My visit to Assemly line

I kept smiling at my excitement while I was wearing a white lab coat and changing our shoes with slippers. Within few minutes I was standing in front of a gate that opened up to assembly line of India’s leading wrist watch maker. There were 100s of ladies wearing lab coats and white caps sitting quietly in a line and working over the components that were just passing over moving conveyor belt. We saw the complete manufacturing of precious watches step by step. This was quite interesting. This wasn’t the first time I was watching an assembly line, but the best of all that I have seen in past. The manufacturing started with a small needle and ended up in complex looking wrist watch.

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The factory is located over the beautiful hills of Baddi, a place in Himachal Pradesh. The whole area was so scenic that it gave us impression that who will work here with concentration. We had lunch that comprised of simple ‘rajma chawal’, ‘dal chawal’ etc. Despite after travelling such a distance and getting straight to business, we weren’t feeling a bit lethargic. This might be the effect of environment or the pressure of winding up the things in 2 days but it was fun. In the night I travelled back to Chandigarh on a very disturbed road, but next day, I could appreciate the beauty of the valley accompanying our way to Baddi.

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Anyways, after spending some good moments in Baddi, now I am back to old shit place, Noida. The same old routine is going to start from Monday.
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Ciao.

Official bachelorhood starts..

19-Sep-10, this day reminded me of the time when I used to be struggling for getting a shelter in various places in Hyderabad. Today I was standing again in front of house broker and shelling out big bucks out of my pocket just to get a room for myself. Time repeats itself and reveals scars every time.

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Today morning I got up with an agenda in mind: I had to find a nice, comfortable 1-bedroom house for my stay at Noida for 4 months. I stuffed my tummy with heavy breakfast and got ready to explore the options. My cousin accompanied me in this journey of finding shelter. Yes, my company doesn’t allow me to live in a hotel for 4 months; otherwise it might get bankrupt because of me..!!! Anyways we were waiting for the broker near a metro station while it was raining all the time. All of a sudden a mid-aged guy wearing old helmet, chewing tobacco and riding on historic LML scooter halted in front of us. He introduced himself as a broker and ensured us that he’ll prove to be a god for us. Suddenly he was surprised and realized that we were three and the vehicle was one. The basic equation went wrong in our first meeting. But hey, haven’t you seen ‘Flop Show’, or more recently ‘Swades’??? I hope now you realized what I am talking about..!!! I was smiling continuously for 5 minutes without embarrassment as there was no side mirrors in the scooter. Forget about mirrors, there wasn’t any headlight in this creature..!! With respect to ‘Flop Show’, I was playing ‘Jaspal Bhatti’..!! (or Shah Rukh in case of Swades)

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Somehow we managed to reach one house where there was an independent room over the terrace. The owner looked so sophisticated that I couldn’t see a smile over his face, even while discussing the rent. Later I came to know that he was doctor, and then I felt pity for his patients. We passed on couple of hours while looking at various kinds of houses. Basically it’s very difficult to find a 1-BHK house and that too in a good locality and manageable price. We also saw a PG that was filled with different kinds of people and stuffed with smell of books, laundry and what else. Then I realized that time has passed and I am no longer fit for adjusting in PG. We also saw one house the size of which was much less than my hostel at IIT or Chandigarh. The owner was asking me `4000 for providing me a cot that was 75% of my length, a table that was barely standing, and area that was slightly more than me as it’s diagonal. This was crazy. If Divya would have visited this room, she would have killed me..!!! Anyways I saved my ass out of this place and specifically told our to-be God that this would not go with me. With heavy heart we went to see one room that belongs to a typical Punjabi family. There was one room- independent, with attached bathroom and a separate entrance. The looks weren’t really impressive but I could sense that it could fit my budget and I can spend some months in this one. I had no really a choice but to finalize this house, and here we go…big bucks out of my small pocket..!!! Since then we have been running, to check out from hotel, find a auto, reach my new room etc etc. As I came back to this room and lay over the bed, I could sense that struggle for house never depletes over time. The sad part is that I am married and we have large big house in Hyderabad..

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Anyways, this is part of life.

My Journey-new, tough and interesting

It’s been close to 24 hours that I have been into this room for a while before I realized that it’s evening outside, again.
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Last one week was full of experiences and happenings that were quite new and expected. Here I am in Noida for some time for project related work and working for a luxurious watch maker (my hopes of getting some consolation gifts were put on hold on 2nd day itself..!!). Noida no longer is isolated land that used to be in our times. Our times ‘bole to’ 10 years back. Now you can find the traffic jam right as you enter Noida. In fact it seems that you pay toll tax to enter into a jam..!!. But I can’t resist smiling at the work done by Mayawati to decorate the entire place with elephants, pillars and idols of ‘maaniniye sri Kanshi Ram ji’. Great, actually I can figure out that I have entered the state of ‘mahamaya’.
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Working in north Indian state is altogether different. You are no longer faced with language barriers and especially in terms of food and accommodation. In fact I was quite amused looking at guys ordering south Indian dishes with excitement. They don’t know actually they have ordered something that has been in abundance somewhere in south. The place has changed a lot. I can sense that girls are feeling much safe and secured while working in these places. This is with assumption that amount of clothes girls wear is inversely proportional to the security they feel. The moment I had landed at Delhi airport, I felt that something is wrong with the location, maybe I had landed at Mumbai rather than Delhi. But yes culture shock really shocked me well.
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It may not be the politics or the politicians but Delhi Metro had definitely changed the face of Delhi. And after looking at the way passengers travel in these trains with composure, with i-pods stuffed in ears, wearing 'haulter-necks' and ascending the metro without hassles, I can definitely appreciate Mr. Shreedharan for his invaluable contribution. But on the other hand what makes me feel down to the earth is the same old story of 'auto rickshaw walas'. They haven’t changed a bit. In fact they look more animated and interesting than before. All of them are legally devoid of meters and so the rates are totally upto them. Anytime their mouth is stuffed with ‘paan’, and so you need to be extra conscious while listening to their theories.
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Delhi being the most populous city of this country used to host many of our relatives, but somehow I feel lonely sometimes. I know the reason as well. It’s been more than 3.5 years that I had stayed in Hyderabad and more than a year, in Hyderabad with my wife, that now I feel a sense of inertia while leaving for a different place for such a long time. I know 4 months is certainly not a very long time, considering that I am still in India and I can anytime fly down to my place. But the limitations are there intact. Maybe the inertia now is more on emotional side rather than being tactical.
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Anyways let’s hope for better..