Back after a long ..long ..long time.....
Lot has changed from last time I blogged.
Was in South Korea for a year, moved my base to UK and worked ma way up the
ladder....have put on few more kilos;) lost a bit more hair...
But all these changes aren’t that significant as compared to the fact that I am Married now,
ohh yes.. phew.. never thought this would happen this soon in ma life.. but here I am Married to
Deepthi my swthrt, wonder how life would have been if I wouldn't have met her. One
thing is for sure, life wouldn't have been so serene and beautiful.

Marriage has completely changed me as a person, to start with.. have started driving more
carefully and slowly ;-). Every moment I spend with her gets registered as a lovely page in
ma memory. Feels like we were made for each other.... I knw it sounds cliché.

Well All I can say is, Thank you God... thanks for scripting such a wonderful chapter in ma life,
I will cherish this gift for ever and be indebted to you ma entire life.... you have given me a
bundle of happiness and named it Dee...

Raj

What happens when four crazy software engineers plan for something over a weekend....... lot of things can happen.. one of them was
a crazy roadtrip to a hill station, roughly 500 kms of sheer driving.....





get set and go......

That’s what we did over one of the weekends, instead of spending time out in the busy streets of the over populated choking city of Bangalore, we decided to get closer to nature, This place was Ooty(termed the queen of hills).
So what is great about it, well the plan was to come back the same day.... that takes some real crazy minds to come out with this kinda plan.

still lot to cover…

We decided everything on Friday evening, still remember how our other colleagues thought what a crazy idea it was. I was supposed to pick Pavan, Sanket and Veeru (ma three team mates) from MG road around 6:00 am, yeah 6. was I out of my senses to have decided on this time, well you guessed it right, I never made it on time ;-) was an hour late..... :) the usual reason of Bangalore traffic that I have used so well on all my previous delays didn’t work this time around, at that early in the morning a traffic jam is something that no one is gonna buy... not even a software engineer…. :D

well the guys were so excited to get set and go.. that they didn’t mind the 1hr waiting.. :) also given the fact that I was gonna drive all the way... they gave me the liberty of not being punctual.

the Bangalore Mysore road.

It didn’t take us that long to get out of the city and hit the Bangalore Mysore highway... I have to tell you, this is one stretch of a road everyone would want to drive in....
I tested my car to its maximum limits, we touched the 140 - 150 Km/hr more than a couple of occasions and on an average were above 100... I knw that was dangerous but then that was the fun part... it was a roadtrip and the mission was to reach ooty have the afternoon tea and be back in bangalore for supper....:)

on our way to Mysore, we picked up a friendly drag with a fellow highway rider.. a black Inova guy...everytime I overtook him he used to catchup on me...like a stealh having a dog fight, right behind me...the fun was ultimate.Finally we did win... :D

my three partners in crime ;-)

FL:- Veeru, Sanket and Pavan

Ladies stop drooling at Sanket,he is married Veeru is engaged so only guys

left are, Pavan and me

and within no time we reached the heritage city, Mysore... an hour and half..that was good job.. normally on an average it takes 3hrs.... right on the money there to acomplish our mission....
we did loose our way a bit inside mysore, and landed up in front of the famous campus of Infosys...guess our software minds... did the mess up.. anyways finally got the right route... and were back on track.On the way to Ooty comes two wild life sancturies, Bandipur and Mudhumallai forest sanctury..

thank you sir…was really refreshing

into the territory of TN
better love wild life.. no other choice, when you are driving thru a jungle ;-)

Took our first pit stop in a highway side hotel, Had the typical south Indian break fast masala dosa and chai (Indian word for tea). Surprisingly these roadside restaurants taste awesome ;-)Well till now the journey has been fun…… lot of singing and racing. Also surprisingly Sanket didn’t sleep at all.


chai and masala dosa…ahh I miss Indian food :(

behind those mountains is our destination

We started entering the ghat section (the mountain roads)… and went through countless scary hair pin bends…during the course of this, I realised that there are other curves.. which are more exciting.. than the ones that female’s have ;-)
We did take few more stop over.. most of the time it was just to answer natures call. I guess when we are this close to nature.. it often gives a call ;-)

relief ;-)
now enuf of staring..:-x

After around 36 hair pin bends, we reached the lovely place called ooty.. phew it indeed is a paradise. No wonder back in colonial time The British had their summer business held here. They did have a great taste.

The view from one of the cliffs was breath taking.

By the way we didn’t come here for the view… remember, we started off to have the finest Nilgiri tea.We found it, at least the name says so ;-)

yeah guys enjoy the tea…how about taking my pic, I drove all the way

look at them they are so happy… hi hi hi I just got an evil idea;-)

hi hi hi…now you don’t look that happy…. :D

The time is around 2 30, oh my gosh.. we need to get back, as is with every road trip the excitement is only till you reach the destination, often we don’t realise that the more we keep going further we need to cover that much more on our way back L…. Well in our case the TN police didn’t help much either, they didn’t let us take the short route that we had taken to come up, instead we had to take another route which added 30 more kilometres to the already long way back….

On our way back, we did try throwing out veeru into the forest couple of times.. but he held on to the seat very tight.This time he was lucky…

We did find some wild animals by the road while coming back.. Though I wont call them wild….
Have a look…

We reached back safe and sound…. Around 10:30 we were having dinner in Bangalore,

so The Mission was accomplished.

Thats all folks...

me signing off.. will come back with yet another crazy adventure :D
till then take care, enjoy life and be nice

comes along an angel....

in the lanes of life
through the dark streets,
a soul walks alone.
not knowing where the
long winding roads lead to,
always looking back
wondering why the streets are dark.
feeling completely lost,
but still walking.


comes along an angel,
a ray of light,
like a cool breeze
refreshing the soul.
changing everything around.
lighting up the dark streets,
the flowers bloom,
the scent of spring floats in the air.
life suddenly is full of colors
every step leading to happiness


the angel smiles,
and lets go the soul,
completely alone,
back to the dark streets,
clueless, and full of pain.
Alive just to die,
but this time around
the soul doesn't look back,
and walks on,in the lanes of life
all alone,
tears in the eyes and a smile in the face
vowing, never to hold the angels hand again

and then.........

comes along an angel,
a ray of light,
like a cool breeze
the soul wondering what needs to be done....

-Raj

For All those busy bees out there.......
When to stop....

All of us are so busy,
some are trying to shape their careers and some
are busy setting up their business....
some are far from their families pursuing higher studies
many more are fighting it out,to earn that extra.
But then, when do we stop....
some may ask why should we stop....
Has this become the way we live our life...
always struggling to make tomorow better...
and the cycle keeps going on every day...
shouldn't we stop, and just unwind...
not bothering about tomorow, not thinking about yesterday
jus living the very moment to the fullest.

Ask a kid what you want to do in life..
The answer would be...some profession that the society has
labeled as the white collared ones....

Don't we anymore want to be in the countryside,by the paddy fields
enjoying the cool breeze.
Take a walk, with the sun setting behind you, listening to the chirping birds.
Lie down on the grass and gaze the night sky, full of stars.

When was the last time you got drenched in the rain... and enjoyed it...spreading your arms
wide.....instead of running away from it, seeking shelter.
When was the last time you pulled over to admire the beauty of a rainbow over a lush green field...
When was the last time you hand-picked the flowers right from the Natures lap, and gave it to your sweetheart.... instead of going to a florist for it.
When was the last time you had a swim in a lake, rather than a tiled swimming pool.
When was the last time you were woken up by the rooster, rather than an electronic alarm.
When was the last time you made a palace out of sand on the beach and admired it.

Stop a while, at least you will have time to think where you are going.
Live as you would have wished to live when you come to die.

-Raj

59 years of independence.......

Independence.....
but from what?

some questions.... remain unanswered
Have we got independence from terror.......
are we free from corruption, racism, poverty

The irony is.... we claim that our country is free and independent..
and still when the independence day is around.. there is so much of
security and tension....instead of people coming out to celebrate the freedom
they prefer to be indoors... just to avoid another possible terror strike...

Is India that weak a country that every year it has to defend its status of independence...by
deploying lakhs of police/army officials just to avoid some handful of creeps trying to attack us...

Or is it that we don't have the gutts.. to get into the enemy territory and smoke out all these
so called terrorists and eradicate them...
how long will we keep crying foul.... and expect our so called great neighbor to stop harboring the cross border terrorism.What stops us from taking the control on to our own hands.... don't we have the capability to do that..... Or is it that we are used to being submissive and forgiving...

Isn't it better to die eradicating this fear rather than to live on with it... every moment thinking what might happen next...

We are not free....
Our country is not in a position to take any decision... in spite of knowing the cause of all this trouble,we still are not in a position to do anything about it......

post 9/11..... and what did US do... they literally wiped out the Taliban... no one stopped them....There has been so many such 9/11's in our country, which has been happening for years now.....
and why is it that we are still not doing anything about it....

The day every Indian would be able to walk in his own country on the eve of its Independence day without any fear or concern about any possible terror strike..... that would be the true Independence day.............

Proud to be an Indian..... but ashamed of our current state......
India can be a Super Power..... its just that every one of us just have to start believing that.......
Lets not wait to be lead.................lets lead.

Salaam Mumbai.....

Around 6 in the evening, my friend shouted..."dude bomb blast in Mumbai man" I just turned to my system, logging into the web news... with just one prayer in my mind.. "god this should be one of those hoax news that come in the web" but that was not to be..
The news headlined... "Series of bomb blasts rocks Mumbai" Ohh No, why...... God why?

It took a while for the news to sink in... a sense of hatred crept into my mind against all those who would have been behind this gruesome act of terror.

Someone's Dad returning home to his infant... is lying there in the wreckage... someone's husband getting back to his newly wed wife....is no more.... a kid who had jus started living his life is up there complaining to God, Asking him why did this happen to him. A young man.... getting back home to his old folks.. doesn't make it.

Spent the whole night browsing the news channels in the television, every channel using this as a business opportunity to show their calibre in getting to the news first. The world has become so materialistic; every thing is measured in terms of money.

Donna when I fell asleep...got up in the morning, with a severe headache, still the television on. ” A new day a new start..." Not at all, these are just words. Didn't help me at all, still my heart was out there feeling for the innocent ones... who just didn't deserve to die in that manner. They never entered into any one else’s land, they never demanded for anything more, they were just normal human beings... living their life, working that bit harder just to make their tomorrow a bit more happier....but for many there was no tomorrow, for many
others today is a start to endless days of pain.

I just hope every drop of tear that fell, God keeps an account of that..... Didn't dare to open the paper, didn't want to see yet another scene of a bloody body lying there... as if the soul is still around near by... trying to make its way back into the body...... it doesn't want to die, it doesn't want to leave. coz it never deserved that kinda death ..... but who can defy death...

The television channels were still onto their task.... In a way they were doing a great job, showing the world, the ugly face of terror. I knew today is not gonna b that nice a day for me, somehow couldn't get over it. But then, as the great saying goes... "THE SHOW MUST GO ON".... and so it has to. Getting ready for office a thought came up.... it can be my cab that would go up in flames today,...but then life has to go on... and so did I.

All the way to the office was thinking, searching for answers...not even a single one found. Went to my desk... could see the dismay and disappointment in the faces of my colleagues too. I appreciate the oneness that comes into this entire nation when something like this happens.... May be that’s why this great nation is still running as a single unit... no matter how much the economy is corrupted, no matter how much the system is outdated, no matter how much the common man is harassed...still every one... from the corrupt politician to a rowdy in the road... has a feeling in his heart...of being an Indian. We carry our nation in our heart.

The day went on... with the usual chores of work... but the smile in everyone's face was absent. Back home.... got in front of the television... hoping that the police has caught the culprits... wanted to see the face of the Satan... but as usual... nothing great, the search is on... that’s all....

A feature in one of the news channel caught my eyes....
It read "Mumbai up and Running".... first time in the whole day, a smile flashed in my face. I felt proud of the guys out there...... They showed the world that our nation wouldn't crumble to such inhuman acts imposed upon our society... we are way tougher than that to crack.

A kid was holding a placard... the wording in it read....
"Your crackers.. Don’t scare us..." Those two lines were enough for me to get up and salute Mumbai.. for its spirit. The whole nation was down... and Mumbai just got the nation back to its feet.... it just told us....not to worry and that she is fine.....

What a city....What a nation....What a feeling... Proud to be an INDIAN

A True Friend...... an Angel

First time I saw her,and knew she was an arrogant female
with loads of attitude....
and like always, I was right :-) [{though she wouldn't agree}]

She did have some attitude, but carried it really well.
We had joined this new job and both of us were into
two months of training.... two months of fun basically.
Days passed and the friendship bloomed, both our
wavelengths matched,and we had similar kinda outlook
to life.

Always pulling each others leg,always fighting... but at the
end of it both were the best pals around. Nothing
could come in-between us.The best part about this relationship is,
unlike every other relationship there was no expectation, commitment
or any such bindings that would tie us up

The amount of respect we have for each other is tremendous...though
never showed explicitly :), but both know it.Every time something
happened in our life.. we knew, without any hesitation whom to go
and share it first with.
So many advices given...and taken...,
so many long sessions of counselling...,
so many long sessions of bitching...:),
still fresh in memory.

Trust and respect formed the basement to this relationship.
on that we built this mighty structure of our friendship
it stands so tall that, everything around looks small.

Often people mistook our relation...
Often there were some eyes that kept on staring at us...
Often, even our own friends thought that something is fishy...
We used to pity them,
never bothered to give any explanation,
never felt the need...
they wouldn't understand this pious relation that
we shared,it was so pure...so immense ...and so clean.

Well Time plays around with every one, and so its gonna with
us too, she is going on a venture,something that she really
wanted.
its far from here...
to a new place with new set of people around...
but one thing is for sure the memories of our friendship would lead us on...
and always remind us the good times we had.

Will miss her,but can never forget her.
I am declaring it officially she is an Angel :-)
[{Yukkkk kanda if you are reading this,the "Angel" part, I didnt mean it this time also}]