TRUE LOVE STORY

"LOVE STORIES" to some audiences looks to be same, boring and stereotype. But the story which is written below is not meant for audience, but it’s for the lead character involved in it. So people other than lead characters either appreciate the 'story' or better don’t read itJ .

It’s a IPL season (sorry 'cricketing' season...IPL has become synonymous to cricket nowadays), so will call this story a 'CRICKETING' love story and as in cricket our lead characters are batsman(guy), bowler(gal), commentator(me), and referee(god). Last 'and' least audience (rahul-suchita, shivank and if any others) J

Again as in cricket famous players are now a day’s coming from tinsel towns, so was our batsman (guy) and bowler(gal) from a small town somewhere on an ' western edge' of Indian map. Story/matches started from school days (domestic matches), when a tail hander (Our batsman- guy) dreams of bating against a 'jamnagar express’ (our bowler -gal) in a match, but 'referee (god)' want allow our batsman to face 'jamnagar express’ fearing that tail hander might get injured J and again batsman (tail hander) had kept his dream of bating against fast bowler within himself.

Cricketers now a days are tainted to be too 'money/career' oriented and hence indulge more in advertising(studyingJ), ramp walking (doing engg.) and even do movies(doctorate J) rather than concentrating on their game-cricket(love life J). Our batsman was no exception, who was more indulge in his money/career making activities and didn’t concentrated on his game(love life) and his dream of playing against 'jamnagar express’.

IPL series (life) has to go on... it doesn’t wait for "whims and fancies" of any players, and it went into semi-finals (college days). In semi finals tail hander again got involved in ramp walking (engineering) activities more dedicatedly at a cost of his 'dream'. On provocation by few other bowlers (gals), our batsman(tail hander) did tried to hit a 'four(date)' but never succeeded J may be he was more oriented in 'money/career' making process or maybe he waited for his 'dream' bowler(gal) only. J

As IPL series reached Final (post college days). All non-gaming (modeling, ramping..etc) efforts of our batsman gives him a offer to 'ramp walk(code)/work' with best company in the market. After doing those ramp walk’s (coding) and stuff batsman got fed up with life and one ‘beautiful day’ realized that he had one ‘dream’ during school days. And on inspiration from his team players (friends) J 'secretly' starts a hunt to search his 'lost dream' again. And finally succeeds in locating his beloved, loving, childhood dream 'jamnagar express’. J

On other hand our 'jamnagar express’ (gal) was unaware of all "whims and fancies" goin in head of our batsman’s mind since domestic cricket.
All matches are not a memorable one for a player, so where few matches which were not memorable for our bowler (gal).

Because of all those unfavorable matches our bowler(gal) got disturbed and as referee(god) would have decided, our batsman and bowler got into a same match (met each other J) and it turned out to be a 'final' decisive match of their IPL(life). J

IPL is an 'Olympic' of a cricket...'amount' of cricket played in it can turn a 'priety zinta/mukesh ambani' into a good cricket player, so happened with our tail hander(guy), who after seeing so much of cricket n 'fours (datin)’ by friends J became a descent batsman, but was never able to hit a 'four/six' till finals.. J

Every weakness has its own strengthJ, so it turned out to be... our smart 'express' bowler recognized the 'talent- tail hander' within our batsmanJ. Bowlers love batsmen who want hit them for a boundary. Players might not agree on it. But it’s a truth of game J. So under that truth and under that 'natural' attraction bowler (gal) n batsman (guy) start there ‘off the field’ interactions/chats/hangouts. This is expected when it 'rains' during a match.

Love can make ppl go so crazy that our batsman started 'secret' visits to bowler’s town, goin and meeting her up late night under heavy rains. J

Love can even make ppl adventurous, liars, owls and what not...so our batsman n bowler got adventurous and started meeting in daylight at malls but where red handedly caught by their fans J.

Tail-hander’s are in bunch of 'smart' kids, they are smart because even being a tail-hander batsman they manage to survive in the gameJ...thru all those chats hangouts n stuff n also by his smartness J our batsman 'transmitted' his dream(of bating against her and hitting a six) to bowler(gal) without telling it in literal words. Our bowler(gal) being a 'jamnagar express' went ‘ahead’ and expressed his feeling to 'fix' a final match so that her hero, soul mate, life time friend a 'tail-hander' can hit a 'final - six' J

And a final-six (committed) our players leave happily J!!!!

No Disclaimer:
Objection meant to batsman is surely an ‘objection’ meant from commentator. J
Objection meant to bowler is purely an ‘accident’ and is requested from commentator to drink a ‘sprite-chill out’. J
Audiences will get an insight into ‘miracle’ done by tail hander of hitting a ‘six’J.

Note : read tail-hander as tail-ender

Exile

Memories of an Unforgettable trip!
My three months in Infosys Bhubhneshwar

Here at Infosys, you wait and wait for an onsite and when you do get
the green signal from your PM, it's a 'dream' come true….but what if
the reverse happens? Suppose, if the PM intimates you to go
'offsite'?? (Offsite is a new term coined for short-term transfer to
BBSR)

A similar thunder shook us- the "Three Brave Infoscions", when one
bright sunny morning, our PM asked us to pack our bags and move to
BBSR for three months. Like all our projects deadlines, we had one too
– a week to get mentally prepared and socially equipped for this
exile.

Even Lord Ram was given more time to prepare!!!!

My PM did make some assumptions as most of us do- that we three were
the most capable (or may be the most suitable scapegoats) in the team
to move to BBSR and finally we took up the challenge to venture into
this forbidden land.

Being from West India (Gujarat), it was an opportunity for me to
explore Eastern parts of India, where I would have never gone
otherwise. A final yes (Did we have any other option?) to our PM, a
travel request on 'Payana' and we were on our marks and set to go.

Days before our departure, we received inputs from our previously
exiled colleagues whose experiences regarding food, climate, people,
and city making us question our decision. There was no turning back
and finally D-Day came when we boarded the train with "good lucks",
"blessings" and "prayers". 36 hours, 50 stations and 3 states
(Maharastra, AP, and Orissa) later we finally arrived.

Murphy's Law says "If something can go wrong… it will go wrong"
As if to prove it, the unexpected events started unfolding from the
very first hour – The Payana-requested Infy cab was nowhere to be
seen, the hired cab cost us 150 bucks instead of the normal 70
(Infosys Brand Name Premium!) and this was not enough- the left wheel
of our cab got punctured on our way to the campus, leaving us stranded
in the middle of nowhere.

And on behold, the campus finally could be seen, doted by buildings of
weirdest shapes– Igloos and Ships. The only good thing was the
guesthouse room- when a feeling of Deja Vu hit us - the fancy
bathroom, hot water shower, air conditioned bedroom, fully carpeted
floor, television with cable and remote control, room service –
everything my rented little flat in Pune lacked.

Another warm welcome was awaiting us…

What is considered the 'worst' start for an event according to Indian
mythology??

Solar eclipse….yes very first visual from the window of my room in ECC
was of solar eclipse. The moon covering the beautiful sun, creating
darkness on earth prophesizing our forthcoming time here was going to
be doomed!!

After successfully passing our 'Agni Pariksha' of eating in the food
court (which was not that bad after all!) we met our teammates and so
began our BBSR days……….

Slowly, we discovered the simple pleasures of small town life -
watching movies in theatres with old classical structures and shady
interiors at a price our grandfathers paid (Rs20 a ticket and Rs25 in
black if you desire!) and hopped around in the only mall –Big Bazaar.
On weekends we ventured to places around Bhubaneswar which was great
fun and an experience to remember.

We went to Nandankanan national sanctuary (which has the maximum number of white tigers in world),Konark, the famous sun temple followed by Jagannath temple at Puri.
Sun-rise by the beach, the sky filled with beautiful hues of yellow,
red and orange at Puri was a sight to behold. Our next stop was Chilka
Lake, on trail to India's biggest sweet water lake and world's biggest
natural abode to 'queens' of ocean- the Dolphin.

We hired a fishing ferry-boat with single Honda engine, no life jacket or SOS system on it and started our two hour journey to 'sea-mouth' island- the last
island of Indian Territory and the only island having sweet water of
Chilka on one side and salt water of Bay of Bengal on the other.


As we landed on 'sea-mouth' island we were captivated by the beauty
and virginity of it. Not a single artificial man-made material on
island; all the huts and shelters were made from natural resources.
After a photo shoot, beach bath and getting lucky in finding real
'pearls', we started back. Our adventures continued every weekend, as
we explored Dhauli, Lingaraj Temple, and Udaigiri-Khandagiri.

Our three –month term was drawing closer, and we were suffering bouts
of home sickness. Tired of traveling, we began enjoying the ECC
facilities - playing squash, gymnasium workouts, swimming and salsa
classes- the small pleasures we couldn't indulge because of our busy
schedules in Pune.

Infoscions are expected to perform beyond expectations, and so proved
one of us who took a daring decision of settling in BBSR while two of
us returned. Our PM was not so off the mark in his assumptions! The
'RISK" of going to BBSR had turned out to be an 'OPPORTUNITY'- it had
been fruitful!

So the next time your PM says "Bhubhaneswar?" Do think again!

Chilling Adventure

Initially I used to think INFOSYS is the biggest 'kumbh-mela' of homo-sapiens having 'all' flavours of human beings from North Indians to South Indians, to Bengolis and gujaratis. But my trek to 'SAR Pass – Glacier (named after some 'angrej'- John Sar') proved my conception wrong.

Here I (Infy dropout, unemployed youthL J) met a 'Cyber Crime' officer (Mumbai), young PWD engineers (goa), stock brokers (Ahmadabad), RBI officers(Mysore), pilot of "Rajdhani Express", gujjus from fishing industry, youngest "sarpanch" in India (goa), students from Nagpur with RSS background, Chartered Accountants(gujju gals), teenagers who just completed their board exams , real estate broker(goa), house wives(M.P), under grad college students, research students(UP) .... ...

44 ppl of different age, sex, profession and origin came together at 6500 odd feet' from sea level, at small village called 'kasol' in Himachal Pradesh for the 'common' most exciting thing of their life, to reach ' Sar Pass' at 13800 feet's. J (Mt Everest is at 22k-24k feet)

One very fine day with 3.5Kg of luggage on each of our shoulder we got ourselves dropped on a highway and took a way towards jungles and mountains, not knowing that for next 9 days we will not see a highway or any human construction. J

After few hours of walk, highway got eloped behind in jungle with trees as high as 'skyscrapers'. Now we bunch of 44 ppl were crossing the jungle, climbing the mountain to reach our next camp before sunset.

Every day 6-8 hrs of trek used to end in a 5 star tent, some tents where at slopes of mountain and ppl had to sleep in inclined positions in tentJ.

Our only 'major' activities after reaching next camp site every day was to go and search a place for 'bird watching' (nature calls)J nature calls where truly natural as they were to be carried out under 'open sky' on sloppy and slippery mountain watching birds and animals J and hiding from gal members of team. J

There is one saying "At heights atmosphere and human behaviour are unpredictable and weird" J.

So as we gained heights few ppl caught 'height sickness' and wanted to 'step out' from expedition midway. Unpredictability of human behaviour at height proved correct, ppl who wanted to drop out started leading the groupJ.

Unpredictable rain used to spoil our trek, and used to make our 'climb' difficult, slippery and dangerously scary. LBecause of slippery surface every 3 feet of climb used to give a fall of 2 feet. L

'Bird Watching' activity used to become a dangerous affair during rain. L Few dare devils did try but came back and said "It was most dangerous 'Bird watching (nature call)' experience of their LifeJ". Hearing their experience in 'detail' no more dare devils were thereafterJ.

While walking thru jungles, grassland and muddy terrain we all wanted to see and walk in glaciers. Finally on 4th day of trek we started finding small glaciers/ice on the way. JFirst glance of snow/ice got all of us charged up and excited. J
But walking in snow is totally different from walking in jungles or mountains. L
On discovering that our trek ahead 'small glacier' of 1km had a narrow(one step wide) path with crumbling ice and thousands feet deep valley on both side turned all our excitement into fear. L

It almost took 'two hours' for group to pass that 1Km ice trek. L J
This was a time when even I got scared out of hell. J It became scarier for me because on 1Km trek, three of us went ahead of group and got far from 'local guides (only source of help)'. LOne wrong step on crumbling ice would have sent me down into thousand feet deep valley, with no possibility of help as nearest ' guide' was almost half an hour away from us L, making it all probable to make jinesh a "Late Jinesh" J.

At every step on crumbling ice, subconsciously all kind of f*** word used to come out of my mouthJ.Each step also made my brain think "why the hell? I was here"J, what 'sin' I would have done that "I was here"J. I recalled names of all god and goddesses I knew...J. I almost recalled all my friends, relatives and even enemiesJ.
I also felt that amount of 'concentration' I was putting for my each next step, same concentration level in CAT preparation would have got me into some 'stupid' IIM and not here in these hellJ.

But am a SPRITE drinker 'Darr ke age jeet hai " !!! J J J J

At camp we were welcomed by a scenic beauty created by a 'snow fall' and 'hail storm'. J

After 8hrs of exhaustive and fearful trekking, it was 'grandeur' Jto see and feel 'snow fall' sitting in tent and sipping hot soup in minus four degree temperature at almost 12000 feet (half of Mt Everest). J It was the most wonderful experience of 'our' life. J

At 3.00 in morning we were ready with sunscreen lotion and black goggles (protection from radiation) to cross the "Sar Pass". J

Previous day's fearful trek on ice gave enough hope and courage to climb next 1800 feet 'snow wall' at 80 degree inclination in -4 degree temperature with 3.5 KG of luggage. J

After 3hrs of non-stop climb we finally reached a peak point at 13800 feet called SAR PASS. J It was breath taking view from that point, clouds and all mountain peaks were below us. We all felt on "top of the world". J But the reward for all our labour of last 6 days was yet to come. J

And what was the reward? J J J

A 3800 feet unmatchable natural rollercoaster 'slide' on snow clad mountain. J J
Gradient of almost 70 degree made our sliding body into a 'racing' car. J Height that we gained by 16hrs of trek was lost in just 2 hrs of slide. J
Thank God!!Snow and Glaciers were now left behind!!! J

But we still had 2 days of trek/descend left before we can touch highway-lifelineJ. But few of us (goa group and Jamnagar group...11 of 44 ppl) had a different plan....
On reaching camp in 'afternoon', we (11 of 44ppl) informed camp leader that we want to reach base camp that day only to do river rafting next day, to our surprise he informed us that nearest 'highway' point was 8hrs away and the last bus on highway that could drop us at our base camp was about to 'pass by' after 3 hrs.

So we had a challenge to complete the 8hrs trek in 3 hrsJ.
With no local guide to so us the way, 11 of us started running in direction towards 'invisible highway' in jungle to catch the 'last bus', we ran for almost two hours in jungles but were not able to see highway due to thick forest, fear of 'lost' in jungle started growing in few us, but after some time we got a glimpse of a 'long tarred zig zag road'. J

We were happy to know that we were on the right trackJ but soon realized that highway was still far to catch 'last bus'. L We didn't had any option other than to run, I can surely say the way we were running was comparable to a person getting chased by a wild dog. J

Finally we did make to 'highway-life line' after 8 days, but unfortunately we missed the 'last bus'. Stranded on highway we looked 'here and there' with 'binoculars' if any vehicle can give lift to 'primitive' ppl who just came from jungles and mountainsJ but instead of seeing vehicle we saw a milestone showing 'Kasol – 15 Kms'. J

So what 'primitive' ppl were supposed to do after seeing milestone?
Yes!! We started walking again but soon we realized that after walking in jungles, mountains and snow we have forgot to walk on 'straight' roads. J Few of us gave up walking and lied down on highway. J

After few hours 11 of us were 'relaxing' on backside of tempo along with one more friend 'donkey' and his shit around, recalling our last 8 days in jungles and mountains, leaving a primitive life, were even going for 'Bird Watching- Nature calls' too had become a 'dangerous' affairJ.

We truly 'felt' what it means by "SPINE CHILLING ADVENTURE".J

Go Goa

For PPL on bench…u don’t have ne thing else to do than..read below given crap…J For PPL on project..u don’t have much better thing to do than…read below given crap…J

Trip to a heaven J Guys normally dream of goin on beach with gals, to have a blast J…and so did we guys dreamed…and one lucky day..(sorry night)…we six lucky guys got on to a ‘Big Cab’ with 4 hot gal’s with one surprised ‘add-on’ babe with usJ…and we were all set to rock Firang’s in Goa….As normal stereotype tours have we too had one ‘Rajeshree’ production along with us…n he got the same old historic icebreaker of ‘Dumpsharas’ for Six Gods and Four Godesses and one angel J….

As expected icebreaker played its role….n max. of us who didn’t knew each othr before…got involved into a game of ‘deaf’ n ‘dump’…laughin, njoin, teasin each othr…’Icing’ to a game came whn…one of ‘Maneka’ did a stunning ‘act of jalwa’J which made all six ‘Gods’ on cab to go haywire-crazy J….

Our driver was frm a land of ‘braves’…may be he didnt learned lessons in school properly n didn’t knew..’Driver’ aur ‘Darr’ can’t go along…and hence we had to had a forceful ‘interval’ on the way…at night 3 in morningJ …on small primitive aged stall…This interval gave n opportunity to few of us to get their ‘photographer soul’ to be unleashed…n we made a dark barren road n a primitive hut.. our studio for photo shoot…doin all the pose n styles..hopin tht it would get us(God’s) into ‘Stardust’ cover page J.

Our journey restarted once our ‘brave driver’ was charged up after a short nap…we took a small morning break…on the way to have a tea…no one hads xpected tht IT has drawn us so crazy…tht we started imagining/hallucinating an small aquarium at Tea stall, as an ‘IT World’ and creatures in it to be ‘IT professionals’…ranging from benchers, onsite returned, PMs, CAT chaser and wht notJ…I am happy that ‘Meneka Gandhi- animal activist’ was not around otherwise we could have got sued of doing ‘cruelty’ of treatin those innocent creatures as ‘IT professionals ‘J

Finally after havin a tea, which ended our hallucination and a cruel treatment to those fish…we sat in a cab and finally reached Goa…as we all were SE’s we didn’t had ne planning(such kind of irritatin things only PMs do J)… for accommodation…so we started a ‘mass’ hunt to hide our a** in Goa…luckily we got a good place just a road away frm a non-virgin calangute beach J…

After refreshin (F5) at our ‘hideout’.. and lunch in so called ‘AC restaurant’..near a beach….we(few brave god’s n goddesses) went ‘deep’ into a ‘blue cold salty Arabian sea water’ n started all kind of wildest n naughtiest activitist…. Few ‘poor souls’ njoied the show frm shore only…just allowin thr only ‘legs’ to get saltier…I guess those soul might have assumed tht they were mightier n touch of thr leg would make salt water to sweet water …poor souls J

One on one with ‘Arabian Sea’ exhausted all of us..n we went back to our hide out to get refreshed..nothin othr than MTV roadiesJ…could have got us charged up for a dinner on a beach J…

And thr on beach under a moon n sea waves a Gene called ‘Truth Game’ was unleashed from a bottle…which has still continued to hunt with us even today…makin a life of few poor souls to be ‘hell’.. J

Mars n Venus are expected to fight…after a small fight…nxt day…we went n unitedly made a ‘Aquada Fort’ a ‘Raj Kapoor/ Universal studio’ for shootin all kind of poses…J. One of goddesses went so wild with her sneezes n action tht few gods where ‘caught’ in yellow face J

Day went along n Mars n Venus kept showin ther naturality….At night few ‘Gods’ turned into demons n took all of them to a Sin place – Titos – Disc… So called angels feared tht few demons might get high..n become ‘hercules-will lift the whole world’..but demons gave assurance tht nothing of tht sort would happen.. and finally all God n Godesses went to a Sin place n got wilder n naughtier J

Ending abrubtly…no more time to write coz of obvious reasons J…

Nxt day late noon return journey to ‘hell’ was started.. with few star war events as usual btw Mars n Venus on the way J ended late night with gods n goddesses turnin into mortals again… J