Hallucinations of a mad hatter
One of my friends who’s also a member of FWW(The Infosys Harry Potter fan club) went to London and went to King’s Cross Station and yes… there is in fact a platform No. 9 ¾.PS: Of course, he went a month before that bomb explosion in King’s Cross.
Whoa! The wizarding world does exist; we muggles just don’t see it!!! 
to push those Saint-Gobain ‘pull’ doors…and to pull the ‘push’ doors…and to bang my head into the automatic doors. Actually, when it’s not intentional, i just suffer from mental inactivity…and by the time i figure out if i should pull or push the door, or whether there is a door at all there, some nice chap will have opened it somehow and walked in…or out…or whichever…DAMN!
I added automatic doors to the list today. It happened that I was talking on my cellphone when I reached the door. Whether I thought the door might open before I cross it or forgot to notice the door (automatic or not!), I banged headfirst into the door. Not that it was malfunctioning. It just was a little sluggish for my walk. Result: Nothing happened to the glass; thankfully the impact was not huge. A whole lot of things happened to me. A couple of girls chuckled at me, covering their mouths. I became the scapegoat at office.
Why does this happen to me? Why me, “of all people”? I guess this question is irrelevant! I don’t want an answer to this question because I believe…
I believe that everything happens for a reason: from the problems I have in office, to the embarrassments I had had because I was careless enough to disclose my personal life to somebody, and even the tiny itch I’m feeling right now. Every littlest thing has a reason for its occurance. Perhaps I haven’t found or figured out the reasons, but I think I get an inkling.
This is what I am. I can do only one job at a time. No multitasking possible, although the one-job-at-a-time will be done considerably faster. If I talk to someone when I’m roasting a Dosa, I will talk on end to get the charred remains of what might have been delicious food otherwise.
Sigh…Somehow I wish I had a time-turner…To go back just one day…and I would choose to live it all over again…just so I don’t have to step into the threshold of today…err…not because it was my slackest day
Or is my wish right? I could very well add this tinge of lessons to my future rather than delving deep into my past and mortifying myself.
Then why don’t I do it? Words are easier than deeds!! God save me!!
The last weekend was a rally of events. First of all, I bought my brother a new computer. Got a really good config for a great price.
Athlon 64 3200+, MSI K8N Neo Motherboard, 1 GB DDR, GeForce 6200, DVD -RW, 80 GB SATA HDD, Creative 2.1 speakers…blah…blah…
Was able to learn a truckload of new things while setting up his computer. Talking about setting up computers, I love assembling computers and setting up softwares and LANs.
Neways, there was this guy who was my brother’s classmate. He was bustling about self-importantly making an officious nuisance. Not that he was a quack..but he was an eyesore. Neways, he was of use because he provided the Fedora core CDs.
I learnt more about SATA, and how to integrate IDE and SATA. Also I learnt something called slipstreaming (which can be used to automate XP installation) and in fact created a new XP boot disk with SP2 and the necessary 3rd party SATA drivers.
It was time for going home by then
At home, I finished another iteration of “The Bourne Identity” (I don’t recall how many times I’ve already read the book!)
Mom made lotsa snacks for Srikrishna Jayanti. Calls from relatives, lots of ‘em…Was really happy hearing them after quite some time.
I didn’t stray out of home very much. Stayed at home and watched TV.
Saw Dhoom, Legally Blonde 2.
Saw Munnabhai MBBS and Devdas (both for the umpteenth time) in timeshared mode.
No good Mallu movies this weekend
Came back today morning with some snacks for friends.
Tried some registry tweaks in comp in the morning. Then came to office. Still in office…no work…that’s why I’m writing this blog!!!
I read that book yesterday, and all I could say was “Its brilliant…an anachronism”.
Written in 1889, this hilarious misadventure tells the story of three men and a dog who are “scandalously” lazy.
You cannot but enjoy the book from end to end (there should be more emoticons for body language, because I just made a “point-to-right-then-point-to-left” gesture when I said end to end) in the jocund company of Jerome K. Jerome, George, Harris and Montmorency, the plucky fox terrier.
The reason that made this book a classic in my mind was two of its chapters which we had to study as English Text during school. Yes…I still remember that. One seldom forgets such classics like “Montmorency and the Tomcat”, “Cheeses from Liverpool” and “The Luncheon”. The first two stories are from “Three men in a boat”. The last one is written by another of my favorite authors– Somerset Maugham.
So, naturally, I bought this book the moment it caught my sight in Landmark, Bangalore.
The highlights of the book are normal, but very witty language and of course the world-weary Montmorency.
Jerome finds himself having all the symptoms of a liver disease, the most significant being “a general disinclination towards work of any kind”. Now, I wonder I too have that disease. 
Everybody is having some problem. So they decide they want some rest and set out on an idyllic cruise along Thames. Poor Montmorency has to join them having lost the votes 3 to 1. But what they find in their boat-ride is anything other than rest, should I say a hapless series of cataclysms!
The reason for me calling this book an anachronism is that I could relate most of it to myself. Not that it gives some lessons in life or is philosophical. Not at all!! It is a pure entertainer, a must-read.
The sleeplessness is not because I’m in love. Duh!
The reason for my sleeplessness is a contagious disease known as Acute Rhinopharyngitis which causes the inflammation of your Upper Respiratory Tract.
Sleep..
I had been clocking about 6-7 hours daily in Bangalore. Grossly inadequate, you may say!! But for a person who used to sleep from 10pm-1am and then 4am-6am during his college life, 7 hours of sleep is bliss.
I started “investing” more time in sleep when I came to TVM early this month. I used to sleep for 10 hours (Until yesterday!) Reason: I don’t have any (I repeat…Any) work in office. So I go late and come back early.
Why “investing” in sleep?
I’m a thinker, a dreamer and a wonderer. I wanted my brain to be as free as possible when I think. So my sleep regime is sort of a “disk cleanup”
Why no sleep lately?
Because of a nasty cold…(He…He.. you thought it was some serious disease, didn’t you? Acute Rhinopharyngitis is the scientific name of Common Cold). It has spread to my throat causing infection in my throat. My nose gets blocked when I try to aline my body in a horizontal posture. (In English, you can say when I lay in bed) I have to lay in an uncomfortable position so that I don’t suffocate: on my belly, straight and my head turned towards left side on a pillow. Poor me! I kept on waking up intermittently last night.
sssssomebody sssave me!!!
The bed is a bundle of paradoxes:
We go to it with reluctance, yet we leave it with regret;
We make up our mind every night to leave it early,
but we make up our bodies every morning to keep it late!
Journey from your bed to bathroom every morning is the most grueling journey of each day!
Couldn’t help remembering this funny incident while I was in Infosys Bangalore. The trigger for this is Sanju Baba’s blog about Credit Cards.
I was going down the elevator in my office when the elevator phone began to ring.
I picked it up.
Anonymous: Sir, I’m calling from ICICI Bank. Do you have an ICICI credit card?
Me: (What the hell?) Ma’am, do you know which place is this?
Anonymous (With a doubtful tone): Why? It’s Infosys,isn’t it?
Me: You’re absolutely right. But the problem is that you have called up into a lift.
Anonymous: *Beep* *Beep* (Means, she hung up without much ado)
Apparently, there is no other term to describe this guy. Narayanan is his name, although we fondly call him Naru. He went to Pune recently and he sent us a mail after he was back, the contents of which are below. (I’ve done some editing to make things clear. They’re shown in blue.)
For those who don’t know, Pune is where we had our training in Infosys.
You decide whether this man is the lord of nostalgia or not!!!
I am back… the trip was TOO GOOD!!! I reached Pune at 6:30 on Saturday (Ya forgot to tell the seconds, mate!). I got down at Katraj (A place in Pune). Took our dear corp bus (Oh Yeah?? “Dear” alright? Only YOU would travel again in that bus which looks as if it would crumble into a heap of rubble any second) and went to corporation. Frm thr, took a bus to Pashaan whr my ettan (Elder brother) is staying now. After reaching house, taking bath etc, I went to FC road (Ferguson College. A hangout place) whr one of my cousins was waiting.(She joined ILS, Pune just a month ago). Ettan joined us an hr later and we had lunch from a Thali place for Rs 75. (Do you need to tell the exact amount each time? BTW, you didn’t explain how you ate it!!) Had shopping in crossword, JM road and went to E SQUARE. (A 5 screen multiplex) Saw Mangal Pandey (A new period film about 1857 war of independence) which we didn’t like very much. After that some shopping in INOX. (Another multiplex) Dinner in Ramakrishna restaurant, MG Road.
On Sunday, we set out to dear Aundh. (That’s where we used to stay during our Infosys Training. Look how many times he is using “dear”!) Had breakfast from a place in Parihar Chowk. Then we started to walk thru the DP road. I took some money from ICICI ATM in FOOD WORLD (Nearest ATM to where we used to stay). Then roamed around and saw places like Sonu caterers (Our daily dinner mess house) , Lok Sangam vihar (Name of our apartment) , Chandraneel (Another nearby restaurant, I hated it) etc… had some refreshment from Sweets Corner. (Our daily evening refreshments after office was from Sweets Corner)
BTW, our Lok sangam Vihar still has no lift. I had to take the stairs to see our house. I didn’t go inside.
And I saw that guy who used to pump water for us. The same old T shirt, he was wearing!!!
I also saw the guy resembling Thilakan, who used to visit Sonu. (This is too much. Naru is notorious in finding resemblances!!)
We took auto (auto rickshaw) to Adlabs, a new multiplex that has been started in Kalyani Nagar. Had lunch frm thr and went to railway station to receive my mom. Then went home.
On Monday, we decided to visit Infy. Went to Aundh by auto and then from thr to infy by our six seater. Amma and co were not allowed to enter the office due to some restriction. I had to go alone and take snaps… And my god… that same old smell is still thr!!! (Oh dear! He remembers even the smell) That smell was the most nostalgic thing!!! Smell which u cant record or of which u cant take a snap. It was too good. I took a snap of our rest room too!!! (What a great place to take a snap)
I visited Andhra meals and saw our dear Amma!!! (Our daily lunch place, near office)
Went to Aundh back by another 6 seater. Had food frm Shiv sagar. (No brownie this time ) Went back home, packed and was set to return. A great trip thus came to an end.
It was 11:35 today when I landed here. Didn’t take bath and reached office at 12. No much work, testing, that’s all.
I do want to go to Pune sometime in Oct-Nov(pooja-diwali) Any one interested?
Appo bye.
As I had planned, I hung out on the weekend…well…not exactly, coz there’s not much to hang out inTrivandrum. Here’s how my weekend was:
Friday
Brother and friends went home. Me alone at home. No scapegoats to hear my non-stop crap
Finished reading “The Great Train Robbery” by Crichton. Good book!!!
Saturday
Went to see Mangal Pandey. Nice movie. Best of all, didn’t pay for the tickets. He..He.. Teena booked the tickets earlier for us (Because her father was the DSP or some bigshot in Police)
The poor cinema guys were (afraid I guess!!) reluctant to accept money, so we didn’t pay.
Then went to Sindhoor, had a lunch for 3 hours. (Lunch for 30 minutes and blah blah for 2.5 hrs, that is!!)
Then we went to our homes. I had nothing else to do. So went to foodworld, and as usual, bought junk food worth 91 bucks. (Potato chips, Peanuts, 2 biscuit packets, 2 Snickers and something else I don’t remember)
Started reading “Fantastic Four”.
Sunday
Continued reading “Fantastic Four” and occassionally, a tech book called “Gray Hat Hacking”.
Went out only for breakfast, lunch, dinner, haircut and buy junkfood.
Finished reading “Fantastic Four”. The book sucks!!!! What a waste of money! Bought it just because I liked The Invisible Woman and Jessica Alba.
