Weekend trekking

It was a long time since I had been somewhere with a bunch of friends or colleagues. The last weekend was indeed a memorable trip.

We all rocked!

In Pic, L->R: myself kneeling down, Rohit above me, Sundar sitting down, Rajesh(a), Sunaina, Prashanth, Vani, Shilpa sitting down, Manasi, Joe with cap, Namarta, Shiv with sunglasses, Shreyas, Sonu.

Bali and Sneha missed out this group pic at top of Ambukuti Hills beacuse of "Heights" in being afraid of heights! :P

It was an awesome journey on friday night. After leaving directly from "Virtual hell" (Sundar's quote in one of his mails, meaning office) at 9:00pm, to reach the heavens of kerala in the morning. We all slept till the sun’s grand arrival at the horizon just over the silvery clouds.

In pic, Sun rise views from cottage.

In pic, Enroute to cottage.

In Pic, Our temporary residence for that weekend. (Valley view cottage)

In pic, chaudvin ka chand :)

Many poets have tried to explain about the nature’s beauty in words, but in vein. So I am not commenting about the awesome scenery around. All that one can do is just see and enjoy it.

Must important of all, I found myself closer than ever with my buddies on the way. Even my best pals around were surprised to see me in such a different kind of mood, when we sang songs of our likings all the way (I could clearly read it from shiv’s and joe’s face). It was surprisingly interesting that I heard Sunaina saying “Sensitive!”(or did I overhear that?) looking at my choices of Md Rafi’s Oldies and “Patho” songs. Many thanks to Shilpa, Sneha and Sunaina for singing my dedications (Hope I didn’t trouble you) and taking me to wonder land.

Also I found myself very bad at dumb-charades after hearing to “ziddi” (supposed to be a hindi movie) as “zeti” (some damn English movie) and trying to show the action in kannada “e-style”! [:D] hehe… soon after that every one lost hopes of playing it, I think. But it was fun.

It was pure stress buster in acting crazy at the pond half way up the chembra peak, like going to the other end of the pond and meditating, hanging half way from the tree skimming the surface of the water!

And how could I forget my act of balancing on one leg on the peak!

How can any one forget “I am the king of the world” dialogue by our great mighty “Joe” young ;)

What a “LOVE”ly place this is!

Together we reached the heights as we believed that mountain is not too high until we reach the top.

It was really tiring for all them and I was the one who made you follow all the way till the peak. Thank you fellas for keeping my energy levels up all the way. If you have anything to scold me for taking you up there hungry and thirsty, you can send it to my personal email-id. But also I made sure everyone came back safe literally at each step. Thank me for those fellas ;)

With just one argument over “judgment of friendship” with Manasi, I got to know how good she is at heart. I don’t remember how it kicked off.

Special thanks to Shreyas for entertaining us so well and being a sport for all our jokes and everyone else who made these moments ever last in my memories.

I uploaded the collection of photos from all the cameras at Picasa web album for all of us to rejoice these memories and especially Sonu and Sunaina who certainly can’t access out shared file system at office.

Link: http://picasaweb.google.com/karthikhb/WaynadPics?authkey=K2_XJ8Dy4rU#

There are just 500 pictures in the album!! Happy rewinding back your memory as "today's beautiful moments are tomorrow's wonderful memories" :)

Cheers,
Karthik Bharadwaj H

ಚಿತ್ರಾನ್ನ ಚಿತ್ರಾನ್ನ....(Chitranna Chitranna...)

The song, "Chitranna Chitranna..." is one of the most heard songs in the Radio stations of Bangalore. But i wont comment of "mixture of movies" or "lemon rice" (whatever it is... :D) mentioned in the song but a story that happened to me on the night while coming back home from house warming ceremony of my friend at 10pm late night.
As you proceed with the post you will understand the meaning of what i mean by chitranna!

Ok, let me begin... I didn't want to miss the occasion of meeting my college buddys after a long time. So after busy schedule at office, I left for my friend's new house at 5:30pm in different route cab which almost showed me 3/4th of Bangalore ;) Surprisingly i met another buddy on the way who was heading the same way.. so we managed to catch an auto and reached around 7:30pm i believe.. As expected there were a bunch of idiots ;) and am proud to say that i was one among them(hehe..). There we all had great time remembering college days and fun. And I forgot to mention about great house, Nicely planned. I lost track of time and then I was in a fix :( It was almost 9:00pm when i recognised that i was late to go back home(ofcourse in bus..). I left with my friend but when we reached bus stop it was 9:30pm. Good that he got bus soon to malleshwaram, otherwise he would me in serious trouble like me.

Then I was all alone in bus stop with few guys around as though staring at me! A person around was selling the daily pass "in black!" (actually i dont know what to call if you use it for whole day and sell it for lower money..) And then i was approached by a stranger who talked to me in Hindi and asked if the bus that goes to some-Nagar(I dont remember) from here, already gone. I replied to him in same language. He asked me time. I somehow answered that too.( with all "satvi kaksha" knowledge that i could remember) It was "sava dus"!(10:15pm). He didn't seem to be happy and I asked him why? He said I usually leave early- before 9:30pm but today i had very little customers. So had to work later that evening. when i asked him, he said he had put up a Pan stall, next road to Rajajingar, ESI bus stop.

Above all he commented on my talking hindi as pure (even though it was broken!). I dont know how but the same language we used made him more comfortable. He was open to me by now and said that he was from UP came in search of job, its hard to earn a living here, would have to sleep in my shop and then leave early tomorrow then and he looked worried and suddenly my cell phone sprang from nowhere calling me to hit to green key to answer my ever worried/angry mom :D
I answered that I will take an auto, reach home and turned around to see him go away from sight round the corner back to his very little shop. I caught an auto at 10:30pm and fare was double the charge as it was late night. Though i had no options other than that, I just started to bargain on that fare but I stopped when he too said that its hard to earn my bread sir. Well, everyone earns his Chitranna(lemon rice!) or daily bread only from his profession and we all are one among them!!!

Song lyrics that interested me the most!

Who has not heard of the song "Hotel California" by Eagles? If not, go and listen to it(carefully) now. You would not concentrate much on the lyrics of this great song as you are driven by awesome soul touching guitar play all the way till the end.

As I said the lyrics is most interesting part of this song. The meaning of it is difficult to get for the first time you go through it. The song is a great narrative tale about traveler becoming trapped in mystic nature of a spooky-dungeon like night hotel, if you consider the crude meaning of the song as-it-is. But it is metaphorically awesome. It can be even thought of the tale of a person suffering from drug addiction trying to relinquish it but in vain. At first he casually stops in, not really wanting or looking for anything but some relaxation. The scene is so comfortable and welcoming there is no immediate desire to leave, but after a while it starts to become obvious to him that he is trapped in a sweet-smeared-nightmare. At last in desperation he believes that there is no way out and had been caught up fully in.

Let me post the lyrics here too, though you can find it in other numerous lyrics websites.

Eagles - Hotel California Lyrics

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
’this could be heaven or this could be hell’
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor,
I thought I heard them say...

Welcome to the hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
Plenty of room at the hotel California
Any time of year, you can find it here

Her mind is Tiffany-twisted, she got the Mercedes bends
She got a lot of pretty, pretty boys, that she calls friends
How they dance in the courtyard, sweet summer sweat.
Some dance to remember, some dance to forget

So I called up the captain,
’please bring me my wine’
He said, ’we haven’t had that spirit here since nineteen sixty nine’
And still those voices are calling from far away,
Wake you up in the middle of the night
Just to hear them say...

Welcome to the hotel California
Such a lovely place
Such a lovely face
They livin’ it up at the hotel California
What a nice surprise, bring your alibis

Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said ’we are all just prisoners here, of our own device’
And in the master’s chambers,
They gathered for the feast
The stab it with their steely knives,
But they just can’t kill the beast

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the passage back
To the place I was before
’relax,’ said the night man,
We are programmed to receive.
You can checkout any time you like,
But you can never leave!

Answer sheet psychology

Surprised!? Let me give you a background for the title.
My Mom is a private school teacher. She had got a few answer sheets home to correct after the mid-term exams and I get to find total for all the answer sheets, cross check and verify the marks. etc., I am happy to help her because I do get relief of some kind in doing such petty things. I usually enjoy the funny writings of the young kids rather than verifying them.

But sometimes you have to go beyond the words in answers to get to know them better. You can actually read that kid's mind in its creative work on answer script like story telling, passage writing on a picture, own sentences.

Yesterday, I was going through one peculiar answer sheet. The kid had scored a low score of 16 on 100! I wondered what makes one score so less and the answer to my wondering lied in the sheet itself. There was a question which said - "Write about your mother in about 5-6 sentences of your own." I was shocked to see that the kid had begun the paragraph by saying that "My mother is very poor. She is always working. She takes care of whole family. I want to see her always happy. I love her very much." After going through this, It hurt me to even swallow my saliva down the throat. It was like a depression note left by someone before committing suicide! I did not find any such writings in any of the other kids paper. They all had said that their mom knew how to prepare lots of dishes. She is beautiful. She always drops me at school and picks up in the evening...and so on.

You could imagine the poverty that the kid is suffering at that very young age by it's very first reaction to thought of the family. The kid is really highly sensitive. All that he wants to be is secure, a promise of better life every new day.

My interview experience...

Having a few days left to join freescale, i went back to the day i was recruited for it.

Its a memorable day in my life. Having got up early i went to college before everyone else. (not even the janitors had come). It was said that we will have a Pre Placement Talk(PPT) on company prospects, what they do, and what they look for at 9am in the morning. But it got delayed. So i had lots of time to "chill out" in the campus. (really it was chilling outside ;) )

Worst thing was, I had to wear the "professional attire" all day long! It took totally 16hrs from morning till night 10pm to declare the fresh recruits!

Competition is growing fast these days. Initial screening was based on scores and 70% CGPA in B.E. There were 100's of them who wrote the written test, out of which 14 got through to the interview rounds. They gave a lot of importance to C, Data struct, OS, Networking, problem solving capabilities. And finally 3 of them got through interview rounds.

The written test took place after PPT till 1pm. The corrections of the written apti test papers took long. So Interviews started by evening 4pm. The most important and interesting of them all was technical interview round. It was testing my patience to sit in one place for hours. It's all worth the trouble if you succeed in the interview. Looking at the interviewees coming out saying that it went bad i was afraid but somewhere i consoled myself saying that i have less competition now.

There was only one room with panel interview, all others were handles single interviewers. Fortunately or unfortunately, the interviewee before me opted not to go for that room. I had to go to a panel of two interviewers who bambarded me with two different questions at the same time. One was asking about the OS, Networking and other technical stuff(normal tech round), while other was mainly into something like the stress testing(saying "no, its not like that... is it?" to everything that i tell). All the previous candidates who came out of the room had failed because of this difficult situation. He asked some questions like "where would you see urself in other 5 years to come?" and i replied with "Technical Lead!!" without knowing how long it takes to be one. Then came a sign of negative response from the other side that you cant be in other 5 years. I had to defend myself in words about my ability, strengths, projects that i worked on, my contributions. I couldn't believe that i talked so impressively but when i did their face reading it was clear. I took my own time in answering both the interviewer's questions but gave apt and precise response with illustrations, code snippets. I got positive feedback from them before i left out.

Then came the HR round of interview just in a few mins after tech round. It was very much like informal talk and guy was very cool! which made it easy for me. He asked me about the thing that gives you more happiness than any other thing in the world, even though i seemed crazy. I said that it was while writing poems that i feel the joy/pleasure. (It was in engineering that i started writing poems). I think he was touched by that! I was full of enthusiasm even at that time(maybe 9pm). I asked few questions like - "How will the day at freescale be?","Any training? How long?" to which he patiently responed back with "long memorised para"! :P
As i came out, I had a feeling that i was through and called back home that i will come back home once it is done. To my surprise, i was correct! I was speechless and had expressions on my face similar to that of the last scene where will smith gets a job in the movie - "The pursuit of happyness".(its a memorable one)

I will come back with a post on "first day at office" by next weekend.
C ya. later...

Call me crazy!

I know that you are surprised by seeing the post title, but you will know why when you read the whole story below.

Today, I did the most craziest thing in my life till now... Don't believe it? Then ask my thighs!

ok, ok... no more suspense. I bought a NEW bicycle today and rode it from town hall (K.R..Market) till our house about 14 Kms at 7:00 pm peak traffic in Bangalore city! Now u can call me crazy.

This is the first thing I bought something for myself in my own money! (stipend from HP project). One of my childhood dream has come true.(Don't ask me the remaining ones now)

Actually, having completed my graduation, I am finding ways to spend my free time (till i join freescale) in a quality manner. These few holidays are one of the most important part in anyone's life.

I have started reading good novels which interests me. I started reading "devaru" by A.N.MurthyRao. Its nice book, like a prabhandha type. Of late i have started off with "Annana nenepugaLu"( author - K.P.PoornaChandra Thejasvi). An awesome book full of laughter, a memoir on Sri.Kuvempu. I am looking for good books to start off with because there are lots of good old "literature-wise heavy" books :) in our house. (mom's gr8 collection).

Then coming back to my new venture that i am up to. Its great pleasure to ride on bike with wind blowing past your ears, cool breeze taking the sweat off your forehead. Call it adrenaline rush or anything but thats a super experience. I plan to ride it everyday morning starting at 5:00am as its a great exercise but i don't know how far i can carry that on.
Also the petrol price hike seems to be rocketing due to inflation. So no more fuel-bike for purchasing petty things near my home. I am happy that I am not contributing to air pollution and most of all I am delighted to see other people's reaction around me. I feel that in someway I am spreading an awareness everytime i take it on highway when i listen to pubic comments. All I can remember now is this memorable quote - "Be the change you want to see in the world" by Mahatma Gandhi.

Oh, I didn't tell you the bike that i purchased.
Its - Hercules Ultima Shox 6Sp.
Features:
Lower step thru stylish frame, 6 speed shimano gears, front and rear shock absorbers, Sturdy carrier, comfortable saddle with spring.
Cost: Rs. 4100/-

Together with all these, i will continue to goto flute classes regularly. Huh..! lots of things to do these holidays.

Crazy carthik!