Missing the craziness

It has been more than 10 days that I've been enjoying joblessness. Thinking of what to do next, all sorts of crazy ideas are creeping into my mind, and twice in my thought process map, I ended up being a billionaire :D

I finally reached home yesterday and I must say I was waiting (or rather dying) to get out of Bangalore for quite some time. But just as in past, (When as a kid, I was dying to get older and get out of the school, when I was dying to get out of the college, when I was dying get into a company and make money), I am feeling sad after having done for what I was dying for. Yes, I feel sad after leaving Bangalore. I miss Bangalore !! (which I never thought I would)

What do you call a congenial, captivating, cosmopolitan confluence of software and shopping malls, electronics and environment friendliness, salubrious climate and cleanliness, modern outlook and old worldliness, precision engineering and pubs? You call it India's best city for business and fun. It is also called Bangalore. Don't be mistaken, this is what I used to think of Bangalore before I came here. I still feel pretty much the same; its just that the words - congenial, environment friendliness, cleanliness, modern outlook and pubs from the above list are now OUT !!

I had earlier decided to write something else on this blog, but since I'm missing the calmness of Bangalore so much today, I thought I will pen down my thoughts in a series of blogs on Bangalore. I don't know how to organize this stuff so I'm going ahead with the random thoughts that are crossing my mind.

Even though I've stayed in Bangalore for just 30 months, I've more memories of it than any other phase of my life. Its the city where I made some wonderful friends, the city where I spent more than 9 Lacs in 2 years without buying a thing for myself, the city where one fall in love with oneself. The place where 2 things royally screwed me- my office and the traffic .
Add to that the crazy and stupid government !!  It was one hell of a time I've had !!

Let me get over with things I hate about Bangalore first. The pleasent things are saved for future blogs :)
Things that made me run away -

1. One way or no way - "Christopher Columbus did not need directions, and neither do I" has always been my philosophy. In fact it is a philosophy that most men subscribe to. And if you are one of them and decide to drive in Bangalore, you are in deep shit !! The only measure to tackle traffic taken by the stupid government is creating "one ways" in Bangalore. If they still fail to avoid congestion, they come up with an even better solution - "more one ways". To top it all, you'll find traffic signals on a flyover !! How innovative !!

2. Traffic - You can survive cancer, but you cannot survive Bangalore traffic. It is so bad that on numerous occasions I stayed back at office just to avoid traffic jams. In my 30 months of stay at Bangalore, I think I have spent more than 2 months on road. Everyday I used to ride for about 50-60 mins on average (one way) to reach my office which is some 8-9 kms from my home. People in Bangalore strongly believe that lane markings on roads are there for decoration. Under no circumstances, they shall be confused with anything else. Same holds true for traffic lights.
The horn, a vital part of Bangalore driving pleasure,has a number of uses most important being seeking the attention of pretty chicks walking along the road. Bangalore also saves a lot of fuel every year. This, by means of citizens accommodating 4 people on a 100 cc bike. Even though they might be violating a few stupid traffic rules, I believe they are risking their lives for a noble cause - to make this planet greener. I strongly believe such activities shall be encouraged all over India. And we shall influence rest of the world to do so as well by means of summits such as at Copenhagen held this year.
It is common to encounter infinitely long traffic jams. The reason - some guy on a bike is trying to take a U-turn some 20 kms down the road.

The Bangalore metro rail and Bangalore infrastructure corridor projects have been going on since ages. Mr. Deve Gowda was the CM when he started it (the infrastructure corridor project), then he became the PM, then the ex-PM, then the Super-CM and then history. But the project is still as young as Mr. Deve Gowda used to be 45 years ago. May be, my children (or my grand children) would be lucky enough to witness this grand project to completion. (I don't really understand what this project is all about. There is absolutely no structure in Bangalore infrastructure)

We all must have seen stickers that say "Baby on Board". Maybe we should make some that say "Stupid Parent on Board" as well. Few weeks back, a guy was knocked over by a car that suddenly veered into him while he was waiting to cross the road. The reason? The driver of the car had a child on his lap. The kid suddenly pulled at the steering wheel causing the car to go off track. The guy’s excuse.. "I only do it on quiet roads". What is the word that comes to your mind?

While this all seems completely insane (and in some ways it is), I've not seen many accidents, nor are there many vehicles bearing the scars of impact. In some strange way it all works. There is enough respect (if that's the right word) on the roads that plenty of room is made for vehicles of all types, the pedestrians, cows (yes, cows), dogs, pushbikes, and carts.

3. Night life sucks - If you are coming to Bangalore to enjoy the night life, don't bother. Pubs close at around 11.30. And, there is really no time to party. If you start at around 7 pm, by the time you reach you reach the pub(some 6 kms away) after picking up your friends, it's already closing time(all thanks to the wonderful one ways and traffic) !! Now you understand why TRP ratings of all TV shows are up in Bangalore :)

4. Lots of money for value - Yes, Bangalore is a very expensive place. Rent for a 1 BHK house in a semi-decent locality is more than the average monthly income of an average Indian citizen. Thinking of buying an apartment, well forget it !! Even if you decide to spend your 10 year's savings, take a loan equal to thrice the savings and buy one apartment, your panoramic view will be of a village approximately 15 kms from Bangalore city. The prices of vegetables are so high, I wonder why don't they sell them at the jewellery shops.


5. Forum, McDonalds, Microsoft, Google, Audi, but no US visa - You can get a McVeggie burger in Bangalore but if you want a VISA, you'll have to go to Chennai or Delhi. What does that tell you?



Despite all this, there is a strange calm in the madness. It is hard to explain unless you have experienced it yourself. There is something in the place that binds all the Bangalorians together. The madness, I believe becomes a part of us and we become a part of the madness.

I think it is this madness, a part of me, which I am missing now and will miss forever.

Disclaimer : I understand that in India, a war can be started by mentioning one of the three things – Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Bangalore. (Telengana is catching up fast). The intention of this post is not to hurt anyone's sentiments. It is supposed to be a light hearted funny post and should be treated that way. And yes, I love Bangalore :) 

I quit, Now What?

A month back, I did the unthinkable. Right when the signs of recession were disappearing, and people were switching jobs and consolidating their pay packages; I resigned from my full time job at Honeywell. "Shocking" and "stupid" formed the majority of the comments that I received from my fellow colleagues and friends. A handful of them though appreciated the decision as well.

Although the reason for quitting the job originates from my family constraints and issues, I still think I would have done the same thing sooner or later in absence of any such constraint. For the past 3 years, I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working on Aviation Electronics with some the best people I've ever met in my life, but I knew it from day 1 that I don't belong to this place. The 12-hours-in-front-of-a-computer job is
certainly not for me. I guess I've already overstayed my welcome.

I've always been a pretty decent student. Not so bright, but not pathetic as well. The only reason I wanted to
do my M.Tech was I wanted to get out of my home, and the job that I had in my hand right after BE wasn't
encouraging enough (in terms of money and location). A good GATE score(a surprise to me as well) strengthened the decision to pursue higher studies and I finally landed at VIT, Vellore. My 2 years of stay here were a real eye opener and I learned some of the most important lessons of my life (The biggest thing I learned is how to survive without a girl friend on campus when each of your friend is hanging around with a pretty face). No matter what people say, I truly believe that VIT rightly deserves a rank among top 10 institutes in this country (I would write more on this subject pretty soon).

When I came out of VIT, I had 4 different job offers in my hand. And I chose to go along with Honeywell even though the other offers were more rewarding initially, for 4 major reasons -
1. I did my internship at Honeywell Madurai, and I fell in love with the place.
2. The offer honored my Master's degree
3. I still didn't want to go back home.
4. Most importantly, the location was Bangalore !

Bangalore!! The city of dreams, where every engineer in India wants to be, where I wanted to be. The city of
pubs, the city of technology, the city of youth, the city of beautiful faces (The city of crazy traffic and stupid government as well. More on that later). My first day at office and my 1st reaction was - "So many girls
!!! ". Yes, staying in Madurai for 9 months will make you like every single girl in Bangalore.

My initial plan was to work in this place for around an year or so, save a few bucks and look for opportunities to set up a business of my own. But like so many of us who think to do the same and fail to execute the plan, I failed as well.

In the first year, I failed purposely. I never thought I would have such a good time at work. I was loving
every moment of it and I thought I might have been wrong all along...This is the place I belong to...And this
is the job I am good at..I even told my boss that I can't think of working at some other place doing some thing
else. And yea, speaking of my boss (my ex-boss), he was the only reason I stayed back for the 1st year and had a fantastic time at Honeywell. I was given the respect for the work I did, was rewarded suitably and there was no partiality, no sycophancy. I was having a time of my life...I made some very good friends along the way and rejected several offers from other IT majors as well.

Things changed once my boss left the organization and since then I've been trying to foolishly convince myself
that it is the same old "good" place; all in vain. My workplace became a tree full of monkeys. Those at the top
branches could only see monkey faces below them. And all that was visible to the monkeys at the bottom, were assholes ! Nevertheless, we were all monkeys !!

And then something happened ! Some issues back at home and I was needed there. Though I might have a taken a long long leave, I decided to quit !! The entrepreneurship bug has bitten me again, and this time there is no going back !! I've always believed that the risk-reward equation is always completely in favor of the
entrepreneur. There is no way that you will be economically rewarded less for being an entrepreneur than by taking up a job. Though I still don't know what I might be doing, I have a long list of pursuing my long neglected interests which includes traveling, photography and teaching. Lets see where I land up in next few
months.

I still don't know if I did the wrong thing to jump off the monkey tree or not. But all I know that I've been enjoying my time for the past few days. I didn't want to live a complex life, write complex code and have someone breathing down my neck and be under pressure for growth. I am more comfortable, leading an uncomplicated life. A life where all that I will do will be for myself and not for some asshole sitting on top of the monkey tree.


PS: If you are one of my ex-manager or senior at work and if you think that a reference above has been made to you and it makes you angry or offends you, but the same reference to some other guy in the team would make you happier, then I intend the other guy, not you. (And I hope now you understand why I quit !)

Finally on board !!

Well...as the creation date of this blog suggests, I started it some 2 years back but was too busy (or rather complacent) to write something and in between even forgot that I've created this blog. But now that I have all the free time in this world (for people who do not know how? I've quit my job and enjoying the joblessness for the past 3 days), I will make it a point to pen down the eternal sunshine and random stupidity of my brainless head regularly.

It's almost 7.30 now...and I need to get my daily dosage of "Nayan Sukh". Yes, the wonderful serenity created by pretty faces and lush green surrounding makes up for the absurdly high rent that I pay every month for staying at Koramangala in Bangalore.

So its Goodbye for now...will be back with some interesting revelations pretty soon !!

PS: Don't go by the blog title, I created it during the reservation bill time...But anyways, anything and everything that I'm gonna write will be directly or indirectly related to India :)

PPS : Please excuse the grammatical errors. They were the reasons for my not being able to clear CAT last year :D