault that the cab is full and when the company is deducting INR 1000 towards conveyance it's not fair to ask people to get down and hire an auto.

I totally agreed with him. In the end the cabdriver relented however not before one of the persons in the cab got down and took an auto. We felt sad for him.

Today was the first day of our corporate induction program. It gave us a brief insight into the organization. Around 4 p.m our project team had a small birthday celebration for those, whose birthday fell in the month of February. New comers(included me and Vijay) had to give a brief introduction about ourselves and play a game.

The birthday cake was really yummy and after a long time, I tasted the Samosa..:)

I forgot to mention that y'day I had missed my office shuttle. A miss that proved too costly as I had to hire an auto and ended up poorer by INR 80 bucks. Wiser by experience, on the way back home I noted down one of my colleagues cell number.

So today morning I got up quite early(by my standards) @ 6:30 a.m and managed to catch the shuttle comfortably with lesser hiccups..:) I had a lot of documentation to complete today regarding the formalities to be completed while applying for a vehicle loan. The dealer is Concorde Motors, company owned showroom of TATA Motors located @ Hosur main road.

After much research on the internet reading the car reviews and ofcourse first hand experiences of some of my friends who own the same brand of car, I decided to go in for the petrol based INDICA V2 XETA GLS. It comes with power steering and airconditioning. For a reasonably tall person like me, it's quite spacious with lot of legroom and headroom. It does have its flaws though, however it scores over its competitors.

At the on-road price of INR 3.43 lakhs, Indica is quite a steal compared to its competitors like Hyundai and Maruti. To be fair, I can't comment much on the car right now as I haven't even started using it..:)

I would have loved to go in for a diesel car however that was beyond my budget and the last thing you would want is the EMI payments of the car eating into your salary..:)

My main dilemma was which color scheme to choose. I finally narrowed it down to shital's choice i.e Arctic Silver. Other shades available were Salsa Red and the new color shade Carbon Grey. Delivery would probably take a couple of days.

At work, it was a proud moment for me, as I got to know from Dalia (Project Manager) that I had cleared my interview and was confirmed for the project. In the evening, I had a short discussion with Dalia. She wanted me to coach one of the freshers who would be assigned to our team. I said I was happy to take the responsibility and would help the fresher in whatever ways I can.

My sis Shital had come down to Bangalore over the weekend. We had good fun shopping, eating out and visiting malls. She got her self clicked with a femina magazine cover in her hand @ one of the Femina stalls located in the Forum mall @ koramangala. That's a nice memento to carry home and treasure the moments spent together..:)

I also took Shital to the TATA car showroom to get her suggestion as to which color scheme should I choose if I did go in for the car.

When I dropped Shital @ the airport, I just realized how time has just flown by. I gave her a warm hug and bid her bye. One of the downsides of Bangalore is the pathetic public transport. Getting into an auto is not only expensive apart from listening to the extraneous demands of the auto drivers. I wish I had a 4 wheeler to show Shital around Bangalore.

Monday was pretty much lacklustre and very laidback. Time just flew and by the time I realized it was almost the end of the day..:)

Yesterday, when I was done with my interview, I couldn't believe it. I surpassed my own expectations. I was expecting my counterpart to be an Indian sitting in the U.S. However to my surprise it was 2 Americans from the client side taking the call.

By time I had logged into make the call via the VOIP phone, I was running late by around 5 mins. As the interview progressed, I showed no signs of panic or nervousness. I was all ears when I listened to the conversation. When it was my turn, I spoke slowly and clearly. Overall the conversation went well and to my surprise even my PM Dalia joined in from her home. I didn't hesitate to ask a few questions which were @ the back of my head. My PM seemed impressed and said that I had done well.

I was expecting a feedback today..so far, I haven't heard anything from my PM. My project schedule has now been shifted to 1st March. I have a corporate induction program beginning next week and which will last for 2 days.

So..finally it's the weekend again and time to do the routine domestic chores..:)

It's 7:50 p.m now. Just 10 mins to go for my client interview. It's been a hectic day so far. I am happy that I have now got a PC to work on and a place to sit. Only problem is that my Outlook mail account hasn't been configured yet as the mail server is at a different location and needs to be relocated to the new location.

My eyes are drooping as I am pretty tired after going through the interview material. I hope everything goes smoothly for me.

It's been happening for the past 2 days, I did get up early but had to huff and puff my way to the bus stop. Take for instance on Monday even though I had got up @ 7 a.m, I still managed to reach the stop just in time.

Yesterday i.e Tuesday and Wednesday, I got up @ 6:30 a.m however had to run till the bus stop so that I don't miss my office shuttle. That made me wonder as to where I was going wrong or wasting my time.

In the morning session after getting our swipe cards, we(myself & my colleague Vijay) had to give our fingerprints and other details. It was a weird method to get our finger prints. We had to press our fingers in the stamp pad and then put our individual finger prints on a sheet of paper. It was quite funny coz I was expecting a finger print scanner.

For the first time, I was literally a "Angoota Chaap". I and my colleague Vijay couldn't help stop smiling @ each other..:) We were told that it was for security reasons. In the afternoon we went for a drug test wherein we had to give our urine sample.

After coming back we had to take a technical interview. We were a bit apprehensive because the person who we were supposed to be interviewing was applying for the "Tech Lead" role..meaning our boss. We told the PM(Project Manager) that probably we may not be the ideal person(s) to interview the candidate as he was applying for our superior's role.

The PM assured us that she won't reveal our rank to the candidate. After the interview process was over, the PM wanted the feedback from us. I felt he was ok, however Vijay felt that being a Tech Lead he should be having more knowledge than us. I felt a bit sad however felt that Vijay did have a valid point. The PM had asked us to rate the candidate on a scale of 1-10 on technical, analytical, troubleshooting and communication skills. It was not all that gloomy for the candidate as we told our PM that she could consider him for a Senior Software Engineer role in another project.

Tomorrow it's my turn to be in the line of fire, as I will be attending a client interview @ 8 p.m (IST) and 9:30 a.m(US time). All the best to me..:)

In the morning when I was standing on the terrace of our office building, I got a bird's eye view of Bangalore city. It was a nice weather with a balmy sunshine. All I could see was lots of greenery with many trees dotting the residential houses and commercial buildings.

Beside the office premises is the famous St.John' s hospital which is again full of trees dotting its campus. No wonder people call Bangalore the "Garden City"..:) Right in front was the main road with lots of vehicles jostling for space on the road which has been made one-way.

As usual @ work, there was nothing much to do. But there was a positive development. I and one of my colleague Vijay finally got the go-ahead from our Project Manager to initiate our entry into the project. We had to fill out a form with clearances from the Admin, HR and Technology Services department. Only clearance pending is a drug test and some other documentation.

Hopefully we should finish our remaining formalities tomorrow and will be assigned a temporary PC @ our new work location. I will be missing our "Valmiki" room which was our home for the past 2 days..:)

The weekend was nice..got to visit the Garuda Mall which is closer to the most happening place in Bangalore i.e Brigade Road. I also watched the movie "Eklavya" starring Amitabh Bachchan, Saif Ali Khan, Raima Sen, Boman Irani, Vidya Balan, Jimmy Shergill and Sharmila Tagore(in a guest appearance.) The movie was okay. Cinematography was excellent where in the frames have nicely captured the fort and landscape of Rajasthan.

There was a news article about Amitabh being gifted a Rolls-Royce by Vidhu Vinod Chopra (Producer and Director of "Eklavya") because he was impressed by Amitabh's peformance. To be honest I do share the opinion expressed by a film critic in the "Times of India" that Amitabh has given far better performances than that.

The story line is quite thin however the film is watchable (atleast once..:))

I didn't have any Monday morning blues. I got up a bit early as I will be working in the new office location from today and it's quite a distance. I had to hurry up or else I will miss the cab. Thankfully I was there just in time. The weather was so pleasant and beautiful and the traffic very thin. It was around 8 a.m in the morning. Eventhough it took 40 mins to reach office, I didn't realize how time flew.

The lunch @ the new office location was awesome. I was prepared for the worst..however it turned out to be a pleasant surprise..:) In the evening I took advantage of the long journey and had a nice nap..:)

Ahh...it was a Friday morning..:), I was in a better frame of mind when I got up. Y'day I got to know that I was being considered for a project. So that was something to cheer about though it's still tentative.

Today I wore a white double pocket casual shirt with a camouflage cargo trousers (army style). My day got off to a bad start as I missed my morning cab. It seems everyone got a shock when they realised that the cab has already left. The irony of the situation is the cab came @ the right time. The driver was new and probably that was the reason he was quite punctual.

We (the employees) had got used to the late timings of the earlier cab and so had a laidback approach. Thankfully one of my colleagues had taken an auto and we shared it till the office premises. She offered to pay the full fare however I told her to split the bill.

I got loads of compliments for my dress and there were some people who were staring (for good or bad reasons.:). Jaya, my earlier Project Manager was a bit surprised. She told me..I don't think it's allowed..although more in a lighter vein.

In the afternoon, I got a call from Pradeep (executive from RMG (Resource Management Group) saying that I had to go to the koramangala office and meet his counterpart Anjali there. RMG allocates resources who are on the beach(I mean on the bench..:)) to projects.

I met Anjali and she directed me to Dalia, the Project Manager, who told me that it will take atleast 1 week to kickstart the project. Till then, I will be sitting in "Valmiki". Now that's the name given to the room where people on the beach can use the PC..:) It's a lot better than my current office where one had to sit in the library..:)

The existing campus has a sprawling area with coconut palms, lush green lawns and well maintained roads. It houses the offices of Kyocera, MindTree consulting, MphasiS and TCGIvega. If my project gets confirmed I'll really miss all these and especially the food court where you get different cuisines like WeightWatchers, Fusion, Tandoor, South Indian and North Indian under one roof.

In the evening as I was enquiring about the cab which goes through my route..I met this guy from Koramangala office. He asked me..so you're a 2006 passout..for a moment I was a bit stumped before gathering my wits..:) I replied with a smile that I graduated in 1995. Incidentally this guy was a 2005 passout.

He couldn't believe it and told me that I look so young. I couldn't stop blushing and told him "thanks" for the compliments..:)

It's the weekend and I hope to catch up on some new movie releases..:)

Today is Valentine's day..I don't know its a sheer coincidence..or just a design, I happened to wear a pink formal shirt and trousers. I went around wishing valentine day greetings to lots of people..of course as you guessed..it was mostly ladies..:)

Tuesday and Wednesday was hectic for me. In the afternoon, I had to visit the Kormangala office for the interview. There was no result from the discussions I had on tuesday and some positive outcome for the discussions I had today. I was drained out mentally and physically by the time I reached home.

Yesterday I watched the movie "KingKong" (latest version). I am a early goer to bed however the movie was so captivating that I ended up going to bed @ 12:30 a.m. The love story of the beauty and the beast might have been told before but this instalment of kingkong would leave you asking for more..:)

I had a gr8 weekend..:) Sunday especially was cool. I checked out a flat and also got some information about other flats.

In the evening, I watched the movie "Blood diamond" starring Leonardo Di Caprio with my friend Agni. How many people even bother to think the engagement ring they are gifting their fiancee or the jewellery they are purchasing is clean i.e not brought in from the conflict zones in Africa.

"Diamonds are a girls best friend", that's the catchline ads some of the big diamond companies use to sell their wares, but what if they are stained with the grime and sweat of people working in hazardous conditions with their lives @ stake at some remote location mines in Africa.

Leonardo plays the diamond smuggler "Danny Archer" and there is also a lady journalist (don't know the name of the actress) from the United States apart from an african working in the captive mines in Africa who is searching for his lost son.

Danny is hunting for the big diamond (only the african known it's exact location) and the journalist wants her story. Everyone has a vested interest here.

From the way diamonds are smuggled to other countries and finally ending up @ sweatshops in Surat and Mumbai in India, "Blood Diamond" comes very close to reality or you can say nothing gets more real than this.

Some movies are made just for the heck of it and some movies send a message. "Blood Diamond" clearly belongs to the latter category. Even after I finished watching the movie, I couldn't get over the hangover.

I and Agni had dinner @ Pizza Corner and we had a nice time. The food was good and so was the ambience..:) We did some shopping on the way home as Monday there is a bandh and Agni had to do purchase some food stuffs lest he goes hungry..:)

It was a lazy Monday morning, I spent the day preparing breakfast, lunch, washing & ironing clothes. The lunch was too good coz after a long time, I got to make noodles. For garnishing I added some green peas and sliced onions.

It's 7:40 p.m and still no signs of the hotels opening up. I hope & pray that they do open else for dinner I need to go in for noodles again..:)

I had a very early start today morning. I was all excited about my prospective project. I finished all my morning chores by 8 a.m. I wouldn't have imagined the rest of the events which unfolded for the day. As scheduled I went to one of our company offices @ Bannerghata.

I reached there by 9:15 a.m, however the Project Manager wasn't there. I waited till 10:30 a.m and made a call on her mobile..she was in the koramangala office and told me that one of the guys in her project will take my interview.

The interview didn't go well, however what irked me was that the guy who took my interview was in the same position that I was in. He had lesser number of experience compared to me.
If it was a Project Leader or the Project Manager, I would have understood the situation. I went ahead with the interview thinking that I shouldn't let ego come into the picture even though I was still feeling uneasy.

As far as I was concerned the interview was ok..I mean it wasn't too good nor too bad however the interviewer gave me a shocking response saying that I had performed very poorly. Adding insult to injury,when I wanted to meet the Project Manager, she said that I can leave without meeting me in person.

I told the interviewer that I am not leaving without meeting the PM in person.I told her what I felt and she apologized for the hurt that either she or her team member had caused me. I returned back to my main office with a not so happy face. How does someone deal with frustration? After a long time, stress was taking its toll on me.

In the evening we had a fire drill wherein a lot of life saving techniques were displayed. I had a chat with my colleague and he told me to keep my cool. He said that probably I was overreacting. I told him maybe he was right. I seriously need to de-stress myself.

Writing this blog is so therapeutic, it soothes my frayed nerves..I needn't break any glass or hit someone coz this provides a safe outlet to vent my grievances. BTW I will be working this weekend..courtesy the bandh on Monday.

I have now been relieved from my earlier project and need to search for a new one.

When I went to work on thursday morning, I was just wondering what will I be doing @ work today. I had a interview in the morning with one of the project managers which I knew didn't go well. In the end, I did get the feedback from the HR executive which was on expected lines.

Tomorrow I have been asked to report to one of my company offices @ Bannerghata. I hope this one works out for me. Even though people do like a paid holiday, I personally end up with a guilty feeling. I feel like sitting idle and getting paid for it, isn't a good thing.

Some times its ok..however you need to move beyond your comfort zone and utilize your skills. One of the shining examples of our times is none than Hrithik (bollywood star).

He does have his flaws however it's far outweighed by his positives. He packs in such energy into his acting & dancing skills, that you can't stop admiring him..:)

Just like wine which tastes better when it ages, same is the case with some people. Take for instance Richard Gere with his salt and pepper hair or George Clooney. They can give any young men a run for their money. Richard Gere is 60, however still looks hot. BTW I am not gay..:)

Yesterday I was watching the movie "Red Corner" starring Richard Gere. It's a story of how Richard Gere who is on a trip to china to meet his girlfriend gets framed in her murder. The rest of the story is about how Richard fights to proves his innocence. He has a chance to escape when after a riveting chase he reaches the U S Embassy in Beijing. As per diplomatic norms the embassy is considered private property and as Richard is an American Citizen he can safely be escorted back to his home country.

However Richard does what some may think a foolish act when he comes out of the Embassy premises to protect his chinese counterpart who was trying to prove his innocence. He is immediately bundled into a waiting police van, stripped naked and dumped into a dark dungeon. This movie had won rave reviews from the critics. It shows the powerful chinese army which overshadows everything.

Imagine being in an alien country where most of the people don't even speak English and facing a prosecution and judge trying to get you convicted by sidelining whatever evidence or any witness has to say in favour of the accused. The phrase "Innocent until proven guilty" is turned on its head. You feel helpless coz everything is loaded against you. How can an individual battle a state, judge and the prosecution hell bent on sending you to the gallows.

I have met a cross-section of chinese students when I was studying @ Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. Whenever I asked them about their government there used to be a deafening silence. They either didn't wish to talk or were more circumspect talking to me. Such is the fear that pervades that most of them even though they are miles away from their home dare not criticise or say anything about their government. No doubt China has achieved great economic strides and is a force to reckon with, however it has come at a price.

So we as Indians should consider ourselves lucky and value our freedom.

Today was a day which saw high drama. The morning bus or mini-bus(to be more precise) which I board to get to office was literally crammed with people either standing or sitting in an inconvenient posture.

What bothers me is that people put up with the inconvenience rather than doing something about it. I spoke to couple of my colleagues who are frequent travellers on the shuttle and fired an e-mail to the person in-charge and the whole admin team.

It seems to have worked when I get a prompt response from the admin in-charge who seemed to be a retired LT.COL. We had a pretty good discussion and I did realize a few things which he said was right. In the end the matter was sorted amicably for now.

Today I received my NSR(National Skills Registry) ID card. NSR is a joint initiative of NASSCOM(National Association of Service and Software Companies) and IT/ITES companies. Some of whom are reputed names like Satyam, Wipro, Mphasis, Zenta.

NSR is useful for IT & ITES professionals as it maintains their details which includes previous employment records and other personal information like
the permanent address and the passport details in an online database.

This helps in a single point of background verification. IT companies just need to log in and verify the details of the candidates. The card is difficult to duplicate. I can vouch for this coz I had to give the impressions of my index finger, middle finger and the thumb impressions of both the hands. I have seen such stuff in movies. To see that happening in reality was an eye-opener.

We had to leave office early today by 3 p.m as there were reports of trouble once the Cauvery Water Tribunal's decision was announced. I had a small nap when I came back. It was a big relief to see my television coming alive with the cable connectivity. I had run out of drinking water supply and thankfully got my 20 litre jar today.

The most fascinating animal I have seen so far are the cute little ones with alternating black and white stripes running across its fur. I am talking about squirrels here..:). There seem to be lots of them in Bangalore. The way they savour their food mostly nuts is a treat to watch.

Yesterday i.e Saturday, the first thing I did was to attend a property show in Koramangala. I must say I was quite stumped by the flat/apartment prices most of which are anyway slated for completion in October 2007 or January 2008. The price range was from INR 25 lakhs to INR 32 lakhs and one was an astonishing INR 70 Lakhs for a 2BHK(Bedroom Hall & Kitchen). The EMI on such a loan with a floating rate of interest for the tenure of 20 years worked out to Rs.23,000 odd.

That made me wonder what if tomorrow there is a slump in IT just as it happened during the dotcom bust, will I be able to repay the amount. It reminded me about the BBC website article which mentions that the real estate boom has outpriced non-IT people from the market. It indeed is a sad reality. For example a teacher, govt. employees etc..will they able to fulfil the desire of their dream house with the salary they are drawing. Sadly with the enormous growth in population its more of a demand v/s supply situation. Land is something which is not in infinite supply, nature has only provided that much to sustain mankind. Whether its Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore or Hyderabad all are experiencing sky rocketing real estate prices.

To come back to where I was, after the reality check of property prices...I went to the Forum mall(supposed to be one of the happening places in Bangalore). I had to drop off my cheque for the credit card payment. After having seen In-orbit mall in Mumbai, I didn't feel Forum came anywhere close.

This may come as a contradiction as I am not into junk foods..however when I saw McDonalds @ the mall, I couldn't resist the temptation to grab a bite. I had a McVeggie burger. When I looked around me there were lots of people munching their french fries, desserts and burgers. More than half of them(it was mostly teenagers and children) were looking very healthy..u know what I mean..:)

I later went to meet one of my old pals..her name is Sanju. I can never forget the first time we met..it was quite hilarious. It was 6 years back and we still manage to stay in touch. When I saw her, I was stumped..she seemed to have piled on weight.
She was @ work..however she was gracious enough to spare some time out of her busy schedule. We went to sweet chariot, its a cake shop which was close by. She said its her and her colleagues frequent adda.

Some of her colleagues dropped by and everyone seemed to have a good sense of humour. I told her she was lucky to have such people around her. A source of concern is Sanju has become so pre-occupied with work that she has neglected her health. No proper sleep and she had her personal problems too. She is a nice girl always willing to help others even those who don't like her. Career wise she seems to doing well working for a UK based insurance firm and she is eagerly looking forward to clearing her interview which will make her a Team Leader.

After bidding Sanju goodbye..I came back home..however this time I ended up visiting a electronics showroom and purchasing a 21 inch flat Philips color tv. I bargained hard for a tv stand which seemed to be a used one, however the quality of its finish was quite good. I convinced the shop owner to sell it to me @ a discounted price.

My weekend has come to an end and tomorrow I need to buckle up for the week ahead..:)

Y'day night I got my photographs which I had given for processing the day before. Lot of them were snaps of my sis which was taken @ her office and some with her colleagues. I took some of my pictures @ the place where I am working i.e Global Village. Most of them have come out well and I couldn't stop but keep admiring them..:)

It was a Friday morning and today I didn't have to run my way to the bus stop. I had ample time and it was a relaxed walk. I wore a round neck Red t-shirt, sleeves had white borders and the words "SWISS MADE+" emblazoned across it. I wore it with a black jeans and my white sneakers. It seems to have caught the fancy of the people with me getting loads of compliments..:) Unfortunately it was all from my male counterparts and none from the fairer sex..:) Anyways it made me feel good..:) I always believe in the concept that "clothes make a man" and love to dress up..though I am careful never to overdo it.

There is this guy from the travel desk @ my office who helped me get my bus tickets to Hyderabad. Recently he had his moustache shaven. I complimented him on his new look and told him that he is much better off without a moustache. He was quite happy and told me that a lot of his friends didn't like it.

I asked him whether they had a moustache..he answered in the affirmative. I said "No wonder, they don't like your moustache" and adviced him to keep it that way. I told him about my story..the first time when I had my moustache shaved off..I felt a bit odd but now I never feel like growing it and abhor(no pun intended) people with a moustache. I hate my photograph in the passport in which I sport a moustache..honestly it was a different matter that however hard I tried I couldn't get the perfect moustache..it looked more like a chinese moustache and I am better off without it.:) I have a hearty laugh whenever I look @ my picture..:)

In the end, I told him there are some people who would look better with a moustache however they're in a minority.

The Last few days of my blog has becoming so boring even for me to go through it. One thing I have realized is, you can never expect interesting things to happen everyday and there are some dry phases in between where you just keep plodding on.

My fruit bowl today was so yummy that I went and complimented the guy who made it..he had a big smile on his face. The day has come to a close and it's time for the weekend to set in. Not sure what to do this weekend.

As I woke up this morning there was an air of excitement. Today is my pay day and I am looking forward eagerly to check my account online.

As usual when I was waiting for my bus, I saw a couple of school kids cycling their way home. That made me nostalgic about my school days. Then I used to walk to school and envy the other kids who came on bicycles. I thought they must be quite rich to afford a bicycle. When I got my first bicycle my joy knew no bounds. It was a "BSA Champ" with small tyres and 2 stands with small wheels to give support to the children. It had a white guard and a cute sticker. I used to always wash and maintain it in a neat and trim condition.

Fast-forward to the present day, we see cyclists more as a menace obstructing the smooth flow of traffic. We are more into motorbikes and cars. My trip abroad gave me a different insight. There we have seperate lanes for the bicycles. The greatest surprise was that the bikes were more expensive than the second hand cars.

The first thing when I reached office was to check my inbox, and thankfully my payslip was right there.. however it was a bit of a shock for me..coz it was radically different from what I was expecting.

I met the finance guys to get it sorted. The one thing which makes me sad is that the major chunk of my pay will go towards paying my credit card bill which is very much on the higher side. Then there is also the paperwork for the IT declarations to be done.

The due date for filing the returns is closing in and I need the documents for availing the tax exemption. The only smartest thing I have done so far is to get all the documents ready when I went home.