A Dream Come True

Friendship day poem ... August 3, 2003

I had a dream, a dream of wealth
a dream i never thought would suffice so well.
No, I didn't get a pot filled of gold,
instead i got hearts which are wealthier than gold.
I had a dream, a dream of health
mental well being I thought, was difficult to attain
but as i met you my opinions changed,
the jingles of life have come again.
I had a dream, a dream of being loved.
Lovey-dovey friends, i always hankered for,
and then a time came when the right chords struck,
today i am the happiest, in a midst of bliss.
Now that the dreams have come true,
now that the tunes are so much through,
let me say to thee
let us march forward, all the way completely.
Let us today take a oath,
of clasping together for eternal growth,
even when the situ's are grim,
we swear to the heart, we will never quit.

Graffiti out of frustration

“Do not use paper cups for drinking water, it cost 60 paisa per cup” – so stands a notice in the refreshment room on my floor. Well, the room contains water and coffee vending machine for ‘refreshments’. To make for some exquisite graffiti, somebody in a typical school’s toilet style has scribbled on its side, “yeah.. I know it’s a big deal for a $2 Billion Company”.

Right from the day I joined here in Bangalore, I have been largely unimpressed by the facilities provided. You will find people complaining about salary here, but nothing irritates you more when you have to eat food of the most pathetic variety and stand at the BMTC bus stops for a long time while you see loads of busses from different companies going past

There are some very good benefits provided by the company, excellent work environment, variety of technologies and domains, fast career path, onsite opportunities, decent work load and ample holidays but I fail to understand the priorities of the management. Don’t know how the company manages to keep lowest attrition rates in the industry.

Anyway, I thought about for a while whether to post this on the blog or not, but then may be I thought, there is nothing you and me can do about it so there is nothing to lose!

Storms galore in Ban-galore

Saturday Evening, after Ajay Devgan, it was Rain God’s turn to say, “Main Aisa Hi Hoon!!” What I experienced that day was my worst ever fight with nature and today when I am safe at home, I can think of the adventure to be something thrilling. But this adventure could have been a misadventure pretty easily.

It was a sunny Saturday evening when I and one of my friends went out for a Movie in Bangalore’s famous PVR Cinema. As we started for home on my bike, we were sure the rain is going to come down heavily. As I tried to race against time to reach home quickly, there it poured, and how!

The wind left us caught in a leaves-storm and then in a hail-storm of the worst kind I have experienced myself. As I tried to take my bike closer to home, the hail-stones were hitting us like bullets; thank God that day I picked up the helmet at the last moment.
There was water gushing in from everywhere, winds trying to blow me away and initially there were no living objects in sight while later there were so many that Bangalore also managed to have a traffic jam at that juncture. It was really an experience, to be caught in a traffic jam with knee deep water and getting hit left and right with hail-stones!

We somehow stopped at one joint for 5 minutes and then daringly took the bike over muddled roads, footpaths, dark alleys, and even overflowing potholes. It was a thriller in the end so surely the movie was paisa vasool! We were soaked to the bones and had experienced the real power of nature, cold and raw.

The next day’s newspapers were obviously overflowing with reports of Deaths, of people, of trees, of traffic, of roads and the government looking in equal awe as I was! For the statistics, there were 130 electricity poles which went down in south Bangalore alone and innumerable no. of trees which bit the dust (or may be mud). Bangalore is long demanding a metro status from the Indian Government but until it has a disaster management policy in place for this fury of nature which it experiences more often than anywhere else, that dream may well be - a dream.