Whaaaaat a Surprise!!!

It was 3pm when I received a call from Kirti.

Kirti: Hey dude.. Wassup?

Jayanth: Nothing much dude.. Same old story… work.. apps.. search..

Kirti: Any progress in any of these?

Jayanth: Nopes… By the way, what are your plans for Pongal?

Kirti: No plans. How about you?

Jayanth: Oh! I want to go to Kakinada. But one and a half month back, the train ticket status was W/L 289. I may go home, if I get a bus ticket.

Kirti: Oh! Is it? But you don’t travel by bus. Right?

Jayanth: Yeah! I don’t want to. But there is no other option. I want to be there with my family for Pongal.

(The conversation went on for a minute)

Kirti: OK Dude.. Take care. Enjoy Pongal.

    I received a mail with a Kingfisher airlines ticket to Visakhapatnam. Oh Boy! It took me by a big surprise… When I find it difficult to get even a bus ticket, a flight ticket was booked on my name without my knowledge.

Later, I called Kirti who confirmed that he want to surprise me and want me to spend time with my family during Pongal. I said that I was really surprised but he should have informed me prior to booking the ticket as Visakhapatnam is 3 hours from my town, Kakinada. This conversation continued for 2 more minutes.

Kirti: OK Dude.. Happy Journey. Enjoy Pongal.

Now, I received two mails. One is about cancellation of ticket to Visakhapatnam and another about booking a new ticket to Rajahmundry. Now, I don’t have words for the next one hour. For sure, this is the biggest surprise to me in the last two years. Let's see what surprises 2011 has in store for me.

I wanted to return the money to Kirti. But, after knowing that the cost of the ticket is a whopping 10K rupees, I thought “OK. Let it be a surprise :) Thank you Kirti... You made my day..:D

Difference in Newyear Celebrations! 2011 & 1991

31st December, 2010… 9pm

Oh! God! I’m already a little late to the party. I started to the venue in a hurry. Oh! boy! How can I forget that today is 31st? ‘Baskin Robbins’ offers 31% discount on every 31st. In no time, I ‘swallowed’ my favorite dessert, a 3 scoop banana split. When I reached the venue, my friends already started playing Poker. When I am done with learning the rules of Poker, my friends winded up the game and proceeded to a private party. Some of us had our dinner while others had the starters and drinks.

    After a while, we welcomed 2011 with a nice cake rubbing the cream against each other. Meanwhile, everyone was busy wishing their family and friends. It took us a while to settle down and start the latcha/baat session. The topics were really interesting. It started from ‘how each of them met his/her spouse’ to ‘some silly affairs/crushes’ and ‘the so called youth icons’ (the bachelors’) requirements of a bride’. Finally, it all ended at 4am but not before we pledge our resolutions.

Resolutions:

 Jayanth - Not to take non-vegetarian food in 2011. Plan things and act. Don't react.

 Puppy - Start a new company.

 Gora - Find a compatible girl friend.

 Satti  - Join gym and be fit.

I couldn’t sleep as my thoughts rolled back to 31st December, 1990… 9pm

    I screamed at my mom, who was preparing a sweet for us. “I’ll get you all the sweets on this earth. Please! please! Please! For Heavens’ sake… start the rangoli in front of our house. Our new year rangoli should be the best in our street”. I requested my grandmother and my tenants to stop watching doordarshan program and help my mom draw the best rangoli. I kept myself busy sorting out the greeting cards of film stars for my close friends and of flowers for my relatives and teachers. After finishing rangoli, we stuck ourselves to the television.

    When the clock struck 12, I was completely in an excited state shouting “Good Bye.. 1990. Welcome 1991.” I could wish only my family members and my neighbors and eagerly waited for the greeting cards from my relatives. I ran outside and not only wished everyone who is crossing my house but also asked them to comment on the rangoli in front of my house. The joy of celebrating new-year at that tender age was a different experience. No parties, no poker, no ice-cream, no cake, no mobiles, no resolutions… Still I had a great new year celebration with my family members and those memories are still fresh…

I ran again to...

Let me tell you as every blogger do. “Hey guys… I resume blogging”. Bloggers are habitual liars. aren’t they? Coming to me, I don’t get enough time to blog. Yeah… you are right! It’s a euphemistic way of saying my bones are getting lazier day by day. So, BITS Alumni Association came up with a ‘BITSAA World 5K run’ to shed my laziness.

On a Sunday morning, my alarm waged a futile battle, with a couple of snoozes, to wake me up at 6am. Later, a reminder (‘5k run’) succeeded at 6.15am. I finished my morning chores quickly and rushed to the venue. On my way to the venue, Cubbon park, I parked my vehicle at Kanteerava Indoor Stadium. When I was about to search for the participants, an ‘enthu’sed gang of more than 50 bitsians with BITS Pilani t-shirts, made my life easy. A glance at the lively bitsians from 1974 to 2007 batches increased my energy levels. I met a few juniors, Sujay and Surya, and a psenti chat followed. All of us started the run at 7am. Thereafter, everyone kept himself busy to put down the flab and perspired enough. Though my ankle sprained a little by the end of the run, I could finish the 5k run in 5th place, within 30 minutes.

Way back in 2004, I finished a 10K run in 60 minutes. Though I didn’t get a chance to run after that, the transition was very smooth. For me, the take home value from this 5K run is that I decided to finish a 4K run at least twice a week. I even started implementing this to improve my stamina and keep myself fit. Come on guys… run and run and run to be fit...

Yet, another year… another birthday… another cake…

Oh! My Birthday! This is slowly transforming from the most awaited day to the most dreaded day. Yet, another year… another birthday… another cake… God! I’m getting older!!! At least the people around make me feel so… I wish there is a reset button where I can set the clock back to 25!! If I look back, last one year has been alt-tabbing between bharatmatrimony.com and mbamission.com. Besides that I should honestly agree that I worked (rather say ‘was forced to work’) for the first time in my professional life.

After a day of hectic shopping, I kept my mobile in silent mode and went to bed. But some of my good pals Kirru, K, NP, Puppy, Swamy, Chow and Challu, with their wishes, succeeded in waking me up. Kirru took pain to wish me with a cake. On top of this, my mom came down to Bangalore to make my day. Later, my phone kept ringing through out the day. All my friends and relatives were eager to know about my marriage plans than to wish me on my birthday. Everyone says “Get married soon…” To me, it sounded like “Get well soon…” as if I am suffering from a dengue fever.

With my Mom around, I couldn’t skip a visit to temple. After cutting a cake in the afternoon, we went to Magnolia restaurant. K’s surprise visit with a beautiful bouquet added flamboyance to the birthday treat although, the red roses in the bouquet must have scared my mom. Looking towards another year with lots of hope and loads of luck, I wish to do something different… yes something different:D To start off, I’m changing my loyalties from Brazil to Argentina!!!! After all, Does it really matter?

Waaaw! I missed it…

Do you remember the last time you missed a bus or a train?

What was your reaction?

Oops! Shit! …and what not!

Though I encountered many such situations, the recent one would last long down my memory lane. These days, I work less and participate more in meetings(inactively). When I was in one meeting, a glimpse at my watch took me by surprise. I was left with 3 hours to catch a flight to Pune in order to meet a customer the next day. I had to travel all the way from electronic city to airport with a halt at koramangala to pick my baggage.

Though I sailed swiftly through a hefty traffic to reach Koramangala, I took enough time to pack my baggage, take bath and have early dinner. With only one and a half hour to catch the flight, the skillful cab driver fetched me to airport with 20 minutes to spare. When I was about to get down, the sight of the baskin robbins ice-cream outlet tickled my taste buds. I rushed to the shop, got my favorite “pralined cashew” scoop and sprinted to collect my boarding pass. “Sorry! You are late by 4 minutes”. These words immediately induced a powerful stare that turned my head towards the cone in my hand.

Then, I said “Waaaw! Thank you” with a big smile on my face.

Even before the Spice Jet employees digest my reply, I canceled the flight ticket and booked another ticket for the next flight, Kingfisher class. I was fortunate enough to get the reimbursement for both the tickets:)

The Big Fat Indian Wedding

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Wedding bells rang again.. Now it’s my friend Kirti Kumar’s marriage. I went, along with my friends, to Narasapuram to attend Kirti’s marriage. We were accommodated in a beautiful Dindi guesthouse, on the banks of river Godavari in Konaseema. The boat rides, view of a bridge on the river, dexterously decorated ponds around the guesthouse, dense flora with coconut trees and accommodation adjacent to a beautiful village reflected the scenic beauty of Konaseema.

    Later, we went to Kirti’s house where he started to marriage function hall. Have you started imagining that he is getting into a car? You are wrong. He got into a majestic chariot drawn with white horses. It took us some time to come out of this shock and believe that we were still in 2009. We participated and in fact danced as the procession proceeded with colorful crackers towards the functional hall.

    As soon as I entered the marriage functional hall premises, a beautiful girl greeted me with a red rose. I was wondering, God! Where am I? What is happening to me? Later I came to know that she was a part of an event management team that is organizing the marriage. As I moved on, another girl gave me a pamphlet that has the entire menu. Though it read fruits counter, chat bandar, sweet counter, tiffin counter, etc, I did not get enough time to visit all the stalls. How do I visit? It was crowded with approximately 12000 people. Yes, it reminded me of a fair rather than a marriage.

    The marriage was held in their own college grounds, Swarnandhra Group of Engineering Colleges grounds. In parallel, there was a cultural fest, with Gemini TV and Zee TV anchors hosting the show. In the meantime, my family members, friends and I were asked to have dinner in VIP section with the politicians. The thirty six feet stage was decorated with exquisite collection of flowers. While one half of the stage was occupied with the priests who came to perform marriage ceremony, the other half was occupied with eager photographers. But, numerous screens put across in the grounds and the live video captured through a rail track system facilitated guests. I think I might never get another chance to see twenty three priests performing a marriage ceremony. They gifted me a big silver glass and a dinner set to commemorate the marriage.

    In one line, this Great Indian Big Fat Wedding is the superlative of grandeur. I attended many of my friends’ marriages. Every marriage I attend is very special to me because it is one of the biggest moments in my friends’ life. Knowing Kirti personally for more than twelve years made this marriage even more special to me.

Those five minutes...

Challenging work, tight schedules and layoffs in November first week. Need I say more? Gosh! My professional life was never so hectic before. On top of this sits the b-school application process. I’m literally craving for a five hour sleep a day. Even though I’m wriggling hard with the essays, I feel that I’m not giving even 60% of what I can. However, I amassed a few exciting experiences in this application process.

For one b-school application, I worked on my essays and incorporated the changes that my friends suggested me. With half an hour time to deadline, one of my friends called me and said that he would edit my essays. Even though I was reluctant to take his feedback in the last hour, I took a chance thinking that his feedback might make a difference. Meanwhile, I reviewed my essays and forgot to keep track of time. When I checked the time, I had only 5 minutes to submit the application. I ran to search for my wallet to pick my credit card.

Those 5 minutes

5 minutes to spare:

Tring.. tring… tring… There comes a call from the devil’s advocate. He asked me to check his feedback. Oh! What an inappropriate time?

4 minutes to spare:

I checked his feedback on my essays. Oh! No. There were too many changes to make. My nerves started trembling and my brain started a non-cooperation movement. With much difficulty, I prioritized the changes and picked two.

3 minutes to spare:

Only one question hit my mind from all the corners. Can I submit the application on time? I made necessary changes and uploaded the new document. A sigh of relief has just lasted an instant when I noticed that the site stopped working.

2 minutes to spare:

My thoughts drove me outside this world. All of a sudden, I called my friend in US to know the US Eastern Standard Time. My friends say that sometimes I go crazy and this is a good example.

1 minute 30 seconds to spare:

I chanted a few times “Om Jayanthaaya namahaa… ”. In jet speed, I paid the fee to submit the application.

1 minute to spare:

My first reaction was a gape at the ceiling followed by a loud laugh saying to myself “Vow! I have 60 more seconds”.

Lesson: Plan in advance and make wise decisions. Otherwise you have to rely on the powerful weapon “Om Jayanthaaya namahaa…” :))))))))))

Tailoring "Walkathon 2009"

I attended an event “Walkathon” in the month of July in 2008. Walkathon is an Aashayein Foundation’s initiative to raise funds to empower child’s education. The Foundation invites people from different walks of life to come together to spread the awareness of child education by walking four kilometers. I have been associated with Aashayein Foundation for some time by teaching the children in Government schools on every Saturday.

    When I expressed my interest in volunteering the event “Walkathon 2009” to one of the founders, he asked me to attend the meetings and see how I can add some value. My inputs on how people perceive the event and how we can involve people from different walks of life and enable them to make a difference added some value to the discussions. After a few meetings, we realized that propagating the message of empowering child’s education is an uphill task. I identified that I have those contacts and ideas to propagate the message. In no time, I leveraged my contacts within my friends, Toastmasters group and Siemens associates. I could get the Media contacts required to publicize the message. I took the responsibility of marketing the event and selling the tickets within Siemens. I could form a small group of employees who wish to volunteer for the cause. Even though I had a tough time in convincing the Siemens administration, Siemens encouraged the event “Walkathon” by permitting us to place the posters of the event in the company premises, to send a mail to every employee and to sell the tickets.

   Gradually my involvement in the campaign of the event increased. I gave an inspiring presentation in different engineering and dental colleges in Bangalore and requested them to be a part of this cause. In some colleges, the students even came up with an idea of starting a Social Club within their college. I even gave an inspiring speech in Toastmasters and that made some of the Club members buy the tickets on the spot. I could put the posters of the event in some big malls in Bangalore. I wielded my contacts to get in touch with the Media houses and formed a team to invite the major Media houses. The newspaper agencies and news channels propagated the message and covered the event for which more than 600 people turned up. Finally, Walkathon volunteers could raise around 10 lac rupees.

    This wonderful experience gave me a chance to interact with many people, manage my time effectively and identify certain skills within me. But, the thought that the funds would be used to pay the tuition fee of more than 1000 children in Bangalore slums gives me more satisfaction than anything else. I heartily thank each and every person who made this happen.

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