Me in Mumbai
Hi Guys,
June 14,
Long time no see. Thts been the case with me and you all (More correctly with most of you guys)
A couple of days back a friend of mine, send me a mail and I replied. My reply was such that he remarked that i have changed. After thinking for sometime i replied that i have indeed. Lots of things of that would make me someone very different from the guy you all know. But deep within i guess i have become more of what i always was. Defining what that is would be quite a task and perhaps I wouldnt even be able to express to anyone what i am feeling with myself. But as another friend said perhaps somewhere i am becoming more comfortable with myself.
The last one year has been pretty inactive. Or if I was to use the correct words lemme say that its not been as good as i would have wished. And the last two months with the summerz in bombay was gud. The best part was perhaps the fact that I met some amazing individuals. Some of these guys in some ways have impacted me. Perhaps they have changed me in ways they don’t know themselves. Will talk about these great guys sometime soon.
The company I worked in was located in Andheri and i stayed in thane. A normal local/bus ride would have definitely taken a couple of hours. But fortunately we were provided transport and the one hour bus ride through the expressway was a time for sweet dreams :)) I was supposed to do a project on Web Marketing. As soon as I entered the marketing department the second in command gave a very interesting definition of my scope of activities. He gave me a lot of fundas about what I had to do, a term he used quite liberally was ROI and he also wanted me to look into the new initiatives that Patni could look into :))
The fun actually began once I got out his room. He had given me two names and the first person I talked gave a clearer definition of what I was supposed to do. He asked me to study the Company website (which was already optimized ) as part of the WEB MARKETING PLAN. The experience that takes the cherry was my meeting with my actual project mentor. With great pride he told me that it was he who had defined the project for the summer interns. And with even greater pride he stated that my project was a fraud and he had no clue as to what I was supposed to do and I could go ahead and define my own scope (Euphemism for do what you want :))
But despite all that I would term the last two months to be a great experience. I was mostly involved in the day-to-day operational aspects. My project report was something that I actually weaved out of the so many tiny winy little things that I did out there. But the most important thing was that after a very long time I actually had a nice time. The guyz at patni and the trainees at Thane actually helped have a nice time. As the cliché goes I also made some friends for life.
Most of the guys who did their summerz at Bombay now know a lot about the chowpatties and the churchgates and what not. Sadly for me I jus know a few places other than the ones I jus mentioned. But now I do know something about the area around Baga beach in goa, Matheran, daman and shirdi. :))
We went to these places during the weekend break and Goa was the best. We did everything that could be done in that short period. For the first time I actually went deep into the waves and despite my worst fears I did not drown. (Though I did manage something quite close). Did paragliding and took photos from the top. Hired a bike and a kinectic and went around the place. I also rode the kini and needless to say I bashed it. Being the easter weekend we had some nice crowd. The place around the Baga beach has some great restaurants with some not so great prices. There was this place with some huge lobsters. Looked very appetising so went in with the intention of finishing it off but then the price tag of 600 bucks made me think otherwise. Despite all this we did have some great seafood. Sharks and some interesting continental fare, guess for the first I actually liked cream with seafood. It was also during this trip that I actually exited from the teetotaler stage of my life. They are so many other things that we did and some time soon when I get the photographs scanned I will send you guyz the link.
Somewhere in the middle of may I was getting a bit bugged up. For one my project was getting nowhere and there were a couple of things that were in my mind. All in all the last to last statement was a bit of an understatement of how shitty I was feeling. And then all of a sudden some of my friends made a plan to go to Daman. The plan was ready and I was the last to know. Somehow that made me feel even more pathetic. Under normal circumstances I would withdrawn but luckily for me I went along with them and had a ball of a time.
We hired a taxi for a couple of days and on the way to daman we went to a veg restaurant. But being hungry we jus ordered something. The palak curry and the dal was perhaps one of the best I have ever had. We continued on the drive to daman and the road is one of the best you would ever see anywhere in the country both in term of the quality and the view.
Daman per se was a bit of a disappointment. The sea water is pretty dirty and coming back from goa it proved to be a let down. Despite all that there were some nice things. There is the large and the smaller versions of daman and quite appropriately its called Nanhi and Moti daman :) Then we went to Moti Daman. Went for a small ferry ride from the Nahi to the Moti and finally we spent a few hours in the sea simply enjoying waves. The water was actually muddy and the shore was black. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have ventured near the place but somehow I jus let go and had one of the best times in my life.
Dead tired we got into the cab and started our journey back to the city. Deprived of sleep everyone including me had jus one thing in mind: Sleep. On any other day with that state of mind I would have easily slept like a log for hours together. But then you don’t always get what you wish for. The one person responsible for my subsequent sleep deprivation was Shruti. The other guys in the cab were fast asleep and so she happily turned her attention to me :( For the next couple of hours she went on to put all 24 hours new channels to shame. Initially I listened to her live commentary for the sake of being polite. I felt that it would be too rude to say that I am sleepy but then she went on with such gusto that I was left with no option but to force my eyes open and nod in once in a while. In the process of keeping my eyes open I actually started enjoying her commentary. Not that I listened to what she actually said. Its jus that she was so energetic that it was hard not to see her enthusiasm. The way she laughed, her smart ones and of course her stamina was actually inspiring.
Shruti works in a call center in mumbai. From my own experience I know that its far from easy. Apart from her regular work she has enrolled for a correspondence course in management. From what I hear she like most of us has a set of problems. But that doesn’t stop her from having a nice time and enjoying herself. And doing so she managed to bring a smile on a hard core bore like me :))
Inspired by guyz like her I decided that I want to change my life and loosen up. And as they say if you want something badly the whole world conspires to make it possible for you. In the last two months I have had the chance to be close to some very positive individuals in my life. Chief among them were Ravi, Jai and Nandini from Patni.
Ravi in some ways like me is one who is under performing. He’s been in patni for the last two years and feels that he is not getting as much as he should. However under normal circumstances you will never get to see this side of him. He is always cheerful and cracking smart ones. Part of the reason why I got a PPI from patni is Ravi himself. So many times when I was low his mere presence used to pep me up. I am only certain that Ravi will continue to make a positive impression with whomever he will come in touch with.
Another interesting person was Jai. This guy from IIT mumbai actually knows the entire railway time table by heart. As if this was not enough he is a part time psephologist who got it all wrong in the jus concluded Star New exit polls :) and additionally he handles the pre sales function at Patni. Once I was damn sleepy in the office and he happened to pass by. He said that he understood my state for in the not so distant past he too found himself in similar situations. But now he is full of energy as he has a good night’s sleep which became possible because he is content with the days work he puts in.
Another very nice person at Patni was Nandini. One of the remarks she made was that you need to focus on who is important and who is not. Doing that actually solves many of your problems. If I use some of the marketing gyan with Nandini’s comments I think I segmented people into important and not so important ones. I have always treated guyz equally. And the few exceptions like HCL when I was able to figure out who were important to me I was happy.
The last few months have had some great experiences and if I had nothing to do I guess I would have jus gone on and on. But from today my classes begin and I am yet to sleep. So its time for sign off.
Take care
Shijo
June 14,
Long time no see. Thts been the case with me and you all (More correctly with most of you guys)
A couple of days back a friend of mine, send me a mail and I replied. My reply was such that he remarked that i have changed. After thinking for sometime i replied that i have indeed. Lots of things of that would make me someone very different from the guy you all know. But deep within i guess i have become more of what i always was. Defining what that is would be quite a task and perhaps I wouldnt even be able to express to anyone what i am feeling with myself. But as another friend said perhaps somewhere i am becoming more comfortable with myself.
The last one year has been pretty inactive. Or if I was to use the correct words lemme say that its not been as good as i would have wished. And the last two months with the summerz in bombay was gud. The best part was perhaps the fact that I met some amazing individuals. Some of these guys in some ways have impacted me. Perhaps they have changed me in ways they don’t know themselves. Will talk about these great guys sometime soon.
The company I worked in was located in Andheri and i stayed in thane. A normal local/bus ride would have definitely taken a couple of hours. But fortunately we were provided transport and the one hour bus ride through the expressway was a time for sweet dreams :)) I was supposed to do a project on Web Marketing. As soon as I entered the marketing department the second in command gave a very interesting definition of my scope of activities. He gave me a lot of fundas about what I had to do, a term he used quite liberally was ROI and he also wanted me to look into the new initiatives that Patni could look into :))
The fun actually began once I got out his room. He had given me two names and the first person I talked gave a clearer definition of what I was supposed to do. He asked me to study the Company website (which was already optimized ) as part of the WEB MARKETING PLAN. The experience that takes the cherry was my meeting with my actual project mentor. With great pride he told me that it was he who had defined the project for the summer interns. And with even greater pride he stated that my project was a fraud and he had no clue as to what I was supposed to do and I could go ahead and define my own scope (Euphemism for do what you want :))
But despite all that I would term the last two months to be a great experience. I was mostly involved in the day-to-day operational aspects. My project report was something that I actually weaved out of the so many tiny winy little things that I did out there. But the most important thing was that after a very long time I actually had a nice time. The guyz at patni and the trainees at Thane actually helped have a nice time. As the cliché goes I also made some friends for life.
Most of the guys who did their summerz at Bombay now know a lot about the chowpatties and the churchgates and what not. Sadly for me I jus know a few places other than the ones I jus mentioned. But now I do know something about the area around Baga beach in goa, Matheran, daman and shirdi. :))
We went to these places during the weekend break and Goa was the best. We did everything that could be done in that short period. For the first time I actually went deep into the waves and despite my worst fears I did not drown. (Though I did manage something quite close). Did paragliding and took photos from the top. Hired a bike and a kinectic and went around the place. I also rode the kini and needless to say I bashed it. Being the easter weekend we had some nice crowd. The place around the Baga beach has some great restaurants with some not so great prices. There was this place with some huge lobsters. Looked very appetising so went in with the intention of finishing it off but then the price tag of 600 bucks made me think otherwise. Despite all this we did have some great seafood. Sharks and some interesting continental fare, guess for the first I actually liked cream with seafood. It was also during this trip that I actually exited from the teetotaler stage of my life. They are so many other things that we did and some time soon when I get the photographs scanned I will send you guyz the link.
Somewhere in the middle of may I was getting a bit bugged up. For one my project was getting nowhere and there were a couple of things that were in my mind. All in all the last to last statement was a bit of an understatement of how shitty I was feeling. And then all of a sudden some of my friends made a plan to go to Daman. The plan was ready and I was the last to know. Somehow that made me feel even more pathetic. Under normal circumstances I would withdrawn but luckily for me I went along with them and had a ball of a time.
We hired a taxi for a couple of days and on the way to daman we went to a veg restaurant. But being hungry we jus ordered something. The palak curry and the dal was perhaps one of the best I have ever had. We continued on the drive to daman and the road is one of the best you would ever see anywhere in the country both in term of the quality and the view.
Daman per se was a bit of a disappointment. The sea water is pretty dirty and coming back from goa it proved to be a let down. Despite all that there were some nice things. There is the large and the smaller versions of daman and quite appropriately its called Nanhi and Moti daman :) Then we went to Moti Daman. Went for a small ferry ride from the Nahi to the Moti and finally we spent a few hours in the sea simply enjoying waves. The water was actually muddy and the shore was black. Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t have ventured near the place but somehow I jus let go and had one of the best times in my life.
Dead tired we got into the cab and started our journey back to the city. Deprived of sleep everyone including me had jus one thing in mind: Sleep. On any other day with that state of mind I would have easily slept like a log for hours together. But then you don’t always get what you wish for. The one person responsible for my subsequent sleep deprivation was Shruti. The other guys in the cab were fast asleep and so she happily turned her attention to me :( For the next couple of hours she went on to put all 24 hours new channels to shame. Initially I listened to her live commentary for the sake of being polite. I felt that it would be too rude to say that I am sleepy but then she went on with such gusto that I was left with no option but to force my eyes open and nod in once in a while. In the process of keeping my eyes open I actually started enjoying her commentary. Not that I listened to what she actually said. Its jus that she was so energetic that it was hard not to see her enthusiasm. The way she laughed, her smart ones and of course her stamina was actually inspiring.
Shruti works in a call center in mumbai. From my own experience I know that its far from easy. Apart from her regular work she has enrolled for a correspondence course in management. From what I hear she like most of us has a set of problems. But that doesn’t stop her from having a nice time and enjoying herself. And doing so she managed to bring a smile on a hard core bore like me :))
Inspired by guyz like her I decided that I want to change my life and loosen up. And as they say if you want something badly the whole world conspires to make it possible for you. In the last two months I have had the chance to be close to some very positive individuals in my life. Chief among them were Ravi, Jai and Nandini from Patni.
Ravi in some ways like me is one who is under performing. He’s been in patni for the last two years and feels that he is not getting as much as he should. However under normal circumstances you will never get to see this side of him. He is always cheerful and cracking smart ones. Part of the reason why I got a PPI from patni is Ravi himself. So many times when I was low his mere presence used to pep me up. I am only certain that Ravi will continue to make a positive impression with whomever he will come in touch with.
Another interesting person was Jai. This guy from IIT mumbai actually knows the entire railway time table by heart. As if this was not enough he is a part time psephologist who got it all wrong in the jus concluded Star New exit polls :) and additionally he handles the pre sales function at Patni. Once I was damn sleepy in the office and he happened to pass by. He said that he understood my state for in the not so distant past he too found himself in similar situations. But now he is full of energy as he has a good night’s sleep which became possible because he is content with the days work he puts in.
Another very nice person at Patni was Nandini. One of the remarks she made was that you need to focus on who is important and who is not. Doing that actually solves many of your problems. If I use some of the marketing gyan with Nandini’s comments I think I segmented people into important and not so important ones. I have always treated guyz equally. And the few exceptions like HCL when I was able to figure out who were important to me I was happy.
The last few months have had some great experiences and if I had nothing to do I guess I would have jus gone on and on. But from today my classes begin and I am yet to sleep. So its time for sign off.
Take care
Shijo
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