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  • The Hideous Crime

    The Hideous Crime

    The house was surrounded by a huge crowd with puzzled faces, anxious to know the exact details of what happened. The barricade tape was stretched at the entrance indicating a barrier for the onlookers, and men in uniform were quietly going in and out without saying a word. Even media people were not allowed inside and it had created a very suspicious environment.

    Inspector Roy was in-charge of the detective team and was trying to figure out what exactly happened. He went to the first witness of the dead body, Ana, who was shivering with fear while sitting in a corner surrounded by lady constables.

    “She was brutally killed. I saw her lying on the floor, almost sunk in her own blood. It was a scary sight,” Ana told Roy. She seemed devastated. She continued, “I work in her nursing home and came to give her a report file of a patient. The door was open and she was…,” the woman fainted.

    A lady doctor named Veena was found dead. The woman’s face was crushed with a heavy object and she was repeatedly stabbed even after she was dead. The killer seemed to be very angry with her.

    Different stories started circulating. Someone in the crowd was saying, “She was a very good gynecologist. She was there when I delivered my baby. She was so much supportive. Its pity that she got such a fate. Whoever killed her must be hanged.”

    Another woman agreed, “She delivered almost all the babies in this neighbourhood. She was a gem. It seems to be a personal grudge for someone to kill such a good hearted lady like her. Have they identified the killer yet?”

    There were critics as well. “But she was not very helpful. Usually she kept to herself and did not provide discounted or free consultation even to her neighbours. Once I went to her clinic on a busy day. It was full of patients. I thought, being a neighbour, I can get past the waiting line. But when I approached her, she rudely told me to wait for my chance.”

    “Don’t you think it shows her dedication to rules and ethics. I don’t think she was wrong here. But yes, that is true that she was totally money minded. She could charge you even for speaking to her.”

    “Whatever you people say, I am always in her debt. I think she was a true angel of god. I got my baby boy only because of her. She had a lucky charm. Did you notice, she delivered most of the boys here. So, many houses got their heirs only because of her. We should not speak ill of her.”

    There were no signs of forced entry which showed that the killer was someone known to her and trustable enough to allow into the house. A shoe print in the blood revealed that the killer was a male.

    Roy was aware of the problem in identifying the killer based on the clues collected so far. A doctor meets hundreds of people every day and all her patients are known to her. It is difficult to find someone in the huge patients list of a successful doctor practicing for more than 10 years. But the killer was out and had to be found before he killed someone else.

    Next day, Roy got a news. Ana was found almost dead in her house. Someone tried to kill her by suffocating her with a pillow when she was asleep. May be due to her house located in a crowded area, the killer did not get enough time to make sure that she was dead.

    Somewhat relieved, Roy finally saw some hope to find the killer. Ana definitely knew something and he was going to find out what. Next day when doctors discharged Ana, Roy started interrogating her. She was already scared and was almost ready to blurt out everything.

    “I am so sorry. I never wanted to be a part of this. But I needed money to support my family. Doctor Veena was involved in the business of getting rid of unborn girl child for those who wanted only a boy child. She performed sex determination of unborn child and aborted it if found a girl. The man who killed her is Ramesh. He is the husband of one of her patients who gave birth to a baby boy last week.” While telling this, she got scared again, “And he is going to kill me. I am a fool to tell him everything.”

    The woman started crying badly and fainted again. She was again gone for at least a few hours. Though the story was incomplete, Roy got sufficient clue to find the killer. It may take sometime to find Ramesh. At the same time, Roy was disgusted with the idea of female foeticide. In a corner of his heart, he believed that Veena got appropriate punishment for such a hideous crime.

    However with this incomplete story, Roy got more confused. He was unable to find a motive for this murder. The situation was clear. Ramesh wanted a boy. So he took help of Doctor Veena who may have helped him by performing sex-selective abortion earlier and finally getting him a boy. Hospital records showed that Ramesh consulted Veena 5 times in last 4 years for seemingly fake health issues of his wife. Clearly, girls were identified first 4 times and were aborted to finally get a boy in the fifth time. This means Ramesh should be happy with Veena.

    But instead, he killed her. And he tried to kill the nurse too. Ana said she told something to Ramesh which resulted in all this. “What did she tell her?” Roy wondered hoping to hear it from either Ana or Ramesh as soon as he could.

    Within 6 hours, Ramesh was arrested from a relative’s house where he was hiding. He was still very angry and was unhappy that he could not finish Ana. “Yes, I killed Veena. She was a monster, a bitch. And her subordinate, Ana, she is a bitch too.” Ramesh shouted out loud.

    “But why? It seems they helped you to get a baby boy.”

    “They did. But Veena took away my children. I lost all of them. I believed her and this is what she did to me. She killed all of them. And that Ana helped her in all this,” Ramesh broke down crying.

    “So you did not want to kill the girls?” Roy was even more confused.

    “I wanted to.”

    “Then why you killed her?” Roy was losing his patience because of the unclear answers from Ramesh.

    “These doctors have a special package where they help you to find out the gender of unborn baby and if found girl, they will abort it themselves. Four times I went to her and got my baby aborted to get a boy next time. I was so happy last week when I finally got my baby boy in my hands. He is my heir. He will carry forward my legacy.” Ramesh paused to take a breath.

    “Yesterday I got to know from one of my activist friends about some wrong doings in Dr. Veena’s hospital. While in doubt, I confronted her nurse on her way to hospital who knew me very well due to my earlier visits to the hospital. She revealed a shocking truth to me. Many times Dr. Veena used to identify boys as girls so that patients will pay her extra for abortion. All the four times, I had boys, and she killed all of them, just to get some more money. I lost four of my boys. All because of that bitch, murderer.” Ramesh knelt crying badly.

    Roy was stunned.

    Ramesh continued, “She was an animal in this society. So I killed her and did a good thing for the society.”

    Roy’s blood boiled up. He could not believe his ears. He kicked Ramesh breaking his nose. A stream of blood burst out from Ramesh’s mouth and nose on the floor.

    “You are a murderer. You are also a burden to this society. How can your crime of killing unborn girls any better than Veena cheating you. You deserved this, so did she. But those four innocent unborn babies, no matter boy or girl, were supposed to be alive. And you are going to get the worst punishment of your life for this.”

    Roy left with a determination to ensure that Ramesh gets appropriate punishment for his crime to set an example for the society so that people think many times before doing anything like this. Also, Veena was found guilty of the hideous crimes, her hospital was closed down and her license was revoked posthumously. This was a good example for practicing doctors to keep them away from female foeticide.

    Roy knew that the root cause of the problem was in the basic thinking process of society and these punishments are not enough to eradicate this evil. But he was happy to contribute as much he could in his capacity.

    Note: As a matter of fact, sex determination of unborn child and sex-selective abortion is illegal in India as millions of unborn girls are killed every year in the desperation to get a boy child. In a country where so many goddesses are worshiped, it is unfortunate to witness such a fate of a girl child.

  • The sacrifice of Ravana..

    The sacrifice of Ravana..

    Dussehra-ravana-dushehra

    While sitting in his golden chair, Ravana was still wondering whether his sacrifice proved useful to mankind. It has been more than 3000 years and people on earth are still doing bad things by giving various stupid excuses, one of them being religion.

    Being extremely powerful, Ravana could not be defeated or killed. He was the greatest warrior and knowledgeable person of his time. When he first heard about Rama from his sister, he could not resist himself from meeting him.

    At that time, world was not good anymore. With increasing number of bad people, the ratio of good ones was reducing significantly. His one meeting with Rama changed everything. Though it is not documented in the formal history, it changed the course of mankind and created an epic story in the form of Ramayana.

    Ravana started creating chaos and established himself as a powerful con man. Rama was already considered a great man. People considered Ravana as undefeatable. But his end by Rama affirmed the long taught concept of conquest of goodness over evil. And it did help for some time.

    Ravana was interrupted by a beautiful unicorn wandering in the forests of heaven. It was so calm and divine here. He remembered his last moments on earth when entire human population was celebrating the victory of Rama and cursing Ravana for being bad. Ravana took it all because he was assured that world is going to be a better place because of his sacrifice.

    But the world has not changed for good. There is no more Rama. There is no more Ravana as well. Being black and white was the thing of past. Now it is about shades of grey. A combination of Rama and Ravana in every person. And it seems that the ratio of Rama is getting lesser with each passing day.

    It was Dussehra. Ravana saw that the people on earth were celebrating by burning his effigies. Children were dancing with joy, adults were enjoying their day off with their children, some of them utilizing the crowd to molest some girls, pickpockets enjoying their peak season where they find maximum crowd and pick more pockets, fireworks makers utilizing child labor to make fireworks to sell them at higher margins, murderers and criminals worshiping their weapons as if they have done a good thing by killing people using them etc.

    He could not see it anymore. As soon as the festival was over, people were again back to their work forgetting everything Dussehra was meant for. No one got inspired to do good things, to stop people from doing bad things. The sacrifice of Ravana was useless. He was just a story now.

    Disgruntled Ravana was feeling utterly sad first time in thousands years of his stay in heaven. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned back to find that it was Rama with ever assuring smile on his face.

    He said that world may have lost the meaning of Rama and Ravana, but there are powerful people in the world who act as Rama and Ravana at the same time. The world has changed, but we do not know whether it is for good or bad.

    All we can do is wait to see how it turns out to be. And if it doesn’t go well, we can always go back there to start our never ending war of good vs bad, creating another Ramayana. If you want, this time you can play the role of good one and I will play the bad one. We can call it Ravanayana. After all motivating people to be good is all we want.

    Ravana, little bit assured, took a deep breath and went back to his golden chair. He smiled, his sacrifice was not a waste after all.

    (To be continued…)

    Note: This is a work of fiction inspired by the epic Ramayana and the current scenario of human society.

  • All I want to say is Good-Bye

    All I want to say is Good-Bye

    I was standing at the gate, still savoring her last glimpse as she looked at me. Atleast I wanted a “good bye”. A very long one, almost never ending. But she quietly, coldly turned back and closed the door.

    And I was still standing there, without any thought, almost numb. I never imagined that it all would end this way.

    ———————————-

    Not so long ago, just about 4 years ago, I met her in this very beautiful flower shop. Every week I used to stop by the shop to buy flowers for my aunt. My aunt was in hospital and I visited her every Saturday.

    Now this beautiful girl at the flower shop was very mysterious. Her eyes were so deep that I felt mesmerized just by looking into them. I do not stare at women. But she was no ordinary woman.

    “Excuse me! You want something.” She was looking at me with an undecipherable expression.

    Embarrassed, I found myself still staring her eyes.

    “Uh.. Umm.. Yeah.. I need a bunch of roses. The yellow ones. It’s for my aunt. She is not well.” I blurted a few words while looking away from her.

    I felt like a fool. Partly because I was embarrassed and partly because I blurted out that I am not buying flowers for any other girl. I was evidently hitting on her.

    She smiled. I again forgot everything. She was just so pretty. She added a very beautiful lily to the bunch and told me that it was complimentary. I walked away quietly. I could not stop thinking about her whole night.

    My frequency of visiting my aunt increased from once a week to 3-4 times a week. And I started buying even more variety of flowers.

    One year was gone. My aunt was discharged from the hospital. But I was still buying flowers. The beautiful girl from the flower shop was sitting next to me on the beach at the sunset point. Her name was Lily. She spoke very less. It took me a long time to ask her out for a date. She was not very open to aspirations. She did not dream much. Only thing she liked was flowers. That’s why she worked at the flower shop.

    In my 3 years of going out with her, I could not find much about her. But this made me love her even more. We never kissed or hugged. Did not even speak much. The joy was in being together. It seemed that she was saying hundred stories with her eyes without even speaking a word.

    I loved this. I loved everything about her. May be this was the platonic love described by philosophers and hardly experienced by people in real life. But I was feeling it. It was love without any desire. It was love in its purest form.

    One day, I decided to find a way to be with her forever. I proposed her for marriage. It was a beautiful proposal with lots of flowers. She didn’t speak a word. I could not make out whether she was happy or sad. She simply walked away.

    Next day, when I stopped by the flower shop, she was gone. She left a message. It was the first time ever when she actually expressed what she felt. The letter said, “Our love is so pure that it fills me with forever happiness. Though I wish we could be together forever.”

    I was speechless. On one side, I was happy because she finally accepted that she loved me. And on the other side, we were not together anymore. We were apart forever.

    I could not accept it. I found out where she lived and went there. She came out of her house as if she knew that I would come. She was not smiling. I could feel the emptiness in her eyes. But she was still calm, as if she was trained for this. She came to me, kissed on my cheek & went back inside.

    ———————————-

    I was still standing there. There was no good bye. As if the kiss closed the platonic relationship we shared.

    With heavy steps, I walked back home. I did not want to hurt her. If she wants so, I will never bother her again.

    ———————————-

    One month later, it was 3 in the morning and I was in bed.

    A loud thud in my living room startled me. In no time, 7-8 men in armored suits were surrounding my bed with automatic lethal weapons pointing at me. I could feel the laser pointers at my forehead.

    I was picked up from my home, beaten up badly and repeatedly asked for my terrorist friends. I was clueless. Then they showed me a video clip of a very crowded railway station where a girl detonated a bomb killing herself along with dozens of people. She was Lily. She was gone.

    They showed me videos of me hanging out with her. They were sure that it was impossible for me not to know about her intentions after spending 3 years with her.

    I was speechless. For a moment I forgot about what was right or wrong. The symbol of such purity cannot be evil. May be someone tricked her or whatever. I did not want to think about it. Only thing I knew was our love.

    ———————————-

    My ‘now healthy’ aunt sometimes visits me with bunch of yellow roses. It reminds me the time I spent with Lily. Our platonic love is immortal. I still love her and it gets even more every day.

  • And I said, Good-Bye Infy!!

    And I said, Good-Bye Infy!!

    Image Credit: Flickr

    Its been 6 months since I left Infosys. Today, when I look back at all those days which I spent being a part of Infosys, I feel what I am today has been highly impacted by what I was being in Infosys.

    It was a cold December when I first left the warmth of my home to join Infosys in a far away part of the country. And when I left Infy, I felt a similar warmth that followed me. And I felt like I was leaving home again, the new home.

    When I joined Infy, I was just a college student. I had to learn a lot about life. And yes, I learned. I learned how to add value to the things I do, I learned how to talk to people who I do not know, I learned how to enjoy with people whom I do not even share the same culture, I learned how to see beyond what is visible, I learned to listen to the unspoken things and most importantly, I learned to keep learning.

    A few years ago, I read “The Alchemist” by Paulo Coelho. It talks about the importance of journey and not destination. The destination is just to give us a direction. It is the journey that matters. The experiences of the journey of life help us appreciate the beauty of our surroundings, the complex world which works on its own with different people, parts fitted together seamlessly. While leaving Infy, I realized that it was never my destination. It was just a milestone of my journey.

    The joy of reaching the destination is short lived. Once we achieve something, we start looking for the next goal and the life goes on. Seldom we identify what keeps us looking for new destinations. While on the way, we live dreaming about the destination, and when we reach there we cherish the experiences of the journey. Life is clever enough to keep us a step away from the present.

    My journey in Infosys taught me to walk with the present. I saw people running towards things they think they want, leaving behind all the things they have. In that environment, it becomes hard to remain what you are. But once you realize this, life is never the same. Those people become your reason to live your own life to the fullest.

    Even Narayana Murthy conveys this message to stop running and start living. But people are too much comfortable in the race, they hardly want to stop. This is really ironical.

    Being in Infy, I realized two things: One, Narayan Murthy has created a great organization by following his values and virtues, and two, for a sizable chunk of people working there, those values are mere words to boast about. For me, those values are vital to any individual and people who follow these actually add value to Infy as well as their own lives.

    The most important value which is my favorite is “Leadership by Example” or in simple words “Walk the Talk”. Each day I strive to be what I expect from people around me.

    During my Infy journey, I found some really talented and cheerful people whose lives are reflections of real joy and learning. Some of them involved in so many social activities, some of them organizing some entertainment events every now and then, a group of people going for adventures on a monthly basis and even a few people innovating new things using latest technologies without even being asked for. These are the people who made my stay in Infy worth remembering.

    I hope Infy will retain such people and will find a way to utilize their potential to the fullest. To rise as an organization, Infy has to go beyond just being a software service provider and to find a way to tap the potential of the gems hidden among its few lakhs strong work force.

    While closing this post, I want to share something interesting. Narayana Murthy left after a few months I joined Infy. It all resulted in huge chaos. I missed being guided by the regular insights of the great leader through his town-halls and common addresses. Co-incidentally, Narayana Murthy joined back just the next day I left Infy. I was sitting at Hyderabad airport waiting for my flight to home when I saw the news of his return. I was joyful. I am sure the company which I always loved will further go places.

  • Promise to Stop Violence Against Women

    Promise to Stop Violence Against Women

    Last year in December, whole country came under shock when a girl was brutally molested in a moving bus in Delhi. She later died due to serious injuries. From that day, we could find newspaper stories about brutal rapes, molestation cases, public humiliation almost everyday. Did they start after that Delhi case? No they were always there, they only came into limelight when we started taking interest in them. With these incidents, started the trend of candle marches, people putting a black dot on their Facebook profile picture, wearing black hand bands etc.

    And even in these marches, which were supposed to be non-violent and peaceful, men were actually caught teasing girls. This amazed me. It defeated the whole purpose of the march. I think, a large number of unemployed people due to current market scenario, got a chance to pass time and clicking a picture to put on their Facebook profile showing how socially conscious they are. Ironically, many of them did not even know what exactly their demands were.

    In the whole mess, opposition jumped into the scene and criticized the present government for improper security measures (as if these incidents did not occur when opposition was in power). Everyone was against government and they all shouted, destroyed public property, wasted a lot of time and money. Did they find a solution. Rather, I should ask, did they actually find the problem?

    The problem is not solely with the government. Neither it is about men’s sexual desires. It is about the mentality which we all share to an extent.

    The above incident was not a rape, neither molestation, it is clearly a case of violence. No need to charge the convicts under rape laws, charge them under violence, brutality. Using an iron rod to pull out one’s intestine, or inserting a candle in the genitals of a 5 year old is not molestation. It is brutality at its worst. And scarily, these people are living among us.

    Once I watched a cannibal movie and I was scared to hell. Then I read about these brutal incidents and I am much more scared because former was a movie, and latter is reality.

    A lot of men in our country are puffed with superiority complex and narcissism. They think they are supreme creatures in the universe and all other living beings (including the opposite sex) are meant to please them. They get a lot of this from movies and tv. But when they face the real life, they are unable to accept the ground reality. Those who have good character can adapt and evolve accordingly, and rest turn into animals.

    I was stunned to find educated people actually beating their wives ruthlessly when they get angry. As was expected, I found them quite coward and inefficient in their work life. They used their wives to relieve their agony of being incompetent.

    So, what we can do to stop this?

    First of all, we need to find out, if we are also in this category. If yes, instead of being driven by male ego, we should immediately give away this mentality. If we are not among these, we are ready to fight for the right of women to live a life of peace and dignity.

    Charity begins at home. We have to educate our children, younger siblings and cousins, friends and anyone around us about the importance of a good character. We need to create awareness in people around us.

    The best way is “walking the talk”, or “leadership by example”. We cannot force people to be good or bad. But the young ones are still like wet clay. We can mould them in whatever shape we want and imbibing good character in them, teaching them to respect women is the least we can do.

    Apart from this, we have to keep an eye out their and help women who are victims of violence. Usually, due to our culture, women hesitate to stand against men even if they are forced to live the life full of pain and sorrow. We need to provide them assurance by creating an environment around them where they can feel safe.

    At the end of the day, being a human, it is our responsibility to make this world the best place to live and it is our business to flush those away who do not respect the beauty of life.

  • Intermediate, Stream & Location: Luck by Chance

    Intermediate, Stream & Location: Luck by Chance

    As a result of the learning, I developed a small and simple desktop app called “Process Killer” which somehow went viral in the entire training center. It was finally declared illegal when a few trainees apparently used it for cheating in the exams (it was not meant to do that, some people are really smart). It was unexpected, though it was a success of my learning.

    So, we completed the generic training and got into intermediate stage. By now, we lost a few classmates who could not clear the exams and were shifted to new batches. The complexity of the course was increasing with every day and the module tests every now and then were enough to thrill us.

    In between, we tried to find some time to watch the movies showcased in multiplex on weekends and to take a round of Mysore city. It was a strange feeling, we were enjoying the life but were too worried about the training, study.

    Infosys Mysore campus is a happening place where you can find events going on anyday anywhere in the campus. They may be some festival celebrations, any particular unit specific fun activities, cricket, football etc. matches, awareness camps etc.

    With increasing number of interns in the campus, bushes also became happening places and one could find security guards more alert and ready to catch the culprits all the time.

    With all this fun and worry, intermediate stage was completed. It was the time when streams were allocated to us. It was purely a luck based game and they did not have a process to fit people to a stream according to their interest and capability. I was lucky enough to get the stream I wanted: Dot NET.

    Again, the shuffling of people and due to very small number of people who got Dot NET in my intermediate section, I hardly knew more than a few people in my stream class. Though, it again gave me an opportunity to make new friends.

    The training material for stream training was remarkable and I learnt a lot from it. As a result of the learning, I developed a small and simple desktop app called “Process Killer” which somehow went viral in the entire training center. It was finally declared illegal when a few trainees apparently used it for cheating in the exams (it was not meant to do that, some people are really smart). It was unexpected, though it was a success of my learning.

    Stream training spanned little more than a month and once we were done with the final exam (compre), we were jumping with joy like a monkey rescued from a cage.

    Training was over. It was time for getting posted to a Development Center. Infy has build some of the most beautiful campuses in the world. However, they are at some of the most unfavorable locations. But, we could not choose our location. Again, luck came to my rescue, and I got posted in Mysore itself. I was relieved as I did not want to go to one of the extreme locations which most of my batchmates got. But it came at a cost. I, with one of my college friends, was alone in Mysore campus and we could not do anything about it. Posting locations were written on stone, at least according to the HR. (Fortunately, we both got transferred to Hyderabad after 7 months).

    When I completed my training, my heart was filled with joy, inspiration at its heights and a new spirit in my blood to win the world with my newly developed skills. Little did I know that it was all going to get wasted. Production life was not what was projected during training (This can be a topic of some future post).

    So, overall, Infosys Mysore Training was an awesome experience which is hard to forget. The most important part is that I got a chance to meet so many good people who are now friends for life. I also enjoyed a great lifestyle. And of course, the knowledge I gained is indispensable.

    This post completes the three part series Infosys Mysore Training: A Walk to Cherish for Life. If you want to know more about my experiences, I am always here to answer your queries.

  • Two years in Infosys…

    Two years in Infosys…

    Two years ago, on this day, I embarked on a journey, a new professional life in Infosys. And today, after two years, when I look back, I am quite happy with the people I met, the friends I got, the knowledge I gained, the skills I developed and the places I visited due to my job.

    Life is all about a change. It is something we love and hate at the same time. It is something we desire and withdraw from, simultaneously. Just like the last day of college, I was sure I was going to miss my friends, and I wished I could live that moment forever, but at the same time I was quite excited to start my professional life and wanted the Infosys joining day to come as soon as possible. It seems weird, but on analyzing it, we realize that things are so much complicated.

    This state of complication is not what we observe everyday. It happens only when we witness a change in our life. Till then, we do not realize the importance of what we have. We take things for granted. I remember, during my Infosys training days, I never loved my training life. I was living it with fun, but still not appraising it. I was only looking forward to the end of it so that I can run out of it as fast as I can and work as a software developer. I was in love with the future which was unseen but yet seemed perfectly fitting my dreams and imagination. But when I realized that it is about to be changed, I experienced the complication. I started missing my training life, and to date, I do feel the same.

    So, we keep missing the past and future life, but when we love and appreciate the present life? When is the moment when we sit and adore the beauty of our present life? Well I think, I found the moment for me. On this second anniversary, chatting with my Infy training friends made me feel nostalgic, but brought me closer to my present life. Out of all the things I got in these two years, this feeling is the best.

  • How to rock stage if you are not a rockstar

    How to rock stage if you are not a rockstar

    If you have attended a rock concert or any live stage performance by a big star, you know the heat when the performer rocks the stage and audience seems ready to burst with excitement. Even watching this on television, you can feel the beats and thumps.

    If you are one such rockstar who is God to your audience, people follow your each and every move, whatever you wear becomes fashion, whatever you do becomes obsession, and so on, then this post is not for you. Rest of us, can follow.

    Not all people become real rockstars. If they all become so, who would be the audience, right? Jokes apart, many people among us are very talented and get ample chance to exhibit their talent, whether in a college performance, any organization level event, or may be on cultural level in community or social events.

    Many times I get a chance to witness such events and I wonder why, in many cases, they fail to leave an impact on the audience. Though I can see, they are filled with enthusiasm, talent and are very energetic, still audience lose interest after a short time and abandon them performing alone on the stage.

    I analyzed many performances on different occasions on different levels and realized it is not about talent. Not being a rockstar doesn’t mean that you are not talented. Its all about meeting audience’s expectations. So, I compiled a list of checkpoints from audience point of view about how audience feel and what they expect from a performer. If followed properly, it will make sure that you rock every performance, no matter you are a rockstar or not.

    Also, if you manage to thrill local audience, you may gradually reach the top and who knows you may also become a big rockstar someday.

    Here goes the list:

    Mind your Attitude, Don’t behave like a superstar, audience wont accept:

    When you step on the stage, do not assume that people love you. You have to accept that people have not come for you, rather you have come for the people.

    Rockstars enjoy love of the people. Whatever they do, even if it doesn’t make sense, people love it. Why? Because love is blind. But if you are not a rockstar, people do not yet love you, and you have to make them love you first. If you will show attitude or behave like a superstar, it will piss them off because they will not consider you better than themselves. So, whenever you give a stage performance always be gentle, thank the audience for allowing you to entertain them and start the performance.

    Don’t choose difficult songs, Choose easy but melodious songs:

    I noticed, many times, performers choose most difficult songs to show how talented they are. They forget that audience has come to get entertained and not judge their talent. Always choose easy songs which you can sing even while performing some dance moves and at the same time those songs should be melodious too. However good you sing, if that song is boring or not entertaining, audience will soon lose interest and I am sure you do not want that. So, keep it simple, silly but entertaining.

    Don’t try to add professional audio-visual effects to songs if you cannot:

    These days, with the advance of technology, we see a lot of audio-visual effects in songs. They are usually done in studios by professional people. If you cannot create that quality effect, never-ever include it in your performance, otherwise you will ruin it. Many people try to put breaking-sound-effect while singing. While a few are good at it, most others suck at it. People end up laughing and losing interest. If you believe that a song will not appeal audience without the desired effects and you are financially or otherwise incapable of including that effect, do not choose that song. Look for an alternative which doesn’t need those effects.

    X-Factor may ruin it all:

    Many performers are singers as well as good dancers. While they sing, they try to show some fantastic dance moves. But if their singing is not good, these dance moves may prove them hiding the singing incapability behind dance moves. Try to involve X-Factor only when you feel you are singing your best. If you cannot focus on both the things together, then it is better to focus on one, rather than ruining both of them.

    Rehearse as much as you can:

    You are not a heartthrob of mob and so if you sing bad, people will show you the exit door. So, always keep practicing to be the best. Before an event, perform many dress rehearsals to make sure you are doing it perfectly. In case of rock bands, rehearsal is very important to maintain the sync among all the members. If you are well rehearsed, it will reflect in your performance and people will love it. You know what will follow.

    Sync with the audience, unsynchronized excitement may prove fatal:

    Many times, stage performers get so excited that they try to jump into the audience or try to involve them into singing. However this is not uncommon for stage performances, people need to be as much excited. If people are silent and waiting for something good to be played, your meaningless stunts won’t work. Rather they may even drop you while you try to jump on them. You know how fatal it can be.

    Respect your audience:

    Always respect your audience and never be rude to them. If you want to be a superstar, it is the audience that will make you so. So, always try to have a connect with them through soft words, down to earth behavior and ever smiling face. Even if people shout at you, always close the performance with a warm thank you. People will respect you if you respect them.

    Always remember the ultimate goal: “To Entertain”:

    Finally, the most important part of any performance is audience, and it need to be entertained. Always keep in mind that the ultimate goal of an artist it to entertain the audience. All other things are a by-product of how happy the audience is. If you remember your goal as an artist, you will be more focused towards performing well rather than losing focus by other less relevant factors.

    Following above guidelines will surely help you to be a better performer and you can fire up the stage no matter at what platform you are performing, and someday you will become a big rockstar.

    Hoping to get an invite to your concert.

  • Born again with love..

    Born again with love..

    It was again a Friday. She was as excited as she used to be on any other Friday. “He is mine for these two days now.” She exclaimed within.

    He was a busy but very loving man. On weekdays, he could hardly find time to sit with her or even talk except the daily routine of getting up early, eating, going to office, coming back late at night and going to bed to get up early again on the very next day. But he always kept his weekends totally free for her, for she was the most beautiful and precious gift he got from life.

    It was another such weekend going to start. It was still Friday evening and she was waiting for him impatiently. Meanwhile, she was rearranging the house even after already doing it so many times. Dinner was almost ready and she too.

    When she found it impossible to bear the anxiety, she drank a glass of water and sat on the living room sofa, thinking about the day when she first met him.

    He was an adorable guy with good manners. A responsible look gave weight to his personality. They both were in a conference about sustainable development with renewable resources, both being very much interested in these social works.

    They attracted each other like a magnet and by evening, they were two really close friends. Within a few months, they started liking each other more than ever. They fell in love.

    And today, after 6 years of happy married life, she still feels they met just a day ago. “Why this love is never ending, never fading? Why I still wait for him as I used to so many years ago? It’s because our love is divine.” She couldn’t help but smile.

    She remembered the day when they went for a vacation and were relaxing on a beach, when he gifted her, a diamond pendant, which she vowed to wear forever. She tickled the pendant around her neck and felt the love flowing out of it.

    She loved his habit of creating sweet memories of everything. He kept them as collectibles in his heart. May be that’s why his heart was so full of love. She felt herself to be the luckiest girl in the world to be able to feel and get love to such an extent possible.

    When she was in school, she couldn’t imagine love more than a boyfriend riding on a bike with his girlfriend, going out to discs, eating chocolates and stealing kisses under the moon. But when he came in her life, she felt like she was born again. Born with so much love.

    He made her understand the true meaning of love of how it is about being a family. Love is all about being together accepting and loving each other in every possible way. Love is about shedding ego and to feel delighted even when acting like a fool, just to make happy the person you love. Love is not about loving and caring just each other, but it is about loving all the people who are part of our lives.

    She remembered all her birthdays and the way he kept giving her surprise gifts whole day long. She could not think of anything she wanted and she couldn’t get from him. This satisfaction was the utmost joy of life and she felt lucky to have it.

    A knock on the door took her out of her memory world and she jumped with excitement. Finally, he is home. She ran towards the door and stopped there to ensure once again that she was looking the best she can. Then she slowly, nicely opened the door, ready for the big hug she was going to get from the world’s most loving person.

    Her eyes closed with joy.

    ………….

    She burst into tears. She cried just like she did on every Friday for the last 2 years. He was never going to come back. God called him back, may be due to shortage of love in heaven. And she couldn’t do anything, but wait, for God may return him to her.

    She still loves him as she did 2 years ago, and will be the same forever. She kissed the diamond pendant, closed the door and quietly got back inside.

  • Do I qualify to be called a biker?

    When I think of a biker, image of a man, tattooed body, wearing sleeveless leather jacket, riding on a huge cruiser bike- Harley Davidson with an expression of extreme pride and cool attitude, comes to my mind. In the Indian scenario, the bike is replaced by a Royal Enfield and the biking gear, by a big mustache and literally any kind of clothes. After all, riding a bullet (Royal Enfield) is a fashion in itself in India.

    I do not exhibit any of the above images, do not possess even a single tattoo, don’t own cruiser bike or a bullet and I don’t even wear a mustache. But still, I love to ride my bike, without caring much about other details. Do I qualify to be called biker?

    I do not have a bike for the past one and a half year as I have relocated two times during this period, though I have been riding for about 6 years before that. For now, I live in a metro city (Hyderabad) which is not as much crowded as Bangalore (it is one of the worse cities in case of traffic), but still, biking is a tough task here for commuting. While stuck in traffic, it feels better to sit in an Air-conditioned car or a public transport, rather than hanging on a bike. I cannot afford a bike just for leisure with the burden to carry it with me all the time (rather than it carrying me).

    Still, I miss my bike when I want to have a ride on a silent and broad highway to forget all the tensions of life. I still own a bike at my home (apparently I live away from home now), which is waiting for me to get back home. I always loved the late evening rides on my bike, riding alone on the dark streets and feeling the cool breeze on my body.

    But riding a motorcycle is not the only thing which may qualify me as biker. Unlike most of today’s kids, and like most of the people of my generation, who have seen bicycle in the movies and ridden a bike in the video games, I have spent a long part of my childhood riding bicycles. It was after I completed my school that I got my first bike. But even today, when I get the chance to ride a bicycle, I hardly miss it. Its refreshing to ride a bicycle, paddling, rhyming some song, with a few friends, cycling along. Bicycling, being a lot more fun, is actually a healthy and eco-friendly hobby too. It cannot replace the thrill of speed biking, but can offer you calmness and health.

    So, it seems I love being a biker who loves the occasional biking and still feel that “enjoying riding” qualifies him to be called a biker. After all, riding is all about the feeling and not about how hardcore one is as a biker, following biker codes or joining a some motorcycling clubs.

    Yes, I am a biker.

  • The Rap Game: Just About Anything

    I was going through my old blog posts when I found a novice, but interesting piece of write-up. Few years ago, one of my friends was playing a rap game of rhyming poems with me, which could be just about anything. Here is what I wrote:

    (Say it like a Rapper!!!)

    “life seems to be a brigade of exam papers,
    loaded with stuff made by dictators,
    these dictators are none other than money,
    we run behind it always honey,
    with the market crashed & profits so low,
    even friends are turning into foe,
    they fight , they win, they lose,
    be it for job or a little shrunk goose,
    the goose they say is the ray of hope,
    but dont u think its like the daily soap,
    where ‘EKTA KAPOOR’ defines life in new way,
    now about this there is no need to say,
    the only thing i would like to say that,
    there should be a new soap with a hero in grey hat,
    the name of the show must be ‘Kkkabhi to Job Dilao’,
    kahin job na mile to, isi show mein lag jao…”

    Dedicated to all the future professionals…

    Its so kiddish. Reminded me of my college days.

  • With Anonymity, Comes Great Responsibility

    With Anonymity, Comes Great Responsibility

    With Anonymity, Comes Great Responsibility“With great power, comes great responsibility.”

    These were the last words from Uncle Ben to Peter Parker (Spiderman) which actually propelled him to be a super hero and use his power to help people.

    As per the definition, power is “the ability to do something or act in a particular way.” Spiderman had enormous physical ability, and he used it to fight evil and help people. In the same way, different people have different kinds of powers like power of money, power of influence, power of threat, power of respect etc.

    In most cases, we find that people tend to misuse their power. For example, a minister misuses his power to make money, misuses his influence to defy laws to benefit his own motives. A fearless man, being “fearlessly powerful”, starts looting people in the form of extortion money, kills people who do not mend their ways as per his wishes or try to stop him.

    However, power does not lie only in physical or influential factors. There are some other forms of power also. One of them is being anonymous. Yes, being anonymous is being very powerful. Imagine a guy who do not even have the courage to talk to a girl, when gets an untraceable anonymous mobile phone, feels powerful and can tease any girl by calling her and saying whatever he wants to say, of course, without telling his name. The boy is the same old coward in his real life, but feels powerful at times when he feels anonymous.

    But why he uses this anonymity for only teasing girl? It seems a human tendency to easily fall prey to evil. May be that is why all the religious books preach us to save ourselves from evil because we are so much susceptible to it. Many of us are disciplined and are good by character, but most others exhibit the real self when they get the chance.

    According to John Wooden, “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when no one is watching.” Or we can say it like this, “The true test of a man’s character is what he does when he is anonymous and can easily go away with whatever he does- good or bad.”

    A terrible example is the incident of new year eve, a few years back, when a mob of nearly 70-80 people molested a girl in public view. They tore the girl’s clothes, who came to celebrate New Year Eve at Mumbai’s famous Gateway of India, with her friend. They groped the girl for about 10 minutes after which she somehow managed to escape the crowd. Similar incident happened a year later in Juhu, where the mob molested two girls for about 15 minutes. One more I remember, happened when Indian Cricket Team won the first T-20 world cup and huge crowd gathered in Mumbai to welcome Team India. And these are not the only ones, they keep happening across the world whenever the anonymous faces feel powerful, “anonymously powerful.”

    These people cannot be traced. Crowd has no face. No one can be punished. This makes them feel powerful. And they use their power in these terrible ways. The victim, feeling extremely powerless in safeguarding herself, finds it better to keep it to herself.

    But, do they ever think about what happens to the girl after this? Will she ever be able to forget it? This will change her life forever. She will be afraid of crowd and public gatherings. She will not feel safe even in public places. Just a moment of power for one, turns the life of other to feel powerless. Powerless enough to feel insecure, unsafe everywhere, everytime.

    Why people cannot use this anonymity to enter a corrupt official’s house and punish him for his bad deeds? Better they dont do it, because even in this case, a few evil anonymously powerful people, will tend to take advantage. After all, it is human nature, to be tempted to use power negatively.

    If somehow, I could change anything in the world around me, I would definitely change this human nature to use anonymity negatively. No police, no regulations can stop such people. The only possible way is the presence of good character in the heart of every human.

    Good character cannot be forced. It can be gradually induced. The only way is to spread awareness. Its hard to mend the thinking of grown up people. But a kid should be brought up with values, and awareness of implications of his actions on others. This can atleast ensure a better, value-driven world for our coming generations.

    In the last, for those, who may take this article as anti-men or pro-women, can consider this point as well, that, raising a child with values is the most important responsibility of a father (man) as well as a mother (woman), and if a child is unable to get a good character, it is a real failure of those parents in contributing to making this world a better place, especially for women.

    I am thankful to Stayfree India and Indiblogger, whose contest inspired me to express my views on this topic. If you also want to make a change, you can head over to http://www.facebook.com/sftimetochange.
  • The Last Adventure

    The Last Adventure

    The Last Adventure

    “Next Friday is off. It means a 3 days weekend!!!” As soon as I realized it, I could not stop myself planning for the huge weekend. For the last two years, it’s been a trend for me and my friends to have a weekend trip at least once a month. Almost all the nearby adventurous places had been explored by our adventure hungry team.

    A meeting was called immediately. All 5 of us were ready to plan the weekend and were expecting it to be as much fun as we used to have on the previous trips. We were unaware of what we were going to experience would change our lives forever.

    “But Arjun, we have already visited all the nearby places. No adventurous place left now”, declared Asit. He was kind of most impatient in our group. All of us were thinking about the unexplored places when Raghav broke the silence, “Eureka!! I think I know a place.” We all listened to him with a bit of surprise and then a huge smile was spread on all the 5 faces.

    Priya and Payal were the female members of our group. It was hard to find a girl as adventurous as Priya. She could go to any extent to smell adventure. However, Payal was kind of simple and smart girl who knew to use her brain at the time when it was needed the most.

    Having all set, we packed our bags and were ready for the adventure. It was planned that we will leave on Friday morning. We had enough food for the weekend and a camping kit. Asit brought his father’s newly bought XUV and it was the perfect ride for our adventure.

    “So what exactly is this place”, I asked Raghav. He was the one who suggested us this strange place named Gujmani, a place near his maternal grandfather’s village, Bukaani. It was 230 km from our place. “It is a place which was always described by my mom’s grandfather”, Raghav seemed excited while describing it. “I am yet not sure about the truth behind the story but it will be awesome if we find that the story is true.”

    Asit was a bit sceptical because if the story turned out to be false, we could find ourselves having wasted a preciously huge weekend. But we had no other choice as we had already discussed over all the other places, so we moved on.

    After 4 hours of drive, we were almost there. I found a board named “Bukaani” showing an arrow directing towards right. “So, we are near your mom’s village. Where to go now?” I asked Raghav, as I was on the driving seat now.

    It was 9 in the morning. There was almost no traffic and we encountered just a few cars on the way. Raghav looked out of the window and directed us towards left, “This way.” I noticed a very narrow road between the dense trees going inside. The highway roadside barricades were absent from that part giving just enough space for a car to pass.

    “Are you sure we can go in?” I was not sure if we can take our XUV inside. But Raghav seemed to know this place. He was confident, “Just go ahead.” I looked behind. Asit, Priya and Payal were almost asleep on the back seat. I thought for a while and then turned left. Our car disappeared in the forest alongside the highway.

    The GPS panel fitted on the car dashboard was showing that we were nowhere. I couldn’t find Gujmani on my GPS tracker. Raghav said, it is a place truly unexplored as it is not officially a village. It was devastated long ago and only a handful of people were left there. It was dense forest with plethora of wild animals. So people avoided to live there. Our XUV was going on a narrow but clean piece of raw road. Thankfully the rainy season was still away, otherwise this road could turn into a swamp. The road was wide enough to accommodate our vehicle and in case we encounter someone coming from the other side, we could be stuck there. But Raghav was assured that we will find nobody there at that time.

    After about 4 kms of dirty drive, we entered a less dense forest and a clear road wider than the previous road. Raghav was excited to see his childhood place and directed me towards a small gate. I was amazed to find a gate there. It meant people lived in this area which almost looked haunted. Raghav went out of the vehicle and shouted to call someone. Asit, Priya and Payal woke up by this noise. We saw an old man opening the gate. Raghav came back and seated again. We drove inside.

    It was a nice farmhouse skirted by high fence. We were given nice village food and proper arrangements were made for our stay as Raghav already informed his uncle about our visit. We were delighted.

    Raghav told us that he had visited this farmhouse only once in his life as his mother did not allow him to go to that place. He visited this place in his summer vacations but was not allowed to roam around. It was because this area had a waterfall in which many village kids were drowned or killed by wild animals. But now he was grown up and was free to follow his will. He told us that we will start for the waterfall in the afternoon. He was quite excited to explore the place from which he was always kept away.

    In the afternoon, we started in our XUV to explore the waterfall. A person from Raghav’s village accompanied us. His name was “Sarju” and he had strict instructions from Raghav’s uncle to stick with us all the time. He seemed a fearless man and he was quite familiar with the area. He was not quite happy with our idea to explore this place in the evening. But it was necessary to check if the story about this place was true or not because as per the story every night, the waterfall was visited by some of the rare species of animals found in the forest. Our plan was to observe them while hiding in some safe place.

    Our XUV was running slow due to bumpy road. The forest was quite dense and unpredictable and we were not sure where we will have to leave our vehicle as the way was becoming narrower. After half an hour of drive, we heard the noise of waterfall. Suddenly the forest ended and we were in an open rocky area with an awesome waterfall in our front. We all rushed out of our XUV. “What a beautiful place it was!!!”

    We did not understand why this beautiful waterfall was so dangerous. Then we came to know the reality. When we went forward, we found that it was just the tip of the iceberg. This water was actually going down and there was a waterfall which was falling hundreds of feet down from where we were standing. We were stunned. We could not see the end of this waterfall. It was the time for the real adventure. We were ready to go down.

    We all wore our trekking gears and started climbing down towards the waterfall. There seemed no other way as the waterfall was surrounded by dense forest from two sides and in any case, we had to climb down as we could not see any direct slope going down. We were going down parallel to the falling waterfall. Sarju was very comfortable while climbing and was moving ahead to guide us.

    “Lalla, we should not be here at this time. It can be dangerous. This place is full of wild animals and if we confront them, no one will come for the rescue.” Sarju spoke for the first time. We all were thrilled by listening to this. But instead of being afraid, we became more excited to reach down as soon as possible. Sarju was not afraid. He seemed to be worried about us. It was very dangerous to go down as there were some trees emerging out of the cracks in the rock and a few had snakes surrounded on them. We were assured by Sarju that they were non-poisonous snakes quite abundant in that area.

    After 2 hours, we were finally at the bottom. What an awesome place it was! Clean water falling down from such a height. It was truly beautiful. We set up our tents on the side of the river and played in falling water for some time. Sarju was trying to be near us and seemed ready for any upcoming danger. It was getting dark now. We had our night vision binoculars to observe the other side of the river. Sarju told us not to lit campfire as it may scare away the animals. We all hid in our camps with the night vision binoculars on our eyes.

    After an hour, we finally saw something rare. A family of leopard visited the river. They were the rarest breed of white leopard and lived in the densest part of the forest. We were watching three fully grown leopards drinking water and playing around the river. It seemed that this river marked the boundary of the forest and they did not go the other side. Suddenly the leopards became uneasy and in a few minutes they left the place growling scarily. Our eyes widened with fear as well as adventure. It was a lion. We could not believe that we were sitting inside a tent in a forest and watching one of the most dangerous animals of the world from just another side of the river. We were hardly 30 feet away from the lion.

    Suddenly Priya screamed. We all looked back. She was jumping with fear and pain. There was something around her leg. We switched on our flash lights to find a huge snake surrounding her leg. Its teeth were dug in her leg. We all were badly scared now. Sarju immediately jumped and tried to pull the snake. But the snake had badly drilled its teeth in the flesh and was not ready to leave. It seemed Priya unknowingly stepped on the snake and it attacked her. Finally Sarju got successful in getting the snake by its neck and threw it away in water. Priya’s leg was bleeding. Sarju ran in the forest. We immediately comforted Priya. Payal started cleaning her wound. But Priya was getting unconscious.

    Just then, Sarju appeared from nowhere. He brought some plant leaves. He crushed them and put the paste of the leaves on the wound. We brought our first aid kit and dressed her wound. After a few minutes, Priya regained her consciousness.

    In all this mess, we forgot that there were wild animals on the other side of the river. Suddenly we heard a roar from behind us. As we turned back, our faces got numb. Three giant white leopards were standing just a few feet away. We realized that we were going to die. There was no way fighting those animals even though we outnumbered them. Clearly, they were more powerful and fast. As we could think of something, Sarju made a banging sound by his stick and threw a few packets in the shallow water stored in small gaps along the river side. They immediately burned with bright light and made some sound. This scared the leopards.

    Sarju told us to leave immediately and we ran towards the rocks and started climbing. Sarju was behind us and he lit a piece of cloth and attached it to his stick, scaring the leopards with fire. Priya was not well and we were holding her and climbing as fast as we could. We reached the top in an hour. Asit reached the top first. He ran towards the XUV and ignited the engine. We also ran towards the XUV, opened the doors and jumped inside it. Sarju was left behind scaring the leopards. We locked the XUV from inside waiting for Sarju.

    Suddenly a leopard jumped on the XUV and started scratching the wind screen. We all screamed with fear. Suddenly a stick came and hit it and the leopard fell from the vehicle. Sarju was running towards us with no defence. We immediately opened the door and got him in. He was badly injured. We, then, drove towards the farmhouse.

    Finally on reaching the farmhouse, we felt a bit of comfort. Priya and Sarju were immediately sent to hospital. We spent the rest of the weekend and the following week in the hospital. Priya recovered soon however Sarju took some time to recover. We were feeling guilty for putting Sarju in such a dangerous situation just for the sake of our adventure.

    It was an incredible experience of our life where we almost lost our lives and survived by a slight chance. We could not plan another weekend adventure trip for a long time.

    XUV500 is a new SUV launched by Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd.
    Click here to know more about it.
  • Training Begins…

    Training Begins…

    As you would have read in my last post of this series, we all were very much excited about Infy training. After the formal induction week, started the real training, the technical training. As per our training schedule, we had three stages of training: Generic (basic), Intermediate & Stream (specialization). Soft skills training was also a part of the training and sessions were scheduled in between the regular technical training.

    In the starting of the training, we were given different colour tags, like the various houses in our schools. Each one of us was given a colour tag out of seven colours which were based on seven initial founders of the company. All the extracurricular activities were held between these seven teams. I was given red tag.

    So, we had our first technical module. Full of energy, I studied hard and scored a good grade. That first module made me realize that Infy has very high quality study material, though the trainers were good, not excellent. After our first exam in Infy, we were again given a nice break in the form of PSD (Personality Skills Development) classes. A fashion show was organized with the theme of business dressing etiquette.

    This was the time when the trainees were getting comfortable with each other. I made lots of new friends and we had great fun all the time. The fashion show gave us a chance to know even more people and work as a team. I came to know a lot of good people and we together presented a nice show. We stood second.

    After the fashion show, the generic training resumed which spanned for nearly a month. The attitude of people was changing. The training pressure was increasing. A few people left the company in this period. Few ran away after they got failed in a module test. I was not sure what went wrong as I was happy with the training. I was learning new things the way I always wanted to learn them.

    There was a very nice musical fountain in front of the training building (GEC-2, Global Education Center-2). It was put on for an hour in the evening and many of us used to sit there to get relaxed from the training pressure. It sometimes played Infosys Song (a very nice theme song for Infosys) and I used to enjoy it.

    Infosys Mysore has an awesome Employee Care Center with almost all the imaginable facilities including a very nice multiplex, where we had our induction sessions. Movies were showcased every weekend in that and was free for us. I loved to stand in the long queue for tickets with friends 2 hours before the ticket distribution began.

    In our class, a strange trend began. A family was formed. There was a “Papa”, a “Mummy”, a “Bua” (aunt), a “Chaachoo” (uncle), many kids, a “Dada” (grandpa), a “Dadi” (grandma) and padosi (neighbors). The Papa was actually a girl and the Mummy was actually a boy. This was the biggest funny family and we used to call each other by these names. We also had a “Musa Bhai”. She was kind of our training world don. Bua left us after the generic training and was shifted to another batch. However, she regularly visited us till the training end.

    So, with all the emotions, we completed a phase of training. We were now a huge group of people who had great fun everyday.

  • When Pilot Pen was a precious possession

    When Pilot Pen was a precious possession

    PilotPenThe other day, I was resting on my bed after a stressful day in the office just when I felt a familiar fragrance. I felt delighted and opened my eyes and found some new books which had just arrived and were kept on my bed side table. I turned the pages of one book and smelled the soothing air rushing out of the turning pages. That fragrance reminded me of the beautiful childhood days when I was at my home.

    During school days, each year, when the new session started, I eagerly waited for the new syllabus books. I enjoyed the visit to the bookseller with my father and buying all the books. I loved to read all the stories in the English and Hindi books as soon as I got home. The pleasure of holding the new books, with new plans for the new class cannot be expressed in words.

    The course books were given to binders to get them binded with rexene paper. The decision of rexene colour (black, grey, blue, maroon) was a hard one.

    After the course books, came the turn of the notebooks. My mom and dad covered the notebooks by brown papers. Selecting from among the beautiful cartoon nameslips was my task. Deciding which slip to paste on which notebook was a tough task, atleast for a kid. Then it was covered by plastic sheets, kind of laminated.

    Likewise came the practical files, drawing files, and stationery like new geometry box, Stick pens, Natraj HB pencils, Natraj sharpener (we used to call it cutter), Apsara eraser, Natraj ruler (we used to call it scale) and pencil box. Most of the times, a new school bag too.

    New class meant new school dress. Choosing from the colours which best matches the colour prescribed by our school was again a challenge. They said grey trousers and I dont know why somehow my grey was always different from their grey. It was a burden to keep those white shirts white till the school got over in the afternoon. New shoes, new white socks, tie and school belt.

    I remember that my school was even more important to my parents and they stopped all their work to prepare me for the school. Ironed dress, polished shoes, tiffin full with delicious hot food it was all ready before I even woke up. When I went to school, my mom used to bade me bye till my rickshaw disappeared from the view.

    It was a tradition that I lost atleast one water bottle every year. Sometimes the cap of water bottle had a game of small steel balls where the balls were to be put in the middle ring of the maze. I loved playing that game on my way from school to home by the rickshaw.

    I feel amazed to realize that at that time, how important was each and every thing to me. Owning a Pilot pen (Gifted by my father on my birth day) and using it for writing in examinations was a moment of pride. The cardboard pads with clips for exams, with cartoon characters were awesome possessions.

    Suddenly my mobile rang. A reminder to wake up. I came back to present. Some work to do. I have to read a report which is on my laptop. As we all use technology now-a-days, with environmentalists loudly appealing to minimize the use of paper, I wonder will it be a real life for the new generation to read and learn without the fragrance of new books.

    I still feel delighted to remember old days, not just because of the memory, but also due to some stimuli like fragrance of paper which is still the same as it used to be. Sensing these things today, I feel like reliving those moments for a while. But if the present generation kids will not have any fragrance attached to their memory, all they will know is the silicon based material (used to make computing devices) for everything they do. In that case, when they will grow up, how will they embrace and cherish the golden moments of their childhood as much as we can do today…

  • My first job, Infosys

    My first job, Infosys

    Getting the first job is an experience which cannot be explained in terms of words. Its something which makes you feel as if you have got wings, you can fly as higher as you wish. I felt the same. I couldn’t sleep that night, read whatever I could find about life at Infosys Mysore campus.

    Finally the day came when I joined Infosys along with some of my friends and hundreds of others. We were allotted hostel rooms where we had to stay for the training duration. When we were taken to the hostel buildings, I got the chance to have a glance at the amazing campus which I dreamt for so many months. I was finally here, Infosys Mysore.

    I got room on the 5th floor. The room was awesome, one room per person with all the facilities like huge king size bed, big LCD TV with cable connection, study table, chair, bedside tables, bedside reading lamp, a sofa with table, table lamp, electric cattle, cup, spoon, big cupboard, electronic locker, laundry bag and a very nice attached bathroom with a life-size mirror. There was a large sliding window, with beautiful double curtains, in the room which gave a nice view of a small pond behind my hostel building.

    There were two families of different breeds of ducks which kept quacking and playing in the water. Sometimes in the morning I used to find the white mother duck shining in the morning sunlight, crossing the road followed by four small cute ducklings which used to walk in a perfect rhythm. I found a variety of beautiful birds playing around and amazingly they didn’t fear from human. They knew it’s a safe place for them.

    Infosys Mysore campus is made like a small city with greenery all around. Walking here in such a peaceful environment makes you feel so good that you forget everything else. Many times in the evening I used to walk around the campus enjoying the scenic beauty and the peaceful life.

    The first week was complete introduction to Infosys. We had a variety of sessions by all the departments of Infosys, even had a security demo for disaster management. It was all done in a big multiplex where they showcase movies on weekend. Most of the paper work was completed in the first week itself. Practically we had enough time to explore the campus in the evenings and we did it riding on the bicycles parked at various places in the campus.

    On the fourth day of our joining, we had a DJ night. We kept dancing until it was over. We all were highly motivated by now and slowly realizing the way of life we were going to spend for the rest of our lives.

    After the boring day-long sessions of first week, we were finally allotted classrooms and computers. All the friends were separated, and it was for the good reason. We were going to make a lot of new friends, but we didn’t realize that some of them will become friends for life.

    A great thing about Infosys training is that people come from all the possible places around the globe, not only from different states, but even from different countries. In our batch, we had great diversity. You can estimate it from this: I am from Uttar Pradesh. Around me used to sit people from Punjab, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Bihar and Jharkhand. I made friends from even West Bengal, Rajasthan, Goa and Maharashtra. This was possible only because of the huge diversity of people and surprisingly we all fitted together seamlessly. It was amazing experience and gave me friends which will stay close to my heart forever.

    Another good thing about Infosys training is that during training, we were considered strictly as students and had to study as if we were in a college. One of my friend rightly said that it should be considered as the ninth semester of B.Tech. But where on earth you get paid for studying? It happens in Infosys. We were getting paid for studying, for performing nicely. It was a win-win situation for us, going through a world class training experience and that too while getting paid.

  • In love, its never too late, or is it?

    In love, its never too late, or is it?

    “I should tell her now. But, she knows it all. Then why she does not show it up. I know she loves me. I will tell her today. For sure.

    But, what if she gets angry? What if she doesn’t love me? What if she stops talking to me? I cannot live without talking to her.

    Oh God, what should I do? Show me a way.”

    This was his daily conversation with God. It seemed God was enjoying watching him fighting with himself. May be it was the way of God to tell him that everything happens for good.

    When Arjun returned from Bangalore to Delhi after a 2 weeks business trip, he was in no mood to first report at office after his flight landed. After all, it’s a weekend, and who goes to office on Saturday evening? But, sometimes there is something waiting for us somewhere and situations turn themselves in our favor so that we can get what is for us.

    After he landed in Delhi, when he switched on his phone, he got a lot of pending messages delivered (bombarded) to him. Most were the status messages about his latest project. Just checking the subjects, he was stuck at one message. “Courier Delivered”. It took him some time to remember that he ordered something for his girl. As he was out of the city, he gave the address of his office. Now finally, the gift had arrived. He had no reason to go home now. He had to go to his office. “Two tasks done in one go”, he said to himself.

    While sitting in the cab, he started remembering the events of a month back. He got an offer to go to California for a two year project, a big one. He was waiting for this opportunity for a long time, but finally when he got it, he was not happy. He didn’t go to office the following day. Manager called him, but he didn’t pick the phone. Next day, he went to his manager and declined the offer. No one could see the reason for his foolish act, but in his heart, he knew he did the right thing. How can he go leaving her alone in this bad world? But his manager was a man of patience and wisdom. He understood the reason and gave him a month to decide. Meanwhile he got this trip to Bangalore, and now today, he is back.

    While sneaking outside the cab window, he got a glimpse of Qutub Minar. “Ahh! My first date was here,“ he told to himself. “What a great time I spent here with her.” It was the time when he got promoted and was informed about a new girl who was going to report to him. He was too much sincere with his work, so much that in no way his professional life could cross his personal one. Then what happened to him so that he declined a lifetime opportunity?

    The reason was her. Her name was Payal. In the last one year, she became his best friend with whom he shared almost everything. They used to hang out together, work together, enjoyed all the happy moments of life, and shared the sad things. These kinds of relationships cannot remain unnamed for a long time, and it was the case with this one also. He started loving her. He could not say, but he did love her a lot. They used to call their outings as date, the first one they spent visiting Qutub Minar, weird choice for a first date. She also seemed to love him. Arjun had already started dreaming about his future with her. He still hadn’t proposed her. That was the reason he was ready to give away such an opportunity. He was just waiting for the right time.

    Thinking all this, he reached office. It was a holiday, who would be there in the office. No, its deadline, his whole team would be there, working day and night to deliver the project. He straight forward went to his manager’s cabin to say him the final ‘no’. Suddenly he met with Sunil, his cubicle mate.

    “How are you buddy? How was your trip?” Sunil inquired.

    ”Trip was good. I hope we made this deal. Simpson will notify us within a week”, Arjun gloriously said.

    ”Ok,” Sunil smiled and went away.

    Today, Sunil’s smile was somewhat mocking. “What has happened here in the last 2 weeks. Something changed? Am I looking stupid? May be I am too tired as I am coming from a long journey.”

    Anyways, ignoring it, he proceeded to his manager’s cabin. The manager was sitting there, silent as ever. Looking at him, he asked him to sit. He was not looking happy. “What has happened here?” Arjun said to himself. Then he said, “Deepak, I know you want me to go, but I am staying here. I cannot go to California.”

    “You need not.” He said with a cold voice. “Someone is already going there.”

    “Ok. That’s good. By the way who?”

    “Payal.”

    Arjun thought he has misheard him, “Sorry, did you say Payal?”

    “Yes, when you were away, she asked the Senior Manager assuring that you will not go and that she is willing to go there. They both are going there. They have developed good friendship within 2 weeks. It seems they are going to be in a relationship.”

    There was acute silence in the room. Arjun was speechless to what he heard just now. He felt like crying out loud like a small kid but controlled himself, collected the courier and came back. What the hell had happened? Just last night Payal told him that he is doing the right thing following his heart. He was planning to propose her today with a beautiful diamond ring he ordered. He was ready to sacrifice all his dreams just to live a life with her. He couldn’t believe it was true.

    He rushed to Payal’s house. Just as he was about to get out of the car, he saw a car stopping in front of Payal’s house. His senior manager and Payal came out of the car and went inside. They seemed drunk. May be they celebrated their chance to go onsite. Arjun did not have the heart to go inside. He came back. He was shocked to see how a girl he loved so much, was with someone else. Why she didnt tell him?

    Next day, newspapers said that a software professional found dead. It seemed suicide as a suicide letter mentioned that a girl called Payal refused her love. A lot of alcohol found in his blood. He was too drunk. All the people of the office gave a last visit to his dead body and bade him goodbye. Payal was crying badly considering herself responsible for this all. But her colleagues consoled her and pursued her not to cancel her trip so that she could get out of this environment and forget these things.

    Few days later, in a flight to California, Payal was waiting for someone. Suddenly Arjun appeared, “Sorry I got late. I had to buy these chocolates for you. You like them?”

    “Ahan. I love whatever you give me.” She kissed him.

    Then Payal said, “You still didn’t tell me, when you came back from Bangalore, why it took you a whole day to contact me and then a week to propose me? Well, I knew you would propose me. I could have married you in India only.”

    “But it would have been rude after the accidental death of our senior manager. He was a nice man. Anyways, I wanted both of us to go to California. I am happy we are going together”, Arjun said.

    Payal hugged him with great love. Arjun smiled thinking, “in love, its never too late.”

  • Finally, its Mysore…

    Finally, its Mysore…

    Mysore PalaceMysore. Yes, it’s Mysore. I like this place a lot and luckily I am going to spend some more time here. After the completion of my training, I got posted in Infosys Mysore DC. It was joyful because I have spent a good time during my training here, and I could still enjoy being here. But, at that time I didn’t realize how hard is to say good bye to all the people, whom I didn’t even know before I came here, but who are not strangers to me anymore. They are my best buddies with whom I have lived a new life here, in Mysore. It is amazing that in such a short time, we made strong bonds.

    Out of 600 people in our batch, a whopping 33% got Chennai, about 16.67% got Bangalore, 25% got Pune, 8.5% got Chandigarh and remaining got Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar, Mangalore and Trivandrum. Only 0.2% got posted in Mysore. I was happy to be here, but at the same time, it was too hard to say good bye to all the remaining 99.8% people. But finally, they all went to their destined places.

    Each one of us got their new life, but now we are no more trainees. It feels like we are no more students. During training, the environment here makes you feel like a student, though here you are getting paid for being one. We enjoyed roaming around the campus at nights, doing limitless photography of almost every part of campus, dancing endlessly on DJ nights, eating bread jam while sitting on streets on New Year night, getting crazy when India won the World Cup, studying in GEC till late nights and many more moments which have been embarked on our hearts for our entire life.

    This training time, turned us from nerds to professionals. We learned how to be responsible. A lot of good habits became a part of our lives like not littering our surroundings, walking on footpaths, walking long distances without vehicles, keeping things properly, dressing up professionally etc. These things became the part of our lives without even our knowledge. A few weeks back, I went to market and was unable to throw an empty bottle because I didn’t find a dustbin in the way. When I came to campus and threw the bottle in the dustbin, then I realized that I was carrying it with me. It becomes the mindset.

    However there are also some bad habits which I got here. Many times outside campus, when somewhere I go to washroom to wash hands, I put my hands below tap and wait for the water to come itself. Then I realize, oh, its not Infy. When I go to collect some ticket or buy something, I stand in a queue where I notice people running haphazardly to get their chance first. Again, I realize, I am outside the campus. Many times in restaurants, when I complete my food, I pick my plates to drop in washing area, but suddenly I come to know that I am not inside the campus. It happens in many cases and these things remind me of the great life we have inside the campus.

    With those memories, today when I walk around this campus, it feels good to be a part of those times. All my buddies have settled in their new places. Wherever we go, the things we learnt here, the memories we made here, the life we lived here, all of them are indispensable. These are sweet memories which will remain in our hearts forever.

  • Infosys Mysore: Life begins

    Infosys Mysore: Life begins

    After a long journey of about 2600 kilometers, I was finally about to reach there. It was the beginning point of my new life, new journey to a new destination. And as obvious, my heart was filled with innumerous thoughts and emotions. Yes, I was going there, Infosys Technologies.

    Finally, I reached the gate, gate to a new world for which I felt that I had waited for a long time. Infosys has its training center in Mysore. It is the biggest corporate university in the world. Any fresher recruited in Infosys first comes here for training. The moment you enter the gate, everything changes. Life has totally different standards inside the campus. It feels a perfect place to start the professional life.

    Infosys provides excellent living & working conditions to its employees with world class facilities. It seems a compensation for working hard & efficiently but it is what we are here for & being paid for.

    The starting days have less work load & I tried to explore the huge campus (though still I find many unexplored places). It is like a small modern city. First of all, it has two huge buildings called as GEC 1 & 2 (Global Education Center) which can altogether accommodate about 13500 trainees at a given time. In the morning you can see thousands of them marching towards these buildings & they disappear inside the buildings. During the working hours, while walking in the huge, silent & empty corridors, you can’t imagine that so many of them are in the same building.

    There are rules for everything & you can find large number & variety of security personnel  to monitor security as well as enforce the rules. Regarding facilities, there is a nice swimming pool, multiplex, gym & all popular kind of sports for employees including rock climbing, squash, lawn tennis, table tennis, badminton, volleyball, football, basketball, cricket etc. You can also enjoy many other activities like music, yoga etc. Apart from this, all the things & facilities necessary for living are inside this campus. It makes the life of trainees easier as they do not have to run outside campus for small things.

    For living, they have hotel kind of buildings, which they call hostel with single rooms for everyone with attached bathroom. There is a big bed with cable TV (yeah, its LCD, remember I said its like hotel) and as one can imagine, you have everything there to live a good life (though only for training duration).

    But, regarding training, life is really tough, as they say, everything comes for a price. But the quality of training is excellent & once a person completes the training, he or she is no more the same.

    A small note for prospective Infoscions

    Dear Friends! I am overwhelmed to see so many people asking questions about Infosys. Being my first job, it will always remain close to my heart.

    I understand your anxiety before joining Infosys as I also went through it and that’s why I try to answer each and every query as per my knowledge and awareness. But I can only help you with what I have experienced in Infosys as an employee.

    A lot of questions are asked again and again which I have already answered. Please read all my replies/comments before asking anything so as to avoid asking questions which I have already replied to others.

    I have also written a series of articles about my detailed experience during Infosys Mysore Training. You can find it here: https://abhineet.in/series/infosys-mysore-training-a-walk-to-cherish-for-life/

    I hope my articles and replies are useful to you. Have a great time!

    Note: This article was originally written on 10 February, 2011.

  • The memorable train journey from Delhi Part-1

    Life goes on making you experience things which can be sometimes very strange. Something I got to see last evening. I was in Delhi & was returning home. So, I went to railway station to get a train which I usually prefer for this journey. The line for general was upto the station gate & at the reservation window, the guy before me got the last ticket. Can say was a hint of a bad start to a journey.

    30 more minutes to get the train & I was sure that in general ticket lines, each line containing approximately 250 people, it was quite impossible to get the ticket on time. So, I decided to take the next train but from a small station following Delhi. I was hopeful to get fewer crowds on ticket window of a small station. The station I chose was Anand Vihar. It was 3.05 pm.

    I decided to take Metro from Delhi Station to Anand Vihar Terminal & get the train. In Metro, as always, the scene was worse with crowd literally bursting out of the window glasses. When I was leaving the train, a guy tried to take out my wallet. Though my alertness didn’t let him to get it but due to dense crowd, he escaped. This was the second hint that something was going in a wrong way.

    It was 4.05 pm when I reached Anand Vihar & got myself onto the station. Sometime later I realized that it was actually a terminal & I would get the train from the old station which was behind the new station. I found no notification about this anywhere. I think this is the way things work out here.

    By the time I reached that old station crossing the rail track (it did not have any passage), it was already 4.30 pm. I was a bit suspicious whether I would be able to catch the train. Anyways, I found a small ticket counter far behind this old station in a hut like room surrounded by trees. I got an old kind of ticket printed on very small rectangular cardboard sheets. The guy there said that I will get my train at 5.00 pm. It was soothing because I still had 20 minutes left.

    It was a very small station with just two platforms for two directions. Though there was quite a good crowd. Suddenly I saw a train coming on my platform. I checked my watch, 10 more minutes. The train is early. I was relaxed as I thought the problems ended for the day. I will catch the train & will get home. People ran towards the train including me. Oh!! It was a local train, red coloured. It was not my train.

    One more train got past before 5 pm. I was now anxiously waiting for my train. Finally at 5 pm I saw a train coming. It was surely not a local train. People seemed happy & convinced this time. The train came & slowed down. We all rushed again to find it was Rajdhani Express. Whoa!! What the hell it was doing at such a small station? It stayed there for 15 minutes. I knew unless this train leaves, no train can come. After it came another Rajdhani Express of different route than previous one. It again stayed for 10 minutes. Again came a luxury train & stayed for 15 minutes.

    This time all the people standing there were surprised. Something was wrong. No one could figure out what was happening. Finally we got to know that our train is standing behind this train. We waited for this train to go & first time in my life I saw two trains running so close to each other. My train followed this time. I was happy to get it finally at 6.30 pm.

    I hoped it was the end of my problems, but I was wrong. I think its quite enough for this post. Will complete the story in my next post.