SNS Foundation Day

Before I write anything further... Congratulations to the events committee and the food committee for putting up a great show. Great job done by both the teams to arrange the event and probably one of the best that I have seen in the last 8 years and I am sure everyone who was there at the event would agree with me. Everyone seemed to have enjoyed it thoroughly. Congratulations to every hero / heroine who put in their efforts in arranging the event.

We are Indians after all
All of us were expected to be there at the venue (Chillies) by 6.30pm IST. My team "(Wiser Together") had a customer call and a demo so we had informed that we will be there at the venue after 7.15pm. We had finished the call at around 7.05pm went back to our desks to pick up our bags. There were a few people at their desk still. We pulled them along, went to the fourth floor and saw a few more at their desk. Some were busy with some urgent work and said would join later. Viraj, Rajeev and myself, all of us had cars and so we pulled them all into our cars and were rushing towards the venue, since we were already late. We reached the venue, parked our cars and as I was walking in I was thinking that we would have missed a major part of the performances that was planned for the event. In we walk and guess what??? People have just started walking in and we were not late. It was around 7.30pm IST a full one hour beyond the originally planned time... Then I remembered someone telling me as a school kid, IST stands for Indian Stretchable Time and thought to myself... so true!!!

Gals are gals and the guys are guys
All the guys at the venue, were there straight from the office. But, with the girls it was a different scenario. They were all dressed for the occasion. They had enough time to leave the office, change into party wear and get to the venue. Look at them and you know that a party is going on.
The guys cannot be far behind the girls can they? Well, they may not be dressed for the occasion, but they were already at the bar and some of them had already gulped down a few pegs. You look at them and you know that a party is going on too :)

The build up
SNS foundation Day celebration was planned in advance and we had various theme days every week and a winner was selected for each theme. We had some interesting themes like Twins, Mismatch, Cocktail, Tapori, Hawaiian etc. Some themes had good participation while some of them were cake walk for the judges with hardly a handful participating. On the day of the event, we had to vote for a lot of titles like - Mr. SNS, Ms. SNS, Most Talkative, Most silent, Most cheerful person, Most Pleasing personality, Most eligible bachelor / spinster etc.

The ball set rolling
While the energy was building up on one side and some of them had already drained out their energy after in-take of couple of doses of "tonic" on the other. Then, out of the blue there was this announcement … It was Aparna drawing everyone's attention. The event was all set to begin. Devesh was invited to talk about SNS. He made his intentions very clear that he was not going to give any speech, but was generous to stop it after more than 10 minutes :) but of course before giving some insight about the company and some interesting and funny incidents. The speech was followed by the introduction sessions of the new comers followed by individual performances.

Talents came out of their hiding
After the short and sweet speech from Devesh, it was time for the performances, showcasing the hidden talents of SNS-ites. Most of the old timers know that Zohair is the Ghazal king at SNS. So, he was the obvious choice to kick start the performances. He started of with the foot tapping number from Mohit Chauhan - "Dooba dooba rahta hoon". (Thanks Deepak for correcting me). The surprise package however was Nishit... You bet ... he was awesome on his guitar. After Zohair, there were performances from Yash, Nishit and from Amol who performed a short and intoxicating (read intoxicated) performance. Then the request for a performance by the ladies came in. Nidhi was the one who came forward to sing. (To be honest, I did not know her name and I had to confirm the name from a colleague before I started writing this). Nidhi walked to the stage elegantly in a party wear. There were loud cheers all around. Unfortunately, it took me a while to realise that she had already started singing. Probably, Nishit's guitar notes were overpowering Nidhi's voice. Someone sitting next to me asked why her voice was not audible and I joked - "Can't you see that she has covered the microphone with a hanky, that is the reason" :) Devesh's presence of mind helped Nidhi's voice to come through better. He moved the microphone at Nishit's guitar farther away. But one thing I must admin, Nidhi was loud and clear outside the stage even without the microphone :). It was nice to see so many talents in SNS which not many people knew about. While these performances were going on, I was just praying that these performances should end soon and people should start of with the birthday celebrations and then hit the dance floor. No, don't get me wrong... the performances were excellent, I was only afraid that I would be asked to get on to the stage because, Shaju and Nishit were of the opinion that I should be on the stage too. I was just praying that they are not reminded about me at that time and luckily, they did not. Phew!!!

Winners take it all
Soon after Nidhi's performance, the Birthday celebrations began and then there were some games and prize distribution to the winners of various events that were conducted as part of the foundation day celebrations. Then came the most waited event for the day... the dance floor.

P - A - R - T - Y? bcos its party time
Soon after the prize distributions, the bar was "officially" open and the DJs were ready for the guys n gals to set the dance floor on fire. I have never seen this kind of an atmosphere at SNS in a very long time. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it. Dancing like there is no tomorrow, drinking like they would never get to do it again. It felt nice to see so much of energy on the dance floor. The gloomy faces that were seen all around just a couple of days before the party (after the appraisals) were all gone. It was merry making time ... Some guys even went back to their childhood, literally. Yes, they were barely able to walk trying to balance themselves and even crawling. It was Rock n roll time... some were rocking on the dance floor while the others were rolling on the floor (in the lawns outside). Every now and then, people sitting were dragged to the dance floor. I was dragged many times, but managed to stay away from it since I enjoy watching the dance rather than being part of it. But, finally I had to oblige and was there for a couple of minutes dancing with each guy who had attempted to pull me to the floor. The dance floor was finally closed and everyone was queuing up for dinner. Some had already finished their dinner.

The finishing touches
Just when I had finished my dinner and was chatting up some friends, Nishit spotted me and looked like he was in no mood to let me go. He came straight to me and asked “why didn’t you come on to the stage” and asked me if I could sing then. I said "okay get the guitar" (I assumed that the guitar was not in that room and so I would not have to sing). But, he said lets do it without the guitar and I was game for it since it was just about 5-6 people around while the other were at the dinner hall. But what happened next was unexpected. Nishit went around announcing that I am going to sing and soon more people joined him and I had no other option but to oblige. I am pre-dominantly a bathroom singer and not comfortable singing in front of a crowd. But I mustered the courage to do so and was relieved when I finished with it. I guess I did a decent job as I saw everyone clapping. Even now, I am not very sure if they clapped because it was not bad or because finally I stopped it. :)

The next one came from an unexpected corner - the newbie Nandakumar. He sang a gem from Kishore da. The beauty about Nandakumar singing this song was that he does not speak or understand Hindi, but he did a great job. That was not all… the finishing touch came from Kishor (Borade) on the guitar and also singing some lovely numbers. Soon the crowd was all around Kishor, Nishit, Yash and gang.

The Good Samaritans
With the party finally over, it was time to head home. But there were quite a few who could not be left alone or could have reached their dwelling on their own or did not know where they lived :). So the plans were being charted out by the good Samaritans – Shaju, Viraj, Sharvan etc about who would drop whom and where. The "allocations" were done each of the "steady" people were ferried either to their place or to their friend's place. Three cheers to these good Samaritans who were willing to wait and ensure that everyone was taken care of.

This definitely is one of the best parties that I have seen at SNS and will remember it for a long long time. Some of you may have already been bored to death reading this "short" story, but before you are stop reading it any further (well there is nothing left to read) let us put our hands together once again, for the people who put in a lot of effort to make this event a memorable one.
Three Cheers to the Events committee and the Food committee. Hip Hip Hurray!!!

The Purchase Officer

I had mentioned in my earlier blog about my very close friend and my roommate during my bachelor days - Surendra a.k.a Suri Sr. When the two of us are together we were always game for playing pranks with people. There are many pranks that we guys have played with a few colleagues. This saturday while I was lazily browsing through the news paper, an advertisement for a job offer came to my notice. What attracted my attention was the position... the Ad was for an opening for the post of Purchase Officer. Just those two words brought a smile to my face and it took my down th ememory lane way back to my bachelor days... the year: 1993, the place: Mysore, the location: the L&T factory and my humble dwelling at Ramakrishna nagar, Mysore.

One day, as we got off the office bus and were entering the gate, we (Surendra and myself) heard someone talking about a job opening at "Sulabh International" in Bangalore. We knew someone was playing a prank. Hailing from Bangalore, the two of us knew what Sulabh International was all about. Sulabh International is a Social Service organisation and at that time were into cleaning and maintaining the public toilets in Bangalore. Being the pranksters that we were, as soon as we walked into our department, we announced that there was good job opening in Bangalore and they are looking for young graduates with or without any experience and that it is a good company and they pay handsomely. As usual, the questions about the source of the news came up and we conveniently said that it was there in the news paper. Folks who were residents of Mysore did not show much interest. (That was one thing that I noticed, localites - I mean people settled in Mysore did not want to leave their native and go out other cities in search of jobs. They were happy to be living in Mysore and make their living with whatever job they can get - a very contended lot. Things have changed now though). Some of the other folks showed some interest and began asking for more details. We gave the company details, job post etc - Purchase Officer at Sulabh International Bangalore. One of the guys (I am not naming him here as there is a possibility that he would get to read this and do not want to embarass him) asked for the address. Suri Sr conveniently looked at me and said "Dey Suri, whats the address da, you remember?" Without batting an eyelid I said "Yes
ofcourse" even as I was thinking of some address to tell this guy. I still remember the address that we gave him :) I just started with - "No. 17, Golden Enclave...." (Golden Enclave was the only thing that came to my mind as that was one of the biggest office complex near my house at that time), I was still thinking what to say next, when Suri Sr. continued -"First cross, Vittal Mallya Road..." and then I completed it for him "...Pulikeshi nagar, Bangalore - 560 001". We both looked at each other and smiled. But within ourselves we were laughing our guts out while our "prey" was writing down the address in all sincerity and said "naanu eevathe apply maadtheeni" (I will apply for it today itself).

Back at home in the evening, Suri Sr and myself were laughing uncontollably at what had happened on the office... more than the company name, their profile or the job position, we were amused with our spontaneity with the address. We were laughing uncontrollably because each line of the address was in different corners of Bangalore. Goldern Enclave was near the Airport, Vittal Malya Road was near the Kanteerava stadium which is at least 5-6 kilometers from Golden enclave, Pulikeshi nagar is near Cox town which is totally on the opposite side and Bangalore-1 is near the railway station. Our eyes were filled with tears laughing so much and at the thought of the post - "Purchase officer". Slowly things settled down, we were getting ready for dinner. We were 5 guys in a small 2 BHK and another 5 guys on the first floor of the same building. On most of the days all the ten of us have dinner together. They bring everything that they cooked to our house and we form a big circle on the floor and share our dinner. It was always fun and I still miss those days. One of the guys living upstairs finished his dinner very fast and said he needs to make a call to his brother and left. (Those days, we did not have the luxury of cell phones back then. In fact, even pages were not very common at that time. Pagers??? whats that? some of you must be wondering. Well... simply put, we can say it is some kind of a one sided communication device where you can receive "text message" but cannot respond from the device). Again, I am not naming the person who left to make the call. We had to walk about 5-10 mins from our house to reach one of the STD booths at Vivekananda nagar circle to make a call. While we had just finished dinner and still sitting around all the empty vesslels and plates, craking jokes etc, our man had finished his call and walks in with a funny expression - angry, yet smiling and said "Nanna makkala (colloquial usage like "saale" in hindi), Sulabh Internationalli Purchase officer post-ige opening idheya?" (You guys, so Sulabh International has openings for Purchase officer ha?). Suri Sr and myself looked at each other and again started laughing but were wondering why this guy is reacting so late in the day. Then we understood why... He was also a victim of our prank (but we were not aware of it until then). He had called his brother and enquired about the company. His brother was working in Bangalore and so he had called to know if it was worth a try in this company. That is when he got to know about the whole thing. We all had a hearty laugh and went to bed after washing the utensils. That episode ended there.

A week later...

Suri Sr and myself were in the second shift. During second shift we take a tea break at around 9.00pm. We guys sit around for about 10 minutes having fun and discussing all the topics under the sun. Suddenly, the person to whom we had given the "address" blurted out looking at the two of us - "Suri, yen replyne baralilla ri" (Suri, I didn't get any reply). We were wondering what he was referring to, as he mentioned this out of the blue. We looked at him and asked what reply he was talking about. He said that he had applied for the Purchase officer position. Suri and myself looked at each other without knowing how to react. We had forgotten about the whole thing the same day we announced it. But here was a guy who had applied for the job in all sincerity. How would he react when we reveal it was just a prank and no such address existed. I felt sorry for him and was cursing myself that it had gone this far. I recovered from my thought process and asked him, if he was sure that he wrote the correct address to which he said that he wrote the exact address he had noted down and that he had even pasted his photograph on the CV. Then I blurted out - "If you have stuck your photograph on the CV, never ever show your face in Bangalore. That post man might still be hunting for you". He was looking at us totally confused. Then we confessed that it was just a prank and never expected that someone really apply for the job. Initially he was angry and embarassed but soon joined us in the laughter. When the laughter subsided he declared - "Innamele ibbaru Surigalannu naanu nombodhe illa" (From now onwards, I won't trust both these Suris - Both Surendra and myself were known by the name Suri among the friends circle). It is a different matter that 3 days after his "declaration" we convinced him that the Indian Government is coming out with a Three Rupee coin :).

WYHINWIS

No No No... there is no typo in the title of my blog and it does not need a spell check. Are you wondering what it means? I mean "WYHINWIS"...

Well, most people, especially in the IT field would be familiar with WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get). I have had many funny incidents related to communication, couple of which I have mentioned in my earlier blogs. That is what prompted me to think about this acronym similar to WYSIWYG for things related communicatoin - WYHINWIS i.e. What You Heard Is Not What Is Said.

Many a times, it so happens that we hear something that is totally different from what was actually said and I guess it happens with most of us in everyday life. But there are some that are very funny and hilarious that it gets etched in our memory. We dont forget it and also it brings a smile every time we think about it. One such incident happened in recent times. It was just a couple of months since I moved to Pune and I was not familar with Marathi, the local language (not that I am familiar with it now :P). But I have managed with my itsy bitsy hindi so far. (My better half always teases me about my "proficiency" in Hindi). This incident that I am about to describe happened in a medical shop like the "IPL ticket" episode. From the time I have moved to Pune, I have spent more time in medical shops and clinics apart from office, since my younger daughter has been falling sick very often from the time we moved in here. After one such visit to the paediatrician at Viman nagar, I went to the medical shop - "Religare" which is on the ground floor of the same building. As you enter the store, there is high probability of you spotting a highly "decked up" sales girl who spends more time in front of her hand held mirror and make up kit rather than with the customers. In my case except once, everytime I have entered the store, I have seen her with the mirror in one hand and a lipstick or a hair brush in the other. I am one of those people who does not go ga-ga over a beautiful woman and nor am I really interested in physical beauty. To me, beautiful person is someone who is beautiful at heart and mind. Trust me... I just hate the sight of the plastic coated FULLY artifical smile planted face of a certain Ms. Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. i.e. I dont find her fitting into my definition of a beautiful woman. I generally do not pass comments on someone's looks but this girl at Religare... I can't stop myself from making this comment. She definitely belongs to the "Good from far, Far from good" category. I guess I am deviating too much from what I wanted to say. So let me take a break from this sales girl and move on to the other one at the counter.

I gave the prescription the other sales girl at the counter. As she was browsing through the prescription I gave her, she looked at the other gentleman standing next to me and said "Dharu piya". I was shocked at what I just heard. I was not sure if it was a question or a statement. I know that "Dharu" means liqour and "piya" is to drink. She said it without any change in her expression. I thought she probably knew this person, but was not sure if she asked him whether he was drunk or if she just joked that she was drunk. What amazed me was that this gentleman also did not have any change in his expression and without uttering a word he paid her, collected his medicines and walked away. I was still wondering what was going on... It took me a while to understand that she just informed her the cost of his medicine, he paid and left. What she said was NOT "Dharu piya". She just said "Dha Rupaya".
"Dha" = Ten (in Marathi) and "Rupaya" = Rupees. All she said was "Ten Rupees" in Marathi. And I was unecessarily trying to understand what communication was going on between the two. Thats why I said WYHINWIS.