A letter to 20 year old me

Rainy day, coffee mug and a book, well not exactly, instead of reading, I am writing.

Journey so far

Congratulations on making it this far and I am sure you have experienced many highs and few lows. Build friendships that's gonna last a lifetime and which will be vital in your future endeavors. not sugar coating anything further, last twenty years have been nowhere close to what you will be going through in the next 10 or rather next 5 years.

Mid-life crisis does exist and it can kick in as early as at 23 to as late as 28-29. It can last for a couple of months to a couple of years. Well, I can't say what is exactly going to happen, since it all depends on how you change yourself. But I am going to give some advice on different aspects of life which can make your life easy or at least prepare yourself to face what's gonna come your way.

Dreams - I wish you had dreamt really big because Believe IT that dreams do come true, no matter how small or big. What this implies is that you widen your perspective and start dreaming BIG.
Take Away - DREAM BIG

Health and Sports - Nothing in life is permanent - this is good as well as bad. You have been suffering from minor cold/cough every now and then. Simple solution, start making conscious changes in your lifestyle. You never participated in sports citing health reasons. the truth is sports is the only thing which will make you fit, help you make new friends and give you the power to eat ice-creams whenever and wherever you want.
Take Away - Nothing is permanent and start exercising

Relationships/Friends - You need to make big changes in your attitude and behavior to make lots of friends or continue the way you are and you will end with few but TRUE friends. Some old friends will vanish off and many new friends will join in.
Take Away - Be attentive who you befriend and how you maintain the relationship

Job - I the next decade you will be starting your professional carrier. Don't get carried away by success or bogged down by failures. It may seem daunting and what you learned in college may seem to make no-sense at all. Just stay focus on the initial years. Professional carriers are really long- like 30-40 years so be patient and attentive to the changes happening in and around you. Your job will also lead to your first experience of getting a paycheck. I would recommend you to take classes on finance management or learn it from peers. Remember the golden rule - The early you invest the wealthier you will be.
Take Away - It is just a start, not the end, you can change your carrier as and when you like

Family - As alway they will be your strongest supporter. The family will get extended in the last stage of the coming decade. There will be big dynamic changes coming up, something you might not comprehend at this stage.
Take Away - With time, the bond is just gonna grow stronger

Travel - Let me spill the beans here - you will start moving around the world and you will be visiting Europe, thanks to your cousin for making it happen. Some trips will be with friends in and around India.
Take Away - You will travel the world which will help broaden your perspective


CONCLUSION - Meet you after 10 years, eagerly waiting to hear your experiences from 20-30 !!
Time for my flight to Bombay !!!

A letter from gmail treasure trove - Reply to Roshni's story - 2014

End Goes December - I wrote this post on 1st Jan 2014. In this, I mention a friend I made on 31st Dec 2013. She used to blog too and it is because of this that she shared her life story in 2 posts. Below is the reply/review/feedback I gave to her after reading her story.

Why am I sharing this - It contains many emotions and success moments of my past, particularly IIT.

PS: - I just Love email (Gmail). I randomly keep stumbling on long lost documents.

Here goes the reply -


Part 1

Well, it will take couple of pages for me to write a similar story of mine. Frankly speaking, when I read your story, I was remembering each and every part of my journey. Especially I still remember, I was in my room and saw the IIT Kharagpur result and I stood up and gave a punch in the air and came running to hall and told my mom and called dad immediately. I went again to my room n I was so happy and so happy and happy. I hardly remember such other wining situations in my life. IIT Bombay’s news came in slowly.
I knew I would get thermal, then came to know I got Design, I actually called them and they said
personally that yes, Sandeep is selected for Design. The main Joyous moment was the IIT Kharagpur
news.
Back to Roshni- first thing, I liked the concept of including the time. I could picture everything in front of me. Also, I heard most of this part the very night you wrote it. I am sure that now its easy to understand that Tough Times Never Last, but Tough People Do. Also how important it is to not loose hope.

Kuch toh log kahenge, log ko kaam hai kehna- go one class, five or zero, people are always gonna say something or other. Want to write lot more, but that will spoil the fun of this post.

Part 2

Three mistakes of your life, nice way to start and set up the stage. I didn’t know how tough the competition you had back then. Trust me, If not completely, I at least understand 80% of your situation about how non-existant you were. All my life I have left many groups and teams with my own personal issues. In the end I found myself all alone every time. You know what, I think I am introvert and also I didn’t stay in hostel back then. So being an extrovert, things were different with you. Hats off and salute to you for going through that phase. I am sure you can always look back at those days to motivate yourself. How Roshni became a ray of hope for herself and how you ended up getting good grades and awesome job.

One lesson I am learning from you is, that we shouldn’t be too attached to anyone of our friends. No
matter how good they are, doooriya bhi hai zaroori.

Depression seriously is the worst phase. One of the ways to get out is talk more and more to as many
people as you can. I too found it tough in my first sem in IIT, but then one sir told – ‘Once in IIT means you are the Best’. Sorry to include my persoanl story and drifting away from your part. You wrote so nicely and touched so many little points that I can directly relate my PG with yours. I am sure many others might connect to it also. Difference lies in the intensity of depression and lonliness one goes through.

Yaar, Phodu Bandi ho tum. More stronger. I told you before also, I liked the way you have learnt from
your mistakes, like apna Dravid. Importantly XLRI and your friends made you strong. I may write one mail in case I forget to write something over here.

My name, no isues about using my name except a couple of them
1. I wasn’t a part of the phase that you are talking about,
2. I don’t know if deserve the statement - who would stay with you even if you plummet to 0 from  being a hero. Using’0’ instead of ‘Zero’ was eye-catching.

One at a Time

One Step at a Time
----One Punch at a Time
--------One Round at a Time

One Turn at a Time
----One Lap at a Time
--------One Race at a Time

One Answer at a Time
----One Subject at a Time
--------One Semester at a Time

One Word at a Time
----One Para at a Time
--------One Chapter at a Time

One City at a Time
----One State at a Time
--------One Country at a Time

One Key at a Time
----One Chord at a Time
--------One Song at a Time

One Ball at a Time
----One Innings at a Time
--------One Match at a Time

One Seed at a Time
----One Forest at a Time
--------One Planet at a Time

One Day at a Time
----One Month at a Time
--------One Year at a Time

One Brick at a Time
----One Room at a Time
--------One Flat at a Time

One Step at a Time
----One Punch at a Time
--------One Round at a Time

IIT Bombay - Land of my many First Times

My last post was sometime in May, 3 months ago. A month back I was recollecting my moments in IIT apart from studies. I realized there were so many things that I did for the first time in life during my stay in IIT Bombay. We guys used to have a saying, if you want to send anything to Heaven, then the pin code is 400076 (pin code for IIT Powai). Indeed that is what it was for me, learning to stay in a hostel, skating, juggling, and so much fun.

No matter what your interest or passion is, you will find a club related to same in IIT. These were mostly run by students themselves and open to all. You didn't have to be a pro to join any club, if you are passionate you are welcomed or you can join and then fall in love with that particular art. I stayed in IIT for three years and most of the weekends I used to go back home and miss out on many of the student body activities. I used to come home mid-week too. In the second year, once we got our individual rooms, things changed and I started staying more in IIT. Yeah, this was my first hostel experience in Life. Being in Mumbai, helped to adjust to the conditions gradually. That's enough for now for the overview of IIT Hostel.

It was somewhere in the last phase of my first year that I came to know about the IIT-B skating club. The club comprised mainly of under-grad students. They help us procure my first inline-skates (roller blades) and organized a crash course sort of stuff for the new joiners. In the past, I had done roller skating and so it was somewhat easy to learn rollerblading. The best part was, here you learned the technique to go fast as well as you had seniors to help you learn tricks so that you can show off your stunts. I dwelled into both the world and found going faster was easier than doing tricky stunts. I continued that for a year more before giving it up for something else.

Guitar - I was always fascinated by Guitarist and had that in my dream bucket list. Luckily I had a batchmate, Ajinkya Joshi who was a very good guitarist and he helped to take my baby footsteps. He was patient and his notes were like a bible for me. I was more into tabs rather than chords. I learned quite a few Hindi songs but couldn't catch up on the chords part. Way too tough for me. After IIT, Ajinkya and I both joined Mahindra in Chennai and I got a chance to again try out my hand in Guitaring. But like the last time, Chords were beyond my reach.

The other skill that I tried to catch up was juggling. In one of the techfest, I saw Jason Divad a street performer. He juggled, balls, clubs, knives and even rode a uni-cycle. I am not sure what was the trigger point, but on Jan 2015 I decided to give a shot at juggling. Youtube was my only source with hundreds of videos. I followed Niels Duninker since he was a professional juggler and his videos were to the point. I ordered some good quality props like the Balls and Clubs for juggling from my brother in UK. I was able to do 4 balls, three clubs and so variations in that.

Running - This was one of the biggest game-changers. Just before joining IIT I was diagnosed with Astha and had to take inhaler daily. This was frustrating, I couldn't imagine my life taking inhaler daily just to be healthy. Plus, it was always a dream to run a marathon. But it was not like I trained and within a year I completed a marathon. It took years. The seed of that was laid in IIT. I started with 2.5 km runs and then slowly increasing it to 8-9 km. It was in my final year of IIT that I completed my first Mumbai Marathon (Half - 2015). It felt bad to be called half-marathoner and not a marathoner. I trained for a year more and then I ran my first full marathon in 2016 Jan.

These are some of the key first-timers that I had in IIT. I'll end my post and hope that you share your stories too.

That's the Use - - -

A couple of years back I wrote a poem titled - What's the use? Back then I was sure that this poem is incomplete and there should be a part 2 to it. This post is just about that. Like most of the TV series and movies these days - I expect that the second part won't be as impactful and lyrical as part 1. I'll still try my best to link to the previous post as much as possible.

Click here to read part 1 - What's the use?

Part 2

That's the Use - - -

You keep me connected to near and dear ones at home and at work. Brings new people in Life - Mobile - - That's your use

You help me to keep pace with the fast-paced world - Watch - - That's your use

You helped me surf the ups and downs of life Actively - Activa - - That's your use

You give the power to script my own life - Pen - - That's your use

You are supposed to be Chocolaty and not Melodious - Melody - - You are of No Use

You helped me get my current Job - Suit - - That's your use 

In this age - I seriously doubt if you have any use - Webcam - - You don't exist in my Laptop

A lot still happens over Coffee but in Starbucks and not CCD - CCD - - You are out of my life

I am a peace-loving Man - Boxing - - Your place is in the Olympics

You help me stay Fit - Running - - That's your use

I am still mesmerized by your Beauty - Full Moon - - That's your use

You help me kick start my Day with High Energy - Songs - - That's your use

That's the Use

Check out other poems on the Blog -

The Clock Struck 12

A Patch Up Poem

Exploring Airport Lounge

This again goes in my collection of 'FIRST TIME'. I'll create a separate bucket and add all my first times there. Well, there are actually two incidents that happened which I want to mention here. It's 7:53 pm now and my flight is at 8:50pm. I am at Chennai airport in one of the lounges that accept Ola Select. Since I have a very short time I'll write to the point and expect this post to be a short one.

The story goes like this - Wednesday 24th April I was traveling to Bangalore with two of my teammates. We get to Chennai airport and visit one of the lounges. Now depending on what kind of debit/credit card you are using, you get some number of free access per month into this lounges. Both of my colleague's cards got accepted but mine didn't. I have a Jet Privilege card and so it got rejected, you all know what is happening with Jet now. So, one solution was my friends go to the lounge and I go somewhere else and it was a fair deal. But then suddenly the receptionist said that they accept OLA select too. I was not aware of the details but decided to go for it. See, on Wednesday I was at Chennai airport, then on 25th I was supposed to be in Bangalore (flying back to Chennai) and today 27th I was supposed to be at the Chennai airport. The OLA select has various plans and I went for a monthly plan (750 Rs). I made the calculation described earlier, ie in the one month period (24th April - 24th May), I 'll be at airports 4 times. So I go for it and it turned out to be a really great deal. Turns out that OLA select users get some benefits in the cab pricing too, so far I am all good with OLA Select. Try it once if you haven't so far. Recommended for frequent flyers. Also, if you have availed this facility, then please share your story. Currently, I am enjoying F1 qualification on my  Lappi and also blogging.

The second story (I have less 10 mins to write). I came to the airport early to enjoy the Lounge and know more about it. But as soon as I started blogging, I got a call from SpiceJet GroundStaff asking me to report at the check-in counter. Basically, there was something in my bag vibrating and making noise too. I wondered if kindle ever vibrated. Then in a few mins, I realized it was my trimmer. My trimmer has a lock switch, if I turn it on, then the machine doesn't get on. I forgot to turn that switch on and my trimmer was on one side of the bag, accidentally the ON button got pressed and it started vibrating. I went there and took the necessary action. Once check-in is done we proceed for the security check. Now I had to do the reverse. So som SpiceJet guy came and escorted me to the counter. Before leaving out of the security check-in area, my boarding pass was canceled. So I had to scan my bag again after adjusting the trimmer and go through the security check again. It is all done now and almost time to leave.

I'll be in Bombay till 5th May, Sunday. Let m know if anyone wants to catch up. Also, do expect one more blog by Mid May. Thanks and Happy Flying Everyone !!!

Just a routine update from Airport

Hello readers !
Yet another post from airport(Chennai). It has now become a custom to write a post either while flying from Chennai or flying back to Chennai. Sometimes I delay my post just so that I can include those points when I write a post from Airport. BTW my last blog was an audio one - click here incase you haven't heard it yet.

So, continuing from the audio post - I did do a book review on 'Competing on Analytics'. Let me be honest, it turned out to be a flop. Only three people came for it and there were two more basically the organisers. So 5 in total. I was instructed to keep it short and I made my presentation accordingly. In all it was a one hour show. Those who came did enjoy it since they got some new insights in to the power of data. Now, we get some token of appreciation for our presentation and this time I got a book titled - 'Thinking Fast and Slow'  I have been thinking about reading this book for quite sometime but I never made the purchase. I felt Lucky to have received that book as a gift. Its a big book with small fonts. So I won't be starting it for next few months.

Data Science training - Going slow and steady. I will be missing out on some topics due to my Mumbai trip. It's 5th April and I am back from Mumbai. I came back in 1st April. Completing the post now. So on 29th March while going to Bombay I met one of my colleague at the airport and he happen to be in the same flight too. We chatted a bit and slept a lot in the plane. I went to Lonavala from there for couple of days for so called Family function. Ok, something to do with marriage and life partner selection etc. .

So, there is a friend of mine who stays in Mumbai and we hardly meet. Long distance friend, family friend. We met around 6-7 years back at a station in Mumbai while both of us were going for some classes .other than that we were mostly in touch through WhatsApp. I met him again and this time in Train to LinavaLo. Turned out that he was going to the same event. We both were allocated the same room too. With, there is one more coming up. 7-8 months back I met a girl in Mumbai, you know one of this first meeting of arrange marriage. Nothing happened after the meeting and I never spoke to her after that. You guessed it correctly, I saw her in Lonavala too in the same function. This all made me realise once again - 'World is indeed Small'. That's all from Lonavala for now.

Back in Chennai things are exactly the way I left it. I study, watch TV, eat sweets and go to work and go to walk too. I'll be more than Happy to hear about your incidents of - 'World is Indeed Small' - write it down in the comments section below. My next post should be between 28-30 April. Flying back to Bombay for elections, 29tj April in Munbai. My humble request to all of you to go out and vote and make this Country a Better Place to Live and Work in.

My First Audio Post

This will be the craziest thing I have done this month !

Check out the below Clip - - -

A post about Tommy Hilfiger from 36000 ft

PS - I am publishing this post after reaching Home in Aqualily !!

2018 - A year Gone by

Have been thinking of this post since a week now and finally I have started jotting down points. A Happy New Year to All my Readers and Friends and Near and Dear Ones!

2018 was much like any other year except - many if my Dreams - Big Dreams came true and some big Good Byes were said.  I don't  recollect much about what happened in January 1st. Fast forward Mid Jan - my marathon time. As always I was half trained for Mumbai marathon and this time I failed miserably. I ran till 27 kms and then gave in, basically blood clotting had started in my right toe and I opened my shoe to check it out. The sight was pretty bad and I decided to quit. My first DNF. It was more than enough to out me out of my running career. I took early flight to Chennai to join my friends for Rameshwar trip. 9 people, 2 cars and 3 bikes. I was not driving back then but it was hell of a trip. Kartik was to leave for new job in few days and this was last long trip with the gang. It was a three day trip with more than 1200 kms on road.

Then February March April - came and went. It was a mixed one. I went Gujarat with parents somewhere at that time. Had one of the best birthdays where I didn't sleep for entire 24 hours, double cake cutting and long chat with Bestie and other close friends. I also had a very small visit to Bangalore where I didn't move out of the airport and you can find more about it - Bangalore Trip. Office was good as always, there was some heavy load at the end of March and I started to work on project which helped me learn new programming language.

There were two other big things that happen which are interconnected - Euro-trip with parents and my Car-Drives. Euro-Trip - my First International trip with Parents and it was a Multi-Country visit. My Cousin stays in UK with his wife and that made the trip process very smooth. Thanks to my Boss and office policies, I was able to get an approval for around 3 week trip. So, my second and parents first trip outside. It included visit to UK, Germany, Switzerland, France, Netherlands, Belgium. It was cold there and snow at some places. Cable-Cars, Snow Clad mountains, Green Fields, Street full of cycles and Super Sports Car and what not. I'll have to write a complete new chapter to cover all the days and adventures, but for now let me highlight few points.

Some of the not so good point was that I broke my mobile when it slipped off my hand. It was a special one and I was planning to use it for atleast a couple of months more. So, things don't go always as planned. Because of this I had to make a purchase of new cell and one of the costliest purchase that I did for myself. The most exciting part of the trip was Car-Drive. We hired a self drive car in UK and took it from Cotswold to Oxford to Swindon. It was around 200-250 kms only but nothing compares to the fun that I had. Volkswagen Golf, it had 6-speed and one of the costliest cars I ever drove. People there fall rules like how Indians follow religion and it felt so safe to drive there. Wide roads and less traffic with ample of traffic signals. Turn around  there are tricky and couple of times I took 2 rounds before taking the correct exit.

Now, it was not like I said I will drive in UK and my parents and Cousin agreed, no. Frankly I myself had some doubt and so I tried to make a long term plan to improve my confidence and also make my parents realise that I can Drive. I had been driving some of my friends car here and there but not much in heavy traffic. After some lessons from kartik and Rohit I get to drive Abhijay's Wagon R. I took it on GST road (A narrow highway in Chennai) on weekend in the afternoon or early morning. I got the required confidence and I was sure I could drive abroad. I always knew that driving outside India is based on rules whereas in India it is based on Intuition, so safe drive abroad. Next I hired Ford-EcoSport and with Rohan and Ajinkya went to Pondicherry. A big for my my standards and we shared the driving time. You can read more about the trip - Road trip to pondicherry. That was the last push I needed for myself. As a final step my task was to convince my parents that I can drive in trafic too and they can be assured of their and my safety when I am on the steering wheel.

I made an impromptu 2-day plan to go to Mumbai, and drive my parents around in ZoomCar. This trip served two purposes - First I hired and drove in Mumbai and second - A short impromptu plan to Mumbai. I always dream of going to airport booking a flight to Mumbai on weekend, meet parents and leave the next day. I booked the ZoomCar from Airport and didn't inform parents about it. It was a surprise for them and I got a mixed share of scolding and praise for the same. So next day I took my parents for a spin for few kms and my Mom felt safe. It was less than 30 kms. Then I made a trip to Ghatkopar from Mumbai with Dad and he further accessed my driving style and he was happy about it. This trip was around 5th August and I was to leave for UK on 9th August. During this trip I also went to Marine Drive with friends and before that I had self doubt about driving in Mumbai traffic. All went well and I was able to convince all to let me Drive in UK. More about my this Mumbai trip - Inch-by-Inch.

Now, 2018 has a been a year when many of my Dreams came true. Few of them have been highlight ed in the post - Dreams Do Come True. Euro Trip with Parents _ i never knew that my this dream will come true so soon. It was an expected one and thanks to my Cousin too for making it happen. Then - buying a car - I bought my first powered vehicle - Activa (2 wheeler) when I turned 25, I got it on my BirthDay. I am not a good saver of money and it felt really tough to own a car in Chennai with my current salary and spending habit. Also, I was not sure how long I'll be in Chennai. I had a personal target to buy a car before I turn 30 but who knew Universe, or what I call Forces of Nature, had some other plan. My team, change, a burning desire to own a car, parents support and easy loan procedure made it possible for me to buy my first Car - Alto 800 :)

This year included many Good-Byes too. Many of my close friends and Crushes left the organisation and or the city. It was tough to deal with but at the same time I was Happy since everyone got more than what they had asked for and everyone moved towards a brighter Tomorrow. Finally, the last week of December was full of Marriages - Marriages -and- More Marriages of my friends, with some more friends getting blessed with Baby Boy/Girl.

Thanks for reading it completely and now I'll end the post Abruptly just like how 2018 ended. May this year bring new challenges and teach all a New Lessons which would make you stronger and help you climb upwards in life and at work.

Dreams Do Come True

Diwali time - time for another flight to Mumbai and time for another airport post too. 3rd November 2018 - Saturday - Flight is at 6:10 am. I came a bit early to catch up with my office colleague and so I have a bit extra time to write. It was a very sleepless yesterday and no sleep at night too. I took a shot of Black coffee to help me be awake. I have been thinking about this post for a very long time and finally I write it and hopefully I'll finish and publish it too.

What was once a Dream - this is about the things and/or events which were once upon a time a dream (wish) for me and which materialised.

- - PASSPORT - -

As a kid I used to say I'll just stay in India and won't go abroad at all. There used to be pressure sometimes that I should keep my passport ready since one never knows when the chance to go abroad comes up. Anyway, I dodged and delayed making a passport. I used to say that if a company wants to send me abroad then let the company make my passport, I won't do it myself. I kept saying this till I finished engineering. Finally I went through the process of making my passport in IIT, since the process to get one was made easy now. So where is my dream getting fulfilled here.

The company might not have helped me get a passport but it surely helped me in getting my first Visa and sponsored my trip too. A big thanks to Kartik - because of whom we won the Mahindra Auto-Quotient Quiz competition. The prize was a paid trip to Malaysia to witness Mahindra and other teams participate in Moto GP Race. So that's it - Company played a crucial role in my first foreign trip.

- - FLIGHT TRAVEL - -

As a child most of my long trips used to be to Gujarat and occasionally to Jammu and Kashmir. I used to travel to these places in train. I still travel to Gujarat in train - it is more convenient. I never used to dream about travelling to Gujarat or Jammu in train but I used to wish to travel in flight. I saw all the episodes of Air-Craft investigation on Discovery and that fueled my desire to fly high.

My First Flight and Airport Visit (Mumbai) - April/May 2015

My first flight experience was from Bombay to Kolkata for MTech admission interview. I had to book the ticket at very last moment since the shortlist for interview came late. I traveled with dad and it was a good amount of money that went into the ticket. I created self pressure to make sure I qualify so the the investment didn't go waste. Luckily I cleared the interview but didn't go there. Instead I went to IIT Bombay for Masters. Now a days I travel by plane whenever I want to go to Bombay. I pay a visit to home minimum 5 times a year. I have been privilege to make some abroad trips too. Now it's very very normal feeling for me whenever I travel by Air. Time to board ;)

- - RUNNING - -

I was never an athlete in childhood. I used to struggle in street cricket too. I could never play games that involved running fast or long. I used to catch cold and cough quite easily. It was only in engineering when I was around 21 yrs old that I had some sort of Asthma. Suddenly everything fell in place. I got the answer for my poor performance in sports.

After the First Full Marathon -  Jan 2016 - 5:15 hours

Marathons mostly take place on Sunday. Once I randomly stumbled upon a live stream of Mumbai marathon and I saw the happy and tired faces of runners. The sense of accomplishment of those who finished can be easily seen on their faces. 42 kms hahaha - running 42 metres used to be an impossible task for me. I always had a special respect for people involved in any sport, irrespective of the level that they played at.

So the turning point came when I realised I'll had to take Asthma pump for my entire life. Hell no, I was not at all ready for that. Slow and steady I started. I never had a clear picture that I'll be finishing the marathon in this lifetime. I can write a book about how I managed to dump the Asthma pump forever and do a sub 5 hour marathon, bit it is out of scope of this post. Long story short - I can proudly say I am a marathon runner. Ran first in 5:15 hours, next in sub 5 hours and third did not finish. It took time to get over physical and emotional damage that unfinished marathon did to me. At the end of the day, I have become a marathon runner.

- - CYCLE - -

Again going back to childhood days, may be when I was in 4th - 5th standard, I used to dream about getting a gear cycle. Those days there very few gear cycles available and damn costly. I lived in a flat terrain and so gear cycle was not actually required. Anyway, i had a very good cycle in school days and then I went to college. In college I hardly used cycle. Fast forward and then there is MTech in IITB. Having a cycle in IITB is very normal and I bought one as soon as I got into IITB. That was my first gear cycle. 18 speed. IITB has many ups and downs and so having a geared cycle made sense.

My First Road Bike - Fuji Sportif 2.3

After IITB I moved to Chennai for job and sold my old cycle. Here in Chennai and office is less than 4kms from my apartment and so I bought a basic cycle for commute. After year I started planning for Triathlon and started searching for good road bikes. It took another 6 months and so key turning points in my course of life and I finally bought one Road Bike. Almost 40% lighter than old cycle, 8 Speed, with Drop bars and so many things. I made many 80 km cycle rides using it and it doesn't feel a big deal now to own such a road bike.

- - INTERVAL - -

I wrote the above blocks on 3rd November from Airport but didn't publish the post. It is 24th November and i am adding few blocks which I feel is applicable here.

- - CAR - -

Again - another book can be written on it. To know more about my Car adventures you can go through - car-drives-so-far. Owning a car has always been a dream. Some of the details are in the last post and I am skipping that. Post that I hired a car with my friends and went to Pondicherry - road-trip-to-pondicherry. Then I drove in Mumbai - inch-by-inch. Then came a big break and I went to Euro and UK trip. There I hired and Drove Volkswagen Golf - One of the costliest car that I drove till date and also the first 6 speed manual car. In a nutshell - I drove many cars owned by my friends. I actually learnt on many of those cars - and my friends were patient enough to teach me good driving.

First Car - Alto 800 - Chennai

In the past para I told that I used to go to office on cycle and at times I dream of having a car and go to office in that. Cars used to go past by me and I used to be on cycle. I used to wonder when will I get a car and when will I enter the office in that. Finally it happened yesterday I bought my first car and took it to office too. Again there was a big role played by my office colleagues in various stages of my car purchase. A Dream Come True.

- - END - -

I'll end my post here. I assure you that there many more dreams of mine that came true and there was no particular reason to not include them. It is just that I these items are on top of mind and have been very close to my heart. What I expect now is you to click on the comment box and write few lines on your Dream Coming True. Lets get this post going on. Thanks for Reading and Stay tune for many more posts.

Inch by Inch

Entering Mumbai Domestic Airport Starbucks at 7 pm, ordered some cold coffee. Coffee came and we drank and talked and drank more. Suddenly it was 7:30 pm and coffee mug half empty and there came a realisation that the flight to Chennai is at 9:05 pm. 7:32 pm coffee finished and a sprint was made to get in the terminal on time. Your Bestie seeing you off at the Airport - one of the best ways to end the Friendship day. Readers, let me take you to my ZoomCar Journey in the City of Dreams - Mumbai.

If you go through some of last posts you will know that I was very excited about driving car in Mumbai. I have a Europe trip planned from 9th August with parents. My last trip to Bombay was in Mid-June so it made no sense to go to Bombay on first weekend of August. The fact is I always wanted to do a short weekend trip to Mumbai, booking tickets at the last moment and having an impromptu plan. Luckily for me there was some offer on Indigo airlines and I used it to book the current tickets. My total stay in Bombay was suppose to be less than 48 hours and so I decided to book Zoomcar for like 40 hours (Tata Tiago). pick and drop at airport.

to Chennai Airport -

My flight was at 10 pm from Chennai and most of the time I take a train for night flights because of heavy traffic. This time though I had two friends of mine accompanying me from Mahindra World City to Airport. They too had evening flights. We stopped in between for some snacks, A2B to be precise. A2B, Guduvanchery- I used to go there for breakfast on Mornings with one of my friend. So yeah, I had some fond memories about the place. Anyway, I had some 2 hours to spare after Airport security clearance. I made the most of it by writing my usual airport blogpost - Trip to Pondicherry.

to Sweet Home from Airport -

This was the moment I had been waiting for a week. picking up the Zoomcar. I had to struggle 15 mins to find the parking building. The pickup point is at the fifth floor of the building and it took some 10 mins to complete the checklist and take the car. I was tired and I wanted to be home as soon as possible. I didn't check the car thoroughly and didn't care to see if I had the car papers or not. Anyway, I launched the vehicle in first gear smooth and not stalling but the brakes were too sharp. Sharper than the i10 that I drove. As a result car stalled and skid little in the parking lot itself, making a high pitch sound. Troubles didn't end there. Another 5 mins it took to find the exit from fifth floor to the ground floor. Going round and round I reach the ground floor. here again I took a wrong turn and ended up circling the parking building thrice before entering the Western Express Highway. I was thinking if I made the right decision or not.

Once the highway, things were smooth and calm. It drizzled a bit and then stopped raining and then started again. Driving on the highway wasn't a big challenge since there was hardly any traffic at 1:30 am in the morning. I reached home at around 2 am and called my dad to help me find a parking spot. Getting a parking space in Bombay is tough, another 10 mins to find the spot and park it as close to footpath as possible. After parking I realised that I didn't check if I had the car papers. In the darkness I wasn't able to find the glove box handle and I concluded that I forgot to pick the papers up. However, I found the papers in the morning, they were inside the glove box only. parents initially didn't approve of me driving at night in Bombay that too in a rented car which wasn't in a good condition. The morning after the adventures night everyone was normal and calm.

some Small Trips -

on Saturday afternoon we had small family function in Rmall, Mulund. It is around 4-5 kms from my home. I took the car and with me I had my parents and uncle and aunty. Normally it shouldn't have taken more than 10 mins but it was a working Saturday morning and very close to Bombay-Thane check-naka. It here that I realised how much the traffic has increased in my locality and I never knew I could drive in such a heavy traffic. Going forward Inch-by-Inch. Launching a fully loaded vehicle on a slope has always been my nightmare. I had to do that at least 100 times on a stretch of 500 metre road. There were buses, trucks and some Mercedes and BMWs. I was scared of hitting a Merc or BMW. The first turn was a really tense one. I had to make a right turn and then a left turn. The distance between left and right turn was less than 20 metres, meaning I had to change lane really soon. Thankfully my dad was in the co-driver seat and I negotiated the junction. The main part was never letting the tense nerves get on to you. When I write this post, i don't feel that junction a big-deal now. But back then it was a real big thing. Over the course of next two days I went through many such junctions and never felt tensed.

On Saturday I didn't drive more than 20 kms. I couldn't have ignored my building friends when I go to Bombay. This time we met for dinner and then went for our usual walk.

1. Campus Hotel, Mulund with Nupoor and Aamod

2. CCD, after the Campus treat

3. in the Car

4. our famous Lokmanya Tikal Road, Mulund

We had dinner in Campus and went to CCD for some more fun. As I mentioned there used to be parking issue. Aster dinner I was suppose to park the car close to the footpath and that is when we decided to go for a spin in Mulund East. The Pic 3 is from that trip. Pic 4 shows the car in the background. This is the street where I stay. On the right is my building and on the left is Nupoor and other friends houses. It is only at night that the street is so empty. So this pic marks the end of the Day too.


Sunday - Funday - Friendship Day -

This deserves an entire series of blog posts. Anyway, let me start with the overview. Sunday - my flight was at 9 pm from Bombay domestic airport and I had to drop the Zoomcar by 7 pm. I was to meet my Engineering college friends. It was 10 years back that we met and started out engineering studies in Somaiya. Deepali was to come to my home and from there we were planning to go to Mahalakshmi Temple, visit Temple and pick up my Bestie and then decide the next destination. The trip was to start at around 11 am from Mulund. In addition to this I had to go to Ghatkopar with dad for some small work. So there was lot of driving to be done. The trip to Ghatkopar was good, I mean there was hardly any traffic. Smooth ride and I was back home. Dad seemed happy with the driving.

Finally at around 11 or so the big trip started. A day back i had checked the map 3 times to be sure about the route to Mahalakshmi but things don't always go as planned. I had to make a stop at Chandiwali (near Powai) and then go to Mahalakshmi. Once at Chandiwali, Google bhai said that it is better to take the Bandra and sea-link road and we just obeyed it. There some patches of the road that I had crossed during my marathons and this time I got a completely different view when I was in the car. It was on the sea-link that I had to suffer because of 80 kmph speed limit. It wasn't a suffering as such, but you floor the accelerator pedal and the speed just doesn't go above 80. Feels powerless. Anyway, it was wide open road till we reach close to Mahalakshmi.

Thanks to my excellent navigation skills, I made a wrong U-turned. I turned before the actually turn which we were suppose to take. This was the most exciting part. The main U-turn which we were suppose to take was a very narrow patch of road and there were vehicles, big ones coming from two other directions. No signals and no traffic police. it was all about being aggressive than the most aggressive driver to make the turn successfully. There were Mercs and BWMs all around me and I was too scared to go close to them. Judging the front Left end of the car has always been my biggest challenge. Again - Inch-by-Inch and degree-by-degree I turned and moved forward. Things get exciting after the turn. You need to pick your lane carefully and that is what my Bestie kept telling me. Basically, there are many tourist taxis on the route and they slow down the left lane completely. I got stuck behind one of them. Learning the finer parts of road sense and driving. Anyway, after some more struggle I was at the desired location :)

Oye kake Oye, Fort - with Shrutika and Deepali

Cutting the long story short. We had lunch in Oye Kake Oye. Good restaurant, especially the tandoori Parathas. From there we went to Nariman point, Marine Drive and Worli sea-face. We had some other places to visit too, but never realised where the time flied in our recollection of old memories - Travelling Down the Memory lane. We then spent some more time at the Marine drive before winding off.

Nariman Point

Sea Link Moments

One more trip was made on the sea-link to reach the airport. After dropping the car we went to Starbucks at Mumbai Airport. Most of my trips to Starbucks have been with Kartik and each time I have tried some different drink. Best (or worst) part is that I don't recall what I had ordered three or four visit back. Then Kartik and I made atleast three trips a day to Starbucks when we were in Malaysia last October. So yeah, Starbucks holds a special place in my Heart and taste Buds. What happened after coffee can be found in the first para.

Thanks a ton for reading till here. Drop in your comments and words of encouragement.

Happy Friendship Day to All !!!

Road Trip to Pondicherry

9 pm Saturday, after the ofice, me and my friends decide to go to Pondicherry by booking a self drive car. We have been planning a short one day right from the start of the month, many yes and no and finally we made the car booking. It was going to be my first experience with a self drive car drive. This was the time when I was still getting used to driving and this was my primary motivation to go for the trip. Rohan and Ajinkya steped in for the trip too, without whom I wouldn't have started off this trip. One funny thing about self drive - when self drive concept was first launched in India, I used to hear about it a lot from friends. I used to think that self drive means it will drive itself, meaning an autonomous vehicle. I was like Wow !! India has a high tech car fleet and I wondered why Tesla and other companies were fighting so hard over autonomous vehicles technology. It was afte couple of months that I realised the actually meaning of the term Self Drive.

No, getting into the details about current trip. We planned a single day trip to Pondicherry. 300 kms approx total journey. We booked Ford EcoSport from Revv (Similar to Zoomcar) from 4 am in the morning to 10 pm. We were not sure about weather to start the trip at 4 am or 6 am. Anyway, we booked from 4 am and the car was to be delivered near our society by the company. Surprisingly the Delivery man called at 10 pm and he was ready to deliver it by 12am. We were more than happy to take it early without any extra charges but we were sure to start our trip at 4 am.

Midnight - He came and he delivered. We took it and went for a 15 kms spin in our area just to get the feel of the car. That 15 kms was enough to make us change our decision. We decided to leave at 1:30 am. Now, we idn't had any rooms booked and we searched few online. Most of them had 11 am checkout time, which was suitable for us. Atlast we thought we will reach Pondi and then search. None of us had our mobile phones charged above 50 %. Parents were obviously worried because of many reasons but finally we both came to agreement and I left.

Rohan told he will drive to Pondi since it was night time and Ajinky and I were very much okay with it. So off we went. There are many routes to Pondi from Mahindra World City. Two famous one are - one from Chengalpattu and ECr road and other one was via Tindivanum. We crossed the Chengalpattu and in the excitement or what I don't know, we missed the Chengalpattu turn. We were determined to go through ECR and so we found a new route and we all were travelling on it for the first time. Only Google to our rescue. The new route was very remote and felt like a forest region. On one on the road except us for plenty of kms. At times it became less of fun trip since there was nothing aroud us for several kms. Finally we joined the ECR road and all was good from then.

We reached at around 3:30 4 am. I made few calls to see if can get any cheap rooms for few hours. Btw we had reached some beach by this time. It was all dark and we were not sure how close we were to the wters. We parked the car somewhere close and started searching for options. I was damn sleepy but my friends seemed to be immune to it. After half an hour of fruitful attempts we decided to sleep in the car itself. Car off, windows down, seats reclined. I had put an alarm to wake us at 5:15am so that we didn't miss the SunRise. We were chatting and also trying to sleep. It was cool and brezzy night filled with wavy sounds. We doxed off in another half an hour and had 30 mins of sleep before the alarm went off. It was the Best and most Refreshing Nap of the year. My friends too experienced the same. I was no more sleepy and the rising Sun filled us with New energy. We were on the beach till 7 am.

Now, morning time, we all were hungry and needed something to fill our stomach. It was not easy to find a hotel for breakfast. It was after 15-20 km of driving in the city that we found some place to eat. Also, by now I had taken over the steering wheel. I felt confident that I can drive mid-size cars too. Anyway, we were the first customers for the day at that hotel and got our food really quick. It was only 7:30am by the time we finished. An hour of driving more and we were at Zuca. Its a nice Chocolate shop, recommend you guys to visit. It is little on the expensive side but worth it. Some more driving here and there by Ajinkya and me and finally we were ayt Promenade. We had decided to have Lunch at Xtasy cafe and then go home. We were somewhat tired now. We reached promenade, roamed here and there and what not, just to realise that it was only 11:30am. The cafe opened at 12:30pm. That day we realised how slow the time goes when you actually have nothing to do.

It was getting impossible to kill time and we decided to go to Mahabalipura. It is between Pondicherry and mahindra World City. That was to be our Lunch spot. We reached by 1 pm, had some lunch and were heading back home by 2:30 pm. We didn't know our trip would end so fast. I drover almost 120 kms on my way back. It was a fine mixture of Good and Bad driving HAHAHAHA !!! Many of the things I did for the first time on that trip. Like Night road trip in a car and then sleeping off in it. Driving a mid-size car and that too for such a long distance. I was feeling little sleepy but I didn't tell my friends. They would have never let me touch the driving wheel if I had told them this.

Currently I am at Chennai airport and waiting for my flight to take me to Bombay. It is les than 48hour Mumbai trip. I always wanted to do this - have a very short trip to hometown. I am excited to meet my friends and something related to Cars too. Next post will have the details about my new adventure - Click here to read next post. Do let me know about your Self Drive and Night Ride experiences.

Recommended Reading -

Car Drives so Far

One From the Bar

One from the Bar

This one is from a Bar n restaurant.. it's bee a while that I wrote a post. I have two three topics with the sructstru in my mind that I want to pen down and publish. May be hectic schedule at work and equally relaxing atmosphere at home stopped me from writing something new. A glimpse of my ext post- last weekend I hired a self driving EcoSport ad went to Pondicherry. I drove some 120 kms back, my first long/medium drive, my first self drive car experience. Life has been good and I there s is a lot to look forward in August starting from tomorrow..

Few mins back there was a DJ playing and now it is pin drop silence since it is 11 pm. Today is just one of those many impromptu plans that we guys make on weekends. At 10 pm we decided we need to go an at 10:30 we had first drink on our table.. Fortune,it's some 12 kms from my society.. I have been here couple of times before too. Let me try to make it as one of my Airport post - An Hour at Airport

Things I see around, two tv screens. One is. Big projector one and I have no idea why they are playing an old IPL match. Second TV is the happening one. Some women's hockey match, it's far away and I am unable to see the score. Thanks light are dimmed creating a soothing ambience. There are some college students across the table and that's the only happening table. Others are filled with working professionals ad mostly busy in phones. Yeah yeah, I am busy in phone too just so that I can write this..

The next part - DJ.. DJ is just below the big projector screen.. I was just wondering what might be going through DJs mind. Generally there are people dancing and shouting and that serves as feedback and motivation, but how does he keep going here ?? Anyway, he is playing really good music, good mix of Hindi and English. The music is too loud to hear any of my friends. Just three four people daned for 5 mins and that was all. Sharp at 11 the DJ wrapped up ad aat 11:05 he was on his way back home. He might have been a student pursuing something in music and practicing and earning by playing here. That is what I can think about the DJ as of now.. btwTopics we talked on Office, College Crushes, old friends, planning next trip. Of course I can't go in details about the talk because of confidentiality and sensitivity of the content.

It's 11:35 now and we are the only group left here. 5 of us now including me. I am glad that our orders are still delivered.. Time to leave.. This was a small.post just to get starting with blogging again. Start tuned for net weeks some really interesting posts coming up.. Keep Commenting..

Good Night and Happy Sunday !!!


Recommend to read the Next Post - Road Trip to Pondicherry

Car Drives - So Far

Blog post has become one of the key aspects of my Bombay visit. Generally, I get to spend an hour at the Chennai airport after the security clearance and before the boarding the plane. Earlier I used to read books to kill time and I still do, but now I spend an equal amount of time blogging too. So what is this post about? Since past 2-3 months, I have been thinking about writing on this topic. Basically, it is just a short summary and/or story associated with the cars that I have driven so far. Before we start - All these cars are owned by my friend and none by me yet!

Let's start with the car on which I started learning to drive. I was part of BAJA (Off-roading vehicle competition) in my engineering college. Back then we used to design an off-roading car to compete in a nationwide competition. The entire team including the driver were pursuing their degree while working on the project. So yeah, I felt that I too could have been one of the drivers, just a small faint desire. Already there were established drivers in our team who did good justice but it is here that my desire to get a driving license reached a pinnacle and I enrolled in a driving school.

The driving school was in my locality in Mumbai and I was trained on Swift. Frankly, I don't recall if it was diesel or petrol but I do remember that it was blue in colour and a hatchback. Each session consisted of 20 mins and I drove it for 22 days. You can understand the level of skill I would have developed in such a less drive time. Anyway, this was sufficient to clear a very basic driving test and get me a license. One big myth was broken. I used to feel that one needs to accelerate and de-clutch at the same time to make the car move. Fact is, the technology advanced so much that I could launch a car from a stop without the use of accelerator pedal. I had to make sure that I left the clutch gently and the car would roll without stalling. So yeah - Sandy on Road ---

Getz in Somaiya - Akshat. My friend in college and BAJA teammate had a Getz and City too. He was a pretty decent and a very safe driver. I made many college trips in his car and at times I drove his car for 500 mtrs to 1 km near the college. The fun part is, I used to drive slower than the pedestrians walking by. That was like one real-world car experience where complete control of the car was with me, unlike learning vehicle which had two sets of control. Then few years went by and I almost forgot how it felt to drive a car and what was it like to hold the clutch at bitting point. Then came IIT, one of my professors had Tata Nano and Maruti 800. My professor didn't know the level of my driving skills and he was a good chap to hand me the keys to his Nano. Here I learned that how difficult it can be to launch a fully loaded less powerful vehicle. These were very short stints and mention here just for the sake of the record.

Then came a big turning point in my life. I moved to Chennai for my first job and also my first outside Mumbai posing. I met really cool friends here and I still keep meeting them. I can go to a complete book about the adventures with my friends here. Let me get to the point I mean the car. Mainly there were two main cars to talk about which I drove in the same era. Both were by flatmates.

Swift Petrol of Rohith and Grand i10 Sportz Petrol of Kartik. With the swift initially, I had some emotionally bounding and let me tell my bound just got stronger after the ride. Both, Kartik and Rohith are auto enthusiast and I learned a lot from them. Initially, it was the Swift that I drove the most. It was quick but at the same time wider. Rohith stressed the importance of driving slowly at around 30 kmph and learn to control the car. Back then there were no speed breakers in our society, Aqualily so I could drive at a constant speed and in a single gear. Main challenge there was the maneuvering. The lanes were just wide enough for one car and the majority of the turn were blind ones. It was with these driving that I got the confidence of driving on street roads. The second major thing that I learned on the road was launching a car on the slope using the handbrake. Earlier I used footbrake only. Now, there can be a lengthy debate about whether to use handbrake or not. My point is that one should know both the methods and I personally found the handbrake method easy and relaxed. Later on, I came to know that Kartik too used the same technique and I blindly started following the same.

Taking the Swift on road - Disasters at few initial outings. Now, Mahindra World City, where I stay is famous for notorious speed bumps. I used to go too fast over them which caused discomfort to the passengers and also damaged the underbody of the car. Then I learned to go slow and with that, I started to stall. I went through the worst nightmare - Stalling on a speedbump which was on a slope and there was a bus just behind me honking continuously. Now, if I stall once then I am sure to stall 4-5 times more in next one minute. I was literally in a panic mode and then Rohith is like - Relax and after a deep breath I was able to get out of the situation. Now, I don't panic anymore, no matter what the situation is. Earlier I was all attentive and in a very rigid posture. Now I am more relaxed and movements and gear changes are smooth. At the same time, I started driving i10 too. Next couple of months it was a good driving lesson for me with Rohith and Kartik.

Grand i10 - Kartik - As on date he must be having more than 10 years of driving experience and God knows how many cars. I tried to copy him and tried to be as fluid as he was. Soon I realized that it was not an easy task. He made driving look very easy but at my skill level, it was not that easy and smooth. Anyway, I tried my best to improve and I am sure I did. At times I used to take the car out for a ride at night, connect the phone to the speakers and enjoy a long chat my near and dear friends and long drive. Now I had started to realize the difference between brakes and acceleration capability of different vehicles. I could sense the difference in easiness of gear shifting across the different vehicle. Of course by no means, I am anywhere near to the expert level, but I am better than what I was when I came to Chennai. I have spent a great deal of my time in both the cars - both on the driver and non-driver side. Frankly speaking - this post isn't enough to write a complete story about both the cars. Some of the trips that I would like to mention is - Trips for dinner in our locality, then trips to Phoenix mall for movies, and one and the only long trip that I had was to Rameshwaram. At that stage, I was not yet ready for GST, ie highway driving. It was all local within 5 kms of my society.

Then there are other cars that I drove too. Polo - Jeeva, my colleague. My teammate owns a polo and I drove it at times when we used to go for team lunch. That car is really sporty, fast and worth the money.  Swift - Kamal, one of other teammate. His Swift was a diesel variant and I liked driving it. Mostly it was from office to home and back. I also drove it once to my friends home who stayed 40 kms away. There was no highway driving but the distance was long. The longest I ever drove. Kartik once showed me the real power of diesel engines and from that day onwards I fell in love with diesel power. Anyway, my first choice will always be petrol for no apparent reason. Time to board the flight. Will resume once I am inside. This was also the first car that I smashed it into another car at a very slow speed. Only few scratches were observed and nothing critical.

Then the famous WagonR - Abhijay. Abhijay was my batchmate in IIT Bombay and in Mahindra too. We both had a good 6 years of togetherness. Driving Wagon R was a completely different experience. Especially when taking it over a bump. I had to take care that it didn't touch at the bottom and secondly I had to accelerate it enough so that it didn't stall. I admit it, I don't rev-up the engine as much as required while launching it from start out on a slope. With this was the first car that I took it for a proper highway ride. Initially, it was short 30 kms ride in total on the weekend afternoon. Thanks to Abhijay for showing enough confidence that he gave me the keys to drive it from Phoenix market city to our residence. It is a good 35-40 kms stretch with few speed sections and few narrow ones. The highlight of the trip was that I didn't stall even once. That was the last major ride that I had.

I am really thankful to my friends who showed enough confidence in me and more importantly my driving skills. Kindly forgive me if I missed any major and/or minor Car rides. Kindly drop in your comments and your first car drive experience. Thank You !!!

Happy Driving Friends !!!

Bangalore Trips

Flying from Chennai to Bangalore in SpiceJet 3426 and this is the first time that I am flying in a twin propeller aircraft. I had a plan to meet one of my friends in Bangalore before going to Bombay. I booked my Bombay ticket long back. I was planning to travel to Bangalore by bus but due to some reasons my plan changed and I booked a flight. Today morning only I came to know that it is propeller aircraft, 80 seaters.

I am seated in row 8 and there are a total of 20 rows. Two seats on side of the aisle. I thought I'll get a good view of the wings but I was wrong. I am very much ahead of leading edge of the wing. On my immediate right is the propeller blade rotating at a very high end. All the aerodynamic flow goes for a toss once the wind hits the blade, as a result, there is a lot of noise at my location and vibration too. It is okay for a short flight like this one.

My flight to Bombay from Bangalore is at 7:30, means I have more than 4 hours to spare/waste at airport. It has been a long time that I last wrote a blog and I had planned to write one post while waiting at airport. It would be about my four visits in Bangalore and some memories/incidents leading up to the trip. I started writing early, as I said I am in flight and writing. You can see the view from my seat.

Trip One - 2010 - KJ Somaiya Engg college Industrial Visit

In engineering college, we have these long Industrial visits. It's actually industrial visits plus some fun and all. Our trip comprised of going to Bellary first. There we had 3 days Jindal plant visit. It is close to Bangalore. From there we came to Bangalore - ISRO visit, then Ooty to chill and back to Bombay. It was during this trip that I first went to Amoeba, MG road, Bangalore and played Bowling. It was a thrilling experience, especially when you get a Strike !!! All my friends were good and we had a fun time there. Remember, this was also the first time that I went away from my family for such a long trip and at such a far distance.

Leading to the trip - there was some fight I college regarding which faculty will come with us and will girls be a part of this. In the end management won and only boys went. This left a bitter taste before the start of trip. Everything was sorted out at last and it was a good trip.

Trip Two - 2011 - Virtual Baja, Mahindra

I never imagined I'll end with Mahindra as my first job, but it is good I got I to Mahindra Chennai. More on my job in some another post. Baja - an event organized by Mahindra (along with few more) for college students. In this, a team has to build an off road vehicle under certain rules and regulations and then the car is evaluated for different performance measures. Few measures are braking distance, acceleration, etc and if your vehicle has passed all tests it will go for some endurance race on an off track terrain. Fuck, what kind of braking was that. We have landed in Bangalore. Post to be continued later.

Bangalore Airport

I get down and walk into washroom and there is a housekeeping staff guy greeting you Namaste. The placement of tissue papers and the dustbin is just amazing. Then you walk in and you see so many charging points everywhere. Then there are side tables where people can keep their coffee mugs and all. Plus you have separate tables where you can use your laptops and charge it. If required you can also access the free wifi. I am currently on one such table. The tables are placed in such a way that you will be facing the aircrafts and runway. The cleanliness is too good and as mentioned the staff is very supportive.

Back to where I left off - Baja. Before we can compete in actual car event, we need to present our design and business case to the jury. If they agree, then we will go ahead in building the vehicle and then compete. So, I was in Bangalore for virtual Baja. Out of 25 people team, only 5 can visit and present in Virtual Baja. Initially, I wasn't sure of going. As always I showed some typically Sandy behavior, but at the end I decided to go. That is how I ended up in Bangalore. I don't remember the college name and all. I do remember visiting few places after the event. Some temples and gardens and what not. I went to MG road but didn't get a chance to play because of the huge crowd. Overall it was a good trip.

Trip Three - 2017 - LSDyna Conference

LSDyna - In my company we use LSDyna solver (mostly explicit) for our day to day simulations. There was one conference in Bangalore to update about new releases and have a client connect. It was on 27th or 28th April and I was in Bombay until 25th April. I was very skeptically about my nominations. I thought I won't get a chance to go but luckily I was nominated and I made it. We went by company cab - Xylo, 5 people from Chennai.

A day before the conference we had our own companies annual communication meet. It is supposed to be a grand event and no one likes to miss it out. In order to make to Bangalore before 12, we needed to start from Chennai by 6. So, that is what we did. We missed the second half of our meet and left early. That was the first time I went through Bangalore highways. They are wide and clear and flat. You can easily go at 100+ for 2 hours.

After reaching Bangalore, it took us half an hour to search our guest house. We reached and we all were tired. Now, next day event was at 9am and the location was just 15 kms from our guest house. So max to max 40 mins, but no, it took us more than 90 mins and that's when I experienced the infamous Bangalore Traffic. In my previous trip I may have the traffic, I don't recall much. I was too busy enjoying the journey with my friends back then. Here, we had a target time and we were racing against clock. Credits to the corporate rules and regulations, we were supposed to be in the office the next day of our conference. We left at around 6 and expecting to be home at 11. We trusted our driver since it is almost a weekly routine for them. Not this time, he missed one turn on the national highway and we landed in Salem. I am not sure about actual distance between cities but we traveled 180 kms more between Bangalore and Chennai as compared to the direct route. We reached post 1 am.

Now, let me go back one more week, I was not in the best shape of my health. I was having a cold, cough and some breathing issues. This extended trip just worsened my condition. There were just 4 of us while coming back from Bangalore and I took the last seat to doze off. It was not easy and I was not able to sleep. Either it was getting too cold at back or it was suffocating, depending on AC setting. There was no balance between the two cases. The conference was good for me. A week before the conference they had showcased something similar in our office which I had missed because of my Bombay trip. I write automation scripts for my team for Oasys Suite. Now, Arup is the company which distributes Oasys and LSDyna licenses to us. As a result, I was able to meet of the members of Arup's coding and automation team. Overall I would rate this trip very hectic.

Trip Four - Today - Not Sure What to Name

This trip to Bangalore is like Medal/Trophy on my Wall of Fame. Wall of Fame of what? Well, you can call it as Sandy's Crazy Adventures. I can write a chapter if not book on my Crazy Adventures and Tasks. Let me just focus for a brief moment on the current trip. I just saw the start of my post and you guys already know why I am at Bangalore. Why this is crazy - seriously, there was no need to take such a step to meet a friend. Some lesson learnt though. A similar lesson was learned last March during Holi. Not similar but exactly same lesson and it repeated that again and so I say Crazy.

That should be all for you guys as of now. It is around 5:30 now and so 90 mins more to spare at the airport.