Visa work

Time really flies. It just seems like y'day that I got my admit.

Now, I am running around, trying to get all the documents for the visa ready.

Thankfuly, I am done with the police clearence certificate(a bloody pain).

To get a PCC, one needs to apply at the local Passport office.

Luckily at Bangalore, we have interent reservations. Therefore, all you need to do is to make a reservation, go at the scheduled time and deposit your documents. Well, it is not as simple as it seems. The passport office folks have lunch break before the internet reservation stuff starts off, and knowing how strict govt officers are when it comes to being on time, the process starts off 30 mins late. Luckily, lot of people who have booked through the internet do not turn up. So, I just need to wait for an hour before my name is called.

Just when I was about to hand over my documents to the guy sitting across the counter, tea break happens. And there is no way that these guys would work while on a break. So, I have to sit again for 10 mins, while they are sipping away in front of me and gossiping arnd with their colleagues.

After a further 10 min delay, I finally get to hand over the documents. Its pretty fast after that. My documents go through 3 windows (scanned at every stage), and finally at the 3rd window, i pay up the fees. Phew... thought that I was done with it,

I was told to collect it the next day. I was under the impression that it would be like the internet booking system again, and that I would need to come at a particular time and collect my passport. Well, wrong again... I had to come at 4 and wait for my name to be called (and in case I was not around, I had to wait till the very end).

This time I was prepared. I came in at 5. It was the right thing to do, coz they started at 5. I had to wait for another 1 hour before my name was called. Finally at 6, I left with the documents in my hand.... What a relief :)

Now, I need to get my bank papers in order and also get a medical certificate. To top it up, I came to know that visa applications now have to be made at the embassy directly. Have heard a lot about the pain one goes through to get the visa sorted out. Looks like, I will have to go through it myself :(

Am flying to Delhi on the 1st of June to apply for the visa. Will let you guys know how things go :) .... Keeping my fingers crossed

Wii

iMy flatmate just got back from US. Apart from the alcohol (which he had to get :) ), he also got us Wii...

For people who do not know about Wii (like me), it is a new gaming console from Nintendo. It has motion detectors, so it actually feels as if you are playing the game.

See http://wii.nintendo.com/ for more details.

This thing really rocks. You just strap on the remote and hold it in your hand. When the game starts (for e.g. tennis), you just move your hands as if you are actually playing the game in real life. The motion detector sences your movements and the same movement happens on the TV screen. It absolutely fantastic :)

There are also a lot of advantages of Wii. The obvious one is the experience that one has while playing the games. Its almost as good as real life.

Another one is the physical exercise that one gets. Hard to believe, but its true. You actually have to move around to play the game. So, its as good as playing it in real life. A friend of mine and I were playing Boxing. By the time we finished, both of us were sweating like crazy.

Wii also supports flash player. So, if you are an flash geek, you can make your own games and deploy it on Wii.

One thing that I found was lacking was the graphic experience. I admit that the graphics are really cool, but it does not have the same experience like PS2 or X-Box. Also, I think that the variety of games for Wii still needs to be worked upon.

Also, it just detects your hand movements. So, although it feels as if you are really playing, it still is not complete.

On the whole, this is one heck of a gaming tool and it has taken gaming to the next level. I would strongly recommend it to everyone.

I just cant wait for the day when we have gaming tools with body sensors for real life gaming experience.

Listen to your stomach

The last couple of days were some of the most miserable days of my life.

 

It all started on Friday. We had an impromptu party at work. What do I order??? Domino's Cheese Burst Pizza's. These cheesy things we so full of cheese ( and so very tasty too), that I just ended up stuffing myself on them.

 

On Saturday, a friend of mine had come down from Singapore. There were a lot of treats due and a lot of treats to be taken. So, we ended up eating out on Sat nite, Sun afternoon and Sun nite.

 

By monday, I already started feeling miserable. My stomach gave a threatening growl every time I even thought about food.

But knowing me, I just couldn't resist the temptation of free food.

 

On Monday, we had a company party at Sahib Sindh Sultan. It is one of those classy expensive restaurants, and I surely couldn't miss out on the opportunity to hog there. Even though I was warned by my stomach, I paid no heed to it and just gorged on the food.

 

That's it... by the middle of the meal, everyone could hear my stomach growling.

By the time I got back to office, I was in no state to stay here. I immediately packed my bags and got out of work. By the time I reached home, it just gave up on me. Had to rush to the bathroom :(

 

To top it up, I got fever (guess my stomach really was taking revenge).

The whole night I kept on going to the loo, every two hours. It was the worst night of my life.

 

It didn't stop the next day. I decided that it was about time that I took control. I went to a hospital and got myself checked up. Was dreading it to be some serious kind of diarrhea and hoped not to get admitted. The doctor looked at me as if I am some kinda idiot who doesn't even know the basic medicines to take for a stomach upset. He just prescribed me the standard drugs one has to take and that's it. Guess he took pity on my condition and didn't charge me the consultation fees. As I left his office, I could see him shaking his head. I can imagine what he must be thinking :)

 

Well, the drugs worked and I am back to normal today :). However, my diets controlled now ( at least for a week). Can't have anything except curd rice at work (yuck).

 

Today, we had amazing Parathans and Egg curry for lunch. This is one combination that is rare to find at office and I was tempted to have it...and then my stomach growled...

Hyderabad

Thanks to Republic day falling on Fri, we had a 3 day long weekend.
Long weekend usually ends up on roadtrips, and this was no different.

Anshul, Gagneet and myself decided to do one of the longest trip that we had ever done, and decided to drive down to Hyderabad.

We got up real early and managed to get out of home by 4 in the morning. After we had crossed Bangalore, we realized that none of us had a camera.. so, sorry folks.. I do not have any pics of the road trip part of the journey.

It was a 10 hr long journey, with breaks ofcourse :).
We had converted the back seat into a bed. So, kinda took frequent naps. Luckily for me, Gagneet could also drive, and Anshul did not mind sitting in the front seat while he was driving :P

After a tyre puncture and crappy trafffic at Gooty, we managed to reach Hyd by around 3 in the afternoon. We were all dead tiered and just wanted to crash.
Had mom's amazin food and then crashed for the day.

Gags njoyin his evening Siesta

The next day was our site seeing day :). We started early afternoon and first went to the Salarjung mueseum.

They are currently displaying the Nizams jewelley selection there. It was my second time there, but still, it just amazed me to see that kind of jewellery this dude had. He used to use diamonds as paperweight :O

Just glanced through the rest of the museum and then decided to go to Golconda fort.


This is where the Nizam used to hide in case of any war etc. As soon as we entered the fort, we had a couple of people asking us to take them as guides. Each one had his own price (started from 500 and came to as low as 150), but we decided to be adventorous (and kinda miserly ;)) and made up our own story about the fort.

There were a couple of things worth mentioning. They have this echo point as soon as u enter. On clapping here, the echo can be heard right upto the top of the fort. This was used as a communication means in those days.

The view of Hyd from top of the fort was amazing. I have been to the fort a couple of times before, but this was the first time that I actually climbed upto the top. The climb sure was worth it.

Me, Gags, Mad and Rinki on top of the fort


After the fort, we headed onto Dhola-re-Dhani. This is a Rajasthani theme village on the outskirts of the city.
I have been here n-number of times before... just love the food served here :).

This place had minor changes from the last time I had been. First, they had this weird theme park. Had all sorts of weird statues put up there. Look at the pic below and u'll understand :D


Also tried out my hand on hookah. It looks like ur smoking... but it just doesnt feel like it. Doesnt hurt your throat one bit :)

The food there was amazin as usual. Had lots of malpoa and bajre ki khicadi along with daal baati. I love Rajasthani food.

Came back home and crashed. The next day was our journey back. Another 10 hrs of driving. By the time we reached blore, we were all dead.

I have decided never ever to drive down to Hyd again... it just too freakin far :)

Updates

Its been a long time since I last blogged. A lot has happened since then and I am going to summarize them in a couple of points

 

1. Got real sick of coding and finally decided to be serious about my MBA. Finished my GMAT. Did pretty well... scored 770/5.0
2. Confidence was at peak height... thought that I could get into any college... hence, didn't concentrate too much on the essays..
   Result: Didn't make it through the ivy institutes.
   Lessons Learnt: Never be overconfident :)
3. Got an admit for one of my dream schools (didn't do bad after all :)). I Will be going to Spain this summer for my 2 yr MBA stint at IESE (and I promise to be a more frequent Blogger from now on).
4. Have finally started using the gym again. Need to be in shape before I reach Spain ;). Lets see how long my gymming lasts (The last time I tried, I went continuously for 2 weeks. Plan to break that record now :D).
5. Made a road trip to Hyderabad (more details in the next blog)
   

Alcohol United...

Just the other day, a friend of mine was commenting about alcohol.

"Why do you guys drink?", she asked. "The taste sucks and it just doesnt make sence drinking such a horrible liquid."

Well, that got me thinking. Why do we drink. She was true about it not tasting that great and yet we drink.

I didnt have to think long before i got my answers. The biggest reason why we drink is to promote brotherhood :)

You must be thinking that I am outta my mind to be even thinking in this way. Well, hear me out and I just might make sence.

Lets start off from college. Its your first year and there is no one you know. Just bring out a bottle of beer and share it with your peers. The next thing you know, you are best buddies. And trust me, this relation lasts for a lifetime.

In college, you have lotsa parties. Now, in a party, you really need to let go of your inhibitions and have a great time. Its not that easy, letting go of your inhibitions. What do you do?? You drink :)

Once you are drunk enough, you just let go of all your inhibitions and have a great time. You do things which you would normally not do  when you are sober, like proposing to someone ;). Well, you get yourself a girlfriend...all thanks to alcohol.

At job too, alcohol plays an important role. Big deals are signed over a glass of champagne. You have greater team bonding and enjoy more after getting druk with your team at least once :)

I really did not have to think any more. I know why i drink, and have found many justifiable reasons for it :)

Alcohol - The one thing that binds humanity together.

Hogging at Sagar Motors

Have you ever felt the need to just eat a lot of food sometime during the evening, not because you are hungry, but because you just are sooo jobless that eating seems to be the only thing that will get you out of your boredom :).

 

You all must be thinking that i have lost my bonkers, but seriously, this is exactly how i felt today.

 

I had not much work to do today. Had a couple of issues that were done in the morning. Was just surfing around and basically doing nothing to kill time. Thought of playing TT in the evening, but i just have the enthu to go up and play.

 

Finally, all this boredom just made me hungry. I just started thinking of the amazing set Dosa's that we get next to our offce building (inside Sagar Motors campus).

I just couldn't resist getting up and going for my evening feast. Managed to get a teammate to accompany me in my hogging escapade :)

 

We reached the place and ordered a Set Dosa and Bread Omlette.

The Dosa was amazing. It was steaming hot and the chutny was deeelicious :)

The omlette was pretty decent too, but soon my friend joined me at hogging the Dosa. Before we knew, the meal was over but our stomach was still growling.

 

I just couldn't resist the temptation, and just went ahead and bought another plate of Set Dosa.

Hogged up that too, with my friend taking bites in between. After finishing the second plate, i still knew that i wanted to get something more into my tummy.

 

Just then i realised that all this will just add up inches on my waist. Also, i have a dinner date tonight, and i sure would want to eat something of what i spend :)

 

I finally had to control my hogging and get back to my seat. Now that my insatiable hunger had been surprisingly satisfied, I'm off to my evening siesta... :)

Football Fever

I never was a football fan. Never understood the game and never ever made an effort even to try and figure out the game.

 

Things changed when i went to Hyderabad for a year. My rommie was a big football freak.

It was his TV, so we did not have a say whenever there was a football match happening.

Started following the English premier league thanks to him.

Started understanding things like off-side, red card, yellow card etc and other basic rules of the game.

I even started supporting a team for the league matches (Arsenal) and actually tried to see all of the matches Arsenal played.

 

The one year i spent in Hyderabad converted me into a complete football fan. I started liking the game much more than cricket, which i must say is by far the most broing game nowadays :)

 

Now that we have the world cup, its just like a dream for all us football fans.

All the big names in the world of football, competing against each other for the coveted cup.

Its just sooo much fun watching the game.Its so fast and with so much action, that you just do not feel like leaving your place for a single minute.

 

Well, football fever has completely caught me. I just can't miss out on a single match of this world cup, irrespective of the time its happening.

Luckily for me, my release is kinda over. So, all i need to do is relax, get a beer and chill out and watch the gurus do their magic.

My first blog

Wohooo..... finally managed to create a blog.

Have always wondered what bloggin was all about or why there was a big hype around it. Never really had the time, nor interest to actually get into blogging.

Now that my work requires me to know a bit more about blogging, i finally created my blog. I guess this is a typical Leo attitude, leave all the things till the end, and not work on something unless and until you absolutely need to :)

I guess there is loads more to write about... will be updating the blog site with more and more details about me and my (mis)adventures... not the naughty kinds ;-)