Days of my life!!

As soon as we were done loading the books, one guy came up to us and asked us which school we were headed too. We showed him the list and he pointed to another guy standing in a red shirt and told us in Kannada that he would be our guide. We greeted the other guy and he told us that the first school was about 8 kms from where we were standing and the other two schools were within 3 km radius of the the first. We were to follow him on his motorbike as he would lead us to our destinations. Later, we found out that this gentleman was actually managing a few schools, representing the Government, in the district including the three schools where we were headed. We followed him and some 15 minutes later were being assisted by boys of the first school in unloading the sets of books that were stacked up in the boot of my car. As we made our way into the school, we were again greeted by an elderly lady who also happened to be the Headmistress of this school. She lead us into what was prob...

A newly drawn Rangoli welcomes you through a semicircular gate onto a typical rural-look one storied building. As you take a few steps inside and to your left, you see a small window, behind which a group of tiny little children are trying to desperately wave out to you shouting, " Good Morning Sir! " You wave back, and that gesture of your inspires them to shout out the same in an even louder tone! As you walk towards the window to greet them, a teacher suddenly steps out of the neighbouring class. " Namaste ", she says - probably the only Hindi word she knows. She tells us that the teacher of the class where, we were headed, is in the kitchen making breakfast for us. How nice!! We step into the class and are literally surrounded by the children in no time. My friend takes out his camera and asks them to pose for a picture, but obviously they don't understand a word of what we said, so he simply clicks on. Looking at the flash, the children get more ...

My hatred towards blood goes a long way back. I like to tell people that I hate the sight of blood after my unfortunate visit to the hopsital in Mumbai when I suffered a bout of phalsifaram Malaria, but I know in my heart that this enmity has being running within me right from childhood.  I still remember that unfortunate day in Saraswat Colony , when I had fallen of my cycle and hurt my knee. A little blood had started to ooze out and it was not the pain, but the sight of that red liquid that had made me feel nauseatic and not cycle again for a few days atleast! That was a long time ago and last week, when I got an email saying there was a blood donation drive in office, I willingly volunteered cause Prachi has been after me to do it for quite some time. She had convinced me saying that it was not only for a good cause, but also to ensure that some good blood needed to be re-generated within me! So, on Tuesday I went to the Gym room (where the drive was being conduc...

Last Sunday, I woke up feeling rather lazy after 4 days of hectic running around. I sipped some delicious coffee and breakfast that dearest wifey had made for me while watching Aamir Khan's Satyamev Jayate . At around 12, I started to feel hungry and I convinced Prachi that we head to ' Healthy Affairs ' restaurant for lunch cause a lot of people had warned me that my stomach was getting out of shape and control.  So, we went had a 'healthy' serving of starters, lunch and dessert, by reminding the waiter no to add any 'extra' oil atleast 10 times, so that we atleast feel better from within (as if that helps!) and as we were driving home decided to stop over at the local Namdharis' shop to do some grocery shopping. As we went through the usual routine of shopping for veggeies, fruits and some healty ladoos, I turned around and saw Vankatesh Prasad walk in with his wife. It was amazing to see India's premier bowler of a generation and th...

One of the first tasks assigned to us in our new office was to help organize the annual User Conference, which unlike the previous conferences we had organized, was far far bigger in size. Till date, for me, User conferences' were all about fun. Meeting old colleagues, friends, mixing around with customers, dining in a 5 star atmosphere and a few special moments when I actually got to work one on one with the CEO of Magma! This Conference, however, was quite different. Here, my team was actually involved in running the show and I was assigned the task of handling the registration booth for companies starting from the alphabet J to N for two consecutive days. In those two days, I learnt the art of handing out registration badges, welcome gifts, organizing attendee lists and keeping at bay serial perpetrators who only turn-up to collect freebies. Being a new venue, the people who attended only complained that some of the rooms for a few tracks were over-crowded and henc...

The other day I read some news about a 13 year old boy who had cracked the ' Indian Institute of Technology, Joint Entrance Exam ' or simply the IIT-JEE. I was happy that we had finally found our very own Desi Sheldon Cooper. But, now lets take a ride through the future of this bright kid as he treads slowly towards his life-long dream. First, he goes and meets the Dean of IIT-Bombay and the conversations goes as follows: DS : "Hello sir...I cracked the IIT-JEE sir. Here, see my certificate." Dean : "Ainh...how old are you?" DS : "Sir, I am 13 years old." Dean : (angrily) "These buggers are out of their mind. Need to change the paper setters!....Anyways, you see beta, we only accept student who have completed 10+2....so now you go back, finish your school and 12th standard, give the exam again and then come ok!" DS : (dejected) "Ok sir..." Dean : "Don't feel bad....I am sure you will crack the exam ev...

Just yesterday, I strolled into the little ' Crossword ' store in Gopalan Signature Mall on Old Madras Road and as I entered, I heard a man talking on the phone. " I am in C.V Raman Nagar. " he said and at that point of time I just realized that out of a few lakh people staying in this area atleast 90% would probably have no idea who Sir C.V. Raman was! I did a little hunting and found what I was looking for - ' C.V. Raman - An Autobiography ', the only copy available, took a little chair at the corner and decided to read a little more about Sir Chandrashekara Venkata Raman, one of the few Nobel Laureates from India (or to be honest born in India) and the first Indian to be awarded this medal for his research in the field of Physics.   Sir C.V Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930 for the research he conducted in the UK and he mentions that on the day he won the award, he looked up and saw the Union Jack flying over his head and suddenly re...