Young Vadakkencherry!

It's been a long time since i blogged and i thought today was the right day. Simply because - read on and you'll know why!

There was this small,fat and cute boy who goes to a school 16KM away daily in the local bus. He has never been to the school alone - always accompanied by his mom. Why? She was also a teacher in the same school - Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Pallavur.


His pranks were less - with the tiny tot fears of being caught directly by his mom. But yes, still he was caught multiple times - there was a time when he along with his friends were caught red handed by the principal and made to stand in front of the principal's room for hours just before his annual exams. Imagine his plight when his mom entered the room to see her son there instead of writing the exams!

The best ones came in Class IX when his mom was his mathematics teacher. Imagine him using these phrases

"Good Morning Teacher"
"May I come in Teacher?"
"How many of us have this luck of your examination paper getting corrected in front of you by your teacher / mom at your home!"

The gr8 one - getting thrown out of the class by my teacher mom, for making so much disturbance! Can this fellow really be a prankster?


Yes, there were those bad moments, but very few of them.

Many of them were bright and happy moments - My mom was my best teacher. I just love to sit in her class and that may be why Mathematics was my best subject. Love you, Mom!

How many of us would enjoy the below moments? Rare!
- my friends flocking around me to know their exam marks before hand. after all i'm the teacher's son!
- seniors buying me chocolates to help them :)
- other teachers not punishing me so much just b'cos i was their friend's son!

This is the pic of my Class IX with my mom as my class teacher and the school principal. Spot me if u can?


Awesome naa..?

Then come the examination times - after every exam, i was treated to a Kerala Paratha and Peas Masala plus Banana Bajji(my old time favorite) from Goodlands restaurant and a 3-in-1 Ice-Cream from Amrita Ice-cream Parlour (it was called Parlour then!) These were gr8 moments and the best places in my home town - Vadakkencherry.

I used to be the happiest person then - the last 30 mins spent by me in every exam was not revising the paper - but thinking about what ice-cream flavors to choose today...

There are so many such happy memories. My mom cheering me @ annual day in my school when i used to get the proficiency prizes is still fresh in my mind. On those days it used to be double treats...!

Yes, I remember them very clearly today - Or @ 7 PM, only a crazy guy will be blogging from Office in Lowell, MA with his system test running in background. :)

Dunno why, memories kept on crossing my mind - one by one it rolled over like a touring talkies which made me post this.
As years went ahead, the memories remained in my mind and in pictures.

The boy grew and looks entirely different today - many words to describe him - the best one being "Dev D II mein role pakka hai".


Those times were the best - lots of friends, lots of happiness and lots of treats! Wish those times return!

This post is perhaps the fastest i've written as I just wrote whatever came across my mind with no intentions of editing them out.

And this one is for my Mom, My School, Goodlands restaurant and Amrita Ice Cream Parlour.

Moving on.... till then Mr. Aswinkumar Vadakkencherry signing off....!

My first Bangalore Ultra!

I know it's been exactly 2 months since i updated my blog! Everyone has a excuse and so do i - busy in work (the most regular one).
After a steady and successful kaveri trail marathon, the thoughts of doing a 50K run at bangalore ultra started. With the new found fellow runner, i thought i can do it.Think again my boy - you only have experience of running half marathon and the longest is 25K. my mind was going circles with + and -. But then RFL came up with a category of 37.5K run which suited me perfectly. Pradeep (he ditched me in the last moment by participating in 25K!) and me started training around a month back. But even during the trainings, the maximum i had run was only 21K!
Then came the day of the run - it started with us meeting with a small accident (my mistake) near my office on way to the run location. Pradeep's jaws were bleeding! what a start to the eventful day...

4AM - The bus was ready at cubbon park to take us to Hesargatta. It was full of runners many of them doing their first ultra. I had many with me for a company!
5.15AM - Reached hesargatta. Doctors reached in 10 mins and put plasters in Pradeep's jaws - said it was a light bruise. My heart felt happy now finally after 1 hour of tension in the bus.
5.35AM - still pitch dark, started some light stretching to get into the run groove and changed to my run gear - full tracks, ultra sweat t-shirt, waist pouch to hold mobile and foodies, lastly my favorite sony wireless mp3 player.
6AM - time of start. A1 gave some briefing about the route and it was slightly bright, but enough to run in the trails. (imagine the 75K and 100K runners who started @ 5AM with a torch in their hand!)

6.01AM - started slowly, allowed most of my runners to overtake me as i wanted to maintain a steady heart rate before getting the speed.

7AM - slowly increasing my pace, but going very steady. the climate was very good, but still cold. gathered the run momentum required.

7.22AM - completed the first loop of 12.5KM. great, i felt! was on track with the planned timings. my aim was to complete 37.5K in less than 5hours. met pradeep during my return. he was among the top 10 and going strong.

9AM - by this time, all the 25K / 12.5K runners had started and the trail was buzzing with crowd. there was a small part of the trail where it was very narrow and wait for others to pass. met my uncle on my way and he was going slow, enjoying his run. took some snaps in between. finally completed the second loop.

9AM to 10AM - great going! i thought, (how wrong was I?) 3 hrs and 25K was my personal best. only one more loop to go and i was still going good (not so tired). nearing the 27K mark, my legs have started tiring and i started to walk. by the time i reached the 29K mark, my speed was 6K/hr. I was taking 10 mins for every kilometre! I applied some ice on my calf muscles and slightly started to jog-walk-jog mode. better, but negligible. I reached the road part which was downhill and switched completely to jog mode. by this time, i was stopping at every available aid station to replenish myself with electrolyte/peanuts/sandwich pieces/bananas. I finally reached the half way mark of the 3rd loop - 31.25K. My legs have stopped to obey me and the time was 10.05AM.

10.05AM to 10.45AM - i immediately called up Pradeep and asked him to come to 35.5K mark to pace me from there. I've to finish before 11AM to complete the run under 5 hrs! It was uphill on the return and i had to walk. But i started to walk briskly and jog whenever possible. I saw the aid station near the 35.5K mark, but had to stop there for the final replenishment. had some electrolyte and peanuts and finally reached the point where Pradeep was waiting for me. Time was 10.45AM.

Last 2KM - 15mins and 2 kms.... not possible with my current speed of 6KM/hr (even less sometimes). He started to instill some confidence on me and made to slightly jog with him. I handed over my waist pouch and cap to him to lessen my weight (crazy me!) But then there was a sudden inner me talking - think about the finish line, the happiness you feel when you reach there, think about self glory, etc...
I started to gain momentum. There was another 37.5K runner in front of me. i wanted to overtake him but he was around 100+ metres ahead of me. by the time i reached the 36.5K mark, i had picked up my pace seriously and time was 10:53:40. 6mins and 1 KM to go. My average speed should 9-10KM / hr to reach there.

I really wanted to overtake my fellow competitor and i was going strong. My pace was increasing with the feelings of glory beckoning. I asked Pradeep to go fast to the finish lane to take my snap (even @ this time, i didn't want to forget the great moment) I could see the resort where the finish line is waiting for me. It was the last turn in the trail and then it was only roads. less than 250 mts to go..

I overtook my fellow competitor (had a feeling of gold medal in mind, even though any of my other competitors would've finished 40-60 min earlier). He was walking then, but I was in my sprints!

I entered the resort with several people cheering me and i saw the finish line - wne to 11th gear as i call it - FULL THROTTLE - NITRO BOOST - USAIN BOLT speed - as you can call.

I did it - my hands were waving - the comperor was uttering my name - my mind was silent - the feeling of happiness was infinity and to make it happier - the time was only 4:57 hrs in total (i came to know that my watch was 3 mins slower than the official clock.. holy crap - for all the dash i made towards the end)

I stood 12th overall in my category - pretty for a first timer and was only 57mins away from being the best! (only huh?)
There were many thoughts - tell my family, tell uncle, put in my blog, tell my collegues, etc... and yes, lots of pain for next 2-3 days as i slowly recovered from my run.

I was only 4.5 KM away from completing my full marathon and i decided that the time has indeed come where i should set my eyes on my first full marathon.
Celebrated my victory at Gelato Pazzo with Cake Fudge and Royal Butterscotch!

Nike+ Human Race!

Last saturday was one to remember with the Nike plus human race happening for the first time in Bangalore @ Clarks Exotica resort, near the Airport. I and my running mate, Santosh took the Nike arranged buses to reach the resort. The place was well decorated (red and yellow being the theme this year and looked like Nike spent a lot to create a party atmosphere rather than a running one). I was surprised that we were all subjected to security checks before entering the event location. (never heard of one for a race where the runners are checked!) As we entered the amphitheater, the dancers were practicing on stage and the place was slowly getting full of runners with the same uniform. We changed to our running attires (we run or not, but are specific about the running gear :)) and got ready for the warm up exercises.

The event started with a very energetic host giving us the instructions (i didn't listen to them!) and then gave way to the instructors from the Golds Gym for conducting the warm up exercises.
First time in my life, i'm doing warm-ups with some music (i don't know whether they can be really called aerobics), but it was fun which ended with being performers of the mexican wave.

Then we had our esteemed guests for the day - anju george (the long jumper making the news after a long time), mahesh bhupathi and sreesanth (always in news for the right and wrong ones) giving their words of advise (badly prepared ones that too). As the start time (it was @ 4.30 PM IST) got near, we made our way to the starting point where there was a small lecture by someone. we couldn't hear anything as the sea of runners were full of enthusiasm! The three guests flagged off the event on time.


The race route was good, but narrow and had so many turns. I hoped no one should fall in those sharp turns. All the way through our route, we were cheered by the localites (who were surprised to see so many people with uniform running for no reason - according to them!). Then there were some nice music band (2 of them) en route to provide us the much needed energy. I was disappointed not to see the cheerleaders (they informed us about them encouraging us all through -1 for Nike on this). It was not a good race for me (i clocked 56 mins) and was not comfortable running after 5KM (maybe because i had almost starved the whole day except for 4 bread slices in the morning)

But it was fantastic races for Pradeep (clocked his best of 50 mins) and Santosh (clocked 59 mins on his first run). Hats off!
Foot Massage post race really helped us cooling down and plus 1 to Nike on this. We were treated to some great post race entertainment - dance performances, laser shows, rock bands - which got the whole crowd on their feet again making us forget that we had run 10K just an hour before.


Dinner was ready by the time we finished dancing and we gorged on it. It was not great, but enough to fulfill our hunger....
By the time we finished, it was time for us to say goodbye as we slowly moved to the buses. The day ended with me and Santosh going to Gelato Pazzo and treating our run successes with some great ice creams!

Thumbs up to Nike and looking forward to the event again next year.

Diwali, Crackers and Manchester United!

Wish you all a very happy diwali!
It was a great diwali celebrated @ my uncle's house. You should see the way the whole house was decorated with colorful diyas, flowers and food!


All thanks to Ramu (our master chef), me and Ashok were treated to some great food (including my fav - masala vada). In the evening, before the relatives poured in, we with the wonderkid jayanth went to the cracker shop in the new I20. Bought a whole lot of stuff (it would surely have pushed the company's revenues sky rocketing!). The children burst all the crackers while we were the respected spectators (there was a time, when i used to love them but not anymore.. age is catching up dude!) The fitting finale was the 10000-wala with the whole street looking on. It was a spectacle and the professional photographer (so-called) was taking the pics throughout.. Hope he shares them soon.

The diwali was more special with my fav Manchester United winning again Bolton in the EPL (2-1) and with Chelsea, Liverpool losing, they moved to the top of the table... Diwali Special for Sir Alex!!!! Glory, Glory, Man United!

The next day was spent playing cricket (2 a side) with most of the matches being won by me... Hee hee Sridhar Mama... You should see his face when he finally won a match. It was like India winning 20-20 world cup.. :)

The day ended with me putting my technical head into resolving one of the most complicated issues remaining in his house - making the wireless router work. Here i should apologize for assuming BSNL to be the culprit where the real villain was NETGEAR... Jai Ho!

BSA Bangalore Cyclathon - What an event!

It was great to see the first ever Cyclathon happening in Bangalore and it gaining more fame due to my participation! :)

Me and Pradeep had entered in the 36KM amateur category and we went on Oct 10 to Kormangala Indoor Stadium to drop off the cycles (the event organizers took care of cycle transport) and collect our goody bags. We got a nice wildcraft bag apt for cycling and a helmet (ok for one-time use, but i didnt use it as i already had a professional one).

On the day of the event, we took the volvo buses to the venue (sweetly arranged to and from the venue at 6.30 AM. After a short 45 mins drive, we reached the venue and was so shell shocked to see the passion and enthu of the people there. I've never seen so many cyclists at a place before. High tech cycles and cycling gear really gave me a feeling of NO-ONE in front of them. When Raghu Dixit entertained the crowd with his music, we fetched our cycles and tested it for functional / sys defects (ha ha - it's always the tester in me!)

The event started @ 9 AM and as we entered the NICE road, it was a great spectacle. The road which is prohibited to cyclists on normal days is full of cyclists now - the normal traffic was blocked till 1 PM on that to aid this event (thanks to Bangalore Cops and traffic police). The ride was great with near perfect weather and i was able to clock an average speed of close to 30KM/hr. A new personal track record. All thanks to my cycle - Hercules Ryder 105.

As we completed the race, we were treated to some nice snacks (multi grain biscuits and bananas). One thing i couldn't forget is the BSA MACH cycles. These were given by the BSA on rent to people who didnt have cycles. They were very bad - i could see many cyclists on the race route with their chains damaged, mud guard flying, pedals coming out.... Phew! All being new ones.

Recommend not to buy these cycles at ALL! After the race we were treated to some nice Icecream sundaes by Laxman - pradeep's friend, a cool guy of my wavelength as far as i know him. We were clicking pics whenever and pulling each other!

To add a perfect ending to the day, we came back home and Ashok was ready at Adiga's Bannerghatta Road with reservations where me and pradeep gorged on the unlimited North Indian Thali - the PBM and Chole were just fabulous!

Thanks Pradeep, Laxman and Ashok for the company! We had fun taking this picture

See you soon with the Diwali posts...

Running - my new passion!

Its been more than 2 years of exile away from my blogging. Things have changed so dramatically during the time. From being a man of 99 Kg, I've come back to a form which is visible completely with naked eye! All thanks for Fitness One, Kormangala, Bangalore and my trainer Santhosh.

For the last 1.5 years, my new passion has been running - long distance ones.

For the records, i've completed 2 sunfeast world 10K bangalore (http://sunfeastworld10k.indiatimes.com/), 3 official half marathons (1 bangalore midnight - http://www.toimidnightmarathon.in/, 1 kaveri trail marathon - http://www.kaveritrailmarathon.com/, 1 hyderbad marathon - http://www.hyderabad10k.com/) , many RFL fortnightly runs (www.runnersforlife.com), 1 bangalore duathlon in 10K running / 20 K cycling (http://www.bsaherculesduathlon.com/) and 1 bangalore cyclathon (http://bsaherculescyclothon.in.com/) in the 36K amateur category...

Phew.. that's one big list..and my fav bolt pic to end it. Thanks MC and Vishnu!

Events coming up

Nike Human Race 10K on Oct 24, 2009

Bangalore Ultra Marathon on Nov 15, 2009 - 37.5 KM.

Mumbai Marathon on Jan 17, 2010 - 21.1 KM

I hope to keep the blog updated from now... it's on my wishlist!

Day 7 - Aswin owns a Limousine!

Day 7

Aswin owns a Limousine!!

The day dawned. Nice bright sunny one! More because I need to go the nearest AVIS rent-a-car to get my own car for the week. Me and Sreeram went for our breakfast.
Well laid out with Cereals, French fries, scrambled egg, milk, juice, donuts, muffins, bread etc…So many. Had a grab of each one (Well Muffins, my favorite, grabbed many!). After my breakfast, I called on my friends in the Hotel (they have come here on work for 3 months) to take me in their car to the rental office.

Deepak agreed and I drove the car to the place which was around 8 miles. He had a Hyundai Elantra and a nice one to drive. Once I took the car out of the hotel, it started raining heavily, (deepak’s view “it has not rained like this till now during my stay. All the best”) I was slightly tensed as driving another car and rain through a very narrow lane.We drove slowly and finally reached the destination. It helped me a lot as I came to know about the traffic rules. I needed to as I’ll be driving back alone.

We reached the place where I showed my papers for the car. She checked the system and said “I have a very few middle sized cars. So I give you a free upgrade if you want a big car (SUV, something like the Sumo) or a free double upgrade if you take the Limousine. We went outside to see the cars. The available ones were a ford escort, Mercury Grand Marquis (Limousine) and the SUV (Subaru). Limousine was good, but very lengthy and broad, everyone insisted that I lent the limousine. Half hearted and with slight fear, I agreed for the Limousine and requested for GPS too. (GPS – Global Positioning System shows the complete route of America, where you can enter the destination address. It will calcalute the route and show it completely and will be moving along with us as we drive. Even if we take a wrong turn / route, it will re-calculate and bring us back to the correct route / destination.) I just don’t want to get lost in USA – there will be no-one on the road to help me with the route.

So, I took the limo and she explained me the gears, seat adjusters, wipers, lights etc. I was to drive back alone. With great confidence, I told that I can manage as I’ve the GPS.

So I took the car back to the hotel. The drive was neat and very quickly, I was able to adjust to the length of the car and angles of turn. But I took a wrong turn, GPS helped a lot on the way. Finally I reached the hotel and I sensed a joy for this big morale victory. Now I became confident with the car, but freeways (highways), hmm…lets see tomorrow.

We decided to go to a Indian Restaurant “Mysore Veggie” for lunch. There were 8 of us, so we decided to take only 2 cars. (Mine was not taken! Gladly..) It was a 20 min drive to the hotel. Nice clean place, where you get Bhajjis, Dosas, Idlis and Thali meals. Authentic South Indian style. I ordered for the thali where you get unlimited Masala Dosas too!

Food aah!! Very tasty, yummy crispy masala dosas served with hot sambar and thick chutney.. perfect! After the very sumptuous lunch, we decided to go the Nishant’s house to play Tennis. Fine, a game I’ve watched only on TV, but now I’m going to play. Is that fantastic?

Awesome apartments – Nishant’s. They even had a private pond for the residents with a lake where you go boating. I was surprised with the security at the entrance to the flats.
At the main entrance, the door remains locked. You need to press the apartment number you wish to enter. They will get a call and will call you back. If they think, they know you, they press a button and the door opens. Then you can go to the flat.

We got the rackets and went to the play arena. Nice 2 courts. We were 7 and had only 5 rackets. In one court, 4 of them started playing doubles and in the other, there was one gentleman, an Indian playing alone. He was kind enough to offer his extra racket but only singles against him. Better something than nothing.

Me and Sanjay waited for our turn. They played and whoever loses, will be out. The Indian played really well and bet Ajit by 6-0. It was my chance to play against him. I was sure to lose 6-0. For the first time in my life I got to hold a tennis racket. Dreamt of playing against Pete Sampras. First two games, I played badly but was building confidence as my cricket skills helped me with power strokes and got used to getting the right speed and height to put the ball in the court. I played well the next two games and narrowly lost in the deuce (40-40). He was leading 4-0. Then I got the right touch and started playing really well. I won the next three games and back 4-3. But overconfidence – started hitting the ball so hard that I lost the next two and 5-3. I won the next game to be @ 5-4. He was serving the next game and I was desparate to get this game to tie the set. The game went on for around 20 mins. 10 times deuce and finally he won. He came to me and congraluted me.

“You played really well. First time in US I’m getting such a tough opponent. I live at 23-D and you can come to our house anytime to get the rackets to play. Maybe we can get together once in a while too.” He said. Little did he know I was to go 10000 miles away from him in a week. He gave his rackets and we continued playing Again I lost to Nishant (he plays really well) narrowly 6-4. But everyone were very tired, I was still fresh. My cricket strength helped me a lot. All were surprised with me. So much weight and still so much stamina. Awesome! I felt great.

It started to rain and we decided to go back to the hotel. Around 8.45 PM, we reached the hotel. One of my colleagues had cooked dinner and I was very hungry that I devoured. Small menu. Rasam, Rice, Yogurt, Pickles and Chips. It was good enough for us.

I started to feel tired and sleepy. So went back to the room, checked my mails and wanted to sleep. But got a call. “Are you coming to play cards? “ a voice. It was Ajit.

Again enthu started to flow through my veins. Went to his room and we started to play rummy. After 1.5 hours I was so sleepy that I quit the game and dozed off..

What a day! Even Pete Sampras would have loved to play against me… Let alone Sania Mirza…. Good Night…

Watch out for Day 8 – “A rest day on the cards!!”

Day 6 - Aswin, the terror epidemic spreads.

Day 6

Aswin – the terror epidemic spreads

It was the last day for me in New Jersey. Today we have a visit to Dunkin Donuts ( a very large and famous fast food chains) Warehouse, but this time as customers!

We got up late as the visit was planned at 1.30 PM. After I woke up, I booked my taxi to the airport and also asked the Sterling office in Lowell to rent me a self driven car for the next week.

We were invited for a lunch at a nearby Thai cuisine by the Voxware Director which we gladly accepted. By 1200,we were ready but we are never on time. We had one parcel to be shipped to Lowell office for which we had to go to the nearest UPS office (USA Postal Service). By the time we reached the place, it was 12.30. Alas, we were in middle of a huge mall and we didn’t know where exactly PENANG (restaurant) is! We searched and found it but by the time we met the director, it was 1.20 PM. We didn’t want to get late for the Warehouse visit, so half heartedly, we proceeded to Dunkin Donuts. It was for the first time, I’m visiting a warehouse. 300,000 Sq. Feet, a medium sized one, while we entered, I was in for a shock. I was expecting muffins, cakes, bagels and coffees, but this is the place where they store the raw material to be shipped. Withstanding yet another disappointment, we had a visit of the complete warehouse. After that, the aroma of the place was having a cruel, hungry impact on us. We decided to find a nearest Dunkin Donuts store to fill our stomachs.

It was just 4 miles away. I had a ICED Coffee (French Vanilla flavor) and a chocolate chip muffin. It was so tasty that I had a Honey dew muffin for take away. It was time for my taxi to arrive to go to the airport. My flight was at 8.30 PM.

It was a nice black limousine and by 5.15 PM, I was at the airport. I went directly for the check in where I was surprised not to find my name. The attendant told me that I was on wait list.

“What the heck? I booked this flight 1 month and you say I’m on waitlist!” I nearly yelled.

“Sorry Sir, two flights to Boston were cancelled and they were moved to the next two flights.” She said.

“Do I have any other options, any other flight, any other airline?” – This was a pleading.

“No sir. You need to be in the waitlist or accept monetary benefit if you wish to take the flight tomorrow” Her voice was stern.

“Please check again, there will be some.” I pleaded.

“Wait a minute, there is one seat available in 5.45 PM flight and I can put you into that!” She sounded confident.

“But the time is already 5.40 PM. Security check and boarding , I wont be able to make it! Also, my baggage wont get into the flight!” My sound was almost breaking.

“Ok, you better wait. There are great chances of people coming from Atlanta missing the Boston flight as their flight is already late. You are just 3rd in the list” She sounded more orderish.

Left with no other option, I took the pass and proceeded to the security check. There was a lady at the entrance who was checking our tickets and marked it. I wont forget her. You’ll come to know why!

I proceeded into the lane. Bah! Removed my shoes, belt, literally everything except my attire. I proceeded through the passage where one gentleman glanced at my ticked and told “Special Screening!” What? Everyone else went through, I was moved aside.

Another guy came and took me to his cabin and told me to cooperate for the screening.
I was shocked. Almost felt I was eating Chappati and chutney in US Jail! (Dunno reason why I dreamt chappati and chutney, but it was natural) Treatment was professional. As if I had done something great wrong or maybe NOT!

“Why me?” I asked.

“Chances are that you are going one way or traveling for the first time or any other reason” He replied.

They checked me and took everything, literally everything from my cabin baggage to check. Then after intriguing 25 minutes, I was allowed to proceed with sincere apologies from them. Oh! A sigh of relief. It was 6.15 PM and I reached my terminal.

There was one lady attendant standing there. I asked her whether there are any chances for me to get my ticket confirmed.

She told me “I still have one ticket with me for 5.45 PM flight, which apparently has not left. You leave the checked in baggage and it will be delivered to you if it is late and take the flight” I agreed and got into the flight. After an hour I was there.

“Welcome to Boston Logan Airport” I went to the baggage place to check my baggage, but as she promised it had not arrived. I stood for an hour in the queue for Baggage claim where I gave my address to which I wanted my baggage to be delivered.

I came to know that the 8.30 PM flight had got delayed by 4 hours and will reach by only 3.00 AM. Lucky fellow! I thought.

As I was early, there was no chances for my taxi to come at that time. I took a taxi driven by a handsom American whom I suppose didn’t know the place. He took me through very deserted streets which were very lonely and at 10.00 PM at night. Imagine me! I was scared out of wits. I was even ready to give him all the money if he tries to loot me. But wanted him to drop me at the hotel after the loot!

But everything went fine and I reached the hotel by 11.00 PM in one piece. I checked into the hotel and was given a neat room with kitchen. After a small check of mails, I was ready for my sleep after yet another eventful evening. Next day! I was despo to get my rented car!


Watch out for Day 6 – “Aswin's Own Mercury Limousine!!!!”

Day 5 - Philadelphia Park – Budding Las Vegas of the EAST!

Day 5

Philadelphia Park – Budding Las Vegas of the EAST!

It became a routine. Wake up, have breakfast and be there for the training by 9.00 AM. It was the final day and we were getting all our doubts cleared and getting things going from our side. The business day ended by 5.30 PM and then came the main part – where to go?

We thought of going to Atlantic City which is near and famous for Casinos. (Casinos is American Formal Name for Money Gambling. We do it on the road and they do it formally with huge buildings, attendants and stuff like that!) But one person from Voxware told us about another famous casino in Philadelphia – called the PHILADELPHIA PARK!

We decided to go there as it was very near and finish our dinner also there. They say you get food and drinks at throwaway prices there. It was around 30 miles from our hotel. Huge place this park! I don’t know how big the Atlantic City and Las Vegas are! I went in with my camera and started taking pictures with them. Suddenly from nowhere a big fat, heavy built person came to me and told “You are NOT ALLOWED to take pictures here!!!” I was taken back by his yell. So quick was our reaction that Naveen took our cameras and went straight to the car, put them there.

We went in and found food was costly! Also, all the restaurants were closed. There was one snack bar which had very limited menu. It was only 9.30 PM. We decided to go out for dinner and come back as the Casino closes only by 3.00 AM.

GPS, as usual came to our rescue (Imagine a ride without GPS in America? No!). We spotted an Indian Restaurant within 4 miles. It was Maurya Indian Cuisine. We reached there by 9.45 PM and had to order fast as they were to close by 10 PM. I ordered Malai Kofta, Basmati Rice and Sweet Lassi. Enjoyed it immensely.

Everything was set for us to go back to the casino. Cowboys of the east, beware! Naveen is entering the zone! He was despo for a game there and in, we went! There were loads of machine games, lots of people and lots of losses. We couldn’t get a single clue of any game! Finally we understood a game, in which Naveen lost his 5 USD in 50 seconds. Anand was better as he delayed the inevitable for 5 minutes.

That’s it! 10 USD donated in 350 seconds. Good Night Folks!!!!

Watch out for Day 6 – “Aswin, the terror epidemic spreads”

Day 4 - Oak Tree Road - Indian USA

Day 4

Oak Tree Road – The Indian USA

Day 4 – Four has been my lucky number always. This again has been true as it got me a very interesting day in the US. It was day 2 of the business conference today. I don’t know how, but people become organized on time once they are in America!

I got up at 6.30 am and was ready for breakfast at 8.00 am, but I didn’t feel like having it as I had a heavy dinner last night. I had to wait for others to finish their breakfast. Today we took the Mazda 6 which Anand had rented out. The conference went uninterrupted and we were treated to a good lunch which had a beautifully decorated Veg burger awaiting my orders to enter my belly. We packed off from the training at around 4.30 am as we had decided to spend the whole evening at the OAK TREE ROAD.

Oak Tree Road – A different road, not matching its name! Its around 30 miles from our hotel and we reached there around 7.00 PM. It was great! We didn’t reach the main road yesterday, but today we went there.

It was INDIA – Jai Hind!
No car followed traffic rules
No one heeded the traffic signal to walk across the road – didn’t use the pedestrian crossing at all.
All the garbage was around the dust bins – not inside them!

Welcome to India! My friend, Naveen almost fainted seeing this.
He said “ I didn’t come all the way to America for this!!! I’m going back to the hotel.”
We somehow persuaded him to stay on. For a mile, the whole road was full of only Indian shops – Saree house, Bombay Chudidar centre, Mahatma Gandhi Plaza (which is a huge mall with only Indian shops), Bhavani Department Store, Patel’s jewelery, etc.

So many restaurants! Punjabi Khana, Chettinad, South Indian, Bombay Style….
We went to “Bombay Chowpatty” and decided to have chat – Cutlets, Samosa Chat, Dahi Batata Puri, Ragda Batis formed the order. It was fantastic and we enjoyed it.

We then proceeded to “Shalimar Khana”. I ordered Mutter Panner, Masala Kulcha and Stuffed Nan. The food was again very tasty and I was almost full. But what would end a good Indian meal without a desert. There was the store “Dimple Cool House” – Bombay Kulfi specialists. I had a Pista Kulfi and there ended our food carnage!

It was almost 10.30 PM and I took a video of the complete street. Want to show to you guyz there and tell me the differences (only thing I found out was, the cars were different!!)

That drove back to the Hotel and it was almost around 12.30 AM by the time I slept.


Watch out for Day 5 – “Philadelphia Park – Budding Las Vegas Junior of the East!

Day 3 - Aswin enters the Franklin Corner Road and Oak Tree Road

Day 3

Aswin enters Franklin Corner Road and the Oak Tree Road!

It was a nice and bright sunny day. I got up at around 6.30 AM and was ready for breakfast at 8.00 AM. We decided to have the breakfast at the hotel itself. They were serving a buffet breakfast for 15 USD. I took some Orange juice, kellogs raisin flakes with milk, French fries and some other things which I dunno the names! But it was good and today we decided to use the big (SUV) which Nishant had rented out to go to our business visit. We were going to a company called Voxware in FRANKLIN CORNER ROAD! Feel like kicking me? Yes, too bad a suspense! All others were well dressed in formals / business casuals. I was the only one in T-Banian and Cargos. It suited me as my formals were tight! We reached our destination in around 20 mins.

Voxware was a small office. They had rented a part of a very tiny building. But we had a warm welcome and the rest of the day “censored” (Company Confidential). We had Pizza for lunch and it was so huge that, even 4 of us couldn’t finish it off. We were out of Voxware by 5 PM and came back to Hotel. Me and Anand decided to have an Indian dinner – south Indian to be precise. Nishant was saying about a road in New Jersey which was full of Indian restaurants and shops.

Yes, you guessed it right! It is the OAK TREE Road! We searched for some good south Indian restaurants online and all reviews pointed “Swagath Cuisine” as a good one. We started at around 7 PM from the hotel and it was around 25 miles far. We reached the place in around half hour. You get a feel of India there. There were many Indian hotels. Dakshin Express, Sukhadias, Dhaba House, to name a few. We found the swagath cuisine without much effort.

Swagath Cuisine – Nice, clean and small restaurant. We could find out easily that it was a kannada hotel from a glimpse of the menu. I ordered a Mysore Paper Masala Dosa and Hot Puri Bhaji.

To say it was good, except the chutney which was made of dry coconuts. Cooking experts like me would understand that! Puris were awesome and 3 large ones were served with Masala, Chole and Dhal.

After that Indiana meal, with a happy smile back on my face (very hard to survive on Sandwiches and burgers!) we retreated. It was fun back way. We saw some big time bike races on the US 1 freeway (highways are called freeways here) Very big bikes – 800 -1000cc ones. Some of them were driving at around 80-100 miles / hour and were literally racing. A feeling of panic and excitement gushed through my mind. But the whole incident lasted for a minute and back to normality. We reached back hotel by 11 PM and were too tired to even check my emails.

Yesterday, I got a calling card of Reliance to call India. For 5 USD, you can talk upto 65-70 mins (7.9 cents / minute) Called up home and had a disappointed that could not speak to Dad and Mom first time. Called them again and Dad picked the call. Spoke to him a lot about the US adventures, but couldn’t get Mom as she was busy with her tuitions.

Felt happy after the call, was able to get a strong sense of happiness from my Dad’s talk. Eagerly waiting to call my Mom tomorrow. Hope she’s not again caught in her tuitions today.

Lets see what’s in Store for me tomorrow!

Watch out for Day 4 - “Oak Tree Road – The Indian USA”

Day 2 - The International House of Pancakes and Quaker Mall!

Day 2

The International House of Pancakes and Quaker Mall!

The night was interesting. I woke up and thought that I had slept more than usual, but to my amazement, it was only 2 AM. Bah! This was not to stop there. I slept again and again but the time didn’t move. Ok I thought. “This is going to be an eventful day”

My colleague Anand called me @ 7.30 AM and told me lets go to IHOP for breakfast. I agreed without knowing what it was. It was a gloomy day with rains and mist all over. But I was different. Wearing a Hanes T-Shirt and a ¾ trousers, I got ready after a nice bath. (which I’m not generally interested in India!) We got out of the hotel at 8.30 AM and we drove about 10 miles. “International House of Pancakes” – A shiny blue board with white letters. We went in and I was slightly nervy about what I’ll get there. Anand was confident as he loves this place. A big fat lady walked in with menu cards for us. I started searching for a suitable Veg offload. I didn’t expect it to be so easy with the kind of reviews I got from India. It had a lot of pancake varieties – Buttermilk Pancakes, fruit berries, choco chip…etc.

I chose a “Harvest n Grain Pancake – with wild Strawberry and Whipped Cream dressing”. Anand chose pumpkin pancakes and cheese omlette. After a few minutes, the order came. So huge were the pancakes and were 5 of them! It tasted like half – dosa and half roti. I started to devour them as I was extremely hungry. But I was not able to eat more than three! It was very tasty with the blueberry and raspberry syrup. It cost me around 7 USD but Anand offered to pay this time. I was ok with this and we returned back to hotel.

I got the charger pin from him and worked for around 2 hours. Also, I got time to read the Harry Potter. I badly wanted a pin so that I can use my laptop independenly and we decided to go out for Shopping at 4.00 PM to the Quaker Mall.

But Anand’s rented car was having a passenger door which doesn’t get locked. So we checked out @ 3.30 PM and found a nearby Hertz office (it’s a huge rent-a-car chain across US) at Laurenceville. We exchanged our Toyota Camry for a Mazda 6. The cars are good in the US as they are without gears (perfect for me!) We then drove towards the Quaker mall.

It was big! In the sense, the malls in US are more spacious, huge stores. One floor in forum will be small compared to a mall store in US. But there height is less than 3 floors. The parking area is huge and bigger the mall centre. We entered through the MACY’s (a big chain of stores in US) and strolled through almost all the stores like – Verizon, Bostonian, Dockers, JCPenney, Sears. We then went to Radio Shack to get a charger pin for me. It cost me 10 USD. “What the hell” I thought! But I had to buy it. All malls in US have a separate space for food and restaurants. I found Dunkin Donuts, Baskin Robbins and many other country cuisines. Anand wanted to have a coffee. So we went to the Dunkin Donuts to get one. Amazing were there ice-cream varieties! From cho chip ice creams to mint to raspberry to many others which I cant dream about in India. I was tempted to have one. I ordered a coconut ice-cream wafer with Almonds, Choco Nuts, Raisins and Walnuts with a raspberry fruit syrup. I say – it was fantastic! Then we went around the mall for another 2 hours, took some good shots and it was 8.30 PM.

We had already decided to find an Indian Restaurant for dinner. We searched our CAR GPS and found two. “Masala Grill” and “Sadya Chandy’s” (mallu’s will love this name!)
We decided to try Masala Grill which was 5 miles away. It was inside Princeton University!

Princeton University – one of the Top 15 in the US! The restaurant was located inside the university. The sun was just going to set. Long days – 6.00AM to 9.00 PM. I was seeing an US university for the first time. So huge the campus is – bigger than my home town. Anand was saying the Harward and Cambridge will be much much bigger. I would be visiting them next week and I’ll be in Boston. Inside the university, you have so many shops, cuisines from almost any country, banks and housing localites. All the houses and buildings had a European touch. You think somewhere you would have seen them - Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad! We entered a Nassau street and parked our car. Started our search for MASALA GRILL!

There we found a tiny small room within a small building with Indian attendants. Surprised to see many Americans eat there! I went ahead and grabbed a table for ourselves.
Then Anand came and told me. “Typically in US, you don’t go ahead and grab a table. You wait for the hotel attendant to call you and offer you one.” Another good advice / custom from him. “God! Will this ignorance ever end?” I wondered.

We ordered Mixed Vegetable Pakoras, 2 Rotis and Navaratan Korma. The food was good and cost us 13 USD each. My first Indian Cuisine experience outside India! Good spicy drenching for my otherwise starving tongue.

Time was 10.30 PM and the sun was sleeping. We returned back to our hotel after another eventful day. Tomorrow morning, I should be up early as my business training starts tomorrow.

Watch out for Day 3 – “Aswin enters the Franklin Corner Road and the Oak Tree Road”

Aswin in America - Day 1

Day 1

The Flight, The Fright and The Fries!

Hello. Welcome to the first of the 15 intriguing letters which gives a comical view of “Aswin in America”

As I proceeded towards the immigration check in the Bangalore International Airport – the drama unfolds here.

The immigration officer, a middle aged fellow, dark complexioned and looked like a tamilian to me, checked my passport and asked me to go and meet the Duty manager.
“Why only me?” I asked.
He said “you are traveling for the first time, so you need to”

Ok, then I moved towards the manager’s cabin and where the manager (with coat, suite and boot!) started asking me a hazaar questions about my travel. After answering him rather impatiently, he scribbled some number on my departure card, which I had to show it to the officer. The wait ended and I moved on towards the security check. After standing in the queue for nearly 45 mins, I got to know that you need to meet the Indian customs to declare any electronic goods if you are carrying it to the US!

Shiv, the holy brat! When he gave me his camera, but he didn’t tell me this! I back tracked and met the customs officer. I asked him the rules and many other questions, then I stopped as I could see him get frustrated. Finally he asked me to declare the camera which I’m carrying so that when I come back it would not charged import duty. You are allowed only goods worth INR 25000 free!

After a successful security check, I went to the waiting lounge where I met another colleague who was traveling my Lufthansa. Oh! Sorry! Forgot to mention that. I’ll be traveling by Air France (traveler views – one of the worst airlines! I puked in the aircraft! Food sucks!). I remembered my company – this was cheaper by INR 25000. Half minded and tentative, I waited for my turn to get into the aircraft.

“All elite, elite plus, sky team members, business class passengers, please board the aircraft first.” I was amongst the last to board the aircraft.

I was happy that I got a aisle seat, as it will be easy for me to get the food and have better access to the restrooms
(Hey Aswin, is that the exact reason for getting an aisle seat? – remains the million dollar question!)

I got into the aircraft, but got a nice surprise. Half the host crew was Male and the rest were old, really old, especially the one who was in charge for our seats. I want to meet the guy who gave the aisle seat!

But I was happy that we were provided with personalized video/audio system as it is available in KingFisher Airlines (I didn’t expect that) and to add more, watched the movie “Dhoom 2” there. What more do you want? I had now got a chance to see the movie. Who knows, maybe god wanted me to watch that here.

We were provided a light snack (at morning 3.00 AM IST) which consists of Paneer Spinach sandwich, a Veg Roll and Yogurt. The cuisine also included finest of wines, juices, and other alcoholic beverages (I could not even spell them, let alone drink!) For the second time in my life, I drank Red Wine and it was good. After the movie, I slept and was awake right for the breakfast. Food was good with two Potato Bondas, 2 pieces of Methi Paratha, Channa Paneer, Cereals, Milk and Yogurt. After the sumptuous meal, we were on time to land at the Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris.

My first step into another country – “Welcome to France, Monsieur” greeted one Air France staff. I had 5 hours in the Paris, before my next flight to Philadelphia. We were transferred to terminal 2E on a bus from where I had all the time to roam around the airport. I don’t know how and where. Also, was not sure whether I’m allowed a few clicks in the Airport. Its always good to have a person accompanying you there. Yes, I met a fellow who took my same flight to Paris and has the connection flight to Chicago at the same time. He’s an Accenture employee and knows my company too! Goodness me, I didn’t expect that. We spoke about our companies for 15 minutes after which he asked me whether I’m interested in discovering the airport. I was waiting for this and there we started. We went to the first floor and saw a train there. He told me, the train takes you to other terminals. It was so fascinating to see the train, it was like the roller coaster rides in Indian water theme parks. We changed 3 trains and went to Terminal 2A, 2B, 2C. We roamed a lot, took some great shots of the airport and then it was time. We went back to our terminal and completed the immigration check. We were even asked to remove our belts here, as part of the check!

We reached inside the terminal and saw a long row of duty free shops. From food to cosmetics to beverages to tobacco, everything was worth seeing, but not buying!

I wanted to go to the restroom before boarding the plane. After a good bye to my Paris friend, I searched for the “toilettes” and found one. There was a queue there and waited for turn. I went in, but aghast, was not able open the door again! I tried everything, hitting, pushing, everything, moving the door walts, literally everything. Horrible 20 mins!!! I thought my trip ended in Paris. Then I calmed down, and pulled it. Idiot! You tried everything including Pushing, but not PULLING!!! Phew! I came out and ran towards the boarding area. I was on time and we were taken by a bus to the plane.

The Delta Airlines flight, was good and again had the personalized video/audio systems.
I was happy, but there was no hindi movie this time! So I thought this was the best time to pull out – “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – the last book of the harry potter series which was released the before day! I read the book for around 2-3 hours during the time I was served some snacks and lunch. It was ok this time, but for the vegetable korma! I was able to find the difference – Indian cuisine, Made in Paris!
Again, my disappointment continued for the cabin crew, but atleast I was happy that I got the window seat. The atlantic ocean was fantastic and almost for the complete flight we were flying over it. We passed over UK, Ireland, Spain, West Indies and then reached the US east coast. There was a moving map video which showed everything. The US coast was beautiful with beaches and high rise buildings. I flied over Boston (where I’ll be going next week) and then reached Philadelphia. I reached there 4.20 PM (EST) and proceeded towards the immigration check. After which I waited for another 30 minutes, bated breadth for my baggage. So many people had told me that baggage delay was frequent, but I didn’t want it on my trip! Finally it came, through the moving tunnel and I was happy. I moved towards the US customs where I had to fill up the declaration of my belongings and then I was out!

The USA comedy starts here. I enquired at the information centre about Prepaid TAXI.
A black lady, she was surprised and asked “What do you mean by Prepaid?”

Then I explained “Do I need to pay the money for the taxi upfront or after reaching the destination.?” Finally she understood and I went out thinking “What more awaits me in the USA?”

There was a long row of taxi and a cop controlling it. Came my turn and I got a taxi driven by a black, slightly middle aged and looked like a true West Indian!

I showed him my address and he typed the same in a monitor. It was the GPS! I liked it very much. They use it to locate the address and it shows the complete way with the moving map which shows our car too.

I asked him “Can I locate the address?
“Yes” Came the reply. I went to the front seat and started to search “New Jersey, Princeton, Independence Way, 100” You need to provide the options of State, City, Street and the Door no. The amazing part was it automatically completes the place names and street once we start entering the same.

I was off. The 60 mile drive was superb. Weather was at 80-85 F (that’s what the local weather report, I don’t know to convert to Celsius!) We were driving through the city for 10 miles before reaching the country. It was a left hand drive and “Keep Right”. The roads were excellent, but once we entered the country range, I was able to see the gutters and manholes. I took some nice shots on the way and we passed through Trenton and finally reached Holiday Inn, where I will be put for a week. The trip cost me 135 USD – first time in my life I pay in foreigh currency. A feeling of greatness, nevertheless I moved on.

It was a nice hotel, but no attendants at all! Then I came to know that, you need to move you own luggage to the room. I went to the front desk and got the my confirmed for which I paid an advance of 400 USD. It was 446 – the room number on the fourth floor.
I asked for the key and the she (the lady at the front desk) gave me a card. It was swipe room where we need to swipe the card to enter the room. Finally I reached my room, but had a tough time opening the room. I won over the door and entered. A decent room with a big 34’’ TV, a table, phones, coffee vending machine and iron boards to accompany me.

Then, I called the room service.

“Hello, I’m from Room 446. Can you get me some water please? I just checked in.”
“Sure, Sir. You’ll be charged 15 USD for the same. But if you don’t want that, please go to the vending machines and take it yourself” – came the reply.

What is this? You don’t even get free water to your room! I went to the vending machine and there it said 1.5 USD for a bottle for drink (Aquafina / Pepsi / Fanta etc) I called the front desk and asked. In USA, you need to pay for water!

Also, I didn’t have the exact change with for the machine. What to do? No luck for some change at the front desk. So the whole night I was without water. Horrible first evening!

I came to the room, continued with my Harry Potter, caught up with my mails.
I was not feeling hungry, but there was thirst! So I made some coffee for myself.
You get coffee / tea for FREE but not WATER!!! Whack! You will get fried here.

I took some photos of the hotel and the room and returned to my bed.
A mixed day at the USA! Lets us what’s I store in for me the next day.


Watch out for “Day 2 – “International House of Pancakes (IHOP) and Quaker Mall”

"The Road, The temple - The MYSTERY"

Cannon fires, bomb explodes...a sense of tension all around. Slowly i rotated the earth, where i found a small katcha road leading to a small temple.
Somewhere in the "Unconscious" it stuck...Have i been to this place before!
There i saw cute, fat boy about 4-5 feet tall clad in his brown trousers and glaring white shirt carrying a small water bottle, walking through the lovely green fields which had a tinge of breeze always keeping them active. Besides him, A middle aged lady, with some papers in one hand and holding this hero on the other. He was murmuring something, but i couldn't hear them. This kindled my interest and I started to follow them. I found him in tears and the lady was silent all way long. Oh! i felt bad, why was he in tears? Such a bubbly boy, so innocent looking and i wanted to console him. I went for it and tried to touch him. Aghast! my hands passed right through his body and i was not able to touch him. Tried again and again, but in vain. Accepting the defeat, i continued to follow them. Then for the first time, i heard the lady talk.
"Dont cry da. I will buy you the three-in-one in the evening". Wat? three-in-one? heard a two-in-one or even a five-in-one? wat is this? By now, i was mesmerised. I dont understand wat they speak even after accompanying for nearly half an hour. Suddenly, the boy's face lit up. He was happy and started to walk fast towards the temple. The lady has done it! She has changed him. Or has she? Did she concede defeat to that cunning fellow? My spying continued. They reached the temple..Something was written there! CVP....There was a big building hid amongst the mountains and i didnt even notice it. There they parted. He went to a room in the ground floor and the lady went upstairs. I followed the boy. He went into a room and sat there the whole day, scribbling something, reading sometimes all alone. Every other second, looked at his Big Brown TIMEX watch, itching to move out of the room.
Then she came! She had some books with her and started teaching the poor fellow. It went on for hours. Half the time they argued, they cried, she made him write impositions! Finally, another lady came to save this poor kid! She convinced the lady and they stopped the study session and started the journey back towards the katcha road.
You should see the happiness in his eyes much to the disgust of the lady! Again the boy won.
He was sure that the same night he can expect some hits back from the lady. They reached the small bus stop and boarded the bus back home.
I continued to followed them. After reaching their place, they entered a shop named "Amrita Ice creams". There the boy went to a table and shouted "Oru three-in-one ice-cream, athilu pista,chocote and badam flavours idanum to" (Means: One three-in-one ice-cream with pista,chocolate and badam being the three flavours in it). So happy was he there, that i really thanked the lady from my heart. After that he ordered again "Oru Orange Juice koodi tharu" (give me a orange juice too). Laughed the waiter, i think he knew them as if they were regular customers and the cashier gave a smile. (prankster! that naughty fellow got an extra one on the same day) The lady had a pineapple juice and watched the sweet boy enjoy! I was so engrossed in it, when suddenly i heard a sound. I just woke up with a start...It was my alarm ringing! All this was a dream....But the characters were very similar...

Guess who the characters were?

->That fat and naughty boy was ME in my childhood days!
->The lady is my sweet MOM!
->The building was my first school - Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Pallavur (CVP).

SCENE: It was a saturday and my mom was a teacher in my own school. She had special class on that day for my school seniors. I had to accompany her as i had exams on Monday and she used to teach me in the open classrooms, this had continued till X std! Imagine the stress she had then. I was crying b'cos, the day before she had scolded me for not studying and for that i demanded the ice-cream the next day!

Gone are the days when i was in school with my mother as my class teacher, lots of fun and little disappointments too when she had thrown me out of the class for calling her "MUMMY" inside the class. Its really a gr8 feeling to cherish those days now - cant go back too even Virtually!

When we were young, we wanted to become old! And now, we want to grow young! Even thoughts form vicious circles.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to my dear friends who made me remember my school days today at lunch, which provoked me to write this!

Cricket @ BTM

Finally after a long time, got into the company of a new set of friends to play Cricket.
Every weekend, it was an upbeat mood to play and that too for me (Mainly to show off my talent in Cricket)
I always have a very tough time to wake up my friends Valanthavan / Srikanth and others to accompany me. After brushing the teeth (sometime forgot too) would land up in PONGAL, the veg cafe for a great breakfast! Idli, Gatty Chutney and Podi Dosa! Me and Srikanth used to simply eat Chutney and drink sambar literally.. "Dai Podum da! Niruthu da!" No way we wont stop. After that BIG breakfast, then starts our Cricket arguments! I want batting and u bowl!!!!! Used to be days when we used to fight (sometimes using bad words too) for every run we score.....add water to it!!!!!!!

It always used to be tought matches, with me always in the midst of everything. Be it Batting, make sure i bat (GAJU) for a long time, (i dont mind whether team wins or not) and when i bowl, make sure i get the complete allotted set of overs....
It always used to be fun there, with all the Sunscreen lotion smeared on the face (to make sure that we dont get dark and look like Irfan Pathan). Half the time, we wont watch the match! Hope u guyz get the real thing!

PS: Mainly nowadays i play just to smear TAR on my friend's face by making sure that i bat and bowl well. Or else i cant stand the teasing!! Ayyo! Hope i dont get beaten!!!because the person knows who i;m referring to!!!

Join the Fast Track course from Sep to July 2006

Time started to fly once i went to the project. Same age old meetings., reviews, ownership of modules, hi-fi mgmt words during appraisals / one-on-ones.
Met new friends and for the first time in my life, DANCED in the DJ nite! For all those who know me, they will commit suicide, once they hear this.. sorry Guyz

Got involved in the project and during various occasions even worked for than 24 hours at a stretch! It was a wonderful time in the project, with all the politics, experiencing them, winning accolades and more than that "CLIENT ESCALATIONS".

Soon it was June 2k6, the project by nuk or crook, was completed and i was back to relaxation mode. Then i really made up my mind to blog daily and thats how i'm here now with this one..again

Enter Electronic City - country's IT super market!

Scene 1 : Assigned a project in telecom domain (our hero couldnt argue against it). Asked to meet a Big B in Electronic City.
Scene 2 : Board the Company Bus and Looking heads out for EC.
A big smile, a small victory - a sensation felt by our hero, excited about working in EC, country;s largest IT supermarket.
Waiting eagerly to enter the company's most admirable campus which i had seen only in pictures, didnt even mind the traffic on the Hosur road. Took almost 2 hours to reach EC and entered the divine temple with my right leg! Went directly to report to the Big B to get know the project. Entralled by the ambience, looked around the place with surprise. "Hai! Fountain." "Hai! Water, Swan, Duck", "Hai Tennis Court, GYM!", "Hai Amphitheatre", as if a village country brute is seeing for the first time. Some of the employees were even amused by my reactions!
Waited outside the conference room for the Big B, to accept orders. Out he came and i wanted to show off before him, as every one does, very formally i said "Hello, X (No Sir), Pleasure meeting you". Out came the reply.. "You Aswin! Y Project, Go..Bye!"
The real taste of Corporate. (Not Bipasha basu's One)

Bengalooru Calls "Mone Dinesha Vaaada"

Yup. With very high expectations, landed into the IT whiz city of Hindustan (so-called). You know something - in every family, a person working in this great city commands respect more than others in Chennai, Delhi or Mumbai! Its so often called a HYPE, or perhaps has become a MYTH that, a bengaloorean is the BEST, samjho, THE BEST in all aspects. Landed directly in Madivala, (didnt know at that time, i m going to stay there) and started to exceed all the expectations which i had in mind - JUST THE OPPOSITE.

-> bad roads, snail's pace traffic. NATARAJA is the best transport service. So got into one immediately.
-> Touch anything for 100 bucks! Thats how expensive is the COL.
-> Now to the reality! Every other person wears an ID card and he is the commoner here.
Compared to Chennai where people used to respect us.
-> Sky high Real Estate prices!

With all the dreams shattered, got a decent house for a rent, (i would have rented a bungalow back home with this), wasted 3 hours (sometimes even 5) to conveyance from Office to home and back.

Now really got the taste of Bangalore!

Even if i tell and will tell more and more bad aspects of Bangalore... i love the CITY, come wat may, for NO REASON, simple love it. Planning to settle here too....

PS: Some good things too..
-> Visit all the malls during weekends...Best place to spend.
-> The City is improving, hope i come back here sooner to blog its fame!

You cant find "PERSONAL" "ME" here!

Everything said than done, you cant find "ME" here. Thats always me -> myself. This is the place where i share my joys and not emotions so that all my "FRIENDS" remember those joyous days and not the "ONES in WHICH i made them ANGRY" as some of them TRY THEIR BEST ONLY TO REMEMBER THEM! Gone are the days when we used to enjoy in CHENNAI, Thiruvanmiyur, Beach, Corn n CUP, "Vanga Mappilai Vanga", Prem's House, Cockroach Wars, Water problem, House Owner's kindness, Great Morning Baths n Dash, Balcony - Balcony Mapping, Hot Chips, Kurinji Hotel and CHINNA FILM! Really feeling for it now as everyone has moved, Me / Mahendar n Bengalooru, Venkat / Anand / Ashwin in Cyberabad! Hope one day dawns with me finding the same old treasure days... Hats off to our team and our TIMES OF CHENNAI

Never say NO to "DEVICE DRIVERS", Yerukuntala Vada, Jayapati Garu, Govinda Govinda!

This was amongst the last days in training, when people started hearing that 90% of the people flunked in the tests. It was a training programme on Device Drivers and the gr8 boss arrived for the big occasion. He would really not have expected the session to be so interactive (wat Venkat? Felt a touch of irony!)
It was business as usual for the back benchers, cream smacking jokes from our Orkut CEO, "Raja Thali, Vayippu, Ragala Da" were the trademark words. Then was our Salem's instant crackers and mine was PJs, "the never laughed ones". We were the most attentive guyz ever.
I cant imagine how much torture we gave to the fellow from AP with our murmours, PJs, jokes, sounds, sleeps n snores. It so happened that every time we asked a serious doubt on the subject, he took them as mocking and used to fire us. Very sad, how disappointed we were that, we were not able to understand "DEVICE DRIVERS" clearly. Whenever we had the lab, you can see the Venkat busy in Orkut (thanks to him, we all became crazy of it, that even if he left it, we continued)
Hara haro0000, hara haraaaaa!!