Around 11.30 a.m , we all met at Food court in GEC 2. We sat there and had casual talks, future plans like switching company, marriage etc. One thing was quite sure by the end of conversation- there will not be a reunion again as we need to wear Infosys tag for entering Mysore campus.(Hope you got the reason.I don't want to say more about it as it would be violation of Infosys policy. )
After 1p.m , we went to parking area and took cycle for a final round of cycling and had our lunch from Oasis Food Court. By 3 p.m, I said bye to my friends as my bus was at 5 p.m. Did tears came from my eyes? I think yes. I don't know how to explain that moment. People who born in different parts of India , met at mysore, lived together for six months and they splitted to different parts of the country again.But those six months in my life,have high importance.It was my Mysore life, which showed me the life outside Kerala. It was my friends here , who told about different cultures and believes existing in different part of our country. It was them who gave confidence for me when I was mentally down after some exams.It was them who were my family for six months. Will I meet them again? I don't know. But I can say one thing ,they have a space in my heart and I want to meet them again.Friends from Tamil Nadu were leaving only on 16th monday as it was Pongal Holiday for them. And friends from Bhuwaneswar would leave by 8.30 at night. I said Good Bye to Mysore campus and caught bus to City.
I reached bus stand by 4 p.m and started waiting for bus.Two years back I waited here for the same bus. That time mind was full of excitement.Waiting to reach Trivandrum. But now... My mind was full of my experiences in Mysore. From Day 1 to end of training days and the last two days. Will I come to Mysore again? I had no idea. But one thing was sure that, this was my last trip to Mysore as an Infoscion. I would not be entering to Mysore campus again , wearing black tag.
By 4.30 p.m bus parked in stand. Everyone was on a rush as if they would not get seat if they enter late.I checked my ticket again. Seat number -25. So no one could sit there.I sat in a chair in bus stand looking at people, made sure everyone entered and then I went to conductor to show my ticket. I had booked a window seat.When I went to seat, another guy sitting in nearby seat. He had already put headset and was hearing music. I went and sat on my seat. Since he was busy in listening to music, I didn't speak to him. I was about to cry when bus started moving.But whatever happens, life must go on.
I slept for sometime as I didn't sleep well on previous day.(I had explained it on part 6). By 6 p.m , I woke up, when they put movie. "Abhimaan" - one of the super hits in seventies starring Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan. I really got wondered how K.S.R.T.C (Karnataka State Transport Corporation) got disk of such old movies and why they took such a great effort to show them to us. But the movie was really interesting.A husband's ego issues, when wife became famous. Something that could happen in everyone's life.A very good message was conveyed in it.Only problem I felt was the number of songs. There were seven or eight songs in that two hour movie. Amitabh looks Jaya - one song. Jaya looks back - another song, like that it went. But it was not so boring as the songs were really good.
Around 9 p.m bus reached Wayanad. I was happy to reach my native state.We had food from a hotel in Kalpetta.
They tried to make me eat chicken or beef, but they too failed. I am not explaining it here as it would be an exact replica of the scene that I told in part 1 . After food, bus started it's journey to Trivandrum.
Around 10 p.m, the guy sitting near me got a call. I assume it was his girlfriend. But he was speaking very silently that everyone could hear what he was saying. It was like this -
" edi, njan thiruvanthapurathottu pokkondirikkuva. Avide PED enna oru departmentila posting kittiye.etho oru Shibuvine kaananam enna evidunnu paranjathu. Aara ennariyilla. puthiya SEZ office aanu. aa kappalinte shape-ilulla kettidam. Ninakkariyille?athu thanne. PED-il aareyum parichayamilla.Naale thanne poyi join cheyyanam" ( I am on the way to Trivandrum. I got posting in a department called PED there. They told to meet one Shibu. I have no idea who is he.In SEZ office.You have seen that building. That big building in the shape of a ship. Tomorrow I will join there).
I decided to talk to him.I started as if I didn't hear his call.
I : Hai
he: Hai
I : Where are you going?
He: Trivandrum.
I : You working there?
He: Yes, in a company called Infosys.
I : Infosys!!!Which department??
He: You know Infosys?
I: I am working there for last 2 years.
( I don't know how to explain his face expression after hearing this.)
He : You are in which department brother?
I : PED.
He : Me too got the same department.
I : Oh, okies. Very Good (laughing in mind).
He : Is there any good projects there? I had training in Java.
I : There are projects.I don't know exactly which all projects have requirements. Only you got posting in Trivandrum?
He : No. There are many. Others will come tomorrow only.
The conversation lasted for three hours. He asked everything about Infosys Trivandrum.
I could feel the same excitement that I had when I came to Trivandrum, two years back.Infact I felt like I am watching me. So this was a perfect climax for my trip.
We slept by 1 p.m.
(I hope this guy is not reading my blog)
On 16th January,by 6 a.m , Bus reached Trivandrum.
I came to office at 9 a.m and started writing part 1 of this blog.
The end.
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Mysore Trip- part 7 - GEC 2
After visiting both temples, I came back to Mysore DC. I had Iddly from A-Host in Food court 1, which was my usual breakfast for the 6 months training in Mysore.After having breakfast I called my friends. As expected they were sleeping.They woke up when I called and promised to reach campus by 11.
I decided to go to GEC 2.Initially I thought to go with friends. But as they would be late, I decided to go alone. Last day I saw GEC 1, but I didn't get chance to go to GEC 2. Two years back, on January 11 , 2010 - a monday , morning 8.45 a.m I entered GEC 2 for first time.I don't know how to explain that moment. A child,who was born in village in Kerala was standing inside the biggest building of a Multinational Corporate company.I was really excited at that moment.I still remember that day.
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I decided to go to GEC 2.Initially I thought to go with friends. But as they would be late, I decided to go alone. Last day I saw GEC 1, but I didn't get chance to go to GEC 2. Two years back, on January 11 , 2010 - a monday , morning 8.45 a.m I entered GEC 2 for first time.I don't know how to explain that moment. A child,who was born in village in Kerala was standing inside the biggest building of a Multinational Corporate company.I was really excited at that moment.I still remember that day.
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We(all students from my college) went together to GEC 2.Everyone had some tension in their face.After searching for some time we managed to reach near Induction hall. Vikram Poojari (H.R ) told us to 'swipe in' before entering hall- My first swipe as Infoscion. We entered the hall after swipe. To add beauty to the moment, a beautiful background song was playing - This is my Infy. That song made me proud that I too am a part of such a great Organisation.(But today , if I hear that song..you know what my response might be. :) ) We sat on third row, right corner. Session started. I remember Vikram, Anoop, Sumesh etc who gave introduction to us about policies of Infosys. I want to mention the name of one important person - Arun Nayar. He was the back bone of the entire arrangement in Mysore.He made a beautiful speech which inspired us a lot. Then some sessions on Income Tax and ASHI. Then ICICI people came to start account. Then some other boring sessions. **************************************** After watching the beauty from outside for some time , I entered GEC 2. Whenever I think about GEC 2, one incident always comes to my mind. After Induction , I didn't get a chance to enter GEC 2 as my generic and intermediate session was in GEC 1. On stream training we got class in GEC 2. Since Java was a dead module for me in intermediate, I prayed god to give me anything except Java. But he didn't hear my words. Ours was one of the rare batches. All the 240 students in NCS batch were given Java for stream training. If there was another stream, there might be a chance for me to get anything except Java.As god didn't like that, entire batch was selected. Class rooms announced. As there was no other stream, the entire class was shifted to GEC 2. So we got another 2 months to sit together and that really helped to strengthen friendship.As usual my college friends got one class and I got another. On the first day of stream training, we reached GEC 2 by 8.30 , we had no idea where our class were. One of my friends asked security - "where is B one thousand and six room? " Security: Sir which room? friend: B thousand and six. Security: There is no such room here. Friend: But it was written like that in mail. I have written it in my book. Look. ( he showed his notebook) B 1006 He called another two securities to ask about this. After looking at book for sometime they all started laughing. Security : Sir this is not B one thousand and six. This is B one - zero zero six (B1 006- Basement 1- sixth room). Please go through this way sir. He showed steps to Basement 1. We said thanks to security and walked as if nothing happened. Fortunately my class was G 067 and so nothing like that happened for me.Ground floor class room number 67- third class on right side after entering GEC.So it was easy to find. My last two months in Infosys Mysore started with that funny incident. When I entered GEC 2, I checked whether that security is still there. But all the securities were new people. After entering GEC 2, first thing I did was to go to Induction hall. I went there and stood outside hall for sometime. After that I walked through all the corridors, which I couldn't do earlier,as a trainee here. Finally I reached G 067 - my class. It was as usual. Completely filled with students. Everyone were busy with studies and no one even bothered to look at me. My seat -65 was occupied by a girl , who was very busy on call. If you ask me to tell a place that I didn't like in Mysore campus, I would say- G 067. I came to class in those days with a negative mind as I got Java. And my marks also proved it. Though I had no dead modules, I never got an A grade in stream training(except for POST ). I got retest for three modules. The thing I hate most was devsquare. Everytime when I submitted the answer, I believed that I had given right answer. But Devsquare never accepted me. I felt to throw my computer many times when I saw my marks. But somehow I handled my frustrations. Then I went to cyber cafe on second floor.This was the place where I spend most of my nights. I always had a system 'logged in' there. I kept a book there to make sure no one else occupy that seat. It was not by me alone, but most of the back benchers in my class. We were sitting there from 11 p.m. It was at this place our friendship strengthened. Sitting infront of slides till 3 am. Taking a cup of coffee in between from the coffee machine. Some silly chats and gossips,tensions, discussions,fights etc in between. It was really a heaven. If I have contact with any of my friends after 2 years , it was because of this.It was the same reason why when I asked for a gettogether they said a "YES" without a second thought. Suddenly my phone rang and I came out from my dream world. They reached campus. I told them to come to food court in GEC 2 and I went to lift to go to Food court in Basement 2. to be continued.. |
Mysore Trip- part 6
We reached Grand Pa's Hotel by 9 p.m. We went on a car and bykes as friends from Chennai had came on car and friends in Mysore D.C had bykes. It was really a beautiful night.We had our dinner from there and sat there till 12-12.30 night and had a long chat.Last 1.5 years-Changes,tensions, happiness,sorrow everything that happened in our life. By 12.30 we decided to go to Hotel Palmyrah. We had already booked 4-5 rooms for a total of 2500 Rs.But when we reached there they replied as if they have never told such things and they need 5000. As we were not ready to accept it, we left the hotel and started searching a new one. We had a few cards of hotels in Mysore. We took them one by one and started calling to hotels.Finally a hotel agreed to give accomodation for 2000 rs.Hotel was near Bannimandap.We had no idea where it was and Mysore friends had already left to their home. At night 1.30 , we were at Mysore city , searching the hotel. Finally , by 2.30 we managed to find the hotel. Straight away we gave the advance and went to room to sleep.
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January 15 , 6 a.m I woke up early as I had decided to go to LakshmiKanth Temple and Ganesha Temple near Mysore campus. I took bath and left early. I had already told my friends about this and we decided like they would reach campus by 10.30-11 and I should be there at that time, after going to temples. I came out of hotel. I had no idea where it was and where to go to get bus to Mysore DC. Bus code for Mysore campus Bus was 116/119 . But no bus having this code came to bus stop.And there was no one in bus stop at that time to ask.It was a sunday and the cold climate.Finally I got an idea. I caught a bus going to city bus stand. Last stop was bus stand and from there I entered 116 , without any confusion. Around 8.30-9 a.m , I reached near Mysore campus. I went to Lakshmikanth temple first,which is very near Mysore campus.This was the first temple I went, after reaching Mysore. God always has an important part in my life. There was not much change for the temple. But the surrounding places have changed. Huge constructions have come up around the temple. when I entered temple,I could still feel the same energy that I felt when I went there two years back. After praying, I went to Ganesha temple in LakshmiKanth Nagar. There are Hanuman temple and Navagraha temple also, along with Ganesha. As I always have a locket of Hanuman Swami in my chain, this temple give me more mental power whenever I went.I came to know about this temple after 3 months of training.After that one saturday I decided to go to temple and from then on, I made sure that I would go to both temples atleast once in 2-3 weeks.A part of credit for my successful completion of Mysore training goes to gods. After visiting both temples, I came back to Mysore DC. I had Iddly from A-Host in Food court 1, which was my usual breakfast for the 6 months training in Mysore.After having breakfast I called my friends. As expected they were sleeping.They woke up when I called and promised to reach campus by 11. to be continued... |
Mysore Trip- part 5 - ECC and Musical Fountain
With a disappointed heart, I decided to go back to smoking corner, where my friends were waiting for me. But, on my way, I decided to see my class room,just to know whether it was empty. I reached near my class. Some students were present on that saturday, reading slides. I entered the class and found that my seat was empty. At the same time , all who were sitting there looked at me and my black tag with a question mark . Though they didn't say anything, I could read what they told in mind. " Why this Kolaveri? Please leave us alone atleast on weekends." I felt like saying "I was also a student like you guys 2 years back. This is just a cycle. After 2 years you may also stand here like me." But I didn't tell as no one asked me any questions. I came out and went to smoking corner,where my friends were waiting for me.
Around 3.00 p.m. "What is our next plan? " , one of my friend asked. Everyone looked at eachother , but didn't said any word. But everyone got what was the next plan. We went to ECC.We were in ECC till 7 p.m . You can guess how that 4 hours went. We played table tennis,Bowling etc. A few went for swimming also. I lost all games in Table tennis. But in bowling I beat my personal best to score 145, with three strikes. And none of my friends beat it. I was quite happy that even after 2 years , I still have that magic touch in my hand. Time went very fast and by 7, we decided to leave ECC.
We had planned to stay in Hotel Palmyrah that night.We had also planned for dinner at Hotel Grand Pa's in the city that night.But as I don't want to miss Chola Batoora in Mysore campus, I decided to have a batoora from campus.I would not get another chance for sure.Actually there was a reason behind this. I had never even seen a Chola Batoora before reaching Mysore.When I saw it for the first time there , I really wondered what was that huge thing. After 2-3 weeks, I managed to find it's name and at one evening, I decided to taste it. After that I never had a week without batoora in my life. I had it atleast twice in a week and I am still continuing it in Trivandrum as we have batoora as breakfast in a food court.Though it is not good like the Batoora of Mysore,I want to have it because of Mysore memories. So how could I miss it from Mysore when I am there?
After having Batoora, I joined my friends and we went to GEC 2 to see the musical fountain. Show started at 7.30. I never enjoyed it when I was at Mysore for training. In those days, evenif watching it, my mind was at slides.So I couldn't even sit properly for 30 minutes.But today, I found it quite beautiful and I felt like I really missed it when I got 6 months here. While we were sitting in the steps of GEC 2 , watching the beauty of fountain, we saw a guy, holding the hand of a beautiful girl, came and sat on the step infront of us. For the first time in my life , I felt sad for not having a girl friend . It would have been really nice to hold the hand of someone whom we really love and sit in those steps listening to the beautiful songs and dancing water. To add it's beauty , that was a cool evening and a clear sky. Stars and Moon were adding beauty to that scene. But that feeling also left me when the song finished.It is better to be single so that I could enjoy the beauty of the world rather than sitting with a girl for whole life, atleast till the age of 27.
By 8 p.m we came out from Mysore campus. We saw a huge crowd under a tree near the entrance and so many mobile flashes. We went there to see what was happening and saw a girl standing there. Everyone were taking photo of her.I think if I explain the scene perfectly, it would be violation of Infosys Policy, but I don't want you to miss an idea of how she looked.She was very fair, thanks to Birla white wallcare putti that she had put in her face. Hair was straightened, which is quite common now a days.2 inch thick lipstick added more 'beauty' for her. And the most important thing was her dressing.I have seen similar dress only in Bollywood movies and never seen someone wearing in road in real life before. So you can imagine how it was.No doubt so many guys were taking pictures.
After standing there for some time, we went to Grand Pa's Hotel.
to be continued...
Around 3.00 p.m. "What is our next plan? " , one of my friend asked. Everyone looked at eachother , but didn't said any word. But everyone got what was the next plan. We went to ECC.We were in ECC till 7 p.m . You can guess how that 4 hours went. We played table tennis,Bowling etc. A few went for swimming also. I lost all games in Table tennis. But in bowling I beat my personal best to score 145, with three strikes. And none of my friends beat it. I was quite happy that even after 2 years , I still have that magic touch in my hand. Time went very fast and by 7, we decided to leave ECC.
We had planned to stay in Hotel Palmyrah that night.We had also planned for dinner at Hotel Grand Pa's in the city that night.But as I don't want to miss Chola Batoora in Mysore campus, I decided to have a batoora from campus.I would not get another chance for sure.Actually there was a reason behind this. I had never even seen a Chola Batoora before reaching Mysore.When I saw it for the first time there , I really wondered what was that huge thing. After 2-3 weeks, I managed to find it's name and at one evening, I decided to taste it. After that I never had a week without batoora in my life. I had it atleast twice in a week and I am still continuing it in Trivandrum as we have batoora as breakfast in a food court.Though it is not good like the Batoora of Mysore,I want to have it because of Mysore memories. So how could I miss it from Mysore when I am there?
After having Batoora, I joined my friends and we went to GEC 2 to see the musical fountain. Show started at 7.30. I never enjoyed it when I was at Mysore for training. In those days, evenif watching it, my mind was at slides.So I couldn't even sit properly for 30 minutes.But today, I found it quite beautiful and I felt like I really missed it when I got 6 months here. While we were sitting in the steps of GEC 2 , watching the beauty of fountain, we saw a guy, holding the hand of a beautiful girl, came and sat on the step infront of us. For the first time in my life , I felt sad for not having a girl friend . It would have been really nice to hold the hand of someone whom we really love and sit in those steps listening to the beautiful songs and dancing water. To add it's beauty , that was a cool evening and a clear sky. Stars and Moon were adding beauty to that scene. But that feeling also left me when the song finished.It is better to be single so that I could enjoy the beauty of the world rather than sitting with a girl for whole life, atleast till the age of 27.
By 8 p.m we came out from Mysore campus. We saw a huge crowd under a tree near the entrance and so many mobile flashes. We went there to see what was happening and saw a girl standing there. Everyone were taking photo of her.I think if I explain the scene perfectly, it would be violation of Infosys Policy, but I don't want you to miss an idea of how she looked.She was very fair, thanks to Birla white wallcare putti that she had put in her face. Hair was straightened, which is quite common now a days.2 inch thick lipstick added more 'beauty' for her. And the most important thing was her dressing.I have seen similar dress only in Bollywood movies and never seen someone wearing in road in real life before. So you can imagine how it was.No doubt so many guys were taking pictures.
After standing there for some time, we went to Grand Pa's Hotel.
to be continued...
Mysore Trip- part 4 - GEC 1
I went to GEC 1 to see my batch owners.After a long time, I got a chance to see it. When I was at Mysore, I never felt that GEC was beautiful. Rather it looked similar to home of 'Draculas' in those days. But now I think I really missed this 'heaven'.
I went to notice board first as my life in GEC started from the notice board.
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I went to notice board first as my life in GEC started from the notice board.
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On 19th january 2010, the last day of ILI session, it was announced that we would get a room in GEC for training. By evening 5 p.m , we heard that classroom and seat number was listed in the notice board in GEC 1 and so we went to check classroom. It was then, I entered GEC 1 for the first time, which became a part of my life for next three months. It was known to us that CS would get one classroom and NCS will get another and so I was expecting my classmates in college who joined in Infosys to be with me in my class.There was a big rush infront of the notice board as everyone was trying to find their names.We managed to reach near noticeboard somehow. CS batch got a room in GEC 2. And my friend Arun, who reached closer to the board than us, told that NCS got classroom in GEC 1 - room name C V Raman. I was happy to hear that. To know my seat number I waited there for a few minutes and checked my name. But my name was not in that list!!! I got wondered and searched again. No , my name was not there. But then someone told me to check another list.My name was there in it,GEC 1 - GLC 001 - Chandrasekhar Subramanyam seat number 76. I was shocked to see that.What happened was since the number of students are more than 120, they splitted according to alphabetical order.Till 'O' in one class and remaining in other class. All my friends, Arun, Arabind, Ajin, Anish, Kiran, Anand, Anie, Jaisy, Jayalakshmi, Nileena etc were in C.V Raman. Just 3,Sherin, Shilpa and me on the other class. I was about to cry on seeing the list. I never thought I would have to be in a class like without them. While I was checking my name, my friends went to check their class and came back. I had no idea what to do, just came back to my room with me. From the next day, we would be splitted. January 20 started with lot of tensions and worries for me. We started off together from B 86 to GEC , had breakfast from FC 1 - A-host. Then , we got splitted , CS batch to GEC 2 and NCS to GEC 1. On reaching GEC 1, we splitted again .Everyone except me, to C V Raman and me.. I had no idea where was my class room. Just started to search that( Sherin and Shilpa were not with me then). Some one told that 'G' in GLC is ground floor and 'L' means Left wing. So I went to Left side of ground floor and started searching. " Ah, there it is. " I found my classroom without much trouble. I just looked inside through the small transparent glass section on the door and found that a few are sitting there. I felt like everyone except me know eachother at that time. Somehow I entered and found my seat. Right side, Second last row - almost middle seat,three people on my right side and four on my left. You could imagine what might have happened next. I looked around and found that neither Shilpa nor Sherin had arrived. "Hello, I am Suneetha" - I turned right to check who was saying it and saw a girl who would be one my neighbours, for the rest of journey in Infosys Mysore. "I am Sumodh." I replied. Suneetha was from Andra Pradesh.After M.tech, she got placed in Infosys. She is married and husband is also in Infosys. I was happy after the chat, not because of talking to someone, but happy because she understood my English!! It was my first conversation in English with a person other than the interviewer who came for Infosys placement. I got some confidence that I can manage. It was followed by talking with everyone sitting in my row. Sumitha, Sukrit, Surya, Sugandha,Sudhanshu and Sushomoy. My seat was between Sumitha and Suneetha. And after a long chat I found that Sumitha was also from kerala.Though she had her schoolings in North, she could understand Malayalam. That made me much comfortable. But I never used too much malayalam as it would be uncomfortable for others. "jo hota hai achhe ke liye hota hai" . I was splitted from my friends, but it helped me to get more friends. If I was in other class, I would have been with my friends always and would have finished class without knowing anyone else. But now , since I had no other choice, I talked to all and I got so many friends. I would like to add a few more names along with the names mentioned above. Subhomoy, Shauma Jyoti, Sudarshan, Shivakumar, Sandeep, Sridhar,Sripal, Vivek naming a few. But I was a kind of guy , who had talked to almost everyone in the class, especially with those in the back row.Today ,I could say I know atleast one person in each state. By the end of three months, when we got transfer to GEC 2 for stream training , we all were attached to our classrooms and seats and found it difficult to move say good bye to our class. Finally, we left and some other batch took the class room. The process is continuing now also, like a cycle. **************************************** I went to staffroom section where Aarsha, my batchowner was sitting and I got disappointed.I forgot that saturday is holiday for E & R. There were a few teachers sitting,who had came to take class for a few NCS batches.I went to see E & R head also, who helped me a lot in those days. But , as expected he too was not there. to be continued... |
Mysore Trip- part 3
We sat together at Food Court in GEC 2 for almost two hours, sharing our previous happy moments and how we all became machines now.Job had changed everyone.No one have much physical change, but mentally everyone have changed a lot. Dynamic youth was changed to stable workman who don't have much emotions. Whatever happens infront of you, doesn't matter. Work hard for client satisfaction. And it is the reason why my friends from Manglore DC didn't get time to come to Mysore. They had to go to office on Saturday and Sunday. Personal commitments have less priority. Client commitments are more important.I wish clients also work on saturday and sunday to know how people on East are dedicated to do their works. In between those tight schedules, some happy moments for us in Mysore.
After chit chat, we went to Oasis (another Food court) to have our lunch. After collecting food,we found joined two-three tables to sit together.One friend, who is in Mysore DC itself , told us that one should stand as security while others were going to wash hands. A new thief has arrived in Food court.He always steal others' food. Even security was not able to catch him.So I stood there while others went to wash hands. While they were away, the thief came near our seat!! A Cat!! That too without an id card at it's neck!!! I don't know how it entered the campus without tag and is still there ,without being punished by security. Ofcourse, 'status unknown' in sparsh may not be a worry for cat, but still, walking in campus without wearing tag is against our company policy. I just acted as if I took a stone from the floor and thrown at it. Cat ran away. Poor cat, he(or she) doesn't know that there is no stone in the food court. We all sat together and had our lunch.
After lunch, we went to smoking corner as a few friends have the habit of smoking. Smoking corner in Mysore looked really beautiful as usual.
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After chit chat, we went to Oasis (another Food court) to have our lunch. After collecting food,we found joined two-three tables to sit together.One friend, who is in Mysore DC itself , told us that one should stand as security while others were going to wash hands. A new thief has arrived in Food court.He always steal others' food. Even security was not able to catch him.So I stood there while others went to wash hands. While they were away, the thief came near our seat!! A Cat!! That too without an id card at it's neck!!! I don't know how it entered the campus without tag and is still there ,without being punished by security. Ofcourse, 'status unknown' in sparsh may not be a worry for cat, but still, walking in campus without wearing tag is against our company policy. I just acted as if I took a stone from the floor and thrown at it. Cat ran away. Poor cat, he(or she) doesn't know that there is no stone in the food court. We all sat together and had our lunch.
After lunch, we went to smoking corner as a few friends have the habit of smoking. Smoking corner in Mysore looked really beautiful as usual.
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Two years back, in induction class, I head the word 'smoking corners'for the first time. I had no idea what is that. A special corner for smoking? That seems to be strange for me. I have seen people smoking everywhere. Roads, vehicles, theatres and other public places. No one seems to have asked anything to them. And now these guys are telling that one should smoke only at smoking corner. What is this 'smoking corner'? How it look like? With a few friends, I went to smoking corner near Gazeebo to know what it is. I don't know what to say. A beautiful place where chairs are arranged to sit and smoke.The place is surrounded by beautiful bamboo trees. A place where one can sit and 'smoke' happily ,without being disturbed by others. I felt like Infosys is encouraging smoking. Even I thought to start smoking when I saw the place.A smoke in a cool night in January. Doesn't it look beautiful? We all sat there for some time. Inbetween ,a lady (better call as a girl) came and took a cigarette from her pocket. I was shocked to see it. For the first time in my life , I saw a lady smoking. Previously, I had seen this only in Hollywood movies . Later , I became used to those scenes as I saw many girls smoking there whenever I go to Gazebo. Before taking a decision,we should think twice.As I was busy with hectic schedules , I didn't get time to think about smoking for a second time. And I got transfer to Trivandrum and I left my temptation to smoke at Mysore and came to Trivandrum without starting any new habits. **************************************** While sitting there, I remembered my batch owners- Aravind and Aarsha and decided to meet them.As friends had not much interest, they told they would be at ECC and I went to GEC 1 alone. to be continued... |
Mysore Trip - part 2
With a lazy mind, I came back to my seat.
“Hai, my name is Harish” , the guy sitting near me introduced himself. When the bus started from Trivandrum, he was busy, calling and messaging someone. “Hai”, I replied. Thus conversation started. He told that he came to Trivandrum to see his girlfriend, who went to Bangalore that evening. It was followed by an essay about her beauty. I felt like he was a medical representative or insurance agent as he didn’t give me a chance to open my mouth. Finally I managed to ask a question- “What are you doing now? Studying or??“ He didn't even allow me to finish my question. He replied that he is a P.G student in travel and tourism. It was followed by a seminar on Tourism and told about the great things that he had done in the field. I repented asking that question. Essay about girlfriend was better than this seminar. Bus reached Alleppey by 10 p.m. and he left. I slept after that , as I was also supposed to be very busy on next day.
On Jan 14th , by 8.30 a.m. , I reached Mysore bus stand. “wow” This was the first thing I felt on seeing bus stand. When I left Mysore 1.6 years back, the construction of bus stand was going on. I never thought it would have finished in such a short time. The construction was really nice. If it was in Kerala, it would have taken three ‘five year plans’ to finish the same.After reaching there, I called my friends.But none of them attended the call. They were coming by car from Chennai. I was afraid whether some issues had happened like break down.But still they should attend call. So I got tensed. We had planned like whoever comes first should book a room and others join them. Since they were not attending call, I got confused.
I have a belief like whenever you need help from god, he will come in front of you to help. This time also he came. He came in front of me as Anoop. He is also an Infoscion, from Trivandrum. I was surprised to see him there. Anoop came to collect some H.R documents. He knew a friend in B 93 and so I too went along with him to campus as my friends were not attending call. Thus my morning confusion solved and I got a chance to enter hostel rooms again, which was not expected when I started my trip. By 9.30 , I reached Mysore campus. We took a cycle from parking area near ECC and went to parking area near B 86.After a long time I was riding a cycle. In fact I never had driven one, after leaving Mysore last year. Mysore campus has not changed much other than a few constructions for food courts, that had came up recently. But one change I noticed was lack of discipline. Everyone was walking on the road and none used footpath. Surprisingly no security was using any whistle. When I was having training there, sounds of whistle were always heard. Once security came to take my tag to report complaint that I walked through ‘road’. But I somehow managed to escape then. But today no one cares about security.
After walking for some twenty minutes, we 'discovered' B 93, which was at the extreme corner of campus, near the boundary wall.We took bath and had breakfast. While I was having my breakfast, I got a call from friends. They had actually reached Mysore campus by 2.30 a.m. and had ‘managed ‘ to enter campus at that time(Thanks To Strap surround meeting that took place at Mysore). They were sleeping in dormitory.I was happy that they had reached here early and I am going to meet them after nineteen months. So I went to see them and Anoop went to H.R.
Finally by 11 am,we all met at the food court on GEC 2. I don't know how to explain that moment, but I think you can imagine how it was. We all were together for six months. We all entered class at 9 am and left class at 12 midnight, but not to sleep.we went together to Cybercafe and was there to study slides till 2-3 am. It was this cybercafe meetings that increased friendship. In class, everyone was busy with studies and assignments. But at night, in those silence at cybercafe, we were not only studying, but shared our past life, future dreams,tensions,devsquare,Politics, difference between north and south.In fact everything under the sun were our topics.Six months gone like six days and we left to various parts of India. A few to Chennai, a few to Bhuwaneshwar and me to Trivandrum. Today we got a chance to meet each other.
to be continued...
“Hai, my name is Harish” , the guy sitting near me introduced himself. When the bus started from Trivandrum, he was busy, calling and messaging someone. “Hai”, I replied. Thus conversation started. He told that he came to Trivandrum to see his girlfriend, who went to Bangalore that evening. It was followed by an essay about her beauty. I felt like he was a medical representative or insurance agent as he didn’t give me a chance to open my mouth. Finally I managed to ask a question- “What are you doing now? Studying or??“ He didn't even allow me to finish my question. He replied that he is a P.G student in travel and tourism. It was followed by a seminar on Tourism and told about the great things that he had done in the field. I repented asking that question. Essay about girlfriend was better than this seminar. Bus reached Alleppey by 10 p.m. and he left. I slept after that , as I was also supposed to be very busy on next day.
On Jan 14th , by 8.30 a.m. , I reached Mysore bus stand. “wow” This was the first thing I felt on seeing bus stand. When I left Mysore 1.6 years back, the construction of bus stand was going on. I never thought it would have finished in such a short time. The construction was really nice. If it was in Kerala, it would have taken three ‘five year plans’ to finish the same.After reaching there, I called my friends.But none of them attended the call. They were coming by car from Chennai. I was afraid whether some issues had happened like break down.But still they should attend call. So I got tensed. We had planned like whoever comes first should book a room and others join them. Since they were not attending call, I got confused.
I have a belief like whenever you need help from god, he will come in front of you to help. This time also he came. He came in front of me as Anoop. He is also an Infoscion, from Trivandrum. I was surprised to see him there. Anoop came to collect some H.R documents. He knew a friend in B 93 and so I too went along with him to campus as my friends were not attending call. Thus my morning confusion solved and I got a chance to enter hostel rooms again, which was not expected when I started my trip. By 9.30 , I reached Mysore campus. We took a cycle from parking area near ECC and went to parking area near B 86.After a long time I was riding a cycle. In fact I never had driven one, after leaving Mysore last year. Mysore campus has not changed much other than a few constructions for food courts, that had came up recently. But one change I noticed was lack of discipline. Everyone was walking on the road and none used footpath. Surprisingly no security was using any whistle. When I was having training there, sounds of whistle were always heard. Once security came to take my tag to report complaint that I walked through ‘road’. But I somehow managed to escape then. But today no one cares about security.
After walking for some twenty minutes, we 'discovered' B 93, which was at the extreme corner of campus, near the boundary wall.We took bath and had breakfast. While I was having my breakfast, I got a call from friends. They had actually reached Mysore campus by 2.30 a.m. and had ‘managed ‘ to enter campus at that time(Thanks To Strap surround meeting that took place at Mysore). They were sleeping in dormitory.I was happy that they had reached here early and I am going to meet them after nineteen months. So I went to see them and Anoop went to H.R.
Finally by 11 am,we all met at the food court on GEC 2. I don't know how to explain that moment, but I think you can imagine how it was. We all were together for six months. We all entered class at 9 am and left class at 12 midnight, but not to sleep.we went together to Cybercafe and was there to study slides till 2-3 am. It was this cybercafe meetings that increased friendship. In class, everyone was busy with studies and assignments. But at night, in those silence at cybercafe, we were not only studying, but shared our past life, future dreams,tensions,devsquare,Politics, difference between north and south.In fact everything under the sun were our topics.Six months gone like six days and we left to various parts of India. A few to Chennai, a few to Bhuwaneshwar and me to Trivandrum. Today we got a chance to meet each other.
to be continued...
Mysore Trip - part 1
On Friday, January 13th 2012, at 6.45 pm, an Airavat Bus of Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation started its journey from Trivandrum bus stand to Mysore. On seat number 20, a window seat, was seated one Infoscion. Yes, It was me- my last trip to Mysore as an Infoscion. A small trip, which is not to reproduce those old days , but to walk through them, just to remind me where I was, when I started my career and where I am, now. A journey to produce the glimpse of those good old days. A few of my friends from Bhuvaneswar and Chennai DC were also coming. The bus started moving slowly through the traffic.I was going to see my campus after a long time, the campus which moulded me as an 'I.T professional', the campus which gave me many good friends, the campus which haunted me with devsquare. With a calm and quiet mind, I looked outside. For the first time in last two years , I felt that I am very much relaxed. ( I will tell more about it later, may be in another post) .
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Two years back, on jan 9th, I started my journey to Mysore with a few of my classmates. Fiftytwo from my batch had got placement in Infosys. Around thirty of my friends are joining while the rest decided to go to some other companies or for higher education. With lot of expectations and tensions I started my trip.Though I heard like life in I.T is tough, I had decided to be in Infosys till the age of 58, which is the age that an employee is supposed to retire from job. Like many others, all I know was 'Infy is a company with a difference'. So why should I leave it for a few more bucks that the other companies may give. Afterall I am not going to carry the money to heaven or hell when I die. On tenth morning we reached Mysore. After waiting for some time for a few other friends who where on another bus,we reached campus by 1 p.m. After all the formalities at the entry gate, we all entered into the campus with a mountain of hopes about our future. When we entered the first sight was a huge construction called GEC 2. Global Education Centre- where we are going to be moulded to great I.T professionals. "Do I really deserve to be in such a great place? " This was the first question came to my mind when I saw the building for the first time. I got my room in B 86, room number 423. ******************************** Bus stopped near a hotel for dinner. " 20 minutes, please have your dinner and come" conductor told to us and went to hotel. I came out and looked the board - 'Hotel Sarovaram- Veg and Non -Veg ' . "Hope I don't have to take biscuits as dinner." (Usually I won't get veg curry in any hotels that KSRTC stops. So biscuits where my dinner when I usually travelled to Mysore ) I told myself and entered the hotel. Waiter: Sir, What you want? I : Ghee roast. Waiter : Sorry, No ghee roast. I : Masala Dosa. Waiter: Sorry no masala dosa. Only Chappathi , porotta and appom. I : Ok . Then Chappathi and vegetable curry. Waiter : Sorry , only Chicken and Beef are available. I : Oh , ok . With a sad face decided to go back to my seat to take biscuits. Understanding that he was not going to get a chicken or beef as order, waiter told me to wait. He went to kitchen and came back to say that chana masala is there. So with a pleasant face I ordered chappathi and channa. It is always a custom to force travellers order non veg as they(hotel owner) get more profit. After my dinner, I entered bus. My journey regained... To be continued... |
Democracy
What was usually done in earlier days when a king died? Who would succeed him? His son would be selected to rule the province. This was what we call as dynasty rule. An entire province was ruled by one family for generations. We know Mughals, Lodhs, Khiljis etc. who ruled certain parts of our nation for many years. Fortunately or unfortunately the same custom is being followed in our country even now. We proudly say India is the biggest democratic country in the world. But is India really democratic?
Consider the state from where you are reading this post from -Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa or Punjab. There is atleast one family , which carries the legacy of controlling a political party. When a leader dies, he want his son to become next leader. What will happen if an M.L.A or M.P passes away in one province? Even before his/her funeral is over, the party will make sure that his/her son/daughter / wife/husband will be next candidate for the election. I am not against it as long as they are eligible. But when it comes to qualification, most of the times, the only point he/she can tell is that his/her father is a politician. There were thousands of workers who have dedicated their entire life for the betterment of the party which they believe. But one morning a person from nowhere became a candidate just because power is in their blood.
Now comes the voting process. Voters are given with two options .
1 . A Demon
2 : son/daughter of a vampire.
Then some local ghosts which are available only in their city.
Our voters are so generous that they will forget all the cruelties of Vampire and they will accept his son with full heart to carry on the Vampire’s legacy.
Is this what we really call democracy? If this doesn’t work out, an internal census will be taken to know which caste has the highest vote and the candidate will be from that caste. After that some special traditional customs like vodka for vote, money for vote etc. would be conducted. Finally a person wins and he will never visit his constituency for next five years. One cannot blame about this situation in the state alone; the entire nation is given to one family by our people. There were several good leaders who gave their life for development of our country. But today, politics is like a family business for many. A business which gives high returns.
One can still argue by saying that they are selected by people. But then I would like to explain the definition of Democracy. According to Wikipedia – “Democracy is the ideal that all the citizens of a nation determine together the laws or actions of their state, requiring that all citizens have an equal opportunity to express their consent and their will.” So what is existing in our country? Democracy or Demon-crazy?
Consider the state from where you are reading this post from -Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa or Punjab. There is atleast one family , which carries the legacy of controlling a political party. When a leader dies, he want his son to become next leader. What will happen if an M.L.A or M.P passes away in one province? Even before his/her funeral is over, the party will make sure that his/her son/daughter / wife/husband will be next candidate for the election. I am not against it as long as they are eligible. But when it comes to qualification, most of the times, the only point he/she can tell is that his/her father is a politician. There were thousands of workers who have dedicated their entire life for the betterment of the party which they believe. But one morning a person from nowhere became a candidate just because power is in their blood.
Now comes the voting process. Voters are given with two options .
1 . A Demon
2 : son/daughter of a vampire.
Then some local ghosts which are available only in their city.
Our voters are so generous that they will forget all the cruelties of Vampire and they will accept his son with full heart to carry on the Vampire’s legacy.
Is this what we really call democracy? If this doesn’t work out, an internal census will be taken to know which caste has the highest vote and the candidate will be from that caste. After that some special traditional customs like vodka for vote, money for vote etc. would be conducted. Finally a person wins and he will never visit his constituency for next five years. One cannot blame about this situation in the state alone; the entire nation is given to one family by our people. There were several good leaders who gave their life for development of our country. But today, politics is like a family business for many. A business which gives high returns.
One can still argue by saying that they are selected by people. But then I would like to explain the definition of Democracy. According to Wikipedia – “Democracy is the ideal that all the citizens of a nation determine together the laws or actions of their state, requiring that all citizens have an equal opportunity to express their consent and their will.” So what is existing in our country? Democracy or Demon-crazy?
Caste System
"If there is a hell, that is reserved for those who invented caste system and those who exploit religion, nationality , language and race to separate human beings from each other. " : Random .Thoughts - 6 of Vineetha Venugopal in 'Random Thoughts'(Infy blog) . This sentence gave me the idea for the post.
I had read many articles and stories related to caste system, whether it is good or bad, disadvantages , problems etc. But when I read some of them, I asked myself whether formation of caste system was such a bad thing that happened in our society? Well,I feel that the answer is ‘NO’ . And who found caste system was the next question. Certainly the answer was ‘No one found it. It just formed because it was the need of society at that time. ‘
I request you to think about life of people a few thousand years back(say 10000 BC). Humans were struggling for their existence. They were not worried about GDP growth or inflation. But there were several challenges they had to face.Attack from animals, preparing food, diseases, agriculture etc were some of them. Definitly each person / group of persons had to fix one job for themselves. One cannot imagine everyone becoming warriors to protect themselves from animals. Then who will prepare food for them? So various classes of people formed naturally, based on their job. That is what we call today as caste system.Such a classification was necessary for society. Whichever the caste you are in, one job is assigned to you. Yes, job is what we can call as skeleton of caste system. Consider the class ‘Brahmins’– There are various castes and sub castes in it and it varies from place to place across India. But they have only one job assigned to them. To serve god. Like that every caste have a job assigned to them. It was for a balanced economic structure. Consider the farmer class in those days. If everyone were farmers , could they survive in earth? The caste system helped to manage it perfectly. All other classes remained as consumers and the farmer class were producers. The fact is true for all the classes that we see today . Basics of economics - demand and supply . Caste system was a solution in those days. When a child is born for a farmer, he would be learning what his father was doing. There were no engineering or medical colleges in those days to teach them different things. So son of a priest became a priest and son of farmer became farmer. Over thousands of years they became different castes and thus caste system evolved.If caste system was not there society wouldn’t have developed.Most importantly, it had solved one important problem that our world is facing today- Unemployment. A job was guarranteed for every child born in this world.
Now comes another question why there is no caste system in other religions , but why it is in Hinduism? Answer is simple. Hinduism is not a religion. It is a civilization. Caste system exists in all civilizations. Check the history of Roman civilization or Greek civilization.Caste System or ‘Pyramidal structure’ of society was the base of those civilizations. Whatever religions formed on various places actually overcame the civilization, but it couldn’t break the caste structure. Farmers in Greece accepted Christian religion , but they remained as farmers. In other words caste system exists even now in all parts of world, though no particular name was given to it. (If anyone doesn’t know the difference between religion and civilization , please inform me, I will put it as a different post) .
Now I guess everyone knows what was caste system and how it formed. It was needed in those days. But one thing was sure that when it was formed it was merely based on job and there were no upper or lower classes in those days. What is your profession? That defined your caste. That’s it. But later on someone told like one caste was higher than other. Unfortunately rest of the people agreed it. I think it was at this point humans did the mistake. In other words it was not the formation of caste system, but the later period of caste system was responsible for problems.I would like to edit Vineetha’s comment like those who said one caste is better than other shall be send to Hell and not those who invented it. Every caste was treated with equal status and respect in the beginning.
Now let us come to twenty first century. Today caste system has lost it’s rigidity. Everyone can change their job. So there is no point in calling everyone according to caste. There is no point in saying that I belong to a particular caste today. If someone ask me about my caste , according to my present job my caste is Engineer and Subcaste is Bank P O. Team or Society interest was changed to individual interests.But such a change in society is really going to make a huge problem in future. Wait and see the end of twenty first century.We will have many engineers and doctors. But who will really continue in agriculture and produce food for everyone. An economic imbalance will arise. Please don’t forget that when we are hungry we cannot eat computer . Even a Pizza hut or McDonalds cannot help us. For giving a food first one should produce it. But who is going to produce? Everyone like to be a consumer. Everyone including me is responsible for this change. Now we really have to think whether caste system was a boon or not. While everyone trying to ‘develop’ , no one is worrying about the loss that is happening to us. I think time has come for government to start thinking about protecting people based on ‘jobs’ and not on 'present caste'.
I have one request, please don’t think that I am simply supporting caste system. I believe that everyone should be treated with equal respect. I was just pointing to the other side of caste system.
I had read many articles and stories related to caste system, whether it is good or bad, disadvantages , problems etc. But when I read some of them, I asked myself whether formation of caste system was such a bad thing that happened in our society? Well,I feel that the answer is ‘NO’ . And who found caste system was the next question. Certainly the answer was ‘No one found it. It just formed because it was the need of society at that time. ‘
I request you to think about life of people a few thousand years back(say 10000 BC). Humans were struggling for their existence. They were not worried about GDP growth or inflation. But there were several challenges they had to face.Attack from animals, preparing food, diseases, agriculture etc were some of them. Definitly each person / group of persons had to fix one job for themselves. One cannot imagine everyone becoming warriors to protect themselves from animals. Then who will prepare food for them? So various classes of people formed naturally, based on their job. That is what we call today as caste system.Such a classification was necessary for society. Whichever the caste you are in, one job is assigned to you. Yes, job is what we can call as skeleton of caste system. Consider the class ‘Brahmins’– There are various castes and sub castes in it and it varies from place to place across India. But they have only one job assigned to them. To serve god. Like that every caste have a job assigned to them. It was for a balanced economic structure. Consider the farmer class in those days. If everyone were farmers , could they survive in earth? The caste system helped to manage it perfectly. All other classes remained as consumers and the farmer class were producers. The fact is true for all the classes that we see today . Basics of economics - demand and supply . Caste system was a solution in those days. When a child is born for a farmer, he would be learning what his father was doing. There were no engineering or medical colleges in those days to teach them different things. So son of a priest became a priest and son of farmer became farmer. Over thousands of years they became different castes and thus caste system evolved.If caste system was not there society wouldn’t have developed.Most importantly, it had solved one important problem that our world is facing today- Unemployment. A job was guarranteed for every child born in this world.
Now comes another question why there is no caste system in other religions , but why it is in Hinduism? Answer is simple. Hinduism is not a religion. It is a civilization. Caste system exists in all civilizations. Check the history of Roman civilization or Greek civilization.Caste System or ‘Pyramidal structure’ of society was the base of those civilizations. Whatever religions formed on various places actually overcame the civilization, but it couldn’t break the caste structure. Farmers in Greece accepted Christian religion , but they remained as farmers. In other words caste system exists even now in all parts of world, though no particular name was given to it. (If anyone doesn’t know the difference between religion and civilization , please inform me, I will put it as a different post) .
Now I guess everyone knows what was caste system and how it formed. It was needed in those days. But one thing was sure that when it was formed it was merely based on job and there were no upper or lower classes in those days. What is your profession? That defined your caste. That’s it. But later on someone told like one caste was higher than other. Unfortunately rest of the people agreed it. I think it was at this point humans did the mistake. In other words it was not the formation of caste system, but the later period of caste system was responsible for problems.I would like to edit Vineetha’s comment like those who said one caste is better than other shall be send to Hell and not those who invented it. Every caste was treated with equal status and respect in the beginning.
Now let us come to twenty first century. Today caste system has lost it’s rigidity. Everyone can change their job. So there is no point in calling everyone according to caste. There is no point in saying that I belong to a particular caste today. If someone ask me about my caste , according to my present job my caste is Engineer and Subcaste is Bank P O. Team or Society interest was changed to individual interests.But such a change in society is really going to make a huge problem in future. Wait and see the end of twenty first century.We will have many engineers and doctors. But who will really continue in agriculture and produce food for everyone. An economic imbalance will arise. Please don’t forget that when we are hungry we cannot eat computer . Even a Pizza hut or McDonalds cannot help us. For giving a food first one should produce it. But who is going to produce? Everyone like to be a consumer. Everyone including me is responsible for this change. Now we really have to think whether caste system was a boon or not. While everyone trying to ‘develop’ , no one is worrying about the loss that is happening to us. I think time has come for government to start thinking about protecting people based on ‘jobs’ and not on 'present caste'.
I have one request, please don’t think that I am simply supporting caste system. I believe that everyone should be treated with equal respect. I was just pointing to the other side of caste system.
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