The Day I was Conned

I must confess I have never felt so stupid in my life. I have traveled in almost all parts of the country and in almost all modes of transport and when I boarded my train on15th Dec from Bangalore to Jodhpur, it was no big deal.

But yes, this was the first time I was traveling 45 hours straight (because I had to take my bike back to my hometown in the same train). I changed my ticket from 3^rd AC to 2^nd for the first time and I got an upper birth which I changed to lower birth (I have always preferred upper birth though; but my cabin had just two guys, so took it).For the first time I accepted food from a stranger (as I mentioned that person was to be my sole companion for next 48 hours), and ya ok, we chatted for quite some hours. For the first time I had just 100 bucks left with me during a journey and I really did not minded him paying my expenses (him being a businessman going on a business trip to Jodhpur to seal a deal with Bikaji Namkeens).

So let us talk about this businessman. He knew everyone and I mean everyone in the pantry car; from waiters to managers to the TT of the train. He had relatives at almost every other stop we had. He was on calls for almost the entire time. He was the owner of ticket booth of PVR cinemas, Forum Mall, Bangalore, he was the contractor of food in Rajdhani express and he had local businesses in railways and many other diverse fields. Every damn tea boy and attendant was treating him as he was the Prince and yes, he was carrying 95k cash with him which he showed to me. He was a fat small guy who looked stupid, and more importantly looked genuine. All this description explains why did I trusted the guy and why did I had his food and why did I chatted with him.

Now it was 3.30 am in night that I got up and found two of my mobiles (Sony Ericsson P990i and Nokia 3220) missing and my wallet secure (thankfully it just had 100 bucks ,so the thief must have shown some pity). I told the ‘businessmen’ about it and he said his wallet was missing too which had some 5k cash. Rest 90k he had it in his pocket. So he made me write a complaint letter which he said he’ll deliver to RPF Ahemdabad so that they can track the thief down and he also assured since he is a railway employee, they’ll be more vigilant for this case. In the morning he told that 1 Lakh rupee has been taken out from his ICICI credit card which was there in his wallet. Now he told me that he has to get down at Marwar Junction(a town near Jodhpur) for some work and he’ll be in Jodhpur the next day where we can meet up with my Dad for verification at Jodhpur station. I had his number and he gave me landline nos. of his home at Bangalore and Marwar. HE asked if he can borrow my Ipod for 1 day because he’ll be bored otherwise and he’ll give it back tomorrow when we meet. And I gave him, because after all we had become friends.

Next day I called him and he said he has some business deal in Bikaner and he’ll meet up tomorrow. And we spoke for him on 4-5 occasions on the same day and the next. Finally on 19^th, he said he’ll be coming railway station in 15mins and that was the last time I spoke with him. His phone was unreachable after that and I realized finally what a fool I had been. It took me two days to connect all the things and how he played his role to perfection to con me.Obviously all land line nos. were fake.

Probably first time in my life, I have been deceived in such a manner and I am just helpless and can do nothing about it. I can just imagine his face filled with satisfaction, he even pulled the last act of taking my Ipod to perfection, and what a fool I had been the whole time. I know I won’t be able to recover my phones or ipod or my 600 contacts or 1200 messages or pics or anything else. But I just wish I meet that person once more in this life and can get even. Just hoping to get my hands on him one day in future….

In short, this trip is something I’ll like to erase from my memory. Nothing good came out of it except few important lessons that you all can infer yourself.

PS: I may seem really stupid after the whole narration and probably I am. But I can just say one thing about that guy, he was good, fucking good.

Last Day at Broadcom

Today is my last day at Broadcom and I really don’t know how to react or feel about it. I have been longing to go home for so long but when the time is coming close, it’s like I don’t want to leave this place. It’s hard to believe that almost 6 months has passed since I came to Bengaluru and when I look back, I see so many good things coming out of this internship and this place.

Living by yourself is a whole new and enriching experience. I remember the day I came here with so many apprehensions about the place and work. But everything worked out just fine. Had a real good time in the company and exploring this city. But now its time to say final goodbye and I know I’ll be missing this place.
I’ll miss my cubicle and my computer and the awesome net speed over here. I’ll miss the free phone calls and the free cold drinks and juices :P. I’ll miss the rush I used to make to come to the office when our instructor used to visit us. I’ll miss the thread on gmail which all of us used to stay in touch and telling stuff about their PS and their companies. And of course I’ll miss the chinkies!!

I’ll miss the tea that Jayashree makes for me everyday (after some motivation :D). I’ll miss the game of snooker I used to play with Sumeet and Gampa. I’ll miss all the stories told to me by Shantanu and his sense of humor :P. I’ll miss the grave look on Neeraj’s face. I’ll miss the tamil conversation between Janani and Jayashree. I’ll miss the wannab ‘Kaushik’ :P with his typical choices(eg- Sunil Joshi being his favorite cricket player).This guy is really funny. I’ll miss all our lunch and snack times and gossips on the terrace and in the ‘Bay’.
All in all I’ll miss all the pleasant moments I had with the other interns and my team members who made this 6 months look so easy and manageable. It was really nice working here and I really hope I get to work here some other time.

But as of now, I am leaving this place today and glad that this internship happened. Learnt a lot and made new friends. I will take lot of memories from this place and miss many more things(like the Coorg and Mysore trip :P). Hoping such times come again. Looking forward to the new year bash in Goa now.


“Don’ cry because its over, Smile because it happened”- Dr. Seuss(taken from Melange’05)


PS: My blog journey started from this place. But won’t end here ;).

Being a Bitsian

As semester end is approaching fast, I have so many thoughts that it's indeed difficult to jot all of them down. One thing that surely separates this end from other semesters is that each semester we cribbed about final comprehensive exams and prayed them to get over quickly so that we all can run our home, but this time around every one wants to stay. Be it people who are doing their PS(practice school) or those who are still in college, every one wants to live the romance which is coming to an end with each passing moment.

People in college know that this is time to bid final goodbye to Goa and the wonderful lives we all had for past 3 years.Now is there time to see the corporate world closely and have all together different experience.And others who have to go back campus have accustomed to such an independent and unrestricted life that it would be really hard to be back in rooms by 11pm and eat at our beloved Atish's mess in the college. But I guess that's what happens to every Bitsian at some point or other and experiencing this cross road has groomed us all very well indeed.

Next semester also gonna be the placements speaking about which has become a taboo as of now :P. Economy is on a roll(sense the sarcasm) and we are fortunate enough to be facing our placements in such a situation(yah its still going on).Also people will be waiting for the results of different MBA exams they appeared for and universities they applied for MS.

The end of the semester reminds me of the reasons I took PS in first sem:
1.Getting a job during internship
2.Had a gut feeling that I'll prepare better for CAT in Bangalore
3.Almost all my friends were going for PS in first sem.

Just had the (3.) to look forward to next sem. Thanks to recruitment freeze,no chance of placement during internship and my mediocre performance in CAT,I guess I didn't get what I had sought for.Anyways no regrets,looking forward to next semester.

PS: Infosys has got the distinction of registering as the first company on campus :D

Gateway Peace March-Dec 3rd pics

Respond to 26 Nov - Take Immediate Action Petition

Respond to 26 Nov - Take Immediate Action Petition

Bangalore Walks

Citizens,

November 26 marks a new low in our country's sinking security situation. We are now at a state where every major sphere of our life has been attacked - trains, temples, mosques, cars, markets, parliament, parks, offices - and now hotels. When does this stop? We pay crores and crores of taxes and levies, without even 1 paise bearing a semblance of accountability. We have blamed everybody from God to our politicians for the condition we are in; but the fact remains that we have failed because of our own unwillingness to act and to demand accountability.

We must take action atleast now - an action that is drastic, cumulative of years of not doing anything. Let us demand for accountability! Let us make our so called elected representatives account for every paisa of the money that we have paid up to ensure our safekeeping, good roads, continuous electricity, clean water, to mention the basics. Let us have them justify their Z-class and Y-class security, while we burn. Where is the accountability? Let us bring it back.

Here are a few numbers to quantify things:

Number of terrorist attacks in India since 1993: 33

Number of terrorist attacks in India since 2001: 30

Number of terrorist attacks in India in 2008: 10

Number of people killed since 1993: 1300+

Income Taxes collected from individuals for the Financial year ending 31st March, 2008: Rs. 10,37,40,00,00,000 (103740 crores)

Sales, property, petroleum and service taxes collected for the Financial year ending 31st March, 2008: Rs. 6,73,83,00,00,000 (67383 crores)

Income from Police, fines etc.: Rs. 14,67,00,00,000 (1467 crores)

Expenditure on Anti-terror squads, Police upkeep, Police development/improvement, equipment upgradation for past 5 years: 3700 crores

Here is a list of attacks in 2008:

May 13, 2008 - at least 63 were killed in 9 bomb blasts along 6 areas in Jaipur.	63 deaths
July 25, 2008 - at least 2 were killed and 20 injured in 8 low intensity bomb blasts in Bangalore.	2 deaths
July 26, 2008 - 56 were killed and over 110 injured in 17 serial bomb blasts in Ahmedabad.	29 deaths
September 13, 2008 - at least 15 were killed and over 110 injured in 5 bomb blasts in Delhi markets.	21 deaths.
September 27, 2008 - 1 killed and at least 17 injured in bombings at Mehrauli area 2 bomb blasts in Delhi flower market.	1 death.
September 29, 2008 - 10 killed and 80 in bombings in Maharashtra and Gujarat bomb blasts.	10 deaths.
October 1, 2008 - 0-4 killed and up to 100 injured in Agartala bombing.	4 deaths.
October 21, 2008 - 17 killed and at least 40 injured in Imphal bomb blast.	17 deaths.
October 30, 2008 - 45+ killed and at least 300 injured in Assam bomb blast.	77 deaths.
November 26, 2008 - At least 101 killed and 287 injured in a coordinated attack in Mumbai.[9]	125 deaths and increasing

The disparity between the requirements for our country's security and the actual disbursement has reared its ugly head in 2008. We are now faced with the reality that terrorism is deep rooted in India and we must act! Our Prime Minister, for his illustrious career and stellar academics, is as effective as we have been in handling terrorism; his address to the nation being ineffective, lacklustre, passive and non-commital, to say the least. Our Home Minister, Shivraj Patil, is known more for his propensity to dress up and for chronic foot-in-mouth comments and actions. It is with good reason that I do not attach the standard "Honourable" to these ministers. So when do we take action? The time has come.

The frequency of attacks is increasing exponentially, there have been 10 this year! And we have not seen even one step in terms of affirmative response, let alone affirmative-preemptive action and safeguards. Let us not wait for these attacks to get any worse. Let us demand answers. But first let us ensure that we do our part in turning things around. Let us first prevent ourselves from succumbing to cowardice. When times have taken a turn for the worst, we must step up with courage. Let us step out of our homes to demand our rights. When our parents, spouses, siblings and other loved ones fear for our safety and try to deter us from taking that step, we must assure them that we are doing so for our own continued safety, for if we do not take action now we have failed yet again due to our own weakness, for we are now only a step short of civil unrest and war. Let us head out and demand action!

We must not remain calm as is being called for by our politicians. We must show our anger, grief and resentment, and press for action.

People of Bangalore, on December 8th, 2008, let us peacefully set out from our homes, offices, schools, colleges, malls and shops and converge at Vidhana Soudha by 12noon, and demand the presence of Chief Minister Yeddyurappa and Home Minister V S Acharya, to put forth the following demands, threats and assertions:

1. If there is 1 more attack we boycott our schools, colleges, offices and professions till our safety is ensured.

2. If there is 1 more attack we do not pay any taxes and fines (income taxes, service taxes, even sales taxes on petroleum and groceries).

3. For every year that has a terror attack, we do not pay taxes and fines.

4. Every minister's security detail is removed until all the terror attacks of 2008 have been investigated and verdicts handed out.

5. Our security forces are trained to world standards in 3 years, by pioneers in the field, from Israel, France and the United States.

6. NSG Commandos to be decentralised from Manesar, and 1 unit each to be present at 5 locations across India - North, South, East, West, Central.

7. Every Minister with even a single charge of crime against his/her name to vacate office immediately and disbarment due to this condition be made binding for any candidate.

8. Every single entry point in to and exit point out of India (flights, road, trains, water vessels) to have severe and restrictive identity and security screening. Any discrepancy with any person to warrant immediate deportation to last port of exit.

On December 8th, let us begin the movement to make sure that we leave no stone unturned to bring back peace and security to our country. Let us set out to Vidhana Soudha and call other citizens to join the movement. Let us draw people from their homes and residences to join the movement. Let us have students and teachers walk together from the classrooms. Let us have employees and bosses walk together from the offices. Let us have citizens from every walk of life join the movement. If we have people who are not computer-enabled, let us read to them this message and spread the call. For unless it is a mass movement, it has no effect. If all people from the big bosses of IT and Financial majors to the daily-wage labourer, are not present we are under-represented and ineffective. When unions can take out strikes for reasons unknown or unclear, we can form together atleast to demand our safety. If the 10 attacks and 350+ deaths of 2008 are not enough to evince your action, whose death will it take?

Please spread the call, forward this message without fear of censure from superiors and peers, for this is the time to act.

Let our voices be heard on December 7th!

With all sincerity,

Fellow citizen

PS:Why only four metros get NSG units. Why not Bangalore? If politicians like Deve Gowda, Mayavati, Jayalalilitha can get a dozen of NSG/Black cats, why can't every state get a small unit of say 25 NSG commandos for handling hostage crisis, hijackings.

Candlelight vigil and peaceful march on Sunday, December 7th, 6pm at Cubbon Road BRV junction to M.G.Road Gandhi statue.