What a way to begin a weekend

Aug 13
I had completely forgotten that I had to catch the evening train on Thursday. 9:30 had become the standard time of leaving work. When 2 members in the team are on leave, one is brand new and you are actually short of one head-count, who clocks the hours spent in office - 'work must go on' was the mantra - 'but at what cost?', was a question yet to be answered.

Aug 14
The day before Independence day - did it even matter what day it was, as long as it was a holiday leading to long weekend... pathetic as this may sound - no it did not. All that mattered was the much awaited long weekend, a trip with no plans, no guarantee if everyone would turn up - it was one of those few occasions when you just want to get away, no matter where.
'6 sharp I will be leaving, if you need anything let me know by afternoon' I'd told everyone, giving a half hour buffer, knowing the routine.
6:30 I left office. There have been only a couple of occasions when I have left office at such an odd hour, 'odd' because I'm not used to seeing seeing light in the sky on my way back home

Rain - oh pouring rain, dcould you not choose another day?
What normally takes 45 minutes, took more than 2hours that evening. Blocked roads, standstill traffic. Constant calls from home asking till where I'd reached.
Finally reached home at 8:30. I was meant to leave to the station at 8:30. I took 15minutes flat to have dinner, pack and leave on yet another tortuous drive.
The train was to arrive at 9:50 and leave at 10:05. Should take me about an hour to reach, I thought, I hoped and prayed that I'd make it on time.
That particular day, the city saw one of the worst traffic jams - buses, cars, bikes, auto rickshaws all stranded in the rain, moving inch by inch. About a kilometer before the station, people got off their vehicles and started walking in the rain - hoping to get to their trains ontime. I was not going to venture out in the rain. If I make it on time, I'll go - if not, I'll go back home and make up for all the lost sleep, I decided.
10PM I reached the station and as luck would have it, the train was to arrive on platform 4. Rushed through the crowds, up the stairs, down the stairs... to a platform - but wait... no train?? Even the train was delayed. Such a relief. 15minutes later, the train finally arrived. I went the assigned compartment and there's someone sleeping in my berth. Excuse me, this is my berth - I showed him my ticket. Wiping the sleep off his eyes, he stared at me for a moment, pulled of a crumpled ticket from his shirt pocket. It had Seat 12 untidily scrawled on the printed ticket. Off I went in search of the TTE. I showed him my ticket and he told me to wait in my compartment.
Once the TTE came there, I gave him my ticket. He ruffled through the sheets of passenger listings and told me he could not find my name. What? I asked him - how could that be? He had no clue why my name was missing. This is my confirmed ticket, I have paid for this journey, I need a berth - I told him. He asked me to go to the next compartment, as there were a few empty seats and asked me to wait for him there.
Thanks to the traffic jam, a good number of people had missed the train and I thus found some empty seats. Not too sure why I stopped at seat 9 and decided, that's where I wanted to sit.

Tired by the day's events, I longed to lie down and go to sleep, hell no - I had to sit and wait for that slimy TTE who wouldn't give me the berth that I was entitled to.
Half an hour later he arrived, looked at me and said - Are you taking this berth?
Yes 9 - is that OK?
OK - I will give confirm it you - he said and walked away.
What was that all about? I did not even want to think about it. Just had to ensure that my friends had made it to their respective trains/buses, or the weekend would suck.

That was when I came to know that A had got stuck in traffic and had missed his bus. He was trying his level best to try and get another bus ticket.
Booking train/bus tickets has become so crazy these days, with majority IT population working in a city away from home, tickets get booked months in advance.
Without A being there, turning up at S's home would be a bit awkward - that's yet to be seen, I can't get off the train now - I thought and tried to sleep.
No wailing babies, no snoring adults, yet no sleep. When I don't get enough sleep, it pisses me off completely. Those are times when I should have a "Beware" stuck to my forehead :)

Aug 15
Finally reached at around 6:30. Waited for my friend and drove back to his place. A - had indeed got into a later bus and would be here in a couple of hours. I decided to use those couple of hours to catch up on some sleep.
This is how the long weekend began, full of action and drama but then it turned out to be a very nice, relaxing, fun-filled time. Good food, god sleep, lovely weather, good music, good company, great drive a friend's native village - in all a great time!
2... no 2.5 days of bliss and then back to the concrete jungle, back to the world of confusion (as one of my friends calls it)

Teach India

After Lead India, Teach India is the next initiative of TOI.

2hours a week is all it takes. You even have an option of volunteering over the weekend.

Register, Choose your city/area and start on a mision to spread education.

Laptop

"My Mother's Laptop" to be precise, believe it or not is the name of a Malayalam movie.
Over the weekend, I happened to listen/watch one of the songs from the movie.
May Maasame been sung so beautifully. Though I understand just about 3 words in the entire song, the tune is so soothingly addictive.

Animation rocks

Just got back from Kung Fu Panda.
Expect the unexpected from the person you least expect :D
Total entertainment!


Outside the cinema hall, I saw the poster of Roadside Romeo, another animation. Was in for a total surprise when I saw the preview. This is a Yash Raj + Walt Disney production looks really promising.


Saving the best for last... Madagascar - Escape to Africa. Though this preview was for less than 2 mins, it had everyone in splits all through.
Just can't wait to watch this movie :D

Attention! this is your captain speaking. I've got good news and bad news.
The good news is - We'll be landing immediately
The bad news is - We'll be crash landing :D

When its time...

Off late, I've become a regular at www.livemint.com. Apart from usual news relating to business, the economy, market conditions etc. I find the career section by Jack and Suzy Welch to be very interesting.
Here's a recent article about Knowing when its time to leave your present place of work

Questions you need to ask yourself:

~ Do you look forward to going to work every morning?
Does the thought of going to work make you feel good or do your dread it every morning?

~ Do you enjoy spending time with your co-workers?
Considering the fact that you spend close to 12 hours with these people, this becomes a very relevant question. Co-workers can either motivate you or can get your frustrated to the core.

~ Does your company fulfill your personal mission?
Question rephrased as - Do you get to do things that challenge/excite you?

~ Can you picture yourself at your company in a year's time?
Where do you see yourself? Who reports to you? What are your responsibilities and are you happy with that?

Currently, my score on almost all of the above questions happens to be negative :(

Message from God

To:YOU
Date:TODAY
From:GOD
Subject:YOURSELF
Reference:LIFE

This is God. Today I will be handling All of your problems for you. I do Not need your help. So, have a nice day. I love you.

P.S. And, remember...
If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do Not attempt to resolve it yourself! Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. I will get to it in MY TIME. All situations will be resolved, but in My time, not yours.

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold onto it by worrying about it. Instead, focus on all the wonderful things that are present in your life now.

If you find yourself stuck in traffic, don't despair. There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of privilege.

Should you have a bad day at work; think of the man who has been out of work for years.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad; think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend; think of the woman in dire straits, working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance; think of the paraplegic who would love the opportunity to take that walk.


Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror; think of the cancer patient in chemo who wishes she had hair to examine.


Should you find yourself at a loss and pondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose? Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim of other people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; remember, things could be worse. You could be one of them!


Now, you have a nice day.
God.