praveen iyer

Raj called at office, and was wondering what I was still doing there.. He wanted to go to Acton Tram depot, where he had to meet a client and wanted the direction and where to get the cab from. I wanted to go to the library, so told him that I will go down there after i go to library and get him some cab numbers as well. When I finally reached there after going to the library, he wanted me to drop him at Acton Tram depot., well he was requesting.. I wanted to turn him down, and then on second thoughts decided to help him out..(am I going out of way to help people??!!)

I was on the net while he got ready, and on the familiar journal, there were a few questions.. I couldnt prevent the smile from my face.. She hasnt changed a bit.. the same old curios lovely person.

Dropped Raj and was back home, sorting my papers, bills etc, when jimmy(my houseowner), dropped in, and was on about the movie on telly “The Rock”. Well, finally got up to watch that movie and It indeed was a nice movie.. an Action thriller. Sean Connory was at his best and Nicolas cage was looking good too.

I should be the happiest man on this world now.. but instead, I am a lot confused.. I fear a lot., fear of losing her. I love her a lot., and she remains silent. I never know, why I always put myself in this position. Had I been a poet, I would’ve wrote a poem today, had I been a painter, would’ve expressed my frustration in colours.. I am not good at either., I went for a long walk by the canal., and I wanted to walk for eternity. No wonder, I can understand “Forrest Gump” going for the trans-US run now!! I would’ve walked for nearly 40 minutes, before I turned back. No bulidings were in sight, only the canal, trees around, the swans, ducks and the gulls. I discovered one thing on the way back..

Life isnt complex..
Unfortunately, Humans are!!

Saturday, Sushil’s phone woke me up and I was ready within an hour and went to pick him up from hotel. From there, we were planning to go to Ealing Broadway shopping centre, since Uxbridge and Hounslow had less choices. Off we went and soon found that, we had lost our way. This was nothing new to me, and eventually found my way. While parking at Ealing, I reversed my car, to hit a corner of a building, and soon I checked to find that my bumper at the back of car has got some cracks in the impact and the bulding was fine. Sushil had already criticised my driving, late braking, overspeeding etc.. now he got another fault, observation. And the bad thing was, he’s right also in his observation. Well, I took a mental note of improving my driving.

He did his shopping and I also got myself a jeans from M&S. We must have spent a lot of time there at the shopping mall, before feeling hungry, and driving back to southall. We had good Indian khana (Aloo Paratha, & Chapati with Tarka daal and Karela Curry). I topped it up with Rasmalai before we left. Finally we were heading back home, and on the way saw Mark, who will soon be leaving to Korea with Yangin. After a bit of chat on the road, drove home, where I got busy cleaning Zubin’s house. Their Manager (A senior guy) is coming by Emirates from Dubai, and will be staying at Zubin’s place. I made Rice and Daal for dinner and then we were off to Heathrow again with a paper written RAJ on it…(the person coming was Raj Jagasia, a Senior fellow at Intentia India).

The flight was on time, but the immigration control seem to have taken more time, and he came out at around 10’O clock. I was expecting an old guy, short and was surprised to find a young person, (well still a lot elder to me). On the way back, I dropped sushil off at the hotel. Myself and Raj were back at home, and had dinner and a lot of chat. I showed him the house and was back at my home, and just fell into my bed.. and that was it.

African Tribals were singing for me from “Deep Forest”

Evening, saw me with Sushil at Zubin’s place, and we were to go out with Avtar, Mark & yangin. I saw ceres on chat and was wondering, how late she’s working!

Soon, we were with Avtar, Mark and Yangin and I was driving to Ealing Broadway. We had dinner at Pizzahut before, leaving again to feltham, where we had a game of pool and two games of Bowling.. I have learnt bowling better.. I could see from Sushil’s eyes, that he was wondering at my bowling skills.. first game I had won with ease and the second game, I was alrealy ahead by miles, by the sixth-seventh frame. I was enjoying bowling. I must’ve reached home by around 1.00, and was soon on phone… and the magic is on..

The major advantage of having a car is the mobility, which it offers. As promised, I left office and went directly to Sushil’s hotel and picked him up. Soon we were on our way to Feltham SuperBowl, for the game of pool.. we have missed it for a long long time.. we must have spent nearly two three hours there, before calling it a day.

Ramesh left today, with his family back to India. It has been nearly one and half years, since we came together. Sushil had come from Switzerland, today and Mark and Yangin(his Korean girlfriend) were also at the airport to see him off. Sushil has comedown for his SAP training, and will be here till sunday.

I drove to the airport with some luggages and with Ramesh’s wife and kid, and Ramesh had left before us in a cab with most of the luggage. He had trouble with the tickets, with the excess luggage and god knows, will he have trouble with the customs officials back in Bombay.

Our story begins back at Andheri, where we were interviewed, and finally when our Work Permits came, we were not really knowing what to do, I had no pre-planning and got together whatever I could lay hands upon, which I felt essential, and off I was to London. Mom as usual was smiling, and it was my father who really got upset., he was in tears and was praying for me, when I did my namaskarms to appa and amma., we were off to Rajappa mama’s place at Mulund, where we would have our dinner and from there, go to the airport. Santosh & Raja also were there.. Appa and amma decided to stay back, and didnt want to come to airport. Soon we reached Sahar and found Ramesh also ready for the flight. Sam, sunil and others from bitmappers had come to see me off. and there I was embarking on my first flight, and that too an International one.

I remember having revised everything, some days back, before my flight, since I wanted to do my best at work at London. Long indeed was the flight after the break at Dubai. and Smruti was there at the airport to receive us. Myself and Ramesh stayed together, till he left the job at DT, and moved on. But we still keep in touch. Sushil, soon joined the flock. During initial periods, we had not seen Sushil, since he was working at Switzerland for DT. It didnt take time for us three to gel together once we all met. We took a seperate apartment together and moved in. It was fun. I remember that during that time, I had played chess with Sushil for long durations. We would play chess in the bus on our way to office, we were improving our chess tremendously. Ramesh, was happy watching and wasnt interested in chess. Sushil and myself started playing pool, bowling and tennis.. We have learnt it atleast to the level, where we can play easily.

During the tennis sessions, Sushil used to concentrate on the placing and I was putting my all efforts on Service. The result being that, I served well, where as he placed the ball well. Our game would always be interesting., and with Ramesh, I could at anytime win 6-0. He didnt want much physical effort. But he was integral in our companionship. We had a lot of fun together.. many evenings spent cooking and going for walks.. Now Memories…

Myself and Sushil were remeniscing this when we were driving back from the airport after Ramesh left.

Monday night.. I had a good sleep.. Finally it seems my angel is back with me.. and forever…

Tuesday, problems with firewall at AT&T and cannot connect to internet properly… Mail server also seems down.. but was busy with edi.. two versions mapped.. and tested also.. Left early to pickup Ramesh and Family., who will be staying at Zubins place till tomorrow, when they will fly back to India. Ramesh was staying back to give the keys back, His wife and Kid and a lot of luggage was with me on the long drive back home. M25 as usual was horribly packed.. Left Ramesh’s wife and kid at Zubin’s place, and went home..

So was it.. I caught the first flight from Århus, to copenhagen at 7.30 morning, needless to say, I was soon on the prowl with the camera. I left the luggage at Copenhagen Airport, and since I had a flexible ticket, I could catch any flight I required back to heathrow, if the seats are available. Anyway, soon I was on the train to Copenhagen city. The one distinguishing thing that I found in Denmark was the cleanliness there.. Really clean than in UK.

Well, there I was, just getting out of the central station, in front of Tivoli Gardens.. an amusement park, which is not open during winter.. btw.. it was -1 degree at copenhagen. Well.. here I started my long journey. The first place I went was “Glyptoteque”, a museum, where sculptures and painting were there. Egyptian walls, Greek mythological sculptures were there.. but I was looking at them without any feeling at all.. Maybe I am not a sculpture man. Went to the painting section, where there were paintings done during the period of 1800-1900, by french and Denmark artists., before coming out. Had a long walk to the Danish Parliament, and from there to Queens palace and then to little mermaid. Well, In Copenhagen, I was visiting places, just for the sake of visiting, and moreover the climate was not that good. In short, I visited all the important places and was on my way back to station, when I had seen a Design exibition. It was at Danish Design Center. The topic was about recycling the waste material.. but there were many exibits which were really nice. A beautifully designed scooter, a screen(partition one) made of carton cardboard etc. Browsed through some books there and then came out (brrr… again) and caught the train back to Airport.

Caught the 3.55 flight back.. and spent the waiting period in the BA “Euro Club” Lounge.. Advantages of travelling as a consultant!!! Soon I was up above the clouds again, and the busniess class was relatively empty. Flight took off on time. Before landing at heathrow, flight was roaming in circles for atleast three times, since the runway was not available. Captain was announcing all the details.. M25 from air was as busy as I see from road. Finally got landing and rushed home.. Was feeling fresh eventhough, the journey was long.

I was really tense regarding a reply which I was awaiting… I can only check on Monday.. Has to hold on…