Aamhi Puneri (!!!)

Ah, finally some time and something to write about. But so much has happened around me since my last blog that I have no idea where to start. Since leaving college almost two months ago, there has been the short vacation at home (which did not even last a month), the sudden call from IBM, the eventual joining and the subsequent training, the initial struggles in this Punya-Nagari (Pune), the subsequent settling down, the FIFA WC and so many other things. So while I sit at my IBM office in Pune on a fine working day, listening to In the Shadows by Rasmus, supposedly reading up on some project documentation, lets have a look at all of them. For one, this will rid me of all the “interviews” that people subject me when I meet them online.

After vacation, I went home and planned out things for a nice long vacation. Popular consensus among the guys was that the joining date will be sometime in august. So I did everything to make sure my stay at home would be comfortable. Bought some novels, got a broadband connection at home, burned almost the entire movie collection on college LAN on DVDs and was eagerly looking forward to enjoy the whole of world cup. But then, one fine day, Karan calls up and says, “Dude, joining dates are here. Check your mail”. And when I open my yahoo mail, there it was…IBM beckons!

Yes, I am finally in the corporate world. I am yet to see Madhur Bhandarkar’s Corporate, so I have no idea what image it projects of the corporate world. But as far as my experience goes, so far its been one helluva ride. Starting with travelling to Pune aboard Air Deccan (It was my first time in Air Deccan, and I could easily see why it’s a low cost airline), I arrived in this new city which I have heard so much about. Technically speaking, this is not my first time in the city, but my previous visit was so long ago that I don’t even remember when it was. But let me tell you frankly, this city has been a huge disappointment for me. Being used to wide, spacious and swanky roads and excellent civic amenities in Nagpur, Hyderabad and then Surat, Pune has come as a big shock to me. Pathetic roads, horrible public transport system and even worse traffic (People, your vehicles have something known as a horn, use it!). Added to that was my accommodation woes. Had it not been for some of my college seniors, it would have been really difficult for me. Here I must thank Charan, Dhir, Sushil, Swaraj and Billu for coming to my rescue. Guys, you have been amazing hosts. And thanks to you, I did not miss out on one of the biggest sporting bonanza on this planet, the FIFA WC ’06.

Speaking of which, what an amazing world cup that was! Germany got things rolling with a goal fest in the very first match. My team Argentina looked strong to lift the cup especially during their thrashing of Serbia & Montenegro. I was supporting Argentina and Holland from the very beginning. (Don’t ask me why Holland). Holland could not live up to the expectations, being outwitted by Luiz Felipe Scholari. And more heart breaks for me when Argentina got knocked out too (peaked too early maybe?). After that, Italy it was for me. With the pair of Buffon and Cannavaro at the back, it was only a matter of the forwards finding the net. And luckily, I got to watch the final in the best possible atmosphere…in a hostel with a totally football crazy crowd. How did that happen? Well I must thank the people who painted Meena Thackeray’s statue black. Thanks to the subsequent riots that broke out in Pune, I got stuck at Singhad collage where I had gone to visit Bamboo, Bajrangi, GA n others. I was forced to stay overnight at their hostel and there was my opportunity. Now bamboo was rooting for France, so we had our own rivalry going on. And the match surely lived up to its expectations. But ironically, it was three of France’s biggest heroes of ‘98 that led to their defeat. First, it was Fabien Barthez’s blunder that resulted in Italy’s equaliser. Then, Zidane did what he did (enough has been written and said about it). And to cap it all, it was David Trezeguet who missed that all important penalty in the shoot out. Understandably, while I was elated at the end of the match, Bamboo was literally in tears.

So after almost 5 full days (holidays at that) of house-hunting, and after looking at almost 20 different flats, I finally found a place worth living. And luckily, I found a decent enough roommate having similar interests as me. But there are people who say my choice of roommate has taken a “dip”. Why? If it was Ayan Ghosh (a.k.a. dobby) in my final year not so long ago, now it is Dip-ayan Ghosh. Added to that, they are both bongs (obviously) with NCR connections! Dobby has this theory that I missed him so much, that I took out an ad in the newspaper to find a roommate similar to himself. Ha ha!

Recently, we got our first pay cheques (I am not telling you how much it was). So I and Dipayan thought we should celebrate by watching a movie. We went to the multiplex, and found out that the only tickets that were available were for Krish (arrgh!). Even though neither of us was particularly inclined, we did not want to go back home without watching a movie. So we sat down to enjoy ourselves. And enjoy we did! We could identify so many movies that Krish(or is Krrish) was “inspired” from…Superman, Spiderman, Final Destination, Matrix etc etc.
Also, we enjoyed the commercials in the middle of the movie. What? Didn’t you see any? Oh com’on! If I am not wrong, these were the products advertised during the movie: Tide, Bournvita, Faber Castell, Vicks Inhaler, Siyaram’s, Lays, Hero Honda, Samsung and Karizma. Now if you missed even one of these, there are only the following explanations:
1. You enjoyed the movie so much that you did not pay attention to them (i.e. you are a huge Hrithik Roshan fan).
2. You found the movie so boring that you dozed off.
3. You saw the movie with your girlfriend/boyfriend, doing you-know-what rather than watching the movie.
4. You did not see the movie at all.

And if I missed out on any more, then the reason is none of the above.