Connaught Place Re-lived and Revisited

It has been a while since she and I had visited CP. It used to be our favourite haunt but ever since she shifted out of town, we haven’t been visiting CP with the same frequency that we used to when she was here. So when we got a chance to visit CP this weekend we took the opportunity with both hands. As always, it was a beautiful day spent with a beautiful person and when I returned to home in the evening I had that warm feeling in my heart that only she can induce. However, I have been wondering do I enjoy more when at CP. After all, we meet and visit the malls in Noida pretty regularly. Somehow, I feel CP makes meeting her extra special. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy meeting her even when we don’t go to CP!So here’s how a typical meeting at CP goes...
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Trip To Panna And Khajuraho

I had for long wanted to see the forests of Madhya Pradesh. The wish finally got fulfilled this June when I got the opportunity to visit Panna and Khajuraho after a small personal visit to Allahabad. We reached Satna after a four hour train ride from Allahabad. Our hotel, the MP tourism run Jungle Camp, Madla was another 90 km from Satna. Jungle Camp,Madla is situated right at the Madla gate of the Panna Tiger Reserve at the edge of a pristine forest. The Ken river flows nearby.
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The resort at which we stayed and the breath taking sunset observed from the Ken bridge
Since we had arrived at around 2 pm on the 22nd of June, we had a choice between opting for a Jungle safari at 3:30 pm or visiting Khajuraho( famed worldwide for its ancient temples with erotic sculptures) which was just 25 km...
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Amul–What It Means To Me

Before you start thinking that I have gone bonkers by looking at the title of the post, let me furnish some background information. I just saw an Amul advertisement on tv. It somehow managed to connect with me to such an extent that it made me think about Amul means to me.

The advert that triggered this post

At the end of the ad, there is some scrolling text that says something about how crores of Indian use Amul products everyday and more importantly how it has led to financial independence for 30 lakh women across 15000 villages. It ends with “Thanks to a cooperative movement called Amul”. This is the phrase that really got my attention. Amul is not just a company or a brand. Its a movement and that too a home grown one. Instinctively I was tripping down the memory lane...

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Infographic – Abhigya Verma

Abhigya Verma: Check out my infographic resume.

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Home…Sweet Home

This is is the first time this year when I have been able to spend a decent week at home with my parents and it has made me realize how easy it is to forget the small joys that being at home can provide.

The morning walks in the tea gardens adjacent to my home or the joy in biting into a juicy apple on a bright sunny morning soaking in the autumn sunlight with the birds chirping above has no parallel. It has recently hit me I have never heard a bird chirp in Noida. The skies here are bluer, the leaves greener and the traffic more sedate.

Back in Noida, eating is just a chore but at home its an event that I eagerly await. Mom makes all my favourite dishes and serves them with so much love. The evenings are spent playing card games and taking strolls on the roof.

Back in Noida, I have to t...

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Ashok’s Wedding and Date with Nature

Some months back I had received a threat call from a friend. It was his way of inviting me to his wedding. He said since he was informing me well in time, no excuses would be entertained. It turned out that similar threats had been issued to many other people in the circle. Some even received threat reminders on SMS.

So as 6th March, 2011 (Ashok’s wedding day) approached we began planning a trip to Jhansi. It was decided that the group would depart from Delhi to Jhansi on the morning of 5th March. So, the out – of –towners (Abhay and Anshuman) arrived on the night of the 4th. At 7:30 am on the 5th we hit the road to Jhansi. We were a group of 6 (Abhay, Anshuman, Ayush, Chatur , Kapil and myself) and we were traveling in 2 cars (Kapil’s and mine)...
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Trip to Jodhpur – Part 2

It had been a great start to a much waited for and anticipated trip. All of us had enjoyed the outings on Day 1 and were looking forward to Day 2 with much anticipation. On Day 1 we had mostly been to places of importance within the Jodhpur city limits. The plan for Day 2 was to venture out a bit and hit the road. It was decided that the girls would pick us up from the hotel at 7 am. We have already arranged a cab (Innova) for this purpose. So on the 5th of December the girls were at our hotel reception on time! (The exclamation is on purpose :D). We had only been traveling for 15 minutes when everyone but me expressed a desire to have some tea. We stopped at a tea stall  and after everyone had had their morning tea we moved on...
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Trip To Jodhpur – Day 1

This post has taken a long time coming. I had promised a few people to post about that trip as soon as I returned but unfortunately my professional commitments did not allow me to indulge my reflections of this amazing trip. So, apologies to all those who have waited. This has been a long time coming.
I had not been a on a vacation trip for a year now and my soul had been yearning for one for a long time now. My flatmates(Prem and Ajitesh) also had similar yearnings. We had been craving for trip for sometime. So when a very special friend invited us to Jodhpur, I readily agreed. I had not met her for sometime so there was that added motivation.
We had decided to leave from Old Delhi railway station by Mandor Express and we were at the railway station on time...
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My HP Mini

Very recently I bought a brand new netbook. For the uninitiated , a netbook is class of low cost utility laptops that do much of the work that we use our high end laptops for. Tasks like browsing, watching movies and playing music. To be very frank , I was a bit skeptical about how productive I would be on my netbook given its small screen size , cramped keyboard(not so cramped actually- 93% of standard size) and low powered processor. But the device has been a pleasant surprise.
I was able to install Visual Studio 2008, Office 2010 and linux VM on it and everything works fine. It battery runs for an amazing 7 hours, is ultra portable has 2GB DDR3 RAM and a 320 GB 7200 rpm HDD and Windows 7 comes preinstalled. And it cost me just 22K. Now that’s value for money...
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Moving On From CSC To Oracle

It was sometime in December when I received a call from the Human Resources Department of Oracle Corporation regarding a position at their organization in Noida. Frankly speaking I was not looking for a change then and was looking forward to an onsite opportunity that was coming my way. But the pull of the Oracle brand was too strong to resist. 
I went for the interview totally unprepared (so much so that I did not carry a copy of my CV and pen for the interview) and did not expect to be selected. The interview lasted about 2 hours with two separate rounds and I was told on the spot that I was selected. Now this was a dilemma I had not expected to be in. However, I had wanted to make a move to a software product company for sometime now...
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