Saturday, February 17, 2007

Trying to gather my thoughts

The long break between module 6 and winter internships has really helped me in trying to slow down and analyse myself. It has been a longish break starting off right after placements (Jan 4, 07) till now; with winters (winter internship) starting off from Monday.

It was good to do some of the things which I really wanted to do; but had failed to find time during last year.

The first thing which I did after placements was to roam around Mumbai- its splendid mangroove forest (now just confined to some parts of the old islands), beautiful fort area, some of the oldest zoroastrian temples, the oldest church in VT, yeah also the busy Crawford market and wonderful lunch at Rajdhani- a must visit restaurant if in Mumbai (and many more places which everyone in Mumbai is aware off... the best & tiresome was the journey to fishers village; too bad that I bought my camera only afterwards!).

A welcome break from the moribund routine was also the trip to Chennai, Vizag and Kolkota. Stayed in Chennai for a day or so (in which time my dear friend Vandy was too engrossed in other important activities to show around the city much!), after which the trip to Vizag was really interesting- for all the right and wrong reasons. The right reasons being the beautiful environs in and around Vizag- the beautiful Borra caves, Kailasgiri hills, Submarine and also the wonderful time we had in the water park. The wrong reasons can be attributed more to the exploits of a most unique, innocent and near kiddish persona of Pilaka... Subbu, Vandy and Myself will never forget the antiques of Pilaka during the trip to a nearby hill station. It would take too much of space to highlight the googly of events, so let me restrict my comments on that!

The tour around Kolkota can really be termed as 'something to remember'. It started off with the chill weather creating havoc to Vandy's and my health. Unsuspecting victims as we were; we had not taken warm clothes in the middle of winter there. Another bad timing being the time we reached there- middle of night. But cold or otherwise the hospitality of the bong gang (bengalis from our batch) of NITIE ensured we get back to ship shape. A special thanks to all the bong dada's is especially needed. Well, I have not introduced you to the real reason for visiting Kolkota! We had travelled all the way there to attend to the marriage of the inimitable Sharba's marriage which turned out to be a good meeting place for good friends too. It was really interesting to observe the traditional marriage from the Eastern part of India- especially to someone like me from the south. They can easily be termed as oppulent and also most colorful of marriages. One never really felt out of place with such warmth and friendliness around (that too with my limited understanding of bengali- restricted to only 2 words- ki holo and kemon aachis). The marriage itself is short compared to the considerable buildup associated. It was nice to see so many NITIEans around in marriage and also catch more than some passing 'attention' myself! Uh, that apart Kolkota is worth visiting again in leisure. One of the drawbacks of the long trip was the amount of travelling involved!

Also worthwhile was catching up with all my friends here in Bangalore- Perot gang, SAP friends, Koramangala brothers and RV mates after a looong loong time. With most of the weekends booked to catch up with all the buddies here, it does feel good to be back amongst the known faces, 'swalpa adjust maadi' type of crowd and offcourse with the familiar 'yella ok, cool drink yake?' type of local pubs!

Just looking forward for winters to start off in full swing now.....! Up and raring to go...

Ciao till next time...Harsha

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