Thursday, April 30, 2009

One last hurray!!

Dad's retirement today... 37 years in a single company!! BEML... the company responsible for what he is today and what we are today as family.. comes to an end... well... wat a day... probably as a son... once in a lifetime kinda day... It’s amazing for our generation to have such a day... since we will not be able to give our children that kind of an experience but who knows what will happen in the future... anyways
Well I was also a part of one of the most revered man's retirement that was Mr Ramaswamy Iyengar who was the father figure in my mother's office (LIC of India)... It was quite accidental that I was present that saturday as I was passing by her office and happened to know that it was his last day in office... People spoke great things about him... and the respect oozed in every word they said... quite an experience
I always knew that my Dad was well respected but how much is what I got to see... It was overwhelming... Btw I had prepared for this day for a long time now... almost 2 years and when that day came.. I had goose bumps all over... I am sure my dad had too! He apparently couldn’t stop smiling… wonderful to see that… We went on the inspection round of the hospital which he showed with great pride… I am really proud to see his achievements and was very much privileged.
Well in the first place my dad had to give some reason to leave (retire)... what more than my marriage!! as his utmost important family commitment. I was impressed by that but then when people asked me about it I said it’s my mother's constant issue getting up at 4 AM in the morning which would be put to sleep!!
There were many people unhappy (Infact everyone including his boss CMO!) that they are going to miss their AO sir (Administrative Officer) Many staff were telling me that its sad to know that there will not be their loved AO sir ordering, teaching or guiding them anymore... But unfortunately thats the way it is... life has to move on.. Someone else will live up to the challenge of administering a hospital and could improve upon what my Dad has done so far... People were voicing their opinion that their AO should stay for another year or so except two of the doctors... Dr Mythili and Dr Shanti who talked some sense... Talking more about the respect it was evident the way people came till the gate (including the Chief Medical Officer CMO, my Dad's boss!) to give a grand send off and the gifts that they gave told the story! One Mr Mahesh had gifted with a writing in it which quotes
"To the greatest person who is responsible in guiding me to the right path... this is my small gift to you". People did 3 cheers for AO sir when we left the building… mesmerizing!!
They say that engineers are problem solvers... but my Dad is a born engineer (Science grad in education) and his Degree in Personnel management was put best in use all these years in professional and personal front!
Well as of now and now onwards for my dad, "Relaxing" is of the highest priority and atlast the day has arrived when my Dad's going to see the sun after it is up above in the sky rather than greeting him...
As I was about to go to sleep, my Dad who was watching IPL cricket, laughed and said...
"Well... I have given my alarm clock some rest!!!" and his retirement has just sunk in!!
No time for anything else today I thought...

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Promotion and Extortion!

Promotion:
After all the hue and cry at last the most deserving candidates in our team have been given promotions... All the very best to my friends Sonu and Bejoy...
Tomorrow is the big day when all our team mates are going out for class (tats what verma calls!) and that is the place where we are going to study the spirits and their influence when taken on the rocks!!

Extortion:
IPL2 is fast turning out to be game of golden oldies... Tendulkar is in scintillating form and so is Sanath who is turning 40 in June! In the meantime...
Bangalore Royal challengers are prob just enjoying their beers rather than trying to play!! The golden oldie rule somehow misses them by more than a whisker... This team when told that it was a test team, last season, is proving that now every bit of that... heck they even turned KP in to a test bat!! He doesn't even know the changes that are made in the team for the game!! His experience has made us lose 4 games in a row and Vijay Mallya will be kicking himself... He has been extorted! It would make a lot of sense to dump the whole team minus Dravid and come back home for good!!

Friday, April 24, 2009

Election selection... IPL mania!

Dad's Birthday couldn't have been more special!!
Thursday, the day of action... elections in Bangalore... 46% vote... Bangalore need to do more of the jaagore concept i would assume...
There were still instances of my pals (Captain especially) attending office... and their managers telling them that voting just takes 10 mins of their time... This would be a criminal offence and a non-bailable one at that...
Good to know that all of my friends still exercised their veto power and lets hope there are some changes around... with BJP and its operation kamal in full swing, the phase shift assumed would be a little tougher... how would Bangalore react to de-famed JDS is something to be taken notice as well... I don't know what congress is doing or what is their position in this elections.. All the best to all of them... With almost 28 candidates... out of which 25 of them are independent(Their voting symbols.. violin, torch, sewing machine, cricket bat!! lolz!!) ... the elections are going to be fun this time around in Bangalore... I was just stating Bangalore North constituency. All of those independent candidates would have shelled out atleast 15 lakhs on this election campaign... what a waste of money!!
The bifurcation of the constituencies are kinda confusing with Basaveshwaranagar which is hardly 1 km from my place being Bangalore central!!! Anyways...
This was the first time that my family voted together... and all of us went ahead to the place like a marriage party!! at 7:30 AM... even a crow wouldnt have woken up at that time!! (btw how many of you have seen 7:30AM on a non-working day... point to ponder!) but still my dad's logic made us do that.. which is... "Vote before someone else does on your name!!" makes sense with lots of names missing and loads of others being mis-guided!!

After meeting Brat and boyz... we went home to witness a peach of a game (IPL T20 cricket) Shane warne's rajasthan royals stole the game right under KKR's feet!! Ganguly was devastated... dude had played really well and btw I have never seen Ganguly run those singles and twos so fast!! Yusuf pathan was in the end too hot to handle for Mr Mendis... (who was a great buy for KKR team! Rookie Kamran Khan was good as well... This was, by far, the best game so far in the tournament.. Hope to see more of that!!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Chappadi... place to visit more than once... (my weekend experience!!)

Well I don't call myself an orthodox person... the only thing I do is bow my head when I see a temple while drivin... so I had to think twice before agreeing to my pal Brat when he invited to his village chappadi (15 kms from hosur) for srinivasa kalyaNotsava... But then it was long due and we had to see his farm as well...
The drama started on saturday night when there was only one car and 8 people!! (Brat, vinu, rama, abhi, BD, kettu, captain & me!)... After thinking about various options Vinu came to the rescue... He got his car and hence we left..
Usually 7:30 AM IST means sharp 8:45AM... that's when we started... After an hour long drive... Brat treated us with an awesome breakfast... typical iyengar breakfast... idly, pongal, vada and dosa... last but not the least... super coffee and tea to go in the end...
We eventually got to the village at about 11:30 AM and the first thing we did was visit Brat's ancestral home.. what a place and what location.. absolutely wonderful home... and he offered us tender coconuts... wat a relief...
We saw the temple which was situated on the top of a hill... easy climb... But it so happens... whenever I go to a temple... I will always forget my camera... and when I try remembering how GOD looked like(especially Lord Venkateshwara!)... I cant when i come out of the premises... It happened the same way yesterday too... surreal... Anyways... we came back and became a part of kalyaNotsava... Brat solved the first problem with his mobile... and clicked some very good pictures... The whole place was serene and beautiful.. which people wont forget that easily...
Next came something we all were waiting for... what food... again typical iyengar special... we all loved it... we had to wait but it was worth it... It had the usual puliyogre and sweet pongal... fantastic...
In the late afternoon as our schedules were packed... after food... we went straight to the farm...
Brat's farm has mangoes, coconuts, silk farming... As discussed earlier we had plans to play cricket there... and we did.. ram took a dive in the well... BD was busy checking out snake's skin... which apparently was of a cobra and about 1 1/2 feet in length... (you can view all the pics in the face-book a little later...) and what else... we had tender coconuts again... as sweet as honey! thanks to brat...
Brat's mother gave us coffee and some goodies from the farm when we were about to leave... mangoes and veggies... very generous of her... classic case of "Undu hodaa... kondu hoda..." for us...
We came back to Bangalore at 9:30PM dead tired... I hit close to 120kph in my car... quite an exhilarating experience...

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Coffee date wid AJ...

She is the cutest in the office I would say... very forward thinking... yet cultured.
On the other day I was asked for a coffee date!! first for me... well guess what happened... she had a meeting with her new boss and we had to get back to the office.
Coffee date wid AJ... popat expected!! Thats life guys...
Tomorrow is another such day ... lets see what happens!!