~~Journey to airport then to USA~~

Never the less it was an adventurous 30 hours before I reached. After sending off my mum and dad to Trichy,I came back home and watched Argentina Mexico match.When the match was over I was hearing some loud noises outside ,took time to realise it was thunder.Within minutes it started raining and pouring soon.

My uncle who agreed to drop me in airport told me to pray that his car should n't breakdown in the middle.Since it was water clogged outside dragging the luggage was not an option,so when his car came with umbrella in hand and the large suitcase in another we managed put those in the back of the car. The ride to the airport was more like going in a hovercraft ripping the water on the street. When we reached airport it was in a state of complete chaos vehicles blocking all the ways,people crowding inside whatever shelters they could finds,trolleys lying in the middle of pool. I took a quite an effort to get the car near the departure terminal,to fetch a trolley and load the luggages on it.




I reached the airport drenched,after clearing security check I headed for the immigration clearance. The lady there seemed heartbroken to see me leave India and was asking questions why are going there , why cant you study here etc.It took few minutes to convince and get past her.It took two more hours to board the flight and I made a big mistake of not taking a book with me and had to be contended by reading
the instructions in the boarding pass.

If getting ready to board the flight at 5 am is a pain eating the morning breakfast once on board add more pain to the body. After watching drinking 4 glass of juices,watching 3 movies,eating 2 meals I reached Heathrow.After 5 hours of memorable time there(will try to write a separate post)took my connecting flight.I was happy that my prayers were answered as a beautiful girl from Ecaudor sat next to me but 40 hours sleeplessness didnt allow me to have an enjoyable conversation I fell asleep as soon as the flight took off.

Once I landed in US I had to head for immigration, unlike in India no questions were asked and I got my passport stamped. It was my dad who did all the packing for the trip and I never knew whats in my luggage. The officer there asked did you bring mangoes,he was disappointed when I said no.Diana and Ganesh were waiting for me making sure I don't miss home.Ganesh had his camera ready and started clicking which I didn't expect. It was a kind of journey were I was damm fresh once I reached the destination.

~~Our house packing~~

We are moving to new house during this weekend.Last few days were busy days for me and my family as we were shuttling between the old house and the new house.When I checked which for things which belonged to me there were few handful of dresses apart from few necessary items, rest of my things had served it purpose and could be thrown destroyed or donated.

Mum and dad were busy packing their own stuffs, mum was busy packing all her sarees and salwar and my dad his books. It was like who has the largest collection.

My dad already packed 4 sacks of books and dumped in the garage which is turning out like a godown.Today he packed another four sacks,when somebody comes and see our garage there are bright chances of doubting that we are smuggling the ration rice and storing it there. Even after this I see as if nothing been packed ,we have 1 loft and 3 racks full of books,apart from other books lying all around the place.

My mum in the mean time lost count of the dresses she has but was clever to categorise and store it accordingly in each suitcase rather than dumping in a single sack. The collection went on like these, these are the salwars which haven't been worn,these are the salwars which haven't been stitched,these are the sarees which were gifted,these are the sarees waiting for release,these are the sarees for the future daughter in law(!).All of the sudden my mother become worried ,taking one blouse in hand she said the saree to this blouse is missing from the collection,if its small number we can easily find it but given the number it was a herculean task.But my mum has the never give up attitude by evening she found the Saree and dumped it in one of the suitcases.

I'm being a passive during the entire activity just helping them move the luggages from the old home to new home.

~~Vetti(busy) days~~

I thought I am going to get free time throughout this month but I hardly find time to relax, if I sit more than 5 minutes in front of the laptop I hear mum calling " come and fry this potato" or "go and dry all the clothes" or "where is the knife"(as if I m hiding it from her everyday) . I really miss my office days where I had the computer for myself from 8 to 5 without any hindrances .

~~Weekday Trip~~

When you are jobless weekday or weekday doesn't matter all days are holidays. Since I have been working hard for the past four and half years and this is the first break I'm having, I think I need a well deserved break. So planned a trip to Valparai with my family and my uncle's family. Its gonna be a small road trip, will share the experiences once I m back.

~~Back to Trichy~~

Its almost one and half years I have worked in Chennai,thinking about there is one major thing I will be really missing.
Grandma's food:
Its something which money can't buy,my tongue will always scold me for moving out of Chennai whenever I find difficulty in getting food.Today afternoon my mother put some red color vastu on my place looking like halwa. I asked what is that,she replied it is tomato rice, it became like this since she added some extra water.When I took handful it tasted bland and for one second I thought my tongue lost its senses.Then she said I missed to add salt to it.I tried sprinkling some but it didn't get blend with the halwa rice, with great difficulty I finished my lunch.Ohh man thinking about the food I m going to get in future I will get nightmares tonight.

~~Response for final day mail~~

Its always a wonderful feeling to type the last day mails,one day all the people will wish and respond back. I took my time to type my last day mail a simple and short one. Here it goes

Dear Friends

This is my last day here. I cant believe its been more than four and half years I have started my career as fresher in the same company. I don't remember all the coding I have done, neither the documents I have prepared nor counted how many hours I have logged to work. But I always remember the wonderful moments interacting with you people,its you who have made my journey here memorable and wonderful.

I have decided to pursue my masters in public management.You can reach me at my personal ID... Do keep in touch.

with love
Sriram


There were lots of responses from simple wishes to sentimental responses. The best one was from my team mate who took over from me when I left Cochin!here it goes..

Dude,

What you said is exactly true. You will never be able to remember about any work stuff you did because you didn't do anything. :-)

But I am most certain that i am very much lucky to get you as a mentor. Otherwise I would have been a guy who worries about the code, docs and what people think of the work i am doin. But instead you turned me into a guy who don't care about the code, docs or work at all. I am caring about the big things in my life like family, friends and most importantly how to enjoy life :-)

I am not gonna like the company without Sriram. But I assure you that i will continue what you have started. Creating Chaos!!!!

Will miss you buddy and you can count on me to keep in touch. All the best for ur adventures in the city that never sleeps.

~~My last project~~

I never knew working in my last project would bring a change in my career, I still remember the first day in the project in the beginning of Jan 2009 when I got a transfer from Cochin to Chennai,it was long journey from my home to office ,meeting new people,new team,learning new stuffs were all good memories. More than the time spent in the office I do have a feeling I have spent even more time during the bus journeys.

One should be lucky enough to have good project lead,wonderful team mates and an understanding client.Its always a pleasure to work under such an atmosphere.I had all the three in my final project..I have gained a lot of knowledge in this project more than the work I do ,it was the work done by clients around the globe which interested me.I was well contented working there but fate had other plans.It was during one of the weekend support days in office ,I was checking few of my client's webpages and I came across a course offered in Columbia university. The more I did research about the course the more I liked it.Finally I decided to just apply for it without thinking about the end result.

Now I'm in my last few days of my first job just waiting for few formalities to be done.