Further Snippets -- Bangalore Life

Today signals the completion of 4 weeks(that's one half of my expected stay) of my work here @ Tata ELXSI, the -- The odd Elxsi is a Singaporean company that ventured into a joint venture with the Tata's and then slipped off into oblivion, but the name sounding different and maybe, posh, hung on. Considering the fact that at almost exactly the same time of the year last year, I was wriggling and writhing to get out of Vizag Steel Plant and Hyundai Motors India Ltd, painfully counting the days left out of the 3 week and 2 week schedule respectively, this is a huge huge improvement given that I am looking forward to the next 4 weeks. Great going, I must say.
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Weekends have gotten so stereotypical what with Bangalore having just malls, malls and more malls, and mind you, nothing else. It's Saturday and so we rush to the Inox theater @ Garuda Mall, to catch a 10:00 AM show. That's the only show on the weekends available for less than a 100 bucks, 99 to be exact. Venture out in the afternoon and the rates escalate to 200. Now don't count me out for being a miser, but then I simply don't think it's worth it spending 200 bucks on a movie -- a gamble on 2 or more precious hours of your life without the surety that you wouldn't run a headache at the end of it all.
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After the movie, we are off to some restaurant and after that, we lazily roam about the streets before hitting another mall, where a Landmark or a Crossword consumes most of our time. Ah!!! Bliss it is to spend some time in the company of books, wanting to buy this and that and everything. Reading a few passages from those that you happen to lay your eyes on and getting the mind into a fix deciding as to which book to take along with you to provide companionship and solace for the week and which to discard for some other time.
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After I reach back home in the night after some frantic window shopping at the malls, its time to hit the bed. Sundays, I mostly have some carried over work from office. So Sunday is for a little bit of rest at home and spending time with "F.R.I.E.N.D.S" and Seinfeld.
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Last week, we'd been to see 'Cheeni Kum' -- the best romantic comedy ever made in Hindi. Awesome dialogues, Characters one could so easily relate to, Sharp witted humour matched with great performances by the cast. Go watch it -- You'll love the jokes on chhatris and chachas, few scenes that will linger in your head for a long, long time. Though I must admit the second half was bland, boring and not even half as energy filled as the first one. Well, you have to admit though, you can't not have some dramabaazi and expect a saccharine comedy all through. It has to meander to an end somewhere. This week, its Pirates of the Caribbean.
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Last Sunday, The outgoing batch of 2001 of St John's, Gannavaram had a get together, a reunion. And guess who was missing??? Yours truly, Me!!! Oh!!! How I missed not being able to go there. I was working on my presentation for Monday when guys called up and talked to me. I was completely put off-- mood out -- for 2 hours and had to roll up in my cot to get that bad feeling out. Seeing the photos on the group makes me more jealous. Guess all of them had a jolly good time. Pesky Little Brats, all grown-ups now -- Miss you all so much.
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Coming to the HUGEST thing that happened to me at my workplace. My first BIG presentation in office. Note the keyword -- BIG. BIG doesn't exactly capture the magnitude of vastness, the hugeness of the presentation. It was colossal in many ways. Highly designated people among the audience. (Huge Play of Nerves on my part. You'd expect that naturally. Slipped on fine into my presenter's role after the first 2 minutes.) Twitched eyebrows. Stoic expressions. Questions all over in the air. Suggestions flew thick and fast. Scampered solutions. (I had to make up many, on-the-spot.) It was more of a brainstorming session that went on for 2 hours. And at the end of it all, all I had was lot of feedback, little bit of appreciation and much more work to do.
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CGPA, Cumulative Grade Point Average, and SGPA, Semester Grade Point Average, are huge depressants, I learnt yesterday. I was thinking about these after a long long time and the very mention of those dreaded words sent shivers down my spine. I could no more do any work. It spilled into a headache and I had to take permission yesterday to take the afternoon off -- I had the feeling that my head was about to burst from pressure. How my life revolves around my CGPA at this instant. Which brings me back to the cliched phrase -- How I wish I knew it's importance the moment I entered IIT.
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Finished Reading
The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri -- Great insight into NRI life. Quite moving at the end. Sluggish Pace but quite lovable and enjoyable.
Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho -- The only one to write like he can, where the author uses the story of a prostitute as a metaphor to bring out the difference between love and sex. And there is a lot more one can get from it.
The Great Indian Novel by Shashi Tharoor -- enjoyable at first but then flip past the initial 100 pages and it gets monotonous and 'Awww!!! Please Stop', you'd hear yourself say. He marries the Mahabharata with the British Raj -- and the funniness reaches a yielding point very soon, turning itself to torture.
The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai -- needs a bigger review. Maybe when I am out of this intern, I'll write a review. Winner of the Man Booker Prize 2006. And I have many interesting observations about it.
The Nude by Nergis Dalal -- It's a collection of short stories. Crappy book and Sick in many senses. (nothing porno about it -- just a few sick stories on relationships.)

Currently Reading
Above Average -- by Amitabha Bagchi, an IIT professor writing about an IITian. (Guess it's semi-autobiographical.)
120 days of Sodom -- by Marquis De Sade, the man responsible for the birth of the eponym - Sadism. (e-book)

In the shelf
To Kill a Mocking Bird -- by Harper Lee. I'd been wanting to read this one in a long, long time.
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Before I sign off, I must remind myself. One hour of Office time in writing my memoirs -- Who's gonna read them anyways??? I just like the freedom I enjoy at the workplace here. Hoping to have a great weekend. Auf Widerschen until then.