Two small girls are searching for something in their house when they stumble on a vintage old coin. Excited by the find they take a stroll outside the street and sight a vendor selling a coloured ice candy. Unable to resist the temptation the girls give the old coin to the vendor. The vendor thinks that it's a worthless coin and returns it to the girls.

The girls are disappointed and sit alongside the pavement. A boy approaches them and gets to know the problem. He takes the coin from the girls and rides his bicycle to the nearest antique shop. He gets some money in exchange for the old coin from the antique vendor. He gifts the coloured ice candy to the two girls. The girls are pleasantly surprised and one can sense their gratitude to the boy through their expressive eyes. This is an ad for Tata Capital. It's a very touching ad which sends a message in a subtle way.

The last couple of days my dinner has been taken care of. I attended a wedding on friday night and a family outing on Saturday night which was sponsored by my sister's employer Google. I have been gorging on food and seen my waistline expand.

And today there is one more wedding I have to attend. Last night was truly knocking. There was fun and frolic at Jal Vihar a hangout at the necklace road near Hussainsagar lake. After a long time I grooved to the music and shook my leg :) The only sore point was the stench pervading the air obviously from the lake. It's sad that lake which was one of the main attractions of the twin cities has turned to a dumping ground for industrial effluents. People too have played a part by littering the waste.

(Image source: Yahoo news)

My favourite channel now-a-days is NDTV and CNN-IBN closely following the news on Mumbai terror attacks. The sight of slain NSG Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan's mother caressing and kissing her son oblivious to the attention of people nearby was poignant and touching.

The small baby which lost its jewish parents and was rescued by a nanny or a family of five which lost its sole bread winner makes you wonder what's it that the terrorists have gained by wreaking such mayhem whatever their cause. No matter which religion they belong to...killing, maiming or slaughtering innocents is definitely not on. I have not seen heaven or hell however if the terrorists were sure their acts would become a pathway to heaven, no it isn't...they deserve to burn in hell.

I am back afer a long hiatus. The last blog I published was in October. Today I completed 1 year with my current organization. I believe that is a milestone considering my track record :)

The events of the last few weeks has been quite tragic. There was the terror attacks apart from the deepening global recession. In these times of job cuts, one must count their blessings if people still hold on to their jobs forget about the promotions :(

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi also popularly referred to as Mahatma Gandhi is someone I used to hate as a kid. I held him responsible for the partition of the country. Now after having grown up as an adult I do realize that I was wrong. I still disagree with some of his views however I think he was the greatest man who walked on the face of the earth.


When you read the everyday newspaper's which are filled with stories of deaths, deaths and more deaths we wish if Mahatma was there with us. We have become intolerant to criticism, fly into a rage at the drop of a hat and being self centered has become the hallmark of everyday life.

Youth nowadays earn more money than their previous generation however somewhere deep down there is a feeling of restlessness. Gandhi may not be here but atleast we can make this world a better place by being civil to each other and resolving our disputes peacefully.

One of my all time favorites since childhood is the elephant headed god. Yes I am talking about Ganesha also more popularly referred to as Vinayaka. There is an inherent charm in him. I have a small one on my car's dashboard. I remember as a kid, the first time I was actively involved in collecting funds for setting up the ganesh pandal in our neighbourhood. It was fun.


Many years have passed by since then. Today is the immersion day for the ganesh idols and that makes me think whether immersing idols made of plaster of paris, tons of steel and paint in the water bodies, lakes or seas is the right thing to do. It's an ecological disaster as the plaster of paris pollutes the lake/sea-bed killing the marine life and gradually leads to the destruction of lakes.


I understand the religious fervour and devotion with which people revere Ganesha however they should ask themselves whether they are doing the right thing. I am sure even Ganesha wouldn't approve of it. Instead people can opt for the the clay based ganesha idols which are eco-friendly. I hope when the festival comes around next year, people will warm up to the idea and be sensitive towards our environment.

Since my growing up years whenever August 15th nears, it was a bit of my favorite pasttime to not miss the unfurling of our tri-color on the national television which at that time and now is mostly on Doordarshan channel. However for the past couple of years I have been giving it a miss. I am not sure about the exact reason.

Patriotism is still there however I also have become aware of the ground realities. As Chetan Bhagat (author of "One night at a call centre" and "3 mistakes of my life") rightly says in a Times of India article we still have a long way to go before claiming the tag of a super power. All this words of Indian middle class and India shining looks so hollow. Till the other day I was happy about the status of roads in Hyderabad. Then something happened.

The monsoon sets in and after a prolonged shower of rains the roads are mostly washed out. It's a bumpy ride with craters and potholes. I guess driving on the moon would have been a lot better :) As you wait at the traffic signal the endless sight of small children hawking their wares when they must be in school, disabled and the beggars makes your stomach churn. As an Indian who has lived abroad, I always think why should people emigrate if we can provide equal opportunities, have a world class infrastructure, provide a decent education and social security to everyone. This is something which looks so remote now however if we work at it, it ain't that tough a task to achieve.

There is also another important thing we need to emulate from the west. One of them is civic sense. The other is peaceful co-existence. Why should people kill each other in the name of religion. We are a religious country, there's no doubt about it, however when it becomes an obstacle in the path of prosperity and development we are better off without it. The thought is a bit radical but it's something whose time has come.

I have finished reading The Alchemist. It's been quite a while now since I have read a book. What a fascinating journey it has been from the plains of Andalusia to the deserts of Egypt. I found myself in the shoes of Santiago the shepherd boy of Andalusia. My apetite has not been whetted yet and to tell you in one line "Yeh Dil Mange More"



Last weekend I saw the movie "The Dark Knight" at Prasads Imax, Hyderabad (One of the few Imax theatres in the country). The cape crusader i.e. Batman (Christian Bale) meets his match in the Joker (Heath Ledger). As a movie review in the newspaper says Batman may be the hero but the real shining knight is the villain aka Joker played by Heath Ledger. What a mesmerising performance it was. Sad but true that Heath won't be there to see it. Other notable performances like Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart) the Mayor of Gotham city who loses his beloved (Maggie Gylenhall) and becomes Harvey 2 faced lend the movie a charm of its won.

The movie based on the marvel comic series comes alive with the Joker's histrionics. Between good and evil the Joker tries hard to make people fallible and almost succeeds with Harvey Dent. The action, script and the memorable performances by the lead actors make this one of those rare movies which gets everything right.

Batman spreading his wings after jumping from a skyscraper, conversion of the batmobile into a bike, the truck getting turned upside down are some of the cool action sequences in the movie. One should definitely watch this movie on a big screen like Imax coz its definitely worth every penny spent.

It has been raining for the past few days and I am quite happy about it. Happy...well for people living in the cities who curse the rain, the power shortages should give them a reality check. We keep cribbing about the rain however we hardly realize how important it is to have regular rainfall. We need the rains for generating hydel power, farmers need it for cultivating crops and last but not the least it's the source of precious drinking water. One of the reasons I guess people hate the monsoon especially in the cities is due to the creaking infrastructure in developing countries like India.

This Saturday and Sunday I have been mostly at home. Bomb blasts first in Bangalore and the next consecutive day in Ahmedabad, added with the government apathy our cities are becoming increasingly unsafe to live in.

Coming back to the rains, the weather is so pleasant, you don't feel like getting up in the morning. It's like the cozy bed and the blanket is a paradise you love to be cocooned in forever :)

My IELTS results were out on 27th June exactly 13 days after the test. Now the results were a surprise or to be precise I can say it was a mixed bag. Speaking, my first test which I feared would be my worst performance I scored 8 out of 9. Ditto for Listening. Now comes the worst part.

I scored 6.5 in Reading and 7.5 in writing. The overall band score was 7.5 which is not bad however I was expecting something more.

The other news from my end is I bought a new bicycle 2 weeks back. It's from Atlas and has got a spring suspension to handle the bumpy ride which it surely does :). Riding a bicycle is so liberating. Now everyday in the morning I go for a bicycle ride. I avoid taking the main highway and when I need to cross the road, I just walk along with my bicycle instead of pedalling.

It's been more than 8 years now since I rode a bicycle. The cool breeze in the mornings and the thrill of cycling...you just can't beat it. Lastly I am also proud of the fact that I am not contributing to the environment pollution and the most compelling reason is to burn the calories.


The other interest I have picked up is reading a book after a long time. The book is titled "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho . I am half-way through the book and it's captivating enough. The book has sold 30 million copies worldwide and rightfully so. The surprise package is the author who is not a white man from a western country but a Brazilian. It just shows that there is still so much of talent even in the developing countries and it's not the exclusive preserve of the west.

Though I have been writing in English now for quite some period of time, yet after attending the IELTS (International English Language Testing System), I have realized that I have still a long way to go before I can be termed an expert user in English.

Yesterday I had a speaking test and today it was Listening, Reading and writing test. I started of my speaking test quite well however just when it was about to finish, I fumbled for answers. At the end of the test, I told my examiner that I was a bit nervous to which she replied that it was a bit unexpected. She said that probably I didn't acquaint myself well with the format. I was heart broken and a bit dejected. However I knew that there was still more hard work to be done. As I reached home, I started my intense preparation for the L/R/W test.

Today that preparation seems to have paid off. Listening test was a bit tough as the test came to a close, ditto with reading however the writing section was a pleasant surprise as I aced through it comfortably. The only worry is if I had written more than what was required. 13 days from now the test results will be out and I am keeping my fingers crossed.

One peculiar thing which happened and which usually happens in Indian test center's was a couple who were copying. Before the test, the invigilators had given clear instructions that should people be caught copying they would be disqualified. So blatant was the copying that the couple had to finally hand in their passport.

The good news is that summer is slowly giving way to the monsoon. That has brought down the temperature quite a bit. Now as for the not so good thing. The change in weather also means a change in our body temperature.

Now why I am saying this...coz the dreaded viral fever is back. For the past couple of days I am having running nose (it was pretty bad yesterday) and now it's headache and fever. Yesterday I went to the doctor and he prescribed me some medicines. The bill a whopping (INR 173) which includes the doctors consultation fee of Rs.70. Now that's pretty expensive to consult a doctor. I was thinking when I am feeling the pinch how will the poor patients pay.

I got up today morning and still have a singeing headache. I am thinking whether to attend office or not.

You have everything, a good job, 4 wheeler and a place to stay but then there is still a sense of emptiness. You don't know the reason but it's there. You're depressed but unable to fathom the reason for the depression. This is how I have been feeling for the past few days.

Now-a-days I have also realized that I have begun to pile-on weight especially in the mid-riff region. So I had two options...the 1st one is that you ignore it or the second that is to firm up an action plan. I chose the second one. I have started going for an hour's walk especially on the weekend. Today mom came along with me. It was a nice walk in the evening when the sun had gone down and there was a cool breeze. True, some things in life are priceless like the walk I had today with my mom. It's back to work tomorrow.

You're driving to work and suddenly a fly starts bothering you. You feel like catching hold of it, suddenly there are some wild ideas whirring in your head like smashing the fly with a hammer. But the only concern is that you're driving which is a highly skilled job and a momentary distraction can prove fatal. That's what happened with me yesterday. It reminded me of the MTV music video where in a guy does the same thing when a fly starts irritating him when he's driving.

He takes a big hammer smashes the windscreen and any other items on the dashboard however even then he doesn't get the fly :)

I was on a small vacation couple of weeks back. I visited a couple of temples (Dharmasthala & Subramanya) in South Karnataka.There was nice memories of the scenic drive, the baby elephant and sumptuous lunch at the Kukke Subramanya temple.

At work, the project has almost close to completion and now I need to scout for a new one. The summers are lot more bearable these days as we have applied a coat of white cooling paint on the terrace. The paint reflects the sunlight back. That really helps to bring down the room temperature by a couple of degrees and the resultant humidity and sweating. Not everyone can afford an airconditioner and the huge electricity bills.

The soaring temperatures in Hyderabad has made life miserable. Summers in Hyderabad @ 41 degrees ain't that cool. Who better to ask than my better half who cribs about the hot weather. She badly misses her Bangalore climate. I agree with her as far as the climate in Bangalore is concerned.

I had mentioned in my earlier blog as to how we can cut down on vehicular emissions by using more public transport. However I couldn't keep my promise as the cruel weather has forced me to switch to my four wheeler. The only silver lining is that the total distance covered is just 25 kms.

Missing a flight and that too an International one is the worst thing that can happen to any one. I realized it the hard way when I missed my 10:05 a.m flight just because I reached the check out counter 5 minutes late. Then I had to rebook my flight for the evening which came at an expensive price tag of 222 pounds or the Indian rupee equivalent of 18,200 bucks.

Of course the mistake was completely mine as I miscalculated the distance to the Heathrow airport. Here I need to specially thank the pakistani cab driver Zafar who shaved off about approximately an hour of commuting. The only problem was the traffic hold-ups in between. However in the end it all counted for nothing. Imagine waiting for the whole day in the airport as you're next flight is only at @ 21:05 hours. The only relief was I had some good co-passengers for company.

The security @ the Heathrow airport was so stringent that even water kept in the bottle was disallowed. One has to empty the contents of the bottle. I walked in through the metal detector and it triggered an alarm. This made the plain clothes officer suspicious and he told me to unbuckle my belt. He put his hands around my waist and checked me thoroughly from head to toe probably looking for some concealed explosives :)

Also we had to take our shoes for being x-rayed. I guess it's the John Reid effect. That's the man who wanted to trigger an explosion aboard the plane with explosives planted in his shoes.

Now I am back home atlast and looking forward to the long weekend before the hard grind ahead...yeah I am talking about getting back to work from Monday :)

It was my final working day in London today. But what a day it was...for a moment or so I was a bit of nervous wreck. I had to get the final document signed off by the client however the time taken by the client to review the document was making me a tad nervous. The problem was my ticket to India is booked for tomorrow and if I had to stay back for another day it would have been too late to reschedule the departure date. Thankfully as the saying goes "All is well that ends well" and things just evened out.

It's been madness for the past 4 days (excludes saturday & sunday) :) What I am surprised is that I exceeded my own expectations. I had to handle calls from my Project Manager in India and the big boss apart from interacting with the clients onsite. In the end it's been worth it. This has been my first exposure dealing with on-site clients directly. I agree it was tough, there were times when I thought of "Fight or Flight" but I am glad I chose the former. It has enriched my experience and that should stand me in good stead in the future.

I will miss the London tube, the daily morning English breakfast made of toast, butter, delicious cornflakes and warm milk. Who can forget the accomodation which was nice and sleeping cozily in the bed with the heater to warm up your room. The only thing which made my life miserable was the drastic fall in the temperature. Constant sneezing and wheezing has left a toll on my nose. It looks more like a joker's nose now...just kidding :)

In the evening my final port of call was the Mahalakshmi temple located @ East Ham station. For dinner, I visited Saravana Bhavan (Chennai's famous chain of vegeterian restaurants).

My Jet Airways flight departs tomorrow @ 10:05 a.m and hopefully I will be reaching India in the early hours of thursday morning. My experience with Jet Airways has been nice so far and it's nice to know even Indian airlines can give good competition to foreign airlines :)

Yesterday i.e Saturday the first thing I did in the morning was to visit the Ilford shopping centre. There were a couple of things on my shopping list. The first one was to get a pair of formal shoes. I had brought along my formal clothes however I forgot to bring along my shoes. Now that put me in an awkward situation when dealing with the client.

It was a trifle embarrassing to put on formal shirts and a sneaker. The only apprehension I had in my mind was how much will the new pair of shoes cost. As with most Indians I was used to the math of converting the British pound into Indian currency. So say for example I need to spend £ 2 on a chocolate bar, at the back of mind it implies I am spending around INR 160 bucks which sounds crazy. But is it really...what we forget is that your rupees don't count for nothing when you're in another country. So if you earn in £ pounds or have $ dollars with you, you can only spend in that currency.

Luckily for me there I found a shop where the discount sale was on. I got a good pair of shoes for just £ 8. Now that was cool. The other item on the list was to purchase a travel adapter. This one was a real pain as I had to go from one shop to another but couldn't find anything which conforms to Indian and UK electrical sockets. So the next time, when you leave the shores and have to charge your cellphone or use it for any other electrical gadget purchased in India, you need to be sure of purchasing a travel adapter before hand. Lessons learnt the hard way :)

After the shopping, I visited the "Tower Bridge" , "Big Ben" and the "London Eye". Now here's something interesting. People mistake the "Tower Bridge" for the "London Bridge" which isn't right coz both are completely different structures. The one thing which I really admired was the "Big Ben" and the "London Eye". Both Big Ben, London Eye and the British Parliament House are located near to river Thames. It was nice standing on the bridge and viewing the ferry ships transporting the tourists on river Thames.

Sunday saw a very wet weather and that kept me mostly indoors. I spent my time going to the Laundrette, preparing notes, watching television, ironing my clothes and getting ready for the busy day tomorrow. 17th March, is my birthday and sadly I will my miss my family a lot on this special day. I can't wait to get back home.

It's been 3 years since my last trip overseas. I am currently in London for a short business trip barely lasting a week. I will be holding discussions with one of our clients. From the day I reached London, I had to hit the ground running.

It's been so hectic that I indeed forgot I was away from my country. So far no time to visit any of the tourist hot spots. The good thing about London is the tube. People in London are lucky to have such an excellent transport facility. I hope we have something similar in most cities across India. I took a 1 week Oyster pass for 34 pounds. Its so cool I can travel unlimited number of times on the tube, overground trains and ofcourse the bus.

Traffic as in any western country is very disciplined. The only sore point is the crappy weather. I am put up @ Hotel Banks, Ilford.

It's a weekend tomorrow and I am hoping to visit places like the London Bridge and London Eye, stuff which I could only watch in movies so far :)

What is it, that happens to a person when they get behind the wheel? This was something which was plaguing me when I have been driving to work for the past couple of weeks. Sometimes I have done crazy things like overtaking vehicles when the road is narrow and just about saving my life by avoiding a head-on collision with the on-coming vehicles.

That day @ work I kept wondering what had seized me for that particular moment? I meant how could I do this. I keep harping on how road users here don't have traffic sense and look here I was doing the same stuff which I detest. How does even a sober person lose his patience when he/she gets behind the wheel. Anyway just as a sort of self inflicted punishment I felt like slapping myself and which I did.

Anywayz the weekends @ home are a far cry from my movie filled weekends when I was away from home. These days I am more focussed on doing "Home Improvements" There was the absence of a wardrobe since a long time and finally after 2 weeks of work its all set to be ready in the next couple of days. The downside... it did burn a hole in my pocket.:)

I am currently serving my time out in Business wait. The official name given for people on "Bench". I have been trying hard to get myself into a project however it's tough luck so far.

I have met a couple of my colleagues who have relocated from Bangalore to Hyderabad just like I have. So during the conversations we have the talk always veers down to which city is better whether it's Bangalore or Hyderabad. As usual the common complaint of most people about Bangalore is the chaotic traffic. The pleasant weather & greenery of Bangalore is no match to the hot and dusty weather in Hyderabad. Where Hyderabad does score is the cost of living and better infrastructure.

Initially it's been a bit tough settling down in Hyderabad after getting used to Bangalore. However I now treasure the moments which I get to spend with my family, shopping for groceries and other odd jobs. When I used to visit my family on weekends or on a short vacation, I wouldn't definitely have found time do all this stuff.

Take today's example. In the couple of restroom(s) we have, there are Indian toilets. Since a long time I wanted to renovate one of the restroom so that it could accomodate a western commode. Today I was finally able to do that. Poor mom had a tough time cleaning the house and getting rid of the construction materials.

When I now look @ the restroom, it looks neat with freshly laid ivory tiles. The only stuff remaining is fixing the commode and that will be done by the plumber on Monday. I am eagerly looking forward to the day :)

January 20th 2008. I can't but keep smiling and rub my eyes in disbelief. Blogging which was so much an integral part of my life for the past 1 year didn't find space in my daily schedule for nearly a month now.

Anyway's its a new year and there are new things do in life. I remember last year I had made of couple of resolutions for the new year. Whether by accident or sheer luck I did manage to fulfil atleast one of the resolutions that is to get married.

I have a new job now at Hyderabad...you guessed it right, my hometown...:) So it really feels good to stay with my family. There are certain jobs you can't do when you are away from home. Now that my kid brother has left to U.S, it certainly is my responsibility to look after them. And of course the icing on the cake is the homemade food I get to have. To sum it up as the saying goes "Home is where the heart is" :)