Garden Sh(C)ity Episode - 1

From the Garden SH(C)ity of India - Blore.

Landed at Madivala, Blore on 11th April, 2005 at 6.30 AM. The KPN Bus ticket foil said "Nihegaas". Soon, i spotted a guy running around with a placard "Nilas". I assumed it was me, whome he was looking for and promply jumped inside the Indica he showed me. En-route, he wanted to know how much my salary was , which concrete jungle i would be in, where i was from and so forth. A very open man, who could manage 4 languages at a time ( a trait which is common to any bangalorean), he dropped me at P-11, Diamond District, Airport Road. I disturbed the sleep of the House keeper and was escorted to Room-2 in the apartment. White Bed Sheets ? White Towel ? I stepped inside the bathroom, made a mess of the bath tub and slept off....

After a while, i called Sijin, dear Morpheus, and asked him to pick me up. I called up Stimbi, who said "dont expect sijin for another 2 hours", which turned out to be true. Sunday morning. I went to the sitting room, to realize that the house keeper was a Mallu named Chandran.

Chandran is a very interesting and talkative character. A few days later he even took me to "MOOKAMBIKA", no not a temple, the nearest bar, where he happily devoured a bottle of beer, and offered me a bottle of Thumpsup! Supposedly, Chandran was a business magnet, and owned a theatre, and a fleet of taxis at his home town near Palakkad about 20 years ago. This was when a sweet nurse fell in love with him. Chandran fell ill when he was in bangalore , and coupled with some major business blunders lost all he had. His wife had to fly to Dubai, to support him and pay off
the debts. Chandran is pretty excited, as his wife is coming back in 2 months after a long 2 years. He plans to set up a Hotel. I personally dont think it would succeed, because chandru baby , who is now 40, sleeps for most of the day, boozes twice a day and talks big - does nothing :-), there is another simpleton who helps with the daily chores at he guest house.

Back to me... Sijin came at around 11. And we went on a journey to the Desert , aptly called the Whitefield. about 22 kilometers from the guest house, Sijin did have to use his superb driving skills on his 'splendour' at times to keep us safe. Whitefield is a white field, where you could spot most of the Software Prisons, Multi-storeyed grandesque (??) buildings of DELL, SAP Labs, Perot, iFlex .... you name it , you got it ... There is a ITPL (International Tech Park Limited) and a near by GR Tech Park, where i am supposed to toil.

After having successfully spotted it, we decided to celebrated with 3 varieties of chicken when Stimbi called up to say he just had good kerala rice and fish fry.... ngeeee..

About an hour later, we were speeding above 80 (on a spledour) on the Outer ring road, where i spotted again BIG BUILDINGS of some electronic/ software giants , and then finally took the right turn to Bommanahalli, where stimbi was sleeping. Small meeting with Shiju, Sandeep , varma and kutti kiran.

After which , we proceeded to Stimbi's new foundland - FORUM. about 1/3rd the size of SPENCER PLAZA, but this place was packed with People of the age group 18-30. This place also features 11 theaters (150/- bucks which reminded me of Wave Cinema, Noida).

After running around for a while, stimbi took the drastic step and bought 3 tickets to "AVIATOR" - which we left in the middle... Sijin braved the rain to ferry me back to the Guest house......

END OF DAY 1.

Frenzy

My earphones are blaring "Cells" by The Servant. Check it out in the Sin City trailer. I love it. The anticipation of seeing this film is nearly killing me. Now I am channelling all my pent up thoughts...

In a mess of poetry, prose and vehement verse.
For better or for worse.

Losing structure, losing focus.
Got to concentrate, what was I trying to say?
Do I have anything to say?
No I don't...Then why am I standing at the podium?
Why is there is projector screen behind me with footage of all my mistakes? All my life?
Is there an audience out there in the dark?
Are you watching this?
Am I supposed to walk you through this?
Will you understand me better if I do?
What am I doing? I should probably eat now.

Excerpts from Cells by The Servant

The sun goes up and the sun goes down
I drag myself into the town
All I do I want to do with you
Everyday I'm at my desk
At my desk I'm like the rest
All I do I want to do with you

They annoy me those who employ me
They could destroy me
They should enjoy me
We eat Chinese off our knees
And look for each other in the TV screen

Woo Hoo!

The Big Fake

Lost senseless.
Feeling helpless.
A year since the transition,
no where close to my life's mission.
I don't recognise it, by my own admission.
Trying to teach people what I don't know,
In a facade of mock intellect I glow.

Decadent programmers, derelict personalities.
People die, resources are born.
Work and worship falls by the wayside,
As spreadsheets of efforts and estimate analyses ride.
Putting my mouse to the grinding wheel,
I step back to sense what I feel.

An ad blares "Life is calling, where are you?"
"As I am taking a concall, I am going to have to put you on hold"
Some dreams remain, only few.
What I clutch at as I lament the loss of the ones I sold.
For a few dirty American dollars passed through greasy palms,
till it becomes clean prisitine Indian rupees, I am supposed to have no qualms.

Ode to a Fat man

Farewell you fat fock...
Be brave, Best of luck.
Lasted 2 years in Noida and Chennai.
You showed a lot of pluck.

Now you are gone,
To a city of crowded gardens,
Traffic inches in centipedal motion,
Tempers fly at supersonic velocity.

I stay back.
I lay back.
I wallow in deep corrosive shit.
This is my life, this is it.

Lost within darkened halls,
I shall haunt movie theatres.
Claustrophobic within shrinking walls,
I will stay back, thats all.

Cry , Cry, Cry ...

I am a sad mogul king,
watching my workers,
build my own tomb

I am a tired eagle,
unable to fly,
walking on this white marble.

They celebrate my birth and death,
They feast when i say,
They die when i command

I am, but another king.

Smell of the Soil - A pessimistic note

After the first shower, or just after watering the dry trees and plants , the aroma of soil pleases my nose.

And very coincidentally , it rained on the last day at home , and as soon as i reached chennai ! Rain following me ? huh ?

I am being tormented by gravitational forces around me , skewing my almost decided decision. The reason ? sudden landing of an alien species called the BRM (Business Relationship Manager),who supposedly was in my shoes (developer), 4 years ago and man! look at where he is now, look at what he has done to himself and to others!

True , very true, he talks for 16 hours a day tirelessly and is able to make the listener believe that most of its does make sense in someway ,in some perspective , in some vision, belief of something, but the end point is that You make the choice now -- zeeee , after 2 2hour sessions with him, he has had the impact on me ! I am talking like him!! So , there is just 3 days to go and a decision to make ...
Should i trust this guy , who says he will help me achieve my goals (financial for the most part!) within 6 months , or should i leap to an unknown jungle where everything seems to be OK? (atleast the immediate financial benefits )

Should i say bye bye to beloved 2 years at chennai and should i move on to a Bangalore ?

Though my best friends say that it would be foolish to stay back, i still get the pinch sometimes, late night .. am i doing this right ?

If i am taking this much time to make a decision (simple or complicated - whatever) its just a choice ......I wonder what will happen to my ageing brain 2 years down the IT drain ....Will i totally lose the capability to make decisions ?! huh ?

Or is it just an extrapolation of my real self ? - PRETTY UNSURE ! HA HA

Dinner time

Rice cooked by my roomie, nice mango pickle (cook: my mother), nice fish pickle (cook: my roomies mother), bad dhal (cook: me), curd (courtesy amul), omlette (cook: roomie). That was one nice dinner i had in a while and the center of attraction was surely the fish pickle. I think its dried fish(neymeen) fried in little oil, with lots of pepper and a curry leave(kariveppila). WOW.