Tea ... And you thought it was just a cup of tea...

It's my 14th day in Indianapolis and I have to spend 5 more days before I could finally fly to Delhi...
No, this is not the usual post where I crib and crib and crib.. cursing my boredom and hoping to get back home, probably because the trip is just 3 weeks long, this is about something else..

This is about the cup of tea we all love and I love it to the extent of having 5-6 cups a day... the poor cup of tea is so common and easily available that it is almost taken for granted.. be it the home-made tea, the tea at stalls or the tea from the nescafe machine at office... We just take it for granted.

And, when I am here at Indy, I just realized that how tough life can get without a cup of 'Indian' tea... I am at client site and these buggers don't have coffee machines, one has to go all the way down to cafeteria to buy a tea/coffee.. and the tea is the 'Namo' assamese tea bags which is anything but assamese.. The distance from my desk and the 'not so great' taste of this tea keeps my tea count at 1-2 over the entire period in office... I have kind of adjusted now but the first 2-3 days my head was aching and I just could not work, probably I am addicted to tea!

Anyways, so after the entire day gone waste without enjoying the hot aroma of tea, I get back home with the full intention of making tea in my service aptment's kitchen.. I had arranged everything over the weekend - sugar , milk , tea etc... And the tea is 'Indian Taj tea'.. made an awesome tea, perfect color and aroma.. cup in place .. all set to pour the tea in the cup and already dreaming of a good 20 minutes enjoying the nature's best offering after water!.. oops, but where is the f#$%^ 'chalni'... Unlike using tea bags, here I had a full fledged Indian tea and how do I serve myself without a chalni.. nevermind, I make a chalni using those paper napkins and somehow manage to get this tea in the cup..

Oh man.. how can one even live without a tea.. this is amazing.. this tea did deserve a blog!

Ek shaam aapke naam...

So as I sit doing absolutely nothing on a lazy saturday evening ...

... though I do have quite a lot of work pending as per my check list...

... yeah I ve been managing one to keep my mind stable as i 've these trivial things going in my mind and i just get all stressed up coz of them..

i knw check lists suck..but i guess i ve changed a lot since those good old carefree second yr days :-(

hey btw did u guys notice the 'spacing' method i m using in the blog... ya they call it communication skills in my firm.. jokers.. they r changing the fuking way i think n express myself...

yaa... so getting back to where i started from... this lazy sat eve when i m doing nothing and not even thinking about all those pending works - as they r safely stored in the 'check list'... i ve decided to dedicate this shaam to my blog and all the avid followers and fans of my blog.. :p.. ok make it the one n only follower of the blog!!

but the biggest problem is tht i cant really share anything 'new' to the 'only' follower coz we stay in the same flat... so cant put the 'what i did frm morning till now' stuff... though it was fun.. hard strong football in bright sun... followed by the orange juice ... and heavy lunch ... and some sleep.. and a movie on tv.. and the same old realty shows...okkk sry i guess i did end up telling u wat u did today!

soo.. since i cant really talk abt wat i did today.. or wat i do at office.. or anything else!! .. i m not really sure how to dedicate the 'shaam' to blogging..

sooo.. i m stopping right away... i ll rather publish this only!.. and do some of those things in my chk list!..

damn... the 'spacing' method i was talking about.. it seems the space are getting compressed in the blog... as per the preview.. wtf man... nevermind!.. but u .. the only follower anyways knw the spacing method.. hehe... so doesnt really matter..

btw how abt beer tonight??.. dude now u ll ve to comment on this post.. reply hi kar diyo ;-)..

Radi krah di krawa ...

These arabic words from the song 'Mar Jawaan' from Fashion are so beautiful and the music of the song so enchanting... I have listened it over 100 times this weekend.. Bobo, this is more than 'Kahin tho hogi ho' man..

Radi krah di krawa , wal hawah wasamah;
— Teri yaad mein main tarsa iss hawa ,mein aur is samah mein —
Wadi krah hitawahat, allah dukha wasamah;
— Wade karke tune tarsaya mujhe ,to allah ne dekha iss samah mein —

Latehwal flahwahat, Allah dukha wasamah;
— Gunha Kabool Kiya phir bhi na kuch paya, aur Allah ne dekha iss samah mein —
Wadi krah hitawahat, allah dukhawasamah;
— Wade Karke Main Tarsa,Allah ne dekha iss samah mein —

B'ful song!!...

I miss my home.. life is so disoriented here.. I am not liking it!

...!!!!...

its 1 20 AM of a friday night in princeton.. boring city.. but today was fun.. jitesh is in the town and he is fun to be with.. he managed to convince anshul and his wife (being gud frnds) to take both of us for a dinner and movie.. real fun.. i mean its gud to be with smart guys who are more exp and senior.. u get to learn a lot.. and movie.. luck by chance.. by farhan again.. this bugger is just avg as an actor but is real smart, talented and creative.. amazing stroyline.. gud .. he is gud.. and the movie is 3.5/5

i miss india.. as i got bak to the hotel... i had this heavy feeling of writing down.. i mean typing down sth.. but then got lazy.. nidhi called up.. and then was too tired..
i also kind of knw tht i suck at blogging.. !.. but then since none reads it i shud not bother abt how gud or bad i am .. (bobo reads it at times.. poor guy is following the blog i guess!)..

ya so since none really reads it .. i can actually just come in and type watever i feel anytime.. and i do not have to give a title every time.. "...!!!..." is not bad either!

chalo now.. i m bored of typing..
is this like a diary writing thing.. all big famous guys had diaries.. !! i too shud have one.. blogs.. can they count as a diary.. or the physical existence is imp as well!!???

never mind..
gnite.. quite late it is!

Weekend MAPped...

Friday morning I got this gr8 news from my manager..

"Hey, I have a small project for you.. it's very new and different and none from Pune office has done it before"... "what is it Chad?"..

"It is the rollouts.. alignment rollouts.. each one of us picks a distt manager of the client and shows him the alignment.. U will have to basically show him his region in MAP s/w.. and keep him from requesting any changes in the alignment.."... "OK Chad.. and wat if he forces me to change the alignment?" ...

"Call one of us.. and we will sort it out!".. "So, I have to basically just show him the screen and ..." ..

"Yes, pretty much it.. u may ve to change some color here and there.. zoom in and out for display perfection..!.. and yes the roll outs are on Monday!"... "well.. interesting!!.. some challange finally!!"...

So in short, I had to learn these basic functionalities of MAP.. got the s/w installed by evening.. and decided to dedicate the weekend to MAP... The fear of screwing up this really dumb work was immense..

Friday eve I got back and ... had an awesome dinner.. talked with my gal back home.. sent a good mail to transfer watever knwledge i had of my prior project.. and crashed off..

Saturday was spent on movies, an unexpectedly long trip to the shopping mall.. had dinner at some restaraunt over there.. and nothing really happened for MAP!

Finally came the Sunday and .. some frnds were going to NY!! I decided to stay back.. had to learn the MAP!!.. and well I crashed off the entire day.. long talk with the dudette.. chat wid friends.. and guess what an hour long gymming !!..

and here I am bragging about the weekend wasted .. God save me tomorrow.. or may be I can still promise myself that I would indeed study MAP tonight.. [:p]..

The fear of screwing up this really dumb work is still immense..

Dollarized strangles..

They moved from their motherland to this alien place.. found growth, comfort, development here and settled down in this land of equals..
The gr8 states of America and the strong currency "$", made them feel that this is where they belong, that this land which brought them prosperity deserves their utmost loyalty and they must try not to reconnect to the roots they had in a poorer land back home...

I am not sure if it is the - keenness to learn (as might be the case of many students , IITians coming here for MS/PhD) or the dream of earning big (those who work here - from IIM/ISB grads to PhD scholars to the Patels to Sardarjis) which keeps them bonded to this land but I personally find it impossible to settle here as an alien...

I had heard of 'mitti ki khusboo ko dil tarasta hai' stuff from NRIs in bollywood flicks but I swear how true this is.. the eerie silence , the extremely formal and self centered approach of people around might look like a freedom oriented, non - interfering one but to me it looked very unfriendly, very selfish and just too boring life out here!

How can one ever shun the 'not so hygienic and spicy' tandoori chicken with a kingfisher over the weekends.. , the bike ride in the heavy traffic of Pune/Jaipur... the friends, gang sitting and gossiping for long hours over the weekends.. singing at the top of the voice in night and then next day dealing with the complaints of the neighbors.. how can one forget the ever forgiving society and ultimate freedom of India..
I agree that at times this freedom in India is exploited by some which can cause trouble to the innocents.. but oh God one can at least actively criticize the system then being an outsider and a passive onlooker over here..

I am missing Pune.. India.. in spite of the painful buggers .. corrupt auto drivers to bureaucrats .. high headed politicians and their kins to cheat grocery owners.. I am missing the nation where I exist and am counted and can make a difference.

I prefer living a life of higher accountability , higher involvement in society than the life of higher comfort and riches. I can't leave India because I would earn more and get better life style some where else... I would rather try to create a situation where people are earning more here itself and have a better life style here itself!

Anyways.. now coming to what I did over the weekend..

It was snowing yesterday.. so I could not really go out.. I am happy I didn't go with the rest of the gang to Washington DC in such a cold... I loved to see it snow.. it looks very b'ful .. I had not seen it snow ever before .. never visited shimla or norther parts in winters...
I watched 3-4 movies.. ordered Indian food on Saturday and went to a nearby place for pizzas for lunch today.. tried to prepare tea in indian style and managed to make something close enough.. talked with my wife.. discussed the pros and cons of US with her.. she got bored and asked me to change the topic.. talked with friends studying or settled in US... chatted with friends in Pune.. and that's all week was gone!!

1 down , 12 to go! ... 12 more weekends and I will be back to my sweet home..