Din wo kuch aur the

दिन वो कुछ और थे

जब जेबों में ज़िन्दगी लिए फिरा करते थे

मंज़िलों का ठिकाना ना था 

माथे पे कोई शिकन ना थी

 दिन वो कुछ और थे 

जब वक़्त की डोर में उलझे न थे 

दोस्तों से दिन की शुरुआत थी 

और उन्ही से रात का आगाज़ 

:) :) :) :) :)

October 2014 :)

TLDR: Hyderabad -> Goa -> Hyderabad (bidding farewell) -> Gurgaon -> Hyderabad -> Gurgaon -> Lucknow -> Gurgaon (bidding farewell) -> finally Hyderabad

October 6, 2014

I was at office and my head was spinning. It wasn't the three day Goan trip that took its toll, it was the sucking Omar travels bus, which took 16 hours to crawl back from Goa to Hyderabad, that did. However, it was not the only reason, afterall it was 6 hours better than the time it took to travel from Hyd to Goa! My head spun also because I had to immediately join office as soon as I disembarked at Hyderabad. I couldn't afford one more holiday. Why? Yes, I was on notice period! :)

Flashback

I had resigned from my position at MAQ on August 29 and was serving an "over 1 month" notice period. Something I was longing for since past few years. Better late than never! It was an awesome notice period. Threw lots of parties, hung out with friends and experienced nearly everything I missed while working. Days during notice period are the best an Engineer can ever live. Period! So this was all in September, now back to the month of October which was so special that it found its way on my blog.

October 9, 2014

The head recovered in few days but not the peeling. It happens after you get sunburned. Yes, Goa can do that to you if you don't wear a hat or put on a sun cream while trying to visit every single place in a stretch of just three days. However, each of my body part, including the hair which I have in plenty, suddenly got sober on October 9. That moment came when Amazon HR called and told that I had to appear for my last round of interviews on Oct 17.

Arrghh! I had never done so much of planning in my life. I had to join Q3 in next couple of days before which I had to bid adieu Hyderabad, throw couple of parties and transfer goods to Gurgaon. The amazon interview was an addition to this already hectic schedule. Nevertheless, I thought of giving it a shot. I believed this month of October, although hectic, had something in it to offer, something big!

October 11 - 16, 2014

I reached Gurgaon on Oct 11 and the six days I stayed there were not very pleasing. There happened many things that really depressed me. For one, I lived with a friend in a room which was half the size of one bedroom of the 2 BHK flat where I used to live in Hyderabad. Second, the new company I joined was an even smaller organization than the previous one offering same kind of projects. Bagging higher package and eagerness to leave the previous employer were the only reasons why I joined this firm. Third, people at Gurgaon had no patience whatsoever! They used to run like dogs towards the exit as soon as Metro doors were opened. The auto wallas were apathetic towards stray dogs, crushing them wherever they got an opportunity. That still appeared kind given that car drivers considered every other being as a stray dog who could be crushed at sight.

May be Gurgaon isn't that bad and the aforementioned allegations are true about every other city in India. May be I feel much more comfortable being at Hyderabad because I have spent here three long years and everything seems to be just "in place". Whatever! At that time I decided to return back for good. But (there's always a 'but' to make the story interesting) I could only get back if I had an offer from a larger firm, coupled with a better package. Else, the earlier decision of leaving MAQ wouldn't make any sense. This October 17 interview was one last resort.

October 17, 2014

I was sitting in the interview room at Amazon development center contemplating about the whole journey. What was the point? Why should there come a moment in life which if expunged from the timeline does not make any difference overall? What if I am not recruited, what would be the point of taking risk of bunking a newly joined office, traveling over thousand kilometers and running from one center to another for giving interviews? What if I eliminate this one day in my life, would that make any difference? It should! And to make it count I will have to nail it!

I was pulled out from deep sea of thoughts as my cell phone suddenly woke up to life and beeped. It was an SMS from my mother. It was a thrilling news. That afternoon my sister delivered a baby boy and I became a mama :) I quickly checked the WhatsApp and found pictures of both of them. They were looking healthy and my bhanja was sleeping with his mouth open :D 

May be this was the point! May be I was destined to get this news in Hyderabad. Or was there more to come? I just wanted to book a flight and meet my little guy and sis ASAP. Alas! They were thousands of kilometers away from me in Perth. I didn't notice but out of happiness I was holding the cell so tightly that I could have broken the already cracked glass. But a sudden creak of the door saved it. It was the recruiting manager and my second round of interview was just about to begin. I had to calm my nerves and return back to normal.

October 21, 2014

Diwali was about to come. I was upset about not being at home during the festival even when home was so near. After the Friday bunk I didn't want to take another holiday. After all, I was a new recruit and didn't want to portray myself as an "employee-who-bunks-a-lot". I was sitting in despair at office when my phone rang. I had no idea who could it be. I ran to the corridor and picked up the phone. It was the HR recruiter who gave me the news that I was recruited at Amazon. My heart skipped a beat. Telling nearly everyone gave I vent to my feelings. Aakhir khushi baatne se badhti hai ;) 

I was happy but catuious. I wanted to plan things better. After working in a firm just for eight days I had all sorts of options available. Should I just run away without any experience letter? Who needs it? Or should I tell them a lie about pursuing higher education at some "very-famous-earlier-thought-not-gettable" institute. But then I decided not to hurry and give it some time. Let the offer letter come, then resign and leave with dignity. 

October 27, 2014

It was the day when I received the offer letter. My happiness took over and all my endeavour to be cautious failed. I planned everything like a jerk. I decided to skip the normal 30 day notice period, get relieved early and go home. Joining at Amazon was on November 10, so I had plenty of time with me and I didn't want to waste that time working at Q3. However, I never knew that not serving the 30 day notice period would hurt my compensation and I would not get a salary! Anyways, I immediately resigned and as per plan started pushing HR and my manager to provide the last dates as soon as possible.

Last days of October 2014

Peaceful days they were. Spent my days at home explaining parents how big a firm I am going to join and how my decision of moving back to Hyderabad wasn't bad. Dad discussed my plans for future. As far as the conversation concerned financial stuff I was an active speaker. However, when it moved onto marriage and other stuff I used to fall back and behave like "jeez! not now!". Finally I also got opportunity to talk to my sis and "hardly-speaking-only-crying" bhanja over skype :) They both looked adorable.

* * * * *

Interstellar

May contain spoilers!

I haven’t even recovered from the awesomeness of Niel DeGrasse’s TV series Cosmos when Interstellar struck. The movie is epic at so many levels! It pinged my likeness radar not just because of its impeccable special effects, juicy storyline or perfect blend of science and emotions but because of the message it delivers.

It was that part of the movie when explorers went through a wormhole and landed on a planet to find if life can sustain there, when I perceived the message. Close proximity to a black hole caused extreme time dilation on the planet, where one hour was worth seven years on Earth. By the time they returned back to Endurer (mother aircraft) they had spent whopping 23 years! Not only this. By the end of the movie we learned that the entire space exploration took more than 80 years on Earth to complete.

Message that Nolan tried to relay was that if large scale space explorations have to start, the time is now! Given the capriciousness of time dimension we saw in the movie, we cannot simply wait for a time to come when humanity is on verge of getting extinct to begin our space explorations and find a new home. The time is now! For achieving this we would need massive funding which could not be borne by a single nation. Individual space missions to Mars, are they causing any good? People need to unite. Destroy these narrow boundaries of nations and become one. Build one united space agency funded by all which begins to find our new home. Wasting resources on wars, spreading terror, implementing divisive politics isn’t the need of the hour.  For fighting global warming, saving other species from extinction and finding a new alternative home, the time is now!

There was a lot more in this movie ranging from black holes to five dimensions to future beings to love. All that and the message make it incomparable to any other sci-fi movie ever released.

* * * * *

No need of drugs.. when there's MuSiC - 5

So, I am back again with the list of 10 songs I have been listening for past one year. Every year in October I try to collect songs from my playlist and put them together in one post. If you wish to go through the previous four (sorry five!) posts you can visit the following links:

• A few words about Muzzic.. (August 6, 2009)
• No need of drugs.. when there's MuSiC - 1 (January 8, 2010)
• No need of drugs.. when there's MuSiC - 2 (November 25, 2011)
• No need of drugs.. when there's MuSiC - 3 (October 6, 2012)
• No need of drugs.. when there's MuSiC - 4 (October 13, 2013)

Songs:

• "Hey Jude" by The Beatles

• "Bitter Sweet Symphony" by The Verve

• "Chop Suey!" by System of a Down

• "Dragula" by Rob Zombie

• "Getting away with Murder" by Papa Roach

• "Patience" by Guns n' Roses

• "Susie Q" by Creedence Clearwater Revival

• "Tears don't fall" by Bullet for my Valentine

• "Teenage wasteland" by The Who

• "Yellow Ledbetter" by Pearl Jam

And this one's a consolation, the best concert performance ever.. "Kashmir" by Alice in Chains: 

* * * * *

Life @ MAQ Software

What started three years back with shopping of a new cell phone followed by a Goan trip just ended with another Goan trip, however, the mobile now has its screen shattered :-| Shit happens!

It started three years back with a bootcamp when we used to take advantage of being in the last cubicle and sleep like a log whenever we got opportunity. Sometimes when we were caught we had to straighten our chairs and open our ear drums to start listening what "ajgar" was hissing about. We also learned many telugu words, such as "niyakka de***" and made my Hyderabadi friends know what "kaddu katega sab me batega" means. These were the bootcamp days - fun, masti, great learning, loads of assignments, unbelievable deadlines, first salary and what not! 

As far as attaining a social life is concerned it's pretty easy for a good table-tennis player - one or two smashes and you've rightly earned respectful place of a teacher! While I moved up in the pecking order and became a TT champ in 2012, I earned more friends than foes at office. Kaka, Arun, Rakesh, Ankit were real great competitors (in that order) who also became great friends. 

I spent most of these three years with bhaiee and baba as flatmates. Numerous laughs we had, numerous trips we went, car journeys, bike challans :P, I may never forget. In fact, I would not take a second to say that I found a friend for lifetime :)

Hyderabad is a cool place (not literally !). Weather is awesome especially from September to January. "Dhoop se paseena nahi hota, na loo lagti hai", in that sense it differs from that of North. People here are so down to I don't know what that you would never know the person sitting adjacent to you is actually a billionare. Such is the simplicity that I never wanted to leave this place but, alas!, life moves on.

So finally moving away from friends and this beautiful place. A long way ahead and a lot more path to build.

PS: This article is about my personal experience at MAQ and not a company review.

* * * * *

Words of an Agnostic Theist

Sparkling blast and dazzling glow,

who made it happen billions of years ago?

Trillions of stars dancing around,

just an ocean's wave froth, rest still not found.

I believe there exists a "He".

When mother Earth's foundation and core got laid,

rivers ran amuck and birds started to prate.

Exists the one who disseminated love with beauty and sound,

Warmed our minds and evaporated ignorance all around.

He, who is above all religions 

He, who is above all cognition,

above all creeds and above all superstitions.

I believe there exists a "He",

a "He" who created you,

THE "He" who created me.

* * * * *

Thoughts

Since past few months paucity of thoughts has precluded me penning down many topics here on my blog. There have been tough times but never has come a time when I felt short of words. I blame long working hours, I blame deteriorating concentration, I blame anything but myself. But today let me make my "ship of imagination" fly and pour everything out of my mind in this single post.

Modi:
I wanted to write an open letter to Mr. Modi, congratulating him on his triumph and presenting him the challenges which lie ahead. I wanted to suggest him to travel across India and digest the fact that not all states are Gujarat. Here in Hyderabad, now capital of two states, I see what water scarcity can do to a life, what pollution can do to a city and what divisions can do to a nation at large. Now since media has successfully projected his image as a superman, he has got to live up to expectation and work his ass off to do to a nation what he has done to one state. Or else his party may perish in next general elections and ownership may fall into the hands of fledgling party AAP. The fact that AAP have never been able to govern any state for considerable time and prove their competence precludes me to give any credence to them.

GOT:
The sadistic approach George R R Martin takes to end every short story in "the game of thrones", or shall I say "the songs of ice and fire", fueled my ship of imagination to travel to the future. What I predict is threat of white walkers uniting belligerent forces to fight against a greater force - a common scenario pretty evident in real,world wars, as well as reel life, Naruto (I remember I have written about it long ago. Ahh! long live my memory! Ok.. back to the topic). But the sadistic touch the author can impart to the plot is white walkers winning the war and converting everyone into their species. Lol! Martin is a genius. No one can ever predict what is going to happen. To hell with my ship of imagination.

Cosmos:
And why am I talking, read writing, so much about "ship of imagination"? I got introduced to it by Neil DeGrasse Tyson in TV series named Cosmos. A TV series which has more number of "WHAT THE FUCK" moments than even aforementioned one. Tyson taught me how to fuel my ship of imagination and take it to some of the most esoteric parts of this life. Series talks about cosmic calendar, the theory of evolution (and how wrong we have always understood it), universe, celestial bodies, black holes, parallel universe, life in a droplet and how small we appear when compared to milky way and how big to a Tardigrade. I made my ship of imagination to travel one step further. I tried to find out pattern of life. Soon enough I realized that some thoughts cannot be penned down, they can just be felt or pictured. 

Introspection:
Keep aside universe and patterns of life, a man shall feel accomplished if he understands himself. Yes, I also wanted to write about myself. I am the man who mostly lives in past. I love to remember the days that have gone by, how beautiful they were, how can I picture them and keep them saved for the later part of my life. No wonder if I end up writing an autobiography about my experiences, provided my already fucked up relationship with memory doesn't end up in divorce. 

What beautiful thoughts and not a word written. I also wanted to write an open letter to my company's CEO. But that might be #NSFW (Not Safe For Work). Let me keep it for future and shut the fuck up..!

* * * * * 

They aren't wrong, they just can't feel

You have failed, take it on your face,

They'll say shit just to ameliorate.

You've failed, accept it and move on,

They aren't wrong but they just can't feel.

Failure is falling down they say,

you can stand up back and run again.

You have got to try n try again they say,

unless you succeed, achieve and be victorious.

What they miss is how great the fall was,

how excruciating is the pain.

How difficult a task it is to gather all broken pieces,

and strive all over again.

They aren't wrong, they just can't feel,

Life is a maze, not a marathon,

Understand and strive unless it hits,

Unless you know, yes, this is the one!

This is the one!

* * * * *

On this Valentine's day

Take back those four letters misconstrued.

Take back your time I importuned.

Take back the feelings you squandered.

Take back the promises I reneged.

Apathetic, uninterested whatever you feel now,

well, my love, its a long way somehow.

I wish you unfurl your wings and fly

Fly high and become a star in someone else's sky.

* * * * *

The fifth anniversary

I know I don't write good, I know I don't always feel right,

But then always follow your heart, always give it a try.

Once I sit, when I am old, with this blog on my lap,

I wish to experience all my life that has gone by.

Having said that I would love to let you know,

I would shout at the top of my voice and raise a toast.

It was this day, 5 years ago, when I started to write

It was this day, January 23rd, when I made my first boring post ^.^

PS: I didn't get much time to write anything flowery! This is what I can get best out of me in 5 minutes.

* * * * *