Bday...just another day?? Nah!!

10/10 was a special day. Had less sleep the previous night as expected. A very warm feeling when pple wish u at 00 hrs from all over. Late night, early morning and all day wishes...hah!..afterall it was my day:)

Celebration at office has always been special, afterall its expected when u have some very special frnds:) The suprise barging into my cube, the cake cutting, leg pulling, the bday song singing, and all along staying at their decibel best was the best part. And finally the GPL:( ...was the way it went.

Ond group Snap:)

My Shimmoga gang..... Feels happy to have such grt frnds. Always always you pple have made me feel special:).

As far as works concerned, it was one of the hectic days. Early morning meetings, long travel to office, celebration at office, and also making sure I had time for my frnds:)...the day had a mixture of everything.

Honours for the day..

Thanks frnds for all the time, wishes, gifts and kicks ;)...Also needs a mention...The msgs from unknown numbers, the status msg , the 1Re belief...and the Red Uniforms[:P] too!!

Thanks guys....this blog goes to u all..:)

One year at Cisco!!

This one particular blog gives me immense pleasure to write. The very topic says it all. Its been a very memorable n eventful year at cisco.Can write pages about my experience in the past one year.;)..hah!! dont worry ...will try to put in here with a compendious approach in mind.

It was 26th june, 2006....exactly an year ago...when i stepped in DC office of Cisco Systems.And writing this blog exactly an year after, and trying to just ponder over the past year...my brains swamped by immense nostalgia.

Past one year at cisco, in particular work life at Divyashree Chambers would remain in memory for ever.The college atmosphere we created at cisco, coupled with flexible work timings helped us to have the experience of fun at work, at its best. Its been a place of fun at work, right from day one. The work culture, the pple around and our ever enthusiastic group of college grads added a pinch of masala to all the fun. Life here has had a share of everything. Some extremely good pple, and some contrary to them.Those initail months of extreme fun, those fun at office and work at home days, those extremely time critical SRs. All in all... its been an experience!.

In cisco u'll get to see pple of all tastes....some extremly hard working nerds and some exactly d opposite;) We were a small gang of 12 frnds at cisco DC. I've had some very great cherishable moments with his gang. At the sametime have had some very sad moments too. Being with this group, I've had the fun of life. The never ending threads on our mailer lists, the lunches at cafetaria,the laughs that echoed "no one can beat this noise":D , the carrom , badmitton and TT games , the fun games on christmas eve, the birthday cakes, the birthday bumps, the gifts , the get-together at tea in every 2 hrs:)

I have learnt a lot in the past one year. Let it be technical, interactive or managerial skills or the art of getting along with pple with different tastes.Getting very close to pple, blabbering all sense n non-sense, and later realizing its always in everyones interest to maintain that "one arm;)"distance.Frankly speaking, me not among those guys who enjoyed my college days. It was always a count of days for me to just get out Eng college and get into a good job. Having transformed from being an extremely introvert guy to what i have been offlate says it all.My frnds often say, its kinda confusing the way i dealt with my college days and professional life.

Not to forget..."Cisco Sportunity" needs a mention. It did made me play all sorta games which i had never played but always wanted to;).Hah!!..just missed by a whisker in being cisco's "Asafa Powell":D

FUN it was...in the true sense!!

Commuting to Office : An Intro of Bangalore's landmarks on the way

Motivation: Bangalore's traffic which ensures that I'm cosily settled in my cab for nearly 2 hrs a day commuting to office.

Purpose: Enlighten the reader about some well known places in Bangalore ;)

I stay in Mathikere ( kere = lake, a place which is said to have been a huge lake some decades back)...haven't heard?? Its adjacent to Yeshwanthpur on its right, it has IISC(Indian Institute of Science) to its front and MSRIT( M.S. Ramiah institute of Technology) on its left. Guess u got a fair idea now:).

IISC

I have 2 pick ups to office. One at 8.30 and other at 10.30 by Cisco cab. I usually get the 8.30 one to avoid traffic jams at busy 10.30hrs.I take the 10.30 cab mainly when i get that extra dose of sleep. As I start-off my 45-50 mins journey to office, I am writing here about the route n the landmarks we come across.

Here we go...fasten u'r seatbelts....n Happy journey.;)

My pick-up point is nearby to MSRIT, abt 7 mins walk from home. MSRIT is one among top 5 Eng colleges in Karnataka and it got its autonomous status recently.
In 2 mins, I pass IISC, which i guess needs no introduction. The most coveted institute for Science and Engineering Education in India, GATE toppers first choice and where u'r Phd career can flourish to glory. +2 mins drive u'll get Yeshwanthpur.It houses a well known railway station ,which in Lalu's recent railway budget got sanctions for new trains to ply to different corners of India.Space constraints at the station and pathetic planning of roads in Bangalore has seen to it that most of these have remianed on paper.

chowdiah memorial

+5 mins, I'm at the CET cell of Karnataka, where counselling is done for Engineering, Medical and different PG seats in the same stream.This is the place that gave me entrance tickets for RVCE and BMC. Next to it is the playground( known as 18th cross ground ) where i cherish the memories of playing cricket matches and the ground which helped for my practice for NDAphysical examination. In front of it is a well known lake (Sankey Tank) , which has a cool joggers track circumferencing it.Adjacent to it is the K.C.Reddy Swim Center, which was onof our favourite hangouts in summer vacations. Opposite to the lake is the ChowdiaMemorialHall where u'll often get to watch some good plays.

Seeing thru the lake I reach Sadashivnagar, which is the place where most of the politicians and film stars of Karnataka have their habitats. It also has a prometric center where i recently got my CCNA certification. +2 mins drive and I'm in front of Cauvery theatre, usually plays Hindi New Releases...but right now I see its jam-packed with fans for "Shivaji".

Le Meriden

Continuing my journey on the same road , I get to see Windsor Manor, where we had a 2 day orientation programme by Cisco.Opposite to it is the Ashoka Hotel, where we celebrated our recent 7500 EOS.Next to it is Le Meridien, where we celebrated Kiran's recent success, the party which was a get-together with most of my RV frnds.This road has the golf coarse on its side... spreading all along with lush green grass.

Chinnaswamy Cricket Std

10 mins drive from here we reach Infantry Road, where we pass-by the Indian Express office and then the Income Tax office. +2 mins drive we get Chinnaswamy Stadium(Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble,Javagal Srinath are some names that echo here...) on left and Cubbon Park on right.As you move on u'll get Kasturba road, which houses Vishveshwariah Museum, Govt Museum and the large Aquarium Museum.

Bangalore Golf Course

Then we pass-by St. Josephs school, Mallya Hospital and Kanteerava stadium (for athletics
in Bangalore).2 mins drive , we reach Richmond circle, 5 mins traffic here and u'll get langford road where u'll find DivyaShree Chambers which houses my office Cisco Systems with Sun Microsystems as its neighbour.

Soon in a months time my office gets shifted to Sarjapur Road, hope to enlighten u about much more landmarks in Bangalore then;)

Sakleshpur Trek

Me basically that sought of guy who loves to hang out with frnds, explore places , gather interesting info abt them...And thats the root cause for goin on with this trek....

The planning for the trek from my side was a perfect NULL :). It was Anantha who asked me to join them and I instanly decided to join them.Nice to have buddys like Anatha n Santosh who had well planned everything in advance for the trek, let it be from gettting allstuff for survival on the trek or surfing the net to get a fell of the place from others experiences.

It was 1st june 2007 at 11.45 we had booked tickets to sakleshpur in Rajahamsa. It was a cool 4 hr journey, and we landed at Donigal( 7kms from sakleshpur) at about 4.00 early morning. There was this small hotel call "Pic Nic" where they were playing some cool local tracks. We decided to fresh-up thr n have some breakfast, as this would be our first n last hotel on this trek.
Then after about half n hour we decided to set our legs rolling ;) and with instructions from the hotel cashier, set off walking on the highwayin search of the Donigal Railway station. Our torches did play their role in seeing that we r on the highway. It was a brisk 11/2 hr walk to cover a distance of about 3-4 km that we finally reached the Donigal Railway station at about 6am. The actual trek started off at the Donigal Railway station. We freshed up here, distributed our loads equally and set-off.After walking for a km we began to get the feel of toughness to walk on a railway track. But chitter chatter talk on the way kept usgoing. Estates n the banks of streams of water, were a good place to take rest.

From Donigal to Yedakumeri , its 17 kms of railway track with full of greenary, mountains ,streams of water, bridges amd tunnels all the way.After covering about 4 kms we decided upon cooking some stuff , so as to muster some energy for the 13 kms left. We cookedyummy MTR stuff. Here we stumbled upon one more gang of enthusiastic, not so well planned trekkers from i-gate S/W firm. Then it was a hare and tortoise race all along:).
We reached Yedakumeri at about 5.30 pm. We were all exhausted n happy that we had seen thru it. As per our plans we were all set to take rest at the railway station for the night. But the station master had his own share of owes to forbid us from staying there overnight. We were compelled to leave the place at about 6and enter the forest to cross it n get to the highway which was 4-5 kms away.

The real trek started on entering the forest. The staffers at the railway station waved in some direction,saying thats the way to enter the forest to reach the highway. Aghast!! we were, as it was just a path left by a stream of water.The walk in the forest ..infact running...infact sliding at some places...was really horrifying. With apparently no clue wether we were on the right path and the fear of darkness embracing us...we had to rush through one behind the other. We were 9 of us here...we 4 + 5 trekkers from i-gate.After walking for about half n hour did we realize that leaches were hanging all over from our shoes, legs, pants....The salt we had didnot suffice to remove them all...so we had to bear with them and rush thru to reach the highway. This continued for an hr more, with leaches all the way n elephants on our way at some points. Then came a sigh of relief when wesaw the buses at some distance on the highway. But this feeling didnot stay long....

We had to cross a river to reach the highway,( guess we had lost our way in the forest and had missed a bridge at some place to cross this river).The water was flowing with enough pace not to allow anyone to experiment their swimming skills. Fortunately there was a point form one side on the banks with huge stones at intermittent places till the other side of the river. The stones were very slippery and everyone had their share of fall into the river.Finally we made a human chain n were able to reach the other end. It was about 8pm when we stepped on the highway. Got a bus there and reached Sakleshpur by abot 10pm. Got into a lodge and got rid of all the leaches on our clothes n shoesand took rest for the night and left to Bangalore the next morning.

All in all, it was an adventourous weekend for all we software engineers , a change from our routine monotonous life and the feeling that we would cherish for ever:).

Have a peek at the snaps here

sakleshpur

Introspection....

Even though this word is synonymous to secrecy, ones within...I dare an attempt to alter its own worth in d process of introspecting myself.
As i sit down to write about my thoughts...u'll get to know where i stand in life, my views about friends..the good ones...the not so encouraging ones...what makes me think so...my priorities in life..my past , my present and a peek into my future....
Life's a challenge...everyone would've faced them throughtout...but only magnitude n intensity of it differ...But i strongly have that feeling ....have faced more challenges and have been successful in overcoming most of them, than pple of my age group.Sometimes have that feeling...No need to read any auto/biographies...just have to remember my past to grasp enough inspiration to make my future a successful one.
At the sametime looking at my present.....Have the feeling..that i am in that position in life where I always dreamt, to be in life...But the irony is that when u are where u always wanted to be, dreams change n infact grow into bigger ones as u advance in life.
To know more... guess u have to wait for more posts here....

The Prologue....

Blogs!!!...why have i started now??..Why was i hesitant to write inspite of always wanting to startoff..??Well the reasons are a few n common too..... The instinctive feeling of hesitation ...Will pple read what i write....?? Will I end up putting in some non-sense stuff....?? Will... will....will...lots as such..:)

But what really kicked me to start-off is.....

English....is a beautiful language...n has its universal appeal too..So writing blogs to improve my hold over it over time.Me a guy who values my heart more than mind...naturally likes to put forth all intersting thoughts i come accross, my experiences that serves as a knowledge atleast for a minute population;)... Also the nice feeling when i read my frnds blogs....n the urge to get the same feeling imbibed in my other frnds.... N more importanly put my lappy n time to its max usage when travelling in the not so encouraging bangalore traffic.