Name: Amardeep
Posts by Sidhu:
- At none of the gate it was mentioned that where the tickets were available and from which gate was the entry for book fair. As far as i am aware this information is not available online as well.
- After entering from the main gate there was no information about in what all halls book stalls were being hosted ?
- No single board telling what all publishers were there.
- There are maps near landmarks in the province (but some of them probably without “You are here” mark) telling about the locations of various halls but after reaching in front of a hall, you wont be able to tell anything about it as there is not a single board telling about its name or number.
- There was no question of any support staff being there/helping you.
- Least number of sign-boards so that you take the longest route for reaching from one place to another.
- Every possible eatable thing was over-priced. (An OK types paneer kulcha for Rs 40 and a plate of gol-gappas (6 pieces) for Rs 15).
OMG…
March 2nd, 2010I was browsing through The Times of India website and came across a link to a video of a performance by Abida Parveen at a recent Aman ki Asha concert. I had already seen this video many times but this time more than the video, a comment caught my attention. Quoting here the same:
Roopa, bangalore, says: OMG what a horrible singer with horrible voice.. Somebody without training could sing better then her….
Nothing much to say. vichari poor soul…she doesn’t even know what she is talking about. God bless her that she, sometime in future understands what Abida Parveen means to music and its lovers across the globe.
Greater Noida ;)
February 20th, 2010Today one of my friend had to go to Greater Noida for an interview. He asked me to accompany him and i did so. We reached Noida by Metro and then the question was to go to Greater Noida. So we took an auto (for Rs 200) for Greater Noida and hoped to reach there in an hour. Oh we did actually, but the address was something like Knowledge Park 4. Everyone knew about Knowledge Park 1,2 and 3 but what the heck was 4 ? So it took us another half an hour to find that location. Anyways finally we were there. And due to all of this additional crap, had to pay 250 Rs to auto wala. After he got freed from there, we had to come back to Delhi; actually Noida first 
. So we came out and starting looking for auto. Oh boy…it was a complete jungle and nothing there really. So we thought about calling a cab. Called almost call radio taxi services but same response “Sir we don’t operate in Greater Noida” 
. Finally we saw an auto (carrying bricks ) wala and asked him to send some auto if he found one on his way. Man something adventurous here. He asked us to adjust in the same auto itself . So somehow we 3 guys adjusted with him and started the journey. He dropped his load on the way and dropped us to Noida after that.
What I am still wondering about is that they have setup almost a new city, so far from the main city but without laying down any transport infrastructure. Someone stuck there in the evening won’t have an option to come back. Moreover there is not a bit of security. It is such a long distance and no police post nothing. Such a crappy idea of first setting up a city in jungle and then opening an office there. Blunder in itself !
My first job :)
February 7th, 2010
In the evening, me and my roommate went out for a round of market and i was telling him this story. Just felt like writing it.
It was in Jan or Feb of 2004 and i hadn’t got a job by then. I was doing my final semester 6 months training. 2 of my good friends were in Delhi for the training. One day they came to know about some job opening in some not-really-a-BPO company (yea, something like handling calls about some networking or some similar stuff…not that dishwasher can wash under wears or not types). So they called me in the evening, say 5 PM and asked me to take the night train to Delhi, as the interviews were scheduled for the next day. So it was the time to pack bags and leave for Delhi. I packed the necessary luggage and started getting ready to catch the night train. It was just my 3rd or 4th time in a train. So i was not aware about the reservations thing and different types of tickets. Just knew one thing; ticket to Delhi . I reached the railway station well before time, bought one ticket and started waiting for the train. It was just a general compartment ticket so had to board that only. Finally the train arrived and man this general compartment thingie was crowded like anything. But there was no other option available so had to enter somehow. After entering i adjusted myself and the bag i was carrying. It was a long journey (around 6 hours) and it was really difficult to travel in this position. Finaly after 1-2 hours i got a half seat; yea exactly half. So it was little better but still traveling on half seat in the night, that too in such a crowded compartment is no fun, for sure but oh yes…there was no other option.
It had started to dawn and the train reached Delhi railway station. As i had to go to Noida so there was another mission pending to be accomplished. As i was explained, i started looking for a bus to Noida (It is such a pity that even being called NCR, traveling from Delhi to Noida/Gurgaon or opposite is the most pathetic thing to do). It took me around half an hour or more to look for the place from where i would get a bus to Noida. And by the time people had directed me to 3 different places that you would get it from here, here or there etc etc. As they say that people in Delhi don’t say NO. They do tell you something, may be wrong only ! So finally i succeeded and got the bus to Noida. As luck would have it, there was some problem with the engine of the bus and the driver spent around 15 minutes trying to do some jugaad-ment. Anyways, just taking it as part of the mission, i was sitting quietly, half sleepy and tired. Oh yes…then the stop where i had to get off came. I took rickshaw from there and now the target was just 10 minutes away . As expected, i reached in the room in 10 minutes. The next task was to skim through some books and get ready for the interview. I took half-bath (yea half as there was no hot water and moreover i was tired and sleepy so could mange half only ). Then i skimmed through some technical stuff. 2 of my friends had to leave for their office but there was another friend who had to accompany me to the company as i was totally new to the city…
He told me about some interview tips and all and in the afternoon, we left for the venue. In 45 minutes or so we were there. Went to the company’s office and found that actually there were no interviews happening that day ! Oh boy hit the shit ! I was with totally blank head and the only thing i could think of was to come back. Again there was no other option . But my friend was already doing a job in some BPO, so he was aware about the recruitment process of BPOs. There was another BPO’s building adjacent to this one and he said that we should check there also. As we went there, we found out that there was some recruitment planned and a chance to appear for that. Oh man some luck at last. We went inside, filled the forms and started waiting. My friend said that he would also sit in the test to avoid some boredom. As otherwise also he had nothing to do . Finally i cleared the test (he didn’t as he sat in the test to just kill some time…). There was an interview after that and they asked me to wait for HR round. After sometime they called me for the HR round and oh YES it was done. The final wait was for the offer letter. I can’t express in words that how good it feels after clearing 2-3 rounds of interviews and waiting for your offer letter. And boy if it is your first job, it is pure magic ! My friend had to go for his shift so he left. It was evening already so my 2 other friends got free from their office and directly reached there. I was still waiting for the offer letter. Finally they gave us the offer letters and we left for the room happily. I would again say that the feeling of getting your first job is really awesome. Though it was not an A class job, but still a job is a job and something is almost always 
better than nothing. We had got really late and reached at room around 1 in the night. In the society, we even met the UP police’s night patrolling guys and they congratulated for the job and asked for a treat .
So that was how i landed the first job of my career 
.
One day, after 2-3 weeks, i was coming back from office and met the same guys and they said “bhai tune party ni di abhi tak” 
. Their party is still pending…
Reunion-ed !
February 6th, 2010Reunions are a good thing…they take you back across the lanes of old golden days…
It was around 2 weeks ago, that I happened to meet a guy from my first company. While we were talking about the old stuff, he told me that they were planning for a reunion of folks who are in NCR these days. Surely, it was a nice idea…chance to meet all the old guys. So it was finalized and and the date was fixed…6th of Feb…
…so guys (with few exceptions…) were there at the venue. I, one of my friend and his wife were the last people to reach, though . There is kind of different feeling in going late, you know . When we reached almost everyone has already started with their drinks and snacks . So after saying Hello to everyone, we also joined the gang. The main difference one could notice was that everybody came with his/her better 1/2 and kids…so it was kind of different scene from those old days when not everyone was marred…oops married . Everyone was recalling those old times; those nights spent in office, the morning breakfasts, few blunders when hopes of survival jumped between earth and sky, that “what the heck you have done” things from their bosses etc…
It was all fun. Your first job is like the first love, it is hard to forget and for most of the people present there it was their first job. They started their career from there, learned the corporate stuff, grew up as professionals and so on…After some time started the round of introductions (as there were few new faces…mostly in the form of better halves ). It was suggested that everyone would introduce the one sitting adjacent to him. It was fun time knowing everyone’s specialties in personal and professions lives. People present there, as per the introductions given were loving, caring, sweet, responsible, hard working, dedicated, straight forward, with good sense of humour, desi, [stuff not told in public starts] good cooks, good husbands, good workers at home etc etc [stuff not told in public ends]…hey obviously all these qualities are from no single individual . It is all mixed stuff . While introductions were going on…my ex-boss, who is a really good singer was requested to sing a song and he sang Jagjit Singh’s apni marzi se kahan…
Then one more guy was introduced as a good singer and he made everyone hum to the tunes of
So after all the introductions and fun it was time to have lunch. Again folks who came with their kids, took their turns to hold kids and hold a plate and vice-versa. One thing was so much clear that taking care of kids is probably harder than working in IT . Then it was mobile no exchange time before leaving. Everyone enjoyed the meet and said that we should meet more often and such meets should continue. It was like living that life again…Finally after having 3-4 hours of good fun we said goodbye to each other and left to live in our present !
It was memorable…we were re-unioned !
Where to select ?
January 31st, 2010I was booking a ticket on bookmyshow.com and it said:
Now where to select ?
Phishing new style ;)
January 31st, 2010Got a mail in spam. Read for yourself. It is indeed funny and emotional wording . At the bottom, the link it actually points to.
Again…
January 30th, 2010I wanted to write this post in some different way but, just a change of mind. Now i will just post what i saw.
Today we went to the International Book Fair at Pragati Maidan. Few of the observations:
May be i am missing something…for now…that is it !
Dear Friend :D
January 28th, 2010Nothing special, just a stupid spam mail. Found it really funny
Dear friend,
Do accept my apology if my email does not meet your personal ethics but i
hope it makes our acquaintance. I have a business proposal for you, worth
the sum of US$17,500,000.00 Million of which you will be fully entitled
to. if you so desire. This transaction is legal and totally risk free but
due to the high level of insecurity over the internet, it’s really
difficult to know if you are trust worthy because it will take a great
deal of trust for me to let you in on this transaction.
Therefore, if you are fully interested in this deal and want more
information, kindly send me an email to my private email address [
chen.guan0ff1@yahoo.com.hk ] and please include your
FULL NAME; ADDRESS and PHONE NUMBER; so that i can contact you immediately.
Regards,
Mr. Chen Guan
Shopping grrrrrrrr….
January 24th, 2010Note: This post is the result of the frustration coming from a failed shoopping attempt that took almost the whole day .
I had to buy a pair of sports shoes. So attempts for that have been going on since last few months . Today was just another attempt with some hope but it failed miserably. Now it has been few months, I guess and many places in Delhi and all the main brands ie Nike, Adidas, Reebok, Puma but I haven’t got a decent pair of shoes. Don’t know there is nothing available in the market or there is something seriously stupid with my choice. People love it but for me, in general, shopping is a really tough exercise, specially when it needs to be done in a time frame. Like there comes a marriage next week and comes a need to get a new shirt. I haven’t been much successful in all such endeavors. But yes, many times I have got good stuff while visiting some mall without any specific shopping ideas. So folks, not much stuff to write. Just wanted to release some frustration . But seriously, these days buying some decent clothes is becoming really tough. Leave proper formals, otherwise decent clothes are hard to find. India is running really fast in this fashion (wearing some seriously not-so-decent clothes is fashion, no ? ) lane !!!
How do you keep track of comments ?
January 24th, 2010For the people, who read a number of blogs, how exactly you keep track of comments you post and then their replies ? I find it really difficult to do job. It is kind of a manual stuff for me. I don’t see Subscribing to comments as a really good option as it would send mail after each and every comment on the post. Any better suggestions ?
