The Green Light

I know we don't talk to each other, I understand we don't have to.
I escaped out of  US, and now it's just ME & YOU.
It's a small story, I want to share,
If we are connected, you would care.
You know that's so silly and stupid,
But I see my account, to learn your bit.
The grey light tells, you have moved on.
The red one tells, you are there but not for me.
The orange one tells, you wanna be there but can't.
And the green one tells, you are around waiting for me...

My Neighbor, My Childhood Ideal..

Sini P. George. Yeah, that was her complete name back then.

My malayali neighbor, 4-5 years elder to me.She was a beauty, a black beauty.I used to try to dress up like her, to comb like her, to even carry a pen/pencil of the brand she used to use.Be it waiting for our school bus early morning or running behind it at times; a patty fight with my classmate or finding it difficult to perform in any event...She used to be there, always. I was more connected to her than my mother at one point in my childhood.With her two elder sisters,Uncle & Aunt, they were 5 of them in the family. I used to join them for their evening prayers. Monu Di (Sini Di's nick) used to make me read those passages from Bible and Uncle used to explain them to me.I have spent almost fifty percent of my free time post school hours at their home for years. I always felt invited and secure there..I can't deny that she was way to protective of me and I was fond of that :-)

Most of us have an ideal,from childhood days, we take inspiration from. Be it a school senior or someone staying in the neighborhood; whom you observe and try to imitate. Monu Di was that childhood ideal for me.

When I was in class 4th, we left that neighbourhood and shifted to another locality. I cried and cried for days because I was lonely there. For me it was sort of an end, which I couldn't figure out at that small age and I remember that it was during our summer breaks which made it even worse. Our meetings were limited to school premises now and that too very rare. Exactly around 3 years later, we moved back. Although I had grown up a bit, I was excited to be around her. But now she had grown up too much for me, she had other friends of her own age she would spend most of her time with. Alothough I was jealous but she never ignored me. I was always given preference somehow :)

Alas! things dint remain like this for long. 2 years passed and she moved out of the city to pursue higher education. We too shifted to our new home permanently, farther than this society, leading to no medium of being in touch with her or her family.

Surprinsingly, on one of my birthdays, I received a letter with her card. I wasn't in the same city anymore, neither was she; but I read it almost 10 times immediately and was very happy with the thought of Monu Di writing to me, after so long..I decided to reply back. I was staying in Kota, Rajasthan and she was in Bangalore, Karnataka then ; pursuing her Nursing. It felt so far away then. Sometime later I came to know that her family moved back to Kerela, selling their house in my hometown and other properties..so their was now no chance of them returning back ever.

Few years passed, and we were still connected via phones. Thanks to developing mobile technology at that time. As time passed further, I got busy in my higher studies and I believe same would have been the case with her as well. We were talking only on Birthdays, Diwali and Christmas by now.I hadn't realized, how fast time flew; when one fine evening she called me suddenly and informed that she is married now. She was sorry that she couldn't invite me. But I wasn't waiting for just the invitation, we were supposed to plan it all together. I was upset. I couldn't be angry with her but somehow urged to be have had been there on her big day!!

Then when one last time we talked was 4 years back, she called me to inform that she is moving to Kuwait and gave her contact number and email id to remain in touch. Sadly, none of that worked after a few months later. I din't hear from her on emails and then even I stopped writing to her.

Since then, it's been so many years, but whenever I get to reminiscence my childhood, she is a part of it. At times,I miss her so much that I will search the web for her, in all the possible ways but after some failures, I will end up hoping that she is doing fine at some corner of this world, and may be does think of me too at times. She could be a mother now. How her husband would be like? Would she be remembering me ever? "How few people, who have been the most important to you at one point in your life....disappear, forever!"

Now a days, although we have got facebook, gmail, twitter and so many other mediums to be in touch with each others or finding out about someone, sometimes even they don't help; and you feel the need to find that one missing link!

She was more than just a neighbor to me. Yes, she was like my elder sister. I was the only child in my family then, the eldest one and I needed someone elder to me around. Everyone in my family felt the same. My mother used to leave me at her place when she had to go out without me. When my father fell ill, uncle used to pray for him. I was so young but I still can remember him taking my father's name, my mother's name..my name in his prayers.

Haahh..it still feels heavier after having written all this down. Usually this works the other way round for me. Well, I will still be hunting for her in all sorts of ways I can. I don't have her address, her phone number, in fact i don't even know her last name after her wedding, but I know that I want to talk to her..somehow...anyhow; something...anything!!

I wish I see that day soon :-)

And yes, if you feel the same for someone, don't let them disappear because you are too busy!

-Fingers Crossed!!

UPDATE**

Date : 06/12/2015 and Yes..I finally could find her!!! Thanks to Facebook's Friends-Suggest feature, who suggested me her elder sister's name. Till this date, this feature irritated me, but you find the real worth of some things, when you find your real worthy person out of them..It felt so amazing talking to you Monu Di and knowing that all this while , you were finding that missing link back to me , from your corner of this world! Love You too :D

Strange but True!

A series of different incidents within half an hour, can make you feel happy about yourself!

My cook is not at her best..She is a single mother, taking care of her sick mother and a physically handicapped son. She would be in her forties. She doesn't keep well most of the times herself..After all, she is trying her best to come to work, her only source of income and support, though not regularly but I won't blame her entirely.Rather I pity on her circumstances.

It's mid of the month, and she asked for some money. She was looking pale and tired. I immediately gave her some cash without questioning. I guess, she thought I am trying to show disinterest towards her so she waited for me to speak something, standing at the door, with fear in her eyes to loose her only job someday soon. She often does ask for money, sometimes at 7 AM in the morning..But that wasn't what I was thinking then.It was an article, I read the other day, which crossed my mind as soon as I saw her. It said "I spend more money on Dominos than I spend on  my maid.". I realized the silence and did ask her.She explained how her mother needs to see doctor and she doesn't have any cash. Like all other things, she does it often. I let her, because may be she wants somebody to talk to and that lessens her pain. But one unexpected thing she did today was she bent down towards me, joining her hands. To show respect and gratitude in her words. But I was hurt. It doesn't feel right when someone so elder to you does that. Believe me it doesn't . I told "It's your hard earned money, don't thank me for that. " Yes, yes like our Hindi films. Smile caught her face  and she said while leaving, "Pehle ek bitiya thi, jo mera bhut khayaal rakhti thi..ab woh Hyderabad mein nahi hai...Bhagwaan ne unki jagaha tumhe bheja hai beta. Bhut khush raho!" [English - There was a girl, who used to take care of me very well. She is not in Hyderabad anymore, hence God has sent you. Stay Very Happy!]  I was touched and obliged. :-)

I left for the office in another 10 minutes, on my BICYCLE! Yeah, that's my new passion. Though it was turning to be little sunnier, I rode it with my playlist on. I reached office. The gate keeper smiled. Since when I have got bicycle, I am a little familiar to them. When I am not with my cycle, sometimes they do ask me, "Ma'm aaj cycle pe nahi aaye aap?" Haha..You don't have to do something huge to be noticed, just a little,out of the flow does sometimes. So that's not it. I was in the basement parking my cycle, one unknown colleague asked me smiling "Hey how much did this small thing cost you?" I told the price. He immediately said "Oh nice..I have been telling my friend(the one standing next to him) since long that I want to buy one..From today on wards you are my role model. Let's see if I buy soon. :-) " Haha..how often do you see that coming..:D

I had a big smile on my face. I took stairs to reach my floor. That's one of the nice things, I have taken from one of my old friend. As soon as I opened the floor (4th floor) entrance, I see my friend cum colleague standing there. In awe at this sight he says, "Stairs Dishi?? Why do YOU need them?..I need them and I always think of that, but never able to..Keep it up.. Have a great day!!"

What can I say now..The smile grew bigger..!! :D

So, yes I am just having a great day, by doing nothing for others but myself. Strange but True! :-)

Trip to Coorg - The Scotland of India (17th - 20th August 2012)

The long weekend in the month of August grabbed every one's attention. All the travel-lovers were busy exploring places to be covered. My office team, which I consider the best to have work with, started planning out too. In a 12 member team, 9 of us completely agreed to roam any place and spend some quality time!! Before I start off, I would go with a little introduction of each of my team members to make it easier to imagine when I address each of them. Thanks to Maithily for being the source of this idea in my mind..:)

So, here is my,  the coolest team :

Sowmya, Aatish, Maithily, Suresh (my manager), Archi (the Bhai), Shiva, Me :P, Surojit and Prakash...(order : left to right)

Among all of us, initially the most enthusiastic person about planning the trip was Aatish, so right from deciding the destination, to hotels, places to visit and budget everything was left on him. He probably dint work for the entire last week while he was planning for the trip :P. Everyone was comfortable with the idea for covering Coorg and Mysore. A land of chivalry and pride, a life of solitary splendour, rich food and spices, previously known as Kodava, Madekiri town, one of the favorite destinations in Karnataka, is in short termed Coorg. Smell the coffee, taste the oranges, flavour with cardamom and savor the honey. Popularly termed as the Scotland of India. While Mysore city is known as the cultural capital of the state of Karnataka.

In one of the weekly meetings we discussed the itinerary of the trip :P. Aatish played major role in putting final list of places to visit based on reviews, shortlisting the home-stay/resort to stay, booking tickets etc keeping all the details such as covering maximum places and proximity in mind. Well done to you :-)  We also got one day off from our product manager, which encouraged us to cover as much as we could and added an official team-trip flavor.

Right when the plan was full and final, tickets were booked, we got to know that some of the places were flooded because of rain and tourists were not able to cover the local city. We still kept our hopes alive and decided to not cancel the tickets until something unavoidable happens. To our good luck, weather at Coorg totally was with us for those 3 days and we dint happen to encounter any difficulties except few small ones without which the trip would not have been full-fledged.

Day 0 : 16th August..the beginning of the journey..

Not to our surprises, everyone was there at the planned stop except Shiva. Shiva reached right at the moment the bus had arrived and we all dint miss any chance of scolding him :-) Everyone was excited and full of enthusiasm. We took our seats, me sitting next to Archi..the 2 smallest packages of our group :P and Aatish roaming around to get one aisle seat, but he dint..no body stood up for him, and it was just a beginning :P

Driver played one telugu movie named, Oy!..And we all somehow found it interesting.We discussed it with those of few who knew telugu and tried to understand as much as we could. By the time movie was about to end, I had slept off..But I finished the story the next morning with Sowmya's help and might be, had I known telugu, I had not slept. After all a cute romantic movie it was.. :-)

Day 1 : 17th August

We reached Mysore. Found our tempo traveler, 12 seater van, spacious enough to dance as well :P , waiting for us. The driver uncle seemed gentleman and he continued his impression throughout the trip. We reached hotel, got ready for the day. It might be rare to hear anything like this, but all the 4 girls got ready way too before the 5 guys. :P And as per the guys' group, Shiva was responsible again :P Meanwhile we girls dint waste a single minute and had a small photo-shoot and a round of routine gossips ;-) . Everyone was so hungry by the time we got out. We quickly had our breakfast, where Sowmya+Aatish+Shiva continued to fight with each other, providing us with live comedy-circus..:P and then we started off for our first destination known as "Golden Temple" or "Buddhist Monastery". Everyone seemed so pleased having reached there. Since the driver was known to the place, he asked us to keep our shoes in the van itself. Looking at the Gate only, it appeared to me something really ancient and unique in it's own way. There were monks in their yellow+brown attire, busy watering plants, taking residues of Pooja from one place to another,cleaning the surroundings and talking to people. This place had foreigners as well. We walked with the mass and reached one very big hall, from outside of which we could hear these set of monks offering prayers. From outside apart from a big bell in the beginning it looked one of it's many kinds out there, but the moment we entered the hall our eyes were wide-opened  analyzing the pattern and way with which the hall was decorated. In the front-center a very huge statue of Buddha was kept, besides 2 more huge statues.The graffiti and the architecture kept us amazed.

We were lucky enough to hear them offering prayers.They were sitting in long queues, facing the center of the hall and having some books opened in front of them, which was written in either Tibetan or Japanese script.

Though you cannot make out the lyrics they were chanting, it had a healing touch in it. Never heard something of that sort and rhythm before. My friend Shiva and Surojit took this music from here and throughout the journey they made us laugh uncontrollably with them mimicking it with obviously their own manipulations in it ;-). We sat there for a while, letting the prayers occupy our minds and heal them.

Next destination was "Nisargadhama Island" formed by river Kaveri. We could see rabbits and deer only. Our willingness to see some elephants was let down by off seasonal issues. Though we had a better plan for that one.."coming soon :)" !  We walked on a bridge, attractively built to cross the Kaveri river.

 

      
         
            Saw some artistically painted broken

         tree trunks, huts and the bank of river
Kaveri. Only Shiva, Surojit, Prakash and our Archi Bhai dared to jump over the gates and walk around the bank. We spent around 2 hours here and then comes shopping part...Hahaha..!! :P

Yes, we will never get bored with shopping or let say just window shopping wherever we go..We, the Girls!! :P After spending sometime there we started for Coorg. It was around 4pm and we were really hungry by then. We dint have our lunch but still we were never tired to sing and dance in the van. Reached on dhaba-cum-restaurants , had decent lunch and again on our way to Coorg.

Reached Coorg and then our home-stay location.Entire city was covered with fog...Not only the city, the journey to Coorg too was foggy and a new experience in it's own way.Based on reviews we had decided to take home-stay for 2 days and spend last day in a far away village resort! The name of our home-stay was Alpen-Glow, whose tagline says, "A home away from home in Coorg"! It was a nice and a decent place. The husband-wife (Ananth - Jayashree) were very welcoming and soft spoken. The owner was chief editor of Shakti New Agency, one of the best in Coorg and that's how Jayashree  impressed us showing their home decorated with achievements and awards and paintings made by Ananth. The house was compact, each and every corner had some decorative piece kept and all the walls were painted with different colors. We freshened up, and went to Coorg's famous market known as chauk for shopping again :P This time it was more of buying gifts for your closed ones and definitely you mother :P.Lets see how..Each of us ended up buying Coorg's famous spices..!! :D Had dinner, though it was difficult to find any restaurants open after 9pm, we managed to get one. It was raining all the time and now we were tired after having traveled so far..Back to home-stay..dying to hit the sack..!! Btw we dint do that too immediately, we were laughing recollecting the whole day loudly, but as per the home-stay rules, we were not supposed to make any kind of noise after 10:30pm because Coorg city's people sleep so early..we were made to obey the rules and then we fell asleep..How boring..they should visit Hyderabad once ;-)

Day 2 : 18th August

We started early morning after the complimentary breakfast of set dosas and some rice noodles..(I am not sure what it was..:P) the authentic south food cooked by Jayashree! There was a slight change in our plan and we went for "Bhagamandala" first. It is a pilgrimage place situated near the Triveni Sangam of river Kaveri which is joined by two tributaries , river Kannike and river Sujyoti. We were not allowed to take photographs there but if I can just try to describe, it was also some what like the Monastry we had visited. We could find monks around forwarding Pooja ki thali so that we can take blessings from the God. There were idols of Ganapati and different incarnations of Lord Vishnu in very small sized temples. You have to bend to see them. Bhagamandala too has a history associated from the times of Tipu Sultan and is a famous tourist place. The triveni sangam adds to it's significance. Next to it, we headed towards "Talacauvery". Talacauvery is about eight kilometres from Bhagamandala.The name Talakaveri implies the source of the river Cauvery.It is about 4187 feet situated on the Brahmagiri hill slopes. This place too had a religious significance and apart from it the whole panoramic view from the top is mesmerizing.

Today also it was raining on and off and this place was really foggy and full of tourists. Even though it was an off season to visit Coorg, there were many tourists because of the long weekend. We had to climb 300 stairs to reach at the top. Downstairs there was the main origin point of Kaveri river, and there was a long queue of pilgrims praying for the well beings by throwing coins in the origin point. We all too did that. For a moment, I was disconnected from the outer word and connected to the purity of the ambiance. You feel a new power flowing through your blood and an encouragement to climb up the stairs.The rain was getting heavier and the wind was blowing fast. It was difficult for me control my umbrella as well and it was becoming colder. I was in my jacket, partly drenched and was feeling cold but not enough to stop me for climbing. How often you get to do something crazy like this? I did not miss it..None of us did :-) After reaching the top the weather was even worse, but we all enjoyed that too...Keeping your arms open in rain at the top of a mountain, opposite to the flow of the wind and closing your eyes..that was the experience usually we see only Shahrukh Khan posing with full emotions in movies, it was a real one this time :P Sorry Sowmya...I was just giving a reference.."#She is a big SRK fan" :D

When it is raining and you are done getting drenched, what is the first thing that comes to your mind??? Mere dimag mein to sirf aur sirf pakode aate hai :P :P  And I guess everyone's stomach felt the same. On our way down the hills, we had this desire come true :P there was a huge rush, we had to wait a lot but never mind, anything for garama-garam pakodas, and yes yes as Sowmya says - Mirchi-Bhajji :D But I guess  one person dint feel as hungry as we were then..Our tour guide, Aatish ji..uska to shayad F5 se hi man bhar gaya tha..what say?? ;)

Next destination was "Abbi Waterfalls". It took us a lot of time to reach there because of heavy traffic jam, but it was worth it. The first waterfall I have seen, and to have stood in front of it gives you the authority to claim that you have seen something heavenly beautiful. It was windy here too and the wind was mixed with water drops from the fall..

And then came the last place to be covered for the day known as "Raja's Seat"..This place is known as so because ruling kings used to come here all the way from Mysore to have views of sunset and sunrise from this garden. Isn't it amazing..that too if you think, back then?? Since it was drizzling all the time, we could not have the pleasure of capturing sunset but we did spend some good time over there. You can see the whole town covered with fog, wet roads and clouds differentiating in color from dark to light.

After a small round of photo-session we headed back to the town, all wet and shivering with cold..Still except a few, rest of us went for second round of shopping. Gifts were still left to be bought, and you are not allowed without gifts back at home, so what else will you do.. Doesn't matter if you are wet :P, you have to make it..Also, don't forget, shops close so early..:-(

Luckily this time, all of us were done with gifts..!!

After a bit of difficulty in finding any restaurant open during night time, we found a good place a little away from the market. As suggested by our driver, it was the best place we had dined at so far in Coorg, but we had to wait for sooooooo long..But jaisa ki intazaar ka fal meetha hota hai, we enjoyed our food and finally back to our home-stay, in our beds keeping our voice-level very low!

Day 3 : 19th August

Once again complimentary breakfast..and once again I am confused here with what was the name of the dish..:O who cares, as far as it was tasty :P.

While leaving Jayashree gifted girls with artificial roses and plates and guys with snacks. That was touching and made us forget that 'Dont make noise' instruction, which was really difficult for us to maintain. :P

Today we were on our way to one of the most exciting part of our trip. "River-Rafting"..After elephant rides , (covered seeing elephants here :)  we were all set to raft..Among all of us only Shiva and Maithily knew swimming. Initially I was a little skeptical about risking my life, when Aatish told me that they make you sign some paper before you do this, but after seeing people I wasn't thinking about yes/no, I just had to do it..Also later I came to know there was no such formality of signing papers as I was told x-(..may be not here :P After waiting for long, our raft was there..we dint even get helmets because of rafts and respective accessories being stuck in huge traffic jams, but we decided to not wait anymore and go ahead. We screamed that golden-temple's mantra to push rafts with full power and we jumped into the water (thanks to Aatish and Shiva for taking the initiative) completely relying our lives on life-jackets.Looking up in the sky without any support, all alone in the middle of the water, when you don't have any threads attached from the raft , was the one thing I would never forget. It took out the water phobia out of me completely. Obviously with life-jackets :P Later I even jumped into the water without any thread support.. \m/ As Aatish told, I dint come up for few seconds and he had started panicking..thank you or the concern..haha :P But I was enjoying it, inside water, the buoyancy force and then the sky......!! Our rafters were also very nice to us, and made us do all sorts of fun, jumping in and our of raft, water splashing, screaming mantras, defeating other rafts, rapids, rotating with rafts inside water and facing the water waves! Ahhhh...it was truly amazing..we couldn't have asked for more!!

This was the last event we were supposed to have today, and then head back to the village resort to spend some lite and quality time with the group. But the excitement of the day dint end here...On our way to the resort we faced many difficulties. The biggest of all was, we were disconnected from the outer world, there was no network and above it, the roads were very narrow. There were rocks on one side and steep valley on the other. It was one sided and our van could not even take a U-turn. We had to ask a lot of people to find out the location. But the whole journey was very scary for all of us. It had rained the last 2 days,luckily not today and it was about to become dark. Because of heavy rush in the city, all the resorts and the hotels were full, we dint have any other option but to search for it. The driver tried his best and we could finally reach the location.

 

There were 2 huts. One was for us and in the other one another group was already staying. There was a waterfall, tree-swing, bonfire setup, nets, ladders to climb onto them and a kitchen as well :P After getting relieved of a bit of tension which was there in every one's mind except Shiva :P, we decided to have bonfire and ask everyone to perform something. Me (Bollywood), Sowmya (Classical :O) and Maithily (English...ahhaa..!!) sang, Archi danced, Suresh and Prakash acted, followed by Me and Archi taking their roles (that was impromptu, but fun :P) , Surojit did mimicry of everyone in our team (khoob bhalo baabumushaii  :D) and Shiva too...We started playing cards, there was loud music being played by the other group..It was raining a little so we decided to sit inside and continue the games. New games were discovered, played and enjoyed thoroughly. Some became "JOKERS" :P and some became "DONKEYS/MONKEYS" pick any :P This continued for hours and then back to our cozy cozy beds, under blankets..!! Just so that we don't forget the incident followed, I am not yet done with writing, it is yet not "ENOUGH" (Hope you guys got it) ;-) [#internal joke..only for those who were in the trip :P]

Day 4 : 20th August

Next morning, all set again..we were a little lazier today to get ready but we had to start for Mysore so that we could cover most of it.  And once..once...once again, I don't know the name of the dish we had in the breakfast !! :P We figured out a different route with the help of the villagers to reach the town safely. After we had reached main road, we started to dance and sing again..my team never gets tired, either it is work or fun ;-)

Reached Mysore's famous Sandal wood factory, spend some time there among amazing wood-works and paintings..I was craving to paint then and there..those things were really wroth appreciation. Next was Mysore palace. Since many of us had already seen it, they decided to stay in the wood factory while Me, Archi, Surojit and Prakash visited the palace. As much as the palace looks beautiful from outside the interior of the palace is worth a visit for its spacious halls, paintings and architectural beauty.

After this we had a long way to cover till Bangalore. After the lunch we all were tired.We did not realize the tiredness until it was about to end. Almost everyone slept at different intervals on our way. We reached Bangalore by 8:30pm. Couldn't meet any of my friends because of the delay, originally we were supposed to reach there by 6pm. Anyway we roamed around the market, passed out time waiting for the bus meanwhile Aatish and Archi Beta ji left us for their respective friends :P..Never-mind ;) Had dinner and then off to the return journey. Everyone almost instantly slept, irrespective of some movie being played in the bus. I woke up the next morning, and we were in Hyderabad.

It has been almost a week, we people are again busy in our routines, but the hangover has not yet gone. All of us are flipping through the pics now and then, commenting, talking about and narrating the small and funny incidences which occurred during the trip. As one of us said, "Everything was there in this trip- Enjoyment, fighting (ruthna manana :P ), adventure (some wanted and some unwanted), bonfire and the most important one getting to know the other side of each and every person" and many other things. 

Though I have already said thanks, once again a huge thanks to all of you. This trip could not have been such a fun without you. And lastly I am sorry if I have hurt your feelings, the intention was definitely was not so... :-) Though there are many things yet unspoken, I guess it is finally "ENOUGH" now...

Few lines from  "Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)"

Another turning point, a fork stuck in the road

Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go

So make the best of this test, and don't ask why

It's not a question, but a lesson learned in time

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right.

I hope you had the time of your life.

So take the photographs, and still frames in your mind

Hang it on a shelf in good health and good time

Tattoos of memories and dead skin on trial

For what it's worth it was worth all the while

It's something unpredictable, but in the end it's right. 

I hope you had the time of your life...

Courtesy : Maithily :)

We'll plan something real soon...till then keep enjoying!!

Cheers,

Dishi

           

'H'appy wala Birthday :)

We celebrate Valentine's day, Teacher's day, Mother's day, Independence day, Science day, Labour day..ufff and many more..You may or may not get a chance to be part of any of these days your entire life..When I say not get a chance, I mean that we might never be a Teacher to someone, or we might never have done something for Science..However, hoping all of us do celebrate Valentine's day without fail ;) So we have so many days dedicated for so many purposes, dedicated to so many people who have done great jobs in their lives, there is one day, which comes for each of us, whether you know it or not, the one day of the year which is meant to be just yours, your Birthday. Though many people are celebrating their birthdays on the same day, but who cares when it's your too :)

When I was a kid, like all other kids, for my birthday the only fantasy I had always had was, I wanted to dress up in in-formals..not regular school uniform, with a bag full of candies and go to school to celebrate it. But throughout my education this happened only twice. In Rajasthan state, till the time I was in school, 14th April was always a public holiday as it is celebrated as birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. But luckily, for the first time, when I was in class 6th, it wasn't a holiday. Not at all sure, what was the reason, but I remember it happened and even after around 14 years, I still remember the dress I was wearing :) I remember that how the girls were surrounding me..sorry no boys allowed :P, feeling supreme for just one day ;) and I remember that I had to choose between two of my best friends to go out for a round of chocolate distribution among all the classes. Of course, it had to be Chinks :)

Post school days, even during college days, being born in April, I was always at home preparing for my final semester exams. Yes, it used to fall during preparation leaves and hence I never got a chance to go to college on my birthday until 6th semester..14th April 2009, Tuesday..the best-est birthday ever..!! After which I am celebrating my birthday more than anything else every year..I am always excited about it like a kid..telling everyone that it's coming..\m/ :D. Want to know the story behind..??You will have to wait a little, but it's legen...wait for it...dary :D

Last year, I was home on my birthday, no regrets :) And this year again my birthday is falling on a holiday, which means I won't be getting a chance to dress up nicely and go to office :| :P, but let's see, what have you (The hero of my story :O) got this year for me....I am waiting, like I always do..:)

Dedicated :)
Right from Cloud no 9.. ;-)
Dishi

A pic from the past :)

Trip to Visakhapatnam & Araku Valley (23rd - 25th March' 2012)

Long time,no posts. Life is going so smoothly that nothing had stuck in my mind so far,which I would want to pen down. Somehow today,I am willing to share one of my travelling experiences, happened last week. The recent long weekend because of the Ugadi festival, celebrated as new year in South India .However, I am not sure what you can take from it, but this was one of the best travelling experiences I had, actually I rarely had any. :)

So it all started on the last day of Ora-Ovation 2012. Okay, here we need some background info. Ora-Ovations is a week long event , which is conducted every year for Oracle employees and sadly, from this year on wards it will be conducted biennially. After joining oracle the only negative impression which I was carrying about it's work culture was, lack of networking...the number of people you know...Honestly, working for a consulting firm can be blamed for this thinking of mine, but I don't regret about it :). I had rarely known 10-12 people informally in last 5 months, that too a few because of Go+ and a few because of Christmas's celebrations. 

But Ora-Ovations changed the entire scenario and I ended up making much more friends than I had expected in less than 2 weeks. Events like dancing and singing which I almost had left after school, became a medium for me to connect to a new set of people. And I somehow realized, I like this thing, making new friends. :) So back to the last day of Ora-Ovations : It was 3rd march and all of those who were part of step up dance had come for a last practice session early morning. The main event was going to take place on the same evening. Once the practice was over we were supposed to wait for our costumes. We were sitting behind the main stage, trying to escape from the sun rays. There,one of us said that this all is going to end this evening. Tired but aware of this fact, the other one said, that why don't we all go out somewhere to keep the fun on after the Ovations as well. All of us agreed :) but then post event forgot too :P. After such a tiresome event people were not having enough energy left with them , to think of any outing or something like that.

But as we say, some things just happens..and a set of few enthusiastic people dint let this thought die. We met, decided who all are interested, the place and the dates. We decided to go to Vizag and near by places. One guy collected the information and the money and booked 11 tickets in total.

After the tickets were booked, the next exciting thing I could see in my schedule was this trip. I personally was very excited because I first of all, had never seen any beach in real, so far my life and secondly my other set of friends had already been to that place, and I had assumed that I wont be ever going that place again, so this was like a perfect trip plan for me :D :P Sadly few people had to drop the plan because of some other engagements and the number dropped down to 10 and then finally 9.

22nd evening, around 4:30pm, we 7 people started from our campus, remaining 2 joined us at the MMTS station and we finally reached Yatri Nivas. The place from where we were supposed to get in, in the Andhra Pradesh Tourism bus. We had taken packaged tour to Vizag and Araku valley, to make sure that we visit all the must see places during the trip.We had little evening snacks at Yatri Nivas hotel, and then got into the bus.The journey began and we all started literally. Believe me we were non-stop fun throughout the journey. I, in fact heard one old uncle saying to his son, "Where are these people from, they have too much of energy." We took it as a compliment :D We all started with the game of Antakshree, the best way to start any journey.."songs"..and then followed by few games of playing-cards. Got to learn some new games, which lasted till the last time we were there in that bus. :) By 10 bus stopped at some hotel, and we stuffed ourselves with some more food since it was the last stoppage for the remaining journey for that night .Again Antakshree + cards.We were loud and full of enthu..At last, one couple, sitting behind us, asked us to lower down the volume level and we realized it was around 12:40 midnight and people wanted to sleep..unlike us :P. However, we continued talking and singing,  trying to keep our decibel levels low enough and I remember when last time I saw my watch, it was somewhere around 3:00 in the morning. :)

23rd March, first day of the trip, started with the Annavaram Temple!! Photo-session had started from the guest house itself. We had our breakfast at some lake side restaurant and then went to the temple.Few of my friends did the main pooja, which is the main attraction of the temple and few of us went in directly for darshan. This temple is famous for married couples, who usually comes post wedding to do poojas. That day because of Udagi celebrations there was lot of rush. It took us at least half hour, just to have darshan. Meanwhile our friends were doing pooja, we were busy clicking photographs :P and yeah, had some tasty prasad from the temple  :) Spend some time near one of the bhavans where marriages were going on, and rest here and there. Those were the longest hours we had to spend in this trip, for rest everything, we were running short of time :) Our friends and other people were back during lunch time, and then we all reached at the same place where we had our breakfast. Had lunch. Now the bad part, we had only rice in lunch, no rotis :O Still everyone managed to be stuffed, to stay strong enough to not skip any fun except 2 of  our friends. One (She ;)) is extremely energetic but eats nothing..some hidden source of energy..:) and may be the other one wasn't hungry enough then, but I don't think he skipped any other meals  later...:P

Next we reached Rama Krishna beach..The main attraction of the whole trip. :) I enjoyed that evening fully..Sea side, waves coming one after the other, generating a musical sound, you would love to hear. Though when the first time,  I was drowned into that water, I was freaked because of it's taste and also as I don't know swimming I was scared a little. But later I could manage to jump whenever waves hit, and at times tried to hit them back. :) It was all fun..What all I had expected..It might sound kiddish but I did write my name on the sand, wiping off due to coming waves.Made those little sand-houses, saw them falling with the force of waves.Walked on the beach side, and turned to see my footsteps..excited with what I was seeing... All I had wanted to do :) A great evening it was. Moreover, the people, with whom I was there made it more special. :)

Next to this, even though we were all wet and feeling cold inside that AC bus, we convinced our tour guide, YSR..no no..not the CM :P haha..to go to the Submarine Museum, the one and only submarine museum in whole Asia. The guide tells you the history of the submarine, interesting facts and information, while walking through it's start to the end. It was worthy, knowing that it belonged to the history. One funny thing happened there. Since the height of the submarine was very short I asked that guide, that how navy people used to manage, assuming that they all are tall. That guide, without any change of expressions said.."Madam, ek din sar pe lagega...dusare din lagega, teesare din apne aap jhuk jaenge.." My whole group burst into laughter. Even that guide smiled a little, giving us company. May be, for him, it was a regular question, but for us it was an unusual answer. :) Next to this we reached another guest house, better than the previous one. Freshened up, because you have lots of sand everywhere after you have been to the beach.. Gathered for dinner, had a little walk for tea+coffee at some place near by and then to one of the rooms. Fun begins again...we started playing Dumb Charades..calling it Dumb C.. In the beginning it was strange for me to see, how few of them could enact anything so easily but I was no less, :P I followed and started developing my Dumb-C skills ;) The first movie I got was "Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay", and I somehow want to remember it..It was fun trying to enact it :) Later we had lots of funny moments, I will just name those movies so that the people involved could get the level of fun I am talking about...as I can't describe it with just words..the movies were "The Adjustment Bureau" & "Jurassic Park" ....:D :D it was late night, around post 2:00 in the morning and I had to be at the beach by 5am to see the sunrise..The second attraction for me in the trip. I slept and rest of them continued to play, thinking that sleep will lower their energy levels so better be awake. :) 

24th March, I did reach the beach side by 5 in the morning, but unluckily could not see the sun-rise..:-| as we were supposed to be back by 5:30 to start for second day places. Never mind, I saw it from the bus though :P Hahahaha...and yeah, got severe cold too :-/
We were in the bus again, few sleeping, or say taking power nap ;) and few of us playing Antakshree again..We reached at the vizag railway station had tea+coffee and got into 6:50am train to Araku valley. We had our breakfast inside the train itself, and then all set to enjoy the joy ride. This journey was meant to be in train because this train line passes through 84 bridges and 58 tunnels. Doesn't it sound exciting..?? It did..:) All of us enjoyed, singing(I told you, we were non-stop :D) ,screaming loudly duing tunnels and those photo-sessions by one of our photography-maniac friend :) Reached Araku velly, and post lunch everyone was so tired that we decided to take some rest to recharge ourselves. When woke up, we came to know that we were going to some garden..yes, "Padmapuram Gardens" followed by Araku Tribal Museum which showcases culture, tradition, handicrafts and fine arts of the ancient tribes of India. Few of us tried archery, 3 shots for just rupee 5/- ;) :P  Went to a coffee house there. By that time my cold was on it's peak..Hot chocolate helped me a little. :) We had bicycle rides then, took one round of the resort area, and finally on the roof top. Some chit-chats, masti and of course photo-sessions :D Went back to one of the rooms and then back to cards. No body was willing to sleep, though tired, we wanted to do something or the other. Finally played Dumb-C and the fun continued. I could not control taking little naps in between, as I was feeling too sleepy at times, but one of our friends..(everyone knows :P) was as if destined to make everyone burst into huge laughter, with his acting skills :P and I kept waking up with the those sounds again and again :) This continued till early morning, we went to our respective rooms, slept a little and then the last days began. Back to our buses, ready to leave by 8:30. 

It was 25th March, and since because of some political issues we could not visit Borra caves the other day, our bus went straight to the caves, residing in the Ananthagiri hills of the Araku valley. Borra caves are one of the largest caves in India, found by William King George.Apart from beautiful side scenes, coffee gardens, small-small monkeys, a few bats and trekking inside the cave, had one of the best coconut water over there, and yeah of course photo-session- fever never died a bit :D 

After this, as we had very little time left for the day to cover remaining places. We quickly went to visit Kailshgiri Park, situated on hill top having panoramic sea-view.We also managed to see Shiva Parvati's huge statue, Titanic View Point and yeah had that awesome and my first rope-way round trip, small but exciting..:) Post this, we had lunch at Anantgiri resort, and continued to the next destination which was Simhachalam Temple.This time when we got into the bus, YSR, our guide, had to indirectly request us to keep quite and not sing songs anymore.. :P We had dinner post temple and we all started reviving and talking about what all good and bad things we faced during this trip. Though while writing this blog ,none of the bad things crossed my mind..may be because all is well, if end is well...and this time if the company(people) is well :D 

We first time took long sleep during this trip.The next morning, woke up and found out that the bus is gonna be late by 3-4 hours. Who cared, we played cards again :D. This time we had one more thing to explore, and iPad of one of our friend, and everyone started playing some or the other game from it, one by one. Few of my friends watched one horror movie, while I took a small nap, so that going back to office wont become difficult. But somehow it had to be..Not just me, but everyone had hangover of last few days and the fun we had..

I made very good friends during 2 weeks of Ovations and this trip...have collected  lots of memories to cherish.Lucky to have been part of it. :)

And yeah, in the end we named everyone w.r.t their special qualities, 

Kranthi - Photoshetty - Thanks a ton for the amazing pics :)

Bharath - Adjustment Borrows - Thanks a ton for entertaining us :P

Tony - Phonu :D

Subbu - Sotu - Whenever you turn to him, he is sleeping :P

Mukesh - SICK-tu..No no, he isn't Sick..but he might make you feel Sick :P LOL

Deeksha - Sistu ;) - You dint let me sleep at all...truly Sister-like..haha :D

Ishita - Dumbtu - Dumb C Godess ;)

Payal - Payaliya..ho ho ho ho...I know you don't like it..who likes it :P

Dishi - Ohhh, I planned not to mention here..but some people threatened to kill me if I don't, so here I go...Baniyan Harishchandrika Bistu.. :O

Note ** - Don't try to interpret anything from anyone's name..and I apologize if I have hurt anyone's sentiments..!! Please accept the apology :)

At last, thanks everyone for not letting me feel like a newbie in your group, for the lyrics of the song..."Sir Osthara" :) , for bearing my "Aaanchhhuuu" sound and little but scary (for few :P) impulses I had..Had so much fun :)

The GANG!!

Happy-Happy,
Dishi

Karke Dekho - Achha Lagta Hai :)

It was a usual start of the day. I reached office at around 11AM and started going through the emails in my official mail box, the first thing ought to be done every morning :) .The top most email which was about a blood donation camp for Thalassemia patients caught my very attention,but at last. Since a long time I wanted to donate blood, wanted to help someone, wanted to be a part of those, who take such responsibilities and do good for the people for no reasons but self satisfaction. I had tried once in my school and once in my college but because of me being underweight I always got disqualified. So today morning I  went through the email, and  there was this line,


“Bring Back Smile to Someone’s Life, Roll Up Your Sleeves.. Register here" 


I decided, I will again try this time, as I had put on some significant weight during past few months.. :)
So I registered myself. During the lunch break the volunteering group had put one presentation to inspire people for being part of this event. The presentation was getting repeated continuously, during which one small video was played again and again.Initially because of the noise in the cafeteria, I could not hear the audio and understand the intend behind it, but then I happen to notice the subtitles and which again caught my attention for the second time for the same reason. Here is the link,

I truly agree with the caption given to the post saying, 
'Such simple words but coming from an innocent stranger, can change the way you think.'


I asked my friends and they were also going to be a part of it, it felt good. So right after the lunch we went down to the basement where the camp was arranged. Everyone had to fill up one form and then had to see a doctor for casual check-up. Checking my nerves, my eyes and after asking some formal questions, she said I am fit for it. She noticed my smile and asked, "Is it your first time?" and I said "Yes" continuing the smile. I was excited, because for the first time I was going to do something like this,  also I had the effect of that small girl which was making me feel better and better about myself, as I was going to help someone like her..:)


But doing good also is not always so simple. I had to undergo one more test regarding Hemoglobin 
check-up. The person in-charge there, took out one fresh needle and took my finger to prick it for blood, I tightly closed my eyes before he started, while  he said don't worry you won't feel anything. But I continued my facial expressions.It was over in a few seconds,and as he had said, I just felt like a small pinch, like when an ant (red one :)) bites you..that's it.. :) A guy standing by me said, "Hey, you dint scream at all, girls do that usually...nice !!" And I replied nicely saying, if I was afraid, I wouldn't have come at all..:) But, to ruin my feelings and excitement, sadly my HB count wasn't up to the requirement. The person shared this news with sad face, saying it's a bit less than the expected and we can't allow you in that case. I again asked him, that what if I still want to donate, he asked me to consult with the doctor. I went to the same doctor with some hope but she said you might feel sick after that and I won't advice you to do that now, as you have to join office post this, you can try next time. For that moment, I felt the same thing, as that guy in the above video, possibly might have felt,  'Why couldn't I??'  I was upset. I went straight to my cubicle and kept "rejected :( :(" as my Gtalk status..!! 

I wanted to share these feelings with someone, some kind of failure,which I felt again. But somehow, it hardly took me some minutes to be back to where I was before lunch break, as I love doing my work, to be specific, coding,  but before starting, I told myself, "at least you tried :)", which amused me for the fact that I did get that needle pricked in my finger, for that very event only..:)

But suddenly, because of the Gtalk status,within few minutes, I started getting pings of my close, caring, few always in invisible mode ;)  friends asking - what happened? Even though I could hear the sound, I could not reply immediately to those pings, as my manager came over,and we started trying to resolve one Big-Big issue. So by the time I was back on my Windows machine from the Linux box, there were around 8-9 chat windows simultaneously open.. Before starting to reply, I read all of them,
Some thought I am distressed because of work, some thought I got rejected in some marriage proposal :O, some thought that I rejected someone (thanks for keeping me on the other side.. :P), and some directly asked what happened? (those who knew that all of the above options were not possible :) ) The best one was, "confusing, remark..." !! 


So after answering all of them one by one, and knowing what they were thinking of,  I kind of started laughing. Most of them were concerned, a few were happy knowing that I at least tried and a few started mentioning what all healthy food I should eat to get myself there successfully, "next time"..I was (more) better...:) 'Talking to near and dear once in misery' always works for me..:)
So in the evening while I was home, I went to my flat-mate asking for something. And meanwhile, she suddenly asked me, what is wrong with me, saying that someone was asking her, about me being upset onto my status...This was surprising but cheerful,  knowing people care in their own different ways.. :) I immediately logged in to change my status and to my surprise I got few more pings, right then...and hence I updated my status to,


"To be precise : W.R.T. my prev status "rejected", I got rejection from "Blood Donation Camp"..Nothing to worry..stop pinging dear friends...mein to ekdam bhali changi hoon..as usual..hahahaha..btw thanks a lot everyone...   "


Everything was normal then.. :)
Later, somehow I decided to blog this entire day, as I was wondering if people continue caring for each other so much, then naturally, everyone would be able to feel the power and happiness,  I was feeling, being inside that camp and while my friends were talking to me..Then to know more about such camps, I also read some statistics related to blood donation events and its requirement , and found out, that every second, there are people around the world, who need blood. There are small kids who die of anaemia every hour. There are number of women, dying due to lack of blood, during deliveries every minute. 


So in conclusion, firstly I want to say thanks to all my friends for being so prompt and caring, secondly even though I am not a part of any promotion campaign, I wish that those who can, should donate blood, and last but not the least,  I will follow all the advices I got today,  and wish I'd be a part of it some day,   
"Bringing back smile on some one's face, rolling up my sleeves...:) "


Dishi :)