This incident is more than a year old but definitely worth a narration.
The time was Feb 2006 and I was working out of the Volvo IT premises in Skovde, Sweden.
Quite close to my apartment where I used to stay with two of my fellow Minds, there was a large building on a small hilltop, we could never figure out what was it for as when we used to leave for office in morning it used to be dark outside and when we used to come back in the evening then also it used to be quite dark and hence we missed out on any human activity that
took place in and around the building.
It so happened that one day one of our Swedish colleagues invited us over to his home for lunch and he came to pick us up, after picking us he was briefing us on the various landmarks in the area and in the process he pointed out to that building and said that’s the "Gymnasium". I was like Wow, such a huge gym! Man these guys are something, they really are too much of fitness conscious.
So, the next day I left from office early so as to go to this gymnasium and inquire about their working times and membership charges and all. I parked my cycle at the foot of the hill, climbed the stairs and started searching for the entrance. There were many doors and as is the case with Automatic doors they open from inside only and from outside if only I know the code. So now started my process of testing each door .. In vain.. Now I resorted to next step, of peeping into various rooms and searching for a human soul… again in vain… I was beginning to think that whats wrong with these people, they build such huge gymnasiums with no-one in rooms, no information signs outside when I noticed light coming from one of the rooms.
I peeped in through the Window and hallejulah there were 3-4 pretty girls inside, now this was an even better incentive for me to become a member.. I started tapping the window first slowly then frantically… As my fairy godmother would like it, the prettiest girl of the lot looked up… I was like "Yes, meri to nikal padi"… Now with the help of sign language I started conveying that I want to come inside, she walked over to where I was standing and opened the window and spoke to me… left me wondering why did I resort to sign language in the first place? She asked me to come over to the door on the other side and she would open the door for me.
In the excitement I circled the wrong side of the building and when I didn’t find her there then I realised it must be on the other end.. By the time I reached there, to my utter grief she was no longer there instead she had stuck a broom in the door so that it doesn’t close and I can go in…
Well I picked the broom and entered the premises, my eyes were frantically searching for the girl when a huge gentleman came into the view.. Greetings exchanged and then he says "Ah! You must be the gentleman for whom the young girl was waiting over here, your girl has left and she must be in one of the rooms"
By this time I was like going crazy, God what sort of Gym is this, I have seen everything but where is the equipment?
I told the gentleman.. Sir, I think there is something wrong here in what I know, firstly, that lady isnt my lady(though I'd loved to say the other way) and secondly I want to join this gymnasium. The gentleman reacted in a way as if something real hard stuck him. He said.." You look as an educated person to me" I replied yes I am, I have done my Masters and I am working with Volvo right now. Then he replied "Then why do you want to join the gym?" I replied "To stay physically fit" He wore a puzzled look for sometime and then burst out into peals of laughter. Seeing him laugh so hysterically I also started smiling, though I was completely unaware of the reason.
Then he said.. Young man, you follow the British english right? I said yes, I do.. He said that’s the point .. In British english Gymnasium refers to a place where you work-out whereas in Swedish English it stands for a high school.. And that’s why I was wondering that since you have already done your masters why do you want to come back to the school…
Then he took me to one of those patio windows and showed me the real fitness gyms down the road, this time he led me to the door and ensured that I left safely.
All in all… I came back very disappointed, my joy of being a member of such a huge gym was washed out and my dreams of that pretty girl didn’t even survive beyond one meeting :-( I hope that gym and that girl are doing well, as for myself I and gym continue to play hide-and-seek with each other as always..
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Monday, December 03, 2007
Delhi traffic.. Saddi Dilli
Delhi traffic is a classic case of how things can go totally haywire when people have a scant disregard for the laws, rules or regulations (term it what ever you like)
Driving on Delhi roads is much more tough and stressful than Formula-1 racing because over there you have only one type of competitors fighting for the same space – cars, albeit of different make but still cars. On Delhi roads you have as much variety as you would find in a local vegetable market. Small to large, cheap to costly you name it and you have the variety.
For the uninitiated who are unacquainted with Delhi traffic, they might find this all gibber and gabber and would dismiss this article with a shrug saying “Big Deal, same is the situation in all the major metros in India”. But no dear friend, you have to be in Delhi, sit in the driver’s seat and drive around any major or minor road and you would get a first hand experience of what I am driving to.
There are exceptions everywhere and so are here, please don’t include the green heartland of Delhi – Sir Lutyen’s Delhi in this category.. reasons? All other conditions kept the same the security is so tight in this area that as this is a VIP zone that try any of your circus acts here and you wont pass by the next two traffic signals, you would be intercepted by one of the famed Delhi cops beforehand. Trust me when I say this, you’d rather prefer to wait in the serpentine queue for another 10 mins rather than risk having a confrontation with the Delhi cops because they wont distinguish if you are a software engineer or a vice-president. The result of which is that they wouldn’t hesitate even a second to man-handle you and talk to you in such a rural and harsh language resulting in you praying to god that why wasn’t I born as a snail so that I could retreat into my shell this very instant.
Coming back to the main subject, Delhi traffic.. Delhi has by and large the widest streets/roads in the entire country.. No second opinions on this. And Delhi would soon be the city to have the largest number of fly-overs in the entire continent. Still, venture out at any time/hour onto the streets of Delhi, be it the arterial ring road or the by lanes and sub lanes you would never find them devoid of traffic snarls. In short, there is no predictable time when I can venture out and reach my destination in a relatively shorter amount of time. Now why is this so? Primarily because of the various players we have on the Delhi roads.. So I’d give you a vivid description of these players now.
Buses: two types, the state run DTC(Delhi Transport Corporation) and private buses.
The state run DTC buses would keep on rolling on the left side of the street in their lane.. rickety and smoke emitting, they are relics of a by-gone era.. not from the times of Raj though. They are the least of a disturbance as you can overtake them anytime you want, they wont run you down on red-lights because once they stop at signals it takes an equivalent of electric shocks to bring them to life again.
Private buses – Ah!! These are the notorious, street robbers, gangsters, bullies… call them n number of names and they wont suffice. In Delhi these buses make the Page3 headlines each day with the number of people they ran down the previous day on Delhi roads. Popularly known as the Red Line or Blue Line buses, they are operated by private owners who do an excellent job of packing people like sardines in a can in the bus. They are very customer friendly, give them a hand and they would stop for you bang in the middle of the road with a screeching halt, the customer friendliness ends here.. Try haggling with them over the price of tickets and you might find yourself either thrown out of the door or beaten black and blue by the conductors and driver. You might wonder that I am over- exaggerating, ok take a sample size… visit the Delhi Edition of TOI and Hindustan times online for just five days and you would very well get it if I am exaggerating or not.
Cycles, Rickshaw pullers, four wheeled carts and 3 wheeled luggage carts – These guys are the uncrowned kings of Delhi roads primarily because they don’t need a “License To Drive” and hence they do not have any fear of the law what-so-ever. These chaps drive their respective vehicles with such a major disdain bang in the innermost lane, that they very well act as bottlenecks to choke the incoming traffic and smoothline the outgoing traffic. These guys are simply crazy, they change their lanes at the last moment by just lifting their miniature hands a little bit, no consideration at all for the vehicles approaching from the back… screeching sounds of brakes also acts as no deterrent for them. And Dare you, yes Dare you touch even their royal wagons with your peanut vehicle, they’d make sure you don’t leave the place with 2000 bucks less in your pocket.
Two – Wheelers( Motor cycles, scooters) :- These guys are the equivalent of F1 drivers in the motorcycle racing. They live in the truest spirit, nothing can stop them on Delhi roads. If there is a long traffic jam in front of them, they would either mount their vehicle on to the middle partition or take it straight on the sidewalks and wroom wroom they’d start racing again. The act of driving your two wheeler zig zag between vehicles standing on a red light is an art typical in Delhi. I tried emulating the same in Chennai twice/thrice, my pillion friends closed their eyes and started chanting that very instant, that was the last time they sat behind me on any vehicle.
If you have reached so far, then I’d say I am tired of punching out, see you sometime in my neighboring car on one of the Delhi roads and then we too would wroom wrooooom.
Driving on Delhi roads is much more tough and stressful than Formula-1 racing because over there you have only one type of competitors fighting for the same space – cars, albeit of different make but still cars. On Delhi roads you have as much variety as you would find in a local vegetable market. Small to large, cheap to costly you name it and you have the variety.
For the uninitiated who are unacquainted with Delhi traffic, they might find this all gibber and gabber and would dismiss this article with a shrug saying “Big Deal, same is the situation in all the major metros in India”. But no dear friend, you have to be in Delhi, sit in the driver’s seat and drive around any major or minor road and you would get a first hand experience of what I am driving to.
There are exceptions everywhere and so are here, please don’t include the green heartland of Delhi – Sir Lutyen’s Delhi in this category.. reasons? All other conditions kept the same the security is so tight in this area that as this is a VIP zone that try any of your circus acts here and you wont pass by the next two traffic signals, you would be intercepted by one of the famed Delhi cops beforehand. Trust me when I say this, you’d rather prefer to wait in the serpentine queue for another 10 mins rather than risk having a confrontation with the Delhi cops because they wont distinguish if you are a software engineer or a vice-president. The result of which is that they wouldn’t hesitate even a second to man-handle you and talk to you in such a rural and harsh language resulting in you praying to god that why wasn’t I born as a snail so that I could retreat into my shell this very instant.
Coming back to the main subject, Delhi traffic.. Delhi has by and large the widest streets/roads in the entire country.. No second opinions on this. And Delhi would soon be the city to have the largest number of fly-overs in the entire continent. Still, venture out at any time/hour onto the streets of Delhi, be it the arterial ring road or the by lanes and sub lanes you would never find them devoid of traffic snarls. In short, there is no predictable time when I can venture out and reach my destination in a relatively shorter amount of time. Now why is this so? Primarily because of the various players we have on the Delhi roads.. So I’d give you a vivid description of these players now.
Buses: two types, the state run DTC(Delhi Transport Corporation) and private buses.
The state run DTC buses would keep on rolling on the left side of the street in their lane.. rickety and smoke emitting, they are relics of a by-gone era.. not from the times of Raj though. They are the least of a disturbance as you can overtake them anytime you want, they wont run you down on red-lights because once they stop at signals it takes an equivalent of electric shocks to bring them to life again.
Private buses – Ah!! These are the notorious, street robbers, gangsters, bullies… call them n number of names and they wont suffice. In Delhi these buses make the Page3 headlines each day with the number of people they ran down the previous day on Delhi roads. Popularly known as the Red Line or Blue Line buses, they are operated by private owners who do an excellent job of packing people like sardines in a can in the bus. They are very customer friendly, give them a hand and they would stop for you bang in the middle of the road with a screeching halt, the customer friendliness ends here.. Try haggling with them over the price of tickets and you might find yourself either thrown out of the door or beaten black and blue by the conductors and driver. You might wonder that I am over- exaggerating, ok take a sample size… visit the Delhi Edition of TOI and Hindustan times online for just five days and you would very well get it if I am exaggerating or not.
Cycles, Rickshaw pullers, four wheeled carts and 3 wheeled luggage carts – These guys are the uncrowned kings of Delhi roads primarily because they don’t need a “License To Drive” and hence they do not have any fear of the law what-so-ever. These chaps drive their respective vehicles with such a major disdain bang in the innermost lane, that they very well act as bottlenecks to choke the incoming traffic and smoothline the outgoing traffic. These guys are simply crazy, they change their lanes at the last moment by just lifting their miniature hands a little bit, no consideration at all for the vehicles approaching from the back… screeching sounds of brakes also acts as no deterrent for them. And Dare you, yes Dare you touch even their royal wagons with your peanut vehicle, they’d make sure you don’t leave the place with 2000 bucks less in your pocket.
Two – Wheelers( Motor cycles, scooters) :- These guys are the equivalent of F1 drivers in the motorcycle racing. They live in the truest spirit, nothing can stop them on Delhi roads. If there is a long traffic jam in front of them, they would either mount their vehicle on to the middle partition or take it straight on the sidewalks and wroom wroom they’d start racing again. The act of driving your two wheeler zig zag between vehicles standing on a red light is an art typical in Delhi. I tried emulating the same in Chennai twice/thrice, my pillion friends closed their eyes and started chanting that very instant, that was the last time they sat behind me on any vehicle.
If you have reached so far, then I’d say I am tired of punching out, see you sometime in my neighboring car on one of the Delhi roads and then we too would wroom wrooooom.
Monday, August 20, 2007
Where do we stop
These thoughts have been crossing my mind very lately after arriving here in New York.
When in India most professionals (IT or non IT) want to go abroad as a part of their jobs. For a significant chunk, US is the mecca.. one has to go there at least once. I am no exception. So after reaching here I realise there is wealth, abundance of wealth all around.. New York is bloody huge with massive companies in terms of numbers not employee heads. After coming here you start thinking, you should be here i.e. you should move your base here and earn dollars. You get married and get your spouse here too, both start working and start getting dollars. With the passsage of time your life style changes and expenses increase. So even if you manage to save 20K USD per year, its a big deal by Indian standards but not in US, here it's peanuts.
Then why are you here in the first place? You come here far from your country, start working here much to the anguish of your near and dear ones and finally after 4-5 years you are cribbing..
I think cribbing is the birth-right of every mortal, it begins from child hood itself.
When a person is child, he is always eager to go into the next class and be more big. In the final years of school he wants to be in college so fast so that he lives an independent life. Once in college you start missing your school days and all the fun. Final years of college, students worry about their PG, once in PG you worry about Jobs.
Got a new job, the excitement lasts only for few weeks, only that is the time when the new company is all rosy and everything from reception to vending machines all is great. Few months in the org and the same company now sucks big time and start looking out for change.... and so it goes on and on.
If not each one of us starts dreaming about being a Bill Gates and start enjoying life with the current levels, happiness would prevail at large.
Now this is a preacher at work, the big question is would I practice what I preach? As of now, I dont, I hope I do it in future but am not sure...
Wish me Luck :)
When in India most professionals (IT or non IT) want to go abroad as a part of their jobs. For a significant chunk, US is the mecca.. one has to go there at least once. I am no exception. So after reaching here I realise there is wealth, abundance of wealth all around.. New York is bloody huge with massive companies in terms of numbers not employee heads. After coming here you start thinking, you should be here i.e. you should move your base here and earn dollars. You get married and get your spouse here too, both start working and start getting dollars. With the passsage of time your life style changes and expenses increase. So even if you manage to save 20K USD per year, its a big deal by Indian standards but not in US, here it's peanuts.
Then why are you here in the first place? You come here far from your country, start working here much to the anguish of your near and dear ones and finally after 4-5 years you are cribbing..
I think cribbing is the birth-right of every mortal, it begins from child hood itself.
When a person is child, he is always eager to go into the next class and be more big. In the final years of school he wants to be in college so fast so that he lives an independent life. Once in college you start missing your school days and all the fun. Final years of college, students worry about their PG, once in PG you worry about Jobs.
Got a new job, the excitement lasts only for few weeks, only that is the time when the new company is all rosy and everything from reception to vending machines all is great. Few months in the org and the same company now sucks big time and start looking out for change.... and so it goes on and on.
If not each one of us starts dreaming about being a Bill Gates and start enjoying life with the current levels, happiness would prevail at large.
Now this is a preacher at work, the big question is would I practice what I preach? As of now, I dont, I hope I do it in future but am not sure...
Wish me Luck :)
Friday, March 23, 2007
Hi I am back
Hi,
For people who havent read the earlier post please read the post earlier to this and come back to this again. Because its then that what I am saying would make relevance.
I had read the story of 1000 marbles a long time back. Once I had read the story I thought about it for some time and then stored it in one of the folders in my mail-box. But recently, I have felt the need to revisit it again. The primary reason being that more than 4 months in Singapore now, I wasnt doing much apart from my work, reading, music and watching occasional TV.
I felt I was wasting away the weeks of my life, more predoominantly the weekends. Its then i decided that let me make a conscious effort to make productive utilisation(apart from cooking, ironing clothes and all) of all the weeekends that come my way because otherwise most of my weekends I spend just doing mundane tasks or dozing off.
So for the past 3 weekends, I have been trying to move out the confines of my house, and doing somethign extra. the first weekend I had been for the IIT Singapore Alumni Association Holi celebrations. The next weekend I went to donate blood. Last weekend nope didnt do anythign out of house but was at home customising my new lap with new warez to suit my needs.
Today being Saturday, the first day of the weekend, I am writing this article, reading a MCKC report on Latin America. After this I have to read up on some stuff for my D80. Once I am done with the same I have to download some photo tools for my beloved camera.
So, friends Romans and fellow country men what are you guys doing this weekend to make it more productive as compared to just eating, drinking and sleeping?
Enjoy....
See you soon.
Rohin
For people who havent read the earlier post please read the post earlier to this and come back to this again. Because its then that what I am saying would make relevance.
I had read the story of 1000 marbles a long time back. Once I had read the story I thought about it for some time and then stored it in one of the folders in my mail-box. But recently, I have felt the need to revisit it again. The primary reason being that more than 4 months in Singapore now, I wasnt doing much apart from my work, reading, music and watching occasional TV.
I felt I was wasting away the weeks of my life, more predoominantly the weekends. Its then i decided that let me make a conscious effort to make productive utilisation(apart from cooking, ironing clothes and all) of all the weeekends that come my way because otherwise most of my weekends I spend just doing mundane tasks or dozing off.
So for the past 3 weekends, I have been trying to move out the confines of my house, and doing somethign extra. the first weekend I had been for the IIT Singapore Alumni Association Holi celebrations. The next weekend I went to donate blood. Last weekend nope didnt do anythign out of house but was at home customising my new lap with new warez to suit my needs.
Today being Saturday, the first day of the weekend, I am writing this article, reading a MCKC report on Latin America. After this I have to read up on some stuff for my D80. Once I am done with the same I have to download some photo tools for my beloved camera.
So, friends Romans and fellow country men what are you guys doing this weekend to make it more productive as compared to just eating, drinking and sleeping?
Enjoy....
See you soon.
Rohin
A Thousand Marbles
Hi guys,
Its after a long time I am making a post this time again its not my words but someone else's words which I am copying here to enable all of you to read it. They are real good. Just take 5 mins to read thru it and after that dont forget it, remember it..
A Thousand Marbles
By Jeff Davis
I’m a Ham radio operator and spend some time working with radios and electronics. So when I heard this story it really made me think! I hope that you will find some application in your own life as well...
A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time? Let me tell you about it.
I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know, the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about “a thousand marbles.”
I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say. “Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your Family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital.”
He continued, “Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a “thousand marbles.”
“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.”
“Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I’m getting to the important part.”
“It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail,” he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.”
“So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to roundup 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.”
“I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.”
“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then God has blessed me with a little extra time to be with my loved ones...”
“It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!”
You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show’s moderator didn’t have anything to say for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to do some work that morning, and then go to the gym. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. “C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.”
“What brought this on?” she asked with a smile.
“Oh, nothing special,” I said. “It has just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.”
Its after a long time I am making a post this time again its not my words but someone else's words which I am copying here to enable all of you to read it. They are real good. Just take 5 mins to read thru it and after that dont forget it, remember it..
A Thousand Marbles
By Jeff Davis
I’m a Ham radio operator and spend some time working with radios and electronics. So when I heard this story it really made me think! I hope that you will find some application in your own life as well...
A few weeks ago, I was shuffling toward the basement shack with a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and the morning paper in the other. What began as a typical Saturday morning, turned into one of those lessons that life seems to hand you from time to time? Let me tell you about it.
I turned the dial up into the phone portion of the band on my ham radio in order to listen to a Saturday morning swap net. Along the way, I came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know, the kind, he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about “a thousand marbles.”
I was intrigued and sat down to listen to what he had to say. “Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your Family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work sixty or seventy hours a week to make ends meet. Too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital.”
He continued, “Let me tell you something Tom, something that has helped me keep a good perspective on my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a “thousand marbles.”
“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about seventy-five years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about seventy-five years.”
“Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52 and I came up with 3900 which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now stick with me Tom, I’m getting to the important part.”
“It took me until I was fifty-five years old to think about all this in any detail,” he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over twenty-eight hundred Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be seventy-five, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy.”
“So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to roundup 1000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside of a large, clear plastic container right here in my workshop next to the radio. Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away.”
“I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life. There is nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.”
“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign-off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure if I make it until next Saturday then God has blessed me with a little extra time to be with my loved ones...”
“It was nice to talk to you Tom, I hope you spend more time with your loved ones, and I hope to meet you again someday. Have a good morning!”
You could have heard a pin drop when he finished. Even the show’s moderator didn’t have anything to say for a few moments. I guess he gave us all a lot to think about. I had planned to do some work that morning, and then go to the gym. Instead, I went upstairs and woke my wife up with a kiss. “C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.”
“What brought this on?” she asked with a smile.
“Oh, nothing special,” I said. “It has just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. Hey, can we stop at a toy store while we’re out? I need to buy some marbles.”