Nostalgic Chennai

2009-03-15T13:49:00.000-07:00

A few snaps of Chennai. Last one is Thiruvanmiyur beach.

Fire Drill

2008-09-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

Remember the fire drills at our office.

Well this was just another fine day in office when the alarm rang and the entire populace in SDB6 got down at their own pace singing songs and talking about the news. It would have taken more than 15 mins to evacuate the building.

The person in charge of the drill put in some smart ass comments about the lethargic reaction of the group. And then he started demonstrating the use of the fire extinguisher. After giving us a brief instruction on how to use the equipment he started looking out for a volunteer to operate the fire extinguisher on a dummy fire. And whom did he choose.... the tiniest creature standing in the first row - Vani.

Vani did step up but what followed was just too hilarious. Vani couldn't even lift the fire extinguisher, let alone operating it :) The instructor did patiently wait for Vani to help herself but to no avail and he eventually had to lift the extinguisher himself and Vani just operated the nozzle :D

Remember that Romit? Funny!!

Equality

2008-09-06T22:51:00.000-07:00

I'll start with the equality episode.

This happened during our stay at the Ramada. 3 of us were put up in each room with an extra mattress that was kinda low in height. Now all of us did adjust except for a few like Ankur Gupta who shared the room with Jassi and Saurabh, I suppose. Do you guys remember Ankur? short, dark, curly hair. Funny guy, he had come to Tada falls wearing fluorescent yellow shoes :D

It was decided that Jassi and Saurabh will sleep on the bed and Ankur will sleep on the extra mattress. This was followed for a day or two until Ankur started feeling uneasy and low. So, he said to the other guys, 'hum teeno infosys mein hain, teeno equal hain, to teeno bed pe soyenge'. And he moved on to the bed :D

Saurabh, Jassi, did anyone of you move out of the bed, or the 3 of you slept together :P ?

Coffee Days

2008-09-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

Infosys Training lasted for about 2 months from August to October. And most of the 240 of us had developed a certain bit of fondness for Bangalore's weather and life.

It was not a surprise that when the training was over, all of us posted in Chennai left Bangalore with a bit of apprehension about the new place. There was definitely a prejudice created in our minds about the people and the culture. And though it might have been to some extent encountered by us from our experience searching for apartments or our early experiences with our neighbour's, things fell into place after some time and we learned not to generalize our assumptions. We so enjoyed our stay that we revel talking about those happy days now.

It started with a wonderful stay at the Ramada Raj Park for a week followed by frantic search for apartments. And lucky us that we found 3 apartments in the same building. And most of the other folks recided in the nearby vicinity.

Most evenings and weekends were spent in groups, large or small, at the various restaurants in the city. Adyar Bhavan in Adyar - traditional rice, sambar & rassam thali. Coffee @ Hotel Ramprasad. Khana Khazana on the beach. Planet Yumm. Wang's Kitchen. Pizza Hut. Jus Parathas. Eden. The Residency. Dhaba Express. Don Pepe. Icarus. Chawla's Chicken. Kabul. Crescent. Sweet Chariot Cafe. Cafe Coffee Day. New Yorkers. Fruit shop on greams road. Copper Chimney. Karaikudi. Saravana Bhavan. Cascade. Bella Ciao.

Movies were fun too in Chennai at Sathyam, Ega or the cheaper Anu Ega. Or we could also be found shopping at the Spencer's Plaza or Isphani. And if we were not out eating, shopping or watching movies we certainly would be found at the Besant Nagar beach!

There quite a few nearby weekend getaways. Mayajaal. Kovalam Beach. Pebble Beach. ECR. Mahabalipuram (pancakes & beer). Pondicherry. Pulicat. Tada Falls. Muttukadu.
There quite a few distant getaways too. Kodaikonal. Ooty. Yercaud. Hogenakkal Falls. Coorg. Munnar-Kovalam-Varkala-Quillon-Allepey-Cochin. Wayanad.
Most decided on the spur of the moment.

The office time never felt like work except for a few such as Sumeet :) Most of the time was spent in others cubicles discussing about the weekend's activities.

From the start in October 2003 to about the end of 2004, a bunch of guys n gals came together to Chennai and today a gang of friends talk about those good old days.