Life at a Juncture

~ Akshay ~ 1 Comment

Everyone, sometime or the other, comes across a phase in life which could be called as the most defining moment of their life. I believe I am currently going through that phase. I have been working on a project since almost three years and now it is going to end at the end of this month. To be honest, I dont know what I am going to do next. So far in my life I have only been unemployed once, I started working part-time while in the University. The very thought of becoming unemployed in the next few days is terrifying me to no end. It has been stressful to say the least. My way of reacting things has changed, situations where I would usually be calm, I now get panicked or snap too soon. The options currently in front of me are few. I could either chose to seek employment here in India or go on a 6 month sabbatical and study for my MBA exams.

To be honest, I don’t think staying unemployed is going to be a very good idea since I do have to support my family, plus need to save enough to go to the grad school. At the same time, if I chose employment here, there is no way any of the companies will match my existing (soon to expire) offer. At the most, I could get is companies matching around 70% of current offer. The reason I don’t want to have a reduction in salary is because I have to manage some of investments I have and also to keep repaying the student loans etc. But the way it is right now, I don’t see any other option but to take a cut in salary and keep working.

The other option that I am working towards is giving my GMAT and apply to MBA schools. The only problem I have here is that I don’t believe I have saved enough to cover my tuition and living costs to wherever I apply. Also this would mean I cant work any more and thus have no way to support my family. This makes me realize that I should have planned for long term. If I had decided two-three years ago that when this project ends, I want to go for a MBA, I could have saved enough to attend any school I wanted. All this makes me feel like I am a big loser.

Sometimes I dont really like such instability in my life. I have worked very hard to get to where I am but at the same time I feel I am not good enough, especially when things like this come into the picture of life. At this point in life, I am just not sure where I should be heading next.

Given up on meat

~ Akshay ~ 1 Comment

I have turned vegetarian (eat eggs though) again. I don’t know for how long I am going to remain one, but hopefully for a long long time. The reason for this change is.. yesterday when I was returning home, I passed through a butcher’s shop and saw 2 goats tied outside. They were very quiet, not bleating or anything, perhaps sensing their end was near. The very thought of those two goats being killed just to satisfy my stomach was the turning point for me. So I am hoping to not eat any more animals. After all, even they have one life and I want them to live it to their fullest.

Now pay more to book your tickets

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

I just read that airlines are now levying charges to book the tickets via internet. This is being followed by low cost airlines like SpiceJet and Indigo. According to the news report, some of these low cost airlines are already charging for booking tickets via phone and now this. Already with increasing fuel prices, air travel is getting more and more expensive and these guys are making travel even more expensive by adding all these weird surcharges. I feel, people should just stop traveling for a day on such flights, may be then they will realize that the consumer cannot and should not be taken for such rides.

Up and running

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

So after suffering for 5 days from acute viral conjunctivitis, I am, finally, up and running. I have still been advised to keep taking drops but instead of 4 times a day, just 2 times a day. Hopefully, I wont have any eye problems going in the future.

Trip to Nathdwara

~ Akshay ~ 1 Comment

So I am back from my trip to Nathdwara. This time we decided to take a different way altogether to get there. Usually we take a train to Falna and then get take an hour and a half cab ride to get to Nathdwara. This time, since we could not reserve the tickets on time, we decided to bus-it all the way to Nathdwara. To be honest, the bus journey was not all that bad. The route from Surat to Vadodara (Baroda) on NH-8 is where we experienced the worst roads on the entire journey. I should definitely say that an awesome job has been done along NH-8, the roads are in prime condition and it feels wonderful to sit in the bus and enjoy the (almost) bump free ride.

The thing about Nathdwara is no matter what time of the year you visit, you will always find people. No such thing as an off season here. This time I have been very fortunate to witness such beautiful darshans. Since the festival of colors, Holi, is around the corner, the mood was pretty colorful with plenty of colors thrown in the air, lots of singing and dancing. They have also increased the praying time for certain darshans from 20 mins to 45 mins, which sort of helps. But then if you are late, be prepared to miss the aarti, which is the best part of the darshan.

A few more irritating things have popped up lately. Mobiles are no longer allowed in the temple complex. I have no issues with that, but just the whole thing of handing your expensive phones over to the security guy outside who barely makes enough is a pretty discomforting thought to me. I am not saying that they are cheats, but just that I preferred to leave mine in the hotel room, rather than hand it over to the security guide. Another irritating thing that I have found is this whole thing about the VIP darshans. This is basically paying some amount and get to view the darshans, before rest of the common junta joins in. I dont think God told these temple authorities, I am willing to give a more better darshan if you charge 100 bucks from this guy. Just more way of making money for the temple people. Another thing I observed that while doing the service (seva), doodh seva (milk service), phool and shaak sevaf (ruits and vegetable service), the people who collected these things from us started asking for more money. I personally got very much annoyed with all these constant demands of money everyone around.

The food as usual was great, nothing beats Kathiawadi food other than mother’s cooking. We also shopped a lot, dresses, food, salts, herbal products, photo frames, etc. It was all very tiring. But overall the trip was excellent. Mom enjoyed a lot, she had been saving quite a bit for this trip and it felt good that she enjoyed it thoroughly.

Now my next trip is going to be somewhere in North East or Vaishnodevi. It is about time I explore India fully before heading out anywhere.

We won We won

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

Yes, we beat the best team in the world cricket, twice in a row now and in their own den. After getting abused by the Aussie players, their media and their public, to defeat them in their own tournament, it does not get any better than this. Go Team India.  

 

 

Black hooded Oriole

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

Posting this after quite a long time. I am trying this posting by email thingy. It may or may not work. The reason for it being I don’t have internet at home and I can’t access blogger etc from office. So this is probably one of the only few ways, I can blog. Well the bird below is, Black hooded Oriole, (thanks Kits). I took this picture last week when I saw this colorful bird outside my balcony and I was like hang on a minute, I have not seen a bird like this before. I wish I had a better camera with a more powerful zoom, than I could have taken a more close-up shot.

Lately..

~ Akshay ~ Leave a comment

I have been very much depressed with the way things are turning up around me. It is more or less got to do with the current work environment that is around me. A lot of people are feeling that they have not been treated properly by their employers and thus do not seem to have that motivation to work. This is sort of created a very negative atmosphere in the team, which makes my life more difficult than before. Secondly, what has been bothering me is an office romance between two of my colleagues. I am a firm believer of the saying “one should not dip his pen in the company ink”. I just feel that if you are going to have an affair with a colleague, you might as well keep it under wraps. But here I have people busy chatting on their office IM’s or dialing each others extension numbers and chatting during office hours. This is what I hate about an office romance. It just becomes a distraction for everyone else.

I hope that the involved couple realizes this and takes this affair outside the office. Other than that, I have been suffering from a minor chest infection because of the cold. Been taking medication for that and feeling better than last week. Other than this.. I think I dont have anything much to share.