City City Bang Bang

Its a very busy life, this one. I'm in Bengaluru(!) doing my internship at Ittiam. And its going to last for a total of 2 months, with a small pause that is. As to what this pause is, please be patient to read on. Its a 12 hour affair everyday...right from 7:30 in the morning to 7:30 in the evening. Despite that, I'm a very happy man...the main reason being this person called Srikanth Nori. He's not my guide in the true sense but he's more than one in the real sense!! A very simple and down-to-earth person and as my friend Soni puts it, he does not know the word NO. You ask him for any help/advice/guidance, he's more than ready to oblige. I'm blessed to be working under him. I could not have asked for more. For that matter, how often do u play carom with your guide during breaks !!?

Of the 12 hours that I spend outside home, 2-3 hours go into travelling. From Bangalore University to Richmond Road and back. The Rs.25 ride (courtesy the daily pass) to office and back is an experience in itself. Over the past 3 weeks, I've seen and met innumerable people hailing from a gamut of backgrounds. A bellicose lady cussing at a ruffian(not that I expect her to treat her husband any differently), a conductor throwing up a tantrum for lack of 'change', an agile chap making it into the bus just as the automated door shut close...they are all a part of the daily rat race. All of which reminds me of the words of a distant relative of mine...No, matter however hard you try and possibly even win the rat race, remember that you'll still remain a rat!! While traveling in these buses, often packed to the hilt,not only do you have to put up with the multitude of forces from all directions(including the untimely braking and acceleration) but you have to bear the obnoxious odours coming from places far and near! And to my rescue comes the FM on my cell phone.

I just cannot imagine how life would be here, without FM. It lets me just drift away into a distant world...far from the earthly (read BMTC) displeasures. No sooner than closing the gate of the house, I'm hooked. Its the panacea..no matter how hard the sun is beating down, how 'tight' the guy standing next to me in the bus is or how sluggish the traffic is...I can just disconnect from it all. Not that the RJ makes more sense than the banter around me, but then the voice is sweet and soothing..be it Vasanthi or Aviva or Rohith for that matter...

I have grown used to it now. Its no longer like the Friday of my first week at office..where I was fully in a TGIF mood and was more than glad that the weekend had finally arrived. The fact that I worked on Saturday the following week speaks volumes (provided you are ignorant of the fact that I want to coax my guide to grant me a week's leave to go to Jammu to attend Spic Macay's National Convention...thats the pause I mentioned earlier). And on Sunday, I had a nice time with Teja and Shappa, just loafing around the city. All in all, things are turning out to be better than what I had bargained for. Life's good. Meanwhile, my Ludlum beckons me...waiting to be completed...