Sirohi to Switzerland- List or no List.

Studying in switzerland seems to be right things falling in place at right time. This journey has triggered me to think of my journeys. So far, I never actively planned on what I'd do if I go to any place. The so called bucket list. I do not have any such. I wanted to move out of Hyderabad. I shifted to Rajasthan. Never for once, I had a plan or list of places to explore the state. Organically, I travelled a lot of places and I missed a lot of places as well. Chittorgarh, Pratapgarh and few other places remain unexplored. I do not miss them as I can't chase to touch upon all the places. In the first place, the question, 'why traveling?' has helped me to be at peace with the way I'm traveling. 

I travel to indulge myself in new experiences. There's a lot new, if I decide to get out of my door. Visiting a place and seeing some tourist spots would not tick any of the places.  I wish to move to a place. Live there, learn the customs, culture, appreciate it and relocate. That's the kind of traveling I like. I may not cover a lot of places in my life. I'm okay with it. 

The thought of moving to Switzerland sounds same to me. Shift to Switzerland, live there and welcome new experiences. As I call all the places I lived as home, Geneva would be my new home. 

Movie- Viduthalai Part-1

I've been waiting to watch Vetrimaran's Viduthalai. As soon as I got to know about it's OTT's release, I began watching it. Vetrimaran's movies are more like a novel.  

This story is based on the conflict and violence between people's army and police in 1980s. 

Soori, the protagonist, is a  newly joined constable who believes in doing the right thing despite the ordeals one can face. He disobey's his higher official's orders to save an old lady. His morals and ethics land him in all kind of troubles.  All the attempts to teach him a lesson by his higher official turns futile,as well as moves the movie forward. As this movie has one more part, most of the characters' arc seems to be completed in the second part. Bhavani sree plays a tribal girl who supports people's army and also eventually falls in love with Soori. She acts as a pivot in the episode of Vijaysethupathi, people army's leader. 

Interestingly, there's epilogue to the movie. We get to see the glimpses of part-2. Eagerly waiting for the 2nd part. There seems to be dearth of sequel movie releases in upcoming 2 years. 

Corporate Lessons- The Last Days in the Organisations

Professionally, this is the second place I'm quitting from. I resigned from Tata Consultancy Services to pursue fellowship at Azim Premji Foundation. Now, I'm leaving Azim Premji Foundation to pursue higher studies and work on my long term goals. 

Last days in the organisations always have been hectic and I always worked till the last day with deadlines and major projects. Two tasks, I felt important when we're leaving an organisation. 

1) Share Gratitude.
2) Invest time and energy to process the change.

Corporate Lessons- Capture the Learning

 The life lines of any company is the knowledge the organisations holds in many ways. In 1960s NASA has spent billions of dollars wasting on re educating the work force. Knowledge transfer would've saved all this money. 

Whenever an employee is leaving, make an effective plan for the knowledge transfer, capture the learning and make the transition as smooth as possible to avoid a lot of dependencies. 

Sirohi to Switzerland- The Core Subject & it's complexity

Every time, I'm asked "where are you going?" I keep my answers at the minimum. The conversations always turn into interrogative mode. 

What are you going to study?

Masters in International Development Studies. 

What did you study?

Bachelors in Mechanical Engineering. 

Why are switching your stream. What will happen to Mechanical Engineering then?

It's not about switching. Every thing would help at the end of the day, I begin to explain. 

After listening to me for 5 minutes on how we can't end up learning in Silos, they come up with questions like, Still Mechanical Engineering and Development Studies doesn't match. 

I feel like saying, "Sorry, I'm betraying Mechanical Engineering by studying a humanities course.

Eventually, people around me are trying to find logic and sequence in my actions and decisions. Least I'm bothered to follow logic and sequence in life, as I do not feel natural to think through those logics and sequences. 

Movie- Ponniyan Selvan-2

There are few movies I plan to watch it on big screen. Maniratnam's movies are one of many. Preet accompanied me for the movie. We quickly managed to get tickets on the first day and were off to the show.

Ponniyan Selvan-2 begins with a recap of part 1 with Chiranjeevi's voice over. The movie rises to it's peak not with any major dramatic scenes yet,with a clear sketch of characters seeking revenge, power, love & grief. Looks like, I'm the only person who attended the movie without doing any research on Kalki's book or some reviews. I'm glad I didn't do any of the either. I was surprised with few story elements. 

Aishwarya Rai, Trisha captured the screen with their aura. The visuals are quite appealing. Except for the war aerial scene in the climax, I was impressed by each and every visual. Every visual is beautiful choreography of color, form and space.A visual of Karthi carrying Vikram amidst blaze of fire is etching. Also, the screens where multiple characters exchange their dialogues. Very cleverly directed. Each and every technician of the movie, take a bow. 

I'd definitely watch it again, may be only on big screen!

Poetry- Nice Poems

Thanks S for sharing these poems. Loved reading these stuff.

Movie- Paathu Thala

Studio Green is promising with it's thrillers. This movie is a disappointment. May be I expected too much from this movie. Little did I know that Gowtham Karthik is the protagonist of the movie rather than Simbu. 

Stories on Wheels - Delhi train chase

To begin my Uttarakhand trip, I had to get on to the train for Delhi from Jaipur. Early morning, sleep deprived and I book a cab to reach the station. Having a few minutes in hand, I get a cab who agrees to drop me but, takes his own sweet time to reach home and arrives after giving him a lot of directions. While I got 2 minutes in hand, I reach the station and witness the train arriving into the station. This is third or fourth time where I reached the station, just in time. When does the last minute train chases ever stop?

Movie- Top Gun

This is a classic! 

I heard a lot about Top Gun but never tried watching it until now. Glad I watched it at home in big screen. Loved the colors, hues of the sky.  The aesthetics and styling of  Tom Cruise & Kelly McGills is simply classy. Would love to watch it again!

Bonding over Ruskin Bond

 S and I were involved in conversations about Ruskin Bond and shared how we met him and what's our journey with his writings. I read his books only after I got out of school. S remembers reading Bond mostly during schooling days only. 

Both of us met Bond in 2019. S in June and myself in August. Mussoorie was just not a tourist destination. It's more than a place.  It's a place where Bond walked, where he churned all his stories, where he captured the life. 

Both of us have books of Book of Simple Living. S got the book, "Treasury of Stories for Children," signed by Bond. That's S favorite's book. Even in schooling, the book remained as favourite of S. So the book was devoured all through out. On their return journey to home from Dehradun in train, S read the book reminscing the good old times. S reread it several times. And while they had to get down from train, S leaves the book on the berth and forgets to pick it up. Not for once, S forgets anything in train. Not a bottle, neither a small rubber band but S forgot the book. The autographed book. 

I can imagine, how painful it is to lose a few of these gems.  

Bangalore Diaries- The English Speaking Taxi Driver

Gig economy seems to be the reality now. 

I booked a rapido and a gentleman called up and spoke in impeccable English, requesting a few travel details. As soon as I got onto the bike, he offered me helmet and then we were crusing through Bangalore traffic, sharing our stories. 

The rider is local to Raipur and moved to Bangalore, a lot of years ago, due to Dad's transfer. He completed his studies in St.John's College and got placed in an IT company. 

Currently, he's working as software Engineer in that IT company. Morning & Evening, he accepts rides through Rapido, if they're on his route. In that way, he gets the fuel money through the rides. Rapido seems to make things very easy. Good for the riders and the pillion riders.  Thanks mate for the easy ride. 

Bangalore Diaries- The Early party goers

Shubha, Rajashri, Anil & I decided to chill out and headed to a pub early in the evening. We were the first comers while the waiters and chefs were still settling and doing nothing. 

As we caught up over conversations, we didn't notice how the whole place got filled up. CSK vs RCB was full on and we just were focused on our conversations and had a great time. Good way to start the trip in Bengaluru. 

Bangalore Diaries - Painting Spree

Got some canvases, paints for Ananya's birthday. It's so nice to see the kids playing with the paint. Ananya is totally into the theme of sillhouettes. Mayank was totally into the task of playing with colors. Addu wants to play but he's unable to play by the rules of his parents-Do not waste paint. If they get to see my playing with the paint, I wonder what kind of suggestions I'd have received from them. 

Movie- Balagam

Brilliant writing. Picking on a simple story, emphasizing on family relations, the movie came out well. In the beginning of the movie, I was doubtful of how a selfish protagonist would become responsible in the end. It came out well. 

Colorless- Back to Favourite Spot

 I spent 10 hours crunching numbers on excel.  I was getting edgy with little lag on the laptop. I didn't wanted to take stress of all the work but, I seemed to be conditioned to finish the tasks on time. I finally took a break from the work and got onto the canvas. As I sat with the canvas and color, I began to play with it and I knew I was being in the present. My body feels different when I paint. I want to listen to my body and keep painting. I painted till I felt like writing this blog. What do I really want to do?