Whenever I talk to my mom over phone the first question that crops up in my mind is was it worth it?? Was it worth coming to Mumbai? Was it worth coming 1000 km away from home just for a simple job when you knew that Bangalore has the highest number of software companies in India?

This is one debatable topic. I’ve had my share of happiness as well as frustrations in Mumbai. I would say the happiness certainly has a huge edge over the frustrations or else I would have never stayed here. Whenever you come out of your house and are seeking something you always have huge expectations out of it. I am no special here. I had huge expectation from Mahindra British Telecom, TechM now.

I started writing this blog on February 18^th 2007 and after that I never really got time to complete it. I have come to the office this Sunday for some stupid End to End Support and I have absolutely no work. End to End Support is supporting End to End Test team if they face any difficulty testing the modules or programs we developed. Explanation given for non-techies only :)

Let me continue my blog now….

Where was I? Expectations… TechM more or less catered to all my expectations. They gave us a lovely flat to stay. The flat was very near my office. Believe me or not, I have never taken a local train to go to office. This could be one reason why I liked Bombay so much in such short span of time. I never had to get up early in the morning nor had to board an already overcrowded train to reach office. I would take an auto which would cost me 9 bucks or if the autos were hard to find, I would just walk. Best part here is I always had one of my friends; it was Chandan more times than not to accompany me on this short dash to office.

This was more or less my daily routine. Out of 4 people in the flat, 3 worked in the same project and that helped us to decide the time one reaches home. The one who reaches home first would either buy veggies on his way or the groceries that would never last even a week. After coming back from work; we used to cook, and if you are not already aware of this, I can cook and am pretty good at that.

Weekend: My weekend starts one day earlier. Guess how? I watch the preview show of more or less every movie that releases. I always loved watching movies and Mumbai fulfilled that desire of mine. I never miss out on a good movie. Now a day I’ve begun to choose and filter good movies from bad ones. Initially it was like a dream run. We would watch any movie that would release. If I’m not watching a movie or going out shopping, my next destination is a resort in Bandra. He He… That’s what it feels like to go to my sister’s place. I just relax there. We do absolutely nothing on weekends apart from changing curtains, dusting the house, changing bed sheets, catching up an old movie on TV, F1, Cricket, updating iPod, late night dinners, shopping for veggies and groceries and lots of other things. It just feels like you are back in your own home. Feels so good…

I must really thank my mom here. She always claims that she has trained her son to do every house hold chore and I’m just proving that her claims are really true. I cannot really say I’m proving her right, it’s just that it really helps when u have to stay all by yourself away from your home. My wife would be one lucky girl. :) He He He…

I think I’ve just gone off the track. Let me come back. Why was I frustrated here? There were two occasions when I felt absolutely helpless.

The first one was when my mom had to undergo a second operation on her broken hand. I just could not do anything to help my mom and dad out. I know there were everyone there to help but I just couldn’t do anything. I was undergoing training in Pune that time and we were not given leaves during the training period. I finally found some solace when I came to know that the second operation was completely successful. Hearing this wonderful news outside Shirdi temple was an added bonus. I had been to Shirdi with Chandan and Kundan his younger brother that day...

The second occasion was when my dad had a major heart surgery. I was told about the surgery only after the surgery was successful. It was bitter as well as sweet news for me - bitter because, nobody informed me about my dad’s health until the operation was successful and sweet because I was the first one to talk to my dad on phone after his operation. The only thing that came in the way of the news of my dad’s heart attack and me was the distance. Everyone knew that I could do absolutely nothing sitting here in Mumbai and they did not want to put in me in the trauma they were going through. I completely understand everything but sometimes I feel that I staying so far made people think twice before informing me.

But keeping aside these two things if I have to think whether it was really worth coming here, I have nothing else to say other than a BIG ‘YES’. Mumbai has certainly changed my life for good. I recommend a two year stint in Mumbai to everyone. It certainly changes you as a person. This would have put my mom and dad in worry. Don’t worry. I’ll come back to Bangalore. I promise :)

Did I get my answer? I really don’t know… You tell me…