Most awaited picnic !

12 in midnight, eyes about to catch sleep n "BEEP..." my cell lit up.
Another msg4m vibha asking me2join tunareshwar picnic; this time with NEW IMPROVED KILLER line

"kal 8 ke 8 ja sakte hei,pata nahi future mei fir kabhi chance milega"
...aaand my oppose to an adventure less picnic melted away.

"Next morning 8.30am dadar station." vibha's last msg yday night. As usual I reached just 10min late than
nikhil's standard time! So punctual i am
(REF:
nikhil's standard time =actual time + 30min)
haha...

Finally all of the 8 WIERDOS had united for 'THE' picnic, awaited over 2years!

At the station itself we started taking photo. public was staring up as if we were some JAPANESE tourists! :p
Took train to vasai which is 1hr travel from dadar.Train was crowded enough so, we couldn’t do much of our regular non sense tricks!
Lucky crowd...
:-))
it was almost 11am when we got down at vasai.Sun was harsh, no sign of single cloud in the sky.Wow..Its gonna be a nice TANNING TRIP!
Got our hungry stomachs Filled at 'Tungareshwar fast food' near the station. Food was nice & shopkeeper was smart!
(before we could sneak out clean, he realized that he forgot to charge for 1extra lassi)
daaam it!

Sun was so much that we all drenched in sweat while walking till bus stand.
"What stupid plan is this, so much time waste, such a loose planning..." i was cursing every one.But other 7 folks completely familiar to my usual 'kit-kit pit-pit' kept cool...

To pass time i did everything from padmasana to shavasana on 3 horizontal bars of the bus stop!
Finally, A photo session... A bus change... 20min journey, and we got down at sativali;village at 2km from base of 'tunga'.
(doesnt Tunga sound sweet?? Courtesy: manny)

Ok,reader now hold your breath!
The 2km journey was a circus performance Starring

_ a/1/one/single riksha

_8 kanjus miser WIERDOS(myself being the king miser)

_a happy rikshawala (ready to screw his riksha,which was probally a hired one.)

_ a/1/one/single passenger who had no problem traveling with us.


Me n manny smartly caught the seat in front. Its always better to sit on a quarter seat than to carry 50kg in your lap!
:)

despite of this mammoth load, the riksha ran at its regular speed.
Ride was bumpy. At bump,riksha would knock and the knocking sound would be followed by robin's "AAAUCH".Thanks to 65kg weight in his lap!
Haha...
Finally we reached tunga base.
See this is what you call a WIN WIN situation.
We just paid 5rp per head n had a great ride, the riksha wala got 40rp in just one trip.
:p









(Still feel pity for the poor vehicle!)

tunga comes under protected forest zone. we got down from the rik. Inhaling that cool, pollution free air was very refreshing. And i think clouds had heard our prayers. They had covered the sun nicely, making the atmosphere very very cool and soothing.
It was 1 in the noon, we started walking. Trail passed through tall forest. Dense tall trees covering the trail.Wonderful bird chirps.
A very small river welcomed us. There was a narrow bridge built over it. but we preferred crossing it through water. Needless to say, it called for another photo shoot!
:)

there were to tapori looking guys sitting on the other side observing us. And by now everybody had noticed that they were following us since we got down from rik. So although not afraid ,we were cautious. The trail was extremely beautiful, but in some corner of mind, every one was thinking about those two. At one turning, Again we heard grouped voices at our back. Our brave girls immediately picked up handful of stones just in case!
:-

hussh, it was some other group coming. Since then we never saw those guys.

Another water stream was waiting for us.
” my Goldfishes will love this place!" said manny.
Nice cool knee deep water.

U must have guessed, what it calls for?
"YES", photo shoot!
This is the only problem with digital photography. One really stops thinking before taking photos.(including myself!)

now me and nanny were in front. The degree of the trail had increased. Also Sun was out.So everybody's walking speeds lowered. Me and manny stopped when, we heard pumba calling us ,and every one nicely settling their bums down the slope. The for water break! There also sumi,nishi and robin began with another...

we again started climbing. A small water stream was crossing road,and flowing down the hill.A small water fall had formed. Place was slippery and robin made his début!
:-)
we heard a "dhupp" sound, and next moment, robin was pampering his hurt bum.
Saved by few feet. Otherwise he was surely to be found down the hill tumbling with the waterfall...

10mins walk and we reached the tunga...
No no,the tungareshvar temple.
Temple is very beautiful. Because of the marble flooring, inside is much cooler. In the dark silence of the GABHARA one can hear the calm sound of the neighboring water stream.And in this enchanting surrounding, head bows at the lord shiva's idol.
I noticed few sadhu's sitting in the temple with some kinda small stensils of with designs of OM,a shiva's snake.With those,they would make a holi design on person's forehead.I had a sudden urge of getting that design done. So i sat infront of him. He was whispering some chants; he made the design on my forehead. That touch felt very cool...
After relaxig for a while,we left the temple and took took the stairway on a neighbouring hill.Just 5 min of climb and we were at the holi cistern! Mountain Water flows into it through a stone carved GOMUKH.Actually this is a place where one can take holi bath before going to temple.But never mind,we took it after ter visit.Other hesitated a bit,but i being totally Hydro philic,enjoyed the pla to fullest!
Wooosh.....
The refreshing cold water bath had amplifide the signals from empty stomach. And the aroma from the opened tiffins,spreaded in the air.

As usual i had not brought any food !

Totally parasitic category :-)

my kind pals,wont u feed this ever hungry baby?)
:p
nishita had brought the special south Indian curry.!
Oh boy someday i would like to swim in that!

Stomachs were pack, so few of us made an unsuccessful attempt to take a nap!
Haha ...Thank you jungle mosquitos

"A PERFECT PICTURE DOESNT COME SO EASY" IT TAKES HRS OF SET UP!!

AUR KISKO SHENDI LAGANA BHI BAHUT DIFFICULT HOTA HEI... :-

!

Now it was time for a group photo. Places changed with every click. Only common thing was the bond of friendship,expressed through the joyful faces.

(Surprisingly an antelope named suman also joined our group photo!)

4 pm we started the the back home. The earlier was better, as we had spotted some TP areas to spend lots of time.
Descend was obviously much faster than ascend, and in no time we reached that beautiful water stream. Nice water and cool tree shade. What else one needs for an hour long halt..
Had lotsa fun in the water. Best part was, almost everybody, including hydro phobic members had joined in!

Shiny sunrays were leaning horizontal.5:30 pm. And we had long journey to go.
Everybody bought speed and at6pm we were at sativli. Coincidently meeting the same rikshawala!

We were about to say "whaaat a nice picnic.." butt these words were gulped when we saw heavy traffic jam non the road. Vehicles were stuck over2hrs,said the villagers.
Oh my god situation.
Only the happy potter's knight but could have taken us home...
So i suggested that we better start walking out way. Ahead We might get some transportation where traffic is moving. All agreed and the march started. Girls were terry tensed by the thought of getting late. After walking a mile, we noticed the traffic there was little bit in motion.

"try for lift ???", i asked pumba. She agreed. We spotted a single manned tata safari! To increase the chances of getting lift just3girls went ahead. And to our surprise, the vehicle took a swift turn, and Halted!

Wow, it was a 2.4 ltr, turbo intercooled,4x4 tata safari dicor!

All 8 easily got in. Half hour sweaty walk in traffic and now speeding to vasai in a superb AC vehicle... Truly unbelievable!
All thanks to mr.Dilip za ,the kind vehicle owner!
Just half hour drive and we reached vasai station. From bottom of heart everybody thanked dilip for the lift...
We were perfectly on time for the vasai-diva shuttle train!

Since morning all the things had fallen perfectly at the place...

All 8 again may or may not get chance for a picnic together, but am sure today's picnic memories will be cherish able for ever...

Every Dog has his day

5th jul 07,campus for wipro InfoTech.

It was 4th company coming for recruitment. When I came2colleg i was very relaxed, as 3companies had already rejected me in apti. I was is some different kinda cool relaxed mood! It was not because of my confidence, but it was after effect of a frustration... A hidden internal depression. My state of mind was "jo hoga,dekha jaega... Tension nai leneka."
On 2jul,tcs was d 1st company to come for placements. With my Japanese language qualification n overall heavy resume, I was very confident that YES, once they see my resume, they will invite me with red carpet!
But my destiny didn’t agree to this.
I went for the apti. It was on some software. In verbal, I didn’t know 1 SINGLE Word! What can u call this?
Yes, it is called PATHETIC condition. Then after20min a new page loaded with quantitative qns.
Most of them were killer!
Some those looked familiar; rather SOLVEABLE took all the time. Last 5 min left, so I looked at the list was unstamped qns.. The list was almost 1/2 of the page.. Ha-ha.
Then after rapid guess works, I managed to attempt (though blindly) all the qns. Then was critical reasoning, which made my state even critical, and proved its name!
Aaaand at the end i was hopelessly looking at the countdown timer going 5...4...2...1 whoosh a page appeared saying "thank you for taking the test" or simply,” show is over now GET LOST !"
i read the message 2ce 3ce, but i was simply not able to accept it !
Still i had now lost hopes, somehow if i could show them My resume...My Japanese skills, my achievement.. But all these thoughts were slowly dissolving, telling me,
Nik,your have lost it..
So with everybody, I stepped out towards home, with some stupid positive hopes of a new revised list being put, still popping in!

3jun was accenture's campus! The early morning 8 i was in college.
I always wanted to see the trains that run before 7AM...
Now because they are gold plated or something, but just because i never EVER wake up so early! ;-)
In apti, verbal section was comprehensible to me! I did not believe my eyes!
Verbal was done! Then was time for quant. It was better than that of tcs! Wow, that raised my hope a bit! But as expected, I was confident about just1/3 rd part!
Need not say that bluffed out the rest! Critical reasoning was also Ok!
At the end i found myself madly circling the unstamped qns!
I had Miserably failed even in bluffing out remaining ans!Such a poor time management..
But overall test was Ok! Then it was presentation time. It was very nice!
It created a very nice, caring ,jolly image of the company. Everybody wanted to join such company with relaxed work environment, work accompanied by lots of fun.. N so on! Ppt was over, and it was time for results of apti.
~280 hearts beating fast! A guy stared reading out names and those people were to be sent for gd.I heard few people's name who sat with me in test hall. Then again a long list of unknown names. My ears; desperately waiting to hear call for "nikhil a."
But my hopes died soon after he called out last name.
Today luck was not with me.... Oh come on.. Not again!
Nobody else from my group was selected.
So again boring journey back to home. It is so depressing when you see people around you filling in those forms n your r just being thanked for Taking the test !
Again today was not my day..
Every single day i was praying that, let TOMORROW be my day.. But it felt like that tomorrow 'll never come..
Evening after my recreation class felt very very fresh. Came home. Mom looked worried about me. Not because i wasn’t yet placed, but only because she could observe that day by day am going deeper and deeper in stress! As if it was written on My face.(that’s why they are called moms!) she told me "just relax, and don’t your inner confidence go down!". Actually loosing inner confidence due to frustration was the reason behind my stressed face, dull eyes. I nodded and went to bed! I had decided to keep a cool attitude now.

4th jul 07.
Todays company ws cap Gemini. 8o clock was apti timing. Decide to go by Morning 6:50 train. I was waiting on platform. saw a very nice girl. ;-)
(Nik;tu nahi sudrega)

TaddaaaAAAAMESSEGE FROM FUTURE>> "She turned out2b my friend's GF... Swearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr i didnt know it !!"
u know, even before i talk 2 my friend's friends, i think 100 times ! this was totally UnZapable!
Guilt is Succha painful burden, when you were not at fault, Still something unwise happens !!
:-((
END OF FUTURE TRANSMISSION FROM FUTURE>>

Reached college perfectly on time.
Before presentation there was apti. Went to test hall with coolest head. What ever happens am not taking any tension. Test was quite simple. As usual,at the end i couldn’t spare time for bluffing answers!
The presentation was late. They came at 1:30 ! It was so boring to wait there, as we didn’t know if we cleared the apti or flunked.
:-/

Finally they came n presentation was started and over. It was impressive. And my "no fear" mindset was now "no more"!
I was dying to hear my name in the selected list.
Agaash !?!
The list was over, and today also, it was not my day.
But today i didn’t feel bad!
Practice jo ho gayi thi failures ki !
;-)
"Improved NIK(TM) with newly developed sadma bearing formula"
haha...
Wished good luck to angel Francis who was the only person selected from my group, and headed to home.
Evening Japanese class went till 10pm and by the time i reached home, I hardly had energy to keep my eyes open and study for tomorrow’s apti.
I was very worried again going in depression!
Mom reminded me about yesterday’s talks and the NO tension policy. She asked me to forget everything and just go to sleep...

5jul 07
ok,now i can proudly say that, I CAN WAKE up early.
On station i waited for a friend. There was nice Morning warm-up as me and my friend landed in some small argument. Grrff... When i get late, I at least have courtesy to apologize! Some people just don’t have it!
Then reached college.
Waited waited, and finally it was time for test.
I test was Verbal+quant+technical. And and and i found it very much Solvable!
Now i had experience of not 1,not 2 but whole 3aptitude tests!
So very confidently i solved. And and and 1st time, i was leaving exam hall saying, "Yes,i AM clearing this test!".
Last three days i used to carry a spare shirt and change after reaching college.
But last 3days,i had lost 4.50rp ironing. Plus the wear & tear of the shirt! For no output. So today Despite of having full confidence in test,i did not change my crumbled shirt.
Like everyday. The company people were hrs behind schedule! Presentation was very ordinary. Totally HOMEMADE type! But we all said,
Who cares... They can give us job!
After presentation, results got declared.3from my group were in!
And Best part was, i was at Rank 3! Well i was very confident about passing, but this was pretty unexpected..
;-)
finally i was in, and i knew that apti was the only barrier. I was not at all worried about Interviews.

Finally my spare shirt was going to be used for the reason which it was carried for!
;-)
i gobbled few Samosaz in ready to rock n roll !
Panel 4 was allotted to me for interview. Just before going, I completed my formal look with a tie.I wonder why people feed uncomfortable wit necktie! I had followed my Stay cool policy even after i was selected through test.I had kept my mind cool as much as i could, but before entering the interview hall naturally my breath was rising. Heart pumping fast, i could feel the adrenaline pushing in my veins... Then i thought, oh come on Nik its just an interview. That to for a software company, not for some Defense academy! Then i started smiling, giggling, laughing, cracking some really stupid jokes, doing some pranks, everything in between!
And yes i was enjoying it,5mins of this nonsense and felt much normal.
Ahhha!
I was thinking of a wildest way of selection!
Go in, sit nicely, and then on his table, put a gun & a wallet!
N say "ye wallet heh, ye bullet heh, ab tu decide kar!"
ha-ha... N then, the interviewer Frightened to death, simply gives out the form for next round, and blah and blah!
:-)
Wish i could do that!
When i looked at faces around, I found them so dam tensed, rather scared.” are koi mar gaya kya?"
i'd just started enjoying their white faces, and it was my turn to go in!
With full of my confidence, i entered hall & wished him with full confidence!
He was pleased with my full formal looks and overall body language. He asked for my resume. And YES! This was the moment i was awaiting!
I could see a pleasant sparkling in his eyes. He asked me about Japanese language. Why Japanese etc. Then he moved to the next page, where i'd mentioned about my freelance projects. He looked over satisfied. He asked me on what software platform i work. I told about VB6.0 and also told that i dont0've .net experience right now. He said when you are thorough with one tech, others you can learn quickly, so don’t worry! He looked at my resume and my face 3-4 times, and
Said "nikhil, what do i ask you now.. I already know that you have much more capability." (wow.. I could feel 3days frustration melting away ^^)
then for namesake, he asked me to scribble something in VB on that white paper. I chose to write database connection code. When i chose such topic, he must 've thought why to waste time, son next 2 mins, i was making scribbling he was nodding east to west, south to north. Then, finally he gave me a tip, to always write code with comments. And gave me the HR form with a Wide smile.
I came out, and everybody was ready with shot guns!
"what did he ask,did he screw you?, difficult?"
when i told them, we talked of VB; they all were left open mouth.
:-o
how come he was asked such easy things???
I told them, it was because of all the projects i'd mentioned. They’ll ask you more about your project's platform.

Then began a lengthy writing work i.e. Filling up the HR form. Took me 1/2hr.
Then it was time for HR interview. The lady looked calm but i must be must be bit khadoos within.
She started with the most common question,” tell me about yourself"
i chose to tell her what was not mentioned on my resume. Means, what i really gained from my activities and the achievements!
She listened patiently. Then she asked me to differentiate myself from others. I told her, I believe; i am an All rounder.
Ok,she was not happy with just that, so i had to explain WHY i feel so. It took me few minutes, to make her understand that,yes this guy knows what he Is.
Further she asked me about relocating. Obviously i said that i was ready. I wonder why would one deny when he is really looking for a job.
:-/
she asked me whether relocating to far south India is a problem?
I answered, when i am far away from hometown, it really doesn’t make any difference if i am 400km away or 800km away.. (She looked happy with this one.)
finally it was end of the interview.
Both interviews were great and i was sure about selection. All friends were trying to call me, but i didn’t pickup. It was matter of few minutes (which extended to HOURS) to give them a good news..
I came in the 2nd floor hall and Hussh. Sigh of relief.
While I was loosening my tie,a friend of mine asked for my shoes as he was rearing chappals !
Even in his Wildest dreams he giaf not imagined he will be short listed through apti..
:-@

so i lend igno my shoes, with the stinky socks!
(sorry my friend)

and then i was in my shabbiest Avtar ever ! Nice formals from top to toes, and wearing chappals below which where just 1/2 of my foot size, hopelessly hanging half out my toe!
But Who cares when you have finished with whole selection process and got nothing to do till you get the results come.
Again went down in canteen and checked for some food remains.
Picked up few samosaz, leaving only single one in his tray.
Gobbled samosaz while cracking some stupid jokes, even when other friends were almost dozing. When will i get rid of this habit?
:-/
it was the 3rd waiting hour, we sat in hall with tired faces. After all it was a long, stressful day. We all were bored discussions from Indian idol to company’s market stakes!
More half an hour passed.
Finally it was time for results. Mind and body was so much saturated that i felt, whatever is the results, not a single line on my face will move.
Inside i was totally sure that i was in, but formal declaration was yet to be done.
"ok,here is the list of selected candidates..." the HR mam started.
One..
Two..
Three.. And Tadaaaa
i heard what i was anxiously waiting for!
Surprisingly as i had already thought, I was too bored even to cheer loudly!
:-@
almost 7 guys from my class were selected!
just few yeeee..Z and Yahooo...Z
we all were on our way home.

I was contemplating, what did i gain, what did i loose..
I felt very bad for a friend who was waiting till so late, and at the final moment she was not selected. There was joy but with a deem shadow of sorry too. When will my other friends will be recruited? And so on.

I was a lucky guy who couldn’t even clear the aptitude test for 3days,and today he scored Top third rank in test. Got selected and not only that, he was also given a special appreciation from the company side in the college's feed back they give to college.

To succeed in every step of life... One needs good caliber however, now i believe, here your luck joins too. If one doesn’t believe in luck (just like me)that’s fine !!!!!
But remember, when it is your day, you get through, but when it is not,
Try any damn thing and its not going to work!
It’s well said,
"Every dog has his day..." today was mine!