A small step.

“An Electronics and Instrumentation engineer possessing core knowledge and experience in Instrumentation/Control and looking forward to work in a challenging milieu as a part of a resourceful team, designing and developing cutting-edge systems and innovative products”.  Each word of the first paragraph shouted “BULLSHIT!” on my face. “Will do anything sitting in front of the computer for a job with a higher pay scale , onsite opportunity and closer to home location” sounded more reasonable.This is my second resume and having sat through enough placement training sessions and downloaded enough mock resumes, I am now pretty sure as to what I have to send for each of the companies I am applying for. The only question is whether I want to. The clock strikes one and the only progress I have observed so far is that of the ant that started from my shoe rack and had covered nearly 5 metres and has reached the cupboard. I glance at my older resume that says CGPA 8.5. In ARIAL,size 9 font,somewhere under Hobbies, it says blogging.

I open my blogger’s homepage to see “Updated 6 months ago” staring back at me. There was a time when I visited it every waking hour. 8 of those articles have been  published in my morning paper. Reading them is nostalgic. A drop of tear on my touchpad makes me shut my laptop and I lie on it eyes closed, its warmth the only comfort in this cold night.

Twelfth summer vacation. With a 92% in PCM and an engineering entrance exam queued up for every Sunday, I hardly had time to think. Before I finished up the final one, one by one the results are out and I found myself being woken up as early as 8 in the morning to listen in as they discuss with relatives and clients in MNCs in Bangalore and Chennai to enquire what course and college I should go for. A small voice inside asked ‘Why Engineering? Why not Journalism or MassCommunication or something different?” I turned down its volume when my friends started forwarding messages that showed the placement percentage of each college and what course they are applying for. Computer Science unanimously seemed the top choice but my brain strongly put up a 50K ohm resistance reminding me my pathetic marks in Cse. When my inner voice finally plucked some courage again to ask my parents, they said journalism is not a girl thing and I wouldn’t be able to travel frequenty or survive in it. The sanitary pad ads showing women boldly taking up travel was not telecasted yet then.I muted my inner voice and happily went into engineering.

4 years of engineering flew faster than expected. I had my share of engineering with late night assignments, the last min study before the exams with mugs of coffee,the marana mokkais, the rocking excursions with a visit to an industry for namesake called IV s, the fucked up final year project. I suddenly found myself experiencing the placement fever as several others. With my news feed full of statuses that said "Got placed in TCS/CTS/Wipro/Infosys" with 100+ likes in each, I couldn’t wait to update mine with one of those.3 months into it got me a smartphone and enough pocket money to do some actual shopping in those malls.I was too busy catching up every movie screened in Sathyam on weekends and keeping tabs on the discounts available in the various brands to even give a thought about journalism.

A whatsapp beep wakes me from my thoughts and I remember my incomplete resume and open my laptop again.  An unread mail in my mailbox shows high priority. Opening it I read the defect that needs to be fixed by 9AM in the morning before the customers leave for the day.I imagine the endless lines of C code with if ,else ,for and while conditions. These form a major part of my C vocabulary which has become more important than my English vocabulary these past 3 years.I imagine the day ahead..Waking up at 5:00AM to be in time to see the security guard change shifts ,coffee, fix the defect just in time before the customer call, a hurried lunch, a scrum,coffee, a delivery to be completed by the end of day (Its IST atleast this time), more coffee, more running around and out just in time to see the moon at 45 degrees…A similar day the day after.. the week after..punctuated by occasional treats and feedback meetings…

I wake up from my reverie to see a post from PositiveOutlooksBlog that says”Sometimes, we are so attached to our way of life, that we turn down a wonderful opportunity simply because we don’t know what to do with it”. I open a new word document and start typing my take on the Arnab Goswami-Rahul Gandhi interview. Maybe it will get published.Maybe someday I will get a column for myself. Maybe.Or Maybe it wont happen. But its still a step towards what I want. Just a small step.In the journey of thousand miles to achieve what I want.

Manali

Having grown up in one of the hottest places in SouthIndia where winter meant 30 degrees, I was just not prepared for the winter in Delhi. Delhi airport greeted me with a cold blast of wind at 13 degrees and it was just the beginning. Two days stay in Delhi with heavy jackets to cover my cute T-shirts that I spent more than an hr picking out, I was already wondering whether I was in the right state of mind when I decided and booked tickets to go to Manali this winter.

  Manali is 570kms from New Delhi and we had booked the Himachal Pradesh tourism bus. Contradictory to our fears, the bus had a heater and the travel was most comfortable until I looked out the huge glass window as the bus took sharp turns while going uphill.My eyes strained to see the snow capped peaks in distance. To me, it felt like someone had emptied sacks of salt and sprinkled it in a few places. To my mom however, it looked like dosa maavu flowing there.These ladies … hmph! Having played only with the ice in the refrigerator, I just couldn’t wait to go to Sholang valley and put my hands into the snow. It took me thermals and 3 layers of clothing even to get out of the hotel room.On the way to sholang valley , we picked up some snow boots and a full cover wrap to  save our clothes from getting wet.

  The rapid currents of the river beas glittering like a silver trail over boulders that are flawlessly smooth from the persistent waters, a layer of the whitest snow covering the rocks rising above like the clear vanilla coating on a donut , leafless apple trees awaiting the summer, coniferous trees that forgot to shake off the snow from their branches, the sun high above just a silent spectator to this amazing beautiful landscape underneath… Words are not enough to capture its beauty.. Sholang valley has something  to offer for everyone here.. Mouth watering hot 2 minute maggies on the roadside are the favourites here. Skiing for amateurs, experts and for those who just want to hold the sticks and smile for their fb profile pics, Paragliding from the highest peak that you have to reach via a rope car, mid level safe paragliding for those who had come with worrying parents , snow scooters , yak rides…For the ones who want to quietly sip some masala chai  and take in its beauty, there is still a lot of entertainment around with friends throwing snow at each other, kids making the typical snowman, people skidding on their skies and falling on their backs, honeymooning couples silently walking around holding hands.. After 2 hours of paragliding, skiing, falling down and clicking pics in every possible pose I realized that I can no longer feel my feet, and we started back. I really do wonder how the bollywood, kollywood  and tollywood heroines in thin sarees can romace in ice when it actually feels like a  thousand knifes are piercing  you everywhere.

  A visit to the Hadimba temple is a must on every tourist’s list. Its not its historic or archeological significance that a tamilian notices there, but that it comes in the Manirathinam movie Roja and that, according to the movie, this temple is in Kashmir!  Whether it’s the temples we visited or just sheer luck, blessed were we, with a snowfall at night. When the pure snowflakes fell like a blessing from heaven and covered the roads, the locals ran off to take shelter while the tourists waited to click pics. I am no thick skinned mammal and the heavy snowfall that took the temperature down with it to almost -15 degrees later that night did leave my teeth chattering and wishing for my warm bed at home.

  The ice carpeted road had us skidding the next morning and only the sight of the furry dogs and the realization that even running was impossible on these roads, got us back inside and made us wait till the sun melted the snow a little. Swallowing up the details of the other temples and shops visited, I fast forward to the rafting experience in Kullu . White water river rafting facilities can be taken from one of the many private operators at Kullu. During winter, with the water flowing in beas hardly one fifth of its summer capacity, I expected rafting to be just a pleasant ride in the amusement park with a few ooh s and aah s as the inflatable boat floats over the rapid currents hitting the huge boulders. Only when the ice-cold water turned my feet and my hands holding the rope numb, did I realize that it was no simple rollercoaster with the safety belts on!

  I turned away with a last glance at the snow capped peaks. I made  a silent promise to myself to come back in the summer to see the valley filled with juicy red apples, to visit the rohtang pass that is closed in the winter, to do paragliding off the highest peak and to do rafting when Beas is at its most furious.I know I am going to go back. Someday.. Someday soon.