Identified

July-Aug,

Nandan Nilekani is the commander in chief chosen by the govt of India to drive its highly ambitious project of uniquely identifying every living Indian and the generations to follow. The task of identifying more than 1 billion Indians spread across the globe, spread across the economic and education strata, from the richest to the poorest, from the Harvard graduate to the illiterate masses, its one heck of a challenge. But then its for tasks like these you have people like Nandan Nilekani who become - the chosen one.

The Govt. of India's Unique Identification Project seems to be one of the most higly complex but at the same time highly rewarding projects in India. Complex-due to the sheer number of people targeted to benefit from it. Each and every Indian in the world. The UI will enable the Govt to know its people, its needs, and act accordingly to achieve the benefit of all. A single number when scanned will enable you all access, all priviledges granted.

No more worries of a thousand govt cards for different purposes. No more separate documents reqd. This unique number will serve as your finger print at election times, while applying for schools and colleges, bank accounts, driver's license, passport, buying home, paying taxes, applying for jobs and millions of other places. Just imagining the convenience it will bring to common man gives this project a thumbs up from the word go. Not only that, an identification like this endorsed by the govt of India will be accepted without any doubt in any organization.And in all likelihood it will come to rescue in foreign countries should we need to provide one.

And this is just the scratch of the surface. Billions of other advantages will follow suit, like the govt creating schemes and ensuring onlythe deserving get the benefits, no more duplicate voting, malpractices in the name of identity theft, fraudulent visas, accounts, licenses and many many more.

But all this will come only when this project sees the end of the tunnel and its one long tunnel. The complexities are daunting. The number of people, the bureaucracy involved, the security involved, the large infrastrucuture involved and ofcourse the money all make it no less easy for Nandan Nilekani. Its a big task where the slightest mistake can cause havoc with the project and maybe even with people's lives. Just imagining that the system may not be able to identify me or worse is hacked to identify me as someone else gives me jitters. So it has to be an almost fool proof and completely secure system, the information of which to be guarded like the country's most confidential data.

Sounding like a critic like the scores of others who may think and even criticize the govt for undertaking a project of this magnitude. To all of them i say "If you think it cant' be done, dont' stop others from doing it !!"

The project is a brilliant one and Nandan Nilekani is a capable man to ensure it sees the light of the day.

Let us all be rest assured that we are uniquely,securely and most important correctly - identified.

Splash !!!

Sunday, Aug-2.

A hot sunday morning it was. And to cool off the heat and have a great time fassouri water park was our destination.

Fassouri water park-just a stone's throw away from our home. We entered and headed straight to the water slides.

Tube slides, high speed body slides, mat slides, double and even triple tubes, you name it and it was there. Hitting the cool waters in that scorching heat, we were having a great time.

The time after lunch was spent relaxing in the lazy river. Lying on the tube floating in the slow moving stream.

Later that day, pradeep though had some dare-devilry (stupidity) to show off. Thinking that being abt 1.8 metres just above the depth of 1 pool, he went off to the cannon body slide even though it was advised only for swimmers. And so landed straight into the pool alone but needed a life guard to dive in and get him out. That was some adventure.

A relaxing wonderful day in the splash.

Stolen

July 28, Tuesday.

The title of this blog is self-explanatory enough about the content followed below. Read on.

Deva or for that matter none of us here in cyprus would have ever imagined something like this happening to us. This day morning when deva woke up to start yet another day in office, little would anyone have imagined that it would begin with a shocker. His scooter was nowhere to be seen at his home. And after confirming with others if it was a prank, his worst fears came true. The scooter was stolen.

This was the 3rd such incident of theft occuring to someone in our batch in just a month. Not so long ago, on the last weekend of June, I too woke up to find my cycle missing from my home. After searching here and there and in office, it became pretty obvious that that was the last i had seen of it. Since it was just a cycle, there was nothing much I could have done or have taken the trouble to lodge a complaint.

And then in that same weekend, sarvo's car which he parked in the parking ground near office thinking it to be the most possible safest place while he would be away holidaying (uhmm working...) in US, also became the target. On monday morning while parking my car, i noticed the driver window glass all shattered and the stereo system inside the car gone. Since sarvo was not here, there was nothing much we could do except take away his car back home.

So, 3 of us have been robbed in less than a month. Thankfully, all were only material losses and no physical harm was caused to anyone.

We just hope nothing else bad happens during our stay in this beautiful island.

a walk to remember

July 5th, Sunday.

A week before leading to this sunday, a plan was made to venture out about 150 kms away and have a never before experience. Protaras, a small tourist place on the eastern tip of cyprus was the destination. And the never before experience we had was really a long drive worth it.

So about 10 in the morning, we left our home to head to this place. 4 in deva's car and other 4 in my. Driving at about 140-150 kmph we reached the destination in just over an hour. In between, the police on the highway had signalled me to slow down as I was way above the limit of 100. So in the last few mins or so, i did slow down not wanting to spoil the day or my mood by speed tickets and all.

After reaching there, we joined the other group of 4-5 cars who headed out with us. And then we played the game follow the leader. This guy who was leading the pack of cars under the pretext of knowing the route, took us around and around for 3-4 times. We were driving on the same road again and again and again. And then we got lost. So we stopped and asked for directions and finally reached the place. A small resort where we had planned the novel experience. A walk under water.

Yes, you read that right, a walk under water. We headed out to this boat in the sea not so far from the coast. There we were given our gears - swimsuit and shoes and helmets. And then a barrage of safety instructions. We had the helmet on and climbed down a ladder 3 meters below into the sea and on the sea bed. It was amazing. Below into the sea, walking on the sea floor. We saw fishes, marine plants, rocks and sand all around. Looking above we could see the boats and people on the surface.

The instructor gave us food to feed the fish. We held the bread in our hands and a large number of fish would just bite it off our hand with a tickling feeling. It was amazing. Then the instructor took videos of us walking below and feeding the fish.

After about 30 mins spending below water, we climbed up to the boat. It was a surreal experience I never imagined would happen.

Later on we headed to ayia napa and spent some relaxing time on the beautiful beaches there. And then back home.

It was indeed a walk to remember.

Simply Roger

Sunday June 7.

The man completed his dream and joined an elite league of only 6 people who have achieved a Grand Slam. The man wrote off all critics who said he will never win here. The man had come from 3 lost finals to this one. The man came back from a scintillating semi-final match and won from the brink of defeat. The man was Roger Federer and he won the championship that eluded him for 3 years. He finally had his hands on the winner's trophy-the Roland Garros French Open 2009. And this completed his Grand Slam.

Roger Federer came into this match much like the previous 3 finals. He was prepared and ready to fight till the last ounce of energy to lift the French Open. He had the pressure and expectation of the whole world and billions of his fans on his shoulder. Only 1 thing was different this time than the previous 3 occasions. The other contender for the elusive title this time was not his left-handed Spanish nemesis Rafael Nadal. Robin Soderling 23-seeded Swede international was a player who shocked the tennis arena when he defeated Rafael Nadal in his own backyard. Soderling then wiped off Fernando Gonzales to reach his maiden French Open final. The only thing that was in his favour was that he was riding on a wave of confidence polishing off world class players above him. Besides he had nothing to lose and Federer had everything to win.

And so on a rough cloudy day with gutsy winds blowing, the match between Federer and Soderling began. Federer was into his sublime best from the first shot quickly racing off to a 4-0 lead in the 1st set before Soderling ended his run. But Federer never lost touch and he knew that this was perhaps his best and only chance to complete his dream. And after 3 straight sets he finally dropped on to the court and burst into tears when he won the championship point.

He displayed immense greatness through his humility and respect for the opponent. And who better than Andre Agassi to hand him his dream. After 3 years staying second and in the shadow of Nadal, Federer finally had the trophy to himself. Soderling was perhaps correct when he mentioned that Roger was the best player in tennis history in the august presence of Agassi. Both smiled and the crowd cheered.

Many may say that Federer won because Nadal lost. Federer won beacuse he deserved to win. He won beacuse he was the best. He won because he outplayed all. This time Federer faced a more formidable opponent than Nadal - history and he re-wrote it in the end.

The immense pressure and scare that he may never win the French Open is now no more. He can play more relaxed now that he has completed his Grand Slam.

Roger Federer - a tennis legend, a humble and great human being. Simply the best.

a sunken tyre

May 24, 2009 - Sunday

And here we go again!!!

Our fetish for driving and exploring led to yet another amazing experience that night. Things simply have to happen or go wrong when my friend sarvo and i are out on the road. That night we also had the company of deva who by now i am pretty sure will think twice whenever henceforth we ask him on a drive.

It was a free sunday as the day is meant to be. It was also the final of the IPL. Though having not followed it keenly this time, i did not catch the match when it was being shown at our office gym. So in the evening, sarvo and i left home in his car to have a good time somewhere nearby. A good time we sure had i can say that in hindsight now. We picked up deva and headed towards pafos on the old highway around the kourium mountains.

We drove on and on and reached pissouri bay. The small stretch of muddy road surrounded by grass and shrubs on both sides lead to a beach in the end. And here the game began. Sarvo drove on and on and onto the beach.Fine? Well, so did we think but not fine at all. We spent a few nice minutes there and that was it. While taking reverse, the car decided to show who's the boss and got stuck in the sand. Both the front tyres are half deep in sand just rotating at the same place and sinking further. What a sight!!!

So there we were stuck. Night time, alone on the beach, a stuck car, office next day but not a whiff of tension on anyone. These things are somehow destined to happen to us and we have come out of it on previous occasions and we knew we would here as well. So time for some innovative ideas. Sarvo tried to remove the sand around the tyres, i was using the phone as a torch. We tried and tried but the car would not budge. So then, we removed the sand again, put a lot of pebbles under the tyre so that it would roll over it and come out. But no success. This was getting pretty interesting. Now for another shot. Sarvo removed the jack from his car, lifted the front side of the car, we removed all the sand, put more and more stones and pebbles to make a hard surface and in a jiffy the idea failed. the tyres went back into the sand in no time. So there we were stuck. Finally time to ask help.

So me and deva, went towards a hotel that was nearby. Don't know if it was sheer co-incidence or our good fortune that at that unearthly hour and in that lonely place, a truck approached in our direction. We waved our hand to stop it and it did. We told our plight to the guy and he came at the "crime scene". He was too amazed and confused and perhaps thinking what kind of fools we were to drive on the beach in a car like that. But i guess he kept it to himself not to make us more miserable. So he asked us for a rope which we did not have. So out comes his cell phone, he calls his friends and in 10 mins there was another jeep there. And then, out came 4 strong guys to our rescue.They first laughed at the situation which i think anyone was entitled to and besides we ourselves were enjoying our plight no less. So one of the guys sits in the car, while we all push it backwards. "Push re push" was the war cry. And in a couple of mins the car came back on track ready to drive.

We thanked those guys for getting us out and head home. While returning, on that small stretch, sarvo tried a few tricks out of rally racing and at a speed of 100kmph steered of the track for a few secs. Well he nearly lost control of the car and it was heading straight into the trees but he somehow managed to get back on road. Those few seconds were the only scary moments of what was yet another wonderful wonderful drive.

the road less travelled

May 17, 2009.

A normal sunday it was that turned into one of my most treasured journeys here in this wonderful island - cyprus.

At about 5 in the evening, sarvo, deva picked me up and we head towards a nearby dam - yermasoiga in deva's car. It was just about 15 km away from home and i am quite sure none among the 3 of us would have expected it to be a journey that in the end would cover almost 160km. How could a journey to a place just 15 km away eventually turn out to be more than 10 times ? Well for most people it would'nt have, but things somehow "happen" to us. Or should i say our drives!!!.

So we headed towards this beautiful dam. It was indeed a serene place of beauty. Quiet, peaceful, lush green, winds, small lake, valleys, villages, and beautiful winding roads as well. It was a in a world of its own away from the hustle bustle and noise of the city. The villages along the roads, the people there, seemed to be happy in their small beautfiul world. And so did we enjoy the journey to there. But en-route, sarvo happened to glance at the car's dashboard and we are thankful that that glance took place. Deva was driving in a region of villages, hills, valley on an uphill road on "reserve fuel".  There was no petrol pump around and in the region we were, there was no hope of one showing up as well. The nearest petrol pump was back in the city and there was a very very remote possibilty of the car reaching there. And so the adventurous journey began!!!

We moved ahead, hoping to find a gas station somewhere in the nearby villages but no such luck. Deva was is usual self unmindful of the fact that the car would soon be out of gas. Well actually all 3 of us were not much concerned, since so many more "serious" incidents/accidents have happened to us and our cars that running out of gas on a lonely road was the least concerning. And besides, in this case, we were aware of the gas situation and had back-up plans in case we did not find a petrol pump. There was always the option of calling some of our friends, and then the option of asking some locals for help. And if that did'nt work, the speed-fire company (towing service) by now knows us and our situations pretty well since we have become their regular "damsel in distress". Besides, deva's car had still not got the priviledge of being atop a towing truck and being chauffered for a change! The last option did'nt happen and i hope it never does. And neither were the first two options required. 

We asked a group of young boys from where would we get petrol and they showed us the way. We went in that direction and soon landed up outside a couple of cafes. And were kind of lost. Not exactly. We asked the people there and voila we landed right outside what we needed. Petrol was available right there at the cafe. The people there stored fuel in big tanks and why they did that was pretty obvious since there was no gas station around and probably never will be. So this guy comes out with a big 6l funnel and pours petrol in the car. Anyone been to goa can perhaps imagine the scene here. In indian villages perhaps one may expect such a situation but here in tourist heaven cyprus in europe!!!Wow. That was quiet a moment seeing petrol being sold in that fashion.

Moving on, now with the trouble of fuel solved, we decided to go ahead on those mountain roads rather than return home. And glad we did. The places we saw there were no less than wonder. Beautiful view of the ocean from atop the mountain, the curvacoeus roads, the villages below, trees covering the deeep valley.Simple amazing. These places perhaps wont find their mention in a commercial tourism book about cyprus and it was simply great to see such beauty of nature unscathed till today by human civilization and its greed.

All the above still doesn't add up to the curiosity of how a place just 15 km away would eventually result in a journey of 160km. Now comes the cherry on top. Rather than taking an about turn and returning the same route home, we moved ahead anticipating to find another route, trying to replicate Christopher Columbus voyage to India. Well he landed up in America instead of India. And no surprise that something similar happened to us. The only difference is we knew finally where we were. Moving ahead and ahead and taking turns here and there and following Sarvo's gps and intuition, we moved on and on and on and reached Nicosia. Nicosia!!! The capital city of cyprus about a 100 km away from home. How on earth did we land there? It turned out that we had traversed the old- bylanes and old single lane highways that was perhaps in use in olden times before the super-expressway came into existence in modern cyprus. And what roads they were. Surrounded by plane lush green fields on both sides, wind in the air, rarely a car to honk and overtake, villages, churches.Amazing. We perhaps travelled through the interiors of mainland cyprus and not along the coastline.

We reached nicosia in about an hour, had food at mc-donalds and then was time to head home. This time we decided to remain sane and take the super-way back home. But finding that also was a journey of its own. We again got lost in the old lanes of nicosia and reached the UN military zone or no-man's  land. Surrounded by ruins of the old city of famagusta, the broken houses, the vandalized stores, the barbed fence and the big wooden gate separating the turkish part of cyprus from here. It was as if we travelled through time and re-lived that period of history.

Finally we managed to reach modern times and on the express way. In about an hour's time we reached back home and back to living our normal work-aholic lives.

That day was an experience in itself. Those 15 km would perhaps have never gotten longer had deva not been on reserve fuel in the start.

The road less travelled.

a 100 kms in the night

Wednesday, May 13

It was frustrating day but the night more than cheered me up.

A week ago, the night shifts had got over. It was back to day time sunlight working hours and how relieved i was to see the end of night shifts. But this day had plans to give nightmares in day-time. 

Me and my team (that is if we are allowed to call 2 ppl a team) were head-banging and  scratching our eyes out to fix some things up. Well we knew from the start that we are asking for trouble big-time since we were trying to make something work in linux when that thing was built for only and only for unix. So after billions and billions of changes here and there and everywhere, we got success and were so happy when things came crashing down all of a sudden. And what we were getting on the screen was a not so pleasant " http 404 not found ". Damn you http.

So after a very frustrating day, i decided to just forget abt the http and go to our "now regular joint" mc-donalds. I asked my friends if any of them would come or would want something but only sarvo, lalit and pradeep showed some interest. So we headed to mcdonalds, took the food and headed to lady's mile beach to enjoy there. We ate to our hearts content and then took off to home. Oh and while driving to lady's mile, pradeep got a bit-scared of my driving i dont know why. But i guess he will get used to it.

So i dropped off lalit and pradeep at their home and headed back when sarvo thought of " lets go and buy milk". For the confused reader, this phrase has kind of become a substitute to just go on a long drive which originated a couple of months ago. In our earlier days in cyprus, we would just head out actually to buy milk and stuff and would end up far away from our home searching for it and many times we returned home without any milk. Thus the phrase caught on and now we just go about buying milk every now and then.

Anyways, coming back on track, i was quite frustrated and thought why not go on a drive and have a good time since driving is one of the things i enjoy the most. So we reached the highway and instead of heading right towards nicosia which has been our route till now, we went left towards pafos. Initially driving with the intention of returing home soon, but then, we had a good chat, nice music in the background, the drive kept going longer and longer and longer. So i finally took an exit towards the aphrodite hills. Assuming the name would be the name of some hill, i headed where the sign-board directed only to land up in front of a resort. So we moved ahead and the next sign-board said secret valley to the right. Secret Valley!!!. What would be secret abt this valley and so we headed there. A narrow road wide enough for only 1 car, trees and small shrubs on both sides, pitch dark, not a sound, we moved on and on and the name of the place was sounding to make sense. It did seem like a secret place unexplored till now, but the end showed a big golf-course. Guess it was not that secret after all to have a huge golf-course.

And now, sarvo removed the gps to find an alternate old route back home. So we followed it, and this was the best part. The road leading back home had a small hilly terrain on the left and the deep blue (maybe should write black in the night) ocean in the night. And no other car traversing on this route. We headed on and on and stopped in a place. There we saw the moon and its sparkling reflection in the water. It was so over-whelming and the sound of the water hitting the rocks below, the sights of city lights in the distant dark, was all too good. We spent a couple of mins there, clicked some pics and headed back.

Then we came across a road leading to pissouri bay. We took that turn and there was no road there. Just a narrow stretch cleared of the trees being called a road. There we found ourselves in front of a beautiful, quiet beach. Sometimes just standing in places like these gives so much peace of mind and brings back that little smile which we yearn for.

After a good drive from there on we were back home in the civilized world. I never imagined the frustrating day would end so well at night. 

A 100 kms that ended my day in tranquility.

Election '09 - the votes that are'nt

May 03, 2009.

A lazysunday. Bored to the core of boredom that boredom was bored of me and vice-versa. Browsing through facebook, i came across this interesting topic which caused the grey cells in my brain to think about it. Think beyond the a-z of softwares and work and etc etc. So i here i go about it.

The point i came across was - voting in the general elections in india 09. What about the indians abroad ? This seemed a weird idea at first glance but on more thought, i wondered - why not. I am pretty sure there is no provision in the constitution for indians abroad to vote but that book was written 60 years ago. Why not introduce a change in it which has a definite possibility of doing something good for the counry ?

I am of the opinion that there are many reasons why such a thing should be implemented and soon. There are scores and scores of indians abroad. Indians in the form of students flocking in big numbers to pursue their dreams and higher education in the lands of uncle sam and many european nations as well. Indian workers working abroad in the countless organizations spread throughout the world. After seeing so many indians in this tiny island of cyprus which i had not even heard of before getting placed here, there is little doubt left in my mind that there is any country in this world without a sizeable number of legal indian migrants.

So why should'nt these indians (including me - lets call them nri's since that is also the official lingo and slang used to refer them) be allowed to cast their vote. People may say, we are NRI's, and we care less for india, we are'nt patriotic or that i presume is the general perception but thats not true and in no way can one generalize this opinion of all of us. I do like to believe many indians abroad do care about india and occassionally, do or atleast try to do their bit for her. The results are not always tangible for all to see. So why then arent they allowed to vote. In the current elections, i saw politicians and media urging each one to spare those 5 mins, go to the nearest voting station and exercise their franchise. But when i saw the voter turnout results of Bombay, which was being billed as the city of people eager to show their power by the ballot after the november carnage, i felt so pity and sorry. A mere what 40% or so turned out out of a million citizens. And i am also at fault in this. Not that because of being abroad i can escape, but i am sure had i been there, i also would have been among those 60% that enjoyed the holiday more.

And these turnouts have been more or less not even 50 % in major states or places. Except for some eastern states where it reached about 65%, it was the same story everywhere. And with no party gaining majority with or without alliances, it sure seems headed for a hung parliament. So then if the indians in india dont seem to care much, why not give the indians not in india a chance to make a miniscule difference.Surely with the technologically advanced country in terms of telecom and IT that we are, i am of the opinion that implementing such a system for nri's would not be a challenging technical hurdle atleast. We have millions of engg, the best software companies in the world, so its definitly an implementable system i feel. Morally also, some indians abroad may crib, that the country is not progressing and will never do so, but there is a small number having tremendous faith in india and her abilities to take on any damn challenge in this world.

The indians in india missed their chance. They didnt care much to use the power given to them. But what about the indians abroad. They werent even given a chance. Even if 1 nri out of every 100 votes sincerely, it will make a difference to india. Every year, the govt celebrates the pravasi bhartiya divas respecting noted nri personalities, politicians and state govts ask nris to fund projects in india. If all this, then why not the right to vote. Why not ask us to go to the nearest indian mission/consulate and press that all important button ? Why not allow us also to have a say in the largest democracy of the world ?

This year i missed my chance. But i make a promise to myself, that if i am in india in 2014, i will walk down to the voting station and let my vote be counted. If am i not, but my wish above comes true, i will go to the indian consulate and do the same. But if this does not happen and i am abroad, i will have nothing to do than sulk and probably rewrite this blog and wait till 2019.

The 'I' in NRI stands for INDIAN.

A different hospitality experience

April 25, 2009.

A lousy saturday full of boredom. Nothing much to do except browse the net, eat and just while our time away.
Was turning out into one of those boring wasted weekends till we experienced 2 diametrically opposite dining incidents that night.

We headed to Pafos, to dine in a south-indian restaurant Keralam. After 8 months being outside india, we were quite excited to taste south-indian food for the first time in cyprus. And so we 7 guys headed out in 2 cars to Pafos, a beautiful coastal city about 70 kms away from our home.

We reached there in about an hour. It looked a nice restaurant. Bollywood songs were playing and it created a good ambience. Then we glanced at the menu, though we had pretty much an idea of what we would be having.
But surprisingly there were very few south-indian dishes on the platter. Just 2 types of dosas and that would be it atleast for the veggies. There was only 1 guy in the restaurant. He was the owner and he himself would be taking the orders. So we called him and first ordered drinks. But when we asked for dosas, we were disappointed when he said that there was none that day. So we basically drove all the way down there to again have north-indian food which we could very well have just a km away from our home.

Anyways, so we ordered starters and were chit-chatting when accidentally, my friend broke the glass of lassi.
We did'nt bother about it much since we thought would settle the cost in the bill. But what came next was a rude shock. The owner who was also the waiter, came and swiped the broken glass, but he gave us a mouthful of words which we least expected. He said that we guys didnt have the manners to say sorry and where was our indian mannerisms. This coming from an indian himself was all the more pinching. We accidentally broke the glass and we unintentionally forgot to apologise. I dont say it's not our fault, but he was too quick to judge us.

This didnt go down well and so we cancelled the rest of the order and settled the bill. Even while leaving, we again tried to reason ourselve and explain that we didnt mean intentionally not to apologize and be brats and that he should be a little less judgemental. But then, neither did he listen, nor did we want to create a ruckus and actually be disrespecful and so we left.

We went on to satiate our hunger at another nearby indian restaurant Pappadam. The experience we had there was amazing. We were seated comfortably, had good food, with amazing hospitality shown by the staff there. And some of them were non-indians. We had a great time there. We had indian chutneys, moraba, and a plateful of papads on the table to start with. Then good north-indian stuff, nice ambience, nice music, all lightened our bad mood which were in. While leaving, they also gave us pan-pasand chocolates which was a very good surprise getting them in cyprus. All in all we had a great time there.

On that night, we had 2 diametrically opposite dining experiences. We returned home with a full stomach and a good happy mood.

2 wheels

March 20, 2009.

A friday when I had my first out-door project event. We went to limassol zoo and had a good time as a team. One of my team leads was selling his bicycle as he was heading back home to India in a few days. And i bought it for about 40 euros.

A nice red colored bicycle with gears. I think it has about 5 or 6 of them but who cares. Its fun to ride a bicycle on the streets of this city. This city is one of the ideal places for bicycle riders. Not much traffic on the roads, lots of by-lanes, beautiful beach road along the ocean, windy atmosphere. So much i started enjoying cycling that i now almost ride it everyday. Infact i now use this to commute to and from office instead of the car. For one thing, the cycle has atleast started giving some exercise to the body, otherwise in the comforts of the car, was getting more and more lazy. Cycling will surely help keep the body in shape to some extent.

Worth the purchase. Unknnowingly doing my part in the go-green eco-campaign and enjoying the ride as well.

a vagabond's drive

March 1, 2009.

After returning from the lovely carnival, I was immensely happy. So happy that i didnt want to while away the evening sitting at home and doing nothing. And what better thing to do which gives me more happiness and which i love doing. A long long drive !!!.

So i took out the car and without any destination in mind, headed on to the beach road. Nice music playing on, cool breeze, the evening sun set everything was simply beautiful. I took onto the old highway, cruising around at speed of about 100kmph. The was minimal traffic on this old highway going through lush green hills. I was driving with no worries, no fear, humming the music along in the cool breeze.

Driving and driving, i reached the city of Larnaca. Traversing around in my car, i reached the Larnaca Marina and beach. And the scenes there thrilled me more.

A carinval on the beach. People in all costumes and music playing around, scores of people strolling the beach area in the evening. I parked my car and went for a nice walk to soak in the festive spirit.

At the marina, there were plenty of mini tour-boats and yatch tied to the bay. Parallel to the beach were people enjoying the carnival. And for all the growling stomachs, there was Mcdonalds, pizza hut, kfc and humdreds more filling them and doing brisk business. I took a quick bite at KFC and resumed my walk.

After spending around half an hour, i was overjoyed. 2 carnivals in a day. Nothing more could i have asked for.
It was now time to head back home, a good 80 km drive back.

I returned from the same old highway, cruising and enjoying and simply happy. But perhaps something was destined to go wrong and so it happened. While on the beach road with a good amount of traffic, i got totally lost in the mood and a song, that i braked. A lil too late on that, and bumped into the car ahead. We both got down, the man got angry but good for me it was just a minor scratch or 2 on his car. And maybe he was also in a good mood from the carnival, that he forgave me and let go.

A had one of the best days in cyprus. And one of my most memorable drives. A vagabond's drive.

Celebration of life

March 1, 2009.

What a day it was!!! And what a carnival too!!!

Yes, a carnival. The carnival of Limassol. And not just any carnival. A carnival that changed some of my perspectives about life and i am so happy i was there at it.

On the sunny sunday afternoon, we went to see the carnival parade of the city. Vinay and Sameer picked up Punit and me from our home and we head towards the carnival location. A long stretch of the makarios road was barricaded and blocked for vehicles. After parking the car, we started walking along the path. There were scores and scores of people around. This was perhaps the first time we saw such a large gathering of people in cyprus.

People of all ages. Men and women, boys and girls, children and even lil' cute toddlers in their baby trams. And then they were people in fancy costumes. Costumes of superheroes, villains, jokers and clowns, fairies, cowboys and even some boys and men dressing up in girls' dresses. Young boys dressed up majorly in superhero costumes while pretty young girls in fairies and angels. Talking about popularity of superheroes, spiderman won the competition hands down. Spiderkids they should be called, jumping and playing around here and there.

Alongside, the pavement was full of vans selling ice-cream, snacks, pop-corn and candy floss. Then there were small temporary shops set up selling carnival stuff like hats, masks, party poopers and sprays. I bought a hat from one such shop. All along this vinay and punit were on the job clicking good pics of people in their costumes. The atmosphere was vibrant and filled with unlimited and unconditional joy and happiness.

And then the party began. The carnival parade started. Out came the tractors pulling a bunch of merry people singing songs and playing instruments. There were some dancing beautifully in sync with the tune. Then came a group of dancing funny jokers and clowns dressed in costumes that had almost all possile colours on it. Their faces painted not only with colors but with a beautiful vibrant smile as well. People watching alongside the barricade threw party poopers, spray, confetti, blew horns, whistle and also shook a leg in the music. They were happy to see the people in the carnival happy. They came not just to see the carnival, but be a part of it.

Moving on, besides the clowns, there were magicians, jugglers, kings, queens, cave-men, animals, dancers and what not. There was also a group of men dressed as ladies and dancing around. What followed was hilarious and a display of amazing imagination. A group of people dressed as policemen serving royally to cons. Wow!!!

The carnival was a best way to send across social messages. Some people were dressed as cigarettes and accompanying them were people standing with scissors effectively displaying how each puff reduces your life. Then there were people dressed in costumes depicting all religions co-existing together showing oneness in humanity. All for one and one for all. Also, there were groups displaying about our environment and how we need to care for it.

While indulging ourselves into the carnival mood, we did get hunger pranks and filled up ourselves at McDonalds and KFC.

All this celebration while the world is gripping each day with one of the worst economic crisis. The carnival and the people that came to see were too busy enjoying themselves to think about the crisis. This attitude of the locals did put me into some thought. Why and how can these people afford to be so happy and tension free in today's world ? Why would the authorities indulge in such a grand affair when it would cost them a bomb ?

The carnival gave me immense joy and happiness that day. But more than that, it changed how i look at certain things in life. Times are not good, there is no job security, we are living in the fear getting sacked or at best being repatriated back home to India. But so what if any of this were to come true. You would most likely change your job to progress, there is no security in any field, and most certainly there would come a time to head back home to family, to friends, to your motherland. These things are not certain in life and they will never be.

The question that played in my mind was that how important are these issues in my life. What will happen if i get sacked. This is not the only job in the world. Life is not the end of it. Well, of course having a good job with good steady income is something that perhaps we all want. But it certainly isnt the most important thing in my life.

That's something which i learnt from the carnival. I went there will a million worries in life but came back home happy and simply happy.

Life is too short to worry. Live your time. Live your life!

11 pm to 8 am

Feb 6, 2009

It was a new beginning. The beginning of my first night shift in amdocs. The time 11 pm to 8 am. I was excited about it. New project, new time everything seemed good. The first few days i kind of liked it. But as more days and nights passed by, my views had changed a little.

The night shift brought along with it many new experiences. There was no one around, only me and my colleague Pavan. No manager or any senior around. This in a way gave a completely new meaning to our freedom. We could listen to songs without the headphones, watch youtube, play online games and have a pretty good time. Of course along with we were continuing with our training as well. But then there was a flipside to this as well.

The office was very lonely in the night. No hustling bustling, no noise, no people hanging around each others desks. More than this, we also started to miss having lunch with friends, the gossips which followed after lunch, the mobile superiority complex between vinay and sarvo, sameer and his crushes, and of course guys how can i forget, your repeated and repeated advise of how to tie my shoe laces and the belt. I also started to miss the rumour mongering about the crisis and the constant discussion and debate about layoffs and things like that.

This night shift had its effects outside the office as well. I had to change my sleep patterns every alternate weekend while transiting from night to day shift and vice versa, which is definitly not something i enjoy doing.
Going home at 8 in the morning to find your friends getting ready to start their day while i was gettting ready to end mine and fall on the bed. Waking in the afternoon to find no one around in a big house, then worrying about what to eat, what to cook or get something from out. After somehow managing through lunch, then had to kill the rest of the day, which i would do by movies and games but somehow boredom and loneliness managed to creep in. As the night came by, then had to worry about dinner, whether to cook ( as it is my cooking skills and the list of dishes not something which i am proud of ). As 11 pm approached, my friends would come home after another day at the office while i would be going to start mine. How i wished my working hours would go back to daytime! But then, the times are not good and survival is necessary, for which compromises have to be made and that is exactly what i am doing.

Alone at day, alone at night.

a friend gone

January 29, 2009.

The day had come. The day when our friend Chintan would leave Cyprus and fly back home to India.

We all came to cyprus in september with big hopes and dreams and were very happy to see ourselves in such a good place professionally at such an early stage of life. We were so happy when we bought our own car, went around visiting cyprus, enjoying food at restaurants, the bowling games, and so many wonderful experiences. But all this was short lived. Life took us out of our dream world and brought the reality before us that there are two faces of it. It was time to experience the sorrowful part.

January 7 became a one of the night marish days in cyprus. The experiences of that day were painful to say the least. It became our friend Chintan's last working day in amdocs all without any prior intimation or knowledge. The news sent shivers down my spine and felt so bad for him. We all were left shell shocked with what had happened in a span of few minutes.

We all tried to cheer him up and tried to show the positive side of life. But on an honest note, the way Chintan handled the situation with so much maturity, hats off to him. Probably somone else might have broken down, but he showed a tremendous amount of maturity and courage to face the situation for which i respect him.

The next few days we all spent together knowing that soon Chintan will not be with us in cyprus. We went out for few nights to bowling, to dinner, to the beach and spent the last few days with him in as happy a way as we could.

On the night of 28th Jan, we all went out for dinner and then we shared our experiences with Chintan at our home. At about midnight, the others left , punit and sarvoday went to sleep. It was Chintan and me.

We sat throughtout the whole night till morning talking sharing the few days we spent together.

The 4 months from September to January had not made us good friends. That night sure did.

The next day, we went to the airport to be with Chintan in his last few minutes with us here. The moment when he left us and the drive back from the airport to office was painful. But such is life.

A friend had gone. A good friend.

Instant Khichdi

January 7, 2009.

It was another day at the office. Had become a daily routine from going in the morning and working till evening. That day i returned home before punit and sarvoday. And after a long day at work, empty stomach was growling. Apart from a few biscuits and chips, there was nothing ready or cooked to eat. And i did not know how to cook anything. Well almost anything.

I thought to go out to McDonalds have a burger and milk shake and that would be for dinner. An easy way out but something compelled me to make a start. A start towards cooking. The idea seemed scary as it would in most likelihood be wastage of time and resources. But a couple of days before my friend and room mate sarvoday had taught me to cook khichdi (also called tahiri in his native place). I still am unable to fathom why does he call it khichdi when infact it is so different from the simple khichdi what i know. This khichdi of sarvoday when he cooked it first time, it was totally different from what i was expecting and so good. Nice orange colored rice with peas, carrots, potatoes and spices.Since then the new khichdi has almost become a kind of staple diet.

Continuing with that evening, i recalled the khichdi lessons of sarvoday. The problem was that day, sarvoday had prepared the khichdi and i was just a spectator, a kind of theoretical lesson. And on that evening, i was alone with no one to guide or correct me. Well there had to be a first time and that day it was. I took out some rice kept it in water and in the meanwhile cut potatoes and carrots.

Now came the most difficult part. The process called " chokhna " sorry guys, could not find a fitting english word for it. This chokhna involved adding oil, jeera, spices, salt in the right proportion and cooking for the right amount of time to avoid burning. So i started this task adding all the ingredients and vegetables and mixing them thoroughly and voila, my good luck the color and smell seemed good.Then added the rice and after about 40 mins my first dish was ready. In between those 40 mins, i had opened the cooker 3 times just to see how things were looking or better put it cooking.

After about 90 mins from the start, the khichdi was ready. Now was the time to test or taste it. I had the first spoon of it and was pretty satisfied with what i had prepared. Had a plateful of it and then went to sleep. Sarvoday and Punit came later in the night and they were also pretty surprised with what they saw on the dining table. In the morning when i woke up and went to the kitchen and opened the cooker, it was almost empty. I also had a glance at the garbage bin just incase. But that was also empty. So i presume they liked it and ate it.

It was a good start towards cooking. The khichdi took double the time what sarvoday takes for the same. But none the less, it was satisfying in the end. 1 dish done. Lets see what's next on the menu.

200 km for a stamp

December 29,

After a long 5 day vacation, it was time for work again. In the holidays, we had gone to Troodos enjoyed the snow out there, then went to Turkish cyprus. In the turkish cyprus we were amazed to see the castle, mountains, beaches. We returned from turkish cyprus on 27 December night. We never would have thought we would have to go back to the border back in 2 days.

While returning from the turkish cyprus, at the border we stopped our car. Slowly we proceeded towards the southern cyprus but we were not stopped by any police. We exited from there virtually unnoticed. Next morning we found out that we were supposed to have an exit stamp on our visa which we did not have. We were in a way illegally staying in turkish cyprus.

This beacme a bit of bother and worry for us. Even though turkish cyprus is not recognized by any international community we thought it may create some problems in future. We consulted police and seniors and then on 29 Dec evening at 9 pm we decided to head back to the turkish cyprus border and sort things out.

Devashish and Sarvoday accompanied vinay punit and myself just in case we 3 would be troubled. Vinay and punit left in 1 car and deva sarvo and myself left in mine and head towards the border. After about an hours drive, we reahced the border. Vinay and punit had reached before us and they had sorted things out. The police there did not trouble us much and all the formalities were done though we were warned to be careful next time and that we would not be lucky again.

We then headed for a restaurant and after filling our stomach, me and deva left in my car with the others in vinays car. I was very much relieved that the things were sorted out. While returning we all were very tired and wanted to reach home as soon as we could since next day we had to go to work. So with no more tension in my mind, i stepped on the gas reached the highway and drove consistently over 130-140 kmph. At one particular downslope, i managed to take the car to 175 kmph. The 100 km highway to home was covered in around 35 to 40 mins flat.

The exit stamp on our visa took 2 mins. All this would not have happened had the police on the border been more vigilant. For no fault of ours we had to go travel 200 km to clear things out.

Drove 200 km in 3 hours but gained peace of mind.