Life is…My thoughts…

Me and my roomie went to KFC yesterday and ordered 2 burgers and a PEPSI & another drink (hey it was mango krusher , an overpriced mango shake in simple language   ). There was not much rush but even then it took around 20 mins or so to get the order. I was just wondering that how the quality of service at these western outlets (I think, it holds true for some hi-fi Indian restaurants as well) like KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut, mix veg style food courts etc etc sucks big time as compared to our very own desi dhabaz. It is almost a very regular thing that they will take good 15 mins to take your order, will take another half an hour to serve it and there are around 25% or so chances that they will not serve the right order. And never forget the time required to get the bill, pay it and get your card or balance back !

On the other side, take our very own dhabaz. Pretty good of them always have full halls to serve. Even then they manage to take everyone’s order in 5 mins, get back to you in another 5 and that too with the right order. I started my first job in Mohali and there was very famous Khalsa Dhaba in Phase 5. In the morning & evening it always used to be full and i can bet that you will never sit in waiting state and seeing that nobody is there to take your order, you have sabzi but not chapati etc etc. And one guy, after taking orders from 5 or 6 tables, will manage to get all the things right and also tell the guy sitting at the counter that on which table what order was served (including number of chapatiz !!!).

So what exactly makes this difference ? And the difference is not slight; it is huge ! For me personally, it gets even irritating to wait so much !

Just trying to test a small post from iPhone

So far so good

Today 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 all 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 !

Reunions 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 !

Got a mail in spam. Read for yourself. It is indeed funny and emotional wording . At the bottom, the link it actually points to.

Nothing special, just a stupid spam mail. Found it really funny

Dear friend,

Regards,
Mr. Chen Guan

Note: 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 !!!

For 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 ?

In last 6 months or so, I was looking for a job change so I created my profiles on different job portals. This post is an advice that if you are doing the same, never create your profile on timesjobs.com. It is completely crappy website. They have nothing useful to send you. Rather you will get some useless mails talking about say Storage Admin whereas your profile is of a C/C++ developer.  Moreover I couldn’t find an option to delete the profile from there. Some of the standard mail subjects you will always be receiving from their side:

• Xyz, are you sure you are in the right job?
• Xyz, grab these jobs before they are gone.
• Xyz, 7 job opportunities waiting inside.

That is it. You will receive nothing more, nothing less. So stick to Naukri & Monster, if you are looking for a change .

Again, it has been really long since I did my last post . Actually tried writing something many times but couldn’t complete it. Sometimes you just aren’t able to complete a post. Ohhh this is the first post of the new year so very very happy new year to everybody coming here (Better late than never ). This post should be about the new things and resolutions for the new year . Well, a major change is that my job has changed and the new one is much more demanding (as compared to the previous one ).  So these days I am having the real feeling of working in IT sector . And it is one of the reasons that I am not able to give that much time to blogging. Talking about the resolutions, I think the first should be  that I should write more often on the blog . Ooops…again nothing much to write…so, before adding any more crap, this post should be terminated here . Will see you more often, this year ! Promise !