Words are the most powerful Tool we have got... 'Just Another day of life...' The moment you say this, any achievement,any special moment,any different experience can lose its importance.
I was chatting with a dear friend on office communicator when suddenly she typed my name , and i knew that something important was going to follow...
she : 'I'm getting bored'
me :'As Always...'
she : 'Life has become a routine...'
ahha! Routine... the phenomena which we all suffer from. So, I asked her to tell me her routine,just to check the definition... Waking Up , Coming to office, Spending a fixed amount of time either working or without work as per the need, going back home etc.... Sounds pretty Routine-like doesn't it ?
But is it really what we can call as Routine in true sense? Do you need breaks routinely to come out of a routine...? weekends are there for that...but it can still come under the 'Routine' category! how funny !
SO, I thought deeper... all those things which we call as Routine... are actually check-points ! without them we can't survive, for example... can i afford to skip office,for a day ? Though it sounds very cheerful, underlying reality of losing paid leaves or Loss Of Pay... will not encourage me to do that. similarly... waking up , lunch time ,sleeping... are all inevitable, rather necessary to maintain harmony & order in life.
But, the golden question remains, how to come out of routine... answer is simple...Change the Sub-routine ! That's the key to break out from it,Still being in it.Generally, it's not the apparent duties which create boredom, but the small activities we do in between these bigger tasks.
I started reviewing my own day so far, I realized I had actually broken my routine today. Instead of coming on bike to office, like everyday I came in a Bus (bike is given for repair), I had just a coffee on the way rather than having regular breakfast, I observed people busy in their thoughts in the morning rush, entered the office through a different gate... and few other things which I don't do everyday!!! No wonder I felt different! And as a result of that maybe, I had been working on different set of things since morning in a more organized,result oriented manner as compared to the other day when i felt it was a total waste at the end of day. still, to sum it up in one sentence, I can say, "I woke up and came to office.nothing special,just a routine!"
All the fun,the different experiences i had in between... what does it account for, nothing..? have we become so result-oriented to weigh our life against accomplishments and achievements always ? have we started missing little elements of fun in day to day life ? In the longer run,these small things help you to connect yourself with society,with nature...and above all , with yourself, how can that be boring ! If you feel your life is becoming stereotypical, then step up and bring the change yourself! Wake up a bit early and watch sunrise, or sleep extra five minutes and hurry things up to feel the rush (multi-task to achieve time lines!) , stop by a Tea-stall and sip the hot tea in your own company for a change, look at the sky while stepping out of the office rather than at the wrist watch, or just pause and take a deep breath... the list is endless.
That means, its important to step out of the habits, as they say "habits are like soft beds, easy to get in, very difficult to get out". But , somewhere we get used to them, and create boredom ourselves, don't we ?
If this much for the thought then,there must be something for the action as well.
I don't know if she got the solution or not coz to break our routine,we mutually decided not to chat today, just for a change.But, that gave me another topic for blogging, the Routine I never get bored of ! ;-)
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Over A Cup Of Tea...
Tea... I don't know the exact origin of it, but most probably India and some neighboring countries.As per Wikipedia , Its consumption is second largest after water all over the world.
Those who know me, or even spend some time with me, know my love for It... rather good,quality Tea. I always say
'Its very difficult to spoil coffee , but equally easy to spoil Tea ' . You got to have an art , it's like playing a Violin... Not everyone's cup of Tea you see.
Excuse me for this Tea Saga,thats not the scope of this blog...just got a little carried away :) .
So,There are very few places here in Chennai where you get really good tea...what they call as Spl.Chaai (with ginger,ilaaichi) and I make a point to visit these cafe's run by mostly Mallu's at least once in a day (There are many other things for cost-cutting, not this!)
Yesterday,I woke up in the evening after a small nap and felt the thirst for some Spl. Tea (yes, Thirst can become very specific at times). So, hopped on the bike and went directly to the mallu-cafe. As it always happens...alone on a table,waiting for my cup.The only bad thing about Spl. Tea is,it takes some time to get ready...and when its ready,you don't need to be told , the scent just knocks on your nostrils(excuse me again... :)).
But, a little while later a middle aged man having all the typical middle aged characteristics came in and sat opposite to me on the table.
now...I have this (good/bad) habit of guessing abt ethnicity from a person's face, which i mostly keep it to myself.One thing about 'habits' is u don't realize when they come into action.Thus, I started examining him, wheatish complexion,old fashioned spectacles,thick mustache, and peculiar cheeks.My first impression was he was a telugu but then the saffron tilak on forehead confused me and i thought he can also be Maharashtrian.
I could have very well kept this confusion to myself, but when he ordered another cup of Spl.Coffee(yes, there's a Spl.Coffee too) I thought may be I can Clear my confusion with the gentleman himself. "Good Evening!Where are you from ?" certainly not the best way to start the conversation though,but he smiled and asked "what do You think ?"
me : Ummm...Telugu,most probably,but the saffron tilak confused me.
him: (smile widened) Right! (Coming Closer..) Certainly not from here right ?
(Now,i dont really know why he said that) I discarded the possibility and our conversation moved ahead.
He is DGM at a very reputed Finance Institute and keeps on moving all over India, I realized that he was not very happy with that and wanted to be with his family (very obvious!).he didn't like Chennai much... maybe on account of previous experiences.Slowly he started opening up as if he wanted someone to talk to , someone who doesn't know him and wont have any interaction with in future,many times we end up speaking very frankly to strangers about our feelings than our near ones, don't we? maybe, that was what the situation was with him.
He seemed to have had a bad day,had a fight with his boss over some small but irritating issue,but could not vent out his frustration "You have a long way to go.Remember,Boss is always Right!"
i nodded,I had decided not to stop him at any point and he went on and on and on...whatever he spoke was so simple,I must say... probably as you go higher things become simpler.We discussed many things,ranging from Satyam Scam to cultural similarities between Maharashtrians and telugus... "See,you have Rao we also have Rao,You Have Shatris we also have Shatris,But Thank God that You Don't have Reddys,hahha.. Also, the style of wearing Saree is similar!"
Our Conversation was getting more and more interesting, but It was more than 40 minutes and I was getting a bit restless as I had some important tasks still to be done. He might have sensed it and said, "I am Mallikarjun,Its a common name among telugus. " I smiled and shook hands with him. We exchanged the numbers and said bye with a promise from him that whenever he is in town he will give me call, and we may again meet over a Spl.Chaai.
Those who know me, or even spend some time with me, know my love for It... rather good,quality Tea. I always say
'Its very difficult to spoil coffee , but equally easy to spoil Tea ' . You got to have an art , it's like playing a Violin... Not everyone's cup of Tea you see.
Excuse me for this Tea Saga,thats not the scope of this blog...just got a little carried away :) .
So,There are very few places here in Chennai where you get really good tea...what they call as Spl.Chaai (with ginger,ilaaichi) and I make a point to visit these cafe's run by mostly Mallu's at least once in a day (There are many other things for cost-cutting, not this!)
Yesterday,I woke up in the evening after a small nap and felt the thirst for some Spl. Tea (yes, Thirst can become very specific at times). So, hopped on the bike and went directly to the mallu-cafe. As it always happens...alone on a table,waiting for my cup.The only bad thing about Spl. Tea is,it takes some time to get ready...and when its ready,you don't need to be told , the scent just knocks on your nostrils(excuse me again... :)).
But, a little while later a middle aged man having all the typical middle aged characteristics came in and sat opposite to me on the table.
now...I have this (good/bad) habit of guessing abt ethnicity from a person's face, which i mostly keep it to myself.One thing about 'habits' is u don't realize when they come into action.Thus, I started examining him, wheatish complexion,old fashioned spectacles,thick mustache, and peculiar cheeks.My first impression was he was a telugu but then the saffron tilak on forehead confused me and i thought he can also be Maharashtrian.
I could have very well kept this confusion to myself, but when he ordered another cup of Spl.Coffee(yes, there's a Spl.Coffee too) I thought may be I can Clear my confusion with the gentleman himself. "Good Evening!Where are you from ?" certainly not the best way to start the conversation though,but he smiled and asked "what do You think ?"
me : Ummm...Telugu,most probably,but the saffron tilak confused me.
him: (smile widened) Right! (Coming Closer..) Certainly not from here right ?
(Now,i dont really know why he said that) I discarded the possibility and our conversation moved ahead.
He is DGM at a very reputed Finance Institute and keeps on moving all over India, I realized that he was not very happy with that and wanted to be with his family (very obvious!).he didn't like Chennai much... maybe on account of previous experiences.Slowly he started opening up as if he wanted someone to talk to , someone who doesn't know him and wont have any interaction with in future,many times we end up speaking very frankly to strangers about our feelings than our near ones, don't we? maybe, that was what the situation was with him.
He seemed to have had a bad day,had a fight with his boss over some small but irritating issue,but could not vent out his frustration "You have a long way to go.Remember,Boss is always Right!"
i nodded,I had decided not to stop him at any point and he went on and on and on...whatever he spoke was so simple,I must say... probably as you go higher things become simpler.We discussed many things,ranging from Satyam Scam to cultural similarities between Maharashtrians and telugus... "See,you have Rao we also have Rao,You Have Shatris we also have Shatris,But Thank God that You Don't have Reddys,hahha.. Also, the style of wearing Saree is similar!"
Our Conversation was getting more and more interesting, but It was more than 40 minutes and I was getting a bit restless as I had some important tasks still to be done. He might have sensed it and said, "I am Mallikarjun,Its a common name among telugus. " I smiled and shook hands with him. We exchanged the numbers and said bye with a promise from him that whenever he is in town he will give me call, and we may again meet over a Spl.Chaai.
Monday, February 16, 2009
An Online ticket booking Fiasco
haaah !
it gives such a joy to me to write something after so long... it was not that i was very busy... I am never so busy... but yes, a bit lazy.All these days, many topics crossed my mind on which i thought i could write something... but.. it was just not to be.
But why this incident alone ?
Coz,
"The Magnitude of importance of an event depends upon the number of people it affects" (e.g. world war II,soccer world cup,Kumbh Mela,Wednesday Market etc....)
So, how it happened -
Friday, The 13th - a combination most people consider to be the most ominous.
I always laughed at it.You see, Numerology wise i consider it to be lucky as my birth date is 4 (1+3 = 4) , its really funny how stupid people can get behind these things.Fools! On top of that, Friday being a weekend, spirits(I mean, energy level) were already high!
After having an extended break-cum-discussion-cum-brainstorming-session in the office cafetaria, I asked rahul to come along with me to KPN Travel's office to book tkts for our friend Vishal & his brother who were coming to Chennai for some exam.
rahul dismissed the idea saying that it can be very well done 'Online' from office itself... feeling very relaxed at the suggestion we headed downstairs to our desks, unaware of what lay ahead of us.
So, we found a suitable website and booked the ticket on my credit card (yes, icici still allows me to do transactions on it). After booking the ticket we punched in the air and I asked Rahul "Is it So Simple???" I have been always going to these travel offices fearing that something will go wrong in online transactions(Typical Indian mentality,we are yet to get used to this 'online' thing) "Hmm...let's see" he said and refreshed the page to cross-verify whether it reflected in their database. Yes, It did, now the next level of validation,Print-preview... Wolla! what do we have here! in place of 15th, we had actually booked for that night itself!!!!
we hurriedly went to the cancellation page, but it could not be canceled within the 24 hours of the time of journey and we had only 4 hrs. in hand... and if we could not find any bakra before that, it meant i had lost thousand bucks straight away , in this time of cost-cutting it meant.... it meant something very serious.(more serious than cutting down to only 3 tea's a day!)
Still managing to hold the nerve we started making calls to... almost every possible resource to come out of the situation.To the website office which redirected to the Travel agent's office (that guy spoke as if my father had taken a huge loan from him) then redirected to another branch... nobody paid any heed to our request(probably something wrong with our communications skills).Now, this was serious... I started contacting people who could possibly be traveling to bangalore on weekend and not yet got tickets (sounds funny but being a last-minute person myself, I had some hope) , meanwhile Rahul tried to use his contacts to take us out of this situation.
Slowly, all the hopes started diminishing and we knew that Friday the 13th had started showing its charm.After some deep thinking we resolved upon getting our money back (what a joke,it was more of need than resolution) took the printout and were just about to leave for the Central Station when Vivek came back from his Toastmater's meeting and showed willingness to join...unaware of what he was jumping into...
6 p.m. At the gate of Satyam Office :
khikhikharrrr(electric start hona yaaron!)... the two bikes started and headed towards Central Station.
How we falsely think,how easy things are...this was just a trailer The movie was about to begin...The tentative plan was to cancel the tkts,re-book for 15th , shop in the 'mor market' for some leather stuff, have famous Biryani,faluda and Irani Chaai at the National Darbaar hotel and come back happy,victorious.At least...this was the picture painted in Vivek's mind (He had no idea,what happened and what was about to happen..) In this effort, we canceled Friday -special food also (puri-chole-pulav-kheer) , U must be really either over confident or become nuts to do something like that.
So v reached Central at 6.25 and rahul went in to negotiate with the travel agent...and as expected Our Commn Skills failed again and that meant we were left with three choices,
finally we decided to follow this matter to the core and headed to koyambedu, Asia's Biggest bus terminal and road towards it...? probably Asia's sickest road to drive in evening.It took me an hour or so,a lot of back-ache and frustration to reach koyambedu when i realised this is Not the place where we wanted to go, but thankfully our destination was not very far. After a short essel-world ride i reached Omni bus stand where rahul had already reached and had cracked the deal.So, we finally got our tickets for 15th,Sunday and were relieved.
Now came the time of realization,the golden picture painted in our minds was washed off and we were in midst of million particles of dust and equal number ppl waiting for their buses.This was the point of No Rollback,as the food was already canceled, we quickly(after some argument between me & Vivek) decided the eating spot and got out of that sick place, I following rahul in order to not miss the route like before.
Our suffering didn't seem to end as ,while coming back at one small junction we were stopped by the traffic Police who revealed that it was one-way and we had been driving in the wrong direction...I don't have words to explain that situation.I fear traffic police more than Yamaraj...the rason is obvious,The latter does not humiliate.But this chap was nice ,after knowing that we were really innocent he left us for a nominal chaai-pani charge.
the time was getting better,as we had delicious set dosai and appam with coconut milk at balaji bhavan.After the food got over I bid bye to rahul and started back home via office for Vivek to collect his bike from there.
Finally after 4 hours of drama,we reached home.As I prepared myself for heading for a quick bath, Vivek stopped me and asked... how it actually happened ?
It was a mystery even for us...as we remember selecting the date properly,may Friday,13th was the reson(thankfully we didn't inform Vishal about this)... who knows, all I could reply was, "Sod, paise wachle!"
it gives such a joy to me to write something after so long... it was not that i was very busy... I am never so busy... but yes, a bit lazy.All these days, many topics crossed my mind on which i thought i could write something... but.. it was just not to be.
But why this incident alone ?
Coz,
"The Magnitude of importance of an event depends upon the number of people it affects" (e.g. world war II,soccer world cup,Kumbh Mela,Wednesday Market etc....)
So, how it happened -
Friday, The 13th - a combination most people consider to be the most ominous.
I always laughed at it.You see, Numerology wise i consider it to be lucky as my birth date is 4 (1+3 = 4) , its really funny how stupid people can get behind these things.Fools! On top of that, Friday being a weekend, spirits(I mean, energy level) were already high!
After having an extended break-cum-discussion-cum-brainstorming-session in the office cafetaria, I asked rahul to come along with me to KPN Travel's office to book tkts for our friend Vishal & his brother who were coming to Chennai for some exam.
rahul dismissed the idea saying that it can be very well done 'Online' from office itself... feeling very relaxed at the suggestion we headed downstairs to our desks, unaware of what lay ahead of us.
So, we found a suitable website and booked the ticket on my credit card (yes, icici still allows me to do transactions on it). After booking the ticket we punched in the air and I asked Rahul "Is it So Simple???" I have been always going to these travel offices fearing that something will go wrong in online transactions(Typical Indian mentality,we are yet to get used to this 'online' thing) "Hmm...let's see" he said and refreshed the page to cross-verify whether it reflected in their database. Yes, It did, now the next level of validation,Print-preview... Wolla! what do we have here! in place of 15th, we had actually booked for that night itself!!!!
we hurriedly went to the cancellation page, but it could not be canceled within the 24 hours of the time of journey and we had only 4 hrs. in hand... and if we could not find any bakra before that, it meant i had lost thousand bucks straight away , in this time of cost-cutting it meant.... it meant something very serious.(more serious than cutting down to only 3 tea's a day!)
Still managing to hold the nerve we started making calls to... almost every possible resource to come out of the situation.To the website office which redirected to the Travel agent's office (that guy spoke as if my father had taken a huge loan from him) then redirected to another branch... nobody paid any heed to our request(probably something wrong with our communications skills).Now, this was serious... I started contacting people who could possibly be traveling to bangalore on weekend and not yet got tickets (sounds funny but being a last-minute person myself, I had some hope) , meanwhile Rahul tried to use his contacts to take us out of this situation.
Slowly, all the hopes started diminishing and we knew that Friday the 13th had started showing its charm.After some deep thinking we resolved upon getting our money back (what a joke,it was more of need than resolution) took the printout and were just about to leave for the Central Station when Vivek came back from his Toastmater's meeting and showed willingness to join...unaware of what he was jumping into...
6 p.m. At the gate of Satyam Office :
khikhikharrrr(electric start hona yaaron!)... the two bikes started and headed towards Central Station.
How we falsely think,how easy things are...this was just a trailer The movie was about to begin...The tentative plan was to cancel the tkts,re-book for 15th , shop in the 'mor market' for some leather stuff, have famous Biryani,faluda and Irani Chaai at the National Darbaar hotel and come back happy,victorious.At least...this was the picture painted in Vivek's mind (He had no idea,what happened and what was about to happen..) In this effort, we canceled Friday -special food also (puri-chole-pulav-kheer) , U must be really either over confident or become nuts to do something like that.
So v reached Central at 6.25 and rahul went in to negotiate with the travel agent...and as expected Our Commn Skills failed again and that meant we were left with three choices,
- wait till the boarding time and try to find a bakra
- Go to the main office i.e. Koyambedu Bus Depot (now consideing central station and traffics in peak hrs that was out of question for me)
- Travel ourselves on those tickets to make up for the lost money(how weird!)
finally we decided to follow this matter to the core and headed to koyambedu, Asia's Biggest bus terminal and road towards it...? probably Asia's sickest road to drive in evening.It took me an hour or so,a lot of back-ache and frustration to reach koyambedu when i realised this is Not the place where we wanted to go, but thankfully our destination was not very far. After a short essel-world ride i reached Omni bus stand where rahul had already reached and had cracked the deal.So, we finally got our tickets for 15th,Sunday and were relieved.
Now came the time of realization,the golden picture painted in our minds was washed off and we were in midst of million particles of dust and equal number ppl waiting for their buses.This was the point of No Rollback,as the food was already canceled, we quickly(after some argument between me & Vivek) decided the eating spot and got out of that sick place, I following rahul in order to not miss the route like before.
Our suffering didn't seem to end as ,while coming back at one small junction we were stopped by the traffic Police who revealed that it was one-way and we had been driving in the wrong direction...I don't have words to explain that situation.I fear traffic police more than Yamaraj...the rason is obvious,The latter does not humiliate.But this chap was nice ,after knowing that we were really innocent he left us for a nominal chaai-pani charge.
the time was getting better,as we had delicious set dosai and appam with coconut milk at balaji bhavan.After the food got over I bid bye to rahul and started back home via office for Vivek to collect his bike from there.
Finally after 4 hours of drama,we reached home.As I prepared myself for heading for a quick bath, Vivek stopped me and asked... how it actually happened ?
It was a mystery even for us...as we remember selecting the date properly,may Friday,13th was the reson(thankfully we didn't inform Vishal about this)... who knows, all I could reply was, "Sod, paise wachle!"
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