Random Thoughts

- Feels great to be a full time in a company. Difference between being an intern and being a full timer is huge! Internship is like an ODI where the time to prove yourself is limited. You've constantly got to be on your toes. One quite over, one wicket at the right/wrong time can change the course of the game. Full time position, on the other hand, is like a test match. You can take as much time as you want .... and the biggest advantage is even if you don't do well, you can always play for a draw :)

- So who says test cricket is tougher than ODI's and T20's! I think its completely the other way round: T20 is much tougher than ODI's which in turn are harder than tests. Now if internship corresponds to ODI and Full time corresponds to test, what does T20 correspond to? Interviews :)

- And that explains why the oldies don't like T20's and think its child's play. In their times, afterall, interviews were never so hard ..... so their thoughts that any Raina, Pathan or Rohit can play T20's well. Interviews of the modern times have got very critical and tough, so T20 is not easy by any means. For the oldies, sustaining for a longer period was hard then. The mantra now is live fast and play hard!

- I'm starting to get in love with this city. Not just for its scenic snowcaps, well planned landscapes, and disciplined public transportation. But mostly because for the first time in life I think I'm in a place where almost every single individual belongs where he/she deserves to be. Bloating of IT industry in India, and for that matter even in the US, have always concerned, sometimes even disappointed, me. In that regard feels great to be among individuals almost all of whom have worked very hard to be here, who in every respect have earned their place here and who deserve to be here.

- The place sometimes feels to be too perfect, almost like a utopia. It feels like a mega developed, clean Pune with all un-wanted things/people removed. Mahabaleshwar seems to be replaced by Rainier, Khadakwasla by Snowqualmie, Kokan coast replaced by the Pacific! The people, the food joints all seem familiar, just like back home.In short, a better home away from home.

- In short, life's great here. Cannot ask for anything more really, but I'm still not happy. Why? missing bayko!

Sc-air-y

I have always felt scared of flying. It didn't need me to watch Final Destination or Air Crsh Investigation series to catch that fear. Its just been there forever since my maiden flight, I remember, which was about 20 years back.

And I keep thinking why do I scare it? An airplane and a computer are two inventions that keep amazing me even today. To be quiet honest, I don't think I completely understand their technology. I am still awed by how a 100,000 kg (or is that less) thing lifts itself off the ground, let alone staying up there. But with that awe comes fear. Combination of hardware, in this case the airplane, and software is almost magic to me and magic can fail sometimes.
What can you do when/if this magic fails on you? Nothing, absolutely nothing. The Air France crash a couple of months back and the AP CM's chopper crash yesterday left me feeling very wierd. I thrive in believing that you are responsible for whatever happens to you. Hate being in situations where my fate is not in my hands. Those few hours in the plane are the times when our fate is not in our hands. And then, it doesn't matter if you're a VVIP or you're flying even the world's best airline. Your fate depends on weather, technology, and two unknown persons. You have to just accept, whatever happens, as your destiny. So the news of AP CM's crash was frightening, shocking and hugely disappointing. It provided a reminder of how cruel and uncertain destiny can be .... without even giving you a chance to reflect or introspect on it.

But as much as one feels grieved about the mishap, what follows in the country is definitely not encouraging: Seven days of mourning followed by a detailed investigation of the crash!!! Its hard to believe that people have time to keep crying for a week! Who pays for the loses? And the investigation seems to be an even bigger farce. "Don't hit a cliff if you are flying a plane" would probably be the conclustion! The committee would have chai-biscuit and talk about how big a tragedy it was. Is it worth spending money on the investigation then ... we all know the cause of the accident!
But its disappointing that some things never change, we would just not learn to bite the bullet and move on.

In addition, it seems there is a new disease in India. Unbelievable as it seems, 140+ people have died off shock, after the chopper crash news announcement. That number is more than the number of swine flu deaths, worse even this "flu" has no cure!