Chapter # 30

Yes I am a proud Tricenarian now. Proud? What can I substitute that with? When the whole wide bad world is conspiring against you and doesn't leave any stone unturned to make you realise that you have 'touched' the 'hussshhh-he's thirty' age, why should I not reveal it myself :) Its not that I am the only guy in my generation to have turned 30. More than three quarters of my friend circle will be knocking on the forbidden doors this year. Some already have but are hiding behind their falsified birth certificates. Some are leading their lives under the misguided notion that they are not going to hit 30 at any point in their life !!!

I was spared from ordeal of tasting out the ingredients of a chicken mughlai or a paneer butter masala dish this time around . It was a subdued welcome, the way I like it to be. Browsing for birthday quotes made me stumble on this piece of enlightening information : "The 30th birthday is special. You are now officially a mature and responsible adult who has the necessary wisdom to make important decisions in life. The 30th birthday heralds your adult status with measured indulgence." That is some wordly wise information.

Having crossed the dotted line comes with its own share of woes
- I cannot make it to the TOI's list of under-30 billionaires..
- or the list of under-30 entrepreneurs
- will be filtered out in those groom searches
- the list of 'should-not-be-done' things just keeps getting longer

I am not as freaked out as in this

I had started with French lessons a year back. Never bothered to complete it. Now I have joined Kannada classes in my organization. I hope to atleast understand it to an extent after the mandatory 15 classes unlike the French class which was self taught (courtesy Ms Elizabeth in the CD).

Staying true to the pattern I followed in my previous birthday posts (2008 and 2007), let me sign off with a few lines from the song 'Time' (Pink Floyd)

And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun

And you run and you run to catch up with the sun, but it's sinking
Racing around to come up behind you again
The sun is the same in a relative way, but you're older
Shorter of breath and one day closer to death

Every year is getting shorter, never seem to find the time
Plans that either come to naught or half a page of scribbled lines
Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way
The time is gone, the song is over, thought I'd something more to say

picking up the bits.

Life's crawling back to normal. It is always a pain when you move to a place and you have to start things all over again. I envy my friends who have their families in B'lore. Though moving with my 'boriya bistar' is not something new, having gone through the cycle a lot in the past 10 years Balasore->Calicut->Blore->Pune->Blore->Columbus->Blore->Chennai->Blore->Milwaukee->Blore->Milwaukee->Blore. Been spending a lot ever since I landed. I don't want to be the cause of ICICI's increased revenues this quarter.

One thing I absolutely love to watch on TV, amidst the IPL and the General Elections, are the Vodafone ads. These guys come up with the most creative ads. It started with the pug being featured in their earlier ads and now they have this character named ZooZoos. The ads are witty, catchy and quite simple at that. No garish sets, no stars and its amazing that the characters are human beings in body outfits. The first impression one gets is that the characters are animated. These commercials bear the mark of great ingenuity. Almost every match of the IPL features a new ad and more than the match I am always curious to know what the next ad is. All the ads till date can be found on the Vodafone site. I have downloaded it onto my Ipod touch. :)

I have always liked the ads back home compared to the boring insensible ads in the United States. And the products themselves. The Indian consumer is often spoilt for choice. The other day I was hunting for a toothpaste at the neighborhood departmental store. Of the many varieties of brands on display, the Luscious Lychee Close up toothpaste caught my eye. I promptly picked it up (Lychee is one of my favorite fruits btw). I wasn't surprised to see ants make a beeline near my toiletries this morning. Whoever came up with the thought of fruit flavored toothpaste!! The good old white colored toothpaste is a thing of the past. I r'mber the dull orange colored toothpaste named Forhan's from my childhood days. I don't see them anymore though. The past few years have ushered in novel changes like the toothpaste with salt, toothpaste with tiny goofy particles floating in it, oxygen, iron and what not.

I will be hitting a significant milestone in a couple of weeks so I decided to gift myself a fancy bean bag!! I am an impulsive buyer and was actually scouting for a garden chair so that I could make full use of the large balcony in front of my house when this thing caught my eye. It was a costly one to buy from a showroom near the Forum mall but then heck, its a gift !!

Why put a price tag to it ?

Now this milestone also made me realize that I am not a 'bhaiya' to certain age groups any more. I am now an UNCLE !!! I was okay with the children in my extended family and the tiny tots in neighborhood calling me 'uncle' but when 16-18 year old's start calling you that, you know they have hit where it hurts most!! I was trying to strike up a 'youthful' conversation with my landlord's 18 year son when he remarked 'Uncle, I gotta leave'. How can I not give him some wordlywise advice since he had already accorded me an esteemed status. I said 'Beta, you should be concentrating on your studies, do well , be something in life and yada yada..'.

News about job losses and divorces abound in these times . A friend had a double whammy when the person lost the job and got divorced. I keep getting these shocking news every now and then. Its scary to even think about it.

the travel back..

When you travel, you always expect wonderful things to happen which translates to 'Have a pleasant flight, chat up with beautiful people, be relaxed and stress free'.
Did I expect all this? No. Period.
The way things have shaped up this year, I thought I had been through enough but then there is no limit to the number of chillies you can put in a dish to make it 'hotter' and make some one's life miserable and so it was for me. When people fly back, they usually have a relaxed work week, take time off from work, complete the shopping, visit friends and places and be nostalgic about 'those' times.
Did I expect all this ? No. Period.

After the end of another hectic week, I just wanted to pack my bags and leave but work kept me glued to my laptop till the end which is when I excused myself 'I have an international flight to catch in 3 hours, I better get going'

6 pm : I reached Milwaukee airport only to find that the flight to Chicago had been delayed. After 1.5 hours, they cancelled the flight and put me on a bus to Chicago. With 2 hours left for the Chicago-Blore flight, I had braced myself to take the flight the next day.

9.15 pm : The bus dropped me at the domestic terminal in Chicago. I requested the driver to drop me at the international terminal but all I got was ' We cannot go there'. With 30 mins to board the flight at Chicago, I did not have an option to argue. I rushed with my two 60 pounders along with my laptop bag and cabin baggage on a trolley to the airport transit which would have dropped me to the international terminal.

When I was about to enter the train I saw the sign ' No carts allowed on train'. Now I am wary of breaking a rule in United States. You don't want to do a stupid thing when you are about to leave the country. I hurried back to the airline counter.

Enroute I met an Indian official at the airport. I explained my situation to him and asked for help as I had enough luggage to be dragging it myself. The thing wit approaching certain Indians in foreign countries for help is that they give a shit about your troubles. They have this 'oh-look-at-the-Indian-approaching-me-and-I-will-act-aloof' look on their face. The response I got from that son of a gun was ' I can't help, nobody will help, you need to take the train to the international terminal and since they don't allow carts/trolleys on the train, you need to carry the luggage in and then take it out'. 'Thanks for the gracious help laced with preposterous advice'. How on earth can someone expect a man to drag all the luggage into the train in 15 secs(the time the doors remain open). Cursing him for not helping out a fellow Indian, I ran towards the airport transit

9.25 pm : I entered an elevator, the doors closed, I pressed the button which would take me to the station and I waited for an eternity. The elevator moved a bit and then stopped. I was stuck between two floors. The damn ting wouldn't move!!! I frantically pressed all the buttons but in vain. I kept pushing the 'alarm' button for a good ten minutes. That area isn't frequented especially after 9 pm. I gave up all hope and sat on the floor looking at my watch, the two hands ticking away. Nasty thoughts cross your mind when you are in that state. I was plotting my survival strategy in case there was no help till morning. I had a box of Godiva chocolates and other candies which was a comforting thought. It pays to take chocolates for your relatives/friends back home.

9.40 pm : After a good 15 minutes, the elevator moved. Help came in the form of a janitor who happened to be around. Thanking him profusely, I requested him to help me out with the baggage. There was another airport official standing there and he allowed me to take the cart into the train and accompanied me to the international terminal.

Reached the terminal, thanked both the gentlemen for helping me out.Rushed to the terminal when the lady behind the counter remarked 'No more check in's after this'. Tired and exhausted I waited at the terminal to get into the flight. My friends had heaped praised on this flight and the inflight services and of course the gorgeous air hostesses but..... did I say I was having a wonderful day so far?

The flight was one relic from the early annals of aviation history. It jumped and bumped, swerved and tilted mid air and all I could do was to sit tight and hope that the flight landed safely. The inflight entertainment system was a mess and have the ladies stopped joining the air hostess academy?

On reaching Blore, I was told that my baggage was misplaced and it would arrive the next day. I just wanted to reach home and crash and crash I did. I made up for all those sleepless nights in the past 6 months.

Life's back to where it was 16 months back.

change of seasons..

The onset of the new year has brought in some sweeping changes in my life or rather the last few months of the year gone by and the new year have been a torture. While these may seem absolutely normal to some , it isn't for me at least. So thought of documenting this for posterity. Also I have come across a tag which had to do with describing queer things about yourself so writing it up in one lengthy post :)

- I realised that I have logged on to my office network everyday since November 1st 2008. Not just for the kicks but to do some WORK. Come what may, the weekends, the Thanksgiving holidays, Christmas breaks, I have been 'working' all along. 18-20 hours a week everyday for the past 3 months, barely managing 3-5 hours of sleep has wrecked my system. Contrary to the notion that only 'desis' go through this ordeal, my 'firang' counterparts have also been slogging it out. Our meetings usually begin with 'So how many hours did you manage to sleep yesterday ?'

I know that people go through this grind in a B-school, but then you get great results for the work that you put in. What do I get ? No monetary benefits. No recognition from your employer though they always have the cliched 'You have been doing a great job but there are others who have done a better job' !! I have never been able to figure out what 'others' do that I don't do. I don't know why am I putting in these many hours. Losing my sleep, my personal life. All for what? The only comforting factor is, at least my teammates and people with whom I work with, always have some encouraging words for me. Someone from one of the numerous teams I interact with, remarked the other day 'how do you motivate yourself to work this way'. I guess I have become too impassive to even think about motivating myself. Nothing less than a zombie...and the irony is, I used to strictly advocate the good 'work-life balance' concept.

- How often do you find people making fun of those who care to eat breakfast!! Yea right. Since my engineering days, I have seen my friends exclaim in wonderment 'see he eats breakfast !!! '. As if it was a cool thing to skip the most important meal of the day. I, for one, never missed eating breakfast when I had a chance. I used to help myself to a bowl of corn flakes, or a cereal bar or omelette or anything but I used to eat breakfast before I left for office. Ha..those days are well past. I have been skipping my breakfast for quite some time now. A normal thing for some but definitely a big change in my way of living !!!!!

- Off-late I have developed a liking for Double Fudge Brownie Ice cream. I don't usually have a craving for ice creams. I used to have it only when I accompanied friends, mostly at these two places ,Tom n Jerry Ice cream Parlor in Calicut and Corner House in Bangalore. Else I was content with eating the ice cream served with the buffet. But this particular ice cream is THE ice cream to have. A friend and his wife had brought this once and I have been in love with it ever since. Two scoops from a bucket and a couple of teaspoons of honey and you will see me licking away with childish abandon.

- When I came to the States, I used to hate the decaf coffee served here. Indian style coffee was all I wanted. Having been through the life cycle of the 'coffee process' right from plucking the coffee cherries to roasting it and grinding it , I have learnt to love/hate different types of coffee. Nah I am no expert in coffee tasting. But again, in line with the changes, I have started liking the 'American coffee' and it has become a ritual to grab one on my way to my cubicle. And no, it does not have to do anything with the girl behind the counter.

I am so looking forward to the break I am planning to have in a month, hopefully. I will be catching up on all the sleep. A week wouldn't be enough. Its 4.13 am on a Monday morning. So its a 2 hr sleep for today.

wherever I may roam

Another year goes by. I usually adopt a quiet, sedate approach while welcoming the New year. In the past 5 years, I have either slept through the New Year's night a couple of times only to be woken up by frenzied calls and messages from relatives and friends, or watched the celebrations unwind on the telly. Yes it is boring but then on many occasions, I have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. So this year when my pals asked me to accompany them to a discotheque, my instinctive reaction was a 'NO' (as always), but then eventually succumbed to the lure of actually partying on a New Year's eve after so many years !!!

So off we went , hoping to paint the town red in the sub zero temperatures. Walked around 8 blocks to a club. The ethereal lights and swaying figures behind the glass facades of the club convinced us that this was the 'place-to-be' on that night. After being stopped at the gates for not having bought the entry tickets in advance, we were asked to stand in the line and wait for our turn ,in short, we were left at the mercy of the bouncer/gatekeeper(whatever!) . We would have turned around had it not been for a bevy of gorgeous beauties who swarmed out from their limousines and cabs. The decision was unanimous. We had to get in somehow and have fun ( which in other words translates to 'get in, stand in a group and watch others dance' !!!). We were made to stand in the biting cold (-16 C) for 40 whole minutes, while some groups with ladies managed to get an entry and other men bribed their way in!!! My friend made remarks about how the person at the entrance was being a racist..n lo..that seemed to have worked as he had pity on us and let us in. After being in a near frozen state, it sure was comforting to be in. As the countdown started, people started hugging and kissing each other while we gulped down a drink and yelled 'Happy New Year'

Not one post goes without me referencing anything about the crisis. Not my fault. Every time I write, something new comes up. After the news about one country going bankrupt sometime back (yeah!!), a German millionaire committing suicide, comes another shocking revelation about one of India's leading software services provider. It's time some good news started to come in.

The one thing that will remain etched in my memory is the Metallica concert I attended couple of days back. After IronMaiden, this was one concert I was looking forward to and boy it was an amazing experience. Even after 30 odd years, the raw energy in their performances is something worth watching. The atmosphere in the arena more than compensated for the frigid sub zero temperatures outside as they dished out classics like 'Wherever I may roam','Enter Sandman', 'Nothing Else matters','Sad but true' etc alongwith songs from their new album 'Death Magnetic'. Now I can add Metallica to my impressive list of 'Concerts attended' which includes IronMaiden, Aerosmith, Nickelback, Rush, 3 Doors Down, Stone temple Pilots, Def Leppard :)

Talking about temperatures, the meter tanked 30 degrees below zero today!!! Its not cold its COLDDDDD. The coldest day in 13 years!!!I did a quick endurance test on my self by trying to venture outside, (was going across the street to another building) clad in a sweater and I couldn't bear the freezing temperatures for more than 20 secs. The walk to the office and back is a struggle against all odds.