The last Month.....

As usual the novelty of writing slowly disintegrated, what started with lots of enthusiasm and creativity slowly began to overwhelm me, bore me and made me exhausted.  Its quite difficult to maintain the tempo of writing when nothing special happens to you. You have to make your own story and also try to make it more entertaining than what it actually was. I really wonder, why people would like to read about you when there was so much more interesting things to be done, read or experienced. But then that what blogging is all about, you would like to write your thought, your feelings, your sense of belonging whatsoever; if not anything I am sure you would like to read about it and maybe re-discover yourself a few years down.

Its now December and you suddenly realise that the year has gone by. What did you actually do? What did happen? What were your dreams, your frustrations, your aspirations, your disappointments? There would be a number of whats, and you could sit down and list them as you go about. Its really at this time, you think back and see that there is a huge gap in your thoughts, the detailing which went in every day now as a memory is very small. Your mind seems to have auto deleted all the files which you have assiduously wanted to capture and kept aside thinking it was important; and then later realised that to save space and new memories you will have to forego the earlier ones. I trust this must be the real reason why people have started writing down their diaries. Well, coming to think of this- this Blog itself was another reason to put down memories which will soon to disappear.

Now lets look at the major highlights of the past year. It all started with the comfort feeling that I am back in Bangalore, having driven down back from Mumbai closing down my stay at Mumbai lock stock and barrel. Pranav's wedding started the year for them with a bang and the family getting together too for the occasion. Then came the conference at Chandigarh, nothing spectacular very staid and very regimental. Chandigarh was  city I had not been for almost 32 years. Visiting the Nek Chand's rock garden did evoke a number of memories hidden in recesses when we last visited in the year 1983 with mom and dad. It was during this trip a very significant event began- Amma's deteriorating health. Shyama's call coming in the morning and a feeling of helplessness as I was in Chandigarh, Pramod chettan in Dubai and Prasanth in Saudi - Amma all alone in Trivandrum. Shyama went and supported her and Prasanth also did come down. I too managed to change my booking to Trivandrum and went there. Then the roller coaster ride started with complications after complications and finally ended up with us all in Bangalore trying to resolve the issue with Amma. In April, 10th to be precise, she breathed her last. 

Her cremation was completed in Trivandrum and most of the family were there in either body or soul. It was poignant to see her belongings at Kannanmoola. She had a sheltered life when Dad was around and then the last 7 years she was all alone and this she endured with absolute confidence and poise. Pramod Chettan stepped up to the occasion and took over the mantle of being the family's head quite naturally. There were a number of loose ends which he slowly but steadily resolved and clearly sent a message to all concerned about the continuity. By now half the year was over. My regular trips to Mumbai and back continued and kept myself busy. 

July 16th was coming in and this would be  landmark year for our marriage. It would be the 25th year of our marriage. Shyama and me wanted to do something to register the occasion and we had decided on a European Tour. We planned for a trip lasting about 10 days and covering - France, Austria, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. Finally with a  lot of permutation and combination we closed our itinerary covering three countries. Rome was included to keep Vrinda happy, Switzerland was  Shyama's dream destination. France fell into the itinerary only because the ticket to Paris and back was most attractive. Detailing this trip needs a separate Blog which I have no intention to write. September was our European tour and soo this excitement was also behind us. 

Maman our uncle at Thiruvattar died the next month and I did drop in and paid my last respects. Pramod chettan too had come from Dubai. Winter slowly crept in. But the temperatures never really came down. We had a quick trip to Guruvayur and also made a short trip to Dharmastala and Kukke Subramanya . 

In the last week of November i really did feel terribly unfit and then decided to take a vow of abstaining from alcohol and Non vegetarian for a period of time. This look difficult but felt was the need of the hour. This was also the time I felt I should give a strict shot at achieving 70 Kgs or below. This started earnestly and as I am typing this. i can proudly say that I have managed to keep the tempo on and have slowly and steadily  lost about 4 kgs.

A cold week in Delhi....12th - 18th January 2015

The week started very early as it was a touring week. My flight out was at 8 am and so needed to       sacrifice my routine to catch it. My intentions was to spend two days in Mumbai and then another two at Delhi. Seeing the Whatsapp messages amongst the BIT crowd did give me shivers in anticipation of the cold at Delhi. The Jet airways flight took of on time and also landed well in schedule. Cab Tab'd my way first to Tulip and then onwards to the office. I was coming back after a period of almost 15 days. There was a dusky and a musty smell lingering in my Cabin. My new Boards - Pinup as well as the White Board were up and commissioned ( They had spent at least 2 months sitting in the corner of the room). I got busy into my routine. Soon it was time to go to the Hotel and I moved out. Tulip was a disappointment. The room was barely livable, but of course at the end of the second day I had reconciled to the size cleanliness etc. etc.

The second day too went by quite fast and so did the night, very uneventful. Morning woke up from a very disturbed sleep and booked an Uber to the airport. Landed promptly as per schedule mid morning at Delhi. Delhi looked very cold outside from the cosy confines of the aircraft, it was colder when i went out into the open. Slightly windy, overcast and foggy created an atmosphere of discomfort and a sense of being abroad in one of the cold chimes of Europe. There were people huddled up in swathes of clothing and a few smoking merrily under no smoking signages. Well Delhi looked depressing. In a few moments the car came and we drove of to Noida. The cars heaters were on a high and after sometime it became quite suffocating, on repeated pleas the driver turned the heater down. The day went be quite slowly with all its meetings lined up and every minute had me looking for warmth wherever it was offered.

Old faithful Hotel of Forbes- Classic Diplomat (Forbes had been endorsing Classic Diplomat ever since the Maruti Project began)- was where I was staying. Next day we went to Maruti and checked out our installation. Walking in the site exposed me to more cold. I did not wear a muffler ( A long strip of cloth made of wool which is wrapped around the exposed portion of the throat). I clearly longed for it as well as some cotton to partially cover my ear drums. This I think pulled my resistance down and I slowly succumbed to an attack of a virus. The flight back in the evening was the typical long haul of Delhi - Blore a 2.5 hr ordeal.

Picked up an Uber cab and we drove home. Well on a side note picked up a conversation with the Uber Driver. interesting facts came out. As per him, Uber and Ola gave a remarkable incentive which was to pick up 10 rides and Ola would give them Rs.5000 as a Bonus. Of course today the number fell down to Rs.3000. This did not matter whether the distance was long it was just have 10 Journeys. So most of the Drivers were happy to have small distances as the Bonus would be earned. Could not do any back of the envelope calculations as there did not seem to have a logic on this. Maybe will have to check this out more in detail.

Next day had me reporting back to office and also saw me starting to have a running nose. I was coming down to a Viral attack. This continued through out the day and by the time I reached home was under the impression that I would be down pretty badly. The week end came on and it quietly passed too. That was the the third week of the year.

The second week.....the newness in driving to the Office.

The second weekend of 2015 came quite swiftly.  It was a loaded week on newness. A new office, new routes to the office to be explored, the people manning this office even if they did not relate to you officially, a new driver,..... The 20 kilometere drive which needs to be undertaken at every morning and evening was quite taxing. Need to plan for utilisation of this time. Newspaper and sleep seem the only easy option. Maybe I will need to bring in my audio books and listen to them . Well will allow time to create the opportunities.

My first route I chose was a disaster. Initially embarking on the Ring Road option saw me staring at  a big pile up at the starting of the Krishnarajapuram Flyover. Immediately advised John (my new Driver) to detour vide the Metro Route thinking Indiranagar option would be good. Well it was just a leap from the frying pan into the fire. This route turned out to have more maniacs on the Road than any where else. The honking was terrible so was the two wheeler who I am sure have this high of having come from another planet. We crawled out of the chock-o-block roads and finally reached the destination - my new office, two hours later.

John came out very benignly saying that taking the route vide the Viveknagar circuit would be a far better bet. Well this was what I remember Ravi my parking slot neighbour at Mantri had also cited some months ago. Evening came and I advised John to take the route he had proposed. It was quite quite fast we came back but been at 4 PM the roads were quite sparsely populated. The week went by quite uneventfully and soon it was Friday. The exploring gene in me again re surfaced. I was ready by about 8 am , dropped Gokul at his school and started my trails to reach my office. Conveyed to John to take the Ring Road option. We gain went back to crawling and nudging. I had switched on my Tracking Device on my Mobile. By the time I reached office it was 10am clean two and we had travelled a distance of about 29 kilometres. I decided then that our old route vide Viveknagar would be the best option and not try anymore.

The newness and the excitement was wearing away and I was becoming another typical Bangalorean.  

Musings in the first week of January.......

Its the 7th of January and am in a new location....my new office at BTM Layout.

 The year started typically, fast asleep at Trivandrum, it was just another routine day, only the last digit in the year row  had become 5 instead of 4.  The marriage, I was visiting Trivandrum, went by quite inconsequentially. Of course it was an extremely meanigful day for the Bride and the Groom but for everybody else it was a day to gossip, criticise, loiter, act busy, eat drink and make merry.....at somebody's expense. On the 4th morning we had bundled into the car in a lot of befuddlement at a late hour of 6.30 am (our planned take off time wa 5.30 AM) and had a very leisurely drive back to Bangalore.

Bangalore was quite warm and  Shyama's anxiety diminished considerably about a weather change triggering off another Bronchial attack on Gokul.

I was a little tense, this was primarily because I was taking up a new office at BTM Layout and was not sure of how the whole affair will play out . My new driver John would also join on Monday . Well there was a lot of uncertainties strewn around. Monday morning I skipped my Tennis and prepared for my first day at work in Bangalore. Rahukalam was at 7.30am-9am this meant that either I leave at 7.30 am or i go late after 9am. I succumbed to the ease of going late. John my new Driver came quite promptly at 8am. We started out by around 9.15 am. Bangalore's traffic was a nightmare we crawled, bullied through, stared blankly at long waits and finally after an agonising 2 hours I reached  the office. It was a 20 kilometre ride fraught with all obstacles to slow you down.

 Mr Dwarknath met us at the reception and took us to the work place. Of course I had seen this earlier and so was not a surprise to me at all. The cabin was bare had a table which had seen definitely better days and my Chair did have the forlorn look . One worn out hand rest kept slipping down, as the screw holding it together seemed to have disappeared. I settled down quiet fast as opening your laptop was the only sign of working and requirement. Tea was served which really was good, I enjoyed it and settled down to some serious e-mail exchanges. I was at work and the world....knew it. Time speedily went by. Accomplished quite a lot of work that afternoon and by about 1.30PM was famished. My lunch was with me and I quickly made justice to it.

By afternoon I left the place (I was officially on leave on Monday too) and reached home after stops at Crossword and ICICI. The next day too was quite uneventful and spent the whole day at the office. Today came to office on time , starting at 8.15 am brought me to the office at 9.30 am. I feel an 8 AM start would be even better. Drop Gokul enroute and move on to the office. That should be my target. One very satisfying feeling was when I completed the long pending SBI insurance and the FD deposits which was growing like an uncontrolled tumor in my thoughts. The only thing pending in my "things to do" list of yonder years is the transfer of PF.

Tennis has earnestly started and have even paid my monthly fee which is a good enough incentive to be at the courts. Have to gut my old faithful racquet. Not very happy with the tennis workout need to burn a lot more calories, maybe an evening gym session needs to be started to take out all that extra fat which has been accumulating.