Summer....

I used to wonder earlier on, why people in this country crave for sunshine, why does every conversation begin and end with weather. Why people go crazy when the sun is out. Why people hang around outside the pubs in summer? Why do the news channels talk about weather every hour or every half hour? Why does everyone start to wear fewer clothes with the slightest sight of sun or rise in temperature?

But, I know realise the importance of sunshine in life. I had taken the sunlight for granted back home; infact most times avoided the sunlight and craved for the monsoon season or post monsoon season. Post monsoon (Sept-Jan) is my all time favourite back in Bangalore.

Having been in London for about 6 years now has made me realise the importance of daylight. I feel there is much more to a day and lot of time after work. It makes a lot of difference to my thinking and behaviour. It’s really a pleasure to come home after work and look out of my kitchen window and actually being able to see my garden without switching on lights. Leave all the curtains open to get some natural light into my home and not fearing that it’s going to get cold if curtains are left open.

Simple pleasures of life that make a difference, that we often take you for granted.

Bangalore Auto saga....

Couple of months ago, I went to Bangalore after 2 years. I had heard that the auto situation in Bangalore is a complete joke, and I experienced it big time.
Firstly, when you call for an auto, some don't look, if they do, they don't stop, if they stop, they don't want to ride you to the destination you need them to.. ! And above all, they demand crazy money if they decide to come to your destination.

One of my experiences this time around.. I wanted to go to Sadashivnagar from NandiDurga Road- Its probably about 5-6 km or even less. It was about 9.00 AM. I go to the main road with a hope of getting an auto. About 10 autos later, one guy stops for me.
He speaks in Hindi,

Me: Sadashivnagar
He: Who kahan hai, mujhe rasta pata nahi?
Me: Mekhri Circle se jaana padega, aapko mekhri cirle ka rasta pata to hoga na?
He: Nahi madam, pata nahin
Me: Chalo, mein bata doongi.. aap chalo..
He: Ok madam, aap ko Rs 80 dena padega..
Me(Shocked & angry) : Aapko ye pata nahin, ki Sadashivnagar kahan hai, aur aap mujhe bolte hai Rs 80 dho... Aapko kaise pata kitna door hai?
He: Smiles...
Me: Walk away to find another auto.. !

This guy annoyed me like crazy, first of all has no clue where Sadashivnagar is, forget that, does not even know where Mekhri circle is, cannot speak Kannada(local language) and then wants me to pay Rs 80(normally would have costed Rs40 or so) and tell him the route of how to get there.. If he could have, he probably would have asked me to ride his auto and he would have sat behind ! He has no clue how far away this place is or anything like that, for all he knows, I could have said Basavangudi!

Its a real frustration when you don't have a bike or a car that you can travel from one place to the other. The auto situation in Bangalore, made me helpless many times.. and I realised pretty quickly, that's its not a very pleasant state to be in,,,

Limousine Ride..

One of our good friends(lets call them Y&S) are leaving the UK for good and moving back to Bangalore.. and a few of us wanted to do something special for them, that they could remember for ever… So we decided, as a complete surprise, we shall take them to dinner to a restaurant in Central London in a white stretch Limousine.

As always, I was given the task of organising the event. I went away and contacted a number of limo provides for quotes. First we wanted to get a Hummer Stretch Limo, but figured that its too expensive and also too big for 8 people. So, we finally settled for a normal white stretch limo.

There was a bit of confusion as to how we actually invite the couple without letting them know what we plan to do. As they have kids, they need advance notice unlike us, who can get ready in a jiffy. In the end, we managed it somehow and they were ready at 6.45 PM. They were pleasantly surprised, when they say a stretch limo outside their door, ready to take them for a ride.
The interiors of the limo was fantastic. They had wine and champagne glasses everywhere. There were dim inset sparkly lights inside, nice steel interiors and leather seats. We were 8 adults and 2 kids and not once before this we had been together in one vehicle. We normally need 2 or sometimes 3 cars to comfortably fit all of us. It was a great experience, all of us in one car, drinking and chatting away..

It was a great evening out that all of us will remember..

New office... New team

I have been taken out of my original role and been deputed to a new project. The project office is based in a new location and I am really excited to be a part of both the team and the office. London is a very old city and therefore there are very less sky scrapers. A number of buildings are listed and therefore cannot be destroyed or externally modified.

The highlight of the new office space is that it has about 33 floors.. And although we are on the 12th floor we have some great views. This is the first time I am actually working in such massive building. I get cheap thrills like that J

The best part of this office is that we don’t have many phones yet, which means no one can contact me easily. I am left all by myself to do some work without disturbance, which is fantastic. I am a big fan of natural light and clear glass windows, and the office has a lot of both. It’s also closer to home than my old office; it’s a 20 minute train journey which is a luxury by London standards.

All in all, the choice of moving from my original role to the new role, worked out really well from all aspects so far.

A picture... I wil remember..