3 X 7 things about myself...

Here I am.. writing about myself. Long back i had written my 7 X 7 and felt like doing it again :D.. and also it is a great way to know about the new freinds i made on bloggers :) .. and the result is this blog. Just tweaked the regular 7 X 7 things about myself to 3 X 7 things about myself.. to keep it short and enjoyable.

I have tagged some of my friends in this blog (scroll down to see if you are in that list), if you are not on the list and wud love to write about urself.. pls go ahead and get tagged... dont forget to publish you blog to me and ur freinds though... wud love to read it! :)

3 places i would pack my travel bag for

1. Swiss alps, my dream destination

2. Eiffel Tower, Paris

3. Gods own country - Kerala (missed visiting twice)

3 On-Screen charectors i love to watch

1. Joker (Heath Ledger) in Dark Knight

2. Amir Khan in Dil Chahta Hai

3. Big B in Namak Halal (cant forget the Pag Ghunguroo song)

 .. and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) in Friends :)) 

3 moods that describes me the best

1. Lazy (during office days)

2. Anxious, thoughtful (when idle)

3. Overjoy, Excited.. (during weekends) 

3 things i always think of doing on a weekend... but never did.. :)

1. Clean my room (so much lying around not sure wher n wen to start)

2. Go for haircut (its been ages!!!)

3. Continue reading Jeffrey Archer (i dont rem wher i stopped anymr) 

3 things from my childhood that i cant forget

1. Play play and play.. :)

2. Last day at my school (HJKP)

3. Visit to my aunts place (in mysore) for every summer vacation.

3 things i wud never say no to

1. Bowling (quite a craze... hv bowled in Blore, Mysore, Pune, Hyd, Toronto, Melbourne...)

2. Long drive in my car... anywher, anytime...

3. Sweet corn (pepper masala or chat masala flvor) 

3 things i cant live without

1. Laptop, internet etc.. anything that hooks me online..

2. Playing wid Chinni (the one n only .. cute, little ravishing darling of mine.. my niece.. Mrudula)

3. Music, movies and masti.. 3M!

Yes, you have been Tagged!!! :))

Tagging my blogger friends Arindam, Sabrina, Jazmine, Vijay, Mehreen, Alankrita, Renella, Vijaya, Jyotsna, Ravali, Pragyan and Mayaa to continue this chain. Looking forward to see you all write 3 X 7 things on ur blogs... Come on folks, would love to know more about you!!

Happy Friendship day!!! :)

Just some rulezz to follow...

- Tag as many u want!! (well.. thts not a rule...)

- Link their pages in your tag post

- Post a message / leave a comment screaming that they r tagged

- Mention the person who tagged you in your tag post, and link their blog.

- Write 3 X 7 things about yourself :)

Good times

Life has to be full of fond moments and exciting times spent with family, friends, grandparents and loved ones. First day on your first job, an unexpected meeting of your childhood friend, first movie with your girlfriend, a romantic candle light dinner with your loved one... its wonderful how on such moments you feel the gush of emotions running right through you... and after many years it still gives you the feel as if it happened today.

One such memorable day that I wish to share was my first outing with Sindhu on my bike. Like any typical South Indian family, taking the girl out before being formally engaged is a strict no-no affair.. and like any typical pre-engagement boy and girl, we would be waiting to step out (Hehehehe... :)) But first time is always a first time, you are always in the dilemma whether to keep it chupa-chupi or let the elders know. After much thought (my Decision no.1) I decided to inform her dad on taking Sindhu out for a while. So I called her up and told her I would be there for pick up at 6PM IST... so that she would prepare the pitch, and all that I would need to do is to present myself in formal look (obviously not the MJ look and feel on the first visit).. exchange a few pleasentaries and ride away with the dream of my life. I was fully excited, got ready in no time, took my Fiero and zipped thru the traffic, only to find myself parking my bike at Sindhu's house at 7PM (late by an hour.. anyways IST is Indian Streachable Time and how can I not live upto the reputation that "guys" are never on time). Climbed the stairs to their first floor house with a bit of nervousness, but got a very generous warm  and a smiling welcome from everyone. Sindhu was inside dressing up for the outing.

Things were going as planned. Trying to keep the decent approach, I began a conversation with Sindhu's dad (hoping to end it soon and take Sindhu out asap). At first I was not even keen on listening, after a while I made an effort to listen to what was reaching my ears... Weather, coffee, job, Bangalore traffic, Metro, fuel prices... the talks never did seem to end. I too pitched in with a few comments here and there. Soon we ran out of topics... precious time.. God help me!!! Trying not to be rude or anything, I tried to close the conversation on a few occasions, but only to find another one starting.

I started getting restless, matters was slowly slipping out of my control, topics started repeating :'( .... I even tried to remain silent, hoping of some reciprocation. But my prayers to the God of Silence went in vain as the talks went on and on and on.. like Amaron battery. By now, each passing minute started to give me the feel of a day... thats when my Decision no.2 came.. I stood up on my feet, took the helmet in my hands, and said non-stop - "I think its getting late, we have planned to go out for a while, will be come back in an hour's time". Then there was silence. When you ask your fiancee out making the return time obvious for her parents is very important (not that you would take their daughter on a 6D/7N all inclusive trip to Kulu Manali, but just to sound responsible)... else forget even getting a shake of the head from her parents.  Finally after a few exchange of smiles... we left. There she was, sitting on my bike for the first time, and I was all in heavens :).... took her to a famous chat center in Gandhibazar, spent more than 2 hours chatting (lots of talks and samosa chats in-between).

Time just flew by, me and Sindhu met a few more times before getting engaged. Currently enjoying, the so called golden era (post engagement and pre-marital bliss). Suddenly weekends became more happening and full of fun (minus all the effort and the pain) :)

Octopus Paul predicts Spain victory over Germany.
See here for my predictions.. have got 10/12 correct so far.

Making life more intersting.. Calvin way!!! :)

Just a few weeks back got Creative 2.1(Inspire M2600) for my swanky laptop(Inspiron 1525). Music takes me to a whole new world.. it soothes ones mind. i dont know if music therapy ever works, but for me it hits the right chord to take me out from my clogged confused stressed mind to a completely different plane from where i can see the pleasentnes that life brings to all of us. That young flower you had seen in the garden, tht bird soaring sky high above ur head, the endless green patch of beautiful landscape that you had once captured on ur camera, the clouds that almost seem insync with ur emotions... all start talking to you with music in ur ears.. aint it???... esp when needed most.

Very recently one of my frend said she wanted to listen Bob Dylan, so i burnt a cd for her of the songs i had.. i have a good collection of Dylans, if not huge... like Blowing in the wind, Like a rolling stone, I want You.. Changing of Guards and a few more. different kind of music work for differnt people.. some like it to be soothing, some like bollywood tunes, some like it all hard(rock), while for a few its just the instrumental... its all there in finding and clinging onto it!

Beleive me... Music does a lot of things to you than you ever knew it could. Just sit back and lose yourself amidst the rythms of life(music)... :-)

Here I'm .... :)))

SAGAR/BHARATH MR
TG 328 23NOV BLRBKK 2245 0400
TG 999 24NOV BKKMEL 0810 2120

If you can read this intinerary.. u'll probably know where i am!! :p
Watch this space for more.. soon!!

Frends, food, fun...

3 magnificient treats, a lot of shopping, and catching up with frends.. all of this and much more in just one week. hmm. what am i upto???!!.. well, u will know soon! :) Its has been a great week since last wednesday... and the best part is all the fun has come on week days.. after office.. n not weeknds!

After all the lavish eatings, I feel I can actually write my own column on the restaurents in Bangalore. Desmonds, Sahib Sindh Sultan, TGIF. Yesterday nite was also memorable.. had been to TGIF (they say, Everyday is a friday at TGIF!), great place for some continental food... pastas, shrimps, and others. Not to mention sm great music is played during the night. Shall srcibble more with sm snaps.. till then read this.. feels like cricket is no more a Gentleman's game.

Sahib Sindh Sultan

Words of Wisdom

Yesterday was one of those days where i was not myself. And just when i started feeling that everything within me was faling apart, a friend handed me a book "Way of Youth" by a Buddhist philosopher, Daisaku Ikeda. The approach of book is so very simple (and yet head on) in addressing the turbulences of a young mind, the concerns and questions that constantly poses. This book brings about a self directed transformation, making a powerful impact on the person reading it. For a young mind, looking for answers amidst lifes' strangest ways, this book strikes that chord of realisation of your truest self within you, that you have been looking for... what we really are, what we should really be to keep and maintain that unruffled peace and calm within. It brings about a change in your thoughts to regain your lost strength, and the lost "YOU". I would recommend this book for all the youngsters, go on, get a copy of it from your nearest book store.

"What kind of future do I envision for myself? What kind of self am I trying to develop? What do I want to accomplish in my life?" The thing is to paint this vision of your life in your heart as specifically as possible. That "painting" itself becomes the design of your future. The power of the heart enables us to actually create with our lives a wonderful masterpiece in accordance with that design." - Daisaku Ikeda

Getting back to life...

me wrapping up my fourth visit to Hyderabad (not a very pleasant one though, when compared to the prvs 3 trips within 2 months)... gotta catch a taxi to airport now. Have a beautiful eveng, while i take myself sometime off (have got a precious weeknd ahead) to just sit back and feel lite and good about my life.

Shud i become a photographer?... Or am i already one!!

somewhere between Mysore and Mandya.. on our recent trip to Mysore


Melukote Hill!

Evening thoughts....

Ok ok.. i accept!! i cudn find time off from work to add somethng to my blogspace. Well, better late than never. so here i am! Just to start off from where i left off... WorldCup fever is over and Italy turned out to be the champions this time, with France bowing out in a rather bizzare fashion(after the head-butt incident from Zidane) in the finals. And Klinsmann's Germany managed to beat Portugal in the third place play off... the scorelines read 3-1.. thts was an amazing game!!

Its been quite a pleasent evening sitting at my office and staring out of this big window i have to my side. perfect weather n time to take a walk and have a cup of
hot masala sweet corn n walk by the lake. (see pic) this is what is see when i turn right of my desk... isnt it inviting?? :) and its always a good habit to look out when things are a bit hard to handle from within.... well, this is all i can find time to blog this time .. catch u sometime soon... will be back with more on my views abt the world i see around me! C ya...

Get 7 X 7 about me

7 things I wish to do before I die

1. Get back home soon (im in chennai for a 2-week project assignment)
2. Do scuba diving atleast once
3. To start a 24X7 book-cum-coffee lounge for all the book lovers. no!! books wont be sold or rented out.. wil be available only for reference, for any amount of time.
4. Do something to ease the traffic chaos in "namma bengalooru" (i see upwards for ideas)
5. Bada naam (i wanna prove the first couple of lines frm the song "papa kehte hain... ")
6. See Europe, i feel the whole of europe is HOE - Heaven On Earth
7. visit Himalayas (im impressed after watching Lakshya)

7 things I do not enjoy doing:

1. wait
2. to sit at one place for long... atleast a walk every 2-3 hrs shud be fine.
3. go out in rain
4. listening to bhangra mix n rap
5. eating idlis
6. watching a game i don understand
7. doing things later

7 things that Attracted Me to Blogging:

1. blogs (some interesting ones like this, this, this and this :).. n many more, see right pane!!)
2. photoblogs, like this one by deepak
3. wonderful place to express whatever u feel, whenevr u feel, however u feel
4. gives insights to a person's thoughts
5. make frnds
6. Great time pass
7. good fun

7 things I say most often:

1. Oh shit!!
2. seriously
3. oh ok
4. yeah yeah
5. certainly
6. ultimate!!!
7. matte!!? (so wat else?!!)

7 Books I like:

1. Calvin and Hobbes - Comic series
2. Illusions
3. Conversations with God
4. Tell me your dreams - Sheldon
5. Any book on planets, stars, moon, meteors,..
6. Archies
7. autobiographies (hvnt read many but they attract a lot.. like the ones by Richard Branson and Agatha Christie)

7 Movies I want to watch again:

1. Little Women
2. Face Off
3. Hungama
4. Teesri Manzil
5. Police Story - all Series (Jackie Chan)
6. Scary Movie - all Series
7. Shrek, Antz, Ice Age ... most of the animation series
(there is one more movie which i watchd on Hallmark.. an english summer classic.. great drama.. hv forgotten the name.. certainly wud luv to watch it again)

7 pieces of Music I enjoy

1. Kannada classics (like Kavi Ratna Kalidasa, Gandhada Gudi, Benkiya Bale...)
2. "Here i am" by Bryan Adams
3. "You Sang to me" by Marc Anthony
4. "Young and Proud" by Ace of Base (album - Happy Nation)
5. "Frozen" by Madonna
6. Sonu nigam hits
7. Kishore hits

The beginning of the end...

The one n only Windsor manor, the beautiful Bangalore Golf grounds, Le Meridian, Governer's residence, Chinanswamy stadium, Mahatma Gandhi road (MG road), Trinity Church, Diamond district, The Leela... I used to ride thru the best in blore.. but not anymore. My office had been shifted and we are sitting in CV Raman nagar office (Bagman Tech Park) starting today. Well, it kinda getting back in time for me.. the thot of the legendary Sir CV Raman takes me back to my school days... the whole of Hymamshu Jyothi Kala Peetha (my school in malleshwaram, bangalore) was grouped into 4 different houses named after the great legends from the glorious Indian History. Jawahar, Subhash, Raman and Sir MV were the four houses.

I was in the Sir CV Raman house.. the nobel laurette (his exceptional work in physics). Blue was the color of our house and it was a great bunch... every kid, every student .. right from 1st standard till 10th were grouped into one of these houses... and we used to compete against each other in all the school activites.. right from sports, cultural events... to exams n competetions. This wud bring the best out of each individual everytime. At the end of every year one of the 4 houses would be identified as the best house and best contributer for the school's progress and would be given the prestigious HJKP Shield during the school day celebrations. Being a part of Raman house my contribution was in the field of sports and science shows. Also on a few occasions for school day cultural programs.. but sports was serious business at HJKP... the Sports day was one of the days i always looked forward to.. , and now getting back to the CV Raman nagar (has his bust at the entrance of the loacality, which i make sure i watch everyday i ride into office) is like a rejuvination for me to look ahead with great pride and enthusiasm. Many such changes have rippled in my recent past... say last one month or so,.. which has kept me awesomely amazed with life's strange offerings. (somehow) I also feel that this is the beginning of the end of a few good things in life.. obvsly for many more to come :) hmmmmmmm....well, . okay!!! .. enough for the time being.. as of now need to get ready for office and get going... just to add our office is neighboured by iflex, motorola, samsung, hp and Texas instruments... (amidst some scenic lanscape.. still under construction though, shall attach a snap soon).. bye for now... btw .. the Indo-US nuclear deal has been introduced in the US Congress. The world is real curious to watch wat happns next.. will it be passed or shelved!!!!

its already tomorrow....

(was) Doin a late nite study... actually after a very long time.. infact its been years since i have kept awake reading something... back during the BE days i used to study pretty late into the nite....(only during exams though). i still rememeber the late nite teas i used to make for myself during exams. classic memories!!! Well, here im, well past midnight, reading some documents related to my project, and inbt doing some blogging as well ;)

Day one complete.. two more days to go. Actually it wasnt as tiring as i had presumed. more bcos it was more of hands on than just listening. also the trainer is my former collegue. we both were project mates at netkraft. so was nice talking and sharing the past with him. he is a tech consultant now and will be travelling to Ireland in another week or so. well looking forward for day2 as he has said it will be more complex and challenging. me going for home.. probably will meet a frend on the way. bye.. keep cool ;)

Cast Iron training..

me off to a training session in the academy block... will b back sometime late evening. shall catch u later guys... enjoy!! what is Cast Iron?.. well, click on - Cast Iron Systems

The Speaking Tree!!

Starting today i will be posting some great articles.. which takes me, you, us .. everybody one step closer to God and self-realization. These are articles from the editorials of the times of india newspaper and is called "The Speaking Tree".

Riding High

Riding fast on my fiero on a bright sunny early morning was all that was required to spur me up for wat seemd to be quite a long day ahead at office. I started from home pretty early.. wantd to reach office before the Bangalore (bengaluru) traffic peaked. its a 15km ride from my home. and boy! it was one terrific ride today... no signals, not many vehicles, smooth ride all the way... felt as if the road was laid only for me. Also today was one of those mornings when u carry forward the feeling of larger than life attitude from the yesterdays !!! Feeling light and cheerful is certainly contagious.., moreover as they say - "The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up" ... so smile maadi!! :)

Fun-filled trip to Pune

It was a perfect get-away from home, work and worries… a 3-4 day off from all the worldly headaches and a trip with frends to some distant place was all that was needed to relax and rejuvenate.

We headed to Pune for a training on one of the products required for our projects. Accomodations were arranged, tickets were booked, luggage were packed and we were all set (four of us.. myself, N, S and SH). Our onward journey started on the Saturday evening from Bangalore. Ahead of us was an 18hr train travel in a 3-tier AC … which we thought wud be the most boring part. But it turned out to be the most fun filled part of the whole package. I don remember the last time when I had been out on a train journey with frends.. yeah I traveled bt Chennai and blore evey weekend when I worked for CTS Chennai. But it was alwys an overnite travel. So here I was with 3 of my project mates on a Saturday evening chatting, eating, teasing, playing cards (Badam Satta, Bluff and a new game called ‘Phat’ :))… none of us were in the mood to sleep. we stayed awake till pretty late and slept only after we got several warnings from the co-commuters ;). The next day it was a lazy (Sunday) morning… and the first thing that was on our mind was to meet SH’s mom and bro who wud meet us at Gulabarga station with some nice food preparted for our lunch… the train wud stop there for 10min and it was fun to meet, greet and grab all that they had got for us.

It was almost 4pm when we reached Pune station. S’s sister had come to escort us to the place where we had our acc booked. my second stint of Pune was ok, thot it was more impressive on my first visit. Anyway… the weather was good.. unlike blore which is pretty damp for quite sometime now. All four of us were pretty tired with the journey.. we got settled in our rooms and then had a nice dinner and dozed off, for we had make at our training center the next morning at nine. We did make there but atleast 30 min late, thanks to the taxi driver who came late to pick us up. First day at the training was pretty decent with theory sessions being covered during the pre-noon and pracs during the post lunch. but the sessions which were supposed to complete by 4pm… got dragged till 6pm. we were pretty exhausted … Day1 at the training was over. That evening S’s sister took us for a small roam inside Pune. We saw MG Rd and visited a couple of stalls .. and did some shopping. Then we were taken to the best eat outs in Pune. “Durvankur” … the place where u can find the maharastrian food at its best. Well, I don’t remember what all I ate that day but yes we all ate soo much that we cudn get up from our seats. we sat for a few more minutes at the table and then started back to out service apartments, which was quite out of the city. the clocked ticked well over 9pm as we hired two auto rickshaws. well this was how our day ended.... some amazing never eaten before maharastrian delicacy. Slept to the core that nite only to be woken up by S the nxt morning.

Day2, 9am and we found ourselves sipping coffee in the corridors of the training centre. Still pretty lazy.. but one good thing happnd on day2 was we started with the practical sessions which was unfinished on the prevs day. The learning went on till 6 again and we did quite a lot of work on day2. The satisfying part was we cud see some outputs. Well, it was evening and we had to cover the Fergueshen College Road before. “The” place where the Pune youth wud hangout. Most of the famous restaurant, cafes, coffee bars are located on this long stretch. We all had a walk thru the streets .. took a few snaps (which includes the one posted on this blog). The best of the lot. S’s sister took this snap and she moved even before my digi cam flashed and took the pic. Hence u can see the feet all of us :D. truly a fantastic, unforgettable evening. That nite S’s sister had cooked some amazing veggie stuff for our dinner. Ate nicely and gave a gift we had purchased for her. Infact we couldn have asked for more… we got some superb company for the two days we spent in Pune. She provided great comfort level as she kept us engaged and never did we feel that we were outsiders. Tremendous energy levels. Well, Tuesday night was all over as we slept early as we had to catch our trains the next day arnd 12 noon. We obvsly wantd to stay for one more day in the city as we dint see any places as such. But we consoled ourselves that there is always a next time.

We boarded the train at the Pune station at exact noon and started towards Bangalore. We were blessed with some well cooked food for lunch. We had an all day of journey ahead of us…. this time it was a two-tier AC so it was only 4 of us in the compartment. it was pretty comfortable. another 18hr travel and we started doing what we were good doing at.. having fun !! listened to music, chatted, played a lot of improvised versions of the games…. laughed to the core. Seriously it wud hv been a pretty boring journey if we had to travel single. The company was good, and we all had a brilliant time. Ate all the junkies like ice cream, bhel puri, tomato soups, etc and kept ourselves engaged till nite. No doubt we were sort of exhausted traveling all day. so we decided to sleep early. And it was my mom’s phone call that woke me up in the morning. She gave me the news that my sister in law gave birth to a baby girl in mysore. Sweet was the news… there cud hav been no better way to complete our unforgettable journey. N, S, SH n myself .. for all of us it was a nice break and happy time together for 4 wonderful days.

We all certainly wud hav opted to stay back in pune given a choice, but then we wud hav never looked forward of visiting Pune again. Now we do!! The memories of this visit wud certainly live in our hearts…. so that we cherish them forever.

On the move...

setting off to Fish cove(one of the many beach resorts in chennai) in another hour. we have a dinner outing with the client. Riedar Hauge (CIO of WWL) is in Chennai along with Ragnvald Blindheim (who will be taking over as CIO from Riedar soon). Great people.. making big at a very young age. its so nice to have interaction with such people. so much to learn from their personality. The last time we had our client visit Cognizant was almost a year back. Then we had the bigwigs of IT dept of WWL at our office. I remember talking to most of them who were on their first ever visit to India. Well, they must hav had a great time... certainly different from wat they experience in the cold Scandinavia. some of the things (they say) that strikes their mind when they talk of India is the idols of god and goddesses, sarees, elephants, spicy food, oranmanets ... and not to forget the cows on the streets :) They feel really amazed how India is soo much diversed in itself, yet is a very powerful player in almost all the aspects of today’s world, including business, IT and world politics.

why always....

i usually get time to write something on my blog only after office hrs, late in the night. but today i wantd to prove otherwise. the result are these insignificant lines. ok.. got to get back to some work.... I'll b back (Terminator style) :) Hasta La Vista Baby !!