Discovered Vijayawada; Now Back in Hyderabad !!!

On Sunday the 29th.

3 :55 PM Run all the way to the 10th platform, to learn that the train was delayed by 20 minutes, BUT Errr NO it came 40 minutes late. Well, somethings the westerners will tease us eternally about. I was just deaf to all the comments that followed.

Took an AC couch back to Hyderabad from Vijayawada which resembled nothing less to a general compartment, I was a lot more aware of burping uncles, the tobacco smells, chips packets thrown under the seat (coz under the seat it is safe ???) crying babies, specially coz of the company I was in aswell, maybe if it were all Indians with me, I would have felt less nauseous (???) all through the trip controlled the urge to puke, and no way I could have gotten out of the compartment to get fresh air as both sides were filled with standing passengers whose seats were not confirmed. Shared 2 seats between 3 people...

I just don't remember the last 2 hours of the ride, and spent the last 5 agonising minutes with people banging there bags against me... with the smell of pits of sticky aunties and stinky loo's.

Got back home, Mom is Happy, Pythogorianne runs fever !!!

Stepped out of the station and looked for the Auto guys, NO Ma'am out of Luck, Aaj tho Bandh hai, My luck took an "off" Finally find an auto guy after 20 minutes of standing there with my heavy back pack, and heavier hand-bag filled with laptop and papers from the research. Agreed to pay him 90/- to go to west marredpally first So I could pick my Dog up and then to east marredpally (Auto Guy keeps the 100 note I offered, Penalty That I didn't mention Mahindrahills. Glad to be back Home. Pepsi too.

But After a real good night's sleep, I woke up at 5 am like I was doing all the 10 days while I was in Vijayawada, and when I realised I had nothing lined up, no taking care of the logistics, no Interpretations, no endless spread sheets, No Emily (she is the best person to work with So focused and Just so very well planned) No one looking lost because I was on phone with my Dad, I felt pretty weak, and super unproductive.

So to resume my trip to you guys,

20th Nov: Mom woke me up at 5 and pushed me through the 40 minutes coz the train was at 6:05, She walked me down and it was still super dark, chilly, and NOTHING ON THE STREETS, NO AUTOS, and I live in Mahindrahills a place where it is difficult to find autos at 9 am on Monday's for a decent fare. And There was the messenger from Allah, My Musalman brother from the 1st floor, starting his bike, I wouldn't even have thought about it, but Mom just asked him as soon as he came out of the gate "please Bhayya auto tuk chod do" and He went to a mosque close to the railway station, dropped me at the mosque, and said " Happy journey" That was the only exchange of words between us. (I was filled with a new respect for my 1st floor brother, Only I am leaving this place in less than a month, sad isn't it?)

I get on train at 6:04 and it moves, Emily looked super RED, I knew why. The train ride (it seems to me now) went very fast with my naps, transmission (Hari Kunzru's) and chats with Emily + our exchange of notes on what is to be done.

1:00pm We get off on Vijayawada station, With the Board "HYDERABADI BIRYANI" welcoming us. I call the regional Manager to inform we arrived, he only speaks Telugu along with every one else we met through the course of our stay in Vijayawada, even those who entertained us, So all communication had to pass through me, I liked it, and I was more sure then that the Translation and Interpretation is the field I would love to work with the occasional dash of teaching and script writing or adventure sports instructing or film buffing or traveloguing or science fiction criticizing... (wait My list is endless sorry I used the word "SURE" too hastily)

1:15 The regional manager arrives and BOOM, The Boombastic schedule takes over.

The pattern of the day remained the same through out the visit "Branch visits, interviews with the staff, and then meeting the clients to interview them. Breakfasts Lunches Walks Tete a Tete's Shoppings and 2 movies found their place in between the super packed schedules.

With Me visiting various villages in Krishna district, I feel lucky now that I got to see my state so well, It is indeed a Beautiful place. I prayed to Mangalgiri Narsimha swamy to bless my family, and Everyone I know or have met even if it was for 5 minutes in my life. I went to Hanuman Junction, I thought the Hanuman there looked so primeval in a statue made of all silver, longest tail and best of all curly black hair. Hanuman was just reminding me of My Dad Ashwin and Gopi. Strangely that night I had a dream with Thatha and Hanuman. Maybe that was Hanuman's way of reminding me "hey look who you haven't thought of in a while".

Amidst my 5am to 7am or 8pm schedules, I managed to visit Kanaka Durga in Vijayawada. The weavers in Mangalgiri and Pedana, fish auctioning in fish market Machilipatnam; 6km walks on the treadmill combined with ab exercises... I just have soooo much more to write here, BUT I just will tell you more in person, Consider this a preview to my HIGH DECIBEL NARRATION of what I experienced.

You are my pillars of Support, No matter how far or close you are living now physically I love you all The MOST. I just want to tell you that I am learning the term "unconditional" from Pepsi. I adhere to exercise that.

PS: That last bit got way too senti than I wanted it, maybe coz I am running High fever (??)

Arya-2 a True Tribute to MJ

Yesterday I watched Arya-2, An experience of watching it in Vijayawada heightened the feel of the movie 3 folds more.

Saturday Night show, in a small theater called Jai hind with a brilliant seating capacity, the fans fixed on the walls beside oscillating with the same super enthusiasm as Allu Arjun's fans. A good Telugu film in a Telugu dominant city (where even Muslims or Christian's speak Pure Telugu unlike in Hyderabad where we can tell apart the religion of a certain person with the language he speaks) was an awesome experience.

The whistles just wouldn't stop through the songs. Impromptu applauds for Bunny man's moon walking as a tribute to MJ. I appreciate the many variations that the choreographers came up with moon-walking as base. Ohh MAN, I really enjoyed the dance and the raunchy song ringa ringa with a western lady clad in Indian vestments...

I was never a great fan of Allu, but with Arya-2, I turn myself in, I SAY Way to GO Bunny man, You kick ass.

Day 4 of the Field visits

Day 1 : Mylavaram

Day 2 : Ibrahimpatnam

Day Free : Sunday... Visit to Mangalagiri narsimha swamy Temple and Visit to the mangalagiri cotton Looms

Day 3 : 2 Local branches in Vijayawada

Day 4 : Visit to Machilipatnam Branch, Visit to the beautiful beach after the interview, Sighting the fishermen empty their nets and auctioning the fish.

Lunch at RK, inquiry about the Kalamkari and back to Spandana office for a brief interview with the CA's. Drive to Padena and visit the whole sale shop from where Dastakar Andhra gets its supply to sell in retail. and The grand great visit to the work shops to witness the amazing manufactering of the clothes from when they are threads.

Lilac time travel

So Here I am in Vijayawada, I visited 2 villages Mylawaram and Ibrahim patnam so far, This place is just 6 hours by train but it feels like time travel into 1996, There is just one major road MG Road, that is close to comparable to SD Road or SP Road in Hyderabad, but all the other places remain to be developped.

When I was taking this project up, with MIT and was told about villages, I expected to travel miles through a CITY every day in order to get to a village, But it is quite the contrary, 12 to 30 KM radius in all directions from Vijayawada there are soo many villages.

I am going to Mangalagiri tomorrow to see panakala narsimha swamy and cotton weavers and their shops tomorrow. That is my plan.

Shaking the Tail feathers...

I have been working on some translations for center for micro finance, and was so thrilled to discover various aspects that are involved when working with a translation from English to Telugu.

First off it is a survey that requires a lot of research on the terms, and second off the names that involve the translation are of some really interesting people working in the field, like Rachel Glennerster.

My previous work of translation involved Telugu to English and that was easy as I could just use my own net-book to work, but Telugu meant finding a reliable DTP person, Of which I had zero knowledge as to how it worked, So I finished translating a 80+30 page translation and took my piece of translation to a DTP guy after asking a friend where to find them. I though it would take an hour to type the Document out in Telugu, so I tell my client, That the document will be submitted that evening.

I go away happily having lunch with my mom and gala-wanting. I go at the time the document was promised to be DTP'ed and delivered... and what I see there is a HORROR, Just a single page done and the cursor was blinking at me. I ask him about what he can actually deliver and he says "Tomorrow come and get it by 12 30" A HUGE doubt packed with an apprehension takes over me and I call my client and tell her that I need more time.

Next day with a new hope I get to the DTP at 11 30, hoping to see him do my last pages... BUT what I see there instead is HORROR number 2, The DTP bacha (kid) was not there and the owner of the shop sipping on his tea and gives me a look that read "what the hell are you doing here"... and says to me "BUT you were not supposed to be here until 12 30 nah" ? I knew that the document was not done, I knew that.

I go and find an other guy... He looked like he knew what he was talking about and I asked him how long it might take and he says It will take a day. So after taking more time with my client I go back home. Next morning I call the DTP man and He asks me to come by 4pm and I convey same message to Client. I go at 4pm, and HORROR number 3 was waiting for me there... THE Guy there lost my translation that I wrote down in Telugu. I didn't know what to do... I was IN SUCH a STATE That I didn't even yell at the GUY, I just walked off from there to find an other DTP Guy, and Show him my translation that I did, Telugu written in Roman script.(Thank god I have Ashwin to caution me with work related concerns) My DTP man number 3 doesn't read English, So he asks me to write all that down in Telugu... And I think oh Cool I'll take a print out of the document and write telugu right below and TO MY HORROR Number 4 The site through which I received the document "yousendit.com" keeps the doc only for 7 days and after which it discards the document... So had to go get the document again from the client, I go there, get the document on my hard disk and go to the DTP and viola he starts off his work at 4... very deft and knows Telugu pretty well, working on page maker... I heaved a sigh of relief thinking I found a really good guy, So he was working with a dexterity that the other 3 DTP guys didn't have. So I tell him that I'll go and be back by when he would be finished. I tell him how urgently I needed this work, And he nods, and says you come back tomorrow morning at 9.

20 pages in hand, and Happy to deliver at least something... I go with a swing in my step.... BUT little I knew that there were copies wedding invitation in between. I discover that only the next morning and freak out flip out and Go to the DTP guy number 4 after regaining consciousness from my Horror number 5. I get there and see that my DTP guys office was still not open, BUT he said 9 o clock :(

I ask my friend and class mate from Asa bhanu Japanese center to come and help me by giving me moral support. My Class mate and friend Karthik San gets there at 10 30 but the DTP guy was still no where to be seen, I try calling him, he doesn't take my calls, I just didn't know what was happening. So I go back home around 1, and I get a call from the DTP man, asking me to pay him for 20 pages... WTH ??? I go there and show him the 20 pages that he copied and he says "that was a mistake I'll correct it" and he takes his time with the work, because this man is into shares, he just is too busy until 3 30 everyday checking what is happening in the stock market. I didn't think I could let him waste anymore time than we/he already wasted... I ask him to suggest any of his friends who would like to do this work, he suggests his friend Raju... Who lives further inside... I observed that the more interior I went the cheaper the prices got, from 65 to 50 to 45.

I went looking for Raju, he was not there and I see a board right beside that said Pragathi DTP and Printers... a small place that smells so strongly of paint, and there is a huge dog tied up inside. Nagnath a gutka chewing super skinny owner looked pretty reliable and I just thought if my insticnt lets me down this time I'll never ever trust it again, so I decided to give some work to this guy and see how he fares, He as promised finished the 2 pages I gave in 4 hours, and in the mean time Raju had come too, so I had this brilliant Idea, that I should just give Raju some papers too... So I gave Raju 2 papers and he did them fast enough, I felt some semblance of movement, one day 4 pages felt like an achievement.

20 pages done so far, proof read and was used for training. More pages to go...

In all This I have seen how our guys operate, they are not bad people, but they are people with highly bad dicsiples, they live always off schedules. and Almost always never keep up the time they promise. I can't correct it anyway so I feel I have no right to crib so much about it. Yet I couldn't help ranting. I had to vent out my frustration somewhere.

India and the rest of the world...

I asked about 3 of my American friends whether or not they saw Mackenna's Gold and it seems none of the 3 saw it, Such a surprise to my poor Indian brain, because it was soo popular in India and I went to see it with my dad twice. To me it felt like an Indian not knowing the movie Devdas new or Old

And somehow MJ's strange acts never touched how much India liked him...

In India we are like this ONLY !!!

Something something

I asked about 3 of my American friends whether or not they saw Mackenna's Gold and it seems none of them saw it, Such a surprise to my poor Indian brain.

New

I started a NEW Blog on all the places to go where you can eat or shop for most basic needs, and find good deals, also on some spots to chill, I super take pride in announcing to have seen most unusual spots in Hyderabad (Courtesy SOME WONDERFUL People) that are not Known to everyone, So I would Love to pay it forward and share my experiences with you would love to be your guide to my most favorite CITY IN THE WHOLE World, My Home.

Also I am glad to have found some brilliant places in other cities as well, I start this blog today to show my LOVE to my city no matter where I go and wherever I may settle in my tomorrow, Hyderabad remains to be my heart, then my other organs are Chennai and Mumbai, I love these 3 cities very dearly... The later 2 I only know them as a visitor and would love to live there for year at least...

A chronicle to not forget How amazing these places are... come rejoice with me, My first post on my 3rd blog took birth today... check out http://spotforshoppersandothers.blogspot.com/

I am sure most of you who are from Hyderabad must have already visited these places, and those of you from other cities I hope to discover your cities and find those hidden brilliances in them...

I am optimistic and hoping to keep this blog updated and add all my FAV places in there and also revisit them from time to time and see them evolve...

Hope you will enjoy going to these places I have been to and find what I found in these places...

Cheers to new beginnings and Sharing the cares :)

Snippets From My head...2

I like to walk in new streets, and to smile at strangers... I crave for a something, something better, something new... I want to meet those who will look at me curiously and have a string of questions. I want to respond to questions like where are you from? What do you eat there ? How do you like this ? or How do you do that ? God this desire now is almost Physical...

The ambivalence

It is my new favorite word.

I watched a film this morning on borderline personality disorder and I was thinking which one of us in this world is sane ? I see all the disorders in all people. When I said the same to a friend She said, anything that begins to cause trouble is INSANITY, and anything within the limits is SANITY. So how do we know what the limits are and our threshold to tolerate those who are still within limits?

So going back to Ambivalence, I read a brilliant post titled "of all the faces i have" by a co-blogger and I just couldn't help contemplate on those lines myself. It is so true how we just succumb at different occasions, not being able to voice the most simple things out of concern, of not wanting to hurt the person, or some strange reason we have told ourselves.

I read up on Pomeranian, it is the breed of dog I have, and something that I spoke to A about this 3 years ago walking on Korean streets, came back to me "That small dogs are the ones that bark a lot and make so much noise, acting like if they were not on a leash they would go and rip the big dog into pieces, but when you notice a small dog that is not on a leash, it's tail is in between it's legs.

So connecting this to an other thread of my thought; I feel, (It is just a feeling and observations mind you .) That people who are a lot weaker are the ones who criticize, call names first, get personal. where as the ones that are self assured I notice don't have too say much, they don't need to put others down in order to prove their worth. Or push themselves.

Yeah Ambivalence is omnipotent, I don't really know if God is...

My Doggie has a HUGE NAPOLIAN COMPLEX I love her Still.

Heart...

How we forget It until it starts to beat so hard that we feel it in our throat, or it collapses one day with too much pressure...

If Not It is Just beating on 90 beats a minute... hidden somewhere I don't even know on the left side of my chest or in the middle... BUT Right now I feel it right in my throat at times and the others in my head... and some other times in my belly...

I guess a loved one is compared to a HEART because of that... How we go about doing our thing and He/She is always there somewhere hidden away in the background, their presence may not be one of the most noticed but most important to survive...

Beat on my Heart :D