मुझे गुमशुदा की तलाश है।

मुझे गुमशुदा की तलाश है।

एक व्यक्ति खो गया है, वो मेरे भीतर ही रहता था, मेरे संग खेलता, मेरे साथ ही बड़ा हुआ, मेरी बहोत सारी यादें जुडी हैं उससे; उसने मुझे हमेशा प्रोत्साहित किया आगे बढ़ने के लिए। जब भी मैं अकेला महसूस करता, वो आकर मुझसे बातें करता, मुझे समझाता। ये कहना कतई गलत न होगा की आज मैं जो कुछ भी हूँ , उसमे उसका बहोत बड़ा हाथ है; आखिर उसने मुझे हर गलत काम करने से दूर रखा। वो और कोई नहीं, मेरा अंतर्मन है।

लेकिन आज वो कही खो गया है, मैं अब मैं नहीं रहा, उसके चले जाने से मैं भी कही खोता जा रहा हूँ, शुन्य की ओर बढ़ता जा रहा हूँ। एक वोही है जो मुझे इस दलदल में डूब जाने से बचा सकता है।

हे प्रभु, अनुरोध है की इससे पहले बहोत देर हो जाए, उसे  ढूंढने में मेरी मदद करें। अगर वो नहीं मिला तो मैं भी कही खो जाऊंगा।

गुमशुदा का नाम - इंसानियत

उम्मीद करता हूँ की गुमशुदा की तलाश मेरे खोने से पहले पूरी होगी।

इंसान

5 years - a Journey

July 24th, 2011 - All alone in a country I dont ever want to call home, but have definitely developed a liking, staying at a place does make you like it, barring Chennai, of course. No close friends, no family, wife still in india; Well, as sad as it may sound, it does give me ample time to think about the past, the memories, happy, sad, grieving, angry, a bunch of all types of emotions a human being experiences. And July 24th is the day which fills most of the emotions I have actually felt in my life so far.

June 12th, 2006 - It all started on July 24th, 2006, but let me take you a few days back. June 12th was the day my juniors and all my teaching faculty were bidding me farewell, for the last of the exams finished on June 11th. Before the felicitation began, I was happy and a part of me sad as well at the same time, but most importantly, I was tensed because the result of my job interview with Infosys HR was not yet out. About an hour before the felicitations/celebrations, I got a call from an unknown number, and the lady claimed to be an INFOSYS HR; She asked if I was VISHAL JHA to which I said yes, and then I waited for her to utter the next words, which, for me, were taking longer than eternity making my heart beat faster than the fastest F1 car. And then she said " Congratulations Vishal, I am pleased to tell you that You have been selected for a role in Infosys; other details will be communicated to you via email."

I was on cloud 9; I called my parents, my wife (my GF at that time :)), and everyone I knew to share the GOOD news, rather, the best news of my life. All the tension had been replaced by excitement and happiness, and I went to the farewell ceremony, finding it hard to stop the smile on my face. I was the poster boy of my department for I held the record of being a topper of my class for the entire 4 years of engg life (I dont care if you think I am bragging, this achievement deserves bragging) and My HOD, along with other professors, was all praises for me during the felicitation. This was an icing to the cake.

After the college, I only had about a month before I was to REPORT for my FIRST JOB, as per the email I received from Infy HR. So I went to visit my GF in Delhi and then went home.

July 23rd, 2006 - I reached the hottest (literally, not practically) and the dirtiest place in India, Chennai - I was to report in Chennai!!! After researching I found a route to the hotel Infy had arranged my stay for the first 14 days. I entered the hotel reception and the receptionist, after registering my details, gave the keys and told me that I will be sharing the room with another guy - My room mate for next 2 years, Pratyush Ravi.

July 24th, 2006 - The day it all started. First day on the JOB. Well, to be honest, it was boring, and seemed like one of the lectures from college, only that it was too lengthy. The only good thing I thought that happened was my SALARIED ACCOUT was opened :) .

The next three months were not quite different from college, all study and exams. Some people, unfortunately, had to resign for not successfully completing the training. I, fortunately had it in me like many others, who completed the training and were now ready to work on real projects. At this time, there were two things in most people minds, the first one was to get out of Chennai and second alternative to at least get into a project. I didn't have any for about 6 months, and this was the time when I shifted from a happy, excited, nervous period to a period of FRUSTRATION. Finally, a project came our way; me and Vyas were selected by my first PM, RK. The project lasted 1 month at max. Vyas was moved to a different division; and I finally got the first REAL PROJECT, in the RBS Account. It was a period of learning for I got to know the way people are supposed to work, behave, etc.

After around an year, the projet got over and I was back on BENCH, and by this time my GF had come to Bangalore. This was a period of desperation for me. I was on BENCH at a place I hated.

Finally, I got to know about a walk-in interview at Accenture, which I attended, although without preparation, but I was selected (2 on 2 :)); back to happy times and this interview filled me with a sense of confidence. I hadn't felt this confident before, confidence to find a solution to any problem.

3rd September, 2008 - I disembarked on a new journey with Accenture, which has been a fairy tale for me so far, except for a few odd instances, I dont think about much.

And now, back to July 24th, 2011 - In the US on an H1B, alone, sometimes sad, sometimes lonely, but this did give me time to look back the past 5 years and I do feel a sense of ACHIEVEMENT. Life is all about experiences and it feels good to tell that I have 5 years of them, not just the professional, but the other types the professional experience brings with it.

-VJ

The American Dream

ONSHORE (ONSITE in some comapnies) is a word that makes you go nuts. Every one working in the software industry has a facination, a fetish for this word. Well, I am no different and had been dreaming about an "ONSHORE OPPURTUNITY" ever since I made an entry into this industry, or shall I say, ever since I started thinking of entering into this industry.

Getting an Onshore oppurtunity is not easy; you need to be, not capable, intelligent or any thing synonymous, but LUCKY. Yes, Lucky is what you need to be so that you can make it to onshore. And as you all already know, LUCK and I never travel the same route. (A saying in hindi - "Main eer ghat, woh beer ghat").

So, the first 2-2.5 years of my career, I kept on dreaming. To tell you the truth, I had started believing by that time, I will never make it outside Chennai, let alone India. But then, on a saturday, I came to know about a walk-in event at Accenture, and without any document and preparation, I went there. After around 2 hellacious hours of some gruelling questions, the interview was over and, to my surprise(even though the interview went fine), I was selected(I dont know - may be Luck had forgotten the path it was supposed to follow :-)). I had no hesitation in putting my papers for a new jouney at a new place with new hopes.

I joined Accenture in September, 2008 and within five days, was allocated to a project - Although there was no ONSHORE Oppurtunity here also, it made me feel nice considering the 1 year I had spent on BENCH in my previous company. I took up the new role and responsibilities.
The project went on till 31st Jan, 2009 and, thanks to my caring TL, she set up my interview with the manager of a new project. I was selected, and joined the project on 2nd Feb, not even one day on BENCH, Wow.

On the first day of this new project, I met two more guys(Rajeev, the drunkard and Rohit, the kid) who at the first meeting looked carefree, crazy, friendly and many more things. It took us just one day to make friends with rach other. We gelled really well. The intro meeting with the manager, who was at ONSHORE at that time, brought us no surprise; the same old story about how tough the project is, the high expectations and NO ONSHORE OPPURTUNITY.

We toiled hard during the initial stages because, as Rohit rightly says, its a FALTU SYSTEM. After around 5-6 months, we got the surprise of our lives - two ONSHORE Oppurtunities were coming up. All three of us started thinking, Is this real, Will our dreams come true?? This was the hottest topic at the point and we devoted at least 2 hours on a daily basis discussing it.

The rumours were true; and the first person to go to Chicago was Sampath. The duration was three months and Sampath was the luckiest of us all - He did not get a laptop for the first month of his stay. In July, it was Rajeev's turn and we were all really excited for him.

Rajeev at Onshore was a different Rajeev from what we knew him to be. His carefree, naughty attitude was lost, he always sounded tensed, and we could not understand the sudden change in behaviour. I was was going to get all my answers in two months.

The month of September, 2009, and it was my turn. My dream was coming to reality. I was going to live MY AMERICAN DREAM. Really excited, I boarded the BA Flight to London and from London to CHICAGO. I was cherishing every moment of the journey.

And then, after 20 hours of journey, I reached Chicago. To my dismay, I was rattled to find one of my luggages missing. After 2 hours of wait at the BA Help desk, they finally found my luggage. I then headed for the hotel (still with a smile on my face, after all THE AMERICAN DREAM had become a reality)where Rajeev had already booked a room for me. It was 8.30 PM there and Rajeev had only one Beer. So we went to the Liquor shop (HILLSIDE LIQUOR) and got ourselves a carat.

On the way, we got a message about an issue (Oh I forgot to tell you, the role was 24*7 production support, on call during weekends and holidays ). We raced back to the hotel and it took us 30 mins to resolve the issue. I thought it of as a one off case and both of us talked all night over the beers.

The first day at office was also exciting, I met the client managers whom I used to recognise only by there voices. I got my laptop in three days, and the work started. I had planned to visit many places whenever I would get time. Not to be, the role being a 24*7, there was not one day any one of us could enjoy.

Within a month, the AMERICAN DREAM had turned into THE AMERICAN NIGHTMARE. All I could do for the entire three months was WORK and the only places I visited were my Office and my Hotel (Also, the TARGET store and the Liquor shop which were at walking distance from the Hotel). It was the same story barring one day, when I and Rajeev took the risk and went to Devon Street and Navy Pier. We were lucky that no issue came up that day and we were safe.

I came back in December and was asked if I wanted to go for a long term. I accepted (determined to enjoy myself this time around, since offshore now has laptop and someone can take care of issues during weekend). On 16th Feb, 2010, I went to Chennai for the interview with a new hope. But, as Navjot Singh Siddhu said in one of his Sidhuisms, "Hope is like a ray of light at the end of a tunnel, But beware my friend, the light might be of a train coming towards you!!", this light was, for sure, of a train which collided with and devastated all the hopes I had. Well, this time, the Consulate rejected my VISA (no one knows why), and I am still here working in the same project, and may I say, waiting for the time when I could really live my AMERICAN DREAM.

An eventful holiday - in Ooty - Part 2

Here's the second half of the eventful holiday we went for.

A recap to Part 1.
The trip had already been quite eventful, exciting, exhilarating and what not. We had problems right from taking leave from office to getting a transport to our way to Ooty to finding a hotel room. But, at the end of it all, we overcame all the odds and were finally in our rooms taking a nice nap, the right to which we had duly earned.


Day 1.
The first day in Ooty was cut short for us. We had overslept and by the time we woke up and got ready, it was already 2 in the afternoon. We wanted to waste no more time;we didn't know any place where we could go other than the famous ROSE Garden. So, all of us thought why not start from there; we asked locals about the location. We were in for a surprise and our plans, as in 99 pc of cases, was about to fail. The locals informed us about the condition of Rose garden - There are no roses left there, please don't go, you will find nothing and will feel miserable. Although these words brought all of us in a state of shock, I could still spare of thought over the fluency in which the locals talked in HINDI. Ooty, sure had nothing in common with Chennai - How can such a cool (as in all forms of it) place be a part of Tamil Nadu, and the most prominent feature of Ooty which alienated it from the rest of Tamil Nadu was that PEOPLE KNEW HINDI.


After thinking about it for sometime, I gathered all my thoughts and came back to reality. Everyone was sad but Guru. He was still oozing with confidence (and looked completely lost). He came up with a brilliant idea of going to Kodaikanal from there to which the rest of us disagreed(We controlled ourselves and spared Guru a nice beating).


The locals told us we could go to Coonoor, not far from Ooty. But it was already 3 by that time, so we thought the better of it and tried exploring Ooty. I and Atul didn't want to miss atleast a tea at Mithun Da's hotel, so we decided we would go there. When we got the first glance at the FIVE STAR, we were sure a cup of tea is going to cost us 500 bucks minimum. So, all we did was went inside the Entry Gate, asked the driver to take a U-turn and got out of the Entry Gate's counterpart, the Exit Gate.


This day was turning into a disaster, so we thought of doing what all of us, but me, love to do - DANCE. We needed a disc for that. You would ask, How the hell are you going to find an affordable Disc in a Hill Station? Well, thankfully we did. Not quite a disc, a lounge rather, which we turned into a disc. We danced (yes me too.. get me high and I am the best dancer around, TRUE STORY); Guru, with his big rockstar hairs, danced really well (Fact - No one knows who dances better, me or Guru; I would give way to Guru - I am really pathetic at it). And then we had a Professional dancer with us, and the regulars too. We rocked, the owner gave us some two or three complimentary drinks each; and thanked us for making his LOUNGE so popular in a matter of 3 hours.


They say All's well that Ends well... Our first day, no matter how pathetic, had truly ended well and we were HAPPY about it.


Day 2.
This was the final day of our stay, we would be leaving the next day in the morning (I had to catch the train the next night). So all of us got ready by 10 and left for Coonoor. The beauty of the place kept us spell bound. We halted at many places, like the "CHAI BAGAAN" , the shops on the way to buy some famous Nilgiri Tea, the Dolphin Point, the ; we just kept travelling and appreciating the beautiful Ooty - Coonoor Scenaries.

In no time, the sun started coming down, it was around 4. We had to head back now. And thats what we did. In the middle of our return a lound noise came. Just as we were all thinking the day has been very nice, the driver told us - its the tyre. We were in no mood to let anyone, leave alone a TYRE, spoil our day. We started playing Dumb Charads in the middle of the road while the driver changed the tyre. It took him around half an hour, and the we continued on our journey. As we reached Ooty, we went to some famous park (sorry I dont remember the name). The park had a lake which added to the beauty. I felt like a romantic hero and as soon as my friends asked me to give a nice romantic pose, I grabbed Priya in my arms. I didn't notice an Aunty ji sitting and looking at me with disgust(As if I had murdered someone). I avoided her eyes and continued with the photo shoot; Priya didn't and jumped off my arms as soon as Aditi clicked the pic.

It had been a nice peaceful and a very joyful day. The trip had been special for each one of us; we came back the next day and I took the train for Chennai. On tuesday, we all went to our respective offices with some beautiful, amazing and extra ordinary memories and experiences which we knew we will cherish forever.

A refreshing trip - Wonderla

After a hectic week at office, I was eagerly looking forward to the weekend to re-energize myself. I, along with my friends, had planned a lot on how to spend the two days, and we did come to conclusion after a meeting with length more than a Ashutosh Gowarikar's movie.
We had decided to go for, may be, some movie (Kites being so awaited was on the top of the list) in the afternoon and have dinner at some nice restaurant on Saturday. On Sunday, we would go to Wonderla(for which we had been planning for past two weeks - Week 1, we couldn't go since Priya had Saturday working; Week 2, the BACK ACHE syndrome - Read my post - Never tease your wife, EVER). So we were determined this time around.

But as history has it, plans never work for me (this also applies to anyone who is in any proximity with me). So, came saturday, and the 5 days of work had taken so much toll on us, all our plans were thrown apart, Atul's Saturday working adding to the agony, that we did nothing that day. Priya prepared CHOWMEIN (Believe me, she is superb at preparing some items, and Chowmein tops the chart). It tasted really nice; but given the fact that I am too fond of food to eat the same item in breakfast, lunch and dinner, she had prepared a lot (She had the same chowmein for today's breakfast to finish it; that would give you an idea how much she prepared). We did watch a movie; not in a cinema hall, but on the IDIOT BOX(well the movie was IDIOTIC as well).
Saturday had become so boring that we were all wishing for it to be over. Before going to sleep, no matter how depressed with Saturday's plans not working out, we were still determined to make Sunday count. So we decide we would leave by 10 AM Sunday morning for WONDER LA.

Came Sunday with a nice sunshine; and Sun did shine on us as well, for good. I woke up at 8.00, and prepared tea for my better half; I didn't want to ruin our plans by waking her up without the bed tea at her side. So, I did all I could to wake her up with a smile on her face(That was the key to keep our hopes alive). And, she had a smile on her face when she woke up, my efforts didn't go in vain, the plan was still ON; or, was it - She woke up at 9.30 AM!!!

But as I told you, Priya had a smile on her face; so as soon as she woke up, within five minutes our clothes were in the bags, and we were almost ready; the only thing needed for us to begin was, taking bath and having breakfast. At 9.45, while Priya was still taking bath, I went to the balcony to see Guru and Nimmi, my friendly neighbours, or neighbourly friends, all ready for the day; Looked like they did not sleep at night and were ready since 6'o clock!!! Atul also reached at around 9.50.

Exactly at 10, while Priya was still TAKING BATH, the door bell rang. I knew who was on te other side of door, And I did not want to open the door; Since Mr GURU, as ususal, was thinking that we were in army and if we were late by even 10-15 minutes, we would be court-martialled. Reluctantly, I opened the door, and Guru did start off, I could not hear a word he was saying, thanks to the cotton I had put in my ears.

At 10.30, Priya finally came out of the shower. This was the only BIG work pending. Once this was done, we left in another 10 mins. We took out my lovely i20, and the plan was still ON. There were still two hitches though; one, My i20 was clearly telling me to quench her thirst, so I made her drink petrol worth INR 500. We, then had to take some cash out of the ATM. And finally at around 11 AM, the real journey began.

With a few lessons from Guru on how to drive a car(even Schumacher wont be able to convince Guru that he can drive, and drive well), we reached the heavenly place called Wonder La. We parked the car and halted for a photo shoot. Then, I and Guru went to get the tickets, which took us some 10 minutes (Nimmi had predicted 1 hr at least).

All set, our plans did work out this time!!!! We were inside Wonder La. Now first things first, get a locker and stuff all the bags in it. I, Guru and Priya did not need change of clothes. Atul and Nimmi did; so they went to change while we waited for like 500 years!!!

They finally came and we went out to the exotic world of Wonder La. But we didnt know why weren't we able to enjoy. It finally struck, we were hungry. So we went to the cafeteria and filled out stomachs. We decided to go for the dry rides first, but the crowd and heat made us change our minds and we stepped into the play pool. All of us except the Hydrophobic Guru tried different rides and enjoyed.

At 1.20, it was the time for the wave pool, and we went there and enjoyed the artificial waves. We then went on to have some rain dancing; and I especially loved it for the fact that it was dark there and no one's eyes would get punished seeing me dancing :-) . We then went to the water pendulum, The slope of the pendulum was so steep that we did not want to unbalance the weights; so Priya and Nimmi went first and I and Atul. Guru did not ride it(Hydrophobic, remember). Then, it was the turn of Kraits and after that me and Atul just wanted to enjoy the waters so we came back to the wave pool. Guru, Nimmi and Priya went on to ride some other Krait; when they came back all their faces looked like boiled eggs. Reason - Some fat man who was infront of them in the queue, sat on the ride and it stopped working; so they had to come back.

We then took another lunch break after which we went back to the wave pool. Well, we thought it was a nice day for all of us. We were in for a surprise, the day was going to become nicer. Nimmi found some 590 bucks inside the pool, then Atul, then Priya and Guru. I didn't, so I concentrated on my swimming. I, Priya and Nimmi tried our hands at swimming, Guru tried his hands at Nimmi, err, I mean in supporting her while swimming and ATUL continued trying his hands at finding some more cash!

We finally ended the day with a lot of joy and a LOT OF MONEY. I could tell you that we gave the money to Wonder La management or to poor people. Well, we are normal people and we did what anyone would do; We had a dinner PARTY, thanks to the 1500 bucks we found!!!

As the day ended, all our minds, hearts and souls were, for sure, re-energized.

Who Am I?

My heart asks me. Who Am I?

I can't keep everyone happy,
But then I don't want to sadden anyone,

I can't be the best SON,
But then I try to be as good as I can,

I am not perfect husband,
But then I try to make my wife as happy as I can,

At one moment, I care for everyone,
At another, I could've never cared less for anyone,

I can be generous at one point of time,
And very selfish at the other.

I am not excellent at work,
But then I try to be as good as I can,

I am not a perfectionist,
But I try not to repeat my mistakes,

Then Who Am I?,
Am I a loner,
Am I carefree,
Am I an Apathetic,
Am I parsimonious,

I think I got the answer,
I am just a human...

CSK V/S KXIP - More than just a match

Ever since IPL started three years ago, I have been an ardent supporter of CSK, reason being their captain, MSD. Atul, one of my best friends (Yes, I have more than one BEST Friend, lucky me), has been a supporter of the KXIP since many of his fav cricketers are in that team, Yuvraj included. The fact that Prieti Zinta is the team owner does help the cause as well.

So, as you all know, when a match between two teams is scheduled, the battle off the field (between the fans) is as intersting as the one on the field. I and my NOT SO GOOD friend during the course of every IPL(enemy would be a better word), Atul, are no different. If you go by what our friends have to say, the battle between our teams, no matter how interesting, is nothing compared to the battle between the two of us.

It was just before the start of IPL 1, I was in Chennai, Atul in Bangalore and he called me(no I am not doing any ad for my or Atul's virginity, if you know what I mean). We were talking about IPL, about the different teams; If you would have heard us talking, you would definitely have asked us to replace Lalit Modi as the Commissioner. One thing led to another, and then that moment came when I became an enemy of KXIP, thanks to Atul, more tan I was a fan of CSK and vice versa.

The first match between the two teams, I was still in Chennai; but we were abusing each other(we didnt spare anyone, Please apply your imagination) over the chat all the time. And then CSK won; I could not stand the excitement, the joy, the happiness; so I called Mr A. Manchanda; who was so ashamed, he did not pick the phone up. The smile turned into laughter, I could not control; I called another friend and asked him to put the phone on speaker. As soon as he did that, I could not utter a word; the only thing I could do was laugh, laugh and just laugh. (Secret - If our common friends are to be believed, they saw tears pouring down Mr A's eyes).

He was determined to beat me in the second game (No, he wasnt going to play for KXIP, just pray for them and thats what KXIP needed at that time - he he he). Well, I won again. The happiest I was when Yuvi got out, as he was in top form(What an irony, we pray for the same player to get out for whom we had just prayed to play well sometime back; but thats what IPL does to you).

The saga continued in IPL 2 - CSK clean sweeping KXIP. Mr A. finally smelled a win in IPL 3 but by that time he had started liking CSK, thanks to RCB supporters (This is a different story, Will share later). The second match was won by CSK again, which got them to the SF of the third season of IPL which they eventually won. Atul was all praise for MSD in that match against KXIP.

I hope this clash between me and Atul does not end any time soon, because both of us enjoy the competetion, ad deep down inside, we both know how much respect we have for each other.

As of now, me and BEST friend would be sitting down on Saturday over a bottle of beer to discuss the current scenarion of World cricket, which we do every weekend.

This post is dedicated to my friend - ATUL MANCHANDA.