- Mumbai Meri Jaan in Jan
A few days after Bal Thackeray deprived us of his company, I was a month old resident of one of the greatest cities in the world named Mumbai during the new year day of 2013. In my earlier blog, I’ve described Mumbai as the the city of life coz Mumbai is where you can see life in action. This is a city which teaches you that ‘life moves on’ despite the terrorist attacks, despite the excruciating traffic, and despite the pervasive chaos. Also, I loved the breeze-laden moderately sunny climate of Mumbai. But there’s one more thing that I reminisce about the city. This makes me nostalgic about the city. I was working as GIS Consultant for Reliance Infotel and the office starts at 10.30 (I read it as 11.30). And that was convenient for me as a chronic late riser. All my roommates would have left by the time I’d wake up. And you know the thing that wakes me up - the pigeons at Shree Ganesh Housing Society. On the first day, it was a bit scary. If you’ve heard the cooing of the pigeons, you’ll probably understand that. But soon, it became the music which woke me up in the morning. There was a pigeon which gave birth to cute little squab in the small verandah just outside my bedroom window. My morning ritual involved in watching the mother take care of it’s kid, rain or shine. I used to feed it a little since the mother never flew out for almost two months. Those mornings when I heard only the a gentle sea breeze fluttering my window panes along with the cooing of a pigeons would haunt me as well as make me nostalgic.
- In the Garden City of Bengaluru
Though I stayed in Bengaluru for more than 3 months, I’ve never visited Lalbagh to praise it as the ‘Garden City’. But the lush green spaces at the ‘Silicon Valley enclave’ in the Electronic City Phase II of Bengaluru, where I stayed with my bff Delvin and five other awesome guys made up for all that. The climate was adorable and salubriously cool. Among the metros I’ve been (Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru), I’d vouch, Bengaluru has the best climate. I miss jogging around the the enclave through the parks with Pitchumani, my then roommate and an electrical engineer from my college, now working at Robert Bosch. The only difference was that, whenever Pitchu jogged, he made a 10 kilometer stretch, whereas my target was just 20% of that.
- Met the Girl Next Desk
In my earlier blog, I’ve written about the Girl Next Desk and about the things that made her incredible. But the big take away for this year was that we were arch enemies turned awesome friends. Recently she visited our Singapore office on an official visit. She has a way with work - it’s simple, elegant as well as robust. Lately, I saw a macro developed by her which pops out at the end of the day to record her timesheet activities to an excel sheet, which is normally a painful process to fill up at the end of the month. It was simple, yet impressive.
- At the Queen of Hill Stations with family
Taking out your innocent glib tongued mom and the unconventional genius dad for an holiday vacation is a perfect retreat and a really memorable moment. And you know the best part - you realize that your mom isn’t as naive as you might think. She actually explained how clouds can form below the cliffs without using jargons like precipitation and stratospheric condensation.
- Yeh Dosti Hum Nahin Todenge
For all the stupid things we did, for all the fun we had, for all the awesome moments you gave, for all the meal we shared, for all the path we tread, you guys will always make up the best moments of any year.
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| From Right to Left: Sathyesh, Ashok, Damodaran, me, Bharath, Sambath, Delvin |
Thanks Ashok, Bharath, Damo, Delvin, Kabil, Manoj, Sambath, Saravana, Gopi, Petchi, Deepa, Queen, Archana, Dhivya, Revathy, Vijaya, Arun, Pitchu, Subashini, Ganapathy and Ashwini. “Yeh Dosti Hum Nahin Todenge”. Promise.
- In the Lion City
By the second half of 2013, I reached the ‘Lion city’, Singapore. The city nation impressed me in many ways. It was nation where crass commercialization never gave way for the environmental degradation. The city is abound with parks and lakes and nicely maintained with boulevards. Walkways and cycle paths have as much importance as the vehicular roads. This is a city which encourages public transportation than private transportation. They encourage it to the point where a metro ride into the Central Business district at peak hours is made free. And buying a private car is one of the most expensive things to do in Singapore. The license to own a car is almost five times the price of the car in many cases! I also like the hundreds of air bridges across the roads, which connects apartments from either sides of the roads. Apart from the things usually noticed about this city, I have three things that make up my nicest moments here:
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| Marina Bay Sands |
The Bedok Reservoir - 500m away from my apartment is a serene park surrounding a lake with small water activities, jogging tracks, eatouts, and lots of green landscape. A refreshing place, whether you go there out with a buddy or alone. 
The paper windmill outside my house - Once I step outside my house, I see these rainbow colored paper windmill stuck to pot plants. This sight invariably reminds me of how colorful the day is.
The wide windows in the hall: Gives an awesome view of the Pan Island Expressway as well as a steady inflow of breeze.
- The Story of Mr. And Mrs.Udhay
Udhay is known as the Rajinikanth of our office. He’s so gregarious and keeps any group engaged. But behind all his gregariousness, is a melancholic story of strife to win his love, Revathy. I can’t do justice to that story writing it in this blog. Long story short. His love story is 8 years long and faced all kinds of problems imaginable. He was chased for days together for trying to marry his love. He had to handle the police, immigration, corrupt registrars, thugs, communally fanatic relatives, all within a span of few days. But he received help from unexpected quarters. Friends of friends, who barely knew him, bet their lives, money and brains to get them married.
Now they’re happily married and blessed with an angel named Amizhthini (one who is like ambrosia). Udhay still faces a lot of problems due to factors he has no control over. But that never makes him less cheerful anyday. And that doesn’t make Udhay and Revathy any less than the best couple I’ve ever seen. Not surprisingly, I and Santhosh celebrated the new year night at Udhay’s place along with anni (sister-in-law) and kutti devathai (little angel).
- Met the Queen of Singapore
It was always a pleasure meeting the Queen, my classmate, friend and now a PhD researcher at NTU, Singapore. She’s fantastic for various reasons. One, she’s gonna be a doctorate by the age of 25. She’s a hassle-free organizer. She assumes a leadership position, wherever it is, be it in CEG or NTU WITHOUT throwing around much weight. She’s a girl who learns the Indian classical instrument, Veena in a foreign country and she’s already made a stage show here. Above all that she’s an awesome friend. Her parents named her so right. She is a Queen, wherever she is.
- Travelled to Indonesia
Four crazy guys went to the equatorial indonesian island of Bintan this year. Thanks Jyoti, Anwesh and Sathish for the awesome moments.
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| From Left: Sathish, Jyoti, Anwesh and me |
- Lohith says hello to Planet Earth
On the 27th of August, 2013, Lohith receives the first rays of sun and says hello to the Planet Earth. I wanted my newborn nephew to be named like me. Any name with ‘krishna’ within it was my demand. It was granted and he was christened ‘Lohith Krishna’ soon. But soon after, I began to call him ‘KunniKuru’ rather than calling him by the name I wanted for him. Kunnikuru is a bright small waxy red seeds with beautiful black-dot in it and is considered to be auspicious in Kerala. His little tender body and his bright inquisitive eyes reminds me of kunnikuru.
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| Kunnikuru |
He’s a green lover. Anything green catches his attention. Be it coconut leaves or the mango tree, the hibiscus or the palm leaf, he stretches out his head in the intention of making friendship with the green soon. And he cries only for one reason. Food. He needs to be fed at the right time, not a second before, not a second after. German made pacifiers won’t do the trick. He needs to be fed on time. Period. And then he’s a sweetheart once he’s fed. And you better should read the language of his eyes when he’s not wearing a diaper. He gives a fair notice with eyes before he pees. And he’s gonna be a gregarious dude and an explorer (like me :P). If you think that you’re gonna have a tough time controlling his crying in a crowded place like a mall, he proves you wrong. He’s more curious in carefully studying the anthropological traits of the people around him and gives an occasional smile to the ones who strike a chord with him. And there are certain problems he has to face from his creative mom, who happens to be my sister. Everyday, he is made to wear a fancy costume - some self stitched, some altered and some bought. One day he’s the Krishna, the other day an emperor; a priest one day and a Santa yet another day; a cowboy one day and a Parisian the other. Once he was adorned with a big moustache and then recently he turn into a girl! It’s too much for a acquiescent four month old. Spiderman and other superheroes are on cards.
