Kakinada Trip - A Comical one !!!!!!!!

Last weekend was one of the happening in my life. I went to my colleague marriage in Kakinada, Andhra and thoroughly enjoyed the trip. Trip started at Egmore at Saturday 5.20 PM. We boarded Circar express at the warm evening in Chennai. The train was usually full and buzz was missing.

Train was moving as a bullock cart and slow as hell. Then we heard that journey will of 16 hours.. Thinking what to do us were involved in some random talks (Boyish Talks: P: P). Then we had our dinner and about to do the important thing for a human being... Sleeping :) The 2 seats in front of us were free and some people were behind the TTR to allocate the seats to them.

A family of 4 was also coming with us and they had their RAC tickets confirmed. Thanks to our guys not turning up to the trip :) then there was a single seat vacant in our side. It was allotted to an elderly person. He was well dressed up and an old man of an age of about 65. He was also having sandal and kungumam in his forehead. He had Pepsi and a packet of chapathi for his dinner. He was looking gentle and sat with us, Started talking on some things and went on, on and on. At that we found out that he is drunk and so slowly started to reduce the chat.

He started with me and asked whether he can take the lower berth. He himself self declared that I will be giving him as he is old. I too obliged to stop being involved in chat. Then we were discussing some things which were on personal front :) Then once again he poked his nose and started his speaking.

We four on a serious discussion…. Realllyyyy :) :)

Old man: Hi guys!!! What are you discussing?
.
Ramanan (My Team Lead): we are just discussing some things on the personal front.

Old Man: I am 65. I worked for all my life and now enjoying. I will travel a lot. So don’t worry be happy!!!!

Ramanan:!@#% (In Mind)

Old man: Sir, I think you are Project Manager. Could you please help?

Ramanan: I am not manager. I am just the lead.

Old Man: It’s ok. You can help me sir. From your talking I believe that you can help me.

Ramanan: I am not that big person. I can’t help in all situations.

Old Man: My son is good in some software. You know vivek’s billing software and he is good at web designing. Could you please help me in getting my son a job in your concern?

Ramanan: Sir, I am not that much big as you think and I can’t select a person as such. (Pleading to stoppppp)

Old Man: It’s ok. Please give your business card, So that I can contact you in future.

Ramanan: (Searching in his purse) actually acting and doesn’t finds one. Old man seeing anxiously on the events happening in the process.

Suresh interrupts and asks Ramanan whether he is not having the card. Ramanan gives him a sheepish smile and tells him to be quiet. He had one in his bag and didn’t disclose. Old man was desperate on the things happenings.

Old Man: Could you please write your name and phone number, I can use it to contact in the future.

Ramanan: (Thinks hard) Writes someone’s name and mobile number and gives it back to the old man :)

For drunkards, His brand was McDowell. He had mixed it with Pepsi to hide the fact: P

The old man was happy and the family man whom I told came to our rescue. He told that old drunk man to go to some other seat and he slept in our place as his family was beside. In the morning when we woke up the old man didn’t even Speak and forgot all the happenings the other night :) has anyone too bugged up with you guys???

The Next one and half days flied with Surya’s marriage and we enjoyed it thoroughly. From the people there to the food, all were awesome :) the photo session also going side by side. We had some various poses and got tired of it eventually!!! The marriage was by 1.45 AM (Yeah its AM). We stayed awake till late night and made our presence in the marriage:). The train for us was very early in morning and so we didn’t slept for the night!!!!




We boarded a train from Kakinada to Vijayawada and reached by 10AM. Then we planned to go to Kanaga Durga temple. The temple was on the hill and steps were to climb which tested our stamina. Our stamina was one of the worst and proved when we walked through the steps (Hustling and bustling). We had a super darshan and made our way to the road. Krishna River was nearby and we went and had a view of it. Also had our legs washed away by the water :). We boarded Jan Shatabdi train from Vijayawada to Chennai Central. It came to Chennai by 9.30 PM. We ran to Chennai Park and got the tickets.

We boarded the straight train to Chengalpet. Once again our common thing came back to haunt us :) Old man beside us :)

Old Man: Hi guys…. Are you working in IT Company?

RajaRam(RR): (Scapegoat now) Yes

Old Man: My daughter is also working in software.

RR: ok

Old man: Will you be going to foreign?

RR: Yes. Sometimes!!!! (Thinking why I got into this situation)

RR: Ramanan this marriage hall is nice Na???

Ramanan: Not wanting to get into the conversation Turns the head and replies yes!!!! He he (Why to become the scapegoat again)

Old man: My daughter has gone to France and he has two gals :)

RR : ok (Thinking what the hell he is going to knowing that information, That too married girl’s information :P :P )

Ramanan was about to get down at Mount station, started to get up in guindy itself. The train was full and to avoid rush he started.

Old man: Sir, where are you going to get down?

Ramanan: St.Thomas Mount

Old Man: This is guindy only sir. Why getting up now itself?

Ramanan: (Thinking what shall I do to get out of this) I can get down easily if I get up now itself.

Old Man: Great sir. Nice planning :) (Shaking his hands)

Ramanan escaped the mokka to be precise :) :)

Rajaram continued to be in the conversation. I told him to wear head set and listen to songs by means of action. I too wore headset and started hearing songs. The plan worked and old man got another man to put his mokka. The worst thing was he was not even drunk. We thought if he had drunk what the hell it would be!! Hehe.

Our travel experience was no less than a comical script…. There were 12 cars and so many seats in train and in another it was about 2k people in the train but the person was near us.

“Adhu epadi da engala patha matum mokka podanum nu thonudu” . Also i remembered the song " Why this Kolaveri Kolaveri di!!!!!" .We were made the scapegoat for the second time in three days…. Has anyone got the same experiences.. Do share and make us less hearted so that we are not the only scapegoats :) :)

Four Years of IT Industry Life

November 14th 2007

From May 17th 2007, When I finished my BE (EEE) I was waiting for joining date in Cognizant. It took almost half year to get that elusive call to join the company on November 16th. I also asked them jokingly are they calling for November 16th or December 16th. Then calls flew from my landline to different parts of India to tell the good news. At last I got the chance to get my first pay cheque :) :) From My Class only 4 guys were selected, Me, Nirmall, Sam and Bala.

November 16th 2007

We were asked to come to Tidel Park on November 16th 2007. I along with my friend Nirmall went there on the prescribed date. We got down at the Madhya Kailash and Nirmall said we can go by walk and it is just 5 minutes walk. We started to walk and at halfway only we came to knew that he was referring that with respect to bike. We walked for almost 25 minutes to reach that place. We were astonished to see hifi buildings and surprised to see people walking here and there with ID cards hanging in them. Swipe in and Swipe out also astonished us as we haven’t seen anything like that in our college life.

I and Nirmall searched for the last seat as possible (As all of the college students do). We got the last seats too. The lectures started and went for almost 6 hours on the day. We also had some games in between so that we are not asleep :) we occupied the last row and second last row by Eswari College people (Sister Concern of our college) We got some friends there itself. The First day was good and the question for many was when we will get our IPOD (As Cognizant had given 30GB IPOD to all their staff on becoming 1billion$ company). But we didn’t got any answers for it :)

November 18th -19th 2007

The next two days were the weekend. But we went to do Medical checkup in the AVM Medical Foundation in Royapettah. We as a gang went there and finished the formalities and got the medical certificate from them.

November 20th-21th 2007

The Next two days were the lectures lined up and we did listened for sometime in spite of getting drowsy most of the times :) The best thing about these two days was the batches was formed for us. Also they had the ratio of 50-50 of girls and guys :) so in the process we lost one more person from our college Bala to Mainframes batch :( we got the Advance Java batch which was a huge shock. We are from electrical background and we were terrified to see the java. But as I say whatever happened happens for good, took it as a challenge and made my walk towards the horizon.

November 22nd- 25th 2007

On Wednesday after the first two days of lecture, we were told to go to Siruseri for the soft skills program. I woke up at 4AM to catch the 5AM train at my place. Reached Tidel park by 7AM so as to catch the 7.15AM Cab. We went through the soft skills program and got to know the persons in our batch. We mingled with one another well in spite of the cultural differences.

November 19th 2007 – July 1th 2010

My tenure in Cognizant was about 2 years 8 months. I really liked the environment and people there. I had so many friends and they were so helpful. They have helped in any other way in my life. Be it a small or big help, all of them have done me a lot of favor by persisting with me and also continuing doing so :)

All can get the glimpse of my Cognizant life from the blog posts I have written before :)

Training: Sweet Memories Of Training in Cognizant

Project Experience: Project Experiences in Cognizant

July 5th 2010 – Present

I quit Cognizant in July 2010 and joined Mindtree. I had lots of questions in my mind whether I am doing the right thing or not. But I have not looked back and regretted my decision. Mindtree has treated with care and I had been doing so well and getting the confidence. I have been given lots of opportunities to perform and I liked it here. The transparency of the nature of the work and work culture, Work life balance is awesome so far here :) I have my Mindtree Experiences in my blogs:

Transition: My Transition from Cognizant to Mindtree

Experiences: Mindtree July 2010-2011

So this is all about my four year experiences in IT industry. So far I have enjoyed the challenge and relished it. In spite I am a guy who disliked computer once upon a time, now coming to terms in life. I know the challenges ahead are steep and I am ready to see it and conquer it. Hope all is well!!!!!!! Hoping for a great future and happy to be at this state in this juncture :) At last Whatever happens in life happens for good :) :)

An Ode to my Friends on Birthday Special Post

October 20th 2011- I Came round the Sun for the 26th time i.e. I completed 26 years in this earth. I got wishes from all the persons I knew and I am happy to be remembered by all. The Friends are the one who will eradicate the bitter sorrows in your mind. They are the ones who will be with you in all times- Good and Bad. I am blessed with have this kind of friends.

The most testing phase of life is going on for me now and I am putting every step after thinking a lot. I was dashed when my mom died in August, leaving her sons with a mountain to climb. But because of my friends I am able to defy the sorrows and get up and do my responsibilities. Thanks for being with in my hard times :) I want to thank some of them in this post

Satish Mukundan: He was my schoolmate and college mate. He is one of my best buddies and he knows about me in and out. The way he helped in all situations even before my mom’s death is very commendable. He is one person in whom you can rely on anytime. Just now he got married and I wish him a very happy married life. The way he will care of other persons and helping tendency of him astonishes me a lot. He is gem of a person and a person who won’t get angry in any situation. You can bully him anytime but he will be smiling at the end of it. Thanks for being my friend :) :)



Sivaraman: He was my schoolmate. He is not with me physically after the college period but will be helping me by means of online or in networking sites. He is one of the brilliant guy I have come across. Absolutely genius and his ideas will make us feel proud. He is my idol when it comes to write a blog. He points out my pros and cons effectively and neutrally. Thanks for being my friend :)



Poornima: She was also my schoolmate. She has been with me in all my incidents in my life. I need to thank her for the support she has been giving me so far. She is married now and has a child too. Still she calls me frequently and asks what I am doing and all stuffs as she was before marriage. She is very kind at heart. She has been my idol for the patience she has in her self.

Renu: Renuka was my schoolmate. She is one person I admire. Her way of speaking and behavior astonishes me. The way she respects the friendship is awesome. She will be straight forward and innocent too. She believes whatever others say :) also she will do what she thinks and doesn’t think what others think of it. Her famous Quote is “It is our life and live for yourself”. I have respect for her for this attitude of hers.

Vel: He was my schoolmate and college mate. He is a very jovial friend of mine. He will be always with at my bad times and will be making some jokes to which you will laugh for sure. He is a fan of F1 and Football. A hard core Lionel Messi fan and watches these two without fail. A budding Railway engineer in the making and he can give you good innovative ideas in terms of help :)



Sati: Sathish Kumar was also my schoolmate and college mate. We used to call him as Sati. He is a person who will never think of anything while doing a thing. A happy person all the way through. Smile will be always in his face which makes him special.



Badri: Badri was my Collegemate. He is one of the persons who can help you at any time. Even at the time of mom demise he had lend his help by sending his father and brother to hospital to console me. Still i remember how he was feeling when i called him when my mom was serious. I dono how i am gonna reciprocate badri. But he is that kind of person. He won't expect any thing from us. A real friend who everyone should have and i am very happy that i have got badri.. Even during college days he is one person who helps all without thinking his duties and he will have a smile and help you as much as he can. Thanks for being my friend da:)




Satish Mukundan, Me , Sati and Vel are the quartet of our place. We will go as a gang for the films and tours wherever we go :) :)




I might have left some other people from my school, College and office but it is not that i don't valued you... you have enhanced my living. Thanks for being my friend and don’t let it go till the end of life :) :)


Thanks once again :) :)

My Mom's Demise

Mother is a short word but has a big meaning. She is the one who helps when we are not well or feeling down. Whenever we are in trouble, the first person who comes in our mind will be our mom. I lost my mom a month back. Still the feeling lingers and the loss is irreplaceable. In the broader sense she is no more and we can’t change the fate.

When I was a year old, I had an accident. Hot water poured all over my body. Skin from the front side of the body came off and she was the one who ran taking me to the hospital. She used to apply ointment and give tablets to me. I didn’t remember but can assume the care she had for me. She won’t even eat and will be praying to god for my goodness. The way mother cares is special and none can give it back.

Whenever i get hurt or not feeling she is the one who will come first to help. I will not go to hospital without her. At the age of 25 too she will be accompanying me. All people are children to their mom even if they are grownup.

Confidence

Basically I am from the Lower middle class family. My Mom was born and brought in North India. She didn’t know Tamil clearly when she came after marriage. But she has the maximum number of friends in my locality now. Everyone were praising about her helping tendency. She had the confidence to move well with all and to be precise she is very friendly. Helping others will be her motto. The way she handles the bank details astonishes many. She ran the family with 600 rupees in the start.

When I joined 11th, we had a money crunch in our family. We got about 5000 from my dad’s uncle. My mom said she will pay 500 per month and finish off the debt. She was very confident and she did what she promised. Till now my dad’s uncle will praise her for it. My dad’s salary was less than 5k at that time.

As a student I learnt the situation of my family and one thing which she had in my mind is not to ask someone’s help for my job. She wanted me to perform well in my studies and I too got placed in campus. Her brother’s will put money in her bank account but she had never taken a single penny even at the time of problem.

I am very happy that I fulfilled her wish of getting placed in a good concern without any recommendation. Now I am feeling proud that I made her soul happy and will continue to do so in the future even if she is no more. She made me confident and I owe her a lot for that.

Love and Affection

The love and affection she has in all is not tangible. She is the youngest of the lot in her family. She will be loved by all and she reciprocates doubly. I learnt from her the love and affection is not a reciprocating one but it should come from heart. It should not expect anything. The quality she had made her friendly to all. All relatives are very close to my mom because she is not a person who expects anything back. She won’t miss any functions and this quality will be not for all. From now on, many of my relatives and definitely us will miss her smile and helping tendency :(

She will have all the problems in mind and won’t reveal to us. She had some complications in her body but she will work as if nothing is there. Till 2 months back we were unaware of her condition. We admitted her in AG hospital in Tambaram on June 13th and she was discharged on June 18th. The complication further enhanced after that. Her face got bulged and whatever she ate was vomited. She lost about 15 kgs in 2 months. My Dad got retired on July 20th and we admitted her Sundaram Medical Foundation hospital on August 1st. For the first 8 days she was good and talking to all. We expected her to be discharged in another 2 days after the tests are over.

Shock strikes

After a week or so she was diagnosed with TB in her Liver. So Medication was started for it. Suddenly she was unable to breathe well and was put under oxygen mask for 2 days. She had some severe pain in wearing it but on insistence of me she wore it. I was beside her from that day and my dad was there from day 1. On August 13th her condition became very unstable. She wasn’t able to breathe well and changed to ICU. There also condition didn’t improved and so they said they need to put her in ventilator. She resisted by saying she doesn’t need ventilator. This was the last impressions she gave. After that her condition worsened and doctors also said they can’t do much. The fate was clear and my mom was waging a losing battle.

On August 14th 7.20 AM my mom passed away, Leaving her sons and beloved hubby. She would have not thought to go and definitely not to leave us. But the fate had other ideas and she is no more. She was youngest of lot in her family and the way my uncles and aunts cried moved me on. But as my mom tells be composed in whatever we do, I remained calm. I don’t know how I was composed but for the good I was composed to make all the rituals.

My Mom demise is the biggest shock of my life. She was my teacher and lead in all things I do. After I joined CTS I used to get my mom sari on her birthday without her knowledge. Now I can’t do that. I didn’t expect to end so abruptly. But life has to go on. This is in my mind right now. I need to take care of my dad and younger brother. That is my first priority now. I need to do what my mom wanted to do for my family.

Thanks mom!!! For giving the good things and the way you brought me up. The love and affection you showered on me.. The confidence you instilled on me…. Miss you mom :( :( :( Be with me in my life and guide me all the way through!!!!!!

God please give me the strength to lead my life without my mom. I know she will be with me mentally.Please help me whenever i miss her personally :) :) Mom is God and Vice versa!!!!!

Vikramin Deivathirumagal!!!!!!!!

Deivathirumagal - Nice Movie!! Vijay Post Madarasapattinam has delivered goods again with this movie. The acting skills of all the actors especially Vikram and Sara (Nila) had to be mentioned!!! A nice movie without any of the commercial aspects and a beautiful narration of love between a mentally challenged father and his child... Anushka has acted well in her Lawyer role. Santhanam's Comedy brings pleasing smile in our faces :) :)

All things were fine with a slight slow narration of movie.. but its obvious in Offbeat movies!! Especially the last court scene between vikram n sara will bring the theatre to standstill :) :)The Whole theater applauded by clapping at the end which is a rarity nowadays :) :) Also the scenes were apt and had a gr8 time watching this movie !! Hats off to director and special kudos to the actors especially Vikram and Sara :) :) In the end satisfaction for us after watching such a wonderful film :) :)

Hope Tamil Industry gives us the standard films like this!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mindtree (July 2010-11)

On the verge of completing my One year tenure with Mindtree, I am happy that I have made a good decision :) :) I am also a believer that regretting over a bad decision doesn’t make it good. You can see my first 6 months in Mindtree in:

http://ravis-ravishankar.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-transition-from-cts-to-mindtree.html

November 1st to December 31st

I had a great time in my first project and learned many things. My lead was instrumental in making me strong in Business Objects Concepts. At the mid of November, I received a jolt. My lead resigned and I was told to take all the responsibilities of the Project. At first I was not confident of doing it. But somehow managed the meetings and tried myself to be confident as much as possible.

My confidence level gained higher as more meetings I attended. I was confident speaking to the customer and getting the inputs, providing solutions for it. So the life was back to hectic phase as I used to be in Cognizant. I was happy with the development and we completed UAT for the project after some minor hiccups :) :)

I was very happy about the developments I was having on my career. Confidence level was boosted and I was ready to take up any challenge after the problems I faced in my first project. I got some help from former lead and a Person who was consultant in Mindtree. They helped me in all the roadblocks I faced and made me stronger in my career front. After UAT I was put up into different Project and I was working for Previous Project at the same time (Solving UAT Issues).


January 1st to Now………………

From January I was allocated into a new project and it was a 4 member team. It was project in which I need to solve the issues and also be responsible for the stuff which I do. I got some client exposure in the project. The work was not so pressurized but the way of communication increased and my confidence level increased further. Till now I am in the same project and enjoying the work. Hope this continues till the rest of my life :) :) I was about to tell about Enjoyment in work :) :P

In the meantime, I went to Wayanad with my friends. One of my Best friends got engaged. Some of my friends in previous organization got promoted. It was all good things galore so far. Also started playing cricket after a while :) :) Life was at the best phase since I joined cognizant as a fresher. The most important thing here in Mindtree is I am able to maintain my work life balance. My Home loan has been approved and all things are happening well. Let the good things continue their fall on me :) :) also on others :):)


The Way of satisfying yourselves is to have low expectation. Expectation always hurts. So I made my mind to expect less and I am happy nowadays because of it. The way to be happy is to make others happy and expecting it back :) :P :) this is the mantra I learned after I came out of CTS. Also we should not expect a lot of others when we are not satisfied within us :) :)

As I said in my previous post, TSA is a good initiative which I liked a lot in Mindtree. I participated in most of their trips to orphanage and old age home. Also they gave new dresses to the children which were a nice gesture. It was one pleasing moment. Also Osmosis-Tech work was held in the concern where some of the minds presented some impressive work on the technology front.

So far in this one year I have enjoyed every bit in Mindtree. Hope it remains the same in the future :) :) so let’s see how the future panes out for me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hoping for the same to follow for the rest of my life :) :)

IPL- Boon or Bane ??????

The proverb can be related to the IPL - Make Hay while the sun shines.

First of all IPL has been placed at the worst possible timing. India won the world cup after 28 years and the players can’t even enjoy and cherish it for 10-15 days. The IPL offers them a huge lump sum of money so that many can withdraw their national commitments and playing here. The one important thing IPL is the money which will be huge as compared to the national commitments and it can be used as a pension for some. The top players are retiring and gaining because of IPL.

I am not telling that they are wrong in any mean. But the national duty should be preferred before the club game as IPL.Is the money that is drawing here or the frustration of the boards over there in their own backyard making them to do this? It is inconclusive.

Latish Malinga, The Fearsome bowler retired from test cricket couple of days ago. He is ready to play with chronic knee injury but can’t he play international cricket which will make his country proud. He is playing for Mumbai Indians with the injury but why can’t he do the same when it comes to his country. Is IPL creating the rift between the Club and country? The money creating this difference and if IPL provides the same amount as country does, he will definitely play for his country. Money has driven him to play in IPL despite he has knee injury.

Virendar Sehwag has shoulder injury and playing in spite of it. India needs him 100% all the time but somehow these guys are playing IPL and missing on their national duty. Why they are not thinking country first before the club. Even the legendary Sachin played with webbing in his hand in IPL final. He took rest for the ODI series after that. Is IPL bigger than the country?????? The answer is __________!!!!!!!!!!

Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Dwayne Bravo didn’t sign their contracts with West Indies to be freelancer for 20-20’s all over the world. WICB played a second string because of the rift of players. Money plays an important role in their decisions. Is IPL making players money driven rather than passion driven????? So IPL has brought a rift as Kerry packer rocked the world in 1970’s. Is it the beginning of the end of passion for cricket?

So IPL in the last 3 years has made rift between players and boards. It is like the crack of the glass which will be making glass unusable and crack will be deepening as the time increases!! To be frank the players are not giving it their best and retiring at young age and getting their money through IPL. IPL is good in one way so that it unearthed the talent of many unknown players. But it should not be done at the cost of leaving out the country’s commitments. Let’s see what IPL 2011 is up to and let’s hope it shall not bring the game to disrepute.

Let the players realize the playing for country is the priority and keep themselves under check and make the country proud. Also if they are playing IPL they shouldn’t complain about the fatigue and burn out. It is their choice to play for IPL and they should be ready to play for their country too. So let’s expect the players to be committed and do their best in whatever they play.