Life moves on..............

I've been away from the blog for a while, heck this seems to be the standard opening line for the past few posts of mine.

This time no dialogs, just letting the pics do the talking

I'm on a pan India tour thanks to my employer. We've been taken around Gujarat, UP and later on to Kolkata, Pune, Mumbai and Delhi. I've finished the Gujarat leg of my tour and done half of the UP tour and right now am sitting in the room of Jayram in IIM Lucknow and blogging this at 2 30 in the morning, while he's snoring next to me. :) The pics are in random order coz i didn't have a lot of time to fix them up.

India's Diverse Driving culture's. This one's from Ahmedabad :P

@ the Harvard Steps (that's what they're called if i rem right)

With the Mr Thampi in LKP in IIM A. Had a great time there coz of him

Striking a pose in front of the Louis Kahn Plaza @ IIM A.

Thampi explaining their midnight frisbee playground locations

Never stop posing for snaps. :D

"Those were the best days of my life - My IIM A Days :)"
Would love to say that :D

A view of the LKP taken by me in my Nokia 6500

I seriously didn't notice this board until the very end, else i'd never have taken these IIM A Pics :)

Thampi after the exhaustive dime tour of IIMA.

A kid Became Gandhi and welcomed us into Sabarmati Ashram when we went there on 2nd October

The Three Monkey's - Sabarmati Ashram again

The Charkha and writing pad that Mahatma Gandhi used

Gandhiji's Room

Gandhiji's eternal message

Maybe the head's bowed down due to the state of affairs in the country he freed

Evidepoyalum mallu restaurant kittum :P

This was a Jain Temple in Kutch Dist in Gujarat that we visited

Most common mode of transport in rural Gujarat. Called as Jhakada :D

The long road ahead............

This is a letter written to Indira Gandhi by Nehru, saw on my visit to Anand Bhavan in Allahabad

Calmly flows the Ganga on a dew filled morning

A Hanuman Temple that we visited en route banaras

Benaras Hindu University - BHU

The temple inside the BHU Campus. It was a magnificent spiritual experience

In front of the Anand bhavan

A peek inside the extensive Nehru personal library @ Anand Bhavan

Me @ the Triveni Sangam in Allahabad

The Golden Buddha @ Sarnath

Errr. Call it what you can :D, just a snap during the training

Onam 2008

Onam 2008 was the best Onam of my life. Period!

I'd never had a onam like this for a long long long time. Only when i was a kid did i get to enjoy the onam like this. You're always special when you visit home after living outside for a few months. Maybe it's because the people think you're a GUEST and behave nicely to please you, or maybe some genuinely missed me being around. But whatever it maybe i really loved this break away from my monotonous work life.

I'd not really planned to come home for onam. But then my company was sending all new trainee engineers on a pan India trip in september-october and hence i'd to use all my spare leaves or else they'd lapse and go away free. So i thought of surprising my parents and freinds. But then cash shortage made me ask money from dad for the tickets, so that surprise was done with. Then i'd tried to hide my visit from my girlfriend and had hoped to surprise her. Again failed miserably. She seems to read my mind and i couldn't help but confess. :)

Then i didn't hide this fact and posted on our college batch community. Then the posts that followed were really NICE.

So coming to the point. Why i liked this onam was the fact that i spent more time with my family than with friends and i LOVED it. Usually i hated spending time with my family, especially on vacations. Almost all my breaks used to be spent with friends @ Kovalam or veli or some place like that, but miles away from home. Now being away from home has made me miss home and my family a lot and hence this time i was determined to give them some quality time. I loved it.
Spending time with friends also was fun, but this time everyone had time only to discuss their tight work schedules, bad bosses and horrible working hours :). Then the usual vayinottam @ Kanakakunnu palace grounds in the name of Onaghosha paripaadikal :). Went to Uni-Y for a great onam programme. This time i knew a lot less people than before, but then it was fun. Sheer fun.

Then the major thing i loved about this trip home is getting to meet my love. I'd missed her a lot and seems she also did so. I'd hoped to spend 2-3 days at the max with her, but then we made up for the lost 4 months with 4 meets in 8 days :D. That was totally awesome for me. She did manage to surprise me with a gift - A shirt. It seems she's good at picking nice shirts. She'd given me a shirt when i'd first joined for this job, but this time she'd the help of another common friend, and they both managed to WOW me with their selection.

Now i'm at the Chennai Central railway station while posting this, waiting for my connecting train to Cuttack and then back to hell. :) This might be my last onam spent with my family, or maybe the first in the series of onam's @ home. Only god knows.

Some snaps from my visit home.

This is where i started from

Catching a train. But where are the bogies?

A Kerala landscape pic on my way home.

Uni-Yans posin for Snaps - I relived my Uni-Y days once again.

Posing alongside the newbies @ Uni-Y

A kodak moment- Winning the Vadamvali @ Uni-Y

Onaghosham @ Kanakakunnu. Had a great time there.

With the Kalip pose-Atop the Lighthouse @ Kovalam

" Kovalam" or what's left of it

Had this snap taken @ Kovalam. Never seen foriegn kids playing on Indian soil like this :)

Trainil vere pani onnum illathathu kondu engene okke samayam kalanju

Before the theeta malsaram with friends :)

After the Theeta malsaram :)

Ona sadya was great @ home. Mom you're the best :D

Me Myself and My reflections!

Wow the above topic could have become a nice headline for my blog! I'll think about this when i feel like changing my Cogito Ergo Sum :)

So coming to the issue at hand; i've been tagged AGAIN! People would be thinking that i don't have anytime for putting something creative and something of my own! Well partly it's right, i don't get the time for writing a post coz of the stupid work schedule which makes me work from 2 PM till 10 PM.

This time the tag comes from Hari, the new kid on the celebrity blog circuit. The tag is to fill in about some of my thoughts.

I am: A Mechanical Engineer, loving son, an affectionate brother and a dedicated lover! :) Definitely in that order!

I think: Therefore I blog. Or rather, Cogito, Ergo Sum! Look up and you'll know why i THINK!

I know: A lot of people, and a lot of stuff that's never taught in my course! I feel proud that i'm like this!

I want:To crack the CAT and get into IIM A( DESPERATE)

I have: A good collection of books, which i keep on increasing as and when i get time.

I wish: My girlfriend's parent's won't stop me from marrying her for some silly differences.

I hate: A detailed list was published as a tag here.

I miss: My college days! Seriously

I fear: That i won't be able to live upto the expectations of a lot of my friends and family.

I hear: All kinds of music on my iPod and sometimes make others hear it too through my Creative Inspire 2.1 speakers.

I smell: Of AXE Dark Temptation from last Thursday.

I crave: for a peaceful future with me and my family living off good investments i made in the Stock-market like Warren Buffet.

I search: for free stuff on the internet! DUH! That would've been the standard reply! But now after watching Pursuit of Happyness a few days back! I agree with Hari when he says we all search for Happyness!

I wonder: When I'll be able to tell the world "People look up, I've arrived, and arrived in STYLE"

I regret: At times i regret giving up a cushy software job for taking up this one.

I love: My girl a lot! Next in line come my family, rather it's a tie between them!

I ache: After coming to my room after the day's job! Really!! My feet hurt a lot!

I was not: always like this! I used to 75 kg in my 5th semester! Ah those golden days! Now weight scale is tipping close to 3 figures when i stand on it !

I am not: A showoff! Period!

I cry: Very very rarely! Not that i'm the MANLY dude who never sheds a tear! But then maybe i've lost that emotional side of myself when i cried! Last i rem i cried when i saw tears in my mom's eyes while she bade me goodbye @ Trivandrum Central Station.

I believe: That one day i'll fulfill all my wishes and have a happy ending. I've watched Shrek way too many times! :)

I dance: Never! I rem the only time i'd danced was in my college days when my batch did a hat trick by winning the intra college arts fest three times in a row!

I sing: Only when i'm alone in the room and am venting my anger by playing some rock song! Or when my girlfriend requests me to sing stupid love songs! (Have you ever really loved a women is our all time favourite)

I read: A lot! I've added to that hobby by buying a lot with my salary! I'd lost this habit after i'd bought a PC and i'm trying to catch up on my reading skills by reading and reading a lot! I read anything and everything; from newspapers, magazines to books on theology(Yeah! you read it right)

I don’t always: Dress perfectly! Maybe coz my figure isn't the one fit enough, or maybe coz i don't buy good clothes! I've got a lot of criticism on my dress sense. Even now i'm wearing a shirt with a bright Orange Collor and a thin orange stripe running through it! How's that :)

I fight: With my girl a lot! We fight like weekly and then make up fortnightly

I write: almost never, unless i see the sorry state of my blog!

I win: Duh! What do i write? I used to win an odd quiz and some debates back in my school days! But that's all in the sweet distant past!

I lose: my temper quite fast! But now i've tried to control it coz i don't wanna be roughed up by 25 workers all knowing how to handle themselves!

I never: Try to hurt my dad! I hate it when i mess up something that he's told me to do!

I always: try to be touch with the happenings in the world, thru net, mobile or what not!

I confuse: my boss a lot! Coz if i don't then he'll know how bad i'm at my work! But how the hell am i supposed to know when the ENGINEERING degree i've didn't teach me much of practical stuff

I listen: Well i used to listen to my friends talk a lot! Nowadays i've to listen to what my boss orders and then listen again to my subordinates telling me how it CAN'T be done

I can usually be found: Talking or browsing on my mobile!

I am scared: of dying one day without fulfilling my wishes, of having a good life as a son, as a husband, as a brother, as a father and a grandfather :)

I need: to prioritise stuff in my life and get some order and discipline to my lifestyle, else i'll die soon coz of my health

I am happy: Coz of a lot of things, a good e-mail, a call from a long lost friend, a good hour on the fone with my gal, a good chat on the net with my sister and a lot of other things!

I imagine: That one day my pic will come on the cover of TIME magazine, like Ratan Tata's came a few years back!

So that's it! Now tagging others:

1. Raouf
2. Lakshmi
3. Mathew

Quote Unquote!

I GOT TAGGED by the GREAT Mathew!

Whoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! This is what i thought first when i read this Tag in Mathew's Blog! It's a simple deal, nothing that tough!

Jot down 5 of your favorite quotes from the various books you've read. If you don't have the books with you now, googling (Wikiquotes and the like) can be used to find them. Tag five people and acknowledge the person who tagged you.

So here it goes!

1) From Fight Club: Tyler Says "Man, I see in Fight Club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see it squandered. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables - slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war's a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won't. We're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off."

I'd say this quote explains a lot of inhibitions in the present angry young man living in any place in the world!

2) From The Godfather : Don Corleone says "I'm going to make him an offer he can't refuse."

Among my most favourite dialogues ever! Best way to close a business or a personal deal!


3) From The Alchemist : Narrator Says "When you want something - the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

I've found the reverse to be quite true in my life, but then it's always better to believe that this'll come true in my life too! Mera number bhi aayega! :)

4) From Catcher in the Rye: Holden "What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though."

The book was a real good read for me. I'd looked a lot for this book and was very eager to read it. But then it wasn't that great feeling at the end! But then the ideas of Holden do match mine at times(I felt so)

5) From American Wedding: Finch says "Hey i'm gonna give you a little piece of advice: love life, get paid, then get laid. That is the basic philosophy of... The Finch-meister!"

Even though this isn't from a book and this might be RATED for many people, i believe that this is the best advice for any bachelor! Though the LAID part can be omitted :)

So that's it

Now comes the nice part, tagging OTHERS.

I tag:

1. Hari, coz he's too eager to get this tag!
2. Viajero, coz he's an avid reader from the impression i have, so might get some great quotes
3. Hari Vishnu, Same reason as above. Hope he gets time to do it!
4. Abhijith, My namesake junior who's having a good time teaching now!
5. pR@tz, Another guy who's quote list i'd like to get
6. Abhilash Sir, A person with more books than clothes i'd say. So eager to know his take on this.

Missing something???

I'd just this much to say when a friend asked me about my life and work.

Well life pattinakki ennum vene parayam, or i can say i'm doing gr8. First coz th place is a gudaam. No entertainment, getting used to it now. Food was horrible, now used to it. Factory is polluted like anything, bt again got used to it. Now i can say gr8 coz; the salary is good n i've nothin much to spend here as acco is free n food being crap is cheap. Work is in my field, not is an ac room for someone i'll never see, instead i work in a hot factory so that some farmer gets his fertiliser on time n gives a good crop so that we'll all eat n live too see another sunrise.

I guess u got the point.


I don't exactly miss Kerala, though i do at times when i see Trivandrum city in Asianet here. But what i really miss is the carefree life i had in college, i miss being @ home eating good food from mom's hand's. I miss going out with my sister, i miss holding the hand of someone close to my heart, i miss the quarrels with my dad. I miss the days when i stayed up till 2 am to switch on the download, i miss long phonecalls with classmates, i miss goin for quizzes, i miss watching ur class gals n th other good one's in college(i really miss tht, coz my firm doesn't employ gals, unless it's for making tea or for cleaning the floor). What i miss most is the open bypass from Veli to Kovalam and my bike on full throttle.

Ha, Wish i could rewind n play again my college life.


I really wish!