The last few weeks give me the feeling that I can't claim any place to be home for very long. I've been shunting around so very often that I'm starting to get a bit of a nomadic vibe about me. The last few days itself have been a case in point. From Saturday morning till Monday morning, I was constantly moving. Now am safely stationed in Singapore and am likely to be here till next week before I start moving again. It's an interesting if slightly unsettling experience. Still, I'm learning a lot, and the project I'm on now is a great opportunity to be working on.
The Laudant were back to performing for the first time since April but this time we decided we wouldn't just keep it to us. So we called together a lot of friends and had a grand time singing at Visthar on Sunday evening. It was a truly astonishing experience to be in, and personally speaking, of all the Laudant programmes I've had the honour to be part of, this is one that I will cherish. We had thought that the programme might last an hour and a half at most, but it ran for two and a half hours and it went in a flash. Here's looking forward to more wonderful programmes with this amazing group and our awesome friends.
That's about it. Signing off after an exhausting but fruitful day.
Chow,
Arul.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Twitter-ific
It's been a while since I've updated and you can blame it on the new phenomenon that is Twitter. It's so much easier to put down something within 140 characters. Still I'm not going to say good bye to blogging yet. After all, one needs the space to pontificate from time to time.
Life's been moving really really quick of late. It's already July now and I feel like I've spent more time outside Bangalore than in. My boss and I also bravely travelled to Australia in the midst of the double threat of swine flu and attacks on students. Neither of those happened but it was very cold with temperatures dropping to 5 degrees, and a lot of rain. All in all, it was quite depressing so we headed back early.
Life is Bangalore is hectic as usual but it's been a very interesting few weeks and hope things continue in this vein. Some unfortunate news mingled with some very good news on the company front, but then that's what the corporate world is like.
That's about it for now.
Chow
Arul.
Monday, May 18, 2009
28 years later
So, having had a birthday and all, it's been a time to introspect, to look back and look... ahhh, who am I kidding! I had a bash with pals and partied all night long, sort of. It was great fun with Allen, Sumesh, Gowda, movies, music, chips and loads of conversation. Followed up with a family gathering the next day. It's been a good way to start another year.
I'm also feeling glad that I've finally got my IBM certification done, something my boss has been telling me to get for about 3 months now. I'm now officially an IBM certified WebSphere Solutions Sales Professional or something like that. It was interesting doing a test after quite some time though it was online and objective-type so that made it much easier.
Here's looking forward to an interesting year.
Chow,
Arul.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
The US curse
About a couple of weeks ago, my boss tells me that we might have to go to the US to attend an IBM conference in Las Vegas, depending on IBM waiving the registration fee and me getting the visa. So I paid the visa fees and set up my interview date for the 23rd of April. All fine, except that the DMK decided to call a bandh on the 23rd and the consulate would therefore be closed as well. I heard about his at 6p.m. on the evening of the 22nd with my flight due in 3 hours. My interview was automatically rescheduled to the morning of the 29th.
So I changed my travel plans and fetched up the Bangalore airport on the evening of the 28th, to ride good old Indian Airlines. Unfortunately, good old Indian Airlines dropped the ball, and the flight was terribly late, causing me to finally reach Chennai past midnight. And my interview was at 8 a.m. Still I dragged myself out of bed at the unearthly hour of 6, and made it to the consulate at 7:20 a.m. The pre-interview process took another 1.5 hours at the end of which I finally made it to the counter and completed the interview in 10 minutes. My visa has been issued and will be couriered to me within a week.
What about the conference, you say? Turns out we're not going. IBM refused to waive the fee which is USD 2150 per person or about a lakh each for the event alone. And to add to that, we have the swine flu outbreak which some are saying will be worse than the bird flu. And for the first time in my life I've seen a travel advisory against travelling to the US. Coincidence or Curse? You tell me.
Chow.
So I changed my travel plans and fetched up the Bangalore airport on the evening of the 28th, to ride good old Indian Airlines. Unfortunately, good old Indian Airlines dropped the ball, and the flight was terribly late, causing me to finally reach Chennai past midnight. And my interview was at 8 a.m. Still I dragged myself out of bed at the unearthly hour of 6, and made it to the consulate at 7:20 a.m. The pre-interview process took another 1.5 hours at the end of which I finally made it to the counter and completed the interview in 10 minutes. My visa has been issued and will be couriered to me within a week.
What about the conference, you say? Turns out we're not going. IBM refused to waive the fee which is USD 2150 per person or about a lakh each for the event alone. And to add to that, we have the swine flu outbreak which some are saying will be worse than the bird flu. And for the first time in my life I've seen a travel advisory against travelling to the US. Coincidence or Curse? You tell me.
Chow.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Deserts and weddings and sharks, oh my...
Those of you (read: no-one) who have been wondering about the lack of activity on this blog, fear no more, for I am back. After my neurotic ramblings about the dangers of the Large Hadron Collider I proceeded to dig a foxhole and hide, awaiting the end of the world. However, the LHC turned out to be a damp squib and I have now sheepishly emerged to rejoin the world that I thought must surely have been destroyed by now.
Anyway, after brushing off the cobwebs and shaving the beard, I dug out my best suit and flew across to Dubai with Sumesh to attend Peter's wedding. "Peter getting married" sounded like one of those urban legends that we used to talk about so I had to make absolutely sure if it was true. And by gad, it was. So I did the square thing and best-manned for him. The wedding went off without a hitch and I dispensed my duties, which consisted of reading one of the lessons and holding the microphone when during the vows. The reception seemed to rattle along fairly smoothly with me doing the toast without getting booed. Then came the horror of horrors; the couples dance.
Now those of you who have known me for a while have correctly equated me to an elephant. Those that have seen me dancing have even more correctly equated me to an elephant with four left feet. So it's no wonder that the prospect of having to dance was causing the temperature of the feet to drop sharply. However, all went well and I didn't cause any riots or medical emergencies. The revels went on till three in the morning but once off the floor, I steadfastly refused any attempts to get me on it again.
The next day was earmarked for taking the desert safari. For those who have been on the Dubai Desert Safari, yes, the bellydance was great. For those who haven't been on the Dubai Desert Safari, yeah, the bellydance is great. But that isn't all. You get taken dune-bashing in a Landcruiser. This activity requires the vehicle to perform stunts that defy the laws of physics. And if you have been crazy enough to eat a heavy lunch prior to this, don't worry, you'll be seeing it again. You are then taken to a Bedouin settlement where there are dune buggy rides, camel rides, photos that you can take with falcons, sand surfing and a whole lot of other activities. There are snacks and drinks that you can partake of. After you've enjoyed yourself for a while, and it has got a little dark, the bellydance begin. The dancer was very talented and could have given Shakira a run for her money. She would also, from time to time, have one of the spectators join her. I thanked my lucky stars that I didn't get called up to dance for the second time in two days. Then you get dinner including kebabs and the like at the end of which they take you back to civilisation.
The last day of the trip was earmarked for a visit to one of the malls. With time running out, we settled on the Dubai Mall and it was a good choice. It is a massive mall with the usual shops but also a skating rink and an aquarium which you walk through. The aquarium is quite an experience and contains several sharks, sting rays and other fish that I can't recognise. We spent about four hours at the mall and can say that we covered approximately 50% of it. Without buying a thing. Yeah.
I am now back home and back to the daily grind. You will occasionally see me standing on the brink of the chasm in my bank balance, wondering how on earth I'm going to fill it up again.
Enough hyperbole. Chow for now.
Arul.
Anyway, after brushing off the cobwebs and shaving the beard, I dug out my best suit and flew across to Dubai with Sumesh to attend Peter's wedding. "Peter getting married" sounded like one of those urban legends that we used to talk about so I had to make absolutely sure if it was true. And by gad, it was. So I did the square thing and best-manned for him. The wedding went off without a hitch and I dispensed my duties, which consisted of reading one of the lessons and holding the microphone when during the vows. The reception seemed to rattle along fairly smoothly with me doing the toast without getting booed. Then came the horror of horrors; the couples dance.
Now those of you who have known me for a while have correctly equated me to an elephant. Those that have seen me dancing have even more correctly equated me to an elephant with four left feet. So it's no wonder that the prospect of having to dance was causing the temperature of the feet to drop sharply. However, all went well and I didn't cause any riots or medical emergencies. The revels went on till three in the morning but once off the floor, I steadfastly refused any attempts to get me on it again.
The next day was earmarked for taking the desert safari. For those who have been on the Dubai Desert Safari, yes, the bellydance was great. For those who haven't been on the Dubai Desert Safari, yeah, the bellydance is great. But that isn't all. You get taken dune-bashing in a Landcruiser. This activity requires the vehicle to perform stunts that defy the laws of physics. And if you have been crazy enough to eat a heavy lunch prior to this, don't worry, you'll be seeing it again. You are then taken to a Bedouin settlement where there are dune buggy rides, camel rides, photos that you can take with falcons, sand surfing and a whole lot of other activities. There are snacks and drinks that you can partake of. After you've enjoyed yourself for a while, and it has got a little dark, the bellydance begin. The dancer was very talented and could have given Shakira a run for her money. She would also, from time to time, have one of the spectators join her. I thanked my lucky stars that I didn't get called up to dance for the second time in two days. Then you get dinner including kebabs and the like at the end of which they take you back to civilisation.
The last day of the trip was earmarked for a visit to one of the malls. With time running out, we settled on the Dubai Mall and it was a good choice. It is a massive mall with the usual shops but also a skating rink and an aquarium which you walk through. The aquarium is quite an experience and contains several sharks, sting rays and other fish that I can't recognise. We spent about four hours at the mall and can say that we covered approximately 50% of it. Without buying a thing. Yeah.
I am now back home and back to the daily grind. You will occasionally see me standing on the brink of the chasm in my bank balance, wondering how on earth I'm going to fill it up again.
Enough hyperbole. Chow for now.
Arul.
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