“What Crap!!”……. was lying on my bed on a Saturday morning..

 ‘who the F is banging on the door on a Saturday morning’, I mused..

 I stood up… rubbing my eyes… walked upto the door… opened it…

 “Hello”

 I looked down… and saw a short old lady standing at my door smiling at me…

 I tried my best to respond in a same tone… “Hii”… with a forced smile…

 “Son, I stay in the apartment right above yours. I wanted to discuss with you something…”… I guess I heard this

 only … was too sleepy to pay attention…

 Still… I replied, “ok…”

 “Can I come inside…?”, she asked

 “Yep… sure…”, I led her to the drawing room which was obviously – messed up (being a bachelor’s apartment).

 She looked at the sofa… bent a bit… held the side of the sofa… other hand on the seat… her legs and arms trembling…

 and she finally bent further and sat down..

 Well… that for sure opened my eyes…

 “Son, I am an old woman, so I am sorry if I am bothering you at this time of the day.”, she smiled.

 “No problems aunty. Please tell me”, I said

 “Son, I came to know from neighbours that you work in some computer related stuff. I was having a problem in

 sending an e-mail. I am new to this. I have never worked in this thing. So I thought, if you can help me”, said the

 old woman smiling…

 ‘What the F. The production support which I do in my company was already on my nerves. And now this lady comes at

 this time of the day and asks to repair her computer. Sending a Mail!!!!!!...’, I mused

 “Sure”…  ‘I don’t have an option’… latter half was not audible... I hope…

 I went back to bedroom… pulled my towel underneath the pile of clothes… cursing my fate… went to bathroom… washed

 my face… came out… and what I see…

 Her smiling face…!!!

 “Lets go aunty”, I said…

 The alley outside my apartment was not broad enough… and her baby steps assured that I walk the snail’s speed till

 I get bored to death…

 “It is such a beautiful morning… Sun’s out… cool breeze… perfect time to go and do some jogging…  … …”, she went

 on… every statement of hers was followed by ‘yaa’ from my side…

 Anyway… we reached…

 I entered…

 It was silent…

 … I heard something… I guess it was my heartbeat…

 I heard her breathing…

 She looked at my feet and said “You can take out your slippers over there…”

 ‘Hmm… cleanliness freak!!’

 I took out my slippers… went inside.

 It was one of the most beautiful drawing rooms I have ever seen.

 “Nobody at home?”, I asked her

 “I live alone, son”, smiled the old woman.

 ‘Alone, it was so difficult for me to believe that. This old lady who even found it difficult to sit on a sofa… had

 such a beautiful drawing room.’

 “There it is, my headache”, she pointed towards the laptop on the desk.

 ‘Koool….. log in… send a mail for her… and run back to bed…’

 I switched on the laptop… asked her the login id and pass and opened the outlook…

 “Well … my son bought me this laptop. He is such a sweet boy…”, she smiled

 I smiled back… concentrating on the screen.

 “He came … gave me the laptop… connected everything for me… the internet… I don’t know what it does… how it helps…

 but he told me using internet I can see the world… he taught me how to send the mail… how to receive it… how to

 make an email… how to start the computer… how to shut the computer down…”…. Second round…!! she went on and on…

 I smiled back…

 “So what is the problem, aunty”,  I said pointing towards outlook.

 She looked at the screen. Her eyes almost closed with the radiations from the pc.

 “I … I used to send mail…”….

 “I don’t know where I can find the mail which I sent….”, she said

 “In the Sent mails probably…”, I replied…

 “Ahhh… Where’s that…??”, she asked…

 I took the mouse from her… “Give it to me aunty!!”

 I went to Sent Items and showed her the sent mails.

 “Aunty, are these the ones you sent?”, I asked

 She touched the screen…. clapped her hands in jubilation… “ohh yesss... wonderful…. here they are…!!!.... they got

 stuck here… that’s why they did not reach him” , she smiled as a child.

 I was confused but I guess I understood her ignorance.

 “Aunty, If you see the mails in this folder which is ‘Sent Items’, this means… that the mails have been sent.”, I

 said.

 “Ohh… You mean… the mails are already sent to him!!”, she asked

 I saw the screen. Saw the name to which the mail was sent.

 “Ya… Aunty. The mail has been sent to Ashwin Tyagi”…”Who is he?”, I asked.

 “He is my sweeet son… I call him Ashu”, she smiled.

 “Hmm…”

 “Aunty, Why did you think that the mail was not sent?”, I asked.

 “Son, Ashu told me that if we click on the receive button, we receive emails. So I used to send a mail. Then I used

 to click on Receive. And I used to find no e-mail. I again used to send one. I clicked on receive. I found no

 e-mail. I have been doing this past 5 months. I guess you are mistaken. There is surely some problem”, she said.

 My heart skipped a beat.

 5 months!!

 I opened the Sent Items again.

 My sleepy eyes missed the long list of e-mails sent to Ashwin when I saw it the first time.

 ‘Beta Ashu…. How are you… ? I hope you are fine. I am missing you so much. Come home some time.’

 ‘Beta Ashu… did you get my previous mail? I did not get your reply…’

 ‘Beta Ashu… I understand you will be busy with your work… don’t worry… reply whenever you are free’

 ‘Beta Ashu… I thought I will mail you… I am doing good… I have made kheer for you. Do come’

 ‘Beta Ashu… yesterday I had some pain in my neck… now it is fine… I applied jhandu balm.’

 ……

 ….

 ..

 List was endless…

 And painful

 Was it the radiation from pc or was it something else in my eyes…!!

 Last email with the same ID was –

 ‘This is the test mail’

 Swallowing what I saw, “Aunty”, opening the last mail, “Who sent this mail?”

 “Ohh… this mail was sent by Ashu only to show me how to send the mail”, smiled the old woman.

 I did not know how to react… when she spoke

 “I know there is some problem with the computer. I am sure. He called me a month back. He was in a meeting. So I

 could not ask him”

 “He works for a big company…. Earns a lot now. I am so proud of him”, she smiled.

 I did not want to. But I did say – “You should be aunty…”

 “Yess…”, she said with her charismatic smile … “He is such a grown up now… so responsible… he is married to a

 beautiful girl who used to be his classmate. Now he has one boy and one girl…”, she smiled and said like a child…

 “Both used to work out of town, so they shifted over there 3 years back. He used to call me earlier, but then he

 got busy… so we could not talk much. My ears started giving me some problem and I was not able to listen to him on

 phone, so he gave me this laptop.”, she said.

 I was still… I was listening to her… and was watching her smile which was excited by the thought of her son.

 “So, can you fix this son?”, she asked

 I did not want to say that it is working fine.

 I didn’t have an answer better than this - “Aunty, I guess, the send button is working fine but the receive button

 is not working. So Ashu is getting your mail but he does not know that you are not getting his mail. But I don’t

 know how to fix it.”

 “ohh…”, she looked a bit sad.

 I was silent.

 All I could do.

 “…. Can you do me one more favour?”, she asked

 “Sure aunty… sure”, I said. If I could do anything today for her!!

 “It is very irritating for me to type. Hitting those buttons! It takes me ages to find the characters. If Send

 thing is working, I want to send one last mail to my son. Can you type one last mail for me?”, she smiled.

 I had no option. Yet again. But this time I guess I wanted to do it. I wanted to relieve her from this expectation

 of receiving a mail.

 “Sure aunty, tell me what should I type”, I opened a new mail.

 “Type…”

 “Beta Ashu… This is my neighbour typing from my pc…”

 “There seemed to be some problem in sending mails. So I called him to help me.”

 “He also works for a big company like you.”

 “He found the problem but he does not know how to fix it.”

 “The problem is that send button is working fine… but the receive button is not working. Hence, I am not able to

 receive your mails when I click on the receive button.”

 “Beta, it has been 5 months. Please come and meet me. I am missing you so much.”

 “I do not want this laptop. I do not want to see the world in internet.”

 “I want to see you.”

 “Come home.”

 “Your mother…”

 I typed the last words…

 I gasped and turned towards her…

 I guess I saw tears in her eyes … with the same smile…

 She wiped her eyes… smiled “Yess….please send the mail”

 I clicked on send.

 She stood up. Turned around. Went to the bedroom.

 I guess I heard her crying.

 I felt lonely…

 She came. Hurried towards the kitchen.

 “Do you love kheer??”, she asked.

 I smiled… with the tears which just didn’t go “Yes aunty…”

 From the refrigerator she took out the bowl and gave it to me.

 “Have this. I made it with my own hands…”, she smiled.

 I took the bowl from her. And I saw my hands were trembling.

 “Thanks Aunty… Thanks a lot”, I said.

 “Thank you Beta. I am so sorry… that I disturbed you this morning”, she said.

 A ‘tear-let’ fell from my eyes. But I guess I did well in hiding it.

 “No Aunty… Please don’t say so… do let me know whenever you need me”, I said.

 “Thanks beta”, she said.

 I put on my slippers. Went outside. “Bye Aunty”, I said.

 “Bye Beta”, I saw the last look on her face which saw the loneliness that was going to come.

 She closed the door.

 I stopped at the stairs.

 I cried for the lady who “sent” her love many a times… but did not “receive” anything in return…

"ur Parents expectations are not ur money... they want ur love.."

ya... as the subject line indicates, it has been really quite a looong time since there was any post here..

just was thinking what made me to be away from writing/posting? there were quite few reasons which flashed. First one being, little more iron at the back in work and i dont complain on this one, caz i really luv it ;).

Then comes the question of, what about the time spent at home after work hours? mmm.. this has been recently filled with the small small games in FB like Farmville, Cafe World, etc and other usual browsing stuff. once finished with this, or during doing these itself, i go to bed.

So, what about weekends/holidays, and recently there were lot of long weekends too? ya.. agreed.. but on almost ALL weekends, i somehow was away from the internet or even away from my Xappy. And missed my GF2 for some time too... :( Most of them were going out for trips, where even mobiles are not useful, other than to keep alarm. And one more sad part is, my GF1 has some troubles, well, not with me though. It has become too much sensitive that, even if i touch at any part of her, it considers it as my acceptance, and it accepts too.. (and its always a trouble when you think of something and your GF assumes some other thing u kno..) Apart from these two things, one very happy part was/is, my GF3 is absolutely at her best... soo nice to handle, and i'm spending most of my time with her on these holidays.. little relief on this part, and its good too...

And after all these thing, one major component for this loong time break was Laziness... caz there are lots of post still in draft stage, and me not able to complete those.. which mostly is attributed to my laziness or lack of interest (very little tho..) or change in my view/opinion which contradicts those in the drafts.. will try to post them, try my best, as i cant assure you of all those being promoted to be public post. sometimes, its good for them to be in draft, than as a post...

Whatever it is, will try to make this blog, back as lively as ever.. happy reading and happy blogging too...

i rushed out of my office, not to see my GF (since there is none like that), not to see any of my waiting friends, not to catch bus, not to go to movie, not to buy anything. All that rush, is just to go home. Being in afternoon shift, starting to home so early from office is very strange one. honestly, it has never happened till now for me. So, to answer what made me to rush to home that early, All to get more SLEEP. Having watched "Air Crash Investigation" Program in NGC, and having it as one of my fav program, i'll now try to put in the cause, how the events happened and the solution for it.

It all started with the journey from madurai to bangalore, last sunday night. As usual, I boarded a local Govt. Bus from madurai to Hosur. Which is around 10 hours of travel. I was happy that i got a window seat and i can keep the windows open all thru the journey. But the problem was with the seat itself. Somehow i feel like, the ergonomics of the seat in Govt. buses were done solely for the purpose of injecting pain to your body. And it happened so for me too. I realised the pain, only when i reached bangalore and lied down for an hour at home. When i got up to get ready to office on monday morning, its was a hell of pain on neck, spine and back. But, it was ok. nothing like serious one, to apply leave and take rest. i didnt have any problem in goin to office.

Then comes the second event, Programming. Wondering what does programming had to do with this. Actually, I started programming again after 3 years of gap, during which there is not even any incident for me to do programming at all. So, its sooo tough to start it again. Though this time its Programming in Flash ActionScript, which i love the most, because of the lack of touch, it was very very difficult for me to get into that programming mode. I needed extreme concentration and complete dedication on that, to atleast get myself into that programming mode, which is almost impossible during office hours, as there is tons of distractions gauranteed for me, since in Support Team. So, i had to pull myself into doing it in nights also. So, little sleep over the last few nights, because of this back to programming part.

These two are two seperate events, neither of which is so harmful enough. Caz, i have done both these things, many number of times. Its something similar to that of "Tacoma Narrows Bridge" Collapse in 1940. These two events are not harmful, till that resonance frequency. But, that resonance happened for me at 5pm yesterday. That pain gets solved if i take rest for enough hours, which was held out by that programming. The pain was still there for last few days, growing day by day, hour by hour. So, yesterday decided that, no matter what, i'm goin to take rest for some loong time, ie sleep for more hours, so that i can get out of this stupid pain part. And having planned for a Jungle camp this weekend, its so vital for me to get out of that, as early as possible. Hence, yesterday i rushed from office at 5pm, didnt bother to waste time in walking and catching bus, took auto and reached home at 5.30, since not much of traffic at that time, just changed my dress, and direct to bed. Had a 12 hours of non-stop sleep, after very loong time, and now i'm back to form, no pain, no tiredness. yahooooooooooo... And, will try to get prepared for this, if this kind-of thing happens any time in future. hopefully it wont.

Note: No blaming or pointing fingers at anyone. there is no one to blame, other than me, Always.

Ginger Lemon - My Most Fav @ Silver Metro, Bangalore

The Orang'i'e Duo!!!

Where's ReD????

Yellow Yellow - Good Fellow!!!! ;)

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If you have asked me, "Which is my fav shopping complex/mall in bangalore?", it would have been Forum or Garuda Mall, before this Oasis Mall opened (an year back i think). From then, the answer from me always is, Oasis Mall. Where is this? This is located near the Sony World Signal in Koramangala, right on the way which i travel daily to work. What all is there? Ground floor - its totally dedicated for Women, from beautful dresses to all new top brand Perfumes and specs, you get everything there for Women. First Floor - for kids and Men's wear. Second Floor - Furniture and other household items. All these three levels belong to LifeStyle. Also there is Max showroom in the ground floor, in the MLCP (Multi-Level Car Parking) Buiilding (behind the main building). Third Floor - Completely for SPAR (i dont have to tell what all you get in SPAR). Fourth Floor - Polynation : The food court which is open till 11:30pm and gaming zone for kids.

On 16th of June, i completed my 3ree years as a Professional in IT industry.

That was the date when i joined one of the leading services company, Cognizant Technology Services. I was put into Mainframe Domain. My first thoughts on knowing that was, 'not at all good', caz i can see people from Civil background put into Java/DotNet/etc. But me, who has atleast little knowledge in those technologies, was forced to Mainframe. First two months were completely dedicated to training in Cognizant Academy, Siruseri (it was then still partly constructed site) in chennai. But as the training proceeded in MF020 (thats actually our Training Batch Name... missing those days guys), with fun-fun-fun-learning-exams, it all looked superb. Those COBOL, VSAM, SECTION, DB2, etc, etc (i dont remember much of those now :( ), were so much exciting. We had full fun in those 2wo months together. Cannot forget those GoldMiner, WordGame, Operation US, Outing, cultural event, all evergreen moments. Then one month into the MetLife Maintenance Project, where i was pretty much like being-in-an-unknow-territory. All those Abends, Lotus Notes, One COBOL Program, Onsite Call, and little discussion about the new expected Enhancement Project on our Domain, was really having fun at Navalur. Though its not too many years passed, i can manage to remember that N7 bus which i always board from Saidapet. It was nice until i got a call from Oracle Business Accelerators Group, where now i'm, as An Applications Database Administrator, where its toooooo good. Believe me when i say, Its too much fun out here. And hoping to continue the fun for years to come.

Got lot of new good friends in both the firms in this little short term in IT industry. Hoping to keep in touch with all of them ever. One Major change you'll notice, if you have seen me in college and if you have not seen me in work environment, is the calmness. And i actually lost the challenge from my colleague here, of being calm in one place for 5mins. I'm missing those calmness, but i'm enjoying this way much more than being calm. will end this with ,

"All fun... We're in PineApple..."

As an Apps DBA supporting around 100+ people out here, i atleast chat (officially) with atleast 25 different people in a day. One little thing which i follow to make my work little more interesting is that, whoever thanks me for the favor/work which i did, to the first person to thank in a day i will reply with ".. have an Awesome Day" at the end of the conversation, and to the second person ".. have a Superb Day" and to all those who thank me before 11ven 33ree AM ".. have a nice Day". There is no sentiment or anything attached to that. Actually, it makes the kind of work i do and the conversation little more interesting, And i personally feel good and look forward for those two people everyday. Hoping to continue this stuff always. lets see.. :)

"Absolutely Awesome" - are the words which i would use to describe last weekend. Lot of unexpected things happening around. Deciding to go to Wonderla again (for the fifth time in 3ree years) on the evening of friday was the start for all of those (thanks to all those who were part of it). Then followed by the MAJJA RUN - Sunfeast 10K Bangalore Marathon.. Was very nice to see lot n lots of ppl, if not running for the timings, all running for cause(s). Followed by Beautiful Brunch in one of the oldest restaurant in bangalore "Airlines Hotel". Coming back to home, completely glued to the TV. First, Italian GP - what an evenful race it is, total re-shuffling in the order after the last pits-stop, finally (my fav) Stoner with Stunning victory to come back to the Top in the Table. Then its over to RG. I just switched to it, when Nadal was about to loose his first set 2wo-6ix, then couldnt change the channel at all, Crowd cheering Soderling (even when the world No. 1ne was in the court), and he proved to them, by creating history, which Federer failed to do in last four year RG history. When Nadal was in final set, i saw the scores of other match where Ana was playing, Ana lost her first set 2wo-6ix and was down in second set 2wo-5ive. oops... just needed another 2wo games for Azarenka to beat Ana. So both the Defending Champs out of RG now. And remember, Djokovic is also out. All left in the top of the table is Federer. Hurray....

For past many months, i always had plans for weekend fixed days before, even iif i'm goin to be in bang and taking full rest, i would know in early that i'm goin to do so. Last weekend was not so. This was the kind of "Unexpected Weekend" which i was expecting for looong time, for me to get refreshed. Full fun, unexpected turn of events, and relax too. i was awaiting for such one , and finally got it. i cant expect more than this. rather i wont expect more than this.

First & Foremost, Happy B'Day Pradeep!!!!!! And thanks for the wonderful treat @ incHara. and apologies for forgetting to take my mobile phone, hence couldnt take any pics yesterday. :(

Let me come to the topic now. Balloons!!! this stuff keeps me joyous always, whenever i have a glance at them. Even a tiny one makes a HUGE smile in my face. and imagine, if there are plenty, i mean Plenty, of BIG balloons in cubicle. Wow!!!!!!! that too, of your fav colour, ReD. Ya.. this was the theme for decorating Pradeep's Cubicle, on his B'day. Full of Balloons, red ones, big ones, always luks like its about to fall on you... So, me and Venkata (special thanks to him) initially started with small balloons, which does not look nice at all. We went for Balloon Shopping in nearby store, and got BIG ReD Balloons. Though Venkata got a Hand-Balloon-Blowing-Pump, I didnt want to use that to blow up these Balloons, as i luv blowing it myself. Since Venkata didnt have his dinner, he went for having dinner after this lil Balloon shopping. In the meanwhile, just blew around 30 balloons, in about 40 mins (my personal record. Don't remember the previous record though :) ). Then it tuk little while for we two decorating Pradeep's Cubicle, with blasting up around 10 balloons in the process. The security in my floor had tough time standing-up and sitting-down, everytime a balloon blasts. so, All went well, and its done done from our side.


It was yesterday, Pradeep's B'Day. So, at the End of the Day, we need to cleanup his place, remove all those Balloons. so, thought of conducting BBC (Balloon Bursting Ceremony) in the evening, when most of the ppl are left. At around 8pm, I informed the security person that we're goin to burst balloons, so bear with us of the little noise. :) came back to Pradeep's Cubicle, looked at those Balloons which i blew 20hrs earlier. "i have to burst them all!!!!!!!". Felt hard on thinking like that. "i'm not goin to do that... never ever...". moved all those Balloons to my place, just adjacent to Pradeep's place. :) So, Here is how my place looks now (atleast for somedays)