19th-20th April: Goa-vaasis'/Pune-vaasis'/mumbai-vaasis get together in Mumbai

19th
-->wait in dadar
6 fiends from goa and 3 more from pune were supposed to reach dadar at 4 in the morning.I, abhi and sylvan were supposed to receive them at the station.But then we came to know(at around 4) that they were behind schedule and would reach by 5.30.So i slept again(this after i was already ready to leave) as we decided to reach the station at 6am.At 6 when I,abhi and sylvan met to leave for dadar, they told me that the train was yet to reach kalyan station and that it would probably reach at 7 at dadar.So we waited outside their place and at 7 we left for dadar station.there we got to know that the train had to wait for more than an hour at kalyan station and that it would be even more late.

Then chris and gautam dev also decided to show up at dadar station.Even they had got up early to recieve this people at theire place.. but since the train was late,they too came to the station.We took the oppotunity of the delay to explore dadar(e).We just walked around dadar and visited a swami narayan temple.When we reached back to the station, we met stanley(natasha's bf), who had come to recieve her.

-->arrival-->travel to malad
Finally at around 10am, the train arrived!All of them were tired by the journey,but more so because of the delay.We had already purchased the tickets from dadar to malad, where chris,dev, and ramesh stay and where the visitors would stay.We took a slow train to borivli and got down at malad.From malad station we had to take ricks to D-mart, which is close to where they stay.We were joined at the station by jeremy.
Finally all the visitors realxed a bit at the flat , and had bath.We were already behind scheduled of whatever we had planned.

-->to borivli
Finally we headed for borivli.We had decided to go to the sanjay gandhi national park and then to the kanneri caves.So we took a bus and reached borivli.There we had lunch and headed toward the entrance of national park.We were told that the bus to kanneri caves had left and that it would take some time to come back.We knew that if we went to kanneri caves it would be soon time to come back as the caves close by 6pm.So we went around the park adn then all went into the lake there in paddle boats.That was enjoyable.Since we couls not do anything much there we decided to go to bandra for shopping.

-->to bandra
So we took a train to bandra and at bandra we took them to Hill road.They shopped around there and the returned to malad to chris' place.
End of a very tiring day!

20th
to boivli,bandra, departure
Since we could not visit the kanneri caves the previous day, we decide to make the trip on this day.I, abhishek,sylvan,jeremy and sylvans cousin
went to borivli.There we were met by supriya.We all went inside the sanjay gandhi national park and waited for the others to come.

All the others came after some time and we took the bus to the kanneri caves.We showed them around the caves and by lunch time came back to malad.
We had lunch and after some rest at chris' place, we rushed to bandra to catch the bus to goa.We reached just in time.
The pune- vaasis then went to linking road as they could leave later for pune.

So like this the trip came to an end.It didnt go as planned,we missed a lot of things...but atleast all of us were together, and thats what matters.
Hope to have more such get-togethers.

25th March- My Birthday

This was my first birthday away from home...away from my family.Not that i celebrate it in a big way or something, but i sure would have loved to be at home.I had not planned anything much for the day and wasent expecting many calls either as most of my friends didnt have my mobile number.

The day passed as usual at the office with some friends wishing over google chat or by calling.
I would like to thank runa, jeremy, abhishek, supriya, ashutosh, sylvan--my classmates for remembering my birthday and wishing me.
Thank you fellows. Also a big thanks to my friends Kedar,Gaurav, Gautam, Priyad, Sudesh for wishing me.Thanks to mom/dad, nikhil/maushi, aditi,gautam/aatya.

In the evening i took out some friends for dinner.There were not too many people but we enjoyed.

20th March- Lunch party at Renaissance

Nothing big..its only a 7 star hotel and we were taken to the Lake view cafe over there.The previous version of the project i am currently assigned to had gone live. So the client had suggested we have a party to celebrate the occasion. Our team along with two Associate VP's- Minal Deshpande and Narendra Sengupta and the MD of R10-Mr Parag Saigaonkar went to this hotel
for lunch.It was just my second day into this team and it couldn't have begun better.
The good thing about this lunch -apart from the food- was that i got to have lunch with the absolute boss of R10(Deloitte US offices in India), Mr Parag.
He is a great visionary and a very good person to talk to.I introduced myself to him and told him about myself as did the others.

All of us chatted about a lot of different things and didn't know how the time flew by.
This was a great day for me to be among all these great people.

20th March- Project switching

The reason we are encouraged to do our projects in a company is that we learn about the company culture, the work environment etc..things which may not easily learn in our class-rooms.For us at the mca dept..the entire last sem(6th sem) is dedicated to project work,which takes the form of internship when we get projects in a company.
I was lucky to get an internship offer from deloitte US.This was a great opportunity for me.

I along with jeremy were first placed in DPM project in asp.net technology.Since we did not have our desktops, we read some books on ado.net, tried getting familiar with the database. Thats when i was shifted for the first time from my project.The reason given was vague..but i thought that since we had still not received our desktops..and might be causing delays,they had to do it.
Fine with me.

I was put into a testing project.It was mainly manual database testing.I had to create test cases and execute them and log defects.I had the tool QC (Quality Center) to assist me.I was there till the completion on one phase of this project.Then for some days i had kind of no work.
i spent my days practicing .net and reading a lot on the net. then all the interns had a meeting with the resource manager, where i told her about my situation.that i currently had no work.(believe me its really boring).

A few days later i was put into the team i was first put into.the asp.net one.Jeremy was already rolled off from that project and aslo another guy.I was told that since i had ones worked with the team i was clled back (this was the biggest joke as jeremy had worked more on this project and actually got some experience.)i asked the team lead this question.Again no answer.I was told to
prepare some screen description document for some screens which incidently were prepared by jeremy. That was again boring..creating docs.

I was into my third day on this project when the resource manager again shifted me to another project.The current one.This too is on testing..the only difference is that i have to test the front end.

I think over the short duration uptill now i have been shifted the most.Even they cant help it as they cant put me in projects which will last a long duration as our stay over here is till mis june.whether they will offer us jobs is another question and i am not discussing it here.

The only good thing that has come out of this is that i have to come to know lot of people, which is good actually.Lets see how long more i am on this project.I am seriously beginning to think that if i am offered a job in deloitte it will be into testing.

Finally back to goa- 8th to 11th March

Finally i got my leave for the 10th and 11th march confirmed and me and jeremy left for goa on the 7th in the evening by a paulo volvo.We were both excited to go back home.All our friends had been to goa at least once and we were awaiting our chance to go.The bus ride was event less and i reached panjim at about 7.15 am the next day.

I took a rick and reached home.I must advice all my friends, if you thinking of going home..please inform your mother.She will prepare a great meal.My stay in mumbai had resulted in me loosing a few kgs, but i think i gained a few back at home.

I said i lost a few kgs. and i was dreading my moms lecture about eating well.
In the morning she was busy and i though she did not notice me.I decided to go to university to meet some friends.There i was teased about me loosing weight(the fools), and about them gaining weight(fools again).At home my mom just said that i had lost weight.as if it was expected(i was surprised she did not give a big lecture).


The next day we went to kavlem and ramnathi temples.It got a bit late getting back.I was a bit tired.Monday was boring, i did not do much.My parents had gone to office,and i spent the day watchin tv which i had missed in mumbai.

Tuesday i had a bus to return back to mumbai.I must say the days pass very fast, and i wished that i had taken a few days leave more.(maybe next time).

So i am back in the office now, and have just recieved message that i may be shifted from my project.On one hand i am relieved that i may no onger be on testing..but on the other had i have to work with a very strict guy..and i dont even know about the project.I have a meeting with him today..lets see what happens.

17th feb-Visit to Nehru Planetarium

We went to worli to the Nehru planetarium and Nehru Museum.

The museum houses many pictures of Nehru, about his life, his days in prison, his letters etc.Then there is a section about India, with many things depicting the various cultures, different times inn Indian history.The planetarium was good with the main attraction the show which used the ceiling as a backdrop to depict the sky and the universe.The show was great.
Ia advice all to visit the planetarium when in Mumbai.

15th Feb--Pre-Employment Medical Checkup.

All TCS employees have to undergo a Pre-Employment Medical Checkup before joining the company.I learned that sylvan and abhishek got an email from TCS to go for this checkup.
As they were supposed to be doing their project in TCS i assumed that only they have to go for it right now as i had not received any mail.
But just a few days ago i learned that Sir Karmali had got a call stating that all students placed in TCS have to go for the checkup.
I got the information late and as i had not got my TCS offer letter with me to Mumbai there was no time for me to ask someone to post it to me.
Then Chris told me that reference no was enough along with some ID card.
I had that, and then on the scheduled date i,sylvan and abhi left for Lower Parel where we were supposed to go for the checkup.We reached there early
and got the entry form.There i was told that it was necessary that i produce the photocopy of the offer letter.As i did not have it ,i could not undergo the medical test.
So I had to leave that place without the checkup.

I then had to go to my office.As I had already missed my company bus from Bandra, I had to take a train to Andheri Station and than a bus to Hiranandani.It was a long and tiring trip.And I reached my office 2 hours later then usual at about 11.15am.
Luckily my team-mates along with the team lead as usual were late.So I was in my place when they came.

I called my dad and asked him to post me the offer-latter photocopy.When i receive it ,I will again go for my checkup. Chris also had the same problem,and i think he too returned without a checkup.
Lets see what happens..