Tuesday, June 30, 2009

A trip to Ooty friend’s version

Hey yo..am back..thought of making the next post after a small break. I myself felt the flow would be lost if a crack happens..I hope my friends would've read the blog; if not I'll chase and make them read J.

I went for Rashid's marriage (My ex-boss's son) last to last Sunday. Being back in Areekode (2 hours) has got a different feeling. A kind of adrenaline rush, hey stop what adrenaline has to do with this..say it as a kind of divine feeling…hmm..Now better explained.

When reached home, my mamma was standing at the doors (Yes she is like that, she would be at the door steps till I reach back). Hey mamma I want to go back Areekode. She just smiled and she knows my liking for Areekode has no limit. She knows each and every person in the institution I worked with at least by name. Coz, on Sundays (once in a month..he he he) she has to bear me describing the whole script of the happenings in Areekode for that week/month. Com'on man don't write everything out here, keep something for the future posts also (By the way, who the heck has invented the preludes).

For those who missed my first post, read it here http://hareesseni.blogspot.com/2009/06/trip-to-ooty.html

Ok now we all five were in the car. They were three and we were two. So obviously whom do you expect to say the story first? Hey yaah, u guessed right. It's us, coz the moment we got in the car, they started putting their queries. Questions from three corners, two from front seat and one from the back seat. As minorities we got to answer those entire queries first. We did explain all what happened with us. Now it's their turn.

When we both left these guys went to the nearby estate for some photo sessions. We've not brought any camera. We were not prepared for a trip. It was with the mobile camera they where flicking. They spend some time roaming here and there waiting for us to comeback. It was getting dark. Some of the locals suggested them to leave the place by 7.00 PM, as it was not secure. They've spotted wild animals at the place. The lorry driver had said truth to us. We mistook it.

They also started stopping vehicles asking for petrol. Unfortunate for them, most of the vehicles passing by were diesel ones. Finally they succeeded; they got a liter of petrol from somebody. Poured it into the thirsty cars throat. You could imagine, single liter of petrol can do nothing with this vehicle.

Question next, two guys has left to fetch fuel. They calculated the time, 8+8 kms by now they should've reached here. Something had happened to them. Can't wait anymore. Go in search of them.

The route to Ooty, as you know are high range roads, climbs and declines. With the available petrol they have to move 25 kms. They decided to push the car, if it goes hard for them start and ride. When they get a slope switch off the vehicle and use the thrust to move. Poor guys, they were pushing the car all the way. They didn't dare to start the car.

They did cover some distance, may be 5-8 kms. They found the jeep, which we people went, parked on the top of a climb. Aslam, the man with heavy guts (He has good athletic body – and always, he lives upto the expectations); walked towards the Jeep. The moment he reached the Jeep, guys inside the Jeep got out and started running. He did run a bit and dropped the idea afterwards as it was pitching dark.

Now they started building stories. Ramiz and me were having money and mobile phones with us. They thought, these peoples have done something on us to rob.

Bushair: - Am not gonna go Areekode now, I would flee rather going Areekode – What the hell will I say to Fasalukka (My Bozz). I would catch the first train to Mumbai.

Aslam:- Hey man, Its all gone – what can we do now? Can we call fasalukka?

Shameer:- Lets not do it now; lets reach Gudallur. We will fill petrol and come back. If no sign of them, then we can call Fasalukka.

And these poor guys where pushing the car all the way to Gudallur. All the time, they were trying us on mobile. Its high range and you cannot expect the Hutch Pug following you all the time. They reached gudallur somehow. 25 kms pushing the car that too in chilling night. They were at ease when they find a slope that was only the relief for them.

They filled petrol, this time enough to take them to Ooty and back. They ride the car all the way to the place where we parked and also a couple of kilometers ahead. They didn't find us at all.

They came back to Gudallur, now they have to call Fasalukka. They were not ready to give up. They decided to go back to Ooty again but this time they would stop at every corner and would get down and search for us. They took the car to the petrol station. All these time nobody had eaten anything.

Suddenly Aslam went missing. Now Shameer got confused, what the heck? Now to search for him also. He just walked some 10 steps. There was one small hotel opened at that time. When he looked inside, he found Aslam sitting there with the posture of an old man sitting at ease.

Shameer asked him 'Why here?'

Aslam: I can't bear with hunger man, so ordered for a light food, just three parottas and beef. Let me complete it, and then we can go'.

Shameer got enraged by this, 'So what you thought, we had our stomachs full. Bloody you better come.'

Shameer pulled him out of the hotel and at that time Aslam tried Ramiz on his cell. We got the call. Rest you know.

There were some late night street side hotels in Nilambur. We had ghee rice and chicken roast from there. Aslam's complaint also got solved.

This is not the only one incident in my much happening life in Areekode. Tons more are there. You could expect that in future blogs. But for now a break.

Monday, June 29, 2009

A trip to Ooty

I said in my previous post, life in Areekode was fun filled. Weekends were not for us to sleep (On Contrary to that, I engage myself sleeping in weekends in Bangalore – Quite boring). There would be something happening for us on every Sunday. Going for a ride or climbing hill or freaking out in beach or fishing or rowing or swimming and many more. One such thing happened on a Sunday, an interesting trip to Ooty.

As I was mentioning, we used to go for leisure trips every now and then. In this particular day we went for a friend’s marriage in Nilambur. We’d rented a car. We were five (Me, Aslam, Shameer, Ramiz and Bushair). We didn’t had much do in that marriage other than having the marriage lunch. Everything got finished by 11.00 AM. What next? We’d rented a car. We got to give it back. 400 bucks only for two hours? Naaah…It’s not fair. We were probing for options. Then we all decided to go Ooty. It’s just 100 Km away I guess. So all set, a ride to Ooty (It’s not the first time we were going there). Filled petrol from the nearest gasoline station and we got moving.

We have crossed Gudallur and covered some 25Kms, 25 more kms to go from here. The car stopped!!!. We were of the thought that it would be the problem with the engine. Ramiz and Bushair knows petty mechanism of the car. They said the things are all ok, but why did it stop. Then we checked the gasoline. The fuel tank was empty. We didn’t know that the car was an avid drunkard. We need to find fuel from somewhere. Options are go to ooty or go back to Gudalur to get the petrol.

We stopped one Jeep which was passing by. We asked the driver whether we could petrol from any nearby place. He said, yes its available in a small town 8 kms away on the way to Gudallur. So me and Ramiz got into the Jeep to get the petrol. We reached that place (I didn’t remember the name – I should blame my grey cells, it too bad in storing information). We gave the driver 20 bucks and asked him to guide us to the place where we could get fuel. We went to a small workshop; it rather looked like a Pit shop. The man there said, he has also run out of fuel. Only option left out was to go Gudllur.

We’d mobile phones with us. But unfortunately there was no network coverage in the area where our car was parked. No way to contact our guys there. We got into a bus and reached Gudallur. It was 4.00 clock in evening then. We got some 3 liters of petrol in two Pepsi bottles. Now we got go back. No bus was ready to board us, as we were carrying petrol with us. We decided to by a shopper bag, bought one and put the bottles inside. We boarded into a Karnataka state bus to Ooty. We didn’t know the name of the place, so took ticket till Ooty. We just know the landmark. The KSRTC is very infamous for the speed. I think even bullock carts can over take it. We were just peeping outside all the time to get a better sight of the landmark we know. It was 7.30 PM when we reached the spot. Ramiz was saying he doubted whether he had seen our car somewhere going towards Gudallur while we were in the bus.

We got down the bus, but the car was not seen anywhere neither our friends. Mobiles again failed us, no coverage. We started walking upwards, as we thought we alighted at the wrong place. It was so chilling night, and we started feeling pain in our legs. We were not wearing shoes, but the ones we had are leather chapels. We didn’t have any jacket also with us. We just kept on walking, but no sign of the car or friends. In between we saw a guy and asked him did he saw any white maruti car parked somewhere. He was a drunkard and starting saying something else in Tamil. He was scolding us. When I turned back, I didn’t see Ramiz. He has already started walking towards Gudallur. It might be 10.00 PM by now. We were walking towards Gudallur and we reached a small bridge. And we identified it. We had parked the car somewhere near that. On the wall of the bridge with the mobile phone light, I saw something written in Malayalam (am not saying what it was here. Its bit ugly) My phone number was also written there (I did a valiant effort to erase it – man it’s my reputation on stake). We realized it was our friends, and came in a conclusion; they might’ve got fuel somehow and might’ve driven back.

We started waking again, it might be 10.20 PM, no vehicles to be found on the road and it was chilling dark. Finally we saw a lorry coming; we’ve thrown ourselves to the middle of the road to stop it. We asked whether we could get a lift till Gudallur. The driver accepted and asked us to get in. We were happy, I sat near to the cleaner and Ramiz near to the door. We started talking to the driver and cleaner and were saying our story to them. The driver smiled and said, the people there have spotted a tiger roaming in that area two days back. Oops.. When we were talking to them we realized it is not secure to travel with them. He started asking us whether we were carrying money with us, do we had mobile etc. When we reached the small town where we been for the search of petrol, the driver stopped the lorry. He said they are going to have a light dinner. We got down the lorry and by this time we’d decided not to go with them again. We went to a STD booth nearby and Ramiz called at his home. He also called his friends in Areekode. We saw a Kerala SRTC bus coming. The bus was going to Kannur. We got into that bus and took ticket to Gudallur. When we reached Gudallur it was 1.30 AM. We went to the direction, where we could get a vehicle to Nilambur or to the Kerala border. We could see many vegetable Lorries going; we tried to stop them signaling the need for a lift. None of them stopped. We enquired in the nearby tea stall about the bus to Nilambur. They said the first bus is at 4.30 AM. 3 more hours to go. We decided to wait there for the bus, in mean time we tried vehicles passing by to stop.

Suddenly at about 2.00 AM, Ramiz’s mobile phone rang. It was the call from Aslam. Big relief for us, our hearts started thumping with joy. They were also in Gudallur. And they are about to go on the way to Ooty in search of us. We met them at the Petrol bunk nearby. All started hugging each other. Bushair slammed the accelerator to the maximum; we needed to take rest at the earliest. And we reached Areekode by 4.00 AM. Quite a happening day for us, next day we were all back at work.

This is our version. The interesting part is the version of the other three friends. I know blogs are to be written short. My friend’s part is much interesting and dramatic. I would write about it in my next post.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

I didn’t know the word friend had an end

I've been following Tamil music these days very religiously. Music directors down south are trying some appealing tunes time and time again. It's been a trend now to include some hip hop beats to the songs. Thus every song is in same line. I happened to hear one particular song and it plays 18x7 in my laptop and music players. The song is from the movie 'Kulir 100 degree'. It does have some magical verses and the music is also good.

The song starts like this

"Hey yo this song is dedicated to everyone, who miss their friend, this is how it feels..."

You would've got the theme of the song now. It's about friendship and brisk break in their friendship. I'm not trying to do a music review here rather as a music lover I did find this song to be catchy. There are some lines which touched my heart. It goes like this

"vaan endru unnai ninaithaen…vaanavillay vanthaayae.."

[Thought you to be the sky..But came in my life as rainbow]

"thirukuralaay vanthu en vaazhvil..iru variyil mudinthaayae..."

[You came in my life as Thirukkuaral and ended in two lines.]

"Kan moodinaal irul ethu neeyae therikiraay..Naan pesinaal mozhiyaaka thaanae varukiraay"

[I close my eyes, it's not darkness I see but you..You are the language when I talk].

"its been while last since we met
cant forget what happened until my last breath
i regret my actions coz whatever we'd was everlasting
hey no joke man my heart comes crushing"

"i'm walking down memory line..its all coming back
dont ever forget me man thats all i ask
you gotta control on my thoughts and emotion
when my world stops you put it back in motion"

The song ends with the line "I didn't know the word friend had an end"

I do had some breakups in my life, but I would like assert, the rainbow will come again in your life. The friendship doesn't end.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

SJR Team Lunch

Its 4 months since I joined the ITTI team in Hindustan Unilever Ltd SJR. We are 23 in SJR. On 26th June we went for a team lunch in Baghini Palace Hoodi. This is my first team lunch in SJR. It all started with a mail from Abhishek and Jagadeesh a week ago about the team lunch. I was keen about it, as I was new inductee to the SJR team. I wanted to know all of them; team lunch is the best opportunity for this. We were asked to gather at the SJR front gate at 1.00 PM. Jagadeesh came to our floor at 12.50 PM and reminded us about the lunch.

Pick up and drop were arranged. When it comes in organizing an event, ITTIians in SJR and ITPL are very famous and very prompt. We 19 got into the force traveler. We were 19 in the vehicle but seating for 17 I guess. It was just a kilometer and a half from SJR. We adjusted ourselves on the available seats. The biggies; Nitin and Ranjith; were sitting together, the biggest adjustments one could ever think off.

We reached Baghini at about 1.20 PM. Straight away we went to the reserved seats. All set and ready

Things started with brief introduction of each other. Like me; there were 5 new members. All started introducing with me first and ended with Ranjith. Then came the starters. The spicy Chicken tikka with black pepper and one other thing which i don't remember the name.
It was so spicy that we had to drink a glass of water after having it. Then came the main course; rotti, chicken gravies and biriyani chicken. The food was OK. Then a small presentation for newlywed guys in the group also happened. One for Dinesh and Ashish.

I would rate 80/100 for the food and 100/100 for the organizers (Abhi / Jagadheesh).



















Friday, June 26, 2009

Areekode the Serene land

There are few places in this world which would remain ever green in your memories. It could be anywhere, domestic or international. I also treasure the memories of one such place where I lived. It is Areekode; a small town in suburbs of Malappuram. I’ve been there for almost three years. I consider the life out there as the best so far.

I was working as software engineer in an upcoming multi-specialty hospital; The Mother Hospital in Areekode. People in Areekode are well educated and are very progressive in everything; particularly the ethics. You could find many Ph.d holders, many renowned engineers, doctors and beurocates in this lovely place.

One thing you won’t ever forget is the unique slag of Malayalam they speak. The slag has got much influence on me and I often use it. In Malayalam we would say ‘Entha Changathee’ meaning ‘Hey buddy or Hey friend’. They say ‘Ethaange’. Very intelligently tailored to carry the meaning but keeping it ‘very’ short. Somebody should make a dictionary for those words for other peoples in Kerala to understand. Because, Areekodans would be there as top officials everywhere.

Politically Areekode is split with extreme opposite views. The left and the right, but they complement each other with good deeds for their land, Areekode.

My growth from a novice to intermediate Software engineer was fueled by the superb mentoring of the Gentle Gentleman Mr Fazalullah. Still he is my mentor. He taught all of us, how one can be dynamic and be upto date as a techie. All of us who worked in Mother Hospital are now placed well in reputed companies now. We owe lot to this uber cool gentle man.

Working at Mother Hospital was really fun experience for us. The schedule for a day’s work would be like this
1. Btw 8.30 and 9.30 AM – Have breakfast (3 Parottas, Beef Curry / Ayala moleethi)
2. Btw 9.30 AM and 10.30 – Orkuting and mail checking
3. Btw 10.30 AM and 11.00 – Pre lunch (Parotta Beef Curry)
4. 11.00 to 1.30 PM – Do some work
5. Btw 1.30 to 2.30 PM – Lunch Mostly Beef biriyani
6. 2.30 PM to 5.30 PM – Do some work
7. 5.30 PM to 7.30 PM – Swimming in Chaliyaar / Play Shuttle badminton
8. Btw 7.30 PM to 9.00 PM – Dinner at Jolly hotel
9. Mostly 10.00 PM to 12.00 AM – Do some work (Mostly to complete the pending work – real work)

Work, entertainment and malingering were mixed together here. We often do very much kind of R&D’s in latest technologies and development. With my stint in Areekode, we have done pretty complex things, almost everything in .NET.

This is just a prelude, a small description on Areekode and my life out there. Life out there was full of fun; in coming days I would write on all those…Keep track of it.

UIC and MJ

A friend of mine told me, Nandan Nilekani resigned from Infosys. She didn’t say any further. First thoughts went on the way of set backs. I did open the entire available websites to see what it really is. Sigh of relief for me, the news has been told to me in a different way. It is supposed to be said; Nandan Nilekani joined a government programme, one of the most ambitious projects in India – The Unique Identification program for every citizen.

Who else can chair the program? Mr. Nilekani is the best for the job and obviously this great visionary would digitalize the entire population’s data. A program which would help India in many ways from ensuring the funds for all programs reaches the needy, to curbing terrorism.
Kudos to the Government and the PM for this excellent move. Mr. Nilekani did much for the IT major, Infosys and its time for him to serve the nation. I always get glued on to the TV channels when ever they air any program involving Mr Nilekani and Mr Moorthy. Their talk always inspires every one.

Wishing Nandan Nilekani and his team all the success.

When I wake up this morning, I found news channels being put on our TV. It never happens. It always used to be some music channels. I got shocked to know the reason behind it. Michael Jackson, the music legend has passed away. Tomraj who was supposed to leave room by 7.30 seems glued on to the TV. Everybody was just standing struck looking at the fool box.

Michael Jackson has revolutionized the music world, particularly the pop music. He will remembered for those moon walk moves. I think there wouldn’t be any kid in the world, who doesn’t know MJ. Big loss for the musical world. May his soul rest in peace.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Cherishing Memories

Maaan…I feel like grown old now…
I’mnt glad of my 25+…
I’m pretty comfortable when I was in my early 20’s…the gud old days at IPT…

Every time I see somebody in Blue & Blue…
Every time when I see some one carrying C++ books…
Every time when I pass thru Shoranur…
Every time when I hear couple of guys talking about their teachers…
Every time I gottu see the white flag with red star….
Every time I see the Banyan tree….
Every time I see the Margin Free Market…
Every time when I see couple sitting face to face with slice of silence sandwitched…
Every time I get a call from Jabir…
Every time I see the innocent face of Shamim….

Maaaan am lost in some other world….
The feeling is so nostalgic to me…

I want those days back…


The golden shower tree.... near the first set of steps to the college premises.... She was a peach during her season.... The first look; the first identity of the college

The inner rectangle where the political wings tries to expose their strength with their outburst slogans..litterily frieghting the new comers….

Canteen….a little passway made out as a canteen….big undaaas, parottas at the size of the pappad…tea with a small tint of tea leaves (do they pour milk in that???)..One and only one bench to sit and crunch upon the ulli vadaaas..Dirty Kitchen, ruled by the shirtless chef!!!!

The auditorium.... venue for college events, meetings, seminars, association inaugurations and poetic renditions… where we used to hurl paper parings up the air in excitement.... and howl like foxes and bemock in disdain, when deeply commoved....Hey doesn’t it look like a cinema hall…Co’mon maan an announcement from the strong vocal chord of Suraaj...Ouch!!! that voice had made me uncomfortable many a time…The time , for the first time in my life, I faced a bunch of audience….

Lab....a forest of so called computers…lab assistant with a hawk eye watching out to catch small moles….hey, who’s opeing windows there??…do somebody looked at the real window at that time….maaan its jabir, springing himself down to close down the paint application he’d opened…Can u hear perturbing sound from the computer…yes it is Shaju and Shamim… vying their skills on the games…who’s is serious over there….Ha ha ha....its Mehaboob…he wants to complete the program b4 smitha or kinnan do it!!!

Classrooms.... in close proximity with allergic chalk dust.... the duster that served the purpose of a throw ball more often than it helped pass over the blackboard.... derelict desks and benches giving forth rhythmic creakings.... copy-paste exercises for assignments, test papers and practical logs.... Maan the pretty maths teacher…when she turns to the board for writing; at some angle; can we get a glance of seeing something….Hey remember the song of busted ‘That’s wat I go to school 4’…Hey see a little mob there at the last bench…can u hear a sweet voice…Muneer is singing…who’s scoring the BGM…maaan its sudheer proving his dexterity on percussion…kanda mani is also a gud drummist….Hey its disgusting…can u see some couple sitting together…I wonder wat they’ve got to talk this much….

Libraries.... Places visited when a new piece of assignement is on the cards....

College ground... little place to play with…full of soft rocks….. boundaries, goals, sprints.... at more ease than in classrooms.... we are all masters of the subject; so why attend the boring lectures?.... come we shall split into two teams for a round of cricket.... used to blame the 'imaginary' groundsman when he found easy ways to cut the grass and maintain it - set aflame the ground....

Yet, everything looked sinister when the exams came thudding the doors ajar....
Oops! I was lost in this talk with you.... It's four O' clock, come on, grab your bags and sally out....You can call it nostalgia, if you could reminisce instances like these from your experience.... My college was a beauty.... a sybaritic beauty.... Don't know whether all these are preserved there, and thence everything in past tense....