Rail gaadi
chuk chhuk chhuk ruk ruk ruk
well though it is more about, mind the closing doors and mind the gap here, I can say that the amount of time I have travelled here in trains is more than the time I have travelled in India so far :-)Its almost 7 months in London, I came here just before Christmas; and in these 7 months I have travelled almost all the 13 lines of the london underground service
(East London and Waterloo and City lines are pending) now you know what a bhatkuram i am :-), its pretty impressive to see the underground network functioning and to know that all this was built almost 100 years back. and its pretty easy too, actually the maps and the colour code makes it simple. I remember when I travelled in Amchi mumbai sometimes would always get confused with which lines to take, etc but here I seem to have mastered the map now :-)
Last saturday I was pretty amused, scared and impressed when I sat in the DLR i.e. The Docklands Light Rail that traverses the East part of London on the Docks. the train traverses on tracks built over the bridges i.e.like a flyover and reminds you of toy train journey(its a little slow that the normal trains), it stops at various stations on its way ,opens the door , closes the door makes proper announcement, [there is a station called East India and a station called West India too in East London ]and whats the most amazing part is that the train does not have any Driver...yup thats right,.....no train drivers boarded on that train to manouver the train. I was sitting on the front most compartment on the first row seeing the tracks, it was amazing to see the way the train moves , turns etc, at one place it had to take a total U-turn and that part was scary, but it did so beautifully. I googled and then I found how it works, here is the link.
Some technology amazes me big time and this is just one of them.
P.S: When I told this to Mom, mommy said I would never sit in that train :)
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
How Mgrs avoid taking their team for lunch.
While reading this all I could remember was how some mgrs manage to run away from sponsoring well deserved lunch /dinner for his/her team, by well deserved I mean working overtime or some unachievable milestone achieved etc etc. Here is a list of how does a boss avoids taking you out for lunch/dinner, and if he does how he ensures you pay for the food, and if he pays for the food he ensures you order the cheapest one.
1. He'll call the team to work on weekends at 2:00 p.m
2. He'll stay very near to the office and will walk out declaring I am going home for food just before lunch/dinner time
3. He will get biscuits, coke and big packet of crisps(wafers), chocolates when he returns from his lunch
4. He generously orders food (when his wife is not in town or back in India) for the team, and then sends a mail with his bank account no and the amount to be transferred.
5. Iff (that is a rare possibility) he takes you out for lunch or dinner he will chose the cheeeeeeeeeeeapest..blv me cheeeeeapest like a combo of dal-roti and tap water.
Do you have any such expereineces/excuses to share ??
1. He'll call the team to work on weekends at 2:00 p.m
2. He'll stay very near to the office and will walk out declaring I am going home for food just before lunch/dinner time
3. He will get biscuits, coke and big packet of crisps(wafers), chocolates when he returns from his lunch
4. He generously orders food (when his wife is not in town or back in India) for the team, and then sends a mail with his bank account no and the amount to be transferred.
5. Iff (that is a rare possibility) he takes you out for lunch or dinner he will chose the cheeeeeeeeeeeapest..blv me cheeeeeapest like a combo of dal-roti and tap water.
Do you have any such expereineces/excuses to share ??
Monday, June 18, 2007
To DAD
Its almost 12 years that I lost him, but still his memories are so fresh in my mind, especially his last day when he tells his Doctor, Do something I dont want to die, he sinking while i held his hand, I still talk to him when i am upset and wonder what he would have adviced me, Would I have been where I am had he been around?, Would he be proud of us(me and my bro) as his children, how much he would have spoilt his grandson. There are so many things that I dont know about him yet. I wish he were around. Today I am gathering courage and writing some memories I have of him.
- He never called me with my full name, I was always Reshu :) for him.
- We both fought a lot, I back answered a lot, but we both shared secrets from Mom :)
- I would get 2 dresses on my birthday every year, one that he would like a lot and one that I would like a lot :-) We both would not give up on our choices (me more coz i knew I would get 2 of them)
- When I sat behind him on the kinetic, I would really get annoyed and tell him to speed a little coz men riding the bicycle would overtake us ,he would go that slow
- He was both liberal and strict with us, despite of his very orthodox background, he would let me wear jeans and skirts but I had to be home before dark.
- He would always shate meetha panipuri with and my mom and bro had teekha :), we both could just not eat that spicy food, and I was glad I had company, coz after him, mom and bro had spicy stuff and i would end up drinking loads of water, untill my s-i-l came in who does not eat spicy too.
- He was a foodie, loved to travel and spend and I think I inherit that from him apart from his looks. My mom is glad that we dont look like her coz my dad had sharp features. He loved baked food, and everytime I visit bakery in India or out of India, I think about him. He would have loved Dunkin Dounuts than the naaz donuts in Pune :)
- He believed in living life to the fullest and would never save money(that was my moms department)
- He used to dance in the house when he used to drink whiskey at home and we could get anything from him.
- He never smoked regularly, he smoked only when he drank, his cigarette pack would last for a year i think :)
- He was the first to wake up at home and he would wake my mom up he he he(which my mom still denies)
- When he would take us around on his bicycle to amuse us he would say pic picky pic picky pick pick and we would keep repeating it alternately till the time we reached home :)
- Every Sunday (till my 2nd year college i.e till the time he was alive)when I used to go for my NCC parade early mornings, he used to wake up early and give me keys to his kinetic and money to eat vada pav during the break.
- He loved pakodas and samosas and would get them everyday(almost) for snacks.
- He would give us money whenever we asked for but would never give mom ( he would say she spends it at the wrong places)
- He used to trouble my bro a lot (thats what i thought when i was younger) since my bro was kinda silent and shy, to make him talk he would make my bro go to shops and stores and tell him to ask the price of this, the price of that to the shopkeeper and look at my bro now he is into international sales and marketing and talks all the time(Thanks to him)
- He had a good taste for things, I realized that after he went and my mom shopped for us, also what he used to say is true, mom is the stingy types :p)
- He was very social, we would have people coming for dinner lunch atleast once or twice a month. I miss that now.
- He taught us the basic manners, he taught me how to iron and he never let us wear clothes that were not-ironed and shoes not polished, in case we dint do it, he would do it for us and then out of guilt we would do it. I wonder where did he learn all that, coz his childhood was very poor and different.
- He dint know to tie shoe laces :) he never wore laced shoes and if he wore he would never untie them, and in case it was untied and he was out, he would go to a shoe polisher on the street, get them polished and tell him to tie the laces :)
- He would not let us out of his sight, he was more possessive of us than our mom, For ncc we had to stay away from home for just 10 days but he would drive all way to the camp place and meet me atleast once or twice in those 10 days and get me nankhatai :)
Dad I really miss you infact we all still do and yes you were right, I did understand your value after you went. I just wish you were alive when I matured as a girl, am sure we would have had lots of fun and mom and bro would be jealous of us and Krishanu would have been your fan.
- He never called me with my full name, I was always Reshu :) for him.
- We both fought a lot, I back answered a lot, but we both shared secrets from Mom :)
- I would get 2 dresses on my birthday every year, one that he would like a lot and one that I would like a lot :-) We both would not give up on our choices (me more coz i knew I would get 2 of them)
- When I sat behind him on the kinetic, I would really get annoyed and tell him to speed a little coz men riding the bicycle would overtake us ,he would go that slow
- He was both liberal and strict with us, despite of his very orthodox background, he would let me wear jeans and skirts but I had to be home before dark.
- He would always shate meetha panipuri with and my mom and bro had teekha :), we both could just not eat that spicy food, and I was glad I had company, coz after him, mom and bro had spicy stuff and i would end up drinking loads of water, untill my s-i-l came in who does not eat spicy too.
- He was a foodie, loved to travel and spend and I think I inherit that from him apart from his looks. My mom is glad that we dont look like her coz my dad had sharp features. He loved baked food, and everytime I visit bakery in India or out of India, I think about him. He would have loved Dunkin Dounuts than the naaz donuts in Pune :)
- He believed in living life to the fullest and would never save money(that was my moms department)
- He used to dance in the house when he used to drink whiskey at home and we could get anything from him.
- He never smoked regularly, he smoked only when he drank, his cigarette pack would last for a year i think :)
- He was the first to wake up at home and he would wake my mom up he he he(which my mom still denies)
- When he would take us around on his bicycle to amuse us he would say pic picky pic picky pick pick and we would keep repeating it alternately till the time we reached home :)
- Every Sunday (till my 2nd year college i.e till the time he was alive)when I used to go for my NCC parade early mornings, he used to wake up early and give me keys to his kinetic and money to eat vada pav during the break.
- He loved pakodas and samosas and would get them everyday(almost) for snacks.
- He would give us money whenever we asked for but would never give mom ( he would say she spends it at the wrong places)
- He used to trouble my bro a lot (thats what i thought when i was younger) since my bro was kinda silent and shy, to make him talk he would make my bro go to shops and stores and tell him to ask the price of this, the price of that to the shopkeeper and look at my bro now he is into international sales and marketing and talks all the time(Thanks to him)
- He had a good taste for things, I realized that after he went and my mom shopped for us, also what he used to say is true, mom is the stingy types :p)
- He was very social, we would have people coming for dinner lunch atleast once or twice a month. I miss that now.
- He taught us the basic manners, he taught me how to iron and he never let us wear clothes that were not-ironed and shoes not polished, in case we dint do it, he would do it for us and then out of guilt we would do it. I wonder where did he learn all that, coz his childhood was very poor and different.
- He dint know to tie shoe laces :) he never wore laced shoes and if he wore he would never untie them, and in case it was untied and he was out, he would go to a shoe polisher on the street, get them polished and tell him to tie the laces :)
- He would not let us out of his sight, he was more possessive of us than our mom, For ncc we had to stay away from home for just 10 days but he would drive all way to the camp place and meet me atleast once or twice in those 10 days and get me nankhatai :)
- He was pretty short tempered I would say, but at home when he would burst out, my mom would wink at him once and he would just blush and start smiling and laughing. ha ha ha I still laugh whenever I remember this. Mom very well knew how to cool him down.
Dad I really miss you infact we all still do and yes you were right, I did understand your value after you went. I just wish you were alive when I matured as a girl, am sure we would have had lots of fun and mom and bro would be jealous of us and Krishanu would have been your fan.
Friday, June 15, 2007
last weekend!!
Last weekend was full of unexpected events(3 to be precise)(in a happy way, thankfully) (ya ya i know its already time for this weekend..but its just friday yet, isnt't it so can write about it )As you know was going to meet my school friend (whom I found via orkut ) at the airport, plan was i meet her, chat for 5-10 min while she waits for the cab or exchanges her TC's , calls home etc etc..the usual chores that one would do when reached at destination and then she goes to her place which is an hour away from london and me back home. i reached 10 min late...my bad and her friend who was going to pick her up was late too coz he had wrong information about the flight delay, So there I shared the coffee table with her for around 40 minutes or so, okay first how we met...I was wondering and wandering how would I recognize her since we dint decide on a meeting point at the terminal I kept calling her once I was on the terminal and searching up and down eyes wandering on all the indian girls there and far I see a girl waving at me :) She was walking towards me and recognized me immediately and I was looking at the little girl face I knew and then I hugged her :) We sat on the coffee table and she showed me our school pic from Std 4 i.e. grade 4 ohhh it was so nice to see the whole class ...and I realized I couldnt remember the names of each and every girl and I'd forgotten so many faces, This weekend I plan to sit with her(yeah me visiting her) and try to get the names right of our classmates. Her friend came to pick her up we put in all the luggage and then time to say bye and he (her friend) said you not coming? I am like no I live here in London, he was like..no problem, come with us, I'm coming back to London so will drop you. Wow that thought excited me rather both of us so I went in too. We talked for another hour or so. I was thinking so many things have changed and she was telling me that she is still in touch with some of the teachers, and my memory was refreshed with the names of some teachers who I forgot. I(rather her friend) dropped her to her place, and she had a parcel for me, Chitale bhakarwadi, a DVD, some mithais and a cute bead necklace and bracelet. Ohh how thoughtful and beautiful. I hogged on the bhakarwadi on my way back to London. Am so excited that I will be seeing her tomorrow again.
The second unexpected thing that happened was on Sunday...while I was watching a movie(the DVD that my friend brought), I get a call from another friend saying that you got to come with me today, I was like okay sure, where and what time, she said for a concert, get ready in 10 min I'll pick you up, me surprised..huh..concert!! okay dress code...smart casual she says...and I get up immediately, put on my jeans high heel shoes lipstick and am ready, then I learn from her that we are going for George Michaels concert at the new Wembley stadium. wohh......i cud have put on my trainer shoes :) never mind. the stadium is huuuuuuuuuuuuuge 90,000 people can be accomodated in it at one time, the walk to the gates(not the main gate...the side entrance gates,once on top) is so broad that 8 cars can drive through it at the same time. The stadium was full with many woman in their mid 30's and many gay men. the concert was lovely, we tapped and swayed when he sang careless whisper, faith, freedom , good puppy, father figure. I was not aware of all the songs he sang. It was fun..I'd never expected that I would be seeing Wembley stadium, and George Michaels performance in it. :)
so all in all unexpected things, go to drop my friend to her house, see wembley stadium, attend george michaels concert.
Have a lovely weekend full of (pleasantly)unexpected events you guys.
The second unexpected thing that happened was on Sunday...while I was watching a movie(the DVD that my friend brought), I get a call from another friend saying that you got to come with me today, I was like okay sure, where and what time, she said for a concert, get ready in 10 min I'll pick you up, me surprised..huh..concert!! okay dress code...smart casual she says...and I get up immediately, put on my jeans high heel shoes lipstick and am ready, then I learn from her that we are going for George Michaels concert at the new Wembley stadium. wohh......i cud have put on my trainer shoes :) never mind. the stadium is huuuuuuuuuuuuuge 90,000 people can be accomodated in it at one time, the walk to the gates(not the main gate...the side entrance gates,once on top) is so broad that 8 cars can drive through it at the same time. The stadium was full with many woman in their mid 30's and many gay men. the concert was lovely, we tapped and swayed when he sang careless whisper, faith, freedom , good puppy, father figure. I was not aware of all the songs he sang. It was fun..I'd never expected that I would be seeing Wembley stadium, and George Michaels performance in it. :)
so all in all unexpected things, go to drop my friend to her house, see wembley stadium, attend george michaels concert.
Have a lovely weekend full of (pleasantly)unexpected events you guys.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Thankyou ORKUT
Thanks to Orkut I will be meeting a school classmate after 15years tomorrow :-)
Am so happy and excited. We were not in the same group of friends but were together for 10 years. same school, same classmates, same teachers. I still remember her as a plump girl in our blue school uniform with side partitioned hair style, like rajesh khanna had once and the most peculiar thing about her she used to tie her school belt not on her waist or low waist but above her stomach :) I will be seeing her tomorrow after 15 years, wonder what she looks like, how she talks (I've talked with her over phone past few days) we have so much to catch on to, well i think will have to wait for the catchin up part, Tomorrow she is coming from India, so will meet her at the airport, probably will catch up on all the talks later.
Am gonna travel back to schoold days for the next month for sure...and maybe explore more school friends. How I wish there was a school reunion of our batch. It would be lovely to know about our old classmates where they are, what they doing did they do what they wanted to do. How our teachers are doing. How will they talk to us now, when they see how they groomed the tiny girls into lovely woman. I think, School reunions or finding old school friends is especially difficult coz for a girls school, because girls generally get married, change names move to a different town (well these days ofcourse all go to us or uk), I think its much simpler to trace a boy classmate than a girl..isnt?
Anyways, I'm happy atleast I'll be meeting one of them tomorrow :-)
Am so happy and excited. We were not in the same group of friends but were together for 10 years. same school, same classmates, same teachers. I still remember her as a plump girl in our blue school uniform with side partitioned hair style, like rajesh khanna had once and the most peculiar thing about her she used to tie her school belt not on her waist or low waist but above her stomach :) I will be seeing her tomorrow after 15 years, wonder what she looks like, how she talks (I've talked with her over phone past few days) we have so much to catch on to, well i think will have to wait for the catchin up part, Tomorrow she is coming from India, so will meet her at the airport, probably will catch up on all the talks later.
Am gonna travel back to schoold days for the next month for sure...and maybe explore more school friends. How I wish there was a school reunion of our batch. It would be lovely to know about our old classmates where they are, what they doing did they do what they wanted to do. How our teachers are doing. How will they talk to us now, when they see how they groomed the tiny girls into lovely woman. I think, School reunions or finding old school friends is especially difficult coz for a girls school, because girls generally get married, change names move to a different town (well these days ofcourse all go to us or uk), I think its much simpler to trace a boy classmate than a girl..isnt?
Anyways, I'm happy atleast I'll be meeting one of them tomorrow :-)
Thursday, June 07, 2007
thinking
Few more weeks to go and I would be joining the new office, so the days are busy with getting clearance from various departments in India and UK, They have an excellent procedure here, very well defined with all the names and email ids of people to contact for clearance total 13 departments sheesh!!!! I din't know those many departments existed in the IT industry...very impressive!!!
so one of the forms I gotta fill is the Exit Interview form and one of the question in it is
"What is your greatest regret in leaving?"
and I am still wondering what to write!!! and why the question.....
Would anybody leave an organisation if they had any regrets???
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