Away from home

I am away from home.  I don’t mean I am just away from my house.  I am away from my home town and far away from my home country. It’s not the first time for me to be away from my house and my family. I doubt I am not even sixteen when I first left my house for studies. I am almost 25 today. All these 10 years, I have only been a visitor to my place.

My driving point here is that I am very much used to staying away from my home. To be frank, I might be somewhere on the lower half on the sentiment scale. But, all of a sudden there has been quite a change in me, once I left my mother land; rather, I say, once I saw how green the other side of the shore is.

It’s not even been a month since I landed in Singapore. I loved it like heaven. I feel like I am reborn, just came into this world – everything is surprising. So clean, so secure, so disciplined, so beautiful; I am running short of adjectives to describe my awe. Believe me, I am not exaggerating – I did not find the necessity to polish my shoes ever since I have been here. I did not find any street dogs. For that matter, I bet 1000 dollars if you could get me a mosquito, dead or alive.

Here, rain pours down heavily from dawn to dusk. I did not find out any road or any public place with water stagnating. Moreover, I did not see any open drainage at road sides. People feel so secure here - they never employ any watchman neither there are any compound walls and electric fence to their residential apartments. As said by Gandhiji, “The real independence is when a woman can walk down the streets at midnight, all alone, securely” – this happens here.

So, one can undoubtedly say that Singapore is a well planned and developed country. But, you might be mistaken if you give all this credit to the strict governing body. Major share goes to the people of this nation. The tissue rolled over your bread or the take-away paper cup or the cool drink tin or even as small as a chocolate wrapper, every tiny rubbish is binned. No one urinates behind bus-stops or behind public parks. No one defecates on the banks of the reservoir or river. This is what I call attitude. They follow their rules and they respect them too.  May be they fear the hefty fines levied by their government for non-compliance and hence they follow these rules dutifully. But the argument is whatever might be the reason, they follow these rules diligently and once habituated, a rule is no more a rule.

Now, back to my point – what is the change in me once I reached Singapore? I want to go home, back to my home county. This though is not out of sentiment. It is out of the urge to see my nation same as the way I saw Singapore. A voice called Heart, which thinks emotionally, told me, “Go ahead. Chase your dream. Change you country” and suddenly a voice called Brain, which thinks logically, came from behind and told me, “Don’t be stupid. Be practical”.

If I go with Heart’s words and decide to change my country, I have to change many a things; Might be, I, myself will have to change. I gave it a serious though. Is it a feasible thing? Can I make a team? Can I start a party (Political)? Can we change the people’s attitude? These many ambiguities made me inclined towards Brain’s words. I am already a part of brain-drain. To say bluntly, I have ditched my home county, which educated me, and working for some foreign country. So, further should I have these, so called, ethics or sentiments?

I am still pondering on these paradoxical thoughts. Haven’t decided anything, but one thing for sure – some day, I would make some difference to my mother land. My intellect would be at her service. Love you India!

PS: This is a file post. This was drafted long ago when I was new to Singapore. I have written this post as a column to a freelance youth website. They approached me to write for them stating that they like my posts on my blog (Great to hear that I have got fans :D). However this column is rejected for publication on their site by their editorial team because it is not youth oriented. Never mind, I have my publication here :)

Pune To Hyderabad

Its NOT been long time that I hit my blog but it’s been pretty long time that I wrote a post :D. Yep! I have been frequently visiting my blog but have not got much time to write a post (I know its lame excuse and you know that I’m lazy :D). Santosh inspired me to write one :P

I’m out of Pune now. Out, means, I’m not on a holiday to home or on a vacation out of Pune. I totally came out of Pune (tough to say this :( ). But I have to blog the happenings that happened when I was in Pune (I am maintaining a memo of the things that I have to blog on my Android mobile ;) ). This is one as such :D

Time ago, once I was on my way to Hyderabad from Pune (suppose it was during Pongal vacation). It's been almost a year now and I still remember everything - how stupid that journey was. The venue of those series of silly events was Hyderabad Express. The scheduled departure was 16:30 and I almost left my work place at 15:00 (I used to have this flexible working privilege with the then employer). I had my reservation confirmed in a sleeper compartment. Having a confirmed reservation during Pongal season, that too in Hyderabad Express is a boon. Train was on time and I boarded it - then started struggle :)

The compartment was as packed as I had expected it would be. This is one of those trains that daily shuttlers from Daund, Kurudwadi and Sholapur would always prefer. With just common sense and zero arithmetic skills, once can confidently say that the percentage of passengers with that of the actual supposed compartment size was somewhere between 150% to 200% - the extra being daily shuttlers and waiting list passengers. With lots of efforts - shouting "excuse me" at the peak of my pitch, elbowing the statues (damn!!) on my way and carrying an airbag (with few apparels) along with two laptops in a backpack,  I reached my reserved berth only to find that was already being shared by five!! That was heights, huh!!

Though that wasn't the first time I was travelling in Hyderabad Express with such an experience, I was more pissed off then than ever, whatever may be the reason. Superficially looking at all of them, I said "37 is my berth", with a churlish face and disgust in my tone. The one sitting in the middle said that they would be getting off at the next stop and asked me to adjust for a while. I was contemplating at his nasty face - "Damn, a while? The next stop is at least hour and half away". I realized that I don't have an option but to go with it till TC chips in for rescue. The guy at the edge of the berth moved, rather tried to move in, a bit, making some place that would suffice to lay one cheek of my bum. He gestured me to sit, with a weird expression on his face - doubt if that attributes to his pride in his generous and humane act. Yuk, hate it!! I helped myself to calm down and had a seat.

After sometime, my back started aching. I was cursing everyone in the world. What hell advantage do the reserved passengers gain for booking their berth well in advance, if they have to share it with the unreserved? I was at the peak of my endurance and then entered the hero, Ticket Collector (TC). He was in his white and white uniform with a black coat embossing South Central Railways emblem. His skin tone is matching with his coat colour. His pimpled face with lot of holes seemed as if an amateur sculptor dusted his hands on it with a chisel. He seemed totally irked and his tone was conveying it clearly. He was carrying a bunch of reservation papers and a receipt book that was used to levy fines. He was being followed by a group, of course not his fan :P. They were berth less passengers offering gifts (lol) to him to secure any cancelled berths. Watching his entry, few of my berth mates made a move towards the toilet; doubt they were travelling ticket less.

“Ticket?” he demanded. I gave my IRCTC printout. He was skimming his papers to validate it. Before I had complained anything about my discomfort, he yelled “This is not your berth”, loud enough for the whole compartment to hear. My co-berth mates were giving me disgusting looks. They seemed as cannibals and me as their poor little prey. They would have feasted me if the TC hero hadn’t continued “your berth is upgraded to AC Couch, B2 15. Go fast and report to the TC over there before he completes his validation and consider it as an unattended berth.” I’m perplexed. Should I thank him for conveying this or curse whosoever for couch B2 being ten bogies away from the present one. Upgradation is good and I wouldn’t have asked for more, given the situation I was in. But I have to start my adventure again – elbowing mob.

Huh!! I reached the AC Compartment. Phase two started :). An attender at the entrance grabbed my luggage and questioned me my berth number. He was escorting me to my berth. On the way, he went on questioning me why was I late, why hadn’t I checked my upgradation earlier and so on. I was in no mood to open a conversation with him. By then, I had already met enough people on board and had more than enough conversations, rather I would say altercations. I just nodded or gave a dirty smile for his poking questions. We reached berth numbered 15. It was a side-lower berth, had curtains to the front, a study light ahead and the total setup seemed very much secluded. I thanked God; all I need was some peace and privacy at that moment. The attender assisted me with blankets and hand towels. I just thanked him without any eye-contact, busy in adjusting my luggage. He was still standing there, blushing with his head down. Now, I got it – he was expecting a tip!! Damn, I hadn’t asked him to carry my luggage neither had I asked him to sympathise for being late. I wasn’t carrying any change in my wallet, neither the tens. I was forced to tip him Rs 50 :(. Quickly, I got my ticket verified by the AC couch TC (the only one on the train, till then, seemed so human) and headed for some good sleep. 

It was that season at my work place when I was being offered (rather I would prefer saying it lured) an onsite position. I was shortlisted for a role, for which I had to learn a new technology. My boss advised me to stay in availability (during that vacation) as the client interview is round the corner and be well prepared. In addition, that was the same season when I accepted a stretch-assignment (SA). I had put in lots of efforts into it - I loved the role that I grabbed and the expertise that it brought.

I opened my eyes after a refreshing nap with a thought that the Database design for the SA was still, a bit, due which I had promised to deliver by the then EOD. And, even, I had to continue my preparation for client interview. So, with a sigh, I woke up and found that the berths in my cubicle which were empty before I had headed to sleep were all occupied by middle aged uncles. They were looking at me strange and weird as if I were an alien stepping out of a UFO. I just ignored and got fresh up.

I opened my ThinkPad and started dealing with Primary Key, Composite Key etc. I don’t remember how those uncles looked like but I can recall their cacophonic tone, damn it. They were concerned with everything and everyone on earth. They were discussing a gamut of topics – upcoming Worldcup, Chiranjeevi’s Politics, Sensex, Inflation and Congress Government and so on. I wanted to ask them, what on earth they would take to keep their mouths shut but I din't dare to. Once in a while, they used to peep at me as if they were spying on  me to find out if I was watching some obscene or profane stuff in my laptop. Somehow, I endured and completed my work.

I had my dinner. One has to award IRCTC pantry for its consistency in serving Biryani with the same worst taste. It was almost 23:00 hours – time for my JBoss preparation for client interview. In college days, had I studied the way that I have prepared for this interview, I would have been University topper, for sure :). Pulled out my Thosiba and a bunch of scribbled notes and started my preparation. Just a look around – only few lights are on, most of the passengers were asleep, including beside-uncles, no noise and no more peddle vendors – best environment to study.

I created a sample Datasource and now moving on to EJB deployments when I heard a weird sound. I just ignored it. Just after few seconds, there was a pungent smell in the compartment. I was at the verge of puke when I heard the weird sound again. Then I realized - goddamn, the uncle beside me is farting. I pulled out my Axe Chocolate deo and sprayed it around. Had I had to spray my deo to counter the obnoxious smell every time he farted that night, I would have needed at least one more 150ml container. Farting is not a mistake, every human does. But if your farting is causing such an inconvenience to public, then, damn, you should be punished by law, huh! I know that I am exaggerating, but, having had such a hard journey till then and at EOD, even the sleeping passengers posing a threat to your comfort and convenience is real heights.

I finished my preparation, a bit early than I had planned. I put off light and got to bed. I rewound the whole journey and surprisingly found no one to curse. I was asleep with a wish – “Let the train be to Hyderabad ASAP”. For me, travelling alone is nothing anew. Among many of those journeys, this one is real special. I haven’t found any dream girl on board ;). Every scene of this journey was saved in the permanent memory of the brain disk, not sure why, though there wasn’t any acquaintance in the whole drama - strange!

PS: This post is drafted long ago and only just now complete. Hence there were certain tense differences, certain things changed and thoughts drifted.

Again, After a long time...

It feels like it's just been not much long that I took an oath to be regular to my Blog, but I knew, it's already been six months. Never mind, doubt I repent on broken promise :P. Well, good news is that I am back.

Time flies! Last six months passed just like an eye-flash. Lots of things happened, as many as I do not remember most of them (now, don't doubt my memory; Of course I am old but not that old to lose memory and surely not Ghajini). Headlines of the last two quarters are:

Many of my friends got married and couple of them got engaged. I have not attended any of those ceremonies. I am sure they all might be furious on me and I really doubt their presence for my turn. The only reason for not attending is that I am in Pune. This is at times, I hate Pune, for being so far from my region :(. Buddies, as I have a valid reason, Please accept my sincere apologies (I know it seems kiddish like spilt milk spoiled my homework book, but I can't help). Wish you all good luck!

In this duration, one more desk calender changed and I am still at the same damn desk as usually dreaming for a role change @ my office. Year after year, only my desk calender changes but not my role and 2011 is no surprise. Welcomed 2011 in a new room (but in same apartments; This was a long story - will narrate some time later. Now, don't guess that owner kicked off. That wasn't the reason for change). A small cake cut with my roomies and night long rubbish discussion - my way to welcome new year! Well, then I wasn't aware that this year would pump in these many twists that I am facing now.

These twists, of course, are not the dark side. But any thing that would disturb your comfort zone is a challenge. And I believe, If one doesn't take up challenges, one does not grow (technically, professionally what not everything, even financially). After a couple of disheartens at my work, I lacked my patience and decided to give up my wait for so called golden days that were promised to me since long. I resigned my firm and currently serving notice period. But let me tell you, that was a very tough call. Last quarter was totally hectic - improving skill sets, fetching jobs, attending interviews, bargaining packages etc. Yet, still there is lots of confusion. There is nothing concrete yet decided. Just having all options open. Time has to decide, rather, I have to decide with time and in time!

Well, I am taking an off for now with these ample amount of updates. I promise to not to break the promise of being in regular touch with my Blog (I doubt whether any one cares :P).