Meri Mumbai Madness

Time flies, but the memories collected along the way can never be replaced. ~Random

The day has finally come when I complete one year of economic independence and professional life. It is amazing how time flies by; one year back I was just a college pass out and now I am a professional. This one year may well be one of the best years after super cool College life as for most part of it, we were always treated like college students only. In this one year, life taught me so many things. Some were learnt the easy way and some were imbibed in the hardest possible ways.

The thing they taught us on first day of CORPORATE LIFE was “Be Friendly with everyone but, Friends with no one.” This line alone should tell you the bitter truth of corporate life.  The life which I chose myself over many other options, just because I wanted to work, wanted to innovate, wanted to utilize my intelligence, etc. But, one year down the line, I know that corporate is nothing but doing the same thing over and over again or just sitting all day and sending mail chains. This sometimes make me think, was this really what I wanted for my life.

Unpacking my new Dell Inspiron 14R

One of the biggest disasters of this one year was the loss of my laptop (R.I.P). I never was so careless in my life, even to lose a single pen, but this time I lost one full bag carrying my lappy, hard disks, photon and other stuff. This really came as a shocker to me and almost ruined the joy of going back to my home and meeting my parents. However, I became much more responsible after this and saved money to buy a new Dell Laptop.

Another bad moment was that of DIWALI, 2011 when I was totally alone and literally cursed myself for choosing this IT sector when I could have been with my family. That day and the person responsible for it will always remain glued to my deepest memory cells.

The other bad times would include frequent fights with roommates & a disastrous committed life.

This one year was not all bad; I found so many good friends & mentors in the same time. The project team from the first project was so friendly that we never felt like new guys. Most of the team was young and thus it was like college all over again. I found few mentors in Prajakta Kamtekar (My integration Testing Lead), Bhushan Waghmare & Kalpesh Bhanushali (Superb Critic). Prajakta would always had confidence in me whenever she assigned me anything and that helped me a lot. Kalpesh was always a critic and I always wanted to prove him wrong about me. Bhushan really helped a lot, both inside the office and outside it. Be it boarding the bus or settling in the project team or the occasional beer parties; he was always helpful. Hope he continues giving parties to me J.

Even the managers from that team were very nice and showed a lot of confidence in my abilities.

BMS Team outing to Silent Hills Resort

The next episode in my life was the Deadly Bench. The only ray of hope during that time was Prabhu Padayachi (my mentor from FARMERS). He was always mentoring us so selflessly that one could not help but admire him. We could always see that he wanted us to do something other than that boring MS Excel, which is usually bestowed upon fresher community.

Then the time came for a new project & new team. The whole team welcomed me open-heartedly with the person leading the celebrations being Shruit Bhopi, one of the nicest persons I have ever met in my life. All the other team members also helped me in getting hold of things and concepts.

Apart from office ki life, there was choti moti si personal life as well. In that life, I made friends like Bikash, Arijit, Ajay, Amrendra, Nanditha, Chhavi, Abhishek, Ankur, Ritesh and many others.

Bikash is like the other Milan Pal Singh from college, you can always count him in for any trip. Nanditha, the bindass kudi; Arijit, the DRAMEBAAZ; Ajay, the body builder and Amrendra, the Bade bhaiya.

Dashing Dapoli Trip

One of the best things of this year was that I found something that my heart always wanted. The thing that I always wanted to have, JK Naukri. The life really changed after starting this. I really became more focused about this with each day passing and now it has already started making baby steps towards success.

The Official Logo of Jk Naukri

I would always count this one year as one of those years which taught me so many aspects of this practical life. I use this term practical because, no matter how much close you are to a person or thing, there comes a time when you have to leave it and then few years afterwards, you won’t even recognize that person or thing. This is the bitter truth of our lives. However, I wanted to end this one year on a high note so here it goes…

Time for Celebration

Sugar Free Diwali

P.S:: This following Blog is not for those who had a very nice Diwali and also not for those who don’t love festivals.

Ever celebrated Diwali alone???

Ever had your dinner alone on a festival??

Well that’s just to summarize what this Diwali brought for me.

Not so long ago, when I used to write those long essays on DIWALI, I felt some lines really funny n wondered how that could ever be possible in real material life. Some of those I quote below

“Is din hum sab apne sabhi dosto (friends) se milte hai aur sham ko sb ek saath milkr lakshmi poojan (Prayers) krte hai. Is parv ko hum bahut harsh aur ulaas k saath mnaate hai.”

Till my last Diwali (2010), I always had my dear ones, Parents and friends close to me and thus never gave importance to these lines. But now, when this Diwali (2011) was on the shore, i started realising the value of parents and friends. You can never imagine how much it hurts to be celebrating any moment when they aren’t with you. Actually, instead of ‘celebrating’, the word that I should have used in my previous line is ‘pretend to celebrate’ as celebrations means happiness and how could you be happy without those dear ones.

This time I was not excited for Diwali like i used to be earlier but still, I love festivals (Holi and Diwali being favourites). I like to celebrate them in my best possible way. I started the day with watching the first day opening show of RA.ONE (Big SRK n BEBO fan). The movie was nice. We had our breakfast n came back to our flat. After cleaning up the mess from my room, I started getting ready for visiting friends. Byom (colleague) arrived n then me, Goverdhan n Byom (BUM .. i like to call him :P) went out for lunch. After having our meals, we set out for Vashi malls. Two more friend, Bikash and Happy joined us there. After roaming in the malls for some hours, we decided that we should return. 

Just when everything was going right (if not perfect), DEAR GOD had already something else in that big brown kitty for me. 

Goverdhan along with Happy decides that he has to visit a friend. Opposing his idea, I argued that we have to get back home as its a tradition to offer Lakshmi Pooja in the evening and also light some candles there. 

Goverdhan: Arey jaldi laut aayengey yaar

Me: bhai, we can’t return before 11 P.M atleast n that won’t be a right time to do the Pooja

G: yaar, tension na le pahunch jaayengey.....hum kounsa jyada der bethnge

A: Goldy, aaj bahut traffic hai...even if hurry up still it will get us beyond 11 or midnight.

G: Acha toh fir u go home n do the Pooja, I’ll be back soon.

A: Yaar, you want me to celebrate Diwali alone??....Fine...ok with it.

                With the most frustrated mood ever, I started returning. Now I could very easily feel that my eyes were getting wet. I called up my parents n pretended like i was very happy. But parents just know everything about you. They figured out everything in no time. This made me feel more guilty as i ruined their Diwali along with mine. 

After celebrating Dusherra all alone, Diwali was also no exception. I guess this is just the GOD’s way to punish me for whatever I wished for in my life. I always wished to get a job far from my home n parents. But now, i have started asking myself that if it was really what i wished for? 

A Lakshmi Pooja where i was sitting alone n reciting aarti from my Laptop (lol i figured out that i never learned it, always used to copy mom on that) and also lighted up some candles.

A broken heart (yeah my girl friend wont’ trust me) & a loner (yeah i miss those bitches Ishan, Manik, Milan & Rahil) is all that I feel myself to be at the end f this all.

Please GOD clear this fog in my head n show me what I truly wish for.

1st Day as an IT Professional

The college has ended and the cruel world has called me to wake up for the professional world ahead. It just seems another big transition in my life.  The heart stops merely on the thought that there will be no more bunks, no more last night studies and no canteen pranks. But as they say “Life goes on”.

 I, like my other friends, was busy in enjoying my last vacations after completing the college when my mobile rang one afternoon and whoopee, I received a call for joining CAPGEMINI. Unlike planned, I had to prepare to move to Mumbai with just 3 days for preparations. So I got my air tickets done as soon as possible and started shopping the very next day. Done with everything, I kept a day reserved for my family and all the closed ones. Final day, 11^th of August, 2011, at Jammu, I bade good bye to Milan Pal Singh (my best buddy, wingman, bro). Some more good friends were there at Airport to see me off.

I was very much excited for my first air travel, but it all ended when I got the news that the flight is delayed by more than 2 hours and that we have to spend rest of the time doing nothing at the airport. Finally after a long wait, we got our boarding and I along with Goldy and Divya were sitting on the plane and reached Mumbai at around 10 in the night. We rented a room in some hotel nearby and had a nice sleep.

And finally the D-day had arrived; we had to reach office in time for our joining. It was a whole new experience seeing everyone in formals going for their work with badges hanging around their neck. We were looking straight into our future. The joining formalities started at around 10:00 in the morning and went up to 7:00 in the evening. We experienced some problems in completing the formalities as, unlike every other university in India, our final semester results were not out yet. At first, they asked us to wait while other new joinees were completing their bank account forms etc. Then, after a long wait, our recruiter came to us and apologized for the delay. She asked us to return back to our home town and come back for joining as and when the results are out. We went furious. We asked her to let us talk with the management and that they can’t do this to us as we had informed about this condition prior to our travel. First she refused but then, after we insisted a lot, she asked us to wait in a common area while she discusses this issue with the management. We started calling HRs who were in contact with us when we were informed about our joining. They assured us that there ain’t gonna be any problem and that we should feel secure. After a while, the recruiter returned to us and said “Abhi tak kitni gaaliya de di Capgemini ko. Lo maan li tumhari baat. But you have to sign a legal agreement that you have to produce results by end of this month and your employment is subjected to you scoring more than 60% in final sem.” We were finally happy and started jumping in joy. The last couple of hours was like we were protesting against Britishers (Although company is French :P). Finally we got our formalities completed and had the joining letter in our hands. We also made some friends on the first day and then returned back to the hotel room and had a good heavy dinner and felt asleep. The 1^st professional day had finally ENDED.

The One Where It All Ends

Manzil ko bhool gaye, itne haseen raaste the.

Manzil pe bichad jaege, yeh bhi hum jaante they,

samjha lenge dil ko, har roz sochte they,

par woh khushnuma, khwaabo ki duniya

kaise bhula doon aakhir....

Jaha hum kitna khush rehte the

woh college ke din..

woh college ki yaadein!

yaad aati hai reh-reh kar har pal

woh college ki baatein!!

Well it didn’t start like this today. I was a bit annoyed due to something and was not in a very friendly mood. There was this last sessional test of our degree scheduled for today and I had entered the classroom with all guns blazing (I mean with all ‘purzis n chits’). I sat on the bench with an intelligent guy hoping that if ‘purzi’ fails then he will bail me out.

But never in my dreams had I thought that the teacher would come and sit right next to me. So, all the chances of using a chit flushed down the gutter. Now, I was left with only chance of using my olfactory lobes (eyes ko doctors yahi bolte hai) to copy from Zumar’s notebook. So, the test was as always a ‘total disaster’. Salla next time se sab sessional pd kr dunga yaar ( :P ).

Meanwhile, the disaster added some more depression in my already annoyed behavior and before I gained my senses back, I was shouting on every friend of mine. What a jerk!!

Jaise taise we came back from the new campus for the last time. On the way back, we also said our final good-byes to the CHAAT-WALE uncle.

Now, you must be thinking ki “abbey kya bore kr rha hai, isme kounsa kuch exciting kiya tune last day pr.”

Absolutely right friends, my last day was not as eventful as the whole college life. The life that included all the ups and downs of my life. A life where I learnt how to distinguish between people. A life where I learnt how to pose a fake behavior. A life which taught me how to cheat. A special mention of the most featured people in this life is essential to be done here:

Milan Pal Singh: Well, you were the best person I found here in my class. The person true to the core of his heart. You never praised me for what I wasn’t and always appreciated for what I was. Thanks for standing by me as my BEST FRIEND.

Sadiya Khan: You were nice and sweet. A person with very little selfishness. Always ready to help others. Thanks for standing by me at all times and be my BEST FRIEND.

Surinder Kumar: Bro, you were great. You helped me with my studies when I totally lost my way during the second half of the degree. Though, you were a little selfish at times but still you were awesome.

Vijayata Sharma: Always smiling, you taught me how to pose up with good smiles for a nice picture :P. On some serious note, you taught me that trust is not an easy thing to give to anyone. Hope you know what I mean here. You were always helpful but you always had one foremost priority in your life which sometimes made us insecure, though you had no fault in that. Still, thanks for always standing by my side and for all those fights that we share.

Rahil Choudhary: Only one word “PAAND”. The best movie partner, best morale booster, best guide, so a total package in one body. You will always be there on top of my “BRO LIST” but just below MP.

Puneet Grover: Our CR. Khaali hawa bari hui hai teri body me. Still remember those 4 give-ups in 4 fights at Chandigarh. You were always friendly, funny and nice to me.

Goverdhan Singh: A genuine genius of our class. I fully respect you for the sense of humor you have got and also shear power of geniuses in-built in you. The unique way that you looked at things, the way you took pictures and edited them will always be remembered and respected in my life.

Rajat Chib: No matter how much you try to ignore this guy, but he still will find a way to make a mark in your life. You can never win an argument with him. “Chaandi jaisa rang hai tera” with feelings will always remain in my memories.

Anil Parihar: Only Shoshe. But talent hai bande me. One thing that is best in him is that he is never fake and will never use diplomatic talks to make you feel good. Tu yaad rhe na rhe but KB toh pakka yaad rahegi. J

Aditya Jain: What can I say about him? A mysterious guy who is always searching about what others are doing. Yaar simple language me kahu toh “CHUGLI” hai ek number ka. But jo b hai bhai hai apna. Aditya Jain from Jain Bazaar….always giving me treats whenever I asked him. Thanks for being my friend.

Harmeet Singh: A genuine person, a man of principles a guy who can never do anything wrong in haste. A sensible guy is the one word to describe him.

Parampreet Singh: Khaali Khaap. Isko thoda sa pump dene ki zarurat hoti thi bas, baaki toh yeh khud hi kr deta tha. Ek propose toh baja nahi is sey puri engineering me bas matador me aiwen hi aahein bharta rha. But jo b hai banda nice hai yaar.

BK GROUP: A group found in final days of our engineering. A group that will always remembered not by its posts but by the number of accounts it got disabled on facebook (me, Pp, gorka, balli, kohli, sandy, harmeet). BK Rocks!!!!

                                                                 

                                          As they say a life ends here to make way for a new one. We all will be having our separate ways now with promises of meeting every year, keeping in touch etc etc. But we all know deep down in our  hearts that rarely such a thing would happen. Life moves on and so do we. Still I hope that we will remember some of the days here in GCET and all those words “PAAND”, “POOND”, “SANNATA”, “DAADO”, “MAASI”, “HELICOPTER”, “BAALU”, “LALLI”, “BUDDA ASSOCIATION”, “LUAASII”, “GABBAR”, “DUDE”, “RUPA” etc and then laugh on these silly things. We were always called “THE WORST BATCH EVER” and we stood by that even on the last day of our college. We tried to exceed the legacy left over by our seniors and alumni and set new standards for our juniors to follow. We did lots of stupid things and some meaningful too. We just tried to make our life here a memorable one. So cheers to COLLEGE LIFE which ends here today.

P.S: If you are not mentioned here, it doesn’t mean that I won’t remember you, it just means that you are so special that I couldn’t find words to describe you (being diplomatic here :P). Anyone offended after reading this is free to feel offended.

AZAADI????

"The biggest casualty of a war is an innocent."

This line is very easy to understand by relating it with the present scenario of the valley. The valley is burning everyday, people are living in fear, killing of innocents etc etc.

"War is young men dying and old men talking."

In past one and a half month, i have come to know the views of some Kashmiris. They say what "Azaadi" means to them is pure freedom. As per them, only 10-20% of Kashmiris want to go with Pakistan and rest of the people want to  be left alone as an independent country. They don't want to see Indian troops on their roads, harassing their women and children.

On the other hand, I hear that a CRPF soldier was surrounded by more than 1000 protestors with stones in their hands. In that condition, how on earth would anyone expect him not to fire to save his life? He also has a family to feed. If you throw stones on army then you can't expect flowers in return.

"A bullet never sees the age of the person it hits."

May be this line could explain the situation behind killings of innocent children. The army fired at mob. I am not an eye-witness so, i never say it was not army's fault at all. but i find it hard to understand that what these children were doing in that violent crowd?

I respect the fact that Kashmiris want to be left on their own. They don't want to live in fear. they dont want to see that fear in their mother's eyes when they go out for work. they don't want to be a target of a bullet or tear gas shell. they also have the right to live with full dignity and freedom like any other human being.

This kind of thing is most devastating for school going children. Some days back, i read this on someone's facebook status- "Kashmir is the only place in world where schools open on Sunday and remain closed for rest of the week". I can't even think of such a scenario in my life.

The final question is what is the solution to this crisis? is it the way the HURRIYAT wants it to be or is it something else? You can't even keep silent when you feel that somebody's taking over your personal freedom but you can't also just throw stones and back fire and thus make situation more tense.

How can anyone expect HURRIYAT to feel the pain of a common Kashmiri student when their own lads are brought up in British and American schools? Their leaders are not bearing loss in business like a common houseboat owner.

This goes for all the politicians including leaders from my country, Kashmir and Pakistan. they don't have any heart feelings for a common man's pain. Our pain has always been their gain. They exploit our differences to remain in power. They ignite violence in the names of Kashmiriyat, Azaadi, Jehad etc etc.

On a totally different sideline, i feel astonished when i hear Kashmiris talking about Human Right Violations in valley. What about the violations when Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their homeland in '89. I am not saying this with my eyes closed. A few days ago, a well known US Senator, Frank Palon, intorduced this fact in Senate that the population of Pandits in valley which was around 4 lakh in 1989, has now reduced to 4000 only.

Secondly, when the separatists say that India blocks their oil supply. How can you expect truck drivers to visit valley again when they were brutally beaten up the first time they visited it? What is their fault in all this?

Now for those 20% who want to be with Pakistan, just because majority of population there is Muslim, I would like to say that it's just insane to move into their country when they are no match to India in every global aspect. Even their PMs and Presidents are not safe once they are out of power. they either have to fly to some foreign country or end up their lives in jail.

As a Jammuite, i really feel that Kashmir is totally different from Jammu in every aspect. We find it hard to understand each others' feelings. For example, Kashmir is facing violence at these times but Jammu is normal. Still Jammu also has to face the SMS ban imposed on the state of J&K. A ban on any media is just pathetic and makes life miserable in modern times.

P.S:::: In my life till now, i haven't ever been to valley so the views expressed above are just based on facts and what I have come to know from friends on both sides. If in any case, my views hurt anyone's feeling then I deeply regret for the same.