Tension is a feeling of worry and anxiety which makes it difficult for you to relax. Noun (uncountable) also N in pl

I am also in the state of the same, though not always but at times.

Some of such moments are/were,

1. It turns out that my killing rate has hit its all time low and I came to know of that while playing Max Payne and During office hours when I have to kill time
2. I am sleeping for 30-45 minutes after lunch @ office where as in past it was between 1 – 1.5 hours.
3. I own 3 mobiles and 5 mobile numbers out of which i am using just one of each.  (these don’t include the one i have lost.)
4. My MBA plan is  down the drain. No B-School is ready to offer me a seat.
5. I used to earn the max among my friends and suddenly i am the least earner among all of us.
6. and another Birthday and the party sharks are already at the door.
7. My drinking and smoking habits are a hard to quit.
8. I am still in search for a GF.
9. and those which i had think that i am good at flirting than actually falling in love.
10. I am losing hairs faster than any bollywood movies are losing viewers.
11. and gaining weight faster than the number of shopping mall opening in your locality.

Those who are thinking when was my birthday it was on 29th may.

PS-> the google talk gadget is now working.

• No Related Post

So instead of writing about few of them lets pitch all of them against each other.

Round 1: Travel.

I won’t say a thing about the journey but the first hand experience of destination or origin.

• By Train -  Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Home
• By Bus -  Goa, Bangalore
• By Flight – Bangalore, Delhi(Terminal 1-A), Kolkata

I don’t know what’s your travelling preference but i always felt that train journeys are the best. if it satisfies one condition “You have a good company” I leave the choice of the companion to you it may range from sleep depravation to love or from a book to Girl Friend.

So here is quick comparison between the stations i have visited in recent past.

Hyderabad (Secundrabad to be precise):- A small and clean station. They have got adequate security and even though the same station is used for local trains it not that crowded.

Bangalore:- Its been quite some time before i gave bangalore station a visit. It was still the same crowded platform and even crowded ticket counters. But clean and chaotic.

Kolkata:- Huge station loads of people and little security. Its not that clean, though there are people taking care of cleaning but something, somewhere has gone wrong.

Home:- Really small station, not clean, no security, is in process of getting a face-lift. That include a new ticket window, generator, lights and fans on the platform but that betterment is still few years away.

Now comes the bus stands.

Bangalore: Has got a huge bus stand. lots of people. well marked platforms and dirty.

Goa: Medium sized, semi clean, not well marked and crowded.

Airports:- The fastest and (now not so) cheaper mode of transport. I chose this for last for the simple reason that i have been adding loads of air-mile.

Kolkata:- Really old airport. Small, crowded, Really slow security checks, No WI-FI, Shady Buses used for aircarft transfer(Most of them look like old city buses). But they do have a rail ticket reservation counter and post office at the arrival waiting lounge. fewer baggage claim belts and No AC taxi for stand. (One had to call for AC taxies)

Delhi:- Big, clean, with almost no crowd departure terminal. Even though its a new terminal baggage scan is mandatory(as compared to bangalore), WI-FI signal strength fluctuate every second.(In short it sucks, just WI-FI). Lots of shops including a Mc-Dee’s The arrival terminal is too crowded. even though they have 7-8 baggage claim belts the baggage arrival takes a life time. which makes the area even more crowded.

Bangalore:- Big, really clean, little crowded, No Baggage checks (which makes the check in really really swift) The check-in counter itself are dynamic(There no individual airline counter but any counter can be used by any airline. All the counters have a LCD screen showing the airlines name.) 3-4 ATM machine. 8-10 Self-Check-in counters. The arrival area is large and the baggage arrival is really fast max 5-10 min wait time. The only bone of contention is the location of airport. 25 KM from the city limits.

So if you are planning to go to any of these places plan accordingly.

• October 8, 2011 -- Being Hypocrite (0)
• February 5, 2011 -- Another Year, Another B’Day and a Accident (3)
• June 2, 2010 -- Lies, Lies and More Lies (9)

I dont know how many of you have seen this TV ad. The ad is all about how few friends want to reach goa but their flight is delayed. Somethng of the same sort happened to 7 of us.

Off We go

We were off to goa this weekend, but as the luck have it we were just 90 KM away from goa and there comes the news of floods and land slides. We are stranded on NH17 with no where to go. just to top it off our bus left us stranded in middle the road. We got a lorry which took jsut 500 rupees for 3 KM of ride..

The Lorry Ride

Lorry ride

The lorry dropped us to a small station called Harwar. For us to find the train to Goa is canceled.

Railway Tracks

Harwad Station

Next step for us was to go back to bangalore and good bye to our weekend gate-away. Or Go back to and take another route. we chose the former later and started our journey once again.

On Way to Hubli

Reached hubli at 8 in the night. We were to reach goa the same day by 10 and we were no where near goa.

Dining at Hubli

The day was 2nd of October. It was dry day so i had a Battle of VAT 69 to give us company and surely gave us some company. It was the only thing that got me and some of us drunkards going . Took another bus from hubli and reached goa on 3 rd full 24 hours late. A journey of 14 hours took us 38 and it was the utmost fun.

but as there is always a BUTT. True to it legend Goa is the best place to enjoy urself. so here are some of the pics we having fun @ goa.

Goa At last

Stumpped

Colava Beach

All of us

Steps to heaven

We have conquored the word

Boat Ride

On the boat

if you are still not able to figure out which of them is me than here i am.

ME the Great

those who are thinking where are the chichs than i amsorry we awere jsut guys out there. But just for you j\guys who came all the way till here looking for chicks. Take it away.

Chicks..

• June 29, 2011 -- Ads By Google. (1)
• February 5, 2011 -- Another Year, Another B’Day and a Accident (3)
• October 29, 2010 -- Holiday Season (0)

Bug in Google

In the picture above just look where it says Cash.. the amount is being displayed in $’s instead of Rs. which is being used to represent rest of the amounts.

Click on the image for larger view.

• June 29, 2011 -- Ads By Google. (1)
• February 5, 2011 -- Another Year, Another B’Day and a Accident (3)
• October 29, 2010 -- Holiday Season (0)

Bug in Google

I have got another BuGle. For more details on Bugle Please click here.

The image is snapshot of my share portfolio in Google’s website, which is simple and easy to use. But they have got this problem of inserting bugs in their code. If you look at the three red boxes in the image (right click and open image in new window/tab) . Market price(MP) is calculates as Last Price(LP) X Shares(S). So for Suzlon MP should have been 89.50 X 30 = 2,685.00 but according to google its 2,644.50. Google thanks for your new age mathematics.

Guys I really respect you and all the application that you make. But this type of faux-pas is seldom pardoned. You need a really good Quality Control guys at your office. And please sure that the quality guy and developer dont meet face to face. Tha you will have a really robust application

• June 29, 2011 -- Ads By Google. (1)
• February 5, 2011 -- Another Year, Another B’Day and a Accident (3)
• October 29, 2010 -- Holiday Season (0)

I planned to leave Bangalore on Thursday as part was slated for Friday. So the ticket was booked for Spicejet onwards and return on Sunday by Indigo courtesy travelocity.co.in (Trust me they give one of the best fare online). Suddenly one fine day my jiju (brother in law) called and said the ticket by kingfisher is available for 1800 INR go ahead and buy. There goes 1750 INR towards cancelling the ticket booked by Spicejet and Indigo. So that was the ticketing part.

On Thursday I was off to Mumbai. Nothing great about it but if you find your mom, dad, jiju and brother waiting at the airport is worth mentioning. Well they arrived 20 minutes before me from my native. J. After packing ourselves in the car we are off to see the boy-who-shares-his-birthday-with-me in short my nephewJ.

He is really sweet much more than me. (Trust me again) those who don’t trust me then tell me why he got all the kisses and I got none? Pics, coming soon, most probably by this weekend. The next two days were hectic, wrapping gifts which my mom brought from native and I took from Bangalore, attending ceremonies, parties and what not. I met some of my relatives whom I last met when my sister got married 3 years back and some even much more time later.

Saturday was the good bye day. Mom and dad left for native. My brother went to office. So there I was left alone at with my jiju. I thought lets go jiju’s office and see how it looks like. Later that day played a new board game with my sister, jiju, jiju’s sisters and jiju’s jiju. The game was called LIFE. What a name for game where you are married off, made to buy house, have kids and at last die with the desire to become a millionaire tycoon. After losing badly in the game of LIFE we were off to watch the movie “Hangover. ” Yeah, a drunkard like me can only go for a movie like that. A slapstick comedy should be seen by without children supervision.

Sunday came and my jiju took me for a shopping spree. I am still a Shopaholic (Shopping + Drinking). While driving from one shop to another I found a bottle of “Absolute” in jiju car. Before you say what a drunkard let me tell you I just had 2 pegs, we were to have lunch with my sister and jiju’s sisters. Here is the list of the things we shopped for – Shirts and Trousers from Louis Philippe, Perfumes from UCB and Dunhill, Mobiles from Nokia and Samsung. That was it and it was the time for me to head back. I got a SMS stating my ticket on kingfisher is upgraded to first class (Tip. If you are flying kingfisher, try http://optiontown.com. ). It is a good way to fly first class without paying bomb for.

Here is the pic of the Hriday. That’s the name given to my nephew.

• February 5, 2011 -- Another Year, Another B’Day and a Accident (3)
• April 14, 2010 -- Something Serious Called Life (0)
• January 1, 2010 -- Puzzle (1)

When I look back , I find that,  i don’t fall in any of these categories. The shopping was done because it was needed but what I shopped for was more than the need! For eg. instead of 2 shirts that i needed i bought 4 because i liked them. If you remember my Last Post I had done lots of shopping. I am yet to find out if they were excessive or not.

So here is the experience i gained from my shopping spree for last few months

1. If you find a “single piece” item “without price tag” (which you like) in a mega store(like shoppers stop, lifestyle etc.) try to bargain with the guy who is showing you the item and chances are that you will get it cheaper than the item’s original price.
2. By any chance the sale person tell you the correct price take that item to billing counter and chances are that the billing person will bill you less than what the price is.
3. When you leave the counter make sure to check your bill, the billing guys always bill for more than what you have bought
4. Don’t buy anything in rush. You will either pay more, buy costly item, get some defective item, get cloths that don’t fit or end up leaving your card/cash at the shop.
5. Don’t ever utter the price of item while its being billed. chances are that it will be billed wrong. (vary rarely)
6. If you are buying anything online make sure to read the T&C of the offer. Chances are that you will not get the offer because you forgot to click the small red button on the page where it said “You are done, Click next to continue!” without ever mentioning anything about the red button.
7. When buying alcohol ask the price before hand. Chances are that the price quoted will be more than the MRP.
8. If your next door Kiranawala (Grocery Store) return the change more than what he should have. Tell him and give the money back. You will surely get extra attention every time you visit.
9. Never ever listen to a sales person who talks too smooth. He will sell you the worst item in the store.

This is out of my personal experience. here are the instance when it happened.

1. Bought a Louis Phillippe for 1200 the MRP i later found out was 1700.
2. Bought 4 shirts of Peter England for 1200 in buy 1 get 1 offer. 3 shirts were for 600 and one (tag-less for 800)
3. Paid 1600 for a 1500 Louis Phillippe trouser.
4. Paid 300 extra for a top because saw the cost of smaller size top.
5. The tag price for the deo was 120 but was billed as 1200
6. I missed the gift because i selected the same gift where the rule was “The buyer has to select different gift for each purchase”
7. I paid 1000 rupees for a bottle of VAT69 priced at 900
8. Its common sense.
9. I bought a polyester trouser for 1300 because the sales guy was too smooth.

so stop laughing at my plight and tell me any more tip that you have.

• June 29, 2011 -- Ads By Google. (1)
• February 5, 2011 -- Another Year, Another B’Day and a Accident (3)
• October 29, 2010 -- Holiday Season (0)

If you remember my year started without a bang and buzz. As the year evolves i find my self getting more and more busy but i do got a fair share of happiness. Including new job, a nephew and lots of work at office (Yeah i love working).

So there was shopping mostly for booze because i was sad that the year started bad and then it was more booze because it getting better. The extent of drinking can be measured by the fact that i am alone at home at 6 PM IST and I have glass of whisky on the rocks. Now a Question arises have i been turning into a compulsive drinker? I would say bull shit. Drink 2+ liters of water at one go and you will have the same sensation that of the after a few drink. So essentially we all are a compulsive drinker the difference is what we drink!! 

So here i am thinking what to do about it and I got another idea. Go shopping!!  So in the last 3 months i have shopped for— Hold-Your-Breath just a little over 0.75 Lakh rupees. Ladies you will love me for this . Most of the shopping were for a change of wardrobe,  few necessities including a brand new iPod Touch (16Gb Version), a washing machine and some jsut waste of money like a change of my 5 years old undie. 

but the final result is that after seeing those bill i am back to my room drinking some more and thinking what have i done!!  So you see shopping didn’t help in my drinking drive . Guys!  any new ideas?

• June 29, 2011 -- Ads By Google. (1)
• February 5, 2011 -- Another Year, Another B’Day and a Accident (3)
• October 29, 2010 -- Holiday Season (0)

It was something more grave. I had given my cloths to the  washer man on Monday to iron them but till Wednesday he wasn’t done. So i had to take out my lone clean trouser. A Scullers Trouser which was bought Sunday and got on Wednesday after alteration. (The details here are worth remembering for future reference )

So i donned in a brand new cloths leave for office. Hailed a auto with whom had a discussion (read had to haggle)  about the charges. Reached safely to office. and while getting down i heard a faint sound. As i turn around i find a piece of my trouser is left on the auto.  As i turn around everyone has a Big-Fat-Grin except Me. Now i had just 2 options

First Go back home and change

Two Stay at office with a extra hole on my back side. That’s what my colleagues called it when I reached office.

The first option was rejected outright. For I dont have anything washed and ironed at home. Second I was already 30 minutes late for office. So it was Out-Shirt (untucked). It was so obivios that half of my office knew what i been through.

It was so obivious that when I was bent down to work on one my colleagues system. My PM comes from behind and says “Santosh don’t bend too much people may take Advantage.”

Now those who read this let me know who should i blame?

The washerman, who was late in ironing my cloths.

The auto guy for not keeping his nails in in control.

The trouser manufactrer (Scullers) for not using strong cloth.

My own compnay who askes every employee to wear formals from monday to thrusday.

• June 29, 2011 -- Ads By Google. (1)
• February 5, 2011 -- Another Year, Another B’Day and a Accident (3)
• October 29, 2010 -- Holiday Season (0)

If you remember my this post written some where last year when i was in the heaven called Bench. From then till now there were lots of changes on my professional front that includes few projects, some more becnh hour and a emotional job change. Emotional becuase it was one hell of thinking between a compny with a brnad value or a company which is still paying salary. (My last job had resorted to pay cut of upto 100%) Money got the better of me and here i am working for a company who is still paying salary. (That too 100% including variable component.) 

I am trying to make sure that this company keeps paying me my salaries and to do so i am working hard. Which has taken a toll towards my blogging and related activities. If there are chances that i have not visited your blogs in years then please bear with me. Lets hope that i come out of this soon and become a active blogger.

• October 8, 2011 -- Being Hypocrite (0)
• February 5, 2011 -- Another Year, Another B’Day and a Accident (3)
• June 2, 2010 -- Lies, Lies and More Lies (9)