Saturday, July 24, 2010
BlogStep#5
After you have decided why, what, whom and how, it is important to plan out the goal. I had planned to cover about my perceptive about U.S culture along with my past perceptions and incidences. I am also one among many who never had any desire to step in U.S, at the same time I also longed to see how my birthday was celebrated in U.S. People like me who hesitate to travel to U.S, I would only recommend to visit U.S given a chance just to admire their culture and automated things. The contents in each of my post are 100% true except for four posts. I have covered all possible interesting areas that I adored the most in U.S. It is easy to plan and hard to execute but consistent planning and execution would definitely help to progress. That's exactly what I tried for the past one year. I could not complete my initial count of 365 (which later got down to 360) due to my India trip. As per my original plan I had to post my last write up on 6th August which could give me the correct count of 365. I thought I would compensate for the remaining posts by blogging two topics everyday. But due to hectic work and health conditions I could not even think of writing one everyday so planning to write two on a single day seemed bit impossible. In spite of many deviations and hiccups, I still consider my first step towards writing a big success. I am here with closing my personal blog from this day.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Log Home
Before I close my personal blog I thought of completing my week pending task of writing in detail about our two day stay in log home.
Our trip started on a Friday evening to this place. We are got split into two cars with four and five members in each car. I should also give some good qualities that I like in each of the members in car 1 and car 2.
Car#1 Gang:
If you have to blame me for hanging a camera with me always for any outing then he is the guy you should blame for. He knowingly or unknowingly did a big mistake of forcing me to buy a rechargeable battery due to which I never used my camera for the past one year. What I learnt from this person is the sheer determination, we have tried a lot to brain wash his mind to eat non-veg but he seems to be lot steady and strong to stick to his values and view point.
Building a relationship in a first meet and retaining the same after is not a easy task my friends and I love this person only for this sole reason she knows how to maintain relationship and one gets easily attracted my the way she speaks. kattabomman movie is associated with her for some reason not sure why :)
I have never seen this person lose his temper and not sure how he has trained himself to maintain his nerve to be calm even when things get miserable. If he doesn't find someone agree to his point, he stays silent and saves his energy wisely.
I would set this person as a role model who loves to maintain perfection in everything be it be dancing, singing or teasing or getting ready on time or taking the responsibility to arrange things at home.
Mite be new to our gang but she comfortably mingled with everyone and got close with each of us. Everyone in our gang calls her Mrs. Question mark that is because she poses tooooooo many questions. That is exactly what I like in her.
Car#2 Gang:
She has very good observation and a razor sharp mind. Even during night time she was able to guide our driver. Her presence of mind is something I really appreciate.
He likes to read a lot and if I recall correctly he loves winter season that the time he gets more time to read things online. Well I admire his reading habits.
Many could be talented and knowledgeable but few are modest. I came to know more about this person only after this trip. I respect his humbleness and hidden talent. I damn sure he will soon showcase his talent to everyone in near future.
Person known for energy and enthusiasm also traveled along with this gang in car2.
Day#1 Adventures
we thought we would reach our destination by 10 or so but we stepped our log home close to 12 as we looped around one point for sometime. We all lined up to arrange our things in the log home. Some were arranging kitchen things and some were pulling the luggages from the car. After a tiring drive we all took turns to prepare Dosai and Adai. After so called heavy dinner we all headed to have a night view of the lake. Our log home is almost in the middle of the forest which is lined with lake on one side. The lake was at walk able distance from our log home. We all walked in 4-5 rows with group of 2-3 people in each row. We carried our torch light as it was pitch dark outside. We reached the lake and admired the reflection of water, sound of frogs and grumble of our stomach. After few clicks in the dark we headed back to the log home. It was almost 2-2.30 when everyone went to bed.
Day#2 Adventures
Morning people attacked water melon, bread and kellogs to energize them to canoe for long time. I and one other friend got up at 11 am as we were pretty much unworried about canoeing. First thing that attracted me in the morning was the water bottle arranged with white Nymphaea stellata(Ambal flower). I guessed that our folks had plucked from the lake during their boating. People had gone for many rounds of canoeing and I landed late but ensured I carried my breakfast along even when people pulled me to row in the boat with six people of which five were gals. I had a very interesting ride that day as the canoe was only turning 360 degrees rotation and never navigated to any direction. Everyone in the boat had suggested individual direction that kept the boat turn turn and turn but never allowed it to move in any single direction. Finally we made up our mind and reached the shore.
Close to 1 pm we headed our way to hike in the forest with individual self survival kit of water bottle and snacks. Still I am not sure to what distance we walked as some say 3 and some say 6 miles either way we had a long walk. The weather was very favorable factor to us in the end as it neither poured rain nor appeared hot. There was one who throughout our hiking had a constant eye on the route number and map directions. We walked on sand, ran between tall grasses and jumped on soggy grasses.
Whenever we lost our energy we either sang loud or aimed for flower stem shots on bushy hairs or took snaps or did something really crazy. After 3 hours we reached our log home again. Prepared sumptuous Briyani and passed couple of hours playing phase 10 cards. The game was not interesting as before one could gather cards, someone or the other completed that phase easily if the cards were not shuffled properly. Still we continued to play for four phases. Our head started to ache and eyes wanted to catch a wink. In this state some compromised to stay at home and some were desperately waiting to take bath in the lake. Later we pulled everyone to visit the nearby lake. Oh my god can't express how much fun each of had in playing in the lake water.
After getting refreshed most of them got ready to set the camp fire at 9.30 pm, I was feeling bit weak by then and started to lay flat on the sofa. I went after the fire was high and corn was roasted. After seeing everyone's energy level my level got lot heightened. One side people were roasting sweet corn and on the other side people grilled chicken. After dancing, singing and eating we headed back home.
All of us had decided to sleep only at 3 am that day so we had to find some way to keep ourselves awake. We finally decided to play dumb-c only with Tamil movies. Guys and gals formed separate teams. It was fun confusing our opponent from guessing and giving the right answer. Of the entire movie names only 123 GO retained in our minds for ever as our friend really had a tough time in explaining about this movie to us. Back to bed after having mini breakfast (idli/Chapathi) along with ice cream.
Day#3 Adventures
At least today most of us decided to wake up late in the morning, those who got up early went for another round of canoeing. As we had to vacate the log home by 3P.M we had to complete our cooking, cleaning and packing in a very shot time. We managed everything easily as each of us took responsibility of some task or the other. Half heartedly we all left the place and headed to hear a 30 minutes lecture in wolf center. After the wolf center visit we took a short break in a park to fill in our stomach with Sundal and water melon. As we waited for our friends to gather in the parking lot we decided to play a game and I was the target for this game. My friends tied my eyes and asked me catch them. To spice this game one of my friend suggested me to call out Marko for which my friends would reply back polo just to indicate their positions and move. People clapped, scratched and shouted to hint about the existence of people close to me. It took long time and I was unable to catch hold of anyone at the end I found someone whom I grabbed strongly and there you go our game ended and each gang later pulled their respective cars to drive for a scenic view. After dinner break at pizza hut we all reached home before 3 a.m. That's the end of our sweet memories of our two day stay in log home.
I might have missed out few interesting points from our trip which I guess my friend might help me to recall. Anyway I have tried my best to at least jot down the highlights of our trip.
Our trip started on a Friday evening to this place. We are got split into two cars with four and five members in each car. I should also give some good qualities that I like in each of the members in car 1 and car 2.
Car#1 Gang:
If you have to blame me for hanging a camera with me always for any outing then he is the guy you should blame for. He knowingly or unknowingly did a big mistake of forcing me to buy a rechargeable battery due to which I never used my camera for the past one year. What I learnt from this person is the sheer determination, we have tried a lot to brain wash his mind to eat non-veg but he seems to be lot steady and strong to stick to his values and view point.
Building a relationship in a first meet and retaining the same after is not a easy task my friends and I love this person only for this sole reason she knows how to maintain relationship and one gets easily attracted my the way she speaks. kattabomman movie is associated with her for some reason not sure why :)
I have never seen this person lose his temper and not sure how he has trained himself to maintain his nerve to be calm even when things get miserable. If he doesn't find someone agree to his point, he stays silent and saves his energy wisely.
I would set this person as a role model who loves to maintain perfection in everything be it be dancing, singing or teasing or getting ready on time or taking the responsibility to arrange things at home.
Mite be new to our gang but she comfortably mingled with everyone and got close with each of us. Everyone in our gang calls her Mrs. Question mark that is because she poses tooooooo many questions. That is exactly what I like in her.
Car#2 Gang:
She has very good observation and a razor sharp mind. Even during night time she was able to guide our driver. Her presence of mind is something I really appreciate.
He likes to read a lot and if I recall correctly he loves winter season that the time he gets more time to read things online. Well I admire his reading habits.
Many could be talented and knowledgeable but few are modest. I came to know more about this person only after this trip. I respect his humbleness and hidden talent. I damn sure he will soon showcase his talent to everyone in near future.
Person known for energy and enthusiasm also traveled along with this gang in car2.
Day#1 Adventures
we thought we would reach our destination by 10 or so but we stepped our log home close to 12 as we looped around one point for sometime. We all lined up to arrange our things in the log home. Some were arranging kitchen things and some were pulling the luggages from the car. After a tiring drive we all took turns to prepare Dosai and Adai. After so called heavy dinner we all headed to have a night view of the lake. Our log home is almost in the middle of the forest which is lined with lake on one side. The lake was at walk able distance from our log home. We all walked in 4-5 rows with group of 2-3 people in each row. We carried our torch light as it was pitch dark outside. We reached the lake and admired the reflection of water, sound of frogs and grumble of our stomach. After few clicks in the dark we headed back to the log home. It was almost 2-2.30 when everyone went to bed.
Day#2 Adventures
Morning people attacked water melon, bread and kellogs to energize them to canoe for long time. I and one other friend got up at 11 am as we were pretty much unworried about canoeing. First thing that attracted me in the morning was the water bottle arranged with white Nymphaea stellata(Ambal flower). I guessed that our folks had plucked from the lake during their boating. People had gone for many rounds of canoeing and I landed late but ensured I carried my breakfast along even when people pulled me to row in the boat with six people of which five were gals. I had a very interesting ride that day as the canoe was only turning 360 degrees rotation and never navigated to any direction. Everyone in the boat had suggested individual direction that kept the boat turn turn and turn but never allowed it to move in any single direction. Finally we made up our mind and reached the shore.
Close to 1 pm we headed our way to hike in the forest with individual self survival kit of water bottle and snacks. Still I am not sure to what distance we walked as some say 3 and some say 6 miles either way we had a long walk. The weather was very favorable factor to us in the end as it neither poured rain nor appeared hot. There was one who throughout our hiking had a constant eye on the route number and map directions. We walked on sand, ran between tall grasses and jumped on soggy grasses.
Whenever we lost our energy we either sang loud or aimed for flower stem shots on bushy hairs or took snaps or did something really crazy. After 3 hours we reached our log home again. Prepared sumptuous Briyani and passed couple of hours playing phase 10 cards. The game was not interesting as before one could gather cards, someone or the other completed that phase easily if the cards were not shuffled properly. Still we continued to play for four phases. Our head started to ache and eyes wanted to catch a wink. In this state some compromised to stay at home and some were desperately waiting to take bath in the lake. Later we pulled everyone to visit the nearby lake. Oh my god can't express how much fun each of had in playing in the lake water.
After getting refreshed most of them got ready to set the camp fire at 9.30 pm, I was feeling bit weak by then and started to lay flat on the sofa. I went after the fire was high and corn was roasted. After seeing everyone's energy level my level got lot heightened. One side people were roasting sweet corn and on the other side people grilled chicken. After dancing, singing and eating we headed back home.
All of us had decided to sleep only at 3 am that day so we had to find some way to keep ourselves awake. We finally decided to play dumb-c only with Tamil movies. Guys and gals formed separate teams. It was fun confusing our opponent from guessing and giving the right answer. Of the entire movie names only 123 GO retained in our minds for ever as our friend really had a tough time in explaining about this movie to us. Back to bed after having mini breakfast (idli/Chapathi) along with ice cream.
Day#3 Adventures
At least today most of us decided to wake up late in the morning, those who got up early went for another round of canoeing. As we had to vacate the log home by 3P.M we had to complete our cooking, cleaning and packing in a very shot time. We managed everything easily as each of us took responsibility of some task or the other. Half heartedly we all left the place and headed to hear a 30 minutes lecture in wolf center. After the wolf center visit we took a short break in a park to fill in our stomach with Sundal and water melon. As we waited for our friends to gather in the parking lot we decided to play a game and I was the target for this game. My friends tied my eyes and asked me catch them. To spice this game one of my friend suggested me to call out Marko for which my friends would reply back polo just to indicate their positions and move. People clapped, scratched and shouted to hint about the existence of people close to me. It took long time and I was unable to catch hold of anyone at the end I found someone whom I grabbed strongly and there you go our game ended and each gang later pulled their respective cars to drive for a scenic view. After dinner break at pizza hut we all reached home before 3 a.m. That's the end of our sweet memories of our two day stay in log home.
I might have missed out few interesting points from our trip which I guess my friend might help me to recall. Anyway I have tried my best to at least jot down the highlights of our trip.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Life in Chennai
I always tried to keep myself busy with something or the other when I was in Chennai. After joining software industry I hardly found any time for my personal activities. That's when I decided to use my one hour to and fro bus time for personal daily routine. I only remember the days of running from home to the bus stop with a huge back pack on my shoulders, bread sandwich in my left hand and Hindu newspaper in my right hand. I would stand next to someone who usually boards the office bus from my stop, that way I needn't even look up for the bus number. While standing in the bus stop and while travelling to office I read the headlines and editorial section of Hindu Newspaper. After work while returning back home I used to sketch/replicate cartoon pictures from the same newspaper. During night time as I needed light to sketch my drawings I always ensured to occupy the seat right behind the driver. I continued this hectic routine of reading and drawing during my travel time. Too much of anything is good for nothing and that's exactly what I realized when I suffered from severe eye pain. Saturday and Sunday's were usually packed with tennis for 3-4 hours, washing and sleeping. Life probably will not be that busy at least for the next three weeks in my hometown.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
My liking
From childhood I have a habit of collecting quotations from news paper, books and magazines. I like to paste spirit boosting quotes around my place. During my school days I had gathered and organized humongous list of quotes that I loved the most. Today When I went through one of the great quote mailed across by my friend I got reminded of my ever loving hobby.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Direct Heat
My sleep was completely disturbed in the morning when I heard this message "Ashwini" application hanged. Well not a big issue but hearing this message my pressure raised a lot as I have been getting back and forth issues and escalations with this application which has almost taken my breathe for the past 3-4 weeks. I was happy last Friday as the application worked as expected. I was under the impression that I will have a peaceful disperse for my India trip coming Saturday. But this application escalation really sucks and sometimes peaks my stress level. Onsite folks in general get the direct heat/tension when the team does not meet client’s deadline and quality deliverables even when things are dependent on clients. Hearing few comments from one of my clients made me feel very bad and pathetic when things really go out of our control. What worked yesterday hangs up today and causes a delay to business and ultimately you are blamed for something unusual that happens all of sudden makes you feel that your efforts are in vain. I felt much stressed out today and didn't even have the energy to do anything much.
Monday, July 19, 2010
Grave Day
Trip was just amazing, I ate for the whole day and slept for at least eight hours. I have promised my friends to write a detailed blog to capture our evergreen memories of our two day stay in the log home. I am damn tired today and will probably find sometime this week to elaborate about our short trip.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Gone
No more offshore calls
No more staring at the monitor
No more bug fixes and requirement analysis
No more status updates
No more follow ups
No more shopping and roaming
No more sleeping for less time
No more tennis
No more blogging
No more eating in rush
No more willing to take deadline pressure
I am refraining all of the above activities just for the next two days. I am gone to live between the woods and lakes just to eat and invigorate.
No more staring at the monitor
No more bug fixes and requirement analysis
No more status updates
No more follow ups
No more shopping and roaming
No more sleeping for less time
No more tennis
No more blogging
No more eating in rush
No more willing to take deadline pressure
I am refraining all of the above activities just for the next two days. I am gone to live between the woods and lakes just to eat and invigorate.
Konsc
I am very impressed with this person though I know him from March of this year. In our first meet itself he frightened me. Every time I met him he scared me with some blunt comments. I really had a hard time getting along for project related activities. He has high standards, discipline and perfection even for the smallest task whereas I always cared about getting things done and quite often didn't bother how it is done.
He is very straight forward and snappily opens up frank opinions about individual expectations and nature. He is very detailed and elaborate about his findings for any issue. When I ran out of time, I ignore his mail otherwise I go through line by line. He is guy who has helped me to develop great attitude. I can't sometimes believe how people have a sharp memory even when they grow old and this guy is no exception. This guy also reminds me of few great characteristic of my mother.
He is a movie and astrology lover who keeps updating his DVD and space image list.
Today there was lot of lengthy conversation floating across for my next assignment after my vacation break. I am lot afraid to step into core technical side again but at the same time I don't want to miss this wonderful opportunity to work with this great personality.
If I work dedicatedly with this person for the next six months, I am sure to move up to the next level in my career path.
He is very straight forward and snappily opens up frank opinions about individual expectations and nature. He is very detailed and elaborate about his findings for any issue. When I ran out of time, I ignore his mail otherwise I go through line by line. He is guy who has helped me to develop great attitude. I can't sometimes believe how people have a sharp memory even when they grow old and this guy is no exception. This guy also reminds me of few great characteristic of my mother.
He is a movie and astrology lover who keeps updating his DVD and space image list.
Today there was lot of lengthy conversation floating across for my next assignment after my vacation break. I am lot afraid to step into core technical side again but at the same time I don't want to miss this wonderful opportunity to work with this great personality.
If I work dedicatedly with this person for the next six months, I am sure to move up to the next level in my career path.
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Playful
"Please will you leave my hair for a while", is the usual statement that I usually hear from my elder sister whenever I mess with her long beautiful hair. I love to play with her lustrous hair. I completely become deaf whenever she yells at me for doing crazy things with her hair. I and my sister fight a lot for silly matters, and every fight had some concealed love and understanding.
Its been more than three months I am due to cut my hair this week .My roomies took this opportunity to try pony tail with my short hair before shedding out some hair in the saloon. I was not bothering about what they did with my hair as I was seriously focusing on my project issue. But such playful styles with my hair made me recall my wonderful moments with my siblings.
Its been more than three months I am due to cut my hair this week .My roomies took this opportunity to try pony tail with my short hair before shedding out some hair in the saloon. I was not bothering about what they did with my hair as I was seriously focusing on my project issue. But such playful styles with my hair made me recall my wonderful moments with my siblings.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
BlogStep#4
When I decided to blog I was very much doubtful about my commitment to blog everyday.
Sometimes I went late to bed due to long offshore calls sometimes I slept early morning at 4 a.m. But what was interesting in spite of my inconsistent bedtime was my determination to write everyday. I ensured I wrote at least one line about my daily activity irrespective of my brain saturation point.
I had tremendous amount of self discipline for the past one year. I feel satisfied for accomplishing my personal assignment.
Sometimes I went late to bed due to long offshore calls sometimes I slept early morning at 4 a.m. But what was interesting in spite of my inconsistent bedtime was my determination to write everyday. I ensured I wrote at least one line about my daily activity irrespective of my brain saturation point.
I had tremendous amount of self discipline for the past one year. I feel satisfied for accomplishing my personal assignment.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Faking
My mother throughout my childhood strongly insisted one thing in life "Honesty is the best policy". And I have always followed that even for the simplest things in my life but there were couple of scenario's in the past were I avoided being genuine. Whenever I took a wrong path there was always someone other than my mother to pinpoint "Ashwini" you are deviating from being bona fide.
Such unknowingly/unintentionally committed mistakes always make me feel guilty for long and I really take time to recover from such acts. Today again I realized yet another mistake of mine i.e faking things. First this person sounded very angry on me but when I repented my mistake he smiled back and said anyone in your position would have done the same thing "Ashwini". But I advise you to be original than faking others work. This incident makes it very clear to me that no matter what the situation is, it is always best to be "fair and authentic" .
My lesson for today is be straight and still rather than being short and caught.
Such unknowingly/unintentionally committed mistakes always make me feel guilty for long and I really take time to recover from such acts. Today again I realized yet another mistake of mine i.e faking things. First this person sounded very angry on me but when I repented my mistake he smiled back and said anyone in your position would have done the same thing "Ashwini". But I advise you to be original than faking others work. This incident makes it very clear to me that no matter what the situation is, it is always best to be "fair and authentic" .
My lesson for today is be straight and still rather than being short and caught.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Restless
No wonder I will feel restless today after doing some shopping, roaming, playing ping pong and tennis.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Detour
We took a long route due to detour and in between called upon our friends to get some guidance to reach this spot for our mixed doubles tournament. I had a new experience to play tennis on turf today. The weather changed drastically during our match and we didn't play our usual shots this afternoon as we anticipated something whereas the ball turned in different directions because of wind, sand/grass patch and last minute dilemma. This is the first loss for me and my partner in the count of mixed doubles matches played so far. We both took the defeat in right spirit as winning and losing are part of any game.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Boozy D
I heard this word for the first time from my onsite coordinator when I was at offshore few years back. He was inquiring about the annual party from me and threw a blunt question did you booze in the party? The word booze sounded like sizzle to me and I replied back saying yes I did. His voice appeared as if he smirked and continued his questions what did you booze? This question now alerted me that booze has something to do with drinking but I didn't know what drink. I thought I gave him a safe answer by mentioning about water but I was wrong. He continued to shoot the next question which brand? That made me realize he was referring booze as "alcoholic beverage" whereas I interpreted booze as the verb "drink". From then on whenever people mention about booze I knew what they were referring to.
Now how would the situation be if a boozy driver pulls his heavy vehicle, smashes the objects on the road, tries to approach your car as close as possible without giving any indication and pretends as if nothing existed adjacent to his vehicle, bit scary isn't it?.
I had this strange experience today. I am generally afraid of people who booze but after staying at onsite and going for happy hours with clients I only thought most of the Americans enjoy boozing and they consider boozing as one of the socializing occasion. But today's incident makes me rethink about my thought on people who drink. I never ever even dreamt a construction worker who is completely drunk to drive late night that too in front of the cops. Now I get a complete understanding why transportation department insists to avoid driving when drunk.
Now how would the situation be if a boozy driver pulls his heavy vehicle, smashes the objects on the road, tries to approach your car as close as possible without giving any indication and pretends as if nothing existed adjacent to his vehicle, bit scary isn't it?.
I had this strange experience today. I am generally afraid of people who booze but after staying at onsite and going for happy hours with clients I only thought most of the Americans enjoy boozing and they consider boozing as one of the socializing occasion. But today's incident makes me rethink about my thought on people who drink. I never ever even dreamt a construction worker who is completely drunk to drive late night that too in front of the cops. Now I get a complete understanding why transportation department insists to avoid driving when drunk.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Soo Good
I love certain qualities of mine such as giving equal chances, treating everyone alike, pulling people to interact and including everyone in all my group activities. I found this characteristic in very few people that I have worked with. Today late afternoon we had a meeting with our client lead, architect and few developers. I was the presenter for this meeting. Over period of time I have gained tremendous amount of confidence in me to do any kind of presentation in front of big leads. In this meeting too I was extremely surefooted that made me answer every question posed by my clients. Every now and then I kept asking my clients if they had any other queries. Out of seven people in the room five of us conversed but two remained silent. At the end we had to pull our manager to consult for his decision so that boils down to one person who did not speak a word during the meeting. My architect was so good that he knew how to pull that taciturn personality to this discussion. He smilingly asked that person to comment on the design from a developer perceptive. I felt very happy when he did that, at same time I also felt bit guilty for missing that initiation from my end. I kept admiring my architect’s attitude for the remaining part of the day. I feel soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo good when I come across people who put me back to my original state of valuing individuals opinion.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
2nd Time
Last night this time I was almost dead in bed. My stomach was empty and head was heavy. For a second I felt not to think about offshore calls, office work and my personal routine. This incident made me realize how careless I have been straining my body without giving it sufficient rest. It was bit unexpected that I held my head with both my hands and my face flinched while dining out to celebrate our last match for this season. Before reaching the restaurant I was complaining about severe neck pain to my captain and after we reached the spot I was completely speechless. My whole team stared at me as I was making weird expressions. My team members thought dehydration and neck pain probably could have caused me to suffer from headache, thereby everyone tried their trick on my pain. One suggested me to drink plenty of water, few rushed to get me bag of ice and few others cracked jokes to relax my mind. Nothing was having any effect on me. I only wanted to crash myself for an undisturbed sleep. I thought after having meal I would be fine. But I went blank for a while and couldn't realize what was happening around me.
Seeing my state my captain immediately fixed an appointment with chiropractor. My captain quickly paid the bill and pulled me in the car to reach the chiropractor's residence. We drove for long and all of sudden something really troubled me and wanted the car to be stopped. Even during this time my captain was passing some funny comments and the very next second I vomited in the car. After a break we continued our travel to the therapist house. The therapist checked my blood pressure and heart beat rate and then continued with his massage on my neck. Unfortunately nothing seemed to make me better. They arranged for a bucket next to my place to avoid me rushing to the rest room every time to vomit. I met this guy and his family for the first time but everyone in his house were compassionate even during their sleep time. He was another cool guy who was trying to relive by pain by mentioning "Ashwani" it is better you stop serving at 125 mph and start taking tennis bit easy. He sincerely advised me to stop straining myself for at least a week. I was lying on the bed for an hour or so, later without any alternative treatments I had to pull myself to travel back home. Reached home to pull a pillow and sleep immediately. Before I slept I ensured to communicate to my dependents not to disturb me till the next day afternoon.
Second time in my life I have gone through such a miserable state. Unlike last time I had many to help me out this time. Yesterday's incident made me perceive how quickly one should react when someone says "they are not feeling well".
Seeing my state my captain immediately fixed an appointment with chiropractor. My captain quickly paid the bill and pulled me in the car to reach the chiropractor's residence. We drove for long and all of sudden something really troubled me and wanted the car to be stopped. Even during this time my captain was passing some funny comments and the very next second I vomited in the car. After a break we continued our travel to the therapist house. The therapist checked my blood pressure and heart beat rate and then continued with his massage on my neck. Unfortunately nothing seemed to make me better. They arranged for a bucket next to my place to avoid me rushing to the rest room every time to vomit. I met this guy and his family for the first time but everyone in his house were compassionate even during their sleep time. He was another cool guy who was trying to relive by pain by mentioning "Ashwani" it is better you stop serving at 125 mph and start taking tennis bit easy. He sincerely advised me to stop straining myself for at least a week. I was lying on the bed for an hour or so, later without any alternative treatments I had to pull myself to travel back home. Reached home to pull a pillow and sleep immediately. Before I slept I ensured to communicate to my dependents not to disturb me till the next day afternoon.
Second time in my life I have gone through such a miserable state. Unlike last time I had many to help me out this time. Yesterday's incident made me perceive how quickly one should react when someone says "they are not feeling well".
Monday, July 5, 2010
Firework
My day kick starts with group of friends singing a memorable song for me over phone during their return trip from Niagara. I was feeling very very happy on hearing the song and their wish. I was also delighted to see mails and attend calls from my friends. I love giving and taking surprises as far as this matter is concern. There were only three occasions and three groups (parents, college friends and ELT friends) who were successful in giving me a surprise party.
And today someone has done it again for me. All of sudden unexpectedly someone buzzes the door bell and points my favorite chocolate cake in front of me. I didn't really expect that and was bit stunned but ensured I quickly reacted and got them seated. I was so excited after this incident that I gave all wrong answers to my friends simple questions.
Directions flow from New York to MN to arrange for my day with Friends in and around our apartment. We had an unplanned group potluck which at the end turned out to be a great feast. Finally I crossed my hands to feed cake to my friends and later everyone rushed to watch the American Independence Day firework. Managed to return back home before midnight besides heavy traffic. Day got tweaked in many unanticipated directions but finally things ended well.
And today someone has done it again for me. All of sudden unexpectedly someone buzzes the door bell and points my favorite chocolate cake in front of me. I didn't really expect that and was bit stunned but ensured I quickly reacted and got them seated. I was so excited after this incident that I gave all wrong answers to my friends simple questions.
Directions flow from New York to MN to arrange for my day with Friends in and around our apartment. We had an unplanned group potluck which at the end turned out to be a great feast. Finally I crossed my hands to feed cake to my friends and later everyone rushed to watch the American Independence Day firework. Managed to return back home before midnight besides heavy traffic. Day got tweaked in many unanticipated directions but finally things ended well.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
2 in one
I got a chance to see a Northern style wedding in U.S. I had to leave with one of my Zimbabwe friend for our friend’s marriage. I was not surprised to see her dressed in American wedding suit but she was bit upset on seeing me covered from neck to toe. This being her first experience of attending an India marriage she had no clue how to deck out for the occasion. She was very concern about her dress and was thinking about crossing her front portion with shawl. We conversed about American, Zimbabwe and Indian wedding style during our 35 minutes drive to the marriage hall.
We were the first ones to reach the spot; we saw an empty hall filled with chair and tables. Later we witnessed few of our friend’s relatives running around to complete the decoration and other arrangements. After few minutes everyone started to show up and my Zimbabwe friend appeared bit relaxed after seeing her college mates dressed in same fashion as hers. I got introduced to many Americans and Chinese people in today's wedding. More or less it appeared as if I was seated in a American wedding as majority were Americans. I heard one repeated sentence from my friend “I can't imagine that our friend is getting married". Hearing this I could only understand how much she was missing the bride.
We waited and waited and there was no sign of bride/bridegroom entering the hall.
Later bride's brother asked everyone to assemble at the entrance to receive the bridegroom. It was fabulous to watch bridegroom's relative’s dance in front of the bridegroom's car. When the bridegroom entered the crowd greeted with a big applause.
The priest chanted some mantra's to welcome the bridegroom and his family. Everyone whispered about the turban that the bridegroom and the relatives had worn. Besides all this talks I found an American camera woman coolly moving around to shoot the marriage pictures.
Now we waited for the arrival of the Bride, we were very eager to see our friend in traditional dress. Someone screamed there she comes under the red dupattah held by four of her brothers. Our friend appeared extremely beautiful in the ornate Indian dress. The bride and bridegroom got seated on floor and went through a long process of Indian pooja. The best part of today's wedding was rice grain neatly packed in a mess cloth wrapped with baby ribbon. Instructions were announced in the mike when the rice grain should be thrown on the couple to bless them. Every one followed the instructions till the end of the wedding.
During the ceremony we dispersed for lunch, took a group snap with our friend and finally waved a bye to everyone in the hall. I had a flavor of both Indian and American style in this marriage. Though the wedding was witnessed by many American friends the spirit of Northern Indian culture existed predominantly in today's marriage. I also liked the adaptability of American's to Indian style wedding.
We were the first ones to reach the spot; we saw an empty hall filled with chair and tables. Later we witnessed few of our friend’s relatives running around to complete the decoration and other arrangements. After few minutes everyone started to show up and my Zimbabwe friend appeared bit relaxed after seeing her college mates dressed in same fashion as hers. I got introduced to many Americans and Chinese people in today's wedding. More or less it appeared as if I was seated in a American wedding as majority were Americans. I heard one repeated sentence from my friend “I can't imagine that our friend is getting married". Hearing this I could only understand how much she was missing the bride.
We waited and waited and there was no sign of bride/bridegroom entering the hall.
Later bride's brother asked everyone to assemble at the entrance to receive the bridegroom. It was fabulous to watch bridegroom's relative’s dance in front of the bridegroom's car. When the bridegroom entered the crowd greeted with a big applause.
The priest chanted some mantra's to welcome the bridegroom and his family. Everyone whispered about the turban that the bridegroom and the relatives had worn. Besides all this talks I found an American camera woman coolly moving around to shoot the marriage pictures.
Now we waited for the arrival of the Bride, we were very eager to see our friend in traditional dress. Someone screamed there she comes under the red dupattah held by four of her brothers. Our friend appeared extremely beautiful in the ornate Indian dress. The bride and bridegroom got seated on floor and went through a long process of Indian pooja. The best part of today's wedding was rice grain neatly packed in a mess cloth wrapped with baby ribbon. Instructions were announced in the mike when the rice grain should be thrown on the couple to bless them. Every one followed the instructions till the end of the wedding.
During the ceremony we dispersed for lunch, took a group snap with our friend and finally waved a bye to everyone in the hall. I had a flavor of both Indian and American style in this marriage. Though the wedding was witnessed by many American friends the spirit of Northern Indian culture existed predominantly in today's marriage. I also liked the adaptability of American's to Indian style wedding.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
BlogStep#3
Here goes another break point to cover with whom I shared this blog. I circulated my blog to my friends and colleagues. I was very determined about blogging everyday irrespective of whether I got any comments from my friends or not. Believe me comments from my friends were definitely a support factor to boost my confidence.
Few of my friends mailed me personally, few others commented directly in the blog and some called me over phone. There were many of my friends who were against blogging about my personal activities and exposing the same to everyone. Say for example, when I wrote about the fights that I had with my parents for choosing my life partner. Well according to me all the situation that I am going through everyday for sure would have been faced by many. I only thought my blog would help people to correlate their incidences with mine.
Above is just a sample to state that I accepted few valid comments from my friends which I thought made more sense to me and few others I had to compromise with my intended plan and self-thought.
I hope I will get similar encouragement from all my friends for my next assignment in September of this year.
Few of my friends mailed me personally, few others commented directly in the blog and some called me over phone. There were many of my friends who were against blogging about my personal activities and exposing the same to everyone. Say for example, when I wrote about the fights that I had with my parents for choosing my life partner. Well according to me all the situation that I am going through everyday for sure would have been faced by many. I only thought my blog would help people to correlate their incidences with mine.
Above is just a sample to state that I accepted few valid comments from my friends which I thought made more sense to me and few others I had to compromise with my intended plan and self-thought.
I hope I will get similar encouragement from all my friends for my next assignment in September of this year.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Starling
American women are bold and daring. I always felt they have the full freedom to do what they want to do unlike few restrictions that most of our Indian gals have. One will not find much difference between an American man and woman in aspects of drinking, smoking, eating habits, hair cut, fitness, tolerance level and work culture. In Minnesota people generally say women are more reckless while driving compared to men.
There is no limit set for American women to explore the riskiest job. That is the best part I love about American culture. Clarence Starling is one such character who is very audacious.
There is no limit set for American women to explore the riskiest job. That is the best part I love about American culture. Clarence Starling is one such character who is very audacious.
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