Karthik

I don't believe that "Like minds can be the best of friends".. Karthik and me keep proving it wrong..

He's patient and forbearing and patience has never been my virtue...

He's soft and doesn't speak much and I speak out my mind...

He doesn't get angry and temper is kind of inborn with me...

But yet both of us will vouch that we are most comfortable with each other. Karthik is a Londoner in the sense he doesn't stay in Bristol and in a way has been unlucky to miss out on some of the fun we have out here. But again being the people we are, we manage to drag him along for most of the things we do out here whether he likes it or not :-)

I try to be as candid as I can so my posts might not embrace the positives (always) but this one is an exception, after all this is about Karthik !!

Hmm..There are three things why people envy him:

1. He is an awesome singer (just check out the videos to your right)

2. He is a geek in the purest sense..

3. Hez our friend :-))

He's smart, handsome and he's got tons of intelligence and its surprising to see that he's still part of the lonely hearts club. That is why he is often quoted as a primary example on how girls are bad at selection :-) Now for the serious part, he is so genuine in his thoughts and actions that there is none who can think bad of/for him.

His place in London has become our guest house and we have had a couple of amazing parties out there and Karthik has been a pleasant host. I must admit that the "pleasantness" might be involuntary ;-) I don't want to write too much as I would be adding fuel to fire..(guys who can understand, will :-) )

This is a sneek peek of our weekly conversation:

Friday, Around 5 : Sridhar calls Karthik...

Karthik picks up the Call...

Sridhar: Hey Dude..Wazzup..Are you coming to Bristol...

Karthik: Yes man

Friday, Around 6 : Sridhar calls Karthik...

Karthik picks up the Call...

Sridhar: Where are you ? When you planning to leave ?

Karthik: Hey, I have got some work, will try to come today or else tomorrow for sure...

Friday, Around 7 : Sridhar calls Karthik...

Karthik picks up the Call...

Sridhar: What is happening ?

Karthik: Lot of work will come tomorrow...

Friday, Around 9 : Karthik calls Sridhar...

Sridhar picks up the Call...

Sridhar: Yes tell me

Karthik: (Busy day at work/I am really tired/Have some work/etc etc )..Will come next week

Sridhar: K..your wish

The "next week"

Hey Karthik, its time, pack your bags and come to Bristol :-)

Laxians

No part of my Bristol story would be complete if I don't mention about the people staying at Laxey. Yes they are my neighbours and probably the only other house I hang around within Bristol.

Laxey has kind of been a boys hostel, never in the history a girl staying there, so naturally is the epicenter of all the "only boys" talk, party, etc etc. If Bostonians are the kings of hospitality, Laxians are the kings of fun and excitement. There is not a day which will pass through without fun and laughter and obviously I am kind of lucky to be part of it too...

Traditionally it has had many people but let me introduce you all to the current Laxians..

Prashant

Vineet

Ashok

Amogh

Again I shall definitely write about all of em some time later, but as of now again just assume they are wonderful people.

Laxey is the place where all our delicious non-vegeterian dishes are cooked and Mr Vineet is the master chef. But Laxey thy name means Prashant. Hes the senior most amongst us but the good thing is that he doesnt have the air of a senior and is so sociable sometimes you wonder there are still some decent people around..For Prashant Laxey is in his breath, so when he speaks everyone knows that hes from 5 Laxey :-) And ya he takes care of the house bills and is the mass entertainer for all of us..Thus his nick name Mama (there are other reasons, but tatz too personal to print :-))

Then Ashok, hez a dude, I am yet to come across a more patient guy like this one but really really fun to be with. Very good at sports particularly cricket and never the one to be a spoil sport and I must admit he is a very very very very optimistic person good to have these days aint it ? And he always says "THIS YEAR ATLEAST..Liverpool will win"..Yes a hardcore liverpool fan and is telling this from the past 10 years..

Then comes Amogh, hes the new entry to Laxey and is an amazing cook (vegeterian only please) and a game freak, has turned much of the living room to a gaming parlour..good singer, god fearing man who does his prayers everyday, so kind of ideal you see..Yes yes..we do have good people amongst us ;-)

Then comes Mr Vineet...My most trusted and close fren...he has many nick names that personify many of his qualities..but the two names that everyone can recognise is Billa and Fundooo...Billa coz hez the chota Don...and Fundoo..coz of his philosophical dialogues to everyone...I can keep writing here coz I have had some wonderful time with him..but as for now think I shall keep it short...

But then there is the Omnipresent Junaith...He was part of Laxey before he had to move back to India...I still look forward to the day when he shall be back and we will have that old magic once again. Hes multitalented...guitarist...rock star..lyricist...not sure why he chose the IT field...his biriyani is still numero uno in Bristol...the times we had were just unbelievable...again as I usually say.."I just got lucky"

Laxians will always be special..the food festivals....12 to 13 hour on the trot carrom sessions....backyard cricket....diwali celebrations...theres so much of memory for a lifetime here....

Thank you Guys ! And you Rock !

Bostonians

So once you land in any foreign country the most difficult part is to find accomodation. So this is what happened a couple of years ago.

As soon as the excitement of onsite died down I was faced with a daunting task of managing my accomodation and it was a litmus test. Getting the right house mates is quite important as they are the ones who will be your family out here and as far as my case goes, this is what happened:

1. I Got Lucky

2. I Got really Lucky

Yes sounds odd..aint it ?

There were four of us looking out for a house at the same time and thankfully landed up taking a house together. Once we selected our respective rooms and got the things we need, we were ready to ROCK ON!!!

It's sometimes so difficult for even people who know each other for ages to click..but we...we just clicked..the bonding was perfect and we took off from day one..no hassles..no problems..it was one hell of a time...We were called Bostonians and our house is known for its hospitality and delicious dishes :-) except me all three were expert chefs...

So here go the Bostonians:

1. Pooja

2. Sowmya

3. Rakesh

4. Me

Then came Suresh after Rakesh had to move to a different place...

Half a year later, Suresh and Sowmya had to move back to India so Lohith and Sangeetha joined in...

I shall write about them in detail but as of now...here is a brief summary...

Pooja is that rare breed of people you come across..very soft and well mannered..not the kind who speaks ill about others, etc etc all the good qualities you see. At the beginning I did not know her at all, but the past couple of years we have grown up to be trusted friends...And ya her favourite food is yogurt :-) and she claims that she can make around 10 dishes in it...

Rakesh..He was like a big brother to all of us. Amazing cook, I am yet to taste such north Indian dishes again..The kachoris..cutlets...my mouth waters even now...Again was lucky to befriend him...

Suresh..I have probably never come across a more hardworking and dedicated person and probably the only guy who actually went to the gym regularly..An amazing cook and I am happy to see him grow the way he has...Absolute pleasure to be with..

Lohith..I knew him before he came to our house and have known him to be a great sport...sports and dancing are his passion and is pretty good at it...great guy to be at home..full entertainment and no hassles...

Sangeetha..I have seen her career grow right in front of me..an amazingly talented individual who knows how to handle things professionally and more so personally too ;-) Again an awesome cook and shes good at chess...and mighty good at it..I still remember she beat me in 9 to 10 steps the first time we played and I am still recovering...

Sowmya...My very dear fren..who shall be etched in memory for a long long time...She was my constant company when I first came and we just bonded...yes there were small fights...silly arguments..but most of the it ..for the fun of it all..has been an influence in me kind of "letting go" of things ...I think itz best to say..I was lucky again

About Us !!

This one is going to be difficult as there is lots to write but at the same time don't want to bore you guys as well. So my plan is to give a brief intro about me, my friends what we do and don't do....

Well I am part of an overwhelming group of people who hail from the IT community. For newbees IT means Information Technology. Most of you would have now almost charted my career profile correctly. For those who are not intelligent enuf this is our career summary:

1. An Engineering graduate from India

2. A nice job in an IT company

3. The rest as they say is painful history

We pride in calling ourselves the tech coolies (coolie is an Indian word for people involved in manually labour) and are very cheap to get now a days. After initial adventures and misadventures most of us generally get to travel outside of India to work for a foreign client some time or the other.

So here I am working in the UK and have a good number of ex-colleagues turned friends. If you haven't guessed it already - obviously I switched to another job here, that is an interesting story and would be injustice if I dont write a seperate post.

But this blog is all about us..what we do...why we do..all the crazy and notorious things...so here I come...

Starting off !!!

Hmm..Lemme start with a confession. I am pretty decent at writing and I generally fair well with whatever I write and its kind of been my strength and weakness..Strength because it gives me the creative independence to think out aloud and weakness is that writing is generally considered for the "boring" ones and so my chances of impressing the opposite sex is slightly slim.

I am going to write about all things that happen around me..most of them good, again it depends...You might find it interesting at times and obnoxious most of the time, but its my space and none can intervene :-)