Pleasure times @ hols..

This post was basically for me to remember the most enjoyable moments spent at home during the Eid holidays. We spent our time playing cards and dumb charades. Though we had 2 packs of cards, we din't find any time to play cards till then. The card game we played many times was 'Badam satti' . This was taught to us by one of my friends, Sujit. The game goes like this, we start with '7' card and keep filling the series both ways for all symbols and the winner has to shed down all cards first. And the rest are given some points according to the cards they hold. Bigger number then you become the loser. Since it does not involve any brain and just luck only (as commented by another friend of mine :) ) there were many iterations for the game, say some 15 times to decide on the winner or rather the loser. It was quite interesting game atleast helped us to while away time. Ironically, I was loser many times, probably luck did not favour me (its mere luck only and no brains -stating it again not because i lost). Never could forget the arguments during the game , effectiveness of the game, another colleague of ours misinterpreting that we were playing it for money and so on...

Then it was the dumb charades. I love it very much. It is a great entertainer in its own ways and that too when people struggle to enact , its real fun !!! So, our contestants can be described like, the one who could stand thinking most of the time of what could be enacted , the one who enact the same way irrespective of any film name given, the one who could enact strange things irrelevant to the given names and so on... We had many memorable moments while playing this, few times rolling on the floor in laughter too. The actual fun was when people like us, who do not know hindi were asked to enact for Hindi movies. Few movies which we enjoyed enacting or identifying were Kachhe dhaage, kung foo panda, mela, aamdani attani kharcha rupaiyya and so on.. Guess all others will have the same great memories only.... :)

P.S. : Then only, we had three consecutive B'day celebrations also .. :)

Dolphins WATCH....!!!

We were given a weeks holiday during September. We all were planning for many trips . We came up with many options, like going to an island, to stay in a resort in the mid of a desert ,etc. Basically, we were looking forward for an exciting and interesting one. Inspite of our planning, we could make it for only one, but not any of the above mentioned ones.
We went to Dolphin watch on the Arabian sea. It wasn't a show, where we could imagine trained dolphins jumping to great heights inside the rings with a trainer, but just to watch the dolphins out there at the sea naturally . When enquired people around us about the watch, we got mixed reviews, since it was all mere luck if could see the dolphins. Though this was discouraging, we all wanted to try our luck also and finally planned for it.
Its been very long since we had holidays on Sunday (here weekends are friday and saturday). This trip was planned on a Sunday only. All were set ready for the trip and we went there with least expectations. First, we went to a port, where we found quite large number of boats stranded. These boats resembled a minie ship with 12 seater ,anyone would love to go on it. It was a 2 hours trip in the sea. It was too good, the clear blue sea with very less waves was worth the sight in the morning sun light. After few minutes of travel, we could see only sea at all directions. I was able to sea few other boats around us who came for the dolphin watch. After, some say 20 to 25 minutes the boat was stopped when the first dolphin was sighted. Then onwards, we use to ride for some time and halt in a place and all in our boat curiously wavering in all directions in an attempt to get a clear sight of the dolphins jumping. We managed to get the sight of dolphins jumping to a certain height which gave us the full satisfaction for the trip. Then, slowly the enthusiasm started to cease down and all got settled back to their seats.
We were actually warned not to have any food, which would lead to a dizzy feeling and sea sickness, and that was true. After an hour or so, I too felt the same. The wavering boat travelling swiftly through the waves, beating the water harshly, made us feel very drowsy.
So, finally after this enjoyment, we all were waiting patiently to reach the shore as soon as possible. Ironically, we were not able to take the pics of many dolphins since it was too fast for us capture in our cameras, my friends managed to take one or two decent snaps also. Those great sights of the dolphins jumping around in pairs with the sense of freedom in the sea still remains in my memories unerased. This was one of my most remarkable and memorable trips.

A Gr8 experience indeed..

I wanted to write about one of the jubliant moments I had here. It was almost a year back, sometime by 1st week of November 2008, when we were staying in a service apartment. There was a large team here at onsite and there were few girls also. We all planned for a DJ night in one of our apartments. There were many preparations for the it like food stuffs , some drinks, etc. For music, our Manager had just brought an iPod Speaker, and one of them took real pains for the collection of songs to include all kinds, (English, Hindi , tamil all types) basically to make everyone dance. Initially, I was a little bit reluctant to this plan. I was not very sure about dancing and I find this attitude with most of the south Indians, we feel very shy and worry about others comments . Then, by around 8 PM the stage was set ready. All were invited or atleast forced to be there in the room, switched off the lights (just a dim light was on), switched on the music... They played the first song, few people volunteered to dance, I was watching them, it was very good. They actually forced each of them to dance, slowly my shyness had gone, joined them in dancing, though I call it so , atleast that just I made attempts. All of us started dancing at last, enjoying to the core, jumping, dancing in the dim light. I have not experienced it ever before, this moment when I forgot all my sorrows, like a kid jumping and shouting was too good. Later, my manager and his wife also joined us in this party, and there were no differentiations on professional grounds. Then, I understood the basic reason for this arrangement. Since most of us were in the nut shell and was reluctant to come out for dance parties, our colleagues wanted everyone to realise THE experience. This turned out to a grand success. This went on for atleast 3 to 4 hours and I hope all enjoyed it a lot.. I thank my friends and colleagues who had arranged for this and made this one of the memorable moments in my Life.

First time, never again !!!!

It was an ordinary evening, we were just returning back home from dinner. All of a sudden when we reached our building, one of the guys suddenly suggested to go for a dance bar. Whenever they wanted to go, i just try to slip out of the group. Probably, I am not actually interested in such things (I swear its the truth :) ) but always wanted to know what the hell it would be so. So, this time when I was offered to come, I became unstable, was in dilemma and atlast made up my mind to go. We were about 4 ppl who decided to go, out of which 2 of us don't drink. We were nearing the building, my conscience was still questioning me about this, then finally we reached it . There were actually 2 bars in the same building, one in the basement and the other above it. These guys went to check both the places to find out which is better, even that time I actually had an opportunity to return home, but din't .. :( Finally, they decided to go to the basement. I entered the hall, it was lit with a dim yellow light, to provide the typical ambience of the dance bar. I noticed a girl was getting ready to sing and three others to dance. We all found a comfortable place to sit, and 2 of them ordered a drink for them and the other some spirte, I dint have anything there, actually I don't want to. Then, by the time we settled down, the show started there. The girl singing was wearing a 3/4th jeans with a t-shirt and the rest wore 'gagra choli', so it was not very bad to look , (I thanked God). I still was not very comfortable being there. And 2 guys sitting in front of me were steam engines, smoking continuously and to my bad luck, no other persons in the bar was smoking. This was very irritating and finally i switched my place. Then, we were there for about 1 hour in the bar. I was watching the show, the bar, how people are involved at such things and was puzzled how do they find peace in these things. Thats how the world is, each person have their own justification for any act they do and surprising they get used to it, due to what so ever reason it may be. In between, I also imagined all girls sitting around and only guys dancing ... (then later heard from my friend even such bars exists). I thought, it was not the place for me, finally decided to leave, so atleast my friends may enjoy it, but they din't want that, so in next 10 mins they completed their drink and came along with me.
They said, it was not a very interesting for them, I too felt the same, but hope their perception was different. Finally, had an hour of uncomfortable so called pleasure, which I swear will never ever do again !!!!!

Deepavali hmm... not bad.. :)

Deepavali. hmmm.. thats the most enthusiatic festival celebrated across India, that keeps our spirits high!!!! And just the thought of deepavali itself will be joyous moments for most of them. This time, I was at onsite for this occasion. The day before when I went to bed, I was feeling very lowered and lonely, hence took very difficult efforts to fall asleep. Actually, couple of days ago my best pal had already travelled home for Deepavali and hence I could not catch him online, this also was one of reasons for my sadness. I planned to get up early the next day at least by 6 am, though not much to do except to watch tv (deepavali spl programs). But to my surprise I got a call by 5.50 am from my friend. It was a great booster for me and jumped out of my bed , spoke to him for 10 mins. Then, I became more energetic and spoke to my parents and sisters... Whenever i call them, its always difficult to answer the questions of my niece.. :) Always asking my return date, and the reason for being away from home.. Then, i woke up my friend also (we stay in the same house) ,he too had some couple of calls . Later we started watching TV together, atleast to get the feel of being at home. My cousin, who lives here invited me for lunch previously. So, watching TV , I quickly got ready and around 9.40 am I started to my brother's home. There, as expected had a good reception, then general relative chats and updates and some official talks with my brother. His daughters hardly spoke to me.. Then I had food there, it was very nice, actually I felt I din't miss Home food. Here goes the menu, gulab jamun, Pal gova, conventional sambar rice, vada, curd, rasam, mixture, pachadi..... went on.. had a very satisfied good lunch. Later, left from there in the afternoon hoping to watch a Tamil movie in theatre in the evening, but was not able to get the tickets (I owe the reason for it :( ). So, finally we decided to watch an English movie, 'The Recruit' in the LCD TV connecting it to laptop via hdmi cable. It was a decent good movie. Then, my friend and colleague called from Pune and was talking for about 20 mins. In the evening we went to the temple, the darshan was very good, had some prasadams there and on our return had our dinner in Kamat. Had a lot actually, some paneer sticks,amras poori, dahi idly(sweet), duet dosai (actually 2 masala dosas with different catnis- red and green in it) finally the long awaited Lichee with icecream.
So, had a decent Deepavali here.

P.S.: Hope Bursting of crackers are banned here, could not hear any sounds, I too din't make any attempts to know that also, but only heard it on phone in all calls from India.

A month's nite mare came to an end... :)

At last got my Visa. It was a month's night mare without a visa in a foreign country. I have not imagined such a situation in my life. Though it sounds a very serious problem, it was not actually My clients actually had given enough security from me their side. But it is quite obvious that we could not refrain from fear. It is a King rule here, rules are atleast very strict on expatriates :). So, each time we stroll out ,i keep my fingers crossed till I reach home safely. There was one good thing about it, there was one more guy in the same situation, so was a little happy in the worst case have someone to accompany in the foreign jail... :) Finally, it turned out to be very bad that, i fear even now ,on seeing the cops :).
It was like this.. i travelled here on business visa for 21 days after that it was expected to be converted to work permit visa. But, our PRO (he takes care of our visas from the client) said that their rules have become strict and are expecting many more documents which would take atleast more than couple of months if we follow on the process. So, he was trying to get our visas converted to wp on some special permissions on this took the time.
Hope, now I m safe!!!!!

(: 'Machi' >>> 'Saale' :)

I was actually very reluctant in using the word "Machi" until i came to Onsite. What does this mean? literally it means brother - in -law, personally it means 'u r very close to me (in case of guys only)'. I felt it very very informal and uncomfortable. But, when got aquainted with few guys from North India (for me any guys apart from the 4 south indian states are NIs) the first word they learnt from us was 'machi', since most of my other colleagues used it very frequently. These people started addressing everyone as 'machi', then later without my knowledge I too got used to it. When these guys tell this word, its sounds very nice, it gave me a different feeling. This reached the peak, when one of my client called my Manager at offshore as 'machi' in a Conference call. I burst out with laughter on hearing this. Basically, now i have started using it almost very commonly, I wanted to restrict it to only 2 people which i have already violated :(
Hope atleast i don t start using this very common in future, though i like to call my friends from other states as 'machi'... :)

Ironically, the other most common word now i use or rather scold is 'saale' (in hindi), which means the same:)

P.S. : The first person whom i called 'machi' was Arun Bhau Chakor , my good little friend.. :)

Crap things I am learning ... :)

1. Do not be frank and out spoken personally, but professionally that is demanded in the Corporate Life.
2. Less Expectations MORE happiness . :)
3. Better be part of the corporate politics, instead to be ruined for just watching it.
4. Happiness depends on our perception and definition.
5. Most of the people are self-centered, better not to help without you been requested for.
6. You are always expected to fight even for your basic needs , irrespective of whether it happens.. :)
7. Be smart to take responsibilities of easy tasks and slip away from difficult ones.
8. Make the whole world aware of even little things you do..
9. If you are in deep shit, do accept it, to come out of it.
10. Adjustment and co-operation are always expected from others and is BULL SHIT when it comes to self.
11. People are strange, at times its interesting but most times is very painful, ought to live with it, ironically i am among them.
12. While crossing the road first look at your "left" here(took me few seconds even nw) :)
13. People owning a car are not rich, 99% own one here.
14. Our corporate rules are tougher than the rules of our Constitution, many times.

Onsite Life Commences....

The flight landed and I entered the airport. I hope, that 50 to 60 percent of cases of guy travelling Onsite,there will always be a relative or friend there, and i was not an exception in this case. I too had my cousin at Muscat staying there for about 8 years. The flight landed at Muscat, there was a long wait in the visa counter for the stamping.I could not forget the fear filled heart of mine, on exposure to a different country,culture and language. Just there in the airport itself, I could realise the alien-like feeling, people lookin at me like slave (probably my feeling)or the anger for sharing their own rites and freedom, cud be many such reasons. Again smile creeped into me, when I saw my cousin waiting for me at the arrivals, and then he dropped me to my hotel and left.(place where my client has booked place for me). From here starts my life at Onsite. This could be divided into two phases. First, it was good and then became better. I was given a royal suite for accommodation (that sounds great right!!!), hope this is the first good thing I could mention about my Muscat life, but was not even able to enjoy that. What made the difference? missing family, friends or my difficulty to come out the comfort zone, that i was into?? There was big team from my company say around 20 ppl, was tis gud or bad?? hopefully/hopelessly, this took me about 3 to 4 months to mingle with the team , or probably they were also reluctant to extend their comfort zone over to a new guy or the assumed perception of them on on me. And, thus commenced my life at onsite with so many such unanswered questions, hoping things to become better some day. Then, started my hectic work at onsite. I was working almost all days without even a break. I was exposured to the so called "Corporate Life" for the first time, apart from the work pressure. All of them at onsite were my seniors, Probably, this thought of mine kept me away from them for a long time. It was very difficult to interpret my colleagues expressions or words. I felt, people liked to flatter and get their work done. Suprisingly, each one of them know this, but most of them continued to do
the same with every other people. I was almost an innocent college guy who had just joined the first project who was at home till date. So, it took me about 3 to 4 months to understand and learn the art of handling people. But, till then I had a very difficult time in understanding the general manager's talk. The major problem I faced was to identify a true friend. I was actually differentiating between colleagues and friends. I felt none of my colleagues can be my friend and did not make an attempt to maintain rapport with them, I told this to few of my colleagues too. But, later I realised that was a wrong opinion atleast when we travel to onsite. We travel away from our near and dear ones and its very hard to stay alone for a long time . Thankfully, I had few of my colleagues who accompanied me during this period. They gave me good company and I was also able to share my thoughts. So, after this period of lull, I slowly joined the group there and few people also had to leave from onsite completing their project. And, when few of my friends left, they advised me, not to be so innocent and soft. So, thus i discovered that happiness in our life depends on our definition and perception only.. :)