Sri's Musings from Bangalore

…or should I say just a “Medley of Myriad Thoughts and Events” Monday?

Note: This is an old mail/episode I described - sent to my "friends list" on Thur. Mar 4th, 2010 - later forwarded to "more friends" on a Fri with title changed to "TGIF - Thank God It's Friday..."

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Dear friends,

… Well, meant to send this on the Monday before last, and it’s already the Thu – 1.5 weeks later…

It’s been a while since I sent out my last narrative - nearly two months ago (and that was just my NY greeting and all). 62 days (to be precise!) have just whizzed by, and I felt the urge to send out another of my “group mails”. So, here goes…

The Friday before last (on Feb 19^th), I took home two laptops from work. Well, after 4 years of working here (yes, this past Feb 26^th was 4 years since I joined NetApp!), I finally got a new laptop J It was a “refresh” from the IBM ThinkPad model T44 to the T400 from Lenovo (what with the Chinese in-roads and all that sort of thing – IBM selling off this “ThinkPad” to Lenovo)! A hundred times the model #, with some order of magnitudes of (CPU) power and space (more GBs!) I guess. I had so much data on my disk that I thought I’d complete my data transfer to the new machine over the weekend – hence the heavy load back home on Friday (Feb 19^th) and back to work on Monday morning (Feb 22^nd), even with an aching shoulder L . It was not needed, but I did it anyway – carrying that stuff back and forth I mean. Could have just used the 8GB pen drive I bought at the P3 Store (Paper Print Pens) store in EGL SW park and transferred my data the easy way!

Well, this past Monday morning (Feb 22^nd), I did not want to walk any extra or stand in the bus with that heavy load. So, I took an auto from Koramangala where my husband drops me off each morning (for me to venture to work – the remaining 2.1 km of our 14 km morning commute). I continue to commute by the bus and auto. But, just as Murphy’s law would have it, I lost my badge on the road and had to go look for it. This was amidst peak hour heavy traffic on the Intermediate Ring road – which has to be experienced – cannot be explained. A picture will not capture the commotion either (it’s a calling for a U-tube video post). Anyway, I don’t have a pic or video to show (of that bumper-to-bumper traffic) but just wanted to say that I crossed that road twice that morning, to look for my badge (I held so safely for 4 years). But, it was confirmed lost (as I could not find it) so, first thing on this “manic” Monday was to get a new badge. Luckily, I still had the access card so could enter the building alright (things are never all bad).

Aside: One Link to U-tube video of another B’lore traffic road

That was nice – getting a new badge I mean. They got me a new one in a jiffy! What with the new technology and all – a picture ID plastic card in seconds! Impressive!! Same picture and all, but no coffee stains or anything else for that matter – very clean J Also, the string around my neck – got a new one of that too. My old one said “Network Appliance” – that was an old name of our company. About two years ago – we changed our logo from a sort of complicated “moving disks” to the “simple” inverted U – Gateway symbol, inspired by the Arc de Triomphe in Paris – T’was a huge branding campaign and all. Name was NetApp for short and then became officially “NetApp”.

Aside: About the old logo and the new one…by our founder David Hitz

Anyway, on this Monday morning – I had a new laptop, a new badge – same work – like old wine (pickle?) in a new bottle (jar?)? Even the smallest changes (like a new badge) is a “new” feeling – nice! Changes !! They are constant in today’s world – so much so, that Monday morning (Feb 22nd), there was mail from our company President saying that we just added “Adaptability” to our core values J

NetApp was the #1 Great Places To Work (GPTW) in the US last year (slipped to 7th this year), and the core values of this GPTW are:

1. Trust and Integrity

2. Simplicity

3. Adaptability (the new one that just got added) -- We are an organization that embraces change to create competitive advantage. We are focused on remaining agile, flexible, and nimble to thrive in an evolving business environment

4. Teamwork and Synergy

5. Go Beyond

6. Get Things Done!

…

Coming back to my heavy backpack – with 2 laptops in it and me lugging it along, despite my bad back and shoulder pain… and crossing that 100 feet wide Intermediate ring road twice… finally I reached the office. What a relief and a safe haven too - from the heat, dust, noise and chaotic morning traffic! Ah cool air-conditioning spaces, familiar cubicles…

About crossing that road each morn – one always holds one’s life and breath while doing this daily ordeal. When a car/auto/bus/lorry/motorbike sees a pedestrian crossing… they have to speed up and give us the scare. No right of way for the person on the foot! While I, along with a horde of other “IT” professionals wait for several minutes waiting for the traffic to ease, I somehow always thing of the Wordsworth Poem “Daffodils”

I especially remember the verse:

“They stretch'd in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.”

…Of course, it’s not the pretty flowers in the meadows… it’s this never ending line of Motorbikes and Cars and Buses and Auto Rickshaws (that ubiquitous 3 wheeler – that can navigate through any little crevices it seems with it’s noisy putt-putt sound and rickety ride...) .

Aside: I read a nice narrative about the Bangalore Auto rickshaws – titled “The ‘rick’ won’t let you down; go take a ride”

It’s a piece by a regular columnist Shoba Narayan, from the MINT newspaper à E-Copy of the paper (MINT newspaper was launched in collaboration with The Wall Street Journal in 2007). I look forward to reading what Shoba has to say each week. I have begun to like writing style and seem to resonate very well to the choice of her topics too in the weekly editions of “The Good Life”

…

While in the auto that Monday morn, I was observing the traffic – all around. There was not much else to do – and I saw a magenta coloured car – a unique color I thought for a car – it was a pink and purple colour missed sort-of. Turned right and saw a young man on a bi-cycle in that crowd of automobiles – wearing the exact same colour shirt – how weird and then another guy with a pink and white stripes shirt and another one with purple and while stripes. I started seeing the colour purple all-around as if it were – was reminded of the Purple Store I once visited in San Antonio - we even still have a purple poodle my daughter bought there (Aside: The River Walk in the quaint town is something to remember forever). Often times, one looks for something and then sees a lot of it around – so it was with the colour pink/purple/magenta that morn for me – I suppose… I saw another complete purple car pass by and then saw a young girl cross the road with me. She had a nice comfortable kurtha – beautiful prints … and I noticed she had purple nail polish on her toes! Cool J

…

While in traffic – I started to think of beautiful scenes and pleasant things – some real, some imagined - like a lotus pond, fresh ocean spray and Gris Gris - the rustic rough and rocky beach in Mauritius ( I start my Mauritius travelogue with a mention of Gris Gris beach there), Sunsets from between the boulders and rocks in Cannon beach on the Oregon coast, fascinating clear blue waters of the stunning Crater lake in the National Park Southern Oregon (link), smell of gardenia flowers in our neighborhood Millennium park, dry-hot afternoon breeze and the smell of mud just before the rain showers … there is a word for that as I learnt from a old friend quite recently…petrichor (PET-ri-kuhr) noun à the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell

…

Switching thoughts… we were mandated to submit a nomination form at work (who’s to get your benefits/money when you are gone!), which I took care of on Monday. Momentarily, it forced me to think about death – so final… thoughts of “The End”.

… On Monday, I heard about the sad demise of a wonderful person, the mother of a friend’s friend. She succumbed after some struggle, to burn injuries – an accident at home while cooking. It was very tragic indeed – how the end came so suddenly and all…

… Along that thought, tragedy struck this Tue, Feb 23^rd…. Carlton towers on old airport road caught fire in the late afternoon. Cause is yet to be found but lots of building violations(emergency exits locked or inaccessible). Panic caused loss of 5 precious lives (mostly those who jumped to their death from the 5^th floor). Many were hurt due to the smoke and falls due to poor visibility while escaping… From work, we frequented Indie Joes and Bombay Post restaurants. There is also the TGIF there. Information and picture about the fire was broadcast to the world within minutes – see one pic on Twitter à http://twitpic. com/14vs2a

It’s ironic that the new badge I had picked up on the Monday before last, had a small “Emergency Response Card” from our safety and security dept. There are special tips for exit during fire!

…

This past weekend got busy – in a pleasant sort of way. It was the “Brigade Bharat Sangeet Utsav 2010” at the MLR Convention Center in our neighborhood – a lovely 3 day music and dance extravaganza. (Fri 26 -28) See the jam packed schedule

Festival featured renowned artists – including:

· A late night performance by the Manganiyar Sufi group (of Nimbuda Nimbuda fame). Listen to their music – it’s full of life, relaxing and amazing

· Kathak dance couple Nirupama-Rajendra – stunning! They ended with a piece called “Rapshody in footwork” which transported us to a different plane. They run a school – Abhinava Dance Company, their Photo Gallery pics of their Repertoire are extra-ordinary

· Manasi Prasad’s rendition of Meera – she’s a dynamic young lady – accomplished in academics (Electronics Engineer and MBA from IIMB) and performing arts (classical vocalist and dancer!)

· RK Srikantan (he just turned 90 with a voice still very young and vibrant - song along with his son who is himself a senior) and Ravi Kiran on the Chitraveena

More details about the weekend experience in another narrative – another time.

Time is flying … ticking really fast…

It’s the week of the important CBSE board exams… Maya will be one among the 1.6 million students (1,601,646 to be exact – per a report) taking the exam. Also, it’s the last year for the CBSE 10th class exams – it’s being done away with! And another change – no marks – only grades will be awarded this year. So, changes galore!

Aside: About 700,000 students (699,129 to be exact) will take the of Class 12 CBSE board exams (per that report). Wonder what happens to the 900,000 of them after class 10 – some may go to other “boards” like state, vocational training etc., but that’s a large diff!

I decided to write this narrative and share these thoughts with you’ll the Monday before last, but already the next Monday is past and another Monday is upon us…

Have a great Friday and relaxed weekend! Best wishes!

-Sri Lakshmi (Cheema)

LINKS:

· P3 Stationary Store à https://www.p3india.com/store-locator.aspx

· Murphy’s Law à http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy's_law

· Bangalore Traffic – Videos from U-Tube à http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cdUPOvSXOo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owJMU9uzqsQ

· About NetApp’s old logo and the new one…by our founder Dave Hitz à http://blogs.netapp.com/dave/2008/03/design-requirem.html

· Poem “Daffodils” by William Wordsworth à http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Poetry/WordsworthDaffodils.htm

· Shoba Narayan’s article about Bangalore autos à “The ‘rick’ won’t let you down; go take a ride” à http://www.livemint.com/2009/10/08221235/The-8216rick8217-won82.html

· MINT newspaper E-copy à http://epaper.livemint.com/

· About MINT Wikipedia à http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mint_(newspaper)

· The Good Life – A MINT column by Shoba Narayan - http://www.livemint.com/SectionPages/Narayan.aspx?NavId=88&NavsId=96

· The Purple Store in San Antonia, TX à http://www.primarilypurpletx.com/

· A Travelogue of my trip to Mauritius à http://sribloremusings.blogspot.com/2005/09/beautiful-mauritius.html

· From the web – Pic of Gris Gris beach in Mauritius à http://www.travelblog.org/Photos/436812

· From the web - Pics of Cannon Beach, Oregon http://images.google.co.in/images?hl=en&source=hp&q=cannon+beach+oregon&rlz=1R2SUNC_enIN368&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=zMaPS63ILsS-rAew49CaCw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=5&ved=0CB8QsAQwBA

· Pics from the web of Crater Lake – Oregon à http://images.google.co.in/images?hl=en&rlz=1R2SUNC_enIN368&q=crater+lake+oregon+pictures&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=WMiPS63jJdG3rAetmsSxCw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQsAQwAA

· Crater Lake National Park in Southern Oregon àhttp://www.nps.gov/crla/index.htm

· The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a dry spell - petrichor (PET-ri-kuhr) noun à http://wordsmith.org/words/petrichor.html

· Carlton Towers Bangalore old airport road à http://maps.google.co.in/maps/place?hl=en&source=hp&rlz=1R2SUNC_enIN368&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=carlton+towers+bangalore&fb=1&gl=in&hq=carlton+towers&hnear=bangalore&cid=18208510856133191231

· Indie Joes Restaurant in Carlton Towers à http://maps.google.co.in/maps/place?hl=en&source=hp&rlz=1R2SUNC_enIN368&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=indijoe+bangalore&fb=1&gl=in&hq=indijoe&hnear=bangalore&cid=4206826659955346829

· Bombay Post Restaurant à http://bangalore.burrp.com/listing/bombay-post_airport-road_bangalore_restaurant/178240831

· MLR Convention Center à http://www.brigadegroup.com/hospitality/convention_centre.html

· Brigade Bharat Sangeet Utsav 2010” at the MLR Convention Center in our neighborhood Fri 26 -28) Schedule à http://rasika.carnatica.net/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2921

· Manganiyar Sufi group Music group from Rajasthan (à http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manganiar

· Kathak dance couple Nirupama-Rajendra –Abhinava Dance Company à http://www.abhinavadancecompany.com/pages/school.html. Their Photo Gallery à http://www.abhinavadancecompany.com/pages/gallery.html# and pics of their Repertoire à http://www.abhinavadancecompany.com/pages/repertoire.html

· Manasi Prasad - Dynamic young lady – accomplished in academics (Engineer and MBA from IIMB) and performing arts (classical vocalist and dancer!) à http://www.manasiprasad.in/

· CBSE 10th class exams 2010 à http://news.oneindia.in/2010/03/03/cbseexams-begin-class-10-students-to-be-assessed-ongra.html and http://sify.com/news/1-6-mn-students-to-sit-for-CBSE-exams-in-2010-news-National-kc0s4cegjhf.html