Aman's Blog….ANYTHING goes here!

Congrats Amit & Isha…. April 28, 2011

I am sitting here in the session and not really feeling well. I guess I need some rest which I am going to try to take after finishing this session. Hopefully, weekend should bring some of it for me. What has happened? Not sure actually, all I know is that I am feeling like vomiting and head is spinning like anything. Haven’t had anything since morning except for a glass of juice so can’t blame it on the food. Whatever it is, I hope its over by tonight since there is a lot that I need to do and there is no one who is going to give me a helping hand.  I shall keep this post really short given the fact that I am still in the session and it’s not a free time for me actually but I am sitting idle at the moment as the delegates are out for tea break, I thought to mention two small things out of which one is really not important but was a nice surprise but second indeed is!

As I am mostly in travels and none of that is a personal one, I get via travel to all kinds of airlines, low-cost, high-cost, cheap, you name it and I have travelled in it. Anyways, so this time it was actually a low-cost(but really good) airline for me, Indigo. They are low cost but still, extremely good for the first thing that they are really punctual. And this is one of those things which is I am really concerned about, being punctual. Be late and you have spoiled already the entire thing because I really and I mean REALLY care about being on time! Get late and you are (almost) done with me. Anyways, Indigo is really good in it and they hardly get out of the scheduled time. The staff is always nice too. The only thing which is not so good is that they don’t offer any free food which is easy to understand because that’s why their ticket price is lesser. I am not much into buying the in-flight food so I mostly will take a pass from it and the same I did this time too. I slept off when the air-hostesses were giving away the paid food. When it was about an hour left for the plane to descend, a air-hostess came to me and asked for my boarding pass. I had kept in my backpack which was placed above my seat and I told her that if she want I can get it from there but what’s the need, why she is asking for it? What she told was a nice surprise. She said that since you are a corporate  passenger Mr Sharma(I always like to hear that 🙂 ), there is a free mini meal that we have for you. Now,that sounded really good. Nothing is better than to get a free meal on an airline which doesn’t give anything for free except a “cup” of water( yeah cup only). I gladly said yes for it and requested her to give me a can of juice and something else than a sandwich. So she gave me an Orange juice can and a pack of salted dry fruits. Happy me! 🙂 .

Okay, that wasn’t probably much of the tale to be told. But the next thing is really important and I must say, I am really happy about it too. Long time back, in 2008, I had a chance to go to Allahabad for a training. It was for India Air Force officers and happened in their base office at Allahabad. It was one of the best experiences that I had since I got so much respect and love from those officers. They even gave me a big gift before I was about to leave from there. In that same session, there was an officer, who was a Punjabi guy. He initially thought that I am a very arrogant and a high attitude sort of person but later, after few days, he came to know that this is not true at all and we had a very good tuning afterwards. He is almost the same age of mine(elder actually which I came to know few days back) and is a really good person too. One day prior to my departure, he and his wife, Isha came to my hotel to meet me and we had dinner together. With a promise to be in touch, I left from there.

Time passed and I still had Amit’s number in my contact list. I even sent him text messages on various times but none of them went through. When we met last time, he told me that he is planning to come to Chandigarh. So I thought that he has finally made the move and is shifted that’s why the number is not working and my messages are not being delivered. I still had his number though( I keep the numbers all the time) . In this year starting, just before I was going to go for an overseas trip( which was the first overseas trip of this year and was a personal one and for which I worked REALLY so hard), I got a call from a girl. When I asked whose there, she said, you remember we had dinner together? Now that was something really surprising because I don’t forget anything(almost anything you can say) and I couldn’t recall that I had a dinner outside and that too with a gal. I said to her I am sorry I think I am not the right person whom you wanted to speak since I never went with you over a dinner and have no idea who you are to be honest. She said, do you remember that you came to Allahabad? Well, I certainly went so I said yes. She said, you remember you met there Amit and his wife Isha? What! I was completely shocked to hear from Isha after so many years and needless to say, I was very happy to see that both Amit and Isha, remembered me after so many years too. She said that we tried to call you many times but your phone was always off which I can completely understand because I am traveling most of the time and at that time, my mobile is off. She told me that they have moved to Banglore and next time, whenever I visit there, I must visit their place. How could I refuse to do so so I made a point that I did visit their house few weeks back when I visited Banglore. It was so good to meet both of them after so long and what was more good to see that how delighted they were to see me and how warmly they welcomed me! I don’t visit to people’s houses much. Only if I really think that the invitation is genuine, I shall do so and I was glad that I visited at Isha and Amit’s place. Isha was pregnant when I met her and she was expecting at the starting of May. I gave her my best wishes and asked Amit to give me a call right away when the good news will come. And he did call me to give the good news.

This week, just when I landed at Banglore on Sunday and was still in the plane only, I got a text from Amit that he and Isha are blessed with a baby boy. It’s after 5 years of their marriage and needless to say, he was so happy. And to hear him happy, I was also so happy. He told me that all went well and Isha and baby are still in the hospital. I asked him to let me know when both would return back to home so that I can come and see them. I am not keeping well since I have come here so I couldn’t call Amit but yesterday, I made a call to him to check that how’s everything. He said that the baby  wasn’t well from the last 2 days and so was Isha. But they are fine now and hopefully, by the end of the week, they would be back home. I shall be leaving by that time and I really don’t want to increase Amit’s problems by visiting to the hospital since he is all alone here and running from here to there by himself so I am going to visit to their home when I shall come here next time. Hopefully, all would go fine without any problems. I am just so happy for both Amit and Isha and I wish to god that the baby would fill their life with so much of happiness and smiles as they truly deserve it.

I thought it would be a small post but I guess, it finally didn’t come out to be a short one 🙂 . Getting back to the session now. Its almost lunch time too and given the experience of yesterday, I most probably, am going to skip it today. Let’s see what happens.

Just Two Lines But So True…. April 27, 2011

Since the delegates in my session are busy doing the lab practice and I am not feeling well enough to study, I was looking for something good to read and what can be better than a piece of poetry which you find so true? And as I said in the title, it’s just two lines but what is said in these two lines, is absolutely true. Have a read,

Us ki jafaon ne mujhe ek tehzeeb sikha di hai,
Main rote hue so jata hun par shikwa nahi karta!

And it’s meaning in English is,

Her cruelty has taught me an etiquette,

I sleep while being in tears but still don’t complain!

I think I must get back to my session and see what the delegates are doing? And about the poetry, isn’t it amazing?

I Want To Go Home…. April 26, 2011

I am not sure why but I am not really happy with the way the session is going. I don’t know why this feeling is there but it’s there. I am not feeling well at all, fever, headache and cold are on their best at the moment. It wasn’t even 11am and my eyes were getting closed and head was spinning. Wish I could just go to home and sleep but as like always, wishes, at least of mine, are never fulfilled. Hope the day ends without any major problems coming in my way.

Poetry Once Again…. April 22, 2011

I have just woke up. Actually, that’s not correct to say because I didn’t sleep at all thanks to not feeling well at all. The tensed mind and sad heart were probably not enough that’s why fever, cold and headache also came to join the party. Anyways, I just read an old poetic snippet that I had with me from a long time but somehow I forgot about it. I just happened to see it in my repository last night when I was looking for something to read. It’s in Punjabi and it’s really good IMO.  I shall translate it’s meaning in English as well. Have a read,

Oh badle badle lagde ne,
Ohna dil uchheyan naal la laye ne!

Kehnde tuhadi na lod koi,
Asin sajjan hor bana laye ne!

Asin akhiyan bhar k keh ditta,
Jithe marji parakh k vekh lawo.

Kehnde asin tuhanu warat leya,
Hoon saanu tuhadi lod nai.

Ohde bol goonjde dil de vich,
Hoon asin haase hasne band karte.

Hoon dushman labhde firde aan,
Asin yaar banaune band karte!

And it’s translation in English,

She appeared to be a little changed now
She has relation now with the elite people.

She says that I don’t need you anymore,
I have made new friend now.

With my eyes got wet with tears filled in them, I said,
Go and test whereever you want!

She said, I have used you already,
I don’t need you anymore!

Now, those words echo in my heart,
I have stopped smiling completely.

Now, I look only for enemies everywhere,
I have stopped making friends!

Though I want to say a lot but I guess I must stop and get some medicine for me first otherwise it would be a lot more tough for me to go for my next session which is just in front of me.

And It Just Made My Day…. April 20, 2011

I am not in a good mood, thanks to many things and some people but I just got the below comment on my Oracle blog and it made my day.

hi Sir,
i am a new guy to read your block.but i am very very thankful to you because you are sharing your knowledge with us. that is very great thing.i know your are the best human being in this universe.i pray to god who is giving every thing give every thing to u and your family ameen.i am waiting for you new book.plz tell me when it is coming.
thanks

I am not sure that I have really done something so good and/or I am actually so much better/good? But I am feeling really honored to hear so kind words for me. Thanks so much Riaz for being so kind, that’s all I can say.

Being Poetic, Yet Again…. April 18, 2011

I am not a poet by any means. But I do write some times, some random lines of poetry, thinking about some things. I am sure that if a real poet would look at my writing, they will surely give it the worst rating but there is no way that I ever believed or dared to claim that I am a poet or have a poetic sense. So continuing the trend of bad poetry done by me here, here , here , here and here , here is one more attempt of mine to write few lines of poetry. As I said all the times, I am not a poet and have no claim that what I have written is of any quality. If you think that its a really bad poetic work, believe me, I know it myself too. With that warning in mind, have a read,

Aansoon chupke as bhigo denge tumhara aanchal,
Jab tumhein meri mohbatt ka khyal aayega!

Ik aah sunayi degi meri tumhein haule se,
Jab koi purana kagaj ka tukda mera naam gunganeyga!

Nam ankhon se talashogi mujhe,
Khamosh hothon se tab pukarogi mera naam,
Jab ik din yeh badnaseeb is duniya se chala jayega!

And here is it’s translation in English,

Tears will make your veil wet silently,
When you would remember my love!

A cry you will hear,
When an old piece of paper will whisper my name!

With wet eyes you would look for me,
With silent lips then you would call my name,
When someday this unfortunate will leave this world!

Bad poetry, isn’t it! But what else can be there from a bad guy, right?

A Short But Good Trip Is Over…. April 16, 2011

If you are a regular here, you must have read this and also must be aware that I was at Chennai. I have finished my session which was a relatively short but it was a good one. With a holiday in between, I also got  some time to get myself relaxed a little, a not-so-often thing but a nice thing for sure.

The session, in my opinion, did go well. I can’t be really sure about it as I am still waiting for the official review to come but I am still hopeful that it should be okay. Reason, well as I have mentioned couple of times before too, if the delegates, while leaving on the last day, have a smile on their face, do ask you about your email and contact details, it means that you didn’t bore them for the last few days and they did like what you said, if not much, at least somewhat and they did find out that you are a person to get in touch later too when they would have troubles with the oracle database. So on that account, I think the things went well. It was a very nice, fully packed session with the delegates from diversified technical backgrounds. Though it was a really hectic schedule but I did try to make sure that I keep the environment within the session somewhat light so that the delegates won’t feel drained out from LOTS of knowledge being bombarded over them. I did try my best but thanks to a really tight schedule, I did hear this from few that they are indeed feeling that a lot is being told to them and they are not really able to keep up with the pace of that knowledge bombardment. Well, I can’t help much in it because I know, in any full day schedule, that’s bound to happen. Still, the delegates did confirm that despite that there is a lot being told to them, they are finding the entire module very informative and they would use all the info somewhere for sure in their work environment. I think that’s a really good thing to hear because if a delegate can’t translate the knowledge given to him in his work and can’t take back that info with him, his time has got wasted then sitting in the session and I really really hate if that would happen. I put a lot of effort to ensure that it won’t happen at all and I was happy to hear that it didn’t happen. The delegates were really good, friendly and keen to know more about everything whatever was being told to them, all the signs of an excellent audience. It was a short session(3 days only) but still, due to elections happening at Tamilnadu, we got a day off in that short schedule as well. I didn’t do anything much on that day. There were couple of news that I got to hear on that day though and not all were so pleasant if one would ask me. Anyways, it was still  a good thing to get a break between the schedule and I really feel, if that can happen all the time, it would help a lot both, the delegates and me to get a little relaxed, revive ourselves and be ready for the remaining portion of the schedule in a better way. But it’s a day dream only and it won’t ever happen 😦 . Anyways, it was just one day after the holiday for us within the session. Besides the technical talk,I did encourage the delegates to be as much as social as possible as that’s a really good way to get acquainted with what’s happening with Oracle database community. I hope that the delegates would accept my suggestion and it would help them in their journey of learning and working with oracle database. In the end, as I mentioned before, they all had a smile on their face and all took my contact information which IMO, is a good sign. For me,it was a good session and honor that I could share some of the little knowledge of mine with the delegates, a really tough thing to do when you know just a thing or two about such a massive piece of software. Thanks a lot everyone, it was a great time spent and I hope that I was able to share some info that would be productive and useful for you in the near future. Now, I believe I shall have some free time with me. I am not so sure about it yet but I am trying to get few days, 2-3 at least , free and get myself relaxed a little. Yes, I am a human too and I also feel tired 🙂 . Time now to have a cup of tea.

Oh, how could I forget it? In the session, two delegates, when came along with me for tea, so where do you live in Italy? Italy, who, me? I didn’t even get the question for a minute but when I realized what they asked, I asked them how on earth you think that I am from Italy in the first place 🙂 ? They said that this is what they were thinking since the starting of the session that I am from Italy but then how come I have so clear flow of spoken English? HAHA now that was so delightful thing that I heard to be honest. I really wanted to say that though I am very stylish but couldn’t be at my best here in the dressing but still I am not from Italy :D! But I just said, no, I am from India only 🙂 . Am I really that stylish, I guess the answer is hmmm _ _ (if you think that you got the answer, I can assure you that you didn’t 😉 ).

(Belated) Happy Vaisakhi…. April 15, 2011

I know I am late but what could I do, it was a working day for me and the internet was not working at all for me the entire day. Then I had to travel which never is a smooth sailing for me. So I got delayed in this post. Even today, despite not being well, I was actually so much busy running from here and there. What about not being well? Well, I guess got a “little” headache and also a little bit of fever not sure why. Anyways, better late than never so here it goes, a (belated) very happy Baisakhi to all of you. Hope you had a real good time yesterday celebrating it and I wish and hope that the new year would bring lots of joys, happiness and success for you. Signing off to catch some sleep because eyes and as in fact, the whole body is hurting so much badly.

Travelogue…. April 10, 2011

I have reached at Chennai and would be starting up the session tomorrow. I have a feeling that it’s going to be a real tough one. Why? Well, I don’t know why because it’s a hunch but most often, my hunches do no prove to get wrong. Anyways, whatever will happen, I shall only come to know tomorrow. About the travel, it was a lighter one. There isn’t much distance from Banglore to Chennai and my flight took just an hour(or even lesser than that, about 45 minutes) to get here. I was having two options for the flight, at 6am and 2pm and I picked the later one. I thought it would be better to reach here in the evening and take some rest rather than staying the entire day here alone. Though I was alone at Banglore too but still, the place where I stay there is very lively and because of this, its easy to pass time there even just by sitting in the garden outside the hotel and watch people. So it was a correct decision to come here in the evening. It was a little scary drive though from hotel to the airport because the driver of my cab was falling asleep almost in every few minutes. I even asked him to stop the car and wash his face(which he did too) but still, that didn’t help him much. We were about to hit the rear of a truck when he just pulled the breaks hearing my loud "STOP”! But, since I am writing this post sitting here, this means that I am still alive(unfortunately for few who would be really happy once I shall be dead). There was nothing else unusual which did happen. There wasn’t much rush on the airport which was a nice surprise. There was still one unfortunate incident which did happen on the airport when a gal slid down on the floor really badly. It was this much severe she broke one of her front tooth and was bleeding so much. I was sitting just beside that place and I immediately made her sit(she didn’t even get up for a minute or so) and then made her sit on the chair. By that time, few other passengers also rushed towards her. She was crying with so much of pain and also because of this that she lost the front tooth and being a gal, it would effect her a lot. Though there are workarounds to sort it out but still, till it wouldn’t get sort out, it would be a trouble for her. Another trouble for her was(I believe ) that she was traveling alone and that’s the last thing that you can ask for to happen when you get an injury and that too away from your home. One another fellow female passenger took her to washroom to get her face cleaned and I called up the airline staff to take her to some medical facility. Not sure what would had happened to her there but she wasn’t in a very good condition when I sent her with the airline ground staff. Hope she gets better soon.

Speaking about sickness, I myself am having a really bad headache right now when I am writing this post. Along with this, the right elbow of mine which got hurt few weeks back, hasn’t got cured. I still can’t keep it on the solid surface because when I do so, it hurts just  so much. And from the past few weeks, the other elbow of mine, which has a fracture in it, has also started hurting so badly for god-knows-what reasons. When I shall go back home, I shall try to get some time out and visit a bone specialist for my right elbow(nothing much can be done for left one except that it needs to get operated, something which I don’t want to do). Hope the doc would be able to do something to at least to get the pain relieved a little.

Its midnight (and Monday) already and I should be asleep but there is no sign of sleep in the eyes. May be I need to see some doctor for this too 🙂 . Have a happy Monday and a great week ahead!