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!!!!!!
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!!!!!!
3 comments:
I still respect Guru. Guruvennamaha!
Hi Praveena,
You are such a good blogger!
Every incident is presented with a sense of humour that sometimes I could not stop laughing.
Particularly when I read about Guru... Guru... Guru...
Thank you!
i can really feel the fun u guys had!! wow!! Keep up that spirit.
sush
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