Why am I an Engineer ?

I often ask this question from myself, and the answer is "I wanted to see if I can crack the JEE".

Too much waala funny

One of the funniest things I have come across in a long time:

My favorite line is "Pink ped ko to humne jala hi daala... isse zyada melodrama aur kya hoga" 

And now that I'm at it, let me also add that the movie was a disaster :( Sorry KJo!

Much ado

A funny thing happened today, although mostly in my head.

Basically the weather in London is so unpredictable that I carry an umbrella everyday. But my office bag is kindof small so although the umbrella fits into it, the bag becomes very tightly packed and a little heavy as well. And then it hasn't rained for the last 2-3 weeks during my office commute hours so the umbrella's trip to office and back has mostly been useless. It is almost like an insurance premium :P

Anyways so today morning I thought I won't carry it considering it hasn't been raining for a while (I don't like to believe in weather forecasts) but as I was leaving the house I remembered Murphy's law and immediately knew that it was going to rain today so went back and stuffed the umbrella into my bag. Then I did one more round of thinking and I was sure it will NOT rain today as I finally have the umbrella.. ha ha ha.. too much ado about a small thing I know!

When I stepped outside, after a couple of minutes, it started drizzling! I was extremely happy and started to take out the umbrella but then the rain was a bit too light for an umbrella so I decided against it :)

Landed in London

So again this post should have been written in May when I actually landed in London but life has been such a roller coaster ride since then, that I didn't get time!

So basically I got married on 24 April 2012 and as MJ was working in London, I moved in with him sometime in mid May. (Jahan piya... wahaan main !) But this post is going to be about 'life in London' and not 'how is married life'.

Food @ London: It is very sad that being in Google, here I am cribbing about office food. Being a pure vegetarian sometimes proves to be a very tough. In office, they do respect that some people would be vegetarian, so there are 2-3 options everyday but egg is considered to be a legal ingredient for vegetarians, so life becomes even more difficult for me. Other than these 2-3 options, there are only boiled veggies, yogurt, salad and soup. Recently I have found this option of Sushi (Japanese dish made with rice)... which I am kindof liking and there are 2-3 veg Sushi options everyday. For those who don't know, veg Sushi looks like this:

Futomaki

And it is supposed to be eaten by soya sauce and other chutneys. But desi as I am, I eat it with tomato ketchup without paying attention to my teammates who make fun of me.. So this is how I survive lunch at office. Then I leave office by 6-7-7:30, and if any energy is left, I cook dinner otherwise we order something or we eat outside.

Food outside: Surprisingly, there are loads of Indian restaurants everywhere in London; and 2 of them are right in front of our apartment building, called Red Chilly and The Empress. Food is good at both these places but I like Red Chilly more :) More about food later!

Work Environment @ London: So basically the work (technology-wise) is very similar to what I was doing in Google Bangalore so I didn't face much of the uphill ride as I had to in Bangalore. I came across as a experienced and confident employee and was able to start delivering very soon. But the work is quite bigger and involves much more responsibility than it did in India. Work environment is much better as people are more helpful, less judgmental and in general the pressure-to-perform is less :) I have made a few office-friends (basically people with whom I can talk a little more than work) and these are mostly Indian girls. I am still trying to mix up with Brits and people from other nationalities but it is not easy mainly because I am still facing difficulty in catching their accent. So normally, I am confined to only work related conversations and I don't usually go to social get-togethers as well. Even if I go, I just stick around with my Indian-girl-group with whom I feel more comfortable and less conscious.

People @ London: The people over here are extremely extremely formal. I hear hundreds of Thankyou's, Please's , Sorry's, Bless-you's, Welcome's, throughout my day. Sometimes it gets irritating as even I have to do the same. If I sneeze, suddenly I hear 2 bless-you's coming towards me. And then I have to reply with a Thankyou. And so even I have to be alert for other people sneezing. But it is also kindof sweet :)

I'm very tired to write now... will continue later.. gn!

I-have-seen-you-somewhere *mystery*

To be honest, I consider myself older than the frequently-flirted age. Even when I was that age, nobody has ever maaroed a cliched pickup line on me.. but today I got lucky. So I was returning from somewhere and it was around 8:30pm. So this guy was walking in front of me and I just overtook him (I was also walking). Then he overtook me and started walking alongside.. OK! And before I could decide what to do, he said "hey, you work for Infosys, right ?" And I thought 'ok, that was a very tech pickup line but considering we are in the Silicon Valley, probably this is normal'. But then I realized I was a few years past that frequently-flirted age so I decided to give him the benefit of doubt. I gave him my stern look and said "No". Then came another 'Hey, I think I've seen you somewhere, do you live anywhere nearby ?'. I almost wanted to laugh.. I mean I'm not doing a walking marathon here, so it is obvious that I'm going somewhere nearby and most probably my home. And I-have-seen-you-somewhere was really not required! So I looked at him, smiled and said "Sorry, not interested :)". And he also smiled and said "ok, sorry!". Whatever it was, I felt happy that I have also been maaroed a pick up line at last, and that too the most classic one! It is never too late :)

Let me start all over again

Such a Bollywood bug struck person I am, so was watching this Big Star Entertainment Awards today (on New Year's eve). Actually I'm not that uncool, but with a fractured foot there's not much one can do! Anyways so the 'best actor in a romantic role' was presented to Ranbir Kapoor and he was standing on the stage delivering his speech. As usual, as soon as he said 'Hello', people started hooting and all.. and then he started by saying he has been inspired by great romantic actors like Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor. Suddenly the audience stopped responding. The first row'ers' celebrities and the common men and women sitting in the back all were distracted and stopped listening to him. And Ranbir was also in a state of shock. Apparently, Amitabh Bachchan had just arrived at the award function and people suddenly lost interest in everything else. For almost 4-5 minutes, nothing else mattered. And then when everyone got normal with AB's presence and the audience returned to Ranbir (now somewhat pissed off), he said, "Let me start all over again. I was saying that I am inspired by legends like Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor." I am intrigued by the way people who were hooting and clapping for Ranbir suddenly made him feel a nondescript, such is the greatness of AB. Hail, Big B.