Winds of Change!!

How easy is it to change?? Or how difficult it is to change?? Tough question or easy question?? Well the same thing was going through my mind exactly a month ago.. Being in certain location or with certain people will make you fall in the comfort zone.And i tell you, once you are in comfort zone, it is very difficult to make a decision of changing. My stint with NSN was for 34 month!! long time is it?? And to take a decision of moving out to a new company was hard enough..The people, the place, the environment, everything will no longer be the same. The very thought about it baffled me.Taking a decision was never going to be easy as you get emotionally attached to these things.Finally decided, "This is it" i am going to resign.. During the notice period, there are mixed feeling. The sense of not seeing the people with whom you spend so much time is tough. Especially when you have found good friends in them. There is also the sense of joy and pride of moving to a better position meeting new people, exploring new opportunities!!

Finally the day arrived. July 15Th 2010, my last day at NSN. Had fun the day before, when all the team gathered for my send off party. Can't tell that it was rocking party but it was kind of OK( Cant expect rocking parties from telcom engineers!!). That Thursday went so fast. Starting with finalising the formalities and meeting with people for one last time ( officially though!) Many were surprised at my decision, but almost every one blessed me with their wishes. Those where touchy moments where a sense of separation was creeping in me. I decided to go to my home town for the weekend, and trust me those 6 hours were the longest it took to reach my place. Perhaps i was attached emotionally to my work, more so with the people which made things hard to digest.

I spent three days at home, and returned to Bangalore all charged to take up the new assignment or rather give my career a new direction. I reached the office sharp 8.30 and was taken aback by the sheer number of people. Having come from a small bunch of people in my previous company to a company with thousands and thousands in a single campus was astonishing feeling, to be honest felt like coming in herd of sheep's!! ( No personal offence!!) Couple of days passed in the induction and in anxiety! The real test of working in a software company started from then on.. To sit in bench with no work and having to spend 9.5 hours at office was herculean task to say the least.It was that time when 5 mins looked like hours (Perhaps i was coming from a domain where one wouldn't be ideal for such long time). Finally after struggling for 15 days i got into a project.

That has been the story for last one month of my professional carrier, hope the change will signal the good things to come!!

A night to remember

It was midnight, and i was sleeping alone on my bed.There was no power and it was totally dark. It was that time, when i was all alone! all the time in the world to think about all kinds of topics. Sometimes being alone gets crazy thoughts in your mind. Suddenly my mind was travelling on numerous topics like a bird in the sky. And i thought of this-"What will happen when I'll die??" This one thought shook me up.And suddenly i started thinking about all those people whom i cannot meet, i cannot talk. My mom, friends, relatives, office (Strangely, but yes i did think of office) and places. What will happen to you, your body and your soul?? Different faiths say different things about life after death. You go to heaven or hell depending on your deeds. The exam is result is pass(heaven) or fail(hell) depending upon your efforts put to succeed the exam called life!!

I was not able to sleep for quite a while, still thinking about these crazy thoughts.But god has given human beings the most wonderful gift-"Brain"!. It has the power to remember the minutest of things and forget the toughest times. I still remember those days of my childhood when dad left us. It was probably the toughest time not only for me but for the entire family. Though i didn't had brains to think about the future at that time, but still things look very murky. But as they say even the darkest nights will end in a bright day, things have moved on and since then i have never looked back ( touch wood and by God's grace). Now i feel how did we actually passed those tough time. And may be that is called Life, embracing all the good and forgetting all the bad. Finally i got sleep and off i go into the beautiful world of dreamzzzzz.

My short visit to Chennai

Its been many days since i have posted my last blog. To be honest, didn't feel like posting anything. Or should i put it this way, was keeping myself away from any blogging. After long time actually felt of writing something. So here i am writing about my recent visit to chennai. The day started pretty early, thanks to my travel desk who had booked my flight at 7 in the morning, and you know how far is the bangalore airport. This trip of mine was little different from my other visits, as i was travelling to chennai for the first time and for the first time i was travelling through "Indian Airlines"



Myself and one of my collegeu reached airport around 6, and there was this huge queue for security. It took us 45 mins to get through the security check, and get myself a cup of coffee. I must write something about Indian Airlines. Since i was travelling through this airline for the first time, and i had got very bad feedback about the airlines. I was equally excited since it was my first visit to chennai, and i had also heard about the weather of chennai. And Indian airlines kept its reputation and was delayed by half an hour.




I was late and thanks to the city traffic, matter got worst. Somehow reached office around 10. It was a hectic day with lots of class room sessions followed by regular work. I managed to meet one of my friends in chennai. We went out for dinner toghether in his new bike and it was my treet :) Two days went really fast and it was time to leave. This time i was back to my trusted airline the Kingfisher. And since then i havent travelled to update anything new. So keep waiting for the next blog!!

Global warming!!

It's been long since i wrote my last blog, was quite busy with my work!! Thought of writing about "global warming" on this weekend, but couldn't due to some reasons. So here i am writing about a topic which i guess most of us are already aware of. But there are certain thing which can be discussed again and again, and this one is certainly one of them.. Some of us may not even have heard of this, and some would have tried to contribute to it, in their own ways. Certainly college pass outs would have practiced a lot of debate on this topic, as it would be one hottest topics of the "Group Discussion".

And if one is an avid follower of day to day news, they must have heard about the recent summit on global warming held at Copenhagen. Almost all the news channels were covering the summit, with leaders across 171 countries participating. My mind doesn't stop thinking to why this summit was actually held, until last Sunday i realised it by myself. I have been here in Bangalore for more than 2 years now and things, especially the climate has certainly changed. There has been untimely rains, longer summers, and the winters are getting much cooler.. Are these effects of global warming??? I used to hear from my mother and my relatives how Bangalore used to be some ten years ago and how it is now. There was so much greenery at that time. All one can see now are huge traffic jams thanks to the metro construction, swanky new malls, sky scrappers popping up every were.

We have always been crying about the woeful infrastructure in Bangalore, its airport not being up to international standards, its road being bad and stuff like that. Did we ever care to think what has happened to the greenery?? Why is it raining in winter, why the days in summer are getting hotter?? I bet we would have blamed "God " for it. But did we ever realise that it is we who are actually responsible for it?? All the industries, the cars, the bikes, the trains and all the crap who has created??? Though people may say that it has improved our life, i feel that it is more short term than longer. There are pros and cons for every thing, and this one is no different.But this one is more critical to the very existence of mother earth..

We may feel, it is the government who has to act upon global warming. But don't we realise our own moral responsibility?? They say in Hindi "Bundh bundh se dariya bantha hai" which means every drop of water is important in forming an ocean. So get up, take the moral responsibility in saving the earth. The very mindset has to be changed.. our contribution may me small but very significant. "Go green" should not be just a slogan, but it should be followed up by actions. Actions may be as small has turning off your light, or closing a water tap, but it all counts. And for this there is no end. Its a continuous process which needs to be educated to other people as well. I have done this through this medium, now its ur turn!!!!

Life is full circle!!!

It has been good days for me at office over the past few months. I decided to move to planning team after having served the operations team for about 2 years... Two years!!! i wonder how quickly time passes. Looking back, i always felt that those where golden days, the memories i will always cherish. I still remember the confusion i had in deciding to join NSN or HCL, still don't know whether i have taken the right decision or not. Almost every person had asked why i didn't join HCL, at that time i probably didn't had any answer. And the same people tell me now that i have taken a right decision!! Strange but true, sometimes few decisions click and had i failed then God knows what would have been situation!!! I always had the burden of people's expectations and to some extent i have lived up to their expectations.Thanks to Allah i have been able to cope with additional pressure of expectation and came out triumphed..

A lot has been happening at office, especially lot in terms of man movement. The attrition rate has been very high at NSN thanks to Huawei..Every other day i would find a person going out . And i have seen most of my seniors and colleague's leaving NSN, 17 to be precise over the past 18 months. Telecom has been a volatile field over the past three years, and will continue to be in the near future. Sometimes i think of changing the company, but every time new challenge comes up, which holds me from leaving. I am happy as of now, but as always the human tendency of asking a "little more" will come at some time!!

I have been travelling a lot over the past one month, the same continued. I was told to travel to Delhi ( Gurgaon to be precise) for a training, and i got my air ticket and hotel accommodation booked by the travel desk. I had instructed them to book the flight late in the evening so that i can finish my office work and leave to Delhi in the night. I took a print out of my tickets and left for the airport. I reached to airport well in advance thanks to the airport service, but i was in for a shock. I had asked for flight at 7pm and the travel desk had booked the flight at 7am. I was so embarrassed to have found this so late. I somehow managed to book new flight at the same time and boarded the plane..

This was second time i was travelling in the night. The weather was just about perfect with clear sky. It is hard to find clear sky in Bangalore this time of the year. The flight took off smoothly and soon we were in the company of so many stars. I remember the poem "Twinkle twinkle little star" in the nursery days. The stars reminded of the pure and innocent nursery days, when everything was just so simple and so natural!! The sky above seems like an ocean of pearls and the earths below looked as if somebody had lit it with millions of candle. The sky was just so beautiful, with millions and millions of natural twinkling stars. And when u look down there were millions and millions and man made street lights. It was just amazing site which can be experience over and over again..After a long day at work, it was just ideal time to sleep. I had a short nap and woke up when we were about to reach Delhi... The airport is so busy this time, so we had to circle an circle over the airport for about half an hour.Finally we got the clearance and we landed at the brand new Indira Gandhi International Airport.It took me half an hour to get my luggage and get into the taxi and another half to reach the hotel. I quickly checked in and went straight to sleep..

Next day, the training started around 10 a.m when it was supposed to 9 am. It set the tone for rest of days to come. After really long time i was attending a training so obviously was bit sleepy. It is so hard to concentrate on some new topic and also the fact that i haven't attended any class for nearly 2 years!! The situation became hopeless post lunch, when every body were just looking so dull. I think books and sleep have some kind of relationship, when u don't get the second, try reading the first one, and i bet you will get it. We somehow manage to complete the day 1 of the training and left to hotel.. In these days of recession, the company's try to squeeze as much as they can. Our training was also held on Saturday, but thanks to the trainer we finished the training pretty early.

We reached the heart of Gurgaon, which was bustling with people having fun on their weekends. I was roaming on the same road, in the same malls some two years back when i had come here for my initial induction training. Things have changed a lot over these two years.. Swanky new malls, brand new metro, more sky rise buildings, the place had totally changed. Those days i had enjoyed a lot roaming on the roads, having tea at the dhaba late in the nights with friends. This time people around i was with new people, each from different part of the country. But we jelled in pretty well, in fact very well. We watched a newly released movie, the tickets which we had incidentally got as somebody had cancelled at the last moment. It was fun watching the movie from the front row of the theater as everything looked so big!! And the movie was also a laughter ride.

The next day we decided to visit Delhi, so we hired a cab and ventured out in streets of old Delhi. One of our colleagues was a Sikh, so we went to a gurudwara first. After having the blessing of the lord, we went to explore the old Delhi streets. The streets were full of people, trying to sell all kinds of things.. We had our lunch and then took metro from the famous chandni chowk to rajeev chowk. Delhi is just the ideal place for shopping, only thing u need to know is "bargaining". We spent some good time, shopping something for our families, as a token of remembrance of the visit. Having travelled the whole day we all were tired and decided to head straight back to the hotel.

Days passed ( 9 days to be precise) and it was the time to depart. I and one of my colleague left little early as we were to catch the flight at 6. The flight was on time, and i enjoyed one more memorable trip in the flight. I reached Bangalore around 8.30 pm, hired a cab and reache home around 10.Finally i was back to my sweet home.. The carefree days were gone, it's time to get back to work!!! Hope i will get some more memorable visits in near future!!

Journey continues....

I arrived from Hyderabad in the evening, almost tired. But i remember there was another journey to be made. Since i was in Hyderabad for the entire week, i had not planned for attending one of my friends marriage, I was sure that there will be no more stamina left in me to travel again. But one of my friends insisted on going, so we decided to attend the marriage. Since we had no plans, we had to book a private bus service to reach the place called Udupi, where the marriage was supposed to be held.I reached home around 7'O clock in the evening, packed a pair of clothes and set out again for another journey...

I don't prefer to travel by bus, because i have been travelling in trains since my childhood.But there was no option left so i had to take it. And since i don't often travel in bus, i always find it difficult to sleep, and it was the same this time as well. Even though my eyes where closed i was struggling to sleep.I some how got sleep late in the night.I woke up to the fresh breeze of air, which was as pure as a newly born baby!! . We travelled though the ghat section, followed by lush green fields and through many bridges which were bustling with water. The weather outside was beautiful and serene, as if it was untouched by anyone. Thank god we still have places like these which are not affected by industrialisation . The fresh air had soothing effect on us, and even though our blood pressure was rising because of the delay, we still managed to keep it cool, thanks to the weather. We were to reach udupi by 7, but thanks to the bus we reached two and half hours late.We quickly got ourselves ready and headed to the mantapa ( Hall) . By the time we reached there, the rituals had already started. This was the second time i was attending a Hindu marriage, and i was still not able to come to terms with the style of the marriage. I always feel marriage style in Islam is simple, but every tradition has its own style.. After long time and many rituals the marriage finally got completed, poor couple had to go through this and more was to come since they had to greet each and every one.

My friend was surprised to see us, as we had told her that we will not turn up for the marriage. It was kind of a pleasant surprise to meet few of old college mates who had also come to attend the marriage. Having met the newly wed couple, we had our lunch and we headed to our hotel. We had nothing much to do in the evening, so we decided to go to manipal, a small town around 5km from udupi. Somebody had told us about a place called " End Point" in manipal, so we headed there in hope of beach, wrong guess!! It was a park with the name end point!! We spent couple of hours there and came back to udupi. Having had a traditional vegetarian lunch, we decided to give our taste buds a good time. We had typical coastal food with fish, good one at reasonable price..

Incidentally i had booked the same bus, which we had travelled in the night so i was expecting the same delay in reaching Bangalore.. We had tough time this time around since we had got last seats in the bus, we had our stomach filled to the brim and bus would jump violently every other minute. We some how reached Bangalore the next day. I was very tired and decided to skip office for a day, also i had plenty of clothes to wash!! So i and my friend spent some good time chatting at home. His train was in the afternoon and so he left after we had break fast and i went to wash my clothes!!!!

Ups and downs!!!

I had ended my last blog with a shock.. Let me just reveal it. Thankfully the train was on time and i got into the bus to reach my home in Bangalore. The whether was pleasant with gentle breeze which kept me cool. Perhaps God was knowing that my temperature was to rise in few moments.As i entered the balcony of our house, i saw something strange. Something was missing and i was unable to figure it out. Then struck a word my "shoes"!! . Somebody had stolen my shoes. I was disgusted, as i had bought them very recently, and it will always hurt that little more when it is your hard earned money!! Initially i was very upset with my self, as how could i leave things outside in the balcony. I was more surprised when i heard even my roommate's shoes were stolen. Poor guy had kept his shoes only that night, and they were stolen. I felt that its not only me who has lost something...

So the week started on low, and the momentum continued even in the office. The first three days were hopeless. There were issues, issues and more issues in the office!! And being part of telecom industry, it is hard when you come across issues.. I had to work late for almost the whole week, preparing the trends and analysis. People from support would know what kind of "post mortem" goes in after an issue. However we worked as a team and some how manage to sail the storm. And perhaps that is why they saw " Even though you are utmost talented, what eventually matter is the team effort"

After going through the Lows, it was the time for highs!! I somehow managed to make a short trip to my hometown, which was big mind refresher considering the kind of stress i had gone through the week. I had some wonderful time at home, as usual, but this time it was a little more special. We all( me,mom, my two sisters , and my younger brother) were together after really long time. Every time somebody used to be missing, but not this time around. So as the people were celebrating Diwali, the festival of light, we were celebrating a reunion. Even though i was there for couple of days, it was again a memorable trip.Having spend some lovely time at home, i was in for one more surprise!! I wasn't expecting this. I was promoted and got appreciation for my efforts. i also got a thank you card from my manager, and though it was just a card, it meant that your efforts are being recognised. The best feeling is when your efforts are recognised and rewarded. It was just morale booster for me to keep the momentum going.

This was followed by a trip to Hyderabad!! an official one though. I was handling work of Hyderabad and was supposed to give knowledge transfer(KT) to the new guys who had just joined. This time around, for change i decided to stay in hotel. The company was gracious enough to book a room in Taj. I was supposed to give KT to guys who were much more experienced than me which i felt boosted my morale. The feeling was not just for giving kt but because of the respect and laurels i got for my good work.It's just the feeling you cannot simply express in words.. I winded the trip and landed in Bangalore. Looking at the ups and downs for the past two weeks, i thought that's it!!! But as usual God still had something extra planned for me!!!! details in my next blog :)