Octopus Theory

Had not really paid heed to the Octopus theory in the world cup till yesterday. I used to wonder that Octopus were they talking about. Then someone said its Octopus Paul..i really thot its some crazy tarrot reader trying to earn a good buck this World cup season. Yesterday when my wife read the newspaper and told me Octopus Paul says Spain will win, thats when i get to know that its actually an Octopus. I hoped that dear Paul would be wrong this time. After all they beat England ruthlessly and ripped thru Argentina. But then what i saw yesterday evening was a German side so tense, playing with some much pressure. Spain looked like the better side throughout the match and deserved to win. Well Mr Octopus, from here on i take your word...

It seems the Indian team has given the T20 World cup a miss, by far more than any stretch of imagination. Well aren't we getting used to early exits from major tournaments? So what is it that team goofs up or is not able to learn from the previous debacles. The selection seems to have far more faith in Jadeja than Uthappa or Irfan Pathan - can u beat that?
The short ball seems like a thunderbolt to most of the batsmen..not sure whether to play, leave or rather choose the easier option of getting out. And i feel that its only in the Indian team that a bowler like Nehra would be given a chance to bowl. Well its hard to digest that the bunch of players who played like heroes in the IPL are struggling to put bat to ball. One more World cup gone - way to go Indian team!!!!

The house hunt begins

Its been a week here and after cooling my heels for a week am out for the house hunt. Had called up a couple of agents and decided to meet one of them after work. The guy meet me at 100ft road and agreed to show a few houses.

The agent named Prabhakaran, eating some kind of pan or supari, managed to speak some broken english. His first question - Sir, what is your budget? I was already not getting a good feeling. Thru the twists and turns of Indira nagar he managed to show me a few houses. The first house - the building dint look quite appealing to me. It was a 2BHK..the walls painted in bright green and the bedroom painted bright pink. was wondering if its a house or a zoo..and that too the agent was quoting a huge rent for this hopeless place..a straight reject. Next we went to a house on the first floor of a duplex. btw all this while me, and the two agents are travelling on a single bike..stuck in between..god save me..even this house dint look quite good. by this time i had left hopes with this agent. Finally he showed me a independent duplex house. we cudnt see the house from inside as the agent dint have the keys. atleast from outside this one looks much better than the other two. That was it for the day and i headed home. will be meetin another agent today. hoping for the best.

The beginning

Well i must say apart from the Power cut and the water problem things have been pretty cool at Blore. Its pretty much cooler than Mumbai. it has been rainin last week and yestday there were thunder showers and even hailstones at some part of the city. I guess till now its just the weather that scores over Mumbai...will have to wait and explore more of this garden city.

Last Monday was my first day at the new organisation. My dear frind Jose agreed to drop me on his bike. Well we started off with the help of Jose's N72 provided GPS assistance(He proudly gets out his GPS phone when it come to goin to any known place). Well i guess GPS is more of a necessity now and especially if it is a place ur not tooo familiar. We got somewhere near the office and cud see the board from a distance..hey but wait a sec...we cudn't find the entrance to get there. After going around in circles quite a bit, still cud never find the entrance. We both got mighty pissed. I told Jose to carry on and i will somehow manage to get in. After asking directions to around 10 odd guys i was able to get my a** inside the office. The day went filling a lotta stupid forms and forms and forms. I was off early that day..thank god it dint stretch too much. Well the next couple of days were full of boredom at office. somehow got the PC set up. tried to kill time in the evry possible way i cud. The food in the canteen was not great...the only part that i had thot cud cheer me up. well we always used to crib abt the food at my previous work place...but now i guess that was much better than this s***. well i guess this too shall pass. Boredom shud get replaced by some good work and shud get adapted to this new city in the coming couple of weeks.

Mumbai to Bengaluru

Well the time has come for me to pack my bags and set off to a new destination - Bengaluru. Had visited Bengaluru around three yrs back. somehow dint like the place much at that time, hope things will be different this time around. I started at around 11.45, everyone had come to see me off from home. The Megacab (M
eeru guys said they had issue with the amount of luggage i was carrying..really strange reason for not taking the booking) ride was cool and within an hour i rchd the airport only to find out that the flight has been delayed by half n hour. thank god its just half n hour. Must say that the newly renovated domestic terminal is world class..the last time i was here it was a mess. Since i had a early lunch my stomach had started growling. feasted on a nice Baskin Robbin's Sundae. have done nothing better than eating in the last week. The 'Enchantress of Florenece' by Salman Rushdie kept me occupied all thru the flight...the novel is truly enchanting.
Soon it was destination bengaluru. The Meeru Cabbie guy was nice and friendly, and spoke nice enlish too. And in no time i was in Jose's den. Jose is my good friend and collegue from L&T days. Jose has his house well setup here..something that i too need to do in the days to come :). Will be put up at Jose's till i find a decent place for myself.

Last Day

Its my last day in the company where i have been for most last six years. Feeling a lot of mixed emotions. Sad that am leaving behind so many friends and colleagues with whom i have bonded so well. Anxiety about reaching a new place, new ppl and new responsibilities. With the grace god i guess everything will go well. I sincerely thank all the guys who have stood behind me all these years in this organization. Well as it is said that the world is a small place...and with IT its even smaller. It's goodbye for now...until we catch up again. All the best to everyone :)

Masakallis flying to Uncle Sam :)

With the so called Masakallis all try to run away to Uncle Sam, it's been raining lunch parties at work. Lemme explain Masakallis here...there a bunch of guys from our group who are trying to get to US for an onsite assignment and Ofcourse there is Ulhas who doesn't know whether he wishes to go or not(that's an interesting story)....i wish them all the best. Tomm our dear friend Balaji (a technocrat i must say) is flying to U.S. I wish him all the best. Well am happy stuffing myself with all the extra food :) here.

Of late work wise things have been very dull at office ...coming to the last few days in this company where i have served for almost last six years.. Separation is getting near. leaving behind a lot of good friends here...will miss those extra long tea breaks...will miss the Chronicles of our friend Ulhas...i guess have bonded more with the guys in the last few months. however things have to move on...a new place..a new job awaits me...anxiety, excitement, new challenges...hoping for the best in the times to come. God Bless!!

Match Day

So the time has come for which we had been waiting for the last few days. Its 4 pm and all of us are in a hurry to rush out of office for the MI v/s CSK at Brabourne Stadium. I guess none of us were even a bit productive(not that we usually are) at work that day. We reached CST at about 5:30 and decided to walk to the stadium. We stopped at Kau galli on the way and everyone ate as if none will get food for the next two days. The Frankie that i took was sooooo soaked in oil and the guilt of eating it would have depressed me for the rest of the day...managed to dump the frankie and had a lemonade. After eating to capacity we reached the stadium only to find out that there is a bigggg..... queue to get inside the stadium. The big messy queue and the huge crowd was not giving as a good feeling...and our biggest hypocrite Alok the gr8 had already started cribbing about the same. But from the moment we stepped inside the stadium it was a truly magical experience.

The entire capacity packed stadium was some sort of a visual overload. The atmosphere was super electrifying and we were so lost in it that everything seemed unreal. It took to some time to let the feeling sink and soon the first ball was to be bowled by MI to the CSK openers. What a cracker of a match it turned out to be!!..Zaheer,Malinga and Harbajan saw to it that CSK doesn't get to a huge total. Tendulkar - the master of Game was at his best. Dhawan and Pollard chipped in to get MI home comfortably. We tried hard to attract the camera...Balaji made some excellent posters which i guess were too tiny to be noticed ;) and Ulhas made some good ones but was too shy to hold it high...The crowd roared as boundaries were raining off Tendulkar's bat..we were having a gala time.

In the end an excellent match...a wonderful experience which will be cherished for a long long time...

Going to watch the MI v/s CS match at Brabourne tonight. Super-excited about it. Have never to a stadium to watch cricket before. All of us are in Black & Blue....Almost the entire project team is there. Mumbai Indians make us proud!!!!!!

Ratnagiri Trip

Had a short and sweet trip to the Konkan region of ratnagiri. Mangroves all around and the great Gantapipule beach is a worth visiting. Sparkling blue waters, endless stretches of white sand, the beach is one of the cleanest and the water so clear that you can see your feet even deep inside. Later in the evening we had small Barbeque outside the house, sad that it had to be all veggies as Lent season is going on. Barbeque was fun, the paneer was really tasting great :). Also got to pick a few guavas and Mangoes from the trees surrounding the house....