Moments!

So, it was yet another last day @ company...

Did the usual ritual of bidding goodbye to few colleagues in person...There were 3 moments worth remembering for the day :)

Me : Hi, atlast the last day has come...will send my email id, please redirect all your forward mails to this new id.
Colleague 1: heheh...ok, sure
Me : So, good luck. keep in touch.
Colleague 1: Goodluck to you too. btw, i have got something for you. Here, this is for you.
(It was Diary Milk Lite)
Me : Thanks, why Lite?
Colleague 1: Ya, you told once right that you feel guilty after eating Diary milk and hence avoid it. So, you can have this without any guilt.

These are the bloody moments, when all one can do is keep repeating, "wow, thats so nice of you..wow" and "wow" gets repeated quite a few times due to the pleasant surprise...

Colleague 2 who was also my teammember came to my desk...
Colleague 2 : So, how are you?
Me : Guess ok. Atlast, i got the gas transferred, vehicle parcel done. Hope everything else goes fine today...
Colleague 2 : hmm...ok. Here, this is for you.
(It was a book. And it was totally unexpected )
Me : Oh..thats great. You called me up on Sunday to ask about this book...I thought u haven't read it.
Colleague 2 : I have read it already...i called up to check whether you have read it or not...
Me : Thats nice...thanks a lot.

This was yet another pleasant surprise...and didn't exactly know what else to say, as it was quite unexpected...

Third moment doesn't have any new specific conversations :) It was nice of a colleague of mine to sponsor a Chocolate icecream in Melting moments ;) (Anyway, the promise of treat in Pizzahut is not yet fulfilled)

There was also a moment of disappointment, which i did ruminate over a few times...

Oil strike

Yesterday, during lunchtime, one of my colleague was mentioning that there was a long queue in the Petrol station when he went to fill petrol and was cribbing about it.

I wasn't paying much attention...but came to know about the reality of the strike after watching news at night.

Today morning, as a precautionary measure, went to fill petrol even though i had enough for a day travel. When it comes to petrol stations, eventhough there are many, few of them end up as our favorite ones...mainly because of a good experience at some time in the past and ofcourse the confidence that there is no adulteration of petrol...and i seem to like BPCL stations more and hate IOC and IBP stations.

Went to the regular BPCL station (once upon a time, these guys asked the girl/lady drivers to skip the long queue and come forward :) eventhough, i am against any special preference as a girl, i did take this advantage because it's a total pain to pull the vehicle in a long queue...)

It was closed with a board,"No stock." On the adjacent side was IOC station and petrol was available. There was a long 4 wheeler queue, but 2 wheeler queue wasn't that bad. I was wondering whether it's really needed to fill petrol in that station. Leaving aside the apprehension, merged into the queue and filled petrol for Rs.150. Guess, i was one of the few morons who didn't fill a full tank...the guy next to me was filling the tank for Rs.400 which made me wonder about the fuel tank capacity of a motorbike.

Later afternoon, after prolonged procrastination, i happened to go to the LPG dealer to enquire about the Gas transfer as i am moving out of the city. As expected, the account was inactive and the person said i should go to the main office and get it activated first. When i called up the main office, the lady mentioned that there are no officers at work. I asked as whether it was a holiday for them. She replied incredulously,"Haven't you heard of the Oil strike?". I remembered the strike at that time and replied,"Oh. So even LPG Dealer offices are closed now?" She replied,"Yes. When you get to know from TV that the strike is called off, come to office and get your connection activated".

This made me wonder when it's really going to happen.

Interestingly, our government has talked tough and forced the Oil sector officials to withdraw the strike...

“We made it very clear that either you work or you go to jail,” Oil Secretary R.S. Pandey, the senior-most bureaucrat in the ministry, said today. “That worked.”

Although delayed, an excellent act from government part.
Now, i wonder what they are going to do regarding the Trucker's strike...

Government seems to have started with a Public Interest commercial in TV with Mr. Brahm Dutt, Secretary, Roadtransport & Highways requesting them to withdraw the strike in the national interest (saw it in Timesnow channel now :))

I have quite a few unfinished or almost complete blog posts...
Below is one such thing, typed while in a furious mood on 16th Sep,08 at 11pm :) Anyway, the intensity is gone now. Still it makes an interesting read on the few confusing beliefs of life...or maybe, i just think too much at times...
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It happened in 4th standard. First day of the school. There were no books to carry as it'll be purchased in school after few days. The only thing i took to school was lunchbox, water bottle and a brand new Camlin Geometry box. Actually, there was no need to take the Geometry box to school on that day...It was a pure showoff attempt on my part...I wanted to proudly display the brand new Camlin box to all my friends and classmates, which I did quite well and lost the full box. Not the compass or protractor, i lost the whole box. I couldn't find out who took it. Infact, i remember myself and 2 of my friends started searching all others bags in the class. But we never found it. I went home empty handed...

I got loads of scoldings for losing the box, and most of the scoldings were directed towards the stupidity of taking the box to school unnecessarily on the first day. That was the first and last full Geometry box i ever got...Ofcourse, when one grows up in a budgeted middle class, luxuries cannot be expected often :) Even for 10th public exam, i went only with a Protractor and Compass and got 100/100 in Maths with that :)

Anyway, the point is, that day one important point which parents always taught me was shaken. It is,"Never steal from others. Never cheat others. If you do one wrong doing, 10 wrong doings will happen to you". This thought is so ingrained in mind that i follow it till day. But this point was shaken because when one hasn't done any wrong doing, isn't that one entitled not to face any wrong doing?
So why did somebody steal the Geometry box?

Maybe it's my stupidity...a typical way to convince that one's responsible for all one's wrong doing!!
Ofcourse, my mother tried convincing that God will compensate this in some other way...but i quite don't agree with that point though.

So why i am writing about a 4th standard incident now?!

I am reminded of this incident whenever something happens which i don't deserve...And I just lost my watch.

The point is, i neither cheated nor stolen from anybody...ok, the only thing which might come close to the cheating is the underpaid fare to the below mentioned autowalla...but, isn't that his stupidity?

This was the watch which i liked so much and got it for such a high price...now, it's gone...As usual, i blame my stupidity for losing it...Ofcourse, can anything else be done?
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And the reaction was quite different between parents and others.

A friend of mine and brother mentioned," It's your fault to be so careless. You have one watch now. Be happy and don't lose it."

And Parents said,"It's ok. Don't worry. Buy another one."

Atlast Truth left in satyam!

"You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out." - Warren Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway 2001 Chairman's Letter

This is one of the statements which is becoming true in these testing times.

Maybe at the end of the day, it's one's conscience which forces one to confess...

After Satyam fiasco, share price is down more than 70% in a single day...i have never seen such a single day sharp fall of any share in India till now.

I hope the employees are assured...already the job market is dry and i can't imagine what will happen with more flooding of resumes.

One feels a slight pity while reading his letter,

"Every attempt made to eliminate the gap failed. As the promoters held a small percentage of equity, the concern was that poor performance would result in take-over, thereby exposing the gap. It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten."

But at the same time, the mere thought as how employees and investors are left stranded makes one feel less pity...

On a sidenote, yet another proof as what Global economy really means,
RIL has been asked to stop gasoline supply to Iran, as it conflicts with US interest and RIL has a loan from a US Bank.

Margazhi utsavam

Even when one doesn't like Chennai for its climate, water problem and many more, there is one thing which i truly envy chennai for...
It is for the Music Season in Chennai.

It happens in the tamil month of Margazhi(மார்கழி),(15th Dec - 14th Jan) a month of Lord Krishna.

One of the items in my wishlist is to attend all possible concerts through the month, although, it is yet to be fulfilled... Where else in the world can one listen to the various artists and see the various forms of classical dance in a single city at a stretch of 30 continuous days...

Luckily on Sunday, for the first time, i had a chance to attend 2 dance renditions as part of the Dance festival-2009 in Music Academy, Chennai. The entry was free :) Quite a few foreigners among the crowd...

First was a Kathak performance by Prerana Shrimali followed by a Bharatanatyam performance by Meenakshi Srinivasan.

This is the first time i saw Kathak dance... Music was truly amazing. I am no great person when it comes to understanding the nuances of the dances, but i felt Kathak not to have elaborate mudras(gestures) as Bharatanatyam has...

Anyway, it was a true bliss for 3 hours...so peaceful and relaxed in listening to the music and seeing the dance, as if there are no problems in this world and life is great :)

Regarding the month of Margazhi, it is quite an auspicious month... so auspicious that the whole month is dedicated to the god himself and people do not celebrate any festivals or even have marriages in this month. The whole month is supposed to be spent in offering prayers to the god.

Here is an opinion about Margazhi Mystique and its warmth.
And a bit of history regarding this season in kutcheribuzz, a good site to track all concert info.

The year that was (2008)

Apparently, i have posted The year that was (2007) in Feb.

Not sure what exactly to write about this year...

Year began with a hopeless screw up of the MBA interview...went to a disappointed state.
-now when i look back, it looks like a blessing in disguise. The mere thought of looking out for a job with an additional loan burden is totally scary.

Then, started with an activity which hasn't yet seen the light of the day.

Human left India. My expenses got reduced drastically :)

Started job search (again). Survived a pink slip day...now wondering maybe, that would've been a better option.
got a job. waiting to join...but with a cautious enthusiasm and a slight fear about the whole economic scenario at a corner of the mind...

among all this, greatest thing about the year was somehow managing to stick with one regular activity for most part of the week...

all in all, it wasn't an eventful 2008 till diwali and had a drastic few later :)

In 2009, hope everybody lives with sound health...hope i get to make one North India trip...hope my future company doesn't sack me and gives a hike in Oct atleast :)...hope i get bored going home every month :)...hope the economy recovers so that i can recover some money from the bottom pit value of stocks :)... hope my brother gets a salary hike :) hope i write GMAT again and score better...hope i meet new good friends in new place...hope i get good company for roaming/ making weekend trips in the new city...hope no more bombs explode in this country and no major stampedes, bus crashes or train derailing...hope we don't end up in any war...hope one laughs more and cries less...hope i do more helpful things to others...hope i am regular to the gym and lose more weight...hope i post regularly as i did in 2008 :)
and many more hopes....:) :)

And i truly hope everyone gets to achieve atleast a subset of wishes in 2009 :)
Goodluck for a happy, healthy and peaceful year-2009.

hmm...hope is really a dangerous thing, after all it forces one to live life...

And here is 2008 in photographs- part1, part2 and part3