Together forever

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As I mentioned in my previous post I had to make a tough choice for a new dawn and a new start to my life. That choice led me to Mumbai. When I started the journey to Mumbai I was thinking about the friends I am leaving behind as I won’t be having any of them by my side in Mumbai. Being an introvert it was tough making friends. But it all changed. Before starting to Mumbai I got in touch with fellow new joiners who are traveling from Chennai to Mumbai through Orkut group of our company. During the flight journey we spoke to each other and get to know each other. After landing in Mumbai we went to the allocated guest house.

In that guest house (Apartments to be precise) there was a flat with three bed rooms which was allotted to myself and 5 others. Our flat had people from Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh. During the course of three months stay, we become closer like a family. We roamed Mumbai together and had so much fun. Those moments will remain in hearts for eternity.

Time came for placement in project as training got completed after three months. Among the six of us four got project in Bangalore and remaining two got projects in Mumbai itself. The togetherness continued in Bangalore as we stayed under a single roof for two years. Whenever we get an opportunity we try to get together and meet the Mumbai guys. Everyone with different dreams stayed together and chased the Dreams together. Even though we worked in different projects we helped each other during difficulties and encouraged everyone and acted as the source of optimism and motivation. During difficulties lots of people will come forward and share their advices. But only true friends remain together and lend their shoulder and hand. Its that small act of being together gives the little nude which used to get us back in the game. As times passed by, we took our own paths and shifted companies, but we never felt alone, because we were still together in our thoughts.

Recently we planned for a get together in Goa (Bachelor’s party) as one of our Gang member (Badmash Company as we were called during our training days :P) was getting married. It bought back so many good memories. At present most from our group are in onsite and every one is settled and at the last leg of fulfilling their dreams. This happened because we stayed together.

Life as a journey is never traveled alone. We are always together with someone. It can be family , friends, relatives . So never let go of the togetherness. Only it can lead to happiness and success.

#Lookup & Dream #together & #StartANewLife !!

For understanding more such power of being #together visit https://housing.com/

A new dawn

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It was August 2010, I had completed my engineering and got placed in a reputed MNC during on campus interview. The placement happened way back in march. But I dint get a call up when to join the office premises. As it was holidays sort of days, me and my family went to Goa for a family picnic. When we got down at airport and took out our baggage, I got a phone call from a land line number from Mumbai. The conversation went like this.

Caller: Hello ! Am i speaking to MR. Daniel Mangalraj?

Me: Yes. This is Daniel. Who is this?

Caller: Hi Daniel. This is Swarna calling from Patni Computers, Mumbai.

Me: yes ! tell me

Caller: As you are aware you got placed in our company during the campus visit. I would like to inform you that your training would start from September second week here in Mumbai. I have mailed you with all the details. Reply back with your confirmation.

Me: MUMBAI ? Patni is also in chennai right? Can you please let me join in Chennai as I have never stepped out of my hometown alone.

Caller: Daniel, we cant provide such options for each individual. It would be against our policy. Let me know your confirmation by end of the week either by call or email.

Me: OK thanks.

Then I shared the news with my parents who were by my side in airport. They were shocked. As I have never been out of my home town before all alone, they said, no need to go, You can try some other job here itself. All during the tour I was thinking about that only. I don’t want to let go of the opportunity. I thought that would be a new adventure in my life and wanted to take the risk. Also the company is one of the top MNC in India. So I dint want to let go of this. I took the decision of joining in Mumbai and going there alone. for the next whole week, I convinced my parents to accept it.

I dropped an email to HR about my joining, even before my parents said YES. I was confident that I will get an approval from them. They were stubborn for a while. But eventually came to agreement, as I was adamant because its my life.

September came very fast and it was time to bid goodbye. Even though it was a short span of three months. It was very challenging and new for me. I had to adjust myself to the new food, language and make all new friends.  It seemed tough at first but it all came easy. I had the time of my life during the training period, made so many good friends and carried lot of awesome memories back home.  Time went by and my job has taken me to many new places and given me new adventures. Without this first one and the bold step, I wouldn’t have gotten the confidence and these adventures in my life so far.

So #StartANewLife and new beginning with new dawn !!

For more information check out Housing.com

Looking UP

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Life is full of ups and downs. And only when we go down, we look up for some miracle/hope to inspire us and to fill us with positivity. Same happens in everyone’s life.  This is one such incident which describes how I looked up for hope and what inspired me and filled me with optimism during an adversity.

It was February 2010 , I was in my final year of college. It was time for campus interviews. The company schedule was announced and around 10 companies were visiting our college in the span of 1 month. To get a reputed name from these MNCs our college started giving coaching classes on how to clear the interview rounds such as aptitude test, group discussion, technical and HR rounds. As everyone was preparing vigorously to get placed during college days itself, I too started studying and preparing myself for these interviews.

Days passed and it was time for the first interview. The very first company was HCL and we were all asked to assemble in the lab. There were three rounds to clear. First one was aptitude and folks clearing it was asked to sit in 5 member group for a group discussion. I cleared both of these with ease. Next came the technical round. A Panel of 3 members were sitting inside staff room in our lab. There were five such panels during the interview. One by one students were called upon according to their roll numbers. One of my friend came out with a very bright smile after his interview in just 2 or 3 minutes. When we asked what questions were asked he replied like ‘whats your name? tell about yourself, why did you chose this college?‘. Clock was ticking and I was eagerly waiting for my chance to come. Most of the out coming students were coming with a smile because of the simple questions they faced in interview.

After a long wait my time finally came, I went in and shook hands with the 3 panelists. They asked to introduce myself. As I was introducing myself, one of the panel member got a call and he left. The other guy was sipping his coffee with biscuits. The remaining panelist took my resume and started to go through it. He stumbled upon my final year project. As it was done using JAVA APPLETS, he started asking questions regarding it. After my answer, he provided a paper and a pen and asked to write a sample program using applet . I took some time and finished my sample program. He reviewed it and asked me to write the same program using C++. I was trying to gather my old learning’s and code it, but couldn’t complete it. So he asked can you write it in C# or C? As I was aware of C# I wrote the program in C# and immediately presented the paper for review. Then he asked some technical questions and I answered all of it. Then he shook my hands & said you did great !

As I got a positive comment, I was hoping to get placed. Even staffs and friends congratulated me after I told them about it. I couldn’t sleep the whole night, as they mentioned results would be announced tomorrow. Next day to my shock , my name was absent in the placed candidate list. I was so depressed and sad and staffs were consoling me by saying ‘That panel might have been a rejection panel. They would have already selected the numbers they came for.’

Due to that depression, I skipped meals and dint come out of the house even during weekends. Next week another MNC was scheduled to visit our campus for interview. I was thinking to skip it blaming my luck. That Saturday afternoon, the door bell rang. My mom went to open the door. It was my moms friends from next street. They both work in a private school near by for the past 10+ years. She came with sweets as she got a government job in her late forties.  Her kids already got married and well settled, but still she tried for the government job as it was her dream from childhood and finally it came true after 40+ years of wait.  That incident stuck like a jolt to me . I got up and started preparing more rigorously for the next interview.  And I got placed in that Company which became my first Company 🙂

For more such inspiration visit: https://housing.com/lookup.

The World Remade

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We humans live in a world which most of us unanimously think as ain’t so perfect. And then I came across this topic in Blogadda today.
It just got me thinking. The only thing came to mind during the thinking process was ‘Its us who belong to the earth and not the other way around. When the world doesn’t even belong to us, how can we call it imperfect?‘ If the world isn’t imperfect, its our thoughts and mentality which is making a perfect habitat an imperfect one.
Why should we change the world to make it a better place when we can change our mindset (imagination) to achieve the same result?
Come let us imagine through the wonderful and thought provoking words of the great John Lennon
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today…Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace…You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world…

You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one

Come join the Dreamers club and let us Enlighten, Illuminate, Educate everyone and remake the world through our thoughts and minds.
“I am participating in the #TheWorldRemade activity at BlogAdda in association with India Today #Conclave15 “
What would you do if you were given a chance to remake the world ? Do drop in your thoughts as comments !!

The Spark

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Kids are full of energy and always fun to be with. When they are part of something, the energy spreads across and cheers everyone surrounding them making it a happiest place on earth.

Let me take you back six years in time. It was just another normal evening in my home, I was playing counter strike in pc, and my sis and my mom were watching their favorite serials on TV. My dad just came from office and changed TV to boring news channel. After drinking some coffee he asked, as annual exams are ending in few weeks, where can we go for picnic? I shouted from computer room “ANDAMAN”. My sister wanted to go to Kerala. But as we went to Kerala earlier after a long discussion we concluded on Andaman. I was so excited. My dad booked flight next week. And finally the day of travel arrived.

The flight journey was enjoyable as the view from above was breathtaking. We got down at Port Blair airport and took a prepaid car to get to the hotel which we booked earlier. Later we checked in at the hotel. After an hour we got down to check out the beauty of Andaman and Nicobar islands. To our shock it was raining heavily. We asked the hotel manager about the nearby tourist attractions and when the rain will stop. He responded its Andaman and it rains every day in here. Our parents started discussing, how we will go in rain, already we have cold bla bla and finally agreed to go when the rain stops. So we waited at the hotel looking at the window. We were bored, sitting with gloomy face shuffling channels in TV. Suddenly voices of laughter came from the window. We looked outside to see what’s happening. There were a bunch of kids playing in the rain enjoying .

Looking at the innocent faces enjoying without a care in the world, just ignited a spark inside me. I shouted let’s get out; we came here not to sit and watch TV inside a room, let’s go and enjoy. And I pulled them out of bed and we went on a cruise to coral island that day. I let out the kid in me which made that a most memorable tour of my life.

We adults think too much and miss the fun in almost everything. Kids don’t expect anything, all they care is about having the best day every day. They add the magic to everything they are part of. The way they enjoy and show their amusement makes the onlookers catch some of the cheers and leaves a long lasting smile on them.

This post is part of Teddy Travelogues campaign by Club Mahindra.

You can check the link for more info about it. Click Here  or http://membership.clubmahindra.com/TeddyTravelogues/index.html.

The Memories from Kid within

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At times we all yonder and ponder that we can get back to our childhood days again so we can be free of all the worldly worries and tension and enjoy the life as a kid.

When ever we think of childhood days the first thing that comes to mind is super cool rhymes . Here are my two favorite rhymes that has left me with lot of memories.

1) Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

This is one of my all time favorite song as it is the first ever song, I learned to play in my piano. So it is always close to my heart.

When we were kids, my parents used to take us to our granny’s place in village every year during our annual leaves. There used to be one traditional rope cot (charpai) lying around. I used to sleep there gazing at the beautiful night sky wondering what its all about and how beautiful the world is. Its a breath taking view with night breeze brushing us and sky acting as a protective blanket and twinkling stars as a night lamp keeping away the dark forces.

Nowadays even when i sleep with the comfort of air conditioners and in a king size bed with glow stickers of stars and moon in the roof, it doesn’t give that warmth and happiness. Growing up i missed the innocence and happiness and got stress and tension instead.

The Last instance when i remembered this rhyme was back in 2012 when i was watching this movie in theater , its a horror film by RGV ‘Bhoot Returns’. In the film the main character will have the same rhyme as a ringtone and the phone will ring at creepy time making this childhood classic a creepy song. Even though the film wasn’t scary, my friend kind of liked the creepy version of the rhyme and kept it as his ringtone for a week or two.

During my college days i just got addicted to movies and after watching lot of movies in all kinda genre, when i think about this rhyme one dialogue from my favorite film CONTACT comes to mind.

” I’ll tell you one thing about the universe, though. The universe is a pretty big place. It’s bigger than anything anyone has ever dreamed of before. So if it’s just us… seems like an awful waste of space. Right? “

2: London Bridge is falling down

This rhyme is an epic and classic one. When i was in school i have seen kindergarten kids singing this song and playing the game where two kids form an arch with hands and others walk through the arch and when they sing “My Fair Lady”, the kid inside the arch gets caught. I vaguely remember myself playing the same game as a kid. But this bought such nostalgia that, we tried this at one of our team outing few years back in office. It was non stop fun 😀

For a 90’s Kid, if we are to be asked about who is the best pop band, all would ever say is Back street boys or westlife .During those adolescence time i stumbled upon the genre called Hip Hop. It gave me new names to rant about like Eminem, Black eyes peas and etc.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit !! Yes this is the opening of the song London Bridge by Fergie. The tune was so catchy , even when i dint know/understood the lyrics, this song was on a repeat mode 😛 . And that time London bridge only meant Fergie to me and it wasn’t going to fall down 😀

Those were the days when we wanted to grow up so bad. But now that we have grown up so much all we want is to be a kid again and be carefree , live in their own small world.

As we grow up lot of things change. I wish they didn’t. Still i feel Growing up is by no means
a bad thing. It allows us to make a difference in the world, to find out who we are, and to live the life we imagined as children. We dreamed of growing up when we rested our young heads on our downy pillows and looked up with wonder at the glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to our ceiling, wondering what the world looked beyond our own home, beyond the world that had been so meticulously created for us. Yet upon growing up, we find that reality often contends with those very dreams. We find that the reality of growing up is perhaps less lovely than we’d envisioned. We find that the only thing we really want back is our youth and our innocence, and the cruel irony is that these are the very things that will never return.

“Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others. – Virginia Woolf”

To sum it all up cherish the good old and fun memories, live in the present to make a better future 🙂

This post is a part of Kids Hut activity at BlogAdda.com

I want to thank both BlogAdda & Kids Hut by T-Series for giving me this golden opportunity to revisit some of the fun memories of my childhood and share my thoughts about it !!