Yes, by CEO I mean Chief Executive officer! It may be dream of some people in MNC's to share the same table with the CEO, as seldom one gets such oppurtunity. Well this is actually not the case for a person working in a small company. Though it will be a different feeling altogether, getting an exposure to such oppurtunity, what I am trying to focus here is a funny incident which followed at lunch table at office.
We as a team usually have lunch together. It so happened that on this particular day all the cafeteria lunch tables were occupied except for one! When we had a look at that table we found lonely person sitting in one corner of the table. Yes, it was our CEO seated!I don't know how it happened, but the next few minutes turned out to be sad but funny.
Team people including me started filling the chairs from the opposite corner! One of my colleague sad right opposite to CEO, and me beside him. Except for the poisition beside CEO all the other chairs were occupied. Few seconds passed by but no conversation. It's true that people find it difficult to come up with a common topic for discussion when they meet new people. Few smiles were exchanged but no noise heard! I don't know what was going inside mind of people, guess each one was waiting someone else to kick start the show. Slowly we team members started with discussion neglecting the CEO, who continued to have his lunch silently. But, I was pretty sure he was heeding attention to discussion.
The time started ticking, CEO left the table without any indication. At that very moment I was wondering within my mind that something went seriously long. When all these things were running inside my mind I hardly did anything to change the outcome, but I was enjoying the fun part of it!!! I started looking straight across the table, when I realized that people sitting in the other table were laughing. I knew what was going on as part of their lunch discussion. One of the colleague in the other table started saying something when he realized that we were smiling back observing their discussion. And any guesses on what their smiling faces were trying to say......
Yes, you are absolutely right.....!!! :)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010
hey its raining outside!!!
I was sitting in front of my PC in my office cubicle with eyes focused on the screen, seriously debugging some issue. I suddenly heard one of my colleague talking about basement of the office building getting flooded slowly with water. The water was max upto 1ft height as i heard from him. I thought it must have been some drainage block leading to this situation. Not bothered too much, I continued my focus into resolving the issue!!!
Within few minutes I again heard people talking about the two words 'basement' and 'water' often. But realized that I am missing one more word in their discussion - 'RAIN'!!! It was raining so heavily outside, but at the sametime so calm with optimum temperature inside. Its like you are shielded from the happenings of the world. Now you know why offices are closed and conditioned!!!! Meanwhile, the water level in the basement was slowly rising, not to such an extent that the basement gets submerged, but may be half a feet more. It was close to around 7 in the evening and the talk related to rain was slowly building up.
Basement was used for only car parking. People owning the car decided to leave office immediately, realizing the trouble they have to face for next few hours. Its actually the time you start cursing the city drainage system. People will start thinking about the long road ahead towards their home totally congested with traffic. Luckily I stay very close to office, just a KM away! The frequency at which my mobile started ringing kept on increasing. Friends ans relatives were calling enquiring about whereabouts. I guess this high tension drama is created majorly because of live media (sad but true).
To speak frankly, in between all these chaotic conditions outside, I had hardly experienced any trouble. You will not realize anything happening outside when you are in an insulated environment. But, phone calls and colleagues staying far away from office ensured that i am updated with whats happening around!!!
Time finally came when i decided to go outside the building!!! It was very late, but rain had subsided drastically. I decided to walk home. It was drizzling all through the path till I reached home. Phew, what drama in the evening due to rain!!! But, thats life :) Hope b'lore recovers without huge loss due to this natural calamity (Rain and calamity, seriously whats wrong in me!!!).
Within few minutes I again heard people talking about the two words 'basement' and 'water' often. But realized that I am missing one more word in their discussion - 'RAIN'!!! It was raining so heavily outside, but at the sametime so calm with optimum temperature inside. Its like you are shielded from the happenings of the world. Now you know why offices are closed and conditioned!!!! Meanwhile, the water level in the basement was slowly rising, not to such an extent that the basement gets submerged, but may be half a feet more. It was close to around 7 in the evening and the talk related to rain was slowly building up.
Basement was used for only car parking. People owning the car decided to leave office immediately, realizing the trouble they have to face for next few hours. Its actually the time you start cursing the city drainage system. People will start thinking about the long road ahead towards their home totally congested with traffic. Luckily I stay very close to office, just a KM away! The frequency at which my mobile started ringing kept on increasing. Friends ans relatives were calling enquiring about whereabouts. I guess this high tension drama is created majorly because of live media (sad but true).
To speak frankly, in between all these chaotic conditions outside, I had hardly experienced any trouble. You will not realize anything happening outside when you are in an insulated environment. But, phone calls and colleagues staying far away from office ensured that i am updated with whats happening around!!!
Time finally came when i decided to go outside the building!!! It was very late, but rain had subsided drastically. I decided to walk home. It was drizzling all through the path till I reached home. Phew, what drama in the evening due to rain!!! But, thats life :) Hope b'lore recovers without huge loss due to this natural calamity (Rain and calamity, seriously whats wrong in me!!!).
Thursday, March 11, 2010
One Night at Tadiyandamol
It was close to 6 in the evening. Still plenty of light around though the surroundings were totally cloudy. Time to set up our light weighted tents. We had carried two tents to the peak.
We had to pay the price for being the last set of trekking boys for the day! Finding no other place to settle we decided to set up both the tents in the rock filled, grass grown slopy terrain as visible in the above picture (only one tent shown).
Shivu and Akshay had learnt the basics of setting up the tent a day earlier! With their expertize we managed to get the tent up and ready to use in hardly few minutes! phew... that was quick. Tent has four legs which needs to be firmly pointed in 4 opposite directions. It needs to be covered with water proof cover to protect from rain, mist etc. The grey colour cloth over the yellow coloured tent in the image below is the waterproof cover I am talking about.
With all set in place we had plenty of time at the peak to enjoy the sunset!
In the pic above you can see the sun rays penetrating the bed of clouds. It was beautiful sight.
Light moment before the sunset :)
Guru having fun!!! misty background :)
Sun used to appear and vanish behind the clouds in very high frequency without notice.Felt as if Sun was playing hide and seek behind the clouds. One of the beautiful pics of sunset captured by Akshay is pasted above.
It was not a dark sight after sunset as it was 27th Feb evening, one day before Full Moon! When moonlight started dominating we entered one of the tents to play cards. Tent was fully packed with six of us and the food stuffs. There was hardly any place to move. Moreover we had to settle our ass on top of grassy, rocky slope within the tent. With all the circus we played cards for morethan an hour.
Earlier trekking on the way we had picked up a heavy log of wood and carried all the way to the peak! Yea... you guessed it right!We had planned to set up a campfire at the top. We also had carried petrol all the way! But it never got materialized!!! Lack of space can easily be blamed for it! All the effort to carry the wood all the way sounds funny....as wood was available readily in the peak and we never used it!
Anyways....after the game of cards we had a satisfying dinner with chapathi and jam. As we were tired we decided to log off early around 9PM itself. Guru, Shivu and VJ opted to be partners to stay in one tent! and rest in the other. Now the real fun began...
The surface inside the tent was is such a bad shape it was impossible for all three of us to settle in! On top of that it was slightly windy at the top. We spent some time repositioning the tent so that the uneven surface can be taken care of! We tried it for some time but in vain. The tent was big enough just to fit in three of us. Once you settle your back on the slopy floor you dare not move from that position or else it would take god knows how long to adjust!!! Diganth was the most badly hit victim inside out tent followed by Akshay and ten myself. Diganth was awake almost most part of the night.He used to ask every few minutes for the time to check if any of us was awake! He in fact went outside the tent for around 4 AM in the morning accompanied by a local breed of dog which was the roaming around the peak!!! During the night we could here snoring sound from the other tent.... wonder who it was!!!
All of us were awake by 6AM. VJ was the only person to respect nature's call early in the morning. Rest of us did wait for the right time! then we had a small photo session in the morning. Long night inside the tent filled with rocks and bushes was the topic of discussion...! It was indeed an amazing night out at Tadiyandamol.
FYI: Tadiyandamol means highest peak in Kodava language and it is 2nd highest peak in Karnataka!
(Couple of beautiful girls in the above pic, keep searching!)
The total surface area of the peak is very less and most of the suitable ground was already occupied by other groups who had reached the top earlier.
(Akshay, Avinash, Diganth, Shivu, Vjay, Guru)
We had to pay the price for being the last set of trekking boys for the day! Finding no other place to settle we decided to set up both the tents in the rock filled, grass grown slopy terrain as visible in the above picture (only one tent shown).
Shivu and Akshay had learnt the basics of setting up the tent a day earlier! With their expertize we managed to get the tent up and ready to use in hardly few minutes! phew... that was quick. Tent has four legs which needs to be firmly pointed in 4 opposite directions. It needs to be covered with water proof cover to protect from rain, mist etc. The grey colour cloth over the yellow coloured tent in the image below is the waterproof cover I am talking about.
With all set in place we had plenty of time at the peak to enjoy the sunset!
In the pic above you can see the sun rays penetrating the bed of clouds. It was beautiful sight.
It was not a dark sight after sunset as it was 27th Feb evening, one day before Full Moon! When moonlight started dominating we entered one of the tents to play cards. Tent was fully packed with six of us and the food stuffs. There was hardly any place to move. Moreover we had to settle our ass on top of grassy, rocky slope within the tent. With all the circus we played cards for morethan an hour.
(Taken in between gambling!)
Earlier trekking on the way we had picked up a heavy log of wood and carried all the way to the peak! Yea... you guessed it right!We had planned to set up a campfire at the top. We also had carried petrol all the way! But it never got materialized!!! Lack of space can easily be blamed for it! All the effort to carry the wood all the way sounds funny....as wood was available readily in the peak and we never used it!
Anyways....after the game of cards we had a satisfying dinner with chapathi and jam. As we were tired we decided to log off early around 9PM itself. Guru, Shivu and VJ opted to be partners to stay in one tent! and rest in the other. Now the real fun began...
The surface inside the tent was is such a bad shape it was impossible for all three of us to settle in! On top of that it was slightly windy at the top. We spent some time repositioning the tent so that the uneven surface can be taken care of! We tried it for some time but in vain. The tent was big enough just to fit in three of us. Once you settle your back on the slopy floor you dare not move from that position or else it would take god knows how long to adjust!!! Diganth was the most badly hit victim inside out tent followed by Akshay and ten myself. Diganth was awake almost most part of the night.He used to ask every few minutes for the time to check if any of us was awake! He in fact went outside the tent for around 4 AM in the morning accompanied by a local breed of dog which was the roaming around the peak!!! During the night we could here snoring sound from the other tent.... wonder who it was!!!
All of us were awake by 6AM. VJ was the only person to respect nature's call early in the morning. Rest of us did wait for the right time! then we had a small photo session in the morning. Long night inside the tent filled with rocks and bushes was the topic of discussion...! It was indeed an amazing night out at Tadiyandamol.
FYI: Tadiyandamol means highest peak in Kodava language and it is 2nd highest peak in Karnataka!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Lazy Evening at home!
It is indeed a lazy evening at home
As he is resting on the sofa watching the game!
his eyes continued gazing the screen
while mind was wandering away from the scene!
Remote control rested safely on his lap
while he decided to take a small nap!
not before he began to enter the world of dark
his evening nap was disturbed by a dog's bark!
channel changing like a never ending hop
with the fingers not able to decide when to stop!
mind curious on seeing what next channel can offer
without really bothering on how does it differ!
Finally fingers decided to freeze the click
Eyes have finally got oppurtunity to blink!
His hand wandered along the length of the sofa
In reach of the coke which he just saw!
One more lovely evening was coming to an end
He really not sure on how to spend!!!
This is the life style of many of people like him around
Me signing off before you catch me(him!) red hand!!!
As he is resting on the sofa watching the game!
his eyes continued gazing the screen
while mind was wandering away from the scene!
Remote control rested safely on his lap
while he decided to take a small nap!
not before he began to enter the world of dark
his evening nap was disturbed by a dog's bark!
channel changing like a never ending hop
with the fingers not able to decide when to stop!
mind curious on seeing what next channel can offer
without really bothering on how does it differ!
Finally fingers decided to freeze the click
Eyes have finally got oppurtunity to blink!
His hand wandered along the length of the sofa
In reach of the coke which he just saw!
One more lovely evening was coming to an end
He really not sure on how to spend!!!
This is the life style of many of people like him around
Me signing off before you catch me(him!) red hand!!!
Friday, October 23, 2009
My First Flight Experience
It took me close to quarter century since I said hello to this world to experience my first journey in the air. Earlier this month I had been to Mumbai during the Deepevali with Diganth (My cousin!). To reduce the overall trip period we decided to book a flight for return journey.
The Mumbai plan was confirmed just a week before the journey. We were in confusion of which flight to go for. The tariffs were high due to last moment booking and festive season. Lowest available was around Rs.4.3k for Indian Airlines I guess. We finally decided to go for Mallyaji's KF Airlines. It was a pretty good choice to experience the first flight journey indeed. I think you guys can guess why we went for KF even though fare turned out to be whopping high, approx 5.3K!!! One more reason for high fare was the timing of the flight. It was 6:50 AM in the morning, very much convenient to most of the people.
We reached airport at the right time, one hour in advance, 5:45AM in the morning. Uncle (Appacchi) had booked a cab which was our transport till the Airport from Nerul in Navi mumbai. I was already dreaming about the sight in the air, when I was slightly sleepy in the car journey to Airport. The Airport was moderately covered with small queue in front of us. It was for the getting the actual ticket for journey.We had earlier booked the ticket online for convenience. Once the ticket was collected, the person in the counter questioned us to confirm that we are not carrying any deo, sharp edged items etc. As we carried only hand bags we had less process to follow. We immediately joined few other people for security check of the luggage. The luggage is made to pass in a rolling strap. Meanwhile we are requested to pass through metal detectors. I was actually made to go back and asked to place my mobile on the rolling strap as it was part of the procedure though it sounded strange. Once we cleared this basic procedures I collected my baggage and we headed towards the waiting room. Everything happened so fast unlike what usually happens if you are travelling in an international flight (I guess!!).
Minutes before travel: We heard an announcement roughly half an hour before the journey. It was the time to board the flight. My cousin was saying that we will be travelling in a bus or so to the flight location. But to our surprise the Flight was parked attached to the Airport building. We directly entered the flight welcomed by the couple of pretty Air hostesses. I could feel the AC the moment we entered the plane with cool breeze coming from the side of the plane. We had booked an economy class ticket and the seating arrangement inside the plane looked very similar to local buses except for luxury finish. Unfortunately I had to settle one seat next to the window seat. Soon, I was busy checking the internals of the plane. I found nothing special except for two things which dragged my attention. Air hostesses and the In flight entertainment systems attached to back side of each seat!!
We were instructed that the flight will get slightly delayed due to morning fog. Meanwhile we were requested to go through manuals provided on hadling the emergency situations etc. As expected each one of us was given a standard KF red earphones to listen to the offerings provided by the IFE systems. Most of the instructions were shown in the small display of IFE. There were couple of channels provided in the entertainment system. In middle of all this in back of my mind I was dreaming about the takeoff adrenaline rush!!.
Finally the flight started moving around around 7:15 AM. It was warming up slowly for some time in low velocity before taking position for the take off. Finally I could feel the plane accelerating. I slowly started bending left towards the window with full eagerness to see how does it look outside. Take off was lot simple than I expected in terms of thrill, but one of the best moments of the journey. The mumbai City looked beautiful with Sea Link (I guess) below so tiny. It was cloudy morning as we entered the city of clouds as the altitude increased. The sight at that height with clouds surrounded was spectacular, Clouds were sun lit and they were shining which looked simpy superb. Looked as if we were close to North or South pole. At that moment I remembered all the Hindi/Kannada movies where they picturize the heaven and I could exactly relate the present scene visible outside to it!!The temprature in the IFE display read -30degrees and height close to 10000mtrs. Just Imagine the speed, it was more than 700Km/hr! I was enjoying it even though could not feel the speed!. But the sudden change in pressure had hit me badly. I was not able to hear properly at that height. One of the Air hostess was serving the breakfast and she started to enquire on what I would like to have. I was able to respond only after asking her to repeat the same thing twice!! Sounds funny right :) By this time the external view was not very special anymore with only white screen visible! My attention switched back to the IFE device. I started my Veg breakfast watching the tiny screen fixed to the seat right in front of me. The food served was Idli, masala Dosa, fruits and Bun. Food was pretty ok, but it was extremely difficult to eat in the congested area. Journey was lot less interesting than I had imagined before. It was approximately 1Hr we were in Air when i started getting bored inspite of IFE. But great news was that we were just half an hour away from landing.
I was viewing the journey time left being displayed at regular intervals in one of the channels provided in the IFE. We could feel the flight changing the direction and also moving down. At one instant for roughly about 2 to 3 seconds I felt the effect of a free fall. Land was finally visible below. Suddenly captain made an announcement that due to Air traffic the landing will be delayed by few minutes. This actually did not bother me as I felt good in the plane as it was circling in the air near the Airport with the land visible through the window. Finally it was the landing time. I suddenly started worrrying for few seconds about my luck with the plane. Plane landed lot smoother than expected though you could feel the wheels touching the ground!! Pilot started applying the breaks, to slow down the plane. Its all over, I am safe back on this Earth!!! Strangely I felt so happy fom within just after the landing. I think this was because of lack of flight experience.
Minutes later I was travelling towards office in the BMTC Volvo Bus, back to the routine with my flight experience fresh in mind.... Couple of hours back in Mumbai now in B'lore...Wooow!!! :)
The Mumbai plan was confirmed just a week before the journey. We were in confusion of which flight to go for. The tariffs were high due to last moment booking and festive season. Lowest available was around Rs.4.3k for Indian Airlines I guess. We finally decided to go for Mallyaji's KF Airlines. It was a pretty good choice to experience the first flight journey indeed. I think you guys can guess why we went for KF even though fare turned out to be whopping high, approx 5.3K!!! One more reason for high fare was the timing of the flight. It was 6:50 AM in the morning, very much convenient to most of the people.
We reached airport at the right time, one hour in advance, 5:45AM in the morning. Uncle (Appacchi) had booked a cab which was our transport till the Airport from Nerul in Navi mumbai. I was already dreaming about the sight in the air, when I was slightly sleepy in the car journey to Airport. The Airport was moderately covered with small queue in front of us. It was for the getting the actual ticket for journey.We had earlier booked the ticket online for convenience. Once the ticket was collected, the person in the counter questioned us to confirm that we are not carrying any deo, sharp edged items etc. As we carried only hand bags we had less process to follow. We immediately joined few other people for security check of the luggage. The luggage is made to pass in a rolling strap. Meanwhile we are requested to pass through metal detectors. I was actually made to go back and asked to place my mobile on the rolling strap as it was part of the procedure though it sounded strange. Once we cleared this basic procedures I collected my baggage and we headed towards the waiting room. Everything happened so fast unlike what usually happens if you are travelling in an international flight (I guess!!).
Minutes before travel: We heard an announcement roughly half an hour before the journey. It was the time to board the flight. My cousin was saying that we will be travelling in a bus or so to the flight location. But to our surprise the Flight was parked attached to the Airport building. We directly entered the flight welcomed by the couple of pretty Air hostesses. I could feel the AC the moment we entered the plane with cool breeze coming from the side of the plane. We had booked an economy class ticket and the seating arrangement inside the plane looked very similar to local buses except for luxury finish. Unfortunately I had to settle one seat next to the window seat. Soon, I was busy checking the internals of the plane. I found nothing special except for two things which dragged my attention. Air hostesses and the In flight entertainment systems attached to back side of each seat!!
We were instructed that the flight will get slightly delayed due to morning fog. Meanwhile we were requested to go through manuals provided on hadling the emergency situations etc. As expected each one of us was given a standard KF red earphones to listen to the offerings provided by the IFE systems. Most of the instructions were shown in the small display of IFE. There were couple of channels provided in the entertainment system. In middle of all this in back of my mind I was dreaming about the takeoff adrenaline rush!!.
Finally the flight started moving around around 7:15 AM. It was warming up slowly for some time in low velocity before taking position for the take off. Finally I could feel the plane accelerating. I slowly started bending left towards the window with full eagerness to see how does it look outside. Take off was lot simple than I expected in terms of thrill, but one of the best moments of the journey. The mumbai City looked beautiful with Sea Link (I guess) below so tiny. It was cloudy morning as we entered the city of clouds as the altitude increased. The sight at that height with clouds surrounded was spectacular, Clouds were sun lit and they were shining which looked simpy superb. Looked as if we were close to North or South pole. At that moment I remembered all the Hindi/Kannada movies where they picturize the heaven and I could exactly relate the present scene visible outside to it!!The temprature in the IFE display read -30degrees and height close to 10000mtrs. Just Imagine the speed, it was more than 700Km/hr! I was enjoying it even though could not feel the speed!. But the sudden change in pressure had hit me badly. I was not able to hear properly at that height. One of the Air hostess was serving the breakfast and she started to enquire on what I would like to have. I was able to respond only after asking her to repeat the same thing twice!! Sounds funny right :) By this time the external view was not very special anymore with only white screen visible! My attention switched back to the IFE device. I started my Veg breakfast watching the tiny screen fixed to the seat right in front of me. The food served was Idli, masala Dosa, fruits and Bun. Food was pretty ok, but it was extremely difficult to eat in the congested area. Journey was lot less interesting than I had imagined before. It was approximately 1Hr we were in Air when i started getting bored inspite of IFE. But great news was that we were just half an hour away from landing.
I was viewing the journey time left being displayed at regular intervals in one of the channels provided in the IFE. We could feel the flight changing the direction and also moving down. At one instant for roughly about 2 to 3 seconds I felt the effect of a free fall. Land was finally visible below. Suddenly captain made an announcement that due to Air traffic the landing will be delayed by few minutes. This actually did not bother me as I felt good in the plane as it was circling in the air near the Airport with the land visible through the window. Finally it was the landing time. I suddenly started worrrying for few seconds about my luck with the plane. Plane landed lot smoother than expected though you could feel the wheels touching the ground!! Pilot started applying the breaks, to slow down the plane. Its all over, I am safe back on this Earth!!! Strangely I felt so happy fom within just after the landing. I think this was because of lack of flight experience.
Minutes later I was travelling towards office in the BMTC Volvo Bus, back to the routine with my flight experience fresh in mind.... Couple of hours back in Mumbai now in B'lore...Wooow!!! :)
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