I was definitely planning to write a post on this one but thought it could wait. I guess it cannot wait any longer as the loyal readers have already started demanding. What more motivation does a writer need!? So here I am, sharing my feelings and experiences. The feeling of a farewell, the experience of a first class train journey and the feeling of coming home after three long years;

The D-Day - It was my last working day in Tech Mahindra. I was wating for this day when I resigned. I was waiting for my notice period to finish so that I can join the new organization as soon as possible. But when the day finally came, I was sad. I did not want to go. I did not want to leave my old organization. I did not want to quit. I wanted to be there, be there with my friends, and be in Mumbai.

It hurts when you have to leave something so close to your heart and when you know you are leaving it permanently, it truly hurts. The celebration committee had arranged a farewell party. A year ago, I was in the celebration committee as well and had arranged few farewell parties. I had always seen smiling faces and happy people. So it was obvious that I thought that my farewell party would be a happy affair. But it struck me that it is not really one when people asked me to speak. Speak a few words. Here goes my speech. I might not be able to reproduce everything correctly but it was more or less like this.

13th January, 8:45 AM

Dard mein bhi ye lab muskuraajate hai… beete lamhein hame jab bhi yaad aate hai…. Apart from the fact that I am stuck in Bangalore Airport for 3 hours now and still no signs of boarding the flight, the Bangalore trip has been one such experience which would bring smile on my face any day, any time of my life. It was mainly due to a wonder kid named Archith who also happens to be my cute little nephew. I would remember each and every little moment spent with him. Even though I got only 8 days I am glad that I came to Bangalore. I would have definitely, without any doubt regretted later in my life if I hadn't made this trip possible.

13th January, 9:00 AM

Just spotted the silver lining. The incoming flight landed. Its landed 4 hrs late. Just imagine the plight of the passengers in that flight. Phew... We might have to wait another hour before we can board the aircraft I guess.
Will continue once I board the flight.

13th January, 3:25 PM IST

Have to add the IST coz am flying over time zones. I am flying over Afghanistan at 35000 feet as I type this with 6.5 hr of journey still left to complete. Just finished finished watching a musical comedy 'Hairspray' (***.5). There isn't a laptop battery charger available in the Economy Class which is not making things easier for me. Will try to finish as much as possible with the battery backup left in my laptop.

I reached Bangalore on 5th to a warm welcome from my family. The newest addition was also there all awake at 5.30 AM in the morning, little eyes twinkling, trying to find his mama (or is it what I just felt). It was the warmest welcome I could ever get. Thanks Chaiti for bringing my nephew to the airport. This was just the beginning of the event/action packed days that were to follow.

After unpacking the luggage and the gifts that I had got for everyone we had to rush for lunch at my aunt's (atte /bua) place. I met all my loved ones there and one more latest addition to our family. The cutie pie named Anshu. She's my lovely mumbaiyya niece :). Have plans of visiting her every weekend once I am back in Mumbai. Had great home cooked food almost after 6 months. I had to close my eyes and sleep for sometime after the lunch because the food and the clock made me realize that I hadn't slept for over 27 hrs. It was in evening I had planned to meet my best of best friends. She had come to Bangalore all the way from Hyderabad to meet me. This is something that no friend had ever done for me. Thanks Mimi. My family still cannot believe that I have such good friends due to the history I have with friends. I know I had given her a short notice and very little time but my mommy had cooked a sumptuous meal for us. The dinner was great. Thanks Amma. Dropped her at her place around 11.00 and came back home around 11.30PM. Wait... The day's still not over. My bil (jiju), Sridhar had just returned from his workshop and was waiting to see me. It was a great feeling to meet him after almost 2 yrs. The technology has definitely reduced the distances. We talk everyday, we see each other on web cam but meeting someone in person has its own feeling.

At the pace I am currently going it would take at least half a page per day I guess. On 6th there was a Satyanarayana Pooja scheduled. I met all my Mamas, Uncles, family friends during this function. This get together was postponed from 25th Dec to 6th Jan only to accommodate me. Thanks Appa for getting this done. It was nice meeting so many people in just one day. It would have never been possible in Bangalore to meet so many people in the amount of time I had. The breakfast and the lunch in the pooja was absolutely fantastic and very heavy. By the time we came back home wrapping up everything it was around 5.00 pm. I don't remember going out anywhere again that day because all of us were damn tired and needed some rest. All along these two days the maximum amount of time I would have spent would be with the little fella.

I fed him. I got him to sleep on my lap. I changed his dress. I changed his diaper too on the last day before I came back. I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him because by the time I might get to meet him again he might be walking and running away from his mama.

13th January, 7:25 PM IST

I had not planned a trip to Mandya this time. It's a place which I love going to anytime of the year. I just have this strong attachment with that place. Have spent almost 20 yrs of my life there. I had to submit tax declaration proof in my office before 10th and the only way to get any proof was to pay the insurance premium in Mandya itself. I jumped into the idea of going there and get my work done but to my surprise everybody jumped into the idea :). All of us got ready as soon as we could and the wheel was taken by none other than the schumi himself. If you still haven't recognized the person its yours truly. The Bangalore to Mandya road is terrific to say the least. I guess in another 2 to 3 yrs time, people would refer to distances in India as the time taken to reach the destination by road (30 min drive or a 90 min drive )just like they refer to the distances in a US of A or UK. The trip more or less became an unplanned picnic which all of us quite dearly enjoyed.

To give you live update, I am still flying 35000 ft (10 km roughly) above ground over some place called Kiev. I had taken a break to watch yet another movie. This time it was an action flick 'Stardust' (****).

Wednesday was a daawat day. We were invited for lunch and dinner that day. Started at my uncle's (chacha) place. Met my granny there, She was happy to see me after 6 months. Both the lunch and dinner were very good and so was the time spent. My brother Arjun was all smiles and pleased to meet me after a long gap.

Thursday was for shopping. Went to a nearby shopping complex which is famously known as the 4th Block Jayanagar Shopping Complex. Started to shop after lunch and by the time we returned it was quite late in the evening. I had to shop for a laptop bag cum cabin baggage cum back pack. I got a bonus trouser for shopping with my sis and mom. I took some time out in the evening that day and called few friends. Decided to meet one of them the next day.

Everyone would have heard about the world famous food brand MTR. They have a restaurant in Bangalore which is very old and very famous for everything that they prepare there. We decided to have lunch there on friday. The lunch was good and not fantastic as I expected. I guess I expected too much out of the poor little restaurant. But again, all that mattered was the time spent. In the evening I met my friend, Runa as promised. Gave her the chocolates she always longs for. Her flat is quite near to our place. I missed out on meeting one more friend who's her neighbor because she had gone to her mother's place that day. We went to forum (a mall in Bangalore) to have our dinner. Another friend of ours, Ratnakar, joined us there. It was fun.

I have 25% battery remaining in my laptop and just one more day left to write about. On saturday it was just me and my nephew playing as much as possible amidst the packing marathon that was taking place in the background. By evening everything was packed and I was all set to board the BA0118. Little did I know that the flight was not ready :).
To sum it all up it was one of the most memorable trips I have ever made home. I was absolutely in no mood to come back to UK. Its just that if I wouldn't have come back I would have stayed permanently at home :)

Am thinking of something nice to end this post. I've been given some snacks to eat now. I'll take a break here, go home, find something lovely to end and then post it. Will actually try to catch some sleep.

14th January, 2:45 AM IST

Home sweet home!! Reached an hour back. To rub Insult to Injury the baggage was also delayed due to some stupid cargo which was placed in front of our luggage in the aircraft. The sight from flight during the landing was breath taking. All the major attractions of London stood there proudly all decked up in lights. It was as though they were welcoming me back. The sight certainly signaled the end of what had been a wonderful trip to India which I would cherish for long time to come.

For people who had slept reading this you can open your eyes now. Its over :)

The prince is back!!!!

Incredibles is a group of people who happened to have cleared the same aptitude test and cleared the same interview from various parts of the country who met each other on 8^th July 2005 in Mahindra BT (Now known as Tech Mahindra), Mumbai for the first time. We call ourselves ‘Incredibles’ because everyone’s special in one way or the other. It’s a group of 28 people out of which 7 of us decided to meet believe it or not in London on one particular day. 18th November to be exact. I had written a mail to our group the very next day about the visit and the fun we had. I did not want to spoil the format in which it was written and hence kept the post as it is.

Hi,

To say that the get together was incredible would be an understatement. We had lots of fun when 5 of us met after long time. The meeting was decided after long mail chains on Friday. 7 of them agreed but only 5 turned up (which includes me). Sagar did not come due to the hangover he had of the previous night and Pavitra did not turn up because she had other appointments to attend to.

Manny (Manjali fondly called Manny) was the first one to arrive at the scheduled time. I had not even taken a bath when I got a call form her from London Victoria. I knew I had 30 min before she would arrive in Wembley. I got ready as soon as I could and rushed to the station. I was there; right on time to greet the always smiling Manny :). After the initial chit chat we decided that we should go home and wait for other people. While on our way I got a call from Nandita telling me that she has left Watford junction and on her way to Wembley. So we decided against going home and went back to the station to pick Nandita up. As always we were there well before time to greet the nervously smiling Nandita who was trying to find a familiar face in Wembley. Her smile widened when she found both of us waiting for her.

We had got intelligent this time and called Bhavin to check where exactly he is. As expected he was just 20 min away from Wembley. This gave us the opportunity to shop in Wembley. Nandita was dumbfounded when she stepped inside Primark. She liked anything she saw and wanted to buy everything. She finally bought some 5 to 6 items and wanted to come back for more. After the shopping stint we went to the station again to wait for the guest of the day. There he was in his usual style all smiles. It was 1.15 by the time he came which meant it was time for lunch. Called Harsh and asked him to join us in a nearby restaurant (Tulsi). By the time he joined us we were freezing outside the restaurant’s door.

The lunch was fantastic. It was as though we were having our lunch in Mumbai (just paying 4 to 8 times for each dish and some 20 times for a roti)

The menu was

• Stuffed Capsicum
• Paneer Kadai Masala
• Veg Kofta
• Garlic Nan
• Kulcha
• Roti

Isn’t it mouth watering?

After the lunch we headed to a nearby sweet mart (Suraj Sweet Mart) where we bought some laddus and Jamoons. The sweets were really sweet …I mean to say the vendor had put an extra pinch of sugar in all the sweets. After lunch we just chatted, chatted and chatted as if there was no tomorrow. I had vacuumed our drawing room especially for this occasion… It was fun… We had so much to talk and so less time.

By 6.15 we decided that we wanted to have some Dosas. We headed to the very famous ‘Chennai Dosa’. The menu for Dinner was

• Chole Battura
• Onion Rava Masala Dosa
• Orange Juice
• Mango Lassi

The dinner lasted for more than an hour due to the mad rush in Chennai Dosa. But it was fun again… We had no complaints. Nobody needed to rush anywhere.

The dinner signaled the end of the wonderful day. Everyone really enjoyed a lot. Special thanks to all people who turned up. For people in UK who did not come… Don’t worry we can get together one more time on some other day. And for people in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore and US of A, we’ll plan something like this in the next year well in advance so that everyone can join wherever they are at that point in time.

Chalo phir.. Its time for me to sign off… Before anybody can say anything, I had no work today and I guess I have utilized it very well by writing to you guys… I would love to get some replies.

Love ‘n’ Regards,
Varun

23rd July 2007

These are the 3 words that almost every person in London would be familiar of. These are the words that are heard / announced in each and every tube station. It is used to caution the passengers about the gap between the train and platform.

London’s divided into 6 circular or I can say hexagonal zones. Almost 12 different lines run through the entire city. The tubes here or so called underground trains run underground as well as above the ground level. It goes underground as we enter the Central London Zone or the Zone One. Until then, it runs above the ground level. There’s a tube map that’s available at every station which is highly informative. Looking at the map and after few consultations I knew I had to change two lines to reach my destination ‘St Paul’s’ The station is called St. Paul’s because the famous St. Paul’s Cathedral is right outside the station. But there’s one more building outside the station that’s quite famous. That’s my office. British Telecom Centre (BTC).

I left my place at around 8.15 am, had to reach BTC by 9.30 am. There’s no fixed time to reach the office but since it was my first day, I wanted to be there right on time. Boarded my first tube at the Wembley Central Station. Tube trains normally have 8 to 12 bogies with 3 doors each. The door looks as though it opens and closes automatically but it’s manually controlled by the driver of the train. Wembley Central falls on the Bakerloo Line but St. Paul’s on Central Line. I had to change my train at the Oxford Circus Station. There are huge sign boards displayed whenever a station hosts more than one line. Some stations boast of servicing more than 4 lines. These are some of the busiest stations. The tubes got me to my destination well in time. I reached by 9.15 without breaking a single sweat. The trains are quite comfortable. The first day at office was quite comfortable too… Since I had no communicating device with me I had no work to do. This gave me time to plan for the first real sight seeing. Got hold of a laptop for some time and planned my first outing in London, ‘The Tower Bridge’. The first thing I wanted to see here in London was the River Thames. And if I could see River Thames standing on the world famous Tower Bridge there was nothing like it. Tower Bridge is quite close to my office but it’s on a different line. I had to change 2 trains before I could get to the Tower Bridge. It was drizzling quite steadily that day with the cool breeze blowing. This did not stop me from visiting the Bridge as I was quite equipped for it. Unlike my office, Tower Bridge is quite far from the railway station. It’s at least 0.5 km from the station.

Thames was flowing in its full glory due to the recent rain falls and the bridge over the over-flowing Thames looked quite stunning. I had seen that bridge some ‘n’ number of times in snaps, movies, wallpapers but it felt so very good to be standing on it. Yet another engineering marvel. There was a Chinese family that clicked my snap with the tower bridge. I wanted to see the tower bridge illuminated but it did not happen because they are automatic lights that turn on when it gets dark. It gets dark quite late here and I could not wait that long all alone in the rain. There’s Tower of London right next to the Tower Bridge where rests the famous ‘Kohinoor Diamond’ and the crown jewels. I could not get into the castle as it was closed for the day.

By the time I returned from my rainy adventure it was 9.30 pm. I wanted to inform the whole world about my first day, my adventure, share snaps etc as soon as I returned home but all I could do was to have my dinner and curl up under the blanket :)
Prince’s first day in London came to an end with three words ringing in his ears. Yes… You guessed it right … ‘Mind the Gap’

Keeping in mind the length of the post I’ll be writing a new post everyday instead of adding to the previous post.


22nd July 2007

The early sun rise and the very uncomfortable spring bed had absolutely no effect on me as I slept like a log till 7.00 am. Since I was in a hurry to see London, I got ready at 7.15 and ventured out into the unknown. Every street, every lamp post on the street was new to me. Started clicking snaps like there was no tomorrow. A person (Sri Lankan) nearby noticed the mad man and asked whether I was new to this place. I affirmed and asked whether there were any places nearby that were worth visiting. He told me about a Sunday market that’s put up temporarily every Sunday next to the famous Wembley Stadium and the best part was he told me that he’ll be taking me there if I wanted him to. Shopping and a famous stadium… This was too good an offer to resist. This meant that it would be my first bus ride here in London. The most expensive city bus ride in my life. It cost me 2 pounds one way. The person I met at the bus stop got me down at the right bus stop. The Sunday Market is a big market with lots and lots of Indians selling cheap smuggled goods. You just about get anything here. It is as good or as bad as a Heera Panna (Mumbai) or a National Market (Bangalore). It’s a very good place to buy toiletries it seems. The market’s setup temporarily every Sunday right next to the lovely Wembley stadium. The stadium has a huge arch that’s visible from quite a long distance. It’s a little engineering marvel. Since I had no idea that they allow people to get into the stadium I just clicked few snaps of the stadium and one with me in the frame. By the time I returned home my friend Ankur had left a message with the land lord asking me to call him back.

I called him and fixed a time when we could meet. Since I had already ventured out I knew the exact bus stop where I had to get down to meet him. I reached that place at 10.30 only to find out that my friend still followed Indian standard time. He reached the place at 10.45. The place was Wembley Central. It’s a tube (Underground metro or local train in London is called a tube) station. We were supposed to go to Greenwich that day. But due to some stupid reasons we could not. We roamed in and around Wembley that day. Had lunch at a restaurant called ‘Chennai Dosa’. It was not bad. But again very expensive or is that what I felt due to the currency conversion that I quickly did in my mind :). Did nothing more that day… Informed everyone through mails and telephone calls that I had reached UK safely and there was nothing to worry. It was 8.30 pm by the time I came back home. The best part was that the Sun was still shining when I returned home. I had heard about this phenomenon of early rise and late setting of sun but never really believed anyone completely. It was wonderful to witness it first hand. Had dinner, selected the dress I had to wear the next day and went to bed a little un-satisfied that I couldn’t visit any one of the major attraction in London. Little did I know that the Wembley Stadium is in that list too :)

PS: Next Post – Mind the Gap