5. Chaired matters...

10 things that I missed about airbus ODC, series was something that I had to force down the throats of ma colleagues and died premature death before its completion. An out of moment ping that forced me to think back and make ma self believe that I am not short of audiences .The series is back in track-alive and kicking.

5. Chaired matters...

Of many life saving skills that I attained from AIRBUS, finding the right chair and whisking it away would have to be tagged the most innovative one. Stealing is not a virtue you would wanna flaunt but, AIRBUS did teach me that no virtue is not worth mentioning in your appraisal form.

Chair is an important part of a software engineer’s life considering the fact that we do spend more than 7hours (Not in ma case :P) on them. Lazy posture, concentration posture, frustrated posture, dedicated posture, Friday joyous posture...one look at the posture of the person and you can get to know the situation of the code.

Being an early bird has its own advantage, I take a stroll through all the cabin searching for that right chair the one with proper backrest, right angle slouch ,proper height and so on...I whisk away the nearly perfect one rolling it down to ma cabin .The rolling is certainly not a happy affair...hitting and completely wayward chair manages to make enough screeching/hitting on cabin sounds alerting few other early birds. As I manage to keep my chair ,slowly the ODC fills up by around 11.The few unlucky ones (afternoon birds) have tough time finding a chair let alone the right one. It’s always EMPLOYEES vs CHAIRS and the later always manages to win. Unscathed by the supply shortage the afternoon birds waits until some poor tea deprived soul to step out and with their eagle like precision manages to get a hold on to the chair the former have been sitting declaring the chairs as their own .As the cup yielding soul returns back only to find his chair missing .The person who did whisk the chair sits there with utter concentration ,his eyes fixed on to the screen acting unaware of what’s happened minutes ago.

Obviously You will never be able to apply your monopoly to any of the chairs (thanks to night owls) as one is forced to repeat the same routine over and out the next day.

In Cochin every time I walk towards the cabin after my short break I have this delusion up in ma head that ma chair would be missing and the inert virtue of stealing awaitens its renewal .No, I find ma chair there safe and here EMPLOYEES always win considering the number of empty cubicles. How I so miss the screeching sound the chair makes while being rolled down from one destination to other and I so miss ma hunt for MR.RIGHT CHAIR....

How much do we get influenced by people and places ?a lot? or is it rarely or even a not at all? Well, in ma case the phrase " most of the times" would be apt. One has to just audit through ma bookmarks to get state of ma mind at that instant. Yesterday was one of those jobless days. Usually I have ma set of friends to ping and disturb on such days but, not yesterday .All communicators bulbs were gleaming RED and a "DO NOT DISTURB" warning that kept me off from ma usual dose of Hais and hellos. I have some interesting blogs bookmarked to keep maself occupied on such days. Ma neighbors would have had a panic attack seeing ma screen full of fab decors. I can get pretty annoyed if am working like a donkey trying to work through the 5 doc at a time where as ma neighbor is sitting there sipping his/her coffee slightly hunched on the chair listening to ma favorite song on his/her Ipod instead of taking a good look at the docs .So, I do know how much pair of eaglish eyes I had to evade yesterday. Home/Decor/design is ma area of interest along with just to see fashion/gossip/masala domain .Its remarkable how people can come up with such creative ideas ,turn junk into a masterpiece in short turn walls to homes. It amazes me cause no matter what I do, ma brother ,mom or dad end up messing up and I end up thinking that "THE IDEA" is not worth implementing in a home like mine where movement happen in every second. No matter how many ever times I warn ma brother not to have his junk food dosage on sofa he still does, no matter how many times I warn ma mom not to remove the candles from its designated place she still does it, no matter how many ever times I ask ma dad not to crumble the carpet he still does. In midst of all these chaos I end up losing the war against the unwanted forces .For them it’s just a home, not something to be feel good about...its just a place where you spent some hours of a day. The visual aspect of interior design is neglected an even ma mom discourages me on ma endeavors due to the large amount of effort she has to put in to keep things in place when am not around .Of 20 months that I stayed away from ma home and ma room, the worst neglected part of the house was ma room. For someone who keeps her room picture perfect it was heartbreaking to see things strewn around or the being misplaced. The long separation spelled doom for ma room, and it slowly turned to a cowed den ,somewhere you just don't wANNa spent more than the regular 7 hours of sleeping time .Another problem that I faced was dust, it had engulfed my pet soft toys all browned beyond recognition .The window grills covered in piles of dust or the curtains singing a sad tale....so much for the sad state... The whole day I ended up reading interior design blogs ,DIY ideas and by 6:45 when I left ma PC I was inspired to do something, to change the perspective of how things are done at ma home. By 8 I reached my humble adobe and first things I did was to throw out ma brothers computer and after 3 hours of hard toiling ma room was ready though not remotely close to what I had seen in blogs but at par with ma expectations. People say that your home is where the heart is but, I beg to differ In ma case, its “heart is where ma home is” .Each one of us would like to stay in a picture perfect home, one that invites you in, one that makes you wanna extend your stay a little longer ,one that makes you smile at its sight ,one that calms your senses .Even , I dream of "MY PERFECT HOME" and someday ma dreams will take its shape .Every home oozes its residents sensibilities ,tastes and you can judge a person with the way in which he keeps his/her home. I have always turned to good books when I am short of literary inspiration, style blogs when my wardrobe looks "MEH" now its interior solutions...Im never short of inspiration thanks to the world wide web that keeps my dull life going.
Image courtesy:of peacocks and paisleys

Im not an AND person when it comes to tackling problems ,that means I cannot handle more than one problem at a time .I am not a saint either, like any other I do cry and crib over the problems....

I cannot tackle problem A,B,C and D at the same time cause all the problems added would give me a splitting headache, and when I find the problems out of my normal solving capacity I get panicky.

I take time, shed some tears , blame all the people around me and then start putting some good thought into solving the problem at hand and surprisingly I do well in finding out solutions.

It irritates me when people tell me "I am angry due to so and so....AND problem B is also creating such an issue along with problem C". How the hell am I supposed to infer, what is hurting you more…. problem A,B or C. Which one should be solved at this instant? which one can ease your pain?.Take your time, decide and let me know.

I am a person who can deal with just one thing at a time and the process of coming out of multiple problems is quite time consuming process for me .I expect people not to load me with their issues just cut into smaller portions that I can deal with the blow one at a time.

6.LUNCH BREAKS!!!


My stomach would vouch for the 6th spot given to Lunch breaks in AIRBUS. It all starts with a single chat
Window "LUNCH"?.I would instantly lock ma computer and run to MALLU's cabin before even she can respond.
The usual 1 hour break stretches to 1:30-2 hours increasing based on work pending. The conversation on our way to the center court stretches from work to tredz .Lunch queue is always short and to our relief moves really fast unlike that in Cochin. On this occasion I would like to say a silent prayer for all those chicken that we consumed in these 8 month R.I.P guys!!!Every other day we would end up taking biriyani or kabab no matter how determined we are about starting dieting that very day. All up in air!!!
The next task is obviously to find a place to sit. Moments when u think you have made it to the chair, someone else would place his/her plate and give a "I WON, YOU LOOSE" smile. Else,the chairs would be blocked for their friends of friends of friends. Finally after much scanning, body movement analyzing we would successfully manage to find two seats and after 1 hour of conversation we would call it an afternoon. The funny part is that though we are never short of conversations, each day we start a new one as if we some long lost buddies.
After the sumptuous meal ,its another round of meal for us especially If any one of us are in a mood to have Ice-cream from AMUL. I never thought Gulab jamun with ice-cream can taste so good until I had them from AMUL. Licking our melting AMUL ice-cream we head back to our ADDA(Not the one that you are thinking, we still got another 30 minutes you see). What happens to the rest of the break you must be wondering right? Coming soon in a new post.

I'm staring out into the night, Trying to hide the pain.

I'm going to the place where love And feeling good don't ever cost a thing. And the pain you feel's a different kind of pain.

Well I'm going home, Back to the place where I belong, And where your love has always been enough for me.

I'm not running from. No, I think you got me all wrong.

I don't regret this life I chose for me. But these places and these faces are getting old, So I'm going home. Well I'm going home.

The miles are getting longer, it seems, The closer I get to you. I've not always been the best man or friend for you. But your love remains true.

And I don't know why. You always seem to give me another try. So I'm going home, Back to the place where I belong, And where your love has always been enough for me.

I'm not running from. No, I think you got me all wrong.

I don't regret this life I chose for me.

But these places and these faces are getting old, Be careful what you wish for, 'Cause you just might get it all. You just might get it all, And then some you don't want. Be careful what you wish for, 'Cause you just might get it all. You just might get it all, yeah.

Oh, well I'm going home, Back to the place where I belong, And where your love has always been enough for me.

I'm not running from. No, I think you got me all wrong.

I don't regret this life I chose for me. But these places and these faces are getting old. I said these places and these faces are getting old, So I'm going home. I'm going home.

7.. Junk Guys



If there is one word that has crawled into ma vocabulary ,then it definitely has to be the word “JUNK”. Spread from an unknown source(most probably Pchow), the whole team was heard embracing the word in a short span .The master of this word title has to go to Laxmindhar a.k.a JUNKINDHAR. He got so much addicted to the word that he couldn’t pass even a single day without uttering the word minimum 50 times. No one was in a mood to check if the junk word is a noun or a verb, but was abundantly used in day to day conversation. At some point of time people, place, work…. everything was addressed as JUNKS!!!.I miss using this word in ma random conversations…….

8.It’s a candy land.


The moment you hear someone saying that Mr.X is returning from onsite ,a definite question lingers in air:”which chocolate is he going to bring?”.On the D-Day everyone awaits the familiar mail “SWEETS @ MY DESK”. It’s a mad rush to get one's hands on the chocolates. Managing to sneak in at least your fingers through the already settled crowd is a task by itself. May be the face that stands in one corner watching all the fuss is a forgotten one or may be he/she doesn’t even know who you are but, that in never gonna stop you from whisking away as many chocolates your hands and pockets can hold. Mars ,the famous rum chocolates, milk chocolates….I have lost count of the number of chocolates I have had in the last 8 months. I am certainly gonna miss the sweet savor of FREE ONSITE chocolates.

Lifting spirits UP

Lifting spirits UP !!!

Not exactly a moment that would lift one's spirits up.S1 tower officially has nearly 8 lifts and the logic on which they operate is still a mystery coded for US.You press the down button to wait for nearly 15 minutes .After 15 minutes of foot tapping eternal wait you realize that the lift has bypassed your floor.It may stop at 8th or 6th floor but, definitely not yours.
Consider it as your lucky day if you manage to find a lift stopped at your floor,one peek inside and you will realize that its not exactly your lucky day as the lift would be jammed pack with people ,with not even an inch space for a needle let alone a 50 kg body mass.
Have had some fantastic moments in Bangalore lifts....Sign languages,familiar languages,photo takes and retakes,pressing every key possible,some weird looks .......
Cochin lifts are relatively free,non-crowded and you can always find at least one on each floor,so much for the lifting spirits.

10 random things I miss about my AIRBUS ODC

10 random things I miss

about my AIRBUS ODC.......

The last post showcased my journey over the past 8 months and the emotions that caused a furor in the bus stand.This post is a salute to the places and people and it will take you through a tour of small significant-insignificant things that made up my life.

The number 10 spot goes to.......
10.RED BUS/IRCTC/KSRTC site surfing
Everyone loves to go home and the love accelerates based on the distance you are away from your den.There is one thing that I used to do the moment I switched on ma system without fail for the past 8 months:To check all those travel sites for a ticket to Cochin that very weekend, even if I had just come back from a week's holidaying.Slowly, it turned into my routine habit.Sight of a vacant nominally rated seat brought bundle full of joy into ma life.Now that I am back home and daily travel isn't much of an organised and exciting affair as long distance I would certainly miss the familiar sight of redbus and irctc.

The feeling have not sinked in yet.Fresh faces,morning wake up calls,smell of fresh coffee brewing....yeah I did pinch ma self the moment I woke up...I was indeed sleeping on "MA" bed,picking up any plate I feel like having food in,reading through the Malayala Manorama newspaper having my tea.Even when I assure ma self that I'm out of dream, something hurts ma consciousness from back of ma head.The cadbury's Silk must have got digested,the tears must have got dried,goodbyes must have faded but still, sitting in that bus I was trying hard not to weep loud. Sleepy head I am known to be, couldn't sleep a wink that very day .All the good memories kept haunting me,places,people,work .I was going away from the place that I called ma home for the past 8 month:BANGALORE...the transition was not as smooth as I expected.Laxmindhar,Malvika,Manish,Tinu.....we bonded well may be cause 5 of us were of same age and for 3 of us it was our first project.We fought,hang around in tough times,bitched,pinged,travelled together and unfortunately ma journey with you guys is coming to an end.The separation was self induced and that is the exact reason why it hurts more.I am happy to say that at least I was part of their lives for the past 8 months...people turned out to be different from what I had portrayed them in ma mind to be.Past 8 moths would be etched in ma memory for a long time to come.

"TO BE OR NOT TO BE"...the words were trailing off "Yup"i muttered sheepishly trying to shift my wavering attention from the pitch darkness outside to the dim lighted interiors.For a moment I was in wandering in some fairy tale world where everything was perfect . Hitting back on reality I tried to rewind whatever Su just said .To put it straight whatever Mr.Shakepeare wrote centuries ago and one which all of us repeat in some way or other in our daily lives .When u have the power TO BE OR NOT TO BE it just not the plan A alone ,you have abundant options extending to even plan Z and the funny part is most of us stumble at the sight of multiple options committing mistakes which wouldn't have been the case in a normal scenario with limited options.

Right out of college I had multiple option MBA,MTECH,BANK EXAMS.... and I was to confused to decide what I wanted so, I let someone else decide for me.Over the months I slowly realised that what was done couldn't be undone and I had no other option other than to stick.Well why!!!the most strangest situation one can be put in is when one finds advantage in every option that is in front .

This very moment I'm put into a very difficult choice

1.To stay back I Bangalore

2.To hit back to Cochin.

As, much as i see the advantage of staying back in Bangalore(Let it remain a secret) I loathe the idea of staying away from ma parents for long.When I access the balance sheet the pros's con's give me a fairly balanced sheet and I have no go other than to trust my own judgement or give the decision entirely on hands of individuals who will end up doing what they want.Life is full of difficult choices they say and as things are going for me I dare not argue.