First Name Goof Ups!!!

     Has it ever happened that you confused someone with someone else just because of the same first names? It happened with me…..and can you believe it….twice in the same day!!!!     I’ll try to tell you about both the incidents in all the details I can recollect.

So let me start with the first one. This Sunday I got a message from an unknown number saying “Hi How r u?” I just casually replied back saying “I’m fine…how about you. By the way, who are you?” The reply was “Hi I’m Kapil”.
Now Kapil happens to be my school friend, and just the day before I had got a message from him giving me his new number. I was surprised and so I replied “Cool yaar…so now you’ve got three cells” to which he replied “No dear, this is my new number”. I asked him where he was, because he’s studying in Ranchi, and the number seemed to be a local one. He said he was in Nagpur and asked me what I was doing in the evening.
That day, I had planned to attend the singing contest at VNIT as a part of their annual cultural fest “AAROHI”. I told this to him and he said that he’ll also come to VNIT but then later he told me that he wanted me to meet his “would be fiancé’” in a place free from noise pollution. He suggested we meet at Tuli. But that happens to be very far from my place, and so I called up to tell him that I won’t be able to make it.
To my surprise, I couldn’t recognize his voice….and I also told this to him. I don’t talk to Kapil everyday, but still, this couldn’t be him! Anyways, he also said that he didn’t recognize my voice, so I thought may be it’s because we’re talking after a really long time.
When I told him I couldn’t come to Tuli, he asked me to suggest a convenient venue and surprisingly, he immediately accepted my suggestion. I told my parents about this whole thing, and after a bit of persuasion they permitted me to meet him. Meanwhile, Kapil had told me that there’ll around 10 more people at the get together, so I asked him if I knew any of them. He said that’s a surprise and I know three of them. I felt relieved, but I was very confused…Why did he want me to meet his girl friend? Why did he call he “would be fiancé” instead of simply saying girl friend.
With all there question running through my head, I got ready and reached my car. Just then my sandal ruptured. I thought it was a bad omen, any way; I changed my sandals and left for the place. But all the way, I was feeling really nervous. Somehow I managed to reach the place, and as I had already anticipated, I was the first one to reach!
I enquired if there was a booking by Kapil’s name, but there wasn’t any! I waited for sometime and then I called him up. He said his friend met with an accident and so he won’t be able to make it that day. I felt really bad, didn’t know what to do. I told my mom about the incidence and went to VNIT.
Later when I came back home, my dad was pretty upset with Kapil. He said he should’ve at least informed me if the programme was cancelled. Although I didn’t quite agree with him, but still I thought may be he was right. He should have given me some indication….moreover, he didn’t even bother to call me afterwards.
It was then that something dawned on me. Could it be that this Kapil was some other Kapil. After all, I hadn’t confirmed his surname! Then I also recollected the fact that I couldn’t recognize his voice.
Oh no! This very thought sent a chill through my spine!! Oh god! Had I been talking to a stranger….even went out to meet him!! Oh no! This couldn’t be true! I just hoped this was just my misconception, and that it was really my friend Kapil that I’d been talking to all this while.
But Alas! I got a mail from my friend Kapil the very next day, asking me where I’d been all these days. Evidently, he hadn’t heard from me for months!
Then I decided to sort things out. I asked this other Kapil his full name and obviously it wasn’t what I had expected! After that I gave him a good thrashing (verbal one) and warned him not to send me any more messages!!
God! This was one of the strangest experiences of my life! How much I thank god for him not being able to make it that day! God knows how I would have handled the situation!
I still don’t understand how this guy managed to get my phone number, and how I could be foolish enough to not think there exist other Kapil’s in the world too!!
So guys and gals, please be careful before you take someone as your friend! For you never know, what the truth is!!

Proud to be 4 pt Someone!!!

On 4th January 2006, I completed 6 months at Persistent. This marked the end of my probation period and thus 'twas the time for my first appraisal- Probationary Appraisal!!!

I completed my self appraisal in December itself. Although I worked really hard, and always tried to put in my best, I wasn't sure what grade I'll get in my supervisory appraisal.

The simple reason for this being, that I hadn't been allocated to any project then. So I was really worried about the reason, why, even after completing 6 months at work, I was still on bench (atleast officially)!!

I had worked really hard for my mentor project, Zimbra, but still couldn't manage to be included in the actual team. Since the reason behind this is still unknown to me, I blame myself!! Probably I wasn't worthy enough, or had not been able to work hard enough to be able to prove my worth.

Then came the project idea Approva. I had done some work on this project earlier, and so I got an upper hand in the job. But still, the project idea couldn't materialize, and so I was left on Bench!!!

So, in all, even after spending 6 months in Persistent, I couldn't manage to get billed and this I thought was because of some fault of my own.

Moreover, in my objective setting, I was expected to join one of WAG, SAG or Food Committee and also I had to contribute some questions in the SAS question bank. I had been unbale to achieve both these objectives, and so I was pretty nervous about the whole Appraisal thing!!

One more thing that bothered me was that my appraisal would be done by our HR manager, since I was yet "to be allocated" any project. She wouldn't know much about my contributions to the two projects, and so, I was prepared to get the worst kind of supervisory appraisal!!!

But then, as they say, God is Great!!!

And so, much beyond my expectations, I got 4 points out of the maximum 5 in my Supervisory appraisal!!! This was really a pleasant surprise for me.

My HR manager had consulted both my previous managers, and fortunately both of them said only good things about me.

I want to thank all the people at Persistent for helping me in doing a good job and letting me get such a good appraisal....'cause I don't know what would happen otherwise!!

The New year has begun on a pleasant note and I hope the rest of the year also continues the same way! I just hope to get a project really soon, and start proving my worth!!!

Once I get a project...I'll really prove that I deserve the 4 pts I got and am really Proud to be 4 pt someone!!

My New Year Resolutions!!!!

Now that the New Year has finally arrived, it's time to make your resolutions.....and try and start implementing them as well....right?!!

Although, actually I didn't have any resolutions in mind on the 31st December, I think it's never too late to do that..isn't it? So just yesterday I decided to try and figure out somethings I'd like to do this year.....

The list is quite long.....dunno if you'll be at all interested in reading it....anyways.....I'll try to make it as short as I can...

The first thing I want to do this year, is to enjoy every moment of it....more than I did in 2005.

Then, I want to stop being rude to people...and try to understand their point of view.

The next thing I want to do is to make a lot of new friends. I want to help all the people in need.

I plan to start writing my diary once again..and this time religiously.....

Then I will try to learn cooking very well....and all the other household activities.

I also want to learn stitching and knitting..atleast the basics....

I will learn Java and revise VC++. I will also learn QTP, and deliver presentations for Tech Forum.

I will stop arguing unnecessarily with my parents and everyone else.

I will stop underestimating myself, and be proud of whoever I am.

In the end, by the end of next year, I'll try to be a better person afterall and make my parents proud of me!!!

Good Bye 2005!!!

2005 was the year when I gave my last engineering exams, the year when I left my old friends behind, moved out of college and started with a new life altogether!
2005 was indeed a very eventful year for me, and I've lived some of the best days of my life this year!
Now that 2005 has been so nice to me, why not give it a proper farewell!
The best way to do this, I feel, is to think about the wonderful things that happened last year....and thank god for making the last year so memorable!!!

End of College Days!!
As soon as 2005 began, all of us started worrying about just one thing! And that was....."the end of our college days". Very soon, we'd be separated from our best pals, possibly forever. All of us would move on our own career paths, leaving behind nothing but memories!
The first event in the year was our annual function "Pratishruti". Since this was our last year in college, we were all very enthusiastic about participating in the event. Some of my dearest pals Kanchi, Meera, Nivi, Kriti, Sakshi, Ruchi, Monica and myself, got together and danced to the tunes of "Bhoot hu Mai" with Kanchi being the main Bhoot! We had a lot of fun preparing for the event, and especially the choreography, which was handled mainly by Kanchi!
Then we had a Technical event in the college "Technovision" organised by the IEEE subchapter of our college. Me and Kanchi decided to present a paper, and for the first time in my life I managed to present a paper, with her, on the topic "Artificial Intelligence". Although, we didn't win, but still, the experience itself was very enriching and we had the satisfaction of presenting atleast one paper during college.
After that we started preparing for our Farewell. We had some crazy dress codes like Village day and Journalist day during the farewell week. Then there was the grand event- "The Farewell Party". The dress code for the girls was saree, and everyone looked absolutely gorgeous..except for Nivi and Kriti who played the spoilt sports by not following the dress code. We danced a lot, played a few games as well, and had lots of snaps taken. The farewell party rocked!
Then, was the time for the project completions, submissions etc. That was a really hectic time! But at the same time, what dawned on us was that, very soon all our fun days would be over. This was possibly the last time we would see some of our batchmates.....
Then there was my B'day party......had a wonderful time that day with all my friends.....I must say....it was the best B'day I've celebrated yet.....and will miss this day on all my next b'days!
After that it was time for our final exams. Very soon everything would change forever....but anyways, we worked really hard and gave our exams well. On the last day we had a "Graduation Party". That was the last time I met many of my friends....was a very emotional moment....but we enjoyed that day as well!!
That was the end of our college days......all the good times, all the fun, all the tensions of studies, projects, everything was over. That day, Our lives changed forever......

The Trip Down South!!
After exams were over, I went for a trip to Kodaikanal with my family. It was after almost 10 years that we were going for an outing, and I was really excited about the whole thing!
I went to Hyderabad, met my cousin Mridul, for the first time there....Then we moved to Chennai to meet Sanjeev mama, where we came to know about Vinay mama's engagement.
After that we reached Kodaikanal. Kodai is an absolutely breath taking place, with the beautiful Nilgiris all around. We just fell in love with the place at first sight and didn't want to leave it at all. But as they say, all good things must come to an end, and so did our trip. But not before we had seen the Brindavan Gardens of Mysore, the ISKCON Temple of Bangalore and the Ramojji Film city of Hyderabad.
The entire trip was like a dream come true for us, and we'll always cherish the memories!!

Joining Persistent
Immediately after we came back from the trip, I was supposed to join Persistent. This was what I had been waiting for all my life....Now I could reach out for the skies and make my dreams come true!!
Unfortunately, I was the only one from RKNEC to join Persistent that day, and so, I was very nervous. But the people at Persistent gave us a really heart warming welcome.
We had a party for all the new joinees in the evening and so, inspite of being an introvert, I started making friends right from the first day, and within a week, all my nervousness was gone!

Vinay Mama's wedding
Even before I could complete one week at Persistent, I had to take leave for Vinay Mama's wedding. Vinay mama is my youngest mamu, and so I was really excited about the wedding. I did a lot of shopping, met my cousins, played pranks and basically enjoyed a lot at the wedding.

Induction Training
By the time I came back from the wedding, our training had begun. We learnt a lot of things like Linux, PERL, RDBMS, QTP, C, C++ and Java during the one and a half month long training.
During the training period itself we had a party. It was thrown by our seniors who had completed one year at persistent. It was a DJ party, and we danced and danced and danced away to glory! That day, was probably the first time that I spent so much time with Pragya, as I danced with her all the time. We had a great time that day and were wondering if this type of parties would be very frequent in Persistent. But unfortunately, we haven't had a single DJ party after that yet!
During the training I made a lot of friends......Pooja, Ruchi, Amita, Pragya,Huzaifa, Nadeem, Saurabh, Vaibhav, Tejas, Uday and Tirtho! Tirtho and I became real good friends, but unfortunately he moved to Pune after the training was completed. Fortunately, we still manage to keep in touch through net!
Once our training was over we were allotted Live projects to work on and were assigned Mentors to guide us. Pragya and I joined Zimbra, and here too we made a lot of new friends. The Zimbra team was really helpful and the entire team helped us out with everything, especially Sudeep, KK, Jayesh, Prajakta, Vinay, Shankar and Poonam were a great help!

Reverie
Once our training was over, all of us, freshers had to put up a show for Persistent. The event was called Reverie, and we all participated actively to make it a success. I myself sung on stage for the first time in my life and am really grateful to the Persistent Employees for bearing with me that day!!! Just joking.....I don't think I was that bad....or was I????Do let me know!
Anyways, the show on the whole was a hit and we all had a great time putting it up.

Persistent Week
Persistent Nagpur completed two years on 3rd November. So after Diwali, we started preparing for the celebrations.
We had week long celebrations which included dress codes and various types of competitions. I participated actively in the events. We worked hard for the Cubicle decoration contest, though we didn't win the event. Anyways, we won the Antakshari. Moreover, amongst the dress codes, the most enjoyable was the Funky day wherein the entire team of Zimbra got dressed up in the most imaginable way, and moreover we were roaming around the entire office in that outfit the whole day!
We had a prize distribution ceremony on the last day, followed by dinner. We had a great time during the Persistent Week and hope that such events keep coming up more often!

After this, the year wasn't quite eventful. I went to Rajasthan for a small trip and after I came back I worked on an Oracle related project. We also got training for the same, but unfortunately, the project couldn't materialize, and so now I'm on Bench, waiting for another project, and not doing much except for writing Blogs!
Anyways I'm glad that 2005 was such a wonderful year of my life and though I can't hope the same for the New Year, 'cause you see "All the treasures of earth cannot bring back one lost moment", so all you can do is cherish those memories and hope the best for the future!
So here I am, wishing all those reading this blog,

A Very Happy and Prosperous New Year!
May this new year open new horizons for you and may all your dreams come true!!!!