Life's a crazy mess!

Last night I was unable to get a wink of sleep and spent 2 hours walking around my tiny room wondering what to do. Spent sometime online (yep nothing new) and then after a couple of blog reading and commenting I moved on to gaming and then a book and finally the newspaper. I've been keeping off the paper in Delhi lately since it's the Indian Express and the paper hasn't really caught my attention much owing to it's very brief content.....until last night ie.

The Front Page of Saturday's Newspaper had a disturbing tale to tell us and it shocked me.

Children all over the country seem to be going missing and not many seem to care, or atleast don't seem to notice. We often find kids walking around the roads and traffic signals begging for alms, we given them a cold shoulder and just walk by. How often do we stop to think twice or maybe ask them where they're from? I'm sure we being Indians love to know what's happening in our neighbour's house or maybe Amitabh Bachan's family but little do we care about the children walking around on the streets with tattered clothes abused psychologically, physically and often sexually. And where do they come from? Probably homes like ours or maybe our neighbours' (where we so often poke our noses into).

The recent Nithari case was a wake up call. And yet we fail to understand that this is just one of a million other similar occurrences around the country. A whopping 1,047 children go missing in Kerala alone, as per the article. This from a state that boasts to have one of the best Police forces in the country. I shudder to think what the numbers are in other states or of the many that go unreported! A child going out for a haircut, another to play cricket or another out to meet a friend....all missing, and we aren't just talking of young children but some as old as 16yrs.

Fear sets in one's mind just picturing this and I wonder...."How safe are our kids??"

Gurugiri v/s Gandhigiri

A couple of months back I met up with a senior of mine online after a reeeeal long time. It's almost 8 years since I last met him, and from his pics...he hasn't changed much. It was absolutely great catching up. We were in the same house back in school (Spring House ROCKS) and swam for the swim team as well. He had told me then that he plays for a band and it wasn't surprising since he was part of the Band back then and played real good!


Now for the catch....when he said band, I thought it was something like the bands we had in school or like most here in Indian colleges...play popular tunes and modify some a bit and mark them as your own creation....sigh...guess again! Wait...why guess?? Check them out for yourself. The band is AudioDetour and my pal's name is Agul. He plays bass guitar in the band and they sound awesome! You can listen to their tunes at their site. Do check it out, it'll be worth it...trust me!


Damn my pals are awesome...wonder what happened to me! :) oh yeah I remember...we'll leave that for a later discussion...



A Little about them:

"About AudioDetour

AudioDetour is a four member band that strives to create a new musical experience that blends genres from two different corners of the world. The band has been and will continue to experiment with different sounds and feels of music that complement traditional Indian poetry.

The members of AudioDetour are:

Sai - Lead Male Vocals/keyboards/arrangement/mixing
Gary - Rhythm/Lead guitar
Agul - Bass/Rhythm/Lead guitar
Silpa - Lead Female Vocals

AudioDetour has been together for over two years and it all began when Sai took a leap into the world of composing. Having dabbled in it briefly, he turned his dream into reality by acquiring the precious music equipment that is the life of AudioDetour's studio today. Gary, a passionate learner of his instrument, was looking for avenues to explore further. Agul was active in the local circuit and quickly made name for himself as a dynamic bass and guitar player. A walk into Sai’s studio is all it took for these two guitarists to get serious about their passion. The three ended up working on their first song. Silpa was a popular performer of popular Bollywood numbers and Ghazals at local events. After being introduced to the band through a common friend, Silpa decided to lend her voice to AudioDetour.

Alongside composing and recording music, live performances have become a major part of AudioDetour’s journey. These performances have resulted in massive support from Indians and Americans in and around the United States. AudioDetour has also been featured on a couple of radio shows and podcasts including a popular show on BBC Radio.

The songs featured here are drawn from AudioDetour's debut album, "Transitions, Reflections and 9 kilos of Aachaar". The album contains 9 songs, which try to capture a gamut of emotions, from fun to romantic to pensive. Genre is not a boundary for this album, for which influences are drawn from carnatic, hindustani, rock, blues, and many more."

A serious case of blogger's block has been looming around me and a couple of my blogging buddies. We constantly visit each other's blogs and notice that the other hasn't blogged and procrastinate blogging on our own. Today, I'm breaking this habit and finally penning down my thoughts.

I had a wonderful New Year's Eve, the jobless (uhm...let me rephrase that, lifeless) person that I was, I went to work on New Year's eve and spend the turn of the year working on keeping two of our switches up. Uhm...to the non-technical audience, I was just making sure you guys could call your loved ones and say "Hey!! Happy New YEAR!!!" :) yep...lame but hey, I wasn't the only one there :) hehe..so there are more of us who don't really have a life. A heavy fog had hit the city then and my cab driver had an awesome time stopping every few seconds to step out and ensure that we were still on the road....and occasionally to walk around and check where we were :) After a gruelling two hours of searching for streetlights, sign boards, and insanely blind bikers speeding at 120 in a fog of visibility 50m, he finally got me home. A short nap later, I learn that most of my friends got wasted the previous night hours before the turn of the year. Hehe...so I don't have a life, the rest had way too much of it to stay up to enjoy the countdown...so hey...guess it evened out :)

Well, speaking of night activities....guess I'm getting used to the fact that I do dumb things, I fail to notice them these days. The other day I had a night activity and was to reach an Exchange at Tis Hazari at 9:45pm. Since there was this huge confusion about cabs, I finally didn't get one and was asked to get to the exchange on my own. The miser that I am, I decided to use the Metro. Left home at 8:30p and walked towards the metro station at Dwaraka Sec 10 (This is the second last station on the westward direction of the Blue Line). My plan, arrive at CP in 45 minutes, catch my connection to Kashmere Gate through the Yellow line, get the last train out of Kashmere Gate on the Red Line to Tis Hazari just in time to get there by 9:45 or 10p. Oh well, with Delhi's well known punctuality, being 15 minutes late would actually be too early!

Sigh...little was I to know that the world was conspiring against me already. I reached the station around 8:50p and well guess what happens, no train....5 minutes pass.....10....12....and finally a train pops up...yep, I had forgotten that the frequency at this station was 12 minutes and I had just missed the previous train.

A whole 40 minutes later I get a call from one of my colleagues asking me where I was and that they were leaving Tis Hazari to the site as we were getting late. I'm sure all of you have been in situations like this when your mind just fails to perform a task that it has spent over 23 years perfecting....thinking! I jumped out of the train at the next station and jumped into a rickshaw and headed to the site....uhm...now for the punch line...my dearest readers, I didn't know where the site was :) I'm almost always sleeping just before I get to this site at a place called Shaktinagar. It's in a place I haven't ventured into during the day and hence I was pretty sure I'd get lost. The rickshaw finally entered Shaktinagar Circle (it's also the market there...read my prev post to understand what they mean by "markets" here)...and yes you guessed it, I was lost...we asked a couple of people around if they knew where I wanted to go...yep sounds demented, but we tried giving it a shot anyways...finally we were informed that we were on the wrong side of Shaktinagar, and we would have to travel another 5-10kms to the right place. Time's ticking away and my colleague rung up when I hadn't reached. Thats when my dearest brain decided to work for the first time that night, and I gave my phone to the rick driver and he gave him directions. Cold winds had me numb but hey I was finally there after a whopping 20 minutes!

Scheduled Time of Departure - 8:15p
Actual Time of Departure - 8:30p
Expected Time of Arrival - 9:55p
ACtual Time of Arrival - 11:00p (Oh yes...even with Delhi's norms for punctuality, I was LATE)

Sigh...guess some things never change!

Interesting images from imagechef

It was just another day in the office when I got a call from my Technical manager asking me to prepare for an interview in a couple of hours by our client. Although surprised, I felt it was best doing something about it rather than brooding away. The afternoon on the same day, I finally had the interview and well...I wasn't impressed by myself.

The next day, my TM calls me into his office with a fierce look on his face. The client had returned with their feedback and it must have been bad....with a disappointed look on his face he showed me his laptop with the mail open...it read "We would like to hire Shanim Sainul for the project at Delhi"....WTF?? a big laughter by my TM later reality
struck..."Delhi" seemed to be brightly shining on my face like a billboard in Las Vegas....Oh Boy!!!

A long wait later, I'm finally here in the capital! My first day was uneventful, we spent 2 hours going around different sectors of Gurgaon in search of my company's office there. Apparently we had taken the wrong road to Gurgaon and ended up taking the wrong turns and were in a completely different locality. Finally at 3pm in the afternoon after a whopping 2.5hrs I was finally in the office. After the initial introductions and the reinstallation of my laptop, I was heading back home. That's when I realise how different things are in this city. I had to cross over the border and hence no through taxis to the place I was put up at, Dwaraka. My manager in Gurgaon dropped me off near the border, and I decided to walk till the border and look around for a Delhi auto. Alright so I did cross the border, but not a single auto in sight...it was as if they were alerted well in advance of my arrival and decided to evade me at all costs! A lone cycle rickshaw helped me out then...uhm...yeah I was hell guilty riding on one but well he insisted and dropped me off at the nearest junction asking me for just 2Rs!!! jeez...Guilt won over and I paid him 10 bucks....which again seemed too little for dragging over 80kgs of weight for over a km. The rickshaw charged me 60 bucks and I was finally at my pal's place around 10 in the night.

The next day was quite uneventful, besides the morning ride to my client's office. I went by three modes of transport spending over a hundred bucks to finally find the place, only to know later that I was to meet my reporting manager the next day. hmmmmm...oh well it was fun and I ain't complaining :) Under my better judgment I decided on going back home that evening by the company cab....was I relieved to reach home at 6:30! The next day was much more interesting, I was finally going into Delhi and not sticking to the routine Gurgoan journeys. My reporting manager had asked me to meet him in the GK-II (Greater Kailas) office in the afternoon. Had a relaxed morning and slowly moved out of the house and took a rick to GK-II....uhm...if u guys are wondering why I'm constantly on ricks and not on buses like it was when I had entered Bangalore...well...times change and company pays ;) (atleast I'm hoping)...and moreover, there are practically zero buses from Dwaraka to most parts of the city...hence not worth waiting for one.

It was an hour long journey and I was finally in one of the most posh areas in the city. When I got the address, I was told that the place was near the M-Block market....for a moment I pictured a vegetable market with bullock carts all around and hawkers screaming out for attention....sigh...yep I was wrong. The M-Block market is anything but that...the first shop I saw CCD, followed by Barrista, and a couple of other coffee pubs..I later learnt that this is the girl hangout...uhm...youth hangout in Delhi and has some of the best pubs....pubs like Diva and rpm...yep it's a hep part of town and trust me...it's awesome....as for the babes...well all of you who've seen the forward about India Pakistan Friendship (the huge crowd of girls at a concert to be more specific) apparently haven't been to delhi!!!! The below average looking girls here are as pretty as the above average looking girls back in Bangalore....and trust me...the guys who've been to Bangalore can surely get what I mean!

The weekend was quite ok, I couldn't go out much as my pal who was to give me company had work over the weekend and we just had the morning to go places. I was looking for a place to stay so it was more of house hunting than anything else. Took a ride on "Delhi ke Shaan"...no it's not my imposter...it's the Delhi Metro!!! For those who have been to London, well it's pretty much like the Tube...isn't that enough said? The Metro is just too good, and it surely makes you feel you've been teleported to some developed nation as you enter any of its stations. The only thing that gives it away is the hindi written along with english everywhere. Travel around the city is a breeze with the Metro and I'm just waiting for the time it covers the city as a whole....the second phase of the metro is expected to complete by the end of '07. Just dropped into Karol Bagh...saw a couple of houses....uhm...rather an excuse of a structure which was being rented out for over 4k and then moved back to Dwaraka where things seemed more sensible. The story about my house hunting would be a chapter on its own so I shall refrain from going into details.

Monday was an awesome day. I had woken up fully charged up and entered the bathroom to take a bath. The "courageous" person that I was, I decided to take a bath in cold water. Filled the bucket and the first mug sent shivers all over my body....with the second...I was numb! It kinda helped actually, didn't feel the rest of the mugs of water after that...so it was kewl...literally!!! The papers finally answered my puzzling mind...it had snowed in the north and has brought the mercury down in a big way...temperatures were now lingering around 9 degrees Celsius and was expected to slide further down....sigh...sweaters and two T-shirts followed. Yep the temp had come down in a big way and I could feel it all through my journey to GK-II that morning. A small chat with my colleagues and a meeting with my managers in Bangalore later I headed to Tis Hazari, a site where I would be working to check out a few things. The first thing I did notice there was monkeys! Oh boy...yes...just outside the Metro after a 2 minute walk, the place was filled with monkeys jumping around trees! hmmm...a transition from the most modern, to the India we read in most American books. It was 6 by the time I got out of there. Took the metro to Rajiv Chowk and waited for a pal at the station there and jumped out to see CP...ie. Connaught Place. The place where Ghandhiji's assassin made plans of murder. An awesome place is the smallest compliment you can give. The circular road surrounded by both International and Indian brands can surely bring out the shopper in you...and for us misers, the Palika Bazaar opens its arms out welcoming you into its stores. The place is just beautiful!!!! And as my manager said....greenery abundant ;)

Things have just begun, I'm loving it already...keep watching this space for more...for now...ciao!!

Well first before I start, I'm sure most of you must've noticed the number of pic posts have increased significantly from my previous posts....why you ask? I got a new phone!!!! Bought the new Sony Ericsson K790i on installments and boy am I happy with my purchase!!!!!! The phone has a feature that lets you blog directly from the phone onto your blogger account and I'm finally able to express my inner most....uhm confusions? Whatever...it rocks!! Btw..the diwali special pic is courtesy of the girls living opposite our flat...those kids took the pain of making a rangoli as well as decorating their flat with all the diyas possible....we haven't cleaned our room for the past 3 months...infact i've got a spider sleeping next to me....thankfully i've learnt my lessons from the bugger back home in Kerala and I've not asked him to move off yet...but yeah..the bugger does hog the blanket bigtime....sigh....shall refrain from complaining...not interested in bites anymore...

A couple of weeks back a friend of mine, Nida, had come down from Hyderabad to Bangalore on a visit...it's been almost 6yrs since I met her last and both of us were pretty excited about meeting after sooo long...Had an amazing evening and I had dinner with her mom and family...was awesome and as we split she invited me over to Hydie....which was on my to-do list since 2002 (thanks to Akshath)...took me a week of thinking and I finally decided on making the trip after all...three days of planning and I had my ticket, a place to stay, money and uhm....oh yeah...clothes :) oh no..i didn't buy anything...just did my laundary after a real long time :)

It was a friday, I was lazy to sit in the office long and well how could you...u've got Place #3 of the "Places to visit in India" list in your mind how can you? Thankfully everyone at work was in the TGIF mood and was hoping Hosur Road's traffic would disappear for the day....but alas that was a dream which would never come true. Fast forward to the time after I managed to get Vikas to sprain his leg...alright so maybe the bugger was too busy oogling at the girls at Brigade but it was me who got him walking for over 10 mins after that :) hehe...so I finally got into the bus and was on my way to the Twin City Metro of South India...the land of the Nawabs...the Charminar and most importantly....the land of Haleem and Hyderabadi Biriyani!

A short sleep that lasted just 4 hrs later I was woken up by a gullute cop bugging all of us to show our luggage....oh crap, I knew I shouldn't have taken my shaving gel in my hand baggage...uhm...wait...wasn't that airline regulations??? phew...took me a couple of minutes to realise they were looking for bottles of alcohol and my shaving gel was safe...a couple of minutes later we had entered into Hyderabad....and well I was shocked....y you ask? For one, they actually have roads....and no not like Bangalore where the roads are mere excuses of Tar laid on minute stretches...these were 8 laned dual carriageways and 6 laned dual carriageways with over 10 flyovers in the first leg of my travel alone!....I was later informed that the city has 48 flyovers!!! My friend and I were considering putting up two goal posts on either end of the road and playing some serious football....why AP could even host a friendly EPL match for the heck of it on these roads!...HDK...now you know why all the IT honchos are moving out!

The bus went all around town and I finally reached my pal Shamju's place at Tollychowki. I was to meet Nida later that day and we decided on meeting up at Hyderabad Central when it opened. The punctual soul that I am, I left at 9:15 and caught a rick to Mehdipatnam as my friends suggested. Supposedly there were regular buses from there to Punchgutta (yep Hyd Central is out there...and no I'm not nuts to go halfway round the world and then catch another bus to Hyderabad Central).....and I believed them...true there were quite a few buses, but getting onto one was something one could never dream of. Although 10 sumo wrestlers could fit in the bus and probably wrestle their way out of tickets in the bus, there would always be close to twenty people hanging on the footboards....to get fresh air i'm assuming. And jumping into one of these is as good as being roadkill. I noticed a lone bus sitting in a corner silently waiting for its prey and I jumped in. It took a lousy half an hour before the driver popped up, drove away a demented guy who was drunk from the bus (everyone in the bus was having a laugh ragging the poor guy....and i remained the silent observer....yep i'm mallu after all)...

It was close to 9:50 when the bugger finally got the vehicle moving. I was quite psyched out 'coz that meant I would prbbly be late and not make it at 10...but wait...apparently you guys don't know what I hadn't known then...this should explain things better...in a nutshell, I reached there at 9:59....and I had a whole 60 seconds to cross the road and get to the entrance. And lo behold....the store is closed...(?????) I look around, not a soul...a security guy pops up and informs me that I'm nuts....fine so I knew that before...what gave me away? "The store opens only at 11 saar"...I call her up, and she confirms this fact of hyderabad, the city sleeps till 11am!!! sigh, an hour of walking around followed and a conversation with another Bangalore based guy who, like me, ended up in front of Hyderabad Central at an untimely hour of 10am...I'm sure all hyderabadis would be wondering what I was doing outside so early in the morning!

11:10, Nido arrives...and a quick walk around Central and we were off on our sightseeing trip of the city :) rather mine...Banjara Hills, Prasad's, Eat Street, Abids, McDonald's...uhm...McDonald's? oh yeah that wasn't sightseeing actually...that was feeding time :) Two burgers, a huge coke and fries later we bid goodbye and split.

The next day I'd decided to live the hydie way and woke up at 10am...yep I was still early since it was a Sunday and 10am was too early....jeez! The miseries of it all! It wasn't until 12 or so that I met up with another schoolmate of mine, Tariq...again in Hyderabad Central...we hung around Banjara Hills at his place, talking abt school and the guys around here...blah blah...nostalgia at its best....and I had to split to go to Paradise in Secunderabad...my pals had asked me to pop up there for Iftar....and to our surprise (and to the miseries of Shaheen) it was closed. It took Shaheen just 3 seconds to come up with an alternative, Pizza Hut Iftar Treat - Unlimited Pizza, Garlic bread and on ice cream for 175Rs only....sigh...this place rocks!!! We broke our fast at a masjid nearby and headed straight to Pizza Hut...a dinner that lasted over 2hours followed and we finally split. Shamju dropped me at the bus stop and it was back to Bangalore for me. Missed out on two things though :( Couldn't have Hyderabadi Haleem or Hyderabadi Biriyani when I was there :( Shaheen made it worse by explaining how Chicken and Mutton costs the same in Hyderabad and how they have huuuuuuge quantities of food...and this is not just for non-veg stuff but veg too....next time maybe...

The trip was awesome and since I hadn't purchased the k790i then, I don't have any pics :( Anyways, guys...I'm moving out of Bangalore soon....going waaaaay up North to Delhi...I'm sure there'll be waaaay many more posts once I get there...The southie that I am, I suck at hindi...the little I do know, is Mumbaiyya and that's unacceptable there....hmmm...in other words, loads of stupidity to follow...Keep reading!