Kiran, Suma & Meghu

Here is adding another kiran to my friends' list....you probably would have found his mention in my other blog(mumbai experience), but here is one completely dedicated to him and his family. I first met him at Datacons, my initial thought as i saw him was "one lazy old bum, finding it hard to carry his own weight across the floor!!!". Well, what can i say, these initial thoughts just got confirmed each day as i started knowing him better :-)
He is from srirangapatna(an island??), near mysore, and the whole MFUND team from datacons made a visit to his house once. That was an experience we always recall when together, his dad's immediate reaction to light some agarbathis, as we went in with stinking breaths!!!What was it with our bad breath....did everyone of us forgot to brush our teeth and have a wash or.......???That apart, his father reminded me very much of my own, the way he spoke to all of us, his love for cricket, almost everything. I think they should meet each other once, what do u say kiran??One more interesting fact about me and kiran is that since the time we have known each other, we have been sailing in the same boat. Whenever one of us went to mumbai, the other would immediately follow, i left datacons and joined wipro, he followed me there, even our salaries have been very much similar throughout our careers. Only once did he shoot ahead of me when he joined CapGemini, but then as fate would have it, he was dragged back to our "level". Again, both of us made it to the United States almost at the same time though from two different companies and to different places.
The first time when me and sush met kiran & family was at our common friend, Phani's wedding. Though we didnt have much interaction that day, there was a lot of 'nice' thoughts about me and sush being exchanged i believe. These 'thoughts' came out into light when we again met them in NewJersey, i think this needs some comments, what do u say suma??Anyways, me and sush planned a trip to NJ and of course stayed at kiran's house. Little did we know that they had made other plans to visit niagara when we were there, this needed a lot of pre-thinking and those 'nice thoughts' added up to ditch us and run away!!!!

Together we roamed around in NewYork, visited many places, and by the end of our first day, all of us had got to know each other very well and blended together. Suma and Sush became inseparable friends, always teasing each other and having fun throughout our stay. Both me and sush took an immediate liking to meghu, she was so cute and always wanted to gain our attention towards her. Even today we admire the way she has been brought up by her parents, she makes a perfect little girl, listens to what others say, and obliges to her parents words. Really, suma and kiran, you deserve a pat on your back for that. Keep it going!!
That was our first visit to kiran's house, though it was just a couple of days that we stayed together, all of us took a liking to each other and it was not long before we planned to visit them again.
This second visit, we had decided that we will spend our time very efficiently and not make it a very busy and tiresome stay. So we spent quality time with each other, made several visits to NY and also to some nearby temples. On our last day there, we had enough of NY, so decided to stay home, watch some movies, and catch up with each other. It was again a very pleasant stay and it only bonded our friendships even better. Kiran also booked his tickets to visit our place for Diwali and that was our next getting together and we left NJ almost awaiting their visit.
It was the fall season when kiran and family visited us at durham. Above all, it was diwali, and we wore our traditional dresses, lighted candles around the house, and created the festive atmosphere around us. We would have loved to burst some crackers if it was allowed, but nothing is like India!!!The following day we went on a drive to the Blue Ridge Parkway, supposedly one of the best known stretches across the North Carolina mountains to witness the fall colors. Every mile or so we had view points where we could enjoy the beautiful landscapes, colored in bright red, yellow and green. It was a pleasurable drive and we had to cut short the 120mile stretch and return home since we didnt make plans to stay out there in those cottages. We enjoyed having them over at our place, it was the first time someone visited us in US, and we felt more like family.

Kiran, Chetana & Tanvi

It was in June 2004 that i got a call from IBM for a technical interview. I was getting bored doing nothing at Wipro, and decided it was time to move on to greener pastures. Though Wipro did give me an opportunity of a lifetime to freak out with my fiance, it was 6 months of idleness which would make anyone lose his patience and i was no exception.

I went to Embassy Golf Links office of IBM to be ushered into a meeting room by one Kiran Ramesh, who looked smart and seemed to know his way around. I took him to be some senior guy who would tear me to pieces asking all technical questions; when it comes to interviews, i like to be on the other side of the table, asking questions rather than answering them!!!He called one more friend of his(as if he was not enough to grill me), and all the three of us went and sat in a conference room. Kiran was the first to start off, asking me all personal stuff(hoping to make me feel comfortable), and then he excused himself from the room!!!!Then this other guy started pounding on me, firing questions one after the other, and kiran was nowhere to be seen, he had left me at the mercy of this person who was taking me on a ride!!!At last kiran comes in and asks whether everything went well and says i will hear from him about the outcome of the interview. This was the first time i met kiran and didnt have the faintest idea at the time that this would end up in a good solid friendship.

I joined IBM on 21st June and was in a project called Qualex with around 25 team members on different technologies supporting the photo finishing products. Kiran had gone to US for a knowledge transfer when i joined and he came back after a month and before we realised we had become good pals. We usually spent our time together in office maybe helping each other on project issues or even discussing family matters!!!There was some kind of closeness and a warmth of friendship that i felt with him. Similarities were unbound among the two of us, this snap will tell it all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Though he was younger than me, he was married for a couple of years now and was expecting a baby shortly. His wife, chetana, was admitted to the Apollo hospital in may 2005 and she delivered a baby girl, and i took this snap on the very second day. The baby was very cute and chubby, and kiran was high in the clouds cherishing the happy moments of becoming a father. In september, they had arranged the naming ceremony in shimoga, which was the hometown of chetana. Me and sush keep waiting for a chance to freak out and never missed such an opportunity. We took the night train to shimoga, and early morning were surprised to see almost the whole compartment filled with kiran's friends and relatives. Kiran was waiting at the railway station with chetana's dad and uncle to take us home. We piled into a waiting car and they dropped us at a hotel where they had booked enough rooms to accomodate the whole town. There were a couple of other friends of kiran who offered to take us from the hotel to chetana's house where the naming ceremony was to take place.

We had nice breakfast, met all of their relatives & friends, and felt at home by their hospitality. The baby girl was named Tanvi and the function went well, later we went to a nearby hotel where they had booked a hall and arranged for lunch. After an overwhelming 'bomman oota', we thought we will visit the infamous 'jog falls'. Chetana's uncle helped us arrange a taxi to take us on this short trip and we were on our way. It was our first time there and people were telling it was in its peak, we stayed around for sometime and then came back to the hotel. Next day morning, again we went to chetana's house, most of the relatives had left, and some were still leaving, we played around with tanvi for some time, and then kiran had this mindblowing idea of visiting a nearby 'dam'(i really dont know whether it was a dam or something else he had planned coz we never could make it there). So he asked one of his friend to give him a car and we set off in it, first we had to go to one of chetana's cousin's place and then from there we were only around an hour away from home and we had a flat tyre!!!It was a hot summer afternoon, and we were stuck in the middle of nowhere, luckily we found a mechanic who didnt have the necessary tools to repair!!!!Since it would take time, we decided to send everyone back home in an auto and we returned after fixing the car. That marked the end of our short but pleasant trip to shimoga.

As me and kiran spent our days at IBM, we always tried to explore the possibilities of getting ahead in our career and always looking out for better opportunities in and out of our project. But it took really a long time for anyone of us to establish ourselves in our account and grow ahead. Kiran was always telling me of what i had missed by not making to US for the knowledge transfer, he had made good money in a short while and we were always hoping to make it to the land of green currency in our lives. Both of us had similar needs in our lives and that was to make fast money, and going onsite was the only way out. But being in a project where the client was not doing quite well, we were doubtful of achieving it.

I think my future with IBM should take up a new blog as this is dedicated to the couple who will always cherish in my thoughts as being very understanding and supportive in all times. Kiran and his family will find many places ahead in my future blogs as i write them. Thanks kiran for being a good friend.

Aaha!!!!!En Bomman Kale!!!!!

Awesome Foursome - Marriages

"Happy marriages begin when we marry the ones we love, and they blossom when we love the ones we marry." - Tom Mullen

It was early 2002 when i was in mumbai i got the news that Pachu's marriage was fixed and he would be getting engaged soon. Pachu had been to USA for a period of one year immediately after i joined datacons, and he was expected back in bangalore anytime. I came back from mumbai to find pachu along with his fiance waiting for me at the airport and also raghu and kishore were there of course. Her name was rashmi and by the time we drove back from the airport to her house at malleswaram, she had all of us in conversation and i personally felt she was easy going. Though pachu's marriage was fixed, he had to wait for another year to actually tie the knot since his sister had to travel from USA along with her hubby. Moreover, rashmi was in her final year BE and wanted to complete her graduation before marriage. Kishore made good of this opportunity to overtake pachu and lost his bachelorhood to Deepa. I remember, all of us again made a visit to deepa's place, which is in k.r. road basavangudi to meet her for the first time. Pachu was the only guy who owned a car, a maruti omni, at that time, and we went out for dinner in jayangar. Kishore fell silent the moment we entered deepa's house and we found her unlike him, she spoke well with everyone of us throughout the evening and they made a good pair.

Pachu's engagement was held at Sai mandir(the same place where mine was arranged) and kishore's was at roti ghar. Me and raghu completely enjoyed all these functions constantly discussing of what sort of a girl we would end up with. Raghu was the next in line, and his folks at home had already started looking out for a girl for him. I had made it clear to my parents that i need to wait for some more time to stabilise in my career(hoping of finding a girl myself during that time!!!).

Kishore's marriage was held in December 2002 and all of us made it a point to stay in the choultry for the entire 2 days and enjoy. All of us were neatly groomed and were dressed at our best for the first marriage among the four. Kishore and deepa made their way back to kishore's place next day evening but due to some raahukaala, they had to wait for sometime before actually she entered his house. My house was located just a road away at mahalakshmi-layout, and they came to my place and spent some time before actually proceeding. They had a welcome reception at kishore's place, deepa had to cut a ribbon before she made her way inside. Kishore had recently renovated his house with his whacky ideas(of being an architect) and they had decorated his house with lot of 'Nanda-Deepa' stickers everywhere.

Pachu had waited enough and it was finally his turn to take the plunge in may 2003. His sister had come over and it was time to celebrate. Pachu had constructed a big room for himself and wife on the 2nd floor, and had it fully furnished by the time he brought rashmi home from the marriage hall. Kishore had actually designed the room and it had come out too good. Kishore of course came with deepa for marriage, and me and raghu were left stranded out of place and were even named 'g.. couple'!!!Even while posing for photographs during pachu's marriage, me and raghu had to stand together without a girl by our sides. We thought, every dog has its day, and waited patiently thinking 'mera number kab aayega??'They had this function the next day at 'vasavi temple hall' and as usual, we were not to miss any of such functions.

Raghu ka number lag gaya!!!!!He had said 'I Do' to a girl called Vidya, and they had been to her place for the second time to meet her folks. Pachu had gone with them, and had found the girl very polite and a perfect match for raghu. Raghu had also taken me to her place inside IIM, Bangalore campus one of those days, and i found her family very down-to-earth and friendly. That was when he presented her a new Nokia mobile handset, his first gift!!They were traditional, the same as raghu's folks, so it was easy to say they made a nice couple. By the time, raghu got engaged, my engagement was also fixed with Sushma. You can read more details about my life with sushma in my other blog - here. I couldnt take sushma to raghu's engagement, since our marriage was not official yet, and we had to abide by certain customs. Raghu's folks had arranged for a get-together at IISC, and me and sush had been there, and even to this day remember the delicious food prepared by the MTR guys. I got engaged in June 2004 and had the privilege of taking sushma to raghu's marriage which was held in September 2004. Actually, me and sushma were waiting for a chance to freak out in such functions, and made it to the choultry even before raghu's family arrived. Later we were accompanied by Pachu, kishore and their better halves. It was the first time when all the four of us were together and had a good time in raghu's marriage. Rashmi applied a mud pack to raghu's face and we even took some snaps of his like that. Raghu if you have those snaps, send them to me, and i shall post it here. It was fun the whole time there and finally it was only me left unmarried, but committed.



I was the last of the Awesome Four to get married in December 2004, it was a happy occasion during my reception when all the four couples had this snap taken. My traditional wedding (lagna) was held at Swami Venkateshwara temple, mahalakshmi layout and the reception was held 2 weeks later. As mentioned earlier, i will not be able to cover the details of my engagement and marriage in this blog, i have started a new blog altogether which speaks about my wife - my life. Have a great time reading through the details.

The Fabulous Four(sush, rash, deeps, vids) had made their entry into our lives and we got busy with our responsibilities of marital life. Hey anyone of you can write in more detail about the happenings around your marriage and i can give a link here, i have written most of the incidents that i remembered. I am pretty sure you will have a lot to add about your marriages, feel free to do so.

The Mumbai Experience

Life goes on.....never looks back...

Staying jobless at home after graduation is the worst nightmare for any guy, i was not an exception. There were some jobs that we tried which shows the height of desparation in our lives. Pachu and me came across this ad for a job for freshers as trainees and went to check out more. We had this address on KR Road, it was a small entrance to a narrow staircase and there was a shabby looking office on top with lot of people moving around. A person who seemed to be in charge of everything had a look at our inexperienced resumes, made an effort to conduct a formal interview....and in 10minutes we were selected!!!!!We asked when we should report and he said we could start off then and there, and asked us if we had a two wheeler. Pachu had a hero puch at that time, and we proudly said YES. He said go and join the other group of 'trainees' and we would come to know of our scope of work. So we went out and saw that the so called trainees were all getting ready to go into the 'field', carrying huge cartons. Then we realised that it was a marketing job involving door-to-door visits, and soon our big bubble of enthu burst open. Then a guy asked us also to join them and carry some boxes downstairs...we looked at each other and decided it was time to flee.....

Empty minds are devils workshops - i had all sorts of ideas remaining unemployed, i decided to take up entrance examinations for probationary officers in nationalised banks & entrance exams for MBA. I didnt clear the bank exam but got through in MAT exam and got an admission offer from AIMA, New Delhi for MBA program. I decided to pursue my post graduation and enrolled for the distance education program. It took 2 years to finally get my MBA degree in Human Resource Management. By that time i had joined Asian Paints and was working in the admin department, i spent 3 years there, but failed to see any growth potential in the company. Pachu had joined a software firm called datacons and was already playing a major role of a team lead there. I was always expressing an urge to make it into the software field, and pachu actually spoke to his HR guy about me. I was called for an interview and i was really tensed up since i was very new to what i was about to take up in my career. The only question asked in the interview was 'Are you willing to go to mumbai?' and i said 'YES'. I was prepared to do anything to shift my career and i was selected based on the words of pachu who said he will take personal responsibility into my training in the field. Thus i took my first step into the world of IT without actually having any experience or any knowledge of the various software languages. I am really grateful to pachu even to this day for having taken such confidence in me and helping me out in shaping my future. Thanks dude!!!!

By the time i left asian paints and joined datacons, i also had one major task in life. That was to bring raghu out of his current job at High court ( i dont know what he was doing there!!!) and get him into asian paints...well we actually swapped out jobs....i went to datacons and raghu came to asian paints in a period of 2 months. Me and pachu always had this long term idea in mind to get raghu into the IT field....but the first step was to get him into something better than high court. So we had done that before it was too late.

I joined datacons and was straight away sent to mumbai for client support activities. I got new friends and got to experience the hard core software support job of facing the wrath of the clients right into the face. The few initial days in mumbai made me think if i had really taken the right step in life, or maybe i would have been happier with the routine job at asian paints. As days went by, i took up more interest in my job and it took me little time to gain confidence of others and get a good feedback on my work from my superiors. Well, i had made my ground in the software industry and was emerging a good team player. Here, i would like to bring my other good friends into my blog, without whom my life in mumbai would have been real dull and boring.

There was a period of around 6-8 months when i was in mumbai for a continous stretch and we were 5 of us staying in the old, about-to-crumble, stinking flat at tilaknagar(thanks to kiran for remembering this name!!). The flat was really awful, with a hall, 2 bedrooms and a kitchen(which we meticulously used for cooking our dinner daily). Anyways, my other good friends were kiran, jois, koona and guru. Now a lil about each -

Kiran was the uncle of the lot, though guru was the oldest, kiran gave all of us the elderly feeling with his constant brotherly 'LOVVU' and the 'i will take care of all' feeling. He had one enormous belly and we had a herculean task of cooking for him. He was married and his wife was at mysore while he came to mumbai, they were expecting a kid and kiran was always fighting with the managers to go back to bangalore. The snap here was taken during one of our most memorable trips to NY in May 2006.



Jois was the playboy among the 5, always roaming around showing his ill-formed biceps and having a good time away from his childhood love back in shimoga. He respected guru a lot during the initial days since both were from the same town (keri!!)and guru always threatened him to reveal his true nature to his parents.


Koona was our expert chef, he used to prepare the best curries(i think he used to mix some beer to this) and we always had a hearty meal when he cooked. He was the only guy who didnt speak kannada among us, and we never made him feel out of place by always translating to him....the best one being - 'gud mein haav baildaar'!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guru, guru, guru....what can i write about him....he was 'The Guru' for all of us, let it come to coding or madhwacharya or english grammar or buying technical books.....he was 'THE GURU'!!!!!!!Inspite of all the garbage around in the house, guru never missed his daily prayers and sandhyavandane, he was like a walking dictionary of information on madhwacharya and his tatwas.

All five of us, away from our homes and beloved ones, making the tough life look easy by always being there for each other and freaking out on all weekends. We visited most of the places in mumbai, and had a great time together with regular parties and movies. One of us used to come home early in the evening to prepare dinner for all of us, and when it was my turn to cook, i used to freak out with aalugadde-eerulli sambar ( only item i knew well ), and we never allowed kiran to cook, since we already had a lot of risk on our lives with the horrible pollution in mumbai!!!Everyday, we had to catch a train to VT station, and it took almost 45mins from tilaknagar to VT. Once we reached there, we used to have our breakfast regularly at Shivala restaurant, guru's common dialogue there was 'i have had enough idlis for 10 janmas', and still he used to have only idlis. Once we were finished, we used to go to our respective client places to face the shit of the day!!!Sometimes we used to meet up for lunch at Poornima hotel, one of guru's favourites, and again split up for work. Rama naik hotel was known for its high quality south indian food, and we used to frequent that place mostly on weekends.

While in mumbai, we made many memorable trips to khandala, lonavla & kelve beach along with our friends from mumbai office - karthik, prabhu, amresh et al. This was one memorable stretch of my life in mumbai, we visited Waterworld twice and had a wonderful time during both our visits. We planned for go-karting at hiranandani but were disappointed to find that it was closed on the day we went, but it was a place to see. During my other visits to mumbai, there were many other friends of mine - giri, phani, raghavendra, prasad, kemps, ashoka...to name a few, but we failed to stay together for a longer time at mumbai. Most of our days at datacons,we spent in bangalore and i should say, i had a real good learning experience with a wonderful team of friends and colleagues.

Datacons had an office in kuala lumpur, malaysia and were planning to expand their business to neighbouring thailand. I was supposed to go to bangkok, thailand to give a demonstration of our mutual fund product to a prospective client and was all geared up for my first trip abroad!!!!!!I was told that i will be accompanied by kumar and ramesh from KL and i would have to travel alone from bangalore. I reached bangkok in the evening, and was amazed at all the wonderful infrastructure and skyscrapers. I made my way to the hotel in a taxi and was pleased to see my colleagues already there, we brushed up on our demo and spent the next 3 days explaining our product to the client. The demo was very interactive with lot of Q&A happening and by the end of third day, we were all exhausted and ready to take a break from work. We hired a rental car and planned to visit one of the famous beaches which was around 2hrs drive. The journey was just mind-blowing, my first experience on such beautiful roads, and a painless and relaxing car drive. Me and ramesh went para-sailing and also hired a motor boat to ride on the wild waters. All i can say about these water games are that, one needs to experience to know how it feels, awesome rides!!!!I really wish i had those snaps with me now to post here ;-(

Well, seems like this blog has outgrown itself....I think i will take a break here, and continue with the Awesome Foursome marriages in my next blog. Maybe speaking of marriages will wake up these guys to take notice of my writing!!!!!!

Awesome Foursome - The Eat-Outs

Well, well, well....seems like pachu remembers our little ventures too well, guys i would like to recieve more comments and feedback to my blogs, they act as a source of inspiration and also indicates it is not just me writing and reading it myself :-) ...a sincere request.

Let me go back in time, to our good ole college days(actually i had left out a few happenings in my previous blog), a time when we were ready for the most daunting tasks and when we did things we thought coooooool!!!We, the AF(u shd know what this means by now!!) were brought up in the same kind of society where we didnt have much exposure to the riches of five star hotels, and the extravagant discotheques which were the IN thing in bangalore those days. We didnt get to stay out late in the nights at pubs and discos, all we used to do was have a late dinner and get huddled up in one of our houses watching late night movies and the usual guys talk.

When i give these a thought, i really dont see anything that we have missed by not doing things our other friends were ritualistic about, we had quite a few friends who used to get this saturday fever, those days, we had to go to college all 6 days and hence, it is not friday fever, never missed a saturday night at MG Road/Brigade road, roaming around and...i dont really know what they did apart from getting drunk!!But we had our own ways of enjoying our life and i think we did the most appropriate things at correct phases of our life.

I cannot just give such statements without actually providing instances of our ventures which lead to discoveries that we regard with utmost respect even to this date!!

First in a series of eat-outs comes the CTR, which stands for Central Tiffin Room, located in the heart of malleswaram, right opposite to the grounds. It is a nondescript looking place that, surprisingly, has a board that reads ‘Shree Sagar’ in Kannada outside the hotel but retains the price board inside with ‘Central Tiffin Room’ written on it. It is situated on 7th Cross, at the corner of Margosa Road. I love the old pendulum clock and the Bhagavadgita sayings that is hung on one side of the wall. It is a small, old fashioned, not-so-clean food joint, which we stumbled upon one of those days and had the best ever masala dosas. We had been to other hotels famous for masala dosas like vidyarthi bhavan and janata hotel...but CTR stands a class above all these!!!Raghu and me were particularly crazy about finding these new joints and trying out new stuff, and we always came back from CTR with our bellies full. Well, there is one more good reason to eat well once you go there - there is always a long wait before you can squeeze into one of those small wooden tables, and all that waiting will surely make you gulp 2 dosas and a plate of mangalore bajji without any problem. The mangalore bajji acts as an appetiser while you have to wait for your dosas!!!!I should add here, we have influenced our spouses to be hard-core fans of these 'benne masaal dose' now and we never miss an opportunity to take a plunge into the crispy golden colored dosas accompanied by the colorful pudina chutney and the delicious kai chutney from time to time.

Then there was this road-side stall famous for egg-omelettes at Bashyam circle, rajajinagar. We used to frequent that place a lot...though there was no place to sit there, we had to remain on our bikes/sit on the stone slabs next to the shop. Kishore's favourite there being half-boiled, pachu never liked such places, but me and raghu made the most of it, sometimes even finishing our dinner by having a variety of egg-dishes. Well, who says dont eat at road-side dhabas/stalls, as long as you have your immune system in place, you are in no danger, and no need to resist the urge to enjoy all sorts of food.

There was another such joint, which we visited only once, and can always remember the experience, it was called Gundappa hotel, as such, there was no hotel in place, and the name was just a way of spreading word among friends. It was located near Corporation area (behind pallavi theatre), there was this old ruin with a small hotel(??) next to it. We just couldnt digest the fact that it was so renowned in the locality, that we had to wait a long time before finding our way inside the so-called hotel. Once we were in, there was this long wooden bench(what we have in our schools for the kindergarten students), and.....thatz it!!!!There were people all over, there was a small verandah, a hall inside, and maybe a couple of rooms too, all had this long benches, with people hungrily pouring over the remains of whatever they had ordered. We found it a little too clumsy, but were already inside and had to take a bite. Well, we waited patiently on the bench, for someone to come and ask us what we want....instead this person comes out, and hands us a plaintain leaf with ghee-rice in it. Well, we accepted that as it was steaming hot, and smelled awesome, and gulped it down in a few minutes. Next there is this guy coming around and handing over masala dosas which are cut in half!!!!HEY....who is placing our orders here????Then later we realised that people are expected to come and eat whatever is given to them, there is no choice except - yes / no....you dont want something, u just sit watching others. They serve some 3-4 items a day, and i should say, we really enjoyed all there was that day.

Now, this other experience is what only me and raghu had, pachu and kishore were taking a safe bet not to join us in any such expeditions, but i should say, guys you really missed it this time!!!!!!!Everyone must have heard and visited the infamous MTR hotel near Lalbagh entrance, but a very few are aware of the fact that MTR opens up at 5am in the morning with the only entrance being the back-door, where you have to cruise along the kitchen, and catch that flight of stairs to an open hall with tables neatly arranged and already waiting to get filled up. These were the kind of news we were all ears for....and once we heard about it, me and raghu planned to pay a visit. Previous night, he came over and slept in my place, and early morning, we left on my bike at 4.30am to MTR, it was cold and breezy, but we managed to reach our destination after being chased by a few stray dogs and i should say raghu is particularly fond of these dogs(after getting bitten a couple of times near his primary school). Well, there we were in front of MTR, but it was closed shut and we wondered what we are expected to do, standing out in the cold. Right then we saw people going to the back, and we followed them to be lead into the hotel, we saw these people in kitchen, busy cutting vegetables and making their dishes ready for the day. They didnt pay notice to us passing by, and we entered this hall, which was almost empty except for a couple of old people here and there. So we just went and sat in a corner table,waiting for our food. Practically within minutes we saw that every table was filled up and to our most annoying surprise, we realised all of them were almost in their 50s or 60s, and we stood distinctly apart. Anyway that didnt discourage us from our endeavour, and we stayed put till this guy comes along and asks us that we have occupied their 'regular' table, now what is that supposed to mean???But he was kind enough to allow us to join them and hey let me tell about the food now....MTR serves this idli with this special 'avarekaye saru' ONLY from 5am to 6am in the morning( i think it is seasonal too), and we made the best of it that day, wow, mouth-watering stuff. Hey raghu, do u remember what else we had that day....i kinda forgot. After our lip-smacking breakfast we went around lalbagh, watching the early joggers and the laughter-club people having their hearty laughs at nothing.

I really wonder how raghu comes to know of all these joints, but it surely is worth visiting and enjoying all these different types of scrumptious food at various joints. I remember we had been to this Vishnu Bhavan, located in one of these clumsy localities of KG road, just below the famous kempegowda theatre. Raghu said it was famous for it's bread and banana jam...i said the place looks awful, but still we went for it, never repented later!!!!

So much for our eat-outs, do let me know if i missed out some of our other favourites, i will be expecting more comments, thoughts and ideas for my next blog. Hey, if any of you people find relevant snaps to post in these blogs, do send them to me. More in my next blog, keep waiting!!!!

Awesome Foursome - The Journey Begins

It is good to see our wives chipping in....hey gals, you need to wait for a few more blogs for the Fabulous Four to make their grand entre!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, here we were, the Awesome Foursome, so very unsure of our future, still having 5-6 years of our basic education to complete, dreaming and fantasising of good jobs and juicy salaries. Hey, it was time for me to change my cycle, i took a second-hand BSA Mach 1 from my school friend, bharath(wow i remember his name), i think i paid almost 450 bucks for that, what a deal. The cycle had no gear case, no mud guard, no carrier, just enough parts to make it run!!!Pachu rightly named it as 'Silk' (after silk smitha).

Raghu pursued his commerce studies, and kishore was in no need of any tuition classes to clear his 12th, so it left me and pachu to join Bangalore Education Trust(BET) tuitions for PCMB. For one full year, every evening after college, we dragged ourselves to Malleswaram 4th cross to attend the classes till around 8pm and ran back home just in time to see 'Chitrahaar' and 'Chitramanjari'(popular countdown shows at that time).

It was one of those days when i lost my 'Silk' which was parked in front of the tuitions class and someone flicked it. Pachu and me even went to the extent of going to the police station and giving a written report of stolen cycle, but to no vain. That marked the end of my cycling era!!!!It took a few more days/months for the other three to sell/scrap their cycles.

One of kishore's friends, taught us a new game with playing cards, i dont remember the name guys, do let me know if anyone of u does. We got so obsessed with that game, we used to bunk college and play it all day long. Sometimes we used to come up with crazy ideas, like once we decided to get hooked onto the local cable network. We straightened one of those shirt hangers and tried to make a hook off it, and locked it with the cable running next to the window in pachu's room. All we got was a blank screen with some blurred images running about!!!!

Another one was when we purchased this filmfare just for a free audio cassette of 'Roop ki rani, choron ka raja' along with it!!!It turned out that the cassette was just a 10minute audio clip of the songs. Hey hey, we were not to give up there, wait till you hear what we did next. We had this good mallu friend of our's who had a small audio shop in subramnyanagar main road. (his name anyone???). We went to his shop, asked him for empty tape, opened up that cassette and rolled it up. Then we even recorded some film songs over that and made good of it, Shabhaaash!!!!!!!!!!

Most of our nightouts were in raghu's place, his folk were always out (attending all different functions), and he used to call us. Good boys that we were those days, we used to take two BIG BOTTLES of #$@$@#@%...guess what...thums up!!!!!!!!Kishore and me were in charge of 'rasagolla' and pachu always ended up paying for the stuff. Kishore had complete listing of all these 'sweet-stalls' which were famous of juicy 'rasagollas' and never missed an opportunity to pick up a few for these nightouts. Pachu used to initially avoid these sweets, but couldnt resist when we three were enjoying late into the night. One of those nights, we tried to prepare Maggi for the first time in our lives...it came out great, except that we didnt boil any vegetables(u can imagine!!!). Egg omlets were common each nightout and the worst part was we had to wash the utensils so clean since even a slight smell here and there would be recognised by his mom.

Our 2nd PUC results were OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!Raghu had cleared his to continue his B.Com, kishore had cleared with good results to get an architecture seat in a renowned college in Bangalore, pachu got through into BE Civil, and I had FLUNKED!!!!!!!!!!!Pachu was busy consoling me outside KLE College gates, when my childhood friend, G.K.Praveen, made his grand appearance from nowhere, said he will enquire and there should be something wrong in my results(wow he did hv a lot of belief in my abilities)...and came back saying my results were withheld and i had NOT flunked. To everyone's relief, i got my results after a few days and landed up joining B.Sc. Agriculture(what the hell, did i want to end up being a farmer??)

All the four of us, started going in different directions in our academics, made new friends in our new colleges, learnt new things, realised these were important to make our career and started focussing on our future. Raghu was bent upon pursuing his ICW along with his graduation, he did clear the initial exams but later shifted his attention to a good job. Kishore had an extra 5th year of his architecture and so was the last to graduate among us. Pachu and me joined some computer classes which was a Hot Cake those days. Everyone was shifting to learn computer languages which we had never heard of till then. Pachu was the first to buy a comp and we were surprised to know how soon he learnt all the nitty-gritties of the system and started to turn out being a pro.

Raghu joined Indian Institute of Science immediately after his graduation, pachu got into a software company called 'Datacons' and pursued his new born interest in the IT industry, kishore joined an architect firm after his 5 years of graduation, and I stayed home for 9 months - Unemployed graduate life, applying to all sort of job openings and waiting daily for the postman to deliver an interview letter.

Well, there are a few more interesting things to remember before all of us got into our jobs, but i think this blog is already too long and i dont want u people to doze off reading the whole stuff. I will start my next blog going back a little in our lifeline and then continue towards our bliss marital life!!!!!!

Awesome Foursome - The Start

This story begins fifteen years ago, in 1991, when i got my admission for my eleventh grade into K.L.E. College(mostly renowned for students being brats!!!). A few of my friends from my previous school joined the same college and inevitably i found myself hanging out with them during my first few weeks, until....

One fine day, out of the blue, we decided to attend a Mathematics class and made it just in time to find all the seats being taken by other students. A group of 5 that we were, we wanted to sit on the same line, and went about searching for an empty row, but in vain. I happened to see a row, with only one guy sitting on the edge and he invited us to join him. Reluctantly we joined him, me sitting next to him and others squeezed in besides me. So there we were, squeezed tight, not able to move a muscle, trying hard to hear the lecture, but trying harder to push the other person off the row!!!

Fortunately, the 40min lecture came to an end and i couldnt have waited any longer to stand up and stretch my legs. Our new guy on the block (row??) put his hand forward and said, 'Hi, I am Prasanna' and i saw him behind his big thick glasses, and saw a meek, soft-spoken, book-worm sorta guy, dressed smart and neat(should i say a lil too much for me??). This is how destiny brought us together...never to part again.



There i was, sitting for the next few lectures, next to him, my other friends deserting me, saying 'You should be crazy to attend 3 lectures in a row'. I found myself speaking about myself and sharing ideas with this new found friend, and to top it all, we realised we stay just 2 roads away. Both of us rode home together(on our cycles), and neither would have thought this would stick to the end. I visited his house and he came to mine, and we decided to stick around in college(for whatever lil time we spent in classes).

Everyday i cycled up to his house, and rang the cycle-bell as an indication for him to come out and join me to college. We would sometimes even go doubles on his cycle(since it was a bigger one) and as days went by, we became good solid friends. He used to attend all the Maths classes and i used to like biology...so we ended up attending both(though it was too much of an asking). I remember, one of those days, it was raining so heavily in the evening, and we had taken his cycle to college, and while riding back, i forced him to sit at the back(much against his will) and by the time we reached home after the bumpy and nail-biting ride, he was not only drenched, but also swore to God that he will never sit at the back again in his life!!!!

As luck would have it, Pachu(short for prasanna with love) had another close friend of his, raghu, knew him from his childhood days, and he took me to his place, which was a lil further away from mine, it was so located that, my place came inbetween pachu's and raghu's. The first time we went to his place, we stayed outside the gate and called for him...guys usually find it most embarassing to go inside and speak to the family and stuff...we usually prefer to stand at the gate and talk for hours instead of going inside and sit down for 5mins. Anyways, there comes raghu, wearing a white lungi and a banian, as thin as a banana, still short of a moustache, looked like a school kid. I immediately took a liking to him, since he spoke so freely the first time we met, that i felt we knew each other from a long time.




In those days, cycling was such an in-thing that, even raghu had a cycle, and he used to go directly to pachu's place, and they both would come to my place, and we would go out for a stroll on the local streets, commenting on people and eating road-side stuff. We particularly enjoyed the churmuri & tomato slices(near VVS), and then continued down the street to have a glass of fresh fruit juice. All this while, i kept hearing a lot about another guy, and they usually referred to him as 'kulla', now i really wanted to meet him, and one evening, we did go to his place and called out for him. Now i realised he was literally named 'kulla', his name being kishore, he said 'hi' and a 'bye' to me that day. Wow...this is going to be a tough nut to crack, i thought, and raghu said i was lucky to get thaaaaat much on the first day!!! Pachu had met kishore in his tenth tuitions, and so he was just an year older to me, in our friendship. And of course, kulla too had a cycle!!!!



Thus we met...all the four of us, staying just a few blocks away from each other, same age group, pachu being the eldest, and me the youngest, similar thoughts and likings, getting along well with each other...and thus we jelled with each other and we even managed to get kulla talking(infact, we think he speaks to us more than he does with his parents!!).

This was the start to our bond of friendship, there is more to come in my future blogs on our journey into life together...keep reading!!!!!!!!!