Letter To Terrorist By Mumbaikar After Serial Bomb Blast On 11th July

This was the fwd and each word of it is 100% truth

Dear Terrorist,

Even if you are not reading this we don't care. Time and again you tried to disturb us and disrupt our life - killing innocent civilians by planting bombs in trains, buses and cars. You have tried hard to bring death and destruction, cause panic and fear and create communal disharmony but everytime you were disgustingly unsuccessful. Do you know how we pass our life in Mumbai? How much it takes for us to earn that single rupee? If you wanted to give us a shock then we are sorry to say that you failed miserably in your ulterior motives. Better look elsewere, not here.

We are not Hindus and Muslims or Gujaratis and Marathis or Punjabis and Bengaliies. Nor do we distinguish ourselves as owners or workers, govt. employees or private employees. WE ARE MUMBAIKERS (Bombay-ites, if you like). We will not allow you to disrupt our life like this. On the last few occassions when you struck (including the 7 deadly blasts in a single day killing over 250 people and injuring 500+ in 1993), we went to work next day in full strength. This time we cleared everything within a few hours and were back to normal - the vendors placing their next order, businessmen finalizing the next deals and the office workers rushing to catch the next train. (Yes the same train you targetted)

Fathom this: Within 3 hours of the blasts, long queues of blood donating volunteers were seen outside various hospital, where most of the injured were admitted. By 12 midnight, the hospital had to issue a notification that blood banks were full and they didn't require any more blood. The next day, attendance at schools and office was close to 100%, trains & buses were packed to the brim, the crowds were back.
The city has simply dusted itself off and moved one - perhaps with greater vigour.

We are Mumbaikers and we live like brothers in times like this. So, do not dare to threaten us with your crackers. The spirit of Mumbai is very strong and can not be harmed.

Please forward this to others. U never know, by chance it may come to hands of a terrorist in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Iraq and he can then read this message which is specially meant for him!!!

With Love,
From the people of Mumbai (Bombay)

Rang De Basanti

Life without motive, friends and loved ones is absolute zero….

I am on vacation

In Wipro I used to be on vacation to visit my home to meet my family at Mumbai. At TCS, Mumbai I am on vacation to meet my family at Hybd and Blore.
Yup, I spent 2 days at Hybd and 2 days at Blore. Enjoyed a lot. Now continuing the vacation at home to spend little time with my Mom n Dad.
Yes, I am cooking these days, doing all possible household work and doing timepass like writing these blogs. Enjoying doing all this after having hectic schedule of long working hours. Dont wish to think about office n work. The thought of joining office on Monday is scary. Oooofff no no no, I wanna njoy n relax.

Hyderabad, Bangalore Revisited

Once again I got princess treatment at Hyderabad !!!
This was my third visit to this city…..
A long planned visit to meet my friends at both the cities

Since the day I came to Mumbai, joined TCS, I missed the Hyderabad, Bangalore and Wipro. Hardly any day I slept without remembering my days at Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Its almost 10 months at Mumbai and finally I executed my plan to revisit these cities and meet my friends.

The moment the bus entered Hyderabad city my anxious mind settled down. The beauty of this city lies in simplicity. The city is as simple as Hyderabad as techie as Bangalore as busy as Mumbai.

I met Meenal and then onwards I was treated like a princess. This lady took me at her place on her scooty, cooked delicious lunch for me. I was cared and pampered like a baby throughout my stay.

Then we all (Amit with his wife Maushmi, Meenie n I) gathered at Prashant’s house for dinner. Well, Prashant was the driver to take all of us to his place in his new Black Santro. We all were at our best to pull each other’s leg, recall old memories, laugh at ourselves, plan for future, investments... ha ha

Next day Meenie and I went to Appu’s new place after her marriage, met our Jijaji. Roamed at Hyderabad Central, the only mall at Hyderabad. In the evening I went back to Prashant’s house. I was totally discharged by then. After taking rest at his place it was time to start for Bangalore. Sweet Somya and Prashant dropped me to the bus. Somya filled my bag with all possible eatables on our way, this sweet bhabhi of mine was still not happy for not able to give me something for my dinner in bus. So cute!!!

Meeni, Prashant, Somya, Amit and Maushmi, You all were amazing to make me so special. Guys, I had got my camera to click all the moments but we were so engrossed in our masti n chat that I forgot to capture the moments when we were actually together :(.

I reached Bangalore at 7:oo in the morning. I got down at Forum, Big Bazar at Koramangala. Oooohhh!!!! All Old Gold Memories!!! I was delighted to feel at my own city, at my own home, everything was just beyond expression. Met Shylu after almost about a year. And we were still same.
I went to Malleshwaram, Meckery Circle to IT Dept of India at Bangalore. On my way I was watching my Bangalore thinking don’t know when will be the next time. Spent entire evening with Shylu at forum, had dinner together with her new roommates. It was real good fun to experience everything againJ. Had been to SMZ House. I still have the sweet old memories of SMZ House.
Next day, visited Deepak’s place. I was welcome by Jasmine with nimboopani in her hand. We three had dinner together, spend little time together. Jasmine had fever that day and still she cooked for me. I wont forget the way Jasmine took care of mine. Deepak and I went to airport. Flight was delayed, we had coffee and Deepak left.
After security check I was sitting in waiting area, allowed tears to drop over my chicks. Will I meet such good people ever in my life again?

I also had wish to visit Wipro Campus, any of my workplace. I also had ample of time at Bangalore to do that but then I was sure if I had done that it would have difficult for me to come back to Mumbai. I am happy atleast I could see Wipro Flower at Laksmi Building, Hyderabad while passing by.

I must say Prashant – Somya, Deepak – Jasmine, Amit – Maushmi, you form the best couples. Somya, Jasmeen, you cook well and I have been motivated by you. Amit, by next time you might have bought your own flat and Ill be there for dinner:) I was short of time to have enough talks with Meenie n Shylu. The only friends I could not meet are Rajeev, Himanshu, Asima, and Rajeswari.

I am happy to see you all happy. Hope we will always be in touch.

Be Aware Of......

Really good one, enjoy ........

Five cannibals (Man eaters) get appointed as programmers in an IT company.
During the welcoming ceremony the boss says: "You're all part of our team now. You can earn good money here, and you can go to the company canteen for something to eat. So don't trouble the other employees". The cannibals promise not to trouble the other employees.

Four weeks later the boss returns and says: "You're all working very hard, and I'm very satisfied with all of you. One of our developers has disappeared however. Do any of you know what happened to her?" The cannibals disown all knowledge of the missing developer. After the boss has left, the leader of the cannibals says to the others: "Which of you idiots ate the developer?"

One of the cannibals raises his hand hesitantly, to which the leader of the cannibals says: "You FOOL! For four weeks we've been eating team leaders, managers, and project managers and no-one has noticed anything, and now YOU ate one developer and it got noticed. So hereafter please don't eat a person who is working."

Sample GM mail to Junkies

From: varada.shinde
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 9:32 AM
To: Ajai.Kumar, Prashant Batra
Subject: GM Frendz!!

cheers!!
varada


From: Prashant Batra
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 9:32 AM
To: Ajai.Kumar, varada.shinde
Subject: GM Frendz!!

Ajay…
Pinging ?

Regards
Prashant


From: Ajai.Kumar
Sent: Tuesday, January 17, 2006 9:32 AM
To: varada.shinde, Prashant Batra
Subject: GM Frendz!!

Pinging ajai.kumar with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from ajai.kumar: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from ajai.kumar: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from ajai.kumar: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from ajai.kumar: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128

Ping statistics for ajai.kumar:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

Ek Do Teen Chaar

Its My Family

My Association With Wipro Technologies

Was That A Dream!!!

It was time to choose one of the two offers I had, Byzan System Ltd., a small firm with good projects and Wipro Technologies, an ocean. I had almost a year to decide between these two. I was more concerned about the kind of work than the brand name. All the people around me were suggesting me to go for Wipro with no second thought and my heart was beating for Byzan. Finally I took decision of accepting Wipro offer, which turned to be a wise decision since Byzan could not sustain during 2000-01 recession period.
Nov 2002, I joined Wipro Technologies after waiting for a long time with lots of expectations. I was associated with this organization for more than a two and half year. And during this period I got wide exposure to the industry.

I would say Wipro is the best example of an Ideal IT Company which can satisfy every kind of aspiration of an employee.
- Talent Transformation Dept
- Finance Dept
- All the administrative processes are automated through intranet
- Transparency in processes
- Professionalism
- Onsite – offshore rotation
- All the processes, policies are well thought and planned after doing required research
- Proper growth channel for an employee either on technical side or managerial / functional.
- Very well defined roles
And the best part is all these policies are being implemented and very well executed in Wipro Technologies.

Few aspects I am really impressed with:
- Wings Within which gives clear picture to an employee of various project requirement
- Talent Transformation Dept
- Up-to-date very well arranged intranet site, Tedweb
- Automation of all the processes through TedWeb. (full marks)
- IPAT
- SAP Data of every Employee
The only Department not playing prominent role could be HR or may be I haven’t come across with this entity much. Everything is so transparent and automated through TedWeb that don’t know what role exactly this entity play.

Well, name a single thing which you think should be there in an IT company and its there in place in Wipro.
Am I exaggerating? Hope not!!

India Empowered To Me Is by Vishwanathan Anand, Chess Grandmaster

That inspires me, motivates me and feel proud of

My Bangalore Stay

7th November 2002, 5:30 am I left my home for Bangalore. My classmates Ashu, Deepika, Reena were waiting for me at airport and we flew.
Dream comes true.
During my MCA I had heard about this IT city and had a dream to be here for a year and so. My senior college mate had got placed in Wipro in her campus. For a moment I saw myself at her place, just laughed at self and forgot as quickly as I could. I had just joined my course then.
Got the joining letter from Wipro. I was least interested to join Wipro after two regret letters. The only temptation for me to accept the offer was opportunity to stay at Bangalore and live independent life. I was such a pampered child then, did not even know how to deposit a cheque in a bank. (well, even now don’t know much more than that;))

A girl who did not know to walk alone landed in Bangalore with her classmates with lots of excitement, enthu ……….
And the fun starts along with the learning….
I still remember the way we came from airport to Brigade road in a taxi looking out at Bangalore through both the windows, stay at Monarch Hotel, first week at Wipro, first struggle for house, induction days, tests, 80% criteria, the way we studied for it. Oooff, don’t want to think about my unix and SE test. Then final day of induction, parting party. Girls, remember the way we danced and the Italian [;) sshhhh bolna mana hein].
Then my first project, 10 or 11 of us joined in one project, the fundu K1 days, nothing can beat it. First function at Wipro, New Year Party.
Cleaning new house, buying stuff, cooking, washing our clothes everything was so exciting!!!!

Met so many new people, in no time we become friends and did not realize when it became a family. Yes, all of you were my family at Bangalore. A new relation I got to know here because of Wipro, Batchmate. Indeed it’s a strong bond. I still remember the initial reply alls. (was lucky to have you, Vibs n Jags in my parting party)

And then after initial excitement gradually you realize that you are not with your family. I am so thankful to God for all my batchmates at IPNNEG, Jagdeep, Tarun, Deepak especially Rajeev. Thanks Raj, for your throughout support right from our induction days till date.
I can’t imagine my days at Bangalore without you gals, Rash, Hemangi, Chiku, Ashu, Anwi, Shylu, Reenu, Archu, Asima. It was great fun to be with you. All the masti we did, the discussions we had, the adventures we did, just amazing!! Thanks a lot Anwi, Shylu, Chiku, Ashu for the strong support whenever I needed most.
Weekends @ Bangalore, Sky was the limit for the Weekend Masti, especially after I resigned. I enjoyed as if I won’t get chance anymore. All the credit goes to SMZites and Archu. I cant forget one whole day I shopped at Banargatta Shoppers Stop.

There are all the sweet memories to cherish :

- My trip at Udupi, Manipal. I wish we had camera then,
- Eve at Art of Living, thanks Motu for this,
- Sleeping on terrace,
- A night walk with Deepak at BTM with mountain dew bottles in our hand walking on - roads like bewdas at 11:30 – 12 at night,
- Six hour with Varshney at Brigade, MG road when he had returned from US
- Trip with IPNEG,
- My Hyderabad stay,
- My visit to Anwi’s place at Hybd
- LM days with Ajai
- Good Morning mails to Junkies

Hey Apun to senti ho gaya na
- Rajeev dropping me at my doorstep on a bike after Punit’s marriage party,
- Prashant taking me to doctor n then to ice-cream corner,

Funniest Incident
- Prashant and I coming from M2 To Raheja Archade in an auto, Prash continuously looking at meter and forcing me to get down when it becomes 25/- ,

There are many more to write here.
Indeed it was glorious journey and I enjoyed it because you all were there with me.

Mumbai Under Water...

One more black day that I experienced in Mumbai after riots and bomb blast series.

Tuesday[26th July 05] I had my lunch and laid down lazily enjoying rain outside. I had to go out for the preparation of for my sister’s birthday celebration on next day. Her birthday was on Monday but we all had arranged a get-together on Wednesday.

It was raining heavily, I was wet and was enjoying. I got into an auto, was observing people outside. The auto had a good music system and the driver had good taste for music. There was a traffic jam on road but I was not much bothered about it as I was enjoying my travel, music and rain outside.

I was a bit surprised to see the water logging on the roads in no time and abusing the municipal corporation for not cleaning the drainage system. I entered the area called Vile Parle in Mumbai where water logs every now n then in rainy season. After certain distance the driver was scared to take his auto further and I got down. The water lever was knee level and all the people were walking slowly through the middle of the road. Mainly the public was school children and their moms who were taking them home. This is not a new scene to this area. Heavy rain fall of just an hour had caused such a problem was the only surprise to me. The water had a force, it was too much windy and the sky was pouring water on the earth. It took me almost 1.5 hour or so to reach to my area through this water thinking of manholes and gutters(;). Thank god these were the roads where I used to do tp during my college days. So, knew each n every spot, danger zone very well. I chose long route to avoid water. And I was shocked to see knee level water on the main road near to my home where I had not ever seen water raising higher than my ankle. I crossed that but I didn’t know then it was a just beginning. Way to my society had turned in a pond and I dared to enter into it. The water level was increasing by 4 inches at my every step. By the time I reached the gate of the building it was shoulder level water and I was almost floating in it. It was absolutely dirty gutter water. This water had entered into our building even on the staircase and I was stunned to see that. The bonnets of the cars were inside the water and we were inhaling petrol.

There was no power, mobile telephone network was down except Reliance. Most of the landline phones were down. Everyone was trying to contact other to confirm safety of each other and the news started flowing from one end to other. We tried to All India Radio for news since no TV. Felt so cut off from the rest of the world. It was raining heavily with lightning and thunder. There was high tide in sea, the waves were of 3 to 4 meters in height. The sea water had entered into the system through drainage system and thus Mumbai was under water.

Guys take a break… real story is ahead

Around 3:30pm we ask my sister to leave from her office. Her office is on the central line (Mumbai has 3 railway lines(routes) western, central and harbor) where the railway stops working even for not so heavy rain fall. She starts at 4:00pm from her office to Ghatkopar station. Around 6:00 – 6:30pm she calls up and says the scene out there is very bad, water is being poured like a waterfall on this side from the hill neighboring Powai lake. She has sat in a bus to Santacruz and there are no signs that when can bus move ahead. She says she will call when the bus starts. We get a call at 7:00pm – 7:30pm we get a call she has walked down till Kurla Kamani through around waste level water and got into some bus because they don’t have way to go ahead. This bus goes in the opposite direction of our place. Poor girl, not much familiar to this area gets to know from us. She says I got into this just because there is water everywhere and no way to go ahead, there is some place in this bus to seat n others are overflowing. She says traffic is not moving because the water level 15 meters ahead from the bus is more than 8 feet. She says she will call up when bus starts. Thus we get aware of how the serious the situation is outside. We decide to call her up after an hour or so. We also have to think about the battery charge in her mobile. Thank god our landline was not down.
Now we don’t know what to pray whether bus should move ahead so that she can reach early or bus should not move till morning so that she does not have to get down and travel through water to change the bus at night. Water at my place has almost raised to first floor. I talk to her around 12am, she says the bus hasn’t yet moved. We warn her not to get down till morning. I decide to sleep for 2 hours and mom is awake. I get up at 2:00am and mom says she is unreachable since 1:30am. There is a charge in my cell but can figure out Reliance network going down with the message ‘Entering Area Leaving Area’. That is the end of our communication. Rain is still pouring outside. Don’t know when do I sleep.
I wake up in the morning and happy to see no water in my society campus. I sleep again in a relaxed mood thinking rain has almost stopped, water has been drained away, it’s a day time n my young little sister should be back home max by noon.
We all are waiting for her. At every house people are reaching home at odd times, 11pm, 4am. Everyone has a story to tell, experiences to share. Its 11am and by this time all the people are either returned home or have stayed back to their offices. This is the only lady about whom we have no clue where is she, has her bus moved, whether she has changed the bus, whether she has got down and walking on the road, is there water in that area. And now I lose my patience and ask mom to go to the area where she has stuck last night. We decide to go to police station hoping we will get some information. Police write down our complaint and I find it mere waste of time.
My cousin comes from Goregaon, I jump with joy to see him, I ask him shall we go and he replies lets go.

And here starts third and final episode of the story…

Myself and my brother start, we have no clue whether she is still at Kurla Kamani or she has left the place. The only information we have she was there in the bus at 12 last night. We decide to go to the same place and then think further. We reach on the western express high way and see many people are still walking on the road to return home, very few vehicles on the road. We see buses stopped in the middle of the road, not in working condition. One can see cars, buses, bikes anywhere on the road, they are not parked, their owners have left them there because they are out of order. We see one bus in which seats are upside down, one on other and we cant even imagine what might have happened. At last we get into one auto to go to the place Kurla Kamani. Both of us looking out for our sister in a crowd walking on the road. The scene was tragic everywhere, people are trying to remove water from their houses, someone is busy in repairing his bike, most of the buses and autos were standing because engine is not working. We reach near to the destination and auto driver is not ready to come further. We thank him and walk further and our guess work starts here onwards.
We see many empty busses are standing one behind the other (I thought this is bus depot). This is the spot where her bus might have stuck. We try to look for bus number 10 just to be sure we are on right track but the numbers on the plate are wiped off. We decide to move in Kurla direction where most of the crowd is moving thinking she might have followed the crowd. We see many people coming back saying water level is more than chest level and we can not walk through. That’s a confusion for us now, same number of people going to and fro on this road, whether we should go ahead or come back. We are already in almost waste level water.
We see the recovery van carrying casualties. Volunteers (these are common people like you and me) standing on the divider of the road and guiding people to walk through the water. They are allowing people to walk only at a distance of 3-4 feet on both the side of the divider. On one side of the road people are walking towards Kurla and on other side of the divider people are coming from Kurla. People from neighboring buildings are distributing biscuits, tea, khichdi to these people who are without water and food since last noon.
We decide to come back thinking she might not have gone by this way since water level at 2pm was about chest level so it has to be more in morning. We return back to where all the buses were standing. We go to one police chowki in a hope of some information but we find our self at better situation than them. We get to know they have got some casualties and my brother enquires more about them.
We decide to come back home and wait for her.
At 4:00pm she knocks the door and we all scream with joy.

Mumbai has lost a lot and almost everyone has a story like this to share. We are among few lucky ones and I thank God for it.
May God bless all.