Full Circle

I've come a full circle on the vicious cycle yet again. This time round the sequence of events was just the same and yet again a victorious outcome.

Placements was the one and only thing on my mind for a long long time now. I was really really scared. Somehow didn’t feel competent enough, feelings of not being upto the mark were killing me. Anxiety was at it's peak. Yet again the expectations people had from me was something I was worried about. Wanted to make all the sacrifices and hard work worth it. Have struggled for 2 yrs, mom worked doubly hard to make ends meet to fund this expensive course and never ever made me feel like I was a burden. I knew how tough it was for her.

My only ambition being to make my parents really proud of me. I have so many things I want to do for them for my little sister and yes for myself also!

All my anxiety, feelings of incompetence, fear that I wouldn’t meet expectations, etc were put to rest on 28th Nov 2006 at exactly 5.15 p.m.!

I have been hired by Infosys Technologies as their Internal Communications Officer!!!

The highlight of the event: The look on 4 faces: Shweta, Rajiv, Chinki and Subru when I came out the room after they had told me that I had made it.

I would not have achieved this without the help of lots of people. I being the pessimist that I am needed lots and lots of emotional support and as always was very lucky to get that support from all my friends and family.

I want to say big big thank you to all those who helped me go through this tough phase.

Mamma: For showing me the way ALWAYS. For being my guiding light. You may not have even realized this but what I am today and whatever I have achieved is only only because of you.

Papa: For always believing in me and telling me that I will get only the best.

Monu: For being the best little sister in the world and for telling me that I am “GOOD”

Deep: For being so so supportive and helping me keep my feet on the ground. For holding my hand through it all … Love u!

Nikki: for listening to me blabber soooooooo much and telling me what the approach should be like. For making me believe that “Good things happen to good people”

Shanu: For being my support system and an elder brother to me. For taking me all around town when I was in Mumbai. U’ve been just wonderful! Would have never ever managed this without u shanuDA !!!!!!!

Shweta: For being there through all my tough processes and for believing that I WILL make it! For being my single support system here in Bangalore… For slapping reality on my face and telling me that I could do better than a BPO!

Rajiv: For being my lucky mascot.

Chinki : For being the “strict” roommate and selflessly forwarding material to me to read fro my interviews.

Raj: For the ULTIMATE confidence in me and the brilliant predictions about my career.

Prema: For always telling me “tension leneka nahi sirf deneka”

Umesh: For “waiting for the good news”

Seema and Vidya: For forcing me to study !

ALL my classmates and juniors: You guys always encouraged me to do my best. The faith that you had in me was just overwhelming.

The list just goes on ….

I’m happy to be on this point of the circle … just waiting for my friends to get there so we can celebrate!

The vicious cycle

When I was giving my 10th boards there was nothing tougher than that exam. My life deepened on the results of that exam. I remember the sleepless nights I had just feeling scared. The million tears I shed just thinking what if … The day the results were declared was just the best. I was happy with my marks and I thought I had won one of my toughest battles.

The time came for my 12^th boards…. the same story… thought it was the toughest set of exams … my life , my career depended on it … another round of sleepless nights and another moment of joy and sense of achievement once the results were declared.

Then came the time when I headed out of home to conquer the world. I was sure I’d make it to the colleges there. This time my dreams were at stake. But, as luck would have it the quota system was introduced that yr and the cut off for out-station students was rather high. I thought that was the toughest time in life. As usual this phase also came and went and I emerged a winner. Made it to Symbiosis and that was one of my greatest achievements.

Yet again the story was repeated when I gave my University exams in the 1^st 2^nd and 3^rd yr of college.

Once that was over the entrance exams took their toll over me.

That finished and the tension of making it to a B-School. Yet again the same rigmarole! … and I finally made it to Welingkar ! Another achievement I thought.

The juncture of life that I stand on now is yet another restless period. It’s placement time and I’m scared, nervous, tensed and wonder where life will take me….

The common feeling I had at each of these times was that if I tide over this time the next would be a cake walk … surprisingly it never was, and it still isn’t.

I guess you can’t run away from the anxiety and the joy and the sense of achievement you experience at the end is a result of all the anxiety and tension. The thing that keeps me going is the fact that I always emerged a winner. I’m hoping that trend continues …

Looking London Going Tokyo !!!

I promised Umesh I'd beat him to the blog this weekend ... then I thought I'd be stealing his thunder but then I realised .... "Life's like that" so here goes...

The little that I know about the man I can say that he is a real Indian rather South Indian by 'stomach'. I make it a point to suggest only Indian restaurants when we eat out together. This weekend I met him for lunch on Saturday. I really wanted to try a new place as I was sick of the usual joints. There is this restaurant Casa Picola which I've never been to so we went there only to realise that they only served burgers and pizzas. Knowing his taste and my hunger we walked out and went to the next door very Indian Tandoor Hut. I expected him to order a biryani or some chicken dish but our man said he wanted to have 'American Chopsuey!' ... Chinese in an Indian joint ! Wow I thought ... I tried my best to dissuade him but to no avail. I took the safer bet and called for a Chicken Biryani. When the food came he tasted the chopsuey and sure enough he made a face ! He tasted my biryani and just as i had expected him to he loved it!!

I being the "sweet" person as I am shared my Awesome biryani with him and voulanteered to eat a part of the chopsuey! I like Chinese a lot but in Chinese restaurants !

Moral of the story : When in Rome EAT like the Romans !

From niCkY to niKkI

It was the 25th of December 2003. Deep and me met up with some frinds at our then favourite hang out - the parking lot on East Street. It was yet another Christmas away from family so we decided to have dinner with friends at the famous Koregaon Park of Pune. I was expecting the usual gang Abhinand, Fouad, Swapna, Vishal , Prema , Payel, Deep and me ... but there was another person whom I hadnt met before .... some guy called Nicky.

We headed to Burger King where I was being my normal self and talking to everyone , yelling at Deep occasionally , etc. It was just another evening together and we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest. Through the evning I remember feeling that this guy Nicky doesn't talk too much and honestly i didnt give it much thought. I think we must have exchanged a pleasentry or two but then that was it. Anyway we all headed home (I was dying to get there as I had decorated a Christmas Tree and wanted to be there for the last 1 hr of Christmas!!) I never thought I'd meet Nicky again.

28th December was Abhinand's birthday and we all were at his place for dinner. When I reached there I was pleasently suprised to see Nicky there. This time we spoke much more. I actually started to think that he is a nice guy. I remember sitting next to him near the computer while he kept playing one song after the other while the others drank away. We were the only two "non-alcoholics" there. While we sat there I happened to mention to him that I was wanting to buy the audio CD of KHNH (my then fav flick). He told me that he had the music and would burn a CD for me. I left it to that , after a while we headded home. He came upto the house as he had to drop Prema.

31st December we met yet again when we all went partying to Manas Resorts which i must say was a REAL diaster ...especially for Nicky as he had brought his elder brother and his fiance and yes Umesh. We tried to make the most of it anyway.

A day or two later while I was enjoying the weather on my terrace with the usual Abhinand gang I got a call from Nicky. I was quite suprised he had called , pleasently I must add, and couldn't figure out why. I didnt bother cause I was enjoying the conversation anyway. A little while later he said "achha why I called you was that I have burnt the songs of KHNK on a CD and there's place for a few more songs so what should I put in ???" I was SOLD by this gesture and immediately took a major liking to the guy. It was really sweet of him to do this I thought. The next day he came to my house and gave me the CD and I was obviously thrilled.

After this we spoke every single day. I began enjoying our conversations. Nicky as I knew him was this extrememly witty person who'd make me laugh at the silliest of things!!! One particular day while talking to him I happened to mention that I was going to enroll into IMS and he said he was going to do the same. So we decided to meet up and joing the same batch. I was ecstatic. I met him outside Sagar Arcade and he told me that there were closed for the test that day. We sat in CCD after that and had a brilliant time.

We finally started attending our classed from the 8th of Jan and that was that he had become NIKKI !!!! That's the way I spell his name. We would have a blast at each and every class. We would just be laughing and joking though out the hours that we would be there. He would come evreyday to pick me up and drop me on his amazing RX 135 and I began loving our rides , conversations and yes of course our calsses together. Before I even realised Nikki had become one of the most impotant people in my life and as things stand today HE IS MY BEST FRIEND !

Nikki and me have shared so much together. He's seen me through thick and thin. He's been my true friend philisopher and guide. We've known each other for a few yrs now but I feel like he's been with me forever. He's always always been there for me. He's litrally held my hand through some of the toughest times of my life.

Nikki made me become a better person in more ways than one. He showed me that life wasn't a bed of roses but then it wasnsn't a bed of thorns either. He showed me the positive in every situation. Its this uncanny knack he has that makes him show me the positive a brighter side of every problem I have.

We shared some of the most memorable moments together. We shared a million laughs and a million tears (ALL mine). I'm sure there will be a million more to come. We've fought like cats and dogs a zillion times. We've said some of the worst things to each other but it doesnt change or alter the strong bond we share as Nikki puts it "I know things will go back to normal"

Ceratin moments I'll remember forever.

• The nyt he told me that he 'hated' me the first time he met me!
  
• He actually packed Deep's suitcase once.
  
• The time we touched 100 kmph on Senapati Bapat Road.
  
• The way he laughed at me when I fell at Symbi.
  
• The time we went and got him a new cell number.
• The first GD we sat for together.
  
• The sms he sent me when he got thru SCIT.
  
• The look on his face when he saw Aditi Technologies the first time.
  
• The "Boss Lady" T-shirt he sent me.
  
• The Barone chocolates he wrapped in the shape of a sweet and sent me.
  
• The CD's he's burnt for me on special occasions.
  
• The birthday suprises he's been a part of.
  
• The nyts we went clubbing.
  
• The million hugs that he's given me when I cried. Oh and yes the yelling also!
  
• The first time I saw him in formals.
  
• The time we watched The Others together in his house.
• The testimonial he wrote me.
  
• The all nyt long conversation he , me and Prema had on my terrace.
  
• The tyn we all bumped into him at Chandini Chowk.
  
• THE SUPRISE HE GAVE ME !!! (he came to B'lore for a week !)
• Each and every moment we spent when he was here.
• ............................................................................................................................the list just goes on and on ........
  

I haven't met a more adorable , practical , optimistic, lovable, witty , intelligent ....... PERFECT human being in my life and I'm proud to say that he is MY GOLDEN BEST FRIEND! He is MY NIKKI ! ... love u loads and loads ..... and Loads ....

FAIR AND SQUARE

I must start my blogging journey with a confession : I'm not too good when it comes to things like technology ! and that's exactly why I think God sent people like Nikki, Rajiv and Umesh into my life. They've been brilliantly patient and answered my million questions when it comes to laptops, technology and a million other things.

I always knew something called 'blogs' existed and that they were used for advertising and stuff but never bothered really to find out more till our dear Umesh came into my life and sent me a link to his blog. I read it and was throughly impressed I must say and immediately called up Nikki (for those of you who dont know Nikki is a very very close friend of mine and Umesh is his cousin who has just relocated to B'lore) to ask him how blogs 'work'. After that Umesh kept posting new blogs and I kept reading them and slowly started commenting on them . Initially I would tell him what Iwanted to comment, take his approval and then put it on his page. Now I just comment!!! I'm absolutely addicted to his blog now. It's like I check my mail 10 times a day I check to see if he has posted something new or if there are new comments to the existing ones 20 times a day!!!

I almost feel in love with some of his posts my all time favorite being "Am I jinxed??". The more I read the more interested I got. I made everyone I've introduced him to read it. Till I got so inspired that I decided to be a part of the 'blog' world.

So I guess its only fair for me to dedicate my first ever post to UMESH !!!

I would meet Umesh once in a while when I was in Pune. Most of the time we would go clubbing so we never actually had a conversation. I must confess that I didn't make a great effort to strike a conversation or encourage an associaltion with him . He was just my friend's cousin. His claim to fame is that there was this one time when I dint say Hi to him and ignored him when he asked me something. (I won't accept that no matter how many times you enact it !!!)

In August 2006, Umesh relocated to B'lore and then is when it all began. Umesh gave me a call within a week of being here. He was busy with house hunting and I tried giving him as much advice as I could on the same. He was very happy with the deal he got and that was that. We met up one fine evening and I made him WALK. Now I realise what an achievement that was!!! I made him walk up to this chaat center only to realise that the man aint too fond of chaats. We landed up having a decent time and as usual he and 2 other classmates of mine (whom I had taken as bodyguards) took my trip!

Ever since we met again and again and again ..... till I realiesd that we meet up EVERY weekend. Its the "Weekends with Umesh" phenomenon now. We meet up every weekend at the famous Forum Mall outside KFC and then go gallavanting from there. We go for dinner , movies (have watched My super ex girlfriend and Don together) , shopping , coffee, ATM's , clubbing , etc, etc, etc. My roomy Chinki also joins us. When we get lucky Seema Vidya also come along, actually thats when Umesh gets lucky as he gets to be with 4 girls !!! When we get real lucky the awesome Shweta is with us and when we get blooooooody lucky Nikki comes from Pune to meet us.

Our conversations range from silly everyday affairs to pulling each other's leg to talking about ourselves to heavy duty Page Rank , Blogging , Open source fundas. Whatever it is I always land up feeling 'that was a brilliant conversation!'

Umesh as I know him is:

1. Brilliant at what he does.
2. HILARIOUS
3. A good cook (but Ive never had the opportunity to eat any of it)
4. Calm and collected
5. Caring
6. Sensitive
7. A wonderful photographer.
8. Disciplined
9. An awesome human being
10. Cant wait to get married !!!

He's managed to impress each and everyone of my friend's that he's met.

Im so glad you came to B'lore. I wanna Thank you for being so sweet and patient with me and answering all my million questions again and again. I wanna Thank You for all the "lessons" that you've given me. I wanna Thank You for inspiring me to create my own blogspot !

P.S. I wanted this dedication to be absolutely perfect and so I used a proverb for its title (totally Umesh ishtyle). Now im guessing its all fair and square!

THATS ME !