Last day

Finally the day has come to call it quits in my company. It was very fetching in terms of work. The work which I did through these 2 years 8 months was one of the best that any guy can ask for. There were ups and then there were deeeeeeeeeeep downs!!!

Let me not vent out my feelings which made me say "deeeeeeeeeeeep downs". Let me talk just about my ups only.

There were infinite things I learned in this company regarding my work. After doing 2 of the most important blocks, what I found is this:

1. There are certain IPs which are glorified to be the best work. But in fact, they are not that complex, if you know the basics.
2. There are certain IPs which are taken for granted that there is a particular way of doing it. This is also wrong. In fact, there are lot of intelligence and smartness that can be induced into those blocks to make them the best. 

However, for both the above most of the times your manager or his manager or his manager.....would put a stop to it. People say "Calculated risk taking is highly appreciated". In truth, it is not! The simple fact that everybody wants an IP to quickly work takes the highest priority at the cost of efficiency, speed and quality of both the engineer and the block as well. 

I am against this. Either say, "We hate risks. We go to the simplest and dumbest path for time-to-market" or allow the engineers to be smart. A good company, in my opinion should appreciate and encourage the engineer who tries to make the block smart, not just a dumb working piece of code which anyone who knows coding can do.

One quality of mine is a double edged sword in many companies. I tell the management that I can't achieve a goal in a certain period, if that is true. They usually get pissed with this style of working. They hate people, who would say these kind of things. In the long run, I feel good that I didn't commit to anything that I couldn't possibly do. Management also feels that I stick to my word.

Anyway, all said and done, another chapter of my career is complete. Now, I have to move on to my next chapter. Somewhere, someday, I would probably meet at least few of my buddies!!!

September 2012 Trip

We (my parents and I) had been planning for this Himalayan Trip from late may. Though we initially planned to go in October, we found out that many roads in Himalayas are closed by either Mid September or end of September. So, we set out on our Himalayan Trip in the following route:

• Hyderabad - Delhi (Saturday, Air India at 4:45PM)
• Delhi on Sunday
• Delhi - Leh (Monday, Air India at 5:50AM)
• PangongTso a.k.a 3 Idiots lake (Tuesday, Innova)
• Leh - Keylong (Wednesday, Innova)
• Keylong - Manali (Thursday, Innova)
• Manali - Kullu (Friday, Innova)
• Kullu - Dharmasala (Saturday, Innova)
• Dharmasala - Delhi (Sunday...Planned in Kingfisher, ended up in Innova. I will get back to it soon)
• Delhi - Hyderabad (Monday, Air India at 6:10AM)

Now let me go, one-by-one. So, let's start at Hyderabad.

Hyderabad - Delhi (Saturday, Air India at 4:45PM)

The first time, I ever flew business class. Oh boy!! Business class is something which is really good. For a two-hour long journey, business class really helps in getting your legs free and pretty good view of the outside world. Of course, I can't afford to go in business class. My dad and mom get that as part of their LTC and I got my business class ticket for much cheaper price than normal (because of some accompanying ticket or something of that sort).

Once I got down at Delhi, and throwing my luggage at the A.P.Bhawan, I immediately wanted to see "India Gate" in night time fled lights. Our driver took us there in about 10 minutes. Till that time I didn't really step out of air condition. Once I got out, I was immediately drenched in sweat. It was very sultry that day (September 1st , 2012) in Delhi.

Now, I wanted to get as many good photos as possible with my new Canon EOS 60D. I opened my camera and when I started seeing through my view finder, everything was blurry. For couple of minutes I thought my glasses were blurry. But actually the lens and the diopter were full of mist (because of the humidity). It took me about 5 minutes to start taking photographs. As expected, they turned out to be pretty bad.

By the time we came back to our rooms, we were so much drenched in our sweat that we necessarily had to take a bath before sleeping.

Delhi (Sunday)

Now, the places I wanted to see in Delhi were:

1. Raj Ghat
2. Jama Masjid
3. Humayun Tombs
4. Bangla Sahib

So, we started after our breakfast at about 8:30 AM. Our driver took us to Raj Ghat and said he will park somewhere nearby. We got down and were about to go into Raj Ghat, when the security guard there told us that Raj Ghat is closed on sunday. Uffff!!! I didn't expect that place to be closed on a sunday. What to do!!!!

We then went to Jama Masjid. It's almost opposite to Red Fort. The roads leading to Jama Masjid were very unclean. There were couple of police men at the entrance, who didn't even bother to check us.

This is the entry point into the Masjid. Once I entered, to my left side I found a guy feeding pigeons.

There was a pond in which the Muslims were washing themselves and also drinking the water.

A view from one side of the Masjid.

Inside the Masjid.

Through the corridors of the Masjid.

My mother in front of the building.

View of the actual Masjid.

Tower to the left of the Masjid.

After seeing Jama Masjid, we thought of going to Bangla Sahib. There lies a water body, more than a pond, less than a lake where you can find these beautiful coloured fish. After this, we headed to Akshar Dham thinking that Humayun tombs can be seen in the afternoon. But, clouds had different plans for us. After about half-an-hour, through Akshar Dham, downpour started and we had to return to A.P. Bhavan to rest for the night before we could go to Leh.

Delhi - Leh (Monday, Air India at 5:50 AM)

After we boarded the plane, I realised that it was much smaller than the one in which I flew from Delhi - Hyderabad. There were only 2 rows of business class vs 5 in Delhi - Hyderabad flight. The travel time was about an hour and half. While going to Leh, we could see the snowy Himalayan mountains.

These were the mountains, I was talking about.

Sea of clouds.

We got down at Kushok Bakula Rimpoche airport. The airport was so small that there were only two flights. One was Air India and other was Jet Airways. We were received by court clerk and were put up in a guest house, that was pretty near to the airport. It was so close, that I could see the flights from my room.

I wasn't bothered by the flights as there were only these two and none else for the remaining of the day. Anyway, we wanted to go to Khardung La (located at 5359m, about 39Kms from Leh). Leh is about 3,500m. But traveling about 2Kms upwards isn't good unless you are acclimatised to the height of Leh. So, we had to take rest till the evening and went around to places in Leh itself. One more thing: In the first week of every September, Leh has a festival. I didn't go to the exact market place, but the town was decorated pretty well for that only.

Anyway, we wanted to go to a place called Shanti Stupa (you can read about it here). That was a nice place to see. This was about 4267m. So, it wasn't much from Leh.

This is the entry point into the Stupa after you park your vehicle. 

Beautiful city of Leh seen from the entry point. 

I don't exactly know what this is. But, it seemed a good one for taking a photograph. So, I did!!

Snow mountains seen at the horizon. 

Stupa's pinnacle. 

Dharma Chakra

View from the Stupa itself 

My mother at the Stupa 

A small cricket ground seen from the Stupa

My parents in front of the statue of Buddha

City of Leh from Shanti Stupa

After seeing the Stupa, though our driver was very reluctant we asked hime to take use to the palace of Leh. This is supposed to be in ruins, though it doesn't look so.

Picture frames of Bodhisattva were found inside the palace

After this, we wanted to see one or the other Gompa (Monastery). But, our driver misguided us and ended us up in "Hall of Fame". This is about the Indian Army who were key in winning wars. This is maintained by the army itself. You can't take pictures inside, unless you pay for it. I wasn't that much interested in taking photos of photos, which I can get on internet. So, I didn't bother to pay for the camera.

But, as we were still pestering our driver, he took us to a very nearby Gompa, by the name of Kalimata Gompa. We were kind of perturbed. We thought Gompas had only Buddha or some form of him. We were right. I don't know why that name of the Gompa is so.

In the foreground in the above 3 photos, you can see the army's airbase.

Two monks chit-chatting

Returning from Kalimata Gompa, I decided to go to bed, as we had to get up in the morning to go to Pangong Tso (3 Idiots Lake). Before I was shutting down my camera, I saw these beautiful snow caps from my room.

Coming soon...Pangong Tso (a.k.a 3 Idiots Lake)