Vishwamaanava Sandesha

Kuvempu's "vishwamaanava sandesha"

Every child, at birth ,is the universal man. But, as it grows, we turn it into “a petty man”. It shouldbe the function of the education to turn it again into the original “universal man”.
The child which by birth was the universal man us fettered by us with such constraints as country, language, religion, caste race and colour. To free it from all these limitations and transform it into “the enlightened soul”, that is to say the universal man, -- this should become the first and foremost function of our education, culture, civilization and what not. All children of the world should become “unhoused” beings, if the world should survive , should continue to live, and advance.


hmm something similar ......

I was just thinking that in some way my life got the other way round..but would like to conclude that finally it is the education, culture and civilization that made me the Universal man.

By birth I was born in a small town and thought that was my universe..gradually as I grew up ,I began travelling places, knowing ppl and since my education ranged from davangere to bangalore to mangalore to chikmagalore, I began becoming more and more "state" person. Then I got a job in Mumbai..Moving to north India for the first time in my life I found a true cosmopolitan city with such diverse culture that you met all kinds of ppl from various walks of life here.I, for the first time knew the geographic location of my colleges and exactly which part of India it was. Adjusting with this varitey of ppl was fun..Yes I had become national.Then came my 2 small onsite opportunities..went to "foriegn" twice and both times brought rich set of cultural experiences.now was the first time I thought about iraq wars, daylight saving etc... now I felt I had access to all info about the world..the world was of course a very small place.the world was mine..Or I now did not belong to hubli or north karnataka or karnataka or south India or India..I was the member of this world.. this universe... I was now a universal man....kuvempu would be proud of me...


OK you are asking me that I hv seen only this earth but never out of it ...and so am not universal??
Well I hv been to the moon and travelled across space with my mom and grandmother during my childhood itself!!!!!!

PS: I know he meant something different but you cant stop me from interpreting this differently !!

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Monsoon Trek

The packing was done...I had taken my borrowed windcheater, extra pair of socks, clothes, thin towel, water and of course my camera. It was 6:50 AM...time to be at the stop where a bus would pick me up to a self-sponsored company trekking (?!) to kotlighad fort. I was at the pickup point sharp at 6:45 expecting all my colleagues from various branches in Mumbai to be present but was not surprised to see only one person present there and that too of the female species. I asked her the reason (I already knew it ...but it was the question using which I could start a conversation).The answer was simple...The mail had said 6:50 AM IST and IST meant INDIAN STANDARD TIME...so I could not expect anyone till 7:15.So we waited till others came. As expected by 7:20 everyone were ready with the same set of things I mentioned in my first sentence. The "Khatara" bus came and we were into the bus in a jiffy.

It sped across various pickup points in Mumbai collecting "Associates" on the way. Now just when we were getting out of Mumbai we were stopped by a traffic police. (I don’t know the reason why he chose our bus to stop but guessed that he wanted to know how could a khatara bus like ours was able to move...let alone run).But he had hit the bulls eye as he found out that our driver did not have a license, bus did not have permit outside Mumbai and to add salt to injury he was a 3 star police (which meant more money would flow under the table). Overcoming this minor obstacle we moved on...No one was yet ready to launch themselves due to lack of fuel from morning which then came in the form of our south Indian special idli-vada..food for all seasons.

OK.food was in...what abt water ?? I had brought very little water and was needed for trekking. So now me and my friend had no option but to beg, borrow or steal or...?? wait a min..we had a idea.. The fun was just starting and the first game was dumb charades. It was a game for everyone else but not for me and amit.For us it was a means for getting water. For every word they guessed...we guessed only one thing ...paani in Hindi (for thumbs down signal) and water in English (for thumbs up signal).And for everyone’s kind info the thumbs signal itself is used for water!!! ..We kept guessing weird films names/words that included water so that anyone would listen to us and give us water…. but as the atmosphere was getting more fun-filled no one noticed us. We continued irritating with guesses like baarish, nadi, boondein, water, paani, pyaasa, nahana, peena, etc and finally one person shouted “Arre koi inko paani pilao yaar!! #$#$@$ " ..And thus we succeded.We were back to normal mode and the games continued...next was anthakshari which continued until we reached the bottom of the hill at around 11:45.

The sun was scorching and we had already starting cursing our HR for organizing a "MONSOON TREK" without monsoon showers. And again we were told to bring wind cheaters but since there was no wind too...we felt cheated, ironically, by the wind!!We were introduced to the trekking instructors. (It only meant, if U want to try any stunts on the mountains...DONT DO IN FRONT OF THEM).We were told to climb the hill and get down by 2:00 PM to have our food.Hmm quite easy. Some of the instructors went early to ensure that the ropes were tied properly in our path. Our only concern was someone had to be here to ensure that our food too was prepared in time for us :-)

OK time to trek...We started climbing...Nothing much has to be told about this. It was a normal upward walk over the hill along with some known friends and making new friends on the way. After some 30 min walk we reached a spot where we had to cross a risky 100 m distance holding a small rope for support. Some were worried thinking what could be done if a snake came form somewhere...well It was not a problem as I planned to leave the rope and catch the snake. For if I leave the rope I MAY fall, but if I leave the snake I WILL fall .But god is great and so is that small rope ,nothing unfortunate happened, we reached the other side to reach a magnificent(bolna padtha hai..samjha karo) water fall. We spent 15 min there, getting wet under the falls and giving poses for photographs as a proof that we were here. Then we started to climb again .By this time a big group of 108 members was split to many small groups. After climbing for around 45 min we reached a place from where we could have a breath taking view of the greenery all around. That moment I felt that my purpose of coming to this trek was fulfilled. After staying in a polluted concrete jungle like Mumbai, it is always good to be in midst of some greenery and when it at this scale it makes it more fulfilling. We spent another 10-15 min capturing this spectacular scenery through 3 lenses: My spectacles, my retina and my camera. I can still see that picture from my photographic memory. Thank god I had reel filled in my brain then, as it’s usually empty.

But this was not the end .We nearly fainted when we came to know that our destination was the top of the hill we could see very far away from here. We had 2 choices...to go or not to go.Coz it was so far that we were sure we would not be able to make it...and so Y make the effort at all. Also it was already 1:30 and our lunch would be waiting for us. Then we thought since we had so far, we can give a try and could turnaround any time. By the time we made this decision and got up to start second innings, we came to know we were surrounded by big horned cows/buffaloes all looking at us with angry eyes as if we had not given their salary this month. I suddenly remembered the scene from "APARICHIT" and thought of all the mistakes I had done (Hey... not wrong coding and bug fixes) and all the weird names this punishment would be called in garudpuran...kumbhapakam, papakumbhamm. But due to my good work (punya) done 3.5 janmas (births) back they left us alone. So I was not run out in the first ball and started my second round of climbing...We had by now emptied my water bottle ,finished cursing our HR, and started cursing the king who built a fort at such a height--1550 ft above sea level!! due to whom we-the AC accustomed ppl were made to climb like this for no mistake of ours. After a long climb we reached a small village at the base of the hillock that housed the fort.

We had some well made lemon juice in some local canteen (or was it somebody's house) and then prepared for our third innings of hill climbing. By this time it started raining...Now we knew Y we had to bring windcheaters, extra socks and clothings.We took back whatever we had cursed our HR and started praising them for warning us well in advance. But since we had left everything in the bus, we had no option but to drench ourselves happily and climb.

Now this was a real "MONSOON TREK”. The environment was perfect. The climate cool, it was raining, we were tired and were climbing the last and most difficult part of the hill to reach the top to see the fort, caves and a pond supposedly at the top. We put our last bit of energy to work and climbed and climbed a never-ending hill which every person returning back would tell “Oh ...just 5 min from here"... That 5 min came after nearly an hour. Finally we reached the caves the top of hill. Still a climb of 5 more min would take us to the top of the mountain. We climbed that bit to and lo...we were at the top of the mountain...but wait.... "WHERE THE HELL IS THE FORT??????" .There was, of course, a pool of water at the top of this mountain which we could call as a pond...but where was the fort...KOTLIGHAD FORT?? All I could see was a big stick planted by a fellow trekker as a mark of truimph.But nonetheless...this place was a 100 times better that the place we were a few hours before .There was absolute greenery everywhere..wonderful mountains all around and of course the light drizzle. A perfect moment to be on the top of the hill. Next few minutes went in absorbing the environment completely and a small photo session...but..where is the FORT??..After a small research we found that the last few min we climbed to reach the top were actually man made steps, it was a inverted funnel shaped structure which consisted of caves, a small temple, pond and since it was at such a great height, soldiers could easily keep a watch on the happenings below and thus unconquerable. A perfect combination for a fort.

Now time to return. We had expected, since it had rained and the place was much more slippery, it would take more time to get down but it was not as difficult as we had imagined. We quickly got down and rushed to the place where our bus was...we were totally tired, drenched, hungry, thirsty but jubilant from inside. A delicious lunch (the time was around 6:30 so it can be called an early dinner) was still waiting for us which we finished in not time. I had a tough time finding out which bus out of 3 would take me home or at least tell me whether they were willing to take me or not? Yes they were...

I felt, yep, this was the end of a wonderful trek...but there was more to come...The backbenchers in our bus were still in terrific mood and were just unstoppable. I am happy to announce that I too was a participant which kept on shouting, singing, cheering all the way back. I still smile at the way that "Apne to apne hote hai" and "shaka lakalakalakalaka boom boom" songs were repeated every 3 min, the way we sang all the serials title songs from the rona-dhona KKSBKBT,kumkum,kasauthi zindagi ki to shaktimaan to chandrakanta to jungle book.
Other slogans that were making rounds were “Preethi Sabarwaal aage bado, hum tumhare peeche hai" and” Simon go back, Mrs Simon come back" and much more. A perfect icing on the cake...Ohhh I was just getting nostalgic about my college days.

I reached home by 10:30. It was one of those days which I felt was really worth living. I thank all those who made this trek possible, I thank my friends amit and sanjay who were excellent companions during the trek and around 30 of the friends I made during this trek whose name I still don’t know :-)

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Baaviyalli banda bhaagya

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Alternate Career option

This was the story I sent to the company magazine "TOGGLE", only the photo was published :-(



"If I were not a systems engineer in Polaris, I would be playing the cricket world cup by now.

Yes,this is praveen nellikeri,a once-upon-a-time budding cricketing genius now becoming a blooming idiot in the software industry.A person who wanted to become a run making machine but now struggling to make machines run :-(

Born in 1983 ,I proved to be lucky for Indian cricket as they won their only world cup so far ,that year.I held the bat(plastic one) for the first time when I was 3 and celebrated by debut by hitting 3 consecutive fours of my mothers bowling.(well I did not know where was the boundary but my mom used to shout four whenever I hit the ball).And from then there was no looking back.From my home ground(literally) to outside pitches with my friends ,I was the top batsmen at all times.I had played on various pitches ,on various surfaces (tiles,cement,tar,sand and of course on cricket ground).not to mention the number of matches I singlehandedly won in book cricket or in video games(EA sports and Lara's cricket game) .

I also own an impeccable record of being the man of the match everytime I played with my sister and her friends :-)

Unfortunately there is no written record about the number of sixers I have hit,number of centuries I have scored or the number of times I have sent the batsmen to the pavilion much due to the fact there were no 24 hrs news channels by then who could make anyone a hero .The only thing I can show off is the photos which I cherish so dearly.One taken when I had broken Lara's world record by scoring 833 N.O against ...(well.. I cant say as the at team has blackmailed me that I will lose my fingers with which I used to spin the ball,but now do coding,If I reveal their name).The match had to be stopped as 7 of their guys were to be admitted to hospital due to extreme fatigue .It was then that one our cricketing giants flew to karnataka to congratulate me on this wonderful feat.He even said that seeing me bat he felt like he was batting...Oh those wonderful days..


Then one day a tragedy struck which blocked my way to my cricketing career and thus diminished India's dream of winning a second world cup when my friend told me that there was a cricketing club called POLARIS who would select people from colleges and train them.I went there ,got thru the interview and got selected to the team and signed the contract(now called the much feared bond).It was then I knew that I was fooled and was not selected in a cricket club but to a software industry and since then have been an unsung hero... Now I have got used to my new life of coding,enhancing,supporting and mail-forwarding when all my would-be colleagues are onsite playing the world cup in West Indies. "

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Jhoom re -->Re released

We
---------
meri ek suno antaryami,
meri ek suno client-swami,
mai to supporter janam-janam ki,
mai to supporter janam-janam ki,
bali umar se support karti,
bali umar se support karti,
issue resolve kar ke hi jaoo,
thank u mail paa ke hi jaoo,
raat-diwas issue resolve karau
raat-diwas issue resolve karau
tumhe jo choddu to mar jaoo,
tumhe jo choddu to mar jaoo,

server down down server down down server down down up karde
server down down server down down server down down up karde

they
-----
ek suno na mere bholenathji,
ek suno na mere product supportji
server yaha pe nahi chala hai
server yaha pe nahi chala hai
server yaha pe down huva hai
server yaha pe down huva hai
jaldi aa kar up kara de
jaldi aa kar up kara de
issue ko tum resolve kara de
issue ko tum resolve kara de
phone karungi din bhar pura,
phone karungi din bhar pura,
tujhe mein bheju mail ki rashi,
tujhe mein bheju mail ki rashi,
aur jo bouce jave phir bhejungi,
aur jo bouce jave phir bhejungi,
majboori samajh phir bhejungi,
majboori samajh phir bhejungi,
solve karde servernathji,
kaise bhi karke dinanathji,

server down down server down down server down down up karde
server down down server down down server down down up karde

we
----------
ek suno ji client meri vaani
meri ek suno client-rani,
iss mail se kya pavegi,
bhej bhej kar tu mar javegi,
bhej bhej kar tu mar javegi,
snapshot bhejo, logs bhejo
snapshot bhejo, logs bhejo
machine name aur path bhejo
machine name aur path bhejo
kab aa raha hai error batao
kab aa raha hai error batao
configuration dekh ke darr javegi,
mail karke tu kya pavegi,
mujhe poora details phone pe batao
mujhe poora details phone pe batao
server ko mein up kar doongi
Backend frontend restart kardoongi

server down down server down down server down down up karde
server down down server down down server down down up karde

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INSPIRATION

Thinking of writing poetry
I sat like Newton under a tree
To get some inspiration from things around
But I did’nt find one ,sweet and sound
No matter how hard I think,
I did’nt get a word to ink
When my whole sheet lay blank,
I did’nt know whom to scold and whom to thank,
For giving me pen, paper and mind
But not an idea of any kind.
Still I wait for some inspiration,
To complete my poem with satisfaction.

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Teen Deewarein

Here is a simple compilation of 3 incidents that happened just some days before..Just thought of sharing with you..They are completey unrelated and not worth pondering..


Incident 1
-------------
Last saturday I had been to my grandma's house for mourning.My grandpa had lived a full 83 lively years and had passed away.All our relatives were present and had a good(?!) time meeting others as it was a rare occasion for people meeting together..Just when everything was going right ,my elder cousin sister ,forgetting that it was a mourning exclaimed ," What a nice atmosphere...full of near and dear ones....I hope these type of occasion comes very often" Dont ask me what happened next.


Incident 2
--------------
One of our collegue is a very short,skeletal like living thing.Inspite of his out-of-world looks,he always manages to hang out with girls :-)When enquired by many of them abt his skill,he asked us to assemble in a knowledge transfer (KT) session.
His teachings: 5 rules for success....

1. Smile 2-3 times to the girl U want to talk.

2. Introduce yourself or get introduced by a common friend

3. Slowly start talking to her casually.

4. Ask her abt her family..Most of the times they'll have sisters or brothers..Ask what they do..and whatever be the answer tell them "wow that course has good scope" OR "that company is very good".This will get her into a feel good state from where you can take off.....

5.Get to know her birthday and ask her for a treat.make your point clear that you are not coming to her all-friends party but need a seperate party and do not give up until you get one...And once that is done your job is over...Coding complete..Now you can call that method whenever needed!!!!
HOWZZAT ??What do you think? will it work?? I could not go beyond the first step :-(

Incident 3
--------------
My watch-belt's pin was broken and I had went to get it mended( past tense of mend?) He took my watch ,took a look and pushed the pin inside the hole and handed back to me.I was surprised when he charged Rs 2 for this not-too-great work.

I said him:
1. That repair was negligable and I could only do it.

2. That I am a s/w engg and I know that there are 2 solns for any problem.Temporary and permanent.He had done the temporary one

3. He had charged too much for that soln


He replied:
1. If it was so negligable and if I could do it I would not bring it to him.

2. If the temp soln is as effective as the permanent soln ,then it is worth it.

3. He knew how much s/w engg charge for a small fix(temp or pemanent) and that I would be ready to pay him Rs 5 if he had went to his room,did the same thing and had told me that he had replaced it...

He told me that it willl be safe for atleast a month .I asked him what if it required another repair in an week.He said,Even after you sell the product You give them bugfixes,support them and then charge them right??????
I parted with my 2 Rs and walked without looking back .....

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Return to mumbai

This was the mail I wrote to my friends when I returned after my holidays ...back to work


I take this opportunity to thank Konkan railways who helped me reach my grandmotherland in time and then the sarkari state buses and tempos who helped for my local travel to reach my motherland.I would also like to thank Vijayanand roadlines for their immense help(err...immense charging) to shift our things from madikeri to our very own pollution-cum-traffic city,the silly-con valley ,Bangalore.Last but not the least I wish to thank Udyan express who kicked me from my motherland to the same old unknown pardesiland....MUMBAI.It took just 24 hrs and I can say U it was the first continuous 24 hrs in my life I had never uttered a single word.One day of dead silence!!!(I never had to ..as my bag was filled with eatables and taranga (kannada)magazines).Finally I came back.Now for the reason for not mailing U for all these days.For the first few days after my return I was at the client side and then for the next few days fell ill..now I am recovering. When I had been at the client side( it was a subsidiary of Iflex),just when I was waiting at the reception for some one to meet at 7:30 PM some peon from inside knocked the door.He did not have an access card.Usually the reception room will have a switch from outside just near the door fot the receptionist to open the door without any card.I located that switch.It was just beside the door.Inorder to help him I just went and pressed the switch........................................................................... and BHAM.....the power in the whole office went down.Everyone ran helter kelter as they had many pages open and could not afford to shut down.Some panicked as this meant they could not meet the dead line.But luckily a security guard had seen me do that misdeed.He immediately went inside ,did the neccessary steps(which included telling all members the reason for the power cut).When the power came back after 3 min I could see the whole office glaring at me angrily.The security man told that I was lucky as the CEO was not there who left early that day due to heavy rains.,else he would send an official warning to POLARIS....Thank god!!!!!!!!!!Thanks for the rains...heavy rains!! Never again will I go to that office again!!
As for these days mumbai is getting thrashed by heavy rains....but situation is not sooo worse as hyped by the media...But ...ya it is bad.And thanks to these rains ...on monday they left us at 4:00pm ( forced us to leave),tuesday at 2:00 pm and wednesday at 5:00 pm.
Well employees were charged on tuesday due to 2 reasons...one early leave and two: match b/n germany and italy.Even in the bus the last seats were filled with football fanatics.When I went to occupy the last seat ,..I was thrown a question....Germany or Italy.....?
Being a kind of person I am ,I immediately replied "INDIA"....and got severly thrashed from both team supporters which I could have avoided if I would select only one team in which case I would get beaten by only one team...

Last night I saw the movie "KRRISH".Whatever the public says,I liked the move a lot.Except for a few childish silly acts the rest of the movie is too good.The things l liked about the movie are:1) Wonderful ,spectacular locations.2)Priyanka chopra and last and the best3) complete Hritik...Action,dance ,looks and the way he has carried the film(except for his clothings in the first half which was very bad).

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A short sweet trip to Duisburg

Well friends, I am back after a small trip to Duisburg, Germany and am overwhelmed by the fact that many mailed me asking for a detailed letter...(And I was thinking you all hated it.. :-))So here is a compilation of my experiences in germany..This time it will not be a story telling but a compilation of small incidents which made a mark in my mind so that I could remember them and mail you back.

News of going to Germany: I am a pessimistic fellow according to others (a different type...I keep hope in my heart but don’t show that to others).So the first time when my PM told me abt my trip to Germany, everyone noticed that I was not so jubiliant. I showed no feelings.I just smiled and said thanks.Much of this was b'cos I knew we can’t believe any fact until it actually happens and I wasn't 100% sure that my company would send me there and there was all possibility of cancellation.So I did not tell anyone abt it.Even to my parents I told may be I will be going but don't keep any hopes.But as days progressed, my hopes were turning into reality....
I WAS STARTING TO BELIEVE THAT ONE OF MY LIFE'S MAJOR DREAM IS GOING TO BE TRUE...Eventhough it was for 15 days, the feeling of just going to another continent made me ecstatic.It was also due to the fact that no one from my family had crossed INDIAN BORDER....!!!!

A dream come true: Finally the d-day came.I had my tickets,knew abt the weather there,knew what exactly I should be doing at airport,had all my clothings to face the dreaded cold weather there.It was time to go to a place where I knew no one...all alone.I got to the airport exactly 3 hrs earlier and then got on to the plane and off I flew.............

Emirates: I had always heard that emirates was one of the best flights in the world and now I knew why...Wonderful seats, huge capacity, gorgeous air-hostess and very good food (?!!).All was there.But the fact I liked the most was the provision of personal TV in the plane, Attached at the back of my front seat was a small TV and its remote in my hand.To watch was a huge list of programmes ranging from Sports, films, plays and not to miss the bollywood masala.There was much more ...You could call any phone using that remote (the other side had a Phone), send sms, and also play games!!!! I wanted to play some games but since everyone else was watching movies, I felt it will be childish if I play Games...So instead preferred watching film DOR & Pyaar Ke Side Effects (Hindi)...I kept wondering at the technology which lets a person to watch a Movie at 40000ft above the earth traveling at that speed...more than 500 miles per hour!!!
And to add to all this excitement, there was a camera in front of and below the plane and the pictures were relayed to us in real time, so during fly off
and landing, U could see what the pilot could see in front and then look below!!!
As for the food can you guess what I got Upma+vada+idli+palak+ice Pepsi....Wine and other drinks were also there but...
So the overall experience was awesome...

Dubai airport: Nothing special to tell here as I waited patiently at one place for my connecting flight. Only thing that caught my eye was that there was a strip, where you could stand and it would leave you to the other end (similar to the escalator, but here it was completely horizontal).So ppl here were too lazy even to walk. Also there was a place where they had placed systems with internet for free!!

Dubai-Dusseldorf: The same emirates experience, but the only diff was that once I started to watch films as usual (I was a matured experienced flyer by now)....hey but wait a min ..whats this everywhere I see ppl are playing games..I rubbed my eyes in disbelief. But to my surprise everyone were playing games..and then me too!!!!!!! The person next to me was also from India and had ordered an "HINDU" meal and I had ordered veg meal. TO his dismay, that "HINDU" meal was actually a meal which had prawns, chicken and eggs!! He was shocked, and the airhostess was helpless as there was no replacement for him. But coming form a land of superheros,as usual, I came to his rescue. I asked to the hostess to exchange our meals had saved him from impending hunger.. Nelli ki jai ho...( Actually just before that I was cursing my travel agent from Polaris to have booked a veg meal for me
:-)) everything happens for good only!!And this happened for very good as the airhostess could not stop praising me for my "HEROIC" act !! over and
over again!!

Dusseldorf:Finally I landed,in an unknown area, another continent, strangers everywhere talking in some strange language. The sudden rush of cold air outside the airport reminded me that I had finally arrived!!.Then suddenly a scary thought struck me. It was already 9:00 in the night and I was here with only
the hotel address in my hand...No contact nos!!! I feared at the thought of not finding the hotel and getting taken for a ride which I literally had to be taken via taxi to duisburg.But the fear all ceased when a friendly driver too me to my hotel 20-25 min far from the airport.(Note that he was driving at 120 km/hr which seemed common there!!) .Call it an Indian effect in foreign land..I had already started multiplying everything with 57)...1Euro=approx 57 INR !!

Mercure hotel:Without any problem I reached the hotel, got my key( it was a credit card like thing which you had to swipe through he door to get it open),rushed to my room and slept peacefully....hoping for a nice stay for the remaining days.

The story ends here and incidents start:

Alms for the poor(?!!): While strolling around, a young girl came towards me, she was wearing a red T-shirt and a pair of jeans ,drinking coca -cola. As she approached me she opened her palms and said "Alms for the poor”. I was shocked!! She did not look like a beggar from any angle. She repeated "Alms for the poor"...I looked at her again... and asked in a confused look ...POOOR(!!?) .She suddenly changed her tone ,shouted at me in German and went away angrily
leaving me confused in the middle of the street!!

Chips: We felt the need for some spicy snack just to beat the hot weather and in the way found out an Asian market. We went inside it to see all types of
"INDIAN" things available ranging from basmati rice,chilli powder to the spices. We bought a packet of chips and came back to our room. Getting ready for some yummy snacks we put the chips in our mouth only to note that it was made of shrimps!!!(shrimps are small, swimming, decapod crustaceans similar to prawns--basically a sea food) .It was the first non-vegetarian chips I have ever had in my life !!!.

Cycles: Here there is a separate track for cyclists.Ppl from all walks of life don’t hesitate to ride cycles. The track comes b/n road and footpath and ppl can walk on them only when there are no cyclists around...

Traffic followers: The ppl here are terrific traffic followers. There used to be times when we are standing near the circle with no vehicle in sight from any road far far away and still no one used to cross the road until the green light used to glow. The same rules applied to cyclists. This attitude ,eventhough good would virtually torture me as it brought out my animal instincts of Mumbai and b'lore to cross the empty road(or eventhough it was busy!!).I used to keep thinking, if I had crossed then I would reach my office by now ,etc!!But I will have to frankly tell you I loved following traffic here and planned to follow it here too, but to my horror the traffic police itself shouted at me to cross the road when there were no vehicles as he thought ppl like me create a crowd by not moving when there were no vehicles!!

Television: Only 15 channels used to be aired and all those in German !.So I used to blindly watch them for their actions. What else could I do !!) They had a book which had program timetable for the whole week and for over 140 channels. When enquired I came to know that they were pay channels and if I was ready to pay then I could watch them. The surprising fact was that the TV itself had the facility of shouting how much was due from my side for watching xtra channels. though I did not pay , I often saw the bill to see that unknowingly I might not have been watching anything thats payable!!.The TV had many more functions too. It had inbuilt videogame and chatting services with other television owners! Moreover even sms could be sent through them. Only thing I noticed was shilpa shettys face shown repeatedly on television.

Burger: Nothing much to say...as expected I got a chicken burger when I asked for a veg burger :-(

Breakfast: The breakfast facility of the hotel was too good. It was a buffet ranging from all types of burgers, salad, yogurt, bacons, sausages, eggs, fruits,vegetables,dry fruits,diff types of butter,diff types of jams, black tea, coffee, juices etc...and moreover that was free as it was included in the hotel rent itself!! So as one should always do I literally ate like a king those 15 days, eventhough I get to eat 2 idlis in India!!

Chocolates:The office had a seperate corner for chocolates. The rules were simple."Feel free to pick up any chocolate you want.It is for free!! .....But since this is not funded by the company put any amt of money in the yellow box and see to that this corner never gets empty.” I found ppl actually putting money and taking it. BUT NOT ME ;-)

Cyclone: On the 10th day I had been there, there was a news that a hurricane would hit the city and so we should leave the office early. But as we all know s/w engg don’t fear anything and so everyone stayed in office ....working!! until the hurricane actually hit. The power went suddenly., and surprise surprise. there was no UPS in the office and all the systems shut down suddenly!! The reason: The city had not lost the power and thus they did not invest in UPS !!! Also since the city had lost the power for the first time everyone wanted a snap of electricity less city and It was me who had the camera! Also it was the first time in their history that the railways had stopped completely

Toooo late!!:The shopping area was quite far away and we had to roam for abt 20 min.So we normally would not go out after returning form office. Just 1 day
before I made my return trip, I tried to explore the hotel and found out that we had a shortcut to the shopping street thru the hotel itself which took
no more than 2 min!! MORAL OF THE STORY?? First find your fault before finding others fault!!!
Then one fine day ..it was all over, I finished my work successfully, and so had to leave on the fixed date itself. So came back via the same
way....Duisburg-->Dubai(Little shopping)--> Mumbai!!! :-( And then it took so may days to mail you my experiences!!!

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My first blog

Just trying to see how the blogging world is like...

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