Delhi - June '07 - July '08

Ramya get my lunchbox ready. Ramya find my watch. Ok ok.. Thanks I got them. Bye then, see you in the evening. And I set off on the jittery cab ride everyday. With a pinch of discontent I try to give it my all to do the daily chores at office. Discontented I may be, but I do not want to even imagine the past year without my 9 hours a day at office.. Phew! Late in the evening, the tired soul gets home to rejuvenate himself to start another intriguing journey late into the night. Well this one may not be as jittery as my cab ride early in the morning, but it has had its own ups and downs, rather only downs! I have been living with my parents for the past year, so my late night adventures for a good part of the year have been with my books. This journey with books is coming to its fag end I guess as I’m more or less on the verge of giving my exam for the second and obviously the last time!

Sometimes I ask myself this, hey chaitanya where has your quite busy social life (if not rock on full time) gone. Well that part of my life is well and truly intact just that it’s at some distance. Oh I missed this point; I have been living in Delhi for the past year (except for December ’07, I was in Pune then.) and my entire social life is well and truly grounded in Chennai and Bangalore. So just to make an analogy, you can quite equate my past year to a lone traveler in the Sahara (Mind you, I’m not lost, at least so far!) in search of the great oasis, but in the process finding a lot of mini oasis’ in the form of trips down south. For example, I’m approaching another mini oasis now, albeit by train, it nevertheless has given me the perfect opportunity to be loyal to my blogspot. Keats had the best of views in Scotland to write his poetry, so what chaitanya has the best views of Andhra’s Greenfield’s to write this Junk! 

There have been quite a few of these pleasure trips, just to list out, September ’07 for Mani’s wedding, just before new years a weekend in Bombay with shiva and gang, the new year bash in Goa, Feb ’08 for Lakku’s Wedding and then there was a small return trip by shiva and sujoy for a wedding in Delhi. The weddings were exciting for their sheer grandeur (weddings gave us an opportunity to dress up like fancy dress contestants!) and a special mention must be made of Goa. I think I can just go on and on and on about Goa. It was the near perfect trip except for a missing few. For the second year running, we set up base in Agonda (must consider applying for local citizenship there!) and the entire new years week just flew past. Though the big guns came blazing from down south on their bullets, I was more than happy with the quality time I spent there in Goa. Now quality time is defined as eat (read as hog), play (mostly pranks on sujoy!), bikes and drink, oh not just drink, binge drinking is the correct phrase! 

Anyway Goa is done and dusted for the moment, but never in my life have I waited for new years so eagerly. I know its crazy, its just July now and I’m dreaming December. This time I’m just hoping to make it with that missing few I was talking about earlier.

Back to Andhra’s green field’s for the moment. The trip I’m making at the moment is by far the most emotionally draining trip. On one hand there is the extreme happiness of Shiva’s engagement. An engagement which I just cant afford to miss, given my attachment to the couple (though I have never really shown it in an outward manner towards Puja, it’s been there nevertheless). On the other hand is the horrible loss of a dear friend. I’m still trying to come to terms with the loss. Swapna died in horrible circumstances on the 8th of July. Yes, people around me can always argue that you have anyway known Swapna for a year, but again I’m definitely not going to write a justification here for my ill-feeling. Just to have a record of events, swapna’s wedding was supposed to happen on the same day shiva’s engagement. R.I.P Swapna.

I have to mention swapna and gang here. Yes there was a small gang as well, which just got even smaller! I met swapna, babu and subbu as colleagues on my first project at accenture. This was in right in the beginning of my tenure at accenture, August-September ’07 types. Frankly, for a couple of months I missed my friends in Chennai and Bangalore a little less. Oh we had a ball back in gurgaon, went on trips together and did a lot of other crazy things, things I wouldn’t dare do unless I have the perfect company. And took some time out to work together at office for a while!  By November we had to part ways and again the lull returned. I pulled time out to meet them all back in February ‘08, though not all seemed fine, even then I least expected her to take such a drastic decision. All I have left today are some good memories, the brightest of them all would be the look on her face when we surprised her and babu in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere on NH1 (we were on our way to Amritsar then). In fact I am still so disturbed that any lesser occasion than shiva’s engagement, I would have cancelled my trip for sure. I am promising myself not to spill my sorrow onto my buddy’s big occasion. Hope I’m able to keep the promise.


The sun has set over the fields outside. I just crossed Nellore, another two hours to set foot in Chennai. And quite literally I can hear clock ticking while I’m in Chennai. And in another four days I’ll be back asking ramya to set up my lunch box and find my watch.

Singara Chennai

Hot Humid, Stifling Sticky, Conservative Chennai. It is very difficult to accept to live in a city with so many negatives attached to it. But for the city`s present and past inmates it still remains “aana namba Chennai maari varaadhu”. Maybe its insanity , maybe unbounded love for the city. Insanity does not have reasons, in this case I don’t seem to find too many reasons for the love as well! Or maybe the love has just grown exponentially after living in a city like Bangalore! :)



Agni nakshatram in Chennai spares none and it definitely lived upto its name on the may 12th afternoon, on our way to a beach resort near mahabalipuram. Eight brave men set out to have a great time and personally it was possibly the beginning of a “great time after long pause” era. Soon i`ll be over 2000 miles from my city and my people, my friends. Shyam`s quaint humour kept the mood alive and the first look at the resort(silversands, 4kms before mahabs) brought a spring to everyone`s step. What followed was nothing short of exhilarating sport, volley-ball, cricket, mud slinging, water bashing…….

7 PM. Clean and Fresh.The much awaited dream setting was ready. The 8 eight of us gathered around the drinking table, every muscle being tickled by the sea breeze and music soothing it thereafter. Definitely a dream when you look around to see the people around the table, I`m still missing a couple of more people around the table but i`ll accept these gems for now! Soon whisky took over the proceedings and turned everyone into puppets, whisky really pulled a few strings that night. Great performance!



I had the best idli in the world on Sunday morning, Murugan idli kadai. Just that the restaurant prices don’t quite match its rather elementary name. Anyway the tastes buds take over the mind and you forget the prices! The huge breakfast instantly killed all that was hanging over us from last night. So fresh again and head straight to another best, this time the best cinema theatre, Satyam. The NQ(nostalgia quotient) of this place is probably the highest when you compare with any other place in the city, I learnt a lot about life around this theatre. The good old santham got renovated and also lost its name, today its called seasons! Why not santham I ask??? Bheja fry to chicken fry at coconut lagoon and then an amazing ice cream at move n pick. All this while I keep telling myself, remember these are the places you once dreamt of stepping in, leave alone having something! And to realize its come a full circle with the same set of people with whom I dreamt of coming to these places is just an amazing thrill. We still ate a Rs 225 dessert like a 10 rupee dessert! Old habits die hard!

Thata lives in Chennai and a Chennai visit without visiting him is less than half complete. I stuck to my word and met him over dinner. So that was my weekend and loved it simply because I did what I like doing the most when i`m in Chennai, catch up and go around! This is how most of my college weekends were spent, including the visit to thata`s house. Obviously places like karthik tiffin centre have been replaced by their more expensive peers, I guess that’s just evolution.

So much for the 48 hours, just waiting for my turn to come and settle there and have friends coming over!

GET IN.GET OUT.GET EVEN.

Got in on the 10th of October, 2005, going out on the 25th of April, 2007 and got another 2 months to really even it out. Not quite THE ITALIAN JOB, but yes I would like to think of MY FIRST JOB as no less exciting. Can’t believe I have started counting on jobs already! The count began this evening when I submitted my resignation letter and I’m feeling happier now than I would feel on the 1st of any month. Never know what the future holds, my next employer might turn out to be of the monstrous liking or even worse I could end up jobless as well, but the new found joy is the mood of the hour.

All this happiness stems from the fact I’m getting to go home after a long time, 6 years. All this “Longing to go home” thing comes from the fact that I can count the number of times I got to go home during this time. Never felt all this while in college, but that was different, never really felt the weight of home pulling me with so many people around!
While in college I was told “It’s a lot different out there!” I shall testify for it.

Amidst all this lie some wonderful experiences and the lessons from those experiences, all credit to MY FIRST JOB. The lessons are still continuing though, remember I’m still trying to get even, and I have 2 months for it.

Ghosh Quits Bangalore sans the people around him!

Love him, hate him but you just cant ignore him. That’s my definition of Sujoy, the jumping jack with boundless energy levels. It all came to a grinding halt this Sunday afternoon and that spontaneous dead silence amongst us after we bid good-bye screams out the magnitude of that good-bye. A rare moment when a single thought occupied seven different minds. Quite a feat!

No, having that thought between so many temples is not the feat, but bringing it upon so many is definitely one and Sujoy you achieved the feat! Kudos. The best part, all this when all of us know that we can see him the next weekend in Chennai..





Simply goes to show the ammmaaaaazzzziiinnggggg time everyone had during the eighteen months in Bangalore with him around. Right from “anna eradu milds kodi” to “a bloody mary to go with pitchers”, it was one exhilarating time one wouldn’t want to forget! Now enlisting all the moments is quite a task and I would leave it to my more able pals to do it! Never forget the traits you are born with, laziness is mine :)

The joy doubled when I got to meet some fabulous people like ganesh and shilpa during these amazing (sorry cant type the typical amazing everytime!) 18 months. It was quite a gang where laziness was given up at a premium(and the boys are really proud of it!), everything was a good plan and it was a done deal when it came to food of any form(the deal was better if the food came free) and of course the fact that all us of were and are first rate “darakku pandi’s”. All captured in 5000 odd pictures, needless to mention the people on the two sides of the camera!

And then ghosh quits bangalore. But as they say the show must go on and the people around him will keep it up and running sans ghosh..

Macha it was god level da.. what an amazing time we had naa… and remember that ringa ringa roses we did… wow that was super fun da…and after that we got back home and “phir shuru”…and that dosa the next day…and…and…

In the Pursuit of Happyness..

Newton stated, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. That looks like 1:1, action: reaction. Similarly another wise man said, Failure is the stepping stone to success, here 1:1 is failure: success. Oh what wishful thinking, if only it was that easy then we would have billion billionaires and on flip side, we will not have any wisecracks on failure and success. (like the one above!)

Mind you some people are famous just for these wisecracks. This guy Murphy made so much money stating the obvious. “If anything can go wrong, it will”. My perspective on Murphy, I think he is an extremely successful guy, not just because of the money he has made but today he has half the universe quoting him. How cool is it when someone says, according to chaitanya`s laws “Ones success lies in their happiness”.

Dreams apart, reality jolted me this march 11th. To say the least, the interview panel shredded my intellect. Just the way India went under the shredder against Bangladesh at the world cup. One can’t debate who had the worst the debacle, because it’s me obviously! Our dear cricket team gets another chance, what about me! I have to go through the process again and create chances for myself. Easier said than done I guess!

In reality, that’s what would give me the most happiness, a post graduation; a qualification which will make my voice heard and obviously give me more money to burn! I’m sick of lying in the lower strata, the thought that pricks my mind constantly.

Nevertheless I’m still in the hunt.. In the Pursuit of Happyness..

My World Cup Final!

Its tense, its gut wrenching, nerve wrecking, blood boiling, brain drenching and what not! Its got all the ingredients of the world cup final, but this final will be played on a very personal note without any TV rights scandals. Its my SP Jain interview on the 11th of march ’07.

Why MBA? What do you expect out of an MBA? What are your strengths? Do you think you are ready for MBA? Just a few of the zillion questions occupying my brain cells. I guess this syndrome will continue until I actually sit for the interview. I now get a glimpse of what the Indian cricket team went through before their last world cup final! And my last world cup final, was very similar to our cricket teams final.

Its very hard if you don’t win the final, all the hard work goes waste, even worse unnoticed. You have to go through the pain and paces again to give yourself a decent chance for title-shot again. This title-shot on the 11th is god-sent and a make or break situation for me. I make it, I drive the sedan else I watch others drive it!

May be I’m putting undue pressure on myself with this complex and tense thought process, but this is also my motivation, the one that pumps my adrenaline! Go for it, make it even if means a few dog bites on the way up there! This dog also will get the chance to bite. May March 11th and April 28th prove to be the defining moments!

Amidst these constricted feelings, this stub written above is the only solace.

Sunday at Felix`s!

The Evam Play (The odd couple) last Sunday was bit more than just being hilarious, I was able to connect with a character, my friends could connect, everyone would be able to connect to some character. It was about two divorced men sharing an apartment, Oscar and Felix. Now Oscar, is a sloppy and casual fellow like my dear pals shiva, jithesh, et all and of course yours truly!

But hey, I also know a felix, the unavoidably adorable Sujoy! Oscar was easy to depict, just two words, but its not all that easy with felix. So in the next few(hopefully!) lines i will try to put up a picture of felix together in the best possible way. By the way i know this felix for five years now, so backing myself to do a good job.

Shiva, Jithesh and myself were at the play while (F)Sujoy was back stayed back at my place to arrange songs on my laptop, E: Drive for songs, ARR separated and the rest by language, after language it shall be genre of music, Phew! And the assortment goes on!(and oh, for music for which he couldn’t decide the genre it was “assorted”!).
We bid good bye to a couple of our friends(whom I`m tempted to call the cuckoo pigeons!!) and got home by 6 15 in the evening. The first question from (F)Sujoy was how was the play and the second, Why are you late???? (the play got over at 5 30!).

The weekend had to be kept alive, we thought we could head out for dinner and that way, the evening will pass. Now that’s when (F)Sujoy steps in with the suggestion of cooking at home, thereby saving on the little cash left. After the grocery shopping, we reached (F)Sujoy`s place, footwear and helmets outside, footwear inside the little racks provided and helmets over it, step in and don’t bang the door, gently close it, mind you these are just entry regulations. The music(at optimal volume) shall soon be switched on and first timers to a particular song are made to sit in a particular position initially(start point). They can start letting their hair down, only after they experience the music from the start point. I went through it all because I did not hear the sajna sajna number from Honeymoon travels! Now is that my fault!!

30ml of whisky, with another 30ml of water and ##ml of coke(meticulously measured), made up the drink. Glasses clashed, fire ignited and soon all of us were upto merry making. Oh the cooking starts soon, (F)Sujoy cooks and others are strictly asked to do the jobs assigned, not more , not less. The onions have to be cut in 1x1 cm dimension and you are allowed to be a little lenient on the tomatoes and the most important thing, nothing should be spilt around(especially on the bed!). Tobacco ash has to be in plastic cups with water (all this even after having an ash tray at home!), failing this, you have to clean the spilt ash area(if in bad mood) or you will have a mobile ash tray with you in the house!

Anyway dinner time at 8:30 and what sumptuous and delicious food!! With paper under our plates and food over it, the next hour was just another of those yap(fart) sessions. After the amazing food, the Oscars of the house fell flat, lazy to even wash their hands, whereas our man (F)Sujoy was doing the dishes! We asked him to do it tomorrow and pat comes the reply “come on macha, you know me, I don’t like unwashed dishes in the sink”. Ok fine, who can stop (F)Sujoy!!

So that’s how the night dawned on us we were soon back to our nests. Ok, this was just a sighter, for those who plan to visit his place in Chennai, give any of the Oscars a ring and we will give you the full blown picture.

Thanks for reading until here, hope I did paint an accurate picture. The world of “Oscars” can comment on the accuracy! 

P.S: Cuckoo pigeons, don’t take it to heart! 
(F)Sujoy- F for felix.