A male on Karbonn mobile turns female :)

Now this is something really new!

It was fairly a wonderful and refreshing holiday in Mumbai last week; helping parents with their business, enjoying the home porch, the garden, the swing, act of breaking coconuts, meeting friends at the alumni meet and what not. Phew! Come Saturday and I realized I had to join office on Monday. Office? Truly boring after a joyful week, isn’t it? Anyway, quickly, I picked up the phone and called one of my colleagues, Harish, to check out what was going in the office. This would have prepared me, both mentally and physically, to resume the office. What happened next will definitely entertain you as much as it amused me. :-)

Saturday, 1910 hrs, Home, Mumbai
As I mentioned, I had called Harish. The phone rang and a soft, effeminate voice from the other end saying “Hello” bewildered me. Harish stays alone in Bangalore and unfortunately has no girl friends. :-) So it was kind of unexpected for me to hear a female voice. But you never know; anything can happen in seconds. Hey, that reminds me of TATA DOCOMO advertisement and the charming girls in it. :) As I said, life is full of surprises, so I continued, “Hello, can I speak to Harish?” On that, I got a response like, “Hey Chetan, this is Harish only. Didn’t you recognize my voice?” A bit of thinking made me conclude that this was some kind of trick on me. So I started laughing and said, “Please give the phone to Harish, I know this is some kind of ploy to annoy me”. The reply that I got, frankly irritated me. It said, “Tell me Chetan, this is Harish only”. I was really furious on Harish now, as I had called him for something important and his behavior was irritating me. I banged the phone and never called him again. I got his call twice but I was so livid that I didn’t bother to pick it up. This was on Saturday.

Cut2: Monday Morning 10 AM, Office Cafeteria, Bangalore
Our team’s custom or rather habit is to gather in cafeteria for a cup of coffee and then start working. The same happened yesterday. I reached the canteen and sat on the table where the team was chatting. I was unhappy with Harish and didn’t want to speak to him. Just then, Shirish, one of my teammates said, “Chetan do you know this cool feature in Harish’s phone?” Harish again, Oh man! I said to myself, but remained neutral and pretended to listen. Shirish was talking about Harish’s new phone that had the ‘Voice Modulation’ feature where in one could adjust the voice between ‘Male’ and ‘Female’ and whatever you speak would come out in that voice. So if one enables the ‘Voice Modulation’ feature in ‘Female’, irrespective of your sex, the voice would be converted into a female one. “Cool”, I said. Harish added that he had changed the mode of operation inadvertently and was using the handset for a week making a joke of this uncommon but fantastic feature. “Tiiinnnn” a bell rang in my head and I could relate what would have happened on Saturday. It was Harish who must have been talking but because of the phone setting I could hear an unfamiliar but a cute female voice!

Funny! Interesting! Whatever you say!

For people interested in technology:
This is a Karbon, K series mobile phone. Picture below.

Picture taken by Chetan Giridhar

Mumbai - Trip to the clouds - 3 July 2009

The Built Up
It was almost 6 months ago when I had last been to Mumbai. People, who know me, would be really astonished with the time period. But that's the way it goes. Ostensibly, I was a bit too busy with other stuff that included a promotion at work and a perpetual grapple for a home loan from SBI. Having said that, handling 3 projects in a quarter is not everyone's cup of tea :) But, I guess, it was time to recuperate myself and enjoy the rains at Mumbai. My cousins Nimish and Bhairavi (from Nagpur) had also arrived for their vacation to Mumbai; aai had promised them a trip into the clouds. Believe me it’s possible, well almost. You would come to know how, but you need to read this blog throughout..he he he...

The trip
It was early morning on the 3rd of July and after having a filling breakfast, we started on Mumbai-Pune highway towards the hills. It was raining very heavily and supposedly, we had chosen a perfect day for a perfect monsoon trip. The milieu was fantastic; nice cool breeze, rain water trickling on your face and the coveted odor of the earth were all an integral part.

N.D. Studio
It was only around 8 kms that we had travelled, when we started discussing about the N.D.Studio that is built very near to the highway. My mother happened to tell us that "Jodha Akbar" movie was shot here and the sets were still standing and were pretty much visible from the outside. It was both, a bit of curiosity and interest; we turned to the studio. Coming so close, who would remain content with just a view? Few phone calls from my mother to the top officials made way to a guided tour of inside. Lucky we!! Slowly, almost all the sets, from the Jodha's palace, to the set where Akbar has a tussle with a mad elephant, to the Akbar's darbaar were captured in our cameras. We also got an opportunity to witness a Marathi serial being shot. It was based on Shivaji Maharaj and it was no surprise that they had chosen some sets of Jodha Akbar's to depict Auranzeb's abode in the serial. We could recognize some of the Marathi actors but were too shy to take their autographs; rather we didn’t want to disturb their work. As it was a guided tour, we were made aware of some of the technicalities of movie making from the directors themselves. We realized that movie making wasn't easy as it seemed. As I write this blog, radio mirchi is playing "Kehne ko jashne bahara hain...." a nice coincidence, isn't it?

The Hills
Cut2, we were on the highway again and a seemingly endless association with the rain began. Travelling further on the highway saw us at Khopoli, a town at the foot hills. We decided to have batata(potato) wadas from the famous Hotel Ramakant. For benefit of some, Hotel Ramakant was the most visited eatery on the Mumbai-Pune old highway as the food there served as a perfect fuel for the commuters to start ascending the ghaat. Expressway had dampened the business, but we chose not to break the tradition. A nice cup of tea and soon we were on the hills.

While climbing we could see the dark blanket on the mountains and as aai had promised Nimish, we were heading for the clouds. The zigzag, snake like road and every curve leading to a valley made the travel very thrilling. The greenery, the waterfalls, the dark clouds, the red soil and the zephyr was unrealistically a deadly combination. Soon we were at Khandala, the place where we could see the clouds while ascending. It was very dark and raining very heavily now. Certainly we were among the clouds; all we witnessed were the dark clouds below and above us. A real visual treat, albeit it was really chilling and we were literally shivering. But it was such a heavenly experience!! An experience that would remain with us for a long time to come. Nimish, was the happiest person on Earth. Obviously his dream of visiting the clouds was fulfilled in some regards.

A fifteen minute decline and we could get a bird-eye look of Khopoli town. The rains had stopped and the environment was crystal clear. Sun shone brightly; we knew what to expect now! Yes it was a nice rainbow amidst the hills. What better site we could have asked for!

Summing Up
The whole trip rejuvenated us a lot and we have now decided to have similar trips every year. Don't hesitate to join us. You're always invited... More the merrier :)

Singh is King!! – Verdict 2009

Well, finally 2009 elections are complete and as we all would have found out, its Congress or rather UPA all the way!

In one ways of many, it was good that the people of India voted for a single party in large numbers. This will ensure that there is almost no scope for a tussle between regional parties and either of the major national parties (BJP or Congress) in order to reach a magic number of 272; in turn ensuring a stable government. A good indicator to the people involved in the ‘bull fight’; sensex should leap up.

Second of the reasons as to why the verdict 2009 was a good one was, in this situation of global meltdown, when the terrorism is at its peak (terrorists are virtually at our door steps), it was obvious that the incumbent government was better equipped to handle it. Surely, the new government will take time to regroup and rework on the policies to follow, in such crucial circumstances.

Talking about the outcome, if you have followed what the TV programs and the analysts, that were keeping track of the elections, had to say, none had expected such majority votes for the UPA and Congress in particular, from the electoral. Out of many reasons, the only reason that could be considered as the main cause of UPA’s excellent showing, in my opinion, would be Rahul Gandhi’s work. I believe he understood that the higher percentage of electoral was youth and wooing them would eventually mean a higher amount of vote bank. The policy seemed to have worked and Rahul Gandhi’s youth congress was successful in delivering the goods. In the end, its the numbers that matter.

The image of our Prime Minister, of being a 'honest politician' supposedly worked. Also, you wont find a more qualified guy than him, look at his resume! Clearly Singh was King as far as the Elections 2009 were concerned.

Heartiest congratulations to Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA for their second term. Hope they do well for India, together.

Note: this is completely an objective view.

IPL Season 2

Indian Premier League Season 2 started on Saturday 18th April, 2009. This time’s show was no less pompous than the last years’. The only notable difference being, this time round the venue was South Africa and obviously the excitement that cricket gets in India was a bit missing. After the election row that took place in India, seemingly, “Show must go on!!” was what the organizers including the audiences worldwide felt; hence the location of the event became immaterial and the interest remains perpetual.

Commissioner of the IPL Mr.Lalit modi declared the tournament open and the games were on their way! The first four matches included some extra ordinary performances by the legends of the game who were supposedly “not made“ for playing T20 matches. To begin with, the performance of master blaster, Sachin Tendulkar, in the opening match was fabulous! 59* valuable runs from him made it possible for the Mumbai Indians to reach a total of 160 odd in the process helping the team to win the match against Dhoni 11. Second match saw Rahul Dravid with a very well calculated, fast, sparkling 66; again a match winning one with Kumble scoring the best figures in T20 with 5/5. Wow!! Shane Warne wasn’t behind too. His magical leg spin trapped almost all the batsmen in his web. He was getting better with every ball bowled. On the contrary all the young players, so called the great hitters of the ball, failed to impress. Too early to conclude here...

In a way, its good that IPL is being played in South Africa, as it shows true value of a player; flat Asian wickets don’t do any good to the talent. Also this would help IPL to take a more global stage than ever.

All the best to IPL Season 2 and hope we enjoy it better than the 2008 season! May the best team win.

Goa: The most happening day of the trip....

This was the most exciting and happening day of our trip...Early morning breakfast at Kamath Restaurant and we were at the Aguda fort... Everybody seemed to be DCH mood for obvious reasons (For people who don't know, Dil Chahta Hain movie was shot there). The pics would be perfect evidence of the same. I think, if you ask, none of us would able to answer what the fort was all about like when, why, who build it? Everyone was there to have a great time, who bothered about all this??

After some historical milieu, we decided to hit the beach as someone said, "Abey hum log Goa aaye hain, Khajuraho nahi..." The water sports at Calangoute beach were really exciting. Banana in particular was the most enthralling for me...The dip into the sea at the end of the ride spurs you up like anything. Parasailing was the most empressive of all; once you are up with the parachute, you feel like you are sailing on top of the world...what you see is only the blue seas below and the blue skies above...Fanatastic!! is the word.

After a nice north indian lunch along side the beach, it was time for a walk from Calangoute to Bagha beach. With so many desi and videsi titliyan around, I could have continued my walk till eternity... Here we got some time to collect some sea shells, look at lagoons if we could find and plan for the evening cruise and the South Goa trip the following day. The sunset from the shack at Bagha with Veg Cheese sandwich plus the Mo (bartender) factor, what else you could have asked for?? Mo was very happy to show some of his bartending skills like flipping the bottles as we usually see....I was lucky to pick up some of the skills...If someone thought this wasn’t enough, the evening cruise at Mandovi river was again an unforgettable experience.

Reaching the river for the cruise was not all that straight forward...First of all, we had asked our hotel reception to book the tickets for 2030 hrs, but getting people moving from the Bagha beach took a while and then a traffic jam ensured that we wouldn't have reached the hotel to collect the tickets in time for the cruise..Luckily, the guy at the reception called and informed that he couldn't get the tickets for the decided time and hence he had booked 2130 cruise...That was a huge relief. That meant I could meet Sushil, my childhood friend, who was already waiting for me at the hotel..While the others got ready for the cruise I was busy talking to him and at 2115 we all were geared up to move for the river...We were about to start when one of my friends asked this typical question, "Chetan, ticket tere pass hain na??" Guess what, I had no information about it. I remembered that I had handed over the tickets to someone but not sure whom..Panic spread and people started running to their rooms to check if they had ticktes..I was preparing for the worst and talking to the reception guys to check out if we could board the ship even if we had no tickets and if someone from reception could speak to the cruise owners or someone. Just then we found the tickets, hah!! Sushil said that he knew a short cut to the river, but it turned out that he had driven us into a one-way. This added to the so called nail biting quotient, and to take it to the climax, the security guard at the cruise entry said, we were already late for the cruise. But as it turned out he thought we were there for a 2115 ride, while we actually were targetting 2130...Finally we got on to the ship. I think we had to dance on the cruise deck, that was in our destiny.

Wait, this was not the end of the day...After the wonderful ride on Mandovi and an exhausting and exhilarating dance on the cruise, it was time for dinner. We reached near our hotel and then, on foot, checked out near by restaurants to see if we could get some north indian food...A 30 minute search led us to an eatery named 'Veg Baba'!! By the time we could finish our delectable dinner, it was mid-night...In comes Republic Day, 26th Jan 2009...

Phew, Too many things in a single day!!

Goa trip - Setting the expectations….

This, I think was the first trip when I came to know about the plan just 2 days in advance. I remember Deepti calling me and asking me, “Goa chalega kya..??” and without thinking much I said yes. But then, after some contemplation, I encountered a question “who all were accompanying us?” I had no idea!! I asked Deepti about the same and she gave me names of 4 girls and a boy. ”Now, what was that?! “ I got a bit intimidated…4 ladkiyan and 2 ladke?? And that too Goa?? I felt like, kya hoga pata nahi….and to top it, I didn’t even knew any of our companions for the next 4 days…!! Bhagvaan par bharosa rakha and I started….Frankly, I never expected a great trip and neither was looking forward to it…I had to pass my time (24-26 Jan) and this didn’t look like a worse option…so I thought…Okay, Chalo!!! Moreover, it was quite sometime, when I had been to a beach. Goa looked like a perfect candidate for some water-fun.

Experience in Austria - III

Another suspense packed and an enthralling experience. Hope you remember we had taken a bus from the Salzburg bust stop to reach the train station. Yes, we reached the station and started hunting for the train that would take us to Linz. We referred the time table and confirmed that the train was expected to start at 1844 hrs from platform 4. We were at platform 1 and it was already 1842 hrs. The time indicated that we had to hurry, and we did, but the effort was in vain. Even before reaching the platform, we could see the train had already started and there was no facility of catching a speeding Eurail unlike in India. So we had to suspend our endeavor and had to resort to other options available. Time table once again came in handy and some responses from the fellow passengers helped us find out that there was a train at 1902 hrs directly to Linz and it took almost 45 minutes less than the train we were thinking of taking for our return journey. It was still around 10-15 minutes before we could board the train, at platform 2 this time round. We were relaxed and soon distracted by some Austrian butterflies (titlies) and didn’t realize the time until 1900 hrs. We raced to the platform, saw the train, confirmed it was headed for Linz and boarded it. While on the train we could appreciate the fact that the coaches seemed to be different than some of them we had earlier travelled in. First, we thought it was a first class, so we walked towards other coaches. But to our surprise, all the coaches looked similar. We spoke to some of the passengers and understood it was an ICE (Inter City Express) coming from Munich, Germany. It was called an intercity train as it was connecting two cities but of different countries. We were kind of stuck. In familiar terms “hamari toh phat gayee thi..” , wondering whether we had boarded the train that suited our ticket or not. We couldn’t have done much about it because stopping the train was not an available option. Top of that, we had not got any place to seat as it was a packed train with maximum people wanting to go to Vienna for work after a nice weekend out. Some had already found people whom they wanted to go out with the next weekendJ. Between this, we were tensed and preparing our excuses that we could give to the Ticket Checker for wrongly boarding the train. We didn’t want to ask our co-passengers as this would have created more panic. Also, who knows, if the TC didn’t come before we could arrive at Linz, we would be saved!! So we settled ourselves near the exit in the first coach of the train thinking it would take some time for the checker to reach there and till such time we would have reached Linz. We also discussed that we won’t sign any stuff if were caught and put into jail. Also we were trying to gauge the money we had with us for paying the fine, if any. All these ideas, I need not tell, were form our very own, good old, Bollywood films. Soon, the checker arrived and I could notice him at the rear end of the coach. We stood up, while some of the frequent and native travelers chose to sit on the floor, just to give an impression that we were sophisticated people and not used to breaking laws like this. The checker came, started checking our tickets. My heart started beating with the speed like never before. The tag of an international criminal wasn’t too far and not too good considering our past records. Terrified, horrified, worried, N number of synonyms would be difficult to explain our situation. We were simply trying to look innocent. The checker checked the tickets, punched them and said “Thank you sir” and was gone. It took us some moments to come to grips with the situation. “Hurray! Yipee!!” we wanted to shout, but that was not possible, rather plausible. (Between, have you thought of the contexts where probable, plausible, possible could suit?? I feel these three words are in increasing degree of certainty. Let me know if you think otherwise). We felt relieved, as if someone had managed to help us and we had eschewed a dangerous and an unthinkable situation. Out came our cameras and click and click was a thing everyone could hear.