Food Fiesta

The week that went by…. OMG … first of all let me admit that I am a food freak and now that I have to cook for myself I have grown even more fond of food…. Which includes my own cooking… this week GOD has been exceptionally kind on me and since Tuesday we haven’t eaten at home… thx to the festive spirit in the air….

Wednesday
Venue : Datta & Anshuli’s place
Dasshehra dinner at their house.. a wholesome marathi meal followed by Basundi and ice cream to leave two satisfied people with stomachs packed to max capacity

Thursday
Venue: Prasenjit n Swati’s place
Some how the Bengali’s were celebrating the dasshehra a day later… so wed it was at their place… Shrimps, chicken, mix veg, dal n rice all cooked in authentic Bengali style… Prasenjit also showed the first pic of their child… a sonograph…
May u have a healthy baby n safe delivery!!! I blessed them with all my stomach … errr heart

Friday
Venue: Sukhbir n Rimpy’s place
Well we had to go over to their place to give them some utensils which they may be needing on Saturday for the party at their place…. Sukhbir being a true blooded Punjabi came up with this Famous Grouse bottle to be emptied before touching main course… three pegs later we were at the table savoring pulao, dal vegetables n roti smeared with desi ghee… this probably explains Sukhbir’s paunch…

Saturday:
Venue: Sukhbir n Rimpy’s place
Well it’s the birthday of their daughter Tavleen urf Sonia/Sonu a.k.a. Nonu
After chaats papdi smaosas, pakodas, choley, pizza, fries and three pegs of Famous Grouse there was hardly any room left in the stomach to eat … but the good natured fellow that I am I still managed to squeeze in two Gulab Jamuns and one cup Rasmalai… now I do admit to having a sweet tusk… but more than that I wanted to applaud Rimpy bhabhi’s efforts at entertaining their guests and she knows it very well…
Went back again on Sunday for more of that lovely stuff
Somehow I relate it to the phrase:-
"Been there.. done(read ate) that; went back for more"

Being one of the three bachelor’s in a team which has the rest 15 married and living with spouse does increase your chances of getting invited at dinners

To all the people who invited me for dinner at their places… I thank you profusely… I pray to GOD to keep u well… May your tribe flourish!!!!

To all the people who haven’t invited me yet… It’s never too late!!

Dasshera

This week it was Dasshera… it has been an exceptionally good week for me… got no less than 5 invites for dinner on different days of the week and since Tuesday night we haven’t cooked anything ourselves….
Dasshera marks the slaying of the evil Ravana by Bhagwaan Shri Ramchandra... another 20 days and on the amavasya of Kartik maas will be Deepawali - the festival of lights , when ShreeRam returned to Ayodhya along with wife n brother....

Another year (that too in succession) when i wont be with my family on this occasion...Last year it was due to project pressure that I was not able to go home during diwali... this year I am not in the country.....

I am reminded of two things:
First … these lines written below by the Late Kaifi Azmi... one of my fav poets..

Doosra Banvaas

Ram banvaas se laut ke jab ghar mein aaye
yaad jungle bahut aaya jo nagar mein aaye

Raks-e-deewangi aangan mein jo dekha hoga
6 dec ko shri raam ne socha hoga
Itne deewane kahan se mere ghar mein aaye

Jugmagaate the jahan Raam ke kadmo ke nishan
Pyar ki kahkashaan leti thi angdaayi jahan
Mod nafrat ke usi rahguzar mein aaye

Dharam kya unka hain kya jaat hain yeh jaanta kaun
Ghar na jalta to unhe raat mein pehchanta kaun
Ghar jalane ko mera, log jo mere ghar mein aaye

Shakahari hain mere dost tumhare khanjar
Tumne babar ki taraf pheke the saare pathar
Hain mere sar ke khazaar zakhm jo sar mein aaye

Paun sarjoo mein abhi raam ne dhoye bhi na tha
Ki nazar aaye wahan khoon ke gehre dhabbe
Paun dhoye bina sarjoo ke kinare se uthe
Raam yeh kehte hue apne dwaare se uthey

Raajdhani ki khiza aayi nahi raas mujhey
6 dec ko mila doosra banvaas mujhey

Secondly I remember the movie Naseem it was in mid nineties or sometime close…
It was about communal situation of India particularly Bombay during Ayodhya's Babri Masjid demolition by the Hindu fundamentalists… Kaifi Azmi played the role of an ailing grandfather who goes thru all this and breathes his last on 6th Dec… Mayuri Kango plays his school going granddaughter …

But all of a sudden why I am subjecting you to my personal rambling.. then some high quality literary stuff and then some hindu muslim riot movie …. Let me just stop writing before I stray too far.

Hirtshal

This weekend I went to Hirtshal (3rd Oct) ... thats a beach on the north most tip of Denmark...
Actually we had planned to go to Lokken ... the plan being formulated very late in the day
around 12 in the noon when i woke up and saw the sunny weather outside... thw thought of going somewhere came impromptu to the mind ... a few phone calls later it was decided to meet at 1:30 pm at the bus terminal from where we take the bus to Lokken...

Fortunately or unfortunately we missed the bus for Lokken which was at 1:50 from Aalborg bus terminal.. so decided to take another bus at 2:10 the only difference was that we would have to do a break journey and change the bus from Bronderslev…anyways we decided to go for it…
As fate would have wanted that bus got cancelled that day and we were left at Brondslev with the next bus to Lokken at 6 pm… that was too much to wait for and by the time we would have reached Lokken it would be dark… so we pulled out our maps and began hunting for some other location to go to…

Hirtshal came to our rescue as there was a train to Bjorring(pronounced ‘Yo-ing’) in a few minutes from where u get a direct train to Hirtshal… so Hirtshal it was … soon we boarded the train to Bjorring and reached there in about 20 mins… The trains here have smoking compartments and it seems that the people travelling in those compartments make it a point to smoke and exercise their right to the maximum extent…

Anyways from Bjorring its another train to Hirtshal … now this train is amazing… they have the best plush comfy seats …. spotlessly clean windows and amazing toilets (better than airplanes believe me )… absolutely gorgeous…

Reached Hirtshal around 5 in the evening… the beach was mostly deserted and as soon as we entered the waters we knew why… the Atlantic was chilling…couldn’t stand in the water for long…. Played football for sometime… built sandcastles .. ate drank and had a good time …

The journey home was again from Hirtshal to Bjorring and there to Aalborg…went straight to Burger King and ate to hearts fill.. and then hit the sack….
Overall a nice trip with a bit of adventure thrown in unexpectedly…

Will the real Tarannum Khan please stand up!!!

For GOD sake dont send me another forward containing pics of Taranum Khan (TK) or links to her pics...Believe me I have seen no less than 4 different versions of this gal TK.... Dynamism personified... infact she is so dynamic, she appears different in each set of pics...

the first mail (read forward) nearly threw me off my seat... and the first reaction was... "Why doesn’t she try in bollywood??" she could have easily given a few of the sirens a run for their money... soon another mail came proclaiming that the gal in last mail was a certain Miss Tarannum Bhatia (in my case from the same person) who’s pics had being doing rounds in the mailboxes and now her family had decided to file a case against those who started these mails... I promptly deleted the earlier mail from my mailbox and the recycle bin too...

After two more mails on the same subject came this last one which contained the foll link

http://web.mid-day.com/news/city/2005/september/119659.htm

I secretly prayed to GOD to let her be the real TK... as I didnt want any more mails on the subject ...not that I mind pics of beautiful gals in my mailbox... but it was getting a little it too much to handle.. one mail comes with the pics... and then one of the frnds goes with a reply to all... then comes a pat n rather quick reply...(I wonder why they never reply so promptly when I ask for some technical stuff)

but the multimillionaire bar dancer was a hell of a topic for about a week when the officials exposed her assets(no pun intended)... Tanishq Bungalow at Juhu, another couple of flats, jewellery worth 7 lacs and a pocket change of 3 lacs... not to mention her betting bids which would put a lot of hardcore satoris to shame...and the number of four Men in Blue in her mobile...

One thing sure exists that she changed a lot of people's views about the bar girls....the image of a woman who seeks refuge in this proff to feed her family of 6, to which she is the only earning member, doesn’t emerge as quickly as the rich crorepati bar gal who travels in the swankiest of cars, lives in bungalows and has cash n jewellery stacked up in every closet...

Did she mange to change the image of a bar girl in the minds of people??? Is she at fault that she exploited the weakness of men for monetary benefits??? Is she involved in betting??? Has she got links with underworld???

Ur guess is as good as mine!!!

GEMS

Although I intended to blog on the experiences in Denmark I really want to write about GEMS.. Please bear...

GEMS
Why do I remember GEMS so much... well the reasons are more than one....the fact that it finds a mention in my blog which was solely meant for recording the experiences in Denmark
GEMS was my first project... fresh out of ITP... joined TCS Mumbai (TCS SEEPZ then)... the best TCS centre in the country.... and was allocated to the group GEMS..... the largest griup in GE which is the biggest client for TCS..... all over India around 2000+ consultants are working for this CMM level 5 company which knows IT like the back of their hand....

My first few days in GEMS were spent in the Borivali and SEEPZ libraries where we were made to sit n wait until we were absorbed in projects ... thankfully that happened soon and I was off to my Siebel internal training along with 4 more ITP batchmates... it notable to mention that all the people from my batch who landed in Mumbai were selected for GEMS....

The training, at Borivali, was for 10 days at the end of which I was a internally trained Siebel consultant .... only I know how much of Siebel I got to understand when the training concluded...Then off to SEEPZ, to meet Mr. Lij0 J@c0b Mann@raprayil (I admit having goofed up in pronouncing his last name the first time... but never again)...who was to be my account manager for a long time to come... He managed Services CoE, which was a new CoE added to GEMS specifically for the purpose of the Service Workbench Siebel implementation... Lijo was one of the most frank and open guys I have come across in the company… very very approachable.. he is one of the guys one wouldn’t forget easily… I hope I don’t… he entrusted me some responsibilities in the team and always showed confidence in my abilities..
He has had a lasting impression on me… although there do exist certain points on which our thoughts didn’t(rather don't) match and were source of constant arguments … overall I am quiet happy to have a manager like him early in my career…

The whole team there was new to the technology and the initial days were fun… subah se shaam tak fight marte the … everyday was a new learning experience… always discovering something or the other…filled with a zeal, common among the freshers, to learn and try out new things….

I met one of my greatest pals in this team. Altaf. He n I set off like a house on fire...Those work breaks in between the sutta/tea/coffee/TT breaks, the many evenings when we drowned our frustration at work @Maharaja Bar and many such memories would be incomplete without him. He is right now in Dubai setting up his own business.. the bureaucracy in the company got too much on his nerves.
Another worthy guy to mention is Nilendu… gem of a person… he as my module leader and together we cracked many a challenges and had some night outs in office and some more in pubs… He is right now in US as a lead configurator in a project
Ashish who was my PL is another extraordinary person.. cool clam and composed… Always. Whatever happened he was always there with a smile to answer your questions effortlessly…somehow he also had a solution to all the problems… he is also in US right now as the project manager for a project for 20th Century Fox… I have made a conscious effort to be in touch with these people…

Some of the other things I learnt at GEMS was … the need to follow processes… and the way they influence the final product…the need to be in harmony with all the people… the need to think about others also…

Some other very imp things I learnt are ….
The way one should tackle unwanted or unprecedented situations
The way one should stay awake during meetings
Use as much techno lingo and stuff, as u remember or can remotely associate with your work, while to your PL/PM/manager :-)
Learnt to use the following words/phrases as often as possible, preferably at least one in each sentence:-

RCA - Root Cause Analysis
FBA - Fish Bone Analysis
KPI - Key Process Indicator
CTQ - Critical To Quality
ROI - Return On Investment
SnS - Snags n Spikes
CSI - Client Satisfaction Index
best practice
benchmark
reverse engineering
retrofitting
repeatable process
quantifiable
lessons learnt
hightlights n lowlights
consistent
optimized
performance tuned
peer review
360 degree feedback
wholistic view
futuristic thinking
avoidable bottlenecks
congestion points
sigma level
ISO
CMM
pCMM
showstoppers
hotfixes
quality conscious
version control
customer satisfaction
quickwin
breakfix
staging environment

And kabhi bhi koi tedha question pooch le to do sentence yaad rakna:-

1 I will get back to you on this
2 Let's take this offline

Goteberg Trip - II

Continued from my previous post

Then later in the evening went to the botanical gardens… beautifullllllllllllllllllll…
Simply awesome.. we would have spent around three hours in the gardens which lead to a forest(I don’t remember the name right now)…

After that it was time for dinner. Now since Aalborg doesn’t have any Indian restaurant we decided that our dinner should definitely be in an Indian restaurant… nd what better that New Delhi restaurant….

“Heyllo ji” greeted the proprieter pujabi lady… “First of all welcome to New Delhi restaurant”…
“Kahan se hain aap log”… she realised that we were indians … and wanted to know where in europe we come from… it was clear form the cameras hanging from almost everyone’s necks that we were tourists…

Anyways we proceeded with the dinner and tore down the nans and chicken which on special request was made extra spicy…..mazaa aa gaya yaar!!!
Back to hotel and a hot shower and then it was sleep time… slept like a log..

Next morning we tore down on the breakfast and again deposited the luggage at the locker room and proceeded with the tour of the city. We started with Universum…. Which is a aquarium, space center, zoo all rolled in one…. But alas ..it started to rain and we were left in the Universum for 3 hours…

Thankfully the rain stopped but the sky was still overcast …. Next stop was Liseberg which is the largest amusement park in Scandinavia…. Entry to this park was courtesy the City pass which we bought the last day…. Suggest people should use such facilities coz it allows you to use many facilities like the guided tour of the moats , entry to amusement parks. Travel in trams etc…

Had to wait in the line for 50 mins to get to the roller coaster ride … 10 mins out of that delay were caused due to my principle of always being on the first seat in a roller coaster… I have observed this rule religiously till date and plan to do so in future also….
After the amusement park we were back at hotel to pick up the luggage and reach the Stenaline cruise which was to leave at 4 pm…. It being a Sunday .. no booze was available anywhere in the city at ay shop… anyways the cruise which we had choosen for the return journey was slow one … which reached Fredrikshavn in 4 hours as compared to the 2 hours in the fast one….
This cruise liner was far more grand than the last one… 12 decks , casino, bars, food courts, et al… totally fundoo… kya kya hota hain yaar ship ke andar….


Finally back to Fredrishavn and then took the train to Aalborg… in the train we started with an antakshari (much tpo the dislike of the rest of the other passengers.. read non-indians)

Back to Aalborg … had a pizza and went off to sleep… agle din office jana tha !!------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here is the link to the pics from Goteberg
http://community.webshots.com/album/428842010yYtIid

Goteberg Trip - I

I finally find some time to write about the Goteberg trip....it happened on 13-14 Aug… on 13th morning we gathered at Aalborg Station and from there took a train to fredrikshavn… Its approx 1 hour away and in the journey you get to see loads of country side meadows, windmills and stuff like that… Fredrikshavn is also like Aalborg… well almost…
Its not too big… you hardly get to see people… and the roads are more often than not empty !!!

Train journey was fun… after getting down at the station there’s a 10 minute walk till the Stenaline cruise at the harbor… and then you are on board…

the cruise that we took was a fast one.. it covers the distance in 2 hours,,, everyone was at the deck most of the time… enjoying the wind and the sea… went in to play a bit at the slot mahicnes but had terrible luck with it …

Finally we landed in Goteberg.. it is much bigger than Aalborg or Fredrikshavn… we had to walk down till our hotel which was just 10 minutes away… somehow the hotel was always 10 mins away and after a good 30 minutes we finally made it there ….lekin a shock was waiting for us there
The check in time is 3 pm.. WTF…. What are we supposed to do till then… so then it was decided ki we keep our luggage in the locker room and explore the city…

First stop in the city central where we head straight for Burger king to fill our tummies… after a long wait at the counter we were finally out at 2:45 from there ….and at a pavement there was some performace going on … some tribesmen from Mexico/Equador who were performing .. nice music and great costumes….

From there we moved on to take the ride in the moat… we bought a City pass at the hotel which allows you entry into lotsa parks etc and free rides et al…. the moat ride was fun… we literally scanned the whole moat scene and the guide gave good inputs…

More in next post ......

Adlof Gustav II - Founder of Goteberg/Gothenburg/Gotteberg

Read More about Goteberg at
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/G%F6teberg

One of my fav pics from the trip: A couple getting married on a bridge on the moat.