Chaotic life

Hi... I know I haven't been regular here for
some time now. Didn't even get the time to
talk about my Paris trip. Soon... hopefully.

Life is very chaotic right now... rather work
is very chaotic, other aspect of life just not
found. Need to do something about it.

Method in the madness??

Ah, what a month it has been.
Tumultous, chaotic, frustrating, overworked!

Like Murphy's law - everything that can wrong, did! :-)
Well, it is chaotic (and dynamic, do they always go together?)
at work. From the threat of being ousted out to seeing a ray of hope
(to look around Europe ;) ) - this month has shown me more than the scenes
I wanted to see. Anyhow. August is going to be much better I am hoping.
Work should settle down now and I hope to achieve the allusive work-life
balance in this new organisation.

जब भी मिलती हैं मुझे....

अजनबी लगती क्यों हैं..
जिंदगी रोज नए रंग बदलती क्यो हैं ...

तुमसे बिछडे है तो अब किससे मिलाती है हमें....
ज़िंदगी देखिये क्या रंग दिखाती है हमें.....

Musing

दूरियाँ हैं दर्मियाँ मगर
दिल नहीं हैं जूदा
जब ख्वाहिशें हो हमराज़
मान जाता हैं खूदा

मिट जायेंगे फ़ासले
मुख्तसर हैं दायरें
चल पड़े हैं हम वहा
जहा तेरी परछाई ही मिले

Replacement...

Today was a good day.. cos I found a drink similar
to the bacardi breezer I used to have back in India.
Tried the Smirnoff light alcoholic drink (3% alcohol)
which tastes almost like the breezer.
So.. I have my poison available to me now.. Cheers.

Will post about my trip to the amusement later...
too tired right now from all the fun I had :-)

Interefering or Responsible?

Does your job end if you have raised an issue and passed
it on to higher management to resolve it?

Personally I don't think so. I believe you should do all in
your capacity to find a solution to the problem or to atleast
mitigate the risk. You don't get paid just to do your job - you
are also expected to raise the flag when you think the project
is going off-track. I expect my team members to do that and
m sure it is expected of me as well. That is the value add you
do - not just to the company but to your job as well. If you do
not leverage your experience and your expertise - what purpose
does it serve? Well, I have nothing to counter the argument of
"I am not getting paid enough to do value add" :-)

Professionally I am being pushed to do it though. The reasoning
given to me is that you cannot do push beyond a limit when you
are not in charge of something. It is true to a great extent and I
am already feeling the heat of it - since I have raised a few flags
I might be on the way to being labelled a trouble-ticket. :-)
That apart, the fact remains that every person has a different
style of working and as long as everything gets done in time
and with quality - it should be OK. But that is the question -
do we wait till the end to see if that style is good or not?
Should you not correct course - yours or someone else's -
to save time, money and efforts - or should you just have
some fun at someone else's expense?

Then again, it depends on the situation. Not all techniques work
in all situations and that is the wisdom that comes with age...
and since I am too young (;-)) to be aged - I think I will learn
the tricks - some the hard way, some at somebody else's expense.

Wait ...

मी वाट पाहते तुझी असं तुला कधी वाटलच नाही ...
आसवांनी भिजलेला रुमाल तुला कधी दिसलाच नाही ...

Perceptions

मैं छुपाना जानता तो जग मुझे साधू समझता
शत्रु बन गया है छल-रहित व्यवहार मेरा

lovely 2 lines from Harivansh Rai Bachchan
Seen on BigB's blog.

Eine sehr schöne Frau..

... was what a total stranger said to me today on a regular road in
Munich and then checked if I was married and since I am
"noch nicht" - asked me out on a date. Lol!!!

It was one of the funniest conversations I have had with a stranger.

Just

ajnabi chehre
gumnaam raahein
kadam pehchaane
nayi chahein

Satisfying days..

I am sure you have had days/months/years where you
would be so overworked that you would just crash into
bed once you reach home from work - if you reach that is!
Well, I am currently in that phase and believe you me...
it is satisfying.. to have made the best possible use of your
day. Its a feeling the lazy amongst us won't understand.

Before I joined this project, I thought I was good at time
management. But there's always room for improvement.
And here I am... a new, improved and better utilised me!
Ofcourse I do miss my wild party days.. been ages since I
went to a party.. but I am liking this as well. I think I will
enjoy a party more when I go to one now. ;-)

Some time management tips I re-learnt in the past 2 weeks :
1. When dealing with a chatty person - announce the time you
want to spend with them as soon as the talk begins.
2. KISS - ;-) Keep it short silly! Write crisp mails and follow
up with a phone call if required. This saves time required to
reply to elaborate mails.
3. Prioritise and Categorise
4. ALWAYS do the four quadrant check on a task.
5. Delegate with authority. (I learnt this from one of my previous managers).

I think this is enough gyan for now.. Have a good time ;)

Tschuss!

Sleepless in some place - An ode.

"*****
hume sunaakar daastan pariyon ki
gaye khud sapno ke jahaan mein,
wo neendein chura gaye hamari
saza unhe hum de na paaye

nazaarein dikha gaye hamari nazaron se unhe wo,
unki shaame kati unhi yaadon ke saaye mein
ye bhi kya saza kam hogi..
ke yaad aaenge hum unhe har shaam har seher mein
*****"

Well... I penned it down cos I couldn't do anything more
constructive at 2 in the morning after being woken up
by a phone call. I ain't complaining about the phone
call.. infact, it was a bolt from the past. Yea, wouldn't
even call it a flash cos it was more than that. I am sure you
must have felt what I am feeling right now... when you don't
expect something to go from the 'past tense' to 'present tense'..
that something you had will never come back again or things
will be as they were earlier or the way you left them.
So it definitely feels nice to talk to a long lost friend :-)

My poem above is an ode to the one below:

Without you nearby
I am lost
Yet I am home
Life is a paradox.

Hectic days ahead.

Its fun.. my current schedule.
I am so extremely tied up at work that its almost
impossible to think of any time for myself. I think
all my days can only be 'hectic' for the next few
months... only the degree will vary. I might even
introduce another degree right next to superlative :-P
No.. I am not running a country.. but well,
mis-management creates jobs for itself, right? Anyway.
I also have the Herculean task of finding an apartment
and soon. Alongside,I also might be visiting this famous castle
close to the city as part of my time-killing exercise on the
weekend. I rather dont have that much time to kill cos
I have to read up a lot about my new job..but you remember your
college days, don't you?! :-) But.... I'm loving it!

Footsteps

she looked behind
a tear slid down
a step forward
a foot turned around

a snow-capped mountain
beckoned ahead
a warm sea shore
pulled her inside

'Hi' is easy
'Bye' is tough
Beginning of an end
the other, the end.

Life is such
it gives you both
You live, you choose
your life 'n' your small deaths

Deutschland welcomes you..

The land of the Black Forest and Oktoberfest..

Munchen(Munich) welcomes all. My home to be for some
time now - is a nice place at first glance. Warm,
friendly and inviting (though the U/S-bahn system
is confusing to a new comer).

I am currently put up in a hotel provided by my employer.
I have the onerous task of looking for an apartment.
Will start sometime Monday. Currently getting to
know the city and my way around. My colleagues here
are very helpful and have offered to show me around the
most important places.. like the indian stores :-P
I think an Indian looks forward to grocery shopping
onlywhens/he does it when not in India. :-)
Well, I am ofcourse going to try out the german cuisine
but at a slightly slower pace for two reasons. Firstly,
my gastric issues since my appendicitis operation last year
are persisting and I have been advised to avoid processed
food.. which is almost impossible when you are in another
country and LAZY to cook :-) Secondly, I have to yet develop
an attitude to try-out/eat meat other than chicken and fish.
Its a big barrier to break - and i am very sure it is not due to
the culture factor alone. Well I can say this cos I took up
eating fish like umm... fish to water (pun intended).. unlike
with chicken. I ate very little of chicken but i can gorge on a
whole tuna. So anyway.

The hotel I am living in has service apartments and is pretty neat.
So cooking is not an issue and I am doing my bit to help consumerism.
;)

So long... will keep updating you on life in Munich. Auf Wiedersehen.

Dekhi zamaane ki yaari....

Bichade sabhi baari baari...

ud ja ud ja pyaase bhanvare, ras na milega kaaron mein
kaagaz ke phul jahaan khilate hain, baith na un gulazaaro mein
naadan tamanna reti men, ummid ki kashti kheti hai
ik haath se deti hai duniyaa, sau haathon se leti hai
ye khel hai kab se jaari
bichade sabhi, bichade sabhi baari baari.

New beginning

Today was my first day at my new work place.
'was OK. Not as organised as IBM ofcourse -
but I think the chaos would be the same.
Somehow despite it being the core competency
of the HR department, managing people still
seems to be difficult for HR - no matter where you go!

Was woken up to the other facts of life and work.
Dress codes, no flexi-work options, time sheets etc..
man do I think I will survive? Time will tell.

Adventure Account

:-)

I am sure you have now guessed that I had a great
adventure trip. Yes, I did.
It was fun waking up in the wee hours - though an
hour later than we wanted to - and pack up for a
loooong drive and day ahead. We started to Pune
at 6 in the morning and were greeted by the windmills
on the outskirts of Chitradurga pretty much on time.
An accident and subsequent road blocks delayed our
journey by around 45 minutes or so. From then on
it was a pretty decent road minus the Chitradurga-
Davanagere patch which was pathetic.
Trouble hit when my brother noticed something fly out
from the bottom of the car onto the highway. Tried
to find out what it was but too late to go back on a busy
highway looking for a forsaken piece of, well, ...
Our average speed took a hit after this and we were trying
to be careful with the vehicle. A few more jams on the
otherwise awesome highway saw us frustrated a little but
we were determined. The journey finally ended at 1am that
morning at my home sweet home. Overall an exciting journey.

I sooo missed my partner from the last trip in this trip.
Yes we weren't driving easy like last time. That trip was
fun. We halted overnight on the way and so had ample time
on hand to stop at places of interest or just to take a break.
Dude... thank you for that trip :-) Muah!

So I am back home now... in the not-so-sweltering summer heat
but still bad enough for me. It made me sweat a little more
when I got to know it poured in Bangalore today ! Damn!! :-(
I think someone is missing me in Bangalore ;-)

Adventure Season

Starting on another adventure tomorrow..
another long drive .. ~900 kms, 3 drivers,
and 16 hours. Hope to make it in one day.

Mixed feelings right now, about leaving this
city which has been my home for a cool 10yrs
now.. wow! First came to the city in 1998 as
a fresh graduate joining my then dream IT org.
And now here I am.. 10yrs in the industry.
Seems so long and so quick at the same time :-)
This city has seen me through my ups and downs
and always brought me back from my lows.
I have experienced amazing freedom , made such
close friends who have been such an important part
of my life, have had my moments of epiphany here
and have connected so closely to this city.
So yes I am a little sad to leave this place.

At the same time I am happy as well for multiple
reasons. Ofcourse on the personal front I am making
progress, moving on to better and exciting things,
exploring newer places which I always wanted to do.
The other reason is I was so unhappy with the way this city
has turned out in the past 10 yrs. The Bangalore in 98 and
the Bangalore in 08 is so different.. its an effort to stay
connected and then its no fun. So.

Well, I believe everything happens for a reason and
everything happens for the best.. :-)
Enjoy the ride...

a few words

Faith, they say
Keep it.
Knives in your back
Keep it?

Hope,
a bright tomorrow
Blinded by today
can one see it?

Laughter,
the best medicine
Why at the expense
of someone else?

Love,
over hyped, over rated
Difficult to find even one
where it lasted.

Change,
is the constant
It helps me stay sane
rooted in my own idiosyncrasies.